Spideros (Crono & Brodock)

Spideros

Easy Quest

Requirement: None

Reward: 1,000 zeni and 10 Hero Points

A gang has been terrorizing West City. They call themselves the Spideros and have spider tattoos on their arms. It is said they are led by a powerful martial artist. Put a stop to the Spideros and defeat their leader.

Crono had always enjoyed the quiet solace of the beach, the cool breeze on an open meadow, and the beating heart of a lush forest. His newest destination was none of these places. It was the exact opposite. Having been born in a small town, he was never a fan of the hustle and bustle of the “Big City.”

Holding the checklist in his hand, he landed atop the sky scraper. West City—it seemed to be the biggest of all the cities he had been to. As he gazed upon the nexus of domes, streets, and spires, he felt a bit overwhelmed. How on Earth was he supposed to find places to buy the things on his checklist? There were signs all over the place, but there were so many of them he felt like he was starting a search for a handful of needles in a field of haystacks.

I guess I could start by asking a resident. Maybe they will be able to tell me.

“Screw off kid, this ain't a charity,” the man at the hot-dog stand told him. “Unless you're going to buy a dog.”

Crono blinked, speechless. He wondered if he should go ask someone else, but he had overheard this guy giving the last person directions. He went down at the list again. It had been written on a piece of parchment paper with one of those ancient pens, the kind you scratched on. Crono didn't understand why Master Korin had given him such an odd assortment of items. Nor did he understand why Korin didn't just buy a notebook and one of those cool clicky pens.

“If I buy a hotdog, will you tell me where I can find it?” Crono asked.

The hot-dog man grumbled something inaudible. “Dammit kid, I don't know where to find a ruby amulet. Try a frickin' jewelry store or something, or a pawn shop.”

“Thank you sir,” Crono said and reached into his side bag, ruffling out a few zeni bills. “I'll take a hotdog, with everything on it.”

The man handed him the dog. It sat in the bun, a pile of onion and peppers atop it along with a thick coating of ketchup. Crono took a massive bite out of it as he happily walked away.

Across the street, the front of the bank exploded. Shards of glass and hunks of stone rained down upon the street, smashing cars and taking out helpless bystanders. Crono dropped his hotdog and watched as several men wearing black jackets with bandanas emerged from the smoking hole that once was the bank front, garbage bags filled to the brim with cash.

WC: 449

"Those bastards think they're tough picking on the weak, do they?" Bardock said angrily and clenched his teeth. Every other television report he saw had to do with the infamous Spideros gang causing all sorts of trouble for West City. The Saiyan warrior had yet to run into the group himself, but their mark was left everywhere he went. He hoped that he would see them so that he could have them try and pick on someone that could actually defend themselves.

Come at me, bros.

He stood in front of a television repair shop, watching yet another report on one of the T.V.s for sale. The Spideros were wreaking havoc on a part of town familiar to Bardock. Nearly instantly, he came to the decision to do something about them once and for all. Without a second thought, he was at full sprint toward the bank that the gang was in the middle of robbing.

Enough is enough.

Pure determination was etched across the scarred warrior's face as he reached the bank in mere moments. He was seeing red and nothing else mattered but taking down the gang. He payed no mind to bewildered civilians shocked at his speed or the cars honking madly at him as he gracefully ran between moving vehicles.

The bank's main entrance was demolished beyond simple repair. Dust and debris filled the air and made visibility of the crime in progress difficult. That was until a gun toting thug appeared and went straight for a large white van. Bardock sprung into action and after dodging a few more cars, stood in front of the thug's van.

"You're not going anywhere," said the Saiyan warrior with a grin.

"Get out of the way! Do ya wanna get shot?" replied the thug from the driver's seat of the van.

He waved his semi-automatic pistol out of the window and before he could pull it back in, Bardock grabbed it from him. He crushed it in his fist as if it was nothing more than dead leaves and blindly tossed it behind him. Grinning once more, he tore away the van's door and was amused by the thug's reaction; he urinated all over his pants.

"I'm gettin' outta here!" the thug said and rushed toward the passenger's side door.

"I don't think so," replied Bardock before he took the thug by the head and smashed his face into the steering wheel.

Once the thug was rendered unconscious, the Saiyan warrior was already looking for his next target. Through the smoke, he could hear the other thugs panicking and asking about the van and their driver.

"Where's Vinny and the damn van?!" Bardock heard one thug say.

"I dunno, man, but we gotta get outta here before the cops show up!" said another thug.

I have an idea...

The scarred warrior positioned the unconscious thug to look like he was just sitting there waiting while he hid in the back of the getaway van. If everything went right, Bardock would greet the remaining thugs in a most surprising way.



WC= 519

Crono coughed on the thick black smoke pouring out of the front of the bank. It stung his eyes and he rubbed them, trying to clear his blurry vision. A high pitched scream brought his attention to the street. He spotted a young woman trapped beneath hunk of stone, which looked to have once been a part of pillars that had been from edifice of building prior to the explosion.

He dashed over to her, sliding into a low crouch. It was clear that her left leg was crushed from the thigh down. Sticky crimson blood spread out on the street all around her. She held one shaky hand out, her expression was filled with both terror and desperation.

“It’ll be okay,” Crono said, trying to calm her. On the inside he was horrified at the sight.

With his super human strength, moving the hunk of stone was child’s play. But, he hadn’t been expecting her to let out a blood curdling screech when he started to pull it off of her. It was like ripping off a band-aid, so he knew he couldn’t hesitate, hurling it aside.

She slumped forward. Crono flipped her over gently, making sure she was still breathing. It was a long, agonizing moment, as he waited for her shallow breathing to begin. Once he knew was still alive, he let out a low sigh and carried her off of the road, setting her down next to the hot dog stand. The hot-dog vendor had fled, as with the most of the people who had survived the brunt of the blast.

The sound was immense. He had been drowning it out, but now that he looked around, he felt it reverberating in his chest. Sirens, screaming, the sound of beeping horns, car alarms—the entire block was in utter chaos.

A white van had backed up to the front of the bank and the young warrior heard a commotion. He felt a large energy signature as well and dashed over, peeking out from behind an upturned taxi cab. A dark haired warrior took out two of the thieves and then climb into the van. Crono was quite curious, was he trying to stop the criminals? He remained in his position though, waiting to see how it would play out before he intervened.

That until a he spotted a thief exited the bank who looked jacked as all hell. He had black hair that was slicked back and wore a black shirt that was unbuttoned, revealing his six pack. With his most vital area opened up to the public and the casual way he walked, Crono knew right off the bat the thug feared nothing.

The fearless thug started spouting orders to two others to hurry up and get the money in the van. They were struggling, toting what looked like sleds and dollies with bars of gold stacked on them. So, he was clearly the leader of the outfit, Crono could see that now. Opening his senses, he could feel large amount spiritual energy radiating from him. He had a violent and chaotic signature. It seemed much larger than the black haired warrior's that was lurking in the van.

There was no standing by idly to see how it played out, he knew he would be jumping in on this one.

WC: 554

Get a little closer, Bardock thought when he heard the familiar squeak of dollies headed toward the rear of the van.

Within moments he was crouched in the far corner of the van, completely covered in darkness. He hopped on the balls of his feet, anxious to pounce on the unsuspecting criminals. It seemed to take hours, but he knew he only waited seconds before the double doors of the van opened. Bright like and smoke seeped in, and the Saiyan warrior used it to his advantage. When the first load of gold was tossed into the van, he took a gold bar and threw it into the chest of the first thug.

Not worried in the least about his ability to incapacitate the thug, he focused on the second one. The human thug had reacted quickly enough and aimed his firearm toward Bardock's general direction. The Saiyan warrior had dodged bullets before, but it had been a long time and he wasn't as fast as he used to be. Rather than jump to one side of the van, he chucked another gold bar, freeinging the thug's firearm from his hand. Then, Bardock threw himself forward with his boots smashing into the thug's chest.

When he hopped out of the van, he saw both thugs laying on the ground unconscious several feet from the rear of the van. Ready to tie them up and throw them in the van for the proper authorities, he walked toward them without watching his six. He was struck hard by an elbow from an unseen enemy. Cursing his tunnel vision, Bardock slowly faded into unconsciousness. He tried to fight it, but being caught by surprise was just too much for him. Hopefully, there would be another hero strong enough to save the Saiyan warrior from a situation most likely coming down to life or death.

"You're stupid, but brave. No one will save you," he heard a man say as he embraced unconsciousness.

I'm way too old for this...




WC= 519 + 335 = 854

"You're stupid, but brave. No one will save you," the thug leader said.

Crono's fist collided with the thug's right cheek. Blood, saliva and a few teeth from the villain's lips. The red haired teen had been moving full speed upon delivering his blow, sending the thug flying back inside the bank. Crono heard a muffled crash through the blaring sound of the sirens, most likely the thug meeting a wall or some sort of solid object.

Reaching down, Crono picked the dark haired warrior up by the armpits and dragged him over, resting him against the tire of the van. He had fallen face first and was completely unconscious. The teen snapped his fingers a few times, but there was no response. He was almost sure the fellow would wake up with a splintering headache after taking an undefended hit like that.

“You got some balls, kid.”

Crono turned. The thug stepped out of the shadows and flames. With a puffed up cheek, he looked mad as a hornet.

“You earned yourself a death sentence with that sucker punch.”

"Why?" Crono said and grinned. "Isn't that what you just did to that guy?"

"Shut your mouth!"

The thug cupped both of his hands together. White light began to shimmer between them and swelled, growing into an orb of spiritual energy. Crono lowered into his stance, bracing himself for the coming blast. The thug wound up like a baseball pitcher and hurled the orb. It sizzled through the air and Crono brought his arm upward, swatting it aside. The orb careened hard, flying away from him and hitting a lamp post, exploding.

Crono looked back to where his opponent had just been. He was gone.

“Ha!”

The solid connection of a knee to the side of his head indicated that the energy orb had only been a distraction.

With his ear ringing, Crono slid across the broken glass and concrete, a blue mailbox stopping his momentum with a crunch. He landed with such a force that it bent in half and popped open, raining letters and postcards down all around him.

Rubbing his ear, Crono staggered to his feet. The thug was on him again, throwing a heavy upper cut. With his free arm, Crono managed to deflect the blow, but doing so put him off balance. The thug swept his legs out from beneath him and Crono crashed down again on top of the mailbox.

“I fucking hate do -gooders like you,” the thug said, his words muffled due to his swollen cheek. “Think you're all hot shots. You ain't got shit son.”

Crono felt a hand wrap around his ankle and instinctively kicked, trying to free himself of the grip. But, the thug merely hurled him like a frisbee. Speeding through the air, Crono managed to twist his body around in time to ricochet off of a nearby apartment building, heading straight towards his opponent.

The thug had seen him coming and jumped up, doing a front flip. His right leg extended out and before Crono could muster a defense or swerve out of the way, it crashed into the back of his skull. It was lights out. Crono hit the front of the white van with such a force that it leaned onto two wheels and slammed down on the pavement, gold bricks tumbling out onto the sidewalk.

Steam hissed out of the radiator. The red haired teen has created his own human shaped indentation in the front of the van, which held him in place nicely.

The thug cracked his knuckles and started raining punches down on the helpless Crono, battering him from head to foot.

WC: 616
TWC: 1,619

All that noise...

Bardock's head felt like a train had hit it. He was slowly regaining consciousness, but at the price of feeling the hit he took. His eyes were still closed while his other senses worked on piecing together what was going on around him. Screams assaulted his ears. Nearly everyone was still panicking, and the city's police force was obviously relying on the Saiyan warrior and some other helpful soul to do their work. Bardock could smell sweat, blood, car fumes, and food, likely from the stands knocked over from the explosion.

C'mon, get up!

With great effort, Bardock opened his eyes and looked into the smoky sky. His arms shook under his weight as he tried to lift himself up on legs as stable and strong as wet noodles. He placed an arm against the van to regain his composure and catch his breath. He made a mental note to work on his conditioning before he got himself killed. He was a warrior, damn it! It didn't take long for him to realize that he had help in trying to deal with the thugs. Some young, spiky haired fellow was kicking ass before he was overwhelmed by the same bastard that knocked him out.

The Saiyan warrior ran as fast as he could toward the leader of the gang and threw a right hook toward the thug's cheek with all of his strength carried and multiplied by his momentum. A resounding crack! echoed, and the thug was thrown several feet away, skidding across the broken pavement. Bardock was ready to go and finish him until he saw the beating that the spiky haired warrior took.

He bent down and with two fingers to his neck, Bardock checked the fallen young man for a pulse. Satisfied that he didn't cause a young warrior's death, he dragged him to the same area he had just come from. He leaned the young warrior up against the van and went looking for the ring leader of all that chaos. He was going to make sure he and all of his followers payed for all of the trouble they caused.

Once again, a veil of smoke obstructed Bardock's view and he didn't see the kick going for his ribs until it was too late; he doubled over and fell to his knees. He caught the second kick going for his head and used the thug's leg to charge forward and take him to the ground. The Saiyan warrior's experience in close quarters combat served him well when he struck out with a flurry of punches to the midsection of his overconfident adversary. Deciding he had done enough, Bardock finally got to his feet. He breathed heavily and gritted his teeth as he flexed his hands to numb the pain. He had lost touch with his Ki, and couldn't sense any significant power level around him or even use energy attacks.

From here on out I'm gonna train my ass o---

His train of thought was derailed by a savage kick to his groin and once again, he was forced into unconsciousness. If the young warrior was still unconscious and unable to assist him, they were almost sure to lose their lives. Something had to be done to permanently end the threat to the city.



WC= 854 + 552 = 1,406

Crono emerged from the daze left behind by the abuse, scrapping himself up off of the pavement. It seemed he had been tagged out, and the other warrior had taken his place. However, Crono watched as he took a swift strike to the groin and collapsed once again.

“Enough is enough,” the crimson haired teen said, but his words were muffled by the sheer amount of noise filling the streets.

Sirens blared and he could hear the dull chattering of a helicopter buzzing above. The police were moving into the area. The thug leader bore a smug look. He had nothing to worry about when it came to the police and Crono had a feeling he thought himself victorious.

“Oh lookee, the kid's come back for more,” the thug said. He was dancing on his toes, like a professional boxer.

Crono spat out blood onto the dust laden pavement. “With all that strength you could have done something useful, but you choose to steal, murder, and destroy. For that, I will end you.”

Crimson ripples of spiritual energy began emanating from Crono's body. The air wavered like heat coming off of a grill. Bolts of bright red electricity traveled down the length of Crono's arms. The damn of spiritual energy inside of him was crackling slowly and he had to move fast before his power erupted and destroyed half the city.

Vanishing from sight, he re-appeared above the thug and came down with a heavy hammer fist. The thug caught by crossing his forearms but the sheer force of the blow caused the street to crack and splinter. It caved in and he descended into the sewers below. Crono followed after with an axe kick. It slammed into the thug's shoulder with a sickening crunch, his collar bone snapping like a twig.

With a righteous roar, Crono sent a heavy undercut into his stomach. Air wheezed out of the thug's lungs and he was sent back up into the sky. Fiery energy surrounding his frame, Crono chased after spiking him into the side of the bank like a human volleyball.

Sure that his opponent was defeated, Crono floated down and landed beside his incapacitated opponent. Lifting him up, he slung him over the shoulder and flew off. A short ways away, he landed atop the roof of an old abandoned factory and set the warrior down gently, leaning him against the rusted out remnants of an industrial air conditioning unit.

Digging around in his travel back, the crimson haired teen produced a small green bean. He opened the warrior's mouth and popped it inside. He instinctively swallowed the bean, its restorative energies starting to work its way into his body.

“You're pretty strong,” Crono said. “My name is Crono.Thanks for helping to stop those bad guys. I have to get going, my master is waiting on me, but I hope we meet again!”

Aura flaring up around him, Crono blasted off, leaving behind a potential friend. He felt a bit sore, and knew Master Korin wouldn't forgive him for getting in a scuffle. He had to get the supplies and bring them back, or his next session would be even more brutal.

WC: 539
TWC: 2,158