[00] Gym

[DA 2009]

A training facility complete with modern and traditional equipment, as well as a sparring area. You name it, the gym has it.

[Celena]

Xenia stopped moving through the large, five star lobby area of the hotel as she gazed at the map that was given to her in exchange for the identification chip she had presented to them, as proof that she was one of the people who had been invited to participate. The gym area was her focus of vision. As she stared at the sparing section she remembered the letter, the reason she had chosen to participate. Perhaps the person she was looking for was already in the syntax plaza. Despite wanting to pursue the saiyan whose name she could not remember, she was not going to spend time looking for him. It was hard to pretend that the facilities of the plaza had not drawn her to make good use of them. She had intentionally arrived at the hotel in order to check out the bar. How could she say no to a cocktail?

Flashy lights from strange machines and jazz music came from a room to her right. That was a place called a casino, something she had never heard of. She contemplated trying the place out but she decided not to in order to avoid embarrassing herself trying to use the room’s machines. She turned to her left, and that was when her mouth opened slightly in shock. It was unbelievable, but there he was, the person she was looking for. There were moments when she had doubted Damon Dukes honesty concerning the one eyed saiyan being invited to participate, but seeing him here proved Damon had been sincere. To be honest, if she had not seen any truth in his letter, she would have dismissed it and not have turned up.

A smile crept across her face as she continued to observe him, releasing how near her chance at redemption was. He looked pleased too, and after trailing the direction of his attention, it made perfect sense why. The gym had taken his interest. To a saiyan that could only mean that he was looking for a fight. There could not be a better situation than this. Precisely, this was perfect.

As he made movements towards the gym, she strolled behind, purposely maintaining a distance between them, with the intention of surprising him. She could not believe she had not noticed it until now; he was wearing a halo. Either he had died during Friend or Foe three, or sometime after. Come to think of it, she had not seen him when all of the remaining participants had gathered to fight one of Kai’s four demons, the former boxer Balrog, or whatever his name was, therefore he most likely died sometime before.

They had finally reached the entrance of the gym.

“Welcome,” said a female member of staff, accompanied by a warm smile.

“Any fighters here?” the black haired saiyan asked.

“No I’m afraid.”

He grunted in frustration.

“Maybe you should ask her,” said the young woman, who then directed her attention behind him.

Orion spun around hastily, only to receive a shock.

“Supriiiise,” said the female hybrid, folding her arms.

“You!”

“Oh my, a halo,” she replied, gazing up at the golden circle above his head, before returning her direction to his face.

His expression contorted into a slight smirk. “Figures you’d be here.”

“Of course; after all, you are the reason I’m here,” she replied, rotating her neck round and round.

“What do you mean?”

“I had no intention to join this tedious, yearly competition. I’ve watched my family compete in it and still to this day cannot understand why they wasted their time with it, but when the letter Damon Duke’s sent me stated that you’d be entering, I was finally given a purpose. This is the opportunity I’ve been waiting for. I didn’t like the way our fight ended. You tranquilized me. I don’t know whether you categorize that as a victory but I don’t.” A frown appeared on Xenia’s face. “You cannot begin to understand how humiliating that experience was for me. Not only was I tied up, gagged and forced to participate in Kai Demolic’s television game, but I was sedated with a tranquilizer gun, captured by someone in a social class below my own, and then transported off to be sold like a piece of meat. Me, a princess of the saiyan race, treated like trash. So you see, that’s why I’m here, to exact my revenge. You’re going to regret the day you ever messed with me saiyan, I’ll make sure of it.”

Xenia barged her shoulder in his own as a means of getting past him and into the gym. Orion knew where she was heading and he would damn sure follow.

[Orion]

Orion chuckled as the female princess intentionally bumped into his side as she wandered into the gym. At first her face was recognisable but he failed to place her in the correct syntax. Then when she mentioned the tranquiliser dart and their battle during the Friend or Foe game show, it swiftly returned to him. She was a hot-headed warrior, mostly due to her saiyan ancestry. Strangely, she had just referred to herself as a member of the Vegeta royal family, but Orion never heard of her. Perhaps she had misplaced pride issues.

In any case, this unnamed woman stood out in the seasoned warmonger's mind thanks to a remarkable feat she displayed during the closing moments of their fight. As she hung helplessly embedded into a brick wall, Orion lined up his target and tugged the trigger of his tranquiliser rifle. The dart flew with dead precision, certain to puncture his quarry's skin and sedate her, but conjuring and expelling her very thoughts, the soaring projectile halted in mid-air. She somehow stopped the dart with some form of telekinesis, partly of which she seemed unaware.

Also, she attempted to wear down his composure by attacking his loyalties and motives for money. Declaring in a nut shell that all saiyans were family, she scolded him for even considering the idea to turn her in for a huge cash reward. It was heartfelt and she truly believed her words, but she came from a generation below his, not to mention that she was apparently royalty. Coupled with her impure genetics, she bellowed about the concept of honour to a saiyan who had been repeatedly betrayed by his kin. Her experiences weren't reflective of an authentic warrior elite like he was; which, in essence, made it all the easier for Orion to focus on defeating her.

Amongst the plethora of punching bags, weights, rowing machines and treadmills, there was an open space perfect for sparring. The blonde haired hybrid spotted it before Orion and walked over, examining the borders to estimate if it was appropriate. Her cold countenance didn't change a whisker as she made the decision.

"I was thinking," she began innocently, "that we could have a warm up. Just to get the muscles going."

Finally. A chance to hit something, even if it was just stretching. "Sounds good to me," he agreed, retracting any exhilaration the suggestion stirred. "Oh, and just so you know, I counted it as a victory."

"Counted what?"

"When you talked about our last encounter. You disagreed that it was a victory. I think it was."

Xenia was finding more and more reason to beat this arrogant gasbag down. "By shooting me with a sedative? Sounds pretty cowardly, don't you think?"

Orion took a fighting stance on the sparring field. "It wasn't anything of the sort. My mission was to capture you and I was given a tranquiliser gun. There was no fair fight there; I was the hunter and you were my prey. Dress it up with whatever connotations you like, but in the end, that's all it came down to for me. I succeeded, you failed. Don't take it personally."

[Celena]

‘Don’t take it personally’, he had said.

“To a saiyan like you, the situation reversed wouldn’t mean a thing, but to a real saiyan such as myself, pride means everything.”

Orion chucked. “It’s ironic that you perceive yourself as a real saiyan, considering your impurity; what was your name?”

“Xenia, and you?”

“Orion.”

“Little by little I’ll show you how much I’ve grown since the last time we fought,” said the female hybrid, entering a fighting stance.

“Fine, if that’s how you want to play it,” replied the veteran fighter, entering a fighting stance of his own. Nothing would satisfy his appetite more than a good fight, and if this fight was going to as intense as their last fight then he was in for a big treat.

Orion made the first move, sprinting towards his opponent. “Hang on,” she said, extending her right hand towards him. She then tucked her hand into the right pocket of her blue jeans and pulled out a thin, black leather wallet. The one eyed saiyan winced. What was she supposed to do with a wallet, hit him over the head with it?

“You, over there,” said Xenia to a young man wearing a blue syntax t-shirt. He was standing by the wall with a few other idle colleagues who were also there as spectators. “Make yourself useful and take care of my wallet.” The brown haired man went over and received the wallet from her.

“I’ll take good care of it,” he said.

“I’m sure you will,” she replied before returning her direction towards her opponent.

Orion shook his head with disbelief and re-entered a fighting stance. “Anything else?”

“Good to go,” she replied.

This time they both moved forward at the same time, clashing forearms. A grin appeared on her face before she swiftly moved her right foot backwards and then swung it forwards, smashing hard into his left shin. He let out an agonizing cry of pain as he titled to the left. Her fist came towards his stomach but he was able to use both hands to evade receiving further damage to his body. He thrust his head forward, slamming his cranium into the bridge of her nose, causing her to recoil backward. She wanted to nurse the pain but maintaining her focus was the main priority at this point in time. With a grunt she threw her fist forward. A click was heard as it connected with the left hand side of his face, causing Orion to stagger towards his right.

If he could remember correctly from their fight on Kai’s island, her punches were not that hard, but the one punch she had given him just now had been powerful enough to daze him. She had definitely become stronger, no doubt about that.

The former elite weaved his head to the right, but that had been done instinctively, and unfortunately not quick enough to avoid another shot. An uppercut landed, and sent him sailing towards the wooden floor of the sparing room; he landed on his bottom.

The spectators watched amazement. “Warm up she said,” said the one who had her wallet in his possession.

Another shook his head in disbelief while he folded his arms.

Zena swung her right leg towards his face. With a stifled grunt of pain, the warrior veteran raised a hand causing her foot to meet with his wrist. With all the strength he could muster, the black haired saiyan leapt forward catching her with a left hook of his own. His body weight had been behind it and therefore she crashed to the floor with him on top of her. He pinned her with his right hand while he raised his left. She saw an opening on his left hand side which she took, raising her right knee and planting it into his rib cage, causing him to roll off of her. She spun on her front and then picked herself off of her feet. Orion climbed to his feet facing her in the opposite direction.

As Orion observed her, not only had he experienced that she had become stronger, but also faster. Her physical appearance had changed too. He remembered her having black, long hair. Here the same girl was, with short, blonde spiky hair. Her attitude was different too. The girl he remembered before was very emotional. The girl in front of him was composed and the look in her eyes, it was cold and deadly. Despite her coldness, her composure made her seem more like a princess. He had found her supposedly title harder to digest during their first encounter. She had completely changed though. What became painfully clear to him was that somehow, within the space of their last fight, she had grown to a height beyond his own; she was a more powerful fighter than he was in every physical way.

“Heheh,” she laughed.

“What’s funny?” he asked.

Xenia could have told him that she could read minds, and that she had just found out that he knew she was more powerful than him, but she felt playing her hand was not a good idea. The less predictable she appeared to her foe, the better. “Personal joke,” she lied as a black aura suddenly flared around her.

Black? thought Orion. That was an unusual colour for an aura. Did it have anything to do with the cold look he had seen in her eyes? What had she been up to while he was training in heaven? She had obviously been training too, and by the combating he had just seen from her, she had been training harder than him. It was either that or she had sold herself to the devil in order to gain more power. Where did the black aura that enveloped her really come from? He could not forget the fact that his ally Ares had told him that she had managed to achieve the legendary transformation of their race. How could a girl who appeared to be less than half of his age, achieve a level of power he had not managed to achieve his entire lifespan, which almost stretches to fifty years? However, if she really was a super saiyan then that would further decrease his chances of beating her. Sooner or later, he would find out just what she was truly capable of.