Time Warp 5

It felt like a dream.

The younger looking version of his father, with a power so mind boggingly strong Gohan could barely believe it possible concentrated his ki, and a moment later an exact copy of him formed into existence as his power dropped by half. Yet, even halved that power made his look pitifully weak. As expected of his father, he truly was an amazing fighter. The androids would have had no chance should he have survived the heart virus that killed him in the end.

"Follow the androids," he ordered his Multi-Form clone, "Find out where they're retreating to and let me know."

"Yeah, yeah." the clone waved him off, before taking after the androids so fast Gohan could barely even keep track of him with his senses, never mind his eyes.

"..Father?" Gohan spoke up hesitantly. There was so much he wanted to ask, so much he wanted to say, so much he didn't understand. But above all else, he was just so very happy to see his father alive and well, no matter the form.

"Let's relax a bit shall we?" the younger version of his father asked with quirked lips, allowing the super saiyan aura to recede from around him, the golden power disappearing, his hair returning to black and his power dropping immensely. Yet, even his base power, halved as it was with the Multi Form technique was absurdly strong. At full, even in his base form he was a bit stronger than Frieza was at his full power! "You come too, Bulla!" he turned around and called over to the girl standing atop the ferris wheel where he'd left her, then he beckoned them to follow him as he descended from the air.

"Err, okay!" Bulla shouted back and quickly jumped to follow down after him.

Gohan stared after them for a moment, his senses keenly honed on the feel of his father's massively powerful ki. It was rougher than he remembered, not quite as warmth bringing as it used to be, but...that familiar feeling he felt when around that power was all to easy to remember, the protective strength that felt like, that as long as you were near him everything would be alright.

Before he knew it, Gohan was allowing his own super saiyan form to drop and he descended down after them.

When he got to the bottom, his father was already sitting down on an upturned piece of debris while Bulla practically vibrated with excitement in front of him, "Are you really Son Goku!?" his little sister in all but blood, the daughter of Bulma and the saiyan prince Vegeta, asked, "Shouldn't you be dead?" And as ever, so was incredibly tactful.

Questions Gohan really wanted to know. As much as he wanted to weep and embrace the aged down looking man, he was a full grown man himself now, he couldn't allow himself to do that.

His father's dark eyes locked with Gohan's own, and it was then Gohan noticed, that his skin was a lot more tanned than he remembered, "I am," he nodded, "But at the same time, I'm not."

Gohan's eyes narrowed.

"What?! Dude that doesn't make any sense at all," Bulla pointed out, her violet eyebrows drawing up in confusion, "You're either Son Goku or you're not."

"I'm not the Son Goku from this timeline," he replied and Gohan's eyes widened in shock. Bulma had been working on a project for a long time that had to do with time travel, something he'd helped out where he could, but..it wasn't anywhere near ready, "Actually, the reason why I said I am son Goku and I am not, is because I'm a clone of Son Goku, created by Kami and Mr. Popo long before your birth Gohan, and given life by the Dragon Balls after my brother Raditz was killed."

..It was a lot to take in and very shocking, but for Gohan, with the kind of things he'd seen in his childhood, it was not outside the realm of possibility, "Hence the reason why you called yourself Kakarot before, right?" Gohan asked. He was a bit disappointed to find out his origins, but at the same time, clone or not, this person had the memories of his father and was for all intents and purposes Son Goku as well.

"Exactly," Kakarot nodded, smiling almost proudly at him, "When I was born, I gained all of Son Goku's memories. Including the ones he lost as a child when Grandpa Gohan found him.

"....This sounds like something right out of a fantasy novel," Bulla snorted, "Clones and time travel? Almost sounds like a lot of bull. But honestly, With the way you smacked down those monsters, I don't care what you are. It just tells me my mother wasn't lying all those times she said everything would have been fine if Son Goku never died."

Gohan winced. But he could not refute, that he could not live up to the shadow his father had cast. If it were him, those androids would have- "Unlikely, the Son Goku of this timeline wouldn't have been strong enough to stop the androids from killing him when they first appeared," Kakarot flatly rejected that thought, "His only option would have been escaping with Instant Transmission, and I know Son Goku better than anybody else, he wouldn't have done that."

Gohan blinked. That was wrong...? It had to be. His dad was amazing, there was nothing he couldn't do, "Gohan's done an amazing job so far," the clone of his father flashed him that almost proud smile again, and Gohan despite himself felt his chest inflate a bit with pride, "If he had learned everything Piccolo had to teach, I'm sure the androids would have already been dead by now by his hand."

"Seriously?" Bulla asked with a tilt of her head, "Master Gohan is the best no doubt, but I don't see how learning some more would help him be any better than he is."

"You'd be wrong," Kakarot smiled at her, before turning back to Gohan himself, "Tell me Gohan, did you ever learn the Multi Form technique?"

"..No," Gohan shook his head, "It was..something Piccolo was going to teach me but I didn't get much time to train after father died and it was put off and then he died against the androids." He admitted, his fists clenched as he remembered the butchered corpse of his mentor and friend.

It was perhaps something he still couldn't let go of, his mother banning him from training. For two years he hadn't trained at all. If he had, he would have been way stronger back then and perhaps he could have saved someone else and gotten their help through the years.

"Exactly," Kakarot nodded as if expecting it, "Do you know how hard it is to get stronger after a certain point without someone strong enough to train with? No need to guess, I'll let you know that unless you cheat like me, it's very hard. The fact Gohan has gotten so strong with how limited his ability to gain strength is right now is a testament to the obscene amount of potential he was born with."

Warmth bubbled up in Gohan. All this time, he felt...like a failure. No matter how hard he fought or how much he trained what he gained from it all was very small. And it didn't help that he could be laid up for months recovering after encountering them when he dare not use a senzu bean with how few there were left with the death of Korin. Leave it to even a clone of his father to make him feel good with just a few words and left hanging on his words.

..A thought occurred though. "Wait, how do you know so much about this timeline though?" Gohan asked, that part didn't make sense. How did he know all of this?

Kakarot paused for a moment, before shrugging, "A gift from my own father, one he inherited the ability of an alien race, precognitive visions and passed on to me," he explained, "I can only speculate that he meant to pass the gift down to 'Kakarot' and that is why Son Goku never received them. When our father Bardock, your grandfather died, he had already lost his memories of being the saiyan Kakarot."

..That did make sense. In a twisted kind of way. "So you can see the future?" Gohan asked in interest. That was quite the amazing power. If he'd had that he could have prepared well in advance for the androids or possibly even destroyed them before they were ever made.

"I've seen many futures," Kakarot corrected, "The future isn't set in stone and anything that causes ripples can change it utterly, so there are many differing paths. For instance, today Gohan, you were meant to lose an arm to the androids and a few months from now, you would fight them both and die."

"What, no way!" Bulla blurted out, "There's no way those tin cans can beat Master Gohan! Sure they can overpower him two on one but they don't have the power to kill him when he wants to get away!"

Kakarot met his eyes and intentionally directed his pupils towards Bulla. Gohan's own eyes widened in realisation and his mouth set into a grim line.

He was implying Bulla would have gotten in his way and forcing him to protect her would cost him his life.

"Well, my own involvement has rendered that a moot point either way," Kakarot shrugged again, before smirking at Bulla, "Besides, this timeline is different than I was expecting anyway. After all, the version of this timeline I saw, you were born a boy Bulla, by the name of Trunks."

"Eeh, seriously?" Bulla gaped, before shaking her head, "That would been such a waste! I mean seriously, look at me, check out how hot I am!" she boasted and...grasped her breasts and vigorously shook them at Kakarot.

Gohan withheld the urge to groan, merely covering his eyes and looking away. He really wished she hadn't inherited that personality trait of her mothers.

"That you are," Kakarot agreed, to Gohan's mortification! He looked back to see Kakarot studying the cleavage his student and non blooded little sister was show off and gaped himself, "You really do take nicely after Bulma."

"Damn straight, I'll be even hotter than mom soon!" Bulla puffed her chest out in pride.

"Father!" Gohan blurted out to reprimand him, "She's 14!"

"And?" Kakarot quirked an eyebrow back at him, "I'm only 15, son." he sent a very cheshire grin his way.

Bulla burst out laughing and Gohan felt his face flush with embarrassment. Especially when it took her a good thirty seconds to calm down.

"Ooh, you're fun," Bulla wiped a tear of mirth from her eye, "I like you."

"..We should get going so we can go home and recover, get a meal as well." Gohan said before Kakarot could reply.

"Well, I've got food you can eat, food that you'll definitely like I think, but before that," Kakarot hummed, he reached up and pressed a button on the scouter on his face. Honestly, Gohan had forgotten in the excitement that the teenage clone of his father was dressed in rags right now and had a scouter on his face. He looked at him for a second, then Bulla before nodding, "Not bad. 8,400,000 and 115,000."

"Huh, it measured our power?" Gohan blinked, "That's odd, no scouter I ever saw in the past could handle anything anywhere that large."

"What's a scouter?" Bulla asked in confusion.

"This," Kakarot answered pointing to the device over his eye before grinning at Gohan, "And yep, this isn't just any scouter. It's a custom model way better than any of the stuff Frieza's trash has, made by my genius, gorgeous girlfriend."

...Gohan was not sure how to react to that. On one hand, it was fine really for him to have one. On the other...it felt weird to see any variation of his father not with his mother.

"You have a girlfriend?" Bulla asked in interest, "Cool. How does she measure up to me?"

"Well, like you said, it might take you a few years to catch up." Kakarot smirked at her.

Gohan's eyes widened, "No....." he looked at him in disbelief.

"..Wait, you mean...?" Bulla blinked and trailed off.

"Yep, feel free to call me daddy if you want." Kakarot winked her way, drawing a surprised flush from her and Gohan groaned grasping his temples.

"She's so much older than you." Gohan felt the need to point out, before Bulla could recover and let her competitive nature take over. Even if he was from a point where just after Raditz was killed, Bulma would still be in her mid twenties.

"Looks like Vegeta never got around to telling you much about saiyans huh?" the clone of his father shook his head, and man that was a name he hadn't heard in a long time, "A saiyan will always go for the best and strongest mate. And age doesn't matter to saiyans because we stay in our prime until our elder years, as long as your capable of it, a saiyan is free to fuck whoever they please, or at least that's how it worked back on Planet Vegeta."

Gohan did not know that actually. But then, that was pretty in character for the brutal race of the saiyans he guessed.

He opened his mouth to reply, but before he could Bulla had already recovered, "Well, I never met my dad and if the way mom and Master Gohan tiptoe around him is any indication, he was a real prick," she mused, then smirked at Kakarot and sent him a flirtatious wink, "That vacancy is wide open, daddy."

No, no no! Gohan wracked his brain with a way to put an end to this. The Bulma was too strong in her!

"You're a fun one," Kakarot laughed lightly, "Sure, I'll fill that roll while I'm here. I'll be your daddy for now if you want.."

Gohan groaned again, he felt like he was in physical pain listening to this! The girl he'd helped raise practically and saw as his little sister...flirting with a teenage clone of his father! He almost wished those androids were still here to kick him in the head a few times and make him forget everything he just saw and heard! "Please stop." he threw away his pride and outright begged.

"Fine fine," Kakarot laughed harder, waving him off, "Let's eat than shall we before we get around to putting my my plans into motion for dealing with the androids."

And before any of them could say anything else, Kakarot swiped his hand through the air and a portal opened up into existence. Then before Gohan's shocked eyes, a bunch of spiky orange fruit, very familiar spiky orange fruit fell out into a pile.

...Fruit from the Tree of Might!

"Here, split these up between the two of you and eat them," Kakarot gestured to them, "These will be a big help to you both I think."

Gohan swallowed. It looked like things weren't very simple at all in regards to this time travelling clone of his father.

Before Gohan could say anything, Bulla reached out and grabbed one of the fruit and eagerly began eating it. "Wai-" he never got a chance to finish as he felt her ki begin to rise noticeably in strength, her aura bursting into existence around her.

"Wooh!" Bulla's eyes went wide with glee, "What the hell is with this fruit! I just got stronger from eating it!"

"It's called fruit from the Tree of Might," Kakarot casually began explaining, like it was no big deal and she wasn't devouring the life energy of a planet! "It's a special tree that usually feeds on planets to grow these fruit, but I'm feeding the tree my own energy to grow them."

"Huh, that's awesome!" Bulla cheered, lifting one hand to flash Kakarot an eager thumbs up, "You rock daddy." and of course she was just keeping that going as well, before grabbing another fruit and eating it as well, increasing her power further!

"No problem sweet cheeks, gotta provide the best for my little girl right?" Kakarot happily went along with her too.

Gohan sighed before narrowing his eyes at him, "You're not lying right?" he asked, "I've seen what the Tree of Might can do. Even as strong as you are, it should drain you to death really quick."

Kakarot looked back at him and smiled, "You're as intuitive as ever Gohan, and you'd usually be right," he replied easily, "But remember what I just told you? That I can see the future."

"Yeah, but I don't see how that explains anything." Gohan retorted.

"Dragon Balls Gohan," Kakarot rolled his eyes at him, "Come on now, I know everyone always made stupid wishes on them but I'd think you'd be smarter than that."

"..So you wished for some kind of energy source to keep the tree going?" Gohan asked after a moments thought.

"Close, remember I saw this timeline as well and the androids," Kakarot replied, lifting a finger into the air and pointing to himself, "I used Porunga on Planet Namek to wish for regeneration, the seed from the Tree of Might and an Infinite Ki Generator implanted within my body just like the androids. I've linked that infinite ki to the Tree of Might."

Gohan's eyes widened as he processed what he was told. And he remembered, earlier when Android 18 had used that incredibly powerful attack she'd never brought out against him or any of the others and cut through Kakarot, he'd thought it a trick of some kind, but no she had actually did that to him, he'd just regenerated it!

A sigh of relief left his him. For a moment there, he almost thought this version of his father was a genocidal maniac that destroyed peoples planets to get as strong as he was.

Shame assaulted him next for even thinking any variation of his father could be like that!

He probably would have stewed in those thoughts if a fruit didn't bounce off his face and land in his lap. "Huh?" he blinked and looked over to the one who threw it, Kakarot himself.

"Don't beat yourself up over it," he rolled his eyes, "Anyone who knows how the Tree of Might works would immediately think like that."

Gohan's eyes widened, "Did...did you read my mind?" he asked in awe. He'd seen his father do it once to Krillin, but that was when making contact. And he hadn't even noticed at all. Gosh, his dad was just amazing in any form!

"As if," Kakarot snorted, "It was just all over your face idiot, now eat your fruit before Bulla eats it all."

...In the end, Gohan only managed to eat eight of them in total while Bulla ate twelve. The little glutton.