Once the two dark figures climbed into the back of the waiting limo parked out front, a screen switched on in the panel in front of the back row seats. On it was a large burly man in a dark green military uniform and hat. He too wore dark shades, concealing the pointed look he was giving his best agents.
"Agents Burdett and Hamilton, I trust you found something useful?"
"Sir, not too much," Burdett began. "As we suspected, Hercule himself didn't know much about what was happening at the games. Apparently the fighting was too fast and unbelievable to get a good sense of what was going on. It corroborates the accounts of the news crew and his students. However, we got one tidbit of information out of him that may prove useful. Apparently, after the initial golden haired fighter's battle with Cell was over, he called for a Gohan to take his place. Initially Hercule and the others assumed that was because they were going to take a lunch break and that the boy who ventured out onto the field was going to be the delivery-boy."
Shortly pausing in order to pull out from a stack of photos a single one showing a menacing tall Cell standing across from a golden-haired boy barely half his size, she pointed to the shorter one of the two. "He identified the boy as the one who ultimately continued the fight, and the one who probably finished Cell off. It is my belief that this Gohan is the name of the mysterious fighter, and judging from his appearance around 11 years old at the time of the battle. We should concentrate all of our resources into locating this mysterious individual."
The general's hardened facial features passively received this latest set of information with nary a reaction. After contemplating what he heard for a few moments, he finally spoke up, "And of the other fighters in attendance, have you discovered anything else regarding their identities or whereabouts?"
"Asides from the fact that four of them, Krillin, Tien, Piccolo, and Yamcha were participants in the World's Martial Arts Tournament, and that a fifth one baring a close resemblance to Son Goku despite his different hair and eye color might also have been? No we have not. As for the remaining two golden haired fighters, we have not been able to find a shred of information regarding their existence."
"Very well, you too return to base and debrief the rest of the team."
A group of individuals sat in the reddish dark room. Across the tables were computers and monitors of all sorts and sizes continually receiving, updating, and monitoring new data. But all attention was gathered on the display screen dominating the middle of the room receiving constant updates from an orbiting satellite.
On screen were the fresh ruins of a city that only hours ago had been suffused with busy vibrant life. But as dismaying as these fresh scars were, the camera wasn't focused on the background but on a small crowd of figures standing defiantly across from each other in the ruined city. To one side was a veritable giant, with long flowing fire red hair and hard teal-like skin. His shirt had already been shredded apart moments before as a result of his terrifying transformation, revealing a bulky muscular body. At his flanks were several of the companions he had arrived on Earth with.
And standing across from them was a young teenaged boy. Behind him in the background were the battered but alive bodies of his companions. The energy detecting devices on the orbiting satellite had to focus in on the faint signals, but they were there to the relief of the huddled audience members in their bunker far away from the battlefield. However, they would be out of the coming fight for the time-being. The boy would have to fight it alone, again.
The boy was battered and beaten, bruises, dirt, and cuts marred his youthful yet hardened countenance. His eyes glared across the ruined landscape down at the newest intergalactic interlopers upon Earth. Then he yellowed.
In a brilliant flash a golden aura descended upon the lone warrior. His jet-black hair turned a vibrant gold and his darkish pupils became a featureless teal. He almost seemed to grow a few inches as muscles bulged out even further and the already ridiculous tall pointy hair he was sporting spiked up even further. Sharp bolts of radiating blue bioelectricity began crisscrossing across the young man's body, tangible realizations of the immense power emanating from the golden fighter.
Crack-crack-crack! The energy emanating from him was almost palpable even to the onlookers gathered hundreds of miles away. He was bathed in a seemingly endless outpour of energy. But he paid it no heed. The anguish on his face was all the information anyone needed to know where he would be directing his assault.
I guess that explains how Son Goku turned his hair golden thought the general, arms across his chest. His face as passive as ever.
"Shit!" Came an outburst across the room from one of the scientists wearing a dark grey coat. "The energy from the battle is overwhelming the satellite monitors. Even with the enhanced buffers, they're going to blow if we don't move the satellite back."
"Yes sir," came the nearly inaudible whisper in response to the desperate plea from his father.
Time crawled to a slow for Gohan. This was the first time he had truly tapped into his anger since his bout with Cell those few years ago. He could feel it. The sheer power coursing through his body. His already heightened senses increased even more.
His sight focused on the four figures across from him. Gohan could see every minutia of their expressions, of the wrinkles forming around the edges of their glowering challenging stare. Beneath the masks they wore, he could see the whites of their eyes. The new uncertainty bubbling forth beneath not yet willing to bare its face to anyone, except for Gohan. He could sense their energy, before, even and stable, now fluctuating. Fluctuating up and down, mirroring the ever quickening beating of their hearts. Oh he could hear their heart beats as well. He wanted their hearts, he could almost taste their blood on his lips, the slow of their waning life force flowing across his hands as he slowly ripped out their throats. The impending tortured screams would be music to his ears. His power urged Gohan on, urged him to take what was rightfully his. Revenge for what they had wrought, revenge for what they had taken. Most importantly, revenge for challenging the most strongest in the universe. The power he hadn't heard since his fight with Cell. No, since the death of his father. The death that he had caused.
Now a new emotion burned through Gohan coursing through his white hot veins, cooling them down, tempering him. Shame. He wouldn't repeat his past his mistakes. He wouldn't endanger anyone ever again because of his hubris. He will end this battle now.
Gohan looked up again. Theirs was still the face of defiance unwilling or incapable of accepting the outpouring of energy coming from the fighter standing across from them. He would have to educate them of their folly.
"What's going on out there," bellowed the commanding voice from the still seated general. "How could we have lost the signal? What of the extra energy buffer safeguards we had installed." He felt queasy, his own senses and energy receptors protesting against the waves of energy smashing across his body. It was hard to believe, all this power being generated naturally by such a young boy, seeming without any supplements or enhancements similar to the machines powering the general's own body. It put him to shame.
"Sir," began the reply from the hurried technicians, his fingers already a blur over his console trying to restore signal from the satellite. "That may be true, but we hadn't anticipated the possibility of such sheer power. We're working on moving another satellite into a better position to get a view of what's going on, but it'll take a minute or two… There we have signal back now!"
Immediately all attention reverted back to what was happening on the newest battle to determine the planet's fate. But… all they saw now was the golden fighter standing alone. The invaders were nowhere to be seen.
"Caldwell, can our satellites detect where the aliens have gone?" asked the general.
"No sir, their signals are completely gone. All traces of the energy being detected by our satellites are coming from either humans or… whatever this golden fighter is," answered the befuddled technician.
"No readings at all? Could they have fled to another location? Perhaps they are suppressing their energy readings like our mysterious fighters do?" the general inquired.
"Wait, over there!" One of the scientists piped up pointing to the dismembered remains of two of the invaders. "Maybe… maybe we can't pick up their signals is because they're all dead…"
"Dead already, but how is that possible? And what of the other two?" asked the shocked general. We already had a reading of their own energy levels, and truth be told, one of them had more power than the combined might of the entire Android Program. What does that say about our mysterious fighter for him to have ended at least two of them so quickly?
"No readings," remarked Caldwell. "My guess is that they've been killed as well. The only readings we have of the two missing ones are of the lingering residue from some sort of recent energy battle that just ended. Judging from the fact that our golden savior is the only one standing, I'd guess that he killed them and incinerated their bodies."
The general nodded in understanding, but still just to be on the safe side. "Send teams out to try to search for them in case they did escape. Otherwise, bring in our search and rescue teams. There are a lot of people still trapped underneath all that rubble. They're going to need our help."
"Sir, the golden fighter. He's leaving!"
Sure enough, he had reverted back to his basic black-hair state and had gathered all his companions together. He was somehow levitating them all with his energy and was preparing to fly off.
"Sir," began Caldwell, "what should we do? Should we follow him? We're going to lose him shortly if we don't do anything, and this maybe our best opportunity." Already the number on the computer screens measuring the energy output from the boy was now drastically falling.
"Send one of the teams to discretely follow him at a far enough away distance and to under no uncertain terms make any actions that could be construed as hostile on pain of having my foot up their asses if they fuck up this golden opportunity to get some real answers," said the general.
"Yes sir, Bravo Team is the closest one on-site. Shall we deploy them?" asked one of the attending lieutenants.
The general paused for a second, that's Agents Burdett and Hamilton. I guess they've been itching for a chance to find the answer to their elusive query for the past two years. Hell, they probably drifted close to the battle-site on their own despite strict orders not to. Still, they follow orders well enough and have never blatantly screwed up before. He nodded in assent. His assistants scurried away to carry out their orders.
Hopefully now we'll finally get some answers.