Author's Note: In anticipation for the upcoming Season 2 of One-Punch Man, I am adding a new villain to my Golden Age story that is directly inspired off of two of my favourite characters in manga- Garou and Killua.
I've created an OC character to be Gohan's main rival- a human no less- whose appearance resembles Killua, but has Garou's talent and fighting style.
He will be introduced into the main story soon. However, just like in the OPM manga, I have created this spinoff from the main storyline to show where the character is coming from and how he will fit into the timeline of Golden Age.
Dragonball Z
Golden Age – Spinoff
Gohan's Rival
(A few months after the Cell Games)
The world of martial arts was a large and perilous one- steeped in centuries of lore, history, and tradition across many cultures. You could spend years practicing a single discipline and only ever manage to tap into a small percentage of what the style is truly capable of. And that wasn't even counting the challenges you were likely to face while traversing this road, many of which were daunting and potentially life threatening. However, of the many students who have devoted their lives to learning the complexities of self-defense and meditation, a handful of them were able to surpass their limits, and ascend to levels that were thought to be impossible to reach.
The names of these masters of the martial arts, some renowned and some obscure, went down in history books as legends- paragons of their kind. Whether these reputations were well-earned or not depended entirely upon their characters and the quality of the students whom they passed their knowledge and teachings on to.
Master Mutaito was one such man, possessing great insight, wisdom, and conviction, which were qualities he passed on down to his students and current martial arts masters Roshi and Shen.
Unfortunately though, much of the wisdom he attempted to pass on to the two rival practitioners, didn't fully gel with one of them.
This leads us to today.
Deep within the mountains in the northern parts of the continent, far out of the way of any major pockets of civilization, a large, mist shrouded forest of bamboo and ever greens concealed a large Shaolin temple. It was this large building, constructed of red pillars, green tiled rooves, and decorated with immaculate oriental fixtures and statues that served as the location for Master Shen's Crane School- the rival of Master Roshi's Turtle School.
Hidden well away from the prying eyes of society due to its isolated location and challenging landscape, this hallowed ground provided the ideal training location for the students practicing the techniques of the Crane School. While their popularity and reputation had faltered in the past several years, the practices that the students underwent at this establishment still held true to the principles laid down by its founder and master, who was currently overseeing the training of his latest batch of students.
At that very moment, on this warm, pleasant weekend morning, as the sun rose steadily over the mountains to illuminate the mountain countryside, a group of about two dozen men and women- dressed in green and gold monk clothing, and their heads all clean shaven- were currently going through a series of graceful katas. With intense concentration miring their faces and their stances low, the group of uniformly dressed students stepped from one move to the next, using very birdlike movements resembling the name of the animal of their school.
The group repeated the same combination of ten steps over and over, swinging their hands about fluidly and performing various thrusts, punches and palm strikes. As the collection of warriors-in-training went through the motions, they were being calmly overseen by two notable individuals.
On the steps overlooking the large, dusty courtyard where they were currently doing their morning exercises, on the lowest portion of the incline stood a tough, beautiful young woman with dark green hair with a fringe, two bangs framing her face, and two big loops arcing over her crown, and wearing a green qi pao robe with gold trim, black spandex, and martial arts slippers. Clearly being the head student at the academy, behind the woman stood a second, shorter individual- an elderly man with pale skin, a thin neck and blue hair that fanned upwards like feathers, and wearing black sunglasses, wearing green and gold oriental princely robes with the crane school's symbol sewn into the front of the vest.
Having not aged a day since he was last seen in public, Master Shen stood at the top of the stairs with his hands set behind his back, and a serious expression on his face as he observed his collection of students as they practiced their hand-to-hand techniques. Drumming his finger against his forearm as he listened to the two dozen men and women grunt and shout as they performed each strike with incredible dexterity and precision, the elderly fighter then glanced across at the female student in front of him and spoke her name firmly.
"Yurin?"
"Hai, sensei," the woman responded with a nod, before stepping forward and shouting. "SET FOUR! DOUBLE PALM THRUSTS, PARRY, THRUST, FOLLOWED BY DRAGON SWEEPING TAIL AND COUNTER! GET TO IT!"
Almost immediately on cue the rhythm and combination the students were using changed swiftly. Taking a reverse step, the troop began moving through another series of vigorous movements, consisting of more aggressive attacks. This was marked by even more shouting and grunting from the collection of young adults, who swung and stepped through every attack and strike they'd learned up until this point.
Watching them repeat the combination over and over as they started through their new series of movements put a smirk on Shen's face, while his head student Yurin crossed her arms as she watched the group go through their new set.
"Things are going really well here," the old master thought to himself as his jaw clenched and teeth bore in a malicious smirk. "Once I have this new batch of riffraff trained up, I'll be ready to take them them to the next world tournament. And with young Yurin on my side, there will be no stopping my school's return to the grand stage." Curling his hand into a fist behind his back to the point that the knuckles started to pop, the clearly eager Shen gave a light chuckle. "I'll show the world what happens when they look down on me! Roshi, Goku… and that bastard Tienshinhan… they'll all see!"
Clearly the man had many lofty goals for the future and many grudges to get out of his system. Thanks to all the humiliation he'd suffered over the last decade- having his family beaten down by Goku, being foiled by Roshi on multiple occassions, and then watching his two best students betray him and abandon their home- needless to say it was high time he got some proper payback.
His last attempt to take out the dragon warriors had been effectively thwarted. This time however was going to be different. With a new prodigy at his side and a group of loyal followers at his beck and call, Shen was determined to come back into the world swinging.
However, as the great master of the Crane School was busy fantasizing about how he was going to make a mockery of the Z-fighters and was looking forward to the day of grinding ahead, the sound of training was suddenly interrupted by a loud banging at the gates on the other side of the courtyard. The loud knocks against the wooden barrier caused the two dozen students to stop and turn towards the source of the noise, with Yurin and Master Shen also having their attention pulled towards their school's main entrance.
There was a brief pause after the doors finished rattling from the force of the knocks. Seconds later however one of the two massive gates of the oriental styled entryway was promptly pushed open, the iron and wood creaking as a small, mysterious figure suddenly stepped into view. When the crowd of students and the masters saw their visitor appear from behind the door, they were all caught a little bit off guard.
Peering back at them from the entrance was a seemingly ordinary boy of no more than eleven years old. However, unlike the children that they would often see at one of the neighboring villages, this young lad didn't come off as a child of a farmer or a merchant. The lad actually looked like he'd come from the city- wearing a thin, all-black turtleneck shirt, slim khaki chinos, a black belt wrapped tightly around the waist band, and a pair of what looked like white martial arts training shoes. What set him far apart from other city boys however was that not only was the shirt he was wearing slim and showing off a bit of teenage muscle, but on top of the kid's kindly, youthful face, he had a head of ghostly white, messy hair- with two long bangs on top that seem to arc back like a pair of horns.
Whether this was a style he'd deliberately chosen or not was unclear. However, as his innocent, purple eyes glanced inquisitively around the courtyard as he closed the door behind him, the students of the school felt that he meant no harm.
"Yo. What's up?" the kid greeted in a rather peculiar, Kyushu dialect. With his hands in his pockets, the inquisitive stranger with the slim, long clothing casually strolled down the steps of the entrance and started making his way across the courtyard, heading towards the large group of martial arts students as they began gathering together to get a better look at the newcomer. "Is this the legendary Crane School that I've heard about? I asked for directions back at the village and some old guy told me that the temple was out here in the forests."
Almost immediately, the bald students began whispering amongst themselves.
"Hey. What's up with this kid?"
"Is he lost?"
"I don't know."
Yurin, frowning at the flippant manner in which the youngster had just entered their sacred training grounds, spoke up in a big voice. "And just what exactly do you want?"
Stopping just short of a couple of yards from the group of men and women, the white-haired kid glanced across at the scary-looking girl glaring at him from the back steps. He then answered in a calm voice, "Oh, nothing much. I was just passing through the area and felt like checking out some of the landmarks. See the sights, y'know."
This response had the green haired girl narrow her eyes suspiciously on the kid. "That sounds like a lie. This temple is ten miles away from the nearest village and you're saying you walked all the way out here just to have a look at the building?"
When the kid saw the collection of students and the girl glare at him, he then stifled a giggle and raised his hands. "Okay. You got me. I'm not here to look at some boring architecture. Truth is, I've seen this kind of stuff dozens of times before."
Yurin then set both her hands on her hips as she glared at their snickering visitor. "Then what are you really here for?"
At that moment, the white haired youngster's expression suddenly changed. The innocent grooves and contours on his face vanishing, and becoming replaced by a rather fierce smirk, the kid then leered across at the crowd standing before him.
"I'm here to challenge your school."
A deathly silence quickly fell over the area at the kid's declaration, with most of the adults present gaping at the youngster and his very audacious statement. Eventually after a few seconds ticked by and a strong breeze wafted over the hill, Yurin suddenly came a snort before bursting out into laughter. This was quickly followed by the men and women in the crowd also starting to cackle outrageously, while the white-haired boy continued to smile back at them.
Even Master Shen was left snickering when he overheard the youngster's bold words- an expression of amusement he wasn't at all afraid to show to his cohort.
"That's rich, kid!" one of the students in the crowd called out.
"A little twerp like you? Challenging us?"
"Man, that's hilarious! Someone get this boy a microphone! Put him on stage!"
"What a clown!"
After she was done laughing, Yurin wiped away a tear, took a deep breath, and smirked back at the boy standing patiently on the other side of the crowd. "That's very cute, brat. No, really, the best joke I've heard in ages. But if you think a little runt like you can just waltz in here and challenge our master and his school to a battle, then I'm afraid you're way out of luck." She then arrogantly lifted a hand and waved him off in a dainty fashion. "If you don't mind we're in the middle of some very important training. We don't have time to babysit an orphan, so why don't you just take off already?"
"Oh? You guys are training? That's fine," the kid replied cheerfully, causing Yurin to balk as the youngster then swung his arms out before bringing his right across his chest and proceeding to stretch it. "If you want to do some practice sparring, then I can be your opponent. I've been walking cross country all night and haven't had the chance to warmup this morning, so this'll be the perfect time for me to squeeze in a quick session before breakfast!"
Blinking in unison, the crowd of Crane School students stared at the kid for a moment, before eventually beginning to look around at each other and murmur in confusion.
"Wait. Is this kid serious?" one of the women asked.
"He's only joking, right?" another man whispered.
While Yurin's mouth opened and closed, clearly quite surprised as she watched the youngster stretch both arms out and begin working his legs, an observing Master Shen then decided he'd had enough watching and quickly took the lead. Stepping down to join his star pupil at her side, the head of the academy then spoke up in his usual, condescending voice.
"You've got a lot of spunk for a mere drifter," the man with the curly blue mustache spoke with a smirk. "Tell me, brat- why do you wish to challenge my school?"
Lowering his arms after stretching his back, the white haired kid then looked across at the old man. "Why else? For training, of course." He then gave a blink when he saw exactly who was speaking to him right now. "Ah. Are you the Crane Hermit, Master Shen?"
The man in the glasses nodded, "Yes, I'm Master Shen- founder of the School of the Crane, and Master Mutaito's greatest prodigy and inheritor of his teachings." He then cracked a smile when he heard the kid make an 'ooh' sound as he stared at him all surprised like. "What? Do you wish to become one of my disciples as well?"
Hearing his question, the youngster snickered, "Nah. I'm good thanks. I already trained at another school for the last seven years. But I left because I got bored and wanted a bigger challenge."
"Oh? Really?" Shen cocked an eyebrow as he and his students listened to the kid. "And what "illustrious" martial arts academy did you go to, if I may ask?" From the way he asked this question- dripping with both sarcasm and amusement- he wasn't expecting an impressive answer.
For all he knew, this little kid had probably gone to one of those pedestrian mixed martial arts academies he'd been hearing a lot about lately. One of those self-proclaimed, shallow, Hercule Satan gyms popping up around the globe. Surely he couldn't have come from anywhere too obscure or important.
Unfortunately for Shen however, the white haired youngster had a few more surprises left in store for him.
Smirking at the man's tone, the travelling adolescent spoke. "The School of the Mantis… run by Grand Master Fanfan- another student of Master Mutaito," the kid replied, surprising Shen and causing a bead of sweat to appear on his face. "I heard from her that the two of you were former… acquaintances back in the day."
At this point the man then gritted his teeth as memories of a past he'd been trying so desperately to forget slowly returned to him. His fists clenched tightly and teeth ground as the flashes of his past shot through his head like a strobe. "More or less," Shen growled, before then glaring up at the boy smiling coyly at him. "So… Fanfan is still alive… and she decided to become a martial arts teacher too. And a Grand Master no less. Heh. I didn't think she had the talent. And I assume you're one of her prized students?"
"Yep," the boy chirped, at the same time tilting his head at the cranky old geezer as he went on to recount his most recent exploits. "I was her best one."
Master Shen chuckled as his excitement and anticipation for the moment grew. "Were you, now? Well… isn't that fascinating." He then took a step down as his aggression started to climb. "What's your name, boy?"
The youngster lowered his head and smirked, "I'm Gairen."
"So then, Gairen, let me see if I have this right. You're a former student, of an old flame of my most hated rival, who decided to leave the safety of his homeland in order to travel the world in search of dojos and schools to test his martial arts prowess on, is that correct?"
This earned a cheerful nod from the traveler, "Yep. That's about the size of it."
"Well then, since you seem to have the appropriate prerequisites and background, I guess it wouldn't hurt to accept your little challenge. After all, a student of a former disciple of Master Mutaito must surely have some remarkable skills to back up his bark… though I'm not expecting too much," Master Shen exclaimed loudly, before then holding out his arms and speaking up over the crowd of men and women now looking in his direction. "I, Master Shen- the Great Crane Hermit of the Northern Mountains- will gladly take you on. That is… if you can get through my students first."
His statement prompted all of his disciples to turn and glare across at the youngster, with the adults quickly putting on confident, yet very aggressive expressions as a way to try and intimidate their visitor. When several of the men and women moved forward, cracking their knuckles and stretching their arms at the same time, the observing Gairen merely looked around at them before allowing a wide grin to form across his lips.
Shen chuckled when he saw his students slowly advance on their intruder. "Still willing to take me on, little man?"
In response to the man's cocky call, Gairen's expression suddenly and very dramatically changed.
As if goaded by the man's attitude, the once innocent and charming vagrant demeanor the boy once had suddenly faded away, and was quickly replaced by a very vicious and sadistic looking expression. Gairen's facial contours twisted- his eyes narrowing, his brow crinkling and becoming darkened by shadow, while his grin upturned into a smile that would make even the Cheshire cat shiver with fright at its manic appearance.
The moment his guise changed and his face became overshadowed by his fringe, Gairen glared across at the army of Crane followers as the muscles of his body slowly hardened and swelled. "Oh yeah. I'm stoked. Bring it on!" Clenching his fist tightly and causing veins to appear along the top of his hand, the boy then leered at the people staring him down, all of whom were now giving him odd looks at his personality change. "We're all here, so let's see who's toughest. But I gotta warn you guys… the martial arts that I practice is nothing like the swan dancing, second-rate, flamboyant flexing that you meatheads practice at this flower garden of a school. So watch yourselves."
While the crowd of students balked at the sleight Gairen made against their school, the observing Shen gritted his teeth angrily as his patience had finally reached their limit. "Tch. This brat is asking for it." He then glanced across at Yurin, who also appeared quite infuriated at the kid's arrogance. "Sorry, but could you and the boys beat him up and toss him out with the rest of the garbage."
Yurin smirked at her master's command, "With pleasure." Taking a deep breath, the woman in the green and yellow gi raised her hand and shouted, "Loyal disciples of Master Shen, show that little punk no mercy! ATTACK!"
With a collective yell of bravery, every single man and woman in the quad charged forward- all of them drawing back their fists and loading them up for an attack. All of them were quick to spread themselves out to surround the front of the intruder, before quickly converging on his position with the intention of pummeling him into submission.
Gairen however, instead of freaking out like any normal human would upon seeing a crowd of Shaolin monks charging straight at them, the eleven year old boy grinned maliciously, before leaning forward and cocking his hand back- the fingers of which had curled into a claw.
"Let's get wild!"
OOO
(Meanwhile)
(Mount Paozu)
A loud bang rang out across the field as Gohan and Piccolo violently separated from one another following a very hard clash of fists. The shockwave generated by both the Super Saiyan and the Super Namekian was enough to cause the sky and ground to shake, while also cracking the hill that they were fighting over.
The force from their impact bounced back onto both warriors, sending them flying across the field and skidding to a stop along the grass. When they managed to come to a completely stop moments later, the pair left a large cloud of dust hanging in front of them, as well as two trenches in the ground from where their feet had been dug through.
When the clouds settled moments later, it revealed both warriors standing there and smiling across at one another. While Piccolo was wearing his typical purple and blue gi, Gohan had gone for his father's signature orange and blue gi today- minus the blue shirt underneath. Furthermore, with the demi-Saiyan assumed in his relaxed Super Saiyan form and his first master also appearing quite calm, the duo were making the most of their training session together.
Meanwhile, as the pair were facing off against one another, over on a nearby hill Zangya and Videl- the former of whom was standing while the latter was in a meditative position- were watching the pair intently, and observing their exercise. Of course, the raven haired daughter of Hercule Satan, who was dressed in her white judo gi, was also trying to maintain the ball of ki floating in the center of her palms, which were suspected in front of her.
The Hera-seijin warrior, with her sabre at her side and arms crossed, nodded her head in an impressed manner. "That was a good combo."
"Yeah. Wow," Videl exclaimed, almost losing control of the golden ball of energy Gohan had left in her hands but quickly stabilizing it. "How can they both move so fast?"
"Practice, girly," Zangya chuckled, briefly glancing at Gohan's friend before looking back up. "Lots and lots of practice."
"Man," the raven haired girl said, before feeling a smile tug across her lips in a sign of admiration. "I sure hope I'll be able to move and fight like they do."
"Who knows? Maybe," the blue-skinned female responded, before then looking back at the hardworking pair in front of them. "Just give it some time. You'll get there… eventually."
Upon returning their sights to the field and to the duo that was currently sparring against each other, the two girls proceeded to watch as Piccolo adjusted his stance to a more offensive one. At the exact same time Gohan went southpaw and opened his fists, leaving him with an open-handed fighting stance.
"Your form is great. But your jumping uppercut and sweeping low kick is too obvious," Piccolo informed, using his thumb to subtly rub off the smidge of dirt he'd gotten from deflecting the boy's leaping strike from earlier. "Tighten up your angles and shorten the distance before throwing them."
In response, Gohan gave a brisk nod. "No problem." When he did, the boy then curled his fingers into fists and closed up his guard, at the same time lowering his posture. "Come on. Let's keep going."
At once, the two powerful Z-fighters flexed their ki, golden and white auras bursting around each of them before the two shot across the field and slammed into one another. A blinding flash followed by a large explosion then took place, sending rubble and debris flying all over the place, before a series of shockwaves ringing out indicated the pair were once gain locked in a vicious sparring match.
Despite having already been training and fighting for the last couple of hours, both of them were still hyped up and eager for more.
OOO
(Several minutes later)
(Crane School)
The courtyard of the temple that served as the primary training center for all the students of the Crane School, had become the grounds for what could only be described as a one-sided slaughter.
Two dozen bodies making up the entire collective of that current generation's crop of students studying under the great Crane Hermit, could be found scattered across the entire quad- their bodies bludgeoned, battered, and broken in all sorts of gruesome ways. It was next to impossible to count the complete list of wounds and injuries the men and women had all accumulated, as the floor was so ravaged and so slick with blood that many of their bodies and faces were completely unrecognizable from one another.
The only thing they all shared in common with one another was that all of them were barely alive, their faces were crushed, and their bodies were twitching from the thorough pummeling that they had received. It was almost like they'd all been beaten by someone wielding a bat and a sledgehammer.
The same fate had also befallen Master Shen's number one pupil, Yurin, who was currently being held by the throat and off the ground by the eleven year old Gairen. While the female prodigy was covered in multiple bruises and wounds, the white haired youngster didn't have a single scratch on him, and was casually grinning maliciously up at the female as she gasped for air.
As he felt the girl claw uselessly at his wrist, the wandering martial artist casually turned and looked over his shoulder, where he saw a massive chunk of concrete, wood and tiles had been taken out of the wall, as well as carved into the mountain several miles away. The funny thing was, not only were the edges of holes formed in both obstacles burnt from an obviously hot blast that had passed through them, but the lines formed almost resembled the half of a perfect square.
Whatever energy attack she had attempted to use on him had been a pretty dangerous one, but one that he was effortlessly able to dodge.
Gairen whistled. "Impressive attack. But it's useless if it doesn't connect with anything." He then looked back up at the woman he was holding and smirked. "Nice try, girlie."
"D-Damn... you…" Gasping a couple more times in an attempt to take in air and stay alive, Yurin eventually succumbed to the strain and fatigue of her battle, and conked out. Her head and arms dropped to her sides as her entire body suddenly went limp, with Gairen giving a careless grunt and unceremoniously dropping her to the floor- allowing her to join her friends and kouhai in their comatose states.
"Now then… that's enough playing around," the boy chirped, casually slipping a hand into his pocket and turning around. When he looked towards a crater formed in the stone stairway leading up to the main building of the school, he saw a gravely wounded Master Shen- his glasses gone and outfit torn in multiple places- glaring weakly back at him from his hole. "Is this honestly the best you have to offer, master? If this is, then I'm incredibly disappointed. You posers aren't worth spit."
Master Shen, bleeding from the head and suffering from what looks like multiple broken ribs, a broken leg, and a broken arm, sneered up at the boy. "W-What… the hell… are you?"
The youngster with white hair chuckled and shrugged. "Like I said… my name is Gairen. I'm a student of Master Fanfan and the number one genius of the School of the Mantis of the Western Plains." He then gave his words a moment of pause before smirking across at the fallen Crane School teacher. "Oh… and I'm also the one who's going to become the greatest monster in Earth's history."
Master Shen blinked in shock. "Greatest… monster...?"
Gairen sneered as he looked across at his defeated adversary. "I plan on surpassing the Demon King Piccolo and the terror known as Cell sometime in the future… and become the greatest threat this world has ever seen. You guys are merely a stepping stone on my path… a hurdle blocking the road leading me to my ultimate destiny. Once my training is complete, I'll defeat all this world's champions, as well as its strongest hero- Hercule Satan- and cement myself into the history books as humankind's most feared and uncontested tyrant." With his last word made, the white-haired boy with the odd hair and purple eyes gave one final chuckle as he turned around and walked away, at the same time giving Shen a frivolous wave. "Until then!"
Shen, his rage burning even as his consciousness was fading, gritted his bloodied teeth before shakily raising his hand and pointing a finger at the retreating boy's back. Aiming over the fallen bodies of his students and right at the base of the youngster's neck, the faltering teacher gave one last grunt of pain before chanting.
"Dodonpa!" (Dodon Ray)
In that moment, a sharp orange beam in the shape of a tiny sphere then shot from the master's finger at tremendous speed, flying straight towards Gairen's head with the intent of killing him. However, just when the energy bullet looked like it was about to hit, the white haired eleven-year-old unexpectedly tilted his head to the side, brought his right arm over his shoulder, and flicked his finger.
A loud bang rang out as Gairen literally flicked Shen's Dodonpa bullet back at its owner, the master unable to respond in time when the beam hit his hand and exploded with a blinding flash. After the blood splattered across the floor and the master's face, Shen gave out a high-pitched scream of pain as he clutched his stump of a limb, before eventually collapsing onto his front and rolling about on the stones- whimpering in agony.
Gairen, without even bothering to look to see what he had done, listened to the cries of the defeated, evil master and chuckled under his breath.
"Dumbass."
END…?
Author's Note: You'll notice in this direct one-shot from the main story that there are a bunch of characters used that haven't been mentioned since OG Dragonball. I've mixed in the lore of OG Dragonball to mix with the Dragonball Z timeline, to enhance and create a story that is part original, part inspiration.
If you can list the characters mentioned and if you remember them, awesome.