Author's note: Hey, guys, thanks for the reads, & the reviews. I love getting those alerts. Please feel free to keep them coming, & let me know your thoughts as the story progresses.

Chapter 38

The Saiyan attack pod carried itself forward through space, Nappa slowly reviewing the controls as he moved. It was taking uncomfortably long, but he had faith that his team would come for him. Normally by now he'd be asleep, and he wasn't too happy being confined in such a small space. For most Saiyans it was fine, but for someone large like him, it was rather uncomfortable.

In what felt like a few hours, but in reality was less than half of one, his window was filled with the underside of the flagship of the Capsule Cosmos fleet … was it really a fleet if it was the only ship under their control? To his surprise a pair of hanger style doors opened in the bottom of the ship, and with ease he was able to enter the ship.

Preparing to open his ship's hatch, Nappa thought twice when he noticed the door was still open behind him. Tapping his foot he waited as the hatch sealed, and waited longer until a red light he saw on the door to the main ship turned green. When the light switched the door slid open, and both Goku and Turles entered to greet him.

Not wanting to be in the tiny craft any longer than necessary Nappa popped the door open and stepped out on it. His back was soar from the undersized operator's position. "I forgot just how uncomfortable these things are." He smacked his palm against the roof twice.

Turles nodded once as he walked around the ship, inspecting it for imperfections. "Well, hopefully you won't need to get back in anytime soon."

Nappa cricked his neck and stepped onto the ground, stepping to stand beside Goku. "Or at least hopefully next time I'll be able to go to sleep. I'm surprised I remembered how to deactivate that, to be honest with you."

Goku didn't know what to say to that so he just nodded.

"You picked a good ship, guys." Turles said as he knelt behind it. His knee rested on the seem to the unending void of space.

"Why's that?" Goku asked, coming around to see what he was looking at. Nappa was close behind.

"It's an outdated model, that I have experience with." Turles pressed his pointer finger into a section of metal that looked identical to the rest. It sank in easily, and he was able to slide the panel over, exposing the ships control system. "Goku, go get the toolkit out of drawer forty-two, please."

"Sure thing." Goku smiled and stood. The door opened as he approached it, and Vegeta entered smugly after Goku exited, looking down his nose at the others. Neither Nappa nor Turles acknowledged him.

"So, what's the plan?" Nappa asked. "What are you going to do?"

"Well, step one is install a kill switch." Turles said. "No need to be connected to the Frieza Force network if we're not actively using it. Step two, see what we can find out about Frieza's whereabouts."

"Step three." Vegeta said. "Take your hands off my ship so I can get the bastard myself."

"Step three." Turles continued. "Track the bastard down, save Bulma, and get the hell out of Dodge."

"Where's Dodge?" Nappa asked. "And if that's where Bulma is, why aren't we already heading there?"

"It's not a real place, I don't think." Turles cracked a smile. "It's where a lot of those dog and pony movies that Goku's wife liked are set."

Nappa chuckled. "Dog and pony shows?"

Vegeta cleared his throat and jumped atop the pod. "Are you two nobodies ignoring me?"

"Quiet, Vegeta." Turles barked at him. "Someone with authority is talking."

Vegeta's jaw clenched, as did his fists. He looked intensely into Turles' eyes. His brows furrowed and his skin reddened. "I hate you all." He spoke through gritted teeth.

Nappa stood up behind Turles, steeling Vegeta's eye contact for himself. The prince was higher, standing atop the ship, but Nappa's bulk still made him feel small, insignificant. "Vegeta." He said clearly. "If you act like a member of the team, we will treat you as such." He put his hands on his hips and did not blink. "But if you continue to act on your own, or attempt to, you're going to continue being treated like the problem you are trying to be."

Vegeta's response dripped with venom. "I have never experienced such blatant, excessive, disrespect."

"Bullshit." Turles returned his eyes to the hardware in front of him. "You may not receive it like this often, but you dish it out plenty. You just can't handle it when someone treats you like you treat them."

Vegeta looked down at the dismissive elder Saiyan. "I have never..." He looked at his former teammate, his former guard, his former loyal subject. "How could you... Who do you..." He shook his head. "I am the prince."

"Prince of nothing." Nappa shook his head as well. "Vegeta, the old ways are gone. They are not coming back. Not in our life time."

"If you want to be the Prince of all Saiyans, you're going to need a few more Saiyans, and I assure you no offspring of mine, or Goku's, or Nappa's?" Turles looked over his shoulder and Nappa nodded. "Will bow down to Frieza, Cooler, Cold, or you." Goku returned at that moment with a large, hard shelled, case in each hand.

"You're comparing me, to the frost demons? To the people who enslaved our race, who genocided our people?" Vegeta took several deep breaths.

Goku dropped the cases next to Turles, and opened them for him.

Turles picked out a screw driver, pinched the tip to reshape it, and went to work on the craft. "Ask Chiaotzu if we have a spare switch I can install, or if I need to improvise, please."

"Sure thing." Goku turned on his heal and left the room once again.

"Vegeta." Nappa continued once Goku had left. "I would ask how many people you have killed, how many civilizations you have ended, how many planets you have destroyed, or races you've wiped out, but I know you wouldn't have any idea. Frieza, Cooler, and Cold, they're the exact, same, way."

"And you're not?" Vegeta bent at the waist to approach Nappa's eye level. "You were at my side for all of it."

Nappa leaned forward towards Vegeta. They were both over Turles, who didn't seem to mind. "I am not, and I am no longer at your side. I have moved on, Turles has moved on. Frieza, is stuck in the past. Cooler, is stuck in his grave, Cold, is stuck in the past. You, are stuck in the past. If you keep going the way you are, I will not be there, no one will."

Vegeta scoffed and stood back upright. "My father warned me that I would be alone at the top."

"Then what's your excuse, for being this isolated, so far from the top?" Nappa crossed his arms. "Listen, I don't care what you do, but if you continue down the trail blazed by Frieza and his father, you will end up at the same destination."

"With my boot on your skull." Vegeta sneered.

"With your corpse in a ditch." Turles spoke up. "Or, like Cooler, spread finely throughout the atmosphere."

Vegeta scowled and his aura flared. Not threatened by the gesture, Turles summoned his as well. Knowing that he still could not compete Vegeta suppressed his energy once more and hopped off the pod. As he exited the cargo bay Goku was again entering. Goku smiled at the former prince, Vegeta disregarded the gesture entirely.

"He doesn't know why he had it." Goku grinned, handing over a simple switch with a short length of wire extending from either end. "But, this was in the spare parts bin."

Turles took the offered part and inspected it. "This will work perfectly." He said. "Nappa, while I'm figuring out exactly where to place this, why not start seeing if you can figure out where Frieza, Bulma, is?"

Nappa agreed and went to work while Turles did the same. Historically Frieza would typically keep his current exact location discrete, insisting any reports having to do with him would be released after his departure. He didn't do this for security sake, but more so that no one would know when he might pop in. These days, was much the same. Frieza's location wasn't listed, but three days ago his location was certain, and four days before that it was as well. Going back a month, about as far back as he could easily access, Nappa tracked his former bosses movements. He was moving slowly, but consistently, around the galaxy, spinning out towards the edge as he moved.

Nappa noted each set of galactic coordinates on paper, and began searching for a pattern. When none was directly obvious he decided to dig a little deeper, see what he could find on the old man himself, if anything.

With the hatch open he wasn't too uncomfortable, but when the computer and all systems shut down at the same time he figured he'd rather get out before the door automatically sealed against the potential vacuum of space. Nappa would have no issue breaking out, but Turles probably wouldn't approve.

"Sorry." The cause of the failure said. "I guess the emergency battery isn't working anymore … I guess you really did find an antique." Sinking his finger back into the invisible slot on the back of the pod, Turles closed the access panel and stood up. "Were you able to find anything, or do we need more time?"

"Neah." Nappa smiled. "I got eight locations over the last month. Anything more will require a lot more time."

"Perfect, let's get that data plugged in and see what we can figure out."

Fifteen minutes later Turles, Nappa, Goku, Krillen, and Chiaotzu were back in the cockpit. Vegeta was displayed on one of the monitors in the gravity chamber. With the pod onboard they would need to put a lot more effort into keeping an eye on him.

Turles took the task of entering the coordinates into their computer himself. Once the data points were plotted he shifted the display from his screen to the largest one available. The group looked for a pattern, and they found one pretty quickly.

Nappa had been correct, Frieza was skirting around the edge of the galaxy, but no one had an idea as to why. There wasn't much out there where he was. The galaxy was far more interesting, more populated, towards the core, and in the outer rim, they couldn't think of anything he'd be after.

"So, we follow his path?" Goku asked. "It looks pretty simple."

"No." Turles answered. "We aim to cut him off. He's not going to stay still now, or ever."

"How do we know where he's going next?" Krillen asked. "Just because he's been moving like this, doesn't mean he's going to continue."

"Best I can tell our ship is just as fast, if not faster, than anything the Frieza Force has made." Turles patted his seat. "We can check for new movement every so often, and course correct as needed."

"How far away are they?" Goku asked. "How long will it take to get there?"

"I was hoping you wouldn't ask that." Turles allowed his posture to slacken. "It's hard to say for certain, but I'd figure we're at least two months out from where they are now."

Goku leaned forward in his seat. "So, two months and we'll be there?"

"Yeah, to where they are now. However, that gives them two months to move potentially further away. They're arcing though, so we're hopefully going to be able to cut them off. I'm hoping, worst case, we'll be to them, wherever they are at that point, within four months, hopefully quicker."

"It's already been over a year." Goku said. "Another four months isn't good, of course, but it's better than it could have been."

Turles shook his head. "By the time we get home, assuming things work out well, a year would have already passed on Earth, since we left. I wasn't thinking about Bulma when I said I hoped you wouldn't ask..."

Two weeks later

Krillen entered the information provided by Nappa into their ships computer, and it automatically adjusted their route. Their estimated window of arrival shifted from one hundred to one hundred and ten days, down to ninety five to one hundred and five days. It wasn't much of an improvement, but if it kept going like this, they'd be caught up in no time.

Peeking at the gravity chamber display screen he saw Goku and Turles absolutely clobbering each other. Krillen took another look, as the fact that the camera could even catch the two of them was highly unusual. Normally they worked on technique, speed, evasion, and precision, but not today. Today they stood in the center of the chamber, both bathed in a familiar red aura.

The two warriors had their front feet side by side, and what appeared to be a ki blade behind their rear feet, forcing them to keep their heals up. Goku hammered a jaw shattering fist into Turles chin. Turles' head was flung back, but he quickly countered with a gut wrenching jab to Goku's stomach. Goku crumpled slightly before delivering an equal blow to his uncles chest. Turles coughed and went to elbow the top of his nephew's head, but he was too slow. Turles' over extended, and Goku smashed his forehead into Turles' forehead. It wasn't a direct blow, but it was enough to send the older Saiyan spinning off to the side, falling flat on the ground, but avoiding having his foot cut in half.

Goku kept his fists up, his ki blades active, for several long, heavy, breaths. When Turles' Kaio-Ken dissipated Goku let his fall as well. The energy weapons vanished and Goku collapsed on the floor next to his uncle. At that point Krillen hit the kill switch for the chamber and rushed to the door.

Thankfully he was alone when he opened the chamber, as anyone else would have been overwhelmed by the smell of literally gallons of boiled Saiyan sweat. He went to Turles first, he hadn't moved from where he fell. His heart was racing, his skin was on fire, and his breaths were shallow. He was alive. Quickly switching to Goku he received much the same results.

"H-h-hey, Krillen." Goku puffed. "Is, it, your turn." He coughed hard. "In the, chamber?"

"N-no? What was that?" Krillen stammered.

"Knife, edge, death, match." Turles stammered. "A, quote, bloke, quote, I met on Earth introduced me to the idea."

"So, what, you just beat on each other until one of you gives out?" Krillen turned to face Turles.

"it's, a good, way to train, your, body." Turles continued to huff and puff. "No ki, actual consequences, gets the Saiyan blood boiling."

"I don't think I'll ever understand you Saiyans." Krillen frowned, making the others smile. "Do you need help?"

"No, thank you." Goku flexed his toes, fingers, arms, and legs. Everything still worked. "But, could you turn the gravity back up on your way out, please?"

"You're both insane." Krillen said while returning to the exit. "I'll turn it back on from the cockpit. Speaking of which, new coordinates were found, new window shaved off a couple days. Shortest estimate is under a hundred."

"Hear that, Turles?" Goku beamed.

"Less time, to train. We, need to, step it up, a notch." Turles responded. "Think I could do times four yet?"

"If you don't, you're not going to have a fun time next go around."

"Bonkers, absolutely bonkers." Krillen shook his head as he exited the chamber and sealed the door.

One week later

Goku pulled a large bone out of his mouth. The meat was quickly removed, although he was still chewing it. A few moments later he swallowed and repeated the act with another drumstick. Chiaotzu had explained to him where their food was coming from, and while he would rather have not known the details, he didn't mind them. If it feels like, smells like, and tastes like chicken, it's chicken, or, was, a few cycles ago, but it was still close enough.

"Okay, Goku." Chiaotzu turned away from the computer. 'I've entered the new information, and it looks like our window was shortened to eighty five to ninety five days."

For a moment Goku considered where Bulma would sleep when she was onboard, but then he figured he'd sleep on the floor if he had to. "I'll let the others know." Goku stood up. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." Chiaotzu spun his chair back around again, grabbing the joysticks, and blasting several X-Wings to space dust on the large display.

Dipping into the galley Goku shared the news with Krillen first, before continuing to the gravity chamber. To his surprise, the chamber was deactivated, although two Saiyans were going all out inside, and a third was enjoying the warm up.

Opening the door Goku was glad to see that Turles was relaxing during his non training time. He was wearing both a blind fold and a pair of earmuffs. His arms were crossed and his posture was relaxed. If he didn't know better, Goku would have assumed the Saiyan was napping.

The only indicator that he wasn't was very fast, very controlled, movement. Vegeta would swipe at his legs, and he'd step over the kick. Nappa would punch at his head, and he'd bob his head forward out of the line of attack. Vegeta launched a Galick Gun at point blank range, and Turles caught it in a reinforced palm. Nappa released an explosive wave, literally against Turles' back, and he shifted his feet slightly, withstanding the assault with some effort.

"Time out." Goku said, forming a T with his hands. "Quick update, arrival window is down to about ninety days or so."

"Thanks, kid." Nappa waved.

"Can't you tell..." Vegeta was cut off by Turles' fist closing around his throat, and he didn't continue because his face was smashed against the floor.

Turles grabbed his foot with his other hand and held him upside down. "Would you like to rephrase that, Vegeta?"

"Thank, you, for the update. Now, please, excuse us. We are in the middle, of, trying to, KILL YOUR FUCKING UNCLE!" Vegeta released a point blank Galick Gun directly into Turles' face.

Turles didn't dodge. He didn't block. He didn't flinch. What he did do was let the energy burn away his blindfold, before throwing the dethroned prince at Nappa. "Thanks, Goku." Turles nodded at him. "If you'd like to join in, feel free. Otherwise, we've got a good pace going." He cracked the knuckles in his fists.

"No, no." Goku waved and stepped back out into the hall. "You have fun, I'll be in the cockpit if you need anything. Should I turn the gravity on for you?"

"Full power, please." Turles sank into a wide squat and gestured for the other two Saiyans to make a move.

Three weeks later

"Another course correction, already?" Nappa opened his eyes while addressing Turles. He was sitting in the back left seat of the cockpit, feet up on the copilot chair.

"Third one this week." Turles said as he entered the information. "While he's moving often, at least he's not moving far?"

Nappa yawned and scratched his chin. "You can say that again."

Turles stood and stretched his back. "I'm going to. Sixty to sixty five days, but at this rate, I'm guessing we'll beat that by at least a week, if not two." As Turles walked out the door Nappa closed his eyes and crossed his arms.

Ducking into the quarters Turles gave Vegeta the update, receiving a grunt in return. Ducking into the galley Turles gave Krillen the update, receiving a smile and thanks in return. He also grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator, and an explanation from Krillen that he was just taking a breather as Chiaotzu and Goku had been going at it for sometime without slowing down.

Ensuring the chamber was off before entering, Turles joined Chiaotzu and Goku. Chiaotzu was standing stationary next to the door, and Goku was being pulled apart in the center of the training area.

"Heya, Turles." Goku panted from the center of the room. He had a chain wrapped around both his wrists and they were attempting to rip his arms out of their sockets. On the opposite end of the chain from himself were metal balls, bathed in blue.

"Heya, Goku." Turles waved. He glanced down at Chiaotzu. "I don't want to disrupt his concentration, but, how much force is he putting into that?"

"Don't worry about breaking his concentration." Goku tried to chuckle. "Worry about mine though." He cracked a smile. "We've been at it for an hour now, or so, and he's already exhausted my Kaio-Ken. If he hadn't been holding back, I'd probably be in pieces now."

Turles studied the short warrior. He knew Chiaotzu was very psychically powerful, but that was a new one. His power was phenomenal for an Earthling, Turles didn't know if he was a human or not, but to be able to push a Saiyan, the Super Saiyan, even if not in that state? Well, that's just crazy.

"It's not quite that dangerous." Chiaotzu opened his mouth and the words fell out through the blue glow.

"You outlasted a far, physically, stronger fighter." Turles looked back at Goku, and wondered if he could take a turn. "You're a lot more dangerous than you give yourself credit for, and I say that as a positive."

"I didn't." Chiaotzu's mouth hung open, but didn't move, as he spoke. "Goku isn't wrestling my energy, he's wrestling his own. I'm just redirecting it."

"WHAT?" Goku's eyes bulged. "You mean, if I relaxed Kaio-Ken earlier ..."

"Your blood wouldn't have dyed the carpet a fresh shade of red." Chiaotzu again spoke, oddly. Turles couldn't tell if it was telepathic into his head, or if he was using his powers to manipulate the air he exhaled.

"Wow, that's dark." Turles clapped Chiaotzu on the back. The warrior fell face first onto the ground, and shortly after he hit it, so did the balls on the end of the chains Goku held.

Chiaotzu rolled onto his back and got to his feet. "I guess I'll be using your blood instead." He snarled, exposing his teeth.

"Woah, woah, woah, little man." Turles held his hands up and stepped backwards. He thought he would have entered the hall, but the door slammed behind him, which was extra intimidating as it was an automatic door.

Chiaotzu rose into the air, eyes and cheeks quickly turning blue once more. He held a hand out towards Turles, and the far larger, far more powerful, man was lifted into the air. Turles frantically grabbed around, barely missing the door handle, not quite reaching a monitor, and not coming near to the control panel. Chiaotzu spun him upside down and drew him in close. He exhaled into Turles' nostrils.

Turles began powering up, and Chiaotzu blew a raspberry directly in his face. "FOOLED YOU!" He dropped his grip on the Saiyan. Turles caught himself on one hand and swung his body around to be squatting in front of Chiaotzu.

Turles scowled, before is face returned to a faint smile. "Yes, yes you did. Anyway, came here to say, computer says sixty or sixty five days. I'm thinking we'll beat that by a few weeks, but, there ya go. Now." He stood up and dwarfed the joker. "Back to work, you two. Goku, stop slacking. I expect you to be clapping those things by the time we reach wherever Frieza's at when we catch him."

"Yes, sir!" Chiaotzu and Goku both saluted as Turles left, quickly regaining their rhythm. The break wasn't much, but it was enough for Goku to regain enough ki for Kaio-Ken, and he did not let it go to waste.

Later...

Turles knocked on the door to one of the sleeping quarters. Moments later Goku answered the door, and Krillen sat up on his bed.

"What's up, Turles?" Krillen stretched his arms.

Turles thumbed his chin. "I just realized something." He gestured for the two other warriors to follow him, and they did. "Dr. Brief has me sending back regular reports on the ship. Not diagnostics or alike, the computer handles that, but generic progress reports, sanity check ins, and stuff along those lines."

"So ..." Goku took his turn to yawn. "You've been messaging with Dr. Brief back on Earth?"

Turles opened the cockpit door and waved his friends in. "Not quite, I've been sending him messages, and theoretically he's been receiving them, but he's almost certainly unable to respond."

"Why's that?" Krillen asked. "It wasn't an issue when we went to Namek, or, I don't think it was?"

"Frieza's empire is big. Really big. You just can't believe how vastly hugely mindbogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the way to Namek, but that's just peanuts to Frieza's empire, which is similarly proportionate to the Cold Empire, I'd imagine." Turles spread his arms as he took his place in the captain's chair. "With somewhere as close to Earth as Namek, the delay is negligible in communications. With where we are now though, it's, it's a bit further away, and takes a bit longer for the signals to reach their destination."

Goku raised his hand."So they can respond, but it'll take a while to reach us?"

"I guess it's possible." Turles nodded. "Dr. Brief could explain it better, but because of how much we're moving, they can't really beam a reply directly towards us. Instead, the message would need to be beamed all over space, which apparently corrupts it? Warps it? Or something..." He shrugged.

"You don't sound that confident in that explanation." Krillen poked Turles' ribs.

Turles batted the finger away. "Like I said, Dr. Brief can explain it a lot better than I can." He shook his head. "All I know, the computer knows where Earth is, we can shoot a message right to them, and without broadcasting our exact location to the entire galaxy, there's really nothing Dr. Brief can do to respond back. I mean, it's possible we'll get his reply, but, just unlikely."

"So, that's interesting and all." Goku put his feet on the copilots chair. "But, why are you telling us all this?"

Turles exchanged a look with Krillen, and shrugged again. Making eye contact with his nephew he dragged his palm down his forehead. "Because I have a way to send messages directly to Earth, video messages, messages that have me, us, in them … I thought you may want to, I don't know, tell Puar that he's a good kitty, and remind Yamcha to change his litter box?"

"You know." Goku crossed his arms. "Puar may be a cat, but she, not he, is still pretty smart. More than just a cat. Also, I don't think she uses a litter box..." He tilted his head and pondered the thought.

"Goku?" Krillen bit back a chuckle. "I think the reason Turles brought this up, is so that we could send messages to Gohan, Piccolo, Maron? Chi-Chi?

"OH!" Goku stomped his feet on the ground. "That makes a lot more sense!" He looked to the monitor beside him. "So, how do I do this? Or, Krillen, would you like to go first?"

Goku to Earth

Goku plopped himself down in the captain's chair during his next watch. Vegeta was asleep. Nappa and Chiaotzu were playing cards. Krillen and Turles were training. Following the bullet points laid out by Turles, Goku opened a communication channel, activated the camera, and after speaking for a moment remembered the microphone, and he restarted.

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and looked into the camera. "Everyone." He started. "I'm sorry I haven't been sending messages already. This isn't what the system was designed for, and it took us a while to figure out the second purpose. Hopefully this actually works, and I'm not just talking into the void. In case I am, hi King Kai, hi, Tien, hi Grampa."

Clearing his throat he leaned slightly towards the camera, watching himself grow on the display. "Gohan." He smiled. "I'm sorry I'm not there with you now, and that I wasn't before leaving. It's my fault, and I will strive to do better in the future. Now, there's something I'd like to share with you, that I probably should have, a long time ago."

He leaned back. "I'm not academic. I can read, I can write, and I'm better at math than you probably know. Ask Master Roshi to tell you about my and Krillen's training under him if you can, it was more than just training our bodies, but our minds too. Anyway, what I'm getting at, is I know the value of an education. Your mother is right, studying is important, and I really hope you're doing it while I'm gone. You are so strong, but you're also so smart, and just as I'd hate to see you waste your natural fighting ability, I'd hate to see you waste your mental abilities as well, and I know your mother, and your grandfather, are probably telling you the exact same thing."

"Speaking of training." Goku beamed. "I hope that you're keeping up with it as well. If he's not already working with you, don't mention this to him, but I hope your uncle Raditz and you are working together. From what Turles tells me he's quite a skilled fighter, and you could learn quite a lot from him. But, if you're not training with him, or Piccolo for that matter, don't mention it to them. It wouldn't be polite, I don't think..."

"... Well, ask your mother about that. She knows a lot more about those things than I do." Goku closed his eyes and a smile creased his lips. "Speaking of Chi-Chi, I hope you're taking good care of her, and minding her like I know you are. You're the man of the house, and you're still a kid, but this is a great chance for you to take on some responsibilities. Just remember, normal people use an axe to cut wood, and if you do it by hand, you may confuse them."

Goku thought for a moment before continuing. He didn't know how to end a video message. Heck, a few hours ago he didn't know how to send one. For that matter, he didn't know they were even a thing. "Well, bye." He waved before freezing mid hand motion.

"Piccolo." Goku beamed. "Hope you're doing well, taking care of the Lookout, not being too tough on Loa, and not giving Korin too much trouble." He pictured Korin trying to get Piccolo to wear Kami's old clothes, figuratively at first, than literally, and couldn't help but laugh.

"Anyway, I know you've been training with Chiaotzu, but, wow." Goku mimed his head exploding. "He's a lot more powerful than I remember, and his psychic powers are, well, they're crazy. He says it's not him, he's just redirecting my energy, but when I'm really trying, full effort, to pull two chains together, and he's holding them apart? I don't care how he's doing it, it's insane."

"Anyway, I hope you're improving like he is. Either way, we need to spar when I'm back on Earth. Training with Turles and Nappa is, is a uniquely Saiyan experience, I think. Training with Chiaotzu is an entirely unique experience, that I couldn't really compare to anything. Training with Krillen is a blast from the past, and a good relaxing time for me. I've been doing that instead of meditating lately, but don't tell King Kai. But, after a few months I'm itching to fight you again, like the old times. Eh, Ma Junior? Well, I hope you're not evil still, and that if you are, Gohan kicks your butt, but, hopefully you're still a good guy … I think with Kami in you, you have to be, right? Anyway, bye!" Goku waved again, froze again, and restarted again.

"Master Roshi." Goku couldn't help but bow his head slightly when addressing his first real master. "Wish Turtle a happy birthday for me. Don't tell him, but I don't remember exactly when it is, but, I'm in space, so … it's got to be his birthday on some planet, right? I think that's how it works, isn't it? Also, if you haven't already, tell Gohan some stories about when I was training under you. Not just the turtle shells, the dinosaurs, or the milk deliveries … although those were pretty fun times, but about the reading, the writing, the studying. I don't know if he'd believe it from me. Anyway, space is going good so far, working hard, eating and sleeping plenty, and, honestly, I've been slacking in the studying. I haven't really focused on that since, well, since King Piccolo, but, I think I may address that more when I get home."

Goku thought for a moment. "I think if you were here you'd probably be hitting me now, and telling me to stop being so noncommittal … okay, when I get home, tell Gohan, I'm going to study with him, like I should have been. I'll need some time to catch up, but, I'm going to do it. Anyway, it's been nice chatting to you, bye!" He waved again, again, he froze again, again, and he restarted again, again.

"Chi-Chi." He took a deep breath before continuing. Not closing his eyes, yet blinking away tears. "I miss you, Chi-Chi. I miss us. I miss waking up next to you. I miss hugging Gohan with you. I miss coming home to you. I can cook for myself. I can clean for myself. I can survive, by myself. But, Chi-Chi, it's, I'm, I'm not living, not without you in my life."

"I know people joke about the person, and their spouse is their better half. You, you are an incredible woman. You are strong, physically for a human, mentally for any species. You are so kind, so sweet, and such an amazing mother." He stopped fighting it, and allowed his tears to run freely down his cheeks. He didn't hold back, he wasn't ashamed of them. He was a man, this was his wife, and these were his emotions. He had faced the literal lord of the galaxy, and he died, but he stood tall there, despite how weak he was. Now, he was facing his wife, if he could be vulnerable to Frieza physically, he could be vulnerable to his wife in every way. "I have faults, and everywhere I fall short, as a parent, as a partner, as a person, you stand tall. I am sorry I let you down. I let Gohan down. I, I let us down."

He took a deep breath to get his breathing back under control. "When we got married, took our vows, we joined our lives together. You are my better half, but, as part of that, you are my half. Any life I have, without you, it's, it's not a life, and, I, I can continue like this, if this is what you need, I can respect your decision, and I will accept your decision, but, please, Chi-Chi, please change your mind. I will do anything, if it, if it means we can be a family again. Chi-Chi, I love you, and I am so sorry I hurt you."

He wiped away his tears now. Looking down he realized just how soaked through his shirt had become. "Well, it looks like Turles and Chiaotzu are doing their cool down routine, so I need to get some food started for them. Chi-Chi, I miss you, I love you, and, and I hope we can move past this."

Author's note: Training, talking, and plotting. What else is there to do, right?

Zorianka: Yeah, Bulma's got it tough, and she's doing what she can to survive. I don't think she intended to create a macro function on that glove, but she didn't really have a choice in the matter. A girl has to survive. And she knows that whatever the Cold Empire, even with her help, throws at Goku, he'll win, and he will rescue her. Or, at least she hopes ...