Tourniquet Divine

Dragon Ball Z
Tourniquet Divine


Chapter Opening:

Wow… not a single review… 190 hits though… so I guess that’s pretty good… Well maybe I should just kidnap Gohan and go somewhere else! Probably couldn’t do that… Seriously though, drop me a few lines! Here’s an incentive, chapters will post faster with reviews! Well hopefully next chapter I’ll be able to respond to actual comments. Until then, please enjoy!

Chapter 3: Somewhere I Belong


Trunks dragged Gohan through the building until they reached a wall. Trunks flipped open a hidden control panel and entered a few commands on the keypad. The wall opened up in front of them revealing a corridor with even flashier gadgets than what was on the outside.

In his weakened state, Gohan wasn’t sure how much farther they travelled. He was only aware that they were going down long sloped walkways. He figured they had to be really deep below the ground. “Here we are,” Trunks hit a button to open one more door and before them was a room with five large pods.

“Oh my!” a small blue man in a white coat spoke upon seeing the two enter his infirmary. “What do you have there Master Trunks?”

Trunks shook his head, “An old friend.”

The being nodded and helped Trunks prep Gohan to be entered into a rejuvenation tank.

“What’s… that…” Gohan pointed to the tank.

“Don’t worry Gohan, we’re going to put you in the tank and it will fill with synthetic DNA. It will heal you very quickly.” Trunks grinned. Gohan looked confused but didn’t say anything else.

The two sat Gohan inside and strapped the breathing mask to his face. “These kind of burn marks aren’t caused by blasters… You were the one who caused this weren’t you Trunks?” The doctor smirked at the older teen.

“Well… Yeah…” Trunks admitted not taking much pride in it anymore.

“I’ll…” Gohan spoke softly and the two looked at him while the tank filled. “I’ll win… next time…” Gohan said before the liquid overtook him.

“Haha” the doctor laughed, “That sounded like a challenge to me!”

“Don’t remind me…” Trunks shivered… “He just might pull through with that one too…” Trunks sighed as he watched Gohan floating asleep in the healing tank, “How long do you think it will be before he’s done in there?”

The doctor looked over at the boy for a second contemplatively, “For his size and estimated weight… I’d say it would normally take about two or three hours… but as I’m guessing his power must be comparable to your own… five… six, seven hours?” the doctor shrugged, “It will take longer for the process to restore his strength than it will to heal his body.”

Trunks nodded, after everything that happened tonight, he wasn’t sure what Gohan would do once his strength returned… For all Trunks knew he would try to run again... or… whatever it was he was doing before he caught him.

Trunks pulled up a seat next to Gohan’s tank and just thought for a while. Bulma came in nearly an hour later, “So you’re still here huh?” she smiled at her son.

“Yeah… I’m just worried you know…”

“He’ll be fine in there Trunks,” Bulma smiled.

“That’s not what I mean…” Trunks collected his thoughts before he said any more. “He did break in here… so first off I have to say how suspicious it seems… Second… even if he has no mal-intent, I did beat him up pretty good… and even said some mean things, I didn’t even recognize him as Gohan… I hope he doesn’t hold it against me for that…”

Bulma chuckled, “If he’s anything like his father was, he won’t hold any type of grudge for very long, his father had an amazing reputation of turning many of our once brutal enemies into trustworthy allies. And like you said, you didn’t recognize him at first, and he was younger than you were the last time you met, so think about what his memory of us must be like, probably next to nothing. And on your other point, I wouldn’t worry too much about his involvement with any malicious group toward us. I checked with our hidden security cameras and it seems as if he broke in with two other young boys. It wouldn’t surprise me if they did it on some kind of foolish dare.” Bulma sighed contently, “I remember what those days were like, the thrill of the risk and the hunt.”

Trunks rolled his eyes, “Riiiiiiight mom…”

Bulma smacked him on the back of the head, “You’d probably still be surprised at some of the risks your father, Goku and I took when we were on our adventures. There were times I admit I didn’t think we would make it out alive. But I don’t regret any of it.” Bulma sighed again, “Anyway, I’m hoping we can use the break in to our advantage anyway. If we make it seem like Midas Corp. was the one that broke in, it’ll give us more of a chance to keep our contract up with the Cold Empire over them long enough to make our move.” Bulma winked.

Trunks nodded, “And just maybe… Gohan will be willing to help too…”

Bulma smiled, “Wouldn’t that be wonderful, it’d be like old times again!”

Trunks shook his head, “Oh mom…”

“Stop antagonizing me young man! So are you going to be here until he wakes up?” Bulma pointed to Gohan.

Trunks nodded, “Yeah I want to be sure I’m around in case anything happens.”

Bulma chuckled again, “Just be sure and page me once he’s awake, I’d like to talk to him also. I’ll be down in the lab till then, let me know if you need anything!” Bulma kissed Trunks on the forehead and left the med lab.

Trunks only shook his head again and went back to sitting quietly in front of Gohan’s rejuvenation tank. In his thoughts Trunks was continually blaming himself for not recognizing Gohan sooner. It had only been… ten years and more than half his life ago… But he still remembered things from back then. He remembered Gohan… Gohan was two years old the first time they really played together. But even then they got along well and worked well together to build sand castles in the playground, and Lego castles in Trunks’ room…

Trunks watched through the view port as Gohan floated there in the tank. He had grown a lot but you could still see resemblances between him and his younger self. At least in the face you could… A round boyish face with that spike of hair that just settled nearly over his eyes. Similar… just more defined now… Gohan had definite muscle build up going on. He seemed a little too thin, probably from not eating properly… but he still had well developed muscles beneath his skin. Trunks eyes wondered over his strong arms, and nice developing stomach muscles and abs. A blush crept over Trunks’ face as he glanced lower at the shorts that were sticking tightly to Gohan’s body in the healing goop. Then down Gohan’s legs which also seemed thin, yet definitely muscular at the same time. A dirty thought flashed through Trunks mind for a moment but he quickly shook it off and sat back down.

Trunks sighed deeply and banged the back of his head against the tank. He shut his eyes and decided he might as well nap for a bit.

Trunks stood in front of the tank as the fluid drained and lid opened. He reached in and pulled the breathing mask from Gohan’s face, “Gohan, wake up, you’re all healed now.”

Gohan’s eyes slowly opened and he looked around, then looked himself over, and then finally smiled up at Trunks, “I really am all better! Thank you Trunks! Arigato!”

“No sweat Gohan… I felt so bad for what happened, it was all my fault…” Trunks looked down ashamed of his actions.

“It’s OK Trunks! You couldn’t have known it was me anymore than I could have known it was you!” Trunks looked down into those smiling bright eyes glaring up at him and nearly melted.

“Oh Gohan, I was so worried for a while there, I thought you might hate me…”

Gohan shook his head and hugged Trunks, “Of course not Trunks, our friendship goes way too far back to let something like this make me hate you!”

Trunks squeezed Gohan tighter to him, “You know, I’ve never been able to really get along with anyone else since you left… There’s been no one here for me… family… but no real friends… I missed you so much Gohan!”

“Me too Trunks, so much…” They pulled out of the warm embrace and stared into each other’s eyes. The moment seemed magical as their faces drew closer to each other, and their lips were only millimeters apart…

*BUZZ!* Trunks was jolted from his dream as the alarm went off indicating Gohan was going to be ready to come out soon. Trunks jumped up and shook himself to get the images from his dream out of his head.

Trunks pulled a communicator out of his pocket and pressed the button on top, “Mom, Gohan will be waking up soon.”

The contraption gave a beep then a response, “Great, I still need a few minutes, so would you help him out and get him a room for me, thanks hun!” It beeped again and went out.

Trunks sighed and slid the box back in his pocket. “Sure…” he whispered and swallowed hard.

The gel drained from the tank Trunks entered the command to open the door. As the door opened, Gohan’s eyes snapped open and he pulled the mask from his face, staring up at Trunks as if waiting for him to make the first move.

Trunks cringed on the inside before forcing as gentle of a smile as he could, “How are you feeling?”

Gohan looked him over appraisingly, “OK… How long was I in here?” he asked quietly.

Trunks looked over at the clock, “Around… wow about six hours…”

Gohan’s eyes widened and he flexed his arm a bit noticing all the pain was gone. “Here!” Gohan looked up at Trunks as a towel was tossed to him. “Dry off and I’ll show you around.”

Gohan dried his face quickly, then his eyes never left Trunks. The look he was giving him sent chills up Trunks spine. It was like he was either prepping for round two, or looking for a way out…

“You can relax Gohan, I don’t know what’s been going on around you, but really, you’re among friends now.” Gohan scrunched his nose at Trunks statement and tossed the towel back to him.

Trunks caught it and tossed a bag back over to Gohan. Gohan caught the bag and looked questioningly at Trunks. “Clothes for you, don’t think you want to walk around like that do you?” Gohan’s eyes widened as he blushed a little before his face scrunched up and he dressed.

The clothes consisted of a white shirt with mid length blue sleeves and baggy grey pants and black boots. They hung off Gohan’s slim figure pretty loosely, but weren’t too bad. “Where’d you get these?” Gohan asked looking himself over.

“They’re my clothes from a few years ago, hadn’t dumped them yet and thought they’d be the closest thing to your fit that I have.”

Gohan nodded with approval, “They’re comfortable.”

“Good…” Trunks admitted to himself he did look good in them too. The way it hung off his shoulders made him look a little more boyish and cute.

Gohan still stood nervously in front of Trunks, Trunks could tell by the way Gohan’s tail jerked at random intervals. “I know I can trust you Gohan so I want to go ahead and tell you about a few things around here.”

Gohan looked up at Trunks curiously before Trunks continued, “I’m sure you’ve been confused since this whole ordeal started, and probably still don’t remember a whole lot about us. But the first thing I want to get out is don’t believe all of the news you’ve probably heard about Capsule Corp.”

Gohan tilted his head and a “huh?” escaped his throat.

“It’s pretty common knowledge that Capsule Corp has been making and adapting new technologies for the Cold Empire. Well in reality this is just a front. You see, right now you’re underneath the Capsule Corp building. Our secret underground is a base of operations for anti-Frieza movements here on earth. We plot out different activities to use against the Cold-Empire right from under his nose. And the technology… Well let’s just say that he only thinks he’s getting top of the line when we’re constantly several stages more advanced down here.”

Gohan’s eyes widened. He had no clue at all what kind of mess he was stumbling into. He realized he was being given information that was deathly serious. Not that Gohan had any love at all for Frieza’s empire; he broke into the Capsule Corp with the intention of stealing from it after all. In a way it was kind of exciting, and even more interesting that he actually knows people who are actively terrorizing the Cold-Empire.

“So follow me and I’ll give you the tour.” Trunks winked to Gohan and walked out of the med-lab.

Gohan followed into the bright hallway. “This is the main hall for our base. It circles around the support shaft of the building’s foundation for about two hundred feet down. At the very bottom is the main lab, and there’s a lot of other rooms along the way.” Trunks stopped and opened a door to the side, “This leads to the hall for the living quarters. Mom had a room set up for you while you were healing, it’s this way.”

“A room for me?” Gohan looked confused.

Trunks cringed a little, “Well… Mom wants to get the chance to talk to you… and… well we’d both like to get caught up with you and find out what’s been going on in your life for the last ten years… And you’re always welcome to stay you know.” Trunks said nervously as he walked down the hall.

Gohan wasn’t sure what to make of his tone yet. It sounded sad, yet hopeful… The thought suddenly crossed Gohan’s mind that maybe they didn’t want him to leave…

“It’s this room here,” Trunks entered a code in the door, and it slid open. As Gohan walked in he was shocked. The room was large and clean, with warm plush carpeting and white walls. There was a sofa with a small table in front of it and a bookshelf against the wall, a separate bedroom with a full sized bed and a private bathroom. It was like a little apartment only nicer than the ones he’d seen above ground. “What do you think?” Trunks asked as he moved closer to the sofa.

Gohan was still looking around when he asked, “Is this really just for one person?”

Trunks nodded, “Yes.”

“It’s huge!” Trunks was a little confused but didn’t say anything as he sat down.

“Go ahead and have a seat Gohan, mom should be here any minute.” Gohan did just that, but was still looking around the room. There were no windows, but there was a large fish tank built in the wall seeming to make up for it by emitting dim purple and blue light. “So… wow… I don’t even know where to begin Gohan… Do you remember me at all from when you were little?” Trunks looked at Gohan hopeful.

“Well…” Gohan started, “I really can’t say I remember anything definitely… but now I feel like there’s just something familiar about a few things… Like Capsule Corp I just knew seemed strange to me to be associated it with the empire…”

Trunks smiled a bit, “I remember a little, I was six years old the last time I saw you, and we were playing out in my Grandma’s garden. My father was supposed to be watching us, but he was actually taking a nap under a tree somewhere. We found him napping and turned on the fertilizer sprinklers that were around him. The chemicals turned his skin blue and he started yelling real loud… His yelling made you cry, but before he could apologize and make you stop crying your mom came out and yelled at him for yelling at us and took you home. Dad was semi-blue for nearly a week after that too…” Trunks sighed.

Gohan thought for a moment, “Actually that does sound kind of familiar… I remember more stuff like… blocks or something…”

Trunks smiled, “That’s right, you used to love to come over and play with my Lego collection, we’d make a big mess with them all over the floor and make strange things…”

The door opened as Trunks was finishing that statement, “I remember that, I was the one who had to come up with a way to get all those things off the floor before the vacuum bots came in and jammed up on those.” Bulma said as she walked over to the couch. “Hello Gohan,” she smiled.

“Hi…” Gohan said weakly.

Bulma reached into her pocked and pulled out a capsule and clicked it before tossing it in front of the boys. A chair materialized from it and she took a seat. “So gosh… it’s really been ten years!” Bulma stated, “After everything happened back then… I tried to get a hold of your mom, but when got I to the old mountain house there was already no one there. I looked for a while but couldn’t find either of you anywhere. You have to tell me what happened!” Bulma leaned forward in her chair and waited for the story.

Gohan’s eyes narrowed as he remembered some of it. He was quiet for a long moment.

A deeply forlorn aura filled the room as Gohan’s expression sank and all parties remained quiet as the boy pieced his words together.

Gohan apologized and finally spoke… “I don’t remember much of how it started out… Mom and I lived in an apartment in Cold Capitol. She was really sad for a long time because dad wasn’t around. I was too… but I didn’t understand why at the time… Mom got a job as refreshment supplier for the mid sections of the nearby mines. When she wasn’t working, she would train me sometimes in the basement of the building where the washing machines were. While she was working she told me to either train myself or study. After a while we got used to it mostly… I didn’t leave the house much… mom always told me to never let my tail leave my waist when other people were around. Because of my tail I guess mom kept me inside a lot… One day she just came home from work sick though… She was hurting so much and kept clutching her chest…” Gohan gripped his pant legs tighter as he remembered what it was like right before she passed away. “She had that new virus that came from deep in the mines that kills the heart. She died from it just a week later.” Gohan paused for a while longer, “That was three years ago…”

Bulma’s hand covered her mouth as she digested the horrible news. “Oh my god… Gohan I am so sorry… I wish I had known… Had I only been able to find you guys maybe I could have helped…” tears streaked her face as thoughts of her old best friend went through her mind.

Trunks got over the shock first, “Three years ago… Gohan, what have you been doing since then?”

“Right after that happened, I was taken in by a group in Cold Capitol called the Rogues.”

“What kind of group are they?” Trunks looked confused.

Bulma gave a bit of a choked chuckle, almost out of annoyance, “Trunks, isn’t it obvious? It’s a street gang.”

Gohan rolled his eyes a bit, “Well… kind of… I mean… well not really. We’re just a group, mostly guys around my age up to a few years older than Trunks. None of us really have any parents… and we just stick together and do what we have to do to survive.” Gohan was finding it difficult to put the right words together. It was odd he felt he could trust them with this kind of information already.

Bulma had regained her composer by now along with her wit, “Aha! But then what were you doing breaking into the building upstairs today? Hmmm?” Bulma smirked.

Gohan’s eyes widened… “Well… about that… OK fine it was a dare to break in and steal something cool.”

“And what were you going to do with whatever you stole?” Trunks noticed that his mom was really pouring all of her motherly guilt trip tones into what she was saying to Gohan. Trunks sighed again, just like his mom to dig for the confession.

Gohan gave in, “Probably add it the trophies of other things we’ve taken…” the pride suddenly leaving Gohan’s voice.

“As I said, you guys are a street gang.” Bulma said with her “I’m right, you’re wrong” smile plastered on her face.

Bulma stood from her chair and placed her hands on Gohan’s shoulders, “Gohan, I realize after three years you probably have strong connections with your group of rogues, but I just want to let you know… your mom and dad were my best friends in the whole world. I knew your dad so long ago it isn’t even funny, and the stories I could tell you of some of our adventures… It really was amazing what we did back then. I am so sorry to hear about what happened to Chichi Gohan, I loved her a lot, like a sister, and as for you, you are always welcome with me and Trunks, in fact there is nothing that would make me happier right now Gohan than if you would stay with us, join us, and let me help take care of all of you.” Bulma kissed Gohan’s head, “So just think about it, you don’t have to say yes or no right now, but do consider it. I’m sure Trunks would love the company again, and…” Bulma’s composure loosened briefly as a shiver traveled over her body, “Think about it, OK Gohan?”

Gohan nodded, “I will… Thank you…”

Bulma closed her eyes and smiled, “Well then, how about a tour of our underground Capsule Complex then!”

“Ummm… OK…?” Gohan said nervously.

“Great! Then we’ll start right outside with the rest of the residential wing!” Bulma jumped up and opened the front door. She stood there until both boys followed behind her. “This way leads to living area. My room and Trunks’ room is also right over here. But skipping those, the first room is the grand lounge!” The hall opened into a large round room with a huge screen on one wall and several sofas and chairs scattered about the room. “Behind the lounge is the kitchen area. I have chef bots constantly on standby to make anything that anyone could want!” She walked over to one, “Make me a ground sirloin sandwich with all the regular toppings plus banana slices and peanut butter.” The robot immediately went to work in the kitchen, and within a minute a plate slid over the counter with Bulma’s order.

“Great, thanks!” She sniffed the food, “Ahh smells good, here you go Gohan, you look like you could use it!” she winked as she slid the plate over to the boy.

Gohan took the offering cautiously, “Thanks,” he said looking at the odd combination of ingredients under the bun.

“Don’t worry, you can bring that with you. Moving on! The next room is the dining area.” The door behind the kitchen’s serving area lead to a room that looked a lot like a restaurant with tables and booths set up all along the walls. “If you were going to sit and eat, here would be the best place to do it.” Bulma turned around and headed back from where they came. “There are a few other cool places to the residential wing, but I’ll let Trunks show you later.” The three walked back out of the residential area to the main hall of the complex.

“Down here is the training wing,” Bulma opened the large door and once again there was another hall in front of them. “Most of these rooms are not much more than a small dojo.” Gohan looked through a window on one of the doors and saw a group of people inside all practicing what looked like Tai-Kwon-Do. “As we get deeper in we get to some of the more advanced training rooms, including Trunks’ favorite, the gravity room.” The door was huge and had a large bolt lock. Bulma pressed a button on the control panel, “Hey you guys, I have someone who I want to introduce you to, and he’d also like to see the gravity room.”

A brief silence went by, “Sure, we’re turning the gravity off now.” Another moment passed, and then the light on the keypad went from red to green and the bolt lock turned. Trunks pulled the door open and Bulma stepped in.

“Gohan I’d like you to meet Yamcha and Tien, they were also friends of your dad, Yamcha, Tien, this is Gohan, Goku’s son.”

The two who were training stopped cold at the mention of that name. They stared at Gohan wide eyed, “Can it really be?” Tien asked.

“Oh wow, it really is Goku’s kid, I can’t believe it!” Yamcha exclaimed looking Gohan over and immediately catching the resemblance.

“Yamcha and Tien are part of our anti-Frieza resistance Gohan, they’re training really hard just like everyone else to be ready to fight off Frieza’s soldiers when the time comes!” Bulma cheered the two on.

“Wow, I can’t believe all this is going on right underneath one of Frieza’s bases, how can you guys train so hard while making sure Frieza’s scouters don’t pick up on your power levels?” Gohan looked around the room and at the large machine against the wall with a large 1G displayed on the panel.

Bulma laughed, “This entire complex has a special type of magnetic shielding around it Gohan. It stops scouters from being able to detect anything within these walls. That way all of our people can train at their fullest without worrying about alerting enemy soldiers to our presence here. I came up with it myself you know,” she winked happily.

“Wow! That’s really something, I sure could have used something like that… it’s really hard having to always keep your power suppressed…”

Trunks nodded, “I can imagine.”

“Thanks you guys!” Bulma waved to Tien and Yamcha, “We’ll let you get back to your training.”

“Yeah OK, and guess we’ll be seeing you around, right Gohan!” Yamcha gave him a thumbs up as the three walked back out of the room.

“So by gravity room, when this door closes and the light goes red, that means the gravity inside starts becoming more intense than the gravity outside right?” Gohan pieced that much together.

“Yup, that’s how it works alright,” Bulma answered.

“How much extra gravity can it add?” Gohan asked watching as the panel went to red again.

“Well, those two have been training under ten times normal gravity, but the machine is capable of much higher gravity ratings than that. Trunks actively trains in what… fifty times gravity would you say Trunks?”

Trunks blushed a little, “Yeah… I guess I usually have it set to fifty.”

Bulma nodded, “But the machine is capable of surpassing a hundred times gravity if you can stand it without being flattened, it’s really not something to fool heartedly mess around with.”

Gohan gulped and nodded.

“The next set of rooms down this hall are the shooting range where we test out the blasters for our people who can’t fire off energy naturally like yours truly, and past that is the largest room in the complex which is used as a testing arena for vehicles and other larger pieces of battle equipment.” Bulma lead them back out to the main hall again and continued down. “The next door leads to our storage facilities. We keep everything in there from food and supplies to weapons and artillery. The area after that is really cool, it’s the agricultural manufacturing center, but we call it the food lab for short.” Bulma opened the door and let Gohan look inside. “The lamps situated along the ceiling emit special radiation waves which imitate the sun’s rays coming through atmosphere and allow plants to use photosynthesis even underground so we can produce our own fruits, vegetables, and wheat. Their growth is also accelerated through special growth chemicals given through the irrigation system. The room across from that synthesizes meat products… it’s probably better we not go into detail on how we do that…”

Trunks put a hand on Gohan’s shoulder and nodded to him while rubbing his stomach.

“Hey!” Bulma retorted, “It’s not that bad… Anyway, the last room in there is the water purification center. We have our own water line that runs to several water sources and runs the water back here and to our faucet lines after putting it through a series of twenty nine filtration processes to make sure no kind of radiation comes in with it. Anyway, all the food that is produced here is capsuled in special refrigeration capsules and put in storage until the kitchen needs it.”

The boys continued to follow Bulma down the main hall, “The last stop is where you’ll usually find me, the main lab.” Bulma opened the large double doors at the bottom of the hallway into a huge brightly lit area with dozens of people in white coats running around doing various things. “All of the things that we’re supposedly developing upstairs was actually made about five years ago down here.” Gohan looked around intrigued, there were machines lining the walls of the lab that looked like they could be parts of a spaceship, and mechanical battle suits that looked like they could have come straight from a movie.

“Wow…” was all Gohan could say as he looked around.

“Under here is also where the main power generator for the entire complex is. So tell me Gohan, what do you think?”

Gohan was still looking around, “This entire place… is huge… with the Rogues… we had almost a hundred of us sleeping in a room probably not much bigger than your lounge…”

“Wow that sounds cramped.” Bulma cringed, “What would you do for privacy?”

Gohan blushed a little… “Well… there isn’t any really…”

“Gosh, how awful! I know if I don’t get any private time for at least an hour a day I get really cranky, Trunks will attest to that, won’t you?”

“Oh yeah… you don’t wanna know how sh…”

“Thanks Trunks, anyway, just to reinforce this with you, I would love it if you would stay, you can call this place your home from now on Gohan. We could really use another Saiyan on the resistance too. So please think it over, tell me you will!” Bulma looked hopeful.

Gohan scratched the back of his head, “I’ll… I’ll definitely sleep on it.”

“That’s great to hear! Well I need to get back to work on my new project, so why don’t the two of you go do something, and I’ll see you later,”

“OK mom, I’ll show Gohan some of the other rec areas in the residential wing,” Trunks waved to his mom as she stepped on a platform and pushed a lever to make it start moving away.

“Sounds good, take care you guys.” Bulma’s platform hovered over to the other side of the room.

“Your mom… is interesting Trunks…” Gohan said as he watched her float away.

Trunks laughed, “Tell me about it, anyway, let’s go.” Trunks lead Gohan back upstairs to the residential wing. “On the other side of the lounge is a cool recreational area.” Trunks walked them through the lounge and opened the door on the other side. “We have basketball, tennis, and a couple other sports in the first room, and over through the double doors over there are some pool tables, and even some arcade machines.”

Gohan checked out the room with the pool tables and arcades first. “Whoa… this is cool Trunks. I just still can’t get over how much you guys have underground here.”

Trunks smiled, he liked seeing Gohan excited, “Mom believes in keeping morale among the troops up. It’s not easy going against a force like the Cold Empire, but being able to live a little better off can make it easier for some people to deal with.”

Gohan nodded, “Yeah I guess… The people up on the surface act more out of fear and desperation than anything else… Those of us who go against the system usually end up starving if you try to make it alone… But the larger the group the easier it is to get caught… Us Rogues have been really lucky so far…”

“That’s awful… but if it’s hard for one person to live on the street without starving, how does grouping make that easier?” Trunks wasn’t understanding that concept.

“Oh, well you see, once your group is big enough you can take what you need from other groups, like the Muratzos, they’re a group who does more business interaction than street action, and have more supplies horded away than they’ll ever need. Some groups were able to take advantage of the situation on the streets and get in good with the right guards and enforcers of the martial law and get a lot more than everyone else. My friends and I usually target people like that and steal enough to last our whole group several days at a time. But it’s cool because even if we’re not able to get enough or anything for that matter, with any luck there’s someone else in our group who was. So we might not have much, but we normally end up with something.”

Trunks shook his head, “It wasn’t always like that you know… back when we were little things were a lot better… and that’s why we do what we do here, one day things are going to be like they were, there will be food for everyone, and no one will be forced to work in the mines…” Trunks clenched his fist tight for a moment and then regained his composure.

“So Gohan, you any good at any of these?” Trunks gestured to the rest of the room.

“Sports and stuff… I dunno… I don’t play a whole lot.” Gohan said almost shyly.

“No problem then, I’ll show you, come on,” Trunks dragged Gohan over to the pool tables, “Just try and keep in mind that these were all designed for normal humans, so putting too much strength into it can be bad. Mom says these kind of sports are a good way to practice self-control.”

Gohan looked a little confused as Trunks handed him a pool stick. Trunks explained to Gohan all the rules of the game. Trunks demonstrated by doing the opening break. Gohan nodded and lined up his shot. He tapped the cue ball with his stick and the ball hit the end of the table and flew off into the air. Gohan watched as the ball flew and flew until a shattering noise could be heard in the background. Trunks clutched his stomach while laughing while Gohan was both confused and embarrassed, “I’m sorry! I’ve never had a problem in restraining my strength before…”

“Don’t worry about it Gohan. Keep in mind the rejuvenation tank you spent the last couple hours in restored your strength to full. You’re probably not used to being at full power from the looks of you. That was great though!” Trunks laughed a second more and returned to the task at hand. He pulled out a new cue ball and set it on the table. “Normally that’s a scratch, but I’ll give you another turn, remember now, you have to really control your strength, these balls are very light so putting in even a little too much force will cause something like that to happen,” Trunks chuckled a bit more, “OK try again.”

Gohan nodded and lined up his shot again. This time the ball did what he wanted and put a ball in the side pocket. “Like that?”

“Great! Now watch this!” Trunks showed off some more complicated moves and tricks and before long it turned into a good fun game.

Once Bulma was done for the night, she walked over to the living area and saw a slight crowd gathered over the billiards room. Curious she walked over to check it out and saw Trunks and Gohan in the center of it all.

“Oh yeah?!” Trunks gave a confident smirk, “I bet I can! Watch this!” Trunks hit the cue ball and the room watched as it bounced around the table, knocking all nine solid colored balls into a pocket. Trunks pulled the balls back out and set them for Gohan.

“Not bad…” Gohan smirked, “But now that you’ve revealed your little secret, it’s all over!” Gohan broke the set first, then walked around the table checking his angles. He spent a good few minutes calculating the geometry of the table up and chose his shot. Once he struck the cue ball it bounced and rebounded all around the table, striking ball after ball after ball. Trunks stared in shock as Gohan’s eyes seemed to be following the trail as if he had already calculated that all of this would happen. With only two balls left on the table, the cue ball bounced off the nine ball, sending it straight to the middle pocket, then with the last of its momentum hit the 8 ball leaving the cue ball stopped in the middle of the table. The 8 ball slowly rolled towards the corner pocket. All eyes watched as it inched and seemed to crawl its way across the table. It came to within a millimeter of dropping into the hole and just stopped. “You gotta be kidding… Drop you stupid ball!” Gohan yelled at it, but nothing… The crowd clapped at the amazing performance while Gohan staggered at the anti-climactic ending.

Trunks put an arm around Gohan’s shoulder, “That wasn’t bad, shame on the ending though.” Trunks blew hard in the balls direction and it dropped in. He smirked down at Gohan who just playfully scowled back.

The crowd dispersed and once they were all gone Trunks and Gohan dropped to the ground laughing. Bulma walked over to the boys with a look of confusion on her face, “What’s going on?” she asked.

Trunks was the first to answer, “All of those guys actually think we’re that good at this game!” Trunks continued laughing.

“I saw it, those were some really amazing shots, and… what are you talking about?”

Gohan was still giggling so Trunks finished, “Gohan didn’t actually hit the ball just right to do all that you know. He was using his energy to push the balls exactly where he wanted them, we were both doing that when a couple of the guys walked over and saw us playing and started screaming we were billiard gods!”

Gohan regained himself and looked back over to Trunks, “That was really cool, I’ve always been too afraid of getting caught to do something like that before!”

Bulma shook her head, “Oh you boys…” she smiled and hugged Trunks, kissing him on the head before saying, “Well I’m going to bed, so I’ll see you later, good night.” She took Gohan by surprise by giving him a hug also.

“Good night mom!” Trunks called.

Gohan nodded, “Good night miss Bulma!”

Bulma cringed and shook her head, “Oh no, none of this “miss” stuff, you call me Bulma, alright?!” Gohan gulped audibly and nodded, “Good… Now good night you two!” Bulma walked off to her room.

“It is getting late, we should probably go to bed too,” Trunks said after his mom was out of sight, “It was a lot of fun getting to hang out with you again Gohan… I really hope we get to hang out like this a lot from now on.” Trunks smiled before he started walking over to his room also.

Gohan followed and just thought some. It was still so much to take in so quickly. Trunks entered the code to his room and the door opened. He stood in the door way for a moment looking Gohan over obviously thinking of something but not saying anything.

“Thanks a lot Trunks,” Gohan bowed, “Good night.”

Trunks smiled, “Good night Gohan. Remember if you need anything, just come knock anytime.” The door closed and Gohan walked over to his room.

Trunks had slipped him a paper with the code to open his door. He pushed in the buttons on the door and slid open. Gohan still couldn’t believe how spacious this room was. Gohan walked over to the bedroom and pulled off the clothes of Trunks’ he was wearing. He lied on the bed and stared up at the ceiling, “Wow this is comfortable…” he said out loud as he stared at the ceiling through the very dim purple light. “Damn I need a smoke though…” Gohan rolled on his side and tried to sleep.


End Chapter