Chapter Two – Welcome to E-Arth

"But Chichi…"

She could kill him at this moment. She really could. Right now she would like nothing better then to see him drop dead. How dare he do this to her? No, not just to her. How dare he do this to them? To her, to himself, to their own son? Hadn't he realized what he'd done? They were all in danger because of his actions!

"Don't you 'but Chichi' me! I don't want to hear it! I want him out of here. Do you understand me, Goku?"

"Yes I understand, Chichi, but he needed help!"

"If he needed help you could have taken him to Capsule Corp., the Kame House, even the lookout, anywhere! Anywhere that wasn't here." Kame, why couldn't he just understand?

"I would have, but they weren't close enough. He needed medical attention as quickly as possible. Don't you understand, Chichi?"

Her eyes widened marginally before narrowing into a glare.

"How dare you blame this on me, Goku? This is your entire fault!" She was pacing back and forth in front of her husband, shooting him a venomous glare each time she passed him. "You know damn well that nowhere on earth is too far away, and that Capsule Corp is far more capable of not only caring for it, but keeping it contained!" That thing upstairs wasn't a person. It was a thing, an 'it'. Her words and pace were picking up steam, and all she could think about was that thing upstairs. Her words were coming faster then she could think. "Don't you see what you've brought into our house? Have you forgotten what happened? Because of your carelessness, you've endangered our son. Don't you even care?!"

She glanced up to glare at him once more, but the look on his face forced it to fade away. Goku's normally cheerful and recently pleading look had disappeared without a trace. What was left was a cool mask, hard and unbreakable. His eyes, though not mean or glaring, might as well have been for the lack of emotion in their black depths. And she knew that she had gone too far.

"You know as well as I do that I would never let anything hurt, Goten," he said coldly. Chichi suddenly found it very difficult to stay where she was, straight and unmoving. She'd give anything to crawl into another room apologizing, but her own pride and righteous anger refused to let her do that. As well as past memories. "Gohan will be fine, Chichi! We're just going to the Kame house. What can happen?"

"Yes, I know that, Goku. I know that very well. But whether you let or don't let things happen, they still happen."

"Chichi, rest assured that if that saiyan upstairs ever lays a fowl hand on our son that I will kill him with my bare hands. His health is only a small priority when it comes to you and Goten." He drew her towards him, and she didn't resist as he enveloped her in a strong yet comforting hug. She sighed, and she could feel his concern and sincerity flow through him into her. Oh yes, she was assured.

"Besides," he continued, pulling back so that they could see each others faces, "Vegeta brought over some of those new ki blockers Bulma made. He's wearing them as we speak. If he should try anything, he'll be too weak to cause much damage, and his ki is now at a level so low that Goten could take him down no problem." That was a lie, and they both knew it. He had set it so that she could take him down with no problem, but he wisely chose not to say it lest it spark her anger again.

"Well," she said, wandering over to the kitchen to prepare dinner, "as long as he has those things on I suppose it's fine for the moment. I'll at least sleep better, anyway." She caught a look of triumph on his face and whirled around to face him, the previous glare back on her face. The victory immediately vanished from his smile, and he looked back with a slight hint of fear in his eyes. She mentally cackled. What was the fun in a man if you couldn't scare him a bit?

"But I don't want Goten to be alone with him." He visibly gulped, and her silent cackle turned into silent laughter.

"You got it, Chichi."

I'm dead…

You're not dead.

I'm dead…

No, you're not.

Are so.

Are not.

Of course I'm dead.

Why would you think you're dead?

This place is too comfortable. If I were alive I'd be in so much pain… and sitting in that damn pod.

You're not dead.

I am so. What do you know?

I am you, so I know so.

Well I'm me too, and I know I'm dead. I fought Frieza. No one fights Frieza and lives.

Father did.

Father's dead too. Don't you remember? Frieza said he was dead and he's dead. If he were still alive he'd have found me. Right?

Whatever you say. Hey, I guess if you're dead, you can find father now, right?

No.

Why not?

Cause I'm not dead.

I thought you said you were.

… Damn you.

You see, I'm right. The rational beats out instinctive once again.

Right. How did you know I wasn't dead?

Easy. We'd be in HFIL, and you know it.

True. What now?

Now? Now you're supposed to wake up.

No…

Wake up…

Wake…up…

WAKE UP!

The young warrior awoke with a start. This hadn't been the first time he'd had an argument with his conscience about whether or not he was dead. Usually those took place in the Regeneration tank. But not this time. He was way too comfortable to be either in the blasted thing or just out of it. Most times, if you were unconscious when you were brought out of the tank, you were either smacked awake or were slammed down on a metal slab in the medical bay.

The room was small, but larger then any private quarters he'd ever received. A window was across from the bed he lay on, and he could see trees and grass outside. This planet must really be backwater to still grow its own vegetation was his first thought as he saw the beautiful landscape. 'Either that or I landed on some sort of farm.'

The bed he was in had a wooden frame with a feather mattress, and despite his alert state he would like nothing better then to just lay down all day and absorb the softness and comfort, but knew he couldn't. He sat up slowly and carefully, mindful of his injuries. This planet was primitive in technology after all, and wouldn't have the technology to fully heal him in such a... short amount of… time….

He stared at himself in shock. The wounds were gone, there was no pain… He was fully healed! He leapt out of bed, and almost fell over as dizziness hit him instantly. He sat back down and placed a palm to his head, eyes pressed shut as he waited for the sensation to stop. Finally it passed, and this time he slowly rose from the bed. There was a mirror next to the window, and he slowly walked over to it, lest another dizzy spell hit him.

The first thing he noted was the lack of bandages on his person. In fact, the only cloth he had on was a pair of strange orange pants that hung loosely around his waist and legs. The gaping wounds, stitches or even red, angry scars that he had been expecting were nowhere in sight. He was happy to see a few new scars. That meant the entire horrifying experience wasn't some fanciful dream. There was a thin line from his left hip to his right shoulder, where he remembered Frieza's ki disc sliced across him. If he'd been an inch more to the left, that thing would have cut right through his heart. He pulled the hair back from his face to look for anything new. Yep, right there. Underneath his eye on his left cheek, a scar went from the corner of his eye closest to the nose, across the cheek and to his ear. He let his hair fall back in place, and saw that his long dark spikes hid the new scar from view. He held up his hands for a finger check. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine….

'Damn, finally lost one,' he grumbled mentally. The pinky on his right hand had been completely obliterated. Not even a stump remained. The knuckle also hadn't survived whatever had torn the finger away. He shrugged. He counted himself lucky that he had lost only a finger and not an entire hand. And with the knuckle removed, less people would notice the missing digit unless they were in the habit of counting fingers. 'Good thing I'm left handed,' he thought, and chuckled at the optimistic thought. The death of Frieza it seemed had left him in a good mood.

At the thought of missing limbs and fingers, his eyes widened and he immediately turned around. He let out a breath of relief upon seeing his tail, the fuzzy appendage wrapped tightly and in one piece around his waist. Good mood or not, he didn't think he would have anything optimistic to say about losing his tail, the only visible piece of saiyan heritage he had.

He wondered what had caused the dizziness. By all accounts, he was fully healed. The mirror showed a hell of a lot less scars then he'd expected, and there was no pain to speak of. Aches and pains he wasn't even aware of were now gone. But for some reason he felt… hollow. As if he had no strength. His muscles, though as toned and firm as they were a week ago, now felt as if they held no power. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, trying to visualize his ki. He found it easily enough, but there was something very wrong. It was much smaller now, in comparison to the vast wells it had been before. And the most worrisome fact was he couldn't access the little bit he had. He was empty.

'Probably used it all up in the battle,' he rationalized, trying not to panic. He'd just lived through the biggest fight in his whole life, using every resource available to achieve his goal of ridding the universe of the vile lizard. Of course he'd be drained. 'Nothing to worry about.'

At that moment, he heard a noise and whipped around. Someone was coming up some stairs, it sounded like. Judging his current weakness, he doubted he could successfully win a frontal attack. He'd have to be sneaky. He quickly and quietly walked to the door, and stood to its left. That way, when whoever entered the room, he would have full advantage for a split second. Then he would get answers as to where he was and how he was healed so fast.

Goku walked upstairs to fetch their new houseguest for breakfast. He hoped the young man was awake. Three days had passed since he and Vegeta had found the dying saiyan in that space pod, covered in blood and barely breathing. All it took was a senzu bean and the man was physically healed immediately. But when the saiyan hadn't woken up, Goku bet that some things needed more time to heal then others.

For two days and nights, the young man had tossed and turned, murmuring or in some cases yelling out in his sleep. Some of his words were undistinguishable or in another language, while others could be plainly understood. "DIE, YOU FUCKING BASTARD!" was a particularly common phrase yelled out, along with others much like it. But one night, as Goku had placed a cool cloth on the warrior's head (Chichi had refused to go anywhere near him), his saiyan hearing had distinctly heard a whispered "Father…"

It was hard, taking care of this person. Goku thought he'd had saiyans all figured out. They were vicious, cold blooded fighters that wanted nothing more then blood on their hands and the dead at their feet. The young man's appearance when they first found him, as well as his uncontrolled outbursts only strengthened Goku's beliefs. But then that night, when he had whispered, "Father…", so longingly and with such sadness, Goku couldn't help but feel his heart ache. How could a member of the race that had stolen his son be capable of such human emotion? It was difficult to see this person in either light.

But today, Goku would go in there with no judgment. He'd finally meet this person who'd landed on his home planet, and find out his intentions. He was pretty sure the man was awake, as he'd heard footsteps earlier. Finally he reached the door, effortlessly putting on his customary 'Son grin.' 'Let's see what we're dealing with here,' he thought before opening the door.

Almost instantly after entering the room, Goku felt an arm quickly snake around his throat, a warm body pressed against his back. Before the man holding him could say anything, he grabbed the arm that was currently holding him in a common choke-hold, easily threw the saiyan over his shoulder and slammed him onto the floor. The young man had yelled in surprise at the unexpected fall, and was now lying on the floor with his eyes closed. Goku still had the man's arm in his hands.

"If you know what's good for you," Goku said calmly, the cheery smile still on his face, "you won't try that again." The man on the floor opened his eyes, his glaring obsidian eyes meeting Goku's. After a brief moment of silence, the boy nodded curtly. Goku's smile became a bit more genuine as he helped him to his feet. So he had caught the hidden threat. Good.

"My name is Son Goku, and let me be the first to say 'Welcome'!" Goku said, the grin coming naturally as he spoke. The young saiyan had taken a few steps away from him, his back close to the wall and, Goku saw after a quick look, in easy access to the door or window should something happen. This guy had paranoid written all over him. His house guest was currently glaring at him, probably because of that failed attack from earlier, but Goku guessed that the glare was just a natural look, like Vegeta and Piccolo's.

"This is E-Arth, right?" the saiyan asked. Goku blinked stupidly for a moment before understanding.

"Yes, this is Earth," he pronounced the last word slowly and carefully, as if speaking to a slow child. The man's face didn't change, but Goku thought he could see relief in his eyes. Goku's curiosity got the best of him. "Why do you ask?"

The young man smirked cruelly, his scarred features seeming to harden as he did so. "Judging on my means of travel, I wasn't quite sure if a malfunction had occurred or if I was blasted off course. It's nice to know I ended up where I intended."

"And why did you come to Earth?" Goku asked. Though his tone was nonchalant, the question was anything but. That beings from other worlds came to Earth for terrible things was no secret to him or the other Z fighters, and if this saiyan, young or not, had come for similar reasons Goku would not hesitate to remove the threat to his family and his home.

The man seemed to shrug, though he did no such thing. Goku distantly wondered how one could convey an act without actually doing it, but pushed that thought away as he answered. "I was in a hurry to get off my last planet." Goku noticed he did not say 'home'. "I really didn't have a destination in mind, which is good because I could probably be followed to planets I knew. After punching in a bunch of random coordinates, Earth became my destination. So it was just the luck of the draw." The man smirked as he said this last part. Goku didn't like it when this saiyan smirked. There was something deliberately malicious about it that reminded him of so many people…

"My friend and I found you about a hundred miles east of here. You looked in pretty bad shape, so I brought you here to my home. We were wondering what could have caused you to be in such a condition…" Goku drifted off. The young man had begun to frown at the badly masked question, and the glare became more than just a natural look. He decided to let it be for the moment. If those injuries and his reaction were any clue, it would seem as if the young saiyan had escaped hell itself. He hadn't detected any lie in the man's explanation about how he picked Earth, so was there really any need to inquire as to what happened before he arrived? Well, there was one reason…

"You're welcome to stay here for as long as you wish, but there is one thing I have to know before I can allow you to leave this room." Goku dropped his smile, his face becoming rigid with seriousness. The young man did nothing but raise an eyebrow in question. "Do you intend in anyway to harm this planet or its inhabitants?"

The man didn't blink in surprise at the question, as Goku half guessed he would. After a few moments of silence, he finally answered, "I mean no harm towards anyone unless they intend to harm me." In other words, unless provoked. Goku's smile came back, and this time it was for real. That answer he could accept.

"That's good enough for me. However, my wife will be less easy to sway. Until she's convinced you're no threat, those ki blockers won't come off." He pointed towards the metal bands on the saiyan's wrists. The young man brought his hands up to his face (Goku noticed one of his fingers was missing) and stared at the bands, as if seeing them for the first time. Goku suspected he hadn't had much time to inspect before he'd come upstairs. The bands were about an inch in width, as thin as paper, but the metal was almost unbreakable despite its weak appearance.

"Ki blockers?" the man questioned, still staring at the bands. Goku nodded.

"They were invented by a friend of mine, in case we ever came across dangerous and powerful individuals. These would make sure they wouldn't cause harm in captivity or out."

"Is this why I can't tap into my ki?" the young man asked angrily. His hands had dropped to his sides and were currently clutched into fists. His eyes were like beams of fury as they focused on Goku. 'If looks could kill,' he thought.

"Yes, it is. And I don't suggest trying to break them off. My friend promised dire consequences if that were to happen." What would happen is that, should the blockers be removed for whatever reason without Bulma's special remote she'd given him, nearly all of his ki would be immediately sucked out, knocking him unconscious from the shock and only leaving enough for him to continue breathing. This ensured a Z Fighter would find him by the time he came around or would be too weak to fight back. What he had now was what a slightly powerful human would have, and that he couldn't even tap into unless his instincts reacted in an emergency.

The young man didn't seem to hear him, and Goku could almost taste the intense rage in the air. Goku returned the young man's glare as he slowly began to power up. Whether or not the young man before him could sense ki levels, any being in the universe could feel true power, and that was what Goku was doing.

Eventually the rage was suppressed. It was still there, Goku had no doubt, but at least now it didn't seem as if the young man would lash out irrationally.

"You were a man in need," Goku explained slowly. "That was enough for me to help you. The blockers are in place to ease the mind of my wife and friends, and they won't come off until they say so. I may be a forgiving man, but know this; if you lay a hand against my family, I will tear you apart myself."

The young man stared at him for a moment, but Goku didn't lessen his display of power. He was dead serious, and if this man couldn't sense that he was as good as gone. Suddenly the saiyan snorted and Goku blinked in surprise, his ki lowering without his noticing. How could he be laughing?

"Don't worry," said the young man, an edge of humor coloring his words. "I didn't escape one death to fall so easily into another." Goku actually smiled at these words, and he surprised himself by doing so. Surprises never cease, he supposed.

"No, I guess you didn't. Come on, let's go down to eat." They walked out the door, the young saiyan following a few steps behind the elder in silence. Before they descended the stairs, Goku snapped his fingers as if remembering something and turned around.

"I almost forgot. What's your name?"

"Name?" This time it seemed Goku had caught him off guard.

"Yeah, a name. I have to introduce you to my family, after all," he smiled. He'd decided, despite the man's actions and shady answers, that he quite liked this saiyan. There was just something about him that Goku couldn't explain… he seemed to draw Goku to him.

The young man didn't answer, turning his head away from the older man and glaring into a corner. A few moments of silence passed.

"You do have a name… right?"

"Of course I have a name!" he snapped, finally tearing his gaze from the corner to Goku's face. Goku could sense the rage from earlier, but it wasn't as potent. He could see other emotions warring on the man's face that took away the sharpness of his anger; shame, and embarrassment.

'Kame,' Goku thought sadly, staring at the uncomfortably young man in front of him, 'what sort of life did he lead where he doesn't even have a name?' Before Goku could speak again, the young man finally answered.

"Mystic," he said, straightening his back and glaring at Goku, as if daring him to contradict him. "My name is Mystic."

Goku smiled. Any name, made up or otherwise, was better than no name. He laid a hand on Mystic's shoulder (he chose to ignore the flinch) and said, "Welcome to E-Arth, Mystic."

A/N: Woo! A week before Thanksgiving! How you like them apples?!

Considering this is my senior year, as well as me having a job and a goal of getting a black belt (March, baby!), I will not have all the time in the world to write. I will try, not promise but try to get at least one chapter out a month.

Now that you've read, review! Constructive criticism would be appreciated.

REVIEW!!!