Blecker x Dragonball

Heartbreak! Goku's not coming back?

It had been a year since the fight with Frieza, and Earth's defenders were settling into a more quiet life, though still on edge, knowing Frieza was still out there and could find Earth any day. While they may have relaxed some, they did not stop training.

Gathered on Dende's Lookout, they surrounded Tien, who, as a pupil of King Kai, could contact the divine being. King Kai, in turn, could use his telepathy that spanned galaxies to reach his other pupil, Goku.

"Dad," Gohan pleaded through the telepathic chain, "when are you coming back? I don't want to grow up with Mr. Raditz!"

"Hey!" spoke the Saiyan. "I'm right here, kid!"

Gohan glared at his uncle. "Because of you, my dad died."

Raditz gave a wry grin. "Actually, that was the Namekian."

Gohan growled, shifting to catgirl form. "I said because of, not responsible for. If you didn't kidnap and threaten Dad, he wouldn't have had to die."

Nappa smirked. "The kid's clever, I'll give you that."

Goku responded once the conversation gave him an opening. "I wish I could give you an answer, Gohan. This new transformation... It's not as uncontrollable as my beast form, but I still can't trust myself around others with it. Plus, the Yardratians are teaching me other things. It could be another year."

"Take your time, Goku," Chi-Chi said, shaking. Images of that fateful fight, the deadness in Goku's eyes, and the palpable killing intent even as he looked at his own son were still vivid memories. They had needed that Super Saiyan power to even hope to close the gap to Frieza, but it had cost her all the warmth and joy that drew her to Goku in the first place. "I don't want to see a single blonde strand on your head when you come back!" She shook her head, looking down at catgirl Gohan. "Kami knows I'm already fighting to hold onto our son and not sacrifice him for a daughter just to be able to get into fights."

"Mom, I'm not going to get into any unnecessary fights."

"Don't make promises you can't keep," Vegeta scoffed. "Frieza is out there still; we need to be ready."

"It would be so much easier if we just pledged our allegiance to Frieza," Nappa chided. "We had to go and get our entire unit blacklisted and got what, your pride? If not for Frieza, we would be homeless and at the mercy of the universe ever since our home was destroyed by a meteor."

This got King Kai's attention as he turned his focus to the Saiyans.

"You guys didn't know? It wasn't a meteor. Frieza destroyed your planet, fearing the legend of the Super Saiyan."

The revelation cut through the trio like a hot knife, and without another word, they flew off.

"Where are they going? It was destroyed eight years ago. Why should it matter if who did it has changed?"

"You wouldn't understand what it's like to be this close to the person responsible for the death of your home and being unable to stop them, Yamcha."

With that, Cross flew after them, her dragon wings beating heavily as she tried to catch up.

"That girl needs to learn how to use her ki to fly, not her wings," Krillin shook his head as they prepared to follow.

"Let them go and work out their own things," Piccolo advised. "Besides, isn't there another reason why you brought us all here to the Lookout, Bulma? Something about the Dragon Balls?"

Bulma nodded. "Right, Piccolo. You see, when we were on Namek, I learned something about Cross. We couldn't do anything about it at the time because of what was going on, but now that the Dragon Balls have refreshed, we should be able to."