"When we hit our lowest point, we are open to the greatest change"

– Avatar Aang

Present Day

Yamcha's POV

Me and Puar were flying a little late towards Capsule Corp. for Bulma's ' Universe Tournament Victory' party as she put it. We won the tournament and our universe was spared, but luckily Android 17 brought back all the universes that were erased were afterward with of the super dragon balls we won. Of course its what I heard seeing I wasn't actually at the tournament, because I wasn't picked.

As much as I wanted to help, I probably would've gotten my ass handed to me. I've starting my training more often again a few months ago before the tournament without the others knowing. I wanted to make sure I have a decent amount of power left, not to surpass Goku or Vegeta of course, for me that's literally impossible.

I was careful not to move around so much in my flight pattern for what was in the box I was carrying. It was a chocolate cake I got for a favor for Bulma. She said " I was the closest one to the bakery she wanted for the party" or something like that. I honestly didn't know why she wanted me to do it when she had plenty of money at her disposal to hire someone to get it, but whatever. It had blue iced lettering that said ' Strongest Universe'.

" Its really nice of you to grab this cake, Yamcha" said Puar. I blushed a little, " Yeah yeah, I think I'm just too nice for my own good and anyway B asked. " Great. Now I feel like I am just her servant.

We finally made there and landed behind a building close to the party, the place I was when I saw them gathered for the tournament. I kept my ki low enough so they wouldn't detect it, to see if I could scare the crap of them. Just for kicks.

As I walked towards them, I saw them talking in a group about something until I heard my name mentioned. So out of curiosity, I shushed Puar and stayed hidden to listen in...turns out I wished I didn't.

" Where's Yamcha? Is he late again? " Bulma asked " he was supposed to bring it an half n' hour ago" she mumbled. " Clearly not here. He's probably trying to flirt with some girl or being a lazy bum at home heheheh" said Roshi.

Stupid old man's got his nerve!

" As much I don't want to agree, the perverted old man is right. That fool has always been a slacker and idiot. He wasn't even at the tournament, I don't even know why you invited him, woman" Added Vegeta, " I invited him because he's our friend, Vegeta! It's not his fault you didn't pick him!" She said, "But as much as I hate to admit, you do have a point, he always was kinda of a slacker in everything, even when we dated! ...Sometimes I wonder how I ever got that desperate for a boyfriend".

Ok ouch. That hurt.

" That was a little cold for you, Bulma" said 18. " I agree " Tien agreed " but I doesn't excuse the fact that I am disappointed in my friend's abilities. His lacking of training at all has him made terribly weak and not even a match for me even if he has given it up" " I hardly call them abilities, more like tricks" Piccolo said bluntly.

What!? Thats not...

" Hey, I wouldn't exactly put him on Satan's "level" that's a stretch." said Krillin " no offense to him, but I wouldn't be goin' around talking big if I had power level as low as his" " You're one to talk and what power level?" Vegeta added with a smirk. Oolong and Roshi were trying to hold their laugher.

" I'm no expert, as much Yamcha is a...decent fighter, I don't think he's on any your levels anymore, cause if he was you would've picked him for your team. I can't remember the last time I actually saw him fight. I wouldn't really say he's one of you",Bulma stated.

I...I...

" Of com'on gufs " Goku intervened with a chicken leg in hand with his mouth full" gut hem som sack! It ain't hib faulb he's so week! ( oh com'on guys! Cut him some him some slack! It ain't his fault he's so weak!) he swallowed what was in his mouth, " Wait...actually it...kinda is" by then Roshi and Oolong couldn't hold their laughter anymore. Krillin snickered a little.

I dropped the cake, no one noticed, and used my speed to move to a farther area so they wouldn't see me leave, but it was hard to do that while keeping my ki very low because of my emotions were getting in that. Puar followed close behind.

" You guys outta be ashamed of yourselves!" Chi-Chi yelled at the group, " Talking about Yamcha like that behind his back is flat out disrespectful and shameful! How could you!? He has his flaws, but so do all of you! Just because your stronger than him, doesn't make you perfect fighters! Get off your high horses!" they all suddenly felt ashamed of themselves, even Piccolo a tiny bit, Vegeta not so much. " Ah, your right Chi-Chi, we took those jokes too far" Krillin said, Roshi agreed " Yeah, she's right, we ain't perfect either, man I feel like an idiot, I'm just glad he wasn't here to hear that" " Hmph" she turned to go talk to 18, who left the conversation awhile go.

~~~~~~~~~

No one POV

When they stopped, Puar looked at him. His eyes were shadowed and his fist shook, his face showing heartbreak and shame.

" P-Puar" he said normally but only a fraction above a whisper, trying not to breakdown " I'm not really in the party mood anymore" understanding completely, Puar simply nodded.

They took to the skies towards their apartment. Puar went in first when they arrived, but Yamcha stayed afloat outside the window. " Yamcha?" Puar asked confused, Yamcha lifted his head to look at her with a the most cheerful smile he could muster with wetness in the corner of his eyes, " Its ok, Puar. I'm only going out for some air, to clear my head. I'll be back ok?" " Are you sure? " " Yeah, I am don't worry alright?" " Ok...if you say so" she hesitated.

She had a pretty good idea where he was going, but all she could do is watch as her long time friend took off into sky.

Little did she know that she would regret that decision for a long time.

~~~~~~~~~

As he flew, Yamcha's eyes let loose the tears that he had been holding back for Puar as they flowed in the wind. He didn't want her to see him like this.

He headed to the place he knew best. Somewhere familiar. The places where he spent the most years of his life up till he turned twenty.

The desert.

There he landed on the ground, on his knees, hands digging into the earth below him. The anguish he felt made him want to explode. He finally let out a long sob.

So that's what his so-called friends thought about him and he had no idea,... and how could he? Or maybe he was just kidding himself. Thinking that he meant something to them.

While they called him weak, they really didn't know how much he had been holding back his emotions all these years. Nothing was going right for him, if it did it didn't last long. It would all come crashing down with on him. Even when he was just a child his bad luck hadn't spared him.

When he was five years old, he was taken by a gang member that invaded his village one night without his parents knowing. They took him to their hideout in remote location in the Diablo Desert. There, they " trained" him to be one of them. Training consisted of constant beatings, insults, and other things he was too young to remember nor did he want to remember. Things no child should have to go through and see. They said it was to toughen him up and make him stronger. He slept in a cell constantly crying for his mom and dad every night. Only silently though, because his guard didn't really take a liking to crying.

This torment lasted three months, until their hideout was attacked by some unknown enemy. One of the members grabbed him under their leaders orders and took him on a hover bike away from their location. In all the chaos, he shirt got ripped and torn. When he thought they were far enough, the man tried to kill him but he was suddenly attacked by wolves and killed him instead.

As they were busy with dead man, he ran as fast as he could in fear that he was next. All he could remember of that day was running into the night scared out of his mind with the tears stained on his face heading Kami knows where.

He was all alone.

For three years he had to fend for himself in the desert. He had no idea how to get back home. He previously grabbed a duffle bag full of supplies he found in the dead mans' the hover bike when he went back from that terrifiying night. This went on until he met his first master, after he saved his life from a dinosaur. He took him in as his son and pupil, thats when he met the master's companion, Puar. They quickly became friends. The master taught him martial arts and the Wolf Fang Fist, then later helped him make his first sword.

He taught him the missing pieces of his education, more of the outside world, and how to truly become one with the desert and how to use it to his advantage. He also taught him how to cook. For the first time in a long time, he felt true belonging again, he didn't think it would end; until he was thirteen. His master died of an unknown disease. Even in all his attempts to help him, he couldn't do anything more than to watch his second father-figure die.

He and Puar mourned for a two weeks, it tore them apart. After the tears had finally left they picked themselves up and kept going. Unfortunately, they had to become bandits to steal what they needed to survive or that's how it started. He somehow developed a ridiculous fear of women especially beautiful ones, so every time he tried to steal from women; he'd get red in the face and run for it. Many years later, they met Goku, Bulma, and Oolong. After some dragonball craziness, giant monkeys, flaming mountains, and idiot emperors, they became friends. As a bonus, he got his first girlfriend through Bulma.

After that it was just a blur of events. Dating Bulma, playing professional baseball, meeting Master Roshi and becoming a student of his Turtle Style, meeting Chichi, Krillin, and Launch. Competing in tournaments, tangling with the Red Ribbon Army, Crane Master, and a bunch of other goons, which lead to meeting Tien and Chiaotzu. All these crazy things- good and bad- made him feel a part of something bigger, but even then he had bad luck. Every tournament he never made it past the first round in the finals. No matter how hard he trained. Always being out shined by Goku, the others, or some other crazy reason.

Five years after Piccolo's defeat, Sayians come to earth wanting to kill them all and take the dragon balls. During the battle with their " little minions", he got in an unexpected surprise when one of them practically blew up in his face after beating it in a fight, experiencing his first death. After that, Freiza came and he couldn't do anything to help because he was dead. Then after that...

Well, what happened next should've been the breaking point. He and Bulma had been falling apart for many reasons over the years. Mostly because she assumed he was cheating, which never was the case. The only time he ever saw any other woman is when they would "break up" dozens of times, never during the relationship.

He never lived up to her standards, and somewhere; he knew she was right. So he thought if they get married, maybe it'd be better, and they eventually work out their problems for the greater good, but the day he went to formally ask her with a ring and everything; she already was pregnant...with the child of the alien prince who wanted them all dead not long ago and who wanted to kill Goku back then. That shattered him to pieces. Even still, he knew he had to face facts that a chance of a future with her was gone, thus their relationship ended for good.

As more years go on, his only friends see him as a burden now. An idiot and a weakling. Nobody worth their time. Just someone in the way. Unfortunately, the icing on the cake is that he's been feeling a lot more insecure lately. Having doubts about his place, and their words proved it.

The battle with Cell: pathetic. The fight with Buu: useless.

They'd probably laugh him when he's not around and if there was some being or beings other than the Lord of Everything watching his life, they'd probably laugh too.

All the emotions he's kept inside all these years were rising up and out the locked door he kept closed for so long. It shouldn't have affected him so much, he shouldn't be acting like this at all, he should be tough enough to not let this get to him but...

Hearing those words...from them...it...it hit harder than a sock in the gut ever could. Somehow he knew they were partially right. He stopped training because he became useless in the battle field and all those times he'd try to act tough; in reality he was scared to the core and he hated it! Hated feeling so weak that people needed to lookout for him like some child! It was torture! Like the time Tien didn't tell him about Frieza's resurrection. Left him to die with everyone else without letting him at least fight to protect or to survive the- who was he kidding it didn't matter. None of it did now.

The pain and frustration he built over the years blew up like a volcano about to erupt. The feeling of rage and utter despair consumed his whole being, so much so that he let out a loud cry of anguish to the heavens. His emotions were so powerful that his ki had risen up to the point that the ground shook.

~~~~~~~~~

Back at Capsule Corp., the party was still in full swing. Everyone was enjoying themselves until the fighters sensed a spike in ki somewhere. " What was that!?" asked Krillin, " Not sure, but it felt...strange. Different somehow" Said Tien. It felt like...no it couldn't be he thought.

" Well whatever it was" Goku said " it's gone now. It didn't seem like a threat". He shrugged his shoulders and went back to eating. Krillin and Tien were hesitant at first, but then turned back to what they were doing.

Bulma wondered what they were talking about seeing she couldn't read ki like them. She also just shrugged her shoulders and walked in a direction when she stumbled on something.

It was a good size white square box with some type of contents in it. She opened it and gasped when she saw a cake spilt almost perfectly in two. Where did this come from? It was a little messed up but she could still make out the words, " Strongest Universe"?

Is this the cake I saw in the catalog? It looks great, or it did the thought made her feel more guilty about what she earlier "but, how did it get here if Yamcha and Puar aren't here yet? "She mumbled as she examined the cake some more "it must've been a accident, because by the looks of this, it almost looks like it was...dropped".

Her eyes wide with horror as the realization set in. She put two and two together. She slapped her mouth closed with her hand to stop herself from screaming.

"Oh no. No no no no no...!"

~~~~~~~

The tears wouldn't stop coming. An endless waterfall flowing down his face. In more anguish, he yelled his pain for seemingly only the wind to hear, " Why?...WHY!? WHY ME!?!? WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE ME!?!? WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS!?!?" WHY DID I HAVE TO BE BORN A WALKING FAILURE!?!?!? ITS...ITS NOT FAIR!!!! ALL I TRULY EVER WANTED WAS NORMAL LIFE, TO FIT IN!!! WHY DO ALWAYS FEEL LIKE I'VE LOST EVERYTHING!?!?!?

WELL YOU KNOW WHAT?!?! I'M SICK OF THIS!!! I'M DONE!!! ITS JUST", he choked a sob, " I just want a chance!!! IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK FOR, ZENO!?!? GOD!?!? ANYONE!?!? IS IT!?!? PLEASE...just...please. Why won't fate let me win...just once?" He said tiredly.

He was such an idiot. Completely stupid foolish idiot. Anything that came out his mouth: stupid. Thats probably why they didn't pick him to fit in the tournament or even respect him at all.

Because of stupid things like this!

His attempts at " fitting in" with the rest of them:

Pathetic.

The title as a martial artist:

Pathetic.

His relationships:

Pathetic.

"...I'm pathetic..." his voice weakly rasped out, sitting on his knees, tears not once having stopped. Conveniently, it started to rain. Hard. He lifted his head to let the raindrops drown his tears.

The rain lasted a minute then stopped completely, but the storm wasn't over.

Above him a huge multicolored funnel cloud appeared swirling with occasional flashing lightning. In the center was a good sized glowing circle.

That's a strange cloud. I've never seen that before. Doesn't matter. I should get home, I don't want Puar to worry.

Puar...

Yes, Puar, one of the only good things he had left, she stuck to him like glue through thick and thin no matter what. He was grateful to her for it, and when he got home, he would make sure to tell her that.

Before he could fly on home, a strong wind picked up. It seemed to move around him in a complete circle. The glowing circle above divided in a vortex spiraling down to him on the ground like a twister. "W-WHAT'S HAPPENING!?" he cried, confused on what was happening.

He tried to fly out of there, but a strong force pulled him back in the spiral like a vacuum. He couldn't move enough to find an escape, and couldn't see a thing.

He was trapped.

He was being lifted up higher into the cloud, " WAIT! NO!" He shouted and cried but no one heard him as he was sucked into the circle above.

A blinding flash and dissipating cloud in its wake.

I know the cake thing is kinda dumb but I wanted to show a way that Yamcha overheard them.

Till next chap!