The following program is a non-profit fan-made story.

The Sailor Moon franchise is owned by VIZ Media, Toei Animation and Naoko Takeuchi.

The Dragonball franchise is owned byFunimation, Toei Animation, Fuji TV and Akira Toriyama.

The Pokémon franchise is owned by Game Freak, TV Tokyo, Nintendo International, and Satoshi Tajiri.

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It wasn't long after Goku and his sons parted ways with the Senshi that the Son family returned home. They had all exchanged contact information with one another, and in the meantime, had agreed to use the Hikawa Shrine as their primary point of contact should any more attacks on the city took place, or any other supernatural phenomena were occurring, threatening the stability of their individual worlds. Goku, in particular, was surprised to learn that the girls save Chibi-Usa were high schoolers. Of course, he had to remind himself that Gohan was involved in some rather harrowing battles himself, and when he was much younger, to boot.

He could only imagine what Ash had been through, as well, in terms of battles. The past few days for the boy…

Goku and Ox-King busied themselves assembling the new furniture, after removing the old and putting it in storage. Even with the two of them working on it, it took some time to assemble, as there were parts of the directions Goku couldn't quite follow. As strong of a fighter as Goku is, he's not exactly the brightest bulb. Still, after carefully laying out everything by what pieces had which lettering on it made it a little easier. It was also prudent that they work on one piece at a time, lest they accidentally bring in pieces from one of the desks, for instance.

As Goku worked a short screw into a rectangular panel, turning slowly and carefully as not to ruin the panel, Ox-King was working on assembling the drawers. He affixed the handle into the front panel of one drawer, grinning at his handiwork. Then he and Goku blanched at the sound of Chi-Chi's yelling. They couldn't make out what she was yelling, but they could hear the muffled yells through the walls, and they both knew it wasn't pretty. The two men exchanged looks, with Goku letting out a despondent sigh.

The woman in question was in the kitchen, hands on her waist and leaning forward a bit, her volume and tone set to "loud" and "berating." Her children were in front of her, side by side, all but rooted in place as Chi-Chi let them have it. It didn't start this badly, though. She had sternly directed them to leave dad and grandpa alone while they got everything together. In typical Chi-Chi fashion, it didn't take long for her temper to get out of control and her voice to start rising.

"…and you two just fly off without even thinking twice about what you were doing to throw yourself head-first into gods-know-what and didn't even know what you were going up against?!" she bellowed. "You could've gotten yourselves thrown out of the mall! Or killed! Or who knows what the hell else could've happened!"

Gohan's gaze didn't stay on his mother the whole time. He had been subjected to these kinds of dressings-down more times than he could remember—or care to, anyway—and was just waiting for her to stop yelling. Most of the time he'd wind up relegated to his room, or given extra studying to do. She'd calm down after a while, but that would first involve not being near her for several hours, lest the very sight of him set her off all over again. As his gaze wandered, he caught movement out of the corner of his right eye. He glanced in Ash's direction, and his eyes widened.

Ash had his head hung, the brim of his cap hiding most of his face. But his body language told the whole story. His hands were balled up tightly, his knuckles probably bright white under his gloves. And his hands were shaking. The same for his upper body, which made him look like he was about to lose it at any second as well. He tilted his head slightly, so he could get some kind of read on Ash's face. Despite being in shadow, Gohan could see Ash's eyes were tightly shut, his mouth curled into a coarse frown, his bottom lip half in and half out of his mouth. Pikachu was looking up at him as well, from his spot in between Ash's feet. His ears were drooping, as he had an unobstructed view of his Trainer's distraught look. The little yellow mouse knew that as brash, arrogant, and headstrong as he could be, he was very sensitive as well. Snuggling up between his Trainer's feet and craning his head back so he could look up at him was Pikachu's way of comforting him when he needed, or to keep him from losing his perception of the world around him when he was really upset. Although, Pikachu expected Ash to pick him up by now. Not that Pikachu couldn't jump up into Ash's arms whenever he wanted.

Chi-Chi didn't seem to pay it any mind, though. "What could've possessed you to act like that?!" she bellowed. "What, was it those girls who showed up, too? Those girls with the strange hair and the short little skirts? Was that what that was?! Huh, big men?! Don't think I saw them chasing after your father like a bunch of dogs going after raw meat! You trying to show off…to…?" Chi-Chi's ranting stalled out when she noticed Gohan paying attention to something else. That's when she saw Ash shaking, and her ranting stopped. She was stopped in her tracks at the sight of Ash's reactions. But then again, she never once even thought about how her adopted son would react to her yelling.

Her hand delicately went up to her mouth when she heard Ash whimpering. When she had realized how quiet she had become, she also heard Ash muttering to himself. "Ash—"

"I'm sorry, alright?!" he suddenly snapped, his wide-eyed, distraught gaze shooting up to meet Chi-Chi's, who gasped at her adoptive son's reaction. "I couldn't help it! I had to help out somehow! I couldn't just stand there and let someone get hurt!" He sniffed loudly, his heart racing.

Chi-Chi winced at Ash's reaction, and, seeing how he reacted, went into damage control. "Ash, come on," she started. "You need to calm down—"

"What was I supposed to do, stand there and do nothing?" He swallowed hard. "Pokémon trainers don't do that; we fight off bad guys with our Pokémon!"

"But it could've made absolutely no difference, you know…"

"I still had to try!" He ran his hands up the sides of his head, up to his hair, dislodging his cap. "I just… what do you want me to say?!"

The kitchen was silent for a few moments, save for Ash's whimpering as he tried with every fiber of his being to keep from breaking out into full-on sobbing. Gohan lifted a hand to rest on Ash's shoulder, trying to calm him down. Ash's fists clenched tightly, the knuckles turning white under the material of his gloves. Indeed, had he not been wearing them, his fingernails would've been dug into his palms by now. Pikachu's ears drooped sadly as he observed his trainer's condition, before the little mouse Pokémon grabbed Ash's now fallen hat, holding it for him. Chi-Chi was still looking at them both, pondering what to say next.

Chi-Chi sighed. "Alright… I'm sorry, Ash—"

"That's what I've been trying to say—"

"Would you give me a minute here?!" Chi-Chi suddenly interrupted, making Ash and Gohan jolt suddenly from her shout. Once she was sure she had their attention, and that they were quiet, she continued, much more calmly. "I know you two were only trying to help. And I know that things like this are why you train so often… despite my objections…"

Gohan winced a little, and exchanged a glance with Ash, who had calmed down, if only a little.

"Still… not even thinking of rushing off to stop… whatever the hell that thing was, caring more about everyone else than yourselves." She smiled a little. "You're every bit like your dad." She moved closer to the boys, taking one of their cheeks in hand as they looked up at her Gohan didn't react, but Ash breathed in sharply through his nose, stiffening just a bit. The warm look in Chi-Chi's eyes did little to calm him. "And while that's all well and good, you're both just kids. You shouldn't have to be fighting these kinds of battles, regardless of the circumstances…"

"I still want to protect people, especially those close to me…" Gohan added.

"I know you do, Gohan…" Chi-Chi looked over at Ash, who was wiping his eyes. "And you, Ash… honey, you just got here. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if you wound up getting seriously hurt after being here less than twenty-four hours. You understand what I'm saying?"

Ash nodded, but was only able to keep eye contact with her for about half a second. He just felt too embarrassed like this.

"I'm sorry I blew up on you like that. But I worry about you. Both of you. I know heroics and all that kind of run in this family, but… just promise me that you'll be more careful in the future, alright?" she asked them.

"We will," they both muttered.

Chi-Chi grinned and pulled them in close, hugging them. "You're both good kids, you know that?" The two hugged her back, though Ash was more hesitant than Gohan.

"Thanks, mom," "Thanks, Chi-Chi," Gohan and Ash said at once. Unseen by them, Chi-Chi's smile faded a little. Granted, a part of her knew that Ash wasn't going to start calling her "mom" right away, but she was still a little upset that he wasn't using the term yet. She closed her eyes, tousling both boys' hair. They'd help their newest addition to the family fit in. She just had to give it time.

They stayed like this for a few moments until they heard the bedroom door open and heavy footfalls coming down the hallway. Goku came out to the living room, idly palming a screwdriver in one hand, pausing as he took in the scene before him. "I heard yelling out here, is everything alright?" he asked, getting everyone else's attention.

"Yes, everything's fine, Goku," Chi-Chi answered. "How's it going in there?"

Goku smiled brightly. "We got done assembling everything and got it all set up!" he said proudly, while beckoning the rest of his family. "Come on, come see!"

Chi-Chi walked past the two boys, who followed a couple steps behind. Gohan grinned at Goku as he walked by, but Ash didn't make eye contact, merely following along almost mechanically. He seized up again briefly when Goku reassuringly rubbed his shoulder, making him stagger briefly.

Inside the boys' bedroom, Ox-King was dropping one of the mattresses into place, the bed freshly made and the new bed clothes made up perfectly on them. The bunk bed itself was set up in one corner of the room, the top bunk positioned flush up against the wall, while the top bunk formed a right angle under the window up against the other wall. Given the way the beds were made, the heads of both beds were meant to line up with one another. A smaller, more horizontal bureau, also served as a support for the upper bunk. The new bunk bed setup had drawers built into it, primarily under the bottom bed, but a few smaller, square drawers making up another support for the top bunk. On the far side of the room, the desks were assembled and set up facing one another. The shopping bags full of the new clothes hadn't been put away yet, until Chi-Chi, meanwhile, started sorting out whose clothes were whose. While Goku and Ox-King were assembling everything, they had altered the closet to better accommodate both boys' wardrobes; the original rod had been moved higher up, while a second rod was put in about halfway between it and the floor. The boys could work out whose clothes went where on their own time.

"I'll have to see how many hangers we have," she mused, "so we can get everything all hung up and put away."

Ox-King was piling up the cardboard boxes that everything came in together, to make it easier to dispose of. "Well, boys? What do you think?" Ox-King asked, wiping off his forehead.

"Oh, neat!" Gohan said, grinning as he looked over the new furniture. He was looking over everything enthusiastically, while Ash was still taking everything in, trying not to make too much noise. He idly examined one of the drawers, tugging on the little brass knob adorning it, not surprised to see it empty for the time being. Pikachu, meanwhile, leapt from the floor to the top bunk, right in the middle of the adults, disturbing their conversing amongst themselves, with Chi-Chi barely getting her head out of the way as Pikachu's lightning bolt tail flew by her face. He looked pretty happy with himself, taking in the shocked expressions of the others as he looked down at them from the top bunk, squeaking out playfully at them.

As he got acclimated to his new surroundings, a thought came into Ash's head. "What happened to the old stuff?" he asked.

"We moved it into that storage capsule we used earlier," Goku said, brandishing said capsule. "We'll figure out what to do with the old stuff later. So, what do you guys think?"

Gohan was beaming as he looked at his father. "It's all really nice," he said. "Thanks, dad!"

"Y-yeah, uh… thanks, Goku," Ash added, only able to look Goku in the eye for a moment before looking away. It wasn't that he wasn't grateful; far from it. Goku's optimism and general cheerfulness were overwhelming to the already taxed kid, and even though they were all a delight—barring Chi-Chi's earlier ranting, regardless of her intentions—he still had trouble believing this was real. As though he was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Or he'd turn to look in their direction again and suddenly be blindsided by a rogue fist, dropped like a bad habit—

"Ash! Hey!"

Ash was jolted from his reverie as he heard his name blurted out. Gohan was looking at him as Ox-King ducked down to get out of the bedroom. "Come on, we gotta say goodbye to grandpa."

Goku and Chi-Chi had made their way outside along with Ox-King, escorting him to his car. "Thanks again, dad," Chi-Chi said. "I know it was a lot to ask of you…"

"Bah, don't worry about it," he said, hugging his daughter with one large arm. "Anything for my grandkids!" He laughed heartily, letting go of Chi-Chi just in time to see Gohan run out, Ash a few steps behind. Gohan threw himself at his grandfather, hugging him, while the older man reached out and rustled a still anxious Ash's hair. "Sorry we got off on the wrong foot earlier," he told him.

"I-It's fine," Ash said, his voice wavering a little. "No big deal, really…"

"Next time I come over, it'll be less scary; how's that sound?" Ash could only nod once in acknowledgment, a nervous grin on his face. "Well… see you all later!" And he got in his car, started it up, and drove off down the road. The Son family watched him drive off until his car was too small to make out before Chi-Chi ushered the other three back inside.

On Chi-Chi's encouraging, Gohan and Ash were going through the rest of their new clothing, separating it into different piles based on who it belonged to. Chi-Chi managed to find some hangers, but still wasn't sure if they had enough. After a little while, Gohan looked to his new brother. "So, I guess we should decide who—oh…" he trailed off.

Ash blinked. "Decide what?" he asked. He followed Gohan's gaze to the new bunk beds.

"I was about to say we should decide who gets which bunk. But…" He chuckled, pointing at the lower bunk. "Guess that was already decided for us, huh?" The lower bed had a dark blue bed spread, accented with kinmokusei flowers branching horizontally across it. Gohan had been drawn to the contrasting colors, especially since—he noticed some time later—they were similar colors to his dad's gi.

"Oh…" Ash muttered. They had already made the beds, and put Gohan's new sheets on the lower one. Goku, or Ox-King—either one, really—probably put them on without thinking. "Is… is that alright with you?" He looked uncertain as he looked at Gohan. "I mean, did you want the top bunk? Because I don't mind switching if you want it that bad—"

Gohan let out a bemused chuckle as he put his hand up to Ash's chest, trying to get him to calm down. "It's fine, really," he said. "I don't mind."

Ash glanced away, uncertain. "We can switch later, if you want…"

Gohan waved it off. "Eh. Maybe. We'll see." Ash just gave a little shrug, and walked up to the bunk. He scaled the ladder going up to the top bunk easily, and sat on the edge of the bed, his feet dangling over the side. Seeing his Trainer join him, Pikachu nudged his side with his head, and as Ash reached over to pet him, the little yellow mouse turned on his back, Ash's hand going to his stomach, which he obligingly scratched with his fingertips, the little mouse Pokémon cooing contently. After a moment, Gohan joined him, in a sense, hovering next to Ash. "Wow. Yours look pretty neat, too," Gohan added, his gaze going up and down the bunk. "Didn't take you as the kind who liked art deco stuff."

"Is that what this is?" Ash asked, looking at it himself. His new bed clothes were all black, the pillowcase and comforter trimmed with several intertwining lines of gold piping, crisscrossing at right angles. In the center of both were complex geometric shapes in the same style. Ash shrugged at Gohan. "I just thought it looked cool, is all…"

"That's fine, too," Gohan answered. He chuckled. He floated over to the foot of Ash's bed, legs sticking out straight as he sat with his back against the wall. Pikachu walked over to him, smiling, and Gohan obliged the Pokémon by running his hand over his head, causing him to squeak in delight. "It might come off as a little showy… but I'm guessing you Pokémon Trainers worry about showmanship a lot, too, with some of the bigger tournaments…" he chuckled, recalling what little Ash told him of Pokémon tournaments on their way back home. "Right, old sport?"

Ash glanced at Gohan, confused. "What… what's that mean? Old what?"

"Come on. You've heard of The Great Gatsby, right?"

Ash just kind of looked at him.

"…guess not."

"What? I've never heard of it." His gaze drifted to the side briefly. "Should I have?"

"It's a classic," Gohan said, glancing at the bookshelves. Aside from more typical educational textbooks, Gohan had plenty of pieces of classic and more well renowned literature on his shelves… no doubt the subjects of more than one book report. "It's a good enough book—I thought it was alright, anyway—and it takes place at a point in time when this kind of art was flourishing." He hopped off the bed and went over to one of the bookshelves, a finger tracing over the spines of numerous books in varying condition. "It got made into movies and the like, but that's true of all sorts of old literature—ah, here it is." He pulled the paperback book out from between two larger books and lobbed at Ash, who caught it, and looked at the cover. The cover art was primarily black and gold, with the same kinds of designs that were on Ash's bedclothes, albeit more elaborate, while surrounding the title of the book in eye-catching Broadway font. This version was clearly newer, with a blurb advertising it as a major motion picture... released a couple years ago. "You should read it sometime."

"You don't mind me reading your stuff?" Ash asked, brandishing the book unknowingly.

"Dude. You don't have to ask about borrowing anything. I don't mind." He smiled reassuringly. "Well, unless I'm reading it first, but… I've gone over most of these books a bunch of times already."

Humming in acknowledgment, Ash looked at the front cover, then turned it over to look at the back. "Alright," he said. "If it's no big deal…" For the time being, though, he set the book aside, and brought his legs up onto the bed. He laid his head back against the pillows, staring up at the ceiling, still taking everything in. It was still a whole lot to take in. And when he inevitably thought back as to why all of this came about, why he was on the opposite side of the world far away from "home" … well, he doubted he could concentrate on much of anything for too long, much less a book he's never even heard of before today.

Within the span of a few days, Ash had lost his mother, lost his home, and was adopted by a family from a completely different culture, uprooted and moved to the opposite end of the planet. His new family—and it could really be considered a family, given how it had all the "typical" members of what was supposed to constitute a family. The closest thing he had to a brother figure of any kind was Brock, but he had his numerous other brothers and sisters to care for. Did Brock know just how much Ash looked up to him and admired him? How he thought of him as an older brother that he (presumably) wouldn't have? Ash didn't know. And what bothered him even more, Ash never got to tell him how grateful he was for his company—and not just cooking for everyone, either; someone who looked out for him while he was journeying with him. Sure, Ash might have complained that Brock was treating him like a small child… but right now Ash would give anything to hear that again.

Speaking of never getting to tell someone how they feel…

Images of Misty drifted back into Ash's thoughts.

Their first meeting may have involved her slapping the taste out of his mouth, and she had insisted up and down that she was only following him to get back the bike he (read: Pikachu) accidentally destroyed. Until… she stopped complaining about it. And bringing it up again merely resulted in some flustered agreeing with whoever brought it up, followed by a "disgusted" look on her face. Everyone else thought Ash was as dense as a Rock/Steel dual-type. But that was the farthest thing from the truth. Ash had always had a feeling Misty wanted more from him than just her bike fixed. It wasn't until after the Orange Islands, when she had blown off Rudy and started cheering for him unconditionally, that he realized it. The incident with Lugia and the Legendary Bird trio only seemed to galvanize it in his mind. She had stopped caring about the bike a long time ago. What was really more important… was him. And he knew it.

The only problem was going about telling Misty how he felt about her. His young mind couldn't properly put together how to break it to her, or the appropriate context to do so. So, Ash kept putting it off and putting it off. Always lingering in the back of his mind, the nagging thought practically demanding to be released, the kid having no idea how to properly parse what he was feeling. But then his mom died. Suddenly, trying to start up a romantic relationship with someone he had a crush on for the longest time was the las thing on his mind.

And he never got to tell her how he felt. And worse, he felt like he never would.

Granted, it's not like either one of them are dead, but Ash Ketchum being just another Pokémon Trainer out in the world, journeying across the land to become a Pokémon Master… well, if it wasn't completely cancelled, it at least will be put on hold for a long time.

All of these thoughts swirling in his head did not mesh well with the chaos that had befallen his life the past week. His face bunched up in a sorrowful look, and he sniffed loudly, before bringing his hands to his face and softly crying.

The next morning, the Son family started the day trying to be like a normal family… well, as normal as a superpowered husband and son, while acclimating their adopted child into their home, could be. Chi-Chi wasn't the first one up, but the quiet in the house told her that she had the place to herself for the moment. She knew Goku and Gohan were out training somewhere in the wilderness before breakfast, and Ash was sleeping in. Hell, he hadn't left his room since last night. As she started to get breakfast together, she wondered just how okay he was.

As she was getting breakfast ready for when the rest of the family joined her, she opened the kitchen window… and soon after heard a car pulling up, seeing the bit of dust it kicked up as it came down the road. The car came to a stop a short distance from the house, and the driver soon got out, their bright, almost powder blue hair the first thing noticeable to the woman.

Seeing the driver open up the trunk and pull out what looked like a suitcase finally piqued Chi-Chi's interest, and she opened up the front door and walked outside, cinching the belt around her dark blue bath robe tightly. "Excuse me?" she called out. "Can I, um… help you?"

The driver then turned to face Chi-Chi, giving the woman a good look at her face. …His? Chi-Chi paused, blinking once, not entirely sure if the person standing before her was male or female. Possibly the former? But acting more effeminate than she would've guessed? It was hard to say. Regardless, she was weary of the briefcase he was carrying, noticing the corporate branding on it. She let out a sigh. Barely sunrise and she was being harangued by door-to-door salesman.

"Well, perhaps," he said, "but more importantly, I'm here to help you!"

Chi-Chi only partly paid attention, as she was still pondering just how some salesman peddling what will no doubt be chintzy, overpriced garbage found her house all the way out here in the wilderness. The salesman's excitement got the woman's attention again soon enough. "I'm sorry, what?" she asked. "What makes you say that?"

The briefcase snapped open, and the man held the bottom of it while displaying its contents. All sorts of makeup and other accessories permeated the inside, the test models all held in place with elastic bands to the interior. "For you see, madam, I have been sent here to offer to you the newest additions to the line of—"

Chi-Chi already had a hand to her forehead. "Yeah, no thanks," she said, cutting him off.

The salesman flinched, wide-eyed, not expecting to be interrupted so quickly. "Hold on, what?"

"Look, I don't have any need for what you're selling," she explained. "And certainly not this early in the morning. Not to mention we have more important things to spend our budget on. So, no thank you." She was already turning to go back into the house.

"Oh, but you simply must!" he insisted. "Especially someone like you, madam!"

Chi-Chi paused, and slowly looked over her shoulder, glaring at the man, an eyebrow twitching in irritation. "Would you care to… elaborate?" she asked dangerously, sucking in a sharp breath.

"Um, well…" the salesman stammered, surprised by his customer's glaring at him. "Surely, you're concerned about your looks, correct? Especially since they've already started to fade, perhaps?" His question got gradually higher at the end, trying to imply to his customer that the inevitable was already setting in for her.

All this did was make Chi-Chi turn around, her hand clenched into a fist at her side, her fixed glare burning a hole through her. "And is this how you make all your sales? By insulting and disrespecting your customers?" Chi-Chi retorted.

With a frustrated groan, the salesman slammed his briefcase shut, holding it pressed between his palms. "Well, I was not planning on leaving until I had made a sale, but if that's the attitude you're going to take, then we'll just get right down to brass tacks!" He then slammed his briefcase down on the ground, where it snapped open with a burst of blinding light and smoke. Chi-Chi hopped back, in a fighting stance, waving away the smoke as the breeze carried it off. When it cleared, the three-piece suit the salesman was gone, replaced with a puffy, ribbed bodysuit the same baby blue color as his hair. A skeleton of a fish adorned his midsection. "I'm through playing around, honey," Fisheye declared. "One!"

Before Chi-Chi could react, a bright red coffin shaped slab slapped against her back, her arms bouncing from the impact so that her hands landed near her head. "What?!" she gasped, glancing back at it.

"Two!"

The loud clank of metal clamping shut assaulted Chi-Chi's ears, and she suddenly felt her wrists and ankles shackled to the slab. "Hey! Let me go!" she shouted, every muscle tensing as she struggled to free herself.

Fisheye opened his mouth to finish the incantation, as it was, when a third voice rang out, getting both his and Chi-Chi's attention. "Mom?!"

The two looked up to see Gohan floating in the air above them, dressed in ragged looking workout clothes, fresh from his early morning training, having been sent back early by his father. Gohan gawked at the sight, recalling what he went through yesterday all too well. "Gohan, get out of here!" Chi-Chi shouted.

But Gohan had already reacted. Ki surged around him in a brilliant white aura as he launched himself towards Fisheye, a fist drawn back. "You leave my mom alone!"

Fisheye rolled his eyes. "Shut up," he retorted, waving his hand and making Gohan disappear in a burst of light. It was a simple warp spell, but it would put him far away from the two of them, unable to save his dear, sweet mommy.

"Gohan!" Chi-Chi shouted, her struggling stopped as she gawked at the empty space where Gohan formally was. Her head then slowly turned to Fisheye with a murderous expression. "You…"

"Such an inveterate little boy…" Fisheye turned his attention back to Chi-Chi. "Now where were we… oh, yes—what?!"

Fisheye's spiel was cut off when dark red aura surged around Chi-Chi briefly, and with a defiant roar, the slab shattered and the bands holding her in place snapped clean off. Fisheye had no time to react as Chi-Chi suddenly closed the distance between them in an instant, the woman slamming a side kick right into the fishbone design on his bodysuit, making him double over sharply. A quick series of kicks about his face and chest disoriented him, before a spinning side kick knocked the interloper away. As Fisheye bounced away from the assault, Chi-Chi briefly assumed her fighting stance again, only to run at Fisheye again, yelling loudly and defiantly.

Gohan was still in the middle of his battle cry as he lunged at Fisheye before being warped away. He gasped and hastily corrected his flight, as he came at the rocky, barren ground at a 45-degree angle, shifting so he slid on impact, hunched over his bent right knee as he willed his body to stop. Grunting as he hopped back to his feet in a defensive stance, Gohan looked around at his surroundings. The familiar sight of a barren, rocky wasteland filled his vision. Rocks, dust, peaks, plateaus of varying shapes and sizes dotted the landscape. The hollow sound of the wind howling was the only other noise for miles. Given the redundant locales and lack of any real landmarks, Gohan had no idea where he was.

He sighed as he looked at his surroundings. Apparently, his attacker didn't know that much about him or what he was capable of. But, when he thought about it, that guy's magic did feel… familiar, somehow. He went wide-eyed after a few moments. "Oh! That's one of those… what was it? Dead Moon Circus?" he pondered out loud. "Yeah! One of those bad guys the Senshi were fighting!" Briefly he thought back to the day before, and how he had a very close encounter with one of them. The girl about his age with the bright pink hair. For a long moment, his thoughts lingered on the youngest Senshi of the group… Chibi Moon, was it? Wait, what was her real name? Oh, right…

Chibi-Usa…

The gratuitously pink Senshi had plowed into him like a ton of bricks, leveling him and making a mess of the storefront they had crashed into. But as his gaze held with hers as they recovered from the attack, time felt like it stood still. Sure, part of him wondered how someone could have naturally red eyes—the young half-breed not believing that her hair was also naturally pink—but he didn't ponder on that long. Not with her soft, pleasant, almost too pure eyes fixed on his… that is, of course, until Sailor Moon sought her out and she jumped off of the wreckage—and him—like it suddenly became red hot.

He was trying to pay attention the best he could as he, his dad, and his new brother discussed their next course of action with the other Senshi, but he could tell Chibi-Usa was sneaking looks at him the whole time. Not that he minded, except his only interactions with girls had been with his mom—which usually involved loud yelling and strict discipline—or Bulma—smart enough to know what she was talking about, but still leagues behind what she's capable of. Simply put, a girl his age was paying attention to him, and he had no idea how to react to it.

Shaking his head to clear his mind, Gohan took a deep breath and focused, his eyes closing. It still took him a bit to sense someone's ki signatures, especially when they weren't as strong as one of his dad's friends and allies who could manifest an aura around them—every other layperson on the planet, in other words. Even worse, he was unable to sense the attacker's magic in the same way, as the kind of magic he and the Senshi fought with was completely different from what they used. It was hard to locate his mom, his head turning in the general direction of a very brief, very faint spike of ki, but losing it very quickly.

Suddenly, his eyes popped open in realization. "There's dad!" he shouted. His ki surging around him, Gohan suddenly took off and flew in the direction he sensed his father's energy coming from. Even more convenient, he was flying off in the direction of home. Getting home and helping mom—killing two birds with one stone. "Oh, man… I hope mom's alright…"

Fisheye's idea of going after one of those martial artist friends of the Senshi was getting to be a worse and worse idea with every passing second.

He barely had any time to react when his target broke free of the restraints and charged him, his body sharply doubling over from the kick landing square in his stomach. The next few kicks had come so fast he felt like he got whiplash, and he tumbled harshly over the ground as he was kicked away.

And that was just the opening of his fight with the seemingly unassuming housewife.

The acrobat shook his head as he tried to stand up, dizzy, and hurting all over. He tried throwing a few punches at the woman, but the first few were dodged, while his right hand was grabbed after the last punch, wherein he was pulled in to a sharp elbow strike right across his upper lip. In desperation, he even tried using the Dream Mirror revealing ritual on her again, but when he shouted "One!" and the slab shot up, Chi-Chi merely hopped onto it as it emerged, and used it as a catapult to launch herself at Fisheye, coming down on him with a spinning axe kick, her heel smacking into the top of his skull, flooring him.

As Chi-Chi landed in a crouch, her right leg out in front of her and her left knee up to her chest, right hand guarding her face and her left stuck out straight over her left leg, she heard the familiar sounds of someone flying using their ki. She looked up and saw Goku stop his high-speed flight and drift down near her, a look of confusion on his face. "Chi-Chi?" he asked, seeing her stance. "What's up—"

Chi-Chi popped straight up to her feet in an instant. "Goku, this creep tried to attack me," she explained, "and he did some kind of magic thing that made Gohan disappear!"

"What?!" Goku shouted incredulously. He got into a fighting stance, looking over at Fisheye as he struggled to get to his feet.

"Yeah! He tried sticking me to some… panel or something, that he conjured up out of the ground!"

Goku paused, going wide-eyed. He knew what she was talking about from the Senshi's explanation yesterday about how their enemies operate. Growling in anger, he sped over to Fisheye and threw an uppercut that sent him straight up into the air. Goku moved fast enough to look like he was teleporting, and threw a hard side kick that sent Fisheye back to the ground just as fast. He landed with a loud crash, bouncing from the impact, whereupon Goku snatched him up by his throat. "What do you want from us?" he shouted. "Fighting me is one thing, but going after my family, too?!"

"We want…Pegas—ack!" Fisheye tried to say, only for Goku to tighten his grip.

"And what have you done with my son? Where is he?!"

Struggling for breath, Fisheye didn't answer, instead brought his hand up near Goku's face and snapping his fingers. In that instant, a blinding flash of light went off right in front of his eyes, temporarily blinding him, making him drop Fisheye as he rubbed his eyes with a pained groan.

"You want to get handsy with me? Fine!" Fisheye retorted, looking at Goku, who was bent over, still rubbing his eyes. "One!"

Goku's arm snapped back with a hard backfist, shattering the slab as it tried to emerge behind him.

"Oh, come on!" Fisheye whined. Goku by now straightened up, blinking a few more times to regain his focus. He was running out of ideas, and was considering just cutting his losses and fleeing. That is, until he felt another foot land on his back, making him stagger forward. Chi-Chi had her leg sticking straight out in a side kick while Fisheye lurched toward Goku, who then threw a front kick, sending him back the way he came. Seeing his flight path was a little higher than she anticipated, Chi-Chi hopped up and fell backward with an overhead kick, her foot landing right on Fisheye's chin and launching him over her head, where he skidded face down along the ground for a few yards before coming to a stop, a crumpled heap on the grass.

Goku walked over to Chi-Chi, who kip-upped back to her feet and turned to face the downed Fisheye. She didn't see the bright smile that Goku had on his face. "You know," he said to her, "this is actually pretty fun." Chi-Chi didn't have to glance back to feel the big, dopey grin her husband was sporting.

"He sent Gohan off to who-knows-where," Chi-Chi retorted. "He's dangerous!"

Regardless, Goku was feeling fairly confident. "Yeah, but… how many times have we ever fought bad guys off like this?" His hands suddenly clamped down on Chi-Chi's sides, making her let out a sound like a squawk as Goku easily lifted her off her feet.

"Goku!" she shouted. "Put me down!" Throughout her complaining, she was indeed laughing at her husband's playfulness. "Oh, ew, you're all sweaty! Jeez, you stink! You need a bath!" she added, when Goku switched to fully embracing her, pulling her against his chest. After a moment, Goku obliged, setting Chi-Chi on her feet, the mollified woman chuckling a little nonetheless. "Ugh. Well, if you like fighting off bad guys with your wife so much, may I suggest we focus on the task at hand?" By now, Fisheye had managed to pull himself to his feet.

Goku shrugged. "Sure. Let's go!" They both took off towards Fisheye with a loud kiai.

Fisheye waved his hand in a short arc. "Sleep."

They got all of five steps before they collapsed to the ground, completely asleep.

Fisheye had to pause for a second, and take a good, long look at what happened. He wasn't entirely sure what he was seeing was real. He gasped, his hands running through his hair. The gasp soon gave way to relieved—but maniacal sounding—laughter.

"Hahaha what?!" he shouted, looking back and forth at the couple, his heart beating a mile a minute. "Seriously?!" He blinked a few times. "That spell was little more than a cantrip, and yet you two went completely the hell to sleep?!" He shook his head ruefully. "Oh, this is just too good!" He walked over to the two, and kicked Goku in the side, eliciting no response from the Saiyan warrior. "Maybe now you'll know to keep your hands to yourself, buster." He then turned to Chi-Chi, who had wound up on her back as her unconscious body tumbled forward after being put under. "And as for you, honey…" He chuckled. "Honestly, your looks are the least of your issues, you ugly old crone. Now then…" He raised his hand, pointing two fingers straight up. Chi-Chi's body shone briefly, before a Dream Mirror emerged hovering over her body, chest high to Fisheye. He stuck his head into the mirror, looking around, his body shifting in place while the unconscious Chi-Chi convulsed underneath him.

Soon, Fisheye pulled his head out, running a hand through his hair. "Well, no sign of Pegasus in there…" he mused. "But that doesn't mean I can't take pleasure in watching you two get devoured." He lifted his hand, palm facing upward, willing his magic to come forth. A dark blob appeared in his hand, which soon shot up like a fountain, scattering into hundreds of tinier little blobs. They soon started elongating, the new longer appendages flapping like a bat's wings, until they all took the shape of…

Books.

Books flitting around the air above the Son property, continuously pouring out as Fisheye chuckled darkly. He saw… something move out of the corner of his eye, some kind of bright yellow blur. "What was that?" he asked himself, his attention drawn to the front door of the house. Before he could ponder on it anymore, he felt a sharp kick to the side of his head, followed by his body ragdolling away to his left side, where he landed in a heap. Pulling himself to his feet, he saw a familiar face land on his feet and stare him down. "Oh, damn it, I thought I got rid of you…"

Gohan growled in anger as he assumed a fighting stance. "I'm gonna make you pay for what you've done!" he shouted. Before he could attack Fisheye again, he looked up and saw what looked like—flying books?—hovering around him and his downed parents. He did recognize the same dark energy permeating the air around them. It didn't take him long to realize that these were lemures, like yesterday at the mall—lots of smaller ones instead of a singular entity, but they still could be trouble. Sparing one more defiant glance at Fisheye, he took off towards the horde, firing ki blasts from his hands, shooting down the individual little nightmares one by one. But as they drew close, they swarmed him, the kid wildly throwing punches and kicks to keep them at bay. After a few moments, he took off away from them, the initial burst of ki surrounding his body sending them scattering. He turned around and powered up with a yell, prepared to take on this threat to his home and his family.

Ash did not sleep well last night.

Well, sleep might be a generous description of what he did last night.

After all the new furniture got set up and his and Gohan's wardrobes all sorted out, Ash had felt himself slipping into the same ennui that had been hovering over him since his mother died. He tried to hide his crying from Gohan, not wanting him to bother him with his incessant nonsense, especially as much as he had been doing as of lately. It felt like everyone was already getting tired of him.

He remembered nodding off as he lay on his freshly dressed and made bed, not coming to until it was well into the evening and everyone had gone to bed. Either they didn't want to disturb him, to let him rest… or they were ignoring him. Ash would've believed either one at this point. Still, when did wake up, the first things he noticed were his shoes and socks removed and the former lined up right by the door, next to Gohan's. The copy of The Great Gatsby that Gohan told him about was neatly put on one of the desks. And his pajamas were folded up and set on the bed next to him. He still wore the green and yellow pajamas he had since before he left on his journey, though they were showing their age; the stitching around the sleeves was worn and one of the buttons had long since fallen off. The new ones he got were presumably in one of the drawers somewhere. Regardless, he had changed into them, careful not to disturb Gohan or Pikachu, and had slipped into bed.

Only to lay in bed with his eyes closed, unable to actually fall asleep.

This morning wasn't as kind to him, as he had repeatedly tossed and turned throughout the night, unable to get comfortable or get any kind of real rest. He hadn't felt Pikachu's presence in his bed before he decided to just get up for the day, presuming he had run off to explore his new home. He rubbed his head as he sat up, letting his feet dangle over the edge of his bunk. However, feeling how tired he was made his hand go from his head to over his eyes, the kid groaning in disgust and fatigue.

"Pika pi!"

His eyes suddenly snapped open as he heard Pikachu run into the room, flailing his little forepaws as he looked up at Ash. "Huh? What is it?" he asked, trying to get his wits about him.

"Pika, pika! Pikachu!" Pikachu continued to wave his arms up and down, and pointed out the door and into the hallway frantically.

"Wait, something wrong? Outside?" He shuddered, now able to feel Pikachu's anxiety and unease as he scampered off, calling out to him, presumably to follow. He gingerly hopped off the bed, landing on his feet, and made his way to the living room, and out the front door. "Alright, what am I looking at—huh?!" His question ended abruptly when he beheld the scene outside. Gohan was flying around and zapping what looked like flying books. Chi-Chi and Goku were unconscious, while a man dressed in powder blue from head to toe tried unsuccessfully to stop Gohan from stopping his familiars.

"Pi ka, pika!" Pikachu shouted at him, getting Ash's attention.

"Wait, what?" Ash looked at Pikachu, and the things harassing Gohan back and forth. "It's like… yesterday?" Ash's eyes went wide. "Oh, right! Like those things those girls were fighting!"

"Pikachu!"

"Ash!"

Ash and Pikachu looked up to see Gohan looking down them. "That guy put mom and dad to sleep! You gotta help them!"

"Help?" he muttered. He then looked to Pikachu. "Try shocking Goku and Chi-Chi awake, Pikachu!"

"Pi ka!" Pikachu shouted. He ran over to the two older people, and let out a yell as yellow lightning engulfed both of them. The two convulsed sharply, shouting in surprise at the sudden sensations, snapping them out of the magical slumber foisted upon them.

"Bah! Ack! Just five more minutes!" Goku shouted, disoriented, looking around.

"Ugh… that hurt…" Chi-Chi groused, rubbing the side of her head. Both looked at Pikachu, who was now pointing up.

"Gohan!" Goku bellowed. His ki surged around him, and he took flight, joining his son in fighting the lemures.

Chi-Chi saw Fisheye gawking at the group, surprised that not only did his sleep spell get broken, but the excursion out here was spiraling further and further downward. That's when he saw Chi-Chi rush at him again.

"Care to try your luck again?" she shouted, leaping at him with a flying side kick.

"Yeah, no thanks. Bye!" he shouted, cutting his losses and disappearing. Chi-Chi flew through the spot where he was standing, landing in a crouch. With an irritated snap of her fingers, she ran back over to Ash, who was looking up at Goku and Gohan shooting off blasts of energy from their hands.

By now, the group of lemures had split off into two, keeping both fighters occupied. Gohan dropped down, the lemures pursuing him. "Ash, get back ins—"

"Pikachu! Hit those things with a Thunderbolt!" he shouted confidently.

"Pika!" Pikachu shouted, electricity building around him.

Gohan saw his brother order Pikachu to attack, and he stopped dead in his tracks, hovering in place, while the monsters flew right by him. They flew right into Pikachu's electricity, which chained from one lemure to another, frying them. Many of the monsters disintegrated under the attack, while the few that remained shook and sputtered around, their flight hampered by their newfound paralysis.

"Awesome!" Gohan shouted towards his brother. "Dad could use your help with that, too!"

"What about those?" he asked, gawking and scrambling back as one got close, only for Pikachu to split it in half with an Iron Tail, destroying it.

"I got it covered." He grinned as energy formed in his hand.

Nodding, Ash glanced at Pikachu, and ran from Gohan as he finished off the remainder of his lemures. He looked up and saw Goku darting all around, teleporting with his Instant Transmission, blasting the little flying nightmares one by one.

"Pikachu?"

Pikachu wasted no time, leaping in the air and firing off another Thunderbolt, which had much of the same effect on the rest of their enemies.

Goku's gaze followed the trail of lightning, and he nodded at Pikachu in acknowledgment. Then, seeing them momentarily stunned and vulnerable, Goku drew his hands back, bluish-white energy building in them. He was determined to finish this off with one more attack. "Ka-me-ha-me-HA!" He thrust his hands forward, and a column of blue-white energy shot out from his hands, disintegrating the remaining lemures. He held that stance for a few more moments before relaxing, and looked down to see how the rest of his family was doing. Seeing Chi-Chi hugging first Ash, then Gohan, Goku smiled, then drifted down to the ground to join them.

"You guys alright?" he asked, looking them over.

"Honestly, I think a normal door-to-door salesman might have been worse," Chi-Chi groused, causing Goku and Gohan to chuckle at her joke.

"We'll have to tell Usagi and the others about this," Goku added. "No doubt they'll want to know what their foes have been up to." He ran his hand over Gohan's head, making the kid laugh playfully. "Thanks a lot, guys. You were a great help." He then put his hand on Ash's shoulder, who went wide-eyed and flinched at the sudden touch, regardless of the affection behind it. It didn't stop Goku's smile, though. "Both of you." He chuckled a little. "Looks like they underestimated just how strong Pokémon could be, huh, son?"

"U-uh…" Ash stared back at him, wide-eyed, dumbstruck. He muttered a few unintelligible syllables, his brain still trying to process what he was saying. "Y-yeah," he managed to get out, averting his gaze. "I guess they did…"

"Pika pi!" Pikachu squeaked, folding his arms indignantly as he looked up at him.

"Yeah, I know how strong you are, Pikachu… it's just…" He trailed off as discomfort built up in him again. This couldn't get any more awkward.

"Well, now that that's that," Goku interrupted, folding his arms behind his head with a big, dopey grin. "Chi-Chi, what's for breakfast! I'm starving!"

Chi-Chi, Gohan, Ash, and Pikachu crashed to the ground in a simultaneous loud face fault.