Bittersweet Homecoming
Chapter 24
Even though Tony, Pepper, and Bruce have all seen the view of the Lookout from Gohan's memory recordings, seeing it in person is an entirely different experience.
They look around the wide expanse of the odd stucture in awe as cool air bounces off their skin.
Gohan's also taking in the sight, so many feelings running through him at once.
The happiness of being able to see his homeworld again after being certain he never would. Despite all the hardships he went through here, he still feels fondly nostalgic being back.
The excitement of getting to bring his new family here and show them around his old home in person, plus getting to see his grandfather as well as all of his old friends.
There is also fear though, as well as guilt from not knowing how his grandfather and friends will react to his decision to stay with his new family.
But before Gohan can linger on any of these thoughts and feelings for too long, Goten starts squirming in his arms trying to get a look around.
"It's an amazing view up here isn't it, Goten?" Gohan asks his brother.
As Goten excitedly babbles a response, Tony drops a hand on Gohan's shoulder. "It definitely is."
Bulma and Krillin let Gohan and the new arrivals enjoy the sight for a bit before Bulma clears her throat to get their attention. "I'm sure Dende and Mr. Popo would be happy to give you a tour later, but there are a bunch of excited people looking forward to seeing Gohan and Goten again."
They all nod in understanding and Pepper says, "And you don't want to keep them waiting."
"Exactly."
"If they're not here, does that mean everyone is waiting at Capsule Corp?" Gohan asks.
Bulma nods. "Yeah, without Instant Transmission, it's easier for everyone to meet there than here."
"Good." Gohan responds, then asks, "Could you and Krillin stall them for a bit?"
Everyone blinks and looks at Gohan.
"What for?" Krillin asks.
"There's some stuff I wanna do first...also...I need a little time to ready myself for seeing Grandpa and the others again." Gohan explains.
Tony pats Gohan's shoulder in support and Pepper places a hand on his back.
Krillin and Bulma both look a little confused, but accept his request.
"Sure thing, Gohan, we'll tell them you wanted to take in some old sights before seeing everybody." Krillin assures.
Gohan smiles at his friends. "Thanks guys, I'll try to be fast."
"Alright." Bulma replies, then eyes the rest of the group. "I'm guessing you'll all be going with him?"
Tony, Pepper, and Bruce all answer in the affirmative.
Bulma pulls a small case out of her pocket and tosses a capsule from it to Tony. "Gohan can't carry you all at once, and you all won't fit on the Nimbus, so you'll need this."
Tony catches the capsule, activates it, and tosses it a distance away before it burts into a cloud of smoke.
Once it clears, it reveals a small aircraft with the Capsule Corp logo plastered onto its side.
Tony smirks and turns to Bulma. "I like your style, Ms. Briefs."
Bulma pulls out another capsule from the case and from it pops out another aircraft. "Much appreciated, Mr. Stark."
She climbs into her aircraft and waves at the group. "I'll see you all at Capsule Corp."
In the next moment, she takes off, shortly followed by Krillin after he waves goodbye to the group as well.
"So where are we heading first, Squirt?" Tony asks.
Gohan chuckles and hands Goten to Tony. "To my old home. But before we go, there's someone else we gotta bring along for the ride."
As Tony, Pepper, and Bruce each raise an eyebrow in question, Gohan cups his hands around his mouth and shouts, "Flying Nimbus!"
The group waits a few seconds before a bubbly wooshing noise becomes clearer as something gets closer.
After another few seconds, a big, yellow cloud is landing right next to the group.
Tony approaches the Nimbus and begins curiously poking at it with his free hand. "I finally get the chance to meet the sentient, magic, taxi cloud."
Gohan laughs as Nimbus wiggles away from Tony's touch. "It's ok, Nimbus, they're family."
The cloud seems to pause in consideration of Gohan's words before excitedly buzzing around the group.
It nuzzles up to Pepper, getting a laugh out of her. "Well hello."
Nimbus gives Bruce and Tony similar but much less affectionate greetings before getting to Goten.
Goten excitedly squeals and starts reaching for Nimbus.
Everyone laughs and Tony bounces Goten in his arms a couples times, then looks to Gohan with a question in his eyes.
Gohan nods and can barely contain his amusement as while Tony is cautiously holding Goten over Nimbus, Pepper and Bruce move to hold their arms out under the cloud incase the baby falls through.
"It's ok, Dad, you can put him down. Nimbus will hold him up. You all know this from my memory recordings."
Tony concedes to Gohan's point and slowly lowers Goten onto Nimbus.
Once Tony pulls his arms back, Goten stays seated on the cloud despite how illogical they all know this to be.
Even though the evidence of magic before his eyes irks Tony a bit, he, Pepper, and Bruce all sigh in relief when Goten doesn't fall through the cloud.
All 3 adults look back at Gohan and see a smirk on the boy's face that he could have only learned from Tony. "Told you."
Before any of them can offer a retort, Gohan hops onto Nimbus, seats himself behind Goten, and has the cloud start to ascend. "Let's hussle, we've got places to go and people to see."
As Tony, Pepper, and Bruce watch the boys and Nimbus rise higher in the air, Pepper tells Tony, "I'm afraid your attitude is really starting to rub off on him."
Tony playfully scoffs. "You say that like it's a bad thing."
"I think the jury is already out on that one, Tony." Bruce deadpans.
Tony raises a hand to his chest. "You both wound me so."
Pepper and Bruce chuckle, then head inside the aircraft Bulma left them.
Tony pulls out a red and gold capsule from his pocket. He activities it, and out of it pops out one of his spare armors.
The suit opens up, Tony steps into it, and it closes around him.
Once the armor is on, Tony flies around to the front of the aircraft where Pepper and Bruce are already seated inside its cockpit, and calls out to them, "Try not to fall behind us." Then he ascends until he's level with the boys. "Is your little cloud up for a race?"
Nimbus shakes at the challenge, and Gohan nods. "You're on."
Tony notices coordinates popping up on his HUD while Bruce's voice speaks into his ear. "So you know where you're going. Ms. Briefs was kind enough to send us directions to all the places she anticipates Gohan will want to visit."
Tony and Nimbus position themselves next to each other as they get ready to take off. "Much appreciated, Brucie-bear."
Tony counts down from 3 aloud, and once he reaches 0, he and Nimbus blast off the lookout, shortly followed by Pepper and Bruce in Bulma's aircraft, though at a much calmer pace.
Goten's excited laughter is so infectious, Gohan can't help but match it as the familiar feeling of soaring past well known landscapes rushes through him.
At the sight of his boys' laughter, Tony's unable to keep a smirk off his face. Though just because he's glad they're having fun, (and he's only now realizing just how much they all were in dire need of some fun) doesn't mean he's gonna let the magic cloud they're riding on beat him.
He was keeping an even pace with Nimbus, but as they were getting closer to their destination, he decides to go full throttle. "Final stretch, Kiddo! Can your cotton candy cloud keep up?!"
Gohan feels Nimbus vibrate at Tony's taunt. He wraps an arm around Goten to make sure he's secure and pats the cloud. "Give it everything you've got, Nimbus!"
Nimbus does just that and is nearly able to catch up with Tony, but as Gohan's old house comes into sight, Tony's able to land a couple seconds before Nimbus can.
Tony raises his arms over his head and lets out a cheer of victory. "Science trumps magic!"
Gohan sees Nimbus deflate in disappointment and gives it some consolation pats. "It's alright, Nimbus, it was really close."
Goten mimics his brother and pats the cloud. "It ok, Nimbuh."
Tony steps out of his armor and re-capsules it, before approaching the boys and the cloud.
Seeing the boys trying to console Nimbus, he decides to be a good sport about his victory. "You put up a good fight." He pats Nimbus, then glances teasingly at Gohan and tells the cloud, "Maybe without the 'excess baggage', you would've pulled it off."
Gohan scoffs. "'Excess baggage'? Are you saying me and Goten are too heavy and slowed Nimbus down?"
Tony smirks at Gohan. "I don't know, let's see."
Before Gohan can fully register what Tony just said, he plucks Goten out of his lap, shifts him to one arm, then quickly wraps his other arm around Gohan's waist and hauls him up onto his shoulder.
Tony starts casually strolling around Nimbus with Goten held in one arm, and Gohan held in the other, hanging over his shoulder. "Ok, maybe not as heavy as I thought." He jostles the boys which gets laughs out of both of them. "I guess that wasn't it after all, I suppose I owe you an apology."
Gohan can't stop laughing. "Alright, I think you proved your point."
Tony was gonna keep the bit going for a little longer, but he notices Pepper and Bruce finally arriving.
Tony sets Gohan back down on his feet and keeps a hand on his shoulder while they walk over to greet Pepper and Bruce as they exit the aircraft.
"Bout time you 2 made it." Tony greets.
Pepper and Bruce both just shrug off Tony's quip and take in the view of Gohan's old mountain home.
"Just like the Lookout, it's very different actually being here compared to the memory recordings." Bruce comments.
While Tony re-capsules the aircraft, Gohan takes the chance to look around the forest area that was basically his front yard as more memories come up to the surface. Then with more than a little reluctance and hesitation, he looks back at his childhood home.
Tony, Pepper, and Bruce can all see the swirl of emotions running across Gohan's face, but are unable to think of anything to say that might help the boy.
All these heavy emotions are way out of Tony's expertise, and though he's had his moments helping his boy through heavy stuff before, he decides this time it's probably better to let Gohan sort through this on his own terms for now, so he goes with something he's a lot more familiar with, deflection.
He claps Gohan on the shoulder. "Welp, how about a tour of the old digs, Kiddo?"
Gohan startles at the contact. "Uh...sure."
Pepper moves to Gohan's other side. "It's ok if you're not ready yet, Sweetheart. We can come back later."
Tony pats Gohan's shoulder. "She's right, Squirt, it's your call."
Gohan shakes his head. "I'm ok, let's go."
He starts walking to the front door, shortly followed by the others.
Gohan moves to open the door and pauses for a moment, but pushes through his doubt and steps inside.
As they all step inside and look around his first home, Gohan can only think about how it's exactly like he left it that day all those months ago.
Tony puts Goten down and lets the infant do his own exploring along with everyone else.
When Gohan spots Goten toddling next to him, he smiles, though it's a little somber. "The last time we were here, he couldn't even crawl yet, let alone walk."
Goten looks up at his brother, moves closer to him, and raises his arms. "Bubba."
Gohan chuckles and picks Goten up. "I'm gonna go check out our old room. Make yourselves at home."
Pepper and Bruce nod and just sit down on the nearby couch, content to wait for Gohan. But Tony, ever the curious one, decides to snoop a bit.
He looks around at the pictures displayed on the walls and dressers before spotting what looks to be a photo album.
He picks it up, plops down between Pepper and Bruce, and starts to flip through it.
Pepper smacks Tony on the shoulder. "Tony!"
"What?!" Tony defends. "He did say make ourselves at home."
Pepper was about to scold Tony more, but when she spots a picture of baby Gohan, the lecture dies on her tongue.
Much to Tony's amusement, she scoots closer to get a better look at the pictures as he flips through the pages. He can barely contain a laugh when Bruce peeks his head over Tony's other shoulder to get a look himself.
Sure that the others will find something to keep themselves occupied, Gohan takes his time being back in his and Goten's old room.
He sets Goten back on his feet then sits on his bed.
As Gohan watches Goten curiously toddle around their old room, he's surprised at himself. He was so sure that once he returned here, he'd second guess his decision and be reluctant to leave again.
Though there is an undeniable fondness for the home he and Goten were born in, he's more certain now that this isn't his and Goten's home anymore.
The home they have now with their new family is where they're supposed to be. He just hopes he'll be able to convince his grandfather and friends of that.
After reaffirming his resolve to make his decision known to his grandfather and friends, Gohan picks Goten up and heads back down to the others.
Just in time too. It seems that while Gohan was reminiscing, Tony hadn't only found his old family album, which was still lying open on a coffee table, he'd also found a certain home movie he'd made with his pet dragon Icarus.
He can tell by the bells and tassels he's got the dragon wearing which one it is. Thankfully, it appears they just started playing it.
As his younger self is talking into the camera and Icarus is pawing at the band on his neck in the background, Gohan flashsteps to the TV and quickly turns it off.
Tony smirks when he spots the small blush bloom on Gohan's face. "You never told us you had a pet Pokémon, Kiddo."
Bruce looks over at Tony, surprised at the reference.
Tony looks back at Bruce and shrugs. "What? I keep up to date on what's popular."
"Plus, it's one of Goten's favorite cartoons." Pepper adds.
"Ah." Bruce replies while Tony gets up.
Tony walks over to Gohan with a shit-eating grin and wraps and arm around his shoulders. "So what's on there that's got you going red in the face?"
Gohan stammers a bit before explaining. "It's...it's just this silly little thing I thought up when I was like 5 or 6. I thought Piccolo would be impressed with this routine I'd taught Icarus."
Tony can see how flustered Gohan's getting, so he decides to have mercy on the boy. "No need to be embarrassed, Squirt. We're not gonna judge you."
"Especially since you've got his and Goten's 'rocking out' video to counter with incase he does." Pepper says, unable to hold back a laugh when Tony shoots her an over exaggerated glare at the mention of it.
Bruce raises an eyebrow and smirks. "That sounds interesting. Why haven't I seen that yet?"
Tony aims his glare at Bruce for a second before chuckling along with Gohan. "Exactly right, Pep." He takes the tape out, and bargains with Gohan. "Tell you what, Kiddo, I'll show Bruce my 'embarrassing' video if you let us watch this afterwards. Deal?"
Gohan agrees, on the condition that they wait to do it until they get back home.
He also tells them, though it's mostly aimed at Pepper, that they're welcome to take the photo album to make copies of whatever pictures they want to keep.
With that settled, they decide to come back here after meeting with everyone at Capsule Corp to pack up everything Gohan wanted to take back home.
They all notice Goten is flagging, so the group quickly load up into the aircraft Bulma lent them and make their way to West City.
Since Tony is behind the wheel this time, they arrive at a record speed.
While Pepper and Bruce are both scolding Tony about his piloting, Gohan, with a groggy Goten in his arms, walks up to the entrance of Capsule Corp.
As Gohan turns to check if the others are following him, an unfamiliar, female voice calls out, "Hey you!"
Gohan looks over to where the voice came from, and standing before him is a girl with shoulder length, black hair who appears to be around his age. "Yes? Can I help you?"
The girl spares a glance at Goten, who's nodding off in Gohan's arms before she addresses him again. "You're Son Gohan right? The guy who really beat Cell?"
Gohan's more than a little surprised that this random girl somehow knows that, but he calmly replies, "I've been going by Gohan Stark for the past several months now, but yes, I killed Cell."
The girl begins radiating anger, but Gohan can tell it's not directed at him, so he asks her, "How did you know that?"
She quickly suppresses her anger, and gives Gohan a friendly smile, that also has some shame and guilt behind it. "Your friends explained it to me, but long story short, I'm the daughter of the man who's been taking credit for what you did, I'm Videl Satan."