After drifting through the blackness of the void for what seemed like an eternity, the demi-Saiyan eventually spotted the one life form that was left behind following the great calamity. Floating in the space of nothingness, which was all that remained of her world, he saw Videl curled up, with her face tucked into her knees and her eyes shut tightly against them, trying their best to hold back the tears that came streaming down her left cheek.
Her sobs and cries marked the passing of her world and, after seeing her form drift off into the endless horizon, the vision finally ended.
After seeing the entire sequence of events play out like a scene from a movie, Gohan's wide eyes slowly turned and landed on the blonde witch standing behind him. When he saw the mysterious girl glaring right back at him with her one red eye, the demi-Saiyan swallowed nervously and faced her completely.
With the memories of the vision still fresh in his mind, the teen knew the exact identity of the person he was now speaking with. He would have to be the world's biggest idiot to not know who it was.
"That… was your world, wasn't it?" the warrior whispered, stepping towards the phantom girl as she scowled right back at him. "When you lost the man that you loved… you sacrificed everything you had to try and get him back… friends… family… even your life. You fell to your knees and tortured yourself for decades… working yourself to the bone in order to gain the strength necessary to do what needed to be done. But just when you thought you would finally get to see him again… he was already gone… and there was no way for you to get him back." He then stopped in his tracks, his mind rewinding and replaying the events one last time. "In that world, I was defeated… and you went out to rescue me…"
After gazing down at the girl, the demi-Saiyan uttered the phantom's true name.
"Videl."
The blonde witch's eye narrowed even further upon the boy. When he took a step closer to her in an attempt to work away the gap between them, he saw the girl's glare on him harden and her fists clench. Taking that as a warning to keep his distance, Gohan held back for the time being and looked down at the teenager with a crestfallen expression.
Staring at her carefully, the boy glanced back in the direction the visions had previously been projected to him. After considering the images for a few moments, he quickly turned back to his visitor and began to speak again. "All those memories… they were from two different universes, weren't they? One where we all survived against Majin Buu and Frieza was brought back to life… and another where we were all absorbed by Majin Buu and you defeated him years later. You destroyed that previous universe and, if my guess is correct, moved on to another universe… and then another." He narrowed his eyes thoughtfully as he began figuring out what this meant. "For you to know all of these things… to have witnessed them and to know exactly when each of these events took place… you must have relived them a thousand times over and crossed countless dimensions to get where you are now. Your grief drove you into a state of rage… and you exerted all of the energy you had fighting… trying to make things right."
Staring the blonde square in the eye, Gohan took a few moments to gather his thoughts. Once he was certain he'd arrived at an answer, the demi-Saiyan furrowed his brow and fixed a hard glare upon the witch.
"Tell me… how many universes did you destroy before you came to this one?"
The one-eyed girl didn't say anything at first, choosing to remain completely silent. However, after meeting the demi-Saiyan's glare and matching it over the course of a few seconds, the blonde craned her head towards him and replied in a low voice.
"Enough."
Reflecting a sense of surprise and hurt, the young Saiyan warrior slowly held a hand out to the girl in a sincere gesture of compassion. "I saw all the pain and loneliness you had to go through… and I'm really sorry for all the suffering that you had to endure because of me." He looked her squarely in the eye when he said this next part. "Please… let me help you, Videl."
The girl remained silent again, her one eye reflecting a momentary balk and hesitation in her mental state. However, just as Gohan was reaching out to take her hand, with nothing but the best of intentions of helping the blonde, the phantom suddenly thrust her arm forward and slammed her palm into the teen's chest. The impact was immense, causing a dull thud to ring out that not only knocked the wind out of the Saiyan's lungs, but sent him to the ground. Dropping onto his back with a heavy 'oof', the teen then looked up with a start to see the blonde witch step forward and stand over him.
Glaring down at the stunned warrior, the phantom girl spoke, "You can't help me. There isn't a person alive that can help me. I know this, because I saw it with my own eye. In every single universe I've visited, no matter how hard you tried and no matter how hard you fought… Son Gohan was always destined to fail." When she saw the look of bewilderment flash across the demi-Saiyan's face, the blonde witch slowly raised her arms and held them out. As soon as she did, a series of shadows manifested around her, all of which then transformed into silhouettes of all shapes and sizes. From his position on the ground, Gohan saw two large, hulking aliens and a handful of humanoid figures gather around the blonde, all of whom had their glowing red eyes fixated upon him. Though he couldn't identify any of them on sight, even if he could see their clothing and skin, it was still an incredibly intimidating picture.
Knowing she had the thunderstruck Saiyan's full and undivided attention, the phantom Videl spoke one last time, "This is your destiny. These people you see standing before you… they are the monsters that you and your friends will eventually face. You can try and fight them all you like, and you might actually win… but sooner or later… one of them is going to kill you." The witch then began backing up into the crowd of ghosts, all of which moved forward as she began fading into the darkness. "The day that they do, just like what's happened thousands of times before… your friends will suffer and die… and your world will end."
Hearing these words loud and clear, a stricken Gohan gritted his teeth and sprang off of the floor with a yell. "No! I won't let it happen!" Just as he was dashing towards the retreating female, he suddenly felt several arms grab him from behind and pull him back. Recoiling in shock, the Saiyan looked behind him to see a series of black hands attached to a collection of wraithlike figures begin pulling him back. Shocked at the strength they possessed, the demi-Saiyan fought back, trying with all his might to break free. His ability to go Super Saiyan however was hampered by the foundations of his dream and, with every second that ticked by, he started to lose ground against the opposing forces. Yelling out in pain, he attempted to reach out for the fading blonde. "I'm not going to fail! Do you hear me, Videl?! I swear… no matter what anyone says or does… I will not fail! Not now… NOT EVER AGAIN! I will protect you, Zangya, Piccolo and everybody else! TO MY LAST BREATH IF I HAVE TO! I PROMISE!" His screams echoed across the surreal landscape, reverberating off of the invisible boundaries surrounding him.
Without warning, the army of phantom figures standing behind the blonde witch, each of whom were distinguishable from one another only by their size and outline, charged at the demi-Saiyan and struck out at him en masse. Covering up just in time with his arms, the teenage warrior managed to take their collection of blows, which impacted against him with a crack of thunder. The impact of the simultaneous hits was massive; with the force being so overwhelmingly powerful that it plowed Gohan into the arms holding him down and sent him flying back through the darkness of his nightmare.
Before he knew it, the stunned demi-Saiyan felt his body beginning to fall. Looking up through the blackness of the void and the haze of the attacks, he saw the Videl from another universe and the figures surrounding her fade away into the distance.
The teen gave one last yell of fright as he plummeted into the abyss below, shortly before a bright, white light engulfed him…
XXX
(Midnight)
Eyes flickering open, a bedridden and mentally shaken Gohan gave a light groan as his eyes adjusted to the light of his bedroom.
At least… he thought it was his bedroom.
Finding himself staring up at a pale white ceiling and a cluster of fluorescent lights, all of which had been switched off, the bewildered demi-Saiyan spent the next minute or so trying to figure out whether or not this world he was seeing was real. He felt life, electrical impulses, and odd sensations running up and down his body, letting him know that he was indeed conscious and able to comprehend what he was receiving through his senses.
However, after spending what felt like a decade wandering a surreal world, surrounded by illusions, sanity, madness, and fantasy, he found it quite difficult discerning if this was just another part of it.
The truth soon revealed itself moments later when the previously comatose teenager looked down the length of his body and began taking in the sights. Aside from finding himself in a bed that was clearly in a hospital wing of some high-tech facility, the very first thing the demi-Saiyan saw the instant he fixed his gaze across the sheets, were all of his friends scattered around him.
To his left he saw Erasa, dressed in a set of cute pajamas, lying asleep atop one of the free beds on the far side, and Lime snoring away on the desk alongside him with the lamp turned on. Apparently the latter had fallen asleep doing homework and had refused to move from her station, even to get to a proper incline position, bless her heart. Judging from the pages lying underneath her head, she appeared to have been working on her calculus homework too.
Knowing that the processing parts of his brain were working just fine after working up the numbers, the dazed Gohan then looked over the rest of the room. He immediately spotted Piccolo meditating in the corner, sitting cross-legged on the floor with his eyes closed and was so wrapped up in his activity that he didn't even notice the teen had regained consciousness. Not wishing to disturb the Namekian, the demi-Saiyan continued his scan of the area and soon spotted on his right-hand side Videl lying against the bed beside him, her hand wrapped around his and Zangya perched on the windowsill behind her. Both girls were fast asleep and, despite her awkward position, the Hera was using the frame of the viewing platform as a comforter.
After marveling at the fact that many of his closest friends were in the same room with him and were standing guard by his bedside, so to speak, Gohan quickly looked down at Videl to see the girl shift across the sheets and let out a gentle sigh. Feeling her hand tighten around his, the young half-Saiyan soon realized that he was well and truly awake, and that this was no longer a dream.
Unbeknownst to him however, standing atop a lamppost across from the Capsule Corp main building in full view of his window, the same blonde witch with the eye patch that'd invaded his dream could be seen watching his room carefully from a distance. Narrowing her one good eye on the people inside and seeing the demi-Saiyan slowly regain consciousness, the inter-dimensional traveler, with her bell jingling on the night air and outfit tails waving on the breeze, then turned her gaze towards the starry sky above and, without a moment's hesitation, vanished in a flash of golden light.
Analyzing the condition of his body and the bits and bolts holding it together, he felt no pain, no fatigue, and no weakness. The heart virus was completely gone. In fact, after taking another quick look down his frame, the demi-Saiyan felt even stronger and better than ever.
When his mind eventually got around to working this out, the newly revived Gohan allowed a warm smile to cross his lips, at the same time he gently squeezed Videl's hand in his. Seeing her respond unconsciously and her beautiful face turn towards him, the Z-fighter soon thought back to the dreams he'd experienced and the visions he'd witnessed. Upon recalling the identity of the mysterious phantom and allowing her words to percolate in his mind, the boy frowned deeply and, upon looking ahead of him, permitted a look of absolute certainty and confidence to forge his expression.
"I won't let you down," Gohan thought assuredly as his gaze landed on his girlfriend sleeping alongside him. Running his thumb over the back of her hand and seeing a smile tug at her lips, a sense of serenity and peace formed upon his. "I promise."
After all, nothing was set in stone in this world. His fate was what he made for himself and not something that was decided by anyone.
Whether he would live up to that promise though, would have to wait until tomorrow.
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End of Phantom Enemy Arc.
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