Chapter XXI: The Terror of Snakes

Shihebi stood on the beach with crimson power spilling from his body. No one really dared to approach him.

Dalton stepped back into the forest. "Did I hear that right?" He said over his shoulder to Dominick.

"You did." Shihebi called. "I still have much more room to grow."

"Then I'll just have to grow with you." Gogito chimed in.

Shihebi laughed. "That's a lot of powering up you'll have to do. I'm already stronger than you as it is."

Android Thirteen jumped out of the forest. "Wait, Shihebi." He said. "You don't have to do this. I know you aren't evil."

"You're right." The snake responded. "I'm not evil. But my power is. You can feel it, can't you? It's not something that should be flowing from a hero. Which is ironic, since I feel a lot of hero-like energy flowing from you guys."

"What are you trying to say?" Martin yelled.

"You're scared of me, aren't you? I'm terrified. I feel like I could be sucked into the nothingness that is my power at any moment. I can never let my guard down, except in my final form. Since my power works somewhat like a black hole, it sucks any soul and emotion into a point, pushed to the back of my being, like it's not even there. That point becomes more and more dense as the force of my power becomes greater and greater, until at my full power, that point reacts to the inward forces, and my soul and emotions explode and manifest into even more power."

Everyone stood in silence trying to decipher what the Snake had just said.

"You guys are evil." He said. "You have too much power to not serve as protectors of our Universes. That makes you hindrances to my role as a protector. There's no guarantee your selfishness won't lead you to put others' lives in danger. Your apathy will serve as my motif to kill you."

Gogito started toward the snake. He kept walking until the two were only inches apart. "That's a childish way of thinking, Shihebi."

The God chuckled. "Maybe." Then his face scrunched, and without warning, he punched Gogito in the face.

The force caused a Gogito to stumble backward, and it created a ring of energy expanding outward normal to the direction of the blow. Gogito regained his footing. He held his hand to his jaw where the punch had landed and moved it around to make sure nothing was broken. Then he lowered his hand and smirked. Shihebi lunged at him, but this time he was ready. The Snake sent a blur of punches and kicks at his opponent, but all of them were blocked. Shihebi let off of the offensive a little bit, and Gogito took that advantage to steal it. After Shihebi sent a quick left hook toward him, he ducked under the fist, the popped back up and was able to land a solid hit on the Snake's face.

Shihebi grunted upon impact. "Nice shot." He said.

"Thanks." Gogito replied. "But I'm sure you let that happen."

"True. I wanted to test your power." He said. "I have wanted to test your power since the moment I saw you. I knew you were hiding a lot of it. In fact, you're still hiding power, aren't you?"

Gogito smiled. "You caught me."

"And if I had to take a guess, I'd say you're fighting at less than half right now."

"This form drastically improves your insight, too, doesn't it?" Gogito said.

"Intelligence is a large part of one's strength." Shihebi replied. "Now show me your full power. I'm hoping I can make you work under me. With your strength, we can greatly improve the quality of our work."

"Sorry, but I have no interest in becoming some sort of omniversal dictator. I rather value the individual."

Shihebi scowled. "That's the apathy I'm talking about."

"Well…" Gogito started. "I guess I have to show you my full power." Energy began to bubble and rise like magma in a volcano within him until it could be seen as a glowing golden outline on his body. Then it started to spill out, causing an outward wind current in all directions. He clenched his teeth and tightened his entire body as the sand was pushed away from him. The island began to shake. It groaned as if it were in pain. The clouds parted, revealing the slightest orange glow in the sky above. Then, lightning was generated from the energy spilling from Gogito. He glowed even brighter now, so much so that everything else seemed to darken. In a flash, he let out a powerful cry that resonated throughout all of the island, echoing for what seemed like forever.

"Holy shit…" Martin exclaimed. "Since when did Gogito have all of this power?!"

Dalton turned around, still protecting his face from the wind currents. "You were the one saying Gogito had to win this. Now he really might be able to."

"He's been holding out on us." Dominick said. "Even while training us for four years, he's found time to train himself, too. It's like he was preparing for something."

Gogito shone in the dark of the early morning. It was Super Saiyan 2. The golden energy fell from his sides then billowed up in a ball around his body. Cracks of lighting could be seen spewing from the energy he put off.

"This is more like it." Shihebi sneered. "Now, villain, you will feel the terror of all that is good." The dark red smoke around him began to whistle as if it were crying, trying to escape. It felt as if all of the darkness on the earth was being drawn into this one single Snake. Even the shivers from everyone's spines were sucked in.

Gogito couldn't bring himself to attack first. Shihebi didn't share the hesitation. He lunged at Gogito once again, leaving a trail of black and red behind him. Still moving forward, he let his upper body fall back and threw up his feet. Gogito stepped back to dodge a hook kick, but Shihebi kept turning and used his tail like a whip. When the attack came down on him, Gogito caught it with his left hand. Electricity fizzed from the tip of the Snake's tail. Gogito felt his soul being tugged into Shihebi's blackness. Wincing, he flung the God by the tail into the ocean. Sweat already dripped down his chin. The ocean now stood still.

"That was insane." Android Thirteen murmured. "All of that power released from just that one exchange. It barely lasted a couple seconds."

"Where did Shihebi go?" Dominick asked.

Martin looked back at him and raised an eyebrow. "In the water! Couldn't you see-" He paused. Shihebi wasn't in the water.

Gogito suddenly turned around to face the forest. "There!" He shouted as the Snake appeared behind him. He swung his fist at his opponent, but it was blocked. With Gogito's fist in his hand, Shihebi pulled him closer and drove his knee up toward his chest. Gogito put his free hand on Shihebi's knee and used it to propel himself up and over the Snake's head, who still had a grasp on his fist. When Shihebi's opponent was directly over his head, he let go of him, but kept his hand raised in the air. A clump of dark energy gathered in his hand, ready to implode, calling all light and dark to be absorbed. Gogito realized what this meant, steadied himself in the air, and prepared a counterattack. A light-blue glow emanated from his palms, then bulged and exploded out toward the God. The dark energy was fired just a split second after. The collision created a disc shaped explosion, spiraling with dark and light components. Gogito shot upward from the smoke created by the explosion. Once he caught his breath, he dove back in. Within that second two bodies came tumbling out of the cloud over the ocean. The green one was on the bottom. Gogito clasped his hands and slammed them into the the Snake's head. Shihebi splashed into the water, and Gogito fired another energy blast down at his opponent. After a couple of seconds, an explosion from within the water caused what seemed like a geyser from the bottom of the ocean.

"He can do this!" Martin exclaimed. "He has the upper hand."

The rest of them were silent they knew Martin was trying to be hopeful. He was the only one who had experienced the emptiness of Shihebi firsthand.

Gogito slowly moved back to land. Once he touched back down, he rested his hands on his knees.

Dominick ran out to offer aid to his mentor. "Gramps!" He called.

Gogito turned around to face Dominick. "Super Saiyan 2 is really hard to manage…" He said.

"Why didn't you ever tell us about this form?" Dominick asked.

"I was going to…" He explained. "Once you were able defeat me in my Super Saiyan form, I was going to reveal this as your next goal."

"You're sneaky." Dominick said, chuckling. "Well, it looks like Shihebi can't even put up a fight with you right now."

"Yeah." Gogito agreed. "But it's far from over. We need to count on this form also being able to hold its own against his true form. I have no idea when he'll use it, and chances are I'll need your help, so make sure you rest up."

Dominick looked up. "Looks like he's back."

Shihebi rose out of the water like the God he was. "If I were in charge, this wouldn't have to happen anymore." He said. "There's my reason, since you wanted to know so bad."

Purple flowers used to bloom from the blue-grey tree trunks every winter. They thrived on the cold weather. But it never got cold for long periods of time anymore. The weather always fluctuated rapidly. It could change as much as 40 degrees within a single hour. As cold blooded creatures, the snake-like Jeuri race could not withstand the rapid temperature change without suffering from severe dizziness. They had dug many complex tunnels under the ground to be in a more constant setting. But just before all of this began, a baby was born. The last one born above ground.

"Mother, why is my name different from all of the others'?" He asked one day.

"Oh, Shihebi." She soothed. "Do not listen to what they say about your name."

He leaned in. "No, I don't care about that. I want to know what it means."

His mother caressed his cheek as she lay on her bed. She hadn't gotten out of bed in over a year. At this point, her muscles her probably too weak to do so. "It's an ancient language." She said. "It means 'Death Snake'."

Shihebi smiled at that for some reason. He didn't know why.

"You were the first Jeuri to be born after that wretched after that wretched Detombe du Rois took over this planet." She scrunched her nose at his name. "You were born only minutes after he took power."

"So why did you name me that?" He asked.

She smiled. "That's up for you to decide."

Shihebi had only been alive for five years at that time. His mother died only a couple of months later, from malnourishment. No one was allowed to leave the underground for fear of being recruited to do slave-work for King Detombe du Rois. The planet held rich minerals in its soil which allowed those purple flowered trees to grow. They were called Vioyeux.

Those who ended up getting recruited and showed extra promise above the others were chosen to serve directly under the king as overseers of their own kin. Whether it be out of fear or complete change of heart, those overseers became faithful to only the king. And the others could be easily overpowered by the overseers, they had no choice to obey their own kin' orders given directly from the king, sitting in his tower. No one knew the location of the tower, either. For all they knew, it could have been on a different planet. The king was a ghost, and the flesh was acting against itself of its own accord.

"Jiel, Brother, stop this!" Shihebi cried, holding his seizing father in his arms. He had just been jabbed with an electric electric javelin-like spear given only to overseers. "Father is sick, can't he go back underground and get some medicine?!"

Jiel's eyes were cold, showing no emotion. "Once you come onto the surface, you're never allowed back underground again. That is the rule of the king. You either work for us or you rot down there." He wore a heavy grey button-up coat with a red star on his left shoulder to signify his loyalty to the king. "Mother already lost her life to the underground, so why would you want to go back there?"

Shihebi snarled at his brother. "Don't you dare talk about Mother. You willingly went to Detombe du Rois, knowing you were leaving your family behind."

"It's called self preservation." Jiel said calmly. "Before my life, there is nothing."

"You coward!" Shihebi shouted. Then he looked down at his father, whose eyes were glazed, looking at everything and nothing. "Father, try and pull yourself together! We promised to go to the surface and make change, to free us all!"

Groaning, his father managed to lift his head and look at Jiel. "My eldest son...please." He stammered. "Please...kill me."

Shihebi's eyes widened in horror.

Jiel stepped forward. "Very well."

"Shihebi, my son, I'm sorry." He said. "I was weaker than I thought. I don't want to hurt anymore…"

Shihebi scrunched his nose in a saddened anger. "I guess it's too much for me, too." He dropped his father on the ground. "I'll do this on my own, no more making attachments. It's too painful when they break." Then he turned his back on the other two. Behind him, he heard the piercing of flesh. "Jiel." He called. "I'll take charge of this whole deal. All the planets; everything."

"Why bother? Why risk your life for others?"

Shihebi turned around to face his brother as silence fell over the surface. "I'm not like you, Jiel. I feel pain when I am betrayed, and I feel pity for others when they feel pain." He turned back around and started walking away from everything he knew.

"Life is a lot harder when you feel those emotions." Jiel said. "You should rid yourself of them."

"I can't do that." He said. "Otherwise my goal would be void." He stopped walking without turning around. "You see, if I were in charge of everything, this wouldn't have to happen anymore. Brothers wouldn't betray their family out of fear." Once he started walking again, he called back to his brother once more, for what would be the last time. "I know you haven't completely lost your emotions, Jiel. You've have plenty of chances to kill insubordinate like me, but I'm still alive."