Chapter 3: First Kill

Kai is struggling along after Nuyal. Huffing and puffing with sweat pouring down his face. The gravity is much more than he expected, and it is taking everything he has to keep up with Nuyal.

Nuyal glanced back at Kai, 'Well would you look at that, the kid is managing to keep up. Maybe I've got a good seed here.' He thought. "Keep up!" he barked to Kai, "Your training has already started. How do you expect to regain your memories if you can't even walk?"

Kai had a look of anger as he trudged along. 'I know I agreed to this, but does he have to be such an ass about it.' he thought.

Nuyal led Kai to a clearing and stood facing him.

"Take a rest here, and then we can begin your evaluation," Nuyal spoke to Kai before sitting on a rock and putting that same strange device over his eye. "This is Captain 3341 of the archeological unit. I've arrived on Zabrak and will soon begin searching the ruins. Over and out." Nuyal spoke to thin air.

Kai sat, or more accurately collapsed, to the ground and began getting his breath under control. He looked at Nuyal oddly when he began speaking aloud to no one. He also noticed that strange device on his eye again, but he still couldn't remember where he saw it from.

"What are you doing?" Kai asked after he was finished.

"Just checking in with someone," Nuyal stated, "Let's begin your training." He said, quickly changing the subject.

Kai, at this point, had rock-steady breathing and was not tired at all. It seemed like he had been resting all day rather than doing grueling gravity training.

Nuyal noticed Kai's quick recovery, 'Was he faking being winded before? No, he was genuinely out of it, so what happened? Can he recover that quickly from total exhaustion?' Nuyal thought.

"Okay, what are we starting with?" Kai asked, eager to begin.

"I want you to keep running around until you acclimate to this gravity," Nuyal stated, 'Let's see if it was a fluke or not.' He thought.

"More running? Are you serious?" Kai said, clearly unimpressed. "I could come up with that myself; I thought you were gonna show me how to survive here." He crossed his arms.

"Oh? And how do you expect to survive when you're moving slower than walking speed?" Nuyal retorted. "If you can't even move normally, there isn't a point in teaching you more."

"Yeah, yeah, I guess you have a point." Kai sighed and got up. "So, how long do I go for?" he asked.

Nuyal smirked, "Just keep going until I say so."

Kai sighed again and began lumbering forward. Slowly making his way in a circle around the clearing one foot at a time. All he could focus on was putting one foot in front of the other. Each step feeling like a great challenge. Slowly but surely, he began growing slower and more tired, but he continued on.

Sometime later…

Kai has slowed to a crawl and looks like he is barely holding on. Soaked with sweat and bone tired. He has been moving for hours at this point. The walk from the ship to the clearing only took a quarter of an hour, and even that left him exhausted, and now it's been well over four times longer.

Nuyal was hiding his astonishment. 'What is this kid. Does he have infinite stamina? Any time he begins to stop, it's like he recovers enough to continue on. What could he achieve with this insane recovery?' He laughed aloud, 'I've hit the jackpot! With a talent like this, it doesn't even matter if this planet's ruins are a dud. Just recruiting him will be a huge contribution!'

"Hey, kid! You can stop now." Nuyal shouted to Kai.

Kai immediately collapsed after hearing that. He lay on his back and took deep breaths, trying to recover. 'How long was I running? I don't know if I could've kept going. What kind of training is this?' Kai thought to himself in dismay. "Fuck," he mumbled as he pushed himself to a seated position.

Even then, he was back to steady breathing within a few minutes.

Nuyal smiled, 'It wasn't a fluke! He seems to have incredible stamina regeneration. That, coupled with surviving in space, will be a huge asset in the force.' he thought to himself. "Hey kid come here," Nuyal beckoned Kai over.

Kai stood up and began walking over. His steps were heavy and slow, but he was not lumbering around.

Kai's eyes widened, 'I can already almost move normally? I thought this would take way longer!' He thought. "Hey Nuyal, sorry for doubting you. Your training is really working!" He said as he approached.

Nuyal looked annoyed at Kai, "Oh, you doubted me?" He laughed, "I'll keep that in mind when I plan your routine."

Kai had a bad feeling that he should've kept his mouth shut on that one.

"So what's next," Kai asked, eager to get stronger. While it started as a means to an end to restore his memories, and found that he quite liked the feeling of overcoming himself and growing stronger.

"Well…" Nuyal spoke while looking around. "Ah!" He walked up to a nearby boulder about the size of Kai's torso. "Here," He lifted it with ease and tossed it to Kai.

Kai reached out to grab the boulder, and it immediately fell straight to the ground. He couldn't stop the momentum at all.

'How heavy is this thing?' He thought. Kai reached down and tried to lift the boulder. He struggled and eventually got his arms around it and brought it to his chest before standing up.

"Now what," He said, obviously struggling to keep it up.

Nuyal just smiled, "Go back to running." He said before sitting down.

"What?!" Kai exclaimed. "I just got walking down, and now I have to carry this thing with me? How am I supposed to do that?"

"Oh, are you doubting me again? I can change the routine if you'd like," He said. "There's probably a bigger rock around here somewhere." He mumbled a bit quieter.

Kai felt a chill on his back, "No! I don't doubt you at all!" He said quickly. "I'm going to start running!" Kai took off at an even slower rate this time but didn't spare Nuyal a glance lest he increases the difficulty.

'Guess I'll just keep my mouth shut for now. I don't want to test him if the maniac tries to give me a bigger boulder.' He thought to himself. Kai once again trudged around the clearing deepening the footprints he left previously. He focused solely on the task at hand. Every time he began slowing down, he felt himself recover just enough to continue.

'God, this is monotonous,' Kai grumbled internally.

But he soldiered on until suddenly, a crash was heard nearby the clearing. Kai was startled and dropped the boulder.

"Hey Nuyal, did you hear that?" He looked around for Nuyal but realized he was nowhere to be seen. Kai looked around while keeping an eye on the area the sound came from.

Suddenly a dark form rushed from the tree cover. It looked like a large velociraptor with horns and sharp claws.

"Shit!" Kai said in surprise. 'What is that thing?' He thought. But he had no time for more thoughts as the beast rushed him.

Kai tried to evade the beast but was slammed to the ground. The beast pinned him with a clawed talon digging into his chest.

"Uh," He grunted in pain as his back hit the dirt and claws pierced his body. He panicked and threw a punch toward the beast's head. He used his body manipulation to extend his arm to make the hit.

The beast backed off with a screech and pulled its talons off of Kai. He was free and pushed himself up, ready to fight.

'There is no way I can run from this thing with my speed. I might be able to walk now, but I doubt I could outrun it.' Kai thought. His thoughts raced through his head like lightning as he tried to formulate a plan. 'Fuck I don't see how I could beat this thing, and where the hell is Nuyal!?' He raged internally.

While he was thinking this, the beast recovered from its surprise without a scratch on it. It eyed Kai with a spark of intellect, understanding that this prey hits back. It dug its claws into the ground and shot off to attack Kai again.

This time Kai rolled to the side and narrowly dodged the beast's claw swipe.

'Okay, I can do this! I can do this!' Kai hyped himself up. He got ready for its next charge, and as it charged, he extended his arm out and punched the leg opposite to the one it used to push off, causing it to misstep and trip. Kai quickly grabbed the boulder he was using to train with another arm and ran up to the beast.

It was still on the ground recovering, and he raised the boulder above his head and slammed down on the beast's head. The beast seemed dazed but still alive. He slammed again and again until the beast stopped moving.

Kai slumped away from the beast feeling bile in the back of his throat. 'Why did it attack me? I didn't want to kill it, but what choice did it leave me?' He knew he had to kill it to protect himself, but he'd never killed anything before, and he was shaken.

Kai heard another rustle in the bushes and started to panic.

'I can't fight another. I barely killed this one." Kai lamented.

From the bushes, Nuyal appeared looking concerned.

"Where have you been!?" Kai demanded.

"Kid be careful that beast isn't de-" Nuyal shouted as the beast's eyes snapped opened and locked on Kai's back. It slashed a claw out, slashing through Kai from right shoulder to left hip completely cutting through him.

The two halves of Kai fell to the ground with two thumps.

"-ad" Nuyal stood with regret flashing on his face before shooting an energy blast through the beast's core. He sighed and began walking up to Kai's corpse when he was shocked at what he saw.

–

Kai was experiencing something weird. There were two of him, well not really, but it felt like he became two separate people connected together. It was like both pieces were him and could operate by themselves. As he was experiencing this odd feeling his body began regenerating and he became one again.

–

'What on earth was that?' Kai thought while laying face down on the ground. He got himself up and stood without a scratch on him. He looked up and saw Nuyal and became angry.

"And where were you when I had to fight this crazy beast!" Kai shouted at him.

Nuyal couldn't believe his eyes. 'The kid was cut in half. Cut in half! You don't just brush that off. What kind of monster is this kid? He doesn't even look injured, and not to mention almost beating that beast by himself before I got here! He has had zero training and almost won.' He thought.

Kai was getting pissed seeing Nuyal just stand there mouth agape. "What did you go braindead while you were gone too?" He shouted at him.

Nuyal collected himself before speaking, "First of all kid you didn't kill that beast, I killed it for you so you should be thanking me. Secondly, I was off getting supplies. You didn't expect I was going to sit here and watch you train for hours, did you? We are close enough to the town I didn't expect any beasts to tread this close, but hey you're fine so just chalk it up to a learning experience."

Kai was still angry but he realized while Nuyal is training him, he isn't his dad or something and has no obligation to protect him. It's a sobering realization that he needs to only rely on himself. Kai took some breaths and looked back at the beast. Its head was fully healed but there was a scorch mark on its chest. 'I wonder what he did to it?' Kai thought.

While Kai was immersed in his thoughts on how Nuyal killed the beast. The man in question had a very different line of thought, 'I was hoping to get some brownie points with my boss but with a freak like this I might even contribute enough that Lord Frieza might notice.' Nuyal thought happily, imagining being congratulated and praised by Frieza.

Nuyal snapped himself out of it and focused on Kai again. "Don't worry kid stick with me and ill teach you how to do that too," he said pointing to the scorch mark on the beast's chest.

Kai smiled and said, "Well what are we waiting for then?"