A/N: Wow, over 75 reviews! That's pretty exciting. Just thought I'd give
you all a little heads up, I probably won't be updating for a couple of
days as my mother and I both have birthdays this weekend (Saturday and
Sunday) so I'm not going to have much time. I'll try and get the next
chapter up during the middle of the week if I can, if not then for sure by
next Saturday.
Limelie and Nasuren: You flatter me to the point of blushing (or maybe to the point of becoming big headed) in thinking that this is that good of a story. Thank you very much!
Nadz: Thanks for all of your reviews on Wednesday they were all very helpful (you pointed out some things that I hadn't even thought about) and especially for the info on Uubu and Vegeta. As for your question about how Ammit knew that Pan and Akira would be on New Namek, the truth is that I forgot to put in a reason. What I was going to do is to have the Supreme Kai tell Akira that Ammit's forces were moving from planet to planet and wiping out their inhabitants as a sort of cleansing process. So it was mostly just a handy coincidence that they attacked that planet at that moment.
.
Chapter 40
Goten watched with satisfaction as Mar hit the ground and lay still. Then he turned to Chait and smiled. "Well, whose next?"
Before the cat-like alien could respond a human-looking warrior with a white mohawk that ran down to the middle of his back stepped forward. "Hinun!" Chait called out, but the warrior was already speeding towards the Super Saiyan.
Goten smirked as he waited for the attack. Hinun threw several punches and kicks, but the Saiyan easily dodged them all, waiting for his opening. As the mohawked fighter became more frustrated at his inability to land a blow, his attacks became sloppy. Finally Goten hit him in the chest and then drove his knee into Hinun's stomach, doubling him over. The Saiyan kicked him in the face, sending him flying into the air, then appeared above him and fired a huge ki blast that sent the weak fighter crashing to earth, killing him before he even hit the dirt.
Goten remained hovering in the air, waiting to see whom he would face next. He'd been lucky so far that the aliens had kept fighting him one on one, but now that their numbers were beginning to dwindle, he knew it was only a matter of time before they abandoned the obviously failing strategy and attacked him en mass. However, they did not seem ready to give up on it yet as a small dark skinned alien that was shaped very much like the stereotypical demon minus the large horns floated into the air and faced him.
"You have proven yourself to be quite an impressive fighter so far, but Ladon, Mar, and Hinun were three of the weaker fighters under Chiat's command. I am called Itztli and I am not one of the weak ones," the alien's voice was soft and feminine. Her incredibly long and powerful- looking tail swished behind her as she spoke. The tail, Goten noticed, had a sharp, barbed tip at the end.
Suddenly the creature's long tail flashed out with amazing speed, Goten managed to move just fast enough to keep his head on his shoulders, but still felt the sting of the tail slicing into his cheek. He could feel warm blood running down the side of his face, but didn't bother to try to wipe it away. If his enemy was this fast, then all of his attention needed to be focused on her if he was going to make it out of this fight alive.
The sharp tail sped towards him again and Goten dodged to the side. His senses flared and he ducked just in time to avoid a ki blast from Chiat; the Saiyan turned to fire a blast back at the large cat, but was punched in the side of the head by Itztli. Goten hit the ground and plowed through the dirt for several yards before he was able to flip out of the newly formed ditch and land on his feet.
He looked up just in time to see a huge ki blast coming at him. Goten powered up to Super Saiyan 2 and swatted the blast back over his head; it landed a few miles away, creating a large mushroom cloud and shaking the ground under his feet.
Three more blasts sped towards him, he knew he couldn't block them all so he shot into the sky. A second later the three blasts hit the ground where he'd been standing a moment before; they exploded with such force that the Super Saiyan was sent flying end over end. He hadn't even managed to regain control of his flight when he was hit from above by Itztli and sent crashing into the earth.
Goten was up in a heartbeat and chasing after her. The two hovered a few feet off the ground, trading blows. The Super Saiyan could feel his opponent weakening as he began to get more attacks past her defenses. He flashed her a cocky smile as he threw a powerful punch; she blocked and grinned evilly.
Suddenly a searing pain ripped into his right shoulder blade and then out his chest, his right arm fell uselessly to his side. Goten looked down in surprise at the sharp spike that was now sticking out of his chest. The alien had been baiting him with a show of weakness and in his cockiness he hadn't noticed her tail swing around behind him until it was too late. Itztli's smile grew wider as she pushed more of her tail into the gaping wound in his back until finally the barbed end pushed through and fastened into his flesh. She had him like a fish on a hook.
The dark skinned alien dropped out of the sky, dragging the rapidly weakening Saiyan down with her. Goten hit the ground hard and fell to his knees, struggling to breathe. With a mighty tug of her tail, Itztli lifted him into the air and then smashed him back into the dirt. Goten nearly passed out from the pain, but before he could, she whipped him around and drove him through some large nearby trees. Then she dragged him face first across the dirt and lifted him up so he was looking into her face.
"So mighty Saiyan, do you see now why this planet will fall? Why you and your friends will die at the hands of those that serve the Dark Lord? You are a powerful warrior, but you could not stand against us and we are not even the mightiest of Ammit's warriors."
Goten could barely hear Itztli's taunts, his mind was clouded with fatigue and pain. His eyes drifted shut and then an image broke through the clouds.
It was his father.
"Goten," Goku called to him, "Goten! I know it hurts son, but you must fight back! You must stay strong, I know you can do it."
The image of his father faded and was replaced by a beautiful, brown haired woman.
"Goten, my angel," Valese said. "It's time for you to wake up and fight back. Please do it for me," her hand dropped to her stomach and she smiled, "...for both of us."
Goten's eyes snapped open as a surge of rage fueled power flowed through him.
"Oh, waking up so soon are we? Too bad, I was enjoying watching your life slip away."
"I hate to disappoint you...but...I'm not...through yet!" Goten grasped the barbed tail that was sticking out of his chest with his left hand. The sharp edge sliced into his hands, but he barely felt the pain. Itztli's eyes grew wide as the Saiyan pulled the barb away from his chest, bringing more of her tail through his back in the process. Once he was no longer hooked on the tail he let go and brought his left hand up, his golden aura shinning around it, and then in one clean swipe, sliced the sharp end off.
Itztli shrieked in pain as her own blood sprayed her in the face. She pulled her tail out of Goten's back and he dropped to the ground.
The Super Saiyan began to power up, blood oozed from the gaping wounds in his chest and back. The loss of blood was making him dizzy, but he shook the cobwebs from his mind and powered up even more. Goten climbed to his feet and began to advance on the alien; she backed away from him in fear.
"Tha...that's impossible! You should be dead...No, I won't believe it... I won't fail!" She leapt at Goten, throwing a hard punch at his face. The Saiyan caught her fist and squeezed, breaking every bone in her hand as she cried out in pain.
"My friends and I may all die against Ammit's forces," Goten growled, throwing Itztli to the ground and powering up a ki blast, "but you won't be around to see it!" He fired the massive blast with his one good arm, ending her life before she had a chance to look shocked. Then he returned to the remaining six fighters. "Well?" he yelled, white-hot rage coursing through his veins, "Whose next?"
The aliens looked at each other nervously; they had never encountered a warrior like this. The cat alien called out something in a strange language and the others nodded; some of their confidence returning. All of the aliens except for Chiat moved closer together, each powering up a ki blast; then they brought their hands together and fired as one.
Goten's eyes went wide in surprise as the huge, red beam sped towards him. On instinct he called out, "Kame Hame Ha!" An enormous, blue blast erupted from his left hand and collided with the aliens' attack. At first the two beams seemed to be in a stalemate, but then slowly-but-surely, Goten's beam began pushing the red beam back as he poured more and more of his rapidly depleting energy into the attack.
As he continued to push his beam against that of his alien attackers, Goten's senses suddenly flared and without thinking he ducked under the blast that Chiat had aimed for his head. The split second distraction proved costly; the purple, swirling ball of ki was almost on top of him now. Goten put even more energy into his attack, but he knew he wouldn't have enough. Just as he was about try to get out of the way; Chiat fired a small blast into the huge ball of ki, it immediately exploded.
Goten was thrown through several large trees as his body cleared a path through the forest. Finally he slammed hard into a boulder and slumped to the ground. He tried to stand, but could only make it to his knees. The Saiyan bowed his head in defeat as Chiat floated over and landed a few feet a way from him.
"A valiant effort, but the end was still the same," the large cat said with a mocking laugh.
Goten pulled his good arm close to his chest and began to whisper, "Ka...me..."
"Of course if you'd been fighting the higher ranking members of Ammit's army, the fight would have ended much more quickly," Chiat continued.
"Ha...me..."
The alien noticed the Saiyan's whispering. "What was that? I'm sorry, but you'll have to speak a little louder if you want to beg for your life."
Goten lifted his head and smiled. His arm flew forward as he yelled, "HA!" The blue ki wave hit Chiat before he could even look scared, killing him instantly. The remaining aliens cried out in rage and charged the weakened Saiyan.
With the last of his strength, Goten pulled himself into a standing position, determined to die on his feet.
"I'm sorry Valese," he said quietly. "I'll be waiting for you when you crossover." He smiled sadly at the thought of his beautiful wife a moment before a fist smashed viciously into his face.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------
Akira had just pulled his new shirt over his head and was trying to stretch out his aching muscles when he felt something almost unnoticeable on the outer reaches of his senses.
The young Saiyan tried to focus on whatever it was that he had just felt, but it was gone. He spent a couple of minutes trying to decide if his mind was playing tricks on him or not. Finally he gave up and headed back to the gravity room."
Pan was standing in the middle of the room, white as a ghost.
"Pan? You okay?"
No response.
Akira placed his hand on her shoulder, "Hey, are you alright?"
She looked up at him, noticing his presence for the first time. "It...it was Goten," she said in a voice barely above a whisper. "I...I think he...he's..." she couldn't bring herself to say it.
Without another word Akira pulled her close to him and held her, after a moment she began to shake slightly as she cried. Akira gently rubbed his hand up and down her back, hoping to let her know that he was there for her without disturbing her grief.
After a couple of minutes, he finally broke the silence and said, "Look, I know this doesn't make things easier, but when this is all over with we can always wish him back, right?" Pan sniffled and nodded, but didn't reply.
The two Saiyans sat in silence for a long time until finally Pan wiped her face and gently pulled away from him.
"We need to start training again," Pan said with a determined look upon her face. "Whomever it was that hurt or...killed my uncle is going to pay when I get back to Earth," she glanced at Akira and noticed he still looked pale and unsteady. "Do you need to rest first?"
The young man powered up to Super Saiyan and shook his head. Pan smiled at her friend, then walked to the gravity machine, set the gravity to 500G and transformed as well. The two golden warriors began sparring the moment the gravity kicked in.
Limelie and Nasuren: You flatter me to the point of blushing (or maybe to the point of becoming big headed) in thinking that this is that good of a story. Thank you very much!
Nadz: Thanks for all of your reviews on Wednesday they were all very helpful (you pointed out some things that I hadn't even thought about) and especially for the info on Uubu and Vegeta. As for your question about how Ammit knew that Pan and Akira would be on New Namek, the truth is that I forgot to put in a reason. What I was going to do is to have the Supreme Kai tell Akira that Ammit's forces were moving from planet to planet and wiping out their inhabitants as a sort of cleansing process. So it was mostly just a handy coincidence that they attacked that planet at that moment.
.
Chapter 40
Goten watched with satisfaction as Mar hit the ground and lay still. Then he turned to Chait and smiled. "Well, whose next?"
Before the cat-like alien could respond a human-looking warrior with a white mohawk that ran down to the middle of his back stepped forward. "Hinun!" Chait called out, but the warrior was already speeding towards the Super Saiyan.
Goten smirked as he waited for the attack. Hinun threw several punches and kicks, but the Saiyan easily dodged them all, waiting for his opening. As the mohawked fighter became more frustrated at his inability to land a blow, his attacks became sloppy. Finally Goten hit him in the chest and then drove his knee into Hinun's stomach, doubling him over. The Saiyan kicked him in the face, sending him flying into the air, then appeared above him and fired a huge ki blast that sent the weak fighter crashing to earth, killing him before he even hit the dirt.
Goten remained hovering in the air, waiting to see whom he would face next. He'd been lucky so far that the aliens had kept fighting him one on one, but now that their numbers were beginning to dwindle, he knew it was only a matter of time before they abandoned the obviously failing strategy and attacked him en mass. However, they did not seem ready to give up on it yet as a small dark skinned alien that was shaped very much like the stereotypical demon minus the large horns floated into the air and faced him.
"You have proven yourself to be quite an impressive fighter so far, but Ladon, Mar, and Hinun were three of the weaker fighters under Chiat's command. I am called Itztli and I am not one of the weak ones," the alien's voice was soft and feminine. Her incredibly long and powerful- looking tail swished behind her as she spoke. The tail, Goten noticed, had a sharp, barbed tip at the end.
Suddenly the creature's long tail flashed out with amazing speed, Goten managed to move just fast enough to keep his head on his shoulders, but still felt the sting of the tail slicing into his cheek. He could feel warm blood running down the side of his face, but didn't bother to try to wipe it away. If his enemy was this fast, then all of his attention needed to be focused on her if he was going to make it out of this fight alive.
The sharp tail sped towards him again and Goten dodged to the side. His senses flared and he ducked just in time to avoid a ki blast from Chiat; the Saiyan turned to fire a blast back at the large cat, but was punched in the side of the head by Itztli. Goten hit the ground and plowed through the dirt for several yards before he was able to flip out of the newly formed ditch and land on his feet.
He looked up just in time to see a huge ki blast coming at him. Goten powered up to Super Saiyan 2 and swatted the blast back over his head; it landed a few miles away, creating a large mushroom cloud and shaking the ground under his feet.
Three more blasts sped towards him, he knew he couldn't block them all so he shot into the sky. A second later the three blasts hit the ground where he'd been standing a moment before; they exploded with such force that the Super Saiyan was sent flying end over end. He hadn't even managed to regain control of his flight when he was hit from above by Itztli and sent crashing into the earth.
Goten was up in a heartbeat and chasing after her. The two hovered a few feet off the ground, trading blows. The Super Saiyan could feel his opponent weakening as he began to get more attacks past her defenses. He flashed her a cocky smile as he threw a powerful punch; she blocked and grinned evilly.
Suddenly a searing pain ripped into his right shoulder blade and then out his chest, his right arm fell uselessly to his side. Goten looked down in surprise at the sharp spike that was now sticking out of his chest. The alien had been baiting him with a show of weakness and in his cockiness he hadn't noticed her tail swing around behind him until it was too late. Itztli's smile grew wider as she pushed more of her tail into the gaping wound in his back until finally the barbed end pushed through and fastened into his flesh. She had him like a fish on a hook.
The dark skinned alien dropped out of the sky, dragging the rapidly weakening Saiyan down with her. Goten hit the ground hard and fell to his knees, struggling to breathe. With a mighty tug of her tail, Itztli lifted him into the air and then smashed him back into the dirt. Goten nearly passed out from the pain, but before he could, she whipped him around and drove him through some large nearby trees. Then she dragged him face first across the dirt and lifted him up so he was looking into her face.
"So mighty Saiyan, do you see now why this planet will fall? Why you and your friends will die at the hands of those that serve the Dark Lord? You are a powerful warrior, but you could not stand against us and we are not even the mightiest of Ammit's warriors."
Goten could barely hear Itztli's taunts, his mind was clouded with fatigue and pain. His eyes drifted shut and then an image broke through the clouds.
It was his father.
"Goten," Goku called to him, "Goten! I know it hurts son, but you must fight back! You must stay strong, I know you can do it."
The image of his father faded and was replaced by a beautiful, brown haired woman.
"Goten, my angel," Valese said. "It's time for you to wake up and fight back. Please do it for me," her hand dropped to her stomach and she smiled, "...for both of us."
Goten's eyes snapped open as a surge of rage fueled power flowed through him.
"Oh, waking up so soon are we? Too bad, I was enjoying watching your life slip away."
"I hate to disappoint you...but...I'm not...through yet!" Goten grasped the barbed tail that was sticking out of his chest with his left hand. The sharp edge sliced into his hands, but he barely felt the pain. Itztli's eyes grew wide as the Saiyan pulled the barb away from his chest, bringing more of her tail through his back in the process. Once he was no longer hooked on the tail he let go and brought his left hand up, his golden aura shinning around it, and then in one clean swipe, sliced the sharp end off.
Itztli shrieked in pain as her own blood sprayed her in the face. She pulled her tail out of Goten's back and he dropped to the ground.
The Super Saiyan began to power up, blood oozed from the gaping wounds in his chest and back. The loss of blood was making him dizzy, but he shook the cobwebs from his mind and powered up even more. Goten climbed to his feet and began to advance on the alien; she backed away from him in fear.
"Tha...that's impossible! You should be dead...No, I won't believe it... I won't fail!" She leapt at Goten, throwing a hard punch at his face. The Saiyan caught her fist and squeezed, breaking every bone in her hand as she cried out in pain.
"My friends and I may all die against Ammit's forces," Goten growled, throwing Itztli to the ground and powering up a ki blast, "but you won't be around to see it!" He fired the massive blast with his one good arm, ending her life before she had a chance to look shocked. Then he returned to the remaining six fighters. "Well?" he yelled, white-hot rage coursing through his veins, "Whose next?"
The aliens looked at each other nervously; they had never encountered a warrior like this. The cat alien called out something in a strange language and the others nodded; some of their confidence returning. All of the aliens except for Chiat moved closer together, each powering up a ki blast; then they brought their hands together and fired as one.
Goten's eyes went wide in surprise as the huge, red beam sped towards him. On instinct he called out, "Kame Hame Ha!" An enormous, blue blast erupted from his left hand and collided with the aliens' attack. At first the two beams seemed to be in a stalemate, but then slowly-but-surely, Goten's beam began pushing the red beam back as he poured more and more of his rapidly depleting energy into the attack.
As he continued to push his beam against that of his alien attackers, Goten's senses suddenly flared and without thinking he ducked under the blast that Chiat had aimed for his head. The split second distraction proved costly; the purple, swirling ball of ki was almost on top of him now. Goten put even more energy into his attack, but he knew he wouldn't have enough. Just as he was about try to get out of the way; Chiat fired a small blast into the huge ball of ki, it immediately exploded.
Goten was thrown through several large trees as his body cleared a path through the forest. Finally he slammed hard into a boulder and slumped to the ground. He tried to stand, but could only make it to his knees. The Saiyan bowed his head in defeat as Chiat floated over and landed a few feet a way from him.
"A valiant effort, but the end was still the same," the large cat said with a mocking laugh.
Goten pulled his good arm close to his chest and began to whisper, "Ka...me..."
"Of course if you'd been fighting the higher ranking members of Ammit's army, the fight would have ended much more quickly," Chiat continued.
"Ha...me..."
The alien noticed the Saiyan's whispering. "What was that? I'm sorry, but you'll have to speak a little louder if you want to beg for your life."
Goten lifted his head and smiled. His arm flew forward as he yelled, "HA!" The blue ki wave hit Chiat before he could even look scared, killing him instantly. The remaining aliens cried out in rage and charged the weakened Saiyan.
With the last of his strength, Goten pulled himself into a standing position, determined to die on his feet.
"I'm sorry Valese," he said quietly. "I'll be waiting for you when you crossover." He smiled sadly at the thought of his beautiful wife a moment before a fist smashed viciously into his face.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------
Akira had just pulled his new shirt over his head and was trying to stretch out his aching muscles when he felt something almost unnoticeable on the outer reaches of his senses.
The young Saiyan tried to focus on whatever it was that he had just felt, but it was gone. He spent a couple of minutes trying to decide if his mind was playing tricks on him or not. Finally he gave up and headed back to the gravity room."
Pan was standing in the middle of the room, white as a ghost.
"Pan? You okay?"
No response.
Akira placed his hand on her shoulder, "Hey, are you alright?"
She looked up at him, noticing his presence for the first time. "It...it was Goten," she said in a voice barely above a whisper. "I...I think he...he's..." she couldn't bring herself to say it.
Without another word Akira pulled her close to him and held her, after a moment she began to shake slightly as she cried. Akira gently rubbed his hand up and down her back, hoping to let her know that he was there for her without disturbing her grief.
After a couple of minutes, he finally broke the silence and said, "Look, I know this doesn't make things easier, but when this is all over with we can always wish him back, right?" Pan sniffled and nodded, but didn't reply.
The two Saiyans sat in silence for a long time until finally Pan wiped her face and gently pulled away from him.
"We need to start training again," Pan said with a determined look upon her face. "Whomever it was that hurt or...killed my uncle is going to pay when I get back to Earth," she glanced at Akira and noticed he still looked pale and unsteady. "Do you need to rest first?"
The young man powered up to Super Saiyan and shook his head. Pan smiled at her friend, then walked to the gravity machine, set the gravity to 500G and transformed as well. The two golden warriors began sparring the moment the gravity kicked in.