Revisiting the Past (Open)

[Tien Shinhan]

After the encounter with the motorcycle guy, Tien realized that it was time to re-visit his routes, which was a very dangerous thing. It meant going to the place where his story had started out, and he had many enemies at the Crane School with how he had left but this wasn’t going to stop him. Of course, one tended to get on someone’s bad side by beating a former mentor in a match with no real effort, but that was what happened when one chose to progress with one’s life in a more positive way than what was previously designed.

Unfortunately, it would have been a very long journey if he had chosen to walk or drive to the Crane School, which is why he was flying there. It was a risk that someone might sense his Ki, but it was worth the risk since it wouldn’t be sensed in great amount. Tien wasn’t sure what he would find at the school, but he might get lucky and find some impressive fighters that he could prevent from falling into the dark shadows of Shen and Tao. He just hoped that he wouldn’t be met by a violent force that were out to take out the best student that the Crane School ever saw.

“Even though it is unlikely, I must stay on guard if the case is that I am met by students who want to prove their worth by fighting me.” Tien’s eyes were watching the sky in front of him as he drew closer to the school that had once been like a home to him and still did on some days, but Tien knew that this was not his home anymore. He was just here to check in on his former teachers and then leave to continue to search for his friends.

[sonz]

The young man needed to clear his mind once again. Gohan had once again been overwhelmed by the sudden turn of events, this time it was his defeat the hands of that Saiyan Prince scum. The nineteen year old had failed to protect a young human girl from her attacker and to add insult to injury, Vegeta knocked him out. That surprise attack did indeed him get off guard so the young man had to give it to his opponent for that one. Not even bothering to mask his ki, for the boy had no fear of being detected by any of Frieza's forces, the saiyan hybrid blasted through the air, a blue aura of energy surrounding and streaking behind him. His onyx eyes searched the area below, looking out for whoever he could find.

The newly-appointed savior of the earth had been searching for his father's friends. Though while at the north pole, Gohan saw a man his father knew Yamcha die off, being killed by Videl's attacker. That was one out. As far he knew, that left Gohan, Krillin, and his father's friends Tien and Chiaotzu. Since he knew where Krillin resided, the man decided to find Tien first. Bulma had told him that Tien secluded himself from the rest of the world, so that meant the son of Goku would have to search the most secluded of places. After all, how hard could it be to find a three-eyed bald guy?

[Tien Shinhan]

He was almost at the Crane School when something stopped him from moving, and there was only one thing on the planet that could leave him frozen. He sensed a power level flying towards him with no hint of trying to cover their tracks. It had to be someone who was pretty confident in their abilities to take down anyone that might be able to stop them, and Tien didn’t feel like getting in a fight so he floated downward to hide among the trees. Even though taking someone that confident one was not something that he wanted to do, Tien still needed to see who was patrolling the area just in case it became useful information when he finally did find his friends.

“Depending on how well they have trained, they might still be able to sense some remnant of my Ki in the area. If that happens, then I may have no other choice but to fight them.” With this thought in mind, Tien formulated a plan by which he would confuse the person using telepathy so that he would have advantage for the beginning of the fight. Of course, there was still the possibility that whoever this person was that he or she could be a potential ally, so hiding within the trees was a smart thing to do especially with the outfit that he had on acting sort of like camouflage. Having a secluded life had meant that he was unable to recognize the Ki of someone that he had met for a short amount of time many years ago.

[sonz]

Gohan rocketed through the skies, arms spread out wide as he took in a crisp breath of fresh air. Maybe in another place, Gohan would have been able to fly through the skies without a worry. Maybe he would grow up to be the scholar his mother wanted him to be many years ago, she since giving up on that due to the given circumstances. Now, due to Frieza and Hypno's sudden arrival, the young man had a feeling that it wasn't suppose to go down like this. This wasn't supposed to happen. Gohan wanted to be relaxing with his family: his grandfather, mother and father, but instead, he was forced to take up his father's mantle, his position as Earth's constant savior. The sad thing was, Gohan hadn't saved anything yet.

His aura fading, the boy decided to land into a nearby forest. It was then a vague but familiar ki source. It was nothing he had sensed recently but it was someone's ki that he's most likely seen as a toddler, baby even. The ki source was flickering however, meaning that they were attempting to mask their ki, low enough for all with a scouter to be unable to detect. Being as paranoid as he was, Gohan clenched his fists at his sides just in case he had to attack. "Whoever's here, come on out." he shouted, his voice echoing throughout the canopy of trees.

Gohan stood there, looking around. Whoever was there, he actually wished it wasn't an opponent. His saiyan blood was boiling and if an enemy jumped out, the young saiyan would show no mercy.

[Tien Shinhan]

The source of the Ki was approaching so quickly that Tien thought that whoever it was would fly over without slowing down. Unfortunately, his assumption was incorrect as the person landed close to where Tien was trying to hide, and at this range there would be no doubt that his own Ki would catch this person’s eye. At least, he had assumed the right thing this time as the young man called out for whoever was hiding to show themselves, and Tien was debating on whether or not he would be able to catch this person off guard.

Of course, this was when he caught sight of what kind of clothing the young man was wearing, which reminded him of Goku and Krillin’s usual attire. It was a small thing to base his decision upon, but Tien had to know what the connection this young man had with his friends. He slowly exited the tree that he was hiding in and positioned himself so that he would be able to quickly react to anything the young man might have done toward him.

“Exactly what is your association with the Turtle School?” Tien skipped the part about introductions as he didn’t want to reveal who he was at this point and time. It was sort of obvious that he was probably a student of the school, but there was something very familiar about him that Tien couldn’t quite put his foot on. It was almost as if he had seen him somewhere before, but the question was where had it been? He knew that it wasn’t sometime recent as he would know exactly who the person was then, so it must have been long ago.

[sonz]

Gohan stood there, awaiting for whoever it was to reveal themselves. Whatever thoughts he had concerning if the person was a threat or not was gone. The odds were in his favor, actually: if it were an ally, it would most likely be one of his father's friends. Now, say it was an enemy, than Gohan believed he would be able to take them out with ease. The choppy haired man stood there, arms still at his side, looking up and closing his eyes, concentrating in an attempt to pinpoint the small amount of ki. This person must've been skilled because while Gohan knew there was a person here, said person was able to leave only that as a hint. Then a voice came from behind and Gohan smirked at the quesiton, turning around slowly. "My association to the Turtle school?" Gohan asked, his voice straining as if he was holding back laughter.

The half-breed did indeed have the Turtle School gi on, his father's old one that has been repaired and modified by his mother. The Turtle symbol seemed to glow in contrast to the dark orange of the gi. Instead of a short navy t-shirt, Gohan sported a long sleeved one under the gi. The man was a spitting image of his father, the only differences being the amount of hair on his head, which was more kept-together (although not by much) than Goku's, the scars that littered his face and their height, Gohan standing a good five inches over his father. His eyes were warm but fierce as he looked onto the trees, staring at he suspected the hidden person to be. "It's my father's gi, he was a student of Master Roshi." he said, the tone of his voice indicating his proudness.

"I am Son Gohan, the son of Goku and protector of the earth!"

[Tien Shinhan]

The other man turned at his question, and from what Tien could perceive there was something behind the returning question. There were definitely some similarities between this man’s outfit and that of other Turtle students that Tien had met long ago, but he would never have imagined what the actual connection would be. It had been such a long time since Tien had seen everyone that he had forgotten that Goku had a son, and even if he had remembered there was no way he would have thought that the boy would have advanced to this kind of power since his father died.

“So you are Goku’s kid? You sure have shot up like a tree over the past years.” Of course, Tien didn’t mention the fact that Gohan also reminded him of Yamcha with all of the scars that he had, which was mainly because it would have sounded weird for some reason. His feet touched the ground soon after he spoke as it seemed like hiding was rather pointless at this point since this young man was obviously an ally. With Gohan being around, then it seemed like getting rid of all these evil souls was a possibility for Tien, but the power levels that he had felt some days ago seemed like they might be even too much for the son of Goku.

With this thought in mind, the three eyed man decided that it would be a waste of a golden opportunity if he didn’t ask Gohan about the others, and given that the boy had declared himself Earth’s protector Tien was confident that he would know where they might be. “My name is Tien Shinhan, and as much of a pleasure that it is to see you I must ask if you know anything about your father’s friends, Krillin and Yamcha.”

[sonz]

Just as the man stepped out of his hiding spot, Gohan turned around, completely prepared to attack. His eyes were now upon who appeared to be an ally. His face emotionless, the teen scanned over the tall bald man for a bit before smiling. Third eye? Bald? It was Tien, the man who he was looking for and someone who can possibly help him fend off the alien threats. The orange clad boy stepped forward, now approaching Tien, his posture now relaxed and a small smile on his scarred face. "You're Tien Shinhan." Gohan said just as Tien introduced himself. "Bulma and my mother have told me about you."

"Krillin is at Kame House with Master Roshi." Gohan replied, his eyes dropping to the ground as he thought about Yamcha. "Yamcha, he died." he put it as bluntly as he could. "There was a conflict at the north pole and he was one of the casualties." then Gohan began to speak, barely taking breaths between each sentences. He explained everything: how he sensed a group of power levels and went to the north pole through how he duked it out with a fellow saiyan and lost. He concluded with how he was brought to his house at Mt. Paozu and taken care and then made out to West City. At the end of the story, Gohan took a long pause before speaking once more. His eyes now on the grass, the black orbs blank as if Gohan was processing the current situation one more.

"So..I've set out to find some of my father's friends and band together to defeat Frieza."

[Tien Shinhan]

It seemed that Goku’s loved ones had taken the time to give Gohan a crash course in who he could trust in this world, and Tien should have figured that they would. It also put him at a disadvantage in this conversation as Tien’s knowledge was of those that he had met on that fateful day, but Gohan might be able to fill him in on who in the world was ready to battle Frieza and his forces. There were many things that he was going to need to be informed about before any sort of counterattack could even begin to get underway, but for now he would be content with knowing about who was left out of his friends.

“It is good to hear that Krillin is still alive. I’ll have to go see him soon.” Tien had decided not to say the obvious thing that Yamcha’s lost was going to make things even more difficult on them, and he was also going to keep his mouth shut about the fact that there weren’t any dragon balls that could be used to bring any of their friends back to life now. It seemed that even more had gone on during his secluded training than Tien had realized, and now he felt the cost of it.

Tien let out a deep breath as he thought over everything that Gohan had just told him about what had been going on in the recent weeks, and now he knew what he needed to do. “It seems that I have missed out on all of the excitement, but it seems that more is to come. We will have to be careful on how we approach Frieza and his forces as they definitely have superior numbers.” Things were definitely looking bleak for them in this situation as it stood that there were only three of them with enough power to do any significant damage in this upcoming conflict.

[sonz]

It was good that Gohan had encountered Tien when he did. The young man honestly believed there was strength in numbers and Krillin, Tien and himself would be able to take Frieza in a collective effort. Of course, it would've been better if Yamcha was around, their chances would'e been greater but the three remaining Z-fighters will have to suffice. The boy plopped down on the ground, crossing his legs and pressing his palms down on the side of his knees. Puffing his cheeks out, Gohan let out a small sigh and looked at the dry grass quizzically, as if it held all the world's answers.

Gohan then looked up at Tien, who had just finished speaking. "We'd have to take down the enemy Saiyans first. They're apart of Frieza's strongest squadron as far as I know." he said, now looking up at Tien. Then the memory of the battle with Vegeta flooded his head again and he stood up, clenching his fists angrily. That was one of the strongest opponents he's ever faced and he was taken down almost effortlessly. It must've been a fluke: there was more to Gohan's ability than that. If he couldn't take down one of Frieza's soldiers,, then how was he going to take down the tyrant himself? Then again, he wasn't by himself, he apparently had allies: Krillin and Tien.

"You know, I met a fighter by the name of Videl. She's the daughter of that Champion guy and could be a potential ally." he said, looking Tien dead in the eyes.

[Tien Shinhan]

Tien knew something about the enemy Saiyans that Gohan spoke of, or at least he knew of Raditz who had been the main problem. He wasn’t as sure that they would be able to actually do that much against the Saiyans even if the three of them ganged up on them, but they had to try. The three eyes of the older man watched as Gohan sat down on the ground, and he wondered what was going through the boy’s mind at this point. “If we are going to do this, we are going to need to find powerful allies in a shorter period of time.”

Even if they scoured the globe looking for talented fighters, there was no way that any normal person was going to be able to take on even one of Frieza’s warriors unless they had been training since birth. This was the point that Gohan brought up the name of a girl who was a possible ally, and it should have set up a red flag in his mind that there might be something more there than he knew about but Tien lacked the intuition for such things as crushes. “If you think that she can be useful in this fight, then I say bringing her into the fold can’t hurt.”

As he was thinking about where they could get more allies, Tien remembered what he had been originally doing before sensing Gohan. “It might be a real hassle to do, but we should look in on some of the Martial Arts schools to see if there are any talented fighters among the bunch. We might get lucky and find some naturals that can hold their own against the best of them.”

[sonz]

"The enemy saiyans were the ones that killed my father!" he said angrily. While sitting on the ground, Gohan crossed his arms over his chest tightly and closed his eyes shut. "We do new some powerful allies but there aren't a lot of martial artists left." he whispered. Most martial artists have been discouraged by Frieza's rule and instead of training to fight against him, given because they believed there was no hope left. However, Gohan remembered something key: The Tenkaichi Budokai was coming up and if a lot of people entered, they could a lot of potential allies. Frieza could very well be threading together the net of his destruction unknowingly. "The Martial Arts tournament is soon, I think we should enter, they should be some fighters there."

Gohan hoped the enemy saiyans enter the tournament. "I have to avenge my father." he said. If his father was here, no doubt Goku would be proud with Gohan's progress. Provided, Gohan wasn't the strongest but he has grown substantially stronger by training by himself (and occasions, Krillin), so that was something to brag about. Now he wanted to pick his fruits of labor: his blood was boiling and he wished to engage in battle with either Vegeta or Raditz. Either one because they both damaged him someway or another.

[Tien Shinhan]

What Tien saw in Gohan’s eyes made him very concerned about what kind of state the boy’s mind was in. He knew that technically Gohan was an adult that free to make his own decisions, but he had this strange feeling that the young man needed some guidance. He was about to say something along those lines when Gohan brought up a tournament that was coming up, and Tien knew that such a place was going to hold potentially the greatest fighters that the world had to offer. “Entering the tournament would be a nice way of finding allies, but we have to be smart about this. Frieza is likely doing this in order to find any who oppose him, so staying on guard is going to be essential.”

Then Gohan had to bring back the point that Tien needed to look at very carefully as he said that he needed to avenge his father. All that he could do was sigh as he began to formulate what he said very carefully as to keep from upsetting the boy than he already seemed to be. “I know that you really don’t know me, but there is something that I need to say to you. If we really want to succeed at defeating these guys, then you are going to have to do this for the right reasons because if all you are after is vengeance for your father’s death or a beating that you took then I am afraid that you won’t find anything more than pain.”

Fighting for the wrong reasons was something that Tien knew about on so many levels that he could practically be an expert on it. “You have to trust me on this, Gohan. Going into any fight with anger being your motivation will just make you reckless and get you killed.”

[sonz]

Gohan's eyes were on the ground, the boy obvious lost in his thought. That dirty saiyan killed his father! Gohan didn't really have a connection with Goku, seeing as he grew up without him but based on the stories he's heard, the alien-raised-on-earth was a good man. A good man that didn't deserved to be killed. He sighed and his black orbs went to Tien. From what stories Bulma and his mother have told him, the three eyed fighter hadn't always been on the good side. In fact, it was a young Goku that somehow influenced him to become a good guy. Goku was a pure soul and would've been the perfect father, if Gohan remembered who he was or anything about him. "Yeah." Gohan would say absentmindedly, nodding his head to Tien's first statement.

As Tien began his second waves of words, Gohan rose up from the ground, dusting himself and turned to Tien, a impassive expression on his face. The saiyan knew his newest ally was correct and wanted to abide by what he said but what if he actually came face-to-face with his father's killer? Despite never even seeing the murderer before, Gohan knew his trademark traits: extremely long hair and a tail, things that would be extremely hard to miss (unless you were stupid.) The orange gi clad boy bit his bottom lip in though, carefully digesting the bald headed man's words.

[Tien Shinhan]

Tien could see that Gohan was thinking over the words that he had said, but it was very difficult to know just what kind of effect he was actually having on the young man. Either way, Gohan was probably the closest thing to a savior that the humans had in this world, but that was only if the son of Goku was able to perform the same feats as his father had been able to on more than one occasion. Of course, the fighters of Earth were going to have to rely on their own abilities and not wait around for someone else to save them.

Once Gohan was standing, there was a thought that crossed Tien’s mind if the young fighter was actually considering that Tien was right about what their motives needed to be when going into this. If Gohan was thinking about going into this battle for selfish reasons, then Tien was sure that he wasn’t going to want such a warrior at his back as Gohan might chase after his father’s killer instead of watching the back of his allies. “So where are you going from here?”

It seemed unlikely that Gohan would be accompanying him to Krillin’s location, but the young man’s actual plans were a mystery from him. Maybe Gohan would want to head home to visit his mother or to see this girl Videl that he had mentioned earlier.