Chapter 23 - Journey to the East

"Goku! Goku, can you hear me?"

Goku could hear him, somehow. There was a giant monkey tumbling through the air, there was the fresh sea wind, and gulls squeaking and zooming out of the way as the mass of the creature almost swept them away, and a brilliant full moon in a dusk that was quickly turning into evening. At the center of this all was Goku, or at least, a fragment of his consciousness. Yet he also felt like he was merely a spectator, observing all of this from afar. Because it was not him moving the creature, not him stupidly grasping for support or growling in frustration at not finding it or whirling his fists around to hit whatever came close out of misplaced anger. Not really him; it was something else.

I can, but please don't come closer, thought Goku. That is not me.

"I know you can hear me, and I know you can answer! Give me a sign that you're understanding me!"

But I can't, thought Goku. Gohan kept screaming at the monkey as if it could communicate, as if it was a human, and it wasn't. There was the monkey, which was an unthinking beast, full only of anger and desire to destroy. And there was Goku, who was spectating it all, as if behind a glass that not only he couldn't break, but that didn't let his screams and his frantic hitting pass through, muffling all sound to nothing. Goku could only watch as the drama unfolded.

The flight ended abruptly as the monkey smashed into the ground of a nearby island, raising a great cloud of dirt and digging a deep furrow into the land. Whole trees were uprooted and many rabbit warrens met a sudden and unfortunate end. It must have been painful; but the pain, however intense, wasn't Goku's. And he didn't feel a thing.

Right after the monster landed Gohan, far more gracefully. He immediately ran towards the giant monkey.

No, don't! Stay away!

The monkey swatted at the old man, annoyed, but he dodged with grace, jumping to the side.

"I've seen you, you know." said Gohan. "A few months ago."

No, you haven't seen me. That wasn't-

The monster tried to catch him, now, like one would try to catch a fly, clapping his hands violently. All he produced was loud shockwaves. The master was way too fast.

"When they tell you that we look on you all the time, you know, that's not exactly true. We wouldn't do anything else otherwise, up there. But we do get the chance to check on you now and then, and I'd heard there was some commotion on a city on Earth that day. Didn't expect the commotion to be you, though."

But it wasn't! I am not it!

A jump, a mistake. The monkey went for a slap where the old man would be, he had no choice, only a fixed parabolic trajectory. Except the slap still ended up hitting only air. A small, directed burst of ki had seen to that, just the right amount of momentum to avoid being caught, propelling Gohan in an unpredictable direction.

"You managed to stop yourself, back then, did you? Can you try that for me again today?"

Goku remembered it, yes. It had been all a daze throughout, but then he had awoken, sort of, still drowning in anger and hate and thirst for destruction. Drowning into another self. And he had managed to drag that self kicking and screaming into doing the one thing that had stopped it for good.

Which made it hurt all the more now, now that he was facing him.

If I could stop myself in West City, why could I not when...?

"Goku, you can do it! You can do better than it, even!" shouted Gohan, above the din of all the destruction the angry monkey caused by trying to just squash him for good. "I don't just believe it; I know it for sure."

But I can't. If I really could, then that makes it so much worse!

"You're the smartest martial artist I've ever known. You've got so much self-control, it's probably too much. We all have a bit of a beast inside, or we wouldn't like it that much, the hitting, the fighting, the pain and the bleeding. Yours is just... more literal, that's it."

Please

"The beast, you cage it. But then it gets the best out of you. And thing is, you don't become a good fighter by caging it. You become a good fighter by taming it and riding it into battle."

stay

"And you want to be a good fighter, don't you? You need to. Even if I didn't raise you that way, you would. It's in your blood. And that's why I'm here today.'"

away...

But he wouldn't stay away, the old man. And the monster started roaring, and roaring, and Goku fell in terror as he realised what was about to happen, what he'd done. He'd made the monster more powerful. Because now the inside of his throat was glowing. There was energy crackling and fizzling there, there was power, ready to be vomited onto the world and lay waste to it.

Gohan didn't move or budge. He stood his ground. He pulled his hands back.

"Kame..." he started.

He couldn't, he couldn't, shouted Goku, he'd seen him before, and now he was tired from multiple fights too, it would not be enough...

"...hame..."

The monkey jutted its muzzle forward, it wasn't even a scream any more, now the sound was just that of a torrent of ki being erupted in a single beam straight forward, enough to annihilate Gohan and sink the entire island into the ocean. The air was ionised and the wind alone knocked the nearby trees.

"...HA!"

But Gohan wasn't there to take it head on any more. He'd just held out until the last moment, to make the monster focus on him, to make sure its attack would be directed where he wanted it. And then he darted forward, right under the creature's feet, and pushed his hands upwards, fired his own beam of energy. The blow hit under the monkey's jaw, and its whole head was turned upwards. The deadly attack lost itself into the sky, punching a hole through the clouds with the violence of superheated air expanding out of its way. On the ground there were but a few scorches, and the damage done by the air blast. The monster was dizzy, now, almost about to fall backwards. It did manage to find its balance again at the last second, but it was still slow and confused.

Then Gohan started climbing. With a jump, he was on the monster's arm; with another, he came right up to its face. He was standing on the big prominent muzzle of the monkey monster, in front of its red eyes with no pupils and that brow contracted in a perpetual angry frown.

"That's why I came to see you. That why I need to tell you..."

And up there, he just fell to his knees, prostrated himself with the head down on what counted as the ground.

"I am sorry." he mumbled. "I am so sorry for that night."

What? But it's me who...

"I had let myself go with the rice wine. I was drunk. I was careless. I should have known, I should have locked you like I did usually, but I forgot, and I should have handled you like I could always do, like I did today, but I was clumsy and slow. I let you kill me, by my own stupidity."

No, I... it's not your...

"I was a fool, and I deserved it." continued Gohan. "But you did not. You remembered, didn't you? You were too small to become fully conscious, but still, you were aware of something. That was your first time emerging from the haze when you were transformed. And even if not, you were smart enough to figure it out afterwards - always was... well, not always, really, but since that time you fell on your head, yes."

But it wasn't enough! I should have... why are you...?

"And it held you back. Still here, still today, on that ring. It made you afraid of yourself, of your body, of your power. I taught you everything I knew, but when it most mattered, I failed you, and chained you with guilt. And I couldn't spend years up there, watching you grow up, carrying this burden, without coming here to face you, to tell you-"

Why are you crying?

"-that I am sorry. It was my fault. Please let me go, drop that weight. Live your life free, and become the most strong and magnificent fighter that you can."

There was no answer, not right then, just the distant hooting of an owl hunting in the night. They stood still in the evening, the moon above them, an old man prostrating over the muzzle of a young monster, or perhaps hugging it. Then the monkey disclosed its jaws. Out of the deep of its throat came a growl, a raucous grumbling.

"...your..."

Gohan's head rose. He may have imagined it. He may have just heard his own hope.

"...not your fault..."

The eyes were still blood red, the voice still that of a raging monkey that could only barely and painfully form words with a larynx that wasn't meant for it. But behind those things was something more.

"It was not your fault, grandpa." said Goku, through the monster's mouth.

"Perhaps." replied Gohan, with a smile like a child's. "But neither it was yours."

They travelled far and fast, on that night. Gohan's time was limited, and there was much they needed to talk about, too much for that beastly mouth that could barely form words. So they travelled. Swimming, running, jumping, with the old man on the monkey's shoulder, and the monkey moving forward with all its power. They travelled and travelled for hours and through many lands, towards the day, until the Moon was behind the horizon to them. They never travelled through populated lands, but some did see them, from afar, a giant dark shadow moving in the night. Legends were born, on that day, of a giant monkey and its journey to the east.

The desert was chilly, the sky just brightening with the first light of the Sun. It didn't help the matters that Goku was naked, even though his grandpa had lent him his own jacket to cover himself.

"Let's heat ourselves up." said Gohan, coming back from a short gathering expedition. He dumped all the dead branches and sticks he'd found in a single bunch, arranged them in a sort of conical shape, and finally used a small burst of ki to light it up. The dry wood quickly caught fire, and the air around it got noticeably warmer.

"So," started the old man, sitting next to his grandson, legs crossed, "I imagine you'll have questions."

Goku did, sure. But he also didn't much feel like voicing them, right now. Rather, he leaned on the side, and let himself linger on his grandfather's body. The man put an arm around his shoulder, hugging him. It was so weird, because it all felt very real, yet Goku could also tell that there was something fundamentally immaterial about the man. His body was warm, but not as much as you'd expect a living one to be. There was a light, faint trace of his smell, much less than you'd have expected after all that exercise. It was a bit like the shadow or reflection of a human being - everything was there, just more evanescent.

And so, of all the possible questions...

"What does it feel like?" he ended up asking.

Gohan thought about it. "It's pretty good, I guess. Some things I can't feel any more, but I don't miss them - I miss missing them, though, if that makes sense. But in general it feels like being at your best, just all the time. Clear mind, sound body."

He hesitated for a second. "Don't be in a rush to come though!" he added, with a laugh. "There's always time for that."

"I was not thinking of it." replied the kid, shaking his head. "I have a friend who's... been there. And come back."

The man whistled in appreciation. "First time I hear of that being possible. I'm impressed."

"Impressive things have happened, recently." admitted Goku. "What she tells of her experience is similar to what you do. But she got in a fight with King Enma. And he sent her to Hell. And so obviously she thinks that even if she goes back, well..."

"I see."

The fire crackled nicely. Goku stared at a thin, lonely twig as it got attacked by the fire, started burning, and slowly crumpled upon itself, blackened, until only a sprinkle of ash was left.

"It's hard to accept, and I don't think it's just." said Gohan. "But it's the way it is. There's Gods upon Gods - don't think Enma is by any means the end of the line. They don't really care, mostly, I think. They just do things the way they're used to. They're people, in a sense, but they're not people the way you and me are. They're just there to do their job. Like things falling down, or fire burning wood. They're there to make sure the world ticks in a certain way, and they're there for those rules that are complicated enough they need a judge. Enma is one of them. There's others - Gods that create and destroy."

"But why does the world have to work in this way?" asked Goku. "I don't think I'd want it to. Do they?"

"They want what they have to want." replied the other, thoughtful. "Well, that's what people say up there. I haven't met enough Gods to tell for sure. If there's a God above Gods who actually decides the rules, I have not heard of them. Maybe it's just as it always was, from the dawn of time. Maybe it's just as random and blind as the reason why fire burns wood."

The kid shook his head. "It's not random, though. Fire burns wood because carbon and oxygen mix in an exothermic reaction, and the free energy of their products is lower than that of the reagents."

That got him a very weird look. "Sorry, just repeating something I read in one of Bulma's books." he said, defensively. "I guess it doesn't change much. We still know what the rules are, but not why they are there."

"Always the big reader, but you changed genres!" laughed Gohan, patting his back. "And you even got a girlfriend that lends you books. A match made in Heaven! Or maybe a bit better than that."

"She's not my girlfriend." pointed out Goku.

The other grinned. "Well, either way. She's surely a friend. You keep her close."

"Even when she goes to Hell?"

Gohan's expression darkened. "I don't know." he said. "I consider myself lucky that I don't know anyone down there. Not everyone is that lucky. I won't say anything about you being able to do anything about it, because I do not know if it is possible. But I know you will try. Does she have a plan?"

"Becoming immortal, I think." said Goku.

The old man laughed. "Well, that's a first! You definitely should stick by her side. Sounds like interesting things will happen as long as you're close to her. Speaking of which. Do you understand what has happened earlier? When you were a monkey?"

Goku shifted uncomfortably on his legs. "I managed to take back control? But if I could do that, then why when you were-"

"I told you." interrupted him Gohan abruptly. "You were too little. Don't even think about it. Listen, why do you think I took that risk? Not cutting your tail immediately? Why do you believe I was so sure that you could do it?"

The kid's eyes widened. "You heard of others like me." he whispered.

The other nodded. "You meet all sorts of people up there, people not all from this planet, you see. But thing is, when I talked about you, some of these people started to recognise, well, some details. They told me stories."

"Are you saying," asked Goku, "that you found out I'm an alien?"

"Goodness, no!" replied Gohan. "That, I knew from the beginning."

Following the falling star had been a whim. It sounded like a crazy idea, but Gohan had also often heard stories about legendary swords and weapons forged out of sky-iron, which made him think it was not perhaps so crazy. If falling stars were chunks of ore tumbling down from the sky, then recovering one could fetch quite a price, and the eternal gratitude of one lucky blacksmith. Living in the mountains was pretty cheap, but he could really use some coin to buy tiles for the hut's roof. Rain had become a bit of a problem recently with the straw, and he wasn't a great thatcher.

When he came closer he could realise that he was on the right track easily enough. The blast had knocked a whole area of the forest down, all trees pushed in the same direction, like wheat stalks stomped by a giant foot. Closer still, and the trees were burning. The ground itself was scorching hot. He had to wait a while for it to cool down enough to approach.

The impact had caused a vast round crater. At the center of it was a chunk of... something. It wasn't iron, though, that much Gohan could tell, to his dismay. It was spherical, and covered in soot and dirt, but when he passed his hand over it, he could reveal a white, gleaming surface, with an unreal degree of polish for something that had undergone so much punishment. In some parts he could feel seams, rivets, and at one point, he found a transparent, smooth surface, like glass. Then, suddenly, the thing hissed. As if on cue, perhaps having cooled down under some fixed threshold, it puffed out some gas and unsealed itself, shaking off the remaining dirt while a large hatch opened itself.

Inside, Gohan could see the thing he'd least expected to see inside a big ball of metal that had fallen from the sky. A baby, naked, sucking his thumb. And a monkey's tail attached to his back that was now curling slightly at the touch of the fresh air that came in from outside.

"...naturally, at the time, I didn't really think of you as an alien." said Gohan, at the end of his story. "Rather, I thought you had been sent down by Heaven for some reason, and the white shell was your cradle. Or an egg. Monkeys or boys aren't born of eggs, but what did I know of heavenly affairs? It took me dying to learn about other worlds, and people living on them, and all that stuff. I never told you because it felt like it would bear ill. Perhaps that if you'd learn you'd as soon want to find a way back to where you belonged, and I'd lose you to the Gods."

The fire was dying down now, but it was fine, as the sun had risen and the land was awash in its light and warmth. "I learned that was not the case soon enough, once I started meeting the other souls. Took me a while to find someone whose language I could understand, but bit by bit I learned, and some of them had learned already the language of Earth. When they heard me describe you they had..."

He paused for a second.

"...reactions. They had these stories of people with tails, and bushy black hair, and who would transform into giant strong monkeys. It's not just the Earth's moon that works for that, you know? Except in their tales, these were warriors, and when they transformed, they kept fighting, fully in control of themselves. So I thought, hey, if some space chump can do it, I'm sure my Goku can do it even better!"

The kid smiled faintly. His eyes were fixated ahead, his mind was untangling the revelations, and in spite of the warmth of the moment, there was something cold going on behind there, Gohan could perceive. He wondered if the question would come.

"You say you heard stories of people like me," said Goku, slowly, "but not of meeting any."

"Goku." said his grandfather, shaking his head. "Goku, you are you. They were your people, but they did not raise you, they did not teach you. I did that. Your friends are doing that now. Bulma and her parents and all those others."

"But you could not meet any of them." he continued. "Because they are all in Hell."

"I think you're not ready for that part of the story, yet." blurted out Gohan. "They were a warlike people, and let's leave it at that. Besides, you know it yourself. Enma isn't the fairest of judges, or a paragon of goodness. Don't tell him I said that, though. I don't think he can revoke a judgement, but I'd rather not risk it."

He chuckled, but really, the joke didn't feel that funny to either of them. They let it drop, and for a long time, neither of them said anything. Goku kept ruminating about all he'd learned, but he did not speak out his thoughts. He just slid down, laying his head on his grandfather's lap, and stayed there, looking up, to the sky, while the old man gently ruffled his hair.

"...and your technique with those ki bullets is impressive. Did you really come up with it yourself?"

"With Bulma's help. See, she built these machines that help you see your ki, and so it makes it a lot easier to manipulate it."

"Ah, that makes sense. Still, what a clever girl! I can see why you get along so well."

"..."

"But say, Goku, why didn't you try anything more powerful? Those blasts lack a bit of, you know, oomph, to really do damage."

"I don't see much the point. I can fire off more powerful beams, but my control decreases. At my maximum, I need to keep completely still, it's a big drain, the energy isn't very manoeuvrable and then in most fights it'd be pretty useless like-"

"Like? Why did you stop?"

"Uh..."

"Like my Kame-hame-ha, you were about to say, huh? That what you think?"

"..."

"Ha! You're letting this tech stuff get to your head, boy. Let me tell you something. The Kame-hame-ha is the secret technique of the Turtle school. Muten himself spent decades to perfect it. Though, sure, he could have done it faster if he had your equipment. Now, you're right, that kind of fine control you've learned isn't easy, and Muten himself could never learn it on his own. So he had to go for something else."

"But why then go all the way to maximise power?"

"Think, Goku. Because if you can't make it weak enough to not be a drain or a vulnerability, you won't use it in battle during a regular exchange of blows anyway. But what you can make out of it is a formidable weapon against the opponent's morale. You've seen my fight with Muten. Imagine not knowing the technique - not having ever seen anything like it - and facing an opponent who slowly charges it up. Suppose you're too distant to get to them before they finish. Then you won't know how big it will be, or how much powerful. You don't know how to dodge. And if it fires off, you're faced with this immense power, power enough to obliterate a mountain - coming right at you. What's your reaction then?"

"To run away. Or surrender, if the situation is desperate."

"Precisely! The Kame-hame-ha is a weapon of the mind as much as it is of the body. Its mere existence has helped build up the legendary reputation of the Turtle school. And as far as attacks go, you know, it's not too bad. There's a trick to it, the hand pose and the way it allows you to manipulate ki. But the long and short of it is, it's probably as manoeuvrable as such a powerful attack is going to get, which helps. Comes real useful against big, slow targets too. Like you earlier."

"..."

"Something on your mind?"

"Big and slow. What you said about the Kame-hame-ha applies to my transformation too, right?"

"...I was thinking of it, yes. It's certainly scary. Too much on the slow side to be useful against a really skilled opponent of similar strength - you'll provide a much easier target and will have proportionately more problems hitting or grabbing them, which makes it less beneficial than the sheer increase in power might make you think."

"So you're saying it makes no difference?"

"Not at all! It's still a net gain, the way I see it. If used with proper skill, just like the Kame-hame-ha. You would just need to develop special techniques for it, and know when and how to use it."

"And just happen to fight my enemies on a full Moon night."

"Eh, yes, that too."

"...Big Monkey? Primate King?"

"Grandpa..."

"Maybe if I can think of some old myth... there was one with a monkey who..."

"Grandpa, really, we don't need to give it a name."

"Of course we do! All the great masters' good techniques have names. It's part of what makes them scary. You want people to whisper in awe... oh, here comes Goku of the... of the..."

"..."

"...Great Ape! Yes, I like that. Nice ring to it."

"Grandpa, apes don't have tails."

"That's why it's clever! You turn into a Great Ape, and your opponent expects, well, an ape, right? And then, out of nowhere, tail whip! Wham!"

"..."

"A cunning ruse, if I say so."

"...then she managed to grab the creature, while it was turned into an insect. She ran to the oven and locked it inside, and burned it so bad that it had to transform into... uh... something really small, that it couldn't go back to. Sorry, it's a bit hard to explain."

"More science stuff, huh?"

"Yes, and not the kind I studied much yet."

"Ha. That's fine. Goku, remember when I'd tell you scary stories at bedtime to mess with you?"

"Yes."

"Consider yourself avenged. If I needed to sleep, after that one, I wouldn't be able to for one week straight."

"..."

"..."

"...you were messing with me?"

"Anyway, Goku, I just realised..."

"What?"

"I won."

"..."

"The Tournament! I won. You hit the ground of the island before me, so I won by ring out."

"You're right. I wasn't really thinking about it. Congratulations, I guess?"

"Just 'congratulations'? Goku, I've wanted my whole life to win this thing! That devilish old man Muten kept me from it the first time we participated, to teach me a lesson, he said. Is 'congratulations' all you can think of? Not even a bit of disappointment? You arrived to the final, you should have cared."

"So I'm told. But I really wanted to just test my strength and learn more about my abilities, and well... when I saw you, I didn't really think of much else at all anyway."

"That's... really sweet of you Goku."

"What did you expect? I thought you were dead. I mean, you are."

"True, true. I may have lost perspective, being among dead people all the time. When you're alive, seeing someone you thought you'd lost forever, that's far more exceptional than a measly Tournament."

"..."

"That I won."

"Grandpa!"

"...what will you do now, then?"

"I do not know. I will probably just go back to training with Bulma's equipment, and help her with her experiments. In a few months, we will go back looking for the Dragon Balls. She promised me a wish, or to keep the sphere you left me. I was thinking of resurrecting you, but-"

"Out of the question! I told you, live your life, let me lie. I'm happy enough to have seen you doing so well."

"Then I guess I could just keep the ball. Though I doubt Bulma would be much happy with it."

"Hm, can't blame her. I left you that thing thinking it was just a pretty bauble. I am happy to hear you cared so much, but it sounds like a lot could be done with the Dragon Balls. Good, or bad. Perhaps leaving one lying around and all of them unused just for my sake is not the smartest thing."

"I can see that, yes. It's just... I spent so much time. It's silly."

"...what?"

"Thinking that your soul was in the Ball. Talking with it."

"I know."

"...you do?"

"Yes. I would listen to you, now and then. I told you, we can look down sometimes. It's clearer if it's around someone we know, too. I've seen you talk and heard much of what you said. And I will keep doing so, even if you don't speak to the four-star Dragon Ball any more. So... do what you think is right. And if you have something you would like to wish for, go for it."

They stopped walking. Even though barely eight hours had passed since they left Papaya Island at sunset, now it was midday, and they were in some other part of the globe. Where, exactly, they didn't know. But there it was, finally, a city, with tall glass skyscrapers shining of a violent light under the sun. A few minutes away, if they really put in some effort running.

"So," said Gohan, sitting down, "I think this is as far as I go."

Goku sat next to him. He'd understood already the terms of Gohan's stay.

"It's been twenty four hours, already?" he asked, quietly.

"Yes, Baba brought me here yesterday morning." explained the other. "Needed time enough to register at the Tournament and go through the eliminatory rounds. I wished I could get more time with you, but... it was a lot, still. Enough, I hope."

The kid nodded. "I am just happy to know that you don't hate me." he mumbled.

"Oh, you silly...! How would you even think that." He smiled, and hugged Goku tightly to his chest. "But it's alright. I get it."

Goku let himself be kept that way. Gohan's smell and body heat were not as a living being already; but now, now they felt even more evanescent, closer to disappearing in thin air, like the memory of a dream too soon forgotten after waking up.

"Thanks. For all the help and, and what you taught me today."

"Well, I'm basically your first master." said the old man, scratching is moustache. "It was my duty. Which makes me think... technology is all fine and good, but you might benefit from some old school training. You've gotten clever and have a lot of techniques, but your physical strength is a bit lacking. How much can you lift?"

"Huh." Goku's eyes trailed off, slightly embarrassed. "About... thirty tons?"

"What!" Gohan reacted with exaggerated outrage. "That's less than me at your age. That won't do, won't do at all. Why don't you ask your friend to let you off for a while and go train with master Muten? I am sure he'd be happy to have you, he seems quite interested in you already, if you ask me. And you'd get to spar with Krillin again, too. It would be great experience. Training by yourself is fine, but only goes so far."

"I am not always by myself, there are others. But if you say that he's good..."

"Oh, the best! Mind you, a debauched old fool, but when it comes to martial arts, there's no better fighter on this Earth."

He eyed Goku with a malicious grin.

"Yet."

"I will do it." said the kid. "And I will grow stronger. Just... just watch me."

The old man smiled again, and for one moment Goku thought he could forget all that happened in between, feel again like it was just the two of them, in the mountains, living off the land and scaring the animals of the forest with their sparring.

"Of course." said Gohan, and then he vanished, just like that.

Goku lingered for long minutes in front of that spot, not knowing what to do. It felt silly to try to talk more, and pointless to pray, with all he'd seen and learned; but still, it felt like that moment ought to be acknowledge in some way, he could not just turn around and leave.

Eventually, he did. And when he snapped out of that night-long dream (well, a night for him; but it really had been more of a morning in this part of the world he'd spent it in), he remembered with a jolt all that was happening before he was tossed away from the Tournament. He had not worried too much because he trusted Bulma and the others to handle everything properly; but still, he ought to worry, a bit. He wondered whether he should call the Kintoun, but thought against it, and limited himself to run at a sustained pace; which to him meant he covered the ten kilometres of distance in as many minutes. He decided he should not shun any chance for training, considering what his grandfather seemed to have thought of his physical shape.

He did not know the city at all, but it was not too dissimilar from the metropolis he was used to. He had, of course, no money on him, and while he'd been too distracted and thoughtful to notice, the stares he got from people around him made him realise that the jacket that he'd received from Gohan had disappeared with him, and now he was walking around naked. Good thing that, being a child, that didn't get him outright arrested, but it still drew attention. Soon Goku had to explain himself to a cop; and to the cop he said that he was a competitor in the Tenkaichi Tournament, had gotten lost, and really needed access to a phone so that he could call his trainer, Bulma Briefs, who could explain everything and come pick him up. To which the cop reacted the way one would have expected him to react to a naked boy claiming to come from the other side of the planet and be friends with the daughter of the world's richest family, namely, by calling more of his colleagues to share the fun. Patiently, and with perfect seriousness, Goku repeated the story many times, always eliciting the same amount of laughter.

Then the one cop who did have a passion for martial arts in the district was called, and he noticed that the kid indeed was suspiciously similar to the one who had fought the final fight last night, before that unfortunate interruption. Goku had inquired about the interruption, and suddenly, everyone had gotten really serious. There was talk of an attack, of shots fired and people killed in the open; of terrorism and of one of the greatest private military organisations in the world, big enough that the Royal Defence Force would rather not tangle with it, being torn asunder by internal conflict. Goku did not like the sound of any of that, and begun to wonder if his trust in Bulma and the others sorting it out had not been optimistic. He even pictured for an instant Bulma dead, and everyone else blaming him for it, because he had lingered spending time with his dead grandfather for the only night he could be on Earth rather than going back to help her. He quickly rejected that picture, though. Bulma Briefs was a famous name; had she been among the casualties, he would have learned of it.

It took some more time to convince the cops that he really was who he said he was, despite the similarity. The matter was settled when Goku, very calmly, grabbed the metal pole of a nearby road sign and squeezed and bent it in one hand like putty, to then reply, to the angry and terrified cops who demanded to know who his parents were and with what money he planned to repay for the damage, that his guardian was to all effects Bulma Briefs, and that calling her would have solved both matters in one go. To which they finally threw their hands in the air and led him to a phone, exasperated, and tossed an old uniform's jacket on him so that he could cover up already, thankyouverymuch.

Goku had memorised Bulma's phone number. She had asked him to, just in case. Given that he was prone to violent transformations that could leave him naked and without memory of the last hours, that had seemed like a reasonable precaution. The phone on the other side rang for a long time, and the space between each ringback seemed to him longer than usual, even though it couldn't really be.

"Who is this? I don't recognize-"

"BULMA, IT'S ME!" practically shouted Goku.

There was a moment of stunned silence on the other side. "...Goku?"

"Yes! I'm-"

"Oh, thanks Heavens! You can't believe-"

There were at least five minutes during which both talked over each other, excitedly listing all the information that they thought was really really essential the other ought to know right now. Of course, neither understood a word of it. The cops merely looked on in sheer bafflement.

"...and so I'm in some city that I don't know what is called..."

"Orange City." intervened one of the policemen.

"...Orange City," continued Goku, without pausing for breath, "and I need you to come pick me up."

"Orange City? How did you get that... ah, never mind, stupid question." said Bulma. "Look, I'll have you picked up by one of our pilots. Can't come myself, I would like to but there really is no time. We'll meet in the Capital. I don't think you'll have much useful to tell since you left almost immediately, but you're still expected to come. Oh, and I'll have to get you some fancy clothes."

"Expected to come?" Goku frowned. "Fancy clothes?"

"Yes, sorry but your usual gi won't cut it this time." said the girl. "We've been summoned for a meeting with the King."