Prologue

May 16th Age 768 5:13AM, Mt. Paozu

In a barren wasteland, warriors of all shapes and sizes lay on the ground, beaten and decimated. A tall three eyed man in green pants and a white shirt, two warriors clad in orange, one short and bald, the other with short black hair, a green skinned giant of a man in a purple fighting gi, and a short man with spikey black hair in some sort of armor. Off to the side was a man in similar armor with purple hair. He lay motionless thanks to the hole in his chest and the fresh blood splattered on the ground all around him. A tall insect looking humanoid stood smirking at the scene before him, with only one challenger left to face him. A young boy stood before the monstrous bio android, gripping his left arm at the shoulder as warm blood trickled down his hand and all down his left side.

The young boy prepared the largest energy attack he had ever summoned in his eleven years on Earth. With a mighty war cry he launched the energy forward from his right hand even as the monster that threatened his planet's very existence released an attack of possibly even greater magnitude. The beams collided exactly halfway between the warriors and the energy dome grew in size between them as they both poured power into their attacks. The bio android's energy seemed never ending as he laughed maniacally at the boy facing him. Slowly but surely, the young warrior's strength began to fail him and the clashing point of the two energy beams crept ever closer to him, the monster's energy wave overtaking his own.

Overwhelming fear crept over the boy as he felt his power failing against the sheer might of this monstrous android. He'd lost his arm and a large portion of his energy when he saved the short armored warrior from instant death. Thinking of his home, his family, and his friends, he cried out in anguish at the thought of losing it all. With these feelings of depression and regret welling up, the boy cried out for more power, releasing everything he had. Knowing the cost of defeat, he pushed back with all his might, but it was all for naught. He had only succeeded in prolonging the inevitable while his body began to give out. As the color drained from his face, he suddenly heard a familiar voice. He yelled out, calling out to the man who had sacrificed himself for the sake of the Earth. "Father! Can you hear me father" he cried. "Yes my son, I hear you" the voice answered back. His emotions calmed for a bit and his energy became more focused, forcing back the overwhelming power of the monster before him. He then was shocked to hear the next words of his father. "Son, why did you let me die?" "What? Dad what are you saying?" The voice answered immediately "Why didn't you defeat him when you had the chance son? I wouldn't have had to die if you had. You've left your mother without her husband, and your baby brother without his father. You did this son, you killed me." With tears now streaming from eyes again, the young boy said "Dad I never meant for you to die! I'm sorry Father, I messed up, but I want to make this right! Please Father! Help me defeat him! I can't do this alone!" The voice however, was no longer there.

The monster that was trying to destroy him and the planet then yelled above their power struggle "So even your father abandons you? Such a shame boy, now you will truly die alone! Prepare for oblivion!" The android then released every ounce of energy he had gathered at once, completely overwhelming the young boy's own waning power. The young warrior fought back with all his might but just couldn't bring the energy out of himself. He screamed out as the blast began to burn his skin and he knew this was the end of everything, "AAAHHHHHHHHHH-

-AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Gohan shot straight up in bed, sweating all over and his covers thrown all about his room. As his breathing began to return to normal, Gohan tried calming himself by meditating like Piccolo had instructed him to. 'Another nightmare' thought the young half saiyan to himself. The twelve year old then stood from his bed and started gathering up his sheets and blanket to remake his bed for the fourth time that week. As he did, one of the sheets overturned a picture that sat on his desk when he picked it up. Noticing this, Gohan sat the covers down on the bed and walked back to his desk. When he picked up the picture he sat down in his chair and stared at the photograph for a moment. The picture showed a man with black spiky hair clad in an orange gi with a navy blue undershirt. To his left stood a beautiful woman in a purple dress with an orange cloth tied around her shoulders. She wore her hair in a bun atop her head with two strands framing her face and her bangs just above her eyebrows. On the man's right shoulder sat a young boy in green pants, a yellow top with green sleeves, black boots, and a red cap on his head with a small, orange ball that appeared to have four red stars on it. The family was all smiles in the picture, a sight that made Gohan smile even as a tear trickled down his face. "Dad, we sure do miss you..." Gohan said aloud.

Deciding not to spend anymore time dwelling on the past or his nightmares, the young demi saiyan grabbed his towel from the back of his door and headed down the hall to the bathroom, stopping only to check in on his mother and baby brother on his way. Seeing them both still sound asleep, the young boy smiled and continued towards the bathroom. After a relaxing but quick shower, Gohan headed back towards his room, then dressed himself in his favorite gi. An orange gi with a purple short sleeve undershirt, navy blue sash, and black martial arts boots. He then opened his window and looked out over the beautiful Mount Paozu, the mountain was full of life every morning. Rivers flowed in all directions, birds sang their morning songs, flowers opened as the sun began to part the skies, even the trees seemed to come to life with the gentle breeze that rolled across the mountainside. Gohan beamed at his home as he took off through his window and out into the open skies. Knowing his mother wouldn't be up for at least another hour or so, the boy flew up through the clouds until finally he burst through the top. Admiring the sun as it slowly rose into the sky above, he floated there for only a moment until something caught his eye.

It appeared to be a shooting star, but the stars shouldn't be visible now with the sun coming up. Pondering what this strange object was, Gohan suddenly became alarmed as he realized the strange object was in fact heading straight towards the surface of the Earth! Preparing to intercept the object if necessary, Gohan powered up and a white aura enveloped him. Turning serious, he tracked the extraterrestrial object as it flew towards the planet. Eventually, he was able to make out that it was a pod of some sort, which appeared to be red hot from entering the atmosphere at incredible speed. Upon it breaking through the atmosphere completely, the burning sheen surrounding the pod withered away before it surprisingly altered its course mid flight directly towards Gohan! The saiyan hybrid scrambled out of the way as the pod like object barreled towards him. As he successfully dodged the oncoming spacecraft, Gohan noticed something strange and foreboding, the pod looked exactly like the ones the Saiyans and Frieza's army had used.

Thinking back to when Raditz and then eventually Vegeta and Nappa had come to Earth, Gohan immediately began to expect trouble and decided quickly to follow the pod and see where it landed, already preparing for a fight. The space faring pod crashed into the Earth moments later and then finally skidded to a halt, leaving a long crater in its wake. Gohan landed close by and cautiously approached the Saiyan pod. Upon reaching it, he waited for a few minutes with bated breath for someone or something to emerge. After a few minutes of nothing happening however, Gohan became curious and quietly approached the pod, unsure of what he would find. He peered through the small window like opening and to his surprise, he saw a young boy that looked to be about his age. The newcomer appeared to be either asleep or unconscious. Either way, he didn't seem to be threatening, so Gohan began trying to remember how to manually disable the hatch from the outside. After a few minutes of looking over the craft, Gohan found a small square on the side of the hatch and pressed his palm against it. The square panel opened up to reveal a few small switches and a lever. Remembering this part easily, Gohan pulled the lever down and steam erupted from around the hatch as the single person cabin depressurized. The hatch then opened, revealing the stranger to the young demi saiyan.

A soft, robotic female voice then said "Life support system critical, recommend emergency medical treatment for passenger. System shutting down in three, two, one." The lights inside the pod then dimmed and turned off, and the respirator attached to the young man's face disconnected. Gohan then noticed the stranger was breathing heavily, almost panting, and looked to be in poor shape as sweat began to pour from his face. Sensing the young boy's life force, Gohan was again alarmed as he felt it slowly ebbing away. Knowing the stranger was in trouble, the demi saiyan moved quickly to remove the young boy from the pod. With the stranger in his arms, Gohan took off towards his home where hopefully his mother was at least awake. Blasting back to the Son family home, Gohan began feeding the stranger some of his energy to sustain his life force. Eventually his home came into sight and there standing in front of his home was his mother with her hands on her hips.

As Gohan started to descend his mother was already shouting at him "Son GOHAN! What in the world are you doing!? I can understand that you like to take a morning flight, but I've told you before to be home before sunrise! Super Saiyan or not you still have chores to do young man!" Gohan sighed in exasperation as he slowly came to a halt in front of his mother. Just as Chi Chi was about to continue her rant, she stopped herself when she noticed the young man in her son's arms. "Gohan, who is that young man?" Gohan quickly responded "Mom, this boy crash landed in a Saiyan space pod just a few miles away from here, he's in trouble!" Chi Chi immediately had a fearful look overcome her as she too recalled the last two times a Saiyan pod had come to Earth. On both occasions, a blood thirsty warrior had come for her now deceased husband. About to retort, Chi Chi then looked over the boy laying on the ground in front of her who was in obvious pain. She then noticed the pleading look in her eldest son's eyes. Sighing to herself, Chi Chi said "You're just like your father, always wanting to help people and do the right thing. Alright we'll help him."

Gohan carefully laid the boy on their couch in the living room and finally had a chance to examine the young man. He was obviously well built for his age and had spiky black hair, most of which stuck straight up on top of his head with a few locks hanging over his forehead. Having deduced that the stranger was at least part Saiyan from feeling his energy, it came as no surprise that he wore a typical set of saiyan armor over top a spandex bodysuit. The armor was interesting in that it was two toned in color, the pads covering his vitals were a light blue while the rest of the armor was black. The bodysuit was a deep navy blue color and his boots were black with light blue toes instead of the usual white with gold on the toes.

Chi Chi seemed extremely worried even though she was unable to sense energy. Gohan looked to his mother and said "Mother, I'm going to fly to Korin's tower right now, his energy is fading quickly and I doubt he's going to make it through the night." Chi Chi's expression suddenly darkened as she replied "Gohan, what makes you so sure this boy wasn't sent here to try and destroy Earth or kill you or our friends? We shouldn't jump to conclusions so soon, we know nothing about this boy!" Gohan then cried out with hurt in his voice "Mom that doesn't matter!" Chi Chi was taken aback by her son's outburst but stayed silent while he continued. "Is this what we are now? Terrified of every strange being that comes to Earth? What about Trunks from the future then!? We didn't know him at all and he saved us all by telling us about the androids! If we'd treated him as an outcast, we would've all been killed! We don't know anything about this boy but that doesn't mean we shouldn't help him! I'm going, right now! I'm not going to let anybody else die if I can help them!"

With that, Gohan ran outside and blasted off as his mother ran after him with tears in her eyes. Chi Chi realized that her son was long gone and stopped running. She watched as Gohan sped away, and thought to herself 'Gohan, my precious boy, why did you have to grow up so fast? You're so strong, but so kind, just like your father. Oh Goku, why couldn't you come back to us?' She then slowly walked back to her home, and upon entering paused for a moment to look over the strange young man her son had brought home. She said aloud "Well, if Gohan believes that you're a good person, then I'll believe in you too." The Son matriarch then turned and hustled into the kitchen to get a rag for a hot compress. While doing so, she heard the young man cry out in pain in his sleep. As she hurried back to the living and laid the hot rag across the stranger's forehead, she thought 'Oh Gohan, please hurry!'

AN: Hello everyone, and thank you already for making it through the prologue of this story. I am new to this website and this will be my first project. Please review and any comments and criticisms are welcome. Looking forward to seeing where this goes and I hope everyone enjoys the ride!