Chapter 7
Gohan still wasn't getting anywhere with this robot. As a super saiyan he was able to knock it around a bit, but still wasn't causing any damage. He was now much too fast for the robot to hit, but Gohan wasn't getting anywhere. He decided to take it to the next level. Surely it couldn't withstand that much energy.
'If this thing can survive an attack against an ascended super saiyan then I'll be surprised.', Gohan thought as he powered up, gathering all the energy from within. He quickly snapped back and a rush of light flooded the area. The force stopped the robot in its tracks and started pushing it away. When the light faded, Gohan was surrouded by strands of electricity and his hair was separated into more defined spikes. He wore a half-grin on his face, as he noticed the machine was pushed quite a ways away and wasn't moving. He took the initiative and dashed with lightning speed at it and punched it as hard as he could. The machine was knocked a ways back, but what surprised Gohan was that when he hit it, he noticed that that strange glow appeared right where he had hit and then faded away. It was almost as if it were protected by...some sort of...energy shield. This was insane. Gohan still couldn't break this thing. While his attention was elsewhere the robot was rearing back to smash him. It came through and decked him square in the face, sending him towards a tall office building. The people inside watched as Saiyaman was coming right at them, spinning out of control. He stopped himeself just short of the window. Everyone gave a sigh of relief and went back to work.
'Man, it still hurts. I'm gonna have to watch myself and not get careless.', Gohan thought. He made another dash and prepared to hit it head on. He disappeared just before reaching it, but its eye was able to track him and threw a punch in anticipation, that connected clean and clear. Gohan was sent through the clouds into the sky. He stopped and looked down as he wiped the blood from his face. He was getting angry that he had let himself get hit like that.
'It can still track my movements. I'll have to sneak up behind it from now on.', Gohan thought. But as he floated there high in the sky, he noticed that the robot was nowhere to be seen.'By the way, where is that thing?'
Gohan thought it might still be below the clouds, but he didn't take in the fact that he couldn't sense it, for it had no ki. He entered into the thick fog on his way down. He couldn't see anything within a few feet which prevented him from noticing that the robot was right on top of him. It let loose on him and pounded him down towards the earth. Gohan stopped, even angrier than before and started shooting high powered ki blasts at the robot from below. They continued to bounce off the shield, creating wild color patterns as the machine descended towards Gohan. It finally got close enough to hit him and let him know it by punching him in the face once again, sending back through the roof of the warehouse.
* * *
Videl had been squeezing all kinds of info out of the scientist while Gohan was fighting the machine. He told her how he had found a piece of hull that had belonged to a ship that landed here on earth about seven years ago. He told her how he had seen it on the news and sent an observation droid over to check the scene when the news cameras were destroyed. He saw the ship get obliterated by a warrior with wild golden hair. But pieces were strewn all about the area, and the droid managed to get some after a boy with similar hair appeared to have killed the ship's owner. When the group left, the droid quickly gathered samples and came back to the lab where he awaited. He analyzed the samples for many years, trying to find out just what they were made of, and how to make more of it. When he finally discovered the secret, he started building his robot. He had named it Rex, but no one in the boss's gang ever called it more than a stupid machine. After building the robot, he needed to make it stronger so it would not be destroyed as easily as the spaceship had been all those years ago. So he took an experiment he had been working on his whole life with shield generators. He made a giant generator that would amplify the armor to astounding new levels, but there was a problem. The robot couldn't handle having this huge generator on its back, so the scientist had to create a remote device to send the power through a signal, but it would take years to get it fully charged. And so it sat for all these years, building up the shield just for a moment like this.
"And now the Great Saiyaman will perish by the hands of my brilliant masterpiece, REX.", the scientist declared, laughing all the while. At that moment, Gohan came crashing through the ceiling. He was slow to get up, which wasn't a good sign and Videl could tell.
'Oh no. He's hurt.', she thought.
"Alright you bastard, Where the hell is this generator?! If I don't destroy it then Gohan's gonna die!!", she demanded from the old scientist.
"That's the idea.", he replied. Videl walked up and grabbed him by the collar with the look of the devil on her face. She was about to yell at him some more when she noticed a bright light behind her and Gohan yelling some strange words. She dropped the scientist and spun around to see Gohan down in some sort of stance with his hands cupped behind him holding an intense ball of blue energy. She was amazed at the sight. Her dad had always called things like this a "trick". But here she was seeing it for herself. She was stunned.
"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!", Gohan yelled as the machine was coming in through the ceiling. He thrust his hands upward and shot a solid beam straight at it. The blast connected and started to push the robot back up. Gohan continued to feed energy his attack as the robot kept going up higher into the sky. It was about to break through the clouds when the robot finally started pushing back. It wasn't doing a very good job of it, but it wasn't ascending nearly as fast as before. Gohan couldn't keep going like this forever. He would eventually give out and have to stop. Videl turned back around and grabbed the scientist once more and shook him up.
"WHERE IS IT?!!", she yelled.
"I'll never tell you.", the scientist yelled back. But he didn't have to tell her, because she noticed that to her left, a certain large machine was starting to make a lot of noise and sparks even started to fly out of it.
'That must be the generator. Gohan's attack is making it weaker. If he can keep it up a little bit longer it just might explode.', Videl thought. She once again threw down the old man and turned to watch Gohan. He was still pumping energy into his blast, but it was catching up to him. He could feel himself slipping.
'C'mon Gohan. Just a little more and you've got it.', She thought, watching the generator about to go haywire. But just when she thought he had it, he stopped. His arms fell to his side and he dropped to one knee. He was breathing so heavily that he actually started to choke, and he coughed up a mouthful of blood on the floor. He started breathing a little better after that, but he was definitely tired. Just when he thought he'd get a break, the huge metal monster dropped through the roof and landed a foot right on top of Gohan.
"NOOOOOOOO!!! GOHAN!!!", Videl screamed. She thought he was dead. She had no idea just how much it took to take a super saiyan down. But apparently neither did the scientist as he was pointing and laughing, declaring victory over Saiyman already. The only one to notice that the job wasn't done was the robot. Who promptly lifted its foot and picked up the limp body. Gohan opened up an eye to see that he was being held 20 feet up in the air. He saw a small hatch opened up in its shoulder and a canon popped out of it. It started to charge a blast that was obviously intended to finish the job.The robot then began to squeeze, and Gohan screamed out in pain. It almost made Videl cry seeing him alive but also hearing his screams of pain. She collected herself and figured she was the only one who could save him now. She looked around furiously for something to destroy the generator with. She immediatly found the canon that the man had dropped earlier and grabbed it. She ran back to the generator and prepared to destroy it. The scientist quickly dashed in front of it in an attempt to stop her.
"NO!! YOU CAN'T!! I'VE WORKED SO HARD FOR THIS!!!", the scientist yelled trying to persuade her. She didn't even hear him. Not even his screams as she fired the canon, setting off an explosion that left the shield generator nothing but a pile of rubbish. She looked over at the robot and noticed it flash in a variety of different colors and then fade away. The shield was gone.
"Gohan!! The shield is down!!! Destroy it!!", she yelled, hoping he was still conscious enough to hear her. Evidently he did.
Gohan stopped screaming and clenched his teeth, bringing up any reserve energy he might have. Still in his ascended form, he exploded in a wave of energy that completely shattered the robot's hand. Gohan fell to the ground and managed somehow to land on his feet. He knew he wasn't finished though as the canon was still charging a blast. He was prepared for it, and when it fired, Gohan, with a swift movement of his hand, deflected the blast right back at it, hitting it dead center of its eye. The blast went all the way through and came out the other side, shooting through the ceiling into the clouds. For a moment the machine just stood there, but slowly it began to tip over. It finally fell over onto the floor and lay there, it's main circuit-board had been completely fried. Gohan's hair turned back to black as he powered down.
Videl ran over to the badly beaten Gohan and jumped on him, giving him a huge hug. She wasn't exactly conscious of the fact that he was about to pass out from exhaustion. He tried to hide his pain though, for her sake.
"Oh Gohan, I'm so glad your okay!", she said with her head hugging his shoulder. He was so glad that she was okay, too. He never thought he would be so happy to see her. Or that she would be the same way. He didn't say anything, but simply enjoyed the moment with her. The warmth she gave him, the care that she gave him...the love that she gave him. His mind took a U-turn and honed in on that last part. Love? Could it be? Was this what his mind had been trying to tell him the whole time? There were so many questions pouring into his mind at that second that he didn't even hear the alarm go off, until Videl let go of him and turned around.
"What the hell is that.", she blurted out. Then the boss came running out of the room he had been hiding in and grabbed on to a rope ladder that was hanging down through a hole in the ceiling. His private helicopter.
"HA HA HA!! I'd like to see you escape this one Saiyaman! This bomb is big enough to blow up the whole city! See ya suckers!", the boss yelled as he ascended through the hole.
"We gotta go after him and get him to diffuse that bomb!", Gohan yelled
"Detonation in T-minus...30 seconds", blared an awefully mechanical voice.
"Or maybe not.", Gohan responded, realizing there was no time for that plan.
"What are we going to do then?", Videl asked almost in a panic.
"25...", the mechanical voice resounded.
"Videl, I want you to get out of here. I can stop the blast from destroying the city.", Gohan said.
"You can't possibly do that, Gohan.!", she yelled.
"20..."
"Sure I can. I'll just create a shield around the warehouse so only it and everything inside is affected.", Gohan explained.
"But...", Videl started.
"15..."
"But you'll die!!", she tried to reason with him.
"You may be right. But I've got a city to save. And most of all, I've got you to save. Now GO!!!", he yelled, he thrust his hand in her direction, sending a small shockwave, blowing her back out through the hole in the garage door. She landed on her feet out on the sidewalk, and was prepared to run right back in there until a glowing hemisphere of blue energy came down around the building. She smacked right into it and fell backwards.
"10..."
"Dammit, Gohan! You can't do this!", she yelled.
"9..."
"It's my job, too"
"8..."
She started pounding on the force field furiously as if she thought she could some how break in and help Gohan.
"7..."
The tears began to well up in her eyes, her fists slowing down to where she wasn't even hitting it anymore.
"6..."
"Gohan.", she whispered.
"5..."
"I never got to tell you how I felt."
"4..."
"Because I never knew myself.
"3..."
"Until now."
"2..."
"I love you.", her tears gushing from her eyes as her emotions exploded inside of her.
"1..."
Videl took one more look into the warehouse before everything inside the shield turned white. Not even a sound made it through the field, or if there was she didn't hear it. She was completely overwhelmed by the fact that Gohan had just sacrificed himself for the entire city. The bright white soon turned black, and the force field disappeared. The smoke rose quickly into the air as the flames ate everything left behind that wasn't instantly disintegrated. When the smoke was thin enough to see through, she dashed into the warehouse hoping to find him. She almost fainted when she saw him, lying in the middle of the floor, his clothes tattered and burning. She extinguished any and all flames on his body and kneeled down at his side. She cradled his upper body and held up his head, hoping he still had some life in him. He was barely breathing, but alive none-the-less. He opened his eyes a little, which was all he could manage, and smiled when he saw her face. She was raining tear drops on his chest as she smiled back at him.
"How'd I do? Did I save the city?", he barely managed to say with a raspy voice.
"Yea...", she replied between sobs, "...you saved us all"
"Great.", Gohan squeezed between a short cough, "Tell my parents what happened. They'll know what to do."
"What? Gohan, I don't understand...", she started getting worried by what he was saying.
"Videl, I love you.", he interrupted. She was shocked. It hit her like a bag of bricks. She didn't know what to say, but she knew exactly how he felt. She felt the same way.
"I've always wanted to tell you.", Gohan explained his voice getting weaker with everyword. Videl could barely hear him. "But I..."
He didn't even have time to finish before she brought her lips down to his and kissed him. They shared the moment for what seemed like forever. The emotions that both had hidden inside for so long were all expressed in this one kiss. She didn't want it to stop, but she felt his lips suddenly get cold. She pulled her head back and noticed that Gohan's eyes were shut and he had stopped breathing. She moved her elbow from behind his head and it fell back limp. He was dead.
Gohan still wasn't getting anywhere with this robot. As a super saiyan he was able to knock it around a bit, but still wasn't causing any damage. He was now much too fast for the robot to hit, but Gohan wasn't getting anywhere. He decided to take it to the next level. Surely it couldn't withstand that much energy.
'If this thing can survive an attack against an ascended super saiyan then I'll be surprised.', Gohan thought as he powered up, gathering all the energy from within. He quickly snapped back and a rush of light flooded the area. The force stopped the robot in its tracks and started pushing it away. When the light faded, Gohan was surrouded by strands of electricity and his hair was separated into more defined spikes. He wore a half-grin on his face, as he noticed the machine was pushed quite a ways away and wasn't moving. He took the initiative and dashed with lightning speed at it and punched it as hard as he could. The machine was knocked a ways back, but what surprised Gohan was that when he hit it, he noticed that that strange glow appeared right where he had hit and then faded away. It was almost as if it were protected by...some sort of...energy shield. This was insane. Gohan still couldn't break this thing. While his attention was elsewhere the robot was rearing back to smash him. It came through and decked him square in the face, sending him towards a tall office building. The people inside watched as Saiyaman was coming right at them, spinning out of control. He stopped himeself just short of the window. Everyone gave a sigh of relief and went back to work.
'Man, it still hurts. I'm gonna have to watch myself and not get careless.', Gohan thought. He made another dash and prepared to hit it head on. He disappeared just before reaching it, but its eye was able to track him and threw a punch in anticipation, that connected clean and clear. Gohan was sent through the clouds into the sky. He stopped and looked down as he wiped the blood from his face. He was getting angry that he had let himself get hit like that.
'It can still track my movements. I'll have to sneak up behind it from now on.', Gohan thought. But as he floated there high in the sky, he noticed that the robot was nowhere to be seen.'By the way, where is that thing?'
Gohan thought it might still be below the clouds, but he didn't take in the fact that he couldn't sense it, for it had no ki. He entered into the thick fog on his way down. He couldn't see anything within a few feet which prevented him from noticing that the robot was right on top of him. It let loose on him and pounded him down towards the earth. Gohan stopped, even angrier than before and started shooting high powered ki blasts at the robot from below. They continued to bounce off the shield, creating wild color patterns as the machine descended towards Gohan. It finally got close enough to hit him and let him know it by punching him in the face once again, sending back through the roof of the warehouse.
* * *
Videl had been squeezing all kinds of info out of the scientist while Gohan was fighting the machine. He told her how he had found a piece of hull that had belonged to a ship that landed here on earth about seven years ago. He told her how he had seen it on the news and sent an observation droid over to check the scene when the news cameras were destroyed. He saw the ship get obliterated by a warrior with wild golden hair. But pieces were strewn all about the area, and the droid managed to get some after a boy with similar hair appeared to have killed the ship's owner. When the group left, the droid quickly gathered samples and came back to the lab where he awaited. He analyzed the samples for many years, trying to find out just what they were made of, and how to make more of it. When he finally discovered the secret, he started building his robot. He had named it Rex, but no one in the boss's gang ever called it more than a stupid machine. After building the robot, he needed to make it stronger so it would not be destroyed as easily as the spaceship had been all those years ago. So he took an experiment he had been working on his whole life with shield generators. He made a giant generator that would amplify the armor to astounding new levels, but there was a problem. The robot couldn't handle having this huge generator on its back, so the scientist had to create a remote device to send the power through a signal, but it would take years to get it fully charged. And so it sat for all these years, building up the shield just for a moment like this.
"And now the Great Saiyaman will perish by the hands of my brilliant masterpiece, REX.", the scientist declared, laughing all the while. At that moment, Gohan came crashing through the ceiling. He was slow to get up, which wasn't a good sign and Videl could tell.
'Oh no. He's hurt.', she thought.
"Alright you bastard, Where the hell is this generator?! If I don't destroy it then Gohan's gonna die!!", she demanded from the old scientist.
"That's the idea.", he replied. Videl walked up and grabbed him by the collar with the look of the devil on her face. She was about to yell at him some more when she noticed a bright light behind her and Gohan yelling some strange words. She dropped the scientist and spun around to see Gohan down in some sort of stance with his hands cupped behind him holding an intense ball of blue energy. She was amazed at the sight. Her dad had always called things like this a "trick". But here she was seeing it for herself. She was stunned.
"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!", Gohan yelled as the machine was coming in through the ceiling. He thrust his hands upward and shot a solid beam straight at it. The blast connected and started to push the robot back up. Gohan continued to feed energy his attack as the robot kept going up higher into the sky. It was about to break through the clouds when the robot finally started pushing back. It wasn't doing a very good job of it, but it wasn't ascending nearly as fast as before. Gohan couldn't keep going like this forever. He would eventually give out and have to stop. Videl turned back around and grabbed the scientist once more and shook him up.
"WHERE IS IT?!!", she yelled.
"I'll never tell you.", the scientist yelled back. But he didn't have to tell her, because she noticed that to her left, a certain large machine was starting to make a lot of noise and sparks even started to fly out of it.
'That must be the generator. Gohan's attack is making it weaker. If he can keep it up a little bit longer it just might explode.', Videl thought. She once again threw down the old man and turned to watch Gohan. He was still pumping energy into his blast, but it was catching up to him. He could feel himself slipping.
'C'mon Gohan. Just a little more and you've got it.', She thought, watching the generator about to go haywire. But just when she thought he had it, he stopped. His arms fell to his side and he dropped to one knee. He was breathing so heavily that he actually started to choke, and he coughed up a mouthful of blood on the floor. He started breathing a little better after that, but he was definitely tired. Just when he thought he'd get a break, the huge metal monster dropped through the roof and landed a foot right on top of Gohan.
"NOOOOOOOO!!! GOHAN!!!", Videl screamed. She thought he was dead. She had no idea just how much it took to take a super saiyan down. But apparently neither did the scientist as he was pointing and laughing, declaring victory over Saiyman already. The only one to notice that the job wasn't done was the robot. Who promptly lifted its foot and picked up the limp body. Gohan opened up an eye to see that he was being held 20 feet up in the air. He saw a small hatch opened up in its shoulder and a canon popped out of it. It started to charge a blast that was obviously intended to finish the job.The robot then began to squeeze, and Gohan screamed out in pain. It almost made Videl cry seeing him alive but also hearing his screams of pain. She collected herself and figured she was the only one who could save him now. She looked around furiously for something to destroy the generator with. She immediatly found the canon that the man had dropped earlier and grabbed it. She ran back to the generator and prepared to destroy it. The scientist quickly dashed in front of it in an attempt to stop her.
"NO!! YOU CAN'T!! I'VE WORKED SO HARD FOR THIS!!!", the scientist yelled trying to persuade her. She didn't even hear him. Not even his screams as she fired the canon, setting off an explosion that left the shield generator nothing but a pile of rubbish. She looked over at the robot and noticed it flash in a variety of different colors and then fade away. The shield was gone.
"Gohan!! The shield is down!!! Destroy it!!", she yelled, hoping he was still conscious enough to hear her. Evidently he did.
Gohan stopped screaming and clenched his teeth, bringing up any reserve energy he might have. Still in his ascended form, he exploded in a wave of energy that completely shattered the robot's hand. Gohan fell to the ground and managed somehow to land on his feet. He knew he wasn't finished though as the canon was still charging a blast. He was prepared for it, and when it fired, Gohan, with a swift movement of his hand, deflected the blast right back at it, hitting it dead center of its eye. The blast went all the way through and came out the other side, shooting through the ceiling into the clouds. For a moment the machine just stood there, but slowly it began to tip over. It finally fell over onto the floor and lay there, it's main circuit-board had been completely fried. Gohan's hair turned back to black as he powered down.
Videl ran over to the badly beaten Gohan and jumped on him, giving him a huge hug. She wasn't exactly conscious of the fact that he was about to pass out from exhaustion. He tried to hide his pain though, for her sake.
"Oh Gohan, I'm so glad your okay!", she said with her head hugging his shoulder. He was so glad that she was okay, too. He never thought he would be so happy to see her. Or that she would be the same way. He didn't say anything, but simply enjoyed the moment with her. The warmth she gave him, the care that she gave him...the love that she gave him. His mind took a U-turn and honed in on that last part. Love? Could it be? Was this what his mind had been trying to tell him the whole time? There were so many questions pouring into his mind at that second that he didn't even hear the alarm go off, until Videl let go of him and turned around.
"What the hell is that.", she blurted out. Then the boss came running out of the room he had been hiding in and grabbed on to a rope ladder that was hanging down through a hole in the ceiling. His private helicopter.
"HA HA HA!! I'd like to see you escape this one Saiyaman! This bomb is big enough to blow up the whole city! See ya suckers!", the boss yelled as he ascended through the hole.
"We gotta go after him and get him to diffuse that bomb!", Gohan yelled
"Detonation in T-minus...30 seconds", blared an awefully mechanical voice.
"Or maybe not.", Gohan responded, realizing there was no time for that plan.
"What are we going to do then?", Videl asked almost in a panic.
"25...", the mechanical voice resounded.
"Videl, I want you to get out of here. I can stop the blast from destroying the city.", Gohan said.
"You can't possibly do that, Gohan.!", she yelled.
"20..."
"Sure I can. I'll just create a shield around the warehouse so only it and everything inside is affected.", Gohan explained.
"But...", Videl started.
"15..."
"But you'll die!!", she tried to reason with him.
"You may be right. But I've got a city to save. And most of all, I've got you to save. Now GO!!!", he yelled, he thrust his hand in her direction, sending a small shockwave, blowing her back out through the hole in the garage door. She landed on her feet out on the sidewalk, and was prepared to run right back in there until a glowing hemisphere of blue energy came down around the building. She smacked right into it and fell backwards.
"10..."
"Dammit, Gohan! You can't do this!", she yelled.
"9..."
"It's my job, too"
"8..."
She started pounding on the force field furiously as if she thought she could some how break in and help Gohan.
"7..."
The tears began to well up in her eyes, her fists slowing down to where she wasn't even hitting it anymore.
"6..."
"Gohan.", she whispered.
"5..."
"I never got to tell you how I felt."
"4..."
"Because I never knew myself.
"3..."
"Until now."
"2..."
"I love you.", her tears gushing from her eyes as her emotions exploded inside of her.
"1..."
Videl took one more look into the warehouse before everything inside the shield turned white. Not even a sound made it through the field, or if there was she didn't hear it. She was completely overwhelmed by the fact that Gohan had just sacrificed himself for the entire city. The bright white soon turned black, and the force field disappeared. The smoke rose quickly into the air as the flames ate everything left behind that wasn't instantly disintegrated. When the smoke was thin enough to see through, she dashed into the warehouse hoping to find him. She almost fainted when she saw him, lying in the middle of the floor, his clothes tattered and burning. She extinguished any and all flames on his body and kneeled down at his side. She cradled his upper body and held up his head, hoping he still had some life in him. He was barely breathing, but alive none-the-less. He opened his eyes a little, which was all he could manage, and smiled when he saw her face. She was raining tear drops on his chest as she smiled back at him.
"How'd I do? Did I save the city?", he barely managed to say with a raspy voice.
"Yea...", she replied between sobs, "...you saved us all"
"Great.", Gohan squeezed between a short cough, "Tell my parents what happened. They'll know what to do."
"What? Gohan, I don't understand...", she started getting worried by what he was saying.
"Videl, I love you.", he interrupted. She was shocked. It hit her like a bag of bricks. She didn't know what to say, but she knew exactly how he felt. She felt the same way.
"I've always wanted to tell you.", Gohan explained his voice getting weaker with everyword. Videl could barely hear him. "But I..."
He didn't even have time to finish before she brought her lips down to his and kissed him. They shared the moment for what seemed like forever. The emotions that both had hidden inside for so long were all expressed in this one kiss. She didn't want it to stop, but she felt his lips suddenly get cold. She pulled her head back and noticed that Gohan's eyes were shut and he had stopped breathing. She moved her elbow from behind his head and it fell back limp. He was dead.