บท 29: Ch. 29: Pigero and the Giant Ape (2)

"Sorry, Gohan, but if it's between your tail and who-knows-how many innocent people, there's no choice there!" Pigero shouted, dodging one of Gohan's huge ape hands as it swiped at him.

"ROAR!" Pigero really hoped that that meant something along the lines of 'Do whatever you have to! Just stop me!', but he didn't know for sure. Right now, the bright, smiling kid he'd had fun with about six months ago was just a mindless, rampaging monster. If he didn't stop Gohan from firing more of those energy blasts at the ocean, there was a good chance that the kid would generate a tsunami like the one that wiped out Pigero's village.

"Ka-me-ha-me-ha!" Pigero threw a weakish Kamehameha at Gohan's face to get his attention before speeding up into the atmosphere where the kid couldn't do as much harm to the planet. Luckily for him, that seemed to do the trick, as the ape followed him, firing blast after blast into the upper atmosphere with seemingly never-ending, spine-chilling power. Since there was no moon up there, there was nothing for Gohan to hit but Pigero, who had enough of a head start that he was able to dodge the kid's energy blasts. Unfortunately, Gohan's rampaging form outclassed Pigero's abilities in every single way. A single swipe of his huge hands would probably kill him, just the same as if he was hit by the ape's feet. Each energy blast could totally rearrange the landscape, maybe even destroy a planet.

The only thing Pigero had going for him was his reason. As he flew desperately into the upper atmosphere, he could feel the air getting thinner and thinner the higher he went. It was getting harder and harder to keep flying, and he could feel his strength waning, flagging as the ape caught up with him, having been clearly cut from a different cloth than the teenager.

Finally, Pigero couldn't keep flying anymore. As the ape caught him in its grip, the teenager's mind flew through every single technique that Hanna had taught him, trying to find one that could possibly get him out of this situation as Gohan squeezed him. Finally, it came to him. The one that he'd used every time that he was in a desperate spot during training.

"AGH!!!" He screamed, but he still managed to gather his energy, "LIMIT BREAK! SOLAR FLARE!"

...

'Mistress, Gohan went ape!' Shay shouted in my head a few moments after Nappa threw the energy ball into the sky. I cursed under my breath at her statement. I'd been the one to tell Piccolo to spare Gohan's tail, thinking that it'd be useful later. Now, my sentiments were causing incredible danger that wasn't in the canon at all.

I immediately blasted off towards the area where Gohan's ape form was, but since I couldn't remove my limiters, power up, or teleport, I could sense that I wouldn't make it in time to stop Gohan from thrashing Krillin, who had stayed behind to allow Chiaotzu to escape, and Pigero, who I wanted to scream at for being stupid enough to leave Kame house, even though I'd told him not to.

'Mistress, I can do it!' Shay offered to stop Gohan for me, but I shook my head as I flew. Me stopping Gohan as I am would just barely be tolerable, since I was limiting myself to a point where I was weaker than him, but Shay's nature made it useless to limit her like that. She'd be breaking universal balance, and I'd hear it from Whis later if I let her.

As I flew at the highest speed that I could muster towards Gohan, I saw him and Pigero shoot upwards past the clouds. A few moments later, there was a blinding flash.

...

Krillin got knocked unconscious the moment that Gohan hit him, saving him the pain that came with having his left arm broken, as well as sparing him the feeling of flying through a solid mountain of earth, but when his body hit the surface of the ocean and started to skip like a rock, breaking his ribs and left leg, the pain woke him up to his own ear-piercing scream.

Krillin had died before, but he'd never felt pain as vivid as this in all his life. It was almost enough to make him black out again as he finally broke the surface of the water after losing momentum on his fifth skip, but he managed to stay conscious through sheer force of will, using his flying techniques underwater to propel him toward air.

"AAGH!" Krillin's face broke the surface of the water just as Gohan shot his second blast at the ocean, causing the water to pull him back down after just a single breath of fresh air, bringing with it another shearing sensation of excruciating pain. The next time that he managed to pull himself to the surface of the water, Krillin bore witness to Pigero shooting up past the clouds, Gohan right on his tail. A moment later, there was a blinding flash, followed by a huge explosion. Krillin couldn't do anything but watch as Gohan's huge ape form dropped from the sky, covered in blood and flames.

"Pigero!!" He shouted, blasting out of the water, ignoring the pain that shot through his entire body. When he finally made it to the crater where the ape was, there was no Pigero. Just a giant, screaming ape covered in flames and blood.

Gohan hadn't even been knocked unconscious. He blasted the area around him indiscriminately as he flailed in a desperate, instinctive attempt to put out the fire covering him. When he finally succeeded, he was covered in wounds, there were patches of his fur missing, but he still clearly had enough energy to destroy everything around him in his still increasing rampage, causing Krillin's heart to plummet in his chest.

"Pigero!" Krillin heard a scream from the other side of the crater that Gohan was currently in. Gohan and Krillin both turned their heads to see who was there. It was Hanna. And she did not look happy.