Ch. 66: Battle for the Ball

"Huh?" Nappa narrowed his eyes, noticing Gohan's power surge. "It's heading right for this village."

"What is, Mr. Nappa?" One of the older Namekians asked him as they tended to the plant beside him. 

That's right, Nappa was working in the fields with the Namekian warriors. Even though he was only paying about half as much attention to the work as the others, so that he could keep a sharp eye out for power signatures coming towards the village, he was still pulling his weight and more. As a result, quite a few of the Namekians working beside him had taken to calling him Mr. Nappa, as a sign that he'd earned their respect. Not all of them did this, since there were still those who didn't trust the Saiyan, but in a little more than an hour, he'd already made great strides toward earning it.

"A power level... and a pretty strong one, too. Doesn't feel like anyone I know, but maybe Frieza hired some new muscle while we were on Earth." Nappa thought aloud.

"Does that mean...?" Rise, who was working nearby, was going to ask if Nappa was going to leave, but he faltered, and Nappa used the opportunity to snort.

"I'm still a good amount stronger than whoever this is. Don't worry, I'll protect your village." As far as Nappa knew, there were only three beings at present on the planet stronger than him. Vegeta, Zarbon, and Frieza. Gohan's power level was much higher than it'd been back on Earth, thanks to the Gravity chamber in the spaceship that they'd taken, but it still barely broke 10,000. Far stronger than the previous Nappa, but Nappa's current power level rested at a good 15,000, so he wasn't exactly worried. He still flew away from the village towards the power signature, stopping once he was far enough away from the village to not get it caught in the crossfire of the upcoming fight, but not so far that he'd be unable to detect Frieza's goons should any come by while he was dealing with this one.

"Wait... That's Kakarot's boy! The one that didn't fight back on Earth! How'd he get so strong!?" Nappa reeled in shock. "He can't be with Frieza! Maybe I can talk to him!" He realized, but that idea quickly died.

"Nappa! I don't know what you're planning, but I won't let you terrorize these people the same way you tried to terrorize Earth! Your evil plans end here!" Gohan shouted, "MASENKO... HAA!" He immediately attacked the bigger Saiyan without giving him much any chance to talk. Nappa raised his arms to defend against the attack, shocked by the bloodlust the kid was exhuming. He seemed like a totally different person than the scared little kid he barely remembered back on Earth.

"Kid, what are you talking about?! Can't you tell, none of these Namekians have been harmed in any way!" Nappa shouted back at Gohan, annoyed.

"How could I possibly trust the likes of you!? HA HA HA HA HA!" Gohan shot a volley of energy balls at Nappa as he talked.

"Fine! If you won't listen to reason, I'll have to MAKE YOU! RAAH!" Nappa shouted so loudly that Gohan's eardrums popped, a wave of energy coming from his mouth and obliterating all of Gohan's energy orbs easily. Then, the older warrior flew in close, pounding Gohan towards the ground before the kid could react. "You may have gotten pretty strong since Earth... stronger than I thought was possible, in fact, but you still don't stand a chance against me!" Nappa gloated at the dusty crater that Gohan was now lying in.

"That's not true! Piccolo told me... That I'm STRONG!!!! AAHHH!!!" Gohan's power exploded again, jumping to greater heights than before. He recklessly charged back into the skies, punching and kicking in a flurry.

"I don't know what your deal is, kid, but your fighting style is sloppy at best. Am I even the opponent that you're trying to fight?" Nappa sighed, evading or blocking every single one of the younger boy's blows with almost no effort. "Alright, kid. Calm down!" Nappa enunciated his point with a knee to Gohan's ribs, putting the kid through another mountain.

"AARGH!!" Gohan shot back out of the mountain with an almost crazed force. He was hitting his stride, his full power shooting out of every pore. It wasn't anything against the likes of Nappa, true, but Gohan was still monstrously powerful in his own right. It would take Nappa all of his power to put the boy down, and he still wasn't entirely certain that he'd be able to do it without killing the kid, so he was holding back. This was a mistake on Nappa's part.

 "BOOM!" With an earth-shattering force, Gohan and Nappa's fists met in midair, causing the very planet underneath them to shake a little bit. "HAAH!" Nappa shouts, shooting at Gohan with his eye beams.

"Piccolo uses that all the time!" Gohan shouted back, easily avoiding the lasers "Take this!" Gohan put his hands above his head again "MASENKO HAA!"

"You're already running out of tricks, kid!" With a punch, Nappa brushed the energy wave aside easily, but Gohan had only used it as a distraction. 

"I'VE GOT YOU NOW!" Gohan shouted. He'd followed the Masenko all the way to Nappa, using it as a cover. Since the larger Saiyan was off balance from batting it aside, Gohan used the opening to land a strong kick to Nappa's gut

"Bwah!" Nappa shouted, crashing right through the ground at an angle, hitting the ocean through the crater with a loud "Splash!" 

"Oh ho ho. You're gonna get it now, kid!" Nappa said, rising from the water slowly, spitting saltwater out of his mouth. "No more holding back. I'm gonna pound you into the ground." He told Gohan, mentally shifting into fighting gear. In his eyes, that kick had just elevated Gohan from a whining child, to a real threat, and he was going to deal with him accordingly.

"Just you try!" Gohan goaded.