PROLOGUE

With Vegeta's reluctantly donated energy, Goku threw everyone's hopes into one last desperate punch at Broly. "This is your final hour!" It connected to his stomach, re-opening Broly's old stab wound and fatally wounding him... or so it would seem. Broly was far physically tougher than any opponent he had ever faced, and there had been times when the battle seemed won but Broly lived to fight again. So, out of caution(and rage) Goku struck Broly with a palm heel strike to between his eyebrows; a blow that would at least knock him unconscious.

Goku looked towards the sky. The comet was only a distant twinkle, but they had little time to escape before it hit and destroyed the planet. "Hold on just a little bit longer! We gotta get out of here!" Using Instantaneous Transmission, Goku teleports the Z-Fighters out of harm's way...

CHAPTER ONE

Weary beyond all belief, Broly crawled forwards. He had barely survived his journey here, wounded as he was. Though his rage was mighty, Broly could not seem to remember why- his memory had been damaged by Goku's palm strike. Inching forwards, the dirt changed to asphalt under his fingertips. With one last roar, Broly lost consciousness.

A young woman with long blue hair held back by a red ribbon was riding down the road on her motorcycle. The region top forty station was blaring in her earphones, and a glaringly overplayed song was starting again. Frustrated, she switched off the radio, and heard the echoes of a loud roar. She was in a hurry to get towards the next town: she had heard that her longtime crush, Tien Shinhan, had stopped there. But these mountains were known to be by and large uninhabited, and such a roar merited at least a quick look as she rode by.

She turned her head towards the side of the road, and saw a large man wearing only his pants. Screeching to a halt, she looked again. He did seem to be real- and really hurt. "Hello? Hello? Can you hear me?" Cautiously she shook his shoulder, but he didn't respond. He's alive, but I don't know how long he'll last out here in the wild... Launch was desperate to get to town, but she had a kind heart and pulled out her Capsule Phone. She hit the Emergency Speed Dial number. "...Yes, I'm out here on North-Central mountain road fifty-four, and there's a man on the side of the road here. ...I just called, I was riding by and I saw him. He has a wound on his stomach- yes he's still breathing, but he's not conscious. ...The ambulance is busy? ...No, I understand. Thank you."

Launch sighed. She had it on very reliable information that Tien would be in town, but she was not so cruel she would leave a wounded man out in the mountains in her haste to meet Tien. With an enormous effort, she carried Broly on her back towards her motorcycle, and took off towards the hospital.

Hours later, Launch was sitting by Broly's hospital bed. She had gone to the motel on the outskirts of town where Tien had been staying, but had just missed him. The owner swore she had missed him by only a handful of minutes- the time it would've taken to check Broly into the hospital. Having few other plans for the town besides meeting up with Tien, she'd gone back to the hospital to check on Broly. He hadn't regained consciousness, but the doctor said his condition was stabilizing and he was on track to make a remarkably fast recovery. As soon as next week, he'd said.

Launch sighed and was about to head back to her hotel room, when the impossible happened and Broly's eyes flickered open. "Wh- where am I? What is this place?"

"This is a hospital. I brought you here after I found you in the mountains."

"Mountains... I remember now." Broly looked down at the bandages on his stomach. "I.. I think I can't stay here. I have to leave and find someone. His name is... his name..."

She skeptically looked at Broly. The man clearly was not is his right mind; he must have gone mad from living out in the wilderness. But there's that stubbornness in his voice... almost like Son Goku used to be... Launch waved in a passing doctor. "He's awake now, he just came around."

"Incredible! That's very good news. Perhaps he'll be able to eat something, that should help him. I'll have a meal sent here." The doctor looked from Launch to Broly. "Pardon me if this is a bit forward, but will you be staying the night here? If you are we could get a more comfortable chair for you."

Launch was still depressed from having barely missed Tien. These days she dashed off to wherever she'd heard any signs of him appearing, making few, if any, plans beyond the trip. I already lost him once... what if he's gone before I can see him again? "...I might as well. I guess I could alert you if anything changes."

The doctor nods. "Yes. You know, we never did get his name. I suppose you could make one up for him while he's here."

From his bed, he stated, "My name... is Broly." He glared at the doctor. "I need to leave. I have to find him!"

The doctor shook his head. "You need to heal, Broly. You won't be able to leave for at least six days."

Broly fumed. "Six. Days?"

"I'm afraid so. You're healing well, but that stomach wound is quite serious."

Broly sighed with the fury of a thousand Saiyans. "Fine then! One. Night. I'm not staying in this dump any longer than that!" But as fate would have it, Broly would not be spending the night in the hospital. For as he finished his sentence, Launch sneezed.

Her evil blond personality taking over, Launch popped out a Capsule that contained a machine gun, opened it, and pointed the gun at the doctor. "You there! I'm taking this man hostage! Either you get me five hundred thousand zeni in an hour, or this man dies." The doctor nervously backed up against the wall, then scrambled out the door. Launch then turned to Broly. "And don't try anything funny. I will shoot you if you do."

This woman is a Super Saiyan? Heh, perhaps she was only using me as a pawn from the moment she claims to have found me. Impressive... "I don't play the victim for anyone, woman. So go ahead, shoot me and see what happens."

Launch smirked. "This is a Capsule Corp. Z-X85, the most powerful commercially available machine gun on the planet. A few rounds from this distance would rip your face open like gift wrapping on X-Mas morning. So what was it that you were saying?"

"Shoot me." Replied Broly, with a smirk of his own.

"Oh, feeling lucky? Well then have some of this!" The evil blond personality of Launch shot a burst of bullets at Broly, with a yell.

Broly chuckled, and opened his hand to reveal he had caught all the bullets. Even as weak as he was now, this was a laughably easy accomplishment for him.

That's impossible... there's no way he could've done that! But I won't back down from some punk like him. "Don't think you can turn the tables on me just cause you managed to catch a few bullets: because no one can catch an explosion..." To show she meant business, Launch took out and opened the Capsule containing a belt of grenades, and put it on.

"I have survived the destruction of entire planets, a small explosive like that would do nothing to me."

He's insane... but I'm beginning to like his style, dammit. "I'd like to see hear you say that after I shove one up your-"

The doctor ran back in to the room. "W-we called all the banks in the town... and..." He visibly gulped. "And none of them have any more than a hundred thousand or so zeni in the vault. Wait! But, there's a national bank just over in Orange Star City, and they're sure to have the amount you need, but..." The frightened doctor gulped again. "But it would take nearly an hour to get the money here..."

Launch pointed the gun at Broly, and the doctor swooned. "Then it looks like I'll just have to pay Orange Star City a little visit!" Turning quickly, Launch shot out the window, and casually slung Broly over her shoulder before hopping out.

However, as soon as they were outside, police searchlights shone on them. "Don't move! Put your weapons down and step away from the hostage! I repeat, put your weapons down and step away from the hostage!"

Launch swore under her breath. I don't have enough ammo on me to shoot my way out of this one... But before she could lower the Z-X85 more than an inch, Broly shot a scattering of green energy blasts at the cop cars, blowing them several yards up and away. Launch turned to Broly, looking at him in a mix of admiration and fear. "...not bad, for a half-dead man. But if we don't move out quick, there'll be more on the way- and one way or another I plan on packing a bag full of zeni before I leave town." She turned and started to walk off, but stopped when Broly laughed.

"Walking? If we fly we could likely find one of these banks in seconds."

She was flabberghasted, but at this point Launch was ready to accept anything from this strange man. "Fine, but you get to carry me. I'll look out for the banks while we're in the air."

Broly laughed again. He had never met anyone who had the nerve to say what this woman just had; and his Saiyan sense of pride and conquest was oddly not offended, but thrilled. "As you wish." He chuckled as Launch climbed onto his back, and wrapped her arms around his neck. Though he was tired and a little low on energy, Broly was still able to fly easily. He took off into the air and circled the town. And indeed, from their aerial view point, Launch was able to spot a bank in a few seconds.

"That one," Launch said, pointing. Broly touched down in front, the easily recognizable chain logo still lit up. As they nonchalantly strolled up to the doors, Broly blasted them open. The tellers and janitor cower in fear, and somewhere in the building an alarm went off. They walked up to the front counter, and she demanded, "I want all the zeni you have in your vault. Now."

"I'm sorry, ma'am," The teller stuttered. "The lobby is closed for the day, and the vault is already locked..."

Launch glanced at Broly. "Suits me fine. Just tell me where the vault is."

The teller tried to back away, but Broly grabbed her by the collar and set her down in front of them. "Walk," he growled. Trembling, she set off towards the vault, going down a long hallway. She paused to enter a security code, and opened the door. There was another hallway, at the end of which was a large metal door.

"I- I haven't been given the code this month, I was on vacation when the manager changed it."

"Ha! Makes no difference to me," Broly said. Putting his hands on the edges of the door, he grunted and heaved. There was a horrendous sound of tearing metal, and then with a yell Broly ripped the vault door off its hinges. Without warning, he felt a small flare of pain in his stomach- the stitches on his wound had partially torn open. At this point Launch stepped into the vault, and began opening the drawers and stuffing in zeni hand over fist. Broly took a stack of zeni and examined the currency for a moment, before tossing it into Launch's bag.

"We'll have to fly off quick, the cops will be all over us if we try to run out the way we came." Without a word, Broly charged up a sphere of energy and blew a hole in the roof above them. Lunch hopped onto Broly's back, and they ascended into the air. This is unbelievable; I couldn't have planned it better! I haven't pulled off a heist like this in years... Launch whispered into his ear, "Orange Star City is just a few dozen miles over in that direction; let's go there and find a room to share for the night..." And in the blink of an eye, Launch and Broly flew off.

NEXT MORNING

Launch walked into the hotel room. When she had showered afterwards last night, the change from the damp air of the bathroom to the dry air of the bedroom had caused her to sneeze. Fortunately, Broly was already dressed, using a spare sheet to better bind his stomach wound; and Launch's sweet blue-haired personality was not too embarrassed. After Broly explained why they weren't in the hospital, Launch just assumed Broly was being a fantastic liar, and that he simply was released early. So, in the morning she used the (unknowingly)stolen money to buy Broly some new clothes: a leather jacket, a white tank top, and blue jeans.

Broly was now somewhat confused about Launch. Last night he'd discovered she was in fact not a Saiyan- she didn't even have a scar where her tail would've been removed. Furthermore, her personality was a polar opposite of when her hair was blond: kind, sweet and caring. Though the encounter had soothed Broly's rage(for the moment), it left confusion behind it. He much preferred the blond Launch, but on a level he would never openly acknowledge he was grateful the blue haired Launch had found him in the mountains. But in both cases, his Saiyan instincts told him Launch wold be useful to keep around.

"Are you sure you're well enough to ride?"

"Of course," Broly scoffed. "And who is this Tien we'll be looking for?"

"When I knew him, he was a martial artist; almost stronger than Son Goku. He faked his death around this same time last year- he said he was killed fighting a man called Nappa." Launch looked at Broly for a moment: she hadn't noticed it until after she'd showered last night, but he was even more muscular than Tien had been; he also seemed to have the same fighter's confidence about him.

"Hmm." As he rose from the edge of the bed, Broly wondered what kind of coward(or utterly magnificent bastard) would need to fake his own death. "Well, we've been sitting here long enough. Let's go." A familiar heat welled up inside Broly, urging him to get on the road.

They walked out into the parking lot, and jumped into a two-seater hovercar Launch had purchased after she bought Broly's clothes. It was the new model the company was mass producing, with a sleek design and not much else to it. The things like heated seats (unfairly)jacked up the price, and the very basic model was fairly cheap. Launched started it up, and they floated off down the road.

NINE DAYS LATER

Broly and Launch had remained in the area around Orange Star City, visiting any martial arts dojo they could find and asking for a bald, three eyed man. So far they had had no luck in finding any clues of Tien's whereabouts. Whenever they came out to the edges of a town, Broly would fly up a few hundred feet and scour the surrounding landscape for any signs of life. These searches had also been fruitless, and Broly grew quick tempered and restless again.

Traveling along the desert's edge had been especially stressful, as the sand and dust made Launch sneeze quite often. Her evil blond haired personality was argumentative, mainly because there was nothing to blow up or shoot besides Broly, which she discovered was much easier said than done.

So they had been traveling on a long and dusty road back towards Orange Star City when Launch noticed something had happened. Or, to be more specific, a certain regular occurrence hadn't happened. The sudden realization made Launch so excited and scared and confused she stopped the hovercar.

"Broly, I think I'm pregnant..."

He stared at Launch for a few silent seconds, her blue hair whipping around in the desert wind. What? ...Humans and Saiyans...?

"I said I think I'm pregnant." Launch repeated, more to herself than to Broly. Now she was majorly confused, as the only man she'd been around recently was Broly, and she couldn't remember even wanting to do that with him...

What have I done? Broly thought to himself. "Drive," He growled.

EIGHT MONTHS LATER

Though initially he was against it, Broly had stayed with Launch. His Saiyan pride didn't want a half-blood child; but at the same time he remembered his own childhood, nearly killed for his raw power and living on the move. He gave in finally when the blond Launch screamed at him to take responsibility for his "accident".

Launch, in both personalities, was reluctant to take on motherhood. Innocent, blue haired Launch wanted to put it off in case she found Tien; and violent, blond Launch didn't want to be slowed down, in addition to wanting Broly to suffer through it with her.

But gradually they had both come to terms with the pregnancy, and had settled on naming the child Rutaba. It was to be a girl, the doctors had said.

And now, the long awaited moment was at hand. "The baby's crowning!" Declared the doctor. At Launch's bedside a nurse stood holding her hand, providing steady encouragement and direction. Broly stood by for what seemed like an eternity, but was really a relatively short time, when the doctor said, "Push! One more big push!" Suddenly a cry was heard- "Congratulations, ma'am! You now have a baby... girl..."

As the doctors toweled off Rutaba, it became clear something was up. "What's wrong?" Launch asked, barely able to even speak.

The doctor glanced at Broly and Launch. "I don't know what to make of it, but your daughter has a tail." Doubtful, he looked to Launch. "We could have it removed in a few minutes," He offered.

At this, Broly stepped up. "No," He said in a menacing tone. "The tail stays."

Right then, Launch was too tired to argue with Broly about it. "Do what he says; keep the tail." The doctor nodded and cut the umbilical cord, then wrapped up Rutaba and handed her to Launch. She raised her tired arms to receive the child, whose crying ceased for a few precious moments while it was being held. Launch shed a few tears and looked up to Broly. The image of her holding newborn Rutaba in her arms was one he would never forget. After a few tender minutes, Launch lifted up Rutaba for Broly.

He took her into his arms, and immediately noted a pure, warm strength radiating from her. Already, she has amazing energy... with the right training, one day she might be almost as powerful as I am...

FIVE MONTHS LATER

Baby Rutaba was very active for her age, and cheerful. She had her mother's blue hair, and hardly ever cried, which relieved Broly greatly. Rutaba seemed to have a baby word for everything, and her tail fascinated her. And perhaps most remarkable of all, when Launch sneezed, the personality change was more subdued. Her blond side was still definitely aggressive, but nowhere near as violent or devious as before.

But Launch found Broly troubling in some ways. For instance, he had absolutely forbidden Rutaba from seeing a full moon until she could walk, and insisted that Rutaba watch him practice his fighting techniques. And most troubling of all, whenever Rutaba cried he flew into an almost uncontrollable rage, and would go out drinking for hours.

And then, Launch thought Broly had improved in some areas. He had gotten a job at a motorcycle repair shop near their house in Orange Star City, and was able to keep his temper down. Most of the time; and usually not when he had to change Rutaba's diapers. Both knew their life together wasn't perfect, but it was more than they would have had on their own.

Launch was out in the backyard on the swing with Rutaba, when a spring breeze blew in. Rutaba sniffled for a moment, then gave a cute little sneeze. But for the first time, Rutaba's hair color went from blue to golden blond. She turned her head into the wind and said a new baby word: "Kakkarot..."