Ningenkakushi: Lord of the Desert

Chapter 7 - The Training of Heaven, the Battle for Earth

Training on the Lookout is intense and varied. The focus is, naturally, hand-to-hand combat, as that is Kami's favoured style and thus Mr. Popo's as well, but they are also given time each day to develop their skills as they see fit in private. Yamcha knows Krillin is working on some truly impressive ki attacks, if the size of the explosion the other day is anything to go by, while Tien focuses on his power and ki reserves. He's not sure what Chiaotzu's up to, though it seems to involve a lot of meditation, and he's pretty sure Yajirobe's using the time to sneak food or naps. Yamcha himself focuses on his bladework – this isn't the Budokai, after all, who's to say weapons aren't allowed?

In addition to all this are more esoteric lessons – meditation, breathing exercises, ki sensing (which Yamcha has a smug lead on compared to the others), how to form barriers around your core identity to protect it from psychic attacks or general degradation... Kami is particularly insistent on Yamcha mastering this last one for some reason, which is weird because, aside from his issues with Bulma, Yamcha is perfectly aware of who he is. He's Yamcha, master of the Wolf Fang, disciple of the Turtle Sen'nin and Master Tengu, ex-desert bandit, ex-baseball player, the normal one of the group – he's not particularly complicated. Whenever he tries to explain this, however, Kami gets a thousand-yard-stare that probably penetrates time and space, so Yamcha gives up protesting and settles down to mastering the techniques.

Kami also teaches them about some fairly random things which are nevertheless interesting, such as the three-eyed clan Tien is likely descended from, times in the far past when dragons roamed wild as opposed to appearing only when summoned, and the spirits of the land, lesser kami that look like men and women and beast folk and all sorts of creatures, but who are really meadows or waterfalls or forests, and for whom the landscape that created them is merely an extension of themselves, for truly they are one and the same.

Yamcha can see how all this interests the others (notable exception Yajirobe (who honestly doesn't seem much interested in anything)), but Yamcha himself prefers to swap recipes with Mr. Popo if given the option – those, at least, will be applicable to the real world when all this is over.

OoOoOoOoO

The day belongs to Kami and Mr. Popo and training, but the night belongs to the Z Warriors, though no one can remember when they started calling themselves this, or why. Yamcha thinks it had something to do with being giggly from exhaustion (and lack of oxygen) during one of the first weeks, and then no one being willing to own up to it afterwards (though personally Yamcha suspects Tien (because no one else's poker face is that good)). At first having the nights free had meant next to nothing – they'd all been so tired by the time the sun set that no one could think about anything more than maybe a shower before bed – even remembering to eat supper had been tricky. However as time passes and they grow stronger (and none of them had dreamed they could get this strong), they begin to have energy to do other things, though these activities rarely go too late. Training starts at dawn, no matter when you went to sleep.

He's not too sure how the idea of a sing-along came up, but he blames Krillin, because he knows for a fact the noseless little twerp likes karaoke. Chiaotzu is cheerfully game, but fortunately Tien sides with Yamcha to help him squash this plot in its tracks.

"I'm surprised you sided with me," Tien says to him afterwards, "I'd have pegged you for being as bad as those two."

Yamcha waves him off. "Nah, I've got a terrible singing voice. Bulma-"

And he stops, because this is the first time he's thought about Bulma in ages and, all of a sudden, he realizes that he misses her. He misses her so much. Yes, they were fighting, yes, things were bad, but still. He misses her, and the urge to go sort things out right now is so strong it's almost physical. He swallows and gamely finishes his sentence.