Disclaimer, in case it wasn't obvious. I don't own Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, or really any other property. Thank you.
The Long Road
Chapter 14: Ghosts
The small frame of a six year old boy walked with two soldiers to his flanks. Quiet, with his eyes averting contact with anyone, the child simply moved towards the destination he feared. Failure was met with severe repercussion, his master Paragus had taught him that. But Paragus had taught him much more than just that.
Paragus had taught him what it was to be cruel. Beatings, isolation, vicious paranoid thoughts and a thirst for vengeance. The constant urge for him to replace the lost son, Broly, was there. Even now he could remember the last time Paragus had burned his arm horrifically when he failed to finish his side of their purge mission in time.
Trembling silently, Gohan felt his anger rising again. The child's fingers tightened into a ball, remembering his own pain at the hands of his leader. So far, Saiyan blood had been a curse to flow through his veins. The child was caged and tormented, and unleashed upon worlds along with the handler. The other PTO members had called him a caged beast given the circumstances Paragus kept him in.
For two years Gohan endured his master's beatings. Not an hour ago, the child finally turned, snapping on his mentor as never before. To Gohan it was all a blur, save the end. The man responsible for so much of his pain had died beneath his relatively tiny fingers. Twisting violently, he'd snapped Paragus's neck, twisting his head on backwards almost. It was a good feeling, even after he'd achieved it. Even as a boy, the thought that he wasn't just some animal came to rise to the fore. What was his purpose other than to be Paragus's instrument?
Well he made his own purpose now.
Looking up towards his purple scaled skinned guard, the scarred boy narrowed his eyes.
"Hurry up, take me where I need to be and just get on with it. There is no reason for us to walk like this,, we could fly down these halls faster couldn't we?"
The guard looked down at him, blinking.
"Look kid, we were given orders by Lord Cooler himself to bring you to him, we're doing things as by the book as possible. You don't like it? Bring it up with Lord Cooler."
A moment of dread came over the six year old. Few people were ever summoned to see Lord Cooler for anything short of a death sentence. Running would also be a death sentence. Immediately the boy felt anxiety rush through his blood. When they approached the door looming ahead, the battle scarred child weakly came to a hault. When the door slid open in front of him there were five figures in the room, all barely illuminated by the dim light of the bridge.
Stepping inside, Gohan heard the doors slide shut behind him, the guards not following him.
"I see my Lord," the tall, orange skinned alien said to the one in the chair.
"Lord Cooler, the boy has arrived per your instructions," the blue skinned, thick accent officer then said.
Turning in his chair, the purple skinned leader of the Planet Trade looked down at the child before them. Gohan felt his stomach flip violently, this was the first time he'd ever been called before any kind of leadership in the organization that mattered. He'd been told so long as he kept his head down and did his job, this would never happen.
Killing Paragus, was unfortunately not part of his job.
"So, you are the child who killed Paragus?" Cooler questioned.
There was no response, but only because Gohan tried to find words to explain himself. In that moment the boy almost felt himself wanting to divulge how horrible his existence had been to this ominous overlord, as if that would somehow justify his actions. The torrent of words caught in his throat however as he tried to speak.
"I... he..."
Unimpressed red eyes now narrowed on him.
"Child, I am a very busy man, wasting my time is highly ill advised," the words from Lord Cooler were delivered with as cold an edge as his name implied.
Fear overtook any kind of blocks impeding Gohan's words.
"L-Lord Cooler, you have- I- Paragus treated me like an animal," the child finally admitted, before his chest bolstered with resolve. "I have no regrets in killing him."
The words were cold, but Paragus had just been one more life to extinguish. By now Gohan had already been personally responsible for the deaths of millions. Their screams and cries still haunted his nightmares, but it was either their final screams, or his own. Paragus had demonstrated that clearly enough the first time he'd worked under him on a mission. As a four year old boy, having Paragus burn an energy beam through his shoulder when he hesitated to destroy a city. Power demanded sacrifice, either your sacrifice, or someone else's. This was how the universe worked.
"Oh? So you justify these actions by simply passing the blame onto your victim?"
Swallowing, Gohan nodded.
"Superb, I never liked Paragus much anyway." the Arcosian said with a smile. "However, there was one small mistake in your actions, child."
Gohan felt relief at Cooler's first words. When the Arcosian had finished however, the boy froze with fear. The sneer that appeared across his Lord's face said it all. Pain shot through his body like he'd not experienced since his first encounter with his uncle once inside the Planet Trade. A beam of pink-red energy shot clean through his leg, cauterizing the wound with the intense heat as it made the precise hole in the limb. Immediately Gohan collapsed, his hands going to the wound immediately as the boy screamed out in agony. Eyes shut tightly as he tried to cope with the agony.
Pain shot through his leg again as the purple Arcosian drove his foot down on the wound mercilessly with his three toed foot. Intense pain drove Gohan's screams even higher, his head twisting and riving in agony, tears welling in his eyes.
"You see, you killed someone on my ship, without my permission," with each stressed word, Cooler applied more pressure to the leg wound. "Which now givens the implication, if I do not punish you appropriately, that it is acceptable behaviour to act on violent tendencies without my consent."
Gasps escaped Gohan as his chest desperately expanded and contracted for more air, anything to dull the pain. An agonized hand came to his head as he choked within seconds, trying to get past the pain that now shot through his entire body. Fingers dug into his skin, almost threatening to cut himself as he tried desperately to get his mind off what was happening.
"Are you sure you actually want this one?" Cooler asked, directing his comment in another direction. "It's obvious this boy lacks discipline. Just because he's one of your kind doesn't necessarily mean he's of any real value."
Still in agony, Gohan barely managed to open his eyes, looking up at one of the figures. He was dressed in Planet Trade armour, but he was different from the other three. He was almost familiar. Through the haze of pain, Gohan felt something almost comforting about the figure as he walked towards them. This was despite the unfeeling, critical features looking down at him.
"Of course Lord Cooler. I see the child has potential. He was strong enough to kill Paragus after all."
When Gohan's eyes traced to the tail around the man's waist, he realized that it was another Saiyan. Another Saiyan just like Paragus.
With his foot slowly lifting off Gohan's badly wounded leg, Cooler turned towards Turles, smirking. Turning his head briefly back to the boy.
"This one isn't yours, is it Turles? The resemblance is uncanny."
The older Saiyan gazed down at him for a moment, before looking back at Cooler.
"I suppose all us Third Class Warriors must look alike," he responded, his voice clearly amused by the prospect of it.
Moving towards his pod again, and being seated once more, Cooler only had one final thing to say on the matter.
"Ridiculous, now take the boy before I change my mind, and finish my discipline."
"Yes, Lord Cooler."
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They'd only been in there a few days, but Goku would have definitely described the atmosphere between Gohan and himself as icy. Beyond the most basic, needed language, Gohan had said nothing to him, and outright refused to train even near him. What glimpses Goku got of his son while training were fleeting, but also telling. Gohan had mastered the physical side of the arts, but he was lacking in control over his energy, his ki. As it stood right now, Gohan was stronger than he was before he first ascended to a Super Saiyan II. Training more may help Gohan in some respects, but it wouldn't yield a new level of power fully without understanding the discipline of the mind and body of being one.
Of course, that was far from Goku's only concern. An even bigger concern was he'd hoped to train with Gohan to actually get to know him. Instead Gohan resentfully ignored him. To an extent, Goku could understand it, at least he could understand it now. It could take Gohan time to finally come out, but he knew it couldn't all be from Gohan's side. Before he'd just assumed his son would just start to advance without him, and it'd been somewhat true, but the real truth was his son needed him, now more than ever.
It'd been a while since Gohan had turned in front his training for the day. From inside his room he heard a pained cry and immediately turned his head. Within a few seconds he walked into Gohan's room, something he normally wouldn't do. Laying there, Gohan's expression looked pained, but it was clear he was asleep. The body flinched painfully before Gohan's mouth opened, hissing in pain.
Walking over immediately, Goku grabbed his son's shoulder, shaking him briefly, trying to wake him. The sweat body on the bed froze for a moment, before tired eyes opened up.
"Turles?"
Turles?
Blinking while sitting up for a moment, the teenager seemed to almost forget where he was. Slowly, Gohan seemed to take in his surroundings, as if fully waking up. But it left Goku confused as to who exactly Turles was. Not being the brightest light bulb in the janitor's closet, Goku at least could grasp that Gohan had confused him for this Turles person.
"What did you want?" Gohan finally snapped, coming fully to his senses.
Sighing, Goku felt the resentment with the word, it was worse than it'd been even before they'd fought back on Earth in a lot of ways. It was always like navigating a minefield seemingly. Gohan was suspicious of almost everything he did, and he still couldn't understand why.
"Hey, just coming in to check on you, I was worried you were hurt," Goku tried to explain. "It's not every day that people just go screaming in pain in their sleep, you know?"
For a moment Gohan seemed to pause, before his eyes shifted up towards him. Looking away a second later, Gohan seemed to almost growl to himself, clearly embarrassed but not wanting to show it. He was failing.
"I didn't say anything did I?"
Blinking, Goku didn't really recall hearing anything, other than being called Turles when Gohan woke up. Well, there was screaming, but that wasn't really words.
"I don't think you said anything, at least not anything I could make out," Goku said with a confused blink.
"Good, now get out of my room," Gohan responded, slowly starting to rise.
The truth of it was he shouldn't just leave. They needed to talk, they still needed to talk. It didn't take long for Gohan to realize he wasn't moving after the young man had gotten up. The response was very quick. When Gohan turned towards him, his eyes filled with resentment. Over his left eye was the scar that was always visible to anyone around him, the long almost gash between his forehead and his cheek. In a lot of ways it defined Gohan, it was the crack in his armour, showing through the pain he must have grappled with inside to become what he was now.
"Change of subjects-" Goku tried, only to be cut off immediately.
"Maybe you didn't hear me? I said get out of my room, now," his son said with a deadly edge.
Threats couldn't really work to advance his position however, because he wasn't nearly strong enough to carry them out. The only thing Gohan could do was be less responsive, and less sociable, which to Goku seemed almost impossible.
"How'd you get that scar anyway?" he asked, pointing to the one over Gohan's eye. "Sorry, it's just I notice it every time you look at me, it really stands out."
No one would ever argue Goku was socially adept, how could they? It was like a bull making way through a crowd, utterly unaware he was shoving things out of the way inappropriately. The sneer Gohan gave him, clearly showed him he'd asked the wrong question, and silently Goku almost kicked himself. The next time he asked Gohan anything, he'd have to be more careful.
"Chi-Chi knows, if you want to know so badly, ask her," Gohan responded bluntly.
Again, Goku's social skills showed through as he blinked at his son.
"But Chi-Chi's not here, is she?" Goku asked sincerely.
A frustrated, angry sound escaped the younger Saiyan's noise and mouth before he brought a hand up to his face, trying to calm himself down.
"If I tell you Kakarot, do you promise to leave?" Gohan asked in response, just sighing after his words.
"Well, sure, I don't see why not, right?" Goku said carefully, now seeing how frustrated and angry Gohan was.
Shifting his body towards him, moving his hand away, Gohan looked directly at his father, his eyes almost staring into space. It was an uncomfortable look to be given, it showed someone trying to say something, without feeling anything. So, perhaps that scar was more than just a figurative glance into Gohan's wounded soul, perhaps it was the wound itself made manifest?
"I was given this scar by my Uncle Raditz, the day I arrived at the Planet Trade Organization. He struck me in the head when I overreacted. The scar is from a combination of factors, between the wound itself, and the surgery I required to construct my skull," Gohan responded. "Now get out."
The way the words were delivered were so lifeless, so factual. There was no heart or soul to them, and certainly nothing of what his four year old son must have felt when he'd been violently assaulted, and nearly killed by a grown man. The fact the scar remained even after all these years, only fading slightly even with Saiyan physiology, told Goku exactly how bad such a wound must have been. Given its placement, he could envision the entire side of Gohan's head being split open, his eye must have even come out.
Something sunk inside him, descending towards his stomach as he looked at Gohan. That was the wound that killed his four year old son, at least on the inside. That was the moment where his failure to protect Gohan met its consequences. Suddenly, Goku found himself unable to make eye contact with Gohan. There were more questions of course, there was an entire lifetime he'd missed, but Gohan didn't want to give him anything else it was clear, and right now he doubted he could hear anything else.
There was a few seconds where he couldn't even move, turning towards the door finally, Goku took a few steps, before turning his head.
"I'm sorry I couldn't protect you Gohan," the words finally came out. "If I'd known-"
"You'd have what?" Gohan challenged immediately. "I don't need your pity, now get out."
What else could he say to that?
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One Week Later:
Impossible.
It was impossible to not feel Kakarot's power over the expanse of the Chamber. Even now as they trained separately, Gohan felt his own power growing, but nothing compared to the burning star that was Kakarot. It was impossible to even imagine keeping up with such strength. When they first met, he'd only seen the edge of that power.
It was strangely ironic, that a man who couldn't defeat a weakling like Raditz all those years ago, was now a god in any plain of existence he walked into. Perhaps Kakarot was one of the most powerful beings who ever lived, and he doubted Vegeta was very far behind. But the worst part of it, at least as far as Kakarot was concerned, was the fact that Kakarot hadn't needed to suffer, as either he or Vegeta had suffered.
Someone like Kakarot should have been a weakling. Everyone he'd ever met even close to what Kakarot had been a weakling.
The clumsy attempts Kakarot had made, trying to ask questions about him had been inconvenient and annoying as well. If there were a reasonable way outside of this chamber now, a reasonable way off of this planet, he'd take it in a heartbeat. Looking ahead, Gohan saw only the expanse of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. The deeper one went, the more severe the conditions. He'd learned that fact while training with Piccolo. There was also the reality that the more severe the challenge, the more severe the strain, the stronger one would become.
Perhaps that was how Kakarot had somehow achieved all this power? It had to at least be a factor behind it. Perhaps if he pushed his own limits, pushed them to their furthest expanse in this place, he too could gain the kind of power Kakarot had. Then of course he'd no longer have to worry about Kakarot's foolish rules, and this planet's social constructs. One he was the mightiest again the world would make sense in the vein that he wanted it to, the way he almost needed it to.
With a determined, hard stare, Gohan took off, flying further into the Time Chamber. Every moment the world seemed to become more violent, hotter, then colder, and in more extreme ways. At some points he flew the ground was like ice, and other times almost liquid fire. This would be where he trained. Ceasing in the air, Gohan threw a punch, feeling unbearable heat on one half of his body, and unbearable cold on the other.
Minutes pressed int hours as his body was caught in this violent torrent of noise, heat, light, and freezing cold. It took everything within him to hold himself together in this maddened place, where the world was hostile and seemingly made no sense. Worst of all however, was the fact he'd pressed too hard, his body pushed past the limits.
After another flurry of kicks and punches, Gohan felt a surge of heat around him, consuming his body in flames. It took almost all he had left to push the heat away from his body. Within a few moments, the world became a frozen, and fire filled blur of agony.
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Fire brimmed on the edge of the city's skyline, licking towards the sky. Smoke swept above, the world below it a combination of noise and fire. The origins of that fire, noise, and pain becoming clear as another bright purple explosion burst into view, causing more fire and noise into the chaos. The noise itself was a combination of shattering glass, concrete, and the screams of the blue Saiyanoid people being massacred at the hands of the two warriors below.
Gohan stood in his armour, and stood between a heap of dead bodies. Defenders of this ridiculous planet and its weak people. They'd come at them in waves, using primitive weaponry and pathetic spirits to attack. Only one or two had proven a challenge at all so far, and it'd not been become of their weapons. With the defenders dead however, it was time for the most boring part of the campaign, it was clean up operations time.
On another street, he knew Turles was cleaning through the remaining trash as well. For Gohan, this was his fifth mission with Turles,and there was never any disputing who was the boss. His overlord was quick, to the point, and ruthless, but there was something to look forward to. Unlike Paragus, Turles trusted him with things. The city had to get destroyed? He trusted him to get it done. A fighter needed to be killed? He knew it'd get done. After battles, then he'd come forward with what he should try, and do differently.
They mainly talked about work, what they were doing, but they actually talked. There were no rants about Cooler, or his lost son who he sough to replace. Instead they had conversations about what they had done, were going to do, and in a strange way, what it meant to be a Saiyan. Often their conversations ended with hints of advise. It seemed important to his current commander that he understood where he came from, what he was. It was understandable, after all, they were the last of their kind now.
Kakarot, Vegeta, Raditz, and Nappa were now all listed as killed. Paragus hadn't needed to be on that list for Gohan to know he was dead.
It was a group he'd never really wanted to be around, they weren't his people, but the more he was here, the more he was learning, the more he fought, the more he wanted to be like his people. Acts of barbarism slowly started to become acts of heroism almost. These things could be done in the name of Saiyan honour.
Pointing his hand out, ignoring terrified cries for mercy, Gohan unleashed another wave of destruction, blasting through a sea of fleeing people. The wave annihilated lives in moments. It wasn't something Gohan typically thought about, you couldn't think about it. They died because they were weak, he survived because he was strong, there was nothing else.
In the flaming pile of ruined bodies and broken buildings, Gohan stopped as he came across one of the figures in the rubble, clutching a small child to her chest. She was burned on her left shoulder, and in her arms the child appeared dead. Within seconds his scouter confirmed it.
"Please, please don't hurt us anymore. Why? Why are you doing this?" The woman wept, holding on what Gohan could assume was her child.
Pointing his hand down, Gohan prepared another blast. There was something off putting about it. The begging, pleading red eyes stared back at him, tears filling to the brim. This woman's entire world had been destroyed. Her world was dying, her child was dead in her arms, and she just wanted to know why. The answer he could only understand, the only one to tell her, was because they had been too weak to stop it from happening.
But slowly the light from his energy wave disappeared, finding himself unable to find it within himself to fire. Deep in his mind, perhaps the last shreds of memories from his life before all this showed through. Would his own mother have gone through this pain at his loss?
It was something he never thought about, his home. They were vague, blurred memories with empty faces and unidentified voices. There was just a feeling of familiarity to moments, to people. This one reminded him of his mother.
Quietly, he cursed himself, knowing he couldn't spare anyone.
"You should take cover," he told her, his voice monotonous.
Suddenly, and thankfully, his scouter beeped as its indicator pointed his head towards a large, blue skinned male, power level unidentified, but clearly high enough to set off the scouter.
"A child? Our people, our warriors, killed by a child?" he asked, seemingly in horror, before his face twisted into a vengeful fury. "I'll kill you for what you've done!"
Bracing himself almost immediately, Gohan felt the impact of the warrior's blow connect across his face. Blood spat from his mouth in a moment before he was sent flying through the ruins of what was once a large, tall standing building. His armour held, but cuts and scraps slashed over his body from the jagged nature of the material he was sent through. Landing on the street behind, Gohan's body rolled several times, looking up through the flames, smoke, and bodies littering the street, he saw the blue skinned male flying back towards him, grabbing a piece of metal which had made up the support for the concrete.
Before he knew it, that long metal rod had been shoved through his gut, plunging out the other side with a violent tear. Immediately the boy fell back down to his knees, only now with a piece of metal through him as well. Shock had started to settled in as his hand weakly moved around the rod, looking up towards the fighter.
Blood trickled down the boy's mouth as the chaos of his internal organs, now with a hole plunged through them, began to make themselves known. In a purple flash however, the large blue skinned warrior was blown in half, his bones, blood, muscle, and fat scattering in a terrible mess that slopped onto the ground next to Gohan. It'd not been the first time he'd seen an energy wave strong enough to destroy, but not strong enough to vaporize its target. The first time he'd vomited at the sight of it.
"Turles?"
Walking towards him, Turles stopped as Gohan started to almost choke with tears, a fear of his weakening body getting the better of him. He felt the bar violently pulled from his body. Looking at Turles as second later, his eyes pleading, he started to tremble.
"Saiyans don't cry," Turles reminded him before a tear could be shed. "Now get to the pod and get into stasis. It's obvious that idiot Paragus didn't train you very well."
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Slowly, Gohan's eyes broke open, almost blinded by the bright surroundings around him.
Where was he? For a moment he almost thought he was in the ruins of a burning city, or was it being burned alive in the Time Chamber?
It was then that he realized his left shoulder was in agony. Slowly, he turned his head to see his bare shoulder covered with bandages, it looked like puss had been present at one point. Wincing, Gohan looked forward to see Kakarot sleeping in a chair, his head back and his mouth opening and closing with almost comically exaggerated snores.
"You can stop pretending to be asleep," Gohan said with irritation.
When Kakarot continued sleeping, he realized that Kakarot just slept like that. That was another strike against the older Saiyan as far as he was concerned. Just who the Hell slept like that? And a bigger question yet was what the Hell happened to him out there? His entire body looked like it got a healthy tan when he examined it, and he noticed the burnt remnants of his clothes. That could only mean he blacked out while training, and passed out deep within the time chamber.
The injury on his shoulder felt like a burn. It wasn't his first, but it was still painful. Quietly, he pulled himself up. At least his pants were still intact. Walking into the food locker a moment later, he began to collect food.
"Oh hey," Kakarot said, yawning a second later while he followed him in. "That was a close call, it was a good thing I noticed your energy go down or that could have been a lot worse."
Great, now he expected him to be grateful for being saved by him? The very idea that he stepped in, when not asked for, bothered Gohan. But there was also the obvious fact that he was unconscious and going to be burned to death if left out there. It was frustrating, but it was the truth.
"Yes, it appears that you managed to pull me out of the fire," Gohan responded, his voice grinding with annoyance.
"You know, if you wanted to go that deep into the time chamber, you only had to ask. We could go train there whenever you want. Besides, you'll advance much more quickly if you're training with another fighter," Kakarot proposed, trying his best to offer to train with him in an appealing way.
It wasn't very appealing to Gohan.
"Have you considered, just for a moment Kakarot, that I went as far into the Time Chamber as I could because I wanted to be further from you?" Gohan callously snapped. "I don't want to train with you. I regret having ever asked you outside of there, and I regret having harmed Chi-Chi, if only because it has stuck me in this place with you."
It wasn't hard to see the words had a measurable effect on Kakarot, but he quickly hid his disappointment with a bright smile. How could he always smile like that? How did this idiot always bounce back? Was this just part of some insidious plot? He wasn't like the humans, and he certainly wasn't like a Saiyan. He wasn't like the man whose face he stole.
There was almost a snarl towards this man who would be his father as he smiled.
"Why are you smiling?" Gohan finally snapped. "I didn't compliment you, you idiot!"
Quietly, and with a certain level of dignity Gohan couldn't see but could feel, Kakarot continued to smile for several moments.
"Because I know that getting angry, or depressed, won't change anything. So what that means is I just need to try harder," Kakarot explained.
Try harder? Try harder at what?
It was now more confusing than ever for Gohan. Just what did he mean try harder? There was nothing to try harder with. He asked if they could train, they were not going to train, that was it.
Turning, still eating the last big of meat from a steak he'd pulled from a locker, Gohan walked out of the station, intent on going back to doing what he was doing before. If he was stuck here, he might as well spend his time training.
As soon as he was outside, he was met with Kakarot again.
"You really should rest that shoulder," the older warrior warned.
That was it. Gohan had enough of this. After weeks of his subtle suggestions, or his constant want to train with him, Gohan's patience had been worn away.
"And you should stop following me around. You've got what you wanted, you wanted to trap me in here with you. Well now you've got it, it doesn't mean we're going to bond," Gohan said sharply. "I'm so fed up with this cat and mouse game you keep trying to play."
"Whose Turles?"
That made Gohan pause. Kakarot wasn't stupid enough to forget names, and he remembered that one. But the question was much deeper to the man who it was asked to.
Who was Turles?
The only true Saiyan I've ever known.
Paragus was a crazed, revenge starved, mad man. His 'uncle' Raditz had been a thug he'd known for next to no time. He never knew Nappa. Kakarot was as much a Saiyan as he was an Earthling, and he fit neither description well. And Vegeta? He didn't know Vegeta, but he could already see Vegeta wasn't a Saiyan in the way he'd recognize one, even the Prince had changed. The Prince had been eroded by this planet.
No, Turles was the last of their kind. When he died, the Saiyans died. Even when he called himself a Saiyan Warrior, Gohan had known that title was largely symbolic. Gohan had never been able to compare himself to Turles in anything other than power, and there was more to being a Saiyan than power. Turles hadn't been a coward like he was. Strangely, his cowardice was something the older Saiyan had never punished him for. Perhaps it was because they were the last of their kind, or perhaps it always gave him an avenue of intimidation.
The best years of his life, despite how hard they were, were the years where he served with Turles. Even after Slug, where he had more currency, prestige, and power, those were the years where life wasn't as insane as his lifestyle. They were the years where he learned to be a Saiyan, or as much of one as he could ever be. They were the years where he didn't feel isolated, they were the years he had a father, even if it wasn't his biological father.
It was the only was now that Gohan could describe it, especially after meeting Kakarot and seeing him with Goten. It wasn't the same, it couldn't be the same. But now it was more telling than ever that Turles had been a father to him, in as much a way as any Saiyan was a father. He'd watched over him, he'd ensured he was tested by battle, and he'd taken him on, teaching him how to fight and survive. He was who Kakarot should have been.
Transforming in a flash, Gohan turned towards his 'father', his now blue eyes locking onto Kakarot as he prepared himself.
"You want to know who Turles was? You have the no right to ask these questions of me. First it was where did I get this scar, and I saw your weepy, weak response. I'd have expected Chi-Chi to respond like that, but you? What kind of warrior are you? Now you go to ask me who Turles was, you're such a fool."
You're the man who stole his face, Kakarot, and little else but a fool.
With a hardened line now drawn between them, Kakarot himself transformed, raising his guard to Gohan.
"Turles is who you should have been," Gohan said quietly, his eyes averting for a moment.
It was true, wasn't it? He'd almost always imagined Kakarot as being a Saiyan, a Saiyan like Turles. Instead he was this, and the biggest insult of all was that he wore Turles's face as if it were his own. The very idea of it was insulting. So what if he had a high fighting power? This wasn't about power.
Carefully, the two fighters began to circle one another.
"Gohan, I don't want us to fight like this, please," Kakarot started. "I just want to get to know you. I want to help you train, but I don't want to hurt you. Just calm down Gohan."
The features Kakarot bore were still serious, ready for battle. The emotional plea fell on deaf ears. With an animal like snarl, Gohan took off towards Kakarot, throwing his fist out, only for it to be caught. Striking out with his other hand, his wrist was caught before any blow could land.
"Gohan, you know it's no use to fight me like this, you need to train. I know this isn't training, you aren't learning anything, you're just lashing out," the words from the older Saiyan just seemed to make Gohan even angrier.
With a flare of energy, he pushed back against Kakarot, but to no avail. Even with his anger, in raw strength alone, Gohan was no no match for Kakarot. Angrily he struggled all the same. His left arm was much less useful than usual, largely from the burns. Muscles still flexed together like organic steel, trying to push against Kakarot's strength, but to no avail.
"You don't want to fight me like this?" Gohan sneered through grit teeth. "What kind of Saiyan are you?"
Finally, it was clear Kakarot had enough. With a flash of speed and violent force, Goku's head smashed into his forehead, just as he let his arms go. The force of the blow sent Gohan skidding against the floor of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. With a roll, he ceased his movement, stopping face first on the ground. Kakarot had knocked away his attack as if it was nothing.
Humiliated again, and this time in record time. A struggling noise escaped his nose and lips as Gohan tried to pull himself up, resting on his forearms. A throbbing pain ran through his head from the force of the blow. It was almost hard to think. Trying to rise further only yielded another humiliation. His legs slipped out from under him as he tried to rise, causing him to fall face first into the floor again. Breathing and doing little else, Gohan just tried to recover what strength he could.
Finally, Gohan looked up, seeing the orange and blue clad figure standing in front of him again. Kakarot's hair turned black as his hand reached down, offering to help him up. Something tore at his own insides at the sight of it. This man seemed unwilling to give up on him now. He'd been written off by him weeks ago. Now it seemed like no matter what he did, this man wouldn't compromise or give up.
Why? What had changed for Kakarot?
"Take my hand, I'll help you up," Kakarot promised.
Looking at the hand, for the first time Gohan really felt like taking it. Looking up into the eyes of the man looking down at him, he saw the real desperation Kakarot must have felt since the moment they'd met, well, as they were. The hand loomed in front of him, as if somehow it was his salvation from his humiliation, from his failures. But it wasn't, it was a hand offered to him because of his failures and humiliation.
Every time he fought back against Kakarot, each time he felt himself try, it never ended in success. In that, he hated the man in front of him. He was childish, simple, and seemingly despite all that, unbeatable. Even after having already spent a year in this place, training harder than he ever had, he was still no match for Kakarot. Now?
Now he couldn't even stand on his own two feet, from one simple blow, even after yet more time spent here training. And here this hand was, Kakarot's hand being offered to him in some sign of peace. Given his results so far, how much longer could he fight Kakarot like this? How much more pain could he endure, how many more defeats? Each defeat only wounded him more, and each battle he learned yet more just how far Kakarot had risen above him.
Reaching out, Gohan grasped the hand and immediately felt it tighten around his own. It was a strange feeling, something he'd felt buried within his thoughts from years ago. Something pumped through his heart in that moment, and it wasn't blood. There were only a few times in his life where he felt so... at home. The night he'd apologized to Chi-Chi, the day Turles had saved him from slug, and now the day he accepted, even if only for a brief moment, help from Kakarot.
It was peaceful for a moment, but only a brief moment for Gohan. There were no words for him to express himself, or to communicate to Kakarot the contrast of feelings he felt. Nor was there any point in even attempting to express them, as there was no need to continue a battle he'd clearly already lost.
A smile reappeared on Kakarot's face, unlike one he'd really ever seen. It wasn't bright and stupid, but somehow almost pained, but sincere. Pulling him up a second later, and helping his arm over his shoulder, Kakarot began to walk back towards the station with him.
They didn't share any words, somehow they didn't need to. Which to Gohan was all the more painfully familiar. Looking over to Kakarot, who was just looking ahead with the same smile plastered across his face, he could see something familiar to him. For the briefest of moments, it felt like he was next to another Saiyan. Turning his own head towards the station, he internally scorned himself.
There had to be a way to ascend past the heights which Kakarot had soared to. There had to be a way to beat him.
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One Day Later:
Despite the shoulder, Gohan knew he had to get back to training. Kakarot was already in front of the station, flying through the air throwing punches and kicks, as well as ramping up his speed. Soon it was becoming even difficult for Gohan to follow, despite the gravity.
Yesterday had been a wake up in one way more than anything for Gohan. Wanting to defeat Kakarot, and even despising him in many respects, did not change the reality that he was stronger than he was. The best way to learn to combat him, would be to learn how he fought. If that meant training with him, then that plainly would have to mean just that, training with him.
It wasn't what he wanted to do, but it was what he'd need to do to somehow pull himself out of this seemingly endless pit he was in.
Powering up, a golden aura surrounded him within seconds before he took off, flying after Kakarot. In the blur of motion, he swung his fist out, finding it blocked by Kakarot as the two froze into place.
There was a smile on Kakarot's lips a second later as he looked at him.
"Good, I was wondering when we could let the real training get started."
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A/N: I've got an important question for all of you.
Chapter 16 is over 22,000 words long it looks like. If you guys want, I can release it in it's current state when it hits the release schedule in about a month, or I can release it as Part I and Part II, basically around 11,000-12,000 words each. I wanted to give you guys the option to help me make the decision.
Chapter 15 is coming in two weeks! Have a good one everyone!
Reviewers:
Peter1398: Yea, he'd probably be better than the Cold Monarchy, not as much wanton sadism.
I think I answered this Q via PM.
Dakota: You'll enjoy where this story goes eventually in terms of Gohan's bravery. I promise.
AlphaShenron: They don't normally have aggressive telepathy, so that is something that is a bit contrived, but I felt it fit the story, and the characters enough to do it.
Ky111: Yea, most people seemed to have loved when Piccolo unceremoniously threw Gohan into the chamber XD
Eveline: I wouldn't trust Piccolo's judgement on the kid, because Gohan's friggin' crazy XD
Guest1: I hope I can keep it unique until the end as well :)
KaosMoshpit: I hope that everyone continues to think so :)
de: I presume you mean before his time with the Planet Trade? He may remember fragments of it, like he did in Chapter 5.
Drizztgease: Thanks!
Ness Frost: To quote Piccolo "He's a momma's boy". Gohan's always kind of had that gap in his life where a mom should be, which is one reason he got attached to Chi-Chi so quickly, she was someone who seemed to only give him affection, food, and care, and she wasn't disappointing like Kakarot because he hadn't created an image of her in his mind that summarized what he expected her to be.
Guest2: I agree, it was the best wasn't it? XD
Mitch: Stories always need a break from the heavier elements.
Maesde: Gohan and Videl play a massive role in the story, but it's not until closer to chapter 20-21 that we really start seeing Videl again. After that however, major, major character.
Low on inspiration: Yea, Goku was already eating. Figures XD
Miharux3: That smile is the smile of happy-driven deff! Deff I tell you!
Guest3: Thanks!
Carlos Diaz: I can't wait to post Chapter 14!... oh. Lol
Gindorf091: Yes, Vegeta is an SSJ2 as well.
Dbzfan: Thank you :)
valevilandra: Thanks for the review :)