A/N: Yay, I got reviews! I'm happy now! Well anyway, here's my responses...

XT-Zealot: Yes, he is! And yes, I am!

Ivan-Hammet: Well, of COURSE Ivan's gonna be in it! You think I can do a proper Golden Sun fic WITHOUT him?! Okay, I'm calm now. Yeah. He's there. Just.not yet. Keep reviewing and waiting, kay?

Golden Sun: The Lost Guy: Interesting name. Um, no, I don't really plan on Piccolo being here...Sorry. But keep reading anyway. (I just don't know how in the world I'd get him here!)

Yeah, that's it...Give me more, ya'll!

Ch 3 - The Storm

It had been four years since that fateful day when Son Gohan had fallen from the skies into the idyllic village of Vale. He had been officially adopted by the whole village but he stayed with Felix, Jenna, and their parents as another son, another brother. The memories of his life with Goku and Chichi, with the Z Warriors, were still deeply embedded in his soul, but the old dream of returning was becoming more and more distant. If he cared to be truthful, life here reminded him of his own life before Ratiz, and he knew it could never be like that back home.

Actually, there was three big things bothering him about staying here. First, he still missed his family. Second, he loved it here and couldn't leave. It bothered him because what if he did eventually find a way home? He wanted to go home really bad but didn't want to leave Vale. Total paradox.

The last problem was his ki was gone. He had discovered its absence the same day he'd fallen from the skies, when he'd tried to sense the powers of the people around him and failed utterly. By tentatively testing each day, he'd slowly come to realize that the only thing he could do with his ki anymore was sense the life energy of living things - basically, if they were alive or not. Seeing as he was now living in a sleepy little isolated town up in the mountains, there didn't seem much use for that.

The now 16-year-old Gohan gazed up at the clear blue sky. Normally he hung out with Felix, but today he was fishing with his father while Jenna went off to play with Garet, and Isaac was in bed with a cold. So that left him to his own devices (he didn't like hanging with Jenna and Garet - their future was way too obvious, much to Felix's displeasure).

A sound in the distance caught his attention suddenly. He glanced towards Mt. Aleph, the huge extinct volcano which watched over Vale like some awesome earthen guardian, and was startled to see storm clouds gathering over it, forming a halo fit in the sky of a gloomy castle. His eyes narrowed. He hadn't sensed any storms for the next week, let alone that very day. Something wasn't right.

He headed back across the river to where Felix and his father were fishing. "Felix?"

Felix looked up and grinned. "Hey man! What's up?"

"Nothing good, I'm afraid. Look over at Mt. Aleph."

Both fishers glanced up. "Oh..." Zavior said as he took it in. "I see. That certainly is odd."

Felix shivered. "Creepy, that's what it is. I've never seen anything like it."

"So you might want to finish up your fishing soon." Gohan looked back at the mountain. "I can't tell when the storm will break, but I don't like the looks of it. It's gonna be one big storm."

Zavior nodded appreciatively. "Thank you very much, Gohan. Come Felix, let's wrap this up so we can get in."

Gohan, satisfied that things would be all right, left to head uptown, where the path leading to Mt. Aleph was located. He met the Great Healer there. "Hello Gohan," the eldest of the elders smiled at him.

"Good afternoon, Great Healer. Have you any idea what is conjuring this storm?"

"Conjuring? You mean you didn't sense this one?"

"Not at all. I only knew it was coming when I looked up and saw it."

The Great Healer frowned. "Hm. Interesting development. I do not believe this is good."

"I agree with you. Shall I sound the alarm?"

"Hmm..." As ever, the Great Healer was reluctant to do so. The alarm was only sounded when the entire village was in grave danger. He didn't know - yet - if this storm could be so horrible. He said as much to the boy.

"I see," Gohan answered, tight lipped. "Then I will simply warn everyone I meet of the impending danger. Good day, Great Healer."

He quickly headed down the opposite side of the path he'd come up and stopped to see Garet and Jenna playing with wooden sticks, appearing to bash each other with them. "Garet! Jenna!" he called as he ran over.

The two stopped. Garet grinned up at the taller demi saiyan. "Hi there Gohan! Come here to practice with us?"

"No, I haven't. Look up in the sky."

They did. Their reaction was indicated by their suddenly huge eyes.

"Garet, you might want to go inside and tell your folks. Jenna, I'd hurry home if I were you."

Just then the rain began. Almost too fast to believe, it became a drenching torrent in seconds. Gohan shouted, "Go, Jenna, and be careful! Garet, get your folks to the southern plaza, now!"

The younger pair raced to do as he said. He followed alongside Jenna for the second it took to get back to the sanctum. "Great Healer," he shouted, "you must pull the damn alarm now! Vale is gonna flood in ten minutes at this rate!"

The Healer, thank goodness, ignored his vocabulary and pulled the alarm. A second later the foghorn burst out and spread across the village, loud enough to wake the dead. An apprentice healer ran in. "Master Healer, the boulder that held back the monsters of Aleph is falling! We don't know what happened!"

"I'll try to hold it back!" Gohan cried, heading for the door. "I can't hold it very long on my own though, so get help now!"

"I'm on it!" the apprentice replied, and ran back out.

The Great Healer looked at him. "Are you sure about this? You are the god's gift to us, you are valuable."

"Listen, if I don't do this we are probably going to have a lot of dead people to bury at the end of the day! I'm going!" With that, he ran off again. Up the path to where two healers were struggling with their burden. For a few moments, Gohan stared up at the impossibly immense size of the boulder, then he grabbed hold of the boulder using his Psynergy.

Soon, four more elders showed up to help. It was minutes after they got there that Gohan looked around and, to his shock, saw Garet and Isaac standing on the lower bank. Cupping his hands around his mouth, he shouted, "Hurry guys, run! It's not much further and you don't want to stay here!"

Isaac nodded to show he heard, then the two bolted downstream. Gohan resumed trying to hold back the boulder. But as time passed and no one else came to help, one by one all of Vale's defenders fell from lack of energy, until only Gohan was left. Knees trembling, he managed to send one final tremor through the boulder, then he collapsed. The last thought that penetrated his exhausted mind was, I hope everyone is all right...

He awoke to a feeling of warmth and cool damp on his head. He kept his eyes shut, loathe to open them. But soon he heard a familiar voice. "Don't worry so much, Jenna. He's alright, just tired." It was Dora, Isaac's mother.

"But he's all the family I have left!" Jenna's hysterical cry revertabrated in his head. "I can't lose him too!"

What the hell is she on about? Gohan thought blankly. He opened his eyes.

Dora was above him, laying a wet rag across his brow. Jenna was being held back by the mayor, who were trying to calm her down. The moment she saw his eyes open, she screeched loud enough to make the whole room wince. "Gohan! Oh Gohan, you're alive, you're alive!"

"Well...yeah. I'm just tired, that's all. Why...are you so upset, Jenna? Just now you said, 'I can't lose him too'. What did you mean?"

She stared at him for a moment, then burst into tears and buried her head in the mayor's shoulder. Dora sighed unhappily. "Gohan..." the older woman began, "Felix, Zavior, Mary, and Kyle are all dead."

Gohan didn't move, couldn't move. Zavior and Mary were Felix and Jenna's parents, while Kyle was Isaac's father. How could they be dead? It wasn't possible. Not possible.

"Felix fell into the river," Dora continued. "Zavior, Kyle, Jenna, Mary and I were trying to get him out, but we had no more Psynergy left. Jenna went to the plaza for help while I headed north. Garet and Isaac soon came and they followed Jenna, leading her and another man back to help. Then...then the boulder fell, and...Kyle, Zavior, and Mary were on the dock, Felix in the river. The boulder swept them all away." She wiped tears from her eyes. "Isaac and Garet went to get help again, but when they didn't return, I got worried. I followed their trail and discovered the both of them unconscious on the road, with various wounds and burns between them."

Gohan, despite his overwhelming grief frowned at the last part. "Burns? In the middle of a storm? What happened, they get struck by lightening?"

Dora shook her head. "No, that's the strange thing. The Great Healer said that they were definitely caused by fire of some sort."

Gohan tried to think through it but gave up. He fell back into the pillow. "Gods. How long ago did all this happen?"

Jenna sniffled and rubbed her eyes. "Two days ago. Isaac and Garet woke up last night; their burns were pretty bad."

"Are they okay? I mean, will they live?"

"Yeah."

"Good." Gohan fell back to sleep. When he awoke again, it was dark. Jenna was asleep on a chair next to the bed, slumped over the arm. He smiled, then got up to look out of the window at the night sky.

Zavior, Mary, you were always so kind to me. When I came here, you adopted me and simply accepted me for what I was, even though you had no idea where I came from. And Felix...you were willing to be my friend, the best friend I've ever had. But now...now you're all gone...because I let go of that boulder. Gods...I feel so guilty now...you're dead because of me...

"Just...like...Dad..." he whispered, tears forming in his eyes. "I'm sorry I couldn't save you."

A/N: Okay, a couple notes. Since no one ever says what Felix's parents are called, I named them Zavior and Mary. Again, please review and stuff, you know the drill. Bye for now!!!