Meraxa couldn't believe it, he was here, on an island, with the legendary turtle hermit himself. If he'd known this would happen he'd have brought a camera. Afterall this man was known as the greatest martial artist in history. Emphasis on the 'great' part, and not to be confused with 'best'. Sure he couldn't exactly compete with modern fighters in terms of strength, but skill... now that was another story. At first glance he might have seemed like an old man with a turtle shell and a staff, but Meraxa saw more. Firstly, despite his supposed age at over 150 years, he did not falter a single step he made. And sure he lived out in the middle of the ocean, but surely that had to be for some kind of mental training. And not the countless adult magazines the old coot had lying around. Hopefully?
Oh well, for what it was worth, Meraxa was here now, and nothing he could do would change that.
"Beer? Or is juice better?" Roshi asked as he brought two large glasses out, with Meraxa taking the juice.
"Its been a few days since your little exploits in West City. Medias turned you into quite the celebrity, Amber Hope or something." Roshi said, pointing out the orange tone of Meraxa's Gi. It was true, he'd been around too short for anyone to get a good look of him stuck in their heads. Maybe it was for the better, afterall, he didn't want people hounding as to how he got so strong, because he - honestly speaking here - did not know. All he seemed to do was go from one place to the other, fight a bit, maybe train a little, and suddenly he's making comic book superheroes look realistic compared to what he could do. Maybe it was some random genome, or maybe he was hit by cosmic rays, or...
"Or maybe you're just that talented." Roshi said with a confident smile.
"Mindreading wasn't one of your techniques last I recall Master Roshi."
"Of course it isn't, but teaching pupils for years has given me enough insight to know what people are stressed about. "Now, kid, I kinda need a favour out of you."
"Poor dragon..." Meraxa muttered as he heard Roshi talk about the dragonballs.
"Not a dragon's balls, THE dragonballs. Listen right." Roshi said hitting the boy with his stick. "They're seven in total, and though useless apart, together they grant a person wishes, and then spread apart across the world. Now look, normally I wouldn't even consider letting some city kid know about them - but right now you're my best shot." Roshi seemed to be pulling bits and pieces out of a chest.
"Best shot for what exactly?" Meraxa asked, he didn't want to be caught by some vague loophole.
"For getting the one I hid away ages ago."
"You found one of these mystical macguffins, and didn't bother to keep it with you?!" Meraxa asked, shocked by the notion considering what he'd just be told.
"Hey, what do you think is smarter when you know anyone who hears about them is gonna knock down your doorstep for them - keep one right around your neck, and give them all the reason to kill you on sight; or hiding it away so they have to keep your alive for a little longer, or if they're really bad, just don't tell him where you hid, and deny them its power forever?" Roshi asked rhetorically, seeing that Meraxa had obviously gotten the point.
"Now lucky for us, I have this lady friend - ohohha, Bulma~ - who built a device capable of tracking the dragonballs thanks to a special EM frequency they give off. And here, it, is." Roshi said pulling out what looked like some kind of pocket watch, combined with a radar.
"I know what you're thinking, some kind of pocket watch-radar thingy. And thats exactly what it is - the dragon radar. One click of the button and we have our guide to the location of dragonballs ANYWHERE in the world. And..." Roshi clicked the button, a small ping sound could be heard. "Alright, now I know it was in this direction, and theres only one that way, so... to the beach." Roshi yelled at the top of his voice in some kind of cheesy superhero tone, though all he did was shortly walk out the door and onto the short patch of land that was the beach, if it even counted as one. Meraxa followed him through the door, to see the man throw a capsule at the water, which exploded into a submarine.
"Another gift from that 'lady friend' of yours?" Meraxa asked questionably.
"Please. If she ever found I even had this pet project of hers she'd kill me." Roshi joked before hopping in, oh yeah, that did wonders for Meraxa's confidence.
Meraxa climbed down the tube into the belly of the submersible, sealing the hatch on the top shortly before diving commenced.
"Now kid, theres a reason I had to have you come along."
"Oh yeah, you said something about me being your best shot - what was that about anyways?" Meraxa asked, before finding his face connect to the side of the sub as Roshi did a hard to port.
"Get your face out of my equipment and I'll tell ya. Anyways, you see I knew that there might be those who were capable of finding the dragonball regardless of my existence or not, so I set up a defense of sorts."
"Hold on, if its guarded then why do we even need to go? Shouldn't it be fine enough?"
"Fool, the defense was based around the concept of a human enemy, not some extraterrestrials and androids."
"Wait what?!" Meraxa yelled, completely shocked by the development.
"You honestly didn't think those Saibamen and that Saiyan in West City were one off events did you? Kid, you know there is life in the universe, and not all of its friendly. The problem is most of it is far more powerful than us, and will destroy us puny humans without even breaking a sweat. To put it simply - things are coming, and there is nothing the human race can do to stop them." Roshi told him, the tale prompting a hasty response from Meraxa.
"You've gotta be kidding, there has to be some wa-"
"I said nothing the human race can do to stop them, never said anything about individuals. That and we have our own protectors from the stars - some of them even banded together into a group called the Z fighters, dedicated to ensuring our survival. So yeah, whats gonna happen is we're gonna get that ball, and then you're gonna take it to the Z fighters - they can keep it safe. I know they can... or at least I hope so." Roshi whimpered slightly on his final words, whatever these 'things' were, they certainly scared the man.
"We're here." Meraxa said pointing to a cave directly in front of them, assuming it to be their target destination.
"Right, be careful when you open the hatch - do it slowly. The pressure down here can kill you if you rush things."
"Got it." Meraxa said as he turned the wheel on the hatch, the hiss of the air pouring both in and out of the sub breaking any silence that there might've been. Once the hissing stopped, he opened it entirely, and got out - air certainly did sting a bit. "Whats up with that anyways?"
"Air down here is stale, cave was flooded over fifty thousand years ago afterall, so its to be expected. Now come on, the ball is this way." Roshi said, following the direction on the dragon radar, and Meraxa following him. They walked about for several minutes, before coming to an open chamber room, water forming some kind of moat around a series of steps, which led up to a pedastal, something shining at the top.
"Is that...?"
"Yep, the dragonball. Now careful, whats waiting for us is powerful, very powerful." Roshi warned - his staff stopping Meraxa from proceeding - as he picked a pebble from the floor, and threw it at the water.
"Say hello to my defense."
At first it was nothing more than a small shadow and a ripple, but it seconds it was a monstrous beast with a coiling body that devoured the pebble in the same way a person would a pea.
"What is that?"
"Leviathan, received it as a gift for saving a village from its mother."
"Wait but if you defeated its mu-"
"It was an egg when I got it, and Leviathan eggs absorb the ki of whatever constantly touches it, and amplify it into their own by over a hundred fold."
"Wait..."
"Yep, until I was told of that fact, I had cuddled the egg because I thought it'd make a great pet. When I was told, I opted for a turtle instead. But regardless, at the time my strength was somewhere between 100 and 200 units, so by now it'd be 10000 or 20000."
"But you sai-"
"I said it was meant to defend against human threats. Thus proving the point that many of the future enemies to this world will be far more powerful than this. I'm relying on a gambit that you'll be stronger than it, even if theres only around 40% probability that-" Meraxa put out his hand this time to stop Roshi.
"Don't worry, thats more than enough for me. Now lets get this started." He smiled as he disappeared for an instant, reappearing at the beginning of the steps.
"Come get me!"
The Leviathan with its massive body practically leaped at the boy, who grabbed its gargantuan head with both hands.
"See, what'd I tell yooouuuu-" Meraxa's tone changed from smirk to scream, as the Leviathan swung its head round towards the wall, Meraxa slamming into it - hard.
"Nice moves, here's one of mine." Meraxa then propped his foot between him and the creature's neck, pushing against to force more of it out of the water. Bad idea, cause that meant its tail was out, and turns out the thing was electrified.
Over 50000 volts ran through Meraxa's, before he fell from the wall to the floor, but regaining control fast enough to roll away from the Leviathan's oncoming head slam.
"What are you doing kid?! I saw what you were capable of back in West City - just do it again."
"If I did the Omega Burst here, I'd blow up the entire cave." Meraxa pointed out, doubting the idea of Roshi wanting to die.
"Okay, fine, but have you got anything else?"
"Two things, one of which won't work down here - its got the force of a meteor."
"And the other?"
"Takes time to chage, so it'll be just simpler if I get this guy distracted first. So excuse me." Meraxa grit his teeth as he sidestepped out of the sudden charge of the Leviathan's head. Hey, maybe this tempting fate was working in his favour afterall.
"C'mon!" He yelled as he grabbed the beast's jawline, opening its mouth before turning its neck to face its own body, and forced the Leviathan's teeth into it's own body, before it suddenly stopped moving.
"Did you...?"
"Kill it? Nah, just sudden shock from loss of blood - probably hasn't done it since it hatched." Meraxa said grabbing the dragonball. "Now lets go, I have an appointment to make with the Z fighters." Meraxa jumped down, and headed back with Roshi back towards the sub.
"And just a question Master Roshi."
"Hmm, yes?" Roshi said, confused that Meraxa still had any questions at all.
"Its about the stars here..." Meraxa said pointing to the center of the ball as he and Roshi jumped into the sub, there were three stars total.
"That just signifies which of the seven it is, probably to help indicate ownership - though I'm not entirely sure." Roshi said as he powered up the sub, and piloted it out of the cave.
"Right, and if I'm going to bring this to those Z fighter guys, I need some kind of indicator. Dragon radar maybe?"
"Best not take any chances, especially since its entirely possible they don't have any, whereas the bad guys do, and if you simply followed the radar..."
"I'd be dooming myself." Meraxa finished for Roshi, it'd be practically just handing over the dragonball.
They returned to the island, and Meraxa begin to pack his stuff.
"Remember to pack some food - you might end up having to traverse the entire globe twice over for all we know." Roshi said as he prepared Meraxa's bag with some basic survival gear.
"Got it, as long as you don't mind me raiding your fridge that is."
"Eh, take it - turtle'll be back with more for me later anyways. Now here's the important bit - can you fly at all?"
"No."
"Not even a little?"
"Can leap a building in a single bound though."
"That'll work then I guess, if you apply more to the distance than to the height. I'd reccomend heading for the mainland, and then from there follow whatever rumours you can. I've been out of touch with them for a couple of years, so even I don't know where they all live."
"I understand. Better get started then." Meraxa said grabbing the bag, and shoving the three star ball in, before slinging the bag over his back, and walked out the kame house. And in that same moment, he made the single bound he spoke of, and disappeared into the distance.
[END]
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Subject: Danger! Protect the Turtle Sage's treasure! (Three star dragonball) 
Fri Oct 09, 2009 8:23 am