74 Chapter 74: It's not easy

Eight months have passed since then. Gohan was waiting for the time machine to recharge, to go back to his time.

During that time he was training Trunks, helping him to reach the controlled form of the Super Saiyan, to nullify the wear and tear.

16 was their sparring partner, and Gohan was very grateful to him, as it was necessary to increase his base power.

Coexistence with him was not bad, Trunks did his best despite the fact that at first he didn't like that 16 lived with them.

But over time he discovered that 16 was nice: he spent hours walking in the woods and feeding the animals.

Bulma kept busy with the time machine and creating other inventions with what Gohan had brought her, she was quite cheerful.

Humanity prospered because there were no androids. Although the cities were being rebuilt, it would take more time.

And taking advantage of the time was what Trunks was doing now. He was training on Mont Paozu, near Chi-Chi's house.

'Damn I can't reach him' Trunks thought gritting his teeth as android 16 stood in front of him, 'He's too strong'

Trunks smiled nervously, if 16 had been his enemy he would have had no chance of defeating him. Good thing Gohan was here.

16 was impassive and flew towards the young man smashing a fist into his face. Trunks fell to the ground and from there he fired a Ki blast at him.

The android crossed his arms to block the attack, and Trunks took advantage of that moment to get up quickly and counterattack him.

He lunged at 16 but the android rose into the sky avoiding him. Trunks followed him, but to his surprise, 16's fist went for his face.

He couldn't dodge it, and in the end the fist landed on his cheek. Trunks shot towards the ground creating a crater in that place.

16 landed slowly while Trunks struggled to get up. "You have to increase your powers more to defeat me"

Trunks listened to this with annoyance, but then he remembered something Gohan had told him. Smiling he expelled much more aura.

His muscles began to bulge but not become exaggerated and his hair stood on end. That was the second grade of Super Saiyan.

"Let's see if this is enough to beat you!" Trunks exclaimed launching himself against 16 and the two continued their intense training.

Nearby, a boy floated in the air. It was none other than Gohan, who was meditating in harmony, while he was wearing his father's Gi.

'They're training hard, but I can't let my mental training aside' Gohan mused, sighing quietly.

He had been training his physique all this time. And in fact, he's grown quite a bit over the last eight months for something easy to explain.

He got used to the second grade to be able to control that state and cancel the energy drain, although it was much more complex.

Since this state concentrated the Ki in his muscles, as he got used to it, his muscles expanded to receive all that energy.

Not only his muscles, his bones did too. For that reason, he grew a few inches.

'I'm sure when mom sees me she'll be surprised' Gohan thought with a big smile, 'Perfect! It's time to warm up these muscles'

Gohan narrowed his eyes and got up and teleported to the place where Trunks and 16 were carrying out their training.

Both of them were about to bump their fists, but suddenly Gohan appeared right in between them and suddenly blocked the two attacks.

"G-Gohan" Trunks looked at him in surprise.

"Now we can start" Gohan said kicking Trunks' abdomen and extended his arm to hit 16, but the android stopped him.

16 grabbed him and threw him into the air. Gohan recovered, but then Trunks appeared behind him ready to hit him back.

"H-huh?" Trunks muttered seeing that he hit a hologram instead of Gohan, "I already felt your Ki!"

Trunks turned around in an attempt to hit him but turning around he saw that there were ten copies of Gohan surrounding him.

To top it off, the clones transformed into Super Saiyans leaving Trunks speechless.

'I-it's not an illusory technique, each one of those Gohan has the same Ki' Trunks thought surprised, 'What the hell is he going to do?'

"Super Yin-Yang..." the clones spoke at the same time creating a gigantic white sphere with black lightning. Trunks recoiled terrified seeing that.

The sphere of each clone of Gohan began to get bigger and bigger, and Trunks was frightened. Even 16 was a little stunned.

'An attack like this can destroy the planet in seconds, what does it mean?' the android inquired without knowing what this child was planning.

"... Blast x50" each clone finished and Trunks closed his eyes, but suddenly the sphere exploded like fireworks.

Each clone also broke out. Gohan laughed out loud at the look of fear on Trunks's face. "You should see your face hahaha!"

16 and Trunks were with a drop of sweat. But Trunks got annoyed and flew towards Gohan taking advantage of the fact that the boy was laughing.

Trunks landed a strong punch on his abdomen and with a kick he sent him to the ground, creating a considerable crater in the area.

"That's for making fun of me!" Trunks uttered as he descended. He noticed that Gohan was motionless. "Hey, are you alright?"

Maybe he had overdone it because Gohan was off guard and used all of his power in that attack. And thinking of that, he became worried.

"H-hey Gohan" Trunks started to shake his body but the boy didn't respond, and he didn't feel his heartbeat. "I-I'm sorry I attacked you and..."

"Waaaah!" Gohan suddenly woke up making Trunks jump in fear, "Haha it happened again! You have to relax more Trunks!"

The poor boy ended up falling on his butt and sighed heavily. "Y-you think so?"

"Sure, in your time there is peace, although that doesn't mean you shouldn't train" Gohan answered, "But relaxing sometimes feels great"

He returned to his base state and sat down on the grass next to Trunks, who nodded and did the same. The two looked at the clouds in the sky.

16 sat down as well, and it didn't take long for various animals to appear around him, prompting a happy smile from Android 16.

The song of the birds was the only audible sound at the moment, such was the peace in this place that Trunks slept peacefully.

"It's time to eat guys!"

Gohan was going to do the same as him but after hearing that voice he got up. Trunks also stood up and yawned a bit tiredly.

"Eat? Well, the truth is that I was hungry" Trunks did some stretches.

"A race to home?" Gohan proposed.

Trunks nodded smiling. They both started running, and after several meters, whoever got home first and whoever won that race was none other than...

Once seated at the table, a black-haired woman in a kimono carried several pots. She was none other than future Chi-Chi.

"Smells delicious mom!" Gohan exclaimed with a smile and the woman smiled happily at that.

"I'm glad you like Gohan, you can eat as much as you want" Chi-Chi answered sitting down and Ox Satan imitated her, "I-I still don't believe it son"

"The fact that?" Gohan asked curiously.

"That you're here with me after so long, even though you technically come from another timeline or something like that" Chi-Chi said with a smile.

"Yeah, it's fabulous" Gohan spoke swallowing the rice ball in his mouth, "In my time I haven't spent that much time with you for the last few years"

"Oh... why?" Ox Satan asked.

"Frieza, my training and now the androids, I've been very busy lately" answered Gohan.

"S-so, did you s-neglect your studies?" Chi-Chi chimed in curiously as Gohan drank a bowl of water. And he laughed internally.

"I promised you in my time that if you let me train with dad I would study like a sick man"

"And believe it or not mom, I learned a lot from Bulma with the ships" Gohan uttered with a small smile.

"Ooh, so… if I hadn't pushed you so hard, y-you…would have accomplished a lot and you wouldn't have died" Chi-Chi held back her tears.

Gohan felt a little bad listening to her words, and he approached her. He took a cloth that was near him and he wiped away Chi-Chi's tears.

"You only wanted the best for me, but maybe you should have given me the opportunity to choose what I wanted for my future, mom"

"It's what I did in my time. You accepted it, but what makes you an excellent mother is that you've been taking care of me since I was born"

"And I have no words to thank you for everything you've done for me, so don't feel bad. Your Gohan will be back soon" he spoke.

Chi-Chi hugged him lovingly, shedding several tears. Ox Satan blew his nose into a handkerchief and Trunks flashed a cheerful smile.

Suddenly Bulma entered the house. Trunks was surprised and judging by his mother's face, he seemed much happier than usual.

"The energy is ready, so you can go back to the past Gohan" the woman informed.

"That is incredible!" Trunks exclaimed happily, "It's a shame you have to go though!"

Bulma looked down at that, all her current happiness was due to Gohan. The fact that he left was really a shame.

Chi-Chi too. After several years without her son, she finally had the opportunity to see him again. Although it was from another time, she loved him just the same.

"Who said I would leave?" asked the young boy getting up, "There is still a lot to do, now I have to go to New Namek"

"So...you finally plan to resurrect our friends? I hope you can... it's been almost twenty years now" Bulma still couldn't believe it.

"I have to find a new Namek, so I'll ask you to keep quiet so I can concentrate better" Gohan indicated.

They all obeyed and Gohan put two fingers to his forehead. Before coming, he asked King Kai for the exact coordinates of the new planet Namek.

He tried to locate some Namekian-like Ki in that direction, but he felt nothing. That left him quite confused.

"What's wrong? Can't find it?" Bulma inquired somewhat uneasily and Gohan shook his head.

"I think the namekians settled on a different planet than my timeline" Gohan answered, taking his hand to his chin thoughtfully.

Did the namekians go to a different planet because of the appearance of King Cold in his timeline? Sigh, another bloody butterfly effect.

That completely buried the hope of seeing his loved ones again, Trunks lowered his shoulders and Chi-Chi sighed listlessly.

'In the end not all changes are good, but I have alternatives' thought Gohan taking a capsule out of his pocket and throwing it on the ground.

Bulma looked at this curiously, she was somewhat intrigued when an ancient book manifested and Gohan took it in his hands. "W-what is that?"

"Is there someone who can tell us where New Namek is, and the coordinates of his planet are here" Gohan answered with a smile.

It was the Namekian Book of Legends. As the Namekians were galactic travelers centuries ago, there were various coordinates inscribed in the book.

"R-really?" Bulma asked a little more hopefully than a minute ago, "Who is he?"

"Zuno, who knows everything" replied Gohan smiling, "With my ship we would not take long to get there, so don't lose hope"

Gohan flipped through the pages of the legendary book until he came to the page of Master Zuno's planet, which wasn't that far from Earth.

"I'll finally see my Goku and Gohan" Chi-Chi whispered wiping her tears and her father Ox-Satan comforted her,."We trust you son!"

Gohan nodded and turned to Trunks. "Come with me Trunks, I assure you it will be fun"

Trunks nodded smiling. And besides, it would be the first time that he would leave the planet, he felt a little excited about that, what awaited him?

"Be careful, okay? We'll be waiting for you here" Bulma pointed out smiling and they both nodded, and headed to the courtyard.

Once there, Gohan took another capsule out of his pocket and threw it away. Seconds later, a ship appeared, just like the one he used to go to Namek.

"Oohh, it reminds me of the ship Goku traveled with and the one Dad made for Vegeta" Bulma said looking at that machine. She smiled wistfully.

"Technically it's the same!" Gohan smiled before getting into the capsule, and Trunks followed him, waving good-bye to his mother.

Gohan put the coordinates of Zuno's planet into the control panel and sat down. Trunks did the same as him, although he was curious.

"One question, wasn't it easier to teleport to travel to that planet?" Trunks asked curiously and Gohan nodded.

"Indeed, but the problem is that I've never felt Zuno's Ki or anyone similar. Besides, it won't take that long" Gohan declared.

Instant Transmission created a wormhole between two beings through a spiritual connection. Without that connection, it couldn't be done.

Trunks nodded. He fastened his seatbelt as the ship rose, heading for Zuno's planet.