Kakarot woke up before dawn and went out to train alone. Mount Paozu remained in still darkness, only illuminated by an almost full moon, which began to fade in the sky as the day approached. Son Gohan was still asleep. "The older someone gets, the more they need to sleep," the Earthling used to say. And one day he would close his eyes never to open them again.
Today was that day, Kakarot thought.
It had been two years since he discovered he was strong enough to kill the old man if he transformed into a Great Ape. And before every full moon, he told himself that if he just waited, perhaps Son Gohan would pass during the night. Of course, that had not been the case. On more than one occasion he had considered going away from Mount Paozu and leaving the old man for last, but what would he think of him if he learned about his mission?
No. Better to cut off that tie first; prove to himself he could do it. "To save one life is to save all humanity," Son Gohan once told him, the moral of one of his stories. In his case, if he was able to kill this man, nothing that walked the Earth could stop him.
The sun rose red on the horizon, staining the sky with blood and gold. Kakarot sat cross-legged under his tail, subjecting it to bear his weight for its entire length. As the months of training passed, the pain he felt lessened, giving way to a tingling sensation that no longer drained his strength.
After a while, he forced the muscles in his tail to lift him off the ground. The higher he was lifted, the harder it got, as there was less of the furry tail on the ground to do it. When only the tip of the tail touched the ground, he maintained the position. When he could no longer stand it, he went down slowly and methodically, forcing his tail to resist at the edge of its strength despite the fatigue, until he was seated again.
Satisfied with the work done, Kakarot concluded the morning training. As hard as it had been, the thought of having turned his weakness into a strength filled him with pride.
He went down to the river and sat on a rock by the coursing waters, and waited. The week after his eighth birthday, as he anticipated the first full moon in which he knew he could kill Son Gohan, a huge fish clad in red scales and white fins and crest arrived on the waters of Mount Paozu. It was a magnificent beast, a king of the river, and as such, the flavor of its meat would surpass any other fish's.
Kakarot took that as a sign and decided that before killing Son Gohan, the least he could do was reward his years of teachings and care for him with the best meal of his life.
With the sun already high in the sky, the River King appeared. Kakarot undressed and jumped into the water. The fish turned and, seeing him, turned and swam toward him in a winding, snake-like line. It seemed smarter than the other fish, which charged blindly toward anything that moved, and so were easily led to their deaths. Kakarot took a long breath and dived. The fish drew circles around him, analyzing with inquisitive eyes what he thought was his prey.
Kakarot swam away, inviting the fish to follow. In the animal world, the one who flees declares its weakness. Despite its initial reluctance, the River King, used to scaring away all kinds of animals, began his pursuit. Kakarot paddled as hard as he could with his feet, but the fish, born to move underwater, was closing the distance fast. With any other fish he would have used the usual tactic: make them come out of the water and kick them to land, where either by the blow or by being left in the air, they would die. But this splendid creature deserved better.
Kakarot gave a swift stroke to one side and dodged the River King's snapping teeth. He clung tightly to its white crest as the fish kept swimming. It turned sharply to make him let go, but seeing that it could not overpower Kakarot, it sank into the depths to drown him.
When they reached the riverbed, it turned and smashed sideways against the rock. Kakarot let go and gripped his feet on the bottom of the river. The River King swam upstream, moving away, and before Kakarot lost sight of it, it turned and rushed again, adding to the might of his fins that of the current. Kakarot stretched out his arms, ready to take the charge head-on.
The fish lifted Kakarot off the ground. His hands seized the animal's jaws tightly, keeping its sharp teeth away from him. The fish opened its mouth fully, and Kakarot had no choice but to let go of the fish's upper jaw, as the breadth of his arms fell short. The fish shook and turned with wild fury, once more trying to get him off, but Kakarot remained firm, waiting for the right moment while his air began to run out.
When the moment came, he let go, and with a certain blow, thrusted his arm into the River King's gills. It convulsed, crazed by the pain. Kakarot seized the moment and clung to the ground with his feet. He hurled the huge fish over his shoulders and smashed it against the bedrock.
For a moment the world stood still. The River King floated motionless, at the current's mercy. It was dead. Kakarot grabbed its tail and swam up. At last, he surfaced and took a huge breath to quell his burning lungs. Once on land, he lifted the animal on his back and carried it uphill. After laying it on the ground beside Son Gohan's house, Kakarot admired his largest catch yet; it was smaller than the hut, but not by much.
Kakarot walked to the pantry and took salt and the proper herbs to bring out all the flavor out of the dethroned River King's flesh, and started a fire while Son Gohan yawned inside.
The old man came out and opened his eyes with surprise at the banquet that awaited him. "Now that's a fish. We'll have food for several weeks."
Kakarot skewered the animal with several bamboo trunks tied together and put it over the fire in silence.
"Are you alright, Goku?" Son Gohan asked.
"Yeah. Let's train a little while the fish cooks," Kakarot said without taking his eyes off the ground.
After a long sparring session, as such a large fish needed a longer cooking time, they sat down and filled their plates with the tender white meat, which melted in their mouths like butter on a summer day. They ate under a heavy silence.
It was Son Gohan who spoke first. "In about two years, the World Martial Arts Tournament will take place. We could travel to the Turtle Hermit's house next summer if you wish, and have him oversee your training until then. It would be tough, Goku, a lot more than what we do here, but by the end, you'd be in a completely different league."
Kakarot repressed his guilt for something he had not yet done and merely nodded with a forced smile. "Sure, Grandpa."
When they finished, they cut large wide leaves to wrap the leftover fish with. They packed several dozen rations, each the size of Kakarot's head, hair included. Now the sun was beginning to sink in the west. Kakarot followed its crimson trail with his eyes, trying to steady himself for what was to come.
"It's getting late," Son Gohan said. "Come on, Goku, help me store the fish in the pantry, and let's go inside. Tonight's a full moon."
"I know," Kakarot said.
The dark mantle of night covered the sky, and the moon would soon rise. In bed, Kakarot remained still but awake. Son Gohan, ignorant of the approaching danger, slept peacefully. The sound of his slow, deep breathing had always relaxed Kakarot; it was the sound to which he had fallen asleep for as long as he could remember. But tonight, each of his breaths brought him closer to the last. It was almost time.
"I can no longer back down," Kakarot told himself. In a slow, almost ceremonial manner, he stood up and walked to the door of the small house. With his eyes on the ground, he walked in silence to the center of the clearing where he had spent so many moments with the old man. Those memories comforted him a little. He stood there longer than he would ever let anyone know.
Finally, he looked up at the sky and contemplated the moon in all its splendor. His eyes fixed on that pale light. His heart hastened, and blood rushed wild in his veins, filling every fiber of his body with uncontrollable force and rage. When he thought his body might explode, everything went dark.
A loud tremor shook the earth and awoke Son Gohan. Without wasting a moment, he scanned his surroundings. Goku was gone. He blitzed out of the house and saw the huge, hairy beast in a nearby clearing, smashing trees with his fists and roaring to the sky with animal fury.
It couldn't be. Not again.
Last time, a few weeks after finding Goku, he managed to make the monster the boy had turned into after crawling out of the house and watching the full moon chase him all night, as it wasn't very smart. Despite being slower and weaker than Gohan, he did not confront it directly for fear of harming the child.
The giant ape noticed his presence and lashed out, stampeding through the forest that separated them. Trees were uprooted and thrown around and the earth trembled with every step of the beast. It was much faster than last time. Gohan jumped to evade its attack, which devastated the land he had been standing on.
It seemed that as Goku became stronger, so did the monster. This time he would not be able to handle it so easily. If he was not careful it could reach him, and Gohan didn't want to imagine what those paws that had laid waste to trees and rocks would do to a human body.
The beast charged again, ripped a great rock from the earth, and hurled it toward him. Gohan jumped to the side and felt the boulder cutting the air as it dashed an inch from his head. Gohan dodged several more of the ape's attacks, and it became clear that he was no longer a match for the rampant beast.
He had only one alternative: the Kamehameha. But if he did, it would be his grandson's life that would be in danger. In that moment of doubt, the beast overtook him and unleashed his wrath upon him. Gohan smashed against the ground and felt his bones breaking on impact.
The colossal ape raised its monstrous head to the night sky and roared in victory while beating on its chest. Gohan knew he would soon die, either from his injuries or the next blow.
In those last moments, he could only remember the happy memories of a long life, of adventure and friendship, of a lost family, of Goku.
And as the beast the full moon had turned his grandson into raised a huge paw to crush him, Gohan took his last breath. "It's not your fault, Goku," he said in a faint voice, as the shadow of the beast's foot covered him. "I love you."
The earth shuddered one last time, and everything went dark.
Kakarot awoke as if from a strange dream and beheld the clear morning sky. After a few moments of sweet unconsciousness, he noticed that he was outside, and remembered why. He got up, naked and dirty, and examined his surroundings. There were fallen or broken trees everywhere, and the ground was riddled with holes and large furrows. Somehow, the house was still standing.
After a few unending minutes of searching, he found Son Gohan. He lay half-buried in the center of a large hand-shaped footprint. He was pale, bruised, and dirty. Even though he knew it wasn't possible, since the man was dead, he could see the pain and disappointment in his eyes. He'd never looked at him like that before. Kakarot closed Son Gohan's eyes with his hand, but it didn't make him feel any better.
He felt grateful for not being able to remember anything of what happened last night. "It was necessary," he told himself. But was it? He knew he had to depopulate Earth, but for what purpose?
He picked up a bucket and went down to the river. He let the current wash away all the dirt from his body and mind. Hot tears began to fall down his cheeks, and they merged, drop by drop, with the river in which he had grown up. He had to force himself to stop. If he didn't, he feared he would stay there for the rest of his life.
He went back to the house and got dressed. He took out a clean sheet from the only closet in the house and spread it out on a stretch of land that had been left untouched. With the bucket of water and a rag, he cleaned Son Gohan's body, and when he was done, he wrapped it in the sheet. He widened the hole in which he had found him and set down the old man's body inside.
He returned to the house and collected the objects the Earthling had treasured in life: his black hat, the brush with which he combed his white mustache, the pot in which he had cooked since before Kakarot was born, and deposited them beside him. Next to his head, he gently placed the most precious: the bright amber sphere with four red stars inside.
"I don't know what I can say," he finally broke the silence. "You were a warrior. You were a good man and a good grandfather. I wish you hadn't been born on this planet, but you were. I will remember you until the day I die."
After filling the hole, he set out to prepare his things for the journey ahead. He packed the fish rations, the few clothes he had, some pelts, and the Power Pole. The pack was several times larger than him, mostly due to the food, but it would grow smaller with every passing day. He also picked up the scouter from the cave behind the waterfall and, after setting his luggage on his back, activated the device.
The scouter pointed him to a power level of 69, several hundred kilometers to the South, where Son Gohan said the Turtle Hermit lived. He was weaker than Kakarot expected, but his knowledge and experience would more than make up for it. Kakarot began to walk, moving away from the familiar backdrop of Mount Paozu. His destination: the rest of his life.
Power Levels
Kakarot (10 years old): 15
Kakarot (Great Ape): 150
Son Gohan (89 years old): 119