Chapter 3: Break-in


Birds chirped and Cicadas buzzed. A shaft of sunlight shone down on the peaceful Son residence.

"I CAN'T STAND IT!"

Everything within a mile was startled into silence.

Chichi chewed on a handkerchief angrily as her father tried his best to calm her. "My husband is dead! My son is gone; taken by some green monster! I have NO idea where he is and, worst of all, he's not studying!"

"But Chichi, didn't you make that deal with-"

"I know! But Goku's not here to train him. So, now's the perfect time to have Gohan hit the books AND HE'S NOT EVEN HERE!"

She teared up, dabbing at her eyes with the handkerchief, then fell into her father's arms. "Oh, daddy, I miss him so much!" she cried. Ox pat her back tenderly.

Gohan swallowed, brow furrowed in indecision. He stood at the edge of the woods, shaded from the sun, looking through the window of his home. The trunk of a tree kept him well-hidden. Leaves rustled in the gentle wind, completely unsympathetic to his mental struggle.

"What should I do?" he asked himself. "Mom seems so sad. If I went in she'd be really happy… but she might not let me leave. I can't spend all my time studying! I have to be strong! I have to help fight the Saiyans. Everyone needs me."

His heart wrenched as he watched his mother sob. Chewing guiltily on his thumb, he came to a decision. "I can't go back yet. I'm sorry, mom. I'm so sorry."

He retreated deeper into the forest before taking to the air. He didn't feel like returning to the lookout quite yet. Instead, he explored. He met a bunch of interesting animals as he flew over the mountains. Pterodactyls and giant birds raced through the air with him for a while, though they left when they realized they couldn't keep up with him. It was then that he spotted the shapes on the horizon.

"A city? I didn't know there were any over here." He flew high overhead as more buildings came into view. They were arranged in neat rows along the streets. Raised highways crisscrossed the city-scape in curved lines. He could see hundreds of little cars on the roads, like ants marching in a line.

"Everyone looks so small!" he giggled. He descended into an open, green area with lots of people running around. A couple sitting on a bench jumped in surprise as the young boy fell from the sky. The woman shuffled towards him as quickly as her skirt would allow.

"Oh, my word! Are you okay!" she yelped in panic. Gohan tilted his head curiously as she fussed over him, patting and poking at him gently in her search for injuries.

"Are you looking for something, Ma'am?" he asked.

"Does it hurt anywhere? Maybe you should have a seat, dear."

The man stood a bit away, looking around uncertainly. "Maybe I should go get some help?"

The woman nodded, "That's a good idea. I'm not a nurse or anything."

"Um… that's not really necessary!" Gohan interrupted. "Really, I feel fine." He gave his best reassuring smile, though it was a little lacking. He looked around, taking in the trees and grass, before his eyes landed on a playground. A dozen or so kids were running about, swinging and climbing on jungle gyms. Gohan smiled. "I'm just gonna go over there," he announced. Before they knew it he had zipped off.

"That's a fast kid," the man noted, somewhat nonplussed. He looked at his companion. "I guess he's fine, huh?"

She shrugged breathlessly.

Gohan spent some time playing with the other kids. Unfortunately, he faced unexpected… difficulties. Nobody could catch him during tag. Ki sense allowed him to easily find other players in Hide and Seek. He won every race. He shattered a baseball and the bat at the same time. The children eventually decided to exclude him from their games. He left the park with hunched shoulders.

"I never realized how strong I already am," he brooded. "I always thought I was too weak, but compared to normal people…"

He slapped his cheeks, looking up at the sky. It was much clearer here, barely a cloud in sight. The sun shone down cheerily, and Gohan tried his best to match it with a grin. "It's such a nice day! I'm sure I'll find something fun to do!"

He came to a stop at the street, staring at the feats of construction before him. "Oh, wow! They look so much bigger from down here! They're all bigger than my house!"

Buildings were lined up along each street and cars buzzed past him. He took a step into the street but scrambled back when another car came within a few inches of him. He looked back and forth, wondering how he was supposed to cross it. "I know! I'll just jump over!"

A quick leap and some surprised pedestrians later, he continued his exploration. As he walked down the street, he greeted people cheerily and peeked into display windows, curious about what was inside. He saw a bunch of different buildings, some of them short and some really tall. Some made of wood and some brick.

Close to the center of the town, he found a big building that was all alone on its block. It looked fancy and had a wide staircase leading up to the entrance. A plaque on the roof labeled it 'Orange Star City Hall'.

"So this is Orange Star City, huh? Never heard of it."

"Hey, kid! What are you doing here all alone?" a gruff voice said. Gohan searched for its owner, eyes landing on a big man dressed in blue. He had a funny hat and a bushy brown mustache. A heavy looking belt hung around his waist and he had bits of metal on his shirt.

"I'm exploring!" Gohan said, craning his neck up at the man.

"All by yourself? Where are your parents?"

"Ah, um… they're not here…" Gohan mumbled, sad at the reminder of his separation from both parents.

The man knelt and ruffled Gohan's hair. "Do you know where you live, son?"

Gohan nodded.

"Good. Let's see about-" He was interrupted by a noise from a box on his shirt.

"Attention all officers. Break-in at the research facility in District 3. Suspects armed and dangerous. All available units please respond," the box rattled in the voice of a woman. The officer sighed and took a quick look around, then nodded to himself.

"Alright, kid, you see that man in the white shirt over near the big building?" Gohan nodded. "He's a security guard friend of mine. Tell him Officer Bale asked him to look after you. Once I'm done with this call, I'll come see about getting you home, alright?"

"Where are you going Mr. Officer?"

Bale chuckled into his hand. "Mr. officer…" he whispered under his breath, shoulders shaking with mirth. He calmed himself, but couldn't control a smile. "I'm gonna go fight some bad guys!" he announced, taking a heroic pose.

Gohan gasped and jumped up and down excitedly. "Can I come? I can fight bad guys, too!"

"Haha! I'm sure you can, kid! But let's just leave this to the adults, okay?"

Gohan frowned. Yamcha had said the same thing, and it kind of irritated him. He nodded reluctantly, and Bale got in his car; driving off with sirens blaring. "This isn't fair! I can take on a bunch of normal people any day!" he complained. He watched the car turn a corner, then looked over at the security guard that Bale had pointed out. He shook his head, "I'm going anyway!"

He took to the air, once again startling everyone nearby. Hovering well above the rooftops and ignoring the shouts of alarm from below, he located Bale's cruiser and followed. "This sure is slow. I wish I knew where we were going! I could be there by now, if I did."

Eventually, they entered a district with large warehouses. Loud bangs filled the air, audible in the distance. Gohan decided to go straight to the source, rather than wait for Bale to get there. Aura surrounded him as he took off. He arrived at a large square building made of white stone. It had big glass windows in the front. Much of the ground floor held large and complicated machinery in display cases. Shattered glass littered the ground and bullets peppered the air. Police vehicles were arranged in a semi-circle around the front of the building, with a number of officers using them for cover.

A closer look showed people in the building peeking out occasionally from behind stone pillars and opening fire on the police. Gohan's eyes hardened. "What do they think they're doing!?" he thought indignantly. "Somebody could get hurt!" His eyes narrowed. "I won't let that happen."


Officer Bale arrived at the scene, pulling his car up near the blockade. He got out quickly and took cover at the side of his car, drawing his gun and looking for someone to inform him of the situation.

"Hey, Bale, that's not necessary!" another officer called out to him. Bale carefully poked his head above the car's hood. He looked around, noticing the relaxed atmosphere. There were seven people lying on their stomachs just outside the building with their hands cuffed behind their backs. Policemen milled around, keeping watch on the criminals, while others spoke to each other in hushed voices.

"You can come out from around the car! Situations mostly taken care of!" the other officer, Cuff, called out. Bale holstered his gun and approached his coworker. Cuff was rather scrawny with thin cheeks and light brown hair.

"What do you mean 'mostly'?" Bale asked. "Is that not all of them?" He pointed to the prone criminals.

Officer Cuff shrugged, "Apparently, there's one more further down." He grinned, then started gesturing wildly, "But that's not the interesting part! You see those guys? We didn't take them down. It was the strangest thing. All the sudden, there were a bunch of orange flashes and they just started falling down, unconscious. Some o' the guys swear it was a little kid in orange, but I think they're just trying to pull one over on me."

Bale gaped, wide-eyed. "Orange?" he mouthed silently, brow furrowed.

"We sent some guys down to get the last one, so the situation should be wrapped up pretty quick. Can't help but wonder what these guys were after anyway, right? Not like this place has a lot of money stored up. I guess some of the equipment is expensive, but that stuff is heavy as all hell… too heavy to move… flat-bed, maybe..." Cuff rambled on. Bale wasn't paying much attention.

"A kid in orange? Didn't I just meet a kid like that?"


Gohan peeked around the corner. It was well lit with a green-tiled floor and white walls. Some of the tiles were shattered in a consistent manner, like footsteps, but what could be that heavy? He continued on, descending the stairs to a lower floor. The destruction was more apparent here. Some of the walls were knocked through, revealing destroyed rooms. The trail of destruction led down another two levels before Gohan heard crashing, rummaging, and the sound of a siren peeling at regular intervals.

Following the sound, he happened across a huge metal door lying on the ground. "Someone tore this off its hinges? Or maybe they used explosives? ...That makes more sense." After all, no normal human could do the former, so it must be the latter, right?

He headed towards the doorless doorway and the sounds of rummaging grew louder. Stepping into the room, he took stock of the situation. A red light near the ceiling flashed intermittently, the siren singing in time with it. A number of computers and desks were gathered in a heap against a wall, most of them broken. There was a truck-sized machine on the far side and a giant man fiddled with its controls. He didn't notice Gohan's presence, likely due to his focus and the loud siren making it hard to hear anything else.

As Gohan watched, the man shouted in triumph; a compartment in the machine opening and emitting a glowing blue cylinder.

Gohan frowned, eyes narrowed. "Hey! You put that back, thief!"

The man turned around, revealing his huge gut and three chins. He wore a sleeveless white shirt that didn't completely cover his enormous belly. His arms were covered in tattoos like graffiti; left arm sporting a red band. His dirty blonde hair was cut close and messy. His nose and cheeks were red and he held a bottle in one hand.

"Huh? Wa'ssa li'l brat doin' here?" He brought a hand up to his mouth, then seemed to realize it wasn't the one holding the bottle and brought up the other one, taking a swig. He wiped his mouth on his arm, then noticed the blue cylinder in his hand and placed it in a duffel bag at his feet. From the blue glow the bag emitted, it was likely there were more in there.

He took a moment, looking in the bag, "Yep, all done here." He swung the bag up on his shoulder. "Gotta get this ta the doc."

Gohan frowned at being ignored. "Hey, fatso! You're not leaving until you put that stuff back!"

The man turned bleary eyes on Gohan, then his face got even redder. "Ma name ain't Fatso! It's Paunch! Tha's BIG Paunch to you!" he roared, slapping his belly like a drum. He took three quick steps, shaking the ground with his great weight, then jumped. Gohan quickly dived out of the way and Paunch landed on his butt with a loud boom, sending tremors through the floor.

As the dust cleared, Paunch struggled to get out of the crater he had created. He growled, "When I get outta 'ere I'mma stomp ya flat!"

Gohan scowled, "I'd like to see you try!" He shot forward, aiming a kick at Paunch's head - carefully controlled of course! Gohan didn't want to kill him. Foot collided with face, then stopped dead. Gohan gasped and flipped back. "That didn't do any damage?! How is that possible?"

Gohan calmed himself. He had held back on that last kick. He'd just have to try again harder! Gohan jumped into the air and spun, driving his heel full-force into Paunch's jaw. The force was enough to dislodge him from the large butt-shaped crater. Gohan landed, watching his opponent warily.

He tensed as Paunch lumbered to his feet and cracked his neck. Paunch turned and grinned, "Hey, I ackshully felt that one! Lessee if you feel this!" he shouted. He stomped forward, surprisingly quick, and slammed a meaty palm down at Gohan. Gohan hopped out of the way as the hand demolished the tiles on the floor, leaving a distinct print. "Stay still, wouldja!"

Big Paunch started swinging wildly, trying to smash the quick boy. Walls were torn down, machinery destroyed, and tables and chairs were shattered.

Gohan was forced to keep dodging, bouncing around the confined space and occasionally getting in a blow to Paunch's stomach or legs. However, his gut just absorbed blows and the rest of him was hard as steel. "What do I do? I never expected he'd be so strong! And he can take everything I'm throwing at him!" He continued dodging as the fight led out of the room and near the staircase.

Then Gohan remembered Piccolo's lesson on weak points. "The joints, the eyes, groin, neck, and the solar plexus! If I can attack these, I may be able to win!" Filled with new determination, Gohan took advantage of one of the many openings that Paunch showed and darted in with a punishing kick to the knee. Paunch's knee let out a sharp metallic squeal, and the man screamed in pain. He collapsed to the floor, tears streaming and cradling his knee.

"Aaaahahahaaaaa!" he cried. "The paaainnn!" he sobbed loudly. "My knee! Ma poor li'l knee!"

Gohan stared slack-jawed as Paunch cried. "Oh no. I- I went too far. What should I do?" He inched closer, hands held out placatingly. "I have to take him to the hospital! I'm the only one strong enough to carry him!"

"Um, Mr. Paunch, sir? I'm really sorry I did that. Let me take you to the hospital," Gohan said, voice soft.

Paunch shook his head frantically, sending tears flying. "No! No no no no! I gotta get ta the doc! Only the doc can fix this!" he shouted.

Gohan tilted his head in confusion, "I know. They have doctors at the hospital. Just let me take you there, so we can get you fixed."

Paunch's moans died away and he nodded. Gohan lowered his arms and approached. However, just before he reached out to pick Paunch up, an over-sized fist shot out and back-handed Gohan; sending him up and through the ceiling. He crashed through three levels before bouncing off a wall and falling to the floor.

Gohan stood slowly, groaning in pain. "That's gonna bruise," he said, rubbing his chest. He looked up to find three people, dressed just like Bale, with guns trained on him.

"Hold fire. Just a kid," a woman with short red hair said.

Gohan smiled, rubbing his head. "Uh, hi there! My name's Gohan." The ground trembled faintly and Gohan remembered the situation. He addressed the woman, "Listen! You three need to get out of here! There's an incredibly powerful man downstairs and I think he's on his way up! You have to get out of the building before he makes it collapse."

The three gaped at him. The man to the right chuckled. "Look, why don't you go with Macey here," He gestured to the red-haired woman. "She'll take you back outside while we take care of this guy, alright?"

Gohan growled under his breath. Why did every adult act like this! He was already one of the strongest fighters on Earth. He was the son of the strongest and he was trained by the second.

"No! It's not okay!" The officers were taken aback. "We all have to leave, now! I know I'm just a kid, but listen to me! Otherwise, you're going to die!"

"Oh, come on, that's no-" The floor shook violently, trails of dust falling from the ceiling. "O- Okay, maybe we should leave." The floor shook again and again as they made their way to the staircase. They had already begun ascending when a bellow of rage shook the air. Paunch had made it into the same hallway and began a hopping charge towards them.

The officers panicked and ran up the stairs. Macey was at the back of the line and just caught Gohan forming a ball of yellow light in his hand before turning around a corner. She was tempted to turn back and make sure her eyes weren't playing tricks on her but decided against it.

Gohan's eyes narrowed as the ki blast knocked Paunch down. "So ki blasts are effective? Dang, I should've tried that earlier!" He frowned, watching the fat man try to stand again. "Should I stay here and finish the fight? Or lead him outside? Down here, there's less chance of someone getting hurt… unless the building collapses. Outside, I'll have an advantage, due to flight, but it would put others in the line of fire…"

"Hey, kid! Are you alright? What's taking you?!" he heard a man's voice echoing down the stairwell.

He grimaced, "If I don't go out, he might come back down to get me. I guess I don't have a choice." He darted up the stairs, catching up to the policemen, and they left the building together.

Gohan's companions collapsed to the ground, winded from their climb. Gohan did his best to explain to the others that they needed to evacuate the area and, combined with the support of the three tired officers, he managed to convince them.

Officer Bale recognized Gohan and made his way towards him as the other officers pulled the blockade back. "You're the kid I met earlier, aren't you?"

"Oh, hey! It's Mr. Officer! It's nice to see you!" Gohan greeted enthusiastically.

"How on earth did you get here? Didn't I ask you to wait with my friend?"

Gohan rubbed his head sheepishly, "Well… you did. But I wanted to help! And it's a good thing I came. That guy down there is way too much for you guys to handle!" he said honestly.

"What the hell is this kid talking about?" Bale wondered.

"Mr. Officer?"

"Huh? What is it?"

"I need you to do me a favor. When the big guy comes up, I want you to make sure nobody gets near him. I'll fight him by myself." Bale gaped like a fish. Gohan grinned, "Thanks! I really appreciate it!" Slowly, his feet left the ground, little rings of dust forming on the ground beneath him. Then, he took to the air and hovered above the entrance to the Research Facility.

Bale had the sinking feeling that life wasn't going to be so normal from now on.


A/N: Next chapter will be out next weekend. Probably Sunday.