Disclaimer: Dragonball, Dragonball Z, and Dragonball GT are owned by Akira Toriyama, Bird Studios, and Toei.
Unbreakable
Bonds
by Silver Galaxy
It all started when Bulma Briefs met Son Goku on her vacation, when she was a young girl. Goku was best friends with Krillin, and trained under a man named Master Roshii. Soon, Bulma, Krillin, and Goku met Tenshinhan, Yamucha, Chaotzu, Yaijirobe, Piccolo, ChiChi, Oolong, Puar, Korin, Kami, and Mr. Popo. They had many adventures together in search for the magical balls called the Dragon Balls. They fought many battles, and overcame many challenges together.
Those battles and adventures formed an unbreakable bond between the group of Zen Senshi, or "Z-Senshi".
Years later, Goku married ChiChi, and had a son named Gohan. Four years later, Goku's brother Raditz came to Earth, starting a chain of events that would change the lives of the Z-Senshi forever. With Raditz's arrival, Vegeta and Nappa came to Earth. With Raditz's arrival, Son Goku traveled to Kaiou-sama's planet to become stronger. With Raditz's arrival, the once evil Piccolo gradually became an ally of Earth, instead of an enemy. With Raditz's arrival, Son Gohan learned the ways of a warrior.
The battle with Vegeta and Nappa, two of the three remaining Saiyajins, spawned many great things. Vegeta, Prince of the Saiyajin, was on his way to becoming one of Earth's greatest defenders. And for Goku, Bulma, Krillin, and Gohan, they were on their way to the planet Namek to wish back their slain friends - Yamucha, Tenshinhan, Piccolo, and Chaotzu -, and on their way to the greatest battle thus far . . . the battle that changed their lives forever.
The battle with Frieza.
The adventures on Namek brought many great things, and only great things, with the occasional massacre. Vegeta took another step to becoming one of the "good guys". Piccolo reached a new height in power with his fusion with the Namekian named Nail. Son Gohan matured into an even greater warrior. And Son Goku made the transformation that would aid the universe, his friends, family, and world, into the legendary Super Saiyajin.
Frieza was defeated, but not forgotten, and definitely not gone for good.
The Z-Senshi returned home. Tenshinhan, Chaotzu, Piccolo, Yamucha, Bulma, Gohan, Krillin, and Vegeta were all safe on Earth. But . . . Vegeta left to look for Goku. And the earth was in for yet another battle. A battle with the one known as Garlic Jr.
A small battle, yes, but a very important one at that. Piccolo, Krillin, and Gohan found out that maybe they didn't need Goku to win every battle? Maybe they didn't need a Saiyajin to get them out of every rut they were in? They prevailed against Garlic Jr., and went back to their normal lives.
But soon, Frieza came to Earth, with his eyes set on destruction. Goku was on his way to Earth, but two hours too late. Earth's fate was laid into the hands of an unknown warrior - a warrior named Trunks Briefs, the son of Vegeta and Bulma Briefs.
The arrival of Mirai Trunks brought about many things:
One: He saved the present world, by curing Goku's heart disease, and warning the Z-Senshi of the near threat of two Androids.
Two: He played a fairly large part in the transformation Vegeta makes from the "bad guy" to the "good guy".
Three: He saved the lives of his mother, and younger self.
The Androids posed hardly any threat, actually. Cell was the main villain in this one. In the end, Goku sacrificed himself to save Earth, Cell killed Mirai Trunks, and then Gohan went Super Saiyajin 2 and whooped Cell's ass.
Not too long after, Krillin and Android Number Eighteen had Marron, their first, and only, child.
Seven years later, when Chibi Trunks was eight, and Goku's son Goten, was seven, Goku was granted one day of life on Earth. Typically, he chose to fight in the Budokai . . . but, it turned out that he ended up fighting Buu instead.
Vegeta finally made the full transformation into a "good guy", by sacrificing himself for the planet Earth and its people, and by admitting that his long-time nemesis is the number one fighter. Goku (and Vegeta) was brought back to life for good, Vegeta truly became part of the Z-Senshi, Gotenks and Vegetto were born, and Earth was finally safe.
Then, Gohan married Videl, and had a child named Pan. Vegeta and Bulma became two-time parents, by having a daughter named Bra.
But then, everything took a turn for the worse. Pilaf wished Goku back into a child, and a fourteen-year-old Pan, twenty-five-year-old Trunks, and a chibi Goku took off to look for the Black Star Dragon Balls around the universe. In the end, Goku died for good, and the dragon balls vanished.
A while later, Goku Jr. and Vegeta Jr. were born. They were best friends, naturally.
But then . . . the Briefs and the Sons lost contact of each other. As years passed, the two families grew apart by time. It was like when water drips into a crack in a rock. After time, the water breaks apart the rock. That's what happened to the Sons and the Briefs. Slowly, but surely, the two families drifted apart.
After everything that happened, from the very beginning to the very end of a legacy, the two greatest bloodlines were separated. Goku and Vegeta, the last of their race (not counting all the hybrids), and best friends whether they ever realized it or not. Trunks and Goten, two of the closest friends ever known. All four bonded by the battles they fought, the fusions they formed, the blood they share, and the memories they shared.
And what happened to it all?
The battles ended.
The fusions never happened again.
The blood is separated, and the Saiyajin gene is lost throughout generations.
The memories aren't there anymore.
Hmm . . . . are they really? No, I don't think so. I know of the battles. I know Son Goku's legacy.
Yes, the fusions will never happen again. No one knows the fusion dance, therefore, no more fusing. Besides, what's the need?
And yes, the Saiyajin blood is hardly existent. I share some small part of it, but soon, the Saiyajin race will be completely non-existent. No more hybrids. No more Saiyajin. I hate to think about it, really. The Saiyajin were a fighting race, but in the end, the last of their race is not going to go out fighting. They're going to slowly dwindle out, because there's not enough of us.
And the memories aren't there anymore. We don't know what was said, what was laughed at, what jokes were made during the time of the greatest people ever to live. But, on the good side, there's a Z-Senshi photo album that my family somehow ended up with. After looking through the pictures so many times, after seeing what the Z-Senshi were like, and who they were, I know that when they died, when their legacy came to an end, humanity lost the one best thing that ever happened to it. If another evil surfaces, Earth will lose.
But, as I stand here in the ring of yet another Tenkaichi Budokai, I stare a warrior who looks a bit too much like a purple haired man named Trunks Briefs I saw in an old photo. An old photo that was ripped in half. A momento, I assume, that Goten kept to remember his best friend by. And I guess that Trunks had the other half of the picture - the half of the picture with Goten in it. And I know that I look a bit too much like that spiky-haired guy with the stupid grin, named Son Goten.
We are the direct descendants of Vegeta and Goku, and Trunks and Goten. Does he know it? Does he know who I am? Does he know who our great-great-great (how many 'greats' would it be, exactly?) grandparents are, what they shared, how many times they fought each other?
Does anyone know anymore?
Hmm . . . yes, I think they do. I know. But does he know it? Did Trunks and Bra pass down the stories that Gohan, Goku, Vegeta, and Bulma told them? Or the stories that they lived themselves?
And suddenly, this Trunks look-alike powers up. I wonder if he can go Super Saiyajin? I can't. And I wonder, is the Super Saiyajin legend going to be no more than a legend again? As far as we know, Pan and Bra never managed to reach Super Saiyajin. As far as anyone knows, the last people ever to reach that state were Goten and Trunks. With no battles, no reason to train, no force pushing us to attain a new level of power, we haven't managed to bring back the Super Saiyajin. It died with Trunks and Goten.
It seems like everything died with those two. While Goku Jr., and Vegeta Jr. were friends, they never managed quite live up to Trunks and Goten, and Trunks and Goten never quite managed to live up to their fathers. But they were best friends through it all. They shared a bond greater than Goku's and Krillin's, or ChiChi's and Bulma's, or Goku's and Vegeta's, or Master Roshii's and his magazines. Family legend has it that they died together, of old age, at the same time. I think they were soulmates. How else do you explain that?
I narrow my coal black eyes, and also power up. I've been training. I want to be like Goku, Gohan and Goten. I want to be like my family. They were the greatest warriors ever! They can never be matched! And they're my family! I have to at least try to live up to what they were!
And, I know, he feels the same thing. He knows that he is Vegeta's descendant. He is the Prince of the Saiyajin, no matter how little Saiyajin blood remains flowing throughout our veins. He knows that he has to live up to Trunks Briefs. He knows of his family heritage, and how Mirai Trunks saved this time. He knows, just like I know.
"Are you ready, Gotenks?" he asks me, his eyes holding a certain glint . . . a glint just like Trunks has in that picture I have of him.
"Yeah, I am, Trunten. Get ready to have your ass kicked."
It's funny, isn't it? We're named after what Trunks and Goten fused into. Well, at least I am. Trunten never really existed, did he? But, we're still named after Trunks and Goten. It's their names combined, and made into our names. I would have thought that we would have been "Gogeta" and "Vegetto". I wonder why we're named after Trunks and Goten, and not Vegeta and Goku? Maybe the next generation will be?
"We'll see who's the one who's gonna get their ass kicked. Sometimes," he pauses, smirking at me. "history doesn't always repeat itself."
"You know?"
He nods, looking at me like he's known me forever. "You really thought that the Sons and Briefs could be separated forever? As long as there is a Tenkaichi Budokai, or a threat to Earth, or something that would bring a Son and a Briefs together, we'll never fully lose contact of each other," the smirk grows. "At least not for good." he adds. He reaches into his pants pocket, and pulls out a picture half, completely ignoring the fact that the crowd is yelling and screaming for us to start fighting.
And I pull out my picture from its secure place in-between my sash and waist. "I have Trunks."
"I have Goten." And we step closer to each other, feeling an undeniable sense of familiarity between us, placing the two pieces together like a jig-saw puzzle. It completes the picture, showing two best friends: one eighteen years old, and the other seventeen years old, at a Tenkaichi Budokai. Their arms are draped around each other's shoulders in a best friend-like fashion. Yeah, they really were the bestest of friends . . . soulmates. Inseparable.
How ironic. Trunten is wearing the exact same thing as Trunks in the picture. And I'm wearing the exact same thing as Goten in the picture. I guess fashion hasn't changed much in over a hundred years, huh? Well, at least not for us.
But now, the picture is complete. The Sons and Briefs have found each other again . . . and in the best way possible: a battle. Just like how it all began with two warriors named Son Goku and Prince Vegeta, all of those many, many years ago.
The End
(c) Silver Galaxy, 2000
