I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to any of the music pieces you may see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.
Chapter 14: Disrupted Plans
Trunks paced impatiently aboard the Blackbird. Man, why can't this thing move any faster, I wanna beat somebody up! Trunks thought as he stared out the front window.
Jean glanced at him briefly, "You know, its not nice to want to beat someone up. It's better not to use your powers until you absolutely have to," she spoke softly.
Trunks glared at her, "Sorry, but it's just so boring. And I'm a Saiyan, not a mutant, its in my blood to fight. Stay out of my head."
Jean just sighed, "We're almost there Scott, should we go ahead and land now?"
"Yes, let's not risk getting shot down and approach slowly," Cyclops suggested. Jean piloted the jet towards the nearest clearing in the snowy mountain region and landed the jet slowly on the cold but not quite frozen ground of Tibet. Opening the door, Trunks came out first, ready to pound the nearest victim, followed by the X-men. Trunks suddenly stopped and began looking around quickly in all directions.
"What's wrong suga?" Rogue asked, glancing around and seeing nothing.
"Something isn't right here, but I can't pinpoint it. Hey psychic lady, can you?" Trunks shouted rudely. Cyclops wanted to say something to that, but Jean put her hand up to hold his words.
"Scott, I can't ...sense anything. My powers are not working!" Jean screamed.
Storm gasped, "Neither are mine, our mutant powers have left us again!"
Cyclops took his visor off and opened his red eyes to no avail, "It must be one of Sinister's mutant power restrictors again, remember Antarctica? We could not use our powers until that thing was destroyed or we escaped, even Wolverine's healing power was gone! Blast it, we must leave now, we won't be able to take down Apocalypse without our powers!" he said angrily.
Trunks looked confused, "I've still got my powers though, see?" he said, holding a hand straight to the air and firing a small blast towards the upper atmosphere.
"It only works on Mutants. We will be just like normal humans until we leave or the device is destroyed!" Storm explained.
"Then I'll go destroy the device, no problem!" Trunks declared, cracking his knuckles.
"Problem is we do not know precisely where Apocalypse is. I landed the Blackbird to around where Professor X's last transmission was, but I don't see his jet. It's very possible that he was captured, and if that's the case I cannot communicate with him because his mutant powers will be gone as well. We need another plan," Jean said, crossing her arms in front of her and thinking it over.
Trunks however started jumping up in down, "Here comes Gohan, Verto and Goten!" he said pointing at the sky. Sure enough, three figures belonging to the other Saiyans dropped out of the sky and landed directly in front of Trunks.
"Good we made it!" I said as me and Goten landed behind Gohan's lead. "So where's the party guys?" I asked cheerfully.
"Where's Wolverine and Jubilee?" Storm asked immediately.
"They're coming, their ride was slower than mine," I said with a bright smile. Storm didn't look like she bought that very well, but said nothing to that.
"Our mutant powers have left us, some restricting device Apocalypse must have set up around here, we've run into it before. Last time it was a big generator inside Sinister's base in Antarctica and it had to be destroyed before our powers came back. Without our mutant powers we wont be able to locate Professor X or do very much against Apocalypse," Cyclops brought us up to speed.
"No problem, you've got four Saiyans ready to take down that freak," Trunks said, holding a finger straight up in the air. I glanced around, feeling a slight ki variance in the air.
"Hey guys, something isn't right. Feels weird out here," I said, lowering my voice a little.
"Quite right boy!" A voice shouted from a nearby tree batch. Sinister stepped out from the trees, his goons right behind him.
"Sinister! What have you done with the professor?" Cyclops yelled at them.
"Mr. Summers, you need not worry. You shall join him shortly, surrender now before things get...unseasonable around here," Sinister threatened with a sly smile.
Gohan stepped forward, "Goten is that the guy who hurt you?"
"Yes big brother, he was really mean!" Goten said with an angry tone.
"Good, he's mine!" Gohan shouted, preparing a small blast in his hand. He fired it quickly straight at the purple colored Sinister. Sinister tried to catch it in his hand and send it back. The only problem was he underestimated Gohan's miniscule blast and instead his whole arm was vaporized. Pink blood spewed from the shoulder and he clutched it in agony.
"Damn you! That was stupid, now you will all die!" Sinister shouted. To my surprise, his arm regenerated and fired a medium size, but mediocre powered blast at Gohan. Gohan caught it and showed him how to correctly send it back, but he sent it back in a bigger package. After the smoke cleared, Sinister's head was rolling around behind his cronies. Soon the head began to sprout a neck as he regenerated again.
"Ruckus, will you please take care of them now?" he said while getting his bearings, and body back. Ruckus, I assumed stepped forward, and opened his mouth really wide, and screamed. His energy didn't increase one bit. Normally this might've been pretty pathetic for a powerup, but due to his mutant abilities the sound was deafening to my Saiyan ears. I grabbed them to try to shut out the noise, to no avail, and the pressure on my ears was too great. I wasn't the only one having trouble, I looked around to see Gohan and the boys holding their ears as well, the X-men were already out. The extreme noise and pain continued, whoever could last the longest would win this one. After about thirty seconds, Ruckus was starting to lessen the noise level, but the strain didn't change much. I tried to gather some ki and hold it around my head to shield my ears. No effect, the pain continued to the tune of black spots forming in front of my eyes. Soon I could not hold out any longer and dropped down on my back, welcoming the blackness of sleep.
I woke up, bound by large restraints in some sort of tiny chamber, like a pod of some kind. It was clear for the most part, I could see around me easily. I noticed two pods on my left, containing the boys, and one on my right, containing Gohan. They were beginning to stir as well.
"Welcome, to the end of everything!" came a loud deep voice. I looked straight ahead of me to see Apocalypse himself standing before us. The guy was pretty big, though I wasn't sure it if was due to cybernetic enhancements or not. Behind him was a large door with a lot of pictures and symbols on it.
"I am Apocalypse, soon to be ruler of all the universe. You should be pleased as you will play a huge part in the opening of the Door of Time, for it is your pure energy I require to open it. I will absorb it from your pods and it will flow to my computer and output into the door when I recite the spell. Then I will take my rightful place in history!" he cackled.
"You will never succeed, we will fight you to the last!" Gohan shouted at him. I tried to pry myself from the metal bars holding my in place, but when I tried to move, my arms suddenly burned from touching them. As they got hot, I felt a little of my ki leave my body through them.
"YOOOOOWWWWWW!"
"Did I forget to mention, if you move to escape or anything, the machine will automatically begin to absorb your energy until you stop. So in other words, you will not escape," Apoc laughed again. He pressed a button on his wristband and the machines turned on again and burned us to absorb our energy, only this time it did not stop. We all screamed instinctively as I felt my ki leaving my body quicker this time. Then he pressed the button again and stopped the process, giving us a breather. I glanced over to what he was looking at, a computer panel that had four thick cords dragging on the floor, to where our pods were connected to them. Then I saw his power meter rise upwards with a red bar.
"Hmmm, eighteen percent from just that little shock. You Saiyans have a lot of energy, mind if I borrow the rest?" He hit the button again and I screamed immediately.
"Fifty percent complete, estimated three minutes to full power," A loud computer voice sounded after about a minute.
"Excellent!" Apocalypse said, rubbing his hands and mocking us while we lay helpless in the pods, losing our energy in the process. The amazing thing was that he had not taken a whole lot from us yet, maybe about ten percent from myself is all I could tell. I assumed about the same from the rest, as I was too busy screaming in pain to calculate anyone else's. The sixty percent announcement went off, and I was quickly searching for a possible solution. I tried to break the bars even while my arms seemed to be on fire, that only increased the pain, and increased the rate of absorption.
"Sixty Five...incredible that these creatures have this much energy. I had better make sure to shut off the machine once I hit full power," Apocalypse snorted. Fortunately my Saiyan ears picked up on that one, and Gohan realized it as well as he sent me a telepathic message.
"Hey, let's turn it up to Super Saiyan! It may increase the energy lost, but that will overload his machine. Hopefully the boys will have enough energy left to fight him if we don't!"
"Got it Gohan, let's do it!" I thought back to him. Simultaneously, we cranked up our power levels and got an assload of pain to counteract it. As much as I wanted to stop and rest, I pushed up my level and I opened my eyes again to see the results. The machine had already shot up to eighty-five percent while Apocalypse was looking at us, trying to figure out what we were doing. After a little more effort, I hit the barrier and we streaked into Super Saiyan mode. The machine went bonkers and hit one hundred percent in an instant. It also blew up a few seconds later. After the smoke cleared, I could see Apocalypse looking over the remains of what looked like the time gateway. It had been shattered beyond repair from the overloaded machine next to it.
"ARRGHHHHH! DAMN YOU SAIYANS, YOU"VE RUINED EVERYTHING!" he roared in anger. I stood up with Gohan from our now broken pods, and both of us were panting heavily.
"Hey? You got any power left?" came Gohan's thought voice.
"Not really, If I drop from Super Saiyan I might pass out, and he took so much that I might in a minute or two anyway. The boys feel like they didn't give up quite as much. Unless you can reach your second level, they might have to fight this one out," I replied.
That seemed to give Gohan heartache, "I haven't reached the second level for over a year, barely made it when I really tried. I better restart my training when we get home. Try and wake the boys, I'll hold this creep off!" Gohan then phased out and rushed at Apocalypse head on. I ran over to the boys' pods and found that they had also broken when we went Super. Trunks stirred slightly, then looked up at me.
"Hey bro, what's going on?" I could barely answer, the machine took a dangerous amount of ki away from me and I was having trouble maintaining Super Saiyan now. I powered down so not to pass out and dropped to the floor, tired. I heard a loud bang behind me, Gohan had just planted Apocalypse right on his ass with a huge punch to his face. Apoc's ki was difficult to sense so I really had no clue how deep it went. Gohan was as tired as I was though, he needed rest badly, even a few minutes would help.
"Trunks, Goten, go fight Apocalypse. Gohan and I are tired from overloading that machine and we need the rest, go kick his butt!" I ordered. Instantly Trunks and Goten both turned Super Saiyan and rushed Apoc from behind, catching him completely off guard. Gohan came back over to me and took a seat as well, powering down to normal. We observed the boys as they took on the freak of nature.
Trunks plowed forward and hit a double arm smash to Apoc's head, Goten gave him a right hook an instant later. Apoc's ki didn't seem to fluctuate though, while it was slightly lower than the boys', it did not decrease when they hit him over and over again. Punch, kick, kick, punch, punch, the flurry of blows from the boys connected every time and did almost nothing. It was knocking him around, but it wasn't decreasing his power at all, like he was hiding its true depths. Trunks and Goten began to falter as they had lost a lot of ki as well, the rest spent on fighting Apoc. The boys backed up and fired blasts at the same time. Both connected, leaving Apoc's armor bruised and smoking slightly, Apoc's ki stirred a little as well.
"Hey Gohan, you see that? The ki blasts actually did something, the blows didn't do anything! He must be vulnerable to ki blasts!" I said, a little excited.
Gohan sighed, "Good plan, but we're all a little beat up to handle that task, the boys are almost done. You're not doing any better than them, and if I try to push the second level, I may burn all my ki up before I reach it. I don't think it will work." I pondered that one for a minute or two. All of a sudden there was a huge crash in the room as something came through the ceiling. It was something big and made of metal, and a booming voice.
"RENEGADE MUTANTS LOCATED, INJURIES PRESENT! NEW CONTACTS DETECTED, UNKNOWN MUTANTS, INITIATE CAPTURE OF UNKNOWN MUTANTS!"
"I don't believe it, its the Sentinels! They must have followed me when I destroyed their base," I said.
"Argh! That is enough of this ridiculous interference!" Apocalypse shouted. Then his ki began to rise sharply, then impossibly higher, leaving me wondering how we missed that about him. The boys backed away to observe. Then he started to grow bigger, quickly rising out of the ceiling. Soon his feet were as big as the Sentinels feet were. After a few foot movements, the rest of the roof came down on us.
Shifting around under the rubble, me and the others emerged slowly. Above us there was a huge aerial battle taking place. Apoc was taking on all of the Sentinels that had arrived, and there were plenty, probably somewhere around fifty. Apoc's left arm began to change into some sort of huge claw like blade, and it was beheading Sentinel's right and left. Trunks and Goten were about a hundred feet away by now, they had to move farther away to avoid the huge feet at the time.
"Hey Gohan, what if I were to donate some energy to you while you try and hit your maximum? Would that work?" I suggested.
Gohan looked unsure of himself, "It might, but you may not have enough left to give now," he said in a worried voice.
"Don't worry about me, just get that big freak. I'll be ok!" I said, stepping back and raising my hands toward him.
"Just be careful," he said, spreading his legs in a powerup type stance, "Go when you're ready!" I pushed my ki out in a controlled state and allowed it to enter his body slowly. He shot back up to Super Saiyan and absorbed it well, continuing to build towards his higher level. I poured my ki into him to insure the process. He began to slow his powerup, but stopped quickly, "It's not enough Verto, I can't make it. Save your energy, it won't do well to waste it," he said, topping off.
"Oh come on Gohan, I've still got a lot to give, now get ready for some more!" I shouted, turning Super Saiyan and pouring more in.
"Verto Stop! If you give me anymore you're going to pass out, or worse. It might be enough to blast that freak right now though if I get a good shot at him. Now stop before you hurt yourself!" Gohan ordered, a little sharper now to get his point across. I sighed and stopped releasing my energy, he was right about it anyway.
"Good boy, now stand back!" he shouted, getting into position. "Kaaa...meeeeee," As he powered up the blast, Apoc was finishing off the remaining Sentinels. "Haaaa...meeee," Apoc destroyed the last one only to turn around and see Gohan and the powerful blue beam developing behind him. He decreased his size back to normal and flew down straight at Gohan, in the perfect line of fire.
"Don't hold anything back Gohan, he's not going to give us another chance like this!" I heard Cyclops say behind me, he was holding the professor since he could not walk himself, the rest of the X-men were behind him.
"Right, I won't! HAAAAAAAA!" he screamed, letting the killer beam fly.
The blue wave of destruction smashed Apoc directly as he flew towards it. At first he struggled a bit to the powerful wave from the Super Saiyan. To my astonishment, he began pushing back against the wave, and gaining ground slowly.
"What? No way!" I shouted. I powered up with what little I had left, back to Super Saiyan, and firing a Galic Gun along side Gohan's beam to help out. Goten and Trunks flew over and did the same, creating one hell of a power display. With four Super Saiyans on him, Apoc faltered a little, and started to get pushed backward, but not badly, it evened out into a stalemate.
"Gohan, I can't hold this up much more!" I shouted. A large red beam shot into the mass of them along side ours, it was from Cyclops. Then I saw Storm hitting him with lightning on the backside. The stalemate continued, with me and the others rapidly running out of energy. Finally I could not sustain it any longer and I dropped out of Super Saiyan and off my feet. Goten and Trunks dropped out next, suffering a similar fate. The X-men retreated, their efforts not doing a damn thing. That left it Gohan vs. Apocalypse again, and Apoc gained ground more quickly as the fiery Saiyan began to run low on power. Finally Gohan shut off the beam so he didn't burn out, knowing it was not doing any good against this powerful foe. Apocalypse landed about twenty feet away from Gohan, with a sly smile on his face.
"I see you have come to your senses and realized that you cannot defeat me, even with your tremendous power. Since you destroyed my time gate, I will take your lives one by one. Let's start with you," Apocalypse cackled.
"Hey leave my big brother alone!" Goten shouted, standing up.
"Ah, its you. A pity I couldn't keep you under my control, you would've made quite the subordinate. You don't know the life you have thrown away, you would have anything you would ever want if you stayed with me. Too bad that I will have to kill you first now, had you stayed down I might have forgotten about you, what a shame!" Apocalypse laughed again, changing directions and walking straight at Goten.
"You leave him alone!" Trunks said, coming up beside Goten, "If you mess with one of us you mess with all of us!" Had I been able to, I would've displayed my overdrawn courage right then as well, but my body didn't feel like moving at the time.
"No boys, get away, right now before he attacks!" Gohan pleaded, knowing he wasn't close enough to stop Apocalypse should he attack. Instead the boys dropped into their fighting stances.
"Stupid fools!" Apocalypse shouted as he charged them. His first blow came at Trunks, knocking him away, then Goten got a kick sending him straight up in the air. Apoc held out his hand a fired a ki blast, something I didn't think he could do, straight at Goten. To my shock, the blast connected and Goten went flying into the distance. I heard him scream out in pain and then heard nothing as I lost sight of him when he dropped. Soon I felt his ki drop out of sensible range, which meant he was either suppressing it, was knocked out, or Apoc had killed him. The battlefield became silent, so silent that I swore I heard a snap, right before Gohan screamed a battle cry that would frighten the grim reaper.
I skidded along the ground as the energy from Gohan pushed me away from him. When the wind finally stopped and the dust settled, I spotted Gohan standing still in the epicenter of a raging Saiyan earthquake. His hair was sticking all the way up and there was lightning streaking through his body, but not even affecting him, he had ascended back to the second level. I had only seen this a few times from Vegeta, and only when Piccolo was having a good sparing day shortly before Vegeta ruined it, but the intensity of Vegeta's Super Saiyan two transformation did not have shit on Gohan's. Vegeta was always the king of control no matter what form despite his appearance, Gohan had just plain lost it. Apocalypse didn't seem to react at all, like nothing had changed. Boy was he wrong, there was a rather large difference between his and Gohan's power now and Gohan looked deathly calm. He phased out of sight and I was unable to follow him. All of a sudden he appeared next to me, set Trunks down and vanished again. He was back an instant later, an unconscious Goten cradled in his arms, who he set down next to Trunks.
"Stay here, I'm finishing this freak off," he said coldly. He vanished again and instantly Apoc was clutching his gut. Gohan's single blow had cracked Apoc's suit of armor and had punched into the internal area and pulled out a bunch of wires from the suits systems.
Apocalypse doubled over in pain, "How, how is this possible?"
"For every great evil, there is a greater good, now die!" Gohan said, reappearing behind and knife handing the back of Apoc's head and taking it clean off. Then he blasted the remains into dust.
Power levels
Mutants and Sinister remain the same
Verto, Goten and Trunks remain the same (drops as power drains)
Gohan 45,000,000, Super Saiyan: 160,000,000 (drops as power drains), SS2: 310,000,000
Apocalypse 50,000,000, Full power: 190,000,000
Sentinels: 25,000