Chapter 21 Training Begins

It wasn't very often that Gohan found himself pacing around with excitement. With worry or concern, yes, more times than he would have liked actually. But with excitement? No, that had certainly been a while. But here he was, stood outside the castle headquarters waiting as people began to line themselves up. He'd been up for several hours already, first cleaning himself and his uniform to make himself look his best, and then trying to create some sort of plan for the day's events.

His first draft had been terrible, too reliant on people knowing more than they did about Ki. Then he had obviously overshot in the other direction and had started leading off into a tangent about theoretical concepts and he'd had to scrap the whole thing mid-ramble. A few others had been drafted before he'd ended up where he was currently, which was to say with some kind of structure that allowed for a lot of improvisation, but he didn't have any more time to spend on it.

As the last person stepped into line it only now occurred to him that he perhaps should have designed some training Gi's for this, and that his uniform was perhaps not the best choice for a day of working out. Oh well, he'd done it as a cadet and so had everyone else. Even captain Levi looked ready to learn, which he supposed meant he should get on with it.

"Alright everyone, welcome to your first day of Ki training." That was too formal, be more relaxed. "I figured that for our first session I'd focus on giving you guys a demonstration on what Ki can do, and then work on helping everyone get in touch with their energy. Sound good?"

Several heads bobbed in front of him and watched in interest. Others, like Levi, were already looking sceptical. "Alright. Well for those who have never seen it before, I suppose I should show you what Ki is." He stretched out his hand, palm facing upwards, and with a small effort he summoned a bright yellow ball of Ki energy.

The reaction was instantaneous, if mixed. Rico, Mitabi, and Mikasa were the only ones who had seen it in the flesh before, and looked on with a more studious gaze. Impressed, but not so shocked that they didn't take the opportunity to truly try and see what he was doing. The scouts were mostly the reaction he'd seen before, a mix of awe and wonder with only a few exceptions. Oluo visibly gawked before trying to reign himself back in. Levi was definitely interested, but held on to his composure a lot more effectively than the rest. Eren was also visibly amazed by it, but less so than the rest, which at least allowed him to not make a fool of himself as he seemed to wince in jealousy at being possibly overshadowed.

The most interesting reaction was from the Military Police members, who reacted in a way much closer to alarm than anything else. After a brief thought, he supposed it made sense. Their job was to keep order and maintain security after all, and the thought of what Ki could do in the wrong hands would no doubt already be worrying them. Having seen the destruction Ki was capable of, Gohan didn't blame them in the slightest.

"Ki is the physical manifestation of the energy within your body. When you're more in touch with yourself, you'll be able to feel it deep inside of you. You can use Ki to enhance basically everything you do, and use it to push yourself beyond your limits as well. To demonstrate, I would like a volunteer." There was a brief exchange of looks between the group before Oluo stepped boisterously forwards.

"Alright then, if there's no one else then I suppose it'll be up to me. Watch and learn people." He stepped towards Gohan with a smug grin on his face, his eyes locked on the half-saiyan, and therefore oblivious to the eye rolls behind him.

"Thank you Oluo. Now, you would say that you're in good shape aren't you?" He asked, purposefully hamming up the question. His little salesman approach felt a little unnatural to do, but he knew it would be so fun when he did his reveal. And fortunately, Oluo was eating it up.

"Damn right I am. I'm one of the best in humanity after all." He proudly thumbed towards himself, just to emphasise who he was saying was among the best, and earning a few groans from his comrades as well.

"Well in that case, how about a show of strength? I would like you…" He stepped to the side and pointed towards the reason why he'd chosen to start at this specific spot. "To kick this boulder."

A bemused expression came over him as Oluo looked over the boulder in front of him. Truthfully, boulder was a bit of an exaggeration, it was more like a simply large rock. But even if it was 'just' a large rock, there was no way that Oluo could kick it and do much more than hurt his own foot. He supposed that was probably a point of some sort, but still…

He rolled his neck, stepped forwards, and with a quick suck of air, he lashed out with a kick against the stone, the bottom of his foot smashing audibly against it. There was an echoing thump, but sadly little else aside from the dull pulse of pain that went up his leg.

"Thank you Oluo, you can step back in line now."

The pain and embarrassment swiftly boiled over into frustration, and as he hobbled back he snapped. "Just what the hell was that supposed to prove!?"

For perhaps the first time Eren could remember, Gohan looked positively smug as he moved over to the rock. He sucked in some breath, dropped into some kind of fighting stance, and then repeating the same kick Oluo had, albeit with much more grace and poise, put his foot through the rock.

He'd aimed a little high, which had led to a spectacular display as stone shattered and flew in an explosion of debris. A couple figures in the line took a step back as shards of the former boulder landed in a shower near their feet. Oluo, and a few others, were gobsmacked.

"As said, Ki improves your physical limits in every way. Here, we have strength." He held out a hand and showed his handy work, not that anyone could have missed it with how they were all staring almost bug eyed at it. To Gohans own satisfaction, even Captain Levi's aura of calm had been broken as he stared in shock. "There are different training methods to help you focus on improving your strength, and a lot of these will help with your durability as well."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small knife. It was a trick he'd shown a few times now, but it was reliable and effective at proving his point as he gripped it tightly in his hand by the blade until it snapped. The reactions were less astounded this time when he showed his hand was unharmed, in part thanks to them still recovering from his prior display of strength. Gohan was fine with that though. His strength had helped him to escape the grasp of a Titan more than he wished, but his durability wasn't to the level that he would feel comfortable relying on it to keep him safe from one, let alone get his students hopes up that it would protect them.

It felt odd to call them students given their levels of experience compared to his, but he supposed he should. He should also teach them a more valuable lesson, how to use speed to avoid being hit. "So, we have strength and durability, now for speed. I need another volunteer, who here is the fastest?"

A line of heads swivelled towards the figure stood at the end, and with a roll of the eyes Captain Levi stepped forwards. He seemed uninterested in acting as a volunteer, but Gohan could tell that the man was curious about sizing him up by the way he moved before him. There was a confidence to it, but not one that overshadowed his caution, not hesitating to move but not fully relaxing either.

"So what's the plan here then Son, we gonna have a race or something?" Levi asked, placing his hands on his hips expectedly.

"Nope. It's true I would be faster but that's not really as useful as the others. So instead, I'd like to show you how Ki can be used to dodge." He explained to his audience, before turning back to the captain. "I want you, to try and hit me."

There was some murmuring from the group, many of the scouts talking about concern for their captain if he didn't succeed, not that they believed that would be possible under most circumstances, it was only after what they'd already seen so far that they were willing to consider it. Eren however almost let out a squeal of excitement at the prospect of seeing the two of them fight. As for the others…

"I'll put 20 on Gohan." Said Rico, smiling in anticipation.

"Same." Said Mitabi, reaching into his jacket pocket and pulling out a handful of papers that he gave to Rico to hold onto.

"What?! Are you two seriously betting against the Captain!?" Oluo was shocked as he angrily rummaged through his own jacket pocket. "20 for the captain, who else?"

"Here."

"I'm in."

Came the voices of Eld and Gunther, both likewise pulling out some money only more calmly than their companion. Notably absent was Petra's voice however, which quickly drew the attention of her three compatriots.

"This is childish." She said with her hands on her hips, a disapproving scowl aimed at them which they all seemed ready to ignore.

"She's right." Came a much sterner voice, and the scouts turned meekly to see Levi's own disapproving gaze on them. "You're here for a lesson, not to gamble. So pay attention."

At that, he dropped into a fighting stance. He had to admit, he was a little surprised to see that it wasn't one he recognised. Then he had to mentally smack himself, since of course he didn't recognise it, he only knew two from this world. Annie's, and what had been taught in basic, which could hardly be called a fighting stance rather than just the correct way to hold yourself when bracing for a charge.

The hand to hand training had been incredibly basic compared to what he'd been taught, simple disarms and throws. Which is why it was very surprising that the Captain seemed to be more advanced than that. He kept his legs low yet arms wide, likely ready to dart out and strike quickly from all angles, an aggressive form and one that probably favoured the use of his swords. At the very least, it was obvious the man preferred mobility, which made it suddenly very obvious why everyone had looked to him as being the fastest beyond his simple reputation as humanity's strongest.

Still, Gohan was confident it wouldn't mean much for the end result as he dropped into his own stance, a mix of Piccolo's demon style and Master Roshi's Turtle style. At the very least, it would be all the more impressive when Gohan succeeded in never getting hit.

"Begin!"

As expected, Captain Levi charged forwards. His sudden burst of movement wasn't reckless however, as he quickly planted himself and let his momentum transfer into an attack. With a slight hope, Gohan almost glided across the grass as he dodged backwards from it. In response, Levi simply switched into another attack, transferring momentum again and again as he relentlessly pursued his opponent.

His opponent did manage to keep himself constantly out of harm's way, but Gohan was all the more impressed by the way he fought. It was like controlled chaos, with almost deliberate overextensions to push himself beyond most, to hit faster and harder, all the while without losing control or balance. A quick glance to his feet showed the measured steps he was taking, where even when he pivoted onto one foot he was always prepared with a backup plan. The way his hips rolled and legs twisted meant that if he Gohan tried to sweep his leg, he could easily regain balance and then likely try and counter attack.

Gohan wasn't the only one impressed, as he noticed the way everyone's eyes followed them both intently. Pride and awe from the Scouts, and Eren, while the others were more mixed. Rico and Mitabi seemed just plain excited and having fun. Mikasa watching studiously, learning rather than simply enjoying. The two MP's however, looked concerned, and not in a way that Gohan could brush off as being related to their jobs.

The final moment of distraction almost cost him as a fist came towards his face. Instead of dodging, Gohan raised an arm and blocked it, moving into a grapple as he succeeded. Moving with Levi's own momentum, he swung the man past him and pushed him away to give himself distance. To his credit, Levi may have been taken off guard but he didn't stumble as he skidded to a stop, almost ready to resume his attack before stopping himself.

Gohan agreed, that was enough of a demonstration to get the point across, and nodded in thanks. "Impressive. You know, I think you're almost ready to use Ki just on your own. I think I could feel a little bit of it in there."

"You can feel Ki?" Levi asked inquisitively, not at all tired from his brief battle, something which his team was already bragging about, even if they were being silenced by Rico and Mitabi's celebrations and demands for money.

"Ki is everything that lives, and when you're fully in tune with yourself and the world around you, you can feel that Ki as well." Gohan explained, catching the attention of Eren who suddenly turned his focus entirely to him.

"Can you sense Titans too?"

There was a sudden lull that followed as everyone turned to him for an answer. "I can." He admitted. "There's a range limit on it, I'm just not strong enough to sense out to Wall Maria for example, but I can still sense the Titans before they can ambush me." He moved his arms as he spoke, fully aware that he had everyone's keen attention with what may be the most powerful ability he could teach them. "It takes a long time to do it innately, and even I can forget about it sometimes when I get overwhelmed, but it's still saved my life several times already."

"What's it like?" Petra asked, to Gohans curiosity. "What you sense, what does it feel like?"

"It's…warm. Like when you give someone a hug, they have that certain warmth that flows through you. All around us is life, all the way down to the insects and the plants." The way his mother held him. The scent of the slight perfume she wore, and how it mixed with the food she seemed to always be cooking. He could remember it perfectly, and just as he could remember he warmth and her smell, he remembered her Ki. Warm and caring, in a way nobody but his mother could be. "Everyone is different, and with time you can pick people out by their individual Ki. With the Titans… their Ki is, strange somehow. Unnatural, like it's dirty, or tainted."

"Even to their core the Titans are abominations." Muttered Mitabi, too disgusted by the revelation to think of the benefits that could come.

"No one could hide." Muttered Caven, hand under her chin thoughtfully. Beside her, Kuno had a book open and was studiously writing notes inside of it. "No more losing suspects in the middle of a chase."

"Only if they don't know Ki control." Gohan interjected and catching their attention. "With the right training you can also control your own Ki. The most obvious way is powering up, but you can go the other way as well. Dropping your Ki until you're effectively invisible. Super handy if you want to hide, or even just have an opponent underestimate you." A thought occurred to him and he turned towards Levi and the other scouts. "Be careful on an expedition though. Titans drop their Ki sometimes as well. Mostly at night when they go dormant, but I saw an abnormal once that was effectively dormant during the day, just waiting for something to get close enough."

Caven nodded thoughtfully, face going expressionless as she took in his words.

"Alright. Final demonstration before we get started on the training. Ki can obviously be used within your body to enhance your physical abilities, as you've just seen. It can also be used externally in several ways, the most basic of which, is called a Ki blast." A couple smiles began to form as people put two and two together, tales from the battle of Trost having made their way to the ears of those who hadn't been present themselves.

He made sure to move aside, and turn towards the empty plains in the distance. He wasn't as strong as he was before, but he still needed to be careful enough that he wasn't about to hit anyone. But where to start? He supposed he should start where he did, it was how he was going to run his training regime after all.

"The simplest attack, isn't much of a leap from when you're able to draw out your Ki." He waved a hand and everyone gathered around in a semi-circle as he indicated. Raising his hand, he pulled out his Ki just as he had done so many times before. Unlike when he had shown before, he didn't stop at a small light, and let it balloon up to the size of his palm.

Thrusting his palm forwards, he let loose a small barrage of blasts into the distance. Five balls scattered across the plains and blasted into spectacular fireballs, the explosions roaring loudly. Compared to what he'd seen and done before, it was embarrassingly weak, and far more show-ey than actually effective. Yet for those who'd never seen Ki before…?

"Holy shit!"

"It's like a cannon in your hand!"

"Does it hurt to shoot?"

"You could blow a Titan to bits with just one of those!"

"That's incredible…" It was Mikasa who spoke last, and most softly. She was in awe, not just at its power but the promise it could hold, the promise he'd made to her. She wanted to learn and improve, maybe then she could rest assured that she could keep her family safe.

"I'll teach you." He whispered to her, before turning towards the rest. "I'll teach you all in time, once you're ready. But it's important to remember that for as flashy as they are, a Ki blast on its own might not be enough to destroy a Titans nape. If you want to be able to kill a Titan in a single blast, you're better off using something like this."

He spread his feet apart once more, taking a deep breath before thrusting his palms out in front of him, fingers curled slightly inwards in an imaginary grip. And then he began.

"Ka…"

He brought his hands slowly back and to his side, body tensing as he powered up his attack. No energy was visible, yet all knew that something was coming.

"Me…"

A gust of wind picked up, invisible energy drawing in in preparation.

"Ha…"

Dirt began to pick up, hovering slowly up into the air around him as the energy continued to build. Around him people began to mutter, but Gohan tuned it all out. For him, there was nothing but his target, and then energy in his palms.

"Me…"

Finally, there was a flash of blue light as the energy ball appeared. Bright blue and filling his entire grasp, to the point where energy seemed to be breaking through the gaps between his fingers as it struggled to be set free. There was a building whine in the air as the power grew and grew, to the point that the others weren't sure he would be able to hold it, until he finally let go.

"HAAAAA!!!!"

Thrusting his palms forwards he let the blast tear through the air and across the plains. Wind billowed from the torrent of power, sending dust everywhere as people shielded their eyes from the debris and sheer intensity of the light. The blue beam ripped up loose bits of earth as it soared towards its destination, a lone tree off far in the distance.

When it hit, the explosion was immense as the fireball that erupted blocked the countryside from view. Black smoke filled the area and a shockwave of air burst towards them and forced a couple of them to brace or be knocked over. Wind howled and roared as the explosion occurred, before finally falling silent with only the soundings of falling dirt to be heard.

Another sound did join however, that being Gohans own panting as he let himself relax, feeling sweat already beading on his head. It was disturbing really, just how much his body had been atrophied by his forced travel to this new world. He'd overexerted himself without realising just how much weaker his body was.

All these years on and he still couldn't get used to it. It was like having a glass ceiling inside of him, where every day he thought he could still feel just a sliver of what he once was, and yet every time he went for it…nothing. In this case, he'd had to be reminded the hard way as he dropped to one knee.

Petra was beside him in an instant to check him over, but he put up a calming hand to tell her he was fine while he caught his breath. After a good few seconds to calm down, he rose back to his feet and addressed the group.

"That was a technique called the Kamehameha. I learnt it from my father, who learned it from his master. It's an extremely powerful and versatile attack. With practice you can fire it quite quickly, but it's best used with true focus."

"What other types are there?" Asked Eren, leaning forwards with excitement.

Maybe it was the idea of having a power to kill Titans which didn't involve taking one of their forms. Maybe it was just excitement from being able to blow stuff up. Either way it was infectious, as most of the others all leaned in with similar interest.

"Oh there are loads. The Masenko is one of my personal favourites, it's good for quick reaction counter attacks. Or there's the special beam cannon. It takes a long time to charge but it'll pierce through just about anything for much less energy than it would otherwise take. But in time, you can all create your own too."

A few wows were uttered as people began to get lost in their thoughts. It reminded him of when he had been learning under Piccolo and had had a similar reaction. True, he'd been a child, but it seemed even hardened scouts and garrison soldiers, or jaded military police still had a little bit of child at heart in them.

"But, that'll be later. For now, we should probably get into training."

"That's right." Agreed Levi, apparently more than satisfied by the demonstration and turning towards Eren. "There's still some cleaning to be done though. So Jaeger you'll be on de-weeding around the castle. We also need to clear out the stables, collect fire wood for the nights, tidy out the well and clean it…"

He continued on as more and more faces sank as the chores piled up. Split between them all, they truthfully wouldn't last long, but now people were eager to get started.

"This'll be a good way of starting our training actually." Gohan said, catching Levi's attention as he paused in his list. "Here, Eren come with me."

He led Eren, and subsequently the others, over towards one of the more prominent weeds. He squatted, readied a flat palm, and then quick as a flash he thrust forwards, spearing into the dirt and ripping out the weed down to its roots.

He let the weed drop, brushing off the dirt in his hand before pausing and accepting a handkerchief held out by Captain Levi. Eren leaned down in disbelief and turned to another nearby sprout.

"Go ahead. Try it."

With a doubtful look Eren straightened his palm like a knife and thrust forwards, digging almost an entire centimetre into the dirt.

"Good! Now keep trying until you can take out a weed in one thrust." Gohan reassured, Eren looking back at him in doubt before shrugging his shoulders, and trying again anyways.

"Alright, now for everyone else."

After giving out several other exercises, he was eventually left with leading Mikasa and Petra towards one of the stables.

"Okay, so the big job here is to clean out the horse troughs." He said more to himself than the others. He was quiet for a good few moments, trying to think of some way of making the task far more difficult than it needed to be, as seemed to be his 'style' if it could be called that.

He'd openly admitted he'd been trying to teach the way his father had been taught, which had obviously been rather eccentric. When asked about why they didn't learn the way he had, he'd muttered some excuse about mountains that nobody had understood. So instead he'd stuck it out, giving all sorts of strange alterations to their jobs.

Oluo and Gunther were moving supplies in large loads via makeshift sleds rather than simply carrying them one at a time. The two MP's were likewise moving supplies, only from the bottom of the floor all the way to the top while taking exaggerated knee lifts up each step while doing so. Captain Levi and Eld were moving debris through a combination of their ODM gear and their own muscles. Whilst Rico and Mitabi were clearing out the well by climbing down a rope inside of it, picking up a single piece of rubbish, and then climbing all the way back out again.

It was certainly tiring, and Petra supposed that was more the point than anything else. Still, it didn't have her feeling very eager to hear what her job was going to be. That ominous feeling only grew stronger when Gohan finally snapped his fingers.

"I got it! You two will take each trough individually down to the lake to clean it and come back."

"The lake?! But that's so far away!" Petra protested, just imagining how heavy the troughs were going to be as well.

He at least had the good graces to look apologetic. "Sorry, I'll come up with more traditional training methods once the castle is all sorted. But look at it this way, this'll be great for stamina, strength, and teamwork!"

Petra sighed, conceding that he hadn't made some disastrous mistake in his concept anyway, though she might just be a bit harsher than normal when it eventually came time to patch him up for something.

As he excused himself, she was left alone with Mikasa who began moving towards one of the troughs without complaint. As she followed, Petra decided it might be best to try and get to know the girl a little better. She was the only new girl on the special operations squad after all, even if she had some company with two of their guests.

"So…" she started, suddenly realising she didn't have a plan of where to lead her conversation. "Was Gohan like this much as a cadet?" Mikasa didn't answer, possibly because she didn't want to, or possibly because she was concentrating on grabbing her end of the first trough. Petra gave her time until she had grabbed and lifted her own end before continuing.

"I know he didn't teach anyone else much about Ki, but you seem to be taking this in your stride pretty well."

"I trust him." Was all she said on the matter, and Petra had to resist the urge to roll her eyes.

"Do you trust him, or do you trust in him?" There was a slight jolt as Mikasa hesitated briefly in her movements, before continuing on as if nothing had happened.

"I don't understand what you mean."

"Well, he's teaching us to use Ki right? And I know you two are close, so I want to know if you trust that he can actually teach us, or if you just trust him to try?"

"He'll teach us, I know he will. He promised me."

Well that was interesting. Maybe it was just being gossip starved but she was more curious than usual. "So he keeps his promises then?"

She saw the nod even when looking at the back of her head. "Absolutely. For as long as I've ever known him Gohan has never lied to me, and he's done the impossible more than once."

"You mean like at Trost?"

Another nod, this one subtler like she was only paying partial attention. "Before then as well. In Shiganshina."

Shit, she knew what that name meant. Even if she hadn't been given some notes about Jaegers trial and background, Shiganshina was probably the most well-known district anywhere you went.

"He did the impossible then too. He saved my mother when no-one else could. Lifted a boulder right off of her."

Damn. That was… truly astounding to actually think about. Shiganshina was five years ago, back when he must have been just a child still, not even a teenager. She remembered where she was back then, a young teen still so unsure about herself, so vulnerable.

Gohan… he was like a true to life hero. That was… She wasn't really sure what that was, but there was certainly a strange series of thoughts that followed, thoughts that would take a while to sort out.

In the meantime, she readjusted the weight on her shoulder, and continued on.

When she hit the top floor, Caven was just about ready to collapse, but managed to drop the box from her arms first. It hit the floor with a loud bang, swiftly followed by her falling down onto her hands and knees, beads of sweat dripping onto the floor.

This was ridiculous. She was one of the best, even among the MP's, but this damn castle was so big, and she'd been running up and down for too long to count. Kuno was no better as he staggered up the final step, his heavy breathing sounding much more raspy than it should be.

"There's… there's no way he can actually do this himself." He moaned, the brief pause as he rested already locking his muscles up.

"You saw what he did. That kid's a freak of nature." The morning's demonstration had been a wakeup call, and not one she was willing to ignore.

"What the hell are we supposed to do about him if he becomes a threat then?"

It was a question that had been on both of their minds even before they'd arrived, ever since they'd heard stories about this impossible things he'd done at Trost. It wasn't much, but Caven had at least managed to form the beginnings of a plan.

"We learn. We get strong like him. We take notes and teach the others. And then… then we expand." The last was the most crucial. It was one thing to learn to try and face something like Gohan Son, but a whole other if his teachings passed onto the best of the Scout regiment, or anyone else. They needed to match him, and they needed more numbers too.

Just in case.