[AN: Hi, guys! Thanks so much for sticking with this story through its long hiatus! I don't think the schedule will be as regular anymore, but I think I have a better idea of what to do with it now. Hopefully.]

Gohan was still thinking about Bulma's actions the rest of the day. It was just a thought that kept coming to his mind while he was outside, just watching the animals.

She felt responsible, and she had a good reason to. If she had destroyed the Android blueprints, none of this would have had to happen in the first place. Maestro wouldn't have found them. And if he was really doing something with them…who knew what he would be capable of? Although the boy was only 16, like him. Gohan couldn't imagine himself trying to take over the world, or something, even though he could.

Sometimes he had stupid thoughts like that. I could take over the world if I wanted to. Perhaps, if it were anyone else, they would be sorely tempted. But for him…Gohan liked the world the way it was. And he wasn't sure he could trust himself enough to do an adequate job. He had failed so many times, what if he failed with ruling the world?

I really need to start trusting myself, he thought. But that never seemed to happen. The doubts and uncertainties always clouded his actions. It was just so hard to imagine that he was competent in the first place. In a way, it was almost easier to imagine the worst-case scenarios. That way, if he did something wrong, he would be prepared for it.

A group of pterodactyls flew by, heading towards their nests.

It wasn't like they needed his own continual existence to keep on living. No matter how powerful Gohan was, whether he lived or died wouldn't make a difference to them.

Gohan suddenly snapped out of his tangent. Of course that's not the case! He realised. I'm not some sort of god. Even Dende…the world would continue without him, too. We just wouldn't have Dragon Balls.

He shook his head, absentmindedly. It's not like I'm the centre of the universe. No one is, really…except perhaps Dad.

He stood up, and took to the air to go back home.

The next morning, Gohan woke up a bit earlier than usual. He went down to the kitchen to get something to eat, only to be surprised to see his father.

"Dad?" It was still a bit early in the morning. He was surprised someone else was awake. Gohan had a nasty habit of being an early riser. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, hi, Gohan," Goku replied. "I just woke up. I was just gonna go train."

For Gohan, hearing his father mentioning that he was going to go train was just like hearing him say, "I'm going to go to work." His friends kept mentioning how strange that was. Everyone else had a father who at least had an occupation.

But, then again, everyone else at school had a father who was human.

"Then…can I come with you?"

Goku frowned. "You wanna train with me?" He knew this wasn't a common occurrence. For the 2 months since he had been back, Gohan had only trained with him a few times. The usual excuse had been that he had been busy with homework. Which was true, Gohan thought.

"Sure," Gohan replied. "Why not?"

He was just in the mood for it. There were times where he didn't want to fight at all, but today…he just felt like it. And training with his father was the best way. He wasn't worried if he hurt him. It wasn't like with Goten, where training was more of a teaching exercise. Goku was older, and still much more experienced, even if Gohan outclassed him in strength now.

Even back when he used to be alive, Gohan always treasured those training sessions. They may have been difficult, but they were often the closest times he ever shared with his father, once he was old enough to fend for himself.

As usual, they started off in their base forms. Years ago, it used to be a warm up before they went Super Saiyan. Of course, Gohan didn't need to go Super Saiyan anymore, but he still consciously held back to try and keep up with his father's blows. Despite this, Gohan needed to pay full attention. His father's fighting style seemed a little different to how it was before he died. Perhaps he had improved in the afterlife, changed his techniques slightly to suit his dead body. And even Gohan had changed. He hadn't thought about it before, but he knew he had grown a lot in the past 7 years. He was no longer the child that barely reached his father's chin. He was as tall as him now, and that almost took him by surprise.

Perhaps it was because he hadn't done something like this in a long while, but Gohan's mind was occupied with something else.

When he started getting tired out, they decided to take a break. And, in that brief period of silence, Gohan decided to ask his father something that had been bugging him.

"Dad?" he asked.

Goku looked up, surprised. "Huh?"

Gohan flew up to one of the cliffs, sitting down with his feet dangling over the edge. Goku followed him, a little confused.

"Dad…do you feel guilty?"

Goku scratched his head. "Guilty? What do you mean?"

"Do you feel guilty for staying alive? I mean, I remember why you decided to stay dead…"

"Oh!" Goku seemed to understand. But, in typical Goku fashion, he didn't seem sure on how to answer.

They stayed silent for a long while.

Finally, his father spoke up.

"I guess I do," he answered. "A little. If I was still dead, the Earth wouldn't be in danger. But now….I don't have a choice, do I?"

"You mean, you would want to stay dead? If you had a choice?"

Goku shrugged. "Being dead sure makes it easier to train. I know I wouldn't have reached Super Saiyan 3 if I was alive."

"Oh."

Perhaps Gohan's expression had revealed too much, as Goku started to backpedal.

"I wouldn't want to die again, though!" he exclaimed. "I missed you all in the Otherworld."

Gohan blinked in surprise. For some reason, he wasn't expecting his father to say that.

"Even…even if that means the world could be in danger?" Gohan pressed, curious. "Wouldn't you be responsible for that?"

"I dunno," Goku ran his fingers through his wild, tangled hair. "I guess you could say it's…selfish? But…I wouldn't want to die. I don't want to die. I like being here, even if that means something could show up."

And that was the end of that.

Gohan smiled. His father really hadn't changed at all the past 7 years. Trying to talk to him about a serious topic…Goku would always come up with an easy answer. Or he'd simply say "I don't know." He wasn't the best in giving complicated solutions.

Sometimes, that was for the best.

"I was just thinking about it," mused Gohan, not minding whether his father was listening or not.

"Bulma was talking a lot about responsibility. Did you know she kept the blueprints for the Androids?"

"Really?" Goku was surprised. "What for?"

Gohan shrugged. "I dunno. But, either way, they got stolen, and now Bulma's really upset, and she's working really hard to try and find the person who stole them."

"Androids wouldn't be a threat, though," said Goku, dismissively. "I bet even the kids could take them on."

That's just what Vegeta said, Gohan thought.

"It's just…I was thinking about responsibility. Bulma's feeling responsible, you can be responsible, I guess I'm responsible…we have this power, and we could do anything with it. We could take over the world, or the universe, or something."

Goku frowned. "Take over the universe? We could do that, but…I wouldn't want to. Kami taught me that being a ruler is really boring. You don't get to fight when you rule."

Gohan nodded. "That's true," he agreed. "And anyway, we didn't get stronger so we could rule others. We did it so we could keep peace."

"…although," Gohan continued, suddenly understanding. "Is that also ruling others? I mean, what if people didn't want peace, and we were forcing it on them? Even the fact that evil seems to be attracted to you…it's like, because we're powerful, responsibility gets handed to us, and we still end up influencing others. The world would be very different if we weren't around."

"It would probably be destroyed," said Goku simply.

"Yeah, it would be," agreed Gohan. "But…is it our power that attracts that sort of influence? Or is it the fact that we're trying to keep peace…does that make us more powerful? Power is more than just a number measured by those old scouters, right? Namek taught me that, more than anything."

As Gohan turned around, he noticed his father's blank stare.

"I don't know," answered Goku. "To be honest…I think you've gone beyond me, Gohan. I don't really know what you're saying."

Gohan sighed. "Don't worry, Dad. I don't really know what I'm saying, either."

Soon, the day ended, and it was time to start school for the next week.

As Gohan walked in through the front gates, his mood dropped. It would have to be another day without Videl. Unless she had decided to change her mind and not be mad at him today, but he was pretty sure that wouldn't be the case. She would have called him if that was true.

As usual, the other students' gazes always seemed to follow him as he walked past. They were always watching him. It was like they were expecting him to screw up, and they wanted to see it first-hand when it happened. Or maybe…perhaps Sharpener was right. Perhaps it was because they were afraid of him. They always tried to avoid his gaze. When he looked at them, they quickly broke their stares and started occupying themselves with something else. But their faces didn't look like the faces of fear.

There was something else, some reason that made them want to examine him, but Gohan just couldn't work out what it was.

Human emotions were so complex!

If everyone in the world was like my father, Gohan thought, things would be a lot easier.

"Hey, Gohan!"

A voice interrupted his inner monologue. Sharpener stood in front of him, waving.

"So, Videl's still not talking to you, eh?" asked Sharpener, as they started walking together through the hallways.

"I don't think so," Gohan sighed. "I would normally wait by her locker, but she's not there. Do you think she's avoiding me?"

Sharpener frowned. "Probably."

"How long is this going to last?" Gohan asked, desperately. "It's really lonely without her with us."

"I've got no idea," replied Sharpener, rolling his eyes. "Girls just do that."

Gohan started to open his locker, grabbing the books he would need that morning. Sharpener simply stood, watching him.

And then the two boys heard a high, female voice behind them. "Hey, guys! I was wondering where you were!"

They turned around, and realised it was Erasa, smiling.

Her presence confused Gohan. "Shouldn't you be with Videl?" he asked.

Erasa shrugged. "No one said I wasn't allowed to talk to both of you."

That cheered him up.

"So, what did you guys do on the weekend?" asked Erasa, eager to get a conversation going.

Sharpener shrugged. "Did some training at the gym. Helped out in the house. The usual."

Erasa turned to Gohan. "What about you? How was the weekend without Videl?"

"It was alright," answered Gohan honestly. "I was helping Bulma on Saturday, and that was quite fun."

"Ooh!" exclaimed Erasa. "What kind of help?"

His friends' eyes turned to him eagerly. It was like they were expecting something exciting from him. And while he didn't fight any criminals, he had still enjoyed his role that weekend.

Gohan smiled. "It was really cool, actually. I was sort of being a detective. There was this person who Bulma wanted to find, and she needed some stuff, so I snuck into their room without them noticing."

"…that actually is really cool," Sharpener admitted. "What did the guy do that made you need to find him?"

He stole the blueprints for the Androids, he thought. But something made Gohan pause from saying it out loud. Bulma didn't want this information to be spread around, and his friends…Gohan didn't trust them as much as Videl did. What if they accidentally let something slip?

Then they heard a sharp voice from across the hallway.

"Erasa! What are you doing?"

It was Videl, standing at the end of the hall with her hands on her hips.

Videl…?

Gohan turned to her. Had she finally stopped ignoring him?

Their eyes caught for just a glimpse…

…before Videl suddenly turned away. She seemed desperate to avoid his eye contact.

So much for that. It seemed like the weekend hadn't resolved any tension.

Erasa sighed. "I'd better go. I don't want to be seen as…what would you call it?"

"Fraternising with the enemy?" Gohan suggested.

Erasa giggled. "Yeah, that's it! You sure know what to say, Gohan. I'll see you guys soon!"

And she ran off.

Now he was alone with Sharpener again, and their conversation had dried up. Feelings of anxiety clawed at his stomach. Now that Videl was gone, and Erasa was gone…What if Sharpener doesn't like me? I don't want him to not be friends with anyone else, just because of me. Gohan was responsible for too much as it is.

They continued walking for a while, before Gohan decided to finally take control and say it.

"You know, Sharpener," Gohan started.

Sharpener turned to face him. "What?"

"You don't have to keep hanging out with me, if you don't want to."

His friend frowned. "Why wouldn't I want to?"

"Oh, it's just…" Gohan stammered. "If you wanted to hang out with someone else…some of them don't seem to like me, so if you wanted to be friends with them, maybe…"

Sharpener seemed to understand. Gohan was expecting he would consider it, but Sharpener just laughed it off.

"It's fine, I like hanging out with you!" he said, casually.

"And, besides," he added, his voice dropping to almost a whisper. "They wouldn't let me back."

Huh? "What do you mean, 'let me back'?"

But then their conversation was interrupted by the school bell.

Sharpener grinned eagerly. "Saved by the bell," he said, hurriedly. "Well, I've got to go! Seeya!"

And as he bounded off, he remarked, "Try not to beat anyone up!"

Gohan just stopped, staring at Sharpener's back.

"I wasn't going to," he replied softly.

He knew Sharpener intended it as a joke, but…Gohan still didn't like it.

And so, the day passed as usual. Gohan stood next to Sharpener, now starting to get used to Videl's absence. Sharpener was confident that this would sort itself out, and Erasa seemed hopeful, too.

"I was talking to her all last night," she told them at lunch, once they were out of earshot of Videl. "Like, I know she's upset, but I don't think she's upset at you. She's mad at herself."

Gohan shook his head. "But this isn't her fault."

"I think she's trying to blame herself, though," Erasa replied, staring at Videl sadly. "She's trying to say that it's her fault for trying to work out who you were in the first place."

"Right," said Sharpener, understanding. "If she didn't care about trying to stalk you, then she wouldn't have known who you were. And she wouldn't know about the whole…alien thing."

Gohan frowned. That seemed wrong. Sure, Videl may have poked her nose into their business, but…if they were playing the blame game here, it was his fault most of all.

Videl, Bulma…why did it seem like everyone's problems always linked back to them?

That night, while everyone was having dinner, the phone rang.

"Who would that be?" Goku frowned, abruptly stopping his meal. "Is it something important?"

Chi-Chi picked it up, and, after a few seconds, smiled and gave it to Gohan.

"It's Bulma again," she explained. "What are you doing, anyway?"

Looking for Androids, Gohan thought. But he didn't say it out loud. He just picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Gohan." Bulma sounded a little stressed. "There's some bad news on the Maestro situation."

That wasn't good. "What's happening?"

"Well, I went through the book, ringing up the phone numbers. Those that answered told me that they hadn't seen Maestro for a few months, and…there were a couple of people that didn't answer at all. And I rang multiple times!"

Things were getting serious. "We can't jump to conclusions, though, can we?"

"No, of course not," replied Bulma.

She continued. "Anyway, after that, I decided to visit the addresses of the people who didn't pick up. Today I just went to one of them– which seemed to be occupied by two of his friends - and they weren't there. I asked one of the people in the unit, and they said they had left about a week ago."

"There weren't any clues as to where they had gone?"

"Not unless I snuck in. But, let's be honest. If Maestro didn't give any indication as to where he went, why would his friends?"

"So you think they went with Maestro."

"That's what my gut is telling me. It's too much of a coincidence."

Then she sighed. "And the second problem is…there's one last person in the book who I haven't been able to contact. I've got a name, and a phone number, but not an address. Where the address should normally be, there's just a comment that says 'Moves around a lot'."

"That's not very helpful."

Now that he thought about it, Gohan did remember reading that. He wasn't concerned about it at the time, but if they needed to find this person…

"So…Gohan?" asked Bulma.

She stayed quiet for a while, before finally saying, "We might need the police's help for this."

Gohan was worried it would come to that. "What should we do? Tell them that Maestro's gone missing?"

"I…don't know," she replied, sounding surprisingly apprehensive. Once this conversation was over, Bulma would go straight for a cigarette, Gohan knew.

"The easiest way to find this person's address is to get the police files on them. It would just be easier if the authorities didn't know the details. I don't want to steal them. I just wish…I wish we had a mole there. Someone on our side, who could get the information without alerting the others. You don't know anyone like that, do you? That's why I called."

"No," he replied. "I don't know any police officers. Well…except one,"

Then he remembered Bayonet. He seemed like a nice guy. He knew Videl. And he knew that he was the Great Saiyaman, and didn't have a problem with it.

"Actually…" Gohan had an idea. "Maybe we could have a mole."

[AN: Do you guys want a writing challenge? Try to write a scene with Goku whilst still making it subtle. It's really, really difficult.]