Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ The Justice League Gets a Monkey ❯ David's Gnat versus Goliath ( Prologue )

The Justice League gets a Monkey

A world we do not yet know of. Uninhabited yet capable of supporting life. For this reason, it has been chosen by the being who's name is known in hushed whispers and fearful dreams.

A towering figure of a human, clad in royal purple and dark blue armor that contains the energies of a living star, he stands at the base of a machine the size of a skyscraper, as he prepares to feast.

He is Galactus, the Devourer of Worlds. At his side is his Herald, Nova, a native of Earth granted life taken to her by mystical means, and once again serving her Master.

She watches, as her master begins the process of bringing the transfer machine to life, subtle manipulations of the Power Cosmic assembling the core components of the device…

"Excuse me?"

Nova stops in mid flight. Looking around, her cosmic senses detect new power on the world…right below them.

"Excuse me, we're down here!"

She looks down. She motions Galactus forward. Silently, the colossus levitates over the machine, looking down…

And spots two figures.

The first is a man clad in an orange gi and blue shirt, some sort of Japanese numerical symbol on his back, with wild spiky hair and a large grin on his face. His companion is a man no more than four feet tall, with cropped black hair…and no nose. Dressed in similar attire.

"Yes," Nova asks.

"Hi!" the gi-wearing man exclaims, waving, "I'm Son Goku. This is my partner, Krillin. We're here to ask you to leave this planet alone."

Galactus levitates back to the controls of his machine. Nova flies to him, shrugging, looking at him questioningly.

"Deal with them," the Devourer says, "The Hunger grows."

"Right," she says with a tired sigh, and flies back around the machine to their level.

"No dice," she says, "It's enough that I finally got him to come to uninhabited worlds."

"But what if someone's planning to use this world?" Goku asks, "That's hardly fair to them. What would you tell them?"

Nova screws her face up, first in confusion, then in thought. She turns to the direction of her master, to ask the question…

"ENOUGH!" the voice booms, "THE HUNGER GROWS! I SHALL NOT COMPROMISE A SECOND TIME!"

Sheepishly, she turns back to them…to find that they're already floating above, charging energy blasts towards the machine…and she intersects them with lightning speed, her flame aura blasting around her.

"The Master has spoken!" she growls, "Now leave or I MAKE you leave!"

"Oh, now this is just great," Krillin mutters, "Goku, why did I let you convince me to go here?"

"Because it's something we have to do," Goku responds, "We'll have to fight. Krillin, you take the Herald. I'll take Galactus."

A golden aura bursts into life around Goku, arcs of lightning crackling around him as his hair turns gold, and then spikes up as he reaches the power of the Ascendant Super Saiyan. In a burst of aura, he flies past Nova, towards Galactus.

"Right, you…w-SAY WHAT?!" Krillin shrieks, "You want me to take on her?!"

He turns, locking eyes with a very angry Nova. And grinning like an idiot, he flares his white aura around him and flies into the distance, the Herald of Galactus in hot pursuit.

Flying at full speed, aura glowing and amplifying his strength to the maximum possible in Super Saiyan 2 form, Goku slams fist first into Galactus' shoulder…and screams in pain as he nearly breaks his hand. Flying back, shaking his hand and blowing on it as it throbs and begins to swell to twice its normal size, he lets off a string of curses, turning back to the Devourer of Worlds.

Screaming, pumping his arms towards Galactus, he lets off blast after blast of chi energy, consuming the Devourer in smoke and debris…and again revealing no damage as Galactus continues to work on his machine.

Flying up to Galactus' face, he floats in the air, a dejected look on his face and his shoulders slumped, as the cosmic being finally notices him out of the corner of his eye.

"I don't get it," Goku says, "Everyone keeps telling me I'm more powerful than you."

"Okay, think Krillin. Every time a woman beats the crap out of you she ends up marrying you. You're already married, and if this happens with this lady, 18 will kill you."

Despite pouring all his available power into speed in the hopes that Goku 'finishes off' Galactus quickly and saves his bacon, Krillin sees with a glance over his shoulder that Nova is gaining on him.

"Crap crap crap crap CRAP!" the monk says, "Great! I go from sidekick to cosmic punch-puppet! And I am getting SICK AND TIRED OF THIS!"

"Then stop running and let me put you out of your misery," Nova barks.

Krillin's white aura dissipates, and he turns in mid air.

"In fact, I think I will," he growls, and spreads his hands out over his face, "SOLAR FLARE!"

A burst of light emits from Krillin's latent chi aura, blasting into Nova's sight and making her scream as she's blinded. She stops in mid air, groping around and she furiously blinks her eyes, yelling cursing at him as she randomly tosses around flame bursts…

And Krillin blurs, appearing in front of her as his aura flashes into existence…

And he lays into her with a full-powered, desperate punch, knocking her senseless and out of the air, streaking to the ground…and falling unconscious.

"I…I just knocked out a herald of Galactus."

Krillin, floating in mid air, thinks about the victory for a moment…and pumps his fists into the air, whooping.

"Oh yeah! Yeah, go Monk-man! I am that damn-"

"HERALDS. DEAL WITH HIM."

The pronouncement from Galactus causes Krillin to turn. Color drains from his face as he sees the three figures streaking from Galactus' orbiting ship.

"…heralds?"

His chi aura flares into a pillar of gold flame.

His muscles bulge to unrealistic levels, his eyes turning into blank white slits. Goku calls upon his latent power, amping up the Ascendant Saiyan level as he has done the first form of the Super Saiyan in the past.

Chambering his hands to the side, he grits his teeth, thrusting out both hands towards the indifferent Devourer of Worlds.

"Ka…"

He brings his hands together in an open clam position.

"Me…"

He chambers his hands to his side.

"Ha…"

A sphere of glowing blue forms, arcs of loose energy swirling around him.

"ME…."

And screaming, he thrusts his hands towards Galactus. Loose streams of the energy swirl around him. The ground, far beneath him, shakes.

"HAAAAA!!!"

And the sphere explodes into a beam of energy, cutting the distance between the saiyan and Galactus, slamming full force into Galactus' face…

And doing Jack Shit.

Floating dejectedly, Goku flies over to Galactus, flying in his face in a manner similar to a mosquito.

"Why won't you pay attention to me?" he asks, "I'm trying to drive you away. The least you could do is react…"

Perhaps taking pity, perhaps just annoyed, the Devourer of Worlds does react.

By flicking Goku with his index finger, sending him flying into a conveniently nearby mountain range, before turning back to his machine.

Krillin's eyebrow twitches as the three figures land near him…and where Nova is also laying unconscious.

One is a man seemingly composed entirely of flame, carrying a staff that burns on both ends.

The other is a metal man, clad in what seems to be a miniskirt.

And the last is a large man made of stone, clad in black and red, carrying a massive axe and a very large chip on his shoulder.

"You," the fire-man says, "Have felled one of us. I am Firelord, Herald of Galactus. And we are here to put you down."

Perhaps drunk with victory, or merely emboldened to the point of delusion, or perhaps having just been hit in the head too many times, Krillin smiles. He grins like a tiger, gesturing the three beings of nigh cosmic power forward.

"Come and get me."

The entire mountain range explodes. This garners little of Galactus' attention, the being quickly turning to his machine.

Goku, his body enlarged, streamlined, his eyebrows gone and his spiky hair now a mane of gold, bursts from the rubble and flies directly at Galactus, leaving after images in his wake.

Becoming a tornado of blows, he swirls around Galactus, laying punch after punch with incalculable strength and speed.

He gives the World Eater pause, Galactus turning to his opponent as a blow to his foot causes the titan to lose his balance for a moment, Goku preparing to rise up and strike him in the torso…

Until Galactus' foot comes down, and buries Goku well into the ground.

Krillin has always looked for the right opportunity to bring out his trump card.

Years spent around Goku, Vegeta, and their children had given him ample time to study the power of the Super Saiyans. Enough so that he realized their transformation wasn't some arcane act, but was in fact the use of chi energy to multiply, not just enhance, physical powers.

And Krillin learned how to duplicate it.

He called it Super Krillin.

Screaming, his hair spiking, his white aura flashes gold. Flying with speeds no human, even a chi master, can accomplish, he lays into Firelord with a single blow. The fiery Herald bounces onto the ground, mutters, "Every damn time," before falling unconscious.

Gabriel, the Air Walker, is disposed of similarly.

And Super Krillin, screaming with blind power, flies towards the final opponent…and slams face-first into Terrax the Tamer's fist.

"You ought to be fun," the geokinetic Herald says.

And laughing, he begins to wail on the hapless Z-Senshi.

Goku bursts from the ground between Galactus' legs.

Floating for a moment, he gathers the power within his fists…and screaming, he rises up, towards the entrance of Galactus' flared lower tunic.

"RYU-KEN!"

His fists taking the forms of Dragons, he flies into the chink in the mighty being's armor…

And Galactus is given pause.

The Devourer of Worlds narrows one eye, as he hears Goku's screams coming from somewhere no being has dared walk.

Concentrating for a moment, his corporeal form glows, and a solid pillar of cosmic energy slams down from between his legs and deposits Goku once more on the ground, gasping for air.

Composing himself, Goku flickers and appears a half mile away from Galactus…and he chambers his fists, concentrating his energy…and thrusts them out once more into the open-clam position.

"KAMEHAMEHA!"

A sphere half his size forms, and flares out into the beam, crossing the distance…and impacting on Galactus' machine.

The machine flickers, shudders…and explodes, scatters its parts for miles.

And as the smoke clears, and Goku beholds Galactus' soot-covered form…

He sees a frown.

He sees that Galactus is angry.

"Uh oh."

Backpeddling in the air, he easily summons up his courage, preparing to attack…

And Galactus flickers, appearing in front of him.

"Wow, did Master Roshi teach you tha-"

Goku has no time to complete his question, before the back of Galactus' hand slams into him, and sends him flying into the distance.

WHAM.

Another punch from Terrax, which would break Krillin's nose if he had one.

WHAM.

Another one, which loosens his last baby teeth. A mixed blessing.

Krillin has lost count of the number of times Terrax has bashed him in the face with his fists, multiple bruises already evident.

A hammer blow to his head causes the light-headed Krillin to bounce off the ground, floating up…

And a ripping fart bursts directly into Terrax's face, causing the Herald to stumble back, swearing.

"Ah…oo…That's the burrito from last night," Krillin groans, "Say…what's your boss doing, anyway?"

"The Master feeds of life energy," Terrax responds, "He drains it from worlds to satiate his hunger."

"Ah…huh? Life energy?" Krillin asks, snapping out of his punch-drunk stupor, "Say…that gives me an idea!"

"Really? Then I can pick your brain," Terrax says, and summons his axe, "After I remove it from your skull, of course."

Terrax grins as only a sadist like him can, advancing on the scrambling back midget…

And screaming, Goku completes his forced lap of the world, slamming into Terrax like an orange and blue meteor and knocking the herald unconscious.

Taking a moment to deal with the horrible, horrible pain in his body, Goku sits up, falling directly out of Super Saiyan 3 form and into his normal, black haired form.

"I think I underestimated him," he says.

"You THINK?!" Krillin yells, "Goku, I am not tagging along with you on these trips again! Whenever you want to hang out next, we're going bowling and that's final!"

Krillin helps his first off the unconscious Terrax, giving the rocky herald a kick to the face for good measure.

"Got any energy left?"

"Enough to go another round," Goku snarls.

His aura flares, his hair straightens and bleaches as he goes Super Saiyan…and Krillin holds him down.

"Whoa! Whoa there! Non-monkey talking, and I have a plan that doesn't make you miss out on Goten's puberty years!"

The cogs in Goku's brain, often used in battle seldom outside of it, begin to turn. He shrugs off Krillin turns to him, and folds his arms in a pose almost completely ripped off from Piccolo.

"What's your plan?"

Nova has revived herself and is currently fluttering around Galactus like Tinkerbell around Peter Pan after a growth spurt.

"I am so embarrassed," she says, "I can't believe I got beaten by a mop-topped little dwarf with a light trick and a right hook."

Galactus, on the other hand, is ignoring her. He is simply working on rebuilding his machine, making only the slightest grunts in reaction to Nova's ranting.

"And you're no help either," she snaps, turning to him, "It's always 'The Hunger is satiated' this or 'The Hunger grows' that. You can never say, 'Good job, Nova,' or 'Nice work, Nova,' or anything that's actually productive towards the whole employee/employer relationship. I've read this in employee manuals. Even the lowest part time retail jobs have some bosses who congratulate their workers every now and then."

"Good job, Herald," Galactus rumbles.

"And that's just sarcasm! You saw that I got knocked out by that spike-haired kung fu fighter's little friend!"

On cue, Krillin flies towards them, holding up his hands as Nova holds a hand out at him like a cannon.

"Whoa! Whoa! I'm not here for a rematch!"

"Make a move and I'll beat you like a bondage midget," Nova says.

"Hey, I'm married to someone far more violent than you. I am not scared…but you might want to look up."

Nova looks up, never taking her hand from Krillin…and her jaw opens wide agape, her eyes widening in shock…and she sees a giant sphere of pulsating white energy hovering above.

"Oh…boy. Master…"

"It's called a Spirit Bomb," Krillin says, "It's borrowed life energy. A lot of it."

Nova turns back to Krillin, who shrugs with a small grin.

"I figured, hey, if he feeds on life energy, let's give it to him. Goku, let'er rip!"

On the ground nearby, hands high in the air, Goku growls, roars…and brings his hands down. The sphere ripples from the sudden force upon it, descending towards the Devourer of Worlds…

And sensing the power within, Galactus raises his hand, touching the sphere…and he begins to glow white.

"What the HFIL is happening," Krillin asks, shielding his eyes.

Nova gives off a slight grin, averting her gaze.

"Galactus is feeding."

The surface of the planet glows, a pillar of light shooting straight up…and when the light clears, the Genki Dama is gone, and Galactus stands alone.

"The Hunger is Satiated," he says, "We will leave. Herald."

Galactus gestures, and the three unconscious Heralds are transported back into the ship. The machine disassembles, rising with the titan into the sky, into his waiting craft. And Nova turns to Krillin as Goku rejoins him in the air.

"That's his way of saying thanks," she says, "See you around."

A plume of flame her trail, she joins her master, and the ship soon departs.

And Goku sighs, slumping his shoulders.

"I still wanted to beat him off," he whines.

"You need a hobby," Krillin responds, "You really do. Can we go home now?"

Goku sighs, placing his hand on his best friend's shoulder, placing his two fingers on his forehead, and they flicker before disappearing and transporting back to Earth.