Reed Richards, leader of the fantastic four was monitoring everything going on in and near Japan ever since they noticed an energy spike on one of the islands and a SHIELD Helicarrier was apparently knocked out of the sky by unknown means. He was sure they were not the only ones monitoring the situation right now. They hadn't interfered yet, intentionally as they didn't want to get in the way of the Avengers and SHIELD. From what they had gathered, a demon had appeared and was threatening the entire world. From what they heard from the SHIELD secure channels the demon Piccolo was bringing 7 objects called Dragonballs together and if what they heard was true, them together meant a dark age for the Earth. Such a powerful being cannot be allowed to gather the strength to conquer the Earth, by whatever means. He had already shown his ability to beat the Avengers, apparently with those 7 balls he would be more powerful than anything they had ever seen, whatever they did.
In their special airplane they were on their way to Okinawa but their timing was not good, they would arrive shortly after all those balls would be together. They saw that the Avengers weren't even attempting to prevent it from happening. But Richards didn't give up so quickly, if they were too late, they'd have to fight them right there. The others disagreed though.
"What about the boy, Reed?" Thing asked. Ben Grimm, his closest friend, he was like a brother to Reed, made a good point. Along with Piccolo, a half a dozen Hand henchmen and the ninja assassin Elektra, a prisoner was spotted among them. They had identified him as Goku, a Japanese civilian. Why he was a prisoner they did not know, but he was just a child.
"I don't know, we have to save him somehow. I say we go in hard and fast." Reed said, thinking of a million things at once, even the work he had left behind at the Baxter building was still racing through his mind.
"But we will arrive too late anyway, the 7 balls will be together. It'll be nighttime by then too. What's the use?" Human Torch said, a young hotshot and brother of Susan, the Invisible Woman and Reed's wife.
"We can't endanger the boy Reed." Susan said. She was right as well. They had recently gotten a child together, little Franklin. They had put them in the loving care of the robot nanny. The first time they did it, took a while for Susan to step outside of the house without him.
"Alright, then we will get as close as we can, see what is what and try and rescue the child." Reed finally said. They all nodded at that.
They set down the plane over the water and Reed got them quietly and dry on the island, then send the plane to go underwater and wait. They snuck around the island until they noticed activity closeby. In an open field they saw some hand assassins who were setting piles of wood on fire as Dusk was setting in slowly. In the middle of the pyres stood an enormous figure, that must be Piccolo Daimao, the Demon King.
Reed had studied him before they came here and he had told the others all the necessary details. He couldn't find any information anywhere on these Dragonballs though. All they knew was there were 7 and had significant power.
They could see anything yet, nothing that would look like balls, or... But then Reed spotted them. 6 yellow balls, glistening in the slowly rising moonlight. They were smaller than Reed had thought. he pointed them out.
"That's it?" Grimm asked.
"I count six of them." Susan said. Reed nodded.
"Yes, the 7th is on its way from the south-west. Should be here any minute now. Let's get closer and listen to what they are saying." He said and they crept closer. Susan went invisible. Ben moved the slowest, sneaking wasn't his strongest point. Eventually they were close enough. Now they saw the mutant Elektra there, and the boy being tied up to a pole by her. From the shadows an old man emerged. He was wearing traditional Japanese clothing. His headdress was peculiar though, seemed to be the head of a crane bird, sticking straight up.
"Shen, you said your students would be here now, where are they?" The demon spoke with a big, chilling voice, it made Reed shudder.
"My lord they are on their way. I will punish them for their insolence, they are not being loyal." Shen spoke with a cracked, snaky voice. There was a Japanese symbol on his chest, it said Crane school. He must be a martial arts master, one of the old schools from the 18th and 19th century. Not many existed anymore, when the grand master Mutaito died his students, instead of keeping his teachings alive as a whole, splintered into smaller schools teaching only one aspect of his martial arts and most disappeared eventually, not enough interest or something. The Crane school was only one of 3 that had survived as Reed had figured. Still, they were secluded, hermits taking only 1 or 2 students at a time. Apparently this school was in league with the demon and Hand.
"I see something coming, it's the mutants." Elektra said and they looked to the south-west. The Fantastic Four followed their gaze and sure enough a small craft appeared and landed in the clearing. Out came 2 mutants. One was large with 3 eyes and the other very small and levitating, obviously some telekinesis powers. Both had the same symbol as Shen on their clothing although the tall one had a bare chest. The tall, very muscular one gave a small bag to his master and was scolded, hard on his face, 3 times Shen hit him. Then the master turned to the small one and scolded him too, but much more so. Reed noticed the tall one was about to intervene but stopped as Elektra walked closer to him and stared at him intently. The small one got a severe beating, until he was on the ground and not moving. The big one finally did move despite it an held the small guy in his arms like he was his child. Shen stopped beating and moved back. He walked to Piccolo and handed him the bag. Piccolo opened it and revealed the 7th Dragonball. He threw it with the others. As the 7th ball rolled against the other 6 they started glowing in pulses. This shut up the others and the Hand henchmen standing around. Then Piccolo started laughing.
"Finally! I cannot waste another minute." They heard Piccolo say and he then spoke in an unknown language to Reed, who knew almost all languages of the world. He said:
"Takkaraput pop Shenron pupiritt paro!" After saying that the pulsing on the balls intensified and intensified until finally they kept glowing and a white light appeared. Suddenly a bright, white flash shot up into the sky. As they looked up Reed noticed the stars disappeared slowly, like a black veil enveloping them. They all followed the bright beam of white light shooting up and up higher into the air then curl twice until it eventually widened and materialized into a huge, long, green, Chinese dragon. The face of the dragon hung right in front of the 7 balls, its tail emerging from the light right above the Dragonballs who were all glowing white. The body of the dragon filled up the entire sky, hanging all around them. Piccolo stood there with a wide grin.
"Haha, yes Kami, I know all about what you did. I felt it, even in my prison. I should thank you if I cared." The Fantastic Four were in awe of what they saw, they all couldn't speak in the presence of such a mighty being. Reed figured this thing must be cosmic in powers, more powerful than the Juggernaut, or Thor even. Reed caught the name Kami, he had heard of the name before, a deity worshipped by some Japanese cultures, very long ago. More scary than seeing the mighty beast in front of them was hearing it speak. It spoke with an alarmingly loud voice, so deep and thundering yet it didn't hurt their ears.
"You have summoned me, tell me your wish now." It said in English surprisingly. Piccolo didn't waste a second.
"Dragon I wish for my youth and full health!" He said, spreading his arms. The mutants and Shen were not moving at all, they were trembling.
"It shall be done." The dragon said, then its giant red eyes glowed. Piccolo was turned into light for a moment, laughing as loud as he could. When he returned to normal Reed noticed the change immediately. The dragon had fulfilled his wish, he was young again.
"Your wish has been granted. Now I depart." The dragon then said, sending shivers down Reed's spine. It started to swirl around again. Piccolo looked at his hands first, then looked at the dragon.
"I don't think so, dragon. Sorry Kami but nobody can challenge my powers anymore, not even you." He said and stretched his arm towards the dragon. With a scream, a beam of energy shot out of the palm of his hand and hit the body of the dragon. They heard the dragon grunt and then suddenly, poof, it disappeared.
"Oh my god!" Susan yelled, standing closest to the group of villains, and they had heard her. Elektra was on the move immediately whilst the martial artists stayed on their spot. Meanwhile, the sky turned to normal and the balls lost their glow and their color, they were now nothing but ordinary stone balls.
"Somebody is there?" Master Shen asked.
"Impossible, I would have sensed it. Chiaotzu?" The tall one then said. Reed only now saw the small one, called Chiaotzu was awake again and sitting up on the ground. He touched his head, so he was a psychic. They were in trouble now Reed knew. Invisible, Susan darted back to the others but somehow Elektra followed her and nearly hit her with her sai's as she ducked.
"More pests, take them out quickly. Then we are leaving." Piccolo said, his voice sounding young and energetic. He had grown in size, his head was smaller and his limbs thicker.
"You might be invisible, but I can still sense your movements and breath." Elektra said, slashing away and barely missing each time.
"Tien, there are more of them, 4 in total." Chiaotzu said. That's when they all darted out of their hiding place. Johnny went flame on and Ben jumped out between Susan and Elektra.
"It's clobbering time!" He yelled and lunged for Elektra who easily dodged him. But her distance to Susan had increased and as Ben slammed on the ground she lost her balance for a moment. That's when Susan turned around and put up a forcefield where Elektra slammed hard upon. Then Reed came up and wrapped himself around her and squeezed. But that was when the mutants jumped in, distracting them, Reed lost sight of the other 3. Straight after that a green haze went by, Reed felt pain and wasn't sure where or how it got there. The next thing he knew he was on the ground.
"Hold them down!" Reed heard Tien say. He tried to move but as he turned he felt a sharp pain in his neck, finding it was the grip of Piccolo. Before he had turned he saw Tien was on top of Ben, holding him in an arm lock. Elektra was on top of Susan and Johnny was lying on his stomach, alone, he wasn't moving.
"Johnny!" Reed yelled. The pressure on his neck went away and 2 feet came into view. Reed looked up but Piccolo didn't look at him. Reed stretched. Now Piccolo looked him straight in the eye.
"Don't move and don't worry, Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four. Johnny still breathing. I just blew out his flame. If you move, he won't be breathing anymore shortly." Piccolo said.
"He literally did Reed." Susan then said, struggling to get free from Elektra's grip. "He blew and Johnny's flame just went out, he fell from such a height..." She said, almost choking on the words.
"We have destroyed their craft, they won't be going anywhere. You 2, kill them. You 2, come with me. Its time for me to show myself to this planet and tell them my demands." Piccolo said. Elektra let go of Susan and slammed her on the back of the head hard, she went unconscious. The big guy called Tien hesitated but followed Elektra after Piccolo. Left behind were Shen and Chiaotzu, to kill them. As the others had left Reed dared to move as Shen and the mutants were busy with each other. Chiaotzu was still wounded and Shen yelled at him to get a grip and kill them for him. As Reed turned around he saw Ben laying a few feet away from him, Susan and Johnny. He was out cold now too, probably from a blow from the mutant Tien. Alright, it was all on him now.
They made a mistake letting him go, his body could recover quickly from trauma. The pain in his neck had subsided. As the duo approached Reed lunged out with his stretched arms, catching Shen straight in the face and wrapping his other arm around Chiaotzu's head and shaking him wildly. The old man was quicker than Reed had thought though and recovered, deflecting his second blow. But Reed had good experience in combat and his flexible body gave him the upper hand against a martial artist. Chiaotzu quickly lost consciousness from lack of oxygen, with the shaking he couldn't concentrate his powers. With both villains knocked out Reed got up and rushed to Johnny. His pulse was faint, concussion, possible hemorrhage. He was cold, in shock, nothing was broken though. He needed medical treatment quickly or he could die.
"Reed..." Susan had woken up. He quickly rushed to her whilst wrapping Johnny up in his body to warm him up.
"Susan! Johnny is in bad shape. I have called our emergency craft, but it won't be here for another half hour. The closest civilization is too far, I'm trying to stabilize him. Wake Ben up." He said. She just nodded, obviously she was concussed as well. Ben, on the other hand, was harder to concuss, just like Reed. When Ben was awake they started to make a plan to get to a hospital as quickly as they could when an airplane came up above them. It was unmistakenly the X-jet of the X-men. It came down low and out came Warren Worthington III, Angel.
"The Fantastic Four? What are you guys doing here?" He asked.
"What are we doing here? What are you doing here, did you intercept my signal or something?" Reed asked. Angel looked bewildered.
"Well, not a half an hour ago there was an enormous Chinese dragon hovering above here that nearly covered the entire island with its size. Its origin was pinpointed here. You didn't see it?" He asked. Reed sighed.
"Look, we got a medical emergency here, can you help us?" Reed asked and opened his body to reveal Johnny's body. Angel looked shocked.
"Oh my god, of course, get him on board. We have medical equipment in there you can use. Quickly now." They all rushed into the X-jet which took off immediately.
Inside they were introduced to the other X-men and a Martial artist by the name of Krillin who was somehow involved. Apparently he knew about the Dragonballs and explained it to Reed as being able to grant a wish every 130 days. They were shocked when Reed told them Piccolo had killed the dragon.
"Is that even possible?" Krillin asked himself. Reed intervened.
"You called it once before didn't you? How did you know the password?" He asked.
"Bulma knew it, she found some old documents, claimed to have found them in Brazil. I think that was the last place the dragon was called. Its gibberish really, written down phonetically so we could pronounce them right. I suppose Piccolo, being so old, had heard it before." Krillin said. Reed wondered though, Piccolo seemed to say them without trouble, without hesitation and in an accent he had never heard before. Maybe some lost language, some connection between Piccolo and the balls.
"What should happen after the wish is made?" Reed asked.
"The dragon disappears back into the balls, then they levitate and disperse across the globe again. They turn to stone but they return to their orange form again before you are able to wish again. Can't track them whilst in stone form." Krillin said. Reed thought about that for a moment.
"Alright, what about this Kami character?" He asked. Krillin looked puzzled.
"Well, Bulma did say something once about that. Supposedly a protector of the Dragonballs, or one of the first users." He said.
"Or the creator." Reed said. He had read some stuff about Kami too, ancient Nipponese culture and mythology. Not just a protector of the balls but of Earth, the legend goes he cleansed his soul to appease the Shinto gods. Fought sorcerers, wicked spirits and even a god once. This gave him the status of protector of the Earth or Guardian. Supposedly he looks out over the Earth, above the clouds. There is a marker on the surface, a tower. When Reed told this the martial artist looked surprised.
"Well, that actually sounds a lot like the place we are going to. Korin Tower. He is an old martial arts master, a very tall tower people have to climb to get to and receive his sacred water. But there is more." He said.
"You climbed this tower?" Reed asked. Krillin nodded. "Alright, what else is there?"
"It has access to another dimension, a pocket dimension where you get ultra divine water. We haven't drunk it yet, too dangerous. Something about cleansing your spirit. Korin mentioned something above him, watching over him when we got out and asked about that water." He said. Reed understood it is possible this Guardian is located right above this tower.
"The natives down there seem to worship him, but maybe it's not Korin they worship. Maybe it's Kami." Krillin said. "It's amazing we found you when we did, we are on our way over there now, the ultra divine water could heal Nightcrawler, at least we hope. Korin also grows what we call senzu beans, they could heal Johnny over there. Although, that's what made Nightcrawler here sick. I'm not sure if Korin appreciates so much company though." They talked about that, theories arose, Susan examined Nightcrawler and said he was suffering from some kind of allergic reaction, its unlikely Johnny shared this allergy.
"Alright, let's get there as quickly as we can." Reed said walking over to the cockpit where Iceman was flying. Maybe he should take over.