In the last chapter...

Still recovering from everything she has gone through after having an emotional breakdown about her parents, Bulma expresses to Vegeta that she is too stir crazy to stay in the house while he trains. Even though he tells her not to, she takes off to the nearest town as soon as he locks himself into the gravity room.

Vegeta isn't training for too long, since the battle bots Bulma made cannot withstand 150 level gravity. He goes inside the house to tell her she needs to upgrade them, but nobody is there to answer. Once he realizes she has left, Vegeta takes off after her. Worrying that the town she is visiting may come under attack at any moment, he tells Bulma that they need to head back immediately after he finds her. However Bulma, who is now using shopping and tourism to distract herself from her worries, is feeling too carefree to want to go back. In that moment she is able to let herself forget of how quickly her life has turned upside down, and she insists that she wants to stay and explore the town - if only for a few more hours.

Vegeta realizes that he can't bring himself to make her unhappy. He is surprised to find that he is so entranced by Bulma's lightheartedness that he begrudgingly agrees to stay in town with her, to his lack of better judgment.

Though he has agreed to Bulma staying for a while longer, he is unhappy about it and makes it known whenever he gets the chance. After a day of watching her shop and explore, he discovers a street that is filled with food stalls and he excitedly leads Bulma to it.

He spends the next while visiting each stall and consuming all the food they have, while Bulma follows behind to pay the bills. Having eaten better than he has during his entire time on Earth, Vegeta is actually starting to enjoy himself. Feeling so invigorated by his meal and infatuated to see Bulma so happy, he whisks her away to a secluded area in the woods where they make love before falling asleep in each other's arms.

The cheerfulness doesn't last when Vegeta has a horrific nightmare about the "teenagers" finding them in the woods. Not even realizing it's a dream, he watches in horror as they kill Bulma in front of him and mock her death. A rage unlike anything he's felt starts to build within, but before he is able to unleash it he wakes up in a fit.

The fact that it was a dream is hardly a comfort to Vegeta, who understands how likely such a thing is to actually happen. Angry at himself for not having done more to avoid such an danger, he puts his foot down and tells Bulma they are going to head back to the Capsule House immediately...

Reaching both arms over her head, Bulma sighed as she eased into a long winded stretch. It had been a few days since her and Vegeta's episode in the town, and she had been working on upgrading the battle bots during all of her time since.

Ever since waking up in such a frantic state while they napped in the car, the saiyan had been nothing short of a temperamental mess. Finding any excuse to start yelling about how stupid it was for her to go into the village without him, Vegeta had been keeping a close eye on the Bluehead and finding any excuse to breaking into exasperated gripe whenever he could.

And, when Vegeta was keeping a close eye on Bulma, it was really close.

His determination to blindside Piccolo during their next meeting, combined with whatever the saiyan had dreamed about that had made him get so worked up, had left Vegeta spending nearly every hour of the conscious day training in the gravity room. But, almost as if he had a timer that would go off at the exact second, every 20 minutes he would stalk out to check on Bulma. During one of these check-ins, when the Bluehead had pointed out how irritating this behavior was, Vegeta had claimed that he was doing such a thing to make sure that she was still tucked inside the capsule house - and not flying away again in her deep green car.

While Bulma might have normally considered this level of concern to be an irritating token of infatuation, the rash words he would use were effective in stripping any care from that gesture. On this instance in particular, Vegeta had immediately gone into an explicative rant about how she needed to make progress more quickly – all while simultaneously lamenting about how he couldn't get anything done when he was having to constantly check on her.

It was maddening.

To Bulma, the saiyan's ballistic focus was nothing more than excessively cocky micromanagement.

"Vegeta, you seriously need to get off my ass!" She had said during his latest visit. "I'm working as fast as I can, and I know what I'm doing. I don't need you coming in here three times an hour to reprimand me!"

"That's what I would have liked to think, but you obviously can't be trusted to stay put." He spat back. "It's a pity I'm forced to hover over you as if you're a child just to make sure you don't run off and get yourself killed."

"For the last time, I am not going to get myself killed!" The Bluehead groaned. "I'm not going to run off! You know, I don't need to listen to this! You agreed to let me spend the day in town, didn't you?! Why are you holding it against me now!"

"I only agreed after your numerous acts of disobedience." He spat. "I told you not to go in the first place, and I said multiple times after that to stop what you were doing and head back. Don't try to portray me as a hypocrite, Woman. You shall not win."

"Oh, for the love of all holy Kami..." Bulma leaned forward over her desk as she began to massage her furious temples. Her head was starting to ache just from the indignance of being reprimanded so harshly. They'd been having the same repetitive arguments ever since they'd arrived back at the capsule house in the first place! She just didn't want to go through this yet again!

It had been three long days of this, and he was still so relentlessly infuriated with her, no matter what she said. Vegeta's temper was simply too stubborn to nudge. It was clear that he was going to remain mad for as long as he wanted to be, no matter how she tried to reason with him. All that Bulma could do was wait it out…

"You know what?" She finally sighed. "If you want to check and make sure I'm working every twenty minutes, like some needy little squirrel, then fine by me. But I've had enough with your comments. I don't need to hear them."

"I think not. If you didn't need to hear them, then you wouldn't have run off in the first place." The saiyan growled, but he went stalking out of the room nevertheless.

Now alone, the Bluehead sat with her arms outstretched above her head, trying to calm her mind enough that she could get back to the task at hand. It had been five minutes since the saiyan had retreated back into his little makeshift cave of exaggerated gravity, and Bulma knew she was on borrowed time before he came huffing back in again…

… It didn't matter if Vegeta was the brute effigy of a killing machine, with just as much of a fondness for food as he had for snogging. Bulma was pretty sure that, if he kept coming in and snapping at her multiple times per hour, she was going to find a way to lift him over her head and chuck him out the window…

"I need a break." She finally groaned. And as the words left her mouth, Bulma realized that this was the first time she was going to do such a thing since she'd started working on those battle bots three days earlier. The saiyan was keeping such a stark eye on her that she'd been compelled to work as hard as she could, just so she could get done sooner and he'd leave her the hell alone. Now she had finished a couple of them, and was in the last stage of upgrades for the rest. Despite how close she finally was to being finished, in that moment she had lost all motivation to continue.

Not until she addressed something else first.

She just couldn't bring herself to finish them up right now – not with her mind racing the way it was. This had been the first time she had decided she needed to take a break, and it had also been the first time that she had realized she hadn't yet checked in on her parents' condition since sending her mobile camera to observe their home…

Realizing that there was simply no point in even trying to continue with her work now, Bulma pushed herself up from the desk. She quick-stepped towards the house's phone system, glancing over her shoulder as she went. As if Vegeta would be tracing behind her at any given second.

Confirming that the saiyan was, indeed, not walking in, Bulma tiptoed across the rest of the room before finding a seat at the large monitor.

A chill running down her spine, the Bluehead ran a hand through her hair before clicking the screen to life…

The fact that she had been so anxious to know of her parents' fate as she'd built the camera, and was now finally about to learn if they were even alive… It left the Bluehead holding her breath as she bit down on her lower lip. As distressed as she was with fearing the unknown, she almost didn't want to find out. All of the trepidation she had set aside during her work was hitting her again now, and it was quickly becoming overwhelming.

Clicking a few buttons to narrow in on the camera's coordinates, the screen began to light up as images began pummeling in. The Bluehead finally let out the deep breath of air she'd been holding, blinking stubbornly as she readied herself for what she might be about to see…

She knew very well, as her pupils curled up to glance into the monitor… That this could be a moment that would forever change her life…

.

"No, damnit! For the last time, don't hold back when the time comes to hit me!"

Piccolo had done it. He'd reached that a point that was far too routine in his sparring match with Gohan. It was inevitable that he would always come to this during their sessions together – the moment in which all patience finally ran out.

It seemed to happen every single time they trained, and each time Piccolo found himself even more exasperated than the one before. On this day in particular, he was getting so furious that he was fighting the urge to throw his headscarf to the ground and stomp it into the dirt – something that would have seemed far too undignified for him if he'd been in his rightful mind. "We go over this every damned time!" He began to spit. The green of his face was turning several shades darker, his eyes turning red with bloodshot. "STOP holding back!"

"But I..." Gohan began, but he was at such a loss of words that it felt as if there was no point in continuing. He'd expressed his apprehension to Mr. Piccolo many times before. His mentor knew exactly what his qualms were. What more could he say that hadn't already been discussed?

"Look. I know you don't want to hurt me, and I get that your father spoiled you. I know that up until now you've never had to put up a real fight in your entire life. But you're going to have to get over that!" The green man growled, trying to find the capacity to keep from losing his cool. This attempt seemed to be in vain, however, for his voice was crackling into a louder yell. "I need you to punch me and actually put some force into it!"

"I'm trying!" Gohan exclaimed, feeling as if he were stuck in a corner with no way out. "Come on, Mr. Piccolo… I'm trying…"

"That isn't good enough, kid!" Piccolo fell back into his fighting position. "I know you have it in you, and you'd better let it out. I vouched for you to Vegeta, and I'll be damned if we give him another reason to doubt my word. The next time we see him you will be prepared to face off with him in a match, and you're going to win - got it?! Now, you and I will do this one more time, and you're going to hit me"

"But-"

"Shut up with your whining!" Piccolo snarled. With Gohan's last attempt at backtalk, the mentor's patience had completely worn thin. His eyes were wide as he barked at the child, slight traces of foam forming at the sides of his mouth. "I don't know why you have so many issues with releasing your power, damnit! Let it out! Show me what I felt when I found you in the first place!"

"But I can't!"

"Just DO IT!"

And that was that.

Piccolo abruptly launched for Gohan, moving so fast that the boy hardly had any time to react. He grabbed the boy by the shirt, swinging his arm back as if he were about to sling a ball through the air. "I know you were reacting to your mother getting killed when I found you. Whatever happened before and directly after that, I wasn't there to see, but you're going to have to relive it. Think of everything you saw that day, and remember it as vividly as possible. Use that as your fuel. Remember how you felt and fight me! Whether you want to or not, you are going to kick my ass!"

With that, Piccolo finally released his grip. Swinging his arm forward with all his might, Gohan went flying straight ahead as the air whistled around him. The child's eyes were clamped shut as the wind slapped him in the face. Everything Piccolo had just yelled was still registering in his head, the memories stubbornly being triggered back against his own will.

"I... can't..." He muttered, a cut forming in his arm as he sliced past a tree branch that had been in his path.

Truthfully, he didn't know what had made Piccolo determine that he was so powerful. Nor did he remember anything after his mother got hit…

… All Gohan could remember, as the image painfully replayed in his mind, was the look that had been on her face when she was hit by that blast…

… There had been a distant glint that had formed in her pupils...

Her mouth, which had started to open as if to say something, had paused in mid-act. It was as if Chi-Chi, who had been standing her ground against those violent monsters, had quickly realized what was about to happen to her. Too shocked to speak, she had just stood there and watched as the light drew closer.

Gohan could remember far too vividly, as his lips began to tremble, the smell of charring flesh.

The nauseating odor that made him want to pull his hair out and slam his face into the soil to rid his mind from the burden of survival. He remembered, far too clearly, the scent of sizzling decay as Chi-Chi's skin burned to a melt, making his stomach twist in repulsion...

'Not her,' Was what he had thought when it happened, and he was now thinking it again now. Not her.

Anyone - anyone.

It could have been anyone else, so why did it have to be her?

She was the only person he'd had left... The only person he'd had in this entire world.

… She had been his best friend, his closest companion. The person he'd depended on since before he could remember. She'd been the one who he would have done anything to protect, and yet he'd failed her during his very first chance.

She'd always been there to wrap a warm blanket around his frame when he'd awoken after a terrible nightmare. She'd always been there, for as long as he could remember, watching carefully from the distance as he totted through the long grass to catch snails or came running to the house after being chased by a confrontational wild dog. She'd been there after his father had died, as they both hugged each other on the couch during those long nights and whispered comforting words to one another.

Whenever she was upset she dictated a terrifying wrath… Yet, no matter what they might have argued about, her smile would always reassure him that together they'd get through anything…

How could he lose her?

He'd already lost his Dad, and now she was gone, too?

What would he do without her?

What was he supposed to do?

How could he live without her?

She was his... She was his…

"MOTHER!"

Gohan's eyes snapped open.

He was quickly approaching another tree, this time much more center to his own head. But the boy didn't make out the green of the leaves as they grew closer to his tense body. The only color he could see was red.

The only thing he could smell was the metallic odor of fresh blood, the thought of which loosened his nauseated stomach, which instead now began to churn with a hunger unlike anything he'd ever felt.

And then, just as he was about to collide with the trunk of the tree, a flash erupted so bright that his vision evaded him altogether. No longer could he see the flooding crimson that hindered his pupils and left him feeling so suffocated. No longer could he make out anything at all, for the yellow surrounding him was so bright that it seemed as if his eyes would burn to a crisp if he didn't keep his lids shut.

For all he could comprehend, Gohan was suddenly lost in an abyss. He was being pulled away from any thoughts he could process, the white of his vision quickly dropping to a suffocating darkness...

… He hardly even heard the sound of the tree when it exploded around him.

.

Vegeta had been in the middle of a set of pushups, struggling against the level 175 gravity. The battle bots weren't yet ready, much to his frustration, but he was doing all he could to exert himself anyway. Yet, despite his efforts, now the saiyan was frozen in place. Temporarily forgetting about his resolution, he swallowed to keep from spitting on the floor he was propped up against.

Staring down at the tile as he held himself up in the middle of a set, the saiyan was panting when he felt the energy surging through him.

It was the same spike of ki he had encountered weeks earlier. The one that had taken him by surprise as he'd showered after the first time he'd slept with Bulma.

Here it was again? Vegeta had assumed that it had been another casualty. Someone who had been putting up an impressive fight before losing the battle with those two destructive kids. But no, that couldn't have been it. Not if he was sensing it now.

The ki didn't feel as if it was something that would be a challenge to Vegeta, and yet it was strong enough to peak his interest. Nobody on this planet should be as strong as this. Since arriving on Earth Vegeta hadn't encountered a single person - aside from Piccolo, who was obviously of a foreign species - whom had been so notable in aura.

Yet, after Vegeta had long ago assumed that the owner of the ki was dead, it was suddenly here again. It had come out of nowhere, and it was lingering in his senses. Yet the saiyan knew that if this would be anything like the last time, then it wouldn't be long before it disappeared again.

What struck Vegeta most of all was how nearby it felt. Unlike last time, when it seemed as if it were quivering from the other side of the planet, this energy wasn't too far away. In fact, if he tried, the saiyan knew he had a chance of reaching the aura before it faded again.

Pushing himself to his feet and groaning against the pressure of the gravity, that was exactly what Vegeta intended to do. He didn't even bother to shut off the machine as he stumbled out, too fixated on hurrying to care. He was starting to have his suspicions on what this was, but he wanted to see it for himself. Vegeta needed to confirm the source of this impressive ki…

He needed to get to it before the aura went away once more!

…However, just as the saiyan was about to jump into the air to commence his journey, it was suddenly gone.

Again.

It hadn't lingered for nearly as long as it had the last time, but Vegeta had no doubt that it had been of the same source. His mind was piecing it all together as he considered the circumstances of everything, and it was doing nothing to lighten his already sour mood.

Feeling nothing short of aggravated, the saiyan let out a loud snarl of incomprehensible gibberish. This was all just getting worse by the second, wasn't it? He was angry enough with that damned Woman, who seemed to get incredible joy with finding ways to compromise his focus.

And now this?

As Vegeta felt his mind losing itself to his temper, the thought of Bulma was the one thing that managed to keep him sane – if only by just a thread. How long had it been since he'd made sure she was still working on those bots, anyway? He sighed and shook his head. Despite how upset he was with her, the thought of seeing her now seemed to be the only thing that would soothe his mind. Shaking his head, the saiyan began to march towards the house once for the thirtieth time that day.

.

The boy, so fearful and reluctant by nature, had changed again.

Just as he had been when Piccolo had met him, Gohan's ki had finally peaked. His typically docile hair had changed to a bright shade of yellow, the strands rising into an unforgiving cluster of spikes that could easily impale someone if the boy had the mind to do such a thing.

Piccolo had thrown himself back to prevent getting hit by the blunt of the explosion, and it came to no surprise when he looked up to see that Gohan was completely unscathed. This was only the second time that he'd seen the boy in such a state, and the mentor took note at how much more in control of himself the child seemed.

The trees that he had been flying through had been wiped from existence. And with one more scream Gohan fell to his knees, his ki quickly dissipating back to its normal level. His mouth hanging open as he caught his breath, the boy's cheeks were quivering to keep the tears from falling from his eyes. The two were nearly 100 meters apart at this point, and yet Piccolo heard him clearly when the boy muttered the words "it isn't fair."

Only a moment later Piccolo was hovering right above the boy. "The world isn't fair, kid. Didn't anyone tell you that by now?" He replied, though his tone was much less harsh than it had been a few minutes earlier.

"Mom used to say that all the time." Gohan replied, not looking up as his voice cracked. His head was dropped to his lap, and he ran a finger through the soil beside his body as he sat on his knees. "She used to always tell me that…" He muttered, struggling to comprehend such a high density of anguish that was racing across his mind.

"She was right." Was all Piccolo said back. He was peering down at the boy as he stood over him, trying to come to terms with the mixture of odd rapport that was bubbling within. There had been so many times when the boy's lack of emotional strength had driven him to a nearly mad state.

How in the hell did the offspring of Goku get to be so whiny and reluctant to do anything close to sparring?

Why was it that every time Piccolo wanted the kid to put up a good fight against him, the boy would go into a trembling sob-story about how bad he felt to do such a thing?! It was maddening!

And yet, there were so many times in which Piccolo couldn't help the feeling that came over him as he tried to consider why the boy might have grown to be such a way.

Piccolo had been born from nothing, had grown with nothing but himself, and had lived with nothing more throughout his entire life.

But this kid?

This kid understood what it was to have had. He'd hadsomething – and it had been everything that seemed important to him. He knew more about the act of loss than Piccolo had ever experienced, and perhaps ever would.

It was often that Piccolo wanted to shake the kid and yell at him to get over it. He'd been lucky enough to have had his parents and home in the first place – hadn't he? The boy should have been glad for the time he'd gotten, and should move on instead of being selfishly insistent on focusing on feeling sorry for himself!

And yet, whenever he opened his mouth to say such a thing, the motivation to go on this rant would quickly evade him.

Why should Piccolo care if the boy wanted to be so damned morose all the time?

And why should he yell at the kid for going through something that he himself never had? Who was he to tell the kid he was wrong in how he was handling things? Piccolo didn't have any experience in this – perhaps everything the boy was doing was what one was supposed to do in such a situation.

Perhaps…

Perhaps the boy had a right to be bent up about losing his mother.

With just how disgusting and weak it all seemed, Piccolo understood far too well that he had absolutely no way to relate in this feeling of grief. He didn't even know what it was to have a mom…

.

When Piccolo had met him the first time, Gohan's energy had already been spent during his fight with those kids. Piccolo had been aware of Goku's death, and he had flown out to Mount Pazou weeks earlier to confirm the news for himself. Having been spending his time training on the other side of the mountain, not too far away, he was in close proximity when he sensed the altercation taking place at the little hut. Having been in the middle of a meditation session, Piccolo had initially ignored the fight taking place and chosen to continue with his mental trance.

It was when he felt that strong spike of ki that Piccolo become taken aback enough to open his eyes. He quickly flew to the scene of the battle and had perched in a nearby tree, observing everything from afar.

What he saw had been nothing less than enticing.

Piccolo had already known that Chi-Chi had been killed. He'd sensed it coming when he felt the strain of her energy as she had presumably attempted to protect her home. What he hadn't been expecting was the aftermath.

Evidently, not only had Gohan's speed been able to match the pests who had killed his mother, but he'd landed several blows on the one with the black hair…

Astounded, Piccolo watched as Gohan dodged several blows before finally taking a hit to the ribs. In response the boy had let out a primal scream, a wave of raw unfiltered energy exploding around him.

It had been enough to throw both of those teenagers back.

It had been enough that, after he had ceased with his cry and the ki had faded around him, the boy had been buried by an avalanche of dust.

The house the boy had been standing in front of had grown weak from his energy, and it had swiftly crumbled into a pile of splinters and shards of concrete, washing over the child in wave. The kid hadn't even seen it coming, the debris building up until he could no longer be seen nor heard.

The teenagers had retreated into the sky then, laughing as they looked down as the remnants of Son Goku's home.

"Too bad he died so easily. He was actually fun." The girl called, amusement lacing her typically monotone voice.

Then, and only then, did Piccolo realize something very drastic about that those menacing kids.

They couldn't sense ki.

It was clear from the pulsating of energy that the boy was still breathing under the rubble - he had merely been knocked out. How was it that those teenagers could be so tactful during altercations, but they didn't know that?!

'Whatever' Piccolo thought, adjusting his posture on the tree branch where he was perched. This was a weakness he'd finally learned of those kids, and this worked to his advantage, anyway...

...He waited several minutes as he listened to them flying away. And when he was certain that the notorious Island Killers were far enough that he wouldn't be seen, Piccolo jumped down from his spot to dig the child out from his self-induced grave. He'd been surprised to see that the child's hair, which had been a bright flame of yellow during battle, had completely reverted to a more suiting jet black, but he didn't worry too much on that feature.

This boy had been sloppy in his technique, but he'd still stood his ground against those kids. Surely, with proper training, he'd be able to make them eat their words. If the kid actually learned some technique instead of relying purely on his juvenile instinct, then there might lay some hope for this disgusting world after all.

He was unconscious, completely oblivious to his surroundings. His ki was nowhere near as stunning as it had been a few minutes earlier, but Piccolo found this to be a good thing. Nobody would suspect that the boy with the laughably weak aura would have such a capability hidden within. Not only was he strong when he wanted to be, but the boy also carried with him the element of surprise...

With no reason to hesitate, Piccolo lifted the child into his arms. The boy was limp, his face bruised and covered in soot, and he didn't so much as groan when Piccolo took off into the sky.

.

Now, weeks later, Piccolo was standing over the boy after watching what had just happened with those trees. The child was wiping tears from his face with his dirt caked hands, his voice quivering as he struggled to keep his composure. "It-it isn't fair…" He was sniffling, his shoulders bobbing manically as he fought for breath.

"No. It isn't." The mentor replied, furrowing his eyebrows as he watched the child. He turned his head to the side, sighing as a familiar sensation washed over his core for a countless time. He may not be able to understand what the boy was feeling, but he did understand how it felt to watch this child's torment.

With a sigh he knelt down to be at face level with the boy, placing a long hand on his shoulder. "And that is why we must train, do you understand?" He said. His temper had softened long ago, and he was no longer speaking with such a harsh demeanor. "You have the power to avenge your mother, kid. What happened just now with those trees, that wasn't any laughing matter. If we train so you learn to unleash that voluntarily, you'll be able to get revenge for your mom."

"I just wish we didn't have to hurt anyone…" Gohan whispered, looking up from his lap to face Piccolo. "None of this is fair…"

What was he supposed to say to that?

This boy was so odd.

So absolutely odd.

Even when speaking of the ones who had murdered millions, the child was exhibiting compassion. Such a reaction seemed so unnaturally tender to the man who had never known what the word care meant. Piccolo wanted to tell the child that he was being an idiot for feeling such a way.

He wanted to tell the boy that those Island Killers didn't deserve such regard.

And yet, as he looked into the child's eyes, he found it hard to say anything else that might dampen Gohan's mood even further.

And so, as Piccolo's fingers tightened around the boy's shoulder, he nodded.

"You'll be alright, kid."

He gulped as the words left his mouth.

It was all he could think to say.

"Follow my lead, and you'll be alright."

Happy New Year!

Thank you to everyone who left really helpful and nice comments for the last chapter. I wanted to post this one sooner but December got the best of me. I also felt a little challenged by this one. There were lots of different scenes taking place simultaneously, along with Piccolo's memory of meeting Gohan thrown in the middle, and I was trying to make sure it wasn't too confusing to read. I had trouble writing the last chapter because it was a filler, and similarly I had a hard time with this one. I don't think this chapter was so much of a filler, but more of a bridge... if that makes sense? This one did include plot development but it was subtle, and acting as a bridge to what is to come. I was also trying to get a good grip on Piccolo and Gohan's dynamic that they are forming, so I wanted to take my time with that and not rush the writing.

I am already well into chapter 21. :) It already has about 4,000 words typed up. I am not yet sure what the total length will be, but I think it's safe to say it shouldn't take me as long to publish as this one did!