Chapter three

*wipe brow* Wowies, more writing for me. This chap's mostly fightingnessness… hope you enjoy! ~Vivi-sama

Chapter three

Kick, punch, dodge, attack. Kick, punch, dodge, attack. Gohan repeated this over and over, training himself where Goten and Pan had sparred the day before. The sun had risen a couple hours ago, and he trained mindlessly, thinking of nothing but the loss of his Videl. Each kick reigned in anger, each punch in rage. He dodged with guilt, and his attacks were full of fury, powerful and uncontrollable. Kick, punch, dodge, attack.

"Arg!" ChiChi stormed into Gohan's training field, her clothes ripped and sweat streaming down her face. Gohan was taken back with surprise. He hadn't even sensed her coming in his mindless training. "Your tousan is going to get it!"

Gohan took a moment to get a trail of thoughts back into his head before he answered. "What did Tousan do this time?"

ChiChi growled at the question. "Okay, we're off relaxing in this hot spring, and all of a sudden, Vegeta comes out of nowhere, and wants Gokou to spar with him. Gokou agrees, and jumps out of the water - naked and all - in a hurry, grabs his clothes, and leaves! He didn't even say goodbye! Ugh!" ChiChi clenched her fists. "Some sweet guy he turned out to be! I had to walk all the way home through the forests, and it was NOT a pleasant walk!"

"Wow, you sound like Bulma-san for a moment there..." Gohan paused as him mother flashed her eyes angrily. "Ano...Here Kaasan, let me get you some clean clothes," Gohan said hurriedly.

ChiChi smiled at her son, despite her anger. "Iie, Gohan-chan, it's alright. I'll do it myself. I need to take a bath anyway. It won't be as relaxing as the one in the hot spring should have been, but it'll have to do." ChiChi headed inside, and Pan came out of the house at the same time.

"Oh, Obaasan!" she cried at the sight of ChiChi's ripped clothes. "What happened?"

ChiChi sighed. "It's a long story. I'll tell you about it later, Pan-chan. But right now, I have to take a bath."

"Hai, ChiChi-san," Pan said. As ChiChi trudged along into the house, Pan looked at her father seriously. "How is everything, Touchan?"

Gohan shrugged. "Fine, I guess." He looked around questioningly. "Hey, where's Goten-kun?"

"He's out on a date, remember?" Pan reminded him. She shook her head sadly. "I tried to fix him up, but he wouldn't let me." She sighed. "He would have looked so beautiful..."

Gohan smiled. "I'm sure he would have."

"Touchan?" Pan looked directly at her father. "I...I want to tell you something."

Gohan's face turned serious. "Sure, anything Pan-chan."

Pan cleared her throat, twitching her hands uneasily as she turned to look at the ground. "I...I feel...so lost," she whispered. Her face was innocent, but there was a sad confused look disturbing her features. "I still don't believe Kaasan's really gone, but I know she is...sometimes I can block out the fact that she's not here and have fun, but then...it always comes back...back to haunt me..." Her shoulders shook, and Pan stumbled blindly into Gohan's opened arms. "And...and I don't know what to do."

"Hai, Pan-chan, it's alright," Gohan reassured her. "I feel that way too. Except I can't even block out one moment and be not thinking about her. Well...only when I'm with you, Pan-chan."

"Really?" Pan gave her father a slight smile. "I'm glad."

"Me too," Gohan said. "Yes...I'm very...very glad."

"And sad?"

"And sad."

Father and daughter looked at one another in close silence, the bond between them strengthening it's hold. They stood there, silent and as still as the sky above. A breeze ruffled Pan's hair, and Gohan ran a hand through it to settle it back down again. "Touchan?" Pan whispered, breaking the silence.

Just as soft, Gohan replied, "What is it Pan-chan?"

"Arigatou." Pan's eyes sparkled, and a glimmer of brightness shimmered somewhere between the two. "I feel much better now."

Gohan smiled, his eyes bright and blurry. "Dou itashimashite, Pan-chan...dou itashimashite."

"I could stay here with you forever...I feel so safe..." the black-haired girl told her father. "Demo...I'm getting really hungry." A deep growl erupted from her stomach, and she wrinkled her nose in embarrassment.

Gohan belted out a laugh, and looked his daughter straight in the eye. "Your mother never really understood your obsession with food. We always ate so much, and she could never cook enough." He looked wistful, but with a grin, he pushed his daughter towards the house. "Go pig yourself out."

"You mean you're not hungry?" Pan asked, surprised.

"Iie, I'm fine," replied Gohan. He shrugged. "I'll just train myself."

"Do you want me to spar with you?" inquired Pan.

"Nani? Oh, no, that's okay," Gohan said. "Go satisfy your stomach." As if on cue, Pan's stomach made another rumbling noise.

With a sheepish smile, Pan said, "Hai, Tousan."

"ChiChi should be finished her bath now; maybe she'll cook something up for you if ask her."

Pan nodded, and gave a little wave. "See ya later, Touchan!" She rushed into the house with a happy smile.

"Sayonara, Pan-chan," said Gohan. As soon as his daughter had disappeared from sight, something in him changed. "Oh, Videl..."

Eyes darkening, he sighed and continued his mindless training.

~***~

"ChiChi-san!" Pan yelled, skipping upstairs gleefully. "ChiChi-san!"

Pan flipped on the hallway light, peeking into Gohan's former room. Books piled on top of each other in heaps beside the desk. "Wow...I know you said that ChiChi-san made you study a lot when you were younger, demo...that looks like a lot of studying!" Shaking her head, she headed towards the next room.

"ChiChi-san?" Pan called out again. She heard a refrigerator door open, and rushed downstairs, ready to satisfy her stomach. A thud sounded, and Pan stopped in her tracks. An uneasy feeling fluttered inside her, and she quietly tip-toed to the door of the kitchen. Whispering, she said, "ChiChi-san?"

Peeking inside, Pan muffled a scream. She rushed to the lifeless body scattered across the floor, and rocked ChiChi's shoulders back and forth in a desperate shake. "Obaasan! Obaasan!"

She turned to look at the still face, unmoving and innocent. Unknowingly, tears fell on to ChiChi's body from her only granddaughter, who wept for her loss.

"First Kaasan," Pan said through clenched teeth, "then Obaasan?! Who's next? Goten-ojisan? Touchan? OJIISAN?!"

Pan let out a scream of frustration, and Gohan came rushing into the room right after.

"Pan-chan! Are you alright? What's wrong?" Gohan asked breathlessly. He looked at the floor and gasped without thinking. In an instance, he was kneeling by her side. He grabbed ChiChi's wrist and concentrated, waiting for something miraculous to happen...but nothing did. "She's...gone."

~***~

Bouncing off his left hand, then his right foot, Gokou dodged each blast, pivoting from one place to another.

"Aah!" screamed Vegeta with each powerful blast he shot, his eyes darting, following Gokou's every move. He jumped up behind him, only to find that Gokou had disappeared a split second before. Growling, he blurred himself, darting upwards at an incredible speed.

Gokou paused mid-zanzoken, becoming silent and still. Sensing Vegeta coming up from below him, he attacked him head on. "Ka...me..."

A bolt of electricity splurged from his hands, and a bright ball of energy formed in his open palms. Vegeta's eyes widened in surprise for a moment before he powered up a counter-attack. Sparks of energy zigzagged between his hands, and he let out growls of concentration.

"Ha...me..." Gokou opened his palms wider as the energy grew, and his brows knitted in concentration as he got ready to throw it. "HA!"

"Aah!" Vegeta's two balls of energy became one as they spiraled together towards the oncoming attack. The clash of the two energies collided in a huge explosion, as flashes of light screamed into the air, and each warrior was blown back by the gigantic force. Sand from the desert ground whirled in a treacherous typhoon, blurring the vision of both saiya-jins. Gokou felt for Vegeta's ki, and charged.

Vegeta had already gotten a hold of Gokou's presence, and led the lower-class saiya-jin in fierce hand-to-hand combat. Dodging a punch, Vegeta kicked at Gokou's abdomen, who blurred and reappeared behind him. Striking from his hands above his head, Gokou let out a cry as he attacked. Vegeta managed to turn around just before Gokou's hands made contact, but was instead smashed on his head and struck downwards. Recovering in mid-air, he dove upward at a prodigious speed, grabbing Gokou's leg before he could move and whirling him around in circles before he finally threw him to the ground. Sweat dripped off his face, and veins bulged out of his bulky arms. His lips curled in mockery and he wiped off his mouth as he watched Gokou hit the ground with a large thud. "Is that the best you can do Kakarotto?!"

Below, Gokou turned over, laying on his back. Getting to his feet, he looked up, a smile playing across his dirty face. Without blinking, he wiped off a trickle of sweat as he answered his reply. "I didn't come here to get beaten, Vegeta-san." He blurred, jumping from place to place, so fast that Vegeta wasn't able to sense him.

"Kuso," muttered Vegeta, his haste bringing him out of concentration. A slight shock passed through him, and he felt Gokou's ki hurling towards him. He smirked, and did a quick powerup, a flash of light thundering out of his body. "Final Flash!"

Gokou stopped abruptly in front of the saiya-jin prince as a burst of energy exploded from within him in a terrifying blast, and teleported himself to Trunks in an instant.

A purple-haired teen snapped his head up in surprise. "Gokou-san!"

Panting slightly, the saiya-jin warrior spoke quickly. "No time to explain, Trunks-kun. I just hope your tousan hasn't blown up the whole planet." He looked around, and shrugged. "Nah, I guess it's okay. Bai bai!" He felt for Vegeta's large ki, and teleported once again.

In an instant, he was back in the desert, their universal sparring field. Glaring, Vegeta looked at him, anger flaring in his eyes. "Damn you and your teleporting crap, Kakarotto," he growled as Gokou appeared before him.

Gokou smiled despite his glare. "I see you've learned how to control how much power you put into that attack. I'm impressed."

Vegeta snorted. "And since when are you not?"

"Ano..." Gokou paused, and scratched his head in a boyish manner. Tilting his head slightly, he gave Vegeta an innocent look. "Well Vegeta-san, sometimes you don't concentrate properly, so your anger gives you power but not the ability to control it, so -"

"Kakarotto!" Vegeta turned to him, his glare more intense. "I didn't ask for your opinion! And if I want it, then I'll BEAT IT OUT OF YOU!"

Gokou's smile disappeared, and he sighed. Vegeta smirked in response, his arms crossed as he physically stated his greater presence. "Baka! You're such a waste of my time! You'd think you fight back instead of running away with your stupid teleporting tricks. Sure, save Chikyuu once or twice, but run away when you see an attack coming at you." Sighing, Vegeta descended towards the ground, his chin up and his eyes a serious black. "Some warrior you are. And a waste of breath, too."

Gokou followed the saiya-jin's lead, landing silently as his hair was whipped back by the wind. Vegeta eyed him unapprovingly. "I only asked you to spar with me so I could get a proper workout."

"And I intend to give you one." Gokou yelled out a scream, his hair flaring upwards in spikes of gold. Pale green eyes smile at the saiya-jin prince of Vegeta-sei, then grew serious and took a battle stance.

"Took you long enough." Vegeta clenched his fists in concentration, and his hair transformed into a shocking pale blond. "Ha!" A golden aura surrounded him, and dust swirled in a frenzy, pulled by his powerful force.

And again, the two engaged themselves in brutal battle, only this time, their speed was even more unimaginable. Never pausing or taking their eyes off one another, hits were taken and dodged, and nasty comments flew through the air. Blasts from each warrior brightened the sky, flashing light as bright as the sun above.

"Tousan!" came a desperate cry. "Vegeta-san!"

"Ha - nani?" Gokou paused mid-blast. "Gohan?"

"Tousan!" The black-haired boy shook as if he battled with himself in a desperate attempt not to cry, flying upwards to his father. "Tousan! Kaasan's...kaasan's..."

Gokou grabbed his son by the shoulders, giving him a slight shake. "What's wrong with ChiChi?" he yelled. "Gohan? Gohan! Answer me!"

"She's..." Gohan gulped, his eyes misted. "She's...something bad happened to her...just like Videl..."

Gokou let go, shock overwhelming him. "You mean she's..."

"Passed into another dimension?" supplied Vegeta, his blank, fierce look never changing.

"It's...it's not a time to joke, Vegeta-san," Gokou said sharply, his hair returning to it's normal black, as he returned the Vegeta's glare. "My...she's...ChiChi's...Ah!" screamed the saiya-jin, blasting off into the direction of his home.

Vegeta looked behind him, eyeing Gokou's bright aura disappearing into the distance. He smirked, then turned to look at Gohan. "Well? You're not going to follow him?"

Gohan faced the prideful warrior, his eyes blank and unmoving. "I'm going to go...think. Sayonara, Vegeta-san," he said softly, turning away.

"Going off to cry?" Vegeta sneered in a gruff voice. "I don't recommend it. It makes you look weak." Without another word, he took off in different direction.

Gohan watched him leave, his eyes still filled with a wet nothingness. "No. I'm not going to cry, Vegeta-san," he called softly after him. He shook his head, drops of water falling out of his eyes. "I'm not going to cry at all."