Contradicting Mission

Part 38

Gohan's mighty blast had, in total, ended the lives of seventy-two Aeesu-jin and twenty-six aliens; ninety-eight deaths in all. Though it was a large number, enough that it would hang on the soul of Son Gohan for years to come, it had failed to destroy even half of the warriors on the battle field.

It's intense shock waves had thrown nearly every battalion against the ground, save the sturdier forms of Heng and Bojack, or the Aeesu-jin who had managed to stand in the protected shelter behind them, or Freeza and Garlic, who had sidestepped the searing blast completely, and had, at the timely order from Garlic, ducked and covered their heads as the floor beneath them trembled from the explosion.

Bojack, who'd covered his face with an arm to avoid being blinded from the explosion, recognized the blast.

It had been the exact same -- exact same, goddamit -- move that had previously ended his own life; back then, it had been stronger, of coarse, had demolished his entire body, leaving not even a corpse behind to signify his past existence, nothing to testify for his agelessly long life. Were it possible, the Biraju-jin became yet more enraged, the side that had taken the brunt of the blast uninjured by certainly blackened somewhat, lacking some of the feeling in it.

His eyes tore through the seething crowd of battling Aeesu-jin with as much distaste as one views the swarming maggots on a festering lump of meat. This was not a battle worthy of his time, and, after feeling the burning kiss of Son Gohan's attack, he was even more anxious to find the boy, perhaps, yes, for reasons beyond mere self-protection. He wanted to show the brat just how angry he was.

He grabbed hold of an Aeesu-jin daring to attack him -- one wearing a peculiar blue hat -- and swung him in a complete circle by his arm, hurling him into and through the already demolished halls of the 'battlefield'. Two Aeesu-jin attacked him from behind, pounding into his back with their bony knuckles, whipping at the backs of his legs with their thick, powerful tails, succeeding in breaking the skin in more than one place.

It was... a little concerning; betwixt the two armies he was up against, there was still thousands, battling all throughout the fortress, it was possible, however slight, that he could get... injured. If the situation were to shift and Heng were to abandon his fight with the mutinous Tahch-jin warriors to attack him again, while he was already battling his fair share of Aeesu-jin...

His first defeat and death at the hands of a mere boy ever present in his mind, he forced himself to comprehend that he was not invincible. He could be hurt. He could lose. He could... perish.

The wall blasted inward, littering Bojack's hair with little bits of tile, from a stray explosions of chi, coming from a battle on the other side of the wall.

Reaching up and behind his back, he caught hold of the Aeesu-jin's on his back by their curved horns, swinging them over his head to his front, breaking their horns in the process, before blasting their sorry selves into oblivion, stomping his foot down on the back of an amphibious alien as it happened to trip at the Biraju-jin's feet.

It was then that, over the roar of battle, that his sensitive pointed ears picked up the sound of a particular voice, quite a few octaves higher than that of the other warriors about, though raw with strain and emotion.

A voice Bojack instantaneously recognized as Son Gohan's, raging in the midst of battle.

The gaki was in this war, too, damn him.

On a conscious level, Gohan decided that he deserved a nice pat on the back for the control he had.

Of course, he wasn't exactly thinking that the "control" he perceived having might merely be the coldness in which he killed his enemies, for it was indeed true that he felt nothing short of numbness as each Aeesu-jin that attacked him was quickly dispatched, him uncaring how as long as they died. Maybe it was control, for, situation considered, he felt no particular pleasure in their destruction; whenever he had the choice he tried to make it swift and without suffering.

Perhaps a year or two ago he would have thought, That doesn't matter, it's still murder... Perhaps would have thought the same a week or two ago.

But he just didn't care, because, the truth was, he wasn't interested in worrying about it.

He was sick of worrying. Sick of thinking. It did him no good; he was still going to have to be here, fighting, taking lives, being injured, perhaps seconds away from his own death. So he did something, unintentionally, that he did not know he could do.

He just switched off his worrying, keening, nit-picking, weak, human side. Just like that. With each footfall that took him into the heart of the battle, somehow, he just switched it off. Shut it out. Shut it up. Hid it. Buried it. Killed it. He didn't know. And he did not think about it. But it wasn't there.

That isn't to say his rambunctious, energetic, spontaneous Saiya-jin side was running rampant. Oddly, it, too, had become silent, vanishing without a word along with the human side.

So Gohan was alone. The inner silence was sort of disturbing, but, hey, he had control, didn't he? Yes, oh, Tousan, yes, in control now. No mental turmoil to struggle with. A pleasant void, sucking every distinguishable thought into its dark, bottomless center like a black hole, leaving his body to move on its own, killing and fighting for... for what?

Ah, there, the one discernible thought; his drive. The force pushing him on. He saw Tousan in his mind, standing there as he always stood, his chest out, not intentionally cocky, but almost instinctively confident. Nothing really got to him, not pain or loss or death. So, in Gohan's mind, he stood, his orange gi in alignment, his face solemn in the midst of his wild locks.

What are you... a coward?!

The pleasant emptiness lasted until he looked up and saw, not more than fifty yards away, battling his own enemies with great success, was Bojack. His jaw dropped.

And then, even the empty void could not suck away all the emotion that welled up in him; he was afraid of the Biraju-jin, that he knew. And he hated him. Fear, hatred, anger, humiliation... All the emotions were so large, they clogged the black hole within him, stopped it up, allowing just enough room for his inner council to find their way forward again.

Then his mind was chaos as they all started yelling at once.

Stupid, careless, dummy, moron...

What are you... a coward?!

Weak, helpless, coward...

I... I can't, daddy... it hurts too much...

Bojack hadn't seen him yet, and Gohan was moving rapidly away from him to keep it that way, not bothering to look over his shoulder as he instinctively ducked under an Aeesu-jin attacking him from behind, then, just as instinctively, his elbow flew backward and crushed the Aeesu-jin's rib cage. He was unaware it had happened.

Don't you dare go into battle without thinking...

Kill them all, they deserve it, you need this, destroy them, just blow them all up...

Gonna let... all those people die for nothing?! What did... Piccolo teach you?!

I don't know, I don't know, just shut up, stop it, shut up!!

I... I can't, daddy..

A thick, Aeesu-jin tail caught him around the waste, hoisted him off the ground and slammed him into the wall, the tiles crumbling around him, inaudible above the explosive din of battle, which, truthfully, he wasn't hearing too well at the moment, either.

Think! Think! Where's your brain, stupid?!

That's it. That's it. I can't do it.

You're a machine, Gohan m'boy, a machine of destruction! Do your job!

What are you... cowa-

That's it. That's it. I can't-

-can't daddy, it hurts too-

-too much of a coward-

What are you?!

A blue hand entered Gohan's limited awareness just a split second before it contacted his face with a sudden sting of pain.

The council ceased a moment; he'd been startled out of whatever it was that caught him up; he looked up; he found himself staring into the face of Bojack; his chi exploded around him.

He didn't really hear Bojack's deep, angry voice shouting, "-the hell is wrong with you?!" before he dove away from him, ducking between two bloody, brawling Aeesu-jin, a splattering of the blood they shed splashing into his face, his eyes, then dove around one of Henning's furry, fighting monstrosities, his only rational beacon that he had to get away, wiping the blood from his face with the back of his hand.

Behind him, the Biraju-jin was pursuing, his long, powerful arms throwing obstructing fighters out of his way with sweeps of motion and chi, his eyes trying to keep track of where the boy was heading in this pandemonium of battle. It was difficult, for the damnable bozu was using his size to escape, slipping between and around and through any narrow gap between the fighting Aeesu-jin, his body low to the ground, often traveling on both hands and feet, ducking between ankles and under stamping talons.

He was too small to see very well over the huge titans that raged over him, unknowing of the little body gliding between their legs.

Gohan had managed to capture and contain the little wild element that had been running around inside him; the screaming, ranting, angry, crying, shaming council had been switched off by the utter shock of Bojack's slap -- though Gohan would never be able to admit he owed the Biraju-jin for the favor -- and for now, he was managing to keep his thoughts down to wordless ideas, not allowing either side of himself to speak except through notions or realizations.

It was then that he ran -- literally crashed headfirst into -- Heng.

Bojack swore loudly as he realized he'd lost sight of the boy again, smashing an amphibian creature's scaly head into its shoulders in his rage, wiping the nasty, dark blood off onto the corner of his coat. His severe gaze ripped through the throng, searching yet again for the damn kid, worried slightly that his actions had caused the boy to panic and break his fighting concentration.

He hated him, but he needed Son Gohan alive, goddamit.

To make worse things horrid, Bojack was sure that he'd caught a glimpse of Heng's impossibly large form through the sea of fists and tails and heads and horns and clashing chi, going about his own violent business, and Bojack knew not whether he should devote further time toward looking for Gohan -- damn him, damn him and every living breath he took -- or completing his (thrilling, if not infuriating) battle with the great Aeesu-jin dictator.

The decision was decided when both problems were addressed by the same occurrence.

For two chi's flared against each other at the same time, belonging both to the Saiya-jin boy and the Aeesu-jin giant, the shock wave of the increasing power knocking flat the other battalions for a short time, long enough for Bojack to catch sight of them both clearly.

Heng was battling Son Gohan.

Having fought Heng himself, and thus becoming aware of his great Aeesu-jin might, Bojack did not like this prospect a bit. The boy -- how was he so weak now, and so strong back when Bojack had been on Earth?! -- would not survive the conflict.

"Worthless, stupid bozu," Bojack murmured as he began to rip his way through the throng of battle, trying as hastily as he could to reach the two battalions of his attention before the skinny little kid got himself beaten to death.

As he got closer, however, the Biraju-jin found himself moving slower, watching with a measure of interest the way the boy fought. Eventually, sure, he would lose, but for now, he seemed to give off the impression of equality to Heng's power. For, as Bojack had become aware of earlier, the Aeesu-jin dictator was remarkably slow for all his power, his heavy padding weighting down his arms and legs, limiting the swiftness of his movements.

But the lithe Son Gohan was pure speed.

Keeping his tiny little form as close to Heng's person as he was able, he made a nearly impossible target, for when the Aeesu-jin went to swat him away, the boy had only to twist just inches right or left to avoid the attack, and in the same movement drive both boots into his fat, gray face. Or when Heng went to stamp him into the ground, he seemed to manage to step entirely under the Aeesu-jin's great bulk, simultaneously flying up behind that great expanse of a back, all full of loose rolls of skin, and slam his little fist against the back of that great gray head.

Indeed, it seemed to be a stale mate, for, though Gohan was successfully striking the vital areas, they were either not vital areas to Aeesu-jin, or Heng's sturdy old frame was even tougher than Bojack had originally thought, for the boy's attacks seemed to hurt him about as much as his failed attacks seemed to hurt the boy.

The Biraju-jin was pretty sure Gohan's stamina would give out first -- considering his starved and already injured body. And when that happened, all he had to do was fail to dodge a single punch for, unlike Heng, he was not immune to impacts; a single hit was all Heng needed to break quite a few bones in that boy's body. The fight would end quickly afterward in Heng's favor and Gohan and Bojack's death.

But, for Bojack at least, the expression on Heng's face was worth the risk of death and return to eternal damnation.

For, though Son Gohan's face was relatively calm, perhaps pinched and strained from his utmost concentration in what he was doing -- proving he at least knew of the deadly force he was reckoning with--, Heng was livid. He was screaming, his booming, powerful voice echoing up and down the halls, small flecks of froth dotting his lips and chin, his large, loose cheeks jiggling and shaking as he huffed and puffed, his loose, baggy skin swaying around his neck, his red eyes bulging in their sockets, a dark spot in the white of his eye showed a popped blood vessel, his face twisted and lined and wrinkled with hatred for this insignificant Saiya-jin boy that was daring to resist his executioning rights.

But then again, Bojack wasn't eager be die, either, and wasn't foolish enough to sit back and wait for the boy to be seriously or fatally wounded before interfering, despite how tempting it was to do so.

He closed the distance between himself and them.

"Are you quite okay?"

Sunow looked up, eyeing the Tahch-jin who, in turn, seemed to be inspecting him. "Pardon?"

Before Le'Armont could answer, the computer bipped and he had to type in four more codes at rapid session, wait two point six seconds, then repeat the codes backwards for verification, before the screen again read 'Processing' and he was again allowed a moment to speak, "I've noticed you're favoring your arm. And...," he almost said 'I feel pain coming off you' but stopped himself. "...and was just wondering if you were okay."

The Tahch-jin did not talk to non-Tahch-jin about their unique talents.

Sunow put a hand to his arm, just beneath the shoulder, "Oh. Yes, it was broken not too long ago. Trouble with a client. Thank you, though, for your concern." He was quiet a moment, then said, "You were the Tahch-jin that wanted to blow this planet up, weren't you? I mean... I'm sure it was the other one -- Henning Le'Armont? -- that wanted to kill Son Gohan. And the other one-"

"Yes. It was me."

Silence passed for a spell, interrupted when Joru was again given the short, allotted time in which he had to type in password after password, unlocking each digital door to get to the central nervous system of the pilfered program. Sunow watched him closely, watching is face more than what his hands were doing, calculating, curious.

"You don't want to anymore, right? Destroy this planet, that is..."

Joru hit 'Enter', read the analysis of their progress and put a hand to his queasy stomach, saying, "I'm so sick of destruction right now. I'm just sick to death of it. No, I don't want to detonate this planet; don't want to hurt anything or anyone ever again."

Looking at his face, even through the pale white hair covering it, Sunow thought he looked a trifle ill; the color under those gold, Tahch-jin eyes was pretty dark, and Le'Armont kept working his mouth, licking his lips, as though he found a disagreeable taste on the back of his tongue. His hands, which the Aeesu-jin father assumed had once had hair, were bald and raw looking, and in his idle time Joru rubbed them together, trying to rid them of some residue that Sunow could not see.

Trying to get rid of the feeling he'd been forced to absorb through the Chah't scepter, the feeling of his brother's pain. He was forgetting why he was here; nothing was making sense to him. He did, however, remember Son Gohan's quiet, sweet voice.

Joru-san? Will you come with me, now, and help me?

"Just a few more minutes," he said aloud, looking up at Sunow, his lips shivering as though he were fevered, "And I'll be done."

Nodding, the Aeesu-jin, hand still against his arm, nervy from all the stress, murmured, "Just a little longer, Son Gohan. Hang on."

The pure randomness of finding himself fighting against Heng suited Gohan quite well.

The asylum of surprise had the amazing affect of keeping him rational, forcing him to reason, to respond to the real world around him. For this battle required all his attention, leaving no room for other, squabbling arguments.

He felt whole and at peace; enjoying both mental and physical stimulation, his body powered by more adrenaline and chi than hatred. His human and Saiya-jin sides were cooperating. As long as he managed to avoid Heng's devastating blows, he might actually survive long enough to-

-unsuspected, from behind him, Bojack had reached them and, without pause, in one swift movement had darted a hand out and caught the boy by the ankle as he flew by, jerking his little body backwards, literally dragging him out of the fight. Once he had the boy close enough, he circled his other hand around Gohan's throat, causing the boy to become suddenly quite still one he realized what a vulnerable position he was in; instantaneously maneuvered away from Heng's immediate vicinity.

"Couldn't catch him?!" Bojack shouted as he ducked under the Aeesu-jin's long, thick tail, sidestepping a blast, maintaining his hold on both the boy's neck and ankle, though most of his attention was on Heng, taunting, "Couldn't even touch him! Slow, fat-"

The molten hot chi that suddenly flew over his head -- the Biraju-jin barely ducking to avoid losing a few inches of skull -- sailed on through the complex, melting wall and flesh, and on to the outside world. When it detonated, quite a few floors of the Underground collapsed, showering the warring armies with a dry snow storm of large clumps of ceiling and floor, bleaching everything white with fine powder.

By the time the thick dust in the air had settled, the hundreds of combatants that had gotten caught in the collapse coughing and squinting their eyes through the congested air, Bojack had managed to evacuate into the hidden room in which Freeza and Garlic were hiding; fortunately, the room had been spared during the destruction and was still quite safe, the entrance Freeza had made with his body partially buried under the rubble.

The silence that followed lasted only a few seconds; no Aeesu-jin had been damaged, and the war resumed through the dust and despris.

The original party was back together again. Bojack, Gohan, Freeza and Garlic.

The Aeesu-jin and gremlin didn't say a word, but stared in surprise and a bit of fear at the expression on the Biraju-jin's face, his full attention now allowed to devote itself to the Saiya-jin boy in his grip. He seemed almost too pleased -- a cruel, gleeful glint in his deep eyes -- to have his hand around the throat of Son Gohan who, besides wrapping his smaller hands around Bojack's, trying to pry it open, a panicky sort of desperation on his face, wasn't moving too much.

The brief notion came to Bojack that he could easily get a hold of the boy's tail but... well, he didn't particularly care about that. The tail was nothing but fur, and though, yes, it had an interesting affect on the Saiya-jin it wasn't as interesting as, say, the hot skin under his fingers, where he felt the boy's frantic, erratic pulse. If he were to just close his fist, he could crush the boy's neck, or tear his throat out. At his mercy, this gaki was entirely at his mercy... but Bojack had no mercy.

It was with extreme will power that Bojack, instead of killing the Saiya-jin boy, released his grip and heaved Gohan at the wall.

Gohan spun to face him the instant he'd stopped his momentum. Oddly, his bruised and bloody face wasn't full of fear or embarrassment or even anger.

Actually, he wasn't feeling any of those things. He actually felt... gutsy. It was insane, but as he'd hung there, his weight dangling almost entirely by his neck, spots creeping in from his peripheral vision, he'd had a moment that felt akin to enlightenment, as though there had been a band of steel around his chest up until then and was slowly being pulled away, freeing him.

He saw his father again, but not his cold, emotionless poker face; he saw that weird little smile Son Goku was known to get when a fight turned to its worst possible outcome... the smile he got just before something incredible happened and turned the tables entirely, and saved everyone's lives once again.

Bojack was yelling at him, but he didn't hear it over a peculiar rush that was pounding through his heart and chi.

Fighting against Heng who was, technically, stronger than him, he'd still managed to survive entirely unhurt. Hell, he'd hit that Aeesu-jin, had hit him and... and, well, he wasn't really that injured himself for the effort! Something inside Gohan's heart was lifting, as though a great weight were being pulled, slowly, off it, and the perpetual bad mood he'd been in for the past week seemed to be seeping away as his soul seemed to stretch out, filling out places that before had felt cold and unloving...

"Son Gohan!!" In his ear, he heard the voice of Sunow, shouting into the communicator; he sounded suspiciously happy, too. "Son Gohan, we've done it, we've disabled-"

But then the communicator, in which Gohan had devoted such time and effort, exploded.

The entire room was lit up with a bright golden light.

Bojack, having stopped in mid-shout, stood with his jaw hanging open. Freeza and Garlic were pressed against the wall as the room suddenly filled with stifling hot power.

"It...," Gohan said, all his past rage and fear and hatred and hesitation transferring into raw chi, easily controllable now, "It worked." He looked down at his hands, his body, with electric blue eyes, no longer sable; looking through locks of hair that, no longer the color of starless midnight, were flaxen, swaying to the chi his body was generating.

"It really worked!!"

He was Super Saiya-jin.

At long last.

To be continued...