| 0.3-Home Again |
| THE PRESENT Gohan walked past the first building. THAT'S NOT IT, He thought. A group of students walked past him. Gohan realized they were speaking his language, even though they were a mix of Japanese and Americans. He looked around, and for the first time saw the large amount of his country-men (and women) there. More Japanese than he'd seen since he'd arrived in the States. He'd gotten used to being alone, without a country, in the five years he spend traveling through space, being Lysis's unwilling lackey. He remembered so clearly the first time he'd seen Japan again after being stolen away... FOUR YEARS, NINE MONTHS, & 23 DAYS AGO Gohan looked down at the Earth. He'd almost forgotten what it was like. Beautiful. In just four years, Lysis had dozens of planets and systems under its control, and it had warriors from all of those planets, too, but still Gohan was the strongest. Lysis and its 'followers' went from place to place, invading and conquering, it all came to one thing: each planet's strongest against Gohan. If the challenger won, the planet was left alone. If Gohan won the planet became Lysis's newest jewel. Gohan never lost. All too often, if the planet's champion showed too little power, Lysis simply destroyed it. All too often. "Son-sama?" the small voice brought Gohan back to reality. The owner of the voice belonged to a little slip of a girl, with pale purple skin, long green hair and pointed ears. Lysis had offered her to Gohan as a whore, but he refused to use her as anything but a maid. "Yes, Alania?" Gohan didn't even bother to look away from the window. "You are being called...." "It's time, Alania, it's time." The child trembled, but Gohan just strode off, his long blood-red cape floating behind him, not even noticing the child's distress. Even though all of Lysis's armies hated and feared the "Great Son-sama," Alania knew he was just like her; a child stripped of his family. He protected her, and had saved her from certain death, yet asked for little in return. He was her only family now. Gohan did not wear armor like the rest of Lysis's warriors, the very fact that he didn't was part of his intimidation. He wore instead a simple black silk shirt and loosely cut black pants, and wore his hair very short and in a way that it lost its characteristic spikiness. He walked with a cold confidence, never looking anywhere except straight ahead. He twisted through the maze of Lysis's ship, until he got to the throne room. He passed of the other captives of Lysis. He knew what they thought of him. He scared them. He scared them two ways, in fact. They all knew he could kill them easily. But they scariest thing about Gohan was that he was their future. A soulless being without home or country. Gohan entered the throne room and knelt before his capturer. It wasn't a false show of respect, it wasn't anything. Respect, admiration, all that was dead in Gohan. He didn't hate killing, but he didn't get any pleasure out of it. It was just something he had to do. "Oh, Great One, I implore you, forget Earth. I will stay as your faithful servant." Gohan said with practiced grace. "You would like that, would you, Son Gohan? But no. If you make this interesting, though, I will give you a chance to be Earth's Champion, thusly giving you a chance to save it. But you must fight the current champion first. I have a promise to fulfill." Gohan knew he could defeat the Earth's warriors, but there was little he could do about. He was helpless, so he didn't worry. In the blink of an eye he was on the planet. His father and the z-senshi stood before them. Lysis was roughly human size, which made it look all the more like evil condensed. Gohan stood beside him and didn't flinch at the surprised reactions of his former friends. "You said you would bring Gohan and then accept my challenge, but where is he?" Goku demanded. "And who is that?" "But I did bring Gohan, Son Goku..." Lysis waved its "hand" toward the figure to his right. Gohan raised his head up and looked into Goku's eyes firmly. Then Senshi gasped. "That empty man can not be Gohan, it can't be!" Krillin said. "His power-level... it couldn't be that high!?!" Piccolo looked wide-eyed at his former pupil. Gohan didn't blink at the disbelief of his friends. "I am who it says I am. I am Son Gohan." |