Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ The Chosen One ❯ Chapter Nineteen ( Chapter 19 )

The Chosen One

Chapter Nineteen

Dr. Brief was relaxing in the courtyard on a lawn chair after a hard day's work. His wife came out of the complex with a tray with lemonade and some cookies. As he sat up to accept the goods, something in the sky began to glow. The glow gave way to a machine of sorts. The machine landed in front of the scientist and his wife and the canopy opened. A young man with a bowl-cut of lavender hair, a blue Capsule Corporation jacket, black pants, and a sword strapped to his back emerged. He looked at the startled scientist, smiled, and said, "Hi, Grandpa!"

"Sitting on a park bench -

Eyeing little girls with bad intent

Snot running down his nose -

Greasy fingers smearing shabbed clothes"

Gohan walked into Android 17's room and switched off the stereo. "Jethro Tull? At a dance? You can't be serious."

"Hey, what's wrong with Jethro Tull?" Android 17 asked.

"Nothing, but it's completely inappropriate for a dance," Gohan answered. "You have a disco ball, right? Then play disco songs." Gohan reached into Android 17's CD barracks and pulled out a disc entitled "Party Fever." Gohan scanned the songs.

"YMCA, Electric Slide, I Will Survive . . . Sev, this CD is perfect! Use this one!"

"Hold the phone," Android 17 interrupted. "Either my hearing sensors are malfunctioning or you just called me 'Sev.'"

Gohan shrugged, apparently looking for something in particular. "Ah-HA!" He pulled out "Saturday Night Fever" and handed it to Android 17. "You'd be hard-pressed to find a better CD for dances than this one! About two-thirds of the songs here are perfect! And here's two more!" He pulled out the "greatest hits" CDs for Barry Manilow and K.C. and the Sunshine Band.

"How about some stuff more contemporary?" Android 17 asked.

"Sure, why not?" Gohan pulled out a couple of rap CDs and put them on the ever-growing pile. "Just don't play too many rap songs. The kids' energy will fizzle out in twenty minutes."

"So, what I'm trying to do here is to tire everyone out?" Android 17 asked.

"Well, when they begin to tire out, play a slow song," Gohan answered. "The boys and girls will pair off with each other and have a song or two to catch their breath."

Android 17 bent down and pulled out a CD. "Sev, what are you doing?" Gohan demanded. "'Frampton Comes Alive!' may be the best-selling live album of all time, but it's not appropriate dance music!"

"Be quiet for a second," Android 17 said. "I want you to listen." In a matter of moments, "Baby, I Love Your Way" began playing.

"Good! Now you're getting the hang of it!"

"Gohan, I had the hang of it." He procured a sheet of paper. "This is my playlist for the dance. I already have it set." He handed the paper to Gohan.

"Oh. I'm sorry, 17," Gohan responded. "If you knew what you were doing all along, then why on earth were you playing 'Aqualung?'"

"I felt like it," Android 17 responded. "I am allowed to play what I want just to listen, aren't I?" Android 17 removed the CD from his system and put it back in its case. He then pulled out another CD. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to listen to 'Stairway to Heaven.'"

No sooner had Gohan walked out into the hall than he heard King Kai's voice inside his head. "Gohan! Can you hear me?"

Gohan smiled. "Sure can, King Kai," he said.

"Gohan, go back to Capsule Corporation on Earth for a moment," King Kai said. "There's someone there you'll want to see. Oh, and bring Bulma and Vegeta with you, too."

Gohan, Bulma, and Vegeta materialized in the courtyard of the Capsule Corporation complex. "Hey, dad, how's it going?"

"Bulma?" Dr. Brief turned around to face his daughter. "And Gohan and Vegeta? I thought you all went off into space!"

"We did," Gohan said, "but King Kai told us there's someone here who we should see."

"Ah, yes, of course!" Dr. Brief answered. "Speak of the devil, here he comes now!" The visitor walked up to them, a huge smile on his face. Vegeta's eyes widened.

"TRUNKS!"

"Hey, how have you guys been?" Trunks asked. "Gohan, you've definitely grown!"

"Actually, we were off in outer space when King Kai told us that someone was here that we'd want to see," Gohan said.

"Outer space?" Trunks asked. "What were you guys doing out there?"

"Well, it's kind of a long story," Gohan explained, just as a loud rumbling noise issued from his stomach. "But can we eat first? I'm starving!"

Vegeta sighed and shook his head. "Gohan, I swear, you're becoming more like your father every day," Bulma remarked.

". . . so we're waiting for our ship to be repaired on the planet Gabria," Gohan finished.

"Wow, it seems like you really have a task ahead of you this time," Trunks said.

"So, what happened back in your time?" Bulma asked.

Trunks grinned. "I finally defeated the androids!"

"Awesome!" Gohan exclaimed.

"But what about Cell?" Bulma asked. "Did he try to steal your time machine like he did to get here?"

"Yeah, he tried," Trunks said, "but seeing as I had already destroyed the androids, he was no threat to me whatsoever."

"Well, I'm glad to see you brought your sword with you," Bulma said. "You see, the Roxians are weak against iron-based weapons. Just one cut can kill them."

"Hang on," Trunks said. "Are you saying you want me to come with you?"

"Yeah!" Gohan exclaimed, jumping up. "The more, the merrier! What do you think?"

Trunks turned his attention toward Vegeta. "What do you think, Father?"

"I don't see any reason why not," Vegeta said. "Just don't get yourself killed again."

Trunks grinned. "No problem."

"Oh, one more thing," Gohan added. "Androids 16, 17, and 18 are traveling with us. Can you put up with them?"

"I thought Cell destroyed Android16."

"We brought him back with the Namekian Dragon Balls, as per 18's request," Gohan said. "I'm sure I mentioned it."

"Oh, well, I must have missed it," Trunks responded. "The androids in this time are different than the androids in my time were, right? I should have no problem."

"All right, then," Gohan said. "Just grab my shoulder." The four of them disappeared from the room.

Gohan sat up. It was another one of those nights where it looked like he wouldn't get any sleep. Quietly, he pulled on a leather jacket and a pair of jeans and made his way out of his room and and into the courtyard.

Gohan looked at the night sky. He was surprised at how clear it was, for it was never this clear back on Earth. He was even more surprised when he saw a few constellations he recognized; however, they were in different locations. The Big Dipper was close to the horizon, with the Little Dipper close to it. There was a full moon (Gohan was glad that Vegeta had permanently removed his tail all those years ago) and it was the size of a cereal bowl. He looked into the pond at its reflection and noticed the silhouettes of fish swimming around.

"It's nice, isn't it?" said a voice behind him.

Gohan jumped and turned around to see Sephra wearing a jacket over her nightgown. "How come you're not asleep?" Sephra asked.

"I could ask you the same thing," Gohan responded. "I couldn't sleep. I seem to have insomnia from time to time, so I figured I'd take a walk instead of making futile attempts to go to sleep."

"Insomnia, huh?" Sephra gazed out across the pond. "I just finished my homework, and I figured I'd take a walk before going to sleep. After all, I can sleep in, since tomorrow is a Saturday."

"No, tomorrow is a Sunday," Gohan responded. "Saturday began five minutes ago."

"Must you be so exact?"

"Exact? And here I was, thinking I was being politically correct . . . But being politically correct is irritating at best."

"I assume your mother makes you be politically correct?" Sephra guessed.

"You got that right. One time, I came home from a summer class and told her that one kid in my class wanted to be a policeman or a fireman. She said that I meant to say police officer or firefighter. I responded, 'No, Mom, he knows what gender he wants to be, he just doesn't know what career he wants.'" He chuckled. "Man, I really got walloped with the frying pan for that."

"Your mother hits you with a frying pan when you misbehave?" Sephra gasped, appalled.

Gohan shrugged. "When you reach my level of strength, not much can hurt you. Besides, usually she yells at me if I do something out of line." Gohan reached out to a tree limb and took a caterpillar in his hand. Immediately he heard a shriek and he turned around to find Sephra several feet away. "What's wrong?" Gohan asked.

"How can you - put that disgusting thing back!" Sephra exclaimed, pointing at Gohan's hand.

Gohan reached over and put the caterpillar back in the tree. "Sorry, little guy," he said. Sephra came back over but did not sit. "What's wrong? It was only a harmless little caterpillar."

"Just - keep bugs away from me! Ugh!"

Gohan blinked. "Oh, I get it. You're afraid of insects. I didn't realize that you had a phobia."

"Doesn't everyone?" Sephra asked.

"I don't," Gohan answered. "But you're almost right. It seems like amost everyone I know has some sort of phobia, including my father." He laughed. "You know what his fear was? Shots."

"Shots?" Sephra repeated. "You mean like vaccines and stuff?"

"Yep," Gohan answered. "It's hard to believe that a guy as strong as my dad was mortified of getting an injection." He laughed. "In fact, when we were on Namek, Vegeta showed us to a rejuvenation tank on Frieza's ship. At one point, he cleared a whole bunch of stuff off of a table. Krillin and I were holding up Dad since his body had taken a beating in the fight against Ginyu. He opened an eye and saw a hypodermic needle glistening on the floor and he went ballistic! He had almost no energy, but he somehow got the energy to try to run away, screaming that he'd rather be sick than get a shot. Vegeta shouted at him that he wasn't going to give my dad a shot, and he immediately calmed down."

Sephra laughed. "It sounds as though your father was a real character."

"Yeah, he was," Gohan said. "His naivete often got him into trouble, especially when he and Piccolo went for their driver's licenses. Actually, my mom made them go for their driver's licenses."

"How did she make Piccolo go for his license?"

"Dad dragged him into it." Gohan laughed at the memory. "Mom was yelling at him for not having a license, so for comparison, he asked Piccolo if he had one. Piccolo's reaction was classic. He had been leaning against a tree, care free, but when my dad asked him that question, he shot up, stiffened, and yelled, 'Leave me outta this!'

"Dad really had no idea what he was doing. He slammed down the accelerator at first, and when his instructor told him to cut the ignition, he cut off the steering wheel!" He had to pause for a moment because he was laughing too hard. "So finally, my dad got on the correct side of the road but still didn't know how to slow down. He flew past Piccolo, who had been doing extremely well, when he made a huge mistake: he yelled, 'Eat my dust, Piccolo!' as he flew by."

Sephra took a moment to stop laughing. "What did Piccolo do after that?"

"He yelled, 'IS THAT A CHALLENGE? 'CAUSE IF IT'S A RACE YOU WANT, THEN IT'S A RACE YOU'LL GET!!' After that, it all went downhill. They failed the test and had to face the wrath of my mother.

"'FAILED THE TEST?! You mean to tell me that you two muscle-heads couldn't even pass a simple driver's test?!' Dad just nodded, and my mom does what she always does in traumatic situations: she fainted. 'Chi-chi! Wake up! Oh, was it something I said?'"

Sephra was laughing so hard that tears were rolling down to cheeks. Gohan smiled wistfully and said, "Yeah, but he was a genius wen it came to fighting. I guess it was his Saiyan nature. He was always totally calm and in control when he was on the battlefield. The only time I saw him furious on the battlefield was when he turned into a Super Saiyan immediately after Frieza killed Krillin.

"My dad never lost when all the cards were down. He took on one villain after another and pulled out the victory. Except . . ." Gohan's eyes began to water over.

"Cell was the exception. He knew I had the strength to defeat him, but he didn't realize that I disdain fighting. I tried to talk Cell out of the madness by telling him about my hidden powers, but it backfired in my face. Because of the Saiyan cells within him, Cell couldn't resist a challenge. He tried to awaken my hidden power by beating it out of me. When that didn't work, he spawned seven miniature monsters to attack my friends. I didn't want to let my anger consume me, or I could easily blow up the planet. Then, Hercule Satan threw Android 16's head to me. He told me to let go of my anger and that it was not a sin to fight for the right cause. Then, Cell stepped on his head.

"Android 16's dying words, not to mention his own death, had the effect of throwing gasoline on the fire of my anger. I exploded with rage which carried me to a new level of strength. I had Cell down for the count with just two blows. At one point, I kicked Cell in the stomach so hard that he regurgitated Android 18 and regressed to his previous form. Then, he activated his self-destruct sequence and . . . and . . ." Gohan's words gave way to sobs. He then felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Gohan, it's all right," Sephra said soothingly.

"No, it's not," Gohan sobbed. "It's my fault that my dad died. If I hadn't decided to make Cell suffer . . . If I had listened to my dad and finished him off quickly . . . he'd still be alive . . ."

"Gohan, don't blame it all on yourself,"Sephra said. "From what I've heard, a lot of people share blame. Krillin, for destroying the remote; Vegeta, for letting Cell absorb Android 18; and Android 17, for not heeding Android 16's warning. But it seems the source of this would be Dr. Gero. After all, he was responsible for creating Cell."

"It goes even further back," Gohan said. "When my dad destroyed the old Red Ribbon Army, he allowed Dr. Gero to escape. If he had stopped him then and there, none of this would have happened. Trunks never would have had to endure seventeen years of terror in his timeline. That was my dad's only true flaw in battle. He let his emotions cloud his judgment. Dr. Gero, Raditz, Vegeta, Frieza . . . He tried to give thm all a second chance, but each one used it to attack him, with the exception of Vegeta. Of course, Vegeta was too weak to fight back, and Krillin was threatening Vegeta with Yajirobe's sword. Still, it's just . . ."

"Just what?" Gohan did not respond; instead, his head began to droop and his body leaned on Sephra. He had fallen asleep. Sephra closed her own eyes and soon she was also asleep.

". . . We're a lot alike, you know," Bulma commented.

"How so?" Android 18 asked.

"We both have unusual love interests. We both could get virtually any guy we want."

"Well, our interests are total opposites," remarked 18.

"Yeah, tell me about it," Bulma responded. "I mean, Krillin isn't the best-looking guy, but he's still a great person. Vegeta, on the other hand, looks all right, but, as Krillin once put it, has the personality of a stump."

Android 18 put up a hand to silence Bulma. She pointed to where Gohan and Sephra were asleep on the bench.

"Oh, isn't that cute?" Bulma whispered.

"Yeah, I guess," Android 18 responded. She then shook her head. "Sheesh. Listen to me. I must be getting soft. Finding one of 16's squirrel friends in my hand, finding myself interested in Krillin, and now I think Gohan and his little girlfriend asleep on the bench is cute."

"Relax, 18," Bulma said. "You're just becoming, little by little, more ladylike. Would you rather be like your brother?"

"I guess you're right," Android 18 admitted. "The last thing this universe needs is another 17."

Bulma continued to look at the two sleeping teenagers. "You know, they're perfect for each other. Usually, Gohan is extremely tense around girls his age. He's afraid of messing up in front of them. Sephra is the first girl with whom Gohan seems fairly relaxed. He needs to learn to just be himself, and the girls will be fighting each other to date him. Speaking of which, you know who has shown an interest in Gohan?"

"Who?" Android 18 asked.

"Do you know who Hercule Satan is?"

Android 18 nodded. "He's the idiot who stole all the credit for destroying Cell."

"Well, his daughter seems to be interested in him."

Android 18's eyes widened. "You must be kidding!"

"I'm not kidding! She really likes to boss him around and criticize him over the smallest things."

Android 18 smiled. "Sounds like another woman I know."

"Excuse me?!"

"I'm talking about the kid's mother," Android 18 quickly responded.

Bulma laughed. "Isn't that the truth. You know, she would . . ." Bulma's voice then faded away as the two women walked away.