The flow of running water awakens Ryo, his head pounds with an intense pain the likes of which he has never felt before. His reflection shimmers in the waterfall in front of him, a bruised and battered face, hair bloody and damp, fallen around his shoulders. His clothes are shredded, only scraps remaining of his Gi.
"Most men would be dead."
A voice echoes from a cliff over Ryo's head, deep and powerful. Ryo stands, ready to fight, his body aching from the last beating he received yet the yearning for battle still lingers in his bones.
"W-who goes there!" Ryo raises his fists, bracing for another life threatening skirmish
"Calm down, I'm here to help." Tien jumps down from the cliff, his boots creating small craters in the rocky outcrop of the waterfall as he makes landfall, his power is overwhelming, Ryo can hardly maintain eye contact with Tien.
Tien raises his hands, a show at sincerity.
"I want to teach you, your quite talented."
He crosses his arms, Ryo raises his eyebrows in slight concern, what if this is some kind of trick? What if there are more androids hiding out in the forest ready to ambush him at this mans queue?
"I cant trust you. your some strange man that lives in the forest!"
Tien furrows his brow.
"Your also a strange man that lives in the forest."
Both of the warriors stare at each other silently for a moment.
The silence is deafening as they grill each other.
"Fair."
"Fair."
Ryo lowers his hands, he grips the remains of his Gi.
"I have no choice but to trust you, I cant fight in this condition anyways."
Tien smirks.
"So can you sense Ki?"
Ryo looks at Tien puzzled "Key? To what?"
Tien laughs suddenly at the reply, his chest heaving.
"So you can use Ki but don't even know what it is. That is unbelievable. And you don't know how to fly either. Such basic skills I figured you would know."
"Fly? What the hell are you talking about?" Ryo grits his teeth, clenching his fist until the knuckles turn white, he is not appreciative of in essence being called an idiot.
"When you fought that lady, when you got angry, you felt it didn't you? I saw it, your Ki I mean, white as a cloud."
Ryo thinks hard about the last battle before replying.
"So that's what that was. Ki. Like some kind of energy?" Tien Replies quickly "Its the energy of all living things, lifeforce, will, strength, discipline, all of these things contribute to the power and quantity of your ki, right now you have very little but it seems you can only use it as a list ditch or when angry, which is no good."
Ryo closes his eyes feeling the world around him.
"Your right, how could I have never noticed. Its right in front of me." Small misty swirls summon up around him, curling against his arms like snakes. Tien's eyes widen slightly in a small surprise.
"You learn fast. Such amazing talent. It took me 4 days to sense Ki and my master told me I was excellent. Though I had not been in any life or death battles yet, so maybe that accelerated you?"
Ryo continue humming the small wisps of ki around him, he opens his eyes, which are now glowing lightly with some newfound power.
"I cant hold it for long, I can feel it slipping away- but I feel strong, robust."
Tien summons up his own Ki, blowing Ryo's remaining clothes back like furious wind.
"If you train everyday for years you can get to this level, I am at the pinnacle of all martial arts in this world, but I know deep down that you could also be this strong."
Ryo hold his hand past his face, blocking the powerful aura from blowing into his eyes.
"I can barely stand, this power- its insane!"
Tien takes a deep breath and stores his Ki, his muscles tensing as his power level drops considerably.
"I will train you for the next few days. See it as a kindness and just the muse of a man already at the pinnacle."
Ryo gulps, his throat tight after witnessing Tien's full power
"First things first, a simple way to train ki control- stand under the waterfall and channel your ki, do not let the water touch you."
Tien points at the waterfall, it rushes furiously onto the small lake below, a large log has been placed where the cliff meets the waterfall.
Ryo walks towards the waterfall nervously, he takes deep breaths, channeling his ki as he walks under it. The water feels like thousands of punches at once, his ki immediately falters under the weight.
In a dark lair?
1000s of miles away, in the depths of Yunzabit heights.
"I am ALIVE!"
An alien looking humanoid stands up, raising his arms in open rebellion at the world that has disgraced him, his green skin glistens with sweat. Purple Ki explodes around him, shaking the very foundation of the mountains.
A purple gi flashes onto the alien he walks forward out of the cave and stares into the cloudy gloom of the valley.
"This world is mine."
A devilish grin smears across his wrinkled face.
"Kneel before the Demon King Piccolo!"
He fires a beam out of his mouth and topples a nearby mountain, grinding it to dust in nothing but seconds. The beam travels even farther splitting asunder half of Yunzabit heights in mere moments, the Demon King Piccolo has returned, with a plot to gather the dragon balls and rule the world.
His mouth foams from the excess power, but he gazes forward intensely as if looking at someone standing right before him.
"Kami. I am coming for you."
"The world has grown weak without me."
In a waterfall above a lake.
Tien stops meditating, his eyes open wide, he gazes at Ryo standing under the waterfall silently gritting his teeth.
"This power!"
He looks to the west, sensing a massive amount of ki. Tien looks over at Ryo who has now noticed it as well, stepping from under the waterfall he grimaces.
"The hell is that?"
Tien replies quickly, almost exasperated.
"I have a feeling, my masters have told me only one being could be this strong. This is bad, we need to intensify our training immediately!"
Tien stands abruptly, clutching his fists so tight you would think the bones would be torn from sinew.
On a misty mountain
Demon King Piccolo has made his way down to the base of the mountains, a city visible in the distance. He bends over and shakes violently, shooting a massive egg out of his mouth, from inside sprouts a shorter green alien, born fully clothed.
"Murd. That is your name. Go now and scout all the powerful warriors, and kill the weaklings."
Murd grins and clasps his clawed hands.
"Yes, Demon King"
With a violent burst of purple ki the short alien takes off, shooting towards the closest city.
In a underground Lab far in the forest
A tall man stands gazing at a small computer screen, it glows and flashes red indicating a grave danger. The man, the great assassin Hanzo Pai turns and gazes at his remaining purchased androids.
"A new problem has just been born again. Forgo all previous contracts and targets. The Demon King Piccolo has been born again. It seems 500 years has passed already.
Hanzo Pai breathes slowly.
"In my old age I am not strong enough to face him."
He looks down at the androids once more.
"You all cannot defeat him alone. Unfortunately for our worlds sake, we will have to ally ourselves with the strong martial artists of this planet, even our target Master Roshi."
Pai grits his teeth.
The Lookout?
A green humanoid alien, that looks in appearance the almost exact same as the demon king, looks down at the world his eyes full of fear.
"He has returned. Even stronger than last time."
In a lonely Northern City
Murd lands, creating a crater at the foot of the city. He smirks with reverent violence, charging his hands with ki and blasting down the tall buildings of the city with ease.
The city is engulfed by flames as the alien unleashes his rage onto it, before long most of the city is wiped clean.
"No strong humans here."
He jumps up, before landing ki shoots up his legs and he is once again flying in the sky, towards any ki signature that he can remotely feel. Locking onto a verdant green forest 130 miles away, 2 small ki signatures together, it could be an interesting battle for the demon kings spawn.
_____
Relevant Character Power Levels
Ryo Current Power Level: 35 ; Ryo Ki Rage: 39
Hanzo Pai: 34; Prime Hanzo Pai: 115
Tien: 170
Reborn Demon King Piccolo: 350
Murd: 120