"What happened here?" Gohan asked. He looked around the crater again, two small tears glinting in the corners of his eyes. He looked down at the scrap of burnt cloth in his hand. Had Goku's nightmares begun to be so bad that he had… had committed SUICIDE? Gohan groaned and tossed the scrap back to the ground. They should've paid more attention, they should've gotten him professional help, should've listened more carefully to him…
Gohan's thoughts were interrupted when he heard shouting behind him. He turned and saw the other Z Warriors and his family flying towards the crater that had once been Goku's house. Even Piccolo was flying with them. They landed a little off to the left of the Son siblings, disbelief etched into their features.
"No way! What… what happened here?" asked Krillin, tears also in his eyes. Everyone turned to the brother and sister, silently waiting for them to say something.
"Gojen, Gohan. What happened here? Where's Goku, Chi-Chi, and Goten?" asked Piccolo solemnly
"They're gone," Gojen muttered dully.
"Gone? Whatta ya mean gone?" shouted Krillin.
"He means what he said," growled Piccolo, "Use your senses. Can you feel them anywhere?" Piccolo turned to Gohan.
"Do you have any idea about how this happened?" he asked. Floating away from the crater, Gojen, Gohan and Vegeta related what Goku had told them the previous day concerning the nightmare of the past two weeks.
"And you didn't tell him to go see a doctor?" cried Yamcha.
"He was afraid they'd make him get a shot if he went to a doctor," groaned Gohan. Everyone face-faulted, except for Vegeta who just rolled his eyes at Goku's childishness.
"It wouldn't have mattered anyway as we were the first ones he told about it," said Gojen, "If only he'd told us earlier…"
After a few moments of silence, Piccolo decided that enough was enough.
"All right well are we just can stand here crying or are we gonna go get the Dragon Balls and fix this mess?"
The gathered warriors took off again, headed for Capsule Corporation to get Bulma's Dragon Radar.
-DBZ-
Thanks to the combination of the Dragon Radars and speedy searching, the Dragon Balls were gathered within 24 hours. By now everyone who knew Goku among his immediate friends had gathered near the crater that had been his home.
The Dragon Balls lay on the ground in a cluster, glowing and humming. Gojen stepped before them and shouted, "Come forth Shenlong!"
The ball flashed and the night sky began to darken, the stars disappearing, being replaced with black clouds. A column of golden light exploded upwards from the glowing Dragon Balls, twisting and snaking into the air and then burst forth in a bright flash of light with a sound like a hurricane. When the light cleared, the sinuous snake-like form of Shenlong, the Eternal Dragon hung over the assembled warriors.
"You who have gathered the seven Dragon Balls. I shall grant thee any two wishes that thou desire," boomed Shenlong in a voice that shook the ground. Gohan stepped forward and addressed the dragon.
"Shenlong we wish for the damage done to Goku's home and the surrounding area be restored to what they were."
"As you wish," growled the dragon, its blood red eyes glowing. There was a flash of light and the crater was replaced by forest and the little house that Goku had built when he and Chichi had gotten married so many years ago.
"What is thy second wish?" asked Shenlong.
"We wish that Goku, Chi-Chi and Goten be brought back to life here on this spot," said Gohan. The dragon growled for a moment and then spoke, "The one called Goku is not dead but I will return the other two to life."
This little announcement caused a ripple of shock to go through the assembled Z Warriors. Goku wasn't dead? So where was he then?
A flash of light in front of them heralded the arrival of Chi-Chi and Goten. Both looked stunned and when Chi-Chi saw where she was and that the dragon was floating over them they both burst into tears. Gohan and Gojen ran forward to help them up as the dragon spoke for the final time.
"Thy wishes have been granted. I now bid thee farewell." There was a tremendous flash of light and the dragon vanished. The Dragon Balls rose up into the sky and then shot apart, scattering to the four corners of the earth once more, not to be used again for another year.
Chi-Chi and Goten related events as they remembered, but they had both been asleep, so the only things they remembered had been the rumbling that had awoken them and then seeing Goku outside powering up and then oblivion.
"I don't get it. If the dragon said that Goku wasn't dead, then where'd he go?" asked Krillin.
"I know someone who can help us find him faster than anyone," said Gojen.
-DBZ-
Gojen got into mental contact with King Kai through Piccolo and told him about the situation. A few minutes later, King Kai informed them that he had brought Baba the Fortuneteller to his residence on the Grand Kai's planet and that she was using her crystal ball to locate Goku. Unfortunately all that Baba could see was an image of Goku hovering in darkness.
"Is that it?" asked Gojen.
"Yes that's it. What were you expecting? A precisely drawn map? The crystal ball doesn't work like that. If you mortals were handed everything on a silver platter, then you would never grow, never evolve, never achieve…"
Gojen growled cutting of Baba in her speech.
"Basically this means he's somewhere in the galaxy, some place very dark or evil or something like that right?"
"Perhaps," said King Kai, "But what is obvious isn't always the right answer."
Gohan, who'd been listening in, sighed mightily.
"Thanks for the help but I don't see…" Gohan suddenly jerked then slapped himself with enough force to knock over a stone column. "I am such an IDIOT! The Namekian Dragon Balls! Why didn't I think of that before? Thanks again guys, see you around." And with that, they cut contact.
"That's the problem with youngsters this millennium," grumbled Baba, "Always on the move."
-DBZ-
Gohan next mentally contacted Dende through Piccolo and Dende, being a Guardian, called on his fellow Nameks on New Namek. Unfortunately they had bad news as well.
"The Elder is gone? And the Dragon Balls as well? But who? HOW!" asked Gohan, growing increasingly frantic.
Dende had no answers for him so Gohan was forced to depart with the unsettling knowledge that someone, somewhere was using the power of the Dragon Balls, and rarely did that happen for good in a situation like this.
-DBZ-
The fact that someone had taken the Namek Dragon Balls was actually better received than the news that not even the Kais could figure out where Goku had gone.
"All we know is that Dad is somewhere in the Galaxy it seems, some place where it's very dark or very evil or both." Vegeta curled his lip into his famous sneer.
"You've just described roughly half of the planets in the galaxy boy. I don't know about you but searching an entire galaxy will take a very long time. And what if he's in another galaxy all together, ever thought of that?"
"It won't!" piped up Goten, "We don't need to look because wherever daddy is, he's coming home. Right mommy?" Chi-Chi looked at her son with watery eyes.
"Of course honey. He'll be back, I know he will."
Gohan, who was quietly contemplating the infinite off in a corner with Videl spoke up, "We need to search, not just for dad, but for whoever took the Dragon Balls as well. We need to find out who they are, what they want, and what they did or are doing with the them."
"My thoughts exactly," said Gojen, "Bulma, I assume you've got a couple of spaceships we can use?" The beautiful genius inventor grinned.
"You're in luck because dad and I just recently finished refitting a couple of the ships the other day. They've got all new features, upgrades to the rest and they are at least 200% faster than before," she said proudly.
"Two hundred percent?" said Goten, very confused, "How can you have more than one hundred percent?"
"It's settled then," said Gojen, standing up and fixing her friends and family with a fierce stare, "We go. We'll find Dad and the Dragon Balls, and be back home inside of a month!"
How very wrong she was.
-DBZ-
The next day, they had all gathered out in Capsule Corp.'s backyard where two very large, sphere-shaped spaceships awaited. They would be splitting up into two groups. The first group would consist of Gohan, Gojen, Videl, Piccolo, Yamcha and Mr. Satan. Gojen suspected that the reason Hercule Satan was coming along was, not so much that he cared about Goku but that he didn't want his little girl left mostly alone with Gohan for who knew how long. Gojen was not happy about it; she'd never really warmed up to Mr. Satan and now was going to be stuck on a spaceship with him, with Hercule constantly trying to get between Gohan and Videl most likely. She mollified himself with the thought that, if things really got out of hand, Piccolo would probably kill Hercule or at least break his arms and legs.
The second group would consist of Vegeta, Bulma, Krillin, Tien, and Master Roshi. Vegeta was standing off to the side of the other ship, talking to Bulma and looked extraordinarily uncomfortable in his bulky yellow spacesuit. Gojen had no doubt that the Saiyan Prince would get rid of it as soon as possible. And then there was also the possibility that Vegeta and his "comrades" could possibly get violent with each other, but that was a risk that they had to take.
The things we go through.
As they boarded their ships, Goten and Trunks stood next to Chi-Chi, looking very put out. They had school after all and would've gladly ditched to get the chance to go gallivanting off into space.
Gohan was the last up the ramp. He turned back and waved to his family and to Trunks.
"Don't worry!" he called, "We'll be back soon!" He turned around and strode into the ship, the door closing behind him. Both ships began to hum, the humming getting louder and louder, clouds of smoke and dust rising up from their bases'. With a mighty roar, both ships leapt into the brilliant blue sky and quickly streaked up and out of sight.
On the ground, Chi-Chi watched her children's ship fly up into space with glittering eyes.
Come back safe little ones, and soon.