DUDE, THIS CHAPTER'S LIKE 29 PAGES LONG! MINUES A FEW PAGES WORTH OF AUTHOR'S NOTES AND REVIEW REPLIES.
People, I just wanted to say, I love you all. Except for that jerk that reviewed me just to call me a Bitch......but that's another story. But really, I don't know how to explain it, but you all are just so wonderful, ya write nice things that makes me feel all good and warm and fuzzy inside, and some of you even criticize me and correct me, and that makes me feel good too! Let's me know I have readers that know how to write and what not. Anyways,......
Sorry for making you all read that incredibly long author's note in the last chapter, but you understand why now, right? K, I feel kind-a funny about writing this chapter, so, I think what I'm trying to say is that I'll probably come back and correct it bunches later. But I don't know for sure, so......
As I said in the last chapter's Author's Note's; this story, the first part "AC My End: New Beginnings" at least, isn't going to be all that actiony and on the edge of your seat madness, that doesn't come until the second part. This part of the story, is more for those of you who want to read something touching and learn a lesson in life and what not, and for those of you who want to know what happened, what I think happened, after the Cell games. Ya know what I mean? I think it might turn into a bit of a spiritual, I don't know though. And for those of you that don't understand why I'm now calling it "AC My End: New Beginnings", why I changed the summary and why I'm talking about it changing and what not. YOU DIDN'T READ THE AUTHORS NOTE'S IN THE LAST CHAPTER LIKE I TOLD YOU TO! So, if you are confused, I suggest you go back and read it, NOW!
Anyways, enough of my blabbering, GO FORTH AND READ THE GOD DAMN STORY!!!!!
AC My End
Chapter 7 (finally! )
Saying Goodbye to Old and Future Friends
Gohan woke up to a semi dark room; it wasn't dark like night and it wasn't light like day, so he figured it was early morning. He turned to his bed side to see the time on his digital clock, and sure enough it was 5:37 A.M.
Gohan moaned at the time, he knew that whenever he'd first wake up in the morning, that there would be no hope for him falling back asleep until night fall again. He lay in bed for a while, just staring at the ceiling and thinking.
'......Let's see, what do I have to do today?......' He thought while rubbing the sleepy from his eyes. 'I gotta go to Bulma's place and say bye to Trunks......and then......and then I guess I'm clear after that......'
Gohan thought of all his friends and how they would all be there, to say bye to Trunks, yes. But he knew that after Trunks were to leave that he would probably be the center of attention, with his Father being dead and him defeating Cell and all. Everyone would want to give Gohan their sympathies and ask him how he and his family were doing and what not, and Gohan didn't like the thought of that. He didn't want anymore attention then he would usually get, he didn't want sympathy, all it would do is remind him of the Cell Games and make him think of his Father. He didn't want to dwell on old memories.
He let out a heavy sigh and sat up.
'Maybe they won't say anything about it......Ah, who knows. If they do, as much as I don't want them to, at least I know they care enough about me to wonder how I'm doing.'
Gohan yawned, threw the covers off of him and got up out of bed and stretched his muscles, which seemed to ach for some reason. He knew from experience that waking up the day after a fight, that ones muscles tend to ach, but he had been healed by Dende's power after the fight and he didn't understand why he was having some pains.
'Maybe it has something to do with my stomach-ach last night.' He thought.
His muscle aches weren't all that bad and it wasn't like they was going to keep him from doing anything, it just surprised him that he had any at all.
He shrugged and walked over to the window and opened the shades to let some light in. Out side, it was a fogy morning and everything was wet with due, it was the kind of morning that Gohan loved to wake up to, unless he was planning on going swimming. But he wasn't this morning, he wasn't even going to be there for most of the day probably, but either way by mid day the fog would be cleared and the sun would be out and setting anyway.
Gohan smiled at his reflection in the window before turning around and heading for the door. On his way to the door however, a book fell off of his desk and landed right in front of him. It was his journal, and it had landed open on a fresh, never before written on, page. Gohan picked up his journal and looked at the empty pages before flipping back through what he had already written in it.
"What?......" Gohan said to himself a little baffled at what he'd discovered.
The journal had opened up to the very next page that came after what he'd previously written. The whole situation almost scared Gohan, and he pondered it for a moment wondering if it was like some sort of, sign. It was as if the journal was telling him to write in it; he hadn't even bumped into the desk it sat upon before it fell in front of him, it was like it just flew off the table and onto the floor.
Gohan continued to study the journal a bit more before he finally decided to write in it.
'Might as well do something to pass the time until I can go to Bulma's, it's way too early to go right now anyway.' He thought, before pulling a chair out from under the desk and sitting down to write about all that had happened recently. He picked up a gell-pen and thought for a moment about what exactly to write and how to start it.
"Dear Journal," He wrote.
"It's been a while since I've written in this, when was the last time? The day before we went to fight the Androids, or the day after Trunks came back to tell us about them?
Well, it happened. The Androids came, but unlike what was originally supposed to happen, there were more then 2. The situation was worse then Trunks told us it would be, and turned out that his coming back in time only allowed another android into our timeline......"
Gohan wrote until his hand started to cramp, and by that point he was pretty much done writing all about the Cell Games and the night before last.
His stomach growled and he decided that he had written enough and would go get something to eat. But before he'd go anywhere, he wanted to write one last thing.
"My dream I had last night scares me a little; in the end of it, a white blur came out of no where and knocked Cell down. And, I don't know for sure, but the blur I saw I think looked like, a wing, a GIANT white wing yes. Lol. But......I don't know what it means, or if it means anything. I'm just glad that after I went back to bed, that my dreams no longer disrupted my slumber......" Gohan closed his journal and leaned back in his chair and massaged his tense hand a bit. He then got up and headed out the door to get some breakfast.
1 hour later
Gohan stood in front of his closet, looking with his eyes for something to ware. After he'd eaten breakfast, he figured he'd start getting ready for the day. The only problem was, he couldn't find anything to ware.
He had already raided through all his dresser drawers looking for something, but nothing would fit him! He had grown so much in the Time Chamber that after he came out, barely any of his clothes fit him anymore. And the few clothes that did fit him were, at the moment, dirty or in the process of being washed.
"Why's it have to be today?" Gohan said under his breath as he started to go through the closet. He'd take out things, put them up against his body and look in a mirror to see if it would at all fit him. To Gohan's disappointment though, nothing did.
He finished with, what he thought, was the last item of clothing in his closet and threw it on the floor, now wondering what the Heck he was going to wear. He took another look in the closet and hidden by the shadows, in the very back, on the rack, was one last hanger with a tux hanging from it.
Gohan reached into the closet and pulled out the black dress up pants and jacet. It was covered in a plastic bag, and looked like it had never been worn before.
'Hey, I remember this.' He thought with a laugh. 'Mom bought this for me, like, two years ago. But it was too big for me then so we put it in the back of the closet. Ha, I didn't really want it anyway.....'
"Well, I should be big enough for it now." He said out loud while holding it up to his body and looking at himself in the mirror.
"Well, it's not my first choice, but it's either this or my PJs. They probably wouldn't care if I showed up in them, but, it's nice to show some decency. Besides, it is kind-of, appropriate for the occasion." He took one last look at himself and the tux in the mirror before sighing and un-bagging it.
He took off his PJs and slipped on the dress-pants. They seemed to fit, they weren't the most comfortable thing in the world, but they fit snuggly around the waist and hung nicely on him. He then put on an under shirt the white blows followed by the jacket, but he didn't bother to tuck his blows in.
He took a look at himself in the mirror once again after he was finished putting everything on, but he felt like something was missing.
"A tie." Gohan went over to the heap of clothes that was once in his closet, and started digging through it. He soon found a black tie, put it on and took one last look at himself in the mirror.
"......hum......" He said while looking at himself quizzically and making some funny poses. "Not bad, very......sophisticated." He let out a chuckle and left the room.
He went down the hall and slowly cracked the door open to his Mom's room so he could check on her without waking her up. She was fast asleep, Gohan smiled a bit at the sight, happy to see his Mother at peace after last seeing her in such an emotional heap. He then looked at the clock on the wall.
"8:28," He whispered.
'I guess it's okay to leave now. I'll just take my time flying.' He thought as he closed the door and went down the stairs to write a note to his Mother and leave.
He went to the phone table and got a sticky pad and wrote on it,
Dear Mom,
Went to Bulma's to say bye to Trunks. Be back sometime before Dinner.
Loves,
Gohan
He then put the sticky note on the table and left.
(Sorry that part went REALLY slow)
Capsule Corp.
Trunks too had woken up early, due to Baby Trunks' constant crying the night before. His room, the guest room, was right next to Baby Trunks' so he listened to him all night. And when he cried for what seemed like the twentieth time that night, actually it was morning, Trunks decided to give up on sleeping and save his parents the effort and take care of Mini him for them.
After He'd finally gotten Baby Trunks to stop crying and had laid him back down to sleep, he tried to entertain himself by watching some TV. But, unfortunately, it was a Sunday morning, and there wasn't much of anything on. Right then, he heard a door bell ring.
He looked up and around the room for a moment, a little confused. 'I didn't know this place had a door bell.' He thought.
"Who'd be here at 9:00 in the morning?" He sighed as he got to his feet. "Better not be a Solicitor." He walked down the hall to the main door and opened it.
"Oh hey Gohan!" Trunks said with a smile, at the sight of his friend. "I didn't know anyone was coming this early." He chuckled and reached out an arm to shake hands with him. Gohan did the same.
"Oh, a, hope I'm not too early. Am I?" He asked with a bit of sorrow in his voice.
"Oh no," Trunks reassured him. "It's fine, I'm the only one awake, and nobody else is here yet, but......" He shrugged and motioned for Gohan to come in. "We can keep each other company until everyone else comes, or wakes up." He closed the door behind Gohan, who nodded his head in agreement, as he started to take off his shoes. Gohan looked Trunks up and down for a moment.
"You don't look like you've been up very long." Gohan said with a smile. "Or were you just too lazy to change out of your jammies?" He took off his last shoe and nicely set his shoes up against the wall near the door.
Trunks looked down at his PJs for a moment before answering. He was wearing a baggy white T-shirt that had an alarm clock with an X over it and a pair of Navy blue PJ bottoms. He was loaning them from 'someone' in the family.
"Oh, I was just too lazy to change out of them." Trunks said with a wave of his hand as they started to make their way down the hall to the living room.
"So, what's new?" Trunks asked as they approached the living room.
Gohan stopped for a moment and looked back at Trunks with a mischievous smile, before sprinting for the nearest couch and jumping over the back of it and landing on the soft cushions.
"You mean since the last time we saw each other." Gohan chuckled sarcastically and looked over the back of the couch at Trunks.
Trunks just stared at Gohan for a moment, a little surprised by his actions, before letting out a snort for a reply of amusement.
"Which 'was' yesterday." Trunks said, trying to get the point across that he understood what Gohan was getting at. "But, seriously, um, has anything new happened since then?" Trunks asked, he was hoping that he would mention something about how breaking the news went and all.
Gohan knew what he was getting at and acted as if he didn't understand so he wouldn't have to say anything. He looked to his right for a moment in 'thought' before looking back at Trunks and shaking his head a little.
"No, nothings really happened......Nothing all that important at least."
Trunks knew that he was trying to cover something up, but decided that it was best not to push for an answer. So he just dropped the subject completely, with the hopes that he might get another chance later.
There was a moment of silence between the boys and Gohan looked down at his feet, and Trunks decided to walk over to and sit down on the other couch. They both felt a little awkward with it being so quiet and tried to avoid each other's glances.
Gohan was getting rather annoyed with it being so quiet and finally decided to speak up.
"......Anyways, a......so......What, happened here last night." He'd finally found a new topic.
Trunks looked up at Gohan.
"Oh, well......"
"I, noticed you got your hair cut." Gohan butted in with a small smile.
Trunks reached up a hand and tugged on his hair a bit while trying to look at it.
"......uh, um, yeah I, I did." He chuckled. "It's, kind-a stupid. I got my fingers stuck in my hair so my Mom had to cut it for me."
Gohan giggled a bit while Trunks continued.
"Yeah, and then she said that not many Mother's probably get to meet their future sons and said that she was going to keep what she cut off. So, she's got my hair in a plastic bag somewhere around here." He laughed with Gohan a little while scratching the back of his head.
"Oh god......" Gohan sighed from laughter while trying to calm down. "That's......I don't know what that is, it's just different." He chuckled.
"Yeah, well......I don't know what she plans on doing with it, what, put it in a china cabinet or something." Trunks laughed.
"Haha!" Gohan chuckled with him. "She'll probably end up throwing it away on accident some day soon."
"Yeah, I know." Trunks replied with a wide smile. "But, oh well......"
Both Trunks and Gohan took a moment to calm themselves, and after they were both able to regain control over their laughter Gohan asked.
"So, did Vegeta ever get back last night?" He rubbed his eye and continued. "I don't recall seeing him at the Look Out."
"Uh huh, He didn't get back till pretty late though, around midnight or something." Trunks told him. "But he didn't really say anything, he just looked at us for a second and then went off to bed......I did get to meet my grandparents last night though."
"Oh really?" Gohan asked, though he was a little confused.
'Doesn't Trunks know his Grandparents in the future?' He wondered.
"Yeah. I, never really knew them in my time......" Trunks pulled at some nerdel balls on his socks and thought back to what little of his Grandparents that he could remember. "My Grandpa died when I was pretty little......He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time......" Trunks stopped at what seemed like the beginning of a story to Gohan, and he wanted to know more.
"What happened? If you don't mind telling?" Gohan asked, remembering to be courteous of Trunks' feelings, knowing that he himself didn't always like to talk about things such as this.
Trunks let out a "Huh" as he snapped out of his thoughts at hearing Gohan's request.
"Oh, uh......Sure, it's nothing I really need to......" He made some hand movements while trying to think of something to say. "A, never mind. K, I a, think he was out at some sort of mechanic store or something, when the Android's attacked and, I, I think he was crushed by a collapsing pillar or something......
And then my Grandma, she was out having her morning walk, sometime after the whole thing with my Grandpa was over, when there was a big explosion, once again caused by the Androids......and, I can't remember exactly what it was, we don't really bring it up all that often. But, she was at a pretty safe distance, but the explosion caused some sort of sharp object, thing to go flying, straight for my Grandma, and......I think you get the picture......" Trunks finished while staring at the floor, appearing to be in deep thought.
"Gosh," Gohan whispered. "Sounds awful......"
Trunks looked up at Gohan a put on a fake smile.
"Well......That's all about to change, as soon as I go back, those Androids 'll finally get what's been coming to them for the past 20 years or so. Then we can finally start rebuilding homes, cities, and the population. And things can finally go back to normal......A normal I never knew, but, it's still normal." He smiled, he was really looking forward to getting back and seeing his Mom, and finally defeating the Androids.
"The only thing left for me to do after destroying the androids, is to kill Cell......And I don't have to worry about finding him, he comes to me, and I just have to be on my guard until then."
Gohan's ears perked at the mentioning of Cell.
"Oh that's right, Cell steels your time machine in the future, doesn't he? Will you be okay fighting him?" He asked concerned, forgetting that Cell was in an earlier form before traveling back in time.
"Oh yeah, no need to worry about me." Trunks reassured Gohan. "This is 'imperfect' Cell were talking about. Remember."
"Oh, yeah......Hee, I knew that......" Gohan felt a bit stupid for forgetting that detail, but plastered on a big smile anyways.
Trunks fondly looked at Gohan, in the process letting all the memories he had of the Gohan he knew in the future go through his head. He really missed Gohan as well, and only wished that he too would be there to welcome him back home. He wasn't just a friend to him, he was family.
"Hey, Gohan?" Trunks asked, sounding a bit sheepish.
"Yeah?"
"Um, you probably won't really understand, or even care, but......a......I, just wanted to say and, let you know, how much you really meant, or mean to me in, in the future......"
Gohan stared at Trunks a little confused, but stayed attentive.
"I mean, you know how you were the only one really of us that "made it" in my time and, you were just......you were more then a friend to me, um, you were just always there for me and always saving my butt off the battle field, and......You were just, like a Brother and a Best Friend and a Father all in one to me. And, I......I just wanted to let you know......" Trunks trailed off a bit, feeling a bit awkward telling all this to 'past' Gohan, whom he never really knew like he did the Gohan from his time.
Gohan continued to stare at Trunks, thinking about all the things that he had to go through and still had to go through in his time, and life. And thought of what a terrible and unfair existence it must be for him and all the other people of the world.
'......And I thought I had it kind-a bad......' He thought, knowing that he lived a life way better then Trunks did, even though his wasn't always all that great either. Trunks had lost so much compared to Gohan, though they still both shared things in common. He had lost his Father, while Trunks had not only lost his Father but everyone else that they knew pretty much.
"Sorry for that." Trunks interrupted Gohan's thoughts. "I just, never got to say goodbye to you in the future, and I never really got the chance to tell, uh, you, how much you meant to me. And......I don't know, I guess I thought that telling you, even though you're not the Gohan I know or knew in the future, would clear my conscience a bit......" Trunks looked down at his hands, feeling a bit embarrassed at saying all that he had.
"It's okay Trunks." Gohan said comfortingly.
Trunks looked up, relieved that he had been kind and understanding towards his feelings.
"I understand, sort-of," Gohan told him humorously. "I mean I understand your feelings, not only towards me, but, your 'actual' feelings. Like......" Gohan had said something that he didn't mean to and didn't really know what to follow with it. "......uh......You know, I'm just, gonna kind-a stop there cause I don't really know what I'm trying to say." Gohan silently laughed at his stupidity and waved a hand at Trunks as a signal to not say anything about it.
Trunks just shook his head and chuckled.
"No, I understand what you're getting at." He said following with some more chuckling.
"K, yeah, moving on." Gohan said, still laughing a bit. "Okay......So, a, I think we've talked enough. You wanna, play, some video games, or something?" He suggested with a smile and a bit of a laugh.
"Sure, it's probably going to be a while before anyone gets here so," He shrugged. "We gotta find something to pass the time." He smiled and stood up.
Gohan crawled off the couch and across the floor to the TV.
"What'd ya wanna play?" Gohan asked. "X-Box, PS 2, Game Cube or...... Nintendo 64." Gohan smiled, knowing that Nintendo was an older game console and seemed sort-of inferior to the rest of the game consoles.
"Um, wow." Trunks started. "Why does Mom have all of these game consoles?"
"Yeah, I was, about to say the same thing." Gohan said a little amused.
"She doesn't play them, does she?" Trunks asked as he turned to Gohan-who shrugged.
"I play these when I come over sometimes. But, this is your place, sort-of. Do you have any of these in your time?" Gohan asked.
"Well, yeah," Trunks replied. "We don't have the game Cube and the Nintendo though." Trunks was a little confused, as was Gohan, by the whole matter. "Well, it doesn't really matter." He concluded too confused and tired of talking about it to really want to continue.
"Yeah," Gohan said in agreement as he started up the PS 2. "You said so yourself that things are different from your time, and besides, she probably just got them knowing that with Baby Trunks that he would grow up a bit and want to play video games or, something." Gohan said, once again, trying to make sense of it.
"Yeah. Anyways, let's start playing a game already." Trunks said, trying to get off the subject. He noticed that Gohan had already started up the PS 2 and said.
"Hey, I never said I wanted to play Playstation." Trunks protested like a little kid, all in good humor though.
"Yeah, well you never said anything." Gohan shot back playfully as he put in a game.
Trunks smiled and sat down on the floor a little ways behind him.
"So what are we playing?" He asked.
Gohan got the game started and grabbed a controller as he crawled back over to sit by Trunks.
"Well, I wanna check out this new game Kingdom Hearts first. It's only one player though, I've been wanting to play it for a while now." Gohan told Trunks. "I won't take long though." He added.
"Oh, I know." Trunks said. "I have this game in the future. Man, it's so old to me. So is the PS 2. We've got all these other new game consoles that have come out since this time."
"Oh, yeah, it seems like there's always some kind-a new game console coming out. You must have a load of new kinds of games, I mean, 20 years worth." Gohan said as the intro to the game started to play.
"Yeah, well not that big a load." Trunks explained. "Production of things, like games and movies and what not in my time's slower then it is in this time."
"Oh, yeah." Gohan said in realization of the fact that people in Trunks time would probably do less video game making and playing and leaser like things all together, due to the Androids.
"Well," Gohan started. "Is this game any fun?"
"Oh yeah!" Trunks said, almost seeming amazed that he would even ask something like that. "It's one of the better games in my opinion......Well, for it's time at least." He smiled.
They played video games for the next 2 and a half hours, waiting for people to come over. And by that time it was around noon.
"Ah, no, no, no......NOOOO!" Trunks shouted, as Gohan beat him by barely a second in a racing game they were playing on the X Box.
Trunks dropped his controller in defeat while Gohan lifted his up into the air in victory.
"HAHAHAHA! I beat you, oh yes I beat you, oh yes I beat you!" Gohan chanted in a singsong voice. "Gosh, I beat you with a Mini Coupe, and you had a TT Roadster......How did that happen?" He teased.
Trunks rolled his eyes with a smile.
"What can I say, I suck at racing games." He stretched a bit with a yawn and fell backwards to lie on the floor. "T'aint my thing."
Gohan turned off the video game and went to sit by Trunks again.
"What time is it?" He asked as he looked around for a clock.
Trunks looked down at his watch, he always wore it, unless he was fighting.
"It's about 12:12." He told him.
"And when was it you said that people were gonna be here?" Gohan asked.
"Around noon," Trunks replied as he sat up. "But I don't really know what's going on, or if that's the actual time everyone was planning on coming. I'm, just kind-of assuming."
"Oh......" Gohan said followed by a yawn. "I'm starting to feel tired again." He grimaced and rubbed his eyes. "If they take too much longer, I think I'm gonna fall asleep."
"I know." Trunks agreed as he started to stand up.
Gohan looked at him a little confused for a moment.
"What are you doing?" He asked as he put his hands on his crisscrossed legs.
"I'm just going to go change out of my PJs before people get here." He explained, as he pointed with his thumb to a near hallway that lead to his room.
"Oh, okay." Gohan smiled as Trunks walked out of the room and down the hallway.
After Trunks was out of sight, Gohan sat there, doing nothing really, but waiting for Trunks return. He inspected his cuticles for a moment, for there wasn't very much of anything else to do that didn't require moving.
Suddenly, the door bell rang. Gohan looked up and smiled.
"Finally." He whispered as he got up and fast walked for the front door.
He grabbed the doorknob and turned it, but when he opened the door he was greeted by a most unexpected surprise.
"SURPRISE!" A big group of people shouted.
Gohan 'was' surprise and stumbled back wards a bit with wide eyes. The people in the group were Krillen, Yamcha, Master Roshie, Bulma, Baby Trunks, Oolong, Paur, Tien, Choutsue, and even Vegeta could be seen in the very back with a smirk upon his face.
'Whoa, what's going on?' Gohan thought.
Right then everyone in the group, minus Vegeta, started to sing.
"For they are jolly good fellows, for they are jolly good fellows, for they are jolly good fellows, which nobody can deny." However, their singing was interrupted by Krillen.
"What a minuet, where's Trunks?" He asked as he tried to look behind Gohan to see if he was at all back there.
"Huh?" Gohan managed to let out. "......Oh, he's a just getting dressed-a what's all this?" He asked with a wave of a hand towards the small crowed in the doorway.
For those that didn't already have a smile on, one crept upon their lips and Gohan raised an eyebrow at the sight.
"Well," A squished Bulma holding baby Trunks started as she made her way for the front of the crowd. "I figured that we should through a bit of a party today in honor of you and Trunks." She smiled at Gohan as she reached the front and walked through the door.
Gohan stared at Bulma for a moment before looking at the faces of everyone else.
"......Why?" He asked a little confused as to why she would want to through a party for them, or at least him.
Bulma let out a chortle as if to say, 'what are you talking about?
"Because, weren't for Trunks we wouldn't have been able to change our future. And weren't for you, then Cell would probably still be here, unless he'd already have destroyed the Earth and everything on it.
So I figured that I would through the two of you a bit of a 'surprise' party. And also, I just found out last night when I called Krillen to tell him about it, that your Birthday was a few days ago. So, it's kind-of a belated Birthday bash for you too kid-o!" Bulma explained happily.
"Oh," Gohan said. "Thanks, but you didn't have to......" He was cut off by Bulma.
"Oh nonsense Gohan. I decided to and am going to through this party, and you re going to enjoy yourself." She demanded with a smile.
Gohan didn't know what to say, so all he did was give her a half smile to show his appreciation. Bulma understood the smile and turned to the people still in the door way and put her free hand on her hip.
"Are ya all gonna stand in the doorway all day or are you going to come in?" She asked them with sarcasm clear in her voice.
All but Vegeta got a bit of an embarrassed look upon their faces as they started to make there way inside the house. Vegeta on the other hand, widely smirked at 'his mates' forceful demand.
Gohan smiled and turned around to head back for the living room. Bulma and everyone else followed.
"Gohan, what's going on?" A voice came from the living room, it was Trunks, he had heard some commotion.
"A bunch of people just came over, to surprise us! Even your Mom and Dad!" Gohan yelled back with a smile.
"What?" Trunks replied as the group of people came to the living room. "What do you mean my parents came? This is there place, aren't they still in bed? I thought that......" He finally looked up at the crowd of people and there was a moment of silence.
"......Whoa......" Trunks said in the midst of the dead silence.
There were a few chuckles from the group of friends as Trunks said.
"It's everyone. Why?" Trunks asked with a smile of confusion.
"Apparently they wanted to throw us a bit of a party to say thanks." Gohan explained.
"Oh......O, kay." He said as Bulma approached him.
"We have lots to thank you and Gohan for so we figured we'd just have a little celebration in honor of you two, besides it was Gohan's Birthday a couple days ago." She explained once again as she turned to Gohan.
"Oh really?" Trunks asked. "How come I didn't know?" He smiled, directing the question towards Gohan.
"Well, ya never asked." Gohan replied as he too smiled.
The group once again let out some laughter before Bulma spoke to all of them.
"Well, then, now that we've got that over with. Let's start celebrating!"
The party was nice and family like, even though no one really blood related to Gohan was there, they were still all like family to him. But, even though it was family like, it wasn't boring it was lots of fun. When you have a party with the people from Kama House, it's bound to get a little crazy.
There was food, lots of food, and talking, and some 'more' video game playing, some watching TV especially ball games, and even some listening to music with the occasional dancing just for fun.
Bulma even went as far as to get a HUGE cake for Gohan and Trunks that read, 'Happy Belated Birthday Gohan & Thank You Trunks.' But she didn't stop there; her being the heiress to Capsule Corp. and having all that money and all, she got a computer for Gohan, a 'very' expensive computer. And it came with everything, speakers, a CD burner, a scanner, a printer a cordless keyboard and mouse, etc. Gohan was absolutely thrilled, his family didn't have a single computer in their house and now he was the first one to get, or more receive, one.
She even gave Trunks a small going away present. And though it was small, it didn't mean that it wasn't meaningful. She gave him a silver necklace in the shape of a heart that had a picture of her with Baby Trunks and Vegeta inside of it. She also gave him two copies of a picture that had been taken with her digital camera that day, one of them was intended for Gohan's future Mother. The picture was of all of them having a good time and just being goofy and happy. Everyone was in the picture, even Vegeta and Piccolo-who happened to drop by not too long before Bulma was planning on taking the picture.
Trunks was touched by the thoughtful presents and gave his Mom a big hug and thank you. By this time, it was a little after three and Trunks thought that he best be going soon, but before he was going to say anything, he asked Gohan to write a little something to his Mother on the back of the picture for her. He told her that it would make her happy to hear a little bit about her 'past' son and what not.
Gohan did as Trunks asked, and wrote to his Mother;
'Dear Mom,' He wrote.
'Just thought I'd write you a little something to tell you that I'm safe and that I love you, and always will. And don't be sad that I'm not exactly there in your time, I'm here in this time and you know I love you, so don't be sad be happy. I'm probably watching over you from heaven twenty four seven.
And just incase you're wondering, yes, I'm studying like a good little boy, I've been balancing out my training and studies. But I don't know how much more need for training I'll have, there can't be that many evil villains out there and I've reached a new level of super Saiyan, isn't that cool! Well, anyways, I'll keep both you and Grandpa in my prayers.
Love you Mommy
Your Baby,
Gohan'
When Gohan was done writing it, he put the picture in an envelope that Bulma had given him and gave it back to Trunks.
"Thanks Gohan," Trunks told him. "Your Mom 'll really love this." He gave Gohan a pat on the shoulder and put his presents in a safe pocket where the pictures wouldn't get wrinkled.
"Well," He started. "It was fun and all, but I should get going now......"
Everyone stood in the backyard of C.C. to say bye to Trunks-who already had his time machine out and ready to go. They all exchanged their goodbyes, and Trunks got into the cockpit of his time machine.
He gave one last wave and said one more goodbye before he sealed himself up inside of it and levitated up into the air and vanished. All stared into the sky in silence for a moment, wondering if they would ever see or hear from him again.
In the middle of this silence, Gohan thought that he felt a familiar presence, his father's. And he could have sworn that he felt a hand on his shoulder, and felt as if it were trying to give him strength and confidence. He turned around to see what it really was that was behind him, but when he did, there was nothing, no one.
'......Could it really have been?......' He wondered.
He let a smile cross his face as he looked up to the sky and watched the passing clouds being carried by the wind.
"......Thank you Dad." He said outloaud without taking his eyes off the sky.
Krillen, who was standing right by Gohan, had heard him and wondered what he was talking about and started looking around for an answer. But as people started to go back inside Krillen gave up on trying to figure it out and just followed the crowd, leaving Gohan outside, still staring at the sky.
'I miss you Dad.' His thoughts said. 'But I understand why you had to go, why you couldn't stay. It's just, things aren't the same without you here Daddy......I just......' His thoughts were interrupted by Piccolo, who too was still outside.
"Hey, you okay kid?" He asked in his usual deep husky voice. He had noticed Gohan uninterruptedly staring at the sky and when he didn't stop after everyone had already gone in, he wanted to snap him out of it to make sure that he was doing okay.
Gohan turned around and looked up at Piccolo. He was floating in the air about ten feet above the gorund, cape fluttering in the slight breeze.
"Oh, hi." He said in a monotone voice.
"What were you doing?" Piccolo asked coolly.
"Oh, I, a, was just looking, at, the clouds. Yup, just the clouds and, what not." He stumbled over his words a bit, trying to think of something to say. Not that he was embarrassed of telling Piccolo that he was thinking of his Father, he just didn't feel that it was necessary to tell Piccolo what he was thinking and feeling. Of course he knew better, he knew that he couldn't hide anything from Piccolo.
"I know what you were doing Gohan, you don't have to cover it up. You were thinking about your Dad, weren't you?" Piccolo asked emotionlessly.
Gohan let out a sigh.
"I just can't hide anything from you, can I?" He smiled. "Yes, I was thinking about my Dad. But I'm okay."
Piccolo smirked and descended to the ground as Gohan came walking in his direction.
"Listen kid, I'm hear for you. If you ever want to talk to me, about anything, you know where to find me."
"Yeah, I know." Gohan replied as he stared up at the tall Namakien with gleam in his eye. He really did look up to Piccolo, and Piccolo knew it and was proud of it.
Piccolo let out a "humph".
"Well," He said as he levitated himself into the air. "I'm going back to the Look Out, go back inside with the others." He told Gohan before he flew off and out of site.
Gohan once again found himself stairing up at the sky in the direction that Piccolo had been going in and smiled. Right then he heard Krillen yell for him.
"Hey Gohan!" He shouted. Gohan turned around to face him. "Are you coming back inside?"
Gohan ran for Krillen and slowed down as he neared him.
"Yeah, I'm comeing." He smiled.
"What were you doing?" Krillen asked him a little worried that when he found him he was still looking up at the sky.
"Oh, I was just talking to Piccolo." He explained, telling half the truth.
Krillen looked from him to the back yard and shook his head.
"Okay, if you say so." He walked back inside the house through the sliding glass door and waited for Gohan to go through it too.
"Why do you say it like that?" Gohan asked as Krillen shut the glass door.
"Oh, I don't know, I was just wondering why you were staring at the sky so much." He told him with a bit of a chuckle as he went back to join the party.
"Oh." Gohan replied as he followed Krillen. They went back into the main living room and both sat down on the white leather couch that was facing the TV.
Gohan looked at the TV and noticed that Yamcha and Oolong were playing the same racing game that he and Trunks had been playing earlier. The two of them were betting 5 dollars on who would win.
"Yes, yes, yes......NO, no, no, NO......Yes, yes, ye-oh no, ye-no, ye......NO!" Yamcha wailed. "I can't believe it, I lost. I lost to a pig!" He exclaimed while staring at the screen.
"Hey, watch it!" Oolong warned him as he set his controller down. "Now, cough it up." He said as he stretched out his hand waiting for the money to be given to him.
"Aaahhh......" Yamcha groaned as he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a five and through it at him.
Oolong caught the 5 and chuckled with delight as he got up and put it in his pocket.
"Best 2 outta 3." Yamcha pleaded, wanting to do anything to get his 5 back and earn another.
"Forget it!" Oolong objected as he climbed up and sat on the couch with crossed arms.
Yamcha sighed out of frustration and turned around to look at Gohan.
"Hey Gohan, you wanna play me?" He asked as he showed him his controller.
Gohan grimaced at Yamcha, He knew why he wanted to play him.
"Sorry Yamcha, but I don't have anything on me."
Yamcha lowered his head in defeat and turned off the video game while a few people laughed at his failed attempts to make a few bucks.
"Yamcha, for shame." Krillen teased. "Trying to rip money off a kid."
"Hey, it's a crewel world." He replied with a smile and a shrug.
Yamcha looked at Gohan and gave him a smile, and Gohan gave him one in return. In the process of looking at Gohan, Yamcha got a chance to look at his wardrobe.
"Hey, a, Gohan?" Yamcha started. "There's something I've been meaning to ask you."
"What?"
"A, no offense or nothing, but, what's with the tux? I mean it's not a bad thing, but we're all casual here." Yamcha finished as he looked around the room at all the others to point out that they were all casually dressed as well.
"Oh," Gohan said followed by a snort. "I knew someone was going to say that." He chuckled. "Um, see, I practically have nothing to ware right now, none of my clothes fit me. I need to go shopping really bad."
"Oh yeah," Yamcha said in realization. "You grew in the Time Chamber."
"Yup," Gohan smiled. "And over the past couple days, I've worn all the stuff that still fits me so it's all either dirty or being washed right now. And this was the only thing left, it was either this or my PJs." Gohan chuckled and scratched the back of his head.
"Oh okay." Yamcha said. "You know we wouldn't mind you coming in your PJs though." He added in with a smile.
"Yeah, I considered it, but really, it was nothing to be worn in public in my opinion." Gohan explained with a bit of a giggle.
"Whatever floats your boat." Yamcha told him as he stood up and went over to a snack table up against the wall behind the couch Krillen and Gohan were on.
"So Gohan," Krillen started a little hesitantly, Gohan turned his head to look at Krillen. "A, so, how did breaking the news to your Mom go yesterday? If you don't mind explaining?" Krillen finished, feeling a bit weird about asking him a question like that.
Gohan was silent for a moment, remembering how distraught his Mom was yesterday over the whole matter.
'You've been avoiding it for too long Gohan, just tell them, lie if you want. They 'may' stop asking.' His thoughts told him.
Gohan gave in to the thoughts and breathed in heavily before starting.
"......It went, okay." He started, though he was lying. "Could have gone better, but......"
"Are you doing okay?" Tien asked with concern.
It was happening, exactly what Gohan feared would happen and didn't want to have happen, they were all trying to be sympathetic. He didn't want sympathy, he just wanted them to be their usual happy and goofy selves, and not ask and remind him of things such as they were now.
Everyone in the room was staring at him, waiting for him to say something, and he felt very uneasy about the whole situation. He didn't want to say anymore, he just wanted to leave now, but at the same time he didn't want to be rude.
"......Yeah." He finally managed to say, though it was not a believable reply. And everyone could tell that he was lying, and as Trunks too decided to do, not one of them tried to carry out the conversation any further.
There was more silence and Gohan decided that now would be a good time to leave.
"Um," He started as he looked at a clock on the wall, it read 4:15. "I should be going now, I told, or actually wrote my Mom that I would be home before dinner."
He stood up and looked around at everyone in the room again, it was still quiet and they were all still staring at him and he wished that they would stop. And thankfully for Gohan, Krillen broke the silence.
"Don't forget about your computer." He said as he got up off the couch and went to go get it. Slowly, everyone started doing their own thing again.
"Oh, yeah. Thanks Krillen." Gohan followed him into the kitchen where his computer was being kept.
When Krillen picked it up to give it to Gohan, he said to him.
"Listen, if it's, anything I said, I a......" He was cut off by Gohan.
"No, don't worry about it." Gohan told him as he took the big box from Krillen. "It wasn't you." They smiled at each other.
"Okay." Krillen said as they left the kitchen together and entered the living room again.
Everyone once again turned to Gohan, and Krillen went back to join the others on the couch. They all gave their own types of Goodbyes; Bye!, See ya!, Drop by sometime!, Audios!, and Gohan too said his own Goodbyes.
"Bye guys, and thanks for the surprise and everything!" He walked for the hallway and gave one last goodbye before entering it.
Most everyone left in the living room kept looking in the direction of the hallway, and stayed looking at it until they heard the front door close that signaled Gohan's exit.
"......Hey guys," Krillen started slowly. "I think we shouldn't bring anything up about Goku again for a while......"
'Why'd they have to ask?' Gohan thought a little down and frustrated on his flight home.
He sighed heavily and repositioned the way he was holding the over-sized box in his hands.
'I know they ask cause they care, but......I don't know, maybe I'm the one with the problem......' His mind thought.
Gohan was approaching his home fast and decided to slow way down so he wouldn't miss it. When his home finally did come into view he slowed down even more and descended to the ground, softly landing on the grass.
He walked over to the house and lightly knocked on the door. He waited for a moment and after nothing happened he decided to knock again. But before he got the chance to, he heard foot steps and stopped himself and waited for whoever it was to open the door.
Of course, when the door was opened, it was his Mother. Though, Gohan was a little surprised, even though he knew that she was 'now' the only one that lived there, besides him.
She was still in her PJs and her hair appeared to have not been brushed yet.
'Has she been in bed all day?' Gohan asked himself.
He pushed the thought aside though and greeted his Mom with a happy "Hi".
Chi-Chi's reaction wasn't what it would have usually been, she didn't seem very happy or grateful for a nice greeting for that matter. Instead, she looked at him with sleepy eyes for a moment almost as if she were surprised but then smiled half heartedly, looked down and stepped aside to the door, almost hiding her face behind it, to allow him in.
Gohan looked at his Mother sadly and surprised by her reaction for a moment before stepping into the house. Usually she would have asked how he was, how it all went, give him a hug or something, and at least give him a reply of some sort. But this time, he got none, nothing, she was silent.
After he'd gotten into the room, Chi-Chi closed the door behind him and Gohan set his box with his computer in it down.
Chi-Chi noticed it and shortly inspected it before looking up at Gohan and asking in a monotone voice.
"What's in the box?"
'Well, at least she's talking to me.' Gohan thought with a bit of happiness.
"It's a computer." He told her. "Bulma gave it to me, as a belayed Birthday present. Wasn't that nice?"
Chi-Chi looked at the box again and after a few moments slowly nodded her head a few times. It became silent, for what felt like the twentieth time that day to Gohan, and Gohan looked around the room a bit, waiting for something to happen.
Chi-Chi looked up and stared straight ahead.
"......I'm, gonna go back to bed......K......" She looked back at Gohan, who simply stared at her with shock, though she did not notice it.
'What? That's it?' Gohan thought.
Chi-Chi quickly looked away from her son and slowly started to make her way for and up the stairs to her room.
Gohan stared at the staircase, he heard the door to his mother's room close, and he still continued to stare at it. He was hurt and amazed by his Mother's actions. He had never seen her act like that before, and it scared him, but mostly mad him mad and sad.
"What the hell was that?" Gohan asked himself in a whisper as he slowly shook his head. He began to feel tears swell up in his eyes, he felt as if she were rejecting him.
'I should have stayed with the others.' He thought. 'At least they acknowledged that I exist......'
"Damit......" He said quietly as one single tear started to make its way down his cheek.
"This my fault, Mom's not talking to me cause Dad's gone......It's my fault." He sank to the floor with his hands to his face trying to wipe away the now many tears that were coming from his eyes.
He began to sob, but tried to keep his cries suppressed so his Mom wouldn't be able to here him. He stayed in that state and spot for a long time, until he was finally able to regain some control over his feelings. He took his computer box and hauled it up the stairs and dumped it in his room, where he angrily got ready for and into bed.
However, he did not fall asleep for quite some time, he stayed up late thinking, about all the 'stupid' things he had done in his life and how, if he had been thinking, could have done them differently.
(Wiggle-Chicken Note:)
Oh My God...... oo .....That had to have been the most boring, uneventful and horribly written piece of crap I have ever written in my whole entire life......Puff Feel free to flame and criticize this chapter all you want, cause it sucked and I know it. I'm glad I'm done writing it.
Once again though, it kind-a had to be done, though, thank God, this is the last rewrite I have to do. That is unless I do that thing with Gohan and his Grandpa sneaking out, but I don't know if that's going to happen or not. My rewrites always make me loose my wanting to write and I'm sure bore you all to tears. I know they do me, seriously, half way through writing this I cried cause I was so upset that it was taking forever and nothing was going on.
Oh, and sorry it took me so long to get this chap up, well, I guess it wasn't that long. But I would have had it up about 4 days ago if my Mom didn't keep making me leave the house for stupid reasons.
Anyways, here are the replies to your reviews I promised. I don't have replies for all of you though, because #1 Not all of you write enough for me to reply to (not that that's a bad thing), and #2 I lost a few of the papers I had written down the replies on. Maybe I should start typing them on the computer. Duh, I'm such a blonde.
Okay, we're off! (Just to let ya all know, some of these date back more then a few chapters And there may be some stuff in here that not just the people I'm responding to will want to hear. )
Baby Blonde:
Thanks for the "wicked" review. I just love it when my readers give me reviews that they appeared to be enthusiastic about writing. Though, I'm not so sure if the incoming chapters will be quite as long as these, at least the past 3. With the school year starting and all, I'm going to have one full plate and I'm gonna have to find a way somehow of balancing out school (work), voice lessons, writing, art and anything else that I might end up getting involved in.
Samba-rulz
......I loved writing the shower scene......
Eggamagga:
Thanks once again for your awesome review. Did you get the pic I sent you?
Goku-lover21:
I think and am pretty sure the dream's going to mean something, but I originally was going to do a different dream/vision that I had been planning on doing months prior to writing this chap, but when I changed it at the last minute, it kind-a threw everything off course.
Marshmello13Dragon:
I know I e-mailed you about your review, but I think there are some things I missed, so. Yeah, I'm not too sure how it's gonna happen or if it's even really going to happen, but I think Goku does do something. But if he does, I don't think it's 'he' who will be the one who'd planed it. (Hint: Babu-I'm coming to pay you a little visit Goku.) Ah, AH! Hint, hint. Cough, Cough ANYWAYS,
And yes, as I said in the e-mail I sent you, Icarus and Lime will be in this story and will play somewhat major rolls, somewhat. And I am pretty sure that both of them will make an appearance in the next chapter. And if not the next chapter, then in the following one.
CW:
Well, I don't really know why Bulma can't do that, I didn't write the original story, not that that's what you're asking me. But, there's probably some unknown reason as to why they can't or didn't do that. Or maybe they just weren't smart enough to think of doing it.
It's possible that something may have happened on new Namek, or, now here's a good explanation. The reason he/they can't do that, is because nobody really knows the location of New Namek. Goku didn't know where it was until he tried to find them to look for a new guardian for the Earth. And the only reason he could even find them was cause he can teleport (Instant Transmission) and could travel to and knew where King Ki was and ask him to help him find "the location of the Nameks". And in Trunks time, Goku isn't alive and he was the only one that could teleport, and even at that, he still would have had to have traveled to King Ki's to ask for help.
So, unless they wished Goku back or something and had him go back in time instead of Trunks and do the whole thing, and then go back in past and give Trunks back the time machine so he could go back to the future, then their screwed.
And don't ask why they can't wish Goku back or something and have him/them go to New Namek in a space ship or go to King Ki's. Cause # 1 Goku didn't want to come back, and # 2 if anyone else in the Z crew wanted to go to King Ki's they'd probably have to die first, that or get wished there by the Earth dragon, which they'd have to wait a year to make. (which in my opinion is a wasted wish) # 3 If they (or just Trunks in his time) took a space ship they/he would probably have one Hell of a time trying to get there, #4 when and if they'd (or just Trunks in his time) actually get/got to the planet to make the wish, the wish might be out of the Dragon's power, at least if it was made in the past, cause restoring a person's life from the future may be kind-of hard to do.
Also, just incase you're wondering or think of it, they can't/couldn't use the Earth's DragonBalls from the past cause they already used all the wishes for it and unless Trunks wanted to wait around for another year, then that wouldn't have worked out. And once again, it may have been/be out of the Dragon's power.
Don't think I'm being flippy or anything, I read it over a few times, it's just the way I wrote it that sounds kind-of weird.