Disclaimer: I don't own and never will own, Dragon Ball Z/GT.
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Full Summary: Set twenty-five years after GT. Saiyajins who survived the destruction of Vegetasei over eighty years earlier have repopulated themselves on a new planet. They have one mission; find their Prince & bring him back to New Vegetasei.
Twenty-five long years have passed since Son Goku left with Shenron on his final journey. The family he had left behind moved on and eventually, the younger children began to start families of their own. All is peaceful, but the warnings that destruction can strike at any time never go unheard of. Personally, Teal is tired of it.
Sato Teal is the youngest child to Son Pan and, unlike her elder brother and cousin Son Chitarra, she has no fighting abilities or a high level of ki, and unlike Brief Mei she has no excessive smarts. She's just... average compared to the remarkable powers of her ancestry. One day while trying to avoid the yearly family reunion at the Briefs, what looks to be a meteor barley misses her and crashes into the country side. As the smoke clears Teal is astounded to find that it was most deffinatly not a meteor, but a sort of space craft.
Scared and confused, she steps away from the large crater the vessel had made and rushes to her air bike – only to lose communication with her family. A figure has emerged from the wreckage, bloodied and broken. Teal is frozen in place as he simply watches her... charging a ball of ki in his hand; he aims it at the shaking girl before he collapses in a heap on the ground.
Soon after more space pods land, causing all the demi-Saiyajins of Earth to go nuts with these strong ki levels popping up all over the place. Saiyajin's emerge from these crafts and demand to know where their Prince Vegeta is. Vegeta is not at all as pleased as he should be, not when he is slowly losing his mate...
Genre's: This story is only part romance, for Bulma/Vegeta as they look back at their not so normal Saiyajin/Earthling relationship. It also deals with friendship/family/action/adventure. Vegeta finally learns that family means more to him then his Saiyajin pride and heritage.
Just so you know, Teal is NOT a main character. They all have their little side stories :)
NOTE, PLEASE READ BEFORE CONTINUING, EXPLANATION FOR TIME LAPS, CHARACTERS AGES & SAIYANJIN HERITAGES:Alright, for the ages... well, I got their ages off of multiple sites so please don't flame me for the wrong ages for everyone because I'll know you didn't read this note. Seriously, I suck at math and it took a good hour calculating their ages and when they would have had kids etc... As for my female Saiyajin characters, they are not Mary-Sue's and are not the main characters for this story. The research I have come up with so far is this: So far in the beginning of this fic none of the new generation's has managed to go SSJ because almost all of them are 1/4 Saiyajin and according to Akira Toriyama females do not have the motivation that males do to get to that level – also he didn't quite know how to draw a SSJ female… ^^'' nice one, Akira. I don't think this is a feminist remark, because if you think about it, these particular female Saiyajin's are more humanized and although they do come from powerful SSJ lineages, personally I don't think they can summon the emotions, anger and power a male Saiyajin could. Now, to my other theory, it's not because the human side of them has washed out any of their power (quite the contrary actually) take Goku Junior for instance – he's the great-great-grandson of Goku and grandson of Pan, but he can go SSJ, as well as Vegeta Junior. Now, I find it HARD to believe Pan could have had a twelve year old Grandson and be one-hundred & fourteen years of age… but what the hell, GT sucked anyway. Anyway, the theory is, that if you have a descendent whom has reached the level of SSJ and further before the time of he/she is born, it's simpler to reach this power because you have the DNA. Make sense? That's why future Trunks found it hard to go SSJ in his timeline, because he had only been training with Gohan for a little while and his father wasn't a SSJ. But, in the timeline future Trunks came to give Goku the medicine for his illness, Vegeta lived, turned SSJ, trained his son and Trunks at age seven to eight could then turn SSJ with ease. Same with Goten, because of Goku etc…
But, long story short, according to a random article I read, the reason Pan couldn't turn super is because she is only 1/4 part Saiyajin. But then, Goku Junior goes SSJ, as well as Vegeta Junior? So, I don't know. Maybe the bloods to human deluded or something… we'll see in later chapters what happens. I mean, Goku Junior and Vegeta Junior were 1/16 part Saiyajin and they could transform.
Now for the time lap. It says in many, many, many (to the point where I was so confused I felt like gouging my eyes out,) articles that GT took place seven years after the finale of DBZ, but in other articles it was nine-ten years. Now this is where I get confused, because with this everyone's ages are screwed up, so for arguments sakes (and my poor calculator which has been thrown at the wall to many times,) we are going to make believe it was, say, ten years after Dragonball Z that GT started? Right? Great… because otherwise Bulma & Krillin & Yamcha would be dead from old age and my plot planning (say that enough times out loud and it sounds like pot planting, your parents won't know what's going on ha) would be thrown out the window. Think about it, I'd have to up Bulla and Pan's ages, in which I'd have to age Bulma (because according to the seven year gap between Z and GT the girls are younger, meaning they'll have to be older when they have kids, meaning I'm adding another few years on Bulma's life) and then I'd have to age Yamcha, and ChiChi, and Krillin and then they all die. Do you really want that? I didn't think so. I may not know my DBZ shyte as well as most devoted DBZ fan's, so I'll improvise.
Oh and just a quick added note about the couplings in this fic. I know there are devoted Pan/Trunks fan's out there, and I like that couple, really… I do… I just, well… age difference. I can't see Trunks, the President of Capsule Corporations getting with his best friends niece, whom is also his best friend (in GT anyway). There's a fourteen year age difference and seriously, she may have had a crush on him when she was a teenager, but it never happened. Trunks and Marron are better suited, they're closer in age and honestly if I didn't put them together you'd never see Krillin or Juu (Android 18) in this fic except for get-togethers and such. I also just wanted to make another brother and sister duo like Android 18 & 17 in the Android sagas – hence why Mei is blond and Yuuma dark. Now we can deal with the Bulla/Goten pairing fans… I personally love this pairing (there's really not enough Bulla/Goten fics out there!) but for plot reasons, I couldn't have them together. Sigh.
Yep, that's it. The note is finally over!
Uhhhh… anyway, have a good read! And if I haven't scared you off, I'd very much like you to R&R for me :)
Credit: Characterages found www dot animemegaverse dot com for any information. Really cool site.
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Characters & Ages
Random Info:
Most of the Dragonball Z/GT character names are Puns. Look it up and you'll figure it out.
But I love a meaning behind the name & personally, I thought these names fit them nicely.
Fact: Axel, Mei and Mira's names are Puns.
Sato-Son, Akio – 19 years
Son of Son Pan (39 years) & Sato Taka (45 years) (Divorced, separated, never married)
Descendent of Son Goku (Missing, would be 81 years), Satan Hurcule (unknown age, DEC), Son Gohan (64 years) & Satan Videl (63 years)
Siblings: None.
AKIO (male)
From Japanese (aki) "bright" combined with (o) "male" or (o) "hero, manly"
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Sato, Teal – 17 years
Son of Son Pan & Sato Taka (Divorced, separated, never married)
Descendent of Son Goku (Missing, would be 76 years), Satan Hurcule (unknown age, DEC), Son Gohan (64 years) & Satan Videl (63 years)
Siblings: Akio – 19 years
TEAL (female)
Means nature; the bird of the blue-green color.
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Hiroshima, Isamu – 19 years
Son of Brief Bulla (44 years) & Hiroshima Souta (46 years)
Descendent of Brief Vegeta (91 years, also adding when he went into the room of Spirit and Time) and Brief Bulma (86 years)
Siblings: Axel (12 years) and Mira (16 months)
ISAMU (male)
Means "courage, bravery" in Japanese.
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Son, Ryouichi - 21 years
Son of Son Goten (52 years) and Shiga Valese (48 years)
Descendent of Son Goku & Son ChiChi
Siblings: Chitarra – 18 years
RYOUICHI (male)
From Japanese (ryou) "good" or (ryou) "clear" combined with (ichi) "one".
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Son, Chitarra – 18 years
Daughter of Son Goten and Shiga Valese
Descendent of Son Goku and Son ChiChi
Siblings: Ryouichi – 21 years
CHITARRA (female)
No meaning. She was named after her Grandmother, Son ChiChi.
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Brief, Mei – 22 years
Daughter of Brief Trunks (53 years) & Marron (48 years) (surname unknown)
Trunks side: Descendent of Brief Vegeta & Brief Bulma
Marron's side: Descendent of Krillin (83 years) & Juuhachigou (Android 18, unknown age)
Siblings: Yuuma – 20 years
MEI (female)
From Japanese (me) "bud, sprout" combined with (i) "clothing, garment".
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Brief, Yuuma - 20 years
Son of Brief Trunks & Marron (surname unknown)
Trunks side: Descendent of Brief Vegeta & Brief Bulma
Marron's side: Descendent of Krillin & Juuhachigou (Android 18)
Siblings: Mei – 22 years
YUUMA (male)
From Japanese (yuu) "distant, leisurely" or (yuu) "gentleness, superiority" combined with (ma) "real, true".
Pan stared fondly at the old and torn picture. It was framed and hanging proudly in the middle of the other dozen or so pictures of Vegeta Junior and seemed to be bigger and more inviting. Other pictures had the long deceased Vegeta Senior and Bulma Brief with their two children, Trunks and Bulla in their younger years smiling awkwardly – Vegeta looked as if he were in pain. The picture that Pan was interested in was precious in many special ways however, because it was taken shortly before Bulma and Yamcha had passed away, and it held the last memories she had of her two children.
"We found that picture whilst cleaning out the old Capsule Corp. buildings. Mother told me she had been the Vice-President of Capsule Corporations at the time, see," the blue haired woman pointed towards a young blond in the picture, the woman's arm around her younger scowling brother, then handed a hot cup of coffee to Pan.
"Yes, I was there when your mother was born. Your Grandmother and Grandfather were my best friends..." Pan smiled, "They still are. They're with their parents now."
'Trunks... Marron...'
Pan sighed heavily and laughed half-heartedly.
Bulma Brief, Mei Brief's only known daughter, fingered the picture of her Great-Grandmother and Grandfather together. "My Grandfather idolised this man, there was never a day he didn't pick up a picture and say, 'Bulma, you will never meet a man as hard headed and proud...'" the cerulean coloured heiress smiled. "When I was born, my Grandfather demanded I be named Bulma after my Great-Grandmother; his mother. I went to live with him and Grandmother after mother had gotten sick." She sighed and shook her head, sipping her own coffee. "Then, when I was twenty, I took over Capsule Corporations permanently."
Pan smiled, that sounded like Trunks. He took it harder than anyone when Vegeta followed Bulma to the Other World. "This picture was taken eighty-nine years ago..." Pan's voice started to crack at the memory, "I had forgotten... a parent should never outlive their children."
Bulma's interest started to pick up. "You know the history behind this picture? I know almost everyone in it... but I don't know who these three are..." she pointed to the centre of the picture.
Pan's old brown eyes watered as she tried to hide her obvious sadness, "The young girl was my youngest daughter, Teal and the boy to the left was my son, Akio, Goku Junior's father."
Bulma's eyes widened as she took a step back, "You keep saying was, what happened?"
"Well, Akio waited a while to have children and finally, one day, he took a nap after sparring and never woke up. I suppose he was done fighting... and Teal..." Pan took a breath; still gazing at the grinning faces of her children and the scowling Saiyajin beside them, "That man that looks as if he's about to run away from her," they both laughed at this comment, "His name was Zorn and he was a rogue Saiyajin from Planet New Vegetasei."
Bulma looked apprehensive for a moment. Pan shook her head, smiling widely, "Come, sit, I'll tell you the story, but it might take a while."
As they sat at the kitchen table, Bulma looked outside and saw her son and Goku Junior sparring as if their lives depended on it. They were Saiyajins; their lives basically did depend on it.
"I have time; it doesn't look like they're going to stop for a while."
Pan nodded, "If Vegeta Junior is anything like Vegeta Senior, tying with Goku at the World Martial Arts Tournament wasn't good enough. I remember when Grandpa and Vegeta would spar, it was great," she grinned. "Don't mind this old woman; she tends to ramble on some."
Bulma shook her head and placed her chin in the palm of her hand, "The Legendary Son Goku, Hero of Earth," she whispered dreamily, "Did you ever see him again after he took off with Shenron?"
"No, I didn't," Pan smiled cheekily, "But Akio swears Grandpa helped him and Ryouichi fight off the Saiyajins away from Capsule Corp. with a Ka-Meh-Ah-Meh-Ah wave."
Bulma gave the elderly Pan a look, as if to say "Go on then woman!"
'So much like Vegeta,' Pan mused.
"Well, I guess it all started eighty-nine years ago, twenty-five years after Grandpa left with Shenron. We were gathering for a family reunion right here at Capsule Corp. when Teal found Zorn, soon after, six other Saiyajins landed on Earth, demanding their Prince Vegeta come back to New Vegetasei with them..."
Eighty-Nine Year's Earlier
Dragonball: New Vegetasei Saga
Act 1
Remember When
Laughter. He couldn't understand why everyone was so happy. He watched soundly as his mother and Uncle Trunks laughed and topped their plates with food from the banquette Bulma had had the Serving Bots prepare. It was the same thing every year since he was born, they would all get together, they would reminisce about the 'Good Old Days' and then stand there all morbid and depressed looking, mumbling how it wasn't the same without Goku.
He sighed and shoved his hands into the pockets of his dark coat. He had never met his Great Grandfather and in all honesty, the man sounded like a complete dope. Vegeta would no doubt second that notion, but he was sure Vegeta also respected his Grandfather in some twisted way. Son Goku was indeed the strongest man in the Universe.
He snorted, "Please, he died multiple times before he left for good didn't he?"
A heavy arm slung casually over his shoulder, breaking the young man from his thoughts. "Akio, watchya thinking about kiddo? Come and have some fun!"
Akio chuckled lightly as Yamcha tried to shove him towards the picnic area where everyone was seated. Try as he might, the old ex-baseball player just couldn't budge the hybrid Saiyajin – but what did he expect from an eighty-two year old man. Akio grinned and shook his head, deciding to play along and humour his family. Moving towards the other occupants as they seated themselves on picnic blankets Akio ran a hand through his thick, black spiky mane. He had cut it earlier that year, much to his mother's disdain and it grew back just as quickly. Akio quickly spotted his mother. Pan sat with Bulla and her two younger children; Axel and Mira, on a red and green chequered picnic blanket.
"Weren't you with Uncle Trunks a moment ago, mother?" he asked in a formal tone. The straight set smile on his face quickly gave away any seriousness and Pan simply folded her arms over her chest and stuck her nose in the air.
"My son, always so darn observant. Where have you been hiding anyway?"
Akio shrugged, "Here... and there. I don't see anyone questioning Vegeta over there." His dark azure gaze shifted towards the Saiyajin Prince who was lazily leaning against a tree, his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes closed. Akio could have sworn his lip twitched, as if he heard exactly what Akio had said even though he was a good distance away from the rest of the group.
Bulla giggled, holding back Mira whom was trying to grab a good chunk of her cerulean hair. "I think we're all used to Daddy's alone time during these gatherings."
At the mention of his Grandfather, Axel immediately perked up from his self pity session. Akio glanced at the twelve year old boy and immediately guessed Axel had initially planned to spend the day by his Grandfather's side, but Bulla had made him stay with her. No one was surprised that Bulla would be the mother-of-the-year type. When Bulma had had Trunks, everyone said she had mellowed down and Bulla could have been her mother's twin, so of course the motherly instincts kicked in right after the birth of her first son, Isamu, whom was a year older then Akio himself. It seemed the Briefs family gave up on naming their kids after underwear, something Isamu was especially grateful for, but Mei, Trunks' eldest daughter hadn't been so lucky.
Pan seemed fidgety as she closed her eyes. Opening them, her mouth twisted as she spoke, "Did you see Teal this morning before you left the house, Akio?"
Bulla laughed and shook her head as she bounced a giggling Mira on her knee. "Oh Pan, relax, she's seventeen, she can handle herself."
Akio smiled and shook his head. "Nope. I was surprised though, that girl usually sleeps until noon... she's so lazy sometimes..."
Pan let out a hardy laugh, "Like you can talk!" her face fell slightly, "Say... Ai..."
Akio frowned. Whenever his mother used his nickname, it always meant he was either in trouble, or was going to get into trouble if he should give the wrong answer.
"I can't really sense Teal's ki... I know nothing's happened to her because her ki would have dropped entirely off the planet... you wouldn't have – by the insane chance – taught her how to hide her ki... did you?"
By the look in his mother deep onyx coloured eyes Akio knew she knew the answer to that suicidal question. Taking a step back, Akio raised his hands in defence as his mother jumped up. With a fear he only had when fighting a pissed off Isamu, Akio stuttered, "No... I... uh... see – it happened this way. Well... well, Teal doesn't have enough ki to learn how to fly right, so I decided that if anything should happen... well better to not sense her ki then get her killed... right mom?"
Pan's eyes blazed as she rounded in on her son. Akio was about to make a run for it when Bulla cut in, momentarily distracting his angered mother. If it was one thing everyone knew early on, it was to never ever get between an angered Saiyajin parent and their children. Bulla, however, understood Akio's predicament because of the similar events that took place with Vegeta when she was younger.
"Uh... So, Akio, have you been training much? What about your father, how is he? Isamu told me you went to see him recently."
Akio saw his mother freeze from her onslaught and visibly flinch from Bulla's question. He shoved his hands back into his dark coat and shook his head, "Yeah, haven't really had anything better to do lately. Father hasn't spoken to me since I had my surname changed to Son three months ago."
Bulla nodded as Mira drifted off to sleep in her arms, "Right... Pan said we shouldn't ask about that..."
'Way to add fuel to the inferno, Bulla,' Akio thought disdainfully.
Pan growled and turned her head, looking away from her son. All eyes seemed to be on the group of three and even Axel and Vegeta seemed to be paying some form of attention.
"We were getting sick of Police on my doorstep, so changing his name was the best option according to dad," Pan muttered.
Akio nodded, "Grandpa Gohan helped a lot."
Pan turned her steely dark eyed glare back to her son, fuming at his casual response. "Your Grandfather Goku would be so disappointed! Aliens, I can deal with, I'd even be happy if you took off into space for a year! But Police on my doorstep accusing my son of physical assault and public property damage I will not stand for, Akio!" Pan was now on her feet, poking her six foot one son in the chest. Any average human would have been knocked off their feet with the force of her finger, but Akio was indeed no average human.
Akio lowered his gaze, studying the ground, concentrating on every fleck of green and bug that was mixed into it. This is why he stayed away; his mother was so much like his Great-Grandmother, always making a scene in front of people. It was embarrassing. ChiChi now stayed at home, staring blankly out at nothing in particular, waiting for her Son Goku to return home. Bulma and ChiChi were quite old now, but unlike Bulma, Grandma ChiChi wasn't taking it so well.
Isamu had just walked into the back entrance of Capsule Corporations backyard when he witnessed the commotion. Eyeing his father, who was to the side with his Uncle, nodded to his eldest son in agreement to breaking up the Son's feud. Isamu figured since Mira was sleeping only feet away with Bulla his father just wanted the commotion to cease, or to be moved away from his wife and child.
Throwing his training bag down to the ground, the teal haired Saiyajin casually walked towards his best friend and Pan, ready to break up the not so unusual squabble. Placing a large hand on the taller Saiyajins shoulder, Isamu attempted to quiet them down with a friendly ego prodding. "Uncle Trunks tells me you've been training Ai, maybe we should have a friendly spar, just to be sure?"
Akio chuckled. With his best friend prodding him into a spar and his angry mother ripping into him, he couldn't decide which was riskier; fighting Isamu whom had been training day and night with Vegeta, or continue this onslaught from his mother. Laughing nervously, he waved his hands at Isamu's rather blatant question. "Isamu, I don't think this is a good time..."
Charging a ki ball in his hand, Isamu stared at Akio in a very Vegeta like fashion. "I wasn't asking." With that Isamu casually threw the ball at Akio, Pan jumping out of the way easily while Akio phased out of the way of the oncoming blast. By now Mira was screaming in her mother's grasp while Bulla looked at Isamu and Akio accusingly.
Souta slapped his forehead, "Nice going son!" he yelled out sarcastically.
Isamu shrugged, barley missing the multiple punches and kicks that were thrown at him at lightning speed by Akio. As they were sparing, everyone watched on, slightly grateful that the spat between mother and son had been momentarily avoided, but now quite annoyed that their quiet picnic had been turned into a World Martial Arts tournament. Akio couldn't say he wasn't having a good time. Hell, he needed this to get his frustrations out.
Isamu was gaining ground and fast. Akio charged a ki ball and threw it square into Isamu's face, causing a ball of smoke to appear. Everyone went quiet, staring wide eyed at the scene. Akio kept his vision on Vegeta, whom seemed to be smirking. Pointing a finger his way, Akio suddenly figured out to late what Vegeta had meant when Isamu seemed to recover from his small attack and swiftly uppercut Akio.
Pan sighed heavily and brushed some of the dirt that had splattered on her from Isamu's attack. As Pan looked up at the two boys, she didn't see Akio and Isamu, Grandchildren of Vegeta and Goku; she saw her Grandfather and his best friend going all out in a friendly spar. Suddenly, a female voice yelling could be heard and Pan knew exactly who it could be from the heavy coughs that followed.
Bulma Brief, even though she was well into her eighties, still had a set of lungs that could make a cat hiss and energy to boot. Bulma had spent many years when Isamu and Mei were younger working on a toxin that could rejuvenate your energy and so far, it's been working effectively. The woman no longer cared about her beauty, all she cared about was living long enough to see her Grandchildren grow and start families of their own. The heavy coughing and sudden tiredness told a story of its own; Bulma wouldn't be with them much longer.
"Hiroshima Isamu and Son Akio! You two stop this stupid fight and get down here! We are here to spend time together with our family... because it might be the last one we'll ever have together!" Although Bulma knew quite well Akio's surname was Sato, he was Goku's Great Grandson and so, a Son in her cerulean eyes.
Vegeta visibly flinched at his mates words, a soft growl leaving his throat as he hissed, "Onna..." warning her lightly to drop that certain topic.
Trunks laughed half heartily and shoved a glass of water into his mothers hands, "You say that every year mom."
Isamu and Akio quickly landed on the ground, shaking each other's hands and chuckling.
Krillin stood from his seat next to his wife, Juuhachigou, at one of the picnic tables and laughed, "Hey, Bulma's right you know, who knows when I'm gonna' kick the bucket to. Yamcha's already finding it hard to hear these days and Bulma doesn't exactly look like she's getting any younger." He laughed.
Vegeta shot the greying man a fierce scowl, "What was that, baka? I didn't catch that last part about my mate."
Krillin chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his head. "N-nothing, Vegeta, just a joke."
Vegeta snorted, "Keep joking and the last thing you will be able to hear are your own screams before I kill you." Vegeta smirked as the intended effect of fear shimmered through Krillin's dark wide eyed gaze.
Vegeta felt a familiar ki behind him, along with a short giggle and he smirked. "About time you brats showed up."
Mei undid her dark blond hair from the elastic she had used to keep it out of her face, "Grandfather, stop threatening Grandpa Krillin or Nana will get angry."
Juu smiled as her husband sat back down dejectedly and glanced at her only Granddaughter, registering to the nickname Mei always used to address her. She supposed having two sets of Grandparents would result in nickname giving's and since it was Mei, she really didn't mind this annoying little trait.
"Damn straight," she replied, smirking at Vegeta. He simply 'hmphed' and turned towards Yuuma whom hadn't been far behind his sister.
Bulma moved towards Yuuma and Mei, bringing them both into a bone cracking hold. Had she not been so weak, the siblings would have guessed she meant bodily harm to them in her show of affection. Vegeta simply huffed and looked away, but the small smile that arched the corners of his mouth ever so slightly were evident on the great Saiyajin Prince's proud face. Yes, he would never voice it out loud, but he cherished his children and Grandchildren because the simple fact was, each of them reminded him of his weakened mate. Her time was running out, he could sense it in her fading ki and he was pretty sure their family could also.
Mei and Yuuma differed in appearances. Compared to their cousins, they were not as unique looking and fast-tempered. Mei had dark blond hair, easily inheriting her mother and grandmother's looks, not to mention her grandma Bulma's mother's hair had been a bright blond. She was also intelligent and was already Vice-President at her father's company; Capsule Corporations. She had a sharp glare and an eye for liars, much like her grandfather. Mei could also control her ki, but she could not fight or use energy balls. It just didn't interest her. However, she did learn to fly, but that was as far as she went in her training.
Yuuma had dark hair parted down the middle and it tended to fall into his eyes. When he powered up, it would spike in all different directions, making it similar looking to Isamu and Akio's hairstyles. His eyes always caught girl's attentions, them being a bright turquoise blue that matched Mei's perfectly. The genetics matched up, because both his parents were blue eyed along with both his grandmothers. He inherited more from his father's side though, which included being rather short, thanks to Vegeta. Yuuma was just thankful he wasn't as short as his Grandpa Krillin. Yuuma didn't have the sharp eyed glare Mei did when she was angry or annoyed, he was easy going and just as much the lame-assed joker his Grandpa Krillin was. He also liked to fight, but not as much as Akio or Isamu or Axel did, that was for sure.
Vegeta often wondered when he would have a Grandson whom would at least mirror him in some way. His children had taken after the damn Onna, not that he minded so much, but the blond hair and feminine looking hair styles were starting to irk him about his male Grandchildren. If it wasn't for Isamu's dark blue coloured spikes, Vegeta could say the boy resembled him almost perfectly, black eyes and all, if not shorter hair. Axel had inherited the dark spiky hair, but the bright blue eyes he and Yuuma seemed to inherit threw Vegeta off. Pretty blue eyes just didn't work for a Royal Saiyajin heir. The human blood in his grandchildren diluted the Saiyajin blood, but these children were the last of a dead race and Vegeta knew he would someday leave it up to them to be the new fighters of Earth. This was his home, he had started a family here – albeit rather unexpectedly - and he'd be damned if some evil son of a bitch tried to take that from him.
Vegeta flinched suddenly. An unfamiliar – albeit weak – ki had just taken over his senses. The power was so unexpected that Vegeta had to call all of his senses together to make sure he was indeed sensing something that was not from this Earth. Feeling for any unfamiliar ki's, he found that there was none. It was like suddenly, it was there... and then it wasn't. He was suddenly broken from his thoughts as he heard his Granddaughter, Mei, screech.
"Grandpa `Geta, Isamu's picking on Axel!"
"Shut-up Mei, for a Vice-Pres of the wealthiest company in the world you're such a baby!"
"Akio, you're a pig!"
"Where are Chita and Ryou anyway?"
"I think they're helping Goten and Valese with some shopping."
"Nup, Chitaw's on a dayte and Wryou's wif Grandpaw Gohawn. Thew just said thawt."
"Jeez Akio, swallow, then talk!"
"Mom! I-Isamu's beating me up!"
"Isamu, let your brother go right now! Seriously -- wait... no! Get rid of that ki ball right now Axel! Don't even think about aiming it at Isamu!"
"Um, Bulla? Mira just threw up on me."
"Pan, I'm so sorry! Mom, can you get something to help me clean Pan's shirt?"
"Sorry sweetie, I'm a bit busy! -- Yamcha... is that another alcoholic beverage in your hand? Hand it over now old man!"
"Yuuma, stop texting on that damn phone and help me control these morons!" Mei sighed as her brother simply shrugged her off, "You lazy son-of-a-... What the hell! No, Axel, don't!"
BOOM!
"No! Not the food... Why destroy the only damn table with the food?!"
"Saiyajins..." was Vegeta's son-in-law, Souta's last words over the bickering families.
Heh, new fighters of Earth... Kami forbid if that day should come.
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"Are you guys coming anytime soon? I'm getting tired of Mei calling me a pig! At least if you were here Chi, she would be too pre-occupied in your girly talk to even glance at me. Why are you answering Ryou's phone anyway?" Akio whispered harshly into the tiny black cell phone. "And mom's just waiting to take a crack at me after Mei is finished. Isamu didn't make things easier when he tried to kill me!"
Chitarra laughed at Akio's desperate tone of voice, he was such a drama-queen sometimes. "I doubt Isamu tried to kill you, Ai. Severely injure you, maybe. Ryou's helping Uncle Gohan with some research; it's all hush-hush at the moment, but apparently it has something to do with Bulma." Chitarra glanced at her elder brother and Uncle to make sure they weren't listening in, "We're leaving in a few minutes though. Daddy and mom are on their way already and Uncle Gohan and Aunt Videl should be there by mid-afternoon to save you, they're just stopping in to check on Grandma ChiChi."
Chitarra heard a loud crash in the background, then Bulla and Bulma's voices screeching out Axel and Isamu's names, followed by severe coughing. Chitarra guessed that was coming from Bulma from all the yelling. "They're fighting over food again, aren't they?"
Suddenly, all Chitarra could hear was Akio's frantic filled voice. Her honey brown eyes widened for a moment and her heart started beating faster at the thought that Axel and Isamu had actually hurt someone in their stupid bickering... well, she was frightened until – "No! Not the food... Why destroy the only damn table with the food?!"
Chitarra almost face planted onto the floor. "Kami, Akio, I thought they hurt somebody for a second there! -- wait... they destroyed the... food table?" she paused for a good eight seconds, "Why?"
Akio sighed, "Axel didn't mean to... he was aiming for Isamu's head. Bulma's getting some cleaning bots to go and get the backup food out of the kitchen."
Chitarra blinked twice. "I don't know what disturbs me more, the fact we are probably the only family on Earth that actually has 'backup-food' for situations like these, or that if Axel and Isamu keep going, at this rate, they could probably commit genocide on the entire planet Earth just trying to kill each other."
A small chuckle could be heard. Chitarra just knew that her cousin was still mourning the loss of a good meal that had the unfortunate luck to be on the bad end of Axel's murderous ki blast.
Akio's voice suddenly turned solemn, "How is Grandmother?"
Chitarra paused for a moment, "Daddy and Gohan are thinking about admitting her into West City General Hospital for a while. Her heart... it's just getting worse Ai. The Doctor came to look her over, but he said the infections set in since her last surgery..."
Akio grunted that he understood. "Yamcha and Bulma aren't looking so great either. Bulma's finding it harder to leave her bed and she has these awesome coughing fits, Trunks keeps refilling her glass every ten seconds with water so she's hydrated. Vegeta's getting more annoyed when anyone mentions her age, he threatened Krillin again today when he was making a joke about them kicking the bucket."
Chitarra sighed and threw herself into Gohan's couch, "No matter how hard and prideful he may seem, that's still his mate for life Akio and it's dawning on him that he will live a long while longer after Bulma's gone. Mei was telling me about it not long ago. It's like a sad love story; Mei told me Bulma was the very first person Vegeta ever truly came to care about when he was forced to stay on Earth and he's losing her at a painfully slow rate."
Chitarra could just picture Akio clenching his fists and yelling in his mind how unfair it was. "Vegeta berates us about how we're Saiyajins, how we live to fight and that's why when everyone else is old and frail, we'll still look and feel young. But what happens when there's no one left to fight for?"
Chitarra smiled. Vegeta, Gohan and just about everyone else – which included Dende, surprisingly - never let them forget that when they were all gone, it would be up to the younger generation to protect the planet. Even when they were little, it was all about fighting and being on guard that at any given second the world could be in great danger.
"Then we fight for each other and the people of this planet."
-
-
Akio sighed in peaceful bliss. Ryouichi and Chitarra had shown up about an hour after his hasted phone call to Ryou's cell phone, in which Chitarra had answered. Following them, their father, Goten and their mother, Valese also made an appearance via hover transport. Things had calmed down and Bulma was all smiles and laughs, putting Vegeta also, surprisingly, in a good mood. In fact, his mood was so good by the buzzing youthfulness of his mate brought on by more old friends, that he even sat down with Trunks and Souta for some lunch and sake. A very rare occurrence for the ageing Saiyajin whom believed anything with alcohol in it was suicide if trouble should pop up. The Earth had been peaceful for twenty-five years, Akio doubted that today of all days would be any different.
A while later, after Yamcha was done guzzling down enough sake to make Bulma quickly ask one of the bots to put the hospital on standby for alcohol poisoning, his Grandpa Gohan and Grandmother showed up. The old man quickly gave up his sake to give Gohan a friendly hello, which left the beverage (along with every other beverage on the table) open for Bulma, Bulla and Yamcha's only constant companion – Puar – to hide fast and efficiently before he got back. That is to say, the old Desert Bandit and ex baseball player was to buzzed to realise he had left an almost full can of sake out and actually believed it when Bulma had told him he had drank it all – along with the other mini fridge full. Akio truly believed ignorance was bliss in some cases.
Bulma's mood had been low that morning, having gotten word that Tien and Chiaotzu couldn't make it. Bulma had also muttered something about a Master Roshi, but although the name sounded familiar, he had never met the man whom was said to have made his home on an island in the middle of the ocean.
But, all that aside, Bulma seemed content with the amount of family whom had shown up and was way passed happy at this point. Akio had taken the time to chat with Yamcha before he had a chance to spot the sake and couldn't help but remark on how lively the once blue haired beauty icon looked. Yamcha agreed.
"She really misses you; we all do," Yamcha had whispered, just low enough so that Vegeta couldn't hear.
"Misses who? Yamcha, I'm right here," Akio had been confused by the man's comment.
Yamcha looked at Akio like he was insane. Akio didn't know it, but for a brief moment, Yamcha had seen Goku's grinning face in front of him. "Oh, Akio, sorry son... just an old man's mind playing tricks on him."
Thinking about it now in the quiet den of Bulma and Vegeta's living room, Akio did resemble his grandfather in looks quite a bit. Spiky ink black hair, big hollow black eyes and when he grinned – which was on occasions like these, with his family – it seemed to light up everyone around him. The only thing that people noticed that set him apart from the legendary man-child was Akio's constant seriousness and aloofness towards anyone but his family and close friends. Akio most deffinatly wasn't as outright rude as Vegeta, but when he was annoyed or agitated by someone or something in which he couldn't just shrug off, the young demi-Saiyajin would deffinatly let them – or it – know that he was no pushover.
Now, without Mei and Chitarra's incessant ranting about the demi-Saiyanjin males (all the Saiyajin males, not just him) less then appealing eating habits, Isamu arguing with his tween brother, Axel, and his mothers disapproving glares, he was free to sit and think.
Akio recounted the brief confrontation with his mother earlier that day. Yes, it was true; Satan City Police were constantly on his mother's doorstep looking for him. His mother wasn't against Akio sticking up for himself, but sometimes, he forgot his own strength and did more damage then necessary – accidentally, of course. Akio often forgot just how weak normal people could be sometimes. One encounter was set apart from the rest, when a group of large males outside a tavern made a snide remark about his girlfriend at the time. He had gone back and was instantly recognised as Hurcule Satan's Great Grandson. Akio had only been a child when his Great-Grandfather had passed away, but seeing as his mother had to take over the Martial Artist dojo his Grandfather had started years earlier, his face was always plastered in magazines and tabloids around the world – alongside Mei, his mother and his Uncle Trunks.
He had gone back, asked them to apologize and they had curtly laughed in his face. As Akio had went to walk away – after a lot of prodding from his girlfriend – the largest muscle man had stepped forward. What he said next, Akio could not forgive and it ultimately sealed the poor man's fate. "The old geez was a loser!" he had yelled after Akio, referring to the deceased Satan Hurcule.
Akio had turned around and as his girlfriend went to pull him back, Akio had shoved her away, knocking her into a nearby wall. He was angry that he couldn't control his strength. He wouldn't know he had broken her arm until after the fight and the arrival of the authorities.
To say the fight wasn't pretty was an understatement. The group of men were so badly thrashed and covered in debris from the smashed brick wall outside the tavern, it took ten paramedics and five fully equipped ambulances just to extract them from the rubble and tend to their multiple wounds. Akio didn't have a scratch on him and was hauled to the local police department. Eighteen thousand zeni from his father and Trunks later and Akio was released with no charges, due to the fact witnesses' claim Akio had been goaded into the fight. The fact that his father, Sato Taka, was a well known business tycoon and Brief Trunks, the President of Capsule Corporations – the most advanced and wealthiest company in the world – was his Uncle and family friend might have been the reason for his early release and dropped charges. While he had family in the right places, Akio was basically untouchable...
Maybe that was why he resented who he was as far as social status went.
Akio's father was a man of few words to say the least. Sato Taka was rude, cultured, handsome, and after his brief encounter with a woman named Son Pan, he was a father. Taka could by no means be a fighter, but there was something that just drew Akio's mother to him... Pan had been invited to a get together at the Brief's home where Trunks was also having a potential clientele investor over for dinner and a chat. Taka was interested in investing stock for a few of his own clients into Capsule Corp. It was an investment his clients were confident in and Taka was a man whom never failed to please when it came to his job. He owned a very prominent and reliable stock, bonds and investments business. People from all different companies and industries came to him for advice and counselling on what would benefit them and their business. Once an agreement came to order, it was up to Taka to invest the money and make the deals. Capsule Corporations were particularly picky on whom had a percentage in their products and future projects and often turned down potential investors.
Trunks ended up declining Taka's proposal, but the man wouldn't take that answer – not by a long shot. He stayed there, his eyes set on this one investment and he would get Brief to snap no matter what. Pan had stared at him most of the night, listening to his voice, watching the way he argued but seemed to keep his calm about him. Pan knew that he was just like her, that no mountain, no aggravated Super-Saiyajin C.E.O could stand in your way if you gave it your all – and Sato Taka was most certainly putting up a good verbal fight. The dark and refined Taka had won the battle; he had won the investment – and the attraction of one demi-Saiyajin girl.
The relationship was purely physical and Akio was aware of this, but after Pan had found out she was pregnant, (via everyone but her and Taka – even the young children at the time – sensing Akio's ki growth) Pan and Taka decided to give a real relationship a try. It didn't work out very well, to say the least. Taka was let in the secret of their alien ancestry and ultimately didn't believe a word of it... until Akio almost killed his father with an unstable ki blast when he was only two years old. Pan hadn't flown for many years after she met Taka, but now that the secret was out, she told Taka proudly about her and her father's heritage and also about her Grandfather. She showed Taka how she could fly and also taught Akio.
It wasn't the alien factor that broke the two up, it was the fact that Pan and Taka just couldn't find a sturdy ground to agree on. They fought like cat and dog, it often ending with Pan winning and Taka with some form of wound. Taka often spent weeks away from Pan and Akio, until finally, he just didn't come back. Pan wanted to beat the living hell out of her now ex-lover, but Trunks, Goten and her parents held her back, explaining that maybe this was best for them – best for Akio and her unborn child. Teal was born shortly after Taka left for good, naming her after Taka's deceased mother, whom was the only kind person to Pan in Taka's family.
It was then every second weekend with dad, the rest with mom for Akio. It wasn't so bad, considering he was so young when his father left but it still felt like a blow whenever he thought about his parent's disgruntled nature towards each other. Soon after Taka left, Hurcule passed away and it absolutely crushed his mother for some time. But like when her Grandpa Goku went off with Shenron, Pan moved on as best she could and Akio had to respect his mother for that.
After that last fight outside the tavern, his father had had enough and disowned Akio. Akio was angry, especially since no one except Isamu really knew what had happened to cause him to get so angry and as a result, his Grandpa Gohan helped Akio legally change his surname so that if another incident happened, Akio's father wouldn't have to complain that his family name was being tarnished by his only son.
Akio sighed and wove his hands behind his head as he rested on the large couch. Music could be heard coming from outside and as the evening darkened Akio knew that some of his family would be heading back to their homes soon. He supposed Bulla would stay at her parents with Mira and Souta, while Axel and Isamu headed back to their house. Akio knew for a fact that when you stayed at the Brief home you were ultimately subjected to early morning rigorous training in the G.R with Vegeta, no questions asked – Isamu and Axel liked to train with their Grandfather, but they also liked to sleep in.
It didn't matter if everyone wanted to stay later, considering Bulla was the only one with an infant, as soon as Bulma started to show signs that she was tired or ill from all the excitement, Vegeta would throw everyone out with a grunt and a door slammed in their faces. Akio laughed lightly. Chitarra was right about one thing when he had last conversed with her earlier, when it came to his mate, Vegeta took no prisoners – he sent them all home with a grunt and the middle finger – even his own son and Grandchildren. Bulla was always the exception, of course.
Akio groaned as he was forced to get up from his comfortable position due to the incessant 'brinnngggg' of his cell phone. Pulling the phone from his back pant pocket, he checked the caller identification and recognised a number he had been expecting for most of the day. He groaned warily.
Pressing the answer call button, he greeted the caller with a simple, "Father."
"Son," Taka greeted just as stoically.
"I'm guessing this stupid talk can't be done over the phone?"
Taka sighed heavily over the line, "Pan is your mother, I should have expected this sort of treatment. You go behind me back and wipe my family name and afterwards I don't hear from you for months. So naturally, I would like to talk to you. It so happens tonight is my last night in the city."
Akio scowled, "Don't bring mom into this, that was my idea, I just thought I'd saved you some embarrassment. So, father, what does it matter if tonight if your last night in the city? You know I can fly around the Earth within an hour or so-"
"But would you?" Taka cut off, asking a question he seemed to know the sarcastic reply to.
"No, I suppose I wouldn't. That takes energy, the same energy you never wasted on me or my mother."
Taka wouldn't admit it, but that comment stung, only because both he and Akio knew it was true.
Taka ignored it, though. "So tonight is as good as any. Meet me at the Sato Investments building in two hours."
Before he could hang up, Akio hastily asked, "Wait... has Teal been to see you today?"
A moment passed before Taka grunted out, "No, I thought she was at that ridiculous family gathering today."
The phone clicked and Akio's cell phone screen brightened as the call ended. Akio was angry that his father would say something like that, but the one thing that echoed through his mind was that last sentence. "No, I thought she was at that ridiculous family gathering today." If she wasn't with their father... then where was she? It wasn't like Teal to be this late; she most certainly would have shown up by now to at least see Chitarra and Mei.
Sighing, he made his way passed the kitchen area and towards the doors that would lead him outside to his bustling friends and family. He supposed he had better start saying his 'Goodbye, see you later's now before it got too late. It would take him about two hours to say goodbye to everyone and knowing his family, they would engage themselves into a one sided conversation with him as soon as he approached.
It wasn't hard to find his cousins and friends. Once their Grandparents, parents and aunts and uncles got chatting about the 'good old days,' it was hard not to feel left out, so they all sat off to the side, groaning and hanging their heads in shame at the way their family seemed to act. Even Vegeta seemed to look almost... content with the laughter of fond memories long gone. Goten was having a good laugh with Trunks over an incident involving a wall, Bulma's expensive couch and Vegeta's head when they were both seven and eight. Both Bulma and Vegeta scowled, recalling the memory and how Vegeta almost killed them – if not for his head still spinning from the impact of two young Super-Saiyajins throwing an object through the wall straight at his head, he would have.
As Akio approached it seemed Isamu and Ryou were reliving their own memories, memories that happened only a week before. Ryou was the first to notice Akio's ki and grinned, quickly recovering from his hysterical belt of laughter. "Ai, dude, where have you been hiding out all night?"
Son Ryouichi was Son Goten's eldest offspring. Short spiky dark hair and charcoal dark eyes, it was sometimes hard to tell Akio and Ryou apart. Ryou was just starting his life and although an excellent fighter, he preferred to study hard and get through college as fast as he could. Pan would often say Ryou was exactly like her father, Gohan, and everyone was fast to agree with that statement. In fact, Ryou was almost a carbon copy of Gohan in his younger years. At least according to his Aunt Videl and the pictures everyone saw in the Son family album. Honestly, Ryou couldn't see it.
"Bulma's living room," Akio shrugged, "Hey, anyone heard from Teal?"
Chitarra twisted her mouth and looked away.
"It is the weekend Ai; maybe she's with her friends." Mei suggested.
Isamu threw a piece of meat into the air and swiftly caught it with his mouth. As he chewed, he ignored Mei's disgusted face and swallowed. "Not fair that she gets out of this family fun and we have sit off to the side, bored to tears."
Yuuma shrugged, knocking into Isamu's shoulder from their close proximity on the small picnic table. Yuuma silently cursed the small table they had retreated to; he was too close to his baka cousin for his liking. "There's a thing called personal space, Isamu, I'm not sure if you have heard about it but for arguments sake it means to move over!"
Isamu growled and shoved his older cousin harder in the shoulder, which, for anyone but a Saiyajin, would have thrown them off of their seat. Yuuma simply ignored and raised his ki in warning.
Akio rolled his eyes and shook his head; he didn't have time for this. Ryouichi, being the elder of the males, chuckled nervously and went to break up the two. He wondered how Isamu ever managed to make any friends. "Come on guys, don't start..."
Mei was next to Yuuma on his other side and felt her hair whisk up and over her shoulder as her brother powered up. The fact her hair had only been fixed up not long before from her flight over made her even more irate. "Yuuma, do you mind!?"
Chitarra sighed and shook at her head at her friend's immaturity. Somehow, she wished she had been like Axel and sat with her parents under the awning only feet away. No, she had decided to stay with the easily irritable whingers.
Akio was about to just walk away from this entirely embarrassing scene when he felt a completely new ki shoot through his body. A number of gasps from both his cousins and friends to the adults at the next table told him he wasn't the only one who had felt it. It was a sudden jolt, as if someone had tried to power up, only to stop very unexpectedly.
The Earthlings among the Saiyajins could only stop and stare, wondering what was wrong. Even Krillin, Yamcha and Juu had felt it. Gohan stood from his seat and looked around.
"I'm guessing from your faces, you all felt that?" He was awarded with an array of nods and turned to Vegeta; "You think they're...?" he trailed off.
Vegeta shook his head. "No, they were months away from Earth the last time we checked. Besides, I only felt one earlier."
"So, I understand why you wanted us to check the trackers this morning."
Isamu couldn't handle being left out and jumped up, almost knocking a pissed looking Yuuma out of his seat. "What are you all talking about? What's coming? What the hell's a tracker? What power were we sensing just then?!"
Ryouichi walked towards Vegeta and Gohan, a serious scowl on the normally calm man's face. "We must have missed this one... but where did he land?"
Suddenly, everyone was silenced as Bulla – whom had gone inside to put Mira down for a sleep – came running outside with a scared look on her beautiful face. Her cheeks were red as an already confused Souta stood up to stop his wife before she fell down. She screamed, "Pan! Pan!"
Vegeta was already beside Bulla, a fatherly hand on her shoulder. "Calm yourself Bulla. What is it?"
Pan was also by her friend's side in an instant. "Bulla?"
Axel sat with his Grandmother, Bulma hugging him close as to not rush to his mother who seemed panic stricken. Everyone was looking in the direction of the younger blue haired minx as she tried to catch her breath.
All Isamu could do was sit and watch, the faintest word leaving his lips. "Mom...?"
Eyes unblinking, waited as she spoke. "P-pan! Teal... she- she called on the video phone and..."
Pan stared wide eyed as she grasped Bulla's shoulders. Vegeta didn't stop this, as whatever Bulla had to say sounded important. The girl, Teal, was Gohan's brats youngest child and Bulla were in her situation, he would want to know the details and quickly before he started blowing everything up.
"She called and wanted some help! T-there was a crash... something in a large crater behind her. She said something like a spaceship barley missed her when it crashed and she told me she had done some damage to her air bike, but it could probably get her back to the highway, and then she would head here... but she asked if Vegeta or someone could come and take a look at the scene."
Pan furrowed her dark brows, "There has to be more then that Bulla." There had to be, because Bulla Brief wouldn't run out in hysterics for a reason like that.
Vegeta visibly tensed. He knew losing track of one of these brats would end in chaos.
"Yes," Bulla whispered, "She was facing away so I could see the damage behind her, but she was cutting out. Before communication was lost, a man clad in armour was limping up behind her... a ball of ki in his hand... he lifted his hand and then it looked like Teal noticed before the screen went blank."
Everyone was silent. Pan was stuttering as she moved away, her eyes as wide as saucers. Gohan was by his daughters side, as was Videl, looking at her husband in a silent plea to find their Granddaughter. Goten and Trunks were already powered up, searching out Teal's ki. Akio knew what they were doing and looked down almost guiltily.
"You won't find her; I taught her how to lower her ki. She'll feel no different to an infant."
"Moron, because of you, this could mean that brat's life," Vegeta growled. He really didn't care much for the girl, but growing up with these brats; he did grow a soft spot for even Kakarot's family.
Chitarra coughed and stood up. Goten tilted his head at his daughters strange behaviour; then it clicked. "You know where she is, don't you Chitarra." It was a statement. Chitarra nodded.
Akio looked broken as he continued to look down. No, she should be the one to feel guilty, she decided to keep this secret for Teal and it could have well costed her younger cousin her life. Her lip shaking, Chitarra said, "She's in the countryside, two hours East outside West City. She snuck out last night to go camping with her friends-" she caught the look in Pan's eyes, "-she knew Pan would say no so she waited until everyone was asleep... she said she would be back by this evening... but seeing as she had her air bike she may have disconnected herself from the group."
Now that they knew where she was, Vegeta, Trunks, Gohan and Goten powered up to Super-Saiyajin and blasted off. Isamu powered up, following as soon as he noticed Ryouichi had left to. Axel seemed to pry himself from Bulma's hold – gently of course – and with a, "Hey, wait for me!" he also flew off after them.
Akio stood there, looking down as he realised he had messed up. He should have known better then to have taught Teal something like that. He was her big brother; he was supposed to look out for her. A gentle hand on his shoulder made his neck snap to the side, only to see Chitarra smiling softly; "It's not your fault, I should have told everyone sooner when I realised how late it was getting."
Akio sighed and gently shook her hand off of his shoulder, stepping forward. "I should go with them."
Chitarra shook her head, "No."
Akio stared, confused. "Why not?"
Chitarra looked towards Pan, whom was trying to hold back her fear. She was walking around, as if in a daze. Akio wondered why she hadn't taken off with his Grandfather and Uncle... then he figured out why. He visibly paled; his mother didn't want to get there and find Teal dead. Pan didn't want to witness her daughter's broken and bruised body. Looking back towards Chitarra his face showed pain and disappointment.
"You should stay and protect your mother from herself."
From the fear of losing someone else she loves, were the unspoken words.
That morning had been hectic. She had left with five of her friends during the dead of the night, midnight to be precise and at that time everything seemed great. That had reached the campsite by two-thirty in the morning and spent the rest of the time setting up camp. By dawn, everyone was just beginning to awaken when a large lizard type beast decided to rear its ugly head at the scent of their breakfast. Now, Teal may not have known how to fly, or to create large sphere balls of energy using her ki, but she did know how to defend herself and also had remarkable strength for a girl of her size.
Teal had grown up with these sorts of durasic lizards after spending time in the woods with her Grandfather when he took time off work. Grandpa Gohan would take Akio, Ryouichi, Isamu, Axel and their fathers (meaning Goten and Trunks) out to 'rough it up' now and then and Teal would come whenever Chitarra tagged along. Teal would end up asking Akio to fly her home after about a day, but she still learnt well enough how to handle any wildlife that may be a threat to them or others in the vicinity. Grabbing the oversized lizard by its tail, she then proceeded to drag him back towards a deserted area further away from their campsite and didn't miss the gawking stares of her friends. Later, as she returned after washing up in the nearby trench, she found the site to be empty of any tents and her friends, long gone. All that was left was a note, 'find your own way home, weirdo!'
Teal had just stared at the note, dumbstruck, before realization finally hit her. "Find you own way home?! Fine, you ungrateful pack of morons! Just wait until I see you at school on Monday, just wait! I'll bring that lizard to school and let him eat you!" she screamed, throwing the crumpled note to the muddy ground and jumping on it multiple times. "Who am I kidding? Even that's too good for you horrid... mean..."
Sullenly, she stopped her tirade and just stared at the dirt covered piece of paper. Maybe this had been their plan all along, to befriend the loser who sat alone in the girl's facilities at school eating her lunch, get close enough to invite her out on a camping trip then just leave her there to wallow in her utter friendlessness. She wiped away the liquid that glistened across her hurt and anger filled eyes.
No, that wasn't true. Teal had friends, she had Chita and Mei, and Axel would hang out with her to play video games and watch the occasional horror movie. But Chita was her cousin and Mei and Axel, dutiful family friends. Akio might have known how she felt, but he had Isamu to stand by him in school his whole life, and even though he and Isamu would never admit it, Yuuma was a good friend to have when the chips were down. That boy would just shrug you off and get onto a completely new topic, it's how he dealt with 'self pity'.
Mei and Chitarra were older now. Chitarra, now that she was eighteen, could go out to clubs with Mei and had already finished school. Mei was twenty-two and the Vice-President for Capsule Corporations. She was a socialite and a powerful Saiyajin – though she never really fought. She was blond and beautiful, while Chitarra was dark and stunning. They were true female Warriors, Mei was a genius in her own right – props to Bulma for that trait – and Chitarra was a spirited fighter. Teal was too humanised as Vegeta would phrase it but... Teal didn't fit in as a Saiyajin... or an Earthling. Sometimes Teal wished she was a Namekian like Dende, they were asexual and Teal would rather be something then feel like she floating between two sides of herself.
Even Axel had more fight in him then she did and he was twelve years old, how sad was that? The depressing part was she would actually look forward to spending the day with the tween demi-Saiyajin when he wasn't training with his Grandfather, Vegeta.
Sighing, she pulled a small pack of about four capsules from the strap on her leg and found the one she was looking for. Pushing the top of the small tube down, Teal threw it out in front of her and watched as her white air bike with the Capsule Corp. logo on the side materialised from the smoke. It was a birthday present from Bulla and Souta when Teal turned sixteen.
Hopping on it – after strapping her camping bags to the side securely – Teal pressed a small button that would start the ignition and pushed the handles forward, making the bike take off with a soft purr. Because Teal couldn't sense ki, she had to guess the way back to the city. It was East, right? She was still suppressing her ki in the case her mother came out to find her and being stuck out in the middle of nowhere... well, there were a lot of places Pan could bury her body. Although Teal's ki was sufficiently lower than the rest of her alien-born family, she was still a couple of decimals higher than the average human.
Suddenly, the tree's had vanished and now Teal was faced with nothing but wide open terrain. Blades of green ran on for miles and Teal had to stop her bike, blink and calm herself from throwing a giant tantrum at her luck. She had gone in the completely opposite direction of the highway back to the city! Jumping off of her bike, Teal kicked the dirt up off of the ground in anger, making large, crater like holes in the ground.
"Damn!" She kicked at the ground, "Stupid!" She kicked it again, "Friends!" She suddenly aimed her anger at her trustworthy bike and kicked it hard, making a dent where the motor was located. Blinking as her foot stayed levitated in mid-air, Teal gasped as smoke and steam started to rise from the place she had kicked. Jumping from one place of the bike to the other, she continued to shout, "No, no, no, no! Please don't die on me! I'm sorry, I'll get you a tune up... an upgrade... whatever you want baby just don't die!" She sobbed.
Teal suddenly sighed as she wiped the over-dramatic beads of tears from her cheeks. "What else could possibly happen today?"
"Huh?" Teal couldn't help but feel like... the ground was shaking. Nearby birds squawked and flew with vigour as they raced to flee from whatever was coming Teal's way. The Earth lurched and Teal was thrown against her bike with such force she knocked the large motor vehicle over with the impact. Rubbing her head, trying to get rid of the stars that clouded her vision, Teal's back was on the ground while her legs were still over the bike – indicating she had been thrown completely over it. Rubbing her eyes she looked to the sky in time to notice a white orb shaped vessel hurtling towards her. Her eyes widened to the point anyone would think they were about to pop out. The ground shook harder and with such fierce Teal thought the Earth would open up and swallow her whole. Suddenly, a loud BOOM! was all Teal heard next before the Earth jolted one final time.
All was quiet... to quiet.
Teal was still lying on her back, gawking up at the sky in which she had witnessed the strange vessel. "Oh... Kay. Dende, if I live through this... I am going to rip those little green antennas off of your head for putting me in this situation..."
Somewhere on Kami's lookout, the older Green Namek-born Guardian of Earth felt a twitch from his left antenna. Mr. Popo stared at him as the Namekian's eye also twitched in fear. "Is... everything okay Dende?"
Dende clenched his staff and laughed nervously, "It's either that strange ki we've been feeling... or an angry Saiyajin just threatened me..."
Mr. Popo frowned, "It's that energy that we felt hit Earth's atmosphere earlier, do not worry yourself Dende."
Dende nodded and lightly touched his still twitching antenna, "Yeah... nothing to worry about..."
Teal had finally managed to untangle herself from her bike. Pulling herself up, she gently massaged her spine and moved around to feel if anything had been broken. A sharp pain in her shoulder made her gasp and her good arm immediately flew to the injury. "Yep... just... peachy," she gritted in pain. Steadying herself after an absurd amount of time trying to get to her feet, Teal lifted her air bike back to its upright position, ignoring her shoulders heavy protest.
Now that the bike wasn't obscuring her vision, she could properly see the large crater the flying vessel had created. Teal just stared for what felt like an eternity, trying to fathom what was happening in her young mind. A bird suddenly cawed and broke Teal from her intense thinking, making the girl shake her head to rid herself of any further curiosity. Taking one last look, Teal got back on her bike and although it had been damaged by her kick and her body slam into it earlier, it seemed to be working at half power when she turned it on – enough to get her as far away as possible from this odd situation. Teal suddenly halted her getaway when she heard a... was that a moan?
Teal shakily got off of her air bike and walked – well, if walking was considered taking two steps, then stopping for a good half a minute – towards the giant hole in the ground. Reaching the edge where a small cliff was starting to form, Teal dropped to her knee's and – very, very, very carefully – looked in. Seeing the white orbed vessel completely destroyed and crushed, Teal let out a breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding.
'It's no wonder my lungs were hurting,' she thought after a moment. 'Damn Axel making me watch that Alien horror movie, I almost peed in my pants walking over here!'
This certainly wasn't doing wonders for her psyche. There was nothing to worry about, it was probably just some satellite that malfunctioned and crashed into Earth's orbit. The moan she heard was her own irrational fears from watching to many horror movies. There, case closed.
Sighing deeply, Teal moved back so she was sitting on her knees, her palms steadying on either sides of her to keep her steady. Getting up, Teal decided it was time to come clean and call for some help. Bulma and Trunks would probably murder her if this satellite proved important in some way. Jogging towards her air bike, she popped open a little compartment located in the front of her bike. Pulling out a hand held video communicator Teal punched in the security code – in the case her bike was stolen – and then proceeded to touch the only programmed number on the touch-screen panel.
"Calling Brief residence," the automated voice confirmed.
Teal was in her own little world, figuring out how to explain this mess to her mother that she failed to hear the bits of metal being thrashed around, as if someone were clawing his or her way from the vessel. Teal was facing towards her bike and away from the incident, so the only spectator would be whoever answered her call. To Teal's relief, Bulla had answered.
"Teal?"
"Surprise..." Teal said lamely, letting out a nervous giggle.
Bulla's eyes narrowed, "Pan's been worried all day! Where have you been? Where are you?" Bulla then had a second thought, speaking the words Teal dreaded, "I'll go get your mother--"
"No, wait!" Teal said hastily as Bulla went to move away, "Something's happened Bulla, some sort of vessel flew through the sky, threw me over my bike and barely missed me! There's a crater behind me, but I don't know if I'm just over exaggerating and it might just be an off-course satellite."
Bulla's beautiful cerulean eyes widened, "You should get back here right now Teal, it could be dangerous. Where's your air bike?"
"Hehe," Teal looked at the damaged bike, "Well... it's damaged some, but functioning at half-power. I think the backup power in the motor kicked in. It should get met to the highway, from there; I can call for a ride."
Bulla nodded and sighed, "I'm guessing that giant ditch behind you is where it landed?"
Teal nodded, not even looking behind her, "Pretty much. Maybe you should get Trunks or Vegeta to come out and take a look?"
It looked as if Bulla were about to say something else, when her eyebrows creased. Static and lines started to break through the screen, making Bulla's face seem smeared and blurry. "Tea- eal?" Bulla's words were breaking up.
Teal shook the gadget and frowned. "Bulla? Hello, Bulla?"
It was working fine a moment ago, the only way communication could be lost on one of these things in an over excessive amount of energy in one area... unless...
The picture rippled, but Teal could still see Bulla's worried eyes. Her voice was panicked as Bulla yelled something, but it came out in missing bits and pieces. Teal tilted her head to look back at the dirt covered crater and realised what Bulla had been panicked over. Teal gasped and dropped the video phone, breaking it as it hit the ground and Bulla's face was replaced with a blank screen.
Behind her, a man had emerged, gasping for breath, his left arm holding his right shoulder, struggling to hold his right arm in the air. In his hand, a light blue sphere of energy was forming... and pointing in her direction. Teal stood stock still, trying to process what he was doing; her arms were still rigid, as if they were still holding the small square hand-held communicator. Her murky blue eyes had widened to twice their original size by the mere sight of him. This made her executioner smirk.
His hair stood on end, a deep coal black; it stood out in all directions. It was short, bits and pieces coming down over his eyes – Teal was sure the impact of the crash had done that, however. He had scrapes and gashes all over, but she was sure his more serious injuries lay in his obviously broken shoulder. The way his leg was positioned outright and to the side made her assume it was broken also. All this aside, the furry brown thing wrapped around his waist was what drew most of her attention – but that ki ball forming in his hand was a real attention seeker in itself.
"No..." she whispered. She couldn't die this way, not because of her stupid sense of direction, not because of some baka fake friends ditching her in the wilderness and most deffinatly because she was too lazy to go spend a day with her family.
Coming back to her senses and trying to calm down her psyche at the time, Teal noticed the constriction in the man's face, indicating he was ready to unleash his energy and blast her to oblivion. Throwing her arms in front of her face as a sort of weak shield, Teal whimpered at the fact she would never know why she died. She closed her eyes and waited... and waited... but nothing happened.
Peeping out to see what was taking so long; Teal was dumbstruck as she let out a tiny squeak of joy. The ball of ki slowly started to disappear and the man's breathing laboured as he swayed to stay balanced. With a final grunt, he fell forward, landing on the ground with a thud, blowing dust and dirt everywhere.
"W-wha---? What just happened!?" The awestruck girl scream, much out of pure relief. Teal's head pounded with fear as she fell down to the ground on her backside and kicked her way so that she was leaning against her bike. Looking down at her shaking hands, Teal was still trying to make herself believe that she was still in one piece.
"Teal!?"
Looking up at the sound of her name being called, Teal recognised that familiar gentle voice. Letting out a sob she had been trying to stifle since her life flashed before her eyes, Teal jumped to her feet, ignoring the pain in her shoulder as she pushed herself from her bike.
A good few feet behind her, in the opposite direction of the craft the man had obviously crawled from, Teal ran as fast as her tired legs would take her in order to reach her Grandfather. "G-Grandpa?" tears were now streaming down her reddened cheeks as she ran with all her might towards her Grandfather and the other members of her family. As she reached them, Isamu, Ryouichi and Axel had just touched down, staring bewildered at their cousin's distraught behaviour. Teal suddenly launched herself into Gohan's awaiting arms, the older man having to step forward in order to catch her. "I-I..." she hiccupped, "I was so... so scared Grandpa!" she sobbed.
Gohan looked down at his distraught Grandchild and frowned sadly, "It's alright now Teal, calm down."
Vegeta was already making his way towards the passed out male, waving for Gohan, Trunks and Goten to follow suit. Gohan gently passed Teal on to Ryouichi, her cousin putting a comforting arm around her shoulder. When he noticed Teal wince, he furrowed his brows and turned towards Axel and Isamu, "I don't suppose you two tag-along's brought an emergency kit, eh?" They weren't even listening as he asked, both probably itching to get near the strange collapsed alien a few feet away. "...Baka's."
Teal had now stopped crying and was furiously trying to wipe away her tears before she asked Isamu or Ryouichi to take her home.
Kami, her mother was going to kill her when she found out.
A/N: I was REALLY afraid to upload this, because a lot of creative stories like this get flamed and abused. I don't know, hate it? Like it? Review... and if you don't like, review why. I might take it off if no one really enjoys it.