Okay, this started shortly after first finding a copy of the original "Little Mermaid" in my college library and then watching Disney's "Little Mermaid". At first, it was going to be normal, but upon realizing that to have seven sisters I used up all of the DBZ girls (except their daughters), leaving no one except maybe Baba to be the sea witch, I hit a small problem. Sometime later, I suddenly hit on a perfect solution: instead of a sea witch, a sea wizard - Babidi! But after getting that idea in my head, I expanded on it - why not a near-full gender switch? It would certainly be easier to come up with seven brothers than sisters with the DBZ crew. The more I thought about it, the more fun it was. Thus, this was born.

I'd like to thank those who helped me with this, especially Holly O. for all her suggestions and Serina Tsuki for her support and thoughts!

Disclaimers: Look at me! I'm using stuff that isn't mine! The DBZ folks ain't mine, the original story ain't mine, and Disney's version (which I will use more of) ain't mine either! DBZ The Little Merman by NansJns

Part 1: Beneath the Sea

Beneath the rippling blue waves of the ocean was the kingdom of the merpeople. They had been ruled for many years by King Vegeta, who had seven sons and lived in a beautiful castle made of seashells, coral, and pearls. All seven of his sons were considered quite handsome. It was a strict law amongst the merpeople that visits to the surface and contact with anything human were to be as limited as possible, if at all. They held little trust for humans, who tended to treat their kind badly, catching them, and then doing who-knows-what to them. This law, however, didn't stop the adventure-loving Sea Princes from poking around sunken ships for laughs. The objects in the ships puzzled them mostly, and they were just as happy to leave the ships once the thrill had worn off. All except for the youngest prince, Goku. Goku was as tall as most of his brothers, with a lean, handsome face, shining dark eyes, broad, muscular shoulders and chest, and wild black hair that seemed to float in every direction at once no matter what the tide. His tail was a handsome, glittering orange color, with two little, horizontal, blue stripes on each fin. Goku was fascinated with human things, and would spend far longer in sunken ships than his brothers could. It was during one of their 'forbidden' trips into a newly sunken ship that Goku found a most unusual object.
The seven brothers had been racing each other around rock formations when they first spotted the ship. Vegeta, the oldest brother and next in line for the throne, was in the lead, which was always something of a surprise to the other brothers. Vegeta was strong and fast, they'd never deny that, but he was also the most weighted down - being the next in line meant he wore the most extravagant mantle of seashells, pearls, and coral. It fell over his shoulders and covered more than half his chest. He wore seven strands of small, white-brown cowrie seashells in neat rows on each arm, starting at his wrists and ending at his elbows, and had a long string of large, colorful seashells on seaweed wrapped around his blue tail from the top of his fin to his waistline. Each brother's ornaments were a little smaller than the one before him; Raditz, with his silver tail, had only six strands of shells on each arm, the string of shells on his tail ended well before his waist, and his mantle didn't cover his shoulders and covered less of his chest than Vegeta's covered his. Tien, who had a green tail, had a smaller mantle than Raditz's, only five strands of shells on his arms, and a smaller string on his tail. After Tien, none of the mantles had any coral in them.
Yamcha's was visibly smaller than Tien's, he had only four sea shell strands on his arms, and his dark yellow tail had a shorter string of seashells than Tien's. Juuna, who had a black tail, had fewer ornaments yet, and Krillin, whose tail was red, had less than him. Goku, being the youngest, wore the simplest decorations - his mantle was only a thin necklace of pearls and seashells, with a long, twisted, yellowish shell in the middle. He had only one string of shells on each wrist, and one small string of seashells around the top of his orange fin. He often felt envious of his brothers' more ornate mantles. They were zigging and zagging amongst rock formations when Goku, who was in the middle of the group, came to an abrupt halt and the others behind him had to scatter around him and each other to keep from crashing together. The ones ahead of them stopped and looked back.
"What is it?" Raditz asked.
"Look, there," Goku answered, pointing a short ways away. They all swam over to him to see what had caught his attention - a sunken human ship tilted heavily to one side. "That wasn't there the other day," Goku observed.
"There was a storm last night," Vegeta said shortly. "It must have sunk then."
"And that means..." Juuna said, a little smile pulling at the corner of his mouth.
"Everything is still fresh!" Goku said with a sparkle in his eye. The brothers looked at each other gleefully. They'd never been in a recently sunken ship before.
"You know what the law says," Vegeta reminded his siblings, his voice cool. The brothers all nodded. Then they all grinned at each other and took off to examine the ship.
Getting in wasn't difficult for there was a large hole in one side of the hull, no doubt the cause of the sinking. Smacking into the bottom of the ocean hadn't done it a whole lot of good, either - several boards were knocked askew. They swam in through the hole and started looking around eagerly. The usual human things were lying around, but there weren't any bodies. Goku could tell that some of his brothers were a little disappointed by that. He separated himself to explore elsewhere. He went down a hallway and came to a door sitting halfway open. He pulled it open the rest of the way and swam in to look around. He had no way of knowing it, but he had just entered what used to be the living quarters of the ship's captain. Furniture, papers, quills, and knickknacks floated peacefully in the briny water, and Goku looked at it all in quiet wonder. He gave a flick of his tail to turn himself around and saw something half hidden beneath a toppled bookshelf. He lifted the bookshelf (though he had no idea what its purpose was), and looked at the strange box it had been covering. It was goodly-sized and square, and its lock had been broken. Unable to fight his curiosity, he opened the box. There was a shower of rising bubbles as the air inside escaped, and once the bubbles had dissipated, he could see a painting in a wooden frame. A piece of parchment floated out of the box and he grabbed it. There was something written on it, but not in any language he could read. He tossed it aside; it wasn't important compared to what he had just found. There were no such things as paintings under the sea, and he wasn't sure what it was. It showed a very beautiful young woman from the chest up; she had long, shining black hair that was tied loosely back, large, dark, sparkling eyes, with soft red lips curled in a smile, smooth peach skin, and she was wearing an ornate red dress. He stared at the painting for a long while, trying to figure out how it was made, and who she was, but nothing was revealed to him. There was more of the strange writing he couldn't read on the wood frame of the painting - "Crown Princess Chi-Chi of the Frying Pan Kingdom." He admired the painting for several long minutes, until he heard his brothers approaching. He quickly put the painting back into the box and went out to greet them, telling them he hadn't found anything. He wanted to keep the strange treasure for himself. Later, after his brothers had all left and were occupied with other things, he returned to the ship and took the painting to a safe place that only he and his friend Pu'ar the catfish knew about.

Not long after Goku's discovery of the painting, a celebration was being held in the undersea castle. It was time for the annual Exhibition, where the sea princes of Vegetasei's kingdom dueled with the sea princes and best soldiers of other watery kingdoms. This year, it was to be the princes of the Kold Kingdom from the arctic sea. Due to the severe dark and cold of the waters they lived in, all of the Kold people were very pale, which made their lips seem darker and shinier. The matches were set up carefully; the eldest sons of both families, Coola and Vegeta, were to fight each other, then the captain of the Kold's army, a strange, purple mercreature (those of Vegetasei hesitated to call him a proper merman, as he looked almost nothing like one) named Ginyu, would fight Raditz, and finally, Frieza, the youngest son of the Kold empire, would do battle with Vegeta's youngest son, Goku. This was to be Goku's first Exhibition battle. Strangely, he was as powerful as his oldest brother, and everyone was eager to see how he'd do. It was only the anticipation of Goku's match- up that kept the other brothers from being totally upset at not having any available opponents to fight this time around.
Prince Vegeta entered the ring from one side, Prince Coola from the other. Their fathers watched from their high seats, and the crowd cheered and booed loudly. King Vegeta's exquisite mantle of seashells, coral, and pearls, covered his chest almost completely, draping in a triangular shape down to his tail. In addition to the lines of shells from wrist to elbow, he had three more lines on both upper-arms, and he had twice as many shells on the seaweed string wrapped around his deep blue tail. All the Princes were to fight empty-handed, as was the rule; this was to be a submission match and not a match to the death. They faced towards each other, bowed, and then the announcer, a large green lobster named Piccolo, swam forward and the crowd silenced.
"Merladies and Mergentlemen, welcome one and all to the annual Exhibition!" he called out in his gruff voice. The audience cheered loudly. "This year, there shall be three battles! The first bout shall be between the Crown Prince of Vegetasei, Vegeta..." Piccolo waved to Vegeta, who raised his arms and was cheered loudly by his people and booed by the visitors from Kold's realm. "...and the Crown Prince of the Kold Kingdom, Coola!" he motioned to the snowy-white, red-eyed merman on the other side, and his people cheered him as Vegeta's people booed in turn. "The match will end when one warrior is pinned for more than ten seconds, is knocked unconscious, or leaves the ring. Hand-to-hand only. Is this understood?" he asked the contenders, who nodded. "Are you both ready to do battle?"
"Yes!" they both answered, smirking and grinning in anticipation.
"Then...BEGIN!" Piccolo announced loudly, and the two lunged at each other. There was a flurry of punches and blocks until Vegeta slashed into Coola's chest with his tail. The blow sent him falling backwards with a deep cut across his chest. Vegeta dove forward again like a shark after prey, and swung a right cross at his opponent, only to have his arm caught and twisted behind him. He snapped his head backward, smashing the back of his skull into Coola's forehead. It hurt like hell, but it slowed Coola down. Piccolo, who helped train the princes, had to bite his tongue to keep from shouting out advice. Vegeta struck at Coola once more with his tail, and Coola hit the dirt. Vegeta started to smirk, seeing victory within his grasp, until Coola unexpectedly sprang up and was at his throat. Coola pushed Vegeta into the ground, pinning him there. Piccolo started counting through gritted teeth.
"1-2-3-4-5-" Vegeta writhed beneath Coola, who was already laughing with his victory. In a burst of anger, Vegeta threw his opponent off and in turn, pinned him down. Piccolo started counting a little quicker, but Coola was up again before he could finish. The battle raged on for several minutes, until finally Vegeta managed to hurl Coola into the stands. He landed in the crowd amongst some Vegetasei supporters, who laughed at him mockingly in his loss to their hometown favorite. Vegeta left the arena, triumphant.

"And now, Prince Raditz vs. Captain Ginyu!"

Unfortunately, Raditz's match didn't go as well as Vegeta's had. Raditz was the tallest and broadest of all his brothers, but Ginyu wasn't small, either; and he was amazingly powerful. They fought valiantly for several minutes, but the match came to a crashing end when Ginyu grabbed a handful of Raditz's long black hair and used it to throw him into the ground. The pain in his head was excruciating, and before he could get back up, the much heavier Ginyu pinned him down in the mud. Raditz struggled furiously for several moments as Piccolo counted down. At ten, Ginyu released his vanquished opponent, and Raditz wobbly swam back to his side, covered in bruises and cuts and hanging his head in abject shame.
Finally, Frieza swam out from of the Kold's side to the center of the
arena.
"For the final battle of the Exhibition, we have Prince Frieza vs. Prince Goku!" Piccolo declared, and Frieza received a lusty cheer from his people. Goku, however, had yet to enter the arena. Everyone waited excitedly, but, after several long moments, began to wonder if something was wrong. "Goku, it's your turn!" Piccolo yelled toward the Vegetasei side. The other princes glanced around anxiously and realized their youngest brother was nowhere to be found.
"Well! It seems your youngest son got a case of cold fins and swam off!" King Kold laughed loudly.
"He must be part guppy!" Frieza agreed, also laughing. King Vegeta was seething.
"GOOOKUUUU!" King Vegeta bellowed through the waters.

Goku was actually a few short miles away from the palace at that moment. He had left prior to the start of the Exhibition to get in a little last-minute practice, as he was just a little bit nervous. In the midst of his practice, a very large, hungry, and stupid shark decided to attack him. Goku had fought the shark off as best he could, but it managed to graze his orange tail with its sharp teeth, and the smell of blood in the water had filled the fish with the overwhelming need to kill and eat. Worse, the smell brought at least fourteen other sharks down upon the merman as well. He tried to run at first (a feeding-frenzy was the last thing he needed to be in the middle of) but the hungry predators all chased after him. When it became clear that he wasn't going to escape, he faced them down, and eventually managed to fight them all off. Those who didn't wind up turning on each other ran away, except for the first one to attack him. He delivered several painful blows to the shark before it finally died. Realizing that he was ravenously hungry after all of that effort, Goku ate the shark himself. It was only then he realized that he'd been chased straight into an area called the "Ship Graveyard." He might have dismissed it outright, if only the soft sunlight filtering through the water hadn't made something in one of the ships sparkle, its shine catching the corner of his eye. Wondering what he and his brothers could've missed, he headed straight for the ship.
"Hey, Goku! What are you doing?" a high, squeaky, semi-female voice inquired, and Goku turned to see his friend Pu'ar, the catfish. The blue fish swam up to him casually.
"I'm checking something in that ship," Goku said as nonchalantly as he could. Pu'ar's eyes widened in alarm and she clapped her little fins on her scaly cheeks.
"Again?! Oh, no! You'll get in trouble!" Pu'ar objected.
"Aw, relax! Me and my brothers do this all the time. And I just want to see what's making that light," Goku said, motioning to the sparkle. They quickly reached the ship and Pu'ar fidgeted uncomfortably.
"But you know the law. You're not supposed to have contact with anything human!" she said fretfully, close to begging him to leave. Goku was concentrating on the ship - whatever was reflecting the light was just on the other side of a cracked window.
"That part of the law is ridiculous. Between ships sinking and things just falling overboard, the sea is full of human stuff. Where's the harm in looking at it?" Goku replied, and carefully removed more of the broken glass so he could slip inside.
"Goku! You're hurt!" Pu'ar gasped as he swam past her into the ship. Blood still seeped from the wound in his tail in small drops.
"Huh? Oh, yeah. I had a run-in with some sharks. I need to take care of that," he said, and Pu'ar took off. A few moments later, she returned with several pieces of seaweed in her mouth, and Goku used them to bandage his wound. "Thanks, Pu'ar," Goku nodded as he secured the bandage around his tail.
"You're welcome, Goku," Pu'ar said with an indulgent smile. Then Goku turned his attention back to the ship. Swimming a little to the side so as not to block the incoming light, he watched the sunlight bounce off a dagger clutched in the death grip of a waterlogged body. He pried the small weapon from the clenched fist and stared at it curiously. It looked similar to the fish-bone blades his people used, but he wasn't sure if it was for the same use.
"What is it?" Pu'ar asked quietly, slightly awed.
"I have no idea. But I'll bet Turtle will," Goku answered, a quick grin on his face. "I wonder if there's anything else interesting in here." He looked around and found a small jar, but nothing else that he hadn't seen several times. Carrying his newly discovered treasures carefully, he swam off toward the island where Turtle lived, with Pu'ar following close behind him.
"Goku, I don't think you should go and see Turtle - he spends almost all his time on that island," Pu'ar observed nervously.
"It'll be fine! The island is uninhabited!" Goku waved her off, and swam higher still.
Turtle, one of the largest sea turtles in the ocean, was sunning himself on the beach of his little island when Goku and Pu'ar emerged from the water. Turtle smiled at them and waved a flipper in welcome.
"Hey, there, Goku! What are you doing surface-side again? You're going to get in trouble," Turtle greeted him.
"I'll only be here a minute, Turtle, and no one knows I'm here except Pu'ar. I was hoping you could tell me what these are," Goku said as he raised the jar and dagger out of the water and placed them in front of Turtle.
"We found them in a sunken ship," Pu'ar added, figuring she might as well join in the conversation.
"Human things again, huh? Aren't you afraid of being caught with this stuff?" Turtle asked as he looked at what Goku had brought him.
"I'm careful," Goku answered, starting to get a little annoyed. "So, what are they?"
"Well, this is a jar," said Turtle, pointing with one flipper to the dark purple jar. "Humans use them to store things. This one is pretty small; I don't know what it might've held. And this," he motioned to the dagger, "is a man-made weapon called a dagger. Humans use them in battles." Suddenly, Goku's entire face blanched with terror.
"Battles?! The Exhibition! I forgot about the Exhibition!!" Goku cried in alarm.
"That's right!! Today's the day for it!" Pu'ar squeaked.
"Between the sharks and the ship. . .! I'm sorry, Turtle, but I've got to go!" Goku quickly gathered up the human things and dove back into the water with Pu'ar a little ahead of him. "I can't believe I forgot! I've been looking forward to the Exhibition all year! I even left the palace early to practice for it! How could it have slipped my mind like that?! Now I'll be lucky if I live to see the next one!" Goku grumbled angrily to himself as they rapidly swam back to the palace. He was so worried about the punishment he was about to receive from his father that he failed to notice he was being watched by two pinkish eels; and what the eels saw through their beady eyes was shown to their master.
"Yes, that's right, Prince-y. Hurry on home; you don't want to miss Daddy's barbaric little show, do you?" grumbled the master of the eels, the Sea Wizard Babidi. He watched Goku's frantic progress with a large bubble that was filled with the image of the youngest sea prince swimming home. "Such nonsense. We had fantastic competitions in magic when I lived in the palace. But I've been exiled by the king, so I suppose my opinions don't matter anymore," Babidi scowled, then smiled evilly. "Even so...Dabura, Buu, I want you both to keep a close eye on him. This willful young merman may just help me bring an end to the reign of King Vegeta."

Pu'ar floated around the corner as King Vegeta chewed out his youngest son. He'd been yelling for several minutes, and Goku was barely holding up under his father's heated reprimand. His brothers had wisely chosen to stay out of the way, but Piccolo was helping the king scold the prince.
"What were you thinking?! You've made all of Vegetasei lose face before those pompous Kold fools! They think you ran away in fear, and that's what they'll be telling everyone!" King Vegeta bellowed at Goku.
"I'm sorry, Father! I didn't mean to be late! I - " Goku started to explain.
"Then what did you mean, huh?" Piccolo snapped. "You've shamed all of us by not appearing! You should have heard them laughing at us!"
"I just left the palace early to practice a little, and..." Goku tried again.
"And what?! You lost track of time?! Didn't you hear the fighting?!" King Vegeta barked. "Do you have any idea how much honor I lost today because of you?!"
"It wasn't all his fault!" Pu'ar shouted as she whipped around the corner, unable to take it any longer. The King and Piccolo glared at the catfish with death in their eyes. "He-he was ambushed by a whole bunch of sharks! You can see the wound on his tail y-yourself!" Pu'ar quavered a little under their combined glares, but didn't back down. King Vegeta and Piccolo looked at the seaweed wrapped around Goku's tail. He quickly undid it to show the teeth marks on his tail. "A-and when he got away from them, this big turtle showed up, and it was 'this is that and that is this' and..."

"Big turtle?" King Vegeta cut her off, and Pu'ar's eyes bugged as she shrank back away from him. "Not that turtle that lives on the island?"
"N-no, of course not. . ." Goku stammered.
"You went to the surface again?!" King Vegeta roared again. Goku cringed in response.
"Nothing happened! Turtle lives alone and the island is in the middle of nowhere!" Goku pleaded.
"Goku, how many times must I say this?! No one is to go to the surface unless there's a damn good reason for it! If I can't make one of my own sons obey the law, how can I expect anyone else to?! And what if a ship had been passing by?! You think I want my youngest son caught by those creatures, those. . .those. . .humans?! Don't you understand the danger at all?!" King Vegeta's furious voice practically made the palace shake. "You will obey my laws, and I'm never to hear of you going to the surface again! Do you understand?!" Goku straightened up as much as he could and nodded.
"Yes, Father, I do," he said stiffly, and then swam away from the throne room as fast as he could. Pu'ar followed right behind him. King Vegeta sat down heavily on his giant shell throne and rested his head in one hand.
"That boy!" he sighed.
"Unbelievable. What was he thinking?" Piccolo grumbled under his breath, still mad.
"Why does he have to defy me like this?" King Vegeta said quietly. "I only want what's best for all of them."
"Of course, Your Majesty. But Goku is eighteen; it's a rebellious age," Piccolo comforted the king. "If he was my son, I'd keep him under tight control. No more of this going to the surface nonsense," he advised. King Vegeta perked up.
"Yes, you're absolutely right, Piccolo - someone needs to watch him closely; to make sure he keeps in line," King Vegeta nodded.
"That's what I'd do," Piccolo agreed.
"Good, because that is exactly what you're going to do!" King Vegeta declared. Piccolo's eyes widened and his antennae drooped a little.
"Your Majesty. . .?"
"You are going to follow Goku and make sure that he behaves!" said the king. "Now, get moving!" Piccolo opened his mouth to argue; then snapped it shut and left.

"Grrr, this is unbelievable! I should be teaching combat moves and monitoring spars, not babysitting a disobedient prince!" Piccolo growled to himself as he searched for Goku. He was very unhappy with this situation; it wasn't his kind of thing at all. Besides, he wasn't sure where the youngest prince went after leaving the throne room. As luck would have it, however, he spotted the boy floating outside one of the palace windows. Piccolo watched as Pu'ar handed him something, and they both swam off, away from the palace. Piccolo frowned deeply. "What is he doing now? He must have more brains than to go and break another rule now," he muttered to himself, and followed them.
The two led him well away from the palace and the city around it, and off into a wild area. Piccolo watched from a distance as Goku came up to a rock wall and shoved aside a large boulder leaning on it, revealing a cave mouth. The prince and Pu'ar swam in, and the boulder began moving back into place. Piccolo swam for it, but the boulder closed on the tip of his tail. He barely kept the scream of pain in, though it felt like it might burst out his eyeballs if he didn't let it out of his mouth. With a few hard tugs he pulled himself free and found, to his great relief, that his tail wasn't as badly hurt as it felt. He went a little deeper into the cave quietly cursing Goku and then froze with shock. He was inside a very large cavern, with a hole in the ceiling to let in sunlight on the upper part of the cavern. The sunlight was slanted, indicating that the sun was setting. It was very dark where Piccolo was standing on the floor of the cavern, but he could still see clearly. The jagged walls of the cavern were being used as shelves, and were full of collected human objects. Goku was near the top of the cavern, placing the jar and dagger in places where the light could catch them and make them glint. His shoulders were sagging and his eyes were full of sadness and disappointment. Placed in the sunniest spot of the cavern was the painting, which Goku had found those weeks before.
"Are you okay, Goku? I'm sorry about mentioning Turtle," Pu'ar said gently, not wanting her friend to be angry with her.
"It's all right, Pu'ar. I just don't understand why Father has to be like that. Look at all these things the humans make. Can they really be all that bad?" Goku sighed deeply and turned to gaze once more at the painting. He had all but memorized it since he'd found it; she was so beautiful, and looked almost alive. He was sure this image was based on a real person, though he had no idea who. Then he sighed again and turned back to Pu'ar as he began to drift back down toward the cavern's floor. "I wish he'd try to understand."
"He has his reasons, you know," Pu'ar pointed out.
"I know he does," Goku nodded as he rested against a raised bit of stone on the cavern floor, watching the faint glint of sunlight far above. "But the sea is filled with human things; why forbid us to look at them and see what they are?" Pu'ar had no ready answer for that, so she just hemmed and hawed a bit before falling silent. Goku watched the far-off light quietly for a few moments, and then began to hum very softly to raise his spirits. He never told anyone, but he often sang to cheer himself up, and Pu'ar often told him he had one of the best voices under the sea. The hum rose into a vocalization, which filled the cavern and rang off its walls. Piccolo was stunned; he hadn't known Goku could sing. The soft, wordless tune continued for a while, and finally Piccolo decided it was time to have a word with the prince. He walked right up to him as he finished a particularly long and sweet note.
"Ahem," the green lobster cleared his throat, and Goku and Pu'ar jumped.
"Piccolo! What are you doing here?!" Goku asked in a near-panic.
"I followed you. Care to explain this place?" Piccolo answered gruffly, motioning to the cavern walls.
"This. . .this is. . .my collection," Goku admitted.
"Your 'collection'," Piccolo echoed, scowling. "If your father knew you were collecting human things. . .!"
"You won't tell him, will you?!" Pu'ar moved in close to the lobster.
"He'll kill me! You can't tell him anything, Piccolo! I order you as your Prince!" Goku said quickly.
"And he ordered me as my King to keep you in line," Piccolo answered. "However, I might be willing to over look this blatant infraction, if you seal this place up and never come back."
"But-!" Goku started to object, but the conversation came to an abrupt halt as something blocked out the sunlight. "What is that?" Goku said, looking at the dark shape through the hole in the ceiling. Without thinking twice, he swam up to investigate. Pu'ar hesitated for a moment, and then went after him.
"Hey, come back here!" Piccolo barked, and swam after both of them.
A few moments later, Goku broke the surface of the water to watch a large schooner floating by. The sun was sinking slowly into the west as clouds built in the sky, and the lively sound of music was drifting over the waters from the ship.
"Goku, get back beneath those waves this instant! Your father told you - !" Piccolo popped up in front of him, then turned to see what he was staring at. The human ship bobbed close by, and Piccolo gasped. "Dive down now! Hurry, before they see us!" Goku ignored him and carefully swam closer. Piccolo grabbed his tail with his claws and tried to drag him back, but the merman just gave his tail a flip and sent the lobster flying backwards across the way. Pu'ar stayed where she was, too afraid to get any closer.
Goku pulled himself up the side of the ship to look on the deck. There was a party going on, and some sailors were dancing while others played instruments. Goku was watching the proceedings with great interest, when he saw two women in the center of the dancing sailors. Both were very beautiful, but only one held his attention. He could scarcely believe it; it was the woman from the painting! She was smiling brightly, and dancing gracefully on her long legs as her shining black hair bounced and flew around her shoulders. She was wearing a dark blue dress with a tight top, a wide collar and full sleeves, and a loose skirt that she held up with one hand to keep from tripping on it as she spun about. Her skin was flushed from the dancing, and Goku felt that he had never seen anything so lovely. Her pretty companion, who had hair as blue as early morning skies and eyes the color of the deep sea, was dancing close by, and then stopped and clapped her hands for attention. A white Persian cat sat nearby, twitching its tail happily.
"All right, everyone!" the blue haired woman called out, and the music and dancing stopped. "We all know today is our dear Princess Chi- Chi's 18th birthday, and we're here to celebrate..." she began, and the sailors raised a cheer. "...And as soon as the sky is dark enough, we will have a fireworks display!" The sailors not previously aware of this, as well as the dark-haired princess, let out another cheer.
"Lady Bulma, this has been a wonderful birthday!" Chi-Chi said, smiling.
"I'm glad you're enjoying yourself, Princess. Most princesses would've wanted their party in a ballroom with lots of nobles," Bulma smiled mischievously at her Princess.
"I prefer the open air and the sea to a ballroom full of pretentious nobles," Chi-Chi answered. "Especially stuffy nobles who would spend the entire evening introducing me to their sons and trying to tell me how wonderful they are; such prime marrying material!"
"No kidding," Bulma chuckled. "Most of them still haven't forgiven you for not marrying that prince from the Shuga Kingdom."
"I will decide when I will marry and with whom I see fit," Chi- Chi gave a firm nod of her head. Goku was also nodding in agreement, though no one saw him. He continued to watch the party, and most of all Princess Chi-Chi, for a long time, and when the sky darkened completely and the fireworks began, he watched the bright explosions of color in absolute wonder, hardly noticing that they were lighting up a sky laden with dark clouds. Listening to the conversations, he had learned lots of little things about Chi-Chi, including where her kingdom was, and that the painting he had found was a birthday present for her that was sent across the sea to have a special frame put on it, and was lost in a storm during its return. The white cat walked up to him at one point, sniffing at him curiously, but was called back with "Korin! Here kitty!" before he could be noticed. Goku felt like he could sit there and listen to her voice and look at her beautiful face forever. It was very late and the party was just starting to finally break up when a crack of thunder tore through the night.
The steady wind that had been building since the sun had set began to get even stronger, and the ship started tilting as lightning flashed and raindrops began to fall. The sailors started pulling in the sails and trying to direct the ship home, when the rain began pouring and the wind howling. The sailors cried out in shock at the sudden violence of the storm, and Princess Chi-Chi and Lady Bulma strove to keep their feet planted on the pitching deck. Goku clung to the side of the ship desperately, only to be thrown off at last as a huge wave struck the ship. He was sent beneath the waves but swam back up again; Piccolo was diving for safety, thinking Goku was behind him. A bolt of lightning suddenly leapt down from the sky and struck the crate holding the fireworks. A second later, they exploded, setting the ship ablaze. The humans began scrambling for the lifeboats, when a rigging pulley, let lose by the fire, fell down and struck Princess Chi-Chi across her head. It was only a glancing blow, but it was enough to send her into the water, unconscious. The sailors and Bulma yelled for her, but couldn't get to her. Goku gasped and swam after her, remembering how his older brothers had told him humans couldn't breathe underwater. Chi-Chi was sinking deeper into the ocean, dragged down by the sodden weight of her dark blue dress. Goku grasped her about her waist and chest and pulled her back to the surface. He swam away from the sinking ship, carefully holding Chi-Chi's head above the water.
Eventually, he managed to bring her to a beach. He pulled them both up past the shallow breakers and laid her out carefully onto the drier sand. She was soaked and shivering in the cool air, and Goku didn't know what to do. Because his skin was naturally cool from living in the water, he could offer her little warmth. She shivered more and coughed; instinctively curling up in her unconscious state to preserve what little body warmth she had left.
"Hey, Goku, what are you doing here?" a familiar voice said, and Goku turned to see Turtle waddling up the beach to them. "What are you doing with a human girl?" Goku told him everything, finishing with his concern about her movements. When asked why he was here instead of his island, Turtle explained that he'd been having a nice swim when the storm came up, and was carried here by the strong current.
"She's cold, right? That's why she's shaking like that?" Goku asked urgently, and Turtle nodded.
"Rub her skin with your hands to make some warmth. The sun has already risen, and that will help warm her up nicely," Turtle instructed, and Goku glanced at the sky. He hadn't realized he'd been swimming through the storm all night. It did explain why he felt so tired, though. He did like Turtle said, rubbing her arms and legs to coax a little warmth as the sun climbed higher and the air grew warmer, all the while speaking to her comfortingly. Goku stopped rubbing as the air and sand starting getting hot, and tenderly brushed her wet hair out of her face with his fingertips. She had stopped shivering and her breathing became deep and normal. He quietly admired her face, his mind filled with her voice and all he had seen her do on the ship before it sank. She began to stir a little as Goku continued to gaze adoringly at her, and the tide brought Piccolo and Pu'ar to the shore.
"She's so beautiful," he sighed. "Chi-Chi," he let the word roll through his mouth, savoring the sound of it. Piccolo was relieved to find the Prince unharmed, but was then hit with a level of shock and horror he had never before experienced as he saw the young Prince gently tending to the human girl on the beach. Goku began singing softly to soothe her as her eyes began to bat open. She could see a handsome face above her, haloed by the bright sunlight, which made it a little hard to see clearly, and heard a sweet, male tenor singing above her as a soft-but-strong hand caressed her cheek. Suddenly, Chi-Chi's white cat, Korin, came running up to her.
"Princess Chi-Chi!!" Bulma's worried voice was heard echoing from somewhere up the beach. Goku abruptly jerked away and dove back into the water as Chi-Chi struggled to sit up. Korin meowed at his mistress happily. "Chi-Chi, I can't believe it! You're alive! And to think you'd wash up right below your own palace! Thank Kami!" Bulma said as she knelt at her friend's side and tried to help her up. Korin meowed questioningly as a familiar scent hit his nostrils and looked out at the water.
"B-Bulma?" Chi-Chi said, looking at her. Then she looked dazedly around at the otherwise empty beach. "Where is he?" she asked.
"He? He who?" Bulma blinked in surprise as she assisted an unsteady Chi-Chi onto her feet.
"The man who saved me...he was leaning over me a moment go, he said something...and then he sang! He had a wonderful voice! Where is he?" Chi- Chi asked, and tried to step away from Bulma - only to nearly fall over again. Bulma caught her before she could go all the way down.
"We need to look at your head, because it must've been hit pretty hard. The only thing on this beach I saw besides you was a giant sea turtle heading back into the waves," Bulma answered gently as she led her away, Korin trailing just behind them. "Not to mention swallowing all that sea water is very bad for you." Goku watched in silence from behind a large rock in the water as they went, his heart pounding; but not from fear.
"All right, we're never speaking of this again, understood? No one needs to know about this; it never happened, got it?" Piccolo said firmly to Goku, who wasn't paying a bit of attention to him. He watched Princess Chi-Chi as Bulma guided her up the beach and onto the grass beyond, straining his ears to hear what they were talking about, even though they were already well out of his earshot. He swore to himself in secret as he headed back into the water that he would come back to this place as often as he could to try and catch a glimpse of her.

"Oh, you must be kidding! This is much too good! How much easier could he have made it for me?! The boy is in love with a human girl! And a princess, at that!" Babidi cackled loudly as he watched the images in his bubble. "His father will blow his top! Yes, indeed...King Vegeta's youngest son will be most valuable to me!" the evil sea wizard grinned to himself as he continued to laugh.

In the weeks that followed, Goku carefully planned out the best times for him to 'disappear' for a while to catch sight of Princess Chi-Chi. He knew he had to be very discreet about his trips, or he would draw attention to his whereabouts, and get into the worst trouble of his life. He also had to plan out more and more ways to ditch Piccolo, who was bound and determined to keep his charge beneath the sea at all times. He managed to throw Piccolo off his guard for a bit by making it appear as if he'd sealed up his treasure grotto, but a few days later the lobster realized that the top of the grotto, which was big enough for Goku to swim through, was still wide open. Pu'ar, being far too nervous to go with him to the surface beneath the palace, did her best to keep everyone from asking where he went when he made his trips.
Even with all of the obstacles posed by his brothers, father, and would-be guard, he found many opportunities to swim to Chi-Chi's castle and watch for her from behind his rock. He had discovered, much to his joy, that Princess Chi-Chi and Lady Bulma went for a walk on the beach nearly every day at the same time to talk privately. He did everything in his power to be there at that particular time of day, and he learned much about the Princess by listening to their talks. One day, shortly after he figured out their daily routine, he was observing them when he saw Chi-Chi suddenly stop and pick something up out of the sand. It was a small seashell, pale red in color, and nothing overly special in his eyes, but Princess Chi-Chi was clearly delighted with her find, and carefully pocketed it. He continued to watch in surprise as she searched all around for more shells, taking the ones she liked best. He saw her do this on several occasions during her walks with Bulma, and couldn't help but smile and laugh.
"She collects objects from the sea the same way I collect things from the land!" Goku said to himself as he watched her take her shoes off to wade into the surf to retrieve a particularly shiny white-pink shell.
"You know, Bulma," Chi-Chi suddenly spoke, and Goku instantly fell silent. "It's too bad the prettiest shells never wash up on shore. I've seen some truly beautiful ones in the deeper parts of the sea while sailing. They were on rocks under the water, of course, but none of them ever get washed up on the beach."
"I know what you mean," Bulma nodded. She didn't collect seashells the way Chi-Chi did, but she did appreciate their natural beauty, and she had seen some nice ones way out at sea as well. Goku listened intently, and his mind seized upon a wonderfully inspired idea of pleasing Chi-Chi.
The next day, he arrived quite early at the beach outside Chi-Chi's palace, and pulled himself up onto the sand just above the normal tide line. In one arm, he held five seashells, some of the best he could find in the sea. They were all well shaped, brightly colored, good sized, and empty, and he arranged the five in a careful circle on the sand where he knew Chi-Chi would find them. He had thought of just strewing them randomly on the beach beyond the reach of the tide, but he wanted her to realize they were placed there as a gift, and not by random chance. Besides, the high tide could easily wash them out to sea again if they were placed within its reach. As soon as he had the shells placed just right, he pushed himself back down the beach and into the water. He had sand stuck under some of his scales, but it was well worth the effort when Chi- Chi and Bulma arrived and Chi-Chi discovered her present. Her face lit up in surprise at the sight of the encircled shells, and a moment later she was searching the beach in all directions.
"What are you looking for, Princess?" Bulma asked.
"Footprints," Chi-Chi answered. "Someone put these here for me to find, I know it! This spot is well above the highest point the tide reaches, and they were in a perfect circle. Someone put them here...maybe it was the man who saved me!" Her breathing was quickened with excitement by this find; it just had to be the man who saved her! She still didn't understand why he had run away before he could be thanked, but she wanted very badly to find him. At night, she still heard his wonderful voice in her head, singing so sweetly for her.
"Princess. . ." Bulma said slowly, for she was still very skeptical that there had actually been a man, but Chi-Chi was quite certain there had been, and was determined to find him. Goku watched them both from behind his rock, elated at Chi-Chi's reaction to his gift, and wishing all the more that he could call out to her and let her know he was there.
After that, he made it a point to find some exceptionally pretty seashells to take to the beach and leave for her to find, each time leaving them in the exact same spot in the exact same pattern. Bulma's doubts about someone leaving the shells on purpose were driven away very quickly, and Chi-Chi became all the more certain her mysterious savior was behind it. They started arriving at the beach earlier in hopes of catching him in the act, but never succeeded. If they arrived too early, Goku couldn't leave any seashells behind, and all concerned had to go through the rest of the day disappointed. Then things got more complicated.
Goku had slipped off to go to Chi-Chi's palace again, some truly nice seashells in his hands, when his oldest brother spotted him. Vegeta watched with curiosity as Goku swam off in a direction that, to Vegeta's knowledge, held nothing of great interest, and then decided to tail his brother. He quickly summoned the rest of their brothers, and they came upon Goku before he got too far. Goku was so focused on his trip that he didn't notice he was being followed.
"Where do you think he's going?" Raditz asked quietly as they swam a short distance behind their youngest brother.
"Got me; there's nothing much around here. And why is he going so high?" Krillin answered.
"Now that I think about it, he's been disappearing a lot lately, hasn't he?" Tien observed.
"Yes, he has," Yamcha nodded.
"He leaves and returns, and never gives a clear answer as to where he went," Vegeta agreed. "Maybe now we'll know." Pu'ar suddenly popped up right in front of Vegeta's face, bringing him to an abrupt halt. The others paused in turn and looked at the catfish in annoyance.
"Where are all of you going?" Pu'ar asked innocently.
"After Goku," Vegeta answered, and tried to move around her. She quickly maneuvered back in front of him.
"Why? He's just going exploring," she said, trying to throw them off their mission.
"Then he won't mind company," Yamcha said, and they all started moving again. Pu'ar again zipped in front of them, blocking their progress.
"He wants to prove he can do things on his own!" she said quickly.
"That's ridiculous! He doesn't have to prove anything! Least of all in as empty an area as this!" Tien said.
"You're hiding something," Vegeta observed. "Where's he really going?" Pu'ar struggled to find a ready answer, but couldn't come up with anything. Vegeta snorted and moved past her, as did the others. They caught up with Goku a few moments later. He was already swimming rather high, and continued to climb higher still, and they started getting uneasy. It was one thing to look around in sunken human ships, but going up to the surface was another matter entirely. They watched as the ground rose ever higher as well, indicating a shoreline. Goku rose higher and higher, until they realized he intended to break the surface, and was going to do so near land. For his brothers, that was the final straw, and they picked up the pace to overtake him. A second later, however, and he was half out of the water; another second later, and he pulled himself completely out of the water. The other six Sea Princes froze, unable to comprehend what they'd just seen. After a few moments' time, Goku returned to the water, only to immediately pull himself up to his customary post on the rock. His brothers bolted for it, intent on tearing him down from there and dragging him back home, where it was safe. They hesitated a moment right below the surface, then popped through. Goku was sitting on his rock, his entire focus on the beach, unaware of his brothers' presence right behind him. Vegeta moved first; he climbed up behind Goku and grabbed his shoulder, making his youngest brother startle.
"GAH!" The cry flew out from Goku's mouth before he could stop it, and he whipped his head around to see Vegeta. His eyes bugged out and he felt his heart stop. "V-Vegeta! What are you doing here?" he stuttered nervously.
"I was going to ask you that! We followed you here!" Vegeta growled lowly. "What in Kami's name are you thinking being this close to the shore?"
"We?!" Goku repeated, and looked down past the end of his tail to see the rest of his brothers gathered at the base of the rock. "Oh, Kami. . .you can't tell Father about this!"
"Answer my question! Why are you here?!" Vegeta demanded again, and Goku began to sweat.
"I. . .I. . ." he swallowed. Vegeta scowled and grabbed his arm to pull him back down into the water.
"We're going home, Goku! You can explain on the way!" Vegeta said in his most commanding voice, and normally Goku would've obeyed if he didn't know Chi-Chi would be there at any moment. He grasped the rock tightly with his free hand as Vegeta tugged his other arm harder. "Come down from there!" his older brother hissed, and then saw movement on the beach. He flattened himself against the rock, pressing himself closer to Goku. The other five mermen immediately ducked back underwater. "We have to get out of here before we're seen! Father will filet us as it is!" Vegeta whispered urgently.
"In a minute!" Goku answered, his eyes trained on the beach as Princess Chi-Chi and Lady Bulma came strolling arm-in-arm down the sandy shore. Vegeta, wondering what was causing his brother to behave so oddly, followed his line of sight - and found himself looking at a human woman with hair as blue as the sky and eyes the color of the deepest sea.
"You're watching human women?" he asked, his voice revealing his surprise.
"Please don't tell Father," Goku begged again. "I just can't help it...she's so beautiful; and smart, and kind, and strong...I've been listening to their conversations. We think a lot alike, too. . ."
"Their conversations. . .?" Vegeta repeated, not yet noticing Princess Chi-Chi. He finally tore his eyes from the blue-haired beauty long enough to acknowledge that she wasn't alone. Chi-Chi then found the newest seashells Goku had left for her, and smiled as she gathered them up.
"Where can he be finding these shells?" Chi-Chi asked the air.
"I really don't know," Bulma admitted. "Frankly, I'd just like to know who he is and why he won't show himself." Vegeta blinked, then turned to look at Goku.
"You left those there," he said. He felt the tiniest pang of relief that Goku's interest was in the black-haired one and not the blue-haired one, but he didn't show it.
"Yeah," Goku nodded, a blush crossing his face as he returned his gaze to Chi-Chi. Vegeta stared at him long and hard for several moments, trying to comprehend what was going on in his brother's mind. The realization hit him like a tidal wave.
"You're in love with her?!" Vegeta snapped, a little louder than he'd intended.
"Did you hear something?" Bulma turned her head toward the rock, momentarily catching glimpses of the tip of Vegeta's blue tail and the tip of his upswept black hair, which stood straight up even when he was out of the water. The moment was all-to-fleeting and she couldn't be certain that she'd seen anything at all.
"I thought I did..." Chi-Chi also looked around, but didn't see a thing. The mermen flattened themselves against the back of the rock, pressed close enough together to keep anything of themselves from showing around the rock. They gave each other death-glares and very quietly growled threats, but didn't dare move. "Is someone there?" Chi-Chi called out. After several long moments with no response coming forth from anywhere, Chi-Chi sighed with disappointment. "Maybe it was the cry from some kind of seabird," she said, and the two friends moved on. Once they were well down the beach, Goku and Vegeta dove back into the ocean. Their brothers were a short way beneath them and they all swam away from the beach.
"Way to go! You almost got us caught!" Goku half-yelled at him as they swam home.
"We wouldn't have been in a position to be caught if you hadn't gone there in the first place!" Vegeta barked in return.
"I didn't ask you to come with me! I've never been almost-caught before. . ." Goku started defensively, and then backed off, realizing he'd said too much.
"What?! How many times have you been here?!" Raditz demanded.
"I. . ." Goku swallowed, then stopped and hung in the water. "A lot," he admitted.
"Then. . .you really are in love with that human, aren't you?" Vegeta asked slowly.
"He's what?!" the others jumped. Goku looked at them all levelly, refusing to be ashamed of his feelings.
"So what if I am?" he answered angrily, swimming ahead of them. They quickly caught up to him again.
"Brother, do you realize how insane this sounds? You can't possibly be. . ." Raditz began.
"I know it's hopeless! I don't care! I can't change how I feel!" Goku cut him off.
"Goku, you have to try! Nothing good can come from being in love with a human!" Krillin said, worried.
"Not to mention the law! If Father were to find out that not only were you going to the surface, but were actually enamored with a human. . .there's no telling what he'd do!" Juuna argued.
"Which is why none of you ought to tell him!" Goku said. "If only so I can keep my tail from being chewed off!"
"Please, listen to reason, Goku! We only want you to be safe!" Tien added. But no matter how his brothers entreated him, Goku would not be swayed from his path. He continued his daily visits, now made more difficult by the necessity of evading his brothers' increased scrutiny as well as Piccolo; although occasionally, Vegeta would accompany him to gaze at Bulma. As he watched the object of his affection, Goku often envisioned Chi-Chi as a beautiful mermaid, her tail long and red (it had taken him some time to decide on the color that best suited her), with her dark hair loose and swirling in the waves. In his mind, he pictured the two of them swimming hand-in-hand with all of their children happily circling around them. Though every time Chi-Chi lifted her skirt for whatever reason, that lovingly made dream-bubble would burst apart as he saw her human legs. It was further shattered one day when Chi-Chi came walking down the beach, not in the company of her friend Bulma, but with a young human man. As they spoke casually, it became apparent to the merman that this person was a suitor, and Goku felt his stomach drop like lead into his tail. She was polite to her companion, but it was obvious there was no interest on her side. For the next two weeks, Goku saw her there with three different men; each one doing all they could to impress her, only to find her politely distant. When Bulma finally rejoined her on her daily strolls, Goku almost felt weak with relief. Unfortunately, on that same day, Piccolo managed to find him again and kept trying to get him back in the water.
"Princess, you know that you must soon chose a husband from the presented suitors," Bulma said, and Goku felt his heart clench. "Since you are the only child of the King, it is required of you to be married in order to ascend to the throne."
"I'm in no hurry to rule," Chi-Chi answered shortly. "Or to marry, for that matter. I'm sure that they're all nice boys, but I am also quite sure that they really don't care about me; they only care about my throne and the prestige that comes with it. Oh, Bulma, I want. . .I want a man who loves me for me, and doesn't care that I'm a Princess!"
"Yeah, right, like that'll happen," Bulma replied. Chi-Chi sighed, and hung her head. "Look, I'm sure you can find someone who will love you, all of you, but he will have to face the fact that you're a Princess. Besides, you have to marry someone of royal, or at least noble, blood."
"I know that! I'm not asking for a peasant! I just don't want the fact that I'm a Princess and next in line for the throne to be the main reason he wants to marry me!" Chi-Chi snapped in annoyance.
"There's no need to be angry with me!" Bulma snapped in return, and the two women flew into a brief-but-loud argument. Goku sat behind his rock, half-chuckling to himself.
"That's quite a temper she has...I'll have to be careful not to incite it too often," he said to himself. He no longer bothered denying it to himself; he knew he wanted Chi-Chi for his wife, not because she was a Princess, but simply because he loved her with all his heart and soul. He also knew now that she could never become a mermaid and live with him beneath the sea, not if she was the only child of their King. Her people needed her to rule their land kingdom. His happy picture of them swimming side by side, surrounded by their little ones, faded for a brief moment, and radically changed as it came back. "I've gone about this the wrong way," Goku said loud enough for Piccolo to hear. "I shouldn't be wishing she had a tail!"
"Well, I'm glad to hear you coming back to your senses! Now, let's go back to the palace and forget this insanity ever happened!" Piccolo said, slightly relieved at the seeming change in the Prince's attitude. Goku gave him a half smile and then looked at his own fish tail, his orange scales sparkling in the sunlight, the ring of seashells around the top of his fin glinting wetly.
"I shouldn't be wishing she had a tail," he repeated as he slid off the rock and back into the water. "I wish that I had legs!" His revised mental picture had him with human legs, walking beside Chi-Chi on the beach with their children walking and running around them. Horrified, Piccolo froze where he stood on the rock.
"Why don't you throw me into a boiling pot while you're at it?! It'd be more merciful than what your father will do to me if he hears you say that!!" Piccolo yelled after Goku as he dove back into the surf.

"Oh, yes," Babidi grinned widely as he heard the Prince speak aloud his heart's desire. "Our little fish is now ready to be reeled in."

Goku's strange behavior hadn't gone unnoticed by his father, the Sea King. He'd become aware of his youngest son going off on his own for a short while every day, and the far-off look he wore most of the time after he returned. He was growing suspicious as to the cause, and was becoming increasingly vexed by Goku's secretiveness.
"Something is going on with that youngest son of mine," King Vegeta said to the head of the guards, Nappa, who was a big, bald merman with a thin mustache and a black tail.
"He has been acting odd," Nappa agreed. "Why, if I didn't know better, I'd think..." he trailed off.
"Think what?" King Vegeta pressed, half-hoping to hear his own suspicions verified by another.
"That he was in love," Nappa finished. King Vegeta nodded.
"I've been thinking the same thing," he said.
"It's quite possible..." Nappa rubbed his chin.
"If he is, it could be a blessing," King Vegeta began to smile. "That boy would have to settle down a little, and he'd surely want to stay by her, under the water." He still suspected his son longed to go to the surface, but he had faith that Piccolo would keep him where he rightly belonged.
"Don't you have that lobster keeping an eye on him?" Nappa asked lightly.
"Yes, I do. I think I'll have a little talk with him," King Vegeta answered.

Piccolo paced about nervously on the ocean floor while Goku performed a kata above him. Goku wasn't thinking about the moves, but then again, he didn't really need to. He was thinking of Princess Chi-Chi, as was Piccolo, although Goku's thoughts were far happier than the lobster's.
"Okay, we're doing pretty good so far; King Vegeta doesn't know a thing. But you have to stop disappearing in the middle of the day before he gets suspicious," Piccolo warned.
"I can't help it if that's when Chi-Chi and Bulma take their walks," Goku answered curtly. "If only I could get her attention safely. . .maybe if Pu'ar splashed around. . ."
"Will you forget this insanity?! Pull your head back down here in the deep where it's supposed to be! You are a Prince of the Sea! You have responsibilities...!"
"I'm the youngest of seven Sea Princes, Piccolo! I'm never getting the throne, so why even think about it?" Goku retorted shortly. Piccolo began to bristle.
"Why think about. . .?! Just because you may not rule this kingdom doesn't mean you can't rule another! King Vegeta has been working on arranging marriages for all of you that will work to the best advantage of our kingdom as a whole! You need to work on your lessons to prepare yourself for this eventuality! I'm sure it won't be long before he chooses a suitable Sea Princess for you; a nice, lovely mermaid that will make you happy and keep you down here..." Piccolo was in full lecture mode, pacing back and forth, and not really looking at his charge. Goku left about a third of the way into Piccolo's speech, the moment he noticed Pu'ar signaling him over. They swam off together as Piccolo continued talking, and were out of sight by the time he looked back to where Goku had been. "...best under the sea! Do you understand, Goku? Goku?" Piccolo looked around in surprise and then groaned. "That boy!" he gritted his teeth and suppressed a scream of rage. That boy was going to be the death of him!
"Piccolo? Piccolo! Ah, there you are!" a voice cut through the waves and Piccolo looked up to see the King's messenger, Mr. Popo, swimming up to him. Piccolo looked at him warily.
"Yes, can I help you?" Piccolo asked carefully.
"I have an important message for you from King Vegeta," Mr. Popo smiled benignly, but Piccolo was starting to sweat. "He wants to see you right away; to talk about his son, Goku." Piccolo swallowed and nodded, and Mr. Popo swam off, his errand done. Piccolo felt one eye twitch.
"About Goku? Why would he want to talk about Goku, unless...he knows?!" Piccolo wasn't sure what to think. As far as he knew, the King didn't know or have any reason to suspect anything; but then again, he could easily be very wrong. Piccolo slowly swam back to the palace, trying to think of excuses for himself and Goku, but none of them sounded plausible enough.

King Vegeta sat on his giant seashell throne happily wondering with who his youngest son might be in love. He figured she couldn't be a princess, since Goku hadn't traveled beyond their kingdom since he was small. They'd had no recent guests except for the Kolds, and they'd brought no females with them. Since Goku was the youngest, King Vegeta had already decided to let him marry the girl even if she was a commoner if he truly wished too; it would be no great loss in the long run. If his boy was happy and behaving himself, he'd have no qualms about his choice for a bride. Piccolo walked into the throne room slowly, holding himself up high. He'd finally decided to act as though nothing was wrong. Hopefully, this meeting was just to check up on Goku's behavior of late.
"You summoned me, Your Majesty?" Piccolo said calmly, as though nothing could possibly be wrong.
"Yes, Piccolo. Come here," King Vegeta waved him closer, and he came up to the foot of the throne. "I've been noticing lately that Goku is acting a little oddly."
"Oddly?" Piccolo echoed.
"Yes. Absent-minded, disappearing from time to time, going around like he was in a dream...you have noticed, haven't you?" King Vegeta arched an eyebrow, and Piccolo swallowed deeply.
"Well, yes, but..."
"Piccolo," King Vegeta grinned, "who is she?"
"She?" Piccolo felt a shiver go down his back.

"She," King Vegeta repeated. "The woman Goku is in love with."

"I-I-I-" Piccolo stuttered out. He wasn't normally the nervous sort, but with impending death staring him in the face, he couldn't help it. Finally, he got the wild idea that coming completely clean might save him. "I tried to stop him again and again! I tried to keep him away from the surface! I tried to tell him nothing good could come from humans..."
"Humans?" King Vegeta cut him short, and Piccolo realized he'd made a horrific mistake. "What do humans have to do with this?!" he bellowed, and Piccolo began retreating quickly on his hind legs.
"Humans? I didn't say anything about..." Piccolo squawked, but King Vegeta grabbed him just under his head and cut off his denial.

"So what's the problem, Pu'ar?" Goku asked as Pu'ar led him into his treasure grotto by the top.
"It's just awful, Goku! I realized it when I came in here a little bit ago," Pu'ar squeaked, and then pointed. "Look! The ocean water is ruining it!" Goku stared in horror at his most valuable treasure, the painting of Chi-Chi, the colors on which were fading and running.
"Oh, no! We have to do something!" Goku said quickly.
"But what?" Pu'ar answered.
"I don't know! Maybe I can find someplace on the surface for it...Turtle's island! I can take it there, and he'll keep it safe for me," Goku said as he started to pull the painting down from its niche. A large shadow fell over the two of them and Goku jumped back at the sight of his father entering the grotto, his eyes blazing furiously. As he looked around at the small cave, his anger visibly increased. Piccolo was behind him, looking guilty.
"Father!" Goku gasped. "I. . ."
"I'm not completely unreasonable," King Vegeta cut in. "I set rules for everyone, and those rules were to be obeyed."
"Father. . ."
"Did you or did you not save a human from drowning?" King Vegeta demanded, his voice the low rumble of an approaching typhoon.
"I had to! She was going to die-!" Goku was determined to argue the point.
"So what?! There would have been one less human in the world causing trouble for us ocean-dwellers!" King Vegeta snapped.
"She's not like that!" Goku snapped back.
"And how would you know?" King Vegeta growled.
"I just do," Goku answered lowly. "I love her."
"You've gone insane!" King Vegeta exploded, as his golden Trident, which he always had with him, began to glow brightly and hum with power. "Goku, you're going to understand, and if it must be like this, then so be it!" Goku felt a bolt of panic as King Vegeta swung the Trident around the grotto, bolts of power leaping from the tips of its prongs and destroying his entire collection. The noise level in the enclosed space was so great that Goku's fervent protests couldn't be heard. Pu'ar hid to avoid being hit. With several swift, brutal attacks, King Vegeta had laid the entire grotto to waste, with only one item left intact - the painting of Princess Chi-Chi. He aimed the Trident at it carefully.
"Father, NO!" Goku cried as a last bolt of power burst from the Trident and struck the painting, making it explode and burn for a few seconds. The tiny remnants of the once beautiful painting floated sadly through the water.
"I want you back at the palace, now," King Vegeta said, breathing deeply. Hurting, Goku sucked in a quavering breath, and then frantically swam out of the grotto at top speed, in the opposite direction from the palace. "Goku!" King Vegeta shouted after him, but didn't follow. The boy needed time to calm down, he assured himself. He'd be back soon.

Goku swam until he found a rocky outcropping, where he sat down and tried to still his pounding heart. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw his wonderful collection exploding into a million pieces, and Chi-Chi's beautiful portrait blown to bits. He couldn't believe his father had done it. And the way he spoke about her! Insulting her, and...and he didn't even know anything about her! Goku's head was a whirlpool of anger, hurt, and pain. He didn't notice Pu'ar and Piccolo some ways behind him, trying desperately to catch up.
"You poor, misunderstood soul," a voice said at his shoulder, and he jerked at the sound. He stared at the two strange eels that had slithered up to him. Both were pink; one was a darker shade than the other, and the second, lighter one was rather fat with a strange little smile. The thin, darker eel had black scales around its mouth, and two bony bumps on the top of its head.
"You have big problem, yes?" the fat eel asked.
"Who are you?" Goku asked suspiciously, floating away from them.
"Representatives of someone who can help you," the thinner eel answered smoothly.
"Someone who grant your wish!" the fat eel laughed gleefully.
"You could be with your princess," the thin eel purred.
"Forever and ever," the fat eel added.
"How...?" Goku asked slowly.
"Our master, Babidi, is very powerful," the thin eel said, advancing closer, and Goku pulled back further.
"The Sea Wizard?!" Goku said. "No way! I'm not going to him!"
"Well, if that's how you feel," the thin eel answered as he swam off.
"Was only idea," the fat eel said sadly as the two flicked something back to him. Goku easily caught the object, and saw it was a piece of the destroyed painting...Chi-Chi's eyes. Goku stared at it for a few moments, feeling a lump form in his throat at the sight.
"Wait!" he called after the eels, who turned as one and smiled back at him.
"Yeesss?" they said together. Piccolo and Pu'ar reached Goku just in time to see him go with the eels.
"Goku, what are you doing? Where are you going?" Piccolo shouted.
"It's none of your business," Goku answered coldly.
"But Goku-!" Pu'ar objected.
"I'm going to Babidi!" Goku told her over his shoulder, and swam a little faster.
"Babidi?!" Piccolo and Pu'ar cried in alarm, and tore through the water after them.
"Babidi is a monster! He was banished for all of the evil things he did! You can't go to him!" Piccolo yelled after Goku, but Goku ignored him and simply pressed on. He knew all of the stories, but if Babidi really could help him be with Chi-Chi, then he was willing to at least hear him out. He and the eels were much faster swimmers than Piccolo and Pu'ar, and they soon left the two of them a far distance behind.
The eels led him into a distant part of the sea, deep, cold, and dark, where Babidi made his home in the giant skeleton of an ancient sea beast. The gaps in the large bones where filled with seaweed, coral, and smaller bones.
"Through here," the eels said in unison, motioning to the mouth of the sea beast's skeleton. They swam through first, Goku hesitating a moment behind them before he swam in as well. The entrance of the structure was dark, but Goku became aware of movement beneath him. He paused for a moment to look down and something grabbed his wrist. He let out a cry of disgust as he realized the floor of the entrance was covered in ugly, slimy plants with mournful faces that were making heart-wrenching moaning sounds. He broke his arm free and swam past the horrible garden, wondering what those things were. He paused a moment at the end of the entrance, facing the heart of Babidi's home. Buu and Dabura had swam ahead and had ducked into a corner of the cave. A hollow, ballish-thing, filled with boiling liquid and placed over a volcanic rift, sat to one side of the room, and various rock formations were being used as furniture.
"Welcome," a softly rasping voice suddenly said, and Goku wheeled around to see Babidi emerge from a large shell near the ceiling. He was yellow-brown with red and blue markings here and there on his skin, big, green, bulging eyes, small strands of black hair poking out of his head, and eight tentacles originating from his waist. He was also very small in stature, only about a fourth of Goku's size. "Well, come in. Lurking in doorways isn't very polite, you know," the Sea Wizard said with a grin. Goku hesitatingly swam the rest of the way in, new doubts gnawing at him. "Now, you're here because you want to be with this human woman, Princess Chi-Chi, isn't that right?"
"How did you know that?" Goku asked suspiciously.
"I know many things," Babidi answered breezily. "Well, as I see it, the solution to your little problem is really quite simple: the only way to have her is to become a human yourself."
"Is that possible? Could you really...?" Goku asked slowly, stunned by Babidi's casual attitude toward the whole thing.
"Of course I can! My powers are formidable, you know. It would be simple for me to do," Babidi was still grinning. "I've been helping many merpeople since my forced exile, to make up for all the evil things I did. I know now they were very wrong, and I'm truly sorry I did them. Helping poor, unfortunate souls like yourself, is my penance," he explained, making his voice softly soothing and contrite as he swam closer to Goku. Goku gave the Sea Wizard a small nod of understanding, though he still harbored doubts. "I've been solving all sorts of problems; though, I'm sorry to say, not everyone could properly pay me for my rendered services afterwards. I'm sure that you'd agree; that's no way to handle a deal, so. . .I had to take my payment in another way," Babidi's eyes drifted for a moment to the horrid, writhing garden, then snapped back to Goku. "But that's very uncommon. What matters right now is how I can help you." His look at the garden didn't go unnoticed; Goku couldn't help himself as he turned to it for a few moments while Babidi spoke, chilled with the idea that those strange, unhappy plants used to be merpeople.
"So, how can you help me?" Goku said as he forced his gaze back to the small Sea Wizard.
"I can cast a spell that will make you a human for three weeks," Babidi said, waving a hand over his boiling cauldron, causing several small suns to spin by. Goku frowned; that wasn't a very long time. "Now, here's the important part - before the sun sets on the last day of those three weeks, you have to get the pretty little Princess to fall in love with you and kiss you. But not with just any old kiss, my boy. . . the kiss of True Love! If the kiss is given before that final sunset, then you will be a human forever!" An outlined image of Goku running on two muscular legs appeared out of the cauldron. "But, if she doesn't. . ." The image's legs were swallowed in light and transformed into a fishtail. "You'll turn back into a merman, and will then belong to me." The image was sucked back into the cauldron. By this time, Piccolo and Pu'ar had arrived, and heard the Sea Wizard's offered deal. Piccolo started to move forward and object, only to be grabbed by Dabura, the skinnier eel. The fat eel, Buu, effectively silenced Pu'ar vocal protests with a quick wrap of his chubby pink tail around her mouth. "So, what do you think?" Babidi went on, ignoring his pets and their struggling captives. Goku's eyes were downcast as he thought it over.
"If I were to become human...I could never go home and see my father or brothers again," he observed sadly.
"Well, yes, that's true. . .but you'd also have your true love. . .life's just full of hard choices, isn't it?" Babidi said coolly. "Also, I feel it only fair to warn you - the transformation will be extremely painful. After all, a large portion of your body will be completely changed."
"I can handle a little pain," Goku said assuredly.
"Yes, I'm sure you can," Babidi quickly agreed. "Oh, yes! One more thing - we haven't discussed what you'll pay me in exchange for my spell!"
"I didn't bring anything. . ." A yellow-brown tentacle on his mouth stopped him in mid-sentence. Goku ripped the tentacle off his face with a disgusted grimace.
"I wouldn't be asking for much! Just a little something you probably won't even miss once you're out of the sea!" Babidi said with a faux- friendly smile. Goku blinked and reached up to finger his royal necklace. "Oh, no, not that! I have no use for such a trinket! What I want from you is. . .your voice!"
"Say what?" Goku said, utterly bewildered.
"So to speak. In exchange for casting this spell on you, I want your voice. I can think of many uses for such a nice, melodious voice," Babidi said. Goku frowned again. This whole thing stank of a trap. "You don't have to, of course! It's entirely up to you! You can do this trade and have your princess. . ." He waved his hand to his cauldron again and an image of Chi-Chi appeared, smiling and laughing. "Or just leave now, and live the rest of your life down here while she finds a suitable human man to marry." The image changed to Chi-Chi walking on the beach with one of her suitors. Goku sucked in a pained breath.
"But without my voice, how can I win her heart?" he asked.
"You're handsome, polite, charming...and there's always the age-old communication of body language!" Babidi slickly answered, his grin deepening as he saw the young prince's resolve starting to erode.
"No talking at all?" Goku pressed.
"None. No talking, no singing, even if you sneeze, no sound will come out," Babidi nodded. Babidi then conjured a glowing contract. "Do we have a deal?" Goku thought about it for several long moments. He still felt a little like this was some kind of trap, but when he turned his head, he found himself looking at the image of Chi-Chi and one of her human suitors again. His voice for a pair of human legs...he drew in a slow breath and took the fish-bone pen he was offered. He wrote his name on the contract before he could think twice about it, and Babidi let out a triumphant laugh. "It's a done deal!" he crowed, and then began throwing ingredients into his cauldron. Piccolo pinched Dabura with his claws tightly enough to make him let go and tried to reach the Prince, but Dabura tackled him again. Once the potion was complete, Babidi began chanting in a language Goku didn't recognize, and the water around him began to violently swirl like a whirlpool. As Babidi's spell reached its climax, two ghostly hands materialized from the cauldron and moved toward Goku. "Sing!" Babidi ordered, and Goku sang, raising his voice in a simple vocalization. One of the hands grabbed his chest and the other went down his throat, and then emerged a second later with a glowing ball, from which came Goku's voice, still singing the wordless tune. The hands pulled the voice into a small, scalloped shell Babidi held up. Babidi cackled gleefully and cast the remainder of the spell, which sent another tight, glowing whirlpool around Goku. Goku tried to cry out at the pain, but no sound came out of his mouth. His fish tail was first torn in two and then reshaped into legs and feet. His chest burned as his respiratory system was re-made to breathe air instead of water, and a searing pain shot through him as the rest of the changes also happened. Then it was over, leaving a dull ache through his whole body, and a sudden, panicky need for air - he was going to drown! He didn't know how to swim with legs and he couldn't push up! Dabura and Buu finally released Pu'ar and Piccolo, who quickly grabbed Goku and swam for the surface for all they were worth with him in tow. Babidi's evil laughter trailed after them.
"Hm, maybe I should have waited until he was nearer to the surface before casting that part of the spell. Oh, well!" Babidi grinned to himself.
"Master, why take voice?" Buu asked curiously as they watched the prince and his friends leave.
"Yes, wouldn't his strength be more useful to us?" Dabura added.
"Oh, we'll have his strength soon enough," Babidi said. "I'm no fool. The one thing Princess Chi-Chi remembers clearly about her savior is him singing over her. So. . ."
"If he can't speak. . ." Dabura continued, starting to grin himself.
"He no can be her savior!" Buu finished, and they all chuckled malevolently.

To be continued. . . Having fun yet? Check out the conclusion in part 2: On the Land.