The attention of every single human in the temple is locked onto Raditz, the Saiyan's sudden appearance shocking everyone into silence. Hercule himself stares at the taller man's back, eyes widening in fear when he spots the one-armed warrior's tail.
Raditz slowly walks forward, staring at Spopovich with a crooked grin on his face. Spopovich, having landed on the ring's floor to fire his attack, audibly gulps at the slowly approaching fighter. He takes a step back instinctively, his body reacting before his mind in the face of overwhelming power.
"What's wrong, 'Champ'? I'm not that scary, am I?" Raditz says, finally coming to a stop less than a foot away from the giant.
Despite the massive height difference between the two of them, the sheer arrogance in Raditz's movements cause the crowd to lose any hope that Spopovich, supposedly one of Earth's strongest fighters, can hope to match the Saiyan. Under the fearful gaze of the crowd, Raditz leans in close to Spopovich, before muttering a sentence that causes the cheater's heart to temporarily stop.
"Aren't you supposed to be strong? Aren't you supposed to be a big deal? I know they're training you to take me down. Now's your chance. Hit me."
"..."
The brown-haired man's breathing speeds up significantly as Raditz's sheer presence seems to beat down any confidence he once had. He gulps, raising his shaking fists.
Behind the two of them, Hercule suddenly faints, his body unable to deal with the wounds he's been forced to take. The Saiyan spares him a single glance, which Spopovich immediately takes advantage of, throwing a barrage of full power punches.
Crack.
Spopovich screams in pain as his fists land on Raditz's body, breaking on impact. Raditz scoffs, before blowing at the larger man. Spopovich goes flying back, knocked unconscious by a single breath.
The one-armed Saiyan turns towards the crowd, all trace of his former grin gone.
"Disgusting. My brother told me fabulous tales about the World Martial Arts Tournament. He said that it was a gathering of the strongest, most incredible warriors on Earth. I was watching this, hoping to see what has been described to me, and yet, this disappointment is all I see. The warriors here are not the strongest on Earth. I remember all the talk the organizers had about 'fair play', and yet what do I see when I watch this tournament? A Ki user, although a disgustingly weak one, dominating his opponents. This wasn't a tournament, this was a play, and it wasn't even a subtle one."
He walks over to Hercule's unconscious body, hoisting the hairy man upon his shoulders.
"This is who the true champion is. That other fighter... Spopobitch, or whatever his name is, should be disqualified... but I suppose that if the organizers had any integrity, this whole farce wouldn't have happened to begin with."
Without waiting any further, Raditz launches into the air, carrying Hercule towards Capsule Corporation. Soon after, Gohan grabs Videl, flying after the duo at speeds faster than any vehicle on Earth.
Hercule lies on a clean, pure-white bed, completely unconscious. Dozens upon dozens of wires are hooked up to him, and the majority of his body is wrapped in bandages. In a chair next to his bed sits Videl, eyeing the corner of the room with wary, yet curious eyes. The reason she looks at the corner of the room is because of the man standing there.
Raditz leans on the wall, staring at Hercule's unmoving body with a bored expression on his face. His right arm casually holds a glass cup, while the stump of his left arm grows at a pace so slow that no one but a Ki user would ever be able to notice. He stands there in silence, ignoring Videl's stares.
When the boy around her age first picked her up and flew into the air, she was... surprised, to say the least, but any anger she may've had at Gohan instantly evaporated when they landed at the private hospital run by Capsule Corporation, Wukong Hospital.
The scary, one-armed man rushed her dad through the hospital, accompanied by a strange, blue-haired woman that kept throwing weird looks at Raditz. Within a minute of touching down at the hospital, her dad was already in a bed, being treated by a large number of nurses and doctors. They even brought in a small, green child, but apparently, her dad is "too weak" to be healed by him... whatever that means.
So now here she is, waiting at his bedside for him to wake up. The one-armed man seems nice enough, although all of the doctors are terrified of him. She has to wonder though... why is he doing this? What exactly is going through his head...?
'Fuck! That was so badass! I'm gonna be on TV! It's going to look so cool! I can't wait until they release the footage!' Raditz thinks, grinning internally. 'Still, I sure do wish that Hercule would hurry and wake up. I guess I should do something to pass the time...'
If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
Faster than Videl's eyes can follow, Raditz dashes across the room, grabbing the TV remote off of a chair near her, before dashing back to his spot in the corner. With a quick press of the button, he turns the TV on, revealing a tall, bald woman holding a microphone.
"--the newest World Martial Arts Champion, Spopovich! Mr. Spopovich declined to answer our questions, but assured everyone that he was more than proud that the hard work he's put in has paid off. Although it was a very controversial victory, the judges have stated that since Mr. Spopovich was able to get into the tournament, he must've not had Ki at the time. They ruled that he must have awakened his ability to use Ki during the fight with Hercule Satan, which is no fault of his own and breaks no rules."
"WHAT?!?!?!"
Videl's loud shout startles Raditz, but even more than that, the volume of her angry cry is enough to wake Hercule up.
His head snaps up, allowing him to see the one-armed man standing in the corner of the room. His eyes widen in fear, and he collapses back in the bed, faking unconsciousness.
"..."
"DAD!" Videl yells, rushing to his side.
Despite Hercule's desire to hide from the powerful, potentially hostile alien in the corner of the room, his parental instincts immediately kick in when his daughter grabs his arm. As if by instinct, his right arm stretches out to caress her head.
"It's fine sweetie, daddy is fine. Don't cry." he says in a soft tone. "I'm just a bit tired is all, there's no need to worry."
Despite the tears running down her face, Videl smiles, hugging her father's arm tightly.
Raditz watches the duo in silence, waiting for the two of them to finish their show of affection.
...
...
'Fucking hell, how long are they gonna talk for?! It's been like... ten minutes.' Raditz thinks to himself, scowling slightly. 'No normal family shows concern for that long... is this an 'anime world' thing, or are those two just especially strange?'
Eventually, Raditz has had enough, and he quietly exits the room, deciding to hunt down the closest vending machine.
He doesn't have to search for long, however, as he quickly finds a room labeled "snacks", a quick peek inside confirms his suspicions, allowing him to spot the half dozen snack-filled machines.
With a small grin, he concentrates for half a second, creating a coin with a small hole inside. Focusing intently, he forces his Ki out of his body, creating an invisible, string-like piece of Ki. Then, he slips the 'string' through the hole in the coin, before inserting it into the machine.
'It's not exactly telekinesis... but it's a pretty close approximation.'
With that thought in his head, he puts the coin in the machine, then mentally pulls on the 'string', forcing the coin back out of the machine. After repeating this a few times, the machine finally allows him to pick an item. With a few button presses, his bounty is finally revealed.
'Hehehehe... I can't believe that they have dino jerky.'
Before he can enjoy his hard-earned loot, his eyes shoot open as he senses an outraged presence behind him. He slowly turns around, coming face to face with a flabbergasted blue-haired woman.
"..."
"W-What the fuck?!?! Are you actually kidding me?!" she yells, causing him to scowl as her high-pitched voice pierces his ears.
"..."
"You can LITERALLY CREATE GOLD! MONEY IS AN ISSUE FOR YOU! Why the hell are you scamming my vending machines with a coin?!?!"
"...Force of habit?" Raditz replies.
"Force of-- what?! You're an alien mercenary! There's no way you've seen a vending machine before! Who taught you how to do that?!"
"Vending machines are actually very common in the Universe." he lies. "Even the Frieza Force's main command center had a few."
"..."
Bulma stares at him in disbelief, causing him to quickly elaborate.
"Ask Vegeta. He's still living at your place, right?"
The mention of the Prince seems to only infuriate her further, but luckily, it succeeds in his primary goal: distracting her from what he just did with the vending machine.
"I still can't believe that you dropped that on me! First it was getting a gravity room to train in, then you dumped Vegeta on my doorstep, and now you've caused a scene at the world tournament! Why do you keep expecting me to clean up your mess?!"
"...Because you're so kind and understanding?" he lies.
A vein bulges in her head, reminding Raditz of his younger brother's wife. Just when he's worried that Bulma will attack him, she takes a deep, calming breath.
"Hmph. Fine, whatever. I guess I don't mind that much... Vegeta is pretty cute, and that tournament was a sham." she scoffs. "Just don't make this a habit."
"Speaking of... how is Vegeta? I haven't really been over to talk, for what should be obvious reasons. Is he still throwing a tantrum?"
"Oh, he's been great! The first day was rough, but he realized pretty quickly that being rude to the person taking care of him was a bad idea. He's... a lot smarter than I expected. I like talking to him... well, so long as the conversation isn't about you."
"He's still that mad?"
"He promised to kill you as soon as he got that Katchin off of him. Are you sure it's a good idea to leave him alive? He seemed serious."
The one-armed Saiyan grins at her concern, but immediately brushes it off.
"I'm not too worried. I beat him down pretty quickly in our last few fights, I'm confident that I'll be able to win if he tries anything... or at the very least, I think that I'll be able to survive until Kakarot arrives to help me out."
Bulma opens her mouth to reply, but before she can, Raditz's head perks up.
"It looks like those two are done talking... well then, I'll see you later!"
Not bothering to stay for her reply, he dashes off towards Hercule's hospital room. A split second later, he appears in the same corner he was lounging at earlier, startling Hercule.
"Oh Jesus-- um... hello sir?" the hairy fighter says, not wanting to offend the Saiyan.
Raditz looks around the room, quickly spotting Videl, who sits in a chair next to Hercule's bed, fast asleep.
'Right, she's only a little kid. I guess today has been a bit too hectic for her...' he thinks, before opening his mouth.
"How are you feeling?"
"I... I'm feeling fine. How are you?"
"..."
"..."
Raditz coughs awkwardly, ignoring the injured man's question.
"I'm sure you're curious about why I saved you?"
"...Yeah. Yeah, I've been wondering about that. You're probably the strongest man on Earth! Heck, if the news is anything to go by, you're even hostile to humans. Why exactly did you save me and the crowd?"
"I--"
Hercule hurriedly interrupts, as if he just remembered who he's talking to.
"I-If that's ok with you, Mr. Raditz sir! I don't mean to be rude or insult you! I just--"
This time, it's Raditz's turn to interrupt, as he tosses a solid gold bar onto the injured man.
"I'll keep it short, sweet, and simple. I can see a lot of potential in you, and so I want to train you. I'll cover whatever expenses you or your daughter will have."