Part I, Chapter 1

Life Before Fairy Tail

Every good fairy tale should begin with Once Upon A Time…

Kingdom of Fiore, Earthland, the year X765

Once upon a time there was a man named Son Gohan. He was a brave and courageous man, a powerful mage and much renowned in the kingdom of Fiore. On the bright and sunny day that our story starts, Son Gohan was taking a morning walk through the countryside in the far northeast of Fiore where he had made his home. He was old now, his face creased and lined and his extremely bushy mustache and eyebrows white. His hair, if he had any, was covered under the green cap he wore on his head.

In his youth, Gohan had adventured across the length and breadth of the kingdom he called home but now he found that actually quite liked the solitude in his declining years. There was one thing that he did wish though, he thought as he pulled out a small object from the rucksack he carried on his back. It was a small orange crystal sphere, no more than three inches in width with four ruby red stars within it that seemed to gleam of their own accord.

I wonder if the legends are true? Can this small orb really be such a thing? I suppose if I was younger I could chase them down. Then I could wish for…

Gohan's thoughts were interrupted by a strange noise that grew louder and louder. Looking up into the sky his dark eyes quickly found the source. A bright object was streaking across the sky, leaving a trail of fire in its wake.

A shooting star! No! A meteorite! It's getting closer!

Gohan set his feet and began to summon up his magic to protect himself but the meteor soared overhead and struck the earth a few hundred feet away with a thunderous BOOM!

Gohan, intrigued by the meteorite, decided to go investigate.

After blasting his way through a line of trees to get to the crater, Gohan was astonished by what he saw. A perfectly round white… thing sat in the crater made by its violent descent. It was about six feet in diameter and was barely smoking despite the impact. Gohan edged his way around the crater and started a bit when he saw that one side of the sphere had a small bubble window. Not able to contain his desire to understand what the strange meteor was, Gohan carefully climbed into he crater and peered inside the porthole. To his astonishment he saw that there was a baby inside! The interior of the sphere was dim but Gohan could see that there was a chair large enough for an adult inside but instead there was a baby boy, naked as the day he'd been born, encased in a glass capsule with two large tubes attached to it.

Just as Gohan was beginning to think that he should figure a way to get the child out of there, the sphere emitted a loud hissing sound and a spoon-shaped hatch, which the porthole had been situated near the top of, glided open with a hydraulic hum. Gohan was amazed; he hadn't even seen a seam for the hatch, yet there it was. Before he could do anything else, the tubes that the baby's capsule was attached to seemed to take on a life of its own and lifted the capsule from the seat and out of the sphere. The capsule popped open, again without sign of a visible seam and the baby tumbled out of it and on to the top of the hatch, which now rested on the still smoking ground. The sudden movement must have startled the boy awake for he looked around him with wide, dark eyes, drank in Gohan for a moment or two and then began to cry… loudly. Very loudly. Gohan might have immediately moved to comfort the child but he had been startled by the fact that the baby had a brown furry tail wiggling around behind him! Shaking himself out of his stupor, Gohan reached down and picked up the child, trying to both calm him and get a better look at the tail. This just caused the baby to thrash around, trying to escape Gohan's grasp.

"You're certainly an active little fellow, aren't you?" Gohan grunted as the child kicked and thrashed. Suddenly the baby managed to wiggle out Gohan's grip and began to fall. Gohan, horrified that the baby would hurt himself, quickly snatched at only available limb, the child's tail. Instantly the boy's cries ceased, replaced by a slight gurgling.

Well at least the tail seems to be real. I wonder where you came from, my little friend?

Gohan gently gathered the boy back into his hands and held him up so could get a better look at him. Another thing that seemed to be different about him was that although he appeared to only be a few weeks old, he already had a large shaggy mane of jet-black hair.

Gohan bounced the baby gently a few more times, causing him to start giggling.

"You like that huh? Well my little friend, I don't know what you are or where you came from, but I can't very well leave you out here, can I? You'll come with me back to my house."

Gohan peered inside the sphere one more time to see if there was anything inside he might need for the child. Seeing that there was nothing except some controls that he didn't know the meaning of, he stepped back and carefully carried the child out of the crater.

As Gohan carried the strange baby back to his house, he thought of how strange it was how fate worked.

I had just been thinking that I had never taken time to start a family and here this child almost literally falls out of the sky. Hmmm, I can't just keep calling him 'child' or 'little one,' can I?

"Well if we're going to be a family, I'll need to give you a name. I don't know if you already got one but I'll have to call you something. Hmm, what should I call you? How about Gohan Junior?"

The baby stared back at him blankly.

"Not a fan of that, eh? Ah well… hmm… how about… Goku, after my father?"

Perhaps the child merely liked the way Gohan's deep voice said the word, but he laughed brightly at the name.

"Like that one eh? Alright," said Gohan as he lifted the baby high again, much to the baby's delight, "From now on you shall be known as Son Goku!"

Three years later…

Little Son Goku thrust his cupped hands forward. There was a flash of bright golden light and a little smoke ring puffed out from Goku's outstretched hands. The boy blinked a few times then turned to Gohan who was watching him, seated in the lotus position on top of a large rock next to their house.

"Aw man, I still couldn't do the Kamehamhame, grandpa!"

Gohan chuckled; ever since he'd learned to speak and read, Goku had taken to calling him grandpa. He supposed that was technically accurate; Gohan certainly looked the part.

"Well it doesn't help that you aren't even saying the name right, Goku. It's Kamehameha. It's a complicated spell; don't expect to get it right on your first few tries. For now follow my movements."

Gohan began to go through the motions of the spell. As he did, he thought, what I'm not going to tell him is that he's learned more about how to focus his magic in a month than I did in a year! Simply incredible! Of course I don't want the boy to get a swelled head or something.

"Now repeat after me! Ka… me… ha… me…"

A month later, Gohan learned a terrible secret about Goku when he saw the boy staring into the sky at the full moon. To Gohan's horror, Goku transformed into a 60 foot tall ape-like monster that proceeded to go on a terrible rampage. Only when the moon finally set did Goku transform back. The boy had fallen unconscious so when he woke up the next morning he didn't remember a thing. Gohan took him outside to see the damage the monster had caused to the house and several giant footprints.

"Goku there are terrible monsters that come out during the full moon. You can even summon them forth by gazing at the full moon for too long. So you must promise me that on full moon nights you will stay inside and not ever look at the moon. Do you understand?"

"I promise, grandpa," replied Goku, cheerfully.

Unfortunately, Goku would be unable to keep his promise.

Time passes to the year X775…

Goku woke up with a start. He sat up and looked about himself, confused. He was lying out in a field, completely naked but he couldn't remember how he'd gotten there. As he go tried to get his bearings he saw some of the giant footprints that looked just like the ones from three years ago.

Oh no! The monsters must have come back! I hope grandpa is all right!

Sadly, when Goku returned to his house, he found it partly demolished. And there, inside one of the giant footprints were the mangled remains of Son Gohan. Goku stared down at the body of his grandpa, feeling pinpricks of tears in the corners of his eyes.

"Grandpa?" he called out plaintively. When there was no response, the ten-year-old sank to his knees, tears now freely falling down his cheeks.

"GRANDPAAAAAAAA!"

Makarov Dreyar was feeling somewhat annoyed. Why did Son Gohan have to retire to such a remote and forsaken corner of Fiore? It always made it a tremendous hassle to get out to see the man. As fate would have it, this visit was to be well timed. Makarov heard Goku's scream of anguish and hurried up to the house. The old master was almost as saddened to learn of Gohan's death as Goku was. Goku was initially suspicious of Makarov as he was the first person Goku had seen other than his grandpa for his entire life. They quickly found a common bond in grief and Goku was immensely grateful for helping to bury Gohan.

As they stood together in front of the makeshift grave they had made, the sun setting before them, Makarov used his magic to carve these words into the chunk of rock they had set as the headstone:

HERE LIES

-SON GOHAN-

MAGE

HERO

GRANDFATHER

He will be dearly missed by all who knew and loved him.

"Mister Makarov, why'd you write that grandpa was a hero?" asked Goku as he wiped at his eyes with the sleeve of his orange gi, an outfit that Gohan had made for him.

"He was a hero, many years ago. He traveled across Fiore using his magic to help people. I went on several missions with him and tried to get him to join my guild but the stubborn fool was set on his independence. Never wanted to be tied down. I guess he must have mellowed out of that in his old age, if he had grandchildren. By the way, where are your parents, young Goku?"

Goku cast his eyes down at the ground, old sadness welling up inside him.

"I never knew my parents. I always figured they either left me out in the woods because they didn't want me or the ape monsters got them too, just like grandpa."

"In that case, why don't you come with me to my guild? It wouldn't be good for a boy of your age to stay out here all alone. In a guild you can learn more about magic than you ever thought possible, helped along by friends who will see you through thick and thin. What do you say?" said Makarov, smiling kindly at Goku. Goku looked back at his house and then to Makarov. It was a tough call; on the one hand, this place was all he'd ever known, he'd never ranged more than a few miles from his and Gohan's house in all his life. On the other hand he had been feeling very restless of late, wanting to go out and see the incredible things his grandpa had only told stories about. He looked to Gohan's grave and stood there, staring silently at it for several moments. Then he sniffed, rubbed his sore yes one last time and turned to Makarov.

"Ok, let's go!"

Makarov nodded in turn. They collected a few items from the remains of the house, including a trunk that was sealed with magic that had been underneath Gohan's bed. Makarov figured from the feel of the magic that it was intended for Goku, perhaps when he was older? And with that, they were off, Goku turning to cast one last look back at his childhood home. And then they were gone.

A week later, Makarov and Goku arrived in the city of Magnolia. Goku had been absolutely fascinated by the place; never having imagined such a city could exist. Makarov had chuckled and told him to wait until he'd seen Crocus, the kingdom of Fiore's capital city.

Now they stood in front of the Fairy Tail guildhall, with Goku staring up at the sign placed above the front doors.

"Why's it called Fairy Tail, mister Makarov?" he asked.

"Why indeed? What are fairies? Do they exist? Do they actually have tails? Like them, this place is an eternal mystery… a never-ending adventure! Are you prepared for that, young Son Goku?"

"Yeah!" cried Goku, enthusiastically. Makarov threw open the doors and beckoned Goku inside.

Even years afterward, Goku couldn't pin down his exact feelings upon entering Fairy Tail for the first time but one thing he did feel was that it felt strangely like his grandpa's house. Like he was, at last, home again. And it felt good.

Ok, welcome to my Dragon Ball and Fairy Tail crossover! Some notes to keep in mind at the start of the story, in no particular order

-Not all characters from either Fairy Tail or Dragon Ball will be appearing in this story as that's a rather large cast list. I can tell you that Chi-Chi will DEFINITELY not be in this story. I have not, will not and never will like her. And since this is a crossover, why not literally mix things up?
And as much as I hate to mention this next one, I'm afraid that there won't be any Krillin in this story either. Not because I don't like him but... well, you'll see soon enough.

-This of course opens up the question of who Goku will end up with so little Gohan gets into the picture. I've been considering several characters. Erza came to mind first, after all, if Goku is going to be the Monkey King, it'd be kinda poetic for his wife to be the Fairy Queen. But then again, I've also thought of Mirajane as well. Or maybe someone who isn't even in Fairy Tail like Kagura? Decisions, decisions...

-I am also going to attempt with this story to not resort to using large chunks of plots from Fairy Tail or Dragon Ball. It's a pet peeve I have with fanfiction, particularly Fairy Tail fanfiction. You'll be reading a story where the author has set up a good AU for instance and then "oh look, Natsu and Happy are in Hargeon and Lucy's there too, buying Plue's key and there's Bora and why am I reading this it's the same as the anime and then they're fighting Eisenwald and blah blah blah."
NOT everyone does this of course but it crops up enough as to be annoying

With all that out of the way, please enjoy!