Chapter One: A Dark Future
On this particular day, Razu arrived at the edge of the vast wastelands. A warm, dry gust of wind ruffled his blue t-shirt with white outlines about. His mint-colored mini poncho mimicked since it lay atop his shirt. He looked at the scene with disappointment; he really hated dry places, especially if they were hot. He questioned himself on whether to cross the wasteland or just go around. He could easily do the latter as he was traveling without a planned destination at this moment, but for a brief moment he chose to walk through, taking step by step onto the crunchy dirt. So far so good. After hours of walking, it was approaching dusk as Razu approached an encampment. He saw a person moving about the tent. When the person noticed him, Razu felt the usual awkward feeling that comes with meeting someone new. The two stared each other down. Razu stopped a short distance away at the perfect distance for him. During the walk, Razu took note of the stranger's clothing. He was wearing a white t-shirt with some kind of blue fur coat covering him and black pants with a chain hanging off his right hip. Razu thought it was strange he was wearing that in a hot area like this. "Hey, I'm Jordan." He put his hand out for a handshake as he spoke. The dim sunlight revealed his short, spiky hair to be purple and eyes green.
"Razu," he simply stated, returning the greeting of a handshake.
"Where are you traveling? I can tell you're a fighter with that get-up." Jordan smirked at the chance of a spar.
"Just about, and I am." Razu kept to his small responses. He wasn't much of a talker, especially in introductions without a cause.
"Wanna have a sparring round?" Razu agreed and unstrapped his katana sheath. He didn't use his katana in friendly spars. It was a blade after all. They relocated to a fair distance from Jordan's camp.
Challenger: Jordan
Round One.
The two stood eye and eye in each one's signature stance. A casual wind crossed the battlefield, followed by Razu's dash. He jabbed with his left, only to be blocked by Jordan's right. Sliding off of Razu's fist, Jordan's hand created an impact on Razu's chest. Jordan swung his right leg at an attempt to kick Razu. Razu blocked it with his forearm and pushed Jordan back to his original stance. The two exchanged blows for a few seconds, each either blocking or dodging the other's attacks. They both jumped back from the casual attacks.
Suddenly a burst of voice consumed the air. "Wooohooo! Masaatooo's heeere!" The origin of the sound came from the sky and landed in between Razu and Jordan. The child wore a tight green shirt and white pants. Razu thought his hair was only spiked up entirely from falling, but his hair remained upward after landing. "Let's go guys! I haven't fought in days!" The excited boy dashed at Jordan, attempting a blow of brute strength. Razu even heard the boy's black gloves scrunch a bit.
Enter Challenger: Masato
Razu sprinted forward joining into the fray. Jordan sidestepped and threw a punch of his own at Masato. Masato dodged Jordan's punch, leading the attack toward Razu's mask. The impact was heavier from earlier. Razu went head first back onto the ground. He bounced up, still vitalized. He watched for a few seconds as Jordan and Masato exchanged blows themselves. He noticed Masato was going all out, unlike he and Jordan were earlier. He dashed back in and grabbed a hold on Masato. He could hear a gasp of shock from his opponent as he began swinging him. After half a spin, Razu released and continued spinning to meet Jordan. He saw the smirk on Jordan's face as they continued their spar, but this time they went all out with their force, something Razu could tell Jordan had the advantage in. Before long, Jordan had brought Razu to the ground. A rain drop hit the ground next to Razu, then another fell onto his mask. The rate steadily increased into casual raining.
Razu arose and wondered where Masato had gone. He turned around and found Masato battling a man with a blue flame upon his head and a blue-lined black trench coat hanging over his black pants. He noticed Jordan dashing at the mysterious target. Razu soon joined him, but when they were within range of the guy, he struck a final blow into Masato's gut, bringing the child to an unconscious state. "You can't beat the flame," he laughed.
Challenger: Mysterious Fighter, the fire afro.
Jordan threw a powerful punch at him, but he easily dodged the attack. Razu followed up, but once again, it was useless. The two team attacked the stranger, but neither could even land a hit. The fighter backhand slapped Jordan with enough force to spin him 180 degrees. Razu countered the attack to Jordan's head, the first hit. Razu was soon hit by a spin kick and crashed into the ground. He got up to a wave of light flashing toward him. He instantly knew there was no dodging and instinctively guarded himself. He felt something push him, and he rolled away. Razu stood up and saw an unconscious Jordan on the ground. Razu got angry and started charging his energy. He swung at the incoming opponent. Each swing was wilder yet stronger than the previous. He hadn't lost his cool, but he was being less careful in exchange for strength. Razu was able to complete a few blows, but each was a returned favor with another blow added on. Razu threw his left fist at his recovering opponent, but unfortunately, the warrior caught his fist and kneed him in the stomach. Razu lay on the dirt defeated. "Why?" he coughed out.
"I was bored. Needed some fun." The fighter laughed as he flew away almost unscathed.
Razu fainted for a few seconds, but pulled himself up when he had the strength. He felt a storm brewing up and had to help his friends. He struggled across the ground. He picked up Jordan and almost passed out. He kept on and carried Jordan on his back as he approached Masato. He carried both slowly to Jordan's encampment. Luckily the battle against the stranger pushed them closer than they were before the spar began. Razu brought the two inside and laid them down. He then sat down and fell asleep from exhaustion.
"Zu...Razu...Wake up," he heard along with heavy snoring. Razu opened his eyes seeing Jordan. He signified he was awake with motion. Jordan immediately asked, "What happened? I can't remember anything after pushing you."
Razu put his hands to the ground, but noticed there was no standing just yet. "He knocked you out with that wave. As for me, he left me awake but barely." He looked over and saw Masato happily asleep, snoring like a boat.
"Hmm, I guess you pulled us in here?" Razu nodded. "It's stormin bad out there. Good thing you did." Jordan moved around his hut, but Razu never caught what he was doing. He had fallen back into sleep mode.
Razu was woken with a loud burst of joy, this time by Masato. He stood up and heard Jordan call out to him. "You're awake. I made us dinner."
Razu joined the table, but he didn't plan on eating. "Thanks, but I'm not hungry. He seems to be far hungrier anyway." Razu referred to Masato as he inhaled the soup like it was air. Jordan reoffered the food, but Razu stuck with his decision. There were two reasons why Razu didn't join in on the miniature feast: one, he didn't like soup very much and two, he rarely removed his mask in front of others. He waited at the table as Jordan and Masato consumed the soup.
After the two ate, all three went outside into the now clear night. They agreed to wait for their rematch though. Razu gathered his belongings and took off into his journey once more. Masato had decided to stay with Jordan for the time being. Razu knew he would cross paths in his journey and could fight them again, when he's better trained.
Weeks passed and Razu found himself at the coastline. It was a quiet rocky-like beach with the waves rolling on top sand and rock, crashing differently between the two. Razu stood at the edge of one cliff not too high above the water and stared out into the ocean. This was just a moment he took in as a peaceful scenic view. A few minutes passed by, and Razu decided to join in now. The water engulfed him and spit up a fountain in exchange. Underwater, Razu burst forward with each stroke until he finally arose to the surface. He swam along the gentle waves out into deep sea, miles for miles. Coming nightfall, he took shelter on a nearby island for rest. It was a small island, not even ten feet in any direction. Razu lay down in the sandy side of the island, finding the sand more comfortable than the grass and rock.
Razu woke up to a pressure surrounding and squeezing him. It stood him up before he could even fully open his eyes, which when he did he saw a small pink alien wearing strange one shouldered armor and a pipe hanging from his mouth. "You are Razu?" he questioned, keeping hold of the pipe.
"Yea." Razu responded with a calm yet curious voice. He certainly wanted to know what was going on.
"I am Komugi, a Yardratian. I came to Earth in order to teach you a technique from our race. I'm sure it will come in handy for your adventures ahead."
"What kind of technique?" Razu was always up for learning. The more skills at his disposal, the better off he was. That was the way he viewed it.
"A type of teleportation called Instant Transmission. With your skills, it should come rather easy. Just do as I do." Komugi placed his index and middle fingers to his forehead and vanished. Razu was slightly surprised. Komugi reappeared in front of Razu." Along with that, all you need to do is focus onto a signature energy and just go to it. Try to follow me. I'll head in that direction." Komugi pointed out the way and vanished once more. Razu followed the lead and concentrated towards the west. It took him a few minutes of hard concentration, but he found Komugi's energy source and focused on it. Next thing he knew, the alien stood before him with a new scenery around. "Only a few minutes. Good. Well, good luck on your travels and I'll see you in another time." Komugi dispersed with the Instant Transmission one last time, completely disappearing to Razu, even in energy signature.
Razu thought about what Komugi said. It seemed off to him in the way it was said. His thought was soon interrupted when he noticed his katana was detached. "I forgot to grab my katana... Let's see, he pointed that way, so I have to swim this way." Razu told himself, figuring out where to head. Luckily he took note of the sky and the distance wasn't far.
After some hours, Razu finally reached the island and found his katana lying on the sand. He retrieved it and reattached it to his pants. Razu felt a familiar presence about while adjusting his sword. He put his fingers to his mask to practice the technique and cover ground faster. When he arrived, this time he stood farther away from his target and to his backside. "Hey Jordan."
Jordan turned around to greet his friend. Razu was sure Jordan felt he came out of nowhere, considering he did. "Oh, hey Razu. Where'd you come from?"
"Just wandering around like before. I felt your energy and thought I'd drop by. Isn't Masato still with you?"
"Nah, he left not long after we split. He just randomly left."
"Oh, about that. You wanna have a rematch?" Razu said after remembering the deal he parted ways with.
"Of course." Jordan announced. The two of them had a short exchange of blows before Jordan motioned to stop. He looked off into the distance. "Razu do you sense that?" Jordan asked.
"Oh.." Razu was in shock of the power he felt. Somehow he completely evaded him before Jordan pointing it out. Jordan dashed to the source as Razu followed. At the rate they took, it wasn't long before the two joined a group of people near the ocean they came from. There were around ten in total, including Razu and Jordan now: (from right to left of Razu's view) a warrior dressed in a white one shoulder-strapped shirt with black spiky-upward hair, a brawler with a white t-shirt and black hair spiked backwards, a strange green bulky alien with noticeable pink muscles and a monstrous face, a man with short gray hair wearing goggles on his forehead and a black and red jacket, a red-head girl in a type of red outfit, a man with blue wild hair and a blue t-shirt, an armored female with black bushy-like hair, and finally, the center of all the attention, a small white alien covered in blue gems and three evenly-spaced horns. Most of the people stayed still, from injuries, except for the white alien in the sky and the one dashing toward him.
Razu and Jordan stayed low upon arrival, not quite sure if they wanted to join this fight yet. The small white alien's power was intense. "Kain!" the warrior with black spiky hair yelled as the brawler with the white t-shirt was struck down into the ground by the alien's tail. The warrior could only yell as he was fairly injured and holding his own arm. Kain pulled himself back up and dashed back at another round with the monster. His fists lit up with immense energy and he started cracking punching across his opponent's face. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough. The alien struck back, harder this time to make sure of his opponent's defeat. Kain cratered into the ground deep enough to hide him from Razu's sight.
The alien quickly dashed from the sky down to the ground to whip the red-head with his spinning tail. She fell into the ground and slid a mild distance. Razu figured she was unconscious since she stopped moving. "We have to help," Jordan angrily remarked as he jumped from cover to attack the alien. Even with a seemingly surprise attack, Jordan was knocked back with ease.
"No one overpowers Cytro." Razu heard a call from a distant location. It had originated from the green creature. He was knocked over when Jordan and Razu arrived. He dashed and came into confrontation with the alien, which the man with the goggles joined in on. The alien toyed with the both of them, easily fending each other, even making one hit the other on occasion. Cytro threw a hard punch to his partner's face, knocking him away and down. The alien then kicked Cytro in the face, lifting him into the air several meters.
"Glacier, your fight is with me!" the girl with the armor stated fiercely. She got off her knee and went in for an attack. Glacier chuckled at the remark and went into high-tense battle with the warrior. She seemed to hold her own against him much better than the others. She got a few shots in on him and weakened him a bit. The blue warrior interfered by summoning a frozen dome to conceal the two warriors together.
Razu drew out his katana after deciding to join. He knew that Glacier was the target by now, and he seemed to pose a heavy threat. He charged forward intending to impale the frozen alien in the head. All of a sudden, he was knocked into the ground. He looked over to his original position in front of Glacier to see his tail impaled into a slope of ice, which Razu knew was what pushed him over. He was lucky he was saved by this stranger. This reassured he was fighting on the correct side.
Ice shattered everywhere. Some pieces were even able to cut some of the fighters. Razu, though, wasn't hit. The female warrior was soon impaled through the stomach. Her armor was no match for Glacier's tail. "Looks like it wasn't even worth coming to hunt you down. I thought you were stronger than that Yakiimo. Tsk tsk." She coughed up blood and was discarded to the beach with a strong kick. Glacier looked around, more precisely at Razu than the others. Razu was the only one not injured yet. Glacier dashed at Razu, making Razu fearful. He was coming at him too fast for him to hold his ground, since he was lying down still from the save. An ice pillar grabbed a hold of Glacier's feet. He turned and faced the blue warrior, intending to take him out next individually instead.
As Razu stood to help, a flash of light burst in between Glacier and his target. Within the next second, Glacier was sent flying from a right hook. The new arrival wore armor much like Yakiimo's but more colorful and his hair was white. This soon changed as he yelled out in empowerment, forcing his hair to spike up and change its hue to a dark blue. "Sorry I couldn't get here sooner guys. Luckily none of you died yet." He dashed, even faster than before, at Glacier. He quickly overtook him and sent him into the grassy field with a blow of locked fists into his back. Glacier arose from the crater unharmed and ready to battle. The two got off in a rapid fight. Blow after blow, the two seemed evenly matched.
"Here's Masato!" a familiar outburst ringed through the battlefield. Razu looked around to see all the warriors either unconscious or too injured to move. One thing did stand out though, which was Masato falling through the air like his first introduction. Razu redirected his attention at the battle just to find Glacier tumbling across the ground and hitting a small cliff side.
Glacier summoned a small orb above his finger which grew tenfold plus within a second. He threw the ball right into the ground. "I'm done with this planet. It's not even worth fighting all of you like this." The energy ball easily pushed itself through the earth. The ground around the hole started cracking and tearing apart. With each passing second, the gaping hole just grew bigger and more dangerous. "Well I best be leaving this planet before it explodes." Glacier flew up and dashed away. His last opponent intercepted his path and the two began to exchange blow once more. Glacier wasn't getting away easily.
"Razu," he simply stated, returning the greeting of a handshake.
"Where are you traveling? I can tell you're a fighter with that get-up." Jordan smirked at the chance of a spar.
"Just about, and I am." Razu kept to his small responses. He wasn't much of a talker, especially in introductions without a cause.
"Wanna have a sparring round?" Razu agreed and unstrapped his katana sheath. He didn't use his katana in friendly spars. It was a blade after all. They relocated to a fair distance from Jordan's camp.
Challenger: Jordan
Round One.
The two stood eye and eye in each one's signature stance. A casual wind crossed the battlefield, followed by Razu's dash. He jabbed with his left, only to be blocked by Jordan's right. Sliding off of Razu's fist, Jordan's hand created an impact on Razu's chest. Jordan swung his right leg at an attempt to kick Razu. Razu blocked it with his forearm and pushed Jordan back to his original stance. The two exchanged blows for a few seconds, each either blocking or dodging the other's attacks. They both jumped back from the casual attacks.
Suddenly a burst of voice consumed the air. "Wooohooo! Masaatooo's heeere!" The origin of the sound came from the sky and landed in between Razu and Jordan. The child wore a tight green shirt and white pants. Razu thought his hair was only spiked up entirely from falling, but his hair remained upward after landing. "Let's go guys! I haven't fought in days!" The excited boy dashed at Jordan, attempting a blow of brute strength. Razu even heard the boy's black gloves scrunch a bit.
Enter Challenger: Masato
Razu sprinted forward joining into the fray. Jordan sidestepped and threw a punch of his own at Masato. Masato dodged Jordan's punch, leading the attack toward Razu's mask. The impact was heavier from earlier. Razu went head first back onto the ground. He bounced up, still vitalized. He watched for a few seconds as Jordan and Masato exchanged blows themselves. He noticed Masato was going all out, unlike he and Jordan were earlier. He dashed back in and grabbed a hold on Masato. He could hear a gasp of shock from his opponent as he began swinging him. After half a spin, Razu released and continued spinning to meet Jordan. He saw the smirk on Jordan's face as they continued their spar, but this time they went all out with their force, something Razu could tell Jordan had the advantage in. Before long, Jordan had brought Razu to the ground. A rain drop hit the ground next to Razu, then another fell onto his mask. The rate steadily increased into casual raining.
Razu arose and wondered where Masato had gone. He turned around and found Masato battling a man with a blue flame upon his head and a blue-lined black trench coat hanging over his black pants. He noticed Jordan dashing at the mysterious target. Razu soon joined him, but when they were within range of the guy, he struck a final blow into Masato's gut, bringing the child to an unconscious state. "You can't beat the flame," he laughed.
Challenger: Mysterious Fighter, the fire afro.
Jordan threw a powerful punch at him, but he easily dodged the attack. Razu followed up, but once again, it was useless. The two team attacked the stranger, but neither could even land a hit. The fighter backhand slapped Jordan with enough force to spin him 180 degrees. Razu countered the attack to Jordan's head, the first hit. Razu was soon hit by a spin kick and crashed into the ground. He got up to a wave of light flashing toward him. He instantly knew there was no dodging and instinctively guarded himself. He felt something push him, and he rolled away. Razu stood up and saw an unconscious Jordan on the ground. Razu got angry and started charging his energy. He swung at the incoming opponent. Each swing was wilder yet stronger than the previous. He hadn't lost his cool, but he was being less careful in exchange for strength. Razu was able to complete a few blows, but each was a returned favor with another blow added on. Razu threw his left fist at his recovering opponent, but unfortunately, the warrior caught his fist and kneed him in the stomach. Razu lay on the dirt defeated. "Why?" he coughed out.
"I was bored. Needed some fun." The fighter laughed as he flew away almost unscathed.
Razu fainted for a few seconds, but pulled himself up when he had the strength. He felt a storm brewing up and had to help his friends. He struggled across the ground. He picked up Jordan and almost passed out. He kept on and carried Jordan on his back as he approached Masato. He carried both slowly to Jordan's encampment. Luckily the battle against the stranger pushed them closer than they were before the spar began. Razu brought the two inside and laid them down. He then sat down and fell asleep from exhaustion.
"Zu...Razu...Wake up," he heard along with heavy snoring. Razu opened his eyes seeing Jordan. He signified he was awake with motion. Jordan immediately asked, "What happened? I can't remember anything after pushing you."
Razu put his hands to the ground, but noticed there was no standing just yet. "He knocked you out with that wave. As for me, he left me awake but barely." He looked over and saw Masato happily asleep, snoring like a boat.
"Hmm, I guess you pulled us in here?" Razu nodded. "It's stormin bad out there. Good thing you did." Jordan moved around his hut, but Razu never caught what he was doing. He had fallen back into sleep mode.
Razu was woken with a loud burst of joy, this time by Masato. He stood up and heard Jordan call out to him. "You're awake. I made us dinner."
Razu joined the table, but he didn't plan on eating. "Thanks, but I'm not hungry. He seems to be far hungrier anyway." Razu referred to Masato as he inhaled the soup like it was air. Jordan reoffered the food, but Razu stuck with his decision. There were two reasons why Razu didn't join in on the miniature feast: one, he didn't like soup very much and two, he rarely removed his mask in front of others. He waited at the table as Jordan and Masato consumed the soup.
After the two ate, all three went outside into the now clear night. They agreed to wait for their rematch though. Razu gathered his belongings and took off into his journey once more. Masato had decided to stay with Jordan for the time being. Razu knew he would cross paths in his journey and could fight them again, when he's better trained.
Weeks passed and Razu found himself at the coastline. It was a quiet rocky-like beach with the waves rolling on top sand and rock, crashing differently between the two. Razu stood at the edge of one cliff not too high above the water and stared out into the ocean. This was just a moment he took in as a peaceful scenic view. A few minutes passed by, and Razu decided to join in now. The water engulfed him and spit up a fountain in exchange. Underwater, Razu burst forward with each stroke until he finally arose to the surface. He swam along the gentle waves out into deep sea, miles for miles. Coming nightfall, he took shelter on a nearby island for rest. It was a small island, not even ten feet in any direction. Razu lay down in the sandy side of the island, finding the sand more comfortable than the grass and rock.
Razu woke up to a pressure surrounding and squeezing him. It stood him up before he could even fully open his eyes, which when he did he saw a small pink alien wearing strange one shouldered armor and a pipe hanging from his mouth. "You are Razu?" he questioned, keeping hold of the pipe.
"Yea." Razu responded with a calm yet curious voice. He certainly wanted to know what was going on.
"I am Komugi, a Yardratian. I came to Earth in order to teach you a technique from our race. I'm sure it will come in handy for your adventures ahead."
"What kind of technique?" Razu was always up for learning. The more skills at his disposal, the better off he was. That was the way he viewed it.
"A type of teleportation called Instant Transmission. With your skills, it should come rather easy. Just do as I do." Komugi placed his index and middle fingers to his forehead and vanished. Razu was slightly surprised. Komugi reappeared in front of Razu." Along with that, all you need to do is focus onto a signature energy and just go to it. Try to follow me. I'll head in that direction." Komugi pointed out the way and vanished once more. Razu followed the lead and concentrated towards the west. It took him a few minutes of hard concentration, but he found Komugi's energy source and focused on it. Next thing he knew, the alien stood before him with a new scenery around. "Only a few minutes. Good. Well, good luck on your travels and I'll see you in another time." Komugi dispersed with the Instant Transmission one last time, completely disappearing to Razu, even in energy signature.
Razu thought about what Komugi said. It seemed off to him in the way it was said. His thought was soon interrupted when he noticed his katana was detached. "I forgot to grab my katana... Let's see, he pointed that way, so I have to swim this way." Razu told himself, figuring out where to head. Luckily he took note of the sky and the distance wasn't far.
After some hours, Razu finally reached the island and found his katana lying on the sand. He retrieved it and reattached it to his pants. Razu felt a familiar presence about while adjusting his sword. He put his fingers to his mask to practice the technique and cover ground faster. When he arrived, this time he stood farther away from his target and to his backside. "Hey Jordan."
Jordan turned around to greet his friend. Razu was sure Jordan felt he came out of nowhere, considering he did. "Oh, hey Razu. Where'd you come from?"
"Just wandering around like before. I felt your energy and thought I'd drop by. Isn't Masato still with you?"
"Nah, he left not long after we split. He just randomly left."
"Oh, about that. You wanna have a rematch?" Razu said after remembering the deal he parted ways with.
"Of course." Jordan announced. The two of them had a short exchange of blows before Jordan motioned to stop. He looked off into the distance. "Razu do you sense that?" Jordan asked.
"Oh.." Razu was in shock of the power he felt. Somehow he completely evaded him before Jordan pointing it out. Jordan dashed to the source as Razu followed. At the rate they took, it wasn't long before the two joined a group of people near the ocean they came from. There were around ten in total, including Razu and Jordan now: (from right to left of Razu's view) a warrior dressed in a white one shoulder-strapped shirt with black spiky-upward hair, a brawler with a white t-shirt and black hair spiked backwards, a strange green bulky alien with noticeable pink muscles and a monstrous face, a man with short gray hair wearing goggles on his forehead and a black and red jacket, a red-head girl in a type of red outfit, a man with blue wild hair and a blue t-shirt, an armored female with black bushy-like hair, and finally, the center of all the attention, a small white alien covered in blue gems and three evenly-spaced horns. Most of the people stayed still, from injuries, except for the white alien in the sky and the one dashing toward him.
Razu and Jordan stayed low upon arrival, not quite sure if they wanted to join this fight yet. The small white alien's power was intense. "Kain!" the warrior with black spiky hair yelled as the brawler with the white t-shirt was struck down into the ground by the alien's tail. The warrior could only yell as he was fairly injured and holding his own arm. Kain pulled himself back up and dashed back at another round with the monster. His fists lit up with immense energy and he started cracking punching across his opponent's face. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough. The alien struck back, harder this time to make sure of his opponent's defeat. Kain cratered into the ground deep enough to hide him from Razu's sight.
The alien quickly dashed from the sky down to the ground to whip the red-head with his spinning tail. She fell into the ground and slid a mild distance. Razu figured she was unconscious since she stopped moving. "We have to help," Jordan angrily remarked as he jumped from cover to attack the alien. Even with a seemingly surprise attack, Jordan was knocked back with ease.
"No one overpowers Cytro." Razu heard a call from a distant location. It had originated from the green creature. He was knocked over when Jordan and Razu arrived. He dashed and came into confrontation with the alien, which the man with the goggles joined in on. The alien toyed with the both of them, easily fending each other, even making one hit the other on occasion. Cytro threw a hard punch to his partner's face, knocking him away and down. The alien then kicked Cytro in the face, lifting him into the air several meters.
"Glacier, your fight is with me!" the girl with the armor stated fiercely. She got off her knee and went in for an attack. Glacier chuckled at the remark and went into high-tense battle with the warrior. She seemed to hold her own against him much better than the others. She got a few shots in on him and weakened him a bit. The blue warrior interfered by summoning a frozen dome to conceal the two warriors together.
Razu drew out his katana after deciding to join. He knew that Glacier was the target by now, and he seemed to pose a heavy threat. He charged forward intending to impale the frozen alien in the head. All of a sudden, he was knocked into the ground. He looked over to his original position in front of Glacier to see his tail impaled into a slope of ice, which Razu knew was what pushed him over. He was lucky he was saved by this stranger. This reassured he was fighting on the correct side.
Ice shattered everywhere. Some pieces were even able to cut some of the fighters. Razu, though, wasn't hit. The female warrior was soon impaled through the stomach. Her armor was no match for Glacier's tail. "Looks like it wasn't even worth coming to hunt you down. I thought you were stronger than that Yakiimo. Tsk tsk." She coughed up blood and was discarded to the beach with a strong kick. Glacier looked around, more precisely at Razu than the others. Razu was the only one not injured yet. Glacier dashed at Razu, making Razu fearful. He was coming at him too fast for him to hold his ground, since he was lying down still from the save. An ice pillar grabbed a hold of Glacier's feet. He turned and faced the blue warrior, intending to take him out next individually instead.
As Razu stood to help, a flash of light burst in between Glacier and his target. Within the next second, Glacier was sent flying from a right hook. The new arrival wore armor much like Yakiimo's but more colorful and his hair was white. This soon changed as he yelled out in empowerment, forcing his hair to spike up and change its hue to a dark blue. "Sorry I couldn't get here sooner guys. Luckily none of you died yet." He dashed, even faster than before, at Glacier. He quickly overtook him and sent him into the grassy field with a blow of locked fists into his back. Glacier arose from the crater unharmed and ready to battle. The two got off in a rapid fight. Blow after blow, the two seemed evenly matched.
"Here's Masato!" a familiar outburst ringed through the battlefield. Razu looked around to see all the warriors either unconscious or too injured to move. One thing did stand out though, which was Masato falling through the air like his first introduction. Razu redirected his attention at the battle just to find Glacier tumbling across the ground and hitting a small cliff side.
Glacier summoned a small orb above his finger which grew tenfold plus within a second. He threw the ball right into the ground. "I'm done with this planet. It's not even worth fighting all of you like this." The energy ball easily pushed itself through the earth. The ground around the hole started cracking and tearing apart. With each passing second, the gaping hole just grew bigger and more dangerous. "Well I best be leaving this planet before it explodes." Glacier flew up and dashed away. His last opponent intercepted his path and the two began to exchange blow once more. Glacier wasn't getting away easily.
Chapter Two: A New Hope
Razu finally stood himself up when the earth started falling apart around him. The hole continuously increased, taking over much of the battlefield so far, reaching toward the ocean and far inland. He had to escape and at least help the other warriors around him that couldn't move. Out of the left corner of his sight, he caught view of Masato saving Kain from the falling terrain. The others closest to Razu were conscious and moving out the way even with all their injuries. The only person still out was the girl dressed in red, so Razu went to get her away from the danger, but Jordan picked her up, being stronger physically. With the earth crumbling to nothing, most of the warriors were left without support. Nearly none of them could even fly.
Out of nowhere, another flash of light presented itself to the battlefield. A small bus-like vehicle appeared and stopped on a stable piece of land. A swordsman dressed in white and blue with long blue hair emerged from the vehicle and called out for the warriors. "Come onto the bus for safety. This planet isn't going to last much longer!"
Razu and Jordan headed into the bus, but the ground fell in between them and the bus, thus they were stranded. One of the earlier fighters had appeared behind them. "Hey guys. Name's Kane and I'll be giving you a lift." Razu could tell he knew they didn't know how to fly by them standing there for a good while. Kane brought them up to the bus and dropped them. "I'll check for others." Kane flew off back to the field. The three were soon followed by Masato and the ice warrior onto the bus. Razu looked out one of the windows and saw Cytro and his partner talking strongly as Kane flew away from the beach. Razu assumed he was checking on Yakiimo who had been trashed over there. Elsewhere, Razu saw Glacier in a one-on-two against the powerful blue warrior and Kain.
"Alright Blade. You're good to go. The rest of us will stay here." Kane moved from the doorway and returned to the battle.
"Hold on guys, we might not make it off Earth." Blade climbed onto his seat and began preparation. Cytro and his friend soon got on, deciding to come with the others. "Glad you could join us Kayro."
The girl glued herself to the window next to Razu. "Dad!?" Razu looked over to see her eyes in shock. Soon after she ran for the door.
"No! Don't get off now!" Blade reached for her but was unsuccessful. Kayro was within reach of the door and grabbed her to bring her back on aboard since the bus began to move. A sudden flash occurred and the bus landed on a white patio with a small palace-like structure on one side and sky surrounding the entire platform. With all the commotion near the door, a yell of pain was added. "Oh no, his arm was torn off from the trip." The swordsman motioned for everyone to get off. When he got off he called out, "Guardian, we need your help!"
A bird creature emerged from the palace. He wore brown pants with a white skirt overtop, and he held a ancient-looking wooden rod. "Ah, so you did arrive. And you have an injured warrior." The guardian put his wing over Kayro's arm and radiated a pulse of yellow energy. Immediately, the arm took on worse condition than before. "Hmm, it gets worse. Hold on, I think I have a solution." He lifted himself off the ground and flew back to the palace, going in through one of the top windows. His wooden staff stood perfectly upright right where he left it. The guardian returned with a vile in his beak. He opened the bottle and poured the black misty liquid onto Kayro's arm. The arm reconstructed itself wildly with a new mechanical look. "Now then. I am Peak, the guardian of Earth. You seven were sent back in time as a last resort to what I assume you just encountered: Earth's destruction. Now you all should pair off and train so destruction doesn't fall upon us again. I'm not sure on how many years you all have to train in preparation."
"We are ten years before the exact time and date the Earth began to erupt." Blade informed everyone for Peak's lack of knowledge.
"Alright, thank you Blade. Now then, you seven go off and train."
Razu looked around at the people gathered around him. He noticed Cytro near Kayro and Masato near Jordan. He figured those four would pair off as such from his past experiences. He noticed the girl walking at him and behind was the ice warrior walking off to the edge alone. "Hey, I'm Brie. You wanna partner up for some training?" Razu agreed to a new partner and walked over to the end of the floating plaza. Razu perched over the edge, making sure his balance was in perfect condition. He knew he couldn't fly, but he didn't know how to get down without flying. "What are you looking at?" Brie questioned Razu's action.
"Can you fly?" Razu looked over to Brie, straightening up his posture as well.
Brie looked over to Razu asking, "You can't?" She had noticed the way Razu said it implied he didn't have the ability of flight yet.
"I'm more of a ground traveler. I wasn't aware of people being able to fly." Razu was still relatively new to managing ki. He only learned of his ki manipulation two years ago, right before he set out on his adventure.
"Well I'll teach you while we train. It's pretty easy to get down once you're good at ki. You ready? I'll fly us down to the ground." Brie pushed Razu off the side, and she began descent also by leaping off the platform in the sky. Razu felt an intense rush as he free-fell through the clouds. Second by second, the ground grew from small colors to a field and forests. Razu felt Brie grab both his wrists, or so he believed since they were the only two in the sky. After being grabbed, Razu moved further in the forward plane. As the ground became touchable, Razu was already at a slow speed and was let go. He fell right after passing over a tree and landed roughly but nothing was injured from impact since he rolled. Brie landed a few meters in front of him, but as if she was a feather.
The two explored the forest they landed in for a better location to practice. Tree after tree passed by with an occasional branch Razu had to push over or duck under. The forest was actually getting thicker, until after some minutes of walking, a bright light shone through the tree line. Passing into it after Brie, Razu could see a circular field with two trees inside the ridged ring. "It's at least fifteen meters wide. Let's set up for training here Razu." Brie pulled out a small capsule and tossed it to reveal a one room house from the resulting smoke. "It's a good thing I brought this with me. So what happened after he knocked me out? Did that blue-haired guy have white hair before?" She had a concerned voice, something Razu associated with the fact of her being so surprised when she awoke on the bus.
"Yea, he did actually. But, it was only for his intro. As for what happened, to sum it up, he knocked out almost everyone else." Razu ruffled through the pocket in his pants to remind himself of his belongings he had on him before being ripped out of his time. He had his paper map rolled up in his left pocket and a capsule box in his right. Just by touching the capsule box, he reminded himself of the amount inside and what each carried: five total capsules with one having food, another having a full water bottle, and three empty ones stored safely in the box.
"Then that guy was my dad. It had to have been, but he was killed. So I don't get what happened. Well it doesn't matter now. We're in the past, our new home." Brie stopped for a second and then got excited with jumps of joy. "If we're in the past by ten years like that man said, then my dad's not dead yet! I can help him this time." She got really determined on the last statement.
Razu stood there and watched her as she seemed to be off in her own world talking to herself. He let her have a moment alone and placed his katana up against the oddball tree near the center of the open field.
"You ready to get started? We gotta pump ourselves up!" Razu turned around to see Brie walking up to his tree. "Alright, so we need to teach you to fly first and foremost. Can you use ki at all?"
"Yea, I've been using it for almost two years. I've gotten much better at it." Razu put his hands out his front palms flat and charged an amethyst ki orb. He released it as a demonstration and fired a small ki wave only long enough to dissipate before damaging any trees.
"That's good. It'll make flying much easier since it's basically using your ki to hold your body in the air."
Razu focused his ki to his feet and pushed out, lifting himself into the air. When he kept a stream of ki going, he had to find his balance and was shocked while doing so. He picked the technique of really fast and started flying around the tree slowly but surely.
Time passed by of the two partners sparring off all day and testing their abilities against each other. Brie was superior to Razu in ki and speed, but Razu had an advantage pretty much everywhere else. Razu looked up to Brie as a type of master teaching him how to better harness his ki. As expected, at night Razu slept against his tree, sometimes even in the branches high above and Brie slept in her building.
After a few weeks and some days, trouble brewed for the couple. It started on a morning when Brie walked out her door to see Razu lying against the tree trunk facing the building. "What's up with that mask? Do you ever take it off?"
Razu shuffled a bit as he was slightly asleep. He heard all of what she had said though. "It's a family heirloom. I just like to keep it safe." It wasn't the only reason though. He mainly wore the black mask designed with white squares on each side to hide his burn marks he received fending off an assassin.
"Well it doesn't matter that much. It looks cool actually. Gives you a mysterious effect." Brie joked around.
Within seconds of her comment, a dart shot out of the trees and right at Razu's vulnerable neck. He shifted over, catching the projectile out the corner of his eye. He clenched his sheath he had sitting next to him and stood up in self-defense. He placed his left hand onto the handle, slightly stretching out his glaucous fingerless glove. He removed the katana and sharply pierced the ground with the tip of his sheath from the motion. During his preparation, he already had multiple other darts whizzing toward his neck, or rather where his neck was at the time they were fired. Razu whipped his blade in motion and deflected all of the darts that were within range of hitting any part of him. He was careful not to aim any toward Brie as well. If it weren't for the constant barrage of darts, Razu would've looked over at Brie to check in on her safety.
Razu tried moving from the tree, but he was locked into position in complete defense. He figured there were hundreds of people attacking them. Razu held out easily against the ones aimed at him, blocking each one. But his downfall came about when his curiosity struck and he gazed over to see Brie up against her door firing ki blasts at each dart. Unfortunately, Razu thought he could get away with an attempt, but a dart pinched him in the neck, instantly forcing his vision to fade entirely. He felt his body fall from gravity and whispered out, "Damn."
Razu woke back up slowly and looked around the camp. There were tents spread about and people walking around. He tried moving but soon realized he was tied down. He felt someone during his struggle and looked over to see Brie. He remembered being shot in the neck and thought to himself that he wished she could have at least made it out.
"Where is our treasure!?" a deep angry voice commanded toward Razu.
"I don't have anything like that. You have the wrong people." Razu turned toward the man, noticing quickly he was talking to the chief of the tribe. "If you let us go, we can help you find it though." Razu tried reasoning with the man before breaking free and causing a scene, which could end with his life. He was fully aware of their darts being able to instantly put him out and he certainly didn't want that being used against him.
The chief stood tall and let out a breath. "Tribesmen! Come and aim the weapons at them. We'll let you go, but we're going with you. All of us."
"Deal." Razu was let free, also letting Brie free who finally woke from unconscious state. Razu searched the area for any sign of life. He caught onto a rather considering power and focused in on it. "I found a big power close by. It seems to be the only person around." Razu pointed out the direction and the tribesmen headed out, guarding and containing Razu and Brie.
The group came in close to the target and Razu ask if they stay hidden while he and Brie go encounter the man. Through the tree breaking, Razu saw a man with half a shirt on his right half and a missing left shoe. His black hair was very short and wild. "Hey." Brie called out to the man. He reacted by turning around and showing a slimy tongue hanging from his mouth and a golden orb in his hand.
"That's it!" the chief exploded, giving the man a warning of the trouble. Razu pushed Brie to the ground as he dropped. A rain of darts showered from the trees, all aimed at the thief. Yells of pain one after another occurred from behind. Razu jumped up, knowing somehow this thief had taken down the entire village that easily took Razu and Brie down.
When Razu caught sight of the thief, he was entirely surprised. The man was covered head to toe with the darts. He was completely unfazed! Razu watched as the man pulled the darts out by the handful. Taking advantage of the new weapons, the thief tossed the projectiles directly at the last two opposing him. Razu snapped out of his stunned state to reach for his katana. He realized his sword wasn't on him and there was no way to dodge. He charged his ki and focused it outward. "Ki Shield!" Just in time, Razu's amethyst orb had protected Brie and himself.
Brie pushed herself up into a run at the enemy. She punched at him with her usual ki infusions. The thief took the punch and wrapped his tongue around Brie's body. "Eww!!" she shrieked. Razu thought about firing a ki wave at him, but figured since he now had Brie, she would be his defense. He ran at the enemy, trying at least something, but the gap allowed time for the thief to tossed Brie into the air with his tongue and flip kick her toward Razu. Razu caught Brie from her descent.
"Quemon!" A yell burst through the forest. Following, a man jumped from the trees and onto the small grassland field. He was missing his right arm from his elbow, blood dripping off. His jeans were slightly ripped and torn about and his black tank top matched his hair that spiked forward in a curving fashion.
Razu let Brie down as he watched the new entrant. The armless man fired a ki wave out of his left arm at Quemon. "I think he has it out for him. I'll be here for back-up. You should check on them." Brie pointed behind her without looking.
"Right." Razu turned around and went back into the trees to help the tribesmen. Luckily, Quemon had only knocked them all out. Razu tapped the chief to wake him, but he was out cold. Razu was hoping he could get their help, but it didn't seem like they were much help anyway since Quemon tanked all of their darts at once. Razu ran back to the battlefield to give support. He saw an intense fight between the three of them, which quickly resulted in a bash of the new warrior into the ground and a tongue grab of Brie. Razu, acting quickly, used his instant transmission to cover the fair distance. He pulled his ki into his left fist and gave Quemon a powerful gut blow. The golden orb was also forced out of his pocket as he went into the ground next to the other man. Razu dove for the orb and rolled after grabbing it.
The missing-arm warrior rolled over with a ki attack charged for a final blow to Quemon. His arm was grabbed from the whip motion of Quemon's tongue from his landing. Quemon twisted his enemy's arm so that the ki attack was aimed at Razu and Brie. The warrior's eyes grew into shock as he had fired a finishing wave at the pair. Razu easily put up his ki shield and ricocheted the wave into the sky. The ki wave had picked up a lot of dust from the ground and covered the area in a plume of particles. When the air cleared, Quemon had escaped and Razu and Brie had retrieved the artifact for the tribesmen.
"I'm sorry I fired that wave at you two. My name is Renkaru by the way," the man greeted as he walked over to them. "I've been after Quemon for quite some time. It sucks he got away again."
"Oh it's fine. We weren't injured thanks to Razu. So why are you after him; did he steal something like he did for our dilemma?" Brie tried brushing herself off in an attempt to clean the slime off of her.
"Yea, first he cause problems for my shipmates and me by sinking the boat. Then while I chased him down for the important cargo he stole, he took my right arm." Renkaru placed him arm on his severed elbow.
"Yikes, I'm sorry to hear that."
"No, no. It's alright. With technology the way it is, and being a navy man, I'm sure I can figure something out for my arm. I guess now would be a good time to head back to Yahhoy. There's no telling where he went."
Razu scanned the area with his ki sense but was unable to locate Quemon's energy. "Yea, even with my sensing energies, he seems to be far gone or hidden."
"Oh, good. Our treasure is safe. Thank you." The deep voice ringed from behind the trio. The chief walked slowly up to Razu to retrieve it. "We're sorry to have accused you. Good luck on your endeavors." As the chief pivot, Razu caught a glimpse of a smile. He headed into the forest, out of their lives. The three stood there as he left and then Renkaru motioned to leave himself.
"Well, I best be off to Yahhoy. Catch ya around sometime."
"You too." Brie waved goodbye, along with Razu waving silently himself. Renkaru headed out, and alone again, Razu and Brie headed back to their camp by flight over the treetops. It was one of the few places with an open field and a house.
After a few hours of flight and casual chat, the duo found their camp at dusk. "Ah it's good to be back. What a day, huh?" Brie chuckled. "Hey, you fine with us wrapping up our training this week? I have somewhere I should head off to soon."
"Yea, that's fine. We'll make it a good session." Razu replied back as he picked his katana off the ground.
"Alright, night." Brie opened the door to her house and walked in. Razu spun his sword around a bit and practice a few swings on the open air. Razu thought to himself it was a good thing his katana was still around here while they were captured and forced into a strange day. He picked his sheath up and slid his sword back into it and placed it against the trunk. He soon joined his sword in rest upon the tree.
The last week of training flew by and Razu and Brie found themselves departing. Brie brought her house down to a capsule once again and waved to Razu as she flew off. Razu simply grabbed his katana and walked in a random direction.
During his walk, he mainly focused on the scenery and relaxed, though he did have an occasional thought or two. He remembered Renkaru heading to a city named Yahhoy. Since he had nothing really else scheduled, Razu decided to take a detour there on his path of wandering. He pulled out the roll-up map in his left pocket and opened it. A few centimeter-tall and multi-colored hologram of Earth projected above the flat map. A small black dot hovered above the northwest forest, which was colored with a dark green and in the design of bushes. Razu put his left hand above the black dot and spread his fingers, causing the map to focus in on the spot. He noticed a large city just northwest of him. "Hmm, that's not far away at all." Razu said as he rolled the map back up and dropped it into its former place.
After some hours, Razu broke through the forest line and stood atop a ledge watching over the city. Razu jumped off and slid down the rocky slope, easily maintaining his balance. Reaching the bottom, Razu leapt off and casually walked into the city limits. The busy streets passed him by since he strolled down the walkways. Due to his appearance, he got a few looks of fear. He expected it. His mysterious outfit and the katana in his right hand gave off a dangerous look. In a distance Razu could start hearing the calls of the marketplace. "Get your anti gravity device here! Only 4,000 zeni, cheap." Razu distinctly caught ear of this since it interested him. He knew of an anti-gravity device for some while. It would allow him to attach his katana to his waist without holding it with his hand or the light string he tied around himself. He walked over to the dealer and pulled a bill from under his right wristband, revealing it to the dealer as 5,000 zeni. The dealer gave him a 1,000 zeni bill and a small octagon-shaped device. Razu latched it to his right hip and put a small square chip onto his sheath. He let go of his sheath and watched as his sword hovered just off the side of him.
Razu held his hand up to the dealer as a stationary wave while he walked away. Razu tested the new device by casually spinning his katana by pulling up and letting go. He casually walked down the streets of the city again. He was mainly looking for something to do or somewhere to go. He thought about it being a good idea to find more training since Brie had plans elsewhere. Razu stopped in front of a building with giant letters of a sign reading Transportation Teleportation. He walked up to the glass wall and read a piece of paper which told of what type of place this was. It explained how using a teleportation system, it brought people to any major city on Earth, and a few extra small places like scenic routes and landscapes. 'Pretty interesting technology that's in the cities. I'll stick with travel of my own power though,' Razu thought. He continued through the city until reaching the city limit near the northwest coastal point. "Well I guess I'll go back into wandering. Cities don't really interest me like I thought." Razu mumbled his thoughts before pulling out his map once again. "Hmm, I could visit my village. I am still nearby. It's only a fair distance to the north. But since I've traveled in time, how would that affect the other me? Perhaps I should just stay clear of my village, at least until she arrives." Razu clenched his left fist and put his right hand on his mask. "Oh I know. I can probably jump in on Jordan and Masato's training." Razu moved his hand to the instant transmission and focused on the surrounding energies. The world was big and his friends could be anywhere on it.
Razu stood motionless concentrating. He wasn't getting anything, but he was searching everywhere he could. It was a good thing Razu had adept ki abilities, else he wouldn't be able to search the planet for a signature ki like Jordan's. Close to exactly on the other side of Earth, Razu picked up Jordan's faint energy. He set off into his technique and appeared behind his friend. "Masato left again?" Razu asked.
"Oh hey Razu. Yea he took off like he usually does. He sure is wild." Jordan replied after turning around to see him.
Razu sensed Masato's energy nearby and a mysterious one with him. "Well he's not too far from here actually. He's with someone." Razu levitated into the air and motioned for Jordan to follow him.
"I see you learned how to fly."
"Yea want a lift?" Razu put his arm out for Jordan to grab, which he did. The two flew a few islands over and saw from above Masato battling with another person. When Razu landed, he could get a clearer view of the new one. He had black spiky hair all aimed away from his front except his bangs. He had a blue tank top on top his white t-shirt and black pants.
"Oh guys. Nice to see you again." Masato stopped his spar when he noticed them.
"Hey guys, I'm Kato." He waved at the two. After the introductions, the four guys sparred around all day. "You guys are all good. You should come and learn under my master." Kato said slightly out of breath. The other three were exhausted lying on the ground.
Razu lifted up his upper half. "Sure, sounds great."
Jordan and Masato also accepted, but they decided not to go just yet. "Well, whenever you guys decide to come by, his academy is only a few kilometers west of here. Razu, we should head over there. Catch ya guys later." Kato signaled the two off with his index and middle fingers coming from his forehead. He flew into the air and headed west just as he claimed. Razu flew up as well and followed closely behind Kato, waving at his friends. "He'll be able to increase your skill very well. You might even be able to have a one-on-one with me. He goes by Master Roy."
Out of nowhere, another flash of light presented itself to the battlefield. A small bus-like vehicle appeared and stopped on a stable piece of land. A swordsman dressed in white and blue with long blue hair emerged from the vehicle and called out for the warriors. "Come onto the bus for safety. This planet isn't going to last much longer!"
Razu and Jordan headed into the bus, but the ground fell in between them and the bus, thus they were stranded. One of the earlier fighters had appeared behind them. "Hey guys. Name's Kane and I'll be giving you a lift." Razu could tell he knew they didn't know how to fly by them standing there for a good while. Kane brought them up to the bus and dropped them. "I'll check for others." Kane flew off back to the field. The three were soon followed by Masato and the ice warrior onto the bus. Razu looked out one of the windows and saw Cytro and his partner talking strongly as Kane flew away from the beach. Razu assumed he was checking on Yakiimo who had been trashed over there. Elsewhere, Razu saw Glacier in a one-on-two against the powerful blue warrior and Kain.
"Alright Blade. You're good to go. The rest of us will stay here." Kane moved from the doorway and returned to the battle.
"Hold on guys, we might not make it off Earth." Blade climbed onto his seat and began preparation. Cytro and his friend soon got on, deciding to come with the others. "Glad you could join us Kayro."
The girl glued herself to the window next to Razu. "Dad!?" Razu looked over to see her eyes in shock. Soon after she ran for the door.
"No! Don't get off now!" Blade reached for her but was unsuccessful. Kayro was within reach of the door and grabbed her to bring her back on aboard since the bus began to move. A sudden flash occurred and the bus landed on a white patio with a small palace-like structure on one side and sky surrounding the entire platform. With all the commotion near the door, a yell of pain was added. "Oh no, his arm was torn off from the trip." The swordsman motioned for everyone to get off. When he got off he called out, "Guardian, we need your help!"
A bird creature emerged from the palace. He wore brown pants with a white skirt overtop, and he held a ancient-looking wooden rod. "Ah, so you did arrive. And you have an injured warrior." The guardian put his wing over Kayro's arm and radiated a pulse of yellow energy. Immediately, the arm took on worse condition than before. "Hmm, it gets worse. Hold on, I think I have a solution." He lifted himself off the ground and flew back to the palace, going in through one of the top windows. His wooden staff stood perfectly upright right where he left it. The guardian returned with a vile in his beak. He opened the bottle and poured the black misty liquid onto Kayro's arm. The arm reconstructed itself wildly with a new mechanical look. "Now then. I am Peak, the guardian of Earth. You seven were sent back in time as a last resort to what I assume you just encountered: Earth's destruction. Now you all should pair off and train so destruction doesn't fall upon us again. I'm not sure on how many years you all have to train in preparation."
"We are ten years before the exact time and date the Earth began to erupt." Blade informed everyone for Peak's lack of knowledge.
"Alright, thank you Blade. Now then, you seven go off and train."
Razu looked around at the people gathered around him. He noticed Cytro near Kayro and Masato near Jordan. He figured those four would pair off as such from his past experiences. He noticed the girl walking at him and behind was the ice warrior walking off to the edge alone. "Hey, I'm Brie. You wanna partner up for some training?" Razu agreed to a new partner and walked over to the end of the floating plaza. Razu perched over the edge, making sure his balance was in perfect condition. He knew he couldn't fly, but he didn't know how to get down without flying. "What are you looking at?" Brie questioned Razu's action.
"Can you fly?" Razu looked over to Brie, straightening up his posture as well.
Brie looked over to Razu asking, "You can't?" She had noticed the way Razu said it implied he didn't have the ability of flight yet.
"I'm more of a ground traveler. I wasn't aware of people being able to fly." Razu was still relatively new to managing ki. He only learned of his ki manipulation two years ago, right before he set out on his adventure.
"Well I'll teach you while we train. It's pretty easy to get down once you're good at ki. You ready? I'll fly us down to the ground." Brie pushed Razu off the side, and she began descent also by leaping off the platform in the sky. Razu felt an intense rush as he free-fell through the clouds. Second by second, the ground grew from small colors to a field and forests. Razu felt Brie grab both his wrists, or so he believed since they were the only two in the sky. After being grabbed, Razu moved further in the forward plane. As the ground became touchable, Razu was already at a slow speed and was let go. He fell right after passing over a tree and landed roughly but nothing was injured from impact since he rolled. Brie landed a few meters in front of him, but as if she was a feather.
The two explored the forest they landed in for a better location to practice. Tree after tree passed by with an occasional branch Razu had to push over or duck under. The forest was actually getting thicker, until after some minutes of walking, a bright light shone through the tree line. Passing into it after Brie, Razu could see a circular field with two trees inside the ridged ring. "It's at least fifteen meters wide. Let's set up for training here Razu." Brie pulled out a small capsule and tossed it to reveal a one room house from the resulting smoke. "It's a good thing I brought this with me. So what happened after he knocked me out? Did that blue-haired guy have white hair before?" She had a concerned voice, something Razu associated with the fact of her being so surprised when she awoke on the bus.
"Yea, he did actually. But, it was only for his intro. As for what happened, to sum it up, he knocked out almost everyone else." Razu ruffled through the pocket in his pants to remind himself of his belongings he had on him before being ripped out of his time. He had his paper map rolled up in his left pocket and a capsule box in his right. Just by touching the capsule box, he reminded himself of the amount inside and what each carried: five total capsules with one having food, another having a full water bottle, and three empty ones stored safely in the box.
"Then that guy was my dad. It had to have been, but he was killed. So I don't get what happened. Well it doesn't matter now. We're in the past, our new home." Brie stopped for a second and then got excited with jumps of joy. "If we're in the past by ten years like that man said, then my dad's not dead yet! I can help him this time." She got really determined on the last statement.
Razu stood there and watched her as she seemed to be off in her own world talking to herself. He let her have a moment alone and placed his katana up against the oddball tree near the center of the open field.
"You ready to get started? We gotta pump ourselves up!" Razu turned around to see Brie walking up to his tree. "Alright, so we need to teach you to fly first and foremost. Can you use ki at all?"
"Yea, I've been using it for almost two years. I've gotten much better at it." Razu put his hands out his front palms flat and charged an amethyst ki orb. He released it as a demonstration and fired a small ki wave only long enough to dissipate before damaging any trees.
"That's good. It'll make flying much easier since it's basically using your ki to hold your body in the air."
Razu focused his ki to his feet and pushed out, lifting himself into the air. When he kept a stream of ki going, he had to find his balance and was shocked while doing so. He picked the technique of really fast and started flying around the tree slowly but surely.
Time passed by of the two partners sparring off all day and testing their abilities against each other. Brie was superior to Razu in ki and speed, but Razu had an advantage pretty much everywhere else. Razu looked up to Brie as a type of master teaching him how to better harness his ki. As expected, at night Razu slept against his tree, sometimes even in the branches high above and Brie slept in her building.
After a few weeks and some days, trouble brewed for the couple. It started on a morning when Brie walked out her door to see Razu lying against the tree trunk facing the building. "What's up with that mask? Do you ever take it off?"
Razu shuffled a bit as he was slightly asleep. He heard all of what she had said though. "It's a family heirloom. I just like to keep it safe." It wasn't the only reason though. He mainly wore the black mask designed with white squares on each side to hide his burn marks he received fending off an assassin.
"Well it doesn't matter that much. It looks cool actually. Gives you a mysterious effect." Brie joked around.
Within seconds of her comment, a dart shot out of the trees and right at Razu's vulnerable neck. He shifted over, catching the projectile out the corner of his eye. He clenched his sheath he had sitting next to him and stood up in self-defense. He placed his left hand onto the handle, slightly stretching out his glaucous fingerless glove. He removed the katana and sharply pierced the ground with the tip of his sheath from the motion. During his preparation, he already had multiple other darts whizzing toward his neck, or rather where his neck was at the time they were fired. Razu whipped his blade in motion and deflected all of the darts that were within range of hitting any part of him. He was careful not to aim any toward Brie as well. If it weren't for the constant barrage of darts, Razu would've looked over at Brie to check in on her safety.
Razu tried moving from the tree, but he was locked into position in complete defense. He figured there were hundreds of people attacking them. Razu held out easily against the ones aimed at him, blocking each one. But his downfall came about when his curiosity struck and he gazed over to see Brie up against her door firing ki blasts at each dart. Unfortunately, Razu thought he could get away with an attempt, but a dart pinched him in the neck, instantly forcing his vision to fade entirely. He felt his body fall from gravity and whispered out, "Damn."
Razu woke back up slowly and looked around the camp. There were tents spread about and people walking around. He tried moving but soon realized he was tied down. He felt someone during his struggle and looked over to see Brie. He remembered being shot in the neck and thought to himself that he wished she could have at least made it out.
"Where is our treasure!?" a deep angry voice commanded toward Razu.
"I don't have anything like that. You have the wrong people." Razu turned toward the man, noticing quickly he was talking to the chief of the tribe. "If you let us go, we can help you find it though." Razu tried reasoning with the man before breaking free and causing a scene, which could end with his life. He was fully aware of their darts being able to instantly put him out and he certainly didn't want that being used against him.
The chief stood tall and let out a breath. "Tribesmen! Come and aim the weapons at them. We'll let you go, but we're going with you. All of us."
"Deal." Razu was let free, also letting Brie free who finally woke from unconscious state. Razu searched the area for any sign of life. He caught onto a rather considering power and focused in on it. "I found a big power close by. It seems to be the only person around." Razu pointed out the direction and the tribesmen headed out, guarding and containing Razu and Brie.
The group came in close to the target and Razu ask if they stay hidden while he and Brie go encounter the man. Through the tree breaking, Razu saw a man with half a shirt on his right half and a missing left shoe. His black hair was very short and wild. "Hey." Brie called out to the man. He reacted by turning around and showing a slimy tongue hanging from his mouth and a golden orb in his hand.
"That's it!" the chief exploded, giving the man a warning of the trouble. Razu pushed Brie to the ground as he dropped. A rain of darts showered from the trees, all aimed at the thief. Yells of pain one after another occurred from behind. Razu jumped up, knowing somehow this thief had taken down the entire village that easily took Razu and Brie down.
When Razu caught sight of the thief, he was entirely surprised. The man was covered head to toe with the darts. He was completely unfazed! Razu watched as the man pulled the darts out by the handful. Taking advantage of the new weapons, the thief tossed the projectiles directly at the last two opposing him. Razu snapped out of his stunned state to reach for his katana. He realized his sword wasn't on him and there was no way to dodge. He charged his ki and focused it outward. "Ki Shield!" Just in time, Razu's amethyst orb had protected Brie and himself.
Brie pushed herself up into a run at the enemy. She punched at him with her usual ki infusions. The thief took the punch and wrapped his tongue around Brie's body. "Eww!!" she shrieked. Razu thought about firing a ki wave at him, but figured since he now had Brie, she would be his defense. He ran at the enemy, trying at least something, but the gap allowed time for the thief to tossed Brie into the air with his tongue and flip kick her toward Razu. Razu caught Brie from her descent.
"Quemon!" A yell burst through the forest. Following, a man jumped from the trees and onto the small grassland field. He was missing his right arm from his elbow, blood dripping off. His jeans were slightly ripped and torn about and his black tank top matched his hair that spiked forward in a curving fashion.
Razu let Brie down as he watched the new entrant. The armless man fired a ki wave out of his left arm at Quemon. "I think he has it out for him. I'll be here for back-up. You should check on them." Brie pointed behind her without looking.
"Right." Razu turned around and went back into the trees to help the tribesmen. Luckily, Quemon had only knocked them all out. Razu tapped the chief to wake him, but he was out cold. Razu was hoping he could get their help, but it didn't seem like they were much help anyway since Quemon tanked all of their darts at once. Razu ran back to the battlefield to give support. He saw an intense fight between the three of them, which quickly resulted in a bash of the new warrior into the ground and a tongue grab of Brie. Razu, acting quickly, used his instant transmission to cover the fair distance. He pulled his ki into his left fist and gave Quemon a powerful gut blow. The golden orb was also forced out of his pocket as he went into the ground next to the other man. Razu dove for the orb and rolled after grabbing it.
The missing-arm warrior rolled over with a ki attack charged for a final blow to Quemon. His arm was grabbed from the whip motion of Quemon's tongue from his landing. Quemon twisted his enemy's arm so that the ki attack was aimed at Razu and Brie. The warrior's eyes grew into shock as he had fired a finishing wave at the pair. Razu easily put up his ki shield and ricocheted the wave into the sky. The ki wave had picked up a lot of dust from the ground and covered the area in a plume of particles. When the air cleared, Quemon had escaped and Razu and Brie had retrieved the artifact for the tribesmen.
"I'm sorry I fired that wave at you two. My name is Renkaru by the way," the man greeted as he walked over to them. "I've been after Quemon for quite some time. It sucks he got away again."
"Oh it's fine. We weren't injured thanks to Razu. So why are you after him; did he steal something like he did for our dilemma?" Brie tried brushing herself off in an attempt to clean the slime off of her.
"Yea, first he cause problems for my shipmates and me by sinking the boat. Then while I chased him down for the important cargo he stole, he took my right arm." Renkaru placed him arm on his severed elbow.
"Yikes, I'm sorry to hear that."
"No, no. It's alright. With technology the way it is, and being a navy man, I'm sure I can figure something out for my arm. I guess now would be a good time to head back to Yahhoy. There's no telling where he went."
Razu scanned the area with his ki sense but was unable to locate Quemon's energy. "Yea, even with my sensing energies, he seems to be far gone or hidden."
"Oh, good. Our treasure is safe. Thank you." The deep voice ringed from behind the trio. The chief walked slowly up to Razu to retrieve it. "We're sorry to have accused you. Good luck on your endeavors." As the chief pivot, Razu caught a glimpse of a smile. He headed into the forest, out of their lives. The three stood there as he left and then Renkaru motioned to leave himself.
"Well, I best be off to Yahhoy. Catch ya around sometime."
"You too." Brie waved goodbye, along with Razu waving silently himself. Renkaru headed out, and alone again, Razu and Brie headed back to their camp by flight over the treetops. It was one of the few places with an open field and a house.
After a few hours of flight and casual chat, the duo found their camp at dusk. "Ah it's good to be back. What a day, huh?" Brie chuckled. "Hey, you fine with us wrapping up our training this week? I have somewhere I should head off to soon."
"Yea, that's fine. We'll make it a good session." Razu replied back as he picked his katana off the ground.
"Alright, night." Brie opened the door to her house and walked in. Razu spun his sword around a bit and practice a few swings on the open air. Razu thought to himself it was a good thing his katana was still around here while they were captured and forced into a strange day. He picked his sheath up and slid his sword back into it and placed it against the trunk. He soon joined his sword in rest upon the tree.
The last week of training flew by and Razu and Brie found themselves departing. Brie brought her house down to a capsule once again and waved to Razu as she flew off. Razu simply grabbed his katana and walked in a random direction.
During his walk, he mainly focused on the scenery and relaxed, though he did have an occasional thought or two. He remembered Renkaru heading to a city named Yahhoy. Since he had nothing really else scheduled, Razu decided to take a detour there on his path of wandering. He pulled out the roll-up map in his left pocket and opened it. A few centimeter-tall and multi-colored hologram of Earth projected above the flat map. A small black dot hovered above the northwest forest, which was colored with a dark green and in the design of bushes. Razu put his left hand above the black dot and spread his fingers, causing the map to focus in on the spot. He noticed a large city just northwest of him. "Hmm, that's not far away at all." Razu said as he rolled the map back up and dropped it into its former place.
After some hours, Razu broke through the forest line and stood atop a ledge watching over the city. Razu jumped off and slid down the rocky slope, easily maintaining his balance. Reaching the bottom, Razu leapt off and casually walked into the city limits. The busy streets passed him by since he strolled down the walkways. Due to his appearance, he got a few looks of fear. He expected it. His mysterious outfit and the katana in his right hand gave off a dangerous look. In a distance Razu could start hearing the calls of the marketplace. "Get your anti gravity device here! Only 4,000 zeni, cheap." Razu distinctly caught ear of this since it interested him. He knew of an anti-gravity device for some while. It would allow him to attach his katana to his waist without holding it with his hand or the light string he tied around himself. He walked over to the dealer and pulled a bill from under his right wristband, revealing it to the dealer as 5,000 zeni. The dealer gave him a 1,000 zeni bill and a small octagon-shaped device. Razu latched it to his right hip and put a small square chip onto his sheath. He let go of his sheath and watched as his sword hovered just off the side of him.
Razu held his hand up to the dealer as a stationary wave while he walked away. Razu tested the new device by casually spinning his katana by pulling up and letting go. He casually walked down the streets of the city again. He was mainly looking for something to do or somewhere to go. He thought about it being a good idea to find more training since Brie had plans elsewhere. Razu stopped in front of a building with giant letters of a sign reading Transportation Teleportation. He walked up to the glass wall and read a piece of paper which told of what type of place this was. It explained how using a teleportation system, it brought people to any major city on Earth, and a few extra small places like scenic routes and landscapes. 'Pretty interesting technology that's in the cities. I'll stick with travel of my own power though,' Razu thought. He continued through the city until reaching the city limit near the northwest coastal point. "Well I guess I'll go back into wandering. Cities don't really interest me like I thought." Razu mumbled his thoughts before pulling out his map once again. "Hmm, I could visit my village. I am still nearby. It's only a fair distance to the north. But since I've traveled in time, how would that affect the other me? Perhaps I should just stay clear of my village, at least until she arrives." Razu clenched his left fist and put his right hand on his mask. "Oh I know. I can probably jump in on Jordan and Masato's training." Razu moved his hand to the instant transmission and focused on the surrounding energies. The world was big and his friends could be anywhere on it.
Razu stood motionless concentrating. He wasn't getting anything, but he was searching everywhere he could. It was a good thing Razu had adept ki abilities, else he wouldn't be able to search the planet for a signature ki like Jordan's. Close to exactly on the other side of Earth, Razu picked up Jordan's faint energy. He set off into his technique and appeared behind his friend. "Masato left again?" Razu asked.
"Oh hey Razu. Yea he took off like he usually does. He sure is wild." Jordan replied after turning around to see him.
Razu sensed Masato's energy nearby and a mysterious one with him. "Well he's not too far from here actually. He's with someone." Razu levitated into the air and motioned for Jordan to follow him.
"I see you learned how to fly."
"Yea want a lift?" Razu put his arm out for Jordan to grab, which he did. The two flew a few islands over and saw from above Masato battling with another person. When Razu landed, he could get a clearer view of the new one. He had black spiky hair all aimed away from his front except his bangs. He had a blue tank top on top his white t-shirt and black pants.
"Oh guys. Nice to see you again." Masato stopped his spar when he noticed them.
"Hey guys, I'm Kato." He waved at the two. After the introductions, the four guys sparred around all day. "You guys are all good. You should come and learn under my master." Kato said slightly out of breath. The other three were exhausted lying on the ground.
Razu lifted up his upper half. "Sure, sounds great."
Jordan and Masato also accepted, but they decided not to go just yet. "Well, whenever you guys decide to come by, his academy is only a few kilometers west of here. Razu, we should head over there. Catch ya guys later." Kato signaled the two off with his index and middle fingers coming from his forehead. He flew into the air and headed west just as he claimed. Razu flew up as well and followed closely behind Kato, waving at his friends. "He'll be able to increase your skill very well. You might even be able to have a one-on-one with me. He goes by Master Roy."
Chapter Three: Someone To Call Master
Kato and Razu touched down on an island with an academy like building on a hill. Razu saw the village down below and a dense forest on the opposite side of the academy from the shore. Kato brought Razu through the main gate and up the stairs through the front door. Razu saw someone sitting near the wall with his back to them. He had ponytailed brown spiky hair and a type of blue shirt like robe. "Master, I brought someone back with me that'd like to learn from you."
"Kato, I swear to good, if it is another dead chicken, you'll have to play with Lance!" Roy turned around, "That isn't a chicken....yay!" He approached them. "Hi, my name is Roy, pleased to meet you," he greeted as he bowed to Razu. Razu returned the bow. "I can train you, but first, you must pass a test." He took out a small rock and showed it to Razu. "If you can catch this before me, I'll train you. Ready? Set, Go!" He tossed the rock up.
Razu leapt forth from his spot, but he figured his attempt was in vain since he was up against a master. A flash of yellow whizzed past him before he heard, "Too slow."
Razu landed and turned around to face Roy once more. "That was so fast." Razu said impressed.
"It's okay young one. I'll train you because I like your mask." He turned around and shouted out long and loud, "Lance!" He continued still as loud but not as extended as before, "a new friend wants to play with you!" In the depths of the dojo, Razu could make out a faint yay sound. The group stood waiting on what was to come.
"Goodnight Master. It's starting to get late. Razu, you'll enjoy it here." Kato waved off Roy and Razu.
After Kato's departure, a small boy ran into the room with his hands closed together and a big grin on his face. He wore a white t-shirt with a black dragon symbol in the middle, orange pants, black fingerless gloves and large black hair spiking forward over his head. His hair came down to his shoulders and split on each shoulder. "Look Sensei, I found another frog." Razu looked at Lance with a surprised face, but the mask of course blocked others from reading it. He thought this kid must be strong to be his partner, or so Razu thought since Roy said 'play with him.'
"...That's not a frog Lance, it's a rock. Anyways, he is Razu, my new student."
Lance turned and bowed to Razu. "Nice to meet you. My name is Lance." Razu returned to bow greeting. "What happened to your face? Why don't you have a nose or mouth?" Lance asked Razu, but Roy answered before.
"It's a mask Lance. You use them to hide your face or just cause of tradition."
"Like the black one hidden under your bed, with the whip and the gloves?"
"Yeah...just like that one. You should go to sleep Lance. It's getting late and we will be starting training early tomorrow."
"Okay. See ya tomorrow Razu." He bowed to him, then turned and bowed to Roy as he bid him farewell too, "Goodnight Sensei." He walked off singing a tune.
Razu just stood there sort of confused of what just occurred. He snapped out of it after Lance left and asked Roy, "Should I head for morning training as well or...?"
"Umm," Roy cleared his throat. "You can go to sleep, or you can come with me and start now."
Razu was slightly tired from his all-day blowout with Kato and the others, but he decided to take the training. His recovery rate was excellent anyway. "I'll start my training now." Razu's voice was determined. He walked forward to follow Master Roy wherever he was headed.
"Alright then, follow me." They walked into the forest until they saw a huge tree with a sizable hole. "Okay, here we are." Roy sat on the ground in a meditation pose. "Please, enter the hole and sit as I'm sitting, then focus on the energy of the tree. This might sound weird, but believe me, you'll be able to feel the energy of all the forest, and you'll be able to increase your ki."
Razu thought to himself he was great with nature; it came to him easily. Razu entered the tree and copied Roy's stance of meditation. Razu focused, and soon found himself feeling the tree, and then soon after that, more and more trees until he felt the forest itself. Razu heard Roy fall asleep and talk about telling Lance not to bring any more chickens or rocks but tried ignoring it. The comment made Razu laugh in his head and broke his concentration. He continued meditating afterwards and later, he called out to Roy. "So do I stop when you tell me to?" Razu was actually lost of when he should finish.
"Give me all the bitches!" Razu heard from outside the tree. Silence ensued and soon Roy started responding, "Umm, I mean, did you manage to feel the energy? It looks like you did."
"Yea, I'm close to nature and I practice meditation a bit. So what's next Master?"
"Now, it's time for sleep. Tomorrow will be a big day." Razu climbed out of the hole and followed Roy back to the dojo. After going through the main room, they walked through the hallways in the back. Roy pointed to a door on the way past it. "That's your room." He continued on his way to his room without stopping.
"Thanks Master." Razu went inside of his new room. It felt a little strange because it had been awhile since Razu was in a room. He sat down in his normal sleep pose, but tonight he decided to meditate to sleep. He changed his position by crossing his legs and putting his fists together with his palms facing up.
Early morning soon came, and Razu was awaken by a loud noise of a small kid. "Mask dude! Hurry up! It's really important, hurry!"
Razu put his left hand up to his mask and used his instant transmission to appear right in front of Lance. "What's going on?"
"The show started!" Lance grabbed Razu's hand and pulled him to the small television in the room. "Yay!" Lance started to sing along with the show, "Go, go Soopah Rangers! Luulululululululu, go, go Soopah Rangers!"
Razu heard Kato plus one come into the room soon after. The guy with Kato had black spiky hair with two bangs hanging on either side of his face, along with red-stripped strands on either side. He wore a black suit-like piece underneath a small vanilla jacket and matching pants, which had the crotch area missing and connected to a brown crossed belt above. He also wore white shoes and bandages on his wrists. "Oh hey, it's on." They sat down near the other two. "Hey dude. I'm Ryozo." He offered his hand in a handshake. Razu returned it and told him his name then proceeded to watch the show with the others.
"Where's Jave!? He's going to miss the show again," Lance wailed.
From behind everyone, a voice responded, "I'm already here Lance." While Razu was turning around to see the mystery person, Roy entered the room with his hair mildly wet.
"Sorry, I was meditating under the waterfall. What did I miss?"
"It just started." Lance bounced and turned to face the television. Razu turned back as well, forgetting his purpose of turning in the first place. Later when the action-packed show ended, Jave was the first to respond saying it was a waste of time, and then he departed from the room quickly, being near one of the back doors.
Roy asked Lance, "It was really funny; did you like it little one?"
"Yup. When I grow up, I wanna be like the Dragon Ranger. He is so cool!" Lance turned to the others, sitting opposite to Roy from Lance. Excitedly, he asked them what they thought of the show.
Kato and Ryozo both said it was good, and Ryozo tacked on an extra comment about it being very explosive. Razu answered back last, "I'm not used to TV, but that wasn't a bad show." He felt invigorated with all the action.
"Alright then guys, now that we've learned some new moves, let's go have a sparring session. Ryozo, you partner up with Kato for today, and Lance, you with Razu. I'd have Jave join us, but he just goes off and punches rocks by himself anyway," Roy chuckled.
"Yay, I'll get to play with my new friend!" Lance ran for the sparring field outside.
The rest headed outside as well and the four students paired off. Razu stood a few meters in front of Lance and bowed to him. "Alright Lance, you first." Razu said as he readied his stance.
Lance bowed, "hold on. Sensei, can I do the yellow thing?"
"Yea sure, just don't push yourself too hard. You can't control it properly yet."
"Okay, here I come." Lance smiled and his hair sparked into a golden color. He dashed at Razu and delivered a punch to his gut seconds later. Razu could only manage a weak guard from his state of shock. He slid back holding his gut. After finishing his slide, Razu straightened himself and dashed forward for an attack of his own, a weak right jab followed by a weak left back up jab. Razu was finding his boundaries for attack and defense. Lance blocked the first strike, but Razu's follow-up made contact. Lance backed up, holding his face. "Oww! That hurts," he cried out, changing back to his normal form. "It hurts."
Razu let up his guard and wondered what was happening. He had barely hit the boy, yet his strength seem to make him cry and lose his transformed state. He reached forward and asked, "Lance?"
"Gotcha!" Lance called out, transforming once again. He leapt into the air over Razu and bashed Razu in the back of the head with both his fists merged, his fists ending between his legs. Razu tried moving, but Lance was too fast at such a short range. His face hit the ground, and as a rebuttal attack, he pushed himself up on his hands and spun his legs around close to the ground, bringing Lance to the ground and himself into stance.
As Lance recovered, he cupped his hands to his side. "Now I'll show you my special technique. Kame." A blue ball formed into his hands and grew when he continued, "Hame." Razu crossed his arms in front of his body, readying himself for the wave. "Ha!" Lance hopped up and pointed the wave downwards, lifting himself into the air and behind Razu, but Razu caught sight of his direction and pivoted on his right foot to throw a heavy left jab at the landing Lance.
Razu heard Roy as he was turning. "Oh, that's gonna hurt. Kato keep your guard up!"
Lance had a shocked face and yelled out right before landing, "Oh no!" After the contact, Lance dashed backwards and called out to Razu. "Now the most secret technique I have: Super Black Dragon Kick!" Lance leapt into the air with his leg forward and plopped to the ground soon after.
"Lance, that's just a t.v. show move. Are you okay?" Roy sounded like he told Lance this many times before.
"Yeah I'm okay." Lance dashed at Razu, which Razu responded the same. During the two trading blows, most of them blocked by the other, Lance's hair went black, and he sat down tired.
Roy approached the two. "It's okay Lance, you can rest. Razu, you did a great job; however, we must train your reflexes." He walked away, calling out to Ryozo and Kato, "Keep it up boys!" When Roy returned to Razu, he brought a wooden block. "I'll teach you to put ki into your sword first right now though. All you have to do is focus your connection with your sword and make a big swing. If you do it right, this will break."
Razu popped his sword out with his right thumb and grabbed it with his left hand. He quickly infused his ki into the sword and swung at the wood. Razu has had good practice with this technique since he's practiced from the start of his journey. Razu kept striking the wood but was unsuccessful. Either the wood wasn't normal or Razu was having an off day with his ki control. "That's one strong piece of wood." Razu said as he quit for a second for Roy to explain.
"Do you remember the huge tree from last night? Well, this came from that tree. It's kinda hard to break, but it's possible. You just really need to focus and take your time to meditate. When you are ready, strike it with all your power." Razu held his katana with his right as well and channeled his ki into it, refining the blade. He took a swing at the wood and chipped it only a bit. "Yeah, keep doing that." Roy turned around and asked Lance, "Hey, you want something to eat?"
"Do we have cookies?"
"No."
"Do we have chocolates?"
"No."
"...do we have cookies?"
"I'll just bring you a sandwich Lance. Razu, you want anything?"
"No thanks." Roy walked off to retrieve the sandwich and other food. Razu would continue this training, since he was not at the strongest in his ki control, and a new challenge presented itself for him.
"Hey Razu, can you turn your hair blonde like me and Sensei?"
"Nope, what you see is my full power. I'm still very weak compared to most people." Razu kept his concentration on his task.
"Oh I see." He dropped his voice into an audible whisper and slowly spoke, "Must...grab...mask." Lance slowly reached out for Razu's mask, but he was interrupted by Roy's return and announcement of having food. "Wait what? Food!" He ran off to Roy.
Days passed with the usual pattern. Lance kept up with his antics to unmask Razu, but each time he was distracted. Today, Roy took Razu into the forest once again, but this time he brought him to a waterfall not that far from the dojo. "You shall join me in meditation under the waterfall this morning."
Razu walked underneath it and was beaten down with heavy water. He had difficulty just standing. Razu twisted his neck over to catch a glimpse of how Roy was managing under it. He just stood perfectly still as if there was no water. Razu turned his head back to normal position slowly. He took his meditative stance and stood against the pouring current. After a handful of seconds, the water got heavier, pushing Razu down against his own will. Razu pushed himself back up and tried again. When Roy finished his, Razu still hadn't stayed under the waterfall for more than some several seconds. "Come, let's go watch t.v. You did well for your first day." Roy walked out from the waterfall and headed back to the dojo.
The trainings got really random after that day. Razu was usually left alone to meditate in the tree while the others did the more serious training. The days had a similar outline, Razu would train mornings under the waterfall with Roy, have afternoon sparring sessions, and nightly tree meditation. On the first erratic day, Razu was sent to climb the island's mountain with a fifteen kilogram boulder. Lance joined him on that day, but Kato and Ryozo had the session off for relaxation and solo training.
The months of Roy's intensive and strange trainings flew by, as the weights got heavier, the matches got more intense, and the meditation easier. Razu found himself in his primary graduation match, against Roy himself. "You finally made it Razu. Three months is pretty impressive for my school's primary course. It took Kato and Ryozo four years themselves, though probably because they started from scratch and children. Now prepare yourself." He put his palm out and charged an energy attack. "Shin Zankuken," Roy called out, releasing his concentrated energy wave.
Razu crossed his arms and released an orb of ki around his body. "Ki Shield." The beam hit Razu's shield and set him soaring across the grassy fields, ripping apart the ground from his surrounding ki. He pushed off to his left and redirected the wave with his breaking shield to the other side.
Roy called across the field over the distance of about ten meters away. "Good reaction. Time for the physical combat." Roy vanished and reappeared in front of Razu, throwing his right fist. Razu couldn't dodge and was sent backwards against his will. He flipped off his hands and dashed at Roy throwing a soft right hook and shortly after a strong left uppercut. Roy blocked each one with his hand and knee respectively. "Nice try but no good." Roy pushed Razu's right fist and spun Razu. He brought his right elbow out to hit Roy on the first spin, but that attack was blocked too and Roy used a Kiai into Razu's back. Razu stopped and closed his eyes, focusing in on Roy's ki. As soon as he felt his presence to his right, he pivoted with a left punch and hit Roy spot on in the guarded chest. "Good job Razu."
"Your final test. To catch this rock." Roy smiled and tossed the rock into the air. Razu quickly drew his katana and with doing so, sent a kiai out straight into the rock, redirecting its path. Razu brought his right hand to his mask quickly and used an Instant Transmission to appear right next to Roy. The two landed on the ground, both holding the rock simultaneously. "Impressive little one."
"I've been thinking about it since my first try when I got here." Razu gathered up his belongings quick and bid the group farewell. Lance didn't want his new friend to leave just quite yet, but he was reassured they'd meet again soon. "I'll see you all around."
"Oh, Razu. There's a tournament about half a year from now. You better show. I'm sure these guys would love to battle you. And I left you a gift at the shop." Roy gave a final bow as Razu accepted the offer and headed out. When Razu came to the village shop, the shopkeeper bent over and grabbed a capsule. Razu thanked the keeper and left with the gift.
After leaving Roy's island, Razu wandered the surrounding islands. The first night Razu clicked the capsule and tossed it in front of him. A folded orange shirt lie on the ground with a note attached: "Your torn-up shirt looks ugly. He's a new design for you. Also it is based off the design of a Great Hero." When Razu unfolded the orange shirt, it had blue sleeves, a blue upper chest part as if there was a blue undershirt, and an extended skirt-like bottom with a blue strap for a belt. He swapped out his old dark blue shirt for the new one. Along his interisland travels, he crossed paths with a young boy. "That mask is awesome. Who are you? My name is Zankaru," he introduced quickly before Razu could answer his question. Zankaru had an orange outfit with a blue undershirt, wristbands, and belt. He also bore a turtle logo on the left arm strap.
"My name's Razu." He saw as Zankaru took notice to his outfit and smirked.
"Would you like to spar?" Razu accepted the invitation and removed his katana, placing it up against a nearby rock. He took his stance and curled his fingers to have Zankaru start. After Zankaru rushed at him, Razu had ease in blocking most of his attacks and even countering some. Zankaru was quickly overwhelmed by Razu's defense yet he kept at it, even trying to throw out surprise attempts. When Zankaru wore out, he feel to the ground and wondered, "How are you so good!? You barely even went on the offensive. You have to teach me!" He was surely excited.
"Well I trained under a master nearby here. And sure, I'll help you improve. We can start by..." Razu glanced at the surroundings. "You see that forest over there?" He grabbed his katana and unsheathed it as he picked it up. "Survival training to find my katana in there." Razu swung his sword forward and it rotated into an unknown projectile into the forest. Zankaru accepted the task and dashed down the hill into the forest's entrance. Razu followed him shortly after and stalked his progress through the forest, attacking him random with ki blasts and traps through his search.
Days passed as Zankaru was constantly ambushed by Razu even while he tried resting or hiding to rest. He was being pushed to his limits, as Razu noticed he started surviving rather than the original objective of finding the katana. Razu came into the area with the sword to find a pack of monkeys playing around it. He shooed them off and waited, because as luck would have it, Zankaru happened upon the opening. Razu waited behind the sword, watching Zankaru approach. "You have a special quality about you Zankaru. I don't know what it is but I like it. Are you not human?"
"I belong to the Taijukai race. I left a few years back." Zankaru plummeted to the ground and cheerfully smiled. Zankaru stayed with Razu along his travels for a few weeks, training and sparring with his new friend-rival.
"You know, you should go train under Master Roy. He should be able to make you as strong as me, maybe stronger." Zankaru decided to go for it, loving the challenge to become stronger as Razu knew him as. "It was fun having you around. I'll see ya around." The two parted ways, Zankaru to his new destination and Razu directly opposite.
"Kato, I swear to good, if it is another dead chicken, you'll have to play with Lance!" Roy turned around, "That isn't a chicken....yay!" He approached them. "Hi, my name is Roy, pleased to meet you," he greeted as he bowed to Razu. Razu returned the bow. "I can train you, but first, you must pass a test." He took out a small rock and showed it to Razu. "If you can catch this before me, I'll train you. Ready? Set, Go!" He tossed the rock up.
Razu leapt forth from his spot, but he figured his attempt was in vain since he was up against a master. A flash of yellow whizzed past him before he heard, "Too slow."
Razu landed and turned around to face Roy once more. "That was so fast." Razu said impressed.
"It's okay young one. I'll train you because I like your mask." He turned around and shouted out long and loud, "Lance!" He continued still as loud but not as extended as before, "a new friend wants to play with you!" In the depths of the dojo, Razu could make out a faint yay sound. The group stood waiting on what was to come.
"Goodnight Master. It's starting to get late. Razu, you'll enjoy it here." Kato waved off Roy and Razu.
After Kato's departure, a small boy ran into the room with his hands closed together and a big grin on his face. He wore a white t-shirt with a black dragon symbol in the middle, orange pants, black fingerless gloves and large black hair spiking forward over his head. His hair came down to his shoulders and split on each shoulder. "Look Sensei, I found another frog." Razu looked at Lance with a surprised face, but the mask of course blocked others from reading it. He thought this kid must be strong to be his partner, or so Razu thought since Roy said 'play with him.'
"...That's not a frog Lance, it's a rock. Anyways, he is Razu, my new student."
Lance turned and bowed to Razu. "Nice to meet you. My name is Lance." Razu returned to bow greeting. "What happened to your face? Why don't you have a nose or mouth?" Lance asked Razu, but Roy answered before.
"It's a mask Lance. You use them to hide your face or just cause of tradition."
"Like the black one hidden under your bed, with the whip and the gloves?"
"Yeah...just like that one. You should go to sleep Lance. It's getting late and we will be starting training early tomorrow."
"Okay. See ya tomorrow Razu." He bowed to him, then turned and bowed to Roy as he bid him farewell too, "Goodnight Sensei." He walked off singing a tune.
Razu just stood there sort of confused of what just occurred. He snapped out of it after Lance left and asked Roy, "Should I head for morning training as well or...?"
"Umm," Roy cleared his throat. "You can go to sleep, or you can come with me and start now."
Razu was slightly tired from his all-day blowout with Kato and the others, but he decided to take the training. His recovery rate was excellent anyway. "I'll start my training now." Razu's voice was determined. He walked forward to follow Master Roy wherever he was headed.
"Alright then, follow me." They walked into the forest until they saw a huge tree with a sizable hole. "Okay, here we are." Roy sat on the ground in a meditation pose. "Please, enter the hole and sit as I'm sitting, then focus on the energy of the tree. This might sound weird, but believe me, you'll be able to feel the energy of all the forest, and you'll be able to increase your ki."
Razu thought to himself he was great with nature; it came to him easily. Razu entered the tree and copied Roy's stance of meditation. Razu focused, and soon found himself feeling the tree, and then soon after that, more and more trees until he felt the forest itself. Razu heard Roy fall asleep and talk about telling Lance not to bring any more chickens or rocks but tried ignoring it. The comment made Razu laugh in his head and broke his concentration. He continued meditating afterwards and later, he called out to Roy. "So do I stop when you tell me to?" Razu was actually lost of when he should finish.
"Give me all the bitches!" Razu heard from outside the tree. Silence ensued and soon Roy started responding, "Umm, I mean, did you manage to feel the energy? It looks like you did."
"Yea, I'm close to nature and I practice meditation a bit. So what's next Master?"
"Now, it's time for sleep. Tomorrow will be a big day." Razu climbed out of the hole and followed Roy back to the dojo. After going through the main room, they walked through the hallways in the back. Roy pointed to a door on the way past it. "That's your room." He continued on his way to his room without stopping.
"Thanks Master." Razu went inside of his new room. It felt a little strange because it had been awhile since Razu was in a room. He sat down in his normal sleep pose, but tonight he decided to meditate to sleep. He changed his position by crossing his legs and putting his fists together with his palms facing up.
Early morning soon came, and Razu was awaken by a loud noise of a small kid. "Mask dude! Hurry up! It's really important, hurry!"
Razu put his left hand up to his mask and used his instant transmission to appear right in front of Lance. "What's going on?"
"The show started!" Lance grabbed Razu's hand and pulled him to the small television in the room. "Yay!" Lance started to sing along with the show, "Go, go Soopah Rangers! Luulululululululu, go, go Soopah Rangers!"
Razu heard Kato plus one come into the room soon after. The guy with Kato had black spiky hair with two bangs hanging on either side of his face, along with red-stripped strands on either side. He wore a black suit-like piece underneath a small vanilla jacket and matching pants, which had the crotch area missing and connected to a brown crossed belt above. He also wore white shoes and bandages on his wrists. "Oh hey, it's on." They sat down near the other two. "Hey dude. I'm Ryozo." He offered his hand in a handshake. Razu returned it and told him his name then proceeded to watch the show with the others.
"Where's Jave!? He's going to miss the show again," Lance wailed.
From behind everyone, a voice responded, "I'm already here Lance." While Razu was turning around to see the mystery person, Roy entered the room with his hair mildly wet.
"Sorry, I was meditating under the waterfall. What did I miss?"
"It just started." Lance bounced and turned to face the television. Razu turned back as well, forgetting his purpose of turning in the first place. Later when the action-packed show ended, Jave was the first to respond saying it was a waste of time, and then he departed from the room quickly, being near one of the back doors.
Roy asked Lance, "It was really funny; did you like it little one?"
"Yup. When I grow up, I wanna be like the Dragon Ranger. He is so cool!" Lance turned to the others, sitting opposite to Roy from Lance. Excitedly, he asked them what they thought of the show.
Kato and Ryozo both said it was good, and Ryozo tacked on an extra comment about it being very explosive. Razu answered back last, "I'm not used to TV, but that wasn't a bad show." He felt invigorated with all the action.
"Alright then guys, now that we've learned some new moves, let's go have a sparring session. Ryozo, you partner up with Kato for today, and Lance, you with Razu. I'd have Jave join us, but he just goes off and punches rocks by himself anyway," Roy chuckled.
"Yay, I'll get to play with my new friend!" Lance ran for the sparring field outside.
The rest headed outside as well and the four students paired off. Razu stood a few meters in front of Lance and bowed to him. "Alright Lance, you first." Razu said as he readied his stance.
Lance bowed, "hold on. Sensei, can I do the yellow thing?"
"Yea sure, just don't push yourself too hard. You can't control it properly yet."
"Okay, here I come." Lance smiled and his hair sparked into a golden color. He dashed at Razu and delivered a punch to his gut seconds later. Razu could only manage a weak guard from his state of shock. He slid back holding his gut. After finishing his slide, Razu straightened himself and dashed forward for an attack of his own, a weak right jab followed by a weak left back up jab. Razu was finding his boundaries for attack and defense. Lance blocked the first strike, but Razu's follow-up made contact. Lance backed up, holding his face. "Oww! That hurts," he cried out, changing back to his normal form. "It hurts."
Razu let up his guard and wondered what was happening. He had barely hit the boy, yet his strength seem to make him cry and lose his transformed state. He reached forward and asked, "Lance?"
"Gotcha!" Lance called out, transforming once again. He leapt into the air over Razu and bashed Razu in the back of the head with both his fists merged, his fists ending between his legs. Razu tried moving, but Lance was too fast at such a short range. His face hit the ground, and as a rebuttal attack, he pushed himself up on his hands and spun his legs around close to the ground, bringing Lance to the ground and himself into stance.
As Lance recovered, he cupped his hands to his side. "Now I'll show you my special technique. Kame." A blue ball formed into his hands and grew when he continued, "Hame." Razu crossed his arms in front of his body, readying himself for the wave. "Ha!" Lance hopped up and pointed the wave downwards, lifting himself into the air and behind Razu, but Razu caught sight of his direction and pivoted on his right foot to throw a heavy left jab at the landing Lance.
Razu heard Roy as he was turning. "Oh, that's gonna hurt. Kato keep your guard up!"
Lance had a shocked face and yelled out right before landing, "Oh no!" After the contact, Lance dashed backwards and called out to Razu. "Now the most secret technique I have: Super Black Dragon Kick!" Lance leapt into the air with his leg forward and plopped to the ground soon after.
"Lance, that's just a t.v. show move. Are you okay?" Roy sounded like he told Lance this many times before.
"Yeah I'm okay." Lance dashed at Razu, which Razu responded the same. During the two trading blows, most of them blocked by the other, Lance's hair went black, and he sat down tired.
Roy approached the two. "It's okay Lance, you can rest. Razu, you did a great job; however, we must train your reflexes." He walked away, calling out to Ryozo and Kato, "Keep it up boys!" When Roy returned to Razu, he brought a wooden block. "I'll teach you to put ki into your sword first right now though. All you have to do is focus your connection with your sword and make a big swing. If you do it right, this will break."
Razu popped his sword out with his right thumb and grabbed it with his left hand. He quickly infused his ki into the sword and swung at the wood. Razu has had good practice with this technique since he's practiced from the start of his journey. Razu kept striking the wood but was unsuccessful. Either the wood wasn't normal or Razu was having an off day with his ki control. "That's one strong piece of wood." Razu said as he quit for a second for Roy to explain.
"Do you remember the huge tree from last night? Well, this came from that tree. It's kinda hard to break, but it's possible. You just really need to focus and take your time to meditate. When you are ready, strike it with all your power." Razu held his katana with his right as well and channeled his ki into it, refining the blade. He took a swing at the wood and chipped it only a bit. "Yeah, keep doing that." Roy turned around and asked Lance, "Hey, you want something to eat?"
"Do we have cookies?"
"No."
"Do we have chocolates?"
"No."
"...do we have cookies?"
"I'll just bring you a sandwich Lance. Razu, you want anything?"
"No thanks." Roy walked off to retrieve the sandwich and other food. Razu would continue this training, since he was not at the strongest in his ki control, and a new challenge presented itself for him.
"Hey Razu, can you turn your hair blonde like me and Sensei?"
"Nope, what you see is my full power. I'm still very weak compared to most people." Razu kept his concentration on his task.
"Oh I see." He dropped his voice into an audible whisper and slowly spoke, "Must...grab...mask." Lance slowly reached out for Razu's mask, but he was interrupted by Roy's return and announcement of having food. "Wait what? Food!" He ran off to Roy.
Days passed with the usual pattern. Lance kept up with his antics to unmask Razu, but each time he was distracted. Today, Roy took Razu into the forest once again, but this time he brought him to a waterfall not that far from the dojo. "You shall join me in meditation under the waterfall this morning."
Razu walked underneath it and was beaten down with heavy water. He had difficulty just standing. Razu twisted his neck over to catch a glimpse of how Roy was managing under it. He just stood perfectly still as if there was no water. Razu turned his head back to normal position slowly. He took his meditative stance and stood against the pouring current. After a handful of seconds, the water got heavier, pushing Razu down against his own will. Razu pushed himself back up and tried again. When Roy finished his, Razu still hadn't stayed under the waterfall for more than some several seconds. "Come, let's go watch t.v. You did well for your first day." Roy walked out from the waterfall and headed back to the dojo.
The trainings got really random after that day. Razu was usually left alone to meditate in the tree while the others did the more serious training. The days had a similar outline, Razu would train mornings under the waterfall with Roy, have afternoon sparring sessions, and nightly tree meditation. On the first erratic day, Razu was sent to climb the island's mountain with a fifteen kilogram boulder. Lance joined him on that day, but Kato and Ryozo had the session off for relaxation and solo training.
The months of Roy's intensive and strange trainings flew by, as the weights got heavier, the matches got more intense, and the meditation easier. Razu found himself in his primary graduation match, against Roy himself. "You finally made it Razu. Three months is pretty impressive for my school's primary course. It took Kato and Ryozo four years themselves, though probably because they started from scratch and children. Now prepare yourself." He put his palm out and charged an energy attack. "Shin Zankuken," Roy called out, releasing his concentrated energy wave.
Razu crossed his arms and released an orb of ki around his body. "Ki Shield." The beam hit Razu's shield and set him soaring across the grassy fields, ripping apart the ground from his surrounding ki. He pushed off to his left and redirected the wave with his breaking shield to the other side.
Roy called across the field over the distance of about ten meters away. "Good reaction. Time for the physical combat." Roy vanished and reappeared in front of Razu, throwing his right fist. Razu couldn't dodge and was sent backwards against his will. He flipped off his hands and dashed at Roy throwing a soft right hook and shortly after a strong left uppercut. Roy blocked each one with his hand and knee respectively. "Nice try but no good." Roy pushed Razu's right fist and spun Razu. He brought his right elbow out to hit Roy on the first spin, but that attack was blocked too and Roy used a Kiai into Razu's back. Razu stopped and closed his eyes, focusing in on Roy's ki. As soon as he felt his presence to his right, he pivoted with a left punch and hit Roy spot on in the guarded chest. "Good job Razu."
"Your final test. To catch this rock." Roy smiled and tossed the rock into the air. Razu quickly drew his katana and with doing so, sent a kiai out straight into the rock, redirecting its path. Razu brought his right hand to his mask quickly and used an Instant Transmission to appear right next to Roy. The two landed on the ground, both holding the rock simultaneously. "Impressive little one."
"I've been thinking about it since my first try when I got here." Razu gathered up his belongings quick and bid the group farewell. Lance didn't want his new friend to leave just quite yet, but he was reassured they'd meet again soon. "I'll see you all around."
"Oh, Razu. There's a tournament about half a year from now. You better show. I'm sure these guys would love to battle you. And I left you a gift at the shop." Roy gave a final bow as Razu accepted the offer and headed out. When Razu came to the village shop, the shopkeeper bent over and grabbed a capsule. Razu thanked the keeper and left with the gift.
After leaving Roy's island, Razu wandered the surrounding islands. The first night Razu clicked the capsule and tossed it in front of him. A folded orange shirt lie on the ground with a note attached: "Your torn-up shirt looks ugly. He's a new design for you. Also it is based off the design of a Great Hero." When Razu unfolded the orange shirt, it had blue sleeves, a blue upper chest part as if there was a blue undershirt, and an extended skirt-like bottom with a blue strap for a belt. He swapped out his old dark blue shirt for the new one. Along his interisland travels, he crossed paths with a young boy. "That mask is awesome. Who are you? My name is Zankaru," he introduced quickly before Razu could answer his question. Zankaru had an orange outfit with a blue undershirt, wristbands, and belt. He also bore a turtle logo on the left arm strap.
"My name's Razu." He saw as Zankaru took notice to his outfit and smirked.
"Would you like to spar?" Razu accepted the invitation and removed his katana, placing it up against a nearby rock. He took his stance and curled his fingers to have Zankaru start. After Zankaru rushed at him, Razu had ease in blocking most of his attacks and even countering some. Zankaru was quickly overwhelmed by Razu's defense yet he kept at it, even trying to throw out surprise attempts. When Zankaru wore out, he feel to the ground and wondered, "How are you so good!? You barely even went on the offensive. You have to teach me!" He was surely excited.
"Well I trained under a master nearby here. And sure, I'll help you improve. We can start by..." Razu glanced at the surroundings. "You see that forest over there?" He grabbed his katana and unsheathed it as he picked it up. "Survival training to find my katana in there." Razu swung his sword forward and it rotated into an unknown projectile into the forest. Zankaru accepted the task and dashed down the hill into the forest's entrance. Razu followed him shortly after and stalked his progress through the forest, attacking him random with ki blasts and traps through his search.
Days passed as Zankaru was constantly ambushed by Razu even while he tried resting or hiding to rest. He was being pushed to his limits, as Razu noticed he started surviving rather than the original objective of finding the katana. Razu came into the area with the sword to find a pack of monkeys playing around it. He shooed them off and waited, because as luck would have it, Zankaru happened upon the opening. Razu waited behind the sword, watching Zankaru approach. "You have a special quality about you Zankaru. I don't know what it is but I like it. Are you not human?"
"I belong to the Taijukai race. I left a few years back." Zankaru plummeted to the ground and cheerfully smiled. Zankaru stayed with Razu along his travels for a few weeks, training and sparring with his new friend-rival.
"You know, you should go train under Master Roy. He should be able to make you as strong as me, maybe stronger." Zankaru decided to go for it, loving the challenge to become stronger as Razu knew him as. "It was fun having you around. I'll see ya around." The two parted ways, Zankaru to his new destination and Razu directly opposite.