"haaaaaaaaa!" A shrill voice rang out in the vast expanse. Only the beasts lifted their heads to witness the pale woman yelling at the top of her lungs. Her hair, sharp, and swept to one side blew in the air.
Floating behind was another pale saiyan with wavy hair, also characteristically sharp for his race. The man looked the closest thing to a scholar in this world.
"Hikariiiii-" he drawls out the last syllable before getting cut off.
"Gheeeyaaaaaaaaaah!" She continues while gripping at her arms. Eventually her screams come to an end as her throat rasps, spittle leaking from her mouth.
The two of them were floating in the air. The visible warp of hot air around their bodies is visible. It was like gliding as each time they floated down they pushed up with almost no effort. Looking closely it seemed as though they kicked down lightly each time; it was fast but more like swimming up in the air rather than pushing off the air itself.
"Are youuuuu done?" he meekly demanded.
"...yeah I need a bath!" She turns around, the smile on her face betraying the horrible screams from just a second ago. She then flies over and hugs the man's head to her chest. "Thanks Ringu, go stuff your nose in that..tree leather thing or whatever~"
The cheery woman then floated off backwards, gleefully observing the wavy haired man's pale skin heat up. His gaze averted, but still he found it within himself to speak out.
"Stop dragging meeeeeee around!" The decision is sharp, yet he glances her way once more before they split off. A sigh escapes his lips like he's already accepted a future where she would string him along again.
Hikari flew off without even looking back. Nearly crashing into the cavern's side on the way to her home. Only out of sight does she let herself crash into the ground. Exhaustion costing her the ability to fly.
She just barely doesn't make it before passing out due to the pain. Though she's lifted up right after.
"Sheeeeeesh" a familiar voice complains in his signature drawl. "The last battle burnt you harshly..."
He carries her inside and lays her on the bed. Her body trembled on the mattress. Turning over she glares.
"Just..hand me the pain medicine and burn ointment...Ringu..and don't mention this to the others" she rasps out.
The man Ringu doesn't say much after that. His actions aren't obedient, they aren't hesitant either, just resigned to helping her. His expression does morph to a curious one as he notes how lacking in energy Hikari is
Handing her the bottles from just a shelf to the side, he turned away.
"I'll tell the others you were bathing if I see them, reeeegardles.." cough "regardless, the boss doesn't need all of us and I'm sure Jetto and Karada are already training–sparring no doubt"
He waves one last time as Hikari silently takes her medicine and starts to reapply the ointment on her unseen burns. Carelessness that they can't erase using healing pods; the flame Squadron did not have one on their base.
***
When Zukki found out she was going to properly start her training she fully expected it to involve flashing and searing flames. She expected to learn the trick to not hurting herself or how to conjure flames like her father's four most elite followers.
Instead her father had ordered them to get down and demonstrate something she had already learned in the past year.
"Push ups, sit ups, and squats?" She asks, her voice almost deflating close to disappointment.
Jetto and Karada were in the middle of competing to see who would break a sweat first. Obviously the loser being the one who does. They were mirroring each other at about fifty push ups thus far.
"Yes, don't look so down. This is integral to having the body for conjuring one's flame." Kappa justified the bland workout routine, he repackages it to be as important as it really is.
He forwent trying to explain foundational skills and breathing techniques, because that just was not his area of expertise. Thankfully it can be intrinsically linked to the training methods they use. Though there was one secret to all this training that he fully did understand.
"Really?" Zukki asks, eyes bright, but skeptical with a child's innocence.
To hammer the point down even he got down on his hands and feet.
"Yes really, now remember, breath in and out as you go like this"
Kappa then demonstrates a solid push up. One where he makes every movement and breath clear as day to see.
"I remember how to do that!" She says confidently before dropping down.
Zukki tenses and controls the strength in her arms. Feeling the strain only to ignore it while going for twenty right away.
Kappa does some push ups as well. He watches his daughter's extremely sloppy form and chuckles through his nose. At the top of his rep he mentions it.
"Move your arms a little inward, your feet together and straighten your posture-er your back" Kappa hears two little laughs like sputters from his two elites as he corrects himself.
While Zukki eagerly fixes her posture he shoots them a glare.
"Having fun you two? First to sweat was it? How about first too–two thousand?" He asks a little too calmly.
"Keep up Karada" Jetto says, taking Kappa's question as a demand.
"Ha! Listen, hear legs, brag when you inevitably beat me at squats" Karada retorts while going at his steady pace.
While the two elites are racing past sixty push ups Zukki was successfully completing a dozen. Eventually Kappa stands to observe proudly. Only wishing that his mate could leave her bed to see this.
Of course Zukki sped up her pace once she had gotten the form down. The form of hers barely faltered. Even as she slips on the floor due to dust or sweat, Zukki pushes herself back into position. She did it before anyone could even point it out. Like it didn't feel right as she went to push and corrected it on the spot.
"235!" Announced Karada, followed by "234!".
"Alright that is enough for now, that goes for the two of you as well." Kappa declared as he started to see Zukki pushing herself. She needed to understand the other two routines before being able to push at her own rate.
Zukki popped to her feet first. Kicking off her boots due to how stuffy they had gotten.
"Hell ya, boots are just a waste of material" Jetto encourages the girl by kicking off her own boots.
"Alright Sir! Are we doin squats next!? Because i refuse to let Karada lose by just one point"
"Let's do squats!" Zukki eagerly agrees.
Kappa doesn't seem to mind the order of things and goes along with it. The squats session mirrors the push up one, save for the fact that Jetto was superior. Finally they needed to move onto sit ups.
"Hahaha!" Jetto gloats at her superior squatting skills. Karada just shakes his head while Zukki giggles.
This one wouldn't be turned into a competition because the two elites were paired together and had to alternate.
"These aren't so bad" says Karada as he volunteers to start.
"Suuure" Jetto agrees with some sarcasm while holding his feet.
Now Kappa has his daughter watch the other two perform the sit ups. Her turn came around shortly after.
"Your turn, little ember" Kappa says with warm expectation.
For a while now the nickname she had been given only felt like a second name, but after meeting more people it had dawned on her that it was something different. Something special as her eyes twinkled.
Zukki got into position and after the first try she shifted into the correct position. With her knees bent and hands on the side of her head, she covered her ears by accident.
Then she started working out just like she saw it. What was easy at first became a chore much quicker than the other two exercises. At a certain point between twenty-five and forty she started to struggle to rise up.
What should have been advice, game off as muffled sounds by the effort she was blocking her ears. Only one Jetto pushed down on the determined girl's chest did she remove her hands and hear properly.
"Zukki! Once you reach your limit you have to push as much as you can and then stop!" Her father chimed in from a forced distance, like he was trying to prioritize his training role in this teaching moment.
"Oh..haa.." she gasps while looking up at the three of them observing her.
Sweat was beading down her forehead and the body suit felt especially tight on her as she breathed. Her heart pumping, this felt somewhat as good as fighting. No where near as exhilarating as she expected the thrill of victory to be, but something she could achieve right now. Truthfully it all didn't register in her mind clearly, but the girl had already begun her long stride of growth.
"Here" Karada hands a nutrient pouch to Zukki before helping her to her feet. "our leader tends to be tunnel vision when he's thinking about your training kiddo, drink up"
"Hmm" Kappa pursed his lips at first before humbly closing his eyes to bow out, then opening them to acknowledge his reliable subordinate. "Karada's right, we may admire fire here, but we have to drink rivers..or so Mizu says"
"So!" Jetto punctuated the scene. "Isn't time for the main event?"
Everyone turned to give the woman a look like they didn't want to be rushed. Even Zukki with her face flushed post great effort had some tiny level of incredulity.