6 Setbacks

I stared at the time on the stopwatch in disbelief, 13.79. Could I still be that slow?

Of course, my training regimen wasn't anything close to Goku or Krillin who did maybe double what I did, with 40 kg shells on their backs. But still, I should have been a lot faster than 14 seconds. It was as if I was just a very athletic 9 years old.

Maybe I just wasn't fast, my strength should have at least still improved right?

I looked for a rock that was around the size that Goku and Krillin tried to push at the start of training. The one they used to test their strength at the end of their training was the size of a freaking mountain, so no way I was going to try and push one of those.

After a few minutes of searching, I found a rock that looked to be around the size I was looking for. It was a head or two taller than me and as wide as I was tall.

I took off the extra layers of clothing that I was wearing that had all the extra weight in them. I didn't want to be handicapped when I tried to move the rock.

I set my feet solidly making sure I wouldn't slip as I started at the rock. I took a few deep breaths as I prepared myself and pushed as hard as I could against the rock.

Nothing.

It didn't even budge.

I kept pushing and pushing but still, the rock wouldn't move. In desperation, I pressed my whole body against the blasted thing in an effort to get it to even shake or wobble. Still nothing.

After a few minutes of futile attempts at moving the stupid stone, I finally gave up hope. I still had one more test left to take and if I used the previous two as any sort of example then this one wouldn't go any better.

I got into a deep squat and pressed as hard as I could against the ground trying to shoot up into the sky by jumping just as Krillin and Goku had. They had been able to see the whole island from how high they reached but I wasn't putting myself on their level. Even a fifth of that kind of power would be sufficient enough to make me feel as though my training was worth it.

But I didn't go to a fifth of Goku or Krillin's jumping heights. I didn't even get to a tenth. After rising up about 2 1/2 feet to the air I stopped, as I felt gravity start pulling back down into the Earth.

H- how could this be happening. After all the training I had done? What was the point, of working so hard? I felt tears start to come to my eyes I started the walk back home. Alice was probably starting to wonder where I went after she timed me, I didn't want to make her worry.

As I walked back home I tried to think about what went wrong. I'm sure I worked as hard as I could while pushing my self, so why were my results so... average. If I had to guess about how strong I was right now I think it would pretty much just be a very athletic kid.

There is no way I would be able to fight the huge hunks of muscle or the beasts that showed up in the World Martial Arts Tournament. Much less win the whole thing.

No, I couldn't keep thinking pessimistically, my hard work had still paid off. I was an athletic freak with all things considered if you didn't include any aliens or freaks of nature.

I don't even know if Krillin was even human or not like he didn't even have a nose. I could also include Tien under that, he had 3 eyes for god's sake.

Was it really impossible for a normal human to get as strong as the z fighters? Even master Roshi was an immortal freak, he didn't count as normal.

As I pondered on whether I could even get any stronger due to me being human, other than the dragon balls of course, it hit me. Yamcha. I almost forgot about him because of how useless he is later on but compared to the other people on Earth he is still super strong. How had they all done it? Transcended the limits and become so much more powerful than everyone else on the planet?

My eyebrows scrunched together as I thought of a solution to my predicament when I heard someone calling out to me.

"Hey Raiden, you alright? You suddenly went running off after I timed you."

My thoughts were interrupted by my sister looking at me with concern on her face. She was clearly worried about me.

"Huh, yeah sorry I just have a lot on my mind right now," I replied. I didn't really wanna talk about how I was upset over my strength not being as much as kids who technically were still toddlers.

"You wanna talk about it?" she said as she sat down at the dinner table. She pulled the seat next to her back and motioned for me to sit down next to her.

I hesitated then decided to take the seat. I had been stuck in my own mind for far too long and maybe talking to someone would help me figure out why my training wasn't working.