At first, Gohan wasn't entirely sure where he was. The last thing he remembered was fighting with Majin Buu. A wave of embarrassment surged through him as he recalled how he'd gotten cocky there at the end and let his guard down. His father had offered him a chance to fuse with him using Supreme Kai's Potara earrings, but he had foolishly turned it down. He'd been so confident after Gotenks' fusion wore off inside Buu, and that blind confidence ended up getting himself absorbed as well.
But now? Now he found himself standing on a solid stone road that seemed to be floating in the air above a vast sea of fluffy, golden clouds. Off in the distance he could see a huge Japanese-style castle of white, red and green.
"Where are we?"
The question was front and center in his mind, but it was not he who'd asked it aloud. He turned around to search out the owner of the all-too-familiar voice, coming face to face with his little brother. Goten seemed to be fine – albeit just as confused as Gohan was – but something made the elder brother's heart sink like a stone. A golden ring of light floated above the younger half-Saiyan's head, the same sort of ring he'd seen over their father's head when he'd come back from the dead to participate in the World Martial Arts Tournament.
Dead. That one word was like a dagger in his already sunken heart. Were they really dead? Gohan looked around in a panic, searching for something – or someone – to disprove this horrendous theory. Trunks was there as well, looking just as confused as his friend. The final member of the small group, however, displayed no such confusion.
Piccolo simply stood there, a halo over his head just like all the rest, a look of cold resignation hanging on his face. It was quite clear that he knew exactly where the four of them were, and that he would be unable to allay his student's greatest fear.
"P-Piccolo…" Gohan stammered out, unable to stop himself from asking, though he clearly knew the answer already, "A-are we…?"
"Follow me," he replied softly, passing by the three half-Saiyans without making eye contact. The towering Namekian warrior made his way towards the castle at the far end of the floating road, his long strides carrying him off just fast enough that the boys couldn't quite keep up at a comfortable pace. Gohan had to jog a bit to catch up to him.
"H-hey, where are we going? What's going on here?"
"Don't make this more difficult than it has to be, Gohan," Piccolo replied, still not looking down at his dear old friend, "You're a smart kid. You've already figured out what happened. We lost. We failed. This is the price of failure."
Gohan let out a shuddering sigh, fighting off the tears that were welling up in his eyes. This couldn't be happening. They couldn't have failed. What would happen to the Earth? And what about everyone who had been killed? Was there even anyone left to wish them back? Was this really it?
"So… What do we do now?" he asked, finally forcing himself to start accepting the reality of the situation.
"Now?" Piccolo repeated, hesitating far more than was normal for him, "You'll be fine. You're one hell of a kid, Gohan. You'll be going to a good place. I wouldn't be surprised if your little girlfriend will be up there waiting for you."
At that, Gohan's face instantly turned beet red.
"G-girlfriend?! C-come on, Piccolo! It's not fair teasing me like that at a time like this!" he retorted before wasting no time changing the subject, "And what about you?"
"What about me?"
"I mean, you'll be there too, right?"
There was a long silence after that. So long, in fact, that Gohan was afraid Piccolo wouldn't answer.
"Piccolo? You'll be there too… Right?"
Another nearly endless silence stretched out between the two of them. Finally, Piccolo let out a small sigh.
"That'll be up to King Yemma."
The rest of the walk was made in silence, but they didn't have to endure it for long. They passed through the massive arch of the castle gate. A blue ogre in office clothes greeted the four of them, waving them forward to stand before a truly gargantuan mahogany desk. Behind this desk sat an equally gigantic red ogre in a pinstripe suit, whose voice boomed down over them even larger still.
"I must admit, I wasn't looking forward to this, but considering all that's happened today, I'm not surprised to see you here."
"Where's 'here?' Who are you?" Trunks asked in that semi-demanding tone that was endemic of children of rich parentage. King Yemma seemed to forgive the boy's tone, looking down at him with what almost seem to be a glint of pity.
"Don't you worry, son. You'll be taken good care of. In fact, your mother came through here not long ago and we'll get you off to her in just a moment."
"Really?! What about my mom?!" Goten chimed in excitedly.
"Don't worry, your mother's here as well." Yemma replied, glancing away just long enough to jot something down in his paperwork. He then looked up and directed them off to one side with one massive hand. "Now you three boys just head down that hallway and go through the gates at the end. You'll find your mothers there without too much trouble."
Both Goten and Trunks eagerly accepted the invitation and bounded down the hallway. Gohan, however, merely stared after them until they disappeared from view.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" came Yemma's booming voice once more, "You're free to go as well, Gohan."
Gohan heard him well enough, but he didn't feel compelled to follow the great ogre's direction. Instead, he found himself looking up at his old mentor.
"What about Piccolo? He's coming with us too, right?"
In response to that, King Yemma let out a sigh similar to the one Piccolo had given when asked about that earlier.
"That's… That's complicated, I'm afraid. Young people like yourself and those two boys are easy enough to judge, but your friend here… Well, he's had a very long, very… eventful life. His judgement is going to be a little trickier."
"Uhh… How tricky are we talking?" Gohan asked hesitantly. In response to this question, King Yemma reached down to open one of the drawers of his desk. He then produced a file that was as thick as the great ogre's head was wide, dropping it onto the surface of his desk with a thunderous thud.
"Very tricky," he replied, giving the massive file a good pat, "Piccolo may have died before, but this is the first time he's died with his soul in one piece. I've not only got to go through his life, but Kami's as well. Then I've got to somehow stitch the two together and come up with an appropriate judgement. Needless to say, this might take a while."
"Well… Now that I'm dead, I've got all of eternity, right? Would it be okay if I stuck around until you were done?"
"Gohan…" Piccolo interrupted, looking down at the Saiyan teen for the first time since they'd arrived, "I can handle myself. You just go on ahead. You shouldn't keep your mother or Videl waiting. They've been worried about you for days."
Gohan merely shook his head in response.
"I already know I'll be able to see them whenever I want for the rest of time. I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I left now and never saw you again," he said, giving his mentor a soft smile, "Besides, whatever might have happened in your past, I know you're a good person now. You should be judged on that, not what happened ages ago. I want to make sure that's what happens."
Piccolo couldn't help but stare down at Gohan for a long moment, as though searching the teen's eyes for sincerity. Finally – inevitably – he gave in.
"Alright… But don't say I didn't try to warn you."
"Well, now that that's settled…" Yemma interjected. The great ogre then snapped his fingers – producing a sound more akin to a thunderclap than a snap – and there appeared an abyss-like hole in the floor before the two warriors. Gohan peeked tentatively over the edge, peering into what seemed to be an infinite black void. He then glanced up at King Yemma, who wore an amused smirk across his lips.
"Trust me, boy, it's a lot more impressive-looking than it really is. Both of you go ahead and step into the circle and we'll get started."
"B-both of us? But… what is it for?" Gohan asked nervously. Before he could get an answer, however, Piccolo had stepped forward without hesitation. Rather than fall straight down into the void, he merely stood there atop it as though the floor had never opened up in the first place. Gohan suddenly felt rather foolish for being so nervous. After all, he supposed if there was a risk of falling they could always fly.
The Saiyan teen followed his mentor's lead, stepping into the circle to join him. The instant he passed through the perimeter, the entire world seemed to go dark. He drew in a sharp gasp at the sudden change. The worst part was that it wasn't just a visual shock. Wherever he found himself now, it had an entirely different atmosphere to it. It was heavy and humid, and it was somewhat hard to breathe. He instantly started getting flashbacks to his time in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. This… wherever it was… felt just like the Time Chamber, except it was an endless black void instead of an endless white one.
Gohan then remembered that he hadn't entered this place alone. He spun around to see if Piccolo was there with him. Thankfully his old friend hadn't gotten far. Piccolo stood with his back turned just a few meters away, just on the edge of the only illuminated spot in the area. Just beyond where the towering Namekian was standing was a circle of light, as though there were an invisible spotlight shining down from directly above. In the center of the light was a single ornate chair that looked to be made of twisted wrought iron. The strangest thing about the chair was that it only had one leg emerging from the center of the seat bottom, the whole thing balanced precariously on what amounted to a needle point.
"Piccolo… What is all this?"
"It's not obvious?" Piccolo asked, though he didn't bother looking back Gohan's way. Without explaining further, he stepped forward into the light and took a seat in the chair. The instant he did, the air felt as though an electric charge had been sent through it. Every nerve in Gohan's body lit up with an indescribable feeling, and his vision filled with a blinding light.
As quickly as it had come on, it all went away. His body soon stopped its weird vibrating and his vision started to clear. Even before he could see, he knew he must not be in the same place as before. The air was no longer humid and still, but was now bitterly cold with a biting wind. He let out a yelp of surprise – producing a fair puff of fog from his warm breath hitting the freezing air – and wrapped his arms around himself in a desperate attempt to keep some of his body heat near him.
Gohan had suddenly found himself standing in the middle of what looked to be a vast mountain range only sparsely peppered with a small population of evergreen trees. He turned around to find more of the same behind him, the permafrost crunching lightly under his feet. What's more, he was most decidedly alone. Piccolo was nowhere to be seen.
Where the hell was he now? What was the reason for sending him to a god forsaken wasteland like this? Was it all some trick to get him out of the way? To keep him from interfering in Piccolo's judgement? Gohan grit his teeth in frustration and was just about to let his anger at the situation boil over when something caught his eye. The dusky sky was suddenly lit up with a bright fiery light, pulling his eyes upward to see what was causing it. What he saw was what looked to be a large meteorite falling from the sky.
As he watched this object fall from the sky, he quickly realized that it was no simple space rock. No, this was quite clearly a ship of some sort. It was a light color despite still being engulfed in flames from its steep entry into the atmosphere, seemed to be vaguely spherical and, if he squinted hard enough, he thought he could just see four distinct protrusions out of one side. In a flash, he realized he'd seen a ship like that before. In fact, he may have been on that very ship before. The sudden knowledge of where he was – and more importantly, when he was – had him rocketing off towards where the ship would inevitably land.
