Erasa slowly recovered from her dizziness on Goten's back. As she got her senses back, a new frightening realisation hit her. Two monsters had fled and knew where they were.

'Goten… I think we should be going somewhere else quickly.'

'Why?'

'Because I think those two monsters that flew away went to get some of their mean friends.'

'Can't I just beat them up too if they're mean to us?'

'What if they're stronger than you?' Erasa argued. 'It's dangerous, I think it's better to hide.'

'Oh alright then.' Goten said. 'Which way do you want to go?'

Erasa looked around. Everywhere looked pretty much the same, with fires on the black ground and the red sky, although she saw some sort of mountain in the distance.

'Let's explore that mountain over there.' Erasa pointed.

Goten obliged and flew off to the mountain. He was ridiculously fast as a Super Saiyan, even faster than Gohan's magical cloud had been, although Erasa wasn't too scared of falling. Goten's grip felt secure and the wind felt as non-existent as when she flew on Gohan's magical cloud.

Before long they arrived at the mountain. Now that they were closer, Erasa studied it a bit better. Fires were burning on the mountainside just like pretty much everywhere else in this crazy place, but there were also openings in the mountain. Light was shimmering out through the openings, like fires were burning inside. Was it some kind of volcano?

'It's a fire mountain!' Goten called out. 'Mom told me a story once about when the mountain where grandpa's castle is was on fire. Maybe we're near his castle!'

'Your grandpa's castle?' Erasa asked. 'Can you tell me that story?'

'Grandpa has a big castle on the mountain. But once, a long time ago, a fire had broken out and it was so big it was burning on the entire mountain, so grandpa and mom couldn't get back to their castle. And then one day my dad showed up. Grandpa asked him to go get Master Roshi to put out the fire. And my dad got Master Roshi with the Flying Nimbus, and Master Roshi used his Kamehameha wave to try and put out the fire. But the Kamehameha was too strong and he accidentally destroyed grandpa's castle. Grandpa wasn't too mad at him though, because the fire was out and he could rebuild his castle. And then mom asked dad to marry him and he said yes!'

'Wow, that's a nice story Goten.' Erasa said. 'But I don't think this is grandpa's mountain. The fire there was already gone a long time ago right? This one is still burning.'

'Oh, I didn't think of that.' Goten said disappointed.

'But what is the Kamehameha wave?'

Erasa recalled hearing the name somewhere earlier today, but with everything she'd learned today she couldn't recall where.

'It's this really cool thing! Gohan taught me!'

'Can you show me?'

'Haha, you're weird. Of course I can't show it when I'm carrying you.'

'Okay then, why don't you put me down before showing me?'

Goten flew to the base of the mountain and put Erasa down.

'Oh wait, I forgot.' Goten said suddenly, and he turned back to his regular form. 'Gohan says I can't do the Kamehameha wave as a Super Saiyan.'

Erasa wondered why that was, but she didn't ask. Goten held both of his hands to the right side of his body now, next to his hips, as if he was holding an invisible ball. A cyan light quickly appeared in his hands, and he then pointed his hands straight ahead in the direction of the mountain. An incredibly bright cyan-coloured beam erupted from Goten's hands, and it hit the mountain dead on. A massive explosion immediately followed, and Erasa was blown back by a very strong gust of hot winds. Erasa landed on her arms and immediately recoiled as the searing ground burned her arms.

As Erasa recovered she looked back at the mountain. Only there was no more mountain. It was completely blown away, and Erasa immediately understood why Gohan didn't want Goten to use this technique as a Super Saiyan.

'See?!' Goten called out proudly. 'That's the Kamehameha wave! Isn't it cool?! And I destroyed the mountain just like Master Roshi!'

'Wow.' Erasa said quietly. 'That's indeed cool.'

From the rubbles of the mountain an enormous fire erupted, and it was ridiculously hot.

'Uhmm, Goten?' Erasa hesitated. 'Let's get out of here! That fire is way too hot!'

Goten picked up Erasa again on his back and flew off quickly.

Dammit Erasa, why do you always have to be so curious! That was way too dangerous for comfort, and those monsters must have noticed that explosion too!

With her clothes completely soaked in her sweat, Erasa wanted to cry. She couldn't handle more. She hated this place, she hated the everlasting heat, she hated the danger, she hated not understanding anything, she missed Videl, and it was as if there was no escaping this hellish world. Everywhere they looked there was only more fire, more monsters, and more danger. Erasa felt responsible and yet inadequate. She was the oldest and the wisest, she should be the one to protect Goten and get him back to safety somehow, yet Goten had been the one protecting her all this time.

'I wanna make even bigger Kamehameha waves, just like Gohan.' Goten said suddenly.

'E-even bigger?' Erasa replied trembling.

'Yeah, just like Gohan! That'd be so cool!'

'Gohan can make even bigger ones?'

'Haha, of course he can, he's way stronger than me.'

Erasa wasn't sure whether to feel relieved that Goten was this ridiculously strong, or scared that all that power was in the hands of a little kid. At least said little kid was on her side.

'Please don't try them out on me okay?'

'Of course not! Gohan says I can't aim at nice people unless I'm in a fight.'

'You think I'm nice?'

'Sure. You're not very smart and you're not strong but you're nice and fun. You're no meanie at all.'

There was something really endearing to Goten saying that. Little kids could be so genuine.

'Thanks Goten, that's real sweet of you to say that. You know what? Let's stop for a moment and have another drink.'

'Yay!'

As Erasa and Goten drank their water Erasa wondered how much they could afford to drink. She had no idea how long it'd take to find a way back, if ever. But there was also no sense in dying of dehydration before even running out of water stocks. And with this place being so ridiculously hot that might not even take that long. Still, with some influx of water she calmed down a little bit and could think a bit more clearly again.

'Do you like to fight Miss Erasa?' Goten asked curiously.

'No, I don't actually, that's more Videl's thing. I'm far too scared to get hurt.'

'So what do you like to do?'

'I often go practicing with the school band, I really like that.'

Goten looked confused.

'What's a school band?'

'Well, we're like a team of people from school, and we make music together. I am the lead singer.'

'That sounds like fun!' Goten said excitedly. 'Can you sing something? Please Miss Erasa?'

Erasa couldn't say no to Goten's request when he was looking at her like that. He even said please. So Erasa sang Goten her favourite song from her childhood: The Love Rainbow. The song was about a magical rainbow that'd bring love and good luck to anyone who saw it. It didn't sound as good without any instruments to support her singing, but Goten seemed to like it a lot. He applauded loudly when she finished.

'That is so cool! Your song is so pretty!'

Goten's response filled Erasa's heart with joy. There was something so sincere and innocent about it.

'Thanks a lot Goten, that's really sweet of you.' Erasa said sincerely, and Goten returned with a big grin.

'So when you are done with school, will you become a singer?'

Erasa didn't really know yet what she wanted to be. But seeing Goten respond like that was great, maybe his idea was actually quite good. If she could bring smiles to peoples' faces with music, that'd be great.

'You know what, maybe I will. I'm definitely going to try. But what about you? What do you want to be when you grow up?'

'I wanna be a superhero like Gohan! With a cool outfit and a cool name and a cool pose!'

Erasa laughed.

'Of course you can do that. I'm sure you can be a great hero as long as you use your powers for good stuff only like Gohan.'

And get a lot more sense of style than Gohan has…

As Goten grinned widely Erasa remembered her vow to get Goten his own superhero costume once they got back. It wouldn't do to tell him just yet, it would be better as a surprise. But they had to go back to their world first. After this little break Erasa's mood was a lot better.

'Let's go out there and explore some more.' Erasa offered. 'It's also colder in the sky, what do you say?'

They took off again and started exploring. Erasa had no idea where they'd come from or where they'd already been. After about fifteen minutes of finding nothing but the same old black ground with fires Erasa noticed something moving in the red sky.

'Hey Goten, can you see that?' Erasa pointed.

'It looks like fire… Woah!'

That was close! It was indeed fire. Small fireballs falling from the sky. And there were a lot of them. Goten managed to dodge successfully but the incredibly rapid changing of directions left Erasa dizzy again. Holding on to Goten for dear life, Erasa closed her eyes in fear and waited for the nightmare to end. After a minute or two Erasa felt Goten's movements calming down and she slowly opened her eyes again. Her head hung forwards, and being carried on Goten's back, she could see Goten's face upside down beneath her.

'Haha, your face is green!'

'I'm a bit dizzy Goten.'

'That was fun!' Goten said excitedly, completely oblivious to Erasa's suffering. 'It was like dodging practice with Gohan!'

'D-Dodging practice w-with Gohan?' Erasa repeated in a daze.

'Yeah, it's really fun! You should try it too!'

Erasa groaned. Although her good mood had returned quickly after their singing break, her suffering had returned even faster. All the joy she had felt just fifteen minutes ago by the end of their break was gone, replaced with the cruel reality of their situation. She had no idea how to get back home, it was still ridiculously dangerous here, and nobody even knew they were in this world. Bulma and the others must be missing them but completely clueless where they went. Maybe they would think Erasa had kidnapped Goten or something. Goten must have sensed something was up with Erasa, as he started looking concerned.

'Are you alright Miss Erasa?'

Erasa started crying.

'I'm so scared!'

'What are you scared of Miss Erasa?'

'Of all the fires and all the monsters and the fire from the sky and not being able to go home anymore.' Erasa cried. 'I'm not strong or cool or brave like you or Gohan or Videl.'

'Please don't cry Miss Erasa.' Goten said, trying to cheer her up. 'I'm strong enough to fight those monsters and I can dodge way faster if I go Super Saiyan.'

'Y-you can go even faster?'

'Yeah, when I do dodging practice with Gohan he makes it way harder. You can't just give up Miss Erasa! Gohan always says a hero never gives up! I want to be a hero so I'm not going to give up, especially not against some stupid weak monsters!'

Through her tears Erasa could see Goten's determined little face. He wasn't scared. He was determined to not give up. And maybe Goten was right. They'd survived so far. But it was just so darned scary and they'd already had way too many close calls for Erasa's liking.

Come on Erasa! Yes this entire shit sucks, but you're the grown-up here! Well, sort-of, you're 17! That's practically an adult right? If you can't keep it together, why should Goten? You can't afford to panic!

'Y-you're right Goten.' Erasa said, drying her tears. 'We can't give up. Do you have any ideas on how to get home?'

'Uhmm… what about that one monster we saw in the airplane?' Goten suggested. 'That monster could find the airplane. Maybe it knows the way back! Let's find it and ask it.'

Erasa could see gaping holes in this plan. For one, she doubted the monster could talk let alone would be willing to cooperate, and secondly, they hadn't had any luck so far tracking that monster down. But maybe if that one monster could enter their world, so could the others. Considering they certainly wouldn't find a way back by just staying here floating, they might as well try it. How did they call it? Desperate times call for desperate measures. Well, she certainly was desperate.

'Are you sure you can beat those monsters if they try to hurt us?'

'Yeah, they're really weak. Not as weak as you but still really weak!'

'Okay then. Let's find one of those monsters.'

It didn't take them long to find more monsters. Within about five minutes Goten spotted a large group that was flying towards them.

'It's a lot of them.' Erasa said hesitantly. 'Can you fight all of them if they become mean?'

'I think it's easier without you on my back.'

'Okay, then put me down.'

Goten quickly landed and Erasa got off Goten's back. Goten quickly flew back into the sky and transformed into that crazy Super Saiyan thing while Erasa watched, trying to stay hidden.

Goten approached the group.

'Hey Mister Monster!' Goten called out. 'Miss Erasa and I are lost here! Could you tell us the way home please?'

Erasa had to admit Goten was brave and he showed manners in his way of asking. If this actually worked that'd be the craziest thing she'd experienced all day.

But apparently they had found the limit of insanity in this world. The monsters did not reply to Goten but attacked. What followed was way too fast for Erasa to see. Fire flew everywhere, golden light from Goten shone from various different places, and several monsters crashed to the ground with injured wings. Erasa realised she was panting due to the heat, and sweat was covering her entire body. Her entire clothes were so soaked with sweat she'd probably have to burn them if she ever wanted to get rid of the smell. How did Goten still manage to fight in this heat?

Meanwhile more and more monsters crashed to the ground. How many had Goten already defeated? Twenty? Thirty? Erasa didn't know, but Goten continued to fight on. Erasa hoped that eventually the monsters would surrender and show them the way home, even though she knew it was idle hope.

Erasa then heard some strange sounds coming from behind her. Looking around, she noticed four of the injured monsters were crawling towards her. Erasa shrieked loudly in panic. She wanted to run but it felt like her body was frozen. They opened their mouths to unleash their fire spit and Erasa closed her eyes in desperation and covered her face with her arms, awaiting the searing heat that would kill her. There wouldn't even be a body left of her for her family to bury. They probably would never know what had happened to her. As far as they would know she would have suddenly gone missing while being with a group she'd never even met before today, and she'd be remembered as the girl who suddenly kidnapped a six-year-old boy and was never seen again.

But the burning heat never came. Erasa suddenly felt small arms grabbing her around her waist and carrying her into the sky at immense speed. She convinced herself to open her eyes again. Goten had come to save her again.

'G-Goten?' Erasa said shaking. 'Y-You saved me again…'

But Goten wasn't paying attention to her. He turned towards the monsters.

'You meanies! Miss Erasa didn't do anything to you!'

Another voice was then audible from behind them, a voice Erasa did not recognise, a voice which froze all the other monsters right in their place.

'Yes you did…'

They slowly turned around. There was a figure behind them, maybe fifteen metres away or so, looking much more humanoid than any of the other monsters they'd encountered so far, and the first who could fly here without wings. It was tall, its legs were covered by white trousers, and its upper body was covered by some kind of blue cloth. It wore a white cape, and had a reddish skin.