Chapter Four: Carried Away
Gohan sat at his desk, studying as he sensed Vegeta approaching as fast as the prince could. Yawning, the young hero sat back in his chair and rubbed his eyes, still somewhat tired from having little sleep the night before. His eyes heavy, they began to close, and his head leaned forward from his muscles being relaxed, and he went into a peaceful snooze.
"Gohan!" he heard a rugged voice call. "Gohan, wake up!" the boy heard before he was picked up by the lapel of his shirt. His eyes shot open wide as he looked forward, straight into the battle-ready Saiyan prince.
"Oh, it's just you, Vegeta," Gohan said, relaxing more.
"C'mon, we might as well start now." The hand holding Gohan's shirt opened, and Vegeta turned to hop out the window and away from the house. Gohan promptly took a firm standing position, taking his shirt off and leaving it on the chair of his desk.
"Okay then," Gohan answered, following Vegeta out of the house before his mother had time to notice or do anything about Vegeta's entry. "Let's go this way," the boy suggested, dashing off in a direction towards West City. Not having much to say, Vegeta quietly followed Gohan's path as they made their way across the land. For some minutes, they traveled until Gohan picked an open spot, having a barren surface with a cliff going down into the ocean on one side. If you concentrated hard enough, you could see West City.
"Why are we so close to the city?" Vegeta questioned. "I thought you wanted to keep us away from people, like your father would."
"Yeah, I do. I think we're far enough away," Gohan told Vegeta. "Now then, give me a moment. Hah!" In an instant, the boy went Super Saiyan.
"And this... is what you're looking for, right?" Gohan asked, as he began to concentrate on ascending once again. He grunted as his hair became spikier, and a cloud of lightning and sparks formed around him. The sky darkened, and Vegeta looked a little surprised how Gohan learned to control his ascended form in only a few days of practice.
"Y-... yes," Vegeta said weakly, not knowing what to do.
"Well then try to match me, fight me as if you were fighting Cell or the androids," Gohan commanded, his fists locked at his side.
"Ragh!" The Saiyan prince immediately bulked as he went into his Super Saiyan form, his hair turning gold and his power skyrocketing with little effort, as he trained for much time trying to ascend to the next level. For a moment, the two looked at each other, and without notice, Gohan went to attack Vegeta. However, it was slow enough that Vegeta had time to react to Gohan's attack, and caught the boy's knee heading for his face. The two went into a rather pointless exchange of strikes.
"I know this isn't the height of your power, Gohan!" Vegeta yelled.
"No, but what's yours?" Gohan responded, bashing Vegeta's stomach with his shin in a powerful kick. The prince immediately keeled over on all fours, gasping for breath.
"If I were to just show you my max power now, you'd undoubtedly die," the boy said. "You're the one who needs to be pushed to the limit, because even if you are, I'm one step ahead of you." In the time it took Gohan to explain that, Vegeta slowly pushed himself to stand.
"I will show you... the prince of all Saiyans will not stand for your insolence!" Vegeta shouted angrily, unleashing a flurry of punches in a fit of rage. Easily, each was dodged. Vegeta slowed down, trying to concentrate his energy into one quicker, more powerful strike, but his fist was caught with ease.
"C'mon now, you're better than this," Gohan half-heartedly taunted. He dragged Vegeta by his fist across the ground and around him in a circle, then let him fly away. Recovering quickly, Vegeta stopped himself, only to see the adolescent appear before him, using his forearm to bash him away. There was a trench made in the ground from Vegeta's body being hit, and Gohan stretched out his hand. Without a word, he unleashed a small blast, and Vegeta did his best to get out of the way, but he was still knocked on his stomach from the shockwave.
"You're just toying with me..." Vegeta stated with a surpressed anguish, as he saw Gohan walk towards him casually.
"Frustrating, isn't it?" Once again, the prince stood, his hands out at his side.
"Final..." he began to say, bringing his hands together as large amounts of energy began gathering in his hands. However, it didn't stop Gohan's slow walk towards him.
"Flash!" A yellow beam of energy quickly shot out from Vegeta's hands, voiding its surroundings of color as a bright light came from it. As it began to reach Gohan, he made one simple swinging motion with his arm, backhanding the energy wave away like it was another fly.
"Wh-... how?" Vegeta asked, puzzled by the vast amounts of strength Gohan had yet to use. Without a word, the boy appeared before Vegeta, kneeing him again as a gut-wrenching cry came from the prince, and then teleported behind him, kicking him across the dirt back to where they started. He flew up into the air and over the water, looking down at the prince.
"Now I want you to hit me with the most powerful blast you can. You have one minute!" Gohan yelled down to Vegeta.
"He just wants to kill me is all," Vegeta said pessimistically, putting his hands together. "I think this is all I have... Galick..." he began, using an old move not seen in awhile. It was instead yellow, changed in color from Vegeta's ascension to Super Saiyan. He stalled for a moment, gathering his energy.
"Gun..." and another long moment passed. "Fire!" At last, the beam of energy was released, and Gohan raised his hand, a giant ball of energy forming quickly. Vegeta looked in horror.
"Ragh!" The two energies collided, the sky dark as the power struggle was incredibly bright. The ball of energy slowly pushed down on Vegeta, and he seemed helpless. Leaving his position behind his ball of energy, Gohan sped around to hover next to Vegeta, his arms crossed.
"Struggling?" Gohan said, adding a bit of degradation into the tone of his voice.
"Shut... up... you fool, you're going to kill us all!" Vegeta shouted at Gohan.
"Then you have to protect us, Vegeta, don't you?"
"I know that, and that's why I said you're going to kill us all!" The threatening mass of energy inched closer as Vegeta kept struggling.
"Do you remember, when Trunks was killed in front of you, that need to protect and avenge him?" Gohan asked.
"Y-... yes."
"Do you remember feeling so helpless afterwards, that all you could say to me when Cell retaliated was sorry?"
"Yes..." Vegeta answered, mustering what he had left to confront the ever-nearing, life ending ball of energy.
"Do you remember that same feeling of helplessness when you lost to Bojack, and almost lot your son again?" This time Vegeta didn't answer as his anger festered inside of him. Gohan flew over to Vegeta and grabbed his chin, turning the prince's head to look across the water and at the skyscrapers of West City.
"Are you prepared to be so helpless that you'd lose that?" Gohan said, letting go of Vegeta's chin. A picture of baby trunks and Bulma flashed in Vegeta's mind, and the sprawled corpse of his son after being shot through the chest by Cell, reminding him of what would happen if he failed.
"No... I am the prince of all Saiyans... I am not a helpless child!" he told himself, straightening his stance. "I am the prince of all Saiyans, and I... have... ascended!" he screamed, a sudden well of strength opening for Vegeta to pull from like no other. The characteristic sparks began forming around Vegeta of an ascended Saiyan, and a lightning storm began gathering once again. Large waves formed in the ocean, hitting up against the rocks over the cliff.
"Aaaaggggghhhh!" The blast wave increased tremendously in size, easily overtaking the large ball of energy Gohan launched at Vegeta. As the beam of energy reached out past the exosphere of Earth and dissipated, Vegeta stood, content with the new heights of power he reached. He screamed again, his strength surging, and then he turned to Gohan with a bit of a devious smile.
"Now I'm going to show you never to make a mockery of me again," he said, getting into a fighting stance. "After yesterday, and after that pointless beat down today, I am going to destroy you!"
"Don't do this, Vegeta," Gohan sternly told Vegeta. "Neither of us are going to like what comes out of this."
Not far from a mountain range, an open grassland bordered by rocks and a cliff seemed completely normal. A few feet under, and the most startling discovery could be made. In a chamber below ground, fighting could be heard. Two extraterrestrial soldiers battle one another in white and black armor, and a fancier M seemed to be imprinted on their foreheads.
"We'll never revive him at this pace!" a short green, whiskered alien said. "We need to find someone more powerful to take energy from if we want to revive Majin Buu. We need more... minions." A tall demonic figure approached the alien, in a blue outfit with a white cape cut jaggedly at the bottom, and he spoke in a deep voice.
"Yes, master Babidi, the manpower would be... useful... in our search," he agreed.
"Dabura, I need you to find people for me, and we need to gather... information, from these humans," Babidi said, starting to laugh.
"Yes, I'm sure there has to be someone at least as powerful as Puipui. Remember the tremors, master?"
"Hmm... yes. There was no reason to feel an earthquake like we had a couple months ago," Babidi noted. "We'll release you to the surface at night, Dabura. I wouldn't want anyone noticing our operations."
A/N: So some of you might think this is mildly unoriginal. However, we do know Babidi was active between the Cell and Buu sagas. Remember, he controlled Spopovich and Yamu. So why would Babidi not be a threat when people like Gohan and Vegeta are more active.
Anyways, until next time guys. I don't think the next chapter will be up for at east three days. Hope you enjoyed!
