___Chapter 22___

"Calm down, Chi-chi! I'm sure Gohan's fine!" Goku yelled to his frantic wife.

"But he hasn't even called! And it's been a week!" she yelled back as she played with the videoscreen franticly.

Bulma screamed when she entered the control room. "You're jamming up the computer!" she yelled as she pushed Chi-chi away from the keyboard. "Let a professional take this! You want to contact Gohan, right?"

"YES!!!!!"

Watching from a distance, Dendea, Goten, and Trunks were talking.

"Wonder how he's doing." said Goten.

"You think he's been found out?"

"No Trunks, you mean if he's showed himself yet." Dendea added.

The kids had been the ones who knew were Lute had gone, and had even provided the distraction for him to sneak on the ship. The manner in which the four had met was slightly different than any of them had ever thought meeting someone would be...

---

After Lute had run off after healing Dendea, he landed in an area where noone else was, and looked out at the barren landscape.

He did not cry. His father never cried. And since his father was dead, it was up to him to take care of his mother. When Lute heard a noise, he turned around, and saw a kid about his age with black hair.

"Hi. Sorry if I'm interrupting you or something. My name is Goten."

Lute turned his head the smallest bit, that was all. For a second, he seemed as foreboding as his father had ever been, but he was not meant to be that serious. So he sighed, looked at Goten, and said "Hi. I'm Lute. Why are you here?"

Goten walked up and sat himself down, saying "Well, you looked kind of lonely out here. Sad too. And I don't like it when people are sad, so.... I try and cheer them up."

Lute smiled a sad smile and said "Good luck." almost half-heartedly. But after they spoke for a while, Lute became more friendly.

Goten smiled after 1/2 an hour of sitting there, and said "So YOU'RE the one who saved my friend's life! He's been looking for you, you know. He wanted to see if there was any way he could help. And I bet Trunks would like to meet you too."

Lute looked up at him and said "Do you mean, bring them over here?" He had never been around so many people before, and had gotten unnerved earlier. Now, right after that was over, his new friend wanted to bring over more people. Goten looked at Lute expectantly, who said "Alright. I'll be waiting here."

Goten smiled, told him he wouldn't regret it, and flew off to find his friends.

~~~~~~~

"Hey Trunks! Dendea! I found that kid you were talking about, Dendea!"

Dendea, who was just about recovered from using almost all his energy, smiled. "You found Lute?!? Where is he? Is he ok.. I mean, after what happened to his anoco and all."

Trunks gave Dendea a weird look, and said "Huh? What's that mean?"

"It's a namekian word, means 'father'."

An 'oh' look passed Trunks face as Goten landed and said "He's pretty depressed. But that's perfectly understandable. His mom + dad were the only people he knew up to a few hours ago. Now his dad's dead and his mom isn't speaking to anyone."

Trunks nodded and answered "Wouldn't we feel pretty bad if we were in similar situations?"

"I guess so." said Dendea, "You have no idea how sad I felt when Sanchiro died. Both times."

"Yeah. My brother and your dad, Trunks, are both taking this pretty bad. They have other people who can try and help them feel better. But nobody can really help Lute now. The only person he really knows in the whole world is out of commission. She can't help anyone in the state she's in. Maybe we could go try to cheer him op or something. We were talking a minute ago and he seemed perfectly nice. Maybe we could all be friends or something." smiled Goten, looking up at his friends to see what they would say,

Dendea replied first. "I, for one, owe him my life. I say 'yes' to that."

Trunks also approved, and they followed Goten to go see Lute.

~~~~~~~

Lute was pretty nervous. Goten could see that as they neared him.

"Hey, Lute! I'm back!" he said as he landed next to his new friend.

{{Ok. I've got to cool down. Don't want to look like an idiot in front of Goten's friends}} thought Lute to himself as he turned around. "So, where are your friends?"

The other two came out, and were introduced. The four sat down together and talked all over the place for about an hour. Then Lute told them his plan to sneak onto the capsule. The kids wholly supported him-they had become friends in that short time-and then the heard the adults call. They were going somewhere for the night.

So they flew behind the aircar, in front of the fighters.

---

Noone was around it seemed. Piccolo was surprised at that. He had expected the kaioshin to be waiting or something. Now wanted, but expected. Piccolo turned around, expecting to see Kami. But the god was nowhere to be seen either.

He turned around, puzzled, and asked himself "What the heAAHH!!!" The answer came halfway through his statement when a furry shape rushed up and tackled him to the ground.

Piccolo cursed under his breath and assumed a fighting stance as he tried to find his attacker. Whatever it was currently was sitting on his head.

Piccolo's arm shot up, caught the little renegade, and he laughed out loud before he could stop himself when he saw who it was. "Bubbles!?! Great. I've been surprised by a monkey."

Piccolo shook his head, smirking as he said "Don't think I don't remember you. And don't think you can do that again. *sighs* all we need is the cricket and we'll have both of Kai's stupid lackeys." Piccolo rolled his eyes.

"Hey!!! Who are you calling stupid!!!" yelled a familiar voice. Piccolo dropped Bubbles (who ran 1/2 way to the other side of the planet before his little feet hit the ground) and shot his arm behind himself, catching Gregory before he could even think of shooting.

"Remember you too." he smiled, and flicked the bug up into the sky. Then he regained his lost composure, and muttered "Now where is Kaio-sama? He invites us here and doesn't even show up? And where's Kami?" as he began to walk to the small house on the little planet.

---

The house was empty.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!????" Piccolo screamed so loud that cracks appeared on the glass in Kaio's car.

A hand clasped over his mouth before a string of curses could erupt, and Kami glared at Piccolo as he said "Maybe if you were not so impatient you would have seen the letter on the door. He says he's sorry he couldn't stay, he was called away on important business. We're on our own"

Piccolo's eyes had nearly glazed over in rage by this point, and he jerked from the god's hold. His voice stuttered as he growled "You... you asshole! DON'T TOUCH ME!!" and turned on his heel and raced out the door.

Piccolo put as much space as possible between the two of them, and slumped down by the base of a tree, his face buried in his hands as he shuddered in revulsion. "I swear, I'm gonna kill him. Oboe darling, you have to get me out of here right now. Damn I miss you." He opened his eyes, and leant his head against the trunk of the tree as he sighed out into the silent air around him..

Kami merely shook his head, and whispered "No good will come of this. None at all."