As it turned out Vegeta didn't beat Alex to a bloody pulp; he beat him to a bloody mess. Vegeta's reasoning for this was, "The boy needs to become stronger to do any real training!".
Of course this explanation didn't' sit well with Bulma. She was furious and the two had gotten into a very loud, very long shouting match. Fortunately for Alex, Bulma had recently developed a artifical senzu bean that healed nearly all of his injuries, that is, when the genius could take enough time away from her battle of words with the prince long enough to give him the bean. The artificial senzu healed Alex almost as good as the real thing would have. He only felt like he had been ran over by a truck. All of his broken and fractured bones were healed along with most of his other, more minor injuries, such as torn tendons and ligaments, burns, and deep lacerations (courtesy of the sharp edges of the column in the center of the gravity room).
Although Alex was in pain, the dull ache of his body made him want to down all nearby alcoholic beverages, he saw the beating as a almost good experience. Through out the beating Vegeta had told him about the Sayian race. The prince also pointed out the flaws in his fighting technique with very quick, very painful strikes that usually sent Alex into the wall of the gravity chamber.
"Alex! What the hell happened to ya!" Gohan shouted as he approached where the three of them were standing, Vegeta and Bulma still going at it.
Alex walked forward, putting some distance between him and the fighting couple.
"What happened?" Gohan repeated, sounding worried now that he could see the tattered, blood-stained condition of his friends clothing.
"Nothing a artificial senzu bean couldn't fix." Alex replied.
"Well, almost nothing. I'm sore as hell!" He added, rolling his right shoulder.
"Artificial senzu bean?" Gohan questioned, more to himself than to Alex.
"Yeah, Bulma came up with a way to make them recently."
"That's amazin'! It'll revolutionize medicine!" Gohan nearly shouted, stating the obvious.
"Yep, they're not as good as the real thing though." Alex said, walking past Gohan towards Capsule Corp., the few stars above twinkling.
"Magic is hard to beat." Gohan said, turning and walking beside Alex.
"Magic?...Makes sense, I guess." Alex said, surprised at this discovery.
They walked on silently, the shouting of Vegeta and Bulma coming to an abrupt stop.
"They stopped shouting." Alex said as they both turned around to see what had stopped Bulma's screeching.
"Dude! Are they..." Alex said excitedly then trailed off as his question was answered.
Vegeta and Bulma, arms wrapped around each other, disappeared into the gravity room. The door shutting silently behind them.
A moment of silence pasted as both boys pondered what they had just witnessed. A cricket sang its song somewhere off to their left.
"Ya know, Bulma has cameras set up in that gravity room." Gohan stated mischievously.
Both boys thought about this for a moment. Quite a feat considering they are teenage boys.
"Naw." Both said in unison. Both having reviewed what they know of the two occupants of the gravity room and both not liking the outcome if one of the couple found out they had glanced at the footage currently being recorded on Bulma's personal computer.
The two turned and went inside of Capsule Corp.
Later that night, Alex was woke by a soft sobbing.
He sat up, looking for the source of the sound through the thick veil of darkness that blanketed the room. His eyes barely made out the outline of Gohan, sitting on the foot of their shared bed. Alex positioned himself so that he would be sitting beside his friend.
"What's wrong?" Alex asked softly. He had been expecting this, Gohan had been trying to stay strong around his brother as well as everyone else. Now, in the middle of the night, there was no one to be strong for. The tears would come, hot and fast. Like a waterfall they fell down youthful cheeks. Alex knew this because he had done the same thing nearly every night since his parents were killed.
"Alex..." Gohan said, sounding defeated, ready to give up.
"Gohan, tell me. Please?" Alex begged; his voice barley above a whisper, putting both arms around his friend in a attempt to comfort the teen.
Gohan leaned into the older boy, wishing it was his mother holding him.
Alex could fell the hot tears run down his bare chest as Gohan cried on his shoulder. He couldn't help but to think of what had happened when he had told Gohan about his parents' deaths. How Gohan had been there, never judging him. He really hadn't meant to cry, but like at night the tears just came.
"He shot her. Shot her with a shotgun. Blew her head off..." Gohan said into Alex's shoulder, his voice muffled.
Alex realized Gohan meant his mother.
"Gohan, how do you know this?" Alex questioned softly, wrapping his tail around Gohan's waist. Giving the most comfort he could.
"The dragon. It was like I was there. I see everything, every time I close my eyes. He shot Goten too, he even reloaded and shot him again! He...he..." Gohan's speech dissolved into a pain filled moan.
"Shhh, it'll all turn out alright. Trust me I know." Alex whispered into Gohan's ear.
This helped Gohan slightly.
"She...she killed herself because of me..."
"Gohan! Don't blame yourself! You couldn't have known what was going to happen." Alex said, fiercely. He had been down that road too. It was one he almost didn't return from.
"You don't understand!" Gohan shouted, jumping up off of the bed. Suddenly in a rage, he paced back and fourth. His tail lashing out violently behind him.
"She Killed herself because she thought she wasn't a good mother anymore! Thought that me and Goten would be better off bein' raised by anyone but her! I saw her die! Todd blew her fuckin' head off! Goten's too! There was hardly anything left of him! That fucker died too easily! Broke his fuckin' neck when I threw him through a wall!"
"Gohan, calm down." Alex said in his most soothing voice.
"Fuck you!" Gohan shouted at his friend, his hair flashing gold; small streaks of lightning was starting to form around his body.
But this didn't scare Alex, what scared him was what he saw in Gohan's eyes. Madness. A madness so dark and fierce, everything else was devoured by it.
It only passed by for a split second, but it was long enough for Alex to understand why Bulma had been so worried about Gohan going insane.
Gohan speared Alex, nearly knocking the older teen off of the bed. After a moment, he realized Gohan was crying again. The sudden change in mood made Alex think his friend may be going insane. Nevertheless, Alex tried to sooth his friend by wrapping his tail around Gohan's waist and making sounds he could barely remember his mother making to sooth him when he was little.
Still, the flash of madness made Alex wonder. What if Gohan ever did go off the deep end? If what Vegeta had told him in the gravity room was true, and judging by the power Gohan was putting off in waves just a moment ago, it is. The sobbing teen he now held in his arms could destroy the planet without any effort at all.
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I'd like to give a big thanks to psychorealm285 for his help in gettin' the chapter right and pointin' out my dumbass mistakes. Also those who review and even those who just read this story but don't review for whatever reason. Without feedback and knowing people are readin', this thing would have been long gone years ago.