Thanksgiving Day Terror
By: Lauryn Marino
Every Thanksgiving, I go through terror as I'm confronted with rarely seen family members and annoying little nieces and nephews. I recently found out that 18 people will be attending my family Thanksgiving this year, 12 of which I can't stand! Oh my...I hope no one from my family reads this...er...Anyway, after giving it some thought, I figured that this situation would make an entertaining fanfic...So...here we go!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Goku yawned and slowly opened his eyes to the sound of banging pots downstairs. He glanced to his left, only to discover that ChiChi wasn't there. The groggy Saiyajin frowned as he looked over at the clock beside the bed. It was only 4:00 a.m. Goku yawned again and scratched his bare chest as he threw the covers off and stood up, stretching. The Saiyajin slowly made his way downstairs as he struggled to wake up at this early hour. The noise that had woken him up seemed to be coming from the kitchen. He turned a corner and blinked a few times as the kitchen lights flooded his vision, blinding him. After a moment, he could see ChiChi running around frantically, pulling out pots and pans and other various cooking instruments. She was already fully dressed and it appeared as if she'd been awake for quite some time already.
"ChiChi? What are you doing? It's only 4 in the morning..." Goku yawned, watching the woman as she pulled out a few cookbooks, stopping only a moment to glance up at him before she started flipping through the pages. "Goku!! Why aren't you dressed yet?! I've been up for hours and I'm behind schedule!" The confused Saiyajin glanced down at the sweat pants he'd worn to bed, scratching his head as he tried to remember what he was forgetting. "Behind schedule for what? What have you been doing?" he finally asked, deciding that he was still too sleepy to think straight. ChiChi finally stopped what she was doing and glared up at her husband, who was obviously startled by her evil look. "I was up at 1 a.m.! I've already been to the store to pick up all the food the car could carry, cleaned the house, brought out the extra tables and chairs, ordered even more food which will be delivered soon, and now I'm beginning the long process of cooking everything!! I really could have used
your help, but I couldn't wake you up! I swear! You Saiyajins could sleep through a nuclear explosion!!" Goku blinked in confusion. "Why?" The stressed out woman nearly fell over at the question. "Today's Thanksgiving!!" she cried, tugging at her hair.
Goku's face went pale. "Wha?? Already?!" The food loving Saiyajin normally would have been overjoyed at the mention of the holiday. This was the one time when there was an endless amount of food to enjoy. But the last few Thanksgivings had been terrible. Each year, more and more people would come to the Son's house for a little "family togetherness" as they called it. Last year, almost every member of ChiChi's family had shown up. At first it didn't seem so bad, despite the fact Goku didn't have a clue who most of them were, but as the day went on, he soon found out that ChiChi's short temper was something that ran in the family. In a matter of minutes, everyone had been at each other's throats and all Goku could do was try to keep them from killing each other. He could only imagine what this year would be like.
Goku glanced behind him as he heard a strangled gasp. There he found an equally pale Gohan, who seemed to have overheard the startling announcement. "Is...is that today?" he managed to choke out, looking up at his father with a terrified expression on his face. Goku sighed and nodded at his son. Gohan had it the worst on Thanksgiving. He was the youngest in the family, so he was a magnet for cheek pinching relatives who wore way too much lipstick for the soul purpose of leaving their mark on the 12 year old's face. It was a wonder Gohan had survived the past few Thanksgivings without being smothered to death. "But...I haven't prepared! I haven't trained hard enough for this day yet!! How did it sneak up so fast?!" The young Saiyajin collapsed on the floor, his head in his hands as he started to hyperventilate. Goku knelt down next to his son and patted him on the back in an attempt to calm him. "Settle down, Gohan. Maybe if you leave now, you can be half way around the world
before everyone starts to arrive." Gohan looked up at his father happily. "Yes!! That'll work!" "NO!!" Father and son both fell over in surprise as they looked over at a very angry ChiChi. "You're not going anywhere, Gohan! And neither are you, Goku! This is a family holiday, and I expect you two to show some respect toward whoever shows up today! You only have to endure this once a year, so suck it up and act like Saiyajins!" Goku and Gohan both stared at ChiChi in shock for a moment before finally nodding. "Good!" she snapped, measuring out the ingredients she'd need for something. "Now go get dressed! It's almost 4:30 for god's sake!! The sun will be up in only 2 hours!" The two Saiyajins sighed and got up, each slowly making their way back to their rooms to get dressed.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Goku returned to the kitchen after he'd gotten dressed, smiling at Gohan, who was being forced to help cook. "Not you to!" ChiChi cried. "What?" Goku asked. The woman sighed. "Can't you wear something a little nicer for today?" The Saiyajin glanced down at the orange gi he always wore. "Why? Orange is a Thanksgiving color, isn't it? Besides, if this year is anything like last year, I need to be wearing something I can fight in! Your crazy aunt nearly killed me last year during her karate demonstration!" ChiChi snorted and looked over at Gohan, who was also wearing his normal Piccolo look alike cloths. "Well maybe if you hadn't told her you were an alien originally sent here to destroy Earth, she wouldn't have tried to paralyze you!" Goku folded his arms and frowned. "Well she asked where I was from and if I had ever had a job before, so I told her the truth! How was I supposed to know that she'd take the destruction of this planet so personally? I'm starting to wonder where
Gohan really gets his power from." Gohan chuckled a little at the comment, but immediately went back to what he was doing when his mother shot him a dirty look. Goku's eyes widened slightly as he thought. "Hey...she isn't coming this year, is she?" "No..." ChiChi answered, never looking up from the boiling pot of water she was slicing vegetables into. Goku sighed in relief. "To be honest, the only people I'm sure are coming are Vegeta, Bulma, and Mirai Trunks. I figured that it was kind of hard for them to have a nice holiday dinner in a place like Capsule Corp, so I invited them here. Vegeta wasn't too happy about it, but Bulma said she'd drag him over anyway." A smile spread over Goku's face as she spoke. "Stop smiling! No sparring with Vegeta!" The Saiyajin frowned. "Aw! You're no fun, ChiChi!" "Thanksgiving isn't about fun! Now come help me with this! I have to cook ten turkey's by noon and I can only fit two in the oven at once!" "Don't worry about that! I can have them
cooked in no time!" ChiChi watched suspiciously as her husband walked over to the row of turkeys and began to fire up a small ki blast in the palm of his hand. "No wait!!" she suddenly cried, grabbing Goku's wrist and pulling his hand away just as he began to fire the blast. "Ah! ChiChi!!" Goku couldn't stop the attack in time and Gohan ducked as the ki blast flew past him and shattered a window as it exited the house. A few seconds later, the still black sky lite up as the blast exploded in the woods. Goku blinked. "Good thing it was only a small blast...Why'd you do that? I wasn't going to fry them!" ChiChi released his wrist. "You can't just cook a turkey in a matter of seconds like that! You'll dry them out! They need to be slowly roasted to keep the flavor in!" The woman frowned as she turned to her destroyed window. "Maybe you shouldn't help with the cooking after all..." Goku's eyes lit up. "Does that mean I can go out for awhile?!" "No!" ChiChi snapped. "You'll
either forget to come back, or you'll come back filthy dirty! You always find someone to spar with, so just sit there and wait until everyone starts arriving." Goku folded his arms and pouted as he left the kitchen and sat on the couch, waiting for the horror to begin.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Goku, who had fallen asleep on the couch, suddenly bolted upright at the sound of the doorbell. He glanced at the clock, hoping that it wasn't time for people to start arriving. The Saiyajin gasped. It was already 11:00! "Goku, can you get the door??" ChiChi asked, juggling a few platters of food as she made room for what looked like the food she had ordered earlier that morning. Goku quickly walked to the door and opened it up, sighing in relief when the Briefs came into view. "Hi, Goku!" Bulma chirped, handing him a few food dishes she had brought. "Are you ok? You look kind of pale." "Oh yeah, I'm fine." The Saiyajin lied as he stepped to the side to let everyone in. He grinned slightly when he saw how miserable Vegeta looked, quickly looking away when the prince glared at him as he walked by. "Oh, Goku! Aren't you looking well!" The startled Saiyajin spun around and gasped as Bulma's mother wrapped her arms around him, squealing in such a high pitched tone that it almost
hurt his ears. She finally relinquished her hold on him to reach up and pinch Goku's cheek. "So handsome!" she cooed. Goku glared over at his son, who was chuckling at the scene. The young Saiyajin immediately stiffened when Mrs. Briefs' gaze turned on him. "Gohan!" she cried as she ran over and started pinching both his cheeks until they turned red. "You're growing up so fast!" Gohan looked at his father helplessly, frowning when Goku just smirked back.
It wasn't long before the doorbell rang again, causing all the color to drain from Goku's face. This meant that people besides the Briefs would be there. The question was...who? The nervous Saiyajin slowly opened the door, tensing a bit in case ChiChi's aunt had decided to come back to finish what she had started. A startled gasp escaped Goku's throat as his eyes fell upon three Saiyajins. One was a very tall muscular man with long unruly hair that almost touched the ground. The other man looked almost identical to him, except he had a scar on his cheek. Among the two men stood a strong looking woman with short spiky black hair. All of them wore Saiyajin armor and had tails flicking behind their builds. "Brother!!" Radditz bellowed, grabbing a still shocked Goku in a bear hug, lifting the smaller Saiyajin off the ground in the process. The other two walked in as the tall Saiyajin continued to squeeze the life out of his brother in a show of affection. Vegeta's mouth
practically dropped open as he spotted the Saiyajins. "How...I thought you were all dead!" he managed to choke out. The scarred Saiyajin known as Bardock smiled patted the stunned prince on the shoulder. "Nice to see that you're alive and well, Prince Vegeta. Oh, and we all managed to get a day out of Hell to spend some time with our only family member who isn't dead." The man smirked and turned back to Goku, who was just being released from Radditz's hold. Goku stumbled away from his brother and looked over at the other two Saiyajins, who he had never seen before. Radditz smiled and put his arm around his brother's shoulders. "Kakarotto, meet Bardock and Kinoko. They're your parents." Everyone in the room gasped in surprise, except for Vegeta, who was well aware of the relation between the group.
Goku had little time to respond before a loud thud sounded from the kitchen. "ChiChi!" he cried, running over to the woman, who had fainted. He quickly propped her up in his arm and gently tapped her cheek with his free hand until she came to. She stared up at the concerned face of her husband before smiling and sitting up. "I...I have a mother and father-in-law!" The recovered woman jumped up and ran over to Bardock, hugging the uncomfortable Saiyajin before moving to Kinoko, who seemed to enjoy the embrace of her newly discovered daughter-in-law. "Good choice." Kinoko said, smiling at Goku, causing a small blush to creep onto his face. He laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his head. "Well, actually, ChiChi kind of chose me." Kinoko laughed and looked at Bardock. "Like father like son. Right, my husband?" Bardock folded his arms and grumbled something under his breath as Radditz chuckled. ChiChi smiled and looked back at Gohan, who seemed to be attempting to become
invisible as he stared at the Saiyajins. Kinoko followed the woman's gaze. "Who's this?" she asked, noting the boy's Saiyajin like appearance. ChiChi looked over at her husband, who seemed to still be having trouble finding words. "Goku, introduce him." Bardock raised an eyebrow. "Goku?" The nervous Saiyajin nodded. "Yeah, that's my Earth name...and, that's my son, Gohan." Bardock frowned slightly, not approving of two Saiyajins having Earth names, but smirked afterward, feeling that his son and grandson were powerful. Kinoko smiled and walked over to Gohan, ruffling his hair. "So I'm a grandmother, eh? That makes me feel so old!" Gohan smiled a little. "How old are you, kid?" she asked. "12." the young Saiyajin answered shyly. Vegeta snorted. "Yes, and he's already a Super Saiyajin." The Saiyajins gasped in shock. "What? That's impossible!" Bardock stammered, not believing what he was hearing. ChiChi smiled. "Like father like son." The Saiyajins shifted their gaze to Goku,
who jumped in surprise as the attention was focused on him again. "How long?" Radditz asked. "Uh, a few years now..." Goku answered. "But how? How'd you turn?" Bardock asked. "When I was fighting Freiza." he replied. This sent another wave of shock over the group. "Alone? And you lived?" Kinoko gasped. "Well yeah. I beat him in battle, but Trunks was the one who finally destroyed him." "Trunks?" Bardock asked. "My son." Vegeta said, motioning toward Mirai. "He's a Super Saiyajin as well."
The group of Saiyajins talked with everyone, trying to gather all the information they could. Again, the doorbell rang. Goku got up and walked to the door, not nearly as nervous this time, figuring that no one could be a bigger shock than his dead family. He opened the door and froze, finding that he was sorely mistaken. Standing before him was Cell, Freiza, and King Cold. Once Goku had gotten over his shock, he immediately went Super Saiyajin in case they tried anything. "What are you three doing here? I'll warn you now, this place is full of Saiyajins, so don't try anything funny." King Cold laughed. "We wouldn't dream of picking a fight on Thanksgiving!" Goku put his hands on either side of the doorframe, blocking the way. "Then why are you here?!" "Why do you think?" Freiza asked, licking his lips. "No way!! You're nuts if you think I'll let you in!" ChiChi suddenly showed up and hit Goku in the head with a frying pan, startling the Super Saiyajin. "Hey!" he cried,
rubbing his head even though he barely felt the hit. "Don't be so rude! Let them in! They're guests!" she shouted, shoving Goku to the side. "But! Those two wanted to destroy this whole planet!" the Saiyajin cried, pointing to Freiza and King Cold. "And I'm supposed to fight him next week!" he continued, pointing to Cell. "Oh come now, Goku." Cell said as he walked by. "Surely we can all put our differences aside for today." Goku watched the three carefully as they began to talk to everyone as if they were all best friends. Vegeta glared at Freiza and said something inaudible, but was cut short as Bulma grabbed him by the ear angrily, rendering the prince helpless. "This is unbelievable..." Goku muttered as he slipped out of Super Saiyajin form and began to walk away from the door.
Before he could take two steps, the doorbell rang again. Goku cringed and slowly turned and opened the door. He gasped in horror as ChiChi's crazy aunt came into view, her fists already raised in preparation of knocking a certain Saiyajin out. "Round two, alien!!" she shouted. Goku screamed in terror and ran through the house as the woman chased him. ChiChi smiled. "How nice! Aunt Claria is here!!" The crazy woman stopped her pursuit and smiled at ChiChi. "Oh, hello dear! Who are all these nice people?" Goku watched in astonishment as the woman hugged each of the other Saiyajins before moving onto Cell, Freiza, and King Cold. He frowned. "You've got to be kidding me! You're trying to kill me for being an alien who's mission was to destroy Earth for a full week before I lost my memory, and yet you're hugging these three, who clearly look like aliens and are actually trying to destroy the Earth? ARE YOU INSANE, WOMAN?!" Aunt Claria spun around and hissed at Goku, causing the
Saiyajin to jump in fear. "Yes, but you're married to by niece!" "Yeah, so?" "So as her aunt, it's my job to cause trouble for you!" Goku and the woman had a brief glaring match before Gohan finally spoke up. "Hey mom...Is something burning?"
ChiChi gasped and ran to the kitchen, spotting smoke billowing from the oven. "Oh no! Turkey number 4!!!" She quickly grabbed two potholders and slipped them on before grabbing the crispy turkey from the oven. Goku ran into the room and looked at the charred black bird. "I could have done that..." he said, immediately shutting up as ChiChi shot him her best death stare. He walked over to the now upset woman. "Quickly, Goku! We can still save this thing! Give me that baster over there! Maybe if we inject juices from another turkey into it, it'll come back!" Goku put his hands on her shoulders. "Honey...it's gone. There's no saving it..." The woman batted his hands away. "Nonsense! We can just scrape off the burnt parts!" she cried, desperately clawing at the charred remains of the bird. Goku watched his wife for a moment before grabbing her hands. "ChiChi! It's all burnt part!" The woman finally came back to her senses. "But...but we may not have enough now...With all these
Saiyajins here..." Goku smiled. "Don't worry. I can go to the store and get a few more turkey's if you're that worried." ChiChi's eyes narrowed as she grabbed her husband's shirt. "No! You can't go to a grocery store on Thanksgiving Day! It's suicide! You'll be torn apart by last minute shoppers!!" The Saiyajin's expression hardened slightly. "No, ChiChi. I can do this for you." "But you could be killed!" "I'm well aware of the risks!" The woman choked back a sob and cursed herself for letting the turkey burn in the first place. "Promise you'll come back alive...I could never forgive myself if something were to happen to you..." Goku smiled and hugged her. "I'll be fine..."
He finally turned and went back into the room where everyone was waiting to see what was going on. ChiChi joined him, sobbing as she latched into his arm. "What's going on?" Trunks asked. Goku took a deep breath. "ChiChi accidentally burnt one of the turkey's...I...I'm going to the store for her..." Everyone gasped before silence settled over the horrified group. "Kakarotto...You...you can't! Not now!" Vegeta stuttered, hardly believing the bravery of the warrior. Trunks jumped up. "Goku! You have no idea what you're getting yourself into! In my time line, not even the androids dared go to the grocery store on Thanksgiving Day!" Goku felt as if he'd be sick as his nerves built up. "I know what I'm getting myself into..." "You Saiyajins are crazy..." Cell said in shock. Goku frowned and started toward the door. "If I'm not back in one hour..." he paused and looked at ChiChi, who was tearing up again. "Uh...wait longer..." He walked outside and took a deep breath before taking
to the air, pausing when he heard someone calling his name. He landed again as Bardock ran over to him. "What is it?" he asked. His father looked at him for a moment before speaking. "This is a task that not even the bravest of warriors would do back on Planet Vegeta...I'm going with you. I'm not about to let my youngest son do this alone." "No!" Goku cried. "You could be killed!" "I'm already dead!" Bardock said, motioning to the ring that hovered over his head. Goku blinked and nodded. "Oh yeah..."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The two Saiyajins arrived at the store about 20 minutes later. They hovered in the air for awhile, looking down at the mob of people running to and from the store. Some were screaming in terror as they abandoned their mission while others were fighting with each other just to get in the door. Bardock's eyes widened. "These humans are even more aggressive than Saiyajins..." "Yeah," Goku agreed. "Good thing they aren't as strong..." "How are we going to get in there?" the scarred Saiyajin asked. Goku thought for a moment before putting his hand on his father's shoulder. Seconds later, they were in the turkey aisle among a mob of people. Bardock blinked in surprise. "Wha..." "No time. Look!" Goku said, motioning to a few remaining turkeys. They looked at each other for a moment. "Good luck, son..." Bardock said, a hint of fear in his voice. Goku swallowed and looked back at their target. "If we get separated, meet back up with me outside. If I don't show after ten minutes, go
on without me..." Bardock suddenly grabbed his son and slapped him across the face. "Don't talk like that! You're getting out of here alive! You hear me!?" Goku nodded. "Good...Now let's do this."
The two suddenly bolted forward, immediately losing sight of each other as they disappeared into the mob of crazed last minute shoppers. Goku's heart raced as he pushed his way through the crowd, bits of his life flashing before his eyes. He finally managed to grab hold of a turkey. "Success!" he shouted, turning to leave. He stopped abruptly when an old woman stepping in front of him, swinging a cane around. "Give me that turkey!" she snapped. Goku's first instinct was to hand it over, being the nice person he was, but images of a crying ChiChi flooded his mind and he held his ground. "No way! Out of my way, old woman!" The granny glared at him before taking her dentures from her mouth and snapping them at the Saiyajin. Goku screamed in terror as he turned to run from the surprisingly fast elderly woman.
Bardock also managed to grab a turkey and smiled as he turned to leave. His smile faded when he found himself surrounded by crazy humans, each looking to snatch the turkey. "Stay back!" he growled, his hand lighting up with a ki attack. The humans didn't look as if they were afraid of his threat to blast them all away, so he instead turned his palm toward the turkey. Suddenly, everyone gasped and backed away. The Saiyajin smiled and slowly made his way through the crowd, who parted to make room for him to walk by. "That's right. Any of you make a move and the turkey gets it!" "Ok...Let's not do anything too drastic..." one man said, putting his hands up in a defensive fashion. "Move it!" Bardock growled, causing the humans to move out of the way. The scarred Saiyajin grinned and bolted to the door, turkey in hand. He laughed as he successfully made it out of the death trap known as the local grocery store. He glanced around and finally spotted a very bruised Goku, who also
had a turkey. "Good god. What happened to you, kid?" Goku sighed and rubbed his head. "There was an old lady in there with one heck of a swing..." Bardock glanced at what looked like bite marks in the other Saiyajin's arms. "And those?" Goku followed his gaze. "Oh...She had dentures...And she wasn't afraid to use them..." Bardock winced a bit. "That's brutal. That's how I got this scar." he said, pointing to his cheek.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The two Saiyajins burst back through the door, turkey's in hand. "We're alive!!" Goku cried triumphantly. "Thank god!" ChiChi cried as she ran over and wrapped her arms around her bruised husband. The two Saiyajins handed her the turkeys and she ran to the kitchen to start preparing them for cooking. Vegeta smirked at Goku's appearance. "Looks like you got roughed up, Kakarotto." Goku grinned. "Yeah! There's was an evil old woman there..." Freiza frowned. "Old people are the worst. They never have anything to lose!" Goku's eyes narrowed as he looked over at Aunt Claria. "Yeah...I know what you mean." The woman glared at the Saiyajin. "What are you trying to say, alien?!" "What do you think, old lady?!" Aunt Claria let out a war cry and dove for Goku, who moved to the side at the last moment, causing the woman to fly into the closet. He quickly slammed the door and jammed it shut with a chair. ChiChi stuck her head back in the room. "Dinner will be ready very soon!" "Ok."
Goku said, smiling at the closet as Claria pounded on the door.
Everyone gathered back in the main room to talk again. "So...what happened to your tails?" Kinoko asked, glancing at all the tailless Saiyajins. "I had mine removed to avoid turning into a giant ape and Vegeta lost his during a battle. Gohan's was removed for the same reason as mine." Vegeta glared at Goku. "I didn't lose mine! That fat guy cut it off! I still have to get even with him for that!" Bardock looked over at Trunks, who he learned was from the future. "How about you?" "Mine was removed not too long after I was born. Mother already knew what would happen if I kept it." The dead Saiyajins nodded, glancing at each other. "What?" Goku asked, noticing the strange looks. "Nothing...nothing..." Goku looked around, noticing that Gohan, Cell, King Cold, and Freiza were nowhere to be found. "Anyone seen Gohan?" Everyone shook their heads no, causing Goku's tension to build again as he jumped up and ran upstairs. He stopped outside of Gohan's room, where he could hear a few
growls and shouts. "I'm going to pound you into the ground!" he heard Freiza shout. Goku immediately burst into the room, gasping when he saw what was going on.
The three villains and his son turned to look at him, game controllers in their hands. The Saiyajin looked up at the tv, revealing a fighting video game. He sighed in relief. "Something wrong, dad?" Gohan asked. "Uh...no...I guess not." "Hey, Goku. Why don't you play?" King Cold asked. Goku frowned. "No, I don't want to." He turned and started to leave the room. "He's afraid he'll lose." Cell scoffed. Goku stopped, slowly turning back to the group. "I'm not afraid! Gimme that controller!" Freiza grinned and handed the Saiyajin the controller. Cell and Goku immediately started a long fierce battle. "I'm not going to lose to you!" Goku growled, concentrating on the tv. "Too bad for you then!" Cell growled back, sweat pouring down his face and he punched on the buttons.
What seemed like hours later, Cell suddenly cried out. "Thumb cramp!! Hit pause!!" Goku laughed evilly and took advantage of his opponent's predicament, throwing a death blow that finished off Cell's character. The green android gasped. "You cheater!! I called a time out!" The Saiyajin grinned and got up to leave. "You had already used up all your time outs earlier. I won fair and square." Cell frowned, clutching his sore thumb. "I'll kill you for this!" Goku chuckled and left the room. "Sure you will...sure you will."
He made his way back downstairs and was immediately surrounded by Radditz, Bardock, and Kinoko. "Hey guys. Something wrong?" They stared at him for a minute before one finally spoke up. "We've discussed it, and we decided that you should have your tail. It's part of your heritage." Bardock explained. Goku raised an eyebrow. "I don't think that's a good idea. Besides, I thought it would only grow back under certain circumstances..." "That's true..." Kinoko said, moving to her son's side. "But there's a pressure point that can cause your tail to re-grow right away if pressed on." She pointed to a spot on her neck. "Right here. It won't hurt a bit." Goku stepped away from her as she reached for the pressure point on his neck. "Wait! There's a full moon every month on this planet! Vegeta said there was only a full moon once every six months on your planet, so it's not a good idea for a Saiyajin to have a tail on Earth!" Radditz frowned and moved to help his mother. "Come on!
Just don't look at the moon on those nights." "No!" Goku cried, once again moving away. "It's too risky!" The other Saiyajins halted their advance. "Fine." Bardock finally said after a long silence. Goku sighed in relief and smiled. "Ok, I bet dinner's almost ready!" The Saiyajin ran into the kitchen to check up on ChiChi. Meanwhile, the other Saiyajins smiled at each other, exchanging mischievous smiles.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Goku had returned from the kitchen, announcing that everything would be ready within the hour. The other Saiyajins had turned on the tv and were watching all the strange creatures that floated down a street. "What's this?" Radditz asked. "Oh," Goku said as he sat down. "Those are floats. They have a parade every Thanksgiving in town." Bardock raised an eyebrow at the strange balloons. "What's the point?" Goku looked over at him, the back at the tv. "I...I don't know..." The Saiyajins continued staring at the tv in silence, completely confused. Kinoko glanced at Bardock after a moment, grinning as she put her arm around Goku's shoulders. He looked at her suspiciously as she moved her hand dangerously close to the tail re-growing pressure spot. Goku gasped and jumped up. "No! Stop trying to re-grow my tail!" Kinoko frowned. "But Kakarotto..." she whined, moving closer to him again. Goku looked over at the tv and pointed. "Look!" The other Saiyajins shifted their gaze to the tv
for a moment before returning their attention to Goku, who had disappeared. "Wha...Darn! He's a sneaky one..." Kinoko muttered, snapping her fingers. Radditz and Bardock nodded.
Goku transported himself outside to escape his tail crazy family. He gasped when he saw Vegeta, Mirai Trunks, Freiza, Cell, and Gohan playing football. "What are you doing?!" he yelled angrily, causing everyone to stop and stare at him. Vegeta blinked. "What's the problem, Kakarotto? Did you want to play?" "No!" he shouted angrily. "Then what's wrong?" Trunks asked. Goku glared at all of them before pointing to what Cell was holding. "You're using Gohan as the football!" he cried. They all shifted their gaze to Gohan. "Oh relax...We won't spike the ball or anything if that's what you're afraid of." Cell said a matter-of-factly. Goku rubbed his eyes in frustration. "Where's King Cold?" Everyone thought for a moment. "I last saw father with that woman of yours." Freiza finally answered. The Saiyajin's eyes widened. "What?!" He quickly ran back into the house and burst into the kitchen. His jaw dropped open as he saw King Cold slaving over at hot oven beside ChiChi. "This could
use a little more garlic for flavor." Freiza's father said, motioning toward a large pot he was standing in front of. ChiChi thought for a moment. "Are you sure that won't be too much?" The alien laughed. "Of course not, my dear woman. It'll be just right." ChiChi laughed and handed him some garlic. "Well, you've been right about everything else so far!" The two laughed heartily and went back to cooking. Goku slowly backed out of the kitchen, his mouth still hanging open. "There you are!" He spun around, only to come face to face with Bardock, Kinoko, and Radditz. They each reached out in an attempt to hit the pressure point. "Nooooo!!" he cried, raising his hands to his neck and running away. The three watched as the youngest member of their family ran away screaming. "What got into him?" Bardock asked. "Maybe he thought that we were still trying to make his tail grow back..." The three laughed before immediately falling silent, exchanging another set of mischievous smiles.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Everyone gathered at the table when dinner was finally ready. "Where's Goku?" ChiChi asked, glancing around the large table piled high with food. Gohan thought for a moment. "I saw him upstairs a half hour ago...I think he was taking those anti-stress pills of yours, mom." ChiChi raised an eyebrow. "Why? This has been one of the nicest Thanksgivings in my opinion." Gohan nodded. "Yeah, I thought it was pretty good." Before another word could be said, a still very stressed out Goku walked into the room and sat down at the table. "Those pills of yours don't do anything." he grumbled. "Are you kidding me?" she asked as everyone started to eat. "Just two of those things are almost enough to knock me out. How many did you take?" Goku thought for a minute. "Twelve..." "TWELVE?!" the woman cried in shock. "Goku! That's enough to kill a dragon!!" The Saiyajin laughed for a minute. "Well it's a good thing I'm not a dra---" Goku stopped in mid-sentence as he passed out without
warning. "Oh no!" ChiChi cried. "Is he dead?!" Cell frowned. "He better not be! He's not scheduled to die until next week!" Kinoko reached over and checked for a pulse on her son's neck. "No...he's alive. I think he's just in a coma like state." ChiChi sighed in relief. "That's good. I'll just save him some turkey..." Kinoko removed her hand from Goku's neck, smiling evilly at Bardock and Radditz, who nodded and smiled back.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Goku slowly opened his eyes, moaning as a sharp pain shot through his head. "It's about time you woke up..." The Saiyajin glanced to his side, where ChiChi was sitting. "You missed Thanksgiving. Your parents said to tell you that they enjoyed meeting you and that they'll be back next year." Goku moaned and sat up, pausing when some movement caught his attention. He looked down at a furry tail that was laying beside him on the couch in surprise. "Wha..." ChiChi followed his gaze. "Oh yes...I think that overdose in pills caused that to grow back. I noticed it right after Kinoko checked your pulse to make sure you were still alive." Goku glared down at the tail. "It wasn't the pills..." he grumbled. His wife sighed and looked at the new appendage. "Well I guess it really doesn't matter. It's back. Just make sure you don't look at the full moon." "How long have I been out?" The Saiyajin asked, still angry about his tail. "Three days now." ChiChi answered. She paused a moment
before speaking again. "By the way...Do you know what happened to Aunt Claria? I haven't seen her since early Thanksgiving Day..." Goku gasped and stiffened, slowly glancing over at the closet across the room......
By: Lauryn Marino
Every Thanksgiving, I go through terror as I'm confronted with rarely seen family members and annoying little nieces and nephews. I recently found out that 18 people will be attending my family Thanksgiving this year, 12 of which I can't stand! Oh my...I hope no one from my family reads this...er...Anyway, after giving it some thought, I figured that this situation would make an entertaining fanfic...So...here we go!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Goku yawned and slowly opened his eyes to the sound of banging pots downstairs. He glanced to his left, only to discover that ChiChi wasn't there. The groggy Saiyajin frowned as he looked over at the clock beside the bed. It was only 4:00 a.m. Goku yawned again and scratched his bare chest as he threw the covers off and stood up, stretching. The Saiyajin slowly made his way downstairs as he struggled to wake up at this early hour. The noise that had woken him up seemed to be coming from the kitchen. He turned a corner and blinked a few times as the kitchen lights flooded his vision, blinding him. After a moment, he could see ChiChi running around frantically, pulling out pots and pans and other various cooking instruments. She was already fully dressed and it appeared as if she'd been awake for quite some time already.
"ChiChi? What are you doing? It's only 4 in the morning..." Goku yawned, watching the woman as she pulled out a few cookbooks, stopping only a moment to glance up at him before she started flipping through the pages. "Goku!! Why aren't you dressed yet?! I've been up for hours and I'm behind schedule!" The confused Saiyajin glanced down at the sweat pants he'd worn to bed, scratching his head as he tried to remember what he was forgetting. "Behind schedule for what? What have you been doing?" he finally asked, deciding that he was still too sleepy to think straight. ChiChi finally stopped what she was doing and glared up at her husband, who was obviously startled by her evil look. "I was up at 1 a.m.! I've already been to the store to pick up all the food the car could carry, cleaned the house, brought out the extra tables and chairs, ordered even more food which will be delivered soon, and now I'm beginning the long process of cooking everything!! I really could have used
your help, but I couldn't wake you up! I swear! You Saiyajins could sleep through a nuclear explosion!!" Goku blinked in confusion. "Why?" The stressed out woman nearly fell over at the question. "Today's Thanksgiving!!" she cried, tugging at her hair.
Goku's face went pale. "Wha?? Already?!" The food loving Saiyajin normally would have been overjoyed at the mention of the holiday. This was the one time when there was an endless amount of food to enjoy. But the last few Thanksgivings had been terrible. Each year, more and more people would come to the Son's house for a little "family togetherness" as they called it. Last year, almost every member of ChiChi's family had shown up. At first it didn't seem so bad, despite the fact Goku didn't have a clue who most of them were, but as the day went on, he soon found out that ChiChi's short temper was something that ran in the family. In a matter of minutes, everyone had been at each other's throats and all Goku could do was try to keep them from killing each other. He could only imagine what this year would be like.
Goku glanced behind him as he heard a strangled gasp. There he found an equally pale Gohan, who seemed to have overheard the startling announcement. "Is...is that today?" he managed to choke out, looking up at his father with a terrified expression on his face. Goku sighed and nodded at his son. Gohan had it the worst on Thanksgiving. He was the youngest in the family, so he was a magnet for cheek pinching relatives who wore way too much lipstick for the soul purpose of leaving their mark on the 12 year old's face. It was a wonder Gohan had survived the past few Thanksgivings without being smothered to death. "But...I haven't prepared! I haven't trained hard enough for this day yet!! How did it sneak up so fast?!" The young Saiyajin collapsed on the floor, his head in his hands as he started to hyperventilate. Goku knelt down next to his son and patted him on the back in an attempt to calm him. "Settle down, Gohan. Maybe if you leave now, you can be half way around the world
before everyone starts to arrive." Gohan looked up at his father happily. "Yes!! That'll work!" "NO!!" Father and son both fell over in surprise as they looked over at a very angry ChiChi. "You're not going anywhere, Gohan! And neither are you, Goku! This is a family holiday, and I expect you two to show some respect toward whoever shows up today! You only have to endure this once a year, so suck it up and act like Saiyajins!" Goku and Gohan both stared at ChiChi in shock for a moment before finally nodding. "Good!" she snapped, measuring out the ingredients she'd need for something. "Now go get dressed! It's almost 4:30 for god's sake!! The sun will be up in only 2 hours!" The two Saiyajins sighed and got up, each slowly making their way back to their rooms to get dressed.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Goku returned to the kitchen after he'd gotten dressed, smiling at Gohan, who was being forced to help cook. "Not you to!" ChiChi cried. "What?" Goku asked. The woman sighed. "Can't you wear something a little nicer for today?" The Saiyajin glanced down at the orange gi he always wore. "Why? Orange is a Thanksgiving color, isn't it? Besides, if this year is anything like last year, I need to be wearing something I can fight in! Your crazy aunt nearly killed me last year during her karate demonstration!" ChiChi snorted and looked over at Gohan, who was also wearing his normal Piccolo look alike cloths. "Well maybe if you hadn't told her you were an alien originally sent here to destroy Earth, she wouldn't have tried to paralyze you!" Goku folded his arms and frowned. "Well she asked where I was from and if I had ever had a job before, so I told her the truth! How was I supposed to know that she'd take the destruction of this planet so personally? I'm starting to wonder where
Gohan really gets his power from." Gohan chuckled a little at the comment, but immediately went back to what he was doing when his mother shot him a dirty look. Goku's eyes widened slightly as he thought. "Hey...she isn't coming this year, is she?" "No..." ChiChi answered, never looking up from the boiling pot of water she was slicing vegetables into. Goku sighed in relief. "To be honest, the only people I'm sure are coming are Vegeta, Bulma, and Mirai Trunks. I figured that it was kind of hard for them to have a nice holiday dinner in a place like Capsule Corp, so I invited them here. Vegeta wasn't too happy about it, but Bulma said she'd drag him over anyway." A smile spread over Goku's face as she spoke. "Stop smiling! No sparring with Vegeta!" The Saiyajin frowned. "Aw! You're no fun, ChiChi!" "Thanksgiving isn't about fun! Now come help me with this! I have to cook ten turkey's by noon and I can only fit two in the oven at once!" "Don't worry about that! I can have them
cooked in no time!" ChiChi watched suspiciously as her husband walked over to the row of turkeys and began to fire up a small ki blast in the palm of his hand. "No wait!!" she suddenly cried, grabbing Goku's wrist and pulling his hand away just as he began to fire the blast. "Ah! ChiChi!!" Goku couldn't stop the attack in time and Gohan ducked as the ki blast flew past him and shattered a window as it exited the house. A few seconds later, the still black sky lite up as the blast exploded in the woods. Goku blinked. "Good thing it was only a small blast...Why'd you do that? I wasn't going to fry them!" ChiChi released his wrist. "You can't just cook a turkey in a matter of seconds like that! You'll dry them out! They need to be slowly roasted to keep the flavor in!" The woman frowned as she turned to her destroyed window. "Maybe you shouldn't help with the cooking after all..." Goku's eyes lit up. "Does that mean I can go out for awhile?!" "No!" ChiChi snapped. "You'll
either forget to come back, or you'll come back filthy dirty! You always find someone to spar with, so just sit there and wait until everyone starts arriving." Goku folded his arms and pouted as he left the kitchen and sat on the couch, waiting for the horror to begin.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Goku, who had fallen asleep on the couch, suddenly bolted upright at the sound of the doorbell. He glanced at the clock, hoping that it wasn't time for people to start arriving. The Saiyajin gasped. It was already 11:00! "Goku, can you get the door??" ChiChi asked, juggling a few platters of food as she made room for what looked like the food she had ordered earlier that morning. Goku quickly walked to the door and opened it up, sighing in relief when the Briefs came into view. "Hi, Goku!" Bulma chirped, handing him a few food dishes she had brought. "Are you ok? You look kind of pale." "Oh yeah, I'm fine." The Saiyajin lied as he stepped to the side to let everyone in. He grinned slightly when he saw how miserable Vegeta looked, quickly looking away when the prince glared at him as he walked by. "Oh, Goku! Aren't you looking well!" The startled Saiyajin spun around and gasped as Bulma's mother wrapped her arms around him, squealing in such a high pitched tone that it almost
hurt his ears. She finally relinquished her hold on him to reach up and pinch Goku's cheek. "So handsome!" she cooed. Goku glared over at his son, who was chuckling at the scene. The young Saiyajin immediately stiffened when Mrs. Briefs' gaze turned on him. "Gohan!" she cried as she ran over and started pinching both his cheeks until they turned red. "You're growing up so fast!" Gohan looked at his father helplessly, frowning when Goku just smirked back.
It wasn't long before the doorbell rang again, causing all the color to drain from Goku's face. This meant that people besides the Briefs would be there. The question was...who? The nervous Saiyajin slowly opened the door, tensing a bit in case ChiChi's aunt had decided to come back to finish what she had started. A startled gasp escaped Goku's throat as his eyes fell upon three Saiyajins. One was a very tall muscular man with long unruly hair that almost touched the ground. The other man looked almost identical to him, except he had a scar on his cheek. Among the two men stood a strong looking woman with short spiky black hair. All of them wore Saiyajin armor and had tails flicking behind their builds. "Brother!!" Radditz bellowed, grabbing a still shocked Goku in a bear hug, lifting the smaller Saiyajin off the ground in the process. The other two walked in as the tall Saiyajin continued to squeeze the life out of his brother in a show of affection. Vegeta's mouth
practically dropped open as he spotted the Saiyajins. "How...I thought you were all dead!" he managed to choke out. The scarred Saiyajin known as Bardock smiled patted the stunned prince on the shoulder. "Nice to see that you're alive and well, Prince Vegeta. Oh, and we all managed to get a day out of Hell to spend some time with our only family member who isn't dead." The man smirked and turned back to Goku, who was just being released from Radditz's hold. Goku stumbled away from his brother and looked over at the other two Saiyajins, who he had never seen before. Radditz smiled and put his arm around his brother's shoulders. "Kakarotto, meet Bardock and Kinoko. They're your parents." Everyone in the room gasped in surprise, except for Vegeta, who was well aware of the relation between the group.
Goku had little time to respond before a loud thud sounded from the kitchen. "ChiChi!" he cried, running over to the woman, who had fainted. He quickly propped her up in his arm and gently tapped her cheek with his free hand until she came to. She stared up at the concerned face of her husband before smiling and sitting up. "I...I have a mother and father-in-law!" The recovered woman jumped up and ran over to Bardock, hugging the uncomfortable Saiyajin before moving to Kinoko, who seemed to enjoy the embrace of her newly discovered daughter-in-law. "Good choice." Kinoko said, smiling at Goku, causing a small blush to creep onto his face. He laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his head. "Well, actually, ChiChi kind of chose me." Kinoko laughed and looked at Bardock. "Like father like son. Right, my husband?" Bardock folded his arms and grumbled something under his breath as Radditz chuckled. ChiChi smiled and looked back at Gohan, who seemed to be attempting to become
invisible as he stared at the Saiyajins. Kinoko followed the woman's gaze. "Who's this?" she asked, noting the boy's Saiyajin like appearance. ChiChi looked over at her husband, who seemed to still be having trouble finding words. "Goku, introduce him." Bardock raised an eyebrow. "Goku?" The nervous Saiyajin nodded. "Yeah, that's my Earth name...and, that's my son, Gohan." Bardock frowned slightly, not approving of two Saiyajins having Earth names, but smirked afterward, feeling that his son and grandson were powerful. Kinoko smiled and walked over to Gohan, ruffling his hair. "So I'm a grandmother, eh? That makes me feel so old!" Gohan smiled a little. "How old are you, kid?" she asked. "12." the young Saiyajin answered shyly. Vegeta snorted. "Yes, and he's already a Super Saiyajin." The Saiyajins gasped in shock. "What? That's impossible!" Bardock stammered, not believing what he was hearing. ChiChi smiled. "Like father like son." The Saiyajins shifted their gaze to Goku,
who jumped in surprise as the attention was focused on him again. "How long?" Radditz asked. "Uh, a few years now..." Goku answered. "But how? How'd you turn?" Bardock asked. "When I was fighting Freiza." he replied. This sent another wave of shock over the group. "Alone? And you lived?" Kinoko gasped. "Well yeah. I beat him in battle, but Trunks was the one who finally destroyed him." "Trunks?" Bardock asked. "My son." Vegeta said, motioning toward Mirai. "He's a Super Saiyajin as well."
The group of Saiyajins talked with everyone, trying to gather all the information they could. Again, the doorbell rang. Goku got up and walked to the door, not nearly as nervous this time, figuring that no one could be a bigger shock than his dead family. He opened the door and froze, finding that he was sorely mistaken. Standing before him was Cell, Freiza, and King Cold. Once Goku had gotten over his shock, he immediately went Super Saiyajin in case they tried anything. "What are you three doing here? I'll warn you now, this place is full of Saiyajins, so don't try anything funny." King Cold laughed. "We wouldn't dream of picking a fight on Thanksgiving!" Goku put his hands on either side of the doorframe, blocking the way. "Then why are you here?!" "Why do you think?" Freiza asked, licking his lips. "No way!! You're nuts if you think I'll let you in!" ChiChi suddenly showed up and hit Goku in the head with a frying pan, startling the Super Saiyajin. "Hey!" he cried,
rubbing his head even though he barely felt the hit. "Don't be so rude! Let them in! They're guests!" she shouted, shoving Goku to the side. "But! Those two wanted to destroy this whole planet!" the Saiyajin cried, pointing to Freiza and King Cold. "And I'm supposed to fight him next week!" he continued, pointing to Cell. "Oh come now, Goku." Cell said as he walked by. "Surely we can all put our differences aside for today." Goku watched the three carefully as they began to talk to everyone as if they were all best friends. Vegeta glared at Freiza and said something inaudible, but was cut short as Bulma grabbed him by the ear angrily, rendering the prince helpless. "This is unbelievable..." Goku muttered as he slipped out of Super Saiyajin form and began to walk away from the door.
Before he could take two steps, the doorbell rang again. Goku cringed and slowly turned and opened the door. He gasped in horror as ChiChi's crazy aunt came into view, her fists already raised in preparation of knocking a certain Saiyajin out. "Round two, alien!!" she shouted. Goku screamed in terror and ran through the house as the woman chased him. ChiChi smiled. "How nice! Aunt Claria is here!!" The crazy woman stopped her pursuit and smiled at ChiChi. "Oh, hello dear! Who are all these nice people?" Goku watched in astonishment as the woman hugged each of the other Saiyajins before moving onto Cell, Freiza, and King Cold. He frowned. "You've got to be kidding me! You're trying to kill me for being an alien who's mission was to destroy Earth for a full week before I lost my memory, and yet you're hugging these three, who clearly look like aliens and are actually trying to destroy the Earth? ARE YOU INSANE, WOMAN?!" Aunt Claria spun around and hissed at Goku, causing the
Saiyajin to jump in fear. "Yes, but you're married to by niece!" "Yeah, so?" "So as her aunt, it's my job to cause trouble for you!" Goku and the woman had a brief glaring match before Gohan finally spoke up. "Hey mom...Is something burning?"
ChiChi gasped and ran to the kitchen, spotting smoke billowing from the oven. "Oh no! Turkey number 4!!!" She quickly grabbed two potholders and slipped them on before grabbing the crispy turkey from the oven. Goku ran into the room and looked at the charred black bird. "I could have done that..." he said, immediately shutting up as ChiChi shot him her best death stare. He walked over to the now upset woman. "Quickly, Goku! We can still save this thing! Give me that baster over there! Maybe if we inject juices from another turkey into it, it'll come back!" Goku put his hands on her shoulders. "Honey...it's gone. There's no saving it..." The woman batted his hands away. "Nonsense! We can just scrape off the burnt parts!" she cried, desperately clawing at the charred remains of the bird. Goku watched his wife for a moment before grabbing her hands. "ChiChi! It's all burnt part!" The woman finally came back to her senses. "But...but we may not have enough now...With all these
Saiyajins here..." Goku smiled. "Don't worry. I can go to the store and get a few more turkey's if you're that worried." ChiChi's eyes narrowed as she grabbed her husband's shirt. "No! You can't go to a grocery store on Thanksgiving Day! It's suicide! You'll be torn apart by last minute shoppers!!" The Saiyajin's expression hardened slightly. "No, ChiChi. I can do this for you." "But you could be killed!" "I'm well aware of the risks!" The woman choked back a sob and cursed herself for letting the turkey burn in the first place. "Promise you'll come back alive...I could never forgive myself if something were to happen to you..." Goku smiled and hugged her. "I'll be fine..."
He finally turned and went back into the room where everyone was waiting to see what was going on. ChiChi joined him, sobbing as she latched into his arm. "What's going on?" Trunks asked. Goku took a deep breath. "ChiChi accidentally burnt one of the turkey's...I...I'm going to the store for her..." Everyone gasped before silence settled over the horrified group. "Kakarotto...You...you can't! Not now!" Vegeta stuttered, hardly believing the bravery of the warrior. Trunks jumped up. "Goku! You have no idea what you're getting yourself into! In my time line, not even the androids dared go to the grocery store on Thanksgiving Day!" Goku felt as if he'd be sick as his nerves built up. "I know what I'm getting myself into..." "You Saiyajins are crazy..." Cell said in shock. Goku frowned and started toward the door. "If I'm not back in one hour..." he paused and looked at ChiChi, who was tearing up again. "Uh...wait longer..." He walked outside and took a deep breath before taking
to the air, pausing when he heard someone calling his name. He landed again as Bardock ran over to him. "What is it?" he asked. His father looked at him for a moment before speaking. "This is a task that not even the bravest of warriors would do back on Planet Vegeta...I'm going with you. I'm not about to let my youngest son do this alone." "No!" Goku cried. "You could be killed!" "I'm already dead!" Bardock said, motioning to the ring that hovered over his head. Goku blinked and nodded. "Oh yeah..."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The two Saiyajins arrived at the store about 20 minutes later. They hovered in the air for awhile, looking down at the mob of people running to and from the store. Some were screaming in terror as they abandoned their mission while others were fighting with each other just to get in the door. Bardock's eyes widened. "These humans are even more aggressive than Saiyajins..." "Yeah," Goku agreed. "Good thing they aren't as strong..." "How are we going to get in there?" the scarred Saiyajin asked. Goku thought for a moment before putting his hand on his father's shoulder. Seconds later, they were in the turkey aisle among a mob of people. Bardock blinked in surprise. "Wha..." "No time. Look!" Goku said, motioning to a few remaining turkeys. They looked at each other for a moment. "Good luck, son..." Bardock said, a hint of fear in his voice. Goku swallowed and looked back at their target. "If we get separated, meet back up with me outside. If I don't show after ten minutes, go
on without me..." Bardock suddenly grabbed his son and slapped him across the face. "Don't talk like that! You're getting out of here alive! You hear me!?" Goku nodded. "Good...Now let's do this."
The two suddenly bolted forward, immediately losing sight of each other as they disappeared into the mob of crazed last minute shoppers. Goku's heart raced as he pushed his way through the crowd, bits of his life flashing before his eyes. He finally managed to grab hold of a turkey. "Success!" he shouted, turning to leave. He stopped abruptly when an old woman stepping in front of him, swinging a cane around. "Give me that turkey!" she snapped. Goku's first instinct was to hand it over, being the nice person he was, but images of a crying ChiChi flooded his mind and he held his ground. "No way! Out of my way, old woman!" The granny glared at him before taking her dentures from her mouth and snapping them at the Saiyajin. Goku screamed in terror as he turned to run from the surprisingly fast elderly woman.
Bardock also managed to grab a turkey and smiled as he turned to leave. His smile faded when he found himself surrounded by crazy humans, each looking to snatch the turkey. "Stay back!" he growled, his hand lighting up with a ki attack. The humans didn't look as if they were afraid of his threat to blast them all away, so he instead turned his palm toward the turkey. Suddenly, everyone gasped and backed away. The Saiyajin smiled and slowly made his way through the crowd, who parted to make room for him to walk by. "That's right. Any of you make a move and the turkey gets it!" "Ok...Let's not do anything too drastic..." one man said, putting his hands up in a defensive fashion. "Move it!" Bardock growled, causing the humans to move out of the way. The scarred Saiyajin grinned and bolted to the door, turkey in hand. He laughed as he successfully made it out of the death trap known as the local grocery store. He glanced around and finally spotted a very bruised Goku, who also
had a turkey. "Good god. What happened to you, kid?" Goku sighed and rubbed his head. "There was an old lady in there with one heck of a swing..." Bardock glanced at what looked like bite marks in the other Saiyajin's arms. "And those?" Goku followed his gaze. "Oh...She had dentures...And she wasn't afraid to use them..." Bardock winced a bit. "That's brutal. That's how I got this scar." he said, pointing to his cheek.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The two Saiyajins burst back through the door, turkey's in hand. "We're alive!!" Goku cried triumphantly. "Thank god!" ChiChi cried as she ran over and wrapped her arms around her bruised husband. The two Saiyajins handed her the turkeys and she ran to the kitchen to start preparing them for cooking. Vegeta smirked at Goku's appearance. "Looks like you got roughed up, Kakarotto." Goku grinned. "Yeah! There's was an evil old woman there..." Freiza frowned. "Old people are the worst. They never have anything to lose!" Goku's eyes narrowed as he looked over at Aunt Claria. "Yeah...I know what you mean." The woman glared at the Saiyajin. "What are you trying to say, alien?!" "What do you think, old lady?!" Aunt Claria let out a war cry and dove for Goku, who moved to the side at the last moment, causing the woman to fly into the closet. He quickly slammed the door and jammed it shut with a chair. ChiChi stuck her head back in the room. "Dinner will be ready very soon!" "Ok."
Goku said, smiling at the closet as Claria pounded on the door.
Everyone gathered back in the main room to talk again. "So...what happened to your tails?" Kinoko asked, glancing at all the tailless Saiyajins. "I had mine removed to avoid turning into a giant ape and Vegeta lost his during a battle. Gohan's was removed for the same reason as mine." Vegeta glared at Goku. "I didn't lose mine! That fat guy cut it off! I still have to get even with him for that!" Bardock looked over at Trunks, who he learned was from the future. "How about you?" "Mine was removed not too long after I was born. Mother already knew what would happen if I kept it." The dead Saiyajins nodded, glancing at each other. "What?" Goku asked, noticing the strange looks. "Nothing...nothing..." Goku looked around, noticing that Gohan, Cell, King Cold, and Freiza were nowhere to be found. "Anyone seen Gohan?" Everyone shook their heads no, causing Goku's tension to build again as he jumped up and ran upstairs. He stopped outside of Gohan's room, where he could hear a few
growls and shouts. "I'm going to pound you into the ground!" he heard Freiza shout. Goku immediately burst into the room, gasping when he saw what was going on.
The three villains and his son turned to look at him, game controllers in their hands. The Saiyajin looked up at the tv, revealing a fighting video game. He sighed in relief. "Something wrong, dad?" Gohan asked. "Uh...no...I guess not." "Hey, Goku. Why don't you play?" King Cold asked. Goku frowned. "No, I don't want to." He turned and started to leave the room. "He's afraid he'll lose." Cell scoffed. Goku stopped, slowly turning back to the group. "I'm not afraid! Gimme that controller!" Freiza grinned and handed the Saiyajin the controller. Cell and Goku immediately started a long fierce battle. "I'm not going to lose to you!" Goku growled, concentrating on the tv. "Too bad for you then!" Cell growled back, sweat pouring down his face and he punched on the buttons.
What seemed like hours later, Cell suddenly cried out. "Thumb cramp!! Hit pause!!" Goku laughed evilly and took advantage of his opponent's predicament, throwing a death blow that finished off Cell's character. The green android gasped. "You cheater!! I called a time out!" The Saiyajin grinned and got up to leave. "You had already used up all your time outs earlier. I won fair and square." Cell frowned, clutching his sore thumb. "I'll kill you for this!" Goku chuckled and left the room. "Sure you will...sure you will."
He made his way back downstairs and was immediately surrounded by Radditz, Bardock, and Kinoko. "Hey guys. Something wrong?" They stared at him for a minute before one finally spoke up. "We've discussed it, and we decided that you should have your tail. It's part of your heritage." Bardock explained. Goku raised an eyebrow. "I don't think that's a good idea. Besides, I thought it would only grow back under certain circumstances..." "That's true..." Kinoko said, moving to her son's side. "But there's a pressure point that can cause your tail to re-grow right away if pressed on." She pointed to a spot on her neck. "Right here. It won't hurt a bit." Goku stepped away from her as she reached for the pressure point on his neck. "Wait! There's a full moon every month on this planet! Vegeta said there was only a full moon once every six months on your planet, so it's not a good idea for a Saiyajin to have a tail on Earth!" Radditz frowned and moved to help his mother. "Come on!
Just don't look at the moon on those nights." "No!" Goku cried, once again moving away. "It's too risky!" The other Saiyajins halted their advance. "Fine." Bardock finally said after a long silence. Goku sighed in relief and smiled. "Ok, I bet dinner's almost ready!" The Saiyajin ran into the kitchen to check up on ChiChi. Meanwhile, the other Saiyajins smiled at each other, exchanging mischievous smiles.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Goku had returned from the kitchen, announcing that everything would be ready within the hour. The other Saiyajins had turned on the tv and were watching all the strange creatures that floated down a street. "What's this?" Radditz asked. "Oh," Goku said as he sat down. "Those are floats. They have a parade every Thanksgiving in town." Bardock raised an eyebrow at the strange balloons. "What's the point?" Goku looked over at him, the back at the tv. "I...I don't know..." The Saiyajins continued staring at the tv in silence, completely confused. Kinoko glanced at Bardock after a moment, grinning as she put her arm around Goku's shoulders. He looked at her suspiciously as she moved her hand dangerously close to the tail re-growing pressure spot. Goku gasped and jumped up. "No! Stop trying to re-grow my tail!" Kinoko frowned. "But Kakarotto..." she whined, moving closer to him again. Goku looked over at the tv and pointed. "Look!" The other Saiyajins shifted their gaze to the tv
for a moment before returning their attention to Goku, who had disappeared. "Wha...Darn! He's a sneaky one..." Kinoko muttered, snapping her fingers. Radditz and Bardock nodded.
Goku transported himself outside to escape his tail crazy family. He gasped when he saw Vegeta, Mirai Trunks, Freiza, Cell, and Gohan playing football. "What are you doing?!" he yelled angrily, causing everyone to stop and stare at him. Vegeta blinked. "What's the problem, Kakarotto? Did you want to play?" "No!" he shouted angrily. "Then what's wrong?" Trunks asked. Goku glared at all of them before pointing to what Cell was holding. "You're using Gohan as the football!" he cried. They all shifted their gaze to Gohan. "Oh relax...We won't spike the ball or anything if that's what you're afraid of." Cell said a matter-of-factly. Goku rubbed his eyes in frustration. "Where's King Cold?" Everyone thought for a moment. "I last saw father with that woman of yours." Freiza finally answered. The Saiyajin's eyes widened. "What?!" He quickly ran back into the house and burst into the kitchen. His jaw dropped open as he saw King Cold slaving over at hot oven beside ChiChi. "This could
use a little more garlic for flavor." Freiza's father said, motioning toward a large pot he was standing in front of. ChiChi thought for a moment. "Are you sure that won't be too much?" The alien laughed. "Of course not, my dear woman. It'll be just right." ChiChi laughed and handed him some garlic. "Well, you've been right about everything else so far!" The two laughed heartily and went back to cooking. Goku slowly backed out of the kitchen, his mouth still hanging open. "There you are!" He spun around, only to come face to face with Bardock, Kinoko, and Radditz. They each reached out in an attempt to hit the pressure point. "Nooooo!!" he cried, raising his hands to his neck and running away. The three watched as the youngest member of their family ran away screaming. "What got into him?" Bardock asked. "Maybe he thought that we were still trying to make his tail grow back..." The three laughed before immediately falling silent, exchanging another set of mischievous smiles.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Everyone gathered at the table when dinner was finally ready. "Where's Goku?" ChiChi asked, glancing around the large table piled high with food. Gohan thought for a moment. "I saw him upstairs a half hour ago...I think he was taking those anti-stress pills of yours, mom." ChiChi raised an eyebrow. "Why? This has been one of the nicest Thanksgivings in my opinion." Gohan nodded. "Yeah, I thought it was pretty good." Before another word could be said, a still very stressed out Goku walked into the room and sat down at the table. "Those pills of yours don't do anything." he grumbled. "Are you kidding me?" she asked as everyone started to eat. "Just two of those things are almost enough to knock me out. How many did you take?" Goku thought for a minute. "Twelve..." "TWELVE?!" the woman cried in shock. "Goku! That's enough to kill a dragon!!" The Saiyajin laughed for a minute. "Well it's a good thing I'm not a dra---" Goku stopped in mid-sentence as he passed out without
warning. "Oh no!" ChiChi cried. "Is he dead?!" Cell frowned. "He better not be! He's not scheduled to die until next week!" Kinoko reached over and checked for a pulse on her son's neck. "No...he's alive. I think he's just in a coma like state." ChiChi sighed in relief. "That's good. I'll just save him some turkey..." Kinoko removed her hand from Goku's neck, smiling evilly at Bardock and Radditz, who nodded and smiled back.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Goku slowly opened his eyes, moaning as a sharp pain shot through his head. "It's about time you woke up..." The Saiyajin glanced to his side, where ChiChi was sitting. "You missed Thanksgiving. Your parents said to tell you that they enjoyed meeting you and that they'll be back next year." Goku moaned and sat up, pausing when some movement caught his attention. He looked down at a furry tail that was laying beside him on the couch in surprise. "Wha..." ChiChi followed his gaze. "Oh yes...I think that overdose in pills caused that to grow back. I noticed it right after Kinoko checked your pulse to make sure you were still alive." Goku glared down at the tail. "It wasn't the pills..." he grumbled. His wife sighed and looked at the new appendage. "Well I guess it really doesn't matter. It's back. Just make sure you don't look at the full moon." "How long have I been out?" The Saiyajin asked, still angry about his tail. "Three days now." ChiChi answered. She paused a moment
before speaking again. "By the way...Do you know what happened to Aunt Claria? I haven't seen her since early Thanksgiving Day..." Goku gasped and stiffened, slowly glancing over at the closet across the room......