Broken Horizon

Chapter 1: Returning Home

“Get out of here, NOW!”

            The brave Son Goku stood before his opponent, his hair flowing an unnatural gold. His normally soft, ebony eyes were now a sharp, piercing turquoise. His young son knelt over the dying body of the Namekian Piccolo. His body was bleeding from several gashes on his green skin.

            “But, Dad—“ Gohan tried to say.

            “NO! I WANT YOU OFF THIS PLANET NOW!” Goku screamed at his son, turning his head to face him.

            Gohan said nothing, and picking up the limp form of his teacher, took off into the blaring, chaotic firestorm the plant Namek had become.

            He twisted his young face into a wooden scowl, his Saiyan blood showing now more than ever. His determination was apparent…he would not let his beloved father down without a fight. His destination came into view and he lowered to the ground.

            He ran into the Capsule Corp. ship and laid Piccolo softly onto the cold metal floor. Just as he was about to leave, a screen came down from the ceiling and the familiar face of Dr. Briefs came into view.

            “Gohan! How nice to see you!” he said.

            Gohan looked up in confusion. Nice? Kami, couldn’t he see what was going on?

            His mother then pushed the head of Capsule Corp. to the side and began one of her concerned and caring attitudes and then quickly switched to angry mother mode.

            “Gohan, you get over here THIS INSTANT!” she shrieked with rage.

            Gohan ignored her defiantly and walked off the ship, keeping his scowl on as his mother threatened to ground him from behind.

            He looked both ways, trying to sense his father’s oldest friend, but her ki signature was very hard to find.

            Come on, Bulma, where are you? He thought to himself.

            A great tremor shook the ground beneath him, and he instantly knew that Frieza and his father were continuing their battle.

            “There!” he said out loud, taking off.

            He flew for about four minutes before reaching his destination. Bulma was hanging by one hand from a very high cliff.

            “Bulma!” he said, almost happily, the scowl on his face disappearing.  

            “Gohan!” she screamed nervously, looking at how much of a fall she could have.

            Gohan ran to her and pulled her up. He grabbed her by the waist and took off toward the ship.

            “What’s going on? Where were you? How rude! Leaving me alone like that, in that strange place, without anyone to protect me or anything at all! You should be ashamed of yourself. Hmph!”

            “Bulma, stop bitching! We have to get off Namek right now!” Gohan snarled, a little too harshly.

            Bulma cringed back a little bit, suddenly scared of the boy.

            Wow…he’s definitely Saiyan! Sheesh, he didn’t have to yell at me like that! She thought, looking at the half-Saiyan’s face.

            They reached the ship and landed. Gohan set Bulma down.

            “Get in the ship and take off. Go back to Chikyuu and don’t turn back,” Gohan said with impressive courage and bravery. “I have something I need to do here…I’ll be fine, now go!”

            He didn’t wait for her answer as he once again took to flight. He flew in the direction of where he had left his father and that monster.

            “Where are you, Dad?” Gohan whispered to himself. His question was soon answered.

            Goku was hovering in the air, maybe about sixty feet up. Right in front of him, cackling like a maniac, was Frieza.

            His white arm was raised above his head, one finger stretched out. Above it, a horrible black ki ball was forming. Red bolts surrounded the deadly attack, whipping around the outside of it. It got bigger and bigger until it became almost as large as Chikyuu’s moon. Frieza screamed something about winning the battle and hurled the ki ball toward Namek.

            Gohan cried out and flew out of the way. He just barely missed being hit by the ball, but did take some of the aftershock. He was thrown against a rock, hit his head, and fell unconscious.

            Gohan woke after what seemed like a lifetime. His eyes were almost blinded by the bright sun that shone above him…

            A sun? After searching the sky above him and nothing else, he saw only one sun. There were three suns on Namek and only one here. This couldn’t be Namek…

            After further investigation, he concluded that this planet was definitely not Namek. The sky was deep blue, almost like that of Chikyuu but slightly darker. There were no clouds that he could see, and the sun was brighter than any he’d seen. Beneath him the ground was sand and very little grass, like that of a desert. A small stream ran nearby, flowing in a kind of whispering peacefulness.

            He shook his head and rubbed his eyes, as some people do after waking up from a strange dream. But when he looked around, he was not home, in bed…he was still in the strange desert, alone…

            Then, he realized that was indeed not alone…there was someone coming up behind him. He bolted up from the ground and into a fighting stance. He looked at the people in front of him and suddenly relaxed.

            The people were Saiyan.