DRAGONBALL Z:
PERSONAL DEMONS
By: L. Curtis Totty
"The time has come for you to rest. You have spent quite a while in the Environment Digitizer. Your training will continue tomorrow. You will eat and rest."
The next morning soon arrived, and Son Gokou waited in front of the entrance to the Environment Digitizer for Pei to arrive. He was eager to get back to the Storm Dragon.
"We’re not fighting the Storm Dragon today," said Pei, when she arrived.
"How come?" asked Gokou.
"I’m going to let you go on with something a little easier today…" said Pei.
"No way," said Gokou. "I’m going to go after the Storm Dragon until I beat him! Then I’ll go after him in real life, too!"
"You’re talking crazy!" said Pei.
"We will allow Gokou to fight whomever he pleases."
"You can’t!" said Pei.
"I’ve got to train as hard as I can…" said Gokou. Suddenly, he smirked. "Unless, of course, you're scared, Pei…"
"Fine," said Pei. "Let’s get going…"
The Environment Digitizer’s door opened, and Gokou and Pei walked inside the large room. They waited for a moment. Gokou used the time to begin to power up into a Super Saiyajin. However, he still had not mastered it, and was unable to do so before he was outside in the stormy forest.
The gravity was different this time. Instead of bearing down on him, Gokou found that the gravity was a fraction of what he was used to. He felt light. The raindrops fell slower. They were light as well. Gokou found the temperature to be a lot warmer than before; very comfortable, and the wind was very strong. With the decreased gravity, Gokou felt himself starting to get blown away. He managed to hold his footing, and looked over to see Pei.
"Ready?" yelled Gokou. Pei nodded. "You go distract him! I’ll try to power up a little and…WATCH OUT!"
Pei narrowly dodged a giant green energy blast from the Storm Dragon. She began to fly towards the beast. Gokou planted his feet firmly on the ground, and powered up.
"KAIOUHKEN x 10!"
Son Gokou powered up using the Kaiouhken energy. He could see the Storm Dragon, and saw where Pei transported herself using the Shunkanidou. Gokou decided to attack.
He took off towards the Storm Dragon, who had turned his back on Gokou to fight off Pei. He reared back his fist, and moved towards the beast’s head. The Storm Dragon could feel the immense energy from Gokou moving towards him, and turned its head around, and powered up an enormous blast from its mouth.
"Attack now, Pei!" yelled Gokou.
"ENERGY BLAST!"
Pei’s giant ball of ki energy went flying towards the Storm Dragon’s head, and exploded upon impact. The Storm Dragon’s eyes closed tightly and it screamed in pain. The energy it had been forming had dissipated, as Gokou flew towards its face, and swung his leg into its nose. The Storm Dragon’s face snapped back and Gokou plunged into the monster’s stomach. The force caused the Dragon to fall to the ground.
Gokou floated there in midair, awaiting the Storm Dragon’s next move. The Storm Dragon made several murmuring noises. Gokou continued to energize using the Kaiouhken, expecting the monster to attack again.
Suddenly, it was gone.
"What?" asked Gokou. "Great, it can move at super-high speeds!"
"Behind you!" cried Pei.
Gokou whipped his head around, and saw the Storm Dragon, floating high above the very thunderclouds it had made. Gokou rocketed into the sky, trying to get a fix on the monster’s ki, but it changed rapidly all the time. Gokou flew towards the clouds, and soon rose above them. He looked to where he saw the Storm Dragon last, but it was hiding in the clouds just beneath him. Gokou turned around just in time to see the Storm Dragon’s wing’s enormous, glowing spines swinging towards him.
"KAIOUHKEN x 30!"
Gokou flew out of the way just in time. He changed course and was soon driving his enormous fist into the Storm Dragon’s stomach. It roared with ferocity and swatted Gokou down to the ground.
Gokou slowly rose to his feet and saw the monster powering up its energy in its mouth. The beast’s head reared back as it charged up and it spat the blast right down at Gokou.
His hands flew towards the sky, and the beam came crashing down on Gokou, as he struggled to keep from falling under the brunt of the attack.
"KAIOUHKEN x 50!"
The monster’s blast was not powerful enough to keep Gokou down much longer. As Gokou continued to defend himself from the onslaught, he moved his hands closer together, and powered up even more.
"KAMEHAME HA!"
Gokou’s beam flew from his hands, and pushed the Storm Dragon’s back towards its mouth. Suddenly, the Storm Dragon’s horn glowed, and it fired its own energy blast at Gokou. Soon, the Storm Dragon fired a blast from its hands, then its wings. Gokou found it more difficult than ever to protect himself from the horrendous assault from the Storm Dragon.
From out of the corner of his eye, Gokou could see Pei appear in front of the Storm Dragon’s face. She shot another Energy Blast ball of ki at the beast. The demon’s eyes glowed, and it fired laser eye beams at her, knocking her unconscious.
"Pei! Are you all right?" cried Gokou.
Pei’s eyes slowly opened, and she looked over at Gokou. Gokou could barely make out the whisper on her lips. "Little Karo…"
The monster once again turned its attention to Gokou, firing the laser eye beams at Gokou once again. The Kaiouhken that Gokou used was no longer enough.
"PEI!" cried Gokou.
The Super Saiyajin in him soared out of him, and rushed over his body. His strength increased a hundredfold, and his Kamehame Ha became so tremendous in size, that as it rammed into the Storm Dragon, it engulfed it in the blast. The Storm Dragon was completely blown away.
The Environment Digitizer was offline now, as Gokou reverted to his normal form, and rushed to Pei’s aid. "Pei, you all right?"
"I’m fine, Kakarotto, but you did very well…"
"Come on…up you go…" said Gokou as he pulled her up from the ground, and brought her towards the exit to the room. The Yardrat-Seijin were waiting outside for them.
"Very nicely done, Son Gokou. You have conquered the Storm Dragon at last."
"It’s not good enough," was Son Gokou’s only reply.
"What do you mean?" asked Pei.
"The gravity," said Gokou. "It’s too low…I have to train in the highest gravity possible. Then there was the temperature…it was too comfortable. It’s got to get colder and hotter…"
"Kakarotto…you can’t keep on like this!" protested Pei. Gokou ignored her.
"I need you guys to record the highest gravity changes to the outside conditions from now until tomorrow. Check for the coldest and hottest temperatures, too…"
"Consider it done, Son Gokou. Tomorrow, you will continue training against the Storm Dragon."
"I’m going to get some sleep…" said Gokou.
"Kakarotto! Stop! You can’t! It’s too much! What’s wrong with you?" cried Pei as she grabbed Gokou’s shoulder. Gokou turned to face her. She noticed a green tint in his eyes. He smirked.
"Don’t worry about me, Pei…"
"I’m telling you Gokou! You can’t handle the power of the Storm Dragon! It’s…too…much…" Pei’s breathing sounded labored.
"Pei?" asked Gokou. Pei hunched over, struggling to breathe. She fell to her knees. "Pei! What’s wrong?" Gokou knelt down beside her.
"Stand back, Son Gokou. You must not get near her."
"What’s wrong with her?" asked Gokou, as the Yardrat-Seijin all rushed to Pei’s side.
"That does not matter. She needs rest, and so do you." Suddenly, some of the Yardrat-Seijin disappeared with Pei to another room. The remaining Yardrat-Seijin transported Gokou back to his bedroom. Some food appeared before him, but he said he wasn’t hungry. He stripped down to his underclothes and climbed into bed.
Son Gokou arose in the morning and walked out of his bedroom, and toward the Environment Digitizer. He stopped, and turned down a hallway towards Pei’s quarters. He was stopped by a Yardrat-Seijin.
"I apologize, Son Gokou, but you will not be able to see Pei right now."
"What’s wrong with her?" asked Gokou.
"You need not concern yourself with her right now."
"Will she be training in the Environment Digitizer with me today?"
"No, you will be training alone."
Gokou sighed, and followed the Yardrat-Seijin back to the Environment Digitizer. He began to twitch a little. He had no idea why, but for some reason, he felt less confident without Pei with him. For some reason, having Pei there gave Gokou a sense of security. Now, she was ill and could not fight. Gokou worried more about her than how he would do in the Environment Digitizer. Soon, Gokou reached the gateway.
"From the time after your training yesterday to the time you awoke, we recorded the highest gravity level at being 270 times the normal gravity of Yardrat-Sei’s outside conditions, which is roughly 1.78 times the gravity of your home planet. The highest temperature was 163° C, and the lowest was -86° C. We will arrange the time spent in the Environment Digitizer into a day/night format. When you begin, it will be daytime, and the higher temperature. Halfway through the training session, the day will turn to night, and the temperature will decrease to the lower temperature. Do you understand?"
"Yes," said Gokou.
"Are you ready?"
"Yes," said Gokou. The door to the Environment Digitizer swung open. Gokou walked inside, and soon, the doors closed behind him. The stainless-steel white room he stood in transformed into a lush forest on the beautiful morning. The gravity was intense. Gokou nearly fell down. It was incredibly hot, and Gokou began to sweat profusely. Off in the distance, Gokou could see the darkness of the hurricane. He saw a small, glowing, green speck, which he decided was the Storm Dragon. He realized that for this training session, the Yardrat-Seijin started him much further away from the Storm Dragon, so as to give him some sort of preparation for what he faced. "I suppose you guys want me to ease into this slowly? Sorry, that’s not the way I do things."
Son Gokou flew directly towards the Storm Dragon, not taking any time to attempt to transform into a Super Saiyajin; not powering up even the slightest energy; not even a Kaiouhken. The rain began to fall on him, with such speed and force that Gokou thought he was going to get knocked down. The wind was blowing Gokou back towards his starting point, but he managed to fly through the gales to reach the Storm Dragon’s hurricane. Before he knew it, Gokou was directly in the middle of the hurricane, just a few hundred yards from the Storm Dragon.
The beast’s entire body was glowing with a green light, not just the spines. It emitted an enormous flame of ki, and more energy than Gokou could fathom was being thrown everywhere. At one point, a large, green, thunderbolt shot down from above towards Gokou. He promptly powered up his ki a little to gain a burst of speed, allowing him to escape the bolt. Gokou landed on top of the canopy of an enormous tree. It rose far above the others, which came up only to the Storm Dragon’s knees. Gokou was on level with the Storm Dragon’s chest. The monster stared down at Gokou, growling lowly.
"You want some of this?" yelled Gokou, which sounded tough to him at the time. "Well, just come and get it!"
Then came the roar. It was louder than the roars that Gokou had heard before, probably because he was so close to it, or probably because he was really listening to it. Gokou could feel an enormous explosion emanating from the monster’s body, and a tremendous shock wave flew out at him, blowing away several trees, rocks, and huge chunks of the ground. Several craters were now formed in the ground, but Gokou and his tree remained still. "I’ve become like this great and powerful tree! I shall not be moved!"
The beast fired an enormous energy blast from its mouth, and Gokou quickly moved his arms over his face. The tree Gokou stood on was blown out from under him, as well as a large chunk of land. Gokou, floating in midair, looked back at the once "great and powerful tree" being chopped up into little toothpicks. Gokou turned back toward the Storm Dragon and growled. "I WILL DEFEAT YOU!
KAIOUHKEN x 50!"
The red flame engulfed Gokou’s body, and he flew towards the Storm Dragon, planting his fist into the beast’s face, but the radiation it emitted created some kind of shield which eased Gokou’s blow. The gigantic monster spun around, and its tail smacked Gokou into the air. Gokou regained his composure, and used the momentum, combined with the Kaiouhken energy, to regain control of his body, swing back down and grab the monster’s glowing tail. Tremendous pain engulfed Gokou’s body as he held onto the radioactive body of the Storm Dragon, and pulled the tail up towards the sky. Gokou climbed up until he was once again above the clouds. Gokou made an aerial U-turn and was soon pulling the monster down by the tail back towards the ground. With an enormous swing, Gokou spun the Storm Dragon around so that it went down head-first, and grabbed one of the spines on the monster’s back, and hastened the descent of the Storm Dragon, pile-driving it down right into the ground. The Storm Dragon was buried up to its waist into the dirt. Gokou flew backwards onto an enormous rock jutting out of a cliff.
The Storm Dragon’s legs and tail swung around and around, until a horrendous explosion created another huge crater in the ground, exposing an underground lake to the view of Gokou and the monster. The Storm Dragon righted itself, turning back up so that its feet floated down into the water. Soon, the Storm Dragon stopped descending, just as its chest was going down into the water, and quickly shot up to a floating position above the lake. It turned back towards Gokou, and unleashed another horrible roar, sending another shock wave out. Gokou managed to survive the blast. He realized something about the lake, as he looked at it. "That monster wanted to stand in the lake, but the lake was deeper than it thought. I’ve got to try to force the Storm Dragon down into the lake. Huh?"
Gokou managed to fly to his side just in the nick of time to miss the speeding claw of the Storm Dragon. Gokou flew towards the Storm Dragon’s face, and suddenly jetted upwards to avoid the swinging tail of the beast, and back down to escape the flying wing. Gokou found that he was right beside one of the monster’s scaly, glowing spines, and noticed it was on his lower back. He flew in a half-circle around the Storm Dragon’s body until he reached its stomach area, and went speeding into it. The monster lost its breath, as well as another giant energy blast, which came flying out of its nostrils and mouth, straight into the sky. The Storm Dragon glared at Gokou, and struck his claw at him.
Gokou went flying down; his eyes closed in pain. He could not see where he was going. The heavy rains falling down on him soon turned into water engulfing him. He had fallen into the lake. He slowly opened his eyes, and could see the floor of the lake far down below. It was boundlessly deep. He could feel the incredible water pressure starting to crush his body. He suddenly saw a green glow on the ocean floor. He looked up and saw an enormous green energy blast flying down at him. The enormous beam suddenly pushed him down, and he soon collided with the floor of the lake. The beam continued to smite Son Gokou, as his entire body wailed with pain. It was unbearable. He could take no more. He screamed in horror.
Suddenly, Son Gokou saw another being in the water with him. It was large and glowing. It looked very similar to Shenlon, the Eternal Dragon of Earth. However, it had beefy arms and a very muscular torso. Gokou’s eyes were wide open. Soon, it spoke.
"Son Gokou," spoke the second dragon. "I am Porunga, the Eternal Dragon of Namek-Sei. Your friends have wished you to be transported to the Planet Earth. Are you ready to go?"
Son Gokou pondered this. He could instantly return to Earth and be with his family and friends again. He had the chance to bypass this horrible battle with the Storm Dragon. He was about to say, "Yes, take me home," when his conscience nagged at him. He realized he couldn’t leave the Yardrat-Seijin or Pei without thanking them, especially for all the training and help they gave him. Furthermore, they said that he couldn’t help his friends without the training. What if Freeza really was stronger than before…stronger than a Super Saiyajin? He decided that he would not leave without completing his training.
"I can’t go home. I must continue training. I must defeat the Storm Dragon," thought Gokou, sending his answer to the Eternal Dragon, telepathically. Porunga disappeared, and Gokou faced his challenger again. "I won’t give up. I must get back up to the surface, where the Storm Dragon is. Storm Dragon, I feel it. I can feel your ki. I know exactly where you are. I must get up there now. I know your location, and now I’m
There."
He was a Super Saiyajin, and he was merely floating above his head, just as the day turned into night.
"KAIOUHKEN x 50!"
His body was aflame, but especially his fist.
The Storm Dragon soon had the smack being laid down upon it as it flew down into the lake below. It looked up, seeing gold and red burning above it. The light disappeared. The Storm Dragon found itself deep in the lake, still hurtling down to the bottom. The red and yellow light was beneath it now, and it was soon flying back up to the surface and out of the water again. Its eyes closed.
The Storm Dragon stopped in midair. Son Gokou was holding him, dangling him by its tail. The Super Saiyajin began to spin around, whirling the Storm Dragon around, faster and faster. The hurricane became more violent as the radiation built up in the atmosphere.
Son Gokou began to spin faster than before. He soon released the monster, sending it flying through a mountain. As the Storm Dragon appeared coming out through the mountainside, Gokou moved there instantaneously, facing away from the monster. He spun around, swinging his leg as he turned, kicking the Storm Dragon up into the sky.
High above the very thunderclouds it had created, the Storm Dragon managed to stop, and right itself, charging up an energy blast in its mouth. Without warning, it was knocked into a cloud, losing the energy it was powering up. It hurtled to the ground, and was about to fall flat on its stomach, when Son Gokou performed his trademark technique by appearing just beneath the beast and raising his fist to the sky.
The Storm Dragon lay on Gokou’s fist, writhing in insurmountable pain. With a sudden ki explosion, the beast popped off of Gokou and landed in the lake.
Son Gokou landed on the bank beside the lake, waiting for the Storm Dragon to make its next move. Soon, every single drop of water in the lake came erupting out in a flash of green light. The monster’s roar came, angrier than ever before.
A thunderclap echoed through the night sky, and lightning bolts came down from the heavens into several trees, blasting them into dust upon impact. Gokou stood as the Storm Dragon rose into the air, its green energy leaving a flaming trail behind it as it rose into the air like a firework. The sparkler exploded as it reached its peak, blasting a giant ki blast down to the ground. Gokou stood, ready.
"KAIOUHKEN x 70! KAMEHAME HA!"
The blast exploded into the air, illuminating the sky with a bright blue light that drowned out the green from the Storm Dragon. The beams collided just three-quarters of the distance from the Dragon to Gokou. The monster had already gained the upper hand. Son Gokou decided that it still wasn’t over.
"KAIOUHKEN…x 100!"
The beam grew massive as it engulfed the sky. Gokou was no longer sure whether the monster was still alive or not. All he could see was the enormous energy wave.
As he released the beam into the air, Gokou realized that not only was the Storm Dragon gone, but he was no longer in the ravaged forest. He was back in the Environment Digitizer, bewildered.
"You overloaded the Environment Digitizer’s system, Son Gokou."
Gokou’s hands fell from their blast-firing position back to his sides. He turned around and walked back towards the exit of the Digitizer.
"How do you feel?"
Gokou put his hand behind his head and chuckled. "A little hungry, actually!"