The Year Hope Died

He couldn't help but feel sorry for the woman, she had been robbed of being completely happy not once but three times now if you counted her now dead husband. "But Miss Akiko, why did she end up with him if he's a bad man? And Vargus seems like a nice guy so why were they friends? Did he change?"

"From what I was told... yes. It sounds like he was once a decent person, but started to become more and more bigoted toward non-human races as time went on after his brother died. I don't know the details... ah, here is our last stop. Sarah, I'm coming in." Akiko opened the door, to show Sarah sitting up in her cot, looking uncomfortable, and tired.

While Gohan didn't know Sarah too well, he of course grew concerned on seeing the young woman tired and uncomfotable. "Sarah? Are you all right? You don't look too well.." He was worried about her.

Maybe she was sick? That made sense but he wasn't a doctor, Akiko was so she'd know better then he would if it was something more serious. Come to think of it, Bulma had looked kinda sick and tired herself so maybe there was something floating around.

The was some unknown irony in that statement Gohan didn't know of yet.

Then he felt it. A tiny Ki and it clicked. "I feel a tiny ki..maybe Sarah is pregnant?"

Sarah and Akiko both just blinked in response, but then Sarah quickly shook her head. "N-no, I couldn't be... I mean, I don't..." She paused, frowning. Just before leaving for Earth, a little under a month ago, she and Joseph had... but, there was no way she was pregnant, right?

"Well... it's a good thing these were included in the supplies." Akiko held up a pregnancy test, setting it down on the cot next to Sarah. "You can take this later. For now, I'll give you the usual check-up, see if there is anything going on other than that potential situation..."

"And, I'll, just wait I guess.." Gohan had to admit while he knew intelluctally about where babies and such came from, being his age the deeper idea made him uncomfortable. Plus there wasn't much he could do in this sort of situation to begin with.

A soft knocking was heard and the demi Sayain turned his attention towards it feeling a Ki signature he knew by now but it surprised him.

Standing behind the door was Garnet who ha dragged herself out of her room. "Garnet, what are you doing all the way here? You shouldn't be wandering by yourself!"

The child's red eyes looked up at Gohan, then a bit past him before diverting her attention away. "I..I want to help. Tired of being in my room, its lonely.."

Akiko looked up, suprised, but smiled softly. "...Of course, Garnet. Seems I'm going to have two helpers today."

"Nope, still just one I'm afraid." Atsuko was leaning against the door, smiling a bit. "If you don't mind me taking Gohan from you for a bit?"

"Hm? No, I don't mind, but it's ultimately his call."

Gohan was confused but nodded as he went to Atsuko. "So how are you feeling okay? I'm sorry about the Sensu Bean, we really just don't have much anymore." Only Gohan could apologize about something like that which was completely out of his control.

Atsuko motioned for him to follow her, smiling a bit. "No worries kid, it was enough. I'm guessing that Senzu Beans are just as effective even when you eat only half, just takes a little longer. I'm already feeling perfectly fine again. So, thanks for that. Anyway, I want to talk about something, and maybe something else. To start though... I'm going to have to ask something... pretty personal. So I'm going to find us a quiet place to talk, just you and me, alright?"

Gohan couldn't think of what it could be. Maybe some information about his family? That was the only thing he could really think of but maybe it was something else he had missed. "That's fine miss-ah sorry Atsuko." He had to stop that habit at that, and it wasn't like she could be That much older then him but he couldn't recall her age. He wouldn't ask either, mom said you should never ask a lady about her age most of the time.

Atsuko nodded, and once she found an empty room, she shut the door, sighing. "Well, take a seat, this could maybe take awhile." She sat down herself against a wall, wrapping her arms around her legs and bringing them to her chest. It seemed she was somewhat uncomfortable for some reason, but the reason wasn't exactly obvious.

Gohan was clearly confused on what Atsuko could possibly be worried about but never the less he found himself a seat and sat down. "All right, whenever you're ready Atsuko. Take your time."

Atsuko paused, then nodded. "First off... just how strong was your father, and the rest of your friends? The only things I have to go on, are what I have heard about the last World Tournament your father competed in, and his fight with the 'Demon King Piccolo' and his son, apparently."

"That's..kinda a hard question to answer actually but I'll try." Gohan paused a bit and decided to start off simple. "Okay, you know what Ki energy is so I don't have to explain that but I'll put it this way. King Piccolo was strong enough to destroy a city, when going full out. My dad, and his son greatly surpassed them a few years after. They fought my uncle, he was strong enough to destroy the moon casually."

Gohan let that sink in a bit before going on.

"After that, I was taken in my King Piccolo's son to train for the Sayain threat. Vegeta and Nappa were their names. Vegeta was strong enough to blow up an entire planet and Nappa wasn't that far behind. We managed to beat them; barely. But..there were beings even much greater then them. In particular Frieza; he was once one of the strongest beings in the universe. He had three forms, but even in his base..his power was in another dimension compared to Vegeta's."

"My dad..he managed to beat Frieza in his final form when our friend Krillin died which triggered a form of our race, something called a Super Sayain. It turns the person's hair gold and their eyes green and they become incredibly powerful. Despite being neat death and beaten, Frieza managed to survive a planet exploding just before he was brought back as a cyborg. Luckily my dad arrived to stop them."

"I don't know how strong the androids are, but they're stronger then Frieza was beyond anything I ever ran into who was feared through out the universe. I know it sounds really fat fetched Atsuko, but I'm telling the truth, I wish I wasn't though. Atsuko, if I teach to use power like this you potentially will be almost like a God. I'm not sure anyone should have this kind of power, but regardless if I teach you, you have to promise. You have to promise not to ever abuse this power."

By the end, Atsuko's eyes were wide and disbelieving, but with what she said after, it was clear what she was thinking. "I... I knew that the androids were toying with me when I fought them, but... but I never thought it was... to that degree..." She swallowed hard. "The female one, 18... she told the other one to let her 'handle' me. I've always been praised for my speed... I was believed to be the fastest human alive.... and yet... she dodged every single attack. And then with just one move... she kneed me in the stomach, and sent me flying into the side of a building... that was all it took to put me in the condition you saw... and with what you told me... she had to have been holding back even then..." The knowledge of this clearly unnerved her.

Gohan winced a bit, but nodded. "I..can understand. Atsuko, I'm a lot stronger then you but I can barely do anything to them. The only reason I'm alive is because they hold back, probably because they would be bored without people to 'play' with." He grimaced.

After a bit he shook his head. "I won't lie to you Atsuko. It's..really grim, and I can't blame you if you decide you want to back down. If I train you, its going to take work to get at my friends do it, but I want to make sure you know what you're getting into. I've been fighting them by myself for a while, so I guess I can still do it."

He sounded sure but the slight change in his voice told a bit of a different story.

Gohan was scared.

Despite the maturity, the experience and his race, everything else came down. He was a boy in over his head trying to take on the world.

Atsuko was silent for a moment, then found herself walking over to Gohan, knelt down, and pulled him into a tight hug. "Geeze, kid... your making me look bad... here I am losing my nerve, and your still managing to hold it together despite being so young, and having lost more than I did... not to mention having a much better idea of what we are facing..." She pulled back a bit, looking him in the eye. "You have got to be the bravest.... damn, how old ARE you? You look like you're maybe... ten..."

The young boy gave a embarrassed cough, though he wasn't used to getting hugs like that, it felt nice after a long time. "That's because I am ten. I'm..just very mature for my age like a lot of people say. I want to train Vargus too, but he mentioned he can't learn Ki energy. Do you have any idea why that might be?"

Atsuko let out an annoyed huff. "I have no idea... he'd be absolutely terrifying if he could learn it... which in this case, would be great. Maybe we can figure that out, eh? Anyway, training... it's part of why I wanted to talk to you. I wanted to learn how to fight the way you do, though also, it's possible I could teach you some things. I've got a specific skill with Ki, that I've kept to myself after teaching myself to do it, and I wonder if it could help you and others. Keeping it a secret at this point only hurts everyone, so I wanted to see if you knew about this technique or not."

Gohan's Sayain side was a bit interested in the technique, if nothing else. "Okay, what is it? Also, I think we should start training as soon as possible. Maybe something like every morning at least or something. It shouldn't take too long for you catch on, its like learning to drive a shift stick when you already know how to drive a car. I guess..that analogy sorta works?" He rubbed the back of his head.

Atsuko blinked a bit. "It's a stick shift, and somehow I doubt you've ever driven a car. Anyway, the technique is the way I can manipulate my Ki. I know you can sense my Ki, but have you tried paying closer attention? If you do, you'll notice it's not just in my body. It's around me. I am currently keeping a thin layer of Ki around my body, using it as a sort of... shell. You know about resistance training, right?"

"I know a bit about it, yeah." Gohan nodded. "In fact, my friend Bulma is making a gravity machine so once you get used to it we'll probably use that to train as well. So are you using Ki to, I guess, do your own resistance training?"

Atsuko nodded, smiling. "Yep, that's exactly what I'm doing. It's a lot more effective than gravity training, honestly. Relatively speaking, anyway. It's certainly less harmful to the body. Instead of it trying to smash you into the ground, it's like trying to move through water at the bottom of the ocean. You don't feel any different, it's just harder to move your body, and your muscles adapt. And gravity training will stunt your growth you know."

"I guess I'm kinda too short already." Gohan weakly joked at the last bit but then nodded. 'Okay. I'm not completely sold if its more effective or not just yet, but I'm willing to give it a shot to see it for myself. One good thing is, the androids can't sense energy for whatever reason so that means we don't have to worry about attracting them when we train."

That made him realize something. "..Not sure when we'll have to head out again to get supplies, do you know how low we are?"

Atsuko shook her head. "Not a clue. Vargus would be the one to ask, he was the one put in charge of that. As for the effectiveness of the Ki-based resistance training, it's really dependent on how much Ki and control you have access to. You have to be able to keep a constant layer of Ki around your body, and make it 'dense' enough to restrict your movements to the desired level. And as you grow stronger, you can up the restrictions. That's how I move as fast as I do just naturally. If I empower myself with Ki as well, something I rarely do... well, I doubt I'm fast by your standards, but still."

Gohan smiled a bit. "Don't worry, I'm sure with my training you'll eventually become fast by my standards in no time. You already have a pretty good foundation of things, there's only a matter of teaching you little things here and there. I probably should go find Vargus..I actually have to find my friend Bulma too. She's in another shelter her family built. You probably already know about Capsule Corp."