Tao wasted no time charging Gohan to attack him, with a heavy chop aimed at the Super Saiyan's neck he flung his arm in offense. Gohan caught his attack at the wrist and stared with a cold anger right into Tao's eyes before whipping his arm to the side and tossing Tao through the sky. Gohan pushed off after the airborne cyborg. He quickly caught him and hit him with a devastating combo. A right cross to the jaw followed by a left knee to the solar plexus, a right uppercut elbow to the chin and roundhouse to the ribs that had the assassin careening through the sky. With a blast of his Ki Gohan quickly caught up to Tao and flew evenly just above him before hitting Tao with a spinning backhanded slap that threw the criminal back towards the mayor's building. He hit the ground hard at the top of the steps, creating a crater with a slightly deeper hole in the shape of his body in the center. Gohan landed just ahead of the line of Police cars with his back to them as the people there gawked at him. Gohan started walking up the steps. Tao's hand emerged and gripped the Earth above him, struggling to pull himself up out the rubble he was in. His head emerged and showed that he was bleeding - or was that oil? - from multiple places on his face. Gohan passed him up completely and walked up to the injured Videl.
Gohan bent down to her level and helped her to her feet. He put an arm around her waist and looped one of her arms around his shoulders to support her. He floated steadily to prevent jolting her or causing further damage, towards the line of police cars. When he was almost there however he felt an uneasy feeling and out of paranoia turned to look back at Tao and saw him with his left arm pulled off from halfway up the forearm and what looked like a cannon inside. Gohan's eyes widened when he felt the intensity of Ki gathering within the Ki-less space that Tao's arm took up. "Shit." Gohan thought right as the beam was fired at him.
"DODONPA!" Tao bellowed, letting loose the bright yellow tunnel of light. Gohan saw it coming and knew that if he dodged it, there would be massive property damage and possible innocents being injured, but on the other hand if he didn't dodge it Videl would be completely vaporised, and in his position there was no chance of putting up a Ki field, he was too panicked to focus his Ki. Gohan growled, "DAMMIT!" He screamed internally and bared his teeth in anger at being trapped and then threw himself to the side and watched as the beam passed by and put a beach ball sized hole straight through a building before shooting off into the distance, due to the angle it was fired on it rose as it travelled and just as it reached another building it had risen enough to go over it and off into the distance where it hit a mountain and exploded. The force and speed of the blast however had caused a massive wind tunnel in the direction the blast headed, tearing street signs and bits of brick, mortar and concrete from the buildings around it and throwing them around. Cars were picked up and thrown and people were swept off their feet.
Gohan got back to his feet with a now unconscious Videl in his arms. He looked her over concerned but concentrated back on Tao once he was assured that the girl in his arms was okay. So it turned out that Tao was extremely durable, although Gohan far outclassed him in terms of speed and power. So he just had to pull his punches less is all. With a burst of Ki springing to life around his form, Gohan lunged at Tao kicking him with enough force to shake the surrounding buildings. Tao was launched into the sky and Gohan jumped after him. He caught up and Tao had just thrown an axe kick at Gohan's head. Gohan floated to the side to dodge it before his hand shot out lightning fast and grabbed Tao by the throat. Gohan rocketed his elbow into the top of Tao's skull and let him fly down into the ground. Gohan slowly floated down to the ground as Tao emerged from the rubble and stood back up looking a little worse for wear. Gohan swiftly ghosted into attack range and Tao reacted with lightning fast strikes that Gohan easily slipped and avoided. He deflected a sharp kick, twisting his body and shoving the leg away and to his right, simultaneously using his momentum to spin and plant his heel in Tao's chest. Tao was knocked flat on his ass by the blow and lay there, damaged terribly and haf multiple failing systems.
"This...this can't be...he's so...powerful!" Tao thought, now beginning to realise what such as huge mistake he had made as Gohan slowly walked to his prone form. Gohan merely looked down at the cyborg with disgust and apathy before he swung his leg forward and upward in an arc, kicking Tao into the air just in front of the Saiyan. Time seemed to slow for Tao as he saw the silent rage, hidden beneath the surface, the raw power that now seemed to change the air around them. A power so large it made Tao's mechanical parts vibrate and his skin feel clammy. Gohan stared back coldly into Tao's eyes for what seemed like an eternity but was, in actuality, only an instant, before the Saiyan warrior swung his arm downward at Tao's waist, completely chopping the cyborg assailant in half.
The people in the crowd gasped and the Police officers winced and recoiled. Someone in the crowd was heard throwing up at the sight of blood/oil splashing out onto the ground as both halves of Tao lay on the ground. Gohan grasped the top half and flew up into the air above the city. Sparking sounds and mechanical whirs and hisses sounded out as Tao grunted and groaned. Gohan pulled him up to eye level. "Game over." He uttered with a deep, eerie rasp to his tone, before throwing Tao as hard as he could to a distant mountain and then forming a Ki blast the size of a basketball in his hand and throwing it like a baseball right after the soaring cyborg. He waited as the two objects grew smaller as they flew in the distance before there was a moment of silence, followed immediately by sizeable explosion. Gohan nodded in satisfaction before floating back down to the crowd of people who were looking at him in fear and awe. He looked down at the still twitching legs of Tao and held his hand out, palm-first, before vaporising the bottom half into nothing but scorched concrete and ash.
"God I hate androids." Gohan thought with distaste before turning back to Videl. She was starting to come back to the waking world and Gohan crouched at her side. He picked her up and walked over to a police car, sitting her up on it before beckoning for medics to check her out. The medics quickly and efficiently did their check up on Videl and found that she had a few cracked ribs, bruised muscles and exhaustion but was otherwise unharmed. Gohan let out a long sigh of relief at hearing that. The medics were somewhat concerned about how such rapid exhaustion could have taken place but the Saiyan youth understood perfectly, he had sensed it earlier. "Videl unknowingly tapped into her Ki reserves in a moment of desperation. It was likely her first time doing such a thing so its no wonder if that she's completely exhausted, but she'll recover." He thought to himself with a sense of calm, glad that this ordeal was finally over. Gohan turned to leave when he was called back.
"Wait! What…happened to…T-Tao?" Videl asked as she was loaded onto a stretcher by medics and had her wounds nursed. Gohan smiled in an expression he hoped was comforting to the girl.
"Tao is gone, I…destroyed him." Gohan told her, looking away in shame of himself and his actions.
"Destroyed? Look I know you are just doing what you think is necessary to protect the city, trust me I get that, but you can't just kill every criminal you come across like the judge jury and executioner." She reprimanded with an air of lawful duty to her tone, "We have a system here and you aren't even a real officer." She told him, which further made Gohan feel worse about himself and his fists clenched in frustration at his own recklessness. Videl's "people sense" as Erasa called it, was telling her that she didn't need to say anymore and that he still detested himself for killing that normal criminal the other day.
Videl looked at him, like REALLY looked at him, on a more than physical level. The gentleness of his mannerisms, how naturally quiet and polite he was. She knew he was on a level to which probably no one could match, and she got the impression that what she had seen was only the tip of the iceberg. He could probably go on a rampage and destroy everything and everyone without consequence. He could decimate towns and ravage the Earth with his power. And yet he chose to restrain it all to help these normal people, some of whom thought he was a nuisance and freak. This Super powerful being was also a good man who just wanted to make the world a safer place for the innocent.
She actually felt a twinge of guilt for making him feel bad about himself even more than he already did and so, swallowing her pride for the good of humanity, she decided she should try positive reinforcement so he didn't quit crime fighting entirely. She sighed heavily and put a hand on his shoulder, "I'm sorry, I doubt you do it to purposely put yourself above the law. I didn't need your help, but thank you for protecting the people." she told him, trying to sound grateful. The smile that lit up his face was almost worth the humility and care she was forced to display in public.
Gohan's smile lessened into a more content grin as he gazed up at the heavens, "Lime, Dad, I'm finally doing right by you…" he thought silently in the private recesses of his mind. After all, if he said Lime's name out loud Videl might get an idea about who he really was. Oh he had no idea. He looked back to Videl and gave her a simple nod before making a slight waving motion as if to say goodbye, he went to turn again but once again he was stopped, this time by Paparazzi.
"Sir! Who are you?" "whats your name?" "why do you insist on interrupting in crime fighting?" "are you aware you can be considered a vigilante?" "Do you purposely get in Videl's way to try to belittle her?" The questions flew faster than Cell could punch and Gohan was struggling to keep up but he heard them. His mood turned slightly sour and he allowed some excess Ki to leak out, forming a misty gold Aura around him.
"My name is Saiyaman!" he boomed over the crowd, amplifying his voice by projecting it with Ki, "To answer your questions I am a protector, a defender! But I am NOT a pushover." He told the swarm with a tone of finality that caused mixed reactions. "I will never harm an innocent person, but make no mistake, I am more powerful than most of the comic book heroes you advertise, so it would be in your best interests and far safer for you all to merely accept my help and .alone." with not even another word uttered he crouched and gathered his energy. Smaller objects and debris around him began to defy the laws of gravity and levitated slowly as if in slow motion, before finally he shot off into the sky with a blast of wind that knocked over the mass of humans.
"Saiyaman huh?" she muttered under her breath, "obviously an alias" she thought to herself as she devised another theory, it came to her like some higher power connected the dots. Then again, she was already a great detective and had this ability to read people so perhaps, from her perspective at least, it wasn't that strange, "Alter ego's are typically for people with secret identities. But he doesn't wear a mask or face cover of any kind. He doesn't wear much for that matter, always in just…pants and no shirt….What?! No! Focus Videl! You're a Satan!" after wrestling back her thoughts she got back on her train of thought. "So how can a guy who exposes his face and body to the public have a secret identity…" She thought about it for a while trying to make sense of the information she currently had at her disposal. Whatever it doesn't matter right now, she had to go and get training herself, the tournament was this year, and now at 17 she could fight in the adults division, she had already consecutively won 3 Junior tournaments.
Idly she wondered if "Saiyaman" would enter the tournament, he would surely win if he did. Her father certainly couldn't beat him. But then maybe that's why he hasn't entered any as of yet, there's no competition for someone like him. But then if he could do the things he could surely someone else could somewhere on Earth. Unless he was an alien sent here as a baby to escape his dying planet like Superman or something, but besides the glowing and gold hair and power, he seemed like any other human, just an incredibly ripped, muscular human.
"Ugh, I Need to punch something."
Meanwhile with Gohan
"Was I too harsh with them? Humans are easily frightened and extremely superstitious after all. I just really don't want one to try following me one day and catch me turning back to normal or something." He realized he wasn't looking where he was flying and saw that he was barreling right at some kind of billboard. He threw his Ki forward as a cushion to slow himself. He stopped just before the board and saw it was an advertisement for the World Martial Arts Tournament. "A tournament huh? That could be interesting if the others entered." It dawned on him that not a lot of his friends had stayed in contact, god knows where Tien is and Yamcha wasn't really viable as a fighter anymore. Krillin still kept in touch because he was Goku's best friend but even he had mostly been out of the picture the past 7 years. Vegeta was different, ever since Cell, Vegeta had shown kindness to Gohan…well kindness for Vegeta that is. Maybe the older man felt a sense of loneliness as the last full blooded Saiyan, and after Gohan's genetic mutation he was the closest thing to a full Saiyan that existed. Vegeta certainly held little care for the rest of the group but being one of few survivors of the group, left crippled so as to have the memory of his sacrifices die with them as he withered away must have been a haunting notion to the prince.
Still, Vegeta was well on his way to recuperation. It was only a matter of time before the proud warrior tasted the air of a battlefield as he soared free as a bird through the open sky. He was still a good training partner but Gohan couldn't go all-out with the prince until he had completely healed, which stunted the growth of his strength but fine tuned his reflexes and honed his technique. But speaking of Vegeta healing, that should be done in time for the tournament! Maybe Gohan could convince him to join the tournament with him, so he could have at least one good fight. Surely a competition based on fighting was not beneath him.
"Such a foolish competition is utterly beneath me boy!"
Scratch that…
Capsule Corp: Later
"Aw come on! Just join the damn tournament with me!" Gohan urged to the Saiyan with crossed arms and a scowl that deepened slightly at Gohan's request.
"Are you out of your blasted mind boy! A stupid little tournament ring full of Humans is now a good place for us to slug it out with each other? I can fight you whenever I please." The proud Prince pointed out to the younger Saiyan. He made a fair point but there was just something about the thought of joining a tournament and fighting other strong people to be crowned the best made him twitch with excitement. But it wasn't to be he, supposed.
"Quit moping boy and FIGHT!" Vegeta commanded, accentuating the last word with a hard right uppercut to Gohan's gut. Their Saturday spar began again in full Intensify. After the spar Gohan left Capsule Corp slightly tired and very sore intending to fly back home. He walked around looking for a deserted street or alley when he felt a strange Ki. A very powerful one. It was a more intense power than Gohan had felt for a long time, it flared from across the planet and the young Saiyan felt a worrying concern consume him. It was definitely not good, Gohan could sense the malice in it, the cruelty. It was an awful energy, comparable to Cell's. Slightly weaker still but it was concerning that it existed.
All this happened within a moment and then, just as quickly as it had come, the Ki disappeared. So quickly in fact that Gohan questioned whether or not he had actually felt it. It lasted barely long enough for him to gauge it. Energy like that wasn't found everyday, but it COULD be created artificially. It could have been a nuclear powered machine, a military weapon or even some kind of natural disaster. But Gohan couldn't forget that inkling of evil he was sure he detected in the energy signature. The young warrior shook his head and decided he must have imagined it. If anyone else had felt it they would have reacted or made some kind of indication. But Vegeta's Ki was calm and unconcerned. Krillin was asleep at Kame House. There were no signs of alarm anywhere.
"It must have been nothing." He reasoned to himself. His gaze lingered on the distant horizon in the direction where he felt the energy and watched as a deep grey Cloud formation gathered in the sky. He heard the deep booming thunder roll through the air to his eardrums and reverberating in his head, the smell of rain flooded his nostrils and bolts of lightning lit up the sky as the light from the sun was blocked out. It all felt…foreboding. Nonetheless he turned back in the direction of Satan City.
Later, when he arrived within the city limits, he heard a scream somewhere nearby. He stopped on a dime in the air and listened intently. He heard a gun shot ring out followed by a scream that curdled his blood. "SHARPENER!" Gohan's body was immediately filled with focus and adrenaline. That scream had come from very near. Immediately in a flare of preemptive anger he turned into a Super Saiyan with a grunt of anger, he was certain that had been a gun shot, and he was CERTAIN that it was Erasa's voice. He shot off in its direction, completely ignoring everything around him, including the yellow Jet Copter traveling in the same direction he was. Even a short wait as he moved was bad for him. Fury began to consume him as the silence led his thoughts to think about the possible scenarios. It could be 2, 5 or 10 men. And Erasa was now alone with them as be felt Sharpener's dwindling energy. His jaw clenched and his fingers flexed.
Minutes before: With Erasa
The Blonde duo had been walking together, visiting ice cream parlors and seeing movies together. Erasa had been quite surprised when Sharpener asked her out on a "date between friends" but she accepted nonetheless. It was going on evening and the sun had set below the tall skyscrapers of Satan City, casting most of the city in shadow. Sharpener looked around to see if anybody was around. He kind of didn't want anyone to see if he got rejected right now. He stopped their walking to turn towards the other blonde. Erasa continued a few steps before realising her friend had stilled. She looked up at the taller Blonde inquisitively, shivering slightly as it became cool and she was wearing a sleeveless top. Sharpener saw this and took off his zip-up hoodie to give to her. "Here, have this, its cold." He told her. She smiled thankfully and pulled it on, zipping it up. Sharpener chuckled briefly at the way the sleeves hung well past where her arms ended. Erasa may not be as short as Videl but she was pretty close.
"Ha-ha! Very funny." She responded bitingly, with a pout on that made Sharpener laugh harder. Erasa pouted harder for a moment before she too began giggling, no longer able to restrain herself. The two laughed together for a while before the laughter faded into content smiles. Soon though, Sharpener's was replaced by nervousness and he began fidgeting around.
"S-So, Erasa. I-Well I ugh…I really had a good time…and recently I've…you're very…gah!" he really didn't know how he should be going about this. The Blonde male ran it over in his head a few times while Erasa looked on, waiting for her friend to continue. He was having serious trouble finding a way to say all this right now. It had seemed so simple to begin with and now here he was, choking up. Sharpener glanced at the girl he had feelings for and saw her looking at him expectantly. "Damn idiot, she's waiting for you!" he berated himself internally, face-palming himself within the private recesses of his thoughts. He steadied himself, he gathered his thoughts and he took a deep breath of air. He layed his hands on each of the girl's shoulders and looked her in the eye. "Erasa there's something I need to-" but her eyes drifted over his shoulder to settle on something behind him. Her eyes widened in fear and her breath caught in her throat. Sharpener spun around and saw an extremely tall man dressed in dark clothes right behind him.
He grabbed Sharpener and picked him up by the collar, hoisting him a foot off the ground. Erasa screamed ear piercingly while Sharpener kicked and struggled against the large man's grip. He threw Sharpener against a wall, before lifting him back to his feet and holding him against it by his throat. "Give me Videl Satan!" he demanded in his deep gravelly voice.
"Fuck you!" Sharpener spat before he punched him in the face and pushed the hand away from his neck, lunging shoulder first into the guy's chest. Erasa meanwhile hit Videl's name on speed dial, while she watched the struggle with terror etched into her face. Sharpener dodged a wild swipe and nailed his attacker with an uppercut. He moved to throw a follow up punch but was interrupted by a knee to his gut that he hadn't seen. The man punched him in the face so hard his feet left the ground and he flew into a pile of full garbage bags at the corner of the alley beside them. Videl answered her phone at that moment
"Erasa? What's up?" the crime fighter asked her friend, oblivious to the danger.
"Videl help! Sharpeners being attacked!" she squealed into her mobile and immediately Videl went serious.
"What?!" Videl looked down at the display with Erasa's caller ID and traced her with her GPS system. "I'm on my way in my Copter what's happening?" She asked.
"This guy just came out of nowhere and grabbed Sharpener, they're fighting now please help us!" she whimpered into the phone.
The man heard that and turned to see the girl holding her phone to her ears. He barreled right at her and she froze completely just when Sharpener tackled his legs from behind toppling them both. He scrambled atop the other man while he was face-down and tried to finish him with a hammer fist to the back of the head when there was a bang and a searing pain tore through the right side of his chest. "SHARPENER!" he heard Erasa scream before his vision became fuzzy and he could hear his own blood pumping in his ears he fell sideways off the first guy's back and lay on the ground, suddenly feeling like his muscles were made of lead. He forced a hand up to feel where the pain was coming from and felt wetness on his fingertips. He brought them up to his eyes and saw it was blood and he realised he'd been shot.
He felt heavier again and his hand dropped to the floor beside him. He angled his head slightly so he could see behind him and lo-and-behold, there stood a second man, dressed the same as the first but holding a shiny silver coloured pistol inhis hand. They circled Erasa and her phone hit the floor. "E-Erasa…no…" he whispered, trying to reach out when there was a sudden breeze and the ground shook beneath them. Right before Sharpener was a guardian angel, come to save the girl he loved. He stood there wearing what appeared to be a Navy Blue Gi with golden hair.
The two attackers turned and panic came over their faces. The one with the gun moved to line up a shot on Gohan but he was faster, firing an invisible Kiai from his palm that threw them down the street. He turned to Sharpener and saw that he was holding on for dear life. Gohan knelt down to his Blonde friend and held his palm out over the center of Sharpeners body, almost touching it. Whispy Gold Ki flowed from Gohan's palm into the humans body, prolonging him a bit. He looked him over for the wound and saw a hole, both on the front and back of his chest. "Good, entry and exit wound" He stated before looking at Sharpener, "that means the bullet isn't still in your body. I'm going to cauterize the wound To stop the bleeding." He explained before forming a Ki-blast in his hand.
"How do you plan t-AAAAAGH!" he screeched in agony as Gohan used the heat of his blast to seal the wound up. The pain was so intense that as soon as Gohan was done, Sharpener passed out with his mouth slightly open.
"That should buy you some time." He muttered more to himself, as Erasa babbled in his ear asking what he did and that Sharpener needed help, before turning back to the men who were getting up and shaking off the daze they were put in. Videl's Jet Copter arrived on the scene just in time to see Gohan disappear out of sight right before Erasa, appearing right before the crook with the gun. He gave him just enough time to look Gohan in the eyes before he launched his fist into his gut with a little more force than was necessary, breaking ribs. Gohan used the shoulder furthest from the man's accomplice to push himself high in the air and swing around the back of criminal he just punched, placing a solid kick right to the back of the neck of the second one. He let go off the first one's shoulder and dropped into a stand behind the two of them before they collapsed, unconscious.
Videl marveled in awe at the grace and calm of such perfect timing and technique. She felt butterflies in her stomach as his muscular form moved smoothly, his expression never changing from indifference mixed with anger. She ignored that feeling vehemently and focused on her injured friend, landing on the empty road beside where all this happened. She rushed over to Sharpener only to hear "He'll be fine. He was shot but it was a clean in-and-out. I closed the wound myself, he would have bled to death otherwise." The warrior told the Earthling girl.
"Thank you for saving him. I'll take him to a hospital, could you just drop these guys off at the precinct?" she asked politely.
"No I'll take him to the hospital, you deal with the crooks." Gohan replied emotionlessly, a look of anger came over her face and she opened her mouth, no doubt to berate him for his rudeness, when he cut her off to reword that, "Sorry that sounded rude, I should explain. I'm faster than the jet I'll take him." He clarified.
"No way you're faster than this thing." Videl argued, thinking he was overestimating himself.
"Yes way. Did you notice that gold blur that passed you while you were on your way here?" Gohan questioned with a soft smile that was not smug or arrogant.
"Yeah, how do you know-ohhh…THAT WAS YOU!?" she exclaimed in complete disbelief. She knew he was fast but she didn't know he was FAST.
"It isn't that impressive. If I dared to use my full power I theorise that I could move at about 8 times the speed of sound." Gohan told her as she hoisted the criminals into her copter. At that her eyes bugged out of their sockets and her jaw hit the ground. "Anyway, don't worry about those guys waking up while you fly, they're not going to be able to move even if they wake up. I'll take him now, see you later." He said waving as he was about to leave.
"Wait! Just a second!" she called out, getting him to stop. "How?" she asked him with a look of amazement.
"How what?" he queried, raising an eyebrow at her vague question.
"How do you do it? Fly, shoot lasers, save cities, how do you do all that?" she asked- no -practically begged him to tell her.
"I'm not sure I should tell you…I don't think you'd understand…" Gohan repled thoughtfully.
"Please just tell me something! I'll be open and I'll hear you out. If I don't prove that I believe you then you never have to tell me anything about yourself ever again." She compromised for Saiyaman.
He seemed to think about it for a long while. "Alright then, I do all this with my inner energy. If you can prove to me that you understand to some degree and that you believe what I'm telling you, then I might tell you more about myself." He explained, before shooting off into the sky with Sharpener in a gold flame…
A.N – Sorry this took so long all but I just finished school, got a job pretty much out the gate, and I've applied to university. I've been a bit busy and unable to write but I recently got Word on my phone and synced it with my word online account where I type these up, so I can work on it wherever I go. So I should be able to update more frequently now.
Now I'd just like to respond to a review from Torturer-of-Souls that said, "Fuck dude its MAGIC! There's no science involved". I don't want to be rude but you are completely wrong about that dude. In DBZ they make it clear that Ki and Magic are totally different. Babidi uses Magic, Goku uses Ki. What you see them doing in the show (eg the Kamehameha wave) is a physical manifestation of their spiritual energy. You are right that there is no science involved in creating such an attack. But it creates results that happen within the realm of scientific explanation. For example, they use their energy to fly right? Totally non-scientific. But when they fly they're moving at a speed. If you did Physics then you'd understand that any object that moves at any speed will encounter wind resistance and gravity here on Earth. There is a great deal of science involved when motion is involved. I'm actually cutting a lot of it out. Like if Gohan broke the sound barrier like he has done multiple times throughout, then his clothes should have all been instantly blown to pieces and potentially his body, but this is DBZ so I let a lot of it slide.