Chapter 12 - Hunt

…

'Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get, only with what you are expecting to give… which is everything.'

Six months have passed since Yamcha set off, and Bulma was in her lab. Walls were filled with monitors as her new AI, Ivy, checked over nine million cameras worldwide.

Even with all that efficiency, she couldn't find Yamcha initially and had to resort to hacking satellites. This had been Bulma's first time doing something illegal, and she remembered feeling so nervous, her heart beating faster than an engine.

Suddenly, a knock interrupted her, and her AI immediately erected walls around the screens and lit up the room.

A dark-eyed blonde woman came in. "Hey, Bulma, done with your creepy spying yet?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Bulma shrugged and got off her bed.

"You know, father mentioned you have built an AI and had it hack many secure computers around the world. He hinted that you've even taken over satellites?" Tights raised a questioning brow as if judging Bulma for her reckless behavior. "Who would have thought some guy would turn my cute well-behaved sister into a delinquent."

"That's not how it is."

"Right~ You were never really well-behaved, so he didn't change anything there," Tights chuckled while going and putting an arm around Bulma's shoulders. "Just remember that as your sister, I am worried about you. There are all kinds of guys out there. What if you meet some violent asshole?"

"I don't mind that if it's Yamcha," Bulma pouted at her sister. "He is gentle with me. Can you imagine? A monster on the outside realizes that he liked me all along."

Tights released a heavy sigh. "This is what I am worried about. You think you're smarter than everyone, so you always throw caution in the wind."

Since her sister had come for a visit three months ago, Bulma had to hear similar conversations. If only father hadn't told her about the talking/transforming pig and the humanoid rabbit with the ability to turn people into carrots. That's what had brought Tights here, to look for inspiration for her new book.

"I think you have this perfect image of the guy in your head. What if he isn't what you think?..."

Bulma zoned out her sister in the middle of her talk. Tights was the girl who said that she had gone on an adventure with an alien and an old man. She wasn't someone whose opinion Bulma would take seriously.

Suddenly the phone under her pillow vibrated, and Bulma went to get it quickly.

{Breaking News: Mysterious Martial Artist appears to stop Bank Robbery?!}

Seeing this, Bulma immediately started fiddling with her phone and looking at the news article her AI had sent her. There were images of a man wearing an orange gi uniform. Bulma could tell it was Yamcha just by looking at his back, despite him having grown taller. Since her sister was here, Bulma couldn't turn on the sound to hear what the news reporter was saying.

But she saw Yamcha walking in the bank, and bullets rained down on him. Bulma's heart dropped for a split second before she saw Yamcha casually stroll through the hale of the shells without a problem.

Slowing down the video, it becomes clear Yamcha is catching all the bullets mid-air, without even one bullet hitting the police cars behind him. Bulma was no longer worried when seeing this, and now her heart started singing a different tune.

"Bulma, are you listening to me?!" Tights suddenly called out. Waking Bulma up from her thoughts.

Bulma looked up at her sister and nodded. "Yeah, yeah, I am listening."

"If you used all this spyware for helping the world instead of just stalking some boy…"

And Bulma started zoning out her sister, and glancing at the phone. Her sister was wrong about one thing, during these months that Yamcha was gone, she hadn't just hacked and built her satellite. She had also made a laser cannon from space that could shoot down anyone in case Yamcha or her were in danger.

Catching bullets directly stung Yamcha's palms. But with hundreds, maybe even thousands of shots his way, not like he was counting, but the number was enough for him to learn that instead of stopping the bullets and using his body as a barrier, he had to grab the bullets from their sides, like picking up a berry.

Yamcha remembered in the future how Krillin would be injured on the job when he became a police officer. Did Krillin's power level fall so low at the time? But Yamcha was reminded that after a certain point, power levels stopped mattering.

One of the robbers pulled out a bazooka and shot it at him. "Take this, you bastard!"

Yamcha contemplated shooting a laser before that got closer to him. He reasoned that even if it did damage, he still had his Senzu Beans. So instead, he kicked the bazooka rocket upward, and it exploded in the sky above them like fireworks.

"Give up. You're surrounded by me," Yamcha said to the robbers nonchalantly. He looked at their group and noticed one was the biggest. If he went by shonen logic, Yamcha assumed that guy was probably the leader.

"M -Monster!" Yelled out one of the other guys as they took out a young boy, no older than 13, and put a gun to his head. "Take one step, and I will splatter this kid's brains on the wall! And that will be your fault!"

Yamcha sighed and pointed the finger at the man. Seeing that the kid was still scared, Yamcha smiled brightly. "Don't worry, kid. I'm going to show you what a superhero looks like."

A beam shot out of Yamcha's finger, and before the guy could pull the trigger, the beam pierced straight through his hand. Usually, he wouldn't have bothered sparing an opponent, and he would never do so if the opponent were dangerous. But right now, he wanted not to scare that kid and leave him traumatized.

"Ahhh!" The robber yelled out while clutching at his hand and dropped the gun. But before the weapon reached the ground, Yamcha was amid the bank robbers. He karate chopped their necks, and even though he wasn't sure something like this would work, it worked miraculously as before anyone even saw him, he had knocked out six of the people.

"Huh, that works. I thought it was only in anime or movies that it did," technically, he was here, so whether it worked or not, this made perfect sense in this world.

The bank robbers were eight, so only two left, the big guy and the injured criminal. The latter was on his knees, crying his eyes out while looking at the pierced hand. "Oh my god! This hurts! Ahhhh!"

The kid had fallen and was staring at this in shock.

Seeing his almost-killer isn't too good for the kid's mental health, reasoned Yamcha, before flicking the man on the back of his head. The criminal's head swung forward, his face smashed into the ground, and he got knocked out.

"So you must be the boss?" Yamcha turned toward the big guy standing there with a bazooka in hand.

The man didn't answer. Yamcha used Observe on the man and discovered that he was the boss of this group. He was somewhat disappointed at this. He knew how Shonen Logic was, but that's just poor writing to make the biggest guy the boss.

Having his day become more boring, Yamcha cracked his knuckles and approached the man, who shook in fear and dropped his bazooka.

"I give up!" The man put his hands up.

Yamcha stopped and looked on in surprise. "You're not as dumb as you look."

The big man smiled crookedly, trying to put on a harmless smile. "Yes, sir, I am dumb as hell. Please don't hit me."

"Sure, sure," Yamcha waved the man off. He didn't care about the man anymore and instead turned toward the hostages. As soon as he turned his back, Yamcha sensed the man was going to pick up his bazooka.

Without turning around, Yamcha pointed his finger at the man and shot out a small beam, piercing straight through the man's stomach, and he started screaming in pain. "AHHHHHHH!"

This guy had an even louder voice than the other one he shot a beam at; Yamcha winced. He then controlled his Ki, firmed it into a thumb-sized ball, and flickered it at the big man's forehead, knocking him out.

Yamcha checked his stats and sighed in disappointment. He should have gotten Dr Brief to make him heavier weights. But at the time, he never thought he would make this fast of advancement.

Name: Yamcha

Age: 17

Title: The Hero

Level 38 [EXP: 91%]

HP: 1000/1000

MP: (locked)

KI: 332/332

Strength: 187

Agility: 177

Endurance: 200

(Power Level: 188)

Intelligence: 6

Perception: 7

Willpower: 87

(Magic Power: 33)

Status Points: 185

At least his skills had grown quite a lot. Most of them were almost level 30 by now. Observe being at the second highest level of 33. His highest leveled skill was Swimming at level 46. Soon he might even reach the max level of 50 swimming, which would be his first skill to reach max. He was curious about what would happen then.

Yamcha tied up all the thugs and was about to walk away, as he still had to swim through a couple of seas before reaching where the Tenkaichi Budokai was held. He took a look at the dragon radar and was disappointed how it didn't show anything. The Dragon Balls were still asleep.

"What's your name?!" Asked the down kid.

Deciding to have some fun, Yamcha smirked. "I am Yamcha, a part-time hero, and The Great Sage Equal to Heaven."

"Cool!" The kid exclaimed with starry eyes. Yamcha looked at him weirdly. Did the kid forget he had a gun pointed at him not even a couple of minutes ago?

Ding!

[You have got a new Quest: Hero]

"...What?" You can get Quests like this?

…

If Yamcha was honest with himself, he just stopped the bank robbery to see if he could handle bullets and maybe have fun. He doesn't exactly go around looking for a crime like some wanna-be vigilante or hero.

His heroism extends about as far as he can see and stops when there are opponents he can't fight. Of course, that also extends to how sure he is on the chance that the scrawny-looking guy has a weapon.

That might sound a lot, but he is essentially an average guy who won't fight the buff guy but will fight the scrawny-looking guy if he is doing something wrong.

He didn't even have a problem killing people in this world because the afterlife existed. That is very un-heroic behavior. If they are good people, they will go to heaven. If not, then it's hell for them. He was sure some people in this world who don't know about the afterlife might see his actions as cold-hearted.

Anyways, he wasn't a hero. So why the hell did he get a Quest like this?

Yamcha opened the panel with a thought.

[Quest: Hero]

[Become a Hero]

[Reards: ?]

What kind of bullshit description was that? Become a Hero? Yamcha dismissed the notifications and ran off from the scene before any camera caught him. He didn't want to appear in the news.

Puar flew down and landed on his shoulder when he was far enough. He had also learned how to fly by now.

"So, are we going to swim again?" Puar asked with a heavy sigh, already knowing the answer.

Yamcha nodded and jumped toward the sea. His jumping looked almost like flight, by how far he jumped.

As soon as he touched the sea, he started swimming. Some motorboats were around him, but they were kind of slow compared to him.

With the weights and water resistance, swimming is the best way for him to gain stats.

By now, Yamcha had extensively tested his Gamer Interface's functions. He had even tried asking people and making them say something that could trigger a Quest. If he stole someone's bike and had that same person have him find it, that wouldn't start a Quest.

'But right now, my joking words triggered one? Maybe it was the intent? No, that's very unlikely. This shitty game can't even read my mind to put the right info in the description.'

Many thoughts went through his mind as he swam through the ocean. "Is it a fish? Is it a boat?! No, it's Aquaman!"

"You're so weird," Puar tried criticizing him, but the laughter that escaped through his lips didn't make him come off as mean as he tried to be.

Mercenary Tao relaxed, standing atop a pole and overseeing a small village.

The greatest assassin in the world; that's what they called him nowadays. He had grown fond of the title and loved living up to the expectations. If there was one thing he didn't like, he could just kill someone, and that would have the benefit of getting rid of a pesky person and also helping his career.

Though the only demerit there could be to this was that he had a bounty on his head, a big one, so every now and then, some dumb bounty hunter would come and try their hand at him. This is what occurs when you kill a lot of wealthy and politically influential people. Though he also kind of liked this part of the job too.

Recently he has had some problems from the Red Ribbon Army, not the kind where they came to ask for issues from him. He would slaughter their whole army if they dared to do so.

They had come to request a job to help them find something called Dragon Balls?

Tao had previously heard of them, something to do with a wish-granting dragon. But he didn't care about them too much, even if somehow the legend was true. What was he going to wish for? Power? He was already the best assassin in the world, essentially the strongest creature on earth. Longevity? He has already lived with his brother through a particular herb for hundreds of years.

Also, he didn't respect people who were just handed things over to them. What would someone truly happy wish for? If you have a passion for what you do, you should advance in life at your pace instead of hoping for a shortcut.

"Maybe I should become a motivational speaker in an assassination school?" Tao contemplated. He was already rich and had a long time before he was anywhere near close to his age limit. "Maybe after solving this investigation."

The Red Ribbon army had built a large dragon ball detector machine that could show the location of the Dragon Balls. However, the device was the size of a big room, and couldn't drag it around.

Tao had to admit that the Red Ribbon army had some intelligent scientists.

Maybe he should get some cybernetic enhancements from one of those famous doctors.

What was his name again? Zero? Gero? Something like that. He had built a lot of androids, cyborgs, and all kinds of other illegal machinery.

While trying to remember the man's name, Tao jumped down from the electricity pole and landed in the middle of the town. The ground under him cracked, and people looked at him wide-eyed.

"A ball about the size of a fist, with stars in them. Has anyone seen it?"

He saw some recognition and fear on some of their faces. Being famous was always kind of nice.

"Ah, yes, there was a young boy who saved our village from the Demon Oolong," said an old woman. She smiled like the kind grandma next door who always gives cookies.

"Description? Names?" Tao asked calmly.

"Little kid with wild hair and monkey's tail, and the girl had greenish blue hair," the old man explained with a smile on her face. "Why? Are you looking for them? Are you their friend?"

"Somewhat," Tao said. "Thank you for the explanation, old woman. I don't carry cash on me, but as payment, I will kill any one person that you want."

Though he might be a cold-hearted killer, Tao wasn't a monster and knew how to be fair in his deals. If someone helped him, he would repay them.

"What?! God no, I don't want anyone killed!" The old granny exclaimed in shock.

"So you're refusing my generosity?" Tao frowned and, without hesitation, used his finger to poke the old woman in the forehead, piercing her brain, scrambling it around like a soup, and killing her.

The people around him gasped in shock, but no one did anything, and he just walked it off. No one dared tell him anything either.

He could tell the people in this village knew the meaning of fear quite well.

'Seems like I will have to follow the trail. Right now, I have Goku, Bulma, and likely a dead demon named Oolong.'

…

Tao continued his due investigation, which brought him to an abandoned home in the Diablo desert that probably belonged to some bandit. It had been almost a year since their journey around these parts, and sand wasn't a good place to keep track of footprints or tires.

The assassin almost reached the peak of despair. No one had ever escaped Tao before. Was he about to lose his perfect record? Something he had spent over a hundred years perfecting.

He had reached Firepan Mountain, but no one lived there either. Tao doubted anyone had ever lived here in the last couple of hundred years, as skeletons were all over the place.

The only leads he had were a girl called Bulma, a little kid named Goku, and Yamcha. He didn't even know how the latter looked.

But Tao was persistent, and wouldn't want to fail a mission, so he continued searching. You don't become the world's best killer by not being stubborn.

Yet, in the end, he came out short and instead decided to mull over a cup of ramen in a small town called Fungus Town, probably named so because of the tree-sized mushrooms around the place. Whole forests are filled with mushrooms of those sizes.

"Little Milly is still headstrong into studying martial arts," said one of the customers.

They had been here even before him. But Tao was still annoyed: a ramen stand wasn't a place to drink.

Tao noted he had a beer in his hand and smelled of alcohol. He likely had some strong alcohol before and tried to cover the smell with beer before he went home.

"It's almost been a year since that guy came and took care of the Carrot Gang." Another man joined the drunkard and spoke loudly.

'I will kill them just after I finish this ramen. If they get up before I do, it is their fate to live.' Tao thought. The last thing he wanted to hear was drunkards talk after failing a mission.

"Yeah, that same guy also saved little Milly's mother. Her head cracked open when one of Carrot's men hit her. Since that guy saved them, Milly has been training hard to be like him. Last I heard, she was able to lift a rock half her body size," said a third guy.

A fourth guy added. "No way, man, that's a joke. No kid can do that."

The drunk man smirked victoriously. "You have always been a skeptic, Rick, even when people talked about Carrot's ability to turn people into vegetables, literally."

The man named Rick only shrugged. "I will believe fairy tales only when I see em."

"A couple of days ago, that strong guy was in the news again. This time saving some people from a bank robbery, he caught bullets mid-air. You could hear Milly telling everyone she saw."

"What was the guy's name again?"

"I don't know."

"The other green-haired girl called him out once. Yuka? Yumcha?"

"Oh yeah, the gas station owner heard it. I think his name was… Yamcha."

When he heard the name, Tao's brain halted, and everything slowed down around him. The world turned white, and nothing else existed for a second.

"Ahahahahaahahaha!" He got up and laughed out loudly, this was it! The lead he had been searching for so long.

It seemed like even fate itself didn't want him to fail a mission! He was, after all, fated to become the world's best assassin! The laughs of joy rang even as people started looking at him weirdly.

Tao didn't remember the last time he had felt such despair. Maybe hundreds of years ago, during Demon King Piccolo's time.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Tao ripped out a pillar from the shop near the ramen stand, calculated the trajectory, and then threw it. He jumped and landed at the top of the post, flying through the air faster than a plane.

While in mid-air, Tao took out a small phone and searched for the names Yamcha, Goku, and Bulma through the earth's identity database. Nothing came up again.

For nothing to come up in the database, you had to live in the mountains. Or your identity had to be very special and was someone powerful or related to someone like that. Earth's king's siblings and children were not listed. Except for royalty, rarely anyone else has the privilege of not appearing here.

So Tao safely assumed that these were likely all people who lived off the grid. They never had their identities registered.

BOOOOM!

He landed the flying pillar right atop a mountain with a mansion on it. Many other posts were stuck on the ground, like a spiky forest, showing he had used this mode of travel too much. "I need to get someone to fix this."

But such labors were for later as he went into the house and a high-end tech module in the basement. With many big screens and the latest tech money could buy.

"Search bank robbery stopped by a martial artist," Tao called out to his computer.

Hundreds of new articles showed up. There were headlines with figures of a young man wearing an orange gi. His hair was wild and spiky, like a lion's mane.

Tao can see a video of the man saying something to a kid he had just saved. "Computer, lip-reading mode."

"[Error: Target was looking outside any camera view when speaking]."

"Shit!" Tao was annoyed. He was so close yet so far.

The hostages were inside, so the outside walls covered them. The cameras inside had been turned off by the criminals too, and finding the little kid would take too long. Because if they aren't eighteen years old and have an identity card, then it would be hard to find them with face recognition alone.

Though it was a long shot, Tao decided to do more investigation after a while and found out that the young man had been heading into Yunzabit Heights in a plane, that hellscape.

Taking out a map, Tao made lines from Yunzabit Heights to the town where he had appeared in the news. If he followed the line, it would lead to the South Capital. Tao almost felt despair, but once again, he extended the streak a little more and hit a new island.

He remembered Yamcha's clothes that looked like a martial artist, and just past South Capitol was the island where the World Martial Arts Tournament usually occurs.

"Wait, isn't it time for the tournament to be held again? It happens every five years." Tao's eyes widened, and a smirk slowly made its way onto his face. "Found you, little rat."

Tao felt calm once again as his despair was washed away.

Now that he had found his target, that could lead him to the Dragon Balls that weren't appearing on the radar any longer. Well… who was he kidding? He didn't care about the Dragon Balls any longer. Tao was on a hunt. Once again, that excitement when he started working as an assassin bubbled in his stomach.

As they say: If you genuinely love your job, then it won't ever feel like work.

"Computer, order a plane ticket for the World Tournament Island."

Tao continued observing the video of Yamcha catching the bullets mid-air and dodging them. Also, shooting a finger beam so precisely, it looked almost like Dondon Ray but didn't seem to have the heat or piercing power of the technique.

Though he hated to admit it, Tao could see that the kid was good. But even with that hanging over his head, Tao had a confident smile. After so much work, he had finally found his prey.

…

Two days later, Tao was in the World Tournament Grounds. Not many people had arrived, but he still waited at the airport. Tao had already registered for the Tenkaichi Budokai, also known as the World Martial Arts Tournament.

While waiting for Yamcha to arrive, Tao saw something surprising. Roshi was there with two of his students. One of them even fits the description of Goku. But this Goku kid had a tail, and this one didn't.

Still, now he knew Roshi was here, so he had to be careful.

Yet as Tao waited more, there was no appearance of Yamcha. So with a wince on his face, he realized Yamcha must have come here through private means, like a private jet or something.

He stalked back to the building where the Tenkaichi Budokai would take place. There were the applicants' boxes, and Tao's heart started beating crazily in excitement. He finally saw him, his prey.

Yamcha hadn't changed since his appearance in the news. But he now had a floating cat-like creature just above his shoulder.

"Puar, can you see Bulma anywhere?" Yamcha asked, looking around and narrowing his eyes to get a better look.

He had his guard down, and Tao decided to act now. He put on a facemask and crouched down to look like an older man. Tao made sure to quench his body as he went to bump into Yamcha to test just how strong physically the kid was.

Finally, once within arm's reach, Tao crashed into him. The first thought that came to mind was that the young man smelled like salt.

But not long after, pain burst in Tao's shoulder as he felt like it almost broke from a simple bump.

The assassin winced. Even if Tao had bumped against metal, the metal would bend. But when his body bumped against Yamcha, he almost felt his shoulder break. His eyes widened in shock as he fell on his back. 'What monstrous physical power.'

"Oh, sorry, old man," Yamcha smiled and offered Tao a hand to help him get up. "I wasn't looking. You're not hurt anywhere, are you?"

"N -No worries, I am okay. There's no need to apologize. It happens to the best of us," Tao spoke softly.

Immediately he knew the chances of him defeating Yamcha were low. Maybe he would be able to hurt him with the Dondon Ray, but that was only a last resort.

'This Bulma that he was looking for right now. It's the same girl as before when he was traveling with her. His chances of knowing a girl with the same name and looking for her are close to none. Also, from how nice he acted, he's one of those kind fools like Roshi. No matter how strong, those kinds of people are always weak.'

Tao immediately came up with a plan. He would register in the tournament and end Yamcha there.

In front of the eyes of everyone, he will kill his mightiest prey to date! His strongest victim deserved the best funeral! He couldn't let Yamcha just die in a ditch.

The plan was simple. Since Tao wasn't confident of defeating Yamcha in a straight fight, he was an assassin, so a fair fight or not, it didn't matter to him. So he would kidnap the girl named Bulma and threaten Yamcha with her life.

After Yamcha was a safe distance away, where he couldn't see him, Tao took off his disguise and started charging through the airport and looking for Bulma.

But when he found them, Tao almost cursed out loud if it wasn't for fear of Yamcha finding him out. The greenish-blue-haired girl was now hugging Yamcha. Behind the girl were another blonde-haired woman, a talking pig, and a humanoid rabbit.

The group greeted each other shortly. Yamcha and the cat introduced themselves, mainly to the blonde-haired girl. She seemed new to the group. Maybe she was another weak point.

Tao couldn't hear them that well from so far away. But he didn't need to listen to what they were speaking. Instead, he kept an eye on them, just waiting for Bulma to separate.

'If Yamcha wants to join the tournament, he must register and leave the group behind to find good seats for the tournament. That will be the best chance.'

He approached the group just as it should be time for them to register.

"Have you registered yet?" Asked the blonde woman.

"Not yet," Yamcha answered. By the tone of their voices, Tao could tell they had just met each other, and there was some awkwardness between them.

"Well, you should go and do so before they close up. While you do that, we find some seats in the front row." The blonde woman suggested.

'Yes! Everything is going to plan.' Even from so far away, Tao could tell the blonde-haired woman wanted to speak with Bulma about something while Yamcha was away. This all worked well for Tao and was a fantastic coincidence.

"I think we should stay together," Yamcha suddenly suggested. "After all, I haven't seen Bulma in a while, and I have missed her dearly."

The girl in question froze in place, Bulma's eyes were clearly star-struck, and she likely liked Yamcha. While that boded well for Tao as she would be a valuable hostage against him, at the same time, he was suspicious if Yamcha had noticed him.

Did Yamcha know about this, or was it indeed just a coincidence? Tao wondered.

No, that was impossible! Tao was confident in his body language reading abilities.

As an assassin, Tao knew everything there was to know about the human mind. He could even hit a brain pressure point with his tongue if he wanted to.

This was nothing! How Yamcha had offered to help him wasn't something anyone would do if they knew Tao's real identity. He was the most dangerous assassin in the world. Everyone was afraid of him! Even if the young man wasn't at that point, he would have shown some kind of reaction if he saw through his disguise, Tao reasoned,

A/N: Did Yamcha notice Tao? Find out in the next chapter of Dragon- *cough* Yamcha RPG.

P.S: Next chapter will be in Yamcha's POV. So we will get those answers.