The Haunted Castle

by Saiyan Huntress

Chapter 1 – How the story began

It was a cold cloudy evening somewhere in a huge forest to the east of the Western capital. The sun was about to go down and there was slight thundering in the distance. In the middle of the forest, on a small plain, there were three tents and a bonfire. And around this bonfire, there they were – Goku, Vegeta and their both families.

The whole thing had started a few weeks ago. After defeating Buu everything turned back to normal and life went on. But in time something started to get out of hands. Vegeta became more and more nervous and spent his whole time in the Gravity Chamber, training harder than ever. Goku lost nearly twenty percent of his appetite (and that's a lot, you know!). Trunks and Goten didn't get into trouble any more, all they ever did was just playing checkers in the backyard. When Gohan's school marks were getting worse too, Bulma and Chichi got concerned and tried to figure out what the problem was. Piccolo was the one to help them.

"C'mon, isn't it obvious?" he asked. "They're all Saiyans, for your information. Their whole life is based on fighting. After the great battle with Buu they can't get used to the normal life any more. Dontcha worry about it, I'm sure that within a few days some alien scum will come and they're all back in action in no time."

"Perhaps you're right," Bulma said thoughtfully. "But what if that alien scum won't come? I'm really worried about Vegeta and Trunks."

"Yeah, and Goku and my sons are losing weight!" Chichi added. "My poor little Gohan got a C on his last test!! Can you imagine?!!? C!!! This can't go on like this! There has to be something we can do!"

Piccolo seemed a bit nervous. "Okay, well then…I suppose if you would...I dunno…You see, I think it's the routine that's making them suffer. Normal life is too boring for them. You know what I mean."

Chichi's eyes narrowed. "No way!" she growled. "No mountain climbing or deep sea swimming or something like that!"

Bulma thought for a moment. "Listen here Chichi, I have an idea. We don't have to get extreme. A nice little old-fashioned camping trip would be totally enough."

"Think so?" Chichi seemed suspicious. "But what about snakes and beasts and…"

Bulma laughed. "Near our husbands? Not gonna happen. Problem solved, let's go home. And thanks a lot, Piccolo, you were a great help. Um, anyway…" Bulma stopped suddenly. "How exactly do you know so much about Saiyan psychology?"

Piccolo scratched his head. "Well, you see, I'm a fighter too. I feel the same thing. Besides, you would be surprised if you knew what kind of books Dende has in his palace."

In short, both families flew into the woods, sent Bulma's parents back home with the only airplane they had and started to walk through the ancient forest. Since the Saiyans could sense auras, it was easy to find animals for food and there were enough springs. For the women's great joy the kids became happy again, Goku's and Vegeta's appetite came back and Gohan re-studied everything he had missed at school. And that gets us to our story here.

So, as you remember, everyone was sitting around the bonfire. Vegeta was cooking a wild boar and the others were listening to Trunks who was telling a horror story.

"And then," he whispered on a quiet spooky voice, "and then she turned around and looked in the mirror and what did she see? Her reflection had no head! Just a bloody neck and no head on it!"

Trunks made a dramatic pause. Chichi shuttered and grabbed her husband's arm. Goku looked at her with surprise.

"And then she screamed and ran outside… right in front of a ten-wheeler! "

"Now that's original," Gohan commented. He wasn't scared at all.

Trunks glared at him. "Do you mind?! Anyway, the truck driver went out of the van and found the woman's dead body. That body had no head just like in the reflection. The police searched and searched but the head was never found."

Chichi squeaked.

"From that day on people keep hearing weird screams from the forest. Some have even seen the bloody head floating in the air and screaming in pain, searching for her missing body. And they say…" Trunks paused again. "And they say that this happened right here in this forest!!"

Vegeta turned the boar leg on the fire.

"Big deal, "he said. " The stupid girl just didn't notice that she was dead and should be in hell playing blackjack with Freeza. Happens all the time. This reminds me, once on a conquering trip to some planet, you know, back on my Freeza's army days, I fought a very weird alien." Vegeta smirked. "He was so dumb that when I ripped his head off, he didn't notice it and kept wondering why he couldn't feel his legs." He started eating.

Everyone stared at him.

"Geez, Dad, your biography would make a better horror story than Hitchcock's worst nightmares," Trunks said. Then he grinned and looked at Goten. "Hey, Goten, is that a woman's head floating right behind you?"

Goten jumped up. "Where? Where?!!? You're not gonna steal my body as long as I live!!! Eat this!!" He gathered an energy ball and blasted it over his shoulder.

There was no bloody head, of course…but there were the tents. Goten's energy blast destroyed them in a few seconds.

Long silence.

"Smooth move," Goku remarked.

Goten rolled his eyes. "Whoops…"

Gohan went to the black smoking hole in which had been the tents. He looked at the warm ash and said: "Nothing to see here. They're gone. Yup. No tents for us any more." He turned around and looked at the others. "Now what?" 

Another long silence.

Vegeta stood up and put out the bonfire. He gave a short look to the sky, frowned and said: "It will rain tonight. And there will be lightning. I'm used to that stuff but something tells me that you're not. So let's pack our bags and start moving. We need to find a shelter or something."

In a short while everyone was walking through the forest carrying the packs Goten hadn't destroyed. That wasn't much. And it started to rain too. The thunder was deafening, the lightning struck in every twenty seconds and it was raining cats and dogs. The Saiyans were all soaking wet.

"I hope we'll see a shelter of some kind soon, otherwise we'll have to sleep in a pond," Bulma complained.

Trunks didn't seem unhappy at all although he looked like a washing mop. He pranced in the puddles and fantasized: "Hey, what do you guys think, maybe we'll found a huge spooky castle somewhere on a big cliff and it's full of monsters and stuff…"

"No more late night TV for you," Vegeta said.

They walked on, stumbling and freezing. The rain got stronger.

Suddenly, Chichi began to wail: "I can't take it any more! Why did I agree to come on this crazy trip anyway?! My poor sons will get pneumonia for sure! And you, Goku, why aren't you doing anything? Look at Gohan, he's like a drowned kitten!"

"I'm just fine, Mum!" Gohan argued.

Chichi didn't even listen. "You can fly, all of you, can't you? Well then, let's stop fooling around and go home. We could still make it before the Oprah show!"

Vegeta lost his temper. "Shut up, woman!! This is really getting on my nerves!!!"

Chichi was shocked. She stopped in the middle of a deep puddle and cried: "Goku, do you let him talk to me like that?!!?"

Goku raised his eyebrows. "Me? Why should I kick his butt when you're the one he insulted?"

Chichi was about to give a long lecture about being a gentleman when Goten shouted: "Whoa look, we're almost out of the forest!"