Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ or any of its characters. I wish people would realize that by now!

Author's Note: As promised, another chapter, and more stuff going on with our one and only couple in this fic. I hope I'm keeping everyone up to speed, and I also hope that this puts a little bit of something back into someone's day. Let's see- there isn't any Truten action in this chapter, but it's still just as important, so- R&R!

Chapter Twelve

~Dende's Lookout~

The Guardian of Chikyuu gazed down upon his planet, a frown wearing on his green features. There was something incredibly disturbing going on, but he wasn't quite sure what it could have been. He'd been protector for a long time, in fact, he'd practically grown up on Chikyuu, but he still hadn't gotten used to detecting what specific dangers there were. Chikyuu was plagued with too many crimes for him to keep tabs on all of them -murder, theft, rape- and when it really counted, his mind was so clouded with everyday, petty Chikyuujin things that he was unable to concentrate properly. Perhaps it wouldn't have been a bad idea if he'd taken mental training from Piccolo after all; he sure needed it.

"What's wrong, Dende? You've been standing there, staring out at the sky, for almost an hour." Mr. Popo, his trusted friend and only companion here in the Sky Palace, walked up beside him, a bland expression on his dark face. The Namek sighed and turned to face his shorter friend, his staff making a light tapping sound on the perfectly tiled floor as he sat it down.

"I'm not sure. I sense something very evil here, on Chikyuu, but I can't tell what it is, exactly."

"You're not trying hard enough, Dende," a gruff voice informed him from behind and they spun, taking in the familiar cape and turban of the one and only-

"Piccolo-sama! It's so nice to see you again, old friend," Dende replied in a formal voice, bowing partially from the waist up. Piccolo's demeanor did not change, but the guardian and Mr. Popo could tell that he was getting agitated.

"Enough with the formalities, Dende. Do you know what it is, yet?" The younger Namek turned a brilliant shade of violet and hung his head low.

"I-uh-I don't really- no, not yet, Piccolo," he mumbled almost incoherently but as they all knew, a Namekjinn's hearing was exceptionally beyond perfect, and it was louder than he had actually spoken.

"Well, while you've been up here, doing nothing, I've been keeping an eye on things, and I can't seem to find a single thing wrong other than the feeling that something's here. Have you picked up on Son Gokou's arrival?" Dende nodded, although still embarrassed, and stood straight.

"Yes, I have. There was a strange entity with him, and aside from his granddaughter and Vegeta's son, I couldn't tell what it was." Piccolo snorted in response, turning his muscular bulk towards the edge of the Lookout. His arms were crossed and his eyes shut, trying to determine their next move. If Gokou had brought the evil creature they were sensing back with him from space, then there definitely had to be something going on. Perhaps if he could find him or Ubuu, the situation wouldn't be so horribly mystifying.

"What about Ubuu? Do you know of his whereabouts? It would be to our advantage if we could find him. His psychic abilities would be useful."

"G-gomen nasai, Piccolo-sama, but I do not know that either. He was only here briefly, when he and Gokou were on the Lookout, and when Gokou left Chikyuu, he disappeared. I haven't a clue as to where he could be." Piccolo forced his anger away and sighed deeply. It wasn't the young guardian's fault that he didn't know such things, he was still learning, even after almost a quarter of a century of protecting Chikyuu. Perhaps it was just the fused side of him that had been old Guardian of Chikyuu that was getting uneasy. There was something afoot on this soil, and not knowing what it was ate at his mind.

"Very well. I wish to see to something, but I will be back as quickly as I can. Stay alert, Dende, and if you sense anything new, notify me as quickly as possible." Without another word, the elder Namek disappeared in a flash of white ki, leaving Dende and Mr. Popo alone. He sighed, taking up his position once again so that he could continue keeping watch. He began praying to the kaios that nothing too terribly wrong had happened or else they were all in for another battle, one Chikyuu hadn't experienced since the release of Majin Buu.

~Capsule Corporation~

"WOMAN!!" Vegeta's incessant "nickname" for his mate rang throughout the entire building, and Bra, choosing to ignore it, turned up the radio in her room, drowning out her father. If it wasn't one thing, it was always another.

"Woman, I demand you tell me why-" An extremely annoyed Vegeta stomped into the kitchen, sweat dripping down the side of his neck and clinging to his arms as his fist tightened around the towel he held. He had obviously been training, and the fact that Bulma was sitting at the table, drinking a cup of tea as she spoke with Kakarotto's oldest brat, didn't hinder him from barging in, making a scene.

"Vegeta, please, I'm trying to have a conversation with Gohan-san, if you don't mind." The blue haired woman swept her hair at him, making him beyond pissed.

"I don't give a damn what you are doing, Woman! I demand you tell me why the Gravity Machine will not work! I was training and then suddenly it goes off! I order you to fix it!" Bulma's features twisted with anger and she turned from him, her nose held high and arms crossed in front of her chest.

"Fix it yourself! I am not your slave, Vegeta!" The Saiyajin Prince's teeth ground, but it was not the woman's disobeying his command that made him more than angry; it was the fact that his old nemesis's son was staring directly at him, a grin on his pathetically serious face.

"What are you looking at, brat? Does it look like this concerns you?" Within Gohan's body, Bebi forced his tension away, and pretended to unknowingly play the innocent.

"No, Vegeta, it doesn't, but if Bulma won't fix the-" He had to think a moment to remember what the Prince had called the infernal mechanical object that the he was so found of. "Gravity Machine, then maybe I could take a look at it." Vegeta's demeanor immediately disappeared and Bebi felt joy bubbling up within him. Poor, unsuspecting fools; they had no idea just how much danger they would be in, once he had control of the Saiyajin no Ouji. This was all too easy.

"Gohan, you know you don't have to do everything he says. He's already spoiled enough as it is," Bulma spoke up, trying to intervene with his plans and not really knowing it.

"Oh, no, that's okay, Bulma-chan," he replied, plastering on a fake smile. "I don't mind." Standing up, Vegeta made an exaggerated smirk at his woman, revealing triumph, and stalked away, silently ordering Gohan to follow him, even though he should have known where it was. Back in the kitchen, Bulma sighed and sipped at her cooling tea.

"I swear, they're like giant babies, but what can I say? Boys will always need their toys."

~Approximately Ten Miles from Son Residence~

Pan groaned as she lifted her head, her hand feeling her face to make sure nothing had dislodged itself. Her orangish-red bandana was still there, so it couldn't have been too terrible, but why did it feel like someone had continuously stepped on her with a semi? She rolled over onto her back, spiting dirt and blood from her mouth, and tried to get up, ignoring the pain flooding her body and the charred smell drifting from her skin. Her uncle had been completely merciless, first kicking her senseless and then frying her with a huge ki blast, but there was something she just didn't understand. Why had he even hurt her?

Trying to clear her thoughts as she stumbled to her feet and used a small tree to support her weight, she contemplated on whether or not she should continue onward, asking for the assistance of her father and Vegeta -Goten was obviously out of the question- or if she should head back to where her grandfather was. Biting her limp in indecision, she took to the sky, her energy somewhat low and weakened, and headed for the bright aura of the only member of her family who hadn't failed her, as of yet. She just hoped she wasn't too late.

~Miles Away; Hospital Grounds~

"Oh, 'Kaasan, look at that! Isn't it pwetty?" a small boy of no more than three asked his mother as they walked by the hospital rest area, where a brown fuzzy tail happened to be sticking up through one of the bushes. He released her hand and sprinted over, his grimy little fingers trying to catch it as it swished back and forth, avoiding his grasp. The woman walked over, immediately grabbing his arms, and pulling him away.

"You are not supposed to touch things on the property, sweetie. It's very-OHMYKAMI!" she screamed, instantly running away with her child clutched in her arms. A very drowsy and drunken looking Gokou, whose bottom lip was busted open and face was swelling, stood there, blinking in shock and surprise. Not catching on, he turned frantically in a circle, slanted eyes searching.

"What? I don't see anything! Hey, lady, what's wrong?" He caught his reflection in the water of the small fountain beside him, and he frowned, touching his finger to his lip and wincing when he dug out a piece of glass that had come from the window he'd been thrown through head first. "Guess it musta been me."

Stumbling just a bit, he flopped onto the ground, looking around as his tail curled around his lower arm, happy to see him awake. The fight between him and Bebi-Trunks had accidentally relocated several trees and pieces of the foundation were missing from the hospital. How was it that no one had sensed the vibrations of their energy clashes and had come to investigate? This was still eluding Gokou even as his granddaughter landed a few feet in front of him moments later, looking just as worse off as he did.

"Well," she implied, glancing around. "Looks like you couldn't wait for me before you fought." Gokou grinned widely at her.

"Gomen, Pan, but it looks like you had one of your own." Scowling, Pan walked to her grandfather, sitting down beside him and sighing.

"Goten did this to me, Ojisan. I saw him flying up ahead, and when we stopped to talk, he beat me up, without so much as a word of why!" Gokou's brow wrinkled in concentration.

"Goten?! He was the one that- it's just the same as Trunks!" Pan's face paled as she remembered the lavender haired bishounen.

"Trunks? Whatdaya mean Trunks?" Gokou scratched the top of his head, recalling the incidents of hours past.

"Well, we got into a fight because he wasn't being himself. He was being controlled by- was Goten acting really strange?" Pan sighed; he was hopeless, all the way around.

"Hello? Chikyuu to Ojisan! Yes, he was acting strange! He pounded the hell out of me!" The Saiyajin ignored the fact that his granddaughter had just cussed, and he used one of his own, less favored but more insulting curse words.

"Pan, we need to get to Dende's Lookout as quickly as possible! We might not have a lot of time!" Without out so much as a justification, Gokou leapt to his feet, igniting himself in ki before flying off. Muttering her reluctance, she followed, preparing to threaten an explanation out of her grandfather. She was in the dark and that was one of things she hated most. If something important was happening, she was going to be on top of the 'needs-to-know' list, no matter what the cost.

A/N: ~curses self~ I know, I didn't have anything concerning Trunks or Goten in this chapter, but don't worry! This entire story is dedicated to them, and they're going to have more fun adventures in the next one. Read and review!