Chapter 20: Yamcha’s Resentment

"*whoosh*"

Narrowly avoiding 2 fists aimed at my face, 1 elbow aimed at my back, and a foot aimed at my shins, I twisted my body like rubber, jumping back in the single opening that I could escape from, landing a few feet behind me.

Their attacks were quicker than I expected, but not quick enough. They hadn't even grazed the hairs on my head.

Standing a few feet away from them, I sized each of them up while they did the same to me.

'Goku… I gotta worry about him the most probably. I don't know what type of training he did while I was out, but in his base, he's on the same level as Slug.'

I wasn't certain if Goku could handle Bojack in his current form or not. The reason for that was I had never actually met the demon first hand. Hypothetically speaking, if I had, the space pirate would have already been in the ground. But since I hadn't, I understood that Goku, with his 2 transformations, was the best shot at stopping him.

Unfortunately, from what I heard, Goku wasn't able to be brought back to earth. The Dragon balls were in the hands of someone else, due to Yamcha's loose lips which is why the Z-fighters ended up dying one by one.

I didn't exactly know the details of that situation, nor did I care. I just wanted to get back. But while I was in the topic of Yamcha, I was curious as to why he held so much resentment towards me if he was the one who fucked up.

That thought was what made me shift my eyes towards him. Once they did, his eyes met my own.

He looked far different. He didn't even feel like the same person that I had met back on earth. What was this new bearded look? Also, from the looks of the logo on his Gi, he was also a student of King Kai's.

Observing his Ki was also strange. Obviously, just like the others, he had grown a lot in terms of power, but there was an underlying darkness in his arua now.

It wasn't that he was evil, it was more like,vicious. It was ironic, because looking at him, I was reminded of the wolves I used to eat as a child. He had the same hunger in his eyes, mixed with a slight hatred, as if I had killed one of his pack members.

But unlike the animals in the forest, Yamcha actually had strength. A surprising amount of it too. I could even compare him to the base Gohan of my time.

Since he was a student of King Kai, it was likely that he had learned the Kaio-Ken. If he stacked a times 3 upon his base, he had the potential to actually push me.

Krillen was nothing to joke about either. He also didn't spend his year slouching around, and the same inference that I made toward Yamcha could be made toward him, albeit, he was a little weaker.

The reason I was fixated on Yamcha so much though was because he had been taunting me. Ever since I woke up, he had been flaring his Ki at me subtly, just enough for no one else to notice. Needless to say, I didn't like it.

"Hey. You." I spoke, which confused the others as I had gotten out of my stance.

"Uh me?" Krillin spoke, thinking that I was referring to him. But in fact, it was the person standing next to him.

"No. Not you. I'm talking to long hair beard man." I voiced which drew everyone's attention to Yamcha who looked unfazed.

He stood with his arms crossed, gazing at me, just like he was doing when he tried to look cool standing by the tree earlier.

"What?" The stoic man voiced.

"The hell is wrong with you? Why do you keep looking at me like I did something to you?"

"…"

For a moment, everyone remained silent in the awkward atmosphere. They all knew something that I obviously didn't. I could tell by how quick their expressions changed.

"Haha… what are you talking about, Scar. We're all friends here, right?" Krillin stated, uncomfortably rubbing his head.

"…"

No one said a word. Not even Goku. It was just silent.

"You guys seriously aren't gonna back me up on this? This is getting really awkward." Krillin said nervously.

"…"

I was confused. Why were they all acting like this towards me all of a sudden.

"Well, screw me then. I get it. The short bald guy doesn't speak for everyone, I guess. Very peladophobic if you ask me." Krillin uttered, taking a deep breath, giving up on defusing the situation.

"What's that big word you just said? I'm confused."

Goku replied, to which I saw Tien roll all 3 of his eyes.

"Peladophobia is the irrational fear of bald people, Goku. Or the fear of… catching baldness." I retorted.

"You can catch it and you didn't tell me Krillin? Wait, Tien, you too!?" Goku exclaimed, slowly taking a few steps away from the two.

"*sigh*"

"No. You can't catch baldness. Also, even if you could, Krillin and I are bald by choice." Tien said, resting his fingers on the bridge of his nose.

His statements eased Goku but they made Krillin's ears perk up with intrigue.

"Wait… You're not naturally bald? That's a surprise." Krillin muttered.

"W-what? Krillin, You've seen me with hair before! Why are you acting like you haven't?" Tein rose up flustered.

"Well… Actually, no. Never. For the past 11 years I've known you, you just always had the chrome dome thing going on. To be honest, I just thought it was because you were way older than Goku and me."

"Old?! I'm only 3 years older than you! How did you not know this?"

"I mean, you and Chiaotzu don't really socialize with the real world or celebrate birthdays."

"Hey, we celebrate birthdays! We just never get invited to any." Tien argued.

"How are we supposed to send you invites to events when you two are always in random countries training in the mountains? You guys are more like hermits than master Roshi."

"Come on. That's BS. You and Roshi littraly live on an isolated island, yet we still end up sending you cards and head wax in the mail every year." Tien quarreled.

"Those were from you? How was I supposed to know that? You never put your names on the cards. You've been making me think I had some kind of secret admirer or something."

"What?! Who else would constantly be sending you gifts like us?"

"I don't know, Tien! I hoped that it was Maron!"

Krillin shouted, turning red in embarrassment.

"... Krillin. We've been sending you gifts before you guys dated."

"Don't try to fight love with your facts, evidence, and context clues, Tien. You'll never understand it that way."

He said, crossing his arms and pouting. That was when Goku began to pat his back.

"There-there buddy. You don't need her. You're better without her."

"Thanks, Goku," Krillin mumbled.

"Uh… Krillin, Tien?" Chiaotzu uttered, grabbing the attention of both and nervously tapping his index fingers together.

"Yeah?"

"I'm probably a little to blame for that misunderstanding. I don't think I ever actually wrote our names in the letters we sent out." He admitted.

"Ha! See? I told you it wasn't my fault." Krillin boasted with a smile, which made Tien frown.

"Chiaotzu, why?" Tien asked with frustration.

"Well… I don't really have a lot of experience with writing letters." Chiaotzu responded guilty.

"While you're at it, Chiaotzu, tell him what was in the letters. Then you guys will understand that I'm not crazy." Krillin puffed out his chest.

Slowly turning his head, Tien gazed at Chiaotzu who was now as red as a tomato.

"What did you write in the letters, Chiaotzu."

"Uh… well. I wrote happy birthday on it. And maybe, I said that I miss you guys… and that we wanted to visit soon. I also may have put some blue glitter on the pages because I thought it looked cool."

Tien then took a long sigh.

"*snort*"

I couldn't help but the chuckle, nor was I the only one. Goku was laughing along with me which frustrated Tien further.

"Alright. From now on, I'll be responsible for letter duty, got it."

"I understand,"Chiaotzu affirmed, putting his head down.

"Enough with all this. I'm ready to fight." Yamcha declared, stone faced.

He then pointed to me, making me aware that I was his target.

"I don't like you." Yamacha spat.

"Oh boy. This won't be good." Krillin mumbled under his breath.

"Yeah. This was bound to happen the moment he woke up." Tien responded.

"…Excuse me? The fuck did I do to you?"

I asked, shifting my head from Tien to Yamcha. My words only proved to further frustrate him.

"What did you do? You made my life a living hell." Yamaha spat, launching forward at me with a clawed hand, grazing my face. Quickly reacting, I redirected his hand downward with my palm.

Unexpectedly, dark orange ki blades extended from his fingertips, piercing whatever the floor was made out of like an arrow to an apple. Once all five of his claws had a firm grip on the ground, twisted his body, flipped forward, and attempted to kick me in the face.

Seeing the attack coming, I blocked the kick aimed at my forehead with my forearm, but as I was doing so, I had realized that an abnormal amount of Ki was being built up in his lower body.

Since this was Yamacha, I thought his strike to be nothing more than an enforced kick, so I only firmly planted my feet into the ground.

"*Slice*"

Just like the ground moments ago, my forearm had been punctured.

"Ugh."

I grunted, gritting my teeth. The claws hadn't cut deep enough to cause any real damage, but it hurt enough to frustrate me. Especially when I looked down at the grimacing man's upside down face.

"Hurts, doesn't it? These are my wolf claws. An extension of my Wolf Fang Fist." He then launched himself back, landing close to the others.

"No one else steps in. This guy is mine." He said, cracking his knuckles.

"Hey! You cut him. You could have really hurt him, Yamacha!" Goku Shouted.

"Well good. My goal was to hurt this freak but looks like I failed at that. Look at him, he isn't even bleeding."He spat with venom.

"That's cause he literally can't!" Goku shouted,which was very uncharacteristic of him. Honestly, I was surprised that he was defending me so vehemently.

In truth, Goku was right, but simultaneously wrong about his statement. If I was stupid, sure, he could have killed me. Hell, anyone could kill me if I was dumb enough to allow them to chop my head off. But unless I somehow turned into a vegetable, I was too strong and too fast for any of that to happen.

I didn't blame Goku for thinking the way he did. From what I was aware of, only King Kai was able to sense my energy, so everyone here probably assumed me to be on their level, but that couldn't be further from the truth.

"I get it, Yamacha. You're still mad at what he did, but you have to remember that he's still alive, unlike us."

"..."

While rubbing my arm, I watched the two bicker. And honestly, I was irritated at the level of disrespect I was receiving. I hadn't exchanged more than 2 paragraphs with Yamcha, but here he was, trying to kill me. I wasn't overexerting either.

Since I was a kid, I had been furthering my education in all 3 aspects of Ki which included Genki, Yūki, and Shōki. Each Ki had its own unique characteristics that made it special. But in order for a person to use their life energy, they need to have a good understanding of all 3.

Because I had studied most of my life in the field, I understood that Genki in particular was something that a person needed to pay attention to most when encountering an individual. It was essentially a radar that determined whether a person was a piece of shit or not.

To be more specific, Genki was a tool that when utilized correctly, would enable one to see a person's intentions. A practitioner of Genki could sense the emotions of another individual. They could quite literally sense evil. Genki also allowed for a person to sense emotions from other people.

This was important to note because upon first waking up, Yamcha's Genki had hints of something called Jaki; basically evil energy.

All people had some level of Jaki. The amount was determined by how corrupted a person's soul was.

After my year of sleep, I sensed that Yamacha had more than the average person which probably meant that he had some form of trauma that happened to him, which was later confirmed by King Kai. When he saw me heading out of King Kai's house, Yamcha's Jaki nearly doubled, but the others pretended like they didn't notice.

That made me aware that Yamcha was different now. And with my level of Genki control, I could sense that he had a mass amount of contempt for me.

"Stop nagging me. You told me about how he cheated to be stronger with the dragon, I'm just testing him out a little. I wanna show your friend what real hard work looks like. That little scratch should mean nothing to him." He said with a smirk, glancing at me.

"That's not what I said, and you know it."

"But is it not true?" Yamcha spat.

"..."

For a moment, we all sat in awkward silence.

Meanwhile, the skin on my arms healed up completely, leaving no scar behind. At this point, the only scar I actually still had was the 3 on my eye, but those would probably disappear with how often my body got mangled. But right now, I didn't care about that.

Maybe it was just my Saiyan ego talking, but this shitty long-haired caveman-fuck was getting under my skin and I wouldn't allow this to continue for much longer.

"Cheated, huh?" I asked which attracted his attention.

"Yeah. That's right. You're a cheater."

"I'm a cheater… For using the Dragon Balls to better myself? Something that you've always had the opportunity to do, but you never did."

"Bettering yourself?"

Yamcha exclaimed.

"Yamcha, don't-" Goku tried to put his hand on Yamcha's shoulder, but Yamcha only shrugged him off.

"Don't try to stop me, Goku. I've been waiting for this all year. This idiot needs to hear exactly what he did. Now, Trunks. Tell us what exactly you think you achieved by making the wishes you did."

All eyes were on me. Everyone was uncomfortable, including myself. I wasn't used to this type of pressure.

"I… Saved the planet from Slug. I awakened my potential. That's what I did." Even though I sensed that I was in the wrong, I stood my ground.

"You truly think you saved anyone?"

"Yeah. I do."

"Ha! You absolute jackass! Your dumbass wish killed almost everyone on earth, you know that right?" He smiled vindictively.

"..."

"Not only that but when you transformed into that monster, A tsunami wiped out my hometown. You killed my parents. You killed Goku's wife, and you killed most of the human population! What you did wasn't an act out of righteousness. It was an act of greed, plain and simple."

"..."

"You didn't feel the earthquakes you created? You didn't sense the people of earth blinking off the planet?" Then, it was Krillin who stepped up.

"Yamcha, King Kai and Goku confirmed that he didn't know what he was doing. It isn't all-"

"Bullshit!"

"..."

"It was him who made the wish in the first place… While Goku, Vegetable, and Piccolo were trying to stop you, the rest of us were trying our hardest to help the people of earth. We had to stop buildings from falling apart. We had to literally save babies from burning buildings. You were there,Krillin. We all were, excluding Goku, who he Killed!"

"..."

"That's it? You have nothing to say?"

Yamcha's hands were shaking with anger.

"I'm sorry…"

"Sorry? Would you look at that, guys! He's sorry! Ha! I guess it's a good thing we have the Dragon Balls, right? So I guess nothing really matters in the end… Oh wait. That's not true. Because after Scar almost blew up the planet, the Dragon Balls were unusable. And before we could even think about going to Namek, the man who turned me into a slave came down to earth and started killing us all!"

"..."

"What do you have to say for yourself, Scar? Are you just gonna be a pussy and avoid accountability?!"

"...I'm sorry."

"Do you know what he did to me?! He tortured interrogated me for any bit of knowledge I had about earth."

"..."

"That fuckin pirate… That monster did the worst thing imaginable that anyone could do to a man. And he's allowed to get away with it, because he has the strength too."

He was enraged… So much so that if I was weaker, I would have fainted from the pressure he was exuding.

His eyes were watering… But not because of sadness. This was pure unadulterated hatred.

"I won't even go into detail, but just know, if you hadn't come to this timeline… YOU, specifically… None of this would have happened."

"..."

"You know, the worst thing is, I can't even kill you like how I want to right now… Because you're literally the only hope we have. You killed the only chance the earth had."

I have nothing to say to him. The only thing I could do was apologize some more, but that would've pissed him off further. I just stood in place, swaying my tail from left to right, nervously.

He was right about everything… it made me realize that King Kai had sugar-coated the sheer gravity of my actions.

I… I had to fix what I had done. I had to do it as soon as possible. I was a grown man, but being in this world made me realize that I still had so much more growing to do.

"I realize… I deserve all of this. I do. I apologize to each and every single one of you. I never had any intention to hurt anyone here, but that's exactly what I ended up doing… I know that I'm the cause of all of my problems… All of your problems too… but I promise to fix it." I uttered.

I had power… but I have been using it the wrong way. I had knowledge… but I wasn't utilizing it correctly. I had so much opportunity… But I hadn't taken it. Right now… if I looked at it logically, I was worse than Cell or any of the other androids.

Looking at the Z fighters, I could tell that on some level, they felt the same way as Yamcha.

These people… they were my heroes. My mother told me bedtime stories about them, and as I grew up, I began to idolize them. Not only did I meet my heroes, but I disappointed them. I ruined their lives. Heck, I ended them… But… Deep down… I had hope. Hope that I could fix my fuck up.

Goku looked at me with saddened eyes.

"Trunks…"

Before he could continue on, Yamcha stuck out his arm, stopping him from moving forward.

"Stop feeling bad for him. I'd understand if it was the other one, but Scar deserves this." Yamcha spat. That was when Tien opened his mouth.

"He's right, Goku… I wouldn't have put it the way he did, but what Yamcha said had merit. Scar needed to hear this. We all did."

"I don't know about that one…" Krillin uttered.

"What? What are you talking about, Krillin? He's the reason for all of this! Did you forget that he's the reason you have that god damn halo around your head?! He released Bojack. Him!" Yamcha exclaimed.

"Yamcha! Relax!" He shouted.

Everyone jumped from his surprising outburst. It was just that unexpected.

Gritting his teeth, Yamcha allowed his friend to continue.

"He's a teenager, for crying out loud. Get off his back, will ya?"

"..."

"Scar… No, Trunks. Did you really think you were doing good by making the wishes you did?"

"...Yeah. I did." I answered truthfully.

"Alright. Then that's that."

"But-"

"That's that, Yamcha! His intentions were good, so chill out. We all made mistakes that almost got us all killed. You, me, and Goku. This is no different. He's still alive. That means he can make up for his mistake. We don't need to focus on the past right now, but the future. Our job here is to train him for whatever King Kai has intended for him, not to make him feel bad." He smiled.

With his words, everyone began to reflect and the tension was slightly eased. But Yamcha was still held ressemet. I could still see it in his eyes… But frankly, I couldn't blame him. I was an idiot.

"Train him? Ha… Alright. I'll train him alright. For this little lesson, you're gonna learn how to dodge."

Not even allowing me to get ready, Yamcha dashed forward with his orange Ki claws threatening to slice my neck.

Sensing the oncoming danger, I began to dodge each and every single one of his bladed fingertips.

"*swoosh-swoosh-swoosh*"

With efficiency, I dodged each and every single one of his attacks as if my life depended on it, because it very much did.

Flipping backward, I created enough space between us to comfortably observe his skill.

His claws, the sheer amount of Ki he had condensed within then was enough to slice my arm off. They reminded me of miniature versions of my Ki swords… But they were sharper.

Yamaha wasn't stronger than me by any means, nor was his Ki control better than mine… But whatever type of training he had been focusing on during the duration I was out made him more proficient than me in the manifestation of Ki weapons, which was a craft I had created out of utility rather than a passion I had focused on to build quality over time.

To compare, his blades were like mini Destructo-disks while mine were sharp swords.

I was taking notes.

"Coward. If that dad of yours saw you running from me right now, he'd call you a pussy." Yamcha spat, obviously trying to get a rise out of me.

"You're probably right. But I'm stronger than him, so does that really matter?"

"Asshole. Like father, like son."

He then stood in a strange crouching combative position and began to scratch at the air with his claws.

With every swipe, his claws left behind a strange Ki impression in the air that was very familiar to my Adephagia slash… No. That's what it was.

"*slash-slash-slash-slash*"

Orange claw marks continued to be created as Yamcha began to scratch more frantically until hundreds of holographic slashes were floating in the air in front of me.

"These look familiar to you?" He asked with a smirk of confidence.

"Yeah… They do. You took my technique."

I replied.

"No. I made it better." He responded.

Then, while the Ki slashes still remained in the air, he charged me with claws still extended.

"*swoosh-swoosh-swoosh*"

His first swipe was at my neck once more, but pivoting on my left leg, he narrowly missed my body. But instead of trying to recover, Yamcha forced his body forward, committing to falling forward.

Now on the ground on all fours, Yamcha kicked backward, attempting to slash my stomach open.

Unfortunately for him, he was just too slow. Taking advantage of this, I focused the Ki in my legs, hopping backward.

As I was dodging, Yamcha, still on all fours, turned around and began charging me like a wild dog going in for the kill. What was strange was as he charged me, with every step, he became faster due to him using the ground itself to propel himself forward with his claws.

As he got closer, a strange shroud of orange energy covered his being that began to take the shape of an actual wolf.

"Wolf Fang Mangle!"

Yamcha jumped at me once more, but this time, I decided to fly into the air in an effort to avoid his launch. But to my surprise, he in his wolf shroud began to chase me through the sky.

In the beginning, it seemed as if he couldn't keep up with me, but as the shroud became thicker and his wolf-like image became undisguisable from an actual wolf, he got closer with his newly formed maw opened.

I had to do something quickly. No matter how many times I looped and barrel rolled in the sky, he was right there.

In his orange form, I could actually hear animalistic snarling and howling.

Whatever this skill was, I sensed that it would put me in a dangerous predicament if I were to get bitten by it.

Rushing down to the ground, I planted my feet, allowing for Yamcha to attack me head one.

As he came crashing down, I grabbed his paws as his wolf construct attempted to bite my head off.

Leaning back to avoid the razor-sharp teeth, I began to swing him in a circle, creating a mini tempest.

Then, with one mighty fling, I tossed him away with enough force to hit the seemingly infinitely tall roof of the arena.

"*Boom*"

Normal eyes couldn't see how far he had been thrown, but I could. I watched as he had banged his head on the space-themed sky, wincing in pain, falling out of his orange wolf construct.

Quickly gaining his composure, he manifested his glowing orange claws then slashed toward me in an X shape.

"Wolf Fang Cage!"

The Ki slashes that he initially made while he was on the ground had never moved from their location and instead just lit up the area they were located. But now it was a different story.

His Ki attacks that he set up rushed toward me, but to my surprise, they weren't signaled to detonate. Instead, Yamcha surrounded me with them, showing me the meaning of why he dubbed his skill a cage.

Gently landing on the ground in front of me while I remained in a makeshift prison, Yamcha smirked.

"To think… We actually praised you for your strength… But the all-so-powerful Super Monkey just got locked in a cage made out of my energy. How does that make you feel… To be helpless?"

Looking around, I examined my new cell.

"You think I'm stuck here?" I asked.

"It's not a matter of opinion. You can't escape. You're in my domain now. The moment you touch those bars, you're fried." He said, confidentially.

Yamcha was a lot stronger. On top of that, he had a valid reason for hating me. I gave him credit for both of those… The thing was, for someone who couldn't sense my energy, he was way too confident.

"Yamcha…I get that what I did was wrong. I understand that I was rash… But I plan on making up for it."

"*tsk*"

"You think an apology is gonna get you out of this?"

"No… I don't. I don't think any apology can fix what my actions caused. I just wanted you to know that just because I have this tail now doesn't make me any less human."

"Ha… Haha! Are you serious right now?! Now that your life's in jeopardy, you're sorry?" He said, slapping his knee, over-exaggerating.

"I know you think that… But that isn't true. I can break out of this… I just wanted to say those things before I did to show you that they were coming from a genuine place of sympathy."

"What an overinflated ego…I'd like to see you try to break free." He said, crossing his arms.

That was when I decided to clasp my hands together, coating my entire arm in the Adephagia Shield. Once the arm was enveloped, I shoved it in the bars of the cage.

Because of the nature of the shield, once I shove my arm into the orange Ki, energy was injected into my arm, but as that process was happening, I exerted said energy outward which rapidly began to destabilize the integrity of the prison, decaying it from the inside.

Observing this happening, everyone was shocked, especially Yamcha.

"W-what?!" He muttered. As those words slipped out of his mouth, the cage shattered like glass and fell to the ground.

"Although I cheated in your eyes, you should know that prior to my wishes, I dedicated my life to understanding Ki. That's how I was able to deconstruct that skill."

"You…" He mumbled, gritting his teeth.

"You were holding back… Looking down at me this whole time!" He said, clenching his fist tightly.

"I wasn't holding back. I was just doing what I was supposed to do, which was dodge, counter, and block your attacks."

"No… This was all some sick game to you, wasn't it? You think I'm weak? Is that it?" Yamcha spat while his menacing Ki began to flare.

"I never said any of that. You're putting words into my mouth."

"You didn't need to say anything. It was all in your actions… You're treating me like I'm some type of toy right now."

"What?" He suddenly started to get emotional which left me confused.

"Yamcha. It isn't anything like that."

"I'll show you… I show you that I'm not a joke! I'll show you all! Kaio-Ken times 5!"

A red fiery aura flared from his body, changing his skin and hair crimson as his muscles and veins expanded ferociously.

In a heartbeat, Yamcha had closed the distance between him and myself. Then, the Ki claws on his hand began to expand.

"WOLF FANG FIST!"

[Outside of the battle arena]

King Kai sat on a lawn chair, looking up at the battle arena.

"Oh boy… Yamcha just squared his power by 5. I might need to make a new arena soon."

[Kami's Lookout]

The landscape of the divine palace had changed eponintionaly in the short span of a year. No longer was the Lookout the destination of which the God of Earth resided. Instead, the divine location had been devolved into a hedonistic playground that the demon Bojack and his clansmen resided in.

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