The Crane Hermit Part III (Complete)

The Crane Hermit Part III

Hard Quest

Requirement: Must have completed The Crane Hermit Part II

Reward: 3,500 zeni and 10 Villain Points.

Master Shen is satisfied with your skills in battle. But, your deeds in the last tournament have earned you a bad reputation. It seems a few wannabe heroes are looking to pick a fight with you. But, defeating them will not be enough. Do your worst and make their families pay too, to set an example of what will happen to those who challenge the Crane Hermit and his pupils.

“Hey you,” A voice called out. “stop right there!”

Vegeta turned around, grocery bag in hand, to find a muscular body builder-type man looking down at him. Vegeta knew nothing of this man, with exception to why he had come. Ever since the Saiyan prince had destroyed the East City Arena, there have been countless men who have come to challenge him in order to make a name for themselves. They fighters believed that if they were able to take down the one known as ‘The Demon of East City’, then they too will be as famous as he.

“Oh god,” Vegeta sighed. “not again.”

“I am Raymundo Gonzalez,” The man spoke with a boisterous voice and it painfully obvious that he wanted everyone to hear. “I will defeat you, the Demon of East City, and will claim my rightful title as the one who has defeated the Demon of East City! It was the title I was born to have!”

“What are you some kind of moron?” Vegeta’s voice was artfully apathetic as he gazed up at the man towering above him.

“How dare you call me dumb!” The man swung his large hand down and smacked the back of groceries out of the Saiyan’s hand. “Now who’s dumb?”

Vegeta glared. He didn’t like Humans and he especially doesn’t take kindly to the ones who knock groceries out of his hands.

“I never called you dumb,” Vegeta snapped.

“Yes you did.” Raymundo replied half-heartedly.

“No,” Vegeta raised his finger up in a way to both verbally and physically mock him. “I called you a moron, not dumb. Being dumb is simply stating that you lack intelligence or any good judgment, which is not correct. True, you showed your lack of intelligence when you mistakicngly thought I called you dumb and it is also true that you showed your lack of any good judgment the moment you approached me, but to say your dumb is an understatement. You are a moron. A person of borderline intelligence. A retard, if you must. Hell, your IQ is probably no higher than sixty.”

“Uh-“ Raymundo wasn’t sure how to respond. No one had ever spoke to him like that before, most feared his size. “shut up!”

“That’s the best you have huh?” Vegeta chuckled. “Of course it is.”

Raymundo was too upset to say anything in response; he simply did what he always did when he was mad. He resorted to violence. The large man threw his fists downward, in an attempt to deliver a hammer blow to the top of Vegeta’s head.

Now Vegeta wasn’t very big and it was a fact he was all too familiar with, but if there was one thing that his small stature allowed him was speed. Over the years of constant training against much larger opponents, Vegeta had come up with several techniques to combat larger opponents by evading and countering their attacks.

The Saiyan prince took a step back, allowing Raymundo’s attack to fall short. Vegeta grabbed the warrior’s hands tightly in his own and threw them to the side, causing the man to lose his balance as he stumbled sideways. Vegeta took that opportunity to deliver a single bone crushing kick to the back of his opponent’s head, sending the man flying into a nearby building. The three story building collapsed on top of him. The once bustling marketplace was now empty. There were bags of groceries littering the ground, thrown there from the shoppers who abandoned the area once the fight started.

Vegeta walked over to where his bag lay and picked it up, tossing the objects that had fallen out, back inside. He grabbed ahold of a pudding cup on the ground and eyed it carefully.

“That moron smashed my pudding.”

(WC: 629)

“Hey you,” Another voice called out. “stop right there!”

Vegeta stopped in his tracks. He had barely walked a quarter of a mile when he was stopped by another person. He turned to see a woman pointing a finger in his face. She was of average height for a female Human and had long black hair. There was something about her that just seemed familiar. His attitude toward Human’s hadn’t changed in the past ten minutes and he still hated the ones that knocked groceries from his hand, but if there was one thing he hated more than those were the ones who stuck things in his face.

“And who the hell are you?” Vegeta snapped, irritated at his ever growing popularity.

“I am Rina Gonzalez,” The black haired woman responded with a humble tone. “I have come to -“

“Wait just a second,” Vegeta interjected, cutting the woman short. “Did you say Gonzalez?” For some reason the name sounded familiar, but he couldn’t quite place it. He knew he had heard it somewhere before.

“Yes,” The woman answered proudly placing her hands on her hips. “I, Rina Gonzalez, shall take the Demon of East City down right here and right now.”

“Something about you is so familiar,” Vegeta was perplexed on why exactly this conversation felt so redundant. “Do I know you?”

“Not yet,” The woman responded as she bent her knees and lowered herself closer to the ground. “but you will soon come to know me as the one who defeated you, oh Demon of East City.”

Rina cried out and charged forth, fist drawn back and ready to strike. She launched a jab for Vegeta’s face, but he easily evaded it. She kept pushing forward and he led her back evading each of her strikes as they went. A small crowd started to form around them, following them in the narrow streets of the market district.

“Listen here woman,” Vegeta called out as he shifted the bags around trying not to have them get damaged. “If you don’t stop I will hurt you. I just want to eat in peace.”

“Shut it Demon!” The woman shouted as she threw a kick his way.

Vegeta ducked, but unfortunately he had done a bit more shopping since the last battle and he now had three bags instead of one. Now one of those bags had a large loaf of bread which caught the woman’s foot and it, along with the bag, went flying into the crowd.

“Bitch! I am Vegeta!” The Saiyan roared as his purple aura exploded around him sending her stumbling backward. “I am far worse than any demon you will ever come across.”

Vegeta gripped the other two bags firmly in each hand. He was about to go on the offensive. With a leap forward, Vegeta brought his foot back, blurred out of existence for only a moment and delivered a kick to her backside, sending her grinding along the pavement and into the crowd.

Vegeta slowly walked toward her, the crowd split letting him through. He looked down at the woman struggling to get back up. There was a blood trail along the ground where her face had been torn up.

“Everyone watching this,” Vegeta shouted looking to the crowd. “keep this in mind next time you think of challenging me.”

Vegeta lifted his foot just above her face and with an enormous surge of power slammed it down. Her cries of agony were muffled by his foot, but only for a brief moment right before her skull fractured.Her blood went flying in all direction, splashing up on the Saiyan prince and the closest crowd members. Gasps of horror shook the crowd as they quickly fled.

The prince snapped his head around looking at his bag. He walked over to where it lay and picked it up. Once again he threw the items that had fallen out back inside. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a lone banana. He grabbed ahold of it and threw it away.

“That bitch bruised my banana.”

(WC: 629 + 680 = 1309)

“Hey you,” Two voices called out in unison. “stop right there!”

Vegeta had yet to even leave the scene of his past fight when two men had intervened. Vegeta reluctantly looked back two see a pair of young twin boys, no older than fifteen. He sat his three bags on the ground, not wanting anything to get damaged further, and turned to face them. The two boys had dark curly hair and look earily similar, like looking in a mirror.

”Who the hell are you?” Vegeta looked at the familiar looking boys menacingly.

”I am Rod,” The twin on the left responded crossing his arm and turning sideways.

”And I am Todd,” The boy on the right followed crossing his arms as well and turning to have his back lay flat against his sibling’s.

”We are the Combat Twins of the Ganzalez family,” Both brothers said in unison. “and we have come to defeat you!” The twins pointed directly at the Saiyan Prince, their movements coordinated and timed perfectly.

It was no secret that the Saiyan prince despised Human’s especially ones who would knock groceries from his hands and shoved things in his face, but the thing he hated more than that was those who mocked the art of combat by mixing it with cheap theatrics.

”Knock that shit off,” Vegeta snapped, his disdain for the twins apparent.

”You will never stop the power of justice!” The two danced around with synchronized moments as they spoke.

”Wait,” It had just hit him. “are the two of you related to that woman whose brains are scattered around here.”

”Sis!” Both boys cried out as they had finally realized the corpse laying by the side of the street.

“How could you do such a thing,” Todd yelled, finally breaking the twins “and where is our brother Raymundo?”

”Oh so he was your brother?” Vegeta grinned as he had finally pieced everything together. They were a family of wannabe heroes. Too bad they were no good. “He’s buried under a pile of rubble.”

”How dare you,” Rod ran forward, tears running down his face and his fist drawn back.

”No brother,” Todd reached out to grab his brother, but he fell just out of reach. “we have to attack together!”

It was too late. Rod, in a fit of anger, ran full force straight for the Saiyan warrior. His anger blinded him to see his own stupidity. Vegeta simply snapped his foot forward, delivering a massive kick to the boy’s stomach, stopping him in his tracks as his body left the ground.

”Rod!” Todd ran forth to catch his brother. The boy landed in his arms, his weight pressing down. “Are you okay brother?”

”Yea I’m fine,” Rod responded as he slowly opened his eyes. “Let me down I can stand.”

With a nod, Todd placed his brother on the ground, holding on to make sure he wouldn’t fall over. Rod held his stomach with one hand and the other held onto his brother.

”Let’s do this Todd,” Rod said, determined to beat the crap out of his opponent. Todd nodded. Only together did they stand a chance against this beast of a man.

”Great,” Vegeta huffed as he watched the two boys regain their resolve. “they are back at this again.”

The twins charged Vegeta head on. It looked as if he could solve this with another simple kick, but the two separated and flanked him from the sides. Each brother went in for a kick, one aimed for his back, the other at his stomach.

The Saiyan prince grinned; it was about time he found someone who didn’t fall with the first kick. Vegeta turned so that the kicks went for his sides instead. With his greater speed, he was able to block the double attack by simply tightening the muscles in his arms and allowing them to absorb the blows. He quickly reversed his position in an attempt to grab a hold of their legs.

The two boys were quick on their feet, they were able to jump out of the way of the Saiyan’s counter attack.

”Interesting,” Vegeta was shocked to see these boys put up more a fight than their elder siblings. “you two certainly are something else. It’s too bad that you are too weak to do any real damage; I would love a good challenge.”

The boys looked at each other and nodded. They looked back at Vegeta and grinned.

’Just what are these boys up to?’ Vegeta couldn’t help but wonder. Though they were weak they piqued his interest.

”Kame-“ The boys chanted in unison as the brought their arms back together joined at the wrist. A bright blue orb of energy flickered inside their palms.

”What’s this,” Vegeta was shocked to see the boys knew how to control their ki. Even if it was weak, he knew very few Human’s who even knew about the destructive properties of ki.

”Hame-“ The orb grew in size and became more stable. It was starting to look dangerious.

’Individually they are weak, but together, they just might be-‘ Vegeta couldn’t waste time thinking, if he didn’t do anything he would be in trouble.

He brought he arms back as a purple orb formed between his palms.

”Ha!“ The twins brought their arms forward as a blue beam of energy shot forth.

”Galick Gun fire!” Vegeta shouted as he brought his arms forward, firing a bright purple beam from his hands.

The two beams collided sending a shockwave through the streets. The shockwave shook the buildings around them. The force from the two blasts smashed small stones and rubble against the nearby buildings. It was now a struggle, blue versus purple, good versus evil, two versus one. The power behind the Blue beam was doubled thanks to the joint effort of the twins and the power behind the far more powerful purple beam was cut short due to the low charging time. It was an even battle.

Vegeta couldn’t believe that two little children could match his Galick Gun. No matter. He was far more adept at controlling hi ski than they and all he had to do was increase its power. The Saiyan concentrated as he reached into the pit of his stomach and let flow his ki, he felt the surge of power quickly climb up his chest and through his arms. His beam exploded as the ki was funneled into his attack. The beam pushed forward, blowing away everything in its path.

”N-No way,” The two boys couldn’t believe what was going on, their super double attack was being defeated by a single man. “We have to get out of-“ but before they twins could do anything, they were swallowed whole by the purple beam of energy.

”Grrr,” Vegeta growled, angry at himself. “Why do I constantly waste my time on these pathetic Humans?” It was irksome to waste so much of his shopping time on such menial fights.

The Saiyan prince walked up to where he had set his bags and noticed on of them on its side. He grabbed the bag and started placing the items back inside. That’s when he noticed the bucket of ice cream. He grabbed the bucket looked at it and threw it to the ground.

”Those twin bastards made my ice cream melt.”

(WC: 1309 + 1225 = 2534)

“Hey you,” Another man’s voice called out. “stop right there!”

Vegeta had yet to even pick up his paper bags when confronted by another wannabe hero. He was really pissed off; he couldn’t even shop without being challenged. His patience for the Human race was surely being tested today; he was only a few swear words away from blowing up the entire planet.

“No,” Vegeta shouted as he stood up and turned around to see his dark haired opponent. “you stop right there!” Vegeta clenched his fist in irritation, by looking at the facial resemblance he knew exactly who this guy was. “You’re from the Gonzalez family aren’t you?” The prince was on edge and so he didn’t even wait for the reply as he already knew the answer. “Listen up and listen well, because I’m only going to say this once. If you try to stop me, I swear to all that is holy that I will not only kill you in the most painful way imaginable, but that every single member of your entire family will share the same fate.”

The threatening words cut through the air like razor blades through an emo kid’s wrist. The proverbial blood gushing from the metaphorical wounds sunk into the man’s chest, leaving him frozen in place hesitant on what he should do now.

It was then that a taller man descended from the sky and placed his hand on the tense fighter, calming him.

“You won’t scare us that easily,” The tall man called out. “I am Eddie Gonzalez, and this here,” He patted the shorter, curly haired man on the shoulder. “is my brother, Manuel Gonzalez.”

Vegeta glared at both the men. It would seem that this Human family was larger than he had thought. He had already killed off several of their siblings and yet still more follow. There have been no aunts or uncles, mothers or fathers. He had to find them all and crush them in one fell swoop, but before that he had to take care of these two.

“Then I will just have to kill you both,” Vegeta snapped, digging his foot in the ground, ready to strike.

“Don’t take us lightly,” Eddie warned with a smile.

“Yeah,” Manuel remarked as he looked up at his taller brother then back at Vegeta. “Big brother and I are much stronger than Rod and Todd.” He looked at the ground, clenched his fists tight and gritted his teeth. “I’m just upset that I couldn’t make it in time.”

“That’s alright younger brother,” Eddie reassured Manuel as he brought him in close for a hug. “Those two knew what they were up against. The Demon of East City.”

“For fuck’s sake people,” Vegeta huffed, his purple aura slowly forming around him. “stop your bitching and tell me where the rest of your family resides. If you tell me, I promise to make your death as painless as possible.”

“We will never tell you,” Manuel shouted, his anger with the Saiyan rising fast.

“I was hoping you would say that,” Vegeta grinned the most wicked of grins. “I wouldn’t enjoy it without the agonizing pain.”

(WC: 2534 + 526 = 3060)

Vegeta wasted no time. He mustered up as much strength as he could and pushed his leg back sending him flying forward at super speed toward the younger brother. The Saiyan brought back his arm and threw his body weight forward along with his arm empowering his punch. The fist went flying in a blur at Manuel’s face, but stopped short when his wrist was grabbed by the elder brother.

“I don’t think so,” Eddie shook his head allowing his brother to take a few steps back. “you have to keep on your toes Manuel, this guy is strong.”

“It’s okay Brother,” Manuel said in a carefree tone. “you’re a lot stronger than him anyway.”

“I don’t know about that.”

“You’re saying he’s stronger?” The shorter of the brothers questioned.

“Don’t you ignore me you bastards!” Vegeta roared as he delivered a second punch to Eddie’s gut with his free hand.

Eddie felt the sharp pain of the Saiyan’s fist digging into his stomach, which was enough for him to loosen his grip on the Saiyan’s wrist. Manuel rushed over to help his brother bought was brought to a sudden halt as Vegeta shot a ki blast from his open hand, exploding upon hitting the Human’s chest. Manuel crashed into the nearby building, knocking a few bricks loose from the wall.

“Brother!” Eddie shouted, ignoring his pain for his brother.

Eddie delivered a powerful kick to Vegeta’s back, causing him to fall forward. To the Saiyan’s surprise, the kick was incredibly powerful. He hadn’t felt a blow like that since his days back in the Saiyan Academy.

“Are you okay Manuel?” Eddie kneeled down just in front of his brother and examined him closely. He was still conscious and there wasn’t too much external damage.

“Damnit,” Vegeta got back to his feet; he was upset that he would be so easily taken down. “That’s it, I will destroy you!”

Vegeta put his arms in front of him and pointed them at Eddie’s back. Yellow orbs formed in his palms, and with no hesitation, the Saiyan prince shot a bombardment of ki blasts at the two brothers. He was planning on keeping the weaker one alive, he would more easily break him than the older one, but he was tired from his previous fights and needed to end it quickly.

Manuel peered just under his brother’s arms to see Vegeta preparing his attack.

“No!” Manuel teleported behind his brother as the shots were fired and quickly formed a barrier of ki around them both.

“Nice try,” Vegeta smirked, increasing the number of blasts and their power. Each blast exploded as they hit the barrier, delivering powerful bursts of force to the wavering shield.

“Manuel,” Eddie turned to his brother to see his brother’s face full of pain and anguish. It was obvious that he was using every last bit of energy to maintain his barrier. “why?”

“Sorry, but I had to.”

The barrier started to crack, bits of energy fading into nothingness. Cries of pain could be heard throughout the empty streets. The twisted Saiyan smiled more with each scream.

“No,” Eddie looked at his brother who looked back at him. Without any other words exchanged, Manuel knew exactly what his brother intended to do.

“You mustn’t,” Manuel cried, his energy fading fast.

With a slow closing of his eyes, Eddie vanished. All of a sudden, the waves of energy blasts stopped, allowing the young brother to fall to his knees in exhaustion.

“So you came out of hiding,” Vegeta grinned as he glanced back at the man who was holding him tight.

A single tear ran down the man’s cheek. He closed his eyes and started to glow a bright yellow color.

“Are you fucking serious?” Vegeta knew what was going on and he was far too tired to survive a powerful attack at point blank range. “Get the hell off me you crazy bastard!”

The Saiyan felt a hot burning sensation on his back. It was Eddie; he would explode at any moment. There was only one thing he could do to save himself. He had to match the attack and cancel the technique with his own. He drew upon the ki the dwell deep inside his stomach and slowly drew it out and let it spread throughout his body. With a rush of energy, Eddie lit up the streets in a controlled explosion of white ki. Instantly a second explosion went off made up of red ki. The explosions fed of one another and quickly imploded upon themselves causing very little damage to the surrounding area.

“Damn him,” Vegeta cursed. His Saiyan Armor nearly destroyed, the prince was badly injured. He grabbed ahold of his left shoulder, which was broken and bleeding. “Is that kid still alive?”

Vegeta slowly walked over to the building where Manuel was leaning against. He was in full tears after watching his brother sacrifice himself. The Saiyan stood silently, looking down with a wicked glare at the broken man.

“Now this will be fun.”

(WC: 3060 + 841 = 3901)

The wind was strong as the Saiyan prince made his way up the final hill to the district of the Gonzalez family. Vegeta had just finished his interrogation with the young man; he could still smell the fear and taste the blood.

It didn’t take too long to get the information he needed from Manuel; the combination of the mental agony of watching his brother sacrificing himself and the physical pain of Vegeta crushing each of his appendages one at a time was too much for the Human to handle.

Vegeta enjoyed the man’s cries of pain so much that he continued his torture regardless of the fact that he already had the information he wanted. With even more gruesome behavior, Vegeta made an example of the boy for all those who may wish to portray the role of hero. The corpse of the boy now hangs up in the square, his entrails dangling from his lifeless body, where he would remain until the message was clear.

“There it is,” Vegeta remarked as he stared at the large mansion that stood before him.

It was a large white building three stories tall, its width at least four times that. Enormous white pillars decorated the front of the home with large double doors sitting in the center and were made from the finest of oak. A flower bed surrounded the house, giving the normally plain house a splash of color. The front yard had several animal shaped bush sculptures; a family of elephants stood closest to the entrance of the house, a large frog sat quietly on the left side of the yard while a couple of bears stood on the right. There was a hand laid stone walkway leading from the public sidewalk toward the house. Halfway to the house, the walkway split and wrapped around a large hand carved fountain that sprayed the most pristine water.

“What the hell is with this place?” Vegeta looked around casting glances at the bush sculptures. “I don’t know what it is, but these things piss me off.”

Vegeta raised his arm toward the bears and shot a large orb at them. It spun wildly and crashed into the ground, exploding on contact sending dirt in all directions.

“Knock knock.” Vegeta smirked as he turned his gaze to the remaining bushes.

The Saiyan prince shot three more ki balls; one of them at the frog at two at the elephant. Each blast shook the ground as the exploded disintegrating everything in their blast range.

The doors flew open with a thud and a large man ran outside and shouted, “Who the hell is messing up my yard?”

Seeing the man’s burly figure and knowing the strength behind his family name, Vegeta was excited to get this thrashing underway. He had to eliminate the Gonzalez family and rid the world of their heroic ideals.
“I am Vegeta,” The warrior announced himself stepping onto the lawn. “prince of the Saiyan race and I have come to rid the world of your presence.”

“Vegeta?” The man was bewildered at his name and his title. “Prince of say who?”

“This is why I don’t like coming to Earth,” Vegeta sighed. He hated the fact that Earthlings had almost no knowledge of sentient life other than themselves. “You Humans refer to me as the Demon of-“

“The Demon of East City!” The man shouted, interrupting the prince.

Vegeta hated Humans you interrupt him while he talked; maybe even more so then the ones who knock grocery bags out of his hands and ones that point things in his face and maybe even more than the ones who use theatrics to make an impression.

The man ran back inside the house his voice carrying outside yelling something about running and pant shitting. A little part of Vegeta was disappointed. He had thought the man was to prove him a challenge, but unfortunately he proved only the coward.

The Saiyan simply shrugged. He may not be getting the challenge he was craving, but at least he can watch the Earthlings squirm around a bit as he crushes their body and souls.

Vegeta simply strolled through the front door and entered a large foyer where inside several men in black suits stood, pointing guns at him. He paused and with a grin he brought up his finger and thumb to represent a gun of his own. The men chuckled unaware of their quickly approaching demise.

“Bang,” Vegeta said casually. A ball of ki shot from his finger like a bullet, ripping through the first man’s clothes and piercing his heart. With a few more quick shots the group of men lay dead in the hall and weren’t even able to get off a single round of their own.

Prince Vegeta continued through the foyer and into the grand hallway. From here he could see several other doors leading to the various rooms of the house.

“Damn,” Vegeta cursed under his breath. “just why does this house have to be so freaking big? Just who are these guys?”

The Saiyan kicked open the first door which revealed some sort of game room. He entered the room to see several large television sets, a billiards table, air hockey table and lounge that were spread throughout the area, but there were no people. As he turned to exit, he was met by a small elderly man dressed as a butler.

“I am sorry sir, but I cannot allow you to continue,” The butler man said calmly.

Vegeta snickered as he pressed his way forward, shoving the man aside and said “I have no beef with you old man.”

Vegeta continued down the hallway, but stopped when he sensed a strong ki presence just behind him. He turned to see the butler’s aura swirling around him.

“So you must be a Gonzalez then?”

“I am Grandfather Artimus Gonzalez,” The old man told the prince, his voice cut and dry. “and I will not allow you to continue on to kill my last remaining son.”

Vegeta’s ears perked up once he heard that. “So he is your last relative then? The burly one?”

“He is,” Artimus replied. “but you will never reach him.”

“We’ll see about that.” Vegeta clenched his fists as orbs of white energy surrounded them.

In a blur of super speed, the prince appeared behind the old man ready to deliver a hard blow to the back of his head, but to his surprise the man was looking right at him.

“How in the world-“ Vegeta took a few steps back, unsure of how the man could do such a thing.

“Remember this boy,” The man inched closer and with every word his voice became more and more ominous. “when the time comes, for every innocent you take from this world, you will suffer their horrors tenfold.”

“Shut it you old-“ Vegeta went to punch the man but when he thre his fist it went right through him causing him to slowly fade away. “What the hell was that? Screw this, I’ll just destroy this whole house.”

Vegeta’s aura flared up around him as he took off, going through several ceilings until he finally shot through the roof. He extended his arms downward and shot of a long volley of ki blasts, each more powerful than the last. The multiple explosions shook nearly the entire city, hitting high on the Richter scale. When the smoke finally cleared, the whole place was in rubble, pleasing the prince.

“Suffer their horrors my ass. Now where the hell did I leave my groceries?”

(WC: 3901 + 1,267 = 5,168)