Ch. 67: Gohan Vs Nappa

"Just you try!" Gohan shouted back at Nappa, goading him. Gohan's Saiyan instincts were singing for the first time in his life. He was angry and it was fun. He charged at Nappa, intent on driving his fists right into the older Saiyan's face, but unexpectedly, Nappa disappeared from right in front of him. 

"You're just a child, pretending to be a warrior." Gohan heard the voice beside him, but he couldn't dodge in time. "BANG!" A terrifyingly powerful, cone crushing blow hit him right in the back, throwing Gohan so deep into the ground that the bottom of the crater couldn't be seen. "Stay down if you know what's good for you. You can also run away, you know!" Nappa shouted into the crater, sensing that Gohan was still alive.

Deep down in the depths of Namek, Gohan heard Nappa's warning. His entire boy hurt. That one blow had almost shattered his spine. He could barely feel his legs at all, and he was coughing up blood. Nappa hadn't held back at all with that blow.

But Gohan didn't care. "Run away... I'm just a child... Weak... Worthless..." The words came out of Gohan's mouth unbidden. "I DON'T CAARRE ANYMORE!!!"

...

Far away, Hanna and Piccolo were flying to Guru's when they felt a chill go down their spines. A moment later, the planet started to shake. "Gohan..." The word came unbidden to their lips at the same time. They stopped for a moment, looking at something far away, that they couldn't see.

...

"Hmm?" Frieza was inside his spaceship, sipping on a glass of wine while he waited for Zarbon's report when he noticed the liquid in the glass start to shake. Then, the glass exploded in his hand. "Ohh...? So, Vegeta's come out to play? I suppose I should begin searching for a new Zarbon." He mistakenly thought aloud. "What a pain."

...

"That power..." Vegeta looked back at the source of the sudden burst of power that he sensed, "It's... stronger than me... Nappa... DAMN IT!!!" He shouted, renewing his flight toward Zarbon's location, desperation adorning his face. If Nappa lost to one of Frieza's men... The mere thought coated Vegeta's mind with rage.

...

"What the?!" Nappa was shocked by the amount of power rolling out of the crater that he'd just ragdolled Gohan into. It made his skin crawl. He honestly just wanted to run and not look back, but he stood his ground as a proud Saiyan warrior. For about three seconds.

"WHOOSH BAM BAM BAM BAM TATATATA BOOM!" Exploding out of the crater with power and speed on a totally different level than before, Gohan unleashed a flurry of punches and kicks at the larger Saiyan, who could do nothing but sit there and take it. By the time one punch had finished, another was already landing in a flurry of terrifying power.1

Gohan ended his horrifyingly powerful combo with a kick to Nappa's back, similar to the one that Nappa had hit him with. The older Saiyan flew in a line diagonal to the ground, before hitting the ocean. After that, his body skipped a little ways before stopping with a "plop!"

"Hah, hah, hah." As quickly as the power had come, it left Gohan, leaving him exhausted, but "I did it!" He shouted to the heavens, "I beat Nappa! Take that!"

"BOOM!" As Gohan was celebrating, a powerful energy wave hit him in the back. Had he been on guard, it would have done the boy almost no damage, but exhausted and with his guard down, it was enough to render him unconscious in an instant.

...

"Did he win?" Dende asked for an update regarding Gohan's battle. Neither of us answered him for a while, but finally, Piccolo spoke.

"I can't sense either of them." He admitted, gritting his teeth, expelling a bit more power than we'd agreed he should, but I wasn't about to chide him for it.

"Gohan..." I muttered, 'Shay, is he alive?' I asked Shay to confirm. I was pretty sure he was, but not entirely, so I wanted a second opinion. 

'Yeah, but he's pretty badly injured. He beat Nappa to the brink of death, but I think one of the Namekians from the village shot him down.' She told me telepathically, sensing the goings-on surrounding my brother. That pretty much lined up with what I could tell, but I wasn't entirely sure. 

"Gohan..." Piccolo repeated, "We need to move."

"Right." I whispered, jacking my speed up a little to match his.

...

"I'm such an idiot!" Krillin exclaimed the moment that he sensed Gohan's energy going down during the fight between the boy and Nappa. Ignoring his fears, Krillin flew into the air and tried to get to Gohan, but it was too late. By the time he made it, Gohan was being shot down from behind by a Namekian. "Maybe we're both idiots... What's a Namekian doing shooting at Gohan?" Krillin shook his head, "It doesn't matter. They won't kill him, which means..." Krillin ran to the water's edge as fast as he could. 

"DESTRUCTO DISK!" He generated a wheel of concentrated ki above his hand, aiming it directly at the large Saiyan warrior slowly pulling himself out of the water with difficulty.

"WAIT wait wait! Don't shoot, don't shoot!" Nappa shouted upon seeing Krillin aiming a wheel of death at him.

"And why shouldn't I?" Krillin asked, "You attacked Earth. You attacked Namek, and you almost killed Gohan! Give me one reason why I shouldn't kill you right now!?"

"Because I'm protecting this village! The brat attacked me!"

Krillin's hand lowered a bit. "What do you mean, protecting?"

"Exactly as it sounds. I don't even care whether or not I end up with the Dragon Ball anymore, as long as Frieza doesn't end up with it. I just want to do the right thing for once in my life." Nappa told Krillin. Krillin looked him in the eye. His eyes widened when he realized that the brutish Saiyan was being serious. 

He let his Destructo Disk dissipate, "I actually... believe you." He told Nappa, stretching out his hand.

"Thank you." Nappa grabbed it.