Gohan: Development of a Hero
This is a Dragonballz fanfiction. To my eternal sadness, I do not own or in anyway profit from Dragonballz or any of the characters in this story. This fic, as you can guess from the title, centers on Gohan, and begins right after the cell games. It is an AU, and reviews are welcome and appreciated.
Btw, from now on, when characters speak in Saiyago (the Saiyan language), the dialogue will be shown in Bold.
Part 35 – The Ultimate Battle Begins
What the HELL just happened? Vegeta wondered as he experienced an emotion that happened very rarely with him; utter shock. Vegeta was quite frankly stunned by the turn of events, and judging by the expressions on Kakkarot and Shin's faces, he wasn't the only one. For some reason, Gohan had teleported himself and his opponent away. Vegeta wasn't exactly sure where they had teleported; all he knew was he could no longer detect Gohan's ki, which indicates it would have to be a considerable distance.
"Can either of you sense Gohan?" Vegeta questioned fiercely. He hated to admit his inability at a task, but in this case he felt it was more important to determine what had just happened than to keep up appearances.
Shin's eyes lost focus for a few seconds, and then he replied, "Gohan is no longer within my detection range." Vegeta nodded his acknowledgment of Shin's statement, and then turned his gaze to his rival.
Goku shook his head, "No, I can't sense him. Wherever he has teleported, it is outside my sensing range. And since when can Gohan teleport?"
Vegeta was a little surprised, until he looked back in his memories and realized that Kakkarot had never seen Gohan use that technique before. "Gohan finally figured out how you do your technique a little while ago. The exact details are not important; what is important is for you to tell us what the maximum distance Gohan could travel."
Goku face looked puzzled as he commented, "I'm not sure."
Vegeta felt annoyance rise in him as he snapped, "How can you not know the range? It's YOUR technique." Idiotic moron.
"That's just it," Goku replied, "That wasn't my technique?"
"What?" Vegeta demanded, his interest suddenly greatly increased.
"I'm not sure what Gohan told you," Goku explained as Shin and Vegeta's gazes bored into him, "but the instant transmission technique I use was learned on Yardrek. I've seen and felt what it should feel like when someone else uses the technique in front of me, and Gohan's move didn't feel right. It looked and felt different. Gohan was not using instant transmission when he teleported."
"Then how…" Vegeta began, until he caught a glimpse of something cross Shin's face. It was very subtle, but Vegeta easily caught it; he had lost of practice in reading stoic faces. "What do you know Shin?"
Shin met Vegeta's gaze with a blank face as he replied, "I have no idea what you are talking about."
"Don't try and deny it," Vegeta interjected, "You know something about how Gohan learned this technique. What's more, you also know about Gohan's fighting style."
"What are you talking about Vegeta," Goku questioned.
Not breaking his gaze from Shin's, Vegeta continued, "Shin and Gohan have the same fighting style. I noticed it when Shin was fighting that last bastard. You and I both know Kakkarot that means they either had the same master or one of them trained the other. Given that I watched Gohan's fighting style evolve into what it is today, I doubt he trained Shin. Which only leaves one conclusion…" Intensifying his glare, Vegeta demanded, "How long have you been training him Supreme Kai?"
For one second, Vegeta saw surprise and shock flicker across Shin's face. Shin was silent for several seconds before he said, "I am…surprised to hear that Vegeta. While I do not doubt your claims about our fighting styles, I am afraid your conclusion is not correct. I swear to you as Supreme Kai that I have not met or interacted with Gohan before today, nor have I ever trained him."
Vegeta kept his gaze on Shin, searching for an insincerity or deceit in his explanation. There was none he could detect, which made Vegeta believe Shin wasn't lying. However, that also created a whole host of new questions. How did Gohan learn to teleport if not from copying Kakkarot? Vegeta mused. Although, another fighter who could teleport would help to explain why Vegeta had never detected Gohan's teacher when he had been searching. The teacher could have simply teleported in and out from wherever he came from. However, Gohan's mysterious teacher was not Vegeta's main question.
Why now? Vegeta wondered. Gohan could have chosen to teleport away any opponent he faced today; why did he pick this one? Vegeta had no doubt that Gohan planned from the first moment he saw the fighter to teleport them; Gohan's request for Vegeta's promise indicated that much. But why? She had not looked like much, and Vegeta had been convinced she was no threat. But Gohan obviously disagreed; what was so threatening about the supposed Destroyer of Worlds to make Gohan do this?
Vegeta was pulled from his thoughts as Goku asked, "So how do we find them? Should I start teleporting around looking for them?"
Shin shook his head, "I feel we need to return our focus to stopping Majin Buu, and leave this alone."
"Excuse me," Vegeta questioned quietly.
"I'm not going to just leave Gohan out there," Goku chimed in fiercely.
"Nor am I," Vegeta added.
"How do you suggest we look for him?" Shin countered, "We don't even know the range of Gohan's technique; he could be anywhere in the universe. Simply teleporting from planet to planet will get us nowhere, and Gohan CAN teleport himself. There is nothing we can do at this point to either find or help him; all we can do is focus on Majin Buu and wait for Gohan to bring himself back."
Vegeta hated to admit it, but Shin had a point. There was no plan Vegeta could think of right now that had a chance of succeeding in the quest to find Gohan. And given Gohan's request to him, it seems likely Gohan himself wanted Vegeta to focus on stopping Majin Buu. "Alright, we shall focus on stopping this threat that has you so worried," Vegeta declared.
Goku looked very uneasy with the decision, but he finally nodded his acquiescence. As they began to wait once again for an opponent to appear, Vegeta couldn't help but ask himself over and over.
Where are you Gohan?
"Well, that's annoying," Babidi commented.
"Master?" Dabura questioned.
"I was expecting the Destroyer to do a little bit of damage, mop the floor with them," Babidi explained, "Instead, she allows herself to be teleported outside of my range on influence. Now, any energy damage she inflicts will be wasted."
"Are you going to try and find her?" Dabura asked.
Babidi snorted, "Of course not. Why should I? Once Majin Buu awakens, her usefulness will be over. This simply saved me the trouble of getting rid of her myself. It would have been better if she'd done enough damage to finish restoring Majin Buu, but no matter."
"I see," Dabura commented. Inwardly, Dabura was…concerned. He had a suspicion that once Majin Buu awoke, it wouldn't be only the Destroyer's usefulness that will end. Dabura got the feeling that as soon as Babidi revived Majin Buu, Babidi would do away with all his old servants, and Dabura had no doubt that included him. For a brief second, Dabura considered leaving Babidi before that happened. However, he had barely considered the option before the spells Babidi had placed on him activated, reminding him of one simple fact. He was Babidi's; he had no escape, and could no more defy Babidi than he could stop breathing.
"Who shall we send to deal with them now, Master?" Dabura questioned.
"I'm done wasting time," Babidi declared, "I want the energy to raise Majin Buu now; I'm sick of these delays. You will go up there and deal with these fools. I don't want you holding back against them; tear them apart."
"Yes Master. I will require approximately an hour of meditation to summon my full power," Dabura responded as he bowed.
"Then go and prepare." Babidi ordered with a wave. "I'm sure our guests will wait until then."
"As you command," Dabura declared. As he moved off to meditate, Dabura began to clear his mind and push away any thoughts about the future. Though he was fairly sure his end was near, there was nothing he could do about it. Besides, he could be wrong and Babidi could continue to keep him around after Majun Buu's resurrection. Until that time came, there was no use thinking about it.
He had opponents to defeat.
As the punch came towards him, Gohan easily blocked it. He moved backwards, giving ground as the Destroyer continued her onslaught of blows. None of them had hit so far, and Gohan doubted any would get through; doing damage wasn't what they were intended to do. Finally, Gohan decided that it was time to counter. As the next punch came at him, Gohan ducked and shot his right fist directly at the Destroyer. However, the Destroyer twisted aside and allowed the punched to just barely miss her. She then leapt back and settled into a fighting stance.
"Not bad," the Destroyer commented, "You may provide me some amusement before I crush you beneath my boot."
"Funny, I was just about to say the same thing," Gohan responded. As he settled into his own fighting stance, Gohan waited. They weren't fighting seriously; Gohan had not even powered up to Super Saiyan yet, and he highly doubted she was anywhere near her maximum. No, this was the testing period; they both were pretty much dancing back and forth, testing and probing each other's fighting style for vulnerabilities to exploit when the time came to go all out.
Not that he wasn't taking the fight seriously; in fact, Gohan had never felt more focused in his life. His entire body seemed more attuned to battle than ever. All of his senses seemed enhanced, and Gohan's reaction time had never been better than it was right now. It was almost as if his body has recognized that this was the fight he's been preparing for years and was acting accordingly.
If that was the case, Gohan was glad. He'd need all the advantages he could get in this fight. Time was meaningless on this planet; this planet did not rotate at the same speed as Earth, so Gohan had no idea how long they had been here. But in that time, Gohan had launched several probing attacks against the Destroyer and all of them were rebuffed. The Destroyer's technique was flawless, and Gohan was hard pressed to find obvious weaknesses to exploit. Not that Gohan expected differently; Sensei wouldn't have been so determined to prepare Gohan if the Destroyer was easy to defeat.
One thing Gohan definitely knew was that he had to make sure the Destroyer powered up completely first. He couldn't risk attacking with everything he had until he knew for certain just how strong an opponent he faced. So far, all his ki sensing abilities had been rebuffed leaving Gohan with no true gauge of his opponent's strength.
Speaking of ki Gohan mused as he felt the Destroyer marshalling energy. Gohan wasn't sure what she was doing; all he could do was wait and see what she did. The Destroyer cupped her hands to her left side, and Gohan felt her centering some energy there.
"Try this on for size," the Destroyer stated, "MEGA BLASTER!" As she finished, the Destroyer thrust her hands forward and unleashed a blast of ki directly at Gohan.
Gohan wasted no time; gathering his energy rapidly, he shouted, "MASENKO-HA!" and unleashed a blast of his own. The two blasts hit each other and exploded, generating a mild dust cloud that obscured Gohan's vision. Instantly, Gohan locked his senses on the Destroyer's ki and moved. This was the perfect opportunity to test whether the Destroyer could sense ki. Moving in, Gohan launched a right kick at the Destroyer. Gohan felt his kick hit the back of the Destroyer's right shoulder, spinning her around. Gohan quickly followed through with a right cross to the Destroyer's face which sent her slamming to the ground and skidding for a few feet.
Gohan was about to press the advantage when he realized her ki hadn't been fluctuating during the attack. Quickly settling back into his fighting stance, Gohan waited. After the dust from the explosion settled, Gohan saw the Destroyer lying face down about fifteen feet away. But he wasn't fooled; after a few seconds he commented, "You can stop faking; I know you're not hurt."
As soon as Gohan finished speaking, the Destroyer leapt to her feet and smirked at him. Gohan saw that she was utterly unhurt by his blows; though he wasn't heavily powered up, Gohan was surprised his blows didn't do at least some sort of damage. The Destroyer's smirk widened slightly as she responded, "But you made such an effort, trying to sneak behind me and all. I thought the least I could do was let you think you were successful in surprising me."
Gohan said nothing, preferring to wait for the Destroyer to make her move. After a few moments, the Destroyer added, "What, no response? I'm disappointed; I was hoping to at least have a decent conversation before I kill you. Oh, well."
The Destroyer phased, and Gohan tensed. He felt the blow coming with his senses, and ducked as the kick sailed over his head. The Destroyer let the momentum from her kick carry her behind Gohan, and Gohan quickly spun around to see a fist heading at him. Gohan brought his right hand up and blocked the blow, and then took a step back and let the next punch miss. Gohan then leapt forward and thrust his elbow into the Destroyer's midsection. However, the Destroyer shot her hands forward and grabbed Gohan's elbow, stopping its momentum. Before Gohan could react, the Destroyer launched a kick that caught him in the chest.
The armor Gohan was wearing absorbed the blow, but the force sent him flying backwards. Using his ki, Gohan flipped in midair so his feet were facing towards the ground. As soon as he felt ground on his toes, Gohan pushed forward with his ki and launched himself back at the Destroyer. Gohan saw a flicker of surprise come over the Destroyer's face, and then Gohan's fist slammed into her. The Destroyer stumbled back a few steps, but Gohan did not press. Instead, he settled back into his fighting stance and waited. He couldn't afford to be too aggressive; Gohan had to marshal both his ki and his best moves until they were fighting at full power.
As the Destroyer stopped moving, she glanced over at Gohan, "What, you're not going to press the attack? You think fighting defensively will save you? It won't; there is nothing you can do to defeat me."
"Well, we'll see about that," Gohan countered quickly. He watched as the Destroyer settled back into her stance, and preparing himself for the next exchange of blows.
This fight was just getting started.
TO BE CONTINUED…
First of all, I want to apologize for taking so long to get the next part out, as well as for the shortness of it. My first semester is winding to a close, and I'm finding I have less and less time to write as more and more time is taken up with class work and homework. I will try and get the next part out as soon as I can. Until then, please read and review.