The green, garlic-headed man was named Arem. He was very friendly and told Son Gohan and Trunks all sorts of stories and interesting facts about Planet Yardrat.
Looking at the densely packed crowd nearby, Trunks asked curiously, "Arem, does Planet Yardrat have a large population?"
"Huh?"
"No, no."
"Sorry, sorry. Actually, I'm the only one here." Arem scratched his head and said awkwardly.
As soon as he finished speaking, all the densely packed Yardratians nearby vanished.
Only Arem remained, standing there blankly with an adorable, vacant look on his face.
"Huh? What happened? Why did they all suddenly disappear?" Trunks exclaimed in alarm.
Son Gohan also furrowed his brows and watched Arem quietly.
Arem explained, "We Yardratians are weak, and there aren't many of us. So to make ourselves seem more numerous and keep others from looking down on us, we usually add a few more people ourselves..."
"Uh..." Trunks stared at him, dumbfounded. What did that even mean?
"So all those people we just saw were your clones?" Son Gohan asked. "I could sense energy from every single one of them, and they seemed completely real. That's incredible."
"Heh heh, that's right. I call it the Proliferation Technique," Arem replied.
"What an amazing ability." Trunks' eyes sparkled. He'd never seen such an interesting technique before.
A technique like that would be remarkably effective in battle.
It could completely fool the enemy. Even an expert at sensing energy might have trouble telling the difference if he let his guard down.
"Arem, Trunks and I came here to learn techniques like these. Could you introduce us to your Grand Elder?" Son Gohan asked.
"Heh heh, of course. Come with me." Arem smiled and led Son Gohan and Trunks up a staircase.
After walking for a while,
Arem brought the two brothers to a spacious, well-lit house.
"Go on in. The Grand Elder is inside." Arem opened the door.
The three of them entered.
There weren't many Yardratians in the house.
Arem pointed to a huge Yardratian and said, "Let me introduce you. This is our Grand Elder, Lord Pybara."
"Pybara taught Son Goku Instant Transmission."
Two attendants stood beside the enormous Grand Elder Pybara. It was hard to tell whether they were real or Pybara's clones.
The blue-skinned Grand Elder Pybara looked at Son Gohan and Trunks. "That's right. I taught Son Goku Instant Transmission. Welcome to Planet Yardrat."
As Son Gohan studied Pybara, he was immediately reminded of the former Grand Elder of Namek.
They were both Grand Elders, and both had enormous bodies.
The Grand Elder of Namek, however, had been in his twilight years.
Pybara's skin was still taut, and he looked round and soft, like a blue slime. It was impossible to tell how old he was.
Still, he was probably quite old.
Son Gohan smiled in reply. "Hello, Grand Elder Pybara. My brother and I came all the way from Earth to learn Instant Transmission from you."
Pybara studied Son Gohan for a few moments, then said, "You're Son Goku's son, aren't you? You look a little like him."
Son Gohan nodded. "Yes. Son Goku is my father."
Grand Elder Pybara smiled. "What you call Instant Transmission is actually just one way of using Spirit Control."
"Once you learn to control Spirit Control, you'll naturally come to understand some of its amazing abilities."
"Then what is Spirit Control?" Trunks asked.
"Spirit Control? In your Earth terms, it's something called ki."
"Ki..." A strong sense of déjà vu came over Son Gohan as he listened to Grand Elder Pybara.
Wasn't that what he'd said when he taught Videl the Flight Technique?
So, in the end, it all came down to learning how to control ki and using it to create all kinds of extraordinary abilities.
"That's right. Ki."
"For instance, Instant Transmission." As Grand Elder Pybara spoke, he vanished with a whoosh and reappeared on the other side of the room.
"The Proliferation Technique..." One figure after another flickered into view, and soon the room was filled with identical copies of Grand Elder Pybara.
"Gigantification..." Grand Elder Pybara's body suddenly shrank, and in the blink of an eye, he went from a giant to just over a meter tall.
"That's so cool!" Trunks said excitedly.
Son Gohan couldn't help marveling to himself. The Yardratians' techniques really were extraordinary.
Grand Elder Pybara continued, "These abilities are actually very simple. You just use Spirit Control to move, divide, or expand your ki, and you can achieve them."
"Any Yardratian can do this. So once you understand the structure of Spirit Control, you'll be able to learn the skills you're interested in."
"In other words, the structure of ki," Grand Elder Pybara added.
Son Gohan had to admit that the Yardratians' understanding and use of ki had reached an incredible level.
All this time, Saiyans and Earthlings had only used ki to fly or fire blasts at their opponents.
Very few people had developed these kinds of amazing abilities.
Mutaito, who had spent his whole life studying martial arts, had once used ki to develop the Evil Containment Wave.
That, too, was an incredible technique that could overcome a stronger opponent.
But such techniques were still far too rare.
They were nothing like the Yardratians' many different ways of using ki.
Son Gohan patted Trunks on the shoulder, and the two bowed to Grand Elder Pybara. "Please teach us how to train, Grand Elder Pybara."
"All right. But a master can only show you the way; the rest is up to you. How much you learn will depend entirely on your ability to grasp it," Grand Elder Pybara said.
"Yes." Son Gohan and Trunks nodded firmly, then exchanged smiles.
In the days that followed,
Son Gohan and Trunks began a long period of intense training.
The Yardratians arranged a house for the brothers to stay in.
Every morning, they went to see Grand Elder Pybara and ask him about the structure of ki.
Whenever they had a question, they asked him right away, and Grand Elder Pybara always explained everything in detail.
And just like that, a month slipped by.
Son Gohan and Trunks began to grasp the basics of ki's structure.
The second month.
They studied the subject in depth and consolidated what they had learned.
The third month.
Finally, in the third month, Son Gohan successfully used Instant Transmission, though he was still clumsy at it.
By the fourth month, Trunks had also figured out the trick and used Instant Transmission for the first time.
By the fifth month, Son Gohan had become adept at Instant Transmission. He began learning another ability of Spirit Control: separation!
The Forced Spirit Fission.
This ability could forcibly separate out energy from those who had fused with someone or absorbed someone else.
In certain situations, this ability could have an unexpected effect.
The sixth month.
Trunks began learning to divide Spirit Control.
This division was the Proliferation Technique, which could create many clones.
Then, in the seventh month, North King Kai brought some bad news.
Before you continue