Chapter 3– The Mermaid and the Sea. Kai, the Ki-Swordsman.
It was a normal day as Pierce was traveling across the ocean with a new device in his hand. It was Dr. Brief's new prototype Dragon Radar. He was still working through some kinks in the radar and Pierce was sent off to try it out.
The radar pointed Pierce out into the sea as he flew around the ocean. The radar soon went offline, leaving Pierce blind about the Dragon Ball. But he did see an island near his location. He decided to check it out to see if anyone has heard of the Dragon ball.
After an hour of asking around town, no one knew anything about the Dragon Balls, but they all said a guy named Kai might be able to help him. Apparently, they say that Kai is the village's top fisherman, but he's also known for his usage of martial arts. They all said he could be found on the beachside.
Pierce headed over, finding a small hut and a basic paddle boat near it. "Uh, hello, is anyone here?" Pierce asked until he heard some crashing water from behind him, he saw someone hard at training, thinking this to be Kai. He appeared with long brown hair in a ponytail, similar to Yamcha's long hair style, blue eyes, and a shark bite scar on his side. He wore grayish blue left shoulder top, dark blue open finger gloves, and black pants with a black belt.
He seemed to have a unique fighting style. Seeing how he manifested a Ki-sword and started fighting like a fencer. Pierce decided to go talk to him.
"Hey, hello?"
"Huh? Who are you? What do you want here?" he asked.
"I'm Pierce. I'm here looking for something. Have you ever heard of the Dragon Balls?" Pierce questioned.
"I hate to say I haven't. Hmm, interesting, your power seems to be very great. Much more than mine."
"Well, yeah, special training and everything. But your skills are pretty impressive as well. Seeing how you're able to materialize a sword of pure Ki just like that."
"Haha, yes, well, I have been training like this ever since I was a boy. If you'd like, I could teach you a little bit of the basics." Kai said. Pierce thought about this for a second, remembering that Garmen wanted him to learn other forms of martial arts to help him improve his own abilities. With that, Pierce agreed. "How exciting, let's get started shall we! I'm Kai by the way."
Pierce and Kai trained for most of the day for Pierce to learn this style of fighting. They didn't get to the Ki weaponry, but Kai did explain to Pierce how someone can fuse their energy into a weapon and make it as strong as their own power. It was amazing for Pierce to learn of what else his powers can succeed in. Little did he know, learning this actually caused Pierce's journal to glow without him knowing.
By the end of their little spar, Pierce felt something in the aura of the planet. "Hmm, Pierce are you alright?" Kai asked.
"No, something's wrong. I feel… an imbalance. I'm sure what it is, it's just not good." Pierce said, flying off as Kai followed close behind.
Before long, they soon saw something from afar. It was a large ship with the Blue Badge insignia as a flag. "Err, damn, these guys again." Kai said.
"I take it you've fought them before?" Pierce asked.
"Yeah, they attacked my island a few days ago. I had them on the run when these robotic creations came out of nowhere. I was badly beaten, but I was still able to destroy them." Kai said, a little pissed off.
They looked below, seeing a girl trapped in a fishing net, surrounded by the Blue Badge Army who were tapping their rifles at her like she was a pinata. "Really? They're harming innocent women now? Are you good to help?"
"Yeah, I'm calling this my bit of revenge." Kai said as they flew down.
It didn't take long for Pierce and Kai to deal with the soldiers. One soldier lifted himself up and talked into a walkie-talkie. "Activate the Androids, we are not losing that prisoner." he said as some pods activated down below, welcoming some new Androids. Three Androids appeared with their own initials on their arms, designating them as Android #3, #4, and #5. #3 had blue skin, #4 had darker gray skin, and #5 had white skin, nearly looking human-like.
"Great, more toys the army has created." Pierce powered up and attacked. Android #4 rushed in with his head first, taking the attack and pushing Pierce back. Pierce saw that his knuckles were a little red. He tried attacking again, but the machine didn't move an inch. "Geez, what are you made of?" Pierce asked.
"Diamond, the toughest mineral in the world." Android #4 said. Before Pierce knew it, Android #3 appeared in front of Pierce. Pierce tried to attack, but was knocked back with one punch, which felt like ten punches. Finally, Android #5 jumped into the air and fired an energy blast. Pierce prepared to block it, but the Android changed the direction of the blast to hit Pierce in the side. Pierce could see why these Androids were new, they had upgrades compared to the previous Androids.
Meanwhile, Kai went to free the girl by cutting the net. He managed to cut it free as the net fell back into the ocean. The girl swam back up with her hair all wet. "Are you alright?" Kai asked.
"I'm fine, but please, go help your friend." she said as Kai raced off.
All three Androids fired a combined attack, controlled by Android #5 of course. Pierce prepared to defend against it, but Kai quickly rushed forward with his hand forming a blade of Ki that cut threw the energy ball into hundreds of pieces. "Heh, thanks for that Kai. I owe you one." Pierce said.
"No problem. So, should we divide their forces and take them out?" Kai asked.
"That's a tough solution, just by fighting these three I've figured out their traits. Toughness, speed, and energy. They all have an advantage in this fight, especially when they work together." Pierce said.
"Well, I'll try to distract two of them while you focus on the one. I can hold my own pretty well."
"Alright, but getting them apart is easier said than done."
"Don't worry, I have a technique to help with this. First, you need to close your eyes." Kai said as he put his hands to his eyes as he closed them. "Solar Flare!" he said as Pierce quickly closed his eyes, this blinded the Androids. "Now!"
Pierce powered up with his Aura Enhance and bulldozed into Android #4 sending him up in the air as he followed. Android #3 and #5 quickly regained their vision as Kai sprinted forward to attack. However, Android #3 could easily dodge his attacks.
Android #5 blasted at Kai with an energy blast that Kai quickly cut in half. Though the Android curved the split blasts up into the air and back down at Kai who quickly dodged it. Kai was slowly starting to lose his ground against the two Androids.
When it seemed like they got him, Android #3 was distracted when some water was splashed onto him by the girl. This gave Kai the chance to knee him in the stomach as elbowed Android #5.
Pierce tried all that he could, but just couldn't beat Android #4, even with his Aura boost. The only way Pierce could see to do damage to this guy is cutting right through him, but Kai never taught him how to materialize a Ki-sword. Though suddenly, his bag glowed, showing to be his journal as it started to blind Android #4.
Pierce touched the book as some knowledge from the book flooded his mind. With a wave of his hand covered in aura, he was able to summon a sword to his hand. "Okay, this will work." Pierce said as Android #4 rushed in as did Pierce. He powered the blade with his aura and slashed down on the android who blocked it with his arm. But instead, #4's arm was cut off, shocking the robotic menace. "Heh, I guess that scared you."
Pierce saw Kai in trouble so he appeared above Android #4 and sledgehammered him back down towards the ship. The android crashed into the others and the ship, causing it to sink as Kai levitated off the water.
"Thanks for the assist." Kai thanked Pierce.
"No problem, but I don't think we're done yet." Pierce said as the Androids appeared out of the water, ready to continue the battle. Pierce and Kai noticed the water glowing around them as they saw something swimming around in a circle. It was the girl and apparently, she was a mermaid.
"Quickly, land on it." she said as Pierce and Kai descended. They could feel their wounds slowly start to heal as they stared up at the Androids who prepared for one more attack.
Android #3 and 4 started giving their energy to Android #5 as he started raising his power. It became so powerful that its power core was near the point of exerting itself.
"Put everything you got into your attack!" Pierce said as they powered up their energy. They fired their full power at each other which led to a beam struggle. Pierce started using his Aura Enhance to boost his power in the fight, but Android #3 and 4 started to exert more of their power into the attack that nearly eclipsed Pierce and Kai. Then suddenly, Pierce's aura started to form around Kai.
"Whoa, this is… different." Kai said. Somehow, his energy was doubled thanks to Pierce's Aura boost. This gave them the power that they needed to push back the beam. All three power cores broke as Pierce and Kai blasted all three of them away.
Later, back on the island, the mermaid started to heal Pierce and Kai with her magical powers. She appeared with dark magenta long hair and blue eyes, wearing a blue shirt and having a green mermaid fish tail. "I must thank you both for saving me. My name is Matilda. Those people took me because they were searching for something."
"Was it possibly an orb called a Dragon Ball?" Pierce asked.
"Yes, I see you've heard of them as well." Matilda said.
"But why you? Why were you important?" Kai asked.
"It's because I know information about the Dragon Balls, but… I can't trust everyone." Matilda said as she looked up at Pierce with a questioning expression on her face. "Can you please come closer?" Pierce came closer to Matilda as she touched her hand to his head as it began to glow. Yes, I sense your intentions to be good with the Dragon Balls."
"If you don't mind me asking, what was the purpose of making these Dragon Balls if evil people like the Blue Badge Army could use them for evil." Pierce asked.
"I do not have all the answers." Matilda said. "Me and my other brothers and sisters try to protect the Dragon Balls from evil beings like them, you could say we're kind of like guardians of them. But I'm afraid we don't know the true purpose of why they were created. Hmm, strange, the queen actually talked about someone with this question, and told us when we find this person that they'll meet soon one day."
"Is this queen like a psychic or something?" Kai asked as Matilda only laughed, confusing both Kai and Pierce.
"Please, wait here, I have a gift for you." Matilda said, diving underwater. After a minute, she came back up with a Dragon Ball in hand, this being the sixth-star Dragon Ball. "Pierce, I trust you with this Dragon Ball, and just know you'll have the army of the mer-people behind you to help search for them."
"Yeah, and you can count on me as well." Kai said. "I'm going to make sure to get stronger so we can defeat the Blue Badge Army."
Afterwards, Pierce waved goodbye to Kai and Matilda as he made his way back to the temple. Unknown to him, Pierce was being watched from a camera as someone watched with curiosity.