Disclaimer: Don't own it, never will.
The night wind is freezing and without the capability to fashion himself a ki shield to protect himself from the harsh cold, Goku feels his whole body start to go numb. Attempting to conserve his body warmth, Goku tightens up on Kinto'un, shivering hard.
Piccolo snorts and tosses his weighted cape over to Goku. "Put that on. It will keep you warm."
"Thanks," the teenager mutters as he wraps it tightly around himself.
"We can get to training your psychic abilities as soon as we get there." And your ki too, Piccolo thinks, disgruntled by the fact that the strongest warrior in the universe can't even fly.
"But my dad didn't pay you yet."
A slow smirk snakes its way onto Piccolo's lips. "Seeing Vegeta cry was payment enough. Besides, you showed yourself to already have good control over your psychic powers."
Goku blinks. "What? I did? When?"
"When you mass hypnotized them all, Son!" Piccolo snaps in exasperation. How could Goku not see what he did! "Did you really think that they were stupid enough to believe some cock-bull story you pulled out of your ass without a subconscious nudge?"
"...Yes?"
Piccolo is silent for a moment. "...Well...I do have to admit that you pulled a good story. Are you sure that you don't remember anything from your past life? You knew a hell of a lot of facts for someone who's supposed to be amnesiac..." he says, giving the teenager a suspicious look over.
Goku merely shrugs, "I made it up as I went along. Just looking at them it just came to me."
...Either he's lying or he was peeking into their minds without realizing it, Piccolo thinks, his expression turning sour. "Right...And besides which," he adds, intentionally trying to deflate Goku's balloon, "you forgot one very important detail. Your 'mother' was a MAN. Men can't have children."
For a while the young prince's expression is blank. "They can't? But Dad told me you can have babies..."
Piccolo's face streaks purple. "That's different! I'm asexual! I'm an alien from this planet!"
"But aren't my dad and I aliens?" Goku presses. "So why shouldn't my 'mom' be able to?"
"Because that's what women are for!" the namekian warrior yells, his face starting to turn violet.
Goku frowns. "Have you ever seen a saiyajin woman?"
"...No..."
"Me neither. So then how do you know that saiyajin males can't produce children?" the young boy reasons.
For the longest while Piccolo stares at Goku while they fly in the night sky. "...I cannot believe that you out logicked me."
A bright smile is his only reply.
Piccolo wasn't kidding when he said they'd start right away.
As soon as they touch ground, Goku doesn't even have a second to look in awe at the perfect white architecture before being dragged over to the courtyard and made to sit down on the warm marble.
Piccolo towers above the boy, his arms crossed as he looks down upon the saiyajin. "All right. First of all, cover that monstrous energy of yours. I don't want a rampaging saiyajin prince interrupting lessons."
"...Do what now?"
The nameck just barely manages to keep his face neutral. "You don't know how to do even that?" he asks tightly. Goku shrugs helplessly. "Don't just SHRUG you brat!" Piccolo suddenly explodes, knocking the teenager onto his back. "Every monster that can sense energy on this side of the galaxy will be able to detect you!"
"Piccolo! Calm down!" Goku yipes, staring at the huffing nameck. "I understand, but- I never had to...disguise my ki before. All I had to do at mute point for my whole life was command my ki, not concentrate on it."
Rubbing the bridge of his nose, Piccolo lets out a heavy sigh. "I suppose I have no choice but to give you a crash course on it..."
After about a couple hours of meditation later, Goku successfully covers nearly half of his ki. "That'll do for now," Piccolo mutters. "Now for your psychic powers."
Looking down at the boy, the nameck gives Goku the once over. "We already know that you read minds, have extreme empathy and can at least slightly hypnotize people. That just leaves the greater powers. Mind control, mind melding and telekinesis."
Like a textbook Piccolo begins to recite the lesson. "Mind melding is the most dangerous one and it is able to permanently damage the mind. We had a lot of trouble with it back when 'Kakarot' came out of his shell." Ignoring Goku's confused look, the sensei continues. "However, telekinesis is undoubtedly the hardest to master and the rarest power. And mind control is merely an extension of hypnotism."
"Dende, you're needed here!" Piccolo suddenly yells.
A moment later, what appears to be a smaller version of Piccolo comes out into the courtyard dressed in a nightie. And he is looking very annoyed indeed. "Piccolo-san, why are you yelling out for people. It's the middle of the night!"
Piccolo nods to Goku, "Hypnotize him, Son."
Dende squawks in surprise before Goku concentrates on him intensely. The demi-god's eyes grow wide and he falls to the ground on his hands and knees, growling like a young leopard.
Raising a hairless brow, Piccolo looks down on his young pupil. "Impressive. You didn't even have to make eye to eye contact with him. Now try mind control. Make him jump off the edge of the Lookout. It's something self-destructive and/or against his nature."
"...And he normally acts like an animal?"
"In private, yes." Piccolo answers without a beat. "Now make him jump off of the temple ledge."
Goku looks over to the young nameck, his stomach tightening heatedly. "I don't want to."
"He's not going to get hurt," Piccolo scoffs.
"I still don't want to! I don't like the idea of any of these powers!" the young saiyajin growls, spouting his genuine feelings. "It feels wrong to me!"
Sighing, Piccolo gentles his expression and places a hand onto Goku's shoulder. "Son, if you don't have a good hold over these powers, you won't know when you actually are controlling someone else's mind. You must practice these powers."
Goku stays silent, glaring at his teacher. In an act of defiance, he releases Dende from his hypnotism and keeps his eyes level with the nameck.
Piccolo snorts. Stubborn Son.
"...What just happened?" Dende asks, looking about wildly and easily ignored by the two.
"...Fine, have it your way." Goku grins widely when Piccolo concedes that point. "But now telekinesis. Stay here a moment."
Ducking into the temple, Piccolo comes back out with a drawer full of silverware. He takes out a teaspoon, handing it to the young teenager. Dende stumbles over, his eyes widening as he sees the drawer. "Piccolo! That's the good silverware!"
His protest goes unheard. "Just bend the spoon, Son." Goku blinks and shrugs. Then he snaps the thing in two between his fingers...earning himself a smack over the head. "Son! With your MIND!"
The prince pouts, "Well, you should have said so!" Goku picks up another spoon, much to Dende's angst, a large serving spoon this time and concentrates on it much like he did with Dende.
...Nothing.
For long, long minutes, the two namecks watch the young saiyajin stress and strain to bend the metal with his mind, nearly turning purple in the process and all for naught.
"I guess telekinesis is not your forte," Dende sighs, taking a breath of relief after 10 minutes pass.
"No! I-I almost have it!" Goku hisses, concentrating fully on the spoon, sweat dripping heavily down his chin onto the white marble floor.
Unexpectedly, the spoon suddenly begins to vibrate, making both Dende and Piccolo lean in closer to inspect it. Goku grinds his teeth together and squeezes his eyes shut, pushing himself beyond his limits. Come on, come on! Just MOVE!
The spoon explodes, erecting loud shrieks from all of them, including Goku who instantly drops the singed handle as though it were a live electrical cable. Staring hard at the spoon handle and at Goku, Dende and Piccolo stay silent, not sure what to make of what just happened.
...Was that Goku accidentally using his ki? Or did he disintegrate a spoon with his mind?
Awkwardly, Goku rubs his right arm trying to get some feeling back into it after the shock. He's not too sure about what to make of the other two's stares.
No one says a word until Mr. Popo comes out wearing his own pinstriped pajamas. "What is going on out here?" All three look up at him, suddenly finding the genie a welcoming distraction. Mr. Popo shines a lantern out into the darkness. "There was such a- Oh! Who is this! Vegeta's son, is it?"
Goku's jaw drops when he sees the rather stout ebony skinned genie. "I...ah, I..." Okay, he really should be used to all these weird people by now! he yells at himself, but he can't help staring at Mr. Popo. "I...how did you know?"
"I have Chiaotsu on speed dial," the genie explains calmly, skirting about the saiyajin, taking a look at him. "Hmmm..."
What the heck's the Hmmm for! Goku wonders.
"Your posture isn't bad," Mr. Popo mumbles, mostly to himself. "And neither is your hair. But you most certainly don't dress or SMELL like one of royalty! We shall have to take care of that right away!" Without warning, the genie grapples the saiyajin's wrist.
Mr. Popo quickly directs the little saiyajin prince over to the baths for some deep soak scrubbing, Goku not completely unaware of his own plight.
Dende frowns at the strange spectacle and looks over to Piccolo. "Why is Mr. Popo so gung-ho about taking care of Goku-san all of a sudden?"
Smirking quite evilly, the older nameck directs the young god over towards the baths, following the two. How ironic that the young boy is going to suffer because of his Vegeta-appointed title. "Popo's been itching to get his hands on royalty for years," Piccolo chuckles. "He was the manservant to the divine royal family of Artush for hundreds of years before a drought of ten years ruined the country. It was at that time that Kami, I forget which one, decided to take Popo on. Problem was, he and all the Kami's after him were adults."
A bigger smirk slides onto the fighter's face as his sensitive ears pick up the cry of startlement coming from behind the double doors to the Temple's baths. "Popo's passion was always taking care of the children of the royal family and right now Goku's close enough for him." He chuckles menacingly. "Son's going to get massacred."
A pained wince comes to Goku's face as he sits down on the soft cushions of the love seat on the balcony. That Mr. Popo is insane! When he said "Oh I'll take you for a bath," Goku had thought it meant "I'll find you a pond so that you can just dunk yourself in it." Definitely not "I'm going to toss you in a thousand degree water and then rub your skin raw with lava rocks and then put this stuff on your scalp, massaging it until you're dizzy and then put this weird ointment all over you that's going to make it hurt even worse and then throw you into these unnecessarily foofy clothes."
...Okay, they aren't THAT foofy, but it's much more prettiness than he's used to. Goku fingers the sleeve of the light blue silk tunic with a sigh. Even Trunks' clothes were just jeans and a T-shirt.
But still! Right now his skin felt like there were fire ants all over him! Maybe if he just stayed still for the next two days it would be alright...
"Hey Piccolo," he mutters dejectedly, not turning to see as the larger fighter enters the room.
Piccolo walks up to his side and looks down on the small boy. "You shouldn't rely on your mental prowess so heavily. There may come a time that somebody finds a way to work it against you."
Goku blinks. "How did you know I was using my mind?"
"Because I know that your ki skills are not up to par as they should be," the nameck answers delicately, though the saiyajin can sense that what he really means is "Your ki skills are crap."
The boy scowls and looks over out at the starlit heavens. "Do you think my dad's really going to kill me?"
Piccolo is silent for a time. "It's...really hard to tell with that saiyajin. But no, I don't believe he would or else he would have done it already."
"What do you mean?" Goku asks, finding the statement puzzling. "You mean – just from tonight? What if he's still unconscious?"
"I...Son, how much do you know about your past?"
"Nothing," the young teenager replies quickly. "And I don't want to know anything about it."
Piccolo purses his lip, wondering if this is truly a wise decision. "Son, I don't know how much you remember about your old techniques, but they made you truly powerful. One of the most powerful beings in the universe."
Goku opens his mouth and closes it. "I...Piccolo, I'm...afraid of..." he whispers, bringing his knees up under his chin to hug them. "I don't want to be a...different person."
"Dammit, Son!" the nameck suddenly bursts, making the boy wince under his words. "You have an obligation to this world to protect it! Sometimes sacrifices have to be-!"
"PICCOLO!" comes a sharp cry from behind him, indignant and furious. The larger fighter turns about and sees Dende glaring venom at him from the doorway. "Get over here, Piccolo! I have to talk to you!"
Scowling from being reprimanded like a child, Piccolo reluctantly obeys the young Kami. "What is it, pip-" His words are interrupted by a fist to the face, hard enough to make him stagger back from the shock of it.
Dende shakes his hand after the hard throw, his eyes steeling against the sudden anger in his mentor. "Piccolo, how DARE you make that speech to him!" he hisses, making Piccolo stagger back in shock again. He had never seen the young Kami so angry.
"Goku doesn't owe the Earth! If anything, the Earth owes him! You preach about sacrifice when Goku-san's given everything for his home time and time again!"
Growing petulant, Piccolo argues back. "Dende, he can't even become a super saiyajin! He's useless compared to his old self!"
"Leave that to Vegeta!" Dende snaps. "I'm sure that he wouldn't have bothered having you go through the trouble of helping to hone Goku's psychic skills if he didn't give a damn about his training!" Taking a breath, the young nameck continues, making Piccolo follow him as he walks away from the prince's room. "I've never felt Goku's heart so light."
The statement makes Piccolo jolt in surprise. "What?"
Dende smiles ruefully. "Oh it's true he was so happy-go-lucky back then, but you can't see your friends keep dying in front of your eyes and not be affected by it. I'm sure every time he looked at his children he remembered the time that he let them die. He deserves to be truly happy. And it seems like having a father is good for him."
"Doesn't Gohan deserve to be happy, too?" Piccolo growls.
The young god pauses his stroll, a guilty jab taking a stab at him. Of course Gohan did. Everyone did, but... "Piccolo...you know that if Goku gets his memories back he's not going to turn back into the Goku that Gohan knows.
"The river changes with each passing second. It is the same with people. Gohan knew his father since they flowed together in time. But then they separated for too long. Goku can never go back to the way that he was. You KNOW this."
Piccolo is silent, his large hands tightening into fists as he looks away from Dende and to the white walls of the temple.
"I see you understand." Dende sighs. "Now leave Goku to rest. You can continue training him in the morning."
Slowly, the morning sun forces the young prince's bottle green eyes open to an unfamiliar ceiling. ...Goku frowns wearily. The height of the ceiling seems a lot shorter than it should be. Panic races through him, making him shoot up from his bed and wildly look at his surroundings. Everything looks so different from before!
The boxy room is tiny and cluttered with a great many things that Goku had never seen before. And what the heck was he sleeping in? A bed on stilts? His green eyes peep over the edge of the mattress.
Oh wow, he did! No wonder he slept so well! ...Wait, why was he here?
Goku hops off of the bed on stilts and onto a soft heap of clothes. He saw a dresser with a couple pictures on it, the only personal effects in the room. Sighing, Goku knocks on the bed post and goes to examine the pictures. His heart suddenly skips a beat when he recognizes the people in the small photo.
"That's Dad!" he exclaims, snatching the frame up from the generic wooden dresser. "And Gohan, too! But he's so much younger!" His eyes stray to the third person, a man clad in a hideous orange and blue gi, wrapping an arm around a very disgruntled looking prince. And the stranger has the same dopey expression and smile as Gohan...
Goku trembles as he stares at the man, as it slowly dawns on him exactly who this person is. His fingers come up to the glass and trace the face of the man. This...this is...
His green eyes suddenly narrow as the saiyajin inspects the stranger. "So...you're Gohan's father..." Unable to look at it any longer, Goku slaps the frame face down onto the dresser. "So this must be where Gohan lives," he mumbles to himself out loud, trying to distract himself from the disturbing picture.
The teenager nudges a pair of jeans on the floor with his foot. "Kind of a slob." He picks them up to toss them into the laundry hamper, but then something inside the mesh hamper catches his eye. "What the..." He puts a hand into the dirty clothes and fishes around, pulling out a white T-shirt, revealing six orange orbs with red stars in their centers.
"Holy crap," Goku whispers, starting to shake again.
He knows what these are.
He knows exactly what these are.
He's suffered through too many of his father's rants to not know what these are.
And considering that he's in Gohan's living place and what Gohan wants from him and that picture, it is NOT a good thing that these things are here.
He has to get away from here.
Goku instantly grabs a backpack from the chair, dumping out all the contents onto the floor and stuffing in the dragon balls.
A thought suddenly occurs to him. "What about money?" He got into trouble because of it before. Dang, he's probably going to have to blend in with the ningen too, which was why he couldn't fly yesterday in front of them. Bunch of cowards.
With a heavy sigh, Goku tucks his tail into his baggy pants and searches about the desk for a rubber band to tie back his pony tail. Then he searches for this thing called 'money'...
The entire complex of Capsule Corps shakes on its foundations as an enraged roar echoes through the halls. "WHERE IS HE!"
Mirai dashes down to the living room where he manages to catch his father before he rages outside. "Dad! What's the matter!"
Furious, Vegeta turns on him and yells, "Goku is missing! I can't sense him anywhere! And he hasn't learned how to control his ki yet! I should be able to detect him at least a little!" Beyond agitation, the saiyajin prince begins to pace helplessly. "I knew I shouldn't have brought him out of Mute Point!" he yells at himself.
"Dad!" Mirai shouts, grabbing his father's attention. "Just calm down," he says, trying to smooth the prince's ruffled feathers. "Just change into some regular clothes first and we'll go over to the Lookout."
Looking down, Vegeta barely registers he's still in his boxers. With an annoyed growl he runs up to his room.
The teenager sighs and calmly extends his senses to search for that enormous ki. But...nothing. With a confused frown he extends his senses further and further until he's sure that the entire surface of the Earth is covered. "Oh my God," he whispers, a dreadful panic slowly coming over him. "He's gone again!"
Goku looks down at the small plastic card while walking out into a large green campus, barefoot and his dragon ball laden backpack slung over his shoulder. "I guess this is money," he mutters to himself.
A few college students give him funny looks as he passes by. One of them, a concerned junior girl, walks up to him and taps him on the shoulder. "Hey kid, do you need some help?" she asks kindly.
"I'm 14," Goku replies crossly. "But yes, I could do with some help thanks. Do you know which direction Capsule Corps is in?"
The junior frowns, contemplating the question a minute before she answers. "Well, the branch is south east of here, downtown."
"Actually, I want the one in West City."
Staring hard, the girl yelps, "W-what! But that's on the other side of the country!"
"Oh..." From the way she says it, it must be a really long way then. "And which direction is that?" His guide, quite sure that the boy's a loony or some prat recruited by the local frat, points over westwards. Goku grins and bows, "Thank you very much!" He then spots a pair of sneakers laced together over her sports bag. They look about his size.
"Hey, can I have those? Thanks!" Before the girl can get a word in, the saiyajin boy grabs her shoes and tosses the credit card to her. "The kingdom of Vegeta-sei thanks you!" he calls back with a grin, running off with his back to the morning sun.
Running at speeds enough to be merely a blur to the normal eyes, Goku decides that with these weirdoes, he better not call Kinto'un until he was out of the city limits.
Gohan ITs on the edge of the white marble courtyard with a small click of his leather shoes. Muttering incoherent complaints to himself, he loosens the tie around his neck and takes off his uniform jacket. He only has a little bit of time to spare before his next class. Now if only he can get the last-
"I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR PLEASANTRIES!" the college student stops dead in his tracks, freezing as soon as the familiar voice booms out of the temple. "JUST TELL ME IF YOU CAN FIND HIM OR NOT!"
Uh oh...Gohan holds up two fingers, ready to flash himself out of there, only to be stopped by a "Gohan."
The demi-saiyajin jerks in surprise and spins around to smile nervously at his mentor. "Oh, hey Piccolo! Sorry, I can't stay long, but I need to get going to my classes and-" Piccolo merely grabs him by the shirt and drags him over to the interior of the palace and towards his imminent doom. "Hey! Let me go!" Gohan cries helplessly, but before he knows it, he's already in front of an infuriated and very unkempt looking prince and Gohan's also ticked off sparring partner.
Gohan gulps and nods to the both of them, after Piccolo relinquishes his shirt. "Vegeta. Mirai."
Oblivious, Dende smiles and waves at the teenager, "Oh hey! Gohan! I have that dragon ball that I've been safekeeping for you!"
Vegeta's black eyes narrow even further and he growls, "Dragon ball? Would you care to explain?"
The ebony haired demi stutters out, "W-well, you see I haven't been doing so well with my grades lately-"
"Gohan, you're a terrible liar," Mirai says, cutting his sparring partner off before he can make himself look even more ridiculous. "Just tell us the truth."
Hesitating, Gohan clenches his fists and matches Vegeta's glare. "I took my dad, okay? And I was going to wish him back to his old self." There is instantly uproar.
"WHAT!" Mirai yelps, staring hard at the Son.
"You LIED to me?" Dende yells in complete disbelief. "You can't lie to Kami!"
"More importantly," Piccolo interrupts, before the little kami can go off into a tirade, "is where you put him."
Gohan frowns in confusion. "What?"
Unfolding his arms and closing the distance between he and Gohan, Vegeta spits out, "Are you as clueless as your father! Why don't you try sensing him!"
Even more confused, Gohan does so, only to come to the same shocking result that all of them already have. "That's...that's impossible! I only took him to my dorm and let him sleep there! He couldn't-"
"YES HE COULD HAVE!" Vegeta shouts, jolting Gohan back to attention. "Because he's either at Mute Point, which is impossible to find without a damn map! Or Blade could have-"
"Hey guys, what are you all doing here?"
The collective look up, only to nearly piss themselves when they see Goku on Kinto'Un, hovering above the lot. Another uproar ensues.
Mirai jumps back with a yelp, "What the-"
"How did you do that!" Dende demands, stricken with awe.
"And how are you keeping your ki perfectly masked!" Piccolo shouts, the most shocked out of them all. He's the master of ki detention! How had the punk who can't even control his ki one up him like this!
"How am I keeping...what?" Goku asks in complete confusion. All the namekian warrior can do is grind his teeth in irritation. Now the brat's just mocking him!
"Get down off that cloud RIGHT NOW!" Vegeta orders angrily, pointing to the marble floor. Sheepishly, the young boy obeys him and slips down off the cloud in front of his father, expecting harsh retribution. The prince glares at the boy, his angry expression never faulting.
Suddenly, in his only moment of public weakness he grabs Goku, wrapping his arms tightly around the teenager's lanky frame. Eyes wide, Goku's confusion grows when his father lets out one long, cold, shuddering breath.
The desperate embrace is gone and Vegeta swiftly regains his composure. "Well..." the prince coughs, trying to shake off his embarrassment, "despite the circumstances, I'm glad you've found a way to mask your ki." He coughs into his fist again, unable to look anyone in the eye. "It is a perfect cover against Blade." He lets out another long breath. "Now, let's go back home."
Taking Goku's wrist in hand, Vegeta starts leading the stunned teenager over towards the edge of the Lookout.
Gohan reaches for his father's hand. "Dad..."
Vegeta is on him before Gohan can even blink. "DON'T TOUCH HIM!" he screams, fisting the front of Gohan's shirt. "DON'T YOU EVER TOUCH HIM AGAIN!"
After an awkward pause, the prince shoves the demi to the floor and takes off, holding his son closely to him.
Mirai barely manages to keep his mouth from gaping open and he turns to Gohan, helping him up from the floor. "Gohan...I..."
"Just go," his partner snaps, glaring at Mirai. "Go enjoy your new brother."
Shifting awkwardly for a moment, the boy from the future leaves without a word, shooting a glance back at his friend before following his father off the Lookout.
"What were you thinking?" Dende grates out, sparing no sympathy for the demi-saiyajin.
"Not you, too!" Gohan cries.
"I meant about the wish," the nameck explains agitatively. "Do you have any idea what the consequences would have been if you had made that wish?" The demi-saiyajin says nothing, sullenly looking away from the small kami. "Gohan..." Dende says, laying a hand on the young man's shoulder, "your father has changed too much to safely change him back to who he once was. You would have killed him in the process."
Then Dende adds, "And I daresay that Vegeta would simply kill you no matter what the results of the wish."
"I just...wanted my father back..." Gohan whispers softly, a sliver of a tear trailing down his cheek.
Dende watches him awkwardly, his hold on the teenager's shoulder tightening, trying to reassure him. "I'm sorry," he says, letting his hand drop to his side and he walks back to the inner temple.
Piccolo looks on the boy, his heart wrenching at his mentee's suffering. Clenching and unclenching his fist, he feels useless.
"Piccolo," Gohan suddenly says, not giving the nameck a glance. "Can you try to figure out exactly how my father was born?"
His mentor nods. "I'll do my best." With that, he leaves the demi-saiyajin alone, ready to start his mission.
