Ch. 101: Gohan Uses the Kaio-ken (2)

"RAAHHHH!! HANNA!!!! WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY SISTER?!!" Gohan shouted as energy literally exploded out of him. His power level blew past the cap I'd put on it, stopping at around 70,000. 

But since he was terrible at using the technique, this extra power was like a double-edged sword. His skin was literally turning red as the muscle fibers beneath it ripped themselves apart under the strain of the wild energy coursing throughout his body, uncontrolled. He wouldn't last long in that state.

"Gohan! No!" Krillin shouted, realizing the same thing as me. Gohan was probably going to kill himself here. But Gohan was far too enraged to listen. He was like a wild animal. 

The ground around him cratered, and Krillin and Nappa were blown away by the force as Gohan launched himself at Ginyu with every fiber of his being focused on one thing. 'He Hurt My Sister.' 

"Whoa! What the!?" Ginyu exclaimed in surprise. But he still managed to dodge Gohan's fist as it flew towards his face. Unlike my power-up, Gohan's had been slower, and more explosive. Ginyu had only been a little surprised by it.

'He's strong. Scary strong, in fact. I'm needing to use almost everything I have just to dodge him. But he's not a threat if he's just flailing around like this.' Ginyu thought to himself. But the fact was, he could dodge Gohan. With fair ease. He didn't need to parry a single blow, because his technique was far above Gohan's sloppy punches. It was like a child trying to fight an adult, which it technically was. 

Krillin realized it too. Gohan was just burning himself out, getting nowhere with his desperate struggle. "Gohan! Stop! You're not gonna hurt him that way!" Krillin shouted, trying to make Gohan see reason. It was no use. All Gohan was seeing was red.

Unfortunately, Krillin proved to be right. The longer Gohan's futile offensive lasted, the shorter his breaths became, and the less energy Ginyu was using to dodge him. "Nice power, but you need a lot more technique, kid. Flailing around like that isn't going to do anything!" Ginyu shouted, kicking Gohan with bone crushing force. 

"AGH-" Gohan screamed as he flew through the air, but his scream was interrupted when Ginyu suddenly appeared where he was flying. By then, the Kaio-ken aura around Gohan's body had completely faded, and Gohan's body was suffering intensely from the kickback. He could barely move, but Ginyu had no mercy.

"Let go of me!" Gohan barely managed to squeak out. His hands flailed, trying to claw at the hand that Ginyu was using to pick him up by his neck, but he was totally spent.

"Gohan!" Krillin couldn't just stand around and watch this anymore. He jumped into action, done holding anything back. With marginally more control than Gohan, he activated his own Kaio-ken, increasing his power by a rough increment of 1.5, but placing a strain on his body only marginally lighter than the one Gohan had dealt with. 

Since he had more control and experience than Gohan, Krillin could tell that his body wasn't going to stand up to the strain that the Kaio-ken exerted on it for long. But it'd be enough for a single attack. Unfortunately, Krillin couldn't push his power level up any higher than around 40,000, even with the Kaio-ken's amplification. His strength was nothing compared to Gohan's. Nothing compared to Ginyu's, either.

Fortunately for Krillin, he had two things that Gohan didn't.

Experience.

And Nappa.

Rushing in as quickly as he could for an attack against Ginyu forced the Captain to toss Gohan's body through the air like a discarded ragdoll in order to counter. But just as Krillin got within reach of Ginyu's counterattack, an energy attack hit Ginyu from the side.

"Ah! Nappa!" Ginyu exclaimed, more exasperated than anything else as he swatted away the smoke created around him by Nappa's blast. But Nappa had only thrown that energy ball at Ginyu as a distraction.

"Destructo-Disk!" Krillin threw his signature cutting energy disk at Ginyu while he was blinded by the smoke. 

With his vast amounts of battle experience, Ginyu could feel something coming, even if he couldn't feel the energy itself in the air. Barely ducking out of the way as the Destructo-Disk passed by, Ginyu turned his head and watched as the disk clean-cut the tip of a nearby mountain.

"Whoo!" Ginyu whistled, "Now that's an attack. That'd have left a mark if it'd hit me, for sure." He raised his arm. "You know, I've got a better one."

"Watch out!" Nappa rushed to cover Gohan as Ginyu let out a wave of pure energy from his palm. In one single attack, Krillin and Nappa were both charred to the brink of death. Falling to his knees, Nappa managed to lift his hand and point towards Ginyu.

"Leave... the others... alone." With the last of his energy, Nappa launched his signature attack in a desperate last stand. The ground beneath Ginyu exploded underneath him. Losing consciousness on the spot, not even seeing if the attack worked, Nappa dropped the rest of the way to the ground, his face landing right in the dirt.

"Nappa, protecting others?" Ginyu wondered aloud after the explosion cleared. He was now floating in place, the ground beneath him having disappeared in the wake of Nappa's attack. "Never thought that meathead had that much fight in him. Damn Saiyans. Frieza was right to wipe out the lot of em'." He muttered to himself, sparing a glance at Nappa's body, fallen in front of Gohan, who still breathed, if only barely. "Still, impressive. Futile, but impressive. I'll let them die here, slowly, as a 'gift.'" Ginyu decided, watching Gohan's chest rise and fall.

It was getting shallower by the minute. Ginyu's kick had completely shattered the boy's ribs, and some of the fragments had clearly pierced the boy's lungs. As for the other three, they were either charred to a crisp, or me, with a hole in my chest.

"That's right, Cap'n! You gave em' the what for, all right!" Jeice called out, seeing that Ginyu had dealt with all four of the powerful opponents that he and the others had trouble with.