Chapter Seven: The Moment of Truth

"So, are you going to say 'I told you so?'"

"Oh, shut up," Hermione said. She looked toward the broken door. "Now what?"

"Now," a silky voice dangerously began, "You tell me why this door is so badly damaged."

Harry groaned as Hermione quickly scooped up her papers, and Severus Snape stepped into view.

"Well? What happened?" he snapped at them.

"I did it," Harry said. Snape looked into Harry's eyes, gazing intensely. He snorted derisively.

"Five points from Gryffidor," Snape sneered. "A first for you, Potter? Lying to cover for someone? It certainly shows. Usually the other way around, isn't it? I'm impressed that you'd take a dive for someone, especially someone outside the dream team." He examined the door thoughtfully. "This is Son's doing."

Hermione stiffened. "You knew? You knew about Gohan?"

Snape turned his piercing gaze toward her, studying her. He smirked. "It's likely I know more about it than you, Miss Granger. Does that trouble you? I believe I will add a detention to each of you." Snape had already begun to walk away.

"What for?" Ron asked angrily.

Snape whipped around. "For meddling in other people's affairs," he spat. He flicked his wand at the door, which instantly repaired and reattached itself.

Ron glared at Hermione. "If you say we deserved that, I swear I'll hex you!"

Hermione smiled sardonically. "Well, I really don't have to, because you just did."

Gohan sank to his knees in the astronomy tower, thoroughly hating himself. He placed his hands on the concrete floor in front of him, panting heavily as tears struck the stones rhythmically. Gohan had sensed the ki approach and stop in front of him.

"It's my fault! It's my fault he's dead!" Gohan choked, confessing to the ki energy, before bursting into fresh sobs. The owner of the ki awkwardly sat next to Gohan. Gohan leaned into him and sobbed wildly, feeling a comforting hand on his shoulder. Exhausted from his emotional upheaval, Gohan sniffed quietly.

"We all have our regrets, Son," the voice said simply with a small hint of bitterness.

"Will it ever go away?" Gohan asked childishly, referring to the pain.

"You already know the answer to that, Gohan." Gohan looked up at once. It was the first time Severus Snape had used his first name. Snape stood, holding Gohan with his serious gaze. "Your father gave his life to save the planet…and you. Don't mar his investment. You can't change the past. Try working on now."

As Snape turned to leave, Gohan couldn't help to smile a little. For a moment, Snape had reminded him of Piccolo.

"Nice howling, Harry," Dean chuckled as he left Lockhart's class. Ron had to hold Harry to keep him from attacking.

"I swear if he makes me reenact one more of his stupid-"

"Shh!" Hermione said, cautiously making her way toward the teacher's desk.

Someone put a hand on Harry's shoulder, making him jump. "Oh, Gohan. You need to quit sneaking up like that." Harry said, grinning.

Gohan laughed nervously, scratching his head. "Sorry about that. Listen, I need to talk to you about…well, you know…that…stuff."

Harry nodded. "Have anything planned today?"

"Uh, no."

"Excellent! You can come with us!" Hermione shot Harry an annoyed glance, which Gohan didn't see, before turning and continuing to discuss something with Professor Lockhart. She returned to the boys, looking smug.

Harry shook his head. "I don't believe it. He didn't even look at the book we wanted."

Ron mumbled something about a brainless git. Hermione began bickering with Ron, while throwing anxious glances at Gohan. After a ten minute trip to the library resulting in the extraction of Moste Potente Potions, the four were all sitting in the barricaded bathroom haunted by one Moaning Myrtle.

"Uh, you guys?" Gohan began uncertainly. "You do know this is a girl's bathroom, right?" Harry and Ron grinned.

"Here it is!" Hermione exclaimed. "Wow…that's complicated. Lacewing flies, leeches, fluxweed…Uh oh…powdered bicorn horn and boomslang skin. That's going to be difficult to come by. We'll also need a bit of who we're changing into."

"Excuse me?" Ron began sharply, but was drowned out by Gohan.

"Polyjuice potion? What are you going to do with that?"

Harry opened his mouth to answer, but Hermione stopped him. "You still aren't going to tell us everything, are you, Gohan?" she asked insightfully.

Gohan sighed. "I'll tell you everything that I can. But some things I can't, yet."

Hermione smiled. "Splendid. You keep your secrets, and we'll keep ours."

Harry sighed. "Why can't we tell him, Hermione? It's not like this is definite-"

Hermione scowled. "Excuse me? Did I just go through all the trouble of getting this book now to hear that you're chickening out? Fine. If you don't want to find out whether it's Malfoy or not, I'll just give the book back to-"

"I'll do it as long as I don't have to drink toenails," Ron muttered. Gohan felt bewildered and must've looked it, because Hermione giggled.

"Huh?"

Hermione smiled as she thought of another boy with spiky hair and a tail. "Nothing."

"No offence, but girls sure are weird sometimes."

"How long will it take to make?" Harry asked.

Mentioning the stewing process and special circumstances of collecting the ingredients, she said it would take a month. After further discussion, the plan was formed.

Harry cleared his throat. "So Gohan, I guess you have the floor."

Gohan scratched his head nervously. "Well, this is probably going to sound really strange to you. It's hard to know where to start…

"Okay…okay….er… hmmm. That's it! What if I told you that there were other worlds with people on them?"

Ron stared at Gohan, shaking his head, but Harry and Hermione slowly nodded. "You mean like aliens?"

Gohan nodded. "Yes. When I was four years old, a very strong man with a tail came up to my father, claiming to be his brother. He said his name was Raditz, that he was a Saiyan, an alien from the planet Vegeta. He said that my father's name was Kakarot, and that he was a Saiyan, too."

"Wow. Sounds like a complete nutter. Did you believe him?"

"Not at first. Then Master Roshi explained how grandfather Gohan had found Daddy in a small round pod. He said that Daddy was a really violent baby until he had a serious head injury. Then he became happy. Raditz said that Daddy was sent here to kill the inhabitants of Earth."

Hermione gasped. "If that's true, it's a good thing your father hit his head," Ron said.

"Yeah. Anyways, Raditz said he belonged to a group of planet pirates, who removed lives from a planet and sold the planet to the highest bidder. He came, wanting Daddy to team up with them to conquer a world with stronger people, but Dad refused.

"At the time, Raditz was stronger than Daddy. He brought Daddy down with a single blow, then he kidnapped me. I was useless to stop him because mom wanted me to study instead of train. Raditz said Dad could have me back if he killed one hundred people."

Hermione looked horrified. "He…he didn't-"

"No. He and Mr. Piccolo, who was still bad at the time, teamed up against Raditz. Even with their combined strength, they couldn't defeat him. I got mad at Raditz because he was torturing my dad, and I attacked Raditz; I guess I had dormant power even then, but it wouldn't come out unless I was mad. But my attack only weakened him, and my power returned to normal. Raditz tried to kill me; that's how Daddy died the first time. He died with Raditz. He sacrificed himself.

"Before Raditz died, Mr. Piccolo told him that we could revive Daddy with the dragon balls-"

"What are dragon balls?" Ron asked.

Hermione shook her head in disbelief. "No way! The dragon balls are real?"

"Yes. When you collect all seven, you can summon the dragon and get a wish. Mr. Piccolo told Raditz about the dragon balls. Then Raditz told Mr. Piccolo that two other Saiyans had heard everything and would come to Earth in one year.

"So Piccolo took me away for special training to defend the Earth when the other Saiyans arrived-"

"But Gohan, you were only four!"

"Yeah, and it was scary. But Piccolo believed I had potential. One year later, the dragon balls were used to wish Daddy back, but he had to get here all the way from Snake Way, leaving us to hold them off until Daddy got there. A lot of our friends died that day, including Piccolo. And without Piccolo, the dragon balls wouldn't work."

"Why not?" Harry asked.

"Well, Piccolo is also an alien. He's a Namek. The Nameks were a peaceful race, but a while back a severe weather occurrence on the planet caused the Nameks to think of self-preservation. They sent Piccolo across the galaxy to preserve their race. Piccolo grew up on the Earth. He experienced the violent, selfish ways of men, and evil had found its way into his heart. Full of ambition, Piccolo tried to become Earth's Guardian, but the current guardian refused to allow him until he had removed all traces of evil. The original Piccolo managed to do this: He split into two halves: Kami, guardian of the Earth and King Piccolo, the Demon King. Kami created the dragon balls, and the dragon balls are tied to the mortality of the creator. But since Piccolo and Kami are the same person, to kill one is to kill the other. Kill one, and they both die."

Hermione frowned. "But Piccolo's alive, isn't he?"

Gohan nodded. "Daddy beat the Saiyans, but was badly injured. Before leaving Earth, Vegeta said that he could use the Namek's dragon balls. Piccolo sacrificed himself for me, so I wanted to wish him back. So we made plans to go to Namek."

"Vegeta…isn't he that bloke you're always talking about?"

"Yeah, I'm getting to that."

"Where did you get the technology to fly to Namek?" Hermione interjected.

"Oh, yeah. We used the same spaceship that Piccolo had used to get to Earth. Anyways, Krillin, Bulma, and I went to Namek to get the dragon balls. Only trouble was, we weren't the only ones interested."

"Vegeta?"

"Uh huh, but he was nothing in comparison to Frieza."

"Frieza?" they said in unison.

"Yeah. Frieza was already there when we showed up. Vegeta came later that day. In a way, that kinda helped."

"Huh?"

"Remember when I told you about the planet pirates? Frieza was their boss. He was ruthless...and much stronger. The reason why Vegeta is so messed up is partially because of him. Vegeta's father was King Vegeta, king of the Saiyans. Frieza took Vegeta from his father when he was a child. Frieza told Prince Vegeta that he would destroy the planet and kill his father if he didn't do what he was told."

"That's cruel," Hermione said angrily.

"Huh. Yeah, but Vegeta didn't know that Frieza already did it. Within forty-eight hours of Vegeta leaving the planet, Planet Vegeta exploded."

"Why would anyone do such a horrid thing!"

"Because of the legend."

"Legend?" Harry inquired.

"Frieza feared the legend of the Super Saiyan. Vegeta said that the last Super Saiyan existed a thousand years ago. He said that the Super Saiyan had been unbeatable because his power was so great. But that guy could only hold his Super Saiyan status as an oozaru."

"Oozaru?"

"It's the giant ape transformation of tailed-Saiyans during the full moon." Gohan received worried looks from his peers. "Oh, don't worry, I actually have to look at the full moon to transform..or create synthetic blutz waves…but Vegeta hasn't taught me that yet. Heh.

"Anyways, Frieza destroyed Planet Vegeta because he feared that one of the Saiyans would become powerful enough to become a Super Saiyan. Only four Saiyans survived: Vegeta, Nappa, Raditz, and Daddy.

"We managed to get the dragon balls. To our joy, we discovered that the Namek dragon granted three wishes. We wished Piccolo alive with the first wish, and wished him to Namek to help with our second wish."

"Those were wasted wishes," Ron mumbled.

Hermione sighed. "For goodness sake, Ronald, use your brain! Wishing Piccolo back would also revive the Earth's dragon balls. That would make one more wish."

"Yeah, and since the earth dragon balls could revive multiple people at once, we could wish everyone killed by Frieza and his goons to be brought back to life. And we needed Piccolo. Even with Vegeta as a temporary ally, we were still no match for Frieza."

"Dad was injured from another fight, so we had to hold Frieza off until Daddy healed. Daddy healed and arrived, but Frieza killed Vegeta. Even Daddy had a hard time with Frieza. Frieza survived the Spirit Bomb, and he hurt Piccolo and killed Krillin. That's when it happened.

"Dad snapped. It was his rage over Krillin's death that did it: Dad became a Super Saiyan!" Gohan stopped. Ron was staring with his mouth open, Hermione was awed, and Harry was shaking his head.

"Dad defeated Frieza and barely escaped the exploding planet. He crash landed on Yardrat. He didn't come home for a whole year."

"Wow," Harry said. "So, did anyone else become a…Super Saiyan?"

"Well, Vegeta did three years after Dad came back while we were preparing to fight the androids. I learned in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, and-"

"You can actually become one?" Ron asked incredulously.

Gohan grinned good-naturedly. "Yep. Wanna see?"

The boys nodded excitedly as Hermione looked on with apprehension. Gohan removed his school robes, closing his eyes. He didn't want to use too much power because he could destroy the whole school. The floor began to shake. A fierce wind enveloped him, one that rattled the bathroom stalls and windows. His classmates pulled back as the energy grew. Gohan's muscles bulged with power; his body was licked with something resembling yellow flames. His loose black hair rose on end. Two things happened simultaneously: His hair turned bright gold and his eyes shone green as bright emeralds.

Gohan powered down into a settled Super Saiyan state and continued. "I can also ascend a higher Super Saiyan level, but I don't want to destroy the school, heh." His audience was speechless.

Hermione broke the silence. "Well, that was a lot of information to absorb, Gohan. Maybe we should wait another time to hear about Cell and the androids."

"Yeah, sure. Or you can ask Dean. He already knows this stuff. Well, good night!" Gohan powered down, grabbed his robes, and left the bathroom.

Hermione watched him as he left, shaking her head. "Is he always going to be so abrupt?"

Ron snorted. "Give the kid a break, Hermione. If I went through half of all that stuff, I wouldn't be half mental…I'd be completely mental."

Harry laughed. "Although admittedly, you're already halfway there to begin with."

"Hey!" Ron protested as Harry ran from the bathroom, chortling.

Hermione watched them as one gave chase, the other being pursued. "Boys," she whispered in exasperation.