Chapter 4
Axel, Gohei, and Tyla continued to eat fish around the roaring fire. A few hours had passed since they first arrived in the cave. Gohei lunged at his food with no mercy as Tyla watched on in horror. Axel chuckled to himself as he watched the two. The fire began to die down. Axel quickly put a new log in, setting the blaze anew. Gohei finally polished off the rest of his food and dropped the bones on the ground. Dozens of fish bones were surrounding him on the ground. He then looked around, as if looking for more food.
Gohei: What? Is that all you got?
Axel: Well, you have quite an appetite. Unfortunately, that's all I had with me.
Tyla: Are you a garbage disposal? Jeez. I've never seen someone eat like you do.
Gohei: Well, I'm a growing boy. I guess that hit the spot after all.
Axel: I'm glad you liked it. I'll have to remember to go catch some more later.
Gohei: *suddenly* Say bub. Who are you exactly?
Tyla: I was wondering about that too. You're so strong and you live in a cave.
Axel: Yes, I suppose someone like myself would seem strange to you all. Answering your question is a bit difficult. As I said before, I'm not sure myself who I am.
Tyla: What do you mean? I mean…if you don't mind explaining.
Axel: It's not a problem. Well, I know nothing of my parents or any sort of family, if I have any at all. I was found as an infant by an old man. Ryu was his name. It would seem that someone had left me in an empty machine of some sort. Master said he had never seen anything like it. Any who, Master Ryu raised me like I was his own son. He gave me the name of Axel as well. It so happens that he was also a renowned martial artist. He had secluded himself to a small house in the mountains because the arts of martial arts had long been forgotten. Anyway, along with teaching me all the skills to lead an ordinary life, he also taught me his form of the martial arts: the Ryu Ken.
Gohei: Sounds bad ass.
Tyla: Gohei! What have I told you about cursing?
Gohei: Sorry, Mom. *to Axel* Go back to that story.
Axel: Of course. They Ryu Shinkei style requires the utmost disciple and well developed manipulation and sensing of ki.
Tyla: Ki? I've never heard of that before.
Gohei: Is it a type of candy bar, 'cause I'm still hungry.
Tyla: You vacuum cleaner! You just ate like thirty pieces of fish! *sighs* I really wonder about you sometimes. *to Axel* I'm sorry. You can go on if you want now.
Axel: *chuckles* Right. Ki is the energy within all living beings. From humans, to plants, to Namekians, everything has ki. Now, the amount of ki something has can differ depending on what it is. For example, most humans have a pretty low amount of ki, while a plant would have even lower ki. But, you also have the ability to raise your ki through training. A martial artist would have more ki than say…a mailman. Are you understanding this? I'll explain it again if you don't.
Tyla: No. I think I got the basics of it.
Axel: That's great. You catch on quick.
Tyla: Wait, is ki that yellow stuff those guys were shooting?
Axel: Yes. Ki can be used for many different things. You can use it for flight or manipulate it to make an energy blast. You can even use it for a quick burst of energy.
Gohei: Whoa, whoa, whoa! You're trying to say the reason I can fly is because I'm using this "ki" or whatever?
Axel: *nods yes* Exactly. You seem to have some ability in using ki. I wouldn't be wrong in saying that you can sense ki as well?
Gohei: Sense ki? Er…*begins to think* Well, I had been getting a strange feeling about something. Then the feeling got stronger as I approached that village.
Axel: I see. That's the same reason I went. I sensed some unusually strong powers and knew they couldn't be ordinary humans.
Tyla: I guess it was a good thing you did. You saved our lives.
Gohei: Tch. I told you I could have handled it myself.
Tyla: *ignoring Gohei* So, Mister Axel. What ever happened to your Master Ryu?
Axel: Master Ryu was an accomplished martial artist back in his younger years and considered one of the strongest men on the planet, but there was one foe he couldn't beat. Age. Master died a few years ago. I had always envisioned him as being invincible, so when he passed, I was stunned for awhile. After a few months, I decided to live out her and continue my training. And that's about the whole story.
Tyla: Wow! That's an amazing tale!
Gohei: …I guess. Say, how'd you get that scar on your face?
Axel felt the scar on the left side of his face for a moment.
Axel: I…I'm not sure. I've had this ever since I was a child.
Gohei: Huh. Me too. That's creepy. We have the same scar, but on opposite sides.
Tyla: You two look the same too. Are you brothers or something?
Axel and Gohei stared at each other for a few moments.
Axel: Like I said, I don't know of any siblings or family I might have.
Gohei: And I've been an orphan forever.
Tyla: And how old are you Mister Axel?
Axel: *begins to think* Let's see…if I'm not mistaken, it was nineteen years ago that Master Ryu found me as an infant.
Tyla: So your nineteen. Okay…
Gohei: Are you going somewhere with this Tyla?
Tyla: Well, I think that…
Suddenly, Axel sensed a huge power approaching their location. Gohei began to wobble around a bit.
Gohei: *groggily* Whoa! It's like a tank just ran over me! What is that I'm sensing?!
Axel: There's an incredible power approaching this cave.
Tyla: I-Is it those soldiers again?
Axel: I'm not sure. It feels a bit different from the others.
Suddenly, the cave began to shake violently. Tyla shrieked and quickly latched on to Axel's leg. Rocks began to fall down from the ceiling. Axel grabbed the two and began to fly towards the exit. The entire cave was caving in. After a few moments, they made it out in the knick of time. The three then looked to see a giant, red ship landing in the wastelands below. He slowly flew down to get a better look. Dozens of soldiers were beginning to pile out of the ship.
Axel: Damn! They must have tracked us with those devices on their heads.
Tyla: What's wrong Mister Axel? Can't you just take them out like you did before?
Axel: Correct. That shouldn't be a problem. You two, stay here.
He flew out from behind the rock formation they were hiding behind and landed a good distance away from the soldiers. All of their scouters suddenly went off, then exploded on their heads. This obviously turned their attention towards Axel, who only stood silently. A Namekian soldier then spoke.
Namekian Soldier: Uh…I think that's the guy!
Meatian Soldier: You're right! He's that dark-skinned human!
Axel: You all need to leave this planet right now. I don't have to get violent, but I will if I have too.
Suddenly, the ramp that led up to the red spacecraft reopened. All the soldiers suddenly lined up beside it, as if making a path. Axel stared on in confusion. Someone stepped out the ship and began walking down the path. It was a human-looking person, but he was rather large, maybe roughly the size of three people.. He had a blonde Mohawk in the center of his head, that being his only hair. He had on a scouter with a yellow lens and black leggings and sleeves to go along with his battle armor. He stared at Axel up and down for a few moments before walking closer to him. The man suddenly began to speak in a slightly childish voice.
???: You are the one? The one with the extraordinarily high power level?
Axel: I believe so. I am Axel.
???: I see. I see. *nods for a few moments* Good! I was starting to think that conquering this planet would be too simple. I am Plinto, one of the four generals leading this invasion.
Axel: You're one of the leaders? Good. Then perhaps we can negotiate this reasonably. Is there anyway you can leave this planet in peace?
Plinto: I see. I see. Well, I'm afraid I can't. Even if I wanted to, it's out of my hands. This is the will of Lord Icer and I have no wish to question it.
Axel: So, that's your decision then? I guess I'll have to take you all down myself.
Plinto: I see. I see. You're not to familiar with alien races are you? I am a Brutian, from the planet Brutan Four. You see, we have ten times the strength of a normal human being and are fifty times as durable. You'll see that I won't go down as easily as the soldiers you disposed of earlier.
Axel: Is that a fact? *thinking* Then that probably explains why his power is so high. I thought I was sensing an whole army before, but its just this guy by himself!
Plinto: *pushes a button on his scouter* Hmm…the reading says you're power level is just over nine thousand. I see. I see. Well, this should take a little bit of effort then. Twenty minutes tops.
Axel: You're going to lose if you already start underestimating me.
Plinto: I see. I see. Well, let's put that to the test.
Gohei and Tyla watched the whole scene from their hiding place.
Tyla: Oh man…look at that guy! He's towering over Axel!
Gohei: Tch. He don't look so tough. I'm sure Axel'll smack the taste out his mouth!
Tyla: I don't think it's going to be as simple as that.
Gohei: Stop thinking so much Tyla. I used to beat up kids way bigger than me.
Tyla: Did they have an intergalactic army to command too?
Gohei: Well…not exactly.
Tyla: I thought so. Anyway, I'm not sure we should leave him all alone with all those soldiers. You know they don't like to play fair.
Gohei: *stands* Well…*cracks knuckles* I'll go help him then!
Tyla: *pulls him down* No you don't! He told us to stay here and we're going to do that!
Gohei: Jeez. You're no fun at all.
Axel got into a fighting stance, reminiscent of a fierce dragon. Plinto chuckled. You could cut the tension in the air with a knife as the two fighters stared each other down. Axel suddenly flew towards Plinto at high speed. He began throwing a flurry of punches and kicks that were connecting. Plinto looked like a rag doll as he was being hit from all directions. Axel then threw a fierce kick dead into his stomach, causing him to fly back into a large mountain. With an enormous crash, the entire mountain fell to the ground. Rubble went flying everywhere as Tyla shrieked in terror. The soldiers looked on in complete shock. Axel himself surprised that he'd done that with such ease. Everyone quieted down after a few moments. Suddenly, a surprised look appeared on Axel's face. Then, all the rubble suddenly exploded, as Plinto stepped out. The scouter on his face had cracked a bit. He took it off and crushed it in his hands. The large man appeared to be completely unharmed. He flew back over to Axel, who had a stunned look on his face.
Plinto: I see. I see. I was curious as to how much your punches hurt. Not bad I guess.
Axel: *thinking* How could he not have been hurt at all?!
Plinto: Well, I've seen enough. Are you ready?
A fiery, red aura began to surround Plinto as the ground began to shake. Then, the entire area began to shake. All the soldiers began to wobble around on the ground. Gohei quickly shielded Tyla away from the falling rocks around them. Axel's eyes widened as Plinto continued his power up.
Axel: *thinking* I've never felt a power this large before! And it's getting bigger!
The ground continued to shake as Plinto charged for Axel. He then vanished. Before Axel could look for him, a kick nailed him in the back of the head and sent him flying. Plinto suddenly appeared in front of him and threw an axe handle with both fists, sending him crashing into the ground. The earth shook for a moment. Axel laid in a giant crater and slowly got to his feet. Blood was running down his face. His vision was also a little blurry, as he wobbled around.
Axel: *thinking* I might have a concussion. Reminds me of the time I used to get hit by Master.
Plinto held his arm out and suddenly fired a large, red blast towards Axel. He slowly held out his arms and began to block it with his hands. He struggled, as the blast began to push him back. He quickly fired a yellow blast into the center of the bigger blast, cancelling it out. Axel heavily breath. The top part of his gi was tattered and falling off, so he ripped it off himself, leaving only his black under shirt. Plinto suddenly began to shout.
Plinto: I see. I see. You're still strong enough to resist. Good!
Axel: Even after a blast like that, he's still got plenty of energy. I see. This fight will be the toughest one I've had so far.
END