Me: *Sigh* HSC wa muzukashikatta desu yo.
Goten: KAASAN! Dazcha's stopped studying!
Me: Do I look like Gohan, you tailless freak?
Goten: *brief pause* KAASAN! Dazcha's smoking!
Chichi: *Enters with Frying Pan of Doom™*
Me: But I wasn't… *Gets KO'ed by the Frying Pan of Doom™*
And here we go with Episode 5! I just finished my HSC, so I have enough free time to finally write. To be honest though, I'm not sure how much longer this will go on, particularly since the last chapter got no reviews (which means I may have lost my only two fans). So I've decided to cut to the chase and finish this up in the next couple of chapters, instead of dragging it out to an even ten like I planned. Anyway, enough chatter – let's get on with it.
PS – I've never seen a Chou Kamehameha in DBZ, but Goku can do it in all the SNES and PSX DBZ games, so I assume it's a real attack.
DISCLAIMER: If I owned DBZ, GT would have never seen light of day, and I'd be too busy writing a proper ending to DBZ to write a fanfic.
* * *
"Gohan, get the others out of here, fast!" Dazcha yelled, "He's too powerful for you now!"
"No way," Gohan replied, "There's no way you'd be able to do this on your own. Besides, I've defeated him once…"
"If I may interrupt," came the cocky voice of Cell, "I think you two should stop arguing and possibly try to do something to help Krillin." With that, Cell shot a single ki beam straight for Krillin's heart. A few seconds later, #18 was kneeling on the floor, her dead husband's head in her arms, sobbing openly at his death.
"Gohan, I can't do anything powerful enough to defeat him with you guys this close to the battle! Get out of here now!"
"Nobody's going anywhere!" Cell replied, blasting the cave walls, causing the cave to explode.
Once again in the open, Dazcha got into a fighting stance, making sure his tail was wrapped around his body so that Cell couldn't grab it. Ina flash of golden light, he was now a Super Saiya-jin. He flew at the evil creation of Dr Gero and began with a barrage of fierce kicks and punches. The fight seemed to be even, with neither fighter getting an advantage. They broke away, staring each other down. The spectators and fighters alike were silent, feeling the intensity of the battle. Cell was the first to break the silence.
"Impressive. But is it enough? KAMEHAMEHA!" Cell fired Goku's attack at Dazcha.
It's too powerful to block, and I don't have time to dodge it! I don't have a choice… Dazcha got into a stance that Gohan immediately recognised from his previous battle with the Toki no Senshi.
"DAZCHA! NO! THE ATTACK WILL BE TOO POWERFUL TO ABSORB!"
"Saigou… na… shi… booru!" A large ball of ki, an impenetrable shield, formed around Dazcha, with just seconds to spare. The attack hit the shield head on, and Dazcha started to rapidly absorb the ki from Cell's attack.
"Does he stand a chance?" Gohan's younger brother, Goten, asked in an unusually serious moment.
"Not that I can see. The Saigou-na Shi Booru isn't a normal ki shield. Dazcha is absorbing the Kamehameha. Just like at the Tenkaichi Budoukai… soon every muscle in his body will begin to burn with the sudden surge of ki, and if he doesn't stop, it will kill him."
Sure enough, Dazcha was feeling the intense pain of Cell's ki in his body. He tried desperately to hold the shield, but a wave of nausea soon gripped him and he fell to his knees. "This is a perfect time to display symptoms of blood loss," he muttered to himself as he struggled against his body's attempts to shut down from both the ki intake and the lack of blood. He glanced down at the heavily bandaged base of his tail, finding the irony of death from a self-inflicted injury somewhat amusing. All the times I've fought and cheated death, and it's my own stupidity that will be my downfall.
"Dazcha, drop it! You've got to release the ki now!" Gohan yelled. He recalled as a child his father telling him about what a Kaioken, which like the Saigou-na Shi Booru is a rapid influx of ki, felt like. Goku had described the burning sensation, the feeling of knowing that if you kept it up your body would shatter so graphically to the young boy that Gohan could feel Dazcha's pain.
"I've got… to get rid of some… ki…" Dazcha struggled to stay alive. He increased the area his shield encompassed, hoping that he could find a size that would burn ki faster than he could absorb it. However, it was too late, all in the space of one second, the shield started to waver, Dazcha's ChronoLeaper shattered, the shield disappeared, and the now lifeless body of Dazcha fell to the ground.
* * *
Dazcha awoke in a very different place to the barren battlefield he was last in. He was lying on soft green grass under the shade of a tree. In the distance, a waterfall roared as it deposited crystal clear water into the river below.
"I was wondering when you'd wake up," a female voice from behind Dazcha said. Dazcha recognised it immediately.
"PAN-CHAN!" The two lovers embraced, "Where am I?"
"This place is called Toki no Hanazono, the Garden of Time," Pan explained, "You created it by breaking the rules."
"What rules?"
"You died in a time that you didn't belong in, and thus, you were transported here for one hour. After that, you will return to the place, and time, you died in."
"But it won't make a difference," Dazcha muttered, "I let down Gohan and the others, just like I let you down."
"Let me down? How did you let me down?"
"I should have been there to protect you. I shouldn't have left you alone and defenceless."
"Dazcha, you did what you had to do…"
"But it's all my fault!"
Pan put an arm around her time-travelling lover. "No, it isn't your fault. You were meant to travel back and kill Cell, for the safety of our child. The child sleeps inside me, waiting to be born on Earth when you succeed, but until you stop blaming yourself for the past, you'll never be able to control the future."
Dazcha felt a sudden pang, a sign that Snapback wasn't too far from occurring.
"The time has come for you to return to the past. Dazcha, remember that you are not fighting this one alone. I will be with you always, my love."
* * *
"Come on, Dazcha, wake up," Gohan pleaded as he kept up with the CPR, hoping that miracles do happen.
"Tick-tock," Cell taunted, "Only thirty seconds of your timeout left. Consider yourself lucky that I enjoy a challenge."
#18 held back laughter. Having once been a part of Cell, she knew his personality flaws were similar to Vegeta's – he wanted nothing but a challenge. She was able to convince him to give the Z Senshi thirty minutes to try and revive Dazcha, claiming that after coming back from the dead, he'd be stronger than ever and his greatest challenge yet.
A groan escaped Dazcha's lips as he slowly came back to consciousness.
"Time up!" Cell called. "Where's this great challenge I was offered?"
"Right here," growled Dazcha as he slowly got to his feet, "Cell, in my timeline, and in this one, you have found enjoyment in killing innocent people. I won't let your evil deeds continue any longer! I have seen the future, and you aren't in it!"
"Bold words for someone who was brought back to life by having Gohan kiss him."
"Gohan, I never knew you cared!" Dazcha called, batting his eyes at the now red and uncomfortable Saiya-jin, "Let's get it on!"
"What do you think? Can he do it?" Trunks whispered to Goten.
"Niichan said the Dazcha absorbed Cell's ki when he made that shield. That means that he's stronger than ever," Goten muttered, sounding hopeful.
"Chou… Kame… hame… HA!" Dazcha fired Goku's extra-powerful Kamehameha blast at Cell, helped along by Cell's own ki absorbed in the earlier fight.
"Kamehameha!" Cell fired his own version of the blast back at Dazcha, but it was no good. Dazcha's ki was too strong. Cell was hit by the full force of the blast. Working his regenerative powers to heal his damaged body, he slowly got up. "No, I can't lose… I WON'T lose!" An idea soon formed in Cell's head, "Of course! I hope you enjoy the last few seconds of your life, Dazcha!" Cell flew off.
"Huh? Where's he going?" Gohan muttered.
Dazcha shrugged a reply, lancing down at his tattered shirt, "Damn it, this was my favourite shirt, too…" His eyes fell on the scar on his chest.
* * FLASHBACK * *
A small boy by the name of Ueda Dazcha sped through the streets of Satan City on his bike, the sun slowly setting behind him. He knew he was going to be late home if he didn't find a shortcut, and like most seven-year-olds, punishment wasn't something that Dazcha enjoyed.
By some miracle, Dazcha came across the alleyway that he often used as a shortcut on the way home from school. In the daytime, Dazcha normally had no problem using the alley, but in the darkness of night, he was sensible enough to avoid the dark alley and the unknown dangers therein.
Today was no normal day, though. He had to get home fast. Turning into the alleyway, Dazcha was almost home free, until he saw a bright flash of light…
When he awoke, a boy who looked to be a teenager was kneeling over him, applying a torn and shredded shirt to Dazcha's chest as a makeshift bandage. "Are you alright?"
"What happened?"
"You crashed your bike. You should be more careful," the boy replied. Dazcha knew that the deep and painful gash on his chest couldn't possibly be caused by such a crash, but he could tell that the boy wanted him to forget anything he may have seen. Dazcha stared at the bare chest of the boy in front of him. He had a scar on his chest, roughly in the same place as Dazcha's latest injury.
Without warning, the boy started walking away, "Stay alive, Dazcha, I'm counting on you…"
* * END FLASHBACK * *
The scar… that boy was me…which means my "crash" was… Cell… Dazcha glanced at the horizon, although he already knew that he'd see a red sun slowly making its solitary once-a-day journey that people call a sunset. Dear God!
"Gohan, I want you and the others to stay here. It's personal now, and I don't want you to get in the way." Dazcha flew off, heading towards sunset, guided only by his memory and the thought of an innocent seven-year-old boy, his future stolen, just like the future of the Earth.
There was no time to spare, transforming once again into a Super Saiya-jin, Dazcha flew as fast as he possibly can.
* * *
Ah, it's starting to get interesting again. I think it's pathetic for a fanfic author to say "I won't update until I get X reviews", but feel free to review this, or e-mail me at dazcha@mr-potatohead.com if you feel better emailing me.