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

Chapter C13 - Blood Brothers

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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-Watch your back because the next man is comin'-

Falcon smiled to herself happily, chirping, "So, anyone care to place a wager on this match?"

"No fucking way!" Hawk exclaimed.

She batted her eyelashes at him coyly, asking, "Why? Afraid you're gonna lose more of your money to me?"

The brown-haired teen shook his head. "Money comes and money goes. What's got me terrified is Phoenix; he would literally kill me if he found out I bet against him." The other teens nodded their head in agreement.

"Aww come on!" She whined, "I'm willing to bet all the money I've won so far today, all forty-eight thousand, on Kaen winning. Is no-one interested?"

-And you don't know if the next man is dumbin'-

Before any of the gang could reply, a new player spoke up, "I'll take that bet."

Turning to face the speaker, Falcon grinned at Yamcha. "So, you're willing to bet forty-eight thousand on Gohan winning?"

He nodded, "More than that. I'll raise you to an even hundred, if you're game."

The redhead just smirked, sticking out her hand, "You're on!"

As he shook her hand, Yamcha couldn't help the shiver that ran down his spine. "Why do I get the feeling I should just hand over my money now and be done with it?"

Still smirking, she replied with a shrug, "Pattern recognition."

-Survival of the fittest what it is-

As he watched the two fighters converse good-naturedly as they approached the ring, the announcer began his introductions. "I'm sure neither of these fighters need an introduction, but nonetheless, I feel I must. Despite different styles, these two combatants seem to fight in the same manner. Both defeated the team of Kibito and Shin with ruthless efficiency, and defeated the team of Spopovich and Yamu with plain ruthlessness." Watching the two shake hands, he added, "And they're such good sports too! We are surely in for an amazing match!"

'You have no idea...' Kaen mused to himself, walking over to the edge of the ring and calling out, "Hey, mister announcer guy, can you do us a favour?"

Stunned that one of the fighters would be addressing him, the announcer replied dazedly, "Uh, sure, what?"

-I got yo back, you got my back, and that's the biz-

"Can you let us know when the match is half over?" At the blank look he received, Kaen supplied, "You know, time-wise?"

Blinking behind his sunglasses, the blonde announcer replied, "Sure, but why?"

Kaen just grinned, "Gohan and I have mutually agreed to give the crowd a bit of a show first, give them their money's worth, before we get down to business and settle things."

Smiling broadly as he envisioned the profit they'd be turning in this year, he replied, "Yeah sure, no problem."

Nodding, Kaen walked back to the centre of the ring, the two opponents bowing respectfully to each other. Adorning matching smirks, the two fighters dropped into stance, awaiting the sound of the gong.

-Blood is rushing through my veins, I got the power-

"Come on son!" Chichi shouted, standing in her seat. "Take him out, and bring home the title!"

As she sat down again, Bulma commented, "You really believe he's going to win don't you?"

"Of course he is," the younger woman replied, "Everyone knows Gohan is stronger than Kaen; it's no contest."

With a barely perceptible sigh, Bulma argued, "You do know strength isn't everything right?"

"How can you say that Bulma?" Chichi shot back, "I mean, look at who you're married to."

"Exactly," Bulma nodded, "Look who I'm married to. Vegeta was stronger than Pi by far, and he still lost." Giving that a few seconds to sink in, she added, "You know Chi, with all your talk about strength being the be-all-and-end-all, you're sounding almost like Hercule."

A shudder ran down both women's spines, as they turned their attention to the battle about to commence below.

-Channel the energy, and with my strength I will devour-

As the thunderous sound of the gong rang out across the arena, the two fighters sped forward, a second thunderous noise ringing out as their forearms met. Donning matching smirks, the two fighters broke apart, launching waves of attacks, each of which were blocked. Fist met forearm, foot met knee, and not a single blow landed. Breaking pattern, Gohan ducked to sweep Kaen's legs out from under him, but the older fighter simply flipped over him so they were standing back-to-back. Then, without turning around, they began throwing blows at each other backwards, all of which were again blocked.

-Sickening thoughts are running through my head-

"Wow, they're really going at it," Videl commented.

"Nah, they're just playing around," Pi replied with a shrug.

"Why?" The human girl asked.

Pi shrugged again. "They know that once they really get going, it won't take long to settle things, so they're putting on a bit of a show for the crowd first. Besides, this is fun for them."

-That's when I realize I'm glad I'm not dead-

Spinning around, Gohan through a powerful right hook at Kaen's head, only to have the blow met by his opponent's fist. As the impact registered, the Demi-Saiyan swung his leg up to block the incoming knee. Following that, he threw out his left elbow, only to have it be met in kind by Kaen's. For the next couple of minutes they continued in this fashion, attacks meeting attacks of the same kind, before, simultaneously, they redirected a right hook to each other's faces, the force of which sent the pair flying backwards from each other.

Spinning in mid-air to land on his feet, Gohan rushed towards Kaen, only to have the older fighter charge a ball of ki in his hand, throwing it forward with a grin. "Blast Burn!"

-Corruption and abuse-

"What?" April exclaimed in shock, standing in her seat.

"Calm down," her mate soothed, "There must be a logical explanation."

Kellre nodded, "The attack was half fire anyway, he probably just created his own version of it."

"What's the problem?" Bulma asked.

Truniz replied, "The boy shouldn't be able to use that technique. It was his brother's."

"Oran?" the blue-haired scientist asked in confusion.

"No," April replied, shaking her head, "His older brother: Korin."

-The salesman of our blood-

Seeing how slow the blast was moving, Gohan paid it no mind, leaping over the deep red ball of ki as he rushed his opponent. He was therefore unprepared when Kaen barked "Detonate!" and the energy ball exploded, sending out visible, spherical shockwaves through the air, and knocking him out of the sky.

As he landed roughly on his feet, Kaen blurred forward, and Gohan was hard-pressed to block the flurry of attacks. Growling in annoyance Gohan over-blocked Kaen's next punch, sending the older fighter off balance, before sending him skyward bound with an uppercut. Cupping his hands to his right hip, Gohan charged a ball of blue ki, chanting, "Ka me ha me..."

-For the public's craving-

Throwing his hands out to stop in mid-air, Kaen smirked to himself as a midnight black aura burst into life around him. Adopting a similar position, only with his palms flat as they faced each other, he began charging up a purple ball of energy as he shouted, "Try this on for size!"

"HA!"

"Gallick Gun Fire!"

-Existence in the dark-

"What the!" April spluttered, choking on her drink as she performed the classic spit-take.

Subconsciously clapping her on the back, Avarrdo muttered, "This doesn't make sense..."

"What's the big deal?" Bulma asked, taking in the looks of shock the Saiyans wore, "I thought Saiyans used each others techniques all the time."

"Yeah," Chichi agreed, "From what I've heard, it took Goku all of five minutes to master a technique that took Roshi fifty years. Why is it such a surprise that Kaen's using one of Vegeta's techniques?"

April grimaced, "Kaen is... different."

-It's in our nature to destroy ourselves-

"Due to an... accident, that happened while he was young, Kaen in unable to use most techniques not specifically designed for or by him," Avarrdo explained.

"Why?" Bulma asked, curious, "What sort of accident could do prevent him being able to use certain techniques?"

Kellre answered for them, "All techniques, whether the designer is aware of it or not, use one or more of the five elements; well six technically. Because of what happened when they were younger, Kaen is only able to use techniques using Fire, and Pi Earth."

"Huh. I thought it was just a theme they had going," Cherri muttered.

Truniz frowned, "If only it were that simple. What we're witnessing here shouldn't be possible."

-It's in our nature to kill ourselves-

Watching the beam duel taking place, Krillin couldn't help commenting, "Is anyone else getting a major sense of deja vu from this?"

Goku scratched his head, "Not seein' it Krill."

Slapping his forehead, Krillin explained, "Replace the arena background with a rocky wasteland, and replace Gohan and Kaen with two Saiyans who they look a lot like."

At Goku's continued clueless look, the scowling Vegeta barked, "It's like our first fight Kakarott." Turning his attention back to the fight, he added, "What I want to know is, how does he know my technique?"

"He learned it from you, duh," Krillin supplied.

Vegeta just shook his head. "I haven't used the Gallick Gun for years.

-It's in our nature to kill each other-

As he strained to keep Gohan's beam at bay, Kaen struggled to keep the Gallick Gun stable, but it was a losing battle, and he knew it. He could feel that the waveform was starting to disintegrate, and if he held the blast for too much longer, it was only a matter of time before it collapsed in upon itself, most likely in an extremely painful fashion; in short, it was time to cut and run.

Cutting the flow of ki, Kaen clasped his hands together, batting the blue beam out of the arena. He quickly blurred out of the way as Gohan, sensing a moment of weakness, sped forward, intent on driving his fist through Kaen's stomach. Rather than press forward an attack, however, Kaen simply landed calmly on the tile, facing the still floating Gohan, with a soft pair of taps.

-It's in our nature to kill, kill, kill!-

Turning to face his opponent, Gohan commented, "I can't say I expected you to use that move."

Kaen just grinned. "No one did." His aura shifting from black to yellow - but clearly not the gold of the Super Saiyan - Kaen half crossed his arms, focusing ki, before adding, "Let's see you block THIS!"

Eyes widening, Gohan remembered this technique. Utilizing his super speed, he raced away from the arena, which his perceptive eyes noticed glowing a faint yellow, before Kaen raised his right hand, first two fingers extended, and a massive pillar of ki erupted forth from the tiled surface, easily encompassing all but the corners of the fighting arena. Sighing in relief at having dodged the Giant Storm, Gohan heard Kaen yell, from within the pillar of ki, "Bomber DX!"

-It was a dream and then it hit me, reality struck-

"What?" April shrieked again, "That's one of Nappa's techniques; where the hell did he learn that?"

"What's the problem? I thought you already knew something was up?" Chichi asked.

Truniz shook his head, "It would appear it's even less simple than we first thought."

Curious beyond all belief, Bulma had to ask, "Why?"

Kellre grimaced, "Because Kaen has never met Nappa."

-And now my life is all shifty and it all moves fast-

Sighing, Avarrdo commented, "We may have to accept that the Kaen down there is not the Kaen we know."

"You think it might be some alternate Kaen?" Chichi asked.

When they nodded, Bulma added, "What are you going to do about it?"

"Nothing," Kellre replied quickly, "If that's not actually Kaen, the only thing we can do for now is not draw attention to the fact we know."

Putting a hand to his chin, Avarrdo mused, "But why would he want us to know..."

-Close to the buck 50, and we all stand strong-

Calmly batting the yellow blast aside, Gohan called out, "You're gonna have to be more original than that. You forget I fought Nappa."

"Riot Javelin!"

A light blue blast arcing up to him was his reply. Ducking quickly as the blast sailed over head, he watched it go for a moment, commenting, "Okay, that was new." Turning back to the ring, he noticed, once the light from the Giant Storm finally faded, that Kaen was already preparing another blast, his cyan aura billowing like a candle flame, with his right hand at his hip, two fingers extended. Growling, Gohan decided he'd had quite enough blast-dodging for now, so he readied a technique of his own, raising two fingers to his forehead.

-In respect to the family in the times of our insanity-

The two fighters threw their arms forward at the same time, different cries ringing out, but heralding strangely familiar attacks.

"Special Beam Cannon!"

"Demon Corkscrew!"

-And in the words of profanity-

Gaping, Krillin asked, "Where the hell did he learn that?"

As he watched the two near-identical blasts duel, Piccolo commented, "I think... I may not be as original as I thought..."

-I describe our dysfunctional family-

"That's odd..." Cherri muttered quietly.

"What is?" Her mate asked, wondering what she'd noticed.

"His aura," she replied, "I've noticed it changes colours. Should it do that?"

Narrowing his eyes, Truniz focused on Kaen's appearance, noticing the light blue aura now surrounding him. He smirked, remembering clearly how his aura had been yellow before, and black before that. "Bro," he called out, "I think I know how he's able to use other people's techniques."

Kellre nodded, having just come to the same conclusion himself. "However," the older brother remarked, "The question then becomes, where did he learn how to do that?"

"And the question of 'where did he learn them' still remains," Avarrdo pointed out.

-Blood brothers keep it real to the end-

This time it was Gohan who cut his beam early, as he sensed Kaen's blast beginning to drill through his. Charging his hand with ki, the Demi-Saiyan teen slapped the blast across the arena, only to phase in front of it and slap it back down towards Kaen. The older Saiyan, however, just calmly slapped the blast skyward; for a short moment, while the afterimage of the blast remained, it looked like a triangle-headed arrow pointing at the flame-haired fighter.

Setting down calmly on the tile, Gohan commented casually, "You know, you used far too much energy in that blast for the strength of it."

Kaen grimaced. "Really? Damn. I thought there was something I was doing wrong." He shrugged, adding, "I just figured everyone else sucked at efficient ki management."

Gohan smirked, "That's typical of you, thinking everyone else is worse than you."

Kaen smirked back, "Don't hate me because I'm perfect."

Gohan just shook his head, replying, "You ready?"

-Deeper than the thoughts that you think? Not a trend!-

With a flare of ki, Kaen's body seemed to catch fire, starting with his chest, and quickly spreading. In seconds, his entire body was engulfed by flames; more accurately, in seconds, his entire body was flame. Somehow, Gohan could still tell Kaen was smirking, despite not having an actual face, as he commented, "I'm just getting warmed up."

Ignoring the terrible pun, and the shock of the crowd and announcer that Kaen had seemingly spontaneously combusted, the two fighters began circling each other, staring each other down as they awaited the sign to continue. The moment was broken, however, when two monks came running out from backstage, holding a bucket, and threw it's contents at Kaen; they, believing him on fire, intended to put him out.

When the water was a hair's breadth from him, Kaen's fiery form exploded, the water evaporating instantly from the heat. It appeared, at first, that the water had killed him, until the fire-wrought fighter 'exploded' back into being a couple of feet away. Glaring at the monks, Kaen commented dryly, "Don't do that."

Filing that little bit of information away for later, Gohan rushed his opponent, only to go flying through him. Feeling a little medium-rare from the heat, Gohan surrounded himself with an aura to protect him from the flames, before the two fighters began their battle anew.

-Corruption and abuse-

Watching the two fighters battle, Videl commented offhandedly, "So Kaen can do the 'turn into energy' thing too huh? So did Kat teach him, or she he teach her?"

"Neither," Pi replied, keeping her eyes on the fight, "They both learnt from a mutual friend of ours named Viola. We've been out of contact for a while, but we used to travel around together."

Turning to face the older girl, Videl asked, "Do you know that trick too?"

Pi just smiled secretly and turned her attention back to the fight.

-The salesman of our blood-

Gohan was swiftly getting annoyed with his opponent. Maintaining the ki barrier to allow him to hit Kaen, as well as to prevent himself being burnt, was taking energy he really couldn't spare at this level, but every time he dropped the shield, Kaen would go incorporeal again, and he'd be forced to raise the shield once more. It was, to say the least, infuriating. Suddenly realising something, Gohan paused, asking, "You're made of fire, right?"

While his fiery form hid much, Gohan could tell Kaen was giving him a 'no shit' glare as he replied, "That's the general idea yeah. What's your point?"

"I've gone flying through you several times," he commented, "So how come my clothes haven't been burnt?"

-For the public's craving-

"Because I don't want them to," Kaen replied with a shrug. "You forget I can control fire completely, including what it does and doesn't burn. And while I'm sure the legions of fangirls in the crowd would disagree with me, I don't particularly want to see you naked."

"I think you're exaggerating the 'legions of fangirls' thing," Gohan replied, grinning roguishly, "'Coz if there were, I'm sure Videl would have a field day kicking the crap through all of them."

-Existence in the dark-

"Probably," Kaen replied, "She is a fiery little thing." The irony of the statement was not lost on Kaen.

Gaping in shock, Gohan asked, "Did... Did you just compliment her?"

If a being made entirely of fire could sweat, Kaen would have had a massive sweat drop running down the side of his face. Holding a hand to his head, he muttered, "I must be coming down with something..."

Gohan smirked at the opening Kaen had left. "I'd say you might have a cold, but..."

Kaen grinned back at him, "Smartass."

-It's in our nature to destroy ourselves-

"And that's halftime folks!" The announcer declared suddenly, "Just fifteen minutes remain in this match before we need to go to the judges. I don't envy them, having to decide which of these two amazing fighters are the better."

The two fighters looked a little startled that it was that time already. Kaen was the first to recover, the pyromancer grinning and saying, "Looks like playtime's over. Time to settle things."

Grinning back, Gohan replied, "Looks like."

When nothing else was said, Kaen commented, "Oh, you want me to go first? Alright then." Bending his knees slightly and clenching his fists, Kaen added, "Time to show you what you came here to see: the pinnacle of my power." With a rising shout, a raging red aura flared into life around Kaen's fiery body. As the wind picked up, swirling around him, his power level began rising too.

-It's in our nature to kill ourselves-

With a start, Gohan noticed Kaen's power level reach the peak for a non-Ascended Saiyan, and keep going, and as it did, the red of Kaen's form began to bleed gold, slowly spreading across his body. With a final burst of ki, the wind exploded outwards, leaving a golden-flamed Kaen, surrounded by a second blood-red flame aura, looking all the world like the flame on the end of a candle.

Gohan was gaping; he knew he was. 'How?' He wondered to himself. 'How can a simple power up provide that much power?' Narrowing his eyes, his genius mind reached a satisfactory solution to the question. 'Unless...' Smirking, Gohan commented, "I think the warm-up is well and truly over now." Phasing out, Gohan reappeared behind him, coating his hand with ki, before jabbing Kaen in the back with his extended fingers, and causing him to burn out, returning to his normal form; well, his Super Saiyan form. Gohan grinned triumphantly, crowing, "Aha, I knew it!"

-It's in our nature to kill each other-

Kaen spun around, staring at him owlishly, "How in the blue hell did you do that?"

Still grinning, the teen replied, "First lesson Piccolo taught me: when you have a mountain coming at you, the easiest solution is to blow it up."

Scrubbing a hand through his golden hair, Kaen shouted, "That could mean anything!"

"Yeah," Gohan smirked, "Now you know how it feels."

That stopped the time-travelling Super Saiyan in his tracks. "Wow," he muttered amazedly, "I am an asshole."

His moment of triumph over, Gohan asked, "So, when did you ascend?"

He shrugged, "'Bout four, five months ago."

-It's in our nature to kill, kill, kill-

"Wow, you guys ascended recently?" Goku commented excitedly, "Congratulations!"

Twitching in barely repressed anger at Goku's stupidity, Vegeta barked, "You don't get it do you Kakarott! To them, five months ago they were forty years in the past!"

"The man's quite astute," Pi replied with a shrug, "We've been Super Saiyans since before we met you guys."

Ignoring the incredulous cries of Kakarott and Cueball (or the man formerly known as Cueball, in any case), Vegeta exclaimed, "If you're a Super Saiyan, why the fuck did you pull that shit before?"

Pi knew she couldn't tell Vegeta the real reason; one of the conditions of Kaen's tests is that no one knew about them until they were over. Instead, she grinned cheekily, replying, "I did it because wounding your pride is a lot more fun than wounding your body."

-It's in our nature to destroy ourselves-

Taking a step back and making a mock bow, Kaen quipped, "Well, I've shown you mine. Time to show me yours." All pretence of humour left him as he added, in a deadly serious tone, "Hold nothing back."

"Are you serious?" Gohan exclaimed.

"As a heart attack," Kaen replied smoothly. "When I beat you, I want to be able to say I beat you at your best."

"Okay," Gohan shrugged, "Your funeral." Ascending into a Super Saiyan was second nature to Gohan, as simple as breathing, having lived as one for over a fortnight. Reaching the second level, however, required a lot more effort. Adopting a similar stance to what Kaen had before, once again the wind picked up, fiercer than before, as it swirled around Gohan's form. His energy rising rapidly, his muscles began bulging, his hair stood up straighter, and arcs of blue static lightning began shooting around his form, as he reached the peak of his power.

-It's in our nature to kill ourselves-

"So that's Super Saiyan Two," Pi commented, "Impressive."

That got Videl's attention. "Gohan?" she exclaimed incredulously, "Gohan is the only Super Saiyan Two?"

"I wouldn't say 'only'," Pi replied with a shrug, "I suspect Goku's reached that level by now, and Vegeta probably has too; he's just saving it for a special occasion I'd wager."

-It's in our nature to kill each other-

"Not bad Cellotto," Kaen remarked, clapping his hands, "Not bad at all."

Exhaling as he finished his power-up, Gohan asked dryly, "Well, shall we begin?" With a shared smirk and a silent nod, the two fighters dashed forward, streaks of red and golden light to the untrained eye, before they met with a thunderous crash, the shock of which actually knocked several front row spectators from their seats. And with that, the dance of lights took to the sky.

-It's in our nature to kill, kill, kill!-

"It must be one of them," Spopovich commented, staring at the strange clock-like thing in his hand. "Look at the way the meter is reacting."

The newly healed duo were hiding out behind the wall on the east side of the arena, just before the fighter's lounge, but after the end of the stands. "That may be so Spopovich, but our orders are clear," Yamu replied, "We are only to get the strongest, and with all that energy, there's no way of telling who that is. We'll drain whoever wins the tournament, but until then, we wait."

-Again and again-

Five minutes into the second half of the match, Gohan was beginning to regret the 'lets waste the first half of the match' agreement. Kaen's apparent maximum was somewhere around what his father's had been during the Cell Games, meaning Gohan should have probably beaten him by now, but Kaen was surprisingly good at surviving; it wasn't the best word, but the meaning was mostly right.

Taking a slight breather, Gohan called out, "Alright, how the hell are you doing this? You're weaker than Cell was when I mopped the floor with him."

"It's simple," Kaen replied, sounding a little out of breath, "Cell was constructed out of the cells of the greatest fighters Earth had ever seen; as such, he didn't have all that much experience dealing with a stronger opponent. I have no such trouble."

Gohan sighed irritably, "You're got an answer for everything don't you?"

-Corruption and abuse-

Kaen grinned. "Well, you know what they say." His body seemed to undergo mitosis, splitting evenly into two separate Kaens, before the pair replied, "Two heads are better than one. However-" The two Kaens split again, becoming four, "-there's something to be said for safety in numbers."

"Split form huh?" Gohan asked rhetorically, a grin on his face. He clasped his hands before him as though he were praying. "Well two can play at that game. Twelve Eyes Technique!"

As Gohan's image split into four, one of the Kaen's commented dryly, "I only count eight eyes."

"Oh shut up!" All four Gohan's replied together, "It's Tien's technique; he's got three eyes, so when he does it, there's a total of twelve."

Dropping into stance whilst airborne, a Kaen commented, "Well Gohan, looks like you just made your first mistake."

"Oh?" The Gohan's asked, "What's that?"

"Unlike yours, my copies are all at full strength."

-The salesman of our blood-

'This is getting... annoying,' Gohan scowled to himself, as one of the Kaen-clones self-destructed; the second to do so thus far. The four-on-four battle had quickly gotten out of hand. Kaen, true to his word, had easily taken the upper hand, with all four of him being at full strength, while the four Gohan's were all at a reduced level, putting them about equal. Additionally, all four Kaen's seemed to have completely separate identities, compared to the mostly shared identity the Split Form, or Twelve Eyes Technique, permitted.

Two Gohan clones had been defeated in the five minutes the battle royal had waged on, compared to only one Kaen clone; well, two now. However, unlike the Gohan clones, which faded away gracefully, dividing their remaining energy among the survivors, the Kaen clones exploded violently, in what looked like a burn-off of their remaining ki.

-For the public's craving-

With only five minutes left in the battle, both fighters knew it was time to bring out the big guns, but it was Kaen who acted first. One of the remaining two Kaens - the one Gohan assumed was the original - leapt high into the air, raising both hands above his head, while the second Kaen prevented either of the remaining Gohans from acting by forming a pair of black ki whips, and lashing their arms to their torsos.

A satisfied smirk on his face as he watched the pair of Gohan's struggling to get free, Kaen focused ki through his hands, preparing his most powerful technique; well, the most powerful one he could use in friendly, non-lethal combat anyways. As dark ki began amassing above his head, energy was literally ripped from the spectators, visible to the naked eye as brief lines of black connecting each person to the mass of ki.

-Existence in the dark-

By the time the pair of Gohans powered out of the ki binding them, the massive Hellfire Judgement deathball was complete, the giant ball of ki casting a shadow large enough to cover the arena. It's job completed, the remaining Kaen clone flared into it's fire form, using it's inherent elasticity to wrap around one of the remaining Gohans, before self-destructing, destroying the last split form, and returning Gohan to full strength; or what remained of it anyway.

-It's in our nature to destroy ourselves-

Staring incredulously up at Kaen, Gohan shouted, "You can't use an attack of that magnitude here! You'll level the stadium! Hell, you'll probably make the entire island disappear!"

Kaen just smirked down at him. "Oh, I have no intention of actually throwing it." With a rising shout, dark energy began flowing down Kaen's arms, as he drained the massive ki ball of it's energy.

With a start, Gohan realised exactly what Kaen was doing; the technique he'd used was something like the Spirit Bomb, gathering other people's energy, and he was using that to bolster his own reserves. Scowling, he mused to himself, 'Two can play at that game!' Raising both hands to his forehead, palms laid over each other, Gohan started collecting ki for his trademark technique; the Masenko wave.

-It's in our nature to kill ourselves-

A fact a lot of people didn't know about the Masenko wave was that is was fuelled from ambient ki in the air. With a smirk, Gohan reasoned to himself that there was enough residual ki in the air from Kaen's three clones blowing up, let alone the battery of ki techniques Kaen used earlier, for the Masenko to be strong enough to have erased even Perfect Cell from existence with energy to spare.

Throwing his hands forward, Gohan launched his attack. "MASENKO-HA!"

Kaen smirked as he watched the golden beam approach, his body glowing with dark energy as he finished draining the Hellfire Judgement. Throwing his hands to either side, Kaen began preparing his own trademark technique; he felt it'd be the most poetic way to end the match. Throwing his hands forward, Kaen merged the two balls of red ki he held in his hands, firing the blast with a shout of "Chaos Inferno!"

-It's in our nature to kill each other-

As he watched the two beams duelling, Vegeta cast an eye over Pi, commenting sourly, "So that's how you knew the way to deflect my blast."

The Saiyan girl grinned cheekily, "Yup. Your attack is just a cheap knock-off of Kaen's as far as I'm concerned."

A vein bulging in his forehead, Vegeta growled, "Girl, I have had that technique for over ten years; I didn't 'knock-off' anyone else's."

"Oh I know," she replied with a shrug, "I guess it's just something about the way the both of you were brought up, or maybe it's in your blood or something; after all, as my uncle said, the two of you are related distantly." She chose to deliberately ignore the sound of Vegeta's teeth gnashing.

-It's in our nature to KILL, KILL, KILL!-

As he watched the golden and crimson beams warring with each other, the announcer shouted excitedly, "Just sixty seconds remain in this breathtaking fight! It looks like it's going to come down to the wire folks!"

"Well, you heard him Gohan!" Kaen shouted over the roar of the ki war going on between them. "It's been fun, but it looks like it's time for me to win this thing." Gohan, in response to his words, simply poured more energy into the blast, in the hope of washing over Kaen, but the older fighter didn't fight back in kind. As the golden beam pushed ever closer, he continued, "You're strong; stronger than me, I'm not ashamed to admit that." As his hands began glowing blue, he roared, "But strength is worthless if you don't have STYLE! SOULFIRE!"

Two beams of blue light raced from Kaen's hands, spiralling around Kaen's Chaos Inferno, before arcing away from the duelling beams, until they reached about halfway down Gohan's Masenko. As the beams of blue ki made contact with the golden beam, Gohan was shocked to see his energy wave totally cancelled out; the flow wasn't cut, it was more as if the beam just ceased to exist.

Thinking quickly, Gohan spread his hands, erecting a wall of ki with a cry of "Shield!" but the blue ki, having merged into a single gout of flame, just broke straight through the barrier as if it wasn't there and washed over him. Gohan was again shocked to find that, as the blue flame hit him, he was forced out of Super Saiyan Two, and back to his normal form. He didn't have too long to think about this, however, as Kaen's fast approaching, and now un-apposed, ki beam sped towards him, slamming into his hastily crossed arms, and sending him flying out of the ring, and on to the grass outside the ring.

-It's in our nature to destroy ourselves-

"Unbelievable!" the announcer almost shrieked, "With a grand total of three seconds left on the clock, Kaen has sent his opponent out of the ring! Kaen goes through to the finals!" Dollar signs in his eyes, the announcer was very glad they'd managed to track down a working video camera, as well as receive permission from the fighters to sell the footage; they were going to make a killing!

Landing slowly into the ring, Kaen shook his hands, muttering sourly, "Damnit, that always makes my hands numb..."

Climbing to his feet, Gohan asked curiously, "What the hell was that?"

"Soulfire," Kaen replied, still shaking the pins and needles from his hands, "Think of it as anti-ki."

Walking with his friend-slash-rival backstage again, he asked, "So that's why it cancelled out my blast and knocked me out of Super Saiyan?"

Kaen nodded, "It's like anti-matter, only for ki, so it cancels out concentrations of ki, such as temporary transformations. It wouldn't, for example, have dropped someone like Cell out of his most powerful form, because that was a biological change."

"That was so cheap..." Gohan mock-whinged.

Kaen just grinned at him, "I came to win, not to make friends. Now, suck it up, and let your girlfriend comfort your loss."

"She's not my girlfriend," Gohan sighed.

"Not yet, but now you've got no excuse."

-It's in our nature to kill ourselves-

Before Gohan could comment, Pi raced forward to hug her mate, cheering, "Kaen, you did it! You won!"

Kaen smiled down at her. "That I did, and not before time too."

"What do you mean?" She asked curiously, her head cocked to one side.

His smile turned a little sheepish. "Without all the adrenaline flowing through my veins, I think my arms are paralysed..."

Smiling, Pi lead her mate over to the nearby bench, deciding that turnabout was fair play, as she began massaging Kaen's back and shoulders. Grinning over at Videl, she indicated with her head that the human girl should do the same, but Videl just flushed and looked away from her, returning her attention to consoling Gohan for his loss, and wishing him luck against her father.

-It's in our nature to kill each other-

Closing his eyes, Kaen tried to shut out all outside distractions and enjoy the moment, and he would have been successful, had Vegeta not walked over and barked, "How the hell did you learn my techniques boy?"

A smile tugging at his lips, the younger-but-older Saiyan replied cryptically, "A magician never reveals his secrets."

"I thought you were a warrior," the Prince sneered.

"A warrior is just a combat magician; he makes his enemies disappear," a new voice interjected; Avarrdo, for whatever reason, had returned.

Groaning, Kaen muttered sourly, "You gonna pester me about how I did that too old man?"

"Of course not," Kellre's voice commented; obviously, he'd come along as well, so, logically, Truniz was also brought along for the ride.

With a shrug that Kaen, with his eyes still closed, missed, Avarrdo continued, "If I asked you, you'd just give me the run around, and we'd do this merry little dance where nothing got done. We just came down here to say congratulations. I'll be honest, I didn't think you could win, but you pulled through."

Stunned, Kaen blinked dumbly for a few moments, before replying, "Uh, thanks, I guess, and yeah, I didn't think I'd win either for a minute there."

"And you were so confident before the fight," Pi jokingly bitched, punching his already dead arm playfully.

Glaring at the older Saiyans, Vegeta asked, "Aren't you curious about it?"

"Of course I am," Avarrdo replied with a shrug, "I'm just not stupid enough to actually ask."

-It's in our nature to kill-

To be continued...

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Author's notes:

Sorry for the late update, I had a few internet issues last night.

Now, I know it may seem like I'm Gary-Stu-ing Kaen with the whole 'using other people's techniques' thing, not to mention the 'first Super Saiyan' thing as well. Now, for long-time readers, this second fact should not be a surprise; it happened in series one. Besides, it's not like it means anything, or really changes the story at all; as far as the Z-Fighters and Vegeta, knew, Goku was the first Super Saiyan prior to the Android Saga.

For the first one, I am going to state now that it is, if not canon, then strong fanon that fighters, Saiyan's especially, can use each other's techniques. Krillin uses Tien's Solar Flare, Piccolo uses Gohan's Masenko, and Goku stole Roshi's Kamehameha after watching him do it. Now, many will play the 'training' card for most of them, and for most, I agree; however, as I just stated, Goku used a technique, with no training, that had taken Roshi fifty years to master. Thus, I feel I'm well within my rights having Kaen use other people's techniques. Now, he's not going to be using them all the time; that would be stupid. He just did this to prove to people, especially his family, that he could.

Also, with his defeat of Gohan, I'm not trying to claim Kaen is stronger. This was done purely so Gohan would get to fight Hercule, nothing more.

ten.noitcifnaf... I've tried reasoning with you, and I've tried ignoring you, but regardless of how I do or don't respond to you, you seem to enjoy criticising. I know that, regardless of what I say, you are undoubtedly going to complain about the fact Kaen defeated Gohan, even though he had to basically cheat to do it. I know that, on some level, you actually are trying to help. I also know there is nothing I can do to stem the flow of complaints, because many of the changes you suggest would require me to rewrite some, if not all, of the 60+ chapters I've written thusfar.

As this will be the last time I reply to you, I thought I'd make it a good one, by making three very important points:
1. Don't try to lecture me about my original characters. I made them, I know them a lot better than you do, and I know what's going to happen to them. Sure, readers don't know what's going to happen, but thats why people keep reading, for the sake of seeing what happens next.
2. Stop repeating yourself. Every one of your critical reviews seems to just reiterate a point you already made. If I didn't listen the first time, what makes you think I'm going to listen the second time? And for God's sake, stop reviewing my Author's Notes!
3. If you don't like the direction I'm taking this story, why do you still read it? You say you were trying to 'give me a chance', but I know within maybe three chapters whether I'm going to like where a story's going, and here we are, thirteen chapters in, and I doubt anything has changed to your liking, or that anything will for that matter, as you only appear to offer opinions on the negative and seem to avoid even an ounce of praise for anything you may find amusing. Positive and negative remarks can go hand in hand after all.

There is one final thing I wanted to tell you, and I had planned on telling you in a private message, so as to not risk further enflating your ego, but as you have disabled private messaging, I can't. If you are such an expert, why don't you write a story? I would like to see you write a story - the series is unimportant, but as you also claim to be an expert on Dragonball Z and what DBZ readers like to read, it should be that - that makes fairly large changes to the canon plotline, and then add in your own characters with the proviso that they be able to keep up with the mains - the same way Vegeta 'keeps up with' Goku (i.e. Weaker than, but not to the point of being useless) - and not have them turn into SI's or Mary-Su's. Believe me when I tell you that it sounds easy from that side of the virtual pen, but from this side, it's a lot harder.

If you have anything further to add, email me, there's a direct message link on my homepage. If you enable private messages I'm sure we could discuss theories on a better level, rather than having you leave remarks that have no bearing.

For any reader who is not ten.noitcifnaf and has read this far, I'm sorry for rambling on like this, but someone had to say it, and I got in first. I had hoped to do so in a manner that didn't clutter up the story, but as his private messaging feature has been disabled, this was the only way.

Side note from the beta: Seriously dude, all fan fics need to be taken with a pinch of salt, lighten up a little. As a Humor fic writer, my arguments need no basis of composure, dude.