1) Skip the first scene if the Piccolo/Gohan-ish aspect of this story isn't for you

2) After writing Trolling Vegeta, Goku is forever a troll in my eyes. I'm sorry if this translates to OOC in this story.

Chapter 12- Night

Gohan couldn't sleep. Their six months was already up. Tomorrow was the day they had all been preparing for. Between his dread toward Piccolo's death and his excitement about his father's return, his mind was far too busy to make time for sleep. He wanted to be in tiptop shape for tomorrow, but his thoughts still refused to slow down.

It became apparent that Piccolo was having similar issues when he invited Gohan to join him at their desert training ground. Gohan wrote a note explaining his absence, which he left on his pillow, in case his mother woke to find him missing and worried herself sick.

He arrived minutes later, not wanting to waste any time. Currently they were both very aware that these may be their final hours of peace and privacy in each other's company.

'My son is sleeping up on the Lookout.' Piccolo answered Gohan's half formed question.

He nodded and they stood shoulder to shoulder, staring up at the night sky. Of all the planets this thing could have happened upon, it had to be Earth. Again…

"Piccolo," he said quietly, not knowing what else to say. But that was fine when they had other paths for communication.

Piccolo put a hand on Gohan's shoulder in an attempt to console him in a way he was familiar with. Gohan shuffled closer until their sides were touching, and let down all of his mental barriers, every single one. Out poured his guilt about the Cell incident (that had been dampened by time), his survival urges, battling feelings of joy and melancholy, and much more that could not easily be pinpointed or explained with words.

Piccolo started slightly at the weight of Gohan's emotions, and the instincts that were whirling around, making his chest tight, should he…?

The pressing emotions died down a little as Gohan seemed to realise what he had done, and erected his basic barriers again. 'That is what I was referring to.' Piccolo stated. He felt a little unbalanced by the outburst. He put his hand on the back of Gohan's head and pulled him into an unpractised hug.

'That was the goal of all the mind connection exercises?' Gohan sought clarity, though he thought he knew the answer to his question already.

'Yes, that is intimacy to a Namek.' He answered as he felt one of Gohan's hands on his back. The other reached up and rested on his weighted shoulder pads.

Gohan seemed amused by this. 'So I haven't scarred you for life and sent you running in the opposite direction yet?' He asked, slowly leaning closer. He went slowly in case Piccolo started displaying signs of discomfort.

'Well, when you have the emotion to go with your feelings, it begins to make sense.'

'Good, because that didn't really make any at all,' Gohan replied, standing on his toes so they were the same height. Even after his many growth spurts, he still couldn't see Piccolo eye to eye.

He placed his hand on Piccolo's jaw, noting the strange texture of his skin in a way he never had a chance to before now. After ensuring Piccolo was still comfortable with things in every way he could, he pressed his mouth against the corner of his… mentor's? friend's? He still couldn't think of an appropriate term, but thought it didn't really matter right now.

Piccolo tightened his grip on the back of Gohan's head in surprise, tugging on his hair a little. 'Wh-what are you…?' His thoughts were muddled. He came to understand again when Gohan opened his mind up as completely as he had before.

'You know I can't do that for you.' He stated as Gohan pressed closer and shifted so the kiss was fully on his mouth.

'Yeah, I know…' He thought in response as they parted, placing his head on Piccolo's chest. 'I'm sorry, I just had to…'

'You don't have to apologise, dolt.' His callous reply was contrasted by the gentle way he ran his fingers through the younger's hair. He breathed out through his nose irritably when Gohan's hair somehow found its way into his left nostril.

Gohan laughed at this, finding it much more hilarious than he would normally. Not only was he taller, but his hair was longer than it had been all those months ago, when they had hugged in the kitchen. Now that it was slightly longer, all but one clump of hair insisted on standing vertically at all times. Perhaps it had something to do with the Saiyan hormones racing around his body when he transformed.

"Guess I'll try to get some sleep. I'll see you at the tournament, ok?" He muttered as they parted.

'Of course,' Piccolo answered, watching him fly away. He even went in the correct direction this time.

Chi-Chi held Goten's hand, much to his embarrassment, and stood on her toes. She was searching for her husband, but it was difficult to see past her older son and Piccolo. "Can you sense him? I don't know his Ki well enough..." She asked anyone who was listening.

"No… Wait! I think he just came back!" Gohan replied, now also standing on his toes to try and see him. Not that it would be that hard for him to find them; their group had always stuck out like a medley of sore thumbs.

Finally the familiar orange clad figure became visible in the crowd and waved to them. The group had congregated at a relatively quiet place, so they would have some space of their own. "Hi everyone!" he called as he approached, oblivious to people staring at his halo as he passed.

Chi-Chi was the first to latch on to him. In her excitement she didn't even notice that Goten had stayed behind. "Goku!" she cried, pressing her face into his neck. He was taken aback by this because usually Chi-Chi considered public displays of affection to be inappropriate and embarrassing. He smiled and wrapped his arms around her waist, his thoughts not lingering on it.

Gohan gave them a few moments, but was soon running up to his parents and hugging them both around the shoulders. Unanimously they turned to look at Goten, who was standing near Piccolo as if unsure as to what was going on. He came when Chi-Chi beckoned and made a high-pitched noise of surprise when Goku picked him up under the arms.

"You're Goten, right? I'm your dad, nice to meet you!" Goten looked a little unsure, but their resemblance was undeniable. Still, he only had a vague idea of what a dad was, and already he could see that his was nothing like Vegeta.

Goku brought him close for a hug and ruffled his hair. An uncharacteristic look of sadness passed over his eyes, but he was soon back to his normal, cheery self. "Sorry I haven't been around for you, but I'm glad you're all safe." He said, putting Goten down.

Gohan wasn't sure what to say to that, so simply replied, "You better go sign up over there, it's closing soon."

"Oh, right!" he nodded and made his way past Vegeta and Bulma.

"Son, I can't believe it!" Bulma called and gave him a quick and graceful hug. He looked slightly perturbed by this, but smiled good-naturedly anyway.

"What's wrong Bulma? Not going to complain about my hygiene?" He asked as she tried to compose herself again.

"Bad hygiene or no, I'm glad you're here." She smoothed her dress and kept glancing over to the children.

"Relax woman, surely there isn't anything that's a match for Saiyans anymore." Vegeta's tone was hard, but Bulma stopped fidgeting at his words. "I hope you're ready Kakarrot, as soon as we're done with the monster, you're next."

"Hmm, I'm sure I've heard that one before…" He frowned as though sincerely trying to remember if he had. As he thought, his eyes wandered over the kids and he spotted Trunks. "Trunks, look at how little you are!" He said, kneeling next to him.

Trunks seemed to puff up with indignation. "I am not little. I'm nearly seven, you know!"

"I guess it runs in the family!" He laughed. He, perhaps deliberately, touched on a sore point for Vegeta, who scowled and became tense.

Bulma placed a hand on his arm, "Save it." He turned his scowl upon her, but simply shifted his folded his arms.

"Stop picking on the vertically challenged and go sign up already!" Krillin reprimanded and whacked him over the head playfully. If Goku had been standing up, he wouldn't have been able to reach.

"You can grow hair?" He asked, suddenly mystified by this new distraction.

"Of course!" he exclaimed. "I've always had eyebrows!"

"Hurry up!" Chi-Chi interjected, "They're closing the sign up booth!"

He immediately jumped up and ran over, apologising to the coordinator and pretty much begging them to wait another minute.

"How do you do it, Mum?" Gohan asked, smiling at Goku's immediate response. Chi-Chi didn't answer, but just smiled a little wider herself.

"It's all in the timing and tone," Videl spoke up as she approached, glancing around the strange group in confusion.

"Hi!" Goten said loudly and waved at her with both arms.

"Hi…" She replied, trying to make her face as blank as possible. She didn't want to seem rude around Gohan's family and friends, but they were all so weird. It was hard not to stare.

"Would all contestants for the adult division please make their way to the red area. Those participating in the children's division, please assemble in the main ring." A voice made itself heard over the PA.

"Let's go guys!" Goku called enthusiastically.

"Who's that?" Videl asked. "What's with the halo?"

"That's Dad, he's dead." Goten put in before anyone could stop him.

"W-what?" she spluttered.

"Um, what he means is, um, he's come back for the weekend! It's like he's back from the dead!" He ruffled Goten's hair a little more roughly than needed, completing the unconvincing lie.

Videl's eyes narrowed. "Um, right…"

Piccolo snorted in amusement as he began walking to the so called red area. "Yes Gohan, I don't know how she sees through you either."

He coughed and pushed the sunglasses up his nose; a little worried he would be recognised. But it didn't matter so much if he was found out anymore. They had bigger problems today.

"Anyway, that's not important. Have you seen anyone suspicious?" He asked. The group split into two. The kids and people not competing went one way and everyone else followed Goku's lead. Gohan noticed Bulma kiss Vegeta's cheek before she left, which made him blush and turn away sharply.

"Apart from you guys, I haven't seen any unusual or unknown competitors. I guess we'll have an easier time finding anyone like that in the finals." She replied.

"The people not fighting need to keep their Ki senses open as much as possible. We know it happens at the same time as the tournament, not that this thing is here." Piccolo reminded everyone as they moved.

"Especially you," 18 said, touching Krillin's elbow. "You can see furthest and pinpoint the most reliably." He nodded, looking more anxious than ever. He looked over his shoulder to see Chi-Chi holding Marron's hand as the other group moved to drop off the boys and find seats. "She'll be fine. You told me they've all been through this kind of thing before. And Bulma has the Dragon Balls in a capsule."

"I know, I know, but back then we were actually able to keep up with the baddies." He said miserably. "Humans and magic, fine. Aliens and robots, not so much…"

"Just don't go picking up any more 'chicks' in the middle of battle or I'll be the one to finish you!" She said, lightly punching him on the arm. It still made him stagger sideways a little.

"I can't make any promises; you know how much of a chick magnet I am." He answered, but his heart wasn't really in it. 18 was trying to calm him down so he could focus, but he already had the wrong mentality.

Everyone's anxiety grew as they spent half the day waiting in line to punch a silly machine. Some of the group were growing bored from waiting, whilst others were exhausting themselves with worry.

Finally they came face to face with some competitors who were both unknown and seemed to be suspicious. They looked ill, as if their strength came from something ultimately harmful, such as steroids, and each had an M painted on his forehead.

"I recognise their names, but their faces don't match." Videl commented as she adjusted her gloves. Her fight was with the larger one.

"Be careful, I mean it. Pull out if he does something unusual, they might have been made to fight us." He didn't say she wouldn't stand a chance if that was the case. It would only make her angry.

"I know," she nodded, but did not end up heeding his warning. She was brutally defeated to the point Gohan was about to step in as a Super Saiyan. This was soon resolved by a senzu bean.

"I still can't believe people like you exist." Videl said as she sat on the hospital bed and swung her legs impatiently.

He simply laughed sheepishly and turned to leave. "Well, my match is coming up soon. Stay safe." But his progress was impeded by none other than Mr Satan. He was trying his best to look large and intimidating, but Gohan could see the man would be lucky to be able to match up with Roshi.

"Who are you?" He demanded. "If you want to take my Videl on a date, you have to be able to defeat me first!"

Gohan blushed and swiftly stepped around him. "Later… We're in the middle of a tournament right now." He replied, more worried about the day ahead. He would need to save his strength from now on.

Mr Satan spluttered incoherently as Gohan continued to walk away. He did his fake laugh before stating, "Kids, eh? He thinks he can beat someone like me!"

'Gohan, you need to come here right now.' Piccolo's thoughts suddenly overrode his own.

'What's wrong?' He asked, panicking. He wasn't supposed to leave Piccolo's side today! He jumped up and flew over everyone's heads, somehow successfully navigating the winding corridors at breakneck speed.

'I'm not in danger,' he clarified, 'but we know what's going on now. We need to use you as bait so we can find out where this thing and its master are hiding.'

'Bait?' he frowned, 'What do they want with me?' He figuratively slammed his brakes on and came to a sudden halt in the finalist's area, nearly slamming into Piccolo in the process.

"What do you think they want?" At his blank look he sighed and continued. "It's your masses of energy, your Ki. They're trying to revive some monster, but to do so they need to feed it energy."

"It is not just some monster, it is Majin Buu! It was nearly impossible for us to seal him away last time." A short, purple man added.

Gohan frowned, wondering who he was. It sounded like he'd lived for a long time, but he still looked young, and as far as he could tell his power level wasn't very impressive.

The short man suddenly smiled and shook his head. "I am known as Kaio-shin. Yes I am still young, but I will probably live longer than you can fathom. As you can probably guess, I have powers unlike your commendable amount of Ki."

Gohan's frown deepened and he grabbed the sides of his head as though expecting to physically feel the god's presence. He certainly couldn't mentally feel anything unusual, and yet he seemed to be able to see through both natural and purposeful barriers.

"As a god I can use a different method to you. Do not worry yourself." He looked to the tall, red man standing beside him. "I believe the next match involves you and Kibito. Just power up as you did before and we should be able to lay chase to Buu's location."

Gohan was not the one who had a problem with this plan, surprisingly it was Vegeta. "I knew being in a match with this moron straight up was too good to be true."

"We can fight after we've dealt with this thing." Goku replied from his position on the floor. He was massaging around his knee, frowning every time the patella shifted. "I didn't know it could do that." He said, poking it again.

"I don't think it's supposed to at your age. But you are dead, so who knows…" Gohan added, right before he was called to fight next.

"I'm sure your time will be up before we get a chance to fight properly." Vegeta replied offhandedly as Gohan walked up to the ring.

"Well, aren't you glad you never got that wish for immortality?" He answered and then jumped to his feet. "I sure am!"

Vegeta sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose before becoming serious again and readying himself for what was about to happen.

Hope you liked it, I enjoyed writing it. I would love to hear what you think about the story's direction, characterisation and my writing in general. It's great to know people are reading, but this radio silence is making me a bit self-conscious, hehe…

(Except of course from Serenity Lhane, as always you are very welcome!)

Next update... no clue, probably towards the end of March.