(Some hours later)
When word eventually got out of the events that'd befallen Capsule Corp, the members of the Z-fighters wasted no time in dropping whatever they were doing at the time and making their way over to West City. Arriving one after the other, the ruined dining room of the Briefs was soon filled with the familiar faces of Yamcha, Krillin, Android 18, Piccolo, Gohan, Zangya and Chi-Chi, all of whom were either flown here or transported to their friends place in some other shape or form.
Once everyone had gathered at the scene of the tragedy, Vegeta wasted no time in filling them in on what had happened, telling them about the android his wife had been constructing and how it suddenly went haywire. While the news initially shocked all of them, after hearing that the Saiyan Prince had managed to destroy the retched abomination responsible for all the devastation, they quickly retired to the living room and began providing comfort for those who needed it.
With Doctor Briefs's body moved over to the couch and covered by a blanket, the assortment of guests remained in a cold and unforgiving silence while they tried to figure out what to do next. On one side of the room, Mrs. Briefs sat with her grandson, holding his hand and receiving company from Yamcha and Puar. Krillin, Vegeta, Gohan, Chi-Chi and Goten on the other hand were sitting around the coffee table beside Bulma, who was currently trying to salvage what she could from her laboratories.
Managing to recover from most of her shock when Piccolo informed her that she could simply use the dragon balls to wish her father back to life, the blue haired woman wasted no time in heading down to the science wing of the building to collect the Dragon Radar. However, upon arriving at the place she remembered stashing it, not only did she find a completely wrecked laboratory waiting for her, she also found the radar lying scattered all over the floor in pieces.
While the dragon ball she had in her possession was lying against the wall not too far away, the rest of her gear had been left utterly destroyed. It hadn't just been that room either.
This inevitably led to the scientist sitting at her coffee table in defeat, holding the pieces of her radar in her hand and staring down at it with a melancholic look. Allowing the components of the device to sprinkle over the table when she tilted her hand, Bulma then crossed her arms over her stomach and tried to stop herself from losing it.
Once again, for the second time that day, Vegeta was there for her. As she sat there on the couch, the woman reached for the man's hand and gripped it tightly. Though he looked away from her when she did, the Saiyan Prince allowed the woman to clench his fingers and let out her distress.
"Sentinel destroyed everything," Bulma whispered, shaking her head in grief, "My lab, my gear, my capsules, my computers… everything."
Krillin blinked, glancing down at the remains of the device that had served their group well over the past several years. Knowing that they were pretty much flying blind without it, the bald male could only swallow nervously as he looked back up at his friend, "Can you fix it?" It was a question that as acknowledged by a glance from Android 18, who was standing nearby.
The woman sniffled, "I can. But with all my equipment either broken or missing, it'll take me at least a month to rebuild and reprogram it."
"A month?" Krillin balked. "That long?" A nod was all he received in return, before Bulma leaned over and pressed her forehead into Vegeta's shoulder.
The Saiyan Prince remained silent, keeping his gaze averted but nevertheless sparing the woman a few furtive glances. Silence returned to the room shortly thereafter, with Chi-Chi extending a hand across the table to take Bulma's free one, and Gohan fixing his gaze on the destroyed radar.
Though everyone knew the woman would be able to fix the device without question, after everything she'd been through the entire morning, they knew that it would take her a while to get her mind back on track. She was obviously still shaken-up from the entire ordeal and thanks to the mess left behind by that bastard android, they knew that it would probably take a lot longer than a month before they could even start looking for the dragon balls.
For Bulma, after suffering such a loss to her family and feeling as though all of the responsibility for it rested on her shoulders, as she'd been the one to build the monstrosity's body in the first place, everyone knew that this was going to be incredibly hard for her to move on from. Considering everything that'd happened, perhaps this was a dead end for her.
However, there was one amongst them who was not willing to throw in the towel just yet.
Being one of the only people there with a clear head on his shoulders, Gohan, narrowing his eyes, rose to his feet and turned to the ceiling. His actions drawing everyone's gazes over to him, including Piccolo and Zangya's over by the window, everyone saw the spiky haired teen step into the middle of the room and focus all of his attention towards the sky.
It was a sudden shift in tone that did not go unnoticed.
"Gohan?" Bulma murmured.
"What's wrong, sweet heart?" Chi-Chi also asked, while at the same time his kid brother looked at him in confusion.
Remaining silent for several moments, the hybrid teen glanced back down at everyone around him and, after looking at all their faces, fixed his attention on the Briefs family members and smiled. "I'll be back in a bit."
Then, looking away once more, Gohan vanished in a golden flash of light, leaving his friends and family standing around the chamber in confusion.
OOO
(Otherworld)
For Goku, it was just another ordinary day living out his current incarnation on the Grand Kai's planet.
Following the visit from his family and his son's friends the previous morning, the Son father was feeling much livelier than usual and was hitting King Kai's training regimen even harder than ever. To start off his physical routine, the man was currently using wrist and ankle weights to work on his speed and power, punching and kicking the air in a blur of movement and causing sweat to fly off of him with every blow.
His attacks cutting through the sky above the meadows of the planet in all directions, the spiky haired Saiyan was watched on by the ever-present form of his mentor. Accompanied by Bubbles and Gregory, both of whom were also observing the shadow sparring fighter with interest, King Kai looked on silently as his best student buffed up his fighting skills and plowed through his routine at full throttle.
It was only after an hour of training at this stage that the group was suddenly interrupted from their session by a flash of golden light appearing directly in the center of the field. Their attention being pulled around, King Kai and Goku saw the familiar form of Gohan shimmer into view, an intense look on his face that quickly switched to its normal expression the moment he exited the dimension he'd been traveling through to get here.
"Oh, Gohan. Good morning," the overseer of the Northern Quadrant exclaimed, with Bubbles and Gregory also waving to the boy in greeting.
"Hey guys," the teen greeted pleasantly, before then turning around and looking up into the sky where his father was floating. "Yo, dad."
"Gohan? You're here?" Goku asked, quickly dropping back down to ground level and walking up to his son, who strolled over to him in kind. The man with sweat dripping down his face placed his hands on his hips, "I didn't know you would be popping in today? Is everything alright?"
"Sorry to drop in so suddenly dad, but… something important has just come up," the teen explained with a troubled expression quickly coming over him. It was an expression that his father immediately took notice of, "I need your help…"
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