OMAKE: Tail of the Road Not Taken part 4 (
Previous)
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I was practicing a kind of meditation the next morning, bright and early that had me floating at chair level in front of my computer reading the e-mail I had gotten overnight or maybe yesterday afternoon from Laserdream of New Wave.
I had been occupied yesterday afternoon getting Dad to help me come up with ways of weighting myself down on a regular basis. The best idea we'd had so far was putting a few hundred pounds of weights in a reinforced duffel bag or maybe a heavy bag like boxers used. Not really an attractive option, but maybe I'd get a better idea later in the day.
In the meantime I was clutching a fifty pound barbell with my tail, which was waving gently behind me as I typed. I really was ridiculously strong. I seemed to be recovering from the fight yesterday pretty fast too. I don't think I'd call it regeneration, but I was definitely not a slow healer.
The taped up ribs I was still sporting showed that I wasn't regenerating though.
I finished my reply to Crystal Pelham, making an appointment to meet up with her at Fugly's for lunch, I never had gotten those Challengers yesterday...
Although New Wave wasn't
exactly looking for new members, but they were always looking to support anyone in favor of the mask-free lifestyle, so we were going to talk.
I don't think I'd respect myself if I tried to fit into their "costume style" anyway.
I was distracted from my exercises by the smell of breakfast being started by Dad downstairs.
I headed down there to see what was on and likely have to help double up the portions because even with the shopping trip last night, I'm pretty sure Dad had no idea what my new appetite was like.
As I ambled into the kitchen, I noticed the newspaper on the table, showing a decent, but not perfect shot of my fist going through one of Ironsides' clubs on it's way to his face. The headline read "NEW HERO SINKS IRONSIDES!", I rolled my eyes at that and looked over to where Dad was cooking four breakfast sirloins a rasher of bacon and a dozen eggs, looked like a fair pile of toast too.
He did learn!
He then cleared his throat and gestured at the paper.
"Anything to say about that Taylor?" he asked pointedly.
"His technique was rudimentary, and while decently strong, he wasn't nearly the challenge I'd hoped for." I told him honestly.
He gave me a flat look.
"You were supposed to stay home yesterday, or at least not get into any trouble." he told me in a tone that said he might get angry, but was refraining for the time being.
"I wouldn't exactly call that idiot
trouble." I replied "His thugs were second rate, and he relied way too much on being tough, and he wasn't tough enough to handle me."
"Besides," I continued "Would you want me to be the kind of person that lets a second rate yutz like that shake people down while I'm standing
right there? What kind of hero does that?"
Dad stepped back from the stove and facepalmed.
"What were you doing there in the first place?" he asked, seeming strangely put upon.
"Oh, that" I answered, taking over fixing breakfast "I was at the buffet place and saw it all going down on my way home."
Dad sighed.
"Well, you did clean the house out pretty thoroughly at breakfast yesterday" he admitted "I guess I can see why you had to go out to get lunch"
"Good!" I said cheerily, "I'm meeting Laserdream for lunch today to talk about a few things, you don't mind that do you?"
We settled down to breakfast, most of the food on my side of the table.
"No, not at all." He told me "Just try not to get into too many fights today, alright?"
"I'll try." I answered wryly "I was thinking of getting some training in, maybe at the old quarry outside of town now that I have a handle on the flying thing."
"You're sure about that?" He asked.
"Oh yeah! I was floating instead of using a chair when I set things up for lunch." I said in between mouthfuls of breakfast.
"Okay" he conceded "Just be careful out at the quarry, alright?"
I nodded and saved my mouth for more breakfast.
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After letting breakfast settle a bit and seeing Dad off to work, I was standing in the backyard in simple jeans and t-shirt with a backpack thrown on with extra clothes for after training.
I focused my Ki
inward and
outward simultaneously and with a shout a blazing aura of white sprung up around me like fire.
With a shout I erupted off of the ground and shot into the sky like a missile. It was a serious rush, one I'd dreamed of since I was a kid pretending to be Alexandria.
The Ki aura that surrounded me kept me warm and kept the incidentals like bugs and such from bothering me as I flew.
I couldn't properly clock my speed, but I must have been moving pretty fast because I was at the quarry before I had even finished properly gloating.
So I took a few victory laps before settling down to really get some training in.
The quarry was a nice, isolated place that I could work on this stuff at and not worry about nearby people bothering me. The water collected near the bottom would make a good cushion for practicing blasts on too.
I settled my backpack and took out the notebook I'd made note in on what to practice. Other than flying, today was going to be devoted to better control over my energy blasts and better mental focus.
There were a whole series of mental exercises to build up self control that I'd need in two weeks when the full moon got here...
Either way, I got to work. The "present" the Kai had given me held a lot of shortcuts once I started actually working on it so the training went pretty well.
After a few hours I was able to get pretty precise with the "beam" type shots hitting targets I set up using bits of stone and wood and even getting six out of ten that I threw into the air.
I consulted my notebook again after spending some time working over rocks with punches and kicks until they were practically powder and decided to try a technique that was more advanced, but promised to really allow me to kick some higher end ass once I mastered it.
I focused my Ki into my right hand as I held it flat and open above my head, forming a sphere of energy. Once this was done I carefully focused on
flattening it out and shaping the edges to be
thin and
serrated.
After a few minutes effort, the sphere was more like a really fat cookie and I was losing hold of it, but I gritted my teeth and kept at it until the whole thing fell apart with a *pop* and fizzle of dissipating energy.
"Shit!" I yelled with frustration as I unleashed a beam of hot Ki into the water, setting off a small explosion and leaving the rest of it steaming.
I took a moment to compose myself, then checked the time. I saw that I needed to start wrapping things up and get ready to go, so I went down to the water and noticed it was a lot cleaner than I was as well as being newly hot. So I used it to get a quick round of bathing in and changed into the extra clothes I brought with me.
A quick flare of my aura later and I was dry and ready to go. Brushing my hair was beyond pointless, so I just took off for the Bay directly.
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I got to Fugly Bob's a bit early by my watch, so I went in and ordered a big soda and some onion rings to tide me over until Crystal got there. I also warned the waitress to get my Challengers cooking.
"Wait." she asked incredulously "Did you says
Challengers, as in two of them?"
"Yep." I replied with casual arrogance "I figure you guys won't let me take the challenge after today, so I might as well make an impression"
Shaking her head the waitress went to get my stuff.
I was munching on onion rings when the blonde girl, easily recognizable as Crystal Pelham showed up. She didn't seem to have any trouble recognizing me either.
She sat down across from me and extended her hand.
"Taylor Hebert?" she greeted "Nice to meet you I'm Crystal Pelham"
I grinned as I shook her hand.
"I thought so, you
are kind of famous, you know." I greeted in return "Nice to meet you"
She ordered some food, which to me sounded like a light snack and we chatted a bit about inconsequential things like Ironsides and how I'd kicked his ass.
"Fact is, you can get a bounty for villains with warrants out on them, you just need to register as an independent with the PRT." she informed me "It'll also let you get bounties on stuff like drugs and guns"
"That will be... very helpful actually" I said, very impressed with the idea. "I don't want to be a hero for money, but with an appetite like mine, food does need to be put on the table."
As I said this, her snack and my two glorious burgers arrived.
Just for a moment, Crystal Pelham, aka Laserdream, veteran superhero and survivor a few Endbringer fights was struck speechless.
Then I dug into the feast in front of me.
There is a certain art to eating quickly without being disgusting. Funnily enough, it was the thing that the Kai's "present" impressed on me most prominently.
So I was actually able to finish both Challengers in the time it took Crystal to have her meal. Much to her amazement.
"Okay, so how about we get your paperwork done and then me and my cousin will show you how we do patrols and stuff, okay?"
She must have seen the look on my face.
"I promise I'll help with the paperwork, and afterward we can even get you in with the Tinker that makes costumes and stuff for New Wave, alright?" she pressed, really sweetening the deal too.
"Okay, let's get to it then."
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AN: Longest one yet! YAY! Anyone got a good name idea for Saiyan!Taylor's hero persona?
