AN: FINALLY!!!!!! Woohoo! FanFiction is BACK! The world has been righted.

Promos: Of course, there is always the illustrious (don't you just love that word? Rolls right off the tongue!) DejaVu. She has recently started a humor fic in the Dark Jewels Trilogy section.


Another AN: Sorry about the Chapter number mixup! It gets confusing when the prologue is labled as chapter one, and chapter one as chapter two, and etc. *this* is the real chapter five. Secret Past


Chapter 5


There came a soft, fearful whimpering from behind Atari as the others filed in politely. Atari glanced at Vegeta, her eyes gleaming wickedly. The Saiyan Prince looked decidedly less unhappy about being there.

"P-P-Prince V-Vegeta!" Tobias froze, his eyes wide with fear.

"What?" Evasil squeaked, backpedaling quickly. "H-How…Frieza said you were dead!"

Vegeta chuckled, thoroughly enjoying their panic. He hadn't elicited this type of reaction from just his presence in years. Standing slowly, to prolong their suffering, he barred his teeth at the eight newcomers.

"Oh, quit teasing them, Vegeta!" Bulma snapped, trying not to laugh and encourage her husband.

"What's going on?" Mirai Trunks asked, walking over, holding his sword at his side absently. He looked at his father, then to his mother, and shook his head. "Never mind. I don't want to know."

When he started for the door, which was incidentally directly past the small group, he found his way blocked by a very large man. Mirai blinked up at him, unworried, but slowly getting angry when the dark-skinned man did nothing more than stand in his way.

"Move," Trunks growled softly. "You shall not pass me with that weapon in your possession," Sabre stated, his deep voice rumbling in a clear warning.

"What? This?" Trunks raised the sword, unconsciously pointing it at the shifter. He glanced over at Atari. "Is he a friend of your, Atari?"

Atari nodded. "I'd watch where you're pointing that thing, Mirai," she said mildly. "Or Sabre's likely to take your head off."

Trunks glanced back at his sword, then lowered it to the ground, laughing sheepishly. "Oh, hey, sorry about that! Listen, I just want to go up-"

"Mirai?" Evasil purred, hedging away from Vegeta and closer to Trunks. "That's an odd name. Who came up with that?"

"Well…it's kind of a…nickname…" Trunks hedged, trying to scoot away from the advancing woman.

Chitara let out a laughing groan. "Gods, here she goes again!"

"Ten hundred zenni says she has him by the end of the visit," Aslan laughed.

Atari threw him a sly glance. "I'll take that bet. After all, Mirai is the son of Vegeta."

Evasil paled, jumping away from Trunks so quickly she almost fell. Trunks caught her arm, worry written plainly across his features.

"Are you okay, Miss?" Trunks asked, concerned at how she seemed to be shaking a bit.

"That really wasn't necessary, Atari." Bulma scolded. "You're scaring away perfectly good chances for me to have grandchildren!"

"G-Grandchildren?" Tobias stuttered. "Y-You're…his mother? P-Prince Vegeta's…m-mate?"

"Well…" Bulma prevaricated. "Technically, we haven't actually done the mating ritual, yet. But-"

"Mother!" Trunks yelled, clasping at his ears. "I don't want to hear about you and Dad. That's gross!"

Bulma laughed, winking at the group. "Well, Atari? Aren't you going to introduce us to your friends, or do you have more surprises for them? Maybe tell them about Trunks?"

Atari smirked. "I believe one shock is enough for them. Bulma, Mirai, Vegeta, meet the Doom Squad." She nodded to each one as she introduced them. "This is Tobias, Proth, Scamp, Chitara, Sabre, Evasil, Aslan, and Darean. Guys, this is Bulma Briefs, her… ah, son Trunks, and her husband Vegeta."

"The Doom Squad, huh?" Vegeta grunted, his glare raking over the small group. "I remember there being more of you."

"Lyren, Orthos, Lynx, Borjin, and Geoffrey opted to stay up at Atari's place," Chitara said, the quickest to come to terms with seeing the Prince. She flashed Bulma a wicked smile. "So, someone finally tamed the Monkey-Prince. We had a bet going to see how long it would actually take."

Vegeta growled. "I am in no way tamed!"

Atari bit the inside of her cheek hard in an effort not to say a thing. From the looks Vegeta was throwing her, if she so much as snickered, he would cheerfully disembowel her. Fortunately, Trunks broke first.

Evasil glanced warily at Trunks when he started laughing softly. "What's so funny?" She asked.

"D-Dad…" Trunks got out between fits of giggles. "…thinks…not domesticated! Mother…pants…!"

"That's it, boy!" Vegeta yelled. "You and me! In the GR! Now!"

Trunks gulped, all traces of amusement gone. He shot his mother a desperate, pleading look.

"Vegeta." Bulma said in a warning tone.

Vegeta glared at his wife and opened his mouth to retort when it suddenly snapped shut. Outrage, fury, and finally defeat crossed his face before he hung his head hand stormed to the Gravity Room alone. Bulma turned to her stunned guests with a smug grin.

"Now, why don't you all get comfortable while I go-"

BOOM!!!!

An explosion rocked through the house, making everyone fight for their balance. Bulma, apparently used to this, stumbled to the wall to catch various knickknacks as they fell. Evasil, caught completely off guard, stumbled into Trunks, who caught her and held her up with absent-minded chivalry.

"Oh, no…" Trunks moaned, wincing as Chibi Trunks and Goten came barreling downstairs. As Super Saiyans.

"Your mom is going to kill you Trunks!" Goten yelled. "I told you it was up too high to do that trick!"

"Shut up, Goten!" Trunks grumbled. "It's not my fault the thing's not made right!"

"Why wouldn't it have been made right?" Goten asked curiously. "Wasn't it Bulma that made it?"

"Yeah, so what? Dad says that she never made it right all the time when he blows it up!"

Bulma carefully set the valuables on a nearby table before screaming for the boys. "GOTEN!! TRUNKS!!! GET IN HERE!!!!"

The two demi-terrors froze in their escape to the outside, breaking into a nervous sweat. Atari glanced over at her group to see Proth, Scamp, Tobias, and Aslan all leaning back from the screeching woman. The only ones unaffected by the blue-haired woman's burst of temper were the females and Sabre and Darean. Atari wasn't too surprised.

"Do you mean to tell me that you two BLEW UP THE GRAVITY ROOM!!!" Bulma demanded shrilly, grabbing the two boys by their hair and lifting them up off the floor, oblivious to their Super Saiyan state.

"Those…are Super Siayans." Tobias said quietly, to himself.

"I can see that," Aslan said, just as faintly, not wanting to attract the woman's fury. "I can also see how she is the mate of Prince Vegeta."

Chitara snickered. "I like her!" She announced approvingly.

Chibi Trunks, hearing strange voices, took a stab at a reprieve from his mother's yelling.

"I thought you always said you wouldn't yell at us with company over, Mom." Trunks said, pitching his voice where it wasn't quite a statement.

Bulma paused and seemed to remember her guests. "Oh, yes, that's right," she said, completely back to normal. She glared down at the boys, releasing them. "We'll talk about this later. Count on it."

Goten, seeing an opening, rushed over to Atari. "Sister!"

Trunks followed quickly. "Hey, Atari! Wanna spar with us? It'll have to be in the back, though."

"Yeah," Goten piped. " 'Cause Trunks broke the GR showing me this awesome new trick- Ouch!!"

"Goten!" Trunks yelled, pulling back to hit his friend up side his head again as he glanced over to his mother. "Shut up!!"

"Oops!" Goten said, covering his mouth with his hand. "Sorry Trunks!"

But something else had already caught the young Saiyan's eye. "Hey Goten, who's the kid?" Trunks asked, pointing at Scamp.

Goten scowled at the boy, who returned the look. "His name's Scamp."

Trunks gauged the other boy's power level. "He's not very strong, is he?"

Scamp growled, his eyes flashing. "I'm a lot stronger than you!"

Trunks smiled his father's evil smile. "Want to spar, then? Lucky for you, you'll only have to fight me in normal gravity! And I'll even stay regular for you, since you're new. No going Super."

Scamp gritted his teeth and glanced up at Atari. "Is it alright if I go, Atari?"

Atari nodded. "Sure, Scamp." She glanced over at the boys sternly. "Keep it one-on-one, boys." So Scamp can actually stand a chance, she finished in her mind.

Trunks grinned at her, making her think he had actually heard her thoughts. "No prob., Atari! Come on, Goten!"

Bulma sighed as the three boys ran outside. "We might as well make ourselves comfortable," she said with a grin. "Those guys will fight until they can't move an inch."

"Would it be alright if we made ourselves comfortable outside?" Mirai Trunks asked his mother. "I'm kind of curious about Scamp's fighting technique. And how Trunks and Goten will handle it."

"My sentiments exactly," Proth seconded the idea. "Only it is the two young boys I wish to study. To be able to turn into the legendary Super Saiyan at such a young age is quite an intriguing puzzle."

Bulma's eyes lit up. "A scientist!" She cried happily, linking arms with him and guiding them all outside. "This is excellent! I was wondering…"

"There goes Proth for the evening," Evasil giggled.

Mirai Trunks grinned. "There goes Mother for the rest of the week. She won't stop until she's picked his brain clean of any and all information she doesn't know already."

"Really?" Evasil said, leaning closer to him as they walked, apparently over her previous fear of him. "Proth's like that too!"

Aslan leaned over to Atari. "Looks like the bet's still on."

Atari growled at him irritably. "I'll still win."

Aslan laughed deeply, throwing a companionable arm around her shoulders. "Not a chance, Atari! Evasil looks positively smitten with the boy!"

Bulma, her attention grabbed by how Atari permitted this gesture of companionship, sucked in an excited breath. Proth, seeing where she was looking, decided it was best to burst her bubble before she said anything to make Atari mad.

"Not going to happen," he said softly, moving closer to Bulma so they wouldn't be overheard.

"What isn't?" Bulma asked, her eyes stilled locked on the couple.

"Aslan and Atari," Proth supplied lowly. "They aren't going to get together."

Bulma pouted, turning back to her fellow scientist. "Why not?"

A corner of Proth's mouth lifted in a small smile. "That's why," he said, nodding ever so slightly to Darean.

Bulma turned her head to see Darean glaring hard from Aslan to his arm looped casually over Atari's shoulders. If looks could kill, Aslan would have been in HFIL a long time ago. Her eyes widened in delight when she recognized the territorial gleam in the man's eyes. To say nothing of the carefully hidden jealousy. She turned back to Proth quickly.

"You mean…" Bulma glanced from Atari to Darean.

Proth nodded. "Yes. Although neither of them have noticed as of yet, they have actually started the very beginnings of the mating process."

Bulma clutched at her stomach, which was aching with the need to laugh. "Bonding?" She gasped out.

Proth nodded. "Yes. However, it's being hampered by the hatred Atari feels towards him for what she believes is a betrayal."

Bulma frowned, no longer laughing. "What kind of betrayal?"

Proth shook his head. "It's not my place to say," he stated firmly. "It's Atari's hell. If she wants to share it, you'll know."

By then, they had all reached the backyard and settled down for the show. Trunks and Goten were a little over to the right in a heated battle of rock-paper-scissors to see who would be going first. Scamp was stretching over to the left, getting ready.

Atari had managed to produce several chairs and everyone had assumed positions around her. Aslan, naturally, was on her right, and Chitara had taken the open spot on her left. The others formed a sort of line beside the three of them. Darean, refusing to sit, came to stand just slightly behind Atari. Not close enough for her to snap, but not so far away that Aslan didn't notice him immediately. Bulma and Proth took their seats well behind the line of the Doom Squad, mostly because Bulma wanted to watch the fight between Atari and Darean more than the one between her son and Goten, and Scamp.

Trunks suddenly gave a cry of victory. "Rock smashes scissors!" He yelled. "I get to fight him first!"

"Finally!" Scamp yelled back, looking impatient. "What kind of ridiculous ritual was that, anyway?"

"We had to choose which one of us would fight you," Trunks said with condescending patience. "After all, it really wouldn't be fair if we teamed up on you. We'd beat you in seconds!"

"Right!" Scamp laughed. "You're just stalling! Come and fight me!"

Trunks shrugged. "Okay."

And just like that, the match had begun. Trunks and Scamp flew at each other, fists and legs flying in a blur. The two different techniques collided in a violent storm of flesh on flesh. Fortunately for Trunks, Atari had taught them enough of the moves that he could keep the upper hand.

Scamp was getting frustrated, everyone on the ground could see that easily. None of his attacks were getting through, and yet he didn't know enough about Trunks's attacks to properly block them. His frustration mounted when it appeared the purple-haired boy was mocking him, darting in and out to lay a few blows on him.

"Quite fooling around, Trunks!" Goten yelled from the ground. "I want to fight him now!"

"Why?" Trunks asked, letting down his guard completely to look down at Goten. "He's not any good!"

Scamp, seeing the boy's focus diverted from the battle, attacked, but still the demi-Saiyan managed to block the attacks. With a howl of rage, he kicked back from the boy and released his hold on his animal half, shifting to his half-way wolf form.

"I was wondering when he would loose it," Proth murmured with a grin.

Bulma stared up at the boy in wide-eyed amazement. "What happened to him?"

"He Shifted," Proth replied simply. "His animal, as you can tell, is a wolf. In his halfway form, his speed, strength, and agility are, at the very least, tripled."

Bulma frowned. "That's a little too much like Trunks ascending to Super Saiyan, for my tastes."

Proth shrugged, unconcerned. "It doesn't seem to be bothering your son," he said.

And that was true. Trunks looked positively delighted at this sudden jump in power level, and was attacking the boy with renewed vigor. He grinned even more broadly as Scamp actually scored on him.

"This is great!" Trunks laughed, dodging a punch. "You should have changed earlier, Scamp!"

Scamp's only response was an inarticulate growl. Ducking under Trunks' guard, he hit the kid hard enough to knock him into the ground, making a small crater, dust flying everywhere. But when it cleared, Trunks was gone, and Scamp turned just in time to be dealt a double-fisted blow to the jaw.

Now that they were on more even ground, the fight progressed more slowly. Small ki blasts were exchanged, but nothing too big. Things carried on like this for an hour or so. During that time, Proth had gleaned enough information from the fighters to satisfy him, and he and Bulma headed off for the Lab.

"That's it!" Trunks yelled after being knocked into the ground once again. "It's time to end this!"

"If…you think…you can…" Scamp panted, obviously exhausted.

Trunks smirked and put his hands out in front of him, gathering energy briefly. "FINAL FLASH!!!"

Scamp's eyes went wide as Trunks fired his father's trademark attack. He was so shocked, he didn't even think about dodging the attack, and it hit him straight on, knocking him into the horizon.

"Whoops," Trunks laughed, crossing his arms as he watched the beam of light carry the wolf-shifter away. "Guess he didn't know to duck."

From the doorway came the sound of deep, approving, slightly evil laughter. Vegeta stood leaning against the doorframe, a smirk on his lips.

"Well done, brat!" Vegeta laughed harshly. "A perfect way to use intimidation and power!"

Trunks blushed lightly at the praise. "Thanks, Dad. But he really wasn't too much of an opponent. I didn't even need to go Super."

"Then how about you try someone a little bit more…skilled," Darean growled, flying up to hover in front of the boy.


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AN: There! I've FINALLY posted! *gives wide, vulnerable-eyed look* You'll review now, right? Thanks be to the ones who reviewed! DejaVu, Alicia, Lady Serendipity, and everyone else! *sniff* You make me so happy! As always, REVIEW!!!!!!!! Many thanks.


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