Learning to Love

by cookielover435

After Majin Buu's demise, Goku and Chichi decide to split up which leaves the whole family in despair. Everyone tries to help out the Saiyan but he refuses to talk until one fateful reunion with Suno, an old childhood friend. Can she break him out of his depressing shell, be a source of comfort for him and teach him about true love? What challenges will Goku face along the way?

10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Chichi slammed the briefcase on the center table in the living room, having just arrived back from her father's castle. She had taken a taxi back to her house once she arrived in the busiest parts of West City as it was easier getting transportation there. She stared breathlessly at the case, her heart pounding in anticipation for what she was about to find. Her hands worked together in a swift motion to unlock it. It was swung open, and her lips curved into a smile at the sight.

There in the briefcase were stacks of zeni bills arranged neatly inside. A part of her wondered if she should count the money, but she also knew that gullible man wasn't dumb enough to double-cross her. She couldn't afford to piss off her lawyer and make herself look bad. No doubt that the 100 million zeni was there. Her smile grew to be even more sinister and malicious as her teeth were showing in the delightful moonlight, and her face now looking like a deranged monster. A few chuckles escaped her mouth before it turned into full blown laughter. Her laughs were becoming maniacal and wicked, signifying the evil intent in her heart.

It echoed through the nearly empty house as the night slowly passed.

---

The four teenagers sat together at the local cafeteria in Satan City. It wasn't too far from their school so they got there very quickly as soon as classes were over. The place wasn't fancy or anything, but it was quite nice. When they arrived, it was packed with people so they agreed to wait until most of them left or at least weren't within hearing range, as they didn't want anyone to hear them talking about a private situation. They sat at a table in the back, to lessen their chances of being overheard. For most of their time, they decided to study and work on their school assignments. In the background, they heard clattering and clanking sounds in the kitchen, presumably the staff cleaning up in there after a long shift. Chairs were scraping against the floor as customers were heading towards the exit, young kids squealing and shouting as they tagged along with their parents. From that point onwards, the entire place was almost quiet apart from staff members working in the kitchen and the cashier chewing on a piece of gum as she sat at the cash register.

Posters, banners and advertisements were hung all over the walls, almost like the cafeteria at Orange Star High School. The sharp smell of greasy, fried foods still lingered in the air as the four talked nonstop about different things. Life, family, studies, hobbies, their school tests etc. Erasa and Sharpener ordered sodas for themselves while Gohan and Videl both requested to have lavender tea as it would help in keeping them relaxed. They then turned their heads to find that no one else was around except for one more customer, a middle-aged woman. They swiped their heads back at each other, as they all became serious.

"You wanna talk to us about what's going on?" Erasa spoke in a hushed voice as she took a sip of her bottled soda.

Gohan looked back at the woman sitting not too far from them before replying, "Yeah, we're in the clear."

"What's going on?" Sharpener questioned, opening his soda bottle and taking a few sips. "Is everything alright for the most part?"

"Yeah. For now. I hate to say this, b-but…" His voice became heavy as in his mind, he was still seeing the shocking image of his brother still lying on the floor beaten and bruised. The pain was seen in his eyes as he spoke. "my mother almost killed my brother Goten from a beating. He nearly died, but he's okay now. Yesterday, we both ran away from home. We're currently living with Videl and Mr. Satan."

As Erasa was drinking her soda, she almost spit it out. The blonde set the bottle back on the table and put the cap back on. Sharpener almost choked on his drink as he heard what his friend just said. It took a while for the teenagers to regain their composure, needing some time to gather their thoughts at the newfound information. Both were unusually quiet until-

"WHAT!?" Erasa screamed, horrified by this. "Your mother beat Goten and almost killed him!?"

Gohan raised the teacup to his lips. "Yep. For not doing the homework that she gives him. And, for 'disrespecting' her. You two should have seen the shitload of work she was handing out to him every day. There was no way he could complete it all." He finished that by taking a sip of his lavender tea and setting it down.

She still couldn't believe it. "What the hell!? What kind of mother would do that to her own child!?"

"Well after that, you couldn't call her 'mother' anymore, am I right?" Sharpener asked. He may not know this boy but he felt angry for him. "If you ask me, she doesn't deserve that title."

"Nope." Gohan answered bitterly. "Now I only call her by her name, Chichi."

He let out a sigh. "Yeah, at least… I still can't believe any of this."

"But sadly, it's the truth Sharpener," Videl said, speaking for the first time since her boyfriend revealed the heartbreaking news. "That's not all the evidence we have against her, though."

Erasa was stunned. "What? She did even more?"

"Well… no." She answered. "Since Gohan and Goten moved in with me and my dad, we've heard nothing from her. But there's evidence of her planning something sinister."

"Sinister?" Sharpener clenched his fists. "What could be more sinister than beating your own son?"

Videl took a quick glance at her boyfriend. "You wanna tell them?"

He took a deep breath and let out a quiet exhale, preparing to explain everything. "Well… she's planning to create fake evidence against my father, so he'll look bad in court and make him lose the case. Meaning that he won't win custody of Goten. We heard a recording of 'her' talking to someone who'll create the evidence and she'll get a lot of money to pay him. From my grandfather, the Ox King. She made a flimsy excuse about needing it to buy food and clothing."

"No way… please tell me you're joking." Erasa stumbled on her words. "Does your grandfather know about this?"

"It's not a joke." Gohan said, his voice calm but angry. "And yes, he knows. Believe me it was difficult telling him all of this. That his own daughter is a horrible person."

"She stole money from her own father…" The blonde muttered. "I can't believe this!"

"Me neither. You should have seen the look on Videl's face when we heard everything."

"You don't know how upsetting it was to hear this." She sighed, slumping her shoulders.

"We all were," Gohan continued. "Bulma and Vegeta heard the recording with us." He finished by clenching his fists tightly.

"H-How much money did Chichi take from her dad?" Erasa questioned, although fearing that she might not like the answer.

"And do you guys know who she's paying the money to?" Sharpener added.

"She asked my grandfather for 100 million zeni." The half-Saiyan said, sighing sadly. "And she's paying it to Mr. Nikushimi, the most famous lawyer in West City."

"Hold on a sec… she wants 100 million zeni!?" Sharpener shouted; his voice hushed. "Has she got a screw loose or what?"

"And she's paying it to Mr. Nikushimi, the most famous lawyer in West City!?" Erasa followed up. "All of this is messed up!"

"He's the one who we heard in that recording and also, he and Chichi were exchanging text messages." Videl explained, taking a few more sips of her tea before putting the empty cup on the table. "There's something very strange about this guy and we intend to find out who he really is. They're meeting up later today, so Gohan is going to spy on Chichi and see what he can find."

"And how are you gonna do that without getting caught?" Sharpener asked his friend. "If that happens, it's game over."

"That's what we're gonna discuss with Bulma when we meet up with her," Gohan explained. "Hopefully, we can find a way for me to follow Chichi around without being seen."

He nodded his head in agreement. "Alright, but you should plan it very well. I wouldn't want to hear about another beating or something even worse."

That's where Videl chimed in. "As long as Goten is staying in Satan City, Chichi won't be coming by to give him another deadly beating. By this time, she must have already discovered that the boys have run away from home. We highly doubt that she knows of their whereabouts, but if she does find Goten, we'll protect him from her wrath."

"That's good to know." He then turned his attention to the half-Saiyan. "I may not know your brother Gohan, but I can't stand the fact that he was abused by his own mother."

"Please let us know if you find anything new," Erasa pleaded.

"I will." He said, giving her a reassuring smile. But then it slowly faded away. "We forgot something else." His hand bent down to where he kept his backpack. He dragged it closer to him, opening up his lower compartment and searching inside it for his cellphone. Pulling it out, he kicked his bag under their table and started searching for the pictures of Goten's wounds and the alcohol bottles. He accessed the photos and turned his phone around for them to see.

"These are the pictures of his injuries." He explained, pointing to the screen. "As I said, he was almost dead when I found him in his room. Believe it or not, that's him surrounded by a pool of his own blood. It was a complete mess."

The sight of it was enough to make Sharpener sick. As the nausea was getting to him, he quickly opened up the window, allowing some fresh air. Tears formed in Erasa's eyes, terrified of what this small child had gone through. "N-No way, t-that's your brother? How could Chichi do this to him? All because of unfinished homework and 'disrespect' in her household? That disgusting woman!"

"I can't believe she would be so cruel as to give her son a beating, and to the extent where he almost dies!" The blonde jock said, his voice slightly raised. "She doesn't deserve to look after him!"

Erasa looked straight out the opened window, disgusted by the sight. "I-I can't stand to see any more of that!" She raised up her shirt and covered her face with it, showing her belly button. Not long after, she felt the blonde athlete pat her on the back softly, letting her know that it was alright.

That was the kind of reaction Gohan was expecting from them. He turned the phone away from them, accessing the pictures of the alcohol bottles he found in the fridge. "See this?" He zoomed in, enlarging the photos. "Before I ran away with my brother, I found alcohol in the fridge. All of that is vodka, whiskey, liquor and beer."

"What!? She's drinking all of that?" Sharpener felt his head spinning as to how someone could be consuming that much. "What the f-"

He didn't get to finish that as the blonde female butted in. "W-Was she drunk when she beat Goten?" She trembled slightly, pulling her top down.

"We don't believe she was under the influence of alcohol," Videl spoke up. "She was 100% sober when she almost beat him to death."

Sharpener was dumbfounded at this. "But why the fuck would she do this!? Why now?"

"Because she's crazy." mumbled the half-Saiyan. "Back at home, she used to treat us like shit, but didn't do anything like this before we moved out."

"It's good that you got out of there Gohan," Erasa said sternly. "It wouldn't have been safe there." She was thankful that her own parents loved her and would never think about doing anything like this to her... their only child.

That was something they all agreed on. The group sat there in silence, not knowing what to say. But despite the unnerving silence, each one of them could tell how the other was feeling. Angry and fearful at what transpired. But regardless, there was still a tiny glimmer of hope that things would change. Contributions would be made, but there was one person who had to give it everything he's got.

"And guys, remember what you said when you heard about my Dad and Chichi getting divorced?" The teenager asked out of the blue. "That I could always count on you?"

"Yeah, we did say that." The blonde girl nodded in recollection. "We're not leaving you when you're in trouble."

"Just as she says, brains."

"You two are doing a lot with supporting us at school," Gohan continued. "But please, this is only between the four of us. No one in school can know about this. Not any of our classmates, teachers or any staff members. You're our best friends at school and you didn't leave me alone when you saw me turning into "The Golden Fighter" back at the tournament."

They both understood why he wanted it to be kept private, and he was right. If word about their friend's current situation got out, it was sure to be the talk of the school and he would be the center of attention. Knowing how fast rumors spread at Orange Star High, it would cause a lot of stress for Gohan if people were constantly pestering him for details or making their own assumptions about the case.

Erasa and Sharpener nodded heads at each other, having come to an agreement. "Everything you just told us will be kept secret. We won't say a word to anyone else." The blonde girl promised. "You can trust us!"

"That's right." Sharpener said, his voice showing sincerity. "No one will ever know about this!"

"Thank you guys," Videl said with a smile. "You don't know how much we appreciate this."

The young couple stood up from their chairs, bending down and picking up their backpacks from the floor. A glance out a nearby window told them that they really needed to leave before the plan was ruined. As quickly as they could, they packed all their textbooks and work assignments. All sheets of paper were arranged and placed inside their respective folders. They looked up to see that their two friends were doing the same.

"Are you two heading over to Capsule Corp right now?" Erasa asked as she zipped up her backpack, holding it over her shoulder.

Gohan nodded. "That's right. It's nighttime, but there's a lesser chance of Chichi and her lawyer being seen by anyone. That's why they chose to have their secret meeting in the evening."

"Wait…" Videl froze as she recalled something. "We should stop at home first and pick up Goten. You asked him earlier if he wanted to play with Trunks, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember. He needs some distraction while we're working all this out. Trunks can distract him with some video games." Gohan said, drinking his last sip of tea. "I think we need a quick shower too."

"Alright guys, let's get going so you two aren't late." Erasa announced, taking out her cellphone and sending her mother a quick text. "I also don't want my family to start worrying about me."

"Same with mine." Sharpener said, doing what his blonde friend did and sending a message out to his family to let them know that he was on his way back home.

The whole bill was taken care of, courtesy of Videl. She paid in advance with her credit card as she didn't have any cash on her. So, the four of them just walked towards the double-doored exit while sending a friendly wave to the cashier as she was the only one in sight. They reached the door in no time and Gohan opened it, allowing his friends and partner to leave before him. The door was slammed behind them as they walked out onto the now quiet streets of Satan City.

"We're gonna get going. See you at school tomorrow?" Erasa asked hopefully.

"Yeah." Gohan nodded. "Travel safe, alright?"

"Don't worry brains, we will." Sharpener held out his fist, and the two males did a fist bump.

Erasa pulled her female friend into a hug, squeezing her so tight that she almost couldn't breathe properly. "Goodbye. And maybe I'll text you before I go to sleep." The blonde said, her arms around her best pal.

They let go of the hug and Videl grinned at her. "No worries. I'll be over at Capsule Corp while Gohan is out, so I won't be going to sleep any time soon."

She also extended her arms towards the half-Saiyan, indicating that he should come in for a hug. He did so without hesitating, throwing his arms around her. "Thank you again for the support," Gohan said as he released himself from the strong embrace. "I really appreciate it."

"It's not a problem. Just take care of yourself and Goten, alright? He needs you."

"I'll be there for him, always."

"We're off!" Sharpener waved at the couple as he and his blonde friend walked off into the streets in separate directions. The young couple watched until they were no longer in view before they turned towards each other, the cold weather making them feel relaxed.

"You ready to go home?" Videl questioned with a smile, rubbing her boyfriend's arm to give him some comfort.

"I sure am!"

"Come on, let's go. I'm sure Goten misses us dearly. We wouldn't want to keep him waiting."

"By this time, him and Buu are probably done with their sparring or doing something else."

They flew off into the dark, starry sky at their fastest speed, towards the direction of their home. Both were very desperate for a quick shower and a change of clothes as they had no idea how long this was going to take. As they were flying back to the mansion, both realized that there wouldn't be time to eat a late dinner as they needed to be in West City asap. But hopefully, they could get a quick bite to eat at Capsule Corporation.

---

"O-Ow… that really hurt…"

Sweat was dripping all over Goten's face and his training gi was torn up and covered in dirt. One small hand was holding his abdomen in excruciating pain, and both his knees were jittering as he was struggling to stand on his own two feet. His hair was golden and all spiked up, his eyes a slight shade of green and his aura a golden color, having transformed into a Super Saiyan during his spar with Majin Buu. He could no longer feel his legs and he dropped to his knees in exhaustion. Both his hands were on the floor as his hair and pupils returned to their original color, indicating that he had just reverted back to his base form. He inhaled and exhaled, trying to catch his breath. He could now see beads of sweat running down his face, down his chin and onto the ground.

He slowly looked up from the ground to see Buu extending an arm towards him. The boy took his arm and used it to get up, his legs feeling a little bit wobbly in the process. He was finally standing up again and would have fallen back down had he not used his pink friend as assistance. "T-Thanks a lot. I didn't think I would be this exhausted."

"Buu's surprised. You are really strong!"

Goten let out a tired chuckle. "R-Really? Thanks…"

"You could become really, really strong so Buu thinks you should keep training!"

"R-Really? I don't know about that, you're pretty tough!"

"Well, that's why Buu keeps training. But you can become stronger too!"

"YAY!"

Goten jumped in the air in happiness but upon doing so, he felt himself falling to the ground again. His pink friend caught him by the waist before it could happen. "Buu thinks you should take it easy. Here, let Buu carry you to your room."

"T-Thanks."

Majin Buu lifted the small boy into his arms. Slowly and carefully, Buu walked to the exit door of Mr. Satan's dojo. The pink monster opened the exit and he slowly walked out of the room. He led Goten into the living room. Goten was starting to feel a little hungry. It had been a little while since he last ate anything. Him and Buu had paused their training sessions in the afternoon so they could have lunch. After that, they continued sparring for hours until it became very dark. Perhaps he could look for something to eat in the fridge after he recovered a little bit.

An excited Bee appeared into the living room and upon seeing the duo, the Labrador dog began wagging his tail. He jumped up, licking the face of an exhausted Goten. He started barking loudly, catching the attention of his owner.

"What is it Bee? What's got you so excited this late at night?" The voice of Mr. Satan was heard.

The world champ appeared and when he saw the two, he was relieved. "Oh, it's you guys. You're done with your training already?"

"Yeah, we are! Buu's going to take me up to my room." Goten answered. "I'll rest up for a few minutes and then take a shower."

"Sounds good." Said Mr. Satan. "And if you're hungry, there's plenty of food in the fridge. The chefs cooked some dinner for you guys before they left for the day." He jerked his thumb towards the refrigerator. "Buu, you can help him get something to eat later on, can you?"

"Buu can do!"

Hercule smiled up at them. "I'm going to wait around here until Gohan and Videl come back from wherever they are."

Goten nodded his head weakly as Majin Buu walked away. He went up the long flight of stairs. As Buu was taking him to his room, he admired the photos of Mr. Satan holding trophies in the different tournaments he won. Buu finally arrived at his bedroom door and opened it. He walked to the king-sized bed and gently laid the little boy on it. He turned on the air conditioning, opened the mini fridge in the corner of the room and pulled out a bottle of icy cold water for the spiky-haired boy.

"Thanks Buu." He said as his pink friend handed him the bottle, taking several big sips of the water. "I appreciate it."

"It's no problem. Buu will leave now so you can rest."

He turned around and headed towards the exit door, shutting it noiselessly. Goten stared out the window, lost in thought. He wondered when his brother and Videl were going to return back home. It had been hours since they left the house and he was starting to get a little worried and wondered if it would even be possible to make it to Capsule Corp with how late it was. He laid in bed for a few more minutes as he was recovering his energy. After a little while, he slowly rose up as he now felt better. He sniffed his shirt and the stench of dried sweat overwhelmed his senses. He knew right then and there that he needed a shower. The first stop was at his dresser, where he picked out some nice clothes to wear and he headed straight to his bathroom, tossing his clothes in the shelf before stepping inside the tub and turning on the faucet. He started to shower as quickly as possible.

'It's Gohan!' He thought to himself excitedly as he was scrubbing his hair with shampoo.

The faint sound of footsteps approached the front door, and there was a conversation taking place, but he couldn't hear what was said.

From there, Goten heard the footsteps dispersing everywhere. He could sense Buu making his way to the kitchen while his brother and Videl headed upstairs to their room to take quick baths. He started to speed up his bathing process, and soon enough he was in clean clothes and ready to leave. The boy hurried out of his room, down the flight of stairs and into the living room. He laid his head on the pillow as he felt cleaner than ever after that painful training session with Buu. He heard no other sounds except for Buu and Mr. Satan chatting in the kitchen.

His mind drifted elsewhere as he waited for Gohan and Videl to finish showering. He stared blankly at the television when he heard his brother's booming voice. "Are you ready to go?" He turned towards the couple. A big smile appeared on the little one's face as he jumped over the couch and dashed towards his older brother.

Gohan opened his arms, knowing what was about to happen. Goten leapt into his brother's arms. "BIG BRO, I MISSED YOU!" He buried his head in his brother's neck. "Where were you?"

He patted his head comfortingly. "Videl and I had some things to take care of after school, that's why we didn't come home sooner." He didn't want to upset his little brother by mentioning their former mother so he just gave one simple answer which he knew would satisfy him.

"Okay, I understand,"

"How are you Goten?" Videl smiled warmly at the boy as Gohan put him down.

"I'm doing awesome!" He grinned at the teenage girl.

Before more could be said, Majin Buu and Mr. Satan walked up to them with food containers wrapped in plastic bags. They handed some over to Goten, who took it with ease. It felt hot in his hands as he balanced it carefully. He sniffed the bag and the lovely aroma emanating from it had him drooling in anticipation.

"Thanks, you two," Gohan said graciously.

"Take care, alright?" Hercule spoke with worry. "If you need anything Videl, you can call my cell-phone or send me a text." He held up the electronic device in his hands.

"There's no need, I'll be fine. We're just going over to Capsule Corp. Nothing bad is gonna happen." She reassured.

"Alright. In that case, Buu and I will just go to sleep." He said with a huge yawn.

"Bye-Bye!" Buu waved at the group as they headed for the exit with their food in hand. Bee followed them to the door and barked loudly. Just as the dog was about to step outside, Mr. Satan grabbed him by his collar, pulling him back. "H-Hey Bee, you've got to stay inside." The labrador started to whimper a little bit, making his owner pet him on the head. "Don't worry, they'll be back soon," He lifted the small canine and ran his fingers through his soft fur.

"Bye Buu, Bye Mr. Satan, Bye Bee!" Goten cried out as he waved at the three.

"Take care!"

The trio opened the door and walked out of the mansion. They waved one final time before shooting off into the skies and towards the direction of Capsule Corporation.

---

"So Goten, Buu tells us that you did pretty great during training!"

"Haha, well…" The boy scratches the back of his head, reminiscent of their father. "Buu's a pretty tough opponent. I had a hard time with him even as a Super Saiyan."

The trio were flying together at top speed while making sure that the food containers didn't fall. As they were flying to West City, they just talked nonstop and then the topic switched to Goten's training. Both teenagers were curious to know how it went and how it felt like for him. "Don't worry little bro, you'll get there. Dad can help you train and I'll pitch in and help if I'm not too busy with school."

If he hadn't been carrying loads of food containers, he would have been jumping around in joy. "Daddy already told me that we can train together when we move back home, and for as many hours as we want! He said he'll help me master my Super Saiyan state! Isn't that cool?"

"That's super cool!" Gohan grinned. "Don't you think so, Videl?"

"Uh-huh. You're gonna make it. I know it!"

"Thanks, Videl."

"No prob."

Goten pointed down below. "I think we're here!" Many modernized buildings came into view and the young couple instantly realized that they were already in West City. They looked below where the little boy was pointing and there was the familiar dome-shaped building. The nightlights around it allowed them to see the label, 'CAPSULE CORP' imprinted on the top. They levitated down at the entrance which also had the same label imprinted on it. Without wasting any more time, the trio walked towards the front door and Gohan pressed the doorbell next to the door.

A loud buzzing sound echoed through the darkness and not long after, a pair of footsteps hurried towards the door.

"I didn't even realize we were here," Gohan whispered. "Thanks for the heads up, little bro."

"Not a problem,"

"That's got to be them!" Bulma's voice was heard loudly. "I'm not expecting any more visitors at this time of the night!"

The front door swung wide open and there was Bulma, who was wearing a purple bathrobe with a sash tied around her waist. She had a towel around her head and they could tell that she just came out of the shower as her blue hair was dripping wet. The scientist gave the three a bright smile. "You guys are finally here. Come on-" Her eyes then glanced over at the bags. "What's that?"

"It's bags of food." Replied Videl, who held them in her arms. "We hadn't yet eaten dinner and since we were running late, my father and Buu packed some food for us."

"That's not an issue at all. You guys can eat in the dining room while we talk about our plan."

"Yay!" Goten cheered.

Bulma smiled warmly at the boy. "How are you today?"

"I'm doing great!" He said cheerfully.

She bent down to his level and lifted him, pulling him into a welcoming embrace. Goten dropped the food containers as he returned the hug, his arms around her neck. Bulma patted his back softly like a mother with her child. "I'm glad you were able to escape." She said, her hands on his shoulders.

"Me too." He mumbled as they let go.

Bulma stood back up and dusted herself. "Come on inside, you three. There's no time to waste. My parents are sleeping so we have to try not to make too much noise."

The trio hurried inside and she shut the door. "Sorry we're late." Gohan apologized. "There were some things we had to take care of."

"Don't worry about it." She waved off the apology. "Come on, follow me." The trio followed her through the empty lobby until they arrived in the living room. She grinned as she pointed to someone sitting there. "I've got a special guest joining us today!" The guest was a bald-headed man with a thick white moustache. He wore his trademark sunglasses and had on a pink shirt and white shorts with flip-flops. There was a turtle shell on his back and a walking stick was next to the sofa he was seated on. Upon seeing him, all three of them knew who he was.

"MASTER ROSHI!?" They yelled in unison, recognition showing on their faces.

"I-I didn't expect this…" Videl stuttered.

"W-what are you doing here?" Gohan stumbled.

Upon asking the question, Bulma glanced over at the half-Saiyan. The two were communicating something with only their eyes. The teenager finally understood what she wanted to say and he nodded his head in understanding. They needed to get Goten away from here first before they mentioned anything about their plan. The last thing they wanted was for him to get worked up again.

"Hehe, how are you young fella?" Roshi asked the youngest. "It's good to know you aren't living with your mother anymore."

"I'm doing pretty great." Goten beamed brightly at the old man. "And yeah, it makes me happy knowing that I'm far away from her. Satan City was the best place to have come to."

That earned a small smile from the turtle hermit. "It makes me glad knowing that you're safe, kid."

"Hey Goten sweetie," He turned around to the scientist. "Trunks is playing video games in his room right now. Why don't you take your food and eat there?"

"Really?" His eyes lit up at that in excitement, glad to spend time with his best friend again. "I can go eat in his room?"

She gave him a soft, tender smile while nodding. "Yeah. I'll get you some plates." She then turned towards the direction of her son's room. "TRUNKS, GOTEN IS HERE!" One loud holler was all that she needed. "Come take him to your room!"

"I'm coming, mom!"

Bulma turned to the group. "Stay here, I'll be right back." She disappeared into the dining room to get some plates and forks for the boy.

"So how have you two been doing?" Master Roshi asked, gesturing to the young couple.

"Great, now that I've finally escaped from home. Videl and I can finally catch up on so much stuff in our relationship," He chuckled, putting an arm around his blushing girlfriend. "We barely had any time to ourselves after we moved in with Chichi."

"Y-Yeah, just as he says…" She squeaked out.

That left the turtle hermit chuckling to himself. "Good to hear."

A pair of footsteps finally arrived in the living room. "Goten, you're really here?" The group turned their heads to see a barefooted Trunks who was holding a game controller in his hand.

"TRUNKS!" The younger Saiyan cried out as he leapt towards his best friend and squeezed him tightly like a precious teddy bear. The older one was struggling for air as his friend's hug was becoming tighter and tighter. "I missed you so much!"

"I… missed you too, b-but l-let go of me will you?" He said with much difficulty, managing to pull out an arm from the never-ending embrace. "It's really embarrassing…" It didn't seem as if he heard him so he tried again while wincing in pain. "Goten please, I-I… can't breathe."

Goten quickly let go of the hug after seeing that his best friend was uncomfortable. "Oops sorry. I was just so happy to see you, you know?" He let out a nervous laugh before a goofy smile slowly appeared on his face.

Trunks had a hand on his chest as he was gasping for air. "Holy crap, your grip was so freaking tight… I was suffocating." He soon removed his hand after he recovered from his friend's bear hug. "But don't worry, it's great to see you again. After all you've been through."

"Yeah! It sure is!"

"So, you don't have to worry anymore. As long as you're far away from 'home', that crazy old lady won't be able to lay another finger on you."

He sighed in relief. "Thank goodness!"

"You were even starving there? Come on!"

"That was ridiculous." Goten said, opening his arms wide in happiness. "But I'm glad it's all over, and I can enjoy the things I really love doing!"

"That's right," Trunks said with a smile. "Now let's have some fun!"

"Not so fast!"

Before they could run off, Bulma re-appeared with a few stacks of plates in her hands along with some forks. "You forgot these." She set the plates and forks on the fragile table.

"Here, I'll take those." Trunks put the game controller in his pocket and carried the plates and forks.

Goten carried the food containers as they were preparing to leave. "By the way, what games do you have?" He held his dinner to his chest as if to prevent someone from taking it away from him.

"I've got plenty!" He said with a grin. "Grandma recently bought me a new game console."

Upon hearing that, Goten's face lit up. "Really? You have another one already!?"

"Uh-huh. I wanted to wait until you came over before setting it up. And I still have my old ones so we can play on those if you want."

"Yes!" He cried out excitedly. "What games do you have?"

"After you're done eating, I can show them to you!"

"Nice! Let's go!"

The two hybrids sped out of the living room with the food and kitchen utensils. The group watched with a smile as the two friends ran up the stairs, excited about playing games together. "Make sure to keep the volume low!" Bulma hollered after her son.

"Got it, Mom!"

"And make sure to bring the dirty plates back, alright?"

"I won't forget!"

Their voices became muffled and eventually, they heard Trunks's bedroom door open and close. There was the clattering of plates and the faint sound of the two boys setting up the latest game console in the room and then there was silence.

"They sure are the best of friends, aren't they?" Videl commented with a smile.

"They certainly are." Gohan said, looking in their direction.

"They're together almost all the time," Master Roshi chuckled, rubbing his moustache. "Inseparable, I call it."

Bulma let out a light smile before her face became serious again, remembering that there was something important that needed to be done. "Alright everyone, come to the dining room. You two can bring your food and I'll get you some plates too."

The couple did as she asked and followed her into the dining room. The turtle hermit stood up from the couch, took his cane and trailed closely behind them. They soon appeared in the dining room and immediately took seats at the table. Bulma started bringing plates and forks for the young couple. She set two glasses of orange juice in front of them. They untied the plastic bags and started to serve themselves their dinner. Chicken fried rice, garlic bread, a homemade pizza, grilled cheese sandwiches, mac and cheese. They dug into their food hungrily and sipped their juice. Before anything else could be said-

"You finally show up, do you Gohan?"

He whipped his head around to find the Prince of all Saiyans standing there with a scowl on his face. He was used to seeing Vegeta this way, but Gohan couldn't help but shake the feeling that something was off about his mood, or maybe it was all in his head.

He swallowed his food and chuckled nervously. "Haha, yep. We had some stuff to do but we're finally here!"

"Hmph!"

Vegeta walked past him and towards his usual seat at the table. He acknowledged Videl and Roshi with a simple grunt. Bulma kept her eyes on her husband, who wasn't even making eye contact with her. She couldn't help but let out a snarky comment. "You've finally stopped throwing a tantrum, have you?"

Veins started to appear on his forehead as he clenched a fist at her in anger. "Shut up!"

"Just so you know, you being all grumpy isn't going to change a thing!" Bulma said triumphantly.

"Get off my back, will you!?" Vegeta snapped. "At least this situation is more important than the bullshit you forced me into earlier! Picking up your-"

"Don't you say it," Bulma threatened. She couldn't let word of her sister's soon to be arrival come out, after making her son promise not to let anything slip to Goten, her parents or even the employees. "Or else-"

"Or else what?" Vegeta sneered. "What could be worse than denying me access to the gravity room for one week simply because I didn't cave into your ridiculous demands!?"

Gohan and Videl looked on in fear. It seemed as if a fight was about to start between the two. They were supposed to be talking about the oncoming plan but here they were acting as spectators while the two were bickering about who knows what. The argument needed to be stopped, but they weren't sure how to stop it, as neither of them wanted to be on the receiving end of Vegeta and Bulma's rage.

"Uhhhh, guys?" The teenage girl said fearfully as she pushed her chair back.

"Let's try and calm down a bit." Gohan added, trying to act unafraid. He set his plate of food aside, deciding not to eat anymore until it stopped.

It didn't seem as if any of them wanted to calm down, as they both were still at each other's heads and were unwilling to see reason. They had fought many times before, but it was still scary to witness.

"It's about time you stop forcing me to do stuff!" The Saiyan Prince shouted, fists clenching at his sides.

"Believe me Vegeta, I can do more than just-!"

Master Roshi slammed his walking stick on the ground, instantly putting an end to their nonstop bickering. "Enough of this nonsense!" He commanded, wearing a serious look behind his trademark sunglasses. "I don't know what happened between the both of you, but we're getting off topic here. We need to talk about the plan for tonight and how Gohan is going to spy on Chichi unnoticed. That's the only reason why I'm here, so I'd rather not have my time wasted!"

The couple were in an angry staring contest until Vegeta opted to take a seat at the table away from his human wife, making sure not to make any more eye contact with her. Bulma was slowly calming down as the anger towards her stubborn husband was disappearing. The turtle hermit was right. There were more important matters to focus on.

"My apologies Roshi." Bulma said with a sigh. "Why don't you show us what you brought for Gohan's mission today?"

The turtle hermit took out a strange looking object from his pocket and slid it across the dining table. Vegeta, Videl and Gohan looked at it in awestruck wonder, having never seen anything like this before. It was designed to look like an ordinary wristwatch but was it really a watch? It had a pink strap and there were two buttons in the middle. One was red and the other blue. They concluded that it was one of Bulma's weird inventions, but why did Roshi have it?

"What is that, and how is it supposed to help with tonight's plan?" asked the teenage girl as she took a bite into her homemade pizza and sipped her orange juice. She peered in closer at the mysterious object.

"This here is called the microband," The scientist explained proudly. "I invented this little device when I was in my teens. It can shrink the size of the person wearing it." She held it up with one hand and pointed to the two buttons on it. "Once you put it on, all that needs to be done is to press the blue button and your size will shrink instantly. Then the person has to press that red button over there to revert back to their original size. Cool, isn't it?"

"Woah… that is great," Videl said, intrigued by this. "But why did Roshi have it in his possession?"

"I gave it to him years ago in exchange for a submarine." She explained, looking over at the turtle hermit who nodded in confirmation. "He still had it with him, so he agreed to bring it here so we can use it for the plan."

"But how is that supposed to help?" Gohan questioned, repeating the same question his girlfriend asked. He peered in closer to look at the watch-like object, still finding it hard to believe that such a small object would aid them.

"Let me guess," Vegeta started. "With this invention, he can easily get inside the hideout and record the necessary intel loud and clear. With him shrunk down to the size of an insect, the harpy or her lawyer won't be able to see him."

"I get it now!" Videl piped back in the conversation. "And it'll be easier to spy on Chichi with the microband."

"No," The Prince said with a shake of his head. "He won't need it. As long as Gohan doesn't make any noise and stays a safe distance away, that woman won't be able to spot him. The greatest advantage is that she can't sense ki. Am I right on that one?" He turns to the half-Saiyan for confirmation.

"Yeah, Chichi never learned how to sense energy," Gohan confirmed as he was finishing up his dinner. "So, she won't sense me following her." He started stacking his used plates and pushing them further away.

The scowl that was previously shown on the prince's face was replaced with a small smirk. "Exactly. There's no need for the microband when you're tailing her. Just be careful and you'll be safe."

"Gohan, you should go ahead and test it out." Master Roshi spoke. Of course, he already knew that the microband still worked, but he wanted the boy to experience what it was like.

He finished his final spoonful of fried rice and put the dirty plate away. "I will." He took the invention from the table and stared at it for a moment. He then slid the watch through his left hand, adjusting it so it would feel more comfortable on his wrist. His finger moved to the blue button and he took a deep breath. He pressed it and waited for the object to do its thing. Immediately after, his body started to feel weird. He couldn't really explain it, but the effects were near instant.

"W-What?"

Before he could say anything else, his body started to change in size. Everyone in the room watched as the microband was taking effect on Gohan. He shrunk and shrunk until he became really tiny, barely visible by the naked eye. He whipped his head around frantically, not being used to this at all. Then he looked up from his standing position on the chair to find them all squinting down to get a good look at him. Each one of them looked like gigantic beings to him. It was still unbelievable that such an invention even existed.

Mini Gohan made one leap onto the dining table. His tiny hands held the edges tightly and his small legs were flailing about as he desperately tried to hoist himself up. He finally stood on top of the table and looked around. Every item in the room looked bigger than it actually was. Every flower vase, every portrait on the wall, the ceiling fan… everything looked so different.

"WOAH!" He squeaked out in a tiny voice.

"How does it feel?" Bulma asked, observing how he was moving across the dining table.

"It feels… incredible!" Gohan squeaked. "Like I'm an ant." He moved around the table, jumping over the 'gigantic' pile of dirty dishes and forks. He pumps his small fists and legs into the air as if he were excited about something. Soon enough, his movements come to a screeching halt as he stands in the center of the table.

"This thing really does work." Vegeta squints across the table to get a better look at the tiny Saiyan.

"It's awesome!"

"Try to take advantage of that."

"I will, Vegeta."

Videl meanwhile, was still very shocked to see her boyfriend turned into the size of an ant. "You're really tiny Gohan. I almost can't see you!"

"But I'm still here!" He said with a grin. "Here, I'll change back to my normal size."

He hopped off the dining table and landed on the floor gracefully. His hand pressed the red button on the microband and immediately after, he felt himself shrinking back to his original size. Once he was back to his regular height, everything looked normal to him again. He turned to his friends and chuckled. "Well, it was kind of hard getting used to it."

"In my case, I've used it multiple times," Roshi said, a perverted smile briefly showing on his face. "It feels really weird at first but then you get used to your surroundings."

Gohan takes a seat back in his chair and shifts forward. "Gotcha!"

Bulma shot up from her seat and addresses the Saiyan. "Now that we all have seen how the microband works, you have to go to your old house, wait for Chichi to come out and start tailing her." She tightened the sash around her waist. "Wait here. I'm going to get the voice recorder from my lab."

"Sure thing."

The scientist briefly disappeared from the dining area. The entire room was silent between everyone as they patiently waited for her return. Silence continued on for a while until-

"Have you found anything new since you and Goten ran away from that hellhole?"

Gohan swiftly turned his head around to the Saiyan Prince, who had asked the question. He allowed it to register in his mind before replying. "Yes I did. And you won't believe what I found." He took out his cellphone from the usual spot in his pocket and turned it on. Within seconds, he accessed the recent photos taken shortly before their runaway.

"Here." He enlarged the photos and pushed the phone towards Vegeta and Roshi's direction. "This is what I found."

Both peered over the phone. Another wave of silence continued on. Shock and astonishment showed on their faces as they stared at the screen of the phone. "What… What in Kami's name am I looking at!?" Vegeta asked, eyes still on the photos.

"Is it… is it just me or am I seeing pictures of alcohol bottles in Chichi's refrigerator?" The turtle hermit asked in surprise.

"It is." Gohan leaned back in his chair as he explained the story behind it. "I took those pictures shortly before Goten and I fled. I came back 'home' from my grandpa's house in Fire Mountain just in time to hear a conversation between Chichi and her lawyer. He was the one who supplied her with the alcohol. When she returned late last night via a taxi called for her, she was completely drunk. I repeat, she came back drunk. Everything she said was in a slur and she wasn't even moving properly, so I had to help her get back to her room. She had a bag containing those alcohol bottles and I surmise that she must have stored them in the fridge after becoming sober again."

Before more could be said, Bulma appeared once again with the voice recorder in her hand. "What's going on- wait, there's more evidence?"

"Pretty much," Vegeta slid the phone over to his wife. "See for yourself. This is no joke."

Bulma sat down and looked at the screen, her jaw dropping to the ground. "What the fuck!?" She suddenly shrieked.

"Yep." Videl spoke with a sigh. "Chichi does alcohol now."

"What?" She set the recorder on the table. "I can't believe it. Gohan, when did you come across this?"

"Yesterday, before Goten and I ran away from home." He sighed. He then explained to the scientist what he told Vegeta and Master Roshi before she arrived.

"Unbelievable."

"This stupid harpy..." The Saiyan Prince muttered with a shake of his head. "With the evidence we have against her now, it's like she's asking to get caught."

"So far, we have a phone containing text messages, the pictures of Goten on the brink of death and a recording between her and this so-called lawyer." Roshi said, recounting everything they had against her. "Now we have pictures of alcohol!? Goku's definitely winning this case."

"Gohan, this is what I want you to do. While you're flying to Chichi's house, send me these pictures and I'll print them out just like I did with Goten's bruises." Bulma ordered. "And if you need anything while you're tailing Chichi, feel free to send me a text."

"Will do!"

"In the meantime, you definitely should get going before it's too late." Videl said to her boyfriend. She started to stack up the plates used for their dinner. "I'll wash our dishes while you're out."

"And I've got to get dressed!" Bulma chirped. "Can't be walking around in my bathrobe the whole time. You remember how the recorder is used, right?"

"Of course."

Gohan stood up from his chair abruptly and pushed it back, swiping the voice recorder from the dining table. He looked up and towards the direction of Trunks's bedroom. It had him wondering if he should actually check up on his little brother before leaving, just to be sure that he was doing alright. In the end, he opted not to do it. Goten would be so distracted with playing video games that he probably wouldn't notice that he was gone. But if he did come around looking for him-

"If Goten comes looking for me, can you guys tell him that I went to run some errands?" Gohan requested.

"Sure!" Videl agreed, as she was already at work cleaning the dirty dishes.

"Not a problem." Bulma gave him a thumbs up.

He swiftly turns his back to the group, preparing to leave Capsule Corporation for the sake of this mission. "I'll see you guys later." Before he could take one step forward, he hears his name being called.

"Gohan."

He peers over at Master Roshi.

"Good luck."

"Thanks, I'll need it."

"Don't worry, everything will be fine," Bulma reassured him.

Videl tilted her head from the kitchen sink, the water still running. "Be confident in yourself."

"You got this." Vegeta said, a semblance of a smile appearing. "Just keep your distance from her."

He nodded at that. "I won't worry too much about it. She can't sense ki, so that's an advantage."

"Yes, but don't make any noise or she'll know that someone is tailing her." The Prince reminded him.

"I won't. Believe me."

"Alright, we'll see you later on." Bulma said. "Remember to text me if you have any concerns."

"I will. Thanks everyone. I've got to get going before it hits ten o clock, since that's when they're supposed to meet."

Gohan exits the dining room and walks towards the front door and opens it, enjoying the fresh air for a moment. He is soon on the doorstep and he closes the door silently, letting out a sharp exhale. Anxiety was bubbling deep within him, as he had no idea what he was going to discover once he arrives at Chichi's lawyer's mansion but everyone was confident in him so he was going to do his very best.

He pocketed the voice recorder and made sure that the microband was adjusted properly on his wrist. He shot off into the sky without another thought, towards the place that was once his 'home' and his brother's.

---

"Okay, there's that picture and then… I'm done."

Gohan pressed the 'send button' on his cellphone. He currently was using the direct messaging feature as he was sending Bulma the revolting photos of the alcohol bottles inside the fridge. She hadn't yet seen them, so he assumed that she was in the process of getting dressed right now and figured that she would see them later. He sighed in relief, happy that was over with. He shoved his phone back in his pocket and continued flying in peace. The wind was blowing through his hair again as he was still on his way to Chichi's house.

The teenager was still feeling nervous. He wasn't afraid that he would get caught, but his gut feeling told him that whatever he was about to discover… wasn't going to be good. Regardless of his concerns, he had to fulfill this mission. He couldn't afford to fail. His gaze slowly changed, searching through the limitless buildings in the path below him for his former mother's house. He was in the town where her home was located and needed to be on the lookout for it. A few more minutes had passed and he could see the house down below.

He levitated in front of it and allowed himself to take in the view of the building. There was the old and ramshackle home. The roof was thatched like it had always been, made from straw and reed. Vines covered part of the building, it's stems winding around the walls as support. It had only been a day since him and Goten ran away but to Gohan, it felt like an eternity. As he was observing his previous surroundings, he noticed how there were huge and thorny bushes around the small home. In addition to that, the entire garden was filled with overgrown weeds and grass. Dead plants lay all around the garden as a result of carelessness and neglect, while others were slowly withering away, turning a brown color. This was a big change compared to when him and his brother first moved in, where there were fresh and blossoming flowers and vegetation. Now this place looked like it had been abandoned for centuries.

He began to snort, 'She couldn't find the time to take care of this mess? Or hire a gardener at the very least?' Just as those thoughts were swirling around in his mind, something just occurred to him. 'Wait a minute… those bushes and weeds can be used as great cover!'

A slight noise from inside the home caught Gohan's attention. He looked up at a window and he could see the shadow of his human mother in the distance. It seemed as if she was making her way towards the window. Not wanting to take any chances, he hid behind a nearby tree and watched as she opened it and breathed in the cool, evening air. He could barely make out the image of a crooked smile on her face. It freaked him out just a little bit, but he didn't let it sway him from what he really needed to do. He watched as she shut the window loudly and closed the binds. Without wasting another second, he dived straight for his source of cover. The weeds and bushes. He made sure not to step on any twigs, leaves or any of the perished plants in his path. He crouched down and ensured that that he was well hidden in the garden.

He knew that Chichi hadn't seen him at all, so there was no need to worry. He was glad that she had no idea how to even sense energy, or he would have had to mask his ki on the way here. A quiet vibrating sound was heard from his back pocket. He reached into it for his cellphone and he noticed some new messages from Bulma. He decided to check them out quick before his former mother emerged from the home. One single tap on their chat history showed the new message she just sent to him.

Bulma:

Hey Gohan, thanks for sending me these photos. I'll be printing them out right now. How are things going with the spying and all?

He didn't waste a single second in typing his response. As he was doing so, he also made sure to keep an eye on the front door for Chichi. He pressed the send button once he was done typing his text.

Gohan:

Everything's going well, actually. I just got here and I'm hiding in her garden, behind some bushes and weeds. It's quite overgrown and disorganized, but it's providing good cover for me.

He waited patiently as the chat bubble showed her typing her next message.

Bulma:

Sounds good! When she leaves, wait a bit. Don't start moving until she moves further away from the house. Create as much distance between you and her.

He couldn't argue with that logic, so he just put in one simple response.

Gohan:

Roger that!

He glanced at the entrance and was relieved to see that 'she' hadn't come out yet, so he turned his attention back to the keyboard to see the scientist typing up another message.

Bulma:

If you don't already have your phone on silent, do that immediately. You wouldn't want your phone to start ringing unexpectedly. It will alert Chichi that she's being followed and will ruin the whole plan.

Gohan:

Will do.

Bulma:

Has she come out yet?

Gohan:

Not yet. But she's about to- wait! She's coming out now!

Bulma:

Alright! Keep an eye on her and follow her really quietly.

Gohan:

Got it!

He sent his last message just in time to hear a pair of feet touch down on the ground. He hurriedly put his phone on silent, returned it to his pocket and noiselessly pushed aside some twigs to get a better view. He could see Chichi locking her front door, her back facing his hiding place. She had in her possession an old-fashioned purse with a strap worn over her shoulder, and next to her was a large briefcase which the hybrid knew contained the 100million zeni. Her hair was tied in its usual bun and she was dressed as if she were going to a secret rendezvous, which was exactly what this was. She wore a brown trench coat as it was cold outside. Once she securely locked her door, she pocketed her housekeys and turned around.

Chichi started to walk away from the front porch of her home, still with a devilish smile. She hadn't even realized that someone was hiding in her gardens and watching her every move. As she was leaving the area, Bulma's instructions were ringing in Gohan's mind as well as everything that had been discussed at Capsule Corporation. He waited patiently until she was far enough from the house.

He watched as she made her way out onto the quiet dirt roads. Once he decided that she was far enough, he stood up from his hiding place, wincing in pain as he felt a fallen tree branch poke his arm. He pulled it out and dusted himself off, having felt dirt all over his outfit from the soil. While being as noiseless as possible, Gohan started to move through the messy garden and out onto the front porch. His eyes were fixated on the human woman, and he started to follow her quickly but stealthily, making sure that he didn't get too close to her and also ensuring that he didn't step on any twigs, tree branches or litter in his path.

He skillfully trailed her through the small town and moved out of sight behind a huge signboard when she turned her head in his direction. She shook her head for a moment and then just continued walking, not suspecting anything. After continuing her journey, Gohan popped out from behind the signboard and waited a bit before following her again. As he continued to follow her out of the town, he started to hear the sound of crickets and frogs nearby. The hybrid started to think to himself, 'This is easier than expected.'

The moment he saw bright streetlights come into view; Gohan knew that he couldn't take any chances as Chichi could easily spot him through the bright lights. He quickly took cover into the shadows and decided to bend down while tailing his former mother, in hopes of lessening the chances of getting caught. It had continued like that for a while until they finally reached West City. Gohan currently hid behind an overloaded and smelly trash can. Many stores and businesses were closed up for the day, with the exception of twenty-four-hour gas stations, convenience stores and motels. An ambulance pulled up in front of the West City Hospital, and paramedics took the sick patient inside for medical treatment.

He watched from his hiding spot as Chichi stood on the sidewalk behind a clothing store, presumably waiting around for a taxi. She didn't once look back in his direction as she seemed to be focused. He observed how she carried the briefcase with one arm while taking her cellphone out from inside her purse. She put in her password and typed on it for a few seconds, and Gohan assumed that she was either texting her lawyer or a close friend. She returned the device back to her purse and continued to look both ways into the streets for transportation.

It didn't take long before a yellow taxicab drove in her direction. The driver pulled over when he saw the human woman standing on the sidewalk. Gohan could see the relieved expression on her face as she saw the cab. The driver opened the passenger window and stuck his head out with a smile. Seeing as to how Chichi's attention was only on him and not anywhere else, the teenage boy felt more confident about moving a bit closer. He moved from his spot behind the trash can as quickly as he could, covering his nose at the awful smell lingering from there. He stayed one block away where he could still view what was going on without being seen.

"Good evening, ma'am." He heard the driver say. "Where do you plan on heading this late at night?"

"Oh, just going over to my lawyer's place. Do you think you can get me there in record time?" She asked hopefully, glancing at her watch to keep track of the time.

"I sure can. Just make sure you give me the exact location." The driver said, reaching over to unlock it for her.

"Sweet!" Chichi cried out as she pulled the handle, opening it instantly. She lifted the briefcase from the floor and slid inside the passenger seat, buckling on her seatbelt.

The taxicab then took off for her destination. Gohan looked both ways on the street to ensure that nobody would be watching him, before flying behind them. He wasn't too close, but close enough to not lose sight of it. The cab drove through the mostly deserted West City streets, taking many turns and shortcuts. From inside the taxi, Gohan could hear the driver strike up a conversation with Chichi. They talked about many things on the way ranging from entertainment, each other's lifestyles as well as interests and activities.

Then the rest of the trip continued in silence until the cab driver turned the steering wheel and made a different turn. He turned on his headlights in the darkness, causing Gohan to move out of the way to avoid being seen. The Saiyan noticed that they were in some kind of neighborhood, he had never been to this part of West City before. As he was flying out of sight from the two, he took the time to observe the unfamiliar surroundings. He wasn't going to lie; it was actually quite nice with the different greenery and vegetation. Pine trees were all around the area. The houses were nicely designed and had it not been for his mission, he would have done some sightseeing around here.

The driver pulled up in front of a modern style mansion surrounded by a gate fence. The nightlights outside lit up the entire residence. "This is the place, right ma'am?" He asked, looking the place up and down. "I wish I could live in a mansion like that." An envious remark escaped his lips.

"Me too." Chichi looked up at the eight-story building in admiration before snapping back to reality. "But yeah, this is where I'm supposed to be." She reached into her purse and pulled out a huge amount of money, handing it to the driver. "Here's a fat stack of cash for your time."

When he caught sight of the money, the driver's eyes bulged wide in shock. "R-Really? All that money is mine?" She nodded his head as he slowly took the zeni from her hands. "Wow, thanks miss. This is the most I've earned in a day. I've never been paid this much before."

"You deserve it. Now I've got to get going. Take care of yourself."

"You too, ma'am."

Chichi unbuckled her seatbelt, taking her briefcase containing the 100 million zeni and her purse still over her shoulder. She shut the passenger door after making sure she took everything she needed. The taxi driver gave her a friendly wave and she waved back at him before he made a U-turn and sped off, dust flying everywhere. The human woman let out a few coughs before she turned her attention to the mansion in front of her. She still marveled at the sight of it and hoped that maybe one day, she could live in a place like that.

She started walking towards the slightly open gate. As she was doing so, Gohan was hiding in someone's nearby fruit and vegetable garden where he could still view his ex-mother. He had managed to make it there without her spotting him during her brief farewell to the driver. He watched as she passed through the gate and walked through the pathway leading to the front door. Making sure not to ruin this person's garden, he slipped out and stealthily followed her from far behind, all the while looking for another place to hide and use the microband.

He hid behind some hedges and looked on at the sight of the lawyer's mansion. 'Holy shit, this guy must be loaded if he's able to afford a place like this.' The swimming pool, the barbeque grill, those tables and chairs… it was truly a sight to behold. Not to mention the fancy cars parked in his lot. But he couldn't let himself get distracted so he pulled out his phone and checked the time. It was 10:00 in the evening, the exact time Chichi needed to meet up with this man. He estimated that it had taken her at least fifteen minutes to get here. Pocketing his cellphone, he looked on as Chichi reached the front door. He noticed there being a loudspeaker and a button.

Her hand pressed the button and instantaneously, the familiar loud buzzing sound was heard through the speaker. "Hey Mr. Nikushimi. It's Chichi, and I've finally come." Gohan heard her say through the intercom. He was prepared to use the microband as at any minute, the door would be opened for her.

"I'll be down to open the door for you."

He watched from behind the hedges as she was pacing back and forth, waiting for her lawyer to show up. The faint sound of footsteps was heard as someone was approaching the front door. It was swung open, revealing Nikushimi in a black and white sweatshirt with blue jersey shorts and house slippers. Underneath his sweatshirt was a blue muscle shirt. He still wore his dark sunglasses and black gloves even during this cool evening. In his left hand was a walking cane to help with his movements. Gohan could only guess that this lawyer has some kind of injury, which was why he had a cane by his side. But why was he wearing gloves?

"Good evening, Chichi." Nikushimi greeted as he opened the door even wider for his guest. "Come on in." He watched as she walked inside while carrying the briefcase containing his money.

The door was closed quietly and their muffled voices heard from inside the mansion. Without a second thought, Gohan pressed the blue button on the microband, instantly shrinking him back to the size of an insect. He hopped over the hedge he was crouching behind and squinted his eyes, noticing that there was a tiny bit of space underneath the front door. 'That's it!'

Mini Gohan ran through the pathway until he reached the entrance. He crouched down and slid through the small space under with little to no difficulty. He looked up and saw that Chichi and Nikushimi were still standing near the entrance, so he stood behind his ex-mother's leg while they were exchanging pleasantries.

"You can put your coat in that hanger over there." Nikushimi said, pointing to a metal coat hanger sitting in a corner.

Chichi did as she was told, removing her trench coat and hooking it up to the hanger. She stretched her legs as Nikushimi went on to say, "Come on, the employees aren't here we can talk more in the living room."

The human woman followed her lawyer through the mansion, and tiny Gohan trailed closely behind them until they reached the chandelier-lit sitting area with a glass table in the center. Nikushimi pointed to an empty cushioned seat for his guest to sit down on. Chichi took a seat down on the couch, removed her purse from her shoulder and tossed it aside on the sofa. Mini Gohan's eyes lit up, seeing that as the perfect place to hide while recording everything. He climbed onto the sofa with no difficulty and jumped inside her purse.

Upon doing so, the inside of it felt cramped. It was like she jammed every single item in there and didn't bother to clean out the trash. The purse was a mess with different items strewn about. It was filled with old credit cards, her wallet, restaurant receipts, lip glosses, her phone, sunscreen, hand sanitizer, an empty water bottle, body lotion and a packet of chewing gum. Navigating through the handbag was like complete torture. It didn't help that he was so tiny, but it was better to just suck it up and get this job done.

With a lot of difficulty, Gohan managed to make it to the corner of the purse, freeing him from all that trash. He immediately pulled out the voice recorder and turned it on. Many options were shown on the screen, but he selected 'create new recording.' From there, the recording began to start, showing the time it would take to record everything. He held it up in the air with his small hand in an attempt to catch the entire conversation loud and clear. Luckily for him, Chichi left the zipper of her purse completely open.

He did so in the nick of time as he heard Chichi speak.

"Here's your money. 100million zeni like you asked for." The mini-Saiyan heard the distinct sound of her setting the briefcase on the glass table. "You can take a look in there if you have any doubts."

"Thank you." Her lawyer unlocked the briefcase and swung it open, revealing the stacks of zeni inside. He was mesmerized by all that money in sight, but then an evil grin appeared as he started rubbing his hands together in glee.

Chichi folded her arms and had a sickly-sweet smile as she watched Nikushimi stare at all the money she stole from that clueless old man. "Just to remind you, all that money was from my father. He fell for all my lies."

The man turned to his client, the grin never disappearing. "It'll be put to good use. Congrats for a job well done." He closed up the briefcase and locked it again.

"Why, thank you."

Nikushimi peered through the nearest windows in the sitting area of his expensive mansion, as if checking to see if anyone was watching them from outside. Not a single peep was heard, and not a single person was seen. Only the calm and gentle winds reached his ears, but he was still doubtful. He then narrowed his eyes at the woman. "Now I suppose that nobody knows about this?"

She rested her arm against the couch. "Not at all. I didn't tell a soul that I was coming here."

Meanwhile, tiny Gohan was moving through the purse while holding the voice recorder high up in the air, recording everything that was said so far. He managed to avoid all the trash in his way as he was catching everything.

He stared at his client intently, searching through her eyes for any signs of a lie until he gave her a satisfied expression. "Good. Because if anyone found out about this, we're both screwed."

"Yep. And then we could both end up in prison because according to the law, creating fake evidence is a 'crime'." Chichi rolled her eyes at that and laughed. "If you ask me, it's utter bullcrap."

From inside the handbag, Gohan's blood started to boil when he heard that line from his former mother. He clenched his free fist in anger and thought to himself, 'Oh Kami, please tell me that I didn't just hear that come from her mouth! Please tell me that this is in my head!'

"It's a load of crap, I'm telling you." She repeated.

"It might be." Nikushimi said with a toothy grin. "But this will help you obtain full custody of your younger son, Goten."

She relaxed quite a bit after being reminded of that. "You're right. What do you have on the table?"

The older man sat up in the couch opposite his guest as he prepared to explain. "Well, I do have many things planned that could be helpful in winning this case like fake pictures, messages and even audio files. And for making things worse-" A mischievous grin appeared, and she knew that he had something in his mind. "Hold on." He stood from the sofa with his cane and walked towards a painting on the living room wall. Then he temporarily set the walking stick aside and removed the painting from the wall, revealing a hidden safe with a slab of numbers on it. The famous lawyer put in the combination for the safe, and it opened automatically.

Chichi sat up from the sofa, having not expected this. "Holy shit, you got a safe!?" Her eyes bulged wide as she watched him reach inside for something.

Nikushimi turned to her as he was retrieving the items, amused by her reaction. "Of course, I do. I keep all my valuables in there. Nobody knows about this, not even my employees." He locked the door of the safe and revealed what he had in his hand. In it was five airtight plastic bags. Two of them contained a white powder-like substance in it, the other two had the fresh remains of a cannabis plant and the last one had capsule sized pills stored inside.

He sat back in his seat, laying the plastic bags on the table. "As I was about to say, here are some drugs like cocaine, marijuana and different pills to frame your husband." He then explained to her which bag contained which drug.

"Incredible…" She uttered out, picking up the bags containing the cocaine. An idea came to mind as she looked up at her lawyer excitedly. "I can even injure myself on the day of the trial and blame it on Goku. Then I can explain to the judge and the jury that he cut me!"

The lawyer started to think about it for a while before folding his arms. "Hmmm… that won't work. If you do it on the same day, they'll get suspicious because the wounds will seem very new."

She put the drug back on the table. "Oh yeah, that's true."

"You should do it before the court date."

Chichi nodded, a wicked smile coming on her face. "That makes more sense. And for that, I can use a knife from my kitchen or a really small blade."

"Just make sure you wash off the blood really good." Nikushimi warned. "And erase your fingerprints. The boys live with you, don't they? You wouldn't want them to come across a bloody knife lying somewhere in the house."

"It's not like they could catch me in the act anyway," Chichi replied with a shrug of her shoulders. "They ran away from home."

"WHAT!?" He shrieked, shooting up from the sofa. "They fled from the house? Why would you let them do that?"

"Chill out, relax." She smirked. "I had no idea they left the house until this morning and believe me; I freaked out when there was no sign of them anywhere. But honestly, there's no need to even go out and search for them. I'll be winning this case and when that happens, they'll come back home and be put in their place. They can enjoy their freedom for now."

That calmed him down a little, as he could see the reasoning behind that. "Do you have any idea where they ran off to?"

Thinking about that made her laugh. "They most likely ran back to their dear daddy, who's probably hugging and coddling them right now like babies. That stupid fool won't be protecting them for long." She let out a snort. "I remember Goten begging me for permission to visit the pitiful excuse for a family man, so I assume they're with him right now."

"You can also use this to put more blame on your husband." Nikushimi suggested. "You can say something like, 'they ran away because they couldn't take anymore of their stupid father.' And maybe in addition to hurting you, we can also create the impression that Goku was abusive to your kids. We can make use of the fake pictures, text messages and audio files to manipulate the judge and jury."

"Sounds good." Chichi agreed, but then she couldn't help but be curious about something. "And by the way, where did you get those drugs?"

"I do have some dealer friends in some city spots." He spoke.

She raised an eyebrow. "Don't you have to wear a disguise when you're meeting up with those drug dealers? I'm sure you don't wanna tarnish your image as a lawyer if you're going to these shady areas on your own. Someone could recognize you and be wondering why one of the most famous lawyers in West City is out buying marijuana and cocaine."

"I do have an assistant for this kind of stuff. No one knows him in the city at all."

Chichi nodded. "Alright, that's cool. There's another question I wanna ask you, if you don't mind."

"What is it?" Her lawyer asked.

She thought about the best way to ask this, as this question had been on her mind long before she set out for his mansion. It bothered her a little bit. "You seemed to be very interested when I mentioned that Son Goku was my husband. Why is that?"

Upon hearing the question, Nikushimi froze in his seat on the living room sofa. He had never talked to anyone about this, but after finding out for the very first time that this woman was the wife of his greatest enemy, he knew that he had to tell her the truth about his identity but wasn't sure how to approach her with this information. But since they were alone right now and nobody was watching them, he figured that now was as good a time as any to reveal his past history with her husband.

"Because…" He let out a sigh as he faced her with a serious look in his eyes. "I fought against him a long time ago."

From inside Chichi's purse, tiny Gohan felt as if he would drop the voice recorder after catching wind of that. He stumbled backwards and nearly tripped over a necklace and it seemed as if he was terror stricken as he tried his hardest to process this shocking piece of information. He felt himself backed in a corner of the handbag as his head was spinning, finding it hard to believe. 'H-Hold on a sec… W-What did he just say? Did… he just say… Did I just hear that correctly!? THIS GUY HAS A HISTORY WITH DAD!? They fought together in the past? B-But how did they meet each other? I can't believe it. What is going on here?'

"WHAT!?" Chichi cried out, being just as shocked to hear the information. "F-Fought against him? What do you mean by that?" His interest in her husband was strange to her, but to find out that they actually met each other before left her near speechless.

Nikushimi let out another sigh, mentally preparing himself for what he was about to explain to her. "It was back in the days of the Red Ribbon Army, which I'll assume you've heard of already." He received a silent nod from the woman, letting him know that it wasn't necessary to go into any detail. Seeing that there was no need for an explanation he continued, "I was a general settled in a tower called Muscle Tower in the North, very close to a place called Jingle Village. The soldiers under my command took the village mayor as a prisoner and brought him to my tower. The rest of the villagers were forced to look for the so-called Dragon Ball for our organization, if they wanted to have their mayor back with them. Until a kid with black spiky hair and a tail came to the village. He stormed the Muscle Tower to rescue the village mayor. We had our big fight and I shot him, but a traitor robot named android eight helped him and he punched me, sending me miles away from there." The lawyer clenched a gloved fist in anger, feeling a mad grudge against the creation of the RRA. "I-I'll never forgive him for that! He betrayed the whole army!"

"That kid who stormed the tower… it was Goku, wasn't it?" Chichi questioned, still shocked by the revelation. "He rescued the mayor, didn't he?"

The man was huffing and puffing, trying to get his rage under control. He finally turned to his client with a vengeful smirk. "Yeah, it was Son Goku. He ruined my plans back then and left me for dead. Now I will help you ruin his life with this in return." His smirk became even wider at the thought of taking his enemy's children away from him and leaving him to become a sad and depressed man.

The recorder was wavering in Gohan's hand as he heard everything. Just as he felt it slipping from his fingers, he managed to regain his grip on it. 'N-No way… t-this can't be true at all… I-It can't be possible! T-This man… he… enslaved an… entire village… b-but- h-him and dad… t-they…' Before his scrambled thoughts could continue, he heard his ex-mother ask another question.

"What's your name, really? It's not Nikushimi, isn't it?"

'Nikushimi' let out an evil chuckle. "You nailed it. My real name is General White, member of the Red Ribbon Army forces."

That was the last thing Gohan expected to hear and his blood was starting to run cold. 'Please Kami, please tell me this isn't true. If… If he's a member of the RRA, then could he be another threat to the earth!? W-Why? H-How is this happening? Of all the things I could have found out… WHY THIS!? I can't… I can't understand any of this!' He clutched his face tightly in one hand while the other held the voice recorder, which was still catching the entire conversation. He tried his absolute best to get his thoughts back together, but he just didn't know where to begin. 'Hold on a sec…' As he thought more about what was just said, he started to realize that this story sounded strangely familiar. It was as if he heard it somewhere before.

'Jingle Village… Muscle Tower… why does this story sound so familiar to me now?' He was desperately racking his brain for answers then suddenly, the realization hit him. 'Wait a minute, I think I know where I heard this story before, and who told it to me!'

He stood frozen in one corner of the purse as a past conversation was returning to him.

IN THE HYPERBOLIC TIME CHAMBER (SEVEN YEARS AGO) …

Laughter echoed throughout the chamber's bright white atmosphere as the duo consisting of Goku and Gohan wrapped up their training for the day. Both fist bumped each other in excitement as they made some amazing progress during their time here, and were heading towards the bathing quarters for a much-needed shower. Their newly designed training armor was all torn and dirtied up while holes were seen in their footwear.

Goku turned to his son, his face showing just how pleased he was. "You know what, Gohan? You really impressed me. You reached Super Saiyan faster than I did!"

"Yeah Dad. It's really awesome!" The teenage boy grinned.

He took a look around the completely white surroundings, a hand on his hip. "It took me a long time to get used to training in this place and I was even younger than you!"

Gohan was amazed to hear this. "Really?"

"Yeah, and I couldn't stay here for an entire year."

"Wow…"

"That's why I'm impressed with your progress, Gohan." Goku said with a big smile.

"Good thing I have such a great teacher!"

The older Saiyan scratched the back of his head, not being used to receiving such a compliment. "Hehe well, I don't think I'm better than Piccolo."

"Oh come on Dad, I think you're pretty good!"

"Well… but I never had the chance to train you personally."

Gohan started to sweatdrop, looking at his father in disbelief. "Seriously? B-But we were just training together…" He deadpanned.

Goku let out an embarrassed chuckle and he started to laugh a little. "Yeah. Now that I think about it, this is the first time we're training together."

"Yep." Gohan sniffed his shirt and cringed in disgust. "And I think it's time we get a shower!"

"Uh-huh." A mischievous grin appeared on Goku's face as he bent down to his son's level and whispered in his ear. "Because 'someone' here is really smelly now!"

He smacked his father's hand away. "You smell just as bad as me Dad. Don't you deny it!"

"Hehe, I know, I was just kidding. Let's go have a bath!"

They finally made it to the bathroom which consisted of a small sink, a toilet and a shelf containing some cleaning products. There was also a giant bathtub designed to fit in two people. The tub was already filled with water and a layer of foam appeared at the surface as it was very soapy, making it the perfect moment for them both to enjoy a bubble bath together. A yellow rubber duck accessory sat at a corner of the bathtub, while another sat at the sink.

Father and Son removed their dirty and torn clothing, tossing it in a corner of the room. Goku grinned at the sight of the soapy water. "Come inside Gohan. The water is just perfect!"

"Yeah!" Gohan screamed in excitement before jumping inside the bathtub, splashing water on the floor and all over his unsuspecting father.

"Hey! Haha!"

He looked up at Goku. "What is it?"

The older Saiyan glanced at the bits of foam on his face and chest. "Nothing, it just seemed very fun to see you splash water all over me." His spiky hair was now drenched in water and he hadn't even gotten inside the tub yet.

"Aren't you going to get in?" Gohan asked, laying in the bathtub. "The water's great!"

Goku grinned. "You don't have to ask me twice!" He jumps inside, splashing soapy water all over his son as payback.

"Hey!" Gohan cried out.

A smirk appeared on his face. "Well, let's just say that we're even, alright? Hehe."

The boy felt himself relaxing in the tub, a smile soon appearing. "But seriously though, it feels great to be spending time with you…" His foamy hands were propped behind his head.

Goku returned his boy's smile at first, resting his arms at the edges of the bathtub. "I feel the same, son. I think that spending a whole year with you…" He sighed, regret filling his voice. "…makes me think about all the times we couldn't spend together because I was in the otherworld. I'm really sorry for that, Gohan."

"It's okay, dad. I know it wasn't your fault."

"I know it's not, but it still makes me feel bad. That's why I'm enjoying every single moment here with you now."

"I love you, Dad." Gohan could clearly see just how much this was affecting his father.

The smile returned to his father's face. "And I love you too, son."

They just laid in the bathtub together for a while, enjoying each other's presence and feeling the pressure and anxiety leaving their bodies. The pain and soreness in their muscles from today's training was dissipating, making them feel more relaxed. They noticed the rubber duck just sitting there and Goku picked it up with his soapy hands and squeezed it, causing it to release a squeaky sound. He giggled before playing with it for a little bit and handing it over to his son, who had his turn in squeezing the accessory and laughing at the squeaking sound. The duo started to play catch with it and both were having a fun time.

Gohan caught the duck in his hand as his father tossed it over to him. "Dad, tell me something. Did you meet any other girl besides Mom?" He then left the rubber duck floating in the tub.

"Eh?" That question caught Goku off guard, but there was one person who came to mind. "Ohhh. Well… now that you mention it… yes, I met another girl aside from your mother."

"Really?" Hearing that made him curious. "Who is she? What was she like?"

"Well…" A tinge of pink appeared on his cheeks which didn't go unnoticed by the half-Saiyan. "…her name was Suno." He sat up in the foamy bathtub, his knees now propped against his chest. "Whoa, I haven't thought about her until now."

"How did you two meet?" Gohan asked eagerly.

"I was a kid back then. I was fighting against the Red Ribbon Army, remember?"

Gohan nodded. "Yeah, I remember you telling me about that."

"I was in a plane flying over a snowy place." Goku explained. "But then the plane malfunctioned and crashed in the middle of the snow. And I was just about to freeze to death."

"Woah…" Gohan muttered out, shocked.

"But then, somebody showed up. A girl. She grabbed my feet and dragged me through the snow in the middle of a violent snowstorm, and she took me to her place in Jingle Village."

"That girl was Suno?" The boy guessed as he wiggled his toes underneath the warm water.

"Exactly," Goku said, confirming his thoughts. "She took me in. And I met her mother. They gave me a blanket and a cup of hot chocolate while I sat near their fireplace to keep myself warm."

Gohan couldn't help but smile. "That's really nice of them."

"Yeah." He smiled back at that memory. "She really saved my life back then, and I didn't even know her." A strange feeling was tugging at his chest, now that he was thinking about this for the first time in a while.

"What happened next?"

He put a finger on his chin, trying to remember the sequence of events. "Now that I think about it… I told Suno and her mother about the Dragon Balls and at first they thought that I belonged to the Red Ribbon Army because I mentioned that I was looking for them."

"That must have been intense."

"It was. But then I convinced them that I was not one of the bad guys and luckily, they believed me. Then a couple of RRA soldiers broke in trying to find the Dragon Ball." Goku told his son.

"Tell me more! What did they do next?" Gohan asked, eager to hear the rest of the story.

"I was in the bathroom and they heard that I was there, and then they started shooting all over the place." Goku revealed, his hands now in the soapy water.

"You protected Suno and her mom?"

"Absolutely. They didn't believe me when I told them I was capable of fighting. I had to take care of those two soldiers to convince them."

"Wow, they must have been proud of you." Gohan said with a smile.

"No doubt about that." Goku responded, a smile also showing on his face. "Then Suno gave me some warm clothes so I could go to Muscle Tower, the RRA headquarters there in Jingle Village to fight and beat them."

"That sounds awesome. I'll bet that you beat every single member."

"Well… not all of them, actually. There was a robot named Android Eight, who turned out to be a good guy. Later on, I nicknamed him Eighter. I saved him from the tower and we came back along with the village mayor, who was a prisoner in Muscle Tower. And when we returned, everyone was really happy, including Suno. She was holding baked bread in a hot plate when she saw me coming back." Goku explained, the blush returning to his cheeks at the mention of his best friend.

"Really?" Gohan noticed the blush on his father's cheeks returning but didn't say anything. He then rolled his eyes. "Let me guess. Did you eat them all when you laid your eyes on it?"

Goku let out an embarrassed chuckle. "Yeah… because I was really starving, haha!"

He chuckled along with his father and asked, "Do you remember any of the RRA members you fought?"

"First I fought some kind of ninja. His name was Murasaki, I think. But he was really lame. Then Eighter and I fought an enormous pink beast named Gullon." He explained. "And finally, we fought against General White, the one who enslaved the people of Jingle Village."

Gohan couldn't help but wonder. "Was he the toughest one to fight?"

"Well..." Goku made many faces, thinking about his son's question. "He wasn't the hardest one. But I do remember that he shot me in the back."

"HE SHOT YOU!?" Gohan yelled, his voice echoing throughout the bathroom.

"Yeah." The older Saiyan was left unfazed by the loud scream. "It really hurt back then. And he was about to shoot me again, but Eighter got mad. He stopped the bullet and with a single fist he sent White flying away."

"I assume he died from that punch?" He asked, curious to know the outcome.

"I think so." Goku nodded. "I never saw him again."

"That's great. So, tell me more about what it was like meeting Suno for the first time."

"Well, we didn't spend too much time together." Goku said, feeling a strange warmth in his heart. He raised a hand from the bathing water to find soap in his hand. "But once she saw that I wanted to fight against the Red Ribbon Army and rescue the village mayor, she was really worried about me. I mean, she even saves me from freezing to death without even knowing me at all. She was really sweet."

Gohan couldn't help but smile at that, as it sounded as if this kind girl genuinely cared for his father and even made him happy during their short encounter. This however, raised another question and his smile started to fade a little bit. "Did Mom do anything like that for you?"

Goku winced at the mention of his wife, and then he let out an exhausted sigh. "Now that I think about it… not really. She's very naggy sometimes and screaming that I never work, that I should worry more about your studies than defending the earth. I think you heard her before, remember? When we were about to train with Piccolo."

His shoulders slumped and he sighed, "Oh yeah… I do remember." He sunk a little deeper into the bathtub until only his face and feet were seen.

Goku looked down at his soapy hands as he said, "I think that the only time she worried for me was back when I was suffering from the heart virus. But that was it."

"W-What?" Gohan asked incredulously. As soon as he heard that, he slowly removed his hands from the water. "That was the only time? So, you're telling me that she never cared about your well-being after that?"

He didn't even know how to respond to that. "Well… she does care. She cooks for us; she cleans our home… but I think it was the only time your mother really got worried for me." His answer left him unsure of whether or not he believed it.

"Yeah but I think that sometimes…" Gohan stopped for a second, wondering if he should bring this up with his father. He decided that it was better to get this off his chest than to keep it bottled up inside. "…Mom is just too harsh and it's really hard trying to reason with her at times."

Goku nodded with a sad look. "I agree, she does have some nerves. She's always trying to make us live normal lives. But the fact is that sadly, we can't live normal lives."

"Yeah… we just can't. No matter how much we want to."

"I mean, we did have some brief peace times. But they were brief."

"Very brief…" mumbled Gohan, who was not even looking at his father but down at his reflection in the water.

"Listen to me, son." Goku reached out for his hand in the water, understanding his pain and sadness. "Look at me." He said softly. His son finally looked up at him which gave him the satisfaction he needed. "The point is that we're warriors. And we're Saiyans. Fighting is in our blood; we just can't help it. I would love to live a normal life with you and your mother. But we must be prepared to defend Earth against these threats, just like Cell right now."

Gohan gave a small nod. "You're right Dad. So… did you ever think about visiting Suno?"

"Well… I never did." He admitted with a sigh, removing his hand from his son's. "Since I left Jingle Village back then, I never saw her again. So many things happened since then…"

An idea suddenly came to the teen's mind. "Why don't you pay her a visit after we defeat Cell?"

Goku's eyes lit up in happiness at his son's idea. "You know, that's a great idea." Then he started to feel somewhat discouraged. "Though I'm not sure that she'd remember me."

"You'll never know if you don't try!" Gohan encouraged.

"You got a point there," He now sported his trademark smile. "After we beat Cell, I'll go visit her."

"That's great!" Gohan grinned. "I'll bet she misses you a lot!"

Goku raises an eyebrow. "You think so? I don't know about that. It's been a long time since we saw each other."

"Come on, you defeated the RRA and saved Jingle Village. There's no way she would forget about you that easily." The boy said, providing as much encouragement for his dad as he possibly could.

"That's true. She would remember me after all that," Goku remarked. He looked up at the ceiling and visualized the image of his female friend. A fond smile came on his face, excited to see her again after so many years.

"You think Mom will let you visit her?" Gohan asked, imagining his mother becoming angry at the whole thing.

"I'm not really sure. But knowing her, I see it to be very difficult."

"Damn…" Gohan muttered. He didn't realize before that his own mother could be an obstacle to all this. "Maybe you could pay Suno a visit without saying anything to Mom. It'll make things a lot easier."

"You think it will work?"

"Of course, Dad. You deserve to visit an old friend!"

"Yeah." Goku leaned his back against the bathtub. "She's an old friend of mine, just like many old friends I knew during my childhood."

"That's the spirit!"

"How about you come with me when I visit Suno?"

Gohan gawked at his father in shock. "R-Really? Are you sure about that?"

"Yeah, it would be a surprise for her to learn that I have a son. And besides, it was your idea." Goku reasoned.

Gohan thought about it for a while, before a smile finally tugged at his lips. "Okay, I'll come with you Dad!"

"Great! Thanks Gohan!"

The teen had a mischievous smirk on his face as he was planning something against his father. "Hey Dad? One more thing…" He called out while suppressing the urge to laugh, preparing his water attack which was sure to catch his father off guard. "…I want to ask of you."

"Sure, son. Ask right away." Goku said, confused by his son's smirk.

Gohan didn't say anything. Instead, he chose to splash water all over his father. His spiky hair and face became completely drenched with soapy water. "How do you like that?" Goku quickly recovered from the unexpected assault, rubbing his eyes and smirking at his beloved son. He could sense a challenge brewing in the air. "Hahaha! You want a challenge, eh? Here you go!" He started splashing water all over his hybrid son and watched in pleasure as he tried to defend himself. His son too, became covered with soap and had to cover his eyes to avoid the burning sensation.

"Don't think you're beating me at this!"

"Let's see what you've got, son!"

It became a back-and-forth thing with neither of them gaining an advantage over the other. The rubber duck was tossed high in the air as their playful battle reached intense levels. The teen backed away as his father was splashing water even harder on him. "At least we won't be dirty after this!"

"True."

Goku ceased the water splashing and wiped his face. "As much as I'm enjoying this, we should finish up our shower so we can eat something and go to sleep. And then tomorrow, we can continue our training." His stomach started to scream at him for some food, making him giggle.

"Sure thing." Another loud rumble was heard throughout the time chamber, this time from the younger Saiyan. "I'm getting really hungry!"

Father and Son finish their bath quickly and decide to get some food to eat. They noticed how they wet the floor from their splashing water all over each other and were very careful not to slip and fall as they were stepping out. The rubber duck was returned to its spot on the tub as the duo retrieved some towels and dried themselves off. Then they changed into clean clothes, ate a hearty dinner together and hit the bed.

BACK TO THE PRESENT

Shock coursed through Gohan's whole being as he remembered the entire story told to him by none other than his father. Feeling the need to sit down and think some more, he took a seat in the corner and tried to make himself comfortable, but he just couldn't. This was too hard to believe.

'T-That's where I heard the story before. Dad told me everything while we were in the hyperbolic time chamber together. How he met that girl named Suno and how he went to Muscle Tower to rescue the village mayor. B-But General White… the one responsible for enslaving the people of Jingle Village… is the same person who Chichi is talking to right now! H-He didn't die like Dad assumed he did. He survived somehow. B-But how did he do it? How did he get his life back together?'

As he was about to reflect on it more, he heard Chichi ask the same questions that were flowing through his mind. He may not be able to see her expression, but he could tell just by her tone that she was thunderstruck. "W-What? You are? But how did you survive? And how did you get your life back together after the fall of the RRA?"

"I'm not going to lie... I thought for sure that death would await me on the other side after android eight sent me flying out of Muscle Tower. But during the fall, I broke my hip and it left me with a limp for the rest of my life. That's the reason why I wear the cane." White explained, pointing to his walking stick next to him on the sofa. "And the reason why I have these scars." He then removed his sunglasses, the three scars on his face in perfect view. Thankfully for him, it hadn't affected his eyesight. His gloves were also removed and he held out his right hand towards his guest so she could see the two scars on it. "Anyway, I dragged myself through the snow until I found a cave. And I stayed there for almost two days trying to keep myself warm because there was a blizzard outside. After two days passed, I left the cave and I helped myself using a stick to get to the nearest village. I finally found one. Luckily for me, the residents living there never knew who I was, so they took me in and I stayed with them until I got better. Then I came here to West City and I started to create this new "empire" as a "lawyer". I created a whole new identity for myself and involved myself in shady businesses by creating false evidences for my clients and getting a lot of money from them in return. Every one of them co-operated with me and agreed to keep my activities a secret so I never had any issues afterwards. Eventually, I was able to afford this mansion and hire housekeepers and cooks to work for me."

That left Chichi speechless. "Woah…"

General White ran a hand through his hair. His once purple hair was now completely gray. Every time he looked at himself in the mirror, he still couldn't believe how much he aged since his encounter with Son Goku many years ago. "It wasn't easy convincing everyone about my new identity as 'Lawyer Nikushimi', but I made it. And believe me, you're not the only person who wants to ruin Goku. I'm looking for the same thing as well."

"So… you're using the divorce procedure as a means of getting back at him?" She asked.

"If you want to put it that way… I don't want to conquer the world, but I just want to get rid of Goku. That's it."

Chichi thought about it for a second. She didn't see any harm in helping General White enact his revenge against her soon to be ex-husband. A smirk formed on her face. "You know what? I'm willing to help the best way I can."

White returned the smirk. "I'm aware about that. You want to take your kids away from Goku, and I want to get rid of him."

She held out her hand towards him. "It doesn't matter if you were a member of the Red Ribbon Army. Let's work together to destroy Goku!"

The former RRA member shook her hand. "Good call! Let's get down to business!"

As soon as he heard that last line, Gohan knew he'd had enough. He stopped the recording and saved it. He stood up, jumped out of Chichi's purse and escaped from the mansion the same way he came in. Through the small space underneath the front door. He dashed towards the gate, the mansion's entrance. As soon as he was far from the sight of those two criminals, he activated the microband and returned to his normal size immediately. His look was filled with rage and he was on the verge of bitter tears as he was flying back to Capsule Corp.

---

Gohan levitated down in front of the Capsule Corporation building. Anger was coursing through his veins after what he just found out. He stood behind the front entrance for a while with his head down. Both his hands were shaking and his blood had run completely cold, still not believing a single thing that was revealed. Everything was replaying in his mind, and he couldn't stop himself from thinking about it during his return. He shakily lifted a finger to the doorbell and pressed it once, waiting anxiously as it rang to alert everyone that he was back.

He took a step back as he heard footsteps approaching the door. It was slammed open, revealing a fully clothed Bulma. "Hey Gohan, you're back-what's wrong?" She became worried upon the sight of her friend. His demeanour was a heavy mixture of anger, frustration and disappointment. But he also looked broken, like his heart had been shattered into a million pieces.

Small drips of sweat poured down his forehead as he continued to stand there in eerie silence, needing a moment to respond. "Bulma… I think that I really need to sit down right now…" His voice even sounded like it was shaken up.

"Sure, come have a seat in the living room."

Bulma stood behind the open door as the teenage boy walked inside. She closes the door and locks it as Gohan makes his way to the living room. Instead of acknowledging anyone else in the room, he takes a seat at the nearest sofa and buries his face between his hands, completely distraught.

Vegeta was standing by a window staring out into the distance when he sensed the boy entering the room. He turned his head and was surprised to see the state he was in. Videl was keeping herself occupied by sending texts to Erasa when she noticed that her partner was already back but in a horrible state. Master Roshi was already seated there, patiently waiting for the boy's return and he too, was stunned to see his mood.

The Saiyan Prince walked over to an empty sofa and sat down. "What happened?" He questioned, it was awfully strange to him that he wasn't saying anything.

"Gohan, are you okay?" Videl asked, putting her cellphone away and moving closer to her boyfriend.

"Did something happen while you were there?" Roshi asked, not being used to this silence from the boy. "What did you find out?"

He remained silent and removed the microband from his wrist, tossing it over on the center table. His head was still down, avoiding eye contact with them. Then he took several deep breaths and raised his head which still revealed an angry and pained expression on his face. Bulma arrived and took her seat as soon as she was done locking the door. Now she was growing even more concerned as the teen wasn't saying anything.

"Gohan, do you want me to get you a glass of water?" She offered, hoping that it would help get his thoughts together.

"Bulma… right now I just want to disappear after what I've just found out." He finally muttered. "I think that I found out the worst of the worst… I can't even say it for myself. You should all listen to it." He takes out the voice recorder and accesses the conversation he recorded at the mansion. What he had been able to record went on for about an hour. Well, he was sure Chichi and 'Nikushimi' were still talking about it, but he chose to leave as he couldn't take anymore of their crap.

He made sure that the volume was loud. Not loud enough to wake up Bulma's parents, but clear enough for them all to hear. And the boys were still playing video games, so there didn't seem to be any chance for them to come down here and hear a word of what was happening. With his concerns out of the way, he then played the recording and everyone moved in closer to catch every single word of the conversation. They heard Chichi setting the briefcase on the table and her reminding the lawyer that all the money was from her 'gullible father' and her gloating about how he fell for her lies.

It was followed up by Nikushimi telling her what he had in mind to frame Goku and much to the shock and surprise of the rest, there were actual drugs in the mix. It was just as appalling to hear Chichi's thought process of cutting herself and pinning the blame on Goku.

Not a single word was said, but signs of anger were shown on their faces upon realizing the extent to which Chichi was willing to go just to frame Goku. Vegeta's eye started to twitch and he was soon clenching a fist as he continued to listen to the bullcrap between the partners of crime, while Videl would be looking back between the recorder and her livid boyfriend.

What came next… was a game changer. Nikushimi's true identity. Once the question about his interest in Goku came up, everyone kept quiet as each of them (with the exception of Gohan), wondered what would be revealed. Bulma reached out for the voice recorder and raised the volume a little bit higher as this man's identity was what she and everyone else were aiming to hear.

Nothing could have prepared them for what they heard next. The recording revealed the connection between Nikushimi and Goku. How Kid Goku broke into Muscle Tower and how android eight 'betrayed' the army. Nikushimi went into detail with how Goku foiled his plans and rescued the village mayor and how the traitor robot punched him, sending him miles away from the tower and presumed dead. He then talked about how he survived the fall and got his life back together after every single member was taken down.

That was the end of the recording. Everyone was at a loss for words, stone-cold and frozen in their seats. They all just sat there in shocked silence as they needed time to process what they just heard. Was this man really once part of the Red Ribbon Army? No one could have ever fathomed that this would be the case. They could have found out a whole lot of stuff about him but this… this was unimaginable.

"What… What did I just hear?" Bulma stumbled on her words; eyes still glued to the voice recorder.

"What you've just heard." Gohan responded, his voice wavering. "That so called lawyer is actually an old general from the Red Ribbon Army!"

"And he's not really a lawyer," Vegeta added. "but he involves himself in dirty businesses by making false evidences for his clients, and earns a lot of money from that!?"

"Oh my god…" Videl lifted a hand to her mouth.

"I can't believe it…" Roshi muttered, removing his sunglasses in shock. "And he wants to ruin Goku as revenge for the fall of the RRA?"

"That's exactly it." Gohan mumbled. "by helping 'her' in court."

"And that damn woman is actually going along with it!" Vegeta snaps, veins on his forehead.

The teen boy leans back further in the sofa, taking a few heavy breaths. He lays his head on the fluffy pillow. "And just when I thought things couldn't get any worse. Even after hearing that this General White guy was a member of the Red Ribbon Army, she still wants to work with him! I guess I shouldn't be surprised considering that she's pure evil at this point."

"What are we going to do now?" Videl asked worriedly. "Do we still need more evidence?"

Gohan puts his girlfriend's question into thought. "Well… the way I see it, we have this recording and the other evidence. So we do already have all the weapons to beat her in court, right Bulma?"

"Yeah, we do."

"All the evidence we've gathered right now is more than enough to stop her. And we should take advantage of this."

"You're right." Master Roshi agreed. "Chichi and General White may cough up something convincing for the judge and jury, but once they see all the evidence we have, especially this recording, they're going to know that both of them are lying."

Gohan sits up on the sofa and turns to the scientist. "So Bulma, the rest of us are depending on you to keep all the evidence we have until the court date."

Bulma gives him a thumbs up. "You don't have to worry about a thing. I'll keep this safe and hidden."

"Alright, I'm counting on you. All of us."

"I've got your back!"

Gohan was caught off guard when he felt his girlfriend's arms locked around his neck. His hands fumbled around until he returned the hug, feeling his worries melting away the longer he was in her embrace. They clung onto each other tightly, glad that they had everything needed to secure their victory. She cupped his cheeks with a smile, "I'm proud of you. You did really good recording the whole thing."

"Thanks."

They shared a brief kiss in front of the group and it was during this moment, that Gohan remembered the story his father told him in the hyperbolic time chamber. He now felt the need to tell everyone else. Just before his girlfriend could go for another kiss, Gohan removed his arms, releasing himself from the hug.

"Huh? What's wrong?" Videl asked, taken aback by that sudden move.

"Sorry, it's just that… my dad told me about someone he met a long time ago," He said excitedly.

That seemed to pique Bulma's interest. "He did? Who was this person?"

"Her name was Suno. Dad told me about her back when we were training to fight against Cell in the hyperbolic time chamber, remember that Vegeta?"

Hearing this the Saiyan Prince let out a grunt, "I remember that all too well. I could never forget it."

"Yeah, my dad even said that he was stronger than you!" Gohan suddenly blurted out.

Vegeta turned away from him with his arms folded in sheer annoyance, not wanting to be reminded of that fact again. Teeth gritted in the awkward silence. "Tch!"

Realizing his mistake, Gohan waved his hands in front of the Prince's face. "Sorry, I didn't mean anything by that Vegeta! Forget what I just said!" He began to sweat nervously.

He sighed in irritation. "Just continue with the story."

Gohan let out a relieved breath. "My dad told me that he met a girl back when he was fighting the Red Ribbon Army. At some point, he was in a plane crash in a snowy area. And this girl Suno, arrived and grabbed him through the snow to her house in the middle of a snowstorm."

"In the middle of a snowstorm?" Roshi asked, impressed.

Gohan nodded. "Yeah. And she didn't even know who he was. But she took him in and gave him a blanket and a cup of hot chocolate."

That made Bulma smile tenderly, having not heard of anyone doing that for her childhood friend. "Aw, that was so kind of her."

"Yeah. He told me that he promised Suno that he would rescue the mayor of her village, who was a prisoner of the RRA in some kind of tower." Gohan explained.

"Muscle Tower?" Roshi asked for confirmation, knowing that it had already been said before.

"Yep. As was mentioned in the recording."

"What happened next?"

"Dad broke into Muscle Tower and defeated all the enemies he fought against. Until he came into contact with General White, the same one who's helping 'her' in court. And he shot my dad back then, just like he told Chichi earlier!"

"Interesting." Vegeta commented, this story sounding more intriguing to him.

"Uh-huh. He didn't die, luckily. But he received help from some robot called android eight who was mentioned in the recording. He later nicknamed him Eighter after that huge crisis was over. And as White told 'her', this robot punched him afterwards, sending him flying from the tower miles away. They rescued the village mayor and destroyed the tower." He concluded.

"I suppose he returned to Suno's house?" Videl inquired.

"He did." Gohan confirmed with a nod. "She almost cried when she saw him coming back. He told me that during the time he was away, she prayed for him."

"She's really sweet… it sounds like she really cared about your father." Bulma said with a smile. Now she couldn't help but wonder if there's something else missing from the story.

"I think my dad didn't realize about it back then. Maybe because he wanted to get the Dragon Balls…or maybe because…" It was then that Gohan put the final piece in the puzzle, and finally figured out what was going on. "he never knew what it's like to be in love. And the saddest thing is that he never came back to see her again. I think she really missed him."

When Bulma heard that, her eyes became a little watery. She thought something was off by their interactions but hearing that last piece of information broke her heart. "It couldn't be… it sounds to me like Suno was in love with him, and probably for years."

"Yeah… after remembering this story, it sounds like she was. What do you think Videl?" He asked, curious to know his girlfriend's opinion.

"I think the same. It sounds like they're a match made in heaven," She agreed.

"And during a hard time like this, she could be a really great support for him." Gohan added.

An idea came to Bulma's mind. "Why don't you talk your father into visiting her after the court case?" She suggested.

"That's a great idea. Back then, I managed to convince him to visit Suno after Cell's defeat, but it never happened since he sacrificed himself against Cell. This could be something really good for him."

"Chances are that she's probably still single." Roshi added.

"I agree," Bulma said hopefully. "If Suno isn't married or dating anyone by this time, then maybe there's still a chance for them to be together as a couple."

Vegeta had listened to the whole thing in silence, and he was genuinely surprised. Even he had to admit that there was some sense to what they were saying. "Never thought I'd say this, but I agree. It seems like this woman treated Kakarot better than that harpy ever did."

Bulma's mouth was agape at her husband, and she blinked a couple times. "You actually agree with this!?"

"Well the fact that you concur Vegeta, is really important." Gohan noted.

"All that harpy did was complain twenty-four seven. How Kakarot put up with her is beyond my understanding." He stated plainly.

The teen boy remained quiet for a bit, his thoughts swirling around. "Bulma… Roshi… you two were present the day my dad proposed to Chichi, right?" His father had told him a little bit about the marriage proposal but something was telling him that there was more to it than he initially thought.

Master Roshi nodded. "Yep, we were there."

"Don't you guys think that he proposed…because he felt bad for forgetting the promise he made to her?"

"It definitely seems that way," Bulma let out a sigh.

"Whoa… it's really sad." Gohan commented, feeling sorry for his father. "Because he made that promise being a kid and not knowing a single thing about marriage and not even about love. And "she" came back to that tournament only to remind him about that promise he made, when he totally forgot about her, is that right?"

"That sounds about right, and then she threw a temper tantrum when he didn't remember her. In front of an entire crowd, so she embarrassed not only herself but him as well." Roshi said in annoyance, unhappy about how everything transpired.

"As if my dad had no other choice but to think about that silly promise all that time." Gohan sighed.

"It's like he was forced into keeping that promise." Bulma grumbled.

"He married almost by force!" The half-Saiyan exclaimed.

Videl felt sad for her boyfriend's father, having been put in a situation like that. "At least once the divorce is finalized, Goku will finally be free from her control."

Gohan smiled lightly at his girlfriend's words. "Yeah. And maybe he could finally find Suno again."

"It's good to see that you want your father to be happy," Bulma smiled proudly.

"I do," He leaned his palms against the living room pillows. "He's my dad and both Goten and I want to be with him, but he needs Suno too."

"Awww…" The teen girl felt herself tearing up, and she found herself wiping a few tears from her eyes. "that has got to be the sweetest thing I've ever heard, you know that?"

The hybrid looked over at his girlfriend beside him on the sofa. "But don't be jealous, Videl. I want to be with you too. In fact, your support helps me a lot to carry on through this." He smiles at her as she rests her head on his shoulder.

She takes a pillow and playfully tosses it at him. "I'm not jealous. I want what's best for you."

"I know, and I thank you for that." He says before catching the pillow in one hand, leaning down and capturing her lips in another kiss.

As Bulma and Roshi watch the exchange between the young couple, the smile on their faces become even wider. But then the scientist remembers a certain conversation she had earlier this evening. "By the way Gohan, your father texted me earlier today."

When that reached his ears, his eyes shot open and he broke free from the kiss, one hand still holding onto the pillow while the other was positioned on Videl's back. "Really? And what did he say?!"

"He told me he was in Papaya Island by himself. He was at a restaurant waiting for his dinner," She explained with a smile. In her mind, she was imagining her childhood friend in there on his own sitting behind a table full of gigantic piles of food and him eating away without a care in the world.

"Whoa! Papaya Island!" He exclaimed, the memories of that place burning through his mind. "I know dad took Goten there a couple of times after he permanently returned to earth, but I haven't been there since the last martial arts tournament."

Bulma recalled her friend's exact words in the text messages they exchanged. "He was at a restaurant called Delicious Saikan. Me, him, Yamcha, Krillin, Puar and Master Roshi all ate there after the 21st martial arts tournament."

"Exactly as she says," Roshi confirmed.

"Well, I'm really happy to hear that my dad decided to take some fresh air. And he really needs it today."

Bulma nodded in agreement. "Especially with the court case coming up."

"Just like I said before. He cannot use his fists and his Ki in this battle. So, he has to clear up his mind for that day." Gohan stated as a matter of fact.

"You're right. But there was a reason he messaged me." She finally revealed.

That left him surprised. "What was it?" He couldn't imagine any other reason for his father to text his friends for anything other than small talk.

"He asked if he could bring two friends to the party."

He raised an eyebrow at that. "Two friends?"

"Your father didn't specify who they were. He just said they were two friends he met after a long time." Bulma replied, also feeling mystified as to who those people were.

"Two friends he met after a long time..." Gohan pondered on that for a moment, trying to figure out who they could possibly be.

She shrugged her shoulders at him. "That's what he said."

He removed his other hand from his girlfriend's hand while he placed the pillow back on the couch. "Wait a minute...don't you think that one of those friends...can be Suno?"

That left Bulma pondering on the thought. "It's a strong possibility, but I'm pretty sure there are other friends he hadn't seen in a while. For all we know, your father spent that time he was away from Mount Paozu reconnecting with other people."

"Well, if those friends keep my dad happy and with a clear head, then it's alright."

"We'll find out who they are when he brings them over."

"Exactly. So, I think that we made a great discovery today and we have to keep it safe until we use it to our favor in court, Bulma." He let out a huge yawn as tiredness was really getting to him.

"You're right about that. Anyway, I'll be setting up for the party tomorrow, so it can happen the day after. I'll send invitations to the others as a reminder." Bulma said, refraining from mentioning anything about her sister coming over.

Vegeta let out a low grumble from his seat, knowing what this meant. "Tch!"

All the human woman did was smile smugly at her husband, reminding him of what would happen if he didn't honor her request. He growled before standing up and abruptly storming out of the room, mumbling incoherent words under his breath. The young couple stared after him until he was far from sight, wondering what him and Bulma were arguing about earlier.

"That's great! So, I think that we should head back home, right Videl? We'll all meet again at the party!"

"Wait, wait, wait. Not so fast-" Videl grabbed his arm to stop him just as he was about to stand up from the sofa. "We've got to fetch Goten. He's still playing video games with Trunks."

He laughed nervously. "Ohh yeah! It's true! We have to get him!"

Videl released her hand and stood up with her boyfriend, followed by Bulma and Master Roshi. The old turtle hermit took his microband back and stuffed it in his front pocket before grabbing his walking stick and following the couple out of the room. Once they appeared at the entrance, they thanked the old man for coming out here with the microband as without it, obtaining this new information wouldn't have been an easy feat. From there, Bulma opened the door for him and he walked out the building to head back to Kame House.

"Well, that's that." She said, closing the door after Roshi's departure. In her hand was the voice recorder containing the newly recorded conversation. "I'm going to go put this in my laboratory. You two can go upstairs to Trunks's room and fetch Goten."

"Sure thing. We'll see you again at the party."

After saying goodbye to the scientist, the couple made their way to Trunks's bedroom. As they were nearing his room, the distinct sound of them playing against each other was heard as both kids were giving it their all in this game. Gohan placed his hand on the doorknob and stood behind the door for a few seconds, finding some amusement listening to the two young boys chatting amongst themselves.

"I can't believe you beat me again Trunks!"

"Well, that's due to your lack of practice, Goten."

"Oh, come on. You know I don't have any video games thanks to 'her'."

"I know, man. I was just kidding hehe. But don't worry. With my help, you'll handle it very well in a short time."

"Thanks Trunks. You're the best!"

"You don't have to thank me, buddy."

It was then that the older sibling decided to interrupt their time and open the door, Videl right behind him. They both took in the sight of the room. It didn't look too bad. An alarm clock sat on the nightstand next to Trunks's bed. The bed sheets and coverings were scattered all around the floor while the dirty plates Goten used earlier were stacked up neatly and put in a corner of the room.

"Hey look, Gohan is here!" The younger Saiyan cried out, pointing at his big brother excitedly.

In response, the teen grinned. "Hey Goten! Did you have fun?"

"Yeah, I did!"

"I'm glad for that. Hey, we should come back to Videl's house. I think you want to play with Bee, right?"

"It's really late. I don't think Bee would be awake by this time."

"Ohhh yeah hehe. Well, let's get going Goten. Bye Trunks! We'll meet at the party!" He waved at the older of the two.

"See you later Trunks." Videl waved back with a smile.

"Bye guys." Then he looked over at the dirty plates and picked them up from the floor. "Oh, I almost forgot, I need to take these back to the kitchen before Mom gets on my case again." He held them in one hand as his best friend walked over to his brother and girlfriend.

"Do you think I can come over again tomorrow?"

Trunks winced. "Oof… sorry Goten. That won't be possible. Mom will be setting up for the party and I might need to help her out." He made sure not to mention a certain someone coming over to help with the party.

"Oh.." He felt a little deflated by that.

"Don't fret, there'll be other opportunities to come visit."

That cheered him up a little. "You're right."

The group separated with Trunks hurrying to the kitchen to take care of his pal's dirty dishes while Gohan, Goten and Videl flew away from Capsule Corp, on their way back to Satan City and in desperate need of some sleep.

---

The group touched down on the ground lightly after they safely arrived in their Satan City home. Their flight had been a long one and there were quite a few yawns coming from the youngest who then proceeded to rub his eyes. Videl motioned for the duo to follow her as she approached the door and opened it with as much silence as possible. Her father left the door unlocked, knowing that they would be returning soon. She peered inside her home, noticing how all the lights had been turned off already.

"Don't make even the slightest bit of noise. We can't wake up my dad, Buu and Bee." She whispered to them.

They nodded without saying anything and stealthily followed the teenage girl inside the eerily quiet house. Once the trio were safely inside, the teenage girl closed the door and locked it before addressing her boyfriend and brother for the final time that night.

"I'm feeling sleepy so I'll hit the bed right now." Videl told the two boys, stretching her arms and legs in the darkness. "Goodnight you two."

"Goodnight Videl." They said in unison.

Before leaving however, Videl stood on her tiptoes and gave her hybrid boyfriend a goodnight kiss. When she separated from him, his cheeks were a tinted pink color as he felt her hands on them. "Thanks. I needed that."

"No prob."

From there, the trio separated and headed to their respective bedrooms as quietly as they could. They caught sight of Bee napping in his doghouse and were careful not to make even the slightest bit of noise. Everyone was in their rooms soon enough and prepared themselves for sleep as they knew that tomorrow would be another long day for them.

---

In the wee hours of the night, Gohan was seated on his bed staring out the window. He let out an exhausted sigh as he thought about everything that took place. A strange feeling of guilt was weighing him down. He couldn't understand how all of this was happening. While he was happy that there was more than enough evidence against his ex-mother, he couldn't help but feel responsible. A part of him wished that he had gotten his brother out of this situation long before the beating took place. He should have stood up to that horrid woman, and then maybe... maybe they would have been living with their father by this time without any court settlements. It's not like they could go to him now, since he wasn't in Mount Paozu. Another sigh escaped his lips as he checked the time on the alarm clock. He tried to force himself to sleep, but he couldn't do that with these unwanted thoughts invading his mind.

He put on his footwear and rose up from his bed, walking towards the exit and finally departing from his room. He now stood between the sitting area and front door, as he was trying to decide what exactly to do during this late hour. A breath of fresh air wouldn't hurt as he needed to clear his mind, and just as he took one step towards the entrance of the Satan residence, he remembered his girlfriend locking the door just as they entered the house. He couldn't get out through the front but maybe he could-

Gohan unconsciously made his way to the kitchen. He looked all around until he spotted a back door. He was there in an instant and the teen peeked through the glass door. His gaze was down on the lock, and with a little bit of work he managed to get it open. He felt the sudden rush of cool air as he stepped outside and closed the back door just slightly. He took a trek through the back while inhaling the fresh scent of the greenery all around him. Very soon, he was standing out in the big yard.

His hands were in his pockets and he felt that sudden guilt coming back to him. Why did he feel like this was partly his fault? Before he could ponder on his thoughts once more, he felt someone's shadow standing right behind him. He whipped his head around and noticed his girlfriend there, and she was dressed in her pajamas. From the looks of it, she was worried about him.

He was understandably surprised by her presence. "Videl, w-what are you doing here? I thought you were asleep…"

"I woke up for a glass of water, when I noticed that the back door was open slightly." She answered, touching his arm. "Hey... are you alright?"

"Not really, Videl. I... I simply cannot understand how any of this is happening." Gohan spoke with honesty.

She let out a small laugh as she now stood next to him on the yard. "Me neither. This so-called lawyer being General White, a former member of the RRA? None of us could have seen that coming."

"The whole thing is insane. And I feel that I did nothing to stop it..." He said sadly.

Videl was appalled to hear that. "What!? This isn't your fault Gohan!"

"But I still feel guilty. Both "her" and my Dad wanted different things for me when I was growing up. But I never had the chance of expressing what I really wanted to do. And…" His hands are in his pockets as he gazes up at the evening stars in sadness. "I don't know. I feel like I was the one who caused all this madness. And what hurts the most is that Goten is taking the brunt of it."

"Don't say that!" She scolded him. "You did your best for Goten! None of this was your fault... It's Chichi's fault for never allowing you or Goten to make your own choices. It's her fault, not yours!"

He sighed, his gaze still up at the sky. "Well, I have to start believing that. And I have to think about not only Goten, but my dad as well."

"Yeah. Your Dad is going to fight hard in court and obtain Goten's custody. There's no doubt about that."

"And I think that I owe you an apology too. You have me and my brother here now, living with you and your dad for the worst reasons. I wish I could say that I'm here for a happier occasion."

"What!? No! You don't owe me any apology. We're happy to have you and Goten here for as long as you need!" She insisted, gripping his arms and forcing him to look at her.

"Really? You don't mind?" He asked, surprised.

"Not at all. If I didn't want you two to stay here, then I wouldn't have suggested it."

He managed to give a small smile, knowing just how much his girlfriend cared about him. "Well, thanks Videl...I don't know how to thank you and your dad for all this."

"There's no need to thank us. Yours and Goten's happiness is all that matters to me." She leans against his arm.

"I feel that I'm really lucky for having you back me up."

"I'll always back you up, no matter what situation we're in!"

He simply just looks at her, his smile becoming even wider. "Me too."

Videl threw her arms at him, and Gohan responds to the hug just like he did with his father when they met again in Kami's Lookout. His hands ran up and down her back as he held her tightly.

"So, are you ready to go to bed now?" She asks, looking up at her boyfriend's tall figure to meet his now cheerful eyes. Her arms were still around his waist.

He nodded. "I am. I feel a lot better now. Thanks for everything, Videl."

"Don't mention it."

He let out a small chuckle. "Alright hehe."

She releases her arms from him and points towards the way they both came. "Alright, come on. We've got school tomorrow so let's get some sleep!"

Videl holds his hand and the two turn around and walk back inside the house, laughing heartily as the back door was shut behind them. They return to their bedrooms for some much-needed sleep as they both knew they had a long day at school, and they definitely needed to let their close friends in on this newest development.

---

Author's note:

Thank you all for taking the time to read these three chapters. There are some things I would like to address.

· I thought it would be fun to include Tights in the story, and to have her fly all the way to West City for a much-needed reunion with her family and also to help Bulma set up the party. This would also create some really good interactions with everyone especially since nobody knows of her existence.

· I could have had Bulma ask anyone else to pick up Tights from the airport, but I eventually settled for Vegeta and Trunks. Dr. Briefs and Panchy were out of the question since they don't know that Tights is coming over and if Bulma were to ask them, it would have ruined the surprise. As you readers could see, Trunks is excited about meeting his aunt for the first time but Vegeta… not so much. Knowing how he is at times, I couldn't really picture him wanting to pick up his sister-in-law willingly, so I had him react the way he did. And I thought it would be funny if Bulma threatened him by denying him access to the gravity chamber for one week if he didn't pick up her sister. My only hope is that I didn't take it too far.

· The Papaya Island scene (Goku and Suno's second date) was the hardest to write, but really fun nonetheless. I had them look around for a bit and eventually had them eat at Delicious Saikan, just so Goku can relieve the old memories he had of that place. I also really liked writing the scene where they just sat at the tournament arena and talked about different stuff that happened in their lifetime. That, their meeting with the announcer and their dinner date at Delicious Saikan.

· Next… the reveal of this 'so-called lawyer'. I initially thought of creating an OC, but I figured that it would create more of an impact if he was someone who was already introduced in the dragon ball franchise. General White came to mind, having been the one who enslaved the Jingle Village people. Having him talk about how he survived and how he got his life back together was the funnest part. And also, Gohan's flashback and everyone else discussing this lawyer's identity. I think it would be great if Goku were to eventually find out that his worst enemy is working together with his former wife to ruin his life.

That's pretty much all I have to say. I'm not sure when the next chapter will be released. I know some of the things I want happen in the chapter, but I have to put it together in order, so it'll be a while before it's released.

I'll see you all in the next chapter and feel free to let me know your thoughts!