![Newbie Guide](https://i.imgur.com/Uy7hIlu.png")
Post by Gira on Jun 18, 2023 23:45:39 GMT -5
Walking down the streets of West City was a small, unassuming teenager. A girl, who lightly tapped her phone with a look of confusion on her face. "So... I just hit this one to access the police scanner?" She tapped the icon of a gold sheriff's badge with a stack of nondescript white documents behind it. At the top corner of the screen was her video chat with her best friend since forever, Kaci Holmes. She was a blond, with bright green eyes and an infectious smile. However, right now her face was sagging into a look of defeated frustration.
"No, Gira. That's the police database. Tap the icon of the badge without the paper."
"You got me access to the police database!? That's, like, illegal, isn't it!?" Gira's voice heightened into a frightened squeak.
"Keep your voice down! I just got you access to the public stuff. Names of well-known criminals and all that. I know you want to break as few laws as humanly possible." Kaci could be seen typing something from her end of the screen. "One moment. I'm gonna take control of your phone."
"You can do that?" Gira wasn't sure how she felt about Kaci being able to just take control of her phone, but she trusted her.
"'Course I can. I had your phone for three days, so I installed a little remote control app for this very situation." In less than five seconds, Kaci had Gira where she needed to go, and now a constant stream of police chatter was coming in through Gira's ear buds.
"Woah! I can hear everything!" Gira didn't have much time to marvel at her friend's tech skill before something of interest passed through the scanner.
"All units, we have an armed robbery in progress at West Bank and Trust. Seven suspects counted. They are heavily armed and they have hostages. Repeat, they have taken hostages." It was a terrible situation to be sure, but Gira couldn't help but be excited. The perfect place for her debut. Closing out the scanner, Kaci grinned in excitement at her friend.
"Looks like this is a job for the Great Saiyagirl."
"My thoughts exactly!" Ducking quickly into a nearby alley and stowing her phone away in her pocket, Gira pulled up her sleeve and pondered the watch on her wrist. "Soo... how do I do this again?" Even though the Saiyan couldn't see her friend's face anymore, she could hear her dejected sigh.
"Red button transforms, blue button reverts. Tap both simultaneously three times. If you don't tap either button for ten seconds, the watch has a small internal charge that will detonate. Perfectly harmless to anything but the watch. Y'know... just in case." Kaci had a bit of worry in her voice at the end there.
"Good idea. Thanks, Kaci." Pressing the red button, Gira smirked, ready to strike a pose and say something cool! Only... she didn't have time to think of either of those things. "Uh..." She stood there awkwardly as a silver one piece suit appeared in place of her sweatpants and black t-shirt and silver boots replaced her tennis shoes and a silver helmet with mirrored one-way glass appeared on her head. The Saiyan teen looked down at her hands as they were enveloped by two silver fighting gloves. "Dang! Look at me! They'll never know who I am with this!"
"That's the idea. Now go show 'em what the Great Saiyagirl can do!" With her friend's encouragement, Gira leaped into the air, a blue aura enveloping her body as she raced to the location of the robbery. Today was the day that she finally did something with her life beyond school and boxing. She'd be someone worth admiring. She'd be a hero. The bank was coming up fast, and Gira could already sense the energy of those nearby. Based on what she could see and what she could sense, the police, ambulances, and the media had already arrived. They were the cluster of weaker powers she felt outside. Inside, she felt more energy, and one of the powers she sensed was fading. Someone was injured! Taking higher to the skies, she flew over the authorities and out of sight until she was just above the bank. Falling from the clouds, Gira stopped herself with her flight right before she hit the roof of the bank, setting down gently on the bank's glass skylight. From here, she'd be able to get a better view of the situation. From her perch, Gira spotted nine robbers. At least, nine armed assailants. The report on the scanner said seven.
Two of them looked different, however. They were dressed like they were part of the bank's staff, in a dress shirt and tie. The rest were dressed like your typical bank robbers, ski masks and all. An inside job!? This would be exciting in a video game, but right now Gira's main concern was figuring out which hostage was injured. Then she saw them. Next to one of the bank employees turned bank robbers, there was another of the bank's staff lying on the ground, blood forming in a pool around him. The robber in the tie appeared to be arguing with a robber in a ski mask. It appeared that he was the one who shot the bank employee. They seemed to think he was dead, but Gira could feel his energy. It was fading fast, but he was still alive. That was when five of the robbers left, leaving two competent robbers, and two that were arguing. Now was her chance. In an instant, Gira had broken through the glass, positioned herself beneath the two arguing robbers, and sprang off the ground with her hands, kicking both of them in the face and knocking them both out cold immediately. The two other robbers, one of which was a bank employee, barely had time to comprehend what was happening and turn around before Gira was on them as well. She slapped the weapon out of the hand of one before kicking him in the gut, and did the same to the other robber before finishing the fight with a chop to the neck. Just like that, four of the nine criminals were out like lights. "Well, that went way better than I expected." Gira smirked and took a moment to be proud of herself.
"No time for celebrations, Saiyagirl. You've got hostages still." Hearing that, Gira turned to the injured man.
"Can someone carry him out? He's bleeding bad, he needs immediate medical attention." A man emerged from the crowd of hostages, his name tag identifying him as the bank's manager.
"I-I can." Gira nodded to him. It was moments like this that she envisioned when she was designing her costume and dreaming of this day. Someone standing up and taking charge to save someone else.
"You're very brave. Lead the others out too, would you?" With a nod, the manager lifted the injured man with the help of another hostage, and the two began to lead the other hostages out of the bank's front doors. In the meantime, Gira turned her attention to the bank's vault, where the other robbers were headed and where she could sense their energy. Thankfully, she handled those four quickly and quietly, so the others had no clue she was coming. Heading down a long hallway and down some steps, Gira was shocked as she came face-to-face with a robber ascending the stairs, presumably to check on his compatriots and the hostages. He got the drop on her, and smashed the butt of his rifle into her face. He was strong for a human, but it didn't hurt. However, it did cause her to take a step back, which this thug then used to unload the magazine of his weapon into her. So much for the element of surprise. The bullets pelted Gira's skin, each one feeling like a tiny bee sting. Annoying, but nowhere close to lethal. Lashing out through the volley with her leg, she caught him on the side of the arm and sent him flying down the stairs and into the opposite wall. Gira knew she made a mistake as soon as she heard the sickening "CRACK" come from her opponent's arm. He wasn't unconscious, but he screamed out in pain as he lay crumpled and defeated at the bottom of the steps, his arm and both of his legs broken. 'I... I must have used too much power.' Quickly descending the steps, Gira tried to think of something she could do to alleviate the guy's pain. "Um... i'm sorry!" In one swift movement, she chopped him on the back of the neck, knocking him out cold. At least that way he wouldn't have to deal with the pain. On her way forward, Gira crushed the man's weapon underfoot just in case. Five down, four to go.
The vault was just ahead, and Saiyagirl could already hear the sounds of machinery grinding away. They must be trying to break into the vault. Hopefully those noises blocked out the gunfire. Right as she was beginning to get hopeful that she still had the element of surprise, Saiyagirl sensed it. Energy ahead. She was about to pass a split in the hallway. She would have to turn left for the vault judging by the noise, but the robbers appeared to be lying in wait in the corridor to the right, waiting to ambush her. She supposed the only thing to do was to give them what they wanted. Continuing onward, no sooner did she turn her back on the darkened right corridor did she hear it; the unmistakable sound of several men cocking their rifles behind her.
"What have we here? Some civilian hero who thinks they can change the world?" The tough, authoritative voice of a soldier rang out from the shadows. Stepping out of the darkness was a man in a camo tank top, with cargo pants and blond hair in a buzz cut.
"I'll settle for changing West City, and i'm gonna start right here. I freed your hostages. Police are gonna be down here any minute. It's over, so you may as well just give up while you still have a life to put back together." The man laughed derisively at the young hero.
"Stupid girl. We may not be getting our money today, but the only one whose life is gonna be smashed to pieces is yours." Pulling out a slender remote control, the man pressed a button. Suddenly, the constant mechanical grinding that acted as the backdrop to their conversation stopped. For a moment, there was an eerie silence. Gira looked around for what was coming next.
"What did you do?" She took up a defensive stance, waiting for some sort of ambush.
"Guaranteed our escape... and your demise." After the gang leader's threat Kaci's voice came through Gira's ear buds again.
"Uh... maybe he has a point. Perhaps it would be smart to run for no--" Then, like a freight train, a massive metal quadruped barreled through the concrete walls faster than Gira could react to, sending her flying through a concrete wall and into a safe deposit room. Slamming into a wall of safe deposit boxes, sending the boxes and their contents scattering across the room. Gira quickly stood to her feet, but the movement caused the Saiyan to wince. Gira realized that the sensation she was feeling was one she had never felt before... it was pain. It felt like she had broken a rib. Maybe two. Steadying herself, Gira barely had time to react before the quadruped charged her once more, slamming its massive drill head into her and sending her up through the ceiling and onto the street outside. "Oh... oh wow... that really hurts." Saiyagirl muttered to herself as she wearily stood to her feet.
"Saiyagirl! Status report! You okay?" Kaci's worried voice asked for confirmation everything was okay. There was no time to explain, however, as the giant four-legged drill ascended through the ground, bearing down over her. Gira knew she should be scared, but this was the first thing to actually hurt her. She had to see where this was going. Her mom always told her that she was half Saiyan, and the Saiyans are elite warriors, so she figured that this must be her biology winning out over her brain. While she couldn't sense its power, this thing proved that it was at least as strong as she was. It was going to be trouble. Standing defiantly before the machine, she put up her fists.
"You should know before we do this, i'm a lot stronger than I look."
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