Tale of the Demon King!
Two hundred seventy-five years ago...
No one knew where Piccolo Daimaou came from or how he came to power. He came upon the world as swift and as sudden as a wildfire with his hordes of demonic henchmen. All the armies of the world and their mightiest weapons were as nothing to Piccolo's power. As Piccolo Daimaou prepared to lay waste to the world, however, there was one man who chose to stand when others had fallen. At the twilight of the human race, one man chose not to go quietly into the night. Mutaito, the greatest martial artist on the planet, gathered together five hundred of his fellow martial arts masters for one final stand against the Demon King.
It was a massacre. The masters might have been able to cut into his demonic army but they could not stand against Daimaou himself. Hundreds of styles and philosophies, thousands of techniques, forever lost to time. In the end, Mutaito stood alone against the darkness. However, he would not be alone for long.
OoOoOoO
Muten Roshi tore through the night sky on his Nimbus Cloud toward the mist-covered peak of the Yariyama. The mountain was tall and jagged and practically impassible without the Nimbus Cloud. He normally wouldn't even bother coming here but times were desperate. The human race was more important than his petty grudges.
He landed the cloud on a small platform near the mouth of a cave within the mountain and hopped down to the ground. Despite the circumstances, he was still hesitant to call out. Finally he sucked up his courage and cupped his hands around his mouth.
"Sheeeeeen!" he cried out. For an agonizing moment, there was nothing but the sound of the wind whipping through his shaggy brown hair. Would Shen really refuse him? Now of all times?! Eventually, though, he finally heard the sounds of footsteps and let out a sigh of relief. Shen walked out of the mouth of the cave with one hand held out with a ki ball against his palm. For a moment, Muten thought Shen was going to attack him before he realized that Shen was only using the ball to light his way. Muten looked down and, to his surprise, found a toddler clinging to Shen's leg, peeking out from behind to look suspiciously up at Muten.
"What do you want?" Shen demanded as he crossed his arms over his chest and the ki ball faded away. Where Muten's purple gi was torn and tattered from fighting the demon armies, Shen's was pristine. Muten could guess where he had been during the fighting.
"What do I want?" Muten asked incredulously. "Shen, do you know what's going on right now? It's hell! It's literally Hell on Earth right now! Master Mutaito has been trying to battle Piccolo Daimaou but he's losing! Humanity is losing. He needs us, Shen! He needs us!" Shen's eyes slowly narrowed as the wind buffeted his hair-wings.
"Go inside, Tao," Shen said softly to the toddler and shook his leg to make the child scamper off before returning his attention to Muten. "What," he asked, "You want me to fight with you? To put everything aside and pretend we're children again? You must be insane." He scoffed derisively and Muten ground his teeth in frustration. He could be so damned arrogant!
"Open your eyes!" Muten demanded as he stomped the ground hard enough to crack the stone. "Piccolo Daimaou is going to wipe out every living thing on Earth! We need to work together! We have to fight together, Shen, please! Is pride worth so much that you would throw away the world?!" Muten glared at Shen as his words echoed off the mountain. For a long time, neither one said anything and Muten started to turn away to leave, knowing he would be going to his death.
"I don't suppose," Shen said suddenly, "You brought that magic carpet with you?" Muten turned back to look at Shen with one eyebrow raised.
"No," he said while not daring to hope. "Why?" Shen rolled his eyes and shook his head.
"Because I'm certainly not getting down the mountain with that cloud's ridiculous understandings of morality," he explained. Muten couldn't stop himself from smiling as he held up his arm with his hand open.
"You mean it?" he asked eagerly. Shen nodded and wrapped his arm around Muten's and clasped his hand.
"Yes, Muten. For one more day, we are brothers," Shen smiled and looked just a little bit like his old self. "And the history books shall say that at the edge of the world, Crane and Turtle stood together to drive back the night." He pulled his hand away from Muten's and turned his head to the sky. "To me," he called out, "Fuunsaiki!"
OoOoOoO
'Hmm,' Mutaito thought begrudgingly as he wiped blood from his eye that had trickled down from a cut in his scalp. 'This could be a problem.' Before him stood a veritable army of Piccolo Daimaou's hellspawn. Hundreds of them, maybe thousands, all barrelling towards him. He dug his feet into the ground before breaking into a sprint as his hands glowed with yellow ki. He leaped into the air and thrust out his hands as he sailed over the sea of demons. "Riitetsujuu!" he called out as hundreds of bright yellow bullets flew from his hands and blasted apart swathes of the horde. He landed in a pocket one of his blasts had created and thrust his hands out with fingers outstretched and palms down. "Ryoukuken!" He spun on his feet as long hand-with blades of ki shot out of his fingertips and sliced through the demons like a saw.
Even as he fought, Mutaito could tell he was wasting his energy. For looming above him in the distance, standing atop a mountain of corpses of demons and martial artists alike with the full moon at his back was the Demon King. He could feel the hateful, mocking gaze from across the battlefield. Even if Mutaito destroyed Piccolo's entire army, which would not be impossible, merely difficult, he would be completely drained of energy and have no strength left with which to fight. However, he needed to cut through the demons to have any hope of getting to their master. Even as he pressed on, even though he refused to go quietly into the night, Mutaito began to feel the edges of despair on his spirit. This battle looked hopeless. Then, Mutaito heard a pair of voices call out that he had never expected to hear together again.
"Master Mutaito!" called down the voices of Shen and Muten. Mutaito looked up towards the sky to see Muten riding his Nimbus cloud and Shen riding atop Fuunsaiki, his pegasus that seemed to be made of mist and stars. It dissolved as Muten and Shen dropped down to meet him with Nimbus soaring back up into the sky.
"We'll hold them off!" Muten assured him as he and Shen stood side by side. Shen nodded and got into his guard.
"You go after Piccolo Daimaou! Show this monster the power of the Teneraigen school!" Mutaito nodded at his students and felt overwhelming pride that the pair had come together as he jumped over the demons and began flying towards Piccolo.
"So," Muten said as he cracked his neck and knuckles before getting into his guard, "I'll take the thousand on the left, you take the thousand on the right? First one to clean up their side wins and the loser buys lunch."
"Oh come now, Muten," Shen admonished his rival, "Let's be serious." Then he smirked. "Give me fifteen hundred. You need the handicap." Muten laughed as he and Shen gave a battle cry and charged to meet the demons. Just like old times.
They struck with blinding speed and fury, each blast and wave of ki energy carrying tremendous force as they tore into the demons. Shen sprinted through the army of demons with arms outstretched as his Ryoukuken cut through them like a knife. Muten jumped into the air and raised his hands high overhead to charge a massive Riitetsujuu in his hands and flung it down to blast a hole in the army 100 metres wide. When it came to technique, they were not yet the masters they would become but this was the height of their power. Together, they were all but invincible.
"Shen!" Muten called as they made their way back towards each other. "Back to back!" They jumped towards each other and stood back to back as they battered away Piccolo's army with lethal force, sending the demons flying as they came charging upon the students.
"Now!" Shen cried as he threw up his arms. Muten raised his arms as well and they locked their arms at the elbows.
"Bakuhatsu Dome!" they cried in unison as a bright orange ball of ki formed around them and blasted through the armies of hell in a massive explosion.
"Well," Muten said as body parts rained around them, "Think I'm winnin'." Shen chuckled and shook his head.
OoOoOoO
Mutaito flew towards Piccolo Daimaou and watched as the Demon King leaped into the sky to meet him head-on. The two collided in the air and Piccolo brought Mutaito hard down to the ground, overpowering him with his superior bulk. Piccolo was a colossus when measured against any regular person and Mutaito had always been shorter than average and more stockily built making the difference in size between them even more pronounced.
"I will commend you," Piccolo said with a chuckle as Mutaito got to his feet. "Of all the creatures of the Earth, you have shown the most spirit in defying me. When I am king of this world, I shall hold you in my memory, adversary." Mutaito spat and scowled at Piccolo as he got into his guard.
"Spare me your false pleasantries, monster!" he declared before he charged at Piccolo. "I will drive your evil from this world if it takes my last breath!" He leaped into the air and slammed his shoulder into Piccolo's gut to make him stagger back. Piccolo responded with a forearm to the face, smashing the strange pink patch against Mutaito's nose. He skidded back before leaping up again and smashing his fists onto the sides of Piccolo's head. That seemed to disorient him and Mutaito followed up on his vulnerability with an axehandle blow right on the crown of his head. He gripped Piccolo by the arm and flipped him bodily overhead to slam him hard down into the dirt. Piccolo growled and sprang to his feet before throwing out his hand. His arm elongated suddenly and his hand gripped around Mutaito's throat to pull his chest into Piccolo's knee. Mutaito staggered back and barely managed to avoid two thin read beams of death that shot from Piccolo's eyes before rushing forward and smashing a kick into the Demon King's knee and driving his elbow up under Piccolo's chin. He staggered away and brought his fingertips to his lips, his claws coming away with… purple blood.
"I will scar your soul!" Piccolo roared in rage. "Even in the afterlife, you will remember the torment of Piccolo Daimaou!" He opened his hands and let out a burst of ki blasts that Mutaito countered with his own flurry of Riitetsujuu and the balls collided in the air in an explosion like a dozen tiny supernovas. Piccolo came charging through the smoke and light to swipe at Mutaito with his claws, tearing through the white shirt of his gi and biting into his flesh. The blow sent Mutaito flying back to where Piccolo was already waiting for him. The Demon King threw out a kick that struck Mutaito in the back and he collapsed painfully to the ground. "Give up," Piccolo demanded. "Kneel before me and I will make the last moments of your life painless." Still, Mutaito rose and brought up his fists. Piccolo cracked his knuckles and flexed his fingers. "Very well." They charged one another again in an exchange of punches and kings that shook the ground beneath their feet.
OoOoOoO
Muten looked up from his and Shen's battle with Piccolo's armies to see that Master Mutaito was fighting Piccolo Daimaou… and losing.
"Master!" he called out in a panic. Master Mutaito couldn't die! Not while he had anything to say about it. With a sudden roar, his body flooded with power and he grew taller as his muscles exploded in size. He'd been saving this MAX POWER technique to try against Shen but time was clearly of the essence here. He leaped over the demons with Shen following close behind. Piccolo looked up just in time to see Muten barrel into him with the force of a runaway train as Shen helped their master to his feet. Piccolo got up just as Muten charged him again and met the charge with a punch… and gave ground! Muten flattened the Demon King with a barrage of punches and kicks that left him stunned.
'Is that really Muten?!' Shen thought in disbelief as he watched his former rival, his lackadaisical, immature rival batter the Demon King. 'But when? How? Where did he get this power?!'
"One more shot and you're finished!" Muten roared as he slammed his massive hands together and brought them to his side. He'd been practicing this one for a few years and was hoping to use it against Shen, too. "Kaaaameeeehaaaameeee…" And as suddenly as the power had come… it was gone. Muten's muscle shrank back down to their normal size and he suddenly found himself looking up at a very angry Demon King. Piccolo's hand was out in a flash and squeezed around Muten's throat. His yellow eyes were wide with rage as his grip tightened even as Muten fought desperately to pull the fingers away from his throat and the claws that bit into his neck.
"Dodonpa!" Shen called as a wide yellow beam caught Piccolo in the shoulder and caused his grip to loosen. Shen cursed himself even as he leaped at Piccolo with a flying kick. It was supposed to be a thin, puncturing beam! He'd have to practice more to get it right. As his foot drove into Piccolo's shoulder to free Muten from his grasp, Shen reminded himself that first there would have to be time to practice. He and Muten leaped at Piccolo together with uppercuts but Piccolo grabbed their wrists and slammed them into each other before smashing them into the ground and casting them dismissively aside like garbage. They rose again and charged again only to be swatted aside easily once more. Mutaito watched in horror as his students fought valiantly… and hopelessly.
'They will die,' Mutaito thought. 'They will die in this battle if I do nothing. They will die… for me.' He scowled at himself and cursed his cowardice for not using his final technique sooner. 'They are young! They should not throw their lives away. My life is no precious thing to me.' Mutaito could feel his broken bones and the fluid starting to fill one of his lungs. He didn't have much time, anyhow. "Piccolo!" he called out as he reached behind him. "Over here!" He threw a satchel on the ground and opened it to reveal… a rice cooker with a seal slapped onto its side. "It is time to end this! Your reign shall end before it begins!" Piccolo dropped Shen and Roshi's bodies and laughed.
"You barely have the energy to stand, adversary," he mocked. "How do you intend to defeat me?" Mutaito made several intricate motions with his hands before he locked them together with his two fingers upraised. He channeled all the ki in his body, every last drop of his life energy, even as his body screamed in protest and tried to cling to life.
"Mafuuba!" he roared as a massive blast of green ki shot from his body and struck the arrogant Piccolo Daimaou head on. His arrogance turned to horror as his body spasmed in pain and he was trapped in a bright green vortex. He howled in despair and struggled against the current as Mutaito waved his arms and directed Piccolo into the open rice cooker. Piccolo's last shrieks of dismay were carried upon the wind as the lid snapped shut. Cut off from their master, the demons froze and blew away like ash. Mutaito looked over at Shen and Muten to see them helping one another up and smiled before he collapsed. He died before he hit the ground.
"Master!" Shen and Muten called out in despair. They ran to him and Muten collapsed to his knees beside Mutaito's body and cradled his head in his hands.
"Master…" Muten whispered as he choked back tears. "Master! Please! Don't die, Master! You can't die!" His words received no answer. Mutaito was far beyond where words could reach him now. To train with the greatest masters of all, a student once more. There was a long and solemn silence as both stood over their fallen master.
"This is your fault," Shen finally said. Muten blinked away tears and stared at Shen in disbelief. How could he say something like that?! Shen turned on him with hatred in his eyes and jabbed his finger into Muten's chest. "Master Mutaito died the moment he decided you were right. From the very instant that he chose you over me! If he had listened to me, his students would have been ruthless! They would have been better and stronger, he would have had an army to challenge the Demon King with! He would have had the willingness to kill and struck the Demon King down easily!" Muten's fists balled in anger as Shen continued. "If you had listened to me, you would have had the killing intent! You could have killed Piccolo when you had the advantage but you wasted your opportunity! This is your fault, Muten! It's all your–"
"Shut up!" Muten screamed and punched Shen hard across the jaw to send him sprawling into the dirt. Shen scowled at Muten and Muten returned the hateful glare. Shen picked himself up and dusted himself off.
"Know this," he told Muten, "From this moment forth, you are my enemy. With every breath, I curse your name. We are no longer and will never again be brothers. Until I have breathed my last, I will hate you, Muten Roshi. Never seek me out again or I will not hesitate to kill you." Then he turned his head to the sky. "Fuunsaiki!" he called out. The Pegasus swirled back into existence and he rode it away into the night sky leaving Muten alone to take Master Mutaito back to the temple and bury him.
OoOoOoO
Roshi rubbed the sleeve of his jacket across his eyes and sighed as he finished recounting his tale. Even after these centuries, the pain of loss was still raw in his memory.
"I have never," he told them, "Encountered a power like Piccolo Daimaou. He cannot be defeated with strength or skill. If he has somehow found a way to escape the Mafuuba then there is no way to defeat him. Not even Goku can match his strength." There was a solemn silence as everyone bowed their heads morosely and contemplated Roshi' forlorn words.
"Hey," Yamcha said as he held up a fist, "Hold on a second, guys! We can't give up yet! I know one way we can stop Piccolo!" They all looked at him expectantly and he grinned. "The Dragon Balls! We know Piccolo's trying to gather them for something, right?"
"Whatever it is," Bulma said, "It can't be good. Probably to make himself immortal or something." Yamcha nodded.
"Right. So we have to get the rest of them first to stop him! Plus, if we can get his Dragon Balls, we can summon Shenron!" Launch grinned and pounded a fist eagerly into her open palm.
"Then we can use him to wish that stupid bastard dead!" She had to admit, it was a pretty good plan. Yamcha grinned and gave a thumbs-up.
"Exactly." He turned to Bulma and asked, "I don't suppose you've started building another Dragon Radar, have you?" Bulma shook her head before she broke out in a grin.
"Y'know what, though? I can build one in a couple hours!" she said cheerfully. "We can go back to the Kame House and regroup while I build it and wait for Goku."
"I would like to help in any way I can," Tenshinhan offered and Chaozu nodded his agreement. "It is the least I can do." He felt incredibly guilty for the part he played in Krillin's death. Perhaps defeating his murderer's master would help atone for it.
"Let's do it!" Puar declared triumphantly and even shapeshifted into a bugle to blare out a battle tune. Roshi chuckled and shook his head, smiling underneath his beard. He realized that he shouldn't have been surprised. Youth, he remembered, had a funny way of finding hope where the old only saw despair.
Z/N: Translation time! "Riitetsujuu" (力徹銃) means "Powerful Piercing Bullet", "Ryoukuken" (力倹) means "Powerful Blade", "Bakuhatsu Dome" (爆発) is just "Explosion Dome", and "Teneraigen" (天偉い拳) is "Great Fist of Heaven."