The Year Hope Died

Gohan Son in his ten years of life had never truly grasped the true horror of fighting and war. It was true he didn’t have the thrill of battle like his father did, nor was he adversed to it until his mother began pounding it into his head about avoiding fights.

None of his battles could prepare him for the day the androids came. Not the Sayains, not even Frieza and the minions he had had fought.

Unfortunately, Gohan was no stranger to death at his young age. He had witnessed it a far too many times a child his age should have. The first time had been when Tien and his friend had died before his friend and master Piccolo gave his life for his.

Then he had witnessed more cruel death by Frieza’s forces on the Namek’s before his best friend Krillin was brutally murdered.

Even then, the death he saw in the cities was too much. Gohan had never seen so many bodies and senseless violence in his short life until the androids had been slaughtering everything in their way. If they wanted, they could have easily destroyed the planet but instead they took absolute perverse pleasure in taking their time hunting victims.

The demi Sayain didn’t know where they came from and he didn’t care; he just wanted to send them back.

Wincing a bit, he ignored the slight numbness in his body as he flew around the city to look for more survivors. Earlier, he had gotten into a fight with 17 and 18 but had lost soundly without any real effort on their part. If he wanted to beat them, he had to be stronger. If only he could turn into a Super Sayain like his father..

Shaking his head, he continued his search but found no more nearby energies or visual cues that anyone else was around. With a slight sigh, the young man headed east from his current location.

Gohan would not have traveled overly far, before he would hear shouting. People calling out to each other frantically. "Over here, there are more survivors over here! I need some help with this debris..." The call came from a man that appeared to be in his late fifties, but the one that responded was somewhat shocking. A young man, perhaps in his twenties, was hurrying over. All seven-feet of him. He quickly leveraged himself against the debris, grunting as he lifted what appeared to be the remains of a building wall up, shifting it aside, allowing the older man to shepherd out the people who had apparently been hiding in a cellar. As this happened, one of the survivors, a young woman with red hair, seemingly in her teens, crawled out, looking rather woozy.

Gohan didn't waste any time when he heard voices and felt some nearby close Ki energies once again, he was glad the androids apparently couldn't sense things so that gave them a edge in terms of hiding from them. What surprised him somewhat was the very tall man lifting part of a building like he did, he was definitely pretty strong.

He shook his head and landed before quickly getting to work, helping the young woman to her feet. "Are you all right ma'am?"

The young woman looked up, surprised to see such a young boy helping her up. Shouldn't he be panicking? "I... I'm fine... just don't feel very good..."

"We should get you to Akiko then." The tall man had let the wall fall, and came over, looking at Gohan with slight confusion. "Huh... you use Ki.. pretty young, but no going to complain I guess, it's probably why you are alive. Come on, we've set up a shelter nearby. You look like you've been through the ringer, kid, could use a visit to the doctor, I figure?"

Gohan wondered if the woman was human or something else, he hadn't really focused on the energy enough to tell but his experience had allowed him to tell what someone's race was. Even if he didn't know exactly what their hertiage was, it at least let him know if someone was human or not. The tall man felt human but there was something else he couldn't put his finger on.

"All right. Just lean against me. What are your names? My name is Gohan Son." He went close to the woman so she could be helped with her walking and needed. "I, uh, got into a fight with the androids and got burried into some rubble earlier when they were attacking people. That's why I'm hurt."

The man blinked a bit at that. "Hm... Gohan Son... something about that sounds familiar... we'll talk about it later. My name is Vargus Littner. The fact you survived a fight with the androids says a lot. Not many can say that..." His brow furrowed at the thought.

"S-Sarah... Sarah Abernai... and I... can't believe a kid like you fought those monsters... you must... really be something..."

Gohan frowned a bit. "I don't think so. The people..that came before were really amazing but they still died.." The half Sayain shook his head. "Never mind, sorry about that. So who is Akiko? A friend of yours?"

He looked to Sarah. "Your Ki feels really different, I don't think I felt something like that before. It's strong..just dormant."

Vargus nodded a bit. "Akiko is a doctor. Lucky for us, she survived the attack, she's been an immense help..."

"I'm... not strong at all... I'm an Alusarian though, so... I guess that accounts for what you are feeling...."

Gohan shook his head. "You Are strong Sarah, or at least have the potential to be. I can't really explain it fully to someone who can't sense Ki energy, but you have a dormant power in you. But that power doesn't matte if no one trains you, but you should leave that to us." Sarah wasn't a fighter even if she had a large amount of potential and he'd rather not drag others in.

Logically, Gohan was smart enough to know that in order to have a chance he'd need more students or just in case something happened to them. Right now though, he wasn't looking but he knew the day would come when he would.

Shifting, he turned to Vargus. "That's good. I should have Bulma meet her so she can help even more. Do you use Ki Vargus?"

Vargus shook his head. "Nah. Can't, far as I know. I've tried, with no luck. Is what it is." Something about 'Bulma' nagged at him as well, but it was another thing to leave for later. "Anyway, let's get back to the shelter..."

When they got there, it turned out to be an underground bunker of sorts, under the ruins of a mansion. As they approached, Sarah and the others in the group were looking around, clearly curious. "What was this place?"

"...The Brunel Mansion." Vargus' brow furrowed, jaw set, causing Sarah to look down, realizing the Brunel's must have been friends of his. Something pulled Vargus from his thoughts, however.

"Vargus! Vargus! She's woken up!" At those words, Vargus hurried inside, moving faster than one would expect of a man his size.

Gohan was silent at the apparent news of Vargus losing people he cared about. Even though he was much younger he knew what that was like all too well but he wished he didn't. He wished no one had to go through that kind of pain but even without the androids he knew that wasn't possible.

The shouting caught the young boy's attention before Vargus bolted off. He was fast for his size. Really fast.

Shaking that off and curious, he went to go follow and see if his help might be needed at all.

Gohan would find Vargus kneeling next to a cot. A young woman, in her teens, was laying in the bed, cuts and bruises all over her body, her right arm in sling, and a cast around her left leg. She'd clearly been injured greatly, and was being tended to by a beautiful older woman in her twenties. "Thank you, Akiko... Atsuko, how are you feeling?"

Atsuko coughed a bit, blinking slowly. "Nn... oh, you know, like I've been hit by a truck... probably because they hit me with a truck..."

Gohan frowned at the scene, thinking. He was no medic and there was no healing powers he had, if only he had another-

He almost face palmed. He couldn't believe he had a half of a Sensu Bean in his pocket that he was saving for a emergency. Bulma was working on duplicating them but so far she had very limited success doing so but maybe one of the former Nobus scientist would have more luck. Plus Bulma also got help from Hiiragi Inventions so something should come up eventually.

Grabbing the bean, he looked to Akiko. "Ma'am, this is a Sensu Bean. When its full it can heal pretty much any wound but they're very rare so I try not to use them much. If its okay with you both I could give Atsuko it. I don't think it'll heal everything since its half but.."

Akiko blinked a bit at that. "I've heard of the Senzu Bean... they are incredibly rare, yes... how on earth did you... nevermind for now. Yes, please, giving Atsuko even half of one would do wonders for her, and we certainly need her... she's our strongest fighter now..."

Gohan nodded and gave Atsuko a Sensu Bean as he addressed Akiko. "I had a friend who grew them..they aren't around anymore. My friend Bulma Brief's has been trying to clone them quickly but it hasn't really worked out. I think someone with a green thumb would have better luck just growing them the normal way.."

The last statement finally sunk in. This woman was a fighter? On closer inspection her Ki was still pretty high even though she was badly beaten up. Maybe he could train her?

"My name is Gohan Son. Sorry I didn't introduce myself earlier. You use Ki energy too, right Atsuko? It feels like it." He was ninety percent sure but he could be wrong.

Atsuko was looking at Gohan curiously, if a bit weakly, as she chewed and swallowed the half-bean. Near instantaneously, she felt vastly better, most of her pain gone. She blinked, and sat up, wincing a bit at some pain in her broken arm and leg. "Wow... those beans really are something..." She paused, then looked to Gohan again. "...Well, judging by your name, your knowledge of Ki, how you look, and your age... you are totally the son of that guy Goku, aren't you?"

Gohan nodded, happy someone else knew who his dad was. "Yeah. My dad entered a lot of tournaments back in the day when he was younger. The way me, my dad and some friends of mine use Ki is a bit different then most people use it. It's much stronger and destructive too. The androids we fought can use Ki in the same we I can. That's why I want to find people to train in the same way because I can't do all this on my own."

"If you want, I could train you in the same way. You already know how to use Ki energy so that gets you a head start. When I met Vargus I thought of training them too but they can't use Ki for some reason."

"People for you to train? But you're just a little boy..." Akiko didn't sound condescending, more worried than anything. Atsuko, however, chuckled.

"Age doesn't mean all that much at times, Akiko... I'm only sixteen, and nobody expects me to be able to fight the way I do. Once I'm fully recovered, Gohan, I'll help you. You can teach me to use Ki the way you can, and maybe I can teach you some things."

At least Atsuko was already a fighter, he'd feel bad for dragging people who weren't into things. With Sarah, he felt a large amount of potential but he wouldn't force her into things, she would have to come into it on their own. Maybe he could ask for later, though. He wasn't really sure what Atsuko could teach him, but at the rate things were going he'd take all the help he could get.

Gohan looked to the doctor, physically he was ten but a look of the "I know Akiko, but Atsuko is right. You remember when the Sayains came to earth? My friends were involved in that."

"Do you know anyone else around that knows Ki energy Atsuko?" It would be better to start with someone who knew already then from scratch, but as things stood he'd likely have to teach people who didn't know how to use it at all, never mind in his and his friend's style.

Atsuko thought about that. "Not really... I mean, I can't sense it like you can... but if I remember anything, I'll let you know."

It made Gohan a bit dissapointed but there was nothing for it, he turned to Vargus. "Um..so where will I be sleeping? I'm not sure what places are taken or not." He was more tired mentally then physically after the latest fight with the androids, he felt so helpless and not one of his attacks had done much of anything.

But what did he expect? Piccolo and Vegeta were stronger then he was and they had been killed easily.

Vargus motioned for Gohan to follow, while Akiko resumed fussing over Atsuko. "So, Gohan... you seem unusually calm and mature, considering everything that has happened... and I can assume you've lost people to these androids as well. It's impressive, how calm you are."

"Thank you. I was trained by Piccolo when I was younger when the Sayains came, so I had to grow up very fast. I watched people die before.." Gohan mumbled, shifting a bit as he continued. "What about you? You're pretty strong but you don't use Ki but you seem human but that strength has to come from somewhere."

Vargus shrugged. "It's a mixture of demonic heritage, and magic artifacts allowing me to raise the physical limits of my body. And I assume you are referring to the son of King Piccolo, that your father fought at the last World Tournament he participated in? I wasn't aware he had a turnaround, but it's good to know. I'm sorry for your loss, Gohan."

Gohan shook his head. "..It's, okay. I made peace with it. My dad died a few months before the androids got here by a heart virus. If he hadn't died, I'm pretty sure he'd be able to stop them eventually. He wasn't just strong, but he grew so fast when things were on the line..."

He was silent for a moment, turning to Vargus. "Do you think the artifacts might be interferring with you using Ki energy?"