Author's Note: Hello everyone! Thank you for clicking this humble little story of mine :) It's been a long time since I first began working on this fanfic, over 10 years now. It kind of just sat here for a few years, ignored, and it's been deleted twice because I just was not happy with the first version of it. Plus, after writing Charms of Sweetness, I came up with a better plot for this fic that it had before. If you read the old version of SoY, I hope you will enjoy this new and improved version much better.

If you have any ideas, thoughts, comments, suggestions, etc that might help me make this a better story, feel free to let me know! This rewrite is almost 100% complete at this point so I will be updating regularly every two weeks or so. Also, I'm gonna be extra B!tch and give my chapter titles names like in the DBZ Japanese version ;D

Anyway, enough rambling. I hope you like it! Thanks for reading (: Now it's time for that pesky disclaimer~

I do not own DBZ or any of it's characters, but I do own Charisma and the bits and pieces of my story that weave into this one. But I bet you already knew that, right? (;

Chapter 1:

Unfortunate Circumstances! A Bleak Future

Mino stepped into the bright and roomy house that sat on the corner, his footsteps on the dark hardwood floors echoing. There were boxes around that still needed to be unpacked, but the furniture had already been moved in. He looked back out the door to see his wife, Kaylei, and the warm bundle of pink blanket in her arms that nestled a blonde little baby girl.

Kaylei sighed dreamily as she saw the spacious living room. "Wow, it's much roomier than I thought it would be," she said. "This is definitely a big change from our little old place."

Mino smiled at her and put an arm around her shoulder lovingly. "It is quite big, but it's perfect for our family. I'm sure once Charisma is a little older, she'll need plenty of space to run around."

Kaylei grinned at the thought and looked down at her baby, the girl's blue eyes hazy with sleep. "I'm really looking forward to it…"

"Say, now that we're here, let's go visit our new neighbors," Mino told her. "My new boss lives right across the street and has been looking forward to meeting you."

"That'll be nice," Kaylei agreed. "I would love to meet her too."

The young family of three ventured across the street to the large Capsule Corp building. After knocking on the door, a blue haired young woman quickly answered it.

"Oh, Mino, glad to see you decided to stop by and visit me," she said excitedly. "Oh, and that must be your wife, am I right?"

"Nice to meet you," Kaylei greeted sweetly with a slight nod.

"…And this is our daughter, Charisma," he explained.

"It's nice to meet all of you," Bulma said. "And she's such a cute little girl. I have a little baby boy that's about her age."

"Really? How nice," Kaylei replied. "This is such a busy looking neighborhood, with the Capsule Corporation around and all."

"You'll get used to it," said Bulma with a grin. "It's really nice over here. You're from South City, aren't you? It shouldn't be too different."

"Right," Kaylei responded. "Oh, it's time to put Charisma to bed. She gets awfully cranky if I'm not on schedule."

Bulma laughed and nodded. "I hear you there. It was nice to meet you, Kaylei."

"You, too, Ms. Brief," replied Kaylei with a bow.

Bulma waved her hand. "Hey, no need for formalities! Just call me Bulma."

"Right," Kaylei agreed with a smile. "Goodbye for now, Bulma." Mino and Bulma watched as Kaylei made her way across the street and into the house.

"So are you done moving everything yet?" Bulma asked, leaning against the door frame. "Your new office and everything is all set for you when you come in to work on Monday."

"Yes, we're just about settled in by now," he replied. "I'm really looking forward to working at Capsule Corporation, Bulma. It's quite an honor. I can't thank you and your father enough for accepting me. This is truly a dream job for me."

"Don't thank us," she said with a chuckle. "You're really talented and just what we've been looking for. My father and I were really impressed by your skills and knew we had to hire you right away. You'll fit in perfectly with our team."

Within a few weeks, Mino had settled into his job nicely. Kaylei remained at home caring for their baby and taking care of needs around the house. Everything seemed to be moving forward smoothly as they would expect and the friendship between the Mayol family and Briefs was growing strong.

However, the peace of the life they hoped to live was suddenly and unexpectedly shattered at the first report of an unforeseen attack. That report was soon followed by another, and another until all anyone could see on television or hear on the radio were news reports of relentless attacks and countless lives lost.

On one afternoon, Mino and Kaylee decided to visit Bulmaro at her home, as they often did.

"This can't be happening!" Bulma cried in hysterically, burying her face into the tile floor. Bulma's parents were trying desperately to console her but there was little they could do. Her sobs echoed chillingly in the home.

"All your friends are gone?" Kaylei repeated slowly, unsure of what to say. "That's terrible. How did this happen?"

"We don't know what's going on," Mr. Brief explained. "No one knows what's happening, but all we know is that it doesn't look good. Not at all."

Mino placed his hand on Kaylei's shoulder and she turned to look at him. "I think we should go now. We should let them have their privacy." Kaylei agreed and they departed.

"What are we going to do?" she asked when they returned home, worry clear on her face. "It's like an all out war is suddenly breaking out. What will happen to us?"

Mino scratched the back of his head. He struggled to find words but simply turned to his wife reassuringly. "We'll get through it. It'll only be a matter of time before this is all sorted out, so don't worry."

Any glimmer of hope that remained in their hearts disappeared almost instantly as weeks turned into months, and months into years. Still, these machines, the Androids as they were named, managed to turn a peaceful and beautiful world into a nightmare of death and destruction. Living anywhere in any given region was a constant danger, even venturing outside to buy food.

Charisma, nonetheless, grew into a lively 5 year old child, sheltered from most of this negativity by her parents. But there was only so much they could hide, as even Mino, now looking gaunter than a man his age should look, worked tirelessly his best to find a solution.

Mino's visits to Bulma's place were constant as they discussed ways to try and disable these Androids. Charisma spent many of her afternoons playing with Bulma's 5 year old son, Trunks. On this day, the two young children chased their cares away by running after each other in the house.

"You're really slow!" Trunks teased as Charisma struggled to catch up to him.

"You're really mean!" she grumbled. Trunks stopped abruptly once they neared the front door, causing Charisma to bump into his back. She looked over to see Bulma standing at the door and a tall, dark haired teen entered the house.

"Look who's here," Bulma announced happily. "Gohan, how have you been?"

"Gohan!" Trunks and Charisma both said happily as they looked at each other. They quickly ran over to greet the older half-Saiyan boy, now in his mid teens.

"Hey, it's good to see you," he said happily as he patted both of their heads. "Have you two been good?"

The children both nodded their heads in unison.

"We've been training really hard," Trunks explained.

"I'm still not fast enough to catch him, though," Charisma pouted and crossed her arms.

Gohan laughed heartily at her expression and carefully set the two children down. "Well hey, all you need is more practice. We'll continue our training later, all right?"

"All right!" Charisma and Trunks said happily and ran off together to another part of the house. Gohan smiled at them and began heading towards the living area where Bulma and Kaylei were residing.

"I'm still surprised you're actually letting Charisma train," Bulma mentioned as she walked towards a small desk and sat to continue what she was doing.

"I didn't want to at first," Kaylei admitted but smiled at Gohan as he took a seat beside her. "But Charisma doesn't have much chance to run around or exercise or anything with everything that's going on. Besides, you're such a good teacher, Gohan, and if self-defense is one of the best ways she can protect herself, I want her to be able to do so."

Gohan blushed and scratched the back of his head coyly. "You really think I'm a good teacher?"

"Of course!" Bulma agreed and turned back to smile at him. "Above all, Trunks and Charisma adore you. It's so nice of you to take time to train with them. I know things for you have been tough."

"Yeah…" Gohan sighed. "Trunks has a lot of potential…and even Charisma does, too. Her fighting spirit is strong. Say, where's Mino? I haven't seen him when I come around lately."

Kaylei took a deep breath and shook her head sadly. "I don't even really know, to be honest. He hasn't said anything to me in days. I don't see him too often. He just takes off and I try to warn him about the dangers of running around with the Androids somewhere. I'm worried sick about him…"

Bulma's eyes traveled to the ceiling thoughtfully. "Yeah…that is strange. I wonder what he's up to…"

Gohan searched the house for the two children with the intention of starting their sparring session. He entered another room on the ground floor to find Charisma forcing Trunks to play 'dollies' with her.

"This one is a popular singer that everyone loves," Charisma explained enthusiastically as she held her blonde doll out towards him. "And that one you have is jealous of her."

Trunks looked unimpressed as Charisma pointed at the red headed doll in his hand. Gohan suppressed a chuckle and entered the room. "Hey, what are you up to?"

Trunks looked up to see Gohan and immediately tossed the doll behind him in shame. Charisma squealed and ran after it.

"Hey, be careful, Trunks!" she cried as she hurried to take a seat beside him again.

Gohan smiled down at them. "Hey, are you two ready to begin training?"

"I sure am!" Trunks exclaimed, standing up as fast as he could. Charisma pouted slightly but stood up as well and smiled up at Gohan.

"I am, too, Gohan," she said.

"Great, then let's go outside," Gohan announced as he began leading the children outdoors. "We've got a lot of training to do."

The sparring session was the same as always. Gohan focused on teaching Charisma how to concentrate her power and watching carefully as she practiced her flying.

"I don't get to fly that much, Gohan," she said as she fluttered about unsteadily. "Mom doesn't let me even though I like it."

"I know, but you're really improving each time I see you," he said softly. "It's too dangerous for you to fly around by yourself. Someday, you'll be able to put it to good use. I promise."

Charisma grinned innocently and wrapped her small arms around his neck as she landed on his back. "I'm glad you're my teacher, Gohan."

Gohan chuckled up at her. "I'm glad to have such an obedient student!"

Trunks sat at the other end of the yard watching with a bored expression. Gohan could only teach Charisma so much and Trunks was always way ahead of her when it came to his power and his skill. They were on completely different levels and Gohan could never really train them together on the same subjects. Trunks was about to say something when Kaylei's voice rang through the air.

"Charisma!" the blonde woman said as emerged from the Capsule Corp house. "It's time for us to go home. It's getting late, dear."

"Hey, Kaylei," Gohan greeted her and carried Charisma over to her.

"Hello, Gohan," she replied sweetly and grabbed Charisma. "How's my girl behaving?"

"Like an angel, as always," he replied. "Did you have fun?" he asked the girl as Kaylei set her down.

Charisma nodded up at him and was almost unable to contain the smile on her face. "Yeah! Of course! We'll play again next time, right?"

Gohan smiled down at her and patted her blonde head. "Sure!"

"Thank you, Gohan," Kaylei said as she turned to leave. "Be safe."

"You, too," he replied and watched as Kaylei walked off. Charisma kept her eyes on Gohan and continued waving at him until she faded from sight.

Gohan turned to see a grumpy look on Trunks' face and grinned. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Nothing. I'm just glad we can begin our actual training again."

Gohan's grin grew toothier. "You're upset because Charisma forgot to say goodbye to you, aren't you?" he teased.

Trunks blushed uncontrollably and shook his head furiously. "No! That's not it at all!"

Gohan let out a hearty laugh and patted Trunks on his little back. "All right, calm down. I believe you. Now, let's start again from where we left off yesterday."

Mino entered the house shortly before midnight. Charisma had already been put to bed and Kaylei appeared to be asleep on the couch. Sadness permeated his heart as began trudging his way towards his lab in the basement.

"Where have you been?" Kaylei's voice suddenly rang and nearly scared him out of his shoes.

"Oh, sorry I'm late, dear," he said after composing himself. "I've been working."

Kaylei stood up and looked at him. "Working? What kind of work can you do at a time like this?"

"…we've got a plan…" he explained. "…some of the other citizens of West City and former Capsule Corp workers, I mean…" Mino walked over to Kaylei and took her hand. "We're working hard to find a way to get out of this mess. The only way for us to be safe from the Androids is to hide out underground, so we're building a bunker in a secret location."

"A bunker?"

"Yes," he elaborated. "Other cities have done it as well and they're working on one now as we speak for us. Resources are difficult to find at a time like this, but we'll be done with it soon, I hope."

Kaylei sighed and took a seat on the couch. "The only thing we can do is run and hide…"

"Unfortunately for now, that's all we can do…" Mino put a hand on her shoulder and nodded at her. "But I promise. In due time, we'll find a way to disable those Androids. Bulma and I have been working tirelessly to figure something out. It won't be long now."

The thought of surviving long enough for the bunker to be built and long enough for the Androids to be destroyed was a heavy burden. Not just for this small family, but for everyone trying to find a way to live in this chaos. Kaylei wiped sweat from her forehead. She looked up at the ceiling where Charisma's bedroom sat. "I hope so…"