"Daddy help me!" Gohan cried as he floated downriver on the slippery log, his grip loosening by the minute.

Only just moments ago he was lost, blindly wandering around the forest. Stumbling along an old dirt path searching for Goku or Chi-Chi. That's when he saw the little blue bird sitting elegantly upon the edge of a log at the river's side. Her beauty comforted him which compelled him to say hello. Gohan crawled onto the log to closer observe her but his weight on the opposite side of the log off-balanced it, sending him barrelling down the rapids.

Goku, who had been above the forest searching for Gohan, when he realized the little boy had slipped away from him, quickly flew the nimbus over to where he heard his cries. He flew just above the river and caught up to Gohan who moved faster and faster as the river grew more violent. Goku got as close to the edge of the nimbus as he could and stretched out his hand. He found himself only inches from being able to grab onto Gohans shirt.

"Give me your hand Gohan, I need you to reach for me!"

"I can't, I'm too scared!" he screamed after nearly losing his grip on the log "P-Please help me Daddy!"

Goku saw they were rapidly approaching a waterfall and feeling that he had no other choice he jumped in after his son. "Hold on Gohan I've gotcha! "

He threw Gohan up onto the nimbus and grabbed onto a nearby boulder that peaked out from the rapids, he pushed himself up onto it and hopped back onto the cloud. He sat down and Gohan threw himself into his father's arms.

"Thank you so much Daddy, I was so scared! I-I was following this pretty bird a-and the log it-it..."

Goku laughed and cleared the tears from his son's eyes "Hey it's ok Gohan, there's no need to explain, I understand."

"You do?" Gohan asked confusedly

"Of course I do! You got lost but It's fine because I found you. Look, see I even got your hat!" Goku gently placed the hat brandishing the four-star ball back onto Gohan's head.

Gohan stretched his arms out and Goku instinctively picked him up "Thanks, Daddy... and I'm sorry. I never meant to get so lost, I promise I won't wander ever again!"

"Hey don't worry about it Gohan you just wanted to explore. Now, whaddya' say we go drop by Master Roshi's later today like I said we would? You can meet him, Krillin and Bulma too. That sound good to you little man?"

The little boy smiled "Yeah, I can't wait to meet all your friends!"

Gohan slowly lifted his head off the pillow turning the alarm clock off before it had the chance to beep. Another night without reliving the battle with Cell, sure the dream he had was stressful for a few moments but overall pleasant compared with the usual. He remembered how scared he was, helplessly floating downriver hoping for his father or anyone to save him. Yet he didn't remember him actually jumping in. Perhaps his brain was filling in the details because the only concrete thing he could remember was that at some point he made it out of the river and onto the nimbus with his father.

Moving the covers to the side, he sat up and stretched his arms before stepping onto the slightly cold wood floor of the modern-looking guest room. Bulma allowed Goku and him to stay the night at capsule corp as long as they agreed to stay for breakfast, a proposal which neither could refuse. Seeing that he woke up a little earlier than expected he opened the closet and got dressed in his purple gi. He was a little unnerved when he couldn't find his pouch of senzu beans. He came to the sudden realization he didn't remember having them when they got to the city.

Ugh, I must have lost the senzu beans when we were trapped in that stupid swamp. Looks like at some point I'll need to take another trip back to Korin's. Hopefully he's not too upset with me for losing them.

Gohan crept silently by Goku who was still asleep and exited into the hallway. He mosied through the halls and was surprised to see the layout was nothing like what it was in the present; there were fewer floors and many were labeled far more clearly than in the modern-day capsule corp building. He stepped into the elevator and pressed the button that took him to the first floor. As he stepped off the elevator he smelled all the different types of food that the robotic staff had been preparing, following the scent he found his way into the dining room where Bulma was already seated and working on one of many gadgets she had sprawled across the table. She lifted up her safety glasses as she heard him enter.

"Hey Jack, you're up a little early."

Gohan drew up a chair, sitting on the opposite side of the table.

"Sorry Bulma, I hope that's ok."

Placing the soldering iron into its station and moving all of her projects onto the floor she set the table for breakfast.

"It's perfectly fine and as a matter of fact I have a question for you, how would you feel if I joined you and Goku on your search for the dragon balls?"

"You want to come find the dragon balls with us Bulma?" Goku asked as he walked into the room.

Bulma who seemed to be getting more excited by the second said "Yeah, it'll be just like old times remember?"

"I don't know Bulma it's been really dangerous and you might slow us down." Goku regretted saying that almost immediately

Bulma screamed across the table "Slow you down?! I'm the one you gave you the dragon radar to begin with! Without me you'd still be living in your grandpa's little hut in the middle of the wilderness so show a little gratitude!"

Goku forked as many waffles as he could onto his plate as the robotic servers brought out breakfast

"Ok Bulma you can come but remember if things get dangerous, you asked for it!"

She crossed her arms "Yeah, yeah I get that it's dangerous but you are literally some of the toughest guys on the planet. I doubt anything could take you two down."

The three enjoyed the massive breakfast planned out by the staff and exited Capsule Corp just as rush hour was hitting. The roads were packed with cars, completely congested by the massive population of West City. The group walked to the lawn on the capsule corp property and saw the sidewalks were no less busy as thousands of men and women hurriedly rushed to their office jobs.

Goku took in a deep breath before calling for his cloud "FLYING NIMBUS!"

The cloud materialized and dove by the skyscrapers halting immediately as soon as it was in front of Goku. He sat on the cloud and picked Bulma up after she shrunk, promptly stuffing her into his shirt. He could tell by her audible sigh that indicated she was not happy about it.

"Sorry Bulma but I've got nowhere else to put you. You're too small to sit on my leg, you'll just fly right off in the wind."

Hanging onto the v-neck portion of his gi she responded unusually cheerfully "That's ok Goku, flying is the fastest way to travel so I don't expect this to be that bad."

Goku extended his hand to Gohan and lifted him up onto the cloud and commanded it to lift them up further into the air.

"So Bulma, which ways to the next dragon ball?"

She activated the radar seeing that the closest one was far into the ocean nearby Master Roshi's island.

"Oh great, the closest ball is far off to the south-east near Master Roshi's island." She knew Goku wasn't the best with directions and pointed him the right way "So It's that way."

The group swiftly flew out of the massive city and into the countryside surrounding it. They passed by countless fields of corn and rice before finally making it to the ocean. The wind was unnaturally calm causing the sun's heat to be extremely brutal as they flew further south. After hours of flying, Bulma rechecked the radar and realized they were right on top of the ball

"Goku stop right here." Goku squinted and tried to read the tiny radar Bulma was holding. She tuned the device and made it far more accurate "Ok according to the radar it's directly beneath us by about 300 feet."

Goku peered over the side of the cloud and only saw the blue water of the ocean below "But there's nothing but water down there."

Bulma turned off the radar and looked for any land in the surrounding area "It's probably underneath the water Goku and I know just how we can get it. Land us over there" She pointed to a nearby island that hosted massive sandy beaches plenty of trees. It only took a second to get there and Bulma was the first off the cloud followed shortly after by Gohan. She grew back to her normal size and stretched before taking out her container of capsules.

"See I'm already proving my worth. We can use a capsule corp submarine to get the dragon ball."

She opened the pink container to find only one capsule in an unlabeled compartment

"Oh that's just fantastic, I grabbed my father's box. I don't even want to know whatever he's got stored in this capsule considering its unmarked."

Goku innocently objected "Well what if it's something useful or even the sub-a-thingy we need"

Bulma had her doubts but listened to Goku anyways. She picked up the capsule and threw it out in front of them revealing dozens of adult magazines. Gohan blushed and looked the opposite way as Bulma scrambled to pick each magazine up. Goku walked over to the pile and picked one up at random, Bulma could see the look of concern on his face.

"How sad, these girls don't have any clothes. They must be really poor."

"They aren't poor Goku! Now gimme' that!" She snatched the magazine from his hands and shredded it "Ugh, my father is such a pig."

Goku was slightly disappointed that whatever they needed to get the dragon ball wasn't in the capsule but decided diving for it might be worth a try.

"Maybe the water isn't too deep. I think I'll try to swim for it and if I can't get it then we'll go to Master Roshi and see if he has one." Goku untied his power pole and tossed it over to Gohan "Here take this in case any of those Red Ribbon people show up around here, I've got a funny feeling about this place. Oh and don't worry I shouldn't be gone too long."

Gohan waved goodbye as Goku flew off into the distance.

Bulma had finally shredded the last magazine in her father's massive collection "C'mon Jack let's go see if there are any people on this island. Maybe there will be a store that sells capsules and we can get a submarine that way."

Gohan tied the pole around his back "Bulma I don't know if that's the best idea. The Red Ribbon Army are some really bad guys and I don't really want to put you in any unnecessary danger."

"Oh puh-lease, like these Red Ribbon people even have anything anywhere near as accurate as my dragon radar."

Gohan reluctantly followed Bulma as she led them into the forests of the island. Eventually coming upon a clearing they both heard the distinctive whirring of helicopter blades before being shot at as soon as they were visible. Gohan grabbed onto Bulma and threw her into a nearby ditch. Being mindful that he couldn't just fly and disable the helicopters himself he decided to use the power pole, after all, he had never gotten the chance before. He ran towards the incoming gunfire and leaped into the air

"Powerpole extend!"

The red pole grew to twelve times its normal size and Gohan used it to swat the choppers from the air sending them crashing into the island below.

He landed a little ways off from where the two vehicles now burned and saw that one of the two pilots had escaped but was passed out on a nearby patch of grass. Gohan walked over and saw the Red Ribbon's iconic logo printed onto its side. Seeing it frustrated him but did not surprise him, he took off the helmet and walked back over to Bulma who still was covering her head unaware that the battle was over.

"Sorry about that but you see what I'm talking about?" he held the helmet out in front of him with the ribbon clearly visible "This is the Red Ribbon Army's logo and those two helicopters were probably a scouting party. Goku and I have run into them more than a couple of times on our search for the dragon balls. I took a look on the radar a while back and they seem to be collecting them too, most likely for something awful."

Bulma took the helmet and threw it on the ground "Well, in that case, we can't let that happen. Who know's what they'll wish for."

The two were surprised as Goku reappeared and jumped off the nimbus cloud that was still mobile.

"Is everybody ok? I came back as soon as I heard the explosions." Goku asked anxiously

Gohan calmly responded, "Yeah everything's fine Goku we just ran into some Red Ribbon scouts, were you able to get the dragon ball?"

Goku rung out one of his soaked spikes of hair as he explained "No the water is definitely too deep, I think we'll have to go to Master Roshi's after all."

Bulma wasn't thrilled about the idea but had a newfound desire to help the boys especially if she could be the key factor in whether or not they got the dragon ball. "Alright guys let's get there quick. If the Red Ribbon Army is as dangerous as you say they probably have more troops on the way here."

The group quickly got onto the cloud and made there way over to Master Roshi's house which was conveniently not very far from the island. Goku felt an unusual calmness as they approached the island almost as if Master Roshi's place was his home away from home. They all stepped off from the cloud as they reached Roshi's little pink house. Turtle was overjoyed to see them.

"Oh boy what a treat! You guys came at the perfect time, Master Roshi is just finishing his aerobics now."

Goku walked up the front steps of the porch and opened the screen door to see the turtle hermit with his eyes glued to his tiny television

"Hey Master Roshi!"

The old man quickly turned off the tv "Oh..uh Goku, what a pleasant surprise. Please do knock before entering the house. These ladies' techniques are very intriguing and I am studying them to learn some new moves if you know what I mean hehe."

Goku didn't understand what he was talking about but could tell nothing important was going on "Bulma, Jack, you guys can come in." he let out a giggle "I don't think he's very busy."

Roshi scrambled to make himself presentable "Goku d-did you say Bulma?"

Gohan and Bulma walked in, shutting the screen door behind them. Knowing how the old man could be around beautiful women she decided she was going to be direct and upfront with him

"Hey Master Roshi long time no see. Say you wouldn't happen to have a submarine capsule would you?"

The turtle hermit swooned, he hadn't seen Bulma since the tournament and he took note of how exceptionally pretty she seemed today.

"Oh of course but you know I can't just give it out for free... Perhaps if you gave me something in return I could lend you it hm?"

Goku seemed upset "Aw but master we really need it, we're going after a dragon ball that's too deep underwater."

Roshi was surprised when he looked over at Gohan. He thought for sure he would have returned to his own time by now and he realized that collecting the dragon balls was his way out of here. He reluctantly decided this was probably a little more important than his desire to get a date with Bulma.

"Oh alright you can take the submarine as soon as Krillin and Launch get back from their shopping trip, they used it to get into town. It could take a while so in the meantime feel free to enjoy the island, it's not very big but it sure is beautiful."

Bulma saw some promise in the old mans words, since going back to the city she thought she grew a little paler every day and this seemed to be the perfect opportunity to get in a good tan. Goku and Gohan decided that splash fighting in the water and building sandcastles would be how they passed the time. Eventually, the two were joined by Bulma who couldn't resist the childish fun she only could experience with Goku around.

The hours passed quickly and before they knew it they saw the submarine in the distance. Goku was puzzled as the submarine flew through the air and landed on the back half of the island. He nudged Gohan "Hey Jack isn't that an airplane how is it supposed to go underwater?"

Gohan knew that most of capsule corps machinery had multiple purposes and explained "Yeah I think it works both as a submarine and an airplane Goku."

Goku gawked "Oh wow that's amazing. And we don't have to hold our breath?"

Gohan shook his head no which brought a massive grin to Goku's face. Seeing his father get so giddy over a simple submarine brought a smile to Gohan's face

Krillin and Launch exited the vehicle carrying multiple bags of groceries but both recognized Goku's distinctive voice as he called out to them

"Hey guys, it's so good to see you both!"

Krillin nearly dropped his bags and ran over to Goku, it felt like ages since he'd seen him. He excitedly walked up to Goku but struggled to look at him as the bags he carried obstructed his vision "Hey it's great to see you Goku but what are you doing here?"

Bulma had set up a map with the coordinates already marked on it inside the house "Bring the groceries inside Krillin and we'll show you."

Everyone headed inside and Bulma explained the situation to them. Krillin was particularly interested in the area where the dragon ball was located. Roshi could see the desire for adventure in the boy's face and could tell what he was going to ask.

"Hey master isn't that nearby the missing pirate's treasure you told me about?"

The old turtle hermit cleared his throat and attempted to spin his tale with as much entrigue as possible "Ah yes, legend tells of a secret treasure lost beneath the ocean waves during a massive battle between two legendary bands of pirates. Whoever can find this treasure is said to become richer than all their wildest dreams."

Those words were enough to convince Bulma they had to find the treasure "How exciting, what do you guys say we look for the treasure while also looking for the dragon ball? I mean it couldn't hurt could it?"

Krillin excitedly asked "Do you guys think I could come? I've been hoping for a little break in my training."

Goku was excited that his adventure seemed to bring all of his friends together once more. He felt it was destiny that Krillin was there with them "Sure Krillin you can come, we need all the help we can get!"

Roshi laughed as his house emptied out as fast as it filled up. He waited until everyone had cleared out except for Gohan. He tapped the boy's shoulder just before he could walk out the front door.

"So Gohan how are things going? Have you found whoever sent you to the past?"

Gohan was happy he could drop his facade even if it was just for a moment "Yeah I did, it's this guy named Dr. Gero and he's been sending androids to try and kill me. I'm hoping that after we collect all the dragon balls I can wish him and me back to the present but things are proving really difficult."

Gohan was surprised as Roshi seemed to change subjects "Still carrying that guilt with you I see. There's less of it but I can still feel your sadness. Your lucky Goku can't feel ki just yet because your emotions tell the whole story. You lost him didn't you?"

Gohan's lips quivered and he struggled not to break down right there. He couldn't believe he was already this close to tears especially because for the past few days he'd been proud of how well he'd kept his emotions in check. "Master Roshi I-"

"And you blame yourself don't you?"

He hugged Gohan who started to give in to the unavoidable tears. "It w-was all my fault."

"I know how it can be, losing a father. I lost mine twice, once was when my real father passed away. The second was when my teacher, the great Master Mutaito died fighting to save the world from an old forgotten foe. D-did Goku lose a fight to some powerful enemy?

Images of Cell's bloated body flashed through Gohan's mind "No he had to sacrifice himself because of my stupid mistakes!"

"Ah, I see. Gohan you can't blame yourself for making mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes especially in the heat of battle. You must learn as I did to let go of these negative feelings rather than bottle them up. The only way for you to find peace is to forgive yourself."

He patted the boys back as he calmed down "Now go, spend some time with your father and try to enjoy this little adventure. And don't let all your feelings be devoted to this Gero business; he'll still be here when you get back."