MG: *walks in and looks around, then gulps upon seeing the faces of several angry reviewers* Um…hi. Don't worry, minna-san, she's back with an update.
*shouts from somewhere in the background* And by my deadline, too! Tell them that! I kept my promise! The only reason it wasn't out yesterday is because my computer wouldn't let me connect to the internet!
MG: Yes, she is getting it out around Christmas, as promised, even if it is short and below standard.
*storms in the room* HEY! Don't you be criticizing my work, honey. *nervously smiles at the reviewers* Um…hi. Don't kill me…and if what Go-chan said is true, it's because I read through all of my old reviews on this fic, got inspired, had to meet the deadline, and wrote the whole chappie in two afternoons. So in advance, GOMEN NASAI!!! *bows low* Um…yeah…on to the feedback!
shadowphoenix2: Yay! You wished me happy birthday! *dances around, then hands her a slice of cake* Yeah, so my birthday was a while back, but I used my authoress powers to make the cake not stale!
MG: Say, when is your birthday? Mine's May 18th. Huh? Arrogant? That's the first time I've heard that one…
I'm glad I made your day better, too. It feels good to know I can do that.
Vegito: Eheh...well, it didn't take 2.5 months, ne?
DBZ Chick1: SEE? I kept my promise. Better than out by New Year's, right?
Silver Warrior: No kidding. Boy, am I gonna have fun with this! *sadistic smile*
Serenitystone: Yeah, those are my favorite sagas, too.
MG: Only second favorite? Darn.
Ah, chill, Go-chan. I love you.
Android 71: *hugs her back* Yes, maybe you should update that…*glares* Ah well. Glad you like FTB, by the way.
MG: Dear Kami-sama! You actually called me 'Gohan!' *hugs her for no apparent reason*
Contrail: Yup, 'bout time, ne? Yeah, Veggie's an ass. But it makes him fun to write!
Knight's Shadow: Hey, another long update! Say, that's a cool idea. I dunno…it might be amusing to see how the two Gohans react to each other at that point, considering they'd be about the same age, but I've got other stuff to work on. Send it to Android 71; she could do it more justice than I.
See Saw: Hey, thanks! *blushes* Don't worry, angst is the best.
The ShadowPanther: Jeez, everyone is changing their names. I have to check bios and past updates just to keep track of who is who! And I gave LPM a glomp for you at school…think I caught her off-guard, too. 'Twas funny.
MG: Hey, you'd have anger issues too if you were me.
Digifan: Sankyuu!
jinsakazaki: Thanks! Reviews are getting harder and harder to come by…
Chibi Lauryn: I do most of my surfing in class, too, because my computer at school is faster. Class sucks, ne?
That lil' ol' Blue Girl: Gohan music vid? I'm interested!
Mashed Potato Master: Yeah, he's mine, but there's enough of him to share. (I mean, jeez—he's 6'2" and weighs a good 300 pounds at least, and it's all muscle. ^^) Wait…Gohan's my…muse? *falls over laughing*
MG: I am not her muse! I'm her boyfriend! And I could care less if she never writes anything again, so how could I be a muse?!
*reaches up gently and rubs his shoulders* Chill, koi.
Chris-Redfield26: Yeah, we know. And send poor Haku back to 'Naruto'. I'm updating.
Calen: Huh? Oh yeah, that fight…well, Gohan was a bit preoccupied when he fought Juunanagou, and he hadn't had time to fully recuperate from the last battle. Cut him some slack. Pretty cool how well he was doing against them before they started double-teaming…he had it there for a while.
SSH: FEH.
LPM: Eh, tell Jarian to take a walk through the herpaterium. And if you're so inspired for Dragonblade, then why aren't you working on it?
MG: She is, just the wrong part. Kinda like someone else I know…*glances at Ani*
Yeah, yeah. Go write those Juu-chan fics you were gonna do before I write them for you! You'd be better at writing them than me, and I've got other things to do! Ah well. *glomps her back*
Okie day, that's all! Hope you enjoy this…oh, and I reloaded all of the chapters, this time carefully edited. Maybe I should hire LPM as my beta reader…
As always:
blah = flashback
/blah/ = telepathy
'blah' = thought
"blah" = speech
~*~
Gohan shook his head as he pushed himself up off the ground. 'Damn…I must've blacked out for a second…' he thought furiously as he stumbled to his feet. He looked skyward, sensing Piccolo's ki above him, and found his former sensei locked in a duel with Juunanagou and Vegeta holding his own against Juhachigou. The youngest of the Jinzouningen was nowhere to be seen.
"Gohan!" A voice called. Gohan looked around to see Krillin running towards him, fumbling with the tie of a small brown bag. "Gohan, are you alright? You're bleeding!" He offered a senzu bean to the demi-Saiyan, but was ignored. Gohan reached up absently and brushed his fingertips over his forehead, then brought his hand back down and looked at the blood on his fingers. "I guess I hit my head or something," he said, wiping the blood on his shirt.
With that, he launched himself skyward to aid the Namek and the Saiyan Prince in their battle.
Piccolo swung with a hard right blow towards Juunanagou's nose, but the Jinzouningen ducked and brought his shin into powerful contact with the Namekian's ribcage. Piccolo's eyes widened and he drew in a sharp breath, clutching his side.
"Ooh, I heard that one," Juunanagou said mockingly. His smirk was quickly replaced with a slightly confused look as he noticed that his adversary's eyes were locked somewhere behind him. "What the—" he said, turning, but was cut off as a blue sneaker plowed forcefully into the side of his face. The momentum of the blow sent him flying into the ground.
"Funny how easily I can take him down with that move," Gohan said, hovering over to Piccolo. Piccolo smirked.
"I take it you've done that to him before, then?"
Gohan shrugged. "Eh, once or twice." His expression turned serious. "Krillin's got the senzu beans. I can take Juunanagou—you go find Nijuichi."
Piccolo nodded and dropped out of the sky, almost synchronous with Juunanagou rising up to meet his new rival.
"Well, well. One-arm decided to play the hero. Too bad you've got your father's brains."
"You've obviously never faced him in battle."
The male Jinzouningen snorted. "Soon as you all get out of my way, I'd love to. It's all part of the game."
"Game?" Gohan hissed, his aqua eyes narrowing. "That's all it ever was to you—just a game. Well, I hate to break it to you, but the game's over!" With another surge of anger fueling the ripple of ki surrounding him, he charged.
He thrust his fist upward, aiming to connect it with Juunanagou's jaw; instead, his wrist connected with his opponent's hand as the Jinzouningen calmly grabbed him. Gohan winced—the last time he'd been in this situation, his shoulder had been dislocated. Instead of trying to break Juunanagou's grip, he drove his knee into the Jinzouningen's stomach.
Juunanagou immediately let go and clutched his midsection, then glared up at Gohan. Gohan's expression remained deadly. "Reflex check," he spat. Juunanagou straightened back up.
"Let me make it perfectly clear that I hate being mocked. You are quickly finding your way to the top of my list of things to dispose of."
Gohan raised his eyebrows slightly in a sarcastic gesture. "Really? What a coincidence. You and your sister are already at the top of mine." Again he launched himself at the Jinzouningen, his hand drawn back in preparation for a ki blast. "Take this!" he yelled as he propelled the gold orb at Juunanagou.
Juunanagou's eyes widened temporarily; he hadn't expected a blast that large considering how short it had taken to create it. He flung himself to one side, the blast deftly missing him, then glared back at Gohan—but Gohan wasn't there. "Alright, where'd you go?" he said.
"Looking for me?"
He whirled, and was immediately caught in the face by the same blast he had just dodged. It had been deflected back at him from behind, obviously in a well-planned attack. He reached up to rub his eyes and wipe the blood from his cheek, then shot a lethal look at Gohan. "How the hell did you pull that off?!" he snapped furiously.
Gohan smirked. "Instant Transmission. One of my Father's moves. You like it?"
"Why, you—" Juunanagou snarled, then dashed forward into a head butt. Gohan recovered quickly, as expected when that sort of attack is used on a Son, but righted himself directly into a flurry of ki blasts. Oddly, they were all missing. 'What is he doing?' he thought, then noticed that the balls of pseudo-ki weren't dissipating in the atmosphere; instead, they were remaining stationary, forming a sort of floating minefield.
Gohan looked up at the devilishly smirking Jinzouningen anxiously. "Oh shit," he muttered as Juunanagou brought his spread arms towards his body, causing the blasts to fly at Gohan.
At sign of impact, Juunanagou clapped his hands together as if dusting them off. "Well, that wasn't so—" His icy eyes narrowed again as the smoke cleared and he spotted Gohan hiding inside a transparent blue orb. "An energy shield. You are full of tricks today. Where are you hiding your bag, Felix?" he said sarcastically, mostly to himself.
"Is that the best you can do?" Gohan yelled as he dropped the shield. Not waiting for a response, he vanished using I.T., reappearing mere inches behind the Jinzouningen. "Lights out," he hissed, delivering a swift blow to the back of Juunanagou's neck. Juunanagou's eyes went wide, then he slumped forward and went into a freefall towards the ground. Gohan glided a few feet forward, not caring whether or not his adversary actually hit the earth and shouted down to Krillin. "Hey, where'd Piccolo-san go?"
"He went to find the other Gohan—hey, watch out!" Krillin yelled back, his voice taking on an alarmed tone.
Before Gohan could reply, an arm had been wrapped around his neck and a hand was pinning his arm behind his back.
"Gohan, I'm a Jinzouningen. Did you honestly think I'd have the same pressure points as an ordinary human being?" Juunanagou said in his usual cool tone, and he tightened his arm across Gohan's throat.
The demi-Saiyan choked and winced, struggling to get air into his lungs and break the Jinzouningen's stranglehold. He tried to twist his arm out of Juunanagou's grasp, but Juunanagou's grip was firm and confident.
"Aw, what's the matter?" he jeered, almost in the manner one would address a young child. "Can the poor little cripple not get away from the big bad Jinzouningen? That's too bad." He slowly constricted his hand around Gohan's wrist, listening for the sound of snapping bones.
Gohan tried again to wriggle free, but to no avail. He could feel the bones in his arm bending under the pressure, not quite reaching the breaking point.
"Let him go!" came a young voice from behind, followed by the infamous cry: "Kame—hame—HA!"
Juunanagou suddenly released his captive. Gohan gasped and fell out of Super, his hand immediately flying to his throat. He coughed a couple of times and shook his hand in an attempt to get the throbbing in his wrist to stop as he turned to see his rescuer—his counterpart. He smiled a little. "Thanks, little bro."
Juunanagou glowered at the nine-year-old. "You are going to regret doing that. I thought Nijuichi was going to take care of you, anyway."
Chibi just shrugged and drew himself into a defensive stance. "I don't know where he went. You leave my brother alone, alright?"
Gohan rolled his eyes. "You're gonna get yourself killed," he muttered, then louder and firmer, "Chibi, don't."
"Go get a senzu bean. I can hold him off," Chibi replied defiantly.
/No, you can't. Trust me—I would've been killed too in the initial battle had Piccolo-san not knocked me out and gotten me out of the way. You're not strong enough./ He locked his eyes sternly with Chibi's, and Chibi dropped his stance.
"Chickening out?" Juunanagou asked, quirking an eyebrow. "You're smarter than your counterpart."
"Get back to the ground," Gohan said to Chibi.
"No, don't go anywhere," said a mysterious fourth party. Juunanagou was the first to respond.
"Well, hello, little brother. I was beginning to wonder where you'd gone."
Nijuichi smirked. "Plotting. It seems that out sister has taken care of Shorty, and I've come to complete my mission."
"Oh?" Juunanagou said doubtfully.
The younger Jinzouningen's expression turned dark. "Back off, bro. I've come to the decision that if I can't figure out which is the real Gohan, I'll just take them both out. Nice knowing you," he said, then closed his eyes.
Juunanagou smirked and saluted, then dropped to the ground.
"Gohan's eyes widened in fear. "He's gonna self-detonate! Get down!" he yelled as he dashed towards Chibi, barely reaching him before Nijuichi let out a loud cry and set off his own destruction with an explosion that engulfed the entire area.
~*~
Yeah, so I did it again. Ain't y'all happy I didn't kill off Chibi? ^^
MG: Whoop-de-do. Instead you leave us stranded in an explosion—again.
Eheh…yeah, well…I had to. Sorry. Anyhoo…ooh! I got a GBA SP and LOG 2 for Christmas! Coolest part of all—it opens with a bit from the Trunks special. Go-chan makes such an adorable little sprite! ^_____^ *glomps him*
MG: -_-; See what I've been putting up with? This, and her talking about going to buy Budokai 2 with her Christmas money. Ah well…she got me some good CD's for Christmas, so I can always drown her out. *puts in his copy of My Own Prison and puts on his headphones*
Boy, some jolly elf he's being. (He was Santa last night, by the way, and I, of course, was his little Elf, being an Elf already.) Sorry, but the next update will probably be the rewritten, extended prologue instead of a new chappie. It might take a while, anyways; I've started a fic so AU that a change of character names could make it an original fic. Keep an eye opened on Desolation, too—I should have some new artwork up soon. And some of it is REALLY pretty, if I do say so myself. ^^ Well, Merry Christmas, minna-chan!