‘Regardless of how close one is to something, once they go to it, they are farther than they were to the OTHERS than when they first started.’ This principle was known as the ‘Adventurer's Curse’, coined by those who knew adventurers long ago. It held true to any adventure. Even if one is searching for only one thing, they need to return home. They are already home, so whatever they left for is far from their home, so when they leave to aquire said thing, they still have to return home, which has grown farther.

Young half-saiyan Kai had already considered the Adventurer's Curse, and decided that no matter where he went, he'd still travel the same distance. So, he opted to psyche himself out by starting with the furthest Dragon Ball, and then going to the furthest from there, all until his quest was complete.

But WOW, was this one far! The grid system of the Dragon Radar—as he chose to name it—showed the furthest ball being quite a long distance away. A few thousand kilometers East, in fact. Well, East-ish…

Kai walked on and on, past Canterlot already, and trecking through forests, deserts, and even a tundra. Honestly, with Equestria's maintained weather, he didn't know such a climate as a tundra even existed. The weather seemed to just take a dive-bomb at points, being sunny one day, and the next, it was snowing hard. The next day, it was raining, but an hour later, it was desert-levels of hot.

The ray of light shining was that, with each passing hour, Kai was getting closer and closer. Though, his supplies were already running a bit thin. Having a super-appetite made long-term food storing a nightmare. Luckily, his thirst was still average-ish.

Finally, as the scarce grass ended and gave way completely to sand and water, he saw a path. A path onto a very rocky ground, the terrain unlike anything Kai had ever seen. Dull rocky ground, but the sand looked a bit strange, now that he looked it over. More like… ash.

Kai hit the ground, a shadow looming over and passing him. Glancing up from the ground, he found himself awed at the sight. A medium-sized, white dragon flew overhead, and landed a distance away from him. Kai stood again, seeing clearly where he must have been—if the scores of dragons up ahead was any indication.

“A dragon's nest…!”

Chapter 3

Kai of the Dragons

Today was another very, very dull day for the Dragon Lord, Torch. Being bigger and stronger than any other dragon had its advantages, but truth be told, it was so boring. Unlike rulers of soft places like Canterlot, there was no paperwork. No, it was an unwritten rule that whatever the Dragon Lord says, goes. Or else. And, a tip for newcomers? Do NOT ask ‘or else what?’ The last visitor who asked ended up well-done.

Dragon Lord Torch digressed, he was bored. It wasn't as if dragons required teaching. Everything came instinctually, so there was no need for teaching the younger generation, not even if his own daughter counted as the younger generation.

Which brought him to his daughter—

“Woah…!” Or, would have, if some ya-hoo didn't act impressed where he was thinking. Looking down from the makeshift throne, made to seat a dragon of his extraordinary size, he locked eyes with a small, bipedal creature. He could tell by the lack of scales and the odd clothes, this was no dragon. Another visitor, maybe. Did he mention the ‘or else’ thing?

Quite awed, Kai stared up at the huge dragon before him. Sure, he had never seen a dragon outside of the one time he saw dragons migrating, but still, he had never seen a dragon THIS big! He was excited to see a dragon this close for the first time in his life.

“Who dares to stand before I, the Dragon Lord, without bowing!?” A few dragons that were just lingering around looked over, feeling vague sympathy for the dragon who was going to get destroyed.

“My name's Kai!” Simple answer, something the Dragon Lord could live with. Complications were annoying. “Who're you?”

Kai's casual inquiry gained the shocked eyes of any dragon that could see him, and the irritation of the Dragon Lord.

“I AM DRAGON LORD TORCH!! YOU DARE COME TO ME WITHOUT KNOWING OF ME!!?” More irritation from the large dragon when he saw Kai's response: Awe. Again.

“Dragon Lord!? Are you Shenron?”

Everything froze at that point. Now, the dragons surrounding stared with wide eyes, all of them backing up slightly. Dragon Lord Torch stared at Kai, completely serious.

“What do you know about Lord Shenron, young fool?” Kai didn't even react to the insult, instead deciding to answer by pulling out a single Dragon Ball from his satchel.

“I know that he's supposed to grant a wish if I summon him. He's gotta be super strong, huh?” He held up the ball. “I'm gatherin' these to summon him!”

“Fool! Of course Lord Shenron is strong! Immensely so!” The Dragon Lord glared at the saiyan. “What exactly are you? You know of Lord Shenron, but know nothing else.”

“I'm a saiyan!” Kai had the decency to look sheepish. “But, yeah… I really don't know much. I just read a bit about it in a book.”

The atmosphere was unreadable, as always when it came to the Dragon Lord. He could be laughing at a brutal memory one moment, and then yelling angrily the next. Finally, however, Torch spoke.

“Hmph. Well then, saiyan. You will listen to the History of the Dragons, and you will not complain! Understand!?”

“Yes! I'm so excited!” Kai pumped a fist, genuinely happy to learn of a species that was never really written about in books.

Dragon Lord Torch could respect his enthusiasm, if nothing else.

“Long ago, before the time of my long, prosperous rule, and before dragon-kind was thought to exist, there was an ancient dragon. As you can guess, that dragon was Lord Shenron. It was said that he gave way for the first dragons to exist, with only a small fragment of his oh-so-great power! But! His power was monstrous, he could level the whole world! AHAHAHAHAA!” Torch glared down at Kai, seeing him blank faced, along with the other dragons. “LAUGH!!”

“Ahahahaha! The whole world! That's hilarious!!” Kai sweated, as did the other dragons.

“Good. Now, knowing his power would just cause fighting within the race, Lord Shenron divided his power into seven mighty spheres, and left the face of the world! Those who gather them all, summon our lord for a single request, and of course, Lord Shenron grants it to the brave soul. Those who gather them are considered so brave, that they have the biggest pair of anyone! So, we call them Dragon Balls!!” The look the Dragon Lord gave Kai now was one of inquiry. Silently asking if there were any questions.

“Huh… So Shenron created all of you dragons, huh?” Kai rested his arms behind his head, using his leg as a kickstand and thinking about this story. “Can all dragons grant wishes, or is only Shenron that strong?”

“Isn't THAT the big question.” Kai's confusion was obvious. “Dragons believe two things, normally: Greed and Power. Some become so clouded by greed, they become rash and would do ANYTHING for more stuff. Others think they need power, but for what? No dragon knows. The best guess is an instinct to grow into the next Lord Shenron, to take our lord's place. Thus, the order of Dragon Lords exists to find the next suitable TRUE Lord.”

“Woah…!” Kai took in all of this information, and nodded when he was sure he understood. “Ah! You said ‘normally’…?”

“Yes, I did. There are acceptions to this rule, for instance, a dragon raised around soft ponies would focus on… whatever ponies do.” The Dragon Lord's uncertainty made Kai recall Ponyville, and thusly, their disposition towards him.

“Tch. Probably ostracise the poor dragon.” He spat bitterly. Shaking his head the next moment, he added to his comment. “But they'll come around some time.”

“Well then, saiyan. If you are here, asking about Lord Shenron, that must mean you're after the Dragon Ball in my possession.” Torch's words gained Kai's attention immediately.

“You have the Dragon Ball!?”

“Yes, but know this! I will not give it to just anyone! As someone who is not a dragon, you will first need to prove yourself to be worthy of dragon blood!! Then, you must prove yourself worthy of the Dragon Ball!!”

“Dragon blood?” Kai repeated, obviously unknowing of the term.

“One who's worthy of bearing the blood of a dragon, but isn't actually a dragon. But to prove yourself worthy, you'll be put through tests and trial unlike any before!!”

Kai clenched his fists, grinning widely.

“Throw whatever you've got at me! I'll take it and dish it out a hundred times harder!” Dragon Lord Torch let out a large laugh, confusing everyone around.

“You're the first to ever even THINK to dare to say something like that to me! I should let you become dragon blood on that alone!”

“Will you?”

“NO!!” The yell actually had wind to go along with it, blowing Kai's hair back. The saiyan sighed, knowing it would never be that easy. “Now then, what to do…? Maybe you can retrieve the—”

“MY LORD!!” A voice suddenly interripted the Dragon Lord. He flicked an annoyed glare at whomever chose to interrupt him, and locked onto the white dragon Kai had seen before.

“Your reason for interrupting had BETTER BE GOOD!!” The white dragon faltered, but managed to speak the reason through stutters.

“M-my lord! Y-your d-daughter!”

“SPIT IT OUT! WHAT ABOUT MY DAUGHTER!?”

“S-she's been t-taken!” It was a shock to see anything other than anger on the Dragon Lord's face. Seeing genuine concern was baffling, and even that was eclipsed by the look of absolute fury on his face afterwards.

“By whom? Where!? WHEN!?”

“I-I don't know, my lord. They flew off that direction a few minutes ago.” He pointed off in the distance, nothing but water able to be seen. “I gave chase, but…! They were too much… Forgive me, lord…”

“RRRGGH!! I'LL DEAL WITH YOU SOME OTHER TIME!” Dragon Lord Torch looked to Kai, restraining his anger for these brief moments. “FORGET THE TESTS AND TRADITION! RESCUE MY DAUGHTER AND I'LL GIVE YOU ANYTHING YOU WANT!!”

“I'll save her. Don't worry!” Without even needing to be told anything else, Kai dropped his bag, sprinted to the edge of the rocky platforms, and leapt off into the warm water. Nothing but a torrent of water followed him, as he thrusted his arms to propell himself faster than any boat.

With someone competent on the job, Dragon Lord Torch could express his rage properly now. And oh, did he let go.

“GGGRRRAAAAAAAAA!!!!” A torrent of flames spewed from his mouth, reaching as high as the clouds.

All of the other dragons watched in dismay. For the Dragon Lord's daughter to be captured? That surely meant if the saiyan brought them back, it would be made quite sure that they could never do it again. And that certainly didn't mean they would be placed in some kind of jail…

Kai swam as fast as his body would let him, looking up as he did. However, the only thing flying off he could see was a bird.

‘Lucky you. You actually can fly…’ Now, with ki, Kai had the ability to fly, and actually possessed the knowledge. However, he simply could not remain flying, and doing so took a great portion of his energy. He somehow knew that flying shouldn't be so strenuous, but he was bad with control. Unfortunately, he knew not of any ways to refine said control.

Swimming onward, Kai thought about how he never anticipated being thrown into action so soon. He guessed maybe he would be attacked on the way, but not when the Dragon Ball was nearly his. But these thoughts were insignificant right now. He had to save the Dragon Lord's daughter.

He wasn't even sure what she looked like, but he hoped he'd know when he found her.

Today was a bad day for Ember. First, her dad had a yelling fit after being reminded of the tradition of Dragon Lords and replacement, then he takes it out on her. How was she supposed to know about some ancient dragon? The other dragon seemed to know, but this must have been one of those ‘Didn't tell you because you're weak and small! Hahaha!!’ things that her dad did.

She understood that, although unneccesarilly harsh, it seemed that her father kept her from these kinds of things to protect her, but she didn't need protecting! Besides, when a growing dragon girl is… well, growing, the last thing she needs is to be treated like this, and by her only parent, at that. It was just asking for her to be rebellious and run away.

Add to all of that being dragon-napped, and you have a very, VERY perturbed dragon on your claws. Ember glared at her capturers. A larger dark red dragon with slitted blue eyes held her under his arm. Flying close was a black dragon of the same size, his eyes red. Oh, how Ember wanted to slash at the dragons, but she was bound pretty good with rope. Even her wings were pinned down, and her mouth blocked with a cloth as a makeshift gag. No shooting fire for her…

“Now that we've got the Dragon Lord's daughter, we can get a ransom and we'll be set for life!” The first, red dragon spoke optimistically, seeming a bit too twitchy.

“Er… Riot?” The red dragon raised an eyebrow, obviously being adressed by name. “I don't mean to be a downer, but…”

“What, is there a flaw to my master plan? Let the pros think of everything, Anarchy. You lesser, grunt types'll have your day.” Riot seemed confident, but the black dragon, Anarchy, seemed unsure.

“…It's not like towns accept dragons normally. What the heck do we need with money?” And at that, Riot froze in his flight, realising the words to be true. “And it's not like we'll be able to demand it from the Dragon Lord himself. He'll kill us, with a capital ‘KILL’!!”

Riot groaned, slumping over in frustration.

“But my perfect plan…”

“Heh. Looks like you guys are actually idiots, huh?” By this time, Ember had struggled enough to loosen at least the cloth in her mouth, and managed to get it around her neck instead. As she gained glares from both dragons, she continued to insult them. “Your ‘perfect plan’ was terrible, and I actually pity you. Let me go this instant, and I'll forget you even captured me. I won't even tell my dad.”

The two male dragons glanced to each other, nodding silently, before Riot gave Ember a look over.

“Well, ransom ain't the only thing we can use the daughter of the Dragon Lord for.” Ember's eyebrow rose, confused as to what was being implied. “I can think of one or two things… What about you, Anarchy?”

“I've got lots of things I'd love to see.” Their tone and expressions were piecing this together for her, hence her raised eyebrows and widened eyes.

Then, it truly hit Ember. Her eyes shot open wide, her mouth agape as a gasp left her lips.

“N…no… L-let me down…! Let me down, now!!” Ember struggled harder than ever.

“Sorry, but you're not getting out of my iron grip. Just relax. We'll be there in no time.”

“NOOOOOO!! LET ME GOOOOOO!!”

Kai was starting to think that white dragon was lying to him. How long had he been swimming? This was starting to get outrageous. All of this, and no sign of the daughter. Not a sight, not a scale.

“…ooo…” Kai stopped moving, remembering to tread the water to stay afloat. He glanced around, trying to pinpoint the direction of the echo. “…ooooo…”

‘THERE!’ Like a rocket, Kai blasted off in the direction of the echoed scream. This was his only solid lead. Forget about a Dragon Ball, this was someone's life on the line! If he failed, he might as well have killed the dragon himself.

The screams had to be close, so Kai kept his eyes on the sky as he swam.

“MMPH MM MM MPH MMPH!!” Let's not translate that sentence from the freshly muffled Ember. Surely the ratings would take a dive…

“Jeez, even muffled, she's annoying.” Riot mumbled in complaint. “I'm starting to think we should just drop her in the water. Let her drown, you know?” Ember stiffened, and stopped struggling. She knew full well that, even if she could get her gag off in time, water was sort of the enemy of fire. Burning through the ropes was a no-go, and the ropes were far too tight. She couldn't even bend her arms, and her wings were starting to get cramps with how they were bent against her body. Shortly put, falling into water was a death-sentence.

“That was easy. Guess Dragon Lord's little girl wants to live, knowing what we're gonna do to her.” Anarch noted. “Ooh! Think she's into the whole thing now?”

‘As if.’ Despite the situation, Ember helped herself to an eye-roll. As soon as they gave her the smallest opening, which, let's face it, dumb one and dumb two would give her, she would claw out of her binds and flee. No need to try to take on two larger dragons on her own. She was brave, not stupid.

“Maybe? I dunno. I was just planning to leave the ropes on anyway.” And there went that plan. New plan! Maybe they would leave her alone at some point, and she could hobble away? “An' to be safe, let's watch her to make sure she doesn't go anywhere.”

Ember thought something that was once again, bad for the ratings. Why were these two dummies thwarting her plans? They couldn't have accounted for everything, right?

Glancing back, Ember saw how far she was from home. With a sigh, she realised they probably HAD thought of… every…

‘What the heck is THAT?’ Ember spotted something approaching in the water. Whatever it was, it was going very fast, and was picking up a ton of water as it progressed. ‘Never seen a dragon swim like that… What is that? Or… who?’

“What're YOU lookin' at?” Riot demanded to know, glaring at the suddenly moved girl. Ember gave him a blank stare. “…Well?” If stares could get any more blank, her's would have reached past even that. “…Oh, right. Gag.” Riot reached to remove the gag, and loosened it slightly.

Bad idea.

“WHEN I GET OUTTA THIS, I'M GONNA SHOVE MY CLAW SO FAR UP YOUR—” Ember was not allowed to finish, the gag getting put back into her mouth, tightened much more. She glared, and struggled once again. The commotion she made should make whomever was swimming hear her, and perhaps they could unbind her if she fell.

“What a dirty mouth. We'll clean it out soon enough.” Anarchy commented casually.

All Ember could do was hope this individual swimming wasn't too dense to read the situation, or worse, read it and wanted in. She shivered. She didn't know who to pray to, so she just hoped with all of her might that everything could go smoothly.

Kai had his sights set, and was swimming faster. However, he thought quickly as to how he would actually get high enough to save this very foul-mouthed girl. Not one to judge, he simply set about looking for anything to jump off of. A good leap could get him far enough, and high enough. Then, he spotted something.

A sharp, angled point protruding from the water's surface. It was a shape of a pyramid, sort of. Perhaps more cone-like. It seemed this was a large rock of some sort. Kai was sure that this had to have been on the ocean floor at some point in time. Meaning, it had progressed from being at the bottom, to piercing to the surface. This small protrusion would one day be the tip to a mighty mountain.

But, for right now, this tip-to-be was a perfect spot for Kai to jump off of. He swam to it and climbed on top of the rock. Although some of it was submerged, he could still get some decent footing, so he was content. Angling himself just right, Kai prepared to jump high and far to catch the dragons. Strenthening his stance, Kai squinted, before finally deciding when.

‘Now!’ As if shot by a catapault, Kai flew forth, barreling head-first towards the dragons. He was glad he jumped when he did. He could tell that he would have had no better chance than that instance.

Meanwhile, Riot sensed something ary. Something was just… not right. Like he was… forgetting something? Or something…

“Did we forget anything, dude?” Riot asked his partner.

“No. We didn't bring anything else. Why?” Anarchy asked back.

“Nothing, I guess…” So strange. He glanced down at his charge, and once again saw Ember staring at something. She looked surprised. “What now?” He glanced back, and found his eyes widening at the sudden charge of a strange bipedal, definitely not a dragon. “UH! Dude, split!”

Anarchy turned, confused. Confusion turned to shock when he finally saw what Riot saw, which turned to action. The two flew separate, splitting as was said.

Kai went sailing past, flailing his arms wildly as he tried to do something.

“Waaaah!!” Riot and Anarchy laughed, flying back together again.

“What a dork. Was he supposed to be your savior?” Ember wanted to cry. This was her last hope, and there he was, flying off uncontrolled, doomed to hit the water harshly.

‘What now…?’

‘What now…?’ Kai also thought, assuming a falling thinking pose. He snapped his fingers, might as well screaming ‘Eureka!’ as he did.

Kai put his hands out behind himself, palms facing the landscape behind him. With a calm grunt of exertion, two orbs of sapphire light radiated from his hands, before propelling him forward with a loud boom. He was launched against his prior momentum at such great speeds, the dragons couldn't even dodge properly.

“Now! Take this!!” Kai clenched his right fist, the left still launching him forward. Decisively, Kai punched Riot straight across the jaw, staggering the dragon, before ending his ki propulsion and jerking his right arm back strongly. With the proximity of the dragons, this action struck Anarchy right in his temple with a powerful elbow. Anarchy went down with that one hit, but Riot was up for more.

“You wanna fight!? Huh!!?” Seeing a chance, Ember struggled harder in Riot's grip, distracting him momentarily. “What the—read the mood, idiot!”

Ember's eyes met Kai's, and he understood what she was doing. Still just barely unregistered by gravity's embrace, Kai swung his right fist, striking Riot in the face again, this time forcing him to join his ally in an unconscious slumber.

Then, gravity registered for everyone. Kai fell, controlled but unmovable by himself. Ember was released, but couldn't move at all, so she panicked as the water got closer and closer. Riot and Anarchy dropped like rocks, unconscious.

Ember was falling faster than Kai, so the saiyan used ki to propell himself towards the dragon, and caught her in his arms. Still falling, he moved her under his left arm, and reached for the other dragons.

Ember gave Kai a look of confusion.

“They'll die if I just leave them!” The saiyan exclaimed, grabbing the two dragons in his right arm, sloppily but effectively.

Now, the girl made loud muffled sounds to remind Kai of their incoming death.

“I've got a plan! Just relax!” Focussing his ki through his body, Kai righted himself, and forced ki through his feet, keeping himself up through ki displacement. He wasn't good at flying, but this was a very temporary alternative. The group of saiyan and dragons stopped abruptly, and remained hovering JUST above the water's surface. “See?”

Ember simply groaned tiredly. Today had seriously done a number on her. She couldn't even scream yet, the gag still on tight.

“Time to get you home, dragon lady. Your dad's worried about you.”

‘Daddy's worried about me?’ Luckily, her thoughts went unheard by any, because she would kill anyone who heard her address her father as such. Still, this came as a shock. Her father just chided her and tried to keep her from things to keep her safe or something. When had he ever worried?

Left with no time to prepare herself, she let out a muffled scream of shock when they suddenly blasted off in a direction. Kai had sent large amounts of ki to his feet to launch himself and his passengers at high speeds.

Ember looked up at Kai, her looks going unnoticed as Kai kept his own gaze forward. Ember was unsure what or who he was… but he seemed nice. After all, she saved her. Heroically, she would add. So brave, and strong, and cool, and cute, and… Ember shook her head feverishly, trying to control the rising heat to her face. As if she would think her savior was cute. Just look at him! With that stupid, silky hair. And those dumb, cool clothes. And his goofy, sexy face!

…Ember had troubles. But right now, more than anything, she wanted her dad and a nap. So she pushed the thoughts of her sexy—not sexy—savior from her mind, and tried to just forget what almost happened today. Before she even realised it, Ember had fallen asleep.

Kai kept ‘flying’, none the wiser to Ember's current condition.

At the Dragon Nest, things were going as one could expect. Dragon Lord Torch was on the verge of destroying anything in sight. His temporary—self-declared—assistant was trying hard to calm him down, reminding him that even if he wanted to go himself, he would never catch up with how much time had passed. Their only hope was a saiyan that arrived less than an hour ago.

“Hm?” The white dragon that tended to the Dragon Lord noticed something in his peripheral vision. Turning fully, his gaze locked onto something approaching fast from the air. He squinted, trying to see just what it was. His eyes widened in relief when he noticed the unmistakable black coat that the saiyan was wearing. “Ah! My lord! Look!”

Dragon Lord Torch glanced over, already having thoughts of crushing his annoying assistant. This was the last time he would entertain his stupidity.

Imagine his surprise when none other than Kai was approaching fast, holding several figures under his arms. One had unmistakable, blue scales. He knew right then.

“My daughter!” In a few short seconds, Kai finally came in for a landing, skidding across the ground. Kai ungracefully dropped the dragons who caused this trouble, but carefully set Ember onto the ground. “Is my daughter well!? ANSWER ME!!”

Kai glanced up, eyebrow twitching.

“Chill out. She's just asleep.” Kai knelt down, and worked at removing the sleeping dragon's bonds. A firm tug undid the ropes, and set the girl free. He also took out her gag, thinking it would mess with her breathing.

“Bring her here.” The Dragon Lord calmly demanded. Kai nodded, and picked up the girl again, jumping up high to land by the huge dragon. He set the girl on the Dragon Lord's lap, and hopped back onto the ground. Torch stared down at his daughter with a sad air. “…Oh, Ember…”

Kai gave him a moment to be sad about this. After all, he was sure if his own kid was just taken, he would be so worried and sad, he would just cry and cry. He put away the thoughts of him having a kid for later, and focussed instead on the two unconscious dragons next to him. It wasn't his place to decide what to do with them, so he cleared his throat to get the Dragon Lord's attention.

“These two here. They're the ones who took your daughter.” A flicker of rage found its way through the Dragon Lord's eyes, but then a sinister look crossed his face.

“Tie them up.” Kai nodded and used the rope previously used to restrain Ember to restrain the dragons Riot and Anarchy. It was a stretch, but he managed to tie them both together, back-to-back, with no hope of escaping without assistance. With a wicked grin, the Dragon Lord issued the next order. “Leave them here or cast them into the ocean. You can choose.”

Kai wasn't too comfortable with killing. If necessary, he would, but it wasn't necessary to kill anyone right no as both dragons were restrained and wouldn't harm anyone.

“I'm not gonna kill them.” His answer seemed to please the Dragon Lord.

“Good. Then they will live out the rest of their days being tortured for what they've done!” And now, Kai was pretty sure he chose wrong. “Saiyan!” Kai was at attention. “You have done a great service to dragon-kind, and most of all, to ME. You have my thanks for rescuing my daughter.” The ruling dragon reached out a large claw, an item between his clawed digits. “Take this.” He dropped the item, and it fell down to Kai, who caught it in his hands. “I deem you not just worthy of dragon blood, but a dragon, through and through. Wear that anywhere on your body, and it will fuse with you. You'll forever bear the mark of the dragon!”

Kai looked at the nearly black circlet in his hands, seeing and feeling for himself how scaly it was.

“Thank you, Dragon Lord Torch!” As Kai rolled up his left sleeve, the Dragon Lord chided him.

“Drop the formalities!! We are equals, from this day forth!” The saiyan looked surprised. “I can have all of the treasure in the world, but no treasure is worth my daughter. And you saved her. As far as I'm concerned, I owe you more than just a Dragon Ball!” The dragon smirked. “As an honorary dragon, you might start to act like one, too! On top of that, if I ever summon you, your mark will begin to glow. It won't stop until you answer my summons—whatever it may be for!”

Kai was nearly jumping up and down in excitement. He could become like a dragon!? Could he shoot fire, or get scales, or something else really cool that dragons could do!? Now that he thought about it, he knew very little about dragons…

“Alright then, Torch! I accept the mark of the dragon!” Kai slid the circlet up his left arm, stopping it at his bicep. The dark grey circlet glowed dimly, before, true to Dragon Lord Torch's words, it began melding with his skin. It was completely painless, feeling more like excessive tingling and buzzing all around his arm. Then, it all ended. The circlet was now on his arm, etched there like a tattoo. “Wow…!”

“Saiyan. Dragon.” Torch's smirk grew. “And pony.”

“How did you…?”

“Please! As if your sentiments went unnoticed! You did what you did to keep my daughter from harm, not for the Dragon Ball! That's a sentiment only a pure-hearted pony has!” Kai looked to his hand, almost as if he could see his own history there. “You know, I have quite an amount of treasure. I know you're on this quest, so how about we make a deal?”

Kai looked back up, eyebrow rising.

“What kind of deal?”

“Untrained dragons let their greed override anything. Hence, they crave more treasure. I'm far stronger than that, so I don't actually NEED all of my treasure.” Dragon Lord Torch reached for something again, before moving to drop it to Kai. The saiyan caught it, and was thrilled to see it was a Dragon Ball. “After you summon Lord Shenron, come back and I'll give you half. I can't use it, but I'm sure you can. You should be set for life. What do you say?”

A grin fell onto Kai's face.

“Yeah! It's a deal” The two shared a short laugh, before Kai went to count the stars on this Dragon Ball. It didn't take long. “Two stars.”

“By the way…” Kai gave the Dragon Lord his attention. “What is your request to Lord Shenron, anyway?”

“Don't have one. At least, not yet.” The saiyan put the ball away into his satchel, and walked over to grab his traveling bag. “I'll figure it out as I go.”

“Leaving so soon? Aren't you going to wait until Ember wakes up? Then, we'll honor you with a feast!!” Despite the Dragon Lord's offer, Kai shook his head.

“Sorry. I've got alot of work ahead of me. I should get going as soon as I can.” Kai adjusted his bag over his left shoulder, remembering to lower his sleeve as well. He turned, and waved as he began walking off. “Tell your daughter I said to be careful! Goodbye for now, Torch!”

“Good luck on your travels, Saiyan Kai!” Dragon Lord Torch glared at the remainder of dragons who either stood around or walked around. “WISH HIM LUCK!!”

“G-GOOD LUCK!!” Kai laughed, and proceeded to speed up.

“Thanks a ton, everyone!!”

And so, Kai had obtained a Dragon Ball, and became an honorary dragon, all in a single hour. He couldn't help but hope that the other Dragon Balls would be simple to find, as well. Dragon Radar in hand, Kai was off, searching for the next ball to be added to his collection.

Extra

Dragon Interest?

Ember awoke with a start, feeling nothing but rocks underneath her. A small tinge of pain in her wings had her reflexively flaring them, her eyes darting around to figure out where she was and what was happening. Upon recalling her sights, she sat up quickly, rubbing her head with a claw.

“I'm… home?” Then, it all came back to her. She glared around for the two degenerates that had captured her, but realised if they were here, her father had to have killed them by no—HER FATHER!

Ember stood up immediately, turning to figure out where her father was. But… now that she noticed it… what was she standing on? It was all rocky, but not quite… Besides, what rocks are black, other than singed ones?

“Awake at last, my daughter?” The structure she stood on rumbled as that familiar voice spoke, meaning she was standing on…

“Father!?” Ember flew from the Dragon Lord's lap, and up to his face. She bowed, keeping her eyes low to the ground. “I apologise for letting myself get captured. It will not happen again.”

“Oh, cut that out, will you? I'm just glad you're not dead!” Always blunt, but Ember didn't know she was cared for so much. She always just assumed her father wanted her to get stronger so this kind of thing wouldn't happen, but hearing him now…

“But… I'm your daughter—the daughter of the powerful Dragon Lord! I thought you'd be livid!”

“Believe me, I'm angry.” Ember flinched. “Angry at the two welps who took you from me!” The girl had to double-take after hearing that. “Your savior helped me make the decision to let them live, so that you can torture them whenever you wanted!”

Ember gasped.

“Really!?” Then, Ember's head flicked up in sudden recollection. “Ah, um… By the way… About my… savior…” The Dragon Lord raised an eyebrow. “Who exactly was he?”

“A saiyan by the name of Kai.” Torch's brows furrowed upon seeing his daughter's normally blue features turn purplish.

“Kai… Where is he?”

“Off on his quest to find all seven Dragon Balls!” Luckily, Ember knew of the Dragon Balls, so there were no misunderstandings. “Why do you ask?”

“No reason! Just, uh… Anyway, where're those dragons I can torture?” The more purple her face got, the more irritated the Dragon Lord became.

‘Kai, you will never be allowed to speak to my daughter.’

Author's Note

Where better than to begin a Dragon Ball quest than in the Dragon Lands, eh? Here we go! All systems, high gear! ...Etcetera.

Anyhow... Remember, any comments, critique, suggestions, feel free to leave anything. In terms of suggestions... I do have alot generally planned, but I could add something I think is good.

Thanks for reading! 'Till next time!