This is kind of Spider Man 2-ish, but then again, the whole Great Saiyaman thing is a little Spiderman-ish when you think about it. Read, enjoy, and review!
There was a knock on Gohan's bedroom door, and Chi-chi's head pooped in as she opened it.
"Gohan, time to get ready for school," she said, then closed the door to finish making breakfast.
Gohan got up and dressed and headed downstairs to eat. Goten was most likely still sleeping, as he usually was when Gohan first woke up to leave for school. He ate breakfast, then went into the living room to add some finishing touches to his history project. At about 7: 45, he finished, and headed off to the Orange Star High School. He hoped today would be a normal day, unlike most days when he'd follow Videl out of school to help her fight crime as the Great Saiyaman. He was starting to fall behind in some classes.
Being a super hero sure can put a damper on your school credits, he thought as he arrived to the school. He had transformed into his Great Saiyaman outfit as he entered Satan City, just incase anyone needed a friendly hero to save their day, so he landed on the school roof and trandformed back into his casual clothes where no one would see him. He ran down the stairs to the second floor, where his first class, biology, was, and sat in his assigned seat. He was the first one there. He always left for school a little early, in case he needed to stop crime, but this morning was pretty clean.
The bell rang and students started filing into the class, chatting and laughing with each other. At last the teacher came in. She seemed a little rushed.
"Sorry I'm late class. Please, sit and settle down," she began. "Take out your note books, and start copying this note." She began to write on the chalk board as students groaned and obeyed.
The lunch bell finally blared and everyone started shuffling out of the class. Science had just ended, so now Gohan was headed to meet his friends to go out for lucnh. He found Videl and Eliza buy the cafeteria, and after waiting about ten minutes, they left without Sharpner. As the three headed to a pizza place not far from Orange Star High School, Videl's beeder began beeping, which signalled there was a crime happening somewhere in the city. Videl looked at her beeper, and announced where it was she had to go.
Gohan had already accidently reealed his secret identidy to Sharper and Eliza at the World Martial Arts Tournament, and videl had known even before that, so he didn't bother to think of an excuse to run off and transform into the Great Saiyaman.
"Be right back!" he said, and ran into an alleyway and pushed the button on his watch that changed his outfit into the Great Saiyaman. Behind him he heard Videl yell something about her being able to handle it herself, but he didn't care. He wanted to make sure she didn't get hurt.
After he transformed, he flew off to the location of the crime scene, and found that Videl wasn't there yet. There were a bunch off police vehicles there, along with the police, and they were all surrounding a large bank. The chief was standing closest to the bank and held a megaphone in one hand and a gun in the other.
"This is the Satan City Police! Come out with your hands on your heads! We have the building surrounded!" the chief yelled through the megaphone.
No one came out, so Gohan, as the Great Saiyaman, decided to step in and help. "Don't worry chief! I'll take it from here!" he called to the chief of police. Gohan stepped up to the bank entrance, turned around, and flashed a big smile and the peace sign.
"Okay, big shot, now get in there and show those bandits who's boss, before they get away!" yelled the chief, and Gohan turned back around and opened the doors.
The inside was pretty fancy; there was a large fountain in the middle and a bunch of desks and counters on the sides, and two elevators near the back. But the place wasn't very welcoming at the moment. There were people lying on the floor with their hands on their heads, and terrified expressions on their faces, and a couple of the clerks were against the walls with a gangster holding a gun to their heads. Two men came out of one of the elevators, and three more from the other one, each man carrying a large sack, clearly filled with money and possessions. A large man stepped out from behind one of the desks, still holding a gun to a hostages head, who followed along with him, absolutely terrified.
"What are you doing here?! We're busy, get outa here, Saiyaman! Or this girl gets her brains blown out!" he hollared at Gohan.
But Gohan remained casual, and knew just what to do. There were a few other instances where criminals threatened to kill a hostage if he came any closer, or stayed in the building. He smirked, then suddenly disappeared and reappeared a second later right behind the man and his hostage, and grabbed his gun. The man glared at Gohan, but there was a hint of fear in his eyes, and Gpohan saw it. His smirk grew bigger, then he was just about to punch him when a gunshot fired from behind him. He turned around and saw one of the criminals pointing a gun to the cieling, and there was a whole just above him. It must have been a warning shot.
"Put the guns down, now, you've been caught!" he said angrily, not wanting to risk anyone getting hurt.
"Bite me!" yelled another man to his right, then he shot his gun at Gohan, who grabbed the bullet before it even touched his face. But a couple other men started shooting at him as well, and a few of the cops who were still waiting outside ran in to help Gohan.
"Freeze! Drop your guns, everyone!" yelled one of the cops, and a few more ran into the building. Another thief tried to shoot at one of the cops, but Gohan appeared in fromt of him and stopped the bullet.
The man who first talked to Gohan when he entered the bullet snuck over to where Gohan dropped his gun, picked it up, and grabbed one of the hostages from the floor.
"Get out now, or I SWEAR I'll shoot!" he yelled very loudly. The hostage was just a teen age boy, and was extremely terrified. Gohan was about to teleport over to him again, but the man stopped him. "You even THINK about doing that teleporty thing again and I'll DEFINATELY be slattering his brains! Get out of here Pigs!"
"Gohan was clearly pissed now, and about ready to go super saiyan, just to scare him. But then he'd show his identidy, and the press would be all over him. If he was fast enough, he could grab the man's gun again before he shot. He was just about to teleport over to him, when there was a loud BANG, and blood splattered from the boys head as he fell to the ground. Gohan stared at the dead teen, unable to even think of what to do next, when he became so extremely angry, that he didn't care if the world knew who he was. He transformed into super saiyan with a blast of ki, and his helmet flew of in a bunch of pieces, along with his cape.
"You heartless bastard!" he yelled as he flew foreward and punched the man. He was thrown back into, and through the wall behind him, and his minions stared at the Great Saiyaman in absolute shock and fear. Even the police men were afraid of his sudden explosion af of power. Each one of the thieves started heading for the entrance of the bank, and the cops followed. Outdside, the man Gohan punched through the wall was found, and the rest were arrested. The hostages were freed, and a couple Ambulances arrived and the dead boy was put in a body bag and carried off.
Videl had arrived at the scene apparently just after Gohan entered the building, but she wasn't allowed to go in, especially after the guns started firing. The chief insisted that the Great Saiyaman would be able to handle it. Gohan had wondered off a little ways to find a place to transform back into his normal clothes, and to power back down to normal saiyan level, but he did so half-heartedly. He blamed himself for the boy's death. He should have moved sooner! Videl found him a little while later, walking back towards the pizza place they were originally headed for.
"Hey, Gohan! she said, trying to sound cheerful, but she could tell from his gloomy "hello" it hadn't worked. "Listen, it wasn't your fault for what happened. Even if it were me in there, he probably still would have been killed."
Gohan didn't reply. He still felt like he could have stopped it from happenimg.
They walked into the pizza place and found Eliza waiting for them at a table. They ordered a couple of slices of pizza, and sat down with Eliza.
"What took you two so long?" she asked cheerfully.
"Oh, just the average crime stopping action we always go through, " bluffed Videl. She could tell Gohan was still upset about what happened, so she didn't mention it yet. "Is Sharpner here yet?"
"No, he must be in detention again," replied Eliza.
"Typical," Videl muttered under her breath.
School was finally over, and Gohan finally arrived home. He opened the door and noticed his mother was cooking dinner already.
"Hello Gohan!" welcomed his mother. He stopped in the kitchen to see what she was cooking. "Did you have a nice day?"
"I...don't really want to talk about it," he said quietly, then left the kitchen.
He went upstairs and into his room, threw his bag on the floor and fell face first onto his bed. Then he rolled over and stared out his wondow, and sighed heavily.
I sure hope that kid's happy where he is now... He thought, wishing all the events of today had never happened. I feel so bad for his family. And to think I could have stopped it.
He suddenly resented ever becoming the Great Saiyaman. There were too many deaths and injuries he was responsible for. Too many disappointments. He looked at the watch Bulma had made for him, and wondered what good he really did. The police were doing well enough before he came, and Videl was there too. He was probably just getting in her way too. He kind of did steal her job.
"I wish my dad were here. He'd know what to do," he said wistfully to himself.
Gohan picked up his book bag and pulled out one of his homework assignments. He figured he'd better get started on it before he got even further behind. About an hour later Chi-chi called him and Goten to come to dinner, so he went to wash his hands, and sat at the dinner table. Chi-chi noticed Gohan seemed a little distant tonight, and asked if he was okay.
"Yes, I'm fine," he lied. He was eating a lot slower than he usually did. He just couldn't stop thinking about what he could have done to prevent the things that happened during his lunch break. If he hadn't wasted so much time just playimg around with the thieves, and just hurried up and got them out of there so they could be arrested, no one would have died, or even gotten hurt. He just had to get cocky.
"Boy Gohan, you sure are eating slow, I'm already done my seconds!" bragged Goten, smiling. He obviously hadn't heard the news, but then again, how could he?
"I'm just not hungry tonight. Mom, this is really good, but may I be excused?" he asked politely.
"Sure, Gohan." said Chi-chi, wondering what was wrong with him.
Gohan headed back up to his room and started working on his homework again, and when Chi-chi and Goten were finished eating, Chi-chi went into the living room to watch TV, and Goten went into his bedroom.
Not much later, Chi-chi called gohan downstairs again.
"Gohan, your on TV again! Was there another robbery in the city today?" asked Chi-chi when he came into the living room.
"Yeah, there was."
A reporter was talking on the television, and it was showing the scene when Gohan first entered the building. You could hear the chief of police telling Gohan to get inside before they got away in the background. Then the reporter spoke again.
"Let's just wait and hope the Great Saiyaman will be able to stop this robbery. It's estimated that there are about 20 hostiges inside! Hopefully, none have been injured."
Not long after Videl ran into the scene, and the chief and her started discussing things. The reporter talked to a couple police men and the chief, then the first gunshot was heard.
"Gohan, was anyone hurt?" asked Chi-chi suddenly, clearly worried about her son, and seemingly forgetting he was a saiyan.
Gohan paused for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah. They killed a boy," he had a hard time saying this, and Chi-chi sensed it.
"Oh dear! How did it happen?" she asked?
Gohan sighed. "One of the thieves threatened to shoot him unless we left, and I tried to stop him. So he...shot the kid."
"Oh no. Is that why you've been so upset this afternoon? You're not blaming yourself are you Gohan?"
Gohan didn't reply.
"Gohan, you tried to save him, there's nothing else that could have been done," she said, Chi-chi, trying to reassure him.
They continued to watch the news, until the reporter tried to follow Gohan for an interview after the criminals were arrested and carted away, and Gohan made a mental decision. He was going to give up the Great Saiyaman. It was for the better. Videl could have her job back, although he still worried she'd get hurt, and that way, he wouldn't be responsible for any more deaths. He knew there was already a small group of people against him, and he didn't become the Great Saiyaman to gain enemies. Of course, he also knew peple would still get hurt. He didn't know what to do.
I'm so confused! But I can't just ask Mom what to do, I don't think she'd understand. She'd tell me to keep up with the Saiyaman thing. But I just can't! He thought. He stood up and headed back to his room. He made his decision. He opened his bedroom window, crawled out, and flew off to a small lake. There he took of his watch and threw it into the water. He knew all too well he'd miss stopping crime and saving people, but he couldn't take all the deaths anymore.
He flew back to home through his wincow, and laid down on his bed. He wasn't in the mood to do his homeowrk at the moment. His eyes began to close as he fell asleep.
Chi-chi knocked on the door.
"Time to wake up Gohan!" she said, then went back downstairs. He got ready, and headed downstairs to have breakfast. He remembered that he hadn't finished his homeowrk last night, and ran up to get it and brought it down to the living room. He realized that he had more time to do it this morning, since he'd thrown his watch into the water and wouldn't be fighting for justice anymore.
Goten came downstairs in his PJs at about 8:00, and asked Gohan why he was still here.
"Shouldn't you be at school Gohan?"
"I'm staying a little later today," he explained.
He left for school about fifteen minutes later. When he enetered the city, he heard police cars off in the distance, but knew he couldn't have anything to do with them. He landed on the school roof and went to push the button on his watch, but remembered it wasn't there anymore. He ran down to the second floor for biology, and found a few of his classmates already there.
"Hey Gohan, you're late." snickered one of the kids. Gohan just ignored him and went to his seat.
A girl in front of him passed him a folded up note and winked at him, and he unfolded it and read it: Saw u on tv last nite ;) Dont worry, i wont tell. It said. He recognized her from his English class. Boy, she must really be failing English. He thought to himself. Then the bell rang and the other students began to shuffle in the classroom, along with the teacher.
A week had passed and Gohan was able to avoid crime seens pretty well. Although Videl was starting to notice that he hasn't been following her around in his costume lately. Gohan could tell she was growing suspicious.
Him, Videl, Sharpner and Eliza were having lunch at the pizza place, and as they left, Videl told him she needed to talk to him privately. When she said that, Sharpner glared at Gohan jealously.
"Gohan, what happened to the Great Saiyaman? Where have you been lately?" she asked, a little angrily.
Gohan looked around him to make sure no one was listening. "Not so loud, someone might here!" he whispered. Then he decided it was time to come clean. "I uh, trew away the watch."
"You what?" yelled Videl, again pretty loudly. "Why? Are you insane? the city needs you! You're way better than I can ever be!"
"But you always tell me to let you handle everything? I thought I was just getting in your way," explained Gohan.
"Well, I just hate how you're always protecting me, that's all. I can fend for myself you know! And yeah, I guess you do get in the way of my reputation, but when it comes to the safety of the city and everyone in it, you just...do a really good job. I mean, you're a saiyan. I could never be as strong as you. But please don't tell me that's the only reason why you quit!" she demanded.
"Well, no," he admitted. "There's just, too many people dying, and it's all because of me."
Videl looked at him, as him disappointed with him. "Gohan what are you saying? Without you even more people are at risk! We need you!"
Gohan looked at her, and considered that. But he still wasn't entirely convinced. He didn't want to see another innocent person die, when he could have prevented it.
That night, Gohan sat in his room thinking. It was a new moon that night, but the stars gave at least some light.
What would my Dad have done? He asked himself. Hm, he'd probably have kept the outfit and continued saving people. Just goes to show how much weaker I am than him. I'll never live up to him.
He heard a knock on the door suddenly, and Goten came in.
"What's up squirt?" he asked his little brother.
"I'm bored. D'you wanna play a game?" Goten asked.
Gohan soghed mentally. He wasn't really in the mood to play a childish game, and he did have homework to do, but he hadn't been spending much time with Goten. "Sure," he agreed glumly.
"Yay! Come find me in...20 seconds!" hollared Goten as he ran off to hide.
For a moment, Gohan considered not botherng to find him, but he couldn't be that mean. After 20 seconds was up, he got up and started hunting his younger brother down. He looked in a couple of places, like Goten's closet, the hall closet, and some of the kitchen cupboards. He went into the bathroom and looked in the cupboards under the sink, then he heard a giggle behind him. He turned around and pulled the shower curtains back, and found Goten sitting in the tub.
"Oh, you found me! Okay, you go hide now!" he said, and started counting.
"Goten, I have to do my homework," Gohan said as he walked out of the bathroom. He could hear Goten complaining, so he promised himself he'd play with him tomorrow.
The next day on his way home, as he passed an alleyway, he heard a woman's scream coming from farther inside the alleyway. A sceam came again, and a man walking passed Gohan took notice too.
"I hope the Great Saiyaman's around here, for her sake. I certainly don't wanna end up at the wrong end of a gun," he said.
Gohan heard him, and felt guilty once again that he couldn't help the woman. Then he rememebered the conversation he'd had with Videl the other day. He was the city's greatest hope. And Videl wasn't anywhere around here. He realized then that the civilians had grown used to being saved by him or Videl, and just waited for one of them to show up. No one would try to help the woman in the alleyway, because they thought Videl Satan or the Great Saiyaman would handle it.
He ran into the alleyway and behind a dumpster, and powered up to super saiyan. If he didn't have his Great Saiyaman outfit with him, he could still fight as the Golden Haired Warrior. The woman screamed out "HELP!" once more, and Gohan was able to locate where she was. He turned a corner, and saw near the middle of this alleyway a young woman lying on the ground, and an middle aged man standing above her, forcing her down.
"Stupid bitch shut the hell up!" the man yelled, and he smacked her across the head, making her let out another terrified scream.
"You! Leave her alone!" Gohan called out to him.
The man turned and glared at Gohan. "Who the hell are you?!" he yelled back.
"Just back away from her! NOW!" Gohan commanded, moving forward. The man looked a little nervous, but he didn't budge.
"Screw off kid! She's mine!" he yelled at him with warning in his voice.
"I'm not interested in raping her! Get away from her, before I call the cops!" he didn't have a cell phone, so he could only hope the threat would work, and he didn't want to have to hurt him like he did the bank robber a week ago.
The man glared at him feriously, then backed off. "like hell I'm going back there! Fine, she's not worth the trouble!" and he ran the other way out of the alley.
Gohan walked up the the woman, and saw her shirt was a little torn at the neck, and she was missing a sleeve. "you're not hurt are you?" he asked her.
She was clearly still terrified, because when she saw him come near her, she tried to back up, but she was already against the wall. Then her expression changed. "Gohan?" she said. "I mean, it is Gohan, right?"
Gohan was startled that she knew his name. Then he realised he'd seen her before. She was the girl who'd passed him the note at the beginning of biology class a week ago. He nodded, and she smiled.
"Thanks for saving me. I was so scared, I thought he was going to shoot me!" she said, clearly relieved.
"He had a gun?"
"I think so. I'm pretty sure I saw one inside his jacket," she replied. "anyway, my name's Maria.
"Oh. Well, he didn't hurt you did he?" asked Gohan.
"Not too much. Is my head bleeding? It hurts a little."
"No, you're not bleeding. Here, I'll help you up." he held out his hand, and she took it.
"How do you get your hair like that? It's not like that at school," she asked him as he led her out of the alleyway.
"Err..." he stuttered. How was he supposed to explain this? "I use a lot of hair gel. And I die it sometimes."
"Then how come it's not like that at school? Is it that temporary stuff? You should do that at school, it looks really cool," she told him.
Gohan felt honoured she thought that, but it would take a lot out of him to stay super saiyan all day. He used to, but that was a long time ago, and he hasn't had to go super saiyan for an extended amount of time since he fought Cell.
"I think I'll just stick with leaving it black at school. I don't want everyone to know who I am."
"Oh, so I can't tell anyone?" she asked.
"Please, no."
Gohan decided to make a quick stop before he headed home that day. He walked over to Bulma's, knocked on the door, and when Trunks opened it, he was led inside. He found Bulma working with her father in a lab.
"Hey gohan! How's it going?" she aked cheerfully.
"Good, I guess. How's everyone here?" he replied.
"Oh, we're doing fine. What brings you here? Can I help you?"
"Yeah, um, you know my Great Saiyaman watch?" he bagn, and she nodded. "Um, it kinda...needs to me re-made."
"Why? What happened?" Bulma asked, then changed her mind. "Never mind, that's not important. Do you have it with you, or do I have to start from scratch?"
"Scratch."
Bulma sighed. "Okay then, Dad, I'll be back soon."
"Okay dear. Have a nice day Gohan," said Dr. Briefs.
Bulma led Gohan to another section in the lab, and started working on the watch. Gohan grew a little bored of waiting, and went to find Trunks. He found him in the living room on the sofa watching TV, and Gohan sat to watch with him. Of course, he was watching a childish show; Spnge Bob Square Pants, but it was probably a lot more entertaining than watching Bulma tinker with nuts, bolts and wires.
About an hour or so later, Bulma came into the living room with the new watch. "Here it is Gohan! Try it out!"
Gohan put the watch on his wrist, and pushed the button, and in a flash, he became the good old Great Saiyaman again! "Wow, it even looks the same!" he exclaimed, impressed. "Thanks Bulma, this is really great!"
"Anytime Gohan. Tell your Mom I said hi! And we should get together again sometime! It's been a while!"
Gohan nodded, and headed for the door. He couldn't wait to hear the police siron wailing through the city streets. He wasn't going tp tell Videl about this though. He wanted to surprise her. But it wasn't until the next day during lunch that Videl's beeper went off again. She stated the location once again, but Gohan didn't run off to find a place to change. Videl rolled her eyes at this, and when she'd run out of sight, Gohan smirked and sneaked off behind an old aprtment building where no one would see him. Eliza and sharpner watched him run off, a little confused, since he hadn't done that in a while.
Gohan, in his Saiyaman costume, flew off after Videl, and found her and a couple of cop cars by an apartment. Gohan walked up the one of the police officers.
"What's going on officer?" he asked in his deeper, cornier Great Saiyaman voice.
"Saiyaman! Haven't seen you in a few days! There's a robbery on the 12th floor, we have some men heading up there right now. I think we've got it covered, but thanks for showing up anyway" the officer explained.
"But what if someone gets hurt? I can't allow that! I'm going in!" he demanded, and strolled up to the entrance. He passed Videl, and winked at her, and she smiled back.
"I knew you'd come back," she whispered to him.
"But Great Saiyaman! We can handle it! Really!" the officer protested. "It's not as big of a deal as we thought it was!"
"One of those thieves could have a gun, and another innocent person could be killed! I'm not letting that happen, anymore!" he said, then did a couple of his dorky poses, and exclaimed: "Because I am the Great Sayaman, protector of justice!"