Chapter 9

The Afterlife - 15 years after the appearance of the Androids

Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo and Paikuhan were now facing the mysterious soul that had possessed Gohan.

Paikuhan, a green skinned alien fighter and formerly the strongest fighter in the Afterlife, had just arrived to see the already taken over Gohan.

xxxx

Paikuhan knew Goku for one and a half decade now.

Not too long for someone who had been here in the Afterlife for many centuries. But he had made an impression on him like few others had in all that time.

They had first met during one of the Great Afterlife Tournaments. Back then Paikuhan had easily defeated him. While a powerful and skilled fighter, especially for someone who had only existed for a few decades Goku was still far behind him.

He had been shocked however how quickly, during the few times they trained together, he improved and catched up to him.

During the next Tournament only some years later, they were already on equal terms.

And then he eventually surpassed him.

Paikuhan was even more stunned when Vegeta and finally Gohan appeared later and made similar fast progress.

He had however also come to respect Goku as a fellow warriors at that time.

xxxx

"Goku - that is your son," Paikuhan turned to him.

"Yes," Goku just replied stoically.

"We will do everything we can to save him," Paikuhan said.

If they could even win this fight. But this mysterious being had since it had taken over Gohan´s body become so overwhelming strong, that even together they knew that they barely had a chance.

At least in a direct fight. But maybe this wasn´t even necessary.

This was still Gohan. And they believed, or at least hoped, that this being had not been able to take him over completely. And that they could reach him and help him break free.

"Gohan - come back to your senses," Piccolo shouted. "You are too strong to let someone control you like this."

"I-..." Gohan said. "So much, so much pain, so much anger," he whispered to himself.

Then his expression changed again. It seemed the soul was back in control.

Goku had been silent for the last few moments. He concentrated. He concentrated on the energy flowing through his body... and on the anger he felt.

xxxx

And Goku felt a lot of anger.

He had been here in the Afterlife for 15 years now. He had been here when the Androids devastated Earth. He had been here when they had killed Gohan, Krillin, Yamcha, Tien Piccolo and the others. He had been unable to do anything to help any of them.

He had not been able to fight the Androids in the first place. No - he had already been dead because of the heart virus six months earlier, long before he even had the chance.

All he had been able to do was sitting here in the Afterlife and waiting for the others to die and arrive here. He remembered how frustrating this had been.

Followed by the next 13 years hearing again and again that Gohan had been fighting the Androids alone.

He imagined how Chichi must have felt during all that. How she must have felt when Gohan had died. And once again Goku had not been able to do anything.

And now that his son was actually dead and was here in the Afterlife with them too, this soul - whoever it was - had taken him over.

They were all already dead... and still here was Gohan again in a danger where he had to be afraid of loosing him once again.

Yes, Goku had many reasons to be angry.

And he tried now to use this anger and frustration about all this.

xxxx

Goku had been able to turn into Super Saiyan Two for a long time now.

Longer than Vegeta, who had only been able to train in the Afterlife after he had been released from Hell a few years ago and who had only reached the second level a short time ago.

And he knew the SSj2 form very well.

Good enough to have a feeling like there was a barrier at the highest levels of the forms power.

Just like their had been one at the upper power of the first Super Saiyan form - the barrier between Super Saiyan 1 and 2. That meant there was probably another form, even beyond Super Saiyan 2. Goku just knew.

He could practically feel it in every cell of his body that this form existed.

But that form was even harder to access than SSj2. Goku had tried for years. On the good side this probably meant that the jump in power would be greater than the one of the Super Saiyan Two.

So Goku channeled all his anger and frustration.

"You!" he said angrily to the soul inside Gohan, "whoever you are, release my son," Goku called out.

And he finally broke through the limits of his power... and transformed beyond Super Saiyan Two. The golden light around him grew more intense, until it blinded everyone around for a few moments.

His golden hair grew longer and longer and was falling down his back, his entire face changed and seemed sleeker, especially the forehead became thicker and large buldes grew above his eyebrows. The appearance of this form was wild and savage.

It made him look even more aggressive than his rage did it anyway.

And his power indeed jumped into incredible heights. His powerlevel seemed to have already trippled from what it was as a SSj2 and it was still rising.

Everyone around was starring in awe and surprise at the new transformation.

Especially Vegeta could barely believe it.

"Kakarot," he said.

There was yet another SSj form beyond SSj2 and again Goku had reached it first.

Of course he had, the logical part of Vegeta knew. He had been trapped in Hell for ten years after all, while Goku just continued training all this time. But that didn´t meant he had to like this fact.

"Kakarot," the soul inside Gohan´s body repeated the name Vegeta had just said.

It was a typical saiyan name, the soul knew.

Gohan´s mind was meanwhile floated with memories. But not his own.

xxxx

He saw himself growing up on a small desolate planet.

And he saw his... father? This father was not Goku, but he was a saiyan as well.

Just like he himself had been a saiyan, the soul inside Gohan remembered. He remembered his name - Broly.

They had not been the last of their race, the part of him that was still Gohan realized.

But the soul had never encountered another saiyan. In fact he had never encountered anyone else besides his father and himself during nearly his entire life. Only the animals on the planetoid - the large bugs and the giant green-furred beasts.

Because they had been stranded and trapped on this small planet the entire time.

Somewhere in the back of his mind he remembered befriending one of the giant creatures... until father had ruined everything.

But this was just a shadowy memory that the soul inside him could barely recall anymore.

It was all King Vegeta´s fault, he remembered his father telling him again and again. It was because of Vegeta that they were stuck on this planet. It was because of Vegeta that they never saw another living being.

Instead he remembered his fathers voice, saying again and again that it was because of Vegeta that he was always alone.

xxxx

"Vegeta," the soul once again growled through Gohan´s lips.

And his body leaped forward to attack Vegeta once again.

But he was intercepted by Goku.

"I said, get out of Gohan´s body!" he called out.

Goku punched their opponent. Not hard enough to cause greater damage... not yet. But hard enough to push him backwards.

"Kakarot," Gohan/Broly said. "Fath..."

The obviously unstable possessed Gohan screamed and then leaped at his opponents once again. But it was a sloppy attack, blindly charging forward and he seemed disoriented.

Could it be that the souls influence over Gohan was slipping?

The now SSj3 Goku landed another punch in his face. A stronger one this time.

"Yes - I am Gohan´s father and I say it one last time, release my son," he said.

xxxxxxx

The world of the Living at the same time

Back on Earth, the Androids were like usual attacking a populated area.

But it was not any town or village they were attacking, it were the ruins of the Ox Kingdom. The homeland of Goku´s wife Chichi and the Kingdom that her father ruled.

Or rather what was left of it.

It was over twelve years ago that the Androids had attacked the Ox Kingdom for the first time. They had barely left a building standing at that day.

The worst had been the castle where Chichi had grown up in had been blown to atoms and wiped from the face of the world.

The destruction had been even much worse as back then, when Muten Roshi had accidentally destroyed it with an Kamehameha to put out the fire years earlier. This time there was not even a place to rebuild the castle. All what was left was a large crater in the landscape.

The Ox King however had survived the attack. He had staid with his people and continued to lead them, but decided not to rebuild the palace and moved to a much smaller normal house instead.

Slowly the people of the Ox Kingdom had rebuild.

But now, more than a decade later, the Androids had come again.

This time however...

The body of the extremely large old man fell lifelessly to the ground with a burning hole through his chest.

"Father!" Chichi called out next to him.

xxxx

For many years Chichi had still lived in the small house at Mount Paozu that had been her´s and Goku´s home. But after Gohan´s death, the Ox King had convinced her to move back to the kingdom.

While Chichi was incredible strong and able to fend of most attackers, except maybe only for the Androids themselves (and the Androids had not found their house in 15 years, so the chance that they would in the foreseeable future was low), he didn´t feel well having his daughter live all by herself in a lonely house, alone in the wilderness.

Even if she could defend herself, he did not want her to spend the rest of her life completely alone and isolated from other people.

Given the situation they were now in however, it turned out his efforts had been for nothing.

xxxx

"It seems we actually got the Ox King this time," Seventeen said.

He had still his hand raised from the ki blast he had just fired through the king´s heart.

"And not only him," Eighteen added smirking, looking at Chichi.

The female Android moved and nearly instantly appeared right next to her. And grabbed her by the throat.

"Son Goku, Gohan, that old man lying over there," Eighteen commented. "I guess that means the family is complete again now. You all can reunite in the Afterlife."

It was over, all three of them knew. Chichi might be incredible strong for a human, but against them she was completely helpless.

The two Androids realized that she was struggling. But not to get away. This was hopeless anyway.

No - she was trying to talk.

Eighteen loosened her grip on her.

"D-do it," Chichi said. "My entire family is gone. I have nothing to loose anymore. I just want to see them again."

Seventeen and Eighteen exchanged a look.

"Well - of that is your wish," Eighteen stated smiling.

"But please let the others go," Chichi asked.

They looked around. Between the ruins there were still a few people alive. It were a young man - who obviously had a leg injury, a middle-aged woman and a young boy she was holding in her arms, maybe five years old.

"Sorry. Afraid we can´t do that," Seventeen told her. "You see, they were part of the game from the beginning."

Chichi glared at them.

"But about your wish," Eighteen said... and she shot a ki blast through her chest, just like Seventeen had done it to her father a few moments before.

xxx

It was in this moment that Trunks arrived.

He only came to see Chichi make some last movements, before Eighteen threw her to the ground and the liveless body of the Ox King lying close by.

`Too late,´ he thought.

Gohan´s mother... and his grandfather, his entire family was gone now.

"Ah Trunks," Eighteen greeted him, "are you here to let us play with you?" she asked.

"No - I will kill you."

"As if you could," she replied.

"Really? We have heard that so many times from your Master," Seventeen stated. "Remember what happened to him?"

Remembering? Yes.

Trunks new he was still weaker than Gohan had been... and Gohan had lost against them. He knew his mother was making progress with the time-machine she had been working on for several years.

He knew it made no sense for him to throw his life away now. He needed to be at least stronger than Gohan had been. Or he did not even need to try.

But he could not help himself, he wanted to kill them right now.

"Do you know what is funny?" Seventeen mentioned. "She asked us to do it."

"She just wanted to be reunited with her family and we did her the favor," Eighteen said.

"All she asked for was that we spared this pathetic people here. Too bad"

Trunks walked towards them.

"Like I said, I will defeat you," he called out.

He raised his arms.

"But not today," he said quieter.

"Solar Flare."

Like Trunks had expected, the Androids had fully believed he would attack them. And so his actual move took them fully by surprise.

As they were blinded, he moved and grabbed the three people who were still alive, lifted up the injured man, put his arm around the woman with the child and flew away as fast as he could.

He had failed, Trunks knew. He had come too late to save Gohan´s mother and his grandfather. What would he say if he were here?

`We can not save everyone,´ Trunks remembered Gohan´s words, `but we will save as many as we can.´

Trunks had slowed down his speed now and was landing at a save area to let the people he had just rescued down.

"Thank you. Thank you," the woman he was holding stammered.

Somehow it was not a consolation to hear this, not when he remembered who he had failed to save.

He was not ready, not yet.

But some day he would be. Some day.

xxxxxxx

Meanwhile back in the Afterlife

Goku and Gohan (Broly) were still fighting each other high up in the air.

But his opponent was still getting stronger.

The others could not do much more than watching or firing blast from a long distance in hope to distract their enemy.

But if they came too close, they would only end up getting in the way and maybe distracting Goku. They all, especially Vegeta and Paikuhan, clenched their teeth at this situation. But they could do nothing about it.

"Gohan - remember who you are," Goku shouted at him as they were exchanging strikes. "Fight back."

But Gohan´s possessed body was becoming even stronger and beginning to surpass Goku´s power.

`Remember,´ it halled in Gohan´s mind.

And with that more memories were coming over him.

Where did that incredible strength came from? he asked himself.

To his surprise, the memories showed him not much of an answer.

xxx

He remembered himself growing up as a young saiyan on a lonely little planet, with only his father and the animals.

But he had always possessed this immense innert power. He had always been far stronger than his father or anyone else around him, as far as he could remember.

At the same time however he was always struggling with and close to loosing control over himself with this immense power.

His father however was always pushing him to weild and train this power.

All for a day when maybe they would find a way to get off this planet and return to the other saiyans to get their revenge.

And then this day finally came... and yet not.

xxxx

They had been found by a group belonging to what his father called the Freeza Force.

His father had been shocked when he found out that Planet Vegeta, King Vegeta and nearly the entire population had been destroyed by an meteor (by Freeza´s hand, Gohan remembered this detail).

The King´s son Prince Vegeta had been alive for several years afterwards, but had been killed in a battle against some very powerful artificial creatures years afterwards.

The man and the entire family he had sword revenge to had been dead for a long time.

Just like their former ruler Freeza had been defeated and killed by a Super Saiyan, who in turn had as it seemed died as well later.

All this decades stranded on this wretched small planet, all this time yearning for revenge... wasted. Broly had never seen his father breaking down like this.

xxxx

The new leader of the Freeza Force - a small alien named Sorbet - however made his father an offer. They could together build up a new empire. He even offered him a shared leadership over it. One that would make King Vegeta and his reign be forgotten.

At first his father had been reluctant, having cared for nothing but revenge for so long. But then he slowly got used to the idea.

And they had been trying to turn him into a living weapon for it. So the Freeza Force and his father continued to train him, while they were rebuilding their forces for the next few years.

Some time later the Freeza Force was finally attacking another planet, full of innocent people... and they were trying to force Broly to fight for them.

He remembered the electro-shocks his father send through his when he tried to refuse. Through a mechanical device he had placed around his neck many years earlier.

His `father´ was a terrible person, the part of him who was Gohan realized.

Then Broly was joining the fight. He was incredible easily overpowering some strong native warriors of the planet.

While the other Freeza Force fighters were killing everything around them.

He remembered one of his `comrades´ mocking him for holding back and trying not to kill his opponents.

And then how he accidentally did. He saw the bloody corpse of the alien falling down in front of him... and he remembered the same `comrade´ laughing about him.

And then he remembered how he had lost control.

The next thing he knew was that he had turned around and the Freeza Force fighter who had laughed about him had been turned to ash... and how a golden light radiated around him.

He had turned into a Super Saiyan, Gohan realized. And in this moment he also realized that the power he possessed now was only a small fraction of what Broly had when he was still alive.

A small bit of his energy that the soul had somehow carried over into the Afterlife, plus probably Gohan´s own potential that it´s presence had awakened. The living Broly he saw in the memories however was more powerful than Gohan could have ever thought, more than he could have ever imagined.

The Gohan only saw distorted snippets of memories.

How Broly attacked everything - the aliens, the Freeza Force. He saw a short scene of his `father´ looking at him in pure horror, before he disappeared in a large explosion. The electro-shock decive he had used to control him for so long simply blown apart by the immense power.

He saw him destroying the remaining Freeza Force troops and aliens alike.

Until finally blowing up the planet he was standing on.

Then it was over. No saiyan, no matter how powerful could survive in space without help.

xxxxxxx

Now

Gohan now actually knew who the soul inside him had once been.

And he made a decision.

Like he had seen Broly´s memories, he now let him seen his own - every single person he had lost, all the battles he had been forced to fight, no matter how much he hated it, everybody he had failed to save. Everything.

At the outside his body let out another scream, like he was in pain. But then finally Gohan-Broly stood still.

"You are... like me," Broly´s soul finally said to him inside his mind.

"Yes - in some ways at least," Gohan answered. "We both hate to fight. But we had to anyway. You because you were forced."

"Why? Why did you do it?" Broly asked him.

"Because I had to. Because I could not simply let all these people die without fighting," Gohan told him.

"Let this people die..." Broly repeated. "My father, the others, I killed them all."

"That was not your fault. They knew that you could not fully control your power, but they forced you to fight anyway."

"It was... their fault," Broly questioned.

"They trained and pushed you until you snapped," Gohan simply said, letting Broly come to his own conclusions. "But it is over now."

"Vegeta," Broly said.

"This is not the same Vegeta who had send you to that planet," Gohan told him. "This is his son, who had nothing to do with it."

"He is... not the same," Broly responded.

"No," Gohan said, "and even if he were, he is long dead, like all of us. Please Broly, let go. Go to King Yemma. He will send you to where you are meant to be. You don´t have to fight anymore."

"Thank you," he heard.

With that Broly´s soul left his body.

xxx

"Gohan," Goku said to him, "are you yourself again?"

"Yes - I could convince him to leave. It is alright," Gohan replied.

In this moment Goku, Gohan and the others were getting a telepathic message from King Kaio.

"Goku, Gohan - there is something you have to know," he said to them.

"King Kaio - we did it," Goku told him.

"Yes yes - good work. But you should better go to King Yemma," he replied. "Something has happened on Earth."

xxx

A short time later they were standing in King Yemma´s office.

Goku and Gohan were wrapping their arms around Chichi. King Yemma and the Kaios had decided, as a reward for Goku and especially Gohan for what they had done today, to make an exception and let Chichi keep her body in the Afterlife.

"Goku, Gohan - you are here," she said.

They also greeted the Ox King, whose spirit was present.

"It were the Androids, weren´t they?" Gohan stated.

"Yes," Chichi replied sighing.

"I am sure Trunks will be able to stop them when he is ready," Gohan said.

"Right now I am just happy to see you again," she replied.

xxxxxxx

Two years later

It was finally ready. Trunks was standing before the finished time-machine, that he would use to travel into the past.

It was a short time ago he had made a terrible mistake. He went to challenge the Androids again... and he barely survived this fight.

Trunks had realized his mistake. He had believed - or rather he had wanted to believe - that Gohan had only been a bit weaker than the Androids and when he were stronger than he had been, he could defeat them. He had realized that this conclusion had been terrible wrong.

He would return to the past and hoped to keep all this from happening in a new timeline. And maybe, he hoped he would also find a weakness, a way to stop the Androids here.

End


This is now finally the end of this story.

The Broly here is obviously a version of the new canon Broly, with an alternate scenario what could have happened to him in the future timeline.

This last story arc also has the side-effect to give Future Gohan one significant victory for once.

xxx

I am already planning a new Dragon Ball story that should also, at least to a great part, play in the future-timeline.

xxc

Powerlevels:

Future Trunks (15 years after the Android´s Arrival): 4.300.000 - SSJ: 215.000.000

Future Android 17: 280.000.000

Future Android 18: 270.000.000

Future Trunks (17 years after the Android´s Arrival): 4.800.000 - SSJ: 240.000.000

xxc

Afterlife

Future Goku: 40.000.000 - SSJ (Mastered): 2 Billion - SSJ2: 4 Billion - SSJ3: 16 Billion

Future Gohan: 15.000.000 - SSJ 750.000.000... - Possessed by Broly: 12 - 20 Billion

Future Vegeta: 32.000.000 - SSJ 1.6 Billion - SSJ2 3,2 Billion

Future Piccolo: 1,5 Billion

Future Paikuhan: 3 Billion