The more things change, the more they stay the same…

The more things change, the more they stay the same…

Jadali's Tale

In the Beginning, there existed the Saiyans. And the Saiyan race became mighty, took over the planet they shared and began to dominate their part of the universe. They sent their children to lesser planets far away to aid them in their work, which soon fell under the authority of an incomprehensibly powerful changeling called Frieza. Fearing their growing arrogance and might, Frieza disposed of the Saiyan King, took the Prince into his service with two attendants, and annihilated the planet.

But Frieza never counted on the existence of the Saiyan children who were away from the planet at its time of destruction. One such child was Kakarot, who became known as Goku. Another who survived the planet's explosion was an infant named Broly, born on the same day as Kakarot. Broly survived not because of his absence, but because of his sheer strength.

With his father, Paragus, Broly disappeared, and was presumed dead. But this was not so.

With an instinctive hatred towards Kakarot, whose screams drove him to madness, Broly tracked Kakarot down to kill him, finding his old, unwitting enemy responding to a different name on an insignificant planet called Earth. A colossal battle ensued, involving the greatest warriors of Earth and Vegeta, the surviving Prince of the Saiyans. Broly was eventually defeated and destroyed, but not completely. A part of him lived on…

Videl was jolted rather unceremoniously awake as the arm she had fallen asleep on tensed while its owner frowned in concentration. When Gohan frowned, his whole body did, and he began to unconsciously draw on some of the incredible power buried deep within him.

She hauled her still sleepy shoulders to a sitting position on the couch, rubbed her eyes, and cast a glance around the den of her vast house.

"Wha--? What's wrong?" softly, so as not to waken her other sleeping companions. In armchairs across the room, Eliza and Sharpener slept on, Eliza snoring softly. Elegant, Videl thought to herself.

Snow blinked across the television, and the clock above the mantle blinked 3:28 AM in cold blue light. Damn, we must have all fallen asleep. Chichi's going to kill Gohan. Maybe that's what his problem is. Her brow furrowed into a frown not unlike Gohan's – when she got mad, Chichi was a person to be avoided at all costs. She turned her blue eyes back to Gohan, who was concentrating fiercely on the blank far wall, as if he was trying to see through it. He didn't notice her.

"Gohan." A little louder, and Videl caught his attention. The savage look passed from his face, and his black eyes winked down at her gently, but still held an echo of worry.

"It's…nothing. I was just dreaming." Looking at his vague attempt to mask a troubled expression, Videl didn't believe him.

"Uh-huh. And I'm the Queen of Sheba."

"I can feel – dammit!" he cussed softly, casting a furtive glance at the sleeping forms of their companions. A-hah, Videl thought, now I've got him, and I think I can guess what it is if he won't say it in front of Eliza and Sharpener.

She gave a half-nod and rose, moving silently through the darkened house and motioning for him to follow her. Videl dared not switch a light on until she rounded a corner, shadowed by her taller companion, and passed the stairwell which led to the upper floor, where he father could be heard snoring deeply and loudly. She groped for a light switch with the tips of her fingers, found one, and flicked it on. The lights in the kitchen responded promptly, temporarily blinding the two young people.

When her eyes adjusted to the bright light, Videl took a seat at the table and motioned for Gohan to do the same. With an apologetic scrunch of his nose, Gohan elected to stand, with his chin firmly in the trigger hold of his left hand. The concerned look returned to his face as he began to scowl again. Time to nip this in the bud, thought Videl.

"If you keep scowling like that, you'll wind up looking like Vegeta." She giggled a little, as a mental image of the imperious Prince's hair with it's sharp 'M' lowered itself onto a picture of Gohan. Not pretty, she thought.

He gave her a sharp look, then his expression mellowed and she knew she'd broken him out of whatever funk he'd been in.

"So what is it?"

"I – I can feel…a great power that I don't recognise, but in a way, I do recognise it. And it keeps fluctuating, like whoever's emitting it is badly hurt. I was sensing it out, and a minute or so ago, whoever it is passed out, and I can't find it any more." Instead of a usual serious frown, Gohan looked genuinely confused.

Videl busied herself tidying the dark ponytails that fell to her shoulders behind her ears. Finally satisfied, she looked up quizzically.

"How do you know that whatever or whoever was sending out that signature isn't dead already?"

Gohan smiled. "It's hard to explain, but when someone dies, it…feels…different."

His eyes passed to the inbuilt clock on the microwave, which reminded him, he was kind of hungry. His stomach began to growl in agreement and he blushed as Videl chuckled at him, then he flushed and slapped his forehead as he saw the time.

"Oh no! Mother's going to kill me."

Even for someone as powerful as Gohan was, Chichi was formidable when she got angry, and despite it's innocence, this all-night stopover wouldn't go down well with her.

Videl watched these fears play across a face that was very much his father's, and her curiosity got the better of her.

"So we should go and see what was creating those pulses." Switching the subject back to the reason they were standing in the cold kitchen, Videl hoped there was enough implied question in her statement to bring some life into Gohan.

"Yes. I mean – you want to come with me?"

"Of course. You weren't thinking of leaving me behind, were you?" Videl dashed to the door and fumbled with the lock before it clicked open. Gohan couldn't help but smile at her. Videl was one of the few girls who had never really cared what he thought about her. For a human, she was very strong, and she knew all of his secrets. Well, most of them, he thought. Maybe that was why he liked her so much. He'd even made her a part of his secret identity and taught her to fly, trained her. Now he wouldn't dare sabotage the relationship developing between them by leaving her behind. He moved towards the door, she was already outside, hovering impatiently.

"'Patience is a virtue,' Videl. Let's go." He floated up next to her, and took off in the direction of the force he'd felt.

Although Videl was flying steadily and much faster than she used to, Gohan was even more impatient than she was to get to the site he'd felt out. He pulled up abruptly and beamed a little as she did the same. She's not even tired, he thought. She never used to be able to go this far. But still…

"We'll get there faster if I…" he trailed off, not wanting to offend her.

Surprisingly, she nodded in acquiescence.

"Okay. You can say it Gohan, I know I'm slowing you down. Do it, then."

Gohan reached for his power, and with a blinding flash faced her in Super Saiyan form, golden hair streaming in an invisible wind and black eyes a strange blue-green. The young half-Saiyan stopped his power-up and turned to her, extending a hand.

Videl took it gratefully; she was wearing out anyhow, despite how well she hid it, put her arms around his strong neck and held on for dear life as he accelerated beyond the sound barrier.

She was just beginning to enjoy the ride when the wind stopped screaming past her ears and Gohan spoke softly to her.

"We're here." Seeing her puzzled look as she glanced around, he added "down there;" indicating with a slight dip of his head at a massive crater to their left.

Debris was strewn everywhere in smoking piles and a couple of small spot fires lit the crash site, if that was indeed what it was. It certainly looked like a crash site.

Keeping a protective arm around one of Videl's shoulders, Gohan scanned the area for signs of life. So intent was he on finding the lost power he'd sensed he didn't even notice the approach of his half-asleep father being dragged along by his little brother, Goten, who was only half-dressed. Nor did he detect the approach of an ever-irritated Vegeta followed closely by Trunks and a little more distantly by Bulma in a small aircraft. Videl gave Gohan a dig in the ribs, but in his Super Saiyan form he didn't notice. Vegeta's gruff, imperious voice cut in and snapped Gohan to attention.

"Are we having a moment? Or are we going to find what the hell was causing that disturbance?!"

Gohan's head jolted upwards and he blushed a little before releasing Videl's shoulder and mumbling a response to the Prince.

"Whatever it is, it's down there, by that rock. And it's unconscious." Another voice rumbled.

"Piccolo! You felt it too?" Gohan turned to his mentor and flashed out of Super Saiyan mode. Videl stood unobtrusively behind him. The big green guy still scared her a little.

Piccolo gave a grunt of assent.

As one, the assembled group looked in the direction Piccolo indicated and felt a minor life force, clearly hurt, definitely unconscious, and saw a huddled figure in the rock's shadow. Could this have been the being emitting all that power? Impossible, surely.

Gohan floated protectively between Videl and the figure on the ground as his father, Piccolo and Vegeta descended warily to examine it.

Suddenly, Videl felt a sharp tug on her shirt and looked down in panic, only to find Goten looking offended and worried, waiting for a hug. Much as Gohan would have done, she put a hand on the little boy's shoulder and watched as he visibly relaxed. Ridiculous, she thought. This kid could defend me better than I could defend him.

A small flurry of movement off to one side, and those in the air turned to see Bulma getting out of the plane she'd just landed, making her way cautiously towards the figure near the rock.

Vegeta hissed in irritation.

"What do you think you're doing, woman?"

"What does it look like?" she retorted, hands defiantly placed on her hips. Vegeta snarled and cussed a little, then let her have her way.

All four converged on the crumpled body at the same time.

"Is… is it… alive?" Bulma stuttered.

"Just." Goku answered her, it didn't look like Vegeta or Piccolo would. "But just barely. Whoever this is, is very badly hurt. But she's passed out. She's not going to hurt you."

"She?!" A chorus of startled voices queried at once.

"Feel it out, guys. As strong as it is, this energy is definitely female."

Goku was greeted by nods of disbelief that changed to abject shock as realisation dawned on the assembly. So it was true. The remarkable power they'd sensed simultaneously was indeed female.

Ignorant of the power the crumpled figure had sent out, Bulma moved to touch her, and was disgusted by the looks her action brought.

"What's your problem? Scared of a woman? That'd be right." She smirked nastily, and her expression belied the gentle hand she extended to roll the figure onto her back for a better look. The figure groaned. Looking at her face, Bulma was startled and her face filled with compassion.

"This – this isn't even a woman. She's just a girl. And she's hurt. We have to help her." Again she was greeted by disapproving looks. Getting those looks from Vegeta on an hour-by-hour basis was bad enough, but she refused to be looked down upon by a pig with black hair and a green, pointy-toothed freak! Bulma's patience ran out.

"Well? This warrior you're all so terrified of is a hurt girl, probably no older than Gohan." (This quip she directed at Goku, who began to look ashamed and put an embarrassed hand behind his head.)

"So help me move her, for Kame's sake!!"

Slowly, grudgingly and a little warily, Goku moved forward to touch the oblivious form of the girl. Gohan tensed. He'd seen people play "possum" before, lost friends because of it, and he'd be damned if he'd let it happen again. Goku slid one arm underneath the girl's back, the other under her knees and lifted her, then almost dropped her again in shock as she drew in a sobbing, agonised breath, half-opened her eyes and muttered something incomprehensible so quietly he wasn't sure she'd said anything.

The eyes closed again, and her body fell slack once more.

Bulma moved to direct Goku toward the small plane she'd arrived in, and laid the girl on a recently un-capsulised stretcher. She reached out to brush the girl's hair out of her face, and revealed a deep, swollen cut above her temple, which was probably the cause of the fainting. Her breathing was laboured, and from years of seeing Vegeta train too hard, she recognised this as a symptom of broken ribs. A deep laceration ran from the girl's elbow to her hand, which was skewed on a peculiar angle. The rest of what Bulma could see wasn't in much better shape than the face, chest and arm, and sent her hustling for the phone in the dashboard. On the seventh ring, a sleepy voice picked up.

"Corporati- no… Capsule Corporation. Dr Briefs speaking. How may I help you?" as Bulma related the story to her father, he became almost as excited as she.

"Dad, you need to boot the regeneration tank. We don't know who she is, or where she comes from, but she's in really bad shape." Bulma adopted her 'worried mother' voice, and that snapped Dr Briefs back into reality and promising to start up the tank right away.

Sticking her head out of the window, Bulma yelled out to the confused assembly.

"I'm taking her back to Capsule Corp to put her in the regen tank. She should be fine in a few hours, if she's not too far gone."

"Fine, but we're coming too," Goten declared on behalf of everyone, regardless of whether they cared about the injured girl or not. Bulma laughed.

"If you insist, Goten. But perhaps you should go home first and… uh… put on some pants." Goten glanced down at the boxer shorts and shirt he slept in, and flushed.

"She's got a point, son. I think we should all go home, and meet at Bulma's tomorrow morning – um, later this morning, um… you know what I mean." Ever the advocate for a nap, Goku made the decision for all of them. "Besides, your father'll be worried if he gets up and finds you missing, Videl. Not to mention what your mother's going to have to say to you, Gohan."

Both Goku and Gohan cringed, as if in anticipation of the ashes of wrath about to be dumped on their heads.

"Sorry dad, we were watching a movie with Eliza and Sharpener, and I guess we all fell asleep."

"I'll take your word for it. We'll both get yelled at anyway."

Videl found her voice.

"Um, Bulma? If it's alright with you, I'd like to go back to Capsule Corp with you. Besides, I can ring my dad in the morning, and I'll look after our – um – visitor on the flight back."

"No way," Gohan declared shortly. "We don't know what we're dealing with here, and you shouldn't be putting yourself in danger."

"Gohan, I think it's obvious this girl is no threat to us. She can't even breathe properly. And besides, if she makes a miraculous recovery in the few minutes it'll take to get back, I can protect Bulma."

A derisive snort from Vegeta. The thought of that puny girl protecting his mate seemed preposterous. But if he didn't agree, he'd have to sit through another screaming row… and he wasn't in the mood.

"What?" He barked, to revoke the meaning of his snort. "I don't care what the rest of you do, but I'm going home." And with that, he blasted off in the direction of Capsule Corp.

The events of the night had been most disturbing for the Saiyan Prince. First the unease, which he put down to a little insomnia, then the incredible power, he'd sensed… and then she, whoever the 'she' was, had said that. It was clear that Kakarot was either deaf or had forgotten (which seemed likely, Kakarot being the fool he was), and none of their combined three offspring had picked it up.

"Help me," the beaten figure had said. "Take me to the new King."