Chapter Thirty One- Bad Dreams

The forest grasses swung lightly in the breeze that rustled past the two fighters, grasping at their calmed souls. Gohan stood opposite of his opponent looking Mirai Trunks over. The boy which he had looked up to when he was young, now was standing before him at about his age. Gohan tried not to let this bother him. He could be stronger. He could win, right? Mirai Trunks was so much more at peace then Gohan was. But Gohan had to win, for Goten's sake.

"Just concentrate, Gohan." Goku's words rung in the head phones that were strapped to Gohan's ears, "You need at least that on your side. Stay focused and know your opponent."

Gohan clutched the hilt of the sword tighter in his hand as he waited for Trunks to make his move. But no movement came. Gohan grew restless.

"Be patient, Gohan." Goku's voice rang again.

"How can I?" Gohan whispered back through the mike, "I have a shot. I should take it."

"Gohan. You are not thinking."

Gohan ignored his father's words and drew up his sword. He charged out at Trunks with all his might. Trunks didn't seem to notice him coming. His eyes were still tightly clamped in concentration.

'I'm going to win!' Gohan thought happily.

Suddenly, Mirai Trunks withdrew his own sword just in time to block Gohan's. Mirai Trunks' eyes bore into Gohan's as their faces were inches apart.

"You should have listened to Goku." Mirai Trunks smirked, "But nice try anyway."

Mirai Trunks pulled back swinging the sword around to Gohan's side. Gohan moved the sword in the right angle to catch the blow just in time. Trunks dove for the legs as Gohan leapt over to blow. Trunks drew back his sword and swung it downwards through the air just to miss Gohan's body by inches. Both fighters disappeared from Goku's screen for several minutes.

"Blast." Goku hissed staring at the screen empty of any form of disturbance, "This dumb camera can't pick up any movement."

Goku grabbed the controls pressing rapidly as the camera swerved left in right trying to catch any glimpse of the two fighters. Goku could see nothing. Goku's heart beat faster as he worried for his son. Goku pressed down on a green key on the controls and snapped,

"Hey? Are you two fighting or hiding?"

Not answer came but instead the camera finally picked up the visual of the two fighters. They had stopped and were pushed against each other's swords.

"Come on, Gohan." Mirai Trunks smiled, "I know you can be stronger than this."

Gohan let out an angry growl and drew back just as Trunks' sword sliced the air above his head. Gohan gripped the earth between his hands and he slid his feet underneath his foe. Mirai Trunks was caught off guard and began to fall backwards. He fixed himself by turning his flaw into a back flip and avoiding Gohan's sword as it jabbed the air in which was supposed to hold him. Trunks rapidly swung his sword hitting Gohan's out of his hand. In the next instant, Trunks kicked Gohan to the ground and brought the sword up to his foe's throat. He groped the sword in two hands and thrust it into Gohan's chest.

But a slivery shield frosted over Gohan relieving him from any harm. Gohan's head fell back into the grass as he let out a depressed moan. The whole grassy forest disappeared leaving Gohan laying on a dirt floor. A robotic voice piped up stating,

"Simulation over. Victor is Mirai Trunks."

"Argh!" Gohan yelled slaming his fists into the ground.

Goku let out a small sigh and dropped the ear phones from his ears and exited the dark room to enter the one that Gohan and Mirai Trunks were in.

"Well, you were being arrogant again." Goku shrugged as he stopped in front of his son, "I don't know what else to tell you."

Gohan pushed himself up to his feet and dusted himself off roughly,

"How about you tell me that I made the right choice in coming here." Gohan sighed, "How am going to defeat Cell… if I can't even defeat Mirai Trunks?"

"Hey." Mirai Trunks scowled, "I resent that."

"No offence." Gohan complied.

"I can't tell you a lie, Gohan." Goku muttered, "You haven't been training for 7 years and that has taken a tough toll on your skills."

Gohan lowered his head in shame but Goku lifted Gohan's chin so their eyes met,

"But you coming here was no mistake." Goku smiled, "If anyone is needed it's you. If you would stop pretending to be someone you are not I am sure you would do a lot better. You have to believe in yourself."

Gohan smiled weakly up at his father but his heart all he could think was how foolish his father was. How could he be any help? It was proved over and over through their time in space and even clearer now. Gohan just got in the way… He was weak.

"Well, you fought bravely, Gohan." Mirai Trunks offered, "I can admit that. You never for once backed down when you fought me."

"It was hard to convince myself that you were evil." Gohan smirked walking up to face Trunks, "You defiantly aren't suited for that role."

"Yes. I guess it's the purple hair, right?" Trunks smiled.

"That's half of it."

"You don't need to become better in the sword, Gohan." Trunks muttered, "If it is a disadvantage to you then maybe you should stick to your fists."

"But I want a weapon." Gohan sighed, "It makes me feel more secure. Like it's doing the hurting, not me."

Goku and Trunks' faces both turned grim. They stared at Gohan sadly as he looked back at them in confusion,

"Is that too much to ask?"

"It means you are holding back." Goku sighed, "And if you are holding back… There is more of a chance that we will lose. You can't hold back anything in this fight."

"The final showdown with Cell." Trunks smiled, "I can't wait to see you cream him, Gohan."

Gohan went a little pale. He nodded weakly and whispered,

"With Cell. Right…"

Gohan looked as though he was about to be sick. He rushed out of the room leaving both Trunks and Goku quite stunned. Gohan left them no answer to his weird behavior but kept running till he made it outside of the training hall of the Shiiki.


The Shiiki were peaceful people but their technology was extremely advanced for a race that resembled a bunch of hair worshiping children. That is why they had acquired so many enemies…

Gohan sat down upon a small clay wall outside the hall and stared up into the purple sky as the bright red sun sunk down the horizon. The stars were beginning to bleed their way though onto the darkening sky. The wind slowly picked up cooling Gohan's sweaty body off.

"Goten…" Gohan whispered softly.

"Gohan?"

Gohan turned to see two children approaching. One was a certain counter part of his sparring partner inside the hall and the other was a young Shiiki that had dug it's way into both Gohan's and Chibi Trunks' heart.

"Hey Trunks. Hey Hi."

"What's wrong?" Trunks said immediately seeing Gohan's stress.

"Just some dreams I have been having." Gohan whispered, "Nothing really."

"You can tell us." Hi stated swinging it's legs over the wall next to Gohan as Trunks took the opposite side, "We won't tell anyone."

Gohan smiled slightly and closed his eyes,

"I am just worried that's all."

"About your fight with Cell?"

"No." Gohan smiled slightly, "But my fight with someone else."

"Huh?" Trunks questioned, "I don't understand."

"My dreams aren't that really focused on anything except for this pain…that lies deep inside me." Gohan sighed. "The images I saw were of battle blurred by my tears. A tall man with his face covered in shadows approached my fallen body, mocking me."

Gohan swallowed his voice for a minute before he continued, "The anger that was held inside me was strong for this man. I wanted to destroy him more than anything."

"Like your fight with Cell." Trunks offered.

"No." Gohan chuckled darkly, "Nothing like Cell. The anger with Cell was as if I loved Cell compared to the anger towards this shadowed man."

"This anger." Hi inquired, "Could you control it?"

Gohan's face darkened for a few seconds as he thought,

"I'm not sure." Gohan said softly, "I don't think I could. It ended… with…"

Gohan closed his eyes and took a deep breath,

"It ended with me dying."

Trunks let out a strangled gasp and squeezed Gohan's arm hard. Hi closed his eyes and shook his head slightly/

"I am not fortune teller, Gohan." Hi said his dark eyes falling upon his dear friend, "But here we treasure dreams as visions. All I can offer you is my faith. I pray for you and your friends. This is all I can give."


"Let her go, Gohan." A comforting voice whispered in his ear, "Let her rest."

But even that voice could not bring any alleviate to his heart. It still beat roughly in his chest as he clutched the empty body closer. He couldn't drop her. It just wasn't true. Not her. Of all the darn people to die why did her breath leave in his arms. Anger shook his whole body as he stared down through his tear clouded vision upon the beautiful face of a woman of seventeen years. Her face was pale and her black bangs stuck to her sweaty forehead. Gohan's hands reached out to close the bright blue eyes of the girl he had fallen in love with… Why? Why did this happen when he finally knew?

"Let her go…"

"NOOOOOOOOO!" Gohan screamed jerking out of bed.

It took Gohan several seconds for him to realize it was just another haunting dream. Gohan laid back down on the soft bed he had been sleeping in. That beautiful girl that lay limp in his arms. Gohan could see her perfectly now. Just like he had seen her every day since he had first realized his feelings for her. Videl. She had died in his arms…

"It was just a dream." Gohan whispered in a shaky voice trying to calm his nerves, "That isn't going to happen."

Gohan stared about the room of the small mud hut that he was staying in. Each of the Z fighters had been given their own to stay in at Vegeta's request. Apparently, the snoring of his two sons had been annoying him deeply. The room was painted sliver in the low star light. Gohan turned to look out his window at the thousand of stars that littered the sky that they would be riding in tomorrow. He would miss this peaceful place. Suddenly his eyes caught something. A sliver glint in the sky. Gohan squinted his eyes as if trying to determine exactly what it was. He swung his legs out of his bed sheet and leapt from his bed. The boy rushed to his opened window and stared out into the night sky.

"What in the world?" Gohan asked a loud, "It looks like a huge fleet of ships."

Gohan turned to catch sight of another fleet of ships on the other side of the sky. Both fleet were about to collide in the middle… right where they were. Gohan stared in awe at the magnificent crafts as they lowered into the planet's gravity. Suddenly an alarm rang out form the center square. Gohan felt his heart jolt. They were in danger.

Goku suddenly dashed into the hut fully dressed in his gi. He frowned and tossed Gohan his. Gohan caught the soft material before it hit his face.

"Put that on. We are in for it this time." Goku muttered darkly.

To Be Continued…
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