Don't Look At Me Like That
By Moonraker One
Author's Note: I'm going to clear up an issue regarding the timeline of this story: this story takes place about a few months before the Budokai that leads up to the Buu saga. Goku died fighting Cell so far, and trained in Other World. Since none of the movies (Broly's first appearance included) were part of the series' timeline, I decided to put the first fight against Broly (where Goku kills him with an uppercut through the stomach) in the three year time period before the androids' appearance. Remember last chapter, Gohan said, "It's been nine years, Broly." ? That was a timeline clue. Sorry if it was a little weak.
CHAPTER FOUR - "Everybody's Got A Hungry Heart"
Gohan sat down next to his father, all the while trying desperately to think of a way to sum up the billions of thoughts he kept trying to quell. From his previous quarrel with Nakia, he developed an immediate queasy feeling against her. It was just something about the way she would fly off the deep end that turned him away from her. He could tell Goku was wrestling with the thought of how much training she needed, and exactly where to apply which lessons; a predictable thought for his father. Most likely, Gohan's own thoughts had never occurred to his dad. If they did, he shrugged them off easily.
"Um, dad?" his not-so-eloquent introduction to his thoughts did the trick, despite his beliefs. Goku turned to him and could right away read his son's mind, seeing all the worries plaguing the scholar/warrior. He had his own secrets to keep and he had to get this girl in shape for the evil that was coming, and at the same time he wished the upper kais—none of whom he knew even existed before North Kai's reminding—would have told him even a little about what he stood against. Even so, he knew this girl had unbelievable potential.
"Something on your mind, son?" Goku asked, uselessly; he already knew his son's thoughts. Gohan predictably shook his head.
"Nothing much, it's just…" he struggled for words, "…I don't think you know the complexity of what we're dealing with here." His slightly presumptuous statement getting through easily, was a shock to him. Goku put his hand on his son's shoulder.
"Gohan, Nakia has potential like I've never seen before. At Super Saiyan two she's just a little bit below my max of Super Saiyan three. I suspect that after this year in here's up, she'll outclass us all." The scholar scoffed, just like his dad predicted.
"But dad! Doesn't that make you the least bit nervous about her?!" Goku raised a questioning eyebrow, as though his son didn't understand some crucial aspect of what had just been said.
"Son, I'll admit, when I first thought of her power, I was frightened." Frightened, Gohan thought, could be just a little too mild an understatement. "But, she's not evil. With proper training, we'll never hear another peep from Broly. She'll inherit the power as her own, and possibly even improve upon it. I already believe she has a deeper reserve of ki than her predecessor." Gohan saw the moment, and acted on it by interrupting.
"Dad, that's my point! We beat Broly because he was crazed, and wasted a ton of energy! Even when she goes off half-cocked, she has almost perfect control and can predict movements better than her past life! If she's stronger than you, how the hell do you expect any of us to stand a chance?!" His harsh tone and sharp words didn't stress Goku, who had the patience of a saint, primarily, because he defined the word just by being alive. He rubbed his son's shoulder.
"Don't worry about it," he reassured, "because if you worry, you miss life. We'll be fine, and we need her. Another thing, you need the training in here too. Slacking off for seven years didn't help."
"Dad, mom said…"
"Chi-Chi has made stupid mistakes before! I always found a way to convince her that training was necessary. Don't feel ashamed; you'll get most of the training you need in here."
Nakia had, rather accidentally, overheard most of their conversation. Mixed feelings weighed on her mind, because on one hand, it angered her that she be used as a problem-fixing tool. Quickly, the other half of her brain reminded her that she posed a threat to lots of people, and every breath she could take were a gift from Goku's patience and his relentless denial of those (Vegeta) who wanted her dead. On several occasions, the well-experienced Saiyan could have done her in and justified it as the better interest of man-kind. The fact that he didn't amazed her as she swung fists at the air, regulating her ki with the skill of a master after only twenty minutes of keeping herself in Super Saiyan form.
Are you ever gonna avenge me, Broly's voice echoed in her mind. She rolled her eyes.
Blow off, she merely thought, silencing her inner demon by charging up further and propelling her fists at the wind. Unbeknownst to her, Gohan stood at the sidelines, carefully analyzing her stance, moves, and power as she blasted fists at a target that wasn't there. One thought Gohan found himself thinking, proved that even for the nerd in him, red blood coursed his arteries. How her curves suited her beautifully while she moved with the flow of aura. Although her skin looked as Caucasian as any other girl he knew, her gypsy heritage showed in the color of her hair, how it shined, and the very structure of her face; yet it wasn't a hindrance. In fact, it made her, well, her. Then he shook his head.
Pull your head out of the gutter, thought Gohan. If her beauty pulls you in, you'll forget the evil within. Prying his gaze off her figure proved a difficult—but not impossible—task. He flew over to his dad and began sparring to take his mind off her. She seemed to gain a good amount of skill just by swinging at the air. Goku didn't seem to notice the slight bit of distraction caused by the girl, but knew true to form if she was indeed to gain complete control over her own power, it would require the use of more direct training methods. "Gohan?" Goku said, halting the small sparring match with Gohan.
"Hmm?" was the reply.
"I'd like to spar with her myself for a moment before we all begin training as a group."
Gohan nodded and stepped aside, signaling for Nakia to step up to the plate with the skilled warrior who'd turned aside the likes of Frieza. Nakia and Goku bowed to each other, then immediately took up stance. She pressed the opening assault with a right hook, then a corresponding left, making sure to quickly duck beneath a straight punch sailed in as response to her opening moves. From the crouched position, she managed a hasty uppercut to his jaw, bending him backwards slightly, but he used the returning momentum to head-butt her, forcing her to be in the path of a gut jab. With his left hand, Goku went for a side punch to her head, but found it grabbed mid-swing, and a side kick sent in opposition, thrusting him to the ground a few feet away from her. The entire time period from opening punch to him being sent to the floor was less than two seconds.
"Can't say I didn't expect that," he quipped. "You're getting a lot better. Let's see how well we do at full power." Gohan stepped forward to interject the decision.
"Dad!" he argued. "Don't you think that's a bit of a bad idea?!" Goku shook his head, as if confused by the statement.
"No, I want to make sure I know what she's completely capable of." Saying his peace enabled him to be sure of himself as he powered up to Super Saiyan 3. She tightened her fists as she pulled at the surface of her inner pool of ki, expanding it out of herself, pushing herself to the limits of her power. At the peak of her apex of Super Saiyan 2, she almost equaled her much more experienced opponent. Looking straight into his eyes cleared her mind as she instantly ducked beneath a flying kick attempt. She then leaped to a standing position behind him, and threw a sideways-aimed kick that he barely avoided by disappearing. Reappearing beside her enabled him to drive his elbow into her side, throwing her backwards a bit. It would not deter her, however, from pressing a counterassault. The instant she got back on her feet she turned sideways to avoid a left hook, which put her in just the perfect position to drive her elbow into his face, then blast him away from her by delivering a side kick into his abdomen. She then came in straight-on for a double chop to his neck, which he avoided by grabbing both her wrists, although he found it extremely difficult to hold her back. Knowing he had only an instant to react, he kneed her in the chest, then delivered a high axe kick to her chin, the force of which throwing her a few feet backwards on the floor. He put his hands on his knees to recover his breath, but was completely amazed by what happened next.
Where he had burnt up almost a third of his starting power in just the few seconds he was in this form, but she leaped to her feet, with barely a fraction of her reserves used up. Truly, his foe had improved since he defeated Broly, those nine years prior. The legendary super Saiyan, in his crazed fury to eliminate Goku, failed to recognize that by wasting his power, he was leading only to his ultimate demise. She, however, already knew to exercise control over her energy.
"I can't believe how skilled you are," Goku complimented. "I see you've already surpassed your predecessor's limits. Take a short break and we'll continue." Gohan approached his father after he'd powered down to normal. It seemed like the powerful Saiyan hero had learned something important from his brief scuffle with the teen Saiyan-ess.
"Dad, it looked like she gave you more training than you gave her," he noticed.
Goku shook his head as he desperately struggled for breath. "Y…yeah," he stammered, "we've gotta go about this carefully. She looks to be in control, but if we push her, she might turn to Broly."
"Either of you ready for round three?" Both Saiyans groaned as they turned in surprise to face her; neither of them could see a significant decrease in power since the last two rounds ended. Goku struggled to catch his breath due to the fact that his Super Saiyan three roasted a good chunk of his ki, and Gohan doubted his own ability to put up much of a fight after seeing her systematically take apart his father with only the least amount of physical exertion. Nakia didn't understand her talents either; previously, she was just an ordinary teen. Now she was a Saiyan female that had the legendary power that only came once every thousand years. Feeling the depths of her reserve of ki, she felt as though it had no end, and from what Goku could tell, she nearly had twice the amount of reserve energy as him.
"Since she's already learning at an exponential rate," Goku noticed, "we might as well work to improve upon my limits. Gohan, just some ordinary sparring with us should get the fighting mode back into your system, and I need to work on my reserve so I can hold my apex longer. Okay?" Gohan and Nakia nodded, and threw themselves into combat stances. Goku grinned, and with a golden surge of energy, a second version of himself materialized next to the main body.
"Split form?!" Gohan cried. "That's Piccolo's technique!"
"Doubt he'll mind if I borrow it from him."
The struggle kicked off when Goku charged up to Super Saiyan two at the same time as his son doing the same thing, and they began the furious volley of kicks and punches with both sides doing their best to anticipate the other's moves. Meanwhile, the other Goku and Nakia made another attempt at full power. He knew the only way he could hope to outmatch her would be to push his own frame to its utmost limits with his Super Saiyan three. Thus he charged up to his maximum, and she went to Super Saiyan two, just like she had before. She launched the opening attack which involved a flying kick attempt to his face, a move that he narrowly predicted and avoided, allowing him to bring an uppercut to her chin, forcing her back only an instant. It didn't take half of that instant for her to elbow him in the chest and attempt a mid body chop that he ducked beneath at the last moment. Appearing behind her enabled him to do a standing side kick that caught her in her middle back, thrusting her to the floor, and he followed the whole thing up by appearing above her and sailing down with hopes to hit her in the back. She dematerialized and reappeared at his side and elbowed him directly in the head, or at least tried to. He avoided and tripped her with a sweep kick, but she jumped in front of him before he could follow through for a counterassault. With speed previously unheard of, even from her, she zipped around him the moment before he could land a jab to her gut, and kneed him in the back after slamming an elbow to his head. He used the downward momentum to ricochet off the ground and land on his feet, facing in the direction she was in, but noticed she was gone. Furiously he searched for his opponent.
Too late.
She whooshed directly in front of him and wasted no time in bringing an upward fist crashing into the space between his gut and his chest, dropping him to the ground, unconscious. The second form she'd been fighting became a golden ray of energy again, and merged with the main personality. However, Gohan and the main personality of Goku were the most confused and startled by the mysterious turn of events.
"That…simply was incredible," Goku panted, gathering his breath from not one, but two intense battles that went on at the same time. "I don't believe it. Already she's learned my attack style, and has developed several different ways of defeating it. How could she possibly understand my style already?!" Gohan didn't have a clue. All of a sudden, though, Nakia's calm demeanor became a foreboding symbol of what might lie ahead; she clutched her head in agony.
Let me out.
Broly's calm command from within her conflicted with her own thoughts and beliefs. However it wouldn't stop.
Let me out.
With each time saying it, the dark voice became more intense, more violent. As if to worsen matters, the agonizing pain which became apparent with each vigorous whip of her head from side to side, could only mean that she was struggling with the way her mind was functioning. A battle raged on, her consciousness struggling against Broly's soul.
LET ME OUT!
As a nervous Gohan hit his maximum, and his just-as-nervous father did the same, she no longer clutched her head in pain. Her fists clenched at her side could only mean that she'd lost her inner struggle. Bolts of pure energy shot off of her body as her aura showed itself, and her flashed golden—then yellowish green. Both Saiyans had seen this before, when on the false planet of Vegeta. The level of Super Saiyan Legendary was one that only the one true super Saiyan of myth could become, and it seemed to have the aura of the first level of super Saiyan, and the power of Super Saiyan two. Her once proud smile now symbolized as a beacon of evil: a furious grin.
Goku attempted to dodge but her speed improved to such a degree that he was caught by a flying knee to his side just before he could move. As a Super Saiyan three, he found he could recover quickly and reemerge for an attack on her frontally, while Gohan tried a rear assault. Despite their wonderfully harmonized melee, she used her speed to duck, causing their fists to collide with each other's faces; a screw-up which she capitalized upon by elbowing them both in their abdomens and backhanding them both in their faces, after which she leaped away from them.
Gohan, Goku telepathically signaled his son. Can you hear me? You try to distract her, because I think I can defeat her if there's more than one of me.
Are you sure?! Gohan shrieked in response. If she really has more power than this, you're in deep trouble.
Without saying another word, Gohan flew off to Nakia, and found himself swinging at air when she vanished before he could punch her. Thus, his distraction lasted only a brief instant, due to the fact that she appeared behind him and viciously drove her knee into his lower back, causing him to screech out in pain and fall limp to the floor. Thankfully for Goku, it was a second long enough for him to create two super Saiyan three versions of himself; his own body, and a split form.
He gritted his teeth and flew off to face her; only four hour's inside the chamber time and already he was fighting off Broly again.