Note 1: Good News! I updated Chapters 1 – 3. They are completely rewritten, 12,000 words of new, original content and dialogue. I've also edited Chapter 17 slightly (the part on the roof) and Chapter 7 (the middle of the ceremony). In addition to that, I went back and gave the Kikaruans a dialect. But the major announcement is that Chapters 1 – 3 are completely new and filled with new humor. If you'd like to crack a smile (especially during this drama stage of my story), the beginning of this tale is definitely the place to be ; )
Note 2: Also, now that I've written the part, I think I can prevent my story from becoming Rated M, and that's a good thing! Just be wary that the story eventually incorporates a few curse words into it while they are fighting, but this chapter is completely clean… except for a few moments when Evil Gohan really proves how sick and twisted he really is… Just don't say I didn't warn you...
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CHAPTER 49:
Nemesis
Somewhere, in the distance, a murder of crows flocked away by the hundreds, shrieking as an icy wind breathed its chill over the dead brown leaves. A gunshot was fired; the piercing hammer of a hunter's kill jolted among the red and orange trees. A silence hung on the split hairs of time. A moment passed, maybe a breath, as she looked into those black eyes that had no soul. They were the eyes of death, a dark abyss lined with pain, a suffering that sucked her life as she hung in mid-air, suspended by his cold hand.
It began to squeeze, and she felt an alarm in her mind scream for her to wake up, snap alert, to fight, to live, but everything in her being was paralyzed by a fear. Her body, her mind, her widened eyes were petrified, staring into his own, vaguely aware of her surroundings, choking, of air prying, stilled as it wailed for her to breathe. Everything was passing so fast, and yet everything felt like it was in slow motion. She was watching herself meet him, the one she once called father.
But he was gone. He was the empty shell of a man who used to be something, who used to mean something in life. But now, what she saw was a slave, a mindless nothing, a pawn of destruction as he withered under his own skin.
And it terrified her… that a man who once stood up for something in life had become a dark messenger, a demon of darkness, a nemesis…
His mouth curved to one side as he grinned, his eyebrows knotting as he gave a wild sneer. His eyes flashed red as his voice rose in a cackle, his body tremoring from his excitement as he grew louder and threw his head back and he laughed manically, "HeehahahahahaHAHA!"
And then something snapped in her.
In a dexterous move, she delivered a quick and hard kick, forcefully digging her knee into his abdomen. He faltered backward as his grip loosened, and Pan seized the moment, spiking her ki in a rage of yellow and white sparks. The blast of energy caught him off-guard and he dropped her as he stumbled back several steps.
Pan dropped to the ground, clutching her neck and wheezing as she quickly stood up and stepped back, narrowing her eyes as she grimaced. She wanted to say something, but she couldn't find her voice, her body was gasping as she tried to hold herself together and get into a battle stance, still holding her throbbing neck.
Gohan snickered as he stood up straight and then got into his own stance, his left arm forward and clenched. He opened his mouth with a sneer and said in a cold emotionless voice, "You've always been the stubborn one."
Pan panted still and wet her mouth as her eyes flickered between both of his. She frowned until she scowled, taking in deep breaths. "You…" Pan sneered to mirror his and clenched her fists, "Give me… back my father!"
He snickered again as he extended the fingers to display his left palm. "In the next life, perhaps."
Suddenly, without warning, a blood-red column of energy fired at full velocity toward her. Quick on her feet, Pan threw herself out of the way as it wailed past her and demolished the woods in a trail of fire and ash, plowing a hole straight through the forest. In the distance, a mountain suddenly exploded, blown to pebbles as it rained soot and burned silt.
Pan stood there gasping at the display and then turned her head to face him, her eyes wide as she realized this was it. There was no holding back now.
He sneered triumphantly as he took a step toward her. "I would recommend," his eyes were mad with power, "you hold still for this part." He leaned forward and cackled through his grin, "I wouldn't want you to suffer any more than you have to!" And then, as if he said something hilarious, he burst out into another maniacal laugh, his shoulders shaking with his sadistic pleasure.
Pan got into her battle stance again and sneered outwardly while her mind screamed in her bluff, "Leave now." She lowered her head so her eyes pierced his under her eyebrows, "And mind your own business with Baby."
"Lord Baby," Gohan sneered, "And all those who resist his power meet… unfortunate… endings." He chortled darkly as his grin returned, "Feel honored. He felt the need to send an elite to assassinate you." He huffed with a smirk, "Few others get that respect."
"I'll be honored when all of you are DEAD!" Pan hissed, "You killed Grandpa!"
"Enough!" Gohan formed a red ball in his right hand, and with his left foot he stepped forward and threw the blast at her at maximum speed. The air singed in its heat and Pan threw her hands up to block it, but in a split moment, Gohan phased out of sight and reappeared behind her, throwing another at her back as she deflected the first. Pan flew forward from the impact, screaming in pain as the heat singed her body. As she landed, she rolled and quickly got to her feet just in time to see Gohan phase out again.
Opening her senses, she spun and smacked the air behind her, sending Gohan back a few yards as she flew forward and threw punches to him, each one blocked effortlessly as he cackled in a sick and twisted delight. His arms were faster, and he was quicker to the punch as he retaliated and hit her left shoulder. She spun back and then shot for him again, her right arm reared back for the punch. But before she could land a hit, he phased out again and reappeared to her side, kicking her hard in the gut and sending her flying upward.
Pan caught herself and threw her hands before her, preparing an energy blast. But, feeling his presence appear by her side, she phrased out and appeared beside him, kicking him back. And then, as fast as her body could allow, she threw her hands before her and fired. But a knock to her head threw her off balance in the sky and with a quick double-punch, Gohan scored a hit right in her chest that sent her shooting to the ground.
Pan hit the forest floor in a mass of splinters and debris. Smoke singed her nostrils from the rising forest fire caused by Gohan's initial blast. Pan stood up to aim another blast at him, but failed to see him come out of the woods to the east, as fast as a dart. He shot a series of blasts at her, which she dodged as fast as she could, but the clouds of dust blocked her vision and she choked at the thick and ashy air.
Gohan tore up a tree from its roots and with a sneer, yelled "Dodge this!" With a mighty force behind his throw, he sent the tree hurling toward her, and at the last moment, fired a series of shots that splintered it into a hundred thousand shards aimed at her flesh. Pan threw her hands before her and fired a blast that incinerated the shards and left remnants of splinters as the energy tore though the clearing and aimed at Gohan. As a reflex, Gohan fired a retaliation shot to cancel hers, and then charged forward with his fists ready.
Pan dashed toward him as well, and they collided in an explosion of ki, all trees and boulders blown away or burned by the intense heat of the battle. Punches were thrown at maddening speed with Pan panting and sweating and Gohan cackling and dodging effortlessly. With a roundhouse kick, Gohan sent Pan flying back into rubble and then walked confidently forward, cracking his knuckles as if he were just warming up.
"Don't you see, Saiyan?" Gohan sneered, "This is just a game to me."
"One…" Pan panted as she rose from uprooted bushes and boulders, "…that you are not going to win!"
"No…" Gohan smirked menacingly, "Au contraire, little monkey." He put his hands before him again and sneered, "One that I am not going to lose!" With a blast of ki, Gohan sent a pulse of air toward Pan, knocking her off balance as he shouted, "HAAAA!"
Burning fire erupted from his hands, red flames of ki that spiraled toward her. It was too late for her to block it, and she took it head-on, thrown back with the pulse of tainted ki engulfing her in his power. Pan couldn't breathe as his energy rained on her. Her life was pounded by solid heat knocking the wind from her and immobilizing her as her skin was scorched and burned.
Gohan continued his rapid fire as he stepped closer, diabolically laughing over the heat and flames. "How is this!" He cackled, "Game over, Saiyan!"
"Noooo!" Pan resisted and raised her ki as far as it could go, shielding herself even for the briefest moment from his fire as she threw her hands before her and rained forth her own blue counterblasts. She took that time to wheeze, breathing hard as her body felt its first signs of fatigue.
She was trying. She had to try. No, she had to win! She had to defeat this evil incarnation of her father if she ever hoped to put an end to Baby and his tyrannical reign. She had to do it for her Papa… for Trunks, for all her family and friends, and for her grandpa! She would do it for him!
"NOOO!" With a sudden burst of energy, Pan found an inner power that flooded her. With a release of that energy, she screamed aloud and threw her power as a giant wave toward her nemesis.
Gohan was taken aback by the blow and was thrown against some charred stumps as ash rained from the sky. However, quick to his feet, Gohan recovered in a split moment and got back into a battle stance. His sneer was gone now, replaced by a sour scowl as he watched Pan get to her feet on wobbly legs.
"It would hurt a lot less if you just died!" Gohan sneered angrily to her.
Pan got into a battle stance and looked desperately to him as she tried to tap into that power she felt for that brief instant, finding it once again beyond her grasp. She breathed heavily and spit to her side as she clenched her fists.
"Don't do this, Papa." Pan looked hard at him, "Don't lose your own identity because Baby manipulates you."
"You fool," Gohan sneered, "Lord Baby liberated me! He set me free." His fists clenched tighter as he snarled, "And I would die for him."
Pan felt stings of hatred run through her heart, "And you would murder your own flesh and blood?"
Gohan paused a moment as his sneer rose into a snicker. "That didn't faze me when I killed Goku, now did it?" His sneer then rose to a trumphant cackle.
It was the tone in his voice that shattered her. He held no remorse. He held no guilt. He was just a body being used by Baby as a killing machine, and there was nothing Pan could do but watch as he suffered before her.
Her real father was in there somewhere. It was deep in his mind, but he was there, she knew it. Her Papa would never give into Baby so easily. He was a champion, a true warrior who defeated Cell! He was her hero. He was always strong and loving, and there was never a frown on his face. To see him like this sent chills through her. Her body trembled involuntarily as she stared at the monster before her.
She didn't want to hurt him. She instead wanted to hold him against her and tell him she missed him, that she forgave him, and that she loved him. But the more she looked at him, the more she realized there was no love in his heart. His eyes were as vacant as the soul that peered out from their black depths. He was just a shell, an emotionless body sent on a mission for his master. But there had to be hope for him. There had to be something! Anything!
Pan held in a sniffle as her eyes watered, already knowing the answer. "Papa…" Her eyebrows rose sadly as she bit her bottom lip and said in an almost-whisper, "Don't you love me anymore?"
Ashes rained down as smoke billowed from all around. A roar rose from the forest as the fire spread among the changing leaves of autumn. A great heat settled between them, blanketing the air in illusory waves. But Pan heard and saw none of it as she looked to her father and watched his hardened eyes as she took in deep breaths.
And then something happened. His eyes flickered for a moment and his face softened. He stood upright and looked at her strangely, as if considering something he had not thought on before.
"You're right." Gohan's lips formed into a slight grin and then widened to become one of his familiar shy smiles. "Baby has manipulated me. I can't believe it," he looked at her and shook his head with his smile, "You saw right through that."
"Papa…?" Pan's eyebrows twitched as she frowned in slight confusion.
"You are right, Pan." Gohan took a determined look, "I should fight this. I know I can do it. But…" He stepped back a bit and took a deep breath as if it were hard to say, "I can't do it alone, Pan."
Pan stood up and took a step toward him, "Papa, I want to support you! Let me support you! I'll help you!"
"Then come here," Gohan grinned and extended his arms widely, "Give your Papa a hug."
Pan stood still, her eyes widening as alarms went off in her mind. There was no way she could trust him. He was her enemy. He was the darkness that took her Grandpa away from her… But then again, he needed her more than anything right now. He couldn't do it alone, he was right. She wanted to help him, and if she didn't trust him, then how was she supposed to give him support? How was she helping him fight Baby?
"It's been so long, Pan." His grin softened as the wind picked up his hair, "You've grown so much… and you've gotten so strong."
Pan held back a sniffle as she felt her eyes water, "I've missed you…"
His grin widened to show his teeth as his eyes flashed, "I've thought of you too. Please…" He gestured with his arms again, offering her a welcoming smile, "I've waited so long for this."
"Papa…!" Pan shook her head, "First, tell me you love me!"
"Of course." Gohan beamed, "I'll tell you whatever you like… Panny…"
She shook her head again as if that were not enough, "Tell me!"
Something flashed in his eyes again as his smile threatened to falter. There was a pause as he looked at her, the wind ruffling his tangled locks.
Another moment passed, and then another as the heat rose around them.
And then Gohan opened his mouth and smiled brightly as he closed his eyes, "Of course I love you…"
That seemed to be what Pan wanted to hear. Even though it took him a while to say, it proved he loved her still because he never lied. He was her Papa, and he could be saved. Unable to hold back her tears, Pan ran for him and embraced him tightly, holding his warm and solid body against hers. She breathed him in – sweat, soot, ash, and his scent that she loved so much because it belonged to her Papa, the most wonderful person in the world.
But then something changed. Perhaps it was his body position or the alarms that suddenly shrieked in her mind, she knew she was vulnerable before he even did it. She was defenseless, all her guards down as she suddenly felt him tear her bandana from her head and kick her away from him.
She sprawled on the ground, her eyes wide, looking up at him as he towered over her with a triumphant smirk.
A sudden wrath emerged from deep within her as she realized he just made a mockery of her, just to hurt her. And it worked. And she was a fool for falling for it!
Pan snarled in an utter hatred as her world flashed red with her anger, "You… you liar!"
Gohan cackled gleefully as he sneered down at her, but then brought it to a light chuckle as he held up his orange prize and looked at it, "Well, well, and what do we have here…" He smirked as he held the bandana between his right index finger and thumb as if it were dirty diaper. "I seem to smell your stench on this... and that of your worthless Saiyan grandfather."
Pan's eyes widened and she brought her hands to her hair as it finally registered that he was holding her most prized possession. A sudden fear swarmed through her as she gasped, her heart racing in a panic, "G-g-give that back!"
Gohan's smirk darkened as he held the bandana farther from him and looked it over as he licked his lips. His once-again cold, lifeless eyes turned to hers as he sneered, "Goku is dead…"
And with a slow movement, he brought his left hand up, and with a loud and searing RIP… tore the bandana into two dangling shreds, "And so are you." Gohan tossed the rags to the ground and stepped on them with a soiled boot, burying them among the dead leaves and soil.
Bells tolled in the distance as Pan felt her blood drain from her face. She felt a pain unlike anything she felt before, as she witnessed the last memory of her grandfather be torn to shreds in front of her eyes. It was her last symbol of hope, the last remnant of her past and how it used to be. Her father knew how much that meant to her. It had been with him through the years, and he had given it to her as a child when her grandfather went away to train and she wanted a memory to keep by her side.
And now it was gone. The last fragment of her life.
A sudden anger rose in her. And she felt a wall crack in her mind as she suppressed a shudder that threatened to wrack her whole body into a fit of mourning. She scrambled to her feet and got into a battle pose, seething with rage and a lust for revenge. Somewhere in her mind, a wall cracked as pressure was building. She thought she was going to go mad from her wrath, and she no longer cared. This monster before her was beyond hope. Although she once could say that she loved him, he now was rabid, and he had to be put down.
Her Papa would have wanted it that way…
Pan stood up slowly, glaring at him as she clenched her fists at her side. She disregarded her fatigue and pushed all other thoughts out of her mind at she pierced his eyes with her stare.
When she spoke, there was an unnatural coldness to it, filled with a loathing and utter detest, "You're going to pay for that."
"HehehehahahahHAHAHAH!" Gohan cackled as his grin turned into a distorted sneer. He got into a battle stance and mused, "Make me."
Without thinking, and relying totally on instinct, Pan charged forward, and as Gohan made a swing, she phased out of sight, shortly followed by Gohan. They took to the air, throwing blasts and punches faster than any eye could see, creating earth-shattering sonic booms as their bodies moved faster than sound. There was no holding back as they cursed and sweat among the smoke and soot in the air.
The forest blazed wildly below them. Shrieks from birds and burning animals haunted the woods as the sky turned black around them. The air became thick with ash, and they both ignored it as their kis drove the smoke away from their battle in the air.
Suddenly, with a rush, Gohan laughed and backhanded her across the face, sending her sprawling in the air. He phased out and appeared before her, kicking her in the back, causing her to scream from pain and she shot upward. And before she could catch herself, he appeared again and slammed her in the stomach, sending her down to the raging fires below.
It was so quick, she crashed to the ground below and made a crater thirty meters deep as the ground and ash gave way below her. All around the crater, fire blazed, and the air was so thick, Pan rose slowly, sputtering and coughing as she tried to look up and see him. With the blackness around her, she couldn't see anything, and she tried to rely on her senses, but the energy from the fire distorted everything. She couldn't sense him through that. She felt blinded and lost, but she was also determined.
She tried to take a step forward, but her body suddenly collapsed downward and she landed on her knee, kneeling down to try to catch her breath. Her lungs burned, and she felt her energy draining from the heat. She had to get out of there if she wanted to regain her strength back. Closing her eyes and collecting herself, she raised her ki and shot upward, determined to rise above the smoke, but halfway up, she was met with a fist to her face as Gohan smacked her right back to the crater.
"Just stay down there and burn alive!" Gohan cackled through the smoke, "It will spare me the effort of incinerating your body after I'm done with you!"
Pan noted the location of his voice and snarled in utter hatred. "I'll show you what can arise from the flames." She brought her hand to her head and concentrated her energy as she marked his silhouette. In a moment, after charging herself, she threw her right hand forward and screamed at the top of her burning lungs, "Screw Beam of the Devil!" Then two beams of light suddenly burst forth from her hands, one heading straight for the target and one spiraling around the other with an intense magnified energy.
"WOAH!" Gohan dodged the attack and had to dodge it again as it homed in on him, shooting past him and then turning to aim for his heart again. Pan held onto her attack, trying to focus on him as she rose from the crater, charging up for a new attack as sparks rose around her. As she levitated above the thickest part of the smoke, she watched as Gohan phased in an out of sight, dodging the beam that could pierce him in one stroke.
"Impressive!" Gohan smirked as the beam chased him, and took a split second to regard her with a widening twisted grin, "But not wise!"
Gohan suddenly screamed as he summoned forth a flood of power, and his hair spiked gold as his eyes turned a bright green. With a rising cackle, he turned to the beam and as it approached, he swatted it as if it were a fly, and then in that instant, it turned a dark tainted red and suddenly became his attack, to Pan's disbelief.
Pan had no time to prepare. Before she could even move, the red energy beam suddenly wailed merely centimeters from her right ear, singing her face as it went past her and exploded a mountain in the distance.
Pan was incredulous. She looked back at the destruction with wide eyes and her breath caught in her throat. She slowly turned her head to Gohan again, and her expression changed from disbelief to shock. It was hard to think over all the emotions raging within her, but she knew one thing for certain.
Gohan had every ability to kill her with that beam… but he didn't. He had sent it past her instead of through her; that meant one thing to Pan, over anything else… that her Papa was still in there somewhere.
Pan's attack suddenly faltered. The energy she had been charging up dissipated as she was suddenly distracted by her thoughts. Gohan took the opportunity to charge her and landed a solid punch to her chest while she was open, knocking the wind out of her. She flew almost a mile in the air, caught in a wind current that took her even farther, and when she got a hold of herself, Gohan slammed her again, spiraling to the ground. Pan caught herself before crashing and looked up to her transformed father.
"Papa!" She cried out desperately, "Stop fighting me!"
"Only after you're dead!" Gohan brought his hands before him and fired a series of blasts at her which she countered by throwing her own. However, with his new Super Saiyan power, his strength and energy was slowly overwhelming her. She couldn't keep up with him as he laughed insanely and pounded her with his blasts. But she tried, and she attempted to tap into that energy again that she felt ever so briefly, but it seemed beyond her. She didn't know what she did to overcome him before, but whatever happened, she'd have to find a new way around this, or else she had no chance against him.
"But you love me! I know you love me! You won't kill me!" Pan desperately attempted to match his power.
"You fool!" Gohan cackled as his attacks continued to rain, "I never loved you, you RAT!"
There was something about his voice, and how he sounded so hateful and vengeful at that moment, his heart was so cold…. It sucked everything out of her. She knew she shouldn't listen to him. He didn't know what he was saying, and he didn't mean it… but hearing him say that suddenly dispirited her anyway.
Her energy suddenly faltered and before she knew it, she was sent hurling down under his energy toward a grassy clearing free of the fire. She screamed in pain as it happened all over again, she was caught in his fire and she couldn't summon enough energy to fight him. Her body was scorching, her hair singing, and her voice shrill in her agony. She couldn't breathe, she couldn't think straight; she couldn't counterattack. She was completely under his mercy as he landed and slowly walked toward her while flooding his energy on her.
And then, as he stood above her, he stopped and snickered, "It's not fun when you don't fight back." He brought his right hand in front of him and gave a lopsided sneer, "Or have you had enough?"
Pan sat up slowly and tired her best to stand up on wobbly legs. Her face was bloody, her gi singed and tattered and her hair a matted mess. Her body was covered in soot and blacked by the smoke and burns. Her skin was sticky with her sweat and blood and her lungs still burned from fatigue and the flames from before. But she put all of it beside her as she got into a battle pose and faced him, a scowl on her worn face.
"I'm going…" Pan breathed heavily, "to make you… pay…"
"Heheheheh…" Gohan grinned darkly, his eyes outlined with black, his cheeks sunken from his slight fatigue, miniscule compared to Pan's state. "Take a free shot." Gohan stepped back and spread his arms wide as he grinned to her.
Pan growled and stepped forward. Summoning whatever inner strength she had, she hurled herself to him and punched outward, only to be met with air as he phased out and reappeared behind her. As she stumbled forward, losing her balance, Gohan reached out and grabbed her by the hair, yanking her back toward him while she shrieked in surprise.
Pan suddenly found herself in a head-lock as he grasped her hair and held her tired body against his. Then, with a high-pitched cackle, he ripped a lock of her hair straight from her head.
Pan screamed in terror and agony as she felt her hair being ripped from her. The pain was overwhelming, and it shocked her whole body in paralysis as he brought the lock to his nose and smelled it, his eyes wild with a lust.
"This will be a nice enough souvenir." He smelled it again and cackled insanely into her left ear, "A memento to remember the last Saiyan… and how I put an end to you and the entire Saiyan race!"
Pan felt blood streaming down her head as her body began to feel weak. Her vision faltered, threatening to turn black as her ears hummed a shrill piercing note in her head. She could feel her world slipping as Gohan's arm around her neck became tighter.
"Goodbye… Saiyan." Gohan brought his left hand to her head and was about to snap her neck…
…When something rammed into him and threw him back.
Another wave of energy crashed into his side, sending Gohan sprawling several meters as Pan collapsed to the ground.
"What the–" Gohan looked up in surprise, his eyes wide. "Piccolo!"
"Your fight is with me now." Piccolo stepped out of the smoke, his face furious. He made his way beside Pan and glanced down at her with an unwavering expression. In a low monotone, he asked her, "Did he hurt you?"
Pan gasped and tried to prop herself up with her arms, "Yes…"
Piccolo got into a fighter's stance and narrowed his eyes with a snarl. "It's time to fight a real battle, Tuffle."
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–4/25/05–
Note: As a final reminder, Chapters 1 – 3 have also been updated/remade. Sorry this chapter took so long, but school has been killing me with work. Tomorrow are my finals and then I'm home-free. It shouldn't be too hard to get my new stuff out now that I'll have more time on my hands. A special thanks goes to my friend Red for helping me out with the opening line off this chapter. Everything after that seemed to come pretty easily.
