A/N: This has been severely changed. If you remember a scene here with Vegeta and Gohan, then it's been deleted. I'm going a slightly different angle with their story arc.

I don't own DBZ.

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Bulma gazed out of the viewport as it showed a single cylindrical object floating out in space. She remembered when those stars had brought her hope… now all she seemed to see was death.

The last year had brought her more pain and loss than she had ever experienced. How long ago was it when her biggest worries had been keeping Master Roshi and Oolong in check and finding the dragon balls? When Goku and Krillen trained to fight in tournaments, not against evil monsters bent on destroying the Earth? When, if there had been trouble, all she had to do was step back and let her friends take care of it, and everyone knew that, through enough determination and optimism, things would work out in the end?

Now they were all gone… and so was her friend Chichi.

A single tear fell down Bulma's face. She didn't know where it had come from… she had honestly thought she had no more left to cry. It fell from her face onto the face of a tiny bundle in her arms… Chichi's last legacy. Looking down, she saw the tiny red face, almost hidden under a mess of unruly black hair, and out of the blankets he was wrapped in came a tiny brown tail which wrapped around her wrist. Dark eyes looked up at her, and Bulma smiled in spite of herself. Goten. Chichi had wanted him to be named for his father, much like she had named her other son, Gohan. There hadn't been much time after the birth before she passed, and she had given Bulma her final instructions as quickly as she could. She had wanted Bulma to make sure Goten learned how to fight… she had felt that, if she had been that way with Gohan, he might never have been taken. She wanted him to grow up happy… and, she had wanted Bulma to do what she could to keep the two of their children together.

Bulma turned to where her daughter, Pel, lay asleep. She was adorable… tiny locks of purple hair curled around her head, and eyes that were normally a striking shade of violet closed now in sleep. Her hand was in her mouth, curled into a fist, and she had kicked the covers off of her again. Reaching down with her free hand, Bulma replaced them, then looked down to see if Goten was asleep yet. He was still watching her with those dark brown eyes, and Bulma smiled.

"I wish Chichi could have seen you," she whispered softly to him as she rocked him gently, hoping he would get off to sleep soon. "You look just like your father. They both would have been so happy," she said. She wondered if they were looking down on her right now. "Don't worry… I'll take good care of him, Chichi," she said to the viewport, where the small coffin was almost out of sight. "I promise."

A soft snore broke her out of her thoughts, and she saw that Goten was finally asleep. Placing him in the crib next to Pel, she returned to the computer and entered in some commands. A forcefield appeared around the make-shift crib, to make sure that neither of the children fell out in their sleep. Stretching, Bulma entered the commands that would place the ship on autopilot, and stretched out on the floor next to where the children were sleeping. She would never leave them, she promised herself… never again would she let anyone close to her die. She had lost everyone else…

With troubled thoughts and hope for the future, Bulma drifted off to sleep.

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The Supreme Kai stood alone on the hill, aware that his friend Kibito was approaching. He smiled. "So… what do you think?" he asked when Kibito came to stand beside him.

The tall warrior smiled, nodding. "You're right… the child looks almost exactly like him."

Supreme Kai smiled. "It's him, then. I knew it… when he is old enough, we will bring him here to train."

"Bring him here?" Kibito asked, alarmed. "But…the child's a mortal! Mortals can't set foot on this sanctuary… it's sacred!"

Supreme Kai merely smiled at his long-time friend. "Desperate times call for desperate measures, Kibito. The child Goten is the hero from my vision… and you do remember the prophecy concerning the Z sword?"

Kibito scowled. "I thought a Kai was supposed to wield that sword!" he said gruffly. He remembered his own attempts at pulling the stubborn sword from its rock… not even the Supreme Kai had been able to do it.

Supreme Kai shrugged. "So it has always been assumed, but the prophecy says nothing to that effect. Whoever wields that sword will have the strongest power in the universe… and from what I saw, he will need all the help he can get."

"Hmmm… so, you're sure this great evil will be the end of the universe?" Kibito asked, trying to hide the skepticism in his voice. Great evils had come and gone many times before, and with a few exceptions, the universe had survived just fine without the Supreme Kai's direct influence. Influencing things was dangerous for them… they had to let the side of good become strong enough to defend itself.

The Supreme Kai nodded. "Kibito, in the vision I saw, there were no stars behind this Saiyan. He had obliterated them all. You know how big the universe is… he would have had to be immensely powerful to do all that. We have no choice in this matter but to interfere… the fate of the universe depends on it."

Kibito stood in resigned silence for a long moment. Suddenly, something occurred to him. "Wait… this boy… isn't he a Saiyan?" he asked in alarm. "How do you know he isn't the same one we're supposed to stop?"

Supreme Kai lifted a hand, and a crystal ball floated up into it. Holding the ball with both hands, he focused his thoughts. Soon a picture appeared in the ball, and Kibito leaned in to see it. "Because, the one we're supposed to stop is here," he said.

In the ball they saw a picture of a young boy, no older than twelve, with a deep scar over one eye. He was asleep, sleeping fitfully, and was obviously having a nightmare. He was dressed in Saiyan armor, and looked bad, as though he had been fighting against a very powerful enemy. Supreme Kai looked up at Kibito. "He's the one from my vision… the scar on his eye is the same. He's the one who will destroy the universe."

Kibito scowled. "But… he's just a child. Surely we can change all of this by going after him now?"

Supreme Kai shook his head. "Believe me, Kibito, I've wanted to, but I can't. As much as I hate it, we have to let things work themselves out in this way. The only way I can interfere is by training Goten when he's older… and I have to be careful about when and how I do that."

Kibito looked back into the ball. "But… what will happen to turn this boy into such a powerful monster? I can sense barely any power in him at all!"

Supreme Kai sighed. "I don't know, Kibito… but whatever it is, it is happening now. I only hope that, whenever the events in my vision take place, we are ready for it."