Ok, guys, I love writing this story so much, I have writer's block on all my other stories. Good news, that means you get another chapter here!
Chapter 3 - Fight Day
"So not only is his daughter hounding me because she can basically smell that I'm hiding something, now Hercule himself is coming to school today" Gohan muttered as he floated through the air. "And that man can't act to save his life. I should know. I was there when he needed to act to save his life."
He facepalmed. "I knew I had a bad feeling about going to school. Everything seems to be on a mission to be a pain for me."
Satan City appeared on the horizon, and Gohan sighed and brought his watch up. Clicking the button, the static energy crackled across his body as he disguised himself in his Saiyaman suit. The last thing he needed was for someone to see Son Gohan flying through the air. He didn't need things to be any worse than they already were.
Speeding up, he tried to think positively to cheer himself up. "Look on the bright side, Gohan, you're smart enough and fast enough that there shouldn't be any way for Videl to catch you." She already had a pretty strong suspicion, courtesy of him defending the techniques of his family and friends. How she was able to connect the dots like that, he had no idea. "Besides, maybe Hercule won't notice you. It's a big class, after all, and maybe he won't remember as much because of all the stress."
Feeling like things were a little less bleak for him, Gohan sped up, and in a second, was floating over the top of the center of the city. His first class wasn't for another fifteen minutes, so he had some time to be on patrol. Sure, nothing in the city could hurt him in the slightest, but he still felt more comfortable when nothing bad was happening.
Looking around the city, he didn't notice much that morning. Off a ways away, there were a few people driving at some pretty high speeds, too dangerous for the roads. They weren't going as fast as the joyriders from his first day as Saiyaman, but still a safety hazard. However, as he approached, they slowed way down. He suspected they saw him coming, though, after one driver stuck his head out the window and glanced his way briefly. It appeared he was already making a reputation for himself in the city, if his presence could inspire such authority. Of course, it was probably more due to fear. He wasn't trying to inspire fear, but powers such as his own tended to bring about such feelings.
He spent a couple more minutes hovering around the city, keeping a sharp eye out for trouble, but everything else seemed rather calm. Satisfied that nothing else seemed wrong, he took off for Orange Star High, ready to get to class. Everything seemed okay to him.
And he was in such a rush, that he didn't bother to use his other senses, otherwise, he may have noticed an odd energy in the city, one rather high by human standards.
Making sure the coast was clear, Gohan deactivated his suit and rushed down into the classroom. He managed to make it inside the door a few seconds before the bell rang, and he let out a breath of relief.
"Maybe I should leave patrol just a bit earlier, just to take a bit of the pressure to make it on time off" he thought.
Walking up the stairs, he dropped his bag and took a seat next to Erasa and Sharpner. Unsurprisingly, Videl had yet to arrive. Sometimes, it appeared that she had worse problems with arriving on time than he did. Of course, she had an actual job doing this, without the powers to boot, so it made sense.
"Oh, hey Gohan, how was your weekend?" Erasa asked him as he took his spot.
"Huh?" Gohan asked. "Oh, it was good. Yours?"
"It was great" Erasa smiled. "Really relaxing, like it should be, after all."
"Here here" Sharpner agreed. "I think I'd go mad without a break from this place every week. I like it here and all, but sometimes it's a little much."
"Oh, I know how you feel" Gohan agreed.
"What do you mean, Brains?" Sharpner ased. "You're acing every class with ease, how could anything be too much for you, of all people."
Gohan shrugged noncommittally. "Eh" he said, staying vague.
"Probably with how much Videl is drilling him for every little fact about him, I wouldn't be surprised with that kind of pressure on" Erasa offered.
"Hit the nail on the head there" Gohan thought dejectedly. "Yeah, I know she doesn't mean much by it, it's just a bit difficult to deal with, ya' know?"
Erasa rolled her eyes. "'Do I know?' Gohan, please, you're talking to her best friend for about half her life. Trust me, I know. And if it makes you feel any better, you're not the only one she's ever picked on like this."
Gohan raised his eyebrows. "Really?" he asked.
Erasa gave the 'so-so' sign. "Well, I've never seen her go at anyone this hard, but she's drilled other people in the past."
Gohan sighed. "Well, I'll be fine, anyways. I'm getting used to it."
At that moment, the door opened up. He could sense who it was before they even made themselves known. "Speaking of which…" he said beneath his breath.
Videl walked into the classroom. "Sorry I'm late, Mrs. Jayden" she said.
"That's quite alright, Videl, please take your seat" the teacher responded.
Videl nodded and headed up the walkway, coming down the aisle and taking her seat near her friends. "Hey, 'morning guys" she greeted briefly.
"Good morning, Videl" Erasa said cheerfully.
Sharpner put on a cocky smile. "So, how've you been doing? You ready for today's gym class?"
"Ugh" was Videl's response as she smacked her head on the desk. "Are you kidding? Would you want your dad to come in and parade around the school? Really now?"
"Uh…" Sharpner couldn't fight back against the argument. "Alright, fair enough, but he's still the World Champ. Even for you, that's gotta be cool, right?"
"Wrong" Videl said. "Be with him every day for your entire life and see if you care about his 'World Champion'-ness as much anymore after that. Being related to the equivalent of royalty isn't as fun as you might think."
"Royalty?" Gohan asked.
"Might as well be with how much everyone worships him" Videl groaned. She sat up straight and stretched her arms. "Well, my world doesn't end until sixth period, so I'm going to try and put that on hold for now. Don't we have a report to get started on, anyways?"
"Oh, yeah" Erasa remembered. "Did you get much info out of your dad last night?"
Videl shrugged. "I don't know how much of it he, well, let's be nice and call it embellished, but I think I got the majority of the story out of him for the project."
"I did a little research, but there weren't many hard facts out there" Sharpner admitted. "At least not that I found on the internet."
"Yeah, well, let's mix and match our studies and try to fill in any holes" Videl offered. "Because as much as my dad talks a big talk, something tells me he left a lot about anything that didn't involve him out."
"Yup, that sure sounds like Hercule, alright" Gohan chuckled inwardly. "I got my fair share of research done last night too" he said out loud.
Videl nodded his way. "Ok, Erasa, did you get a chance to look at anything?"
"Sorry, Videl, I didn't get very long to look, so I don't have anything today" Erasa apologized.
"That's alright, we have a few weeks to do this project for a reason after all" Videl said understandingly. "Come on, let's lay everything we learned out on the table, and decide how we're going to do this…"
Satan Manor
"Gettin' ready to whip some kids into shape, do-do-do" Mr. Satan whistled as he prepared himself for his class later that day. "This ought to be great for them, getting to meet the World Champ and learning some of his world-class techniques oughta keep this generation safe, heh heh heh."
Slipping on his brown gi, he contented himself with practicing a few of his flashier moves. "Now, what move they probably like to see most? Gotta wow them to get their attention, after all… Maybe a Megaton Punch, yeah… Wait, no…" he had a sudden vivid flashback of the last Megaton Punch he used. It kinda killed his liking for the attack. "Er, maybe the Dynamite Kick, then, that's always a crowd pleaser, yeah!"
Taking stance, he began lashing his foot forward ferociously, keeping his balance as he struck out at the open air. "Yeah, perfect, they'll love it!" he said, smirking to himself. "In fact, maybe this week of demonstration will convince more of them to come to the Satan Gym, and we can have a whole generation of world-class fighters out there. I'm helping make the world a better place by doing this, yes I am."
He retracted his foot once again, and prepared to let it fly with even more power than before. "Dyyyynaaaaaamiiiiiite…" he growled. "K-"
"HERCULE!"
"ICK-YAH!?" Hercule kicked out with enough force to break concrete, but his concentration was shattered. The force carried him off his other foot, and he fell over backwards, cracking his head against the floor as the air escaped his lungs.
He lied on the floor, completely frozen in shock for a brief moment, eyes wide and mouth open wide enough to catch a softball. Then, his control came rushing back to him.
"Yeowch!" Hercule cried out, clutching the back of his head in pain. "Son of a-, grr, motherless, gah!"
He silently swore for a few more moments, venting his frustration, before attempting to compose himself. "C-coming" he grunted out. He felt the back of his head tenderly. Yup, that was going to leave a bump. Walking out of the room, he made his way towards the living room, where sure enough, Buu was situated. "Yes, Buu?" he asked.
Buu looked up at Mr. Satan. "Is Hercule okay?" he asked concernedly.
"Oh, I just slipped and bumped my head" he grunted out, the spot still throbbing.
"Buu help!" Buu said, standing up and making his way over to Hercule in a blink of an eye.
"Hey, what are you-?" he began to ask, when all of a sudden, a soft pink light emerged from Buu's hands, and the throbbing rapidly faded. He remembered, Buu was able to heal people, after all. "Oh, thanks Buu" he said gratefully.
"It no problem for Buu, Buu happy to help Hercule!" Buu said cheerfully.
"Well, I am very thankful for that, Buu. Now, uh, what did you want?" he asked.
"What Buu want?" Buu asked. "Oh, yes, Buu remember. Buu was feeling bored, wanted to play. Can Mr. Satan play?"
"Oh, yeah, I should be able to play" Hercule said. Buu was trapped here for a long while anyways, might as well help him feel better. "What did you want to play? We've got Chess, Satan Fighter, Sorry. Twister might be a bit too easy for you…"
"Buu know what Buu want to play" Buu said.
"Oh, what is it?" Hercule asked.
"Buu want to play Pow-Pow! Can Hercule play Pow-Pow with Buu?" Buu asked.
"Pow-Pow?" Hercule asked. "What's that?"
"Pow-Pow!" Buu said energetically, smacking his fists into each other and pumping them in the air.
Hercule went white as a sheet, eyes open wide. "Oh, Pow-Pow…" he said as he realized what Buu meant.
Buu smiled. "So can Hercule play Pow-Pow?" he asked.
Hercule blinked, as he thought quickly. "Uh, well, you see, Buu, Pow-Pow takes a long time to play, it's not something that we can just do real quick, and I have somewhere I need to be really soon here, you see? So, right now, I can't exactly play Pow-Pow."
"Oh, ok" Buu said, looking a little down. "So, what else can Buu play?"
"Er…" Mr. Satan thought. "Oh, hey, I know. What if you could play a game where it was like you were playing Pow-Pow, but didn't need anyone else to fight?"
"Oh?" Buu asked.
Buu had a tiny bit of experience knowing how to play a video game from that time he first met Hercule, so he wasn't completely unfamiliar when Hercule put a remote in his hands. "So, this game lets you play like you're fighting, but you're making someone fight instead of you."
"Oh?" Buu asked.
Hercule pressed a button on the television, and the game popped up on the screen. "People just call this game Smash, mostly" Hercule explained.
Buu smiled. "Buu like that name. Smash! Smash!"
"So, if you go here, you can get told how to play, and then you can keep doing Pow-Pow as many times as you want, get it?" Hercule asked.
Buu's smile grew. "As much as Buu wants? That sounds fun!"
"It is" Hercule said. "Anyways, have fun, Buu, because right now, I've got to go, alright?"
"Ok, Buu see Hercule later" Buu said.
"I'll try not to be gone for too long" he promised, before stepping out the door, outside.
He took a deep breath of the warm, fresh air, before sighing. "That game might keep Buu happy for a while, but not forever. Oh man, I wish I could go back and get the phone number of one of those guys with the powers. They'd probably be able to let Buu have fun." He frowned. "Well, who knows, maybe I'll have enough fighter games to entertain Buu for the next six months?" It was wistful thinking, but that was all he had at this point.
"Well, Buu's happy right now, and that's all that matters" Hercule shrugged. "For now, I've got some teenagers to whip into shape. Yeah!"
And just like that, he was back in his world.
Orange Star High School
They had made surprisingly good progress on the project in that first period. They got a general guideline of everything that they'd have to do, and what kind of project they'd be making. At this rate, they'd be done in the next week, and not have to worry about it anymore until presentation time.
The next two classes went about as well as they did normally, and then it was lunch time. Gohan pulled the capsule that held his lunch out of his pocket, and turned to go make his way back up to the roof, when a voice called out over the hubbub and made itself clear.
"Gohan, aren't you going to come join us?" Erasa's voice rang out.
Blinking, Gohan turned around, and sure enough, the trio that were his friends stood there, looking at him expectantly. "Come on, you can't just isolate yourself on the roof each period. Come join us!"
"Oh, er…" Gohan stuttered. Thinking about it, he really had no reason to not join them. Well, besides proximity to Videl without a task distracting them would probably lead to intense verbal probing. "Although, she'll probably corner me some other time, anyways. Eh, what the heck?" "You know what, alright, sure thing, guys."
Erasa gave a huge smile at his agreement, and waved him to follow them. The group of now four made their way through the cafeteria, and out the doors to the yard, picking a nice table that was sitting in the sunlight. Each of them picking a corner, they sat down and sat down their lunches, except Gohan, who was fiddling with the capsule in his hand.
Videl noticed that Gohan was the only one without food in front of him. "Forget your lunch today?" she asked.
Gohan shook his head. "Nah, I just didn't want to crowd the table."
"Oh, just relax, Gohan. It'll be fine" Erasa said.
Gohan smiled. "Alright then" he said, bringing his capsule up. Clicking the button, he lightly tossed it onto his corner of the table. A large puff of smoke followed, and as it cleared, the other three's eyes bulged.
They knew Gohan ate a lot. They saw several containers around him about a week ago when they found him on the roof. But most of those were empty and scattered. So it didn't really register just how much food Gohan had packed.
"What are you, a condensed family?" Sharpner asked. "This is like a feast for six people, right here."
Gohan rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "What can I say? I eat a lot and have a fast metabolism. That's about all there is to it." No need to attribute those two biological factors to being half Saiyan.
"Geez, I guess" Videl muttered.
Gohan grabbed a tupperware container that was close to the top of the stack and opened it up, beginning to tear into it. The food inside was gone in about thirty seconds. This wasn't noticed as much, since the other three had started eating their own meals, but they still saw it, and they still couldn't believe it.
"So…" Videl started as she neared finishing her meal. "Saiyaman seems to be nearly taking over the city."
"What do you mean by 'taking over'?" Erasa asked.
"I mean that there's less and less people out there causing trouble, because they all fear Saiyaman" Videl growled.
"Um, I might be missing something, but isn't it a good thing if Saiyaman is causing crime to go down?" Gohan offered.
"There he is defending Saiyaman again" Videl noted. "Yeah, sure, but I'm out there doing things by the book. He's just some vigilante that comes swooping in when he feels like it. For all I know, he could be a serious threat to the city."
"Please, a serious threat in that outfit?" Sharpner asked. "I've seen the pictures. I doubt a criminal mastermind or anything like that would wear something that goofy."
Gohan frowned subconsciously. "Why does everyone hate the costume? It's amazing!"
"So far, I've only learned a few things about this Saiyaman character" Videl said sharply. "He's a vigilante crime fighter, and he uses tricks. I've also noted when he seems to be active. You see, Saiyaman only shows up at crimes that take place before 8 A.M., from 2 P.M. to 4 P.M., and strangely enough, any crime I get called out to during school hours." She shot a sideways looks at Gohan which made his blood run cold. "Those are some pretty coincidental times. He only knows about crimes that seem to take place right before and right after the school schedule, and otherwise, he appears at ones that I specifically get called out for."
Gohan didn't stop eating his lunch, but his innards churned uncomfortably at Videl's words. "How in HFIL is she so good at connecting the dots like this?!" he groaned internally. "What, can she read minds? Does she have Baba's crystal ball?"
"So you have a better understanding about which crime scene's he'll show up to?" Erasa asked. "What do you plan to do?"
"I'm still working on that" Videl admitted. "But soon. I promised that I'd unmask this Saiyaman person."
"Yeah, you promised alright. Going on eight times now." It seemed to be the pattern that should he show up to help with a crime while Videl was present, then she would yell that she'd discover who he was as he flew off.
"And you know, there's something else that I can't shake about Saiyaman" Videl noted. "It's weird, that out of every day that Satan City has stood, we get a wannabe superhero here the day after we get a particular new student." This time, the glare lasted a bit longer.
"What are you looking at me for?" Gohan said as innocently as he could. "I once heard a saying, 'truth is stranger than fiction.' It's probably just a coincidence."
"Mm hm" Videl huffed, not remotely convinced. "Sooner or later, you're going to slip. Everyone does."
"You think that-" Sharpner began to say, before a clear ringing sound overtook the table. All eyes were drawn to Videl's wrist, as her communicator watch began to go off.
"Hold on, guys" Videl said, bringing her watch up and clicking the button. "What is it, chief?"
"Videl, we've got a situation here" the police chief said, not surprising her. "We just got told that some guy walking into City Hall, and he's going for the mayor, knocking everyone out who gets in his way. None of our guys are able to stop him. We need your help."
"An entire police force can't stop one guy? Sheesh…" Videl thought. "Alright, I'll be right there, chief" she said, cutting the communications. "Well, at least I got to finish my burger. For now, I've got a criminal to go stop." She shot one last knowing look at Gohan, before decapsulating her jet copter. "I'll try to be back by fourth period, but don't expect me." Hopping in, she took to the air, and flew off into the distance.
Gohan watched her go, and tried to relax. After that session, chances are, that he shouldn't follow, just to try and disprove her theory. He was about done with his lunch, anyways. "I can't believe that a teenager would just drop everything at a moment's notice to go stop crime" he said. Well, at least not a human teenager. He and his dad had been doing that for years.
"Yeah, well, Videl is no ordinary human, after all, she's got Mr. Satan's blood running through her."
"Which means little to nothing" Gohan thought. Hercule may have been one of the strongest humans on the planet, but even the elderly Master Roshi greatly outpaced him. Had he learned Ki control, maybe he'd be around Roshi's level, but as it stood, good for a human, bad compared to anything that knew the slightest thing about energy.
Of course, none of his inner thoughts made it outside of his head. "Yeah, I guess" he shrugged.
"She's definitely the strongest female fighter in the world" Sharpner praised. "And she's up there as the top overall."
"My mom's probably stronger" he noted, remembering that back in the old days, according to her, she was even able to keep up with his dad's adventuring. "If not her, then 18 most definitely is."
In the back of his mind, he kept a feeler out on Videl's energy. She was moving fast towards the center of the city, alright. "Still, she's pretty good for a human that doesn't know about Ki" he noted. "Whoever was the one who took out so many people, Videl can probably take him, no swe-"
Gohan suddenly stood up straighter, as he felt another power. His brow furrowed, as he felt Videl moving right towards it. Through the thousands of energy signals in the city, there were very few that stood out. As odd as it was, Buu's power was sensable. Videl, he was keeping a specific eye on. Besides that, no one else should be discernable.
Except the new power. He had little doubt that that was the criminal Videl was leaving to face. And a sense of dread settled in as he began to recognize that energy.
"This goes against every moral I uphold, everything I believe in, but I have no choice" he thought determinedly.
Curling up, he hugged his torso and began to groan. "Hrk!" he grunted.
"Gohan? What's wrong?" Erasa asked.
"I think I've got a pretty bad stomach ache" he grunted, trying to sound like he was in pain. "I, I must have eaten too fast today."
"Too fast, or too much" Sharpner muttered.
Pressing the button on his capsule, Gohan took care of all the containers that had held his lunch. "I'll be back, I really need to go to the bathroom, I think" he told them, standing up a bit straighter and running off into the building.
Once he was out of sight, in the hall, he let go of his body, and huffed. "I feel so, dunno, weird, using the Hercule Evasion Special." He kept running to the roof, but began to chuckle as he remembered Hercule's fake ache on the World of the Kais. He had seen the battle from the Lookout, and remembered how Hercule collapsing and begging saved him from several consecutive fatal attacks.
Reaching the roof, though, his laughter was gone, and he donned his serious face. Wasting no time, he hit the button on his watch, and waited a brief second as the green tunic overtook him.
Now donned in his Saiyasuit, Gohan wasted no time blasting off from the top of the building, and went after Videl. "She has no idea what she's getting into this time!"
City Hall
Videl landed out front, where the police chief was waiting for her. "He's inside?" she said briefly.
The chief nodded. "Be careful, Videl, he took out several guards and officers with ease."
Videl huffed. "Trust me, I've got this" she assured him, before running inside.
The second she walked through the doors, the atmosphere changed. Hearing it was one thing. Seeing all the bodies across the floor was another. She could only hope that they were only knocked out, and not… Otherwise. There were some nasty bruises forming.
"Okay, what kind of psychopath did this?" she muttered as she ran up the hall, trying to find her way to the mayor's office.
She didn't even need to go that far. There was a single open door in the hall, and she skidded to a stop as she saw inside.
It was obviously the main hall. There were rows of seating for the legislature, but only two people were up inside. At the end of the room, back against the windows, the mayor, and in front of him…
It was a tall man. Draped in a pink cloak, a dark blue undershirt beneath it, he wore what appeared to be a metal helmet on his head. He also wore gauntlets over his hands.
"Hey freak!" Videl called out, rushing into the room.
The second figure turned around, and she skidded to a stop when she saw him from the front. As it turned out, the helmet was something a little more. It covered his entire head, save his nose and mouth. Where his eyes should be, two red lenses made an appearance instead.
"I've been called much worse by much older" the man said with a snarky tone. "I don't know who you are, but I promise you, you will be much better off if you just leave me to my job. Run along, little girl."
Videl gritted her teeth. If there was one thing she hated, it was being called a 'little girl.' "Listen here, whoever you are!" she said in a commanding tone. "You can't just tell Videl Satan to run along and let you do as you please. I suggest you come quietly, or else do you want me to make you?"
She couldn't explain it, but at that moment, she felt chills run down her spine. It almost seemed that the pressure in the room had increased to a physical level, and she wasn't the only one feeling it. Behind the metal man, the mayor appeared to be feeling whatever it was too.
She couldn't be sure, through the glasses, but the man almost seemed to be looking at her calculatingly. "Oh, the Satan name? It has been a long while since I have heard that one" he said. "Then that must mean, you're related to that buffoon who parades around the city, eh?"
"If you're talking about my dad, you shouldn't be taking him, or me, so lightly" Videl growled, trying to dispel whatever hung in the air.
"Oh, why pardon me, where are my manners?" the man said, standing up straight. "You've been so kind to label yourself, while I haven't given you my name. You may call me Mercenary Tao." He grinned cruelly.
"Who uses 'Mercenary' as a part of their title?" Videl asked.
"One who is an assassin by nature" Tao revealed.
"An assassin?!" Videl said in shock.
The cruel grin widened. "Yes. You've interrupted my work, you know, and I take none to kindly to those who do that. And you know, your father and I have history. Perhaps I can kill two birds with one stone."
Videl noted the extra emphasis on the word 'kill.' "Nice try, buster, but you can't get the better of me. After all, I'm Hercule's daughter. I can take anyone!"
"Naive fool" Tao said.
"Don't call me naive!" Videl shouted, rushing the mercenary. Halfway to him, she lept into the air, foot outstretched, aiming a flying kick at the man who had been so heinous.
With a simple motion, Tao sidestepped, causing the attack to completely miss. Not willing to be so easily outdone, Videl landed on the outstretched foot and twisted, bringing her other foot up in a single swift attack. It was such a quick maneuver, she was surprised when Tao lifted his hand and blocked the whole thing. He didn't even flinch as it connected with his forearm.
"You aren't too terrible for the spawn of that mundane wannabe" Tao backdoor complimented her. "Sadly, mediocre skills such as those will not save your life."
"Oh yeah?" Videl asked, quickly dropping her foot and going to sweep his legs out from under him. He evaded the attack by jumping into the air, exactly what Videl was counting on. Bringing her other foot around, she shot it up into the air, connecting with Tao's lower torso directly. She smirked as she made the contact.
Tao was sent flying backwards through the air. Videl had just landed a serious attack. Which was why she was surprised once again when he landed upright, looking none the worse for wear.
"Perhaps slightly above mediocre, but still poor" Tao said tauntingly. "Shall I show you a real attack?"
Before she had the chance to answer, Tao had moved right in front of her. She had barely seen him move. "How is he so fast!?" she exclaimed internally.
Before her body could react, Tao had landed a backhand that sent her skidding away, dazed. Stars danced before her vision as she tried to refocus. As her vision cleared, she saw Tao above her, a long blade emerging from his arm.
Her eyes widened, and she rolled to the right, just as the blade impaled itself in the floor, right where she had been seconds before.
Her heartbeat quickened as she realized that this man wasn't bluffing. He truly meant to kill her on the spot. And the worst part? He was messing around with her. It didn't take someone as good at martial arts as her to tell that Tao was still holding back, like he didn't even need to go all out to outmatch her.
Standing up, Tao pulled the blade out of the ground, and retracted it back into his arm. Replacing his left hand on his wrist, he turned towards Videl. "You feel fear. Very good. This will make things much more satisfying."
Videl clutched her fists. The only good thing she could figure to come out of this situation was that during the chaos of the fight, the mayor was smart enough to slip away. Good. At least one of them would make it out okay.
"Now, I suppose I should end things before they get out of hand" Tao smirked, reaching over, and detaching his other hand this time. "Be proud. Out of all my targets, you've lasted the third longest."
Videl's eyes widened again as he aimed the empty space inside of his arm at her. An orange glow began to fill the small crevice, the heat it was radiating being felt from across the room. The pressure in the room seemed to grow again, and her body refused to respond to her commands.
"DODON RAY, FIRE!" Tao shouted, as the orange energy within his arm blasted forward, searing the carpet beneath it completely black as it barrelled down on Videl.
She tried with all her might to move out of the way, but she couldn't. She was completely paralyzed. Time seemed to slow as the beam drew near, and she shut her eyes tight as the orange light overwhelmed her vision.
She felt something slam into her body, sending her flying to the side. Her eyes snapped open, barely seeing enough to keep from slamming into the wall too hard, when she noticed someone standing in her spot.
"SAIYAMAN!" she shouted as he stood directly in the path of the Dodon Ray. The ray connected to the green-clad superhero, and the energy sprayed all around, as a resounding explosion filled the room.
The smoke was thick and sulfurous. Half of the room was completely blotted out by it. Videl had felt the force of the explosion, nothing could have survived that.
"Saiyaman… He…" Videl's voice broke, as she realized that the man, the one who had shown up in her city, the one who she had given nothing but grief over doing her job, had just saved her life, by sacrificing himself. To take the bullet meant for her.
"Hmmph, what a fool" Tao sighed, turning towards where Videl now laid. "What was the point in killing himself? All he did was delay the inevitable."
Eyes shining fiercely with tears, Videl glared at Tao. "You… You're not a man! You're a monster! You murder people, just to get a kick out of it! You, you deranged sicko!"
"Sticks and stones, little girl" Tao smirked. "Now then, where were we?"
"I believe that you were about to surrender and come quietly" a voice rang out of the smoke.
Immediately, the attention of both of the others in the room were snapped into the cloud of smoke from which the sound emerged. "What?!" Tao exclaimed in shock.
A white glove emerged from the cloud, and swiped away the darkness. A gust rippled through the room, as the smoke dissipated, and Saiyaman made himself visible. Besides soot in the palm of his glove, he looked absolutely no different than before.
"Saiyaman… You… You're alive?!" Videl said, inexplicably elated.
She couldn't see his eyes, but his smile was clear enough. "Miss Videl, you've seen me around the city. Did you really think something like that would take me down?"
"You… Who are you?!" Tao demanded, facing back at Saiyaman.
Saiyaman shook his head. "Well, I guess I can't blame you for not recognizing me in this outfit, and all" he admitted. "Still, I never thought I'd catch you around here. One can hope that you would have seen the light, but I guess that was false hope, after all."
"What?!" Tao asked, confused.
Saiyaman crossed his arms. "It's too bad, really. If someone hired you to kill the mayor, it must have been really high paying. And now, this is the second time that I've kept you from completing your job."
"Second time? What are you-" Tao suddenly stopped, and began to sweat profusely. "N-n-n-no… It's, it's… It's-!"
"The justice fighter who single-handedly stopped you from killing a helpless old man with the same move you tried to use on my friend here?" Saiyaman said. "Yup! That's me."
"You, you're, you're his… You're Goku's son!" Tao said in terror.
"You'd be correct" Saiyaman said. "And let's see, I am… Twice? No, Four, five, six, well, let's just ballpark and say I'm about ten times stronger than I was the last time we met."
Under the mask, Gohan pulsed energy out of his eyes, sending a light ki wave at Tao, staggering him backwards. That was all the assassin could handle.
Without another word, Tao turned and jumped out the window, shocking Videl. She ran to the window he jumped out of and looked down. They were only on the second story, but jumping out of a window…
She saw that Tao had grabbed one of the supporting pillars that were placed around the City Hall. He actually tore it out from the building, and threw it straight into the air, before leaping impossibly far and fast, landing on the pillar as it soared away. In moments, Tao had disappeared into the distance.
"Sorry about that, Miss Videl, I have a feeling you wanted to arrest him" Saiyaman said, catching her attention and causing her to turn back towards him. "However, while I could force him to come with us, there is no prison that I know of that would be able to hold him within. Don't worry, I doubt he'll be coming back to this city, in this lifetime, at least."
Videl blinked, and decided to trust Saiyaman's words. Whatever that Tao guy was, he was a living weapon. He would be able to bust out of any facility she could think of. Maybe it was better for him to just be scared out of the city.
"You… You saved me" she said lamely. She was trying to thank him, but only ended up sounding dumb. She mentally slapped herself.
Saiyaman shook his head. "It was no problem, Videl" he said. "After all, it's what I do."
Videl, for once, didn't feel annoyed by Saiyaman's words. Instead, she actually felt rather grateful. Maybe it just took a life or death experience to see it, but maybe he wasn't just the wannabe hero that she thought he was.
At that moment, Saiyaman cocked his head to the side. "Oh, you're injured" he said.
"Huh?" Videl asked. "No I'm-" she stopped as the side of her head throbbed. With the adrenaline from the fight wearing off, she realized, that that backhand Tao had landed had hit a lot harder than she thought.
Saiyaman frowned. "I'm no healer, but you should probably get some ice on that as soon as possible" he said. "They already called medics to deal with Tao's victims out in the main area. I can bring you to them."
Her initial thought was to refuse any further help, but he didn't give her that chance. Picking her up by the shoulders, SAiyaman turned towards the window and jumped out of it.
Videl immediately panicked, but slowly stopped as she realized that they weren't plummeting. Rather, they were gently floating towards the ground below. In awe, she glanced around. "There's literally no place to hide any sort of wires or anything" she realized. "Saiyaman, he's actually flying!"
Saiyaman looped around the side of the building, landing back out front, where sure enough, several ambulances were parked. Setting down lightly, he let Videl to the ground. "I would stick around, but it would seem things are all wrapped up here, and I have places to be" he said. "Are you going to be okay, Miss Videl?"
Videl rolled her eyes. "It's not like it's a concussion, it's just gonna bruise a bit. I'll be fine."
Saiyaman smiled. "Very well then. If that's all, then I'll be off."
He turned in the air, and Videl steeled herself. "Wait, Saiyaman!" she said.
"Hm?" Saiyaman said, turning back around.
Videl took a deep breath. "I, I just wanted to say, thank you for saving my life."
Saiyaman chuckled. "No need to, Miss Videl. As I said, it's what I do."
Videl chuckled along with him, before her smile sharpened. "Just so you know, I still haven't given up on unmasking you. Just so we're clear."
"Nor would I expect you to" Saiyaman said. "Well, until the next crime!"
This time, he turned in the air, and shot skyward, a gust rolling over the entire court as he took off. Faster than even Tao had been, Saiyaman was out of sight.
Orange Star High School
"I'm just glad I got there in time" Gohan thought as he touched down. Videl may have been a bit hurt, but knowing Tao, she could have been far worse off. Like, needing the Dragon Balls worse off.
Rushing back inside, Gohan made it into his classroom just as the class was starting. Apologizing for being late, he made his way to sit by Erasa and Sharpner.
Halfway through the period, they began to worry about where Videl was, but Gohan told them that Videl could handle herself, and she was probably just taking care of the official stuff that went along with the crimes that she stopped. It was a lot more believable than "don't worry, I was there, I saved her, so she's just taking a little break to recover."
She didn't show up for all of fourth period. She wasn't there by fifth period either. By the time that the period was about to end, the door opened up, and she finally showed up. She was holding an ice pack to the side of her head, but besides that, she looked to be fine.
Erasa immediately swarmed her, asking if she was fine.
Videl rolled her eyes. "Hey, I'm still walking, talking, and breathing, aren't I?" she asked.
"What happened that kept you up for so long?" Sharpner asked.
Videl huffed. "There was some freaky robot dude after the mayor. Whatever he was, he was too fast and strong for me. Saiyaman managed to stop him, showing up at the last minute."
"Wait, Saiyaman could beat someone that you couldn't?" Sharpner asked.
Videl shrugged. "I don't know if he could beat him, but the guy, Tao, seemed to recognize Saiyaman, and immediately ran."
Erasa eyed her best friend. "You don't seem so annoyed talking about Saiyaman as you were earlier" she noticed.
"Well, I decided to lay off him for a bit" Videl admitted. "He did save my ass in there, after all. Even I can be thankful." She couldn't tell if it was her imagination or not, but Gohan almost seemed to be relieved when she said that she'd be laying off of Saiyaman. "And file that little tidbit away for later too…"
The group finished up the period, before they went down to change for gym. And two of them were noticeably less excited than the rest of the class.
Trudging onto the field, the entire class came to a stop in front of Coach Axe. "Alright, ladies, listen up" he said. "I told you a bit about what's happening last Friday, right?" There was a murmur of assent from the class, at which he continued. "Well, here's the deal. You're getting a very special teacher to run you all through some basic martial arts training. This will last for the week. During this week, I will not be teaching you anything, it's all on your 'guest coach.' Any questions."
The class had none. "Alright, then I'm off for a week in Miami" he said. "Your teacher should be here in a just a moment. Just don't get into trouble."
Giving the class one last once over, Coach Axe walked off the field. A lot of the class started chatting excitedly about meeting the Champ in person. Videl only hoped that he wouldn't be too big of a fool in front of her class.
There was a loud crash behind the class as the door were thrown open. Heads snapped towards the disturbance, only to see nothing but a swift shape fly over their heads. Well, swift to all but one. To that one, it was impossibly slow.
The flipping ball of brown and white jumped over the class, landing on the field before them. "YEA-HAH, THE CHAMP HAS ARRIVED!"
Videl groaned inwardly. "Hope gone."
The afroed head of Mr. Satan stood before the entire class, inspiring awe from the teenagers. The hero of the entire world, was less than ten feet away.
"Well now! It's great to be here to teach you kids" Hercule chuckled. "As you might have known, this was my school when I was your age, a little fun fact."
An awed sound escaped the crowd. "So, as I'm sure you've all heard, I, the Champion of the World, the Strongest Under the Heavens, have been brought here to teach you kids a thing or two about martial arts. After all, in the ever growing world we live in, one must be ready to defend themselves at all times!"
"I'm surprised. He actually sounds like he knows what he's talking about" Gohan noted.
"Now, show of hands, how many of you, besides my little Videl, know something about martial arts?" Hercule asked.
Videl hung her head low at being singled out like that. About half of the rest of the class raised their hands into the air, including Gohan, whom she didn't notice.
"So we've got a fair amount, that's good, real nice" Hercule chuckled. "But we've got some that don't, and you can always start at the base. Line up and show me your best fighting stance!"
Gohan was hoping he could just blend in with the crowd, so this order shattered his hopes. "Just please don't pay too close attention, please…"
His body, natural as it was, sunk into his stance, in unison with the rest of the class. Leaning low, putting the weight on his front leg, he held one arm out back, and one curled in front of him, hands hooked.
Videl, a few classmates down, watched Gohan, and was shocked when she saw his stance. It wasn't one she thought she had ever seen, yet it felt as if she had, somewhere. What's more, that wasn't just him imitating a stance. It was a seasoned, flawless stance. She couldn't see one hole in his guard, one weak spot, nothing.
She ignored him, choosing to stay focused on maintaining her own fighting stance. "He's got such an expert base. How? Is Gohan a fighter? He couldn't be, could he?"
Hercule started at the end of the row of kids, working his way down, and analyzing their poses. "Hmm… Good, but adjust your weight a bit… Nice, very nice… Don't worry, I'll help you find a decent one…" and so on.
Gohan closed his eyes and prayed to Dende as Hercule drew near to him. His voice came ever closer, and he tried even harder.
He heard footsteps right in front of him. "Ah, so you've got a pretty good one there" Hercule's voice came. He looked up. "Maybe if… You…" Hercule's voice completely stopped as he continued to get a look at the boy in front of him.
He glanced up, and saw that Hercule had stopped in shock. "Duh… Duh… Deliv-"
Quick as he could manage, he moved a single finger in front of his mouth, shushing Hercule. The last thing he needed was for the class to hear the Champion call him 'Delivery Boy.'
Blinking, Hercule stumbled onto the next student, but his voice was broken up now, stuttering over simple words. He kept glancing back at Gohan the whole time.
"Why do I even bother asking you for help, Dende?" he wondered. He had a feeling that this was about to be the longest class he had ever had.
That's a wrap on this one.
This'll probably be the last update for a while. I have 3 other stories that need attention, after all. So I hope you enjoyed it.
I've always gotten a kick out of the scene where Cyborg Tao fled from Gohan in Lime's village, and love the way people have his reaction be should he show back up in these stories. So, I decided to do my own take on that. I hope it turned out good. It was supposed to make the scene where Videl stops hating Saiyaman so much, and it also gives a very key piece of info to his identity. You probably noticed it. Videl sure did, even if she didn't mention it.
Anyways, I've got to wrap things up and get to class, so I'll respond to reviews real fast before I have to head out.
Fromaster24 - glad you're liking it. The article did mention Goku, Yamcha, and Krillin. However, at the moment, she was more focused on the Kamehameha WAve than the Tournament
Mfmxxx - I'd be willing to. I already explained in PM
Lancecomwar - not sure about a whole Frieza Returns arc, but I have something planned soon
HakushoRuroini - yup, I love doing that too :D
I would respond to a few others, but I'm pushing it at this point, and really want to get this up before I don't have internet access anymore. Sorry.
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I'd love it if you dropped a review, and until next time, cya!