Earth

Back on Earth, the team were still preparing for the androids. The dread and unease were palpable, yet it was offset by the optimism and hope they felt. It was a terrible situation, but they felt as if they could weather it and succeed in the end.

Once Bulma had the coordinates from the base all figured out, Krillin and Tien Shinhan went to Capsule Corporation to learn about them. When they came down to the lab, she had an overhead projector ready. On it was a map of the world, with red dots scattered across it.

"So," she explained, "each of these little red dots are approximately where some of the old Red Ribbon Army bases were located. These, specifically, are all of the ones that were operational when Goku attacked HQ. One of these has to be where Gero's old lab is."

"Any guesses on where to look first," Krillin asked. "Those are a lot to go through."

"I'm glad you asked! Because I have some leads." She grabbed another sheet off of the projector stand and put it ontop of the map. It covered up different dots, leaving three uncovered. "The ones that are covered are areas that were already mapped out by scholars and historians. They know what was located there and have already gone through them. So as far as I'm concerned, they're not suspect. However, there were three points on the map that weren't in any of my research. Since no one's ever found Gero and no one knew about these locations, logic dictates that he's hiding in one of these places."

Tien raised a brow. "And if he isn't?"

"Then those will be three points to narrow it down."

She pulled out something from her pocket and threw it to Krillin, which he caught. Tien leaned over to get a better look at it. It was a compact-sized radar with a large button at the top. On it were three beeping points.

"I've programmed the points into that radar you're holding. It'll help you boys go in the right direction. To zoom in and out, you only need to hit the little button at the top - hit it once to zoom in and hit it twice to zoom out."

"That's awesome, Bulma," Krillin said. "You know your stuff."

She laughed, pushing her hair behind her ear. "It's really not that difficult - you just need basic knowledge on programming. Oh, and one more thing." She took a fliphone out of her pocket and threw it at Tien, who caught it, as well. "If you ever need any pointers or if you think you found something interesting, call me on that. My number's the first one on top."

"Anything we should be looking for," Tien asked.

She shrugged. "If you see any documents or find any interesting-looking capsules or something like that, it might lead us to catching him for good. Just call me up and I'll let you know if you need to take it or not. And I know this goes without saying, but this is going to be dangerous. When Raditz and I investigated HQ, there was a lot of old security that was still operational. So be very careful while you look through it."

Krillin stood up and tightened the belt around his waist. "You don't need to worry about us - we can handle it." He put his hands on his hips and looked at Tien. "So, you ready to hit the road, dude?"

Tien stood up and crossed his arms over his chest. "Ready if you are. By the way, Bulma - Kami said that Raditz and Yamcha are gonna be heading here today. When they get here, Piccolo and Goku are gonna go back to their training."

She nodded. "Thanks for telling me. Best of luck to you guys."

"Right," they said in unison. Together, the two of them left the lab.

"Any clues on where to start," Krillin said, as he looked down at the rader.

Tien glanced at the radar. He pointed at one of the dots. It was in the south. "That one seems closest. Wish we could get a better look at where we're going."

He shrugged, tucking the radar into his pocket. "I'm sure it'll be fine. It's nothing we can't get through, with all our training."

He nodded. "I guess that's true."

Yamcha had been on edge from the moment this whole thing began.

Once his teammates left, his training with Kami and the rest went on like normal. He felt better about his skills, now that he had gotten to test them on the battlefield. Tao once gave Tien and Goku a lot of trouble, but he and Krillin were able to catch him off guard several times. Sure, the fight had ended in a draw, but if they had the chance, they could have finished him off.

It wasn't the training that left him on edge: it was his partner.

He went out of his way to avoid Raditz on most days. He had gotten very good at detecting his energy and knew to bolt or hide. However, on some days, it was unavoidable. Like when Kami made them spar. Yamcha just did his best to get through the matches as quickly as possible, and then ran off before he could try anything else. It wasn't that he thought Raditz was a bad guy. He seemed like he was on the up-and-up. Plus, he was Goku's brother, so how could he be? No, it was the way he acted towards him, when they were alone. Anytime he got him cornered, he aggressively flirted with him. He laid down the innuendos thick, with that devilish glint in his eyes that showed he meant every word.

Yamcha had never been lucky with love. He used to have a petrifying fear of girls - the mere sight of one would make him high-tail and run. He had worked through that, but everytime he thought he found the one, something happened. He said the wrong thing and they got angry. Or he was too affectionate and they pushed him away. Or they grew disinterested and left him for their next boytoy. Though he knew he was attracted to guys for a long time, he had never actually tried dating one. He had a crush on one of his baseball teammates, but he turned out to be straight, so no dice there. With how bad he was with women, he doubted that he'd be better with men.

In all of his relationships, he had been used to taking the first step. He was the pursuer, not the pursued. And even the couple of times he had been, it was never as aggressive as what Raditz was doing with him. It was like something straight out of an old romance movie - where the blushing heroine is relentlessly pursued by an alpha hero. Raditz certainly fit that bill to a T - he was tall, masculine, good looking, and had the charm to back it up. As uncomfortable as it made him, it also made him feel excited and desired. A part of him enjoyed the little cat-and-mouse game they were playing.

And that scared him. After every relationship he'd ever had went south, it made him feel like there was something wrong with him. As if he couldn't do anything right, no matter how hard he tried. Over the past few years, he began to think that he might end up dying alone. If he and Raditz did start dating, how long would it take for him to screw something up and make him leave? It would be better if he just ignored it all and tried to avoid it. Then, he could avoid another broken heart.

"What's with that look on your face?"

Yamcha jumped, seeing Raditz looking down at him. He had been so in his head that he didn't even notice he was there. "I-it's nothing," he said. "I was just thinking."

"Well, when you get done thinking, Kami said that we have to go - it's our turn to be on guard duty."

Oh goodie. Being a bodyguard meant they had to stick together. The Lookout was at least big enough to make it easy to avoid people. That comfort was nice while it lasted. He sighed. "Okay. Let's go, then."

"What's the rush," Raditz asked, leaning down towards him. As soon as he started smirking at him, Yamcha knew where this was going. "Are you that anxious to get away from here? To get some alone time with me? If that's all, then you should have just told me."

"N-no! I just- the others are probably waiting for us down there and we shouldn't keep them waiting, you know!" He laughed.

Raditz rolled his eyes, but he still smirked. "Oh, alright. We can save that for another day." He patted him on the arm once, before he started walking back down the hallway.

Yamcha sighed, as he walked after him. At least that time was short.

The flight back to Capsule Corporation didn't take long. Soon, they touched down on the front lawn. Bulma ran out of the door to greet them, with Piccolo and Goku not far behind. Yamcha couldn't help but notice that Raditz and Goku looked sadder, when they saw each other. With the rush they had been in back on the Lookout, they never got the chance to process their discoveries, let alone do it together.

"Anything new," Raditz asked, walking up to Bulma.

"Krillin and Tien are on their way to look at the old bases. But aside from that - nothing. I'm gonna start looking into contacting everyone back on Planet Vegeta tonight." She turned around to Piccolo and Goku. "Thank you guys for staying here - you can head back home."

Piccolo nodded. "If anything happens, find us. Let's get going, Goku."

"Right," Goku said. He cupped his hands around his mouth and looked up. "Nimbus!" Flying Nimbus came soaring down from the sky, stopping right in front of Goku's feet.

Raditz balked at it. "Kakarot, what the hell is that thing?!"

Goku jumped onto it. "It's Nimbus. It's how I get around."

Yamcha couldn't help but laugh at the way he explained it. He talked like it was normal. "I can tell you about it later," he said to Raditz, putting a hand on his shoulder. "See ya, Goku."

Goku waved to everyone. "See ya, Yamcha! Bye, Bulma! Let's go home, Piccolo." With that, the two of them took off into the sky and headed for home.

Raditz was staring up at the sky, in silence. His eyebrows were furrowed and he looked almost melancholy. It was then that Yamcha realized that Goku never said goodbye to him. That had to have stung. He couldn't help but pity him.

"Hey, it's alright," Yamcha said. "Goku probably hasn't had the time to process everything you told him. Once this whole android thing is over, you can talk things out."

He looked down. "I guess you're right."

Bulma shook her head. "Raditz, we've been over this. Goku's lucky to have someone like you as his big brother, even if he hasn't realized it yet. That's just a big revelation for someone to have. Like Yamcha said, just give him some time - I'm sure he'll come around."

After a moment of deliberation, he sighed. "Alright."

She smiled up at him. "Anyways, both of you should come inside. Oh, uh, fair warning, Raditz - my mom's been worried sick about you. You know how she can get, sometimes."

"Noted," he replied. He looked back at Yamcha. "If you're still so desperate for alone time, I'm sure that can be arranged." Yamcha's eyes widened and his face went a deep red.

"Aaaand, we're going in, now," Bulma said, practically dragging them into the house.

Before they could continue with their training, Goku and Piccolo had one stop to make - home. The new arrangements had been so sudden that neither of them had the chance to tell Chi-Chi and Gohan about it. Piccolo had made sure that Kami at least told Chi-Chi that they were safe, but neither of them knew more than that. They promised no more secrets: they deserved to know.

After a few hours, they finally made it back to Mt. Paozu. When home came into view, neither of them could believe what they were seeing. Chi-Chi and Gohan were out on the front lawn training together. He was dodging her kicks, while she blocked his oncoming fists with her forearm. It was enough to make them stop, mid-air. Goku and Piccolo could only glance at each other in surprise.

When they touched down, both Gohan and Chi-Chi immediately stopped what they were doing. They braced themselves for a harsh verbal beatdown, for leaving without any explanation. Instead, she ran up to them and hugged Goku. "Oh, I'm so happy you two are okay! Even after Kami told me, I was still so worried!"

Goku laughed. "You know nothing could take us down that easily!"

Before Piccolo could respond, Gohan had jumped up and hugged him. "Mr. Piccolo, you're back! I missed you so much!" He stood there in surprise. No matter how many times he did this, he was always floored by how much Gohan cared for him. He put a hand on his back, patting it.

Chi-Chi pulled herself away from Goku and took both of their hands. "Please, come back inside! I'll fix up some tea and we'll catch up on everything."

Together, the Sons sat in the parlor. Piccolo explained everything that had happened, since they got word of the androids. How he had come early. How Krillin and Yamcha managed to scare him off. And how everyone was working together to stop it once and for all.

"It's our turn to be training, right now. Next, we'll start looking for Gero and stop him that way. Then, we'll be back on guard duty."

Her brows furrowed. "Guard duty? Guarding what?"

"You remember meeting Bulma a few months ago, right?"

Her eyes widened. "You mean your old friend? Is she okay?"

"She's fine - Yamcha and one of her friends are with her right now. Anyways, this arrangement means that neither of us will be around as often as any of us would like. And we won't be able to continue our training with either of you. I'd suggest that you two train together, but I can see that you're already doing so."

Gohan nodded, after taking a drink of his tea. "Mom's really strong now! You and dad should be proud of her!"

Chi-Chi put a hand on her cheek and shook her head. "Oh, Gohan. You don't need to say that…"

As Piccolo continued to explain everything, Chi-Chi couldn't help but notice how quiet Goku was being. He was just staring at the floor with his arms crossed and a pensive look in his eyes. That was unlike him. She was expecting him to be excited at the prospect of fighting really tough foes. He must have had something else on his mind.

"Gohan," she said, interruptingly, "how about you go show Piccolo that new equation you learned?" Before Piccolo could protest, she pointed at Goku, signalling that she wanted to talk to him alone.

Gohan jumped off the couch. "Okay, mom! Come on, Mr. Piccolo!" He took Piccolo by the hand, who nodded at her before being led out of the room.

Chi-Chi stood up and sat on the couch next to Goku. He still hadn't looked up from the floor. She was starting to get worried - he was never like this.

"Goku?" She took his hand in hers, pulling it into her lab. "What's going on?"

He glanced at her, before averting his eyes to the floor. "Chi-Chi, would you still like me if I wasn't like you?"

Where did this come from? Goku wasn't the type to get cryptic like this. "What do you mean?" He didn't respond. She squeezed his hand tightly. "Goku, you know you can talk to me about this. We promised there wouldn't be any more secrets between us - please just tell me."

He finally looked her in the eyes. "When we were at the Lookout, there was a guy there. He kept calling me Kakarot and said he was my brother. I didn't think it was true, but Kami said it was. And that I'm not even from Earth - I'm an alien."

Her eyes widened and she raised a hand to her chest. No wonder he seemed so upset - anyone would be, if they had all of that dumped into their laps at once.

"I guess it makes sense. I've never been like any of you guys. But still," His voice trailed off. He sighed. "I'm sorry, Chi-Chi," he said, looking downwards.

Her brows furrowed, in confusion. "Sorry for what?"

"I'm sorry I'm not who you thought I was."

Her heart broke. "Oh, Goku." She put her hand on his shoulder and held his cheek with her other hand. "Whether you're from Earth or not doesn't matter to me. I didn't fall in love with you because you're an Earthling - I fell in love with you because you're you. Piccolo's not from Earth, either, and we love him, right?" He nodded. "So why were you worried that I wouldn't love you, either? You're still the same Son Goku to me, regardless of where you're from or who your family is."

He looked back at her. "You really think so?"

She smiled. "I don't think so - I know so." She tapped her finger on the tip of his nose.

He finally smiled back at her, pulling her into a hug. "Thanks, Chi-Chi," he said to her. She nodded, as she embraced him back. With all of the chaos and stress that had been going on for the past months, they finally had a moment to breathe and be with one another. Soon, he and Piccolo would be out fighting another deadly foe, leaving her to worry if they would get back. However, deep down, she knew that they would. They would survive and get through it all together.

She closed her eyes and sighed happily. She loved her family so much.