In the last chapter, Broly wiped the floor with Goku, Cell and Piccolo and Vegeta regained his nerve after being scared witless by Broly's power. In an attempt to save Gohan's life, Raven jumped in front of one of Broly's blasts, dying as a result. Due to the grief at this loss, Gohan ascended to Super Saiya-jin three but was seduced by a questionable being into accepting a power boost. This boost seems to have come at a price however as Gohan's entire personality seems to have changed and almost immediately after getting his new power he brutally executed Slade.
Broly stared at Gohan for a moment and broke out into a fit of laughter.
"Come on now kid. All you managed to do was grow a little bit and get a lot more hair. Your worthless father did pretty much the same thing and look at where it got him." Gohan smirked at Broly.
"Yes, but my father is weaker than I am. Much weaker. Not only have I transformed, but I received a new and even better power as a gift from someone who wants you out of the picture." Almost as if to accentuate Gohan's statement, a crimson S appeared on his forehead with crimson marks on the inside of each curve. Gohan could sense Vegeta readying to attack behind him, but decided that he wanted Broly to himself.
"Stand down Vegeta. He's mine now."
"Don't make me laugh. You're nowhere near strong enough to take him down on your own. Have you already forgotten your own words?" Gohan turned around to face Vegeta, who upon seeing the mark on Gohan's forehead and seeing the look in his eyes couldn't help but take a step back in fear.
"What has...happened to you Gohan?" Gohan smirked darkly, causing Vegeta to take another step back.
"I have received a power beyond imagination Vegeta. This on top of my newest transformation will make me unstoppable!" Gohan's subsequent laugh was not a pleasant one. It was a laugh that sounded so empty and hollow that it almost seemed as though Gohan had lost not only his sanity, but his very soul.
Broly took Gohan's momentary distraction as a signal to attack and so brought his elbow down, hoping to just crush Gohan's skull in so he could get on to bigger and better things. This was not to be however as Gohan tilted his head to the side and at the very instant of collision, crouched low and swept his outstretched leg around in a circle, knocking Broly over on his back. Gohan then disappeared and reappeared a few feet above Broly, once again extending his leg and bringing it full force down onto Broly's exposed gut. Broly grunted with pain and grabbed Gohan's foot and threw him off to the side, giving himself enough time to get back on his feet. Acting out on instinct he swung a massive fist around to catch Gohan squarely in the jaw, snapping his head to the side...and breaking his neck with a resounding crunch. Smirking, Broly moved to push Gohan over and move on to Vegeta but was more than a little surprised when Gohan simply righted his head as though he were just cracking his neck.
"Now there's something I've never seen before. Usually when you break someone's neck they die." Gohan smirked at him.
"Well, I'm a little different from everyone else. You're going to have to do better than that if you want to kill me."
"Gladly." Was Broly's only reply as he cracked his knuckles. He threw a massive fist forward but Gohan dodged it by completely bending over, his back at a right angle to his lower body. He threw himself forward with such force that he slammed his head into Broly's chest and sent him flying backwards. He quickly stopped himself and landed, staring at Gohan in disbelief. How had the kid suddenly gotten so much more flexible? It didn't make any sense. Something wasn't right about the kid, but it didn't matter since he was going to die either way. Those were Broly's thoughts until Gohan threw his fists to his sides and then brought them together in front of him.
"Now, witness the full fury of Hell's flame!" An orb of fire encompassed Gohan's fists and a pillar of flame shot out of it and towards Broly, who dodged by mere inches which allowed him to feel the scorching heat from the blast. He was beginning to get a little nervous. That blast was hotter than lava! If the brat actually managed to hit him with something like that... His thoughts were cut off as Gohan had just appeared in front of him and had struck him across the jaw with an elbow, snapping his head to the side. Broly threw a punch at Gohan, who merely formed a fiery aura around himself. Broly screamed in agony when his fist came into contact with Gohan. He looked at the back of his hand to see that it was already blistering. Scowling, Broly jumped back several feet and cupped a hand at his side, forming a green energy blast as he did so. He tossed it at Gohan who crossed his arms and threw them to his sides, creating a semi-orb of energy that caught Broly's and launched it right back at him.
Before the blast even came close, Broly disappeared and reappeared behind Gohan, grabbing him by the head and slamming him face first into the ground before lifting him up and tossing him as hard as he could. He tossed another blast but Gohan quickly regained himself and batted it down towards the ground where it detonated, throwing up a dust cloud and obscuring Gohan from view. Gohan landed inside the cloud and began tossing fireballs at Broly, who barely dodged them all. What he didn't see until too late however was that Gohan had teleported behind him. Gohan formed another fireball and launched it at Broly, hitting him dead center in the back. Broly hit the ground screaming in agony. He scrambled to his feet and furiously began launching dozens of energy blasts at Gohan who punched the ground, causing a pillar of flame to rise up out of the ground and detonate the blasts as they came. Broly growled in frustration and waited for the flames to die down.
"What are you?" He asked, quickly becoming afraid of Gohan's newfound abilities. What really scared him though, was the look in Gohan's eyes as he spoke.
"Your death."
"No! You'll never beat me! Never! I am invincible! You are nothing to me!" Broly clenched his fists and charged them with energy, rushing at Gohan and hoping to just impale him and be done with it. Gohan had other plans however and as one of Broly's fists approached him he stepped to the side and caught the wrist attached to it. With a malicious smirk he shifted his hold to Broly's hand and snapped it all the way back, effectively breaking it. The pain in Broly's devastated wrist was so great that he couldn't even scream. He could only gasp as he was nearly overwhelmed with agony.
Had Broly been thinking clearly he would've either chosen that time to escape or surrender, but Broly had lost his sanity long ago and so only longed to spill the blood of those he encountered. Nothing and nobody mattered to him, only shedding as much blood as possible. Broly had never encountered anybody whose blood he could not spill, even his own father had fallen to his never ending bloodbath and the thought of this mere child beating him created an anger such as he'd never felt. This anger is what decided his next move for him. Broly howled with rage and lashed out with Gohan with an animosity even he'd never shown before. It was of no consequence though as Gohan was just too fast and nimble to be caught. Catching a fist that had come at his face, Gohan grabbed on tight and flipped over Broly's head and pinned his arm to his back.
"Let go of me you punk! I'm going to kill you!" Gohan's response was not a pleasant one. He grabbed onto Broly's arm with both hands and jumped up to place both feet on his back. Broly began thrashing about, trying to get the brat off of him but Gohan wouldn't be shaken off so easily and began pushing away with both feet. Broly grunted in pain and desperately tried to wrench his arm out of Gohan's grip but it was no use. Gohan smirked and with a mighty tug dislocated Broly's shoulder. Broly roared in pain and fell to his knees, clutching his abused shoulder, having temporarily forgotten the pain in his shattered wrist. Gohan appeared in front of him and used his knee to force Broly to look up into his eyes.
"That's right fool, kneel before me." Broly spat in Gohan's face. He calmly wiped it off, but if looks could kill Broly would now be a smoldering pile of ash. "You're going to pay for that. I'm going to enjoy torturing you to death."
"What are you doing brat?! Kill him now!" Gohan frowned and looked over to Vegeta.
"You would do well to shut your mouth Vegeta. Oh, and if you ever order me around again, I'm going rip out your innards and force feed them to you. Do I make myself clear?" Vegeta trembled with fury. How dare that insolent whelp threaten him!
"What did you say you whelp?! Why don't you come over here so I can show you your place!" Vegeta didn't even have time to blink before Gohan was crushing his windpipe.
"My patience with you is wearing very thin Vegeta. Don't think I won't blast you into oblivion the same way I did Slade."
"Gohan what are you doing?! Put Vegeta down right now! He's not the enemy!" Gohan snorted.
"Well Piccolo, I see that you, Dad and Cell have recovered nicely." Piccolo ignored Gohan's words.
"Why are you attacking Vegeta? He's not the enemy here." Gohan merely increased his grip on Vegeta.
"Anybody who gets in my way is an enemy. Anybody who thinks they can order me around is an enemy. Whoever I say is an enemy is an enemy. Do not tell me who I can and cannot attack." Piccolo and Goku reeled in shock at this. Gohan had never spoken to anybody in such a manner, much less Piccolo. Goku took a step forward and placed a hand on Gohan's shoulder, but he flinched away.
"What's wrong Gohan? You're acting strangely and your energy feels...off." Gohan threw Vegeta to the ground and turned to face the newly recovered trio, who took a step back in fear at seeing the look on his face. Piccolo was the only one that gained the courage to speak.
"Gohan...what have you become?" The smirk that appeared on Gohan's face sent chills up the spines of all three warriors before him. They could see so much blood lust and hatred in that smirk that they half expected him to sink his teeth into someone's neck and literally bite their head off.
"What have I become Piccolo? Why, I've become the pinnacle of power! I have no rival, and it's all thanks to him." Gohan pointed over to Broly, who was barely standing with one arm hanging limply at his side and the wrist on the opposite side dangling in a way that clearly showed it was broken. Piccolo stared at him in shock. How had Gohan managed that? Certainly he was stronger than Goku, but not that much stronger. "He killed Raven, Piccolo. He killed her and for that, he is going to suffer dearly."
"Don't be a fool Gohan! Did you forget what happened last time you got an attitude like that?" Gohan chuckled, then power exploded around him as he roared with insane laughter, throwing his head back and seemingly laughing at the gods themselves.
"I will crush him with my bare hands, and then you will see not to underestimate me!" In the blink of an eye Gohan was once again standing in front of Broly, who'd finally managed to get to his feet. "Well now, are you ready to die?" Gohan was completely unprepared when Broly rammed his head into his chest and quickly kicked him in the face, knocking him into the air. Scowling, Gohan wiped a thin trail of blood that ran down the corner of his mouth.
"So you've still got some fight left in you eh? Well I can fix that." Gohan flew back down to Broly and brought his doubled up fists down on his head while at the same time bringing his knee up. Gohan's knee connected with a resounding crunch, Broly's nose breaking with the impact. Before Broly could even scream Gohan had already blown him away with an energy blast and was chasing him down. He quickly caught up and when he was flying parallel to and above Broly, he fired an energy blast directly into him, causing him to smash into the ground and cough up blood. Gohan landed beside him and laughed.
"What? Is that it? You're throwing in the towel already? And here I thought the legendary Super Saiya-jin was supposed to be something special. Or were you lying about being a god? I sure hope you weren't lying because I really hate liars." Gohan frowned at him for a minute. "You know what? I think you were lying. I'll just have to teach you a lesson." Gohan stomped down on Broly's chest, feeling a couple ribs give way under the pressure. Broly groaned in pain and Gohan leaned closer, as if trying to hear him better. "What's that? You want more? Well who am I to say no?" Broly shook his head desperately, but Gohan paid him no heed and once again stomped down on his chest, breaking even more of his ribs. Broly tried to scream, but suddenly felt too weak to do anything but lay there.
"Gohan that's enough! You've already beaten him so stop this meaningless assault and finish him off." Gohan hadn't even felt Piccolo approach, having been too engrossed in torturing Broly. He didn't even turn around as he spoke.
"I don't think so. As far as I'm concerned there'll never be enough for the likes of him. Besides, I want to tenderize him a bit before I end his miserable existence."
"Fine then! If you won't then I will. Special beam cannon!" Piccolo suddenly found a bloody stump where his firing arm had been. He yelled out in pain and gaped at Gohan in disbelief.
"I don't think you quite understood me Piccolo. I am going to kill him and I am going to do it how and when I so desire. Do not make the mistake of trying to get in my way again." Gohan felt a massive power surge and suddenly a Super Saiya-jin three Goku was standing before him.
"What do you think you're doing?! You're acting no better than him!" Gohan sighed in frustration at this newest interruption.
"Don't think I won't force you out of my way as well father. I have no qualms with attacking anybody who gets in my way, including you. Now if you please, my victim awaits and I don't think he's going to be very patient if I take too long. Cell appeared behind Goku and began charging his own energy blast.
"We're going to wipe this blemish off the face of this earth now, rather you like it or not Gohan. As much as I like seeing you act like me I'm afraid getting rid of him is more important at the moment." Gohan growled and smashed his fist into Goku's cheek, not really hurting him but forcing him to take a couple steps to the side to keep his balance. He then fired a large blast at Cell, completely obliterating his upper body, leaving his lower body to fall to the ground.
"I'm very quickly beginning to lose my patience. The next person to get in my way is going to die." He slowly walked over to Broly and picked him up by the neck. He stared at him for a moment but just snorted and threw him to the ground. "I've suddenly lost interest in you. I'm going to kill you now."
"w...wait. please." Gohan twitched an eyebrow.
"Please tell me you're not begging for your life."
"i...i'll leave you and this planet alone. just...spare me." Gohan laughed loudly.
"Now what makes you think I'll even consider that? Because I'm a hero? Don't make me laugh." Gohan spat on the ground next to Broly. "You made the mistake of pushing me too far and now you've got consequences to pay. The moment I transformed I was no longer the same person. You killed Raven without mercy and now you should expect none and you will receive none. Now, unless you have something important to say be silent." Gohan flattened a palm at Broly and formed a large energy blast. "Now, begone vermin." Gohan scored a direct hit, enveloping Broly in energy and leaving no trace that he'd ever existed.
Before anyone could say or do anything, the sky turned a dark crimson color and the temperature suddenly shot up, becoming uncomfortably hot. Goku and Piccolo tensed up and began looking around, hoping to spot the source of the phenomenon. They saw nothing else out of the ordinary however, and quickly made their way over to Gohan who didn't seem the least bit disturbed by the sudden change.
"Do you know what's going on Gohan?"
"Yes Piccolo. It seems that he's bringing Raven back.." Piccolo stood silent, expecting him to continue. It became apparent however, that Gohan was going to volunteer no information so he continued his inquiry. "Who is he? And how is he going to bring Raven back?" Gohan sighed, seemingly in frustration at having to explain.
"He is Trigon and he's someone that has the desire and power to bring Raven back to life. This was part of a deal I struck with him. He gave me some of his power and in exchange he'd bring Raven back to life after I killed Broly. See this?" He pointed to the mark on his forehead. "This is his mark" Goku seemed a bit suspicious.
"Gohan, ever since you got that mark you've been acting strangely. I don't think this Trigon is someone we can trust."
"It doesn't really matter at this point. I got what I wanted and he got what he wanted and Broly and Slade are no longer bothering us. I really don't see a down side here. Besides, for once in my life I finally have some confidence in myself. I finally feel like I can accomplish something without someone else having to give up their life for me. I'd say that more than outweighs any bad feelings you have." An eerie stillness suddenly overcame the area, and a strange sound began increasing in volume, sounding completely foreign at first but soon becoming recognizable as the sound of hundreds of voices chanting in unison. The sound brought shivers down Goku's spine and he struggled to hear what the voices were saying. Finally, after about five minutes, the voices became loud enough that they could be understood. This brought no comfort to Goku, or Piccolo, who had stiffened in fear upon hearing the words of the chant.
"Can you guys hear that too?" Piccolo put a finger to his mouth, silencing Goku and listened hard.
"The gem was born of evil's fire. The gem shall be his portal. He comes to claim. He comes to sire, the end of all things mortal." The demonic chanting continued to become louder, but now it was speeding up as well. Faster and faster, louder and louder until the words almost seemed to take solid form, creating walls around even Gohan who had to admit it was creeping him out. Then, just as suddenly as the chanting started, it stopped and all was once again quiet. At least, it was for a second. Then a horrible sound came from everywhere at once. A sound so horrible, so terrifying it was beyond words to describe, save that it was the sound of the very fabric of existence being forced apart. Out of nowhere a gigantic bolt of lightning struck the ground which opened up into a massive pit. Everyone looked down into the pit and immediately had to look away from a mixture of pure terror and absolute disgust. At the bottom of the pit were what could only be described as the souls of the damned moaned and writhed in eternal agony accompanied by countless grotesque and hellish looking creatures."
"W...what is that?" Goku was visibly shaken by what he'd just seen. Gohan merely smirked at his discomfort.
"That father, is hell. It is the domain of the one who gave me these awesome new abilities. The one who shall now bring Raven back into this world." Suddenly a giant wall of fire erupted out of the pit and compressed into a great fireball. There was a great trembling as the chasm began closing, the gaping wound in the planet closing back up as though it had never been there. The fireball hovered in the air for a moment before slowly lowering back towards the ground where it slowly started to enlarge and take on the form of a human body. Gohan smirked in anticipation. Everything would once again be right. The flames solidified into flesh and bone, taking a female form. The last of the flames took the form of a purple cloak and black leotard. The girl, unconscious, collapsed to the ground. Gohan rushed over to her and held her tight, checking her over to make sure she was breathing. He let out a sigh of relief when her eyes started to open.
Blinking a few times, Raven waited for her sight to focus. The first thing she saw frightened her, and she lashed out at whoever was holding her and jumped back, ready for a fight.
"Settle down Raven! It's just me!" Gohan rubbed his stinging cheek where she'd managed to land a good punch before jumping out of his arms.
"Why should I settle down? I don't even know who you are. Besides, I can tell from that...thing on your forehead that you're one of his slaves!" Gohan blinked a few times out of confusion when suddenly what she'd said dawned on him.
"Oh yeah, I forgot you've never seen me like this before." Gohan powered down back to his basic form, but the S remained on his forehead.
"G...Gohan?" She scowled at him, then stormed over to him and slapped him hard. "How could you?!" A surprised Gohan touched his reddened cheek and glared at her, hurt by the way she was acting.
"How could I? What do you mean how could I?! If it weren't for me you wouldn't even be standing here right now! Maybe a little gratitude would be nice."
"Gratitude? You have no idea what you've done! This world was much better off with me dead!" Gohan was taken aback by her words.
"Raven, even as gloomy as you are that doesn't sound like you at all." Raven sighed and rubbed her temples.
"Gohan...you just don't understand. You don't understand what I am, you don't understand who my father is, or even why he wants me alive. You've allowed yourself to be tricked into something that you no longer have any say in. You are now Trigon's slave, and you will be for the rest of eternity." Gohan's face twisted for a moment as emotions swept through him like a tsunami and Raven almost expected him to lash out at her. At the end of it however, he did nothing except go blank. He looked at her, unnerving her with the emotionless, almost empty gaze his eyes contained.
"When your father gave me these powers, I got a brief chance to read his mind. I know everything Raven. I know what you are, who your father is, and I know what the prophecy is. When your father tries to take over the world, we will simply destroy him."
"It's not that simple. The fulfillment of the prophecy is inevitable and when my father is unleashed upon this world, he will be unstoppable."
"Why? Because some priestess foretold of it on the day of your birth? Let me tell you something Raven. The past and future are not as set in stone as you think they are. The only reason that my father, Vegeta and Piccolo are even alive right now is because of Trunks. You remember seeing him in my memories don't you? Don't underestimate us Saiya-jins. Once the time comes we'll find a way to succeed, just you wait." Raven sighed and turned her head to look away.
"I really wish I could believe you Gohan, but there are just some things that are meant to happen, things that cannot be altered."
"Gohan's right!" Goku chimed in. "Whoever this guy is, we'll beat him just like any other enemy. Nobody is unbeatable, you just have to be strong enough to beat them. We'll train hard and become stronger, and when this guy shows up we'll give him a fight he's never dreamed of!" Raven simply rolled her eyes at them. They just didn't understand, and apparently they wouldn't until the time came that her father escaped his hellish prison and conquered the world.
"Whatever. Do what you want, but don't say I didn't try to warn you." Goku's eyes widened when something dawned on him.
"What about Cell? Have you done anything about him yet?"
"Psh! Cell isn't worth my time. If he insists on annoying me for the rematch he's been so obsessed about then I will kill him. If not, then his actions are of no concern to me." Goku was surprised by Gohan's response, but decided to see what his motives were.
"What about the people still left in this city? What if he goes on another killing spree." Gohan just looked him in the eye.
"First of all, I think Cell is intelligent enough to realize that either you, Vegeta or I could easily dispose of him if he got out of line. Secondly, I don't really care either way. Goku had to put a great deal of effort into not visibly showing how shocked he was. He needed to find out what was going on with Gohan, and showing weakness right now would only drive him away in his current state.
Alright, finally another chapter out. I don't really like it too much but the only way I'll actually know if it's any good is if I get reviews, so please take a few seconds to tell me what you think.