Calm

The setting sun dyed the forests of Mount Paozu gold and crimson.

Gohan streaked across the horizon at sub-light speed and caught the scent of food from far away. His stomach gave an embarrassing growl. Come to think of it, he had eaten nothing today except that Senzu Bean. The burst to 420 million had nearly drained him dry; he was hungry enough to swallow a cow.

"Gohan!"

Chi-Chi stood at the courtyard gate, waving before she had even taken off her apron. Gohan slowed and landed before her, noticing that her eyes were slightly red.

"Mom?"

"It's nothing, it's nothing." Chi-Chi blinked hard, then smacked his shoulder. "You've gotten thinner! You definitely haven't been eating properly! Get inside, I made so many things you like!"

Gohan was pushed toward the house. In one corner of the courtyard, Piccolo sat cross-legged with his eyes shut, faint ki swirling around him. He had maintained that posture all afternoon, though no one knew what he was meditating on.

"Uncle Piccolo."

"You're back." Piccolo did not open his eyes. "Goku's inside. Bulma and Krillin went to Capsule Corporation. They said they were fixing some equipment."

Gohan nodded and continued inside.

Eight dishes covered the dining table like a full imperial feast. Braised pork ribs, steamed fish, Kung Pao chicken, broccoli with garlic...

"Mom... isn't this a little excessive?"

"What's excessive about it?" Chi-Chi brought over the last bowl of soup. "You nearly lost your life today. What's wrong with your mother making you something delicious? Eat, eat!"

Gohan lowered his head and shoveled down rice, his nose stinging a little.

In his previous life, he had been an orphan, raised in an orphanage. After growing up, he had been too busy making a living to eat a proper home-cooked meal more than a few times. Now he had a father and a mother. Though his mother was even scarier than Cell when she got fierce, this feeling of being cared for...

It was wonderful.

"Gohan, eat more meat." Goku placed a rib in his bowl. "You used up too much energy today."

"Thanks, Dad."

"Goku, you eat too." Chi-Chi gave Goku a helping of vegetables. "Don't just watch TV. An injured person needs to recover."

"I'm fine, Chi-Chi—"

"Fine or not, you still have to eat!" Chi-Chi glared. "Just look at you! What happened to your clothes today? They're ripped to shreds! Go mend them properly later!"

Goku shrank back and obediently ate his vegetables.

Watching this, Gohan nearly laughed aloud. A mighty Super Saiyan, yet he cowered before Chi-Chi like an elementary schooler. Still, he could understand it. If Chi-Chi had not kept such a fierce grip on him, his dad probably would have wandered off into outer space long ago.

"Gohan."

Chi-Chi's voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Go study after dinner."

"...What?"

"Math!" Chi-Chi planted her hands on her hips, her expression turning stern. "You've fallen behind on far too much schoolwork. Midterms are in two weeks. You can't put it off any longer!"

The chopsticks in Gohan's hand nearly fell to the floor.

Wait.

This morning, he had defeated Cell with the power of 420 million and saved the world. Android 16 had self-destructed before his eyes, and he had watched Cell's body get blasted into scraps. And now Chi-Chi wanted him to... do math problems?

"Mom, today I—"

"What about today? You're happy because you won, aren't you?" Chi-Chi glared. "You still have to study when you're happy! You want to become a scholar someday; you can't rely on your fists alone!"

Gohan opened his mouth, only to find himself completely speechless.

He knew this plot. Classic Dragon Ball daily life. He should have expected it. Even if the world ended, Chi-Chi's fury would not diminish in the slightest. If he dared say no, he could forget about breakfast tomorrow.

"...Okay."

Gohan nodded in resignation.

Beside him, Goku held back his laughter until his face turned red.

"Dad, you're not allowed to laugh!"

"I'm not laughing, I'm not... pfft—"

"You're obviously laughing!"

After dinner, Chi-Chi drove Gohan into the study to work on math problems.

He sat at the desk with a math textbook spread out before him, but his gaze kept drifting.

His mind was full of what had happened during the day.

Cell's final words: "The data remains." Android 16's last smile. The expression on Dr. Gero's face when he died, one that had sent chills down Gohan's spine.

And Vegeta.

Gohan knew Vegeta had not come to Mount Paozu today. The man's ki had vanished from his senses that afternoon. He had not suppressed it; he had truly left, heading in some unknown direction.

Gohan understood the Saiyan prince's pride. After being "surpassed" by him, Vegeta was surely holding back a fierce urge to overtake him again. Given his personality, he had probably rushed straight to the Gravity Chamber for frenzied training.

But Vegeta had been a little different today.

Gohan could not say exactly what was different. He only vaguely felt that the way the man looked at him...

"Gohan!" Chi-Chi's voice called from downstairs. "Don't space out!"

"Got it!"

Gohan pulled himself out of his thoughts and lowered his head to look at the math problem.

A system of two linear equations. His nightmare.

Two hours later, Gohan put down his pencil, feeling completely drained.

Not physically drained, but mentally.

He had been terrible at math in his previous life, and things had not improved much after crossing over. Those numbers and symbols danced before his eyes, making his scalp tingle.

"...I saved the world today, and now I'm solving equations."

Gohan muttered to himself, filled with a sense of absurdity.

He stood and walked over to the window.

The night breeze drifted in, carrying the scent of the mountains and forest. The moon was full, hanging at the edge of the sky like a silvery-white eye gazing down upon the earth.

In the distance, Piccolo was still meditating, his aura steady. Every now and then, the sound of Bulma repairing equipment came from the yard. She was probably using a soundproof enclosure, so he could not make out what she was saying.

Everything was calm.

Everything was normal.

Yet Gohan could not shake the feeling that something was wrong.

He could not put that feeling into words. It was like the faint, oppressive tension lingering in the air before a storm.

He returned to his desk and picked up the scanner from beside his bed.

He had always kept it with him. Not because he needed it to detect enemies—with his current strength, he could sense most threats on his own—but out of habit. A habit from his previous life, like some kind of anchor keeping him grounded in this reality.

The screen lit up.

Energy readings, environmental analysis, geographical coordinates... everything was normal.

Just as Gohan was about to turn off the screen, he froze.

A faint dot was flickering in the lower-right corner.

It was not a red alert, but an almost invisible glimmer that seemed to fade in and out.

"What is this...?"

Gohan zoomed in on that area.

On the energy fluctuation graph, an almost level line rose and fell slightly. The changes were pitifully small—if he had not been looking closely, he would never have noticed them.

It was like some kind of... dormant signal.

"Cell's data... wasn't completely erased?"

Gohan's heart began to race.

He carefully checked the source of the fluctuation. The scanner displayed the direction vaguely: "Unknown." It was not directly ahead, nor behind him to the left, but... everywhere.

"Reflection? Interference? Or..."

He found no answer.

Gohan stared at that signal for a long time. It was faint, but undeniably there, like something that had slept for ages, breathing softly in its dreams.

He turned off the screen and placed it back beside the bed.

"...The data is still there."

He did not tell anyone.

At least, not tonight.

Outside the window, the moon was full.

Gohan lay on the bed and closed his eyes.

In the distance, Piccolo's aura remained steady. The sounds of Bulma repairing equipment in the yard had already stopped.

Everything was calm.

But Gohan still could not sleep.

"Where did Uncle Vegeta go...?"

"What exactly is that signal...?"

"What other contingency did Dr. Gero leave behind...?"

Questions surfaced one after another, and Gohan could not answer a single one.

He turned over and buried his face in the pillow.

Forget it. He would deal with it tomorrow. Tonight, he needed to get some sleep first.

After an unknown amount of time, in his half-asleep state, Gohan seemed to hear something.

Very faint. Like the kind of sound a scanner made.

"Bzzz."

He jolted awake.

The room was silent. Moonlight still filtered through the gap in the curtains, drawing a silver-white streak across the floor.

Gohan sat up and looked at the scanner beside his bed.

Its screen was black.

No alarm. No flashing.

Nothing.

"...Was it a dream?"

Gohan rubbed his eyes.

He was probably just too tired. Several days of intense fighting, combined with the strain of today, made hallucinations perfectly normal.

He lay back down and tried to fall asleep again.

But in the instant before he closed his eyes, the moonlight outside the window seemed to dim for a moment.

Only for a moment. So brief that it was almost easy to mistake it for an illusion.

What Gohan did not see was that, somewhere beyond Mount Paozu where the moonlight could not reach, an incredibly faint energy was slowly rising.

It was rising too slowly. So slowly that even the most sensitive scanner would miss it unless someone kept their eyes fixed on it.

As though something were testing the waters.

Waiting.

The night deepened.

Mount Paozu fell asleep.

And amid the ruins of a distant northern wasteland, the metal box marked "For Gohan's Eyes Only" lay quietly beneath a pile of rubble, forgotten and unattended.

At the same time, above a hidden facility, a purple figure hovered in the air.

Vegeta looked down at the building below. It was one of the doctor's secret laboratories, a facility modified from Gravity Chamber technology.

A cold smirk curled across his lips.

"The doctor's legacy... I found you."

He raised a hand, and purple energy began gathering in his palm.

"You think Kakarot's son is the strongest?"

"No. That was only the beginning."

A pillar of purple light erupted with a thunderous blast, swallowing the entire facility.

Amid the explosions, Vegeta's cold voice rang out. "Cell's backup plan... I'll end it myself."

Flames soared into the sky, illuminating half the night.

Dark clouds gathered in the distance.