Prime Objective Chapter 13: Remorse, a dragon ball z fanfic

Chapter 13: Remorse

Gohan took one last glance at the place they had been calling home for the last few weeks. The scars of the battle were etched into the once peaceful plains; smoke trails and overturned vegetation as far as the eye could see. A loud sigh escaped his lips in mourning for the countless lives lost; even if they had been beings that were trying to kill him, it hurt to know that in part all of this was done for his safety.

After the battle, his children split into groups; where half went about collecting their capsule homes and anything of theirs, and the other group buried the small fighters. As part of her penance Gohan had ordered Fuyu to dig individual graves for those bodies that still remained, and while she grumbled under her breath she dared not disobey an order from her father.

Ryoko's sudden departure also lay heavy on his heart. He felt it was his responsibility to follow and ensure he was alright, but in his weakened state, he was in no position to be chasing his oldest son. Krillin had left not long ago to retrieve some senzu beans from Master Korin and already he could sense he was coming back. In the meantime, Chika stayed close by and did her best to comfort him.

She had been doting over him and eventually, he had a moment to ask her about what she meant during the fight.

"We have to go," Chika pulled on his arm but Gohan didn't move. "Dad…?" she pulled once again, Gohan remained firm. "Please daddy, I don't want to lose you again," Chika mumbled.

He finally understood her need for constant contact with him. She explained that in her time, her father had passed away a little over two years ago.

Flash Back:

Chika bowed her head letting her bangs cover he eyes. She didn't dare face her father and instead opted with burning a hole into the ground. Her lips suddenly felt dry and no amount of licking them seemed to do her any favors. Finally, she spoke, "You see… my dad died a few years ago."

She rubbed her hand in between her legs. "One day he collapsed and it was then that he told us that he had gotten a strain of his father's heart virus. I had heard that Grandpa Goku suffered from a heart virus and the only reason he survived was that a traveler from the future brought him medicine to cure him. By the time daddy realized he too carried a strain of that virus it was too late, there wasn't any more of that medicine. For years he tried recreating the medicine, but he said that all he and Bulma were able to do was buy some more time and slow down the virus. He chose to keep quiet about it because…" She brought up her hands up to cover her eyes as the tears poured out.

Gohan brought her in and allowed the young lady to cry into his neck. She wrapped her arms around him letting the floodgates loose. The young Saiyan seems lost for words to comfort her. All he could think about is doing what he would usually do with Goten when he cried.

Finally, she was able to muster enough composure to finish the story, though she didn't move an inch from her position. It helped to have her father's embrace. "... because there was nothing that could be done to save him. I prayed every night, hoping that traveler from the future would come back to save my dad… but he never came."

The saddest part was that unfortunately, she wasn't able to be by her father's side when he died. The poor girl did everything in her power to reach him, yet she missed him by only a few minutes. The sorrow from that day pushed over the edge, but without a proper teacher, she had yet to hold any mastery over her transformation.

The young father promised to take some time to help her gain accessibility over her Super Saiyan transformation. They spent the afternoon talking about how he achieved control over his transformation.

With the return of Krillin, Gohan once again felt back to full strength. He stretched out to get his blood pumping once again. Chika had already brought him another Gi from his home, so he thanked her as he went ahead and found a place to change. The other children were finishing up with their individual assignments.

Gohan led his children as they left the location of their camp settlement; given that the location was compromised. Thankfully it appeared that only Hemli's army had come down and there was no more back up sent from Dekaido. The son of Goku pondered for a new location to settle as he flew high above the clouds. Eventually settling for choosing a random direction and ensuring the new location was far from any sort of civilization.

Once they found a place, Gohan and his children unpacked and set up their new post. For the most part, there were no incidents, besides the occasional quarrel between Fuyu and Cerevak. On the topic of the part Ice-jin, she had been even quieter and distant than before. While he didn't like Fuyu and Cerevak fighting at the very least it provided some communication with the cold young lady. He made a note to himself to talk to her at a later time but at the moment he had a more pressing issue, Ryoko.

Vanee had taken off saying that he went to inform his mother and Videl about the new location, but most knew he was mostly doing it to get out of doing any more work.

Likewise, Gohan informed Rize that he too was leaving to see Ryoko. Chika offered to come along, and while he understood a little better about her apprehension of his departure, a piece of him knew that the conversation with Ryoko should be between two not three.

Following his Ki signature, the demi Saiyan found his son in the ice-cold mountains of the north. Flying through those mountains gave him a shiver that ran down his spine, not because of the cold but rather because the last time he was in this area he was searching for Dr. Gero.

He came out of his trip down memory lane as he drew near the top of the mountain. His feet made a small click when they touched down and he walked towards Ryoko. Sitting on a rock, Gohan watched that Ryoko hadn't made a single movement to even acknowledge his arrival; Ryoko's vision seemed engrossed by the remains of the bracelet in his hand, the bracket that previously was attached to Hemli. At this point, that bracelet was no more than a string holding three black orbs, yet Ryoko's half-opened eyes watched them intently.

Gohan took a deep breath as he crossed the last bit of distance and sat down next to the dimension hopper. He raised an arm to pat his back and bring his son back from his trance.

It was only when Ryoko sat up and look in his direction that Gohan noticed the two trails of dried tears across his muddy face. "Where did I go wrong?" Ryoko softly asked, not expecting an answer but just to put the statement out there. "They didn't deserve that."

"No they didn't," agreed Gohan.

Ryoko took the remains of the bracelet in his hand and stored it in his pocket. "It makes me question the people that I brought here. Hemli kept accusing them of being like the Neo-Saiyans of his universe, and I'm hard-pressed not to agree with him when we have examples like her. People, who have so little regard for life, like her."

"How long did you know Hemli?"

The dimension hopper shook head. "I didn't know him for long, but it was long enough to make a bitter enemy out of him. It may be hard to believe from what you have seen but in his universe, he was a force for good and one of the last lines of defense against tyranny.

"I'm sure you believe that you believe yourself to be a force for good, but tell me, father, do you believe that every version of you in the cosmos is like-minded? That they all fight for the same or similar reason that you fight for, whether they be to protect the innocent, or family, or even a hope?"

The demi-Saiyan grumbled for a few seconds before finally responding, "I can only hope that every version of me fights for what is right, but deep down I know that there are probably some who don't share my view. Even talking with some of your siblings I've gotten a few glimpses of who their version of me is in their universe and some are radically different from what I am. So, I guess it's not out of the question that there may be some versions of me aren't good people."

"I've met a few of them," Ryoko confirmed. "Hemli comes from such a universe, one where the biggest threat to the universe is Son Gohan of Earth and his Neo-Saiyans. I never found out what was the trigger that changed this version of you to ravage the universe, but I did get a few bits and pieces from my travels in that universe.

"You see, the story goes that Son Gohan subjected the Planet Earth early in his life. He broke and made his homeworld kneel before him and thus he became the emperor, but this achievement was not enough for him. It is said that in the early days he would use the multiform technique to keep his power and ensure any unrest could be subdued at a moment's notice. The tiresome trouble of up keeping the multiform placed a strain on him, so he looked for an alternative as he looked to the sky above and his desire to conquer it too loomed in the background."

Even if Ryoko had placed the black bracelet in his pocket, one hand continued to play with the beads as he talked. His eyes look forwards, yet his iris seem blind to the world as his mind continued to play the many facts he recovered about Hemli's universe.

"Eventually a solution came; he began to procreate to create an army. These beings would be known to the universe as the Neo-Saiyans. They held no loyalty to their mother's or their home planets; their only unquestionable loyalty laid in the vision that their father had. These Neo-Saiyans traveled through the cosmos wreaking havoc in the name of Son Gohan of Earth. I still don't know how he did it, but he had hundreds of children just on Earth and they all seem to rapidly mature.

"These children would travel to a new planet where they assessed if there was a compatibility with the Saiyan genes. If they found that the people were compatible with Gohan's genes, then the child of Gohan would make sure to conquer that planet and eliminate any threat to their father's rule; effective colonizing the planet under the banner of the emerging Emperor of the Universe, Gohan. However, if the planet's inhabitants were found to be incompatible, then the Neo-Saiyan would simply blow the planet up."

"That's awful," interjected Gohan, horrified that there was a version of him this cruel. He felt sick to his stomach to know that this could be possible out there.

Maybe it was the fact that he had seen so much worse during this travels, or maybe it was that so much time had passed, but Ryoko didn't seem as bothered by Hemli's universe as Gohan clearly looked. "The Neo- Saiyans have no regard for life." Briefly, the image of Fuyu appeared in his mind. The smug expression she had when she killed Hemli made his nose wrinkle briefly before returning to a neutral expression. "All they care for is retrieving something back whether that be goods or a new planet where more Neo-Saiyans can be born from. They are like a parasite infecting the universe.

"We… I arrived at this universe and it wasn't long before we were captured by Hemli's group. It took even less time for them to figure out that I was a son of Gohan, so naturally, they assumed that I was Neo-Saiyan here to fight them. You see, Hemli was a commanding officer and part of an alliance between those planets still free from Emperor Gohan's control. They were resistance fighters to Neo-Saiyans and fought to free the universe from their control or at the very least liberate those planets under Emperor Gohan's control." Tired of sitting Ryoko stood up and walked to the edge of the mountainside. His vision veered down to the clouds that surrounded the mountain below.

"It took some time and a lot of conversations with Hemli before he began accepting the idea that I was not from his universe. While I may be the son of Gohan I was not a Neo-Saiyan, but that didn't mean there wasn't one nearby. For whatever reason, I decided to become involved in their conflict and began fighting a Neo-Saiyan named Su.

"I think it was one of my first universes that I visited, so meeting someone so different, ideology-wise, made me recoil. Maybe I was too naïve but I thought that the Neo-Saiyans were just misguided; that they could be brought back from their folly. Hemli warned me many times that Su and the other Neo-Saiyans couldn't be reasoned with, yet I was determined to prove him wrong; after all Su and I were brothers in a way.

"During our battles, Su would speak about his father and what his vision for the universe was." Ryoko could still see the green-skinned alien Su. He remembered how cold he could be before a fight yet in the middle of beam struggles or hand to hand combat Su had a smile; he was enjoying their battle for what it was. Ryoko argued upbringing and goals in life; he wanted Su to realize that he had pledged his life away yet was never going to get anything in return. The oldest son of Gohan remembered how disconcerted Su looked when he asked him to name one decision he has made that was to benefit him and only him.

The blue-eyed Saiyan pondered, "I think that the Neo-Saiyans were probably brainwashed. When I asked him to name just one thought that was his alone, he stayed silent. He struggled to come up with one thought that was his, one thought that his siblings didn't also share. It was so uniform in thought between these Neo-Saiyans that the only reasonable thing I could come up with was that they had all been brainwashed to believe the same things and have the same goals of their father taking over the universe. There was no single person that had even one thought different from the others.

"With this goal in mind, I tried to make convert Su from an enemy to an ally of the resistance. It took a couple of weeks but slowly I thought I was making progress. Eventually, Su and I would meet but not to fight. He wanted to talk about how he could get his free will back if I was right about him being brainwashed. I told him as long as he is questioning himself, he may be breaking the hold they had over him. Hemli, of course, didn't trust this change of heart, yet I tried to make things work between those too." Ryoko cracked his neck to relieve some of the pressure.

"For only the second time Hemli ignored the words of his advisors and listened to me, the first time is letting me go instead of killing me, and decided to give Su a chance. Obviously, Hemli didn't bring him immediately into the fold, but rather he tested Su for any chance of betrayal by feeding him misleading information to see if he was still in contact with the other Neo-Saiyans. His crew was not pleased that a person like Su and I were slowly gaining his ear, but they allowed it for now with the warning that should anything happen that it would be Hemli that would have to respond.

"Over time Su did prove to be an ally of the resistance again and again. He fought with his other siblings and even put some of them down, and slowly Hemli came to accept that Su was, in fact, truthful in his mission for self-redemption. That naturally ended when Su would betray the resistance." That smirk, Ryoko would never forget that smirk that Su carried when he got the information that he had been waiting for. He felt like a dagger ran through his heart when Su told him it had all been an act to get the location and data of the resistance worlds.

Without a second thought, Ryoko buried his fist into the mountainside. "The alliance of planets fighting against the Neo-Saiyans had developed a technology that could hide an entire planet. Camouflage from any detection system and a person could be standing in front of the planet, yet they wouldn't be able to see it. This is how Hemli and those that were fighting the Neo-Saiyans protected their loved ones while they were away, and Su obtained the locations of every single planet that was hiding.

"He waited… that bastard waited until Hemli's ship arrived and destroyed their planet as they helplessly watched. His wife and child were on that planet as well as the families of everyone on board. The alliance was decimated with the low morale of those warriors that watched as their planets were picked off one by one." That smirk, he recalled how that facial expression disappeared briefly as the bright light of the exploding planet behind him cause a shadow to darken his feature. "I can still hear their cries of anguish as they stood helpless at the destruction of their home; their screams still plague my nightmares that I was in part responsible for what happened."

A part of him wanted to tear up but he rejected any chance of that happening. He bit his lip to keep himself from breaking in front of his father. "There was nothing I could say at the moment, nor can I think anything right now that I could have said. I profusely apologized and begged him to find a punishment for me, but he just shook his head. Maybe it was the grief of that moment or the fact that he couldn't process everything but all he asked me was to leave and never come back. He told me, 'I trusted your word over the word of my advisors, so this is my burden to carry now. But mark my words Son Ryoko, I will find a way to kill every last Neo-Saiyan, and if I ever have the chance, Emperor Gohan, as well. Be gone from sight, if I ever see you again I will kill you as well.' Any words died before I could utter a single sound, so…I left. I mean what can you do at that moment father? What can you say to exonerate yourself from being an accessory to the man's murdered family?"

What could Gohan say at that moment? Here he was watching a man break before him over the guilt of his past transgression but added on was the fact that the same warriors he once called comrades were now buried in many ditches on this planet, killed by the warriors he called upon for help. The young demi-Saiyan looked to his past for reference to dealing with guilt over a mistake, but this was so much bigger than anything he had ever faced. "I-I…I," he stumbled on his own words, "I don't…I can't hope to understand your exact feelings, but I don't think it was wrong of you to believe that you were doing the right thing. We sometimes make mistakes that have very drastic consequences, ones that we wish that we could go back and change, but the past is usually set in stone. I'm sorry you had to go through that, but you have to face forward and hope that the lessons we learn are never repeated or lost on us.

"I feel for Hemli, I feel for you, but you can't blame yourself for what he did, or rather what he became. Anger and self-loathing are destructive tools that can lead many good men in the wrong direction. I tell you this because I can see the self-loathing you carry." Gohan reached and picked up the bruised knuckles he punched the mountain with earlier.

Ryoko pulled his arm back before putting said hand into his pocket. "I should have been punished. I brought that girl to this world."

Gohan took a step back, before ignoring his earlier action and taking two steps forwards to embraced the young man. "No! A man should never feel like they should be punished for doing the right thing, and you shouldn't feel responsible for what Su or Hemli do. They are their own people who made their own choices."

Surprised by the hug initially Ryoko mused, "If only I hadn't gotten involved, they may still be alive."

"Maybe," assented Gohan, "Or maybe the Neo-Saiyans would have eventually found the planets anyway. You did what you thought was right at the moment, that is all I could have asked for, regardless of the result. Never stop doing what you think is right in your heart. But don't let the taint of those Neo-Saiyans destroy the image of Fuyu. She may not be like us in some ways of thinking, but she isn't a Neo-Saiyan either."

AN: I have mixed feelings about this chapter. On one hand I know it was basically two backstories back to back with very little progression of the actual story, but on the other hand I feel they tie really well and explain the reasoning behind the last battle and Chika. Also the end was eh... Unfortunately this chapter comes at a time where the usual Origins chapter should have come, so it makes me cringe to think that it will be three backstories that I'll be writing.

The next origins chapter will be about Kyra but I haven't thought of a good premise for why she is telling her story. If you guys have an ideas I'll be happy to hear them.

Somethings I was not able to cover in the backstory: Hemli and his troops roamed aimlessly through space after Ryoko left. Most of them hardly even spoke aside from those that still cried at night. Hemli even went as far as fighting Neo-Saiyans on his own, when his troops couldn't be bothered to come out. He felt it was his punishment for having put his trust in the wrong man. A rage build over time warped his memory to believe that Ryoko had active deceived him; believing that all Gohans and his children were only capable of bringing destruction to the universe like they did in his universe. When Dekaido came and promised him a chance to end all Neo-Saiyans and Gohan, he was hesitant to accept but Dekaido and Hemli do have a tie that won't be revealed for a while, and it became the reason why he believed Dekaido whole-heartily. The chance to destroy Ryoko was just a bonus to him.

In the end, please let me know what you think about this chapter and as we put Hemli behind, how do you think Dekaido is going to take the news?

Also someone was asking what Hemli's race looked like. The closest thing I found on the internet... just look up Knight Hamster on google image search. Something like that.

Dear nancy103,

I think Ryoko is a bit broken. There is a lot to unpack about his life and over time he has learned to just put up a front when he stands in front of others, but maybe Gohan can make a difference. At least in this chapter he was there just to listen.

Dear kitsunelover300,

I do hope that this chapter lights some answers. Chika will learn how to get better over time with Gohan as her teacher.

I loved the morning scene. It was by far one of my favorites, and when I wrote it I just kept thinking about innocence of daybreak to see nothing more than destruction as poetic.

Hemli, unfortunately, he is too hurt to even care what happens to the universe. As I said, anger and rage can lead many good men astray; Hemli is such a case. All he wants is for Ryoko and Emperor Gohan to suffer like he and his men have suffered. Though I don't think he would have been happy even if they had won.