16/08/07
The following story is true although it is not about Dragon Ball Z initially it is about a Dragon Ball Z experience. Please read comments not expected but will be appreciated.
It was the Christmas holidays in the year 2000, in a small suburban mountain town a young girl named Wendy was perched in front of the TV amazed by the graphics of a cartoon that had been on for a while now but she had just began to watch it she soon became obsessed with it.
Soon the holidays were over and it was back to school for the new year of 2001 Wendy hated school. She hardly had any friends she did hang out with a small number of girls every break time but most of them didn't even like her particularly the leader of the group Jenny, even though she was the one who invited her to hang out with them. Every opportunity that she had she would bully Wendy at times she was very violent.
Jenny always told lies she claimed that her family were millionaires when they were poor, that she was kidnapped by millionaires and taken all over the world, that she was a princess and related to Adolf Hitler.
Jenny's best girl of the group was Sally who was mad about jumping into bed with guys. She didn't care who it was, most of the girls at school were that way she always poked fun at Wendy because of her looks saying that she would never find anybody.
Adele another girl in the group acted like she knew everything. Wendy wasn't good at Math and other things but whenever Adele got her chance she would always call her dumb and tell others that she was an idiot.
Wendy didn't know why it started. From the moment it began she was searching for that answer one of the little reasons could have been to get the others of the group to recognize the value of her existence. But, not long after school started she began her own lie it wasn't planned. All Wendy could label it as was the birth of her imagination she always had one but watching the show let it begin to manifest.
She told the group that she had an English cousin named Fudago living in Japan and he owned a company called Funimation the studio which makes Dragon Ball Z.
"That's a strange name, did I hear you right can you repeat what you just said?" Adele asked.
"My cousin is behind Dragon Ball Z. Can you guys keep it to yourselves though I don't want anyone else to find out about this?"
"When did you find out about this?" Jenny asked.
"During the holidays, he's on my mother's side if I knew that it was a relation of mine who created it. I would have watched it when it first started. My mother's family lost contact with her brother he opened up a business in Tokyo and employed workers to make computers and keep up with the demands of the Japanese market. My cousin Fudago took over three years ago due to an incident which took the lives of his parents so instead of computers he turned to making Japanese style cartoons to keep up in the Anime industry. We have decided to keep in contact from now on"
"Have you met him?" Jenny asked,
"No. But I have talked with him on the phone, he's very nice he has a desire to spread Japanese style cartoons throughout the rest of the world. Anime can be very lifelike compared to the normal American style"
She told them that he lived in the family mansion that got passed to him since the death of his parents. Wendy pictured the Resident Evil mansion the one from the first game in her head.
By lunch hour the lie had gotten bigger she began to talk about the people who do the voices for the characters.
She told them that the voice of Goku was a man named Hugh who had a wife and two kids an eight year old and a seven year old. His wife was called Meling who is the voice of Chichi and then the oldest child Denneo was also the voice of Gohan.
Adele began to call every night to see what was happening next or Wendy would call her.
She now lied daily over the phone and during break times Wendy had reached the point where she started to convince herself that it was true. She thought she was going mad, in the darkness of her room at night she would lie in bed dreaming about it she could see it coming to life she even got ideas of what to say next.
The lie was like an entrance into another world where she had real friends who treated her with respect.
But the cost was she was losing herself it was like a war on a battlefield expect when you look for the enemy you don't know that it is inside you.
One lunchtime Wendy told the group that in Tokyo there was a street gang and for reasons unknown they have targeted Funimation
"But what would a street gang want with a business?" Adele asked,
"The Japanese market for Anime is outrageously popular among the Japanese public so it is dangerously competitive. I heard a few weeks ago there were rumors that one company hired gangsters to go up against another. The gangsters would do it for a price"
"How many rivals do Funimation have?" Sally asked,
"Every other company is our rival. It's an unspoken rule you make the same thing we do we compete. Japanese will do whatever it takes to be the best even hire others to take out the opponents"
One morning break as Wendy walked up a concrete path leading to D-block she heard an awful yelling coming from the other side of the entrance door. She anxiously opened the door to see Annette another girl in the group getting picked on by Jenny. Carol the nicest girl in the group and her out of the group friend Amy were watching in horror
"I'm going to make you pay you stupid bitch. Who do you think you are?" Jenny yelled as she pulled Annette's hair who tried to push her away
"You have no idea who you are messing with. I may be a bitch but I'm proud of it"
She punched Annette in the stomach. Annette leaned forward as a spit of saliva came out Jenny pushed her up the stairs and gave her a slap in the face as she threatened to kill her Annette bursted into tears "You are weak" Jenny snared.
That lunchtime when the group meet up Annette was absent Jenny led the group for a walk.
"Come on guys she went this way we're so close I can almost smell her"
Wendy who just arrived on the scene turned to Sally "What's happening?"
"We're on an Annette hunt its Jenny's new favorite game. Jenny says anyone who makes her mad will be hunted down every lunch hour until they plead for mercy or until she gets sick of it I guess"
They soon came to Annette in B-block she was talking with a group of girls trying to fit in with them.
"There you are you stupid bitch did you think you could get away from me?"
She's totally crazy Wendy thought. She wanted to do something to help Annette but all she could do was silently clench her fist she had to admit it, she was frightened of Jenny, but deep down they all were.
The girls whom Annette had been talking to stood around to watch not on anyone's side they told Jenny that she was just a tag along.
Wendy closed her eyes she didn't want to see it a hard hit was heard she opened her eyes back to the scene Annette had her hand over her face.
"You're a fucking bitch Jenny. You're only stronger than the rest of us because you're fat. It's all the flab that makes your punches and pushes hard if you were skinny you would be what you consider to be weak, lose some weight eh"
That cost Annette another slap but the look on Jenny's face made it worth. The shocked expression which curved her mouth into a circle shaped hole, wide eyes and the gasp that topped it off. Annette looked up there was blood coming from her bottom lip.
That night Wendy was walking home from Jenny's Jenny lived close to her so she couldn't help to have contact outside school. Sally came to her after eating half of Jenny's dinner. The plate size was usually enough to feed two people.
"Hey I haven't said anything yet but before I do I may as well be the first one to tell you. Last night as I was watching TV a show came on about the popular cartoon the man who first played Goku was Japanese. Then a company from America brought it we get it from them not a building in Tokyo so it's not true is it?"
"You're right it's not true"
"Ha. I knew it you just wait until tomorrow you're such a loser" Sally said as she ran off.
That stupid whore Sally thinks she's so smart. Well I'm already one step ahead of you
Wendy knew that Sally wouldn't get home even before she would be sitting in her room.
It should have been the end of it but she couldn't let it go. Wendy got an idea on how to save the lie she would keep it alive inside one person. When she got home she picked up the phone. She rang Adele.
"I had to lie to Sally today"
"About what?"
"Fudago insisted that it is best that only one person knows about what I've told you guys so I told Sally that I lied about everything, she was the perfect person she'll do anything to shame me, she hates me. That one person that I can choose is you Adele. It is to protect them from the Hi-Tech the gang which is after Funimation. We want a low profile of this I wasn't supposed to say anything at the beginning of all this"
The next day before morning form class the group had gathered together and as Wendy guessed Sally opened her mouth to shame her when she arrived. But luckily she said it in such a way that it fitted in with what she had said to Adele
"Everything that Wendy said was all a lie she confessed it to me. She's just a loser"
Almost everyone barked up saying 'what a liar, what a loser'
Wendy looked over at Adele who gave a gestured smile the plant had been killed but one little seed had been sown. It couldn't have gone better Wendy would find it easier with just one person.
Wendy did feel bad about lying to the group. She did want to end it. She knew it was wrong but, for her it was like a dream world if she ended it and faced up with the truth the leader of the group Jenny and her side girl Sally would be more mean and nasty to her than ever before. Then the rest of the group would turn their backs on her in a school where she was bullied by most of the other students Wendy didn't want to be alone. In the group Emily, Carol and Annette seemed to be the nice ones they didn't put her down and ridicule her.
One morning interval as Wendy left class she saw Annette standing alone in a D-block corridor Jenny had informed the group that if anyone hung around with her they would get the same treatment. Wendy didn't care what Jenny had said. She would be friends with her in secret
She went up to her "Hi Annette do you mind if I hang out with you?"
"Sure" she said with a smile but them it faded "won't Jenny be wondering where you are?
"Jenny doesn't give a stuff about me. I'm only briefly accepted by her because I've been friends with Carol since I was five and Carol's her treasured friend. She's the nicest girl I've ever met"
"Yeah Carol is nice"
For fifteen minutes Wendy and Annette kept out of sight as they catched up on life.
"I'm sorry for not helping you in the corridor before. I wanted to help but I can't even defend myself from bullies each day. I'm weak"
"It's ok. Hey do you remember the look on her face after what I said?"
"I'll never forget I wish I had a camera"
The bell went Wendy's time with Annette was over
"I'll always be friends with you no matter what"
"Yeah we'll be there for each other it's a promise"
At lunchtime the group meet near the library. Jenny hadn't arrived yet Wendy came up saying her hellos to everybody not long after Jenny came. She marched up to Wendy and held her against the brick wall. She held her by her throat
Wendy could feel Jenny's fat sweaty hand pressing against her windpipe.
"You stupid bitch nothing goes out of my sight. I have more friends in this school than you. I've asked a few people to tell me what goes on with my enemies and you were seen with Annette this morning!"
Jenny's grip was getting tighter. Wendy felt herself struggling to breathe
"Aren't you meant to be an heir to a rich man in Tokyo, well where are they to save you?" Jenny snared.
"Fuck you…fat bitch…" Wendy managed to let out the words between gasps
"What did you say!" Jenny screamed in Wendy's face.
That breath is so nasty I can't hardly breathe if this keeps up I could pass out.
Then all of a sudden Jenny let her grip go Wendy looked as a teacher was walking towards them this was her chance. She wasn't a squealer she was just going to flee teachers usually didn't do anything at its best it would be a conference between the principal and students. But Jenny had a way of twisting things around to make it out that she is the victim and Wendy doubted that she could get anyone to be a witness against her.
Wendy ran to the D-block entrance just by the library. Her running pace was slower than usual and she had no air in her lungs but she pushed herself running all the way through D-block to the other side. She ran to the door of the AV room to find it was unlocked she went in to find that no one was inside and she locked it from the inside. She avoided the windows and ran to the back where her body gave in and she lay on the cold tiled floor.
'Teachers usually lock this door when they are done showing videos to their classes. I guess the last teacher forgot, good one teacher whoever you were thanks. Time is on my side…Yes it is' she closed her eyes.
Hmm, how am I goanna get out of this one? Jenny usually stops her rampages when the person apologies to her even though they may not be in the wrong. Jenny's motto is you say sorry but I won't.
At afternoon break Emily came to her "Found you. Come on, Jenny's allowing you to come to her again she wants to see you as long as you're going to apologize"
It's a quicker time than usual but I'll tread slowly Wendy thought.
Emily led Wendy back to Jenny when she arrived to the scene Wendy saw that Carol was in tears.
"She's crying because of you. Me being mad at you upset her, she's the only reason why I'm letting you back in so apologize to her and me"
Wendy swallowed what pride she had left. She looked over at Carol and a thought came to her head 'Do it for her' Wendy apologized to Jenny to stop the violence that she knew would continue. Jenny let her back into the group as if nothing as ever happened but inside Wendy was screaming.
Wendy arrived home after a long day on the battlefield. As soon as she got through the door her father began ranting and raving about all sorts of things.
Like Jenny her own father had an anger problem.
"No wonder you don't have any decent friends, you'll never get a job, you're a reject" he would say
A reject huh, talk about yourself. He's starting to sound like the kids at school she thought
The next day at lunch time Sally spotted her and got her to walk around with her they were coming up to two girls as they passed one of them for no reason smacked Wendy across the face.
"Oh that is so funny" Sally said laughing
Wendy held her nose as her face stung "Some mate you're meant to be"
Wendy turned to the girls who were walking away with their backs turned
"You bitches think you're so hot I say you're not. You're just two sluts who like it up the arse isn't that right you aids carrying muthafuckers!"
The girls stopped in their footsteps they turned around and began to walk towards her
Sally grabbed her arm. They ran away up the concrete steps towards the library they jumped over a wooden fence and hid behind a brick wall in an out of bounds area. The girls came and they entered D-block.
"You could have gotten a major hiding you idiot, you shouldn't have said that even worse you may have gotten killed do you want to die here?" Sally said
"Just shut up, why do you care you don't even like me"
"If something happened to you Carol would be upset. Then Jenny would be upset because of Carol and I'd have to deal with Jenny's mood these kids are tough. Keep the smartness to yourself or else you'll be killed!"
"Who knows, but I think I would welcome death with open arms"
"You can't really mean that?" Sally asked Wendy said nothing
The bell then went she was safe for now.
The next day it was another lunchtime the group hung out on top of a stairwell the two girls came they exchanged words with Jenny and she let them pass they came to Wendy the other group members cleared off. Only Adele remained behind but even she left Wendy in the hands of the two mad girls.
"We're goanna make you pay for what you said so what if we do at least we get some" one of them said.
"I'd rather be nothing more than a virgin who would be sacrificed than do that sort of thing"
"Both of us are really popular. We get great sex you're just jealous because you're not us" the other commented
"Why would I want to be you for, being well known isn't my thing and I'm definitely not jealous of having aids"
Wendy couldn't be bothered playing mean girls and victims today. She proceeded to go downstairs then one of them made their move by pushing her.
Luckily Wendy had received special training for these situations under the guidance of several sensei's. Thanks to her classmates trying to push her down countless times she had developed quick reflexes to grabbing on to the rail handles.
The next time Wendy was on the phone with Adele she told her that Fudago had found out about the way which her dad treats her and that Hugh was going to adopt her. There was going to be a court hearing soon she added that it was good for her to be near Fudago since if Hi-Tech got him she was the heir to the estate and business.
On the supposed trial day Wendy waged half the day and came to school at lunch time. She told Adele that it was successful but she didn't want to leave school there so during the weekends and holidays she would be in Japan and during the weekdays she would be staying at a relation of Hugh's in the town which they were in.
Wendy told Adele that she can still contact her by her normal home number because she had a cell phone that had the same number as her home. So if Adele rang after two rings it would transfer the call to the cell phone so she could still call at no cost wherever she was.
Wendy also told her of an invention she had thought up. She claimed it was already in existence and one was owned by the company. Funimation had a helicopter it had just landed into the Japanese market. It was called a triple turbo engine helicopter it had massive speeds thanks to three engines and the turbo which keeps it charged. It goes into the air like a normal model but once it reaches a certain height the pilot lets it drop slowly, stopping the propeller and the turbo is activated it goes at super speeds. It could go from the little town to Japan in one hour
Also to be equivalent with the Hi-Tech's forces Wendy said that Funimation had their own gang. They were given the name Funi Wendy said that Hugh was a member and he had been given a special weapon. It was a device that would attach to his wrist and when activated by his voice it would shoot out a miniature version of a kamehameha wave.
Before the new year began during the holidays Wendy was in the lounge watching TV there was a small segment of a woman who WAS the voice of GOHAN and she was proving it. Wendy had a gut feeling that Adele was watching too.
"Come on brain you have never let me down until now think of something!" she screamed in her head
It would have been easier to call it quits but she didn't want to lose Adele as a friend even with all her insults. She received an idea an a snap then the phone rung Wendy knew who it was. She picked up the phone.
"Are you in Japan?" Adele asked
"Well of course"
"Is it all a lie?"
"What do you mean" Wendy said playing her card.
"I saw a woman on TV who claims to be the voice of Gohan"
"That woman is a cover up. On the internet and ending credits they have them as different names to protect the voices from the Hi-tech so these brave people volunteer to be cover ups they are paid greatly for the risk after all Hi-Tech could be anywhere anyone could be a spy. Even you Adele…"
"I'm not. How do they make them sound like them?"
"They make the cover ups sound like the characters. They have a tiny device that they place into their mouths out of sight. Its saliva proof and shock proof and it's so small they don't even feel it when they speak their voice comes out sounding like the character of whom they are covering up for"
It was soon 2002 the school which the group had attended had closed down. In the town there were two schools but not enough kids so they shut one of them but the school that was selected to stay open was new to them.
The group reunited for the first interval, Annette wasn't in sight. For the time being Annette had good chances of staying clear, no one expect the old kids of the school knew the territory so it was a whole new battlefield.
"What are you going to do with Annette Jenny?" Adele asked,
"I'm not going to waste my time looking for her. I'll wait until I see her "
"Oh that's a good idea. But we can still walk around to check this place out" she said with a hint of excitement Wendy was shocked that Adele enjoyed watching others suffer in the hands of Jenny. NOTE Adele NEVER got picked on by Jenny so she never knew real fear nor would she be able to relate to others.
Since it was new territory Wendy was free to hang around with Annette. But two weeks into the year Wendy found out Annette was leaving for a private school. She had enough of Jenny's bullying on her final day she came to Wendy.
"I heard you were leaving Annette. It's sad to see you go but I have no regrets of your departure. At least one of us will be free"
"I have no regrets either but… since I'm leaving this place behind me I also don't want any kind of attachments so after today you and I will no longer be friends Jenny's control over me is finished. You can walk away too you know"
"It's not that easy you should know that from experience. Anyway my folks aren't rich enough to send me to a prep school"
A few weeks later Wendy heard that Annette was moving to another town
One morning before school Wendy went to Jenny's
Jenny and Sally were applying on make up in the bathroom
"I'm so good at making people suffer I even forced Annette to leave school. Then she convinced her family to skip town. This is a good lesson for you girls don't mess with me or I'll make your lives a living hell"
Sally smiled and laughed Wendy felt a shiver go down her spine.
Almost a year passed the lie still went on…
Wendy couldn't get it out of her head what she had seen on TV before. The real voice of Gohan
She looked it up the result was a woman named Stephanie. It sparkled an interest through searching she found that the voice of Vegeta was a guy named Chris and for Goku it was a guy named Sean. She had a feeling that Adele had seen a page with the list of names before it was covered by the voices lie but she had to add to it.
After school one day she went to a net café she planned not to go there again and go to various places where the internet was available for public use. She had butterflies in her stomach she had never done anything like this before. Her plan was to create an email account under the real Goku's name. She paid the money sat in the chair and froze stiff she shouldn't be doing this, he's real not some made up person from her head she could go to court for this. Her legs were shaking she looked around hiding her nervous glaze.
Why am I doing this I'm mad, crazy and mental. Over the past year she had a few suicide attempts she would go to the small shopping district in the next larger town and imagine jumping from the car parking building onto the street. She even had a chief's knife pointed at her throat in her kitchen while her parents were at church but she couldn't do it. She would have to wait until Jenny or some bully gave her death.
She looked back to how it all started almost three years ago. She had a thirst for the lie with a father treating her like crap and, friends not really being friends. In the lie she imaged she had a real family and real friends. If the lie was to die then her dream world would die as well and she would really feel alone.
She fraught with her conscience but lost first name: Sean last name: Schemmel the email address was went home after it had been created. She felt like shit, she emailed Adele with it saying that she was a cover for a character. Adele emailed back asking what it was like to have a device in your mouth.
With the email account Wendy was able to have the lie stretch out for a few more months but when it's over. It's over.
And it came to pass in the form of a phone call. It was Adele saying that she had her all along until she added things up in the last few weeks.
Wendy no longer touched the email account knowing it would close in thirty days. The lie had lasted three and a half years.
After the lie Wendy was in a state of depression. She had lost her imaginary world and with Adele knowing that it was all a lie she feared she was looked upon as a mental loon when she was already thinking the same thing.
Then the nightmares began to create the account was fraud and Americans don't take kindly to fraud even if it is a kid's prank. If anything at all she was known to them as big g. The code name in her nightmares she was thrown into an American prison where the female inmates were far worse than the kids she had to deal with in school.
She had thoughts that the real Funimation were to abduct her, take her to America and kill her she was completely paranoid. Then she found out that if they did come Adele would turn her in "I don't care what happens to you"
Jenny one day approached Wendy
"What you did was stupid after all you're an idiot just as Adele says"
"I don't know, maybe a little reason of the lie was to prove to Adele that I'm not as dumb as she thinks"
"I can't blame you for lying. After all you envy me no one's life is an adventurous as mine" then Jenny walked off.
PLEASE! Wendy thought Jenny was kind of like the other girls at school. Interested in jumping into bed with guys, Wendy didn't call infecting yourself with aids adventure she called it making yourself sick.
Wendy was thinking that if they did come she could have an adventure. Sort of like if a secret organization was after her and she had someone like John McClane from Die Hard on her side. They would do crazy car stunts and dodge bullets she knew she had an adventurous streak in her.
Then Jenny said that she and two group friends Francis and Carol went into the big city to go shopping. They were in a district that didn't have business buildings and a man in a suit was following her.
"Funimation are after me, not you!"
No offence to Jenny's family but if she went shopping she was more likely to go to the smaller suburb. Adding the price to get there and back she wouldn't have much money left.
She had gone to the suburb mall one time and she only had ten dollars which is only enough for lunch to confirm it she asked Carol who said it never happened.
Jenny was jealous. Unlike her lies of adventures that never happened, with the creation of the email account an adventure was possible but she really didn't want anything to happen out of it.
One day Wendy received a shock Adele came to her
"I thought you said you had shut it down"
"I did. What's going on?"
"I got an email asking who big g was and to pass on information"
CRAP CRAP DAMM its happening and I have no plan!
As Wendy walked down her street she halfly expected there to be police cars outside her house.
Then luckily an old friend from years back who was now in the south contacted her. Wendy had kept briefly kept in touch with them and had told them everything, at one point she gave them the email password.
They had decided to play a prank on the pranker. But because of it they had vital information for her. Almost everyone in the group would turn her in expect for two people Carol and Emily even in that mean group she had made true friends.
Three years later it is 2007 Wendy re meet her friend from the south in person after so many years. She informed them that she wanted to place her story on the net for free viewing
"Don't be crazy. I know you have written it after so many years but if you place it on the net Sean will find you. He'll see it and he won't feel sorry for you, he'll find out who are and he'll take you to court and sue you. Don't risk it!"
"I'm not writing this to gain pity. If anything a lot of people will be angry. If watching the American version of it made me like this then what would have the proper Japanese version with subtitles have done?
I feel as though I'm not the only one, there could be others with similar stories to mine. If I can show this to one person who got affected like I was if I can tell them that they don't have to be suicidal feeling like an outcast and crazy if it touches someone then I don't care if Sean found me he can even kill me if I can reach out to just one person it would be worth it"
Thanks to the lie Wendy was able to leave the group now that Adele hated her. She looked into the Funimation company a bit more and discovered that they weren't the real makers of the show.
A company in Japan had made it and back then it wasn't as popular. Funimation found it on the net and they downloaded it and changed everything. When the Japanese company found out they came to an agreement giving them the rest of the episodes with a price. The Funimation logo is splattered across the screen but if you look closely at the last part of the ending credits you can see the logo of Bird Studios (the Japanese company) although, Funimation have made it as small as possible.
It is now Wendy's dream to try and make it to Japan and learn the language so she can work for an anime company writing storylines with her new found imagination.
To readers,
If you emailed thinking it was the real deal then I am truly sorry.
And to Sean Schemmel I am very sorry for using your name. I don't know if you would come on to a site like this but if my prank as affected your career as a voicer in anyway then I would be most grateful if you could forgive me.
Thank you for reading.
Big G – Akatuski uzumaki.