Guardian of Earth

Guardian of Earth

Easy Quest

Requirement: None

Reward: 1,000 zeni

You've learned of Kami, the chosen Guardian of Earth, who is also a renowned warrior and teacher. Wishing to see if he would take you as his pupil, you decide to ascend to Kami's Lookout, which lies far above Korin's Tower, in the clouds. Upon arriving you are greeted by a robust black genie who tells you his name is Mr. Popo. Mr. Popo is very polite to you and a very generious host. However, he wishes to test your skills before he permits you to speak to the Guardian Kami. All you have to do is land a punch. Beware, despite his jovial appearance, Popo is a fearsome warrior.

"Good job on surviving the cave of nightmares" Korin said to Jeraph, the look on his face jovial.

"Thank you Master" Jeraph replied smiling back to the cat guardian.

"I believe you are finally ready to meet Kami" the cat responded in kind to Jeraph.

"Who or what is Kami" Jeraph asked respectfully.

"Kami is the guardian of earth. He's a very wise Namekian who has been training some of the strongest warriors of your planet for years" Korin laughed as he spoke.

"Namekian? What is that?" Jeraph inquired, his tone still light hearted.

"Do you remember fighting that green warrior with the small antennae?" Korin asked smiling still.

"Yes I do, why?" Jeraph responded.

"That young warrior was a Namekian" Korin explained lightly.

"Oh, okay. Are they all like that one?" Jeraph asked, his voice slightly worried.

"They are all powerful in some manner, yes, but most of them want to protect life, his tower is directly above mine. That pillar you've been seeing is the way up, now please go and take his training" Korin instructed Jeraph.

"Yes, Master" Jeraph responded sounding happy.

Jeraph turned and left the green house. He then made a direct walk to the pillar that held Kami's Lookout. Once again there was no easy way up to climb, and Jeraph wasn't sure if he could fly or not. He began focusing ki into his hands to help with the climb by augmenting his grip. His hands began to glow with his charcoal grey colored ki energy, it almost looked like they were being enveloped by shadow. He grabbed a hold of the tower then and began his climb.

Jeraph was uninjured this time so the climb didn't take long. He reached the top as greeted by the genie he already knew as Mr.Popo. Mr. Popo was black with pink lips, wearing some sort of baggy pants and a turban on his head. He was standing there arms crossed.

"Finally come to train with Kami" Mr. Popo asked Jeraph.

"Korin said he thought I should. So here I am" Jeraph responded matching Mr. Popo's tone.

"Why did you not just fly up here?" Mr. Popo inquired his tone becoming more friendly.

"I wasn't sure if it was allowed, since Korin wanted me to climb his tower I figured it would be alright here" Jeraph answered in kind.

"I hope you didn't damage anything" Mr. Popo said quietly.

"I know I didn't I was careful" Jeraph retorted.

"Well before I let you speak to Kami, I must test your skills" the genie explained to Jeraph.

"What might this test be?" Jeraph asked his voice sounding cautious.

"Simple land a blow on me" the genie explained.

"That's it? There's no catch?" Jeraph asked sounding shocked.

WC 460

Return...

Vegeta grinned up at the black blob of idiocy, his fist buried into the thing's goop-like back. His energy burned bright around him, sending smoke and steam into the air, burning at his clothes, charring the ground under him. Cracks fanned out into the tiles around his feet from the impact, the wind roaring behind him from the speedy flight. His eyes were crazed, spittle slipping from his lip as he twisted his knuckles. Finally, his aura dispersed, smoke rising from his armored body. He'd been waiting for days- listening to the Genie challenge potential students, listening to his test that never changed.

He knew, eventually, that the Genie would be distracted enough for him to make a move. Having Korin's favorite student arrive, of course, had been the perfect opportunity. He was grinning wide, staring at Popo a she turned his surprise face back to the Saiyan...And he was smiling, blissfully ignoring the fist buried in his back. And that smile...It was maddening. It was infuriating...It was...It was enough to drive the already enraged Saiyan insane. After all...Bulma had just dumped him for Yamcha, officially...

The prince's other fist blurred, digging itself into the Genie's cheek, then his shoulder, then his gut- the Prince's arms blurred, slamming into the gut as he took step after step forward, smoke bursting from his arms as he increased his speed, keeping Popo aloft in the air. With each step, his aura began to return- until, just before they reached Khaos, the dark blue flames exploded forth, charring the ground as Vegeta projected himself into the air, smacking his knee into the Genie's chin, sending him over top of Khaos and onto the tiled floor behind the boy. The Saiyan Prince landed before the opposing boy- Khaos or Jeraph or something- and let his aura dim a bit, so that he could be seen better.

"You'd be wise to move...I have quite a bit of steam to let off..."

Not waiting to see if the boy did, Vegeta lifted off into the air, smacking both palms together and forcing energy between the two. He focused for a very long moment, feeling his muscles strain against the force he was preparing to exert. The technique he planned to use would likely drain him of all of his energy- but it was something he needed to do. Something he'd needed to do ever since those six ladies taught him this technique...The Electro Eclipse Bomb. They'd told him he'd need it in the future, in order to face some of his greatest tests.

"What better excuse," Vegeta called out to no one in particular. His hands produced a dark aura, dark blue energy- darker than his usual energy. From around his neck, a small black orb with a dragon wrapped around it produced the blackish blue energy forming between his hands, as did the demonic shoes he'd acquired in the village below. His body began to produce the Demon energy, a ball of black surrounded by deep red and blue formed, energy crackling all over him. The explosive energy produced winds that pushed the bushes and trees below down...To be blunt, it was an amplification of what he'd been, and a foreshadowing of what he would become. "Taste the power of the Eclipse, creep!"

Vegeta raised the Electro Eclipse Bomb over his head, pulling his legs back before throwing both his arms and legs forward, launching the compressed ball of demon energy down at Popo. The Genie rolled to the left, bouncing up onto his feet, then turned to stare as the Eclipse Bomb struck the hard tiles of the lookout. Electricity crackled along the area, the demonic aura spreading out wherever the electricity struck. The condensed demon energy dug into the Lookout for an endless moment...Before exploding, igniting the loose demon energy into a flaming myriad of explosions itself. Red, dark blue, and black energy and steam covered that side of the Lookout for a long moment, before, finally, it cleared, and the Saiyan Prince sound himself leaning against a surprisingly intact tree, sweating and breathing heavy. a small portion of the Lookout had cracked off and fallen- not much; perhaps five or six tiles-worth of space. Most of the tiles were cracked, and most of the trees were broken up...Not all of them, obviously.

Popo stood a few feet from Vegeta, looking like nothing at all had happened. Even his clothes were still in tact- there wasn't a hair out of place on his entire body. Vegeta could sense the boy near by, but didn't bother looking for him. Instead, he stared deep into the Genie's dark, soulless eyes, and said, "What'd you think, Lamp Dweller? Was that a good enough hit for you?"

"Hrm...There was a being like you who had a tail- but he was much taller, much more muscular, and MUCH stronger. And training with Kami has made him one of the strongest on Earth. FAR stronger than you."

Vegeta bit back a curse, knowing he'd missed the Super Saiyan by only a few weeks- at the fault of his accidentally going to Korin rather than directly to here. But... "O did hit you. I don't know if that accounts for the boy there or not, but that means I can be trained by Kami- sixty times over, correct?"

Popo nodded- actually looking a bit glum for a moment. Vegeta nodded, then walked past him, turning his attention to Khaos. "Aim for the small of his back. He's too fat to reach there." Vegeta nodded, muttering 'good luck,' before continuing his walk to the entrance to the inside of Kami's Lookout. After a short moment, he stepped through the doors.

---
WC: 962
TWC: 1,422

Jeraph watched as the man walked away. He heard the words good luck, but luck was going to have absolutely nothing to do with it. This man showed up and had almost destroyed part of Kami's Lookout with the Electro Eclipse Bomb. The fact that he was willing to just destroy what ever he wanted really irked Jeraph. He went to go after the man, but before he could do anything Mr.Popo was in his way, blocking his path.

"What are you doing, I need to go get him, he needs to help clean this up" Jeraph told the genie.

"Clean what up" the genie inquired looking at everything that had been destroyed.

Jeraph turned to look back at the tiles, and trees he had witnessed being destroyed. When he looked everything was back to normal. There wasn't a single leaf out of place, the grass was all back to normal, even the shattered tiles had already been fixed.

"But...But...I saw them all get destroyed" Jeraph stammered, barely managing to spit the words out.

"Have you not realized this place is magical?" The genie answered.

It finally dawned that the black genie wasn't the only thing that was magic on the Lookout. Jeraph instantly went to try to hit the genie, he realized he was still being tested. The genie had no problem dodging the on coming fist. Jeraph tried several times to no avail. After noticing that his fists were never going to strike in the manner he is trying, Jeraph throws a punch and immediately follows with a sweep. As before Mr. Popo dodges the fist, and immediately dodges the sweep.

Jeraph is beginning to get frustrated he tries to use his speed to his advantage next, he backs away slightly then flickers from sight, and throws a massive punch using sneak attack, Mr.Popo has no problem dodging this attack either. Jeraph's frustration is showing in his movements now, they are becoming more and more ridged and easy to follow. He is also getting worn out, his punches lacking the speed and force that was behind them originally.

Jeraph backs off completely and begins to analyze the situation. He replays the events that have been occurring over and over in his mind. He watches every block, every dodge, and sees what's happening. Mr.Popo isn't that fast, he's just been reading Jeraph like an open book. He could finally see where he problem was occurring. Jeraph launched an attack this time but instead of fists he launched two ki beams at the genie.

The beams had the exact reaction that Jeraph had been hoping, the genie went to dodge them as the came at him, all the while Jeraph had closed his eyes, and began picturing Mr.Popo's dodge. He pictured the tiles, the trees, the grass, he pictured the smells on the wind, he could even see where Mr.Popo was heading in his movement. Jeraph's minds eye was doing wonders with the scene, mapping it out completely.

That's when the feeling like his body had fallen asleep came over him. It started with his fingers, and toes. The feeling slowly crept up his legs and arms until he entire body felt like he was asleep. The feeling then began to subside until there was no tingling left, no pins and needles, just the feel of the cool breeze against his skin. He slowly opened his eyes and could see the black genie dodging directly at him, still not knowing that Jeraph was in his way. All Jeraph did was reach out and tap the genie on his shoulder.

"Gotcha" Jeraph called out with a smile.

"How did you do that" the genie asked.

"I'm not really sure how I do it, but I manage to do it" Jeraph responded.

"Fine, you have passed the first part of the training, Kami awaits inside" the genie said, his voice sounding melancholy.

Jeraph didn't say a word he just turned and walked towards the entrance to the palace. As he walked he allowed a smile to cross his face, he was satisfied with himself knowing he had just touched one of the fastest beings on the planet. He also knew that he could now continue his training, and gain more power to one day face any threats that came towards the planet he called home. As he walked his thoughts went to his friend on the far off planet of Kanassa, but he knew that he would have to wait.

WC 755
Jeraph TWC 1215
Post TWC 2177