Chapter 3- These mortals make no sense.

"One thing, I told you one thing! Don't kill anyone so what's the first thing you do when you touch down!" Dende seethed at obviously disinterested Saiyan.

"I didn't," Tai replied for the third time, this time he didn't bother hiding his exasperation.

Upon his return to the lookout he asked Piccolo why Gohan and Krillin were in Hercule City. Piccolo explained what they had been up to in the previous 7 years, and even chuckled when telling him about Gohan's school life. Then this argument began.

"Then explain what happened,"

Tai shook his head, "I want to go back."

Dende dropped his staff at not only the saiyans complete irreverence to Earth's guardian, but also the blatant disregard for the seriousness of his actions. "Are you kidding me?"

Tai waited impatiently for Dende's answer. Piccolo stepped in between the pair. He glared at Tai sternly and the saiyan returned one with as much confusion as intensity.

"Both of you stay calm," big green instructed. "What happened back there?"

"I went to grab something to eat, when I was done someone accused me of killing someone, then authorities showed up. I tried to escape but an earthling tried to stop me," Tai said, he caught on to Dende's expression at the end of the sentence and immediately added "So I fractured her leg, got out of her sight and came here."

Piccolo listened in on the saiyans heart and didn't notice any changes in its pace. Besides that, Tai was a bad liar to begin with. Lying was a skill beaten out of him as a child. "He's telling truth."

"Do you know who died."

"The only people I fought were earthlings in an alleyway. I might have killed them."

"You shouldn't have engaged them. You know your strength."

"I practically tapped them, and they flew into the wall. It's not my fault they're weak."

Dende's grip on his staff grew so strong it started to chip at the wood, likewise the strength of his glare and tension in his chest grew to a boiling point. His usual calm demeanour evaporated with the heat of his rage as he stomped over to Tai, before jabbing his staff into the saiyans chest. "Listen here you spoiled, arrogant, conceited brat. Life is sacred and should be respected. I work hard every day to keep the Earth from being destroyed by the earthling's greed, stupidity and lack of compassion. I don't need to saiyans making things worse."

Tai rolled his eyes at Dende's rant, and that was the final straw of the normally relaxed guardian.

"Get off the lookout," he demanded.

"What!?" Piccolo and Tai replied in unison. Though Tai's was coated with amusement rather than shock.

"I said leave. If you're going to undermine my work, then you have no right to be here. LEAVE"

Tai's ki spiked at Dende's tone and he unconsciously started marching towards the smaller namekian. "Do you know who you talking to? Do you know what I can do to this planet?" During his march, a small purple orb started forming in Tai's palm, gradually growing and developing black plasma spinning chaotically around its axis. "Do you know what I can do to you?" he threatened with near psychotic calmness.

Piccolo stepped between the pair for the umpteenth time, but this time he was ready for a fight, one he new he stood no chance in, but he had to protect Dende.

"Tai, you need to calm down. Dende is too vital to all of us for you to kill him in a tantrum."

Tai turned his focus to Piccolo. "Get out of my way." This is no tantrum, this is divine retribution.

Piccolo knew this was only ending up one way, so he tossed aside his cloak and turban and raised his ki. "If you want him then you'll have to get through me," the namek stood firm.

"As you wish," he raised him palm into Piccolo's face, his vacant eyes meeting Piccolos glare.

An image suddenly formed in Tai's eyes. Piccolo standing protectively in front of Tai as a third form Frieza was about to kill him, and he uttered the same words then to Frieza as he is to Tai now. He remembered the look of sadistic glee that filled Frieza's eyes when he tortured Piccolo.

I am not him!

You sure sound like him. You even gave the same reply.

Tai's resolve faltered momentarily, but that was enough for everything to go wrong. The ball of energy in his hand began to grow and spiral out of control.

"Dammit," he screamed, slowly feeling the ball of destruction consuming his palm. I must regain control, Tai tried to will himself and the ball back into control, but the pain was becoming unbearable and he knew holding onto it for too long in this state could kill him.

"Get off the lookout now!" he ordered, this time Dende and Piccolo happily complied, taking to the sky as quickly as they could.

Tai then did the only thing he could to do, and that was launch it. He aimed it at the lookout floor and upon impact, everything that was on the lookout was gone. From the tiles to the trees and even the hyperbolic time chamber. All was gone, vanished without so much as an explosion.

The pair of Namekians looked at him in awe. "Piccolo, whatever technique that was, could just have easily destroyed the earth if he wasn't careful."

"It's not like him to use an attack he can't control."

"I don't think his ki control is the problem. I think it's mental."

When they turned to face the topic of their conversation, he was already gone.

-X-

1 month later

"Bye Rase," a young blonde child waved at Erasa, before he was soon a part of the swarm of children entering the school building.

Erasa waved at her younger brother lovingly, feeling a warmth in her chest only he could draw. He's so cute right now, why can't he stay that way forever.

She turned around, fixing her handbag and brushing stray hairs away from her eyes so she could go to school herself. Hercule Primary School was only a 10-minute walk from her school, so she didn't mind dropping her brother off, but her mum could pick him up when she left work.

Her walk was relatively boring until she saw a glimpse of Saiyamans red cape descending into the town centre. Curious, she entered area, figuring it could kill time until school started, and she hoped to meet the superhero to test out a hypothesis.

There was a burglar alarm blaring loudly from River Island, and the superhero was standing outside holding a struggling, blue haired, woman. In her flailing she finally dropped her school bag and two tops fell out onto the floor along with a makeup bag.

The manager walked out and pointed to the security tags still on the shirts and shaking her head. The entire time Erasa kept her presence hidden. Feeling that his work was done he prepared to take off into the sky.

"Wait!" Erasa hollered.

The sudden interruption caused Gohan to fall comedically to the ground, mid-take-off. Erasa took the opportunity to get close to the costumed superhero. She sprayed a healthy amount of perfume on her shirt and a little on her hand before helping him up.

"Sorry about that, I just wanted to talk to you."

"What do you wish to talk about madame?" Gohan fought the cough threatening to leave his mouth.

"Two things. First, thanks for helping the city. With Videl injured and her dad not stepping up, criminals have been getting pretty gutsy. You're the only person that keeps them in check."

Saiyaman chuckled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head just like a certain person she knew. "The police are the real protectors of this city, I just lend a helping hand wherever I can," he downplayed his contribution.

"You're too modest," she playfully punched his arm.

"Thank you, ma'am. I'm in a rush, so what was that second thing you wanted?" Saiyaman inquired, and without warning Erasa, Erasa hugged his arm then pulled him in close.

"Can you walk me to school. It would be totally[TM1] cool to walk in with a super hero."

Gohan sweat dropped underneath his visor before declining her request and returning to his morning patrol. Erasa smirked knowingly, she was going to prove her theory today.

-X-

Later in the afternoon

Erasa pushed the door open and held it there to allow her friend to walk through. Sharpener sped through the door, squeezing past a black-haired student, who immediately cursed him.

"Thanks, babe, you're so thoughtful," he smirked, then blew Videl a kiss.

"Jerk," Erasa cussed, then she waved Videl through the door, taking care not to get in the way of her crutches. Sharpener to his credit had pulled out the chairs for his friends and they quickly joined the blonde.

"Erasa," Videl gestured.

Once they took their seats, Erasa wacked Sharpeners arm for the little joke and Videl smiled approvingly. They took out their books and waited for the teacher to arrive as the classroom gradually filled up.

"Everyone take your seats, I have an announcement to make," Mr Moore said he said while looking out at the class, focusing slightly more at Videl and Erasa than anyone else, but no one took much notice of it.

"We have new student," Moore announced, causing his students to murmur amongst themselves. It was always going to create a buzz. Naturally they were curious about the student, but all their questions were soon going to be answered.

"Come on in boy," the teacher shouted, and the door opened. "He received perfect scores in maths, physics, biology and his IQ registers at over 180."

Before the calls for nerd could commence, in walked a tall, tanned young man with black spiky hair and a bag hanging lazily from his shoulder. He looked out into the class wearing a bored expression, finding nothing worth his attention. "Introduce yourself, boy."

"My name's Taikon," Tai said, he couldn't recognize the looks he was getting from people. He could see the malice behind some of the male's eyes, however the looks he received from some girls puzzled him. He wore red sleeveless body warmer and black joggers. His muscular arms were on full display with Angela tracing their outline in the air.

"Find an empty seat and we'll begin our lesson."

Tai sat by the only person not giving him any sort of glare and look, a girl in glasses and faced the front of the class. Nothing about the lesson interested him at all. It was a history lesson about events that happened hundreds of years prior. He found it surprisingly hard to concentrate, mainly because a few of the girls kept sneaking looks at him and smiling to themselves. He had even forgotten how his sensitive saiyan nose hated the strength of women's perfume.

Out of boredom he used started listening to a conversation between two girls at the front of the class about 'The Great Saiyaman'. From what he gathered from the news the hero had ki abilities that people deemed super powers and used them to fight crime. No zeni needed to figure out who he was, Tai thought.

"Just because they showed up at the same time doesn't make Gohan. Saiyaman," Erasa whispered.

Idiot.

"It's suspicious."

Less stupid.

"It's a coincidence."

"He only shows up whenever Gohan's around."

Even less stupid. Maybe that black haired girl is interesting. At least she's smarter than the blonde.

"What?"

"He's only around during school days and never on weekends. He wasn't even here on the bank holiday."

Tai nodded in approval at the girls deduction, but it was all guess work with no evidence, even though she was correct.

"Is there anything you'd like to share with the class Miss Videl," Mr. Moore challenged.

"No, sir."

At the end of the lesson Mr. Moore dismissed the class but told Angela to stay behind. He turned to the bespectacled girl and asked. "You, human!" he demanded.

"You, weirdo," she retorted.

Tai wasn't sure what a weirdo was, but he continued as if she didn't say anything. "What happens next"

"Lunch," she replied.

Tai grunted in approval before throwing his bag over his shoulder and strolling out of the classroom, into the hallway. The usual hustle and bustle of school life happened before his very eyes, so he observed his new companions. I've seen jungles more organised than this. People are pushing past each other, shouting, spitting, laughing and they are content with it for the most part. Unless they are weaker that is.

He considered going to the canteen to get his lunch, but he was quickly interrupted by Earth's guardian invading his thoughts. NO!

After the incident he hadn't seen the namekians, but Dende did keep an eye on him and speak to him telepathically when necessary.

I know Gohan is trying to keep a low profile and I respected that. Besides, after how they reacted to us around the Cell Games, I don't think their brains could handle what I can do now.

While lost in his thoughts, he failed to notice Erasa step in front of him, only becoming aware when her perfume assaulted his nose "Hiya," she waved. She flashed Tai a bright, friendly grin and offered her hand out invitingly.

"I'm Erasa, those two over there are Videl and Sharpener," she gestured towards a blonde male and black-haired female who offered tight smiles. "I know you're new so you probably won't have anyone to eat with. You wanna come with us," she offered.

Don't eat with the earthlings.

Dende's voice rang through his head and he shook his head. "I eat alone," he said, making Erasa frown.

"Don't be shy," she smiled before attempting to drag Tai along. He eyed her with mild astonishment, she was trying to force a saiyan warrior along to do as she wished, and she even got physical unlike Bulma. Tai wrestled out of her grip and walked away from the group.

"Someone needs to learn some manners," Sharpener commented.

"Yeah, kinda like someone needs to learn not to cut across a girl on crutches," Videl snapped.

"Are you still on about that?"

Videl paused then glared at her friend, pressing her finger into his chest. "When I can walk, the first thing I'm doing is kicking your ass."

"You guys bicker like an old married couple," Erasa chimed in, not taking her eyes off the boy walking away. Too bad, he's really cute too.

"Ha! She/He wishes," they mocked simultaneously.

-X-

It had taken a little over a month, but Gohan had found the perfect place to have his lunch in peace. There was a tree near the main school entrance that not many people hung around, in fact there was no through traffic.

Ever since he had encountered Mr Moore on the roof, it seemed like he had a vendetta against Gohan. The detention was only the beginning. He cracked down hard on Gohan for the smallest of offences, whether it was tardiness, speaking in class, he was always punished with detention. He was berated for answering questions and not saying specific words, or not answering and then ridiculed for his perfect marks. Teachers that didn't know him had a tainted view of him and they treated him with scorn, all because one teacher didn't like him.

"There he is," Erasa declared with a glean in her eye, with Videl and Sharpener in tow. "We've been looking all over for you."

"No, you have. We've been dragged all over school while our lunches get getting cold," Sharpener grumbled.

"Hey guys," Gohan said, "What are you doing here?"

"Erasa figured you might be lonely at lunch so she wanted us to sit with you."

Sharpener and Erasa sat on the ground beside Gohan while Videl stood there, trying to figure out a way to join them. Her leg was still in a cast after the incident over a month ago, and her arm had customised supports, made by Capsule Corp, that helped her use it even though it hurt.

Sharpener was about to stand up and help her, but Erasa tugged on his shirt to prevent him from getting up, "Gohan would you mind helping Videl sit down."

Gohan obliged and stood behind Videl, so he could guide her on her way down. Unconsciously, Videl's heart rate picked up being so close to the saiyan and she could feel a small warmth in her cheeks. "I got you," he said softly, making the hairs on her neck stand up. "Videl?" he questioned, after she took longer than she was supposed to, to respond.

What was that about? The young crimefighter thought to herself before letting herself fall gently into his arms. She noticed that his arms were much stronger than she thought, in fact they felt muscular and defined underneath the baggy shirt. The other thing she noticed was that he smelled… feminine and sweet. It's like he's wearing perfume.

"Have you been with a girl recently?" she asked, a little more forcefully than she would have liked

"Yeah, this school is filled with them," he answered cluelessly.

"I mean have you hugged someone lately."

He shook his head before furrowing his eyebrows. "Why do you ask?"

"You smell like perfume."

"Way to go brains," Sharpener congratulated raising his hand, so Gohan could reciprocate a reluctant high-five. "I didn't think you had it in you."

Erasa went over to Gohan to get a whiff and she smiled brightly. "Gohan, that smells just like my favourite perfume," she cooed.

"Have you guys been…"

"No Videl, this is the first time I've seen him today."

"Then how does he smell like you. You got that stuff from the Land of Korin and they don't sell it anywhere else."

Gohan was screaming mentally. Sweat was forming at the base of his forehead and threatened to cascade down his guilty face. His brain scrambled for a believable explanation about how he got Erasa's scent on him. Then he remembered she hugged him as Saiyaman. He looked in the blonde's eyes, taking in the confidence and assurance that radiated from them. She knew something.

"I guess some other girl has it too, I did bump into a lot of people when I came here," he stuttered. At the end of his explanation he took note of the slight tug at the corner of Erasa's lips.

"I guess so," she agreed before winking at him.

-X-

Next period was another session of gym class, which Gohan shared with Sharpener, Videl and Erasa. It was Gohan's most dreaded lesson, not because it was hard to do, in fact it was too easy. The earthlings were too brittle, too frail and too easily amazed by the simplest of feats. He was constantly defending himself for being physically better than any of them and if his mother wasn't forcing him to do it, he'd skip it all together.

Mr. Fields, whistled loudly gaining the attention of the class, making them gather around. "Starting three weeks from now we're going to be doing martial arts," the announcement drew a chorus of cheers from the students, particularly those who trained in the local gym.

"But for now, we're going to do athletics, namely 100-meter sprint, long jump and javelin. I'll split the class into 3, so everyone gets a shot."

The split was done by where you stood, so naturally people ended up with their friends. Despite the heat, Gohan still wore a baggy shirt and sweats but people were used to it by now. They just assumed he was shy and left it at that.

Gohan stood near the back so he could see the average score and land around there, since his actual jump would cause sand to fly everywhere and probably leave a crater in his wake. Videl was laying on the ground with Erasa, with her leg still in a cast she couldn't do any physical activity, but she still liked watching her classmates. Gohan managed to look average and land somewhere in the middle of the pack, then he joined Erasa and Videl on the floor.

"Hey look, it's that new kid," Erasa whispered pointing at Tai. Gohan was too distracted by the clouds to see his approach.

I wonder what Dad is doing now? He's probably training with King Kai somewhere. I just hope he's happy. Goten's been asking a lot more about him and it's getting harder to explain just how great my dad is since he always wants to know more. Dad's hard to describe, he's the type of guy you need to just be around to get it.

"Maybe he's coming here to apologize for being such a jerk," Videl scoffed.

"Well we're about to find out," the blonde sighed. She unconsciously found herself fixing her appearance and brushing the grass out of her hair with her fingers, but Tai ignored the two girls and stood in front of an unsuspecting Gohan.

Gohan stirred at the sight of an extra shadow in his space and turned to face the person responsible. When his eyes landed on the face of the man, they stretched wide and his heart dropped. It suddenly felt as though someone turned the gravity up to 1000, an uncomfortable chill ran down his spine as memories of that day flooded his mind.

Videl could have sworn that Gohan's mind had crashed, judging from that vacant look in his eye. His jaw had dropped, but soon he mouthed something she was certain she misread. She swore she heard him say, 'You're dead'. Not as a threat, but as a statement.

"It's been a while hasn't it," Tai said, breaking the tension between them, and bringing Gohan back to reality. Once it finally registered that wasn't a dream and it was real, Gohan jumped to his feet and hugged his old friend.

The blatant show of affection took Erasa and Videl aback, Gohan was normally show shy and reserved that they thought displays such as this were beyond him. He laughed gleefully, which surprisingly didn't get the attention of others.

"Looks like Taikon has friends after all," Videl sniped. Her eyes narrowing at the pair, she didn't know much about Tai, but just the fact that he's close to Gohan made him someone important in her eyes. The demi-saiyan was a mystery, a puzzle she needed to solve for her own sanity.

"Gohan…" Tai wheezed, in his relaxed state he wasn't prepared for Gohan's strength. "You're hugging me." His words fell on deft ears as Gohan didn't let go. "Get off me," Tai raised his power level slightly and broke Gohan's grip.

Gohan's hands found the back of his head, there were so many questions he wanted to ask that his mouth couldn't keep up with his brain, so incoherent babel came out.

"Aren't you going to introduce us to your friend, Gohan?" Videl asked.

"We've met," Tai replied immediately, earning a stern glare from the injured crime fighter.

"Guys this is Tai, he's an old friend." He said anyway despite Tai's words, "When did you meet them?"

"We're in the same History class. I need to talk to you," Tai tried to change the subject from the human girls on the floor. His demeanour never changing from the stoic mask. "When this is over we should go somewhere."

"What about the Lookout."

"Not an option. Neither is your place, Kame House or West City."

Both girls didn't take much notice of Kame House, but the certainly did of West City. Erasa whispered to Videl. "West City is even Further away than Gohan's place, why would Tai suggest that," but Videl was too invested in their conversation to notice.

Gohan's facial features mirrored Tai's and another first occurred in front of Videl. As far as she knew, this was the first time Gohan's face was set in such a stern manner. The took stock of his clenched jaw and narrow eyes and her interest in the two grew a lot more.

The next activity on the groups course was the 100-meter sprint. Tai and Gohan stood silent beside one another, the only communication they had was an occasional exchange of looks whenever anyone bragged about their speed.

All attempts to learn more about Tai was immediately rebuffed by him. He would either ignore them or send them an icy glare, but that did nothing to curb Videl's curiosity. He wouldn't say where he was from, where he lived, how he got to school or what he did for fun. The question about his family was particularly troublesome. All Erasa did was ask what his parents did, and it seemed as if the world had stopped. It started when Gohan winced.

Tai shot her a murderous glare, one which made the blonde yelp with fear. Then a sharp gust of wind rocked the class and Tai was the epicentre. Gohan looked at the girls and shook his head sadly, showing that it's not up for discussion. As soon as pity had filled the blonde's eyes, Tai shook his head in disgust and calmed down. I am a saiyan warrior, I don't need her pity or anyone elses.

Both saiyans had a similar idea in that they wouldn't do anything super human. Gohan entered the race just before Tai's and finished with a score of 15 seconds, nothing spectacular but that was the point.

The closer it got to the race, the more it burned Tai that he had to limit himself so that these earthling's meagre reality could be preserved. Mortals will continue to confuse and flabbergast him for the rest of his existence.

During his first heat he ran at a speed of 10 seconds, this alone was enough to draw attention from the class, particularly the coach who wanted him to join the school track team. He ran 3 more times and achieved similar times, each time looking more bored than the last and then they moved on to javelin.

The entire time they waited in line he looked at Erasa with minor annoyance. Yes, the blonde was bubbly, happy and ditzy, all of which he found irritating but the one which baffled him was her acting. The blonde was receiving praise from some of the girls for her effort since she finished last in her races. What they didn't notice was the fact that she finished 2nd in his first race and lost by a second. Everyone's attention was so fixed on Tai that they ignored the blonde and she wasn't trying to speak up for herself.

"These mortals make no sense."


[TM1]