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Chapter 33 — The Connected Ones
"Why are you sitting all alone?" The young girl with bright innocent eyes and cropped blonde hair walked over to a shaded tree. It was Orange Star Primary School, and sitting beneath the fir tree that grew in the school yard was a another young girl who was the polar opposite in terms of appearance. Eyes that reflected an attitude, and dark black hair that was shoulder length, tied in a ponytail. She wore shorts, a white shirt, and had a band-aid strapped over the bridged of her nose.
Had anyone been looking from a distance, they could have assumed it was a very wiry boy.
"What's it to you?" The black-haired youth asked. "Sometimes, I want to be alone."
"Doesn't look like it. You got beat up again, didn't you?"
"I would have won, if Uwaki hadn't gotten the rest of his little gang to tag in!"
"Well, there's nothing you can do about that; he's a boy, and boys are cheaters," replied the blonde simply. "You still lost, didn't you? If you had friends, you might not be under this tree at lunch all the time, with new band aids.
"Well, there's nothing you can do about that; he's a boy, and boys are cheaters," replied the blonde simply. "You still lost, didn't you? If you had friends, you might not be under this tree at lunch all the time, with new band aids.
The black haired girl shot the blonde haired one a look of distaste for a moment. She seemed to be appraising the new arrival. They were both only six, and it wasn't that she hated the girl standing next to her. They were friends, they had been for awhile. She just — she liked doing things, that was all. Even when it came to her best friend, she didn't need help.
"Dad's getting really famous..." She said finally, her lips forming the words as if she'd wanted to speak them for quite some time. "He's been taking on more and more martial arts competitions, and people are starting to call him the "strongest in the world"."
"Really?" Erasa seemed amazed. She had no idea Mr. Satan was becoming such a famous man, or perhaps she was simply oblivious. She knew Videl's dad was pretty strong, as he had been friends with her dad for a long time, and she'd seen him in action. "The strongest in the world? That's so cool!"
"It's not..." Videl replied bitterly. "Dad's just a showboat...he may be strong, but all that does is attract attention. And then everyone wants a piece of the daughter of the strongest man in the world. So I plant their faces into the ground, and then they bring their friends around and beat me back up..." She sounded angry, not just at her father and the bullies, but at herself, for not being strong enough. She was only six, but she seemed to have a very clear idea of one thing.
She needed strength.
"Videl..." Erasa took a seat next to the girl, leaning up against the trunk of the big fir tree. She leaned close to Videl, wrapping her arms around her best friend and leaning in. "I'm your friend — we're best friends, we always have been, always will be, right? — so you gotta come to me with these kinds of things. When people are being mean, I'll step in and protect you; you always look out for me, so I want to look out for you too!" She pressed a small finger to Videl's nose. "I don't want to keep seeing you get scuffed up."
"Protect me?" Videl laughed, a smile returning to her face in spite of her determined friend's words. "Erasa, you need me to watch over you. Remember when you got lost in the ball pit when we were three?"
"T-That was a long time ago! I'm bigger now!" Erasa huffed. "I can handle myself! And I can handle you too!"
The two girls began to laugh, first timidly, but then it began a hearty chime from their vocal chords. Little did they know, the years would wear away at these happy moments, these heartfelt declarations. It only took time.
Warm, liquid emotion rolled down Erasa's face. It wasn't something she immediately noticed until the liquid heat dripped down her face. Tears. But of course she'd be crying. Videl was settling into a stance before her, her forehead stamped with the mark of the devil, face contorted into comfortable rage. This wasn't something she wanted to do.
Isn't that why you became stronger? A snide voice inside her head asked. To protect this girl with your life; so nothing would ever happen to her.
"Yes." Erasa reaffirmed this, as if conversing with the deepest parts of herself. "I told myself I'd protect her! Its why I trained so hard, why I worked for the strength I have now! So even if she doesn't want me to...I can still keep her safe!"
"You've got some real angry eyes," Videl mused, her upper lip curling. "Even with those tears, I can see fire! I love it!"
"Videl..." Erasa rubbed the tears away with her long sleeves, hoping to stem the flow. "...it hurts me so much to see you like this...but I promised you that I'd protect you! So even if the 'current you' kicks and screams...I'll drag the 'old you' back up to the surface!"
"Then come try it!" Videl screeched, and launched herself forward without any kind of warning or giving Erasa time for preparation. Her attack landed square in Erasa's jaw, a complete a total sucker punch. It sent Erasa backwards with stunning force, but the girl landed directly onto her palms, pushing back up and slamming the soles of her feet into Videl's face.
Skidding to a complete stop after a near impossible twist and flip onto her feet, Videl took a crouching stance — feral and predatory. The girl had lost all poise as a martial artist, form and kata forgotten as she attempted to simply rend Erasa limb from limb. The young blonde martial artist attributed it to the 'M' on Videl's forehead, which frequently pulsed a red light.
Back-stepping away furiously, Erasa's palms moved quickly, catching each punch thrust at her by Videl, but a sharp kick from the left came and caught her off her guard. Wincing, the girl gripped her side as Videl's shin collided hard with her chin, knocking her into the air.
"Okay, using memory of her fighting style is out of the question now," the teenage girl thought to herself, blue eyes following Videl's movements. "She's too erratic, too unpredictable. Piccolo and Vegeta seemed to retain their sense of self, but Videl is losing herself to the mark! To Babidi!"
Moving swiftly like a wild beast, Videl lowered her shoulders for a full on tackle. Erasa braced herself against the ground, and focused her ki. The energy flowed to her body, localizing itself on her hand in the form of a glowing yellow sphere. She matched the timing of Videl's charge, a hopelessly linear attack, and slid to the right, spinning on her heel and slamming the sphere of energy directly into Videl's stomach.
Videl felt the air rush from her lungs as the blow hit her dead on; her feet lifted from the ground, not due to willing flight, but Erasa's strength. Flexing her muscles, Erasa hoisted Videl from the ground, fist and sphere still lodged in the girl's stomach, and turned, slamming her hard onto the ground with a resounding crash. Pressing on the sphere, Erasa initiated an explosion that kicked up dust and debris around them both.
Removing her hand from Videl's stomach, Erasa wiped sweat from her brow. She sincerely hoped the blunt force impact of landing against the ground and the resounding explosion from her Madama technique would have been enough to put Videl out of commission. Her hopes, however, were quickly dashed when Videl's eyes opened wide, her smoking form lunging towards Erasa. A hand closed around Erasa's throat, and Videl lifted her into the air, throwing the girl high.
Following upwards, far above the evergreens that dotted the forest of the Teufel Mountain Range, Videl performed a Double Axe Handle, slamming her clenched fists into Erasa's stomach. The blow forced the girl downward.
Erasa spun in the air, slowing her descent with the power of her flight. Channeling her ki into her palms, Erasa formed two yellow energy spheres, one for each hand. The blasts spread out before converging on their single target: Videl. There was a resounding explosion, but the blast was weak, and Videl relatively unharmed. Erasa hadn't expected it to do critical damage, but had hoped it would have deterred Videl.
It hadn't.
Videl charged forward, pushing off against the air to create a sonic boom. Erasa descended quickly, preferring ground fighting to aerial combat. If Videl wasn't going to have any tact in the fight, she was going to have to. The Teufel Mountain Range was the home of a forest of evergreen trees, and one of the basic things she'd learned while training with Gohan and performing numerous exercises was the importance of using the environment to your advantage.
"Videl's gotten way stronger," She thought, burring herself in the dense foliage and leaping from branch to branch, no longer flying. "We might actually be equal now...but the problem is she's not thinking straight! It's making her movements difficult to read, but in a forest as dense as this, I may be able to turn that into my advantage!" Ducking and swinging under branches, she could feel Videl's ki fast approaching.
A whizzing sound ran past her ear, and Erasa saw the glint of something metallic in the muddled forest light. It didn't take her too long to figure out just what it was that missed her. More sounds caught her attention; the thuds of objects colliding with the bark of trees.
"Those needles Videl used against Spopovich!" Erasa remembered the battle between Videl and the man who had made her blood boil. She'd used her ki to turn strands of hair into fine needles, and they were very capable of piercing flesh. However, it didn't appear they could pierce through thick tree bark. Erasa took a sharp left, ducking into a thicker grove, and feeling for Videl's ki.
The rustling of the branches overhead was the first indicator of Videl's location. She stopped, perched precariously over a branch. "Where's she go?" Videl muttered. "She has to be around her somewhere...is she hiding herself?"
To be true, Erasa was suppressing her ki as low as it could go, hoping Videl couldn't sense it, and it appeared she had lucked out. Now it was her turn to take advantage of the situation. Leaping out from the brush, the girl jumped high into the branches, tackling Videl from the trees and slamming her hard onto the ground of the evergreen forest. Videl forced her into a tuck and roll, kicking the blonde martial artist off of her.
The black-tressed girl placed her hand to her side. "Haaaaaaaaaaah!" She exhaled, and began to focus her ki. Her hand began to crackle, and a red blade of energy formed from her palm, snapping and surging. She ran towards Erasa, who pushed off from the ground and immediately dove behind another fir tree, which Videl responded to by cutting down.
"You're not going to get away from me!"
The tree crashed to the ground behind her, nearly deafening Erasa from Videl's proud proclamation. Her eyes swiveled to the ki saber that Videl was using; it was certainly a unique way to channel her ki. Flexing her fingers, Erasa began to focus her ki, moulding it until a similar sword, yellow in hue, erupted from her own hand. The formation of it was more fine than Videl's; less crackling, more rigidity.
With their newly formed weapons in their hands, the two ran across the forest floor. Nearing each other, they swung their swords; the energy blades met, crashing against each other with a roar like thunder, crackling against each other. The was intense, and the two leaned inwards, pressing the blades further, the energies practically melding.
"Why!?" Erasa asked through clenched teeth. "Why all of this!? Why BABIDI!? I know you're better than this, you have to be, so why'd you let him do it!?"
"I told you!" Videl shouted back, her sapphire eyes sparkling with a kind of fire, the dark lines around them, a product of Babidi's brainwashing, making her appear more deranged than ever. "I have to become stronger! Stronger to prove myself to everyone! And...stronger to keep everything I want close to me!" She pivoted on her heel, swinging her newly formed sword in an arc. The sparks flew as she pushed Erasa back, and spun the energy blade before charging back in.
"Everything was fine until he came along!" The black-tressed girl looked truly crazed now. She thrust her blade forward, and Erasa raised her own to block; the energies melded and crackled as the two equal energies came into contact. "You and I were inseperable...and I was the hero! Then he shows up! Gohan, and I suddenly find everything turned around! You've got some connection with him, and I'm left alone, wondering where my best friend went!"
Erasa felt a chill wash over her. She knew she'd been spending a lot of time with Gohan ever since he came back to Satan City — and she didn't regret any of it, not one precious moment they'd spent together, each one like a gem she couldn't replace — but to have Videl bottle all of this up? Had she actually hurt Videl by spending time with Gohan, by becoming so close?
A sudden kick caught the blonde girl off-guard; Videl had struck her during their sword-lock, sending her reeling. Erasa's sword dissipated, but at the same time, Videl seemed to will her's to dust. Videl extended her index and pinkie fingers, forming a sign skin to horns, and pointed them in the direction of Erasa. "To make matters worse...I found that I was starting to develop feelings for Gohan!" The black-tressed girl's face worked in frustration. "But I can fix everything! If I can blast you two away right now, I can get rid of my problems! So I'll start by killing you!"
Her ki began to surge; Erasa could feel it, a powerful energy building. "She's...she's charging something big!" Erasa cupped her hands to her side in desperation. "I'll have to counter it with a Kamehameha!"
Between Videl's fingers, a sphere of red ki began to charge, releasing three strands of ki that moved around the sphere in a spiral. It grew in size as Videl focused her ki — admittedly a feat she wasn't yet familiar with in such large quantities — and emitted a slight whirring noise akin to a gear. Likewise, the orb in Erasa's hand began to pulse, increasing in size, emitting a bright blue light.
"I won't let you kill me!" Erasa declared, her ki orb now emitting a brilliant, blinding light. Her thoughts flash to Gohan, first, the smiling, innocent blonde she met; and then, the gentle soul who came back seven years later flickered into her mind. "I'm sorry if you think I'm selfish, Videl. But everything can't go back to the way it was before! However, I won't turn my back on you! Kamehameha!!"
She thrust her hands forward, releasing the flow of bright blue energy from her extended palms. Muten Rōshi's patented signature move, gifted first to Son Goku and then to many other hands, fled from its most nascent user towards Videl. The black-tressed girl released the red energy beam from her hands with the sound of an exploding tank.
"I don't need any help! So just...die!"
The energy beams travelled across the forest floor, colliding with each other to create a perfect storm. Both beams were perfectly matched in power and precision, and the end result was an explosion that levelled a section of the evergreens in an circular radius from where the girls were standing, and knocked them both off their feet. The ground was cracked and heated from the explosion of plasma above its surface, and several trees that hadn't been entirely destroyed were charred. On the ground, Erasa and Videl were bloodied and burnt by their own ki explosion, but their sturdy bodies rendered them far less damaged than the surrounding environment.
"Oh boy..." Erasa thought to herself, opening her eyes to face the vast forest canopy. "That blast...that was pretty strong..." She stated the obvious to herself for a moment, lamenting the impacted feeling of her body. Both she and Videl had launched two full power attacks at each other. It may have been a miracle they were still concious, even after that return. Pressing herself up, she was beginning to sit upright and could see Videl was already assuming a similar position.
"...Dammit, you've go to be kidding me..." Videl spat, her vision swimming slightly, but enough to see Erasa moving. Moving a hand to her cheek, she scraped blood and dirty away, though this did little more than add fresh stinging as it exposed wounds to new dirt and air. "How are you...not dead!?"
Erasa forced herself to her feet, her determined blue eyes shooting daggers at Videl. She hadn't expected to be feeling quite so worse for wear, but her fights with Rayo, Spopovich and Dol were starting to show. To make matters worse, she wasn't used to taking such heavy damage; but then again, neither was Videl. But still, ending this battle by beating her friend's face into the ground...it wasn't how she wanted to go out.
Ignorant of her friend's thought process, Videl charged forward, ready to continue the fight with reckless abandon.
"Even if Videl doesn't know it...she's poured her heart out to me...!" Erasa watched Videl approach with tired eyes. "And I can't...I can't just leave her like this!" The young blonde spread her arms, and when Videl was in reach, Erasa moved forward and wrapped the stunned girl in a strong embrace, half-hug, half-vice grip. She could feel Videl flinch, from both contact and surprise, and then try to squirm her way out of Erasa's hold.
"What are you doing!?" She demanded furiously.
"I'm sorry, Videl," Erasa replied, her voice quiet. "I really am. You've been with me longer than anyone, and I let you feel so alone, left you to bottle your feelings up, and in the end, it resulted in all of this. However, at the same time, I love Gohan! I can't turn my back on him, just because of your own personal issues! We will always be friends, but if you consider Gohan an obstacle, then he'll become one, if only to you."
"Then what am I supposed to do!?" Videl shouted, almost flailing. She'd become like a child, enraged and upset, but unable to properly voice her concerns. "What!?"
"Stay with us."
The simplicity of the statement stunned Videl, and her flailing began to diminish. She still tried to move, but her resistance was becoming less and less forceful.
"You and I are friends, and we've been friends for years! Gohan also wants to be your friend, he's been nothing but friendly since he showed up at Satan City. We're still teenagers, we're still students! After all of this, we have to return home to Satan City...don't you want to be able to sit down and laugh together? Like we used to?" Erasa's voce was imploring, desperate. "School is waiting for us. Our normal life won't change, it's just going to expand!"
There was silence, and Videl seemed to be considering Erasa's words. To be friends again...Gohan, Erasa, Sharpener as well, her tight-knit little group...and then sparks flashed before her eyes. It wasn't that simple. It couldn't be that simple! The girl flexed her muscles, attempting to push Erasa off of her. She had to take control; she had to be the one in control of her own life! Her aggression flared, and the 'M' on her forehead began to shimmer and flash again.
As if complying, Erasa pulled away from Videl, her eyes full of sorrow. "Videl...forgive me later." With lightning quick precision, while Videl was lost in her thoughts, the woman moved forward, striking her fist squarely into Videl's stomach. The blow packed considerably more force than the others; in that split second, Erasa piled a large amount of ki into her fist, enhancing her blow greatly.
Videl stood still, winded; her blue eyes glared at Erasa in a last act of defiance, before they simply rolled back into her head, and she fell to the ground, unconscious.
The young blonde sighed. Kneeling down, she picked up Videl's body, cradling it in her arms like one would an infant. Unconscious, she appeared peaceful, innocent; it was a face Erasa remembered before all of this. Before Videl had given in to jealousy and insanity. Lost in her thoughts, staring at Videl's face, the young girl was shaken back to reality violently when the entire world felt like it was shaking. Her blood ran cold, and her senses heightened like an prey cornered by a predator.
An immense ki was throwing her for a loop, and it didn't belong to Gohan, Goku, Vegeta, or Piccolo. In fact, their ki, large as they were, couldn't even be felt by the girl anymore. Either their fights had concluded, or this particularly large ki was drowning them out. And she didn't need the more experienced fighters to give her a clue as to who this was. She knew.
It had to be Majin Bū.
A/N: So this was a...fun chapter to write, actually. I tried to invoke a little more emotion in this chapter than my previous ones; Vegeta and Goku are Saiyans through and through, and Gohan knows Piccolo would understand him through battle more than through words. But Videl and Erasa were ordinary teenagers before all of this, so there's a lot more talking and a lot more emotion spilling, though I do keep the action in here because this is Dragon Ball. I'm not really sure how I planned for this chapter to go, but the end result could have been far worse, I think. I know that, somewhere down the line, this kind of turned into a Naruto chapter. At least, that's how it felt to me, but I don't regret that. Now guys, we're moving forward. Majin Bū is loose. What will we do? You'll see!
So, I have one translation for this: Erasa's special sphere, which is actually a reference to the Dragon Ball Online opening fight between the Human and Namekian, is called the Madama (魔玉, Demon Ball). Now, before I go, I have a recommendation for you all. To everyone who likes the Naruto series and just happens to be reading mine, my friend, BowToThePrince10, is putting out a new series: Boruto Gaiden: The Beginning of the Crimson Spring. It's several chapters in, progress is faster than my own story, and it's pretty good; you'll be on the edge of your seat, screaming at him as much as I am! So give it a look!
Now, as always, let's give a thanks to my friend Mangetsu20, who gave this chapter the good 'ol once over to check for errors and make sure it was ship shape! I'll see you in the next exciting chapter of The Erased Chronicles!
"Dad's getting really famous..." She said finally, her lips forming the words as if she'd wanted to speak them for quite some time. "He's been taking on more and more martial arts competitions, and people are starting to call him the "strongest in the world"."
"Really?" Erasa seemed amazed. She had no idea Mr. Satan was becoming such a famous man, or perhaps she was simply oblivious. She knew Videl's dad was pretty strong, as he had been friends with her dad for a long time, and she'd seen him in action. "The strongest in the world? That's so cool!"
"It's not..." Videl replied bitterly. "Dad's just a showboat...he may be strong, but all that does is attract attention. And then everyone wants a piece of the daughter of the strongest man in the world. So I plant their faces into the ground, and then they bring their friends around and beat me back up..." She sounded angry, not just at her father and the bullies, but at herself, for not being strong enough. She was only six, but she seemed to have a very clear idea of one thing.
She needed strength.
"Videl..." Erasa took a seat next to the girl, leaning up against the trunk of the big fir tree. She leaned close to Videl, wrapping her arms around her best friend and leaning in. "I'm your friend — we're best friends, we always have been, always will be, right? — so you gotta come to me with these kinds of things. When people are being mean, I'll step in and protect you; you always look out for me, so I want to look out for you too!" She pressed a small finger to Videl's nose. "I don't want to keep seeing you get scuffed up."
"Protect me?" Videl laughed, a smile returning to her face in spite of her determined friend's words. "Erasa, you need me to watch over you. Remember when you got lost in the ball pit when we were three?"
"T-That was a long time ago! I'm bigger now!" Erasa huffed. "I can handle myself! And I can handle you too!"
The two girls began to laugh, first timidly, but then it began a hearty chime from their vocal chords. Little did they know, the years would wear away at these happy moments, these heartfelt declarations. It only took time.
Warm, liquid emotion rolled down Erasa's face. It wasn't something she immediately noticed until the liquid heat dripped down her face. Tears. But of course she'd be crying. Videl was settling into a stance before her, her forehead stamped with the mark of the devil, face contorted into comfortable rage. This wasn't something she wanted to do.
Isn't that why you became stronger? A snide voice inside her head asked. To protect this girl with your life; so nothing would ever happen to her.
"Yes." Erasa reaffirmed this, as if conversing with the deepest parts of herself. "I told myself I'd protect her! Its why I trained so hard, why I worked for the strength I have now! So even if she doesn't want me to...I can still keep her safe!"
"You've got some real angry eyes," Videl mused, her upper lip curling. "Even with those tears, I can see fire! I love it!"
"Videl..." Erasa rubbed the tears away with her long sleeves, hoping to stem the flow. "...it hurts me so much to see you like this...but I promised you that I'd protect you! So even if the 'current you' kicks and screams...I'll drag the 'old you' back up to the surface!"
"Then come try it!" Videl screeched, and launched herself forward without any kind of warning or giving Erasa time for preparation. Her attack landed square in Erasa's jaw, a complete a total sucker punch. It sent Erasa backwards with stunning force, but the girl landed directly onto her palms, pushing back up and slamming the soles of her feet into Videl's face.
Skidding to a complete stop after a near impossible twist and flip onto her feet, Videl took a crouching stance — feral and predatory. The girl had lost all poise as a martial artist, form and kata forgotten as she attempted to simply rend Erasa limb from limb. The young blonde martial artist attributed it to the 'M' on Videl's forehead, which frequently pulsed a red light.
Back-stepping away furiously, Erasa's palms moved quickly, catching each punch thrust at her by Videl, but a sharp kick from the left came and caught her off her guard. Wincing, the girl gripped her side as Videl's shin collided hard with her chin, knocking her into the air.
"Okay, using memory of her fighting style is out of the question now," the teenage girl thought to herself, blue eyes following Videl's movements. "She's too erratic, too unpredictable. Piccolo and Vegeta seemed to retain their sense of self, but Videl is losing herself to the mark! To Babidi!"
Moving swiftly like a wild beast, Videl lowered her shoulders for a full on tackle. Erasa braced herself against the ground, and focused her ki. The energy flowed to her body, localizing itself on her hand in the form of a glowing yellow sphere. She matched the timing of Videl's charge, a hopelessly linear attack, and slid to the right, spinning on her heel and slamming the sphere of energy directly into Videl's stomach.
Videl felt the air rush from her lungs as the blow hit her dead on; her feet lifted from the ground, not due to willing flight, but Erasa's strength. Flexing her muscles, Erasa hoisted Videl from the ground, fist and sphere still lodged in the girl's stomach, and turned, slamming her hard onto the ground with a resounding crash. Pressing on the sphere, Erasa initiated an explosion that kicked up dust and debris around them both.
Removing her hand from Videl's stomach, Erasa wiped sweat from her brow. She sincerely hoped the blunt force impact of landing against the ground and the resounding explosion from her Madama technique would have been enough to put Videl out of commission. Her hopes, however, were quickly dashed when Videl's eyes opened wide, her smoking form lunging towards Erasa. A hand closed around Erasa's throat, and Videl lifted her into the air, throwing the girl high.
Following upwards, far above the evergreens that dotted the forest of the Teufel Mountain Range, Videl performed a Double Axe Handle, slamming her clenched fists into Erasa's stomach. The blow forced the girl downward.
Erasa spun in the air, slowing her descent with the power of her flight. Channeling her ki into her palms, Erasa formed two yellow energy spheres, one for each hand. The blasts spread out before converging on their single target: Videl. There was a resounding explosion, but the blast was weak, and Videl relatively unharmed. Erasa hadn't expected it to do critical damage, but had hoped it would have deterred Videl.
It hadn't.
Videl charged forward, pushing off against the air to create a sonic boom. Erasa descended quickly, preferring ground fighting to aerial combat. If Videl wasn't going to have any tact in the fight, she was going to have to. The Teufel Mountain Range was the home of a forest of evergreen trees, and one of the basic things she'd learned while training with Gohan and performing numerous exercises was the importance of using the environment to your advantage.
"Videl's gotten way stronger," She thought, burring herself in the dense foliage and leaping from branch to branch, no longer flying. "We might actually be equal now...but the problem is she's not thinking straight! It's making her movements difficult to read, but in a forest as dense as this, I may be able to turn that into my advantage!" Ducking and swinging under branches, she could feel Videl's ki fast approaching.
A whizzing sound ran past her ear, and Erasa saw the glint of something metallic in the muddled forest light. It didn't take her too long to figure out just what it was that missed her. More sounds caught her attention; the thuds of objects colliding with the bark of trees.
"Those needles Videl used against Spopovich!" Erasa remembered the battle between Videl and the man who had made her blood boil. She'd used her ki to turn strands of hair into fine needles, and they were very capable of piercing flesh. However, it didn't appear they could pierce through thick tree bark. Erasa took a sharp left, ducking into a thicker grove, and feeling for Videl's ki.
The rustling of the branches overhead was the first indicator of Videl's location. She stopped, perched precariously over a branch. "Where's she go?" Videl muttered. "She has to be around her somewhere...is she hiding herself?"
To be true, Erasa was suppressing her ki as low as it could go, hoping Videl couldn't sense it, and it appeared she had lucked out. Now it was her turn to take advantage of the situation. Leaping out from the brush, the girl jumped high into the branches, tackling Videl from the trees and slamming her hard onto the ground of the evergreen forest. Videl forced her into a tuck and roll, kicking the blonde martial artist off of her.
The black-tressed girl placed her hand to her side. "Haaaaaaaaaaah!" She exhaled, and began to focus her ki. Her hand began to crackle, and a red blade of energy formed from her palm, snapping and surging. She ran towards Erasa, who pushed off from the ground and immediately dove behind another fir tree, which Videl responded to by cutting down.
"You're not going to get away from me!"
The tree crashed to the ground behind her, nearly deafening Erasa from Videl's proud proclamation. Her eyes swiveled to the ki saber that Videl was using; it was certainly a unique way to channel her ki. Flexing her fingers, Erasa began to focus her ki, moulding it until a similar sword, yellow in hue, erupted from her own hand. The formation of it was more fine than Videl's; less crackling, more rigidity.
With their newly formed weapons in their hands, the two ran across the forest floor. Nearing each other, they swung their swords; the energy blades met, crashing against each other with a roar like thunder, crackling against each other. The was intense, and the two leaned inwards, pressing the blades further, the energies practically melding.
"Why!?" Erasa asked through clenched teeth. "Why all of this!? Why BABIDI!? I know you're better than this, you have to be, so why'd you let him do it!?"
"I told you!" Videl shouted back, her sapphire eyes sparkling with a kind of fire, the dark lines around them, a product of Babidi's brainwashing, making her appear more deranged than ever. "I have to become stronger! Stronger to prove myself to everyone! And...stronger to keep everything I want close to me!" She pivoted on her heel, swinging her newly formed sword in an arc. The sparks flew as she pushed Erasa back, and spun the energy blade before charging back in.
"Everything was fine until he came along!" The black-tressed girl looked truly crazed now. She thrust her blade forward, and Erasa raised her own to block; the energies melded and crackled as the two equal energies came into contact. "You and I were inseperable...and I was the hero! Then he shows up! Gohan, and I suddenly find everything turned around! You've got some connection with him, and I'm left alone, wondering where my best friend went!"
Erasa felt a chill wash over her. She knew she'd been spending a lot of time with Gohan ever since he came back to Satan City — and she didn't regret any of it, not one precious moment they'd spent together, each one like a gem she couldn't replace — but to have Videl bottle all of this up? Had she actually hurt Videl by spending time with Gohan, by becoming so close?
A sudden kick caught the blonde girl off-guard; Videl had struck her during their sword-lock, sending her reeling. Erasa's sword dissipated, but at the same time, Videl seemed to will her's to dust. Videl extended her index and pinkie fingers, forming a sign skin to horns, and pointed them in the direction of Erasa. "To make matters worse...I found that I was starting to develop feelings for Gohan!" The black-tressed girl's face worked in frustration. "But I can fix everything! If I can blast you two away right now, I can get rid of my problems! So I'll start by killing you!"
Her ki began to surge; Erasa could feel it, a powerful energy building. "She's...she's charging something big!" Erasa cupped her hands to her side in desperation. "I'll have to counter it with a Kamehameha!"
Between Videl's fingers, a sphere of red ki began to charge, releasing three strands of ki that moved around the sphere in a spiral. It grew in size as Videl focused her ki — admittedly a feat she wasn't yet familiar with in such large quantities — and emitted a slight whirring noise akin to a gear. Likewise, the orb in Erasa's hand began to pulse, increasing in size, emitting a bright blue light.
"I won't let you kill me!" Erasa declared, her ki orb now emitting a brilliant, blinding light. Her thoughts flash to Gohan, first, the smiling, innocent blonde she met; and then, the gentle soul who came back seven years later flickered into her mind. "I'm sorry if you think I'm selfish, Videl. But everything can't go back to the way it was before! However, I won't turn my back on you! Kamehameha!!"
She thrust her hands forward, releasing the flow of bright blue energy from her extended palms. Muten Rōshi's patented signature move, gifted first to Son Goku and then to many other hands, fled from its most nascent user towards Videl. The black-tressed girl released the red energy beam from her hands with the sound of an exploding tank.
"I don't need any help! So just...die!"
The energy beams travelled across the forest floor, colliding with each other to create a perfect storm. Both beams were perfectly matched in power and precision, and the end result was an explosion that levelled a section of the evergreens in an circular radius from where the girls were standing, and knocked them both off their feet. The ground was cracked and heated from the explosion of plasma above its surface, and several trees that hadn't been entirely destroyed were charred. On the ground, Erasa and Videl were bloodied and burnt by their own ki explosion, but their sturdy bodies rendered them far less damaged than the surrounding environment.
"Oh boy..." Erasa thought to herself, opening her eyes to face the vast forest canopy. "That blast...that was pretty strong..." She stated the obvious to herself for a moment, lamenting the impacted feeling of her body. Both she and Videl had launched two full power attacks at each other. It may have been a miracle they were still concious, even after that return. Pressing herself up, she was beginning to sit upright and could see Videl was already assuming a similar position.
"...Dammit, you've go to be kidding me..." Videl spat, her vision swimming slightly, but enough to see Erasa moving. Moving a hand to her cheek, she scraped blood and dirty away, though this did little more than add fresh stinging as it exposed wounds to new dirt and air. "How are you...not dead!?"
Erasa forced herself to her feet, her determined blue eyes shooting daggers at Videl. She hadn't expected to be feeling quite so worse for wear, but her fights with Rayo, Spopovich and Dol were starting to show. To make matters worse, she wasn't used to taking such heavy damage; but then again, neither was Videl. But still, ending this battle by beating her friend's face into the ground...it wasn't how she wanted to go out.
Ignorant of her friend's thought process, Videl charged forward, ready to continue the fight with reckless abandon.
"Even if Videl doesn't know it...she's poured her heart out to me...!" Erasa watched Videl approach with tired eyes. "And I can't...I can't just leave her like this!" The young blonde spread her arms, and when Videl was in reach, Erasa moved forward and wrapped the stunned girl in a strong embrace, half-hug, half-vice grip. She could feel Videl flinch, from both contact and surprise, and then try to squirm her way out of Erasa's hold.
"What are you doing!?" She demanded furiously.
"I'm sorry, Videl," Erasa replied, her voice quiet. "I really am. You've been with me longer than anyone, and I let you feel so alone, left you to bottle your feelings up, and in the end, it resulted in all of this. However, at the same time, I love Gohan! I can't turn my back on him, just because of your own personal issues! We will always be friends, but if you consider Gohan an obstacle, then he'll become one, if only to you."
"Then what am I supposed to do!?" Videl shouted, almost flailing. She'd become like a child, enraged and upset, but unable to properly voice her concerns. "What!?"
"Stay with us."
The simplicity of the statement stunned Videl, and her flailing began to diminish. She still tried to move, but her resistance was becoming less and less forceful.
"You and I are friends, and we've been friends for years! Gohan also wants to be your friend, he's been nothing but friendly since he showed up at Satan City. We're still teenagers, we're still students! After all of this, we have to return home to Satan City...don't you want to be able to sit down and laugh together? Like we used to?" Erasa's voce was imploring, desperate. "School is waiting for us. Our normal life won't change, it's just going to expand!"
There was silence, and Videl seemed to be considering Erasa's words. To be friends again...Gohan, Erasa, Sharpener as well, her tight-knit little group...and then sparks flashed before her eyes. It wasn't that simple. It couldn't be that simple! The girl flexed her muscles, attempting to push Erasa off of her. She had to take control; she had to be the one in control of her own life! Her aggression flared, and the 'M' on her forehead began to shimmer and flash again.
As if complying, Erasa pulled away from Videl, her eyes full of sorrow. "Videl...forgive me later." With lightning quick precision, while Videl was lost in her thoughts, the woman moved forward, striking her fist squarely into Videl's stomach. The blow packed considerably more force than the others; in that split second, Erasa piled a large amount of ki into her fist, enhancing her blow greatly.
Videl stood still, winded; her blue eyes glared at Erasa in a last act of defiance, before they simply rolled back into her head, and she fell to the ground, unconscious.
The young blonde sighed. Kneeling down, she picked up Videl's body, cradling it in her arms like one would an infant. Unconscious, she appeared peaceful, innocent; it was a face Erasa remembered before all of this. Before Videl had given in to jealousy and insanity. Lost in her thoughts, staring at Videl's face, the young girl was shaken back to reality violently when the entire world felt like it was shaking. Her blood ran cold, and her senses heightened like an prey cornered by a predator.
An immense ki was throwing her for a loop, and it didn't belong to Gohan, Goku, Vegeta, or Piccolo. In fact, their ki, large as they were, couldn't even be felt by the girl anymore. Either their fights had concluded, or this particularly large ki was drowning them out. And she didn't need the more experienced fighters to give her a clue as to who this was. She knew.
It had to be Majin Bū.
A/N: So this was a...fun chapter to write, actually. I tried to invoke a little more emotion in this chapter than my previous ones; Vegeta and Goku are Saiyans through and through, and Gohan knows Piccolo would understand him through battle more than through words. But Videl and Erasa were ordinary teenagers before all of this, so there's a lot more talking and a lot more emotion spilling, though I do keep the action in here because this is Dragon Ball. I'm not really sure how I planned for this chapter to go, but the end result could have been far worse, I think. I know that, somewhere down the line, this kind of turned into a Naruto chapter. At least, that's how it felt to me, but I don't regret that. Now guys, we're moving forward. Majin Bū is loose. What will we do? You'll see!
So, I have one translation for this: Erasa's special sphere, which is actually a reference to the Dragon Ball Online opening fight between the Human and Namekian, is called the Madama (魔玉, Demon Ball). Now, before I go, I have a recommendation for you all. To everyone who likes the Naruto series and just happens to be reading mine, my friend, BowToThePrince10, is putting out a new series: Boruto Gaiden: The Beginning of the Crimson Spring. It's several chapters in, progress is faster than my own story, and it's pretty good; you'll be on the edge of your seat, screaming at him as much as I am! So give it a look!
Now, as always, let's give a thanks to my friend Mangetsu20, who gave this chapter the good 'ol once over to check for errors and make sure it was ship shape! I'll see you in the next exciting chapter of The Erased Chronicles!
Chapter 33!
© 2016 - 2024 EverlastingDarkness5
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I love that you actually managed to write an AU with all the characters, it's really the whole DragonBall with a new focus on Erasa😮
This fight was very anticipated for me and you did great! I wrote some videl vs erasa fight scenes myself, even if in different terms ahah, but this was well choreographed, and the feels! Man, so many feelings, these girls needed to talk so much.
I know this is super old work for you and you probably don't care anymore but bravo!