Chapter V: Decision in Dilemmas


There was laughter at the party that took place at Gohan's new apartment near Friane Town. Everyone was invited, even the all high-and-mighty Hercule. Piccolo was standing alone, next to a blank wall, taking in everyone's happiness within him. His eyes were closed but he was thinking. It's amazing how all these people live. All that laughter. And yet, somehow, they know about the downs of life. The death of good friends in the past...but then again, they were brought back to life by the Eternal Earth Dragon.

Gohan noticed Piccolo's thoughtful gaze and the namekian, now knowing that a presence was looking at him, opened his eyes and turned to him. He already knew it was Gohan. There was that special telepathic link between them, first tried out when the androids were there. Yes, he remembered...


'Finally!' A scratchy but horribly familiar said, and too late, Piccolo was trapped, his legs bound together and so were his arms by the andriod's metal arms. A hand clamped over his mouth, a disgusting feeling of coarse old skin. But the energy, the energy was being drained out of him! The growing emptiness, the foreboding doom if he didn't do something. Desperately he tried to move but he didn't have the strength to. Semiconscious, he managed to talk to Gohan,

::Gohan. Gohan.::

::Piccolo? Are you all right?::

::He got me, Gohan!::

::Piccolo! Where are you?::

But the transmission stopped and Piccolo became limp, nearly unconscious. He thought he was going to die, but there was faint yell and a loud, angry shout. The hand moved away and the energy-draining process was no more.


From that day on, Piccolo had always prized that telepathic connection between him and his student and his best friend, Gohan.

Speaking of Gohan, he was approaching him, a small glass of red wine in his huge hand. A pair of sparkling brown eyes stared at him and a genuine smile came out of nowwhere.

'Piccolo, you think too much,' he sai to him, 'Some wine?'

'No thank you,' Piccolo said politely, wondering why human have to drink something that would hurt them to have fun.

'Piccolo? Is something the matter?'

Gohan's voice was worried and the tall namekian stood up. No longer leaning against the wall, put a strong hand on the young man's shoulder, saying, 'you should go and have fun with your friends,'

'But they're your friends too,' Gohan protested.

Piccolo knew he would answer like this and rather than being rude, he agreed and joined him, all the while thinking of something big drawing near and that special, fond memory.

Goku and Vegeta observed the whole conversation and knew that Piccolo felt he didn't belong but they also knew that it didn't matter to him. Goku sighed heavily as he saw the dilemma his son was in; his son had told him secretly, not wanting everyone to know, especially Videl, his girlfriend that he loved Piccolo, perhaps more than her and he came around one night after Goku's lovemaking with Vegeta to talk to him about it. At first he was too tired to even hear what his son had said and Vegeta had to repeat it to him several times before he could grasp the meaning of it. Later on, his mind was as clear as crystal, specifically when Gohan announced his love for Piccolo.

Goku had told him that he wasn't exactly an expert on this type of double love situations but he did tell his son one thing, 'Choose now before you get too deep into either relationship.'

Gohan's face was still crestfallen, but not as much as a few seconds beforehand. He hugged his father tightly and when he let go, he said thank you and left.


Ah yes, son. You are definitely in a difficult situation. Goku thought as he watched with sadness Gohan and Piccolo conversing in low tones, Videl staring at them whenever she would finish talking to someone else. A hand was on his thigh and brought his attention away from his son to the man sitting beside him.

'You okay, Kakarott?' The man asked with concern in his voice, black eyes boring into his.

'Yeah, everything's fine.'

'It's about midnight. I'm going home,' Vegeta abruptly declared. Goku wanted to go home as well and both left the house, ignoring questioning stares at their studden departure.

'I wonder where they're going?' Krillin asked, gulping down a full pint of Budlight. Marron was squealing happily in her mother's lap as 18 made some funny faces to her. Krillin grinned at the two and tickled Marron underneath the arms. The little blonde girl let out a shriek of laughter and giggled happily as she let her father tickle her.Once a cyborg, but now a human, sat upright, her blonde hair going down to her hsoulders. She listened to her daughter and the man she loved and married too. I'm so glad I'm human now, she said mentally, Yes, Krilline made it possible. He's truly an amazing man. Changed me. I ocne viewed him as a puny, weak mortal but now, he's so strong, physically and mentally. Kind and gently, yet at the same time, fierce and strong when in a sparring session or a battle.

Another scream of merriment interrupted her thoughts and she went back to reality, enjoying every moment of it.

The party did not officially end until 2 hours after midnight. Everyone started going home at about 1:30a.m. And by 2, Gohan was waving goodbye to his last guest, Piccolo.

The green fighter put a hand on his student's cheek and Gohan feltlike saying something. Piccolo bent down and whispered in his human ear, 'See you tomorrow, kid, at dawn sharp,'

He left and took flight before Gohan could say something.

Videl was musing at this event but kept her observations to herself. She waited patiently as Gohan closed the door and faced her, the fair face masking the true emotions very well. But it didn't fool Videl. No, she knew him too well.

'Gohan, I was thinking of something,' she blurted out without thinking, 'maybe we should you know, break up.'

An astonished expression was present on her boyfriend's face. Maybe she shouldn't have said that.

'But why?'

'I don't know. Somehow, I know it's not going to work out. I mean, you and Pi-' she stopped, afraid of continuing.

Gohan's mind was in a tumble. Videl knew! How could she know these things? I tried to mask my feelings and, Kami! Is she homophobic? Does she think me and Piccolo are more than friends?

'I mean, if that what you want,' Videl softly spoke, her voice quivering in anticipation of her boyfriend's answer.

' Well, I trust you Videl. I've always listened to your advice and most of the times, you're right. So if you believe that our relationship won't work, then I believe you,'

No emotion, no regret. For some reason, Gohan was actually happy at his decision. Videl's face was somehow happy as well but that didn't matter. The last thing he need right now is to have a last confrontation with her.

' Videl. You know I've always been faithful to you and I will always love you.'

'And I, you,'

An awkwar silence pervaded the room. Two teenagers shuffled around impatient until Videl's eyes strove over to the clock.

'I need to go home now. My father would be worried sick over me,'

She went to Gohan and hugged him tightly. Afterwards she released him and went out of the house.


The next morning, again, Goku and Vegeta were training for the World Tournament. The wind smacked the trees as blows were exchanged between the tewo of the strongest beings in the entire cosmos.

'C'mon, Kakarott!' Vegeta teased as he threw severeal blasts at him. Goku escaped but narrowly. What is the matter with him today? He's going all out!! Goku grimaced at the thought and vowed to put an end to it. Unfortunately when he looked up again, Vegeta was gone. His ki had somehow disappeared too. Knitting his brows, Goku focused on finding it and used his eyes to see any sudden change in his surroundings. Another five minutes passed.

'Where the hell is he?' Goku shouted with frustration with a hint of panic in his tone. He began to lose his cool and frantically started looking for his missing partner.

'Vegeta? Vegeta! Where the hell are you?!'

No response occurred.

'Vegeta! I'm getting tired of this shit!'

Again no sound. No movement. Goku powered down to a normal human but it was a mistake. A shadow crept up behind him and without warning his head exploded. Pain filled the void and Goku gasped. He stumbled forward in the way and finally fell down, the other person watching as he fell, not doing anything about it until he was a mere 6 inches above the ground.

'Sorry about that, Kakarott,' Vegeta muttered, gently placing the man unto the ground. 'But when we're fighting for the competition, I will give you no mercy,'

He stood up for a while, just staring down at the motionless figure on the grassy turf. The red gi was torn and there were scrapes everywhere on his body. The arms were laying at his side and his legs, eagle-sprawled. But there was something wrong about one of them; the right leg seemed to be jutting out at an odd angle. Since when had Goku broken his leg? It must have been when he did not see my blast when we first started and collapsed against a solid rock. I didn't know he was that fragile. Maybe he should have. Kami. He's beautiful. Vegeta noticed the musbles, proportional to his body. The relaxed, closed eyes, the mouth, the red lips still. I can't believe I kissed those same lips last night.

The passion of last night. He was the seme and his partner was the uke (bottom). When he saw Goku's face, drunken and lusty, he reached his climate just at that moment. Shit, the pleasure, the pain. Kami, incredible.

Goku should be waking up any minute now. Vegeta frowned when he didn't. He bent over him, and checked his eyes. They were rolled up in the back of his head, He was definitely unconscious, although Vegeta didn't know how long.

Rather than waiting it out, he lifted Goku up in his arms and took him inside. The house was cool, just the way liked it. He walked to their bedroom and laid Goku there, anxious about the way Goku looked, like a broken doll.

He possessed three sets of bandage rolls and undressed the man. Luckily, the bone was not sticking out of the flesh, however, it was quite hard to reset the bone. As he did so, Goku's body involuntarily flinched but that was all it did. His hands wrapped the white bandage around his leg tightly and tied it into a knot. A few minutes later, Goku's eyes fluttered open. Confused, disoriented, Goku got up but lurched forward. Strong arms caught his waist, and a firm voice saying, 'easy there, Kakarott,'

'Thanks Vegeta,' he murmured, and he was in bed. But the spinning room threatened to flung him to who knows where and he closed his eyes, losing himself to the spinning abyss.

The next time Goku woke up, it was night-time and the lamplight was on. A blurry figure was sitting in a chair but as his eyes focused, he found Vegeta slumped in a chair near by his bed. His head was thrown back, snoring softly. The injured saiyan felkt marvellously better but he knew that there was something wrong with his leg. It was on fire and kind of itchy too. So he stayed in bed, despite being tempted to kiss that lovely nape Vegeta was showing. He kept his eyes open for what felt like forever, but was really 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, Bulma was in somebody's arms that night in the room where she had once shared with old lover, Vegeta. Her blue hair was everywhere on her shoulders, some of it making her nose itchy. But she ignored it as she was thinking on other things. Maybe she shouldn't have betrayed Vegeta. Yamcha wasn't like him. He wasn't strong and egotistic and selffish and kind, etc. Maybe she should have said no to Yamcha when he offered himself to her.

'Bulma? Sweety?' A drowsy voice called out in the darkness.

'Go back to sleep Vegeta,' she said unconsciously.

' Vegeta?'

'Kami-sama! I meant Yamcha, whatever go to sleep!!'

' Hey! Are you still in love with him? That bastard who didn't show you any affection?' The arms moved and she was cold. No, freezing.

'What's it to you? You're all men and men are the same.'

'Well, you're the one who said "I'm tired of Vegeta not showing my any love-!

A crack occurred in the air as a female's delicate hand slapped the man's cheek hard. Yamcha was fuming at the slap but was patient. He stood up, dressed, and was about to go out when Bulma said, 'where are you're going? I thought you wanted to be here tonight.'

'No. If you're going to act like a fucking bitch, I'm going.'

The door slammed closed and the proud daughter of the genuis Dr. Briefs broke down, her hands covering her face as she wept.

'Damn the men!!' She shouted out loud before succuming to her feelings again.