A/N: Hey guys. Sorry this took so long. Life got really busy all of a sudden and my perfectionism was a bitch. Unfortunately, I think my update schedule is only gonna get more spotty from here on out with college about to start for me, but I'll try my best to get these chapters out in a timely fashion.

I'll be responding to reviews and giving some info about my thought process and stuff in the Author's Note at the bottom of the chapter, so feel free to check that out!


Chapter 5: The Swamp

Gohan had truly underestimated just how annoying roughing it would be.

Everything he'd read couldn't compare to the activity of "roughing it" itself. His limbs were heavy and sore, his stomach would give off a raucous growl every other minute that made him paranoid that a nearby animal would hear him, and his eyes would anxiously flit from tree to tree in suspense of a hidden assailant.

He felt like hell.

"Are we close to a city?" Shen groaned. "My feet are killing me!"

Gohan whacked what was probably the thousandth mosquito-gnat off of his arm. He wasn't keen on Shen's complaints at the moment, but he couldn't deny that they were warranted. "I think Omashu is a couple hundred miles off."

"You think?!"

Gohan raised his hands. "Hey, hey! Don't worry! It's the closest city, but there are smaller springs and pit-stops that we can head to along the way. We just need to tough it out for a little bit longer."

His stomach groaned in protest at the prospect of "toughing it out". He'd been feeling more than a little woozy from his lack of his usual intake of food. He knew he couldn't last much longer without a larger quantity. If he didn't want to be dead in a week, he'd need to start hunting. Unfortunately for him, he didn't know much about it at all.

His father would do it often and with great ease, but Gohan had never learned from him. He'd just studied. At least, it was the most that he could remember.

His constant headaches weren't making thinking any easier. He didn't know when they'd started up, but they'd been getting worse every day.

"I'm gonna go restock on food," Shen called over her shoulder, heading off for a bit of brush. "Beats turning into bug food."

Gohan shook his head and squinted at her. She looked slightly blurry. The sunlight was starting to make his headache worse. "N-No, we need to get moving if w-we want to make it to Omashu, quickly."

Shen turned to stare at him, brows furrowed. "Are ya alright?"

Gohan waved her off. "I'm fine. Now c'mon. Let's just get through this swamp and then we'll stock up. W-We can get this done by today, but o-only if we keep moving!"

Shen raised a brow at him. He knew her well enough to know that she didn't believe his posturing for a second. That girl was too perceptive for her own good. "Nah, I'm gonna stock up. I'll meet back up with you guys later!"

Gohan shook his head again and winced with the effort. "H-How are we going to find you?!"

"Toph can use her psychic powers, genius! I'll be back soon."

Shen was off before he could even get another word out.

"Let her go," Toph muttered. "It's better for us anyway. She can find food and we can keep moving outta this dump. These mosquito-gnats are driving me insane!"

Gohan couldn't disagree with her logic. "Fine, I just-"

A loud bellow rang throughout the swamp.

Toph threw up her hands with a growl. "Didn't you just eat ten minutes ago?!"

Gohan rubbed the back of his neck, bashfully. He could feel his cheeks heating up. He'd known that this conversation was bound to happen, but it didn't mean that he was keen on having it. "I-I have a high metabolism. I have to eat a lot of food or else I'll get really hungry."

"Why don't you go hunt something then?"

Gohan blanched as he abashedly glanced over at the trees in the distance. "I-I don't know how."

Toph rolled her eyes and batted at mosquito-gnat that was buzzing around her head. "Just go and figure it out! Consider it training."

Gohan stared at her uneasily, but she shooed him off. "Go! I'll find you guys if you can't find me!"

He wasn't naive. He could tell she'd been getting increasingly annoyed, not just by the surroundings. It kinda stung knowing that he was partially responsible for it. Nevertheless, Gohan gave an awkward nod before scurrying off. No need to make her more angry at him.


Wang Lei drummed his fingers against the table. His brother was running late as usual. The annoying brute probably thought he was too good for him. It would be just like him. Always looking down on him just because he had the bigger fighting operation.

For now, anyway.

His head snapped up to the sound of the bell over the door ringing, signifying the door opening. Xin Fu's familiar visage came through the door, and Wang Lei gave a sigh of relief. He stood and waved his brother over to his table by the window.

His brother took the seat in front of him and gave him a curt nod. "Sorry if I kept you waiting."

Wang Lei rolled his eyes. "No you're not. I just hope that you're ready to discuss this problem."

"I might have come faster if you told me what this problem was."

Wang Lei placed his hands on the table and leaned back in his chair, cocking his head back with a wide grin. "What? I can't build suspense?"

Xin Fu's eyes narrowed as he abruptly stood up. "If you're done wasting my time, I have more important things to do, brother."

"Hey, hey, hey!" Wang Lei hurriedly sped to his brother's side and blocked him off. "Hold on, I'll tell you, alright? Just sit down."

Xin Fu sat with a loud thump and a huff.

"Alright. So, y'know how my prized fighter was sent to the hospital?"

Xin Fu rolled his eyes. "Yes, I remember. You've been complaining about it for days."

Wang Lei tried not to get too annoyed by his flippant tone. "Well, Yaton was sent there by a kid."

Xin Fu raised a brow and became stock-still. "I'm listening."

"It was horrible!" Wang Lei had begun to pace by now. "Yaton had just finished taking down this huge guy. A real heavyweight. He took him down real easy and made him look like an amateur. I'm telling ya, Xin! Yaton could put your Blind Bandit to shame."

"Your point? Get to the point Wang."

"Alright! Alright. So, I asked if there were any other takers. Naturally, nobody came up. Except for this kid. She couldn't have been more than nine or something. I tell her. 'Yaton's gonna murder you kid! Better back out now!' I hoped she'd see reason, but no. She just got this crazy look in her eye and said that she 'had this.' I swear, kids these days are getting bolder and dumber."

"Wang Lei."

"OK, OK, I'm just setting the scene, damn man!" Wang Lei groaned. "Anyways, Yaton lets her off easy. Just a sprained ankle. This girl fucking screams, and I don't even know how to describe what happened next. One second Yaton's in the ring. The next, there's this other kid and Yaton's knocked outta his damn shoes and into Ba Sing Se!"

Xin Fu looked at him skeptically. "The kid didn't bend Yaton out of the ring?"

Wang Fei shook his head, furiously gripping the edge of the table. "No, that's just it! The kid's fist was out, but the Earth didn't move. Not a sign of bending."

"So he just appeared and reappeared and Yaton went flying?"

Wang Lei only faltered slightly at his brother's disbelieving stare before he nodded, repeatedly. "Yes! That kid made a fool outta my client and me by extension! He's gotta pay!"

Xin Fu rolled his eyes. "Let's say I believed your. . . tall tale, do you even know where any of the kids are? Do you have names?"

Wang Fri deflated at that before his eyes shone, again, with vigor. "Yes! I mean, I don't know where they went, but I recognized one of the people with him! I think you'll find them familiar."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, the Blind Bandit!"

Wang Lei smiled widely as Xin Fu looked him dead in the eye. He had his full attention now. "You saw the Blind Bandit, in public?"

"Yeah, I've been to enough of her matches to know what she looks like, thank you very much."

Xin Fu looked at him for a moment, his grey-eyed stare searching every bit of his expression. He worked his jaw once or twice before getting back up. "I'm leaving."

Wang Lei was back in front of him in an instant, holding his hands to his chest. He wasn't nearly as cut or strong as his brother, not to mention he wasn't even a bender. He was honestly praying to every spirit he knew that his brother wouldn't fling him into a wall like the incident two years ago.

Ugh that sucked. "Look," Wang Lei started, "aren't you a little bit curious about this whole thing?"

"This whole thing doesn't exist. What my fighters do outside of their time in the ring is none of my concern. Now, I'm leaving."

Xin Fu made to push past Wang Lei, but he shifted back into the man's path, blocking him off yet again. He barely held down a gulp at the intense glare on Xin's face. "Look, I know we've never seen eye to eye, but I'm serious about this. Please help me, man!"

Xin Fu stood in silence, still glaring daggers at him. Wang lost track of how many minutes went by with the brothers like that before Xin finally spoke. "I can call in a few favors to get you help looking into it. I won't be entertaining a second of this fantasy directly, you get me?"

Wang Fei nodded, fervently. He could barely contain a megawatt grin as he wiped at the sheen of sweat collecting on his forehead. "Understood, loud and clear, brother dearest!"

"Spirits, I regret this already. . ."


Gohan trudged through the low-lying water. His feet and shins were dripping with muddy water at this point. He still hadn't come any closer to finding any animals to hunt. He did find a couple hundred more mosquito-gnats, though.

He gripped his makeshift spear, firmly. It was made from a low hanging branch that he'd found. It was unfortunately a bit heavy and jagged, but it was the best one he could find on such short notice.

Unfortunately for him, his headaches hadn't gotten much better. In fact, it'd begun to come on more intensely. His vision was getting intensely blurry and he felt like he was on the verge of seeing double. It was like his brain was trying to beat its way out of his cranium.

"What am I doing?" Gohan muttered, his shoulders sagging. "Lugging around a branch in the middle of a swamp! I don't think there's much of anything to hunt, anyway! I-I can't do this!"

"Are you giving up, brat?"

Gohan glanced up in surprise. His eyes feverishly scoured the trees. He could've sworn the voice had come from above him, but he couldn't see a thing. Even if he did, it wouldn't make any sense. Who the heck could fly?

"Up here, brat!"

Gohan's eyes snapped up to see a floating Raditz. He slipped and fell into the mural in shock, losing his hold on his "spear" in the process. His heartbeat quickened to the point that he thought that he'd have a heart attack as his eyes unfocused. Raditz shouldn't be there, but he knew that he'd seen him. There was no way around it. He'd had enough nightmares about that monster to recognize that face for the rest of his life.

By the time he'd snapped out of his state, Raditz was gone and there was nothing. Not even a cloud in the sky.

Gohan took a deep breath as he scooped up his spear without taking his eyes off of his surroundings. He didn't dare let himself be caught off guard again.

He started his walk again, soaking in the muddy water. He sincerely hoped that Shen and Toph were having better luck than he was. Thinking of the two girls strengthened his resolve. They were willing to rough it out there for the sake of his vision; he'd be a coward to back out now.

"Hey, do you wanna go penguin sledding with me?"

Gohan spun on a dime. This time he easily spotted the speaker. It was a boy, probably no older than he was, adorned in. . .

That couldn't be right.

He had airbender clothing.

Airbenders were extinct.

They'd been extinct for nearly a century. Even if they were still alive and well, why would an airbender be out in the middle of an Earth Kingdom swamp? Still, the airbender boy looked somewhat familiar, if that even made any sense.

"Wow," Gohan muttered, laughing to himself. "I must be hungrier than I thought. Raditz and now airbenders. . . just wow. . ."

"Ugh! You are the most sexist!"

The swamp water around him started to bubble a bit. He glanced behind him to see a girl in a blue parka of sorts. Whether it be his headache or sheer hunger, he was barely able to make sense of her with how blurry his vision and senses had gotten. "I'm sorry," Gohan started. "What?"

"Immature!"

The water started to raise now, jumping a couple of feet into the air. Gohan looked between the water and the girl as he came to a realization. "H-Hey, maybe you shouldn't-"

"Nut-brained!"

The waters were rippling now. Waves larger than Gohan was tall wreaked havoc on the swamp foliage. He felt swamp water enter his mouth more than once as quickly as he could spit it out. "Miss! P-Please-!"

"I'm embarrassed to be related to you!"

If Gohan wasn't being battered by rapids, he would've commented on how weird that was. Instead, he held his hands to his face, desperately looking for some kind of relief from the harsh environment. That was when he felt a rumbling underneath his feet.

He shot up like a rocket, screaming as a sudden weightlessness hit him before he crashed back down into the swamp water. Pain exploded out from his back as he quickly attempted to regain his bearings. Gohan spat a mouthful of swamp water and he shook the water out of his hair while he bobbed in the water.

To his surprise, the girl was gone.


Shen held her wool bag of berries, listlessly walking amongst the shrubbery. She'd found a surprisingly large amount of berries here and there but not enough for everyone. Especially not for someone like Gohan's appetite. Thankfully, her knowledge of flora wasn't limited to just berries. She snagged a couple edible leaves here and there and threw in some seeds for good measure.

She rubbed her forearm across her brow to remove some excess sweat before glaring down at her bag. She'd done all this work, but there still wasn't enough food for all of them. She could tell Gohan had practically been starving himself to get them moving quicker, and, as the one who suggested they went on this voyage, she felt herself responsible for making sure he didn't keel over being an idiot.

There was no way around it, she supposed. She'd have to hunt.

She wasn't opposed to the whole experience, but there were a handful of factors working against her. A lack of a weapon, for one. She'd figured there might be a few Coypu-otters in the area, but she hadn't really seen any sign of them. Not even a couple antelope-deer.

Her blood ran cold as she spotted a pair of eyes staring at her from the trees. The eyes were gone just as quickly as they'd come. She took an unconscious step back as her mind went into high-alert. She was positive she'd seen human eyes. Her mind quickly flirted with the idea of the hunters still being alive.

Shen shook her head. "They wouldn't be crazy enough to come back. They got their asses handed to them twice. . ."

Still, there had to be some sort of explanation for the eyes. She didn't want to think about the possibility of the hunters attacking her because she was alone, but she couldn't rule it out.

"Shen? What are you doing out here?"

Shen froze at the voice. Her heartbeat quickened as she carefully turned around, not daring to believe her ears.

She caught sight of a familiar woman. The woman had sharp, brown eyes, carefully combed black hair that flowed past her shoulders, and flawless skin aside from a faint, horizontal scar that ran over the bridge of her nose. Her white sundress flowed majestically in the wind.

Shen had barely caught sight of her for a few seconds, but there was no mistaking that woman.

"Mom?"


Toph picked at her ear as she walked through the spirit-forsaken swamp. She hated walking in the muddy water. Don't get her wrong; she had no qualms about getting dirty, but she couldn't barely see a thing with the unstable earth under her feet. It was disorienting and a little bit alarming.

And she didn't like that one bit.

It was part of the reason that she'd sent off Gohan. All that stomach growling was making her paranoid. Not to mention, it made her lose focus on feeling vibrations in an already difficult terrain.

Add the mosquito-gnats to that awful equation and she was half-ready to punch something. Or someone.

'Great plan, Toph!' her inner mind seemed to jeer at her. 'Now you can find them again while basically blind in the middle of the swamp!'

Toph's frown deepened as she swatted at a mosquito-gnat on her arm. "Shut it, mind."

"Wow Toph. That's a bit rude."

Toph stopped, feeling a slight chill creep up her spine. "Gohan, did you hit your head or something? We just saw each other not that long ago."

She assumed it was Gohan at first. It certainly sounded like him, but he sounded. . . off. It was definitely Gohan, but the voice sounded deeper? "Who are you?!"

Gohan laughed with his chest. "It's me, Toph. Are you sure you didn't hit your head? I told you taking all those rocks to the head was gonna mess you up!"

Toph turned in the direction of the sound and found something odd. While the mud made her vision all murky, she was still able to feel some things, like people for example. When walking with Gohan and Shen, she'd been able to feel them the entire time. It was always faint, sure, but the reflections in the vibrations were still there.

She couldn't feel whoever was speaking in the slightest. Not even a little ripple.

Toph felt that chill grow stronger. "Who are you?"

The figure seemed to sigh. They muttered something unintelligible. Before she could ask what they said, they spoke louder. "C'mon follow me! You need to get to the center."

"What?! Hey, I'm not going anywhere with you! Answer my question!"

"You can't exactly see that well in the mud, Toph." His tone sounded exasperated. "Follow me unless you like to have mosquito-gnats swarming you."

Toph pondered her options for a moment before glaring at where she thought the voice came from. "If you do anything crazy, I'll waste you!"

Toph could hear a warm laugh come from the figure that made her scowl. "That's the Toph I know!"

The voice seemed to fade slightly. She took it as the individual moving away. She hurried her pace while still maintaining her scowl. "I can't believe this. I don't even know you, and I'm following you."

"You do."

"No, I don't."

"I'm Gohan, Toph. You know this."

"Gohan doesn't sound like a grown man!"

She didn't know what she was expecting, but it definitely wasn't a full blown laugh. The man let out a loud, boisterous laugh that seemed to reverberate throughout her entire soul. As annoyed as she was, she couldn't help the small quirk in her lips. "Ah, not yet, I'm not."

Toph felt like there was double meaning in that. Her mind was already coming to one odd conclusion, but she quickly tossed it aside. It would have been unsettling and remarkably unlikely. Never one to back down from a challenge, she glared ahead. "Where to?"

"Where else? The center."


Gohan stumbled through the swamp. He could feel the lactic acid coursing through his limbs, making him more and more sluggish. He'd long since abandoned his previous attempt at hunting as he instead meandered his way through the swamp. The mosquito-gnats were flocking to him, due to his unfortunate state of being drenched in dirty swamp water.

He hadn't been able to get dry and he was reluctant to shed his shirt as it was his only form of clothing. He could hardly believe it, but he found himself longing for the orphanage. Even more than that he found himself wanting to be back home on his actual Earth. He felt an intense sadness from not being able to remember much of it. Most of his memories weren't of actively being there. Rather, they were visions of his family once he'd left the planet.

He felt his hands start to clam up as his heartbeat started to race from a particularly unsavory memory. He cast out visions of blood and death from his mind as he took deep breaths, unconsciously squatting to a crouch in the process. It wouldn't do him any good to have a panic attack in the middle of the swamp. He needed to be helpful and assertive, like Shen and Toph, after all.

'OK, think useful thoughts. I haven't found much to hunt, but I haven't seen any weird people complaining about sexist siblings or something. We're bound to get out of this swamp by today if we keep moving, so I might as well head back to Toph and-'

He stopped suddenly as his head pounded. He barely registered his spear dropping with a splash as he fell to his knees. It felt like someone was slamming a chisel against his brain.

Before he knew it, his world exploded into fire. He stood up with alarm as his eyes swept over his surroundings. Everything was burning as smoke billowed into the sky. There wasn't anyone screaming this time, though. There were still the occasional dead bodies strewn about the landscape.

Gohan took a deep breath to slow his quickening heart. He forced his gaze to the skies for any sign of the quintet of aliens from his earlier vision, only to find one lone man floating above the wreckage. The man's hair looked not unlike fire itself. It danced in the wind, staying straight up to the sky.

He could recognize that silhouette anywhere. "Vegeta!"

With that his vision faded and he was back in the swamp. His breathing hadn't gotten much slower since the vision as he scanned them with wild eyes. He swatted at a couple mosquito-gnats that had perched on his arm during his ordeal.

"Gohan!"

Gohan spun to see Shen running towards him. He inwardly winced at how jumpy he'd gotten as he pushed himself to his feet. "Hey, Shen! What's up?" As he said this, he scanned her quickly for any new injuries. He couldn't find anything aside from her slight limp that was quickly finding his way out and her flushed cheeks, likely from running.

"I heard screaming, so I came over!" she exclaimed, finally stopping a few feet in front of him with a bag in hand.

Gohan's brows furrowed. "Screaming?"

"Yeah. You were screaming up a storm over here."

Gohan bit his tongue before he could spit out a curse. He wanted to smack himself for being so careless. "Huh. . ."

Shen waved her free hand. "Whatever, not important. Have you noticed anything off about this place?"

He froze for a second. Although he'd normally tell Shen about the strange things he'd seen, the visions he'd had today could hardly be written off as his regular type of visions. He was almost certain that they weren't real, but they were different. He didn't know how to describe it. He didn't want to look like a crazy person, but he didn't want to lie either.

After a few moments of deliberation, Gohan pursed his lips as he gave a one-armed shrug. "I've been seeing some weird stuff, and I've had this killer headache ever since we've. . ."

"What?"

Gohan absentmindedly touched a hand to his head as he felt a knot in his gut. "My headache's gone! Wait no. It's still there, but it's not as bad as it was earlier. What about you? Did you see anything?"

"Hm?"

"Did you see anything interesting?" Gohan repeated.

Shen tried to hide it, but she had a sort of haunted look on her face. Now that he thought about it, she looked considerably paler than usual. "Yeah just some weird hallucinations. I feel a large amount of spiritual energy here."

Gohan's brows shot to his hairline. "Seriously?"

Shen nodded. "I don't like this. We need to find Toph and get outta here!"

"Right! Argh!"

Gohan dropped to one knee as he pressed a hand to his forehead. A sharp stinging pain took over his senses. It was so remarkably excruciating that he wished he would just pass out. He could barely register Shen at his side, shaking him.

Thankfully, just as soon as it had started, it was over, leaving Gohan gasping for air.

"Hey, Gohan! What's going on?!"

Gohan stopped cold. He didn't know how to describe what he was feeling. It was like a whole new type of sense. All he knew was that he could feel everything. The best way he could think to describe it was like hundreds of candles flickering around him. They were kinda far away, but it was like a certain type of heat that he could still feel.

He slowly glanced up at Shen's scared face. He could feel her warmth, too. It was almost tangible. He hadn't felt anything like it before and it was terrifying.

But at the same time it felt right.

He focused his new sense out and he picked up a familiar warmth. It felt like Shen but different at the same time. He had no reason to be as certain as he was, but that was Toph.

"She's over there," Gohan felt himself say. "Not too far off to the north."

He looked up to see Shen's expression contorted into a curious mix of relief, worry, and confusion. If it were any other circumstance, Gohan would have a chuckle at befuddling her so easily. "And y'know this how?"

Gohan shrugged with a bewildered expression. "I dunno! I just do!"

Shen shrugged. "Better than nothing I guess. Let's just go before whatever that was happens again!"


Toph trudged alongside her temporary companion.

She hadn't gotten much of a better read on him since their walk. She still couldn't sense him or much of anything else for that matter. "Gohan" was still as overly chipper as ever, though.

"So what has the journey been like so far?" the voice asked.

"Aren't you Gohan?" snapped Toph. "You've been on this journey with me, so you should know!"

"Gohan" hummed in an annoying manner. "You're right, but I've never heard about your opinion on it."

Toph didn't gratify him with a response. She just concentrated on trying to feel out for Shen and the real Gohan as she walked. Unfortunately, the fake Gohan couldn't take a hint. It almost made Toph miss the real Gohan. At least he knew when to drop something. "C'mon, Toph. This could be a fun way to pass the time. We could get to know each other better, and realize important things about ourselves! The whole nine yards!"

Toph stopped with a deep huff. "You wanna know how I feel? I feel annoyed that I'm walking through a swamp. I can barely see a thing, and mosquito-gnats are practically attached to me. Is that good enough for you?!"

"Gohan" snorted. "Yeah and before that?"

Before she could respond, "Gohan" spoke again. "Hold on. I'm just talking to Toph. . . Yeah, yeah! I'm surprised it worked too! . . OK Shen, can I get back to talking with Toph. . ? Thank you. Shen says hi."

Toph's jaw tightened. "What is going on?"

"Toph, you already know. You don't need me to spell it out for you."

"But-"

"We're almost there," Gohan interrupted. "Just under a hundred meters or so."

Toph hated to admit it, but she did have an idea. With spirits existing and possibly walking around with a psychic, she couldn't entirely write off time travel. At the same time, time travel felt like a huge leap to take. Despite herself, she couldn't help but ask, "How am I doing?"

"You?"

Toph felt her cheeks heat up. She crossed her arms to try and ignore it. "That's what I said, isn't it?"

"Why, but whatever do you mean?" came Gohan's cheeky voice.

"Answer me, ya dummy!"

Gohan laughed again. For once, it didn't sound annoying. At least, entirely, anyways. "Fine. You're doing great."

"Anything else?"

She didn't want to say it, but she was hoping he would mention something about her parents. It would be great if they'd come to their senses and accept her in the future. Toph couldn't help a little smile at the thought of it.

"I'm sorry, Toph," said Gohan. "I can't tell you that."

Toph's scowl returned with a vengeance as she stalked ahead.

"Argh!"

Toph was loath to admit, but she nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound. "What?! What's going on?!"

"Ah!" Gohan groaned. "I didn't realize the effects would be this bad! Your friends are here, but I've gotta go."

"Wait! What are you-?!"

"Remember! You're less than 70 meters off from the center if you keep going straight ahead! And the swamp people will be there! Tell them that you were sent there by the Swamp!"

"What?!"

"Just do it!"

"Toph!"

Toph jerked as she turned. All the commotion had made her forget to pay attention to her surroundings, but she could now sense two figures coming towards her.


Gohan and Shen raced towards Toph, swamp water lapping at their legs as they went. Gohan got to Toph first, quickly looking her over. "Are you alright, Toph?"

Toph waved a hand. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. We need to get over there." She jutted a finger behind her. "It's pretty close by."

Gohan frowned as he glanced at her. That looked like the direction Shen had told him held the strongest spiritual energy. Heck, he could feel a little tug himself. "How do you know we're supposed to go there?"

"Just come on!"

She took off as fast as she could risk. Gohan and Shen followed after her. Before long, they were in an enclosure that looked to be a habitat for some people. There was no one around, but the food left over was sign enough. It took all of Gohan's self-control not to race over and start scarfing it all down.

"He said they'd be here?"

Gohan's brows furrowed, but Shen got the question out first. "Who's he?"

Before Toph could say a word, a wildly long arm swatted at Gohan. He dove to the side just in time. He rolled back to his feet and stared down the behemoth.

It was a giant swamp monster. Its face towered over each of them, easily. It was easily taller than his orphanage and Toph's mansion for that manner. It's swamp weed-like body was dripping with swamp water. Its face didn't even look normal. It looked wooden with some kind of scarred on facial features.

Gohan just stared at it in absolute bewilderment. "What the. . ."

"What the fuck is that shit?!" blurted Shen.

She quickly dropped into a stance and was likely getting ready to start bending mud when Toph made a shout. "Hey, Swamp people! We were sent here by the Swamp!"

The Swamp monster stopped abruptly. In fact, everyone seemed to stop at once. Gohan watched her with a mix of trepid anticipation and grudging admiration. Toph continued on, seemingly unrattled by the giant. "Yeah, you sent for us, right?"

The Swamp monster's face peeled back until the face of an old man was revealed. "What? I didn't send you here."

Gohan somehow found his voice at this admission. "Y-You're not the one sending us all of those visions?"

The Swamp man/monster watched them all, warily, before letting his plant armor unravel. The weed lowered him gently to the ground before falling limp. The man himself was a lot less intimidating. He looked like a fairly average height man with wildly unkempt grey hair and a full beard. "You said something sent you?"

"Yeah," Toph replied. "I thought it was you?"

The man frowned, rubbing his chin. "So you aren't here to harm the swamp?"

"No way!" Gohan retorted. He loved nature. It would sicken him to go out of his way to harm it.

The man regarded them carefully before letting out a deep sigh. "Alright, come with me."


As they made their way deeper into the man's abode, Gohan found himself more and more on edge. Sure, it was beautiful with its smatterings of flora with some fish swimming freely in the water and low hanging trees which shone wonderfully when hit just right by the sun's rays, but as they went, he saw more and more people. Many of them watched them warily with narrowed eyes. He felt like a criminal and he hadn't even done anything.

"This is a nice place you have here, sir!" Gohan said. He truly meant it, but it was also nice to get his mind off of the individuals glaring daggers them.

"Ah, call me Huu," Huu said with a wave of his hand. "But thank you! This place is a work of beauty and dedication. I certainly can't claim all of it though."

"There sure are a lot of ya."

Gohan glanced back to Shen, who was trailing slightly behind him. She had her stare moving from person to person as they ventured forward. "How come we didn't meet you?"

Huu shrugged. "You probably did and you didn't know it. We're always on the lookout for those who wish to harm the swamp."

Gohan blanched at the idea that he really might have been being watched. Shen seemed to take it the same way, only mustering up a weak, "Peachy."

Thankfully, Toph was quick to shift the vibe. "I heard some voices here. What was that about?"

Huu glanced back at her for a moment, never once breaking stride. "The swamp is a very spiritual place."

"So I've noticed."

Huu gave a low chuckle at the dry tone. "The swamp is sacred, and it's called many of us here. It called me here as well."

One look at Toph's face and Gohan knew that she wanted to say more, but she kept to herself. In the time that he'd known her, he couldn't think of many times that she'd held her tongue. He decided to keep that as a mental note for another time.

After a couple more minutes of walking, Huu stopped at the base of a tree. "Alright, we're here!"

Gohan stared up at the tree with no small amount of awe. It was truly a giant. It had to stretch up for over a hundred feet at the least. Its trunk was remarkably wide to support such a giant tree. The bark was rough and weathered from years and years of growth and moss hung from just about every branch in sight.

But if Gohan knew one thing, it was that the tree was powerful. He could feel its raw Ki reverberating throughout the entire swamp. It was truly a marvel of nature and he couldn't help but be curious of its origins.

"Although, I've learned much about the Swamp," Huu spoke up drawing, Gohan's attention again. "I can't pretend to know why it called you children here. What brings you to these parts, anyways?"

Gohan glanced over at Shen. The two held a silent conversation before he nodded. "It may be hard to believe, but I have this ability to see the future."

He paused waiting for the man's rebuke, but it didn't come. "So," Gohan continued, "I got a vision recently about an incoming threat. My friends and I are on a mission to warn the Earth King about this, and, hopefully, the rest of the world."

Huu stroked his beard. "Hm. Most interesting. Well, this tree is connected to everything else in the swamp. It's like the Earth in a way."

"No offense," Shen interrupted. "But is there a point to this."

Gohan was on the verge of admonishing her when Huu gave a snort. "Oh yeah, there's a point, alright. Just like this tree with the swamp, we're all connected to one another. You see, the swamp reveals this truth to everyone who comes into it. We see visions of those that we've lost and those that we've loved. It reminds us all that nothing ever truly dies. We are all connected by the great tree of life."

Gohan's mind was reeling. He knew for certain that he didn't like Raditz in the slightest, and he didn't even know two of the people that he'd seen before. It didn't make any sense.

Gathering his thoughts, Gohan asked, "But what about people that we haven't met before? What does that mean?"

He fought the urge to squirm under the feeling of everyone's stares being suddenly thrust upon him. He kept his eyes on Huu who had a thoughtful expression on his face. "I'm not sure," he drawled. "It would maybe have to do with things yet to be. Future branches on the tree, if you will."

Gohan sighed but nodded. It would make sense for him. Maybe the swamp reacted with his brain and caused him to have pseudo-visions of the future instead of things from his past? It could've explained the headaches at least.

"Thank you, sir, er, Huu," Gohan said with a bow. "You've been a great help!"

"Don't mention it, boy."

"Hey, can we go now," said Toph. "We'd like a way out of this swamp, and I can barely see a thing here."

Huu nodded and chuckled. "Right! Follow me."

Gohan groaned, holding his head as another painful wave of headaches passed over him. His sight exploded into a piercing white light as he was torn into another vision.


The buildings were partially crumpled and covered in grasses and mosses. These were amongst the first things that Gohan noticed.

Everything seemed like it was in bad shape. The many grasses in the area had run wild, various roads were cracked and filled with vegetation, and Gohan could swear that he saw a couple of scorch marks on certain buildings.

"These have to be the Airbender temples. . ." Gohan muttered, his eyes surveying the surroundings. "The damage is worse than I could've imagined!"

"The power will come spilling out of you-"

"-like a geyser!"

"Yes! Correct!"

Gohan turned abruptly, to see himself and a bearded old man in a beige colored robe. No, Gohan corrected, a future version of himself. Or was it? Could visions inside of the Swamp be trusted? All that thinking and second-guessing was making his headache worse so Gohan decided to focus on the conversation instead.

"I'll have to ask one favor of you, child," said the old man. "I'm sorry for any inconvenience it may cause."

"Ah, it'll be no problem, sir," Future Gohan responded. Gohan noticed that the future version of himself looked stronger but not as strong as the one who faced Vaatu. "It's the least I can do."

"Could you keep an eye out for the Avatar, if possible? I must train him to master his full potential, and I believe he will be of wonderful aid to you!"

"Sure, I'll try, Guru Pathik."


Gohan winced as he pushed himself back to his feet. If he got one more vision, he was gonna puke.

"What's wrong?" Shen asked. "Did you see something?"

Gohan took a deep breath before glancing around at his company. "I think I got a clue."


A/N: Hooooo my God that took way too long to write lmao. I totally wasn't expecting this to be 7,000+ words, but here we are. I wasn't too happy about how this turned out at first, but I mostly like it now. I thought it'd be important to have a multiple character point of view chapter with the main trio, plus I felt like the swamp was a good place to get creative with things.

So it kinda worked out in the end.

Onto the reviews:

X3runner: I enjoyed reading your observations on the trio. Ya definitely got em spot on lol. To answer your first question, yeah, they're gonna meet a lot more Avatar characters before this fic is over. I got a lotta plans in store for these guys! Also, yeah it could be cool if Gohan recreated Ki techniques by watching other benders techniques. While he isn't as good as Goku with mimicry, I think it'd be interesting to see him try. Who knows?

michellehernandez2316: I really appreciate you being so understanding, and I'm glad you like the character dynamics. Imma try my best to get it just right.

Hamza9236: Ooh I'm glad you mentioned that! You are absolutely correct. The trio and the Avatar world definitely can't handle the Ginyu Force as they are right now, but thas where the fun part comes in. I've got a lot planned for this! *insert evil laughter here*

But as always, feel free to review, favorite, and follow. It's really motivating to see all your ideas and constructive criticisms, so definitely feel free to keep 'em coming.

Have a good day, night, or afternoon! Stay awesome people!

Uploaded: July 3rd, 2021