Chapter 125 -Fracture Point
Earth, Caracol Peak, Piccolo's Home
Earth's quiet peace was rent asunder. The arrival of the two foes atop the Palace of God had not gone undetected by the fighters who called Earth home. Piccolo, deep in the mountains where he'd found a place to build his own home, floated cross-legged atop a rocky outcrop. His senses, always sharpened, had felt it first. The air shifted, and his eyes shot open, his browless ridge furrowing. Breaking his meditation stance, he stood to his full height, brushing himself off and scanned the horizon. His fists clenched automatically, as he felt the source of the disturbance in the distance. The Palace of God. Something terrible was there.
Earth, Mount Bùzhō, New Crane School
Tenshinhan had just finished going through a regimen of drills with his own students, Lunch taking advantage of the momentary pause to bring refreshment, when the disturbance reached him. The wind kicked up violently around the New Crane School, and a cold chill crept throughout his entire body. Lunch herself paused - she couldn't sense ki, but the physical disturbance in the air was more than enough to give her pause. Her blue eyes blinked in confusion.
"Tenshinhan, what's going on?" asked Lunch.
The martial artist didn't answer immediately. His three eyes searched the horizon, his senses spreading outward. He could feel the source of the two unfamiliar ki in the far distance, like a veil over the sky.
Earth, Ōkami Mountain, New Turtle School
Yamcha, pacing halfway through the halls of the New Turtle School, was interrupted when the building itself seemed to shake. He felt his entire spine crawl, a sure warning. Floating through, clearly to somewhere safe, was Pu'ar. The slim, delicate humanoid figure of Pu'ar was obviously distressed.
"What's all the shaking?!" he cried in his high pitched voice.
"Something's off, horribly," said Yamcha. He felt his heart sink. Every time this sort of feeling was met, the situation always went south quickly. Running a hand through his unkempt hair, he tried to focus on the source of the ki. They were going to need to deal with it quickly.
Earth, Western Capital, Capsule Towers
Goten and Trunks were both at Capsule Towers, the former pouring over his coursework for his University, and Trunks, several sheets of paperwork for Capsule Towers that felt ceaseless. Trunks, who was decently able to concentrate while in the office, stopped in the middle of a paragraph he was reading ("Shareholders are bound to the terms set forth within this document, and any breach of these terms hereof may result in legal remedies, including but not limited to—") and looked up, just in time for the tremors to hit. The papers slid off his table, jumbling the Incorporation and Shareholders' Agreement he'd been reading with Employee Agreements and several client contracts.
The lavender-haired man swore as he swiftly caught each paper; Goten, meanwhile, was looking around for the source of the disturbance. He could clearly feel two immense ki high in the sky, and had an inkling they were coming from the Palace of God.
"Trunks..." he began, his tone serious.
"I feel it," replied Trunks, equally grave. "But what's going on? Why now?"
Earth, Mt. Paozu, East District 439
As the sky began to redden entirely, the Son family was beginning to make their way back towards home. As the group was treading down the familiar path through the mountains, Erasa felt the ki, which seemed to blacken the sky despite the remnants of sunlight. The chilling ripples sent down her spine made her shudder. The other three with her couldn't feel it - Gine and Chi-Chi had never learned to sense ki, and Pen couldn't yet.
Their calm and routine evening was now on the precipice of disaster.
"Ladies, we should probably get back," said Erasa darkly, grasping Pen's hand. Urging the two confused women forward, she added. "I don't know what, but something's going on at the Palace of God. The blonde mother's words spurred the other two on, and she guided her daughter down the path by hand. Even the wind that blew over them now seemed to contain portents of danger.
Yet it was not merely Earth's Dragon Team which felt the disturbances. Across the globe, many individuals who had begun to incorporate ki into their daily lives were feeling the sudden arrivals.
Across the globe, all many individuals who had begun to incorporate ki into their daily lives found themselves floored, paralysed by the sheer magnitude of the two powerful sources of ki practically pressing themselves against the planet. The planet itself was beginning to tremble.
A silence fell across Earth, and the world collectively held its breath.
In Satan City, within the izakaya, Gohan stared into his drink, still chuckling at a story Sharpener was telling, when the air seemed to thicken, pressing in on him. His hand went stiff around the glass, his senses flaring. Sharpener noticed, his grin faltering. "Gohan? What's wrong?"
The Saiyan looked up, his expression darkening as he set the glass down slowly. "Something's coming..." he muttered. He stood, his eyes scanning the room, feeling the same shift in the air that the others had felt. Two powerful ki...
Gohan! Can you hear me?!
"Dende?" Gohan started, speaking the name aloud. "I can hear you! What's going on, I just felt two massive ki signatures at the Palace!"
I'm sure you felt it! There's two people here...two Saiyans, Gohan, and they're looking for you.
Saiyans?! This struck Gohan as odd. His tribe was supposed to be all but extinct. In fact, there shouldn't be any pure-blooded Saiyans left. "Dende, are you sure?"
Positive, Gohan! And they're saying a 'Lady Rishe' is looking for an audience - does that name mean anything to you?
"No..." Gohan frowned. "Dende, I'll be right there." As Gohan stood up, Sharpener grinned.
"More hero work?"
"Something like that, yeah," said Gohan. "Sharpener, can you—"
"It's my turn to catch the bill anyway," said the blonde man casually. "You go keep the planet safe."
"...Thanks!" Gohan tore out of the izakaya, and one outside, lifted into the air without a hesitation. Once he was suitably high enough, his body was bathed in light; he burst from the surface of the planet, jettisoning himself high into the sky, towards the Palace. The structure came into view in the evening sky, Gohan coming to a halt above it. Below him, he could see Dende, Mr. Popo, and indeed, two strange people he wasn't familiar with at all. The ki stretching out over the planet was certainly coming from these two.
Gohan landed on the tiled surface, his shoes clacking against the flooring, disrupting the silence. Standing in front of Mr. Popo and Dende, he faced the new arrivals. The bigger Saiyan looked down, quite literally on Gohan, his face impassive at first. Then he spoke, his voice guttural and deep.
"This is supposed to be the Saiyan God Lady Rishe is all bent up about?" A frown creased his eyebrows and chin, lining his face and making him seem far older. ""What kind of Saiyan are you supposed to be? That's no battle outfit, and I can hardly smell the drive to fight coming from you! Or are you headed to some sort of costume party instead?"
"I doubt you just came here for fashion advice," replied Gohan, eyes narrowing. He didn't need to speak to these two much longer to get the feeling that they weren't welcome here. "So who are you, and what do you want?"
"You must be deaf, boy," said the larger Saiyan. "Lady Rishe sent us here to find the Super Saiyan God; word out is that it's you. But I don't see anythin' godly about you. Just a reject Saiyan on a backwater planet."
Gohan stepped forward, staring down both Saiyans. "Earth just got over a rather rough spot, and we're not in any mood to entertain guests. If you could get off the planet - and while you're at it, several thousand parsecs out of the solar system as well." As he spoke these words, Gohan's own aura flared out; he made no movement, yet his ki was leaking out of him. The titles began to shake and crack, the singular and dual set of Saiyans standing in confrontation.
The smaller Saiyan remained silent. While his larger companion was speaking with much gusto, he seemingly had nothing to say. Or was he waiting?
His larger compatriot, however, still had a lot to say. "I don't take orders from garbage like you!" The bulky Saiyan snarled, his voice booming. With a roar, he surged forward. His fists were suddenly alight with ki, and he charged Gohan head-on in a reckless assault.
The half-Saiyan stood stalwart. In a single fluid motion, he detected the incoming assault, and spun. His arm outstretched, he landed a precise counterstrike into the Saiyan's chest. The impact echoed around the Palace like a boom of thunder, and the bulkier Saiyan was sent hurtling backwards. He smashed into a column, skidding across the tile in a trailing cloud of smoke and shattered stone. Hurtling off the edge, he grabbed ahold of the rim of the Palace before he fell to the surface.
"Are we done?" asked Gohan. "I told you to leave this planet."
Hurling himself back over the edge with a single hand, the Saiyan aggressor charged Gohan down with renewed aggression. He let loose a flurry of punches, each one wild, and full of rage. Gohan slipped through them effortlessly - ducking, sidestepping, or parrying each one with minimal movement in a stunning display of martial arts mastery. Every missed strike appeared to simply fuel the Saiyan's anger, and he threw his head back.
Gathering above his mouth, green ki pooled in. Turning his head towards Gohan, the Saiyan let loose a deep green kikōha. The heat warped the air as it tore across the Palace. Gohan's eyes narrowed; calmly, he raised a hand, catching the beam as it flew towards him. It bent around him, the light peeling off several directions. Gohan's fingers dug into the raw energy, the aura of the kikōha roaring around him. Then, vice-like, he pressed his hand inward - compressing the blast between his hand and dissipating it entirely.
This was followed by one of the loudest silences Gohan, or even Dende and Mr. Popo, had ever heard. Gohan stood firm, the tiles beneath him scorched black and cracked, yet he himself was scarcely ruffled. His eyes locked with that of the stunned, hulky Saiyan. "You really don't understand what you're up against."
For the first time, the smaller Saiyan spoke.
"Interesting..."
The larger Saiyan, in spite of himself, was going to continue the assault.
This time, Gohan met him halfway.
In a blur of motion, an ear-shattering crash, and it was over. Gohan's fist drove clean into the Saiyan's gut with as much force behind it as he could muster. The blow lifted the bulky warrior off his feet, his eyes building with shock, before rolling back into his head. Holding him one-handed, Gohan tossed the unconscious form of the man before the feet of his smaller partner.
Dende and Mr. Popo were floored. They were long past the point of ever being able to perceive Gohan's movement, yet at the same time, the finishers conveyed more than enough. Dende had seen Gohan fight on Namek and on Earth. But this felt different. Even if he couldn't perceive his movements, his own Nameccian eyes - made divine by his position, and growing with the years - could see the shape of Gohan's spirit. It used to be so gentle and calm. Now, he felt it was like watching the sun.
The smaller Saiyan looked down at his fallen . Letting out a long, drawn out sigh, his expression didn't change all that much - his brow creased, and his breath sounded exasperated.
"You'll have to forgive my brother," said the smaller Saiyan. "He always had a temper, but I never imagined he'd rush in without transforming, much less, keeping his anger in check." The man crossed his arms, tilting his head and shifting his gaze back towards Gohan; notably, it was an expression that resembled curiosity, rather than hostility. "I will admit, your finesse is surprising. You didn't just overpower Kura - you outclassed him.
We were simply supposed to deliver the message, and observe." His eyes narrowed, yet there was no hint of malice - merely quiet assessment. "But, I can see now, why Lady Rishe has her eye on you. You are the one we're looking for — a Super Saiyan God."
"Regardless of what you think, or who this 'Lady Rishe' is, I don't have any reason to fight you," said Gohan. He felt a bead of sweat slipping down his neck - not from exhaustion, from trepidation. This man was far, far too casual, even after seeing how his brother had been defeated. Gohan knew that sort of confidence from experience. This man felt he had every reason to back it up. Gohan would prefer to parlay. "Your brother is in need of medical attention; take him off this planet and find him a med-bay."
"We're Saiyans, Son Gohan," said the smaller Saiyan airily. "What reason do we need to do battle, except for the joy of trading blows? However, if you need a reason - what if I told you we were the ones who destroyed that young Nameccian's home planet?" Slowly, he pointed in the direction of Dende. "Gone, reduced to so much space dust."
The wind howled around the Palace as the proclamation settled.
"Now," the Saiyan said, his eyes locked onto Gohan's. "Do you have a reason to fight me?"
The statement hung in the air between the two, poisoning it. Dende staggered back a step, his face paling with horror. His breath hitched, and his eyes dilated - the name of his home, already lost once, spoken with such deliberate malice made him shake. Yet it explained his feeling from earlier; the silent screaming that had ripped throughout the Universe. So many lives, lost in a single instant.
Gohan didn't rage. He didn't shout. Yet the calm he'd upheld until this point was beginning to unravel. His breath deepened. The white tiles beneath his feet shattered, his ki bursting out from his body. A low hum began to fill the air, akin to the onset of a storm. Gohan's jaw clenched, his eyes locked with the Saiyan who stood unflinching in spite of his building power. If there was even a slight possibility that the words he said were true, Gohan couldn't let him walk away.
"I wasn't looking for a reason," said Gohan, his voice bitter. "But you gave me one anyway."
Gohan stepped forward, and air around him flashing white. Gohan had vanished. One instant, he was standing in front of Dende, and the other, a sonic boom tore throughout the sky, the Saiyan closing the distance in a blink between himself and his adversary. His foot shot forward in an arc, aiming straight at the enemy's head. Gohan would bring him down in a single shot, and then beat some answers out of him. The Saiyan raised his arm just in time. The collision of limbs rang into the sky like a gong - the impact was so forceful it sent shockwaves across the entire platform. The surface beneath them shattered entirely, exploding outwards in a multitude of jagged fragments. An entire section of the Palace had given away entirely, the symmetry of the Palace of God ruptured entirely by pure strength.
Both fighters remained locked at the point of contact; Gohan's leg pressed into the Saiyan's guard.
"You're faster than I anticipated," the Saiyan noted, unmoving and unflinching. "And heavier than you look. But..."
Gohan felt it, a surge of power rising up from beneath the man's smaller form, threatening to erupt over the shattered palace. Gohan's own confident faltered for a moment.
"I certainly hope this isn't all there is to you."
A/N: I'd normally lead off with an apology for the delay, but honestly, if I keep that up, you'll see more apologies than Gohan's own name in this fanfic. I hope time has been well to you all! As you can see, we've got another update on our hands for Erased. I swear I am not idling with The Heart of Adventurers or Tale of the Sky Maiden, those ones were just, truly, group projects and are a lot harder to do on my own. Regardless, I wanted to get you all up another chapter so you aren't waiting for ever. Taking on art as I write fanfiction makes it difficult to balance both. I hope, however, you enjoyed this chapter. I don't often have ouns to explain anymore, but Caracol is Spanish for snail.
I'll see you all soon in the next exciting chapter of the Erased Chronicles!