(Several weeks later)
(Mount Paozu)
Standing on the grass side by side with their eyes glued on the skies above them, Zangya, Piccolo, Lime and Icarus looked on intently as Gohan's latest training session unfolded at a rapidly escalating pace. It wasn't just due to the fact he was starting to use some more impressive maneuvers, but the other two he was currently having it out with were now trying even harder to shoot him out of the sky.
Zipping around as nothing more than three indiscernible blurs, the demi-Saiyan, along with a slightly scolded Videl and an equally bruised up Goten, could be seen exchanging blows at an incredibly high speed. With the sounds of wind cracking and gun shots ringing out across the countryside, there was nothing about this scenario that said they weren't working themselves into the dirt.
Elegantly dancing across the heavens, Videl reappeared out of super speed diving foot first towards an empty space in the sky, where Gohan's form suddenly blurred into view. Grinning all the while, the half-Saiyan parried her flying side kick and countered with a right hook, driving the girl away and forcing her into a retreat. Almost instantly after the failed attack, Goten came in from the side attempting to hit the older boy while his guard was down. However, just like with Videl, the teen managed to avoid the child's hit and retaliated with a swift body shot, knocking the wind out of his airborne brother before kicking him away.
Spinning through the air, the child quickly slowed and stopped in his tracks, teeth bared and fists clenched. "Ah. That didn't work."
"You've finally gotten the hang of flying, Goten. Well done," Gohan exclaimed, soaring backwards as he set his eyes on his winded sibling. "Don't stop now. You're doing well."
Grinning at the boy's encouragement, the spiky haired child in the long sleeved orange and blue gi threw his hands forward, "Okay! HA!" With a mighty yell of effort, the demi-Saiyan unleashed a powerful golden beam straight towards the teenager.
Smirk forming, Gohan slipped to the side and avoided it, allowing the attack to streak past him. The second he did, he then flew off to the right as fast as he could and dodged an orange blast from his five o'clock, which came from Videl attacking from below. In a matter of moments, the entire sky became filled with golden and orange beams of light as Gohan's two opponents began firing ki attacks at him one after the other.
Like a gratuitous fireworks display, the entire countryside became filled with chains of explosions and blinding flashes of light. One would quickly mistake this to be some sort of concert out in the middle of nowhere. However, at the very heart of this strange anomaly, it was simply two powerful martial artists trying to catch their even more powerful opponent and knock him out of the clouds.
The display of sheer speed and skill impressed both Piccolo and Zangya, and filled Lime's eyes with a sense of awe as she watched the group battle it out in midair.
"That's incredible," the brown haired girl in jean shorts and yellow T-shirt whispered, eyes darting left and right and taking in the performance for all it was worth. "No matter how fast they move, they just can't seem to catch him."
Zangya smiled in response, at the same time Icarus purred happily, "Give it a minute."
After several moments of nothing but watching beams of light and explosions streak across the heavens, Videl and Goten eventually reappeared out of their light speed states of travel, followed closely by Gohan. As soon as their forms faded into view, the dynamic duo took immediate action and focused all of their efforts upon their target.
Grabbing her wrist and throwing her hand forward, Videl unleashed a powerful purple blast towards the boy, at the exact same time Goten cupped his hands beside him and unleashed aKamehameha wave in the exact same direction. The simultaneous attacks bathed the teenager in a bright light as the lances of energy approached, intent on taking him out in one go. However, just when they were about to hit the perfectly still boy hovering casually in their flight path, he suddenly vanished in a flicker of movement, stunning his opponents.
Videl and Goten's attacks collided with earsplitting force and an earthshaking explosion, filling the sky with fire and smoke. The colliding attacks obstructed the pair's view momentarily, prompting them to shield their faces until the flaring lights started to dissipate. When they looked back, they gritted their teeth in frustration when they saw the results for themselves.
"He's gone," Goten exclaimed, looking around in shock. "Where did he go?"
As it turns out, his teammate was almost as lost as he was, "I don't…" However, upon stretching out her senses and combing the area a little more thoroughly, the girl with the pigtails suddenly gasped in surprise and slipped to the side. "THERE!" Avoiding a series of blurs that shot past and cut her cheek, Videl threw a right straight, her knuckles grazing something in the air ahead of her and drawing a spurt of blood.
The moment her punch became fully extended, Gohan emerged out of his super speed movement directly in front of her with a surprised expression in play, which shortly transformed into a smug one.
When Goten looked over to see what'd happened to Videl, the youngster saw both her and his big brother floating with their fists extended over the other's shoulder and gazes locked firmly on their respective targets. Having obviously exchanged a cross counter with the half-Saiyan, the female fighter fixed the teen with a sly grin while Gohan threw one right back at her.
Their unexpected face-off had Piccolo blink in surprise, "She's gotten better… much better."
"Yeah," Zangya murmured, also putting on a smile. "Last time she couldn't keep up with that kind of speed. But it looks like Gohan's been taking her in for some extra training sessions in the gravity room."
In other words, after five years of training, Videl was finally starting to close the gap.
At first perplexed by the pair's exchange, Goten then balked in shock when he saw the pair vanish into thin air and the sounds of rapid gunfire suddenly fill the skies. Along with a chorus of grunts and shouts, the youngster saw the pair reemerge ten stories above him locked in a fierce exchange of blows. Their attacks flying at each other in a blur of countless motions, the pair then vanished and reappeared several hundred yards away, continuing to trade blows and pour on the pressure. In a matter of moments, their super human battle became a continuous, ongoing process, as the two fighters darted about the sky locked in intense combat and traded hit after hit at blinding speeds.
Eyes looking around in disbelief, Goten tried to follow them, but found that task to be extremely difficult. "Wow. They're moving so fast I can't even see them." Focusing his senses, the child spent the next minute attempting to get a bead on the pair's positions. After several more seconds of hearing nothing but grunting and powerful attacks impacting over and over, the child finally spotted them and grinned. "Busted!" With a loud battle cry, the hybrid shot up into the sky and, upon gaining enough speed, threw a flying side kick.
The second his momentum stopped he saw Gohan and Videl reappear, both of them looking down at him in surprise while the former had to lean back to avoid being hit by his brother's sole.
As soon as the two older fighters emerged out of thin air, Goten lunged at his older brother and began unleashing an onslaught of lightning fast attacks on him. Yelling out with every blow, the youngster began forcing Gohan into a slow retreat of ducking, weaving and slipping around his fists and kicks.
Upon realizing what was happened, a big smile appeared on Videl's face. "Heh. Look at him go." If nothing else, Goten sure was a determined little sprite.
Attempting to put on the pressure, the young demi-Saiyan increased the speed of his assault. But just when it seemed like he was getting somewhere, Gohan's hand suddenly shot up, caught his fist, and locked him up, stopping him dead.
A chuckle escaped the teen's lips as the demi-Saiyan grinned at his younger brother. "Hey, squirt. You're way too slow." The older fighter then lightly kneed the kid in the stomach before smacking the child out of the sky, sending him plummeting to the hills below.
However, just several stories later, Goten managed to stop his descent and flipped back into a proper, upright position. As soon as his momentum ceased, the youngster flew back up after his opponent, bringing proud looks to Piccolo, Zangya, and Lime's faces.
"Yeah! Go Goten!" the brown haired girl cheered ecstatically, a chant which was immediately matched by an encouraging shriek from Icarus.
This sparring match between the three young fighters lasted for quite a while after that. But just like all great sessions, the hour soon came to an end and both Videl and Goten were swapped out for another pair of challengers. The two aliens watching from the sidelines took to the stage shortly after the young duo stepped down, allowing both them and their half-Saiyan friend to get a workout into their day. In a matter of seconds, the sky once again became filled with explosions and sonic blasts as shockwaves rippled all across the countryside.
When the audience stepped back and took up positions on the grass, the youngsters were soon given a full scope of the capabilities of earth's mightiest defenders. Videl, Lime and Goten were unable to peel their eyes away as the adults of their group battled it out across the heavens and rained hell down upon one another.
Appearing out of super speed, Gohan swung down with a hammer blow and struck Piccolo in the back, sending the Namekian plummeting out of the sky and towards the ground. But when he was only several feet away from hitting the earth, the green-skinned warrior righted himself and, landing against the grass in a crouched position, rocketed up into the sky and flew right back at his opponent, who was forced to block a spin kick from behind thrown by his other opponent.
Zangya growled when her attack was thwarted and swung in with a hook, only for Gohan to parry it and retaliate with a kick straight into her chin, which knocked her spinning in the opposite direction. As soon as he'd dealt with her, he turned to face the fast-approaching Piccolo, who managed to catch him with his guard down and smacked him across the face with a hook. The blow sending blood flying from the youngster's mouth, the demi-Saiyan used the momentum gained from the hit to spin around and slam a kick into the Namekian's head, only to see him block it. As soon as the force was absorbed, his mentor dove in with an onslaught of attacks.
Managing to weave around and deflect most of the blows, Gohan landed two straight punches into his instructor's face before receiving a kick in return, which he quickly countered. His occupation with the Namekian left him wide open, as Zangya suddenly came up from below with a jumping knee into his stomach. As soon as she smacked the boy into the air, she performed a quick forward flip and dropped an axe kick right into his back, sending him plummeting to the ground with a deafening shockwave.
The teen slammed into the grassy hillside in an explosion of smoke and dust. The moment he crash-landed, Zangya and Piccolo threw their hands back and pitched them forward unleashing two powerful beams that separated the cloud and collided with the crater Gohan had formed. The attacks detonated with colossal force, shaking the entire region and stunning the audience. Lime actually had to hang on to Icarus to stop from being shaken off her feet.
"Whoa! Intense," the farm girl remarked.
"You got that right," Videl agreed, looking on with a startled look of her own in play.
When it seemed like Piccolo and Zangya had managed to finally down their stubborn adversary for good, a second explosion from below cleared the cloud of smoke and revealed Gohan standing there covered in bruises.
As soon as the teen emerged from the rubble, Zangya grinned and disappeared in a blur along with her partner. Reappearing close to the ground, the orange haired woman turned in mid flight and flew at the boy feet first. But just when it seemed like she was about to hit, the teen leapt over her and flew into the air, retreating as Piccolo remerged not too far away and lobbed an orange ball of ki his way.
Avoiding it using super speed, Gohan quickly gained altitude. Upon suspending himself in the sky above the valley, he threw his arms and legs out and powered up, his golden aura exploding off of him as he jumped straight to Super Saiyan.
"Come on!" the half-Saiyan shouted.
His opponents were undeterred.
Powering up as well to match the boy's level, Piccolo rocketed up at his student and greeted him with a wide hook, an attack that was quickly matched by a punch from the golden warrior. In an instant, the pair's fists and legs collided with one another again and again as they traded mountain-leveling shots at high speed. But after several seconds of exchanging hits, the demi-Saiyan proved to be far too much for his mentor and managed to slip one of the Namekian's kicks and elbowed him in the head. The blow connected with tremendous force and sent the green fighter plummeting out of the sky.
Zangya, teleporting behind Gohan in a full-powered state, attempted to blindside him with a blow. But the teen, quick as ever, managed to avoid it and catch her arm. Both snarling under the strain of the lock, the Hera then leapt at him with a kick, only for the hybrid fighter to block it and knee her in the stomach with a yell of effort. The impact creating a deafening shockwave and causing Zangya to spit up blood, the half-Saiyan then used his advantage to spin the woman around a few times before tossing her towards the ground.
The orange haired fighter fell for several stories, only to stop just a couple of feet off the ground and land on her toes. Wiping blood out of the corner of her mouth, the woman smirked towards her opponent when he descended back to ground zero, at about the same time Piccolo managed to stagger to his feet as well.
The three squared off once again. But just when it seemed like they were going to restart the fray from scratch, Zangya spoke up.
"Why don't we make this a little more interesting?" the Hera asked, drawing Gohan and Piccolo's attentions. When their eyes fell upon her, they saw the young girl rise up to full height and clench her fists tightly at her sides. "I've been saving this move for a special occasion, but I think now is as good a time as any to show you."
At first confused by what she was saying, the two warriors soon found out why Zangya was acting so confident as her ki suddenly started climbing at an alarming rate.
Tensing up and gathering energy, the woman's green aura exploded around her like wildfire, causing the ground around her to crack and tremble. A growl escaping her clenched jaw, the Hera spent the next several seconds focusing her power and allowing it to build. Then, as soon as she reached the barrier preventing her from powering up any further, the woman broke it with a mighty yell and a deafening howl. In a series of sonic explosions, Zangya threw her arms up and outwards, her aura intensifying several times over when her skin flashed green and her hair turned blood red. Her muscles also becoming more defined with her power up, the woman practically shredded the purple shawl she was wearing and disintegrated it on the wind, stunning her audience.
Causing a gust of wind to blast outwards in all directions, Gohan and everybody else looked back to see the woman smile in their direction.
"It took a while, but I finally managed to get it. My race's Super Hera transformation… a technique known only to a handful of my people," Zangya spoke, her voice calm despite the now enormous level of energy she was producing. Just standing next to the woman had Piccolo sweating, whereas Videl and Goten, both of whom were positioned several yards away, gawked in disbelief. "So… what do you think?"
At first astonished at his friend's sudden transformation, Gohan's look quickly calmed and an excited smile pulled across his lips. "I think I've found myself a new playmate," he said, gaze flickering mischievously. With a grunt of effort, the demi-Saiyan wasted no time and transformed as well. Hair spiking up even more, leaving only a single bang hanging in front of his forehead, the tempest of Gohan's aura increased dramatically and electricity began to crackle around him in a squall. Upon ascending to the next level, the teen smirked confidently, "Let's dance."
The sight of her roommate assuming his Super Saiyan 2 form had Zangya's full and undivided attention. A grin of excitement appeared on her face.
"This is going to be fun."
=============================
If you want to support me and also access 30 advance chapters, join my patreon with the link patreon.com/EddyHazArd
Or just search "EddyHazArd" in the patreon searcher.