An Undetermined Future
Chapter 2
Path of a Champion
The tall black-haired man stood on the top of the hospital looking over the city. "This looks like a nice peaceful place to live," he said to himself. "Better not stay too long. I don't want to cause them any trouble." He shook his head and thought about the last world he visited. "Even when I try to avoid problems, they still seem to happen and I certainly don't want another disaster like the last one."
Flashback
The black-haired man looked around slowly. He was in a desert. There were no signs of life, just sand and rock, endless miles of sand and rock. "Man, I hope I have my powers here. Otherwise I'll be in big trouble." That was one of the dangers in being a "Traveler" as the Teleportians called it. If anything, being a Traveler had taught him to be cautious, a lesson he wished he had learned before he started his journey.
When he discovered the Teleportians' ability to jump from dimension to dimension, he knew he had to learn it. It had taken a great deal of time and effort to convince them to teach it to him, but he managed to overcome their reluctance. He had no doubts he could master their technique and his early success seemed to prove it.
However, experience was teaching him it was tougher to become skilled at Traveling than he originally thought. Even though he could sense things about the world he was going to jump to, it wasn't always as hospitable as he expected. Not only that but whenever he moved to a new world, his powers varied. There was no way to predict how little or how much of his abilities he would have in advance of the jump. In fairness to the Teleportians, they had tried to warn him. He just didn't understand what they meant when they said that each dimension's rules were different and what was powerful in one was weak in another. He didn't think it would apply to him, but he found out he was wrong, almost deadly wrong, on the first world where he couldn't use all of his abilities.
Suddenly, he felt a great power. It was off in the distance which meant he'd have to fly to get there. He hoped whoever, or whatever, had that huge energy couldn't detect ki. With that thought, he powered up a little and found with relief he could float. He rose higher into the air and flew in the direction where he had felt the energy. When he saw how quickly he was covering ground, he felt his tension lessen a little. Maybe he would have all his powers here. "Better be cautious," he thought. "First, I better find out what the situation is before I figure out how much power I have." As he got closer to the power source, he saw a huge city appear on the horizon. It was surrounded by desert, but he could see the city's water supply from the air.
The Traveler slowly landed in a quiet part of the city so he wouldn't make a big scene. He looked around to see if the huge power surge meant a battle was going on, but all he heard were the normal sounds of a bustling city. He strolled down the busy streets watching people go by. Everything seemed nice and peaceful, but the fact was that most of the worlds he went to seemed peaceful at first. He remembered there was always a calm before the storm and the fact that he was a stranger to this world meant he may not recognize signs of danger. He had walked several blocks before he reached the source of the power he had detected. To his surprise, it seems to be coming from one young man.
The youth was about sixteen or seventeen with short, uncombed brown hair and dark green eyes. He was wearing a black jacket over a white t-shirt. His pants and combat boots were black. He wore a belt with two guns on it and ten sets of clips. The Traveler watched the youth as he walked past him. There was a look in the young man's eyes that he just couldn't figure out. He took a few more steps then stopped and turned around to watch the young man walk down the street. The Traveler thought about following him, but he didn't want to draw attention to himself yet. Besides he was beginning to get a little hungry and he could sense if anything went wrong. "Great, now that that's settled, I wonder what's good to eat around here."
.............
Twenty minutes later, the young man was at the other end of city. He walked into a tall office building and kicked in the door of the second office on the left. All of the people at work suddenly stopped what they were doing to look at him. "I'm here to pick up everything on Project Ego and the Clone Solution," the teenager said. "Now we can do this one of two ways. One way is you just give it to me, no questions asked, and I leave just as quickly as I came." He made a fist with his right hand and punched it into his left. "Or I could always kill a bunch of you, break through the guards and just take it." He smiled. "The second way is more fun for me, but it is a little messy and I wouldn't want to trash such a nice looking place."
One of the men dressed walked out of the crowd. He was dressed in a business suit unlike the others in the room who wore mostly lab coats. "Who are you? How do you know about the project and why the hell do you want it," he said as he took a remote out of his pocket.
"I'm Vincent Striker and let's just say once I'm done with this job, I'll be financially secure for the rest of my life," the teenager said with a grin. "Oh just so you know, I'm the strongest one here so you might as well help me. Maybe if you're lucky, I'll leave you a little tip, but don't get your hopes up." He lifted up his right hand and formed a ki beam in his palm. "I'm not really that nice a guy." Just then a round hole opened up in the floor in front of the businessman and three big guys came out. All three were tall with red hair and red eyes. There was no expression on their faces.
"Say hello to our Android Force," the businessman said. "They're the last thing you'll ever see."
Suddenly one of the red-headed men flew forward and threw a punch at the teenager. Vincent dodged and threw his ki beam at the android but it moved out of the way. The beam flew across the room and blew up a wall of the building. People started screaming and running away. In the meantime, the same android recovered and flew at Vincent. It threw another punch and this time it hit its target, sending Vincent up through the ceiling and on to the next floor. He crashed on to a desk breaking it in half. The android floated up and followed Vincent through the hole.
Vincent was getting up off the floor and brushing the dust off his jacket. "Well, I guess it's time to get a little more serious," he said with a grin. He somersaulted backwards to give himself some room to maneuver. When he landed, he quickly increased his power until he was sure he was above the android's strength and speed. The android was already coming at him, but with his improved speed, it seemed as if his opponent was moving in slow motion. Vincent flew at the android, dodging its fist and landing a blow in its stomach. As the android doubled over, Vincent crashed his elbow on to its head. There was a loud crack as metal shards flew into the air. The android collapsed on the floor, the circuits in its head exposed. There was a sizzling sound for a few seconds then smoke drifted up from the hole in the android's head.
Vincent nudged his opponent with his foot. There was no reaction. "You didn't even stand a chance against me. Now I'll destroy the other two and this will be over with." Vincent grinned slightly as he gave the android's head a sharp kick, knocking it off. Someone screamed and Vincent noticed the last remaining people exiting the room. Suddenly an alarm went off, filling the air with a loud clamor. Vincent was just about to jump down the hole when his eye caught a flash of light to his left. It was a small service elevator and the number two was lit up. As Vincent took a step forward, a huge ki beam shot out, hitting Vincent in the chest and sending him flying through the window. Vincent stopped himself in mid-air. He heard screams from the street below but he ignored them as he streaked back into the building.
As Vincent flew inside, his eye caught the third android right next to the opening. He turned around to strike but the android was faster. It kicked Vincent back through the blast hole and toward the street. Vincent slammed into the roof of a moving car, causing it to collapse. He quickly flipped up and on to the ground. There was an explosion as the car he landed on crashed into some parked cars. As Vincent jumped back to avoid the flames, the android shot a ki beam. Vincent dodged it. The beam hit the road blowing a big hole into it. Chunks of dirt and pavement flew everywhere. Taking advantage of the distraction, Vincent flew up and punched the android. It went flying through the building, crashing though walls and flying out though the opposite side.
Vincent turned his attention to the android at the elevator. As he floated into the building, the second android flew at him. It threw a punch and Vincent caught it. "You guys are making this way to easy," Vincent said with a smirk. "All you seem to be doing is causing a crap load of damage and getting everyone but me killed." He grabbed the android behind the head with his other hand, pushed it down and slammed him in the face with his knee. He kneed the android two more times and then threw him down the hole into the room below.
The android hit a lab table as he landed, but it managed to catch itself and jumped away from the opening. Vincent took out his two handguns and leaped after him. As soon as Vincent hit the ground, he started firing. The few remaining people in the room hit the ground, hiding under desks and lab tables. The android ran around the room trying to dodge the bullets. One of the bullets hit a small tank and the canister burst into flames. As the fire began to spread around the room, the overhead sprinklers went off.
Vincent shook his head to move his soaking wet hair out of his face. The android was nowhere to be seen. Vincent slowly scanned the room. It was difficult to see through the falling water and the smoke. Suddenly a figure to his left leaped from behind a desk. It was the android coming at him at top speed. Vincent fired his handguns aiming at critical points on the android. Just as it was about to reach him, Vincent jumped up and did a back flip over his opponent. As Vincent flew over the android, he felt a small jolt of electricity. As he landed, he heard the sound of breaking glass. Looking up to face the android, Vincent saw this fight was over. The android was lying in a wreckage of cars on the streets, electricity still sparking from its body. Its power chips were hit. Vincent caught the faint smell of fuel and suddenly one of the cars near the android exploded into flames. "Well, two down and one to go," Vincent said as he flew out to look for the last one.
.........
As the Traveler flew over the scene, he was shocked by the destruction. "Man, don't tell me that young guy did all this. Why? They look like innocent people going about their business." He shook his head. "Wait, I'm jumping to conclusions. Maybe he didn't do this, but I have to know for sure." The energy source he felt from the young man was much stronger now, and it was close by. "I'd better see if I can increase my power. I'm no match for him like this." As he increased his battle strength, he felt a familiar surge of energy. Looking down at his hands, he saw he was surrounded by a golden glow. With a sigh of relief, he streaked off toward the energy source.
Two blocks away, he found the young man he had seen earlier. He was in the middle of a fight with a red-haired man. There was a huge hole in one of the buildings and the street was littered with glass and rubble. The Traveler couldn't sense any ki from the red-haired man. "He must be an android. I'd better help." As the Traveler started down, the young man shot a ki beam at his opponent's chest. The red-haired android crashed into the building and collapsed on the ground with a huge hole in his chest. Sparks of electricity and smoke came from the android's lifeless body. The Traveler stopped in mid-air surprised by the young man's sudden victory. At that instant, the young man disappeared, but the Traveler could sense his energy heading back toward the first scene of destruction. The Traveler quickly followed after him.
...........
Vincent laughed a little as he landed in the laboratory. The sprinklers had turned off and people were helping each other out of the room. Everyone stopped and turned around. Vincent noticed the businessman who had spoken before. Crossing his arms, Vincent said, "I beat your so-called Android Force. Not much of a fight if you ask me but, hey, nice try. Better luck killing me next time." He took out one of his hand guns and pointed at the businessman. "Now if you don't want to share the same end as your androids, hand over the information I asked for and quickly."
The businessman smiled. "Well, you're tougher than I thought. It looks like we'll have to take out the big guns for you." He lifted the same remote he had used before. This time a panel on the inside wall opened up and two bigger and tougher looking androids came out.
"Can't you get it through your head that those damn things are no match for me," Vincent said in disgust as he began to walk forward. Suddenly he felt a rush of air behind him. Dust, papers and debris swirled in the air and Vincent covered his face protectively. He turned around and took a glimpse over his arm. The figure of a man was silhouetted in the hole in the wall. Vincent couldn't make out any details other than the man was tall and had strange spiky hair.
As the air settled, the stranger stepped forward. "What's going on here?" he demanded angrily. "Why are you killing so many innocent people? Tell me."
"I was just using my protection," a voice behind Vincent said. Vincent turned sideways, so he could keep both parties in view. The person who had spoken was the businessman with the remote.
The businessman raised his arm and pointed at Vincent. "That man broke in and threatened to kill us so I was forced to deal with him," he said. "But now that you've interfered, I'll have to get rid of you too. I don't need any witnesses talking to the news." The man gestured to the two androids. "Androids, kill the blonde-haired man, then take care of the first guy."
As Vincent watched, the two androids flew at the stranger together. The blonde-haired man quickly dodged and then with a move that was just a blur to Vincent, he grabbed the androids by their heads and smashed them together. There was a loud crunch and both androids fell to the ground twitching.
The blonde-haired man suddenly appeared next to Vincent. "No more people have to die today. While I'm not sure if you're telling the truth, I will fight this man and the winner will get what he desires."
"Fine, but if I see either of you again, you're dead," the businessman said grimly.
Vincent turned angrily to the blonde-haired man and jabbed him in the chest with a finger. "Listen, I don't know who you are but stay out of my." Before he finished his sentence, the blonde-haired man grabbed Vincent's shoulder. The room suddenly disappeared. Vincent was blinded by a flash of white light and then everything went dark. He couldn't see the blonde- haired man but he felt him gripping his shoulder. As Vincent reached up to grab the other man's arm, another flash of light blinded him. When his vision cleared, Vincent found himself in the middle of a desert. The stranger suddenly released his shoulder and stepped away from Vincent. Freed from his captor, Vincent stumbled and had to regain his balance.
I don't intent to fight you. I'm just a Traveler, passing through," the blonde-haired man said. "But I don't want anymore deaths today. I suggest you find a place where you can stay for a while." He frowned at Vincent. "And don't go back to that city. I'll know if you do and I'll come back to get you."
Vincent raised his fist and shook it at the stranger. "Listen up. I don't care who you are or what kind of trick you just pulled, but I'm not stopping until I get what I want," he said angrily as he powered up. "I'm not going to let you, or anyone else, stop me. Once I finish this job, I'll be set for life and I'll never have to worry again. This is too much to give up, no matter how high the risk, or the death toll." A bluish glow appeared around his body and he felt the air around him stir with his increasing power. "This is a war," Vincent said intently. "Only one side can win and I'm sure as hell I won't be the loser." With that, Vincent rushed at the Traveler and punched him across the face. The stranger skidded back a bit. Vincent stepped toward him and threw another punch. This time the blonde-haired man caught it.
"I hate to fight you but if I have to, I will," the Traveler said as he threw a punch. Vincent moved backwards slightly to avoid it and threw a punch of his own but the blonde-haired man dodged his counterattack. Vincent glared at his opponent for a moment and then attacked him with another punch. This one connected to the blonde-haired man's face, making his head turn sideways. Vincent followed up with a punch to the Traveler's gut but the blonde-haired fighter blocked his attack and pushed Vincent back. Vincent skidded to a halt a few feet away. The Traveler took a fighting stance and stared at Vincent with a determined look on his face.
"I see you're different from the rest of them," Vincent said with a grin. "You can actually fight and are pretty good to boot. I haven't met someone who could keep up with me and give me a good fight. I look forward to destroying you." With that, Vincent flew at the Traveler and threw a punch. The Traveler blocked it again but the force of Vincent's blow sent him flying through the air. He slammed into a tall outcropping of rocks and slid down. Vincent quickly flew after him to follow up on his attack but the Traveler was already on his feet when he arrived. The man's fists were raised at his waist and Vincent could see the power swirling around his opponent.
Vincent frowned. It was obvious his opponent was holding back, but Vincent was confident he could win. "I've got to get this finish quickly," he thought. "If this idiot keeps me here too long, I'll never get that data." Vincent flew at the Traveler and started to pummel him with punches and kicks, but the blonde-haired man just kept dodging.
Suddenly the man leaped into the air. Vincent followed him and aimed a punch at his face. The blonde-haired man caught Vincent's fist and with his other hand, he formed a ball of ki and sent it into Vincent's stomach. Vincent caught the energy blast with his free hand. The force of the ki blast broke the Traveler's hold on Vincent's hand. Vincent flew backwards, still holding the ki ball. His arm ached from the effort of keeping the small sphere of energy under control. He finally got enough control over the ki blast to throw it away into the air. He sent his own ki blast after it. When the two beams collided, they exploded with a huge flash of golden light.
Frustrated, Vincent increased his power. "Maybe I can't get you with my fists, but let's see if you can dodge this." Vincent flew at his opponent, but this time, he sent a rapid volley of ki blasts before him. The Traveler agilely dodged his attacks, moving so quickly, he seemed to disappear and reappear before Vincent's eyes. As Vincent observed his opponent, he saw the pattern to his moves. As he got closer, he decided to try another physical attack. Seeing an opening, Vincent increased his speed when the blonde-haired man disappeared. When he reappeared, Vincent was right in front of him. He kneed the Traveler in the stomach, punched him across the face and then quickly flew behind him and hit him to the ground.
Vincent flew after the Traveler. To his surprise, the blonde-haired man gained control of his fall right before he hit the ground. Vincent sped up to continue his attack but as he was about to hit the blonde-haired man, his opponent flew up and out of the way. "Damn it, can't you stand still," Vincent shouted. Vincent tried to stop his descend, but it was too late and he crashed into the ground. Sand and stone exploded everywhere, getting in Vincent's hair, eyes and nose and covering into his clothes. As soon as the air cleared, Vincent stood up from the crater he had made and shook the sand and debris from his face and hair. As he turned to find his opponent, he saw a foot flying toward his face. Vincent saw stars as the blow connected. He was thrown backwards, landed on his back, and skidded across the sandy ground.
When he stopped sliding, Vincent lay there for a few seconds and slowly got up. He spit and then wiped a tickle of blood from his mouth. The Traveler just stood there waiting. "You bastard," Vincent shouted. "You'll pay for doing that to me." Vincent raced to his opponent and threw a punch. The blonde-haired man dodged it but Vincent jumped up and slammed his knee into the other fighter's face. "I'm the strongest person on this planet! There's no way you can beat me," Vincent yelled as he kicked the Traveler across the face.
The Traveler flew backwards from Vincent's blow, but he managed to land on his feet. When he stopped, he wiped some blood from his face and glared at Vincent. "You are strong that's for sure," the Traveler said as he got into a fighting stance. "But you use your power recklessly and get innocent people killed. I don't know what you're after back there or what it's like here but I can't let you go on like this." He flew at Vincent and powered up right before he punched Vincent in the stomach. He threw another punch but Vincent dodged it. Vincent countered with a knee in the blonde-haired man's stomach. The Traveler gave a short moan of pain, but quickly retaliated with a punch of his own. Vincent moved sideways to avoid the blow then followed up with his own punch. The Traveler avoided the blow and then flew backwards, putting some distance between him and Vincent. Landing on the ground, he cupped his two hands together at his waist and began to form a ki blast.
Vincent quickly pulled out his two handguns and fired at the Traveler. The Traveler quickly dodged the bullets but one skimmed his cheek causing it to bleed. Having stopped the ki blast, Vincent put his guns away, flew at his opponent and then got in two good punches. The blonde-haired man countered with his own punch, hitting Vincent hard in the gut. He threw one at Vincent's face but missed. Seeing an opening, Vincent hit the Traveler in the face and knocked him to the ground.
"That was a good workout, but now it's time for you to die," Vincent said with a smirk. As the Traveler watched, Vincent pulled a strange looking handgun out of his jacket. "Those bullets before were just a little distraction. I'm smart enough to know that a regular gun won't be able to beat you. You're too good to die that way, but this gun is different. It was made for guys like those losers back in town and other weaklings so they could deal with people like us. It gives the weakest man enough power to attack someone with our kind of strength."
Vincent saw a look of disbelief cross the other man's face and he chuckled. "I guess you never ran into anything like this before." Vincent's smile turned into a frown. "Yeah, technology is a wonderful thing," he said sarcastically. "It gives the most pathetic people all the power in the world." Then Vincent smiled. "But today, it's going to give me the power. You see this one handgun takes a normal man's ki and increases to just about a quarter of my strength and a little less of yours. If you want to know how it works, I can't tell you, but I can tell you it does work. And today, we're going to see what happens when it gets into the hands of a man with real power." He straightened his arms and took aim at the Traveler. "I really better power down. I wouldn't want to destroy the whole planet. Sorry I couldn't beat you in battle, but I've got an important matter to take care of. " Vincent reduced his power and flicked a small switch on the bottom of the gun's handle. He could feel the weapon vibrate as it absorbed his power.
"I don't know if he's bluffing or not, but I'd better be ready for this one," the Traveler thought. He started raising his right hand when Vincent shouted in pain and coughed up blood. The blonde-haired fighter quickly got to his feet and looked for the source of the attack. Suddenly he saw a group of strange purple energy balls coming from behind Vincent. Vincent tried to dodge but there were too many of them. Several struck the young fighter in his side and his legs. Still powered up, the Traveler easily moved out of the way and avoided the energy blasts that had missed his opponent.
Vincent shouted in pain and anger. Whoever had planned this attack must have been waiting for the moment when he let his power down. It was the perfect time to attack. Vincent switched off the ki gun. He needed his power now to avoid the blasts. Putting the gun away, he saw more energy blasts coming in his direction. He tried to avoid them by diving to the ground and rolling away, but one blast caught him in the shoulder and threw him sideways. Quickly getting to his feet, Vincent raised his power to its highest level. As his energy exploded outward, it blasted the surrounding area. When the sand and dirt cleared, Vincent was floating upward over a giant crater in the ground.
He could now see a group of armed men holding rifle-like weapons. It must be an advanced form of the same gun he had. Vincent roared in anger as he flew at them. He was so fast now that most of the shots missed and the few that hit were blown away. However the damage was already done. He was badly injured and he wasn't sure if he'd be able to keep up with the blonde- haired man after this. The gunmen, seeing their attacks were having no effect, began to run away. Stopping in mid-air, Vincent formed a ball of ki in his hand and was about to kill his attackers when the Traveler appeared before him. He punched Vincent much harder then before. Vincent was about to strike back when the Traveler punched him again in the stomach. As Vincent doubled over, he felt a strong blow on his back which sent him streaking toward the ground. As he struck the ground, he lost consciousness.
As the Traveler floated to the ground, he saw the attackers cautiously approaching, their guns aimed at him. He looked at the men. "Leave now. This battle is over and I don't want there to be anymore deaths today. Got it?"
"Sorry, but we were paid to do in the kid here," one of the men said pointing to Vincent with his rifle. "We can't leave until we have his dead body to bring back as proof." He pointed his weapon back at the Traveler. "Believe me when I tell you that we have no problem taking you out too." With that, he pulled the trigger and one of the purple energy blasts shot out. To the man's surprise, the blonde-haired man disappeared.
The gunman looked around wildly. "Did anyone see where he went?" Suddenly the air around the men began to swirl and the gunman saw the rifle of the man next to him disappeared. Then his own rifle was pulled from his hands. One by one, each of the rifles seemed to vanish. Then with a whoosh, the blonde-haired fighter was in front of them again, their weapons in his arms.
The Traveler threw all the guns on the ground except one. He took the rifle he was holding and broke it over his knee, then tossed it with the others. "Those weapons only work if your target can't see you," he said. "Now, like I said before, get out."
An angry look passed over the face of the lead gunman. He pulled a gun out of his pocket and shot at the blonde-haired fighter. The Traveler disappeared again and suddenly appeared in front of the gunman. The fighter punched the gunman in the stomach. With gunman shouted out in pain and then passed out. The Traveler grabbed the man by the collar before he fell to the ground. He tossed him at one of the other gunmen and both men collapsed to the ground.
The Traveler turned to the others. "Your friend's only injured. I recommend that you take him back and get him some medical attention." The two men looked at each other anxiously then the quickly picked up their fallen partners and ran off. The blonde-haired man watched them go and when he was sure they were gone, he turned his attention back to Vincent.
He knew that Vincent was badly injured, but he still felt a strong life force in the young fighter. "He needs a doctor, but if I take him to a hospital here, those thugs could get their hands on him. And if he stays here, his life will be just one fight after another with more innocent people being killed." The Traveler frowned. "Maybe its best if I take him with me. I could teach him how to use his abilities to help people and if he can't change his ways, I'll find a world where he won't have these powers." The Traveler closed his eyes and powered down. His blonde hair returned to its normal black. He picked the unconsciousness teenager off the ground and smiled. "I bet he'll be a great sparring partner. I'm looking forward to the chance to fight him again."
Shifting the weight of the young fighter in his arms, the Traveler's face took on a look of concentration. A dark spot appeared in front of him. It slowly grew into a large black oval. Inside the oval, thin streamers of blue and purple light swirled. The stranger looked into the oval as if searching for something, then took a deep breath, stepped into the oval and disappeared.
End Flashback
The Traveler continued to look over the city when he heard a voice yelling at him. When he looked down, he saw a man on the ground shaking his fist at him. The man was tall with red hair and was bandaged up. As the Traveler watched, the man seem to lose his balance and then caught himself before he fell down. "He looks like he should be in the hospital, not standing outside it," the Traveler thought. "I'd better ignore him."
As the Traveler turned away, the man on the ground shouted at him. "Hey, you, get back here. I'm Kuwabara Kazuma and I'm an official first class Spirit Detective for the Spirit World. I don't know who you are or where you came from but I will not let you get past me. Spirit Sword come."
The Traveler was surprised. The sword in the injured man's hand was made of ki. "Man, I wonder if everyone here is like this," he thought, beads of sweat appearing on his forehead. The Traveler could tell that the other man was at the end of his strength and that keeping the sword up was slowly drain the little ki he had left. "Well, looks like my plan of going by unnoticed is shot. May as well find out what he wants before he collapses." The Traveler lifted up into the air and then floated down to the ground. The red-haired man looked surprised for an instant and dropped his sword a little, but as soon as the Traveler landed, the red-haired man was grim- faced and alert.
The Traveler lifted his hands and smiled. "I'm sorry. I had to bring someone to the hospital and I just went on the roof to get a look at the city. Did I do something wrong? I'm new here and I'm afraid I don't know the customs, but I don't want to fight you. Not to mention you don't seem to be in any condition to fight me anyway."
"Listen, don't try to play innocent with me," Kuwabara said. "I can detect your power and I know you're no ordinary guy." A look of suspicion crossed Kuwabara's face as he remembered his first encounter in this world. "Yeah, and you can fly too, just like that evil guy with the sword I fought earlier. I bet you two are working together." Kuwabara adjusted his fighting stance. "The people here seem nice and peaceful and I'm going to protect them. I'm not going to let any super-powered fighters destroy them."
The Traveler opened his mouth to say something but he was interrupted by a female voice coming from behind Kuwarbara. "Oh, there you are Kuwabara," said the familiar voice. "I've been looking all over for you."
Kuwabara turned sideways. He saw the blue-haired doctor that he had met in the hospital but to his surprise, she was wearing the same uniform as the two girls he helped earlier. "Doc, what are you doing here?" he asked anxiously. "You'd better get back inside. I'll take care of this guy."
The doctor came up beside Kuwabara and smiled. "Thank you for your concern, but to be honest, you're in no condition to fight this man," she said. "Plus we very well couldn't send you to fight a battle alone after you helped the others back there."
"She's right you know," another familiar female voice said from behind Kuwabara.
"If it wasn't for you, who knows what would have happened in that fight with the swordsman," another familiar voice said. "We couldn't just let you go out and get killed before we had a chance to thank you for helping us."
The two women came up to stand beside Kuwabara. They were the fighters he helped earlier. Sweat formed on Kuwabara's forehead. "I guess they're right. I am weaker than I thought, but I'd better not let that guy know it." Kuwabara straightened, "Okay," he said brashly. "I don't like to put ladies in dangerous situations like this, but I guess I can't talk you out of this."
"Ah, excuse me.," the black-haired man started to say but was cut off by one of the women.
"I am Sailor Mars," the black-haired woman said.
"I am Sailor Venus," the blonde-haired woman said.
"And don't forget about me. I'm Sailor Mercury," the blue-haired doctor said.
"And we are the Sailor Scouts, the protectors of Crystal Tokyo," all the women shouted in unison striking poses together.
The blue-haired doctor pointed at the black-haired stranger. "Hospitals should be quiet places for sick people to get well. Our patients shouldn't be disturbed by evil strangers looking to start a fight."
"So, in the name of the moon, we will punish you," the three said in unison. Kuwabara and the black-haired man stood there in shock with their mouths opened.
"Ah, well, that's really nice," the black-haired man said with a little sweat drop, "but I'm a little lost here. Are you the good guys or the bad guys." The three women and Kuwabara fell over Anime style. "Was it something I said? the black-haired man asked."
"What's wrong with you," Kuwabara shouted. "We're the good guys. Right?" He looked at the three women who nodded in agreement.
The black-haired man smiled. "That's great. Then we have no reason to fight. It was nice meeting you. Catch you later." He turned and started walking away. Kuwabara and the others stared at him in amazement.
"Hey," Kuwabara demanded. "At least tell us who the hell you are and why you're here."
The black-haired man turned around. "I'm Son Goku," the black-haired man said, "and I'm a traveler passing through. Listen, I like to keep my visits nice and peaceful, but if you need help fighting that evil, I'll be more than willing to come and help. Oh, and don't worry about contacting me. I'll be back to visit that guy I dropped off and anyway I'll sense when you need me."
"I know what you mean," Kuwabara said. "Sorry about trying to start something with you." He looked embarrassed. "I guess my senses weren't clear after my injuries. I can sense your spiritual energy now and I can see your true intentions." The black-haired man nodded and then vanished. A sweat drop formed on Kuwabara's cheek. "Man, did you see that? He just disappeared. I'm glad I didn't have to fight him."
"Ummmm, Kuwabara? What were you talking about with that guy? I mean that whole sensing thing," Mars asked.
"Well, let's just say that I can sense the power from someone and I guess that guy can too," Kuwabara said. "I don't think we have anything to worry about with him. I can tell if someone's power is good or evil and I'm sensing good from him."
"Umm, you don't think you could get him to come back. He was kind of hot," Venus said.
Kuwabara looked nervously at the blonde-haired girl. "Ah, I think to get him back, we'd have to start a fight and, well, that would be kind of dishonest," he said.
"Oh, please for me," Venus said making a sad face.
"No, I don't think we should," Kuwabara replied.
The blonde-haired sailor took Kuwabara by the arm and looked up at him. "Come on," Venus said. "We can tell him you and I were just training."
"Kuwabara's right, Venus. Come on, let's go back to the castle," Mars said curtly.
"Mars is right, Venus," Sailor Mercury said. "Kuwabara needs time to recover. It's probably better if he stays at the castle." She frowned at her patient. "We can all keep an eye on him so he gets the rest he needs."
Kuwabara extracted his arm from Sailor Venus. "Sounds good to me. I've never stayed in a castle before," he said. He moved next to Sailor Mars and Mercury and the three started to walk off.
"Hey, guys, wait for me," Venus said. "Kuwabara," she whined.
"The guy said no, so just leave him alone," Mars yelled back at her.
"But come on," Venus said pleadingly. "That guy was really cute and I haven't had a date in a month."
Sailor Mars shook her head and sighed. "This is going to be a very, very long and painful walk home," she said to herself.
Chapter 2
Path of a Champion
The tall black-haired man stood on the top of the hospital looking over the city. "This looks like a nice peaceful place to live," he said to himself. "Better not stay too long. I don't want to cause them any trouble." He shook his head and thought about the last world he visited. "Even when I try to avoid problems, they still seem to happen and I certainly don't want another disaster like the last one."
Flashback
The black-haired man looked around slowly. He was in a desert. There were no signs of life, just sand and rock, endless miles of sand and rock. "Man, I hope I have my powers here. Otherwise I'll be in big trouble." That was one of the dangers in being a "Traveler" as the Teleportians called it. If anything, being a Traveler had taught him to be cautious, a lesson he wished he had learned before he started his journey.
When he discovered the Teleportians' ability to jump from dimension to dimension, he knew he had to learn it. It had taken a great deal of time and effort to convince them to teach it to him, but he managed to overcome their reluctance. He had no doubts he could master their technique and his early success seemed to prove it.
However, experience was teaching him it was tougher to become skilled at Traveling than he originally thought. Even though he could sense things about the world he was going to jump to, it wasn't always as hospitable as he expected. Not only that but whenever he moved to a new world, his powers varied. There was no way to predict how little or how much of his abilities he would have in advance of the jump. In fairness to the Teleportians, they had tried to warn him. He just didn't understand what they meant when they said that each dimension's rules were different and what was powerful in one was weak in another. He didn't think it would apply to him, but he found out he was wrong, almost deadly wrong, on the first world where he couldn't use all of his abilities.
Suddenly, he felt a great power. It was off in the distance which meant he'd have to fly to get there. He hoped whoever, or whatever, had that huge energy couldn't detect ki. With that thought, he powered up a little and found with relief he could float. He rose higher into the air and flew in the direction where he had felt the energy. When he saw how quickly he was covering ground, he felt his tension lessen a little. Maybe he would have all his powers here. "Better be cautious," he thought. "First, I better find out what the situation is before I figure out how much power I have." As he got closer to the power source, he saw a huge city appear on the horizon. It was surrounded by desert, but he could see the city's water supply from the air.
The Traveler slowly landed in a quiet part of the city so he wouldn't make a big scene. He looked around to see if the huge power surge meant a battle was going on, but all he heard were the normal sounds of a bustling city. He strolled down the busy streets watching people go by. Everything seemed nice and peaceful, but the fact was that most of the worlds he went to seemed peaceful at first. He remembered there was always a calm before the storm and the fact that he was a stranger to this world meant he may not recognize signs of danger. He had walked several blocks before he reached the source of the power he had detected. To his surprise, it seems to be coming from one young man.
The youth was about sixteen or seventeen with short, uncombed brown hair and dark green eyes. He was wearing a black jacket over a white t-shirt. His pants and combat boots were black. He wore a belt with two guns on it and ten sets of clips. The Traveler watched the youth as he walked past him. There was a look in the young man's eyes that he just couldn't figure out. He took a few more steps then stopped and turned around to watch the young man walk down the street. The Traveler thought about following him, but he didn't want to draw attention to himself yet. Besides he was beginning to get a little hungry and he could sense if anything went wrong. "Great, now that that's settled, I wonder what's good to eat around here."
.............
Twenty minutes later, the young man was at the other end of city. He walked into a tall office building and kicked in the door of the second office on the left. All of the people at work suddenly stopped what they were doing to look at him. "I'm here to pick up everything on Project Ego and the Clone Solution," the teenager said. "Now we can do this one of two ways. One way is you just give it to me, no questions asked, and I leave just as quickly as I came." He made a fist with his right hand and punched it into his left. "Or I could always kill a bunch of you, break through the guards and just take it." He smiled. "The second way is more fun for me, but it is a little messy and I wouldn't want to trash such a nice looking place."
One of the men dressed walked out of the crowd. He was dressed in a business suit unlike the others in the room who wore mostly lab coats. "Who are you? How do you know about the project and why the hell do you want it," he said as he took a remote out of his pocket.
"I'm Vincent Striker and let's just say once I'm done with this job, I'll be financially secure for the rest of my life," the teenager said with a grin. "Oh just so you know, I'm the strongest one here so you might as well help me. Maybe if you're lucky, I'll leave you a little tip, but don't get your hopes up." He lifted up his right hand and formed a ki beam in his palm. "I'm not really that nice a guy." Just then a round hole opened up in the floor in front of the businessman and three big guys came out. All three were tall with red hair and red eyes. There was no expression on their faces.
"Say hello to our Android Force," the businessman said. "They're the last thing you'll ever see."
Suddenly one of the red-headed men flew forward and threw a punch at the teenager. Vincent dodged and threw his ki beam at the android but it moved out of the way. The beam flew across the room and blew up a wall of the building. People started screaming and running away. In the meantime, the same android recovered and flew at Vincent. It threw another punch and this time it hit its target, sending Vincent up through the ceiling and on to the next floor. He crashed on to a desk breaking it in half. The android floated up and followed Vincent through the hole.
Vincent was getting up off the floor and brushing the dust off his jacket. "Well, I guess it's time to get a little more serious," he said with a grin. He somersaulted backwards to give himself some room to maneuver. When he landed, he quickly increased his power until he was sure he was above the android's strength and speed. The android was already coming at him, but with his improved speed, it seemed as if his opponent was moving in slow motion. Vincent flew at the android, dodging its fist and landing a blow in its stomach. As the android doubled over, Vincent crashed his elbow on to its head. There was a loud crack as metal shards flew into the air. The android collapsed on the floor, the circuits in its head exposed. There was a sizzling sound for a few seconds then smoke drifted up from the hole in the android's head.
Vincent nudged his opponent with his foot. There was no reaction. "You didn't even stand a chance against me. Now I'll destroy the other two and this will be over with." Vincent grinned slightly as he gave the android's head a sharp kick, knocking it off. Someone screamed and Vincent noticed the last remaining people exiting the room. Suddenly an alarm went off, filling the air with a loud clamor. Vincent was just about to jump down the hole when his eye caught a flash of light to his left. It was a small service elevator and the number two was lit up. As Vincent took a step forward, a huge ki beam shot out, hitting Vincent in the chest and sending him flying through the window. Vincent stopped himself in mid-air. He heard screams from the street below but he ignored them as he streaked back into the building.
As Vincent flew inside, his eye caught the third android right next to the opening. He turned around to strike but the android was faster. It kicked Vincent back through the blast hole and toward the street. Vincent slammed into the roof of a moving car, causing it to collapse. He quickly flipped up and on to the ground. There was an explosion as the car he landed on crashed into some parked cars. As Vincent jumped back to avoid the flames, the android shot a ki beam. Vincent dodged it. The beam hit the road blowing a big hole into it. Chunks of dirt and pavement flew everywhere. Taking advantage of the distraction, Vincent flew up and punched the android. It went flying through the building, crashing though walls and flying out though the opposite side.
Vincent turned his attention to the android at the elevator. As he floated into the building, the second android flew at him. It threw a punch and Vincent caught it. "You guys are making this way to easy," Vincent said with a smirk. "All you seem to be doing is causing a crap load of damage and getting everyone but me killed." He grabbed the android behind the head with his other hand, pushed it down and slammed him in the face with his knee. He kneed the android two more times and then threw him down the hole into the room below.
The android hit a lab table as he landed, but it managed to catch itself and jumped away from the opening. Vincent took out his two handguns and leaped after him. As soon as Vincent hit the ground, he started firing. The few remaining people in the room hit the ground, hiding under desks and lab tables. The android ran around the room trying to dodge the bullets. One of the bullets hit a small tank and the canister burst into flames. As the fire began to spread around the room, the overhead sprinklers went off.
Vincent shook his head to move his soaking wet hair out of his face. The android was nowhere to be seen. Vincent slowly scanned the room. It was difficult to see through the falling water and the smoke. Suddenly a figure to his left leaped from behind a desk. It was the android coming at him at top speed. Vincent fired his handguns aiming at critical points on the android. Just as it was about to reach him, Vincent jumped up and did a back flip over his opponent. As Vincent flew over the android, he felt a small jolt of electricity. As he landed, he heard the sound of breaking glass. Looking up to face the android, Vincent saw this fight was over. The android was lying in a wreckage of cars on the streets, electricity still sparking from its body. Its power chips were hit. Vincent caught the faint smell of fuel and suddenly one of the cars near the android exploded into flames. "Well, two down and one to go," Vincent said as he flew out to look for the last one.
.........
As the Traveler flew over the scene, he was shocked by the destruction. "Man, don't tell me that young guy did all this. Why? They look like innocent people going about their business." He shook his head. "Wait, I'm jumping to conclusions. Maybe he didn't do this, but I have to know for sure." The energy source he felt from the young man was much stronger now, and it was close by. "I'd better see if I can increase my power. I'm no match for him like this." As he increased his battle strength, he felt a familiar surge of energy. Looking down at his hands, he saw he was surrounded by a golden glow. With a sigh of relief, he streaked off toward the energy source.
Two blocks away, he found the young man he had seen earlier. He was in the middle of a fight with a red-haired man. There was a huge hole in one of the buildings and the street was littered with glass and rubble. The Traveler couldn't sense any ki from the red-haired man. "He must be an android. I'd better help." As the Traveler started down, the young man shot a ki beam at his opponent's chest. The red-haired android crashed into the building and collapsed on the ground with a huge hole in his chest. Sparks of electricity and smoke came from the android's lifeless body. The Traveler stopped in mid-air surprised by the young man's sudden victory. At that instant, the young man disappeared, but the Traveler could sense his energy heading back toward the first scene of destruction. The Traveler quickly followed after him.
...........
Vincent laughed a little as he landed in the laboratory. The sprinklers had turned off and people were helping each other out of the room. Everyone stopped and turned around. Vincent noticed the businessman who had spoken before. Crossing his arms, Vincent said, "I beat your so-called Android Force. Not much of a fight if you ask me but, hey, nice try. Better luck killing me next time." He took out one of his hand guns and pointed at the businessman. "Now if you don't want to share the same end as your androids, hand over the information I asked for and quickly."
The businessman smiled. "Well, you're tougher than I thought. It looks like we'll have to take out the big guns for you." He lifted the same remote he had used before. This time a panel on the inside wall opened up and two bigger and tougher looking androids came out.
"Can't you get it through your head that those damn things are no match for me," Vincent said in disgust as he began to walk forward. Suddenly he felt a rush of air behind him. Dust, papers and debris swirled in the air and Vincent covered his face protectively. He turned around and took a glimpse over his arm. The figure of a man was silhouetted in the hole in the wall. Vincent couldn't make out any details other than the man was tall and had strange spiky hair.
As the air settled, the stranger stepped forward. "What's going on here?" he demanded angrily. "Why are you killing so many innocent people? Tell me."
"I was just using my protection," a voice behind Vincent said. Vincent turned sideways, so he could keep both parties in view. The person who had spoken was the businessman with the remote.
The businessman raised his arm and pointed at Vincent. "That man broke in and threatened to kill us so I was forced to deal with him," he said. "But now that you've interfered, I'll have to get rid of you too. I don't need any witnesses talking to the news." The man gestured to the two androids. "Androids, kill the blonde-haired man, then take care of the first guy."
As Vincent watched, the two androids flew at the stranger together. The blonde-haired man quickly dodged and then with a move that was just a blur to Vincent, he grabbed the androids by their heads and smashed them together. There was a loud crunch and both androids fell to the ground twitching.
The blonde-haired man suddenly appeared next to Vincent. "No more people have to die today. While I'm not sure if you're telling the truth, I will fight this man and the winner will get what he desires."
"Fine, but if I see either of you again, you're dead," the businessman said grimly.
Vincent turned angrily to the blonde-haired man and jabbed him in the chest with a finger. "Listen, I don't know who you are but stay out of my." Before he finished his sentence, the blonde-haired man grabbed Vincent's shoulder. The room suddenly disappeared. Vincent was blinded by a flash of white light and then everything went dark. He couldn't see the blonde- haired man but he felt him gripping his shoulder. As Vincent reached up to grab the other man's arm, another flash of light blinded him. When his vision cleared, Vincent found himself in the middle of a desert. The stranger suddenly released his shoulder and stepped away from Vincent. Freed from his captor, Vincent stumbled and had to regain his balance.
I don't intent to fight you. I'm just a Traveler, passing through," the blonde-haired man said. "But I don't want anymore deaths today. I suggest you find a place where you can stay for a while." He frowned at Vincent. "And don't go back to that city. I'll know if you do and I'll come back to get you."
Vincent raised his fist and shook it at the stranger. "Listen up. I don't care who you are or what kind of trick you just pulled, but I'm not stopping until I get what I want," he said angrily as he powered up. "I'm not going to let you, or anyone else, stop me. Once I finish this job, I'll be set for life and I'll never have to worry again. This is too much to give up, no matter how high the risk, or the death toll." A bluish glow appeared around his body and he felt the air around him stir with his increasing power. "This is a war," Vincent said intently. "Only one side can win and I'm sure as hell I won't be the loser." With that, Vincent rushed at the Traveler and punched him across the face. The stranger skidded back a bit. Vincent stepped toward him and threw another punch. This time the blonde-haired man caught it.
"I hate to fight you but if I have to, I will," the Traveler said as he threw a punch. Vincent moved backwards slightly to avoid it and threw a punch of his own but the blonde-haired man dodged his counterattack. Vincent glared at his opponent for a moment and then attacked him with another punch. This one connected to the blonde-haired man's face, making his head turn sideways. Vincent followed up with a punch to the Traveler's gut but the blonde-haired fighter blocked his attack and pushed Vincent back. Vincent skidded to a halt a few feet away. The Traveler took a fighting stance and stared at Vincent with a determined look on his face.
"I see you're different from the rest of them," Vincent said with a grin. "You can actually fight and are pretty good to boot. I haven't met someone who could keep up with me and give me a good fight. I look forward to destroying you." With that, Vincent flew at the Traveler and threw a punch. The Traveler blocked it again but the force of Vincent's blow sent him flying through the air. He slammed into a tall outcropping of rocks and slid down. Vincent quickly flew after him to follow up on his attack but the Traveler was already on his feet when he arrived. The man's fists were raised at his waist and Vincent could see the power swirling around his opponent.
Vincent frowned. It was obvious his opponent was holding back, but Vincent was confident he could win. "I've got to get this finish quickly," he thought. "If this idiot keeps me here too long, I'll never get that data." Vincent flew at the Traveler and started to pummel him with punches and kicks, but the blonde-haired man just kept dodging.
Suddenly the man leaped into the air. Vincent followed him and aimed a punch at his face. The blonde-haired man caught Vincent's fist and with his other hand, he formed a ball of ki and sent it into Vincent's stomach. Vincent caught the energy blast with his free hand. The force of the ki blast broke the Traveler's hold on Vincent's hand. Vincent flew backwards, still holding the ki ball. His arm ached from the effort of keeping the small sphere of energy under control. He finally got enough control over the ki blast to throw it away into the air. He sent his own ki blast after it. When the two beams collided, they exploded with a huge flash of golden light.
Frustrated, Vincent increased his power. "Maybe I can't get you with my fists, but let's see if you can dodge this." Vincent flew at his opponent, but this time, he sent a rapid volley of ki blasts before him. The Traveler agilely dodged his attacks, moving so quickly, he seemed to disappear and reappear before Vincent's eyes. As Vincent observed his opponent, he saw the pattern to his moves. As he got closer, he decided to try another physical attack. Seeing an opening, Vincent increased his speed when the blonde-haired man disappeared. When he reappeared, Vincent was right in front of him. He kneed the Traveler in the stomach, punched him across the face and then quickly flew behind him and hit him to the ground.
Vincent flew after the Traveler. To his surprise, the blonde-haired man gained control of his fall right before he hit the ground. Vincent sped up to continue his attack but as he was about to hit the blonde-haired man, his opponent flew up and out of the way. "Damn it, can't you stand still," Vincent shouted. Vincent tried to stop his descend, but it was too late and he crashed into the ground. Sand and stone exploded everywhere, getting in Vincent's hair, eyes and nose and covering into his clothes. As soon as the air cleared, Vincent stood up from the crater he had made and shook the sand and debris from his face and hair. As he turned to find his opponent, he saw a foot flying toward his face. Vincent saw stars as the blow connected. He was thrown backwards, landed on his back, and skidded across the sandy ground.
When he stopped sliding, Vincent lay there for a few seconds and slowly got up. He spit and then wiped a tickle of blood from his mouth. The Traveler just stood there waiting. "You bastard," Vincent shouted. "You'll pay for doing that to me." Vincent raced to his opponent and threw a punch. The blonde-haired man dodged it but Vincent jumped up and slammed his knee into the other fighter's face. "I'm the strongest person on this planet! There's no way you can beat me," Vincent yelled as he kicked the Traveler across the face.
The Traveler flew backwards from Vincent's blow, but he managed to land on his feet. When he stopped, he wiped some blood from his face and glared at Vincent. "You are strong that's for sure," the Traveler said as he got into a fighting stance. "But you use your power recklessly and get innocent people killed. I don't know what you're after back there or what it's like here but I can't let you go on like this." He flew at Vincent and powered up right before he punched Vincent in the stomach. He threw another punch but Vincent dodged it. Vincent countered with a knee in the blonde-haired man's stomach. The Traveler gave a short moan of pain, but quickly retaliated with a punch of his own. Vincent moved sideways to avoid the blow then followed up with his own punch. The Traveler avoided the blow and then flew backwards, putting some distance between him and Vincent. Landing on the ground, he cupped his two hands together at his waist and began to form a ki blast.
Vincent quickly pulled out his two handguns and fired at the Traveler. The Traveler quickly dodged the bullets but one skimmed his cheek causing it to bleed. Having stopped the ki blast, Vincent put his guns away, flew at his opponent and then got in two good punches. The blonde-haired man countered with his own punch, hitting Vincent hard in the gut. He threw one at Vincent's face but missed. Seeing an opening, Vincent hit the Traveler in the face and knocked him to the ground.
"That was a good workout, but now it's time for you to die," Vincent said with a smirk. As the Traveler watched, Vincent pulled a strange looking handgun out of his jacket. "Those bullets before were just a little distraction. I'm smart enough to know that a regular gun won't be able to beat you. You're too good to die that way, but this gun is different. It was made for guys like those losers back in town and other weaklings so they could deal with people like us. It gives the weakest man enough power to attack someone with our kind of strength."
Vincent saw a look of disbelief cross the other man's face and he chuckled. "I guess you never ran into anything like this before." Vincent's smile turned into a frown. "Yeah, technology is a wonderful thing," he said sarcastically. "It gives the most pathetic people all the power in the world." Then Vincent smiled. "But today, it's going to give me the power. You see this one handgun takes a normal man's ki and increases to just about a quarter of my strength and a little less of yours. If you want to know how it works, I can't tell you, but I can tell you it does work. And today, we're going to see what happens when it gets into the hands of a man with real power." He straightened his arms and took aim at the Traveler. "I really better power down. I wouldn't want to destroy the whole planet. Sorry I couldn't beat you in battle, but I've got an important matter to take care of. " Vincent reduced his power and flicked a small switch on the bottom of the gun's handle. He could feel the weapon vibrate as it absorbed his power.
"I don't know if he's bluffing or not, but I'd better be ready for this one," the Traveler thought. He started raising his right hand when Vincent shouted in pain and coughed up blood. The blonde-haired fighter quickly got to his feet and looked for the source of the attack. Suddenly he saw a group of strange purple energy balls coming from behind Vincent. Vincent tried to dodge but there were too many of them. Several struck the young fighter in his side and his legs. Still powered up, the Traveler easily moved out of the way and avoided the energy blasts that had missed his opponent.
Vincent shouted in pain and anger. Whoever had planned this attack must have been waiting for the moment when he let his power down. It was the perfect time to attack. Vincent switched off the ki gun. He needed his power now to avoid the blasts. Putting the gun away, he saw more energy blasts coming in his direction. He tried to avoid them by diving to the ground and rolling away, but one blast caught him in the shoulder and threw him sideways. Quickly getting to his feet, Vincent raised his power to its highest level. As his energy exploded outward, it blasted the surrounding area. When the sand and dirt cleared, Vincent was floating upward over a giant crater in the ground.
He could now see a group of armed men holding rifle-like weapons. It must be an advanced form of the same gun he had. Vincent roared in anger as he flew at them. He was so fast now that most of the shots missed and the few that hit were blown away. However the damage was already done. He was badly injured and he wasn't sure if he'd be able to keep up with the blonde- haired man after this. The gunmen, seeing their attacks were having no effect, began to run away. Stopping in mid-air, Vincent formed a ball of ki in his hand and was about to kill his attackers when the Traveler appeared before him. He punched Vincent much harder then before. Vincent was about to strike back when the Traveler punched him again in the stomach. As Vincent doubled over, he felt a strong blow on his back which sent him streaking toward the ground. As he struck the ground, he lost consciousness.
As the Traveler floated to the ground, he saw the attackers cautiously approaching, their guns aimed at him. He looked at the men. "Leave now. This battle is over and I don't want there to be anymore deaths today. Got it?"
"Sorry, but we were paid to do in the kid here," one of the men said pointing to Vincent with his rifle. "We can't leave until we have his dead body to bring back as proof." He pointed his weapon back at the Traveler. "Believe me when I tell you that we have no problem taking you out too." With that, he pulled the trigger and one of the purple energy blasts shot out. To the man's surprise, the blonde-haired man disappeared.
The gunman looked around wildly. "Did anyone see where he went?" Suddenly the air around the men began to swirl and the gunman saw the rifle of the man next to him disappeared. Then his own rifle was pulled from his hands. One by one, each of the rifles seemed to vanish. Then with a whoosh, the blonde-haired fighter was in front of them again, their weapons in his arms.
The Traveler threw all the guns on the ground except one. He took the rifle he was holding and broke it over his knee, then tossed it with the others. "Those weapons only work if your target can't see you," he said. "Now, like I said before, get out."
An angry look passed over the face of the lead gunman. He pulled a gun out of his pocket and shot at the blonde-haired fighter. The Traveler disappeared again and suddenly appeared in front of the gunman. The fighter punched the gunman in the stomach. With gunman shouted out in pain and then passed out. The Traveler grabbed the man by the collar before he fell to the ground. He tossed him at one of the other gunmen and both men collapsed to the ground.
The Traveler turned to the others. "Your friend's only injured. I recommend that you take him back and get him some medical attention." The two men looked at each other anxiously then the quickly picked up their fallen partners and ran off. The blonde-haired man watched them go and when he was sure they were gone, he turned his attention back to Vincent.
He knew that Vincent was badly injured, but he still felt a strong life force in the young fighter. "He needs a doctor, but if I take him to a hospital here, those thugs could get their hands on him. And if he stays here, his life will be just one fight after another with more innocent people being killed." The Traveler frowned. "Maybe its best if I take him with me. I could teach him how to use his abilities to help people and if he can't change his ways, I'll find a world where he won't have these powers." The Traveler closed his eyes and powered down. His blonde hair returned to its normal black. He picked the unconsciousness teenager off the ground and smiled. "I bet he'll be a great sparring partner. I'm looking forward to the chance to fight him again."
Shifting the weight of the young fighter in his arms, the Traveler's face took on a look of concentration. A dark spot appeared in front of him. It slowly grew into a large black oval. Inside the oval, thin streamers of blue and purple light swirled. The stranger looked into the oval as if searching for something, then took a deep breath, stepped into the oval and disappeared.
End Flashback
The Traveler continued to look over the city when he heard a voice yelling at him. When he looked down, he saw a man on the ground shaking his fist at him. The man was tall with red hair and was bandaged up. As the Traveler watched, the man seem to lose his balance and then caught himself before he fell down. "He looks like he should be in the hospital, not standing outside it," the Traveler thought. "I'd better ignore him."
As the Traveler turned away, the man on the ground shouted at him. "Hey, you, get back here. I'm Kuwabara Kazuma and I'm an official first class Spirit Detective for the Spirit World. I don't know who you are or where you came from but I will not let you get past me. Spirit Sword come."
The Traveler was surprised. The sword in the injured man's hand was made of ki. "Man, I wonder if everyone here is like this," he thought, beads of sweat appearing on his forehead. The Traveler could tell that the other man was at the end of his strength and that keeping the sword up was slowly drain the little ki he had left. "Well, looks like my plan of going by unnoticed is shot. May as well find out what he wants before he collapses." The Traveler lifted up into the air and then floated down to the ground. The red-haired man looked surprised for an instant and dropped his sword a little, but as soon as the Traveler landed, the red-haired man was grim- faced and alert.
The Traveler lifted his hands and smiled. "I'm sorry. I had to bring someone to the hospital and I just went on the roof to get a look at the city. Did I do something wrong? I'm new here and I'm afraid I don't know the customs, but I don't want to fight you. Not to mention you don't seem to be in any condition to fight me anyway."
"Listen, don't try to play innocent with me," Kuwabara said. "I can detect your power and I know you're no ordinary guy." A look of suspicion crossed Kuwabara's face as he remembered his first encounter in this world. "Yeah, and you can fly too, just like that evil guy with the sword I fought earlier. I bet you two are working together." Kuwabara adjusted his fighting stance. "The people here seem nice and peaceful and I'm going to protect them. I'm not going to let any super-powered fighters destroy them."
The Traveler opened his mouth to say something but he was interrupted by a female voice coming from behind Kuwarbara. "Oh, there you are Kuwabara," said the familiar voice. "I've been looking all over for you."
Kuwabara turned sideways. He saw the blue-haired doctor that he had met in the hospital but to his surprise, she was wearing the same uniform as the two girls he helped earlier. "Doc, what are you doing here?" he asked anxiously. "You'd better get back inside. I'll take care of this guy."
The doctor came up beside Kuwabara and smiled. "Thank you for your concern, but to be honest, you're in no condition to fight this man," she said. "Plus we very well couldn't send you to fight a battle alone after you helped the others back there."
"She's right you know," another familiar female voice said from behind Kuwabara.
"If it wasn't for you, who knows what would have happened in that fight with the swordsman," another familiar voice said. "We couldn't just let you go out and get killed before we had a chance to thank you for helping us."
The two women came up to stand beside Kuwabara. They were the fighters he helped earlier. Sweat formed on Kuwabara's forehead. "I guess they're right. I am weaker than I thought, but I'd better not let that guy know it." Kuwabara straightened, "Okay," he said brashly. "I don't like to put ladies in dangerous situations like this, but I guess I can't talk you out of this."
"Ah, excuse me.," the black-haired man started to say but was cut off by one of the women.
"I am Sailor Mars," the black-haired woman said.
"I am Sailor Venus," the blonde-haired woman said.
"And don't forget about me. I'm Sailor Mercury," the blue-haired doctor said.
"And we are the Sailor Scouts, the protectors of Crystal Tokyo," all the women shouted in unison striking poses together.
The blue-haired doctor pointed at the black-haired stranger. "Hospitals should be quiet places for sick people to get well. Our patients shouldn't be disturbed by evil strangers looking to start a fight."
"So, in the name of the moon, we will punish you," the three said in unison. Kuwabara and the black-haired man stood there in shock with their mouths opened.
"Ah, well, that's really nice," the black-haired man said with a little sweat drop, "but I'm a little lost here. Are you the good guys or the bad guys." The three women and Kuwabara fell over Anime style. "Was it something I said? the black-haired man asked."
"What's wrong with you," Kuwabara shouted. "We're the good guys. Right?" He looked at the three women who nodded in agreement.
The black-haired man smiled. "That's great. Then we have no reason to fight. It was nice meeting you. Catch you later." He turned and started walking away. Kuwabara and the others stared at him in amazement.
"Hey," Kuwabara demanded. "At least tell us who the hell you are and why you're here."
The black-haired man turned around. "I'm Son Goku," the black-haired man said, "and I'm a traveler passing through. Listen, I like to keep my visits nice and peaceful, but if you need help fighting that evil, I'll be more than willing to come and help. Oh, and don't worry about contacting me. I'll be back to visit that guy I dropped off and anyway I'll sense when you need me."
"I know what you mean," Kuwabara said. "Sorry about trying to start something with you." He looked embarrassed. "I guess my senses weren't clear after my injuries. I can sense your spiritual energy now and I can see your true intentions." The black-haired man nodded and then vanished. A sweat drop formed on Kuwabara's cheek. "Man, did you see that? He just disappeared. I'm glad I didn't have to fight him."
"Ummmm, Kuwabara? What were you talking about with that guy? I mean that whole sensing thing," Mars asked.
"Well, let's just say that I can sense the power from someone and I guess that guy can too," Kuwabara said. "I don't think we have anything to worry about with him. I can tell if someone's power is good or evil and I'm sensing good from him."
"Umm, you don't think you could get him to come back. He was kind of hot," Venus said.
Kuwabara looked nervously at the blonde-haired girl. "Ah, I think to get him back, we'd have to start a fight and, well, that would be kind of dishonest," he said.
"Oh, please for me," Venus said making a sad face.
"No, I don't think we should," Kuwabara replied.
The blonde-haired sailor took Kuwabara by the arm and looked up at him. "Come on," Venus said. "We can tell him you and I were just training."
"Kuwabara's right, Venus. Come on, let's go back to the castle," Mars said curtly.
"Mars is right, Venus," Sailor Mercury said. "Kuwabara needs time to recover. It's probably better if he stays at the castle." She frowned at her patient. "We can all keep an eye on him so he gets the rest he needs."
Kuwabara extracted his arm from Sailor Venus. "Sounds good to me. I've never stayed in a castle before," he said. He moved next to Sailor Mars and Mercury and the three started to walk off.
"Hey, guys, wait for me," Venus said. "Kuwabara," she whined.
"The guy said no, so just leave him alone," Mars yelled back at her.
"But come on," Venus said pleadingly. "That guy was really cute and I haven't had a date in a month."
Sailor Mars shook her head and sighed. "This is going to be a very, very long and painful walk home," she said to herself.