A/N: Woo, we finally broke the 100 reviews barrier.

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Daughter Of A Hero

Chapter Thirty-Seven

The Long Road Home

Piccolo stared over the child laying in the crater with an unreadable expression. The child was out cold, lying on his side in the rough earth but strangely he had a smile on his face - like he was lying in the most comfortable bed in the world. Then again, he had been using rocks as pillows for the best part of a year and a half.

He didn't look like a child: That was the first thing Piccolo noted. The boy laying in front of Piccolo looked like a child physically, but had matured beyond his years, he had been exposed to the cruelties of the real world at too young an age. His face was cut up and purplish bruises were already beginning to form at both his eyes and at the side of his jaw. Splodges of colour ranging from bright red to yellow were dotted all over his small body, visible through his torn spandex.

Gohan's body had taken the brunt of one heck-of-a beating, internal bleeding was a high possibility and broken bones were a certainty, but Piccolo knew that by the time the kid had woken from his coma like state, Gohan's incredible Saiyan cells would have already got to work repairing any major and minor damage his body had received. Such were the marvels of being the warrior race of the universe.

Gohan turned in his sleep, allowing his tail to show itself and wriggle in pain on the ground. The corners of Piccolo's mouth twitched downwards as a sign of Gohan's true heritage made itself known. Then again there was the cons of being the warrior race of the universe - they were wiped out because of one tyrants fear of a future over-throw. .

Piccolo kneeled down on one knee and placed an overly large, green hand upon the child's forehead. He concentrated for a moment, then a bright white light surrounded Gohan's body. When the light faded, Gohan was still deep in slumber, only this time he was more appropriately dressed. There was no signs of his torn spandex that had barely survived the heat of the battle, instead he was wearing a dark purple gi in the same style as his own with blue wrist guards and a red obi.[1] On his feet he wore shoes in the same style as Piccolo's own and white ankle guards with a white polo-neck of some sort, leaving his upper arms exposed.

As Gohan began to shiver again, Piccolo rolled his eyes, muttering a few obscenities and quickly conjured up a copy of his cape and placed it over the still sleeping child. Instantly, Gohan smiled contentedly and snuggled deeper into the cape, revelling in the warmth it brought with him.

Taking a few seconds out to fix his own attire, Piccolo then stared down at the half-ling again and smiled softly, then he stopped himself abruptly and scowled.

"I'm getting soft." He growled.

It was then that Piccolo felt a large amount of ki building up behind him, fearing the worst Piccolo twisted round in time to bat the bright blue sphere of energy straight into the atmosphere.

Piccolo let loose a feral snarl and rounded on the attacker - Vegeta Prince of all Saiyans.

"What the hell do you think your doing you misguided little fool?" Raged the Namek, taking a threatening step toward the Saiyan.

Vegeta grimaced, hunching over even more in attempts to support his weight. The saiyan had taken quite the beating, with a few broken bones and even a cracked vertebrae. It was amazing he was still standing, never mind actually summoning the energy to form a potentially lethal ki ball.

One severely broken left arm hung pathetically at his side as his other arm gripped it tightly as pain ran rampant through his body. Vegeta glared at the defenceless Gohan and attempted to take a step toward him only to fall flat on his face - and his injured arm.

Vegeta let loose a cry of pain and attempted to push himself up again only for him to give up after two attempts and diverted all his energy to simply lifting his head up and looking Piccolo straight in the eye.

"You have to kill him." Vegeta croaked much to Piccolo's disbelief.

"What?! Did Cooler hit you too hard? That kid just saved all our backsides and you want me to kill him? Not only that you want me to kill him when he's down and defenceless, and I thought you Saiyans couldn't go any lower! You disgust me!" Piccolo rumbled and spat at the Saiyans head

"No! He'll turn on us all! He'll kill us all!" Vegeta said, his eyes pleading.

"Read my lips scum, no way!" Piccolo growled, emphasising every syllable. "You're just jealous that somebody's stronger than you. Feh, pathetic! I'm stronger than you right now, what stops me from killing you?"

A bright ball of ki popped into existence as Piccolo bounced it from hand to hand, watching with satisfaction as Vegeta's eyes followed it closely.

Vegeta's eyes lit up with victory. "Because you need me to steer the ship."

Piccolo smirked. "There is always Goku's friend - Bulma."

"Who's to say she's still living her pathetic little life? After that battle I severely doubt her lacking intelligence and minuscule energy level was enough to save her worthless life. Even so, in the highly unlikely situation that she did manage to survive, her small cranium would never be able to comprehend how to open the hull of the ship, much less fly one across the galaxy."

Piccolo's resolve shattered as the ki ball dissipated into nothingness. He let loose a string of curses and then reached down and grabbed Vegeta by the scruff of his tattered armour.

"Ok Saiyan. We're on the same side for now, but if you put as much as a toe out of line, I'll blast you so fast you wont know your dead 'til you meet that infernal ogre in the otherworld check-in centre."

Vegeta narrowed his eyes but grudgingly accepted the offer.

Piccolo threw Vegeta's body callously onto the soil, grinning with satisfaction as he heard a distinct cry of pain. He went to walk away but thought better of it and leaned down to scoop the still unconscious Gohan up. Not sure how to hold a child properly, Piccolo instead settled on tucking Gohan under one arm, cape and all.

The Namek hovered into the air a few metres before turning back to look at Vegeta who was still in the position Piccolo threw him into. "And that clause also covers the kid as well. One wrong move and …"

To demonstrate Piccolo held up his spare hand and with blinding speed shot a ball of energy at one of the few mountains that was still standing. It exploded in a shower of light and dust.

With that being said Piccolo leapt into the air and shot off in a random direction to see if that blue haired earthling was still alive, knowing his luck she would be and he'd have to put up with her moaning for however long it would take them to get back to Earth.

As he flew above the scarred terrain with Gohan tucked safely under one arm, he started to think that maybe the woman hadn't survived. In fact, he expected to see a head of blue hair peeking out from under the rocks. In one way, he actually hoped that she was dead, they could always wish her back with the dragon balls. The only thing that was stopping him from just leaving this planet was the boy tucked under his arm. He would cry non-stop from the time he woke up until the woman was wished back to life and Piccolo didn't feel like subjecting his ears to such torture.

Just as he thought that maybe she hadn't survived, there was a sound that reminded Piccolo vaguely of the sound of what the humans called a cat. Rolling his eyes, Piccolo quickly altered his flight path to swoop down and pick the squealing human up by the back of her idiot space suit and tuck her under his free arm.

As soon as Piccolo took off again with his two passengers in tow, Bulma wisely decided to keep quiet.

--

"I want my babies and I want them NOW!" Every Namek in a one mile radius of the shrieking woman dropped to the ground in pain, green hands going straight to their ringing ears.

"Chichi. Honey, calm down." The Ox-King tried to coax his daughter - who had a tendency to overreact - to calm down. He grabbed her shoulders and forced her to lie back down on the hospital bed.

This was the first time Chichi had been awake in a week. After she had fainted the first time, she had been brought back to Capsule Corp. along with all the other Nameks and after a few more hysteric episodes, Dr. Briefs had deducted that it was probably best to keep Chichi in a drug induced sleep. Every time she woke up, she had demanded to see her babies, much to the protests of others.

As Dr. Briefs once again came toward Chichi was a needle in one arm, Chichi's sense of fighting kicked in. She wriggled out of her fathers hands and back-flipped off the bed, coming to a stop in a defensive stance with her back pressed against the wall for cover.

"Give me my babies." The ox-princess said slowly, a fire burning in her eyes.

Ox-King took a step forward but stopped dead in his tracks when Chichi growled threateningly at him. There was nothing that could rival a mothers love for her children.

The Ox-King sighed. "Chichi, we can't go get them. The ships err broke."

Chichi raised an eyebrow sceptically. "Oh yeah?"

Ox King nodded, thinking that maybe she had believed him, but just as he was relaxing the Son matriarch leapt over her fathers head and headed off at a run down the hallway with the Ox-King, Dr. Briefs and a few Nameks chasing after her.

--

Chichi exited the dome shaped house and headed toward the ship which she could see sitting in the yard. It was so close, just a few more metres and she was one step closer to finding her babies.

Then the unexpected happened, just as Chichi was about to reach the ship, a blue beam came out of nowhere to strike the ship at his hull. Time seemed to slow down as the full ship was bathed in a yellow light then there was a loud explosion and a gust of wind that swept Chichi off her feet and carried her backwards where she slammed into her fathers broad chest.

Right in front of her eyes Chichi saw her dreams of finding her children go up in smoke.

"OLD MAN!" She bellowed turning around and snarling ferociously in the old masters direction. Who, at this point was desperately trying to seek a suitable hiding place - unfortunately under Turtle's shell wasn't the best place to hide.

"Please don't hurt me!"

--

Three bodies slammed into the ground with three identical cries of pain. Up in the air, Gonyhe grinned down at her defeated opponents then wiped a trickle of blood away from the corner of her mouth. She flashed a victory sign at Yamcha, Tien and Chiaoutzui and she could almost see the gears in their head turning as they more than likely plotted their revenge.

"Best two out of three guys?" She offered cheerily.

A yellow ball of energy exploding in her face was her answer.

--

Piccolo landed on the ground just in front of the large space cruiser, dumping his two passengers on the ground. Gohan continued to sleep, still unconscious and recovering from his traumatic battle experience whilst Bulma gave an indignant shriek of protest. It was already clear to anyone that Gohan's Saiyan cells had already done their job as the boy now looked a healthier colour and was no longer bleeding from his ears.

The two conscious individuals lapsed into an uncomfortable silence.

It was ten minutes later when they finally spotted the Saiyan prince on the horizon, easily distinguished by his small stature and flame like hair. Even in the air he looked weak and vulnerable, not flying in a horizontal position. He was flying vertically, with one hand clutching his tender abdomen whilst the other reached out a head of him.

Wordlessly, he landed in front of the trio around fifteen minutes later and tried to walk confidently toward the ship but stumbled a few times on the way. Bulma couldn't hide her sniggers when he did so but she was always rewarded with a mean glare that made her quieten instantly - that guy was just plain scary, injured or not!

"Ok look, I may not be able to fly this ship but I am a genius and even I know a knuckle-head like Goku would be able to work out that this ship is not flyable. Hello, monkey boy, there's no air in space and there's a huge freakin' hole in the side of the ship. We wouldn't make it off the planet!" Bulma argued as she chewed her lip thoughtfully, staring at the large hole. Her voice came out a little muffled and mechanical though, she was effectively talking through a speaker, through her gravity defying space suit.

"I know that you impudent woman, fortunately this ship is built by higher intelligence beings. There are situations where this happens and rather than be stranded on the planet like some idiot would be, there are procedures that can be followed than enable even a ship in this condition to fly!"

By this time, Bulma's temper had flared and she pushed herself right up into Vegeta's face much to the surprise of Piccolo who always assumed the loud mouthed bluenette was all bark and no bite. With a concealed smirk he took a step back and watched the fireworks.

Bulma prodded her glove covered finger directly into Vegeta's chest and found to her satisfaction that he actually winced. "Look buddy, first of all my name is Bulma. You get it? B-U-L-M-A! Not woman or whatever childish insult you can come up with and second of all I am not an idiot! I'll have you know I'm a genius and a beauty on Earth!" Bulma shrieked.

Vegeta winced, trying not to seem not too uncomfortable. "Well, if your considered a 'genius' is there any doubt that Kakarot is the idiot he is?"

Bulma's eyes narrowed into slits as she screamed and clenched her fists, slamming one foot onto the ground repeatedly and succeeding in making herself look like a toddler.

Vegeta rolled his eyes. "Moron."

"Jerk." Bulma retaliated.

"ENOUGH!" Piccolo roared, stepping in between the two and pushing them apart none too gently, causing human and saiyan alike to fall onto the ground.

"We don't have time for your petty problems. This planet's a ticking time bomb and I for one don't want to be on it when the timer runs out. Sort out your problems later but for now Saiyan you get the ship organized and ready to fly and girl, you help him!"

"WHAT?!" The two roared in unison, fuming at the thought of having to work together.

"JUST DO IT!" Piccolo bellowed back.

Vegeta actually managed to climb back to his feet and step up right into Piccolo's face. "I'll do as I please Namek." He ground out through gritted teeth.

Piccolo prodded Vegeta in the chest with one finger and growled. "Your in no position to be arguing back with me Saiyan. You either shut your trap or I'll shut it for you - permanently."

Vegeta spat at Piccolo's feet, a mixture of blood, saliva and perhaps even a tooth and stormed off. Or at least tried to, all he succeeded in doing was causing more pain to himself, but it was better than damaging his pride.

Piccolo and Bulma - after Piccolo scooped up the unconscious demi-saiyan - pursued the haughty Saiyan Prince.

--

'Emergency lockdown commencing in 5 … 4 … 3 … 2 … 1. Emergency lockdown feature activated. All access to lower deck sealed off. Diagnostic check complete - Pressure and oxygen levels holding steady. Ship sustained 44% worth of damage.'

"Computer is the ship still able to fly?" Vegeta said out-loud as he typed furiously.

They were in the bridge of the ship which was in the uppermost part of the ship. In actual fact this was the only part of the ship that was undamaged an extremely lucky find for the fighters as this was the most important part.

One large circular television warped around the circular wall but was split into four sections, each one displaying a different statistic or view of the planet. In the centre of the room there was a platform and that was the only way to access the lower decks - that is if they could access the lower decks.

'Affirmative. The engines are damaged, cause of which unknown. However flight is probable. Number of Truisk left. Four fully charged bars. Please plot course to proceed.'

Vegeta mumbled to himself as even Bulma's scientific mind struggled to keep up. All this talk about Truisk, lockdowns and oxygen percentage had completely thrown her, and just what did they mean when they said it was probable the ship could fly. That didn't seem too comforting to her, it was either yes or no. Not something in between!

"We should be able to make it back to Earth on those four bars. However we can't afford to take any hits from stray asteroid, if the damage gets above 50% when we're in a lockdown state, the full ship shuts down."

Bulma gulped audibly whilst Piccolo remained indifferent, occasionally nudging Gohan with the tip of his foot.

"So if we take a hit we're screwed?"

"Pretty much."

"Computer prepare for take off in one minute - co-ordinates: quadrant 2, sector 16 xy567-h859e-00003."

"WHAT?!" Bulma screeched. "You can't just take off after that warning. You heard the computer, one hit and we're out!"

'Affirmative, co-ordinates saves take off in T minus one minute. Please prepare for take off. Journey to Planet Earth will be approximately one month.'

Vegeta continued on like he hadn't even heard Bulma's complaints. He pressed a panel in the wall twice and typed in something which Bulma could not understand and from nowhere four seats popped up.

Vegeta buckled himself into one and turned to the others. "Unless you want to get squished like the bugs you are during take off, I suggest you strap yourselves in and for pity's sake woman, you can take that infernal contraption off now, we're inside an artificial gravity room."

Bulma sat down in a chair a little warily and reached up and twisted her helmet round. There was a clicking noise then the sound of air rushing through the air quickly and Bulma's helmet clattered to the floor. Bulma reached up and ran a hand through her blue locks, grimacing as days worth of swear clung to her fingers. She hastily wiped the grime onto her space suit and buckled herself into the seat, pulling the harness over her head and clipping it into the points on the chair - she was not taking any chances.

Piccolo dropped Gohan onto his chair and after a few failed attempts, eventually managed to strap the demi-saiyan in. Gohan was still unconscious and still smiling in his sleep and his Saiyan cells had already repaired most of the damage. There was now yellowish bruises where the bold purple ones once were, angry red welts and gashes were now a more comforting pink colour and were scabbing up nicely. Gohan was on the mend, all that they needed now was for him to wake up but whenever that was nobody knew.

All of a sudden the ship jolted to life as the engines started to groan and the whole ship shuddered. Piccolo quickened his pace and just managed to make it into his seat and pull on his harness as the countdown started.

'10 … 9 … 8 … 7 … 6 … 5 … 4 … 3 … 2 … 1 '

Bulma was sure she'd left her stomach back on the planet when the most gut-wrenching feeling ripped through her. It felt like she was being pulled in two directions. She tried to scream but the sound was caught in her throat as the breath was squeezed out of her. Bulma wisely shut her mouth and conserved all the air she could by taking short, sharp gasps.

The human couldn't tell at what point the ship penetrated the atmosphere, nor could she tell how long the initial take-off actually lasted but it was the longest time of her life none-the-less. As her stomach contents churned around, Bulma struggled not to bring up whatever was in her stomach.

After a few more minutes the ship didn't stop but the feeling of something being pressed down on her abdomen receded and Bulma was finally able to breathe easily again. Peeling open her eyes, the blue haired scientist was surprised to find she was the only one sitting down.

Piccolo and Vegeta were already up and walking around. Vegeta was over at the same wall he was at before they had taken off and was typing into the panel again, whilst Piccolo had abandoned any attempts at rousing Gohan and was staring into one of the large screens which was currently serving as a viewing window into outer space.

Bulma's bottom lip trembled as she unbuckled her harness and took a shaky step toward the viewing window, afraid that the ground might swallow her up. After a few more tentative steps, Bulma soon came to realise that the ground was infact not out to do her any harm and pretty soon her inquisitive, scientific mind took over as she danced around the circular control room, looking at all the alien technology.

"Ooooh! What does this one do?"

It was going to be a long road home.

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A/N: Here's what you've all been waiting for, an update! It's a little early, but one of the reviewers (xxI lurve Itxx) has brought to my attention about who Gonyhe will end up with when she's older. So I'm putting up a poll on my profile. The choices are as follows:

Sharpener.

Another human - someone in school OC

A saiyan - OC

Some other alien she meets in space - OC

Other - please specify (send an email or drop a review)