Balls of Steel [DB Challenge]

The rugged north. It wasn't any surprise that Saizomaru would find himself here. He was well aware that most shady and scrupulous individuals and organizations would set up a hideaway in one of the more desolate places on Earth.

It had been a while since he had last spoken to Carro about offering his assistance in searching for these Dragon Balls that he was hunting for. When last they had spoke the android had offered to keep the ones that the Crop Co. CEO had safe with him. It was only a shame—yet no real surprise—that the deal fell through. The boy had not yet learned to trust his benefactor.

Saizomaru couldn't blame him, though.

But now he had decided to take matters into his owns hands. He had bided his time for most of these magical orbs to gather in one location before he would set out to claim them. It was just a matter of playing the waiting game, awaiting the right time to act. Military service had taught him that much.

And found them he had. The radar pulsed five pips on the screen, one for each Dragon Ball, gathered together at a location west-north-west in the mountainous terrain of the northern continent. There he found a base that was all but seemingly deserted. Yet they were here somewhere.

Saizomaru descended down towards the base before perching himself on the roof of a large, dome-shaped building—no doubt the main structure of the place. Placing his hand on the skylight, tremendous amounts of heat began to radiate through his palm. Slowly the glance began to heat from a dull red to a bright orange before melting and expanding outward until a large hole had formed. Quickly the android hopped inside, feet tapping against the metal tiles of the chamber floor. Now all he had to do was follow the path laid out for him by the radar.

Twists and turns and descents was the path he took as he made his way to the exact location of the Dragon Balls. He found himself on the first level, a descent of four floors, with no sight of anyone here. Whoever picked this place to relax was most assuredly someone affiliated with the Saiyan Kingdom—and a high-ranking member to be able to access this place alone.

Then, finally, the android stopped. In front of him was a steel door slightly ajar. A dim light poured through the gap in the doorframe, which met his eyes when he peeked in. There, he saw a figure sat at a console, unmoving, as though waiting for something.

The steel slid against the top of the door frame as he pushed it open.

"♪Hello!♫" he called out in a gentle, sing-song voice. "♪Is it me you're looking for?♫"

He couldn't help but smirk at his own goofiness.

He took a few steps inside, then stopped. Several meters of distance split himself from the person in the chair. "You've got something I need. Five of them, actually," he said. "I'm gonna need you to hand them over. Or we can settle on a deal. Like… I trade you a twenty thousand zenni gift voucher for them. Fair trade, right?"

He had hoped that whatever this girl was trying to accomplish was with a notion of snark and sarcasm. They judging from her reaction afterward, that wasn't the case. She wasn't exactly one for subtlety if she was trying to pass off her ignorance with blatant contradiction.

The android rolled his eyes. How did someone this dumb manage to get a Dragon Ball?

Regardless, Nashua was not one for giving up something so valuable so easily. The deal was off the table. But, speaking of tables, the android's sapphire eyes glanced over to the obsidian-orange orb that sat upon the desk now. Those six stars glowed a bright, metallic red in the light that refracted through it from the monitor screen. All six of them.

Six of them.

"Yeah, yeah—seven magic balls that summon a dragon to grant wishes," droned Saizomaru with a shooing flick of a wrist. "I got the memo some time ago. You think I'd find them if I didn't know what they were?"

His eyes shifted back to the ball. He had seen it before, and only the one time before.

"What I would like to know, however, is where you found that one," he said as he gestured to the ball on the desk with a finger. "And you can count on me not budging an inch until you give me a truthful answer."

He had already known where she got it. The only thing he wanted was whether or not her compliance was a factor in things. Perhaps a discussion in good faith could lead to more favourable bargains than simple monetary offerings.

It seemed as though there were plenty of deals being made in regards to the ownership of these Dragon Balls. A shame that Saizomaru was being kept out of the loop, but at least it allowed him to bide his time until the majority of the orbs were gathered in one location for easy pickings—or at least hopeful easy pickings.

Perhaps this was why Carro had not decided to give the android the Dragon Balls he had for safe keeping. If he had given them away before this girl came to collect on her debt, then there was no telling what she would have done to him, if anything. He could not tell whether she was a righteous one or a malignant force.

A choice word leaned him to the side of the former.

"Safer, huh…?" he muttered as he placed a finger and thumb on his chin. He eyed her from top to bottom, head to toe. Her saiyan heritage was apparent through her attire—the usual saiyan armor and uniform design. However, her lack of tail was concerning. As strong as she was, near equal to his own power, this was all that she could muster. Against most other foes she would be outclassed.

So exactly how safe were they in her possession?

"Don't worry. I know you're not lying," he responded to her with a small smile. "Was just checking your moral compass, so to speak. An eye for an eye, a, uh… truth for a truth, I guess?"

The android made a humorous hum as he began to approach the girl. "Truth is, we share a common acquaintance. I've known Carro for a while now. Even fought together when we took back Satan City from the World Trade Fleet." He looked towards the screen. A silence grew between the two as the android's eyes were fixated on the small loading bar at the bottom of the screen. They narrowed as he grunted a little. The tip of his index finger flipped downward to reveal a small USB jack, which he then plugged in to the computer tower. Windows and prompts began to flash quickly.

"I tried to cut a deal with the kid to keep the Dragon Balls safe with me. We both knew I was the best option, but he wasn't all that trusting of me. Don't blame him. I wouldn't trust me, either."

The screen turned white as a new page opened up. It loaded a lot faster than the first. "Thought I'd put Baogle Gold on your machine," he said with a smirk. "Faster, but fills the RAM and cache like a bitch. I'm sure your setup can handle it, though." He removed his finger from the port, and the tip of the digit flipped back into place seamlessly.

Then, once more, he turned to the girl as he parked his read on the corner of the desk. "Look—we have the same goal here. All we want is to keep these balls out of evil hands," Saizomaru continued. "So I ask again: hand them over to me and I'll keep them safe. Or, in the very least, give me the greater half of them. The more they're split up, the more time they'll have to spend trying to gather them all."

The android couldn't help but smirk at the girl's praise. As good as it was to have been able to do some good in the world on a large scale, there was still that sore spot for when the Federation of Planets Rebels decided to have the gall to interrupt the group's work. As well as it all worked out in the end, it was still a scar on Saizomaru's pride regardless of how much he tried to make peace with the outcome.

At least now he had an ally if the World Trade Fleet ever tried to put forth an invasion of Earth. At least, he hoped so.

"Yeah, I'm an android," he responded to her query. He raised his hand and flexed his fingers slowly in succession. "Got me a new body some time ago. Kinda like a late Christmas present to myself, I guess. Shoulda seen what I looked like before. I did look pretty awesome back then."

But regardless of how well the two seemed to get along, there was seemingly no middle ground, no compromise, for the two of them. As much as Saizomaru had expected such a thing, he couldn't help but feel the heavy weight of disappointed perch itself on his shoulders and push him down like a rock.

He did say even he wouldn't trust himself, though.

"Power and wit, huh…?" He shook his head with a sigh. Then, he placed his palms on the desk to push himself off and onto his feet. He began to walk away from the girl towards the door, but stopped a foot from the doorway.

"I've met a few people who think that they have the power and wit to overcome any adversary," he said as he delved his hands into his pockets, drumming his fingers against his hips through them. He tilted his head back, gazing up and the ceiling, and chuckled. "Hell, I'm even dating one. Yet, despite how strong she is, she never could beat me in a fight."

His head turned to look at Nashua over his shoulder. "Let's see how far your wit and power takes you."

Quickly his hand withdrew from his pockets. Between his fingers held half a dozen shuriken, A snap of his waist and arm and a flick of his wrist sent each one bolting towards the saiyan girl, aiming for her torso—the only place where she was protected.

With the stakes so high, he wasn't about to hold back for long.

The saiyan girl was quick to show her wit. Thudding noises echoed loudly in the room as the blades of the throwing stars pierced and embedded themselves into the monitor, protruding enough for their spiked ends to pierce through the glass screen on the other side. Shards of the screen dropped against the hard flooring, letting out a melody of chimes without rhythm.

As good her reaction was, so was her agility. Lithe and spry and light on her feet, Nashua vaulted over the android before making her way into the foyer-like room behind him.

If she had used her acrobatics to dodge his attacks, she wouldn't have had to worry about getting her monitor broken.

Saizomaru turned towards her, his expression sober. Narrowed eyes glared straight through her that no amount of protective armor or barriers could deny. "Foolish child," he groaned. His hand reached behind him, grasping at something held within the sash. As he withdrew his arm out, in his grip held a small, carbon fibre hilt. "You think your enemies would grant you such reprieve?" A slick of an orange button on the side of the handle extended outward a straight-edged katana blade.

He bolted across the room towards his opponent, leaving grooves in his wake where the pressure of ki tore through the tiles and concrete. As he got within a few feet of Nashua, the android brought his blade down in a diagonal cut, starting from her left shoulder down to the right side of her hips.

There was little doubt she would block it. If she had a weapon, then she was trained to use it sufficiently.

It was hardly any surprise to Saizomaru that the girl was able to bring up the shaft of her glaive to block the edge of his blade. A metallic clang rang out into the foyer as steel struck against steel, reverberating through the hall and beyond. Bright yellow sparks spread and flew from the impact of the two weapons. Neither one gave way, not even so much of an inch, and one struggled against the other—Unstoppable force against the immovable object, indeed.

"Then you think wrong, girl," the android replied as he gazed at her from between the crossed metal. "Regardless of shape and size, power and weakness, your enemies all have one thing in common—" he pushed back harder, the blade of his sword now glowing a violet-blue shine as ki poured into it "—they will do whatever it takes to win. There is no fairness in war. Only the thin blue line between life… and death."

He would use this time to teach that simple, callous philosophy of reality to her.

While Nashua posed enough of her strength to push the android back, it was all that she could accomplish. Saizomaru was well equipped for combat efficiency through both robotic construction and components. His gyros kept him balanced and his processing speeds granted him much greater reaction times than most humanoids. As the pommel of the glaive came to plough into the side of his head, he brought up a hand, palm outward, to stop it in its tracks and hold it in place in a vice-like grip.

"You can call me Sai," the android responded with a small smile on his face. "Gotta keep things brief and simple. Life's too short for complexities."

With the saiyan's weapon now held in place, Saizomaru flung his other hand outward, throwing his sword at her with a flick of a wrist that sent the blade spinning on its horizontal axis like a saw blade, the edge aligned to cleave cleanly through her neck if she didn't have any way to avoid such a strike.

Saizomaru smiled with an amused hum. "Good—we've got the pleasantries out of the way," he said in a light, cheerful tone.

Though what he was more interested in was the girl's combat effectiveness and efficiency. She was well trained with a polearm, that much was certain. She was able to deflect his blade with the smallest of movements, showing her proficiency with such armaments. For someone so young, she learned so much that most older practitioners have yet to grasp. Her application of such skills in the midst of real combat proved as much.

And yet, with the more she showed, the more Saizomaru was beginning to understand. The more she fought, the more of her movements he was watching, recording, learning.

Now the girl was displaying the use of an opponent's force against themselves. Like a pole-vaulter, she sprung up overhead with her hands wrapped tight around the top of the shaft, using the android's hand as the pivoting point for the arc. She stretched out her legs, using the momentum to drive her limbs into his face.

But she was airborne. A vulnerable position to be in.

Now that Saizomaru had the advantage on leverage and force, he twisted his hips and thrust his arm forward to throw the glaive from his grasp, and in turn pushing Nashua out of reach of him, negating her attack and creating a deal of distance between the two. Then, he held out his right hand with an open palm. Quickly the sword that had embedded itself into the ground came spinning back to him before his fingers gripped tight around the handle once more.

"A'ight—I'll admit you're pretty good," praised the android as he twirled his wrist, spinning the glowing katana on a vertical axis. "Though maybe I should get a little more aggressive."

Like a bolt of lightning, Saizomaru bolted from where he once was to within feet of the girl. The glowing blade of his sword thrummed a high-pitched tone like the chirping of birds. He brought it up to strike her across her abdomen in a low arc, from bottom to top.

"Force Blade!"