Cross, nearly 40 feet long from nose to rear, excluding her tail which added another third to her total length, took up more than a third of the gravity room. A few hours earlier, she nearly took up half. The pressure of gravity was really crushing her down, and she could barely move, using all her will just to stand and move a few paces. Puar in beast form was walking, slowly, but still moving. Chi-Chi was on her feet but barely. Gohan was breathing hard, and Chiaotzu was little more than a rag doll levitated at the chest. Meanwhile, Yamcha, Krillin, and Piccolo were lightly sparring.
"I'm not going to fail," Gohan growled, the intensity in his voice worrying the others as his eyes went white. He was going to lose control.
Cross groaned, her body shedding mass as she pushed through the pain, past her limits to reach him, to wrap her arms around him. "Gohan, focus. Remember our training. Use that form if you must, but don't let the beast win."
Gohan's body was straining, as if the great ape was trying to break free despite no moon. Maybe the energy of space penetrated the ship and was affecting him.
"It hurts!"
Cross was rapidly shrinking as she held him close, now 30 feet, 28, 26. She shifted to a bipedal dragon from her quadrupedal form to hold Gohan close. "Gohan, you can do it."
He grunted, he growled, his body glowing and smoking. Chi-Chi tried to rush over.
A strawberry-haired maid with blond cat ears and a tail to match came into view, a soft purr escaping her lips as she, Gohan, took control.
"Maybe this should be enough for now," Korin said casually as he walked to the controls and shut off the gravity multiplier.
Chi-Chi was without words as she looked the young catgirl over. "G-Gohan?"
She gave a gracious bow. "Yes, mother, it is me."
Her gaze turned cold, looking to Cross. "What did you do to my little boy?"
Cross needed a moment to center herself. "It's a technique I learned years ago to master the beast. He's fine and will return to normal when he releases the technique. For now, just be glad he didn't lose control."
Chi-Chi turned back to the catgirl. "That's really you, Gohan?"
She purred and nodded, bowing politely. "I'm sorry I scared you, mother."
"Well, if it really is you, change back right now!"
Gohan looked to Cross for permission. She nodded, and in a cloud of smoke, Gohan was there. Well, except for one thing. The tail remained.
"Gohan, your tail is back!"
He flicked it around, confused. "Not quite the same, but...I guess it is."
"We better get it cut off right now before you go full ape."
Krillin shrugged. "Eh, Goku's grew back all the time, and if Gohan can control the beast, it might be more harm than it's worth if it will just come back. Let's see how he handles things right now."
Chi-Chi didn't have a response. After all, she let Gohan have his tail until the Raditz incident. She had no real reason to want it gone for good.
Yajirobe pushed past everyone to the door at the opposite end. "Goku, we're taking a food break. How you doing in there?"
Goku was clearly struggling in the other room, visible through the glass that connected them, but gave a thumbs up. As he struggled toward the controls to shut his off, then opening the door, he joined them. "Food sounds great, I'm starving!"
As the group filed into the main cabin, Cross remained behind. The nearly 8-meter tall dragongirl was just too big. "I'll...catch up with you, and get some more training in to get down to a reasonable size."
"Don't be ridiculous," Krillin patted her back as he tapped the intercom by the door. "Bulma, Cross needs room to stretch her legs. Find a place to set down."
"On it!" the engineer chirped back over the com.
Cross smiled. "Thanks, Krillin."
He laughed, as Piccolo doubled back, catching her ear as he got close enough to whisper, "That transformation Gohan used, is it the same one you showed me?"
She nodded.
"And it will?"
She nodded. "It doesn't have a lot of wiggle room in the form's look, sorry."
Piccolo was nonplussed. "Don't worry. I'm not even male. My father, the Demon King Piccolo, spat me out as an egg. I'm not much older than Gohan, truth be told. But...will I be human?"
She nodded. "Human with cat traits, though it doesn't override any natural abilities, just masks them and adds feline ones on top."
Piccolo gave a wicked grin. He could already see the potential to be used.
Goku glanced back at Gohan's tail curiously. "That's not your normal tail."
He laughed nervously. "It's a side effect of a move Cross taught me."
Goku's ears were burning at the mention of a new technique. "Oh?"
Cross laughed. "Don't worry, I'll teach it to you. After all, you both share an uncontrollable beast that the form that tail left behind can help control."
Goku pondered this, then laughed. "Seriously? 'Cause like Vegeta was super strong in ape form. If I could control that, he would be no problem next time."
YOU ARE READING
Blecker x Dragonball
AdventureAnother universe, another set of allies, now Blecker is in the Dragonball World