Tanta: Argh. You can't half tell my first upload of this chapter was semi-spontaneous. I've reloaded it, with an extra bit at the beginning.

Key20x1; Thank you so much for pointing out the spelling mistake; it's now fixed.

New Dy; Most of your questions will be answered in this chapter. As for why Gohan just rushed in without thinking, the confusion and shock of everything that was happening made his emotions take over. His first instinct was to protect Piccolo; no matter who it was that was attacking him.

As usual, I don't own Dragonball Z, unless Akira Toriyama decides to give it to me as a present.

Chapter Two: Why?

A horrible ache in the head as you awake. He's been training you too hard again. Goku wouldn't mind, but your mother would have a fit if she saw the condition you're in. It doesn't matter though. You've only been out of it for a couple of seconds.

A pleasant tingling sensation as he gives you a Senzu bean, and tells you to eat. Within seconds you're as good as new again.

You open your eyes and his smiling face is there, looking at you.

"Sorry kid," he says. "I guess I hit you a little too hard back there."

He reaches up a hand to help you up off the ground, as he always does…

I awoke with a pounding head and small wounds all over my body. I opened my eyes slowly and carefully and surveyed my surroundings.

I was lying on the bare ground on what appeared to be a small overhang of rocks somewhere in the desert. I looked around for my saviour and smiled as I spotted you, sitting cross-legged and meditating not too far away from me.

One of your eyes opened, and then the other as you realised that I had finally awoken. I expected some question as to my well-being, maybe a reprimanding for my foolish actions. What I didn't expect was the calm, almost uncaring question that came from your mouth.

"Why did you do that?" you asked.

"I had to protect you," I answered.

"But you were severely wounded in the process. Besides, you're a Saiyan-jin aren't you? You transformed like those two did."

"I'm half Saiyan-jin," I answered. "But you should know that already. Piccolo, what's going on? Don't you recognise me?"

"I can't say that I do, kid."

"It's me, Gohan." You remained silent.

"Piccolo," my voice almost made me sound like I was pleading. "What's going on? Why don't you remember me? And why were you fighting my father and Vegeta?"

"Listen, I don't know who you are, or how you think you know me, but you've just saved my life, and for that I'm grateful. As for the Saiyan-jins…"

You shrugged, a movement I had never really associated with you before.

"They attacked my planet. They're planning on taking it over," you continued. "It's only natural that I should want to defend my home."

I closed my eyes once more, trying to figure out exactly what had happened to me. One thing was for certain; I wasn't in the universe I was used to.

"Am I dead?" I hazarded a guess.

You shook your head. "Not as far as I can see."

"Right." I opened my eyes again and tried to organise my thoughts. "So, I'm still on Earth, right?"

"Right."

"And I'm still alive, right?"

You growled. "I just told you that you are."

"You've never heard of my father Goku before?" I asked.

"No," you answered. "Is he one of the Saiyan-jins?"

I nodded. Suddenly, everything was coming together to make a rough sort of sense. I began to work out in my mind what might have happened if my father had never stopped you from being evil.

"So, this is your planet right? You took it over quite a few years ago?"

"Right."

I groaned. My suspicions were proving to be correct. The black clouds must have caused some sort of gateway to open up between our world and others. Somehow I had found myself in a world in which my father never came to Earth. That would explain why he was with Vegeta, why they both still had tails and were wearing Saiyan-jin armour, and why they were fighting you. It also explained why no one recognised me. In this world, I was never born.

"Is there anyone else alive on this planet at the moment?" I asked you, afraid of the answer. I was well aware that without my father to stop you, you could have potentially destroyed the entire human race. The way my mother used to rave on about how much of a monster you were, it seemed like a possibility.

"Of course there is," you snapped.

I wondered if my mother was amongst them, then decided that I didn't want to know. Finding out that my mother was happily married and had two little boys to someone I have never even heard of would have been the straw that broke the camels back, so to speak.

"I'm sorry," I groaned, feeling my head ache from my injuries and from trying to work too much out at once.

I pushed myself onto my arms and forced myself to my feet. I stumbled as I made my first attempt at walking. It felt strange when you didn't rush to help me. I looked out over the land and tried to come to grips with what was happening.

My heart said that I should run over, embrace you and never let you go again, but my brain protested, saying that you didn't remember, and that you probably wouldn't appreciate the friendly gesture.

My brain won. I stood there, staring out at the horizon, so similar to the one in my old world, until I felt as though my brain had fried.

It felt so strange, to finally have you near me, but be unable to express my feelings for you.

"What happened to Vegeta and Goku?" I asked you, as the thought finally found its way to my mind.

"You reached a level of Saiyan-jin power higher than their own. I think you shocked them a little. They talked for a couple of seconds then disappeared. I have no doubt that they will be back though, probably in a mood to destroy."

I sat back down again and faced you. For the time being, just having you around me would have to be enough.

"Piccolo," I said after the silence grew to be too much. "Would you believe me if I told you I come from an alternate reality; one in which you and I were friends?"

"Prove it to me and I might."

"You hate loud noise, your favourite colour is purple, you can create clothes from thin air, your armour weighs exactly a tonne and you used to be joined to another Namek known as Kame, the guardian of the earth," I rattled off at high speed.

You looked shocked.

"Did that just prove it?" I asked, afraid I might have gone too far.

"Possibly," you said, quickly recovering. "Look," you started, shifting yourself so you were more comfortable. "Explain to me what happened. I owe you my life. The least I can do is help sort you out."

So I told you everything that had happened to the two of us, starting with all I had heard from other people about how my father defeated you, moving through to my earliest memories of you as the harsh but friendly being that helped raise me, and taught me how to fight.

You grinned at some of the stories I had to tell you. I think you recognised a little of yourself in them.

I moved on to the time you had died trying to save me from the Saiyan-jins, and how Bulma and I had travelled to your home planet of Namek to wish you back. You said that you had never heard of Freiza, Cell or Buu. Either they hadn't existed in this reality or they hadn't made it to Earth. A third idea entered my mind.

"How old are you?" I asked.

You paused for a second, as though calculating. You never had much use for human years.

"About eighteen," you finally answered.

I nodded. "It looks like I've journeyed back in time a little as well," I explained. "If I existed in this reality right now, I think I'd only be about fifteen. Cell's gone or more likely, was never created, but Baby and Buu have yet to appear."

You took this in quickly. I guess the two of us could defeat them with a fair amount of work.

When it came time to tell you about Videl and Pan I said as little as possible. It almost hurt to think about what had happened before I found myself in this reality.

I found myself crying as I spoke of your death, and hated myself for doing so.

"I guess you'll be looking for a way to get back home to your loved ones," you said, surprising me by placing a hand on my shoulder when you noticed the stream of tears running down my face.

"No," I said, beginning to feel tired. "I made a mess of everything back there. I might as well start anew."

For the first time since I had awoken, I dared to take a look at the state of my clothes. My trousers were almost torn to shreds, and my shirt wasn't much better. You smiled that strange half-smile of yours that I've grown to love so much, and placed a hand just above me.

"I'll fix that," you said. With a small amount of growling and a rather larger amount of spent energy from you, I soon found myself wearing a simple purple gi and blue sash, remarkably similar to another you had created for me when I was younger. I couldn't help but grin at the memories.

My stomach growled, reminding me of how long we had been talking. The sun was beginning to set by this time, bathing the two of us in red light.

I wondered if there were still giant lizards running around the desert.

"I'm going to go find something to eat," I said, getting ready to take off. "Will you still be here when I come back?"

"You think I have anywhere else to go?"

I smiled. Now that I was finally with you, I was incredibly reluctant to leave. My stomach reminded me of how long it had been since I had eaten again, prompting me to take off in search of food.

It didn't take me long to find one of the great beasts that I had lived off as a child. Like most of them, it roared at me when I took a chunk from its tale, but I knew that the beast would be fine. It seemed to be just like old times.

I decided to leave you in peace while I ate. You never could understand why I ate the poor creatures' tails. I suppose they smelt bad to you or something.

After half an hour I packed up and began heading back to the outcrop you were on. I checked for your energy signal to make sure that I was heading the right way.

And I stopped in mid-flight.

With you were the energy signals of Vegeta and my father, and all three of you were powered up.

I increased speed, realising that you were probably in trouble, but by the time I got back, it was already too late. Vegeta and my father were there on the outcrop, but you weren't. Searching for your energy signal I found it again, further away than I would have thought possible in the short space of time that had passed, and incredibly weak.

"What have you done with Piccolo!?" I screamed at the two Saiyan-jins.

Vegeta and my father turned around slowly, and stared at me through their translucent red scanners as though they were surprised that something like me existed. I suppose that wasn't too far from the truth.

"Piccolo?" my father said in a voice that seemed far too rough and cold. "Is that the Namek's name?"

"He's ours," Vegeta said, just as coldly. "A prisoner of war if you will. He's being taken back to my ship. As for you; if you think you can beat the two of us then you are sadly mistaken. You may be stronger than us, but Kakarot and I are still easily strong enough to take you down together."

"What do you want?" my voice sounded almost as weak as I felt.

"What's your name?" Vegeta asked me.

"Gohan," I answered.

"Well Gohan," the reply came from my father. "We're curious about you. You're at least part Saiyan-jin or you couldn't transform like you did before. We have a business proposition for you."

The feral gleam in the Saiyan-jin's eyes convinced me; this man may have been the same physical person as my father, but in truth, he was nothing like him.

"You will follow us to our ship," Vegeta continued. "Unless you want to die, that is."