Dragon Ball Z: History of Gohan - Chapter 10

"Well, this is certainly a large turn of events.. First King Cold attacks me on the battlefield, then Vegeta destroys my minion, and now both of you are asking to join my team.. Hahaha! I can't say I blame you," Gero cockily laughed.

"Grr, don't call it a team! We merely want you to rebuild us as androids so that we can have an upper-hand against Kakarot and the others.. We just have common enemies," Vegeta rebuttled.

"Speaking of those enemies... Don't you think it's only a matter of time until they find this place?" King Cold brought up.

"Hmm... That is a good point. How about you and I go and tell them we've defeated the androids and they have nothing to worry about? That will make our uprising in the coming times all the more surprising," Vegeta suggested.

"Splendid," Cold agreed.

"I will prepare the items needed for the procedures while you're gone. This is going to be an amazing success for us, gentlemen!" Gero cheered. Vegeta and King Cold bolted out of the hideout and purposely headed a good distance away from it before summoning the Z Fighters. They both substantially raised their powers for a few moments, then lowered them to a normal level. As expected, the Earth's Special Forces headed to the scene within minutes.

"Vegeta! King Cold! Have you guys found anything?" Krillin eagerly asked.

"We found Gero's hideout and he was dealt with," Vegeta simply said.

Future Gohan's eyes popped open and his jaw dropped.

"Really? That easily?" Tien asked.

"Didn't you feel that surge of power a few moments ago? It only took a few blasts from the both of us to defeat him." King Cold elaborated.

"No! You forgot the others!" Future Gohan exclaimed. The others looked at him, confused. He noticed that all eyes were on him and that he made a bit of an odd scene, "The androids that attacked my time are not the same two that you all saw on the battlefield earlier... You may have been able to defeat the fat one and the old one, but I assure you that you couldn't just deal with the brutal 17 and 18 with simple blasts... I could sense your power, and it wasn't even in the same ballpark of the blasts I used on them back in my timeline, and mine didn't even scratch their invincible metallic bodies..." Future Gohan had gone off on a small tangent. He could not and would not believe that Vegeta and King Cold defeated them.

"We did meet Androids 17 and 18. I don't appreciate being called a liar, child!" Vegeta argued to Future Gohan.

Future Gohan raised one fist, "Prove it!"

"Android 17 is a young man with black hair. He sported a red bandana above his shirt, which was also black. Android 18, who we discovered was his sister, is a young blonde woman who seemed to be wearing a denim jacket.. She was not unattractive," Vegeta quickly explained, flawlessly carrying his words with no stumbles or stutters.

Future Gohan stood in disbelief. It was all in front of him; Vegeta would only know that information if he had truly seen Android 17 and Android 18, however there was no way he saw them and was able to live the tale, and Gohan knew that.

"Buck up, kid! We did a lot of training ever since you gave us that warning a while back. I'm sure Vegeta alone was enough for them," Tien assured him.

"Say, how about we all head back to the Kame House and chill out with Goku for a bit. I'm sure he'll be glad to hear the news!" Krillin happily suggested. Yamcha and Tien agreed, and began to fly toward its direction. Present Gohan began to go with them, however he glanced back to see Piccolo, Future Gohan, King Cold, and Vegeta remaining where they were.

"Aren't you guys coming?" Present Gohan asked.

"We'll be there in a little bit.. You should get going now to see your father, Gohan," Piccolo sternly said, not even tilting his head to look at Gohan. Gohan could tell that Piccolo had some reasoning for asking him to leave and respected his orders. He burst toward the Kame House quickly, hoping to catch up with the others, however he was still a little curious as to why Piccolo wished for him to be away.

"I don't think I will be joining you all, unfortunately," Cold said, "as I feel it is my time to depart from this planet. I have done my time," he pointed at Future Gohan, "and I indefinitely thank you for sparing my life some years ago and giving me the chance to reform my ideals and start anew. I promise I will not create any trouble through my galactic ventures this time around," Cold assured, bowing to Gohan.

Future Gohan said nothing, nor did Piccolo.

"As for me, I believe I am going to find a remote area on this planet and train rigorously for some time. I don't plan on burdoning myself with the emotions that tend to come with spending time with you all," Vegeta said.

Future Gohan said nothing, nor did Piccolo.

Vegeta could tell that they both had rising suspicions based on their disapproving frowns they had silently cast upon he and Cold.

"What else do you want to hear? We've told you our plans!" Vegeta asked.

Future Gohan breathed heavily as he looked at Piccolo, "You know what? I do think we're done here. There's nothing else I want to hear from these guys."

Future Gohan turned around and began to fly to the Kame House at a reasonable pace, not as rushed as Present Gohan had flown. Piccolo did the same after a few moments.

The others were all inside enjoying the time of peace while Future Gohan stood at the shoreline of the small island, staring out at the horizon. Piccolo walked outside and approached him.

"I know something's up, Gohan.." Piccolo said.

"Bwahhh! You know...?"

"I overheard you talking to your father when you first arrived several years ago. I've known you were Gohan ever since then."

"Geez! I had no idea you knew!"

"I could tell even before then. I watched you grow up. I may not be the most affectionate person out there, but I don't forget faces of people I'm near."

"Huh... That's kinda nice of you to say, Piccolo. But you're right; something is definitely up with Vegeta and Cold... I don't trust either of them, but I have no clue what they could be plotting."

"It isn't obvious, I'll admit... They're both part of completely different rival races, so I highly doubt they'd be working together..."

"There's no doubt that they saw Androids 17 and 18. He described them pretty well. I just have my doubts that they were able to defeat them so easily... But why would they lie about that?"

"It's hard to say... So I guess you're not heading back to your timeline any time too soon?"

"No way.. The whole reason I came here was to learn how to fight the androids, like finding weaknesses maybe. I wanted to train here so that I could return to my timeline and save it... But if the androids are truly destroyed, then I'm a little disappointed. I'm glad it was so easy for you all, but I didn't even get to fight any of them even for a little bit."

"Well, I have the feeling you'll have another opportunity to fight androids sooner or later," Piccolo said as he turned around and walked back inside. Future Gohan watched him walk away and leaving him with things to think about.

Right as he was about to pull his hair out with stress, Bulma proceeded to walk outside and approach him shyly.

"Hey, big guy," she began.

"Oh... Hi, Bulma."

"Are you alright? You sound a little down."

"I'm fine. I've just got a lot on my mind, I guess."

Bulma smiled and winked, "Well, I'm not just a genius scientist! I studied psychology a lot in college, so if you ever want someone to talk to, feel free to come to me any time."

"Heh... Thanks." Future Gohan had missed Bulma's slightly too confident personality from his timeline.

"So, I don't suppose you're going to be staying in this time much longer..." Bulma said, as her tone shifted to a more reserved and much less peppy one.

"I'm actually planning on staying for a while.."

Bulma's head raised with intrigue as she looked at Gohan to wait for the rest of what he had to say.

"I'm not positive that I'm done here," he elaborated.

"Well, if you're going to be staying around, we have plenty of rooms over at Capsule Corporation. They're really cushy, too! You're more than welcome to stay at one of them for the time being."

Wait... Where was I planning on staying at? Gohan thought to himself. There's certainly not enough extra room at mom and dad's house or over here at the Kame House... And I do already know my way around Capsule Corporation pretty well by now.

"You know.. I just might have to take you up on that offer, Bulma." Future Gohan was secretly feeling a little homesick, however he did not want to return to his timeline. Everything felt awkward in this one, though. He just wanted a peaceful life, growing up with his mother and father, but he knew that was impossible. All he could hope for was that Preset Gohan would end up with the peaceful teenage years he didn't have. The best part of his life in his timeline was living with Bulma and Trunks. Bulma was just a caring, spunky girl who saw to it that he and Trunks stayed safe. While she worried about him constantly, she trusted that Gohan knew how to defend himself and let him do what he thought was appropriate. Trunks was his best friend, and his student. This whole day Gohan couldn't get the thoughts out of his head.

It was my fault that Trunks died in my timeline, and now it's my fault that he wasn't born in this one..