The Crane Hermit (Completed)

The Crane Hermit

Easy Quest

Requirements: None

Reward: 1,000 Zeni and +10 Villain Points.

Master Shen, the Crane Hermit hasn't taken a new student in years. You seek him out, but he tells you he will not train you unless you defeat one of Master Roshi's former students in battle. Seek out one of Roshi's former students and defeat them to impress the old master.

Vegeta wasn’t a fan of following orders, much less studying under someone other than himself. Though his recent endeavors had revealed him not to be the strongest warrior on the planet; In fact, he was far from it. It wasn’t just strength he was lacking; he also needed new techniques, ones that would show just how powerful he could be.

The prince had sought out the most powerful warriors in an attempt to find the strongest master. It was rather difficult. Vegeta was still not used to the overall frailty of humans and would normally pummel them to near death before he could get a word out of them. From the many fighters he had demolished two names always came up, Master Shen and Master Roshi. Many of the warriors also informed him that Shen had not been accepting any students for several years now, so the Prince would try the one people referred to as the Turtle Hermit first.

Vegeta, nearly instantly after meeting the hermit, regretted his decision entirely. Roshi was a perverse old man who would not be serious about training for a single moment. That is when Vegeta decided on hunting down the Crane Hermit and force him to teach the Saiyan prince new techniques.

(WC: 209)

“Me, train you?” The thin squinty eyed man asked mockingly.

”Either you teach me your strongest techniques voluntarily or I can beat them out of you,” Vegeta threatened the Master with a menacing scowl and balled up fists.

”Hehe,” Shen chuckled. “You do not have what it takes to be my student.”

”Listen here old man,” Vegeta lunged out and grabbed the Human by his shirt and slowly lifted him off the ground. “Teach me your techniques or you die!”

Master Shen couldn’t help but grin as he watched the Saiyan grow more and more angry.

”Don’t you dare grin at me you old fart! The last thing I want to do is go back to the idiotic excuse for a Master and make him teach me his techniques. His strongest move is probably something perverted, like Fondling Attack or something.” A shiver ran down his spine just thinking about it.

”Fondling Attack?” Master Shen thought the inventive attack could only belong to one man. “Tell me boy, does this Master live on a secluded island and call himself the Turtle Hermit?”

”So you know him?” Vegeta lessened his grip, he felt that maybe he could convince the geezer to teach him something strong.

”I do.” A wickedly evil grin appeared on Shen’s face. “let’s make a deal, shall we? You find one of the Turtle’s former students and annihilate him. That will prove your dedication to the Crane School and show that you have enough talent to undergo my training.”

”Very well,” Vegeta grumbled as he released the Master, landing gracefully on his feet. “I shall find one of these students and bring you back his unconscious body.”

”No.” Shen interjected sternly. “Leave him at the Turtle’s doorstep.”

With a nod, the Saiyan took off. He wasn’t sure what it was, but something about this Master made him smile a bit inside.

(WC: 209 + 313 = 522)

“Damnit,” Vegeta was obviously upset. “Why is it so hard to find one of his students? From what I heard, that Roshi has many disciples.”

Vegeta landed softly just outside a small city. He scoured the area, seeing no one of any importance around him.

“Fine, I’ll just have to do it the fun way.” Vegeta brought his arms to his side, elbows back. “If that Turtle Hermit is as much of a goody too shoes as everyone says, then I’m sure his students are the same.”

A bright purple aura shot up around the Saiyan. He twisted his waist and brought his arms up behind him. A bright orb flashed in his hand, beams of light escaped from between his fingers.

“Alright Roshi, let’s hope you trained or students well. ‘Cuz if not, this countless corpses will be all your fault!”

“Galick Gun! Fire!” With a thrust of his hands, Vegeta shot a bright purple beam from his palms. A wicked smile appeared upon the Saiyan’s face. “Guess there were no heroes around here, oh well.”

Vegeta started to turn around just before the beam would have entered the city and out of the corner of his eyes he saw his Galick Gun flying above his head. Quickly, the prince turned to see a man standing at the edge of the city holding a smoking arm up in the air. It was obvious that he deflected it.

“So one did show up,” Vegeta clenched his fists as his ki swirled around him. “Good.” Vegeta dug his feet into the ground and rushed toward the man. Drawing back his arm, the Saiyan prepared for his assault.

With a large crack of thunder, Vegeta whipped his arm forward and in a flash of light his arm stopped.

“What the-“ Vegeta was shocked to see what had just happened. The man had blocked his punch and now held the Saiyan’s wrist in his hands. “So I see that perverted old man had some talented students.” Vegeta jumped backward in order to increase the distance between himself and his opponent.

“My name is Kuro Hij-“ The boy introduced himself before he was cut off.

“Cut the pleasantries,” Vegeta shouted thrusting his arm down, ready to continue the fight. “I, Vegeta, Prince of Saiyans, will defeat you here and now. Your name need not be remembered.”

(WC: 522 + 392 = 914)

“We shall see,” Kuro responded plainly.

Vegeta lifted his arm up and a ki ball formed just above his palm. He tossed it at his opponent and followed behind it. Roshi’s former student easily deflected the blast. The Saiyan drew back his leg as he neared and swung it as hard as he could at the Human’s ribcage. With incredibly fast movement, Kuro grabbed ahold of Vegeta’s leg and locked it into place.

“Give up,” Kuro commanded with a heroic tone. “You will not win.”

Vegeta grunted as he whipped his other leg around kicking the man upside the head in hopes he would release his captured one. His plan worked and when Kuro went to block, Vegeta jumped back in order to gain his distance.

’What’s with this guy?’ Vegeta asked himself, riddled by his opponent’s tactics. ’He had me in a lock and could have easily taken me down.’

“You got lucky with that last move, I promise you it won’t happen again.”

Kuro simply smiled at Vegeta’s remark. That just upset the Saiyan further. With a rush of speed, Vegeta jumped forward and delivered a quick punch to the man’s face. With a swift hand, Kuro cupped the Saiyan’s fist in his hand and tossed it to the side. Vegeta delivered another punch and Kuro answered it with the same technique. Getting upset, the Saiyan Prince quickened his assault, but the student quickened himself as well.

“That’s it,” Vegeta was now incredibly pissed as he shifted his weight around lowering his center of gravity. “take this!” and Vegeta delivered a quick and powerful uppercut toward the student’s jaw.

Kuro’s eyes darted down and a smile crept up on his face. Using both his hands, he blocked the uppercut by locking his hands together and absorbing the blow through his palms.

“Fell for it,” Vegeta placed his one open palm on Kuro’s stomach. “Dumbass.” A bright light shot through the man’s stomach as the beam of energy was released.

Kuro stumbled back a few yards, coughing up blood clutching his stomach with both hands.

“The difference between you and I,” Vegeta sunk lower to the ground. “I take advantage of any opening.” With a quick thrust of his legs, the Saiyan pushed himself forward, thrusting his shoulder into his opponent’s stomach.

Kuro screamed out in pain as Vegeta’s shoulder dug deep into his gut.

“Oh yea and I forgot to mention,” Vegeta brought his hands to his sides as bright purple orbs formed inside the palms. “I play dirty.”

Vegeta shoved his body up, increasing the pressure on Kuro’s stomach. The Saiyan then brought his arms upward and clapped his hands to the side of his opponent’s head, causing an explosion as the orbs collided with the man’s face.

Kuro collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

“Pathetic.”

(WC: 914 + 468 = 1382)

Vegeta landed softly on the ground, he looked around but couldn’t find any signs of the Crane Hermit.

“What the hell?” Vegeta glanced around looking for the master. “Are we playing hide and seek now?”

“Of course not.” A voice behind the prince responded. Vegeta quickly turned around to see Master Shen standing there. Where he came from he did not know, nor did he care.

“The dead is done.” Vegeta crossed his arms, normally he would bow to his father when he finished a task, but there was no way he would ever bow to a mere human.

“Excellent,” Shen responded with a grin. “and just who did you fight?”

“Kuro something,” Vegeta scoffed. “who the hell cares, what does it matter?”

“Kuro?” Shen knew only one Kuro, but it couldn’t be the same. “Was this Kuro Hijiyama?”

“Hell if I know,” Vegeta grumbled, he didn’t like being asked all these questions. It pissed him off. “I didn’t allow him to finish.”

’What?! Shen was surprised to hear who his opponent was. ’Could it have been the Kuro Hijiyama? There’s just no way it could have been him. Roshi’s genius pupil of counter combat fell to this guy? How intriguing.’

(WC: 1382 + 201 = 1583)