How do Freeza Force soldiers learn to fly?

[batistabus]

We've seen Gohan teach Videl and Piccolo teach Pan. These flying lessons are based in the Earthling tradition of spirituality and ki control. (Also, both are great scenes.)

Out in the universe, the only other society with a deep understanding of spirit energy is the Yardratians. Yet many brutish Freeza force soldiers can fly and shoot ki blasts.

How do you think Freeza's force learns? There are many lifeforms out there that are inherently more powerful than humans, and in the vastness of space, there are many mutants and powerful people. Does it come naturally to them? Do they even have to think much about it? Do they harness other emotions, or do they focus on the technical aspect? Is the any amount of spirituality in there, and if not, what is their attitude?

It's interesting to imagine a Freeza Force soldier learning how to fly...what would that teacher look/sound/act like?

[theherodjl]

Earthlings seem to be an outlier in comparison to many other inhabitants across U7. Namekians can use Ki innately. The Saiyans could. The Yardrats got a more specialized usage of Ki in the form of spirit control. Freeza's race appears to be particularly proficient with Ki. Various races of humanoids and miscellaneous aliens are also seen using Ki techniques. Because DB's Earthlings live within a bubble that is very much unaware of the wider universe, it takes martial arts and the immense discipline that is instills to be able to tap into their latent Ki; a power that most other races are familiar with due to interplanetary relations & knowledge. As Vegeta has said in the past, Earthlings are the unusual ones.

[DatHenson]

Ki basically means spiritual or life energy, and we know magic exists in the series as well. It's funny enough treated pretty generically (see power levels), to where it's used in attack names (Ki-enzan, Gen-ki dama, etc)
So living creatures of innately higher energy would probably learn how to use it better since it's detectable, unlike humans having an average of 5-50, with a very select few learning ancient spiritual techniques
Frankly, the bigger issue is everyone using the same term...or even the same language across planets
The fact only Namekians and the Grand Dragon in Super have a unique language heard unlike every other alien species shown is a shame, especially with how much we're getting from Saiyans now. Apparently lore wise there's over 7000....but that's never seen

[PurestEvil]

Do all of the soldiers even know how to fly? I imagine that the ones that do already knew how to do so beforehand. I can imagine that it would not happen often simply as a way of risk management, and that only in special or dire cases would a novice be taught how to fly.

[dbgtFO]

It just comes natural to them.
Because of the empire's narrow understanding of ki anything more than natural talent wasn't really delved into and so how the earthlings would eventually utilize ki was a rarity in the universe.

[JulieYBM]

One might this this would be something of a plight! Worry not, as we can see they have flight, which must of course mean they have...night classes!

[GreatSaiyaman123]

This reminds me of this interview with Toriyama:

Do Saiyans train to fight?
Most Saiyans are born with a talent for battle, but they still need to be taught the trick behind flying and stuff like that. Of course, some kids manage to fly even without being taught. In Goku’s case, he was on Earth where people flying was simply unheard of, so he was pretty slow to learn it. Only a select few Saiyan children receive a short period of special training in order to acquire even greater battle power.

This was specifically about Saiyans, but since Saiyans were part of Freeza's Army it probably counts for other races too. Since they're a military force, I imagine they're trained in a bootcamp, which obviously doesn't have anything spiritual about it. It's like learning basic combat in the army vs studying martial arts with a sensei, with the latter focusing solely on the practical aspects and howto side of it. There's probably a "focus on the tingling on your back" equivalent to flying.

Talking about teachers, this actually reminds me of a cutscene in Xenoverse 2 where Ginyu is training Appule and other soldiers on how to fight and do poses. Maybe he's the teacher for that kind of stuff, he's got a pretty good understanding of Ki. Not as good as Goku and co. as we know, but he's the only Freeza soldier who can change his power level at will. That gotta mean something.

Dodoria also looks like he'd make a tough drill sergeant, and Nappa was probably a high steemed teacher among Saiyans. He's responsible for the Prince after all, and he may have trained Raditz too.

[Peril]

Considering we are dealing with a world with gods and demons. I assume Zeno worked with a template. So most beings and planets/universes have Ki. So from there it seems natural some people learn how to harness the power. Its just bound to happen. Some groups may see it as a spiritual thing, (earthlings) while others such as saiyans see it as purely utilitarian. And everyone calls it Ki for the sake of the reader/ audience. Like how everyone speaks english, japanese, etc unless there is a specific reason for a character to know a certain language like namekian.

[Lionel]

Others offered some good explanations. Freeza's legions probably have a wordly, more scientific understanding of the concept of 'ki' that they were able to analyse and set about using for practical matters in their line of business such as weapons and flight. The more refined aspects of ki harnessing like suppressing one's power and raising their ki is an ability that seemed to astonish most of those who encountered it sans people who could transform or were capable of adjusting their power output like Ginyu.

Humans and earthlings in general may not have the technological or martial prowess of other species in their universe but their knowledgable application of ki and creativity with it seem more advanced than others overall.