Disclaimer: *looks up at you from typing away at the computer* Oh hey. Didn't see you there. Just trying to get the rights to Dragon Ball Z here. Enjoy the story. *goes back to typing*
Talking = "Hi."
Thinking = 'Oh no!'
Flashbacks = Four months ago...
A Saviour's Journey
Chapter 4: Heritage
He gazed up at the ceiling, longing for something more. Sighing tiredly, his eyes fell closed and he tried to calm his thoughts. This was not helping. He had no right to complain. He had asked to spend his birthday alone, after all.
Yes, the boy known as Gohan was twelve years old now. He had dropped Goten off this morning and asked Bulma to take care of his little brother. He had then proceeded to train all day in the G.R Bulma had made for him.
After his mother's death, Gohan picked up the ki blocker and ki leveler Bulma had made for him, then had taken Goten home and set the baby down in his recently built crib.
Once gaining some distance from the house, he had let all of his power loose in a burst of pure anger and sadness. It had been quite similar to his fit after he had left the Lookout nearly a year ago. Only this time, it had been on a completely differenent scale.
After that, he had felt completely numb. There was no emotion in his eyes, even at his mother's funeral two weeks after her death. Everyone had noticed at the time, but said nothing.
At the funeral, Yamcha, Tien, Chiaoutzu, Dende, Mr. Popo, and of course Vegeta, had been absent. Though Piccolo had been there more for Gohan than actually mourning the loss of the Son matron.
'It was raining that day, wasn't it?' Gohan thought to himself. 'Just like father's funeral.'
The procession for Goku had occured just before Mirai Trunks had departed for his own timeline. Yes, on both accounts, the weather had been dreary, as if the sky itself was wept.
Now, the boy was laying on the ground outside of his house, a soft Spring breeze sweeping over him. Just as he was about to get up and decapsulize his newly built G.R., a certain saiyan prince landed in front of him. "Kakabrat! I demand a proper spar! The last one we had does not count!"
Gohan looked up and frowned. "Sorry, Vegeta…"
The flame-haired saiyan merely scoffed and rose up into the air. "Follow me!" And with that, he blasted away.
After, depositing his ki devices and lowering his power level to the one he had at the Cell Games, he followed after the prince. Arriving at a wasteland, the two touched down opposite each other. "The same conditions apply as last time. No excuses." The prince spat, obviously not happy with how their last spar ended.
Glaring at the half-breed, Vegeta waited to see if the boy would make the first move. After only a couple of minutes, the prince growled and rushed at the Gohan, closing the gap between them in mere seconds. Pulling his fist back, he prepared to strike the young demi's face. Gohan vanished and phased back in behind the prince, aiming to hit him in the back. Just as the kick was about to find it's mark, the full-blooded saiyan phased out of place, then reappeared above the halfling with his hands clasped together, smashing them against the boy's skull.
Gohan's face slammed into the ground for a brief moment before he flipped back up on his feet and steadied himself. The demi-saiyan got into a stance and braced himself for Vegeta's next charge. He dashed backwards just in time to avoid a fist slamming into the ground and creating a sizeable crater, courtesy of the Prince of Saiyans.
After taking several large leaps back, Gohan pushed off of the ground with one foot and rushed at the flame-haired warrior with incredible speed. Preparing a ball of ki in his right hand, he quickly closed the distance and slammed it into the prince's face, causing the saiyan to go flying backwards and spiral in the air.
Flipping back in mid-air so his body was upright once again, Vegeta touched the ground with his feet and skidded backwards for a bit. Once he came to a stop, the flame-haired saiyan sneered and wiped a small bit of blood from his lip. "Not bad brat. Seems you haven't gotten too soft in the past several months." With that, the saiyan prince powered up to his full in base. It was now even with Gohan's current level of power, but the warrior was not aware of this and already thought himself superior.
Vegeta once again charged at the half-breed, but this time much faster than before. In less than a second, he and Gohan were exchangin blow after blow with each other, the power of their strikes causing massive shockwaves to echo across the emtpy wastelands. Slowly, with each punch, kick, knee, and elbow that clashed, the two warriors rose into the air as their battle was scattered all over. The fighters appeared as nothing more than blurs, only being somewhat visible to the normal human eye - if there were any around, that is - when they stopped in the air to slam their fists together, or their knees clashed.
In an instant, the two broke apart, for a moment to catch a brief reprieve. The two were panting slightly, though Vegeta noticeably more so than the boy. His eyebrow twitched a little. 'What the hell is this?! I should be destroying this brat! Unless...' The prince's eyes widened in realization. 'The half-breed has been training all of this time in secret! But wait… I should've noticed… No… HE'S BEEN GETTING THE WOMAN TO HELP HIM HIDE HIS TRAINING! THAT BRAT! HOW DARE HE HIDE HIS POWER FROM ME!'
The flame-haired warrior flashed into super saiyan and drop-kicked Gohan without any warning. The boy sped down to the ground like a bullet and crashed with an incredible tremor. As the demi-saiyan got up, it was apparent his purple gi was a bit ragged from the sudden and unexpected impact. Gohan glared up at his opponent and spat out a generous amount of blood. "What was that for?! I thought we were fighting in our base formes?!" The boy yelled at Vegeta.
"THAT WAS UNTIL I FOUND OUT YOU WERE HIDING YOUR FULL POWER FROM ME!" The prince yelled back. "IT IS A MOCKERY!"
Gohan growled. "So what?! It's not like I need my full power to beat you anyway!"
Vegeta's eyes widened slightly. Was that confidence, he heard in the boy's voice? The saiyan's eyes narrowed and a dangerous smirk fell across his face. He would get the half-breed to show him his true power. And he knew just how. "POWER UP NOW! I WILL NOT BE MOCKED!" The prince roared.
"No! Who do you think you are, my father?!"
The prince's smirk widened. Thankfully, Gohan could not see him from where he was, otherwise the boy might have caught on. "No! I'm not dead after all! I didn't decide to get myself blown up!"
Gohan was in front of Vegeta in an instant, his power level climbing dangerously. "What…?" The boy growled lowly.
"You heard me. And I'm not your mother either. Not when she was too weak and decided to kick the bucket in Kakarot's absence."
The demi-saiyan roared in almost primal rage, skipping the first state and climbing straight up to super saiyan two. Vegeta's face flashed from satisfaction, to shock, and finally settled on fear when he felt the boy's full power, which easily eclipsed his own. The saiyan prince slowly backed away, but froze when he was fixed with a fierce glare, courtesy of an enraged Gohan.
In an instant, Vegeta's face was almost smashed in when the boy's knee was slammed against it. The prince went flying back, only to be stopped and redirected slightly downwards when a foot collided with his upper back. The downward descent became very prominent when Gohan appeared above the flame-haired warrior with his hands clasped together and the boy had slammed them down on his back.
Just as Vegeta was about to smash into the ground, Gohan's fist met the prince's gut, knocking him back up into the air where he was then ping-ponged around until he was nothing but a bloody mess.
The full-blooded saiyan gazed up, sure this was his end as he saw Gohan charge up a finishing blast through his hazed vision.
Piccolo, Tien, Yamcha, and Krilling flew in just in time. They saw Vegeta lying on the ground in a puddle of what they were sure was his own blood. The prince's hair and eyes were back to their normal black, his spandex was torn with gaping holes in several places, his armor was completely shattered, and his eyes were half-lidded. Looking over at Gohan, they were shocked to see him in his super saiyan two form and charging up a powerful Kamehameha Wave.
Piccolo quickly flew next to his pupil. "Enough, Gohan! Whatever Vegeta said or did isn't worth taking his life! What would your mother and father say?!" The Namekian shouted.
That was it. Gohan was back to normal and in his base form, and already flying away without even sparing a glance at anyone.
The three humans and one Namekian watched as he left, then turned their gazes to the broken saiyan prince. Piccolo flew down and picked up Vegeta. He had already lost consciousness. The four warriors nodded to each other, then flew off to Capsule Corp.
When she saw the state of her husband/mate, Bulma nearly threw a fit. "What the hell happened?!"
Popping a Senzu Bean into the prince's mouth, Piccolo merely grunted. "Ask him. We found him like this while he was fighting Gohan. The kid would have finished him off if we had arrived any later."
Vegeta's eyes cracked open and he quickly sat up. Noticing all of the stares in the room directed at him, the full-blooded saiyan did his classic scowl and growl. "What?!"
"VEGETA! What happened to you?!" Bulma screamed. "Why were you fighting Gohan?!"
So, the prince grudgingly told them what happened. When he was done, everyone was glaring at him in disgust.
"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?! HOW CAN YOU SAY THINGS LIKE THAT?! GOHAN LOST HIS MOTHER AND FATHER WITHIN THE SAME YEAR AND YOU SAY THAT LIKE IT'S NOTHING?!" The blue-haired genius roared and smacked his head. "GO APOLOGIZE RIGHT NOW!"
"THE PRINCE OF SAIYANS DOES NOT APOLOGIZE TO ANYONE!"
"HE DOES IF HE WANTS TO CONTINUE USING HIS GRAVITY ROOM!"
The flame-haired saiyan glared at his mate. "You wouldn't…" He growled.
Bulma raised her eyebrows. "You wanna bet, mister? For every minute that you're here and not apologizing to Gohan, I'm not fixing your precious G.R. for a week. You've already got two weeks without it. Shall we make it three?"
The prince grumbled and stomped out of the building in a huff.
BANG! The room shook from the impact of the boy's fist colling with the walls. He sighed and powered and his hair faded back from it's shining gold color to it's normal pitch black. 'I should've had more control back there...'
Gohan growled as he sensed an all too familiar ki heading in his direction. 'Seriously?! He still wants to fight?!' The demi walked out of the G.R. and glared up at the saiyan prince as the arrogant warrior slowly floated down to the ground. "What do you want now, Vegeta?"
The flame-haired Saiyan sighed and looked at Gohan with…'Wait, is that actual compassion in his eyes?! No way…' Gohan thought.
"Gohan, we shouldn't be at each other's throats this way. We are the last of our kind after all. You were the only half-saiyan to be born with a tail, and thus I think you may have more saiyan blood in you than human, even if you might not want to admit it."
The boy's eyes widened slightly. 'He… He actually cares? I guess he really isn't as bad as I thought.' Gohan nodded. "You're right. And I don't mind admitting that I might be more saiyan than human." 'Not only that, but it feels like more and more of my saiyan side has been coming out since the Cell Games.' The young demi thought to himself.
Vegeta continued. "I'd like it if you sparred with me at least three times a week. I'll also be teaching you about the saiyan race. We start next week. Don't be late."
"Alright, Vegeta. I'll be there." Gohan smiled a little as he watched the saiyan prince leave. 'Huh. I guess people really can change, even him.' The boy turned and walked back into his G.R. to finish his training for the day. 'Not a bad twelth birthday at all.'
And if one were to look close enough at that moment, they would be able to see a small amount of light return to the boy's eyes. He was back on the right path.
AN: I think I'm gonna end the chapter there. I know it's short, but I'm giving you two chapters in a row after all. Besides, I can't think of a better way to end it. You might be thinking now: "Oh come on, you could've just put the two chapters together." And yes, I could've seeing as I finished both of these in the same night, but I think this works out so much better. I already started working on the fifth chapter, too.
Anyway, once again, tell me what you thought of the fight scene. I worked harder on this one, and personally, I thought it went well.
Review, motherfucker! (That was for you, friend who better be freaking reading this story. I don't care if you don't like reading, you will read it! Yeah, you know who you are. The rest of you will have no idea what I'm talking about.)
