Fact: Resistance's may disappear for a time, but they never die.

~The Calm Before Saga~

Chapter 26 – Mirrors

"Get up."

Gohan pushed his face off the ground, coughing up spit as he tried to focus his vision. His future Mirai version loomed over him, his face just as serious as the day they met. Gohan gnawed his teeth together, nearly growling as he brought himself to his feet. They were in the darkness again, like last night, and the night before, and the night before that...

It was never ending.

"Aren't you done yet? We've been doing this for over a week."

"Are you saying you're ready for when the Casket gets here?"

Gohan fell to a knee, panting as his body gave out under the killing intent of Mirai. It was foreign, even though it was coming from his own face. It was as cold as Vegeta's, yet still as righteous as his fathers. Could he really look like that? Was such a thing even possible? … had he looked like that before?

Mirai knelt down infront of Gohan, grabbing a-hold of the teen's spiky black hair. "This is how we learn, just like how Piccolo taught us. You know it. I know it. The only way for us is to be forced to deal with it. So deal with it."

Gohan yelled out as his hair was pulled up till he was forced to stand. Mirai released Gohan, letting the teen slowly fall down, making sure to pull back slowly before thrusting his fist into Gohan's chest, just below the ribcage. Gohan coughed out more saliva as his body hunched forward, gasping for air.

-DBZ-

Running, through twisted metal and concrete, running. A small boy, all alone, running. The two androids following behind had a game they liked to play. Adults were interesting to toy with, but children had a will to live unlike their older counterparts. Forcing a child to abandon his parents, his friends, everything. The look on his face, the light in his eyes, it was like tainting pure diamond.

And the look on his face when he knew it was all over, even after all that, and the only thing he had accomplished was being able to die alone?

Priceless.

-DBZ-

Gohan fell to the ground, one hand gripping his stomach while another tried to hold his head. It hurt, god it hurt. To see these things, over and over and over but not able to do a thing about it. It hurt so much...

Mirai stood tall, towering over Gohan. "While you may have more energy than me … my fists have more weight behind them. The weight of a world. By the time the Casket gets here … you, Gohan, will be the same as me."

Gohan pulled his right foot forward, stomping it into the ground as he stood. A shadow was cast across his face as the three energy orbs behind him began to ripple and shake. Gohan was tired. His mind was drawn out and his body was exhausted and beaten up. Yet .. there was a part of him that wanted to just beat the snot out of this Mirai guy. This was his body and his life, by all rights Mirai didn't even have anything to do with this timeline! If he was to get serious … a he meant really serious … this future version of him wouldn't even stand a chance!

Mirai Gohan on the other hand watched silently. They were making progress, at least this Gohan was getting mad at him now. For a second, Mirai's eyes glanced towards the three balls of energy behind Gohan, his fist tightening only the slightest of amounts.

"That's enough for tonight."

Gohan almost laughed at the thought. "Enough? Since when do you get to decide!"

-DBZ-

Gohan shot forward in his bed, his right arm reaching out for the nothingness infront of him. He let go of a long breath, stress leaving his chest along with the air. His right hand rubbed his eyes as he glanced over at his alarm clock. Six in the morning. Normally his mother would be up cooking now, but with them being at Capsule Corp and her being pregnant, she had been sleeping in more and more lately.

Shifting from under the covers, Gohan stood up and headed towards Vegeta's gravity room. Everyone seemed to be asleep still. It would make this easier on everyone if no one knew about where he was headed. Gohan just had to let off some steam, no matter how much the others didn't want him training. The gravity room was empty, and more importantly still intact after his father and the others had been training in it for so long. The scars the room had from those who had been inside training were everywhere, and it gave the room an odd sense of age and strength.

Turning up the gravity to a small twenty times earth's, Gohan walked in and headed towards the center. The last time Gohan really had gone through with gravity training was back when his father had taken him to train for Cell inside the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. It had been where he had learned to go Super Saiyan for the first time. And now, he had to do the same thing again.

Sitting down in the center of the room, Gohan crossed his legs and began to meditate. Physical training still probably was pushing his luck, not that he wasn't doing that already, but mental training should be fine, right? It could help him fight against Mirai, or at the very least help him relax. Always after those dreams, he would feel so … angry. He had even snapped at his mother the other day when she asked him about Videl. She hadn't meant anything by it … well, maybe she did, but Gohan just couldn't believe that he actually got angry at her. If he could just get a good nights rest for once, maybe he'd stop being so frustrated with himself for one day.

An hour passed, and the gravity suddenly began to return back to normal, shaking Gohan out of his meditation. Turning around from his spot, Gohan found Vegeta entering through the doorway looking about as unhappy as ever.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Gohan just couldn't help but gulp a little. "Meditation. To train my mind, not my body."

"Hmph." was Vegeta's reply. The Prince walked to the center of the room, giving Gohan a solid kick to his back. "Get out, I need to start training."

"Alright, alright! I'm going..." Gohan stumbled to his feet, albeit reluctantly, and headed towards the exit at no particular speed. He was surprised when Vegeta called out to him just before the door shut.

"And tell Kakarrot's woman I'm not a messenger, Brat!"

Gohan blinked at first, caught off guard at Vegeta's way with words. One he found himself he had to chuckle though, which somehow felt even more relaxing than all that meditation, and gave Vegeta a wave before continuing on towards his mother and breakfast.

-DBZ-

Krillin was Gohan's companion for school that day, which probably was about as mixed a blessing as it could be. Krillin would never do anything that would put Gohan in an awkward spot, Gohan knew that, but there would no doubt be teasing. Lots and lots of teasing.

He could put up with it though, he had larger fish to fry. Like that super sized fish sandwich his mother decided to make for him today. Man that looked good...

"Alright kids," started Konkichi, "I have someone I'd like to introduce. She-"

The boys of the class instantly roared out in a cheer of celebration. A few of them even got up and danced around a little, they were so happy. Most of the girls rolled their eyes, albeit somewhat from them being jealous it wasn't a guy. Gohan, however, was completely lost.

"Hey, Erasa, what's going on? What's up?"

"Didn't you hear Gohan?" questioned the blond, as if he was asking her how to breathe rather than what had the class in an uproar. "There's a new transfer student coming today!"

"Oh, really? Ya don't say. Guess that means I'm not the new guy anymore, huh?"

Sharpner smiled, leaning forward past Videl and Erasa so he could see Gohan on the other side. "Books, I don't think you'll ever be able to pass for anything other than 'new', and I'm being nice."

"Alright, alright! Settle down and take your seats already. She isn't even in the door yet. Anyway, she aced all her entrance exams with the second highest scores in school history. Better watch out Gohan, you might have some competition after all."

Gohan blinked curiously, wondering who this mystery girl could be. Videl, however, had a much different reaction. Groaning, she sank down into her chair. As if one genius wasn't enough, their class was getting another? With her luck, this one would turn out to be someone from a different dimension or something, where dinosaurs no longer exist and people pack their things in bags rather than capsules. Something crazy like that.

The worst part was that Videl really did have a bad feeling about this. Her gut was rarely wrong, and right now it was telling her that today was going to be very … very … long.

The door opened as Konkichi asked her to enter. She was tall, slender, and well enough endowed to render the male part of the class, and even a few of the females, into a comatose state. Her blue curly hair was all over, but a red ribbon covering her forehead did it's best to keep most of it out of her eyes.

"My name is Blast Shinhan, it's nice to meet all of you!"

Krillin nearly fell out of his chair. It was Tien's daughter, the one he had fought in the tournament! She had chosen this school to go to? But why?

Gohan leaned forward slightly, trying to get a better view of the girl. It had been a long time since he had seen her, back at the World Martial Art's Tournament. If he remembered correctly, she had been kept from society even more so than he had. He blinked, slightly confused when she looked up in his direction, her face turning red ever so slightly before she glanced away. Scratching his head, Gohan began to wonder if she was sick. And on her first day too.

Konkichi motioned for Blast to find a seat, and when she sat down in the second row he quickly began the lecture, making sure to not let the students begin to talk.

-DBZ-

"I heard this is the first time you've gone to a real school, is that true?"

"Want to join the Tea Club? We're looking for members!"

"How'd you get you're hair so blue?"

"Oh my god Kathy, you just can't ask why her hair's blue..."

"...why not?"

Blast smiled nervously as the last remark granted her a moment to breathe while the rest of the class composed itself post blond moment. Gohan sat silently as he watched Erasa and the others tried to learn as much as they could about the new student as they could. He was taken aback again when she glanced his way and blushed again. Her gaze left as quickly as it had come, but Gohan had noticed her flush red again. Was she really sick? Maybe he should offer to take her to the nurses office.

No, no, he couldn't do that. It was her first day, it wasn't his right to try and force her to leave already. Gohan groaned, rubbing his head. This sucked. Should he do the responsible thing to do and make sure she wasn't sick? Or should he leave her be knowing that this was her best chance to make some friends her own age, like he did when he first game here?

Gohan hadn't been the only one to notice Blast look this way, however. Videl had also seen the new blue haired girl glance towards them, quickly blush, and turn away. She could also tell that Sharpner had figured Blast had been blushing due to him, if his smug grin was any indication. But Videl knew that hadn't been were Blast was looking. It was more off to her left, more towards Gohan.

Videl's gut sank even more. This Blast girl, she was Tien Shinhan's daughter, right? Did she know Gohan somehow? Videl could have swore that the World Marital Art's Tournament had been the first time the two had met. And yet … her gut just wasn't sitting well with her. Maybe it just was something she ate, and it really wasn't fair to judge Blast before she got to know the girl.

And yet ….

Videl suddenly sat up straight, coming to another realization. Why did she care? Gohan and she weren't a thing anymore. Whatever thing they had been, she had ended it at just friends. So some girl she hardly knew looking at Gohan shouldn't bug her. Why was it bugging her!?

Groaning, Videl hunched forward as she scrambled her fingers through her short hair.

All the while, Krillin watched on with mild amusement. To be young again.

It wasn't till later in gym class that Gohan got the chance to talk with Blast. Krillin had obtained a deck of cards, and the two were deadlocked in a rather tense game of Old Maid while the other students played dodge ball. Blast was playing about as well as all the other girls, being that they mostly just stood in a pack towards the back of the court. But even so, she seemed to be fitting in well enough. The only strange thing about Blast seemed to be how much she tended to glance over towards where Gohan and Krillin were sitting.

"She must feel weird being in the same class with us. We are friends with her father." figured Gohan.

"I don't think that's it, Gohan." snickered Krillin. "With how red her face is getting, I think she's looking over here for another reason."

Gohan picked the second card on the left, sighing a little in relief when it wasn't the joker. "Ya think?"

"Ya, I'm pretty sure." Krillin smiled, giving his hand a shuffle as he glanced over what he had left. "Maybe you should go over and say hello?"

"Um … e-excuse me..."

Both Gohan and Krillin glanced up, finding none other than Blast standing over them. She looked rather nervous, with her hands cupped behind her back as her fingers tugged at her shirt.

Rather caught off guard, it took a few moments for the words to register for Gohan. "H-hello! It's nice to meet you again Blast."

The curly haired girl glanced over and smiled politely to Gohan before her gaze returned to her feet.

"It's good to m-meet both of you again as well..."

Across the court one of the girls who usually really got into playing dodge ball, rather than stand off to the side, Videl was far to focused on Blast to keep playing anymore. She was over by Gohan, talking to quietly to hear of course, but that only let her imagination run all the more wild. What was that blue haired girl doing over there? Were they friends after all? And why was she shifting around all shy like that, it was making Videl just as nervous!

Just as quickly as she came, however, Blast quickly gave a bow to the two boys and retreated away. Gohan had to admit he was slightly confused. Had she come all the way over here just to say hello?

"Told ya Gohan."

"Hmm? Told me what?"

Smirking all the more, Krillin just opted to pick up the next card. "You'll figure it out pretty soon, I think."

The day quickly passed without incident, albeit Krillin did take note that Gohan was about as oblivious as Goku when it came to eating manners. But when the final period of science rolled around, their teacher asked them to pair up in groups of two. Gohan had always disliked this part of class, as he really only knew a few people enough to be comfortable pairing up with them.

So when Blast came charging up to him, demanding in her soft voice that she wanted to be his partner, he was pretty much caught completely off guard.

"Please?" begged Blast.

Scratching the back of his head nervously, Gohan slowly gave a nod. "Y-ya … sure."

"Great, thanks a bunch!" Blast quickly moved to Gohan's side, making sure to keep her eyes deadlocked on the book infront of her. Krillin was about to burst out laughing himself, but the laugh got caught up in his throat when Videl off all people came over and sat next to Gohan.

"Uh … Videl?" squeaked Gohan. He was by no means upset Videl had decided to come over, this was the first time the two of them had really interacted since that night, but he couldn't help but feel a cold wave of fear rush down his back.

"With Blast we have an odd amount, so we need a group of three. Or is there a problem, Gohan?"

The force in Videl's voice was enough to get Gohan to sit up straight and quickly shake his head while mumbling "no ma'am". Blast didn't seem to care all to much, though. Rather, it was Erasa and Sharpner who were perplexed.

"I never thought I'd see that." spoke Erasa, rather shocked at Videl's boldness.

"Ya..." agreed Sharpner. "I mean, she could have just grouped up with u-U-us! Hey! Why'd ya hit me?"

"Shh! Be quiet Sharpner!"

And so … Gohan was forced to sit with Blast on one side and Videl on the other. The two were very focused on their books, but Gohan for the life of himself couldn't concentrate. How could he? With Blast there, almost all of the boys were giving him a rather disgusted look, and the glances Videl would send him every now and then probably could kill lesser men.

It was all very ... very uncomfortable. The bell didn't ring soon enough for Gohan, but he was thankful none the less when they finally did.

Blast and Videl just packed up, moving back to their desks without a word to him or each other. Gohan wasn't sure if that was better or worse, but either way it was time to make a hasty retreat back to Capsule Corp to regroup.

The halls were full of students, and Gohan was never good at maneuvering through so many people. Before Gohan could even make his way to the front door most everyone else had already gotten out the front gate. Krillin gave him a nudge to the side as the two of them made their way towards the front.

"Look at you. Two girls Gohan? What would your mother say?"

Blushing slightly red, Gohan scratched the back of his head. "Heh. It kinda scares me just to think about."

"E-excuse … Excuse me!"

The quickly growing familiar sound of Blast's soft voice trying to be as big as it could reached both Gohan and Krillin. Turning, they found the girl holding a pink envelope, with a white lace running along the boarders and a red heart sticker holding it shut.

Just outside the front gate, Videl peaked around the corner to try and see what was going on. She couldn't leave those two alone for a second! And was that a letter … was she confessing? Already!?

"Uh … G-Gohan?"

Blinking, Gohan gave the girl a nod. "Yes? Can I help you?"

"Well … uh … ya see..."

Videl gulped. She wasn't even sure why she was still there. This had nothing to do with her, but she could feel herself moving around the corner to do something none the less. She didn't know why, but she had to do something! Pushing her left foot into the ground, she took off around the corner.

"Could you please move over to the side?"

Videl promptly tripped over a rock, face planting into the paved sidewalk. Gohan however, simply did as asked. Moving to the side, he relieved one rather bewildered Krillin.

"Will you please ... please read this letter I wrote?!"

Blast quickly thrust her hands out, letter in tow. Her head was pointed down, her eyes shut tight as her entire body began to shake from just how nervous she was. Krillin glanced to his left, his right, and then to his left again before looking back to Blast while pointing to himself.

"Ya mean … that's for me?"

Blast could only nod, still far to shy to look up. "I heard about what you said to me at the Tournament … no one but my parents have ever said that to me before..."

Silence fell upon those who were left at the school. Videl still was unable to pick herself off the ground, and Gohan felt rather uncomfortable being where he was, but Krillin was probably the one who was in the most awkward position. No one was able to say anything for quite some time, till of course a small breeze kicked up a little dirt.

"Ah … ahh … acho!"

And with the snap of a fingers, Blast's hair turned to blond and her eyes to green. She looked up, finding herself in a rather strange situation. Her eyes were wide open, blinking only twice as the gears in her head started to turn and a red hue covered her entire face.

Finally, Gohan put two and two together. "Oh, I get it. Blast likes Krillin."

She quickly pulled an ak47 from nowhere and began shooting at everyone who was nearby. "W-W-What did you say!? You gots a death wish or somethin!? DIIIIEEE!"

Gohan and Krillin began dodge the bullets, dancing around the objects as to avoid the sting the bullets would have on them. Videl quickly sprinted out, hiding just around the corner as Gohan and Krillin shot past., still dodging the bullets as they made their way down the street.

Blast stopped just as she two exited the gate. "If yous want to live, don't let me ever hear about dis again! Ya hear!?"

Videl sighed in relief, glad to be safe and on her way home. Honestly, she never should have worried in the first place, and she grumbled at her self as she started the long walk home.

Krillin and Gohan however didn't stop running till they were a few blocks down an had cut through more than one ally way to make sure they were safe. The two put their hands on their knees, trying to suck in as much air as they could. Even super strong beings like them got winded when that kinda fear was pumped through their system.

Krillin was the first to find his voice, though he gave Gohan a good whack on the top of his head first. "Why would you say that Gohan?! Jeez, you're as bad as your fa..."

Krillin stopped when he noticed Gohan's gaze locked on something. Following it down, Krillin found none other than Blast's love letter in his hand.

"...waaAAAAHHH!"

"Why do you have that Krillin!? Are you crazy?"

"I … I don't know! I swear I don't even remember grabbing it!"

"...well … are you going to read it?"

Krillin stood there thinking about it for a while. Curiosity won the day, rather quickly too, but he made sure to turn his back to Gohan before ripping it open. Gohan leaned over the short monks shoulder so he could read it too, not wanting to be left out.

"Dear Krillin.

I'd like to thank you for what you said to me at the tournament. I wasn't very confident with myself, and I was taking it out on my parents. Thanks to you, now I feel a lot better and my parents are even letting me go to a public school! I really hope I make a lot of friends there, hopefully starting with you!

Your Friend,

Blast."

"Well I'm confused..." muttered Gohan, a little upset that he wasn't right about Blast liking Krillin.

Krillin however, was feeling something much more complicated. He was happy it wasn't anything serious he'd have to talk to Tien about … but even so, he could feel a small part of his pride slowly being crushed.

"Did I … just get friend-zoned?"

-DBZ-

Gohan opened his eyes finding himself in the last place he wanted to be. His three orbs of energy circling around along with the black spike of the Casket inside the black void that surrounded everything. It was this place again. His body groaned from just the site of it. He had figured he would be back here again that night, but he was ever hopeful that he'd at least get one day off. Maybe the next night.

Gohan noticed something out of place, after looking around some more. His future counterpart was nowhere to be seen. Usually he was right in Gohan's face from the word go, but today seemed to be different.

"Uh... hello?"

Gohan's voice echoed through the black, but nothing answered back to him. Scratching the back of his head, unsure as to what to do, he called out again.

"Hello? Anyone here? Anybody?"

Again, nothing returned his call. Confused, Gohan wandered towards his energy orbs. They seemed calm now, even though the brown one in the center seemed much larger, or more likely was that the two circling around were just smaller. Having his soul play musical chairs with bodies really had hurt him. Gohan had to wonder if he could even go super at this point, though he knew better than to try it. Curious, his hand reached out to touch the white orb as it lazily floated by.

Of course, a spark shot from the ball and hit his outreached fingers. Swinging the hand up and down, Gohan blew on his numbing hand as it quickly lost it's feeling.

"Well, that wasn't really smart now was it..." grumbled Gohan to himself.

Another voice, however, answered back to him. "Probably not, no."

Gohan's entire body stiffened up, his eyes opening wide in shock. Slowly he turned around, finding an old purple man standing behind him.

"But Saiyans have always been like that, sticking their fingers where they don't belong."

"T...Takula? You're... how are..." sputtered Gohan.

"Kai's watch over each sector of space. North, South, East, and West. The Grand Kai watches over the four Kais, and gives them advice and orders. The Supreme Kai, however, watch over dimensions and choose how to act upon a race who has used something to change the flow, such as time travel. There can ever only be one stream. It is our job to make sure the best option for everyone is the one which continues to flow on."

Gohan was at a loss for words. The last time he had seen Takula was back when the Universal Library was about to crash into earth, and the old Kai had stayed aboard to turn off the ships shields. How in the world had Takula gotten into his head?

"It's time you learned. The Fall of the Saiyans, you need to see it with your own eyes to understand."

Gohan finally regained control of his body, straightening up as he scratched the back of his head. "But, didn't you tell me all that already? That humans are really saiyans?"

"You must understand the why of things. The powers that are coming to a head have history with one another. The battle on Earth will decide the fate of the rest of the galaxy, the universe. When the Saiyans fell from their seat as Supreme Kai, there was no killing strike for any side. Each race escaped, all but wiped out. Now, on Earth, those powers will clash once again, and this Casket plans to deal the final blow this time."

Gohan began to repeat his question, of how Takula had managed to get into this place, but he was stopped when a sudden flash of light blinded him. And as the light faded, he found himself watching a dream of the past.

Author's Notes:

Had ya going with the whole Blast thing, didn't I?

The next little mini-story is my last clue as to what's going to happen in the final saga. Pay attention!