Chapter 9: Stopping the Ape

Thursday 19th October Age 791

Dazir's spell had broken and now Noca was back on the ground in his Great Ape form. He was starting to take out all his Ape rage on the environment around him. He was beginning to smash the rocks around the mountains and was using his giant feet to try and squash Dazir into the ground.

He certainly wanted to see that little old wizard dead. That wasn't just the ape though. Noca hated that wizard as well, the ape was just tapping into Noca's own thoughts. Dazir was small enough that he was very difficult to squish.

#17 tried at all his effort to grab Dazir and move him out of the way. Dazir was running to the wooded area, but as he was on his way he tripped on a small rock and fell flat on his face. #17 had to stifle a laugh as he flew past, but he then noticed that the ape was about to step on him.

"Ah crap…" #17 muttered as he changed his direction, "Why do I have to try and be the nice guy?"

#17 had swung around and was now heading towards the ape and Dazir. He flew down from the sky and swerved to avoid the trees and managed to get underneath the great ape's foot and move Dazir out of the way just in time. He was lucky to get out of that unscathed though. He took Dazir all the way to a high point on the mountain and set him down.

"Stay here!" #17 commanded as he turned away from the Wizard, but then stopped and looked over his shoulder. "And never bother us again!"

Dazir didn't respond he just stood up and ran inside a nearby cave. #17 just smirked at Dazir's weakness and fear and then remembered that he still had Noca to take care of. His smirk vanished and he turned around to see that Noca was heading towards the wooded area that Holline had run into.

"Oh damn!"

#17 jumped down from the mountain and started to fly towards the ape. On the way to the ape he decided to throw a Ki blast at it to try and distract him from the woods and keep Holline safe. The blast hit the ape in the back of the head, but all it did was lift its large hand up and scratch at the spot.

"Those things are strong…" #17 said in shock at the effect his attach had. "That would've hurt Noca…guess that's what the transformation does then!"

#17 was about to try the same thing again, but then the ape began to turn around. It looked directly at #17 and it looked angry. Well, it always looked angry, but you could kind of notice that it was angry this time. It had been distracted, so it was pretty annoyed at the moment.

The ape decided to hit back with one of its own Ki blasts, but #17 wouldn't find it itchy. He quickly shot out of the way and flew around the blast and towards the ape's face. The blast carried on and crashed into the mountain and blew up a massive chunk of it. The rubble started to fall down the mountain towards the camp that the trio had set up.

#17 diverted his course and flew down to move their possessions to somewhere safe. He managed to collect everything up and also avoid the rocks, which was very lucky for them. He flew to a safe distance and placed the possessions down before deciding he focus on finding Holline and getting her to safety. He started to run towards the wooded area, but he was suddenly caught off guard by one of the ape's Ki blasts which exploded right in front of him. He was then flung back into all the rubble he had avoided before and crashed straight through it.

Holline would have to find her own way for the moment.

The forest was dark and frightening for someone to be running through at night, but Holline wasn't focussing on that right now. The only thing on her mind was the Great Ape that was terrorizing the landscape. She just wanted to sit and hide somewhere, but she knew that keeping herself moving was probably the safest option at the moment.

Noca had turned into a great monster as far as she was concerned, but he was still her best friend and she wanted to believe he was in there somewhere. All she could hear was loud crashes and the occasional explosion from Ki energy. This was nothing like she had experienced in her life and to be honest nothing interesting had ever happened to her until she started travelling with Noca and she was kind of scared of what he was capable of.

She just wanted to get back to her comforts at the moment, but she had already promised to stay with Noca. She was tired of running through the forest, but it was because she just felt like she was running in circles. She came to a stop and sat on a large log, but all of a sudden a large foot came crashing down next to her and crushed many of the trees around her. She fell to the ground and was in too much shock to move.

Holline looked up at her friend and hoped with all her heart that he would come to his senses and realise that his friend was right in front of him.

"Noca…please…it's me…" She pleaded with tears in her eyes.

The great ape just stared at her and started to lean in closer to examine her further. She smiled at it, but then realised that it was preparing a Ki blast in its mouth. She jumped to her feet and was about to run away, but she was suddenly lifted off the ground and away from the large explosion that occurred right behind her. She looked up and saw that she was in #17's arms. He set her down where he had left their possessions and was about to fly off.

"What are you gonna do?" Holline asked the android, in a panic.

"I'll have to find a way to stop him…" The android stated, examining the ape. He then began to contemplate something and turned to face Holline. "I know of one way, but he'll probably be protective of that area…"

"Uh…what do you mean?" The red-haired girl questioned with a half raised eyebrow.

"His tail…if I can remove it, he will regress to his normal form and we can get everything back to normal."

"Oh…" Holline replied in understanding, before noticed something about the ape. "Well you better do it quick cos I think he just noticed us…"

She was right. #17 turned around to see the ape moving closer to them.

"I gotta get him away from you…stay here!"

"Ok…" Holline said, but then turned and stopped him, "and #17…"

He had just taken off into the air, but turned to face her quickly

"Be careful…"

He nodded back to her and then turned to face Noca once again and bolted towards his face and dealt a powerful blow into the face of his monstrous foe. The Ape fell back clutching its face and #17 flew close to it again and threw a Ki barrage into its face. The Ape was blinded and started swatting at the air like a person trying to get rid of a fly. #17 was doing very well to avoid the attacks and he was certainly trying his hardest to tire the ape out so that he could get to his tail.

Like any other Saiyan though, the ape had great stamina, but so did the Android. So this was just a battle that would last a while. #17 would have to take a different type of approach. He considered one plan, but he didn't know if he could go through with it…it did involve Holline after all. He was considering using her to distract the Ape whilst he flew around and cut through the tail, but she would be terrified.

Then again…it would help to make it more convincing. He would have to give it a go. #17 threw another barrage of attacks at the Ape's face and used this as a distraction to fly back to Holline. He could've used the barrage as a distraction to go for the tail, but the Ape was moving around a bit too much for it to be easy enough to just go for the tail. #17 flew back to Holline and landed in front of her.

"I need you to help me," #17 requested with a slight hesitation to his voice.

"Huh…with what?" She had an idea about what, but she wasn't ready to help with that.

"The Ape isn't stupid…if he sees me trying to go for his tail then he's gonna attack me…he won't let it happen…" That was when #17 turned to the girl and had an apologetic look on his face, "but if you could…"

"No," She replied instantly.

"Listen…if you could distract him for me…" #17 started.

"No!" She interrupted.

"I won't let him hurt you," #17 replied, trying to reassure the girl that he was there to make sure nothing happened.

"I'm not gonna put myself in that much danger," Holline said with a very serious tone. She wanted to help Noca, but the truth was, she was scared.

"I won't let him hurt you…I'll be very quick, but what you need to know is that he is just far too strong to take alone…any time an Ape has been defeated it had usually been distracted…it's the best way," #17 explained, trying to sound as friendly and assuring as he possibly could.

"I…" she started, but no more words seemed to want to follow. She looked down to the ground and closed her eyes trying to force herself to wake up from the nightmare.

"Trust me." Holline's head shot up and this response and she sent a glare at #17.

"I hardly know you, how can I?" She said furiously. This would have got to the Android if he didn't have the perfect response in this situation.

"Noca trusts me…"

Holline had nothing to say to that. She had always respected Noca and it did seem as if anyone he put his trust was genuine and definitely not fake. Noca knew when someone was dangerous.

"And you're not doing this for me…or for you…you're doing this for Noca," #17 explained in a way that may help her get the confidence to help out in this situation.

Holline looked up to #17 and she wanted to argue something back, but he was right.

"I need your answer…we're wasting time!" The android exclaimed trying to hurry this up and end it.

Holline just nodded to him.

"Ok. Now what I need you to do…is go to that cliff-edge and draw his complete attention." #17 explained as he pointed to the direction that he needed her.

"And how do I do that?" She asked, not really knowing how to distract a huge rampaging ape.

"Think of something…normally I would use Ki, but you don't know how to…so…I don't know shout something…"

#17 ran behind a few rocks to hide himself from the Ape just as he was regaining his vision and Holline was standing on a cliff-edge. The Ape was frantically looking around for #17 and seemed to be completely ignoring Holline standing there. It seemed as if the Ape had some sort of score to settle with #17 and nothing was gonna get in its way.

"Huh…ok…" Holline stood looking at the ape and was just thinking about how to get its attention. She was starting to panic, which was when she just shouted, "HEY! APE!"

The Great Ape ignored her.

"HEY! CAN YOU HEAR ME?!" She yelled even louder this time around, she really wanted to get it's attention.

Again she was ignored.

"HEY! WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM?!"

Ignored.

"What do I do? Uh…hm…damn. #17 wasn't helpful…" She started to get really annoyed with herself and started to stomp her feet, but then thought about the fact that the Ape was looking for #17.

"I got it…" She stood up straight and prepared to yell out at the loudest she possibly could. "HEY APE! LOOK, THERE HE IS!"

The Ape turned around and looked at Holline and saw she was pointing to her left. The Ape frantically moved towards her and turned to look in the direction she pointed. It seemed to be looking longingly into the sky trying to find something. Holline noticed that #17 was sneaking out of his hiding spot and he powered up Ki around his arm. The Ape seemed to sense this though, but couldn't actually find where it was as he continued to look in the same direction, but seemed to get angrier.

#17 slowly snuck towards the back of the Ape. He didn't want to draw any attention to himself at the moment. He looked up to see that Holline was looking quite scared and he knew he had to move quickly for all their sakes. The Ape turned to face Holline and #17, out of fear that he would be spotted dropped to the ground and kept a close eye on what was happening. The Ape drew in closer and seemed angry with her.

"What? What did I do?" Holline asked innocently as she backed away from the animal.

The Ape opened its mouth and Holline half expected a Ki wave to shoot out, but that didn't happen.

"You…lied!"

The ape spoke. #17 looked up at the ape as it spoke and he seemed pretty shocked by that, as did Holline. He ignored it though and started to move again.

"What? No I didn't!" Holline said frantically, trying to calm him down this time.

"He isn't there!" The ape bellowed once more.

"He was! I swear!" Holline squealed and she tripped back and covered her face so that she didn't see the ape as it attacked her. She felt like she had truly lost her friend and had given up all hope.

#17 saw that the Ape was getting very annoyed with her and it opened its mouth one more time, but this time #17 could sense energy building up.

"Oh Shit!" He thought to himself as he lifted off the ground and flew faster with his arm covered in Ki energy. He flew behind the Ape and swiftly sliced his arm through the tail. He made sure he cut off most of it. As he sliced through the Ki energy within the Ape dispersed and something else erupted from the Ape's mouth instead. It was a scream of pain. The Ape had lost its tail and it knew it.

He turned around to face #17, but he didn't have the energy to strike at him. He just fell to the ground rapidly and crashed face first into all the rubble. #17 had jumped back as the Ape hit the ground and the two of them watched as he began to shrink back to a normal sized person. Soon enough a naked Noca was laying face first on the floor.

"Is he ok?" Holline asked as she slowly pulled herself off of the ground and walked over to the android.

#17 approached his unconscious body and could hear him breathing. He was sleeping. Most likely just sleeping off all the energy he had used.

"He's fine."

Holline smiled weakly and then looked down at Noca and started to blush and covered her eyes.

"Well cover him up…he's naked!"

"I see that," the android replied with a slight smirk at her reaction to the scene.

#17 flew over to where he left their camp stuff and he gathered a massive blanket and when he got back to Noca he put it around the young Saiyan before lifting him up and flying back to where he left their stuff. He then went and retrieved Holline and they both got the camp set up again. #17 told Holline just to leave him to sleep and they'll continue with the journey the next day as planned. Holline checked her watch and saw that all that trouble had taken an hour to resolve. It was 8:30pm now. She was exhausted though and she just dropped her head back to the pillow she was using.

It was 7:45pm and Pan could safely say that she was bored. She was in her room sitting at her desk doing stupid Maths homework. It just annoyed her. Gohan would always offer to help, but Pan just wouldn't accept anyone's help when she was doing her homework, mainly cos she felt like she could do everything on her own. She just felt like giving up. After being stuck on an algebraic equation for a while she decided to give herself a well-deserved break.

She got up and looked out of her window up at the sky. There was a full moon tonight, but she knew that she was safe as were all the Saiyans she knew. There were no Saiyan's remaining with a tail so they could enjoy the beauty of a large full moon. Pan looked up and just relaxed her mind. She did feel something from the moon when it was like that. She felt like she had unlimited supplies of energy, but she knew this was how a Saiyan would feel at this time.

She continued to look out of her window peacefully until something sparked right through her mind. It was familiar and violent.

"You again…" Pan mumbled to herself as she stood and leant out of her window, "It's been a while."

It was that same power level that she had felt all those times. This time was the strongest it had ever felt and Pan was worried. She couldn't keep it a secret so much longer. She had to talk to her father about it. There is no chance that no one else hasn't felt it. She can't be the only person that feels it and if she is, why?

Pan sprung away from her window and went to run downstairs to ask Gohan about it, but then she realised that the power felt worse. It felt like it was uncontrollable. It felt as if it wasn't the fault of whoever it was. Pan decided that she had to tell her dad, she hardly had any choice. She opened her door and went down the stairs and saw that her father was sitting in the living room reading a newspaper whilst her mother was watching TV.

Pan cleared her throat as she entered.

"Yes Pan, what is it?" Gohan asked politely as he looked away from the newspaper and towards his daughter. She didn't really know how to bring it up, but cleared her throat again and decided to just go for it.

"Uh…I need to ask you something."

"Go ahead," her father replied as he set put down his newspaper and looked at his daughter. She seemed nervous, but she didn't know why.

"Have you...maybe felt a strong power level recently…" She asked hesitantly.

"No, should I have?" Gohan questioned as he raised an eyebrow and tilted his head to the side.

"Well…I don't know…it's just…" Pan was being very nervous and hesitant again, but luckily for her, Videl seemed to remember a short conversation the two of them had.

"Pan is this the same thing you mentioned last month?" The mother questioned, trying to help her daughter.

"Yeah…" The teen was relieved that her mother was able to be of assistance.

"The same day as that fire in that south mountain village?" She questioned further.

"Yes!" Pan replied a little too enthusiastically.

"You felt it again?" Videl asked, feeling a little concerned about why her daughter was feeling a strange power level that it seemed none of the other Saiyan's or Z-fighters could.

"Yeah, but this isn't the second time…it's like the third or fourth…I think…"

"Wait! What are you going on about?" Gohan interrupted feeling quite lost. The conversation seemed to be between Videl and Pan right now and Gohan was just far too confused.

"About a month ago I felt something…a very strong power level. It was as I was coming back from the Lookout the day I…uh…the day I punched Chloe…" Pan looked to the ground as she finished, but only because she did feel a little guilty about what had happened that day.

"Ok," Gohan replied as he sat back on the couch and started to think on the information he had received. Pan realised he was thinking about it and knew he would need to hear some more of the information.

"The power was angry, upset, but…kind and caring…and very, very strong…" Pan explained as she thought a lot on the emotion within that power and how much she felt like she needed to help them.

"Well…maybe you felt the power of someone we know while they were training," Gohan suggested, hoping that was all it was.

"But if that was the case then wouldn't you have felt it…wouldn't mom have felt it…and Vegeta for that matter…" The parents could tell that Pan was getting a lot more emotional as she talked about this. "I get a much stronger feeling from this unknown power than I do from Vegeta and I'm sure if he felt it he would have gone to challenge it…"

Pan stopped herself for a minute and continued to think over the emotion and the power. She didn't understand why she cared about it too much. There was one thought about why she cared, but it was more of a wish than a thought.

"I guess…" Gohan said in agreement, before leaning forward. "Look Pan…maybe you're imagining it."

"It feels familiar," The girl muttered, quietly.

"Familiar? How?" The father asked as he furrowed his brow.

"Like I know who it belongs to…" She said in response before looking to the ground and muttering the last bit to herself, "Or at least I want to."

"Maybe…maybe you're feeling…" Gohan started only for his sentence to be finished by Videl.

"Maybe it's Goku?"

"It could be," Gohan agreed.

"I did think that but…" The teen started before her father cut her off.

"Pan it's just best you forget about it…you're not a fighter, you may be misinterpreting your senses." He explained to her, but he didn't think about the reaction it could get from Pan. She glared at her father before continuing.

"I am a fighter!" She half yelled at the man, before calming down a little and looking to the ground once more. "I just…I lost my training partner…"

"Listen, when my dad left us it left a whole in all of our hearts, but at least we know he's still out there…and he'll be home one day" Gohan said, trying to be as reassuring as he could, "After all Uub is about 17 now so he's gonna be very strong."

"I guess so…" Pan mumbled as she proceeded to walk out of the room. "Thanks anyway."

"Ok, well get on with your homework, I know you haven't finished that quickly."

Pan dragged herself back up the stairs. She knew she wasn't imagining it and she knew it wasn't her grandpa. She just had to believe that it was real, she would meet them soon. She hoped.

Meanwhile downstairs Gohan was about to get on with his newspaper again when Videl pulled up an article on the laptop about the village. The image on the article was of a huge fire that seemed to engulf all of the crops, but only one house was in bad condition. Yes the others had damage, but not like this one. It had most of the roof collapsed in and there seemed to be someone running inside.

"Why is this important?" Gohan asked, pointing at the screen.

"It was the same day as Pan sensed the power the first time." Videl explained, hoping her husband would come to the conclusion without much more explanation.

"Ok…and?" He questioned, still not getting the point.

"And she said it came from that direction…" She explained a little further.

"Look that doesn't necessarily mean anything…" The Demi-Saiyan started to explain, but was interrupted by his wife.

"I'm just trying to tell you that maybe you should listen to her. I'm sure that's all she wants. Just let her know that we can't give her an explanation."

"Uh…I…Videl…I know that she wants to believe it's my father…" Gohan said with a serious look on his face. He clearly didn't want her to get her hopes up just for them to be let down.

"Maybe not…" Videl replied as she looked at the computer screen once more.

"What do you mean?"

"She wants to meet the person, she must feel like she has a connection to them."

"I think we should just…let her figure it out alone…" Gohan eventually believed he had settled it and wanted to end that particular conversation there.

"Ok…"

Videl closed the page that she had open and then resumed watching TV. Gohan was about to continue with the newspaper, but decided that he couldn't be bothered with it and he walked out of the room and out of the house. Videl didn't question him she just went to the window and watched as he just walked out into the fields and sat down.

Pan was back in her room now and sat at her desk again and inside her head she could feel a conflict going on with this person that she didn't know. She felt like she could call them a friend because that's what they felt like. She felt as if she knew them so she had to call them a friend.

She sat there for a while longer. It was about 8:30pm when it all stopped and then she just felt confused as to why it was there one minute and then vanished the next. Pan looked down at her sheet of paper and then pushed it away. She would just get Bra to help her with it in the morning. She really couldn't be bothered now.

Pan got out of her chair and slumped onto her bed. She was too tired to carry on with her homework and to keep worrying about that power.

Gohan was lying on the grass as wind blew around him. He couldn't understand Pan's predicament and he knew that no one could help him. He considered asking Vegeta whether or not it was a Saiyan thing, but then it's highly likely that Gohan himself would have experienced it and already questioned Vegeta about it. He decided not to think on it and thought it best he go back inside with Videl.

Meanwhile somewhere far away from Gohan, Videl and Pan, there were three people training together. These three and been training regularly for a while. Two of them had been training together for the past 7 years, whilst the other had only joined up occasionally, but he made sure not to tell anyone else.

"KAMEHAMEHA!"

The cry was heard echoing throughout the area and then there was a huge explosive sound and then someone flew out of a cloud of smoke. He was dark skinned and had a black Mohawk-like hairstyle. He pushed himself higher into the air and threw a Kamehameha back into the smoke, but the attack didn't hit anyone as a green fighter wearing a Purple training Gi appeared next to him and punched him in the side of the face.

The energy wave had lost all control and crashed into a massive rock formation causing it to collapse. The Mohawk fighter was falling out of the sky, but quickly managed to regain his composure quickly and was flying back up at the green fighter and he sent his fist deep into the gut of the fighter who didn't see the attack coming. He pulled himself back and then lifted his hand to his head and powered his own attack.

"Special Beam…CANON!"

The blast fired towards the foe, but he managed to duck out of the way. They were both about to go in for the attack again, but someone stopped them.

"STOP"

They both stopped with the fists inches from each-other's faces and they turned to face the person who shouted it.

"Come on Goku, I was about to beat him"

"No Uub…you weren't," The experience Saiyan fighter said with a light chuckle.

The green fighter, who everyone knows as Piccolo, descended from the sky and landed next to Goku.

"No you weren't," Piccolo repeated with a proud smile on his face.

"How so?" The brown-skinned, black mohawked fighter asked.

"You were evenly matched…but Piccolo has much more stamina and experience than you, he would've won in the end," Goku explained in a very cheery tone.

"He's gotten very strong Goku," Piccolo said as he looked at the boy.

"I know, but he still has a couple of things to learn, but I don't doubt his skills." Goku replied proudly.

"Why did you stop me though? Why didn't you just let him beat me?" Uub questioned, feeling a little confused about it all.

"He has got a point Goku…" Piccolo agreed before turning around with his arms crossed and staredat the Saiyan. "You haven't stopped one of these spars since you got hungry during one."

"Well I do have a reason," Goku laughed at the same time as giving his response to the Namekian.

Uub descended to the ground and walked over to Goku to hear what he had to say.

"I felt something…not the first time either. A power level…and a great one at that," Goku revealed with a slightly excited look on his face.

"Really…could it be a threat?" Uub asked feeling just a little worried.

"No…this one is good," Goku confirmed, looking ahead at all the mountains.

"I didn't feel anything," The Namekian said whilst looking in the direction that Goku was.

"I know you didn't, otherwise you would've stopped the fight as well."

"Is it really that strong?" Piccolo turned and asked feeling just a little shocked by that revelation.

"Not at the moment, but I can sense potential in there…enough to rival me one day…oh and Uub…I think we've found someone to rival you as future protector of the Earth."

"Really?" Uub questioned a slight look of excitement. He didn't really have a rival for when Goku eventually gave up, but upon hearing that he may have one, it really gave him the urge to keep going.

"Yep," It seemed that it was now revealed where Goku's excitement had come from. He wanted to see Uub and the mysterious power face against each other.

"I don't want to say I doubt you, but are you really sure that you're correct about this power?" Piccolo asked.

"Definitely…I can't really explain it, but the potential of this power is unbelievable."

"We'll have to wait and see."

"Oh and did I say…he's a Saiyan," Goku revealed as he nudged Piccolo lightly with his elbow.

"What? A Saiyan…wait you don't mean Pan do you?" Piccolo asked feeling a little sceptical now.

"Nope."

"Goten's had a Kid?" Piccolo asked as he turned to face the Saiyan this time.

"No."

"Trunks has had a kid?"

"Again, nope." Goku said with a mischievous smirk on his face.

"What then?" Piccolo yelled in pure frustration at the games Goku was playing with him.

"He's an ordinary Saiyan…well, I can sense his Saiyan genes."

"Of course he has potential then."

"You don't understand, this is more than Saiyan potential…he has impossible abilities hidden inside of him…" Goku explained with the same excite mile plastered on his face.

"Ok…whatever you say Goku." Piccolo decided that he had enough of that conversation.

"I wanna fight him, I wanna see what he can do," Goku said enthusiastically.

"Why don't you finish training Uub first?" Piccolo told him.

"Ok I will."

Goku laughed as he walked over to Uub to begin his spar with the Majin Buu reincarnate.