Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Retaliation; the Trouble Inside ❯ Acceleration ( Chapter 16 )

Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Ball Z, or GT. Akira Toriyama created the characters, and Toei Animation Co. Ltd owns the rights. This fanfiction means no harm to the anime/manga.

Retaliation, The Trouble Inside

Acceleration

By Trynia Merin

***

Uub's hair flapped in the quickening wind as he rocketed towards the source of the disturbance. Vegeta and Trunks kis flared out of control. Even though Goku had told him to stay away, he could not just stand back and do nothing.

Immediately before him, he saw Goku materialize, and barely managed to stop himself in mid flight to avoid a nasty collision. Goku's face was grim as he frowned, carrying Goten's limp battered body under the knees and mid back. “Uub!” he shouted. “What are you doing?”

“Goku! I'm sorry I can't just sit back and…” Uub protested.

“Uub listen to me,” Goku interrupted in a sharp voice that silenced his pupil. Uub knew better then to protest further seeing the grim frown twisting Goku's young face. Especially when he shoved Goten right at his pupil.

“Take him home, Uub. Pan and Gohan are in terrible danger. I swore I wouldn't get involved, but I didn't' count on my family getting dragged into this!”

“But Goku… what about Pan… what if she gets hurt! IF anything happened to her I'd…” stammered Uub.

“Do as I say, Uub. Goten needs help. When he's settled, only then should you come after us. I can handle Vegeta… for now. And Gohan will handle Trunks,” he said menacingly. “It's Chichi that I'm worried about… and Videl… not to mention Bra.”

Mention of her name caused even more confusion in Uub's dark brown eyes. HE blinked at the crackling surge of ki rising around Goku. “Why Bra?”

“There's no time to explain Uub. Take Goten to Grandpa Gohan's house and give him what care you can. When he comes round and you know he's okay, then join us. Hopefully I won't need your help,” Goku instructed.

“But…” Uub began. Slowly in his arms, Goten began to writhe and groan.

“I'm counting on you,” said Goku. “Goten's in a bad way. He needs your help more then you can imagine.”

“But I'm no doctor,” Uub protested faintly before Goku suddenly fizzled out into mere thought.

Glancing down at Goten, Uub mumbled, “I'm taking you home where you'll be safe. Pan needs my help,”

It would only take a quick five-minute trip to drop Goten off, Uub thought. Violet ki flared around him, and he blasted off on a return trip to the Son home. He steeled himself for Chichi's verbal barrage of questions that would inevitably come. In his arms Goten blinked. Air sharply slashed against his face, and he felt someone whispering in his ear. Just why in the hell had Gohan been possessed? Up until then Gohan and he had simply been training. He could hear the familiar voice of Uub mumbling to himself and realized he must have been knocked out.

His mind struggled to piece together the events leading up to when Gohan went crazy… Then Goten blinked awake, glancing up at Uub. That strange voice again whispered in the back of his mind, causing him to blink. Two startled eyes in Uub's bronze face widened, staring in horror down at him. Just what made him so scared?

“Uub, what happened…?” Goten wondered, feeling the jarring motion of Uub's sudden stop. Only a mile from Mt. Pauzo they hovered, Uub's grasp on Goten tightening.

For a tense moment, Uub blinked hard, as if staring into his soul. Goten shivered in fear, wondering why he should be afraid. Just why part of him suddenly implored him not to trust his father's own star pupil. Was Uub capable of being taken over? “Goten, is that you?” he asked.

“What do you mean is that me? Gohan's the one who's possessed!” Goten snapped. He winced at the searing pain jolting through his body. His knees felt like they were half disintegrated, and if he tried to move his arm pins and needles tingled up the nerves to the base of his skull. Why was it suddenly so hard to move his arms, and why did he feel as if he were detached and floating slowly away from awareness.

“Goten, something is wrong. Tell me what happened! You said Gohan was possessed… how did it happen!” Uub demanded.

“Well… it was like this…” Goten started.

"You realize what's happened, don't you, Goten?" Uub said fiercely as Goten finished his story. Why did suspicion still exist in the young bronze face, Goten wondered. Angrily he shoved away from Uub, hovering under his own power at a wary distance of fifty paces.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Goten blinked, seeing Uub's face firmly set in anger.

Because he doesn't believe you, Goten found himself thinking. He knows what's going on, and he doesn't trust you. He thinks you're the one who was possessed.

"No, that's not possible," Goten blinked, now hovering on his own power.

"I know what's happening to you Goten. You have to fight it now," Uub said calmly, slowly drifting towards him.

"No, leave me ALONE!" Goten half screamed. Without knowing why he found his hands rising by themselves, flickering with ki. Before he could stop himself, he saw the blast forming between two outstretched hands, expanding like a soap bubble in a thin film. Power blazed around it; in an attack he barely recognized but seemed at the same time familiar to him.

That's it, get him now!

"Go to hell!" Goten shouted, releasing the thin bubble containing an explosive charge of ki. Between them the gap widened with the ensuing explosion, tongues of yellow lightening licking from the heart of the bubble before it burst.

"Goten, no!" Uub's words were whipped from his throat only an instant before the world exploded and wrapped him in blinding radiance.

That's it, boy. Now get away. You have to protect Bra at all costs... echoed the thoughts in Goten's mind. Not questioning it, and half-panicked, Goten exploded into gold flames. Ki rocketed behind the Super Saiyan as he blasted off towards the small Capsule cabin where Bra was hidden. Inside the depths of his mind he felt himself slipping into a haze and kaleidoscope of strange thoughts not his own. Before he realized it, fear had forced wide the crack and forced itself in.

Images of his father in strange Saiyan armor flickered by, and Goten squeezed them out of his head. He had to help Bra before... before...

Listen to me. Let me help you, Goten. Together we can stop this monster that's taken over your brother. Don't question me... I can help you...

"Who are you?" Goten asked aloud. Then the world hardened around him and he felt himself being forced to the bottom of a dark well. His limbs were no longer under his control, and his awareness was wrapped in the tendrils of another mind. To every part of his being he felt them extend, weaving their way into his heart and soul. Now he doubted his own sanity, it was far too later, and the memories not his own merged into them.

Through the kaleidoscope of memories, he also saw the shifting landscape stretching under him. Bra's ki flickered elusively in the distance, hidden in the dome that slowly slid into view on the hillside he rocketed towards. A smirk twisted his face, and he realized how much he liked the power in this body. It would do nicely, and it would be an added bonus that the Princess was attracted to this body. While he would have to restrain his base appetites, perhaps the Princess would take a fancy to him.

"You promised me, Master, that I would have a chance to gain favor in the plan. Now that I have the chance to pay Kakkarot back for spreading my atoms across eternity," Goten snickered evilly, his eyes teal as his gold hair crackled with malevolent ki. Such power was only second to Gohan's, but it would give him great pleasure to help his comrade tear Kakkarot limb from limb. Glancing in the face of the strange time-telling device he saw his reflection.

The features were much like his father, Turles thought to himself. How sweet revenge would be.

Inside the thoughts of the other, Goten numbly nodded. This was the only way to protect Bra. He'd dance with the devil himself, and he realized he was.

High above the earth two battles raged, witnessed from afar by all parties rushing towards its impact. What had started as a game of cat and mouse rapidly degenerated in a matter of a half hour. After he had awakened, all that was on Trunks mind was figuring out where he began and Vegeta ended. Dual tracks of the thoughts echoed through Trunks mind as he desperately struggled to keep true to the ki trail of whoever inhabited Vegeta's body. Long ago, he and Goten had practiced physical fusion, so he assumed that he and Vegeta could seamlessly share a body between their minds. However, it was proving far too difficult due to the stubborn will of his father.

Trying to get one's head clear while flying thousands of feet above the landscape seemed suicidal. Just ahead of him, he spotted the flashing blaze of what seemed a shooting star, just through the blaze of the setting sun. Clouds impeded his view, but his half Saiyan physiology gave Trunks the ability to peer past them. Simultaneously his own ki sensing pinpointed the unmistakable full-blooded Saiyan signature of his father's body. Whoever inhabited it was easily able to tap into his father's powers.

“Dammit, give me control, Trunks!” Vegeta's words shouted through Trunks voice. To one witnessing the sole warrior slashing through the stratosphere it would appear that Trunks was speaking to himself. However, it only indicated the war he fought within.

“Father, this is too hard,” Trunks voice echoed, pushing against Vegeta's.

“You fool. You know we must face him. You were the one who sealed our fate by how you faced the last vision…” Vegeta answered, echoing just behind his temples. Trunks snapped his mouth shut, banishing their battle to remain inside his skull as he willed some of his concentration to lock onto the ki signature and maintain pursuit.

“There he is, father!” Trunks shouted aloud, pointing his white gloved finger. Royal blue energy enveloped him and he closed the gap in a sudden burst of acceleration. Now he could discern the spikes of his father's dark head of hair and the gleam of sunlight off his Capsule Corps crafted armor, identical to the suit Trunks still wore.

“Let's say hello, shall we?” Vegeta snickered. Cupping his right hand, he generated a ki sphere, and then shot it directly after his own body. Trunks could not stop him in time, but his left hand shot over and grabbed his own right wrist.

“You don't want to kill yourself do you?” Trunks snapped.

“Idiot, such a low grade blast will only get his attention,” Vegeta argued back. Sure enough, the sphere grazed past the target as it dodged.

Then they overtook Vegeta's body, rocketing right overhead before slowing to a stop themselves. Twisting around Trunks shot backwards towards the figure of his own father drifting there. Blue energies crackled around him, his hair standing on end with the sheer power. Through Trunks eyes, Vegeta marveled at the sight of his own power building up. He recognized the signature move from memories of years past, and cupped his own hands at his side. Blue lightening of his own crackled around Trunks, centering between his hands to be thrust forth.

“Gallic GUN!” Vegeta shouted, selecting the most basic of attacks through his son Trunks. With a sad sigh, Trunks opted to allow his father full control at the moment. He had gone from co pilot to spectator on the back of their tandem cohabitation of his body.

“Omega blast!” Vegeta's voice echoed, surging towards the Gallic gun. Both beams met, and then pushed against one another intently. The beam war only lasted two seconds before both parties disengaged their respective energies.

“You, face me now!” Vegeta shouted through Trunks voice. “I've had enough of this!”

“I quite agree,” Vegeta shouted, his voice deepening and smoothing out in articulation.

“Father…” Trunks whispered, sharing the voicing of the Prince's thoughts. “There's another way.”

Trunks and Vegeta phased out, and the rapid succession of punches began. Reality slowed to a near standstill while Vegeta's fists flew against those of Trunks, blocking and parrying. A solid kick cracked against Trunks ribcage, only to be repelled by Trunks spinning and thrusting the flat of his hand into Vegeta's face. As the two battled, their bodies seemed in one dimension while their minds were elsewhere. Each punch, each kick cracking against one another's breastplates brought Trunks and his father closer to the inevitable conclusion.

Both then broke apart, hovering as their chests heaved in and out. Both their armored breastplates rose and fell, sweat dripping down on them from their faces. Strands of lavender hair plastered to Trunks forehead while Vegeta's own spiky crest remained stubbornly upright yet in disarray. “You've gotten slow, Father,” Trunks panted.

“Nonsense, brat. This body is supremely powerful, like a fine tuned instrument. Are you very sure you want to keep fighting me in your present form? Would you risk your own son's half breed body just to keep pounding on me?” Vegeta answered.

“Shut up. I have nothing to say to you!” Trunks hollered, his voice hoarse and deep like his fathers. Lunging forwards, his hands were positioned before him. Simultaneously Vegeta mirrored his pounce. Two sets of gloved hands collided, their fingers intertwining and entire bodies pushing against one another. Blue ki crackled into gold, and then tendrils of hair flickered the same hue with the eruption of their super Saiyan states. Teal eyes glared mutually with anger and the intense heat of battle fury erupting in them. Saiyan blood pounded through their veins, their auras washing over one another's.

“You will deal with this, brat. You will listen to what I have to say, now, or we'll continue to beat each other's brains in. I'm more than happy to test your strength against mine. The choice is yours,” Vegeta growled.

“So be it,” Trunks mouthed. Still the flats of their hands pushed hard against one another, their foreheads barely brushing in the power lock. Minds retreated inwardly while outwardly the duel ensued.

A transition of only a split second snapped them into another dimension not limited by flesh. Images flashed through the experience and astral mind of the last son of Vegetasei, and left him wanting. Trunks heart shivered with icy dread at the last memory played before him. His nostrils filled with the acrid pong of death while the screams of the dying resounded in his ears. He would never forget the drip of blood pooling under stacks of bodies clustered around the white booted figure who somehow managed to keep his breastplate clean from the blood spattering over it.

Vegeta's consciousness was thrust into the past shape of his memories. Again, Trunks found them at the library of Archalisei, himself a witness to the carnage.

Once in the body of his memories Vegeta felt a strange thrill. He didn't question why he had suddenly traversed the decades backwards. All that mattered was carrying out the role he was currently playing. Forgotten thrills of the hunt overrode everything else, and he tasted the same rush he had discarded everything to reach when allowing the Majin spirit to overcome him.

“The darkness is always in my soul,” Vegeta thought, pushing away any objections. To taste the tangible darkness in his heart, and set the evil afire was far more powerful than any drug.

"Time for the battle to continue. So be it, Prince!" shouted the King through the blinding light searing their souls and eyes.

Something snapped like a rubber band, and they were once more in their bodies. Trunks was shoved rudely into his physical form, where he sensed the twin presence of his own father shoehorned alongside him. As his eyes flickered open, he saw the frustrated gleam of King Vegeta's soul staring through Prince Vegeta's physical eyes. Now the battle had returned to the physical world, and there was no telling what the outcome would be.

Now back in the present, memories spun through Gohan's mind as Raditz within struggled to cope with his mission. It had been far easier than he had anticipated slipping by unseen. How laughable those feeble mind tricks were to one who had the demons of Hell itself for trainers. The one who had helped him and the others had warned him that King Kai's training would block their best efforts. Raditz ruefully led the way for the girl who could have been the daughter he may have had. She still could be, if he could block his true nature from the one flaw in their plan. Only one of the Majin could sense the spell, which had taken him to where he was now.

Raditz within Gohan thought to himself: By the time Goten awakened, Kakkarot would have a nasty surprise on his hands. No, they would never suspect the roll Goten had in the Master's plan.

“Daddy,” interrupted Pan. Moving out of his trance, Gohan blinked at his daughter.

“Yes Pan,” he asked, his eyes gleaming with something like pride. Through Gohan's ki senses, he needed no scouter to see how powerful this girl was. No wonder his Majesty had desired her so. Yet she knew the one who could stop them. Somehow, Gohan had to keep her distracted and away from them long enough so…

“I know Grandpa told Uub to stay behind. However, he didn't tell me. I hope you're not angry with me for butting in…”

“No Pan, of course not. You're a warrior in your own right. I can think of nobody else at my side I would prefer to fight the monster that has possessed the Prince… Vegeta…” Gohan trailed off.

Idiot, he scolded himself. Another slip up like that and he might as well just reveal his whole plan. No, he had to make sure that his ally found the Princess and kept her safe. Only then could the Plan move forwards. He had to gain her trust, without arousing suspicion, Raditz realized.

“Prince Vegeta? It's been ages since you called him that, Dad,” Pan stuck her tongue out at him.

“Well he IS a prince, Pan. We cannot forget that. Moreover, that's the whole problem. Right now, Vegeta's possessed, and that's where you and I are headed. To stop him from killing Trunks,” said Gohan.

“Wait, when did all this happen, dad?” asked Pan.

“Can't you sense it with your ki powers?” Gohan challenged, turning his head to gaze at his daughter.

“Daddy, what happened to your face!” she yelped. Something appeared odd about him, and she saw him wiping blood from a rather nasty wound.

“What do you mean, Pan?” Gohan asked. She swung around on him, blocking his way. Gohan was forced to stop, and next felt her hand brushing the small trickle of blood in a diagonal line over his eye shortly.

“Dad, your hurt!” Pan fussed, reaching up to pull her bandanna off.

“Don't fuss, Pan. I've had far worse,” Gohan scolded.

“Don't give me that, Dad! Mom will freak if she sees you go without treating this…” Pan trailed off.

Gohan seized her arm, squeezing tightly to interrupt. Although Pan opened her mouth to protest, she soon emitted a cry of alarm. Distant thunderous explosions echoed on the horizon, accompanied by an ever-expanding wave of light.

“Pan,” Gohan shouted, and swung around to shield the girl from the blast. She felt Gohan's arms protectively wrap around her, squeezing her eyes shut as a wave of intense ki slammed into them. The world seemed to spin out of control before she felt Gohan steadying her against him.

“Dad what happened?”

“The enemy, who else,” Gohan gritted. Pan opened her eyes, staring over his shoulder to see two distant specs circling. Through gaps in the plumes of smoke, she saw white flashes of the setting sun gleaming brightly, indicating a shiny surface.

“It's Vegeta…and t… trunks,” she stammered. Inside her gut, she felt knots tying off, and a sense of bile bubbling to the back of her throat. Clinging tightly to Gohan's shoulder, she struggled to keep herself from turning and flying away at top speed.

“Pan, I need your help. Vegeta and Trunks are trying to kill each other,” Gohan announced.

“But why… how… we need Grandpa's help!” Pan protested.

“Hurry up and mask your ki, Pan,” Gohan said. “I have a plan that will save them both. However, you must trust me. I hope that Grandfather will get back in time to help us. But till then… here's what we do.”