Chapter One
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A different breath of fresh air was noticed as Son Goten breathed his first breath out of the depths of his previous unconsciousness. It was almost as if he had felt something so powerfully strange about the place he was now in that he didnt want to open his eyes...but he did.
Wow. The picture before him was a very decorated sort of cellar space, several paintings of mythical creatures on the walls that were made up of black and grainy-looking bricks. It was a work of art in itself without the paintings, because it looked like nothing he'd ever seen. It was not like anything in his town for sure.
But...as much as he would have liked to stay there for awhile...what was outside of it? The blissfully disoriented Goten finally stood up and took a few steps around. To his right he noticed a very queerly-shaped staircase. It was like several long ovals going up to the next floor.
Again, he felt the urge to study the current area further, but yet again made up his mind to go ahead. So he slowly walked up the stairs and saw that there was a plain-looking door with some kind of encoded writing across it waiting for him at the top.
Goten studied the door for a moment, and in his thought, he decided to look around this floor further to see if there were any more doors like this. As the Saiya-jin turned his head to his right, something very monstrous plowed right into his face, sending him backwards right through the door which now collapsed on impact.
The now incredibly stunned Saiyan was about to be driven even further into confusion as he picked up his aching head. He was lying on a beautifully tiled floor in some kind of ballroom that had a very large christmas tree with unusually colored lights and ornaments, but he was not alone there.
A small crowd of commonly elegantly dressed people surrounded him, looking very surprised and confused, looking from him to the collapsed doorway continuously. As Goten himself turned his eyes back to the doorway, what he would see and hear would be the most surprising turn of events.
A large mechanical creature that had the bodily appearance of a praying mantis, shining a color of a very dark green that was almost black. The thing started to move eerily over to Goten as a robotically enhanced tone of a farmiliar voice rang out from within the mantis. "You're not going to leave alive, Goten."
Goten quickly dropped his hand away from his aching head as he stood up, recognizing the sound of that voice. ".....brother..Gohan?!" One of the pincers of the robotic creature hovered up and seemed to morph into the shape of a fist that had some kind of projectile launcher resting on it.
The voice echoed out again as the inside of the launcher began to glow. "So you know who I am after all, Goten? Now I would like to see what you plan to do to escape me." A shot was then fired from the launcher on a steady path, ..one that changed its shape and color as it moved.
Goten managed to alertly twist around the blast amidst his utter confusion, but the thing swurved past him and appeared to split into a great amount of pieces, flying in every direction, seemingly towards the people in the room. Each piece found its mark, splashing sharply into each onlooker, blood appearing and proceeding to flow around them.
Not very much later, they all fell to the ground and remained still, silence completely filling the room afterwards. Son Goten's eyes had a controlled, yet shaky glare shining out from them as they floated from the image of the fallen crowd to the mantis figure.
The young man's voice now rung out to it. "If you think this matters to me, you are mistaken. None of those people have anything to do with this nonsense that's been happening. I'm not where I used to be, and further..you're not Gohan."
Then...a part of the back of the mantis opened up slowly with a humming noise, and a figure came floating up out of it. The face was definately that of Son Gohan, but he was not dressed as he usually was. Now he was wearing a getup very similar to that of Seventeen's, only the scarf around his neck was light blue, his shirt was a dark red color...the Red Ribbon Army logo showing on it in light blue, and his pants were long, wide, and black.
A mildly disturbing thing for Goten to behold at least; one of his fists closed shut as he monitored the 'decorated' Son Gohan that was then about to speak once more..without the robotically enhanced tone. "You seem troubled, Goten. Is it because you don't wish to fight with me? Perhaps for the reason that I am your brother...or even for the reason that I could easily overpower you?"
Goten took a step closer to Gohan and the mantis machine, and then stood still. His eyes narrowed, different sorts of subtle expressions sliding across his face just before he answered. "Gohan was stronger than me, but his energy was never something I was to be afraid of. He was a part of our family, and he would never use his spirit in that way. I feel your power, you fool....and you are not my brother. What've you done with him?"
The one that appeared to be Son Gohan floated a small bit higher above his machine and answered the focused young Saiyan. "Number Eighteen told you, did she not? Gohan is dead. This body has been newly constructed to ensure your eradication...and that is just what will be proven as a certainty soon enough."
After hearing the last of this information, Son Goten clutched both of his fists close against each other...preluding the transformation into Super Saiya-jin level one. Less than a second after that, he opened one hand and shot out a dead-on wave that completely flattened out the mechanical mantis...which then exploded after two seconds more into trails of little ponds of smoke.
Red Ribbon Gohan lowered down in front of the display, looking dead ahead at Goten who now had that previously open fist clutched tightly. "If Gohan really is dead, that body is of no use to anyone, therefore...you're easily disposable." The artificial Saiyan then snapped into a bulging fighting stance and motioned the Super Saiyan before him forward. "Come and dispose of me, you weakling."
Goten looked as though he knew exactly what was to be done next...and opened the fist in front of him, raising both of his hands above his head gradually, one behind the other. "I'll make quick work of you with an attack you couldnt hope to control with your empty structure."
The Gohan he knew would have recognized this move instantly, but this bionic one was as confused as anyone else would have been. "...I'll....I'll show you what my structure can perform!" The doppleganger of a Gohan then started to flare up some kind of energy from within his body.
Son Goten watched with a slight smile as some very active power started to form in his front hand. "Whoever worked on you must've thought that you could destroy me with sheerly the bodily makeup of my brother. Now that was a mistake."
The one across from him answered aggressively; "Your staying here to fight me is the real mistake." Goten abruptly shouted back at him as the energy in front of his hand took on a circular shape that pulsated with every second. "You are a mistake!!" He then heightened both hands all the way back before yelling out "Masenkou!"
The technique that was a trademark of the Gohan everyone had known was now diving through whatever space was left between this fake one and Goten just before plowing into its rightful target like an explosive blanket of energy.
It didnt stop there either. The might of the wave carried this imposter directly through one of the walls that were now slowly falling further and further apart. The beam started to get so smothering that within seconds, Goten saw that whatever beauty or magnificence surrounded him before was now laying like a pile of ancient ruins.
If there was one thing Goten knew for sure, it was that the weak immitation of his brother was now perfectly erased. But, as he realized that he was now on the outside of whatever world he had been delivered to, he noticed that everything was like a tremendous parking lot in the middle of nowhere. He could only see one more structure in the distance; a small building that looked almost like a kind of garage....one that he would now make his way to.