A Time Long Past and a Future Yet To Come

This is a story of one man. A man fated to live his life in a constant struggle, torn between good and evil, he fights to survive.

The future isn’t always a pleasant one. This rings ever true for Gohan. His life of education abruptly came to an end the day his father had died from a rare heart disease. It just so happened that the android menace had been released upon the world at the same time. Whether the two incidents were related, Gohan never knew, nor had the chance to find out. His life changed forever that day.

It was soon after his father’s death that his mother was lost to collateral damage from a fight he and Piccolo had with Android Seventeen. He was just a boy when it happened and it changed him. He cared now for nothing other than the destruction of the androids. He trained with Piccolo, in hand to hand combat and weapons training. Some androids were able to absorb ki techniques, so it wasn’t a tactical choice. Gohan heard that the other Z Fighters were off training in other parts of the world in order to best protect everyone.

The training was brutal and most often consisted of real battles with the androids. More often than not, Gohan had to flee with his mentor Piccolo. Sometimes the two of them were able to beat a single android, but when there was more than one, it was all a matter of surviving.

Gohan grew up in a time of war, he and Piccolo tried their best to protect what little civilization was left, but it was tedious. The warriors were never acknowledged by the people they were protecting. It was a life of hardship, where everyone only cared about themselves.

On one fateful evening, only days after Gohan had turned seventeen, three androids had caught the two off guard and killed Piccolo. In a fit of rage, Gohan took up his sword and with great ferocity cut Android Twenty Seven’s clear off his torso. He then continued to beat the android with his own arm until he was nothing but a pile of scrap metal. This was the birth of a new kind of warrior.

The sword was a perfect tool for the android’s destruction. With every android he had killed, his renown grew. It was when he encountered what was his fifth kill that he had found a person from his past, Turnks. His popularity had made it too dangerous for him to protect the young boy and he stopped hunting the mechanical creatures and swore to himself that he would protect him as if he were family.

For years they trained, the two of them training, like he and Piccolo once did, teaching Turnks all he knew about combat and sword techniques. Through time they had bonded, like true siblings, he had grown accustomed to caring once again.

Though, in Gohan’s absence, the hands of time as well as fate were turning. Android Seventeen and Eighteen, the strongest of all non-biological beings, had calculated a plan to rid the warrior from existence. Through threats and intimidation, Eighteen was able to coerce several villagers to give up the location of Gohan and his companion in exchange for their lives. Though, what they didn’t know was that she would return to the village the very next day and burn it to the ground.

Seventeen and Eighteen made a grand entrance as they began their assault by tossing thousands of ki blasts down upon the warrior’s campsite. It was lucky for the two of them that Gohan had been so adept at combat; he had set up a mile wide parameter using the thinnest layer of ki he could create, shaping it like a dome around them. If anything without a ki signature were to pierce it, then the barrier would break and deliver a pulse of energy straight into his body.

Gohan and Turnks came flying out of the debris; it wasn’t until it was too late that Gohan realized just who they were up against. His perimeter technique was useful, but unfortunately it didn’t tell him who it was or how many there were. All he knew was that hesitation would get you killed. With a quick horizontal slash, Gohan attacked Seventeen with his sword.

It was all for not however, as Turnks had been taken down in a single blow by Eighteen who then grabbed Gohan’s left arm and ripped it away from his body. At first the half Saiyan was in shock.; he had just watched his own arm torn away from his body, but then the pain kicked in. The agony was unimaginable for the young warrior. Sharp horrific pain ran throughout his body, causing him to drop his sword and fall to Earth.

Seventeen grabbed Gohan by the neck, squeezing tightly around his throat. The android did nothing, but grin. Luckily, Turnks was able to save him by sending out a large ki blast just below him, which distracted Seventeen and gave him the time needed to escape. Both of the Earth Warriors took off as fast as they could, escaping from the android menace.

Gohan was left with only his right arm and was without his sword from childhood. It was a tough situation. He had to survive, in order to protect Turnks and the future of Earth. It was a difficult situation as he had run into the duo only a few months later.

Gohan and Turnks were able to put up quite a fight, but in the end, with a piercing blow to his chest, Seventeen had successfully killed Gohan. Turnks fled and was left to fend for himself and protect what was surely a doomed planet.

(WC:962)

“What’s this?” Gohan muttered as he slowly opened his eyes. “I thought I had died.” His words came out slow, his tongue barely able to lift itself up off the bottom of his mouth to speak them.

“You did die, child of Vegeta.” A cold raspy voice hummed in Gohan’s ear.

“Vegeta?” Gohan was confused; he was not Vegeta’s son, but Goku’s. “Who are you?” His eyes darted around the room, but saw nothing but darkness.

“My name is Babidi,” Two amber eyes pierced through the darkness, slowly making their way to the bed that the boy lay in.

Gohan tried to move, but his body felt stiff. His eyelids felt extremely heavy, as if they haven’t been used in years. His stomach churned as he felt the presence of the person nearing. His half opened eyes caught sight of the creature. It was a little green thing of short stature, wrinkled hairy skin, old looking and dressed in robes.

“Try not to move quite yet,” Babidi stated as he pulled a chair up to the bed and hopped onto it. He was now looking down, directly at Gohan. The stench of the creature was foul, but his breath was even more so. “Your body is not ready to move. Let your blood warm it up first. After all, you have been dead for seven years now.”

Babidi’s words fell on his ears, but Gohan refused to believe it. How could he have been dead for seven whole years? There was no way that was possible; it must have been a mistake.

“You-” Gohan began to say before being interrupted by the old creature.

“Yes, I resurrected you.” Babidi pressed an oak staff to Gohan’s chest and it lit up with a green energy. “I am in need of your services.”

Gohan gave the creature a strange look. He had no idea what was going on, but he did remember dieing quite vividly. His body was also starting to warm up quite a bit. He hadn’t realized just how cold he was until his warmth began to return. Looking down at the nub where his arm used to be he asked one question. “Why me?”

“Because you’re the chosen one of course,” Babidi paused. Gohan felt a sort of pride swelling up within him, something he hadn’t felt since before his dad died. “I’m just messing. Your corpse was the only one left intact.” Babidi glanced at the Saiyan’s arm and corrected himself. “Mostly.”

“And what do you expect of me?”

“I need you to protect me.” Babidi removed the staff from Gohan’s chest and hopped off the chair.

“From the androids?” Gohan could now speak more clearly and he was far less stiff. He sat up, his bones cracking, waking up from their slumber.

“No, they are all gone.”

“Wait, what?”

“Yes,” Babidi turned his gaze back to the half Saiyan and sat down in the chair, a serious look on his face. “I have exterminated them all.”

Gohan was baffled. This old geezer could kill such things in his state. He was obviously much more powerful than he looked.

“But,” Babidi sighed, “my demons, the ones who wiped out the androids, have turned against me.”

“Did you say demons?”

“Did I stutter?” Babidi snapped. He hated revealing his blunders, even more so to a stranger. “Damn brat.”

“Tsch,” Gohan grunted, jumping off the table. “I understand you brought me back to life and everything, but I hardly think that gives you the right to use me. I was far happier dead. At least this hellish nightmare was behind me. Now you say that Hell is actually here. Great job.”

“Listen here boy!” Babidi shouted. The dark room suddenly lit up as several torches along the walls went ablaze with green flames. The flames revealed the true location of the hideout, a cavern inside a large mountain. This had to be magic, the like of which Gohan had never seen before. “You WILL do as I say, there is nothing out there for you. Turnks has abandoned you, built a time machine and went back into the past to change what can’t be changed.”

“What?” Gohan was surprised to hear the shocking news. He was saddened to hear the news, but he was grateful that the only person he could call a friend had made it out of Hell. “If what you say is true, then I have even less reason to stay.” The half Saiyan turned toward the long snakelike cavern, which he assumed was the exit, and started to head down the path.

“Not so fast,” Babidi hissed. He slammed his staff to the ground, sending out a shockwave of energy which extinguished the line of torches that led to the exit. “I have an offer that is most beneficial to us both.”

Gohan turned and glared at the short wrinkled creature. “I’m warning you,” He growled, his voice feral. “If you attempt to deceive me in any way I won’t even think twice about killing you.”

(WC: 840)

So then it was done. Babidi promised the half Saiyan warrior, that after he eliminated the demon threat, he would help Gohan travel back in time to meet up with Turnks and help him save the future.

Babidi had also returned the sword to him, but with new properties. The sword was at least five times heavier than it had once been. Babidi had used magic to bond the exoskeleton of an android to the blade in order to prevent nicks and scratches. He had also added a rare mineral to the hilt to increase its durability and to balance the sword.

It was from then on that Gohan took up his sword and fought a new menace plaguing Earth, not for survival nor did he fight to protect anyone, he fought solely for himself. He told himself as he slaughtered countless demons that he was doing it to save the future, but he knew, somewhere deep inside his own heart, he was only doing it to be reunited with Turnks.

Even though fighting with only a single arm was excruciatingly tough, Gohan found a way to survive. Thanks to the extra weight of his sword, his right arm was a powerhouse. He was able to make up for any damage he lost by only having a single arm with sheer power. A single punch from his right fist was able to destroy an entire building or at least what was left of it.

In one of his battles, Gohan was left without the use of his sword against an opponent who preferred long range combat. Having only one arm, his skill set was rather limited when it came to the powerful techniques. He had fled that battle and decided that it was best to hone his ki, not for increased power, but to control it to a point that he would be able to use only one hand for any technique he knew. Needless to say, the next encounter with that demon did not last long as Gohan easily vanquished the demon with his famous Masenko attack using only his right hand.

The demon’s he faced were nothing compared to the androids, they tired easily, they bled and needed to eat. The only way they could have defeated the androids was through sheer numbers, after all there were few androids and a massive amount of demons. He averaged about six a day. Sometimes he would find a nest of them and kill and upwards of twenty or thirty of them in one fell swoop, while other times, he ran across a behemoth which took all of his energy to even wound. Whatever the case, he got the job done in five years.

After those five long years, there were so few Earthlings left that Earth look to be devoid of any sentient life altogether. Most of them split into groups, or clans as the called themselves, and hid away from the rest of the world. They all believed that discretion was the key to their survival and not a half Saiyan one armed warrior.

(WC: 515)

Having a tight grip on his robes, Gohan lifted Babidi high into the air. “What do you mean I have to find four sacrifices?”

“Th-that’s what I need for the sp-spell.” The impish green creature stuttered as he feared for his life. It was ironic that he was betrayed once again by that which he called an ally.

“You never once told me that I had to kill innocents in order to go back in time.” Gohan bore his teeth and growled fiercely. He didn’t take kindly to be manipulated. He could feel the anger within him swelling, which usually results in death.

“You never asked,” Babidi responded without thinking.

Gohan didn’t like that answer. He threw the wizard against the cavern wall and drew his sword from his back. The metallic sound of him unsheathing his sword echoed throughout the dimly lit cave.

“There must be another way!” Gohan pointed his sword at Babidi and touched the tip of it against the creature’s throat. “Tell me there is another way!”

“Th-there isn’t. O-only the Brifs family kn-knew the s-secret to t-t-time travel and they are all d-dead.”

“You rat bastard!” Gohan drew the sword back and impaled Babidi’s left shoulder causing him to cry out in pain. He then continued to twist and turn it to punish the little green man.

“P-please, blood magic is the only other w-way.”

Gohan stopped moving the blade around for a moment as he considered the idea. He stood quite unmoving; except for the times when Babidi tried to speak and even then all he did was twist the blade to get the thing to shut up.

“Fine,” Gohan grunted in dissatisfaction as he removed the blade from Babidi’s shoulder and let it rest on the ground. A small pool of blood gathered at the tip. “I want you to know that I am only going through with this because this world can’t get any more fucked up than it is now.”

Little did Gohan know that even though the green imp had promised him to transport him to the past, there was nothing said about Earth. Gohan will very soon find himself on the Saiyan native planet and in the hands of chance.

What will fate hold for Gohan in the past? That is one story that only time can tell.

(WC: 390)
(TWC: 2707)