The Tale of Tomaki (Chapter 7)

The fly was noisy, as Victoria just kept laughing and giggling the whole way. When I finally reached her home, she had to point several times to remind me of where it was. I finally lowered us to the ground and she staggered off my back, squealing happily before tumbling to the door. I followed her as she opened the front door to her home.
“Dad! Guess who came to visit!” Victoria cried, her face was locked in a lovely smile. Her happiness was infectious. I couldn’t stop myself from smiling back at her. No sooner had she opened the door, than her father was suddenly there. Paul Rhodes had changed very little from when I'd seen him 3 years ago, though perhaps he looked more tired now. He was still in his police uniform and he was frowning. His eyes fell on Victoria and he hugged her, ignoring me completely.

“Charlie called me about what happened!” He cried. “Are you alright? You’re not hurt are you?”
“Dad I’m fine! I was sa-”
“I shouldn’t let you go out by yourself this late! I’ll have a police escort for you a-”
“Dad cut it out!” Victoria snapped in exasperation. “I’m not a baby anymore! I can take care of myself. Besides…I had a savior tonight.” She winked, looking back at me. “Guess who’s finally home!” At last her dad looked at me and blinked a few times. To help jog his memory I whipped my tail from side to side so he could see it. Like with Victoria, the sight of the tail seemed to bring the pieces all back together for him.
“Tomaki?” He asked.
“Yes sir.” I answered, being as polite as I could. He glared at me a moment and then back at Victoria.
“He saved you?”
“It was unbelievable! Tomaki is so much stronger than he was back then. Dad he could be the answer to our problems.”
“…Victoria it’s not that simple.”
“What problems?” I asked curiously. Victoria and Paul both looked at me and Paul sighed a long and frustrated groan.
"I thought I told you I didn't want to see you here again." He grumbled.
"Sorry about that."
"No, don't be...you saved Victoria...I couldn't ask for more than that." He looked to Victoria and gave a somber nod. I waited for someone to speak and give me a direction. After a moment, he turned his eyes back to me. “I guess you should come inside kid…there’s a lot you don’t know about since you left. I’ll fill you in for your own good…and for the rest of the town. He opened the door wider and lead us both inside. Victoria grabbed my hand and pulled me to a chair in the dining room. She sat me down and I was blushing a little from the treatment. I wasn’t prepared for all this pampering…especially having had 3 years of nothing but training.
“Dad, can Tomaki stay for supper?”
“It’s…really not necessa-”
“You saved my life, Tomaki! The least I can do is give you a meal, right?” She asked.
“Yes, he can stay…might be a good opportunity to explain everything to him.” Paul replied. I sighed and accepted my fate as their dinner guest. The meal brought before me was a spaghetti dinner with meatballs and meat sauce. Victoria made sure to give me extra portions. There was salad too, but I paid little attention to that…vegetables and I weren’t really on good terms. I could still hear Mom’s voice in my ear saying vegetables make you big and strong, but I’m pretty sure that it was my Saiyan blood that made me bigger and stronger than vegetables ever could. I would eat them out of respect though…I wouldn’t deny Victoria’s kindness. Before we could even begin eating though, Paul passed around glasses of sweet tea and then sat down.
“Tomaki…I want you to listen very carefully.”
“Yes sir?”

“How much do you know about our little city?” He asked.
“Just that I was raised in it.” I answered. Paul pulled out a road map of some kind and placed it on the table.
“Shan City is broken into five boroughs. We live in Zhong. The others are here...Dong, Nan, Xi, and Bei." I looked as he pointed to the different boroughs and noted how much bigger the other four were from ours. I also noted how our little area was nestled comfortably in between the four."
“What about them?” I asked.
“Each one is home to various gangs, mobs, and crime organizations…the kind of people who would stomp the innocent people of this borough under their feet if given the chance.” Paul explained. “Zhong is located right in the middle, where the two major highways between the city intersect and converge…making it the literal epicenter and focal point for commerce and travel. Also, since we have the larger park and circus area, it's the city central point of outdoor entertainment. But to these gangs and crime groups, we are also the checkpoint for their drug and contraband trafficking.”
“What’s that mean though?” I asked through a mouthful of spaghetti.
“It means, Tomaki…that to these gangs, whoever occupies and controls Zhong, controls the trafficking.” Paul snapped.
“Small groups of criminals and gang members have been popping up in town and making ruckus to try and gain street cred and reputation.” Victoria continued. “But this is nothing new really…I mean they’ve always done stuff like this, and the police could usually handle it…but something happened that changed everything.”
“What happened?”
“The Golden Warrior incident happened.” Paul hissed. “It was a domino effect. As soon as a superhuman entity arrived on the scene, every mob and crime syndicate with the money and resources began pumping up some of their own members and hit men to contend with this new contingency.” I gulped a little, nearly chocking on spaghetti as I realized just what he was saying.
It was my fault.
My super saiyan battle had sent a message to the gangs and crime families that they needed to upgrade and improve their weapons and men to match super human levels.
“There have been various appearances of mutants, cyborgs, robotic soldiers, and strange new weapons of various kinds and make that level entire blocks. These groups have caused massive damage in their own respective cities, and now the war is back on for control of our town. They haven't brought too many of their superhuman forces down on us, but if they do...we'll be completely overwhelmed.”
“What have the police done about it?” I asked.
“There’s not a lot they can do, Tomaki.” Victoria muttered. “There's been budget cuts from higher up to try and placate some of the more ferocious and destructive gangs and criminal groups. We simply lack the financial resources to keep up with this kind of threat. Some of the police have gone dirty just so they can save their own skins. It’s been almost completely hopeless…until now!” She grabbed my shoulder and looked to her dad. “Dad, Tomaki can help! These thugs don’t stand a chance against him! You should’ve seen him back there when he-”
“Absolutely not.”
“What!?” Victoria asked in surprise. “Dad you keep going on every day about how you need reinforcements and more good cops. Well with Tomaki you won’t need them!”
“I will not have a superhuman vigilante running around my city.” He snapped. “It’s not that I don’t think he CAN deal with these thugs, it’s that if he does w-”
*RING RING*

“Ugh…excuse me.” Paul stood and answered his phone quickly. “Hello?”
“I’m sorry Tomaki. Dad’s being a pain in the-”
“WHAT!?!” Victoria fell silent and looked up to where her father was, his face riddled with horror. “Where!? Tiga Park? I’m on my way now! Tell Titus not to move until I get there. Get the civilians out of the area and seal it off!” He hung up the phone and turned to Victoria and Tomaki. “I have to go.”
“What’s happened?”
“The Xi Triads…at least 10 of them, all armed with guns have taken a foothold in Tiga Park and are holding several people hostage.”
“Why!?”
“To gain cred? To make a name for themselves? I don’t know and I don’t care.”
“Tomaki should-”
“NO!” Paul snapped. “I don’t want either of you near this!” He then ran out the door. “I’ll be back later tonight.” When the door slammed shut, Victoria hissed furiously and stood up, pacing angrily.

“Who does he think he is!?” She cried.
“Victoria calm down.”
“How can I be calm? Dad is so stubborn! Why won’t he let you help? You could take care of those punks in 5 seconds.”
“I know.”
“We should go anyway!” She argued. “You can fly to Tiga Park and we’ll take them down. Show Dad what you can do!” I stared at her for a moment but didn’t tell her what I was thinking. In truth, I was already planning on flying over there. Despite what Victoria’s father said, I had not spent 3 years training to turn a blind eye to my town. Quite the opposite. After hearing about the state Shan City was in, now I was more determined than ever to help.
“I’ll go…it might be too dangerous for you.” I stated.
“No way. I’m not sitting this one out!”
“But Victoria.”
“I’m going, Tomaki.” She argued. I found myself smirking at her expression.
“Well I can see you’re just as stubborn as your Dad.” I stood up from the table and looked outside. It was dark out…very dark. Perhaps I could drop Victoria off a few blocks away from the action for her own safety and where no one could see her. “Alright…let’s go.” I walked outside with Victoria running behind me. I blinked and stared at her noticing a bulge on her hip. There was a pistol hidden in her jeans.
“What’s wrong?”
“Why are you bringing that?” I asked. “You don’t plan to use it, do you?”
“Tomaki, I’m sick of not being able to do anything without Dad. I can take care of myself! I’m not going to sit on the side lines, okay?” I smiled a bit, feeling my face flush at her determination. I hadn’t realized just how brave Victoria was. She was like me…and it made me very happy.
“Grab on.” I ordered, bending low for her to get on my back. She threw her arms around my neck and lay on my back. I didn’t wait for her to say ‘go,’ before I launched myself into the sky and flew towards Tiga Park. As I flew I silenced my soul and my mind and focused…searching with my senses to find the location of the enemy.
I felt them. 7 cops were lined up around the park…at least 40 civilians were running from the park. Within the park were 9 hostages, all terrified by the feel of their spirits. I could also feel the cold and malicious spirits of 11 others…11? Didn’t Paul say there were 10? I could also feel that one of these 11 stood out from the others. His spirit was strong…and violent. Something was wrong.
“You’re pretty quiet, Tomaki. What’s wrong?” Victoria asked.
“Something’s not right.” I replied over the wind.
“Didn’t get enough to eat or something?” She teased. I smirked back at her and nodded. I didn’t want to tell her the truth…I didn’t want to worry her. I took a moment to prepare my heart and body as I picked up speed and soared for Tiga Park, and this new threat.