Chapter Eight: Tragedy strikes

Alex woke in a small bed, the morning sun was shining through the open window.

"What the..." Alex said, confused as he raised up, the heavy blanket sliding off of his chest.

Alex heard footsteps and turned his head just in time to see Gohan come to the open door.

"Good, your up. I was worried after you feinted last night." Gohan said drying his wet hair with a towel.

"What," it all suddenly came back to him," I don't faint." Alex said sliding his feet over the edge of the bed.

"Yeah, you did. Right after you threw the ki ball at me. Which was very powerful, by the way." Gohan responded, stepping into his room to get some clothes.

"Women faint; I passed out because you wouldn't let me rest for eight hours!" Alex said, a little angry, standing up and realizing he was only wearing his boxers.

"Alright, you passed out. Don't have to be so sensitive about it." Gohan said, calm as ever as he turned around with pair of dark pants.

Noticing the odd look Alex was giving him, Gohan said as if he could read Alex's mind, "Your clothes were soaked with sweat, so I took them off of you and put you in my bed."

"Well, that was thoughtful of you." Alex said, still looking at Gohan strangely.

"What?" Gohan questioned after pulling on his pants.

Alex's look never faltered.

"What!" Gohan nearly shouted, uncomfortable with the look Alex was giving him.

The corners of Alex's mouth turned upward in a grin.

"Nothing, I just love to make you feel uncomfortable." Alex said laughing now.

All Gohan did was shake his head and grab a shirt.

"Take a shower, get some clothes on and come down for breakfast; we have somewhere to go today." Gohan said, throwing the towel he had laid on the dresser at his friend.

While Alex was taking a shower Gohan fixed breakfast, eating as he went.

Everything had just gotten finished when Alex came into the small Kitchen.

"Pancakes! I didn't know you could fix pancakes." Alex said half serious as he took a seat at the table.

Surprisingly Alex didn't comment on the amount of pancakes Gohan had fixed. The stack went half way to the ceiling.

"Yeah, I didn't know I could fix pancakes either. But it's like my mom always says, 'Read the directions, Gohan'." Gohan said, mimicking Chi-Chi's voice.

Alex laughed at this while piling his plate full of pancakes.

"Your Mom sounds like she stays on your ass." Alex said.

"Yeah, but she means well. What do want to drink?" Gohan replied opening the fridge.

"Don't have any beer, do ya?" Alex asked.

"Not for a couple years now. A little early to start drinking, ain't it?" Gohan asked still looking into the fridge.

"Naw, it's just a beer; couldn't hurt anything." Alex said.

"Mountain Dew?" Gohan asked holding a Mountain Dew bottle out for Alex.

"Yeah." Alex answered, grabbing the bottle.

Gohan got himself one and sat down to begin breakfast.

A few minutes into an all out assault on the pancakes Alex asked around a mouthful of of food, "What are we going to do today?"

After washing down his last huge bite Gohan answered, "We are going to get you some clothes and gis so I can train you better."

"Really? You really don't have to..." Alex started but Gohan cut him off.

"Don't worry about it; it's no trouble. My friend Bulma is paying for everything, she's got plenty of money."

At the mention of Bulma, Alex stopped eating; a strange look on his face.

"What? Alex, what's wrong?" Gohan asked a little scared.

"Nothing, Gohan. Don't worry about it, just thinking." Alex said and returned to his breakfast.

Gohan left it at that, although he felt Alex wasn't telling him something.

After breakfast gohan called Bulma. Alex insisted upon doing the dishes and Gohan wasn't about to argue.

"Bulma Briefs." Came Bulma's voice from the phone.

"Bulma, it's Gohan. Were do you want to meet today?"

"Oh, Gohan. Am glad you called. Meet me at the main entrance of the Satan City mall at one."

"Alright, it's twelve now; so if we leave now, we'll have time to goof off a little bit." Gohan said, already planing a few pranks.

"Gohan!" Bulma's voice was stern.

"What?" He asked innocently.

"You will not cause any problems today; I don't want to bail you out of jail again!" Bulma sounded angry although she thought it was good that Gohan was finally starting to act like a normal teen.

"Hey! That guy punched me first, how was I to know he was a off duty cop?" Gohan asked, slightly offended.

"If you hadn't accidently spilled your milk shake on his head..." Gohan cut her off.

"That was funny though, you have to admit." Gohan said, smiling at the memory.

"The look on his face when he nearly broke his hand on your jaw..." Bulma broke out into laughter.

After a minute of laughter on both ends of the line, Gohan was decided he should help Alex with the dishes.

"Bulma, I have to go and finish up the dishes. Meet ya at the mall?" Gohan said, calming down.

"Yeah, see ya there." Bulma said before hanging up.

Just as Gohan put the phone down Alex came out of the kitchen; his shirt soaked.

"What happened to you?" Gohan asked, "Looks like you fell in the sink."

"One of the pipes busted, but it's okay; I soaked all the water up with my shirt." Alex said peeling off his shirt, revealing several scars; not all from the shooting.

"Who holds a pipe together with duct tape, anyway?" Alex questioned, throwing his wet shirt at Gohan.

Catching the shirt, he said "Sorry 'bout that. It must've been my Mom's doing. I have some copper line in the basement, I'll fix it when we get back."

"Yeah, you do that. I'll go change now." Alex said going past Gohan, taking his shirt with him.

Gohan watched him as he went up stairs, "How did he get soo many scars."

"That one should have killed him." Gohan thought focusing on a larger scar on his lower left side that looked like it had been made by a sword.

Gohan spoke before he could stop himself, "Alex, where did you get that scar?"

Alex stopped on the steps leading upstairs.

"This one?" Alex said trancing the thin scar with his finger tips, start at his stomach and going around to his back.

"Yeah." Gohan felt he had just done something wrong.

"My uncle gave it to me the first time I tried to kill him." Alex said, eyes loosing their focus.

"Um..." Gohan knew he shouldn't ask anything else, but he just had to know, "how did you survive something like that?"

"A very kind woman helped me." Alex said starting up the stairs again, looking as though he was carrying a ton.

"Alex," Gohan ran to the stairs," am sorry."

"For what? You were only curious; it's okay. It has nothing to do with you." Alex said before continuing upstairs.

Gohan watched him go, he still felt awful.

When Alex came back downstairs he looked far better, which made Gohan feel a little better.

"Alex, I didn't mean to upset you."

"It's okay, like I said it has nothing to do with you."

"Well, okay. We need to go and meet Bulma." Gohan said heading for the door.

"Alright, let's go." Alex said, brightening a little at the mention of Bulma.

It was a quick flight; they landed in a back alley where no one could see them.

"Come on, Alex where late." Gohan said leading the way out of the alley.

Alex followed not saying a word.

After crossing the street, Gohan saw Bulma looking for them.

"Hey! Bulma!" Gohan yelled, waving his arms to get her attention and pushing his way through the crowded streets.

"Gohan, it's about time you got here." Bulma said as they walked up to her.

"Alex, how are you doing? Long time no see." Bulma said, when she noticed Alex.

"It's good to see you, Bulma. I never did thank you for all the help you gave me." Alex said as Bulma hugged him.

"You two know each other?" Gohan was thoroughly confused at this point.

"Yeah, I helped Alex out in a tight spot a couple years ago. Of course he was a lot shorter then." Bulma said, ruffling Alex's semi long hair.

"The woman that saved you?" Gohan questioned Alex.

"Yeah, I'll tell you more about it later." Alex said, embarrased.

"Why didn't you tell me you knew each other?" Gohan questioned them both.

"Well..." Alex said," I wasn't sure it was Bulma."

When Gohan looked at Bulma, she said "I thought Alex would have told you."

"It's no big deal; we have a lot to get today, so come on let's get started." Bulma said as she lead them into the mall.

After several hours of shopping, both Alex's and Gohan's arms were full of bags and boxes and Bulma was pushing a buggy overflowing with bags herself.

"Bulma, I don't think we can carry any more stuff." Gohan said nearly dropping the boxes. Alex silently agreed.

"Yeah, I think your right. I parked on the third level." Bulma said, turning towards the elevator.

The three quickly made their way to the car.

After Bulma popped the trunk and Gohan had set all of the things he carried down, he let a whistle.

"Wow, I didn't know you had on of these." Gohan said, admiring Bulma's newest car.

"Yeah, I got it last week." Bulma said unlocking the doors.

"Aston Martin Vanquish. Six-speed; five hundred horses stock." Alex said, depositing his load into the trunk as well.

"And the first to me fitted with the capsule technology. This trunk, as am sure you noticed, is huge." Bulma said as Alex slammed the trunk closed.

"It's amazing what the capsule technology can do."Gohan said opening the passenger door and getting in.

"Yeah, it is." Alex agreed following Gohan into the car. Bulma had already gotten in.

Bulma started the car as Alex shut the door.

The trio was on there way back to Capsule Corp. going 105 down the six lane when Bulma's cell rang. She answered it, slowing down.

"Yes, this is Bulma Briefs." Bulma said into the phone.

"What?" Bulma shrieked into the phone, pulling the car over onto the shoulder quickly.

This worried Gohan. "What happened? There's something wrong." Gohan thought.

"Bulma, what's going on?" Gohan questioned when tears cam down Bulma's cheeks and she dropped the phone.

"Bulma?" This really scared Gohan along with Alex.

"What is it? Is it Mom?" Gohan questioned praying his bad feeling wasn't true.

At the mention of Chi-Chi Bulma broke down into sobs.

"Sh...she was sho...shot." Bulma said, trying to calm herself enough to tell Gohan the news.

Gohan's eyes widened in shock. "Goten! What about Goten? Is he alright?" Gohan questioned. He didn't know what he would do something had happened to both of them.

Bulma only lost what little composer she had mustered. Crying hysterically.

"Bulma!" Gohan shouted, angrily. Gripping her shoulders hard enough to bruise.

"Is Goten Okay?" Gohan shouted again.

"The...they're both de...dead!" Bulma chocked out before completely breaking down.

Gohan calmed down immediately, falling back into his seat. His eyes were unfocused; his face blank as he stared out of the windshield.

Do ya'll like it? I had some trouble writing this at first, butit got easier. I don't know when I'll have the next chapter out; am going to start a Narnia fic, so if you like Narnia check it out. Don't forget to REVIEW

thestinger