The old man and his horse plodded slowly along the bottom of the ravine wearily. They'd traveled this way for years. Looking for that one thing that would finally finish their mission. The old man stretched and pulled out his canteen. Taking a long swig, he then placed the canteen back in his saddlebag. Suddenly his horse froze and snorted.

"What is it Bertha?" The old mare was a favorite of his. Trustworthy and smart, he knew to listen to her when she pointed out something.

She snorted again and tossed her head then stood still. The old man listened and heard it. A quiet sobbing. Bertha's nostrils flared with a strange smell and she plodded forward a few steps. The old man followed after her.

As they both rounded a corner they came upon a man. His head was on his knees, all they could see was his black hair and denim jacket. He wore dirty black pants and blue boots. The old man came up quietly beside him.

"You alright son?"

The man jumped and looked up, to reveal a tear stained face and weary black eyes. "Who are you?"

"The name's Kay. That over there's Bertha." The old mare snorted.

The man smiled and stood, holding out his hand to be shaken. "Gohan." He looked around and sighed, scratching his head.

"What you doing out here?" Kay wondered aloud.

Gohan blinked. "Just trying to get away from myself sir."

Kay looked unblinkingly at him. "Right." Something in the way he looked at him made Gohan fold his arms around himself in fear.

Kay had felt it in the young man's touch. When they had shaken hands. He had that nasty bugger in him. The one that would finish him and Bertha's mission. If they could just catch the critter…but one thing he wondered was how the kid had managed to keep the thing at bay? Normally a man would be at home, beating his family with that thing in him. This kind of Dæmon wasn't ambitious. It liked to ruin a victim's life and then leave 'em, still alive but too weak or too alone to do anything to make amends. Kay sighed. Luckily him and Bertha had gotten to this sucker in time, they just had to get it out of him. Which was always tricky.

Gohan shivered uncomfortably. He suddenly felt vulnerable and alone. As if everyone had discovered what had happened and didn't trust him anymore. He looked over at Kay's horse and shivered again as he saw it staring at him.

Finally it was Kay who broke the silence. Kay had decided not to let on that he knew about the dæmon. If he did then the dæmon may overpower what control the kid had gained and kill him. "You want to come with us then Son?"

Gohan blinked in surprise. He hadn't expected that. But maybe if he went with this guy he may be able to forget about his past just for a while and defeat this thing. He nodded. "Sure."

Kay smiled and gave him thumbs up. "Then let's get moving."

So began the long journey back to Kay's home, which resided on a small deserted prairie. Gohan smiled when they finally got there. This would be the perfect place to heal himself. He stumbled as he climbed the porch steps, though, as the dæmon burned his flesh with anger.

A/N: Well well well. Three chapters in one night. Go me! I told you I was getting inspiration! Things are going kind of fast but that's the way they would in the cartoon series too so w/e. Also please forgive me if exactly according to the real tv show. After all I've only seen from the cell saga to now the VERY beginning of the Babidi saga. *Stupid Toonami* *Stupid American programming*