Disturbance, The Complete Story

by Dark Phoenix Reborn

It all begins with a tournament. An ancient evil arises, threatening existence itself, and only Earth's finest can stop it. Contains Gohan x Videl action. Sequel to The Phoenix Chronicles and When World's Collide, series 3 of 3. Contains all 3 books.

12. C12: Forgiven

--- Disturbance, Book 1: Convergence ---

Chapter C12 - Forgiven

Disclaimer: The fun about this sentence is that by the time you realise it doesn't say anything, it's too late to stop reading it. Also: See first chapter.

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-Forgiven to me / You're forgiven to me-

Watching the barely-contained rage on Gohan's face, as he and Spopovich strode out towards the ring, Eagle asked calmly, "What are the odds that Spopovich leaves the ring in a body bag?"

-You're just another dead man living to me-

"Zero," Hawk replied swiftly, "Dragon's not gonna risk screwing up his match against Phoenix, no matter how angry he is; it's the reason he came to the tournament after all."

"Doesn't mean they won't need a new stadium when he's done though," Harrier pointed out.

"Wait; Dragon?" Yamcha interrupted.

Oz just shrugged, "Gohan's nickname."

-Forgiven to me / You're forgiven to me-

Before anyone could comment further, Chichi declared, "Well I just hope my Gohan pummels that brute for what he did to Videl." Standing up, she shouted, "Destroy him son! Mercy is for the weak!"

-How can you let a dead man live?-

Lowering her voice, Falcon whispered to Bulma, "Wow. She's scary when she's angry."

"You haven't seen anything yet," the blue-haired scientist whispered back. "This isn't angry on the Chichi-scale; this is annoyed."

-Forgiven to me / You're forgiven to me-

Struggling to control his breathing and keep his anger in check, Gohan willed himself not to lash out violently at his opponent, at least until the match started. He smiled darkly to himself as his sensitive hearing picked out his mother's voice in the crowd, having been well trained in listening for her. 'Just because I can't kill him,' he thought to himself, 'doesn't mean I can't have revenge for Videl.'

-You're just another dead man living to me-

Noticing the look in Gohan's eyes, the announcer pulled him off to the side, commenting away from the microphone, "On the record, I need to remind you that killing your opponent will result in disqualification. Off the record however," he grit his teeth, "I hope you punish Spopovich severely for what he did. Videl's always been such a nice, polite person - completely unlike her overbearing father - and she didn't deserve that."

"Don't worry sir," Gohan smirked, "I assure you Spopovich will get what is coming to him."

-Forgiven to me / You're all giving to me-

As Gohan continued on his way to the arena, the announcer gave his normal pre-fight introductions. "For those of you who witnessed his vicious match against Videl earlier, I'm sure Spopovich needs no introduction." Before he could continue, a massive round of boo's rang out from the observing crowd. Once that died down, he kept going, "Our second competitor, young Gohan, has proven in his match against Kibito to be a brutally efficient fighter. How will he go against this unstoppable powerhouse?"

-How can you let a dead man live?-

Gohan smiled broadly, waving to the crowd that began chanting his name, before returning his attention to the chuckling Spopovich, his cheerful facade melting into one of pure rage. Cracking his knuckles, Gohan growled, "By the time I'm through with you, you are going to wish you'd never laid a hand on Videl."

As soon as the gong was struck Gohan blurred forward, delivering a punishing blow to Spopovich's chest, and sending the larger man flying backwards with such force that not only did he slam into the ring wall, he bounced back far enough to land on the tile again.

-Forgiven to me / You're forgiven to me-

Gohan began internally berating himself. 'Stupid! I got so caught up in my anger that he's lost already!' He would have continued in this vein if his sensitive ears didn't overhear an interesting conversation on the side.

-You're just another nightmare walking to me-

Walking over to the announcer, one of the stadium monks asked, "Does that count as a ring out?"

Honestly, the blonde announcer had no idea; plus, he wanted to see Spopovich get the crap kicked out of him. With this in mind, he inclined his head towards Gohan, replying, "Do you want to get in the middle of this and tell him?"

-You were driven to me / Now you're given to me-

Deep inside, the monk wanted to see vengeance meted out as badly as he did, so, shrugging, he replied, "He landed back in the ring. I didn't see nothin' else."

Holding the microphone to his lips, the announcer declared, "Spopovich landed back inside the ring; the match will continue!"

-How can I let a nightmare live?-

Gohan smirked to himself. So, they were going to let him keep fighting so long as Spopovich wound up back in the ring huh? That was an opportunity too good to pass up. Watching Spopovich stagger back to his feet, Gohan asked tauntingly, "Do you realise how outclassed you are yet? You're not laughing now are you?" Powering up to his maximum in his base form, Gohan chuckled himself, "Let's play."

-To be purified in fire-

Charging forward, Gohan slammed Spopovich with another powerful punch, again sending him rebounding off the surrounding wall, although he made sure not to hit the same place; he didn't want the wall collapsing after all. This time, when Spopovich bounced back, he didn't let him rest, sending him careening to the side, and into another wall, with a jumping spin kick. When Spopovich returned to the ring again, Gohan slammed him with a ki packed punch, the blow so powerful the huge brute was sent careening into one wall, flew clear across the ring into the other, and bounced back towards Gohan.

The Demi-Saiyan clenched his fists. He was just getting started.

-Anaesthetic for the pain-

"Wow," Videl breathed in amazement, "And I thought Kaen had anger problems."

"I do," the young warrior replied from behind her, "What you're seeing now isn't anger."

"Then what is it?"

-As the final words erupt from your mouth-

"Vengeance." Kaen's reply was simple and to the point. "Spopovich hurt his mate - or potential mate, at least - and for that he must suffer an enraged Saiyan's wrath."

Curious, and a touch embarrassed, Videl asked, "What do you mean 'mate'? I've heard you say the word before."

-Who will remember your name?-

Wrapping an arm around her mate, Pi explained, "We Saiyans don't 'marry' like humans do. There are no legal ties connecting us; no, what we have goes much deeper than that. When we find the right partner, we take them as a life mate, bonding our soul to theirs in the simplest and most primal of 'rituals'. No one knows exactly how or why it happens, only that when the two consume each other's blood, something happens on a genetic level to link them for life. When we take a life mate, it's more than just an agreement; we will literally never again take a mate, even should they perish, and in fact tend to follow them to the grave."

-Forgiven to me / You're forgiven to me-

Hoping she wasn't about to anger her friends, and knowing just how violent Kaen could be, Videl commented, "No offence, but that sounds a little too... romantic, for a race of warriors, and highly impractical given the high risk of early death."

-You're just another dead man living to me-

Pi just smiled, "None taken. You're not the first person to say that. When people hear about Saiyans, they picture us as animalistic and primal, but we're a bit more than that. See, this impracticability has lead more than one researcher to believe that we Saiyans weren't always like this."

"What do you mean?" the human girl asked.

-Forgiven to me / You're all giving to me-

"No one knows what Saiyans were like when the race began, back on our original home world of Saiya," Kaen explained, "Scientists and philosophers have taken the act of bonding a life mate to mean that, at one point, our race was potentially the pinnacle of society, but when the original Super Saiyan laid waste our planet when he lost control of his power, it's theorised that the remnants of the race lost something. Perhaps with the destruction of everything they knew they 'went feral', or something, before rediscovering themselves as powerful warriors on the planet that would be known as Vegeta, after our first 'new' ruler; we may never know."

"Wow, that's surprisingly deep and moving," Videl commented, before asking another question, "Another terms I've heard before is 'Super Saiyan'; what is that?"

-How can you let a dead man live?-

"You know when Vegeta had golden hair before?" Pi countered. "That. It's a genetic power-up. That's the first level of Super Saiyan, of which two have been discovered so far. Now, I've never witnessed the second level before, but from what I've heard, the hair elongates and straightens a little, the eyes take on a bit more of a blue tone to the previous teal, and the Saiyan's form becomes surrounded by the occasional burst of blue static lightning."

-Forgiven to me / You're forgiven to me-

"You said you'd never seen Super Saiyan Two before," Videl began, seeming to stumble on the correct name by accident, "But from the description, someone obviously is one; who?" Kaen and Pi remained silent, simply turning their attention to the ring, grins on their faces.

-You're just another nightmare walking to me-

Gohan was having a grand old time, working off some stress and anger by playing a nice game of tetherball, using the massive form of Spopovich as the ball. However, he soon came to the end of what he wanted to do, and decided to end the fight now so, when Spopovich bounced back again, he gave him a quick knee, to keep his recoil to a minimum, but still keeping him airborne, before sending him flying up and over the stadium with a flip kick.

-You were driven to me / Now you're given to me-

Watching in awe, the announcer took note of the pattern the impact craters in the wall made; across the three walls of the stadium seats, in bold letters, was spelt 'GOHAN SON'. "Well folks, there you have it," he declared, "Once we confirm that Spopovich is, in fact, still alive, Gohan will be declared the winner by, of all things, a stadium-out."

Grinning, Gohan commented, "You might want to start your search with Hercule's parking space."

-No longer will the nightmare live-

Running over to greet her quasi-boyfriend, Videl exclaimed, "Gohan, that was... wow. I'm speechless."

He grinned cheekily, "That's a first."

"Gohan!" She whinged, thumping him on the arm, "I'm being serious!" Switching moods in an instant, she smiled up at him shyly, asking, "You did that for me?"

"Of course I did," he smiled back, wrapping an arm around the shorter girl, "I can't have anyone hurting my student, can I?"

-To be purified in fire-

When Videl's face fell a little at the 'student' comment, Kaen supplied, "Videl, do you know that to us Saiyans, the word 'student' can mean something completely different to what it does to humans?"

Fighting back a blush, Gohan growled, "Shut up!"

-Anaesthetic for the pain-

Grinning, Kaen continued regardless, "You see, unless their job is as a trainer, Saiyan males only train with two types of females."

Raising the arm not around Videl, Gohan charged a blast, "I said shut up you little insect! Don't you have a match to get to?"

-As the final words erupt from your mouth-

Smirking like a prick as he walked cockily out to the arena, following Shin, he proved enough of a distraction for Pi to sidle up to Videl and whisper in her ear, "The two types of females that Saiyan males will train are family, and partners, and I'm pretty sure you're not family." In a flash, Videl remembered Gohan telling her that, to Kaen and Pi, training was like dating, and if what the pair had just said was correct, the same was true for all Saiyan males, Gohan included.

Whipping his head around to face Pi, Gohan barked, "What did you say to her?"

Pi just stuck her tongue out, replying, "Nothing she didn't already know."

-Who will remember your name?-

Shin took in his opponent, studying him carefully. After the display Gohan put on in the previous match, he was almost positive that Gohan was the one Spopovich and Yamu were looking for, which meant that, in order for his plan to succeed, he needed to verse him in the next match. However, to do that he had to get past this wildcard in his plans, the warrior known as Kaen.

-Walking the line that the world has drawn-

'How does he know about Babidi and the Majin?' Shin screamed in his mind, 'The only beings that should still remember Majin Buu dwell not in the land of the living, and Bibidi's son was unknown until less than a month ago, so how does he know the name?'

Focusing his mind, Shin reached out telepathically, trying to scan Kaen's mind for the information he desired. What he found, however, caused him to recoil in shock, and a good deal of pain. 'It's like a psychic minefield!' He exclaimed mentally, 'It... It's almost like he's more than one person!'

-Fighting for balance alone in the dark-

Setting the thought aside with a shake of his head, he mused, 'No matter. Every mortal has a weakness, and I know I have the power to stall until I find his.'

-Will you carry the burden the world has grown?-

Shin wouldn't get that chance, however, as the second the gong was struck Kaen blurred forward, and before the purple-skinned man could even register that the fight had begun, he was staring up at the cloudless blue sky, the feel of grass against the back of his neck. Sitting up in shock, he noticed the smirking face of Kaen looking down at him. "Sorry Shin," Kaen shrugged, "I can't stay and play; gotta save my energy for my match with Gohan." With that, Kaen calmly walked away from the ring, pausing a moment to add, "Oh, and I also don't appreciate people trying to monkey around in my head, got it?"

'Un... Unbelievable,' Shin thought to himself, 'I didn't even see him move...'

-Will you destroy everything in your sight?-

"So, are you ready?"

After his match, Pi had again used the break between sets of four matches to drag her mate off to talk, under the excuse of 'getting a drink'; sure, they did get a drink, but they didn't need to walk so far away to do that. This time, however, it was Pi questioning Kaen about his readiness, instead of the other way around.

Kaen, however, had no worries. Throwing his empty can into the air, and vaporising it with a simple blast, he replied in an almost bored tone, "Not a problem."

-You alone can give this one more try-

"Kaen, look at me," Pi demanded sternly, "I know you; you're over confident. Now, I want you to look me in the eyes and tell me you're honestly not worried about the match."

Sighing, Kaen did as told, turning to look her in the eyes. "You're right Pi," he stated begrudgingly, "I am often, if not usually, too confident in my abilities. I'm not going to lie to you and say I know for a fact I'll win. You and I both know Gohan is stronger than me. However, I am confident I have the skills to make up the difference." Smiling, he added, "Besides, Gohan doesn't have the motivation I do. I will see you in the finals."

-You alone will bury me tonight-

"You'd better," Pi replied, hitting him on the arm, "If I've done all this work to get there and you don't make it, I will be very upset."

He just smiled, kissing her on the forehead. "Don't worry about me. I've still got a few tricks up my sleeve."

"Kaen," Pi drawled, "You don't have sleeves." Her stern mask held for a moment, before the two burst into laughter.

-To be purified in fire-

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the fourth quarter of the World Martial Arts Tournament!" The announcer shouted, to the cheers of the crowd, "We are down to our final four contestants. That's right folks; it's the end game. Which of these four fighters will take home the title? Let's find out with the first semi-final between the former champion Hercule, and the rising star Pi!"

As the two contestants strode out towards the ring, he continued his introductions, "Everyone knows Mister Satan, but I'll introduce him nonetheless. As the previous world champion, and the man credited with defeating the monster Cell, Hercule Satan has become a household name. However, his current opponent seems to be a champion-slayer, having defeated both the former champion Goku, and the man predicted to be Goku's greatest threat, Vegeta. Can she do it again and take down a third potential champion?"

-Anaesthetic for the pain-

Pi wore a cocky, confident smirk on her face; after all, she knew that nothing short of the end of the world could stop her winning this match. Hercule, however, was very, very scared. This girl was one of those freak people, like that man she fought who turned his hair blonde like those guys at the Cell Games, so he knew he couldn't win, and he knew she knew that too.

-As the final words erupt from your mouth-

Putting on a show of bravado for the crowd as the gong sounded, Hercule roared once, before booming, "You may have beaten those posers before, but now you face a real champion, so I'm gonna give you a chance to back out. Hell, 'coz I'm in such a good mood, I'm even gonna give you five million zenni as a conciliation prize." This was his subtle way of offering her a bribe, but when she just scowled at him he offered weakly, "Ten? Twenty?"

-Who will remember you now?-

"You have no honour Satan," Pi spat disgustedly, "And I'm not whoring mine out. I was going to put up a show of it, make it look like you didn't get steamrolled, but after that shameful display..." She phased out, reappearing behind him, and with a single, precise chop to the base of the neck, Hercule dropped like a sack of potatoes.

"Did you see that folks? The announcer exclaimed, "Our rising star Pi has just taken out the former champion with a single blow! Incredible! As the person to dethrone last tournament's champion, if the final ends in a draw, Pi will take home the title!"

-Who will remember your name?-

As the tournament monks carted the former champion off on a stretcher, and Pi lazily walked back to the fighter's lounge, the announcer declared, "And now, the second semi-final, between Gohan and Kaen!"

As the two marched out, side by side, with matching smirks on their faces, Kaen commented, "Hey Gohan, care to make a little wager on this match?"

"What do you have in mind?" Gohan replied, waving absently to the crowd, and causing more than one girl to swoon.

-Remember your name-

Kaen grinned, "If I win this match, in the runner-up match you will have to declare, to the entire audience, that you are fighting Hercule for the rite to date his daughter."

Gohan's face waged war between a grimace and a grin. "Alright then, but if I win, you are going to have to address Vegeta as 'My Prince', in a respectful tone, for a solid week of my choosing."

"You know, your mother is going to kill me," Kaen commented out of the blue.

"Why's that?"

-Remember your name / (Forgiven to me, you're forgiven to me)-

Kaen smirked again, "You're starting to think like me." By this point, the two had reached the centre of the ring, so Kaen paused, holding out his hand. "Do we have a deal?"

Gohan couldn't help the shudder that ran down his spine at Kaen's tone. However, the chance of embarrassing Kaen that badly was worth his rival's wager; he'd been planning on doing something like that anyway, it's just that this gave him the excuse not to chicken out. Shaking Kaen's hand, Gohan replied simply, "Deal."

For a moment, Kaen's eyes seemed to glow red. "Then let the games begin."

-Remember your name / (Forgiven to me, you're forgiven to me)-

To be continued...

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Author's notes:

I know it may seem a little rushed, having three fights in a single chapter, but, come on, it's Hercule. Besides, I wanted the fight between Gohan and Kaen to have an entire chapter.

So, what did you guys think of Gohan's revenge match? Was it worth it? At the request of my beta reader, what Gohan carried out has been officially termed the Majin Pinball Special.

One thing I feel I should clarify, when I said to guess where Pi got her new style from, I meant where in the story itself, as in, which chapter. I think, by now, it has become pretty obvious that the information came from the alternates, my question was to guess which one.

Now, Vegeta. I agree that I may have portrayed Vegeta a little... one-sided. Rest assured, however, that Vegeta will be back bigger, better, badder. I have a special dose of kickass in store for him later in the story, so Vegeta fans, look forward to it.