-Whew, I didn't think I was ever going to finish this! In the next few chapters I promise I'm going to answer a few of the questions a few readers have been asking me about Buu, Taro, and etc. I wasn't ignoring anybody, just avoiding the questions because I didn't want to give away the story. I'm afraid the cutesy side stories are finished for the most part, as the story begins to take a more serious turn from now on out.

-Note: There was a character named Ryo in Digimon? You learn something new everyday… Is that a Season 3 reference, because I stopped watching after 2.

Disclaimer: Don't own DBZ, though they did offer to sell me Krillen for a Snickers bar and a half empty tube of Pringles. (Just kidding Krillen, jeez stop looking at me that way.)

Chapter 21

"After all that time studying at home my mom decided to send me to school, so I could at least make an attempt to be a normal teenager for a while. I wasn't all that wild with the idea at first, but looking back now I'm really glad she did that. That first day I met both you and Ryo, and my life has changed forever since then… In a good way, and now I'm glad it did… Especially with you."

Videl blushed, and rolled around a bit in the makeshift bed she'd created in Gohan's lap, her head resting up against his abdomen. She stifled a yawn, and shut her eyes, barely able to keep them open a second longer. "I'm glad you did too… Though I'm too proud to admit it most of the time, I was lonely back then… I knew you were different almost from the start, and I'm glad I stuck with you… Are you sure everything you told me is true though? It sounds to me like you might've watched too many late night movies."

"No, it's all true Videl," Gohan chuckled, letting out a yawn of his own. "Now that I think about, it would make a damn good bio wouldn't it? I could probably make a fortune selling it off as a fantasy adventure novel."

Videl had nearly drifted off to sleep, when a bright ray of sunshine poured into her eyes, forcing them open once more. Gohan looked up sleepily as well, noticing the sun rising over their heads. "It's a good thing we did have all night…" Videl yawned. "That's exactly how long it took didn't it?"

"And whose fault is that?" Gohan smiled down at her. "I would've been done in a couple hours if somebody hadn't kept interrupting me, sometimes for upward to twenty minutes at a time!"

Videl smiled, too tired to do much of anything else. There were several times during the night where she momentarily lost interest in Gohan's story, finding his lips much more interesting every now and then. "Hey, I didn't hear you doing much complaining… We probably should get back to our rooms, and try to get a couple hours of sleep at least… I know one particular perverted world champion who is going to assume we were doing something other then talking when he sees us walking around like zombies in the morning…"

"I'm sure Krillen's going to have something to say as well… We are so in for it… So, was it worth it?"

Videl finally forced the strength to pick herself up, and looked him in the eyes. "A few hours of lost sleep to finally get this close to you? I'd say it was a bargain…"

Gohan smiled back at her, both gazing into each other's sleepy eyes and forcing one last kiss before calling it a night… Or a morning… Whatever it was, sleep was just an after thought right now. They were already living a dream as it was.

********

Ryo grunted restlessly, as he rolled around on what the Tenkaichi board considered a bed. Ryo wouldn't have called it anything more then what it was, a piece of cardboard slapped on top of a slap of wood. A few years back, the Tenkaichi board began supplying special private rooms in the arena for fighters and their families to stay in, just in case any of them were too weary to make the long trip home after a hard day of combat. Ryo and the rest of the Z-senshi took them up on the offer, except for Piccolo who returned to Dende's Lookout immediately after Ryo's coronation so to speak. Ryo had expected to have restless dreams that night. While much of the excitement would soon thin out for the other fifteen fighters, Ryo knew his nightmare was just beginning. The last thing he came to this tournament to do was win it… He was only supposed to help Gohan look out for Videl. Victory was not even an option in his mind, but then again he should've figured something like this would happen. The last thing he wants to happen always seems to be exactly what does happen almost every time. If he had come to tournament looking to win, he probably would've chocked during the qualifying session. Maybe that's the mentality he should've gone in there with, because that's just the way his luck was. He had already been forced into some sort of publicity stunt set to go down early that morning, which had become the custom for the Tenkaichi champion thanks to Hercule. To make sure he woke up in time for the event, Bulma lent him a gift specially made to get overly strong men out of bed in the morning. The handy dandy Vegeta alarm clock. Not only was this piece of technological genius sculpted in the image of the Sayian Prince, it had a method of waking it's owner in a very Vegeta like manner as well.

The digital numbers sprawled out across the chest of the Vegeta clock flashed 9:00 am, signaling for the very persuasive alarm to go off. "WAKE UP NOW! GET YOUR BUTT OUT OF BED BEFORE I BLAST YOU INTO THE NEXT DIMENSION YOU INCOMPETENT FOOL!"

Ryo groaned sleepily, and rolled over ignoring the clock's orders. However, much like the real Vegeta, this clock was not about to be ignored.

"OH, LAZY HUH?!" With that, two laser beams shot from the eyes of the alarm clock, zapping Ryo right in the rear end. Ryo flew up into the air, barely avoiding crashing through the ceiling before falling back onto his bed. With a growl, Ryo turned around sharply, and gave the frisky little machine what was coming to it by blasting it into the next dimension. A big black mark was left singed into the wall behind the dresser where a hole might've been instead if it hadn't been so early in the morning.

"Damn piece of junk! That's the last time I borrow anything from Bulma! Gohan sure wasn't kidding when he warned me about her…"

********

"Hurry up woman! I don't want to spend any longer on this lousy rock then I absolutely have to!" Vegeta barked, after he finished loading up the air bus. Bulma turned towards him just long enough to sneer.

"We'll be leaving soon enough, just keep your pants on Vegeta! As soon as Gohan and Ryo get back we can leave."

"Why? They can fly, let them worry about getting themselves home!"

"We're waiting Vegeta! Now get on the bus, and stop your whining!"

"Are you sure you don't want to fly home with us?" Gohan asked through a yawn.

"No, I better ride home with my dad," Videl mumbled, fighting through heavy eyelids. "I'm still mad at him, but what he did or at least tried to do was the right thing… I guess I forgive him… Besides, I'll have a better chance of getting some sleep if you're not there to distract me…"

"You have a point Videl… I'll miss you though…"

"You won't for long, I promise…" Videl said, and gave him a peck on the cheek. She lowered her head down on his shoulder, and practically passed out on her feet. "We better find Ryo soon, I don't know how much longer I can keep my eyes open… He could be anywhere around this arena…"

"Yeah…" Gohan mumbled, as his head turned towards a grassy area to his right. "Or he could be sitting right over there underneath that tree…"

Videl forced her eyes to focus on the area Gohan had pointed out, and sure enough noticed part of Ryo's backside poking out from the cover of the trunk of a large tree. He easily stood out because the purple training Gi he was wearing. Videl remembered having laughed at this when it crossed her mind the night before, thinking that it probably made sense that Ryo won the tournament. A guy had to be pretty tough to wear purple into a fighting tournament that consisted of mostly burley macho men. She'd have to remind herself to ask him about that later. "Oh good… Let's get him, and go home."

Ryo felt Gohan and Videl's Ki approach from behind him, but didn't bother to turn in their direction. His eyes stayed focused on the forest in the distance, but for all he knew a desert could've suddenly poured down from the sky onto the landscape without him being none the wiser. Just the look in his eyes alone would tell you he was thinking rather then looking, and whatever it was seemed to have dropped a heavy load on his mind. He held the Tenkaichi championship belt he won the day before, hanging loosely in his hand with part of the strap brushing softly against the grass.

"There you are Ryo, we've been looking all over for you…" Gohan mumbled, as he and Videl approached him. "What have you been up to anyway?"

"Ah just thinking…" Ryo muttered absently.


Concern washed over the faces of both his friends. That tone of voice, and his expression sure didn't give him the look of somebody hours removed of being crowned martial arts champion of the world. "Is something wrong Ryo?"

"Yeah, you should be happy shouldn't you?" Videl added. "Winning the biggest martial arts tournament in the world isn't any small thing you know! Can't you at least smile?…"

"I probably should be shouldn't I?" Ryo laughed weakly. He just couldn't manage that smile, at least not until he looked up at Gohan and Videl that was. His mood brightened a bit at the sight of them. Videl's head was practically using Gohan's shoulder as a pillow with their hands locked together firmly, to hold each other up right as much as anything, and not to mention that their eyes were glazed over and puffy like they hadn't seen sleep the entire night. If Ryo had been more himself at that time, his sharp mind would've surely come up with some sort of witty or embarrassing comment to bring some brighter coloring into their cheeks. Oh well, he'd be sure to get them later when he was in a better mood. For now he'd just settle for something more elementary. "Well, look at you two. What in the world were you two up to last night?"

He got the color anyway, just not as much as he might've gotten in another situation. Gohan smiled oddly and sweat dropped, but didn't bother to let go of Videl's hand. No point in being embarrassed by it anymore he guessed. "Yes, we were up all night Ryo, but it's not what you're thinking… We were just talking. I told her my life story pretty much, and you know how long that can take…"

"Yeah, but not all night…" Ryo teased.

Gohan blushed a bit more, while Videl smiled evilly instead. "Don't bother telling him anything Gohan, it's none of his business. Let's let him sit here, and wonder what we did. He can think whatever he wants…"

A few seconds passed with no reply from Ryo. Now Gohan and Videl knew for certain something was wrong with him. He never passed up on an opportunity to engage in a verbal battle with Videl, his favorite sparring partner in that form of combat, and that meant never. Worried, Gohan shook off his sleepiness, and took a seat next to Ryo. Videl did the same on the other side of him, but didn't do so well at masking how exhausted she really was. "Okay Ryo, what's the deal? There's absolutely no reason for you to be depressed at all right now… You're the world champ for Kami's sake, so what's the problem?!"

"You think I would be wouldn't you?" Ryo sighed, as he lifted up the title belt to look at. "I just can't seem to be proud of myself for it you know? I don't feel like I deserve it… This is supposed to symbolize the best martial artist in the world, and I'm not it. Admit it Gohan, it you hadn't gotten disqualified in your match I never would've won this thing… If I would've had to of faced your father, Vegeta, or Taro in the earlier rounds I never would've even made it to the finals to begin with… I won it all based on luck, and I don't take a lot of pride in being lucky… Look at the way I won the damn thing anyway! Don't take this personally Videl, but I beat a guy I could've literally beaten blindfolded with both hands tied behind my back!"

"None of that mater's Ryo…" Gohan said, analyzing every word that left his friends mouth. "You know full well how the Tenkaichi works. Half the battle involved with winning the tournament is getting a good position in the draw. Just because you had one easy match, and didn't have to fight with any of the fighters that could've beat you shouldn't leave you with a false sense of achievement. You still won!"

Videl yawned yet again. "He's right Ryo… The bottom line is that you went into the ring and you won win it counted… You can't control the way the other matches turn out… You should feel proud of yourself… Come on, pat yourself on the back a little! Just think of how many people you'd impress if you took that belt back to your home town…"

"Yeah I probably would impress a few people…" Ryo said, and lowered the belt down into his lap. "If fact, I might shock a few people to death. That doesn't mean anything to me though… There's only two people I'm out to impress… One of them is me, and the other's well…"

Gohan smirked slightly, assuming he knew whom the other person was. "You don't think she'd be impressed by that?"

Ryo frowned at this. "Are you kidding?! She'd probably be appalled at me for voluntary taking part in some sort of barbaric fighting tournament as she'd probably call it. Then she'd get mad at me for putting my own body at risk…" Ryo smiled at that part. "I guess I'm just not a true warrior like you and Videl are… I don't fight because it's in my blood like with you guys, I only resort to it when I absolutely have to… I guess I just can't get the same sense of satisfaction that a normal fighter gets from a meaningless victory… Depending on the meaning that particular fighter gets from a particular fight that is…"

A short silence followed, and the slow cycle of thoughts flowing through tired minds continued. Eventually, Videl looked over at Ryo through hazy eyes, and asked him a question that seemed to symbolize the combined mood of the trio rolled up into one stupid out of place question. "Hey Ryo… Why do you wear a purple training Gi?"

Ryo looked at her in disbelief, and nearly laughed. Gohan replied for Ryo before the boy had a chance to come up with his own answer. "Maybe he just likes purple."

"Are you kidding?!" Ryo seethed, with a disgusted look on his face. "I hate purple! I can barely stand to look at myself in the mirror when I wear this thing!"

"Then why do you wear that color then?" Videl asked.

"Convenience," Ryo responded. "My Ki in visible form is usually purple,, so it blends in well with the purple uniform… In other words, it kind of helps keep people from freaking out."

"Oh…" Videl said, before her mouth went wide with another yawn. "I better be getting back to my dad's plane… He'll want to leave soon… Well, I'll see you guys later okay… Ryo feel better, or I'll smack you around… And Gohan…"

"Yes?" Gohan asked, with an innocent smile on his face.

Videl crawled over to him, and pulled his face forward by the collar of his shirt. "I love you."

Ryo's eyes widened, as the couple shared a short kiss just inches in front of his own face. He might not have believed his eyes any other way. Their mouths parted ways to reveal a smirk that they seemed to trace across Ryo's face, as their lips parted. "What the hell exactly did you two do last night?!"

"I told you, we were just talking," Gohan said, as he settled back into a comfortable position, and watched Videl off as she disappeared into the distance. "Whether you want to believe it or not, besides a little kissing here and there, we were completely innocent."

"Well, that's your story…"

Gohan's brow furrowed at the halfhearted way Ryo's words left his mouth. "Ryo… Is something else going on here besides your self-doubt about deserving to be champion? Videl's gone, so it's just you and me… Is something else bothering you?"

Ryo paused, and for a moment it looked as if he wasn't going to answer. Then, all of the sudden, his lips began to move and sort of sputtered out a reply. "I feel… I feel guilty…"

"You feel guilty?" Gohan asked, looking confused. "What on Earth do you have to feel guilty about?!"

"Well it's just…" Ryo looked down at the belt one more time before continuing. "You know there's some people like Hercule and others that work their entire lives to one day call themselves a champion. You know, it's their dream, and it would probably be the highlight of their life to hold this piece of tin in my hand… That's why I feel guilty. I took that dream away from somebody, and I could care less about this damn thing. I don't even want to be a champion, yet somehow…"

"That is true Ryo, but I think that one day you're going to look back on all of this and be proud of yourself. Yes, there were probably many others that wanted that title your holding right now a lot more than you did, but they can't all be champion Ryo. It's supposed to signify the best on the planet, or at least one of them in this case, and right now you're it. You'll get used to the distinction, and I'm sure the media won't bother you as much. Especially if you brush them off and ignore them, instead of eating the attention up like Hercule did. The fact that everyone thinks he defeated Cell doesn't hurt his cause much either…"

"Look, it's not the media that bothers me… I can always hide from them, but the one person I can't avoid is myself…" Gohan wanted to say something in response, but Ryo's lips continuing to move before he could get the words out. He already knew what Gohan was going to say anyway, and in affect answered his unasked question. "What I mean by this is, I can't avoid the feeling that something just isn't right… I don't know what's wrong with me, but I can never feel content or proud of anything I accomplish. It's like no matter what I do I always seem to find some little thing that pops up like a zit on prom night, that makes anything I do seem unnatural, like it wasn't supposed to be this way. I can never do anything good enough to please myself, and I'm always looking over my shoulder waiting for the rightful owner of the place in life I'm standing in to come reclaim their spot…"

"Sounds to me like you're getting a little paranoid," Gohan chuckled jokingly. "That and you suffer from a serious self-esteem problem…"

"I wouldn't go that far…" Ryo scoffed. "I don't think everybody's out to get me, and I like who I am… Then again, I probably wouldn't have tried to change myself over the years so much if I was completely satisfied with whom I was. I've tried to be more sociable, I've even tired cracking jokes and being funny to fit in… Despite how much I've tried to change over the years, I still look in the mirror and see the same dorky teenager who used to sit alone in the back of class and never talked to anybody… I haven't really changed all that much, I'm just a little less afraid of the outside world. Still, hardly anybody knows who I am, and those who do usually ignore me and some even like to pretend like I don't even exist. It doesn't bother me all that much, but sometimes I get a little annoyed at the reasons why… So what if I'm a little shy at first, I'm normal once you get to know me. I don't understand why every one looks at it like it's some kind of disease or something, because that's the way you get treated! Unless you're a bad ass, or a Don Juan or something it's like you don't even matter. I never even really wanted to be noticed, but if I ever was I wanted it to be for who I was, not because I can punch out some big loudmouth gorilla in front of millions of people!… I don't know why things like this depress me, I guess I'm just complicated…"

"I won't argue with you there…" Gohan muttered, looking like he wanted to pound his head against a tree or something to that nature. He listened well to every word Ryo said to him, and tried hard to process something helpful or motivating to say to him. However, his poor brain was just too exhausted to compute such a complicated issue at the time, and was practically screaming at him to worry about his matter later in the form of a nasty headache. "I wish I could think of something helpful to say to you, but all my brain wants to do now is sleep…"

"You look it too," Ryo noticed. "Say Gohan… Since we're on the subject, what's your dream? I mean, what do you want to do with your life?"

Gohan's brain groaned again at yet another question requiring it to think. Thankfully, this brainteaser wasn't nearly as difficult to process as the one before, so Gohan fielded the question with little difficulty. "Well…I don't really know exactly… My mother sure has picked out a lot of goals and dreams she has for me, from everything from a doctor to an astronaut!"

"Yeah, but I'm not talking about what your mother wants you to be… I'm asking what do you want to do with *your* life… From your perspective, and not influenced by what your mother has told you, you want or need to be."

Now Gohan's head really hurt. Even despite his weariness from lack of sleep, he still felt inclined to dwell on that thought… Because he'd never really given it much thought before… What did he want to do with his life? He was glad his mother had everything all planned out for him, because he hadn't an idea in hell where his future was headed. "To tell the truth, I haven't really thought about it much… I guess something will strike my fancy eventually… Maybe I'll get into something in particular once I get into college… To tell you the truth, if anything I'd just like to be like my father. Not the way he lived his life per say, but what he stood for and how he always stood up for anyone who couldn't help themselves… If I can look back on my life forty years from now, and see that I've lived up to his legacy I think that's all I really need to be happy… Whatever career I take on along the way is almost secondary… That might sound a little strange, but I guess I'm not what you'd call a dreamer…"

"I don't think it sounds strange at all," Ryo smiled. "In fact, it sounds rather noble…"

"Thanks… So, what about you Ryo? What's your dream? Knowing you, I'd bet it's pretty complicated huh?"

"Actually no… It's rather simple actually, but especially as of late, I always seem to stray away from that path…"

"What do you mean by that?" Gohan asked curiously.

Ryo sighed, unsure of how he could put his feelings into words. "Well… All I ever wanted to be was normal…I wanted to grow up, get married, have kids, and just live a normal life… It's strange because from almost the day I was born, it became pretty much obvious that a normal existence was never in the cards for me… How many legitimate psychics are out there anyway?! It's strange because a few years ago when I could hardly defend myself from a hungry mosquito, I wished there was a way I could help when these evil forces popped up all around Earth… That's the way my life is, I'm always contradicting myself… It's like I can never be satisfied, I wish things were one way and when I finally get that wish, I wish things were the way they used to be again, and if that ever happens I'll probably want things the way they are right now again… I guess that I'm a lot happier now knowing I can make a difference when it's needed, than I was just sitting around and feeling helpless all the time… Still, one of these days I hope that eventually I can at least live one day of my life where I don't have to worry about psychic powers, fighting tournaments against loud mouth world champions, who my real family is, alcoholic step-dads, psycho ninja assassins in pajama's running around trying to kill people, or insane monsters from another dimension bent on taking over the world! On a more ordinary note, I'd just like to be able to talk to a stranger without getting nervous, or have the spine to call and tell a friend happy birthday! Hell, I wonder if she even noticed I never did…"

"That does sound nice doesn't it?" Gohan asked, having felt a lot of the same things Ryo had just mentioned at one time or another. "But like you said, it's a lot more satisfying to be part of the action than it is watching it from the sidelines… That, and somebody has to stand up and fight even when the odds seem overwhelming. Most people can't defend themselves when someone like the Ray Lien Ninjas, or Cell threatens the Earth. Somebody has to stand up and fight for them, and who are we if we can but don't just because it's an inconvenience. Sure I'd love to live my life without having to worry about somebody coming along bent on destroying the planet… But that threat is always there, and we have to be on our toes if the possibility does come to light. We can't just ignore it and turn our backs because we're tired of having to deal with it. I tried to do that once when I was younger, and it killed me to know how much I let my friends down because I was too afraid to face my fears… When there are so many people counting on you, even when they don't know it, you have to at least try… Running away, and hiding the truth may come easy to someone like Hercule, but for people with pride like us, we might as well crawl into a cave somewhere and die… Living a semi-ordinary life would be nice though… I don't think either of us can ever live normal lives like you said… I'd like to get married and have a family some day, and when I do I'd love to see this world a safe place to live in… Luckily, I can do a lot to help make sure it is."

Ryo smiled slightly at this. "That is a nice thought… As for the family thing, I think you've gotten off to a good start on that! At least better than I have anyway."

Gohan blushed, and smiled through his embarrassment. "Maybe, maybe not, but I hope so… What can I say Ryo?… I guess some dreams do come true. But in a lot of ways we have to take action, and play a part in making those dreams come true. Maybe that's why you're so frustrated, because you haven't been able to pursue the dreams you really want. I can understand your fear, but I can't understand why you always talk so grimly of yourself. If you'd just show the side of yourself you show to Videl and I, and you wouldn't have many problems at all."

"That's the thing, I can't act that way around everybody. Only people I know really well, and there's not many people I've had the opportunity to get close to… You and Videl were the only people around here that would give me a chance… You didn't immediately stamp me as a loser or a nobody because I was kind of shy, and didn't socialize much at first. Unfortunately, that's the treatment I get an awful lot. I don't really care much about it, but that's just the way things are."

"Tell me about it, I've lived that too," Gohan snickered, then yawned. "Still, you should go after what you want Ryo… So what if it doesn't work out? At least you tried. Think about it, what would be worse? Crashing and burning, or finding out later that you could've had what you wanted and let it go?"

Ryo blushed and frowned slightly, turning his head away from Gohan. He knew exactly as to what, or to whom rather, Gohan was referring to. "How did this conversation turn to that all of the sudden?"

"Just stating my point," Gohan smirked. "I just want to see you happy Ryo. You did a lot to help me, now I want to see you help yourself that's all…"

"I wish it was that easy…" Ryo mumbled.

"Hey, maybe we should be getting back to the airbus," Gohan suggested. "Bulma's probably getting tired of waiting, and I know for a fact that Vegeta will be. Unless we want to fly all the way home ourselves, we better get moving."

"Sounds good to me." Ryo sat up quickly, pleased that this conversation wasn't going to go any further into that topic. "I'd love nothing more then to leave this all behind me…" Ryo took a long look at his newly acquired belt. He had considered chucking it into the ocean, but on second thought decided it might be better if he held on to it for now… At least until the next would be champion came around to claim it in another seven years or so.

********

"Hey Videl! I thought you were leaving with your dad!" Gohan greeted a sleepy Videl as she appeared near Bulma's airbus.

"Dad's not ready to leave yet," Videl yawned, as she propped herself up against him causing Gohan to blush. "So I figured I'd come and see you off…"

"Well, I appreciate it," Gohan smiled. "You know you're more then welcome to…"

"Are you insane?!" Gohan was cut off, when he heard the sounds of Ryo barking in the distance. He'd been pulled to the side by a couple of men in expensive looking suits as the others were packing up the airbus. Whatever the men had to tell him, apparently Ryo wasn't very enthusiastic about it from the sound of things. "There's no way you're selling these damn things! You can't just go ahead and make these without my permission, yet you went ahead and made them anyway! You've got to put a stop to this right now!"

"I'm sorry sir, but I'm afraid it's too late to stop. We've already massed produced the product in question, and they are currently being shipped out to stores around the country as we speak."

Ryo's eyes widened in shock, and horror. "Mass produced! I just won the Tenkaichi not 24 hours ago, how could you have already massed produced them!"

"Hey, what can I say? We're good."

A huge sweat drop hung over Ryo's head, as the men used the momentary distraction to sneak away. Ryo didn't bother to go after them, fearing there was nothing he could do to change things anyway. In the meantime, Gohan and Videl walked up to him wondering what in the world the commotion was all about. "Why is this happening to me?…"

"What's the matter Ryo?" Videl asked, surprising the boy somewhat. Ryo looked back at his two friends, and shook his head dejectedly. "Things are getting out of control! This is too much…"

"Come on, thing's aren't getting out of control Ryo," Gohan told him. "Don't you think you're exaggerating a little bit?"

"Exaggerating?! It hasn't even been a day yet, and they've already made me an action figure!" Ryo barked, as he stuck out the foot long plastic toy sculpted in his image. "To make things worse it even talks!"

Ryo pulled the string on the back of the toy, and his little action figure responded in a deep burly voice. "I am Ryo! Slayer of champions! Bow down before me!"

Ryo's eyes widened in surprise, and his face churned in disgust. "I don't talk like that!"

"That's what you're so worried about?!" Gohan laughed while he smiled in amusement. "Come on, it's not that bad… You'd think you'd be flattered."

"Well, let's see how flattered you are! They made one of you too!" Ryo barked, shoving the miniature Gohan doll in its likenesses face. Gohan's eyes widened in horror, and he swiped the toy from Ryo's hand.

"You've got to be kidding me?!"

Ryo smiled knowingly. "Nope, it's a box set. Two for the price of six."

"But don't I have some kind of say in this?! They can't just mold me into a toy, and sell me without some sort of verbal agreement at least can…" Gohan paused, and examined the figuring closely. The body structure of the doll was big and bulky, and the face resembled Vegeta more closely then it did him. At least the hair and clothes were close… "This doesn't even look like me!"

"Oh, come on guys, I think they're cute!" Videl laughed, and took the toys from them. "If you two don't like them, then I'll take them off your hands. I have an action figure of myself and my dad at home already. I'll kind of have a entire set now sort of…"

"Well, I'm glad someone's enjoying this," Ryo grumbled.

"What are we going to do about this?" Gohan whispered to Ryo. "I don't want anybody playing with that stupid thing! I never even agreed to it!"

"And you were wondering why I was upset!" Ryo grumbled, but smirked thoughtful. "You know there might be a way to stop this… Technically, nobody will be able to buy these things if that truck never completes its shipment…"

"What are you suggesting?" Ryo leaned over and whispered something into Gohan's ear. Gohan smiled, and nodded his head before they both took off like bullets to the air.

"Hey, where are you guys going?!" Videl called after them.

"Ah… We have some business to take care of," Gohan said, as he stopped to face her. He waved her good-bye, before taking off to catch up with Ryo. "Tell my mom and Bulma we'll be right back! See you later Videl!"

For a moment Videl tinkered with the thought of flying after them, but her body was just too tired to correspond with that notion. With her eyelids failing her once again, she yawned and headed back for her father's jet. "Never mind, I don't think I want to know."

********

"Where the heck are those brats?!" Vegeta snarled, after yet another two hours of waiting for Gohan and Ryo to get their butts on the airbus. "We should've left hours ago, what the hell are they doing?!"

"I don't know, but I'm sure they'll be back any minute," Bulma replied. "Show some patience, I want to leave just as bad as you do."

"I've just about run out of patience! I'd fly home by myself if I wasn't sure the little fools will show up the second I leave!"

As it turned out, Bulma was right on this occasion as a few minutes later the two missing boys set down next to the aircraft, and in front of Vegeta and Bulma.

"It's about time!" Vegeta snorted, and walked onto the airbus. "Now let's get the hell out of here!"

"Where have you two been anyway?" Bulma asked.

"Umm… Nowhere…" Gohan said unconvincingly.

"We just had some business to take care of, we can go now," Ryo said, managing to sound more confident than Gohan had.

"Oh really," Bulma said suspiciously. She'd known Gohan since he was a boy, and knew that look on his face very well. It was his I just did something I wasn't supposed to, and now I'm afraid I'm going to get caught expression. "Well, I guess I'll take your word for it then… Your mother might be a different story though…"

----------

Hercule's private jet had taken off a little less then an hour before Gohan and company left the arena. Videl was sleeping soundly in her chair until some rough turbulence the plane had flown into stirred her from her sleep. Her eyes shut almost immediately, and the only thing keeping her from drifting back to sleep was the sound of her father's radio… Leave it to Hercule to be too inconsiderate to put on headphones while his daughter was trying to get some shuteye. However, it wasn't the radio itself that kept her awake, but rather the story being aired on the news.

"In a rather odd story this afternoon, a truck carrying of load for children's toys manufactured by the W.E.S.C.R.E.W.U. Corporation was in a mysterious accident today on a rural mountain road near Highway 64. While the driver is reported to be just fine, the entire load on his truck was completely destroyed when a strong gust of air forced the vehicle off the side of the road, and was sent crashing to the rocky crevasse below. In related news, the same factory that produces the toys the truck was hauling, suffered mysterious malfunctions to equipment today that are putting an indefinite halt on the production of the Tenkaichi 25th edition action toys line."

"They didn't!" Videl's eyes widened as the reporter finished the newscast. Videl smiled, and her eyes began to droop again. "Then again, I wouldn't put it beneath them… They are so pathetic some times…"

********

"Actions figures!" Chi-chi barked, as Gohan finished telling her his toy story as of sorts. "I can't believe the nerve! How dare those people!"

"That's what we said mom! They did it without even asking our permission," Gohan continued, thankful his mother was on his side. At least he thought she was…

"I mean think about this! We should've been racking in royalties out the wazoo from this, and they weren't even going to let us in on the deal! How greedy some people are I tell you!"

Gohan sweat dropped at his mother's somewhat hypocritical statement. "Yeah, it is amazing isn't it?…"

Chi-chi turned around, and rolled back in her seat that was next to her father the Ox King. Gohan, sat back in his, and took a peek at Ryo from the corner of his eye. There was something he'd been dying to ask him ever since their conversation about dreams and responsibilities earlier that morning. He'd refrained, worried that it might be a sensitive subject for his friend. Ryo had never mentioned it before, and wondered if it just sort of slipped out on accident. Still, he had to ask before the unasked question drove his sleepy mind insane. "Hey Ryo?… Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, fire away…"

"Did your mom ever get divorced, and remarried again?"

Ryo looked confused. "Not that I know of… Why?"

"Because you mentioned earlier while your were ranting that your father was your step-father… And something about your real family…" Gohan said slowly. He looked back at Ryo, and saw the blush creeping across his cheeks.

"Did I say that?" Ryo laughed weakly. "Man, I must not have been thinking to let that slip loose…"

"So, he is your step-dad?"

"Sort of… Technically he's my foster father… I was adopted, but my step parents raised me most of my life, so I try to stay respectful… I just don't feel right calling him my dad a lot of times because of a few of his problems…"

"You were adopted?" Gohan asked sounding surprised. "You never mentioned that before…"

"I don't talk about it much… I've only known for a couple of years myself… It's no big deal really. I've come to expect this kind of thing by now… Especially during that time of my life. Hearing news like that was pretty much just a normal Wednesday for me."

"But don't you ever wonder about your real family?"

"Of course I do! Then again, there are other times when I think I might be better off not knowing anything about them… Even if I really wanted to find out, it would be near impossible anyway…"

"Why is that?" Gohan asked. "Can't you just go to the place you were adopted from, and ask them to search through their records?"

"I've already tried that," Ryo mumbled, sounding somewhat annoyed. "You see, I was put up at Southern Tokyo children's home, and it's located in the part of town where that big tornado came through a few years back. While the building managed to stay standing, a lot of their files and records didn't survive the storm. Mine got lost in the wind… I don't worry about it much though. If it was meant to be then…"

Ryo paused, at the feel of a very strong presence appearing somewhere on Earth. Gohan sensed it too, and immediately any other train of thought they might have been on was completely derailed. Whatever it was, it was strong and mysterious… Kind of eerie in a way…


Vegeta's head darted upward at the feel of a very strong Ki, and whoever it was he wasn't going about the trouble of keeping his power level hidden. Vegeta poked his head towards the back, and saw Ryo and Gohan rotating their heads around as if trying to put a lock on the unseen force. This was all the reassurance the prince needed to know he wasn't just imagining things. For some reason unknown to him, maybe just for his amusement, he looked towards Krillen to see if he had picked up on anything either. He snarled when he saw what he expected, the little humans usual stupid smug grin, apparently oblivious to anything that might be going on around him. Stupid weak human, Vegeta thought to himself. A tornado could sneak up on that clown, and he wouldn't even know it until he was sucked inside of it. He looked back towards the boys, who were now looking at him as if searching for the same form of conformation that Vegeta had from them just seconds before. The Sayian Prince nodded his head towards them, and turned back around in the passenger seat to address his wife.

"Land this scrap heap immediately woman!"

"Don't order me around!" Bulma snapped. "Still, why do you want me to land though?"

"Because there's something out there, and it's strong," Vegeta explained. "We need to check out what it is, just in case it might decide to check us out first."

For once Bulma didn't argue, and brought the airbus to the ground once she found a decent place to land. Vegeta wasted little time disembarking from the aircraft, followed by his wife and son, a curious Gohan and Ryo, and finally by the rest of the crew who were wondering what in the blue hell was going on.

"What's going on around here?!" Chi-chi growled, as she exited the craft, holding on to a sleepy Goten's hand. "Why did we stop?!"

"Something's headed this way," Vegeta explained gruffly. "I'd rather have my feet on the ground and be prepared when it gets here, not a sitting duck in some poorly designed human made rust bucket!"

"Hey, I designed that airbus Vegeta!" Bulma growled at him.

"I know, that's how I know it's a piece of junk!"

"Whoa, whoa, hold on a second!" Krillen jumped in front of Vegeta more because he wanted to know what was going on rather then breaking up the fight. "What do you mean something is coming this way?! Personally, I've had enough surprises for one weekend to last me a lifetime, so can you guys tell me what's going on?! Gohan, Ryo, do you guys feel something too?"

Ryo nodded his head, while Gohan asked. "You mean you can't sense it Krillen?"

"No, I can't sense a thing!" Krillen yelped.

"Of course he can't!" Vegeta snarled. "He couldn't even sense how strong Taro, Shin, and those two other fools from the tournament were, and they were right under his nose!"

"Hey, so I'm not as good as you guys are at this, so sue me!" Krillen paused, and looked up at the sky. "Hey, I do feel something…"

Everyone looked up towards the sky, and their eyes beheld the sight of a distant figure heading towards the area. While most of the group looked on with interest, Gohan and Ryo immediately eased up, while Vegeta appeared as if he could care less. Even Krillen's mind was put to ease as the figure moved closer. "Hey, it's only Piccolo! Was that who you guys were worried about?! Give me a break!"

"It's not him we're waiting for you twit!" Vegeta barked at him.

Piccolo landed with a thud next to Gohan. The Demi-Sayian smiled, assuming he knew why his mentor was there. "You felt it too huh?"

Piccolo nodded his head in conformation. "Yes, and I sensed it was headed in this direction. Should've figured I find you all here."

"Hold on now!" Krillen bellowed, still frustrated and confused. "What are you all talking about?! If it wasn't Piccolo you were sensing, then who is it?!"

"Well, I'm going to go out on a limb here," Ryo grunted through clenched teeth, as he felt a strong power source approaching. "But I'm guessing that might be him!"

All heads looked upward, and spotted a large energy shield containing a small man hovering towards the ground. Everyone present with any knowledge of Ki or life energy, cringed at the flow of power radiating from him. He wasn't spine numbingly strong, not even near as strong as Taro, but any unknown being who showed up on Earth with that sort of strength needed to be looked into it. The Z-senshi braced themselves as the ball landed a few feet in front of them and disappeared, revealing the little being inside of it. He didn't exactly look like the type that would be threatening to anything except for maybe the ants scurrying along the ground, but his power level was saying something much different. He stood only an inch or two taller then Krillen, reddish tinted skin, and a wild crop of brown hair that stuck out of the top of his head like a carrot. A sinister looking smile creased over his lips, partially exposing the beady black orbs hiding between the two thin slits that were his eyelids.

"Relax Earth warriors, I haven't come here to fight. Actually, I have a proposition for you."

"A proposition?" Gohan asked. "What exactly do you have in mind?"


"It's simple really. You see, we've been watching your little group, and some of you were quite impressive in that martial arts tournament that was held yesterday. Sadly, it seems besides a small handful, there was really no major competition for you to face other then each other. What if I told you that I can fix that little problem for you?"

Vegeta's brow twitched with interest. "And how do you intend on doing that?"

"Yes, let me explain," the little man cackled. "You see, my name is Loki, and I work for an enterprising martial arts enthusiast named Kashunari. He travels from galaxy to galaxy inviting the best fighters in the world to come aboard his spaceship, and compete in a galaxy wide tournament to see just who is the best in the universe. Recently or trip has brought us to Earth. While we haven't located many beings on this planet that catch our interest, there are four of you that seem to stand out…"

"Vegeta…" Loki hissed, as he looked in his direction. "Prince of the Sayians, and the last living full-blooded member of the race. Strong and proud, you'd still possibly be the strongest Sayian alive even if that horrible fate hadn't befallen your home planet. You are hereby invited to Lord Kashunari's tournament to represent the Sayian race."

Loki's eyes shifted towards a young man staring at him with wide brown eyes. "Ryo, a rare diamond in the rough for what is a relatively weak race, and the current champion of earth as I understand. You are hereby invited to Lord Kashunari's tournament as a representative of the human race and Earth."

Loki's attention turned to the other boy standing next to Ryo. "Gohan, half Sayian and half human, and a warrior still with enormous potential despite the level of strength you already posses. Lord Kashunari seems particularly interested in you. You are hereby invited to Lord Kashunari's tournament as a representative of the human and Sayian race, and of Earth."

Finally, the little mans gaze feel upon Piccolo. "And of course let's not forget you Piccolo. The former guardian of Earth as I understand, and you also trained the two young gentlemen standing next to you. You are hereby invited to Lord Kashunari's tournament as a representative of the Nameks."

"Well…" Loki continued. "With that said all I require now is your response… What do you four have to say?"

Everyone looked around at each other, even those who weren't asked to fight, as if conversing with each other at what they should do. While the prospect of yet more competition was appealing the Sayians and Piccolo, the trust factor involved with this mysterious little man bothered the Namek and Gohan at least. The last thing Ryo wanted to do was fight when he didn't have to, especially against a bunch of space aliens who were Kami knows how strong. Vegeta snorted slightly, and gave Loki a glare.

"Fine then. I question this competition you've been speaking of, but I'll see just what this Kashunari has to offer."

"Excellent. I knew I could depend on your cooperation Vegeta. Now what about the three of you…"

Unlike Vegeta, the decision for the remaining three was debatable. "I don't know about this guys…" Gohan said. "I don't think we can trust this guy… Still, it sounds interesting. Should we go?"

"I don't know…" Piccolo grumbled. "He definitely looks suspicious… What do you think Ryo? Can you see anything?"

Ryo tapped into his mind's eye, but couldn't see any present danger in the near future. "No, I don't sense anything at the moment… Still, if you guys want to do this then by all means knock yourselves out. As far as I go, I've had by fill of fighting for a while, so I think I'll just stay here."

"But there's still a chance they could be dangerous," Gohan told him. "We might need your help, if it turns out that these guys are up to no good. Whether it's just a legitimate tournament or not, I don't think we can afford not to go just in case they are up to something."

"He's got a point kid," Piccolo agreed, then looked towards Loki. "Alright Loki. Count me in."

"We'll compete too…" Gohan nudged Ryo in the ribs, when he didn't get anything but a murmur instead of an agreement. "Right Ryo?"

"Fine, I'll go!" Ryo grumbled, wondering if he had any freewill left at all. "That stupid title is already haunting me!"

"Hold on just a minute young man!" Chi-chi growled, and drug Gohan backward by the collar of his Gi. "There's no way you're going to do anymore fighting any time soon, especially on some spaceship! There's no telling what kind of weird diseases you can catch on that thing!"

"But mom!" Gohan argued. "The Earth might be in danger, I have to go!"

"No excuses Gohan! You're not going, and that's final! You've got weeks worth of make-up work to do for school waiting on you at home buddy!"

"Mom please! Don't do this!" Gohan begged, then whispered to her pleadingly. "Not in front of the guys, and the weird alien please!"

Loki sweat dropped, Piccolo shook his head, while Ryo looked sympathetic. Vegeta snarled, and muttered under his breath. "If the fate of the world ever lies in the hands of that women I might as well blow my own head off, and get it over with!"

"So, I guess I can't stop you from doing this huh?" Bulma asked, already knowing the answer. She didn't get one, as Vegeta just frowned in the direction he was facing. "I'll make sure the others get home safely then. You guys take care…"

"Yes, touching, very touching. If you gentlemen would, now we should be going," Loki announced, signaling the four fighters to follow him. "If you four will stand behind me, then I'll escort you to our ship."

The Z-fighters didn't ask any questions, and though confused lined up behind the strange Loki. Gohan waved his mother good-bye, and sprinted towards the others. "Sorry to disobey you mom, but it's time I started making decisions for myself, so good-bye!"

"Gohan! What do you think you're doing?! Get back here!" Chi-chi stalked over towards her son, but was forced backward when a ball of energy, identical to the one that encased Loki on his descent towards the Earth, appeared surrounding Gohan, Loki, and company. The Z-senshi were a bit confused as to what this meant, but their unasked questions were quickly answered as they took to the air.

"Sorry mom, but I promised dad that I'd take care of you guys, and that I'd protect the Earth if anybody threatens it! I have to go, so please understand! And if Videl calls me later, tell her where I am okay?!"

"But Gohan!… Get down here!" Chi-chi's shoulders hung in defeat, and a slight smile formed on her lips. "He gets more like his father everyday…"

Gohan finished waving to his mother, and turned back towards the other Z-senshi. "You know guys, I should've mentioned this sooner, but this might be a trap."

"Yeah, so what if it is?" Vegeta asked. "We'll just bust out, so what are you worried about?"

"I don't know… Nothing important I guess…"

"All I can say is that this better not be a waste of our time!"

"Don't worry Vegeta," Loki smiled sadistically. "I promise you it won't be…"

----------

"Excellent, they fell for it," a sinister looking man cackled, as he stared at the big viewing screen set up in the control room of his spaceship. His chin rested gently in his hand, his long white hair nearly touching the floor. "This is too perfect, I almost expect the ship to start falling apart at any second."

The big burly looking man standing next to him growled in disgust. "We wouldn't have had to resorted to brining these fools aboard the ship if you had sent me to that tournament instead of that idiot Taro!"

"Be nice now Maco," the man snickered. "That's your brother you're talking about… Or was your brother anyway…"

Maco snorted. "He's no brother of mine now. He was a weakling! Losing to that earth boy… Sayian or no Sayian, there's no excuse!"

"Maybe you're right Maco… But that's exactly why I sent him instead of you. He was expendable, but I still need you to put the bulk of my plan into motion. Are the Durgan's ready?"

Maco smiled at this. "Yes, Lord Kashunari. They're ready to go, as soon as you say the word."

"Excellent," Kashunari smirked contently. "As soon as they're aboard the games begin."

********

There was a little patch of brown dirt in the middle of a field that was otherwise filled from corner to corner with lush green grass. The ground there was dry and broken, completely barren except for a few ants, until a bloody and singed hand clawed into the exposed earth. Leave it to the Ray Lien to find the needle hidden in the haystack every time, even when their bodies were battered and broken. Hail tried to force himself to his feet, but his body just wasn't responding. In a matter of seconds, he decided it would better if he just lay there and waited to die… He laid there motionless, planning on doing just that when he felt a large shadow creep over him… A curtain of dread spread over him as his eyes scanned over the padded leg of an orange Gi hovering over him. Those eyes now filled with dread, his head churned up slowly towards the masked face of the very man he feared had stumbled across him.

"Sako……" Hail mumbled weakly in between ragged breaths.

"You've failed Hail, and you've failed miserably," Sako told him showing little emotion. "You know the punishment for failure in our clan Hail…"

"Sako! Please no!" Hail chocked frantically, as Sako grabbed him by his leg and proceeded to drag him away to some unforeseen location. "Just let me die here please! No!!!!!!!!!"

********

"So where's this competition they were going on about?!" Vegeta growled, as he paced around the large room Loki had left them in some time ago. To its credit it did resemble some sort of training room… Almost perfect for fight except for the fact that there wasn't a ring anywhere to be seen. Maybe this competition didn't need one, or perhaps this was just some sort of large training room. "We've been waiting here for hours! Let's get moving already!"

"At least somebody's using the time constructively," Piccolo muffed, as his eyes peaked over at Gohan who was sawing logs a few feet away. Two hours after their arrival, Gohan decided if had to wait he might as well catch up on some lost sleep with a short nap… That short nap had abruptly turned into a full night's sleep over the past few hours. "Sort of anyway…"

Piccolo then looked over at Ryo who had been relatively silent since they arrived on the ship. It wasn't all that strange for him to be quiet, especially with Gohan in dreamland and considering that he wasn't all that comfortable around Vegeta yet, but still yet something was unsettling with the way he was acting. Not actually the way he was acting, but the serious and frantic look Piccolo noticed would flash over Ryo's face every so often. Kind of like deep concentration, but he just couldn't seem to focus on whatever it was he was trying to home in on. "Is something the matter Ryo? You aren't having a vision are you?"

"I don't know," Ryo mumbled in concerned fashion. "It almost feels like I'm trying to have a vision, but something keeps blocking it out! I know something's there but I can't see it no matter how hard I concentrate, and it's about to drive me crazy! It's been like this for over three hours now… I don't have a good feeling about this Piccolo… Something bad is about to happen, and I just don't know what it is!"

"Something's been bothering me too, but I just can't put my finger on it… We better keep our eyes peeled, and watch our backs just in case."

"The only thing bothering me is this intrepid wait!" Vegeta snarled, and proceeded to threaten some unseen entity. "Whoever's running this sideshow listen to me! I'm sick of all this playing around, now get this competition underway before I blast a hole in your roof and leave!"


"Relax Vegeta, you'd do good to learn some patience," a voice jeered from the next room. The sliding doors opened to reveal none other then Loki, followed by several other strange looking creatures of various types. The Z-senshi could only assume they were various races from other planets also invited to compete in this quaint little space tournament.

"What's going on?" Gohan yawned, as Loki's entrance stirred him from his slumber. He lined up with the other Z-fighters, and his eyes widened at the vast variety of characters gathered around Loki. They ranged from monstrous creatures to the down right freaky, including a giant dragon like being minus the wings, and a rough looking man beast type creature with the body of a man and the head of a tiger. For whatever reason, the fighter that stood out the most in Gohan's eyes was a short green-skinned man wearing a hood. Something about him stood out, but Gohan couldn't tell just what.

"That's our competition?!" Vegeta scoffed, feeling almost nothing at all from the lot of them. "I sincerely hope they're suppressing their power levels, or this won't even be a decent warm up!"

"Oh trust me Vegeta," Loki smirked. "They're going to give you more then you ever dreamed of… Now, I'm sorry I must prolong the wait, but the tournament isn't scheduled to start for another few hours yet, so I figured I'd bring these boys in here to spare with you so you won't get bored."

"Humph, it's about time you did something!" Vegeta barked. "We've been standing around here half the day already!"

"I'm aware of that, please try to be patient…" Loki's gaze shifted towards the sleepy face of Gohan. "You boy… Why don't you start us off?"


"Me?" Gohan pointed to himself, and walked forward when Loki nodded his head. "Okay… If you insist…"

"Indeed I do… Eeki! I want you to oppose the young Sayian for this training session. Be careful though, he's a strong one…"

"If you say so," the hooded man said, as he walked out of the line towards the center of the ring. "Should be interesting…"

"Indeed… Now, if you all will excuse me, I have some other business to attend to… Have fun, and try not to kill each other before the actual competition can begin…" Loki said, as the sliding doors reopened for him to exit. I don't know why Lord Kashunari's so interested in that boy, but he insisted on seeing him fight… Oh well, should be fun to see what happens next.

"I'll try," Eeki grinned, as Loki exited the room.

"I don't think you have to worry about killing me," Gohan smirked smugly, as he began to limber up a bit, if anything to get his blood circulating again after his long nap.

The only part of his face that Gohan could see was Eeki's grin as it widened widen, until he removed the hood from his head. Gohan gasped as he saw the face staring back at him in full view. He looked kind of like a Namek except his completion was a little lighter green, his ears weren't pointy but more like square boxes, and his lips formed in a strange almost circle formation. He obviously wasn't a Namek, but he could probably pass for one rather easily. "Confident one aren't you? You look a little tired there, that's not healthy for you at the moment."

"Well, I just woke up…" Gohan admitted, causing his sparing partner to sweat drop. "Hey, how long was I out for anyway guys?"

Vegeta answered gruffly, more pissed off at how long they had to wait rather than the question. "We've been here for over fourteen hours, and you've only been awake through two of them!"

Now Gohan was the one sweat dropping. "Man, I really must've been out of it…" Gohan smiled, and turned back to his opponent. "Okay then! When do we start?"

"Right now." Gohan yelped, as a fast green leg swept over his head, then fired another shot towards his torso. Gohan darted out of the way, and went on the defensive as Eeki charged him, firing a series of fast punches and kicks. Shocked by how fast this little green man was, Gohan had to rethink his entire strategy as how to go about fighting this Eeki. He was much stronger then he had originally thought, and for some reason he couldn't seem to pick up on his Ki. While Gohan was busy thinking up ways to counter his lightning fast opponent, Eeki had much different things on his mind.

"You're from Earth right?" Eeki asked, as he continued his assault.

"Yeah, what about it?" Gohan asked, as he blocked Eeki's fist, then fired a few punches of his own.

Eeki avoided Gohan's attacks with ease, and continued. "Now I know to warn you… This is a trap you know?"

"What the tournament?"

"No, don't you see there is no tournament," Eeki explained. "I don't know why Loki has me fighting with you right now, or why they're waiting, but any second now they're going to get a signal to attack all of you. They plan to either take you prisoner, or kill you in the process."

"And aren't you one of the group?" Gohan blocked a punch, and fired a kick at Eeki's face.

"Yes, but my motives are different," Eeki said, as the battle continued. "You see, they aren't bad people, they're all slaves Kashunari has acquired over the years in the same fashion they're trying to take you! He's promised them their freedom if they help capture you, among other more sinister consequences if they refuse…"

Gohan caught Eeki's fist, then took hold of the other one as it came flying towards his face. They glared in each other's face as they both tried to force the other back. "If that's the case then why are you telling me this?! If he's offering you your freedom and all!"

"Because I've been here long enough to know that Kashunari's promises aren't worth the dirt his feet trample over! Besides, my goal is to destroy Kashunari, not acquire more prisoner's for him!"

"Well, you don't have to worry about that!" Gohan powered out of Eeki's grasp, and the sparing match resumed. "We're not the type that's taken prisoner that easily!"

"And you think I was!" Eeki snarled, as he blocked a punch from Gohan. "I'm sure you're all capable fighters, but I'm warning you that you need to get back down to Earth as quickly as possible! If you don't you might not have a planet to go home to!… Wait a minute, have long have you guys been here?"

Gohan looked concerned now, as he dodged Eeki's leg. "About fourteen hours I think… Most of the day…"

Eeki's face cringed in horror. "Then it might already be too late…"

"Too late for what?! Come on, tell me!"

"What is that brat doing?!" Vegeta growled at watching what appeared to be a horrible display of fighting technique from one of the last surviving members of his race. "He should've blown this fool trough the roof a long time ago!"

"No Vegeta, something's wrong…" Piccolo grunted. "We're not sensing much Ki from Eeki, but it's not because he's weak, it's rather obvious he has some moves… At first I thought maybe he was just really good at hiding it, but notice something from Gohan as well?"

Vegeta snarled at Piccolo as if to ask what the hell the Namek was getting at when he did feel something from Gohan… That was that he felt very little at all in the way of Ki… He felt for Piccolo's and Ryo's as well, and sure enough both their energy patterns came in very low as well. "What the hell?!… I noticed your power levels were lower than normal before, but I thought you were just suppressing them to throw off Loki and the other fighter!"

"And I thought you were doing the same thing… Apparently we were both wrong."

"That's it!" Ryo cried out suddenly, a look of enlightenment and fear mixed into his face. "I don't know how the hell they're doing it, but this Lord Cashew guy, or whatever the hell his name is, is somehow blocking our secondary instincts! Whatever's aiding in masking everybody's Ki must be preventing my psychic sense from kicking in as well! I don't know what they're up to, but something is definitely wrong here!"

"I hate to admit it, but I'm starting to think you're right…" Vegeta growled. "I hate not being able to measure an opponents strength! I've been doing it so long, it's almost as bad as being blind or deaf!"

"I'll have to take your word for that," Piccolo grunted. "But I don't like it either…"

"Look, you have to listen to me!" Eeki pleaded with Gohan, even in the midst of legs and arms flying everywhere. "The tournament talk is just a damn ploy! The crew on this ship are nothing more then a damn sadistic cult of space pirates that travel around from planet to planet plundering each one they come across!"

"Oh yeah?! What kind of plundering?!"

"Trust me, you don't want to know…" Eeki murmured, distracting himself just long enough that Gohan almost landed a punch. They lured you here, so there wouldn't be any strong fighters left on the planet to defend against them once they attack! If you've really been on this ship as long as you say you have, it may already be to late…"

"Why should I believe you?!" Gohan grunted, as more blows were exchanged and blocked.

"You can't believe me, or you don't want to believe me?! Look, if that's the way you want it then fine, stay up here and fight like a bunch of idiots while your planet is stripped of all life! If you really want to know how I know what they're up to… It's because they did the same thing to my planet a few years back… I'm the last surviving member of my race now, and I don't want to see another go down to the likes of that tyrant! I've already been here while they've stripped countless others…"

Gohan looked almost somber now, as if the reality of what might be happening down on earth was finally starting to sink in. All at once the fighting stop, and the two combatants hovered in mid-air and stared each other down. If Gohan needed anymore convincing, it came from one of his friends standing down below.

"Gohan! I think something's going on down on Earth! We've got to get off this ship!" Ryo bellowed from the ground.

"Well, your friend seems to agree with me, and I haven't told him anything yet," Eeki told him.

"Okay, let's just assume what your saying is true. How do we get out of here?"

"I'll be happy to show you… But first you're going to have to get through them."

Gohan looked down towards the group of about half a dozen fighters who looked poised and ready to start something. Then he remembered what Eeki said about the planned ambush during the training session. "I understand… You better not be kidding me about this though."

"They've stopped fighting so what's he doing?" Piccolo inquired of himself. His eyes went wide, as he watched Gohan power up a Ki blast and sent it flying towards the group of fighters that entered the room along with Eeki. "What the hell *is* he doing?!"

"Everybody brace yourselves!" Gohan yelled to the other Z-senshi. "This is a trap!"

"I knew it!" Piccolo gritted his teeth, as he and Ryo powered up. Vegeta just smiled, and took a fighting pose.

"Don't have to tell me twice."

Just as Eeki had said, the other slaves immediately rushed the Z-fighters, and they weren't about to wait around for their enemies to come to them. Piccolo was the only fighter to stand his ground, and waited as an odd lizard like creature with blue skin and a long tail leapt for him. Piccolo dodged out of it's way, and immediately dodged several reckless blows the blue lizard tried to strike him with. The lizard creature tried a swipe with his tail along with his limbs now, but Piccolo matched his every step. What the Namek wasn't prepared for was the creatures long slimly tongue, as it shot out of its mouth and wrapped itself around Piccolo's neck. Piccolo grabbed a hold of the silky weapon, and held his feet steady on the ground as it tried to pull Piccolo closer to him. The resourceful Namek reversed fields on the creature, and whipped him back towards him. The lizard man's eyes just about bulged out of his head as he was pulled forward, right before Piccolo planted his fist dead into the creature face. The scaly warrior went out like a light, his protruding tongue still sticking out of his mouth a good six feet even after he hit the ground.

"Eck, disgusting," Piccolo cringed, as he wiped some slobber off of his neck and face.

"Stand still there buddy, how do you expect me to hit you if you keep wiggling around everywhere!" a wiry little man with elongated legs and arms said rather rapidly, as he bounced off the walls and the ceiling all around Ryo's head, shooting tiny little projectile daggers at him.

"I don't intend for you to," Ryo said coolly, as he jumped up after his quicksilver adversary. "I hope you can move as fast as you can talk!"

The springy little man proved he could do just that by daring out of the way of Ryo's fist as he came barreling towards him. Ryo quickly regrouped himself, and barrel rolled his way back to the ground so to dodge the close to a dozen daggers his opponent had fired at him. The somewhat bouncy little man somehow stuck himself to the wall, and fired some more rounds at Ryo thinking he had his target locked in now. However, he was dismayed when all he saw was a faint trace of his target smile, before disappearing from his sight. He scanned his eyes around the immediate area in confusion when his adversary suddenly appeared in front of him.

"You're quick," Ryo complemented, as he fired a powerful Ki blast into the little fighter before he could move out of the way. He splattered up against the wall, and with a grunt dropped to the floor. "But not quick enough."

"Don't take this personally son, but I don't have much of a choice in this matter," the strange beast-man type creature told Gohan in a tone of voice eerily similar to that of a human in his mid to late fifties. He had the body of a man, if the person where a very burley man like Spopovitch for example, but his head took the image of a tiger with a busy fur main that covered most of his chest, and ending just before his abdomen began. Needless to say, Gohan didn't give a damn what the creatures motives were, all he knew was that he was under attack. Gohan grabbed his fist as it came flying towards his face, and twisted his arm around surprising the beast man with his strength.

"Don't take this personally yourself, but you are the one that's attacking me now aren't you?!" Gohan wound up, and clubbed the beast underneath the chin, sending him flying across the ship. Gohan eased back, but a second to soon as he immediately felt a pair of enormous arms wrap around his chest.

"No, hurt friend Satara!" A deep ogre like voice bellowed down at Gohan. In fact, he looked like an ogre to, a mammoth of a humanoid standing in at close to ten feet tall, and about as broad as a small truck. Only one eye was plastered into the middle of his head, and his impressive strength was even difficult for Gohan to fight out of.

"Damn… That boy almost took my head off," The beast man grumbled, as he sat up and rubbed his chin. He then saw his ally holding the young Sayian at bay, and quickly moved to race to his aid. "Hold on tight Barlog! I'm coming to help you…"

"Wait Satara!" A green hand grabbed a hold of Satara's wrist, and the old tiger turned around to face Eeki. "What are you guys trying to accomplish by all this anyway?"

"Our freedom of course!" Satara replied gruffly. "This is our only chance! Who's side are you on anyway Eeki, telling the boy of our plan and all that! What are you up too?!"

"I'm not on Kashunari's side, I'll tell you that match, and just who do you think you're fighting for right now?"

Satara grimaced, and groaned somewhat shamefully. "Look, I'm not proud of it, but it's our only chance. We all appreciate you staying on board the ship to help us, but unlike you we can't just get up and escape this place whenever we feel like it! The others just aren't strong enough to fight off Kash's minions, and I'm too old to live life on the run… This is the only option we have left!"

"Think about what you're saying Satara. You've been on this ship longer than any of us, and have been alive for a lot longer then that! Do you really think Kash is going to free you guys just like that? Don't be a fool! He's never going to let you go! You're going to rot away here as his own personal little plaything until the day you die, and so are the rest of them!" Eeki paused, and surveyed the battlefield. "Besides… From the looks of things you guys aren't exactly fairing very well with your little assignment."

Satara looked just in time to watch Gohan break free of Barlog's bear hug, and pretty much KO'd him with one blow to the midsection. Satara growled, and turned back to Eeki. "Damn… Of course you're right boy… It's just that one shred of hope after all this time… What are we going to do?"

"The only way we can truly be free is to defeat Kashunari and his thugs once and for all!" Eeki told him. "If we escape they'll just hunt us down until he recaptures us, or kills us in the process. Besides, you know what he did to all out planets, and what I fear may have befallen Earth as well… Somebody has to stop this… I know it's a long shot, but there's no other way…"

Satara sighed then smirked slightly, and shook his head. "I should've listened to you a long time boy… What you're asking may just be suicide, but I guess the rewards do far outweigh the risks…"

"Too slow fool!" Vegeta snickered, as he grabbed the giant dragon type creature he'd been pretty much toying with. He grabbed him by his long neck, and swung him around tossing him hard into the wall, reinforced with some sort of strong alien metal. A sadistic smile crossed the Sayian's lips, as he stared down his fallen adversary as he lay prone on the floor groaning softly. Vegeta charged up a Ki blast with full intention of finishing the beast off, when Gohan smacked his hand towards the ground forcing Vegeta to break off his concentration and the attack.

"Vegeta don't!"

"Boy, what the hell are you doing?!" Vegeta barked, and frowned at the boy. "I was just about to finish him!"

"There's no need to finish him, he means you no real harm!" Gohan told him. "They're slaves on this ship, and the only reason they attacked us is because the guy who runs this ship promised to set them free if they captured us! You've already beaten him, so just let it be!"

"You are insane boy! Your softhearted nature is going to get you killed one of these days, and you better not take the rest of us with you!" Vegeta growled, but surprisingly did as Gohan requested by walking away from his downed opponent. Gohan watched after him curiously. Vegeta was never that easy to reason with…

"Look guys, if we're done playing around we need to get back down to Earth!" Ryo called out frantically, flying down towards Gohan and Vegeta. "Something's going on down there, and I don't think it's pretty!"

"You have no idea son…" Satara said suddenly, as he and Eeki walked toward the group of Z-fighters. Gohan, Piccolo, Ryo, and Vegeta all gathered around each other and kept their guard up just in case these two strange aliens were planning anything that wasn't on the level. "I'm sorry for this mess, but I'm afraid this is what we've been reduced to over the years… You must get back down to your planet in a hurry, Kashunari's Durgan's can devastate an entire planet in a matter of hours. They finished mine off in no more than eight by my planet's time."

"You don't have to tell us twice!" Gohan exclaimed. "Now, how do we get out of here?!"

"That's an easy one," Eeki smiled, and took to the air. "Everybody back out of the way!"

Satara and the Z-senshi did as they were told, and Eeki proceeded to blast a large hole into the floor of the ship. Gohan stared at the gaping hole with wide eyes, having expected a more subtle method of escape. "That's your way out?…"

"Crude but effective isn't it?" Satara commented.

"What are we standing around here for? Let's go!" Piccolo said, and he and Vegeta flew out of the ship. Gohan was set to follow, when he looked up to inquire one more thing from Eeki. "You guys want to come with us? That's what you wanted, to be free wasn't it?"

"I could escape anytime I want," Eeki smirked smugly. "My goal is to defeat Kashunari, and it's a lot easier to plan for that as a prisoner on this ship rather than out on the run."

Gohan looked up at Satara to offer the same to him. Satara just smiled, and shook his head. "No thanks lad. Kashunari would just chase me down until he drags me back here, or kills me. I'm better off here, Eeki needs all the help he can get anyway."

"If that's what you guys want," Gohan smiled. "Don't worry, we'll come back and help you as soon as we clean up whatever mess is down on Earth. Right Ryo?"

"Why not? Don't have nothing better to do," the boy smiled.

"Assuming you live that long…" Eeki mumbled… He took another long hard look at Gohan as he prepared to leave when he noticed something dangling from Gohan's neck. It was a small pendant, inscribed with a symbol that looked similar to Egyptian hieroglyphs. Eeki's eyes winded in amazement, and grabbed a hold of the small round object, letting it lie against the palm of his hand to get a better look at it.

"What are you doing?!" Gohan demanded.

"Where did you get this?!"

"My dad gave it to me just yesterday, now why?" Gohan asked, as Eeki released the object, allowing it to dangle off his neck once again.

"This is an ancient relic from my home planet! It was once worn by the legendary warrior Pikkon! Hell, he was even buried with it! How the hell did your father get this, let alone give it to you?!"

"Oh, I see what you're talking about now!" Gohan smiled. "My dad said a guy name Pikkon gave him this medallion, and he gave it to me for good luck."

"But that's impossible! Pikkon's been dead for over a century now!"

"Oh, that explains everything! My dad died about seven years ago, and they met in other world. He beat him in some sort of tournament, and Pikkon gave this to my father as some sort of good luck charm. He came back for a day, which just happened to be yesterday, to compete in a fighting tournament on our planet."

Eeki looked absolutely bewildered. "Look, I'm not even going to touch the after life thing, but there's no way your father could've beaten Pikkon alive or dead! He was the greatest warrior that ever lived!"

"Well, I'm just telling you what my dad told me… I better get going, time's a wasting! Good-bye!" Gohan jumped out of the ship, followed immediately by Ryo. Eeki looked out the ship after him, a bead of nervous sweat running down his face. "Who are those guys?…"

"I don't know…" Satara cracked. "But let's just hope they all make it through this alive… Not to mention us…"

"Come on, let's move it!" Ryo called out to the other's as he sped towards the Earth. "If we hurry we might be able to… Ho… Ho… Holy shit!…"

Ryo's eyes widened in total horror the second he was close enough to the ground to see what waited for them there. Piccolo and Gohan wore similar looks of dread and terror as they descended downward, and even Vegeta managed a grimace. What looked to once be a crowded city was now left in total devastation. A literal red dawn had descended over the planet providing a perfect apocalyptic mood, the shade of a lonely sunrise spreading across the landscape. Numerous buildings lied in ruins, and not one speck of life could be felt. Not a bird chirping, not a rat crawling on the street, or one solitary human wandering around the city below. Gohan sped towards the city and landed in the middle of a street surrounded by debris, trash, and the burnt out shells of several cars. Even once his feet touched the ground he could still sense no trace of life whatsoever. His eyes scanned the area until finally they fell upon the form of a human sprawled out on the street. Gohan rushed over to him to check if he was okay, only to back away a moment later as got a good look at him. He looked to be in his thirties, and didn't even appear to be what Gohan would call a corpse. There were no signs of life from the man whatsoever, as he just laid still on the ground with his eyes wide open liked he'd just seen something that shocked the holy hell out of him. His complexion was very dark, and even in this state there was a strong empty feeling coming from this man that just didn't seem natural. Ryo and Piccolo landed next to Gohan, and their faces took on similar looks of disgust as they looked down at the body. Vegeta landed and just sort of grunted indifferently, and looked around the area. Gohan clenched his fist tightly, and bit his lower lip.

"We're… I think we're too late…"

End.

I'm aware that the Ryo being adopted thing, and Gohan's medallion popped up suddenly but there were reasons for both. I never mentioned anything about Gohan getting anything from his father before, because quite honestly the idea just occurred to me as I was finishing up this chapter. It has no real importance to the story, I just wanted to make it clear to everyone where Eeki came from… I wasn't confident my description of him was accurate enough. Once again, he doesn't mean a whole lot to the story, but I needed a couple characters for the prisoners on the ship, and thought Eeki would be an interesting inclusion. As for Ryo, well that was an idea I always had planned for him, but wasn't actually supposed to work into this story at any time. The thing is, I've recently fallen in love with another anime/magna I stumbled across, and I've reduced the grindstones to ruble trying to come up with a good idea for a story. I wound up with a great one. It's not going to be a sequel, or even relatively related to this story or anything, but there will be a small tie-in.

Preview of Chapter 22 The Z-senshi rush to their homes to check on their families, and are horrified to discover it wasn't just one city that had fallen to Kashunari's invasion. In the rush to find survivors, they stumble across a battered Supreme Kai who tells the Z-fighters just what Kashunari was after… And to make matters worse the dragon balls are still a few months away from being fully recharged. Not to mention that there are still a few Durgan's left on Earth, and another more unspeakable evil…