Morning rose over Papaya island and with it came new nervous anticipation. Goku had been up an hour before their alarm clock was set and anxiously waited in his bed, staring across the room into its external workings. The clock's hands moved ever so slowly, almost as if they weren't moving at all. Goku became so focused on its constant and maddening ticking that everything around him seemed to just melt away. The only thing he found himself wanting to do was to move the hands of the clock himself, to speed up this gruesomely slow morning.
A small and quiet whimpering disrupted the ticking and eventually, the ticking faded out altogether. He looked to his right to see Gohan with tears running down his cheeks. Goku could see his lips move and his throat tense to try to form words but most of it came out as small squeaks and incoherent gibberish. Gohan's arms spasmed a little under his covers as if he was fighting some imaginary beast locked within his dreams. Once the spasming stopped he could visibly see Gohan becoming tenser, his brow curled and his mouth quivered, the gibberish then became more recognizable. Goku heard the boy cry out silently "There's gotta be another way-you don't have to..."
Goku hadn't noticed his heartrate skyrocketing, he anxiously rubbed his hands together contemplating what to do as he waited for Gohans next words.
Gohan whispers almost inaudibly "It's my fault. It's my fault Daddy...I'm so sorry."
Goku couldn't imagine what would be causing his misery but he knew he couldn't let it continue. He hopped onto Gohan's bed, sat down and whispered, "Jack...Jack" He shook Gohan gently "You're having a really bad dream, Jack, you've gotta wake up."
Gohan shot up from his restless slumber breathing heavily, his eyes quickly darting all around him as if checking for something. His rapid labored breathing, calmed as he saw his father sitting next to him.
"Relax, it's just a nightmare," Goku said, the worry on his face clearly visible."You sure do seem to get a lot of those, you wanna talk about it?"
Gohan absolutely did not want to talk about any of his dreams. He had never spoken a word to his mother about them and Piccolo only knew about them to the extent that Gohan told him he gets nightmares every once in a while. Yet, the weight of keeping all of his dreams secret was almost unbearable. He decided to open up to Goku even if he had to remove some details that would expose his facade.
He sat up against the bedboard and started, "I-Its just." Gohan racked his brain to figure out how he could explain how he felt. "Well, I-" he stopped again. He sighed as he settled on a way to put it to his father without being too vague. "Goku, imagine being the strongest person around and needing to protect someone who had always believed in you, someone who, no matter how dark or grim things seemed to be, always believed that you could make a difference." Gohan's throat felt like it was ready to tear.
"My dad believed in me like that...He knew I was the strongest even when I didn't. He pushed me until I became what he knew I could be, but in the end, I still failed him. He put all of his trust in me and when the time came for me to protect him I- " Gohan was now tearing up, a few spilled from his eyes onto his face, he reached for Goku gripping onto his wrists.
"I was so consumed by my new strength... I toyed with the monster who was attacking us. My arrogance, despite my fathers' pleas for me to beat it quickly, blinded me and-and yo-" Gohan paused again because if he continued at that moment he'd forgo his persona and tell Goku the whole truth. Gohan waited for a second, attempted to swallow his tears then begrudgingly continued.
"He sacrificed himself to save me." Gohan wanted to stop there, with each word he spoke he felt the lump in his throat grow bigger, "So now Whenever I try to sleep I dream of him dying again and again, over and over every night. "
Gohan crumbled into a mess of sobs and tears. He let go of Gokus wrists and collapsed face-first into the bed. He moved himself to wrap to his arms around Goku's waist and pulled his father closer so he could cry into his lap. "And it's all my fault."
Goku couldn't come up with a suitable response, he thought that anything he might say would only add to Gohan's pain.
Gosh, you've been through so much, I can see how much it weighs on you... It's strange, but I feel like I've known you for years. I feel like I've known you as long as I've known anyone...even grampa. I know whatever I say won't really help but I'll be here for you.
He reached under Gohan's arms and shifted him upwards towards his chest and held him there while rubbing his back. He laid his head on Gohan's right shoulder and softly whispered, "I'm sorry.". He was silent after that, focusing on doing everything he could to comfort the crying boy he held in his arms.
It felt good to hear 'im sorry'. Goku could have said anything, he could have said 'it wasn't your fault' or 'there was nothing you could have done' of course, Gohan knew both were lies, but he chose to say the only true thing that came to mind. The only thing that could have made Gohan feel a little better, 'Im sorry'. He continued crying into his father's shirt holding onto him like it was the last time he'd ever see him. Just the thought of that moment being the final time he'd ever see him made Gohan cry even harder.
Goku thought of a way he could at least comfort his friend "Hey Jack if you want to stay here in the hotel today and skip the tournament, I'll stay with you."
Krillin who was pretending to be asleep in order to listen in on the conversation decided now was the time to intervene, there was no way he was letting Goku stay here. "Goku are you crazy!? We've been training for months for this tournament and you're going to forfeit it because of some crybaby you met two days ago?"
Goku protectively tightened his embrace around Gohan "Krillin that's not very nice! What's wrong with you anyway? Didn't you hear what he said? I bet if you lost your dad like that you would be crying too! And I offered to stay because I feel bad, no one should feel like this and be left alone!"
The idea was tempting but Gohan still felt that he couldn't do that to his father, he didn't want to ruin the timeline but more importantly, he didn't want to ruin his father's day at the tournament. Gohan sniffled, trying to rid himself of tears, and winced as he gently broke the embrace with Goku. "Krillin's right Goku I'm just being a crybaby, you should go to the tournament." Krillin blushed as he didn't expect his harsh criticism to be met with such honest acceptance.
Goku stared into Gohans' vulnerable brown eyes "I don't want to go unless you do, and you're not being a crybaby, you're just sad." Goku tried to smile. "So either I stay here or we both go."
Gohan stared back into his concerned yet hopeful eyes. "Okay Goku, I-I'll go".
All worry melted from Gokus face and he excitedly hugged Gohan. "All right! Today will be great, I promise!"
Goku, Krillin, and Gohan all got ready for the day and met Master Roshi outside to head to the tournament grounds. When they arrived they were met with an entirely different sight than the day prior; today the grounds weren't filled with contestants, they were filled with spectators. Everyone in the crowd was trying to scrape their way into the tournament stands and in the chaos, Master Roshi made his daring escape.
The gong sounded and served as a signal to everyone to get to their seats as the show was about to begin. The three boys quickly filed into the tournament main hall that led to the finals ring. There they had met up with Yamcha and Jackie Chun.
Goku's eyes lit up as he saw the elderly figure "Mister Chun! It's great to see you, I hope that you're ready because I'm definitely gonna be here to face you!"
The old man laughed. "Oh, are you? Well just make sure to keep your guard up before our match, that Giren fella' means business and from what I've heard he's extremely powerful, so mind that ego Goku and remember your teachings."
Goku was puzzled "My teachings? What did you teach me?"
Roshi was visibly sweating, "Oh, uh-uh nothing! Aside from a few lessons on how to look good of course. I mean the stitching in your outfit looks almost as good as mine hehe."
The announcer came running into the temple room out of breath. "Are you guys ready yet? C'mon, these people are expecting a show! Krillin, Bacterian you're up, let's go, we're behind schedule as it is. Just follow me and I'll lead you out onto the stage."
The young man led them to the stage and out in front of the massive crowd. The crowd cheered as Krillin waved to them and walked to his corner, the same could not be said for Bacterian; many of the people were too busy covering their noses to cheer. Krillin walked in a circle looking at the audience, he was enthralled by how many people came there just to see him fight and almost forgot about actually having to face off against the smelliest opponent in history. He hardly listened to the rules as they were listed out and finally tuned back in as he heard the announcer scream, "You may begin!"
Goku was angry there was no way for contestants to view the match from the stands and pouted as he sat in the Tournament Main Hall. After some contemplation, he decided that it was impossible for him to sit there any longer so he stood up and motioned for Gohan to stand as well. "Jack, cmon' there's gotta be a way to watch Krillin fight!"
Gohan quickly followed Goku as the two exited the temple and walked along the path to the entrance of the ring, Jackie was already there watching the fight and barely acknowledged them. Goku and Gohan both hopped up and held onto the wall that surrounded the arena and got a clear view of Krillin. They could see him easily leaping around the powerful but slow punches Bacterian threw.
"Yeah! Go Krillin!" Goku cheered. He energetically pumped his fist in the air and continued to cheer as Krillin landed a massive blow to Bacterian's jaw.
Although the match had just started Gohan couldn't help but feel that something wasn't quite right, something just felt off to him.
What's wrong with me? Everything seems perfectly calm. This fight can't even be that serious, no one's even really been hurt yet. Still, I feel tense and anxious...something else must be going on.
Gohan hopped off of the wall he was holding onto and sat on the ground. He cleared his mind and searched for ki's in the general area. He sifted through hundreds of people's excited energies but felt no real disturbance. Gohan decided to widen his search, he cleared through the surrounding islands and felt one ki, it was strong but manipulated, almost twisted in a way he couldn't describe. It definitely didn't belong to this timeline though, that much he was sure of.
After around a minute of studying this anomaly, he realized whose energy it was, but he didn't believe it. He felt a surge of excitement at its familiarity and yet his blood thickened and his skin turned white, something about this energy seemed wrong and ill in a sense.
Gohan struggled to stand up. He looked over at Goku who was already waiting for an explanation. "G-Goku I have to go. I'll be back, I don't feel very well."
Goku dropped down and walked over to Gohan, putting his hand on his shoulder. "Okay, Jack." Goku noticed the distinct lack of pigment in Gohan's skin. "Jack are you all right? You look really pale. You sure you don't need me to come with you?"
Gohan attempted to be reassuring "It's okay Goku, I'll be right back."
Gohan's heart was racing, he ran out of the tournament grounds and lifted himself into the air.
He flew as fast as he could towards this almost unrecognizable energy, even going Super Saiyan to boost his speed. He passed at least twenty deserted islands and found himself flying over open water. Eventually, he saw a figure floating in the distance. He saw the purple gi, the white shoulder pads, Gohan closed the gap remaining between them, the figure was now unmistakable.
"Mister Piccolo?"