Gohan frowned at the controls. "I wonder how I'll land," he said aloud. He had been riding for almost a day straight now, and he knew he had another five if he wanted to get to the place he needed to be. In his hurry to leave, he hadn't brought nearly enough food, so he had been eating one granola bar or one piece of fruit every day…which wasn't that much different from the amount of food he'd lived off of in the wild from training with Piccolo.
His stomach rumbled. "Guess I should've packed more," he said nonetheless, holding his stomach. Just then, there was a space bump and his knapsack spilled his stuff across the floor. He hurriedly unbuckled his seat belt and ran over.
As he was picking up his school books and pajamas, his fingers found the only photograph he had brought along with him. It was a picture taken of him at least five years back, and it included his mom and his dad holding him. Goku was looking at baby Gohan and smiling, ruffling his son's hair. Gohan held a wide grin, as he looked back up at his dad. Chi-Chi was smiling at the two.
He stood up with it still in his hands. Walking over to the ship's music player, he pressed 'play'. "No Surprise" by Daughtry began to play.
Then Gohan walked back on over to his pilot's seat and sat down. He stared at the photograph again, for much longer this time. His eyes began to water as the verses, "The kiss goodnight, it comes with me/
Both wrong and right, our memories…"
He sniffled and wiped his eyes.
And his space ship continued to hurtle through space, further and further away from Earth.
"See you! Good luck!" Master Rioshi called as the spaceship left Earth. He, Tien, Chou Zhu, and Bulma were all waving too and calling their good-byes. Vegeta stood a ways off. On the spaceship sat Piccolo, Krillin, and Goku. Krillin was the only one waving back. "Take care!" He called, "We'll be back soon!"
With that, they blasted off.
Bulma sighed, watching them go. "Hope they find him okay," she said.
"Don't worry Bulma. Knowing Goku, they'll all make it back safe and sound with Gohan before you know it." Master Rioshi reassured.
"Pfft," Vegeta said from his spot, "Hopefully they'll spare me the torture and disappear."
Bulma turned around and narrowed her eyes, "Who invited you anyways?"
Krillin, meanwhile, had turned back around in his seat only to find a silent cabin. Goku looked deep in thought with his hands clasped together. Piccolo had his arms crossed.
"I still can't believe he left because of me," Goku said, "How could I have let this happen?"
Krillin put a hand on his shoulder. "You shouldn't beat yourself up too much, Goku, you couldn't have possibly known. You were training, after all."
"Yeah but what's the point in training if I can't defend my own son," Goku said, still looking at the ground. "I should've sensed his energy leaving Earth, Krillin." He paused, "I'm really worried about him."
"He'll be able to fend for himself," Piccolo said, "Best we can do now is wait until we hear word of him."
Krillin blinked, suddenly sitting up. "Or maybe not. Hey Goku, can't you just ask King Kai where Gohan is?"
"Hey yeah," Goku said, perking up a bit. "You're right Krillin, why didn't I think of that?" He paused, getting his concentration together. "Alright King Kai, did you hear that? Could you tell us where Gohan is?"
Back in Other World, King Kai's antennas twitched as he watered his plants. He looked up to the sky. He hadn't heard from the warriors back on Earth in awhile; were there somehow enemies nearby without his notice?
"Of course I can, Goku, what kind of king would I be if I can't locate someone in my own jurisdiction?" He said in his usual voice, "Hold on a second," He concentrated hard as his antennas twitched more in different directions, "Hrmm…"
"Ah, here he is!"
Goku, Piccolo, and Krillin all seemed keenly interested and looked up.
"According to my calculations, he's about 520 miles east of Earth," King Kai said. Bubbles began jumping up and down around him, holding flowers he had picked.
"Wait; did you say east?" Piccolo said, his arms still crossed, "Then that means-"
"Yes, he's going to Namek," King Kai said, hitting Bubbles in the head with a hammer. A giant bump grew out of the monkey's head as he fell over.
"We should have known," Piccolo went back to looking away.
"So can we catch up with him?" Krillin asked, "Is there anything on this ship that could get us up to speed?"
"I'm afraid not," King Kai said, "He's still almost a day ahead of you. However, I can try to get into contact with him."
Goku jumped up, "That would be great King Kai!"
"Okay, I'm going to hang up then. I'll try to get back into contact with you later," King Kai said. And with that, he was gone. Goku began to pace as Krillin started to twiddle his thumbs. It was going to be a long wait for all of them.
Gohan was done with his crying session and was now studying with his schoolbooks. However, the photo from earlier had been taped up above the control panels to the right of him.
"Gohan?" King Kai's voice came in, "Gohan, can you hear me?" Gohan looked up. He recognized that voice.
"King Kai?"
King Kai grunted, "Hmm, yes. Gohan, can you tell me why you left planet Earth?"
Gohan blinked, still looking up at the ceiling. "Well I thought Dad didn't care about me anymore," he looked down at his books, still holding his pencil to a math problem. "And if Dad doesn't care…who does."
"If he didn't care he wouldn't be traveling across space to find you right now!" King Kai said urgently, "Gohan, you should land your ship at the nearest planet right now."
Gohan gripped his pencil, thinking. King Kai's probably on Dad's side…but still, is he telling the truth? He looked at the photo. No way. Dad always did this. If I go with him now he'll just do the same thing again.
"No. I won't." Gohan said, looking back up. "If Dad really wants me he's going to have to find me first."
"Gohan, listen to me-"
Gohan picked up his books and pencil and papers with small hands and hopped down from his chair.
"Gohan!"
But he was already walking across the aircraft and into the next room. He slammed the door shut.
King Kai grew angry. He hopped about, making even Bubbles and Gregory antsy. "He's just like his father! Stubborn!...Sense is going to find that boy one way or another." King Kai seemed to calm down a little. "Let's just hope it doesn't though."
