Author's Note:
Do. Not. Kill. Me.
Disclaimer: Don't own the show, unfortunately.
CHAPTER TEN: (WHEN DO THESE THINGS HAPPEN. SERIOUSLY.)
Paths Collide
Gohan was skipping along a river. He was humming the soft lullaby he heard every night as he went to sleep on his Papa's lap. He stopped at his usual fishing spot, stripping free of his clothes. Gohan cracked his fingers, looking down at the water below. He was four years old now - almost all grown up! He smiled wildly. His hair was it's usual wild style - but he had tied it back with a thick vine he had found, in the shape of a spiky ponytail. His purple gi was discarded beside the river as he jumped in, kicking his legs furiously to find some fish. Gohan had learned to swim a year ago, when he accidentally fell in the river. He had grabbed onto a log as his Papa tried to catch him. He eventually wound up falling off a waterfall.
He learned how to swim pretty quick as he fell down. His Papa caught him though! Because his Papa was the best! Gohan found several large fish and threw them upwards onto the bank. He climbed out, humming to himself the familiar song. He quickly killed the fish, then struggled back into his gi. For some reason, clothes hated him when he was all wet. Gohan bent over and shook his head like a dog, sending water everywhere. He stood back up, ready to run. Gohan had always loved to run, and he did so now. The boy sprung forwards, his feet falling rhythmically on the ground, his arms spread out like an airplane. He always had felt free relying on his own feet to carry him wherever he wanted to go. His fish were dragging behind him, his hand tight around their tails.
Gohan jumped into the air, flipping. He laughed as he was caught by this strange yellow cloud. Gohan had no idea why, but one day, the cloud had just started showing up out of it's own accord. It would catch him, race him, and play with him when he wanted it to. It was a very nice cloud. Gohan had wanted to name the cloud after Piccolo, but it clearly had it's own name, as it refused to be called "Piccolo Cloud". Gohan had always shrugged it off, not realizing that the cloud was a gift to him from someone else, someone he should have remembered. Gohan patted the cloud happily as they sped away. Today, the cloud seemed to want to take him somewhere specific.
As they soared through the sky, over the ocean, Gohan put his hand out to feel the clouds. He giggled happily, unaware of the war he was about to get himself tangled up in. Gohan concentrated on the cloud again as an island came into view. There appeared to be some people on the island. The cloud soared down to the island, stopping just above the surface of the ground. Gohan, who was sitting criss-cross-applesauce on the cloud, blinked at the new people. A man appeared to be in shock, tears dripping off of his face. There was a lady with blue hair who seemed to be shocked too, a man with no hair who was nervous and shocked, and an older man who had a contemplative look on his face, as if he knew something everyone else didn't.
"I told you." the man in orange whispered hoarsely. "Nimbus would go to him. I knew it. I asked Nimbus to bring him here." the man in orange wiped the tears furiously from his face, blinking in shock at Gohan. Gohan tilted his head slightly, his spiky hair going absolutely everywhere. A drop of water fell off one of his crazy bangs and landed on his nose. Gohan's eyes immediately went criss-cross, as his tongue tried to lick it off. He failed at it, but still struggled, before slumping down on the yellow cloud and sighing. Gohan's eyes stayed on the water drop, bringing one of his little hands up to rub the drop of water off. Gohan squealed as arms wrapped around him, bringing him close. He struggled before catching the scent of the person. It was the blue-haired lady.
"Hi." Gohan said, his voice highpitched and totally cute. He blinked up at the blue haired lady, biting his lip slightly. "I'm Gohan! I don't know why, but you smell familiar. Like I've smelled you before." Gohan watched as the blue haired lady exchanged shocked looks with the no-hair man and the man in orange. "See, my Papa has this necklace that I can put on if I want. And you smell like it." Gohan raised his eyebrow, tilting his head as he looked at the blue haired lady. "Usually I know if people aren't good. You seem good though! You don't give me the chills down my back and neck." Gohan wriggled, already frowning at the thought of it. "The last person who gave me that tried to grab me, but Papa kicked him and he went flying THIS far!" Gohan spread his little arms as far as they could go, his eyes wide.
"Your Papa?" the blue-haired lady asked gently. "Who's your Papa?" she exchanged a glance with the no-hair man, clearly unsure herself. Gohan started to get a bad feeling. It wasn't from any of these people, that was for sure. It was from the sky. Gohan knew how to use his ki, but he struggled with sensing ki. He was terrible at it, actually. He was only able to sense the ki of someone who was very powerful. Unknown to Gohan and Piccolo, Gohan could only sense the ki of someone stronger than him. His inner power was so strong that Gohan wasn't able to sense over it. Piccolo and Gohan were completely unaware of it. Quickly, Gohan decided to contact his Papa. Papa, I feel a bad feeling. he spoke in his mind. He connected to his Papa, sending the message.
I'm coming, Gohan. his Papa responded. Gohan could feel his Papa start flying immediately.
"My Papa is named Piccolo." Gohan said out loud, opening his eyes after Piccolo responded. He could see the shock on their faces, the man in orange doubling off as if someone had punched him in the gut. "He's the best Papa ever!" Gohan threw his arms out, giggling, and giving them a closed-eye grin. He was put down by the blue-haired lady, and the man with no hair approached. The man leaned down to say something to Gohan, but Gohan beat him to it. Gohan jumped on him and sat on his shoulders, poking his head. The man with no hair froze as Gohan basically hung off his shoulders and head, poking and prodding. The little boy had his tongue sticking out from the corner of his mouth, frowning in confusion.
"Where's your hair?" Gohan asked, on his belly on the top of the man's head. He shimmied forwards to peer at the man, looking the man in the eye. Gohan poked the guy's nose. "Papa has no hair too, but he has green skin. Maybe people with green skin have no hair? Well, if people with green skin have no hair, then how come you have beige-y skin, but no hair? It doesn't make any sense." Gohan poked Krillin's dots, still frowning. "Is it because you have dots on your head? 'Cause that's weird." Gohan asked. By this time, the man in orange looked absolutely horrified, the old man was on the ground and laughing his guts off, and the lady with blue hair looked like she halfway between being horrified and joining the old man in laughter.
"Uh..." the man with no hair stammered. "Well, people with, uh... beige-y skin don't have to have hair. The dots don't have anything to do with it." the man with no hair plucked Gohan off of his head, looking down at the boy curiously. "Say, your name is Gohan, right?" that made everyone on the island who was laughing to stop and listen. Gohna nodded happily, grinning. "Uh..." the man with no hair looked at the man in orange, back to Gohan. "And your... Papa is Piccolo, right?" the man with no hair asked. Gohan nodded again. "So, Gohan, my name is Krillin." Krillin said, pointing at himself. He then pointed at the lady with blue hair. "Her name is Bulma." he then pointed at the man in orange. "That's Goku." then, Krillin pointed at the old man. "And that's Roshi."
"What are you doing to Gohan?" a growly voice interrupted them. Krillin jumped, dropping Gohan. The boy landed on his butt curiously, leaning back on his hands. Krillin looked terrified, then jumped behind the man in orange. Goku, Gohan believed his name was. Piccolo landed on the island, his face a mask of fury, his arms crossed. He looked real scary to everyone but Gohan, who was used to his Papa. Gohan giggled and ran over to Piccolo, clinging onto one of Piccolo's legs. Krillin's mouth opened as he watched the open display of affection. Gohan snuggled with his Papa's leg, before Piccolo picked him up and hugged him close. Gohan let himself be hugged close to Piccolo, breathing in the familiar scent.
"Hi Papa!" Gohan said, looking up at Piccolo. Piccolo smiled as he looked down at Gohan, both ignoring the sound of Krillin's, Bulma's, and Goku's jaws hitting the floor. "Papa, the yellow cloud came and said hi again today! He took me over here, where I met all these people!" Gohan said, excited. He pointed to each person in turn. "See, Papa, that's Krillin, Goku, Roshi, and Bulma! Goku is weird - he was crying and that's weird." Gohan said matter-of-factly, ignoring Goku's affronted "Hey!". "That's Bulma! She's really nice!" when Gohan said that, Bulma smirked and glanced at Krillin in victory. "The really short guy with no hair is Krillin. He's weird - he has no hair, but he doesn't have green skin! Isn't that weird, Papa? I told him I thought it had to do with his weird dots, but he doesn't think so. And the old guy is Roshi. He thinks I'm funny." Gohan smiled.
"That's nice, Gohan. Did they hurt you at all?" Piccolo asked, quickly checking his son over for injuries. He was relieved at Gohan's shake of his head. The first thing Piccolo had drilled into Gohan's head was that you never ever lie. It was okay to lie to other people, but not to Piccolo. Piccolo sighed in relief and unconsciously started rubbing Gohan's head, running his hand through Gohan's spiky, messy, all-over-the-place hair. "I'm glad you're okay." Piccolo sighed, breathing into Gohan's soft hair. "So, if it wasn't these... people..." Piccolo said that gently, glaring daggers at the others. He wanted to call them something much worse, but Gohan would ask why he hated them. "What gave you a bad feeling?"
Everyone turned as Gohan twisted around in Piccolo's grip and pointed at the sky.
"Perhaps it was me!" a deep voice cackled, a figure floating in the sky. His arms were muscled and bulging, crossed across his chest. He wore black and brown armor, a furry brown belt wrapped around his waist. His armor spiked out weirdly, his hair down to the back of his knees, spiky and wild. He had a dark gleam in his ebony eyes, smirking in a poorly concealed sense of superiority. He had a green thing on his left eye, that flashed odd yellow symbols. "I am Raditz." the weird man said, landing on the island. "And I'm here for my brother and the Saiyan brat. Hand them over, and no one gets hurt." as the man spoke, he jerked his thumb towards Goku and pointed his finger at Gohan. Unconsciously, Piccolo hugged Gohan closer, a dark look taking over his features.
"I'm assuming the brat is my nephew, but raised by a Namekian. I never thought a Saiyan's path would collide with a Namekian. Oh well, it doesn't really matter. I'm giving you until the count of three to hand them both over, or someone gets hurt."
~Next time on Youngest Among Us, Raditz makes his true appearance, and the fight goes on. Will Goku and Piccolo manage to join forces to save their shared son, or will Gohan be lost to the cruelty of the Saiyans?~
Ky111: Did you enjoy this chapter?
Gohanforever: Thank you so much!
daisukigohan: I feel like we've had this conversation before, but DO NOT KILL ME.
Smithback: Well, there's Bulma! Don't worry, she's going to basically be the mother figure to Gohan throughout his life. She'll appear a lot. Thank you so much! Did you like this chapter?
StoicHyena: Unfortunately. XD
Guest: Thank you so much! Did you like this chapter?
Sairey13: Yeah, I could add that in! He will be told of the truth within the next couple chapters. As for training, Piccolo has done a little bit, but just how to use ki so far. Nothing he can really use against Raditz.
Patachu: Yup! Thank you so much!