Ep.7. Goten's birthday adventure
Three and a half more months passed by. Bulma cast her son worried looks, while Vegeta pondered over the new information he had gained. Trunks didn't have another nightmare as harsh as the ones that one night had been, and so slept better despite still having some small nightmares from time to time.
His new best friend's birthday rolled around, and Gohan was planning on throwing his little brother a small party much like the one Trunks had had. The oldest demi-Saiyan asked Trunks to keep Goten entertained while he, his mother and Bulma set it all up so Goten could be surprised.
"I'm booo-red!" Goten complained from where he was sitting cross-legged on grass with vegetation all around him. He was wearing his usual light orange gi with a dark blue undershirt, blue anklebands, white socks, black flat-shoes, and a blue-black martial arts belt. Trunks was laying on the grass staring at the sky next to the other Saiyan kid, his hands clasped behind his head. His current outfit was a black tank top, a lime green zipped up hoodie, his sneakers, and blue shorts.
"I thought you liked cloud-watching?" the half-breed Prince asked, turning to his best friend with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah…. But I do that almost every day!" Goten whined, frowning. He scratched the back of his head in typical Son fashion, trying to think.
"Hmm… How about we fly around the world?" Trunks suggested.
"But I don't know how. And anyway, wouldn't it get boring to just fly around?"
"Yeah, I guess… How about we do something at the same time as flying around the world?"
"Like what?" Goten momentarily forgot about not being able to fly.
The two demi-Saiyans thought for a while, then sat up and smiled widely as they said at the same time: "DRAGONBALL HUNT!"
Trunks, carrying a red and white sport bag over his shoulder, came out of Capsule Corp. holding the dragon radar. He pressed its button and it beeped once while showing a yellow dot on a green GPS-like map.
"The nearest one is pretty near your place, Goten. Wanna get that one first?" Trunks suggested, figuring that if he didn't try to make random excuses to keep the youngest Son away from home, Goten would be less likely to figure out something was amiss.
"U-huh," Goten replied with a nod. The boys took to the air, the younger demi-Saiyan of course borrowing his brother's yellow magic cloud Flying Nimbus. Trunks smiled at the sight of it, briefly remembering how he himself had used it as a small child a few times and the time Gohan first showed it to him.
Flashback
"Trunks, Nimbus. Nimbus, Trunks," 14-year-old Gohan said, gesturing from the toddler to the magic cloud and back. Trunks tilted his head to the side, his finger in his mouth.
"What's it do, big brother?" he asked.
"It lets you ride on it if you're pure of heart or hanging onto someone pure of heart."
"Wowee! That's neat! I wanna fly!"
"Okay. Hop on."
Trunks did just that, and to both of their surprise he didn't fall through. "Yay! Can I try it out? Can I? Can I? Can I?"
"Haha, later OK? If you're ever lost, just call Nimbus's name and it'll come."
"Okay! Thanks, Gohan! Thanks, Nimbus!"
End flashback
Soon enough, they had gotten the three-star ball from an old man named Mr Lao who lived in Chazke Village. A brunette teenage girl chatted to them for a bit, mentioning that Goten reminded her of a blond boy named Gohan she had met over seven years ago. Huh. Must've been when Cell gave us ten days to train before the Cell Games, Trunks thought in amusement.
Next the two kids ran around at a snowy area near a place called Muscle Tower, making a snowman and throwing snowballs at each other. They found the seven-star ball from a little rabbit hole.
Then came a visit to the base of Korin Tower. "Here!" Goten exclaimed, holding up the two-star ball with a gleeful look.
Trunks stopped looking into a bush and smiled. He jogged over to his friend, and Goten put the dragonball into the bag.
Looking up at Korin Tower, the lightly tanned demi-Saiyan smirked cockily. "Betcha I can beat you to the top," he said, crossing his arms.
"Cannot!" Goten exclaimed indignantly, and at once ran forward and started climbing the tower.
"Children, I don't think that is such a good idea. Your father, Goten, was much older when he climbed the tower," a tanned muscular man with his black hair in a braid and a feather at the top of it said, coming over.
The birthday boy wasn't listening, however. His tongue sticking out and his expression one of concentration, he climbed up and up until he was higher than the tops of the tallest trees.
"3, 2, 1, go!" Trunks said, and started climbing at a faster rate than Goten was doing. He soon enough caught up, and when he passed the other Saiyan kid, Goten became even more determined and started climbing faster.
In about three hours they arrived at the top, Trunks allowing Goten to win. "We did it!" the 7-year-old cheered.
Korin gave them two senzu beans each as presents, his gaze remaining on Trunks a little longer than the demi-Saiyan was comfortable with.
"Thanks, Korin. BYE-E!" Goten shouted as the pair of best friends jumped out of the tower. "Flying Nim–"
A light lavender and yellow dragon cut him off, suddenly flying over so that Goten ended up landing on its back. Trunks flew after the ragon, his eyes briefly wide in surprise.
"Icarus!" Goten exclaimed happily.
Why is he friends with that dragon? Wait, didn't Gohan once mention something about having an animal friend named Icarus? Could this be the same one? Goten's laughter shook Trunks out of his thoughts, and he smiled a little at seeing his friend so happy. This is what life's supposed to be like.
The next dragonball was in a volcano, so Trunks retrieved it after telling Goten in no-uncertain terms to stay on a nearby island with Icarus. It was the five-star ball.
Afterwards they were swimming underwater in the sea. Trunks pointed to where he spotted a glimpse of something shiny, and the demi-Saiyan pair swam towards it.
Goten reached the dragonball first. It was the first-star ball. Holding it up triumphantly, the Son boy grinned joyfully.
When he started saying something, Goten at once choked on the water before starting to swim to the surface as fast as he could go. Trunks followed suit.
Coughing, Goten remarked: "That… was… funny. Haha..." Trunks shook his head in disbelief, smiling at the younger child's happy-go-lucky attitude.
Icarus flew over from where he had been waiting on a nearby island, and Goten climbed onto him while Trunks simply floated upwards. Both of them used their ki to dry themselves.
After that the boys found the six-star ball in a desert hat had an oasis nearby. They put the dragonball in the bag, then headed for the oasis.
Trunks climbed up a palm tree to get them a coconut each, while Goten played with a desert fox cub that he had found.
It took most of the day for the boys to find nearly all of the dragonballs. Looking for the four-star ball as the sun begun to set, they arrived at a lake by some mountains. Goten had been carried there by Trunks in piggy-back, as Icarus had gotten tired and left.
"Goten! Trunks!" a familiar voice called, and the two best friends turned in surprise. The saw Gohan jump off Flying Nimbus and land near them, so they turned to fully face him. The oldest demi-Saiyan was wearing a gi similar to the one Trunks remembered him wearing as a child – a dark blue loose tank top and matching gi pants, a red martial arts belt, red anklebands, red wristbands, white socks and black flats.
"Gohan, what are you doing here?" Goten asked, cocking his head to the side in confusion.
"Me? What are you two doing here? It's getting late and Mum's worried. Not to mention Bulma."
"We're looking for the dragonballs. That's my birthday gift to Goten, a wish that Shenron will grant. Well, the wish and the trip we've had," Trunks told, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly towards the end of the explanation. His first friend (or the alternate version of him, at any rate) smiled in understanding.
"Come on, squirts, lets go home." Gohan turned and started walking away.
"But we can't go yet!" Goten protested.
Trunks, who had taken a few steps to follow Gohan, stopped in his tracks and added: "Yeah, we still need to find the four-star dragonball."
Gohan turned back to the kids, sighing and scratching his cheek with his finger while holding onto his belt with the other hand. "I don't know…"
"PLEASE?" Goten pleaded, doing the puppy-dog-eyes. His brother had a short mental argument with himself, then nodded. That prompted Goten to jump into the air with a shout: "YAY! Thank you, big brother!"
"Come on. I think we should ask the villagers if they've seen the dragonball," Trunks said, pointing behind them to wooden cabin-like houses.
The trio of demi-Saiyans arrived at Natade Village, and were confused at the sight of some kind o a ritual with a young girl standing in the middle of it. She had long blond hair braided into pigtails and wore a frock.
"What's going on?" Gohan wondered out loud.
"Outsiders!" a man who seemed to be the village's leader exclaimed. Another man wearing a green coat dropped his staff and stopped his chanting.
The staff rolled over to the boys, and Trunks stopped it with his foot. The green coat guy came over and snatched it up with a suspicious glare at the demi-Saiyans.
"You okay? You seem to look like you'd need a nap," Goten said with a naïve look. Trunks and Gohan chuckled at that.
After about twenty minutes of the green coat guy, whose name turned out to be Maloja, ranted on and on about the villagers being cursed and how the sacrifice was the only way to rid them of a monster. Trunks clenched his fists, thinking angrily: How dare he?! Letting an innocent kid die over some ridiculous reason like that, it's… It's disgusting!
"Ah… We don't want any trouble; we're just looking for a crystal ball. Have any of you by chance seen it?" Gohan asked awkwardly, a sweatdrop sliding down the side of his head. The village chief, Zalador, apologized for being so suspicious and told them that there was a cartful of crystal balls nearby at one of the mountains. "Thanks, but I doubt that's what we're looking for. If you want, though, I'd be happy to get rid of the monster. There's no need for a 'sacrifice' or anything like that."
"Yeah! We can help, no problem!" Goten added enthusiastically. Zalador was glad for the help, while Maloja didn't seem pleased.
Early the next morning, the trio of demi-Saiyans were inside a very large white ceramic pot that had been placed beside a wooden table filled with fruits and meats. The plan was that the food would lure the monster to them, and then they could ambush it. It was a tight fit though, especially for Gohan who had to half-crouch half-squat to keep himself from squeezing the younger boys against the pot.
Trunks's stomach rumbled. He groaned, holding it and mumbling: "I could go for convenience store bento right about now…"
"Huh? I thought yakiniku is your favourite food," Goten muttered, cocking his head in confusion. [Yakiniku means grilled meat.]
"Uuh… IthinkI'llgetanapple." ["I think I'll get an apple."] Trunks quickly stood up and carefully lifted the lid, grabbing a red apple from the table before resuming his seat. As typical of Saiyans, he ate it within a few bites.
Goten was about to mimic him, but Gohan sternly told him no. And again no. And a third time no.
Tears springing to his eyes, Goten started very loudly crying. He even stood up and threw open the lid, wailing: "I want an apple NOW! Waaaaah! Aaaaaaah! Aaaaaah! You're being a meanie, Gohan! Aaaaaah! Aaaaaah! All I wanted was just one lousy apple! AAAAAAH! AAAH! WAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
"All right, all right," Gohan said soothingly, getting an apple and giving it to his brother. At once Goten's wails quietened to a sniffle and the little boy smiled as he took the fruit, settling back down and closing the lid.
As Goten ate the apple, Trunks and Gohan stared at him. "Is it just me or did he fake it?" the time traveller wondered out loud.
"U-huh," was Gohan's stunned reply.
Meanwhile, at the bottom of the mountain, Goten cries had reached a person in ice. The frozen male awakened, the ice cracking as he glared and struggled.
"Kakarot!"
To be continued...
I thought I'd make a canon-compliant version of the Brolly movies (but of course, this only shows the second and third ones since the first one woulda already happened). Also, in case you're wondering, the Bojack movie never happened in this.
I also wanted to point out that I've estimated Trunks to have been 6-8 months old when the Androids showed up. Goten had to have been born 8 months at the earliest and 9 & a half months at the latest after the Cell Games, so EXACTLY 7 years after the day of the Cell Games he'd be 6 while Trunks is 7 and a half. Add to that 9 months, and Goten is 7 while Trunks is 8 and a few months – which is the time of the world tournament. Makes sense, right?
Anyhoo, sorry for the long author notes but thanks for the helpful reviews. See ya!