AN: Just thought I'd clarify something about this story. Yes, it is romance. No, it is NOT Gohan/Cell romance. Calm yourself.
Chapter 2- Welcoming Party
Gohan opened his eyes and immediately shut them again. Along with the deep throbbing in his head, the light coming though the top of the machine was too much. He slowly opened them again and let his eyes adjust to the dull light. Gohan rolled over on his side and propped himself up with an elbow, feeling a sticky wetness on his arm. He looked down and saw that he was leaning in a pool of his own vomit. The oatmeal colored throw-up was staining the blue spandex of Gohan's Saiyan armor.
"Great…" he thought to himself, "What the heck happened?"
Gohan crawled into the control seat and looked around, taking in his surroundings.
"What the…"
He stood and jumped out of the machine, standing in a completely new environment. Crippled buildings. Piles of rubble. Fires burning wildly. This is what Gohan saw. A devastated world, with no life.
"Oh my God…" he muttered to himself. Gohan stepped forward and started to explore the environment, being careful not to stray too far from the machine. As he walked, Gohan had a bad feeling about this place. A sense of déjà vu, like he'd been there before. He continued to walk through the dead city, not finding any signs of life whatsoever. After five minutes, Gohan saw something that confirmed his feeling of bad déjà vu. The West City mayor's office.
"Oh no…" Gohan whispered to nothing. Something had happened while he was in that machine. Something bad. Gohan opened his mouth to say something else, but no noise came out. He turned and began to run back towards the machine. He didn't know why he was running nor did he know why he needed to get back so badly. It was just a feeling; and Gohan kept running. The machine was getting bigger as he got closer; Gohan increased his speed to a sprint. Fifty feet, almost there. Suddenly, a small pink ball of energy came from nowhere and hit the machine. The sound of the explosion was deafening. Gohan skidded to a halt and fell, landing on his bottom. A massive cloud of dust plumed from the spot where the energy had hit the machine. Gohan sat and waited for the dust to clear.
"What the heck was that?" he asked himself, not realizing that he had even said it out loud. The thick, brown dust finally cleared, and what Gohan saw made him gasp. The machine was gone, nothing but a pile of ashes. In its place, however, stood two people. The first was a tall man with long black hair. He wore a ripped pair of jeans and a shirt, as black as his eyes, along with a bright orange bandana on his neck. The second was a young woman with bright blonde hair. She wore a blue denim jacket and skirt, along with black pants and brown leather boots. They both wore the same, evil grins and had the same narrow eyes.
"This one is so small," commented the woman, "17, you can have him."
The man grinned at her and chuckled, his voice deep and cold, "I couldn't do that, 18. You go and have some fun."
The woman shrugged and rolled her eyes, "Whatever."
She began walking towards Gohan, who scrambled madly to his feet.
"Who are you!" he yelled defensively, shifting into a fighting stance. The woman stopped, as if surprised, and looked back at her male counterpart.
"Quit playing dumb, boy. That won't help you. You know who we are," the man told Gohan, "And you know what we're going to do."
"Wh-What!" Gohan shouted, stumbling backwards, almost falling again. The man and woman laughed simultaneously.
"Well, it's not going to matter for much longer. You're dead." the blonde woman threatened, continuing her pace towards Gohan.
"No! I-I'll fight you!" Gohan yelled, "Haaaaaaaa!"
Gohan rapidly charged his energy and rushed at the woman. She wore a look of shock on her face, but it was quickly replaced by a smirk. Gohan aimed his fist straight at the smirk on the woman's face. Lightning fast, she caught the punch and delivered a powerful knee to Gohan's abdomen. A grunt of pain escaped Gohan's throat as the woman released his hand, letting demi-Saiyan fall to the ground. She stood over him, with hands on her hips, still smirking evilly.
"You're pathetic." she insulted. Without another word, she forcefully kicked Gohan in the ribs, shooting him into the air. He flipped wildly and fell, like a bird without wings, hitting the ground with an audible thud. Gohan felt pain shoot through his left arm like a thousand knives stabbing it at once. He gathered his strength and stood, cradling his broken arm. He could feel the warmth of blood trickling down his forehead.
"I must say, you're tougher than I thought," said the woman, mocking him, "But you're still nothing. I will end this now."
The woman raised her palm and began forming a pink ball of energy. Gohan tried to speak, but nothing came out, his throat was tight. This was it. He was going to die. Suddenly, Gohan heard a voice to his left.
"HEY ANDROIDS!" yelled the voice, "WHY DON'T YOU PICK ON SOMEONE YOUR OWN SIZE!"
The woman stopped charging energy to her palm, letting the pink ball dissipate. Gohan and both his assailants looked over to the source of the voice. Standing on top of an old, tireless car, was a man. He had short, spiky black hair and an equally black soul patch on his chin. His eyes were black as night. The man was dressed in a ragged pair of black jeans, a black T-shirt and a black trench coat.
"Oh look, 18," remarked the man with the bandana, grinning slyly, "It's our friend."
"Indeed it is!" replied the man in black, reaching inside the breast pocket of the trench coat, "And I come to you with a gift."
"And that would be?" inquired the woman, raising a thin eyebrow. The man in black grinned and from his coat, pulled a gray cylindrical object. Gohan narrowed his eyes so he could make out the object better. It had a circular pin at the top. A safety pin. The man was holding a grenade.
"Ah! Another one of your little fire bombs, huh?" the man with the bandana said, "Well, I hate burst your bubble but those don't work on us. You should've noticed that after the first couple times you tried it."
The woman scoffed, "Though, they are quite annoying. I always need a new set of clothes after one of your little tricks."
The man in black chuckled, pulling the pin, "Oh no…this is a different kind. I've been saving it for a special occasion. I think you'll enjoy it very much."
With that, he tossed the grenade. It landed with a metallic clink and rolled towards the man and woman. It came to a halt and didn't explode. The woman looked at it and scoffed again. Her counterpart spoke up.
"Looks like you gave us a dud. What a nice gift, eh 18?" he said, cracking up and laughing. She laughed along with him. The man in black did not respond. He simply reached back into his coat and pulled out a pair of black sunglasses. The laughter stopped when he rested the glasses on the bridge of his nose and smiled. A small, red light on the grenade blinked rapidly and Gohan heard a high pitched whining noise coming from the grenade. He spun around and covered his eyes.
"Uh oh." uttered the woman, before the grenade exploded right in her face. There was a flash of blinding white light. Gohan heard no sound, that is, until the light ceased. Gohan opened his eyes and heard what sounded like fireworks, bottle rockets, going off. He looked up and saw sparks falling from the sky, emitting the noise as they fell to the ground. He looked over to man and woman. They were frozen in place, like mannequins. A pair of gloved hands grabbed Gohan's shoulders.
"C'mon! We gotta get out of here!"
Gohan looked over and saw the man in black had run over to him. He was fast, Gohan was sure.
"I..." Gohan tried to respond, but he was cut off.
"No time! Let's go!" the man yelled, grabbing Gohan's arm and pulling him away. Pain shot through Gohan's broken arm, but he followed, wincing. The man sprinted, and Gohan kept pace with him. They ran down the devastated and abandoned street, curving and hooking, always changing direction.
"W-Where are you taking me?" Gohan asked, breathing heavily. The man didn't look back.
"I'll explain later! We're almost there! By now, they're gonna be back in action and hella pissed!" he yelled, still sprinting.
"Who the heck is this guy? Who were those people?" Gohan thought to himself as they kept running. After what seemed like hours, the two reached another structure Gohan was familiar with; at least, when it was intact. They stood in front of the West City Mall. It was devastated, like a maelstrom of destruction had hit it and hit it hard.
"Follow me." said the man simply, entering the mall. They walked through the mall and Gohan noticed the destruction. Entire stores were wiped out. Chairs were overturned and the certain spots on the walls looked as if they were covered if dried blood. Gohan shuddered.
"What happened here?" Gohan asked. The man looked at him curiously.
"How do you not know? Have you been in a coma for the past twenty years?" he asked, sounding slightly annoyed. Suren was walking quickly, the back of his trench coat flying behind him like a cape.
"I'm only seven, sir." Gohan said, bowing his head slightly.
The man sighed and removed his sunglasses, placing them back inside his breast pocket, "Ok, kid. First off, it's not 'sir'. My name is Suren. Now, do you mind telling me why the hell you were out there all alone?"
"I…I don't know. I was with Krillin…and that machine…I woke up here…" Gohan explained. Suren stopped walking and looked at Gohan, an eyebrow cocked.
"Did you say…Krillin? THE Krillin?" he asked. Gohan shrugged.
"Well, yeah. You know him?"
"Yeah…I mean…I did. When I was little..." Suren responded, leaning up against a wall. Gohan's eyes widened.
"D-Did? What do you mean?" Gohan said, nearly shouting. Suren sighed again.
"Kid…I don't know what you're thinking…'cause Krillin is dead."
"WHAT!" Gohan yelled, tears forming in his eyes, "I WAS JUST WITH HIM!"
Suren ran a nervous left hand through his spiky hair and responded, "That's impossible. Krillin died seventeen years ago."
Gohan's world was spinning. His thoughts bounced around in his head madly. His brain simply overloaded; and for the second time in a day, Gohan's world went black and he faded into unconsciousness…