Age 754
"KAAA MEEE-"
"Kaaaameeee-"
"-HAAAAA MEEEEE-"
"-haaaameeee-"
"HAAAAA!"
"Haaaaa!"
The two beams collided with a massive intensity. Blue light flooded the area. Every creature for miles with even the slightest bit of ki sense, or perhaps simply able to hear the sounds of destruction and knowing to run, fled.
The little hut on the mountain had long-since vanished in their ever-escalating daily war. The crater had grown and grown, and the mountain was simply no more.
Their brawl this time had gone all-out. The reason, being, that this was Kakarot's 18th birthday, as far as Gohan could tell. Kakarot was an adult, now. Not a child who needed to be protected, not an innocent forced to do wrong by the will of his parents who abandoned him on planet Earth for reasons neither Kakarot nor Gohan knew, with the order to exterminate humanity.
No. Kakarot had been given fifteen years to make a better choice, to give up on the extermination, to give up on his evil ways. And by the time he reached adulthood, he hadn't.
"I failed you." Gohan had told him, before their last fight began, "I'm sorry. I would have liked for you to become an adult I could be proud of, but now... you have run out of second chances, and I see you have always been a beast- one I must put down. Today, Kakarot, will be our last fight. Because today, I am not stopping until I kill you."
Kakarot smiled, at that.
They fought.
It was brutal, it was hard, it was destructive, and it could be seen for miles in every direction.
It ended with a feint. Kakarot made like he was going to go for a kick to the stomach, but when Gohan dodged to the side, Kakarot had wrapped his waiting tail around his mentor's neck and yanked as hard as he could.
It didn't exactly snap the old man's neck, but it was enough of a distraction for Kakarot to stab both of his hands into his mentor's rib cage and pierce his heart.
Gohan's last words were quiet, "...The strongest man... is not my Master Roshi." he muttered, "The strongest... is a man called Taopaipai. He works for the Red Ribbon. Above him, there is only Korin, and only Kami." And with that, Gohan was gone. He would be on the fast-track to Heaven, for his years serving the common good, trying to redeem Kakarot, and doing his best to end a threat to the world.
Not that Kakarot would ever know. He licked the blood off of his hands, before erasing his adoptive Grandfather's body with a burst of ki, the energy erasing flesh easily, now that there was no ki within it. Kakarot watched the steaming crater for almost an hour, on the verge of tears, feeling very complicated. A mix of pride, accomplishment, and a very strong sense of loss- and respect. He could admire, how much strength Gohan possessed, how much he had held back the entire time.
He turned away from the crater, free, and began walking.
...
The people in the area began talking of the monster who wiped out one village after another. A demon. One who looked like a human, a handsome young man, but with a monkey's tail. They called him the Handsome Monkey King, and they knew that anyone who entered his territory would almost certainly die.
One young man, a rebel fighting against the Red Ribbon, had heard the tale, and had made a decision.
"Monkey King!" he shouted, when he came to the edge of the jungle. Yamcha had always been a warrior with a good heart, who sometimes did bad things. When the Red Ribbon armies began rolling over countries, he decided to put his skills to some real use. "Monkey King!" he repeated, "I have something for you!"
To Yamcha's surprise, his call worked, and floating over the trees, like a ghost, glowing with ethereal fire, the Monkey King observed him, tail swishing in boredom. "You know, anyone who comes near me dies, right?"
"Even to those bearing gifts?" Yamcha asked, reaching into his pocket, and taking something that made Kakarot's mind fire up in a sudden wave of nostalgia. He recongized that golden glow.
"Where did you find that?" Kakarot asked, descending to the ground, and kicking off, tackling Yamcha to the floor and keeping him pinned with one hand.
"It's- It's a Dragon Ball." the former thief groaned, "Have you heard of the Red Ribbon?"
Kakarot's brows went up in interest, "I have. They're... supposed to be strong, aren't they?"
"They're hell to fight, that's for sure." Yamcha growled, "But I heard the same about you. The Red Ribbon want those Dragon Balls- and I figure the only place it'd be safe would be with someone like you. Someone's been chasing me- and it's an opponent I can't defeat."
"Because you're weaker than him?"
"No- I just, I can't fight women." the bandit admitted, "If it was any of their other Colonels, I'd have no problem- but not this one. It's always been my weakness."
"A... woman?" Kakarot asked, intrigued, "Like, a person that can make children?"
"Yeah. Either way, I know I'm not getting out of this situation alive, not when my weakness won't let me fire back. But you're a beast, everyone says so, you wipe out whole villages... even if you kill me, as long as you keep her from getting to this ball... I'll be satisfied for having done my job."
"Then have satisfaction." Kakarot said simply, pressing down with his hand, causing Yamcha to scream.
With a horrible cracking noise, the man's ribs gave in, and Kakarot's hand hit the ground underneath Yamcha. The light faded from the former bandit's eyes, and Kakarot looked at the golden orb- Three Stars, on this one. The one his Grandpa had owned had four...
But first, there was a woman to deal with.