Hello friends! This is the prologue of Tale of The Hybrid, so enjoy!

Gohan sat in front of the fire he'd created, wrapped tightly in his yellow-and-green coat. He sniffled as he wiped a tear off the side of his face, watching a strange, bug-like creature traverse the purple grass of this strange planet.

He wasn't hungry, and he wasn't cold, but he most certainly was not happy. How was it that, in a seemingly short period of time, he'd managed to go from eating breakfast with his mother and father and going to meet his father's friends to being forced to survive on a seemingly empty planet in the middle of the universe somewhere? He shuddered as he ran through the day's events again…

Three Days Ago

"G-Gohan!" Gohan heard his father scream as his "uncle" proceeded o stuff him inside the tiny silver-and-red space pod. He cried, like any four-and-a-half-year-old would, as he tried to squirm out of Raditz's grasp.

"Sorry little brother, but you are of no use to me now. Your son will suffice," the evil Saiyan laughed as he slammed the pod's door shut, trapping Gohan inside. The boy lacked knowledge on how to open the door, rendering him totally helpless against the situation.

"Daddy! Help me!" Gohan screamed as he pounded on the reddish-purple glass in vain. He saw his father sit up hallway, clutching his shattered ribs. Their eyes met for two seconds before Gohan looked down at the spacecraft in surprise. The pod was beginning to move; he was being sent out into the vast expanse called space.

"DADDY!" Gohan screamed as he pounded on the glass as hard as he could and watched the ground grow smaller and smaller, his tiny self growing father and farther away from the only place he knew as home. His sobbing did not cease; in fact, it only increased as the realization of the situation he was in began to sink in.

"NOOOOOOO!" TAKE ME BAAAAAAAAAAACK!" the boy screamed in vain. But it was too late—there was no reversing what had been done.

Gohan cried for what felt like hours as he watched the stars zoom by. He had always wondered what it was like to be an astronaut, and often daydreamed about epic intergalactic adventures, but this was not how he wanted to do it. All he knew was that he was away from home, and he had no inkling of an idea as of how to get back.

And that made him furious.

So furious that, in his own rage, he began to kick and punch the inside of the ship in a fit of blind anger, tears of fury streaming down his face.

"I…,"

Slam!"

"want…,"

Slam!

"DAAAADYYYY!"

SLAM!"

Gohan slammed both his fists into the space pod's complicated control panel in front of him and, unfortunately, they broke clear through the metal and down to the floor of the round spacecraft. He ignored the stinging electric sparks flying out of the panel and his now-bleeding hands as the pod began to glitch out, speaking.

"Voice-voice recognition act-activated. Where would-would-would you like to go-go?" the broken machine inquired.

"I WANT TO GO TO DADDY!" Gohan all but screamed.

"Voice-voice command accepted-accepted. Your new-new destination is planet-planet Tudadi," the spacecraft responded.

The hybrid child was slammed into the side of the space pod as it changed its course drastically, heading for an entirely new location than the one his uncle had set. The metal colliding with the back of his head hurt a lot, causing him to cry even harder as he was now headed straight to this Tu-whatever planet. As he buried his face in his knees, though, Gohan felt the fatigue of the previous events catching up to him—and as much as he fought it, he just couldn't win as he slowly drifted into sleep.


Gohan woke up, confused and entirely befuddled. Where was he? How long had he been asleep? Where was his father? Where—

Oh.

Gohan sighed, empty of any more tears, and rocked himself back and forth as he watched the stars fly by, wincing at the occasional spark of electricity sputtering out of the control panel he'd broken earlier.

The stars were pretty at least, and comforted him somewhat. Memories of stargazing with his father flashed through his mind, and the boy felt a tear stream down his face. He'd not been gone that long, he was certain, but he still missed his parents a dreadful lot.

The stars zoomed by for minutes, hours, days? In this space pod, the young boy seemed to lose any sense of time he'd had on earth due to the lack of the sun and a clock. He figured it had only been a couple of hours at the most, but an entire day wasn't totally out of the question. He occupied himself with trying to name some of the stars, and imagining the kinds of people that might live on the few planets he passed, trying to shorten time.

But there isn't much to do in a tiny space pod, and so he was on the brink of pulling all his hair out just to cure the boredom when suddenly he felt something similar to turbulence in an airplane.

"W-what's happening?" he asked the machine, alarmed. There was no reply as he felt the pod jerk again, rougher this time, slamming him into the side of the pod and causing him to yelp an involuntary "OW!" He rubbed the side of his head and sighed.

Gohan looked out the red-tinted window and saw that he was approaching a planet. The planet as a whole was colored orange, speckled with patches of purple while white swirls of clouds similar to the earth's covered it. He realized that this must be his destination, that planet what's-its-name the ship had mentioned earlier, and that the previous disturbance was him entering the planet's atmosphere.

But something was not right, and Gohan seemed to sense that. He glanced at the still-broken control panel of the metal sphere and a realization hit him.,

He had studied airplanes and rocket jets when his mother forced him to before and he figured that this spacecraft was no different. Seeing that the control panel was the main source of all the pod's equipment, he realized that he had foolishly demolished any of its landing gear in his blind rage.

"Oh no…," the young boy moaned involuntarily as he felt his stomach churn. He was indeed heading to land on the orange ground of this new planet, but the space pod lacked the brains, if you will, to do so safely. Knowing there was nothing he could do about it, he braced himself against the pod and awaited a probably imminent death.

Screaming, he watched the ground grow closer and closer.

It was almost there…

It seemed just inches away now…

SLAM!

The pod crashed roughly, skidding into the ground and leaving a long, deep trail behind it instead of landing directly into the smaller crater it should have created. After a thousand feet or so, roughly, the miniature mode of intergalactic transportation came to a halt, making no noise other than the hissing cry broken machines make.

Within it, the four-and-a-half-year-old sat leaned against the back of the metal sphere, his eyes closed in unconsciousness after being whacked around a little too much. He was to remain in that position for two days, before his adventure truly began…


Gohan awoke for the second time since he was separated from his home, this time cringing at a massive headache he had somehow acquired.

"That's strange, I shouldn't be alive right now…," he though. He decided, however, not to question it as he tried to pry open the door. Upon doing so he found it jammed, and proceeded to kick the glass open with a strength he didn't know he possessed, knowing that the ship would never run again anyways.

Gohan stepped out of the pod and immediately noticed the intense oven-like heat that engulfed him, quickly become amazed at what he saw before him. Miles upon miles of empty, barren desert were all around him. It looked similar to a desert on earth, but the dry, cracked, dusty ground was colored bright orange, and it lacked the dreadfully spiky cacti. The orange reminded him of his father's bright orange gi…

"No! I can't think about home right now—I need to focus," Gohan told himself as he looked behind him. There was not a drop of water to be seen, and this caused him to worry. Suddenly an idea struck him, and he turned back to the space pod, crawling back inside it and running his hands across the inside.

His efforts were successful, as he found a small compartment at the top and quickly opened it. Gohan pulled out a small sphere that had a button on the side of it. Curiously, he pressed it and a small blue flame began to continuously emerge from the side. He grinned, and reached further into the compartment, producing a rather deadly-looking blade. Gohan felt relieved to know that the space pod held these two things—he'd read plenty of books on wilderness survival just for fun and these were two things he knew were important.

He emerged from the space pod and took of his thick yellow-and-green-coat, tying the sleeves of it around his waist. He put the alienated lighter in his pocket and put the knife in his boot, turning to face the vast, void-like field with a determined expression.

"Well, here goes…,"

And he began to walk.


Gohan licked his lips as he glanced around in desperation. He'd been walking for hours now, and yet he saw no trace of water, food, or life anywhere. The thought that this planet was a barren wasteland possessing no life of amenities to support life had crossed his mind one too many times, yet he always forced himself to think of other things.

And yet, after all this time of trying not to give up hope, he felt himself beginning to do just that.

His stomach was as empty as the desert depriving him of food, and his mouth was just as dry. His feet ached and he felt sleep drawing near; to be blunt, he was exhausted. But he didn't want to sleep—no, he couldn't sleep. He had to keep pressing on. Thoughts of his mother and father's smiling faces, their happiness and just the fact that they believed he could do anything drove him forwards. No, he was not going to give up just yet.

His self-encouragement was a huge success.

Gohan gasped as he saw a speck on the horizon of the desert. Was it a mirage? He'd read about those before, and his current situation seemed to support the fact that it could be one. But he was way too desperate to believe that; with every last ounce of energy he possessed he sprinted towards the speck.

Slowly, as he did so, brown trees with purple leaves became visible. There were many of them, and he could already hear the sweet, roaring sound of water nearby. It soon became clear—he had discovered this planet's version of a forest.

Gohan ran into the forest with haste, his feet pounding against the purple grass as he made his way to a towering waterfall that continuously drained itself into a lake. Making sure to remove his books and the lighter off himself, he eagerly leaped into the water and submerged himself completely into the lake, gulping down the water as he sank. He was grateful for the water and its… liquid-y properties, happily knowing that for whatever reason his life was spared—at least, for now.

In the next few hours, Gohan had managed to catch little fish-like creatures in the water, gutting them with the knife and cooking them over a fire he'd been able to start with the lighter he'd found, ever more thankful for his uncle's hidden emergency survival kit. He gorged on the delicate meat, too hungry to mind the manners his mother embedded into him.


And so, after and amazingly satisfying meal, the four-and-a-half-year-old wrapped his coat around him and sat by the fire, his suspicions about chilly nights on this planet being correct. He could not, however, disconnect his thoughts from home, and tears continued to stream down his face as he cried quieter than before, thoughts running through his mind. Would he ever get home? Would he die on this planet? Would he be wished back with the dragon balls if he did so? And if he was wished back, would he be wished back to earth, or to the place he died? He really didn't know.

"Daddy… I miss you… I wanna go home…,"

It was right then and there, after that internal statement, that Gohan decided he would not tolerate homesickness any longer. No matter what happened, he would never take his eyes of his foal of returning home, no matter who or what came into his path. He was going to try his best to get back to his little home on earth, and he was going to do whatever it took. Gohan smiled to himself as he stared at the stars above him, a new ray of determination within him.

And so a new person was born—Gohan was no longer a little child, and no longer was his power held solely within his crying lungs. He was now a warrior, a determined person with a goal. And that goal was not going to be wavered.

Well, I hope you enjoyed it! This prologue was necessary to set the stage, so to speak, but the rest of the chapters should be slight longer (by about 800 word or so).

See you next chapter!