Back in black!

CHAPTER 20: A LIGHT THROUGH THE DARKNESS

Royal Nature Park

A tense silence loomed in the air as Piccolo stared down at the man he once called his friend. Before even a single word was spoken Piccolo quickly made his way down to Gohan's side.

"Gohan are you alright?" Piccolo inquired as he knelt down to check on Gohan.

"Mister Piccolo...My dad is gone...I can't...I can't beat him."

"You don't have to, Gohan. I'm going to put a stop to this. We're going to get your dad back."

"Whatya mean get me back? I'm right here." Goku retorted as he stood directly behind Piccolo with his hand placed firmly on Piccolo's back.

"Goku..."

"Hey, buddy. I..."

"You don't get to call me that." Piccolo interrupted. "You're not my friend. You're nothing more than a parasite that infected him."

"Whatever you say. I'm gonna blast you in the back now."

Before Goku could even attempt to release a blast Piccolo extend his right arm and positioned it behind Goku's back.

"You sneaky bastard. Looks like we're in a bit of a stalemate here."

"No. We're not." Piccolo replied before a small ki blast that came from Goku in the side of the face causing him to stagger to the side. Piccolo quickly retracted his right arm as well as his left, which Goku failed to notice him extend, grabbed Gohan, and moved to gain some distance from Goku.

"Stay here, Gohan." Piccolo commanded as he turned his attention to Goku who was clutching his head.

"Ah, that really stung."

In an attempt to take advantage of Goku's distraction Piccolo looked up and gave Chronoa a nod. Chronoa didn't waste a second and moved toward Goku. She attempted to open the jar, unfortunately, Goku regained his composure and grabbed Chronoa by the wrist.

"I take it whatever's in that jar is supposed to stop me?"

"It's supposed to cure you." Chronoa replied as she felt the bones in her wrist starting to fracture.

"No thanks. I hate medicine." Goku replied before snatching the jar out of her hands. But before Goku could do anything with the jar he was met with a stiff punch from Piccolo causing Goku to drop the jar allowing Chronoa to regain hold of it.

"You okay?" Piccolo asked Chronoa.

"Yeah. He's got a killer grip."

"Stay on guard. He's not going to let us use it on him that easily and we can't release it all at once either."

"I know."

"Damn, Piccolo, You still have a mean right hook. But I bet my face hurt your hand a bit. Admit it your hands really sore right now."

"Goku...You need to shut up and take your medicine." Piccolo replied before giving Chronoa another nod.

Chronoa gave Piccolo a nod back before darting off to the side while Piccolo dashed straight towards Goku. Piccolo engaged Goku in battle while Chronoa attempted to open the jar but before she could Goku was right on her easily moving past Piccolo. Piccolo, however, was quick to catch up to Goku preventing Chronoa from taking any damage. Despite Piccolo's best attempts to hold off Goku, Chronoa was interrupted by Goku each and every time she attempted to open up the jar, Piccolo, however was able to prevent Chronoa from taking damage, that was until Goku released a wave of ki knocking Piccolo back, allowing Goku to land a strike on Chronoa hard enough to knock the jar out of her hands, and her back several feet.

"Chronoa!" Piccolo exclaimed as he rushed to catch her.

"...I'm fine. Focus on the jar, dummy..." Chronoa replied before losing consciousness in Piccolo's arms.

Piccolo set Chronoa gently down on the ground out of harms way before once more turning his attention to Goku.

"I'm just gonna put this right here for now." Goku stated as he set down beside him. "I'll tell you what. How about we spar like in the old days. If you can beat me I'll let you use this stuff on me. I'll even let you power up to full power. Go ahead I'll wait."

"Fine." Piccolo replied as he took his power up stance.

Piccolo's aura began circulating around him as he began to bring out every last ounce of power he had, knowing he'd need all of it to even stand a chance against Goku. The power of Nail, the power of Kami, the power of the Nameless Namekian, his power, the power he would now use to attempt to take down Goku, a man who he once considered an enemy but over time grew into an ally perhaps even a brother, but now they once again stood on opposite sides, this time Goku the threat and Piccolo, potentially the last line of defense. Before long Piccolo's power reached its peak and he was ready to face his longtime rival.

"You've gotten stronger since the fight with Cell. It's still not gonna be enough."

Piccolo knew Goku was absolutely right. He's strength paled in comparison to Goku's but also knew he couldn't give up. If he had any chance of beating him he'd have to fight smart and if this was the end he was going down he wasn't going down quietly. From deep within his mind Piccolo hard two familiar voices simply telling him "Kick his ass."

Goku made the first move charging at Piccolo with a hard left punch. Piccolo easily dodged the punch and attempted to counter with a lunging kick to Goku's back but Goku quickly turned around and caught Piccolo's and used it to slam him to the ground. Piccolo up hitting the ground immediately fired a ki blast upward at Goku's head. Goku tilted his head back to dodge the blast but as he did Piccolo's right arm came swinging in from the right side not giving enough time for Goku to dodge the ki blast causing the ki blast and Piccolo's fist to hit Goku simultaneously. The combo attack barely did anything to faze Goku but it allowed Piccolo to get back on his feet and gain some distance.

"Man, you haven't lost a ste..."

"Shut up." Piccolo interrupted as he stuck out his right hand and gripped his wrist with his left. A blue and yellow sphere of ki quickly formed in his left hand before shooting out in a large wave that hit Goku dead on.

"Wow, that might have actually done some damage if I was in my base form." A still unfazed Goku declared after the explosion cleared. "Not too shabby."

"Then how about this." Piccolo replied before firing a barrage of over one thousand ki blasts at Goku.

"Come on, I know this trick." Goku stated as he took to the sky and continuously dodged Piccolo's blasts. "You're firing all these ki blasts and I'm supposed to think that you're aim is really bad but then I look around they're all surrounding me but I'll tell you right now. That's not going to...work." Goku looked around saw no ki blasts surrounding him. "Well, that's not right..." Goku floated in the sky for a few moments stumped at what Piccolo was planning until a shocked look came over his face as he looked up and saw a large sphere of ki similar in size to the one used on Freeza, maybe even bigger. "Heeey, that's copyright infringement."

"Sue me." Piccolo replied as he directed his Hellzone bomb down at Goku.

Goku, with a confident look on his face, put his hands up to catch the Hellzone Bomb. The look of confidence instantly changed to one of slight concern as the bomb began pushing him down towards the ground.

"How much energy did you put into this thing!?" Goku wondered as his feet touched the ground.

"Enough." Piccolo replied.

Goku's Blackout aura surged intensely around him as he struggled to push the Hellzone Bomb up. After several moments of struggling the Hellzone Bomb began slowly inching upward. "Guess...it...wasn't...quite...enough!" Goku exclaimed as he successfully pushed the Hellzone Bomb up and away. However before Goku could move a single muscle in his mouth, the right side of his chest was pierced by a fully charged special beam cannon. "...Shit." Was all Goku could say before collapsing to the ground.

Piccolo let out a sigh of relief as picked up the jar and approached the supine positioned Goku. Piccolo attempted to open the jar but just before he could Goku opened his eyes and fired a ki blast at the arm Piccolo held the jar in severing it.

"Shoulda went for a kill shot, buddy." Goku stated as he hopped to his feet. The hole in his chest was already halfway healed. Before Piccolo could attempt to gain any distance Goku grabbed him by the throat. "Do you know how I killed King Piccolo? Yes? No? Maybe? What's the matter? Oh, that's right I've got your throat. Doesn't matter, I'll tell you anyhow. I put myself, hand first, through his chest. It happened so fast I really didn't get to enjoy it. This time I think I'll take things slow."

Piccolo let out screams of anguish as Goku began to slowly drive his hand through the center of his chest. Inch by inch Goku dug his hand deeper and deeper into Piccolo. The pain Piccolo felt was immeasurable but it still wasn't as great as the pain he felt from letting Gohan and the rest of the world down. Just as Goku was about halfway through Piccolo's chest the ground began to shake violently as Goku began to sense a massive swell in someone's power. Before Goku knew what hit him Gohan, in his Super Saiyan Rage form hit on the side of the face sending him flying several hundred feet away.

Moments earlier

'No...What is wrong with me...' Gohan thought as he watched from a distance while his father grabbed Piccolo by the throat be. 'I didn't run out of energy...I just couldn't do it...I couldn't bring myself to kill him...and now Piccolo going to...No...No...No...' "Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!" Gohan's pupils slowly faded away until there was nothing but white with a slight blue tint in his eyes. The ground beneath Gohan's feet began to slowly rumble before quickly spreading throughout the island. The intensity of it soon increased as the aura of Gohan's Super Saiyan Rage form took over him. The aura surged with even more intensity than before with sparks of electricity shooting off several miles into the distance setting trees outside the scorched area on fire. Without a single shred of hesitation, Gohan took off towards his father.

Present

Gohan immediately pursued Goku catching up to him within a fraction of a nanosecond. Gohan, having lost any sense of reason, any sense of who he was or who the man was that he was fighting, began laying into Goku a flurry of strikes, putting every last ounce of power behind each and every strike. What felt like an eternity of strikes for Goku was over in a matter of seconds as Gohan slammed a battered and broken unconscious Goku to the ground. Gohan began to form a massive red Masenko in his hands but before he could fire it Piccolo's voice rang out.

"N...no, Gohan!"

Gohan hesitated for a second before charging the Masenko up some more simply stating "...No...He dies..."

"Gohan, listen to me!" Piccolo exclaimed as he with the help of a now conscious 17 and Chronoa, approached them with the jar. "We can cure him. We can bring him back. But we can't do that if he's dead. Please, Gohan."

"...I...I..." Gohan's pupils began slowly coming back into view as his rage aura began to dissipate. "Dad..." Gohan dropped to his knees as a flood of tears came pouring down his face,

"It's alright, Gohan. It's over now," Piccolo said he placed a hand on Gohan's shoulder.

"Here, you should be the one to do it." Chronoa said to Gohan as she presented him with the jar. "Only open it for a second."

"Right..." Gohan replied, wiping the tears from his face before taking the jar. Gohan opened the jar for a brief second letting out a very small portion of the white ether. The white ether floated in the air for a moment before going straight into Goku's mouth. Goku's eyes opened wide as black ether started pouring out of every orifice and pore on his body. The black ether shot up into the sky and quickly dissipated. Goku's eyes closed back shut but after nearly a minute the reopened and Goku sat up, the white ether having healed all his injuries. Goku looked at Gohan, Piccolo, and Chronoa, and 17, before taking a quick glance at the area, with a look of confusion on his face.

Gohan didn't have to ask his father if he was back to normal. He knew as soon as he saw his eyes. The warm comforting glow that was previously absent had returned.

"Daddy!" Gohan exclaimed as he embraced his father.

"Gohan...Hey buddy...What happened?" Goku inquired as he hugged his son.

"Goku, do you remember anything?" Piccolo inquired

"No...I..." A look of shock and horror came over Goku as the memories of his actions as Red Goku came flooding back. "Oh god no...Did I really do all that?"

"It wasn't you, Goku." Piccolo replied. "It was..."

"A monster." Gohan interrupted.

"Gohan...I'm sorry...I..."

"Let's not worry about apologies right now, Goku" Piccolo interrupted.

"We need to get to the IDS Ba-Myu." Chronoa stated.

"Right." Goku replied. "Who are you anyway?"

"I'm the Supreme Kai of Time." Chronoa replied. "But you can just call me Chronoa."

"I take it you're responsible for curing me. Thank you."

"Don't thank just me. I couldn't have done this without Piccolo."

"I...Oh no Chi-Chi! The baby..."

"I'll go check on mom." Gohan replied. "You, Piccolo, and Chronoa go to the ship."

"Tell her...I'm..."

"I will. I'll explain everything." Gohan replied.

"Thank you, Gohan."

"Are you coming with us 17?" Goku inquired.

"No. I've got some clean up to do here."

"Sorry about all this."

"Don't worry about it. Hey Piccolo, it's good seeing you again. Although, I wish it were under better circumstances."

"Likewise. What do you say we have a rematch someday? Our last fight was sort of interrupted if I recall."

"You know where to find me." 17 replied with a slight smirk.

Everyone said their goodbyes to 17 before Goku, Piccolo, and Chronoa headed off towards the direction of the IDS Ba-Myu while Gohan headed for home.

Narrator

With Goku back to his true self, He, Piccolo, and Chronoa, race to the IDS Ba-Myu to cure those inside. The journey to recovery begins in the next chapter of Strained Bond: A Hero's Fall to Darkness!

A/N

Chapter 20 is finally done. Sorry, I took so long with this. I've been going through some stuff, but I'm back in full swing now. I really hope I made this worth the wait. Please let me know your thoughts, and, as always, have a great day! ~TheUltimateMystic