Chapter Seven: The New Rival
Gohan flew straight for Dr. Gero's lab… or where it should be. Somewhere in the mountains. He hadn't even been there before. Hopes that this would be a quick and easy task turned fairly dim. Gohan didn't even know where to start.
He would have gone a bit faster but he didn't want any more unwanted suspicion from Trunks. He was sure the purple haired boy was talented at sensing high level ki's. Gohan caught a tinge of a strong power level behind him. But as sudden as it had come, it was gone. Trying hard to convince himself he wasn't being followed, Gohan sped up. He was sure he was going too fast for the human eye now.
Almost a second too late, Gohan spotted two familiar faces underneath him. Afraid they would sense him, Gohan powered down and gently fell onto a nearby tree branch. The androids seemed to be talking, or arguing. Either or they hadn't noticed him… yet.
Gohan realized it too late. He was concentrating on blending into the nature about him when the branch he was standing on gave a violent jerk. Gohan gripped the tree's bark behind him with his hands trying to stay upwards. He knew if he used flight it would be no use. Gohan fastened his ankles about the branch before it began its fall. Panting heavily, Gohan looked over to see if the Androids had heard him. Lucky for Gohan, they were still fighting. But it seemed that fate was not completely on his side. A small elegant butterfly found the tip of Gohan's nose to be a wonderful place to rest. Using his gift of hover, Gohan let go of the tree carefully and reached up to catch the butterfly so it wouldn't alert the androids. His eyes' crossed, Gohan reached upwards slowly when a strange sensation flowed him…
Gohan sneezed.
18 eyed 17 almost lazily. They seemed to say kill it when you find it written all over them. 17 nodded and walked to the place where the sneeze had come from. Losing his balance, Gohan toppled down the tree with the tree branch hitting him smartly on the head. Rubbing the sore the branch had made, Gohan climbed to his feet just to come face to face with a rather amused android.
"Now what do we have here?" 17 smiled grabbing Gohan's wrist and pulling him out into the opened for 18 to see.
Gohan had no choice but to play along…
"Let me go!" Gohan shouted not making hardly any attempts to escape knowing that one rough tug and he could rip 17's arm off.
"What do you think 18?" 17 smirked, looking forward to another kill.
"Let him go, 17," 18 said lazily. "Then shoot him down. Like always."
"Aw 18. You're no fun," 17 snapped at his sister. "You can't give away the ending!"
He released his grip on Gohan's wrist. Gohan stood on the spot not really knowing if he should play run for you life, or scared stiff. He decided on scared stiff. Maybe he would show less of his strength that way.
"I want to actually put some pain into this one," 17 smiled evilly. "We gave all the others too clean of deaths. I want to hear the boy scream for mercy."
He then began laughing in the most awful way. Gohan found his anger boiling up to its breaking point. 17 didn't notice the ground beginning to spark blue electricity. But 18 was watching Gohan. Her eyes widened at the look of extreme anger on his face. He went suddenly from a harmless boy to a warrior planning a way to attack… It seemed the boy had felt her gaze. The anger vanished in a instant as if it was never there. But… no fear replaced it. It was if he was acting this whole thing… as if he was trying not to harm them.
18 had seen plenty of anger before. Some from parents that had lost their children. Some from children who had lost their parents. But this boy. She had never even seen him before… and his anger for them was so powerful it was overwhelming. Only one other person had this much anger… but 18 had watched him fry by their key blasts just last night. Had he indeed be right in his words…?
18 glared down at the fallen warrior with disgust as the rain covered the whole area. His chest was still rising slightly indicating he was still alive for a little while longer. His mouth hung opened in a unfinished scream. The masses of black hair lay limp and tangled upon his head. His amber eyes were upon her hate radiating in them. Crimson blood trickled down his chin as he sputtered, "L…live wh-while... you... you can..."
His eyes rolled back into his head leaving vacant white abysses. He was finally gone. Their greatest rival was finally dead. But as 18 looked down upon his body she felt a horrible unease. His last words nothing special but they bore into her heart like a flaming quill inscribing her and her brother's doom with it. Another cold chill swept down her spine as another of his words flashed through her head.
'There will be more like me. You may kill me but there will just be someone else to take my place.'
She let out a visible shiver. 18 drew back her leg and bending it carefully at the knee; kicked the lifeless body with all her might so he tipped over with his face into the deep puddle. Rain pelted her face harder making her cheeks sting. She kicked the inanimate body over and over with kick after violent kick. 17 stared at her bewildered, "By Kami, sister. Leave him be."
She wiped her boots off in the grass and turned to her brother. Her blue eyes had a wild flame in them.
"His expression pissed me off…" She hissed.
"Are you okay, 18?" 17 asked as 18 gave herself a little shake.
"Fine," She snapped. "Just kill the brat if you must."
Gohan blinked as 17 turned his attention back to him. 17 smiled sinisterly. A golden ki blast melted out of his palm as he gripped it like a baseball. Gohan swallowed hard. He wasn't this good at acting. If this blast didn't phase him, he was in trouble… if it did, he was in deeper doo doo.
17 lifted his hand when 18 grabbed him by the wrist,
"Wait a minute, 17," 18 snapped. "Let's let this one go."
"Let him go?!" 17 cried as if the very idea was inhuman.
"I promise you'll get the fight you want brother… but first," 18 turned to Gohan. "You must train boy. Then we'll come find you. If you are strong enough by then… we might even spare you life."
"What are you doing, 18?!" 17 exclaimed.
"Our only decent rival died last night. Let's have some fun in making a new one," 18 whispered to him.
17 looked disappointed but nodded, "Okay…"
"Is that fair, boy?" 18 hissed to Gohan.
"Yes." Gohan said feeling as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulder. "It is."
"Good. Train hard," 18 smiled almost humanly.
She and 17 took to the skies. Gohan watched them leave at bit baffled of what had happened. Had 18 spared his life for a reason? Or was it because she knew who he was?
"Shoot! I better hurry!"
Trunks helped his mother lay Gohan's body on the wooden rack. Suddenly he felt a ripple in the air. Like a powerful explosion. Trunks' heart leapt into his throat.
"Mom! I think Goten is in trouble!" Trunks cried.
He grabbed Bulma by the wrist and ran with her back to the car. The car was empty and there was no sign of Goten anywhere.
"Goten?! Goten?!" Bulma shouted in worry. "Goten, where did you go?!"
"Goten?!" Trunks shouted… Kami, please let him be alive.
"Here I am!" A chipper voice called out from behind them.
Bulma and Trunks turned to see Goten skip up to them a broad smile about his face and something behind his back.
"Goten! I told you to stay by the car!" Bulma scolded.
"Oh… sorry," Goten said softly. "I just heard a noise and… I found this."
Goten pulled out from behind the most adorable looking golden retriever puppy imaginable. Bulma's eyes lit up with watery adoration at the sight. Trunks, on the other hand, sneered.
"Didn't you realize you could have been killed?!" Trunks yelled at Goten making him cower. "Those androids don't care about anything! They'd rip you apart! You have to be more careful!!!"
"Somehow that conversation seems familiar," Bulma said with a smug smile.
Trunks blushed lightly. Goten snickered and handed Trunks the pup, "Here. You can have him, Trunks. He can be your best friend."
Trunks handed the pup back hastily as if it had germs.
"I already had a best friend," Trunks said darkly. "I don't need a replacement."
Goten and the pup both looked slightly rejected but Trunks couldn't careless. Nobody could take the place of Gohan. No one…
Gohan had to stiffen a gasp of horror at the sight of the body that they were burning. The puppy let out a small whimper from down at Gohan's feet. It slunk its tail between its legs.
It was a man in his late twenties. His face was so empty and pale it was painful to the eyes. He was defaced with a deep scar that ran from one side of his face to the other. He had no left arm, only a empty sleeve. It was easy to believe that it was someone else… but Gohan could feel in his heart that that body was his. A small tear rolled down his cheek not for himself but for Trunks. Trunks had said that he had been his mentor. Gohan must have come right when he had died.
"As one door closes another opens," Gohan whispered softly to himself recalling his Mother reciting the same to him when Goten had been born.
"What did you say?" Bulma asked curiously.
"Nothing."
Bulma gripped the flaming torch and set the wood on fire… Gohan had to watch his own face disappear in flames.
"Goodbye Gohan," Trunks whispered.
Gohan looked over at Trunks who began to rub his eyes roughly to hide his tears.
"I'm sorry, Trunks…"Gohan whispered. "I'm so sorry."
And somewhere in the shadows, the amber eyes watched…
To Be Continued…
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