A/N: Ow! Hey, that hurts! Anyways, I'm back with another chapter. Why am I writing this from HFIL, you ask? Apparently the Supreme Kai and King Yamma think that tampering with the "natural flow of destiny" is a bad thing. Heh. Just wait 'till they read the rest of the story. Ouch! Hey, look buddy… wait… that's not a red-hot poker, is it? Aaaah! I don't own DBZ! No, no, please!

Kress

The small room that was the Saiyan's quarters on the space station resounded with echoes of Prince Vegeta's voice as he bellowed at Radditz.

"You brought us a child!" Vegeta nearly screamed at him, as Radditz knelt before the angry prince. "Just how is a child supposed to help us?"

Radditz gulped nervously. "B-but, Prince Vegeta, he has a power level of 710!" he nearly squeaked.

Vegeta raised an eyebrow. "Funny. Our scanners read a power level with you of only 120 when you arrived."

Radditz nodded. "His power level changes with his emotions," he said, trying to stay calm. "When we arrived, the boy was unconscious."

Vegeta was intrigued. "Fine. But what of your brother, Kakarrot?" he asked.

Radditz scowled. "Kakarrot has become weak. He has blended with the weaklings of his planet… he's lost his memories, forgotten his mission… even cut off his tail!" he said through clenched teeth.

"What!" Vegeta demanded. He couldn't understand why any Saiyan would do something like that – it was inconceivable! On their home planet, it was considered a punishment worse than death.

"Kakarrot is worthless to us," Radditz said. "His power level was a mere 330. I bested him with one punch, and took his son to try to motivate him to prove himself worthy of joining us." He smirked. "But when I discovered his son had a power level of 710 when angry, I decided to take him instead. Besides, a child can be trained to be loyal to you. Kakarrot would have turned on us eventually," he explained.

Vegeta finally nodded his assent. "Very well," he said grudgingly. "Bring the boy here."

Radditz got up and left the room. When he came back in, there was a little boy walking beside him. The boy had bruises and looked thin, like he hadn't eaten in a while. His eyes were lowered, and he wasn't wearing armor – proof that he hadn't proven himself in battle, at least not to Radditz's estimation. He looked at Radditz questioningly. "This is him?" he asked.

Don't turn away
(Don't give in to the pain)

Radditz nodded. "He hasn't been trained, not even by his father," he said in explanation for the boy's state.

Vegeta scowled. "If his father wouldn't even train him, he must be too weak to live!" he objected.

"His father had lost his memories as a child," Radditz said quickly. "It's possible that Kakarrot knew of the child's power, and did not train him for another reason."

Vegeta approached Gohan, who looked up. "Well, brat? Why didn't your father train you?" he demanded. When Gohan hesitated, he snarled, "Speak!"

"M-mommy wouldn't let him," Gohan replied in terror. "M-mommy wanted me to study. Daddy wanted to train me, but Mommy said I couldn't train, that I was going to grow up to be an orthopedist," he said in a rush.

Vegeta sweat-dropped, then turned to Radditz. "What's an orthopedist?" he asked. Radditz shrugged blankly. He turned back to the child and smirked. "Your father was a fool and a weakling. You will grow up to be a proper Saiyan warrior, like your uncle. What's your name, brat?"

"G-gohan," Gohan said, swallowing.

Vegeta grimaced. "That's not a name for a Saiyan, even a weak cowardly child," he muttered, turning back to Radditz. "You're his uncle, give the brat a name."

Radditz considered Gohan for a moment before turning back to Vegeta. "Kress," he said.

Vegeta nodded. "Fine, take the brat Kress to one of the planets in the Noron sector and train him. Don't bring him back until he's a warrior," he added, looking the child over. "And give the brat something to eat! He looks like a skeleton!"

Don't try to hide
(Though they're screaming your name)

Radditz nodded and bowed, eyeing his nephew to do the same. Gohan bowed quickly and followed Radditz out the door. Despite his rough treatment, he had begun to grow attached to Radditz- he was his uncle, after all, and the only family he had out here.

As they walked toward the space dock, Radditz looked down at the boy. "Brat, did you understand everything that was said?" he asked gruffly.

Gohan nodded hesitantly. "Prince Vegeta let you keep me, and told you to train me. And you gave me a new name," he said, still not sure about that last part. Why did he need a new name? What was wrong with Gohan?

Radditz nodded. "Kress is a proud name. Some day I'll tell you the story behind it, but for now it's time to go," he said, gesturing to a small pod he had acquisitioned for him.

Gohan grimaced as he got into his space pod. After a month of being locked in one for days at a time, Gohan had gradually gotten over his fear of small, enclosed spaces. Now he was more afraid of pissing off his uncle. Glancing up at Radditz, he asked quietly, "Sir, was it a bad thing that Daddy didn't train me?" he asked quietly.

Don't close your eyes
(God knows what lies behind them)

Radditz scowled. "Yes, Kress, it was a very bad thing. No Saiyan would refuse to train his son, not and let him live. It is a shame worse than death for a Saiyan not to be able to defend himself. Your father should never have had children, and what's more, your mother should never have picked him with such a low power level. But they did, and by some freak of nature, you turned out to be stronger than your parents. That is why we have allowed you to live," Radditz said, watching as the child struggled to keep tears from his eyes. Hearing that one's parents were weaklings was a hard thing, especially if you knew it was true.

Gohan struggled to keep his voice level. "B-but… my Daddy was the strongest fighter in the world," he said softly, holding on to what shreds of his childhood hope he had left.

Sighing, Radditz mentally cursed his brother. "Your world was a world of weaklings," he said, barely keeping the rage from his voice. "Kakarrot was stronger than any of them as an infant… and by cutting off his tail, he became weaker. Had he trained like a real Saiyan, he would have been much, much stronger, and it would not have been so easy for me to beat him," he explained. Remembering something, he dug into the pouch at his side and pulled out a scouter. "Here, put this on," he said, handing it to Gohan.

Gohan took it and placed it over his eye, the way Radditz wore his. Suddenly, a bunch of symbols came up on the screen. He looked up at Radditz questioningly.

"Those are power level readings. When you learn to read, you will see that those numbers tell you how strong you are and the people around you are," he said, and pushed the button to close the door on the space pod.

Gohan swallowed and distracted himself by playing with the scouter. As he felt the space pod take off, he wondered to himself about all that Radditz had said. Was his father really weak? Gohan had always thought he was strong, but he also remembered what had happened on that tiny island… how his Daddy was on the ground, in pain, after one punch. But if his father was weak, then he was definitely much weaker… there was no way he was stronger than his Dad!

Kress. That was a strange name. How could a name be weak or strong, Gohan wondered? Maybe his own name meant something bad in their language? If it did, it was probably better that they call him something else… he didn't want to be called a bad word all the time. But, still… his name was all he had of home…

Gohan shook his head. He couldn't keep thinking about that, he just couldn't. Whether or not his dad had been weak, he had always been brave, and Gohan would be brave now. If they wanted to call him Kress, he would be called Kress. If they wanted to teach him to fight, he would learn to fight. He would train hard, just like he would have if his Daddy were there teaching him, and he would become stronger… maybe even strong enough to go home on his own one day.

Don't turn out the light
(Never sleep never die)

A hopeful thought of being rescued from all of this came to Gohan, but he pushed it aside. He couldn't sit around and hope to be rescued all the time. As long as he held on to that hope, he wouldn't be aware of what was going on around him… he had found that out over the course of this last month, when Radditz had caught him off guard many times as he was doing just that. No, he had to take matters into his own hands. He may be young and weak now, but that would change with time, and time was the only thing he had left. His new hope was not that he would be rescued, but that, one day, he would be able to rescue himself.

Troll: Well, now, are you going to talk?

Me: Sure! I hope you guys liked this chapter. The next one should have Goku in it… I think… Aaaaah!

Troll: Confess your crimes! reaches for hot poker

Me: Hey! Okay, okay! I messed with your precious "flow of destiny", but I didn't mean to hurt anyone! Besides, it's only temporary… well, maybe it is… darn it, there's already another universe with your "natural flow of destiny", I just decided to make this one different! OOOOOWWWWW!

Troll: Just for that, you're going in the box!

Me: Hell, that's okay… nothing's smaller than my last apartment was… hehe…Anyways, readers, stay tuned for the next exciting episode of… Hey! Okay, sorry! Sorry! I don't own DBZ! Or Evanescense! (That was the chorus of Whisper, by the way,) Ow!