Dragon Road Season 1

“So… when you said three years…” A younger, shirtless Kai began.

Kami turned to him briefly, before waving to a blue door with an hourglass on it.

“This room is the Room of Space and Time. The conditions are harsh, the range infinite, and the time is distorted to make a single day in this world… an entire year in there.” Kai's eyes widened in shock. That was possible? He could get so much training done in there.

“What kind of conditions?” He asked carefully.

“You'll find out now. And you won't be allowed to leave until the year is up.” Kami smiled, pushing the door open. “Are you prepared?”

“You kiddin' me? I'm always prepared! Now let's go!” Kai strode through the door, more than ready to train for a year straight.

Chapter 11

Three Years

“…Still confident?”

“…Mm-mm-hm-phm.” Kai's voice was muffled as he attempted to stand up. His face was right on the floor, his body racked by a sudden increase of gravity.

“What was that?” Kai managed to stand, albeit very slowly and with much effort.

“I said… slightly less so…” The boy gave Kami a look of confusion. “Why is it so hard to move?” Kami gave a gesture towards their surroundings, and allowed Kai to take it all in. “Woah…”

An entire world of white space—a white void. The only filled part of the world was the area they stood at, which held a bathroom, a few beds, and a refrigerator. Truly, this was an odd place.

“The gravity here is just about ten times more than that of Equestria's.” Kai's eyes went wide as Kami continued. “The temperatures can get a little outrageous, as well. As you get farther out, it can change from sweltering to chilling in a flash.” The saiyan's jaw nearly hit the ground. “And, since your clothes are ruined, I'll take the liberty of giving you extremely heavy weighted clothing.” Kami extended his hand towards a pale Kai.

“Uh… Maybe if I can just… ease into that?”

“Hm? But this IS the easy start.” With a brilliant blue sparkle, clothes formed onto Kai's body. A green gi, tied with a brown, brown wristbands, with the pants tucked into brown boots.

Kai fell over instantly.

“Y…you're kidding me… right?”

“Not at all. Each part of that outfit should weigh just about two hundred kilograms.” Kami had expected a surprised sound, but Kai only glared.

“Not that…! Green… is totally not my color!” Kami fell over as well.

The god slowly lifted himself up, hand over his face.

“THAT is what concerns you?”

“Try living with a fashionista for your life. You just can't see colors the same.” Kami rolled his eyes and tried again. “No, no.” And again. “Uh-uh.” And again. “Too yellow.” And again. “There!” He finally succeeded in a white color, with white wristbands and boots.

“If you're pleased, may we begin training?” This time, Kami displayed shock at seeing Kai jump up to his feet, seemingly unharried by the weighted clothing. “Are you… used to it already?”

“Not even a little bit. I'm just using ki to help me get used to it.” Kai answered.

“Hm… Smart… but not allowed.” Kai groaned, slouching as he dropped his ki and dealt with the weight on his own. “Better.”

“Not for me…”

“Anyway, let's begin simple. Two-thousand push-up, sit-ups and squats. Then, we'll have a spar.” Kami spoke, calm as always. “More or less, that will be the training regiment from here on, adding weight as time proceeds.” Kai let out a bored groan. “Of course, I'll be teaching you techniques that only a god such as myself knows.” The boredom left his face, and he grinned like a foal.

“Then let's get to it!” Kai immediately took a position for vertical push-ups, and began his two-thousand.

Kami could only watch with pride, but confusion as well. He shrugged it off, and planned his training for his first and only student. This would be an interesting few years, this much, Kami knew for sure.

Due to the lack of time passing in the Time Chamber, the student and master never knew how long they trained for, until they finally got outside of the Chamber again. Then, they had very quickly learned that their spars lasted for the remainder of the days, nearly five hours of sparring.

Over the years, Kai's hair had spiked slightly around the top, but was still smoothed down otherwise. His gaze sharpened, his face becoming overall mature.

Kai let out a sigh, leaning on his hands as he sat on the floor of the Lookout. Kami was trying hard to hide his fatigue. It seemed that Kai could shrug off every new challenge, and the weight of his clothes now… well, Kami was surprised he didn't burrow a hole in the Lookout just by standing in place.

Kami looked to Kai, and noticed his gaze on the moon. Kai was always looking at the moon for some reason. Kami followed his gaze, and looked as well. Though, his browline lowered, and his eyes hardened.

“Kai… What is today?”

“Hm? Uhh… The night before the Summer Sun Celebration.” Kai recalled, yawning lazily. “Why?”

“This night has been longer than usual, wouldn't you say?” Kai finally caught on, and stood to his feet.

“Cargo.” Kami held his palm up, and spawned a large, opaque orb.

“Perhaps. And yet, I don't feel his presence. Let us see.” He focused energy to the orb, and an image soon formed. Kai was familiar with this technique—the All-Seeing Eye technique. With it, one could see anything, anywhere, so long as they could either recall the sight of it, or sense the energy there. The view that formed was of a beautifully decorated room, filled with ponies.

They all were waiting for the grand reveal of their ruler, it seemed. However, when the curtains of the balcony were opened, nopony was there. Kami skipped through the impending confusion, and got straight to the cause. An unfamiliar dark blue—nearly black—mare.

Both Kami and Kai were surprised.

“Before my eyes, could it really be…?” Kami's gaze hardened. “No. A corrupted face on a familiar shell.”

“Is that actually Nightmare Moon?” Kami nodded to answer Kai's question. “That's unexpected. Should I… go and stop her?”

“You don't trust your friends to deal with this situation?” Kami asked, feigning hurt for his friends.

Kai lifted an eyebrow, and gave the newest image a look. Six mares, three he recognised, all standing against Nightmare Moon.

“Rarity, Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle!” Kai exclaimed excitedly, watching as they rose into the air with energy all around them. “What happens after this?”

“This is real time, Kai. What you see is happening as we speak.” Kai nodded, and watched on. He smiled pridefully, watching his friends with new friends, defeating a foe with the power of their newfound friendship. “To think, the spirit of the Elements of Harmony resonate within these six girls. You really have picked your friends well.” Kami noted, genuinely impressed.

“Yeah… My pride is through the roof!” Kai's grin dropped for confusion a moment after. “Huh? That didn't kill her?”

“Kai, the Elements are not meant to kill, they are meant to abolish things that are not harmonious and that threaten the safety of the world.” Kami began. “And it did defeat Nightmare Moon. That is Princess Luna, sister to Princess Celestia.”

“…Huh. Interesting…”

“You have no clue what I just said, do you?”

“Did you say ‘Princess Luna is cute?’”

“Most certainly not!”

“Then no. No I do not.” Kami sighed once again.

“Ah, speaking of princesses.” The two could see Princess Celestia arrive, and noted the sun rising as they watched. “If only we could accept this happy turn of events.”

“Yeah…” Both already knew it was only a matter of time. Abruptly, Kai felt a weight lifted from his shoulders—literally. He glanced over, seeing Kami wave a hand over him, clearly dispelling the weight of his training clothes. Kami cast a questioning gaze, but Kai shook his head. “No need for new clothes. I'll wear this until I can get some new, custom made duds.”

Kami nodded, but still waved his hand again, this time summoning a long black cloak on the saiyan. The hood was up already, shading his features. It was Kai's turn to give a questioning look.

“Didn't you say you wanted to make an entrance?” At that reminder, Kai smirked. Before he could respond, Kami's gaze flicked to the orb once again. “It is time. The spawn of Cargo has arrived.” Both of their gazes hardened at the sight of the very spawn.

As they watched the next few seconds, Kai noticed something strange. He didn't address it here, but made sure he would remember to question it later. For now, Kai focused on keeping calm upon seeing Celestia getting blasted away.

“Thanks for everything, Kami.” Kai gave a two-fingered salute of goodbye. “I'm off.”

With that, he vanished without a trace, much to Kami's amusement.

“And now… the world is safe. For the hero it did not know it needed has returned.”

…Were the quicksilver flashbacks that Kai, kneeling in front of Rarity and Fluttershy, thought of. But, with more pressing matters, he simply gave a smile and patted both girls on the head.

“Tell ya later.” Kai stood up, taking a brief moment to look over the entire group. Interesting group, he thought. He cast a look toward Celestia, seeing her concealing a limp as she walked to the group. “Celestia. Get everypony clear. It isn't safe here.”

“Respectfully, I doubt they would leave even if I ordered them to.” Argued Celestia, wiping a thin line of blood from her chin. The mares nodded their agreement, causing Kai to chuckle.

“Brave or stupid, I like you girls.” He spoke, before the humor left his face, and he turned to Cargo. “Now…” The demon stood patiently, arms crossed. “You know, you seem alot different than your father. As soon as it became clear they didn't know where I was, he would have killed them. And he never would have waited for us to finish talking.”

Cargo snorted.

“It is unnecessary blood on my hands. Besides, so long as they stay out of my way, I will have no reason to harm them.” Cargo cast a glance to Rarity, and pointed at her. “That means no rocks, seemstress.”

“That's fashionista to you.” Rarity corrected with an eye roll.

Kai let out a chuckle at his sister's cheek, and simply shrugged.

“Well, you heard him. Get back, everypony. I'll take care of this.” The ponies that didn't know Kai were less ready to put this into his hands.

“Who do you think you are!? We're the real heroes, so how about YOU get back!” Too tired from using the Elements of Harmony before, nopony could stop Rainbow Dash from flying at Cargo and striking.

“Rainbow Dash, no!” However, the punch didn't faze Cargo at all. He simply gave her a glance.

“…I'm actually insulted. You thought that could hurt me?” Rainbow Dash stared back in shock. Sure, she wasn't exactly a powerhouse, but she could still hold her own. For that to do nothing… “Would someone get her out of my face? Before I kill her?”

Kai grabbed the mare by the back of her neck and placed her on the ground closer to their friends.

“Yeah… that was on the ‘stupid’ end of the spectrum. I respect that fire, though.” Rainbow Dash fumed, but said nothing else. She simply assumed her state of fatigue after saving Equestria once was the only reason she didn't faze Cargo. Yeah, that was it. “Alright, Cargo. Let's go all-out from the start. I wanna wrap this up fast.”

Kai gripped his cloak and tore it off in a fluid motion, throwing it to the side and revealing his white gi. Cargo smirked and took a stance, Kai following his lead. In sync, the two unleashed their power.

“HA!” With that one grunt, sapphire and vermilion geysers of ki radiated from Kai and Cargo respectively. The whole of the spectating group shielded themselves, stepping far back from the impending battle.

“He's even stronger than he was back then…” Fluttershy whispered in amazement.

“Kai… You really have grown up…” Rarity smiled, feeling her brother's true power.

“Th-this is a trick, right?” Rainbow Dash choked out, finally understanding why she hadn't done a thing to Cargo.

“What in the world is even happenin'!?” Applejack was nearly panicked.

“Everything's all shaky!” Pinkie was the least concerned it seemed.

“So this is what you meant… Better than magic, indeed…” Twilight recalled first feeling this energy, only now realising that it was a very light demonstration.

“Sister? Just what is this?” Luna inquired to her sister, eyes wide.

“This power… is Ki. And it is very potent.” Celestia replied gravely.

Kai smirked at Cargo, and Cargo smirked back.

“Ready?” Kai asked, more rhetorically.

“I've been ready.” Cargo replied venomously.

Kai took a low stance, his right arm in front of his body, his left tucked by his side.

Cargo took a similar stance, only in reverse.

Then, they leapt up into the air and began their bout. To almost everypony, they simply vanished.

“Where did they just…?” Twilight began to ask, until the sounds of dull thunder seemed to strike out constantly in different areas.

“No… they can't be…” It was becoming clear to the girls, and the one who refused to believe it was Rainbow Dash. She was the self-proclaimed fastest flier in Equestria, and she could back up her talk. She cleared the skies in ten seconds flat. But she could not fathom that these two bipedals, were going faster than she could perceive.

Luna looked to Celestia, seeing her older sister's gaze flicker from place to place.

“Sister?”

“…It is astounding… They truly are powerful…”

“No.” The group looked to Rarity, who was similarly flicking her gaze around the room. “They said they would go all-out… but they aren't yet.”

“How can ya tell, Rarity?” Applejack asked, completely confused.

“Because… I can still see them.”

“YOU can!?” Rainbow Dash asked incredulously.

“I watched him train when we were younger. He practiced moving at speeds like this. Over time, I just adjusted to it. But he had to have gotten several times stronger, while my eyes haven't seen anything of that speed for years.” Rarity paused, glancing to her speedster friend. “In other words… Either they are testing each other… Or Kai is holding back to match Cargo.”

Not even Celestia had considered such, but she didn't dare turn away from this battle. The others tried their hardest to see, but they didn't even see a blur.

Kai guarded a punch, a kick, then another punch, before returning the favor with a flurry of kick. Cargo deflected each one, and quickly attempted another punch. No luck, Kai simply lowered himself under it, and dashed upwards. The demon followed him, attempting to connect blow after blow with no luck. Cargo threw out a right haymaker in frustration, but found his punch fazing right through Kai's form. Kai's surprise attack failed when his own kick failed to strike anything but air. However, Cargo's follow up was a failure as well, his eyes wide after the unexpected double afterimage. He found himself barreling to the ground after a double hammer fist, but was able to slow his descent enough to tap off of the floor and fly up to Kai in an instant.

A fist was guarded by a shin, a foot by a hand, a palm-strike by a forearm. No attack could land on Cargo's end, but it frustrated him that Kai had one on him. He let the saiyan have a barrage of fists, and grew increasingly enraged at seeing him block each one with an open palm. Before he could think to increase his speed, Cargo was reeling from a sudden knee in his stomach. He coughed up blood, but was subject to an elbow in the back of his head. Eyes wide, he could do nothing when Kai flipped around to slam his back with his heel, sending him flying to the floor. This time, Cargo could do nothing to stop himself, and hit the floor hard.

Seeing the suddenly cratered floor, the mares unable to see the bout finally saw Cargo, but looked around for Kai. Kai lowered to the floor in front of the crater a moment after.

“You know, I'm starting to think I overtrained. Here I thought you'd be at least a dozen times stronger than your pops, but I'm only using half of my power.” Cargo jumped from the crater, rising into the air. He glared down at the saiyan.

“As if I'd believe that! If you're so cocky, try taking this without moving an inch!” The demon held his right hand out to the saiyan, and began to charge an orange ball of ki.

“A blast? I won't move. In fact, I'll counter it completely!” Kai took a wide stance, and lifted his right hand behind him, his left in front of his right, both sets of fingers curled and flexed. A purple ball of ki started to form at his hand. “For an alien like myself, I think the name of this move's appropriate! So try this: Saiyan Blaster!”

A huge beam of purple ki fired forth from his now extended hands, aimed right at Cargo. The demon's eyes widened, before he shot off his own technique with a ferocious yell. Orange met purple, and the instant of clashing threatened to throw the spectating mares off of their hooves. However, the clash of beams only lasted for another few seconds, before Kai's beam completely overwhelmed Cargo's.

“Wh-what!? This can't be!” The demon was consumed by the blast, completely helpless. The Saiyan Blaster went straight through the old castle's already decaying ceiling, and carried through into the morning sky.

Kai ceased the blast and lowered his hands with an exhale.

“Whew…! A good warm-up, at least.” Celestia recalled similar words from the saiyan upon their first meeting, back when she had bigotted guards amongst her rank. The trained guards didn't provide a warm-up for him. He had been completely calm and relaxed. Now, he looked and seemed just as relaxed, but claimed this to be a warm-up. A battle that put her lifetimes-long sight to the test, barely registered as a warm-up to him. “Hey, Cargo! You still alive up there?”

Nopony thought he could survive that, but they followed Kai's eyes to see a cloud of smoke clearing. To their shock, it was none other than Cargo, looking worse for wear.

“Impossible… How can you be so strong…!?” The battered demon demanded to know.

“I'll skip the melodramatic speech, and just say I have better motives for training, so I pushed myself harder and got better results. Now listen up, 'cause I wanna get this over with now.” Kai crossed his arms. “If allowed, you're gonna train to get stronger than me. I'll let you live, if only because you have yet to bring any real harm to my friends. But that gut check was for Celestia.” Cargo stared, waiting for the catch. “If you show up and hurt anypony in town, or anyone anywhere, unprompted, I'll kill you like I killed your father. We clear?”

The air of finality Kai had was shocking to those that knew him. He was always less assertive, and more naively helpful, doing anything if he was made to believe it would help. Now, he was his own pony, and he showed it clearly.

Cargo grit his teeth together, glaring hotly.

“…Very well.” A smirk quickly replaced his anger. “You may be stronger now… But just you wait, Kai. I will have your head.”

Kai matched his smirk.

“Sound exciting. Don't keep me waiting, green bean junior.” Cargo only growled, before flying away from the area through the newly formed hole. Kai allowed a genuine smile to fall upon his face, and adjusted his gi's obi with a tug. “And just like that, it's all over.” The saiyan looked over to the amazed group of eight, and flashed a toothy grin. “Right now I'm guessing some of you want an explaination?” The group nodded wordlessly, getting a chuckle from Kai. “Well then, this is how it is…”

And so, Kai explained to the mares that did not know who Cargo was, the legend of the Dragon Balls, and a bit of his training. By the end, everypony was shocked. If not by the enemy, in Fluttershy and Rarity's case, then by the extreme training he underwent.

“I remember when you were a colt, Kai.” The group's gazes landed on Rarity, who smiled with pride. “Taking on foals that had something to prove. Now, you're a real hero.”

“Like you're one to talk!” Kai countered, matching her smile of pride. “You used to be afraid to get your coat dirty, but look at you! Takin' on Nightmare Moon and stepping up to Cargo!” He gestured to the full group. “With a bunch of new friends, no less.”

The two shared a laugh, something they had been aching to do for all of this time. Rarity wiped a tear from her eye, and looked to her newest friends.

“Well, I don't know about you girls, but I could certainly use a beauty nap.” Maybe not for the purpose of beauty, but everypony agreed a nap sounded good. Rarity's smile grew, as she looked back to Kai. “Before that, let's get you out of those rags.”

The group began to follow as Rarity and Kai seemed to take point in leading them out of the castle.

“Yeah. You know, Kami tried to make me wear green.”

“Green!? But that is SO not your color!”

“That's what I said!”

“To think a god could be so unstylish…”

“A real shame, huh?”

The spectating mares felt a drop of sweat fall down their heads. Without a doubt, these two were siblings.

More importantly, the group knew already, this would be an interesting adventure.