Author`s Note: Almost... There... Just a few... Steps... Further...
Gohan: *Snort. Blasts him again.*
x.x;
Gohan: Good. Read the fic. *Stomps Sh33p some more.* BAD SH33P! BAD BAD BAD! *Stompstompstomp.*
Disclaimer: I *ow* Don`t *ouch* Own *OW* DBZ OR SAILOR MOON! *|CENSORED|*
No Leaf Clover
Grand Enforcer bled a bit from the wound in it`s chest. A wound that ran only skin deep, it could survive and heal, with time anyway. Goten rested on his hands in knees in a street blocks from the actual fighting, Bra was unconcious in an office building, likely to have been carried out by now by a good samaritan or left to her own devices. She could survive either way, really. And then Hotaru, she was dead. Hotaru was dead.
Gohan scowled, stepping forward. The sounds of a storm could be heard echoing overhead as the still aching Grand Enforcer turned around, sensing the presence of a power that seemed to grow with no bounds. The ground beneath his feet seemed to crush and melt, his aura rose and expanded until it was visible from across the city, a towering pillar of golden fire that burned as bright as a newly born star. Energy suddenly began to crack from within as Gohan took another step forward. Power ripped from the grounds, and two buildings, one to either side of him, both abandoned two or three story tall stores, collapsed for no visible reason. Strong winds kicked up and dust tore from the ground as a tornado rose up and began to obscure the boy`s aura, only to fly away.
His hair suddenly elongated, becoming more defined, only a single lock dangling out over his forehead. Power surged around him, his body mass seemed to increase just a bit, every part of him becoming just a bit more defined from everything else. Grand Enforcer finally noticed visibly, and growled in discontent while taking a step back.
Gohan took two steps forward. The Grand Enforcer lashed out, through it`s full weight into a downward moving blow towards Gohan and everything within six or seven feet of him, making impact with a vicious explosion. The concrete shattered into a fist shaped crater. Grand Enforcer lifted it`s fist back, confident it had killed the potential threat, confident that another had fallen. It knew, you see, that nothing could ever hope to destroy it. It`s power just could not be matched. Son Gohan had to be dead, there just wasn`t any other way.
And then the Grand Enforcer watched as a figure bordering on five and a half feet stepped up out of the crater and continued walking, literally unphased. For the first time in it`s existence, the Grand Enforcer felt fear.
Fear that was well based.
And it feels right this time
On this crash course we're in the big time
Pay no mind to the distant thunder
Beauty fills his head with wonder, boy....
"Hotaru died to kill this thing," Gohan thought, taking another step forward and staring blankly ahead. "She did enough damage to mark off a target for me," he thought, stopping a few dozen feet in front of the monstrosity. The size difference was absolutely disgusting, but the fact remained that the Grand Enforcer was outmatched, and it knew it. With a powerful flap of it`s slightly battered wings, it took to the air and tried to fly away. Gohan smirked. "I`ll make him suffer more than Cell did," he thought with an unknowing sadism to his words.
Garlic Junior, Raditz, the Cyba Men, Nappa, Vegeta, Dodoria, Recoom and the rest of the Ginyu Force, Frieza, King Kold, Cell, the Cell Juniors, Puujin, Bido, Zangya, Bojack, Dabura, the Grand Enforcer. All of them had tried to kidnap, kill, maim, or otherwise destroy him and those around him. Some, like Raditz and Zangya, he had forgiven, even come to think of as friends. Others? He had grown to develop a festering hatred for them. The only time it had ever taken root and taken control of him however, it had been Cell and his children. He had killed them all, the Cell Juniors first, and then Cell himself, twice in the same battle no less. He humiliated them. Bojack, Puujin and Bido he had outright slaughtered, twice in Bojack`s own case. Zangya lived because he had a shred of mercy. Dabura proved strong enough during their battle to equal him, he was allowed to live until they could fight again.
The Grand Enforcer would be afforded no such luxury. It was going to die in the most brutal, humiliating way that Gohan could concieve in the short time he had availible. He paused his unending march long enough to let it get a bit of distance into the skies, thinking itself safe. It thought it could escape him, thought it could kill someone he had been close to without even realizing it, thought it could smack down his brother and his default-adopted sister and get away with it. It thought, in some stupid little sense, that it was going to turn his Time into some sort of lawless Hell.
It thought wrong.
And Gohan fully intended to make sure it knew it`s mistake inside and out.
Says it feels right this time
Turn around, found new high lights
Good day to be alive Sir
Good day to be alive, he said.....
"Five... Four..." He began to count down.
There was a streak of fire up in the skies and Grand Enforcer groaned a bit as a Flame Sniper attack struck it squarely in it`s still injured side. It`s flight limped noticably for a second as another wave of those 'water beams' flashed up from the ground and smacked into it, a strange looking circle enveloping it and then shattering. Grand Enforcer almost fell.
"Three... Two..."
Another pair of attacks, this time in unison, streaked up from another point in the ground, another of those heart-type attacks, which scythed into the open wound in Grand Enforcer`s chest, forming a visible heart around it. It too, shattered into numerous pieces. This time, Grand Enforcer did fall. Gohan stood beneath it, staring up as gathered a bit of power into his hand.
"One..." He finished the count down and then promptly vanished from the ground. There was the sound of a whistle and then a stop as Gohan appeared in the Grand Enforcer `s path, arm outstretched. The huge creature smacked into his open palm and stayed there, held aloft by a super powered youth hellbent on making it suffer. Ki in his free hand was suddenly thrown, trailing around the circular wound and then diving into the decaying portion of the demon`s chest. Grand Enforcer howled and Gohan vanished, appearing behind it.
Both fists crashed down into the back of the creature`s head, sending it into a straight nose dive into the ground. Only to stop before it could ever make impact. Gohan somehow held it by the tip of it`s tail and methodically yanked it back up, extending his right leg out and swinging around. In a buzzsaw-like movement, the youth had severed a good twenty foot section of the monster`s tail, sheering out the other side and blasting the severed chunk of body mass out of existance as the Grand Enforcer itself let out what almost sounded like an actual scream, smashing into the ground seconds later.
And on that very ground, stood a number of people who were in absolute shock at what was happening.
Grand Enforcer clawed it`s way back to it`s feet, gathering up energy inside of it`s and then vomiting forth another beam of fiery energy out at it`s most obvious foe, who raised one hand flat towards it, fingers spread out. The attack came closer, nothing happened, and then it came to where it pressed against the open hand of Grand Enforcer`s worst nightmare. The entity stopped it`s attack and waited anxiously.
It`s wait was rewarded as it watching it`s attack form up into a sphere around Son Gohan, who vanished within an orange fireball, only to watch again as that fireball seemed to dissipate and a beam rocketed out of the remains, the same color as it`s attack had been. The creature jumped up only to dodge the strike by actual inches, as the attack itself curved at the last moment and blew out a visible trench running down several hundred feet as a result of the ensuing explosion.
It was the same canyon that Gohan would one day live the past of the future and meet a young girl named Bra. All that was lacking was the proper weather upheavals to trigger a river and the like.
Grand Enforcer touched down a few yards away only to find Gohan standing on it`s nose, that same neutral scowl on his face as the boy stood. It really was like facing a mosquito from Hell this time around! "You`re going to suffer. And then you`re going to die. What does that feel like?" The boy asked coldly while hopping back and onto the creature`s actual nose. "Tell me!" He demanded, gathering a ki blast and throwing it at point blank.
Grand Enforcer howled in even further agony as it`s right eye exploded. There was nothing flashy about it either, it was just an explosion. A particularly hateful one at that. Grand Enforcer reached up and tried to smack Gohan away without sheering it`s own nose off. Whereas before, Gohan had allowed himself to be moved, this time he just brought an arm up. Grand Enforcer`s hand slammed down upon his arm with enough force to shatter a small moon. It did nothing to even budge his arm. He just stood there with that cold scowl still present on his face.
Grand Enforcer`s eye socket bled as Gohan forcibly shoved it`s arm away, hard enough to almost jar it`s forearm from the socket of it`s elbow. Gohan lowered his arm and then extending them both, letting out a loud yell as beam after beam of ki shot from his body, trailing around the Grand Enforcer and striking into it at every point you could think of, each time drilling through the armor with one explosion after another. The monster screeched with each impact, standing only because the blasts came in at such an angle to prevent it from falling.
Then it comes to be that the soothing light at the end of your tunnel
Is just a freight train coming your way
Then it comes to be that the soothing light at the end of your tunnel
Is just the freight train coming your way
Gohan backflipped off of the creature`s nose, circling around in front of it. Grand Enforcer snapped it`s jaws outward, closing them around the boy. It had him where it wanted him now...
On the ground, Goten stood up and watched as a noticably beaten in Grand Enforcer`s mouth seemed to glow a nuclear shade of orange. Elsewhere, Usagi and Chibi Usa began to realize just how lucky they had been to dodge the strike from earlier that had seared a visible canyon into the earth, running just a few hundred feet away from the base of what had been Tokyo Tower. Elsewhere still Haruka and Michiru gaped, as did Rei, Ami, Ryo and Yuuichirou, though the latter more or elss favored getting everyone out of the area entirely.
And Rei thought it had been Goten they should`ve worried about. As far as she was concerned now, Goten was a little angel compared to the boy who was now, quite literally, torturing the demon to death in a way that made her entire body cringe.
And in one other place there stood a woman holding a familiar key-shaped staff with an ancient talisman placed upon it. She watched the fighting, and some part of her was pleased at what Gohan was doing, another part of her was somewhat shocked and disgusted, but for the most part, she didn`t care. She stood on, looking at the spot her daughter had died in. Setsuna was in mourning, she probably would be for a long time. She could`ve easily gotten Hotaru from the way but then, Setsuna saw the history of what had happened. If her daughter hadn`t sacrificed her life, all of the others would`ve been dead. Not to mention the rest of Tokyo, even though that wasn`t saying much given the present conditions.
Setsuna shook her head and turned her back to the fighting. She didn`t need to see it to know how it would end. Still, a part of her cheered the combatant who was currently dismantling the Grand Enforcer piece by bloody piece.
Revenge was something even a Passage Gaurdian wasn`t above.
Grand Enforcer made an audible gulping sound and then roared out in a staggering victory cry. Goten on the other hand, let his senses do the talking. "Dumb thing," he thought aloud, flaring his ki up and taking to the air. He flashed in towards the entity that was now looking terribly unenthused as a noticable bulge began to form in it`s abdomen. For a moment it looked almost like a Bugs Bunny cartoon, as the Grand Enforcer seemed to gain more and more size, fattening up almost before part of it`s body began to glow, namely the center point of it`s belly.
The glow became a little brighter. Goten moved around the Grand Enforcer and waited, watching the glow become more intense by the second as a searing sound came from within, like a torch cutting through metal. Then there was an explosion as a golden beam shot out of the creature`s stomach. Gohan suddenly just seemed to appear in it`s path, taking a moment and kicking it back at the creature and watching coldly as the attack seemed to veer off course and miss Grand Enforcer`s head intentionally, arcing downward and curving through the bases of both wings before it curved again and slammed through the base of Grand Enforcer`s tail, arcing upward into the skies and shooting off into space an instant later.
Don't it feel right like this
All the pieces fall to his wish
Suck up for that quick reward boy
Suck up for that quick reward they said.....
Gohan watching Grand Enforcer wobble and stumble without it`s tail to provide balance. Without the tail, it was just as disoriented as he had first been without his own tail. Just as clumsy, just as foolishly inept at movement. He reached his hand out promptly and gathered energy up into it, throwing a ki blast at random into one of the creature`s kneecaps. It screeched again and fell to one knee, it`s own weight almost toppling it over this time. Gohan stood impassively in the air.
Another crack of thunder passed by as energy continued to spark off of the boy`s body. He slowly began to drift forward. The Grand Enforcer drew back, almost toppling over from the movement, and then let loose with a move similar to a haymaker. In any normal combat situation, the blow could`ve probably punched into a foe and the force would`ve carried through in the form of a two mile long wave of death the width of the creature`s first. Such was the power of the Grand Enforcer.
And such was the power of Son Gohan that the attack`s entire might had been stopped almost effortlessly with a kiai-type yell so loud it couldn`t register even in the Grand Enforcer`s ears. The clouds overhead shot open and the ground beneath the pair cratered with no explosion, and the Grand Enforcer`s hand slowed to a dead stop before crumpling back into it`s now disfigured arm. It fell back this time, and it would have hit the ground if not for the sudden reappearance of another member of the fighting.
"BIG BANG KAME HAME HA!!!"
Grand Enforcer stopped as the attack, hidden from Gohan`s own view, punched into it`s back. The area beneath the creature flashed hot, heavenly blue and the shadow it cast seemed to be the only darkness visible for miles around, and in the center of that shadow lit a singular golden flame, sparking with lightning and centered around the body of a second level Super Saiyan, who`s eyes alone seemed to burn with the fury of a long dead race despite his blended heritage.
The power behind the Grand Enforcer finally succeeded in shoving the creature off of the ground and into the air, moving it with an intensity that wouldn`t be seen or rivaled for hundreds of years. The creature shrieked as another pulse of energy was thrown into the attack, the base of which centered around a second Super Saiyan in his early twenties, who`s golden aura tinged red and orange under the results of a Kaio Ken power-up.
The attack finally detonated as Goten finished it, collapsing to his knees under the strain of using such power that it actually came close to touching on that weilded by the other of the two Super Saiyans, his aura flittering out like a dying candle and his hair setting itself forward, black again.
The explosion shoved the Grand Enforcer skyward, towards the very being it had tried to escape from earlier, the very being who`s hands seemed to rise up over his head and lower back down into a flat, spread position. "Kame..." The boy began to gather up power, his entire aura lighting up brighter than before. His hands came together at the wrist and were soon placed to his side as the gigantic beast, beaten and at death`s edge, came flying at him.
"Hame..." Power became visible behind him, streaks of blue-white light shot from behind him, and the world seemed to shake and tremble in frightful anticipation. Grand Enforcer howled once more and continued flying, the flames of a still lasting explosion carrying it skyward and tilting it upright in the process.
Gohan waited. Grand Enforcer came closer. He waited some more. It was closer still. A few more feet. The smell was present in his nostrisl as he dove shoulder-first down at the beast, diving through the center of the wound that had been created by Hotaru`s sacrifice and then smashing his way out the back. Gohan blew backwards through the explosion of the Big Bang Kame Hame Ha, backflipping as he did so and landing on the ground some hundreds of feet below with mirror imprints from his boots, feet sinking in several inches.
Both hands shot forward and an ethereal blue glow filled the area as the attack shot no just from Gohan`s palms, but from the entire area around him. Twenty feet in diameter, the Kame Hame Ha blasted from the ground around Gohan and flew towards the Grand Enforcer, punching through the flames as the dying creature flipped upside down and watched the attack come with it`s intact eye.
"HA!!!"
End of the line for the Grand Enforcer.
Then it comes to be that the soothing light at the end of your tunnel
Is just a freight train coming your way
Then it comes to be that the soothing light at the end of your tunnel
Is just the freight train coming your way...
In a morbid way, the power to destroy entire solar systems in the blink of an eye, the power to end entire races as if they were a speck of dust caught in a tornado, the power to destroy virtually anything that had lived in the past five million years was something that the Grand Enforcer found strangely soothing. The beam pushed it`s way out of the cloud of expanding fire that had resulted from Goten`s attack, sweeping it up like nothing and expanding in width as it approached Grand Enforcer.
Beautiful, really. Even though it was going to be it`s end, a part of the Grand Enforcer almost wanted to celebrate. This Time didn`t need it to sew death and destruction. The natives alone could do it thousands of times better if they were properly honed. With a feral cry, the Grand Enforcer ripped off a finger and cast it aside as hard as it could. The piece flew through the air and into low orbit before falling back down like a small comet, slamming into the ground in a place that would one day be the foundations of Doctor Asmodeous Gero`s labratory.
The piece would one day be the foundations what would be improved until it formed the genetic structure of the being known as Cell.
And the beam came closer. It`s roar was like the Ride of Valkyries for Grand Enforcer. Closer still, close enough that Grand Enforcer could smell the ozone burning around it. Like staring into the heart of a newborn star...
It's coming your way
It's coming your way...
Here comes
The world turned blindingly white as the beam overtook the form of the brutalized Grand Enforcer, an explosion visible from across the solar system. Setsuna was uneffected. It was time to go to work and begin to set events in motion that would one day change the course of history.
With her eyes shut, she recited a quick chant and several miles away, hidden by the blinding glow of the explosion, a pair of portals opened up. Rei Hino and Yuuichirou Kumada felt the ground beneath them vanish away, and both were gone without a trace. Setsuna kept her eyes shut as the two fell through time and reappeared, 400 or 500 years into the future.
She turned away from the explosion and opened her eyes, virtually uneffected by the onslaught of light that would blind almost anyone, and probably would do at least temporary damage to the visions of hundreds of the survivors of the battle. Likely that none of the senshi that remained would be effected, given the magics on them all prevented things like that. It wasn`t as if it mattered to Setsuna though, she just did her job as she had it. Things would happen whether she liked it or not, it was her goal to make sure that they happened in the best way possible.
Not that any of that mattered to her at the moment. Today had been the day that Setsuna lost her daughter. Again. She took little comfort in the brutal form of revenge imposed by the boy that the girl`s soul was fated be with, the boy himself probably wouldn`t even realize it until she told him herself. A mother`s grief was all she had for the time being, but she didn`t cry, other than a single, solitary tear that drifted out into the air and evaporated before it could even touch the ground. It would be a long, lonely walk to the place she needed to be, but she would do it.
Time stands still for no one. Not even it`s own gaurdians.
Yeah, then it comes to be
That the soothing light at the end of your tunnel
Is just a freight train coming your way...
Yeah, then it comes to be, yeah...
"That was for you, Hotaru," Gohan muttered whistfully. It was a funny thing to him, or it would be in some bitter way when he was older, that in the entire fight after her demise, he had been crying and hadn`t even realized it. With his mission of revenge accomplished though, Gohan powered down through the various stages of Super Saiyan and eased off. His hair fell back down and became less defined and spikey, his body mass decreased a bit and his eyes began to fade to black. His hair fell down entirely to it`s usual state of ordered disarray, black now instead of golden. His eyes finished their color transition to black as well, and the battered youth wiped his eyes regretfully.
Hundreds, maybe thousands were dead. He didn`t care. It hadn`t hit him yet, and it probably wouldn`t for a long while as he climbed up from the two potholes his feet had created and began to walk aimlessly off in some direction or another. Behind him came a few coughs, Goten staggered into view but Gohan didn`t even pay any attention to his presence.
For the most part, the other didn`t really look at him either, a bit too concerned with finding his adopted little sister. Bra had been in one of those buildings, virtually all of which had since toppled by now. If she was dead...
No, she wasn`t dead. Goten thought his eyes were decieving him briefly as a golden haired girl of Bra`s age slashed her way through a pile of debris and jumped out, virtually unharmed or virtually unfeeling of physical pain for the time being. He broke into a fit of laughter and fell over gleefuly as Bra touched down, unnoticing of her own change before he pointed at the fact the world seemed to move a bit slower to her senses, and that there was a strange yellow heat shift in her vision, the result of her aura.
Off down the street, Gohan continued his walk. He didn`t care.
He just didn`t care.
Author`s Note: *Twitches.*
Gohan: He`s a bit busy at the moment. He`ll be back next chapter to *STOMP.* explain some things....
