Chapter one: Fates Collide
Or "Where did Grandpa go, and why did a girl fall from the sky?"
The sun rises over the beautiful forests and clear rivers of Mount Paozu. Abundant with nature, filled with life, untainted by Man and his machines, Mount Paozu is a quiet sanctuary for various form of wildlife. Unfortunately, it seems to have hit a bit of a rough patch the night before.
In a certain clearing, with a certain little cottage in the center (which seems to have sustained some damage to it's roof) we find broken oak and apple trees, monstrous footprints, a large crater... and a child with a tail and unruly hair spread-eagle on the ground, fast asleep, naked as the day he was born.
This child who, unbeknownst to him, caused all this chaos and destruction, is a 10-year-old Goku, raised by Gohan, his adoptive grandfather, after being found near a crater caused by a spherical space vessel within a nearby bamboo grove.
Back in the present, the silence is broken by an adorable yawn, as the young boy slowly wakes up. He blinks with a sleepy gaze and sits up, taking a few moments to notice his surroundings. "Huh? How did I get outside? That's weird." When he finally notices the damage to the surrounding area, he stands up, wide awake. "Wow! What happened to all of the trees?! And those footprints are huge! Did that monster Grandpa told me about come back last night? I should ask him. Wait, what happened to my clothes? ... Oh well, I'll just put them on as I ask."
As he turns towards the cottage, he notices the gaping hole in the roof. "Oh, no! Grandpa! I hope the monster didn't find him!" He arrives to the little house in record time and rips open the door, only to find it empty, save for the furniture, the Power Pole, and the crystal ball with four stars his grandpa came across years ago. "Hello? Grandpa? Are you there?"
As he is greeted by nothing but silence, he knows what happened to the man who raised him. "He's gone... oh, Grandpa... I'm sorry I wasn't here." Tears fall from his eyes as he weeps for his departed grandfather. In the corner of his eye, he sees the gleam of the crystal ball as the sun's rays hit it, making it shine. He walks over to the cushion it sits on, and kneels. As he wipes his eyes on his arms, he takes the ball's shine as his grandfather telling him not to feel bad, and to be strong. "Okay, if you say so, Grandpa. I'll use everything you taught me to keep going. I promise I'll grow up big and strong, and be a great martial arts master like you! You'll see!" He presses his hands together in prayer, and gets up the start the day. After he dresses himself, his stomach makes a sound similar to a bear's roar. "I'm hungry. Guess I'll get some fish to eat. Bye, Grandpa, I'll be back soon!" And he runs out the door to a nearby river to catch one of the huge fish in it's depths.
A few minutes later, we find our hero hauling a massive Pauzu Tuna up the hill over his shoulder, whistling a tune like it was nothing. "What a lucky catch! Grandpa is gonna be so surprised!" As he continues up the mountain with his breakfast, he begins to hear a strange, high-pitched noise. "Huh? What is that?" Yet, as his head turns back and forth in search of the source of the noise to no avail, it starts to become clearer. "It's sounds like a person, but it seems... weird." As the clarity increases, he realizes that it's coming from above him, and looks up. As he does so, he sees a girl, about his age, falling towards him, flailing her arms around in a panic, screaming bloody murder. "Uhhh..." is his intelligent observation, seconds before she crashes into him, causing a 20-foot crater and the entire mountain to shake.