Chapter 12: Showdown with the Syndicate

The shockwave shook the mountains around us, knocking rocks off the peaks, making small landslides. Then another shockwave, and another. Shockwaves so numerous in that desert that miles away, people thought that there was a thunderstorm with constant lightning, shuddering without ceasing. All of that centered around a 14 person dogfight. I got knocked into a cliff by the right hand man. Shaking my head to regain my composure, I teleported behind him and punched him in the back. He grunted in pain and spun around swinging a backfist. I ducked underneath his arm and swung an uppercut which he blocked. Then we started clashing. But the second-in-command, he was just matching my movements with ease, not with skill, but with pure strength. He was on par with the leader, and Gohan was evenly matched with him. I was on the backburner in this fight and I was running out of steam, and he knew that.

"This is the best you got? I would've thought the one that bested that damn traitor to be competent." He then punched me in the face, and then sledgehammered me down to the ground. I careened towards the Earth, but I flipped to my feet just in time to roll without much damage. Out of breath, I was in a lunge, wiping the blood from my lip. "You have no chance against me. You're gonna die today." I stood up to my feet and powered up as much as I could muster. He charged me and I charged at him. He fired an energy blast at me, but I swatted it back towards him and fired my own at him. He sidestepped to the right to dodge both attacks and swung a right cross. I slid underneath his arm and fired a close range energy shot to his ribs. He staggered back in pain. I noticed and kept going in. I rapid-fire punched him in the gut and kicked him in the chest, knocking him on his back. I jumped in the air and fired a Kamehameha at him while he was on the ground. The impact shook the ground and made a mushroom cloud of sand and dust. I landed back on the ground, breathing hard and my energy waning. My stamina had taken a big hit using Super Saiyan. Not mastering it meant I burned my energy out faster. I depowered out of the form. The RHM was still laying on the ground. I looked at everyone around me fighting. I knew that I couldn't lose here, because if either me or Gohan lose, we would all die. "Fuck," I thought. "I'm completely wasted. I screwed up pushing Super Saiyan so early." Then, the RHM stood up, his shirt torn-up, and his lip bleeding. He wiped the sand and dirt of his shoulders, and threw away his shirt. "Like I thought, disappointing." Then out of nowhere, I got punched in the face. I skidded across the ground on my back, until I flipped onto my feet. As I stood up, I got kicked in the back, sending me flying forward. Then the RHM teleported in front of me and punched me in the stomach. I gasped for air and fell onto my knees, clutching my ribs. One was definitely broken. The pain was nearly unbearable. The RHM smiled in satisfaction of victory and held his hand out to charge an energy attack.

While I was getting my butt kicked, the others were struggling too. Gohan had the best strength of the group but he couldn't edge out the leader of the Syndicate, with him and the RHM rivaling Mingerti in strength and skill. Christian and Thomas had their own struggles with the other Syndicate members. Calvin and Hobbes were using great teamwork to stay in the fight, but there was only so much they could do when they had 4 people on them. The leader shot an energy blast at Gohan, who ducked out of the way, while shooting 3 of them. The leader put his hands up to block and did, but Gohan had charged around to the leaders right side, and punched him with a right straight haymaker to the face, knocking him through a mountain. Then suddenly, the mountain exploded and a red energy beam shot across the horizon. Gohan just jumped out of the way, breathing heavily. In the distance, the leader was standing in the crater where the mountain used to be, a crackling, wild, red aura. The electricity shot out at the ground around him, scarring the sand and turning it into glass. He was pissed, royally pissed.

"You piece of trash. I'm going to tear your fucking head off!" Gohan powered back up as much as he could, but his Super Saiyan powers started fluctuating on and off. I could see all of this, and my heart sank. I could barely move, and I was seconds away from death. I could see Christian and Thomas fighting their opponents to a standstill, and Calvin was carrying Hobbes while 4 of the Syndicate were unconscious. This was it. Our last moments on Earth. I could feel the heat from the energy attack on my back, but then the feeling went away. Surprised, I looked up and saw that the RHM wasn't there. I felt someone's energy approach us at a speed I couldn't comprehend. Then I heard thuds from blows landing and then the RHM fell onto the ground in front of me...unconscious. I went wide-eyed. Then I saw a blur fly to Christian's and Thomas' fights, and knock out the other two members in succession. Then it darted to the leader who was just about to charge at Gohan, and knocked him in the air and knocked back down to the ground. As the leader hit the ground, the blur had flown down and hit the leader again, knocking him out. Then it flew into the air and flew off. Out of curiosity and shock, I tried to power up enough to catch-up to it, but I couldn't. I laid down on the hot ground, clutching my ribs. Gohan staggered over to me.

"You ok, Chris?"

"No...no I'm not. That guy shattered my ribs on my right side." Gohan had sat down next to me, breathing heavily. I looked at him, still thinking about why those guys called Gohan a traitor. Was he a plant, sent to lead us to death? "You have some explaining to do when we get home, Gohan." Gohan looked at me, then down at the ground. Calvin and Hobbes flew over to us. Calvin was sporting a nasty cut on his arm and was using part of his shirt to tie a tourniquet around his arm. Christian and Thomas flew over as well, clutching their arms. Calvin piped up.

"Ok...first, I'm glad I hid the Dragonball." He pulled it out from his pocket. "But second, who...the hell...was that? Someone came and smoked through all of those bastards in seconds." He looked at Gohan, who looked just as confused as Calvin.

"I don't know. I've never seen anything like that." I just laid there. Christian looked at me.

"Can someone help me get him off the ground?" Hobbes walked over and helped lift me up, grimacing and all. "Bro, what should we do?"

"I...we need to get home now. There's a lot of shit we need to discuss. Calvin, call the kids at the house and tell the kids to get the senzu beans ready." Calvin nodded and pulled out his phone. We started to fly on home, Christian holding me up since my energy was so low. After about 45 minutes of flying, we made it back to our house. Christian dropped me onto the couch, ran to grab the beans and gave me one, which I ate immediately. My energy back to optimal levels, I got up and walked to Gohan. There was something important that needed to be addressed.

"You knew those guys, Gohan. How?" He looked down at the ground, slightly ashamed.

"...I...uh...These are part of this organization called the Syndicate. These guys terrorize places for their own will to rule the world." He started tapping his foot, out of nervousness. I still was out of the loop.

"Ok...but that doesn't explain you. The leaders that ran that group we fought called you a traitor...why?"

"I was captured by them...they put a chip in my head that made me follow their directives." I looked at him, still trying to piece everything together. "I had to seek out and kill any threats that could cripple the Syndicate. And my assignment was you all." Christian walked over when he heard that, and Calvin turned around to hear.

"So you were sent to kill us."

"And I wouldn't have stopped until you all were dead...but when you fought me, you knocked the chip loose, freeing me." He looked at me, causing me to go wide eyed.

"So, if the chip didn't get knocked loose, we would've died." Gohan nodded sadly.

"I never got a true chance to say thank you." He grabbed his head and tears welled up in his eyes. "I still remember everything I did while under their control, who I hurt, who I've killed." I put my hand on his shoulder to comfort him.

"It wasn't your fault. I'm just glad everything worked out the way it did." He looked at me and gave a small smile. Hobbes turned around after grabbing some food. Christian looked at me.

"Maybe we should stay in for the day, lay low and regroup so we can plan things out." I nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, we need to think about who we have to worry about, since we know we aren't the only ones wanting these Dragonballs."