Outer Atmosphere Training

Even since he became Commander-in-Chief of the Saiyan Solar Empire’s Stationary Defense Army, Natto was doing quite a lot of stuff, and it was somehow getting on the way of his training and it was starting to get on his nerves. ”Dammit! I would hate to be freaking King! So many question, so many minor stuff to do… And it all feels so freaking useless and bureaucratic!!! I’m going to get mad if things keep going like this! I’ve got to chill out!!!” he thought to himself, as he walked around the corridors of the palace, with a small vein popping out of his left temple, due to being so stressed with things. Organizing a defense army was tough, as he had to predict every single outcome of a planetary invasion, and he wasn’t experienced enough for that. He sighed angrily as he walked, with his mind racing like crazy. ”If only Kaula didn’t take Radasha with her… I could very well take some advice from her… She seemed to be a quite experienced saiyan elite warrior… Damn! Everyone else is around my age and with little war experience… It is so different than invading and conquering a planet… There’s little to nothing to do with this damn job!” he snorted, scratching the top of his head. ”I wonder when the queen and the others are coming back… It has been a while… But, anyway, defeating a rival empire is not an easy task… And I’ve heard that Empress Wyntre is quite strong, maybe even stronger than the queen herself… I hope not… I can’t accept the fact that we can lose such a war… It would put us in an even direr situation…” he was feeling rather tense, as he reached the outer yard of the palace.

”She took quite a force… And Mayze is also a super saiyan… They can’t lose to those changing freaks! Damn! I hate the arcosians! They are too dangerous to live… And if we are, somehow, defeated, I’m pretty sure they will retaliate, seizing this opportunity… If they do that, I’ll have to stand against the Empress herself, and I have to be able to win… To win against an opponent who defeated our queen… Zucceta may not be the strongest on the universe, but damn, she managed to defeat Vennel… And Vennel was a beast!” he took a deep breath, as he kept on walking around the area. ”Talking about Vennel… I wonder how she is doing… She got beaten pretty badly… I hope she survives… I mean, she is quite dangerous and I don’t like her attitude, but she is a super saiyan and a strong asset for our empire… We can’t manage to lose so many of our top tier fighters…” he thought to himself as he walked towards the outskirts of Cacumber Capital, on its southern part, to where there was a quite big library he knew about. ”If the worse happen… I will have to get ready… I hope Dissu managed to find that old book about the freaking arcosians… I need to know more about them and the database that I have access too isn’t that good anyway… Damn Kaula! She could at least leave the password and stuff… I feel like a half-assed commander since a lot of people don’t acknowledge me as such, nor I have unrestricted access to stuff! I’m so gonna beat the shit out of that girl! Even if I have to go to earth to do that! I just have to take care about that alien… Reikiko is dangerous and still a way out of my league… But…” he smirked on the corner of his mouth. ”If Tomo and Aspa manage to become super saiyans too, we could probably take her out after I beat the shit out of Kaula… I wouldn’t mind killing that alien freak, since she threatened us and is a saiyan killer! But that may drive Kaula mad, and now that I know how she feels towards Reikiko, I feel kind of bad when I consider killing her… It would make Kaula suffer a lot… And I don’t know why the heck I care… But I do! Dammit!” he sighed again, feeling slightly irritated with himself, as he wanted to be able to take Reikiko out without feeling any guilt, but it was being quite difficult for him. To have empathy towards another was quite a rare trait on a saiyan, but Natto was a quite rare saiyan, so…

The young saiyan commander’s mind was restless and it wasn’t going to calm down anytime soon. He needed to be ready. The burden on his shoulders was too heavy for him and it was taking its tools on his mind, as he was almost completely depleted of any peace of mind. His only salvation was still Tomoroko. She was keeping him sane and happy and, ever since they kissed and started that sort of relationship, he felt like he could endure anything in order to protect her. That was his main motivation and the main reason he didn’t give up yet. ”Tomo needs me to become stronger… I can’t allow anything to happen to her… Especially if it’s something related to those arcosian scums!!” he gritted his teeth with that thought, as it made him feel a deep pain inside his heart.

As Natto got inside the library, a rather old saiyan named Dissu was sitting on a chair, in front of a very large wooden table, full of books on top of it. The young commander wasn’t very fond of reading, but he had to do it, since books held knowledge and that was precisely what he needed right now. – Did you find what I’ve asked for, Dissu? – Natto asked in a quite polite tone, to which the older saiyan responded with a grumble. – Not quite… I have just a few manuscripts, but I dunno if it will help you much! – He said, handing the old book to the young commander, who thanked him before sitting on a chair nearby, and start reading about the changelings. Long story short, the arcosians had this one weird ability: They could breathe in outer space. – I see… That’s why they are so skilled in destroying planets… - he spoke to himself, only to grimace embarrassed as Dissu complained with him. – Shut up! This is a freaking library, stupid brat! – he roared, before sighing deeply in a rather stressed tone.

With that information, Natto felt satisfied and delivered the old book to Dissu, thanking him for that before leaving the place. His mind was running wild with that piece of information. ”To be able to survive in space is a quite handy skill… Is there a way for us to do that? Well… Now that I think about it… I think that there may be a way to help me become able to survive on space for a while… But I will have to test it out…” Natto had this weird idea, but it could be something really dangerous, but it was definitely worth trying. ”I will go to the outer atmosphere transformed into a super saiyan… Maybe my aura will be able to hold some air inside my lungs and buy me sometime… It may even allow me to battle outside a planet, if I can manage to do such thing… It is really worth trying!” he decided, as he jumped into the air, flaring his ghostly-white ki aura that was quick to engulf his body. With that, the young saiyan flew towards the ancient tuffles ruins region, where he knew there was a low chance of finding anyone ever since he obliterated those smugglers a few week ago.

The moment he reached his destination, he looked up into the crimson skies of Vegeta, before taking a deep breath. – It can go reaaally wrong… But I’ve got to try it! – he said to himself, as he flared his ghostly-white ki aura again. Natto brought his both of his fists near his upper chest and clenched his fist in an instant. The moment he did that, his ki aura intensified and immediately became bright gold. At the same time his hair bristled and became golden and his eyes became teal. The super saiyan transformation happened much quicker, as he was holding a far greater control over it. The transformation was feeling rather natural now, much like how Kaula used to transform when she was to display her power to the other saiyans, with the main difference that Natto wasn’t bragging about it, he was just doing it faster and swifter as it wasn’t taking so much on his body now.

When he transformed, he utilized the power of his transformation, specially his golden special aura, to start liquefying oxygen right within his own lungs. It was quite hard, but it was doable, and that was quite impressive! He had to take some time before he managed to liquefy enough oxygen to become able to endure more than a couple seconds, and he had some trial and error before actually succeeding on learning the formula. ”This aura is really amazing… To think that I could actually do this! Wow! That is something!!” he thought to himself, smiling proudly as he got ready for the next part of the training session. Gathering as much oxygen as it was possible, the young super saiyan commander flew high into the skies above and kept on flying upwards.

First he reached Planet Vegeta’s troposphere, where the heat was even higher than on the planet itself and much denser, but it didn’t bother him due to being a super saiyan and having a ki aura powerful enough to protect him from the ill effects of it. Following that he reached the stratosphere. The ultraviolet radiation of the two suns of Vegeta could be felt strongly on this layer of the atmosphere, but it didn’t bother him either, since his powerful aura was doing a great job in protecting him, and Natto managed to keep on flying upwards. After that, he reached the Mesosphere and here things were getting pretty could, and even with his ki aura, he could feel some chill. ”It is funny how it gets cold, even though I’m supposed to be nearer the suns! Hahaha… What a crazy thing!” he laughed at his own ignorance towards such matters.

Natto reached the thermosphere shortly after that and things got pretty damn hot, and it was crazy. Other than that, it became already impossible to breathe, and he had to start using the liquefied oxygen he had been storing on his lungs. ”Okay! So here is where the real rest begins!” he thought to himself, focusing even further on his lungs and his flight. Finally Natto reached the exosphere and the pressure of the planet was already too low, making it easy for him to reach beyond the outer atmosphere and right into outer space. Despite the complete lack of oxygen, Natto was there, on space. His body could feel the harmful environment, but his ki aura was doing an wonderful job holding it together and well.

As a first test of his new ability, he had to put his body into some tough situations. ”Let’s start with some laps around the planet!” he decided and, immediately after that, he flew at his maximum available speed all around the planet. Due to being a super saiyan, he managed to do that rather quickly. He couldn’t help but feeling amazed by the beauty of his planet, which glowed with its crimson light of its outer atmosphere. He loved to look at it from such a privileged position and could definitely get used to it, if the fact of not breathing wasn’t so annoying. Being on space was also quite annoying, since the saiyans biology wasn’t fit to endure such an hostile environment, but he was trying his best to get used to it.

The young saiyan could be very adamant on his goals, and he kept on pushing forward, trying to harvest the most out of his lungs capacity of holding and using the liquefied oxygen to keep on going, surviving on space, but it was getting harder by the hour. Finally, after about five hours of taking laps all around the planet, he started feeling rather dizzy, almost as he was about to faint. ”Getting… Close to… My… Limits…” he thought to himself, as he started getting back inside the atmosphere. Doing that wasn’t quite easy; as it almost seemed like the atmosphere itself was trying to fight him. The pressure was huge and he was rather tired, so it took all he had left inside of him to be able to do so in one piece. The moment he got low enough inside the planet, he took a deep breath that felt like the best breath he had ever had on his whole life. – AIR!! – he celebrated as the fresh air of his planet got inside his lungs, almost resurrecting the organ, that worked quite hard to keep the liquefied oxygen inside of it, even though it suffered quite a lot to do so.

As Natto got near the ground, now at someplace on the central wasteland, where he literally crashed, creating a huge crater with the impact of his body. Natto was almost completely beat and his transformation ceased the moment he laid there, on the ground, panting heavily, as he was catching his breath again. Even though it wasn’t much, and he still had to work on that skill quite a lot before perfecting it, it was a hell of a good start, and he was quite proud of himself since he managed to find a way to survive in the vacuum of space with little set backs on his body. ”If I can manage to improve my capacity to… Say… Hold myself for one or two days that would be perfect… it could really be a lifesaving skill if I ever find myself at the brink of a planet destruction… With such an available timespan to use… I could most definitely find shelter on some planet with a good atmosphere before sending out some distress signal or something… That would be especially useful If the damn arcosians aren’t completely defeated at the current war…” he thought to himself, before slowly getting back on his feet.

He was still feeling rather dizzy, and he had to actually rest before being able to train again, but he was determined to surpass such a limitation on this very same day. ”I cannot lose my rhythm.. That’s one of the most important things a warrior has to cherish!” he said to himself, as he walked towards a nearby place where he knew he could find some water. His goal was to rehydrate himself and, following that, get back into his space training in a harsher condition, but enduring pretty much the same time. ”I have to be able to fight in the outer space too… That is the main point of this skill!” he said to himself, finally, as he reached a river nearby, where he would drink quite a lot of water and rest.

The space training was only beginning!

Natto rested for a while on a valley on the eastern part of the central wasteland of Planet Vegeta. It was near the time of the twilight, as both of the Vegetean suns were settling on the horizon. The young saiyan commander was eating some recently roasted meat, with a bottle of water on his other hand, while sitting on top of a rock near a river. Near the area there was a huge crater where he felt to the ground, after his outer space training. He was learning how to keep himself alive on the harsh environment of space, so that he could be ready for anything, if he ever found himself fighting against an arcosian, or any other alien enemy that could survive on the outer space. The young saiyan knew he had to develop a way of surviving at least for a short while, unable to breathe and all, and it was working out rather well so far. His energy reserves were almost completely restored with the hours he slept, with the water he drank, and the food he just finished eating.

– Great meal! – he said to himself, slapping his own belly a couple times, before taking some really long gulps of water, finishing the content of his bottle, before resting it on the ground, near the rock he was sitting on. Finishing his meal, he was feeling all ready to resume his training and it made him get rather fired up. With a small smile, he jumped back into the skies, floating there, a few feet above the rock he had been sitting on and, with a sudden surge of power, he flared his ghostly-white ki aura, engulfing his body with it for less than a second, as it almost immediately became bright gold. His hair bristled and became golden in color, along with his eyebrows and his eyes became teal, as he transformed into a super saiyan, making his power level to skyrocket, far above the two million mark. Feeling all of that power inside his body, he took a very deep breath and liquefied the oxygen inside his lungs, getting ready to launch himself into the outer space again.

This time, going through the layers of Planet Vegeta’s atmosphere was easier. He passed right through the first two layers, the troposphere and the stratosphere, with his bright gold ki aura leaving a trail of ki energy behind him, as he pierced right through the layers. Then he reached the – not so difficult anymore – thermosphere, feeling the heat all around his body, but he passed right through it so quickly that, in no time, he already was at exosphere and, within the blink of an eye, he was already there, on outer space again, staring at the stars and planets around the area, making a excited smile to appear on his face, taking over it all. He was right outside the Planet, yet it didn’t feel much different than being really deep inside an ocean. ”I still get impressed with the power of the super saiyan… I don’t think there’s a level beyond this, no matter what that freak Reikiko said… She must have been bluffing, in order to attack our pride… What I can do is to keep on training, so that I can get stronger and I’m sure that, in due time I shall be able to overcome her own power, and that freaking android too!” he thought to himself, clenching his fist with excitement as he pictured inside his head a moment of glory, where he would stand above Kaula, Reikiko and Virtual Poi, all defeated by his might, each for a very specific reason. ”They will all see what I’m capable off!” he nodded to himself, agreeing with the goal of ascending beyond those three.

For him, defeating Virtual Poi was by far the easiest to justify, as he was a sworn enemy of the Saiyan Solar Empire, as he had ripped off the queen’s arm and declared his hatred towards the saiyans. That filthy machine had to be destroyed completely, as he dared to become so strong, without even being a real creature, and that pissed Natto off quite a lot, especially because he knew that, as things were now, he wouldn’t stand a chance on a one on one battle with him. He estimated that he had a power level of at least four million, since Kaula and Reikiko together said even together, they couldn’t know for sure if they could defeat the damn thing.

Kaula, on the other hand, was more of a very unhealthy rivalry, since she was the same age as Natto, but had managed to achieve the transformation sooner than him, and held a better mastery on it. On top of that, she had that Kiko-what?! Kiko-whatever! Up her sleeves, and it caught him completely off-guard and, even though he was the stronger fighter and managed to get the upper hand at first, he was utterly defeated when she used her attack. The young saiyan commander didn’t want to kill her, far from that. He wanted to badly punish her for abandoning their planet to protect some stupid place on that stupid planet called Earth. In Natto’s mind, she chose to forfeit her saiyan heritage and honor, and even went as far as to take her mother, Radasha, another saiyan elite, with her to that goddamn planet. On top of that, she was the only one on the damn planet capable of using the power ball, and her leaving meant that they had to count on luck that, the moment the attack came, it was a full-moon by then, or they would be utterly screwed.

He wanted to beat the shit out of her, to teach her a lesson or too, but he didn’t even know if she was ever coming back. At this point, he expected that she would take Earth as her home and never to come back again, showing her traitor face. And if she had the guts to do that, he would be ready to fight her again and, this time, to win against her and her kiko-bullshit technique that countered all sense of logic he had inside of him. ”I’m pretty sure that’s an alien kind of technique… And I’ve made the mistake of allowing her to focus on me long enough to find a breach on my defenses, even though I was having the upper hand on the damn fight…” he restrained himself not to sigh, as he was in outer space and doing that would cause him quite a lot of trouble. He would be ready… He wouldn’t fall for the same trick again, as he now knew that she had such an ability, while she knew barely anything about his own, he had some sort of advantage for the next fight.

Then there was the filthy alien scum, Reikiko. Natto didn’t call her that straight on that first time, but ever since Kaula got butt-hurt by assuming he had, he started calling her that on his own mind, as her alias. He hated her quite a lot, and a considerable part of him wanted to kill her. She was no ally to the saiyans! Damn! She didn’t care about the saiyans at all, she just cared about Kaula, and, as far as he knew, she wouldn’t give a rat’s ass if they were wiped out by Virtual Poi. Truth be told, she even threatened them to lure him to do the job faster. Natto knew he still had a loooooong way to go before being able to take her head on, but it was possible, he knew that. ”Not so long ago I couldn’t even imagine having a power level of thirty thousand… I remember that the first time I fought against Miso for real he had a power level around that and I was completely awestruck… But look where I’ve got since then! I’m super saiyan! One of the very few! And I will continue to grow more and more each day, until I reach a level where nothing will pose a threat to my empire, my race, and to Tomoroko! Not even that damn saiyan-eating girl monster!” he gritted his teeth and clenched his fists with the thought, but, then, he would find inside his heart some restrain about the idea of killing her. Natto didn’t hate Kaula… He actually liked her a bit, as much as he hated to admit that and, to kill Reikiko would imply on making the young hybrid suffer a lot, and it just felt wrong. He had to hold himself from sighing again, and then he shook his head.

”I can’t waste so much time thinking! I’ve got to train! There’s no time to waste!” he reprehended himself for having his mind so full with stuff, that it was deviating him from training. Getting back his focus, he started flying around the planet, just bordering his outer atmosphere, as he used his full speed to take laps around it, pushing himself as hard as he could, so that he could harvest the full potential of his lungs. To push himself to his very limits required quite a lot of oxygenation of his organs; therefore, his new ability would have to make the best use of his liquefied oxygen, in order to let him function at full capacity for a long time, before being completely out of air and requiring some rest and fresh air. It wasn’t an easy thing, but he was adamant on mastering such a skill, so nothing would stand on his way… Except for a freaking meteorite shower!

”You’ve gotta be kidding me!” Natto got startled when he was flying around the acient tuffle ruins area, on the outer space of Planet Vegeta, when he saw a meteor shower coming his way. At first he thought about retreating back to the planet, where he could avoid it easily, since he had already used quite a lot of his available air; he had been doing laps for the past five hours, and he wasn’t skilled enough with his Atmos ability yet. But Natto was sort of a crazy training junkie, and one idea came up to his mind, making him smirk from side to side. ”But that is quite awesome, when I look at it from a different angle! It is gonna be a hell of a training partner!” he chuckled as he assumed a battle stance, by bending his knees a bit, putting his left leg forward. His left hand was raised to his head level, slightly opened, with his right arm by the side of his body, fist clenched, and ready for what was about to come.

The meteorite shower that was about to reach the planet looked quite fearsome, not because it was a dangerous thing on itself, but due to Natto’s condition: if he was hit hard enough on his chest and lost his air, he would have seconds before dying on the outer space, unable to help himself. On top of that, no one else at the planet was known for having such an ability at the moment, which made things even more dangerous, but it only made him get even more excited. ”That’s some real test! If I’m to die here, I’m not worth of being a super saiyan!” and with that sole though, his bright gold ki aura expanded quite a lot, as he tapped into his full potential. The meteorites got closer and the training was about to begin. Before that, Natto thought about Tomoroko and his heart skipped a beat. ”Of course I’m not dying here! I promised her that I would be by her side forever! I will not let her down! I will NEVER let her down!” he decided, getting his will power to his maximum.

The real training was about to begin, and Natto would have to tap into the fullest of his potential, once again overcoming his limits.