Guest: I have one or two ideas in mind, he'll actually be getting it later in this arc. You'll see what it is soon enough. If you have any suggestions as to when I can have him receive it, or if you have any other ideas for power ups for him, I'm open to suggestions.
xSonallyGirl129x: Oh right, I forgot that you like to comment late like a boss. Thank you for being so patient, and I'm glad you understand my reasons. I'm actually in my sophomore year of college, so it's only going to get harder from here, but I'm sure I can manage somehow. I'm glad that you like how I introduced Bulla, and while I had to introduce the Androids' ability to absorb energy from people, I at least had Yamcha put up a fight in this version, so I'm glad you liked that. The action scenes in Dragon Ball are always fun to write out, and Kai is always fun to write out in this fic, especially since his lines are usually a mix of quotes from TFS, Rick and Morty and Deadpool. Yes, I'm fairly certain the "mineminemine" is a finding Nemo reference. Yes, we will be seeing Future Gohan again, in this chapter actually. I haven't actually thought about the inclusion of Future Bulla up to this point, but I'm open to suggestions as to how I can have that play out. Overall, I'm glad you enjoy the story and I hope I continue to meet your expectations in the future.
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This is the story of a darker world… A world where the mightiest had fallen, and now only two were left to defend the world from the monsters that were destroying it piece by piece.
But eventually, one of these two lost his life in battle against these monsters, and only one warrior was left alive, forced to face the hellish nightmares of this world on his own.
Fueled by grief and rage over the loss of those he loved, this warrior struggles to find a way to save his world and the survivors.
This is his story… the story of a different Son Gohan, forced to deal with the hell his world has brought down upon him.
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'Dad hang in there, please just hang on!' Gohan raced across the green landscape of Mount Paozu, his mind racing 'It's been about two years since dad came back to Earth and killed Frieza and his father. Everything seemed like it was right with the world. Yamcha and Bulma got married about a year ago, dad and the others just keep training, Kai and I are just hanging out, having fun, it seemed like everything was the way it was supposed to be. But now dad came down with some new heart virus that's been killing people all over the world, dad is a Super Saiyan and even he can't overpower it! We only have one option left, Senzu Beans from Korin should be able to do the trick! I'm coming as fast as I can dad, please just hang on until I get there! I can't bear to lose you like this, not again.'
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The others had gathered outside Goku's house when they heard of his condition.
Kai sat by the riverside away from everyone, his teeth gritting furiously 'They can feel it, they don't want to admit it but they can feel it too. Goku's Ki signature is dropping by the second, he'll be dead before nightfall. He got some kind of weird Heart Virus a few days ago, nothing they've tried so far has had any effect. Gohan went to get some Senzu Beans from Korin, but judging by how it's going so far those probably won't have any effect, and even if they did, he might not get here in time.' he glanced over and let out a sigh 'Well I was wrong about one thing. Took you long enough."
Sure enough, Gohan burst onto the scene with a brown bag in hand, but he didn't slow down and barely even spared them a glance as he burst into the house at full speed.
'Great, the one thing I didn't want him to have to deal with is about to come to pass.'
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"Guys I'm here, I made it!" Gohan burst into the room so fast he literally ripped the door right off its hinges "Please tell me I made it! Please…"
Chichi slowly looked up from Goku's unconscious form and turned to face Gohan, revealing the tears streaming down her face "Gohan, I… I'm so sorry honey…"
"You mean he's… I was too late…" with his vision growing blurry, Gohan promptly fell to his knees, his fists clenched so tightly they started bleeding, and he slammed his fist into the ground full force in frustration.
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A wave of horror rushed over most of the others waiting outside.
Krillin eventually found his voice just enough to confirm their worst fears "It's over… He's gone… Goku's really gone…"
Raditz just stared into the river at his own reflection, his grief slowly showing itself through his expression "Kakarot… no…"
Having fallen victim to a radical new virus taking the world by storm, Son Goku had passed from the Earth, leaving his friends and family to mourn over the loss of their greatest warrior.
Unfortunately, what none of them knew was that this tragic event was a mere foreshadowing of the horrific tragedies that were still to come.
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Six months passed since Goku's death, and despite the difficulties of that time, those left were slowly but surely beginning to move on. That is, until they appeared.
In the year 767, on the 12th of May at 10:00 am, on an island 9 miles off of South City, Androids 17 and 18 made themselves known to the world with a massive attack, leaving no survivors.
Coming to avenge the fallen were the remaining warriors, but even they would prove helpless against this pair.
Piccolo was the first of them to try, and the first of them to die, his death claiming Kami as a result, and without them the Dragon Balls were wiped from existence.
Raditz and Tarble were the next to fall.
One by one, the rest of them fell, starting with Nail, followed by Krillin, Tien, Upa and Yamcha all meeting brutal deaths at the hands of the Androids.
When their attack was done and the battle was over, Gohan and Kai were the only ones who had survived to fight another day, and without the Dragon Balls to help them, that was the way it was going to stay.
This was the beginning of a new era for the people of the Earth, an era of darkness.
The fate of the Earth was left… with little hope.
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Over the months that followed, the Androids would continue to destroy one small town after another and work their way up, before they would finally start destroying some of the bigger cities.
Gohan sat in his room, staring up at the ceiling while his thoughts drifted like the wind 'Is this what life is supposed to be like, to lose everything so unexpectedly.' he heard a knocking sound on his door "It's open."
The door opened, and Kai (now wearing an eyepatch over where one of his eyes was supposed to be) made his way into the room "Hey."
"Hey."
"I think you and I need to do some talking, you up for a game of chess?"
"Whatever." so Gohan just slunked off of his bed and onto the floor, and the two started engaging in a game of chess, moving one piece at a time, but he stayed mostly silent.
"Your game is way more off than it used to be, there's no way in hell you're going to win like that."
"Whatever Kai, I'm not in the mood to talk."
"The Androids are so overpowered as fuck it's just ridiculous, they could take out Frieza without even breaking a sweat."
"Probably."
"So do you have a plan?"
Gohan stayed silent.
"I figured as much, after all if two Super Saiayns and two Namekians on that level couldn't even scratch the Androids then what chance would we have?"
"We wouldn't."
"Piccolo and the others, they were both great warriors and good people."
"I know."
"Their people skills sucked though, reminds me of someone else."
"Yeah, whatever." Gohan just calmly made his next move on the chess board.
"Do you have any idea what the hell you're doing?"
"You play however you want, I'll play however I want."
"I'm not talking about the chess board you idiot."
Gohan said nothing.
"Well at least I know you wouldn't do anything stupid or reckless. Lucky me, now that I've lost my uncle you're really all that I have. The last thing I need is to lose my best friend. You've done pretty well for yourself up to this point, I'm proud to have you as my friend."
Gohan just buried his head in his knees.
"You're as sharp as they come and you have a metric fuckton of untapped potential, you're the kind of person the people of the world can depend on in the future. But now they're dead, Goku and all of the others, and without Piccolo and Kami around that means that the Dragon Balls are gone forever, and without knowing where the hell the Namekians ended up, there's no chance in hell of bringing the others back."
"Dammit!" Gohan blasted a nearby wall as his frustration reached its boiling point "Just what the hell are you getting at here?"
"I'm saying what you need to hear."
"Will you just do the world a favor and stop talking already, everything you're saying is making me sick! Say whatever the hell you want, it doesn't change the fact that I'm nothing but a useless coward and a weakling who can't do anything!"
"That's not true and you know it."
"What the hell do you want from me Kai?"
"You want to know what I want?" Kai pulled himself to his feet and looked Gohan dead in the eye "I want you to let it out."
Gohan lost his angry glare.
"All of the anger, the sadness and the pain you're feeling, everything that's building up inside of you like a fucking timebomb. You have to learn to let it go, if you don't then you'll just end up destroying yourself."
Gohan said nothing, he just gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.
"That's when you can finally start healing, and just remember that no matter what happens I'll be here for you to pick up the pieces." Kai calmly made his way out of the room and shut the door just as he heard Gohan start crying uncontrollably, and he found Chichi waiting for him "You were listening the entire time weren't you?"
Chichi ignored that accusation and let out a sigh "Is it done?"
"Let him cry his eyes dry and when he's done, give or take a few days for him, tell him to meet me at the bottom of the mountain in a week. That's when we start training to rip apart those pieces of scrap metal once and for all."
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7 years passed.
"Ladies and gentlemen it's like the apocalypse all over again, Pepper City is under siege by the monstrous Androids! It's absolute madness, we're watching the recently restored park district going up in a ball of fire the likes of which the world has never seen!"
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Meanwhile, with the Androids…
"Oh man, you wouldn't believe this haul!" 18 stuffed some clothes into a nearby pickup truck that they had stolen a while back "You see this is why I love the inner city shops, they always have the best brands."
"Good to know, now down to business." 17 promptly fired a simple Ki blast, blowing the store to kingdom come and killing everyone inside.
"Hey what the hell was that about dude, why did you blow it up? They were giving me free clothes."
"Hey it's not like they gave me anything."
"Hey I'm perfectly secure."
"Is that why you dye your hair?"
"Hey don't hate."
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In her frustration, Bulma promptly shut off the radio "I can't listen to this crap anymore, at this rate I would even take country music back. Damn those two, at this rate the entire planet might as well have gone up in smoke. Everyone living in fear, wondering when they're going to strike next, it's just not any way to live. There has to be a way to stop them."
"There is." Kai stepped into the room wearing his typical crimson gi "Pepper City is a 20 minute flight from here, 2 minutes if I use the Namek-Ken. Stay here and don't go outside, at this rate there's at least a 50/50 chance of scrounging up a few survivors."
"Or die like Yamcha."
"At least this way I go out like a warrior, so why the hell do you have that gigantic Namek sized metal poll up your ass?"
"Because you're 17, I'm 34 and I'm all alone."
"And you've been 34 for about a decade."
"You're not going, I'm not letting you get yourself killed."
"That's the thing about me you'll never understand, I'm not giving you the choice. Besides, there's about a 100% chance Gohan is on his way there as we speak." and so he promptly blasted off through the open window.
'Kai you little shit, you'd better come back alive or so help me, I know Yamcha would never forgive me if I let anything happen to you.'
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Meanwhile, in Pepper City…
By this point, 17 was driving a car through the wreckage of the city, or what was left of it, and had started running over the survivors like they were speed bumps "Hey 18 how's it looking, you are keeping score right?"
"Why would I be doing that?" asked 18.
"You told me that you would."
"No, your exact words were, and I quote, "Check this shit out" and then you jumped in a car and started running over people like they were speed bumps."
"Oh come on, is this about that shop earlier?"
"You're honestly just like a little kid."
"And you're acting like it's your time of the month. Fine whatever, let's just get out of here now that you've put me in a bad mood."
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At the same time, Gohan was flying towards the location of Pepper City at full speed, his mind racing 'I don't know if I'll be able to do anything at all, but even still I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't at least try.' after a few more minutes of flying he finally arrived on the scene, only to find rubble and smoking ruins where the city once stood 'Dammit… I was too late again… They're all gone… all of them…' he slowly lowered himself to the ground and began wandering the ruins of the city, grimacing further at the sight of the mutilated corpses the Androids had left behind, but he stopped when he noticed one hand twitching, and he knelt down and pulled an eight year old boy out of the rubble, albeit with one of his legs as well as one of his arms missing "Hey, can you hear me?"
The boy slowly opened his eyes and looked up at Gohan with tears streaming down his face "My parents… are they…?"
"I'm sorry, you're the only one I found."
The boy wasted no time in burying his face in Gohan's chest as he sobbed "Why… Why are they doing this? Why do they keep attacking us? We never did anything to them!"
"I know… I wish I could answer that…" Gohan pulled the boy into a tight hug in an attempt to comfort him, hiding his own tears in the process 'These children shouldn't have to live through a hell like this.'
That was when Kai dropped down onto the scene, his Namek-Ken aura slowly subsiding as he hit the ground "Another one orphaned by the tin cans huh? That makes 7 this week alone, they're getting more frequent."
"...I need to get this kid to a hospital, you go ahead and search for any other survivors. We'll meet back at Capsule Corp at sundown." and so he blasted off into the skies.
Kai promptly spent some time wandering the ruins of the city, searching for any Ki signatures to determine if there were any other survivors, not that it would take him very long.
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Sunset came over West City, or what was left of it.
Kai made his way into the remains of Capsule Corp and found Gohan sitting on the couch clenching his fists in rage "I'm pretty sure you already knew this, but I didn't find any other survivors."
"I had to be sure, just to be safe." Gohan looked up at Kai with tears streaming down his face endlessly "This isn't the way life is supposed to be, people shouldn't have to live in constant fear and children shouldn't have to lose their entire families in a span of a few minutes! Why can't things just go back to the way they were before all of this?!"
"Yeah, as if it was such an improvement." Kai let out a loud snort "Gohan seriously, think for a second. When we were toddlers your uncle showed up, his ex-co-worker kidnapped you, and then Piccolo killed you and your dad. Then Piccolo kidnapped both of us, the Saiyans showed up a year later and killed a bunch of people, including Piccolo. Then we went to Namek, a bunch more people died, we came back, your dad died again, then our teacher, our uncles and all of our friends died, and now everyone else has been dying for the past 7 years, and yet somehow we've survived all along."
"But it was better!"
"No, it really wasn't."
"Well we can't just sit around doing nothing while people are out there suffering, we have to get out there and fight! We're the only warriors left on the planet, we're best friends so you know exactly what I'm talking about!"
"...You know something Gohan, I'm starting to realize just how pitiful you really are, such an emotional wreck, just like how I was when my mom died. Look our mentors are gone and now we have to step up, you remember the pact we made don't you?"
"Don't settle for being better when we could be the best."
"You haven't lost sight of that have you?"
"No, no of course not." they clasped hands "I won't let you or anyone else down."
"I know you won't."
"Hey Kai I'm home!" another voice sounded.
"And here comes the cougar in her 40's."
Sure enough, Bulma made her way in with a bag of groceries "Well at least I can say that you're still alive, the last thing I need is a ghost haunting me at night."
"Or you could change your online dating profile from single aunt to just single, one of those gets more hints."
"Good to know, and it looks like we have ourselves a surprise guest. It's been awhile since the last time I saw you Gohan, how have you been?"
"Fine, thank you." Gohan gave a simple nod.
"One of you goes to fight the Androids and then both of you popped up, why am I not surprised by that?"
"Because we're the only ones left who can fight the Androids."
"That was rhetorical. So anyway Gohan, are you staying the night? We have plenty of room here but we don't have any extra beds, so we're going to have to share."
"...I think I'll pass."
"Well I had to try, anyway who's hungry?"
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About an hour passed, and the three of them sat down to dinner.
Bulma promptly served the two of them "You know I hope you can stick around for a while this time Gohan, we hardly ever get to even talk to each other anymore. I miss the good old days, the way I see it travelling to Namek was definitely our all time best adventure."
"Yeah, those were the days." Gohan gave a small smile as he dug into the food.
"And you wouldn't believe how hard it is to get produce these days, luckily we have our own greenhouses. Don't ask me where I get the protein from though."
"I never do, and as long as it's in my stomach and it's not made from people I don't care where it's from."
"And just like that, it's like deja vu, like father like son."
"Oh yeah, you think so?"
"Oh without a shadow of a doubt, the way you eat and the way you're so powerful and so gentle at the same time. Plus there's the way you look, especially in that gi."
"Yeah, I guess I've always dreamed of being as strong as my dad. I figured it would be a great tribute to him to wear his old colors."
"Well I know for a fact that he would be super proud of the brave strong young man you've turned into over the years."
"I can only hope so."
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Training between Kai and Gohan intensified over the next few weeks.
Kai wasted no time in flaring his white aura "Alright Gohan what the hell are you waiting for, if we're gonna do this then just power up already."
"As if you had to ask." Gohan's own milky white aura flared into life, followed by him flashing into Super Saiyan.
'Looks like someone's got his fighting spirit back, here I thought he was just going with the motions over the past few years. The question is, does he have the grit to push me to use the Namek-Ken on him? So this is it, this is what your full power is like at the moment?"
"More or less yeah, I lost sight of what it means to use this power for a while after I lost my father, and then Piccolo and the others. But you reminded me of the vow that we made all those years ago, don't settle for being better when we could be the best. You already figured out your own path and you've been going down it at full speed, and now I'm going to follow you down that path."
"These Androids are the strongest beings we've ever faced, we've lost a lot to them and we can never get most of it back. But we still have each other, and we can push each other to get as strong as possible until we're powerful enough to defeat them. If you want to keep our vow alive then let's see if you have the strength and grit you need to prove it!" and with his green aura flaring into life, Kai charged forward at full speed, meeting Gohan in an explosive collision and slamming his elbow into Gohan's face.
Gohan dodged the next attack and began firing off a furious barrage of punches and kicks at full speed, resulting in the two of them trading even blows until their fists collided with a blinding flash, and once they broke off he quickly fired a Masenko.
Kai wasted no time as he dodged the Masenko and fired off a barrage of Ki blasts at full speed and full power.
Gohan dodged, blocked and deflected every Ki blast being thrown at him with ease "Is that all you've got Silver Tongue?!"
"Why don't you see for yourself Spike!" Kai blitzed behind Gohan and dealt him a sharp kick to the face, sending him crashing into a nearby plateau on the ground, and then he prepared to follow up with a Nail Gun.
Gohan rebounded just in time to fire an Explosive Demon Wave as he channeled as much Ki as he could into the attack, overpowering Kai's attack as a result.
Kai blitzed out of the way of the blast, blitzed down towards Gohan and kicked him in the chest while he was still preoccupied with the blast, and then he began forcing Gohan on the defensive with a furious barrage of punches and kicks.
Growing sick of taking the attacks, Gohan dealt Kai a heavy fist to the chest and followed up with a Masenko to the face, sending him hurtling backwards.
Kai rebounded almost instantly as the two of them took to the skies, their auras blending together in the form of a double helix.
Gohan took the chance to deal Kai a furious barrage of attacks, repeatedly kneeing him in the spine as hard as he could "I don't want you holding back on me in this fight!" they started repeatedly punching each other in the face and torso, ending with them grappling in a power struggle "Don't you dare hold out on me, I told you to take this seriously!" he gripped Kai by the arm and threw him high into the air, and then he charged in to finish it, his golden aura flaring even higher at the same time "I know that you're still holding out on me, I told you to come at me with everything that you've got!"
"I wanted to see if you could handle it, and since you've clearly still got the grit now you're gonna see what real power is like!" with a mighty roar, Kai's green Namek-Ken aura flared into life.
"I told you to give me everything, because that's what I'm giving you!"
"And now everything is what you're going to get!" Kai charged down at Gohan at full speed, resulting in a blinding clash as he slugged Gohan in the gut.
Gohan slugged Kai in the gut and delat him a fist to the face "Come on Kai, give me all of your strength right here and right now!"
"Fine!" Kai powered up his Namek-Ken even further, his body pulsing and his muscles bulging visibly "Alright bring it on Gohan, let's end this!"
"I plan to!" pushing his Super Saiyan power to the absolute limit, Gohan charged at Kai as high and as fast as he could, resulting in a blinding white light that lit up the sky across the entire wasteland, as well as shaking the surface of the entire planet as a result. When everything had subsided a few moments later, Gohan's Super Saiyan form had disappeared, the same with Kai's Namek-Ken aura. Gohan whipped around and aimed one last fist at Kai, but he stopped just before it connected, and instead he finally lost consciousness and began falling towards the ground.
Kai caught Gohan before he could finish falling and gently lowered him to the ground "Looks like you definitely did get your spirit back, and now we're gonna use it to push you a hell of a lot further."
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A few hours passed, and the two of them soon recovered from their little bout.
Kai handed Gohan a towel as they sat down on a rocky coastline "You know if you think my training method is tough you should've seen what my mother put herself through."
"I'll take your word for it." Gohan breathed a sigh "You really do look up to her don't you, but what about your dad? You never mentioned him before."
"Don't know where that deadbeet is, don't care. Never knew him, don't want to know him. As far as I'm concerned, Yamcha is the only dad I ever had."
"I see. You know you talk a lot about how great a martial artist your mom was, but you don't talk a lot about her personality, and I didn't get to know her that well when I died before. What was she like?"
"She was a warm and caring woman, power and gentle at the same time. In a lot of ways she was like a chick version of Goku, but the difference was that she didn't have a cantaloupe where her brain was supposed to be."
Gohan let out a slight chuckle 'Training is well and good and all, and I'm glad Kai and I can still talk like there's nothing wrong in the world. But still, I can't shake this feeling that there's something coming. Something really bad.' he had no idea how right he was.
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The next day came, and the Androids would launch another attack, this time on the amusement park known as Super World, and about half of the population there would be killed, with the other half fleeing for their lives while the Androids tried to enjoy themselves on the various rides throughout the amusement park.
Unfortunately for them, and even moreso for everyone else in the world, it didn't take very long for 17 and 18 to get bored with it "You know it's kind of sad, when you can fly across the planet in a matter of hours these rides really don't seem that fun."
"Is that a fact?" that was when Kai and Gohan dropped down onto the scene, both raring and ready to fight "Well here's an offer for you, if you're already bored then why don't you try taking a ride on my fist?"
"...Wow, so are you gonna want a minute to rephrase that there dude?"
"I know damn well what I said, and frankly I'd rather take that minute to rip you apart one piece at a time."
"Okay now see, that's better."
"It'll be even better than that once I know that you're both rotting in hell. Anyway Gohan feel free to sit back and spectate while I go crimson fury all over them, unless they try to gang up on me, in which case feel free to jump in."
"You know, despite all of our training I can't help but feel like we're woefully unprepared for this." Gohan pointed out.
"And that's exactly what we prepared for."
"No, it's really not."
"They stopped being amusing about three years ago." 18 commented dryly "What do you say we finish these annoying little shits off this time?"
"Works for me." 17 promptly stepped forward and unleashed a Ki blast on the ground, creating a makeshift smokescreen as he burst forward.
"What the hell do you take me for you goddamn Voltron reject?" Kai sidestepped 17's attack with ease and powered up his Namek-Ken aura to level 20 as he started blocking and countering all of 17's punches and kicks, eventually managing to deal 17 a solid kick to the face, sending him crashing through the structure of one of the roller coasters, and then he fired a quick Masenko as fast as he could.
17 dodged the blast, blitzed behind Kai and dealt him a solid kick to the face before he was able to react, sending him crashing through a nearby funhouse.
"Nail Gun!" Kai fired a Nail Gun at 17 from within the rubble.
17 deflected the Nail Gun and prepared to charge in.
Kai blitzed in front of 17 and the two of them started trading even blows, before Kai dealt 17 a solid kick to the face, and then he prepared to fire an Explosive Demon Wave.
"Yeah I'm thinking that's enough of that." 18 blitzed in front of Kai and dealt him a brutal kick to the gut, followed by a fist to the face that sent him flying through several buildings, wounding him from the impact and from the broken glass.
17 pulled himself out of the rubble and wiped the blood from his lip "Where the hell did all of that come from?"
"Looks like he's pissy today, you think it's his time of the month?"
"Ha, it's funny because you're of chick. Alright, let's snuff out that fire in his gut."
"Works for me." and so the two of them charged at Kai at full speed and in perfect sync.
Kai suddenly found himself on the receiving end of a brutal beatdown 'Dammit, it's like I walked into the wrong neighborhood on Pokemon Go.'
"So you ready to die yet?"
"He's not dying today, not by your hands!" Gohan flashed into Super Saiyan and charged at them at full speed.
18 promptly hit Gohan with a quick Infinity Bullet blast, sending him flying backwards a short distance and engulfing him in an explosion.
"Masenko!" Gohan took advantage of the smoke to hit 18 dead on with a quick Masenko, engulfing her in an explosion in return.
18 and Gohan continued their clash until they took it atop a nearby ferris wheel "Okay seriously, who the hell lets a bunch of teenagers end up in a battle like this? Not gonna lie, that's super irresponsible." she wasn't wrong.
"I'm not afraid of you monster, I can take care of you by myself!" he however was, but he didn't know that just yet, and so he charged at 18 and unleashed a furious barrage of punches and kicks at full speed.
18 dodged and blocked every attack with ease, and eventually she dealt Gohan a solid fist to the face.
Gohan took the opportunity to hit her with a Masenko at point blank range, burning her but only slightly, and the only real damage it did was piss her off.
"And just like that I'm done screwing around with you kid." she dealt him a solid blow to the gut and grabbed him by the front of his gi "So now what do you think?"
"I think… you hit like… like a girl…"
"...Well you're not wrong." so 18 promptly hit Gohan full force with an Infinity Bullet at point blank range, sending him spiralling to the ground, leaving him in an unconscious bloody heap on the ground.
"Dammit, Gohan!" breaking off from his and 17's one on one, Kai dealt 18 a solid blow to the face that sent her flying away, and he took the opportunity to grab Gohan from within the rubble and come up with a plan "We're not gonna win at this rate."
"You got that right!" 17 dealt Kai a Photon Wave to the back, sending him tumbling backwards a great distance.
Kai pulled himself back to his feet and spat out some blood, keeping his hold on Gohan 'At this rate there's no way I'd be able to win if I have to fight both of them at once and keep them from blasting Gohan to kingdom come, I'll have to make a tactical retreat.' so he promptly started running and jumping across the lands of Super World.
"Oh no you don't you little shit!" 17 and 18 wasted no time in firing a massive barrage of Ki blasts across the park, torching it and blowing it to bits in a matter of moments.
As the place went up in a barrage of miniature explosions, Kai held Gohan tightly as he hid behind a piece of rubble 'Come on, please tell me you guys can't sense Ki like we can. It's a major gamble to risk my life on, but it's the only thing I've got at this point.'
17 and 18 looked around, but they couldn't find Kai or Gohan amongst the rubble "Well that's a load of shit, you think they got away from us again?"
"The hell if I know." 18 gave a shrug "Keep in mind that we can't sense life energy, Gero can go fuck himself in hell for that."
"Seriously, what the hell was the point of not giving us that ability? It seems like an intentional design flaw if you ask me."
"Well what can you do about that, so anyway do we go scorched Earth?"
"Hell yeah we go scorched Earth." and so they fired a few simultaneous Ki blasts into the air at random.
'Oh crapbaskets.' Kai tightened his hold on Gohan's unconscious form as the blasts came raining down from above, engulfing the area in a blinding light and a fiery explosion.
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It took only a few minutes for the lights and the explosion to subsided, but considerably longer than that for the smoke to clear and the dust to settle, but by that point the Androids were both long gone.
Kai slowly opened his eyes, covered in blood and wounds, but he was still alive 'Well I'm not dead, so maybe that's good- Oh shit…' his thoughts were cut short and his blood ran cold at what he saw lying a few feet in front of him.
Gohan was lying unconscious a few feet away from him, he was still alive, but his left leg had been blown off by the blast, and it was lying a short distance away.
'Okay so I'm in serious pain and Gohan is missing one of his legs, and if Goku were here chances are he would just try to eat the thing. Too bad neither of us are Namekians, that would probably come in really handy right about now. Well good thing we've got the next best thing in the form of my secret stash of Senzu Beans!' he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small brown bag, revealing only one Senzu Bean inside 'Correction, Senzu Bean, as in singular. Okay, that's more than a little inconvenient. Well on one hand, I don't have Saiyan biology and I won't get a Zenkai. On the other hand, I still have both of my legs. Yeah, everything hurts like a mother fucker, but hey, what are you going to do?' so using what little strength he had left he slowly crawled his way over to Gohan "Hey… don't beat yourself up over this… when you wake up okay… You kicked ass out there… But I need you to swallow this, okay? If either one of us has to live… let it be you…" using the last of his strength, he managed to stuff the Senzu Bean right into Gohan's mouth right before the last of his strength faded, and he lost consciousness.
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Nightfall came.
Bulma was hard at work on her computer on some very important business "Let's see here, I'm looking for a male in mid to late 30's with black spiky hair, not too tall and loves to work out a lot."
"Hey Bulma?"
"I'm not doing an online dating profile!" Bulma quickly switched it to a file with some high tech schematics on it and whipped around "Gohan what did I tell you about- Oh my god, what the hell happened to the two of you?!"
As it turns out, Gohan was slowly floating his way into the room due to missing one his legs, carrying the greviously wounded form of Kai on his back "To put it bluntly, we got beat up worse than high school would ever be able to do to us."
"Understatement of the fucking decade, one of you is half dead and the other is missing a leg for crying out loud! Get over to the beds, and hurry!"
"Right, I know." and this would lead to several painful hours of Bulma treating Kai's injuries and dealing with the stump that used to be Gohan's left leg.
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Hours passed, and the sun was beginning to rise over the ruins that used to be West City.
Bulma examined the bandaged stump where Gohan's left leg once resided "I have been working on an idea in case something like this happened, granted it was because I thought it was going to happen to Kai, but… Anyway just give me some time, I'll get it done eventually."
"I think I understand, thank you Bulma, really…" Gohan let out a sigh "Truth be told I didn't really feel much pain from losing it, I doubt me being conscious would've made a difference in that regard."
"Maybe, maybe not. So tell me something kid, have you learned anything today?"
"That the only good Android is a dead Android?"
"...You've been spending way too much time around Kai over the years."
"What can I say, he's my best friend." their conversation was cut short by several loud groans of agony, and they looked over at Kai to see him struggling to move "He's awake already?"
"The doctors said that he would be out for a week at least."
"Where… Where are they…?" Kai gritted his teeth as he forced himself to sti up "Where the helll are… those damn Androids…?"
Gohan just watched him struggle and let out a sad sigh 'The Androids are monsters that take pleasure in killing people and destroying, we've been lucky up until now but our luck isn't going to last forever. We have to step up our training big time, or else we're going to be done for, and if we die then so does everyone else on the planet. If Super Saiyan isn't enough to get the job done, then I'll just have to find a way to go beyond that.'
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A year passed, and as the destruction across the world continued, and as it did training intensified considerably.
Gohan threw a few pebbles off a cliffside in frustration "I can't believe myself, how much of a joke can I be?"
"Hey dial it back a few notches, it's a pipe dream anyway." Kai just leaned back and downed a soda in his hand "I mean finding a level beyond Super Saiyan is only a theory anyway, it's just something you came up with on a whim."
"What am I doing wrong though? You're my best friend Kai, we're supposed to be blunt and tell each other these things without any regard for how we feel. Why can't I do it?"
"Just think about it, Goku went Super Saiyan against Frieza because you got blown up, and you went Super Saiyan against Slug because you were pissed off about the thought of letting everyone down. Maybe the same principle applies, you just need to find the right motivation to go past the limit. Besides remember what I always say, limitations are merely a state of mind for any warrior. You just need something to push you over that edge."
"Well in those cases it was mostly the pain of loss, but I lost my dad, my uncle and Piccolo and everyone else all in the span of a few months, and that wasn't enough to push me over the metaphorical edge."
"Well power mostly comes from rage, that was more grief than anything else. For me I just think about how I couldn't do anything to help my mom when she died when I was really little, or whatever the case was with my dad for bailing on her, and then I let all of that residual anger build up inside of me until it either explodes, or I channel it into my training."
"So just let it build up inside until it explodes?"
"Pretty much yeah." and then an explosion lit up the sky from within the city sitting in the distance "Like that but from a more metaphorical standpoint."
"Crap it's the Androids again!" they bolted to their feet "Dammit, the people down there never even had a chance!"
"Way ahead of you." Kai promptly flashed into his Namek-Ken, his green aura surging wildly around his body "Take my advice and hang back this time Gohan, we both know you're in no condition to fight."
"Kai you can't be serious, if you fight those two on your own you're going to get yourself killed for sure!"
"I'm a lot more vulnerable when I have to look out for you."
"Leg or no leg I'm a lot stronger this time around, there's no way I'm letting you go alone into a fight like that when I know I can stop you!"
'...Chances are he's going to hate me for this. Alright Gohan fair point, let's go down there and wreck some shit the way only we can."
"Great, just let me power up to Super Saiyan and-" Gohan was cut off by a silent chop to the back of the neck, knocking him out cold and sending him crashing to the ground with a loud thud.
"Sorry about this Gohan, but after what happened to you last time there's no way I'm going to risk letting you get involved in this, at least when I know I can stop it. Let's face it, we both knew that this was going to be my battle until either they or I died, and you're not quite ready for that just yet. Let's face it, at the rate we're going they're gonna keep chipping away at us until nothing is left. The least I can do for you as your best friend is lighten your load, and if I don't come back… well then at least I'll get to see my mom again. Take care of yourself from here on out, this is goodbye… my friend." and with that, Kai blasted off towards the city with his green aura blazing.
Only one of the three in the following battle would come out alive…
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The scene in the city was about what people had come to expect from the likes of the Androids up to this point.
17 and 18 were now just blasting random shit and causing Man of Steel levels of property damage and civilian casualties, until 17 dropped a sudden bombshell "You know what, I'm actually bored."
"Well we could always find another city to destroy." 18 pointed out.
"No not that, I mean I'm great of this whole Great Destroyer shtick. Destroying this, killing people, probably making people hate Man of Steel even more…" he killed some random dude with a stray Ki blast "It just loses its luster after awhile."
"Yeah I know what you mean, after you wipe an entire genre of music off the face of the Earth what else is left?" she killed a dude climbing out of the rubble with a random Ki blast.
"You know what I always wanted to do, even before all of this? I've always wanted to be a park ranger."
"You want to range a park?"
"Hell yeah I do. Living outdoors, communicating with nature, shooting poachers, yeah I think I'm gonna do that-"
"DODGE!" that was when Kai dropped onto the scene and kicked 17 square in the face in an instant before he could react, sending him flying and crashing through a building.
"What the hell, you goddamn cheap son of a bitch!" 17 crashed through the destroyed building and pulled himself out of the rubble, his clothes now considerably torn.
18 burst out laughing at the sight "Hey just slapped your shit!"
"Okay you know what, that's it. Now I'm killing every human, every last one. And then I'm gonna range the shit out of that park."
"Yeah you just keep telling yourself that, and I'll fight a bunch of Sailor Moon cosplayers in a tournament to save the entire universe."
"Quite the imagination you've got."
"That could go for either of you if you think you're gonna leave this place alive." Kai dropped into a combat stance "It doesn't matter if you do kill me, even if I die in this fight I swear I'll drag you both straight down to hell with me. Even if my story ends here you've got a hole other book to get through."
"I think we'll see about that!" 17 and 18 both charged at Kai from opposite directions, and the battle began.
"Down Burst!" Kai slammed a Ki blast into the ground and created a smokescreen as he burst upwards into the air at full speed.
17 and 18 soared upwards right alongside him and fired a combined barrage of Full Power Energy Balls at Kai.
"Double Masenko!" Kai fired two Masenko blasts, one from each hand, cancelling out the Full Power Energy Balls, and through the light he blocked a punch from both 17 and 18, and he promptly dealt 17 a sharp kick to the head, sending him crashing to the ground.
"You little shit!" 18 dealt Kai a brutal kick to the head while he was preoccupied with 17, which sent him crashing to the ground.
Kai burst out from beneath the rubble and retreated just in time to avoid a combined barrage of attacks from both of them "Nail Gun!"" he fired a quick full power Nail Gun at the Androids as fast as he was able to.
17 and 18 unleashed a combination Full Power Energy Wave to counter the Nail Gun, which resulted in a beam struggle, but their blast was quickly overpowered and they were sent flying backwards as a result.
Kai charged in to finish it.
"Photon Flash!" 17 quickly slammed Kai with a Photon Flash, hitting him square in the face and sending him flying backwards and into the air as a storm began raging overhead, rain pouring down over the battlefield.
'Dammit, they're going all out this time and my Namek-Ken isn't going to hold up for too much longer. At this rate I only have one option, if I put it off for too much longer then I might not be able to find the opening I need. First I need to start converting the necessary amount of energy I need for this to work, and with any luck I'll at least take one of them with me.'
17 pulled himself and 18 out of the rubble "You know it's actually pretty fitting, this kind of storm will make the perfect backdrop for when you die."
"Like I said before, if I go down then I'm taking you both with me." Kai started fending off a barrage of simultaneous attacks from both of them, taking a few hits from each of them but mostly being able to fend them off, but eventually he broke away from them and started flying away through the ruins of the city.
"You're not getting away!" 17 and 18 both slammed him into the ruins of a building and prepared to unleash their ultimate attack: their Accel Dance, in which they slammed Kai down towards the ground and unleashed a rapid barrage of Ki blasts.
'Dammit, I'll only have one shot at this!' Kai fired a quick Masenko at point blank range in an attempt to use it to cancel out as many of the oncoming Ki blasts as he could, which worked to an extent, but he was still engulfed in the explosion that followed. When the smoke cleared a few moments later, Kai was still alive, but his body was badly burnt and his Namek-Ken aura had completely vanished 'Dammit… I guess I really don't have any other choice now. Note to self, thank Chiaotzu for teaching me this when I see him on the other side.'
"Looks like someone is a little trooper." with her overconfidence getting the better of her, 18 dropped down in front of Kai and kicked him to the ground, then prepared to fly away, but stopped when she noticed Kai grab her by the ankle, followed by suddenly pulling her into a full nelson "What the hell are you doing?"
"Like I said… I go down… you come with me… Sorry Gohan, this is it for me. I'm doing what I have to do today, but the world will still have you once the dust settles. Live long and do what makes you happy. I'm proud to be able to call you my friend. Goodbye.' his body started glowing with energy.
"What the hell are you doing, let go of her!" 17 burst towards Kai and started pounding away at him, punching and kicking him repeatedly, with 18 also struggling to get out of his grip at the same time.
Kai gritted his teeth from the pain, but otherwise he kept his grip tight 'Keep going, just a little further…'
"Get the hell off me you arrogant little shit!" 18 slammed Kai's face into the ground, only for his body to start glowing even brighter.
'Yep, this is it for me. Goodbye Gohan, live a long life and be happy.' and with that final thought ringing through his mind, Kai's body promptly detonated like a star, a massive explosion covering the entire city, or what was left of it, in an instant.
When the smoke cleared, 17 pulled himself out of the rubble and spat out some blood and debris, but when he regained his awareness he found, to his horror, only a few strands of hair and a statue where Kai had once stood "18… No, no no no no no! This can't be happening, come on this isn't funny! 18!" he searched frantically but had little luck aside from a few pieces of charred hair and clothing. Upon taking a few minutes to let his rage boil inside of him, 17 then charged off in search of another city, only one thought on his mind 'They will die slowly, every last one of them.'
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Meanwhile, outside of the city…
Gohan slowly opened his eyes and shook off the grogginess as his senses came back "Kai, what the heck was that for?" he pulled himself to his feet and looked down towards the smoking ruins where the city used to be, and he was almost instantly filled with dread "Dammit Kai you can't be serious, why the hell would you go alone?!"
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The rain once again began pouring down over what was left of the city.
Gohan was slowly and cautiously flying overhead in search of any sign of Kai, and eventually he managed to catch sign of Kai's body sitting in the same crater where it once stood "Kai, oh man you had me worried there-" he paused when the realization finally set in, and he felt his blood run cold "No, no no no… Come on man, this prank isn't funny…" but try as he might he couldn't deny it, and so he slowly dropped to the ground and started cautiously walking forward one step at a time "Kai… Why did you have to go alone? Why didn't you just let me come with you? It's just not fair… You could've just let me come with you, and you'd still be… Oh god no…" he fell to his knees in front of Kai's body What the hell did they do to you Kai? What did you do to yourself? You were my best friend… You were like a brother to me… You were all I had left… This just isn't fair… I already lost my friends… my family… my mentor… so without you here… I'm all alone…" he fell to his knees and began letting his tears run down his face as they mixed with the rainwater, then he curled up and let out several blood-curdling screams of grief, rage and hopelessness, which then turned into nothing but pure, grief-filled sobs.
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The months continued to pass, even with only one Android left, the rampage of destruction only grew even more chaotic.
Gohan sat on the bed in his room in Capsule Corp, staring up at the ceiling with a blank and emotionless expression on his face, until he heard a knock on his door "What?"
Bulma slowly made her way in "I wasn't sure if you were interested, but I made dinner if you want any."
"I'm not hungry."
"I didn't think you would be." Bulma sat down on the edge of the bed and let out a sigh "I know how you feel, I know we didn't always see eye to eye, but I miss him just as much as you do. I miss all of them."
"...Everywhere I go I still see his face, all of their faces, it's like my own mind is just outright mocking me. The whole world is asking who's gonna stop the other Android, it's like they're asking who's gonna be the next Goku. But that's just not me Bulma, I'm not my dad I'm not Kai or Piccolo, or any of them…"his voice broke into strangled sobs as he was pulled into a comforting hug by Bulma.
"Yeah that's true, you're not Goku or Piccolo, or Kai or any of them, and you're never going to be them. Nobody can live up to those guys, not even them. Kai was probably the furthest you could possibly even dream of being. Let's face it, when Kai wasn't training until his bones cracked he was a mess. He was all over the place, he second guessed a lot of the stuff he did, and he always made it look like he didn't give a shit. But there was one thing he almost always showed that he cared about, and that was his friendship with you."
"Bulma…"
"I honestly don't believe that Kai would've done what he did if he didn't know you were going to be here after he was gone. Now you listen to me Gohan, the world is still in a hell of a lot of trouble, you're all alone, you're still not strong enough to beat the last Android. So tell me, what are you going to do?"
"...Don't settle for being better when you could be the best."
"What?"
"That's what Kai always said to me, it's what we built our friendship on." Gohan wiped away his tears and tried to force a smile "Kai, Piccolo and my dad, none of them would want me to just sit around moping for the rest of my life. They would want me to keep going forward with a smile on my face and a fire in my heart, they'd want me to grow stronger and take out the last Android, and then they'd want me to follow my own path and do what makes me happy. Yeah it hurts a lot right now, and this is really hard and frustrating, but I can't and won't just sit around crying like some little kid. After all, if I don't rise up to take on the Androids, then who will?"
Bulma let out a chuckle "Yeah that's the kind of smile that Goku always had, I know he would be proud of you for moving past this. So what are you going to do?"
"I'll train harder than ever before, beyond Super Saiyan or not, and I'm going to find that Android and kick his ass."
"I meant right now, you're still down a leg."
"...Oh yeah, so-"
"I know I know, I actually finished it last night."
"I'll take it. And Bulma? Thanks."
"Sure thing kid. Now come with me, once we get that thing attached I have a secret project I've been preparing that I could use your help on."
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The weeks continued to go by.
Gohan (now with a cypernetic leg attached to his body) made his way into Bulma's workshop carrying a box over his shoulders "Alright here's it is Bulma, I've got the next round of the suppies for the legally safe knockoff of the TARDIS from Doctor Who."
"Ha ha, very funny." Bulma rolled her eyes "I know it still seems like it's crazy, but keep in mind that people thought my dad was crazy and he became the greatest inventor in the world."
"Yeah but you know the difference, he wasn't trying to pull a Doctor Who and Avengers Endgame rehash."
"He didn't have that good of a crasp of time anyhow, whenever he was working days passed by like minutes to him. Where's your pioneering spirit anyway, don't you want to help Goku and the others beat the Androids?"
"You're saying that like you're 100% positive that this is going to work, unless you can get that thing humming like the actual TARDIS I have no intention of getting my hopes up. If I have to go track down 17 by myself then I'll do it, as I am right now chances are I would easily be able to oneshot Frieza."
"The same could easily be said for the likes of Kai, Raditz, Tarble and any of them, but I think it should be obvious by now that that's not enough. If you want to get yourself killed by that Android then fine, I can take the antidote to your father myself, but if you think throwing your life away for no good reason is going to make any of them happy then you'll be in for a rude awakening on the other side!"
"Don't think you can just use Kai's name like that, he was my best friend and I won't let you use his name against me like that-"
"Attention!" a voice got their attention from the radio "We interrupt this broadcast to bring you the latest update on Android activities, Bridgetown is currently under attack, the southbound interstate is the only route of the city that hasn't been destroyed as of yet! I repeat, Brigdetown is under attack!" and then the broadcast was cut off.
"That's not too far from here."
Bulma's gaze hardened "Gohan don't tell me you're thinking about going."
"I think you already know the answer to that."
"I know how you feel, but if you just let me finish with the Time Machine."
"Bulma we don't have time for that!"
"That's what the machine is for!"
"It doesn't matter, I'm not turning my back on those people!" and with that, Gohan bolted out of the room as fast as he could.
"Gohan wait, there's still another way! Dammit Goku, why did your son have to be as stubborn as you?'
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Clad in a replica of Goku's classic gi, Gohan flashed into Super Saiyan and blasted off into the skies at full speed 'Alright this is it Android, it's just you and me. Not one death by your hands will go unaccounted for, and I'll make sure Kai's sacrifice wasn't in vain!'
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17 looked around at the city, or what was left of it, and gave a smirk of satisfaction "That's another one down, I guess I'm out of people to kill here. I might as well move onto the next city then." he prepared to blast off into the skies in search of another city, when a voice stopped him in his tracks.
"I've got a better idea." that was when Gohan dropped down behind him, his eyes blazing with golden fury "Why don't you give it a shot with me?"
"Wait a second, did you just ask me to kill you?"
"No you bastard, I'm saying that I'm here to kill you."
"Wait hold on a second, do I even know you?"
"Yes, my best friend and almost everyone I care about died because of you!"
"Oh yeah that's right, I don't give a shit." 17 blitzed in front of Gohan and dealt him a solid fist to the face, sending him crashing into the remains of a nearby building.
"Masenko!" from within the wreckage, Gohan fired a Masenko through the smoke.
17 blitzed past the Masenko and caught Gohan's fist "You think that's gonna be enough you little shit?" he sent Gohan flying with a fist to the face.
Gohan quickly skidded to a stop, then blitzed towards 17 and started firing off a rapid barrage of punches and kicks.
17 dodged and blocked every attack being thrown at him with ease "Well what do you know, it looks like someone finally hit puberty." he dealt Gohan a sharp kick to the gut, sending him skidding backwards, then blitzed in front of Gohan and dealt him a Photon Flash to the chest at point blank range, sending him flying backwards, followed by a barrage of Ki blasts, engulfing him in the explosion that followed.
Gohan blitzed through the explosion and dealt 17 a sharp kick to the face, sending him skidding backwards, and then he followed up with an Explosive Demon Wave, engulfing 17 in the explosion that followed.
When the smoke cleared, 17 was standing in the resulting crater, his clothes slightly burnt but otherwise he was unharmed "Well what the hell do you know, looks like someone got a little power boost since the last time we went at it. Not like it's gonna do you much good, but still I give you points for effort."
With his teeth grinding furiously, Gohan unleashed a rapid barrage of Ki blasts at 17, engulfing him in the ensuing explosion.
Just like before, 17 wasn't even harmed by the blasts "So are you done yet?"
'This is insane, just what the hell am I up against?'
"So are you gonna keep going or can I just finish this already?"
"Dammit, why the hell won't you just die!" Gohan fired another barrage of Ki blasts at 17 in a blind rage, engulfing 17 in yet another explosion, before he returned to the ground and fell to one knee in exhaustion 'Dammit I don't have much power left, looking back that might not have been the best idea.'
"Well doesn't this seem familiar?" 17's voice echoed hauntingly throughout the remains of the city "Looks like a certain someone "Yeah I see a few resemblences now that I think about it, but unlike those guys you're still kicking and you actually make the blonde work. I'll be sure to fix that, just give me a few minutes." that was when he burst out from a ruined building and appeared behind Gohan with a sinister smirk.
'Oh crapbaskets-' Gohan's thought were cut off by a backhanded fist to the face, sending him crashing into the building, and then a kick to the face, sending him flying backwards.
Gohan ran through the building and hid behind a wall, his mind racing 'Please don't let him find me…'
"Where is he?" 17 popped up behind Gohan, startling him "You ever think about how shadows and mirrors work kid?"
"...I don't get it."
"You don't need to." 17 promptly hit Gohan with a Photon Flash to the face, sending him flying through a wall and crashing into a ruined garden area. He landed in front of Gohan and cupped his face "Hey come on now Sunshine, give me a little sign if you're not dead yet."
Gohan let out a violent hacking cough "Dammit…"
"You see, that's a good boy."
"Why…? I don't understand… tell me… Why are you doing this…?"
"...You really want to know? Fine. The question isn't why kid, it's why not. At least, that's what it used to be. Then that little bastard went and took my sister from me. I can't take it out on him, so now I'm doing the next best thing: I'm making sure every single miserable piece of shit on this planet feels the pain and the loss of what he took from me. And then I'll make them pay for it, and they'll pay for it in their blood and screams of agony. I mean, who the hell is going to stop me? Not the great hero Son Goku that everyone always went on about, not those guys eight years ago, not that angry little shit that took my sister from me, and sure as hell not you."
"You… You won't… get away… with this…" Gohan staggered back to his feet and feebly tried firing off a few weak punches, some of them hitting but not doing anything "All of… those people… All of my friends… my family… I won't… let you… get away with this… Not while I'm… still alive…"
"You know it's kind of weird, this is a strange mix of hysterical and annoying. And now I'm bored with this." 17 threw Gohan back a short distance, then kicked him into the air, sending him crashing into the ruins of a nearby building, elbowed him in the spine, kneed him in the gut and slugged him in the face, sending him crashing to the ground and knocking him out of his Super Saiyan form.
"Wait a second, yeah I thought you looked familiar. You were that kid that showed up every now and then with the Zoro reject who never carried a sword around!" he promptly stomped down on top of Gohan's head, causing him to cry out in pain "Aww, who's a little survivor? You are, yes you are! Give me a minute, I'll be sure to fix that." he promptly fired a Phton Flash at Gohan at point blank range, engulfing him in the massive explosion that followed.
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An unknown amount of time later…
Gohan slowly regained consciousness, but cringed at the light shining over his face 'Where am I… Am I dead?'
"I know what you're thinking kid, and no you're not dead."
Gohan slowly opened his eyes and found Bulma looking over him from his bedside "Bulma… is that you…?"
"Yeah it's me Gohan, everything is going to be okay. After all, someone has to stay alive to take care of you."
"Yeah, I guess…" Gohan cringed from the pain of his wounds "I'm sorry Bulma… looks like you were right, just like always… I shouldn't have tried to take on the Android… He was way too strong… As I am right now, I don't have a chance in hell of beating him…"
"Maybe you don't, but you're still alive, and right now that's the most important thing."
"...You know what Bulma, I think I'm ready to take a trip in the Time Machine if it's ready."
"For crying out loud Gohan, you don't even know if you have any arms and legs left under that blanket but you're saying you're ready to pilot the Time Machine? We have to take this sort of thing one step at a time, right now you need to concentrate on healing for a few days and then we'll worry about sending you back in time to give the antidote to Goku."
"To my father…" Gohan let out a sigh "He was always my role model, but do you think even he would be strong enough to make a difference?"
"You should already know the answer to that, of course he can make a difference. But it's about a lot more than just how strong he is, Goku has this incredible feeling about him. When you have him around, you just know that everything is going to be okay, and it always is."
"Yeah, I guess a decade of living in the apocalypes can make someone lose sight of that sort of thing. But still, I'll get to see Kai and Piccolo and everyone else again."
"Honestly, that's part of what I'm afraid of."
"Oh come on Bulma, you can't seriously tell me you're still afraid of Piccolo."
"I never said I was afraid of him."
"You tried to ditch him to die when Namek was about to explode. Kai told me."
"...That mouthy little bastard." there was a pause, and they both shared a good laugh about that little exchange, something they both clearly needed.
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Another few weeks went by for Gohan to rest and recover, and then the day came for him to finally travel back in time.
Bulma finished spray painting the word HOPE onto the side of the time machine, then turned towards Gohan with a small fond smile "I can only imagine how proud Goku must be of you for doing this, you look exactly like he did when he was 18, it's like you're the spitting image of him from back then."
"I can only hope I'm making him proud." Gohan looked down at the bottle in his hand "So I guess this is the antidote for the Heart Virus?"
"Yeah, do me a favor and don't drop it or anything okay?"
"Yeah I know, I have to be sure to stay out of trouble while I'm over there, but in the meantime you be sure to stay out of trouble over here while I'm gone okay?"
"I can only promise to try, you know me after all."
"Yeah I do know you, and that's exactly what I'm worried about." Gohan let out a chuckle as he hopped into the cockpit of the time machine.
"I'm serious when I say this Son Gohan, you'd better come back alive."
"Yeah I know Bulma, I know. Believe me when I say that the next time you see me, there will be at least one world free of the Android menace!" and with that, the time machine started up, hovered into the air, and then disappeared in a manner similar to the TARDIS.
'Gohan, Goku, the world is counting on the two of you, so be sure you don't let us down or I'll never let you hear the end of it.'
A/N:
And with this heartbreaking chapter, we finally get to see the heartbreaking future from which Future Gohan had come, having been forced to endure the loss of almost everyone he loved, from his father to his mentor, to his best friend.
Let's face it, the History of Trunks was a masterpiece of a DBZ movie, but one thing I would prefer to see more of was how Gohan dealt with the loss of his father and all of his friends over the years before his death. That's mainly what his character arc is about, dealing with the pain of loss he's forced to endure, and how Kai, his best friend and one of the few people he has left, is going to help him through it, even in death.
If Gohan seems out of character in this chapter, then think about all of this from his perspective. His father died from a heart virus and he can't bring him back, then his mentor and almost all of his friends died while he was helpless to do anything about it. And then seven years later, he loses his best friend to these monsters, one of the few people he had left in the world. How could anyone not break from dealing with the pain of that much loss?
Power levels:
Future Gohan: 3.2 million
Future Gohan (post 1 year training): 3.6 million
Super Saiyan Future Gohan: 160 million
Super Saiyan Future Gohan (post 1 year training): 180 million
Future Kai: 8.5 million
Future Kai (post 1 year training): 9 million
Future Kai (Namek-Ken 20x): 170 million
Future Kai (post 1 year training Namek-Ken 20x): 180 million
Future Kai (self destruct attack): 450 million
Future Android 17: 380 million
Future Android 18: 370 million