Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Loss and Power ❯ a life without family ( Chapter 3 )

A Life Without Family?

 

 

 

“Your wish… cannot be granted.”

 

I stood there as my heart sank. My parents, they were truly gone. I was alone, save for my brother.

 

“Gohan, I think now would be a good time to tell you something.” Piccolo said in an unwavering tone. “Do you remember the heart virus that Goku got during the fight with the androids?”

 

My mind went crazy thinking back to the time when 17 and 18 were terrorizing the planet. Dad had started fighting, but then he became violently ill. Coming back to the here and now I nodded my head.

 

“Your mother caught it too. It worked differently in her because she was human. Instead of hitting hard and fast it weakened her heart. She had to take a stimulant twice a day to function normally. When Radditz knocked her out her heart must have given out. She came to me because she didn't want to worry you or anyone else for that matter. I'm sorry Gohan.”

 

I starred blankly into the distance as I listen to his explanation of my mother's condition. I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe I was actually without parents. I fell to my knees and broke down. All the tears I had held in over the years came flooding out of me like a dam had just broke. Goten also broke down but nowhere near as badly as I did. Everyone just stood around us not knowing how to comfort us. The women in the group started crying and clung to their husbands.

 

“Hi guys.” My father's voice rang out from everywhere.

 

“Dad?” I said not wanting to get my hopes up.

 

“Yes Gohan it's me. I feel for your loss and I want you to know that I am proud of you. You handled yourself well against Radditz. Although I thought you went a little far in destroying him completely, I can understand that you were also blinded by rage.”

 

“Is mom there with you yet?” I asked knowing that she would probably be able to keep her body after death.

 

“No not yet. King Kai is on his way to King Yemma's palace to get her.”

 

“Then how are you talking with us if King Kai is not there?” I asked.

 

“Oh I forgot, King Kai is not the only Kai. There are actually five Kais. One of the other Kais is letting me use him to talk to you. I know that you want me to come back but I can't leave your mother here without first helping her settle in. I want you to know that I am proud of both you and Goten. Try not to let our deaths drag you down Gohan. Use them to get stronger for both your sake as well as for your brothers.”

 

“I will dad. I will.” With that the only sounds were those of the women crying and the wind.

 

“Bulma, can Goten stay with you for a while? I need to sort some things out and need some time alone.” I asked turning to face Vegeta and Bulma.

 

“Sure Gohan. I'm sorry for your loss.” She said wiping tears from her face.

 

“Thanks Bulma.” I then turned to Goten. “ Goten I need you to stay with Bulma and Trunks while I figure out what we are going to do.”

 

“What is your wish? You have kept me waiting long enough.” The dragon said starting to get impatient.

 

“Does anyone have a wish they want to make?” I asked not being able to think of one.

 

“I do” 18 said timidly. “Dragon I wish to be able to bear children naturally.”

 

“Your wish has been granted. Till the next summoning.” With that the dragon balls rose into the air and scattered back across the earth.

 

18 looked at Krillen mischievously as the rest of us could just imagine what was going to happen in their house tonight. Everyone started laughing at the sight of Krillen blushing so hard his face rivaled the color of the blood within his veins. I took a few steps forward and hugged my brother goodbye. As soon as I released him I took Vegeta aside and spoke with him privately.

 

“Don't go too hard on him but I do want you to train him. I want him to be able to defend himself. I have a feeling that Radditz being alive isn't just a coincidence.” I said in a serious tone.

 

“Don't worry I'll train him.” He said in his usual tone of voice.

 

He held out his arm and I grasped it. My hand was wrapped just short of his elbow. We shook our arms once then released our grip on each other's arms and I ran off of the lookout. I flew to Videl's house to let her know that I wasn't going to be around for a while. As I landed in her front yard I noticed that they didn't have any guards.

 

I walked up to the front door and knocked a few times. While I stood there waiting I noticed how late in the day it was. The sun was just setting and it was starting to get dark outside. After a few minutes a butler opened the door.

 

“Yes, sir may I help you?” the butler said with a thick British accent.

 

“Is Videl home? I need to talk with her.”

 

“Please come in and wait here.” He said motioning for me to stay in the foyer as he disappeared into a side door.

 

I took stock of the inside of her house it was huge. Three-foot thick roman columns lined the room. A big spiral staircase led upstairs to a balcony hallway. The ceiling had to be at least fifty-feet tall. Rich hardwood floors were covered in places by earthy colored rugs. The foyer alone was the size of a large ballroom and this was only a small portion of the house.

 

My musings were cut short as none other than Hercule himself came into the room followed by the butler that had let me in.

 

“What business do you have with my daughter wimp?”

 

“Hercule, I am in no mood to play these games with you right now. Or do I need to show you who I am from your claim to fame?” I said my voice deathly calm and icy.

 

“Humph, I didn't claim fame it was given to me because of my actions and you have no business with my daughter until you can beat me in a match.”

 

I transformed into my super Sayajin state and walked calmly over to him. “Recognize me now coward? Tell me seen any talking heads lately?”

 

Fear radiated from his eyes as he realized who I was. To say he was scared was a gross understatement the sudden smell of feces told me that much. The butler standing behind him fainted.

 

“So “champ” lets have a match. That way I can actually have some business with your daughter. Or do you yield from your arrogance and let me talk to your daughter?”

 

Hercule couldn't say anything all he did was nod. I powered down to my normal state as I walked towards the stairs.

 

“Can I go up or are you going to send someone for her?” I asked my voice a little less harsh.

 

“You can go on up she's the last door on the left down the left hall.” He said still scared stiff.

 

I walked up to the door and knew she was in her room. I knocked three times and waited. I could feel her ki stirring as she walked to the door. As she opened the door her eyes went wide in shock. Her father never let boys into the house let alone let them go to her room.

 

“Gohan? What are you doing here? Does my father know you are here?” she asked still not believing that I was actually standing at her bedroom door.

 

“The answers to those questions in order are: yes, to talk to you, and yes.”

 

She stared at me like I was insane but motioned for me to enter her room. As I looked around I found a rather nicely decorated room, not frilly and pink like others that I had seen. Her room had different shades of maroon and forest green with gold highlights. The walls were a deep, calming, maroon while he bedspread was forest green with a gold border. On the floor was a rug with all three colors playing throughout the design.

 

“So what did you want to see me about?” she asked trying to fish for a complement.

 

“I came to tell you two things that are rather depressing.” I said trying to hold back the tears threatening to spill forth.

 

She sat down on the side of her bed and motioned for me to do the same with concern in her eyes.

 

As I sat down I steeled my self for the torrent of emotions that were sure to follow. “My mother just died.”

 

As soon as the words left my mouth a tear fell from my right eye followed by another. And another. Soon they were flowing like an unstoppable river down both my cheeks. I cradled my face in my hands as I cried. A gentle hand rested on my back as Videl tried to comfort me. She wrapped her arms around me as I wrapped mine around her. I stopped crying a few moments later and we broke the embrace.

 

“You said you had something else to tell me. What is it?” she said hoping it wasn't what she thought it was.

 

“I'm leaving the area for a while. I don't know when I'll be back but I will be back.” I said trying not to make things too hard on her.

 

I stood up and started towards the door of her bedroom as I felt her hand wrap around my wrist.

 

“What about Goten? Is he going with you? Is he even alive? Where are you going to go?”

 

I raised my hand to signal her to stop her torrent of questions. “Goten is fine. He will be staying with the Briefs at Capsule Corp. till I get back. I don't know where I am going to go but I need to be by myself for a while to sort things out.” I moved closer to her and cupped the side of her face in my right hand. “I will be back. I promise you that.” I gave her cheek a caring rub and then left the house. Barely getting outside before I blasted off at top speed towards the lookout.

 

Landing at the lookout I saw Piccolo standing there holding my mother's material body in his arms. I walked over to him and he offered me her body. I took it from him and thanked him and Dende. I flew back to the house my mother had been in only this morning. Walking behind the house I used my bare hands to dig a grave for my mother's body. When I was done I was covered head to toe in dirt but I had a grave six-feet deep by three feet long by five and a half feet long. I gently laid my mother's body into the grave I had dug and began to fill it back in. Once I was done I went into a nearby cave and used my ki sight ability to locate a chunk of quartz large enough to be made into a gravestone. Finding one I reinforced my fists with ki and started to pulverize the rock in-between the chunk of quartz and myself.

 

Finally pulling the chunk of light pink quartz from the cave I walked back to the grave I made for my mother. I used ki beams to cut and shape the quartz into a headstone and wrote a message on it. Once I was done I anchored the gravestone into the ground at the head of the fresh mound of dirt that was the grave and flew off. The gravestone said:

 

Here lays Chichi

Goodbye to a wonderful mother.
She lived a long and wonderful life, and was loved
by all who knew her. She will be dearly missed,
but will live on in our hearts for generations

 

 

Tears were falling from me as I flew off into the darkness that was the night. The hardest thing I had ever had to do wasn't beating some tyrant bent on world domination, or the unattainable goals others set for his life. It was having to burry my own mother with my bare hands. To finally say goodbye to the one person who had pushed me to be more than just a mindless fighter, to say good by to the last shred of my human heritage.

 

Two years later (Goten's pov)

 

It's been two years to the day since my brother disappeared and my mother died. I flew back to the house my family used to live in. walking up to the grave that my brother had made I laid a bouquet of roses next to a bouquet of wildflowers that was already there. I noticed that the area around the grave had been tended to recently. All of these things led me to one conclusion: Gohan had been here recently.

 

I hurried back to the Brief's house to finish training for the tournament tomorrow. Trunks, Vegeta and I were going to enter, but Trunks and I couldn't enter the adult division of the tournament because of our age. That was so unfair. Just because we are young shouldn't mean that we can't compete in the adult division. The children's division would come down to Trunks and me.

 

After getting our butts handed to us by Vegeta during our sparring match, we all headed inside the house for dinner. Bulma may not be as good a cook as my mother was, but she sure can cook a lot of food faster than my mother could. The only sounds heard during dinner were slurps, burps, and grunts as food was disappearing left and right.

 

After dinner it was customary for everyone to meet in the living room for family time. Bulma always started this off by asking how their day was.

 

“So how was everyone's day?” asked Bulma in a chipper voice.

 

“Woman you ask that every day. You pretty much know how our day went. We were all training for the tournament tomorrow.” Vegeta snapped.

 

“Well maybe I want to hear that from everyone.” She fired back putting her hands on her hips.

 

I sat in a chair out of the way and got lost in my thoughts. I was thinking about my brother. `What was he doing now? Does he even remember me? Has he moved on with his life? Should I forget about him and accept my new life with the Briefs'?' I was torn form my thoughts by a hand on my shoulder.

 

“Are you ok Goten?” Bulma asked with concern in her voice.

 

“Yeah, just thinking about Gohan.” I said in a sad voice and looking at the floor at my feet.

 

The room got eerily quiet. Every one wondered what had happened to my brother but no one knew for sure. I had snuck out a few times the first year I stayed with the Briefs to look for Gohan but I always returned empty handed.

 

“Goten, your brother loves you very much but he needs to find himself before he can help you. He needed to be alone to do this.” Bulma said placing a comforting hand on my back.

 

“How do you know this Bulma? How do you know that he still loves me? That he still wants me as a brother?” I asked as tears started to form in my eyes.

 

“Because he's communicated with me. He knew that if he contacted you directly you would want to go with him and he needed to figure some things out for himself.”

 

“He would have been right. I would have wanted to follow him. I'm sorry for the trouble I caused you and your family, Bulma. I think I'll go to bed early. I need to be well rested for the tournament tomorrow.” I said as I turned to go to my room.

 

I walked in silence. Finally reaching my room I noticed a note on the desk. I walked over to the note and carefully picked it up. Opening the folds a note was written:

 

I know the past two years have been hard on you little bro.

But I assure you we will be together soon. Till then.

 

Gohan.

 

At first I thought that Bulma had written the note but then I spotted the secret ki signature on the note that only my brother knew about. It had to be my brother. A smile crept over my face. My brother was coming for me soon and I would not disappoint him. I would show him that I was strong and worthy of his affection and the name Son.

 

I slept hard that night dreaming about the reunion with my brother. Morning came too quickly for my tastes but I was ready for it nonetheless. I hurried to the breakfast table and ate my share of the meal. We walked into the city for the tournament a lot of people came to the tournament, some to see how good they really are, and some to just watch the show. As we approached the tournament grounds we met up with Yamcha, Krillen and 18, who was holding a baby.

 

“Hey 18, what's with the baby?” I asked staring at the sleeping form in her arms.

 

“Everyone I would like you to meet my daughter Marron.” She said with obvious pride.

 

Everyone's mouths dropped in shock except for Krillen and 18.

 

“Would all potential competitors please sign in now? This is the last call for competitors.”

 

“I'll have to catch up on that later I've got to go register. See you later guys.” I said running off followed by Vegeta and Trunks.

 

I walked up to the registration office and filled out the necessary paper work along with Trunks. Vegeta quickly filled out the paperwork for the adult division and began to size up his competition. Trunks and I walked into the child's division competitor's area and began to stretch and warm up. Since there weren't as many children competitors all who signed up got to fight.

 

A group of older boys were standing in the corner looking over the people they thought they were going to have to beat in order to take home the trophy. I could hear them labeling each and every kid there. That is until they came to Trunks and myself. We weren't largely muscled but we were well built for our age. The largest among them walked up to us and started to examine us.

 

“You know you don't have a chance.” He said with arrogance. “I have won this tournament since I have entered it at the age of 8.”

 

“We'll just have to change that won't we Goten?” Trunks said not turning to address the boy.

 

“Yea although he might prove to be a descent warm up though.” I said looking at the boy who was now getting upset.

 

“Would all competitors for the children's division please make their way out to the ring?”

 

“Finally” Trunks and I said in unison.

 

We both walked out to the arena and followed the official's instructions. After a boring reminder of the rules we got to see whom we were fighting. Trunks got the first match and with the arrogant boy that had won every year. `Now, to see how good this guy really is.' I thought.

 

Trunks made his way into the ring casually as his opponent strutted confidently into the ring. As the reigning champ squared off against Trunks, Trunks just stood there not bothering to get into a stance. The bell rung and the match began as the reigning champ came at Trunks full force. Unfortunately for him Trunks was way faster and dodged each blow effortlessly.

 

“If this is the best you have you are about to be dethroned.” Trunks said dodging a set of punches.

 

The soon to be former champ was sweating profusely. You could tell he was giving it his all but still couldn't come close to hitting Trunks. Finally out of sheer boredom Trunks hit the boy out of the ring and into the guard wall creating a permanent indentation of the boys figure into the concrete. The other boys that had been around the now former champ now scattered like roaches that had been exposed to light. The rest of the competitors were frightened and most dropped out or were pulled out by their parents. I was just sitting on a bench watching the entire event unfold laughing hysterically at the useless efforts the boy had made to try and hit Trunks.

 

It was now down to three people. Trunks, A boy by the name of Toma, and myself were all that was left of over a dozen people who signed up. Since Trunks had already fought I got to face Toma. He was a well-built boy with spiked black hair. He wore a black spandex body suit with a fur belt wrapped around his waist. We both walked calmly to the center of the ring and assumed our fighting positions. What was odd was that the position Toma took was almost identical to Vegeta's fighting stance.

 

“Where did you learn to fight?” I asked while waiting for the bell to ring.

 

“My father taught me. He's in the adult division.” He said smiling.

 

Ding

 

We both disappeared and then reappeared exchanging blows. We were moving almost too fast for human eyes to keep up. We exchanged a flurry of punches but neither of us could land a blow. We either dodged or one of our blows met the others'. We both sent a hard blow at each other but our fists collided with each other sending us flying to opposite sides of the arena.

 

“You fight better than these humans. I could tell the other one was one of the ones I was looking for but to find out that there are two young Sayajins is quite a shock.” Toma said relaxing from his fighting stance and began to walk back to the center of the ring. “I know you are holding back on me. Which means that you are stronger than I am. Therefore I yield the match.”

 

I was shocked. I was holding back but I wasn't shocked at that. I was shocked that he not only knew what a Sayajin was but he had correctly identified Trunks and I as Sayajins. Toma and I slowly left the ring and headed back to the locker room to cool down before the next match.

 

“How do you know about the Sayajins?” I asked my tone was serious.

 

His only response was unraveling what I had first assumed had been a belt to reveal that it was in fact a tail. After waving it around in front of me he wrapped it back around his waist.

 

“I know you and Trunks aren't the only Sayajins here. But without your tails it makes identifying them much more difficult.”

 

“Oh. How did you survive the destruction of planet Vegeta? I thought Frieza destroyed it?”

 

“No one knows. My father remembers dieing along with the planet but then he and the rest of the Sayajin race were resurrected on another planet about 23 years after planet Vegeta exploded. We also learned that Frieza had been killed along with his brother and father. That was 11 years ago. Since then we have been training. We heard that King Vegeta had survived and was last seen in this area.”

 

I listened to the explanation and put together what had happened. After Frieza had died they wished that everyone that Frieza had killed be revived. I didn't want to tell him about the dragon balls for fear that he would let the others he might have with him about them.

 

“That is interesting. What do you plan to do when you find the King?” I asked.

 

“Bring him back to his thrown so that he may take his rightful place as the ruler of the Sayajin race.” He said with pride.

 

“Would Trunks Briefs and Goten Son please report to the ring?” the announcers voice boomed over the speakers.

 

“Well got to go need to finish the tournament. I'll see you around.”

 

I ran out to the arena and quickly got into position. I knew this was going to be a good match.

 

DING

 

Trunks and I disappeared moving so fast we were on the edge of creating sonic booms with just our movements. When we were close enough I told Trunks that we couldn't go super because there were other Sayajins here and we wanted to keep that a secret. He acknowledged and we continued to exchange a flurry of punches and kicks. I finally got the upper hand as I used the after image technique to make Trunks think I was in front of him when I was really behind him. I planted a solid kick to the small of his back sending him bouncing across the arena. Chasing after him he barely avoided a leg sweep and I almost didn't have enough time to block a roundhouse aimed for my head.

 

We continued the onslaught of punches and kicks, trying to find a weakness in the others form. But none could be found. I tried to get an edge by head butting Trunks but he fired an energy wave directly at the ground and I had too much momentum to stop and flew right trough it. Although the blast wasn't enough to really harm me it was enough to disorient me. I couldn't stop in time and touched the stands.

 

“Ring out.” The official stated raising his hand to signal the end of the match. “The winner of the children's division is Trunks Briefs.”

 

I jumped back into the ring and walked over to Trunks. We shook hands as a sign of good sportsmanlike conduct.

 

I was bummed that I had lost in such a manner but I knew that it was a risk I needed to take. Oh well now its time for the adult division tryouts. I walked over to the area where the tryouts were to be held and found that they weren't going to be matches but tests of fighting ability.

 

There were five machines lined up in a row each one identical to the next. They had large rectangular bodies with a single padded circle coming out of one end with a digital readout just above it.

 

“Here is how this is going to work.” Said a man in an official's uniform. “This machine measures your strength. One at a time you will approach one of the machines and hit the padded circle the display will then display a set of numbers this is your strength on our scale. Anyone with a score of less than seventy-five will automatically be disqualified. Now the reigning champ will be the first to test his strength.”

 

Hercule strutted up to one of the machines and tossed back his cape in a dramatic manner and let out a yell as he punched the padded circle. The display jumped to life as it displayed his strength. It read one hundred twenty-five a respectable number by human standards.

 

“Ha, I hope you wimps can get at least one hundred so it will be a half way descent fight.” Hercule said as he walked off waving to the crowd.

 

“And now lets get started.” Said the announcer. The rest of the competitors lined up in front of one of the machines and waited for their turn. Vegeta was one of the first to approach the machines. The next line over there was another man dressed in a green fighting gi and had a beard. On the other side of him was a man dressed in a blue spandex body suit with what I knew to be a tail wrapped around his waist. Simultaneously those three machines were hit and destroyed. In a shocking display of raw power most of the other competitors ran for their lives. However the three just looked at each other and smiled. A few minutes later another one of the machines was destroyed as another competitor hit it too hard.

 

`This may be an interesting tournament this year.' I thought `I wonder who the man in the middle is.' I guessed that the man in the blue spandex was Toma's father.

 

“I don't know what to say. Four of the competitors just destroyed the testers.” The announcer said with shock and fear in his voice. “The names of the four that did that are Vegeta Briefs, Tora, Appan, and Nogah Nos. Most of the competitors have fled the area. However there are still enough competitors to continue the tournament.”

 

He paused for the crowd to cheer at the fact that the tournament wasn't going to be canceled for lack of competitors. Only one other stayed a rather large burly man with short black hair. He wore a wife beater shirt and a pair of loose black jeans.

 

“And now here are the match lineups. First up is Vegeta vs. Appan, then it is Nogah vs. Tora.”

 

With the emergence of these new powerful people I thought back to what Toma told me. Maybe these other two were the Sayajins they were looking for. I sat back and got ready to enjoy the tournament, as it would be one for the history books.