Disclaimer: I do not own Dark Chronicle (Dark Cloud 2) or Dragon Ball.

Spoiler warning: This fanfic contains spoilers for those who haven't finished the Fortuneteller Baba saga in Dragon Ball or those who haven't completed Dark Chronicle up to the very last boss in Chapter 8. This will have a small crossover with Dark Cloud 1 in later chapters and has a small crossover with Dragon Ball Z in the beginning and in later chapters (it's nothing big—just little Son Gohan and adult Son Gokuu, and for Dark Cloud 1, it'll be Toan and his group).

Chapter One: Introducing Son Gokuu

Four-year-old Son Gohan sat upright in bed, looking expectantly at his father, Son Gokuu. Gokuu was scratching his chin, thinking. Chichi, Gohan's mother, had already gone to bed, and it was Gokuu's turn to tell him a bedtime story.

"And you've heard about the rabbits on the moon, right?" Gokuu said.

"Yeah," Gohan replied, nodding.

"Hmm…" Gokuu stopped scratching his chin and looked down.

A few seconds passed. He suddenly looked up, his face brighter than it normally was and his eyes twinkling, making Gohan jump.

"I know what to tell you as a bedtime story! It was a real fun adventure that happened a long time ago. It was really long—the perfect adventure and bedtime story! I remember it real well. It happened back when I still had my tail…"

Twelve-year-old Gokuu walked through the forest dragging a giant Nonky—a fish—behind him. Kamesennin had asked him to go on a journey alone without Kintoun, much to his dismay. He was to get as strong as he could and then return for the next Tenkaichi Budoukai that was being held in three years. He only brought his Nyoi-bo and four-star Dragonball with him. His Dragonball was the last thing that he had of his grandpa, Son Gohan, and he needed it more than ever since he had recently fought his grandpa and seen how strong he was. It also kept loneliness away.

When Gokuu had entered the forest a week ago, he had instantly felt right at home. It reminded him of his old home—where he had spent time with his grandpa before his grandpa died. The animals in this forest and in his home forest were different, but he was okay with that. He was able to make friends with most of them quickly. They had even sparred with each other. The animals here were great fighters. Gokuu would get stronger in no time.

"Ready, Max?"

"Yup."

Maximilian and his recently encountered ally, Monica Raybrandt, entered Rainbow Butterfly Wood. They were on a journey to restore the world and defeat Emperor Griffon, a beast that had somehow destroyed the world fifteen years ago; find the legendary Rainbow Butterfly along with Holly, a long-lost friend of the Firbit tribe; and find the four Firbits that had went into the forest to find Holly but never returned.

Max and Monica were set on edge as they began encountering monsters: Himarras, Skeleton Soldiers, Man-eating Plants. Max had a hard time handling the monsters, as they were almost invulnerable against wrenches and guns. Max, unable to finish off the monsters, often had to turn the fighting over to Monica and let her finish. Monica said nothing about his inexperience.

Max wasn't feeling very confident after a while, but he refused to back down and would continue to press on to find his mother. His mother, whom he didn't remember the face of. His mother, who was "doing important work far away." His mother, who he wanted to see so badly…

While Max and Monica were walking through the forest, both of them saw a young boy with a tail walk past them in the opposite direction dragging a fish twice the size of him.

"Mornin'," the boy said.

"Good morning," Max and Monica both said at the same time. They were used to being greeted like this—Max in Palm Brinks, Monica in her kingdom that was now laid to waste.

Max and Monica continued to walk until Monica stopped and said, "Wait, did you see that kid with a tail?"

"Tail?" Max stopped beside her. He looked back and saw the boy with a tail walking away from them. "Yeah, I see what you're talking about. C'mon, let's check it out."

Max ran towards the boy, Monica following close behind. The boy heard them coming, stopped, and turned around. Max and Monica stopped in front of the boy.

"Hey, I just saw you guys," the boy said. He had black hair that spiked out on both sides and wore orange clothes that belonged in a dojo or some kind of karate school. There was a Japanese character on the front of it, but Max and Monica couldn't recognize it. "Mornin'. I'm Son Gokuu."

"I'm Maximilian," Max said, surprised by the boy's friendliness.

"I'm Monica," Monica said. "Um, sorry for bringing this up so suddenly, but do you have a tail?"

"Yup," Gokuu said, dropping his fish and turning around so they could see. He waved his tail twice.

"Ew."

"What about it?"

"Nothing. Nothing in particular. Just curious." Then, she thought, What on earth…?

"Do you guys have tails?" Gokuu ran behind Max and checked to see if he had a tail. Then, he ran behind Monica and checked to see if she had a tail. On his way back around Monica, he caught a glimpse of a blue stone. He stopped and backtracked, looking at the blue stone on Monica's glove closer.

Max and Monica watched as Gokuu got a blank stare on his face. The color drained from his eyes, and he froze. He didn't even look like he was breathing anymore.

"Are you okay?" Max said.

Gokuu grew in size, becoming hairier and more beastly. His clothes ripped off his body as he grew. The Nonky he was carrying, two times bigger than Gokuu before his transformation, was small in comparison to the new, rapidly growing Gokuu.

"What's happening?" Monica said as Gokuu grew several feet in an instant. Soon, he didn't look like a boy; he looked like an ape.

Gokuu began to destroy everything. An approaching Skeleton Soldier was crushed by Gokuu's foot. Gokuu knocked over a nearby tree with a swipe of his right arm. He roared.

"So Gokuu's really a monster?!" Max said as he dodged the ape's swinging tail.

"It sure looks like it!" Monica saw Gokuu's foot about to crush her, so she backflipped out of way. "We're gonna have to fight him!"

Max and Monica tried to fight him, but they couldn't touch the ape. Gokuu was rampaging so much that they were dodging more than landing hits. When they did hit, their weapons seemed to have no effect, as Gokuu kept rampaging like nothing had happened.

"Maybe there's some way we can get him back to being a boy," Max said as he ran away with Monica. Gokuu hadn't noticed and was still destroying everything he saw.

Monica looked back at the violent beast. "I don't think so, Max. It looks pretty impossible to me."

Max looked at Gokuu and his swinging tail. His tail… he thought. His tail… "Monica, I have an idea, but I don't know for sure if it'll work."

"It's better than nothing!"

Max and Monica ducked at the same time when Gokuu threw the Nonky he had been carrying before. The Nonky flew over the both of them.

"Right, but only you can do it," Max said, he and Monica standing back up. "I don't think apes can be apes without their tails, so I need you to go back there and cut off his tail. If you do that, something might happen."

"Okay. I'll wait for a chance and then cut it off." Monica turned around and began running back towards Gokuu. Gokuu was too busy crushing a Himarra and Skeleton Soldier with one hand to notice her. Monica leapt at the tail and slashed at the tail with all her strength, but her sword bounced off of the tail and landed on top of a bush.

Realizing she'd have no chance to retrieve her sword while she was near Gokuu, Monica began running back to Max. The ape had seen her by now and swung its tail, catching her in the back. Monica flew back past Max.

"Monica!" Max yelled, running towards her.

Monica kept flying for a few feet more and then hit the ground. She rolled on the ground until skidding to a stop.

"Monica…!" Max bent down next to Monica. She had some bruises, but it was nothing serious. She was unconscious and her sword was gone.

Max stood up and watched the beast continue to destroy everything that moved. The ape was still crushing the now dead Himarra and Skeleton Soldier.

Max had never wielded a sword before, but now he had to. He had to try to cut off Gokuu's tail before Gokuu left Rainbow Butterfly Wood and targeted innocent people. He dropped his Battle Wrench and Classic Gun and then ran where Monica was before she had gotten hit. He looked around for her sword. He found it on a bush to the right of him. He ran over to the bush, took the sword, readied himself, and charged towards the tail.

Instead of hacking at it like Monica had done before, he used the sword like a knife and cut through it slowly, like one would cut meat. The ape dropped the Himarra and Skeleton Soldier and let them disintegrate. Gokuu, in pain, roared and swung his tail madly. Max managed to grab on to the tail and held on with his feet and left hand while cutting the tail off. Gokuu began slamming him into the ground repeatedly. The light dimmed as Max borderlined going into unconsciousness. He realized that if he was knocked out, however, he could be killed. It took all of his strength to hold on and simultaneously cut off the tail when he wasn't being slammed into the dirt. Soon, Gokuu's tail was cut completely off, and Max and the tail fell down.

Gokuu froze. He gradually changed back to his old self. When he was back to normal, he fell facefirst on the ground. His body began slowly rising up and down. Max went over to Gokuu, but stopped a few feet away. Gokuu was snoring.

He's sleeping, Max thought.

Monica ran over to the two boys. She carried Max's Battle Wrench and Classic Gun. She saw Max with her Long Sword in his right hand and said, "You cut off his tail, huh? You might make a good swordsman one day, Max."

Max scratched the back of his head. "Maybe."

"We should take him to the train. He probably didn't do that on purpose. I mean, did you see the look on his face when he saw my Atlamillia?"

"Atlamillia?"

"You don't know what the stone around your neck is?"

Max held up the red stone and looked at it. "No. My father gave it to me and didn't tell me what it was."

"I'll explain later. Right now…" She looked at the sleeping Gokuu, who now had a bubble coming out of his right nostril, expanding and contracting simultaneously with his body.

"Right." Max picked Gokuu up and slung him over his shoulder.

No monsters attacked Max or Monica on their way back to Sindain Station, most likely because they had all been scared off by Gokuu when he was an ape. When they got to the train, they went inside. Max laid Gokuu on a bench.

"Looks like he'll be out for a while," Max said.

"Yeah," Monica replied. "When he wakes up, we'll be able to see if he really is a monster. But I'm beat, Max. Let's lay down for a bit."

Max and Monica lay on separate benches and got some much needed rest.

Monica felt herself being shaken. She opened her eyes and saw a naked Gokuu, and then closed her eyes. She suddenly opened her eyes again and saw a naked Gokuu.

"Hey, don't come in front of me like that!" Monica said, covering her eyes. "Ew!"

"Huh?" Gokuu looked down. "Oh, so that's why I was so cold!"

"Don't just stand there, put some clothes on!"

"I don't think I brought any extra clothes."

"What's going on?" Max was now awake. He saw Gokuu and said, "Oh…"

Gokuu turned to him. "Do you have any extra clothes?"

"I might. Hold on." Max left the train car. A few minutes later, he returned with his red vest—the vest he used to wear when he was at home. "Here." He handed Gokuu the red vest.

Gokuu put the vest on. It sagged onto the ground.

"Thanks!" Gokuu said. "I don't think I'll be able to fight that well in it, though… I'd better try first!" He turned to leave.

"Wait!" Monica said, uncovering her eyes.

"Huh?" Gokuu turned back around.

"You don't remember what happened this morning?"

"I had just caught my fish, and then I saw you guys, and then I fell asleep. Yeah! Which reminds me, I'm hungry."

"You mean…you don't remember turning into a monster?"

"Monster? What?"

"You turned into an ape," Max explained. "We had to cut off your tail to get you to change you back."

Gokuu looked behind him at where his tail was supposed to be. Just as Max had said, it was gone. "No wonder I felt weird! Oh, and sorry `bout that. That happens when I look at a full moon while I have my tail." Gokuu looked at Monica's Atlamillia. "Hey, nice rock! Anyways, I'm gonna go and see if I can fight in these clothes and get something to eat. Bye!" Gokuu ran off, tripped and fell, then got back up and continued out the door.

"Talk about carefree," Monica said. "Let's catch up to him and ask him about the Rainbow Butterfly."

"Right." Max followed Monica towards Rainbow Butterfly Wood.

The Skeleton Soldier guarded. Gokuu kicked its sword, struggling with getting his foot out of the vest, making the kick weaker. The force of the kick made the Skeleton Soldier take a step back. Then, Gokuu punched the soldier, struggling with getting his arm out of the vest, making the punch weaker. Once again, the soldier took a step back.

"This isn't good," Gokuu said, looking at the vest. "I can't fight that well with this on. Maybe I oughta ask Kamesennin for another uniform." He looked at the Skeleton Soldier. "Thanks! You can go now."

The Skeleton Soldier ran off into the forest.

"Hey!"

Gokuu looked behind him. Max and Monica were running up to him.

"Hey, it's you guys again!" Gokuu said.

Max and Monica stopped in front of him. They panted for a few seconds.

"We have a question for you," Max said. "Have you ever seen the Rainbow Butterfly?" He stretched.

"Rainbow Butterfly?" Gokuu said. "I've seen lots of butterflies, but none of them were rainbow."

Max and Monica looked disappointed.

"What, you looking for it?"

Max nodded. "Yeah."

"Well, I'll help you!"

"Really?" Monica said, her disappointed look disappearing. "That's great!"

"I need to get my Dragonball first. Come on!" Gokuu ran ahead.

"Dragonball?" Monica ran after him along with Max.

"Yeah, it's my grandpa's. When all seven are gathered together, you can make a wish!"

"Can the wish be anything you want?" Max asked.

"Yeah!"

"Max, maybe we'll be able to take out Griffon if we wish for him to disappear," Monica said.

"Yeah!" Max replied.

"Griffon?" Gokuu said.

"He's an evil beast who's destroying this world," Monica said. "We don't know why he's doing it, but we have to stop him before the whole world is gone." She then went on to explain about the Firbits, their power to restore towns, and the missing members of their tribe. She finished with, "All seven of the Firbits have to be there in order for their power to work."

"So if we beat up Griffon," Gokuu began, "he'll stop destroying the world?"

"Uh, yeah, kinda…"

"That's easy!"

I hope he got the rest, Monica thought. "Do you know where the rest of the Dragonballs are?"

"Nope," Gokuu said, "but Buruma has a Dragonball radar. If we go to her place, she'll give it to us. We'll run there!"

"Run there? We can just take the train."

"What's a train?"

"Remember what you were in when you woke up?" Max said before Monica could comment.

"Yeah," Gokuu said.

"That was a train."

"But you guys don't know where Buruma's place is, right?"

"Now that you mention it…"

"You guys can take Kintoun, and I'll run there `cause Kamesennin said I can't take Kintoun."

"Kintoun?" Monica said.

"Yeah, you guys can ride it if you have a pure heart. It's really fast—I bet even faster than a train!"

"And who's Buruma and Kamesennin?"

"Buruma's my friend, and Kamesennin used to be my teacher." Gokuu slid to a stop. "There it is!"

Max and Monica stopped beside him. There was a Man-eating Plant next to an orange ball with four stars in the middle.

"Thanks for guarding it!" Gokuu said, going over to the Dragonball and picking it up. "'Kay, I'm ready."

When the Man-eating Plant saw Max and Monica, it prepared to spew poison goo at them. Then, it saw Gokuu and stopped.

"If you don't want to carry that around all day, I can fit it in my bag." Max patted the pouch fastened around his waist.

"Thanks!" Gokuu put his Dragonball in the pouch.

"We're all ready now, right?" Monica said.

"Hold on just a sec." Max checked his pouch. "Looks like we used all the bread during the last couple of battles. Let's go back to Palm Brinks and buy some more."

"Okay." Monica paused. "I'm surprised that monster didn't attack us."

"Gokuu, you've been here for a pretty long time, right?" Max said. "I mean, you're friends with all the monsters in this forest?"

"Yeah, I think."

"That explains it."

Max, Monica, and Gokuu went back to Sindain Station. Gokuu stopped in front of the train while Max and Monica boarded it.

"Can something this big really move that fast?" he said.

"It can," Max said, stopping in the doorway of the train and looking back. "It's amazing!"

Max, Monica, and Gokuu boarded the train. Gokuu looked out the window as the train started moving. Everything became a blur as the train reached its top speed.

"This isn't going as fast as Kintoun," Gokuu said, standing on the seat and looking behind at Max and, behind him, Monica.

"Is Kintoun really that fast?" Monica said.

"Yeah! Much faster than this!"

When they arrived in Palm Brinks, Max, Monica, and Gokuu left the station, went to Polly's Bakery, and bought twenty loaves of bread. While they were in the bakery, Max saw a note card with an idea for an invention on it.

A turtle, a cloth, and orange paint… he thought. Turtles are in the Underground Channel. He had already taken a picture of a cloth and orange paint and had them in his photo album.

They left the bakery while Max put all the bread in his pouch.

"Before we go back to Sindain," Max said, "can we go to the Underground Channel? I have to take a picture of a turtle. It's for an invention."

Monica and Gokuu agreed. They followed him to the Underground Channel. When they were inside the Underground Channel, they saw Donny sitting near his tent and looking at his coin collection. He hadn't noticed the trio coming in. Instead, he was talking to himself, saying, "I just need those two, and then it'll be done."

"Donny, it's me," Max said.

"Oh." Donny put his coin collection down. "Hey, all." He stood up and went over to them. "Max, who're your two new friends?"

Max introduced Monica and Gokuu. He knew he would have to do a lot more introductions later when all the residents of Palm Brinks were awake.

Donny stared at them for a few seconds. Then, he said, "Well, y'all be careful in the dungeons, alright?" He took his coin collection and went inside the tent.

Max, Monica, and Gokuu proceeded to the third floor of the Underground Channel. Fortunately, the first monster they encountered was a turtle. Max took a picture of it and then guarded when the turtle rolled into him. When it got dizzy and stopped, he, Monica, and Gokuu left the channel and went to Cedric's shop.

Max laid the pictures of a turtle, cloth, and orange paint onto the desk near the door. "If I put all this together, I get…" He thought for a minute. Then, his face lit up. "I get the same clothes you were wearing earlier, Gokuu!"

"Great, I'll be able to fight properly!" Gokuu said. "Where are they?"

"Your clothes? Just a sec..." Max checked his pouch to see how much Gilda he had. "Yeah, that should be enough. I'll be right back." Max left the shop.

"Where'd he go?" Gokuu asked.

"I don't know much about the invention process," Monica said, "but I think he went to go get materials to make it."

A few minutes later, Max returned with Gokuu's uniform folded in his arms. He handed the uniform to Gokuu, and then Gokuu changed.

"Ew…" Monica had covered her eyes when she saw Gokuu beginning to take the red vest off. She now had them uncovered. "Next time, don't change in front of us, please."

Gokuu didn't understand why he couldn't, but he nodded. "I feel better!" He punched and kicked an imaginary monster while Max put his red vest into his pouch. "I'll be able to fight better in this!"

Max, Monica, and Gokuu left the shop and took the train back to Sindain. They stopped in front of the entrance of Rainbow Butterfly Wood while, in the background, Borneo and Erik grunted loudly, working together to move the boulders that blocked the way out of Sindain.

"Are you two ready?" Monica asked.

"Yup," Max said, nodding.

Gokuu was looking back at Borneo and Erik. He yelled, "Do you guys need help?!"

Borneo and Erik stopped what they were doing and looked at Gokuu.

"Yeah, that would be a lot of help," Borneo said. "Thanks!"

Gokuu ran to the boulders. He stretched his legs. Then, he cracked his knuckles. Gokuu's right leg became a blur, but an instant later it was back to normal. The boulders remained intact.

Gokuu turned around and began walking back to a confused Max and Monica, saying, "There, done!"

"But the boulders are still-" Erik was cut off as all four boulders broke into miniscule pieces at the same time. He, along with Borneo, stared after Gokuu with their jaws hanging.

"Is he human?" Borneo said.

Cedric, who was at the opposite end of the train but had also seen this, was speechless.

Gokuu stared at Max and Monica. They stared at him, wide-eyed and with their mouths open.

"What?" he said.

"Amazing…" Max said.

"What?"

"You…you're that strong…" Monica said. "You're that strong…!" Monica's expression was replaced with a happy one, as was Max's. "With you, we might actually have a chance at beating Griffon! You're really fast, too—a perfect combination!"

"What'd you do back there?" Max asked.

"I kicked all four boulders." Gokuu lead the way into Rainbow Butterfly Wood. "I hope this Griffon guy's strong! I haven't had a good fight in a while!"