Chapter 2

"Have you done all your homework?" Chi-Chi asked.

"Hai." Gohan replied with a sigh.

"Packed your toothbrush?"

"Hai."

"How about clean underwear?"

"Okaasan, everyone's waiting."

The privacy of the Brief's backyard situated in the shadow of the corporate giant was a hive of activity. Bulma and her father Dr. Brief who founded the company were running last minute systems checks on the repaired spaceship. Mrs. Brief was torn between tending to her prized flower beds and tending to her guests with a tray of chilled lemonade and icy treats to thwart the early summer heat. One year-old Trunks, Bulma and Vegeta's son, was left to terrorize a few of the many strays that the Brief's had opened their home to. He giggled as his chubby hand grabbed hold of a black dog's tail. The dog whined pitifully and licked at the lavender haired baby in an attempt to get him to let go. Trunks laughed and rubbed at his face, allowing the dog a chance to run for cover. Krillin, Piccolo, Yamcha, and Vegeta were standing by with their bags in hand. No one had any idea why the Saiyan prince had decided to tag along other than making sure Goku didn't somehow get one up on him in their bizarre competition of strength. But Bulma appeared a little too happy at his departure.

"Alright," Bulma announced as she walked over to them, "everything is good to go. All you need to do is hit the ignition and the computer will take it all from there. You'll reach the planet in about three days. I've left instructions on how to program the ship to return to Earth tacked to the control panel. If for any reason you can't figure it out give me a call."

"Yes mother." Krillin replied jokingly. Bulma hit him over the head with the clipboard holding the checklist.

"Now be careful Gohan." Chi-Chi told her son. Her father placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry about a thing. I'll take good care of your okaasan until you get back." he said. The young Saiyan smiled gratefully.

"Arigatou ojiisan." Gohan gave both of them a quick hug and hurried onto the ship with the others. He grabbed a vacant seat next to Piccolo. The Namekian didn't so much as blink. Vegeta took the controls, obviously not trusting anyone else's piloting skills.

"Adios!" Mr. Brief shouted after them.

"Au revoir!" Mrs. Breif waved.

Once everyone was seated the door closed with a hiss, blocking out air and sound from the outside. Powerful engines roared to life. Krillin and Yamcha began to look a little nervous. Through the small windows circling the cabin Gohan could see their friends and family waving them off. Then the noise level seemed to drop dramatically as the booster rockets flared up or maybe he just left his hearing back on the ground. Everything shook violently. G forces pushed them firmly against the leather seats. Both Krillin and Yamcha's knuckles turned white from clenching at the armrests. Piccolo grimaced, perhaps in pain from such loud noises assaulting his keen ears. Gohan stared out the windows in fascination. The Earth just seemed to fall away. Large buildings quickly turned into mere specks. Entire cities became grayish blobs of concrete and steel. Soon the crisp blue oxygen rich atmosphere of Earth fell away like a veil. Slowly the vibrations ceased while the ship dropped to cruising speed. The young Saiyan leapt out of his seat over to a window. Earth was little more than a sapphire jewel glittering in the velvety darkness. It was better than the small grainy pictures in his science textbook. A chorus of groaning tore him away from the breathtaking view.

"Krillin, Yamcha, are you two going to be okay?" The two humans looked a little green, even more so with the vibrant orange gis they wore. Suddenly they both rushed over to the bathrooms. Only the sound of slamming doors reached his ears. Apparently Bulma did a little soundproofing.

"Weaklings." Vegeta snorted. Piccolo abruptly stood.

"Come on kid. We aren't going to just sit around and do nothing for the next three days." Gohan obediently followed the Namekian into the lower level of the ship where the living quarters were situated. Grabbing a glass from the cupboard he filled it with water and placed it on the table. The young Saiyan looked on in curiosity. Piccolo closed his eyes. Before Gohan could blink the water just floated up out of the glass, hovering in the air for a moment, then sank back into the cup. Gohan's jaw dropped.

"Cool." His old friend opened his eyes with an amused smirk.

"Manipulating ki may be hard at first but gets easier with each use until it becomes as natural as breathing. Manipulating objects on the other hand is far more difficult and not as forgiving. Should you just stop exercising this skill, then decide to pick it up a month later, it will be like learning it all over again. This is because the mind does not adapt in the same way the body does. As you probably know, the tissues in your body strengthen every time they are torn apart. But the mind can't do that. That's why it is encased in the brain cavity of the skull."

"This is interesting and all but what are you getting at?" Gohan questioned.

"If you strengthen the mind you strengthen your self control." The young Saiyan perked up.

"Really?"

"Trust me. If you spend countless hours levitating a boulder, controlling yourself is almost a joke in comparison."

"So what do I do?" Gohan asked eagerly.

"Direct your ki into the water and just lift it up. Careful, if you put too much ki into it the glass will break."

Letting out a breath Gohan slowly bled his ki out to the water. He kept his eyes trained on the glass as it began to vibrate. Dark eyes strained. Sweat rolled down his forehead from the effort of controlling his ki so minutely. Slowly he raised the ki in the water out of the glass. Some spilled onto the tabletop but the majority of it floated weightlessly. Gohan held it there for a moment before he let it splash back into the cup. He wiped his brow shakily. His heart beat so loudly in his chest he wondered if Piccolo could hear it. It felt like he just sparred with his green friend for a solid thirty minutes, not levitate a bit of water for thirty seconds.

"Man," he breathed out, "how do you lift boulders like that all the time?"

"Practice." Piccolo chuckled. "Now keep at it. You're doing better than I anticipated."

"For how long?" the young Saiyan asked. The Namekian raised a brow.

"For as long as I tell you to." Typical.

Gohan did it again like Piccolo asked. And again. And again. Truthfully he didn't know how many times he did it. But after each time he felt greatly fatigued. Finally the Namekian let him stop. Wearily the boy made his way to the bathroom to wash up. The icy tap water felt good on his heated skin. His reflection looked as tired as he felt. Back in the common room Yamcha and Krillin were slumped at the still slightly wet table slowly munching on crackers and water. Almost randomly Vegeta came marching in. Loudly he threw open the refrigerator door and pulled out an energy drink. The prince scoffed at them.

"You call yourselves men?" he muttered loudly.

"Hey, that was a rough takeoff." Yamcha said defensively. Vegeta turned on him with a challenge flashing in his eyes.

"Rough? Please, that was one of the smoothest I ever had."

"Only because Bulma and her dad built the ship themselves." Krillin added.

"Well excuse me." Vegeta joked. Yamcha braced his hands on the table. Gohan looked over to Piccolo who was meditating quietly on the couch but the Namek appeared unconcerned.

"Why are you even here anyway?" the ex-bandit demanded.

"I wasn't aware that I needed permission to leave that sorry backwater mud ball you call a planet."

"But why bother joining us for? It's not like you and Goku are friends." the bald one inquired pensively.

"I'm just making sure Kakarot doesn't do anything stupid like he usually does." With that the Saiyan prince walked out leaving a curious Krillin and furious Yamcha in his wake.

xXx

Chi-Chi watched as the round ship rocketed up into the sky, not so much as flinching at the noise of the booster rockets kicking up or the brilliance of the jets of flames leaping out the exhausts. She kept watching until the ship disappeared in the atmosphere. Grudgingly she let her father guide her inside the private residence the Brief's had built into the complex of the mega corporation. Mrs. Brief placed the refreshment tray on the kitchen table before sitting down with a sigh. Chi-Chi just stood there. All kinds of what ifs and worst-case scenarios filtered through her head. What if Goku didn't come back? What if something happened to Gohan? What would she do then? The Ox King gently pushed into a chair. Bulma sat next to her, a concerned look on her face.

"Are you going to be alright Chi-Chi?"

"Yeah. I'm just a little shaken is all."

"Oh, don't worry too much about it dear." Bulma's mother chimed in. "Nothing's going to happen to Gohan. Not with that strong handsome Vegeta with him."

Bulma wanted to slap herself. Her mother had an odd attraction to the cold Saiyan prince. While she was going through a bad break with Yamcha back when they were dating her mother constantly dropped hints about her hooking up him instead. At first she thought the woman had lost her mind. Vegeta had kill countless people including her friends at one point. How could she even think about dating a murderer? Her mother defended him saying that he didn't have much of a choice given that he was subjected by an intergalactic tyrant and had changed since coming to Earth. But somehow despite the fact that they fought like cats and dogs and how misanthropic Vegeta could be they wound up together. Then nine months later Trunks came into the picture. However, that didn't mean it was a good idea for him to go into outer space with her old ex-boyfriend to bring his rival back to life.

"Mom, I think she's shaken over all that's happened the past couple of weeks." Bulma told her mother patiently.

"Well there's an easy way to fix that!" Mrs. Brief announced.

"What?" Bulma was almost too afraid to ask.

"Shopping!"

"Why that's a lovely idea!" Chi-Chi said a little too cheerfully. "I'll just go freshen up." Bulma watched the high-strung woman saunter off. She turned to the Ox King. Before she could even open her mouth her mother spoke up.

"Great! Maybe you can even get some nice lingerie for that strong man of yours Bulma!"

"M-mom!" Bulma sputtered, face turning a deep red.

"Well you need to treat him every once in a while!"

xXx

Omake

Rowdy music blasted from behind the closed door of the room Krillin and Yamcha claimed as their own. Piccolo continued to meditate on the couch, doing his best to ignore the racket. Over at the table Gohan quietly continued to practice levitating water out of the glass. Suddenly Vegeta burst out of his room, wet from a shower and wearing only a towel around his waist, and pounded on Yamcha and Krillin's door.

"Will you turn that shit off?" the prince shouted.

"Why?" Yamcha yelled back over the music.

"Because it's a bunch of shit!"

"No!"

"What!"

As the Saiyan prince played a shouting match with the ex-bandit through the door Piccolo looked over at Gohan. The boy quietly levitated the blob of water for a few seconds before letting it drop back again. Frowning, Gohan grabbed a dish towel to mop up the spilled water. Piccolo sighed.

"Who's the adult around here?"

Translations:

Okaasan- mother

Ojiisan- grandfather

Hai- yes

Arigatou- thank you

Ki- energy

Gi- clothes worn when training in martial arts

Adios- good bye

Au revoir- good bye

AN: Please review!