To Reviewers…
FlareKnight- Thanks for the review and ideas. I have yet to decide whether I should let trunks take over. I really like Gohan, and this is mainly his battle. But I don't want to leave Trunks out of it. I don't know whether Gohan should stay alive for the entire fic, or should Trunks have to go through the same thing that Gohan had to with Piccolo. Either way there is light at the end. I don't know how far I will go into the timeline, I was thinking till Trunks goes back, but what do you think?
DeathGoblin- I plan on doing few year skips, but no huge time jump. I plan on having a few sub-plotlines during this fic. Thanks for your review.
Ch 6- Failed Attempt
It had been nearly 4 years. The now almost 17 year old Gohan continued to train in the mountains, not making nearly as much progress as he wanted to. It had been true what Master Roshi said, the weighted clothes helped for the first few months of training, then it had little effect. Gohan had now been able to transform into super saiyan at will for quite some time. He showed up to Capsule Corporation rarely, perhaps every few months, and only stayed for a few days.
Gohan had decided that his training had come to a stall. He was barely making any progress, and without the aid of Piccolo or his father, his will to succeed and save the world had began to fall. He was the only person that was capable of protecting people.
'Perhaps it's time I go back to Capsule Corporation. Maybe I need a break from all this training.' Gohan thought.
Gohan took one last look around. He was sitting down resting, very close to where he buried Piccolo. He looked around 'So quaint.' Gohan thought. The birds were chirping and animals were roaming around as if no evil androids were killing people.
Gohan decided it was time. He picked himself up, and took off in the sky. He headed towards the closest town to him. It was far away back towards West City, located in the foot hills. The town only had a few hundred people, and was far away from other civilization. The next closest town was a few hours in a car.
Gohan needed to use the bathroom. Living out in Mother Nature wasn't exactly easy. He landed just out the outskirts of town. He walked towards the center, made his way into a store and took care of himself.
As Gohan was walking out of the bathroom, he head some screams. 'That can't be the androids, they don't come into small towns like these.' Then he heard several explosions. He immediately ran outside to see what all the commotion was about.
He saw several buildings on fire, and there he heard more screaming. He quickly ran around the corner to see what was going on. It was the androids. 'Oh no! What are they doing all the way out here!' Gohan thought. He quickly snuck back around the corner. 'What should I do?'
"Ahh!" A young girl screamed.
"Look what we have here, more humans." Android 17 said.
Android 18 was watching his brother have fun. She didn't want to even go into this small town. 'Hes such a kid.' 18 thought watching 17 laughing evilly at the young girl.
"Your actually really pretty, so you will get lucky. I will give you a three options on how to die. One, I can throw you thousands of meters high in the air. Two, I can throw you at the mountains over there. Or three, I can watch you try to escape when your efforts will all be in vain. Please pick three!" 17 said with a smirk on his face.
The young girl was now crying. Before 17 was about to make his move a very heavy metal bat collided with his neck. 17 turned around to see who interrupted her.
"Leave her alone you monster!" a man in his 50's said.
17 turned around with a proud smirk on his face. "I can't tell whether this is bravery or stupidity, what do you think 18?" 17 said.
18 looked at the frightened man. "Would you just finish, we have been here to long! I wanted to try on clothes in the city today, but no… I have to watch you have fun!" 18 said.
"Aww, your no fun 18" 17 said.
Right after saying that, a metal bat collided with 17's head. "Do you really think you will help the girl? You should worry about your own life now" 17 said.
17 took the bat; both the man and 17 were holding the bat, one at one end, another at the other end. The man was trying to get the bat out of the androids grip, but it was useless.
"Ha! Game over old man!" 17 said. He took the bat and was about to make his move when kick collided with 17's face. 17 went flying off and hit the ground. 18 took a double take.
17 got up quickly and took a look the man that kicked him. "Who are you?" 17 asked.
'They don't recognize me' Gohan thought. Gohan put up his guard. 'Good, perhaps I can surprise them and take them out.' Gohan thought.
"Heh, no matter, you are as good as dead. Nobody does that to me and gets away with it." 17 said with a growing smirk on his face.
Gohan powered up into Super Sayian. Android 17 had a look of surprise 'What a second, is that Vegeta?' 17 thought? By now the man and girl had escaped, and Gohan made note of that.
"Vegeta?" 17 asked? Gohan had a look of surprise
'They think I'm Vegeta' Gohan thought. "No, it's your worst nightmare." Gohan said.
"Wait, you're not Vegeta. I know your voice. You were the pipsqueak we defeated when we first arrived. You were with Piccolo, I see you survived. Good, I was worried I wouldn't have somebody I could pound into the ground." 17 said.
"Your time has ended! You will pay for what you have done to this world" Gohan said, getting angry.
All Gohan heard was a laugh. "Haha, this is just too funny. Do you really think you stand a chance?" 17 said with laughter.
Gohan's anger then turned into a smrik. "You will soon see." Gohan said.
"You crack me up kid. What makes you think you will succeed where Vegeta and Piccolo failed?" 17 asked.
All 17 saw was a smirk plastered on Gohan's face. 'This is going to be so fun. The satisfaction out of this will be so good.' 17 thought.
"Alright Gohan, let's see what you got." 17 said.
Right after 17 said that, Gohan charged him at full speed. 'He's quick' 17 said. Gohan fired a barrage of punches at the android. Even at the incredible speed that Gohan was punching him, 17 still managed to block all the punches. Gohan was just about to punch when 17 disappeared in front of Gohan's eyes.
Gohan immediately turned around to see a foot head his way. He attempted to block it, but failed, and was kicked. He was sent flying into a house. Gohan instantly got back on his feet, and charged 17. 17 continued to have a smirk on his face while Gohan was flying straight for him.
They both exchanged punches at incredible speed in mid air, when 17 grabbed both of Gohan's fists and threw him higher into the sky. Gohan regained composure and looked down to see 17, but saw nobody. It was then another kick hit Gohan into the head. Gohan came crashing back towards the street.
Android 17 landed on the ground to see Gohan mangled up. Gohan was lying on the ground. 'He's so strong! How am I going to make it out of this one' Gohan thought.
"Haha, and this is how you are going to make me pay?" 17 asked.
Gohan got back on his feet, blood dropping out of his nose. He had many scrapes and scratches on his body, and had yet to land a punch on 17.
"Piccolo and Vegeta did much better than this. How disappointing." 17 said.
"How dare you mention those names! You are going to die!" Gohan said, charging 17 blindly.
Gohan was enraged. His anger was taking control. Not that the anger didn't help his strength, it weakened his technique. Gohan was punching 17 as fast as he could. His fight was now only powered with anger. It was then Gohan actually hit 17 in the face. 17 flew back a bit. Gohan also flew back. Both put up their defenses again.
"Impressive Gohan, you actually managed to hit me, something only Piccolo and Vegeta could do. I applaud you." 17 said.
"I am going to kill you!" Gohan yelled, still angry. He blindly charged 17. 17 dodged his punch, and rammed his knee in Gohan's stomach. Gohan coughed up blood and then collapsed to the ground. He had yet to lose conscious.
Gohan was now sprawled out on the ground, severely damaged. He was in server pain.
"Arg, your not going to get away with this." Gohan said. 17 began to walk over to Gohan's body. Gohan then concentrated all his energy on his fist and surprisingly picked himself up he hit 17 with all his strength. 17 went flying up into the sky.
It was then, Gohan began to gather all his energy once again this time for his finishing move. "Ka-me Ha-me Ha!" Gohan screamed. A huge ball of energy came out of his hands going straight for 17.
Unfortunately for Gohan, 17 regained his composer. 17 looked at the ball of energy coming. He put up his guard. 'That's right monster, stay right where you are' Gohan thought. Gohan then began to smirk.
Right as the blast was about to hit 17. 17 pulled out his fist, and threw it towards the oncoming blast. He successfully hit used his fist to reflect the blast. The blast then went flying into the mountain.
'Impossible!' Gohan thought. After the light cleared, he saw nothing. 'Huh? Where is the android?' Gohan thought.
17 appeared right behind Gohan, and before he had a chance to react. 17 threw a powerful punch at Gohan's head. Gohan collided into a building.
"Hah! That takes care of him" 17 said. But with another surprise, Gohan jumped out of the rubble and charged 17. Because 17 had dropped his guard, he wasn't prepared for the oncoming kick. Gohan's kick successfully hit 17, sending the android into a building.
18 continued to watch this latest development. The dust cleared from the rubble, showing what was left of the building. 'Yes I did it! I did it! Theres no way anybody could survive that. I directly hit him in the head, without any guard up.' Gohan thought.
"Finally! That monster got what he deserved!" Gohan said. He was so happy.
"What is he so happy about 18?" 17 said picking himself out of the rubble.
"I don't know, something about what we deserve" 18 said.
"Oh, do we get a gift?" 17 said with a smirk.
"Would you just finish up the job! I still want to get into town, and all this dust is making me dirty!" 18 said.
"Geez, no need to be such a downer. I am just having a little fun." 17 said defending his position. 'I never get any fun' 17 thought.
Gohan came to his senses. 'What! How?' Gohan thought. 'This is not good.'
"Gohan, I think we have some unfinished business" 17 said.
'Damn, I thought that last kick did him in. What am I going to do now, I used up all my energy.' Gohan thought.
"Prepare to die" was all 17 said before he charged at Gohan again. Gohan put up a defense, but because of his tired, aching, damaged body, his defense was defenseless. Right before 17 came in contact with Gohan, he disappeared.
'Where did he go' Gohan thought, then realized he was behind him. 17 hit him dead hard in the head knocking him out. Gohan fell towards the ground.
17 began to walk back over to 18. "Well that takes care of him" 17 said.
"What do you mean!? He is just knocked out, kill him already!" 18 said.
"Listen sis, if we kill him, we are never going to have fun fighting him again. Let him train, and see if he can fight better next time." 17 said.
"Fine, let's get cleaned up and then we are going to shopping!" 18 said.
"Fine" 17 said, as they both flew off.
As the androids left, the remaining survivor of the city came out of their damaged homes. "Quick! Our savior is still alive!" A woman said. Several men and woman came outside to look over to see their savior.
"He doesn't look so good" one man said.
"Is he still alive, somebody check!" Another man said.
"His heard is still beating, he is alive!" A woman said.
"Quick, help me get him inside of my house. I have an empty bed!" A man said.
Several people dragged Gohan inside of a man's house.
A few hours later, Gohan started to stir. Gohan opened his eyes. 'Where am I?' Gohan looked at his surroundings. He was in a house, on the second room in bed. He quickly sat up, remembering the androids. 'The androids! Where are they!?' Gohan thought. He attempted to get up fast, but his body told him otherwise. 'Agh, my whole body is in pain.' Gohan thought.
Gohan's next attempt at getting up was much more slowly. He was able to stand on his feet. He walked into the bathroom in the hallway to clean himself up. His blood stained the bed sheets. 'Where am I exactly?' Gohan thought as he splashed water on his face to clean himself up.
Gohan walked out of the bathroom and saw stairs. He heard voices downstairs and decided to check it out. He walked downstairs very slowly, making sure that they didn't hear him.
"Hello?" Gohan said.
Everybody stopped what they were doing and looked to see who it was. There was a Man, a Woman, and a young girl.
"You're awake!" The woman said.
The man and girl smiled. "Are you feeling ok?" The woman said.
"Yes, and thank you for letting me rest in your house." Gohan said with a smile.
"It was my honor. You saved our village from more casualities. If you didn't come, my daughter would have been killed. We are eternally greatful." She said.
"Oh my, where my manners? My name is Celia, and my husband is Sakro, and my daughter is Lisa." Celia said.
"My name is Gohan, by the way, how long was I out?" Gohan asked.
"Oh, it has been about 2 hours" Celia said.
"Sorry about your sheets, my blood kind of stained them." Gohan said.
"Oh don't worry about that, why don't you have some lunch we were just about to eat." Celia said.
"Oh thank you, but I can't stay long, I am suppose to be back in West City today." Gohan said.
"Wasn't West City damaged severely by the androids?" Sakro said.
"Yes in fact it was, however many survivors are still living in the city. A lot of the city survived the androids." Gohan said.
They all ate dinner. It was the first actual dinner he had on plates in a long time. He had been out in the wilderness training, so this type of luxury was appreciated. After about 40 minutes of eating and talking, Gohan decided to get back to Bulma and Trunks.
"Thanks for everything!" Gohan said.
"Bye, come back again!" Lisa, the young girl said.
Gohan waved and flew off into the sky towards West City. 'I am lucky to be alive. Why didn't they finish me off?' Gohan thought as he was flying towards West City. 'Bulma is going to throw a fit when she finds out that I fought the androids.'
'Well, Capsule Corp. is still in shape it would seem' Gohan thought as he was about to land. Right when he landed he was tackled down by 6 year, almost 7 old Trunks.
"Gohan!" Trunks said, while jumping up and down. Trunks didn't get to see much of Gohan, but he looked up towards him. Trunks didn't have anybody else around except for his mom. It was way too dangerous for him to go out into the world and explore it. His mother kept a pretty tight leach on Trunks.
'Heh, I wish I was as happy as him. Good thing he doesn't have to fight.' Gohan thought."Hey there kid, how's it going?" Gohan said.
"Good! Did you come back to play with me?" Trunks said with excitement.
"Not exactly, maybe later" Gohan said.
"Ok!" Trunks said while running back into the house. "Mom! Gohan's back!" Trunks yelled.
"I'm coming, I'm coming." Bulma said back to her son.
Bulma came down to see Gohan, and was surprised. "What happened to you!?" Bulma practically yelled in Gohan's face.
"Well, I ran into the androids." Gohan said.
"You promised me you wouldn't go and fight the androids!" Bulma yelled.
"Well sorry! I couldn't help it, they were about to kill young girls, and I didn't exactly go and fight them. I accidently ran into them in a small town far to the west." Gohan said slightly irritated.
"Sorry about that, I just can't deal with loosing you too." Bulma said looking down to the ground.
"Do you have any senzu beans? I need to get rid of these cuts and scrapes." Gohan said.
"Yeah, there are some right here." Bumla said while handing Gohan a bean. "Your so much like your dad." Bulma said.
Gohan smiled, than ate the bean. "So, how is life?"
"Life could be better like always. My parents died a month ago by the androids." Bulma said with sadness.
"Oh no! I am so sorry" Gohan said.
"It's ok, I am mostly over it" Bulma said."Listen Gohan, stay here longer this time, you need a break. Trunks and I need somebody else around for a little while, how bout it?"
"That was what I was thinking, but before I made back here, I was attacked by the androids." Gohan said.
"So tell me, how was the fight with the androids." Bulma asked? Young Trunks also listened on, always interested in what Gohan had to say.
"It was horrible. The androids were attacking a the small town, killing everybody in sight. I couldn't bear watching them die so I stepped in. I was able to get a few hits on 17, but he knocked me out, and I guess left me to live. I was sure I was going to die." Gohan said.
"Well, I am sure glad that you survived. Your father was just like that, always surivivng whatever came his way" Bulma said.
"But he couldn't survive a stupid heart virus." Gohan said with sadness.
"Sorry Gohan, but let loose for the next few weeks, relax a little." Bulma said.
"I will try" Gohan said.
"Good, I gotta get back to work. I have spent the last few weeks working on a new project. Its called Project Hope."
"Project Hope?" Gohan asked.
"Yeah. Its going to take many years to complete, but it's going to be my way of helping to get rid of these androids." Bulma said.
"I think it's stupid. It's never going to work, everybody know's time travel is impossible." Trunks said. Bulma just smirked.
"Time travel?" Gohan asked curiously.
"Yes, time travel. I am building a time machine so you can go back into time and warn your father about the androids." Bulma said.
"Wouldn't that alter the time, possibly opening another time dimension or something?" Gohan asked.
"It might, but think, any different time would be better than this." Bulma said.
"Yeah, I guess you're right." Gohan thought skeptically.
"Well, I will be in the lab if you need me." Bulma said
"Ok" Gohan said. "So Trunks what have you been doing lately?"
"Playing with my toys and training" Trunks said.
"Training?" Gohan asked? "Why would you be training."
"I want to become just as strong as you!" Trunks said with excitement.
'Heh, that kid, why does he want to train? I hope he doesn't want to go and fight the androids.' Gohan thought. Trunks just continued to have a smile on his face. 'Heh, I wish I was as happy as he is'
"Listen Trunks, having power these days is not as fun as you might think it would be." Gohan said.
"I know! But I want to fight the androids and help along side with you" Trunks said.
'Hah, I knew it, that kid doesn't even know what he's getting into.' Gohan thought. "Trunks, those androids are monsters, very bad scary monsters. Why would you want to fight them?" Gohan asked.
"They killed my dad, and I want to make him proud!" Trunks said.
'Wow, there's that pride thing. Must be a typical Vegeta trait. I have to somehow convince him that he shouldn't train. I don't want him to have to go through what I did when I was a child. Nobody should have to deal with what I have to.' Gohan thought.
"Gohan, will you train me?" Trunks asked.
Gohan was a bit taken aback. He wasn't expecting this question, at least not now. 'Uh oh. Hes to young to train, I don't want him to deal with what I have to' Gohan thought. "No." Gohan said.
"Aww, why not!" Trunks asked.
'Huh? I sense Bulma very close, I thought she went down to her lab' Gohan thought. 'Ah there she is. Listening to my conversation with Trunks. Surely, she doesn't want me to train Trunks.' Gohan thought.
"You would just get in the way. This isn't just a game, these androids are killing everybody. If you went into battle they would kill you." Gohan said.
"I don't want to keep sitting around and being useless. My mom said that you would train me eventually!" Trunks said. Bulma bit her lip.
'Huh? Bulma said that? She must have been not thinking, surely she doenst want her 6 year old child to train' Gohan thought.
"No, and that's my final answer." Gohan said.
Trunks started to tear up. 'I thought mom said that Gohan would train.' Trunks then turned around and ran back upstairs to his room. He shut the door. 'I feel so useless.'
Back down stairs Gohan was in deep thought. 'Why would Bulma say that? Theres no way that I am going to train that kid. I am not even fully trained myself. How would I even train him?' Gohan thought. Then he remembered that Bulma was hiding behind the corner.
"You can come out now Bulma" Gohan said.
Bulma was a bit ashamed at being caught. She slowly came out. "Why do you go so hard on the kid? He just wants to follow his dreams." Bulma said.
"Wait a sec. You actually want me to train the kid?" Gohan asked?
"Well, he is Vegeta's son. I know hes not going to hold out much longer. He feels useless, something that Vegeta hated." Bulma said.
"But still, he's only 6 years old! I can't train him."
"Weren't you only 5 when Piccolo started to train you?" Bulma asked as she walked out of the room back towards her lab.
'That's right, I was only 5 years old, but still these times are different. I will not train the kid, at least not yet, maybe when he becomes a teenager, if I'm still alive.' Gohan thought.
Back up in Trunks room, Trunks was crying. 'Why won't he train me? I was sure he would! I feel so useless. How will I make him believe in me? There just has to be away' young Trunks thought.
A.N.- Uh oh, What is Trunks going to do? What will Gohan do? We will see…
Thanks again, and comments are greatly appreciated.
It might be a week before I update, possibly more and of course it could be a mere day.