Flying high over a deserted city, Gohan observed his surroundings. The place looked dead with the grey clouds hovering overhead. Cracks covered the concrete buildings, shattered windows dotting the walls. The sidewalks and paved roads also held many large fractures as they criss crossed the entire city. Yet one thing puzzled the saiyan as he flew overhead.
Where were all the people?
Yeah the place looked dead and deserted, but from the look of things, it seemed there was some kind of activity occurring recently, if not a few days ago. So why would no one be here?
(So what do you think Piccolo? Why aren't there any people here?)
(You got me Kid)
(You're a big help)
(I try)
Gohan chuckled a bit. Despite the Namekian usually being stoic and serious, he did have a sense of humor when he wanted to. At least it kept things from getting too boring.
Suddenly a ki blast raced right by the flying saiyan, causing him to stop midair and drop into a defensive stance. He could almost berate himself for dropping his guard for so long but now wasn't the time for it.
Seeing no one around, but knowing someone was near, Gohan flew into the city, landing on broken street, and began searching for his attacker. Checking deserted street after deserted street, the saiyan soon lost his patience and slammed his fist into one of the buildings, creating a large hole in the wall.
"Tsk, tsk, you shouldn't lose your temper like that," a smooth voice said from behind.
The saiyan quickly turned around and saw a young man standing casually behind him. With his blue eyes staring at him while his black hair and orange bandana waving in the wind, Gohan shouted out "Who are you?"
The youth smirked. "My name is of little concern to you saiyan, but I will tell you that I am a government official."
Gohan's eyes widen. This was one of the leaders of Earth? A young man? Could this be the guy who attacked him earlier?
"So human, if you are with the government here, you have to have some kind of title which I have no doubt you'll like to rub in my face. Might as well get that over with."
The man laughed. "Right you are saiyan. I am the Seventeenth Chair of the Twenty Chair Alliance. Though there aren't that many chairs being held right now, I still hold a very high seat."
"Seventeen out of Twenty, huh?" Gohan said, "I guess I'll be calling you Seventeen since you won't give me your name."
Seventeen waved the comment off. "Do as you like, it doesn't matter. You'll be dying here anyways."
Gohan frowned. This guy was brushing him off like he was nothing and they hadn't even thrown a punch yet. Then there was the growling he heard from Piccolo that told him he didn't like the arrogant prick either.
(I take it you don't like this guy anymore than I do)
(Damn right Kid, cream him)
(With pleasure)
Gohan then slid into a fighting stance, his left arm and hand pointing at the newly anointed Seventeen, the hand open. Seventeen, however, stayed in his relaxed stance, his hands on his hips as he watched in amusement as the saiyan prepared to fight him.
Calling out, the black headed youth said "You honestly think you can take me on? That's got to be the funniest thing I've ever heard." To prove his point further, Seventeen began to laugh out loud, closing his eyes and throwing his head up as he roared with laughter.
It was then that Gohan attacked. Using his arm, he stretched it out at racing speeds, his hand latching on to his opponent's face and pushing him with his ever growing arm until they hit a building at the end of the street. Giving out a loud cry, Gohan fired a ki blast, causing the crumbing building to explode. The saiyan soon retracted his arm back and readied for Seventeen's retaliatory attack.
Soon, Gohan saw his black haired opponent rise from the rubble with a pissed off look on his face. "I didn't know saiyans could stretch their arms like that!" the youth yelled out. "And now I will repay you for that knowledge by killing you slowly and painfully!" Seventeen then launched himself at his opponent, going faster than what Gohan had expected, barely crossing his arms in front of him to block the incoming punch.
Throwing his arms to a side, along with Seventeen's fist, Gohan counterattacked with his own fist that the young man easily parried and then threw his fist again. Gohan dodged the fist this time and jumped backwards when Seventeen threw another punch, jumping into the air to put some distance between the two.
Without hesitating, Seventeen fired a ki blast at his floating saiyan opponent, which the monkey dodge as he expected. He then launched himself into the air and slammed his head into his opponent's stomach, making the saiyan spit out the air in his lungs and the spit in his mouth from the impact.
Disappearing, Seventeen reappeared behind his saiyan opponent with his hands clasped together, jackhammering him to the side of the saiyan's head, and sending Gohan into a building. Smiling, the human crossed his arms in front of his chest and hovered in midair, waiting for Gohan to come out into the open.
Meanwhile, Gohan was just getting on his feet, staring out at his opponent through his self made hole. This guy was a lot stronger than he had given him credit for; so the saiyan needed a plan to get a few solid hits in, hamper the guy's speed, and the match would be his.
Focusing his energy, Gohan raised his arm up and fired a large ki blast at Seventeen through the hole in the wall.
Seeing the blast rushing towards him. Seventeen easily dodge the incoming beam. However, he soon felt a pain in his stomach as his saiyan opponent suddenly appeared in front of him and rammed his knee into the black headed youth's gut. Using his right hand, Gohan crossed it over his body before swinging it out, backhanding the human in the face, and sending him flying away. Giving chase, the saiyan clasped his hands together in order to jackhammer his opponent.
However, Seventeen had managed to recover himself and caught the blow, flipping over Gohan's head, and nailing the heel of his foot in the back of the saiyan's head.
Lurching forward, Gohan quickly caught himself and turned around, swinging his fist. His punch was blocked by Seventeen, who had rushed back at the saiyan, barely managing to get his arm up to stop the surprising blow. Pushing the arm away, Seventeen threw his own punch, only to have his saiyan opponent catch it and not let go, throwing another punch that his opponent also caught and held on to.
Straining, the two combatants pushed against each other with all of their strength, trying to overpower the other, both fighters standing in midair.
Finally, Seventeen leaned back, using Gohan's momentum against him as the human swung both of his legs up and firmly planted them in the saiyan's face.
Releasing his opponent's fist, Seventeen watched as the saiyan warrior flew higher into the air, recovering, and readying himself for his opponent to charge in again. This hadn't been that bad of a fight so far.
Gohan, however, had other plans. Getting thoroughly pissed as a human seemed to have the upper hand on him, the warrior had searched through all of Piccolo's techniques and found one to his liking. Finally stopping himself from floating higher, the saiyan saw his human opponent was waiting on him to make the first move again. That was perfect. Gathering his ki, Gohan let out a cry as he fired ki blasts at his opponent. "Scatter Shot!"
Seventeen was ready though. He easily swatted away any and all blasts that came at him, ignoring any that just missed him completely. Apparently, this saiyan needed some work on his aim.
Finally, the blasts stopped coming, Gohan appearing to be breathing hard. Smirking, the human called out "Hey monkey boy, you need to learn to shoot your ki blasts right. You missed me several times."
However, the saiyan's reaction wasn't what Seventeen expected. Instead of being pissed or readying another attack, Gohan smirked. "Who ever said I was done?"
"What?" Seventeen said confused. Turning his head to his right, he suddenly saw a bunch of ki balls floating there. Suddenly, they and several more that appeared out of nowhere, rushed around him. Soon, the human leader found himself surrounded by ki balls.
Throwing his arms out to his sides, Gohan yelled out a war cry before swinging his arms in, crossing them in front of him. Immediately, all of the ki balls rushed at Seventeen, the black headed youth only having time to cross his arms in front of him as he was enveloped by a massive ball of flames.
Buildings were incinerated by the blast as the ground crumbled into a crater. Watching the spectacle, Gohan had to admit that he hadn't expected that kind of explosion.
(Damn Piccolo, why didn't you tell me that would happen?)
(I wanted that human dead as much as you did Kid. Didn't think you'd mind the fireworks)
(Got a point there)
Soon, the explosion calmed down, smoke rising from the newly formed hole in the ground and half destroyed buildings surrounding it, their insides showing for all to see. Relaxing a bit, Gohan just took in all of the destruction. He could really get use to causing that kind of damage anytime he wanted.
Suddenly, dust and smoke shot out of the crater, rushing high into the sky, a loud thundering sound echoing throughout the abandoned city. Covering his face with his arms, Gohan waited till the rush of smoke settled down before looking in front of him, his eyes opening wide at what he found.
Floating high above the hole, about eye level with the saiyan warrior, was Seventeen; and a very unhappy one at that. Bruises and scrapes were all over his body, his clothes torn and bloody. Unfortunately, that was all the damage shown on his physical form.
"You're a lot stronger than I though saiyan," Seventeen called out, a hint of disdain in his voice. "I believe I now owe you the knowledge of my name. I am called Angie Zeventien…and that will be the last name you'll ever hear."
Crouching slightly, Angie yelled, his power level increasing dramatically. Gohan was in near shock. Was this guy not fighting him seriously earlier?
Suddenly, Angie took off, flying straight at the saiyan, his fist landing right in Gohan's gut. Before Gohan could even absorb the shock from the strike, the pissed human launched into a barrage of punches, leaving no body part untouched. As Angie continued his assault, he pushed his saiyan opponent backwards in the air.
Feeling pain as each punch landed on either his stomach, chest, shoulders, or face, Gohan had had enough. Quickly gathering a little ki, the saiyan warrior pushed it out from his body, blowing Angie a few feet away. Reacting quickly, Gohan threw a punch at his opponent, only to have it dodged and having Angie land a roundhouse kick on his face, sending him backwards through the air.
However, before the saiyan could get very far, Angie grabbed onto Gohan's leg and began swinging him around in a circle, releasing his opponent as he flew straight into the ground. Holding his hands out in front of him, the seventeenth chair let out a war cry as he fired a ki blast into the ground, pushing Gohan further underground.
Floating in the air, Angie soon drifted towards the ground, landing near the edge of the hole he had just created, staring into the dark abyss. After awhile, he aimed his hand at the hole and fired several ki blasts into it, smoke and dust flying out of it. "Come on out monkey boy! I know you're down there! Come out and fight me like a man!" the human shouted out.
After awhile, Angie began to wonder if he had killed the saiyan when the ground behind him erupted, Gohan appearing out of the hole, his eyes glowing red from anger. The saiyan then fried his eyebeams at point blank range, hoping the attack would finish the fight.
Unfortunately, Angie disappeared, the eyebeams hitting nothing as they flew down the street. Suddenly, the human appeared a bit to the side of Gohan, his fist connecting with the saiyan's face, sending him the opposite direction of the eyebeams, skidding on the ground till he came to a stop.
"Is that all you got, monkey boy?" Angie taunted. "I thought a 'saiyan warrior' was much stronger than this. What a waste of my time."
Meanwhile, Gohan was struggling to get up, spitting blood onto the ground as he rested a bit on all fours. He was getting nowhere fast and at this rate, there wasn't a snowball's chance in hell of beating this guy.
(Kid, I hope you have some kind of trump card cause I have no idea what else you can do) Piccolo said.
Gohan sighed out loud. (Yeah I have one. I was hoping not to have to use it here, but it looks like I have no other choice)
(You have a move I don't know about?) Piccolo asked surprised. (Since when?)
This time Gohan chuckled. (You'll see very soon, Piccolo)
Standing up on his feet, Gohan looked at Angie, a serious look on his face. "Okay human, you're time is up. This next round will be the last…and you won't be winning it."
Angie just laughed. "Sure, whatever you say monkey boy. The only part where you're right is this being the last round. I'll even give you the first attack as a memento for your last struggle."
Gohan smirked a bit, chuckling a little. "There's no way you'll beat me; I'll make sure of it," he said softly.
Then a look of concentration overcame his features as he began building his ki, a blue aura surrounding him as his power increased. Angie just watched, amused at the spectacle. As far as he could tell, it was nothing he couldn't handle.
Slowly, the blue aura turned gold as Gohan's hair stiffened. A steady cry started coming from his mouth as his power level soon began jumping dramatically. Soon, his black eyes disappeared into the whites of his eyeballs; the muscles of his body expanding the longer the power increase continued.
Then, with a loud cry, the gold aura swept over the saiyan's body, his hair becoming blond, his eyes reappearing as a teal color. Steadying his breathing, Gohan turned his attention to Angie, who was staring in fascination. However, that curiosity soon gave away to smugness. "Is that it? You just changed the color of your hair and eyes. You're gonna have to do better than that monkey boy."
Gohan smirked before he disappeared, reappearing right in front of Angie, his fist imbedded in the youth's face. Using his other fist, he smashed it into the human's gut, causing him to bend forward, releasing the air in his lungs in a gasp. With the same arm, Gohan moved it to his side, about even with his shoulder, the hand open before slamming the palm onto Angie's face, sending him flying.
After hitting the ground and rolling onto his feet, his hands on the ground steadying him, Angie bared his teeth in anger. "So you increased your power level. Very cleaver, but it's not gonna do you any good since I'm still going to kill you!"
Rising completely onto his feet, Angie flung his arms in front of him and fired a ki blast at his saiyan opponent. Gohan simply swatted the blast away, only to see Angie right in his face, his arm pulled back, ready to attack him.
Gohan didn't even move, allowing his opponent to land his punch, it connecting with his face. The saiyan didn't even flinch from the impact. A little shocked from the lack of a reaction, Angie launched into a full out assault, throwing punch after punch at the golden Gohan's face, each one not even making the saiyan blink.
Getting frustrated, Angie gathered as much of his strength and ki into his fist and slammed it into the saiyan's face, making the golden figure turn his head. Slowly, Gohan turned his head back and stared at the human, no evidence of the fierce barrage anywhere on his face. "Are you done now?"
Angie's jaw dropped. What was this guy? How could none of his blows even scratch him? How, how, how?
Suddenly, Angie felt an intense pain all over his body, as if several blows were rained down upon him. There was only one problem though; the only person who could've done it hadn't even moved a muscle. Was his speed that much greater than he could track?
As Angie was doubled over in pain, he began to panic. He couldn't be so overpowered by this saiyan trash. There was just no way a filthy monkey could be this strong. Soon, his pain was replaced with anger and hatred. He would make sure this dirty fleabag wouldn't leave alive.
Yelling at the top of his lungs, Angie lunged at Gohan; the saiyan swatting him away like a pest, sending him flying into a building. Once the black headed human had crashed into the structure, it began to collapse, rubble falling all over the place.
Standing with the ruined building to his left, his head turned to look at the pile of concrete, they golden saiyan lifted his left hand up, two of his fingers extended and hovering in front of his forehead. Within moments, energy began crackling around the end of the digits, ready to be fired.
Suddenly, rubble began to move, falling to the wayside as Angie soon arose from the shattered remains of architecture. Without hesitating, the saiyan pointed his glowing fingers at the beaten human, firing the attack by calling its name. "Special Beam Cannon!"
The beam flew at high speeds, piercing Angie in the chest, blowing out his back, sending his form into a large piece of architecture, his lifeless body sliding down as his blood painted the debris' surface.
Silences reigned throughout the city, a gust of wind blowing by before Gohan lowered his arm, his hair and eyes returning to their original colors.
(Okay Kid, explain yourself)
Gohan smiled a bit before he flew off into the air, leaving the deserted city behind him. (So what do you want to know?)
(Everything. Tell me what exactly it was you did. Your whole body changed)
(That, my green friend, was a power thought to be a legend amongst my people: the fabled Super Saiyan)
(Super Saiyan? And since when were you able to do this? You never did it before)
Gohan smiled a bit. (It was about the time my father and Vegeta were killed)
It kept playing in his mind. Every time Gohan went over the events in his head, all he saw were his father being slaughtered with blitz beams and Vegeta having his brains blown out of his head.
The young saiyan had just left the place of the saiyan prince's last stand, trying to hold back his emotions. He needed to get back to the cave and fast. It was only a matter of time before the humans would catch up to him and finish them all off.
And there was no way he would let that happen.
Finally, Gohan entered the cave, his younger brother and Vegeta's son still sleeping innocently. Good, it would make things a lot easier to get them out of here. Grabbing a leather pack, Gohan stuffed the two saiyans into it, their heads sticking out of the hole, still asleep.
Looking around the cave, Gohan could see the memories of his time spent here, specifically the ones with his father and Vegeta. Soon, his emotions began to get out of his control and tears began running down his face. Managing to retain some of his mind, the young saiyan gathered his ki, ready to obliterate the cave so that the humans couldn't track them any further than this spot.
Unleashing a cry of anguish, sorrow, and anger, Gohan unleashed his power, destroying the cave completely. However, something was going wrong. Instead of his ki dropping after the attack, it continued to rise, never stopping. He soon only saw black.
The next thing Gohan knew, he was racing through the forest, dodging trees as if they were a mere nuisance. He failed to realize the speed he was traveling at, nor did he notice the lack of fatigue from covering as much ground at the speed he was going. As far as he was concerned, this was normal.
Soon the saiyan reached a clearing with a lake in it. Slowing down, Gohan gently put the still sleeping saiyan children on the ground and walked over to the body of water, kneeling down next to it and drinking from it; submerging his hands underneath the water's surface and bringing what ever amount of liquid his hands caught to his mouth.
After getting his fill, the young saiyan splashed his face to cool himself down. When Gohan looked back at the pond, he froze. Staring back at him in the water was a boy with golden hair and teal eyes, a combination he had never seen before. Slowly raising his hand, Gohan saw that the blond boy copied his action. Moving his hand to his hair, the young saiyan grabbed one of the spikes and pulled it down to his eyelevel to look at the color.
It was blond.
Jumping onto his feet as if he were bitten by a snake, Gohan began to panic. What had happened to him? Why was his hair different? How could he have done it? Would he ever go back to what he used to look like? What was he now?
What had he become?
Still emotional from watching two of the most important people in his life die in front of his eyes, Gohan screamed at the top of his lungs, thrusting his arms out in front of him and drawing them back to his body, only just to thrust them back out again as he fired ki blast after ki blast into the lake, causing the water to fly high into the air. Anger, fear, and sorrow reigned supreme within him until he collapse to the ground exhausted, panting heavily. Looking over at the younger saiyans, he was relieved to find that they had somehow remained asleep during his fit of madness. Hoping that his eyes were just playing games with him, Gohan got back to his feet and moved to take another look.
Looking back at his reflection with anxiety, the young saiyan soon saw that the blond hair was slowly darkening, the eyes copying the hair's action until they were both their original colors.
Grabbing the same lock of hair, Gohan pulled it back into his vision and sighed with relief that it was black again. After taking a few deep breaths, Gohan gathered the sleeping saiyans and took off back into the woods, finding a good place to camp, and waited to inform the children of their loss.
A job he didn't want to have to do.
(Wait a minute. You didn't know what had happened to you?) Piccolo asked intrigued and confused.
(Yeah, at the time I hadn't heard of the Super Saiyan legend so I had no idea what had happened to me) Gohan answered.
(So how did you find out that was what the transformation was?)
(A couple of months later, when I was training Goten and Trunks for the raids, we ran into another group of saiyans. We hadn't heard of the traitor rumors yet, so we stayed the night with them. It was there I heard of the legend)
(So what part of the legend made you realize that you had already achieved it?)
(When they mentioned the transformation. The one telling the story had mentioned it was different from the Oozaru transformation)
(Oozaru?)
(The giant ape form)
(So that's what that was. Anyways, why didn't you use the Super Saiyan form after you found out what it was?)
Gohan didn't respond to that, holding onto his silence. When it didn't appear that the saiyan would be answering, Piccolo said (Well?)
(Because I couldn't)(What? Why?)
(I'm not sure. The conditions of my first time are very weird so I have no clue what it was that triggered it. All I knew is that it dealt with my emotions. Several times I tried recreating the events that led up to it in my head, but I could never get back into the form. So I decided to beef up my power level and see if that would help, which it did)
(But for some reason you still couldn't achieve the form again)
(Yeah, so I just gave up on it; just put my focus onto trying to stay alive and watching out for Trunks and Goten)
(But back there you acted as if you could transform the whole time. When did that change?)
(After we left Majiventa, I managed to rediscover it and slowly built my way back to it)
(So that's why you got all excited before Bojack attacked us again. But why could you get the form then and didn't use it against that guy?)
(Because you gave me the needed power boast I needed to get my energy requirement; then you completing the fusion gave it more punch. It was just a simple matter of the emotions and then voila. As for the Bojack part, I had taken too much damage to get the necessary power to achieve the level. Now before you ask, I didn't even need the form to beat Bojack up in the atmosphere as you saw)
Piccolo just laughed. (Perceptive Kid. Well then, I think I'll let you take us to our next battle. Guess I'll just have to have more confidence in your fighting abilities)
Gohan just got a small smile on his face. He had earned his colleague's respect and nothing else needed to be said. The only thing left was to complete their mission and free his people.
And he was positive he could do it.
To dbzfan952: Hehe, well what can I say, Cell really wasn't much of a martial artist. Gained his power by stealing others and that didn't guarantee that he's inherit fighting abilities. Very natural that a true warrior would put him in his place and not let him go. And now that Goten has a plan, we'll see how that will come to frutation soon.