The sun rose over the Diablo desert. Yamcha grumbled as he opened his now white eyes.
"Ninja's are crazy, they start training so early. "
Neji and Hinata were younger even than Goku and Krillin when they started training with Roshi. Though all of their training was to prepare them for a world of conflict.
Leaving the ruminating on the morality of training children as soldiers for later, Yamcha proceeded to get dressed. He tied his hair in the way Neji had worn during his life, and donned his turtle school gi. He had the feeling that with his plans for the day he would be needing it.
Fully dressed he pulled out his capsule case. From Bulma dropping him off after the last world tournament he still had a flying car for transportation. The capsule corp heiress's preferences, it was top of the line in terms of speed and comfort. As he was preparing Puar floated up beside him.
"And you're sure that your vision is okay?" Came the suspicious inquiry from his companion.
"I promise they are fine Puar. I'll explain while we're with Bulma, but something crazy happened last night. I'm stronger, and my vision is actually better than it's ever been. "
Puar accepted the brief explanation for now, but he wasn't going to let Yamcha get out of this conversation.
"Come on Puar, we have a slight detour before we head into West City"
"Where are we going? You better not be trying to get out of seeing a doctor!" Knowing how much Yamcha's pride had been wounded by the events of the last few years, he was doubtful of Yamcha's true intentions.
"I promise Puar. I wanted to go by Mt. Paozu and see Goku before we go to Bulma's."
"Mt. Paozu? What do you need there?"
"Just a talk with an old friend! I also have a great idea of a gift for Bulma I can pick up" Yamcha smiled slyly at this. If everything goes to plan he'd have the perfect peace offering. He knew the original Yamcha messed up with Bulma, and even if they didn't remain together romantically she deserved better than to be led on while he indulged in his own ego.
He'd seen how things ended in his newly acquired memories, and he knew why they ended that way. What started as a way to patch his wounded pride eventually went to his head. Once he got famous as a baseball player he'd keep indulging in women that looked up to him as the strongest person they knew.
He gave out a bitter smile as he settled into the drivers seat. His shame in not being able to help during the King Piccolo incidents had nearly crippled his fighting spirit.
But now, after merging with the soul of the most talented Hyuga to come from a clan of martial experts, he knew that failure was merely a part of the path.
Suddenly it clicked for him why Master Roshi was hesitant to take him as a student. Perhaps he saw something in his character that told him he would give up after falling behind. But now he really understood some of the old perverts deeper teachings.
Indeed, one must master the art of peace in addition to the art of war. One gains victory through the art of war. Victory is won by strategy, and strategy is derived from the art of peace.
In both lives he had never truly mastered the art of peace. The mental scarring from the Hyuga kidnapping incident never left Neji. Yamcha hadn't mastered it yet, and from what he knew of his original future he never recovered from his wavering will from being so thoroughly surpassed by his friends. But now that some of his natural arrogance and pride had been tamped down by Neji's raw determination and iron will, and Neji's lingering scars being purged by Yamcha's freedom and the expansion of their spiritual power, he was ready see what heights he could reach.
He knew of a few easy approaches to increasing his strength. The dragon balls were an easy go to. Now that he knew a bit about the universe there were plenty of strong races he could wish to be. He had also caught glimpses of cyborgs and androids. Bulma could definitely find a way to replicate them.
But taking such shortcuts would be too close to giving up his will to be strong by his own merit. Betraying his own will like that would hamper his mental strength in the long run. No, he would use all of the skills at his disposal to face the future. He wouldn't take any of those approaches unless it was a matter of life or death. He would rather die than allow his own wishes to cost his loved ones their lives.
After about 2 hours of contemplation and small talk to pass the time, they finally arrived at there destination. A small house stood in the middle of a clearing in the mountain forest. He smiled as he remembered the crazy adventures he's had with the teenager he could now make out doing one handed hand stand push ups a short ways away from the house. He stopped as he noticed the flying vehicle descending and began making his approach.
Half way there Yamcha exited and raised his hand in greeting.
"Yo Goku! Long time no see huh? How's married life treating you?"
"What the… Yamcha?! What the heck happened to your eyes? And your hair is different too. What's going on? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, I promise. Something strange happened recently and I went through some changes. I actually came to ask you for a few favors."
"You need help? What's wrong, is it related to whatever weird thing happened?"
Yamcha grinned, a hint of nostalgia tugging at his mind
"He's just the same as ever, not that I'm too surprised. Goku's always been pure to the point of naivety."
"Yes and no. One, after my body changed recently I need to get a feel for my new strength. I know I've gotten stronger but you're the only person I could think of that I wouldn't have to worry about hurting if something went wrong."
At the mention of sparring Goku got visibly excited.
"Yeah now that you mention it your presence feels pretty different! Calmer and more confident. I mean, you've always acted confident but now you actually feel like you can back it up."
"Damn it," he thought, trying to cover up his indignation, "He's too much like Naruto. Good at reading people and entirely too blunt for his own good. He's supposed to be a monkey, not that damn emotion sensing fox, Kurama."
"Hehe… yeah well, I've got some new techniques now too, so I won't go down so easily." He tried to laugh off the unintentionally brutal honesty.
Goku was practically vibrating at this point. It'd been months since his last proper match and he could feel himself hitting a plateau with his training. Even wearing the weighted clothes that Kami had given him wasn't enough to push him any further.
"Amazing! Can we start now?" Asked said battle maniac as he sank into his opening stance.
"No time like the present, right?" The scarred warrior sank into his own familiar stance. He would start out with his style from before the merge first. Then, once he gets a feel for his strength he would switch things up to the Juken to test its effectiveness in this new world.
Puar looked on from the sidelines, exasperated that Yamcha would pick a fight before seeing any kind of doctor. All things considered though the main thing he was worried about was Yamcha's vision, but since he flew them there safely it was obviously fine. Whatever then, he'd cheer his friend on as always.
"Go Yamcha! Beat him up like that time in the desert!"
Both fighters smirked at this, briefly remembering their first meeting.
Silence fell over the clearing. The world seemed to hold its breath as these two fighters blocked out everything around them. The only thing that existed for them right now was this match. It was an unspoken understanding between the two after years of friendship, they wouldn't go easy on each other. After all, working hard was the first tenet of the turtle hermit way!
A beat of silence passed between them, and it wasn't until a twig could be heard snapping from passing wildlife that the world exploded into motion.
Yamcha launched himself as fast as he could at his sparring partner, he covered ground quickly and surprised Goku with his agility.
The secret saiyan was radiant at this point. He deftly leaned out of the way of Yamcha's strike and aimed a blow at Yamcha's body, but the reborn warrior was already in motion, falling to the side and using the momentum to send a kick crashing towards his head. He parried with his forearm, redirecting the blow over his ducked head as he lashed out with a kick of his own towards his opponent's torso.
It was anticipated however as Yamcha, now bracing with his hands on the ground, threw his body upwards in a corkscrew, trying to leverage the momentum to land a blow.
Goku blocked with his leg, having already recovered during the brief moment between moves. The white eyed fighter used the rebound to right himself as he landed a few steps away before charging back in.
The fight continued in this manner as they gradually increased their speed. Puar on the sidelines couldn't even make out their attacks, each blow moving faster than the last.
Seizing an opening, Yamcha launched into his signature taijutsu move.
"Wolf fang fist!"
He shot forward with clawed hands and fired a rapid assault of blows and his sparring partner. The vast majority of blows were blocked, but a few clean blows did find their mark. With the final strike Goku skidded back, still grinning and breathing easy.
"Wow Yamcha! I think you're even a little stronger than Tien was the last time I fought him!"
Yamcha responded with a genuine smile as he began shifting his stance. His right palm extended facing forward, with his left facing upward and held close to his torso.
"Thanks, but I hope you're ready. This is a new style I've learned, so you're the first to see it in action. Byakugan!"
Goku was immediately excited, he loved sparring against new fighting styles. It forced him to adapt and could reveal flaws in his own style he would otherwise never think about. He wasn't sure what was happening with Yamcha's eyes, with the veins around them bulging out slightly, but he could ask later.
The following barrage was like nothing Goku had encountered before. After the first palm strike left his arm tingling he quickly realized something was strange, and it only took a few more exchanges to realize what was happening. Yamcha was targeting pressure points with each blow, and upon the strike landing a small pulse of ki was ejected into the target. If it landed it would definitely start disrupting the flow of his own ki, not to mention likely numbing the struck area.
"This is amazing," the teenager marveled in thoughts "His control has to have gone through the roof for this level of precision! If enough hits land he could definitely take me down!"
Finding a break in the assault Goku jumped back to give himself a bit of space.
"I didn't know you were so incredible Yamcha! It's only been 6 months and you've already improved a ton. That fighting style could actually beat me if I get hit too much."
"Ha! Don't flatter me, don't think I didn't notice you still have those weighted clothes on. It's all I've got to keep up right now, you drop those and I'm toast."
"Hehehe." called out on his self imposed handicap Goku couldn't help but to laugh and rub the back of his head before resuming his battle stance. "One last clash before we end it then?"
"Alright then, but Goku," Yamcha just grinned as he lowered his stance, adapting the signature stance of the Hyuga clan's signature technique.
"You're within my range of divination."