--- Disturbance, Book 2: Divergence ---
Chapter D11-B - Asche zu Asche [Ashes to Ashes
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.
Additional Note: The song for this chapter is entirely in German, so, like the title above, I've put the English translation of the lyrics after, e.g. /blah.
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-Warmer Körper (Warmer Körper) /Warm body (Warm body)-
-heißes Kreuz (heißes Kreuz) /hot cross (hot cross)-
-falsches Urteil (falsches Urteil) /wrong judgment (wrong judgment)-
-kaltes Grab (kaltes Grab) /cold grave (cold grave)-
There was a tense silence across the Planet of the Kais, as the sole three occupants of said planet stared in shock at the crystal ball between them. Finally, after almost a minute of quiet, Gohan collapsed backwards onto the grass in a sitting position, commenting, "Wow. He annihilated him."
Shin shook his head slowly. "I'm afraid not Gohan."
"What?" The teen exclaimed in shock. "Supreme Kai, did you not see the size of that blast; hell, you could feel it from here! If he had have aimed any lower, he would have sheered the planet clear in half with energy to spare! Are you telling me that an attack of that magnitude couldn't destroy Buu?"
With a grimace, the Kai replied, "With Majin Buu, 'destroy' is a relative term."
Gohan crossed his legs into Indian position. "Explain."
With a sigh, Shin likewise crossed his legs, stating, "To explain this, I'll need to speak metaphysically, and this explanation is gleaned from the collective knowledge of eons of researchers." When Gohan nodded, he began, "Now, you surely know that there are three different kinds of basic energy, but what you may not know is that each one has an aspect of the trinity of life it goes with; simply put, chi is the energy of the body, psi is the energy of the mind, and ki is the energy of the soul."
"Wait a minute; ki is the energy of the soul?" Gohan asked in confusion. "Then how come when we train our bodies, our ki level rises? Are you saying we're strengthening our very soul too?"
Shin shook his head. "The strength of your soul does not determine the power level you can reach. The soul provides the well from which all ki is drawn, and it is the body that determines how much of that well can be accessed at one time. However, in some circumstances the mind can overrule the body on this matter and draw more in, either through the use of a power-up technique, or through sheer force of will; doing this almost always results in damage to the body, from over-channelling."
Gohan nodded in understanding, "Like dad's Kaioken technique."
"Exactly," Shin agreed, "The Kaioken, or Kai Fist, technique was developed by the lower Kais as a whole for situations where they needed more power than they had, and occasionally this technique is taught by the lower Kais to their students. Each Kai, however, had their own spin on it, and sometimes gave it different names, but the basis is the same throughout."
-Auf dem Kreuze lieg ich jetzt /I now lie on the cross-
-sie schlagen mir die Nägel ein /they hammer nails into me-
"How does this relate back to Majin Buu?"
With a sigh, Shin explained, "In the simplest terms possible, Majin Buu has neither soul, mind, or body."
"What?" Gohan exclaimed. "That's impossible! Without any of them he couldn't exist."
"In the strictest sense of the term, he doesn't." The Supreme Kai replied calmly. "His 'body' is a construct, shaped and held together purely by dark magic. As such, it has no real chi to give it strength, but in the same vein, it has no real limits on the power it can output. The only thing that limits Majin Buu's energy is the very magic that gives him form; Bibidi set limits on Majin Buu so that he could control him, but as evidenced by this 'Super Buu', there are ways around those."
Kibito picked up where the Kai left off, "His 'mind', if one could call it that, is pure instinct; he has no real intellect or consciousness to speak of."
"Then how can he talk, and disobey, and all the other actions I've seen him do that betray some spark of consciousness?" Gohan asked curiously.
With a grimace, Kibito continued, "He was not meant to. Every time Majin Buu consumes someone, he takes a part of them into himself. Now, these 'parts' are usually only small, just enough to increase his artificial consciousness. However, he received two massive boosts in his development."
"As I have stated before, there were originally five Supreme Kais," Shin explained. "I am the last survivor, but not all of them were killed. Two of these Kais were absorbed: the South Supreme Kai, which granted Majin Buu a massively muscled form similar to his current form, only larger; and the Grand Supreme Kai, which yielded the form you first witnessed. It is from these Kais that the bulk of Majin Buu's 'consciousness' came from."
Gohan nodded. "Alright, I understand that, but if he has an artificial mind and body, does that mean he has an artificial soul as well? I mean, I've already sensed his well of power, so there must be something right?"
"You are both right and wrong in your assumption Gohan," Shin replied. "Majin Buu does not have a soul, not even an artificial one, because Bibidi realised that giving his creation a soul would make it too mortal; a being with a soul, even an artificial one, can die and be forced to the other side. In the strictest sense of the word, Majin Buu can not be 'killed', as he has no soul."
"Then what does he have?"
-das Feuer wäscht die Seele rein /the fire purifies the soul-
-und übrig bleibt ein Mundvoll /and what remains is a mouthful of-
-Asche /ashes-
"Evil," Shin commented gravely. "In place of Majin Buu's soul, Bibidi, through means unknown, tapped into the very well of evil itself, and because of this, there are no real limits to the well of ki he possesses. The only limit on his power is what his 'body' can handle, and as you yourself has witnessed, he has started to 'evolve' past that limit as well."
"Then how can I defeat him?" Gohan asked with as much fear as his warrior nature would allow. "If Majin Buu exists so long as evil exists, how can he be stopped for good?"
Kibito explained, "There is but one thing that can defeat evil: good. You are pure of heart, and while you can not destroy 'evil' itself, with enough strength you can sever the tie to it, thus destroying Majin Buu forever."
With a grim expression, Shin continued, "Your friend Kaen was not pure of heart; this was proven when Babidi's magicks possessed him. His efforts have, however, bought us precious time; it will take Majin Buu no less than a day to regenerate, two if we are lucky."
"I guess that's my cue to get back to work," Gohan commented, hauling himself to his feet. As he grasped the hilt of the Z Sword, still implanted into the ground where he'd left it, a thought suddenly occurred to him. With a slight grin, Gohan asked, "So you're telling me that Kaen didn't win because he wasn't 'good' enough?"
The absurdity of the situation seemed equally humorous to the Supreme Kai, who grinned back. "Precisely."
-Ich komm wieder (Ich komm wieder) /I will return (I will return)-
-in zehn Tagen (Ich komm wieder) /in ten days (I will return)-
-als dein Schatten (Ich komm wieder) /as your shadow (I will return)-
-und werd dich jagen (Ich komm wieder) /and I will hunt you (I will return)-
He opened his eyes slowly, turning full circle to take in the scenery around him. The sky was made up of, or at least covered by, thick stormy yellow-orange clouds, the landscape was constructed of purple-grey rock, interspersed with jagged mountains and spires, and what lakes there were around seemed to be filled with blood, or at the very least, a red liquid of some kind.
"So, this is Hell then," he mused to himself, nodding. "This'll work."
There was a yell as another denizen of Hell launched himself at him from behind. Instinctively he held out his hand, a brief flare of fire and light preceding the appearance of a wicked-edged sword in his hand, which he promptly swung at the attacker, slicing him neatly in half. As the bisected body struck the turf, he was startled to realise he recognised the attacker, or at least his type; he was one of Frieza's minions from way back when, a lesser Aisu.
Nodding again, he corrected himself. "This'll work nicely."
A series of war cries rang out, and he realised that he was surrounded by Aisu, in varying transformations. Noticing a niggle at the back of his senses he began focusing his power, gaping to himself as it didn't stop where it expected it to; by the time his power capped out, it was no less than a hundred times higher than he expected it to be.
As the surrounding Aisu launched themselves at him a sadistic smirk came to his face, and he was forced to correct himself once again, a deep, resounding cackle building up in this throat. "This'll work perfectly!"
-Heimlich werd ich auferstehen /Secretly I will rise from the dead-
-und du wirst um Gnade flehen /and you will plead for mercy-
"Lord Kai!" Kibito exclaimed, racing towards where Shin stood observing Gohan's training, "I have received news from the Grand Kai of a disturbance in Hell, and none of the warriors he has are strong enough to deal with it."
"We hardly have time to deal with such things Kibito," Shin admonished, "King Yemma-"
"Has no record of him," Kibito cut in. "He did not pass through the Celestial Palace; he merely appeared in Hell, and started causing trouble."
Sighing, Shin asked, "And why is this our concern? We have to prepare Gohan to face Majin Buu."
"Exactly," Kibito replied. Seeing he now had the Kai's full attention, he explained, "Reports state that this man is a fairly accomplished swordsman, and is close in power to Majin Buu, thus-"
"If Gohan can defeat him, he will be one step closer to defeating Majin Buu," Shin finished, his voice sounding more excited. When Kibito nodded, a smile on his face, Shin added, "Make it so Kibito."
"Preparations have already been carried out," Kibito replied, a pleased smile on his face. "A guide will be awaiting our arrival; all that remains is to prepare and transport Gohan."
Shin smiled wanly. "Overstepping your boundaries Kibito?"
The red giant bowed. "Merely preventing unnecessary delays." Straightening up, Kibito walked over to Gohan, a hand raised to stop him.
-dann knie ich mich in dein Gesicht /then I will kneel in your face-
-und steck den Finger in die /and stick my finger in the-
Sinking the tip of the sword into the ground, Gohan wiped his brow, asking, "Something I can help you with Kibito?"
The man in question smiled. "As a matter of fact, yes. There is a swordsman causing a disturbance down in Hell, and you are the only person with the strength to stop him."
"So now I'm your errand boy huh?" Gohan replied sarcastically, before grinning. "You're lucky it sounds like fun, otherwise I might have had to hurt you."
Shrugging off the threat, Kibito raised his hands, stating, "You will need new clothes for this task. Do you have any preferences?"
Gohan nodded, "Like what I wore to the tournament."
Kibito nodded, focusing his energy before replacing Gohan's current attire with the chosen garments, plus one extra: the scabbard of a sword. At Gohan's questioning glance, he supplied, "That scabbard has been enchanted such that it can hold the Z Sword." When Gohan nodded his acceptance, and sheathed the Z Sword to test this theory, Kibito laid a hand on his shoulder. "Come then, you have much to do." With a flash of light, they vanished from the Planet of the Kais.
-Asche /ashes-
-Asche /ashes-
-Asche /ashes-
-Asche /ashes-
A short burst of light heralded their arrival in Hell. Looking around, Gohan gave a low whistle, commenting, "Impressive. Nice decor. So, where is this disturbance? There's too much ambient ki around here for me to get a lock on anything."
"Do not worry, your guide should be here soon enough," Kibito replied.
As if his voice summoned him, a figure landed nearby, strolling up to them. He was obviously Saiyan, as the brown tail lazing behind him attested, with almost tri-point hair; he had a central point straight up, and a point on either side of that on an angle, almost like big ears. Giving them an exaggerated bow, he stated, "Welcome to sunny Hell. I will be your tour guide today. Please keep all arms, legs, swords, and ki blasts inside the ride at all times, and your seats in the upright and locked position."
Gohan grinned at the man's antics, while Kibito just scowled out, "You're late."
The Saiyan just brushed some phantom dirt off his combat suit, replying, "What can I say? Traffic was hell."
With another scowl Kibito teleported out, leaving Gohan to introduce himself. Holding his hand out, he stated, "Name's Gohan, but some know me as Cellotto."
The man's face broke into a grin as he shook the teen's hand. "Ah, Cellotto. We've heard all about you from the latest Vegeta to arrive; the fifty-fifth, I believe. People call me Korin. I'll give you the grand tour later, introduce you to a couple of the others, but right now I believe you've got a job to do."
With a mock bow, Gohan replied. "Lead the way then Korin." Idly, he thought he should know some deeper significance to the Saiyan's name, but it didn't come to him.
The two took to the sky, Korin striking up a conversation on the way. "This guy turned up not too long ago. Now, I haven't seen him myself, but 'Boukin told me where he was. We would've gotten Vegeta to take care of him, but he's disappeared; last I heard he was looking for Frieza over by Crystal Lake, so I don't particularly want to be the one to disturb him."
Gohan couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah, that sounds like Vegeta. He'd be having the time of his life here; well, time of his death anyway." The rest of the fight passed with pleasant conversation, a striking difference to the fierce combat Gohan could see going on below, and again Gohan was struck by a sense of deja vu about his guide.
-Asche zu Asche /Ashes to ashes-
-Asche zu Asche /Ashes to ashes-
-Asche zu Asche /Ashes to ashes-
-und Staub zu Staub /and dust to dust-
As they passed over one of the mountain ranges, Korin pointed down into the valley, where a golden figure could be seen laying waste to many a denizen of Hell. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you looked at it, people who had been banished to Hell couldn't die, so to prevent them spending an eternity in pain after getting the crap kicked through them they would be healed again after between thirty minutes and an hour; just because they didn't want to be cruel and leave people hurt for eternity didn't mean they didn't want them to hurt.
"That'd be him," Korin commented, as though it weren't obvious. As they landed, the older Saiyan asked, "So what's the deal? What are you here for?"
"To kill him," Gohan replied simply.
Korin gave him a raised eyebrow. "That'll be tough. People here can't die."
Gohan gave him a confident smirk. "He wasn't judged. He can die." The Demi-Saiyan teen's confidence fell, as he took full stock of his would-be opponent's appearance, including waist-length golden hair, and noticed just what was in the fighter's hand. Walking up to him slowly, he asked tentatively, "Kaen? Is that you?"
Korin's mouth dropped at Gohan's question, and his shock increased when the fighter turned around, replying, "Well, that's not a voice I expected to hear in this place." Noticing the second man, his hairless eyebrows rose. "Korin? Well, can't say I expected to see you either bro."
Gohan turned to stare at Korin, a curious expression on his face, but Korin just glared at the golden fighter, stating firmly, "You're not my little brother. You may have his face, but you're not him. Who are you?"
The fighter shrugged. "If you're not gonna play along, I might as well tell you. I'm Phoenix."
-Heimlich werd ich auferstehen /Secretly I will rise from the dead-
-und du wirst um Gnade flehen /and you will plead for mercy-
"Phoenix?" Gohan questioned, "The same Phoenix Babidi was controlling?"
"He was never controlling me," Phoenix shot back acidly, "He just helped me gain control over Kaen's body."
"Then how'd you wind up here?" the teen asked.
Phoenix shrugged, "Got booted out, and had to go somewhere; I've got my own soul after all, so I can't just cease to exist." Face hardening, he added, "Now what are you here for? Judging by the lack of halo, you're still alive."
Gohan just shrugged, replying in a bored tone as he drew the Z Sword, "Oh, I'm just here to kill you."
Phoenix smirked sadistically again, raising his weapon again as he phased out, reappearing on a cliff to Gohan's right. "You are welcome to try little boy, but I have more power than even I can imagine, and once I find a way out of here I plan on making good use of it."
"Over my dead body!" Gohan shot back.
Phoenix spluttered, "That's exactly the-" He cut off quickly, dropping into his stance and commenting, "Oh no, I'm not falling for that one again." Grinning, he added, "You might want to clear off 'brother', unless you want to join in."
-dann knie ich mich in dein Gesicht /then I will kneel in your face-
-und steck den Finger in die /and stick my finger in the-
The two fighters stared each other down, Phoenix having the high ground, as the tension began building. Finally, Phoenix's patience wore out, just like Gohan knew it would, the deceased pyromancer growling, "I thought you were here to fight." Charging energy in his off hand, he fired a quick flurry of blasts with a shout of, "FIGHT ME!"
This was exactly the opportunity Gohan was looking for. Leaping forward, his sword trailing behind him, Gohan flew between the series of blasts, soaring into the air above him, and Phoenix leapt up after him. The two engaged in a brief midair scuffle, before Gohan swung his sword like a baseball bat, sending Phoenix flying. Landing on his feet and sliding back a bit, the dead Saiyan charged forward again and the two traded blades, the older fighter proving lighter on his feet, probably due to the sheer weight of the Z Sword.
Growling, Gohan swung the weighty sword at his opponent, but Phoenix just leaped backwards, spinning in the air as he leapt from one higher ledge to the plateau above. Scowling, Gohan jumped after him, making it to the top in a single bound and swinging the heavy sword, slamming it down in the cliff surface hard enough to crack the crystal-like rock. Phoenix, however, merely sidestepped before running up the length of the blade and leaping into a downward slash.
Ducking under the blow, Gohan swung with an overhanded spinning strike, which Phoenix in turn ducked under, before the two locked blades. The two pushed against each other for a moment until the sheer weight of Gohan's blade won him the tussle, and Phoenix leapt backwards, Gohan in hot pursuit.
-Asche zu Asche /Ashes to ashes-
-Asche zu Asche /Ashes to ashes-
-Asche zu Asche /Ashes to ashes-
-und Staub zu Staub /and dust to dust-
The two continued to trade blows as Gohan pushed Phoenix up the mountain range, the quicker fighter dodging or blocking all of Gohan's attacks, but being driven backwards regardless. Finally Phoenix seemed to grow tired of running, locking Gohan's sword in one of the notches of his and spinning the sword around, disarming the Demi-Saiyan and launching the Z Sword into the valley from whence they came.
"You really don't know how to use that thing do you?" Phoenix taunted, before hurling his own sword to the side and commenting, "I guess I better even the odds again hadn't I? After all, I wouldn't want to kill you before I'd had a chance to test my strength." After flexing his shoulders, the two fighters began staring each other down, each waiting for the other to make the first move.
In the end, like always, it was Phoenix who broke rank, throwing his arms forward and firing a blast. Gohan dove to the side, raising both hands and firing a series of blasts back, but Phoenix raced ahead of them, leaping off a large rock and reversing his direction, before lobbing a pale blue energy ball at him that impacted the ground at his feet, freezing him in place.
Landing into a slide, Phoenix fired another powerful red blast at the teen, but at the last second Gohan flung a hand forward and cut the blast in half. Focusing his energy, Gohan struggled to free himself, but before he could so much as crack the ice Phoenix had broken into a sprint towards him, going into red shift. Snatching him out of the ice, Phoenix proceeded to use Gohan as a battering ram to carve a tunnel through the cliff wall, carving a U-shaped tunnel through the rock before breaking out again and using the momentum to hurl Gohan into the valley, leaping off after him.
-Asche zu Asche /Ashes to ashes-
-Asche zu Asche /Ashes to ashes-
-Asche zu Asche /Ashes to ashes-
-und Staub zu Staub /and dust to dust-
"Come on Frieza!" Vegeta shouted, driving his knee into the albino once-dictator's chest. "Surely you have more fight left in you!"
Before the Aisu could respond, Vegeta's sensitive hearing picked up an approaching whistling noise, before Frieza was speared through the back, pinning him to the ground. Taking a closer look at the projectile, the Saiyan Prince saw a very familiar looking sword.
Vegeta grinned to himself, yanking the weapon out of the downed Aisu's back. "Well well, looks like Kaen wound him here himself. I should really go say 'hi', maybe share a few drinks." Turning back to Frieza, Vegeta gave him one final boot to the stomach, commenting, "You better still be here when I get back," before blasting off in the direction the sword had come from.
"Where are you going my Prince?" a gravely voice asked as Vegeta started to fly past.
Halting in midair, Vegeta turned to the speaker, seeing a very familiar mop of hair on an unfamiliar face. Grinning, he commented to himself, "I don't think I'm ever going to grow tired of hearing that..." before replying, "I'm off to greet my ambassador. Care to join me?"
The other Saiyan nodded, crossed one arm across his chest, and gave a stiff bow of his torso. "By your will your Highness." With a flare of energy the two Saiyans sped off towards the mountain range.
-Asche zu Asche /Ashes to ashes-
-Asche zu Asche /Ashes to ashes-
-Asche zu Asche /Ashes to ashes-
-und Staub zu Staub /and dust to dust-
Gohan and Phoenix each charged energy in their right hands, racing towards each other firing random blasts that wound up overshooting their target. Simultaneously leaping into the air, they each used their left hand to grab their opponent's right wrist, and each struggled to aim their right hand at their opponent's head; both were successful in the former, and unsuccessful in the latter.
As soon as the pair hit the ground Phoenix rolled away, pumping the rest of the energy in his hand into the ground as he did, before the newly righted Gohan sent him flying with a two-fisted swing. Unfortunately, that meant he stood on Phoenix's ki mine, the series of concussive explosions juggling him for a moment. That moment turned out to be long enough for the free-flying Phoenix to create a whip of dark ki, lash it to a nearby spire, and slingshot around it to come flying back at Gohan, slamming into him with a side kick just as the shock from the blasts wore off.
Landing into a commando roll, Phoenix quickly spun back to his feet, reforming the ki lash and whipping it out to catch Gohan's leg. Dragging down to slam the teen into the ground, he then proceeded to whip him around in a circle, first bouncing him off a low ledge, before dragging him face-first through the side of a mountain. Finally, he dragged him back towards himself, and moments before he hit Phoenix spun around him, kicking the newly released Demi-Saiyan in the back and sending him sailing uncontrollably across the valley.
Smirking, Phoenix shouted, "You'll never defeat me boy! And even if you could, you'd wind up killing your friend as well."
-Asche zu Asche /Ashes to ashes-
-Asche zu Asche /Ashes to ashes-
-Asche zu Asche /Ashes to ashes-
-und Staub zu Staub /and dust to dust-
"What the hell is going on here?" A new voice shouted.
Turning to face the speaker, Phoenix asked in a confused voice, "Vegeta?" This was all the distraction Gohan needed. As luck would have it, he'd landed right near where the Z Sword had dug itself in. Snatching it out of the ground Gohan raced forward, observing with mild shock that Phoenix was screaming almost as if in pain, holding his head as a shadowy spectre appeared slightly off centre of him.
Gohan paid it no mind, intent on ending this fight right now. He noticed, mere moments before he struck, that whatever war was being waged in Phoenix's head solved itself quickly enough, but he was still shocked when the deceased fighter let out a shocked yelp and ducked the strike. Jumping back out of strike range, he held his hands up passively, commenting, "It's nice to see you too Gohan, but would you let me talk before trying to cut my head off?"
"What's going on?"
"Korin?" He turned to face the speaker, a big grin breaking out over his face as he exclaimed, "Big brother! Wow, you look good for your age; what are you doing here?"
Korin gave him an odd look. "I'm dead, and I live here. What's your excuse little brother?"
Kaen just shrugged, "Just thought I'd drop in and give young Gohan here a word of advice 'fore he killed me."
"Kaen? Is that you?" Vegeta asked, wondering just what in the blue hell was going on.
Kaen grinned. "In the flesh, so to speak." Turning to his Demi-Saiyan friend, Kaen stated, "Listen Gohan: what Phoenix just said is true. If you kill him, I'll die as well; he and I are still linked."
"Where are you?" Gohan asked.
-zu Staub /to dust-
-zu Staub /to dust-
-zu Staub /to dust-
-zu Staub /to dust-
"Regen tank," Kaen replied disinterestedly, "That's why Phoenix isn't getting any weaker; he's draining my energy as the tank returns it to me. He has a piece of my soul, and as long as he does he'll be able to keep tapping into my ki. If Phoenix dies, my soul will be thrown into Oblivion, so if you want to defeat him without killing me, you need to find that link and sever it."
"And how am I going to sever a link to your soul?"
Kaen just gave Gohan a raised eyebrow. "You are in the land of the dead, and Phoenix has no body. I'm sure you can figure it out." Suddenly clutching at his head, he groaned, "And do it fast!" Before Gohan could react the ghostly shadow around him disappeared, and looking into his eyes, Gohan could tell that he was Phoenix once again. Cracking his neck to either side, Phoenix commented, "Sorry about that little distraction."
"Oh it's really no problem," Gohan replied conversationally, "After all, it did help me discover how to kill you." Gohan grinned. "I know your weakness. I can see it wavering behind you."
"My tail?" Phoenix remarked dryly. "Come now, surely you don't think a First Class Saiyan like myself wouldn't be past that by now?"
Gohan's grin just widened. "It's not that tail I'm talking about." Gohan's sharp eyes could spot the ghostly second tail wavering behind him, looking much like a localised version of how he looked when Kaen had possessed him; or when Phoenix had possessed Kaen earlier today, and it was this second tail that was the physical manifestation of Phoenix's link with Kaen.
Scowling, Phoenix held his hand out for the sword Vegeta held, declaring, "I'll take that," as the sword disappeared in a shower of light, reappearing in Phoenix's hand. Spinning the weapon around a few times as he dropped into stance, Phoenix growled, "Your discovery will avail you not; I'll destroy you before you get the chance to use it!"
-zu Staub /to dust-
-zu Staub /to dust-
-zu Staub /to dust-
-zu Staub /to dust-
As Gohan dropped into his stance Phoenix leapt into the air, spinning around in a helicopter manoeuvre. By the time Gohan realised that he had deliberately leapt to the side, however, Phoenix had already landed in a slide and fired a powerful energy blast his way. Quickly raising his sword, Gohan was pleased to discover the weighty blade made a good impromptu shield, but as he was still reeling from the blast Phoenix raced forward, weaving through the air in an attempt to throw him off, before lashing out; fortunately, Gohan's luck held, and he managed to parry the attack.
Rolling back to his feet Phoenix went on the attack again, unleashing a swift series of blows that forced Gohan onto the back foot, unable to make an attack of his own. Knocking Gohan's sword upwards, Phoenix leapt up and kicked him in the chest three times in quick succession, before flying into another helicopter upon landing, this time striking at a slight angle. He finished the spin by jumping over Gohan, dropping into a leg sweep, and juggling the teen before sending him skyward with a burst of ki through his feet.
Spinning upright again Phoenix threw himself backwards into a trifecta of back flips, before launching himself at Gohan again, satisfied with the angle he'd achieved. Attacking at high speeds, Gohan was again forced on the defence, the strikes raining in too quickly for him to slip through, before up upward strike sent him off balance, giving Phoenix the opening he needed to flip past him and fire a blast at Gohan's back, sending him crashing to the grey rock below.
-zu Staub /to dust-
-zu Staub /to dust-
-zu Staub /to dust-
-zu Staub /to dust-
"DIE!" Phoenix screamed, swooping in for the killing strike. Picking himself back up Gohan stood his ground, waiting until the last possible second before, with a burst of ki, he flipped backwards on the spot, diving cleanly over Phoenix, and severing both of his tails in the same motion. Howling in pain Phoenix crash landed, the brown tail wriggling a bit from the cut nerves, but the ghostly tail shattered like glass upon impact.
Landing on his feet, Gohan quickly spun around on the spot, but as Phoenix climbed back to his feet, his hair fast receding as his powers left him, Gohan released the sword as though he were competing in the hammer throw, and the blade plunged into, and through, Phoenix's torso. Falling to his knees, Phoenix spared one last glance at Korin, before eroding like a sand castle under high winds, leaving the Z Sword to clatter noisily to the ground.
As Gohan picked the heavy weapon up off the ground, Korin asked him, "Do you think Kaen survived?"
The sound of applause drew their attention. Upon seeing just who was clapping, Gohan felt a grin come to his face. "I think that's a fairly safe bet."
-zu Staub /to dust-
-zu Staub /to dust-
-zu Staub /to dust-
-zu Staub /to dust-
-ja /yes-
To be continued...
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Author's notes:
Hmm... Song seems to lose something when translated from audio into written form... Ah well, can't be helped.