"Piccolo?"
Gohan kneeled beside his mentor and friend, tears welling up in his eyes as the laughter of the Saiyan Nappa continued to ring in the dusty air. Piccolo was dying…
"Gohan…" Piccolo gasped, managing a weak grin; the Namekian looked horrible, Goku's friends – save Krillin – had perished, Nappa and Vegeta were going to win – yet Gohan could not think of anything beyond the dying sentient before him.
"You're the only real friend I've ever had, and I want to thank you." Piccolo began in a hushed voice; Gohan could feel the Namekian's life force fading before him, purple blood dribbling from the alien's wounds. "I remember the first day I brought you here; you've changed so much since then. The harder things got, the more determined you became."
Piccolo's words were coming out more forcedly now, straining as his energy continued to fade. Gohan choked back a sob, staring his watery eyes into his mentor's and nodding.
"I'm proud of you." Piccolo smiled painfully, looking up at the boy he had come to be so attached to. He was fading away, and knew the young one would be left alone. Nappa continued to chortle. "And hey! Sorry I was rough on you – I knew you could take it."
Piccolo coughed, his eyes losing focus on the world around him.
"Piccolo!" Gohan sniffled, blinking; he could barely focus on anything, holding back his tears.
"Get 'em… Gohan…" Piccolo muttered weakly.
And then, he was gone. Gohan was alone, strange emotions running through his body. He was alone.
"No!" the boy screamed, stamping his fists into the dirt where Piccolo had been before. Knowing no way to express himself, the boy felt his tears shatter out onto his cheeks, the hot sun blazing down on him, Nappa's evil presence so near now. First his father had died, and now his friend, mentor and… surrogate father.
Nappa had done this; he was a bad, evil man. Only anger could be felt in Gohan's veins, his heart pulsating with it, as did his energy.
The boy stood up and stared at the bald, tall man before him; Gohan's teeth gritted as he tried to hold it back, he didn't want to feel the dark anger that was threatening to spill out, but Piccolo was dead, and that man had killed him. He could hold it back no more, but rather somehow focused it, feeling energy course into his physical body.
"Ah!!!" Gohan screamed, shoving his hands to his forehead and focusing his energy as Piccolo had taught him.
Vegeta stood silently, his arms folded, behind the bumbling idiot he called his remaining kin, the last of the true Saiyans. The prince's scouter began to bleep suddenly. 1,000… 2,000… Fuck! The little brat's power level was suddenly growing exponentially from where it had been to begin with.
"All right! Let's go!" Nappa sneered, setting his feet down and preparing for whatever the little kid was going to throw at him – not that it would do any damage, he snorted. At last the last of these stupid humans would be gone, and Vegeta and Nappa could go to Namek and retrieve the Dragon Balls to wish for immortality! All he had to do was crush the little squirt before him, kill the little bald man in the orange gi, and defeat the approaching fighter that Vegeta had detected earlier.
"Nappa! Watch it! He's at 3,000!" Vegeta hissed, his face crunched with focus; the kid was still no match for Nappa, let alone the prince, yet it was alarming that someone could grow in strength so quickly. What kind of brat was Kakarot's kid?
Nappa merely shook his head and continued to sneer; Vegeta's scouter had to be wrong, the kid's attack didn't look that harmful.
Gohan could feel the black anger that had been boiling up inside beginning to ebb, as did the energy it was supplying him for his Masenko attack.
'No, I need more strength…' he winced; it was all he could gather, and he knew that he would have to throw his attack and hope against hope it would hurt – kill even – that bad man before him, lest the attack lose its power.
"Masenko-Ha!" Gohan yelled, forcing the energy he had left over into the orb he had gathered, projecting it at Nappa. Nappa reached out a hand, effortlessly it seemed --- and sent the attack with a grunt into a mountain nearby, shattering it in an awesome explosion.
And just like that, Gohan's energy rush faded with his anger, replaced by despair and weakness. The boy sank to the ground.
Vegeta laughed lightly.
"It seems that our prince has become a pauper again; his power level is back down!" the Saiyan breathed, masking the vanishing concern he had developed moments before. Nappa had to finish the boy and prepare for the growing sense of dread that Vegeta had in his mind; Kakarot was on his way, and if what the others had said was true, he would be a greater challenge than any of the other unexpected surprises – Vegeta did not want to be surprised anymore today.
Gohan slouched down to his hands and knees. He had failed Piccolo; he didn't have the strength to beat Nappa, to save Krillin or himself, or anyone. He was nothing.
"It's been nice knowing you kid!" Nappa laughed aloud in his whiny, booming voice; a shadow had fallen on the withdrawn Gohan, causing the boy to look up at the massive man of might above him – the man who had killed Piccolo and his father's friends.
"Gohan! Get out of there!" Krillin's voice came from somewhere nearby, though Gohan did not look around; he was going to die, just as Piccolo had.
"So long!" Nappa yelled, bringing his foot up and focusing his strength to his leg, preparing to bring it down.
Gohan winced; this was it. At least he would see Piccolo again… but his father was on the way; Goku would arrive to find not only his friends but also his son gone. Goku would arrive and surely find Krillin, his oldest friend, killed as well. And Gohan could do nothing about it. Goku was so far away yet; Gohan could feel the gradually increasing presence of his father, just how Piccolo had taught him.
'Piccolo! Daddy!' Gohan screamed in his head as Nappa's foot came down at him.
~*~*~
Goku had felt a presence fade away into the other world, and then a surge of energy; he had no clue what was going on, as he had just left Korrin's, the flying Nimbus carrying him swiftly toward the South Desert where he felt the battle waging onward.
Another power grew and then faded rapidly; Goku knew that power – his son! His face knotted up and his eyes focused; Nimbus was pushing forward as quickly as it could, but to no avail! If only Goku hadn't stayed an extra few moments at King Kai's! If only he had been faster!
Gohan was going to die, and Goku had many miles left to traverse – he wasn't going to make it on time!
~*~*~
"Piccolo! Daddy! No!" Gohan screamed aloud as Nappa's foot came in contact with his thrown-up hands.
The boy felt an instant rush of anger, frustration, despair, grief, hatred flow through his body, the force of Nappa's boot crushing him into the ground – and then a flash of white hot light, and the pain from the falling foot was alleviated; Nappa was throw back onto his rear, smashing the cracked ground below him, his eyes rigged open with surprise and part-fright.
"The hell?" the large Saiyan muttered; how had he been repelled? The boy was nothing, yet had managed to throw him back, and was now gathering strength before him.
Vegeta likewise wore a look of confusion, mixed with determined concentration as his scouter ran wild.
'3,000, 4,000 –'
"5,000 Nappa! Watch out!" Vegeta shouted just as Gohan stepped a foot into the ground to take off, his eyes trembling with hatred.
Nappa's eyes widened with disbelief as Gohan hurtled himself forward at the knocked-down warrior. To Gohan, suddenly nothing mattered more than killing the evil man before him, removing him for the evils he had caused; Gohan would avenge Piccolo's death.
The air became a blur around him, and Gohan was suddenly there, right before Nappa and still flying, though everything slowed down, became more focused. He oddly heard Piccolo's instructions ringing in his head: focus your energy into your muscles, aim for your foe, and hit him; there is no trial, only success or failure…
There was another flash, and Gohan's fist connected in a flash of white energy with Nappa's face; the Saiyan was spiraled into the air from his sitting position, his jaw shattered as his mind rang with disbelief. He barely had a chance to realize what was happening when Gohan had flashed about him in a streak of white and planted himself in the catcher's position.
"Piccolo!" Gohan screamed vengefully, his body shimmering under more than the hot sun above; his energy was yet growing and glowing, though slowing its ascent. The boy threw out both of his hands together and let the hot, anger-fueled energy from his body.
A beam of awesome white light erupted wide and clear from the boy's hands, and boiled into Nappa's right chest, face and arm, searing his skin and shattering his armor. The Saiyan was carried into the air, screaming with pain, screaming even more with confusion and frustration.
"How?" Nappa gasped as the energy continued to carry him skyward, burning at his arm into the muscle and then bone, his face losing sensation beyond the prickling pain that had consumed it until it – and he – felt no more.
Gohan felt his power continue to grow, gathered it and fed it to the attack; his mind was coming back to him, yet the anger, while ebbing, still remained in some way, feeding his strength. His wild mane of hair floated off of his back in the white energy that bathed him, his muscles nearly fifty percent greater in size than they had been before.
And the energy was released from its source, Nappa was gone, dust blown from the premise in the wave of power that had transpired. Krillin stared through wide eyes, mouth hanging open, at the battlefield before his weakened body.
Vegeta gawked at his scouter. What it read was impossible; no Saiyan runt could ever be that strong, especially after reading so weakly just moments before!
"9,000!"
The prince forced his mouth shut, closing his shock inward rather than allowing anyone the pleasure of seeing it so obviously on his face. He had nothing to fear, the boy was still weaker than he, yet… 9,000 power levels? The son of Kakarot surely could not be so strong!
Gohan found himself staring with a mix of satisfaction and awe at the spot where Nappa's fleeting form had just been before the boy's attack had whipped him from existence. He had done it! He couldn't believe it, but he had done it! The anger was nearly gone now, the grief of Piccolo's death hanging in the background.
His power did not leave with the anger, however, though it withdrew from glowing external warmth to hide within him.
Gohan turned, his body feeling light as air, to face Vegeta, the Saiyan prince standing there with very narrow slits for eyes and arms folded tightly over his armored chest. The bottom of Gohan's stomach dropped again and he swallowed, his throat suddenly dry.
Shouldn't the other Saiyan be at least impressed? Vegeta's friend had just been defeated; it would make sense for him to be in shock and awe as well, wouldn't it?
Vegeta opened his mouth to speak, his eyes opening more as that glittering smile returned to their depths.
"Well, well, well. Well-done, kid." He suddenly laughed, opening his arms to clap his hands bemusedly, making Gohan's strong stance waver with distrust and confusion.
~*~*~