The Rise of a Protector

by The Legendary Dragon Reaper

Wracked with guilt over Goku's death and blessed with a new power from the god of dragons, read as Gohan struggles with life, love, puberty, fulfilling his destiny, and above all, protecting the people he loves and his world. Please read each chapter until the very end and check for authors notes. Gohan x Kagome, OC x Erasa.

40. World War Z Part IV: The Final Battle

Krillin was the first one to see Piccolo and Mirai re-materialize on the Lookout "Piccolo, Mirai, you're both okay!"

Mirai nodded and gripped his wounded shoulder "Somehow yeah."

Goku stepped forward "It's great to see you guys again, really."

Piccolo nodded "Likewise. Looks you had a rough fight."

"You guys too." then Goku looked behind Videl and Erasa and his grin widened "Way to make an entrance Kai, solid 10/10."

Erasa felt an arm wrap around her shoulder "Kai…?" and she slowly looked back, hoping that her suspicions were true.

Sure enough, Kai stood behind her, his gi practically shredded halfway and he was covered in wounds all over, and he was tired but triumphant. He shot her a grin "Hey, looks like I made it out in one piece after all."

Erasa began pounding on his chest "I thought I'd lost you you big dummy, I was worried sick about you!" and tears began streaming down her face as she buried her face into his chest.

"...What have I been up to? Oh nothing much, just getting my ass kicked by Bojack, being saved by Shin over there along with Gohan, being taken to the world of the gods where I pulled out this divine sword like something I heard when I was a kid, repeatedly blasted and humiliated an arrogant prick who had no walk to back up his talk, met my deceased mother up there, met a dirty old man who happened to be a Supreme Kai sealed away by Magatsuhi thousands of years ago, awakened my dormant powers to the fullest extent and awakened what Gohan and I call my Mystic form. Then I met up with Piccolo on the Grand Kai's planet and we fought two on two with two other dead Namekians named Saonel and Pirina, during which we found out that the reason for the horrible change in climate on Namek that almost wiped out the Namekian race was caused by Magatsuhi, forcing Saonel and Pirina to fuse with almost all of the other surviving Namekians to drive him off but at the cost of their lives, and then we defeated both of them with an awesome tag team attack. Then Saonel and Pirina convinced Piccolo to fuse with them and turn him into what he looks like now, as well as being much stronger than before, and then I returned to the Sacred World of the Kai's while Piccolo and Cooler went back to Earth. I waited until Gohan attained the Mystic power up, had a heartfelt goodbye with my mother, and then we both came back down to Earth to save the day like two bosses. How was your weak?"

"Just hold still Kai, I'll heal you right away." Dende's hands began glowing as he held them out and began healing all of Kai's injuries."

Kai flexed his newly healed muscles "Thanks Dende, you really are a miracle worker in times like this."

"I should be thanking you, you're the one who finished off Majin Buu. That was a truly amazing battle."

"Oh come on, it wasn't that great."

"I have to disagree." Shin stepped forward "You did your world and the whole universe a great service by destroying Buu today Kai, on behalf of the universe and everyone in it I must thank you." he bowed, with Kibito reluctantly doing the same.

"I don't think any of you get it, I mean it's too early to celebrate."

"He's right." Vegeta cut in "Don't forget that there's still one more battle to be won, the most important one of all."

"The fight between Gohan and Magatsuhi." Kai looked up into the sky 'We're counting on Gohan, beat that ugly bastard and come back alive, and then we can celebrate everything together.'

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Magatsuhi stood on a small island as he stared out at the ocean, lost in thought 'So Janemba, Buu and even Frieza were defeated. What a shame, Janemba and Buu seemed like such useful pawns and Frieza was the only one of them I even remotely respected.' he looked back and smirked deviously 'So he's finally come, at long last.'

Sure enough, Gohan slowly dropped down to the ground in front of him 'Everyone has been fighting as hard as they can on every battlefront, against 9 of the strongest foes this universe has ever seen. My good friends, former enemies turned allies, people I've never met, the young and the old, the living and the dead, all of them are working together as one, a single unit united for a single purpose. All of them are here, all of my friends and family are here. I know one thing for sure about this war, and that is that we're going to win it. Dad, Piccolo, Vegeta, Kai and everyone else played their part so far, so now it's my turn. It's time."

"So it is." Magatsuhi turned around to face him "I've been waiting for this moment for a very long time, the moment when I can finally destroy you and conquer the universe. You and your kind have been an annoyance to me for far too long as it is, and now I will finally be rid of you and the rest of the Saiyan race."

"You're not stupid, you must know that I'm not going to let that happen." Gohan slowly dropped into a combat stance that Piccolo taught him, his Mystic white aura slowly flaring into life around his body "I may not have had some of the best experiences in the past, maybe even downright hated some of them, but I always had nothing but respect for their pride. And now it's time for me to share that pride, that being pride in myself. I am Son Gohan, the Dragon Saiyan, a warrior who carries the blood of both a Saiyan and an Earthling, a warrior who has chosen to dedicate his life to defending his people, and his world. And in the name of all of those that you have made suffer, Saiyans, humans, demons and even the Namekians, for all of the crimes that you've committed throughout the universe, I will defeat you here and now!"

Magatsuhi could only smirk as he entered his own combat stance "And I would just love to see you try."

"And I will!" Gohan charged forward, signifying the start of the final battle, the battle that would either save or destroy the universe depending on the outcome.

Magatsuhi blocked the blow, sending out a shockwave, resulting in the two of them clashing in mid air and trading even blows, the force of their clashes destroying one plateau after another as the fight went on.

Gohan charged at Magatsuhi in mid air.

Magatsuhi leapt over the attack and attempted to whack Gohan using a tail he sprouted from his back.

Gohan began blitzing past the attempts by the tail and returned to the ground.

Magatsuhi fired a black Ki blast at him.

Gohan propelled himself away in time by firing his own Ki blast at the ground, saving himself from the massive explosion that had formed as a result of Magatsuhi's blast, but was engulfed in the smoke.

Magatsuhi fired a barrage of demonic Ki blasts into the smoke.

Gohan began blitzing through the smoke and dodging every one with ease 'He must be trying to lure me out of the smoke with a continuous barrage of attacks.' he looked back upwards and behind him.

Magatsuhi appeared above Gohan in the smoke and began firing a barrage of Ki beams from his eyes.

Gohan took off flying through the smoke in order to avoid the oncoming barrage of Eye Beams, causing them to hit boulders and plateaus in the surrounding area as they continued trading blows

Magatsuhi knocked Gohan away and fired a Ki blast, engulfing Gohan in an explosion, then planted his feet firmly on a tall and narrow plateau.

Gohan suddenly appeared behind him, leaving the two of them standing back to back with each other as the smoke faded away, only for the plateau to almost immediately shatter under the sheer pressure.

"You'll have to do better than that."

"So will you!" Gohan aimed an elbow at Magatsuhi's back.

Magatsuhi suddenly disappeared before the blow could make contact.

Gohan lowered himself to the ground near the shore and attempted to locate Magatsuhi using his hearing and Ki sensing 'Come on, where is he?' he immediately leapt away and spun around as he dropped back into his fighting stance, only to see that it was only a boulder 'It was a rock, nothing more than that.'

Magatsuhi burst out from the water and fired a large Ki blast.

"Too easy! Gohan caught the Ki blast with both hands but was being pushed back a great distance by the sheer force, leaving him to be forced through the side of a mountain before he finally managed to push the blast into the atmosphere, then shot Magatsuhi a smirk as he then dropped back into his own combat stance "Don't tell me that's all you've got."

"Far from it. He's actually not that bad, I may enjoy this battle after all.'

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Shin watched through the crystal ball as the battle between Gohan and Magatsuhi began to unfold "It's astounding, truly."

Goku nodded "I know, they're just getting warmed up and they're already leagues ahead of me and Vegeta."

"What is it, what's going on down there?" asked Kai "Is it Gohan and Magatsuhi?"

"Yeah it's them alright, just see for yourself."

"Fine." so Kai checked it and his eyes nearly bulged out of his head "Damn, I can't even keep up with them. My eyes are hurting just trying to follow their movements. So then…"

"Yeah, Gohan's putting up a good fight."

"And that's not all, my mom taught him her own power up technique back on the Sacred World of the Kai's. Gohan's got this one in the bag."

Piccolo, however, wasn't so sure "I don't know about that."

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"You'll pay for your insolence you fool!" Magatsuhi fired a pair of Eye Beams towards Gohan in a rage.

"Wanna bet?" Gohan backflipped out of the way to avoid the blast, only to find the entire mountain surrounding him shaking "What in the-" he was forced to leap up towards the top of the mountain and take cover from the pool of lava that erupted.

Magatsuhi appeared above the erupting lava and fired a barrage of Ki blasts in an attempt to force Gohan to back into the pool of lava, attempting to push him all the way in with one final Ki blast.

Gohan swiftly cranked his neck to the side, unintentionally sending the Ki blast flying into the lava, causing it to erupt even further 'Dammit! Dragon Magma!" he used his lava manipulation abilities to suppress the lava back down, then created a layer of earth over head and sealed it into place using his fire manipulation, before he could finally breathe a small sigh of relief 'That was way too close.'

"Nice try." Magatsuhi blitzed towards Gohan and attempted to attack him from behind.

Gohan dodged and retreated back to atop a small plateau "It looks like somebody needs to teach you not to mess with things that don't belong to you, that being this entire planet and the rest of the universe, and yours truly would be more than glad to volunteer."

"Is that so? Well I must confess that you're putting up a much better fight than last time and you've grown much more powerful than I gave you credit for, it's actually quite surprising to be honest. I never thought anyone, least of all you, could best the likes of Janemba and so easily at that. It's almost a pity that I have to destroy you."

"Is that right? Well we'll see about that soon enough."

"That we most certainly will." then Magatsuhi used some of Bibidi's magic to make the cliffside that Gohan had been standing on explode.

"Right back at you! Dragon Shockwave!" Gohan blitzed above Magatsuhi and stuck his fist out faster than even Magatsuhi could see, sending out a shockwave that sent him hurtling down towards the sea below.

Magatsuhi stopped himself before he hit the water and suddenly blitzed away, causing an uproar with the sea below him.

'Dammit, I guess it was too much to hope that he wouldn't be able to get out of an attack like that.'

Magatsuhi suddenly burst forward through the water and dealt a mighty kick to Gohan's face, sending him hurtling down into the sea below.

'OW! Dammit, that hurts way more than I thought it would!'

"You'll have to come back up sometime. Surely you're not dead already, our little game is only just getting started."

'Well that bastard is a lot faster than I had expected I'll give him that much, so what am I going to do about it? It's not like I can land an effective sneak attack on him like Dad did back on Namek when he was fighting Frieza, he can sense Ki whereas Frieza couldn't. It's not like he has a weakness as obvious as that- Wait, that gives me an idea. Magatsuhi has a lot of things in common with Frieza, that being that he's so overconfident that he thinks that I'll come charging blindly at him. Maybe I can use this right about now, I mean sure it's not much to go on but it's all I've got. It's been a little while since I've used this, I wonder how Piccolo is doing up on the Lookout with everyone else right now. Masenko!' he created two Masenko orbs right in front of him and began slowly floating away 'Alright that's perfect, now stay just like that.'

"I'm still waiting. Come on out Dragon Saiyan, I have a little present here that I'm dying to give you."

'Alright, this is it. Here goes!' he fired the first one up.

Magatsuhi dodged the first one "You wretched little-"

'One more time!'

"There you are!" Magatsuhi dodges the second one "You cowardly little-"

"Gotcha!" Gohan suddenly burst downwards with a large mallet made of rock and stone and went full Amy Rose on Magatsuhi, in which he slammed down on his head with the mallet , sending him hurtling towards the ground at unbelievably velocities, destroying a small mountain in the process.

Magatsuhi burst up from the rubble and dusted himself off as he cracked his neck.

'Dammit, I was hoping I would be able to at least hurt him a little bit with that.'

"I didn't expect you to be this good, I haven't had to dust myself off after a fight since I fought those two Namekians all those years ago. I can't recall the last time I actually felt this way about a battle, I can barely contain my excitement. Now how am I going to deal with you I wonder?"

Magatsuhi blitzed across the land and sea before finally setting down on the side of a cliff not far away "I think I'll toy with you for a little while." using the telekinesis that he obtained from absorbing Bibidi, he levitated a massive barrage of rocks and small boulders and fired them all forward at once.

Gohan began dodging and weaving around each and every boulder, only to soon get tired of this method "Alright that's it, I've had enough of this!" and he began smashing every boulder that came his way before finishing them all with a simple Masenko and making his way back to the ground.

"You really do have a lot of nerve don't you? Very well then." he used Bibidi's magic to lift an entire mountain out of the ground and promptly hurled it forward, attempting to crush Gohan between that and another mountain behind him.

Gohan attempted to catch the mountain, his knees digging further and further into the ground the further back he was pushed, and was eventually trapped between the two mountains, but he managed to escape back into the air when he fired a blast of lightning, breaking apart the earth properties within the mountains at a molecular level.

Magatsuhi suddenly blitzed above Gohan "You fell for it!"

"Dammit!"

Magatsuhi trapped Gohan within his Imprisonment Ball, leaving him unable to move.

'Dammit, I can't move!'

"You've been asking for this for 500 years!" Magatsuhi promptly sent Gohan flying with his tail, kicking him back and forth across the skies of Earth over and over again, only to stop him after a few moments "Now let's play a game shall we? We'll keep doing what we've been doing until I miss and send you either flying into orbit or crashing into the sea, I think it should be a great deal of fun. At least for me anyway." and so he started hurling and kicking Gohan across the skies of Earth, leaving Gohan with no way to defend himself or escape.

'Come on Gohan think, there has to be a way for you to get out of this!'

He got his wish when Magatsuhi stopped him in mid air "I do realize that this was my idea but I honestly happen to be growing bored with this little game of ours, wouldn't you agree?"

"Hold on what?"

"What do you say we skip to the sudden death round?" and so he fired a Ki blast, leaving Gohan hurtling towards the ground, resulting in a massive explosion that covered the entire sky.

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Kai braced himself for the shockwave that ensued, with the others doing the same "This is insane, I can feel the power they're putting out all the way from up here."

Kagome nodded "It's just unbelievable, there's no other way to describe it."

"And the sad part here is that that was just round 1 of this battle, Magatsuhi hasn't even gotten started yet. He could destroy the entire planet with a single blast if he wanted to, no now that I think about it he could probably wipe out the entire galaxy if he was so inclined. The only reason he doesn't is because he wants to finish Gohan personally, feed his ego knowing that he was able to destroy the one person who had the potential and the power to defeat him."

"So what does that mean then, is Gohan going to be alright?"

"Oh I wouldn't worry about him just yet if I were you Kagome, keep in mind that Magatsuhi isn't the only one holding back." he jerked a thumb back at the crystal ball "Why don't you take a look and see for yourself?"

Kagome looked back and her expression lit up almost immediately "Gohan! But how?"

"Even at that speed he was able to free himself from Magatsuhi's prison ball or whatever it's called right before the explosion."

"Gohan was really able to do that? But it all happened so fast."

"I had a hard time seeing it too, but the important thing right now is that round 2 is about to begin."

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Gohan emerged from the rubble, his gi now sporting a few minor cuts and scrapes "Well that was a little bit too close for my liking, I'm going to have to be a lot more careful than that."

Magatsuhi smirked "You say that like you still think you can win."

"I don't think I can, I know I can. It's like I was saying before, you need to learn not to mess with things that don't belong to you, that being this planet and the rest of the universe, and yours truly would be glad to volunteer to be the one to teach you."

"...Is that so? You're clearly much more resilient than you were before, and you're also dangerously close to making me angry."

"Well that makes two of us."

"Really now? Well it appears that we've finally found something that we can agree on, but it's only fair that I warn you that the gloves are coming off this round."

"That's fine by me."

"Then tell me, do you prefer to fight in the sky or on the ground? The ball is in your court at the moment, feel free to choose."

"The ball is in my court? Well then I guess I'm going to have to pick the ground."

"Very well." Magatsuhi looked around and gestured to an island behind them, then flew off and touched ground on said island.

Gohan did the same "I'm gonna take a wild guess here and say that you didn't let me choose out of the kindness of your heart, is this your idea of being nice or are you just that sure that you're going to win this?"

"Oh I can actually be quite charitable when the mood strikes me, in fact I feel so generous at the moment that I'm prepared to offer another concession."

"And what would that be?"

"I won't use my hands for the duration, how does that sound?"

"Well I'm not gonna lie, that is pretty generous of you. So then, mind if I make the first move this time?"

"Oh by all means, go right ahead and surprise me."

"Just remember, you asked for it." Gohan charged forward, his Mystic white aura flaring around him.

Magatsuhi leapt over the lunge and fired forward a swift barrage of kicks "You caught me off guard, I didn't expect your attack to be so green."

Gohan fired a few punches forward, then attempted to hit Magatsuhi with a rapid barrage of kicks.

Magatsuhi dodged every single kick with ease "Having trouble keeping up are we?" he promptly smacked Gohan across the face with his tail "The next one will be from the left." he smacked him over and over again "Now from the right, the left, the right, the left, the right, and now for the finisher." he landed one final tail smack, sending Gohan tumbling back as well as creating a large fissure in the ground between them.

Gohan rebounded before he could hit a plateau and quickly landed back on the ground, panting slightly as he wiped some blood from his lip 'I should've figured that he's not all talk, he's got more than enough walk to back all of it up too. Facing an opponent as strong as him you'd think I would be nervous, maybe it's just the Saiyan blood coursing through my veins right now but I actually feel kind of excited. I still feel eager to see what he's got.' he finally lost his patience and got fed up with Magatsuhi staring without making any sort of moves "Fine, if you're just going to stare then I'm more than happy to move closer!" then he charged, resulting both of them blitzed away and clashing across the island, before they reappeared again, with Gohan doing most of the attacking.

Magatsuhi dodged almost every attack with clear ease, still not using his hands mind you, and wrapped his tail around Gohan's ankle and attempted to slam him to the ground.

Gohan recovered on the ground and attempted to pull Magatsuhi down with him.

Magatsuhi attempted to stop himself by digging his feet into the ground.

Gohan the gripped Magatsuhi's tail and began spinning him around and threw him, then chased after him in order to unleash a follow up attack.

Magatsuhi disappeared before this trick could be initiated.

'Dammit, where did he go?'

Magatsuhi blitzed in front of Gohan and began firing kicks.

Gohan dodged them and slammed his boot straight into Magatsuhi's gut, then began firing another barrage of punches and kicks.

Magatsuhi fired his own barrage and ended up kicking Gohan in the jaw, then wrapped his tail around Gohan's neck in an attempt to choke him to death.

'Dammit, I can't get loose! This is bad! Come on Gohan think, what would your father do in this situation? Wait, I know!' and so he bit down on Magatsuhi's tail as hard as he could.

Magatsuhi gripped his tail in pain "You wretched-"

"Wretch this!" Gohan then followed up with a fierce barrage of punches and kicks without giving Magatsuhi any sort of room to breathe or recover.

That was when Magatsuhi finally lost his temper and slugged Gohan straight across the face, sending him crashing to the ground a short distance away.

Gohan slowly got back up onto his feet and smirked "What's the matter Magatsuhi, I thought you said that you weren't going to use your hands right?"

"I'm no longer in the mood to humor you in this battle."

"Well I've got a generous streak in me too that I inherited from my father, and that's the main reason why I'm giving you a warning."

"Warning me are you?"

"Yeah I am. That confidence of yours, it's a good thing to have but too much of anything can be bad for anyone. Start getting cocky and you start making mistakes, and in a battle like this one just one mistake is enough to cost you your life."

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Goku stared intently at the crystal ball "Wow… Is this what I was like when I was in my fight with Frieza back on Namek?"

Piccolo shared a look with Krillin "Yeah pretty much."

"...Wow."

"Quiet." Kai smacked Goku on the back of the head "It's like they're just trading small talk at the moment."

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Magatsuhi smirked in a sort of condescending way "Your strength is truly on the level that is to be expected of the Dragon Saiyan, and yet one might even say that you are exception compared to others in the past."

"Is that so?" Gohan promptly dropped back into his combat stance.

"But I grow weary of this pitiful excuse for a standoff, I do believe that the time has come to end this don't you?"

"Yeah you're probably right about that."

"The Saiyans have always been such a prideful race, which is to say how foolish they've proven themselves to be throughout the ages. It might be sad, but there is only one outcome that remains for you, that being your death of course."

"Oh yeah? Well how about we just say for the sake of the argument that I beg to differ."

"Oh do tell me, what was that you were saying about overconfidence? Don't think I'm not wise to your little tricks, you'd like me to believe that you're lashing out at me at full steam but you and I both know all too well that we have yet to see the true limits of your strength just yet."

"Pretty good call, it's rare for an enemy to actually possess intelligence."

"Baring that fact in mind I still have quite a bit of leeway, yes quite as it is Dragon Saiyan."

"Meaning what exactly?"

"Meaning that 50% of my power but a paltry half, that much alone should more than suffice to deal with the likes of you and grind you into dust to be scattered into the wind."

"Oh really, just 50% huh? I don't know about you but I can tell a bluff when I see one." and yet the beads of sweat dripping down the side of his head would say otherwise."

"Believe what you wish, I'm simply stating a fact. It's been fun, you've given me a work out much more bracing than I had anticipated to the point where part of me might even shed a single tear."

Gohan dropped into a combat stance.

Magatsuhi's eyes shot wide for a brief second, only for them to return to normal as his body crackled with electricity for a brief second, though it was more than enough time for Gohan to see the change, and if not then feel its effects "My my, it's truly such a shame."

Gohan promptly blitzed behind him.

"A tragedy really, to think the last and greatest hope of the universe is about to be crushed so easily." a ball of black Ki formed in his palm "Various other Dragon Saiyans in the past, including the last one before you, that being the one who got that foolish Super Saiyan story started in the first place. What was his name again I wonder? Oh yes, it was Yamoshi." the ball of Ki disappeared "All of them were headstrong just like him, all of them deaf to reason, and all of them dead."

Gohan quickly leapt away 'Okay, so maybe he wasn't bluffing after all.'

Magatsuhi suddenly blitzed in front of Gohan far faster than he was able to track and slammed his elbow straight into Gohan's jaw, sending him stumbling back.

Gohan took a moment to recompose himself and wipe the blood from his nose 'That kind of speed shouldn't be possible, he moved so fast I couldn't even track it.'

Magatsuhi suddenly blitzed beside Gohan and swept his legs out from under him using his tail.

Gohan attempted to counter.

Magatsuhi caught him in another chokehold with his tail and promptly slammed his elbow straight into Gohan's gut.

Gohan was left reeling from the attack, gripping his stomach from the overwhelming pain of the assault and falling to his knees 'I couldn't pick up any trace of his movements there either, is the gap between his power and mine truly as big as that?'

"You can't say that I didn't warn you, and I did say half but now I'm starting to wonder if I should even have bothered to reveal that much to the likes of you. It really is quite anticlimactic when you think about it."

'This is bad, this is really bad.' Gohan struggled to his feet and aimed a kick.

Magatsuhi cranked his head to the side and dodged it with ease.

Gohan charged through the air with a repeated barrage of attacks 'Come on, please let just one of them hit!'

"Oh please you fool you're embarrassing yourself." Magatsuhi sidestepped every single attack that Gohan threw at him with ridiculous ease and finally slugged Gohan straight across the face in retaliation, the smashed him in the gut, kneed him in the spine and smacked him to the ground with his tail.

Gohan blitzed back into the air in an attempt to retaliate.

Magatsuhi tail slapped him repeatedly through the air and threw him away, then suddenly blitzed behind him as if he was toying with Gohan "Nevermind using even half of my power right now, believe it or not I'm barely even using ⅓ of it." he smashed Gohan straight on the head, sending him crashing to the ground, then smacked Gohan around through the air some more before he sent him flying into the ocean.

Gohan quickly burst back up from the ocean, panting heavily from the onslaught he had just suffered.

"Feeling a bit winded by change are we? I must say that it's either a miracle or just impressive durability that you're even still alive, let alone still standing."

'This is bad, this is really bad. But I can't give up, not when this is the fight to decide the fate of not only the people I love, not only the entire world, but also the entire universe. I can't let them down, and I won't let them down!' Gohan charged forward, his resolve now even stronger.

Magatsuhi dodged all of his attacks with ease and just began trouncing Gohan with an easy barrage of punches and kicks, as well as the occasional tail whack.

"Ryuken 10x!" deciding not to take any chances, Gohan powered up his Ryuken to the 10th level.

Magatsuhi was still able to sidestep every attack and send him crashing to the ground with clear ease.

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Goten gripped his fists tightly and let out a growl "This is bad."

Kagome tried to stay on the positive side of the situation and knelt down beside him "It's gonna be alright Goten, just watch and see. Your big brother will win no problem. Don't forget that he still has Kai's Ryuken technique going for him out there, he should be able to stand up to 10 times his own maximum power, which is, after whatever special training he and Kai went through, a lot. He's nowhere near tapped out, at least not yet."

"Really?"

"Absolutely-"

"-not." Inuyasha cut her off without looking for him "Believe me I'd like nothing more than for that to be true Kagome, the fact here is that Gohan already used the Ryuken 10x and he's still getting trounced."

Kai gripped his fist "This is bad, the gap between their strength is widening."

"No need to be a master of the obvious or anything Kai, but at this rate the only chance he has is to somehow boost his Ryuken up to 20x."

"Yeah but that would probably only equal Magatsuhi at 40% if he's not bluffing, right now we're gonna have to hope for a miracle. Come on Gohan, if you're gonna make your counterattack then now has to be the time to do it!'

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By this point Magatsuhi was tossing Gohan through the air like a rag doll "Come now, feel free to make this a little bit more entertaining if you like!" and he smashed Gohan down towards the ground.

Gohan barely managed to stop himself and retreat to the top of a plateau 'I knew it was gonna be bad, but this is even worse than I had imagined.'

Magatsuhi held up his hand, charged black Ki into two fingers, and fired a sharp and narrow slash of Ki, resulting in an explosion and a blinding light.

Gohan had to raise his guard to save himself from the shockwave alone, and when he opened his eyes they shot wide in awe and horror at what he saw, that being a gigantic trench that spread further than he could see, with no bottom in sight 'Unbelievable, and I thought that Frieza made my jaw drop further than it ever would. That's insane, that shouldn't even be possible.'

"Not to be a bore or anything, but if I happen to so choose then the destruction of this planet and the entire Solar System would be a matter of 5 seconds at the most. Quite fitting that it should share that fate with Planet Vegeta though, and like how I attempted to do to Planet Namek so long ago."

'Dammit, he's definitely got me in a pinch now. I can't beat him at this point.'

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By this point, Kai's jaw had dropped through the floor of the Lookout "There's no way I'm seeing what I think I'm seeing."

"No, you're seeing it." Goku told him grimly "Magatsuhi literally just carved a trench through the entire planet."

"So what then, does that mean that Goku is just flying by the seat of his pants? To be honest, this looks like a ridiculously one sided fight."

"Of course it does." Sesshomaru stated grimly "Magatsuhi is far more powerful than any of us could ever possibly hope to comprehend. His power is simply far too great, there is nothing that any of us can do against him.

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Magatsuhi slowly floated up to meet Gohan at eye level "Well I have good news and bad news for you."

Gohan swallowed in a shallow sort of manner "That being what exactly?"

"Well the good news is that I plan to see to it that you stay in the realm of the living just a little bit longer, the bad being that I intend to torture you and expose you to excruciating pain for all of that time."

'Come on Gohan, you have to think of a way to get out of this! At this point the only hope I have left is to boost my Ryuken up to 20x, but I have no idea whether or not it will end up tearing my body apart. And to think that he's still at less than half of his full power, now whether that's true or not I can't even think about underestimating whatever he's still got up his sleeve. He's been grinding down my options to the point where I've got nothing left.'

"This is no time for you to be lamenting your doomed fate, after all fate is not to blame for this situation. That honor simply goes to your stubborn sense of self worth." he suddenly burst forward and began hitting Gohan with a barrage of attacks he couldn't even tell were coming, let alone react to, sending him crashing to the ground in a heap "Oh come now, try not to be such a bore. At least try to defend yourself, that is the point here after all." he kicked Gohan into the air, grabbed him by the neck with his tail and threw him downwards, emphasising by landing one more knee to the ribs, sending him crashing towards the ground.

'Dammit!'

Without giving Gohan any time to react, Magatsuhi burst down into the crater and promptly charged at Gohan, slashing him clean across the chest with his claws and sending him flying and tumbling back, then slapped him back to the ground when he tried to get up.

Gohan struggled to get back on his feet, only to collapse from exhaustion almost immediately after.

"Oh don't tell me you're going to tucker out yet, we're only just getting started." he then wrapped his tail around Gohan's neck "Well I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I'm afraid it your time to go just yet. You haven't experienced anywhere near enough pain." he threw Gohan into the air with his tail.

Gohan slowly fell into the sea with a mighty splash and struggled to hold his breath once he regained his awareness 'Dammit, air!' he rose his head above the water, only to be forced to dive back down to avoid a Ki blast that destroyed a nearby plateau, with this process repeating itself a few times 'Come on, he's gotta get tired of this cat and mouse sort of thing sooner or later doesn't he? Dammit, and now my lungs are about to burst!' he attempted to swim towards a safer area so he could come up for air, only to run into a problem.

That problem being that Magatsuhi was standing on his head, pushing down on it in order to prevent Gohan "How is adapting to the aquatic life as it were?"

'My lungs… filling with water… Losing air… Everything going dark… I can't beat him… Kagome… Kai… Piccolo… Father… everyone… I tried my best… please… forgive me…' then he saw everything go black.

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However, Gohan was soon assaulted by visions, one at a time, the first being of Piccolo's lifeless corpse lying on the ground, his neck crushed "Piccolo… no… PICCOLO!"

The vision disappeared and another vision appeared before him, followed by a horrifyingly familiar scream and images of Kagome appearing.

"Kagome?"

"Gohan!"

"Kagome!"

"Gohan!"

"KAGOME!"

Then images of Kai on the ground covered in wounds "Gohan!"

"Kai!"

"Gohan!"

"Kai! KAI!" by this point he had tears streaming down his face.

Then an image of Magatsuhi laughing with malicious triumph, followed by the smiling faces of everyone he cared about: Goku, Chichi, Goten, Kagome, Kai, Piccolo, Trunks, Bulma, Vegeta, Mirai, Krillin, Tien, Chiaotzu, Yamcha, 17, 18, Roshi, Oolong, Puar, Bulma's parents, Ox King, Korin, Cooler, Broly, and even Bankotsu. And then the world exploded with everyone on it in a fiery demise.

Gohan's eyes shot open, one word coming to his mind 'NO!'

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Magatsuhi took his foot off of Gohan's head 'Alright then, now to see if a little bit of water was actually able to kill him.'

But with a sudden burst of pressure and a furious primal roar, Gohan burst up from the water alive and well with a renewed determination burning in his eyes "For my friends, for my family, for everyone on Earth and the future of the universe, I am not about to give up, especially not when I'm facing a beast like you!" his blue aura flared into life 'Less than 50% of his power or not, if I can pull off a Ryuken 20x then I at least stand a chance! All I have to do is give it everything that I've got and show this guy why you don't mess with me and the people I love and live to tell the tale! RYUKEN TIMES 20!" his blue aura flared even higher, crackling with electricity. With this new level of power, Gohan slugged Magatsuhi twice, sending him flying away, then cupped his hands at his side, black and white Ki forming simultaneously between his palms "Yin! Yang! Ka… Me… Ha… Me… HAAAA!" he fired a full power Ryuken enhanced Yin Yang Kamehameha.

Magatsuhi held out both hands to stop the Kamehameha, being pushed back a great distance by the sheer force, and fired a simple Ki blast of his own, engulfing them both in a massive explosion.

When the blast finally subsided, Gohan was left heavily exhausted by the strain and power of his blast, practically gasping for air "Did I… Did I get him?"

When the dust and smoke settled, Magatsuhi was still floating there, although his palms had been badly singed.

"That… That shouldn't be possible… Look at that, it's as if I never even hit him at all. So it's true, he really hasn't been bluffing about it this entire time. He really hasn't been bluffing about it, he really has only been using about half of his full power.

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Kagome's jaw dropped in both terror and disbelief "No, there's no way! Gohan put everything he had into that, the force was totally incredible!"

Goten nodded "So then why is Magatsuhi just floating there without a scratch on him like Big Brother never even hit him at all?"

"Gohan's Ki signature is starting to drop like a rock."

"It can't be right that someone so powerful exists!"

"Gohan's pretty much screwed." Kai's lips twitched into a bitter smirk "I guess I should've listened to Saonel and Pirina before, Magatsuhi really is far more of a monster than I ever could've imagined."

"So what then, does that mean that Big Brother is gonna lose?"

"I never said that, sure Gohan has been in tight spots before but he always finds a way to get out of them. Why should this time be any different?"

"So do you have a plan?" asked Goku.

"It's simple, me, Piccolo and Vegeta are gonna transfer whatever Ki we can spare over to you so you can go down there and save Gohan before he gets killed." and he gripped Goku's hand "Now let's do it.

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Gohan dropped to the ground 'This is bad, and he's probably just laughing his ass off at my failure.'

Magatsuhi, on the other hand, was dealing with his own thoughts 'That was far too close for comfort, how is it that a creature so low on the food chain has such unbelievable reserves of hidden strength? No one has ever pushed my body to this extrevity before.' he gripped his singed fist, now foaming at the mouth with rage "FILTHY SAIYAN TRASH!" he burst back down to the ground "Impressive, truly. I felt that. A LITTLE TOO MUCH!" in his rage, he burst forward and headbutted Gohan, sending him tumbling back.

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Piccolo looked back at the crystal ball "Gohan!"

"Focus!" Kai barked "We have to finish this if we want any chance of saving him before he gets killed."

"R-Right."

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"Imbecile!" Magatsuhi kicked Gohan in the face, sending him flying into a plateau "Pathetic little worm, has that tiny reservoir of strength at last been dried up? If that's the case then I no longer see any point in dragging this farce out any longer."

Gohan staggered back to his feet, barely able to stand 'Okay, maybe that wasn't such a great idea in the long run. I really lost a lot more of my remaining power than I was counting on, as a matter of fact using that Ryuken 20x without fully mastering the technique seriously wiped me out.'

"What modest powers the Saiyan race does, or I supposed I should actually say did, possess had been utterly wasted on them. Frieza slaughtering them all when he did was actually an act of mercy in the grand scheme of things, wouldn't you agree?"

'It's no use… I'm done for…'

"Son Gohan how dare you give up, you expect me to believe that after everything you've gone through it's just been for you to forfeit it and give up?"

"I… I am not a Saiyan like the rest of them… Neither are you…"

"Please Son Gohan, you can't just convince yourself for the rest of your life. You personify our race, what we truly stood for at one point, like so many others from so many races."

"Just stop it, it's not like any of that matters now anyway. Even together we-" Gohan suddenly found himself in a white void "Broly… where…?"

A silhouette of Broly appeared in front of him "The blood coursing through your veins, the perfect instinct for battle, your unwavering resolve and iron will, there's no denying what you truly are. Reach down deep into the depths of your soul, feel the pain of those of us who have fallen. Your friends were decimated, your world nearly destroyed on so many occasions, so many innocent lives ripped away from them just for his amusement. Does it not enrage you to stand before the man responsible for this. Me, the original Namekian race, the thousands of innocent lives, both human and demon, all of us gone. We were brutalized, tortured and then slain by that filth Magatsuhi. You are the last one who can defeat him Son Gohan, everything we were and everything we believed in survives now only in you. Magatsuhi will not rest until every last trace of that has vanished from existence, because he is haunted every single day and night by a single overriding fear that the legendary Dragon Saiyan will rise from the ashes and obliterate him, and bring peace to the universe." he was joined by silhouettes of Saonel, Pirina and Midoriko, as well as a fourth one he didn't recognize "I dreamt, I yearned to be the one to avenge us." he was then joined by the silhouettes of Naraku and Kikyo "Yet he battered and broke me just as he did the others, you can not know the torment I died in. Unless you are the one to finish this Son Gohan, we will all be lost, lost forever to the memory of time." and with that, they all disappeared, as did the white void.

Gohan looked at Magatsuhi for a moment, then looked at his side 'Broly… Lady Kikyo… even Naraku… You were all manipulated by Magatsuhi, weren't you?'

Magatsuhi stopped his advance when he noticed Gohan looking away "Really, I cannot fathom what must be going on in that skull of yours, and that gets very far under my skin." with a mere sweep of his hand, he created a large fissure in the ground "That settles it, there will be no quiet exit for you. Quite the contrary, it's going to be very loud and very painful."

"Broly… Lady Kikyo… even Naraku… I never really thought about what made people as bad as they were, just that they had to be stopped. But all the same, I do understand where you're coming from."

"Stop talking nonsense already, at least try to make this entertaining."

"I have to win, I owe it to too many people not to lose."

"DON'T TOY WITH ME!" Magatsuhi charged forward in a rage.

Gohan suddenly ducked underneath the attack and managed to land a solid kick on Magatsuhi's side 'Yes! Finally, a solid blow! I can do this!' he charged at Magatsuhi in mid air and fired forward a furious barrage of punches and kicks, refusing to give Magatsuhi any sort of leeway.

"You pitiful, filthy presumptuous imbecile!" Magatsuhi took every single one of Gohan's attacks in stride and promptly smashed Gohan straight across the face from his temple, sending him tumbling and crashing to the ground in a bloody heap "Well I must admit that that little stunt of yours nearly caught me off guard, is it safe to say that someone has finally found their fighting spirit again? Too bad there's still the whole Dragon Saiyan thing working against you, along with sending me back in time about 10,000 years thing, the slaughtering my Kings of Destruction thing."

Gohan struggled back to his feet "I can't… give up…"

"As I said before, your exit will be quite loud." Magatsuhi fired a black version of Frieza's Death Beam, striking Gohan in the shoulder "Do you realize what I've gone through because of your wretched wish on the Shikon Jewel all those years ago? You sent me to the farthest edge of the universe 10,000 years in the past, and I have been forced to relive the humiliation of that defeat every day since then. After all this time I'm going to make you pay dearly for that, yes you'll pay with your suffering and the pleasure it will bring to me. The sight of your friends and family when they find what is left of you and when they imagine the amount of hopelessness and agony that I put you through, that will make all of this time worth it!" he blasted Gohan in one of his kneecaps "Well what are you waiting for Dragon Saiyan? If you wish for any hope of surviving this battle then you had better run while you're still able to stand, then in the stomach "Tell me, does that hurt? Are you suffering now? Well it hardly compares to what you put me through that day so we're not even remotely close to being done and not because I'm a sadist, it's nothing more than tit for tat." he blasted Gohan in his other kneecap "Go on and try to escape, I enjoy a moving target."

Gohan fell to one knee.

"Oh dear I've surely done it now haven't I? You can't even stand." he blasted Gohan in the elbow "I see you haven't inherited one thing from the other Dragon Saiyans in the past, you do give up much faster than they did." he blasted Gohan in his only remaining good leg.

Gohan let out a scream of pain as he finally collapsed, unable to move.

"If you think that I'll stop just because you've finally hit the ground then I'm afraid you're sorely mistaken." he fired another blast, causing Gohan to scream in pain and finally power down from his Mystic form back to his base form "You clearly aren't aware of how this works, once you can't move anymore you're supposed to beg for mercy and say you'll do anything for me if I spare your life. Come now Dragon Saiyan, let's hear it. Cry for me, scream your lungs out in unending agony, soak your face in tears of pain and ring your clothes! Not that I would let you go, but it's all part of the experience for me. No I'm afraid that any sort of mercy at this point would be impossible, I've been waiting for this day for far too long as it is." he charged one final Black Death Beam "After all your death is meant to balance the scales, it's what you deserve for being the Dragon Saiyan, and more importantly it's what you deserve for daring to ever defy my rule. Now die!" and he fired the Black Death Beam forward.

'This is it… I'm sorry everyone… I did the best I could…' Gohan shut his eyes and waited for the inevitable.

"Snap out of it Gohan, get ahold of yourself!"

Gohan's eyes snapped open and shot wide at what he saw "Dad…"

Sure enough, Goku stood before him, Super Saiyan Silver aura blazing and rippling higher than ever before "Sorry I'm late son, but Kai and everyone else had to give me whatever Ki they could spare so I could even hope to make a difference."

"Kai…?"

"This was his idea, you really should thank him. You found yourself a great friend while I was gone, don't take him for granted."

"Yeah… He is…" then Gohan coughed up blood and his head fell to the ground.

"Just rest easy son, I'll do whatever I can from here on out."

Magatsuhi let out a scoff "Your first mistake was thinking that your presence on this battlefield would actually make a difference. Still though, I'm surprised that you were actually able to defeat Frieza. Oh wait, you didn't did you? You had to rely on that trash back there to save your life."

That was met with Goku slugging Magatsuhi straight in the face, catching him by surprise and sending him stumbling back "That trash as you put it happens to be my son, and I won't let you hurt him more than you already have!"

Magatsuhi wiped the blood from his lip "Is that so? Typical of Saiyans, too pesky to live and yet still too stubborn to die."

"So you say, well I'm gonna make you eat those words." Goku fired a single Ki blast forward, in order to gauge the difference between Magatsuhi's power and his.

Magatsuhi just stood there and took it, and it bounced right off of him "And just what was that supposed to do?"

Goku quickly fired another rapid barrage of Ki blasts, engulfing Magatsuhi in an explosion, then cupped his hands at his side "Ka… Me… Ha… Me… HA!" he fired a full power Kamehameha, finishing his devastating combo 'I don't care how powerful he may be, there's no way even he could escape from an attack like that without taking at least some damage.'

When the smoke cleared, Magatsuhi was still floating there without a scratch, then suddenly blitzed behind Goku and ruthlessly squeezed his shoulder, causing him to scream in pain.

"That… That shouldn't be possible!"

"You fool, you have no idea what's impossible." he elbowed Goku in the gut and the back of the neck "It's truly astounding how something so resilient could be so dull, unless they have a death wish that is."

Goku tried to land a kick to Magatsuhi's face and smash him to the ground.

Magatsuhi dodged the attempted combo with ease and began pummeling Goku without mercy, sending him crashing to the ground right beside where Gohan lay unconscious.

Goku struggled to lift his head 'Gohan… I'm sorry… This is all I've got…'

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Gohan found himself in a white void, his body bound by chains 'Is that it…? Am I finished…? I don't have the strength… to lift a finger… At moments like this… I can't help but wonder… After everything I've been through… has it just been… to fail…?'

Then various images and memories flashed through his mind.

His vow to himself after the battle with Bojack: "I know what I have to do now. Please, let me get stronger and protect them all. I want to, no, I have to become stronger, way stronger than I am right now, to protect everyone I love and those who can't protect themselves, to embrace my role as protector of the Earth and everyone on it. If I don't, I'll never be able to face you again, dad."

He had nearly lost himself in his grief over Goku's death at one point and had gone berserk because of it, but Kai snapped him out of it: "Get a grip you idiot! Can't you see things clearly yet? You were so sure of yourself, sure that you could overcome every obstacle you faced and in all the time I've known you you never once doubted your strength. But facing one guy, making just one stupid mistake took your confidence and shattered it beyond recognition. And your father was your inspiration, your role model, your guiding hand. I'm well aware that you feel as if your world has shattered now that he's gone, and the strongest foes in the universe blocked your way time after time! You'll never find your way like this, you've already lost yourself in your regret and your guilt. I know it hurts worse than anyone could imagine Gohan, but you have to bottle up your feelings. Don't think about the one man that you've lost, you can't get back what's already lost to you. But you have to think about what you still have right in front of you, the people you care about that you still have to protect!"

His confession to Kagome inside the Shikon Jewel: "Kagome taught me how to smile… more than that, she taught me how to believe in people… Kagome was the reason I was able to make friends, and rely on those friends… to shed tears for others, to understand the meaning of true strength and kindness… those are all things Kagome taught me… Kai, Inuyasha, Shippo, Miroku, Sango, Koga, Kohaku, Sesshomaru… Kagome is the main reason I have all of those bonds, so this… This can't be her fate, so as long as I'm still breathing and have the spirits of the past Dragon Saiyans and Ryuuga masters coursing through my soul, as well as the blood of Son Goku coursing through my veins then I vow on them that it won't be her fate! Kagome came into this world to be with me, and I was born for her!"

One by one the chains around Gohan's body snapped, and he slowly stood once more "No, this isn't how it ends. I had sworn to protect this world and all the people in it, and I absolutely refuse to break my word to my father, to my friends, to the rest of my family, or anyone else. I am Son Gohan, the Earth's protector!"

"I'm glad to see you finally forged your true and final resolve."

Gohan looked ahead and saw a crimson silhouette of a Saiyan who looked similar to Vegeta standing before him "Who… Who are you?"

"Oh right, I guess nobody would've been able to tell you. My name is Yamoshi, but you may know me as the first Super Saiyan."

Gohan's eyes shot wide "Wait a second, you're the first…?"

"And the first Dragon Saiyan."

"What?!"

"Calm down, I know this is a lot to take in but I have a lot to tell you and not a lot of time to do that."

"Tell me what exactly?"

"About the origin of the Dragon Saiyan." Yamoshi breathed a long deep sigh, and then began his story "Long ago, myself and a small group of other pure hearted began to question the evil actions taken by the majority of our race. Myself and the rest of the good Saiyans decided to lead a revolt against the bad, but we lacked the power to do it. That was when he appeared before us, an incredibly powerful divine being known as Zalama. He told us that a large majority of the Saiyan race had been corrupted by a pure evil being that he had accidentally created, whom you know now as Magatsuhi. In order to correct his mistake and counteract this destroyer, and to ensure my victory, he gave some of his power to me in order to create a savior, whom he dubbed the Dragon Saiyan. I was able to easily defeat the evil Saiyans with all of my immense power, and after a horrible grueling battle I was able to defeat him, but at the cost of his life. Before he perished, the evil being vowed that his soul would reincarnate until he regained all of his dark power, and when that time came he would claim total domination over the entire universe. With my dying breath, I vowed that I would do the same until his soul had been eradicated from the universe forever. But the demon's influence remained and in time evil once again took root on Planet Vegeta, and the memory of the Dragon Saiyan became nothing more than a myth, nearly lost all together."

"So the past Dragon Saiyans and wielders of the Ryuuga, like Inuboshi…"

"That's right, they were all my reincarnations. Zalama offered to transfer his consciousness into the minds of my reincarnations until they were truly ready to take on the full power of the Dragon Saiyan, but none of them were. However, you are different. The purity and righteousness of your heart may surpass even mine. Son Gohan, you are the last chance for the universe. You have to be the one to stop Magatsuhi, if you don't then all hope truly will be lost."

"But how? You saw how I fared against Magatsuhi and my father isn't faring any better, I can't beat him."

"Not alone perhaps, but with my power you just may be able to even the odds." he then placed his hand on Gohan's forehead, the spirits of previous Dragon Saiyans and other Ryuuga masters appearing behind him "All of our powers are now your powers and our spirits are embodied by you Son Gohan, the true Dragon Saiyan!"

Gohan looked at his hands, then gripped his fists "Right!"

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Goku lay on the ground and struggled to get up 'This is bad… That was everything I had and he just brushed it aside like it was nothing!'

Magatsuhi lowered himself to the ground and held out a hand, a black Ki blast forming in his palm "Try as I might I simply can't find any sort of reason to spare you." he prepared to fire, when…

"Masenko!"

Magatsuhi was sent tumbling back by a Masenko, but quickly stopped himself "Who would are to-" then he froze 'No not that, anything but that.'

"Yeah it's me, you surprised?"

Goku struggled to get to his feet and looked back, his eyes nearly bulging out of his head "No way… G-Gohan?"

Sure enough, Gohan stood before him, his hair golden like the typical Super Saiyan form, only now his eyes and aura were a sky blue color, as was the dragon mark on his arm "Yeah dad, it's me." he stepped forward to face Magatsuhi "Dad listen to me very carefully." he held out his hand towards Goku and summoned four Ryu Scales "I want you to hurry and get back to the Lookout as fast as you can and place these in four different spots on the floor, all four of them together will put up a barrier that will protect everyone from the effects of this battle."

"What? But-"

"Dad face the facts, you don't have the strength to make a difference in this fight and you'll only get in the way. I need you to listen to me this one time and do what I say."

"...I'll see you when you win this fight." and he began flying off towards the Lookout, due to lacking the necessary energy to use Instant Transmission.

'And I will win this fight, I have Yamoshi to thank for that.'

Magatsuhi let out a malicious chuckle "Don't think I'm truly going to let you get away as easy as that, what a fool." he aimed a Black Death Beam, intent on obliterating Goku on the spot out of pure spite.

Gohan suddenly blitzed in front of Magatsuhi and gripped his hand, his eyes radiating pure, unyielding rage "You're the scum of the universe, and I've had just about enough of it." he then crushed Magatsuhi's hand effortlessly "How many innocent people have to die, how many races have to be obliterated by mass genocide, and how many of my friends are going to have to die before you're finally satisfied? Well guess what, beating my father within an inch of his life is where you finally cross the line!"

Magatsuhi tried and failed to free his hand from Gohan's iron grip, and he surrounded them both with a black Ki dome, and when Gohan wasn't affected in the slightest he broke away, gripping his injured hand "How… How could he possibly have attained such a massive boost in power in such a short amount of time?" then a thought struck him, a thought that left him petrified with sheer horror "No, don't tell me… No not that, anything but that!"

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Goku slowly flew his way back towards the Lookout, his smile firmly in place "I think I get it now, I understand it now. I never really believed him but I guess Vegeta and Sesshomaru and the others were right after all, and if they were then that means…"

"That Gohan is the Dragon Saiyan, and now he's reached a new level of power that guys like you and me could only dream of."

Goku looked ahead and saw Kai appear in front of him "Kai… but how are you-?"

"You can thank Dende for that, he restored my Ki the minute you took off."

"But then how are you so much stronger now? Your power has completely doubled from the last time I felt it."

"Oh you can thank the Old Kai for that, the ritual he used to unlock all of my hidden potential is the kind of gift that just keeps on giving."

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"This is it." Gohan got into a stance "No more." his blue aura flared wildly, echoing with what sounded like the roar of a wild animal "Let's end this thing right here, right now!"

"The only thing that will end here is your life!" Magatsuhi prepared to charge, only to be beaten to the punch. Literally.

And when I write that down I mean that Gohan slugged Magatsuhi clear in the face, sending him flying, then grabbed him by the neck and the tail and slammed his knee straight into Magatsuhi's spine, and finished the combo when he violently smashed Magatsuhi, sending him crashing to the ground below.

Magatsuhi burst back up into the air with a massive burst of Ki, practically foaming at the mouth from rage at this point "You do realize how hypocritical this is don't you? You're outraged at the loss of innocent lives? The Saiyan race isn't exactly known for its mercy, compared to the likes of you brutes I'm a saint."

"You mean the brutes that you corrupted and turned evil? Yeah I know that was you, I know about every horrible thing you've done throughout the past 10,000 years. And besides, they've long since paid for their crimes."

"Oh I'm aware, yes Frieza made certain of that. You pathetic little monkeys always got on his nerves, and mine as well."

"And now it's your turn Magatsuhi, you knew this day would come."

"Oh please, do you honestly think you have a chance of beating me? I could defeat you with both hands tied behind my back! Who knows, I might even end up trying it. It makes no difference if you are the Dragon Saiyan, nobody ever has or ever will do battle with me and walk away with their life."

"Until now."

"Is that so? Well then come and backup that claim!" Magatsuhi disappeared into the smoke.

Gohan followed after him.

In his rage, Magatsuhi attempted to incinerate any trace of Gohan with a massive barrage of black Ki blasts.

When the blasts subsided, Gohan remained where he was, completely unfazed.

Enraged, Magatsuhi fired a barrage of flaming blasts of lightning infused Ki at Gohan, engulfing him in another explosion.

When the smoke cleared, Gohan still wasn't fazed "Don't even think about apologizing, you will never be forgiven, not after all the crimes you've committed not just on Earth, but throughout the entire universe." he held out a hand "Dragon Shockwave." he sent out an incredibly powerful shockwave, sending Magatsuhi tumbling back through the air.

Magatsuhi stopped himself in mid air.

Gohan burst forward and elbowed Magatsuhi in the face, uppercutted him in the jaw, and headbutted him clear in the spine.

Magatsuhi aimed a barrage of punches and kicks in a rage.

Gohan dodged and blocked every attack, the resulting clash taking the two of them higher and higher into the air.

Realizing this battle wasn't going anywhere the way it was, Magatsuhi retreated back towards the ground and landed atop a plateau.

Gohan calmly landed on a plateau in front of him, his expression remaining stoic and completely unfazed.

Magatsuhi fired a Black Death Beam.

Gohan easily dodged it.

"What- You dodged it?! But nobody should be able to move as fast as that!" Magatsuhi fired forward a barrage of Black Death Beams.

Gohan dodged every single blast with ease, causing them to blow up various nearby islands and plateaus, then slowly floated up to meet Magatsuhi at eye level.

"But how did you-? You wretched little- Why don't you just stand still and let me kill you already!"

The only response Gohan gave him was a smirk "Why don't you quit jabbering and show me what you've got?"

"Why you wretched little worm, you dare to mock me?!" Magatsuhi fired a Black Death Beam, hitting Gohan square in the jaw.

Gohan's head went back, but then went forward again, showing no signs of any damage whatsoever.

"What… how…?"

"What's the matter Magatsuhi, I can't be that much harder to destroy than a simple planet can I?"

"You… You… What are you?!"

"You really haven't figured it out yet have you?" Gohan lost his smirk "I'm a proud half Saiyan warrior who calls the Earth my home, and I'm here to destroy you. I am the warrior you've seen only in your nightmares, pure of heart and awakened by a burning desire to protect." lava erupted from behind him, and he flared his golden blue aura "I AM THE DRAGON SAIYAN, SON GOHAN!" his aura subsided once the lava stopped erupting.

Magatsuhi was left petrified with fear, but he suddenly smirked "Well I suppose I should stand corrected, I never thought there would be any truth behind those ridiculous claims that Yamoshi had made before, and who could possibly have guessed that it would take someone so disgustingly pure of heart to unlock such a high level of power. You and Yamoshi truly are one in the same aren't you?"

"And we're both going to kill you."

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"Just hold on, we're almost there." by this point Kai had slung Goku's arm over his shoulder and was guiding him up Korin Tower towards the Lookout 'Broly, Saonel, Pirina, all of you, you don't have to worry. There's no way Gohan can lose this battle now, he'll make sure all of you didn't just give your lives for nothing. He'll avenge all of you, I promise.' they finally reached the Lookout.

Piccolo and the others looked up from the crystal ball "Kai, you're back."

"No time for that, we've gotta use these Ryu Scales and set up a barrier around the Lookout before Gohan and Magatsuhi go at it for round 4."

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Magatsuhi was left foaming at the mouth in sheer unyielding rage 'This humiliation is simply unacceptable, to think that I could be outmatched by a filthy Saiyan half breed of all things! I am Magatsuhi, the future ruler of this universe and the most powerful being in existence! This is a nightmare! Yes that must be the only explanation for this, why else would this possibly be happening?'

"This is the end, it's over." was all Gohan said, his blue aura flaring and reflecting off of his golden hair, his hands cupped at his side with blue Ki building in his palms for a full power Kamehameha.

"Have you forgotten who you're up against boy? You will rue the day you dared to cross me and rebel against my rule!" Magatsuhi's black aura blazed around his body "Someone of my level of strength could never fall to the likes of you, I would rather die by my own hand before I let that happen!"

"Well then what are you waiting for? You'd be saving me a lot of trouble."

Magatsuhi's black aura disappeared as a crackling Death Ball made of pure black Ki appeared between his hands, and he then threw it into the air "You fool, you didn't actually expect me to die did you? I'm afraid that fate belongs to you and you alone. How long can Saiyans and earthlings survive in the cold vacuum of outer space I wonder, I highly doubt that you'll find it nearly as effortless as the likes of myself or Frieza do!"

'Wait, is he going to-?!'

"You and this pathetic planet and its people can perish together! NOW DIE!"

'NO NO NO NO NO!'

"BURN IN HELL DRAGON SAIYAN!" Magatsuhi fired the black Death Ball downwards, sending it crashing into the sea below with a mighty splash, carving through the bottom down towards the Earth's core and resulting in a mighty explosion.

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Kai placed down the last Ryu Scale, thereby creating a barrier that surrounded the entirety of the Lookout, just in time for him to sense a massive shockwave about to hit them "Here it comes, everybody brace yourselves!" the shockwave hit but the barrier held strong "Okay, that was close. Everybody alright?"

"We're fine, but I don't think Gohan is." Koga pointed out.

Kai looked and saw the entire view from the crystal ball going white "Okay now I know that's bad."

"Even Gohan with his new power wouldn't be able to survive in space if Magatsuhi blows up the planet."

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Gohan opened his eyes and looked down to see a massive crater 'Oh good, looks like the Earth is still intact and we're all still alive. I guess he didn't wanna risk catching himself in his own explosion and killing himself in the process. Lucky me.'

"Seems I pulled the rings a bit too tight on that one." Magatsuhi noted.

"Because like any other self serving coward you were afraid of being caught in the wake of your own explosion, and now you've failed once again because of it. And in case you still haven't noticed, let me point out that I'm still alive and well."

"Cling to that arrogant attitude while you still can, judging by that attitude I take it that you have no idea what's happening right now. The planet may not have exploded instantaneously but it's precious core has been utterly desiccated. Need I give you a little lesson on the geology of this planet?"

"Well my mother always wanted me to be a scholar so by all means, go right ahead."

"10 minutes, in 10 short minutes from now this detestable sphere as well as this entire solar system will burst into nothing but galactic rubble, driving humanity to extinction."

"Is that so? Well 10 minutes is more than enough time, as a matter fact I'm more than capable of killing you and fixing everything in far less."

"Well we can both agree that only one of us is going to be able to leave this place and I fear that that privilege is not going to go to you, for all of your heroics it's clear as day that the odds are stacked against it. But how about this, as a little fare thee well gift at the very least you will have the privilege and honor of witnessing me at the very peak of my faritably immeasurable dark power!"

"Well then why wait so long to show it to me? You're not fooling anybody and god knows you're not fooling me, the second you reach your full power any ability to control it flies right out the window." his blue golden aura flared "You're not stalling for any more time, we settle this and we settle this now!" and he charged forward to continue the battle, resulting in the two of them trading even blows and clashing throughout the Namekian skies. This promptly ended when Gohan slugged Magatsuhi in the face and kneed him in the gut, then smashed him down towards the massive crater left by the black Death Ball.

Magatsuhi stopped himself by sending out a shockwave and dodged an attempted kick to the head from Gohan, then flew back up into the air.

Gohan followed after him "What's the matter, are you afraid that you're gonna wear yourself out too quickly once you get to maximum power?" he blitzed in front of Magatsuhi and spin kicked him in the jaw, then kicked him up into the air and charged in so he could finish it.

"Don't! Get! So! COCKY!" Magatsuhi thrusted both hands forward and sent out a powerful shockwave, sending Gohan crashing towards the ground at high speeds, sending him crashing to the ground and through several islands, creating a large deep rift in the ground and across the ocean.

After a few seconds, Gohan burst back up, his gi now sporting a few small tears here and there as a result of the attack "Was that supposed to do something?" he turned his head to the side and spat out some blood.

"It's quite exasperating to find that you've underestimated your opponent isn't it? And that happens to be yours truly at a mere 70% of my full power but you mustn't fear, the true grand unveiling is at last underway. I can end this farce of a battle in less than 2 minutes, no more like less than 60 seconds.' so he began powering up, his muscles bulking up and expanding, his black aura flaring around his entire body.

Gohan considered charging at Magatsuhi while he was letting his guard down, but stopped when he noticed something 'That level of power is doing a real number on his body. So I guess this is it then, I'm finally going to see what Magatsuhi is like when he's at full power.' so he flared his own blue aura as well, only to hear a voice in his mind.

"Gohan are you there, can you hear me? Listen to me, you can't waste anymore time fighting him like this! This is your window of opportunity to strike, you have to hit Magatsuhi while he's busy powering himself up to his absolutely maximum! This is a chance that you can't afford to waste, believe me when I tell you that there won't be another one! I'm deadly serious Gohan, are you listening to me?"

"Yeah I hear you Piccolo, you're coming in loud and clear."

"Then what are you doing?"

"I know all too well that this may be the one and only chance that I'll ever have to take Magatsuhi down, but at the same time this may be the one and only chance I'll ever have to see what he's really capable of."

"You want to- What?! Gohan snap out of it, this new transformation must be messing with your head! This kind of talk is just insane, it's the kind of thing your father would do!"

"Looks like he's at 80% or so now."

"For crying out loud Gohan, you need to snap out of it!"

"I know Piccolo, but somewhere inside my soul there's a part of me that's screaming to let him do this. I have to let him do this, and I have to let him fight!"

"You need to think about what you're doing Gohan, you need to listen to me! Think of all the others! Think of Kai, Kagome, your family and everyone else!"

"I know Piccolo, I get it! I am thinking of them, and that's why I have to do this! For the past 7 years, ever since I killed Cell and awakened my Dragon Saiyan power, the reason I've spent all of that time training, fighting, improving and repeating the cycle was to protect them and everyone else, and for the past year it's also been in order to destroy Magatsuhi so I know that they're safe! Now is my chance to prove whether or not all of my training for this has been in vain! I need to fight, and if I can't win then we'll both know that I was never going to be good enough to protect them!"

"But-"

"Oh for f*ck's sake, Piccolo move!"

"What are you- Ow oh god my glubok!"

"Sorry but you're the one who wouldn't move, now step aside and let the student finish this little heart to heart."

"...That you Kai?"

"Yeah it's me, I've kind of been listening to the conversation. Look man I do get what you're saying, I don't like it but I get it. I can see that you've already made up your mind on this matter, if you want this as badly as you say that you do then I'm not gonna stop you. But all the same, I do want you to give me your permission to enact a plan I came up with."

"A plan for what exactly?"

"Well if all goes well then the Earth isn't gonna blow up and you'll finally receive the credit you deserve for being a hero."

"...Fine, go ahead."

"Thanks. And Gohan?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't come back without kicking his ass for us." then the connection disappeared.

"You've got your own things to take care of Kai, let me take care of this for you. Thank you for always being there, my friend."

Magatsuhi continued bulking up "98%... almost… at maximum… power!"

"That's right Magatsuhi, you keep going right on up to 100%. The only reason as to why I'm waiting so patiently for this grand unveiling is to have the honor of destroying you when you're at your strongest, because there's one thing that I won't be fighting and that is regret. Just look at yourself, you're itching to lash out at me at full steam otherwise you'd just hit the Earth with another blast and be done with it for good."

Magatsuhi finally let out a roar, sending out a massive shockwave that shook the entire planet.

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Even the Lookout was shaking as a result of the shockwave, but the barrier held firmly in place.

Kai breathed a sigh 'Gohan, just make sure that you win.'

"So what exactly is your grand plan?" asked Vegeta.

"Actually it's relatively simple, it just requires Goku and Piccolo going to this New Namek that I heard about from Gohan and gather all of their Dragon Balls."

"What are you planning?" asked Goku.

"Just go already, have Piccolo contact me with his telepathy once that part of the plan is complete and I'll explain everything else then."

"Alright." Goku quickly put a hand on Piccolo's shoulder and they disappeared through Instant Transmission.

"Alright good, now we just have to wait."

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Magatsuhi's bulk subsided considerably "And there we are, you wanted me at my strongest Dragon Saiyan so here I am. Are you satisfied?"

"I will be once you stop talking so we can finish this already." was all Gohan said.

"So be it." Magatsuhi burst forward faster than Gohan could even track, slamming his fist straight into Gohan's gut, and kneed him in the head, then slammed his elbow into Gohan's face and then went onto pummeling him without mercy before finally throwing him down into the crater below.

Gohan slowed his descent and rebounded onto the side of the crater, only to promptly be slammed down into it by Magatsuhi, causing him to cough up blood, then charged into the air after him.

Magatsuhi quickly caught him an began pummeling Gohan again, refusing to give him any sort of leeway.

Gohan found an opportunity to escape the brutal assault and retreated across the ocean at full speed.

Magatsuhi charged after him at full speed, following Gohan everywhere he went with significant ease.

Gohan dove under the water in an attempt to escape and determine what Magatsuhi's next move would be.

"Too slow!" Magatsuhi burst forward and slugged Gohan straight across the face.

Gohan once again continued his retreat, and once he saw Magatsuhi coming at him he aimed a blast of lightning, but he wound up only hitting an afterimage 'Dammit come on, what's his next move gonna be?!'

"Missed me!" Magatsuhi slammed straight into Gohan's spine and then his face, sending him crashing to the ground below, and began beating on Gohan, quickly forcing him on the defensive.

Gohan found an opening and kicked Magatsuhi up into the air and caught both of his arms, resulting in the two of them going at it in a power struggle directly over the crater that lead to where the Earth's core used to be "Come on Magatsuhi, just give it up already!" his blue gold aura clashed against Magatsuhi's black aura, becoming one as the two of them too their power struggle to mid air.

"Never… especially not… TO YOU!" Magatsuhi broke free of the power struggle and slammed his knee straight into Gohan's gut, then broke away, panting heavily and rapidly "Now I would understand if you're impressed but the truth is that I have a confession to make, that was nothing more than a warm up!"

"Is that… so? Well that's… a relief." Gohan lifted his head up and let go of his stomach from where he was gripping it in pain, then coughed up a little bit of blood "I was beginning to worry that that was all you had, that that was as strong as you could get."

"You wretched- Very well then, I think that's enough fooling around. I'm afraid that your time is up, as fun as this has been I'm afraid that you're simply finished." he looked down and noticed lava starting to build up in the crater, and then erupt.

Gohan noticed this as well and began blitzing away.

"Where are you going?!" Magatsuhi charged after him.

Gohan blitzed away "Are you going to keep talking or are we going to get this battle underway already?"

"Well since I plan to wipe you out of existence there's something I think that you should know before you die." Magatsuhi actually lost his smirk and turned serious "You are a formidable warrior, and in fact you may very well be the strongest warrior in the universe, well if it wasn't for me that is."

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Goku appeared on New Namek, with Piccolo right beside him "Alright, this is it."

Piccolo looked around in awe "It's even more astounding than I remember."

"We're not here for sightseeing Piccolo, we've gotta hurry and find the Namekian Dragon Balls before it's too late."

"Then look no further Son Goku." a new voice cut in.

Goku looked and saw the Namekian Grand Elder Moori standing before him, along with the rest of the Namekians "Oh good you're all here."

"The Supreme Kai contacted us and informed us of the situation some time ago just in case something like this might happen, the Dragon Balls have already been gathered. Now then, Piccolo was it, would you like to do the honors?

"Y-Yes, thank you." Piccolo stepped forward.

"Piccolo you've gotta get in touch with Kai so we know what exactly he wants us to wish for here." Goku pointed out.

"Yeah you're right." so Goku contacted Kai back on Earth using his telepathy "Kai can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear Piccolo, how's it going on New Namek?"

"We've already got all 7 of the Namekian Dragon Balls right here in front of us."

"Well that was pretty damn fast, okay now I need you to summon the Namekian version of Shenron for me alright? I have two wishes that I want him to grant, you still listening?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, first I want the Earth restored back to the way that it was before Magatsuhi had arrived here. That should fix all the damage to the cities and fix what he did to the Earth's core so the Earth won't explode. Once that's done, I want you guys to revive everyone who's been killed since Magatsuhi's arrival there, with the exception of any evil people. That should revive Broly and anyone he killed at the World Martial Arts Tournament, while making sure that none of Magatsuhi's subordinates end up coming back to life in the process. Do you think you can do that?"

"Yeah that shouldn't be a problem, but what do you want us to do with the third wish then?"

"That doesn't matter right now, just focus on fulfilling the first two and let Goku have the last one or something."

"...Alright." so Piccolo stepped forward and did the Namekian incantation on the Dragon Balls.

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Magatsuhi looked around at the ensuing carnage "This planet isn't going to last for much longer, I would say 4 minutes left at the most. Tell me, are you feeling nervous yet Dragon Saiyan?"

Gohan remained with an indifferent look "Should I be?"

"I see, you're stalling for time. Your allies clearly have a plan to prevent the destruction of this planet, I'll allow it for now but don't forget that even if it does work I can and will destroy the core all over again."

"Well then I'll just have to kill you before that happens. Besides it's not like I even do have to buy time against the likes of you anymore, you're already finished as it is."

"What's that?"

"After everything you've done anyone could see the facts here, the facts being that you don't deserve to live." black lightning struck the core behind him.

Magatsuhi let out a malicious chuckle, then once again lost his temper "NOBODY SPEAKS TO ME LIKE THAT AND LIVES TO TELL THE TALE! YOU'VE GOT A BIG MOUTH AND NOW IT'S TIME THAT I SHUT IT FOR YOU! ONE OF US WILL DIE HERE AND I CAN GUARANTEE THAT IT WILL BE YOU!

"Believe whatever you will, I'm just stating the facts." Gohan calmly dropped back into his battle stance 'What's taking Kai and the others so long? Come on guys, I can only stall him for so long.'

Magatsuhi let out a roar as he charged and headbutted Gohan square in the face, then fired a Ki blast that left Gohan blinded for a few seconds.

Gohan quickly dodged an attack from behind and caught Magatsuhi's arm, then promptly landed a headbutt "Not gonna work on me!" he began swinging Magatsuhi's arm around and threw him down into the core crater below.

Magatsuhi stopped himself by firing a Ki blast downwards and turned his glare back to Gohan's direction just as lava began erupting from the crater.

Gohan began blitzing away towards Magatsuhi and attempted to hit him with a long distance attack from behind.

Magatsuhi noticed Gohan and fired a black Death Ball.

Gohan caught the ball and charged through it, slamming both of his feet straight into Magatsuhi's face "Masenko!" he fired a Masenko, slamming Magatsuhi straight down into the side of the crater, then cupped his hands at his side.

Magatsuhi burst into the air above and behind Gohan, seething with rage.

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"Alright, here goes." Piccolo started the incantation on the Namekian Dragon Balls.

The balls glowed, the skies darkened and Porunga appeared "I have been summoned, I shall grant you any three wishes. Now, speak and let your heart's desires be known to me."

Piccolo slowly spoke the first wish in the Namekian language, translating to "Please great Porunga, the planet Earth is on the verge of being destroyed! Please restore all of the damage done to it since the arrival of the demon Magatsuhi! This includes geographical damage, destruction of cities and the restoration of the Earth's core!"

"...Very well, that is a simple wish for me to grant." Porunga's eyes glowed red.

"How are things looking down there Kai?"

"Hold on, I'm checking with Dende now. Yeah it's clear, all of the cities and the damage to the tournament grounds have been restored, along with the damage from the battles with all of the other Kings of Destruction. Now hurry and get to the others."

"Right."

"I have granted your first wish, now speak your second. Well? I'm waiting."

"Okay now, I'm not sure I know of the words for this one." and yet Piccolo still tried to translate it anyway.

"I do not understand."

"...For my second wish I want you to bring back to life everyone on Earth who was killed since the demon known as Magatsuhi there, with the exception of those with evil in their hearts."

"Very well but please be patient, such an order is quite demanding." Porunga's eyes glowed crimson.

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Gohan remained where he was, subtly charging a Yin Yang Kamehameha in a way that prevented Magatsuhi from seeing it 'Come on, just a little bit longer!'

Magatsuhi let out a roar at the top of his lungs "I'VE HAD ABOUT AS MUCH OF YOU AS I CAN STAND! TASTE THE WRATH OF MY DEATH STRIKE!" and he charged forward a full speed, a Ki shield surrounding his body.

"SEE YOU IN HELL MAGATSUHI!" Gohan fired off a Yin Yang Kamehameha, packing as much power into it as he could.

Magatsuhi rammed straight into the Yin Yang Kamehameha full force.

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"Astounding-" Shin was suddenly sent flying towards the barrier by a burst of electricity from the crystal ball.

"I gotcha!" Kai caught him before the hit the barrier "You alright?"

"Yes I'm fine, it's just incredible at how much power the two of them are putting out right now."

"Yeah I know, but something isn't right. The Namekian dragon should've been able to grant our wish by now."

"He actually just finished." Dende told him "All of the people of Earth have been brought back to life as if nothing happened.

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Gohan put more power into his Yin Yang Kamehameha, causing it to slam into Magatsuhi again, this time even harder, pushing him further into the atmosphere 'Come on body, please just hold out a little bit longer! I can do this!"

"I wouldn't be so sure!" Magatsuhi suddenly flew out of the path of the Yin Yang Kamehameha and slammed him straight down into the ground, several hundred feet below the surface of the earth, just in time for the final eruption of lava to engulf him while Magatsuhi flew safely out of harm's way "Excellent, take that Dragon Saiyan?! Did you truly think the likes of you could actually win?! You defeat the likes of me?!" he let out a malicious triumphant laughter.

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Kai froze "Gohan's Ki has disappeared, it's like it just suddenly up and vanished."

"But then does that mean that…" Kagome trailed off, then fell to her knees "No…"

"I'm afraid so Kagome." Kai fired a single Ki blast at one of the Ryu Scales, cancelling out the barrier "Look, it's pretty damn clear that even if we all band together there's no way that we can beat Magatsuhi. The time is now, we can't let this go on any longer than it has, no matter how big a sacrifice may be needed. It doesn't matter now, he needs to be stopped." he flared his white Mystic aura "Everybody listen up. Vegeta, Mirai, you guys get everyone away from the Earth in Bulma's spaceship while you still can, and the two of you and everyone else will have to find a way to kill this guy if I can't."

"What is your plan exactly?" asked Vegeta.

"Well clearly having Goku and Piccolo go to Namek was completely pointless, the only thing I can try and do now is try to drive Magatsuhi into the heart of the sun. Not even he should be able to survive that."

"No." Daizo stepped forward "I already lost you once because of my own foolishness Kai, and I lost your mother before, but I can't lose you again."

"I'm yours and Mom's son Dad, and I'm Gohan's friend and Piccolo's student, which means that I have to do this. Gohan fought Magatsuhi with everything he had because he had to, because it was him or us. As his friend, it's only right that I finish what he started and make sure that his sacrifice wasn't in vain."

"But-"

"Goodbye Dad, I love you. You too Erasa." and he blasted off far faster than anyone else could see or follow.

"...He needs our help." surprisingly enough, Sesshomaru was the first one to take off and follow after Kai.

"Better than sitting around and doing nothing." Inuyasha and Koga did the same, with Sango, Miroku, Kohaku, Shippo all following.

"...If I end up seeing Gohan after this is over then I wanna be able to tell him that I did my best in this fight." and then Kagome suddenly too off after all of them.

"What are you waiting for Trunks? We've gotta help them!" Goten flashed into Super Saiyan and prepared to charge after the cavalcade.

That was when Mirai put a hand on his shoulder and stopped him "No, don't."

"What? But why?"

"Because it's not your time. This fight belongs to Gohan and his generation, not yours. They all started this fight, now let them be the one to finish it."

"But they need help!"

"Which is why I'm going. Stay here and keep everything under control." then Mirai flashed into Super Saiyan Rage and followed after them.

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Magatsuhi looked down at where the lava was supposed to be spewing out 'This isn't right, the damage to the Earth has somehow been reversed and all its people revived. Of course, those pathetic Dragon Balls on the New Namekian homeworld.'

That was when a white light came surging towards him.

"Oh great, what now?"

The light burst towards him and stopped, revealing Kai in its place "Hey there, you remember me? As in the guy whose best friend you just slaughtered?"

Magatsuhi blinked, then laughed arrogantly and powered down to his 50% form "It seems that foolishness and overconfidence are virtues on Earth, you all seem to value it so highly. Face the facts you imbecile, you don't stand a ghost of a chance against me. It's sadly really, even when you're outmatched your kind just doesn't know when to quit."

"I just don't like to quit, there's a huge difference."

"Very well, I'll entertain you. Last of the warriors, you have one chance to either kill me now or join the Dragon Saiyan in oblivion."

"You killed Gohan…you killed my friend… He was my friend… and you killed him… " by this point, Kai was shaking with rage "YOU'RE GONNA PAY!" he slammed a spin kick straight into Magatsuhi's face, sending him crashing towards the ground, and fired a volley of Ki blasts that surrounded Magatsuhi "Hellzone Grenade!" the Ki blasts all homed in on Magatsuhi all at once, engulfing him in an explosion "Nail Gun!" he fired a Nail Gun, increasing the size of the explosion even further, then suddenly split into four 'Note to self, thank Tien for teaching me his perfected version of the Multi Form technique. DRAGON CANNON!" all four copies fired a Dragon Cannon simultaneously, hitting Magatsuhi dead on with all 4 blasts, resulting in an even more massive explosion. With his onslaught finished, Kai powered back down to his base power and fell to one knee 'No way even he couldn't survive that unscathed.'

But that was when Magatsuhi burst upwards from the blast without a scratch and easily backhanded Kai, sending him crashing to the ground in a heap, then held out a single hand towards him "Stay down you filthy dog." and he fired a black Death Ball towards Kai, the result being a massive explosion, only to frown when he saw the end results.

Kai opened his eyes when he realized that he was still alive, only for them to shoot wide in a strange mix of relief and horror at what he saw "G-Gohan…"

Sure enough, Gohan lay on top of Kai, half of the top of his gi now shredded and scorched nearly beyond recognition, his body now covered in wounds, and the most noticeable thing being a mere stump where his left arm was supposed to be. He shot Kai weak smile "Hey Kai… what's the matter? You look like… you've seen a ghost…"

"Your arm…"

"A small price to pay… for my best friend… being alive…" Gohan struggled to his feet, his blue aura beginning to fade slightly, but then flared strongly again "Come on Magatsuhi… we're not finished yet."

Magatsuhi smirked as he lowered himself to the ground "I can see that your fighting spirit hasn't diminished in the slightest, but I'm through playing games with you. The time has come for me to end this." he got into a horrifyingly familiar stance, in which he cupped his hands at his side and began building up black Ki "Farewell, my suffering of you and this pathetic little world will end now!" his black aura flared and began crackling with electricity "This wretched planet and all its people will share your fate, in a matter of mere moments the Earth and all of humanity will cease to exist!"

'It's no use… I can't win… Magatsuhi has so much power at his disposal… Please forgive me everyone, the world is doomed and it's all because I wasn't good enough! If only I had acted faster, if only I had done more then I could've protected everyone! Dammit!"

"Dammit…" Kai struggled to his feet "To think that everything I've gone through would still make me this useless… in the final battle… I've never felt more helpless…"

"Tell me about it…"

Magatsuhi smirked as he poured more power into his blast "This is what I was created for, to destroy and rebuild, and then rule. Don't you see Dragon Saiyan? The path of the supreme conqueror who knows no rival, that is the path I've taken and that is who I am. You fought hard Dragon Saiyan and I will admit that you came much closer to defeating me than I would ever have expected, but in the end the results were the same."

"So this is it… this is how the world is going to end?"

"Why bother to think so small? As it is right now, I have more than enough power at my disposal to annihilate the entire universe! Oh come on now, go ahead and show me your valiant last stand!"

"No Magatsuhi, I'm not going to give you the satisfaction. There's no point so just go on ahead and get it over with."

"Who would have thought you would be such a coward, such a finale like this one is truly anticlimactic. Well so be it, if you're in such a hurry to meet your demise then please allow me to oblige you!"

'This is it… Kagome… everyone… forgive me…'

"You can't give up, not at a time like this!"

Gohan's eyes shot wide and he looked over and saw Kagome drop down from the sky and land next to him "Kagome… You're here…"

"And so are the others." she pointed to where they stood on the sidelines "You can't give up now, that's not the Gohan that I know, the Gohan that I fell in love with so long ago! I know for a fact that all of the training the both of us have done hasn't been for nothing right? Just hit him with the biggest Yin Yang Kamehameha that you can muster and I know that you can't and won't lose this. I have faith in you."

"But I can't Kagome, in case you haven't noticed Magatsuhi already blew off one of my arms and I have less than half of my Ki left."

"You can do this, I believe in you. The only way for you to win though is if you can believe in yourself, don't forget that right now you're the most powerful warrior the universe has ever seen and ever will see. You've never given up before, I don't want you to start now."

"...Alright Kagome, if you think I can do it then I owe it to you to at least try. I'll give it my best shot just like I always have."

"And I'll be by your side every step of the way, Krillin and Goku and everyone else have shown me the steps of how to do a Kamehameha so combining your Dragon Saiyan power with my sacred spiritual power we can win this together. Now go on, power up and hit him with every ounce of strength you have!"

"Right!" Gohan cupped his remaining arm back, his blue aura flaring higher than ever, black and white Ki building in his palm, with Kagome adding her hands in as well "Come on!"

Magatsuhi continued charging his attack "So it appears that the priestess girl has brought him back into the fight. Good, I was hoping this would be interesting."

"And it will be!" Gohan's aura crackled with electricity "Yin… Yang… Ka… Me… Ha… Me…"

"Yes perfect, now that is more like it!"

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"This isn't gonna work." Kohaku muttered "Gohan knows that he doesn't have enough power left to overpower Magatsuhi's blast, this is suicide."

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"Feel the wrath of the Black Conqueror!" Magatsuhi fired forward his full power Black Conqueror blast, intent on obliterating the entire universe "See you in hell!"

"HAAAAAA!" with Kagome supporting him with all of her spiritual power, Gohan fired a full power Yin Yang Kamehameha forward to match the power of the Black Conqueror, creating a massive dome of black and white Ki as the final beam struggle unfolded 'Come on Gohan, you have to focus!'

"Excellent, you're fighting through the unrelenting agony much better than I would've expected you to!" but then Magatsuhi put more power into the blast, pushing Gohan's Yin Yang Kamehameha back and nearly overpowering it.

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"This is bad." Inuyasha muttered "Magatsuhi's Black Conqueror, Gohan and Kagome don't have enough strength left to hold it off!"

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"Enough, it's time I put you out of your misery!" Magatsuhi put even more power into his Black Conqueror.

Gohan nearly staggered back from the force but managed to power through it 'Dammit, this isn't gonna work?'

"What's the matter?" Kagome called over the sound of the beam struggle "I know that there's far more power within you than you're letting out, why are you holding back like this?"

"I'm not, this is everything I have! I'm just not good enough, I'm just the same pathetic little weakling that I've always been, the one who's never been able to protect you or any of the others!"

"Stop doubting yourself Gohan, I've heard enough already! I don't know where you got the idea that you're weak Gohan, but you're wrong! You've saved my life and the lives of Inuyasha and everyone else, and this entire world so many more times than I can even begin to count! Now you're going to do it again, and you're going to do it again right now! Just hang in there!"

"...Right!" and so Gohan pushed even more power into his Yin Yang Kamehameha.

"Foolish child, I am far more powerful than you could ever hope to be!" Magatsuhi put in even more power for his Black Conqueror "Your power is nothing compared to mine!"

"I won't give up, not to you or anyone else!"

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Mirai watched the battle from afar 'Gohan… Kagome…'

"Mirai." that was when Koga snapped him out of his thoughts "What exactly are you thinking right now?"

"I'm thinking that Gohan and Kagome can't do this alone, they need me to help so that's what I plan to do! I don't care what happens to me, I won't let them die!" and he blasted into Super Saiyan Rage and took off.

'Mirai…'

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"FINAL FLASH!" Mirai hit Magatsuhi with behind from a full power Final Flash, only for it to do no damage whatsoever.

Magatsuhi wasn't even scratched by the blast "Don't even think about interfering further you pathetic weakling!" he sent out a shockwave, sending Mirai flying back and tumbling towards the ground.

"Mirai!" Gohan looked on in horror 'Please, please be okay!'

Mirai struggled to get to his feet, but his aura flared brightly "Don't worry about me Gohan, just concentrate on beating him! Galick Gun!" he fired a full power Galick Gun at Magatsuhi from behind.

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"That's brave and all but he's crazy." Kohaku muttered "Magatsuhi is far beyond anything we could ever have imagined, we can't even hope to scratch him!"

"He knew that full well." Sesshomaru told him "Trunks knew that full well and yet he chose to go out and aid Son Gohan anyway."

"Lord Sesshomaru you're not thinking of… Oh great, now you're gonna go out there with all of them?"

"My pride would rather have me die than stand here doing nothing while Son Gohan and the others are out there fighting to save the universe."

Inuyasha smirked as he gripped Tessaiga "This whole thing about sitting on the sidelines, it does eat away at your pride doesn't it?"

"More than a mere half demon like you could imagine, but we have nothing to lose if we fail in this final battle. I would rather die knowing that I gave it my all." and he took off.

"For once we actually agree on something."

"Inuyasha!" Shippo barked "You're going in too?"

"You can say I'm a lot of things but a coward isn't one of them!" and Inuyasha took off as well after Sesshomaru.

"Well for once I side with him on this." and Koga, Miroku and Sango all flew off as well.

Shippo and Kohaku shared a look and shrugged, then flew off as well after the rest of the cavalcade from the Feudal Era.

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"Come on Gohan, you have to release more of your power!" Kagome shouted "It's the only way to win this! Trust me!"

"I do trust you!" and so Gohan packed even more power into his Yin Yang Kamehameha.

Magatsuhi's malicious and arrogant smirk widened even further "These are your final seconds in this realm of the living boy, do your best to make them count!"

"Final Flash!" Mirai hit Magatsuhi in the back with a full power Final Flash.

"Dragon Burst!" Sesshomaru fired off a Dragon Burst.

"Foxfire: Scorch Cannon!" Shippo fired off a blast of fox flames.

"Wolf Death Storm!" Koga fired off a massive Wolf Death Storm.

"Backlash Wave!" Inuyasha fired a Backlash Wave.

Miroku, Sango and Kohaku all fired Full Power Energy Waves, one from each hand, making 6 in total.

"All of them… I won't let you down!" so Gohan fired off more power in his Yin Yang Kamehameha.

"You pathetic runts, if all of you pathetic weaklings are in such a rush to meet oblivion then I'm more than happy to send you on your way!" and so Magatsuhi sent out a shockwave, sending them all flying.

"Everyone! Magatsuhi you'll pay for that!" so Gohan let out even more power.

Inuyasha pulled himself to his feet as he gripped Tessaiga "No Gohan, I'm not going to let you die all alone out there. You were one of the first people who ever saw me as anything but a filthy half breed or a monster, and I'm proud to call you my friend."

Koga let out a bitter chuckle as he struggled to his feet "I don't know why I'm getting back up again, it would be a hell of a lot easier for me just to stay down. Yeah back in the old days I so would've just run away by now, I guess it's Gohan's fault that I'm like this. Thanks to him now I don't know when to quit, and you know someday I plan to get him back for that."

Shippo fired off another Foxfire: Scorch Cannon "Gohan you were the reason why I was able to avenge my father, you gave me a home when I had none, and you're the reason why I was able to muster up the courage to come to this point. All in all you're like family to me, and families stick together!"

Miroku fired off a Full Power Energy Wave from both hands "Gohan you never gave up on me even after I resigned myself to my fate, you were one of the reasons why I was able to escape my family's curse, and I am forever grateful to you for that. I promise, I will not abandon you."

Sango fired off a Full Power Energy Wave of her own "Gohan when we first met I had heard that you had saved some of the people of my village, I knew from then that I was already within your debt. Then you went so far as to save my life countless times and even returned my brother to me, you never abandoned me so I won't abandon you!"

Kohaku followed their lead "Gohan you were one of the few people who truly understood me and the pain and shame I felt in my heart, you showed me that life is truly worth living and that I can't just run away from my past. You never gave up on me, so I can't and won't give up on you either!"

Sesshomaru fired off a Dragon Burst "No words need to be said Son Gohan, you know the impact that you've had on me."

"I grow tired of your meddling!" Magatsuhi sent Koga, Miroku, Sango and Mirai flying with shockwave.

Inuyasha, Mirai, Shippo and Sesshomaru all remained strong and standing as they put more power into their blasts.

"You dare challenge the supreme conqueror?!" Magatsuhi sent out another shockwave, blowing Inuyasha and the others off their feet.

That was when Koga and the others got back up and continued firing.

"Pester me as much as you desire you pathetic insects, it doesn't change the fact that you will all die here today!" Magatsuhi sent out a third shockwave, blowing them all into mountains behind them.

'Come on, come on, come on!' Gohan struggled so scrounge up the energy to push the Black Conqueror back.

"Come on Gohan, you have to fight back!" Kagome urged.

"I'm trying!"

"You need to remember all of the pain he's caused and all of the people he's hurt, you need to use your anger! You need to let your power explode!"

"I'm giving it all I've got!"

"Say hi to Broly when you see him in the next world!" Magatsuhi attempted to push further on his Black Conqueror.

"How about I do it instead when I bring you there with me!" a certain figure suddenly wrapped himself around Magatsuhi.

"Bankotsu?! What are you-"

"Son Gohan listen carefully, Zalama has already arranged that Magatsuhi will be erased from existence when you win this battle! I'll only be sent back to Hell so that I can reunite with my brothers from the Band of Seven!"

Gohan's eyes widened "Bankotsu… you…"

"He's giving us a chance Gohan, we can't waste it." a firm hand clasped Gohan's shoulder.

Gohan looked and his eyes widened "Kai… but you were…"

Sure enough, Kai stood on his left and smirked "Sorry about that, I just needed a little bit of time in order to set up another strategy that I came up with." he pointed to three copies of himself standing with Mirai and the others using his Nail Gun attack "Now come on, let's finish this, the three of us together. Zen Ryuken: Level 2!" and he powered up his Zen Ryuken as high as his body was currently able to handle "Come on, put your back into it! Dragon Cannon!" he fired a full power Dragon Cannon, packing whatever Ki he had left.

"Bankotsu… thank you." Gohan pushed every ounce of Ki he had left into the Yin Yang Kamehameha, causing it to overpower the Black Conqueror, accidentally sending Kagome reeling from the force.

"I've got her!" Kai flew back and caught Kagome in mid air, then proceeded to gently lower her to the ground 'Go ahead Gohan, end this. But just to be safe…' he placed a hand on Gohan's shoulder and began transferring to him as much power as he could.

"No, this can't be!" Magatsuhi found himself being slowly ripped apart by the blast, being unable to pour any more Ki into it "I am the supreme conqueror! I am the ruler of the universe! I WILL RULE OVER ALL OF YOU!" and with that, he was completely obliterated.

Bankotsu stayed intact just long enough to give Gohan a thumbs up 'Thank you…' the blast atomised him as well, the blast obliterating whatever could remain of them when it shot forward into the heart of the sun.

Gohan was left panting heavily in mid air as he reverted back to his base form "It's over…" then he collapsed.

"I've gotcha… no I don't…" Kai attempted to catch Gohan in mid air, only for both of them to run completely out of strength, the strain on their bodies having become too much for them to bare.

"I think it's over…" Koga mumbled in disbelief "I don't think I can feel their Ki signatures anymore…"

"They did it… they really did it…" Mirai let out an exhausted sigh "I knew they would… but it's exhausting…"

"Tell me about it." Inuyasha lowered himself to the ground.

"Hey guys…" Kagome came limping over to them, the exhaustion catching up to her "I guess… pushing my body… as far as I did… wasn't the best idea…" then she collapsed forward.

"Kagome!" Koga quickly caught her before she could hit the ground and then gently placed her on his back "I've got Kagome, one of you get Gohan and Kai and-" he paused when he realized something.

Gohan and Kai weren't there, it was like they had vanished without a trace.

"...Hey guys, anybody have any idea where Gohan or the other one went? Seriously, I know for a fact that they were there a second ago."

Nobody said anything.

'What the hell?'

A/N:

I originally wasn't going to upload this chapter until after New Year's, but then I figured it could be a little Merry Christmas gift to those who stuck around until this point. Thank you for that, and happy holidays.

I would just like to say for the record, that this is by far the longest chapter I have ever written.

So yes, the final clash and the beam struggle between Gohan and Magatsuhi is supposed to mirror the final clash between Gohan and Cell. I figured what better way to end an era than the way that it began, only this time it has Gohan's generation of Z Warriors instead of Goku's? Plus I decided to do what Goku wanted to do in regards to the whole thing about the next generation of warriors, and this time it actually pans through and means something in the long run.

I did some research, and it turns out that Yamoshi was the actual name of the original Super Saiyan/ original Super Saiyan God, so I figured who better to use for the original Dragon Saiyan?

Just to let you guys now, once The Rise of a Protector is finished, I'm going to continue writing The Rise of a Warrior: Naruto: Shippuden and The Rise of a Warrior: Danny Phantom.

Since none of you could be bothered to vote on the poll that I set up on my profile, I took the decision about Majin Buu in Future Trunks' timeline into my own hands, so here's my decision. I'm not going to do it, but instead I'm going to do another Dragon Saiyan story, this time with Future Trunks as the main star. It's going to come out later in 2018 once I'm done with The Rise of a Warrior: Naruto: Shippuden, and it will be called The Rise of a Savior.