There is nothing left for me here. Why should I stay? They say I have a special power, so why not use it to help others? I know… I'll go find Freiza; and destroy him. My father told the others that he was the one who destroyed my planet, killed my people. I may be young, but not too young to fight for what is right. I doubt I will ever return to this place, but I know now, I know now what's worth fighting for. It's to go out on our own, and finding our place in this universe. And I will. It's just a question of how. Things, times, are changing. I'm turning a page in my life. And today is the day. My choice is made. And I will follow through.
"Okay, I
count to twenty, and then I'll come look for you, okay? So you'd better get
hiding!" Six-year-old Gohan exclaimed as he ran up and put his forehead against
the thick trunk of a large tree. He turned back smiling at his pet and friend,
Icarus, the little purple Haiya Dragon. Icarus nodded, making a small gargling
noise as he leaped away into the woods to hide. Gohan smiled, turning back to
the tree and covering his eyes. "1…2…3…" He began to count slowly, giving
Icarus time to find a clever hiding spot. But suddenly, Gohan heard one of
Icarus's loud, frantic cries of distress. He looked up startled, and then took
off in the direction of the call.
"Hey!"
He called as he reached the scene, "What's all the commotion about?" Icarus was
bent over something. He turned to Gohan and waved for him to come near,
chattering away incoherently in his dragon language. Gohan frowned quizzically;
walking closer to see what Icarus was looking at. It seemed to be the wreckage
of spaceship of some sort, but it had been in a severe accident Gohan noted, by
the amount of scattered parts and useless debris. That's when Gohan finally noticed
what had Icarus so worked up. A young girl, who looked even younger than Gohan
was, lay unconscious in the grass. She was extremely battered and bruised.
She must have been in the ship…
Gohan decided as he walked closer. He bent down and put his hand against her
neck, feeling for a pulse.
"She's
okay, just knocked out." Gohan reassured his concerned friend as he stood up.
"But we'd better get her to my dad. He'll know what to do." Icarus nodded,
picking up the girl and putting her on his back. Then, with a nod, he and Gohan
took off toward the house, hoping that they would soon be able to revive their
unexpected guest and find out what this was all about.
"Wha… W-where am I?" Light poured in through the open window of the small room in the East City Hospital. It was sometime in the afternoon, and the sunlight warmed the room, giving it a golden hue.
"Hello there!" A happy voice exclaimed from one side of the bed. Two big blue eyes opened wearily to meet the gaze of the cheerful speaker. "My name's Goku! My son found you near the wreckage of a ship. I think you must have crashed. Do you remember your name?" Goku asked the young girl lying in the hospital bed. She was wearing a light blue hospital gown, and her long brown hair fell around her face and the pillow in no particular or neat order. She looked around in confusion, trying to recall her most recent escapades.
"Uh…yeah. My name's Zoa." She answered timidly.
That's when it all started to come back to her. Oh no… Now I remember… The
co-ordinate systems on my ship got all messed up, and, and I couldn't control
it. I must have crashed here…
"So
anyway, I don't mean to seem rude, but aren't you a little young to be piloting
a space craft?" Goku inquired in a feeble attempt to make conversation, "Where
are your parents?" When he said this, Zoa got a very far off, blank look in her
eyes. She frowned sadly. "They're dead."
Goku sat back a bit, unable to help feeling sorry
for the kid. Her parents were dead? And she was only, what, five years old? But
what planet was she from that she was brave enough to go out on her own like
that! Suddenly, Gohan walked in, carrying a glass of orange juice in a hand.
His eyes lit up as he saw the young girl he and Icarus had saved was awake. He
put the glass down and hurried over to the bed to introduce himself.
"Hey!
I'm Gohan!" He smiled brightly, shaking her hand. She nodded back at him, still
a little dizzy and overwhelmed by everything. "This is Zoa." Goku explained for
her. "And Zoa, just so you know, this is my son. He's the one who saved you."
Gohan blushed slightly, putting a hand behind his head. "Well, it wasn't just
me of course. My friend, Icarus, he's the one who actually found you. Are you
okay?" Zoa nodded, releasing his hand and sitting up in the hospital bed.
"Yeah, I think so. Thank you very much! My ship, it malfunctioned. I sure am
lucky you guys came along!" Goku got up out of his chair, heading towards the
doorway. "I was just going to get something to eat. Do you guys want anything?"
Gohan grinned, nodding quickly. "Sure Dad! Hey Zoa, what about you?" Zoa looked
up and smiled warmly. "Yes please. Anything is fine." "Cool!" Goku exclaimed,
starting again for the door. "Then I'll be back in a sec!" With that, he headed
out the door and down to the cafeteria.
"So, what are you doing on Earth?" Gohan asked,
plopping down in the chair his father had just left. "Well, I was actually
heading for Namek. I guess I sorta crash landed here…" Gohan frowned at the
mention of the planet Namek. "And why would you have been going there?" He
asked slowly. Zoa gritted her teeth angrily at memories of why she had left her
home planet. "Because I have to destroy someone. Someone who caused the deaths
of my friends, my family, and my people." Gohan's eyes grew slowly larger. She
couldn't be talking about who he thought she was talking about…could she?
"This
someone you're talking about, his name wouldn't happen to be Freiza, would it?"
Zoa stood up in the bed, the covers falling around her socked feet. "Yes! Do
you know where I can find him! I have to get him back for all he's done! I
won't let him get away with it! I won't!" That's when Gohan noticed something
he couldn't believe; a tail. Gohan threw his arms back and fell over in his
chair, disbelief written all over his face.
"No
way!! Y-You! Are you a Saiyan??" He stuttered, trying to lift himself up out of
his toppled over seat. Zoa looked strangely at him, sitting slowly back down,
her tail swishing to the side as she did so.
"Yeah… How do you know about Saiyans?" She asked suspiciously as Gohan got up and put his chair back on it's legs. "Well, because I'm a Saiyan too!" He exclaimed, hurrying over to bed. "No way!!" Zoa gasped, unable to believe this, "How? I thought, I thought Freiza killed all the other Saiyans!" Gohan nodded excitedly, still somewhat unable to conceive meeting another Saiyan. Dad won't believe it! He thought as he started to explain:
"Well, he did. At least all the Saiyans he could
find. But my dad killed him! They had this humungous battle on the planet
Namek! Destroyed the whole thing! But he's gone now! Don't worry!" Zoa shook
her head, putting a hand out in front of her asking him to slow down. "Woah,
woah, so you mean to tell me Freiza is dead?" Gohan nodded, smiling wide.
"That's right!" Zoa laughed. "Well, then that's good news! Looks like I don't
have much left to do then! Except laugh!" Gohan grinned, and both of them burst
into fits of laughter just as Goku headed in the door.
"What's
up you guys?" He asked, setting down the trays, stacked high with various
different food items. Gohan spun around as his father did so, excitement
written all over his features. "Dad! You're NEVER going to believe this!"