Chapter 11: The Tree Of Might Pt. 2

Gohan stood frozen across from Vegeta and the pirate, trying desperately to keep his composure. The man looked terrifyingly similar to his father, every feature was the same. Even his father's ridiculous hair was the same, the only difference he could see was the darker skin color and the look of cruelty in his eyes. He knew it wasn't his father, it couldn't be, but no matter how much he told himself this, he still felt like he couldn't breathe. He felt a hand on his shoulder and glanced over to Zara, he breathed out and gave her a slight nod. He walked forward and shouted over the distance between them, "let Vegeta go! Your fight is with us now." The man raised an eyebrow, he pulled Vegeta out of the hole his body had created in the tree trunk, the man tossed him in the air and Gohan was momentarily hopeful.

His hopes were shattered when Vegeta's body exploded in a violent blast of purple energy. He screamed out, "No!" Vegeta's smoking body hit the ground a few feet away, Gohan and Zara ran over to him and checked his pulse. He sighed in relief when he saw that Vegeta was still alive and stable, "I admit beating the prince within an inch of his life was amusing, but I am ready to get this mission over with." Gohan gritted his teeth and turned to the man, "who are you?" He smiled, "doesn't really matter now does it? You won't live long enough to make use of the information but I suppose it doesn't do any harm to tell you, my name is Turles."

He checked over Vegeta one more time before walking over to his uncle's body as Zara checked on Nappa, his heart was hammering in his chest. Raditz was in an extremely bad way, he was barely breathing at this point and nearly all of his exposed skin was covered in burns, his broken armor was stained red with his own blood. He hesitantly reached out to touch his uncle when Raditz gasped loudly and shot up into a sitting position before coughing violently, Gohan recoiled in shock as Raditz looked around before his eyes landed on his nephew. His uncle seemed to calm slightly at his presence, "about time you got here kid, Turles was pretty much done playing with us, he was getting ready to finish us off." Gohan sighed in relief knowing that his uncle was okay, "who is this guy? How could he defeat all three of you without even transforming?" Raditz grimaced, "listen up kid, at this point you and Zara are the only ones who have a chance to take him out. He's my brother and your other uncle." Gohan was shocked by the news of having yet another living relative but Raditz continued on, "he's stronger than any saiyan I've ever seen, he must be as strong as Ginyu at this point. If not stronger than him, but you need to listen. You're only chance is to get angry Gohan, this is exactly the kind of scenario we were training you for."

Gohan swallowed the lump in his throat, "uncle I don't think I can- I mean this isn't a good idea, if all three of you couldn't take him down than what chance do I have?" Raditz glared at him, "what are you talking about? You nearly killed Vegeta when you got angry last time, why would-" Raditz suddenly was struck by an epiphany, "you cannot be serious. You just don't want to fight him because he looks like Kakarot, don't you?" Gohan looked away in shame but chose not to say anything, "look at me, boy." Gohan looked at his uncle, "He. Is. Not. Your. Father. There is no point in holding back against him, he will not hesitate against you. If you fall then he will kill the rest of us."

Gohan nodded unenthusiastically and stood up and turned to face Turles. Zara finished checking over Nappa and rejoined him, "if the three of you are done then I'd like to get on with this." Gohan took a deep breath through his nose, his aura flared to life and Zara followed suit. A gale began to stir up the surrounding landscape around them, strong winds began to pick up, dust and dirt began to be blown away and small rocks began to float up in the air. Turles looked unimpressed as they reached their maximum power levels, with one final burst, both saiyans shouted a battlecry as they charged forward.

Gohan aimed a punch at Turles' head while Zara aimed a kick at his lower abdomen, Turles easily dodged the punch and grabbed Zara by the leg and used her momentum to swing her back into Gohan. Knocking both children away from him, both kids landed on the ground in a heap with her on top of him. His eyes widened and Gohan grabbed the older girl before rolling out of the way just in time to dodge a boot that landed right where they had been laying. The ground cracked under the force as the children recovered their footing.

Turles turned and launched a wave of purple ki at both of them forcing them to dodge out of the way. Zara charged forward and began to strike at Turles with a flurry of blows, the older man easily blocked or deflected her attacks before backhanding her. However he was surprised when Gohan was right behind her and he landed a punch that caused his uncle to stumble backwards, a second punch struck him in the chin, forcing his head upwards. Gohan launched a beam of energy at the man that forced him to slide backwards. Turles easily knocked the beam away but he was once again surprised when he felt a kick to his spine that knocked him forwards. Zara flipped over Turles' shoulders and shot a ki blast that hit him point blank, she continued to backpedal in a series of flips until she was standing shoulder to shoulder with Gohan who was charging up another attack.

Both children launched a volley of energy blasts at where Turles was standing, causing a cloud of smoke to build up more and more. After a few moments, both children ceased the attack, and suddenly a voice cut in above them, "impressive, the two of you put up more of a fight than my pathetic brother did." Gohan gritted his teeth and looked up, Turles was standing on a branch above them with his arms crossed. Wordlessly, Gohan and Zara launched themselves upwards, they chased after Turles as he bounced up the branches. They climbed higher and higher up the tree until Turles stopped and turned, launching a spin kick at Zara, she cried out in surprise as the back of her head struck one of the larger branches and she began to fall back down to the base of the tree. Gohan didn't take the time to check on her, instead choosing to chase after his uncle as they continued to jump up the tree.

Turles finally stopped running as he landed on a large branch, Gohan didn't hesitate to strike at him. He threw blow after blow at Turles' face, the hits snapping his head from side to side. Turles turned his gaze back to Gohan completely unfazed, Gohan growled in anger before trying to strike at him again. However, Turles dodged and punched him in the chest, the blow launched him upwards and through another branch. The splinters cut up his skin as he soared upwards, before he could even recover, Turles was already there. He grabbed him by the throat, Turles looked around in boredom as Gohan kicked and struggled against his iron grip. Turles' gaze settled on a branch about as thick and wide as his forearm only a few feet above the branch he was standing on, a sadistic grin spread across his face as he jumped forward and impaled his nephew onto the sharp and jagged piece of wood.

Gohan screamed in agony as the piece of the tree pierced his back and came through his abdomen, painted red in his own blood. He was in horror of the ragged flesh and sinew surrounding the hole in his chest. "I am disappointed kid, Raditz seemed so sure you would be the one to kill me. I can't wait to see his despair when he finds out you died so pathetically." Gohan gritted his teeth as he grabbed the branch and tried to pull himself off, but it wouldn't budge and his body screamed in agony with every attempt. "Ah. And look at that, the first fruit of the tree has already sprouted." Gohan's gaze turned upwards, hanging just above them was a decent sized orange fruit covered in dull spikes. Turles reached out and plucked the piece of fruit from it's perch.

"Don't worry kid, with this and maybe a couple more planets. I should have enough power to kill Frieza and his disgusting family. Too bad you and your friends won't be around to see it." Turles was just about to bite into the fruit but he was surprised when Zara flew up from below, the part of the branch that Turles was standing on was destroyed, causing him to lose his balance and drop the fruit near the edge of the damaged branch and Turles fell down to a branch below them. She gasped in horror at the site of him which quickly turned to rage, she jumped down and continued her assault on Turles leaving Gohan on his own. He whimpered in pain as he tried once again to pull himself off, his gaze finally settled on the piece of fruit just below him. He suddenly had an idea, he struck the branch with as much force as he could muster, it took multiple blows before the branch severed in two. He managed to slip off the broken branch and began to bleed out quickly, he didn't have much time before he passed out from blood loss. He crawled towards the piece of fruit, he groaned in pain as he reached out and his fingers brushed over the fruit. It began to roll closer to the edge before his hand shot out and grabbed it just before it fell.

He coughed up a mouthful of blood as he brought it closer to his mouth, he bit into the fruit, it was the most bitter thing he had ever tasted. Purple juice ran down his face but he continued to eat it, the fruit was horribly unpleasant but he didn't stop eating it. He could feel his wounds starting to close with every bite he swallowed, he could feel his power surging as he consumed the life force of the very planet itself.

Turles had no trouble fighting off Zara, he blocked her blows easily and smacked her, sending her flying towards the ground. He chased after her and launched himself forwards, grabbing her by the waist, he began to speed up as she pounded on his back. Just before he hit the ground, he let her go and she crashed into the planet's surface.

Raditz looked on in despair at how quickly they were defeated, Turles continued to pound away at Zara as he crawled towards Nappa. Gohan was nowhere in sight and Zara looked to be in a bad way, he was kidding himself. If he knew Turles then Gohan was already dead, "The kids can't hold out much longer." The older man nodded as he sat up and nursed his broken leg, "we probably can't win this battle Raditz, and neither of us are in either state to fight any longer." Raditz glared at him, "you might be content to lie down and die, but I'm not. If you give me all of your remaining energy I can get back in the fight." Nappa looked at him warily, "what are you planning? Even with what energy I still have, it won't be enough to beat him in a fight." Raditz glared, "I don't plan to draw this out, just give me the energy already." A sudden realization hit Nappa, "you sure you want to do this? Detonating yourself might not be enough." Raditz countered, "it's still better than nothing. And I want to go out on my own terms." Nappa had a sad look in his eye, but he grasped Raditz' arm all the same and transferred what remained of his ki to his friend. "You are the stupidest, third class, son of a bitch I've ever met Raditz, but I've enjoyed fighting by your side."

Both of their auras flared to life, and Raditz' began to grow in size as Nappa's faded away. Raditz stood up and walked over to Vegeta, "he was about to reach out and try to wake him up, but Vegeta's hand shot out and grabbed his arm in a vice like grip. The prince opened his eyes and winced in pain, "what are you doing?" Raditz didn't have time to explain, "I need your power to end this." Vegeta stared at him, "do you think you can do it?" Raditz simply nodded, Vegeta sighed, "just get it over with." Raditz repeated the process and stood up, ready to sacrifice himself in one last ditch effort and muttered to himself. "I'm sorry Gohan. Guess all that bullshit about you being the key to our freedom wasn't true after all. I got you killed because of my stupidity" His heart was hammering in his chest as he slowly worked himself into a jog and slowly into a sprint as he charged Turles, he just had to pull him off of Zara and get a good grip on him. Then he could end this.

He was closing in and Turles hadn't realized he was there yet, just a little closer… He was within grabbing distance of Turles when something crashed in between him and his brother, sending all three saiyans flying backwards. Gohan was surrounded in a light blue aura, a large hole in his armor exposed his abdomen underneath and a large painful looking scar was spread across his stomach. Turles and Raditz both recovered, both looking in shock at their nephew, Gohan glared at Turles in complete and utter hatred. He calmly walked over to Zara's broken and bloody body and picked her up, she was just barely clinging to consciousness but she was still just as surprised as the two men, "how the hell did you-." Gohan didn't respond as he carried her over to where Vegeta and Nappa were laying and set her down as gently as possible.

Gohan walked back over and stood side by side with Raditz and his aura finally faded away, "G-gohan? What the hell happened to you?" He ignored him and just stared ahead at Turles, a small grin spread across his face and he began to laugh, "you continue to surprise me kid! I didn't think you would have the balls to eat the fruit! Can't say I'm disappointed though, this is the first interesting thing to happen today." Raditz was confused, "Gohan what the hell is he talking about?"

Both of them continued to ignore him and it was starting to piss him off, "you do realize that even if you manage to kill me today, you will always be bound to the tree now. You will always crave its fruit until the end of your days, always tempted to give in and grow another Tree of Might to sate your hunger." "Shut up." Gohan interrupted his uncle's manic ravings, "at this point I don't give a shit anymore, Turles. I'm ending this here and now. No more games. No more tricks, just you and me now."

Turles began to return to his senses, but the smile still lingered on his lips, "I do suppose this has gone on long enough. The runt of our pack against the disgraced prodigy, there might be something poetic about that in there somewhere. But I don't believe I care." Gohan turned to Raditz, finally adressing him for the first time, "get Zara and the others out of here. This is between me and him." Raditz wanted to protest but after seeing the look he gave him he dropped it. He shivered, the look he gave him was eerily similar to Vegeta's stare. Or Frieza's.

He turned around and walked over to his squadmates, helping them to their feet, Nappa and Vegeta still had enough energy to fly. Albeit very slowly, but they could do it, however Zara was in no condition to move so he picked her up bridal style. He turned and looked at his nephew one last time before he followed the others, he felt like he should have said something. But nothing came to mind.

Once he felt like the others were finally at a safe distance, Gohan turned back to face his older uncle who stood with his arms crossed in front of him. "Tell me boy, what exactly is your relation to me and my brother?" Gohan raised an eyebrow but replied, "My father is Kakarot, although he goes by Son Goku on my homeworld." Turles nodded, "ah. I suspected that was the case, I wasn't aware he got off the planet in time."

A sadistic grin spread across his face, "I remember now, a power level of 2, so pathetic that father didn't even bother to name him. But Gine refused to abandon him, she was so broken hearted when she learned they were sending him on an infiltration mission, heh, such a stupid and naive woman, she still sent me messages about life on Planet Vegeta long after I left. Gave more of a shit about me than my own mother did." Turles shrugged, "perhaps I'll track him down after I'm done here, bring your severed head back to him on Earth."

Gohan didn't rise to the bait, "you won't have the opportunity." The grin on Turles' face widened, "I guess we are done talking, aren't we?" Turles floated upwards, hovering high above the ground with the tree looming above and behind him. "I'm bored of this planet. I'll destroy both you and this world with this last attack. You will die here runt."

Turles' purple aura flared to life, he extended his right hand with his palm aimed at Gohan, he stabilized his arm by gripping it with his other hand. Purple energy began to coalesce in the palm of his hand. Gohan stared up at him, he wasn't afraid, he wasn't plagued by doubt anymore, this man was nothing like his father… Or Raditz. There was no reason for him to hesitate this time. He widened his stance and cupped his hands by his hips, he sucked in a deep breath as his blue aura flared to life around him. If he failed here, Vegeta will die, Nappa will die, Zara will die, his uncle will die, he will die.

"KAAAMEEEEEHAAAAAMEEE" A ball of blue energy began to form in his cupped hands, this was it, there was no more room for error. No more failure, the only person he could depend on was himself, Raditz and Vegeta and Nappa wouldn't be able to save him this time. The energy threatened to spill out of his hands at this point, it was time.

Purple lightning crackled along Turles' body, his attack grew to full size and flew forth. "GALACTIC BUSTER!"

"HAAAAAA!" The Kamahameha spilled forward from his outstretched hands and collided with Turles' attack. The beams of energy met in the middle and began pushing back and forth with each other. The sky was lit up with blue and purple energy as their attacks raged in the sky, Gohan poured more power into his attack but every time he seemed to begin pushing Turles' attack backwards. The man would power up slightly and begin to overtake his attack once again. Slowly the beams began to be pushed back towards Gohan, he gritted his teeth and dug his heels into the dirt. Refusing to back down, he continued to push in more and more power but it was still not enough. He was reaching the end of his reserves and Turles still looked like he was barely exerting himself. The beams ever so slowly began to inch closer and closer to him, he began to slide backwards, he was losing. Why was he never good enough? Tears began to fall down his cheeks. They would have all died on Atar if Raditz hadn't snapped him back to his senses. He slid back another few inches. He would have been turned into a robot if Zara hadn't saved him from Tarkus' clutches. The energy blasts inched slightly closer. Nappa convinced Vegeta to give him a chance to prove himself. The kamehameha began to decrease in size and was becoming absorbed into the galactic buster. All those hard months of training with Vegeta were wasted. Blood began to leak out of his nose as he pushed the last of his energy into his attack. He was becoming dizzy, his head was pounding, he was afraid that he was about to pass out, "I'm sorry everyone, I wasn't good enough."

He felt two hands on his shoulders, his eyes widened in surprise. Time seemed to slow down to a crawl. He looked to his left, there was a man that strongly resembled his father, but he had a long scar on his cheek and had a deep tan and wore black and green armor that strongly resembled his own. He turned to his right, there was a pretty woman with dark hair and onyx eyes that resembled his own, she had pale skin and wore dark green and bronze armor. She had a kind smile as she looked down at him, strangely, she reminded him of his mother. The man spoke, he had a strong and commanding voice, "hang in there soldier. You are stronger than you think. Your doubt is the only thing holding you back."

Gohan couldn't comprehend what was happening, "who- I mean, what-." The woman spoke next, "I'm sorry that we don't have more time. But you have to let go of your fears Gohan." He shook his head, "I don't understand, who are you? Why are you here?" The man gave him a close lipped smile, you already know who we are, deep down. Gohan, it's time to let go of the past. You may not have been born as one of us, but you have come so far. You are a greater saiyan than either of us ever were. It's time to accept who you are, who you will become." Gohan shook his head, "I-I can't. I don't want this life. This isn't who I am. I just- I just want to go home." The tears began to fall again but the woman wiped them away with a gloved hand, she caressed his face with a sad smile. "Oh Gohan, I know it's hard, but this is your new home. Your friends are where you belong now, Earth will always be a part of you but it's time to move on. We are with you to the end, our son would die before he let you fall. You have such an important role to play, it's time to grow up. The saiyan race stands behind you." The man slowly began to fade away, "you are our vengeance, you are our future." The woman slowly began to fade away as well, "you are our hope, you are the savior the universe has been waiting for." Just before they completely disappeared, he heard their voices in his head say in unison, "you are the hope of the universe. The legacy of the saiyan race, the one who will redeem us all."

He screamed, his blue aura flared to life again, energy began to spill outwards once again and quickly began overwhelming Turles. Gohan took a step forward, then another, he found more energy in him that he never knew he had. "DIE!" His aura became tinged with gold and another huge burst of ki traveled through the attack, it overwhelmed Turles who screamed as he was consumed by it. The kamehameha impacted the trunk of the Tree of Might. Gohan continued to walk forwards, his hair flashed gold, his eyes were slowly turning turquoise, but something was missing. Something to push him over the edge, the tree trunk cracked and burst, exploding into a million pieces. A giant column of white energy surged outwards into the sky.

The kamehameha slowly died away, the gold aura slowly returned to blue and then died away entirely, his eyes returned to their onyx color and his hair stopped flashing gold. The child collapsed from exhaustion, it was finally over. The Tree of Might was destroyed and Turles was finally dead. He laid on his back and was on the verge of consciousness, but he made the effort to say it before he passed out, "thank you grandfather, grandmother, thank you both." He smiled in relief and allowed himself to drift to sleep, he was finally free of the doubts that plagued him for so long.

Meanwhile…

I hope you are sure about this, a short and fat blue skinned creature with two antennae muttered. His companion was a man of average height with purple skin, a white mohawke, and blue and white robes." I am quite sure my friend, this was all the proof that I needed. The short creature grumbled, "I hope you know just how many favors I had to pull to get those two out of hell for a few minutes." The purple alien chuckled, "I assure you it was worth it. You've seen it for yourself." The small blue man nodded, "the universe needs him, I am sure of it now. Are you sure his father would not have been a better choice?" The purple deity sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "it is too late for regrets King Kai. We must live with our choices, Goku will move on eventually if he continues to believe the boy is dead. The boy must become a super saiyan and Goku would put that in jeopardy, Frieza's tyranny must end and Gohan will be the one to do it.

Author's Note: Huzzah! I've officially reached the end of act 1 for this story. I plan to have one more chapter to wrap everything up before we enter act 2, it might be a bit shorter than average but I think this one, more than makes up for that. There will be a sizeable time skip coming up after the next chapter, I have one more big storyline planned before we enter the Frieza saga. I am really happy with how this is progressing.

Power Levels:

Turles: 100,000

Vegeta: 35,000

Gohan (Enraged): 150,000

Gohan (After fruit): 30,000

Raditz: 24,000

Nappa: 22,000

Zara: 13,000