Tough Times(Please Review)

[hewhostandsalone]

Part I, Prelude to the battle

Gerrek strode through the doors of a tavern on the outer edge of Saru City. The bar was fairly full right now, what with it being evening time and most Saiyans being off duty. Patrons, mostly lower class Saiyans, sat around the bar and carried on conversations amongst themselves. A few silenced when Gerrek walked in and stared at him, but he paid them no mind. He hadn't gotten a good night's sleep in his pod the past few days, so he'd decided to seek out an actual bed to sleep in. He approached the bar with a semi-bored look on his face.

"Got a spare room left? And if you do, what's the price?" Gerrek was straightforward about his intent. He wasn't ready to sleep just yet. There was still a few hours before nightfall. Plus he hadn't had his nightly drink yet either.

"A room for you? One hundred," the barkeep stated solemnly as he cleaned one of the glass mugs behind the counter. Gerrek frowned at this. He had enough to pay for a room, but with this guy charging those rates, he'd be broke in two days. And that wasn't even accounting for the cost of food and drink. He knew the barkeep was stiffing him on the price, but if he said something about it the entire bar would probably jump him.

"Don't think I can afford that out of pocket. I'm a traveling mercenary, so maybe there's another way I can pay you?" Gerrek asked, more than a little hopeful. He had to play nice for now.

The barkeep leaned over to him and whispered, "I suppose I can give you a chance. Don't think it'll be easy, though. Y'see there's been an elite coming out here for weeks now and trashing the place. Patrons get pummeled, tables and chairs destroyed...heck, I've even had one entire wall get blown down last month. It's gettin' to be a pain to keep this business going with trouble like that. If you take care of him, I'll give you a room."

That was a steep requirement. Take down a Saiyan elite just to sleep in a bed for one night...was that even worth it? Gerrek figured he wouldn't get much better deal anywhere else. The elites were even more bigoted against off worlders than the lower class.

Gerrek only nodded back in acceptance of this mission. The good thing about fighting for hire is that your jobs usually served a dual purpose of getting paid somehow as well as improving your talents for the next contract. In this case the payment was a night's rest and the job was a difficult one by anyone's standards.

[hewhostandsalone]

Part II, Down but not out

A little less than an hour had passed since the contract had been made. Gerrek sat at one end of the bar in silence and solitude, sipping on a mug of the hardest stuff in the tavern. He figured he'd best have his ace ready for when the fight did break out. It could save him, big time. As he was in the middle of a drink a hard slap hit him on his shoulder and the place fell silent.

The hit caused Gerrek to lurch forward, spilling what remained of his pint on the counter. He turned with a growl and looked at the one responsible. That hit told him that this Saiyan was pretty stout. Maybe he was the elite? "The good stuff doesn't come cheap, you know." A rhetorical statement on his part, but Gerrek still expected some verbal response from this saiyan.

"Like I'd care about some lizard's alcohol problem! I'm to excited about something else at the moment," The saiyan retorted, almost triumphant in his tone of voice. His arms were hanging, relaxed at his sides as he said this. A smug grin was spread across his face.

"What have you got to be excited about?" Gerrek looked rather frustrated at how upbeat this man was despite having just ruined a perfectly good drink. It rubbed him the wrong way.

"How to put it so you'll understand..." he mumbled in a pompous manner. "It's like trying a new drink for the first time. I've had the same thing for over a month now. It's nice to come here and find a new flavor."

Gerrek saw where this was going. This must have been the elite. He was as arrogant as any Saiyan could be, and he was either very brave or very foolish. Without hesitation, Gerrekput his full strength into a punch aimed at this man's gut. Apparently the saiyan wasn't expecting Gerrek to make the first move because he doubled over onto Gerrek's fist for a moment. Gerrek wasted no time letting him recover. He swung his tail around and smacked the annoying warrior out the door. The rest of the bar broke into cheers and followed Gerrek outside. It might as well as to have been a schoolyard brawl with the way things were going.

As Gerrek got out the door the Saiyan got to his feet and dusted himself off. "Pretty good intuition for a dumb reptile. Not a bad punch, either. Now let me show you what a real punch feels LIIIIKE!" The Saiyan shouted as a light blue aura sprang to life around him and he zoomed at Gerrek with incredible speed.

Gerrek was the one caught off guard this time. This Saiyan was much stronger and faster than he had originally thought from that slap on the shoulder. A hard right hook was delivered to Gerrek's left cheek and he was lifted off his feet. He flew through the air and crashed into a few saiyans that were exiting the tavern to the right of where he'd been standing before.

"Ugh..." Gerrek grunted as he climbed back up to his feet. His vision was slightly blurred and his head ached. That was one heck of a punch indeed. He spat blood on the ground next to him and wiped his lips with his left wrist. The Saiyan had used his energy for that attack, or at least that's how it appeared. Maybe Gerrek could still hold his own if he used his energy as well. He'd prefer not to use his transformation as it was very tiring. Burning up large amounts of energy like that was a real pain, especially if he got a contract again tomorrow. Still, he was getting ahead of himself. From the looks of things right now this fight was far from over.


Gerrek rushed at his foe with all his strength. The thin, white aura that embraced his frame as he did so was intense and wild, flickering and dancing about around him much more than the energies of most fighters. The saiyan, as if answering his move, summoned up his own aura and looked to be bracing himself. Gerrek's fist connected with his chest, but he did not budge. Instead he smiled. "You're just a step above this low class trash. You're nothing."

With a mighty two handed smash, Gerrek was slammed facedown into the dirt. His whole body actually made a crater a few radially from his body from the shear impact. Things were not in his favor at all. This fighter was easily two and a half times his current strength.

[hewhostandsalone]

Part III, The difference

Gerrek was barely conscious. His face was bruised and bloody. His breath had been taken by that last attack and he was gasping for breath while face down in the parched dirt of one of Saru City's streets. The saiyan, content that he'd beaten Gerrek with no chance of a rebuttal to his snide comments, looked to the rest of the crowd to continue his spree of violence and dominance. He even stepped on Gerrek while moving toward them as a point of humiliation and indignation to the off-worlder.

The other Saiyans tensed up and prepared for another long fight for their lives against this elite. Just when they Elite had picked his target and was about to lay down another beating, the whole crowd's eyes widened. Coughing and wheezing as he rose shakily from the dirt, Gerrek stared down the elite with a fearsome piercing gaze.

He breathed heavily as he managed to finally speak, "Nothing...doesn't get...back up...when you...knock it down!" His aura shifted and changed. It became more stable now, the ripples and waves taking on a smoother rhythm in their fluctuations. The energy also began to gleam and shimmer as it turned a brilliant silver from its previous white.

The Elite growled, "Then I'll just knock you down again and again until you ARE NOTHING!!!" He threw several orbs of energy at Gerrek in rapid succession. They all glowed brightly and were easily the size of basketballs. Gerrek forced his energy outward around him and concentrated it into a strong, dense layer. His Barrier easily blocked the blasts of the Elite.

When the smoke cleared the crowd looked a little shocked. How could a fighter so easily outmatched before now be shrugging off the attacks of his opponent without a scratch? They all wanted to know. The Elite was not amused in the least. He was quite frustrated, in fact. The Elite moved so fast now that the crowd could not keep up. A shimmering image was left standing where he previously stood as he made his way to attack Gerrek once again.

Gerrek's eyes were quick enough to keep up, though. He snapped his left arm up and twisted his body at the waist, bending one knee to drop down and brace for stability as a mighty full spin kick came at him from behind. The Elite suddenly looked nervous. Gerrek only smirked at him before making his own move.

The red reptile's tail slammed into the Elite's side, causing him to bend slightly. Gerrek then shoved off the ground with his bent leg, extending it to deliver a mighty uppercut to the jaw of his foe. The Elite wouldn't be defeated so easily, though. He was able to hastily jerk his upper body back in time to evade what could have been a battle ending blow. He promptly sent a flurry of kicks at Gerrek's now exposed side. Attempting the uppercut had caused him to fully extend his right side, leaving it vulnerable.

Gerrek grunted as multiple kicks hit the mark. He backed off momentarily, and his foe seemed uncertain of what to do. Gerrek had a good idea of what to do. He began building energy in the pit of his stomach, preparing to use the drink he'd stored earlier.It was the same one, in fact, that this Saiyan had caused him to spill part of. "Looks like the trash is taking you out," Gerrek said smugly. He hoped to bait his foe into a reckless attack. With his pride and dominance in question, if he didn't answer this insult with a direct attack he'd be laughed out of Saru City by the other Saiyans. That's just how Saiyan society was. Gerrek knew it, too.

And in that moment the battle was over. As the foolish Saiyan came at Gerrek once more, the mighty breath of fire caused from ki enhanced alcohol made him bald, scorched the clothes from his upper half, and gave him some nasty burns on his chest.

As the Saiyan lay there, still smoking slightly, he called out in a raspy voice, "What makes you so different?"

Gerrek had already ceased using his full power. His aura had dissipated. He looked back over his shoulder at the man on the ground behind him and said, "You fight for pride and to be the best. I fight to exist and keep on living."

[Gray Callahan]

1500 PL or zeni.

[hewhostandsalone]

1500 PL please.