Tony Stark and his Saiyan Sons

Chapter 5

-The Next Morning-

"Tony, Tony, wake up." Tony hears as he slowly comes to.

He reluctantly cracks one eye open and finds his P.A standing over him.

"Pep, what's up?" He asks as he sits up.

"The boys are still asleep and JARVIS told me he recorded the memories Gohan hadn't gotten to yet. So I wanted us to go through at least some of them before he gets up." Pepper answers.

The memories of last night come flooding back and Tony admits, "Oh, I was kinda hoping that was all just some sorta fever dream."

"I know what you mean, but this is very real and we are going to do whatever we can to lighten the burden off of that poor, sweet boy's shoulders." Pepper adamantly declares.

"I hear you, Pep." Tony replies with a smirks. "You've suddenly become very maternal, Ms. Potts. Have these half-alien, warrior children from another reality brought out your soft side?" 

These insane sentences are becoming more natural. That's probably not a good thing, but best ignore it for now.

With a smirk of her own, Pepper teases her boss, "Oh don't pretend you don't like them, especially considering how quickly Goten had you wrapped around his little finger, Mr. Stark."

Unsuccessful in concealing the sudden red tinge across his cheeks, Tony stutters a bit and glares up at the ceiling.

"JARVIS, you showed her the footage from after she left to get Happy and the supplies, didn't you?" He accuses the A.I.

"Apologies, Sir. Ms. Potts requested to see it and I wasn't aware of it being private." JARVIS casually replies.

Tony sticks his tongue out at the ceiling, then turns to Pepper. "Why did you even watch that?"

"I just wanted to make sure you didn't drop the baby while you had to clean him up." Pepper claims while trying to suppres a laugh.

"Whatever, let's just get this nightmare restarted and go through what we can before the kid wakes up, alright?" Tony grumbles.

He drags himself out of bed to get cleaned up and dressed.

"You got it." Pepper agrees before she heads out of the room.

Tony and Pepper go down to the lab and have JARVIS start the B.A.R.F projection from where Gohan left off before.

While watching, Tony asks, "What about Happy?"

"I talked to him and he said he would watch the rest if we needed him to, but I didn't want him to push himself. So I didn't tell him we were doing this." Pepper says.

Tony nods in understanding and they continue to watch.

Despite his usual friendly demeanor, Goku's take down of Nappa was swift, efficient, and ruthless. (They could hear the giant Saiyan's spine snap at the end of their exchange)

Unfortunately, Goku's impressive display of strength and skill is immediately one upped when Vegeta casually deems Nappa worthless for losing before remorselessly tossing his comrade into the air and reducing him to ashes with a single attack.

There's a brief sense of relief when Goku has the foresight to send Gohan and Krillin away from the battlefield, but it's short lived.

As Kame House was right within their sights, the duo are unable to ignore the massive, glowing orb in the sky and what they're sensing go down any longer and rush back to join Goku.

They're welcomed with the sight of Goku being crushed in the hands of a giant ape who turned out to be Vegeta. (Seriously, what the fuck?!)

Though they don't hesitate to jump back into the fray, Gohan and Krillin don't have to contend with the articulate King Kong for very long.

While they tried to free Goku from Vegeta's grip, a newcomer –later identified as 'Yadjirobe'– appears and cuts Vegeta's tail off, causing the Saiyan to change back to his previous form.

The Saiyan Prince was definitely winded, but he still had enough strength to beat Yadjirobe and Krillin within an inch of their lives, which leaves Gohan all alone to fight him. (Again! Hopefully that doesn't become a trend.)

Thankfully, the burden to end this insanity wasn't solely on the 5 year old's shoulders. Somehow, in all the confusion Goku had managed to pass off a Spirit Bomb (whatever that was) he'd made earlier to Krillin.

Yadjirobe screws up their attempt at a sneak attack by yelling at Krillin to fire it, revealing the last ditch plan to Vegeta.

Krillin hurls the ball of energy at Vegeta anyway, but the Saiyan jumps out of the way; putting Gohan in its line of fire.

With a quick telepathic instruction from his father, Gohan is able to deflect the blast right at Vegeta.

Tony and Pepper watch with a twisted satisfaction as Vegeta dissappears into the sky while screaming his lungs out in agony.

Vegeta's body crashes back to the ground, but any celebration is cut short when the Saiyan pulls himself back onto his feet and launches an explosive shockwave in all directions.

Everything goes black, so Gohan must have been knocked out.

When the boy wakes up, the battle was long over and the survivors had been bundled up into an aircraft.

As they made their way to retreive the bodies of their fallen friends, the reality of the situation set in. Now that Piccolo, and by extension, Kami –the creator of Earth's Dragon Balls– were dead, there was no way to bring anyone back.

But Krillin mentions something Vegeta had said about Piccolo being from a place called Namek and how there could be more Dragon Balls there.

King Kai telepathically confirms his theory to the group and explains Piccolo's origin as well as his homeworld, Namek.

With a chance to undo the damage the Saiyans caused, everyone immediately makes preparations to travel to Namek in the hopes of finding another set of Dragon Balls.

Deciding to take a break for breakfast, (and to process) Tony has JARVIS shut off the projection. "God, why do I get the feeling that it's only going to get worse?" 

"Because it does." Tony and Pepper nearly jump out of their skin and turn to see Gohan with a groggy Goten in his arms.

"Kid, we didn't know you were up." Tony replies. "JARVIS, why didn't you let us know that the kid was awake and heading down here?"

"Apologies, Sir, I was distracted by Young Sir Gohan's memories."

"I didn't think that was possible, JARVIS." Tony comments. "Wait, if you didn't ask JARVIS, how did you know where we were, Gohan?"

"I sensed you and Pepper down here and I was curious. I'm sorry I didn't announce myself." Gohan explains with an apologetic look in his eyes.

"Don't sweat it, Kid, it's not a problem." Tony assures him, giving Gohan an easy going smile.

"I bet you and Goten are hungry, how about we all head upstairs and get some breakfast?" Pepper asks.

Gohan nods. "Sure, that sounds great. I can also answer any questions you have about everything you watched before I came down."

They all head up to the kitchen and eat while Gohan explains what he knows about the Great Ape transformation, what happened to Vegeta after Gohan had been knocked out, and about King Kai. 

"Ok, so we need to make sure this little monkey here never looks at a full moon or we'll have a King-Kong/Godzilla situation on our hands." Tony recaps while poking Goten's cheek, getting a laugh from the baby in response.

"I'm not sure what 'King-Kong' or 'Godzilla' are, but yes, Goten can't be allowed to look at a full moon as long as he has a tail." Gohan confirms, confused by the reference.

"I'm gonna have to give you a pop culture crash course soon, Kiddo." Tony tells Gohan. "It'll help you adjust and fit in with the locals  in the event you're stuck here for the foreseeable future."

"That sounds fine, Tony, though hopefully you won't have to waste your time on that." Gohan says, still feeling like a burden. 

"It wouldn't be a waste of time, Gohan, we're happy to help you in any way we can." Pepper assures the boy.

"She's right, Kid, so don't worry about that. Let's just get back to it so we can figure out how best to move forward, sound good?"

Gohan nods. "Sure, thank you guys, really." 

Tony, Pepper, and Gohan head back down to the lab.

Looking down at Goten in his arms, Gohan realizes what memories are coming next and asks, "Is there something we can use to distract Goten? What's coming next is pretty brutal and he shouldn't see it." 

They haven't even gotten to the brutal parts yet?! If what they've seen so far is any indication, the baby definitely shouldn't see whatever horrors are coming up.

"I think I have an idea." Tony says. "JARVIS, can you put the memory projection on one screen and something age appropriate for the little guy on another?"

"Of course, Sir." JARVIS confirms. "Shall I have DUM-E stay with Young Sir Goten to watch him?" 

"Yes, but please keep a metaphorical eye on them, just in case DUM-E gets too into whatever program you bring up and doesn't notice the tiny monkey crawl off while we're occupied." Tony replies before asking Gohan, "That ok with you, Kid?"

Gohan nods. "Yeah, that sounds good."

Gohan sits Goten down on a couch near DUM-E's charging station while JARVIS brings up a screen playing cartoons.

Immediately, Goten is entranced by the colorful characters, as is DUM-E for that matter.

With an amused smile, Gohan turns back to Tony and Pepper, and they move to the other side of lab, hopefully far enough where Goten won't hear anything, but close enough to get to him quickly if needed.

"Ok, let's get back to it. I'll skip the trip to Namek itself and start at when we landed." 

They watch in silence while cursing the Kid's terrible luck. Within moments after they stepped off their ship, it's destroyed by some of Frieza's grunts.

Gohan and Krillin swiftly dealt with them afterwards –which, holy shit! The kid had been forced to kill 2 people when he was 5 years old!– but the damage had already been done.

In a rare bit of good fortune, they find a cave to hide in for the time being and take cover in it just in time to avoid being spotted by Frieza and his men as they flew right past them.

The utter terror on Gohan and Krillin's faces when they feel the massive gap in power between themselves and these invaders is heart wrenching, but regardless of the danger, they continue their mission.

Gohan and Krillin follow after Frieza's crew and find themselves outside a Namekian village and are forced to watch as Frieza and his men butcher the defenseless people one by one.

There was a brief spark of hope when some young Namekian warriors swoop in to try to fend off the invaders. The last surviving elder even took the chance they'd provided to destroy every single scouter to protect the other villages from being tracked.

Tragically, the small resistance is quashed rather quickly. Dodoria slaughters the young warriors one by one, each kill more brutal than the last.

In a last ditch attempt to at least have the children's lives spared, the elder finally turns over the Dragon Ball, but the heartless bastard Frieza has Dodoria kill the younger child anyway, and then the elder himself. 

The built up tears began to fall from Pepper's eyes as the younger boy was blasted while trying to flee, and neither her or Tony could suppress the nausea when the henchman snapped the brave elder's neck.

Just when the pink monster was about to murder the last child, Gohan could no longer hold himself back. He sped from their hiding spot and kicked the son of a bitch into one of the now vacant houses.

Luckily, Krillin was able to convince Gohan to retreat after he'd secured the Namekian child later to be identified as Dende.

After a tense high speed chase across the green skies, Krillin shakes Dodoria off their tail with a well timed Solar Flare.

Once they made it back to their hideout and get acquainted with Dende and explained why they wanted the Dragon Balls, Gohan and Krillin pick up on Vegeta slaughtering another defenseless village.

In desperation to thwart the villains from getting all the Dragon Balls, Dende told the group about the Grand Elder, Guru, the progenitor of every Namekian on the planet and creator of the planet's Dragon Balls.

While Dende guided Krillin to Guru's home to plead their case, Gohan noticed Vegeta had left the village he was attacking even though the Dragon Radar indicated the Dragon Ball was still there.

Against any sense of self-preservation, Gohan made his way toward the unattended Dragon Ball.

The aftermath was devastating, Vegeta hadn't left a single survivor.

Being the pure hearted boy he was, Gohan buried all the victims, and promised they would do everything they could to resurrect them.

Through some miracle, the boy got through his surprise encounter with Vegeta without the Dragon Ball being discovered while only suffering a knee to the gut. (Tony declared Vegeta's action a 'Bitch Move!' and subsequently got elbowed in the ribs by Pepper.)

By the time Gohan returned to the cave, Krillin was back and informed the boy of his and Bulma's own encounter with Vegeta and how he'd taken the Dragon Ball he'd just received from Guru.

Though since Gohan took the Dragon Ball from the freshly destroyed village, they weren't out of this yet, but they did need to find a new hideout.

After setting up camp in a crevice between a split plateau, Krillin told Gohan of Guru's power to unlock someone's hidden potential and led him to his home.

Gohan did manage to get his potential unlocked by Guru, but that led Vegeta right to them. Though before a fight could break out between them, Gohan and Krillin were forced to team up with Vegeta when they all sensed the Ginyu Force landing on the planet.

Vegeta led them to where he'd hid the Dragon Balls he'd somehow stolen from Frieza, but they couldn't even attempt to summon the Dragon as the Ginyu Force had caught up to them.

Tony and Pepper could feel the frustration as Ginyu flew off with all 7 Dragon Balls, but there wasn't time to dwell on it as the battle with Ginyu's men had already begun

Krillin and Gohan were handily overwhelming the little, four eyed, booger named Guldo for the majority of the fight.

There was a breif scare when he caught them midair with his physic powers, but Vegeta of all people came to their resuce, decapitating the little freak and incinerating the still talking head.

Unfortunately, their next opponent, –the tall, red-head Recoome– wasn't a pushover. 

After tanking a full powered assault from Vegeta, he'd thrashed the Saiyan Prince. Even when Krillin and Gohan stepped in to save Vegeta from Recoome's Eraser Gun, the older Saiyan already had one foot in the grave, and Krillin was put out of commission by a single kick from the demented, ginger giant.

Once again, Gohan was left all alone to take on the enemy. 

"I'm noticing a trend where everyone with you gets taken down by the bad guys, leaving you the last one standing to try and save the day, and I don't like it at all." Tony grumbles, frustrated as he watches young Gohan fighting for everyone's lives and his own. (For like the 3rd or 4th time!)

"Tony's right, it's so horrible, you being forced into this situation again and again. Gohan you poor, brave boy." Pepper says.

They're both silenced by what happens next.

-Gohan's Memory: Gohan vs Recoome-

"Come on, small fry, give me more fun than Vegeta or your bald buddy did, ha ha ha!" Recoome taunts Gohan, who is weary and battered after their first few exchanges.

"I'm going to BEAT YOU!" Gohan declares.

He avoids Recoome's blasts, but gets brutalized when the red headed giant switches to physical attacks.

The fight is obviously over, but Gohan refuses to give up.

As he limps towards Recoome, he declares, "I am my father's son! I won't lose to you!"

Reccome just laughs. "Whatever you say, shorty, but you're gonna die here!"

The taunt lights a fire under Gohan. He charges Recoome head on with everything he had left and shouts, "NEVER! I'M NOT GONNA LET YOU WIN!"

Recoome easily dodges the boy's attack and breaks his neck with a brutal kick.

"Oh God!" Pepper sobs.

Absolutely seething, Tony growls, "That dirty mother-", but stops himself and justs grits his teeth so he doesn't say something he shouldn't.

The pair are simultaneously filled with relief and fury when Goku shows up, once again just barely in time to save his child's life.

"I'm sorry, Kid, but my God! Did your old man time it for suspense or something?!" Tony asks, unable to keep it to himself.

"I sometimes wondered the same thing, but I guess it doesn't matter since he did always save me in the end." Gohan replies, frustrated by the pattern that he always tried not to see.

Pepper catches the half-Saiyan boy off guard as she pulls him into an embrace. "It absolutely does matter. I don't care about the circumstances, you should have never been exposed to this kind of danger!"

Gohan stands silent for a bit, surprised at his new friends' frustration and anger on his behalf.

'Only Mom worried about me this much, and even she never asked about anything that happened during all the battles I had to fight.' He ponders before being pulled out of his head by Tony and Pepper repeating his name.

Gohan jumps, startled that he spaced out over something like this, then rushes to apologize, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to space out, I was...I'm...I'm not sure."

"Don't worry about it, Kiddo, are you ok?" Tony asks.

Gohan wonders what he means, but then realizes that he has tears spilling down his face.

Quickly wiping them away with his arm, Gohan assures Tony, "Yeah...yeah, I'm ok." 

Before Tony or Pepper can try to say anything to hopefully comfort Gohan, the boy restarts the memory playback, so they bite their tongues, deciding to leave him be for now.

Goku easily dismantling the Ginyu Force members definitely lifts their spirits for a bit, but they're quickly brought back down to Earth (or Namek in this case) when the idiot allows the one named Jiece to escape.

They're more than a little disturbed when they find themselves agreeing with Vegeta finishing Recoome and the one named Burter off while they were down.

Their frustration with Goku only increases when Jiece returns with Ginyu himself.

He at least still has the sense to send Gohan and Krillin off to find the Dragon Balls.

The pair find them buried near Frieza's ship and dug them up without a shred of resistance, but before they can figure out why their summoning attempt failed, Ginyu appears in Goku's body and attacks them.

They're able to fight him off without much trouble, which gets cleared up when Goku shows up in Ginyu's severely wounded body and explains that Ginyu won't be able to access Goku's body's full power.

Before Jiece can intervene, Vegeta appears out of nowhere and completely obliterates him.

Though they don't voice this thought to Gohan, it's a bit cathartic to watch Vegeta beat Ginyu in Goku's body within an inch of his life.

Goku does manage to get his body back when Ginyu tries to switch with Vegeta, and even while in a bloody heap on the ground, he foils Ginyu's second attempt at stealing Vegeta's body by tossing a frog in the path of Ginyu's body swapping beam.

Apparently still smart enough to know he can't win the inevitable fight wirh Frieza alone, Vegeta puts Goku in one of the healing pods on Frieza's ship and outfits Gohan and Krillin with some Frieza Force armor.

Regardless of their temporary alliance, Gohan and Krillin know Vegeta can't be trusted. So once they regroup with Dende, they sneak the Dragon Balls away and finally summon the Dragon.

The sight of Porunga nearly distracts Tony and Pepper enough to miss the wishes being made.

They're successful in resurrecting Piccolo, and per his request, they also teleport him to Namek.

Before Vegeta –after crashing their party–  can force Dende to make him immortal with the third wish, Porunga vanishes and the Dragon Balls turn to stone.

The grief of his children being massacred had Guru passing away sooner than expected.

Though there's not even a second to mourn as Frieza arrives.

Vegeta actually seems to be evenly matched with the tyrant, but then he decides to transform.

-Gohan's Memory: Frieza's Second Form-

Gohan, Krillin, Dende, and Vegeta just float in the air and stare in fear. All 4 of them are painfully aware how overwhelmingly powerful Frieza has become.

To make matters worse, he's as fast as he is powerful.

In a literal blink of an eye, Frieza rockets upward and impales Krillin's chest with his horn.

It happened so fast, it took a moment for the pain to settle in. Blood pours from the wound like a faucet as Krillin wails in agony. 

Frieza shakes his head to impale Krillin further on his horn and simply laughs while the color drains from his victim's face 

Once Krillin had passed out, Frieza shakes him off his horn and Gohan watches in horror as his friend falls into the ocean beneath them and disappears in its waters.

Tony and Pepper go pale in the face for an entirely different reason as they watch the sadism inflicted on the man who was Gohan's rock during this whole Namek nightmare.

Gohan tries to rescue Krillin before he drowns or bleeds out, but Frieza gets in his way again and again while taunting the boy, saying his friend is already dead.

His fear is completely overshadowed by unyielding rage, and Gohan snaps once more.

"YOU...ANNIIIMAAALLLLL!!!" Gohan screams.

He charges Frieza without hesitation and delivers a powerful kick to his head, quickly followed by a barrage of punches in the monster's gut. Gohan then kicks him to the ground and starts firing blast after blast in blind rage.

After an uncountable amount of blasts are thrown, Gohan begins charging one of Piccolo's signature moves to try and finish the tyrant. "MASENKOOOO-HAA!"

Gohan tosses the attack straight down at the series of explosions currently engulfing Frieza, causing a much larger explosion and a blinding flash of light.

When the smoke cleared, Frieza was facedown in the dirt.

Tony cheers and claps Gohan on the shoulder. "Alright, Kid! Way to show that bastard who's boss!"

Before Pepper can 'reprimand' Tony for his language, she and Tony are shocked into silence again as Frieza stood up and brushed some dirt off himself as if nothing had happened.

Frustration turns into horror as the tyrant flashstepped over to Gohan, smacked him to the ground, then kept him down by slamming his foot onto the boy's head.

He steadily added more pressure which drew louder and louder screams from the 5 year old Gohan. 

Pepper covers her mouth to muffle her own screams, and Tony can barely hold back the string of curses on the tip of his tongue. (Or hold his breakfast from coming back up.)

Before Tony inadvertently teaches present Gohan some new vocabulary words, his mouth snaps shut when Krillin swoops in out of nowhere and cuts Frieza's tail off with his Destructo Disk.

Frieza leaves Gohan to chase after Krillin; giving Dende the opportunity to heal him.

Once Krillin regrouped with everyone, he, Gohan, and Vegeta unleash a storm of Ki blasts on Frieza, to no effect. 

Before they could be massacred, Piccolo arrived and somehow held his own against the son of a bitch.

But the faint glimmer of hope is quickly extinguished when Frieza transforms again, (seriously, what the fuck?!) and starts rag dolling the Namekian.

His very recently revived friend being brutalized triggers Gohan into attacking Frieza alone again. He put all of his freshly restored energy into a single blast, and nailed Frieza with it.

Frieza easily deflected it right back at Gohan, but Piccolo came in for the save again and threw a blast of his own to detonate Gohan's attack before it could reach him.

Frieza starts transforming again, (Gohan swears it's the last time) Dende heals Piccolo, Krillin blows a hole through Vegeta's chest so he can be healed by Dende in the hopes that his Saiyan biology will kick in and give him a massive enough power boost after recovering to put the Prince in Frieza's league.

The moment Frieza completes his transformation, he lifts a single finger and fires a Ki beam at Dende.

It came so fast, none of them even realize a blast was fired until it had already hit the Namekian child, killing him instantly. 

"Why the hell did he do that?!" Tony yells. "The poor little green bean wasn't a threat to him!"

"He noticed Dende was healing us, and he didn't like that." Gohan tells him.

Vegeta attempted to fight Frieza, confidently declaring he was now a Super Saiyan, but he was effortlessly picked apart and mercilessly beaten down by Frieza as Gohan, Krillin, and Piccolo could do nothing but helplessly watch.

While Vegeta was a total piece of shit and deserved this, it was still hard to watch him being tortured like this.

Once Vegeta was about to be finished off, Goku showed up. He displays an incredible strength brushing off the death beams that the others couldn't even follow.

After seeing his power, Vegeta tells Frieza that Kakarot has become the Super Saiyan.

The Saiyan Prince gets shot through the chest for his troubles.

Vegeta's dying words to Goku almost make Tony and Pepper feel bad for him. (Almost)

Before charging Frieza head on, Goku buried Vegeta's body, and sent Gohan, Krillin, and Piccolo off.

As the battle began, it seemed like Goku was actually holding his own, but Frieza revealed he had only been using 1% of his full power and had decided to jump to 50%.

Unfortunately, it wasn't a bluff. Goku lost ground fast. Within a minute, it was painfully clear that he was only still alive because Frieza was enjoying toying with him.

Even his 20x Kaioken proved useless, leaving Goku with only one option. He forfeited any and all defense to begin charging a Spirit Bomb.

Once the plan became clear, Piccolo jumped in to distract Frieza and buy Goku time to gather enough energy from Namek and the surrounding planets.

Miraculously, even after Frieza caught on, their plan succeeded. The planet sized attack hits the self-proclaimed Emperor head on.

"Yes! That's got to do it, right?!" Tony borderline pleads.

Gohan doesn't answer and just lets the memory playback continue.

-Gohan's Memory: Namek Spirit Bomb Aftermath-

Gohan and Krillin use the little bit of Ki they can muster to fly over to Piccolo and Goku to join the victory celebration.

Just when they were about to leave to find Bulma and head home, Krillin freezes and turns whiter than snow.

"Krillin, what's wrong?" Goku asks his friend.

"Fa-F-Frieza!" Krillin shouts in terror.

Everyone else turns to where Krillin is staring and see Frieza for themselves, battered and bruised, but still very much alive.

Frieza points a finger at Goku and fires a beam at the Saiyan, but Piccolo shoves Goku out of the way and is ran through instead.

He drops to the ground, unconscious, Gohan freezes in shock and Goku begins trembling with rage. 

It only gets worse as Frieza sets his sights on Krillin. He hits him with a small energy sphere and telekineticly flings him into the air.

"Krillin!" Gohan cries.

"Frieza! Stop this!" Goku screams.

Frieza simply closes his hand into a fist, and the last thing they hear, is Krillin screaming, "HELP ME! AUGHH!"

To Goku and Gohan's horror, their friend is consumed in an explosion, and when the smoke cleared, there wasn't a trace of the man left.

Frieza smiles and gleefully says, "I think the brat should go next."

"THAT PIECE OF-" Tony rages, but again he manages to stop short of swearing in front of Gohan.

Tears fall from Pepper's eyes in full force.

Gohan again chooses to say nothing and continue the play back.

"You WORTHLESS, HEARTLESS...BASTARD!!! I will...make you... SUFFER!!!" Goku declares. "I won't...let you...GET AWAY WITH THIS!!!"

Storm clouds form above them, lightning strikes the ground around them, and with a roar Goku's hair spikes up, turns gold along with his aura, his eyes turn green, and he levels a glare at Frieza that has the tyrant shaking in fear.

"Gohan, what just happened to your dad?" Tony asks.

"When a Saiyan with a high enough power level experiences strong emotions like grief or rage, they go through this transformation called 'Super Saiyan' that increases their strength and power level 50 times over." Gohan explains.

"Can you do that too?" Pepper asks.

"Yes." Gohan confirms.

Pushing aside the implications of that for the time being, they continue watching the memories play out.

Goku sensibly ordered Gohan to take Piccolo back to his spaceship, find Bulma, and head back to Earth without him.

Though reluctant, Gohan follows his father's order, but before taking off, he senses his father's energy signature dissappear and makes a choice.

-Gohan's Memory: Goku's ship-

Gohan opens the hatch, ready to leave the ship.

"Gohan, what are you doing?!" Bulma shouts "We've got to go, the planet's about to blow!"

"I have to stay, Bulma." Gohan tells her. "Think about it, with Dad gone, I'm the last Saiyan left. Frieza will hunt me to the ends of the universe to finish off the Saiyan race for good. I can't risk leading him back to Earth. I need to try and finish this now. I mean Frieza should be pretty wiped after fighting my dad, so I might be able to pull it off."

With a resigned smile, he tells Bulma, "Leave now, Bulma, I'm going, goodbye!" 

He takes off before Bulma can even try to convince him otherwise. 

'Does this kid ever put himself before others?' Tony wonders in frustration.

The boy who was only 5 years old at the time, risked his life for the good of others time and time again without any hesitation. 

"Oh, Gohan, you brave, brave boy." Pepper praises him.

Though it was a very brave choice, Tony and Pepper kept hoping Gohan would turn back.

Unfortunately, he found Frieza and tried his damndest to keep him occupied until Namek's explosion, willing to die if it meant stopping the tyrant.

Thankfully, Goku reappeared and ordered Gohan to go back to the ship.

He complied, but before he can even make it back to the ship, he and everyone else on Namek that were just brought back to life by Earth's Dragon Balls are teleported to Earth.

Apparently, this was all planned by King Kai, Kami, and Goku so the Super Saiyan could fight Frieza without worrying about any bystanders getting hurt.

For months after Namek's explosion, everyone was certain Goku had died alongside the planet, but once Namek's new Dragon Balls were ready to use, Porunga informed them the Saiyan had somehow got off Namek and was still alive.

Tony and Pepper were pretty pissed when the Dragon tells the younger Gohan that his father refused to return, but they kept that opinion between the 2 of them and just watched in amazement as Krillin, Yamcha, Tien, and Chiaoutzu were all brought back to life.

After saying their goodbyes to Dende and the Namekians, and seeing them off as Porunga teleported them all to a new planet identical to Namek, they get a year and a half of peace time.

Everyday, they hoped for Goku's return, but the universe apparently had a sick sense of humor.

Frieza, who was spared by Goku, arrived on Earth first with his father, King Cold in tow.

But before they could cause any damage, both are immediately killed by a teenage, Super Saiyan boy that no one knew.

Goku does return to Earth shortly after the threat is dealt with, but instead of a heartfelt reunion with his friends and family, he went off and talked to the teenaged stranger.

The boy was apparently a time traveler from 20 years in the future named Trunks. (Seriously?! Fucking time travel now?!)

He had come back to warn everyone about Goku's incoming heart virus and the Androids who were far stronger than Frieza that would appear and slaughter them all if they didn't prepare.

They spent the next 3 years training for these Androids, but unfortunately Trunks' time traveling caused a bunch of ripple effects, resulting in several more Androids than in the son of Vegeta and Bulma's own timeline.

Not to mention, these versions of #17 and #18 were much stronger than the ones in the future, so much so, they took down Vegeta and Trunks while they were both Super Saiyans without breaking a sweat.

The plot thickened even more when a second time machine was discovered. Though this second time traveler was an abomination called Cell, who was created by merging the DNA of Goku, Gohan, Vegeta, Nappa, Piccolo, Krillin, Tien, Frieza, and King Cold.

The creature came to their timeline so he could absorb #17 and #18 –who'd been killed by the Trunks in his timeline– which would allow him to achieve his 'perfect' form.

Though before making his move on the twin terrors, he went from city to city, absorbing hundreds of thousands of innocent people to increase his power.

To prepare themselves for the worst case scenario, Goku brought Gohan, Vegeta, and Trunks to Kami's Lookout to train in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber.

-Gohan's Memory: Gohan's first Super Saiyan transformation-

In the hopes of convincing his father to drop the kid gloves, Gohan tells him, "You have to come at me with everything you've got, even if it kills me. It's now or never, there is no in between! Look, Dad, I know you love me and that you don't want to hurt me, but unless I become a Super Saiyan, all the time we've spent in here will be for nothing."

He appears to have gotten through to him. Goku powers up to Super Saiyan, charges a Kamehameha wave, and launches it at Gohan.

As the boy tries to hold off the blast, his thoughts plague him with doubt. 'No! I've...I've been letting people down my whole life!'

Gohan flashbacks to the Saiyan invasion as he laments to himself, 'How many times have I let my friends down when they needed me? And how many of my friends have gotten hurt, because I had been too weak, too scared to help them?! If only I'd been stronger!'

Bits of his fight with Recoome play out again. 'If only I could've done more! Whenever I get into trouble, anytime I'm in over my head and I don't know if I'm going to make it, Dad, Krillin, Piccolo, one of my friends is always there to bail me out!'

'But when the situations are reversed, I just stand there like a little, helpless child!' Krillin's death at Frieza's hand comes to his mind. 'Krillin, I'm so sorry. I have to be strong! If I can't do this, then Dad, Krillin, everyone, I'm going to lose them all!'

Tony and Pepper glance at Gohan, their eyes full of sympathy after hearing his self-effacing thoughts, but they don't address it.

As the younger version of Gohan on the screen takes Goku's blast head on, transforms into a Super Saiyan, and deflects it, Tony tells him, "Damn, Kiddo, you really are something else!" hoping to boost the kid's clearly low self-esteem, if even a little.

"Uhh...thanks, Tony." Gohan replies, then mutters, "You're not going to think that for long."

Pepper doesn't admonish Tony for the swear and places a hand on the boy's shoulder.

She's got an idea of what Gohan's thinking, so she decides to wait and see what the boy is so worried and seemingly ashamed about them seeing.

Gohan flashes Tony and Pepper a small smile and gets back to it.

They again just watch in silence. From Gohan and Goku exiting the Time Chamber and hearing about how Vegeta screwed the pooch and the upcoming 'Cell Games'.

To everyone's frustration at Goku for not explaining his plan for beating Cell.

The unexpected trip to 'New Vegeta' and fight with Broly, the day of the games, the circus act that was Hercule.

Goku and Cell's battle, to Goku surrendering and naming Gohan as Cell's next opponent.

Dumping this fight on his son with no warning was one thing, but giving the monster who's threatening global genocide a senzu bean so he could fight the boy at 100%? Nuh-uh!

"My God! Does the man not understand what's happening?! What is his problem?!" Tony shouts, enraged by Goku's ridiculous justification of giving Cell a 'fair fight'.

"That was just Dad being himself, fighting was important to him." Gohan half-heartedly tries to explain.

"I'm sorry, Gohan, but Tony's right, Goku is just being reckless and irresponsible." Pepper says.

"What I do is much worse." Gohan says. 

Before Tony or Pepper can ask what Gohan means by that, he continues the playback.

They watch Gohan, while apprehensive, still adhere to his father's request and go fight Cell alone.

After trading a few blows, Gohan tried to warn Cell about what will happen if he pushes the boy to his breaking point, but instead of standing down, Cell became excited about the prospect and attacked Gohan in the hopes to draw his hidden power out.

Before Goku could step in, Android #16 attempted to end Cell himself with a built in nuclear bomb –not knowing it had been removed by Bulma when she repaired him– only to fail and being blown to pieces by the monster.

Cell changed tactics and created the Cell Juniors to torture Gohan's father and friends.

When hope seemed lost, #16's head was tossed near Gohan and he begged the boy to fight back.

-Gohan's Memory: #16's Final Words-

"Android 16?" Gohan asks, surprised to see the android's head suddenly land in front of him.

"Gohan, let it go. It is not a sin to fight for the right cause. There are those who words alone will not reach. Cell is such a being. I know how you feel, Gohan, you are gentle, you do not like to hurt. I know because I too have learned these feelings, but it is because you cherish life, that you must protect it."

Cell smirks and mocks 16. "Ugh, this sentimental downpour is killing me. It's so nice of you to help, 16, but I plan on doing this my way."

16 ignores Cell's taunt, smiles at Gohan, and says, "Please, drop your restraints, protect the life I loved. You have the strength, my scanners sensed it. Just...let it go."

Without any further warning, Cell stomps on #16's head and crushes it. "Yet another fighter, you could have saved. "

'16, you loved life...you gave up everything to save it...and you were just an Android...I let you die...I can't do that, I won't watch anymore...I-I feel it slipping...AND I WON'T WATCH THIS ANYMORE!' 

Gohan roars in grief for the pure soul that was just snuffed out, and ascends beyond Super Saiyan.

Gohan's thoughts nearly bring Tony and Pepper to tears.

Their jaws nearly hit the floor from the sheer amazement at Gohan's transformation to Super Saiyan 2 and the effortless slaughter of the Cell Juniors that followed.

Even Cell was helpless against Gohan. The boy dealt more damage to him in 2 punches then Goku did in their entire battle.

Gohan seemed to lose himself in the rage and began to toy with Cell simply to torture the monster.

He even punched him so hard in the gut, he literally puked out Android #18, which caused him to revert to his previous form.

Unfortunately, Gohan's actions backfired. Cell became so desperate, he prepared to self detonate, planning on taking the whole planet with him.

One last time, Goku came to the rescue. He used Instant Transmission to transport Cell to King Kai's planet just before he blew, taking Goku with him.

Even that wasn't enough to end the battle.

Cell returned via Instant Transmission, somehow back in his Perfect Form.

Upon arrival, he killed Trunks, wounded Gohan when the boy got in the way of a blast meant for Vegeta, then prepared to destroy the Earth for real this time with a massive Kamehameha wave. 

Down an arm and his power halved, Gohan was nearly ready to give up, but Goku gave Gohan the encouragement needed through King Kai's telepathy.

Gohan matched Cell's Kamehameha with one of his own and after a tense struggle, he completely annihilated Cell to the point he couldn't regenerate.

It was finally smooth sailing from there, or so Tony and Pepper thought.

While the damage Cell caused was undone with the Dragon Balls, Goku decided to stay dead, leaving Gohan and Chi-Chi alone to welcome Goten into the world.

And it only got worse. Broly's surprise return, Chi-Chi's death and request to not to be brought back either.

Gohan's new new Super Saiyan form and the subsequent beam struggle with Broly which tore open the portal finally brought them to the present.

After sitting in silence for a few minutes, Gohan walks over to Goten, scoops his sleeping form up into his arms, and asks, "Now that you've seen everything, are you really sure you want anything to do with me?"

They must have missed something, because Tony doesn't understand where that question came from.

Where in all that was Gohan responsible for the Hell he narrowly survived? "Are you kidding, Kid? Why would any of that make us want to toss you out on your own?"

"What do you mean?" Gohan asks, confusion clear on his face.

"Gohan, my God! From the time you were a toddler, you were separated from or just plain ditched by your parents, thrown to the biggest wolves imaginable, and you just rolled with the punches. Doing the best you could to help others, never worrying about your own wellbeing, fighting with everything you had against threats you should have never been exposed to, only to be straight up abandoned by both of your parents when you needed them most! How is any of that your fault?!" Tony rants, trying to get Gohan to see reason. 

While Gohan stands frozen in place mulling over what Tony just said, Pepper pulls him into another hug.

Gohan startles when he finds himself and Pepper crying.

"Tony is absolutely right, Gohan. None of what happened is your fault, do you hear us?"

"Yeah, I think I do." Gohan tearfully whispers.

Tony drops a hand on his head and says, "Good, now if you're going to stay with us while we try to figure out this portal business, we're going to need a cover story, create a paper trail for you and the little monkey, and get you caught up on enough of this Earth's history so your hairdos will be the only things about you that stick out. Are you ready to get started?" 

"I'll have JARVIS help me get the proper documentation and cover story set up." Pepper says. "That ok with you, JARVIS?" 

"Absolutely, Ms. Potts, I shall get started immediately."

"Great." Tony smirks down at Gohan. "Gohan, shall we get started?"

Hope fills Gohan for the first time in a while. "Yes, Sir."

But just when everyone moves to get to work, JARVIS informs them, "Sir, Mr. Stane has just arrived at the front gate."

Tony and Pepper lock eyes and in unison say, "Oh shit!"