by Jamie L. Word
"Time's Running Out"
Kien and Android Prime continued their incredible battle above the landscape! The spectators continued to watch the incredible battle from below, very impressed by what they saw!
Meanwhile, Yoshio and Yuko continued on their journey in search of Dr. Dreg's lab. Flying over the terrain, they searched intently for the lab. Yoshio consulted the map once more and then looked back at the landscape for signs of the lab.
"The map indicates that Dr. Dreg's lab should be around here somewhere!" Yoshio declared to Yuko as they flew along. "Keep your eyes open for it! We could come across it any second now!"
"Right!" Yuko replied as she really looked hard for the lab along the ground below. "We have to find it and help the others with those androids!"
Suddenly, Yoshio spotted something. He stopped snd hovered in mid-air, prompting Yuko to likewise stop and hover there in the air.
"What is it?" Yuko inquired, curious as to why her brother had stopped all of a sudden. "What's wrong?"
"I think we may have found something," Yoshio muttered as he looked down in at the landscape with an awed expression.
Yuko turned her attention to look where her brother was looking, and she too was overtaken by an awed expression. Below them was a cave in the side of a massive butte-like mesa. Something glistened from inside the cave entrance, the from the Zodorian sun reflecting off of something apparently metallic in substance. They were transfixed at the sight they beheld.
Meanwhile, in the Chamber of Spirit and Time, Koji and Kato were still training hard, but this time they were training outside the space pod in the open training area. They were sparring, and Kato was giving his father everything he had, yet Koji was able to fend off the boy's attacks.
"You're doing well, my son!" Koji declared with an encouraging assessment of his young son's performance. "To think that an eight-year-old boy could be so strong and skilled is mind-boggling, but, then again, you are my son! Still, you must try harder! The fate of this world relies on us! Your mother and your uncle, their lives depend upon our success here! Everything hangs in the balance, and this is your time to weigh in! Show me your Saiyan heart, boy! Give me everything you've got!"
"Alright, Dad! You asked for it!" Kato replied as he prepared to go all-out against his father in their sparring match.
Kato began firing energy blasts at Koji, but Koji defended himself easily, evading some of them and swatting others aside nonchalantly! Kato continued his fruitless endeavor a bit longer, but Koji's defenses were still too much for him to overcome! Kato became aggitated and frustrated at this!
"Come on, boy! You possess within you the blood of a royal Saiyan!" Koji barked at his son, sharing Kato's frustration. "You possess within you the hidden potential to become a Super Saiyan! Is that all you've got?"
Angered by his father's words, Kato felt the rage awaken something deep within him! A golden flaming aura ensheathed him, and his black hair stood up and stiffened a bit without changing color! The young lad then began firing more powerful blasts, one right after another, at his father, but Koji just picked up the pace a little bit and successfully defended against his son's more formidable power!
"A Golden 'Flamed' Saiyan?!? At his age?!?" Koji thought to himself as he now began to show signs of being challenged by his son's new power. "That's incredible! I didn't become a Golden 'Flamed' Saiyan until I was twice his age! Unbelievable! But it's not enough! He must surpass that!"
"It looks like I'm in your league now!" Kato called out to his father in pride over his transformation and increased power and skill.
"Silly, child!" Koji rebuked his son, transforming into a Golden 'Flamed' Saiyan as well and once more rising far beyond his son's abilities. "What will you do now?"
"I ... I don't know," Kato muttered as he stopped and lowered his head in disappointment when he realized his father's superior power and skill. "I worked so hard to reach this point, but I'm still not strong enough!"
"I worked long and hard to reach the power of a Super Saiyan, but the androids were still much too strong for me to defeat, even as a Super Saiyan! You don't see me giving up do you? Don't you dare quit on me, boy!" Koji rebuked as he raced forward and backhanded Kato across the face, knocking him across the training area and onto his backside. "Now, get up!"
The boy got to his feet once again, his hair bristling even more as his face displayed his anger over being so uncerimoniously knocked on his backside by his father in such an embarassing manner.
"That's good! Let your anger build within you!" Koji shouted to Kato, continuing to feed his emotional state. "Where's your heart, boy? Where's your pride? What? Are you ashamed of your heritage?"
Kato's anger continued to build, and small bits of the floor began to break away and rise into the air as Kato's fury grew. Koji smiled a slight smile, noting that he had found the key to the door he wished to open. The ground began to tremble slightly beneath their feet as Kato's golden flaming aura pulsated, swelling one moment and returning to normal the next.
"Stop it, Dad!" Kato cried out as a tear streamed down his cheek. "Why are you saying that? It's not true! Don't say that! Just stop it!"
"Why, boy? Are you feeling angry?" Koji rebuked his son in an almost taunting manner. "You think you're angry now? How are you going to feel when you realize you are too weak to protect the ones you love?"
Kato's rage continued to build, and electricity crackled around his body after hearing those words. He began grimacing and growling in his growing anger, and the wind began to howl, wafting his hair in its growing strength.
"How are you going to feel when you beloved Uncle Yoshio is killed because you didn't have the strength to protect him?" Koji continued, causing Kato's flaming energy aura to swell as Kato's rage grew inside him even more. "And what about your precious mother? You want her to be safe, don't you? Do you want to lose your mother because of being too weak to protect her?"
At that pronouncement, Kato's rage became too much for him to contain any longer and a deeply hidden dam burst forth with a flood of power! His golden flaming aura swelled and brightened as electricity crackled around him and powerful winds blew out from him in all directions! His eyes turned green, and his hair turned blond as he transformed in dramatic fashion! Koji's eyes widened with pride and excitement as he witnessed the transformation!
"Stop it!" the boy screamed in almost uncontrollable rage as he began firing incredibly powerful blasts at his father.
Koji's eyes widened with incredulous disbelief as he saw the blasts coming towards him! He quickly transformed into a Super Saiyan as well, and he managed to avoid Kato's anger-laced assault until he could get him to calm down and control his power!
"Kato! You have to listen to me!" Koji called out to his rampaging son as he evaded blast after blast. "You have to calm down now and gain control of your emotions! You must achieve control! You've done it! You are a Super Saiyan! Now you must get control of yourself!"
After a few more moments of his rage, Kato calmed down and realized what had happened. He then began jumping up and down, celebrating.
"Hey! I did it! I'm a Super Saiyan!" Kato cheered as he reveled in the new power he possessed. "Ha-ha! Whoopee! Yay! I did it! Alright!"
"There!" Koji replied as they both calmed down and stood there in front of each other as Super Saiyans. "I'm sorry I had to cause you so much pain and emotional anquish, my son, but it was the only way to get you to this."
"I don't understand, Dad," Kato said with a perplexed look on his face as he looked up at his father. "What do you mean?"
"The Super Saiyan transformation is triggered by rage," Koji explained to his son. "The only way I could get you to the Super Saiyan state was to light the fires of rage within you to the level of a massive inferno. Now that you're a Super Saiyan, we can really get down to some major training!"
Koji powered down to his normal state, prompting Kato to do likewise. Kato then wiped his brow and seemed to be a bit tired. Koji smiled.
"The transformation to Super Saiyan takes a lot of energy, doesn't it?" Koji commented to his son. "Well, I'm going to show you something now. I've found a level beyond that of a Super Saiyan. Watch."
Koji transformed into a Super Saiyan once again, getting Kato's undivided attention! Then, he assumed a wide stance and tensed up all of his muscles until every vein in his body bulged! His golden flaming aura began to swell as bits and pieces of the training area floor began to chip away and rise into the air! Strong winds began blowing out from Koji's body, bowling Kato over backwards so that he tumbled heel-over-head for about twenty feet before he ended his tumbling backwards roll sitting up, propped up by his hands planted on the floor behind him! Kato watched in astonishment as Koji began a long, drawn-out yell while powering up to the next level!
Electricity crackled around Koji and his swelling aura he generated even more energy than in the fight against the androids, and Kato was in awe! Koji's muscles began increasing in mass while remaining chiseled, and Kato couldn't believe his eyes! After about fifteen seconds of powering up, Koji was massive! He had gigantic arms and legs, and every muscle in his body was chiseled as if out of granite! His body radiated energy, the likes of which Kato had never sensed before! Kato jumped to his feet and rushed closer to his father in amazement!
"This is incredible, Dad!" Kato exclaimed in disbelief and enthusiasm. "Your power, it's huge! You'll be stronger than those androids for sure now! I'll bet you could even whoop them all at the same time and never break a sweat! I know you can!"
"I could go one step farther if I wanted to," Koji declared, startling his son with the proclamation.
With another grunt of exertion, Koji caused his muscles to almost explode as they gained even more bulk still, and his flaming energy aura flared in response to the sudden power surge! Electricity crackled within his flaring aura momentarily, and Kato's jaw dropped in awe!
Meanwhile, Usami was still searching for the androids, following Kien's energy signal to track them by. He flew along with an eager grin on his monstrouos face. He seemed very excited.
"Good, Namek!" Usami thought to himself as he flew along at high speed. "You've given me a powerful beacon to lead me to you ... and the androids! Oh, what a happy day, the day I become complete! And I have you to thank for it, Kuang! The very notion that one of this planet's most stalwart defenders is actually lending me a hand in destroying this world is a most sweet bit of irony! Oh, how I thoroughly enjoy savoring the taste of this irony! Why, I'm positively tingling with excitement!"
The monstrous incubus broke into laughter as he increased his speed to reach the site where Kien was fighting Android Prime as quickly as he could.
Meanwhile, Kien and Android Prime continued to hammer each other with brutal punches, kicks, and other assorted hand-to-hand techniques! Their bodies were bruised heavilly from all of the pounding, yet they continued to clash! Kien was bleeding from the corner of his lip, and Android Prime had some sort of leak from the corner of his mouth resembling bleeding!
Kien broke away from the hand-to-hand action, prompting Android Prime to disengage as well, and began launching his scattershot energy technique at the android! Android Prime dodged each and every blast that came his way! After an extensive scattershot attack, Kien launched a special beam cannon attack at the android! Android Prime crossed his arms in front of his face in the path of the blast and then started to yell, preparing for the collision! When the attack hit his crossed arms, Android Prime spread his arms back out, deflecting and dispersing Kien's blast! Grimacing in frustration, Kien began charging a masenko ball to fire at Android Prime!
"He deflected Kuang's special beam cannon!" Kien thought to himself as he charged up his masenko ball attack. "This is insane! We seem to be completely equal in power, strength, and speed! I have to find a way to defeat him and fast! He might not get tired, but, eventually, I will! I have to hope he makes a mistake before then, or fatigue is going to cost me this fight!"
"I don't understand," Android Prime thought to himself as he glared at the Namek warrior charging up the masenko ball technique. "Our data indicates that he should not be this powerful. Somehow he's gotten even stronger than the last time, and, even then, he far exceeded the indications of our data! Even those two Zodorian fighters are far stronger than they should be according to our data! It didn't exactly bother me too much before when they far exceeded in power what we had in our data banks concerning them, but the Namek seems to be my equal in strength and speed this time around! How is this possible? And where is the Saiyan? Why isn't he here with his friends? And what about that other Namek fighter that was with them the last time? What happened to him? Did they die or run away? Or are they planning some sort of sneak attack while all of our attention is on my fight with this one? What's going on here?"
The ground shook violently beneath them as Kien powered up his masenko ball! Small pebbles, stones, and rocks began rising from the ground as strong winds blew out from the Namek while he charged his attack up! Electricity crackled around him and his glowing white flame aura as the energy ball forming in his hands glowed brilliantly with incredible power! With a cry of 'Masenko-ha!' preceeding the attack, the Namek launched the powerful energy ball towards Android Prime! Android Prime looked horrified by the sight of the potent attack streaking right at him, and he raised both hands up and pointed them at the incoming attack to defend himself!
Meanwhile, Yoshio and Yuko prepared to go investigate the metallic glistening in the cave when is moved! Looking closer, they could see that it was a sliding metal door, and it was sliding into the side of the cave entrance, opening up to them! Before they could move in to investigate further, about twenty-five guys wearing uniforms similar to those worn by the androids flew out of the cave to meet the Earth heroes!
"Uh-oh! It looks like trouble!" Yoshio noted aloud, displaying his uncanny knack for noticing the obvious. "Here comes the welcoming committee! I guess this is the place!"
"No duh, Sherlock!" Yuko snidely snubbed her older brother, prompting him to be just a bit aggitated by her remarks. "What exactly was the defining moment when you came to that conclusion?"
"Save it for those guys, will ya?" Yoshio rebuked his sister as they assumed combat stances in mid-air, ready for a fight against their foes. "Just remember everything Koji and I taught ya about fighting, especially the lessons about fighting large numbers of cannon fodder henchmen, and you'll do alright! They're not that strong compared to us! Let's hit 'em hard and fast! Don't give 'em any time to think or react, okay!"
"Don't worry about me," Yuko replied with unwavering confidence. "Save your concern for them! They're going to need it!"