A/N: Hello there wonderful DBZ fans! This has been one of the big stories I've been trying to get off the ground forever, and I finally have the first chapter done! This will be my first epic DBZ story, with action, humor, romance and drama all wrapped up together like the real story we know and love. I was worried about putting this up but my best friend says it's perfect so let's see if she's wrong or not! XD
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Dragon Ball/Z/GT. Any non canon characters of are my own creation, but besides that and the story I own not a thing.
Silence. Nothing but the pounding of a Saiyan's heart reverberated for galaxies. The thick layer of air that surrounded the God World wrapped around Goten like a noose. He could feel his calm breaking any second, so he stood immobilized. His clenching fists refused to admit they were afraid: the enemy he was facing made that terribly dangerous. He forced himself to crouch in a fighting stance as the voice began to call to him.
"Goten," his father called. "The power of the Dragon Balls and the spirit of the human race will continue on forever, remember that. No matter what I do today, no matter what happens to either one of us, on the verge of either one of our deaths, true power is here; everything you've been fighting for lies in this battle. I'm sorry I could never finish our training, son. There's more I should probably teach you, but I guess we'll never know, will we?"
"Can you just answer me one question before we have to do this?"
"What's that?"
"You left again... Why do you always have to leave me, dad?"
He searched for regret in his father's eyes but couldn't figure out what he saw. He just continued to stare on. "You know the answer to that just as well as I do."
Nothing more needed to be said as Goten outstretched his hand. "Yeah, you're right," and a huge ki blast aimed for his father's chest.
"Goteeeen! For the millionth time you're going to be late to school! Get up young man!"
"Yeah, get up young man!"
Goten shot out of bed at the screeching sound of his mother and the random voice of his best friend giving commentary. He clasped a palm to his forehead.
What was that all about...?
He wasn't in space, that was for sure. He was alone in his room with nothing but the space from four walls and random childhood memorabilia. He looked at the clock sitting on his bedside and realized as usual his mother was right. Pressing the snooze button one too many times is definitely not a good tradeoff for Chi Chi's wrath. Finally rising out of bed, he walked past his window to dig for his school clothes.
"The last school year, huh? I'm guessing school uniforms is a way for the principal to send us off with a ba-"
-BOOOOM!-
Goten lost his footing for the quickest of seconds before shooting to his window. He looked out to pinpoint the culprit of that milli-second explosion, only to find small bursts of purples, reds, and oranges bursting from the sky. Fireworks?
Huh? What is up with this morning?
More than just one Saiyan caught the disturbance. Across Earth's seas, just outside the caverns of Pinipu Island, Son Goku rested under a waterfall, bracing his shoulders under the rushing, sharp patter of the water's attack. Calm, his features lie almost emotionless. Uub, his newest, most honored pupil, also sat adjacent on a lower faceted boulder.
"Say, Goku...? Did you hear that just now?"
"Concentrate, Uub. Don't worry about any random noises you hear."
He couldn't help but to peek at the sky. "But up high...the sky kind of looks like it's exploding. Hasn't it been doing that for hours? What do you think's going on?"
Again, Goku stayed silent, water slapping across his face and down his eyelids, shielding him from any care in the world. "Nothing for you to worry about. We just have about two more hours under here, then we can move on to..." but his voice trailed off. In the pit of his stomach a great disturbance engulfed him.
Without any explanation, Goku rose from his boulder and shook the water from his locks. Uub opened his eyes back and stared up, clearly confused by his actions.
"Goku, what's wrong? You said we have two more hours left."
He unclenched a fist to rest it on his belly. With a few more seconds his hard expression lifted into a-
"UUUUGHHHHH. Uub...
…
I'm hungry," and he jumped down to the clearing and started sprinting to the village. "Come on Uub! FOOOOOOD!"
Uub's expression dropped that second. That's what got him so broken from training? Well, some great master, huh?
"Master Chi Chi, I totally must honor you and your pancakes. I want these pancakes to adopt me."
Trunks was hunched over the Son family's breakfast table fork in hand and pancakes in cheeks. A drop of syrup landed on his tie which caused ChiChi to temporarily mini-snap.
"My goodness, Trunks, why can't you eat breakfast at your own home? And c'mere," and she pulled him from his seat, licked a towel and prepared to attack the syrup stain from his tie.
"EEEWWW!"
"I swear your mother needs to keep a better eye on you when you eat. It's not even your first period and already you've tarnished your new uniform."
"Oh c'mon Chi Chi! No one cares about that! Besides, these uniforms suck. Whose big shot idea was this, anyway?"
"Dude," the late entry Goten finally made his way down the stairs. "Do you see what's going on outside? And—hey, why are you eating breakfast in my house right now?"
Trunks finally pulled away from his apparent second mother. "What, the sky? That's been going on since like two this morning. And you know how much my mom's cooking sucks. Grandma and Gramps is still on vacation so I've been trying to avoid meals as much as possible."
"Your father seems just fine with Bulma's cooking," Chi Chi folded her arms.
"Well then, let my dad suffer, I'm cool with that," and he fidgeted more with his tie until finally deciding to take it off. "Y'know I think it looks cooler this way."
Chi Chi dropped her shoulders in a huff and tossed her towel. "It's alright. I have permission to give up. You're not my son," and instead turned to Goten. "I'm glad everything with you seems to be in order. Orange is definitely a color that suits all my little men!"
"Good thing Gohan taught me how to tie a tie. So do you know why this is going on, mom?"
"Not totally. It's been all over the news for sure, but no one knows the cause of it outside of some sort of meteor shower. True, it is causing a bit of noise every once in a while, but nothing's actually getting hurt and the meteors are already breaking up before it hits Earth, so I guess the authorities are planning to leave it alone," and she paused before turning her back, "and YOU leave it alone too. I don't need you boys flying off in space trying to save the world from whatever on your first day of school."
"Yes, moooom."
"I wouldn't even want to. Don't worry Chi Chi, we're not eight anymore."
"Really, I haven't noticed..." she rolled her eyes. "Besides, I have all the adults coming over tonight for dinner and some card games, so I need you both home right after school."
"What does that have to do with us?" Trunks asked.
"Marron is on babysitting duty for Bra and Pan, so I need you guys there with her."
"Don't you think Marron's fine with handling little Pan and Bra by herself?" Goten asked as he started to sit down.
Chi Chi smirked. "Ohh, you're not helping her out, you two are the ones who need looking after."
Just then an invisible cloud filled with bruised egos just rained down on both of the teen's heads. "OH COME ON!" both shouted with pained looks. Chi Chi giggled and returned to her dishes.
After shooting a sour glare at her direction, Trunks turned back to Goten and spoke low. "So, is your dad expected to come to this little shindig?"
You could hear a plate crash in the sink, but when the boys turned Chi Chi stayed still and didn't mention anything. Goten lowered his voice a bit when he spoke. "I don't know. With training Uub and all he's pretty much been incommunicado."
"Maybe I'll let you borrow mine every once in a while. He keeps wanting me to take a visit with him somewhere but I've got plans for my year. I love fighting with my dad all, but what else can he teach me, ya know?"
Somewhere stuffed inside Goten's mind was a response, but it was too muzzled to come out correctly. "Eh," he ended up just shrugging, leaving that conversation at an awkward halt.
He only took his second bite of pancakes before Chi Chi stopped him. "Nuh uh! Hate to do this to ya but that's it for now. You guys are seriously going to be late if you don't get a move on!"
"But moom, my breakfast!"
She packed the last pancake in his mouth. "Take it to go!" And with no other cue she tossed Goten his lunch and school bag, and pushed the two boys out the door. "I have a serious day of shopping to do so I need you two to hurry on up out of here! Have a wonderful day, mind your manners, and impress your teachers! Don't forget babysitting at Bulma's! Love you guys, now go!" And their feet came to a stop as Chi Chi shut the front door behind him.
"Well," Trunks blew his disoriented bangs out of his face, "I can tell when we're not wanted."
"She's right though," Goten dusted off his uniform, "we need to get to school." They walked a couple paces down before Goten noticed a beautiful dark mauve flying vehicle on his lawn. "Wooaah, nice hover car, Trunks! Say, did your folks give you the flying lecture yet?"
"Pfft, yeah. Don't expose your powers, we actually have some peace right now and don't want to ruin it, blah blah blaaah..."
The last of his words had Goten once again staring up at the sky that still exploded with colors in the far distance. "Yeah..." he trailed off, "...peace..."
It was something Earth had now indeed. Children getting ready for school, families living happily either in the city or on their farmland, beings gathered from every corner of the galaxy gladly accepted into its orbit. The last threat on Earth had long gone, and the world's heroes could safely rest knowing that. And for sure, many of them did.
Peace can be tangible for anyone given the chance, but everyone, and every living being had to accept its moment of end when the cycle came to them. It was how the universe worked.
Deep in the western quadrant of the universe, the two powerful deities looked on from their work. The light from the deathly explosion made their clothes glow such a royal hue of gold. One smiled as he motioned towards the other.
"Good work, Lord Bills! Another planet out of the way to make room for a new one."
The God of Destruction stifled a yawn. "Yes, quite nice indeed," and he outstretched his paws as he yawned again. "I can't believe I cut my work short though to visit this measly galaxy again. Just think of all my dramas I'm missing right now!"
"We should be done shortly, sir. Remember we have an appointment with Earth later today now that we gave the signal."
"Well, fine," and he yawned again. "Mind if I get a couple of episodes in before we go?"
"Well of course, whatever you wish."
Vegeta sat as still as a stone. Every move was vital to pinpointing his weakness. His eyes burned a hole in the screen in front of him, watching his own figure turn Saiyan on some abandoned planet on the outskirts of the galaxy.
He sat in his living room, actually, studying the recordings of his training sessions in Bulma's planetary transporter. It was her greatest invention yet, though he would never admit that to her. It was one of his newest hobbies, to analyze his tactics and find the strengths of his opponents and weaknesses in himself. Peace may have been blessed to them, but Vegeta would never take such an era lightly. He itched for battle just as much, if not more than before.
Because now he had things to protect.
His daughter sat on the rug by his foot, playing away at her toys, particularly her oversized stuffed bunny. She was just as into the recording as Vegeta was, mimicking her father's attacks. "BAAM!" "TAKE THAT!" she cried as she kicked her tiny foot into the gut of Mr. Bunny. Vegeta stifled a chuckle. Even the all-powerful Saiyan couldn't deny: that was very adorable. He hated how much of a weakness his daughter was to him. He particularly wanted another son to train as a warrior, but when looking into the eyes of his newest offspring he would always find an exception. That face reminded him of her mother without question, and everything he stayed on Earth to protect. Warrior or not this little one would carry on the spirit of the Saiyan race. Being one of his kids she would have no choice.
Once Bra flung Mr. Bunny across the living room Vegeta took that as enough for now and shut off the TV. He rose up from the couch taking his daughter in his arms.
"Alright, little one, it's time to visit your mother."
"Mommy! Mommy! Yaaay!"
Vegeta was about to head toward the elevator when a faint explosion sounded from outside.
"Ooh, what's that?" Bra asked.
Vegeta glanced toward the window, watching how the fading colors were still actively covering their sky. He glared a little, not liking the feeling from this ever since this morning. The world may have thought it was a pointless meteor shower, but Vegeta would never be that stupid. He adjusted Bra more on his hip and turned back toward the exit. "Nothing to worry about, little one, just some colors in the sky. Let's go to your mother."
"Yay! Mommy! Mommy!" she easily forgot her curiosity. "Ooh! Daddy! Don't forget Mr. Bunny!" and she pointed to the beaten stuffed animal she was just pounding on a minute ago.
"Yes, yes, of course," and he grabbed one of its ears and shoved it in the elevator with them.
Bulma stared long and hard at the projector in front of her. She didn't like this, not one bit. Unlike the rest of the world, she wasn't stupid. She had enough brain cells to put together that something was definitely off about the meteor shower this morning. Too many signs pointed to planetary explosion, and she had to get to the bottom of it. She most certainly did not need another nameless bad guy popping up out of nowhere and screwing up her day. The last time that happened she had a very disappointing birthday.
She heard the automatic door sound from the lab and her favorite father-daughter couple enter to greet her. She turned away from the screen.
"There's the best looking, most amazing person in the wooorld," her voice raised a slight octave as she extended her arms out. Vegeta rolled his eyes, expected to be showered in kisses, but she ignored him and instead grabbed Bra from his arms. "There's my little mini-me. Did you miss Mommy?"
Vegeta wrinkled his nose in passing, pretending as if nothing affected him.
Bra wrapped her little arms around her mother. "Mhhm!" she replied. "I killed Mr. Bunny today, Mommy!"
"…Oh did you…?" she tried to keep her cheery voice but gave Vegeta a what-the-heck-is-she-talking-about stare. Vegeta just waved his hand in passing and made his way to the computer. "Just a little sparring she did is all, nothing more. Did you figure out what was going on?"
"Pretty darn close," and she set Bra down in her playpen with her stuffed rabbit before placing a kiss on her forehead and standing back next to her husband.
"I know we guessed something like planetary explosion earlier, but I definitely have the proof now. While performing a system update for the PT chamber in order to get some new locations in there for you guys, an alert popped up, saying that Argon-15 is no longer in orbit and can't be tracked anymore."
"Argon-15…isn't that that red planet with the high density atmosphere in the western quadrant?"
"Yup. Somehow it got completely wiped from the map."
"Well how do we know that's the planet that's causing all this?"
"Cuz of this," and she tapped on her keyboard to switch the monitor display. "These are the cameras from the chamber that record all of the planets in the system. And this," she pointed to a smaller box in the corner, "is Argon-15's camera."
"There's no signal there. Everything's all in static. Are you sure it's not just a faulty camera?"
She crossed her arms. "My cameras are one hundred percent reliable, mister! And besides, look at this recording archived less than 24 hours ago," she said as she pushed a few more buttons. Before their eyes, the ground of the planet in question shook uncontrollably as a giant violet-colored beam aimed at its core and blew the planet to pieces. Vegeta's scowl deepened on his features. So it was like they thought.
"The question is," Bulma started to question. "What could have destroyed such a huge planet like that?"
But Vegeta already had a few ideas. "What…or who?"
A/N: Thanks for ending this chapter with me! Next we'll see the boys in their first day of senior year and some old friends as well, and more light will be shed on this mysterious occurrence and what it has to do with our heroes! Since it takes place after Goku leaves, we will see how Goten and Trunks actually own up to Goku's words and become the heroes he needs them to be. But for what, exactly? Find out on the next Dragon Ball Zutto! (XD I will forever say this) Well, you'll never unless you keep reading. Thank you guys!