A/N: Thanks to all those who have read this story and especially those who reviewed or favorited so far. I hope you have been enjoying reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing.

Disclaimer: I do not own DBZ

Chapter 5: The fifth chapter!

High above the earth, Piccolo stood, stock still, at the edge of the lookout. It had already been several weeks since the Intergalactic tournament and things had gone back to normal, mostly. The incident with BoJack really opened the z fighters' eyes about how many dangers to the earth there really were. Since then, everyone decided to take their training more seriously. Krillin, Tien, and even Yamcha, went on another training journey like they had done in the past. Trunks, of course, had to return to his own time since there were future problems to deal with. Piccolo and Gohan had been pushing themselves especially hard during training and Gohan had been especially focused on perfecting his super saiyan 2 form.

Training was all well and good, but that's not what Piccolo was so lost in thought for. Right now, he was trying to locate a particular escaped P.O.W. (or at least that's how he thought of her) but was, so far, unsuccessful. Piccolo wasn't surprised that the girl was hard to track. After all, her entire gang was stealthy enough to sneak up on earth and infiltrate the tournament with none of the z fighters sensing their presence. That alone was enough to show just how adept at Ki suppression this girl was but that didn't stop Piccolo from getting annoyed that he couldn't find her. In all honesty, though, he was more annoyed with himself that he had left her unattended so she could escape in the first place.

Flashback

Piccolo, Dende, Gohan and Trunks had just arrived at the lookout from the hospital and saw a very worried looking Mr. Popo.

"Hey Mr. Popo!" Gohan exclaimed "Long time no see. How have you been?"

"Hello Gohan, I am well." Mr. Popo responded.

"And how's our prisoner?" asked Piccolo.

"You mean our patient, right Piccolo?" Dende asked with a nervous laugh and sweat drop.

"You say Potato, I say prisoner." Piccolo replied with no hint he was joking, making the rest of the group sweat drop and laugh nervously as well. "Either way, where is she?"

"Well, you see, I'm afraid she has left." Mr. Popo stated apologetically.

"WHAT!" Yelled Piccolo, a vain pulsating in his temple.

"Mr. Popo, How could she leave? She was in critical condition when we left her and we haven't been gone that long." Dende was more worried about the state of his patient than the fact that she escaped. It wasn't like she posed a serious threat with all those injuries.

"I don't know." Mr. Popo said dejectedly "I had just stepped out to prepare some food for when you brought Gohan and trunks back and when I returned, she was gone."

"Then we have a serious problem." Piccolo said. "If she is strong enough to leave on her own then she is strong enough to be a threat to the planet."

"Don't you think you're overreacting a bit Mr. Piccolo?" Gohan tried calming his mentor down. "I mean Zangya didn't seem like she was a bad person to me, after all she did help save me from BoJack. She could have just run off and hid somewhere till he killed us but she came and helped. I think we can give her a pass for now."

Piccolo looked like he wanted to argue but after looking at Gohan he realized that they did kind of owe the girl. He decided to let her go, for now. Piccolo chuckled at how similar his young friend was to his former rival.

Gohan smiled. He had, of course, truly thought that Zangya wasn't a bad person but the real reason for his decision was a factor far greater than altruism. "Well, now that that's settled, Did I hear something about food Mr. Popo?"

Yes, hunger conquers all. Gohan had stopped worrying about the conversation the minute Mr. Popo said "food". Hospital food just didn't cut it when it came to a saiyan stomach.

"Er, yes." Mr. Popo replied. "I will bring the food right out. I know how you saiyans are with food so I made a lot of everything."

""MY FAVORITE!"" yelled Trunks and Gohan in unison.

As the two half saiyans chowed down, it was piccolos turn to sweat drop.

"Yup…" Piccolo sighed. "Definitely Gokus kid."

End Flashback

Whole weeks had gone by and still no sign of the alien girl. Piccolo knew that she was too weak to be a threat with him and Gohan around but that didn't keep him from being anxious, especially with the information he had beat out of the other member of Bojacks gang. That Information had kept him on edge throughout this whole situation. His focus switched from trying to find Zangya to reviewing what he had learned about the Hera soldiers' plans. Before he could meditate on that sufficiently, he was interrupted by a cough behind him.

"Hemhem… Piccolo? You've been standing there for several hours now." Before he continued Dende wanted to make sure he hadn't angered the older namekian. When Piccolo just looked at him with a neutral expression he went on. "Not that that's a problem, but weren't you going to go train with Gohan today?"

Oh yeah, I completely spaced on that, I'm going to be so late. Piccolos expression didn't relay his thoughts as he just said "Don't worry kid, I remember. I'll be back later Dende, let me know if anything happens, ok?" Dende just nodded. And Piccolo flew off towards Mt. Paozu.

"Few," sighed Dende. "And I thought Nail was intense."

Break

Piccolo Flew through the Mountains as fast as he could so he wouldn't be too late. Normally he wouldn't care who it was or how long he made them wait but Gohan somehow made him feel guilty when he wasn't on time. Not that the Namekian would show his feelings but they were there all the same.

Piccolo was about a mile from the training point but out of nowhere, a ki blast shot past him.

I knew it! That Girl can't be trusted! "Oh, you think you can sneak up on me!? Let's see how you handle this! HAAAAAAA!" Piccolo sent a rapid fire ki attack that covered a wide area of the ground below and caused a huge explosion. He knew that level of attack wasn't enough to do any serious damage to her but it should at least smoke her out. He dropped to a defensive stance with both arms at the ready. He looked back and forth, Up and down. No sign of her. "Come on, where are you?" He growled impatiently.

"RIGHT HERE!"

Before Piccolo had time to react, a body appeared close behind him, wrapped their legs around his waist and put him in a rear choke hold. Piccolo was about to do an "evil explosion" to get the attacker off until he realized who it was.

"I got you Mr. Piccolo!" Cheered a grinning Gohan. "What happened to always being aware of your surroundings?" The boy cheerfully taunted, using his masters' own words against him. Gohan had been waiting to ambush Piccolo, as pay back, for almost an hour. He was about to think Piccolo wasn't coming until he sensed the green man speeding his way. The fact that piccolo was so focused on getting where he was going was an added bonus that made Gohans plan work out better than he could have hoped, which, of course, made the boy ecstatic.

Piccolo, on the other hand, was feeling the exact opposite as his pupil but for some reason, he was grinning.

"Oh really? You got me, did you?" Gohan could here something in his tone that he didn't like and was going to let go but Piccolo wasn't going too let him off so easy.

Piccolo grabbed onto Gohans arm with his right hand and stretch his left arm out till it was 10 feet long.

"Uh-oh." Gohan Gulped. I forgot he could do that.

Piccolo used his left arm to grab the back of Gohans gi and flung him off. Instead of letting go, he retracted his arm to its normal length and, while still holding onto the young half saiyan, flew at full speed straight towards the ground. When the impacted the earth, causing a crater to form courtesy of Gohans face, the namekian wasn't through and he started dragging his pupils face across the land as he flew. As Piccolo was plowing the ground with Gohans face a yellow glow started to form around the boy.

"MMMMMPHAA!" Came the muffled shout of Gohan as he went super saiyan. This allowed him to finally break free of his mentors hold and he delivered a kick straight to Piccolos sternum causing the larger man to fly back.

"Come on Piccolo that was just uncalled for!" Gohan complained about his rough treatment.

"Uncalled for? Huh. Well Gohan when you put it like that, I guess I have no choice but to say DESTRUCTIVE WAVE!" Piccolo fired a blast of yellow energy at Gohan dodged only to have piccolo appear behind him. Piccolo put his hands together above his head and brought them down on Gohan in a jackhammer fist. Gohan blocked the attack but dropped several meters.

"Ok, Mr. Piccolo, I guess we're comin' out the gate full speed." He powered up and charged at Piccolo. He aimed a flying uppercut at Piccolo, followed by a spinning back hand, both of which Piccolo blocked, if only barely. The first two strikes threw his sparring partner off balance and allowed the super saiyan to make it through his guard with a charged left straight. If Gohan was paying attention to his mentors face he would have seen a bit of fear just before his fist made contact with his side. Piccolo went flying but Gohan was having to much fun to let him get too far. He raced after him and was about to deliver an axe kick to send him into the ground, but piccolo aimed a knife hand strike at his neck followed by a 3 hit combo ending with a roundhouse.

Gohan dodged the first attack by leaning back a bit, letting the sharp nails of his teacher breeze past him, and swayed from side to side to avoid his next two hits. The roundhouse got gohan in the side but piccolo took too long to bring his leg back in and Gohan used his arm to lock the leg to his side. Gohan started spinning around as fast as he could and launched piccolo into the sky.

"Kamehame…" While Gohan was charging his beam, Piccolo started to Panic a bit.

Oh crap! If that hits me, I'm toast! Maybe I did go a bit far… Nah, the runt deserved it.

Piccolo began charging his own blast "MASENKO…"

""HA"" They both fired at the same time. The beams met midair and for a brief moment a power struggle occurred. The struggle was short, though, as Gohans beam overpowered Piccolos and went straight toward the namekian. Piccolo braced for impact but just before the beam hit, he was pulled out of the way by Gohan. As soon as he realized that he put to much power into the Kamehameha wave and it might seriously hurt Piccolo, he sped up to his mentor's side and pulled him away at the last minute. Gohan smiled at him and Piccolo looked relieved. Gohan started laughing as he dropped out of super saiyan.

"Sorry about that Mr. Piccolo." He said sheepishly while rubbing the back of his head. "Sometimes I don't know my own strength."

Piccolo smirked at his friend. "Don't worry about it, kid, I guess I have something to say to you too."

Gohan looked at his master in shock. Was Piccolo about to apologize? But before he could express his shock, Piccolo fired his eyebeams at Gohan, causing him to spasm in a comical way reminiscent of an electric shock. When the beams stopped gohan was smoking, with his hair standing more on end than usual and had a silly look on his face.

"Dodge." Was all Piccolo said

Break

After about an hour of sparring, Gohan and Piccolo decided to take a break. Both fighters were exhausted and, piccolo was especially sore. He had insisted that Gohan try to retrain his super saiyan state like when he was in the hyperbolic time chamber. While this was a great way for gohan to acclimate to the super saiyan power, it made it nearly impossible for piccolo to keep up. Fortunately, Gohan learning to hold back was also a good exercise in power control so Piccolo didn't actually die.

"So, you've got your interview later this afternoon huh?" Piccolo asked Gohan.

"Yeah. To be honest I'm a little nervous. I've never really interacted with other kids and I'm not sure how to act. I mean, I'm pretty sure I can answer any academic questions, but my mom says they ask other stuff too. Like about me personally." Gohan laid down and put his hands behind his head.

"So what?" Piccolo responded, not really getting why Gohan was worried. "It's not like there's anything wrong with you. Just answer the questions normally and you'll be fine."

"But that's just it. I have no idea how a normal 12-year-old should answer a question about "hobbies" and "interests" or "what my favorite words are".

"What?" Piccolo said, confused at the randomness of the last one.

"Those are the kind of questions my mom said they would ask." Gohan explained. "See, I like Training and studying and my favorite words are "Kamehameha", "Masenko" and "quantum physics". The problem is, I'm pretty sure most preteens aren't going to answer that way and if I do then they will think I'm strange or something." Gohan sighed. He really wanted to go to school and further his education, but he feared with the way his life had been until now he didn't have a shot at going to a normal school.

Piccolo thought for a moment. Gohan probably had a point. Not many children spent their life surrounded by warriors and training to defend the earth from hostile aliens. More's the pity. Thought Piccolo. He didn't really know what normal kids did, since his childhood was pretty much the same as Gohans, but he did know that it was part of his job as a mentor to give the kid some advice.

"Look Gohan, you are absolutely right. You're about as far from normal as they come. You've been kidnapped three times, your dad has died twice, you have been near death yourself too many times to count and your closest personal associate outside of family is me, a tall green alien who used to have aspirations of world conquest." Nothing that Piccolo was saying made Gohan feel any better as he sat up to listen better. "But you also have people who care about you. You do the right thing no matter how scared you are and you've saved the planet at least twice by now. You're an amazing kid Gohan and if the interviewers can't see that then screw them." With a special beam cannon if I have anything to say about it.

Gohan didn't know what to say to that. He stared at Piccolo and was, once again, glad that he was friends with Piccolo. He opened his mouth to say something in reply when piccolo narrowed his eyes and, faster than blinking, flew toward a tree, smashing through it, grabbing an apparent eaves dropper by the throat and slammed them against a nearby boulder cracking it. the interloper had teal skin and orange hair and was struggling against piccolos grip.

"So, you thought you could sneak up on us and strike when we were tired, huh? Well this ought to teach you to underestimate us." Piccolo charged a ki blast with his free hand causing Zangyas eyes to widen when Gohan yelled loudly.

"PICCOLO STOP!"

Piccolo looked back at Gohan without loosening his grip and powered down his ki.

"Piccolo let her go, can't you see she's injured?"

Zangya had bruises and scratches all over her and it was clear that she was still recovering from the beating BoJack gave her. Piccolo was still reluctant to let her go.

"It's alright, she won't hurt us, Right Zangya?" At his gentle questioning she shook her head vehemently and croaked out a weak "No."

Piccolo reluctantly let her go and she fell to the ground. Gohan rushed over to her and looked her over. "Are you alright?" Gohan asked with genuine concern, a concern that surprised her more that Piccolos sudden attack.

"I'm fine." She stated somewhat shakily.

"Why were you spying on us?" Piccolo demanded.

"I wasn't spying!" the alien replied defensively. "I was trying to avoid you but your fighting kept pushing you nearer and before I had a chance to escape you decided to take a rest!" Zangya may have been terrified of the namekian but she would be damned if she would be falsely accused of anything so pedestrian as spying. Genocide and piracy sure, but spying? Never.

"It's ok Zangya, it is Zangya isn't it?" Gohan asked. She nodded and he went on. "I know if you wanted to hurt us you would have when BoJack was wailing on us."

Zangya stayed silent she remembered that day vividly and it still made her body ache. She had turned on her master for the sake of a stranger. She had been trying to figure out what made her do something so irrational. It was true that the kid had saved her from BoJack when he tried to kill her but then why didn't she take her chances and just flee? That would have been the smart thing to do. But instead she went up against a man she had no hope of defeating and got the living Hera beat out of her.

"Why?" Gohans sudden question matched her own thoughts so well she didn't realize it was him who asked it.

"Why what?" Zangya responded.

"Why did you try to save me from BoJack?" Gohan clarified.

"I…don't know."

Gohan was a little confused by her response. "Oookaay, why did you leave the lookout? Your obviously still hurt and in no shape to be out and about. We could have helped you."

This made her laugh mirthlessly "Ha! Leave myself at your mercy more like. I know what being a prisoner is and I don't take kindly to it."

"Well if you don't want to be a prisoner, I suggest you don't try to commit genocide on a planetary scale." Said piccolo harshly.

The two glared at each other intensely but Zangya broke first and she turned away with a "Tch." Gohan wasn't sure what to do. He knew that Piccolo was right and she had come to earth with the intent to destroy, but part of him felt like there was more to the story. He also couldn't bring himself to further injure somebody who was too hurt to defend themselves. Gohan then did what he thought his father would do.

"Can you fly?" he asked Zangya.

Startled by his question she just shook her head in shame. She saw pity in his eyes. Pity was for the weak and she was not weak.

"Ok hop on." Gohan squatted down and gestured for her to climb on his back.

Appalled at such a notion her face actually turned red "I most certainly will not!" she cried

"Oh, come on." Gohan said exasperated. "You can't fly and we need to get you somewhere safe so you can heal. Just hope on my back and we'll be there in no time."

"I will not take charity from my enemies! And I will NOT be pitied by anyone, especially not a child."

Gohan sighed and stood up. "Ok, I guess we do this the hard way." He walked over to Zangya, who tried to get into a fighting stance, but before she could, Gohan grabbed her by the waist and hoisted her onto his shoulder.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? PUT ME DOWN THIS INSTANT YOU SAIYAN BRAT!"

"Look, You're the one who didn't want to be pitied." Gohan explained casually. "So now I'm just carrying you in the least pitiable way I can think of."

"You mean the most Humiliating way you can think of! I am not some rug to be hefted about by KYAA!" Gohan took off so fast that it startled Zangya and she let out a rather adorable squeal. The rest of the trip she stayed quiet out of embarrassment.

Piccolo had observed Gohans methods and realized that there was more than one way to demoralize an opponent.

Break

Little baby Goten was Crying up a storm at the Son house. Chichi had tried everything but nothing seemed to appease him. He wasn't hungry (A miracle all its own) and he didn't need changing. He wasn't falling asleep and, no matter what she did or said, nothing would calm him down.

"UWAAAAH! UWAAAH!"

"Oh sweety, please stop crying." She begged her newborn. "Mommy really needs to get ready for a meeting for your brother." At the mention of Gohan, Gotens Wailing increased tenfold.

"UUUWAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Just when Chichi was about to give up hope, Gohan came through the door accompanied by Piccolo and another person she was too harried to register.

"Oh, thank goodness!" Chichi felt a wave of relief. "Gohan, I need you to hold your brother while I get ready for your interview at the school Please and thank you." She handed Goten off to her older son and Goten immediately stopped crying. Chichis expression went from stressed to a soft and loving smile. "Aww. You just missed your big brother didn't you Goten?" she cooed. Knowing her son had things under control, she went to her room to shower and prepare.

Gohan held his brother gently and laughed when the baby giggled. "Looks like somebodies been causing trouble for mom, haven't you Goten?" as he said this, he raised Goten high in the air and tossed him a foot in the air and then caught him as he came back down, then repeated. Goten squealed with delight at the fun game he and Gohan always played. Piccolo stood off in the corner and said nothing.

Zangya took all this in and was amazed. This child was the most powerful warrior on the planet and, she suspected after he defeated BoJack, the whole galaxy. Yet here he stood in a small home in the mountains, playing games with an infant. It baffled her. It had been so long since she had even witnessed such warmth let alone the source come from such a strong warrior. As she took in the scene, she couldn't help but let a small smile grace her lips.

Maybe this is what it could have been if…. She shook her head. No there was no point in looking back. What's don is done. She cleared her throat to remind Gohan she was there.

"Oh, sorry about that Zangya." Gohan turned to the carrot top. "Would you like to play?" Gohan held Goten out to Zangya and she stepped back, caught completely off guard.

"Wha? N-no, I.." she was cut off by the small, chubby arms of Goten reaching out for her. She looked in his eyes and he looked in hers. The babes' innocence and trust in those eyes was just too much for her to bear. A flood of emotions that she had locked away for centuries came back all at once. Unable to hold herself together anymore she fell to her knees and began to sob.

Gohan was completely thrown by this development. Even Piccolo was caught off guard by her behavior. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you." Gohan apologized. "I just saw you looking at us and you looked like you wanted to join the fun so I just thought…" Gohan let the last thought hang. He knew that, deep down, Zangya was a good person. He also somehow knew that she wouldn't harm Goten and offering her a chance to hold him seemed like the right thing for some reason. He definitely didn't expect her to react the way she did.

Zangya started to get a hold of herself. "No, you did nothing wrong." She said as she wiped away her tears. "It's Nothing, I would love to hold the little one." As she got back to her feet, she held out her arms and Gohan placed his little brother gently in her arms. She did nothing but stare at the infant for some time, and Goten returned the stare as intensely as any baby could. Finally, the baby reached out to her, she assumed to touch her face, but at the last second his hands veered off to the side, grabbed a handful of hair, and he yanked.

"OW! Why you little!" Zangya held the baby at arms-length as she scowled, clearly not amused. Goten, on the other hand, was very amused by his clever prank and was laughing. Piccolo and Gohan stood at the ready, with gohan not so sure handing his baby brother to a complete stranger (who was also a recent enemy) was, strictly speaking, "The smartest thing to do".

Zangya continued to glare at the baby, but suddenly, her mouth twitched. She started smiling. Then she started laughing. This was no chuckle or a giggle or even a maniacal laugh as piccolo expected. Instead, it was a deep, warm, genuine laugh full of life. Soon gohan joined in and all three where laughing. Piccolo stood there in silence.

Chichi Came out of her bedroom and looked at the group with a smile.

"Honestly, I leave for ten minutes and it goes from crying to laughing." She smiled while shaking her head. "I don't believe we've met" She addressed the woman holding her youngest son. "I'm Chichi, Gohan and Gotens mother" She moved closer to her.

"Oh, um, hello. I'm…" Zangya said not sure why she was so nervous.

"I know who you are. You're the one who tried to protect my Gohan from that space bully. From what I heard my little boy wouldn't have won if it hadn't been for you." Then she pulled Zangya into a tight embrace. "Thank you." Chichi then pulled away from the hug. Too stunned to say anything Zangya just nodded.

"Now Gohan, you had better start getting ready or else we won't make it on time." Chichi reminded her son.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot!" then gohan dashed toward his room but turned around at the last second. "Wait, what about Goten? Won't he need a babysitter?"

"Of course, he will. Luckily, we have two." Chichi said.

Piccolo wasn't sure where this was going but he didn't like it.

"Really? Who're the babysitters?" Gohan asked.

"You're looking at them Gohan." She explained gesturing to Piccolo and Zangya.

"Thank you both for volunteering."

I knew I should have just left! Piccolo screamed mentally.

End of chapter.

A/N: If anyone has an issue with Chichi behaving out of character, talk to your own mother sometime and ask them how they would treat a person who saved your life by risking their own. Also, sorry this has a bit more touchy-feely stuff than I had wanted to, but I tried to make the training scene fun and action packed. Just for the record I will try to avoid copying team four star jokes as much as possible but the "dodge" line is too good to pass up for that scene. Hope yall enjoyed it. Please review if you have the time.