Gohan a stiff, blank expression on his face, floated down to the surface of the Earth to face
Gojitto. The fusion laughed. "Gohan? Now you expect to beat me? Please! I have already
achieved a power even greater than your Super Saiyan 4! You cannot win, no matter what!"
Gohan suddenly smiled. "Maybe. I'll let you be the judge." Instantly, Gohan's hair had extended
to that of SS3. Gojitto smiled to see someone with such courage. Gohan kept powering up, and
eventually achieved the same form of SS4 that Vegeta had reached. Gohan looked at his hands,
then looked up at the grinning Gojitto.
Without a moment of hesitation, Gohan raced toward his opponent, striking blows all over
Gojitto's body, displaying incredible power, leaving Tenshinhan and Ubuu to gaze in awe. Gohan
bashed his fist into Gojitto's face, instantly spinning sideways to strike at the fusion's back with a
roundhouse kick. Gojitto didn't budge from his spot. Gohan stopped attacking. Gojitto was
having sport with him, and not even taking the fight seriously! Gohan knew he stood little chance.
But he had to try.
Launching himself into the air, Gohan rained down upon Gojitto with a shower of huge ki balls,
each carrying the packed intensity of a kamehameha. The ground exploded with power, but not
enough to destroy the Earth. Gohan continued hurling the balls for several minutes before ceasing.
He had eminently lowered his power, and he could only hoped that he had hurt Gojitto in some
way.
But, to the Saiyan's dismay, when the smoke cleared, Gojitto was floating in midair over the
crater Gohan's attacks had created. The fusion was unharmed. Gohan stared in shock. "No...
effect... I can't believe it..."
Neither could Tenshinhan and Ubuu, who had landed on a nearby building to watch the fight.
"How could he," started Tenshinhan.
"be this strong?" finished Ubuu.
Gohan lowered his head. "I have one other option." The half-Saiyan groaned for a moment, and
then powered down to his regular form. Gojitto cocked his head upward. This was an odd move
for him to make, Gohan knew, but he had no other option but to resort to this.
Slowly, he floated down to the Earth, landing and bending his legs apart so that he stood in a half-crouching position, bringing his arms inward so that his elbows touched the sides of his chest.
Then the ground erupted around him, a crater forming in his wake, rocks flying up into the air and
blasting into dust while Gohan continued to power up. He didn't scream, instead he gritted his
teeth and groaned, pressing his body farther and farther past its normal limits.
"What's Gohan doing?" Tenshinhan thought to himself. "He already shifted out of Super Saiyan 4
and now he's powering up again?! What the Hell's he trying to do?!"
Gohan cringed. Now was the only opportunity he might have to use this! Gojitto had to be
stopped now! Suddenly, Gohan's body flared with electricity, the burning embers of his new
power destroying all of the land around him. Gojitto glared at Gohan with a smiled. Mystic
Gohan? Who was the boy kidding? He still stood no chance!
Then it happened. Gohan's hair grew out, the electricity around him becoming so fierce that it
acted as a separate entity, ripping apart the planet's surface. Gohan's body surged with power,
and Gojitto still failed to comprehend what was happening. But Tenshinhan was able to see it.
"He did it... Mystic 2."
Gohan didn't feel that smiling was necessary. He didn't know whether or not he was as powerful
as Gojitto, or even if he was as strong as Vegeta. All he knew was that he would have to exert
himself to the fullest extent, press every limit of his body, and kill Gojitto even if it meant
sacrificing his own life. He yelled, running forward and punching and kicking Gojitto with his
power, slamming his fists across Gojitto's face. Gojitto flew backward, then ricocheted forward,
flipping over Gohan's head and landing behind him. Gohan didn't turn, merely jutted his elbow
backward into Gojitto's chest. The villain took it half sided and moved to the left, throwing his
clenched fist upside Gohan's head and sending him flying into a building. The half-Saiyan lightly
touched the side of the swaying edifice, running like a cheetah up toward the roof and leaping
onto it. Gojitto landed ahead of him, wrenching back his right arm and swinging it at the young
warrior, causing Gohan to leap under his assault, roll behind him, and slam his legs full-force into
the back of Gojitto's head. The fusion fell forward but was up again a second later, firing a
sequence of thin red beams at Gohan. Gohan zanzokened in between them all, crunching in the
roof as he crouched and sprang up, choking his fist into Gojitto's chin.
Gojitto sprang backward and kicked up the cement ground with a burst of ki, temporarily blinding
Gohan as Gojitto rushed him head-on, hurling him off the building and slamming him into the
ground about two-hundred feet below. Gohan yelled in pain, kicking the evil fusion off of his
chest and flying backward.
"KA-ME-HA-ME-HAAAAAAAAA!!" screamed Gohan as he fired his father's trademark attack
at Gojitto. The fusion screamed and fired his own kamehameha, equal in strength, size, and
texture to Gohan's. Gohan pushed against Gojitto's with all of his might, refusing to relinquish
the fight and leave Earth defenseless.
"YAHHHHHHHHHHH!!" screamed Gohan, pressing with all of his might. His mind was raging
with intensity, his body exploding with power. Tenshinhan and Ubuu flew into the air as the
building beneath them crumbled.
Gojitto shouted at Gohan. "Boy! You can't win! I am the superior warrior!"
Gohan struggled to keep his stamina, realizing that he couldn't overpower the fusion. Slowly, his
foothold began to break off, the ground around him giving away as Gohan was shot into the
buildings behind him, Gojitto's kamehameha wave destroying everything in sight. Tenshinhan and
Ubuu stared in awe, their last hope of victory fading as Gohan's body disappeared in a massive ki
explosion. A tear ran down Tenshinhan's eye. He had just witnessed the death of his friend's son,
and he was unable to prevent it in any way, reminding him of how weak he really was. Tenshinhan
gritted his teeth. No. He had to try something. He couldn't let young Gohan's death go
unavenged!
"DIE!!" shouted Tenshinhan, flying from his position and zapping straight forward at Gojitto.
Gojitto looked up, smiling, and grabbed the three-eyed warrior's fist in mid-punch, flinging him
into the air. Tenshinhan twisted upside-down and landed on his hands, flipping onto his feet and
spinning around to face Gojitto, only to feel the stiffening crack of his ribs as Gojitto rammed his
arm into Tenshinhan's abdomen.
Tenshinhan collapsed to the ground, choking and grousing in pain. Ubuu looked at his friend, shot
to the ground with a single swing of Gojitto's fist. Ubuu gazed in awe, his young, fear-ridden
mind absorbing all of the pain he had witnessed in the last twenty minutes watching all of his allies
fall, one by one, to Gojitto's fist. Tenshinhan, struggling to regain a standing position, was now
completely at Gojitto's mercy. One more hit could end his life. Ubuu couldn't bear it; his mind, an
unopened ball of rage, suddenly erupting into the full-fledged evil that Kid Buu once possessed.
Ubuu's body bulged out with muscles, Ubuu's power level soaring as he let loose with a rage he
had never known himself to possess.
The fusion also must have realized this, for he immediately looked up, sensing the tremendous
power Ubuu was exerting now, as he hovered over his injured friend and the evil that was Gojitto.
Like lightning, he struck, no momentary pause for emphasis, just a simple headlong rush at
Gojitto, Ubuu's mind no longer complying to natural physics, and crushing in the ribs on the right
side of Gojitto's chest, hurling him back into a pile of debris near one of the many disintegrated
buildings. Tenshinhan gazed admirably at his companion, Ubuu's hair blowing in the wind, his
unnerved looked staring into the abyss, knowing fully that his foe still lived. Gojitto rocketed from
the dreg, his eyes filled with frustration, and his fists slamming Ubuu's head back and forth
between them. Ubuu managed to duck out of striking range, jamming his hand toward Gojitto's
chest, only to have Gojitto grab his arm and snap the bones in half. Ubuu grimaced and fell to the
ground. Gojitto smashed his boot into Ubuu's chest over and over again. Tenshinhan screamed
for Gojitto to stop. The fusion didn't listen, continuing to crush in Ubuu's chest. Ubuu's
expression was now that of a corpse, his mouth filled with his own blood, his struggle to speak
leaving him choking as Gojitto kept on attacking.
Tenshinhan stood fully upright, setting aside his stinging pain in hopes of saving his young friend's
life. He smiled. "Ubuu, you will live." Then he cupped his hands together into a sort of triangular
shape, looking through them as though they were binoculars.
"I see... the field... the fighters... the target..." sighed Tenshinhan, staring straight at Gojitto. "Let
this work! KIKOHO!!" screamed Tenshinhan as a bright field of light slammed into Gojitto,
throwing him backward.
"KIKOHO!!"
"KIKOHO!!"
"KIKOHO!!"
"KIKOHO!!"
Tenshinhan was literally hitting Gojitto with everything he had. But it wasn't enough. By the
fourth Kikoho, Gojitto was already walking against its power, and then Tenshinhan had exerted
all of the energy he could, his body falling to the ground and lying motionless. Gojitto looked at
the still body and nudged it with his foot. "Idiot. He should never have tried to challenge me. Now
he has paid for it in blood."
Gojitto lifted his head tat the sky. "Well, it seems as though there are some other noteworthy
warriors on this planet. Trunks and Goten, I'd guess. A few minor power levels... and they're all
gathered on Kami's Lookout, just waiting to be destroyed." The fusion held his index and middle
fingers up to his head, concentrated, and disappeared into thin air.
*****
"Gohan..."
The injured half-Saiyan struggled to open his eyes. He couldn't feel much below his waist. He
didn't even know if there was anything left beneath his chest.
"Gohan..."
Where was that voice coming from? It sounded so familiar. But who was it? Gohan continued to
struggle, and eventually forced open his eyes. What he saw in front of him chilled his blood.
"Gohan... it is good to see you alive, my son."
Gohan stared in a mixture of awe and fear at the vision of his father, a lone figure, half shadowed
by the building Gohan was lying inside. The floors had all collapsed from the inside, and that left
Gohan lying in a pile of rubble. His father loomed just in front of him, sitting on a cinder block,
clad in his blue oriental shirt and yellow pants. His eyes showed an expression of kindness and
care, but his face was more of a solemn tone. Gohan was afraid he might be hallucinating.
"Father... is it really you?"
Goku smiled and approached his son. "Yes, Gohan, it's me. I am here for you."
"But how can you be alive?"
"I'm not. I'm speaking to you through your mind and your eyes. I am in a far away world, a realm
surpassing Heaven and Hell, and I can never return to you among the living. Son, the world is
dying, and you are the only one who can save it from Gojitto's onslaught."
"But he said that he would destroy the galaxy unless he managed to fuse with you and Vegeta."
"I know. But he would destroy it anyway, son."
Goku pressed his right hand against Gohan's head, and in a minute Gohan could feel the feeling
return to his legs and his energy return to his body. He stood up and smiled at his father. "Father,
you don't have any idea how long I've waited to talk to you again."
"I know, Gohan. But you must save Earth. You are the only one. Please, go now."
"Yes, father."
Two final words, signaling his agreement, and Goku faded into air, leaving Gohan alone in the
shattered edifice. Gohan smiled and looked up at the sky. Then he flew out a hole in the building
and went to collect his friends.
He landed in the clearing where Ubuu and Tenshinhan's bodies laid. Their bodies were still, and
Gohan doubted whether or not they could still be alive.
"Given up yet, boy?"
Gohan spun around to face the bloody but living form of Vegeta, perched atop a lightpost. He
leapt down and landed next to Gohan. "How did it feel to be defeated by your father?"
"That... thing'... is not my father. Part of him may have once been Goku, but now it is a fusion of
pure evil, that must be stopped."
"I see your wounds are healed. Are you hiding something?"
"Not really. Nor do I care to discuss it with you," cited Gohan, crouching over Ubuu and turning
him over. Lifeless eyes looked back at him. Gohan placed his hand over Ubuu's forehead and the
boy surged with Gohan's energy.
"You're giving them your energy?" Vegeta questioned.
"It's the only way to save them."
Gohan and Vegeta watched as Ubuu groaned and sat up. He looked at Gohan. "Son Gohan?
You're alive? What happened? The last thing I recall was being beaten by Gojitto."
"Yes, but I healed you. You're okay now," explained Gohan, walking over to Tenshinhan and
performing the same procedure. Tenshinhan stood up next to the others, thanking Gohan.
"What now? Where's Gojitto?"
"No doubt in my mind that he headed to Kami's Lookout to take out the other warriors."
"But our friends are all there!" shouted Tenshinhan.
"Yes. They're all in danger. Ubuu, can you teleport us all to Kami's Lookout? We need to get
there as soon as possible."
"Yes," said Ubuu, "Grab on."
Vegeta, Gohan, and Tenshinhan set their hands on Ubuu's shoulders, and Ubuu concentrated,
instantly teleporting him and his friends to Kami's Lookout.