Dragonball Super Z
http://hometown.aol.com/juuhachigouda/dbszfic.html
By: Juuhachi-gou <juuhachigouda@aol.com> and MiraiBulma
Dragonball Z

Dead Souls:
Part Two
"A Duel of Personalities"


a duel of personalities
that stretch all true reality

~*~

	"Now, you’re sure you want to wait here?" Bulma tipped her head. 
"I might be a while."
	Juuhachi-gou shrugged. "It makes no difference to me. Just be 
sure you come and get me when you’re ready to load the car. I don’t 
want you straining that arm. You may feel better than you did 
yesterday, but you’re still healing."
	"Okay, I will, I promise." Bulma smiled. "Though really I can 
manage--"
	"Bulma, don’t give me that."
	"Hai, hai." With a wave Bulma headed into the store. Juuhachi-gou 
settled herself and watched the passersby idly. Not so long ago the 
sight of so many humans would’ve set her on edge, but now she almost 
welcomed the flow of pedestrians. It meant the city was restoring 
itself. Maybe she and Juunana-gou hadn’t quite driven the human race to 
extinction. She permitted herself the barest trace of hope. It wasn’t 
much to make up for all the lives she’d taken, but--
	"Excuse me..."
	"Hm?" Juuhachi-gou looked up into a pair of serious eyes under a 
shock of dark hair. Almost instantly she recognized the young girl 
who’d attacked her a few days ago, right before the resurrection of the 
Z Senshi. "Can I help you?"
	The girl nodded slowly, hesitated, then bowed. "I’m Videl," she 
said quietly. "I...I was wondering if you’d talk to me. I think we’ve 
got a lot to talk about."
	"Sure." Seeing the girl’s unease, Juuhachi-gou got out of the 
car, trying not to appear intimidating. "Maybe you’d like to talk 
somewhere a little less public?" she suggested, not really expecting 
the girl to agree. After all, last time they’d spoken Videl hadn’t had 
much better to say than obscenities, and since then, from all they’d 
heard up at Capsule Corporation, the young lady had been carrying on a 
one-female hate campaign. This sudden change intrigued Juuhachi-gou, 
though she wasn’t much worried. Very little if anything Videl could 
muster would stand a chance of harming her, if that’s what was in 
store.
	"Hai, please." Videl drew a breath, looked around. "Maybe...maybe 
over there?" She pointed at a small park down the street, in easy view 
of the market. "They’re still cleaning it up, I don’t think we’d bother 
anyone."
	Juuhachi-gou raised an eyebrow, studied the park a moment, then 
shrugged. "If you’re comfortable with it." She set off in that 
direction, Videl falling in beside her. Picking her way past toppled 
benches, she settled on a fragment of a shattered statue and looked at 
Videl expectantly.
	Videl swept her hair behind her ears, fidgeted a bit, then took a 
breath and said, "I’m...sorry I was cruel to you. People around here 
seem to’ve accepted you...and they have as much reason or more than I 
do--did--to hate and fear you. You destroyed their city as well as 
their lives."
	*Gets right to the point doesn’t she?* Juuhachi-gou thought, 
wincing inside. Aloud she said, "I’m sorry too. I know that doesn’t 
count for much. As it is..." she shrugged. "I can’t change the way the 
world was. Only the way it’s going to be."
	"I hear you." Videl spread her hands. "But I don’t believe you, 
not completely. Please, can’t you give me a reason to? Tell me how you 
feel."
	"I...I don’t talk well about my feelings," Juuhachi-gou said, the 
words sounding hollow even to her. "I’m too new to them."
	"Then how do you know you’re sorry?"
	"How does anyone know?" Juuhachi-gou stopped. "That’s not an 
answer. Forgive me." She picked her next words as carefully as she 
could. "If the same choices presented themselves to me...knowing what I 
know now...I wouldn’t do what I did. I’d try to stop Juunana-gou, talk 
sense into him. Make him see that Gero stole our lives to have revenge 
on a world he despised."
	"Dr. Gero, hai. He was a genius, wasn’t he, almost as smart as 
Bulma-san?"
	"Probably smarter, about some things. But then, Bulma is an 
expert in fields Gero didn’t know much if anything about, so they’re 
even. If you consider sheer creativity and versatility, I suppose 
they’re pretty equal."
	"Don’t you think he might’ve put, I don’t know, some kind of 
backup in you? Something to restore your original programming in case 
you were damaged? How do you know you’ll never become what you were 
again?" Videl’s fists clenched. "How do you know?"
	"I don’t know. Believe me, I’m as worried about that as you are."
	"How can you worry?! You’re just a machine!!"
	"I don’t think this conversation is getting anywhere." Juuhachi-
gou slid off the stone and glanced up towards the market. "Besides, I’m 
sure Bulma will be finishing her shopping soon. I should go and help 
her."
	"I think Bulma will be looking for new ‘help’ soon," a second 
voice intruded. Juuhachi-gou turned, a puzzled frown crossing her 
features. "Gohan?" she said, blinking as the young man stepped out from 
behind one of the few remaining trees. "I didn’t know you were here." 
She tipped her head, some dim warning beginning to sound in the back of 
her mind. Why hadn’t she felt his presence?
	Gohan only smirked, then looked at Videl. "Good job. Now move out 
of the way. This will be quick and violent. I don’t want to waste time 
on killing the jinzouningen."
	Juuhachi-gou stared, hearing but not understanding what Gohan was 
saying. "N..Nani?" she forced out at last. "Gohan?"
	The young warrior only leveled a hand at her, light already 
gathering in a corona around it. As the blast leapt out at her, 
Juuhachi-gou dove to one side, rolling and coming up to return fire 
instinctively. Gohan batted it aside with one hand, amber energy 
wrapping up around him as he transformed to Super Saiyajin. Videl 
gasped, eyes widening. "G-Golden Warrior--" she stammered. 
	"Baka na." Gohan threw her an irritated glance. "Will you get out 
of the way? I’ve got plans for you."
	Juuhachi-gou took advantage of the momentary shift of Gohan’s 
attention to take to the air, shooting up and out of town at her best 
speed. She didn’t want to confront him right now for several reasons, 
not least of which was the fact he was potentially the most powerful of 
the Z Senshi. If he was seriously trying to kill her--and the shot he’d 
fired hadn’t been lacking in power enough to do that--then she needed 
to stay out of his way until she figured out what had brought him to 
this.
	A surge of energy behind her caught her attention, and she barrel 
rolled just in time to dodge another ki burst. "Gohan, yamero!" she 
shouted over her shoulder. "What’s gotten into you?!"
	"Na, don’t bother asking. You won’t be around long enough for the 
answer to matter." Putting on a little extra speed, Gohan drew abreast 
of Juuhachi-gou. "You’re useless to me. I need the Saiyajin, and you 
don’t count. Nothing personal."
	Back down on the ground, Videl shaded her eyes and watched as the 
two tiny figures flitted back and forth in the sky, lines of fire drawn 
between them. When Gohan’d come to her and offered to help destroy the 
jinzouningen, at first she’d been delighted. At last someone had 
listened to her warning, shared her doubts about Juuhachi-gou’s 
sincerity. But hadn’t there been something missing in Gohan’s eyes, and 
something added? 
	And was she so sure the terrible dark fire in those eyes was such 
a good thing to see, when it seemed to’ve crushed out the gentle light 
that made him someone to trust?
	Others were gathering now, pointing upward and murmuring, and 
Videl suddenly felt nervous about her part in it. She turned and 
slipped through the tiny crowd, wondering what she should do next. 
Looking around, she spied Bulma standing outside the market, obviously 
searching for the Artificial Human. Some impulse of propriety drew her 
that way. "Bulma-san?"
	"Who--" Bulma turned, scowled, then nodded. "Oh, aren’t you--"
	"Never mind." Videl pointed upwards. "Your...friend...Juuhachi-
gou is up there."
	"What in the world--? Who’s that she’s fighting with?!" 
	"Anou...it’s, um, Gohan...Son Gohan?"
	"Nani?!" Bulma darted past Videl and all but dove into her 
aircar, yanking open the glove compartment and jerking out a pair of 
binoculars. Cursing under her breath at the cast on her arm, she 
clumsily focussed on the distant combatants. "Oh no..." The field 
glasses slipped from her hand and thudded to the ground as she gaped in 
disbelief. Then old reflexes took over and she ran around the other 
side of the aircar, jumped in. "No way I can stop them..." she 
muttered. "Vegeta, you had better be home."
	"Oi, Bulma-san, please can I come with you?" Videl heard herself 
saying. "I--I think this is partly my fault."
	"What’s that supposed to mean? Never mind. You can explain later. 
Get in, sit down, buckle up, and hang on!" Bulma floored the 
accelerator, yanking the steering wheel around in a vicious circle as 
the engine protested, and headed at top speed for Capsule Corporation.
	In the air above, Juuhachi-gou turned and twisted, using her own 
ki powers mostly to deflect Gohan’s shots. Too many of them were coming 
uncomfortably close. He was guessing her moves much, much too easily. 
Time to go on the initiative, she thought grimly. She came to a sudden 
halt in mid-air, trusting that her cybernetic reflexes were still that 
fraction quicker than even a Super Saiyajin’s. As Gohan overshot her, 
rotating in mid-air to face her, she lifted her hands and fired, hoping 
to stun him.
	With a snarl Gohan batted the ki shot aside. "That’s not nearly 
enough to stop me now," he said. "I have more power than you can dream 
of. Enough to finish what I started years ago." He laughed, a cruel 
sound. "Kind of a pity Freeza’s not around. I’d love to see his face as 
I blew him apart."
	"Freeza..?" Juuhachi-gou shook her head. "What are you talking 
about, Gohan-san?"
	"Don’t be so formal, Juuhachi-gou. You can call me Gohan. It’s 
almost the truth anyway."
	Juuhachi-gou’s eyes narrowed. The way he moved, spoke, 
acted...she peered at Gohan closely, reading his ki, and gasped. "You--
you’re not--"
	"Say goodbye, osanai ningyo." Gohan’s hands cupped in front of 
him, then swung to one side. "KAAA-ME-HAAA-ME-HAAAA!"
	Below, in the road, Videl squealed as the sky seemed to light up 
with a second sun. Bulma gripped the wheel grimly and didn’t look up--
she knew the sound of that attack only too well. "Kuso, kuso, kuso," 
she muttered. "What’s gotten into Gohan?!" She threw the aircar into a 
bootlegger’s turn in front of Capsule Corporation and leapt out before 
the dust settled, wincing as the motion jostled her injured arm, and 
ran up the steps. "Vegeta! VEGETA!"
	Videl got out more slowly, looking up into the sky and blinking 
as the great light faded. One of the two distant figures seemed to be 
getting slowly larger, and she realized someone was falling to the 
earth, limp and motionless. But which one? She agonized. Oh, Gohan!
	"What?!" a deep voice growled nearby. Jumping, Videl whirled, 
eyes widening again in shock and terror as she took in the newcomer. 
With infinite care she began to edge along the side of the car, hoping 
she wouldn’t be noticed.
	Piccolo noticed anyway and summarily dismissed the human girl as 
no threat. He even favored her with a glance and a slow half-smile that 
froze her in her tracks. *Yeah, that’s right, girl, take a good look, 
Piccolo the Demon King in person. Better people than you have taken the 
memory of my face down with ‘em as their last vision in this life. –I 
love it when they cower. It’s so funny. You’d think I was about to eat 
them alive. Almost makes me wish I had to eat, just so I could freak 
them out by walking around munching on a nice raw leg of something.* 
Then he turned his attention to the sky. *Now what is going on around 
here? Why’s Gohan powered up--and where’s Juuhachi-gou? I felt her ki 
up till a few minutes ago, but now there’s nothing. Got to be something 
wrong.*
	"Great, he’s not--" Bulma barreled out of the building, caught 
sight of the Namekseijin, and finished, "Piccolo-san! Thank Kami!"
	"Don’t thank Kami, this version had nothing to do with me." 
Turning, Piccolo folded his arms, jerked a thumb at Videl. "This one’s 
next to useless. I hope you know what’s going on, Bulma."
	"Something’s wrong with Gohan. Juuhachi-gou and I were going 
grocery shopping, and when I came out she was nowhere to be seen. 
Videl-chan here said something about him attacking Juu!"
	Piccolo looked at Videl (who tried to shrink even more) and read 
the guilt in her eyes. "You can explain later," he growled at her, 
watching her face go whiter. "Right now I’ve gotta go talk some sense 
into the kid. Don’t go anywhere." He shot upwards toward the pale 
figure hanging in the sky above Capsule Corporation, slowing as he 
approached. "Gohan."
	Gohan turned to face him, and Piccolo half gasped, half snarled 
silently. Gohan it might seem to be, but an alien expression lay on the 
youngster’s face, fierce and unforgiving and lacking the candleflame of 
compassion that always touched his eyes. It was a stranger looking back 
at him, and Piccolo didn’t like it. "Who are you?" he snapped, fist 
clenching.
	"Piccolo-san, don’t you know me?" 
	"I know you’re sure not the person you look like."
	"You’re very observant." Gohan tipped his head to one side as if 
listening to something. "I should’ve expected that; you’re the closest 
one to Gohan, except for..." the expression softened a bit. "Except for 
Kakarott."
	"Keep digging that grave, bud, you’re going to need it. Where is 
Gohan?"
	"In here." Gohan tapped his own chest. "Right where he’s always 
been. Just consider me a new tenant. We’re sharing the body."
	"Whuh...what?" Piccolo stammered, and at the same moment he 
heard, or thought he heard, a voice as thin as the wind in his mind: 
*Piccolo-san! Wa.. watashi na otetsudai...*
	*Gohan!*
	*He won’t let me out-!*
	"Shut up," Gohan said aloud casually, and the voice faded. He 
shook his head. "The boy’s persistent, I’ll say that. Strong will. Just 
as a Saiyajin should be."
	"You’ve got three seconds to--"
	"To what?" Gohan smirked. "What are you going to do? You know 
Gohan’s in here with me. And don’t think I don’t know how he worships 
you, and how really close you are to him, despite the way you act when 
anyone else is around. What you do to me you do to him as well."
	For a moment Piccolo hung in the air, head bent; then he looked 
up and smiled grimly. "Yeah. That might be true. But I’m not letting 
you just walk all over us or him. Gohan wouldn’t want me to give in 
like that." 
	With an impatient sound Gohan--or whoever was wearing his body--
charged in, fists swinging. "Idiot Namekseijin," he said under his 
breath. "You might’ve been useful. Now you’re just a dead man."
	Piccolo twisted and flew backwards, dodging the punches ramming 
in at him. *He’s not kidding around*, he thought, *this nutcase is 
trying to kill me. And with Gohan’s power, he can do it too.*  Piccolo 
concentrated, feeling the stranger out and finding no trace of Gohan’s 
ki around him. *He’s got Gohan pushed so far down the poor kid’s 
practically locked in a box. I can’t count on any help from there.* 
Gritting his fangs, he jabbed a fist forward into the young Saiyajin’s 
ribs hard enough to knock the breath out of him. *One thing, his 
fighting style’s different. A little simpler, maybe. Not that it’ll 
help much, but if I can take advantage of this guy’s unfamiliarity with 
Gohan’s body...*  An open palm strike rattled him, and he winced. 
"That’s gonna leave a mark," he grumbled.
	As the two forms jockeyed for position, blows and blocks falling 
faster than she could follow, Bulma clenched her fists, feeling 
helpless. *Where ARE Trunks and Vegeta?! I swear I’m going to make them 
start wearing beepers. Something is seriously wrong with Gohan, he’d 
never attack Piccolo--* she stopped, a cold little fear creeping around 
her heart. *Did...did I get something wrong in the incubation process? 
Could something have gone wrong in Gohan’s brain? Please no! If that’s 
the case, then it could be happening to them all...*  a nightmare 
filled her mind’s eye of Vegeta, returned to the conscienceless killing 
machine of his earlier life, and Gokou beside him, no longer Son Gokou 
at all but Kakarott, the Saiyajin, sent to Earth to wipe it clean of 
life. She shivered, then grabbed at Videl and ran for the steps of the 
building as Piccolo rocketed down out of the air and slammed full-force 
into the car, reducing it to scrap.
	"This isn't working," Piccolo said, pulling himself out of the 
metal and glaring up at the stranger in Gohan’s shape.  
		//Dende.//
		/Piccolo-san! I was about to call you--/
		//Never mind that. Find Gokou and the others, I’m a little 
	busy to figure out where they are right now. I need them here. 
	Gohan’s been possessed.//
	A mental gasp. 
		/So that’s where it went!/
		//Where WHAT went?!//
		/Enma-sama, I’ve been at his palace. They had an escape 
	from Hell. All the terrible overcrowding, things have gotten lax. 
	An old and powerful soul found a way out. Enma-sama says it would 
	need to inhabit a living body in order to remain in our world. 
	And if it stays long enough, it will take the body over!/
		//Take...over?//
		/The two spirits will meld, Piccolo-san. Gohan-san will be 
	absorbed!/
	"Yeah right he will," Piccolo snarled, rage flooding him. "Over 
	my dead body." 
		//Get off your butt, we need a little divine intervention 
	down here if you don’t want this planet going down the Cosmic 
	Sewer.//
		/Piccolo-san, the rules--/
		//Stuff the rules where the moon shines! You’ve already 
	broken out of one rut, Dende. Don’t give me that crap. This is 
	your planet to watch over, so WATCH OVER IT!// 
	Piccolo broke the mental communication angrily and flew back up, 
where Gohan waited. *I should’ve asked what this guy’s name is. I’d 
kinda like to know who my killer’s going to be.* "Okay, party boy, 
let’s get started. Hell misses you, and I mean to send you right back 
there on a one-way ticket."
	He had the brief satisfaction of seeing the derisive grin drop 
off Gohan’s face, replaced by a momentary look of consternation, before 
the interloper dove in at him and the battle began in earnest.
	Up at his palace, Dende opened his eyes, beads of sweat trickling 
down his face. "But I can’t interfere directly," he half moaned. "It’s 
forbidden, he knows that! The only reason I’m allowed to commune with 
him in this way is that once he was part of the old Gaurdian."
	"Piccolo-san has always been one to consider the forbidden no 
different than the ordinary," Mr. Popo said quietly. "Remember his 
origins."
	"H-Hai." Stricken, the young Kami looked up at his servant and 
advisor. "And if I don’t help, the one using Gohan’s form is very 
likely to kill Piccolo--and anyone else who gets in his way. That 
includes the Z Senshi most particularly."
	"It isn’t an easy choice." Mr. Popo lowered his head. "The 
greater the power, the more the responsibility that even the least 
action bears."
	Dende nodded, then shut his eyes again and thought, hands clasped 
so tight in front of him they trembled. Very softly, he said, "I can’t 
warn the Senshi directly. Not unless the world itself is threatened, 
and this intruder wants the Earth for himself."
	"That’s so."
	"But if...if in their hearts...they felt a need to return at once 
to Capsule Corporation...I’m not in control of their feelings...and 
besides, battle calls to the Saiyajin. No doubt they already know 
something’s happening."
	"That’s also true."
	Dende nodded and flattened his palms together as if in prayer, 
sending the subtlest tendrils of thought out, the tiniest nudge, the 
softest of whispers. *Go home*, it said, and *go to Bulma*, and *find 
Gohan*.
	And across the face of the world, three men, one off by himself 
thinking and two locked in a spar, stopped, like hounds catching a 
scent on the breeze, attention turning to the distant horizon. Without 
a word all three took to the sky from where they each were, and the 
feel of power raised in battle pulled them on.

End Chapter Six