Chapter Four

Days passed by since you managed to sprained your leg. The plaster that Vados cast on your leg turned out to be made out of some sort of very durable material which actually inhibits your psychic powers. Her reasoning being: "You shouldn't use your powers, least you hurt yourself even more"

But screw that!

You've been given super powers! Hell would sooner freeze over than you'd ever give this up. So while it's incredibly hard to do so with some extra effort you are still capable of gliding over every surface like it was ice. However this little restriction meant that you couldn't train and so you used your new free time to go around and do the necessary shopping you wanted to do since the beginning.

Back on Earth you quickly went through a mall and purchased both the necessary equipment, ingredients and cooking books which would allow you to expand your skills. As a safety precaution you also purchased as many sweets as possible. Chocolate bars of the highest quality, candies of all kind and more buckets of ice cream than you can count. Vados was particularly amazed by how many things you can buy in a singular location. Though it doesn't look like she shares her gods enthusiasm for food. A shame.

Upon returning to the planet of Champa you wanted to go organize things but found someone standing in your way. "Eric!"

Cabba calls out to you. "My ship arrived and duty calls."

"Well I wish you luck. But... why tell me?"

"My orders are to patrol the galaxy for a bit.

I thought... since you're new and all that I could show you around a bit! How about it? It's just a routine little patrol so I doubt anything serious might come up. Besides, I imagine you're quite bored since you can't really train anymore."

You let out a smirk as you respond.

"Only if I get to drive the spaceship!"

"Hahaha! I'm sure we can work something out."

Jumping on the opportunity you rush through the rest of your work and make sure the perishable foodstuff are put away. After finishing your job you got on the spaceship and Cabba wastes no time with the liftoff. Leaving the small planetoids orbit is rather smooth and you barely even feel like you're moving at all.

"A-Amazing!"

Once free of the gravitational pull of the area and in free space Cabba stands up from the pilots chair and starts patting it. "Come on! Feel free!"

With barely contained childlike glee you sit down and follow Cabbas instructions.

Grabbing both sticks you begin actually flying it. "Captains log: Holy shit! I'm in a spaceship!"

"Usually we just use the autopilot. Steering for long distances can get pretty boring.

But I admit, it can be fun once in a while..."

Cabba then pauses. "H-Hey... do you have a minute?"

"You can say whatever you want as long as I keep flying."

"Erm... You said that you want to explore the universe right?"

"Eventually. Once I'm confident I won't just die out there."

"Then I'd like to give you an advice."

For a moment you turn away from the screen and look at the saiyan boy behind you.

"If you ever decide to do that I'd suggest avoiding telling anyone about where you're from. There are plenty of vile and evil people in the universe. And even more who don't show that at first. You... could easily pass as a saiyan. Especially if someone hasn't seen a saiyan before."

"I appreciate the sentiment Cabba but it's not necessary."

"H-Huh?"

"Even if I told them I'm from Earth it's not like I know WHERE it is or how to get there. So it's rather useless."

"S-Still... I just want you to be careful. It wouldn't be fair if you didn't know."

You pass by a dark, almost purple colored planet when Cabba quickly steps over to you.

"Do you mind if I take over from here? I'd like to refuel before we go any further."

"Sure. By the way, how long 'till we go back?

As much as I enjoy this I don't think Vados would approve."

"Not much longer. Once I finish this route I'll drop you off back at Champas world..." He then looks on the planet and lets out a grimace. "I don't want to spend much time here anyway..."

"Why? What's wrong with this planet?"

"It's called Smog. A planet which underwent a large industrial revolution, causing the atmosphere to be irreparably polluted. The air is so foul it's become inhospitable for the native species without a rebreather. However it's perfect for a different race, the Smogonites. These creatures came in large bands which grew into large criminal organizations. Now... the entire planet is ruled by one large mob."

You frown at that. "So why don't you do something about it?"

"Do what? What was once extortion is now tax. What was now a crime is now the law. They control everything from infrastructure to amenities. Removing them now would do more harm than good. A total collapse of the government resulting in anarchy... Sadly we are too late on this one."

"Why?"

"We were... occupied with something else when the takeover happened. But it doesn't matter now. Let's just fuel up and leave as soon as possible."

As you descended through the thick, dark clouds you realized that Cabba wasn't lying. The planet looked like the typical depiction of a dystopia. It was quite... harrowing to see a city covered in smog and illuminated by neon.

And it's unlikely this sensation will fade anytime soon.

Cabba hands you a rebreather after putting one on himself. "Here. You'll need this."

Limping down the ramp to take a look around while not straying too far from the ship you wait while Cabba recharges the spaceship so you can get the hell out of here. Unfortunately something assaults your ear as you hear a woman crying for help. Unable to resist you walk over to what you assume to be the space equivalent of gas station bathrooms and see a rather muscular alien in a rebreather trying to force himself on a woman, most likely an escort. The woman is trying to call for help but the thug covers the exhaust port of her rebreather and hushes her.

He slowly looks up at you and says this.

"You didn't see nothin'!"

You take a step forward in complete silence. The parts of you that wants to make snarky quips or impersonating Bane have fallen silent. Right now there is one thing on your mind and there is nothing in this universe that's going to change that. The buff alien throws the woman against the wall and tells her that if she moves he'll blast a hole through her as he takes out two things on his person.

One is a Mega Man-esque blaster and the other seems to be some sort of visor which was cut in half. He places the device on his head and with the press of a button he turns it on. The device beeps for a second before the alien speaks up. "Sixty? Hah! I don't know who you are punk but it's clear you got a death wish!"

He takes aim with that weapon of his and pulls the trigger. His movements and even the firing of the gun are almost comical compared to something like Vados. Completely seeing through his attack and predicting where the shot will go you push yourself off the ground with one powerful step and start using your telekinetic movement to dash up to the man. The shot misses your head completely as you get face to face with the man who is obviously scared by your movements.

Not wanting to hurt your leg more than necessary you bring it up and knee him in the stomach so hard you can hear him gasping for air under his rebreather. With your next move you rip the mask off his face and wait until he takes a good lungfull of the tainted air. His blue skin starts going purple and his eyes are becoming red as he's slowly choking to death. With his last dying breath he tries to take back his rebreather but you simply push him away with a telekinetic blast.

The girl next to you looks at you in horror, not daring to move. You look at her and speak up.

"Go. You're safe now."

Struggling with her tears she gets up, thanks you and runs as fast as her legs can carry her.

Hearing the blasters shot, Cabba runs up to you and starts questioning you. "What happened? Are you alright?"

Dropping the rebreather on the ground you respond. "Now I am."

He looks on the ground and sees the guys disfigured corpse. "WHAT DID YOU DO?!"

"I saved a life. He wanted to kill me because I saw him..." You reach down, picking up the blaster and throwing it to him. "See? He shot first."

"I... That's not- You still can't go around killing pe-" But the saiyan stops before he could continue when he sees the other thing the man was wearing and he's left speechless.

In his horror he points at the device on his head and begins to mutter something.

"I-I-Is that a... scouter? Give it here!"

Not feeling like arguing you reach down and hand over the scouter to Cabba. He goes deathly pale when he sees it. "There is no doubt about it... This isn't a saiyan designed scouter..."

"Meaning?"

He shakes his head. "No time to explain! Just know that this is bad! Really really bad!

If I'm right about this... this could change anything! ERIC!"

"Hmmm?"

The boy reaches out and grabs you by the shoulders. "I need your help! I need to get to the bottom of this! If we do the SDF will have all the reason they need to crack down on this planet! Planet Smog could be saved with this!"

"Why? Is it that bad?"

"Yes! Turning a planet into a criminal syndicate pales in comparison to this!

If there is more of these scouters here... That could be disastrous! This is forbidden tech! Please! Help me find the source of these!"

You nod. "A'ight. Count me in. But are you sure you need me? You are far stronger than me."

"Trust me!" He kneels down and starts looking over the dead guys body in search of something. "If they have scouters like these you're just what I need!" After scouring every inch of the aliens skin Cabba finally finds what he was looking for when he shines a light on the guys eyelids. "Bingo!"

"What is this?"

"A mark. This is how they show their affiliations to the various organizations.

Now I just need to cross reference it with the database aaaand... got it! This is where their headquarters are!"

"A skyscraper?"

"It's more than that. These buildings are like small forts. And with the various crime lords essentially being nation leaders they can house entire armies in these. I could break in with brute force but they definitely would slow me down. And if they buy enough time they could destroy all incriminating evidence. So we do things a bit different! I'll go in and make some noise. Enough to get their attention but not enough to raise concerns. I'll pretend that I'm struggling with them so you can sneak in."

"And since I have a small powerlevel-"

"You'll be harder to spot! And we can keep in touch so if you're in trouble I can come help.

But it'd be best if you could go in and find what we're looking for."

"Which is?"

"Scouters like these. Or anything high-tech with these distinctive red lines."

"Okay... And how do I do that?"

"Here. It's a scouter. It can read powerlevels but we mainly use it for tracking and communication. With this you can take pictures of whatever you find. If we relay it to HQ they'll send the entire SDF here immediately."

After putting on the scouter the two of you went to the skyscraper housing these ne'er-do-wells. Before charging the front gates Cabba looks at you.

"Ready?"

"Yeah..."

"Oh and one more thing..." Cabba spoke up before beginning his assault. "You may kill anyone that gets in your way!" Now that's a sudden change in attitude!

The Saiyan stands up and begins his transformation with plenty of shouting. His golden aura illuminates the foggy streets, making him look like one of the neon signs dotting the city. With a loud battlecry he charges the main entrance and begins to unleash hell.

As Cabba goes on a rampage you circle around the building and find yourself a nice little air vent. With the planets atmosphere being so shitty there has to be extensive networks of it to keep the interiors at least relatively clean. And sure enough you find a decent sized grate which you began dismantling immediately. Were it not for all the ruckus you're sure someone would've noticed your efforts already.

Once inside the ducts you pressed the button on the scouter and you had a connection established with Cabba. "Kept you waitin' huh?"

"I'm a little busy at the moment!" He says in between bashing two peoples skulls in.

"I'm in... I'll keep you updated as I go along!"

Cutting the link you go deeper. Unfortunately the layout of the ventilation system is confusing to say the least. You curse your lack of a map but then remember something Cabba said. If these things on your head can read powerlevels then maybe you can use those as points of reference. Turning it on you immediately spot several ones deep below you. Several hundred meters below surface level in fact.

Shaking your head you find a shaft that leads straight down and using your psychic powers you slowly make the descent. Upon arriving you arrive at a grate looking at some sort of a storage area where the several powerlevels congregate. Zooming in on some of the crates you spot what you were looking for. Scouters. And a lot of them. All seemingly the same as the one you found before.

Before taking any action however you overhear some of the security guards speaking. "What the hell is going on out there?!"

"Some stupid Saiyan monkey is banging on our front door!"

"Then why haven't we shot him down already?"

"The guy is apparently bulletproof! And gold!

I tried turning on my scouter to get a read on him but it flatlined!"

"Damn Tuffles! Aren't these supposed to be better than the Saiyan ones?"

"Hey at least it's not exploding!"

You frown at this and ponder on how to handle the situation.

You snap a few quick pictures of the scouters as well as the faces of the men and relay them all to Cabba while opening a comm channel. "Hey Cabba... I found it. There's a crate full of the things down here. Possibly even more. They also said they are "Tuffle". I don't know what that means but I assume it's important."

"Damn it... I thought so. Okay. That should be enough. Alright. Get out of there. Now! We gat what we came for."

"Roger, I'll-"

"What's that noise?!"

"OH SHI-"

And just like that you heard the charging of blasters before a volley of energy blasts was unleashed in your general direction. The heated balls of light could've been made of plasma because they ripped through the metal like it was wet tissue paper. Were it not for your quick psychic shield you'd have suffered the same fate. Unfortunately for you however... the vent has been blasted into kingdom come.

The structure under you gives out and you fall down onto the hard concrete as the security guards scramble. "HURRY! HIT THE ALARM! WE GOT AN INTRUDER!" One of them then slams a prominent big, red button which causes red lights to switch on in the place.

Standing up after your rough landing you stand face to face with roughly ten soldiers armed with those weapons. And you'd rather not tank any more of those shots. "Damn it!"

You curse under your breath as you assume your stance.

You rush out of your cover with shields charged to the max. Unless you get close to them you won't be able to do anything to them. So this is a risk you'll have to take. However you underestimated the enemy. These aren't mere thugs but trained marksmen capable of hitting you the second you pop out of cover. And unlike the last time there isn't only one of them.

One or two bullets you could reasonably dodge. A couple more you could tank with your barrier. The rest however...

When just one of the things pierced your defenses you felt a sharp, burning pain spread through your body. In your agony you trip over your leg and fall on the ground. Rolling forward you hit a shelf and topple it over, causing its contents to fall on you. Guns. A lot of them. With your body hidden by a large pile of weaponry you are left groaning in pain as the searing wound assaults your senses.

You're in trouble. This much you know. But with your body being wounded like this you can't really put up a fight. "Come on Eric! Think! THINK!" This is when a spark of brilliance hits you. One born out of desperation and in the heat of battle.

You must fight them not with your body but the power of your mind!

You feel the goons closing in on you, their weapons primed and ready to blast you apart the second they dig you out of here.It's now or never.

Still lying beneath that pile of guns you extend your hand as much as you can. Not that it's needed but visualizing a beam coming from your hand is much easier than from thin air. Using the burning pain in your guts to help you focus, you grit your teeth and lash out with a shout. In your hand a glowing orb swells until it's becomes as big as your palm.

From it a long needle like spike appears and it melts through the pile of guns in front of you before hitting the security guard.

He screams and falls back as his gun catches on fire.

"WHA-WHAT THE HELL?!"

Your hair flutters and suddenly the pile of junk that hid you flies off in every direction.

Pointing the orb at the next grunt you blast his cannon with a psychic bolt before the spike retracts back into the purple ball. As he grabs his aching hand you turn to the other eight with eyes full of rage.

"YAAAAAARGH! NULL SPIKE!" You thrust your palm forward and the little bubble of psionic energy bursts, sending out a shockwave which slams them in the wall. Where they struck the hard rock it cracked and caved. The guards eyes went blank from the impact.

Panting and reaching for your stomach you quickly look it over and sigh with relief when you see it's not back. Good. No third degree burns. "Cabba..." You activate the scouter.

"Eric? What's wrong? You went dark!"

"They found me... Got shot in the stomach.

But I handled the situation. I'm bringing the crate to you."

"Forget that! Just get out of there!"

"Screw that! I didn't get shot for NOTHING!"

You take a deep breath. "Besides. It's gonna take more than that to take me out!"

"Heh... spoken like a true Saiyan! Okay. I'll wrap this up so you'll have an easier exit.

We'll meet up at the rendezvous point!"

Smiling you returned to the box of scouters and attempted to lift the damn thing with your mind. Luckily your adrenaline stiffy is still hard at work and boosting your focus so it's not impossible for you to move it. And just as the box lifts up from the ground you feel a massive earthquake shake the entire building.

"HOLY SHIT CABBA!" You curse but secretly thank the saiyan for being such a good distraction.

On the way out you didn't encounter much resistance at all. Probably because most of them were already knocked out by monkey boy outside. Not that you're complaining. Limping through the front door you arrive at a literal warzone with holes that look like they were created by mortars and gang members strewn all over the place. At the large gates marking the places borders you see Cabba standing almost perfectly unscathed.

"Are you alright?"

"Y-Yeah. After all I just have a broken leg and a laser wound on my chest! But you... you look like nothing happened."

"We'll have to treat that. And it's not like I had to go all out or anything. Just regular Super Saiyan was more than enough to handle things here."

"Regular Super Saiyan? Isn't that an oxymoron?"

"Hahahaha! I guess it is! Now.... put that thing down and sit on it. I'll handle it from here."

True to his words Cabba flew you over the entire metropolis with the greatest of ease and even carried your crippled ass inside his spaceship where he motioned you to some sort of station. "Get in... It's a medical machine. The medicinal liquid should treat your injuries."

"Please don't tell me I have to strip."

"Not at all. You can go in as you are."

Letting out a sigh of relief you put on the mask attached to a series of tubes which will supply you with air while submerged.

As the juices start flowing you let out a little giggle both because the healing fluid kinda tickles and because you feel like you're in Star Wars. While the machine is doing its thing you try to communicate with Cabba through the rebreather.

"So... I guess mission accomplished?"

"You could say that. I'm already sending the evidence to my superiors. I'd guess in about an hour the occupational forces will arrive and restore order to the planet..."

"But didn't you say that would do more harm than good?"

"That was before we found those scouters..."

"So I'm assuming these "Tuffles" are bad guys..."

"The worst. They are... were a physically inferior race. They resembled Saiyans but were shorter and weaker but with a much keener intellect. Unfortunately they are also wholely evil and despise all other life. When they realized there are other intelligent being in the universe they began a campaign of war which threatened to destroy the universe..."

"Jeez..."

"First they genetically modified their bodies to be more physically capable. When that wasn't enough they employed more... drastic measures. They employed full body cybernetics in order to improve their abilities beyond the limits of nature. Their machine empire spread far and with their superior technology they dominated the galaxy, either killing or assimilating any opposition into their own species. Until the Saiyans stepped up to stop them. Even then we only managed to beat them back to their home planet Plan, which they reinforced so much we couldn't destroy it. Now there is a quarantine around the planet. Nobody goes in, nothing comes out. But these scouters... They are definitely Tuffle made. If their technology is leaking out it's only a matter of time until something else does as well."

"Resistance is futile, huh?"

"What?"

"N-Nothing!"

"Anyway... We did a good job today.

What we found is very dangerous. Likely the captains will squeeze every bit of information out of them. Hopefully that'll be enough. Oh but that reminds me! You said you're not interested in joining the SDF buuut-"

"But what?"

"I'd rather not take the credit for this work.

After all you are the one that got injured getting it done, not me! So it wouldn't be right to-"

You chuckle under your breath but quickly stop because that makes the stomach wound hurt more. "Hey man! You healed me up, I could do some good and be a Jedi for a day! That's good enough for me! Just promise me we go somewhere nice next time."

"What's a Jedi?"

"Oh... erm... an elite order of warrior monks.

They used to be really uptight but later generations are cool. Buuuuuut if we're talking about this and it REALLY pains you that much I could think of something you could do for me."

"Really? Name it!"

"How about you set me up a date?"

"A... date? With who?"

"Awww come on! You know! Or... shit wait! Are you and Caulifla-"

"ME AND CAULIFLA?!" Cabba almost chokes on his words. "WAIT! YOU WANT A DATE WITH CAULIFLA?!"

"Guess that's a no..."

"No, I mean yes! I MEAN NO! I can't promise I can do that buuuut... I could try. But you know there are quicker and less painful ways to die, right?"

"And that's what makes it fun! But in all seriousness, she's been pretty hostile towards me. If I could at least mend that issue that'd help. Don't want to share space with someone that despises me."

"Well... the problem is that as far as I know the only way to get her interest is with power."

"Noted. But your vision is too narrow my friend. You must open your eyes and broaden your horizons."

"Do you know something I don't."

"I'd argue I know many things you don't.

Though the reverse is also true."