Disclaimer: I don't own anything. See chapter 1 for details.
Author's note: Hey everybody! Hope everyone had a good week! I'm glad that people liked the Son family arc. I had a lot of fun writing it, especially the food competition. The highlight for me personally was the badly made Chow Mein and Asuna's dish. Sorry to the Asuna fans out there. Hehehe. It was just something that came into mind when thinking about what dish she would come up with.
But anyways, I want to thank naioka1992 for beta-reading this chapter. So, I present to you Chapter 14 of Saiyan in Mahora! Enjoy!
Period 14: A New Threat Approaches! Search for the Dragon Balls!
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!...SLAM!
"You didn't need to wake me up stupid clock," muttered Yuna as she got up from her bed. "I'm already awake." She had been awake for the past half an hour, and had barely slept the night before due to nervousness. Today was a special day…Today was the date with Son Gohan! "Kyahh," she muttered, blushingly as she saw the calendar - today's date had a circle around it as well as some hearts too. "Today is going to be an awesome day!"
Yuna then quickly got out of bed, took a long shower, got dressed in the cutest way possible (in order to impress Gohan), checked herself in the mirror to make she didn't miss a spot with her makeup, said goodbye to the picture of her mother and went off. As she closed the door, she had the biggest smile on her face. She was extremely excited about the date. After all, she was going to get ahead of everyone else after what had happened with the food competition. This is going to be great, Yuna thought to herself happily. Maybe it will turn out really good. Maybe we'll get to…
Yuna's imagination
"Wow Yuna-san, I had so much fun with you, unlike with the others," Gohan said, dressed up nicely for the date, as he was walking side by side with Yuna in the district. "It was the best date ever."
"Thank you Gohan-kun," Yuna said with a blush. "I really had a great time."
"Me too Yuna-san," Gohan said as he turned his head towards Yuna's. "I had such a great time that I finally realized something."
"What?" Yuna asked.
"That I am in love with you Yuna-san," Gohan confessed. "I finally realized my true feelings for you." Gohan leaned over to give a kiss as he closed his eyes and put out his mouth.
"Oh Gohan-kun…" Yuna muttered as she did the same as she leaned towards Gohan, ready to give a kiss as well.
End of Yuna's imagination
"Kyahh!" Yuna squeaked as she stopped herself from imagining herself from kissing Gohan on the lips. "I got to control myself! Otherwise, I will be nervous throughout the date!"
"What date?" said a voice. Yuna turned around to see a half-asleep Asuna standing outside her door.
"Asuna, you're up early," Yuna said.
"Well, you kind of woke me up early with your shouting," Asuna said as she rubbed her eyes.
Yuna flinched. "Oh sorry about that," Yuna said with an embarrassed look on her face as she rubbed the back of her neck. I guess I couldn't keep my excitement in, Yuna said to herself.
"So why are you up so early?" Asuna asked. "I heard you talking about a date. With whom?"
"Well," Yuna said as she twiddled her fingers in embarrassment. "Son Gohan," she muttered.
"Who?" Asuna asked again since she didn't hear the first time.
"N-No one really," Yuna said. "Just some guy that met when I was looking around for ingredients for the food competition." Yuna clenched her fists in worry, hoping that Asuna bought that.
And she did. "Okay," Asuna replied. "Be careful though. You know there are predators out there ready to pounce on innocent girls."
"Geez Asuna, you sound like my dad," Yuna said. "But thanks for the support. I'll tell you more about it later. Bye!" Yuna waved as she ran down the hallway towards the stairs and out the building.
"Bye!" Asuna waved back as she watched Yuna run along the hallways and into the staircase. Once cleared, she closed the door and headed back to the room. She noticed Konoka get up from her bed half-asleep.
"Who was that Asuna?" Konoka asked.
"It was just Yuna," Asuna replied. "She was heading out for a date with some guy."
"You mean Gohan-kun?" Konoka said.
"Huh?"
"During the Kyoto trip, Yuna won a prize that consisted of having a date with Gohan-kun during Golden week," Konoka said.
"Oh," Asuna nodded with a smile, but in reality she was furious. Yuna had lied to her. How dare she do that to me? Asuna said angrily to herself. When did she get a date with Gohan? I wanted to have one with him bef…wait a second! Why am I getting jealous over Gohan? I hate that dark haired idiot! Just think of Takahata-sensei! Asuna shook her head. "Anyways Konoka, we need to get ready. Negi told us to meet up with him this morning."
"Oh that's right!" Konoka said as she stretched her arms and went to get changed. Asuna did the same, while contemplating on how to punish Yuna for her transgression.
Meanwhile…
Gohan was in his futon as he slept like a rock. After all that had happened with his family visiting, he was finally able to have some peace and quiet in his room. Goten had wanted to stay longer but thankfully his mother was able to take him back. However, Gohan didn't get the chance to ask his mother on what was the purpose of the food competition or even the training that she did with the girls. He will have to ask her about it later because right now, he just wanted to sleep.
But something was tugging him in the back of his mind as he was sleeping. He knew that it was his day off especially since it was the start of Golden Week… "CRAP!" He yelled as he sat up quickly from his bed. "Holy crap! I almost forgot! I have a date with Yuna-san today! I completely forgot!" He looked at his clock and flinched. "Oh shit! I am so late! I completely forgot to set up the alarm. Stupid Gohan, stupid."
Gohan quickly got out of his bed and immediately went to the bathroom to take a quick shower. A few minutes later, he got out and quickly got dressed. He put on a long sleeve blue shirt, light blue shorts, with boots from Capsule Corporation. He went out of his apartment and closed the door behind him. He ran in the hallways but once he passed by the security gate, he noticed the time and immediately knew that he was going to be late if he didn't pick up the speed.
So once outside, he decided that was going to use super speed to get to the location where he was supposed to meet up with Yuna. He quickly checked to make sure no one was watching. Once the coast was clear, he quickly ran to the location, hoping that he wouldn't make Yuna wait too long for him.
In front of the fountain, Mahora district
Yuna sighed. "I got here too early," she said as she looked at her watch. She had arrived 15 minutes early and Gohan was nowhere in sight. Of course he wouldn't be, Yuna said to herself. I got here 15 minutes early than I was supposed to. Yuna shook her head. It didn't matter anymore. What was done is done already. It was time to face the present and wait for Gohan.
As she stood waiting, she noticed that there a commotion going on. She walked a bit closer to see what the deal was. As she got closer, she kept hearing a voice coming from that direction, "People of Earth! A great crisis is upon us! A great evil is coming to Earth and needs to be stopped! Only with the help of the great hero Tapion can this be achieved!" The voice was coming from rather strange looking person, according to Yuna's eyes. It was an old man, dressed in priest robes that were colored yellow. He wore a long black hat that some Japanese priests wore. He had white hair that was bristled and mangled. However, the odd thing was that he was pink and had two antennas coming from his cheeks.
Once Yuna arrived there, she noticed that the old man was about to be interviewed by a local TV news station. "I'm here at the Mahora district where everyone is enjoying their Golden Week in their own way," said the reporter. "While most of the people are taking their days off from work, some people like this old man still have to earn a living. Let's ask him why he is out instead of relaxing."
The reporter walked up to the old man, catching him by surprise when she put the microphone in front of his face. "Excuse me, may I ask why are you out here?" asked the reporter.
"I am out here because I am trying to warn everyone that the world as we know is coming to an end!" exclaimed the old man.
The reporter chuckled, finding it amusing on the old man's 'delusions.' "And how, may I ask, is the world coming to an end?"
"A great evil is coming to Earth and the only one who can save is the great hero Tapion," the old man replied.
"Where is this 'Tapion'?" The reporter asked.
"In this music box," the old man replied as he took a weird looking object. At first it seemed like an artistic box, with decorations alongside the borders of the white box, but upon closer inspection there was ratchet lever on the side. It was indeed a music box. The old man hoped that the reporter would ask more about this music box, but to no avail.
"Thank you mister," said the reporter and before the old man could say anything else, the reporter turned to the camera. "There you have it. Even delusional people are doing what they know best. This is Tanaka Rie signing off."
"Wait, I'm not delusional!" screamed the old man. "This music box is our salvation! You gotta believe me!"
"Shut it old man," said the reporter once the camera had stopped recording. "No one wants to hear about some old crusty music box." She and the crew went their separate ways, leaving behind a dejected old man. Yuna felt pity for him as she saw him walk towards an alleyway. However, now was not the time to comfort someone. She had other plans, mostly concerning with a young demi-saiyan.
In the alleyway, the old man clenched his fist in anger. "Once he is released, that vile woman will be the first one to go," he muttered with an evil smile. But before he could say anything else, a strong wind was picking up around him. The old man started to freak out a bit and hide behind a trash can. He leaned out to see coming from the wind was a young man with spiky black hair with onyx eyes.
The young man let out a sigh. "Safe!" he said as he looked at his watch. "Just with a few minutes to spare. Good thing that I didn't have to change into the Great Saiyaman or else I would have to play the hero for a while and would have definitely arrived late." He ran off normally and out of the alleyway, leaving behind a dazed old man. The old man, who witnessed the whole scene, came out from behind the trash can. That's him, he said to himself. He is one of them. And best of all, he is the Great Saiyaman. Perfect! The old man smiled and prepared for his next course of action.
Back at the fountain, Yuna stood as she waited for the arrival of Gohan. While she waited, a couple of punk guys came up to her, trying to act all cool. "Hey beautiful, what you doing?" said one of the guys.
"Waiting for my date," Yuna said.
"Really?" replied one of the other guys. "Well, why don't we forget about your date? Come with us, we'll show you a good time if you know what I mean," he said wiggling his eyebrows.
"Sorry but I don't think I would appreciate that kind of fun," Yuna replied frowning. "Besides, my date will be here any moment."
"Aw come on babe," one of the other guys said grabbing her hand.
"Let go of me," Yuna said as she tried to pull her arm away from his grip.
"What do you think you are doing?" a voice asked with a menacing voice. The men turned around to see Gohan with a scowl on his face, not pleased at the scene that he was witnessing.
"Who the hell are you?"
"Gohan-kun!" Yuna yelled as she ran up to Gohan and hugged him, catching everyone by surprise.
"Tsk," growled all three of the guys. "Whatever, let's get out of here," said the 'de-facto' leader of the group with the other two nodding in agreement. They walked off in the opposite direction, hoping to catch another girl that didn't have such a strong looking guy as a companion.
"Thank you Gohan-kun," Yuna said as she continued to embrace Gohan.
"N-N-No problem," Gohan stuttered as his face was covered in a blush. "You know Yuna-san, you can let go of me right?"
Yuna flinched and back off immediately. "I'm so sorry Gohan-kun!" apologized Yuna. "I didn't mean to. I just wanted to get those guys off my back."
"That's okay Yuna-san," a blushing Gohan responded as he tried to recollect himself. "I should have arrived a bit sooner."
"You're damn right Gohan-kun," Yuna said with a frown. "But I forgive you. After all, you are taking me out."
Gohan let out a nervous smile. "I guess you're right," he said. "So where do you want to go?"
"Huh?" Yuna said with a questioning look. "Aren't you supposed to be the one to have the date planned out?"
"Sorry Yuna-san," Gohan said sheepishly. "I am actually kind of bad at this sort of stuff."
"You're just like my father," Yuna muttered. She let out a sigh. "Oh well, I guess I will have to do everything. Lucky it's you Gohan-kun. Otherwise, I would have went back home immediately."
"Sorry Yuna-san," Gohan said with his usual Son grin. "So where do you want to go?"
"Let's go to the amusement park!" Yuna yelled happily. Gohan blinked a few times and shrugged okay to Yuna as she grabbed his arm and took him to the train station to go to the amusement park. At the train station, Gohan paid for the tickets, with much protest from Yuna. She was commenting that she had to pay her ticket herself but Gohan didn't let her, saying that he had promised a date and as a gentlemen (due in thanks to his mother's training), he would pay for all the expenses. Yuna smiled and happily agreed as the two of them boarded the train towards the amusement park.
Once they arrived, Gohan stood in awe at what he was seeing as they arrived at the front entrance of the amusement park. Gohan had never experienced the amusement park but had heard stories about it during his studies and his time at Orange High School. However, as a result of being the Great Saiyaman, he could never really go out much.
"Come on Gohan-kun, let's get our tickets," Yuna said as she grabbed his hand again and pulled him towards the ticket booth.
"R-Right," was all Gohan could mutter. Once at the ticket booth, Gohan paid for two tickets and off they went. Yuna and Gohan arrived at the center of the park where Yuna inspected the giant map of the park to plan on which rides to go on.
"So Gohan-kun, what rides do you like to go on?" Yuna asked.
"Rides?"
"You know, do you like really fast rides? Or do you like the slow ones like the spinning tea cups? Or do you like going through a haunted house – Ooh! Please pick that one!" Yuna explained.
"Hmmm," pondered Gohan. "To tell you the truth, I've never been in an amusement park."
"Really?" Yuna exclaimed.
"Yeah," Gohan said with a sad face. "I guess I am really boring. Sorry if I disappointed you Yuna-san."
Yuna smiled at Gohan's honesty. She was learning something new about Gohan's personality. He would never showboat to anyone, especially to a girl on a date. There aren't many guys like that out there. Yuna was grateful for that fact. "No worries Gohan-kun," Yuna said with a fist pump. "That just means that you will have to be well acquainted with an amusement park. I'll show what fun is." She grabbed his hand and pulled him along. "C'mon!"
Gohan smiled. This was going to be a fun day after all. However, when he looked up to see which ride Yuna was taking him, Gohan started to pale as he witnessed the gigantic roller coaster up ahead.
A few minutes later, Gohan bent down near a lamp post as he tried to recollect his breath. Yuna walked up to him. "Are you okay Gohan-kun?"
"Huh?" responded the shocked the demi-saiyan. How can I answer her? Gohan said to himself. That thing was like a death trap! I have faced aliens, monsters, androids, and other super powered beings with no sweat. But that…that thing almost killed me! "I'm okay Yuna-san," lied Gohan. "I just needed to recollect my breath from all the excitement."
"That's great Gohan-kun," beamed Yuna. "For a second there I thought that you didn't like the ride."
Gohan flinched on how accurate she was. "Are you kidding? That ride was fun!" Gohan let out a nervous laugh.
"Okay then," Yuna said as she help Gohan stand straight. "Let's go to that one then," pointed Yuna to another roller coaster that to Gohan looked even worse than the previous one.
A few hours later…
"Ah, I'm poofed," Yuna said as she took up a chair that was near the rides and sat down. She stretched out her arms and said, "I am having so much fun Gohan-kun! Aren't you?"
"Y-Y-Yeah," said an almost dead Gohan as he took up a chair. Note to self: never go on a roller coaster again! Gohan reminded himself as he tried to look for something else to do that didn't involve roller coasters. He then spotted some shooting stands. "Oi, Yuna-san, why don't we play those games over there?" Gohan asked as he pointed to the stands.
"That's a great idea Gohan-kun," Yuna replied. "It will give us a break from the roller coasters."
"Thank goodness," muttered Gohan as he and Yuna walked up to the stand. The stand was in its normal size as the different prizes were display throughout the inside of the stand.
"Step right up! Play to win!" yelled the stall attendant as he tried to attract potential customers. "All you have to do is throw a ball to the standing cups! You sir!" The attendant pointed to Gohan, who with Yuna was walking by the stall to the other one next to it.
Gohan glanced to each side. "Me?" Gohan asked as he pointed to himself, unsure if the attendant was referring to him.
"Yes, you sir! You look like you have a strong arm!" The attendant compliment Gohan with a savy smile.
"He sure does," Yuna added as she punched Gohan's arm lightly and playfully.
"Why don't you play this great game with that awesome arm?" the attendant asked.
"Well, I don't know about that," Gohan said with an embarrassed face while he scratched the back of his head.
"C'mon Gohan-kun," Yuna said. "I'm sure you will do great."
"Well I…" said Gohan before he saw something shinning in the tent. It caught his attention especially when the object was shining an orange color in front of him. Gohan walked up to the front of the stall and leaned over to get a closer look at the object in question. Upon closer inspection, Gohan noticed the object was rather small, around 7.5 centimeters in diameter. The object in question had a crystalline surface and inside the spherical object, there were four red stars shining within. Gohan turned a bit wide-eyed once he saw the sphere. Isn't that…a Dragon Ball? Gohan exclaimed to himself. "Hey mister, what do I have to do to get that object?" Gohan asked as he pointed to the Dragon Ball.
The attendant turned around and looked at where Gohan was pointing and let out a smirk. Score! He said in thought. "That is a very rare object that I encountered during my travels. It's only one of its kind!"
"What's it called?" Yuna asked, curious about the spherical object.
"I call it…the Orange Ball!" The attendant said with a roar (with the sound effects and the waves crashing behind him). Gohan sweat-dropped. Glad he doesn't know it's a Dragon Ball, Gohan said to himself.
"So what I have to do win this 'Orange Ball'?" Gohan asked.
The attendant smirked. "Let me tell you. Since this object is so rare, that in order to win it, you have to do the hardest, most difficult, almost impossible game ever imagined. I call it…the Point Blank Range Shot Game!"
"The what now?" Yuna said.
The attendant chuckled. "This game is so difficult that even the infamous Robin Hood would have difficulty winning it."
Gohan pondered for a bit. "Okay, I'll take that challenge," Gohan said with his Son grin. "What's the worst thing that could happen?" The attendant let out an evil smirk. Perfect! He said to himself. What a sucker! There is no way that he can win, especially with the way that I set up the game.
"Gohan-kun, I don't think it's a good idea to play this game," Yuna said once she saw the attendant's smirk and thought that something was up. "I mean he says it's really difficult. It could be a trap."
"No worries Yuna-san," Gohan said confidently. "I can do this." Yuna blushed at the sight of his confident smile.
"So where is the target?" Gohan asked the attendant.
"Follow me," the attendant said as he gestured them to follow him as he closed up shop and took the Dragon Ball with him. He then took Gohan and Yuna through the park until finally they reached to the archery range that was in the amusement park. The range wasn't currently being used at the moment, thanks in part to the attendant's connections with the manager of the archery range. Gohan looked around and could tell that the attendant had set up some things for the game.
"Now then, shall we get started?" the attendant said with sly smile.
"Sure," Gohan said with his Son grin, oblivious to the underlying meaning of the attendant's smile. Yuna didn't miss the smile. She knew that there was something fishy about this game. She hoped that Gohan wouldn't feel too bad if he lost since he was showing a lot of confidence.
"All righty then," the attendant responded as he lifted his finger to point. Gohan and Yuna saw that there was a set of cups held in a pyramid and upside down. The cups were metal and were very far to Yuna's perspective. "You see those cups over there?" Gohan and Yuna nodded. "What you have to do is hit that pyramid and make all the cups fall down. Plus you have only one shot to do it with."
"What?" Yuna yelled. "That's not fair! It's impossible to hit that with only one strike!"
"I'm just telling the rules," the attendant said. "You don't have to do it if you don't want to."
"Is that it?" Gohan asked. "That's all I have to do?"
The attendant flinched as he was surprised by Gohan's reaction. Yuna's reaction was expected but Gohan's was completely different. Many times, contestants would protest like no other. And now, here stood Gohan who didn't protest. The attendant collected himself before he lost his cool. "O-Of course! What else could you have expected?"
"Well I thought it was going to be a bit more challenging than that," Gohan deadpanned. "I mean, you said it was difficult."
The attendant clenched his fists in anger. But within in a moment, he inhaled, calming himself down. I see, he said to himself. He is trying to do reverse psychology on me. By trying to say that the course isn't difficult, he was going to get me nervous and think that he could possibly win. Nice try asshole, but it won't work on me. "Whatever you say," the attendant said. "So why don't we get this game going?"
Gohan nodded and proceeded to collect the only ball that the attendant brought to play the game. Yuna held her hands together, worried that Gohan would lose. But somewhere, in the back of her mind, there was a thought that Gohan was going to win however unlikely. Gohan walked up to the edge and turned towards the attendant. "From here?" Gohan asked.
The attendant nodded. "Sure." The attendant smiled as he laughed to himself in his mind. The plan was going to have Gohan fail which then Gohan would ask for another try. The attendant would then charge more than extra for another shot, until Gohan would run out of money, leaving the attendant filthy rich. It always worked.
Gohan pulled his arm back and in a quick second, he threw the ball at a quick speed that caught the attendant and Yuna by surprise. Well, more specifically, the attendant with his eyes popping out of his sockets at the speed of Gohan's throw and also the fact that Gohan hit the metal cup pyramid and all the cups fell down. He couldn't believe it!
"So did I win?" Gohan asked. The attendant flinched. No one was that accurate! Something must have been done to the ball. Maybe it was too new.
"W-Well that was a practice round," the attendant lied.
"What? But you said there was going to be only one throw," Yuna protested.
"I did? Well maybe you heard me wrong," the attendant responded. "I just wanted to check the distance of your throw and now I am going to change it."
Gohan blinked a few times before he said anything. "Sure."
"Okay, I will be right back," the attendant said as he went ahead to pick up the cups and move the table farther away. That was just a lucky shot, he said to himself. I better take out the Slimer if I am going to achieve this. He took a ball from his pouch. The ball looked very rugged and old. There were a couple of slimes all over the ball. Plus it was green. I can't believe that I have to take out the Slimer. I only use it when the player has some serious skill at the stand, but not here. However this time, it won't be so easy for him. I will win for sure.
"All set," the attendant yelled as he set up the cups again and walked over towards where Gohan and Yuna were waiting patiently. "Now this is the real round. The same rules as before but this time, you are going to use this ball," the attendant said as he showed the ball to Gohan and Yuna. Yuna was immediately disgusted at the sight of the ball, not wanting to touch it at all. That was the reaction that the attendant expected from people but with Gohan, the man wasn't showing that emotion. He just simply looked at the ball.
"Okay," Gohan said, catching Yuna and the attendant by surprise. Gohan then grabbed the ball and immediately felt the sliminess surrounding the ball. It was at its last usage. This shouldn't too much of a problem, Gohan said to himself as he walked up to the same spot where he threw the first ball. The attendant smiled. This time for sure, Gohan won't hit the cups with ease like last time.
Gohan pulled his arm back and threw the ball with quick speed. The attendant expected the ball to slip away from Gohan's hand and go off target, but instead he was met with a huge surprise. The ball sailed through the range and hit the cups with precision and power, causing all the cups to fall over like last time. The attendant's eyes popped out of his sockets. He couldn't believe it! "N-No way," he muttered.
"All right Gohan-kun!" Yuna yelled happily. Gohan had his Son grin on his face as he gave the thumbs up.
"Looks like I won," Gohan said. However, he gave a few blinks when he saw the attendant with his knees on the ground crying a bit. He had a depressive aura surrounding him. "Mister?"
The attendant stood up and pointed at Gohan angrily. "Y-Y-You cheated!"
"Huh?"
"There is no way that you could have hit those cups with the Slimer! There is no one who could have hit it! You definitely cheated!"
"Gohan-kun won fair and square," Yuna said. "Stop being a sore loser."
The attendant growled as he clenched his teeth in rage. "You definitely cheated. We are going to try again and this time you won't win so easily."
Yuna had enough. She walked over to the attendant and gave him a good smacking on the head with her heavy purse, knocking him out. Gohan flinched. "Y-Y-Yuna-san!"
Yuna grabbed the Dragon Ball and gave it to Gohan. "Gohan-kun, you won fair and square," Yuna said with a smile. "There is no way a guy like you could have cheated."
Gohan blushed a bit. "T-Thanks Yuna-san," he said.
Yuna smiled brightly. "No problem," Yuna said. "However I am curious to how you were able to do that."
Gohan let out a nervous laugh. "I don't know," Gohan lied. It was because of Piccolo's training and the fact that even Goten could have hit that…when he was five years old! Gohan said to himself.
"Well, let's get going Gohan-kun," Yuna said, "before that guy wakes up." Yuna then grabbed Gohan's hand and pulled him along.
"R-R-Right," Gohan said.
After a few minutes walking away from the archery range, Gohan had a huge grin on his face as the glow from Dragon Ball emanated on his face as he looked at it. Yuna blushed at the sight, enamored by Gohan's face. But she was curious to why Gohan went through all that trouble for an object like that? What was it? Before she could say anything, she was interrupted when Gohan's stomach let out a grumble. He wasn't the only one as Yuna's stomach let out a grumble too, albeit a small one compared to Gohan's. The area around them was silent, but it was broken when the two of started to laugh. "Why don't we get something to eat?" Gohan said.
"That is a great idea Gohan-kun," Yuna said. "But are you sure you have enough money to spend on, especially with your appetite?"
"Sure," Gohan replied. "I'll be fine. You just wait here; I'll bring back the food." Yuna nodded in response as she went over to the fountain while Gohan went looking for a restaurant to order some food. He walked around a bit until finally he found one and proceeded to enter inside.
The restaurant was similar to that of a local McDonalds in both in structure and the food that they served. Gohan thanked the heavens for the cheap fast food joint (even though they are bad for your health). As he stood in line, he was hearing a noise that was coming from a certain direction. It sounded like a TV. Gohan looked up and saw on the monitor a news report. He turned his head to listen in.
"I am standing in front of the Tongari Tower in the busiest section of the Mahora District where an old man has climbed the tower and has threatened to kill himself," said the reporter. Gohan turned wide-eyed. Someone needed saving! "The police have been unable to convince the man to come down from the tower. As we wait for the rescue squad to come in, who will be able to convince this man to live on?" Me, that's who, Gohan said to himself as he got out of the line and quickly exited out of the restaurant.
Once outside, Gohan glanced each side as he walked to the nearest alleyway to hide from suspecting eyes. "It's hero time," muttered the demi-saiyan as he pulled his sleeve up to reveal his special watch. "Transform!" Gohan clicked a button on the watch and in a bright flash of light, he had transformed into the Great Saiyaman. "Alright, the Great Saiyaman is ready for action," said Gohan as he started to some ridiculous poses and then lifted off into the air and towards the tower.
At the Tongari Tower…
The Tongari Tower stood tall in the Mahora district. The tower looked similar to the Tokyo tower but it was smaller than its counterpart. The residents wanted the city to have a familiar feel to that of Tokyo. Their goal was to bring more people into the city and it worked. Now the tower served as a TV antenna as well as other functions such as telephone tower. The tower was essential to the district. Usually the residents would ignore the tower since they see it every day, however today was different.
The crowd looked at the top of the tower where there saw a person on a ledge, ready to commit suicide. People were curious to know who it was and upon looking closer, the person in question was a pink old man wearing priest robes and a large black hat. It was the same old man that Yuna had seen earlier in the day. The old man leaned at one of the beams, ready to take the plunge. "Just leave me alone!" screamed the pink old man. "My hopes and dreams are all gone! I'm going to jump from here to my death!"
Down below, the crowd murmured at the sight they were seeing. Some were saying the usual things while others…well, let's just say that they find these scenarios funny or very inappropriate. "Oh my God!" yelled a woman as she shrieked in seeing someone about to commit suicide.
"Oh no!" shouted a spectator in the crowd.
"Do a flip!" yelled someone in the crowd. This was the kind of guy who was a jerk to his co-workers.
"Hey, that's the old guy that was carrying on about some music box on TV earlier," murmured someone to their friend in the crowd.
"Yeah."
"It's that strange old man, huh?" murmured someone else behind them as they all looked at the tower, more specifically at where the old man was at. Then a sound boomed across the area. The crowd looked around to see where the noise was coming from.
Then someone noticed a shadow on the ground. He looked up and had a big smile on his face. "Oh, it's the Great Saiyaman!"
The crowd responded to the call as they all looked up to see Gohan or rather…the Great Saiyaman flying to the rescue and help bring down the old man from the ledge. The crowd was emphatic! People started calling out to Gohan:
"Saiyaman!"
"We're counting on you!"
"Save him!"
Up at the tower, the old man continued to scream out, but had his eyes closed. "Whoever may come up here, I'm not coming down!" Because he had his eyes closed, he couldn't see Gohan come up towards him. Once he felt that there was a shadow looming over him, he opened his eyes to see Gohan, disguised as the Great Saiyaman, floating before him. Normally, people would freak out about seeing a flying man like Gohan but the old man didn't show any of that emotion.
Gohan didn't think about the reaction. He was more worried about the situation at hand. Normally he would have waited for Takane to show up and help out. They made a really good team for Justice. But Takane was nowhere in sight, probably because it was Golden Week. Regardless, Gohan put his attention to the old man as he lent out his hand to pull the old man away from the edge. "Oji-san, it's dangerous up here! Come on down with me!"
"Go away!" the old man yelled. "I want to die!"
"You don't want to do that," Gohan said as he tried to calm the old man down.
"Yes I do!" yelled back the old man.
"No you don't," Gohan said sternly as a nervous sweat slid down on the side of his face. Even though he was a super hero, Gohan didn't have much experience in being a negotiator with people wanting to jump off.
"All right, watch this!" yelled the old man as he let go the beam and jumped from the ledge.
"Y-You're kidding!" Gohan yelled. The crowd held their breath as they saw the old man jump off. Everyone gaped at the scene.
As he was falling down, the old man, instead of being calm of falling down to his death, was moving around with a panic. "SAVE ME!" He yelled at the top of his lungs. And before he fell to his death, Gohan came in with his super speed and saved the old man before he could fall any further.
The crowd cheered at Gohan's act. "He did it!" yelled most of the people in the crowd.
Above in the sky, Gohan carried the old man in his arms. He looked down and saw that the old man had his eyes closed. "Are you all right?" Gohan asked.
The old man opened his eyes and growled in anger. "Couldn't you have saved me sooner?" the old man yelled angrily. "What if I had died?"
Gohan blinked twice at the old man's rant. "What a strange old man…" he muttered as he flew through the skies. He was about to leave the old man on the street, but before he could do it, the old man said something that stopped Gohan from dropping him off.
"Tapion would have saved me much earlier," the old man said, catching Gohan's attention.
"Tapion? Who is that?" Gohan asked.
The old man smirked. "Wouldn't you like to know? If you take me where you were originally coming from, I can tell you more."
Gohan pondered a bit. "Sure," he responded. "But I am going to have to take off my disguise so I don't want you to tell anyone that I am the Great Saiyaman. Also I am with a friend of mine so don't mention anything that you were at the tower."
The old man smiled innocently. "Sure, I understand." Gohan nodded and changed directions as he headed back towards the amusement park where Yuna waited for him patiently.
Back at the water fountain in the amusement park…
Yuna sat at the edge of the fountain, waiting patiently for Gohan to bring back the food. She checked her watch, noticing that Gohan was getting late with the food. "He's late," Yuna muttered. Maybe the line was very long. I wonder what's keeping him. But as soon as she said that to herself, she noticed a figure in the distance. It was Son Gohan! "Gohan-kun!" Yuna smiled as she got up, waving at the object of her affections. But then she noticed something odd. Though Gohan was carrying a large tray of food, which was normal, he was walking along with someone else. A small pink old man. Yuna turned a bit wide-eyed as she remembered that it was the same old man that she had seen earlier.
"Yuna-san!" Gohan waved back with his empty hand as he walked up to Yuna with the old man in tow. "I'm sorry that took so long. The line was incredibly long."
"That's okay Gohan-kun," Yuna said. She was looking at the pink old man and wondered why he was here. "Gohan-kun, who is this?"
"Oh him, he's…" Gohan said as he tried to think up of a good excuse, "he's a friend of the Great Saiyaman!" The pink old man looked at Gohan while sweat-dropping a bit, thinking Is that the best you could come up with?
"Really?" Yuna asked.
"Yeah," Gohan nodded. "Great Saiyaman told me to look out for him. When I was exiting out of the restaurant, he came by to leave ummm…"
"Hoi," the pink old man whispered.
"Hoi-san in my care while he took care of some things in the city," Gohan said with a nervous smile, hoping that Yuna had bought the excuse. Hoi thought it was going to be helpless. How much of an idiot could you be to accept that?
"Okay," Yuna responded quickly, catching Hoi by surprise. "I trust you Gohan-kun." Hoi pondered why this girl was so willing to trust Gohan. It must be because she is in love with the boy, Hoi said to himself.
"Good," Gohan said. "So why don't we eat? I'm starving!" Yuna giggled as she and Gohan sat down on the edge of the fountain and started to eat. Gohan looked up to Hoi. "So who is this Tapion that you were referring to before?" Gohan asked as he remembered that Hoi had mentioned something about Tapion or Tapioca or something like that.
"You don't know about the hero Tapion?" Hoi asked as he took a seat next to Gohan.
"No," replied the demi-saiyan as he took another bite of his food.
"How unfortunate," Hoi said. "Imagine, not knowing about the legendary hero, who saved Planet Conuts in the Southern Galaxy a thousand years ago…"
"I sure would like to meet him," Gohan sighed.
"Wouldn't you, though?" Hoi said, catching Gohan's interest.
"Can I meet him?" Gohan said with a happy look on his face. If someone from the Z senshi could have seen Gohan right now, they would have thought he and Goku had traded places. The expression on Gohan's face was like that of Goku when there was a strong opponent to face.
"I'd like to let you meet him, but I can't," Hoi replied as he took the old looking music box. "Unfortunately, the hero Tapion is sealed up inside this mysterious music box."
"Inside there?" Gohan asked innocently. "If he's a hero, then why…?"
"Once the hero is revived, you will understand everything," Hoi said with a grin. Yuna saw that the grin was unusual. This was bad news.
"Gohan-kun, let's hurry and get back," Yuna said as she tried to pull Gohan away from the old man since she had already finished eating. She wanted to go back to their date and also, for some reason, she felt something weird coming from the pink old man.
"Just a moment Yuna-san!" Gohan said as he stopped Yuna from pulling him. He brought his attention back to the old man's comments. "Oji-san, what do you mean?"
"According to my sharp instincts, there is a crisis closing in on Earth!" Hoi said with conviction.
"A crisis on Earth?" Gohan exclaimed.
"An enormous evil, one that will destroy the universe, is approaching Earth!" Hoi explained. "That is why we need the power of the hero, Tapion, right now! For that reason, I have spent thirty years searching for this music box."
Yuna sighed. This was getting nowhere and most of this stuff sounded like a bunch of crap. "Then you could just hurry up and revive him, couldn't you?" Yuna said bluntly.
"I would do that, if I could!" Hoi exclaimed angrily.
"You can't do it?" Gohan asked.
"Can you turn this?" Hoi responded as he gave Gohan the music box, pointing to the lever on the side.
"This?"
"If you can get the music box to play, the hero Tapion will be revived," Hoi explained.
"Oh yeah?" Yuna said. This old man was seriously getting on her nerves, especially the part on a crisis approaching the Earth which she didn't believe. "Why didn't you say so sooner?" But while she argued with Hoi, Gohan kept on trying to turn the lever.
"It won't move…" Gohan said as he struggled to move the lever. It was giving him a difficult time. For someone with super strength like Gohan, this lever wasn't bugging at all. Hoi grinned. "W-Why won't it?
"Let me see that a minute," Yuna said. She grabbed the music box, inspecting the box itself without moving the lever. She looked at the lever and made her conclusion. "This thing is rusted," Yuna explained as she throws the box away, not caring about it at all.
Hoi dove down, trying to catch the music box before it hit the ground. He juggled it a couple of times until finally the box was safe in his hands. "Miss! How could you do that?"
"Let's go, Gohan-kun," Yuna said as she threw out the garbage and went on ahead, trying to pry Gohan away from the crazy pink old man.
"Oh, Yuna-san!" Gohan said as he threw his large batch of garbage and went to catch up with Yuna before Hoi interrupted his path with a particular word.
"Shen Long!"
"Huh?"
"Please introduce me to Shen Long!" Hoi begged.
"Shen Long?" Gohan said.
"Please have Shen Long revive the hero Tapion! I beg of you!"
"Gohan-kun, what is he talking about?" asked Yuna. "Who is this Shen Long?" But Gohan didn't respond to her question as he looked sternly to the old man, Hoi.
"Oji-san, how do you…?" Gohan asked sternly.
"I discovered that you people have had dealings with Shen Long during my investigations," begged the pink old man. "Please…This is my lifelong wish…!"
"Then, that commotion earlier was just an act to call me out?" Gohan muttered.
"You found me out, huh?" Hoi laughed with an innocent grin.
Later in the day, at Eva's cottage…
"Aww man, I can't believe that Yuna-san is mad at me," Gohan said as he walked side by side with Hoi. "Earth maybe threatened! Of course this takes priority. I wished I could have explained it to her though. I am going to have to make it up to her somehow."
"Are you interested in that girl?" Hoi asked.
"No!" Gohan said as he waved his hands in protest. "She is a student of mine and I promised her that I would go on a date with her as a prize for this game that they played during the school trip."
"Mmmm," Hoi pondered. "It is not my place to say anything, but you like this girl don't you?"
"What?" Gohan exclaimed with a blush. "No, I like everyone in my class. They are my friends!" Hoi sweat-dropped a bit. Is he dense or what? Hoi wondered but he decided to drop the subject. The two of them continued to walk down the path.
"So where are we going?" Hoi asked.
"Well, there is someone that I want to try to see if we can move that music box," Gohan replied. "Hopefully she is cooperative." As they continued to walk down, they saw a bright light appear ahead of them, with Negi standing before it.
"EVOCEM TE!" chanted Negi.
"Hey, Negi-san!" waved Gohan to Negi.
"Gohan-san!" Negi flinched, surprised to see Gohan here. "Hey! What're you doing here?"
"I came to see Evangeline-san to ask about something," Gohan replied. "What are you doing Negi-san?"
"Well I…" But before Negi could finish, a stark naked, Asuna appeared in the circle of light, holding a towel on one hand and her bear panties on the other. "Agh!" exclaimed Negi. Gohan meanwhile was blushing red like a tomato. Hoi, however, was unresponsive.
Asuna turned around, blushing like crazy in seeing Gohan before her. "Go...ha…" She started to tremble, tears welling in her eyes at the embarrassing scene. "NNNOOOO!" cried Asuna.
"I-I'm sorry-y-y…" Negi pleaded forgiveness but was unsuccessful. Asuna gave Negi a huge bonk on the head as she rushed back to the dormitories or somewhere she could find some clothes and hide away her shame of being naked in front of Gohan. "Now she's more mad…" commented Negi as he tried to heal the bump on his head.
"Ummm…" Gohan said, "Maybe I should have called earlier." Hoi, sweat-dropped at the sight. What is it with these people?
While Negi was nursing his wound, he noticed that there was someone next to Gohan. "Gohan-san, who is that next to you?"
"Ah! Right," Gohan nodded, "his name is Hoi. I saved him earlier today and there is something that I wanted to check with Evangeline about this music box."
"Huh? Music Box?" Negi blinked a few times.
"It's a long story," Gohan said. "Why don't we go inside?" Negi nodded in agreement as the three of them went inside Eva's cottage.
A few minutes later…
"Hmm…interesting," Eva said. Gohan had just explained what Hoi had told him earlier about the music box and about the hero Tapion. "So what you are saying is that there is a hero inside this old decrepit box?"
"That's right," Hoi said with a nervous sweat sliding down along his face. For some reason, he felt very nervous with the Dark Mage.
"So what are you going to do Evangeline-san?" Gohan asked.
"Isn't it obvious assistant," Eva replied as she went outside with Konoka, Setsuna, Hakase, Chachamaru, Negi, Hoi and Gohan following her. She then set the box on the ground and walked away from it, putting some distance between her and the object. She then put her hand out and chanted a dark spell. Out of the palm of her hand came a dark orb of magic that put Hoi a little nervous. The orb hit the music box, causing a small explosion that made everyone cover up their eyes.
Everyone thought that the box would be opened or destroyed because of that blast. However, when the smoke went away, the music box was still intact. "Tsk, annoying box," snarled Eva. She put out her hand to try again once more. However she was stopped by Hoi as he stepped in front of Eva's hand. "Out of my way old man!"
"I can't let you destroy that box," Hoi said with an expression that sent shivers down Eva's spine, catching her by surprise. No one has ever sent shivers to her ever except for Nagi Sringfield. Who was this pink old man?
"Fine then, do whatever you want," Eva said as she walked back to her cottage.
Gohan let out a sigh. "It was worth a shot." He then noticed Hakase walking over to the music box, giving it an inspection.
"But doesn't this give credibility to what Hoi-san said?" Negi asked.
"Mmmmm," Hakase muttered as she closely inspected it. "I don't know Negi-sensei. Chachamaru if you please."
"Yes," responded the robot girl as she walked over to Hakase and knelt down next to her. Hakase then took out some cords from Chachamaru's back and began to plug it onto the music box. She then connected her laptop to Chachamaru and did some typing.
"Negi-san, is it alright with Hakase-san?" Gohan asked. "I mean, is she trustworthy?"
"According to Eva-chan," Konoka said, "Hakase built Chachamaru."
"Really?" Gohan asked. Hakase continued to type but let out a sigh which caught everyone's attention.
"What do you think Hakase-san?" Setsuna asked.
"It's no good," Hakase replied with a disappointed voice. "I can't seem to see what is inside the box. I would need some advance equipment that the Mahora Research Department doesn't have at the moment."
"Where could you find some?" Negi asked.
"I don't know really," Hakase said. "You would have to find someone especially high up, like say the head of the Capsule Corporation."
"You mean Bulma-san?" Gohan said which immediately caught everyone's attention, especially Hakase's.
"What did you say Gohan-sensei?" Hakase asked.
"I mean, you said someone like the head of the Capsule Corporation could help out and I thought about Bulma-san," Gohan said.
"Gohan-sensei, are you talking about Bulma Brief?" Hakase asked, with a strange look on her face.
"Yeah, who else would I be talking about," Gohan deadpanned. He looked around, seeing everyone looking at him strangely, especially Hakase and Chachamaru. "What? Did I say something wrong?"
"Gohan-sensei…you know Bulma?" Everyone yelled except for Negi.
"Yeah, she is a family friend," Gohan said with his Son grin on his face. Hakase then walked up to Gohan. She looked up and had the biggest puppy eyes ever seen which caught Gohan by surprise.
"Please take me with you!" Hakase shouted excitedly as she hugged Gohan hard, catching a few jealous glares from Konoka and Setsuna. "I really want to meet Bulma-sama!
"O-O-Okay," Gohan said nervously, unsure why Hakase was hugging him. "Then let's leave tomorrow morning while we still have a break."
"Right," Hakase nodded.
"Ummm…Gohan-san…can I come along too?" Negi asked.
"Sure! After all, I wanted you to meet my friends," Gohan said.
"We are going too!" yelled Konoka as she raised her hand up and grabbing Setsuna with her free arm.
"But Ojou-sama…"
"Se-chan don't you want to go?" Konoka said with an unusual grin that said if Setsuna said no, she would meet certain death. The grin was very uncharacteristic of Konoka's personality which caught Setsuna by surprise. Like people say, never stop a woman in love.
"Yes," Setsuna muttered.
"Great, let's get going then!" Konoka yelled excitedly. Gohan let out a sigh. It was going to be a long trip.
The next day at Metro West…
"Well, here we are," Gohan said with a smile. A stampede noise was heard in the background as Gohan got off the train.
"METRO WEST! HERE WE COME!" yelled everyone from Class-3A as they exited excitedly from the train, looking at the sight of Metro West.
"Ugh, again why is everyone from the class here?" Gohan asked Negi who was walking beside the demi-saiyan.
"Well Gohan-kun, the moment Kazumi and Haruna-san found out about it, it was all over," Chizuru commented.
"Yeah, I know," Gohan muttered.
"Tsk, the longer we wait, the more dangerous it will become for Earth," Hoi commented, obviously pissed that Gohan had brought along an entire entourage, impeding their mission. "We need to resurrect Tapion as quickly as possible."
"I understand Hoi-san," responded Gohan. "But don't worry, we are going to head over to Bulma-san's place as quickly as possible. Plus I asked my Dad, Goten and some friends to come and help us."
"How'd I end up here, though?" Asuna commented.
"Because you have time off from your paper-routes," Konoka said. "And besides, didn't you want to spend some time with Gohan-kun?"
"O-Of course not!" Asuna shouted with a blush. "Who would want to spend time with a dark haired baka like him?" Asuna walked a little bit more and noticed that Negi was standing in front of her. Before Negi could say anything, Asuna turned the other way with an 'Hmph' sound. Negi gloomed.
Gohan let out a sigh. Setsuna had explained to him what had happened between Negi and Asuna. Sometimes Negi-san, you act like a ten-year old, Gohan said to himself, causing him to chuckle a bit. He had forgotten that Negi was ten years old since sometimes Negi would act much more mature than his age. Like Gohan was when he was around that age.
Gohan smiled. He then saw Yuna walk by him and tried to catch her attention. "Yuna-san!"
Yuna stopped and turned her head a bit to see who had called her. Once she realized who it was, she quickly turned her head around and ignored the demi-saiyan. A depressive gloom appeared over Gohan's head. "She is still angry at me," Gohan muttered as he collected himself. Right now, he had to take everyone to the Bulma's house. Well, more specifically to the Capsule Corporation building.
After a few minutes of walking, the group had finally reached the building. Everyone stood in awe at the building. It was a large semi-round rounded that was about 10 stories high. The building was colored in yellow and had the Capsule Corporation Insignia on the side. Hakase was trembling with excitement at the chance to meet Bulma, her idol.
Gohan let out a smile. "All right everyone, let's go in." Everyone nodded in agreement as they went inside the building.
A few minutes later, after talking with the secretary at the entrance, Gohan and the group were allowed inside the house. They reached to the lobby which grabbed everyone's attention. Let's just say it wasn't your typical lobby. The lobby was a beautiful garden with fountains and animals all around. Some of the girls went on ahead and played, Negi included. Gohan smiled at the sight.
"Hi Gohan-kun." Gohan flinched and turned around to see a familiar person. Everyone in the class turned their attention towards the direction of the voice to see a woman in their midst. She had short blue hair and round shaped-earrings and wore a dark green dress.
"Hi Bulma-san!" waved Gohan.
"Bulma?" Everyone exclaimed except for those who knew that Gohan knew the head of the Capsule Corporation. All the girls started to murmur to each other about how Gohan keeps knowing these celebrities. First Videl, the daughter of Mister Satan and now Bulma Brief!
"Gohan-kun, how are you doing?" Bulma asked as she walked up to the demi-saiyan with a cigarette in hand. "You brought some company along with you."
"Heh heh heh sorry about that," Gohan said. "They kind of followed me once word spread out." Gohan whispered the last part. "I was hoping you could keep some of them busy."
"Sure Gohan-kun, I know the perfect idea for them," Bulma said with a smile. She walked up to the front of the group. She put away her cigarette and cleared her voice. "Hello, I'm Bulma Brief, nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you Bulma-san!" The girls replied as they all bowed hello to Bulma. Bulma smiled as she noticed that some of the girls were bowing differently than others. Probably had to do with something that Chichi had taught them, Bulma said to herself. Chichi had told her about the visit to Gohan's place and meeting with his students. She enjoyed all of it especially the part with the food competition. Like father, like son she said at that time.
"Well, girls I just finished with a beach simulator in the other room," Bulma said. "Would you girls like to try it?" Some of the girls looked at each other, wondering to see if they should take up on Bulma's offer. "I am also providing some cute swimsuits that will surely capture a boy's heart." Right there, hell broke loose as most of the girls went speeding off towards the simulation room. Negi, Asuna, Setsuna, Chamo and Gohan had all sweat-dropped at the scene.
Bulma giggled. "Well, that takes care of that. Gohan-kun, everyone is already in the laboratory."
Gohan nodded. "Right, let's go you guys." Gohan mentioned Asuna, Konoka, Setsuna, Negi, and Hakase to follow him. As they walked along the corridors of the house, the group was in awe at the place. Hakase was trembling with nervousness in seeing Bulma, her idol, in person and she was right in front of her. She really wanted to learn more from Bulma; however she was going to have to wait until their business with the music box was over.
Gohan looked around the place as he sensed the different ki signatures in the house. He immediately recognized his dad and Goten among a few others like Kuririn, Goku's best friend, Trunks, Bulma's son and Muten Roshi. Gohan gulped. He hoped that Roshi wouldn't try anything perverted when he came in the room with the girls as he looked back at them. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to leave the girls in his care, Gohan said to himself. Then he noticed a figure walking towards their position.
This said person was 5'3" tall. He was wearing normal gym clothes which was a blue shirt with some sweat pants and white boots, similar to those of Gohan's disguise. What was interesting to everyone though was that his dark hair stood firmly upwards, featuring a prominent widow's peak. Gohan waved to the figure. "Hi Vegeta-san."
Vegeta gave a scoffing sound as he walked by the demi-saiyan and his group. He did however look at Negi for a moment and muttered, "What does Kakarotto see in that brat?"
Once he was gone, the group wondered what that was all about. "What's his deal? And who was he?" Setsuna said.
"Oh don't mind Vegeta, he is always like that," Bulma said as she continued to walk ahead. "Especially after he has trained in the gravity chamber."
"Gravity chamber?" Negi asked.
"It's a long story," Gohan replied. "But in answering your question Setsuna-san, that was Vegeta-san."
"Vegeta…I remember you mentioned him before Gohan-sensei," Setsuna said.
"That's right I did. Remember when I told you guys that Vegeta-san and my Dad were only the two full-blooded Saiyans left?" The group nodded except for Hakase who was too busy looking around to pay attention to their conversation. "Well, Vegeta-san is the Prince of the Saiyan race."
A few seconds of silence passed by, until finally… "What?"
"That guy was a prince?" Asuna asked.
"Yup. He and Dad are rivals," Gohan said.
"Wow, this gets weirder and weirder," Asuna muttered.
Bulma, Gohan and the group continued to walk along the corridors until they finally reached the laboratory where there were some familiar faces present. Asuna, Konoka, Setsuna and Negi immediately recognized Goku and Goten, though both of them were dressed differently. Goku was wearing a similar dogi that he had worn during the visit but there was no Kame sign on the front or back. Goten, meanwhile, was wearing a white tank top with brown pants and a black belt. But there were some unfamiliar faces present though.
"Onii-chan!" screamed Goten as he came rushing in to hug Gohan. Gohan this time was prepared for it.
"How are you doing Goten?" Gohan asked.
"Good, Trunks-kun and me just played Showdown," Goten said with a grin. Gohan responded in kind as well, though the group was confused on what Goten meant by showdown.
"So who won?" Gohan asked.
"I did," said the little purple haired boy. He wore a blue shirt that said Capsule Corporation on it as well as white pants. He also wore golden boots, those common by people of the Capsule Corporation.
"You cheated Trunks!" Goten protested to Trunks. "You said no using Super Saiyan but you did it anyways."
"Well whatever," Trunks said. "You got to keep some of my toys anyways so why are complaining so much?" Goten pouted so more. Everyone in the room laughed together except for Negi, Asuna, and Setsuna. The group turned a bit wide-eyed once they heard the word 'Super Saiyan' come out from Trunks' mouth.
"Gohan-sensei, did that boy just say Super Saiyan?" Setsuna asked.
"Yeah, both of them can turn Super Saiyan, why do you ask?" Gohan deadpanned. Setsuna and Asuna sweat-dropped and thought, What kind of people are these?
"So Gohan, who those girls you brought along with you? Are they your girlfriends?" said the small dark haired man. He wore a red shirt with besiege pants along with white wristbands and black shoes.
"No Kuririn-san!" Gohan exclaimed with a blush. "Some of them are my students, but mostly they are my friends. Let me introduce them. This is Asuna-san, Konoka-san, Setsuna-san, Negi-san, and Hoi-san. Guys these are my friends."
"How do you do?" All of them politely bowed towards the group.
"So Gohan, why did you call of us up?" Goku asked bluntly.
"Well, let me have Hoi-san explain what is going on," Gohan as he motioned to Hoi who began to explain the story of Tapion and the mysterious music box. As he explained the story, Bulma took the music box and began to scan it to see if she could see what was inside. Hakase came up next to her to see if she could help Bulma in any way possible as well as having the opportunity in working with Bulma in person. Goten and Trunks continuously looked at the box being scanned with curious faces, fascinated by the fact that there was a hero in there.
A few minutes had passed and Hoi had just finished the story. Everyone in the room began to ponder on the possibility of there being a hero inside the music box. "Ji-san, you wouldn't be telling us a fish story, right?" Kuririn asked.
"Yeah, don't you think so, too?" Asuna said. Before she had come here, Konoka and Gohan had explained to her what the story was with the music box. Apparently on the way here, Asuna and Hoi had gotten into an argument about the validity of Hoi's assertions, primarily dealing with the world coming to an end by an evil being.
"Miss, are you still saying that?" Hoi retorted. "There isn't a moment to lose. If we don't hurry and revive the hero Tapion, Earth is going to be destroyed."
"It's no use," Bulma said as she opened the scanner, unable to scan anything. "I can't trace out what's inside. It looks like it's made of some kind of special material."
Goku grabbed the box and tried to pull the lever like Gohan had tried to do before. And like Gohan, Goku was having trouble as well. He struggled until finally he said, "Yow. I can't do it."
"If not even Goku can handle it, then I guess it's not completely bogus," Kuririn said with a smile. Setsuna looked at him curiously. Is Goku-san really strong? Setsuna wondered.
"Is this guy strong?" Goku asked.
"Of course," replied the pink old man. "He is a hero, after all."
Goku let out a smile. "Is that so? Yosh…what do you say we look for the Dragon Balls?"
"Right!" Everyone nodded in agreement except for Asuna, Konoka, Setsuna and Negi, whom looked at the Z senshi weirdly.
"Dragon Balls?" All of asked in unison.
"Let me explain," Gohan said, grabbing the group's attention. He pulled out of his pocket the Si Xing Qui ball.
"Gohan, I didn't know you had caught the Si Xing Qui ball," Goku said with a smile.
"Yeah, I just got it recently," Gohan responded as Asuna, Konoka, Setsuna, and Negi inspected the ball closely.
"So why are you showing us this ball?" Asuna asked.
"This is known as a Dragon Ball. It was an object created by Kami-sama to grant wishes," Gohan said.
"Grant wishes?" exclaimed the four of them.
"That's right. They are objects of great power. But the only way to have the wish granted is to collect seven dragon balls," Gohan explained. "Once all seven are collected, we get to summon Shen Long, a colossal being able to grant us two wishes."
"If this is able to grant wishes, then why haven't people looked for them?" Setsuna asked. "This is first time that I have heard about it." Negi, Konoka, and Asuna nodded in agreement.
"That's because they are very hard to find," Gohan said. "But thanks to Bulma-san's Dragon Radar, we are able to locate them with ease, like this." Gohan then showed the four of them the Dragon Radar, a watch-looking object with a switch at the top. Gohan pressed the switch where yellow dots appeared on the screen, one very near them. "Dragon Balls emit a faint electromagnetic pulse which only the radar can detect. It then points arrows in the directions of nearby Dragon Balls."
"I see," Negi said.
"Good," Goku said. "Now who should we pair up with? I'll take the Oji-san."
"I'll go with Gohan-kun!" Konoka said as she grabbed Gohan's arm, causing him to blush. Kuririn looked at his friend with a sly smile and a thumbs up.
"Then that means that Asuna-san and Negi-san will go…"
"No!" Asuna interrupted. "I won't go with Negi. I'll go with Goku-san and the Oji-san."
Negi gloomed. She was still mad at him. How am I going to get her to forgive me? Negi wondered. "Negi-kun, why don't you come with us?" Goten asked.
"Yeah that's right! Goten said that you were pretty strong!" Trunks added causing Negi to blush a bit in embarrassment.
Kuririn then stood next to Setsuna and said, "Well, I'll go with…Setsuna right?"
Setsuna nodded. "Hai."
"All right it's settled! Let's go find some Dragon Balls!" Goku exclaimed as he fistpumped the air.
"Right!"
Outside the Capsule Corporation…
Everyone flew off into the distance based on the direction where the Dragon Balls were located. Goku took Hoi in his arms while Asuna was on top of his back, holding on his neck. Negi flew with his staff alongside Goten and Trunks. Kuririn carried Setsuna on his back. Meanwhile, Gohan and Konoka were outside of Bulma's house. Konoka saw that Asuna and Setsuna were being carried and hoped that Gohan would do the same.
"You ready Konoka-san?" Gohan asked. Konoka nodded. "Good…KINTO'UN!" screamed Gohan in the air, catching Konoka by surprise. Konoka blinked a few times, wondering why Gohan had screamed out like that. Then suddenly a noise was heard in the distance. Konoka looked up and saw a yellow cloud approaching towards their position. Why is there a cloud approaching us? Konoka wondered. The cloud sped down towards them and suddenly stopped in front of them.
"Hey Kinto'un how are you?" Gohan said to the cloud. He then turned around to Konoka, who had a curious look on her face. "Don't worry, Kinto'un won't bite. He is very friendly. Why don't you get on it?"
"Huh?"
Gohan smiled. It was an obvious reaction considering that yellow cloud was standing before them. "Konoka-san, trust me on this. Ride Kinto'un."
"O-O-Okay," Konoka responded nervously as she walked up to the cloud. She gulped and took a deep breath. She then put her foot on the cloud and for a sec, she thought that she would fall through. But in reality, it was the opposite. Her foot was on top of the cloud. Konoka's face grinned in happiness as she fully got on top of the cloud and sat down. "This cloud is so comfortable! I never knew you had a pet cloud Gohan-kun."
"Well, now you can ride it too," Gohan said.
"Huh? What do you mean Gohan-kun?" Konoka asked.
"Kinto'un only lets those who have a pure of heart. And you passed the test especially with Kinto'un taking a liking towards you," Gohan said as he got off the floor and floated before her.
"So are you going to ride with me?" Konoka asked with a blush.
"Nah, I am going to fly," Gohan said. Konoka looked gloomy with her hopes of holding onto Gohan being dashed. "Let's get going Konoka-san!"
Konoka shook her head to get out of her gloomy state. "Hai." Konoka nodded. She then pointed Kinto'un to follow Gohan's position.
Meanwhile…
Goku continued to fly thru the sky with Hoi in his arms and Asuna on his back. "This is a real godsend for me, to find you here on Earth…" commented Hoi.
"Huh?" Goku looked at Hoi with a surprised look on his face. "Oji-san, you mean you ain't from Earth?"
Hoi flinched. "T-T-That was just a figure of speech," Hoi said nervously.
"Oh okay!" Goku said. "Oi Asuna, why are you mad at Negi?"
"It doesn't concern you Goku-san," Asuna said. "Well, let's just say that he said some inappropriate things like not having me involved his operations just because I am a helpless girl." Goku started to chuckle. "What's funny?"
"Nothing," Goku said. "I just think that Negi was just trying to protect and not get you in harm's way."
"Yeah but I helped him during the Kyoto trip!" Asuna exclaimed. "Shouldn't he put more trust in me?"
"It seems like you already have forgiven him," Goku commented. "All you have to do is talk with him. I'm sure he will understand."
Asuna blushed a bit at Goku's comments. "Baka, I already knew that," she muttered.
Meanwhile up in the Northern Regions…
"All right, Goten, Negi!" yelled Trunks as he ran across the snow. "Let's hurry and find them!"
"Mm-hmm! I want to hurry and meet this hero!" Goten added. "Don't you Negi-kun?"
"Y-Yeah," Negi said as he was too caught up on what was going between him and Asuna.
"Negi, you worried about that mean Onee-san?" Trunks asked.
"She is not mean!" Negi yelled. "She is just misunderstood sometimes."
"Relax Negi, you should play around a little," Trunks said. "If not you are going to have wrinkles when you are fifteen!"
"Am not!" Negi shouted at Trunks. But at that moment, Negi was hit in the face by snowball. Negi went down and into the snow. He quickly got up to see who had thrown that snowball. The culprit was one demi-saiyan named Goten.
"Negi-kun! Catch!" Goten said as he threw another snowball at Negi. Negi dodged the snowball instinctively, grabbed some snow, formed a ball and threw at Goten who got hit by it.
"Got ya!" Negi said with a fist pump before being hit by another snowball that was thrown by Trunks.
"Heh heh," Trunks grinned. Negi quickly got back up and a snow fight ensued between the three of them.
In the plains…
"Say, if his story is true, what do you think this hero Tapion is like?" Konoka said as she rode Kinto'un.
"Beats me," Gohan said.
"I'm so interested in heroes!" Konoka said as she went ahead, leaving behind a confused Gohan.
At Walt Disney World Resort…
"Kuririn-san! I think I found one!" Setsuna yelled as she was on top of the Cinderella Castle in the Magic Kingdom. Kuririn floated to her position and looked at the Dragon Ball in her hand.
"All right!" Kuririn said with a fist pump. "We found the Yi Xing Qiu ball!"
The Washington National Zoo…
Goku landed softly on the ground once they were at the zoo where the Dragon Ball was said to be at. They looked around and saw an orange glint coming from the Lion's cage. Goku, Asuna and Hoi moved a bit closer to the cage and saw the orange glint was coming from a Dragon Ball!
"Ah, there it is, there it is!" Goku said while pointing to the Dragon Ball that was in the lion's mouth.
"So, how are we going to retrieve it?" Asuna asked with a curious look on her face. She wondered how they were going to convince the zookeepers to give them the ball that looked at the moment the lion's toy.
"Like this!" Goku said as he stood up on the fence. He then did a backflip, into the air and inside the cage. The lions inside immediately got up and growled at Goku, who was the intruder. The lions proceeded to attack, causing everyone who was witnessing this to cover their eyes up, fearing that Goku had been mangled by the lions. Asuna covered her eyes as well as did Hoi. However, instead hearing a person screaming, the lions started to scream and run away in fear. The crowd stood in awe at the sight.
"See?" Asuna and Hoi opened their eyes to see Goku all fine with a big grin on his face. Well except that his head was inside a lion's mouth. The lion looked very shocked that Goku's head wasn't smash to pieces. "All right, we should have them all now."
Asuna let out a sigh. She somehow expected this. Gohan's family is very weird! She thought to herself. Who are these people?
Meanwhile Hoi grinned evilly as Goku got out and put the lion back in the cage. Perfect, Hoi said to himself, everything is going as planned.
Author's note: Part 1 of the new arc is done! Yay! You may have noticed but I went with the original names for the Dragon Balls. The Dragon balls are based on the Chinese story Journey to the West since the whole premise of Dragon Ball was based off that. I'll provide a list for the names of the Dragon Balls here so you guys don't get confused.
Dragon Ball Names:
Yi Xing Qui - One Star Ball
Er Xing Qui - Two Star Ball
San Xing Qui - Three Star Ball
Si Xing Qui - Four Star Ball
Wu Xing Qui - Five Star Ball
Liu Xing Qui - Six Star ball
Qi Xing Qui - Seven Star Ball
Glossary:
Metro West: The town where Capsule Corporation is at. It is also known as West City in the American Dub.
Kinto Un: Kid Goku's transportation to different places. Only people of pure of heart can travel on the cloud. It is also known as the Flying Nimbus in the American Dub.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter! See you next week! Peace!
P.S. There is a animated TV reference in this chapter from a beloved character of mine. Find it, tell me what it is in the review section and I will send you something good! Trust me! Here's a hint...it is not from an anime.