It Lies Within

By Moonraker One

CHAPTER FOUR – Terror From An Ally

            The instant that Gohan's head separated from his body, all of the z-fighters felt his energy as it dropped to zero. Even though they were scattered all over the planet, they all felt it as if it were their own energy that was dropping. A deafening chill passed over them as they wondered what was the cause of the energy depletion. They all knew due to their experiences that one's energy going to zero meant that they were dead. That was confusing because Gohan was one of the strongest z-fighters to live. He had a power level close to four hundred million at super Saiyan two, and he was more than a match for baddies even as strong as Cell. Probably the first to wonder what had happened was Piccolo, for he knew that he had trained Gohan well enough that no villain so far would be enough to destroy the mighty young Saiyan.

            No! He thought. There's no way this could happen! He was even stronger than the second form of Majin Buu!

            But, unfortunately, it did happen. Gohan had died, otherwise his power wouldn't have dropped to zero. Despite the disbelief, they all arrived on the scene the instant that it happened. They were wondering why Goku was just walking around the body, smiling as if nothing was wrong.

            Piccolo couldn't stand it anymore. "Goku!" He yelled. "What the hell is wrong with you?! Aren't you concerned about this?!"

            Pan, in Goku's body, looked over at the freaked-out Namek staring with anger at her. "What?!" She said, Goku's voice only more feminine coming out of her mouth. "Am I doing something wrong? I thought that I was your friend!"

            Piccolo didn't understand several things. One, Goku was clearly female. Two, even if someone had possessed him that person would still give off a power signal of their own right?

            Wrong. Pan had almost no regular ki. Her Tetra-ki was a power she was just learning how to transfer into regular ki. This way, she could not only more easily transfer her energy, she could also disguise it as someone else's. This made it almost impossible for anyone to determine what was actually happening.

            "Enough of this standing around!" Vegeta screamed. "I'm gonna fight! I don't care if this is Kakarot or someone else who is trying to pass themselves off as him!"

            "You don't understand what you're getting yourself into," Pan replied.

            Vegeta flew up and nailed Pan right in the face, sending her through the house and about a mile backwards through the forest. He smiled because of his easily-earned shot, but knew from Saiyan instinct that it was indeed useless. Almost an instant later, Goku came back over to where the z-fighters were. They were all wondering why he was as confused as they were.

            "Guys?" He said. "What is going on? The last thing I remember is a puddle of liquid passing over me."

            Then he looked to his left, at the body of his son with decapitated head inches away. "OH GOD!" he shrieked. "NOOO!"

            Krillin ran up to Goku, sensing that whatever evil was in Goku before was in him no longer. From behind Goku, a large puddle of liquid almost invisible but reflecting the sun, reformed slowly until it was in the shape of a seventeen-year-old naked girl. One, to the fright of most of them, which looked like a more-mature Pan.

            "So," she said, now free from Goku's body. "I see you are onto my plan now, huh?"

            Almost all of the z-fighters' jaws dropped as they looked on to see one of their own with a Ma-jin symbol on her forehead. "P…PAN?!" Many of them shrieked in unison.

            She did not speak, only smile in response to their state of confusion. Goku stared angrily at Pan, then pointed his palm at her to fire a blast. As the others attempted to gather enough sense to try and do something, she looked quickly straight at Tien. BODY SWITCH! she screamed mentally. A huge burst of ki shot from Goku's hand.

            "No, Goku!" Screamed Pan loudly as her body was consumed by a tempest of ki. "AHHH!"

            Just as the smoke cleared and they settled down, Tien delivered a straight kick to Goku's head, sending him to the ground and down into it quite far. In response, Vegeta instantly went super Saiyan and went for a flying punch to Tien's head, which was caught in midair. Tien quickly looked at him and drove his foot with such force it went through Vegeta's stomach area and out the other side. Vegeta let out a screech in pain as Tien removed his now blood-covered leg from the abdomen of Vegeta. Krillin prepared a destructo disc for Pan's head, but before he could launch it, a ki shot from Tien tore its way through his neck, causing Krillin to drop to the ground, lifeless.

            Piccolo fired a special beam cannon as quickly as he could gather the energy, but Tien put up his extended palm at Piccolo. "MIRROR MOVE x TEN!" He yelled. Almost a nanosecond later, a similar beam came from Tien's palm, only far stronger. It destroyed not only Piccolo's beam, but his entire figure as well. Eighteen looked over, for all of this was happening almost too fast for her to believe, just to see Tien coming up to her with a flying kick. Before she could even flinch, her head was no longer attached to her body.

            Yamcha, who was freaking out on the ground, was hit with a stray blast headed for Goku. It blasted off both of his legs and his lower torso as well. Tien then looked around. "Hmm," he said, thinking out loud. "Goten, Trunks, and Maron as well as Dende aren't here. I guess I'll have to find them."

            Goku sprang up from the ground, and screamed, "NO YOU DON'T!"

            He instinctively pointed a finger straight at Goku's forehead, and sent a ki shot straight through his head. Blood flowed from Goku's mouth as he fell lifeless to the grass.

            "Yes," Tien said, "I do."

            Tien transformed his head back into the seventeen-year-old Pan's. She looked around at her surroundings, the bodies she had left lying in the grass, and the blood-stained hell that once was a caring home to loving people. She then looked down at her body below her neck, which still was Tien's.

            "This should work out just fine," she replied. "Perhaps I should keep it this way for a while."