Chapter Twenty-One, Part One

"Better! You've grown these past five years," Etrigan blacked Dan's fist with his own, a vicious grin on his face. He bent backward, face drawn under Goku's extended leg. "A bit more effort, and I'll be in tears!"

Dan drew in a steady breath, Ki wrapped around his cells like a mighty wall. Even with Goku's help, the Demon still battled with a sense of lazy indifference. His gains over the years hadn't been small, but they weren't enough. He was close to the level of the first Superman. Bullets, even blaster fire, was slow to his eyes, and tall buildings held no challenges.

"Come on Goku," Dan shifted to place Etrigan between the two of them. "We're getting closer, let's wipe his smug grin with the dirt!"

Goku gave a determined nod, fists raised in a guard as he danced on the tips of his toes. The Saiyan stood a head taller than Dan, the freakish growth rate of a Saiyan. He was already at his peak of five foot nine, but Dan would overtake him eventually. A press of his muscles brought him to the Demon's face, eyes lit with blue flame.

"The same trick can't work twice," Etrigan sneered, a layer of grey fire placed between him and Dan's heat-vision. "And this one carries too great a sacrifice…"

Dan silenced his vision and lashed out with a kick. The Demon was right, even reinforced with Ki, his heat-vision was a waste of power. Etrigan smacked aside Dan's leg, his other hand wrapped around Goku's face.

"A lesson then, a taste to push you to reach higher," Etrigan vanished and a roar flowed for Dan's spider sense, a warning that he should run. "I'll fill your lazy heart with the taste of sulphur and wildfire!"

Blood thundered in his veins as Dan pushed his speed well beyond the sound barrier. He twisted, pressed against the resistant air as he tracked the Demon with his eyes. Etrigan strolled, a casual blur that circled him like a shark. A tint of red filled Dan's vision, anger at his continued, frequent defeats at the Demon's hands.

THUMP… THUMP… THUMP…

Dan's heartbeat consumed his ears, a drum that crashed against the sounds of the world. An upswell of force surged past his heart to wrap around his skin. Light as the wind. Every cell in his body raised its voice in a chorus of joyful praise.

Dan trailed his fingers through the air, an energy field between him and the resistant atmosphere. Eitrigan closed from the corner of his vision, slower than before. Dan pushed forward, free of the burden of resistance, focused on the Demon's movements.

Each step came with greater smoothness, until his fist loomed before Etrigan's startled face. The crack of a mountain, Dan's knuckles found the Demon's cheek for the first time. Sweet revenge for countless beatings. Space snapped and sound returned with a rush of wind. A deep growl echoed from behind his fist, Etrigan's cold laugh in brittle air.

"Grand! A fantastic change of pace," the Demon's voice chilled the air, a rim of frost that spread to the surroundings. "Come close, so I can offer a warm embrace…"

An impossible blur brought Etrigan's heel in contact with Dan's breastbone, a straight kick that forced the air from his lungs. Carried on a shockwave of force, Dan skipped along the colosseum floor. Breath stolen, he gasped to the skies, a smirk on his exhausted face.

"I… still… got… you!" Dan forced the words out between heaves of air as Goku helped him to his feet. The lightness in his body remained, a buoyant wave that was ready to lift him off his feet. "Your victory record is no longer flawless, Etrigan!"

"Fair is fair," The Demon shrugged, a wry smile on his fanged mouth. He rotated his neck to loosen the battered muscles. "But If I were you, I'd beware!" Etrigan waved to the Saiyan at Dan's side. "That monkey won't help save you from our next match's despair."

Dan rolled his eyes as he examined himself. The weird sensation was still with him, a buzz over his skin. It flowed and moved with his body, a natural extension, like another pair of hands. He stilled his Ki, focused on the newfound energy. It buoyed him up, an arm of support that cradled every cell.

"Finally," Dan's words slipped past his lips as his feet raised from the crystal floor of Etrigan's colosseum. Five years under Garnib's sun. Five years of waiting for this power to awaken. "The bioelectric field…"

"It's time for lunch," Goku pulled at Dan's foot and sent him on a bob through the air. "Let's go or we'll be late!"

"You're still too focused on food," Dan shooed the Saiyan's hand away with both feet. This Goku had grown up more intelligent than his anime counterpart - Dan planned to make a study of it - but he was still obsessed with his daily meals. "I can tell you right now, you're already done growing!"

"I just like a regular schedule, that's all," Goku sighed as he rubbed his belly. "You know that Valor makes me twice as hungry…" A shift of yellow-black rolled through the Saiyan's training clothes, the ripple of his symbiote. "All he thinks about is chocolate."

"Fine-fine," Dan laughed as he brought himself to the ground, still affected by the euphoria of his new breakthrough. The bioelectric field would magnify his strength by a wide margin. "Let's go pick up May and have a special feast, a celebration for our first blow against the Demon!"

He let Goku lead the way, body on auto-pilot as he focused on the field that filled and surrounded him. It connected the power within his cells into a unified matrix, a collection of the potential force within them. The birth of the field changed everything. He could now live on sunlight alone, sustained by the energy transfer of this natural aura. It supplemented his every action, magnified his attacks and softened his movements.

Light on his feet, Dan followed Goku toward the mess hall, mind wrapped in dreams of flight through the void. Utron was finished with the micro phantom drives, and now his natural space suit had appeared. Just in time, as the blockade of Naboo would take place in less than a month and the genesis Kryptonians would be born in just over two.

"I wonder if I've got time to explore…"