Chapter 2: Flashing

AN: *BEEP* You have reached the residence of Fred the Mutant Pickle. I am unable to answer your call right now, as I am failing in an attempt to own DBZ. Leave your name and number and I'll get back to you. *BEEP*

I'm having a whole lotta fun writing this! It's great tormenting Gohan! Hee hee hee! I can't believe the language I'm using though, that's not me! But it works great for the style! Crap.

Suddenly, everything froze. Gohan stood there, amazed. The blast should have hit him by now! He looked around, but saw nothing. "This is weird," he thought. All of a sudden, a shape moved in front of him.

"Who's there?!" he called. "Is that you, Piccolo?"

"No, it's not," a low, monotone voice replied. "I am not Piccolo, nor anyone else you know, though I do know you, Gohan, son of Goku, son of Bardock, son of..."

"Okay, okay, I get the point!" he exclaimed. "You know who I am. But who are you?"

"I am Necro, the Spirit of Death," came the reply, and suddenly a dark, human like shape formed in front of him. It seemed totally black, but showed to have a pale white face. Gohan was really creeped out. "I have come to give you one last chance at life."

"I don't want one," Gohan quickly replied. "Everyone hates me."

"That is for you to decide," Necro answered, and turned to face the opposite direction. "I am going to show you your life. It will then be up to you to decide whether you want to continue living, or completely go through with this."

"Wait," Gohan asked, "why do I get to be so special?"

"You don't," the spirit answered. "Everyone on death's doorstep has this option. The moment before their death can occur, they are allowed to decide if they think that it's their time yet. Those who say yes are sent on to the after life, remembering this encounter but never speaking of it. Those who choose life are spared through one worldly way or another. All these people can remember is seeing their life flash before their eyes before time starts for you again."

"So, does someone have this choice every second?"

"Yes, though you may not realize it. People in perfect health and positioning will have this choice and almost always say yes, though we get a few "no's". People whose lives will only be filled with pain and suffering say yes on rare occasions. It is all up to you to decide, and looking at one's life and deciding if your purpose is completed is the best way to handle this."

Necro waved his hand and a strange white mist appeared. "Watch, and make your decision," he said, as pictures began rolling across the fog.

Gohan saw his mother smiling. He was in a crib, probably a new born baby. His father looked over the edge of it.

"What's that, Chi Chi?"

"That's our son, you idiot!"

"Oh. Well what's wrong with him? Why's he so little?"

"He supposed to be little, he's still a baby, silly!"

"Babysilly? What's that?"

"ERGH!"

The picture of his young parents faded away, and another scene was forming. Gohan could see that he was older now, but not by much. He seemed to be just capable of walking, and his mother was beaming.

"Oh, look at him, Goku! He's walking!"

"Cool! Do you think I can teach him Kamehameha now?"

"Of course not! I already told you, there'll be no fighting for my son! Anyway, he's too little! Yes he is!"

"Oh, come on, Chi Chi. Can he at least learn the basics?"

"I will not have my son participating in that barbaric sport! It's studying for him! I won't have him grow up to be a brutal savage like his father!"

"Hey!"

"Well, Goku, what did you expect me to say?"

"Um, I don't know. Something other than that?" Chi Chi gave Goku a strange look before that image faded like the last one.

"What's going on?" Gohan asked.

"I all ready told you, this is your life, your memories," Necro replied. "Though you may not remember some of these scenes, they are locked inside your mind. This is what we show you." Necro pointed at the mist and another picture began forming on it.

This time he saw the Kame House. Bulma and Krillin and Master Roshi were all there, and so was his father. They were all talking about something, when...

"Stop showing me this!" Gohan exclaimed. "I don't care! I know what happened to me in my life! What's the point?"

"You still don't understand?" the Spirit of Death returned. "This isn't meant to be just watching your life. It's your time to choose whether you think you are important, if you think you have served your purpose, and what others think about you."

"Others?"

"Of course. That is an important factor. No matter how unimportant you may believe yourself to be, others feeling can help you decide."

"Well, you don't need to worry about that," Gohan replied. "I all ready know that everyone hates me."

"We shall see," Necro answered, as he turned back to watch the images. Gohan followed.

As Gohan had expected, Radditz was standing there, holding him in the air and threatening his dad. Things were a little fuzzy images after that, the visions were blocked out by screaming and tears. Gohan realized, though, that there was a tremendous battle going on. He could hear his father, his uncle, and Piccolo all duking it out. At one cry of anguish from Goku, Gohan saw himself breaking through Radditz's space pod and... attacking him. He actually got in some really good hits.

Gohan's mouth widen in disbelief. "Did I do that?" he asked.

"Of course you did," Necro answered nonchalantly. "You may not remember it, but this did happen in your lifetime."

"Wow." Gohan's amazement at his own power, however, was cut short when he next saw Radditz knocking his lights out.

Almost immediately the next scene came into view. He was out in the wild, Piccolo was leaving him to fend for himself. Gohan smiled a little at the picture. "I remember that..."

Piccolo seemed to be quiet upset with him, but he knew better. Gohan knew that Piccolo would never...

Gohan's jaw dropped as he saw Piccolo grab him and throw him toward a mountain.

"Hey! What's he doing? That's not Piccolo!"

"Watch," Necro answered. Gohan watched as he somehow managed to blast through the rock face, though he was just a boy with no training what so ever.

"Wow," he began. "I... I never knew..."

"That is why we do this," Necro replied. "It can open your eyes to a new light." Gohan gave him an upset stare, and then returned to watching his life flash before his eyes.

He was now sitting by himself in the darkness. He looked up at the full moon and...

"What's going on?!" Gohan exclaimed, as he began seeing what looked like images from a monster movie. Mountains were crumbling and trees were crushed in scenes that seemed to be coming from the view point of a giant ape.

"It is you," Necro answered.

"WHAT?!"

"The full moon and your tail. Saiyan blood causes you to turn into an Oozaru. You didn't know that?"

"Oh yeah, I kind of forgot about that..."

"Keep watching." Piccolo was now trying to take on the beast that was Gohan. There were a lot of explosions and punches being thrown and then...

It was apparently the next morning. Gohan saw himself awakening and realizing that his tail was gone. "Huh, who would have guessed," he said. "I almost beat Piccolo when I was four! Heh heh!"

"Watch."

"Sorry." Pictures from his lifetime kept on flying by, from his times having to survive on his own, to his sparing against Piccolo, even through the fight against Nappa and Vegeta. Gohan could not believe the things he was seeing, the sudden bursts of energy that would come from him.

The next clearest picture showed Nappa firing a death blast at him. Gohan, though knowing that he would be okay, became ridged in watching this image. Then he saw something that he now noticed the significance of.

It was Piccolo. The once evil villain was jumping in to sacrifice himself... for him. Gohan's eyes began watering, but he brought himself back together, thinking, "It doesn't matter now. He hates me."

More pictures from his life went flying by after this. His father's return, the defeat of Vegeta, the trip to Planet Namek with Bulma and Krillin. He watched them searching for the Dragonballs, fighting Frieza's men, and teaming up with Vegeta.

"So much has happened..." he began, as he began watching the fight against Frieza.

"Yes, it has," Necro replied. "But there is much more."

"Um, yeah, sure." Gohan continued to watch as he saw Frieza killing his friends, and his father going Super Saiyan for the first time. It was really amazing to him how much he had gone through in his lifetime without really noticing it before. But, he remembered, that didn't matter now, as they all hated him.

"How much longer is this going to take?" he asked the spirit that was upon him.

"You have had much happen to you," Necro replied. "Plus, time has stopped. We can continue this for what would normally be years and it would still be this one second. But I am used to it. After all, it is my job."

"Your job kinda sucks."

"What was that?"

"Nothing..."

"Good. Continue watching." Gohan saw himself on Earth again. Some more fuzzy pictures flashed by in an instant, and then scenes of him fighting Garlic Jr. came into view.

This continued in the same matter for quiet some time. In fact, everything through his fight with Cell was quick blurps of things that had gone on in his life. Gohan had a hard time believing that everything he was seeing were all things that had happened to him.

Then came the next eye-opener in these visions. Gohan watched himself fighting that monster only seven years ago. He watched as it tortured his friends and family until the breaking point. Then Gohan watched maybe the most amazing moment he had ever seen. In his anger, Gohan surpassed all of the other fighters there, even his father, by going SSJ2.

"Is this familiar?" Necro asked after a long silence.

"Ye... yeah," Gohan replied. "I remember this, but it seemed a lot different then..."

"Exactly," Necro quickly replied, as more scenes raced across the misty screen. Gohan was kicking Cell's butt, that creature threw up Android 18, his dad sacrificed himself...

"I can't take any more of this!" Gohan suddenly screamed. "I all ready told you, that was then, this is now and they all hate me!"

"Keep watching," Necro replied.

"Is that all you can say?"

"Keep watching."

"Apparently."

"Will you please be quiet? This is important."

"Sorry. I was just..."

"Watch."

Gohan next saw Cell return and kill Mirai Trunks. He watched as he sacrificed his left arm for Vegeta, and then defeated Cell with a one handed Kamehameha Wave. He watched himself growing up and studying, his little brother after he was born, his whole life was about to narrow down to this point...

"God damn it!" Gohan exclaimed. "Will you stop torturing me like this?! I all ready told you that..."

"Silence," Necro said, almost sounding harsh. "You must finishing watching."

"Yeah, sure, whatever."

"I said silence."

Gohan quieted down, and watched more recent pictures fly across the mist, like his first day of school, when he became Saiyaman, when he met Videl, when she found about that he was Saiyaman, all of these images racing around on what might have been the last thing Gohan ever saw.

"We're here," Gohan said as he watched the Kamehameha Wave fire. "What do I do now?"

"Keep watching."

"WHAT?!"

"I said keep watching."

"What the hell do you mean, keep watching?! We're at the point I'm at now, just give me the pill or whatever it is that I'm supposed to use for my decision."

"There is more to see."

"No there's not, damn it! Why the hell do you want to keep torturing me, especially when there's not a damn thing left for me to see..."

"Stop your harsh language and listen to me," Necro finally said, turning to him. "There is one more thing that you must see. What your loved ones are thinking right now..."

"What loved ones? I've told you a thousand times that they all hate me!"

"Watch."

"What the hell..."

"Put this bar of soap in your mouth and watch."

Gohan turned to the mist one last time. There he first saw Goten, flying off with tears in his eyes. Then he saw Piccolo, also apparently looking for something.

"Oh crap!" Gohan exclaimed. "They're on to me! Can we just end this now?"

"Time is frozen, my friend," Necro replied. "And I wasn't kidding about the soap."

"Whatever." He looked again and saw the others looking for him separately, Trunks, Vegeta, Krillin, 18, all of them. Then he saw his mother. She was dissolved in tears on the floor of their house.

"Mom..." Gohan began softly. Just then, the picture unexpectedly changed again. It was yet another person looking for him and crying at the same time. But this time is was Videl.

Gohan remained speechless for quiet some time. Necro used this to wipe away the mist and made two doors appear behind Gohan.

"Now is your time of decision," Necro said, looking at him sternly. "Think over your life, whether you think you have played your part or not, and how your loved ones were reacting. Put this all together and make your decision."

"Then what do I do?"

"Then you go through the door of your choice. That one there leads to life, the other leads to death."

"I have to pick now?"

"Yes, you do," Necro responded, back to his old behavior, which showed that he had been the Spirit of Death for so long that he didn't even care about the people any more.

Gohan thought for a good long while. He went over everything he had seen, through his defeat of Cell, his oppressions, and what all the people who had apparently hated him were doing now. He desperately tried to put all of these together, wondering if he had done his full job in life or not.

"Hurry," Necro said after several "minutes" of this.

"Hey, give me some time!" Gohan retorted. "You said that time was frozen and plus, this is a pretty important decision. Say, how'd you get stuck with a job like this anyway?"

"Choose."

"All right, all right." Gohan continued to think over everything, now especially the last two weeks. He could have sworn that everyone hated him. Yet they were all worried about him now. Or maybe it was because they weren't done tormenting him yet. On the other hand... All the things he had done... All the things he could still do...

Thoughts like this raced through Gohan's head for what would have been hours normal time.

"Have you decided?" Necro finally asked.

Gohan took a deep breath and thought for a second more. "Yes," he replied, and walked through the door on the right.