Of all the times and places that Gerald had gone, this was his absolute favorite. Ever since he discovered his ability to not only use instant transmission to jump in space, but also through time, he had "visited" the past events in history. This did not go unnoticed by the Supreme Kai either. He was, to say the least, angry when he discovered Gerald had gone back in time.

"Don't you know you can destroy everything?" The Supreme Kai had admonished him telepathically.

But Gerald wasn't stupid. He had taken one of the invisibility belts given to the Saiyans by King Tien a long time ago. He made himself invisible, then while in Super Saiyan Six form made his body ethereal, intangible to the touch. The chances of his discovery was as close to nonexistent as possible. That is, as long as he kept his power dampened, and his mouth shut.

It was coming to the best part of the show, so he watched intently.

There! Hercule had just thrown 16's head over to Gohan! The real show will start in just a few seconds!

Gohan stared down at the crushed head of 16, his anger growing and growing, suddenly the boy snapped and his mouth opened wide in a scream of rage and power. The ground shook violently as the boy had not learned to control his ki while making this transformation. In fact, no one knew how to control this transformation, it was entirely new ground, Gohan was the first.

Gerald couldn't help but feel a swell of pride in his master as the boy began to destroy the Cell Jr.s,

There was an accompanying sense of sadness. Gohan lost something precious that day, what little bit was left of his childhood. His innocence.

Part of it had been lost on Namek. Frieza had seen to that, but now it was completely shredded away.

"I can never forgive you." Gohan had said.

The boy of just the day, perhaps the moment before could have forgiven him. The eyes of the boy the day before had been filled with joy, and playfulness, and hope. The eyes of the warrior in front of him held none of these qualities. They were hard, and cold, and unyielding. Gerald shivered a little, happy that he had never had to look into Gohan's eyes when he was like this.

The eyes of Gerald's master, the eyes that he remembered fondly, was full of love, and joy, and warmth. Still, when Gohan was in a contemplative mood, Gerald remembered a few times when a shadow would cross his features, and those eyes would be clouded with sadness. Perhaps it was what Gohan thought of as his fault, the event that was unfolding before him now.

"Goodbye Gohan, I'm very proud of you." Goku and the inflated Cell disappeared from the battlefield.

"Nooooooooo! Daddy!" Gohan's fists uselessly pounded the Earth.

This is the one event that cost Gohan his father for seven years, and clouded his heart for the rest of his life.

Gerald had been so tempted to simply destroy Cell, and save Goku, but he knew doing so would change everything, perhaps even block his own existence. The Supreme Kai was right. Time travel is dangerous. He knew, however that he would return here again.

Cell was back on the battlefield; he and Gohan were locked in a death struggle, each one trying to best the other with their beam attack. Trunks lay on the ground with a gaping hole in his chest. Piccolo, Yamucha, Tien, and Kirillin started attacking Cell from behind with little success. They were little more than a minor annoyance to Cell, or so it seemed.

Gerald sensed Cell's energy falter, just a little bit, but perhaps the added strain of defending his rear was taking a toll, even if just a little.

The four Z-Warriors were thrown back and down to the ground, but miraculously they pulled themselves back to their feet and attacked again. Once again they were tossed down like leaves in a breeze, and once again they struggled to their feet to attack anew.

It looked like Cell was going to win, he was gloating at the boy. Suddenly, a huge attack hit Cell from above.

"Vegeta!" The man-made monster exclaimed.

Vegeta hung in the air, totally exhausted, he had put every last erg of his ki into one last attack, saving only enough to keep him out of Cell's reach..

Cell's power decreased a little more.

Then a pained battle cry issued from the boy. He had opened up a new energy reserve somehow. His attack doubled, then tripled, and continued to increase. Gohan's beam easily overpowered Cell's beam, and engulfed Cell totally, his body ripping apart then disintegrating.

Cell was no more.

Gohan fell out of his Super Saiyan 2 form, and out of the air. He landed with a painful thud and lay still for quite some time, breathing heavily.

Something twinged in Gerald's mind. His father. Something was not right with his father.

Gerald placed two fingers to his head as he took one last look at the boy that would become his beloved master.

"Good-bye Gohan." He said under his breath, and then he disappeared.

Piccolo's head snapped around. "What was that?" he said to himself. Piccolo's strained his senses; he could have sworn that he heard something, a voice perhaps?

"What's wrong Piccolo?" Yamucha asked.

"Nothing I guess. I must be a little punchy after the battle, that's all. It's just the wind." Piccolo reassured Yamucha, and himself. "Let's get Gohan and everyone else to The Lookout so Dende can heal them. We can use the Dragon Balls to resurrect Trunks and everyone else Cell killed."

King Roger was pacing back and forth. He had heard the story that Bardock and Jessica had told him, but he didn't want to believe it. If any other two people in the universe had been standing before him, he would have told them they were crazy. He still wasn't beyond considering that possibility.

But no, this was Bardock and Jessica. They could not be so easily dismissed. Roger was aware of Bardock's curse, and Jessica's telepathic and prescient abilities simply could not be denied. In tandem, what they said was as good as fact.

Roger shot Yambia a sidelong glance, and then looked back at Bardock. "Call an emergency meeting of Congress for this afternoon at 1:00 PM. Tell them this is a condition one emergency."

"Yes your highness." Bardock saluted smartly and left the room. Bardock was usually not so formal with the King, especially if it was just them two, or them and close friends. But the King had issued a condition one emergency.

Condition one meant only one thing. The Saiyans were at war.

Bardock would no longer be the King's bodyguard in the civilian sense, but would take on his military title. For the duration of the war, all Saiyan family heads would retain the title of "General", and would appoint lieutenants within their own families.

This was the plan ironed out by King Vegeta before his demise. The King would retain title and authority in times of war.

The Saiyans had remained at peace all of these years. Roger knew that his people still trained hard, and should be up to the challenge.

Bardock just became General Bardock, Commander of the House of Bardock.

Bardock wouldn't refer to the King as "Roger" until the end of the war, all protocols would be strictly observed. He doubled his pace as he realized that he only had an hour to gather the Congress. He would contact Nappa to help.

Although only a few hours had passed in the real world, the Ultimate Kai's abilities had all but stopped the passage of time on the Supreme Kai's planet. 10,000 years had come and gone.

"Piccolo! Hey Big Green!" Bardock Jr. called into the mist.

The Ultimate Kai had arranged for the Supreme Kai's planet to randomly undergo weather and gravity changes. Today, it seemed, it was 300 times Earth normal gravity, and a fog so dense that you could barely see your own hand in front of your face.

"Why are you calling for him? You know he is purposefully hiding from us!" Vegeta Jr. said in exasperation.

"Oh yeah!" Bardock Jr. said smiling and scratching the back of his head.

"Sheesh! What is it with your family?" Vegeta Jr. asked Goku Jr.

"I dunno." Goku Jr. said scratching the back of his own head.

"Protect me from fools!" Vegeta Jr. said covering his eyes.

"C'mon 'geta! Piccolo said he had something special to teach us if we can find him, I'm just anxious to see what it is!" Bardock Jr. said.

"Well so am I, but you're not going to find him by calling to him!" Vegeta Jr. exclaimed. "In fact, that's probably a sure fire way NOT to find him!"

"Shhhh!!" Shi-Chi shushed the boys.

"What?" Gotarm asked.

"I can feel him, I think." Shi-Chi said. He has his ki pushed way, way down. It's almost undetectable. Gotarm, you and Bardock circle around to the left. Goku, you and Vegeta to the right, I'll go up the middle. We'll all jump him together. Keep quiet, and keep your ki pushed down.

The team moved as stealthily as they knew how, which was considerable since they've been trained by Piccolo. Eventually, they came upon a large bush. They could plainly see each other, and Shi-Chi was giving hand signals to place the boys as strategically as she could. "Hehehe… Piccolo must be behind that bush!" She thought.

"NOW!" she yelled as all four boys and Shi-Chi jumped over the bush to claim their victory. They began to pummel their prize.

"HEY! WHAT'S GOING ON HERE! CAN'T AN OLD MAN HAVE HIS TEA WITHOUT YOU WHIPPERSNAPPERS TRYING TO KILL HIM?" The Elder Kai screamed.

"We're sorry Elder Kai! We thought you were Piccolo!" Shi-Chi said.

"Do I look green to you?" The Elder Kai fumed.

"No Elder Kai." Bardock Jr. answered.

"Well, you made a fine mess of that." Piccolo hovered above them smirking.

They couldn't see him smirk, because of the fog, but they all knew he was smirking.

"Wait! You told the Elder Kai to be out here, didn't you?" Gotarm asked.

"Sure did. I was over on that mountain scraping my foot on a rock. Had you opened up all your senses, you would have heard that for sure." Piccolo said.

Embarrassed flushes framed the younger warriors faces. Piccolo landed in front of them.

Look, you guys have made tremendous progress, but the basics are just as important as power, do you understand? Goku or Vegeta, your ancestors, would have found me in seconds. You must use everything, not just your ki sense, but also your hearing, your sense of smell, even the taste and feel of the air around you. Every ripple of the air on your skin means something, do you understand?

"Yes sir…" They all answered.

We've trained over and over on this, yet you guys acted like it was your first day. Had this been an actual battle, you would have killed an innocent, and left me free to destroy the planet. You bickered instead of working together. The smallest of your abilities can make the difference between life, and death, NOTHING is to be taken for granted, do you understand?

"Yes sir…" They all answered.

"Okay, I hope so. Now go and grab some breakfast. The Ultimate Kai said he was going to life the fog and set the gravity to whatever is normal here, then I have something very special to teach you." Piccolo smiled a bit evilly.

The foursomes launched themselves into the air after acknowledging Piccolo's command, and landed in front of the Supreme Kai's Castle. The fog had completely disappeared by the time they arrived.

Trunks, Gohan, and Goten were already seated at the table.

"Good to see you!" Gohan smiled. "How did it go?"

The four cast their eyes at the ground. "Not good." Goku Jr. said.

Gohan elbowed Goten under the table and smiled. "Piccolo's not cutting you any slack, eh?"

"Not an inch!" Gotarm said.

"Good! That may keep you alive then." Trunks said.

They gave Trunks the stink-eye, but kept their mouths shut.

Bulma came out of the castle about that time. You boys ready to eat? Vegeta remembered the first day they arrived. They had sat down to supper and nothing was on the table. Then his Great, Great, Great Grandma Bulma just steps up to the table, like it was the most natural thing in the world! He knew what she looked like; Capsule Corporation was filled with her pictures. Vegeta almost fell out of his chair.

She walked up to the table and waved her hands, and an entire meal suddenly appeared!

"Did in guys!" Bulma said and then she turned and winked at Vegeta Jr. "How ya doing kiddo?"

"O-Okay…" Vegeta finally managed to say.

"What's wrong kid? You look like you've seen a ghost. Oh wait, I guess you have!" Bulma laughed out loud. "I crack me up sometimes!"

Bulma sat down and everyone started eating.

Vegeta's reverie was broken by his friend's voice.

"Ancestor, why don't Grandpa Goku and Grandpa Vegeta train us?" Goku asked between bites of the breakfast that Bulma had conjured up.

"What's wrong? Do you think your treatment would be easier if they trained you?" Piccolo said from behind them.

"No, it's not that, it's just that they haven't seemed to take much interest in us since we got here. They don't even eat with us." Goku Jr. said.

"Believe me when I say that they have taken a great deal of interest in you all. Otherwise, you wouldn't be here." Trunks said.

"I know that. I guess it's just that I would like to see more of them. We've heard so much about them all of our lives. I had hoped we could get to know them better, that's all." Goku Jr. said.

"That's exactly why they are not training you, yet." Piccolo said. "Sometimes family and relationships can get in the way of training. However, I can say that I will be training you for just a little while longer, then they will be taking over."

"How much longer?" Goku Jr. looked excited.

"That depends on how fast you learn." Piccolo smirked.

While Goku Jr. was talking to Piccolo, Vegeta Jr. was watching Bulma.

After dinner was finished, and Gohan was spinning some yarn about how he ate dinosaur tail steaks, Bulma got up and cleared the table with another wave of her hand. She then headed toward the castle. Vegeta Jr. quietly got up from his seat and followed her. She was so much like his own grandmother, Lindera; or rather his mom was so much like her. They could have been twins. He went in through the castle door just seconds after Bulma had gone in. He could hear her footfalls just down the hall to his left.

He peered around the corner and caught sight of her rounding the far corner of the hall, her tail disappearing last.

Vegeta Jr. lifted himself off the floor a few inches and floated to the far corner and looked around it. Bulma's face was in his face.

"What are you sneaking around for kid?" Bulma said a bit irritated.

Vegeta jumped back and banged his head on the far wall.

"Ow!" Vegeta rubbed his head as he stood back up.

"Oh hey! Are you alright?" Bulma looked at her progeny with concern.

"Yeah, I'm Okay." Vegeta answered.

Vegeta hadn't had anyone look at him like that since Lindera died. Sure, Pan and Goku both expressed concern for him, but somehow it wasn't the same. Why did he come in here sneaking around anyway? He wasn't quite sure, but he knew that he needed to connect to Bulma somehow. He looked at her, studying her every feature. She was smiling at him now, her eyes transmitted something he never thought he'd see again. Unconditional love.

"G-Grandma, I…" Vegeta's eyes started to burn as he turned away to keep Bulma from seeing the tears forming in his eyes.

"Vegeta? Are you okay?" Bulma put her hand on his shoulder and turned him toward her.

Vegeta's face showed a single tear rolling down his cheek. Before Bulma could react, the teen was embracing her.

"Oh, I understand now. It's been a long time since you've had a mother, hasn't it?" Bulma asked.

Vegeta nodded his head against her shoulder.

"That's okay kid, let it out then." Bulma smiled.

"I'm not a crybaby!" Vegeta gently pushed himself away from Bulma. "Forgive me, I don't know what got into me." Vegeta turned away again embarrassed.

"It's okay Vegeta. I know exactly why you did it." Bulma smiled. "Hey Vegeta!"

Vegeta turned toward Bulma.

"I love you." Bulma said simply.

Vegeta stammered for a second.

"It's okay to say it Vegeta." Bulma smiled.

"I-I love you to, Granma Bulma." Vegeta winced, then smiled.

"There! That wasn't so bad, was it?" Bulma chuckled. "Hey, but if it's all the same to you, you can drop the Granma bit, okay? Just call me Bulma, or even Mom. Yeah, I think I would like that, just call me Mom."

A shadow passed over Vegeta Jr.'s features. "What would my ancestor think about my show of emotion."

Bulma put her hand on Vegeta's shoulder. "Kiddo, if there is one person in the universe that would understand about growing up without a family, it is your ancestor."

"Really?" Vegeta asked.

"Really." Bulma smiled.

[VEGETA] Piccolo's voice broke into Vegeta Jr.'s head telepathically. [Where the hell are you? Training started 10 minutes ago!]

[On my way Sensi!] Vegeta answered.

"I gotta go…" Vegeta hesitated. "Mom."

"Yeah, I heard. Go and save the Universe kid, we're all counting on you." Bulma gave Vegeta's shoulder a squeeze, and then released him.

"Ummm… Mom… You won't tell anyone about, you know, the hugging and all…" Vegeta started.

"Your secret is save with me kiddo. Now go on before Piccolo boxes your ears." Bulma winked.

Vegeta smiled and flew down the hall.

Bulma spent the next couple of hours pondering mighty warriors, and insecure boys and how they were one in the same.