Viral found it fairly difficult to breathe with his nose being blocked by blood, feeling as if his brain was leaking gently out of his head. He certainly got a nosebleed a lot but usually when his energy was dying down rapidly or when his mind disappeared into a regressive feral mentality. He found it hard to speak, as if a block was preventing him from finding his mind again. Finding it rather hard to listen to Aito he kept his head low, feeling like it was more than just coming down from a high. There was pain all over and everything felt like it was missing, as if his insides were pulverised. He felt pathetic on the floor like this, his nose being wiped as if he was a child. Being told to eat didn’t help him when he felt absolutely terrible, he didn’t even know if he was going to be able to digest it. Trying to adjust so he could speak without pain he let out a groan, trying to breathe correctly before he sighed. “There’s pain everywhere…just everywhere…” he spoke, closing his eyes, “I can’t think…I need to move, but…I can’t move…”

Shu thought that could’ve gone better, the hard thump on the floor making him realise that fairly quickly. He didn’t mean to go up that fast but he did manage to soften the blow by trying to fly back up again. He hoped Takeshi wasn’t angry at him for that, seeing how it was a demonstration of Takeshi’s teaching abilities too. Wiping down his knees he soon simply lowered himself, squatting down in front of Kabocha as he hugged his tail. It probably wasn’t looking too good for Takeshi, but it could’ve gone worse. “I have been trying…I mean, I do practice…” Standing up again he tapped his fingers together in hope that he wouldn’t make Takeshi look even worse, listening to Kabocha. “I didn’t want…” Watching Kabocha as he flew up a little bit he stared at him, giving him a nod before looking down at his feet. “I can do that! I can…” Looking down at his feet before to Kabocha, he tried to fly to Kabocha but instead of flying to him he went right over him, looking like he tried to grab him as he flew off and back around again, falling on the other side of him. He could do just a few metres, surely, but he was screwing up rather badly here too.

Kai was alright with giving Haku a few hints on how to cook for himself, but at least he didn’t appear to be completely beyond teaching him a few skills. The ones he was asking about were pretty basic so he was going to give him the basic ways to cook too. Rice was very basic so he was going to give him the basics to make some fairly tasty rice. “Yeah, make sure you have the rice constantly boiling too”, he spoke, sighing lightly, “You know, never even cooked rice until we got it from Earth. It’s new to us so we’re learning basics all the time”. Getting the salt shaker he pushed it towards Haku, glancing to him when he questioned his cooking ideas. “Yeah, you can fry it if you want, stash some egg in there, even mix it up with some sauce”, he nodded, looking to the pan to see if it was going to start smoking soon, “You can make a sauce if you want too. Once the rice is nearly done with the steak, make a quick sauce to put on the steak which will be set on the rice. Slice it up all nice and junk”.

Choi was just leaving Kai to deal with Haku, seeing how he was busy making the rest of the sandwich. They always took turns to make the sandwich part while the other cooked the steak to perfection. Setting out the bread to go in the grill he got a separate pan ready with a fair bit of oil, getting some eggs ready. He didn’t know what colour these eggs were on the inside, only knowing they were alien and probably full of protein. Thinking to himself about the possibility of getting some birds for easy eggs he didn’t notice Yumi’s voice in the background until a second after he heard her, looking to the mess hall quickly before placing down everything and heading towards the kitchen door. “Uhh, one moment, just gonna see to that”, he spoke quickly before looking out into the mess hall. It was definitely Yumi but he didn’t know why she had to ask out like that instead of going straight to the kitchen, but either way he was pretty happy to see her. “Yumi! Hey! Uhh, we’re just making a snack before bed later! What’s up? Is something wrong?”

Aito would far prefer getting Viral onto a bed right now, but he worried moving the Beastman around at all would agitate his body further. It might take just moments for the soreness to fade, or perhaps even hours, it was best they take things slow until they knew exactly what was going to come of this. Having done his best to clean up his son's nose, Aito smiled sympathetically as he held fresh gauze against the blood as he tried to stifle the bleeding. "The pain is to be expected, and it'll pass, don't worry so much. We'll move you in a few minutes, no sense in rushing it and potentially hurting you," he responded, easing himself down so he sat beside the Beastman. "Don't worry about being overly active just yet, okay? Focus on settling down and breathing, that's all you've got to focus on." Once Yumi got back with food Aito hoped that Viral would have settled some, and perhaps they could get him to eat. The IV they were using would give some general nutrients, but a bag of fluids scarcely compared to having an actually full stomach.

"Just a few meters up Shu, nothing that difficult. Go on, try it," Kabocha urged, waving on the young Prince as he hovered in the air. The fact that Shu could even get in the air told him he knew how to use Ki, but the erratic way in which he did so ought to make it so that he couldn't to begin with. Keeping a close eye on the kid to watch his movements he frowned when Shu ricocheted into the air, managing to fly up and over his instructor before landing back on the other side. Rolling his eyes, Kabocha turned around and went back down to the floor, sighing as he rubbed at his forehead. "Seriously... It's not a race, you're using way too much energy," he said impatiently, glancing down at Shu, "It's not hard, really it's not. Use a tiny bit of Ki, just enough to get off the ground, and... Hey!" Stumbling a bit as he was pushed aside Kabocha righted himself, glaring over at Takeshi as he brushed off his shoulder, "What? I'm teaching him!"

"But you're being an ass about it, that won't help him," Takeshi bit back, frowning as he shook his head, "You might know what to do, but that doesn't make you a good teacher." Realistically they should probably cooperate here, but that was the furthest thing from his mind at the moment. As with nearly everything he had turned this into a competition, and he would be damned if his way of teaching didn't work out better. Determined to show up Kabocha, the older boy smiled as he walked over to join his brother, reaching out and putting a hand on his head. "You're getting it buddy, but you've gotta slow down a bit, you know? See, watch what I do." Holding out his arms to his side to simulate balancing, Takeshi slowly began to rise up into the air, looking down at himself then back at Shu with a smile. "See? Nice and slow, just use a bit of Ki at a time, that's all you need." It was basically rehashing exactly what Kabocha was going to say, but he delivered it in a much better way, at least he thought so.

For something that was supposed to be "basic" there was sure a lot of work that went into rice. If this was one of the easier dishes to create then he couldn't even imagine what the more complex ones might be like. "Wow... I never knew so much work went into cooking," he mumbled, looking down at the pan of rice amazed, "You guys must have put a ton of work into it to learn all of these things, wish I could cook like that." As it stood he didn't even know how to cook a steak, not properly anyways. Just because stuffing it in the oven worked didn't mean it was the right way or even a good way to go about it. Smiling a bit eagerly at making his own meal, Haku left the two pans be for a while, glancing over at the doors when he heard Yumi calling out to them. Weird that she would be here, he figured she would be busy working with Viral. Getting a waft of his meal cooking the young Saiyan sighed happily, looking back over at Kai and smiling slightly as he wrung his hands together nervously. "If it's not too much to ask... Could you teach me how to cook, maybe?" he asked, biting his lip as he glanced away, "I figured I could help cook for everyone, and maybe they would like me more if I made food for them."

Yumi didn't want to interrupt whoever was cooking in there, but she did need to grab something for Viral to eat. Maybe if there was some spare food being prepared she could take a plate to go, unless the food was only for whoever was preparing it. Poking her head into the mess hall she sniffed at the air curiously, a smile spreading across her lips as she caught scent of the meals cooking. They sure did smell tasty, but she had to remember she was here for Viral, not herself. Walking idly towards the swinging doors she raised an eyebrow when Choi came hurrying out, smiling at him cheerfully as she folded her hands behind her back. "Hey Choi, hope I'm not interrupting you guys. I'm just here to find something for Viral to eat is all," Yumi explained, smiling sadly as she itched at one of her ears, "He's changed back to his regular self, but he's really not feeling well. I'm kind of hoping if we can get him to eat something tasty then he'll start feeling better."

Viral didn’t have the energy to move around on his own and even with the fluids passing through his body to rehydrate him he was still lightheaded and felt very ill. It would be great if he could stand and feel fine after getting that shot but after all that he wished he was still a twisted monster. There had to be a better way than this but he was fully blaming Aito for his condition. While his bleeding nose was slowly coming to a stop he looked very drained, his eyes struggling to stay open despite his intense desire to remain awake. Even when being told to focus he struggled, his breathing not keeping up at a proper rhythm. It was heavy and struggling, moving his head to the side slowly as he observed the room he was in. He had to try and find some other focus, something other than the drone of Aito’s voice. “I can’t…I can’t…” he muttered, moving a paw to try and put pressure on the floor, “I don’t care for pain…just…give me drugs or something…”

Shu felt a little embarrassed but Takeshi was probably even more so. He was making a terrible example of his abilities and Takeshi’s teaching. Slowly turning around on the floor he sat staring up at Kabocha, his head low with his tail gently patting on the floor. He didn’t know what he had done wrong to use that much energy, but he didn’t know how to using it any other way. “I-I’m sorry…I just-…” Before he could give any sort of excuse Takeshi was quick to give Kabocha a bump, giving them both a confused look. He didn’t know what he was supposed to do but for now he stood up, wiping his knees down as he stared at the pair. Watching them curiously he stared up at Takeshi as he was approached, raising his shoulders when Takeshi gave him a pat. Staring up at him as he tried to explain it to him he watched how he approached the problem, tilting his head before giving a nod, holding his arms out too. “Slow and nice and slow…and nice?” he spoke calmly, trying to use just a little bit of Ki instead. Trying to keep Takeshi’s words in mind he released as little Ki as possible, his feet coming off the ground a few times. He knew he needed to get a little higher with this, getting to where he was now was not getting anywhere fast. Putting in a little more Ki he raised up a few metres suddenly, halting himself and twisting around in the air. “Am I doing it? Ahh! I’m going to fall on my head!”

Kai didn’t know what Haku was planning to do for his meal but it was sounding awfully plain for what he had in mind. Just steak and rice was a bit dull so maybe something else could be added to it. Getting things ready for him and Choi when Choi went off he looked back to Haku, raising an eyebrow. “Huh? I guess, I mean…we’ve been cooking for a King and his Elites for all our lives. We had to get good and it’s interesting finding out how to cook new dishes. Food is important and keeps us strong, after all”. Not really seeing it as a big deal he decided to give Haku a little bit of something to go with his meal, going off to the freezer with a cup and going into a bag, scooping out some mixed frozen vegetables before going back over and tossing them into the water as well, giving it a little more heat. It was probably time to start cooking everything else now like the steaks, but before he went for them he heard Haku ask him something rather curious indeed. “Teach you? Uhhh…” he paused, glancing in Choi’s direction before looking back to Haku, “I…guess? I mean, you’ll have to watch what we do rather than us tell you what to do. Observation is better than taking notes. I’m sure you can do that, right?”

Choi was pretty happy to see Yumi finally on her own again, even if it probably wasn’t for the best reason. If she was by herself it meant her friend was receiving probably some private treatment. Smiling happily at her he copied her stance, holding his hands behind his back as she asked him something rather curious. Looking to the kitchen quickly his eyes went back to her when she gave her reasoning. “Wait, he is? It’s been a while, uhhh…” pausing, he looked back to the kitchen before fully turning and heading back in, looking back at her so she could follow him in, “There’s plenty of fresh fish we picked up from the bug planet in the fridge…oh and a variety of birds and steaks. Is he still eating raw or want me to flash-fry him something?”

No one had ever said this process would be easy for Viral, but it was the quickest way to having him recover. Their alternative, just as unpleasant, would have been forcibly changing the Beastman back. Besides just the obvious physical discomfort that would bring it could be traumatic, as they would have to cause his body to regress well before it wanted to. In a way the serum did as well, but the serum acted more passively and the current pain was simply a result of the wear and tear of transforming before. Smiling as the bleeding finally began to slow down, Aito let out a relieved sigh, taking the gauze and once more wiping at the bits around Viral's nose before replacing it for the last time with a clean bit. "We're trying to avoid drugging you up, that's what you wanted, isn't it?" he asked curiously, frowning as he glanced over at Vegeta. His son had told him Viral had an aversion to being all drugged up, yet glancing over at the boy now he seemed to be a little edgy. Letting out another sigh, Aito shook his head and pointed with his free hand to the medicine cabinets above the desk. "Grab him some painkillers, he can take at least a few. Besides, if he's going to have food in his system it'll help the medicine spread quicker."

"But... Fine, I'll get the pills," Vegeta responded, sounding not at all pleased as he gave in. He had so wanted to avoid relying on medicine for this treatment, but clearly his father wasn't having any of it. There was likely a discrepancy in how they viewed medicine it seemed, with him thinking it was only a cheap way to fixing things; whatever Aito thought clearly wasn't along the same lines, he had no issue giving it to the Beastman. Pulling open the glass doors he scrolled through the dozens of bottles, eventually finding one of the painkillers to use. Glancing at the bottle to try and find a dosage count he decided, with no label, they should be safe and only do two. The strongest of painkillers were administered in very small doses, and not knowing how potent these were it was best to be safe rather than sorry. Before bringing over the pills Vegeta also grabbed a glass of water from one of the sinks, kneeling down besides Viral and offering over both to his friend. Or brother now was it? Everything was just so confusing now, he didn't know what to think.

Takeshi wasn't going to sit there and let Kabocha insult Shu, even if he had agreed to let the guy help train his brother. They could give instruction plenty well without making the little guy feel bad, and if that was Kabocha's idea of training then they had no need for it. "That's right buddy, just a tiny bit of Ki. Put out little by little until you get up, plain and simple," the older boy repeated, smiling as he tried giving an example, slowly rising up to a moderate level. This wasn't a race and he certainly wasn't competing with Shu here so there was no reason to make a show out of it. Watching carefully as Shu started to come up he smiled confidently, said smile quickly turning upside down as Shu did as well, blasting off well over the point where he hovered. Takeshi hurried and rose up to meet his brother, smiling exasperatedly as he grabbed his brother and helped turn him around. "You had it, but you're still doing it too quick buddy. It's not just one big burst of energy that you use, you know? It's more like... Think of running water. It's always flowing and the speed doesn't really change, keep it steady. What you're doing is more like... A volcano erupting, or a geyser. It's just one big whoosh!" he explained, making a gesture with his hands before hastily grabbing Shu again, "Think you get it now?"

"Ooooh... So you two were the ones cooking those meals. The King seemed like he really enjoyed them, the few times I saw him eating," Haku mentioned, smiling slightly as he looked down at the floor, "I always wanted to try them, they looked so good compared to what they gave us, but I wasn't about to steal his food." Getting punished by an Elite was bad enough, but the King himself? If you were lucky he'd just dump you out in orbit, otherwise he might go off on you, which for obvious reasons would be bad. Watching curiously as Kai went and threw some vegetables in with his rice, the young Saiyan felt his stomach grumbling in anticipation, rather excited even for such a simple meal. That did it, he needed to learn how they cooked all of this, maybe then he could be useful to everyone. "Yeah! I mean... If you wouldn't mind," Haku repeated, feeling a bit uncertain as Kai seemed to be taken aback by it. Awaiting an answer his eyes lit up when his request was granted, breaking into an earnest smile as he nodded his head quickly, "Uh... Y-Yeah! Of course I can watch!" he replied excitably, "I'll do whatever I have to, I swear!"

Yumi felt a bit bad showing up like this, seeing Choi just to ask a favor of him. They had been on a break with their relationship because she'd been so focused on Viral, thinking perhaps unreasonably the stress of her friend was impacting their dating. He had always said it was fine, but eventually the eating feeling that she was dragging him down had caused her to have to call it off for now. Looking at him like this, happy despite her doing that, made her stomach churn a bit with guilt, though she managed a smile nonetheless. "It has been, Aito made something to change him back. He's kind of weak right now though, so I'm hoping that a good meal will help him get his strength back!" she explained confidently, grinning as she flexed one arm and placed her hand over her bicep, "I know you're an awesome cook, so make whatever you think would be good for him. He's had trouble eating raw food though so please cook it? And if you can try and prepare it so it doesn't look so much like a regular steak too, that would be awesome!" If Viral was still a bit uneasy over what happened on Narbu then the food needed to be prepared in a very particular way, otherwise it would just go to waste sitting in front of him.

Viral didn’t want to have to end up on medication but he couldn’t handle it anymore, his body not having the best time keeping itself together and making sure his mind wasn’t going to fall apart from all the stress. He didn’t feel he had a choice about his health and what might be the best for him, only that Aito and Vegeta were in control and whether they would give him the pain relief he didn’t know. Feeling absolutely awful was the worst part, his only hope that he was going to get better later was not going to be met with any hurdles. Looking to Aito he let out a sigh, not caring about what he wanted earlier. He didn’t want to be on medication but he was in a lot of pain and the most he wanted right now was to get rid of it. He didn’t want to show that he was submitting to the temptation of drugs, but he was desperate. “I don’t care…I don’t care! I can’t stand it….not anymore…”

To him, that serum was already a medicine even if it was essential for him if he wanted to remain normal. He was not able to understand whether he was able to keep the transformations at bay and if they were as violent as they were back on Namek then he was going to have to be quick with these injections. Slowly looking up at Vegeta he watched as his slightly faded image moved around, knowing he was not happy with having to retrieve these pills for him. He didn’t know why Vegeta was complaining seeing how it wasn’t his body that was in pain. Pressing his paws against the floor he tried to get levelled better, waiting for Vegeta to get him this pills. He didn’t know what he was supposed to think about Vegeta anymore as he watched him, but he also didn’t know if Aito was just manipulating him and if he did get his memories back he still didn’t know if they were fake. Watching as Vegeta came to him with his pills he slowly reached up for them, his paws shaky as he took the pills and glass. “Question should be…will I eat the food…?” he sighed, trying to take the pills even with the gauze at his nose. It was really hard trying to get it down with the limited strength he had and the fact he was still needing his nose covered. He felt light-headed even when trying to drink and nearly gagged when he swallowed, his hand going to his chest as he gradually dropped the glass beside him. “…I can’t even drink without dying…”

Shu didn’t like the fact that he couldn’t keep straight but was happy when Takeshi helped turn him around, giving him a smile once he was the right way around. It was rather nice that he was able to help him like this and was confident he could get it right this time, even if he was sure he couldn’t master it completely. He wondered if Kabocha would be as kind even if he didn’t act like it before, hoping he might learn something from him as well and for Takeshi to let him without flipping out over it too. Giving Takeshi a smile he looked down at himself, trying to understand what Takeshi was telling him before he let out a squeak, shaking his fists. “Ooh! I try! I try! I just don’t know where it all comes from”, he spoke quickly, squeaking again when he was grabbed by Takeshi. “I-I think I get it! I think so. Be all like water? All water and not fast and big…”

Kai didn’t really like being reminded of the past, especially when it was the King that was involved. He didn’t mean to have any sort of connection with the King, he was just trying to survive with his family and not end up getting thrown to the trash for being useless. “Yeah, well…we weren’t given much of a choice. It wasn’t that long ago since we were drafted”, he spoke before sighing, taking the steaks for his brother and himself and placing them in the pan, watching them sizzle loud and strong, “It was either getting drafted or go to the labs to get experimented on. They liked how rare Saiyan twins are, I suppose”. Watching the rice carefully he soon went over and got the eggs ready at the side, waiting patiently for the pan to heat up when it had to be gradual. He didn’t really like cooking eggs too fast but he also didn’t want them to be too hard, hoping to get them perfect. Glancing at Haku at his excited response he let out a sigh, shrugging lightly. “Didn’t think you’d get so excited over cooking. You’re going to have to endure the pain of cooking too like burns and cuts…of course, Choi and I don’t burn ourselves at all anymore, but novices…well, you’ll be wanting to keep bandages near you”.

Choi was really happy to see Yumi out and about by herself even if she didn’t care as much to see him. He still saw no reason to treat her any different than he did before, even if things weren’t the same as they were before all of this happened. She was the first girl to actually like him, after all, and did hope she still thought of him once in a while. Listening to her with great interest he nodded with her words, smiling at her gesture. It sounded like quite the task she was setting for him, but he had an idea. “Huh…weak? Strength? Best not to have raw meat…well! I have an idea”, he spoke calmly before clapping his hands together, “Well, we can cut it up all small! You know, little bitesized pieces. We’ve got lots of steak so we’ll chop one up, alright? Want one too?”

Whether pills were desired or not here they were necessary, as Viral's pain could well attest to that. It wasn't fair to make the Beastman endure discomfort simply because Vegeta had a personal disdain for relying on medicine; Aito could understand his son's stance, not wanting Viral to become reliant, but that would only happen if they exploited it. With careful physical therapy and regular check-ups it would be more than enough to help Viral not only relax, but begin to build up the strength he needed again even for the most mundane of tasks. Watching as his son struggled to even take in the pill, Aito smiled sympathetically and pulled his sleeve up slightly, using it to wipe away some dribble before shaking his head. "Everything, even the most menial tasks is going to be a challenge like this. But don't lose heart because of that, as you should begin recovering very quickly. As for whether or not you can eat, well, we'll find a way. You'd be amazed what a simple meal can do for someone trying to heal up." It was basic knowledge that the proteins and vitamins taken in from food were used to rebuild the body, and where Viral was not eating there was nothing left to rebuild with. It was no small wonder he was so much pain, his muscle definition had faded and he looked fairly lean, and not in a good way. "Is it just meats you have an aversion to? If so we can find alternate means of getting you protein."

Hands off training wouldn't quite cut it for Shu, the little guy needed a helping hand in order to get this obviously. Either that or they let him shoot every which way like a stray rocket and pray he didn't put himself into one of the walls, which would be bad. "It all comes from... Well everywhere really. Ki doesn't really have just one place it sits, you know?" Takeshi asked rhetorically, scratching his cheek with a finger, "Most of it's in your torso, but there's some everywhere. When you fly you just want to try pushing a bit out of your feet, remember? And use the rest of your body to balance out. Just imagine a little stream if it helps, with the water all flowing pretty slow and in a straight line, that's what you want your Ki to be like. When you learn how to just get that down then we can focus on speeding up and slowing down." That was one problem with the little guy, far as Takeshi could see; everyone in their group could fly around and do all sorts of tricks, sans Viral, so Shu was probably trying to copy that more than he was learning the basics. "Go back to the floor and try it again, see if you get it this time." Expecting some kind of complaints from Kabocha he glanced over, surprised when the other boy simply waved them on. Either he was waiting to see if this would mess up, or he was too agitated, either way Takeshi didn't much care.

Haku cringed reflexively at the mention of the labs, knowing just how nasty those places were. He'd never been himself, but word tended to get around at all the nasty experimentation that went on behind closed doors. A lot of times if someone taken in after an attack had no real purpose then they were taken away for inspection, whatever that meant. All he knew was that most people who went in never came out, and the few who did were pretty shell shocked for a while. If they wanted to just drop the conversation here and now that would be swell, it wasn't a pleasant one anyways. Turning his focus back to the food being prepared Haku smiled eagerly, his stomach grumbling at the smells coming up from the pans. "Please... Do you have any idea how Elites treat bottom of the ranks like me?" Haku asked, glancing over at Kai, "They knock us around for fun and treat us like crap, and those were on the good days. I can handle little cuts and burns, don't worry.." Even so he'd heed Kai's advice, as just because he could handle them didn't mean he wanted them. Pain was never a fun thing, and he wasn't so much trying to sound macho by saying this as he was just stating a fact. "So... We just wait for these to finish cooking now? How do you know when a steak is ready? I just wait until it starts getting black on the outside."

"Really, you've got an idea already?" Yumi asked, breaking out into a bright smile as she got excited, "That sounds great Choi, thank you! I'm sure he'll love it! Maybe mix in something with it too, kind of hide the steak?" Something like a stir fry should be easy enough to prepare, and there was enough in it that her friend would get all of the nutrients he so desperately needed. When offered a bit of steak her cheeks flushed slightly, wondering if Choi had somehow noticed she was salivating a little. Reflexively wiping her mouth with the back of her hand she shook her head, chuckling before stepping close and giving him a hug. "No, I don't need anything right now, I just want to make sure he eats! Thank you again so much, I know he'll appreciate it too, even if he'll never say it."

Viral didn’t know how he would manage food if those pills were hard enough to swallow, knowing it was going to be even worse for something he had essentially been avoiding for a very long time. He couldn’t remember the last time he had food all day as opposed to one meal, but then again he didn’t recall anything from when he first changed into his feline form. He knew he wouldn’t transform after that serum, that was its job to stop that from happening, but the shock from the event was surely going to cause him some problems. It didn’t matter if it was good for him, he was still going to feel terrible for it and will probably find himself struggling to eat simply due to shock.

Frowning when Aito wiped up after him he looked to him, staring at him as he only gave him pretty bad news regarding how he might feel about everything else. He didn’t know if he was going to give up halfway through the treatment because it was too hard, but he also didn’t know if his body was going to simply give in as well. He was not going to be able to do this without the support and he knew that, but he still felt like a complete crutch to the others with them all having to run around in circles for him. Eating was going to be one of those difficulties that everybody was going to have to run in circles for, much to his dismay. “I just-…I struggle with everything. I can’t get the thought of becoming a monster out of my head…” he spoke, finding it easier to speak as the IV started to come into effect, “I didn’t have a problem with my form before…but…when the Saiyans took me, they did something to it. They controlled it like they could control me when I had the collar…but…after that…I couldn’t control its bloodlust. My mind is completely screwed up…”

Shu hoped he wasn’t making Takeshi angry with this, seeing how he was supposed to be showing his friend he was good at helping him. He didn’t know if he was going to manage to not screw up but he was going to try not to, at least. Looking down at himself he patted his chest as if trying to look for the Ki himself. Figuring that was pointless he looked back to Takeshi, giving a nod when he was told to go to the floor. “Okay! I try hard! I try hard…” He didn’t really have the confidence to back up his words but he was still going to give it a shot and hope for the best, seeing how he was the one being taught and giving these two competition between each other. Landing on the floor he moved around carefully, staring down at his feet as he adjusted his stance. “I want up just a little bit! Tiny bit…little bit…” Bouncing on his toes he took a moment to try and adjust but he didn’t even know if he was doing it correctly. He was sure he was going to end up falling over again and embarrassing himself. Trying to move the energy around he pushed it down, managing to lift his feet off the ground and rise up a few metres, shaking around as he tried to balance. “Ah! What I do now??”

Kai never really liked to talk about the labs, thinking of them as something that he was trying to avoid in his life rather than reminisce over what could’ve been. He was sure they would’ve never come out without some alterations or the King wanting their ability in other pairs of soldiers instead. It was an awful place and he didn’t blame Viral or Shu for acting the way they did, even if they were polar opposites in attitude. He was alright with going for the drafting over going in there even if drafting involved a lot of killing, but that was just what he had to do then. Flipping the steaks using tongs he glanced to Haku when he started to complain about the Elites he sighed, shaking his head. “You realise you were ranked above me and my brother, right? You were a soldier in training, we were slaves”, he spoke before he sighed, pressing the tongs against the steaks. They were nearly ready, at least for his brother and himself. Moving briefly to the eggs he cracked open two while making sure both yolks didn’t break. They looked rather delicious despite being purple in colour, but that was just because of the bird they came from. “They’ll be ready depending on how you like them. If you like them rare then just cook the outside, but go for longer each time depending on what you might enjoy. You can always split it open and look to test it too. If you like it well done for some reason, you can stick it in the grill for a while. How do you like your steak?”

Choi had a bunch of ideas but was willing to test them with Yumi to see if she approved, knowing she was the one who knew best. He didn’t know what her friend needed, he was just the chef who would cook what she wanted him to cook. Smiling happily when she did he bounced on his toes slightly he felt concerned, scratching his cheek. “Hide the steak? Hide it…I could make a pate? Cook a steak so there’s not much blood in it then whizz it up real good! Put some crackers and vegetables there on the side…howabout that?” He thought that’d be a good meal to start off with and it definitely didn’t look like steak but came packed with all the essential nutrients. Wondering if Yumi would want some food too he smiled a little upon seeing her reaction, knowing she was hungry. When she stepped forward his cheeks went red, Yumi hugged him, his eyes going to her before he returned the hug, feeling all giddy and energised again. “No problem! I don’t mind, I mean…he’s sick, like an old soldier who has lost his legs”, he spoke, thinking about what he said before looking back to her, “I’ll make double the amount, howabout that? If he sees you eating it’ll probably encourage him too. Eating alone always feels awkward, don’t you think?”

"They tampered with you, took advantage of what you could do. Perhaps too it was their lack of knowledge that caused all of this, as what you are now, struggling to maintain control, is due to their mistakes. You're suffering for all of that but it's not your fault, and you shouldn't concern yourself with transforming," Aito reassured, smiling as he settled down and took a seat besides Viral. By now it looked like the Beastman's nose had ceased bleeding, so with one final wipe to make sure he threw the used gauze away, folding his arms over his knees as he relaxed. "I know what is wrong with you now, and I know how to fix it. I also know several ways which we can stabilize you while I work on the cure, so I give you my word that there is nothing to worry about anymore. Obviously recovery will take time, as will reintroducing food and making you feel comfortable again, but everything we need is laid out before us. I shouldn't speak as though I'm doing everything, I'll of course be having your brother helping out along the way."

Vegeta couldn't help but smile when their father mentioned him, rubbing the back of his neck as he glanced away embarrassed. "I'm only here to help with equipment, I can't be expected to work on medicine anymore," he replied simply, looking over then to Viral, "But he's right, Viral. At this point we know exactly what the problem is and how to fix it. No more theories, no more experiments, everything from here on out is certain. Neither of us will tell you it's going to be easy because it won't, but know that from this point on everything we do is going to make you better. Even if it doesn't seem like that initially, even if it takes a while for the effects to become obvious, whatever we give you from here on out has a purpose." It was so relieving to not be speaking in what-ifs and potentials, they finally had a solid base to attack this problem from and a plan to iron it out. It was no longer an IF Viral was going to recover, but WHEN. On top of that, if they got to Uuonoe and found what they needed then his recovery may well increase tenfold, and he could be back to himself in no time. Their brief time spent on the world had shown Vegeta some might impressive technology, the least of which were machines designed to cure the incurable, and that was precisely what they needed at this point.

Takeshi knew he didn't explain things the best sometimes, which was a real pain in the ass when he felt he knew exactly what he was talking about. The analogy with a stream, to him, made perfect sense, and either he was being optimistic or he saw some gears turning in Shu's head too after that. Smiling hopefully he watched as his little brother reset to try once more, really betting on this attempt being the one. It took a little longer than before, but after some brief hesitation Shu finally found himself in the air, teetering a little unevenly but still managing. "There you go squirt, you're getting it! Just like that!" Takeshi exclaimed eagerly, breaking into a grin as he balled his hands into fists before him, "Just relax, you're doing fine! Concentrate on where you feel uneven and try fixing it, little by little. You can add or take a way energy as you need to, just try to get it so you're standing in air." Now he was getting all giddy, feeling very good about how this run was going. Much to his chagrin, however, Kabocha now saw reason to get involved, probably mess things up for Shu.

"The Ki you're releasing... It's uneven in your feet," Kabocha observed, frowning as he stood beneath Shu and looked up. Eugh, did the kid ever wash the soles of his feet? "Do what Takeshi said, try to correct little by little, got it? If you rush or panic then you'll make a mistake, just take it easy and you'll figure it out." To his surprise the Prince had done an alright job of explaining it, loathe as he was to admit such a thing. Shu still struggled however, clearly he needed more than just some helpful tips to try and learn the tricks of flight. "If it helps, imagine that you're standing on the ground. Put your feet like you would if you were down here, and try steadying those first. If you wobble a bit still you're okay, since your feet are secure, then you just work from there. If you try correcting too much at once you're bound to go flying."

If you weren't an Elite or a noble then life pretty much sucked for you under the King. Then again when you were lowest of the low, save for people who got close to Yamate, you rarely ever got punished by His Majesty; the Elites were the ones who handled those people, and Haku had been one of them. "I might as well have been a slave. I was a soldier who saw no action and spent as much time cleaning and doing errands as the prisoners of war did," he responded glumly, shrugging his shoulders, "I guess that was where I fit though, wasn't much of a fighter." This was getting a little bit depressing, and here he was trying to be excited over learning to cook. The past was the past, and whatever unpleasantries either of them had experienced it was behind them now. Life with the Princes thus far had been good to him, and even if Haku couldn't exactly count these people as friends just yet it was still preferable. "Uh... I like mine kind of pink, but not really bloody. If it cooks too much it gets tough and I don't really like it so much," Haku responded, smiling slightly as he pulled at his fingers absentmindedly, "This doesn't sound all that hard... Thank you for teaching me, even if it's just a little."

"Pate...? Uh... No idea what that is, but sounds like a good idea to me! Like I said, you're a good chef and I trust you, it's in your hands," Yumi replied with a grin. This was great, Viral was going to get some very much needed food and maybe begin getting his strength back, she couldn't wait! Unable to contain her jubilation she stepped forward and grabbed Choi up in a hug, holding him for a good moment before letting go. Things were really going to begin looking better for their friend, pretty soon he would be back to his same old self. "I didn't even think of that, maybe he does want someone to eat with," Yumi mused aloud, tapping her chin with one finger thoughtfully, "In that case yeah, please do! I can sit down and eat with him, have a chat while Vegeta and his dad work. Oh thanks a bunch Choi, I bet this'll help him a lot!"

Viral wanted to feel better about himself in any way possible but he was completely stricken down and unable to see through what could’ve been and what might happen after this whole treatment was over. He didn’t know if he was only going to be treated for this genetic problem of his with everything else that was wrong with him put to the side, but if it was going to be he’d felt the best option was to not talk about it at all and forget it ever existed as a problem. The Saiyans did a lot to him all because they didn’t know how he functioned or what could kill him, but the trauma for that felt like it would never go away and would be best never touched upon. His problem was genetic, that was it and he was going to be treated for that first and foremost. Recovery time for both his mentality and physical body was going to take twice as long and nobody had time to wait through that.

Briefly coughing when the gauze was removed from his nose he sighed, slowly reaching up to his face before simply giving up, moving his hand down as he stared at it calmly. He just had to be strong now and not this weakling he appeared to be. Nobody should have to stress about him and his petty problems when he had all these genetic problems they had to fix too. Slowly raising a paw to his head he only gave Vegeta a glance, sighing a groan. “It’s never easy. Everything has been tough…” he muttered, lowering his paw and looking away, “I feel like I can’t care anymore…I just have to move forward with the treatment. There’s no reason…something like this…should take so long. I’m supposed to be strong, or so you said…as everyone says. If I can just…move…”

Shu was definitely trying hard and hoped he wasn’t going to let Takeshi down with his constant fumbling around, his only hope that he was going to be able to pull off something like this resting on his ability to learn. He didn’t know how good he was at learning Ki when he was instructed like this, especially when many other things was much easier to learn and yet he still couldn’t do those. Wobbling around in the air he was happy with what he had managed to accomplish, smiling at Takeshi “Yeah! Ah! Little wobbles…” he spoke quickly, holding his hands out briefly to try and keep balanced. Just when he thought he might have it he heart Kabocha call him out on his Ki release, looking to his feet curiously. He was wobbling a lot so maybe that was a problem, but whether he could do it little by little was another question entirely. He had to be careful or he’d be blasting everywhere. Trying to keep levelled he was very careful with his Ki release, staring at his feet as he watched the energy until they stopped wobbling around. “Ah! How’s that? Is that okay? W-What do I do now??”

Kai never liked looking to the past when it involved him but at least he wasn’t going to stay on the subject for too long either. It wasn’t exactly something that would make either of them happy to recall. “You were an apprentice, even Kabocha would’ve gone through that until they found his potential as an Elite in the future”, he spoke calmly, flipping the steaks over again before placing another in the pan, “Maybe you just never wanted to learn. You probably wanted to do something different…or maybe you were lazy, I don’t know”. Getting the rest of the sandwich ready for his brother and himself he placed the bread under the grill before checking on the rice, giving it a stir with a wooden spoon. Hearing Haku’s desire for a medium rare he looked to him quickly as he gave thanks, staring at him for a moment before shrugging. “Ehh, it’s enough to make you feel comfortable, at least”, he spoke calmly, heading off to get a couple of plates, “Just remember your eyes and nose are your most important senses. If something smells great it’ll taste great and always look for whatever might be rotten”.

Choi nodded at Yumi, feeling all sorts of creative with this request. “Yeah! It’s in one of your cookbooks! So many new recipes, but so many that are similar to what we served the King too”. Feeling all giddy over the hug he certainly managed to savour it, leaning into Yumi as it happened. He was going to make something great for a patient like Yumi’s friend, his hope that it’d be perfect being his goal. He would be able to feed Yumi too by the sounds of her agreement and seeing how hungry she was it’d certainly help. “It’s no problem! I know if I was ill and needing to eat, I’d feel better eating with someone else”, he smiled happily before turning around to head back into the kitchen, seeing Kai getting their sandwiches ready, “You’re free to come in as well. Plenty of room in here, plus it won’t take long to do this”.

"Everything is darkness for you right now Viral, but if you keep fighting and scratching for the light at the end of the tunnel then you'll find it, and everything will seem better," Aito said, smiling as he got up to squat just before the Beastman instead, arms resting again on his knees, "If no harm had been done to you then you're right, it shouldn't take this long. What happened however was out of your control, you cannot fault yourself for struggling to cope. Good as your healing may be it's not perfect, and if its tampered with then we have what we do now, hardly any healing at all. We'll fix it though, I assure you, and it won't take long either." There he was again on wanting to move, which while a perfectly fine sentiment wasn't quite one they could indulge just yet. His body was undergoing quite a large change with transforming back, not to mention if his cells were attempting to repair themselves to boot; causing any undue stress on the body now may result in harm. But... Perhaps if they were careful, and only moved Viral a little then he could get what he wanted. "Vegeta? Would you mind helping him up? I need to check something," Aito explained as he rose to his feet, going back to the desk where all the paper was strewn about, "I may have just gotten an idea..."

"Uh... Sure dad, no problem." Now what was the man up to? They had only just gone and changed Viral back, surely he didn't plan on doing something else again so soon? Keeping an eye on Aito for a moment he shrugged his shoulders, moving across to where the Beastman sat and leaning down to help him to his feet. "You're a lot more manageable like this, thank goodness. Must feel nice again to be so light," Vegeta mused, smiling as he eased one of his friend's... Brother's arms, whatever they were now over his shoulder, "We're not going to do much, I just hope you know that, but maybe we can try walking around the room if you want." Slowly he helped Viral rise up to his feet, being sure to let the Beastman lean on him much as need be to make moving about easier. With his free arm around his friend's waist, Vegeta took gradual steps away from the counter, trying to let Viral dictate where they went even if he was probably doing most of the work.

Between Takeshi and Kabocha it seemed like Shu was actually getting down flying fairly quickly. Then again, simply rising up into the air and steadying oneself was a far cry from dashing about, but at least it was a start. If they kept up this pace then the little guy may well be flying around by the day's end, and goodness knows Shu wouldn't hesitate for a second to show off if he managed to get it down. "That's awesome buddy, you're really getting it!" Takeshi exclaimed, grinning as he gave his sibling a thumbs up, "See, not so hard is it? Now then... We should try and move around a little, just enough so you get how it works. Remember you've gotta stay steady while you do this, so it's kind of tricky!" Moving down to the same level as Shu, the older boy smirked and reached out, unable to help himself as he prodded Shu's forehead teasingly before leaning back and drifting away. "To move around you kind of need to... Well let's stick with the water, yeah? Imagine the water is at your back, pushing you forward, you know? You kind of want your Ki to push you along, sort of like the currents in a stream. Again, don't do it too much or else you'll end up doing this." Purposefully releasing a large amount of Ki, Takeshi quickly rushed down towards the ground, stopping about a meter above and glancing up at Shu with a grin, "Nice and slow, or we're having Shu-cakes for dinner!"

"Good idea, scare him into not messing up, bravo," Kabocha said sarcastically, clapping as he watched Takeshi, "I'm sure that didn't throw him off at all." Minor cooperation aside it looked like they were back to having different opinions on how to teach, which he supposed to be natural. Putting his hands on his hips he looked up at Shu, ascending gradually until he came up to the Prince's level, gesturing for him to come over. "Like your brother said, just push yourself along with your Ki, slowly. If it helps you can lean forward a little bit, I know some kids do it when they're first learning. I'd figure a Prince would know how to do it without that kind of handicap, but..." Kabocha took a pause, smirking as he shrugged his shoulders, "Maybe you're different. Give it a shot, Shu."

Truth be told, Haku never really had any idea what it was he wanted to do with himself. He was expected to be a soldier but was never good at it, didn't really have many personal skills and sure didn't have the kind of network one needed to move up in the world. In most respects he figured he was just painfully average, unlike every single person here who had something going for them; Even Viral, in his sick state, was immensely powerful and one of a kind, and it was rough thinking he was beneath someone who could barely walk half the time. Eying the food hungrily he smiled as he sniffed at the fumes, closing his eyes and resisting the urge to have a taste. "My eyes and my nose... Got it. I'm guessing that takes a lot of training though, knowing when something is ready," he observed, glancing down at the steaks, "I mean... Those look done to me, but then they looked done 5 minutes ago too. I don't really know what 'done' looks like, steak is just steak."

Yumi couldn't hide her excitement for Viral, grinning like a goof even after she had hugged Choi. He was always so nice to help out, it was a good thing they had joined their group. It reminded her a lot of the reason she had developed feelings for him in the first place, yet conversely also was a reminder of why she needed to keep away from him for now; if she kept dating the twin she worried she'd ignore Viral, and now more than ever her friend needed her. "I guess that's kind of obvious, isn't it? I mean we've tried eating with him before, but he didn't really want to do it, maybe now though..." she trailed off, sounding hopeful as she clenched her hands together. Maybe they could enjoy a meal, chat and laugh like they used to, that would be wonderful! Getting lost in thought she had kind of zoned out for a second, her ears perking up hearing Choi speaking again and giving him a sheepish smile, "Oh, sure! Coming!" Hurrying after her friend she ducked between the swinging doors, smiling curiously when she saw Kai and Haku cooking together. Well that was an unexpected sight, who knew he cooked! "Hi boys, you look like you're having fun."

Viral couldn’t find anything in Aito’s words that he’d be able to use as encouragement, seeing how he didn’t know if things were going to be okay or a complete disaster. There was always going to be that chance of failing and if today was anything to go by it was going to be filled with pain. He didn’t know what he was supposed to do with that but the sooner he tolerated the treatment the better. Staring at Aito as he spoke he let out a sigh, slowly looking away as he held his shaky arms. It wasn’t that he was struggling to cope, he was just placed forcefully at the disadvantage point where he couldn’t climb back up. “So whatever I say…however long I try…I’m not going to be able to get through this quickly…” he muttered, staring at him before he let out an annoyed sigh, “You make me feel so much better already…”

Feeling annoyed at Aito he let out a fair grumble and looked away from him, just wanting to be left to his own devices but instead of Aito leaving him be he decided to instead order Vegeta to move him, not liking the sound of his idea despite not knowing what they are. Looking to Vegeta he slowly moved his legs in silent protest, watching him carefully as he went to move him. Glaring at him in annoyance at his little quip he winced when his arm was moved, but when he was helped up to his feet he gasped in pain. Tensing up completely he stared down at the ground, his focus breaking up pretty drastically a few times and yet he still managed to move his legs with Vegeta. His whole lower half was in great pain, especially his feet. It was horrible, he couldn’t even care about the IV tugging at his arm with a pain like this.

Shu was feeling fairly confident that he could do this pretty quickly if he tried hard enough, especially now that he was in the air and not against the roof. Getting all excited he smiled happily at Takeshi, looking quickly down to his feet. “Ooh! Move around! I can move around and not just up!” he spoke quickly, shaking his fists before squeaking when Takeshi prodded his forehead. Listening to Takeshi he nodded as he tried to keep his attention on him, watching him carefully before frowning, his eyes going to the roof until Kabocha. He was a little scared by that quip but was trying to shake it off, frowning at him as he scratched his head. He was sure he could do that little task if he tried hard enough. Staring down at his feet he tried to move around, feeling a little concerned. “Handicap? What that mean…?” he questioned, moving slightly from side to side before jerking forward and back again. Gasping, he waved his arms around to try and regain balance before coming to a stop, letting out a sigh. “Just because I’m a Prince doesn’t mean I know everything…”

Kai was fair looking forward to his sandwich, especially after having to concentrate on other things that might as well had taken up most of his time, his brother having ran off outside too. It was him doing three times the work he needed to, but he couldn’t think of himself as lazy right now. He didn’t want to cook these steaks for too long but at least the eggs were doing well. Checking the steaks on both sides he moved to check out the break, turning them over before looking up at Haku, letting out a sigh. “You think raw, dripping meat is ‘done’? I thought Viral was the animal around here”. Finally taking the lightly toasted bread out of the oven he placed them on a couple of plates, finally checking the steaks before placing them on one each. “I just judge food by how long I usually cook it for and this is how Choi and I like our steak. You get used to it, eventually. You should get a strainer and empty your rice into it”.

Choi was just happy to help, especially when it was Yumi. He still held a soft spot for her, even if they weren’t together. If he could just do this one thing he’d be pretty happy that he was able to help her and her friend. Still feeling fairly giddy he snickered at Yumi, giving her a quick thumbs up. “It’ll be easier this time! I mean, he has hope now, right? What with that guy back alive so he’ll probably try some with you”. He didn’t know what was holding Viral back from eating, especially when he appeared to be the type of guy who would have a feast. Holding the door open he grinned when she decided to come on in. Heading on in once she had he was surprised to see Kai assembling his sandwich, but instead of going for that he went immediately for the fridge, pulling out a couple more steaks before dashing over to the pan with them. “Alright! Cooked pate for two. It’ll be ready in no time!”

"I'm only being realistic Viral, that's all. I won't sit here and lie to your face, I wouldn't do that to you," Aito answered back, smiling as he rose to his feet, "Everything I tell you, good or bad, is the honest truth. I figured you would rather know the current state of affairs rather than just be told white lies to make you feel better." Really, telling Viral what the real deal was helped him a little too, letting his son know what was to come. As they were in essence doctor and patient right know it was only fair that there be nothing withheld from one another, and Aito made damn certain to divulge anything and everything. As soon as he confirmed whether or not this hunch he was getting would work too he'd share that, but only until he had a certain answer. Rifling through the pages on his desk he looked for the information pertaining to Viral's accounts of what happened, having had something of a eureka moment just earlier about how they might fix it. "Where is it... Where is it..." Aito mumbled, frowning as he continued looking around, "Damn my disorganization..."

Whatever their father was up to Vegeta would leave him be, knowing how he got when he was having a "moment". Besides, it was seeming like Viral wanted to get up and move around, and much as they may think it a bad idea to do so he would try to indulge the Beastman. Being as careful as possible he grabbed hold of Viral and eased him to his feet, cringing when he heard the Beastman gasp. Right... All of his muscles probably felt like they were on fire right now, they really needed to be careful. Glancing back at the IV awkwardly, Vegeta frowned and managed to drag it over with one foot, having to grip it in his free hand and push it along. "You did say you wanted to move, so we're moving. Tell me if it gets to be too much though and we'll sit back down."

"Handicap means that you're working at a disadvantage. Something's making it harder for you than it should be, basically," Kabocha explained, frowning as he scratched at his neck, "The fact you seem confused even by our explanations is your handicap, which makes simple lessons even harder." Feeling a set of eyes boring through him he looked over and leveled with Takeshi, sniffing before looking away indifferently, "You know I'm right. We're being as simplistic as we can and it's not working too well, what more can we do?" He was dumbing down his own lessons about as much as he could, any more and it wouldn't even be clear what he was trying to teach. His instruction hadn't exactly been easy and his instructor didn't have much patience, so he was already having to stress the lesson quite a lot for Shu's sake. Watching as Shu flailed about slightly, Kabocha let out a snicker, covering his mouth with his hand before looking up at the young Prince amused, "No... But you've got more power than most anyone and can't use it. Honestly... To think I was worried about you before."

Takeshi was trying really hard not to go off on Kabocha, knowing how much Shu disliked when he did that. Friend or not he was being kind of an ass, that wasn't something he took lightly when it came to Shu. It was no secret that Kabocha, Kai and Choi were all uneasy around Shu initially, but hearing the guy say it aloud brought a smirk to his face. "Hey, he's come a long way since we started, even if it doesn't seem like it. Before didn't even know what Ki was, so the fact he's flying is pretty impressive." For someone who was unaware of it, even basic flight was huge leaps and bounds. A little more nudging in the right direction and Shu ought to be zipping around in no time. Looking up at Shu with a grin he rose back up again, floating around him for a second before settling in front of him. "You were doing it right there buddy, just gotta be a bit more careful with it, you know? Try just going side to side, or front to back, get used to moving before you try doing circles."

"W-Well... Not dripping... But like, once it's a little dark and all I figured it was good to eat," Haku admitted, shrugging his shoulders, "And okay, a strainer, uh..." He knew what those were, he really did, now he just had to find one. Scratching his head curiously he began looking around, finally managing to find what he was looking for just under the sink. Carefully using the handle of the pan he poured the rice into the strainer, managing to actually get it all in without spilling. Smiling proudly he looked around for where to place it, turning over to the doors when they swung open again. He knew Choi was here, but seeing Yumi come in as well was a little bit of a surprise. Smiling nervously when she spoke to them he nodded slightly, putting the strainer on the counter and rubbing at his neck, "Yeah, just learning how to cook a bit is all, it's kind of fun," Haku said, turning back to his steaks and peering at them curiously, "Uh... So do these have to cook more or are they done?"

"Yeah, Aito being back should make things a lot better for him. He's obviously still having trouble, but I'm hoping that changes soon!" With Aito and Vegeta both working at it around the clock it was inevitable, and she figured it would be sooner rather than later as well. Smiling when she saw Haku and Kai busy working away she gave them a little wave, a bit surprised to find the former in here. If this meant another helping hand in the kitchen then she was more than okay with it, as right now cooking tended to fall to the twins, their father and herself. Wanting not to obstruct anyone's work, Yumi found a place for herself just off to the side, leaning up against the counter and folding her arms as she smiled at Choi, "Thanks again, really, I appreciate it a whole lot. When he asks who made his delicious meal too I'll be sure to let him know it was you!" You couldn't not like Choi's cooking, he was really good at it and knew what he was doing. Not to say Kai wasn't either, but then he didn't tend to cook for her as a favor all that often. "So what're you making over ther Kai? Smells yummy!"

Viral was just trying to not let all the bad thoughts take over his life and completely forget about them, but that was proving rather difficult with Aito being the negative one now. He didn’t know how this was supposed to help him if he wasn’t given much of a chance of hope, even in his depressive state. So much for trying to forget about his mental state with this guy drilling into his head how much he was going to struggle through this current treatment. He just wanted to be able to walk on his own feet again and if he couldn’t do that then there was no point on him living with all this wasted effort. “Yet you still lie about you knowing everything about me. I don’t know what to believe…”

It was a massive problem and was going to be a continuous one for him primarily, but with Aito and Vegeta being so positive over his condition he couldn’t help but feel like the odd one out all the time. He tried to fake positivity but then Aito would be negative, but when he was negative Aito was overly confident he could cure him. He didn’t know what he was supposed to feel at this point, whether he should try and be confident but also negative to cancel that out. Sighing heavily, slowly he looked to Vegeta, watching him as he spoke. Everything else was too much for him, even if walking was incredibly painful right now. Slowly looking away he let out a sigh. “So, Vegeta…” he spoke lowly, keeping his eyes off him, “…How does it feel to know what I am, what I mean to you…and what you were willing to do to me in the past…”

Shu stared at Kabocha as he gave him a telling off, pressing his fingers together as he was basically told he was dumb for not knowing what something meant. He was trying hard to understand but he just wasn’t getting it, even if he was trying pretty hard to do it. He wanted to manage by himself, but a lot of these words were too complicated to figure them out himself. There was nothing relating to a hand or a cap to give you a disadvantage so it made no sense to him. Frowning, Shu did keep trying to move forward but he felt rather discouraged, stopping when Kabocha snickered at him. He didn’t like hearing about people being afraid of him, it really discouraged him and made him wonder if he should be around these people in the first place if they didn’t like him because of how much power he had. Sighing a little when Takeshi tried to defend him he didn’t see why he should be trying to tell Kabocha off when he was probably right, he knew he had too much power and didn’t know what to do with it or how to use it. Looking to Takeshi when he tried to give him some encouragement he simply moved forward and back on the spot before sighing, scratching as his chest. “Maybe…we shouldn’t do this. I’m not smart enough for this stuff. Maybe…we can do something else…”

Kai thought Haku wasn’t really trying to learn if he thought a steak was cooked after that short a time. It was pretty obvious that it wasn’t judging by how pink it was around the edges, not unless he liked really raw meat. He didn’t much care for raw meat himself, but if somebody liked that he wouldn’t judge them. “If it’s not pink on the outside at all, it’s going to be pretty ready. It’s very easy to ruin steak”. Steak probably shouldn’t be one of the first things to teach a guy who barely knew how to cook rice, but it was certainly worth warning him, probably. Getting the sandwiches ready he gave Haku a quick look to see if he was doing fine before he turned around, looking at Yumi and Choi. He didn’t really know why Choi was making pate with steak but whatever, he wasn’t going to question him. Getting a place out for Haku he moved over to the steak for him, placing it on his plate. “You can eat it now with that rice of yours”, he spoke, his eyes soon going to Yumi when she asked him about his food. “Huh? Uhh, it’s a steak and egg sandwich. I can show you how to make one some other time, I suppose…since you’re having Choi’s weird interpretation of Earth food”.

Choi felt pretty good about what he was doing with the food, knowing it would work pretty well if he did everything right and didn’t let the meat go too hard. He was fairly sure he would be able to make this meal into a fantastic one if he just tried hard enough, finding the challenge to be good for his cooking skills. If it meant Yumi was going to be happy then he’d do anything, even if she wasn’t wanting to be with him anymore. Getting the steaks all good through and inspected, he made sure there was enough fat for him to use. “Heh! He probably doesn’t know who I am, but I appreciate the gesture!” he chuckled, moving onto getting a salad done. Even if the Beastman didn’t eat the salad he didn’t mind, someone else would probably anyway. Some nice toasted bread should help with things as well so immediately after getting the salad he rushed over to slice up some bread for the grill, making sure to get it thin. He knew toast was probably the best thing for someone to eat when they were ill, plus it was probably going to be extra nice for the Beastman to crunch into seeing how his teeth were fair large and sharp compared to normal teeth, meaning the crunching would be extra delightful for him to chew on.

"Tell me something, Viral, are you happier knowing someone has so much information on you, or would you prefer to feel as though some of your life is your own?" Aito asked, frowning as he placed a hand on his hip, "If you wish to know absolutely everything then you've only need to ask, that's all. Or if you want to be kept in the dark on some matters we can do that too. I'll divulge anything pertinent to this recovery process, but nothing more unless you wish otherwise." Realistically he couldn't see any issue with sharing information like this, with Vegeta in the room. While he was sure his son didn't know the full story either, Aito was hard pressed to imagine any ill would become of it. Wandering over to the desk he began to rifle through his pages, trying to find a specific sheet that held some rather important information on it; Viral had shared an important bit of information before, something that could really help matters along here... If only he could find it!

While their father struggled with his ineptitude to file things properly, Vegeta was busy helping Viral go for a short walk. It wasn't going to be anything especially strenuous, but getting up and moving around would help the Beastman a bit, as well as himself. Though both he and Aito were trying to be positive that this was going to work they couldn't deny the unease and stress the work brought on them; it would work, they didn't doubt that, but carrying it out was proving to be taxing. Getting to stretch their legs a little then was a welcome reprieve from the normally tense situations. Focusing mostly on trying to support his brother, Vegeta felt his heart catch a bit in his throat when he was questioned about their past, having known and dreaded it was bound to come up. "I'm not proud of it, I wasn't before and I certainly am not now..." he responded, lowering his gaze shamefully, "I'm so sorry Viral... I know nothing I say now can undo what I attempted, but I really am sorry. I'll do whatever I have to in order to make it up to you now, so if you want or need anything just ask." On top of everything else it was another reason for him to strive to heal Viral, as it was in some way a chance to make amends for past mistakes. Would it undo everything? Of course not, nothing likely would, but it was a good place to start.

"Ah! Found it!" Aito exclaimed abruptly, beaming as he pulled out a folder with several documents inside, "Viral, you gave me an idea earlier, and I may just have the perfect plan for helping you out!" Smiling at his sons, the doctor moved back around the desk and joined them where they stood, opening up the folder and skimming through the sheets. "You make repeated accounts at feeling trapped and isolated, which considering your surroundings as of late are of no surprise. So! My idea is as follows: we reach Uuonoe as planned and carry out your recovery, same as we have been, but we do so in more open air. I don't know these people, but perhaps we could... Borrow some equipment, take a trip out to say... The woods, somewhere where we're not closed in at all. Or even if we went without the machinery we could still focus on some physical therapy. Being out in the sun will help your body's natural recovery reboot as well, and it should expedite the process even further." The alternative then was to go and sit in a medical ward all day, with a tube in his arm and monitors beeping to make sure his condition was stable. While perhaps the safer alternative it was also far less appealing to Viral, and if there was an alternative then Aito figured they would take it.

Takeshi was borderline about to start shouting at Kabocha for putting Shu down, especially pissed since they had been making progress. The little guy could most definitely learn this, he was just the sort of person who needed to be told he was doing well to keep trying; shooting Shu down was the absolute worst thing, because if you said he couldn't then he would begin to think that. Trying to pep his brother back up, the older boy became crestfallen seeing how deflated Shu had become, worried that his sibling wouldn't want to bother with this again for some time. Shooting Kabocha an angry glance for a moment he turned back, just in time to see Shu move back and forth without skipping a beat. Blinking in surprise Takeshi broke into a grin despite Shu being upset, moving over and giving the younger boy a congratulatory smack on the back. "You just did it squirt! You just moved!" he exclaimed, chuckling as he beamed at Shu, "Whatever you just did there, do it again! You can do this, you just showed us you can!"

There was an awful long way to go until he would be cooking for anyone else, but Haku was still excited. His way of cooking before was always terribly simple and unpredictable, knowing a bit more of the science behind things made him wanting to learn more. It was a lot to ask of Kai or Choi to teach him, but where they didn't seem all too enthusiastic to be the group chefs he somehow figured they wouldn't mind as much. Beaming when he was told his food was okay to eat he wasted no time in preparing to do so, scooping his rice out onto a plate and placing the steak right beside it. Having watched Kai turn on everything before he knew precisely what to do now, shutting down the burners he'd used and placing the pans by the sink for the time being. Now that he had food he didn't quite know where to go with it or if he would eat with anyone, glancing between the twins curiously. "Uh... Are you two planning on eating here?" he asked them, hoping he wasn't interrupting their conversation with Yumi too much.

"Oh come on, I'm sure Viral knows exactly who you are," Yumi responded, smiling as she watched Choi get to work, "He's not really that bad, it's not like he totally ignores everyone or doesn't know your names. Maybe he's not the most social, never has been, but that doesn't mean he's a bad guy!" She had plenty of memories of him being wonderful, she knew that underneath all of the pain and sadness her friend bore right now was the same person she adored growing up, and they were going to find him again. To Choi maybe this was just another meal, but for her she hoped it was another of those small steps on the way to Viral getting better. Whatever he had in mind for a meal she was positive it would be fine, having complete trust in Choi's judgement as a chef here. "Thank you for doing this, I can't say that enough Choi. Even if he only has one bite it means he's eating again, and knowing how delicious your and Kai's food usually is I bet he'll have even more then that!"

Viral couldn’t shake off the confusion all of this had left him with whether Aito meant for him to be dragged down to that level or not. He didn’t know what he was supposed to be, whether he was in the same league as a human or something more like he had always believed. He would’ve been born a normal human if they never did modify his body, confusing him to what he truly wanted to be. Humans had always been rotten to the core in his eyes through all the actions they claimed to be for the good of their kind, how he had judged them from a distance and how much he saw they were willing to destroy to see their own selfish desires triumph. Their fights over money and territory made them nothing more than animals, but hearing Aito confess about his origins made him uncomfortable and question his own animalistic tendencies. He didn’t know what to feel anymore and Aito questioning his feelings didn’t help matters, the questions only feeling as if they were rubbing it in that he was nothing more than a mutant.

“And if I went through life not knowing…how would that make matters better?” he questioned Aito, narrowing his gaze, “Keeping me in the dark…how does that help? Would you keep Vegeta in the dark if he was adopted? What if his real father was the man behind my killing of you? You would never keep that a secret from him, would you…” He knew when it came to his own origins he had more than just Aito and June to thank for that, but the origins of the man behind his manipulation made him question what allegiance he was intended to be a part of, whether he was made to be part of the RRA. They wouldn’t had just given Aito and June the help if they didn’t have a say in what he was supposed to be, even if Aito told him he was to protect Earth. The RRA imprint would be in his DNA somewhere, who knew if he would turn on them again.

Questioning Vegeta about his past actions was something he had to do now, especially now he had him in a position where he couldn’t walk away. He was ever going to be able to fully understand what drove humans to commit such acts against creatures that wasn’t one of their own kind, but he didn’t know if Vegeta was guilty of such a primitive habit or if he genuinely saw him as another lab creation before, an asset of his company. Staring at Vegeta as he spoke he narrowed his gaze, letting out a sigh as he looked away. “I don’t know what you could do for me. I’m sure that’s something you should think about yourself…”

Aito’s sudden exclamation caught him a little off-guard, turning to him as Aito decided to do a little light reading by the looks of it. Not seeing it as something he had to get up for he simply groaned, looking off to the side with the desire to sit down again as Aito made him uncomfortable speaking about him. Still listening to Aito despite making him feel uncomfortable, he frowned and looked back, only wondering what he was thinking with that idea. While it sounded like a plausible idea, he didn’t know how such a thing was supposed to work on a planet like that. “Into the woods…is one way to destroy all that equipment…” he muttered, letting out a groan, “And whatabout wild animals? Are you just going to kill them if they trespass? Last time we were there the two half-Saiyans brought a giant sea monster back to the city. We don’t know what’s out there, I don’t even know what your plans for me are while out there…”

Shu didn’t know if he wanted to stop because of Kabocha or because he didn’t believe he could manage, seeing how he had ‘all that power and couldn’t use it’. Probably them watching him practice made them hate what he had and in turn end up hating him. It made him feel discouraged and not wanting to do this if he was going to cause dislike among his peers. Moving around slightly in the air before stopping he lost all belief that he might be able to pull it off, feeling discouraged before Takeshi suddenly shouted out, giving him a fright. Raising his hands to his chest he held them close, staring at Takeshi before looking down at his feet. “Huh? But…I just kind of…” he started before moving forward and back again, his eyes on his feet, “I am moving? But it’s not good enough. I should be able to do more than that, right?” He felt confused to what was expected of him, whether that really was a big deal or Takeshi was exaggerating to make him feel better. “I should be doing all flying without feeling like falling over…”

Kai didn’t mine Yumi being in the kitchen but he did wonder if his brother was just getting all hyped up over helping her because he still had feelings for her. She didn’t appear to have many feelings for him, at least not right now as she waited for him to make up some stuff for her. It was all nice and good for him to do that, but he really needed to chill out if he was going to get over any sort of relationship break up. “Remember your sandwich or it’s going to get cold”, he spoke to Choi, placing the fried eggs on top of their sandwiches before finishing off with the bread on top. Picking up his sandwich he went to take a bite out of it before hearing Haku speak up, looking to him. “Well…we were going to sit down with them, but we’re just going to eat them here”, he spoke before pointing to a cupboard, “You should eat here too. If there’s anything missing from your steak and rice then you can find some sauces and what not in there. Just don’t use too much of it for taste testing. It helps for when you make it again and end up liking something”.

Choi would get his sandwich right after he got the salad prepared, knowing not to touch it with greasy hands. He didn’t want to ruin someone’s food just because he wanted to eat, especially if it was for Yumi. “Heh! I don’t know. We never really speak to each other and I know for sure he didn’t know us when he was part of the army. I don’t mind, though”. Feeling confident his salad looked fairly tasty he added some carrot as well, giving it a good wash along with the rest of the salad and chopping it up. Colour always made salad look more delightful and carrots were definitely very colourful. The steak was cooking fairly well but he would need to keep it on for longer if the steak was to be any appealing to the Beastman, seeing how even medium rare steak looked too much like raw meat. “Hey, don’t worry about it! I mean, food is food. If he eats the food then success, but I’m sure someone else will eat what he left over. It’s just the salad that can’t be stored”.

"If I believed that withholding the truth would make life better for either of you then yes, I'd have kept it to myself. I'd have carried that information with me to my grave, or at least until my last years. It would eat me up inside knowing I lied, but that's what a parent does, they protect their children." It wasn't always the most logical of things, nor did it seem right in some eyes, but parents would always try to do whatever they could to ensure their children were happy and well off. Aito knew he'd made plenty of mistakes in the past, there was a list immeasurable in length purely on what wrong he'd done to Viral, never mind Vegeta or even Yumi. "The most important thing to a parent is that their child is healthy, happy and lives to their fullest, and that's all I've ever wanted for both of you. My keeping secrets was precisely because I feared the truth would hurt you, and seeing you now I fear my worries weren't far off."

Vegeta wasn't sure where the hell he was supposed to go from there, or what he could say to make Viral feel better. He wasn't the naive child he was last time they'd seen the man, he knew full well there were secrets in the world; people kept secrets for any number of reasons, yet he could see their father had only tried to protect them in doing so, nothing more. Were Viral to know of the life that could have been, he thought, then perhaps the Beastman would loathe what he was and wish for a different existence instead. "I have been thinking about it. I've been thinking about it for weeks now, today's revelation only furthered my resolve to make it up to you," Vegeta replied, frowning as he looked over at Viral, "When we get home... Whatever you want, it's yours. If you want time to go and travel completely unguarded then go ahead, or if you want something else it's yours. A new room, clothes, anything. I know materials don't make up for what I did, but I'll give you whatever you want or do anything you want until you've at least partially forgiven me."

Aito was all kinds of excited with his new idea, figuring he had just struck metaphorical gold here. The tests may have to be done one way or another, at least the more rudimentary ones, that they couldn't escape. If Viral had such an aversion to labs though then they need not use one, they could go outdoors! A portable power supply would suffice, there wasn't anything especially sensitive being done so it wasn't as though a sterile environment was needed. Smiling apologetically as he startled both of his sons, the doctor took Viral from Vegeta, picking up on his movements and helping him settle into an wheeled chair along the wall. "The machines will function fine outdoors, assuming that it's not any extreme sort of environment," Aito said, having never been to Uuonoe himself, "And we can employ some of the locals to help. They'll know the area well enough to pick a safe spot, and we may even get lucky and find some willing to keep an eye out for us as well. And all my plans are is to start your hormone treatment, and monitor the changes to make sure the process goes smoothly. Plus, I figure outdoors gives us the benefit of the sun, or suns, providing you energy, and the environment is far more welcoming than that of a cold laboratory, no?"

"You're getting it Shu, and that was what, your second try?" Takeshi asked rhetorically, grinning as he clapped his hands. Even with himself getting excited it seemed like the little guy wasn't feeling it, something very clearly eating at him. "There's no 'should' buddy, got it? Because what you can do is what you can do, you know? Some people can do some things and some people can't, that's just how life is. You've gotta be cool with whatever you can do, and if you want to be better at it then keep working." It's like how he wasn't content to be just another fighter in the group, he wanted to be the fighter. Viral was stronger than him, he had no doubt of that, and chances were so too were Vegeta's parents now. Hell, Vegeta himself may even be stronger, he'd never seen the guy go all out really. Point of the matter was that you were always going to be better and worse than people, and if you weren't cool with that then you had to keep working to change it. "Buddy, 5 minutes ago you couldn't even get in the air, now you're moving around and keeping steady, that's a huge leap! You can do it Shu, you're making insane progress already, don't give up now." Just in case his own pep talk wasn't sufficient Takeshi glanced down at Kabocha on the ground, clearing his throat before nodding towards Shu intently.

Jeez, why did he have to get involved in the sappy talk? It wasn't his brother, and he'd only told Shu the truth of the matter; he and the twins always doubted what the younger Prince was capable of, he just seemed like a kid who had more power than he'd ever know what to do with. He was from a life where having power meant you knew what to do with it, so seeing someone like a Prince be utterly hapless was completely strange. Meeting Takeshi's gaze with a frown Kabocha sighed under his breath, rubbing his head before looking up at Shu with a slight grin. "Hey... You've got a ways to go Shu, you could do so much more with all that power you have," he began, glancing over uneasily at Takeshi as he was sure those words would be taken the wrong way, hastily adding, "But, you're doing well. Like your brother said you're making progress ridiculously fast, and you can definitely get this down. Sure, maybe you don't know how to properly use that energy yet, but you've got loads to use to learn how. Think of it that way, you can spend all the time you need to get tricks down, and you're way more stamina than anyone else here. If you figure out how to use that power there'll be no stopping you!"

"Oh, uh... Right, thanks Kai!" This was weird, having someone be so helpful to him. In a way it was rather nice, but Haku was unused to it and didn't quite know how to react. For a good while there he had expected some kind of catch with his training, like shining the floors or having to scrub the toilets or something, yet nothing more was ever said. It was hard to tell if Kai was happy to be helping, or annoyed, or... Anything really, he was pretty monotone, but Haku was just happy all the same to be getting lessons. Grabbing his plate full of food Haku hurried over to the cupboard to find himself some kind of seasoning to use. There was most certainly a plenitude of spices and sauces to choose from, but what should he use? Some were alien, some were from Kortal, plenty were from Earth, yet he'd never really had any of them. Scanning over the bottles he eventually settled on cayenne pepper, figuring peppers were usually fairly tasty and went well with most anything. Smiling confidently he shook out a healthy serving of the ground pepper onto his steak, putting the bottle back before going to join Kai at the counter, putting his plate down before beginning to dice up his steak.

Yumi felt a bit bad for pulling Choi away from his own meal, but knowing him he was bound to work on her request even if she told him not to. Since it was just a salad he was making she couldn't imagine it would take long, even if the meat they were adding had to be cooked fairly well. It was all coming together nicely, she knew she'd asked the proper person for such a favor. "Well... I bet Vegeta and Aito must be hungry too, so if he doesn't eat it all maybe they can share," she mused, smiling before shaking her head, "Or they can just come here and get something themselves. Those two focus way too much on work and not enough on themselves, they'll wear themselves out before long." That was why she was so confident Viral would be alright, there was no stopping those two men from helping her friend, except for themselves. While they did the busy work on Viral she'd have to keep an eye on them, make sure they were taking care of themselves as well. "Just think... Soon we'll all be able to go out as a group and visit worlds again, no more problems! It'll be awesome!"

Viral glared at Aito as he spoke before looking away, sighing at his logic. It was dumb logic he couldn’t understand, some human logic that probably only made sense to him. To hide something from another just because they were afraid it might hurt them was the worst logic he’d ever heard. “I want to know everything…especially after you had carried it to your grave once before! Would you be willing to do it again?” He didn’t know what else he could be hiding from him but he wanted to know everything before it was too late. “You know how long I’ve waited for answers just because you were too scared? That logic might work for naturally born children, but I am a created lifeform! Would you want so much hidden away from you if you woke up with no memory?? Even if I do get them restored, there’s no way of me knowing if they’re real…not until you tell me everything…”

Viral may not be able to understand these ‘parent’ things he speaks of but that didn’t mean there weren’t other things that couldn’t be sorted first. He didn’t want to have that resting on his mind either for the entire duration of his session and had to ask Vegeta how he felt about things and what happened in the past. He knew there was problems sometimes with Vegeta treating him like a company creation with even considerations towards his deactivation through forceful destruction, but whether Vegeta recognised that was something that needed to be addressed. Keeping his eyes low he felt confused over the offers he was given, not really being one who wanted material possessions. He didn’t know what he would want out of that or what might make him feel better, surprised Vegeta didn’t think that he probably wouldn’t know himself either. “I can’t travel unguarded, you know the RRA have a way to stop me. The most I could do is try and destroy them, but then who will be the villain then…” he spoke before he sighed, shaking his head, “There is nothing you can do to help me feel better unless you think of it yourself. I could wish for anything and not feel better knowing it was my decision and not your consideration…”

Viral didn’t know how Aito came to the conclusion that taking equipment outside would ever be a good thing, especially if they were planning on going out as far as Aito was planning. He didn’t want to be stuck in a lab himself, but the forest on that particular planet seemed too dangerous when he wasn’t strong enough to fight back. There was always Aito and Vegeta but it was unlikely they would always be able to keep a watch everywhere, plus they didn’t know if being out and away from everyone else would help at all. “The people we visited were city folk. I don’t know where you’d find people who would know. Seems like too much effort, anyway…” he sighed, shaking his head, “This seems like a lot of work for a task that is only assumed to work. Won’t the forest provide less sunlight too?”

Shu didn’t understand what the big deal was when he had already been told off for his previous attempt, seeing that moving forward and back in a casual tilt was just a minor thing. Staring at Takeshi as he tried to give him some encouragement he felt confused to how he should feel, wondering if he was just being silly again to think this was barely anything. “I could always get in the air, just…too fast…” he spoke, pressing his fingers together, “If I could just…fly like you guys can…but…” Feeling a little discouraged that he might be stuck in a casual jitter of a flight pattern he squeaked a little when Kabocha decided to speak up, not looking too sure what to make of him talking. Staring at him as he tapped his fingers together, frowning at first before tilting his head a little. “You think so…?” Looking down at himself he tried to use their words of encouragement to believe in himself once again, smiling a little before wobbling back and forth in the air a little bit. “Ooh! I’m gonna! I’m gonna!” he squeaked before leaning forward and off into Takeshi, grabbing hold of him in his haste.

Kai didn’t feel too confident about what Choi was trying to create but if he thought he could make it for the one he fancied then he was probably going to pull it off somehow. He did have faith in his brother but it was easy to question his strange choices when it came to food. He would assist him if he needed it, but right now he was quite enjoying his sandwich. Pointing out the condiments was just to help Haku with his cooking when it was an important part of making food too, seeing how he wanted to test out his judgement skills when it came to what he thought was best added to his own food. Watching him make a selection, watching him have a good shake of the cayenne before sighing. “You’ll have to watch out with how much of that you use, but if you like it spicy then no problem”, he spoke, shrugging, “Spicy steak is pretty good, but you’re best watching out as to not kill the taste completely. Sometimes too much of something can ruin the flavour”.

Choi was just getting everything else ready at this point before going to get the rest of the equipment needed for making this meal, hoping to toast the break at the very end rather than have it getting all burnt or too cold. Super cold toast was never nice to have, even if it was with a meal that was usually eaten cold. “Well, there should be enough for everyone if that’s anything, even with just a few steaks! I doubt they can keep working without food or Viral getting angry at them for being hungry”, he smiled, getting the blender ready, “Mistakes are made when someone’s hungry and I wouldn’t want them mistakes made on me!” He did wonder what it’d be like living with these guys after the Beastman was better, especially when everything they did seemed to revolve around him. There appeared to be someone with him pretty often or they went to places to try and make him feel better. He hadn’t seen the ex-Commander fight, but he heard he was ruthless with a specialty of levelling opposing cities; however, he wasn’t sure whether he wanted to see that or not. “I don’t even know what worlds I want to visit. Maybe a troubled world where we can save the people…yeah, I’d like to fight again, you know? Where would you go?”

So this was planet Uuonoe then, hm? At first glance it was fairly plain looking from space, if the coloration wasn't a touch strange; purples, blues, greens and browns and grays comprised of the surface, and Aito couldn't even venture a guess as to what made up some of it. It wasn't until they began their descent down towards the planet proper that he could make out the actual composition of the world. Seas of purple grass or something akin to it created sprawling fields for good portions of the landscape, and where it broke there were rivers, lakes, and dense forests of tall, blue-ish green trees. What struck the doctor perhaps most was how sparsely populated the planet appeared, at least in comparison to the few others he knew of. There were large cities and smaller settlements here and there, but they were spread out by kilometers of forest and plains, likely requiring at least an hour of travel between each in any smaller vessel. Speaking of, he saw quite a fair lot of traffic between the cities as they flew overhead, no doubt their giant craft drawing quite some attention. Knowing full well the origin of their vessel now and the history these people had with Saiyans he only hoped their presence didn't give the wrong idea.

"Such an interesting world... I cannot wait to explore it more thoroughly," Aito mused aloud, grinning as he leaned over the main command console, peering out the massive windows of the cabin. Assuming the locals were hospitable enough he should be able to come and go as he pleased, when time allowed for it. His priority here was not to wander idly or socialize with the locals but to work with Viral on his recovery, and he would do nothing else until some visible progress was made. As things stood now he had at least stabilized in regards to transformations, everything else was still a bit up in the air. The plan as it currently stood was to find an open air building, sort of like an atrium, and bring the equipment there. It wasn't the true outdoors as Viral may prefer, but compared to a stuffy, enclosed lab it might as well be. They should be arriving at the main city within moments now, and in doing so would probably split off while they saw to Viral's needs. "Vegeta, you know this planet far better than I do, think we can get what we're looking for down here?"

"Of course, they've got numerous buildings that would fit the list. Of course in light of recent attacks I can't be certain how many are standing, if any, but I'll ask around once we land." How long had it been since Uuonoe was attacked? Two weeks? Three perhaps? In most cases he would think it a reasonable period for some serious repairs to be done, but then the damage caused by the Saiyan strike had been quite extensive. Vegeta was more than happy to ask the Uuonians for their assistance, as he was confident they were happy to lend it, but their capability to do so may be somewhat limited depending on how their rebuilding was coming. "There are other cities of course, if the Capitol can't provide us with what we need. We've only ever been there, but I would hope that some word of what we've done has spread, maybe we can garner support from a neighboring city," he said, "I don't tend to think we're some kind of celebrated heroes, but we did help defend Uuonoe, so I'd imagine that got us a little reverence at the very least."

"A little? We saved their planet, they owe us a hell of a lot more than that!" Takeshi interjected, grinning as he spoke, "They should be offering to help us, even if they're rebuilding. I mean hell, Viral even got pretty hurt when we were fighting, it's only right they offer to help him now. And they're on the rebels side, so are we, so we're all teammates here, you know?" It wasn't like they were asking for much anyways, just a place to work. Aito and Vegeta had all the medicine and equipment they needed, as it happened Viral just really couldn't be in any kind of medical room right now. Smiling over at Shu he nudged his brother's side, then moving and putting an arm around his shoulders. "How's about we practice some more when we land, huh? You were doing really well yesterday, I wanna see how you do outdoors."

Yumi was just excited to be on solid ground again, their brief, painful trip to Namek hardly being what she'd hoped it to be. On top of just getting to stretch out a bit and enjoy themselves they were going to be getting Viral some much needed medical attention, and not a moment too soon. She wasn't nearly as versed as Vegeta or Aito were in medicine, but you didn't need to be in order to see her friend was in need of some help. Just because he wasn't in his warped form anymore didn't mean he was okay; Viral looked utterly tired, not to mention he had slimmed down and even seemed a bit paler. While he wasn't going to die from his condition, according to Aito, he was more than likely loathing the state he was in and may well be wishing he was. Glancing over at the Beastman at her side she smiled, extending one hand out and placing it on his shoulder, giving it a gentle rub. "Hey... Maybe you and I can go and take a walk in the woods? I mean after we get settled in and everything, if you want. There's forests around the city isn't there? Those should be nice to explore,d on't you think?"

Shu was pretty happy to be coming back to Uunoue, remembering what kind of planet it was out of all the other planets he had been to recently. The best aspect of the planet was how similar yet different it was to his planet, at least in the sense that he knew of Earth. He was familiar with the way their shops functioned and how to get yummy food, but their wilderness was something he didn’t know a thing about. He liked how colourful the place was and how their people appeared, even if they were strangely big eaters for being so small like him. It was a nice place to be and he hoped Viral was going to get what he needed there and be back to his normal self. He didn’t know how his mental state was going to be, he was fairly broken back when he was with the Saiyans and all that was starting to catch up with him, making him look pretty crushed. Smiling hopefully up at Takeshi he giggled when he made a fuss about the natives and what help they could give, bouncing on his toes when asked about training. “Yeah?? I would like! Yes please! We train all fun and stuff!”

Kiton was up after nearly sleeping for much too long, finding his recovery to be somewhat lacking in actual progress. He thought he was supposed to be okay after so many days, but instead he felt pretty awful and rather lazy. He could still eat but he wasn’t sleeping very well even if it was for a very long time. He felt anxious after waking up, unnaturally anxious. Maybe it was because of what he had done to land him here and the rebels expecting him to answer up for his crime. He was wanting to test how much freedom he had in the end, hoping he might be allowed to stretch his limbs and be trusted. “Uhh, am I allowed to go with you two?” he asked Takeshi, moving around to his side, “I’m…not allowed out by myself yet. You don’t have to take me”.

T’charrl kept in the back of everyone, not wanting to go near the others just incase they got startled by him. He had been keeping away from the others for the few days they had been travelling, remaining in his room while only leaving to go and find some food. Everybody else had been busy with the others and he didn’t want to alarm them or get in the way. He was generally pretty used to doing this back home and keeping away from others and this wasn’t exactly different. He had a sensitive problem that people didn’t like and he was fine with keeping in the background if they were bothered by it so much. He would just wait and see what the planet was like and then maybe try and make plans around what others might be doing rather than forcing himself into their groups. The twins were a group of their own and if they followed Takeshi and Shu then that was fine, but if he was too dusty and disturbing to be around them then he would see about exploring the city maybe.

Viral was not up to moving around at all, already finding it hard to keep standing like this. He had tried to sleep after finally changing back, but every time he was left thoroughly exhausted and mentally drained. His flashbacks weren’t at all kind to him even now that he was back in his original form. They were constantly attacking him and throwing random noises into his ears that weren’t currently happening, random voices that attacked his mentality. He really didn’t know what he was supposed to do and didn’t know how long he would have to wait for the torture to end, but either way he wasn’t feeling all that great. Flinching when Yumi placed a hand on his shoulder he glanced to her tiredly, frowning before he sighed. “The woods…? I guess so. I don’t know what you plan on finding in a place like that, though…”

Viral would be getting the help he needed here of course, but that didn't mean the rest of them couldn't try having fun. Much as Takeshi was all for their friend being healthy and able to do stuff again he wasn't going to just sit around and wait for it to happen, life went on and there were things to do. With how much progress Shu had made in regards to Ki training it would be almost a sin not to keep pushing it, as they were probably quite close to a major breakthrough; complete, steady flight was still a little ways off, but Shu was much more capable than he was just two days earlier. Excitingly it sounded as if the little guy was all for continuing too, practically bounding about when asked if he'd like to. "Alright buddy, we'll keep going! We'll train until you can fly around with the best of us," Takeshi said, grinning as he reached out and ruffled his brother's hair, "Just gotta try not getting all bummed if things don't work right away, you know? It's going to take time, and hell, you've already made awesome progress, you should feel great about it!" They had as much time as they needed to train and a whole world to do it on, things were looking awfully good for them right now.

"Eh...? You want to come with us?" Oh yeah, Kiton was kind of just lingering there wasn't he? Takeshi had almost forgotten, the Frost Demon had been quiet up until now. Smiling awkwardly he rubbed at his neck, glancing at Shu for a moment before shrugging his shoulders and nodding to Kiton. "Sure, you can come along if you want, I don't see why not. You know we're going to train though, right? I mean... It could be boring for a guy as strong as you are. You can always see if someone else would be willing to spend time with you, or come with us, whatever you want, you know?" He knew they should be wary of this guy and all, but Takeshi had a hard time seeing him as a threat. Not only were there so many of them, and not only was he confident he was stronger anyways, but they had Aito and June with them now too; Vegeta's dad was supposed to be a real strong fighter, and if Kiton tried anything then Aito would put him in order. Yeah, no reason to worry at all! "If you're cool with training though then come with us, maybe you'll even learn something," Takeshi added, grinning eagerly.

Haku had begun socializing with more of the group, and yet he still didn't quite feel like he belonged anywhere. The twins were doing their own thing, Kabocha looked like he was tagging along with them, and then the Princes were off to train together. Viral, Vegeta and Yumi were probably going to get the former some medical attention which in all meant there was only one person he could potentially spend time with. Looking over at T'charrl curiously he saw the alien just standing there, not being near anyone and kind of seeming upset. Well that sucked, for a guy that was meant to be their friend he was getting pretty well ignored, kind of what he was used to. Looking to see if anyone else was going over Haku put on a smile, crossing the room and standing at the alien's side, giving a small wave when he got there. "Hey T'charrl, uh... Listen," he began, lowering his gaze as he rubbed at his head awkwardly, "I probably shouldn't be asking this considering everything, but..." Looking back up, Haku managed a small, hopeful smile as he balled his hands up into fists eagerly, "Will you hang out with me? Even if its just for a bit, I want someone to see the world with. We can do whatever you want as long as we get to just go out and see it, what do you say?"

"Finding? We're not going to look for anything Viral, we're just going to have fun," Yumi explained with a smile, "We'll explore, or we'll just find somewhere nice and sit and relax for a while, whatever you want to do. We don't need a reason to go out, we can just do it!" While putting Viral through the paces and getting him to recovery was obviously necessary so too was keeping him happy, or happy as he could be. Much as what Vegeta and Aito were doing would help his physical problems she sincerely doubted that it was going to cheer him up any, which was where she came in. "Uuonoe is a big world, there's tons of it you didn't get to see before, right? Maybe in between treatments we can go look around, see what's out there." Yumi had to admit she herself was eager to see what the world had to offer as well, never really having spent time on it before either. Kaesstra aside she'd never really gotten to explore another planet, and this being her first chance to do so she would hardly pass it up.

Vegeta brushed aside Takeshi's usual, boisterous input for now, focusing instead on getting their ship to land. As far as he could recall there was nowhere within the city for a vessel such as theirs, though he may well be wrong. Worst case scenario they could set down somewhere on the outskirts and fly in, carrying Viral along with them; the issue with flying in, however, was that moving their equipment was going to be a bit of a nuisance. Seeing the Capitol coming up over the horizon at a steady pace he went over to the pilots, leaning over to glance at their controls before frowning, "Slow us down some, we don't want to barge straight in, just in case they try communicating with us. Ha'ren, Jugo, keep the lines open for incoming calls from the city, we don't want them thinking we're another party of Saiyans coming to finish the job." Though their ship was repainted and didn't look like an Empire ship any longer it was still very much one in its construction, that they couldn't hide. Hopefully something was said to the Uuonians before hand, and for a second Vegeta wished they still had Ricken and Sasha here to act as a liaison. "Should be setting down any minute here, hopefully nothing causes problems for us."