~Memoir's of a Survivor~

Chapter 2 – The Story Begins

Gohan sighed as he looked out the window. His mother had sent him to his room to do his homework. To be honest, he had all ready finished it, but he always let on that he had more to do so Chi-Chi wouldn't give him more. The green grass rolled as a small breeze blew into his room. It smelt nice, but he was still hoping to see more than just green grass and blue skies. His father, the avenger of Saiyans and hero to earth was still missing in space somewhere.

Countless questions rushed through his head. Was his father in trouble? Surely no one could threaten him now that he was a super saiyan. But what if that was the problem? What if he had lost his mind after he gained that new power? Vegeta had said that was what happened to the last one. No...no that couldn't be it. Goku wasn't one to lose his mind and turn into a mindless fighter. But...what if?

Light footsteps behind him brought him back down to earth. Quickly picking up his pencil, Gohan did his best to act like he had been doing something as his mother knocked and then entered the room with some juice and a few cookies.

"That's my little scholar! Working hard?"

Gohan gave a nod and smiled, happy that his ruse had worked. "Yep. I think I'm almost done."

"Good good. Say, when you're done, I have one more thing for you to try." Setting the tray with the snacks down on his desk, Chi-Chi pulled a new notebook from Gohan's shelf of spares.

Gohan lost his smile. Darn it, she was gonna give him more to do anyway. "What is it? More math?"

"Nope, its something new I've heard that will help your writing skills for college."

Chi-Chi placed the notebook in front of her son, and then turned to start to leave. "I think it's called a personal journal or something. I don't ever look at it, its just for you to write down whatever you feel like. Supposed to help because the more you write the better you'll get."

Gohan smiled and nodded to his mother, suppressing the urges to look at her if she were crazy. He wasn't even a pre-teen and he was getting ready for college? Ah well, it kept her happy, and that was the main thing he had to do. As long as Goku was missing in action, it was his job to be a good son so she wouldn't have to worry about him as well.

Turning to the new notebook placed in front of him, he starred at it for a while. Just a notebook that he could write whatever he wanted into it? Sounded a lot like a diary or something. Did he really have to have one of those? Glancing up at the blue sky, Gohan sighed again. If it would help his mother, he would at least try it. Picking up a pencil, Gohan flipped to the first page.

-Memoirs-

Well, my name is Gohan. My mother gave me this as homework, so...well, its kinda hard to know where to start with one of these I guess. So I'll start with who I am. Like I said, my name is Gohan. I'm 7 years old, and my birthday is on May 14, 757. My father is Goku Son and my mother is Chi-Chi Son. Yes, I am the son of those two famous people. Its ironic because most of the things they have done is unknown by the public. Like the time the both of them traveled to another dimension to reseal the eternal flame or something so that fire mountain wouldn't be on fire anymore. I'm a little sketchy on the details, mainly because it happened just before my parents got married so I wasn't born yet.

Another thing most people wont know are the details around the aliens that invaded earth a few years ago. Their names for instance were Nappa and Vegeta, the short one being Vegeta and the tall bald one being Nappa. We lost a lot of good fighters that day. Of all of us Z-fighters, only Krillin, me, and Goku made it through alive. Yamcha, Tien, Chiaotzu, and Piccolo were the ones that died. And because Piccolo died, so did Kami. That was one of the reasons we had to go to Namek. Because Kami died, the dragonballs became little more than round stones so we couldn't wish people back with them.

The other reason we went to Namek was because even if we did have the dragonballs, we had already wished a few of our friends back with them and the Dragon can only grant a wish once. Hence, we couldn't wish for someone to be back to life more than once.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Planet Namek is the home planet of Kami and Piccolo, both of whom are Namekians. Mr Piccolo left the planet a long time ago during a drought or something on a space ship and wound up on Earth. So to get to Namek, we used his old spaceship to go there and use their dragonballs to wish our friends back. Dad was to hurt, so he had to stay behind on earth. Krillin, myself, and Bulma, a blue haired woman who yells a lot but is ok once you get to know her, left on Mr Piccolo's space ship to go find the Namekian Dragonballs. We never figured we'd need Goku, so before we left we stopped by to wish him well and that we'd see him along with everyone else in a few months. But when we got there, nothing went right. Someone had beat us there. Vegeta, who had escaped had healed and made his way to the planet as well, but someone even scarier than him was there also trying to find the balls. He was the ruler of the universe, and everyone followed him in fear of being killed. This monster was so strong he could blow up planets with a single finger. His name was Frieza-

-End of Memoir-

It was faint, but a large power level was coming towards the planet from space. It caught Gohan off guard so much that his hand slipped, his pencil creating a scribble as it went down the rest of the page he had been writing on. His eyes widened as realization set in, unable to move his body. There were only two people who had ever reached this power level as far as he knew. His father and Frieza. It was to far away to tell exactly who it was, but it definitely was big enough to be either of them.

Shaking his head, Gohan broke out of his daze and shot towards his bed. Reaching underneath it, he pulled out a box and took off its lid. In it lay his saiyan armor he had revived on Namek from Vegeta. Quickly he took off what he had on and replaced it with the blue spandex and the armor. He went to his desk and ripped a fresh piece of paper from his notebook and picked up his pencil. Hastily he wrote 'Something big coming to earth. Going to check it out with everyone else. Be home soon. Love, Gohan.'

"What a week. First its the terror tutor and now this!" Placing the note on the tray with his snacks, Gohan took off out his window towards where the power was located. He could already feel the others heading in the same direction, so he didn't bother wondering if he should flair his energy to get their attention.

Chi-Chi, along with her father the Ox King opened the door to Gohan's room expecting to find the boy studying. Instead they found the room empty, a note on his desk and a white spot of energy high in the sky flying away from them. "Ah! There he goes again! … I need to learn how to fly. Honestly, how am I suppose to discipline a kid when he can fly away like that!"

Gohan had a serious glare on his face as he neared his destination. It was close enough to tell now...It was Frieza. And to make matters worse, it felt like there was an almost equally powerful person with him. And the worst thing of all was that he couldn't sense his father. Great, now what were they going to do? If a super saiyan couldn't win...

"Gah...This can't be happening! … If Frieza's really here, we're going to need all the help we can get. Come on Krillin, where are you?"

"Hey Gohan!" Not a second after Gohan asked, the bald fighter flew up next to him, sporting his orange fighting gi.

Gohan looked towards Krillin, the fear evident in his wolds and face. "Krillin, are you sure its Frieza? Are you sure it couldn't be someone else?"

"No Gohan, I can smell him. I'll never forget that stench."

Gohan turned away, confused and upset about the whole situation. "I just can't figure it out. I thought for sure my dad had finished off Frieza once and for all."

"So did I, but it looks like we were both wrong this time Gohan. Hey look, down there!"

Gohan looked down to where Krillin was pointing. The land was rocky, and had less life that where his home was located. Vegeta, in a pink shirt and yellow pants no less, along with Tien, Yamcha, Chiaotzu, Piccolo, and was that Puar and Bulma? "Wow, it looks like everyone is here."

Krillin nodded. "Guess it's safe to say we came to the right place."

The two landed, joining up with the rest of the Z-fighters. Everyone had serious faces on, and it looked like everyone had figured out what was about to happen. Frieza was coming, and somehow they were going to have to fight him. Upon landing, Krillin gave a nod to the others. "Hey there."

"Hey, you made it! Krillin, Gohan!" Bulma hopped up and down as she greeted the two. Safe to say, she really didn't comprehend the danger that was coming towards them. That, or she did and had completely lost her mind due to it. Yamcha glanced from behind the crazily happy blue haired woman towards Gohan.

"Hey, any word from Goku?"

Gohan shook his head, finally bringing Bulma back to earth. Now the entire group looked a varying amount of upset, ranging from Puar's sulking to Vegeta's teeth gritting. Yamcha looked more scared than anything. "Uh...just thought I'd ask..."

Suddenly out of nowhere, Piccolo turned towards the sky. "He's here!"

The group turned towards where the power was coming from. Sure enough, from behind a white fluffy cloud, a space ship that looked just like Frieza's back on planet Namek appeared. The entire group tensed, knowing that things were not going in their favor. The ship seemed to hang in the air as it flew, moving painfully slowly. The group watched with wide eyes and nervous beads of sweat rolled down their foreheads. The ship passed over them, landing on the other side of a nearby ridge. The sound of rock rushing and the ground shaking violently marked the landing of the ship.

"It's like I dreamed...Frieza, he's really here." Gohan's body started to shake, and no matter what he tried, it wouldn't stop. Fear was setting in. If his father, a super saiyan couldn't do it, what hope did they have?

"Gohan, t-try to focus bro! We need you..."

For what seemed like forever, the small group remained in relative silence. Puar and Bulma hugged each other, shaking as small sounds of fear escaped their mouths. The first to shake off the momentary stun was Vegeta. Turning to the group, his anger and command for the others to follow him were clear.

"Ok listen! There is no room for error. We all have to keep our power level's suppressed, or else Frieza will pick us up on his scouters."

A green hand rested on Gohan's shaking shoulder, causing him to turn his head back. Piccolo looked down at him, a serious look on his face, but tiny bits of fear were creeping out. "Ready?"

Gohan finally regained control over his body, smiling as he gave his mentor a nod to which Piccolo nodded back. Yamcha still couldn't shake his astonishment and terror from the front of his mind however.

"T-this is crazy! I've never felt ANYTHING anywhere CLOSE to the amount of power I'm sensing right now!"

Gohan looked back at his shaking friend. He could definitely understand where Yamcha was coming from. He had been exactly the same way both when Frieza transformed into his final form and when Goku had transformed into a super saiyan. "I hate to say it Yamcha...but this is only the tip of the iceberg."

Now it was Tien's turn to be rattled. "Th...there's no way we'll last long against a massive force like that."

"H-hey, you guys are kidding, right? You're not suggesting that we attack him. Like Tien said...we'd all be whipped out! I'm telling you, Frieza's a monster! And attacking him is suicide!"

Piccolo turned to face the two worried humans, and understanding but stern look in his eyes. "But we have to try Yamcha. Unless we stop Frieza right here and now, you might as well kiss the entire planet goodbye."

The entire group looked down in dismay again. Talk about being between a rock and a hard place. There just seemed like there was no way to win. Frieza was just to strong...how were they going to beat him? There just was...no way. Gohan knew it. But...they had to try. If they didn't the planet would be blown up anyway. They had to do something, at least try something.

"He's right you know." The group once again turned towards Vegeta. "You really have no choice. So lets say we put an end to all this pathetic whimpering and go find Frieza! … Before he finds us..."

The group gave a unanimous nod, although most of the nods were reluctant to do so. And so ever slowly and carefully, they started to make their way towards the top of the ridge separating them from Frieza. If they flew, their energies would have rose enough for their scouters to detect them, so they were forced to walk. Gohan was put in charge of helping Bulma. As carefully as he could, he pushed her up from behind so she could reach the next ledge. Sadly he was still to young to realize exactly how lucky he was.

Once she got up onto it, Gohan scurried across the face of the mountain to the next ridge above Bulma, lowering his hand down so he could help her up. It was then that Yamcha spoke up to the rest in front of him, "I...I don't think I can do this you guys."

Vegeta just turned his head returning to climbing, spitting to the side in disgust. Piccolo gave Yamcha a reluctant look, but if the man didn't want to fight, they sure couldn't force him to. He would only slow them down then. Tien, Chiaotzu, Bulma, Gohan, Krillin, and Puar however were seriously startled by this. Why would he leave them when they needed him. Surely they didn't stand a chance, but they still had to try. And it would be best to try together, to fight together one last time. Right?

"Now, begin your search! And when you find them, SHOW NO MERCY!"

The voice echoed through the mountain range. Frieza. The Z-Fighter's cringed, knowing it wouldn't be long now. Vegeta turned back, his eyes glaring at the rest of them. "Alright, when they fly over. Bast them. On my mark."

Silently, everyone nodded in unison. Bulma and Puar clung to each other, once again shaking in fear. Yamcha looked as if he wanted to run, but knew that even if he tried it would be no use. They could sense the solders Frieza had brought take flight, and all of them were flying over their ridge. The all forced their energy levels as far down as they could make them go. This was it.

Gohan held his breath as they flew over. Vegeta held up his hand, three fingers pointing up. Then two. Gohan let his breath go, and then took a deep breath to help him calm down. Then one. They all started to gather energy. Then none.

"Kamehameha!"

"Dodon Ray!"

"HAAA!"

"Masenko-HA!"

Yamcha shook his head. Crying out, he too joined in by firing a Kamehameha along with Krillin despite his fear. Both Piccolo and Gohan shot golden Masenkoha beams of light from their palms. Tien and Chiaotzu pointed their fingers out like a gun, firing a beam from their fingertip. All attacks hit their targets, consuming the unsuspecting soldiers in a large explosion. Vegeta waved his hand out, signaling for the group to disperse. Despite most not really wanting to respect Vegeta, they knew he was a smart strategist so they listened. The group scattered in ever direction across the mountain side, leaving Puar and Bulma on their ledge.

The Cyborg Frieza blinked in annoyed surprise as his soldiers all were consumed in an explosion. "Heh, seems like the monkeys friends are already here. I forgot that they can sense energy levels."

"I say, they can sense energy levels? How is it that they can do that?" Frieza's father, a larger version of the monster towered over Frieza, his cape billowing in the wind.

"I never bothered to ask. Maybe I should get one to teach me before I kill them? Hehehe..." Frieza cackled as he scanned the top of the ridge for some sign of life.

The Z-fighters in unison hopped over the ridge in different positions they had moved to, blasting at Frieza and his father, giving everything they could muster. The different colored beams converged, but the two never bothered to dodge. Frieza merely held up his hand, red lightning dancing around his mechanical addition. Suddenly a light blue circle appeared around the two monsters. The beams struck the shield and exploded. The Z-fighters looked on, wondering if they had gotten lucky.

As the smoke cleared, the realization that even luck wouldn't be enough hit them hard. Frieza was still standing, looking as if he hadn't even broken a sweat. Krillin balled his fists together, gritting his teeth. "Great, now what do we do?"

"Depends, can you get him in a full nelson?" The Z-fighter's quickly regrouped, looking down towards the two that now threatened the planet.

Krillin glanced towards Piccolo, narrow eyes explaining that he didn't exactly like that idea. "Is there a plan B?"

Frieza eyed Vegeta, breaking out into laughter. "Vegeta! Vegeta, is that you! Oh my, that is priceless! Where is my damn camera when I need it! Is that pink Vegeta? I thought you were a proud saiyan warrior, not a flower!"

Vegeta grit his teeth together, but closed his eyes. Taking a deep breath, he controlled himself and stayed back. Upon opening them, a smirk crossed his face. "I could say the same to you Frieza! You now not only smell like a garbage can, you look like one too!"

It was Frieza's turn to grit his teeth in anger. Red sparks danced around his cyborg body. "I'm going to enjoy killing each and every last one of you! And then when that blasted monkey gets here, imagine his face when all of you are dead! And then I'll kill him too, and then destroy this mud-pit of a planet!"

"No Frieza...No you wont."

Both Frieza and his father turned around in shock. The Z-fighters as well were taken back, all of them wide eyed in shaking in shock. Bulma finally reached the top of the ridge, Puar trying to help by pulling on her sleeve. Huffing and puffing, she picked herself up off the ground and walked over to the others.

"Hey! What's the big idea! Leaving me all by myself on the side of a mounta-...hey, what are you all looking at?"

Tears started to run down Gohan's face as he lifted his hand to point towards the man who had suddenly appeared behind Frieza out of thin air. "Dad..."

Author's Annotations:

Thanks for reading the first two chapters to my new story, Memoir's of a Survivor. It, obviously, starts when the time line split in to the two we know. The normal one and the Mirai one. It will follow Gohan through it all. From now when Goku returns and the few happy years following, to when Goku gets the heart virus and dies, to when he fights the androids, and there will be a small part after Gohan himself dies to finish things off. It's a tad strange when the readers all ready know how things begin and end, but there are so many ways to fill the void of what happens in between that writing should be all the more fun.

There will be some Gohan/Videl as things continue, but not for a while. This story is a tragedy for a reason, but there will be a small light in all the darkness, much like the world they live in. Promise.

The end of the world will be just that. The end of the world. Did anyone else find it odd that people were going to amusement parks while these androids were rampaging? Seemed a little off, because Trunks told things to the Z-fighters that the world as fallen apart, becoming a literal living hell. I'll be doing things a tad darker, a little more hopeless And along the way, there will be many references that fellow wasteland wanderers such as myself will recognize. Everything from Vaults to some of the factions.

I'd like to thank you again for reading, and please look forward for more chapters. PS-Im still writing Talent and Potential. I haven't forgotten it. I just needed to get this out of my head first so I can continue with that story. I'll be adding chapters to each regularly, so please read them!