Prequel 4: Niyuu, Jiyuu, and Heihozu

Erzi Heihozu wasn't exactly the strongest of guys. He was lanky and had knobby knees. He always wore shorts made of Charnese chino cloth. His favorite t-shirt was one advertising the Rynex Space Race. He was fifteen years old with a pompadour he styled every morning all by himself. Regardless of his efforts to appear cool, Erzi was bullied.

"Hey String-bean! Where do you think you're going?" a guy said. He had three other friends with him. Erzi swallowed hard.

"Oh! Hey, Deng! Lookin' cool today! H-how can I help ya?" Erzi said, nervous. He wondered why he hadn't run away.

"By slamming your face into the concrete—" Deng replied. Just then, Deng and his buddies charged at Erzi. He began to run, and because he was on the track team, he got pretty far, but then he suddenly tripped, falling over. The bullies caught up, Deng grabbing Erzi by the collar. "—But we can arrange that."

"C-can we maybe get together t-tomorrow instead?" Erzi said, sweating bullets. Deng laughed.

"You're a real comedian, aren't you?" Deng said. Erzi chuckled nervously.

"W-well, my dad always says I am 'quite the joker!'" Erzi replied. Deng let Erzi go.

"So, I have a challenge for you. Tell us a joke—" Suddenly, Deng punched Erzi in the jaw. "With a broken jaw." Now, Erzi could tell that his jaw wasn't broken, but it still hurt—a lot. Erzi spat out blood onto the concrete.

"W-well… u-umm… S-so, this Sharnese man walks into a bar—" And suddenly Deng punched him again, this time in the stomach.

"Go on." Deng said. Erzi fell onto his knees, arms wrapped around his torso. Erzi looked up at them, not knowing what to do. Suddenly, the four of them began to beat him up, shoving, punching, and kicking him. When they were finished, they walked off, laughing. Erzi sat up, bruises and everything, and began to adjust his hair…

The next day, Erzi came in early, hoping he could hide in the classroom before class. The bullies who beat him up yesterday were by the entrance of the school, smoking. Erzi swallowed hard. How was he ever going to get past them? Suddenly, he took out a golden stick.

"That's right! I can disguise myself to get past them!" He held it out. "Turn me into someone who looks… shady! Zhuanhuan!" he cried. Suddenly, he had a brown trench coat over his uniform and a hat on his head, hiding his eyes; his pompadour was barely fitting inside the hat though. Erzi grinned and then walked past the group of bullies, entering the school. He ran to the classroom and slammed the door. He sat down and let out a big sigh. "It worked! Now, the teacher should be here in about ten minutes!"

Erzi waited fifteen minutes and no one came in. Erzi was beginning to get worried. Suddenly, the door opened. He was relieved, but this feeling only lasted a second because the bullies entered the room. Erzi pulled his hat down and sat there, silent. The bullies did not hesitate in approaching him. Deng yanked off Erzi's hat and his pompadour sprung up.

"Think you could fool us, String-bean?" Deng said. Erzi smiled nervously.

"I-I… It was just a joke! I know I couldn't ever fool you!" Erzi replied.

"It may be early in the morning, but I'm not stupid. Now get up and get ready! I think I can give you two black eyes this time!" Deng said. Deng was about to punch Erzi when he heard his friends shout and hit the floor behind him. Deng, confused, turned around. He saw two buff, Sharnese twins with blond hair beating up the bullies. Just then, one of them glared at Deng, who suddenly became nervous. Without any warning, one of the men suplexed Deng. The bullies scrambled to their feet and ran off. The twins approached Erzi, smiling.

"Y-you… you saved me!" Erzi cried. The twins laughed.

"We are like superheroes, right?" one of them said. "I'm Niyuu! And this is my twin brother, Jiyuu!"

"This is one helluva introduction! I'm Erzi Heihozu!"

…Even though Niyuu and Jiyuu did a good job defending Erzi, it was impossible to be by his side all of the time, so Erzi still got beaten up. After a while, Erzi's father, Fuqin, became fed up with the beatings Erzi received. Fuqin took Erzi, Niyuu, and Jiyuu out of school and made sure to set the building on fire while classes were in session—after all, he was a pirate, and a very angry one. Erzi, Niyuu, and Jiyuu left Watao on Fuqin's ship, the Chanbao (the Castle).

"Erzi, my son, you will someday inherit my other ship, the Jiuju (Zhuizhu—Lord Chaser), and follow in my footsteps!" Fuqin said proudly. Erzi smiled nervously.

"You can do it, Erzi!" Niyuu cried.

"Yeah! We believe in you!" Jiyuu said.

…One day, about six years later, Fuqin was entering the main control room of Chanbao after he had a meeting in a large palace on Watao, with an exhausted expression on his face.

"What's wrong, father?" Erzi asked.

"We have to go back to the Sentinel System. Apparently, the leader of the Watao Pirate Guild and Maichong 45 has assigned me to finding a treasure."

"A 'treasure?' What kind of treasure?" Erzi replied.

"A bio-android by the name of 'Melfina.' Apparently, she is the 'key' to the Galactic Leyline There's another apparently, here in the Rynex System, but I think he wants the one in the Sentinel System first."

"'Galactic Leyline?' I thought that it didn't exist!" Erzi said, looking over at Niyuu and Jiyuu; the two of them shrugged.

"No, it very much so does… or at least Lord Junfa thinks so," Fuqin said, sighing. "We must head there immediately—" Suddenly, the ship shook. The main screen turned on to reveal that three Rynex Police harriers were waiting for them. "Shit!"

"The police?! I thought we lost them!" Erzi cried.

"We have to leave Watao's orbit now!"

The Chanbao managed to make it past the police harriers, but they were shooting at them—and not missing. Fuqin began to sweat bullets.

"The engine is too damaged to keep on going!" Niyuu cried.

"They won't stop shooting at the engine! They want to kill us at this point!" Jiyuu shouted. Fuqin fell silent for a moment.

"Boys… I want you to get into the escape pods," Fuqin said. "There's only three of them."

"'Three?' Don't tell me that you're going to just stay here! Father!"

"I'm going down with the ship. You're too young to join me. Now, get to those escape pods."

"No! I'm sure you can fit in mine! Come on!" Erzi shouted. Niyuu grabbed his arm, while Jiyuu grabbed the other. They began to drag him to the escape pad. "No! Let me go!"

"Go to the palace. Talk with Lord Junfa and board the Jiuju. Okay?" Fuqin shouted back.

The three of them got to the escape pods. Niyuu shoved Erzi into the escape pod, Jiyuu locking it right away. Erzi slammed his fists against the door. Erzi was crying, but no sound could be heard outside of the pod. The twins got into their own pods and without any hesitation, Fuqin released the escape pods, shooting them towards Watao…

Erzi did what his father told him and met with Lord Junfa in the palace.

"YOUR FATHER HAS FAILED, HEIHOZU ERZI," Lord Junfa said. Erzi was enraged, but he held his tongue. "YOU MUST FIGHT THE ONE WHO IS THE KEY TO THE GALACTIC LEYLINE." Erzi bowed…

There was an explosion at Starfish Labs. Heihozu, Niyuu, Jiyuu, Shu, Yan and his other crew members broke into the lab. Niyuu, Jiyuu, and Yan killed the scientists there without any hesitation, while Heihozu and Shu ran downstairs to the main lab. When they got there, they saw a boy behind glass, his thick lashed eyes closed. It was Lark.

"The treasure!" Heihozu cried. Shu hacked into the computer, trying to release Lark, which wasn't a problem. The security guards ran downstairs, ready to shoot them, but Heihozu clumsily shot his gun, killing them. The two security guards were the first lives he himself had claimed. He felt awful, but he didn't have time to think…

Heihozu was carrying the new bio-android Lark in his arms. He gazed at him, blushing.

"He's like a doll…" he thought…

Most of his crew had died except for those who were given the status of Maichong 45: Shu, the Digital Terror; Niyuu and Jiyuu, the The Twin 45's; and Yan, the Damned Moon. Soon, the Jiuju took off, heading towards Shar, where they could hide a bit…

One day, Lord Junfa contacted them.

"HEIHOZU ERZI."

"Y-yes, sir?" Heihozu replied; his booming voice always made him nervous.

"NOW THAT YOU HAVE THE DOLL, YOU MUST FIND THE GOLDEN SHIP, THE AURUM. UNFORTUNATELY, THE LOCATION OF THIS SHIP HAS BEEN LOST FOR YEARS, BUT I BELIEVE YOU CAN FIND IT."

"Yes, sir!" Heihozu shouted. What choice did he have?