The Simple Peril



Part I



The Journey



By:



Arthur E. King







Disclaimer: Oh yeah, the story is mine. I'm me. Everything else belongs to someone else. Oh well, big surprise there.



Author's Notes :



Okay... Before you all get your panties in a know, this is going to be pretty much a complete rewrite of the entire DBZ series. The majority of the events are going to be pretty much exactly as they happened in the show, with a few twists. Don't ask me why I'm writing this, I just am. Yeah, I know I never intended to write a self-insertion (there's something naughty about that phrase...) But oh well. Besides, it's a fictional version of me, hehehe.





______________________________________________________________________________





The couch was wonderfully comfortable. It should be, it cost enough. As he sat down upon the feathery softness, sinking deep into the cushions, Arthur couldn't help but think that this had to be the most perfect moment of his life. He felt as if everything had been leading up to this very moment, and that he was about to become part of something so much greater than himself.

The tape was in the VCR, the stereo was hooked up to the TV with full surround-sound, and the volume turned up high enough to wake the dead. He had set out all the perfect snacks, Pringles Sour-Cream & Onion, Turkish Delight, and the perfect combination of Strawberry-Kiwi Gatorade and Sprite. All that was left was to press play, but he was too excited to do that.

"Man, the only episode of Dragonball Z that was never shown. The hidden ending to the series that was never aired..." Arthur didn't know how the guys had gotten a hold of the tape, and didn't want to know. He knew that it wasn't pretty, the price alone was evidence of that. But he also knew what the man who had the tape before him had said.

"No. I'm never going to sell this tape. No. I've never seen it, and so I can't tell you what's on it either. This tape wasn't meant for human eyes." The scrawny little red-headed man that had that tape seemed afraid, terrified of what was on it. Of course, his words had to be an exaggeration, didn't it?

Well no matter what. This was one episode he was going to see no matter what. He had already seen all the others, from the English dubbed, to the original Japanese, with subtitles, and without. He had learned the language specifically so he could watch the show without the subtitles, not wanting to miss even the tiny piece of film that the subtitles would cover.

To say he was obsessed would have been an understatement, and a grave error if you tried to say it to his face. Here he was, thirty-five years old, a millionaire a hundred times over, and still watching cartoons. His parents would be furious. Oh well.

And yet, this was the one episode that had always eluded him. He had heard about it ten years ago, the only copy of the original final episode. But for some reason, the episode was never aired, and a different final episode was written, produced, and shown in it's place. What was the big secret? That was what he was about to find out.

He was drumming his fingers against the side of the couch, not to any specific beat, but just as an outward sign of all the nervous pent-up energy. Finally, he couldn't take the suspense any longer, took up the remote, and pressed play.

Wow! What colours! It's like it's almost real... He could hardly believe his eyes, not knowing the truth, only knowing that there was something special about this episode. He had heard of people who had tried to watch this tape before, and had had a heart attack halfway through.

So far, to this day, no one had ever actually lived through the entire episode. They always met some untimely doom about halfway through, and were found days later. Well here was one guy who wasn't about to die because of it. There's no such thing as a curse anyways. He couldn't quite convince himself of that one.

Although the beginning credits were roughly the same, there was something different about them, he couldn't quite make it out, but the pulsing music that blared out from the speakers reached a crescendo, and toppled over into the final lengthened note.

Then the real show began...





It really did seem realistic. Almost as if it wasn't a cartoon, but that was just good animation. It must've been years ahead of it's time, it's even better than most of the computer generated ones out there now. That one thought kept swirling through his mind. He sat there and watched as the Z-Team threw a party a couple years after the defeat of Baba-Di and Majinn Buu

All the major characters were there, partying, congratulating each other on their various achievements, and telling tall tales of their former glories. They were all of course at Master Roshi's house, on Turtle Island, and having lots of fun. Everything was blissful and happy, and altogether normal. Why would people die watching this?

Then something weird happened. Another great enemy approached the Earth, and made short work of all the Z-Fighters, even Goku and Vegeta when they used the Fusion technique to combine their powers were easily defeated. How was this possible? Don't the good guys always win?

Apparently not. As Arthur watched, he couldn't believe his eyes as this single warrior defeated all the rest, and proceeded to blast the Earth to bits. He could almost feel the force of the explosion from where he was sitting. But that's not possible, is it? He didn't know.

Then the scene switched to Kaiobit, the Fusion of Shin and Kibito on his home planet. It looked like he was in terrible pain, having just felt millions of voices suddenly cry out in agony, and as suddenly stop. Arthur sat up in his seat, he had stopped snacking quite some time ago, his eyes glued to the screen. This was the best single episode he had ever seen! And better yet, it made sure that the sacrilege of GT never took place!

"There is nothing we can do to save the people of Earth now. At least, not those of this Earth. But perhaps there is still a way to save some of them..." Kaiobit was talking to himself, a habit he had apparently gained when he was Fused together. Then Arthur bore witness as the Supreme God of the Universe created a hole in the fabric of space-time, a swirling blue vortex through which all possibilities lay.

It was several moments before Arthur noticed the breeze. He had heard the faint whir of the air conditioning unit activating just before the he felt it, and thought the draft that blew through his hair was nothing more than that. He was wrong. As the wind grew stronger, he noticed that the direction that it was going in was completely wrong for the AC.

Grumbling about how the servants must have left one of the windows open he got up from the comfort of his living room and went to check it out. He forgot to pause the tape, only expecting to be a moment anyways. It wasn't until he turned down the hallway and saw the great blue swirling vortex that he knew what was happening.

"What the..." were the only words he was able to mutter before he was sucked into that hole in reality, breaking through the dimensional barriers and hurled bodily into a world he had visited so often in his imagination that it felt like home.





"Get up."

That voice... I've heard it somewhere before... Arthur woke slowly from the black void of unconsciousness, his eyes slowly adjusting to the too-bright colours, and the lancing pain that shot through his head. He held one hand to his forehead, trying to block the light, and stop the pain.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I should have realized the transition wouldn't be easy on you. Allow me." There was that voice again... Then he could feel the pain in his head slipping away, the twitch in his eye disappear, and his aching backside recover from the sudden fall to which it had been subjected to.

Finally, after the healing was over, Arthur could open his eyes without being incapacitated by pain. Looking up into the face of Kaiobit brought forth another, completely different form, of incapacitation. He was speechless. Not a very common occurrence for him, but every so often, something would come along that was so surprising that words could not suffice. Needless to say, this was one of those times.

Eventually though, he managed to stutter out, "Uh... Uh... Wh-Where am I-I?" That too was unusual. Normally he was far more verbose than that.

"You're on the planet Kaioshin. My homeworld. I'm not exactly sure who you are, or where you came from, but what I do know, is that you are the one and only person who can save this Universe. That is why you are here." Kaiobit's voice had a calming influence on him, almost as healing an effect as his power had earlier.

Still, Arthur's mind had a hard time wrapping itself around the concept. "How?" He let the one word speak for itself. I sure am glad he had the forethought to make certain the gravity around the vortex was low enough for me

"How are you here? I brought you here. Granted I'm not at all sure just who you are. But of all the people in all the Universes you are the one whom I seek. The vortex you just traveled through was designed to bring the one person who had the best chance to save this Universe to me. As to how you're supposed to do that... I have no idea." Although he words were not comforting, the tone was, and Arthur felt more relaxed than he ever had before in his life.

"Okay... So I've somehow been brought to this Universe to save it... But you don't know how, and neither do I. Am I correct in assuming that Earth was just destroyed, and all the people on it killed, including all the warriors who you know of, that might have any chance of defeating the guy who destroyed it?" His voice was strong now, determined. He was a quick learner, having managed to put the pieces of the puzzle together rather quickly.

Kaiobit was surprised, but not very. "Yes. You are correct. Although how you know this, I am not certain. I have no knowledge of who the being is who destroyed the planet, but whoever it was is a dangerous man, and must be stopped, before he destroys the entire Universe."

Arthur was nodding his head. I'm either dreaming, or dead, and in either case, I might as well just play along with this fantasy world. Besides, it'll probably be the most fun I've had in months. Having accepted this world as real, at least for now, he made up his mind to save it rather quickly.

"Well I always wanted to change a few things that happened in the series, and I guess now's my chance. I don't think that there's any way I could defeat this guy myself, but I guess we'll go see what I can do..." Kaiobit too was nodding his head, not knowing what this human had in store, but willing to try anything if it might save his Universe from total destruction.

Doing some quick thinking, Arthur came up with a plan, not knowing if it would work or not, but at least willing to give it a try. "I don't suppose you would happen to know if any of those time machines Bulma created still exist do you? I think I'm going to need one."

Reluctantly, Kaiobit nodded. Arthur could tell that this was a subject that the God had trouble discussing. I would be too... Knowing that there were other versions of me floating around out there... But without further comment, the Supreme God of the Universe merely handed Arthur a large, yellow pill-shaped object marked "Capsule Corp." in big bold writing.

Pushing the button on the side, and tossing it off to the side, he saw the large cloud of dust and smoke appear from nowhere, and slowly dissipate to show a small yellow vehicle with multiple leg-like struts, and the word "Hope" printed on the side. Getting into the time-capsule, and taking a look at the console, he started to fiddle around with a few of the buttons inside.

"Um... I don't suppose you could show me how to work this thing... Could you?" Arthur's voice broke with nervousness, almost as if he was a teenager again. But Kaiobit just smiled, nodded, showed him a few keystrokes that would allow him to pinpoint exactly where and when he wanted to go, and stepped down.

"Oh yeah! I almost forgot! Do you think I could borrow those Potara of yours? I think I just might need them..." His nervousness was gone now, replaced by a mix of grim determination and jubilant anticipation.

"Sure..." Kaiobit was too surprised by the question to do anything other than just hand over the two little orbs that were attached to his ears. The Supreme God of the Universe had no idea just how important that act would prove to be in the grand scheme of things, but perhaps it was better that way...

Arthur waved at the Supreme God of the Universe, not sure if he'd ever see him again, but glad to be off on his journey anyhow. Perhaps the winds of fate would allow him to showcase his fantastic ideas, and perhaps he would suffer the same fate as the rest of the people on Earth. Who knew? All he knew was that this was going to be lots of fun, and right now that was all that mattered.