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Prologue
By : Herpb4uDerp
Category: Missing Data > Missing Data
Views: 194 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
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Chapter List
- 29
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The flight to the waste land is tense and quiet. Goku keeps opening his mouth to say something but then looks back at his son's solemn face and reconsiders. Finally they touch down onto a windy plateau. Goten watches his father's hair whip in the wind and resists the urge to run his fingers through his own, not wanting to feel how short it is. He absently kicks at the rocks, hands in his pockets fiddling with the ring instead while his dad warms up.

Goten hadn't been lying when he said he would never be the first to test one of Bra's inventions again. And this one just had so much more potential. He tries to think of a way to interest his father, or trick him, or maybe I'll just... jam it on? He hasn't arrived at a solid decision when his father, with a smiling although not-quite-happy expression on his face, asks, "Are ya ready?"
Goten looks up a little startled, "What? Yeah, yeah. Sure." He takes his hands out of his pockets.
"Alright.” Goku steps into form expecting his son to do the same. He hesitates though when his son takes several long quiet seconds to scrutinize his father's peculiar fighting posture before finally assuming his own. He wasn't sure what to interpret from that.

Within fifteen minutes the only sweat breaking on Goten is from how hard he’s working to refrain from injuring his father. He's made the conscious decision to hold back because... What's so great about 'Earth's Hero?' Now that they were sparring, he wanted to know.

Goten tries to slow down and takes the time to notice that even though his father isn't as strong as him, he fights with an unparalleled fluidity. He does not hold back and his execution is perfect every time.

Before long Goten is lost to the motion. He has forgotten about why he had been avoiding this in the first place. He has forgotten this was just supposed to be an excuse to get out of the house and away from his brother. He has forgotten about the little ring in his pocket. He has forgotten about the night before. Instead of regrets and shame and other things he hardly reserved time for contemplating anyway, he catches himself thinking Maybe I should spar with him more often.

Goten studies Goku's movement, trying to pick up on the nuances of technique that Goku can't explain. He stops his father twice to ask about a particular movement. Goku stopped and stood there both times rubbing the back of his neck thinking before finally saying he wasn’t sure what he did, he just did what felt right.

What feels right? What the fuck does that even mean?!

Goten doesn't stop and ask him after that. He just tries to pay closer attention to see if he could pinpoint what it was his father was doing that allowed him to get in hit after jarring hit despite the gap in speed and power.

"You've definitely been training." His father chides with a friendly smile.
"Yeah." Goten doges.
"A lot."
He snorts and counters knocking Goku back.
"Your technique is good too." Really good. And it looks similar to Vegeta's, but with... flare! "Except for all your excessive movement." He lands a jab. They've definitely been training together... Not just fights... spars, drills, katas... real training.

Goten frowns and launches a sudden powerful blast at his father who avoids it just in time by powering up. Goku grins back at him now in Super Saiyan. "That was close!"

Not close enough. He smirks and follows in form. It's harder now, to pull his punches and he's struggling to hold back in his elevated state. This was turning into a very good exercise in control.
Goten uses a momentary hesitation on Goku's face to go in for a solid right straight but his father disappears. Goten leans forward, off balanced and is shoved into the ground by a hard hit to the back of the head. He gets up and scowls at his father, "That's cheating, you can't use that technique."

Goku hovers just a little above him smiling, "Why not? You have no idea what kind of enemy you'll be facing in the future."
He laughs darkly, "If that's how you wanna play then." No more holding back. Goten launches full speed, tackles him mid air and brings him down to the ground. It doesn't take much maneuvering to force his father into a painful arm bar.
Goten starts to press up with his hips against Goku's elbow. A part of him is hoping he'll get to hear the snap. He never tapped for Vegeta. Half the time it was because he could escape. Half the time it was because he was willing to endure recurrent, bordering on permanent, injury to his joints rather than give up. They had long since stopped those types of drills because of Goten's unnerving levels of persistance.

Goku twists in an attempt to escape, "You were really holding back-" The strain in his voice is more apparent than worry in his eyes, but there are equal amounts of both as he charges up a blast with his free hand. Goten lets the blast hit him in the face without blocking so he can keep his grip and continue pressing up with his hips. Goku quickly realizes that he's not getting out of this without doing something risky.

In hindsight he thinks maybe goading his son into powering up further was foolish even in a friendly spar. He can't overpower him, I'm not even close, and Vegeta's right, he doesn't know what his son is capable of and suddenly he had no interest in finding out. He taps Goten's leg twice and his son lets him go with disappointed sigh.
He rubs at his elbow and tries his best to not look flustered by how much ki he now realized his son was hiding. "How strong are you?"
"Stronger than you, I guess." He stands up.
"Yeah... Show me."
"What?"
"Show me, I want to see. I knew you were pulling back, but you still surprised me. Show me."
"You want me... to just... power up?"
"Yeah!" he says with a proud smile, "As much as you can. I want to see how far you've come."
A part of him is jumping with excitement because he wants to see the look on his father's face. He used to dream of this moment. Another more cautious side asks if this will give him away. If doing this will chip away at the fragile image of himself he has created that made him look more trustworthy than Vegeta at the moment.

His ego wins and he lets his power soar with a prideful tilt of his head. As he begins to raise his ki higher and higher he feels a spell of dizziness start wrapping around his body. He wavers as lightening arcs around him and he stops powering up so he can instead focus on not throwing up. Or passing out. He felt unstable like his ki was rattling around inside his body making it harder for him to reach and control it.
Goku studies him for a moment then closes his eyes. Goten takes that as he cue to drop back into base form with an exhausted breath. He looks at his shaking hands. That shouldn't have been as hard as it was...
Goku opens his eyes with confusion. "... You can go higher than that. Can't you?"
"I-..."
"Don't hold back. I wanna know what to train towards." He smiles, "I only felt it for an instant last night."
He lets out a nervous laugh, "Last night...? You felt that?"
"Yeah, it dropped too fast for me to pin point it so at first, I thought it might have been Gohan... but now... I'm sure it was you." Then a thought strikes him. "You must be almost as strong as Vegeta. Maybe stronger." His brows knot together at the realization.

"No." Goten responds coldly, "No, he's stronger. I feel it every time we fight." Especially when we fight about reckless decisions of mine.

"I don't think it's by much." His mind wanders back to the bruising his son had when he first saw him. Did he... let... Vegeta do that?

Goten bristles with discomfort at the direction of the conversation, "You have no idea how strong he is now."
"I don't know, I'm pretty good at sensing ki and he’s… not very good as masking it. I think... I know exactly how strong he is." He looks off into the distance toward Vegeta's ki, hundreds of miles away.
"How sure can you be? You thought that was Gohan last night."
"You're brothers. It's harder to tell family members apart. Even for me." he huffs. "Gohan was the strongest when I left, why would I have assumed it was you?"
"Because only I have kept up with tr- it doesn't matter! The point is I'm not even close to Vegeta's level right now."
"You are... you definitely were last night. What where you doing? That energy was..." he whistles.
Goten is about to argue but then he remembers that he might have just the thing for such an opportune moment, to turn this conversation in a direction he could control. "I was... I was training with Capsule Corp tech." His face splits open into a wide grin. "I was testing something for Trunks."
"What? Like bots?"
"No, better! Do you want to try it?"
"Uh... What is it?"
"A ki amplifier." He feels his pockets and pulls out the small ring.
Goku looks at it curiously, "Amplifier? That sounds... kinda dangerous."
"It's not. It just makes you stronger. A lot stronger. Maybe you could even spar me at full power. Then you'd really get to see how far I've come." Goku's eyes widen and Goten can see his hesitance begin melting away. "Yeah, Bra's invented all kinds of cool stuff like this."
"She invented this? I thought you said you were testing it for Trunks-"
"Yeah, yeah- his company, her inventions. It's-" he waves off his father's comment, "doesn't matter. ... You should try it." Goten extends his open palm with the ring in the middle and Goku takes it.
"Gohan told me Trunks had taken over the company. ...Guess they both turned out just like their mother." He says softly turning over the ring between his fingers.
Goten lets out a snort of laughter, "I don't know if I'd say that."
"Why not?"
"Wasn't Bulma... like, a good person?"
Goku thinks about that for longer than he knows he should have to. "She... cared. A lot."
"I... Right. Ok, well they... don't. Or at least Bra doesn't."
"About anything?" ...Maybe they are more like Vegeta.
Goten shrugs, "I guess she cares about what she looks like."
"Oh. Is she pretty?" He teases.
Goten shakes his head with a chuff, "Depends who you ask."
"I was askin' you."
Goten raises a brow and for the sake of avoiding his father's visible expressions of distaste for foul language holds back the few choice words he had about The Whoring Banshee. Goku waits for his son to say something on the subject but he never does. He looks back down at the ring. "I can't use this... it doesn't feel... fair."

"You said it yourself dad, there's no cheating, who knows what kind of enemy you'll face in the future. Besides, don't you wanna see what I can really do?"
He thinks about it, then nods in agreement, "I guess you're- I'm- right, heh. How does it work?"
"You just... put it on and tap it with a little ki. It should work right away. Then we can spar for real and you can see just how much my training has paid off."
Goten thinks this might be the best idea he's had in years. He should have asked about ki devices a long time ago so he and Bra could have already moved past the testing phase. He could have already had the solution to all his problems. Or- most of them...

Goku slips it on to his index finger and taps it with a small prick of ki. "I don't feel anything."
"You have to give it a second." He looks at it hopefully. The ring begins to glow and Goku shoots up in to Super Saiyan. "Wait, uh, maybe you shouldn't power up yet."

"I didn't." He lifts off the ground a little and looks around bewildered. "This is... wow! I feel... I feel, I dunno, I've never felt... like this before." he smiles broadly. "Ki's just flowing into me!" He looks at his hands and sees ki sparking around his fingertips. He turns around and begins charging up a ki blast to throw into the canyon. Goten can feel his father's ki spiking enormously with no end in sight.

"Ka- me- ha-me-" The blast he's gathering is dense and huge. And unstable. Goten is having trouble imaging what it would do for someone as powerful as himself. He keeps waiting for the blast to be fired, but it never leaves Goku's palms.
"Dad?" He sees his father is breathing heavily and he touches his shoulder, "dad?"
The ball of light disappears and he begins clutching at his chest.
"Oh shit- shit! Dad?"
Goku falls to his knees and starts gasping. His Ki sky rockets and he screams out in agony. The force of his power up knocks Goten several meters away and onto his back. When he gets back up he sees his father face down in the dirt in base form.
"Oooh shit. Ohh what have I done." He can feel his father's ki hanging on by threads. He quickly checks to make sure he's breathing and lets out a sigh of relief when he feels his pulse. He turns him over and looks at an unconscious Goku. He presses his hand to his father's chest and throws a jolt of Ki into him. It feels like his ki is stabilizing now getting back to where it should be, but something about it isn't right. The ki pools inside of him, in his chest, still. It doesn't stir and neither does Goku.
"Well, you were right, Bra, it was definitely not ready."
He shakes his father and starts calling out to him but there's no response. He sits back on his heels, pulls out his phone and starts fretting about what to do next.
He has just enough time to pull the cracked smoking ring off Goku's lightly burned finger and palm before he senses his brother. He curses under his breath while shoving the tiny piece of metal into his pocket.
Gohan almost falls over from how hard his landing is. He's breathing heavily and Goten is impressed with the speed he must have been going to get here that quickly.
"Gohan, it's not what it-" His brother pushes past him and kneels by their father. He checks his pulse and starts inspecting him for injuries. He pulls out the small bag of senzu and presses one into his mouth but his father remains the same.
"What did you do to him?" He looks at each limb carefully finding nothing, "What did you- Goten... his ki. What have you..." He pulls the bean back out of his mouth deciding they're worthless if he's just going to choke on them.
"Relax, he's just knocked out."
"Relax? You want me to RELAX because he's 'just knocked out'?" He stands up and lets his energy spike. "'Ten. I felt his ki plummet to nothing! He's not just 'knocked out!' What did you do?"
"I didn't do anything."
"Oh. He just knocked himself out then?"
"And so what if he did?"
"Goten!! What kind of- Kami! I can't believe you sometimes! You make me so damn mad I-"
"What! So damn mad you what? You going to do something?" Gohan flinches when Goten thrusts his face and chest towards him. "Tch. Didn't think so. Weak.... He's fine." Gohan backs down out of necessity. He knows better than to walk into a fight he can't win. Unlike his brother. They both look down at their father's vacant face.
"Kami, Goten. He's not fine. He's just laying there, like-" like you last night. I felt your energy drop the same way... "You have another one of those ki dampeners don't you?" He pauses and his eyes widen with realization, "That's what you were looking for-"

What the fuck? How did he- maybe those PhDs were worth it, "No, no, I don't have anymore. You can ask Bra. It was just the one. You took the only one. Ask her." His brother narrows his eyes at him.
"Then what happened?"
"We were- we were just sparring! Like I told you earlier... and... he got excited about how... how strong I was and asked me to power up so I did."
"And then what, he asked you to hit him?"
"...Yes." He says matter of factly.

"Oh come on, 'Ten, I'm supposed to believe that?"

"Is it really that hard to believe?" You even suggested it, "That's the type of person he is. You should know that better than me."
"Goten! Even if I believed he, in some absurd failure of logic, asked you to try and spar him at full power, why would you agree? Why?! Are you as brain damaged as he is?" The comment comes out before he has time to think it through and he inhales sharply with regret. "'Ten, you know you vastly outclass him. You knew you could hurt him. Why on Earth would you agree to something like that? I know you're still angry at him, but-"
"Because he's just like everyone said!" the words come out rushed and splintered with truth. "All he wants is to get stronger. All he wants to do is train. All he wants is for me to not be mad at him." Goten rolls his eyes, "He's been asking me almost every day since he came back if he could spar with me. And finally I said yes because I figured it couldn't hurt to have someone in my life who takes an interest in my hobbies instead of always telling me I'm wasting my time! Or use them to vent their own anger issues and beat the shit out of me." He pauses to gauge Gohan's reaction and take a breath, "So, of course when he asked me to hit him full power I said yes! I didn't- I didn't think he'd get knocked out in one hit." His voice drops, "I thought he was going to be... better."
Gohan frowns and adjusts his glasses more or less accepting of his response, "Yeah, he has that effect on people."
"Not like it takes much to disappoint you though. At least my expectations were let down in an area he can improve." Goten mutters.
Gohan ignores his brother's quip and tries to redirect the conversation to more important matters, "Neither Dende nor Senzu can do much for head injuries." Gohan sighs, "His ki doesn't feel right. We should take him to a hospital."

"What? A hos- No! He's Saiyan, they can't do anything for him there." Besides, it's going to be so hard to sneak in Bra to a hospital, "They have enough trouble when either one us comes in. Do you know how many times Trunks has been pronounced dead on scene from alcohol poisoning only to wake up like two minutes later and finish the Keg?"

"Goten- uhg-" Gohan pinches the bridge of his nose underneath his glasses with muted exasperation, a gesture that always makes Goten smile, "please don't tell me these things. It does not make me feel better about Pan's so called relationship with him."
"My point is, he's going to be fine. He probably just needs... to sleep it off."
Gohan lowers his hand and raises a brow, "So I guess we should leave him here then? Let the wolves have him while he sleeps away his concussion. Great Idea, 'Ten, you always seem to have such creative solutions to your problems-"
"Shut up, obviously that's not what I'm suggesting. Why don't we take him... to your house?"
"My house? If anything we should take him back to mom's."
"No, no! She'll lose her mind. And... I- she's not very happy with me right now. I might have... said something when I was over earlier."
"You haven't seen her in years and you managed to make it worse!?"
"Hey! She brought it up! I tried to do what you said and pretend but she made it fucking impossible for me!"
"I'm sure she did. I'm sure it's anyone else's fault but yours."
"Ahh, Gohan!! That's not-! Look, she'll make a huge deal out of it. Out of me. Out of dad. You know she will. Just let him sleep it off at your house. He can go back tomorrow. He'll be fine, She'll be fine. ...I’ll be fine. Everything will be fine. I'm sure she's used to it by now anyway."
Gohan let's out a long irritated exhale and debates his options. He hates it when Goten makes a valid point, but he also doesn't want to deal with the mess of getting his mother worked up over what hopefully looks worse than it is, "Alright. I'll call her and let her know he's staying at my house for the night. Quality time with his sons, right?" He glares at Goten who seems suddenly very interested in the clouds, "But if he's not awake by morning I'm taking him to a hospital and telling her what happened."

"Great, I'm sure he's fine though." Goten smiles and moves to pick up their father. Gohan stops him and lifts their father over his own shoulder. Something in the back of his head said it still wasn't past Goten to 'accidentally' drop him.
- 29
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Prologue	By : Herpb4uDerp Category: Missing Data > Missing Data Views: 194 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
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Prologue