Title: Welcome to the Afterlife, son!

Author name: Trugeta

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Akira Toriyama and Funimation. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

This story focuses on the Mirai timeline after Gohan has been killed by the Androids. It's an AU, and Reviews are welcome and appreciated.

Chapter 1: Welcome to the afterlife, son!

Darkness. Absolute darkness. He did not know where he was. The last thing he remembered was blinding light and a soaring, unbearable pain. He had fallen. Then... nothing.

Suddenly his vision cleared, and to his surprise the demi-Saiyan noticed that he had his arm back. He got up because his fighting instincts told him to do so. He turned around, and saw something. Something he had hoped to see in the far future.

It was the huge desk of Lord Enma. And it looked exactly the way his father had once described it. Huge and impressive. And the same could be said about the even so huge Lord Enma. He was more than twice the size of his grandfather, the Ox-King, had red skin and horns. In two words: VERY impressive.

Gohan walked into the row of people and spirits that were waiting to be judged. It was a very long row. Apparently those darn hellspawned tinkertoys were quite busy down on Earth and continued their murderous onslaught against humanity. And he could do absolutely nothing against it...

The line proceeded, and finally the time had come by which Gohan was the one to be judged. Lord Enma looked at him.
"Ah, Son Gohan. One of the last two persons to fight the reason for all this work we have up here. Ahh, sadly you were not able to change the situation. Well, regarding all that you have done for Earth you are allowed to keep your body. You will train with..." he stopped in mid-sentence and looked at someone.

Gohan followed his view, and saw... his father! He looked the same way he'd looked when Gohan had seen him the last time. Only the pain strained expression was gone.

It had been unbearable for Gohan to see his father suffer this much before he had died, and through this pain of loss he had been finally able to turn Super Saiyan. He had not been able to help his father, and he'd thought that it had been his fault.

Later on he had of course realized that he could not have done anything to save his father at all, but that had been the way he had felt as a young boy. It had dominated his thoughts. He had let his father down.

Because of this he had trained and trained and trained. To hell with the damned studies his mother had wanted to force him through. Yeah, it could not have been an easy time for his mom...

But then came the Androids Juunanagou and Juuhachigou. Those damned, blasted tinkertoys from hell. The other Z-fighters and him had put up a valiant battle, but in the end the Androids had proven to be too strong.

And those heartless monsters had killed all the others! Killed them! Them all! Not only defeated to prove they were superior! Killed! Brutally murdered!

With Piccolo gone it was impossible to use Earth' dragonballs to rectify all that had been done by those blasted machines of death. And with the Nameks disappeared to Kami-knows-where it was impossible to use the Namekian dragonballs, too!

With his last dying breath Vegeta had commanded him to escape. To train. To avenge them.

Oh yeah, he remembered Vegetas last words all too well:
"Gohan... you must... flee! Train... become... stronger! Show... them... what a... Saiyan... is capable... of! Avenge us!"

But he had failed them! Ultimately! He had left Trunks all alone in a world that lived in constant fear of those monsters and their deeds! Why had he been so weak?

He looked at his father, and Goku smiled.
"Ah, there you are, Goku." Lord Enma said. "Good! You can take your son straight with you. Train him to become stronger. Who knows when you'll be able to return to the dimension of Earth once again? You must be prepared."

Goku nodded.
"I will, Lord Enma. Thank you." he said and walked towards his son. He looked him straight into the eyes with his coal-black eyes.

How much had Gohan missed this gentle and caring expression of his fathers eyes. His eerily happy attitude, the warmth of his whole being. When his father had died, a part of Gohan had died also. Especially because he thought that he'd never see his father again in his life on Earth. And he had been right…

Goku was the first to speak.
"Hello, son. Welcome to the afterlife."

Gohan looked at him with sad eyes.
"Hello, dad."

Goku surveyed him.
"Hey, what's up, son? Not happy to see me again?" he asked in his eerily happy attitude and with his trademark goofy grin.

Gohans heart nearly burst.
"I wanted to see you alive again! On Earth! Once I had beat the Androids and wished you back! But I failed!" he nearly screamed, and his KI grew at an alarming rate.

Goku looked concerned.
"Whoa son, calm down! No one was able to beat them, not even Vegeta!" he reasoned.

But it seemed that Gohan hadn't even heard him.
"I failed! Ultimately! I left Trunks alone in a world where those f Androids have him at their mercy! I as good as served him to them on the silver plate!" he screamed and his rising KI made the whole room shake.

Goku's concern grew. This was not good...
"Gohan, listen to me! You are not responsible for what happened! And you're not responsible for what will happen! Not even Vegeta and all the others were able to beat them combined! And Vegeta was a Super Saiyan!"

Gohan growled. His KI rose to dramatic proportions, and a blinding white aura surrounded him. This aura soon changed from white to gold, as Gohan transformed into a Super Saiyan.
"I AM a Super Saiyan!" he yelled, "But I was too weak to destroy this blasted, god damned, f pieces of scrap! Too weak! I failed!" he finished with tears in his teal eyes.

Goku was most surprised. He had not seen what had been going on down on Earth for quite a while, cause he had been too obsessed with his own training. Obviously he had missed out quite a lot of things...
"Hey son, calm down! Vegeta was not able to beat them as a Super Saiyan with the additional help of all the others! How do you expect from yourself to beat them on your own accord? All alone? Those creatures ARE stronger than a Super Saiyan! Vegeta learned that the hard way. You can ask him."

This calmed Gohan somewhat. And it surprised him.
"Vegeta? He's here?" he said, and meant that he'd thought that Vegeta would be in hell.

Goku nodded and grinned.
"Yeah. He has been allowed to keep his body and train with me and the others. Lord Enma regarded the fact, that he had sacrificed himself for Earth and its people to stop the Androids. We've trained ever since!"

Gohan looked baffled.
"Vegeta was allowed to keep his body? And to train with you?" Goku nodded. "Hard to believe..." Gohan stated.

Goku grinned even more.
"I convinced Lord Enma with the help of King Kai. We argumented, that Vegeta would go to any length to become stronger than me. Remember how jealous he was when I became a Super Saiyan before him?" Gohan nodded and his father continued. "We thought that we could use this rivalry between us to become stronger. Competition helps, you know." Goku explained.

Gohan nodded. That sounded logical. Meanwhile he had calmed down enough to regain his composure. He powered down into his normal status, and his father looked relieved.
"I understand, dad. But I've still got the feeling that I left Trunks to die. And he MUST not die. All of the people down on Earth that are slaughtered by those mechanical monstrosities MUST not die. But I can do nothing to change this!" he said sadly.

Goku looked at his son sympathetically and patted him on the back.
"That's why we train so vigorously. In case someone wishes us back. As Lord Enma said, who knows when someone WILL wish us back? But you're right, son, the Earth depends now on Trunks. Let's hope that he'll grow strong enough to change the things for the better..."

Gohan nodded.
"And let's just hope that he's clever enough to keep a low profile until he's strong enough to beat one of them. If he became strong enough to beat one Android at a time and could lure that blasted thing into a trap, he might have a chance to end this threat. But I pray that he does not plan to avenge me and is stupid enough to attack both of them."

Goku agreed.
"Yeah. But who knows... maybe Bulma has something up her sleeve to change the situation. After all, she's a genius. And if she does not give up, who knows..." he trailed off, before continuing, "and until that time comes we will train and become stronger. We WILL be prepared!"

Now Gohan nodded.
"Yeah. That we will. By the way..."

"What is it, son?" his father asked.

Gohan smiled. The first real smile in many, many years.
"I AM glad and happy to see you again, dad." he said and hugged his father.

Goku returned the hug.
"Me too, my son, me too..."

to be continued…

Thanks for reading. Please review!