With the support of Haku and the gentle pushes on his part T'charrl was ready to go back into the winds. Yusef did not expect his son to master the training in a day and indeed even the lowest level of the exercises was proving trying. Perhaps it was a lot to ask of anyone in a single month - to be able to do something their people as a whole regularly avoided. But they were capable of the feat as many had done it before: Yusef was not the first to learn how, he'd learned from those before him. Were he clever enough to come up with this on his own... "You've made three attempts T'charrl, the first which nearly resulted in injury, the third which has shown progress already. Are you finished? No, not even close," the general spoke as he entered the chasm as well, casting his gaze into the darkness before them, "But you've already taken a large step forward, and starting is always the most difficult part. Unless you don't feel up to it we could try once or twice more, then we can stop for the day. It is hard training, I won't deny that." But nothing worthwhile came easily and T'charrl had a large mountain to overcome before he and Haku left again. "Try one last time, then we can stop for the afternoon. Besides you'll still need to meet with King Nema as well, perhaps its best you go before you end up in pain. Would make meditation difficult I imagine!" "You're doing great T'charrl, it does seem r-really hard too," Haku agreed with a nod, "You just need to k-keep working at it! If I can m-make rank as a soldier then a-anything is possible!" Not that he'd had a choice about being a soldier but that was a technicality T'charrl didn't need to know. Besides their entire purpose coming to Kaesstra, visiting aside, was so that T'charrl could get some much overdue help with his powers. There was no way they were going to give up so easily and leave without making some progress, Haku refused to let his friend settle for failure. Grabbing T'charrl's claw and pulling his friend a few steps forward he gave a reassuring smile, standing this time at T'charrl's side. "When we go b-back you're going to surprise everyone with how w-well you did here! And they're going to see just how h-hard you worked. They'll practically be b-b-begging you t-to train them!" Nothing less than success, Haku would be in this chasm day in and day out if he needed to for T'charrl to succeed. Not that he'd ever say so openly but this was as much a trial for himself as it was for his friend. He still didn't belong in this group and he hadn't done anything to pull his weight, he needed this. If he could show he was useful in some small way then he wouldn't be treated like a small time fighter to just be thrown aside, he wasn't going to have a repeat of his time on Kortal. ---------- If Krom thought he was completely absolved of guilt than he was an idiot. Sure he didn't run the experiments on Shu or Viral, and he hadn't been the one to give the orders either, but that didn't matter. He'd been complicit in it all and was the reason Viral was ever put in that situation. Takeshi knew it was his fault too that Shu was ever harmed - he'd known all along it was his fault for chasing Viral - he didn't need a bastard like Krom reminding him of that. The Elite was fast wearing his already minute patience thin and so Takeshi started the training, opting to put his anger and frustration into something constructive for a change. There'd be chances later to make Krom pay, and his father, and Korian and anyone else he deemed responsible. But right now he had to get his own crap in shape and show he actually cared about Shu; throwing the match at the tournament had seemed like a redeeming moment and yet it was only the beginning to earning Shu's trust back. Sneering at Krom one last time the older boy toed the floor with his boot before starting to jog along the perimeter, quickly at first until the full weight of his gear pressed on him. Krom hadn't been joking when he said this was going to be more difficult! Gritting his teeth he strained slightly to keep his legs up and his back straight, glaring at the aforementioned Saiyan out of the corner of his eye as he ran. He was expecting him to freak out and upset Shu wasn't he? To throw a fit and instigate a fight that would only make things worse? Well screw him and screw his shitty expectations, he was going to make damn sure Shu got better - and that all started with him getting his own act together. ---------- Of course he'd been trying to help Viral! Vegeta couldn't have managed the international corporation that was Capsule Corp and juggle Viral's handling, he'd barely been able to handle the former! Some of the buyers had been less than ideal but somewhere else - anywhere else, would have been better than where Viral was. At least... That was the idea, right? The truth of the matter was Vegeta had done very little vetting for the potential buyers and had inadvertently almost agreed to a deal with the RRA: one of the groups Viral had been created for to fight against. Why hadn't he thought to ask Viral? Why had he decided to try and make the choice all on his own? [center][i]Because you didn't care.[/i][/center] But he'd cared! He'd cared enough to try and Viral another home, a place where Viral could actually live a life instead of being confined constantly. During the inner monologue with himself Viral had gone back on the offensive and, bogged down with his thoughts, Vegeta had been slow to react. Narrowly blocking the first punch thrown he gasped as another rocked his gut and lifted him slightly off of his feet, taking a kick to the same spot that sent him hurtling backwards. Flipping and righting himself he managed to get his feet on the ground and his heels dug in to stop his slid, mere inches from the wall when he came to a halt. [center][i]You didn't want the hassle of taking care of him. You just wanted him gone.[/i][/center] Like hell! They were effectively brothers, he could never do something so callous! And yet he had, hadn't he? Because of his own ineptitude and inability to ask for help Viral had nearly paid dearly. Because of his indifference the man before him was bitter, distrusting and furious with the world. All because of him. Vegeta raised his fists again and took a low, shaky breath as he sprinted back towards Viral, his movements hardly as planned as his mind was abuzz with conflicting thoughts. His moves were slower, woefully so, as he cocked back an arm and threw a jab at the Beastman. Everything that had transpired up until now - all of the injuries, the kidnappings, the resentment, it was all because of him. As if Viral hadn't felt terrible enough for what he'd done to Aito it had been pushed further by the negligence on his behalf. It was no small wonder Yumi was frustrated with him all the time. Missing his punch he took another blow to the jaw that split his lip, spitting blood aside as he threw another at Viral. "And yet you're still here, despite everything..." Despite all of his efforts, inadvertently or otherwise, to tear down Viral he was still here. Some might argue the Beastman was a shell of his former self and yet he still pressed on without any apologies or condolences, and even in his efforts to help Vegeta had never once addressed what the real problem was: himself. What an idiot he'd been.