Insert dog burning house meme here
OnTheTidesOfEvermore: thanks! ^.^
Qinlongfei: yeah, i probably should have added a few more indicators there, sorry
and i agree that a Sharpener SI fic would be amusing, but probably a bit limiting
ArguableReader (Guest): yeah id say one needs more than pants to qualify as a guy friend. Bro is looser, but pants is still a pretty low bar
arkon332: ha, lol
I shot forward to quickly outpace a speeding car. Landing in front of it, I put my foot out catching it on the hood, putting just enough friction on the road to slow it to a nice safe stop. Jarring probably, but not fast enough to cause any injuries.
I raised an amused brow as the first thing the occupants did was raise a gun towards me. Suffice it to say, the bullets were easily caught.
"Now now, you could seriously hurt someone with these," I stated as I allowed the spent bullets to drop to the ground.
The robbers looked shocked, apparently unaware that I'd been doing that since my debut here. Or, more likely, unbelieving. It would be easy to dismiss a bullet-catching vigilante as hearsay I suppose.
Videl landed behind them, blocking their path as they tried to escape.
"Freeze criminals! You've gone far enough!" She commanded.
Yeah…the more she got into her role, the more I understood why she and CanonGohan got along so well.
She simply kicked the gun out of the main one's hands as he pointed it at her. I suppose she still wasn't confident in her ability to catch or be hit by bullets. Which was probably for the best. Cation was certainly preferred over reckless abandon.
As with any other petty criminals, these guys were easily apprehended.
Over the past few months she fell into the role of vigilante quite easily. The concept of her giving up on it anytime soon was quickly forgotten.
With the mask, she had started experimenting with Ki more and more. She never directly hit anyone with a blast- which was definitely good. It was hard to restrain a blast enough to not seriously hurt someone. But she did use them as distractions or obstructions. Which was something I couldn't really imagine her doing much before since a misplaced blast can cause some serious property damage.
And she was always just so self-proud whenever she was handing over the criminals. Like, in a way that would be annoying if it was directed at me, but watching it from the side it was amusing. I'm pretty sure like, half of the police knew it was her. Both because she wasn't all that subtle with her familiarity and also because I probably should have done something different with her pigtails. That was fairly distinctive, but it's a bit late now.
Time somehow seemed a whole lot slower without having to go to school most days, yet it also flew by without my realizing it.
I almost didn't realize it'd been a year since my wish until it was pointed out.
It felt, weird. That so much time had passed. In a lot of ways, not much really changed. But at the same time, they so very much did. I wasn't even sure how to explain it really.
And, it was hardly the priority when Videl and I were called into a situation of a guy threatening to jump off a building anyway.
And, oh boy did this guy immediately set off red flags.
A poor choice of words considering his skin was crimson. But that was part of the reason since the complexion and pointed ears immediately screamed alien.
Which made the fact that he was standing on the wrong side of the handrails on a building even more peculiar.
Still, the entire situation made me, uncomfortable. The very concept left me at a loss for what I could say.
"My mind is made up! I'm going to jump!" He shouted as he clung to the side of the building.
"Hey, uh, don't?" I tried, "Just, step back over and I'm sure we can come up with a better solution."
"Stay back! I've made up my mind!"
"Then what are you waiting for?" Videl floated behind me with her arms crossed.
"Videl!" I exclaimed, shocked. I mean, sure, the threat of him actually jumping isn't an issue when just catching him is the obvious solution, but still, just the principle of it.
"What? It's not like we can touch him before he does anything. That's a liability."
"Lia- what? Vigilantes don't deal with liabilities like that. And wouldn't it be more of a liability to encourage it?"
"Well it's not like he's actually gonna do it! He's putting on way too much of a show!"
I rubbed my forehead. Honestly, the fact that Videl of all people- I get that she can be tactless sometimes but still-
"Fools. I'll show you!"
I turned back just in time to see the guy leaping from the beam.
"Whoa, he actually jumped," Videl stated as I dove down to catch him.
"What took you so long! I could have died!" He shouted angrily. Reminding me that I was, in fact, suspicious of him.
"You're welcome," I muttered.
I flew far enough away from the current commotion that I figured we wouldn't be bothered. Videl landed beside me as I set the guy on the ground. He was a fair bit shorter than Krillin when standing on a level surface.
"So, new lease on life? A whole new perspective? Some third phrase I can't think of?" I asked as I was about ready to just, not engage with whatever plot this guy was about to set up.
"No, no. I'm afraid I must confess." The guy's tone was suddenly different than it had been previously. Almost apologetic.
"See, I did have an ulterior motive to getting your attention."
Shocking.
The short man brought out some kind of box.
"This music box has a great hero, Tapion trapped within it. He was sealed away a thousand years ago after defeating the terrible monster, Hirudegarn. Please, you must help me free him! That same evil is set to destroy the Earth!"
"Tapion?" Videl asked, easily taken by the story.
"Sounds like a movie character," I muttered. Both for the semi cliche setup, and the fact that this was obviously one of the movies. I think that was the Ocarina guy? I think there was a monster in that movie.
I promptly turned around and started walking away.
"Gohan!" Videl exclaimed.
"Yeah, no. Not interested. Sorry." I waved back. That is too many movies in too short a time frame. Not helped by the fact that this was so obviously set up to start it.
"This sounds like exactly the kind of thing you guys would be interested in!" She insisted.
"Please! Tapion is the only one capable of stopping this monster!" The old guy insisted.
I paused and glanced back. "First of all, you're not the first to make claims of strength to me without knowing who you're talking to. Second of all, how do we know your monster isn't sealed in there and you're just trying to free it? If there was a monster as terrible as you claim anywhere near Earth I'd have sensed it."
Well, I was pretty sure it was actually Tapion in there, but I still felt it was a fair hypothetical.
"The monster is a phantom. It cannot be sensed or tracked through traditional means! And for what reason would any fool wish to free such a beast? Hirudegarn has no allegiance, he'd just as soon kill whoever freed him!"
"Well one, ask Babidi. And two, you could just be lying."
"Come on Gohan. What if this Tapion guy is trapped in there? If he is then it be wrong to leave him stuck there! Besides, even if it is that monster, you said it yourself, it's not like it could be stronger than you, right?"
I tilted my head back towards her. "Yeah, playing to my ego isn't gonna get you as far as you'd think." I turned back to walking away. "You can do whatever you want though."
I got about ten paces away before I heard Videl muttering about not being able to open it. And I cursed my curiosity because I knew for a fact that Videl should have been strong enough to open a dumb box.
Videl looked all too pleased as I took the box from her. And, remarkably, the hand crank hardly budged when I tried to turn it in either direction. Mind you, I was still a Super Sayain as I hadn't switched out of the hero fit yet. Obviously just trying to pry the box open didn't work either.
"Shenron!" The old man said, "The eternal dragon is the only thing powerful enough to open the music box!"
"Convenient timing," I muttered. I'd question how the dragon could open it if we couldn't since technically speaking, he shouldn't be physically stronger than any of us, except probably Videl. But, no, it probably had some magic component rather than strength that was required to open it.
"That's the Dragon you need to collect the Dragon Balls for isn't it?" Videl asked. Which made me question how this guy knew about them too.
"Weren't you the one that was so worried about suspicious individuals getting them like, last year?" I asked, but Videl was far too curious about the box.
"You know what?" I tossed the music box and the old guy scrambled to catch it, as if it falling could possibly break it, "this is far above my nonexistent pay grade. Let's just ask someone else."
…
Goku was also unable to open the box. But that wasn't a surprise at this point.
We'd ended up at Capsule Corp because that's where we would end up anyway if we did end up looking for the dragon balls.
"Well, if you really want this box open, we could always ask Shenron for help!" I really don't like that Goku came up with that independently.
I feel like this is below Shenron's pay grade.
And yet, here we were.
"Alright, we're going to have to do this a bit differently since there are so many people looking," Bulma said as she clicked the radar a few times. "I'll just give each of you a set of coordinates. And then we can just meet back here!"
Videl and I ended up with one set. As did Krillin and the kids. And Goku was just given the radar for the remaining four since it'll be easier for him to get to each new location with Instant Transmission anyway.
The old guy went with Goku so at least I didn't have to deal with him more.
I gave Videl the coordinates since she had more experience finding places like that with her old Jetcopter. And I was not.
Directions were not my strong suit in any regard and that made finding this dragon ball all the more difficult. Made even worse by the fact that it was underwater. By the time we overturned the stone that was hiding the Dragon Ball, it was nearing the later afternoon and we were the last ones to return.
Videl called over Sharpener and Erasa, and with them came Chico because summoning Shenron was still a huge spectacle for them.
Which, to be fair, it was also a spectacle for everyone else too, just a bit less.
To be honest, I wasn't all that interested. I mean, this was all going to lead to trouble anyway, so I wasn't exactly jumping for joy at the prospect.
However, as I turned a corner I was very quickly reminded of two things.
1) I could not sense the androids
2) I very much wished I could. It would cause several fewer surprises.
"Seventeen! What, are you doing here..?" I asked because I knew for a fact that he wasn't supposed to be in anything until- I think he was in Super? And it was especially odd to see him anywhere near Capsule Corp. I mean, we weren't in the building but still.
"I was kidnapped," he stated, tilting his head over to where Marron was barely visible on his back. "And hello to you too."
I coughed, registering that my initial statement was probably kinda rude.
I plucked Marron off his back and set her on the ground, at which point she scampered off somewhere else, probably to follow around some of the other kids.
"I was checking up on Sixteen. Marron noticed me so I was trapped," he explained further. "What's this for?" He asked as the rest were finishing up the preparations for summoning Shenron.
"Some space guy is trapped in a music box. They want to free him."
Seventeen slowly nodded. "Yeah, that sounds normal enough for you guys."
I snorted. Any lingering concerns I had were dispelled. I mean obviously it was fine. Obviously. It's been like a year. It was fine.
Obviously.
Seventeen tilted his head, indicating to get more distance from the group. Which I was glad enough for, it was kinda loud.
"So, I assume your wish has gone well?" He asked. We were sitting on top of a building out of earshot of anyone else.
Well, Ocari was there so theoretically he could hear, but he wasn't one to eavesdrop.
"Oh, yeah. It's been, good." I wasn't sure how to phrase it beyond that so, I didn't.
And Seventeen didn't press.
That didn't stop him from questioning other things though.
"So what's it like not being able to fly for, well not a whole lifetime, but a good portion of one, and then suddenly being able to?"
"Wouldn't that apply to you too?"
Seventeen waved his hand in a 50/50 motion. "With the memory discrepancies, it just feels like I've always been able to, even if I know I couldn't before."
"Oh. Well. I don't really know. When I first learned, things were just, so chaotic all the time. By the time that I had a chance to just, be, and potentially appreciate the ability, I was already used to it."
It was a shame really. I wish I could go back and get to appreciate the wonder of it, but there was simply no way to do so.
I glanced back to see Seventeen looking at his watch. I wondered if he had somewhere to be as he looked up. He looked focused as he gazed at the horizon.
"Yeah, that should work." He apparently decided on something as he stood up.
He lifted off the roof and glanced back.
"Come on, we'll have to be quick if we're going to make it in time."
"In time for what?" I asked. But Seventeen didn't answer. He just started flying off.
And I, followed without question.
I mean, I would have had to. If he got out of sight I'd have no way of finding him if he made any turns.
I had to fly faster than I normally would to catch up, but once I did he only picked up the pace faster.
Before I knew it we were flying over the ocean. He flew close enough to the water that he created ripples in the waves. I followed suit, and the cool mist of the water felt, nice.
We passed by a fishing ship and I could only imagine what the person on board could've been thinking at the sight.
Suddenly he took a sharp turn and flew straight up into the clouds, which by this point had started to turn orange as the sun slowly lowered. I had to stop and start again in order to match his movements.
Seventeen had slowed up until I caught back up, and once again picked up speed just as he had before. He let me through clouds, which I didn't often fly through. They were weird and damp and were hard to breathe in, but there was still something novel about not being able to see too far ahead and then suddenly that breaking and it was clear again.
He made seemingly random turns and I couldn't imagine where he was leading, until suddenly he stopped and I had to quickly hit the brakes in order to not crash into him.
I was out of breath. Not from being tired or anything, but just the, exhilaration of it. Because I almost never flew that fast. Or made such flashy or random movements.
My cheeks stung from the chill and the wind and I could feel that my hair was a mess just by turning my head. There was a fluttering in my stomach just from the excitement of it.
"What-" I started but before I could finish the question he tilted over and simply let himself fall back down into the clouds.
I followed again and found he had stopped himself a hundred or two feet above the water.
He was glancing at his watch again.
"Well, We can't do much about the flying but I think it takes a pretty long time to get used to some things."
He raised a hand and sent a few blasts to scatter some of the clouds.
It was sunset.
And that alone would have been nice, with the clouds and whatnot reflecting all the oranges and reds.
But that wasn't all, as we had stopped over an island. Which only added to the spectacle, as light reflected off of the water and the landscape. With a single mountain cutting through the center.
"I've worked here for a few years now and the sunset's still nice when the conditions are right," he stated as he gazed into it.
It was nice. Very nice.
And yet, my gaze still trailed back over to Seventeen. He was still focused on the skyline as the wind whipped through his hair and the light reflected off his eyes.
I refocused back on the sunset at the slightest hint of movement.
It was nice.
The sunset.
That's all.
So then why?
Why did I end that night staring up at the ceiling, once again unable to sleep?
Why did my face feel so warm at the memory of it?
And why was there such a heavy feeling in my stomach that I chose to interpret as dread?
I turned over, perfectly aware of what was going on even as I denied it to myself.
"Oh no…" I groaned, wondering if I sounded as miserable as I felt.
