Chapter 5- Ember to Inferno

The explosion from the other end of the city shook Capsule Corp to its very foundation. Bulma held the crying Trunks tightly and backed against the wall as Piccolo and Vegeta struggled to keep their balance.

"You're right Vegeta. That was definitely Gohan but his Ki...", Piccolo trailed off. Vegeta finished the Namek's sentence almost immediately.

"…is evil…"

Bulma inhaled sharply and clutched Trunks tighter.

"Gohan? Evil? It doesn't make any sense…he's always been such a sweet boy…ever since I met him…", Bulma said to the others. In her mind she was reliving the day she first met Gohan.

Goku jumped down from Flying Nimbus into the front yard of the Kame House. He was carrying a young child in his arms; the little boy looked curious yet scared.

"We're here!", Goku yelled with a wave. Bulma rushed out the door with Krillin and Master Roshi to meet him.

"Goku!", they yelled simultaneously. As they walked towards their old friend, they noticed the small child in his arms.

"But…who's the kid Goku? You babysitting?", Krillin had asked. Goku smiled and chuckled as he set the little boy down.

"He's mine!", Goku exclaimed. The boy was now standing firmly on the ground, but had a death grip on his father's pants, obviously terrified.

"SAY WHAT? 'YOURS' AS IN YOURS?", yelled Bulma, her eyes widening in shock. Goku chuckled more and turned his son towards Bulma, Krillin and Master Roshi.

"Yeah, s'wrong with that? Say hi, squirt.", Goku said. His son gave a slight smile and obeyed Goku.

"Hello.", the young child squeaked shyly. Goku spoke for his son.

"His name is Gohan."

Bulma stepped forward and greeted the child.

"Hello there! Gohan honey, how old are you?", Bulma asked, kneeling to the boy's level and smiling. Gohan clung to his father's pants tighter as Bulma came closer, but still responded, holding up four of his short fingers.

"This many!", Gohan exclaimed with a childish smile.

Snapping back to reality Bulma was overwhelmed with sadness.

"He can't be evil…", she said, hugging Trunks tightly. Vegeta glared in her direction.

"Wake up woman! His Inner Saiyan has been released and he is no longer the boy you remember. There is a single, Saiyan instinct going through his mind right now. And that instinct is telling his to kill everything in his path.", Vegeta snarled at his wife. Piccolo stood up straight, his ribs finally healing.

"Vegeta…this Inner Saiyan rage…how do we stop it?", Piccolo asked the Saiyan prince. Vegeta scoffed at Piccolo and leaned against the pillar in the middle of the gravity room with his arms crossed.

"There is only one way to stop his rage. You need to remove his tail. Good luck, Namek.", Vegeta grinned as he turned to restart the gravity machine. Piccolo growled and took a step forward.

"Vegeta, I need your help. I can't do this alone.", Piccolo said quickly. Vegeta turned and glared at the Namek.

"He is your student, your friend, your responsibility. Tell me, why should I help you, Namek?", Vegeta said pointing a finger at Piccolo. Gohan's teacher responded instantly, playing on Vegeta's pride.

"Because, Vegeta, he is stronger than you. He is stronger than me. He's even stronger than Goku. And he will kill you when he finds you. I know you can't stand the idea of being beaten by Goku, much less being beaten by his son. You have no choice.", Piccolo said, his stony expression not changing. Vegeta bared his teeth and clenched his fists, growling.

"Damn you, Namek. You're right. Fine, I'll help you, hopefully I'll be able to stifle my vomit long enough. What's the plan?"

-Meanwhile, southwest of Capsule Corp.-

Gohan saw nothing but a sea of red. He had released a blast of energy into the group of teenagers, easily killing all but one of them. The remaining one was lying in a pool of his own blood, his legs wrecked and twisted. He was trying to crawl away.

"N-No! Leave me alone!", yelled the crying teenager as he frantically tried to escape. Gohan's conscience shuddered but a dark voice inside of him kept him moving forward.

"He is a parasite…kill him…"

Gohan recognized the voice…it was so familiar…his own voice. It was telling him to kill…and for some reason…Gohan couldn't disobey. He approached the teenager and looked at him, hate sparkling in the demi-Saiyan's black eyes.

"P-Please! D-D-Don't kill me!", pleaded the teen who was still trying to crawl away, but with his legs crippled, he hadn't gotten more than two feet. Gohan only grinned at the teenager's cries and reached down, picking up the boy by his shaggy brown hair. The teenager screamed in pain and he was lifted a foot off the ground. Gohan looked at the boy who was struggling to no avail to free himself.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAH! I DIDN'T MEAN IT, MAN! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!", the teen screamed when Gohan tightened his grip on the boy's scalp. Gohan narrowed his eyes and spoke to the teenager, his voice almost conversational.

"You're no different than Cell. And that means…you deserve the same fate as Cell…death."

With that, Gohan held the boy higher with his left hand and wrapped his right hand around the boy's throat. The teenager's screams became a gurgle as Gohan's hand tightened around his larynx. The half-Saiyan smirked at the teenager and with one swift motion, closed his fist and pulled, ripping the teenager's throat cleanly out of his neck. A wet gurgling noise came from the hole in the boy's throat as tiny droplets of blood sprayed, hitting Gohan in the face and forming tiny crimson lakes on the sidewalk. The demi-Saiyan dropped the twitching body, which gave one final spasm before dying. Gohan looked up and noticed that there were other people in the area, some staring in terror, others running away.

"Kill…them…all…"

Gohan grinned evilly and slowed walked forward, raising his hands and firing thin, piercing Ki beams at everything and anything at moved. He looked to his left and noticed a little girl, no more than four years old, sitting on the sidewalk, crying. The half-Saiyan walked up to the girl and stood over her, grinning. The little girl looked up and saw Gohan's open palm close to her head. Paralyzed with fear, the girl couldn't do anything except let out a choked yelp as she saw a yellow, glowing ball form in his palm. Gohan was ready to obliterate the girl's face, but he heard a noise which made him lower his hand and look up. Gohan turned away from the girl, who took the opportunity to run for her life. The demi-Saiyan took no notice to the girl's leave and looked up at the sky, seeing a familiar black helicopter hovering overhead…

-In the Satan Copter-

Hercule was relaxing on his way to the fight, leaning against his seat with his eyes closed. Antonio was frantically going through paperwork and trying to find information about the situation. Hercule opened his eyes and looked at his agent.

"Antonio, you need to relax. It's just a couple of kids.", Satan said, closing his eyes again.

"Champ, the situation has escalated. You won't be breaking up a fight anymore, you'll be taking down a terrorist.", Antonio said. Mr. Satan opened his eyes yet again and looked at his panicky agent.

"A terrorist, eh? Like with guns? I can handle that. Relax.", Hercule replied coolly. Antonio shook his head.

"No, not with guns, Champ. I've got the eyewitness report right here.", Antonio said.

"Well? Let's hear it!", Satan demanded. Antonio nodded and cleared his throat before beginning.

"At approximately 9: 23 this morning, a group of teenagers were attacked on their way to school by a single aggressor. The aggressor killed some of the teenagers but there is no body count yet, since no one has gone in yet.", Antonio read from the sheet of paper. Hercule raised his eyebrow.

"Ok…so its more serious…I suppose I'll need to beat him like I did Cell…", Hercule lied. Antonio nodded and continued reading.

"The terrorist has been described by witnesses as approximately 5'1, muscular build, green eyes and long, spiky blond hair.", Antonio read without looking up, not noticing Hercule's mouth drop open and his eyes widen.

"S-Say that again, Antonio…", Hercule said softly. Again, Antonio spoke without looking up.

"5'1, muscular build, green eyes, and long spiky blond hair…", Antonio repeated. Hercule's mind flashed back to the boy from the Cell Games who single handedly beat Cell. Then, he remembered to the Intergalactic Tournament where the same boy defeated the ruthless Bojack.

"Maybe it's just a coincidence…lots of people have green eyes and blond hair…", Hercule thought to himself as Antonio continued.

"…destroying half of the Allen's bakery and then moving on to blow up buildings at random as he walked down the street. Right now he's on-", Antonio was interrupted by Hercule.

"Antonio…how was he blowing up the buildings? Explosives?", Hercule asked, leaning forward in his seat.

"That's where it gets weird, Champ. He didn't use explosives. All four of the witnesses said he shot some kind of yellow matter from his hands which exploded on contact."

"SHIT!"

"That's what he used to kill the teenagers.", Antonio said as the helicopter stopped moving forward and began to hover over the street.

"Here we are, Champ. Rope down and stop the kid. He's only a couple blocks away.", Antonio said as he began tying a rope to the floor of the helicopter and throwing it out the door.

"Damn damn damn damn. He was one of the good guys…why is he destroying stuff? This is bad. Damn damn damn damn.", was all Hercule could think. The only thing he could think to do is twist his face in pain and try a plan that had worked before.

"You know, now that I think about it…I kinda have stomach ache. Ohhhh! The pain! My chronic stomach aches are coming back! Gaaah!", Hercule yelled, bending over with a faked pain. Antonio looked over the Champ with a raised eyebrow and realized what he was doing.

"Champ, I'm the only person who you don't fool with that trick. I know you don't want the police to lose respect, but you need to take care of this. So…GO!", Antonio finished his sentence and with his foot, quickly pushed Hercule out the open door of the helicopter.

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!", Hercule screamed as he fell to the ground, grasping the rope to slow his fall. He hit the ground with a thud, but stood up, rubbing his head and looked up at the helicopter. Antonio grinned sheepishly out the window and yelled as the helicopter began to pull away.

"GOOD LUCK CHAMP!", yelled Antonio when the helicopter turned and left. Hercule stared for a while and then extended his middle finger towards the departing helicopter. He turned and began to walk towards where the kid was last spotted.

"I suppose I can wait…that kid's friends hafta try and stop him right? After they stop him I can swoop in and take credit again. That is…if I don't die first…"

-Meanwhile, on Snake Way-

King Kai shifted uncomfortably, staring down into the clouds that led to Hell. Standing on the edge of the cliff, King Kai could sense Goku's son and the things he was doing.

"This is not good…if someone doesn't stop him, the Earth will be destroyed…"

Just then, Goku came out of their shelter and started talking. King Kai turned to face him.

"Hey King Kai! Come inside! There is the funniest show on…TV…", Goku trailed off when he saw the concerned look on his teacher's face.

"What's the matter, King Kai? You don't stand on that edge unless…is something wrong on Earth?", Goku asked, worriedly. King Kai looked up at Goku and frowned.

"Something is gravely wrong on Earth, Goku…there is a threat with powers beyond any fighter in the galaxy…", King Kai responded, his antennae twitching as he felt Gohan destroy another building.

"What? Who?", Goku yelled in a panic. King Kai groaned and responded.

"Gohan…"