Son Goku, who was recently returned to life by the elder Kai-o-shin for the purpose of fighting Majin Buu, recognized that he had spent little time with his youngest son and that it was good for Goten. So, Goku took out the entire day to spend it with Goten, doing the only thing he knew how.
Fighting in their normal modes, Goten was levitating to his father’s chest and was throwing a volley of punches, all of which his father was blocking. In a last ditch effort, Goten threw a punch that had enough power to knock Goku off balance, thereby giving Goten an opening to exploit. Goku, however, dodged the punch. With So much power behind the punch, and no target to stop his momentum, Goten sailed right by his father. Goku took advantage of his son’s positioning and landed an open palmed strike to Goten’s face, sending him crashing to the ground.
Before his son could recover, Goku flew to where he was and delivered the knockout blow which should’ve ended the match. But Goten moved out of the way, so the punch only hit the bare earth and countered with a kick to Goku’s chin.
Goten used the opportunity to stand up and set himself aright, as Goku reeled backwards from the kick. Both stopped momentarily, resizing each other up and resting from the previous bout.
After a few minutes, Goku smiled. “That was pretty good, Goten. Your mother taught you well.” Kind of strange, Goku thought. Where before, Chi Chi was always strict and said emphatically that Gohan didn’t need to know martial arts, she was very liberal with Goten, teaching him to fight herself. He wondered what brought on her change of heart.
“Thank you, dad,” Goten said in response to Goku’s complement.
“All right then, any time you’re ready.”
“All right,” Goten said, getting ready to attack again.
**Goku! Goku!**
Goku stood strait up. “Huh? Kamesennin?”
“KYAAAAAAAA!” *WHAM!*
At his moment of distraction, Goku was leveled by Goten’s powerful blow. The hit sent him careening through a grove of trees and slammed him into a rock face. Immediately, Goten was at his father’s side. “Daddy, are you all right?
Goku brushed the rubble off of himself and rubbed his jaw. “That’s quite a punch you got there Goten. I’m very proud of you.”
Goten beamed at his father’s praise. “Thank you, daddy.”
**Goku! Are you there?**
“Hold on for a sec willya Goten?” Goku looked upward in the general direction of Kamesennin’s island and answered his sensei’s telepathic call, **I’m here Master Roshi. How are you?**
**Not bad I guess. Listen, I have a strange feeling that something’s going on. #18 and Kuririn have disappeared.**
**Oh?**
**Yeah. Kuririn was feeling kinda down, and I told #18 that she should speak with him. Oolong thinks they went off to talk privately, but they’ve been gone a long time and I know that neither of them, especially #18, would leave their daughter for such a long time.**
**I see,** said Goku. **So, what do you think we should do?** There was no answer from Roshi. **Master, you there?**
**Actually, I was going to ask YOU what we should do?**
Goku blinked and rubbed the back of his head. **Oh, okay…Well, let me see…** He extended his senses to reach out for Kuririn’s ki. But, “Strange, I can’t feel his ki anywhere.”
“Who’s ki, daddy?” asked Goten.
“Uncle Kuririn son.” He turned his attention back to Roshi, **I can’t sense his ki.**
**I thought so. Something is going on. What do you think we should do son?**
**Well, unless they turn up or something major happens, I don’t think we can do anything.**
**…All right, if you say so. But I’m still worried.**
**I know, old man…I am too…**
Dragonball Z
Tainted Hearts
Part Two
Gohan landed on the roof of Orange Star High School and pressed the button on his modified wristwatch that Bulma designed for him to change back to his regular outfit. Strange, he thought; even with all of the devastation around them, they decided that school should still be in session. Perhaps they thought with so many heroes around, The Great Saiya-team and, of course, ‘The Greatest Fighter in the World’, Mr. Satan, they would be safe, no matter what was happening.
As he proceeded down the staircase to the hall where his class was, he smiled. Gohan and Videl, the Great Saiya-team, protectors of Satan City. He loved the concept and he was so glad when Videl said that she wanted to become a hero like he was. He loved fighting along side her. In fact…he wasn’t as naïve as his father was. He recognized that he loved her period. But as most males did, he was afraid to tell her so…afraid, basically, of either outcome; marriage or rejection.
To spend the rest of his life with Videl in marriage didn’t sound so bad. He didn’t understand why he would be afraid of that. But if she did reject him, he didn’t know how he would react. He could become another Vegeta. Wouldn’t THAT be nice?
He cleared his mind of those thoughts as he reached the entrance to his classroom. As he reached for the doorknob to enter, he stopped, realizing that a ki signature was missing from the assembled students: Videl.
He knew better then do doubt his senses, but to verify, he took a peak through the small window on the door. Sure enough, Videl wasn't in her seat. Gohan made a U-turn and strode with purpose back up the roof of the school. He pressed the button on his watch, re-dawning his Great Saiya-man guise and took to the air.
"You won't find her," a voice said from below.
Gohan stopped before he got too far away. He knew who the voice belonged to. "Piccolo? What're you doing here?"
"I'm here to tell you that you won't find your girlfriend anywhere."
"Videl? What happened to her? Do you know?"
"Being stationed on Kami's lookout, not much escapes my notice," Piccolo said. "That's how I know something strange is going on. As far as I know, nothing out of the ordinary happened. She just dropped off of the face of the Earth."
Gohan looked out towards the city. "I can't feel her ki anywhere..."
"It's just like I said. You might want to tell the others that Kuririn and Yamucha are missing too. Something may be going around snatching all of the warriors away. I think it would be good if all of the warriors that are left be warned about this."
"But...Videl..."
"If this is a new threat, I'm sure they'll show themselves soon. They'll know what happened to her. We’ll get her back. Okay?" Gohan's shoulders slumped and he nodded. "Good. I'll go back to Kami's lookout to see if anything else changes. You take care."
"I will. Thanks Piccolo."
Some time later, Gohan arrived at the headquarters of the Capsule Corporation to relay Piccolo’s news to Vegeta and Bulma. He told them in detail about the disappearance of Kuririn, Yamucha and Videl. Bulma was shaken by the news of Yamucha’s disappearance. As for Vegeta…
“And what does their disappearance have to do with us?”
“Vegeta, I can’t believe you said that,” said Bulma. “These are our friends you’re talking about.”
“That may be,” Vegeta answered. “But if they weren’t strong enough to look after themselves, then that’s their problem.”
“Piccolo thinks that someone or something is going around snatching all of the warriors away,” said Gohan. “We should all be on the lookout for anything strange.”
Vegeta snorted, “No one is going to snatch me or my son away. Anyone who tries won’t live long enough to brood over their failure.”
“You should probably tell Mr. Satan about this too,” Bulma suggested.
“Didn’t you hear him?” Vegeta said. “It’s WARRIORS that’re being snatched away.”
“Yes, I know, I know. But still, his daughter was kidnapped. He has to know about this.”
“Do I have to?” asked Gohan.
As per Bulma’s suggestion, Gohan visited the Satan estate. He pressed the button on the intercom to announce his presence. He really didn’t want to be there, because he knew what Satan’s response would be, not only to the message, but to the messenger as well.
“Please state your name and your business,” a person said over the intercom. Gohan figured it was a security guard.
“M-my name is Son Gohan. I am a classmate of Videl. I-I have some urgent news to relay to Mr. Satan regarding her.”
There was a short pause on the other end. Finally the guard answered, “You may enter.” On cue, the gate to the Satan estate opened. Gohan traversed the long walkway from the gate to the front door, where he was met by one of the security guards who ushered him in.
The door closed behind them and a tranquil calm blanketed the Satan estate. The calm came to a screaming end when, ten minutes later, the door to the mansion flew open and Gohan ran out of the house with the World Champion following closely behind.
“YOU BASTARD!!!” screamed Mr. Satan. “I KNEW SOMETHING LIKE THIS WOULD HAPPEN WITH MY DAUGHTER HANGING AROUND YOU! WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?!?” Gohan took to the air to bead a hasty retreat, one which he knew Satan couldn’t follow. “DON’T YOU FLY AWAY FROM ME!!! GET BACK HERE!!!”
“I knew he would blame me for this,” Gohan lamented.
“I’m home,” Gohan said, happy to be back.
“Hi son,” Chi Chi called. “Come in the kitchen, dinner’s almost ready.”
“Okay mom.” Gohan entered the kitchen and found that Goku and Goten were already there waiting for dinner.
“Hi son,” Goku greeted. “How’s it goin’?
“Not too good,” answered Gohan. “I got a visit from Piccolo at school today.”
“Piccolo?” Goku repeated. “What would be so important that Piccolo would leave Kami’s lookout to go to your school?”
“He told me that their might be something or someone snatching all of the warriors away. They already got Kuririn, Yamucha and Videl with no problem.”
“Goku,” Chi Chi said, “didn’t you say that you got a message from Kamesennin saying something similar?”
“Yes, I did. He told me it was Kuririn and #18.”
“#18’s been taken too?” said Gohan, astonished.
“It’s certainly strange,” Chi Chi said while serving everyone dinner. “Why would anyone take Yamucha, Kuririn, #18 and Videl?”
“I don’t know,” Gohan answered. “I wish I knew who was next. Dad, what do you think we should do?”
“Ku kell guh troof, um nuh shoor,” Goku said, stuffing his face.
“Uuh…never mind.”
Several days had passed and there still hadn’t been any word from Kuririn, Videl, Yamucha or #18. Gohan had frequently visited with Piccolo and was slightly alarmed to hear that no one else had been taken either. During that time, the remaining warriors combed the Earth looking for their missing friends, to no avail.
Night had fallen over the city and Bulma, who was coordinating the search efforts from the Capsule Corporation building had just told everyone to stop their searching and retire for the day. With everyone else’s ability to fly and Goku’s teleportation technique, most of the world had been covered. Bulma was beginning to take hold of the idea that some advance race of alien had come to Earth and spirited them away. For them, such a thing was not impossible. That, of course, would mean that they would have to shift their focus to outer space.
Bulma took a sip of her tea and let out a heavy sigh. Earth was one thing, but space? If they have been taken somewhere in outer space, there would be no way that they could be located. But that was something to think about in the future. There were still areas on Earth that needed to be covered and she was just too tired to think about anything else.
Turning her terminal off, Bulma got up to head for bed. Before she did, though, she took one last look around the building, as she did every night. True, with the security systems armed and with two of the most powerful beings in the universe living with her, she didn't have to make these nightly rounds, but there was nothing like the peace of mind making sure herself that everything was secure.
Halfway down the hallway, she stopped and turned around. She re-entered her laboratory and picked up her forgotten teacup. As she picked up her cup, she noticed on the terminal surface a shadow that was not hers. She turned around to meet the person behind her and found...
"Yamucha!"
Yamucha smirked and Bulma let out a sigh of relief. "Uuh, Yamucha, you started me."
"Oh?" Yamucha said.
"Where have you been?" Bulma asked. "We've heard that you Kuririn, #18 and Videl had disappeared. Did something happen to you?"
"I'm shocked! I thought you'd be too busy living it up with your lover boy to care if anything happened to me." Bulma unconsciously took a step back. She didn't like his tone of voice. "Actually, something did happen to me. I had some time to reflect on how things turned out between us and I have come to a decision."
Bulma had been relieved when there wasn't much fuss when Yamucha originally found out about her and Vegeta. She felt she should've known that the subject would've come up again eventually. "W-what decision would that be?"
"I've decided...to kill you."