I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the rights to any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.

Chapter 10: Searching, Inside and Out.

I stood on the ruined campground as Vegeta came back, watching the explosion from afar as I held my bad arm protectively.

"I take it that was a minion of Frost's?" I asked as he landed. Vegeta snorted slightly, all but confirming it for me. "If he's going to be such a pain in the ass, why didn't you take him out when you had the chance? You've had the opportunity twice now? Haven't you always said to go for the throat when you see the opening?" I dared to ask.

"Someone like Frost much be approached carefully boy. After letting that Viro freak slip past unnoticed, I don't intend to drop my guard again. That means we must not attack blindly. We've been lucky twice in a row when dealing with him directly, I highly doubt that'll happen again. We have training to do boy, so hurry up and eat that damn bean!" he grunted as he crossed his arms.

"Not tonight. And I don't have a bean," I said as I stared up at his scowl.

"And why not?" he asked smugly.

"Because he decided that she needed it more. I'll never understand decisions such as that based on stress or guilt. It seems more based on stupidity," Piccolo said from behind. Vegeta's glare deepened for a moment as I stared back at him with a slightly lesser intensity.

"Fine, do as you wish," Vegeta growled as he walked by me. I sighed slightly as Trunks and Goten attempted to tell him how great their short battle was.

"So, if I may ask, why have you chosen this road?" Piccolo whispered.

"I'm sure there is a lot of things you can detect from the lookout. Figure it out," I replied as I stared angrily at the ground.

"Look, their deaths were not your fault. You can't know how things would have turned out whether you tried harder to prevent them or not. It is the cruel part of destiny's path that doesn't tell you what could have happened. No one expects you to know every possible outcome and to be able to deal with them all. You can't look down on yourself for trying," Piccolo said as he placed a comforting hand on my shoulder.

I took a deep breath, he had a point after all, "Thanks."

"Now, we should get you up to the lookout. I doubt you really want to spend the night like this," Piccolo suggested. That thought was put on hold as Lenz suddenly woke up, refreshed from the Senzu.

"Whoa, what happened? And what are these clothes?" she asked.

"You turned into a really big and smelly and hairy ape!" Goten pointed and laughed. Lenz ignored the comment for the moment until she tried to stand up, tumbling to the ground as she lost balance.

"Huh, what happened to my tail? It's gone!"

"Haha, not so special now are ya?" Trunks laughed. Lenz has tears forming in her eyes within seconds, as she seemed to catch up with current events while the boys continued to laugh at her.

"Be silent you brats! You should never dishonor a Saiyan who meets misfortune in battle and loses their tail!" Vegeta growled. Trunks flinched slightly as this while Goten looked at the ground.

"Well it's still pretty pathetic, even for a girl!" Trunks muttered.

"Oh really, is that the case? Well then boys, would you care to tell us how to properly lose a tail? At least she had a chance to use it, yours were removed at birth! Who's pathetic now?" Vegeta fired back. Trunks groaned slightly and remained silent, thus ceding the argument to his father as Goten remained silent on the matter.

"Did I do all this?" Lenz asked as she glanced around.

"Mostly," I said. She locked eyes with my dangling arm and reality seemed to click for her as she took a very shaky breath.

"And that?" she asked nervously.

"Let's just say your training paid off well, but its nothing that can't be fixed," I said with a warm smile. She rushed over in a heartbeat and threw her arms around my midsection, crying a bit as she held me close. She sure did get over that balance problem quick, I thought with a slight frown.

"I'm so sorry! I wasn't even aware of it!" she cried out.

"I doubt that many big apes are ever aware of it. Just watch the salt water, I have open wounds here," I said as a few tears dripped down.

"My training must not have been that good, other than that arm you look fine! Must take a damn army to put you down you tough little runt!" she claimed as she suddenly hugged me hard enough to add another loud snap to the situation.

"Argh! Fuck that hurts!" I screamed aloud before she backed off in panic. I bent over and coughed up a decent amount of blood as I caught my short breath, the pain from a simple embrace was unbearable. Lenz no longer seemed happy about the battle's outcome and turned away in shame while the boys laughed at my dismay.

"Haha, he ain't so tough! One little touch and he's down!" Trunks laughed.

"I, ugh, survived. You got knocked out while fused," I pointed out as I struggled to get up.

"Yeah, but you cheated! I can beat you by myself now!" he boasted.

"You care to back up that claim?" I asked as I glared at him.

"Yeah, bring it on! I'll be fair and beat you with one arm!" he joked as he pretended that the other one was broken like mine.

"I guess you won't mind being unable to move the rest of the night then," I said with a slight grin as I allowed my right hand to flash white for just a moment.

"Uh, I just remembered, me and Goten have, uh, stuff, to do," Trunks stuttered as he backed off and blasted off into the sky. I chuckled slightly at this while the boys flew away quickly, but stopped when Lenz walked back up.

"Um, how did you make me turn back to normal anyway?" she asked carefully. So she knows about that as well.

"It isn't that hard girl. All he had to do was cut your tail, or eliminate that projection of the moon!" Vegeta grunted.

Piccolo eyed her suspiciously, "I take it you've never even seen a full moon before?"

She nodded slowly, "There is no moon on Rotaria, that's why Frost put my ancestors there! Some of them knew how to create one though!"

"But what does that have to do with getting her to turn back? And why, boy, did you let the battle drag on until you had to cut it? You should have just knocked her out, so why didn't you?" Vegeta asked.

"The first thing I did was try to blow up that projected moon, and then I did cut her tail. It didn't work, and her tail can be found in the water if you don't believe me," I pointed towards the lake.

"What? That's nonsense! A Saiyan cannot remain in the primal state without a tail!" Vegeta claimed.

"Apparently that doesn't apply to all hybrids," I said.

"What's that boy?" he growled.

"That girl you chased off told me about it. She specifically said that Rotarian and Saiyan genes don't connect quite like humans do. When they transform, they stay that way until death despite the moon's phase or lack of a tail. In other words, they supposedly can't revert back to normal," I explained.

"Yes, that's right. He would have had to kill me. So my question is, how did you reverse the transformation?" Lenz asked sternly.

"His feedback technique, of course!" Vegeta said once he figured it out.

"That's that white one I've seen you use, what does that do again?" she asked.

"It turns one's energy against them, assuming they are evil and have bad intentions. I guess it can reverse transformations caused by constant flows of energy such as moonlight as well. Since you were just a big hairy ball of anger and rage, it worked quite well," I said with a smirk.

"Oh you, I'll get you for that," she warned.

"You already did," I groaned.

"Now that we have that figured out, who was that woman with the red hair?" Piccolo asked.

"I still don't know, but I intend to find out next time I see her," I said.

"I hope there is next time, I swear I'm gonna get her!" Lenz growled.

"Fine, let's get you up to the lookout!" Piccolo said as we nodded and departed.


Despite lagging behind badly from Piccolo and Lenz, I managed to fly most of the way unaided, until we started going up. Lenz nagged me to death about it, especially after Vegeta took off for home.

"I said I can make it! It's right there!" I shouted angrily as we came up on Korin's tower.

"The way you're barely staying in the air, I doubt it," Lenz pointed out. I growled and flew to the top as quickly as possible, being overtaken by her in very little time. Once I passed Korin's place, my energy fell apart. Damn, I am really weak, I don't think I can make it. I landed on the tower top and held on to the slick platform, panting as soon as I stopped using my energy. Lenz drifted back down with an angry frown on her face while Piccolo just kept on going.

"God you're pathetic. No one is going to see you at this time of night anyway, so drop the pride act and let me help you until your better! It's my fault your like this anyway!" she suggested.

"No, it's my fault for making a critical mistake, several of them. Hey Korin! You got any more beans down there?" I shouted.

A grumpy and sleepy voice answered a few seconds later, "What? You need more beans? Well too bad, I'm out! Now go away!" Crap.

"Well?" Lenz asked with her hands on her hips.

"Argh, I think I'll just sleep here then," I said as I slumped down.

"If you don't knock it off right now, I'll break your other arm!" she growled.

"Fine, but don't drop me," I conceded.

"Lucky for you that I like you too much for that. Too bad your in such shitty shape, I could literally squeeze you to death for being so cute and pathetic!" Lenz said as she dropped down and grabbed my waist before taking off again.

"Now don't look down little bro, wouldn't want you to be scared, it is a long way after all! I'm gonna speed up now, so try not to throw up or anything!" she chuckled.

"Please, I've flown much faster than you can dream," I said arrogantly.

"Oh, in that case, let's go even faster!" Lenz said as she suddenly pulled me up and firmly held on with both arms while switching to Super Saiyan and blasting off. My eyes widened when I realized she had smashed my face into her chest. Not that it wasn't invigorating, but it wasn't exactly on my anticipated activities list. It certainly gave my heart another short workout. Surprising, since I should have known it was coming with her around. I could tell that we reached the lookout very quickly, but that didn't stop my face from turning red and staying that way after we finally landed.

"Don't complain, most men would have loved to be where you were a moment ago," Lenz said with pride.

"So how many have been?" I grinned as she promptly fell down in surprise.

"Oh! That's the last free ride I'm ever giving you!" she snarled as she shook her fist at me. Do I dare let another one fly before she makes good on her violent promises? Yeah, what the hell.

I turned around for a brief second, "Not to worry. You'll probably make plenty of money with just the flight! I can't imagine how rich you'll get overall!"

"Argh! Damn runt!" Lenz groaned as she spun around and directed her glare at the empty skies. I chuckled for a few seconds, it felt liberating to have a laugh for once. I shook it off though and walked slowly towards Dende, holding my arm quite gingerly as it didn't feel like swinging around.

"Hey Dende, think I can borrow your power for a second?" I asked as he ran up.

"For you, anything!" he said as I sat down. He quickly covered my arm and ribs with his healing wave before checking everywhere else and finishing up. The pain eased and I instantly felt better and took a much easier breath.

"Better?" he asked.

"Much," I said as I stood up and flexed my arm a bit to test it. Dende held a bright smile, but it faded as I suddenly glared off into the distance. There was something on my mind that had to be taken care of, and I had a pretty good feeling that I would have to resort to some drastic measures to do it. No amount of laughter was going to cure it either.

"What's wrong?"

"I take it you monitored most of what was happening?" I asked.

"Yes, of course," he said, still unsure.

"Then I'll keep it simple. Will Freddy be sent to hell like all the other villains have been?" I asked, trying to keep my anger from spilling over.

Dende took a step back before he answered, "Well of course he will be, that's where they go! I can only imagine that it wouldn't be the first time with him, or that big guy," he explained. I noticed Piccolo staring at me hard as this subject was brought up, he likely had an inkling of what was going through my head at the moment, but he clearly didn't have all of it.

"I don't suppose you can teleport me to the check in station real fast can you?" I asked.

That promptly sent Piccolo into a fit, "Don't even think about it Verto, that is forbidden! If you take even one step in the afterlife realm, argh! King Yemma and the Kais have very strict rules about the afterlife and living worlds that can only be bent for special situations. If you go there and try to destroy him, I cannot tell you what the consequences would be, but they would be severe!"

"So, what's to stop him from invading our dreams again?" I asked simply.

Piccolo turned away before answering, "That is no longer our concern!" I glared at him hard, In other words, nothing.

"Look, we can deal with that problem if it comes up again. Promise me you will not try to talk Goku or Gohan into taking you there!" Piccolo said as his fist shook lightly. It was clear to me that he wasn't too keen on the situation either, but his loyalty to the Kais kept him from thinking too far out of the realm of possibility.

"That isn't fair," I growled.

"I know, but there is nothing we can do except hope for the best. It is out of our hands now," he said softly.

"Fine, I won't try to convince either one of them, for now," I said as I walked towards the edge of the lookout where Lenz was waiting.

"Hey, what's wrong? Aren't you feeling better? Did the ugly green guy threaten you?" she asked when she saw the angry expression on my face. I glanced up into her blue eyes for a moment, snorting slightly at her inability to pay attention.

"Let's go home," I replied coldly.


"Come on, will you tell me what is wrong with you?" Lenz practically shouted in my ear as we flew towards West City.

"I told you I'm fine," I replied.

"You haven't said a word to me since we left. Look I'm really sorry about hurting you so bad! I told you before that I couldn't control myself!" she said, exasperated.

"It's not that," I whispered.

"Is it the nickname thing? I'll stop calling you runt, or little bro if you want, but you really do look just like he did," she pointed out.

"It's not that either Lenz. I really don't mind that because just between you and me, you are kind of like a sister. That doesn't mean though that I want you to be extra affectionate. I'm not that way right now despite the jokes, nor was I brought up that way. I mean at least save it until I'm older. Call me what you want though, right now I don't care about that because it really isn't important," I said as I finally spotted the lightened skylight.

"A man that complains, amazing. Well if it isn't that, what is it? Don't keep me in the dark if you really think of me as more than just your student!" she said with a slightly raised voice that scared a nearby flock of birds away. I sighed slightly, drawing a sharper glare while I hesitated. Well, on one hand she was a little bit involved so she has a right to know. On the other hand, I don't want to worry her and make things worse between the two of us. And there's always that chance that she mentions it to someone else, namely Vegeta. I guess I'll give it a few days before I make that decision, I need to let my Psi energy recover anyway. Dende's healing job wasn't that effective.

"I'm sorry, but not right now, it wouldn't help anyone. Hopefully things go just fine over the next few days and this will never come up again. If things go like I think they could, it's going to be a stressful couple of days. If I'm in one of those bad moods, stay away," I said as we arrived. Lenz seemed frustrated that I wouldn't tell her anything, but for now she was going to have to accept it.

"You're always in a bad mood nowadays," she pointed out.

"It's in subtle levels of what I would deem a bad mood. If I'm not saying anything and pretty much not doing anything except glaring a hole in the wall, that's when you know," I explained.

"Well, you're like that a lot too," she said. Maybe she just needs a point of reference.

"You remember what I did to Frieza after you fought him?"

Lenz perked up slightly, "Yeah, what does he have to do with it?"

"That's what I mean," I replied as she cringed.


I kept to myself primarily for the next few days, carefully choosing when to sleep and when to train. Vegeta's normal crankiness certainly didn't improve with this, as he had wanted to go up to the time chamber with Lenz and I for a heavy sparring session. I suppose deep down I kind of wanted to go, and I knew that Lenz definitely wanted to see me and him go at it, but I had to turn him down both days. I stuck to my room and rarely even came out for food, which surprised pretty much everyone. I kept myself to nothing but meditation for most of that time, occasionally powering down and going to sleep just to see what my dreams would be like. No dream demons showed up to spoil the party, but my dreams weren't exactly fun either. Most of them involved some ruthless killing by either myself or a few others who will remain nameless. While I knew that most of them resided in Hell, it didn't mean much when I tried to sleep. Lenz tried to bring me food a few times when I refused to come out. Eventually I did let her in, but I remained quiet until she left saddened. She kept apologizing to me over the incident, but in reality nothing could keep my mind off of Freddy and all the people he and Jason had killed. Towards the end of the third morning, Vegeta finally blew up and stormed into my room.

"What the hell is the matter with you?" he shouted as he pulled me up by the shirt to look me in the eye. I only looked away and remained quiet while he quite literally threatened to paint the house with my insides.

"I don't know what happened and I don't care! But I will not allow you to remain in this room for one second longer! Get your ass to the gravity room before I decide to vaporize you!" he shouted and threw me down as he stomped out, slamming and breaking the door. Fine, I guess I could use a rough workout to help get this out of my system. Maybe it'll help me decide what to do about this, if anything. I put on my green pants with a light blue sleeveless shirt and walked slowly towards the chamber, sensing Vegeta's angry ki easily. I passed by the new living room where a certain blue haired mother was watching the news pretty intently.

"Hey kido, about time you came out of there. Check this out, more people are dying over where you guys were! Maybe you better look into it again!" Bulma said as she pointed at the TV.

"Turn it up," I said as I stepped into the room.

"Once again, more bodies have been discovered around the town of Springwood. The identity of this rampaging killer is still unknown at this time and local law enforcement officials are not answering any questions. The attacks seem to be focused on young adults and children primarily. This coming just days after police officials evacuated a nearby resort area after a multiple homicide. We hope to get word…" I stopped listening about midway through the report, mostly because the TV blew up due to my hard and concentrated glare. That's it, decision made. I'm gonna fuckin do it! I thought as a solid stream of lightning flowed from the TV before vanishing.

"Hey, calm down! No need to wreck this house already with your bad mood swings, you just got home a few days ago!" Bulma yelled into my ear.

"Sorry, take it out of my allowance," I said and as promptly left the room, lightning spiraling around my hands.

"But you don't have one," she reminded as I walked off towards the gravity room.

"Well look who finally came out," Lenz said as I walked up to the heavy metal door. I gave her a hard stare, but declined to answer as I opened the door. "Ready to tell me what's wrong?" she asked.

"Maybe," I said as entered.

"So boy, ready to at least give it a go and get out of this pathetic emotional state you're in? I don't care what happened at that ridiculous playground, there is no reason for a Saiyan like you to be moping around like a baby!" Vegeta barked, trying to get under my skin.

"Somehow, I don't think that's it," Lenz commented.

"Shut up girl, this kid just needs a good brawl to open his eyes a little more!" Vegeta grinned as he sunk into a stance.

"I doubt that Vegeta," I said.

"And why not boy, are you afraid of getting whipped like a slave?" he dared to ask. Lenz glared at him slightly but made no effort to speak up to that unnerving comment.

"My only fear is that I'll kill you by mistake, and I don't want to do that," I replied.

"Oh please boy. I'm not your enemy, but I can certainly take a beating if it comes to that! Now what the hell is wrong with you? If you don't give me a good answer and quickly, I will beat you senseless!" Vegeta growled. I sighed slightly, I hadn't wanted to pull either of them into this, but the fact was that I might need someone on my side to help me bear the consequences of my actions.

"Spit it out!" Vegeta snarled again, sending a small ki blast by my ear.

"Come on, just tell us!" Lenz said, quite a bit gentler.

"I'm about to step over a line, and I'm not sure what is going to happen when I do. All I know is that it is necessary, otherwise I'm probably going to go insane over it," I began.

"A decision? You're moping around because of a choice of do or do not? And here I was just beginning to think you were one of the greatest Saiyans who ever lived. If something isn't right, fix it yourself, don't come to me with those kinds of problems," Vegeta grumbled.

"Well that's just it, because if I do fix what is wrong, those in charge are probably not going to be very happy and they might punish me for it. The thing is, they probably know what I want to do is the right thing. Because of rules and regulations, or just plain ignorance, they won't fix it themselves!"

"As I said before, I don't know what your problem is, and I don't care. But you are strong enough that it doesn't matter what rules are in place. If something needs done and others won't or can't do it themselves, there is little to nothing they can do about it if you should decide to take care of the problem. And if the backlash from it is a problem, you have my support as long as it doesn't conflict with my interests," Vegeta grumbled as he turned around.

"Mine too!" Lenz nodded.

"Thanks, let's do it," I said.


For the next few hours, the three of us went at it in a free for all of power punches and low-level ki attacks. Vegeta tried to entice me into a bigger match, but I wouldn't bring my Psi energy out for anything. For that, I took a lot of physical punishment and used up a lot more ki just defending myself from their attacks. Lenz even got a few hits in, and was so surprised that she forgot to keep her guard up before Vegeta struck from behind. Vegeta continually looked frustrated but said nothing, as he probably figured that I just needed to clear my head.

"Come on little bro, I know you're better than this!" Lenz claimed.

"I know, I'm just not with it all today. Holding back isn't exactly my strong suit, but sometimes you just need a brainless brawl to figure things out!" I replied coolly.

"Why are you holding back boy? You can't tell me that your adopting my son's strategy of a larger surprise attack when everyone's worn out, I thought you knew better than that!" Vegeta asked.

"Don't worry about it. Like I said, I have things to do and I need to focus on that, not how far I press you in a light match! I'll beat your ass another day!" I said bitterly. Vegeta lifted his eyebrow at my sudden outburst, but said nothing. I grimaced and took a deep breath; after all, he wasn't who I wanted to punch now.

"Come back when you can actually focus on an opponent, you obviously can't right now! Get your precious business done!" he growled.

"I guess I'll go take care of things now then. Hopefully I'll see you when I get back," I said as I headed for the door.

"So, what's the problem again? I'll come help you with whatever it is," Lenz smiled sweetly, blocking my way.

"For your own good, no. It's probably going to be ugly and you may not like what you see," I replied as calmly as I could.

"Forget it girl. The brat doesn't need his diaper changed, you will stay here and train!"

"Awww," she whined as I passed by her and shut the door. Well, that does it, now to find a way there. Now who else does the gang know that could get me there somewhat undetected? Oh, I know! I slowly walked up as I heard Bulma's robots cleaning up the shattered television, with a brand new one standing by.

"Hey, you missed a shard! You don't want me stepping on that! Damn, kid, you sure can leave an awful mess! I almost cut myself on the glass!" Bulma complained as I walked in on the scene.

"Sorry about that. Can you do me a favor, Mom?" I asked.

"Oh this should be good. It's an awfully bad time to be asking for food or money, don't you think? Oh well, fine, what is it?" she asked, glaring at me.

I smiled slightly, "It's neither. I lost something and can't find it, and believe me I'm pretty sure I won't find it easily. Can you tell me the way to Baba's palace?" The look of surprise on her face melted away all those angry thoughts in a heartbeat.

"Baba's? Yeah I guess, but why in the world would you want her help? You haven't even spoken a word to her yet!" Bulma pointed out.

I stared at her hard as my smile faded, "Like I said, I lost something, and I need to find it!"

A/n: Ya'll can probably see what is coming up very soon, and if you can't, go back and reread it until you do! Expect some extra colorful language in the next one. I'm not going to leave a preview, but you'll do well to remember when Dabura asked Verto if he had learned an attack that he was hesitant about ever using? I think I've said enough.

No proofreader this time for multiple reasons, number two being that I wasn't home all that much. And I will have a poll up for you ffn readers.

To WDG: I hope you and your family can get through this rough stretch.