___Dream 66___
~~~NOTE- ok, this is gonna be a long one. *picks up the flower she'd been holding, lies it on the grave of PN* A moment of silence, please.
As some of you may or may not know, Planetnamek.com was one of the most amazing sites ever built, and one of the places that was crucial in the sparking of many a fandom, including my own. But now it has left us, for good. I'd heard this rumor long ago, but not until yesterday did I have the courage to actually check up on it. It's true. Before I get started typing this next chapter, I'm going to leave a message out. Anyone who doesn't care can just check the end of the note for the musical inspiration and read c66. For the rest of you-
Planetnamek.com was one of the most magnificent sites I ever laid eyes on three years or so ago when I was just a beginning fan- It was that site where I first heard of 'fanfiction'.... and it is that site to which I owe everything in my own writing. If it wasn't for that, a much younger me would have never gotten the idea into her little blond head to write a story named "dreams", or any of the others she's done since. It's there that she read her first-ever fanfic, where she learned the words 'manga' and 'subtitled' and 'uncut' and 'fanart' and everything else that she knows today about the world of anime. It's that site that lead her to others, which lead her to others, which lead her to Cremrock's shrine, where she first posted a modest 23 chapters of the story that you are now reading. (Once this fic is finished, and it will be one day, I'll pay my due to Crem, so I won't go on how much he helped me here) It was at Cremrock's where she found the links to the two stories that have influenced her more than any others before or since- "silent one" and "mamono sakuhachi". It was Planetnamek where she found a message board called "Gundam", four pages long at the time, and made a myriad of friends whom she shall never, ever forget (I'll also pay my dues to them, in time). It was there that she would go to find out anything she needed to know about the DB universe, there that everything began.
I shall never, ever forget that place.
*sighs quietly* and one last note- Kain, Skullmac, if you ever chance across this..... I think I've finally forgiven you for selling GL all those months ago. We all knew it wouldn't last.... I just want to thank you, Mr.E, Kaio, and everyone else on the staff for all that you have done for us. Nothing beautiful lasts forever. But it was a blast while it lasted //.^ *walks away from the site's plain-screened grave*
Musical inspiration- "Wishing Well", "Sculpture Garden", by Semisonic ~~~
Everyone was silent the next morning, going about their work as usual. Something in a blue pair of eyes told them to ask no questions.
Noone questioned why she'd come barging in to the temporary sleeping quarters they'd set up on the lookout so late, or why she hadn't slept at all, or why Yen had found Videl collapsed in a drunken stupor outside the next day. They'd merely laid the black-haired girl to rest in one of the beds, left Chi-chi to tend her daughter-in-law, and gone about their business.
They all had a feeling they didn't want to know the answers.
---
Left
Right
Left
Right
Damn.
That's all that could register in Lute's young mind as he watched the two adults acting like they were his age. His mother (anoco right now) and Vegeta-san had been at it for almost an hour now, laughing slightly and grinning like idiots as they pounded each other with mud.
It was actually pretty funny. They seemed to be taking it so seriously, but they weren't. Anoco had told him before how he'd spar with the little sayian, and he always smiled a bit fondly while recounting the times- he'd never quite said it, but it was obvious they were friends.
It also seemed Vegeta had forgotten who he was 'fighting'.
---
Gohan watched the same scene with less introspective and far more amusement. Oboe had ducked behind a tree which the original color of was indistinguishable now, only poking her head out to hurl insults. Vegeta had posted himself in the middle of the puddle for easy-access to the weaponry. Both were thoroughly soaked and caked from head to foot, and Vegeta's short new hair was flattened in a thousand different directions, a rictious grin plastered on his face.
"Comeon you damned namek! Show your cowardly face!"
"Why should I?"
"....I.... said so!"
Laughter coursed out from two places, and Vegeta swirled around and slammed Gohan right in the face with a nice nasty glob of the stuff, sending the halfling flying flat on his ass two feet away, and his glasses in another direction. Then it was his turn to laugh.
Not for long, as he soon found himself face-down in the mud, a green hand pressed into the back of his head.
"You loose."
"..... you suck, namek" he managed to spit out as he pulled himself back up, spitting out a few other things as well.
All he saw was Piccolo crossing his arms and replying cockily "Well I won, didn't I?"
".... *fumes* "
"WHERE ARE MY GLASSES?????"
Lute trotted over to the halfling, holding something out to him. "Here, Gohan-san"
"Oh.... thanks Lute."
"*stifles a laugh* "
Gohan glances over half-blindly to the child as he put the glasses to his face, asking "Why did you- AH! There's mud all over these!"
Lute couldn't help it, he slipped and fell down, laughing as he plopped to the ground "They 'fell'!"
"No they didn't, you did this on purpose didn't you, you little imp?"
"......maybe!" he grinned out in that extended high tone that gave away the understatement.
"I am so gonna get you kid........ huh? Guys? Why are you all looking at me like that... hey, don't..."
"ATTACK!!!"
---
Gohan wiped at his now-brown gi an slight annoyance. He'd never be able to get it clean again... {{Of course, }} he thought with a gleam in his eye and a glance to the others, {{I'm in better shape than they are, anyway.}} Lute looked almost as bad as Vegeta and his mother... no, father, but no, she was.... ah, damn it all, the other namek that looked like his sensei. It was too confusing to try to name them right now.
Back to Lute- when they'd attacked him, the kid had dove straight into the fray, laughing the whole time, and though he never got a single shot in, he kept laughing with the same joyous intensity, the same brightness in his emerald eyes. The little guy was really starting to grow on him...
His head pulled up when their other namekian sighed aloud, murmuring "This is helpless... we're gonna have to wash it off. It's just to caked on to clean off the clothes without burning it off, and that might torch the fabric as well, which I don't think anyone wants."
A slight chuckle from Vegeta was all she got, so she stood up, looked at them until she got their attention, and continued "So I suggest we go find somewhere to wash off. You three go off that way to look for somewhere. I'll find one on my own, and we'll meet back at the next village. Anyone gets lost, raise your chi- we'll find you.
"So I have to watch the two kids?"
".... *gives him a look* "
At that, Vegeta realized what he was saying, and slapped himself. {{STUPID! What did you think, the woman was gonna bring the halfling along with her?}} Trying to redeem himself, he snapped "What about him? He's your kid."
"He needs to spend some time with others. All his life he's been kept to practically himself, I want him to get to know someone else." And without a further word, she turned on her heel and disappeared into the forest.
Vegeta sighed a bit, knowing he was defeated yet again, and trudged off in another direction, locking in on the smell of flowing water.
---
Oboe strolled in silence through the blue foliage all around her, smiling softly as the shadows flitted overhead. Thick forests were rare on Nameksei, and she knew this one well- Swiftu had often brought her or Arcos here to practice stealth, something they both lacked.
Her favorite image of her much older brother came to mind, that proud sort of look he'd get on his face when she did something new with her chi, the one where he'd hook a thumb in his belt and smile a bit cockeyed, one fang glinting a bit in the sunlight that sparkled in his soft eyes as well.
A sudden pang of loss crept into her heart once more at the thought of him, and she shook her head, humming a snatch of a tune to herself that Kattatsu had always sang to them before tucking them to sleep at night as children, about stars and distance and change and eternity and love. It had a calming effect on her, as it always did, even though the voice which said the words was a bit to similar to the one who used it first.
{{Hai, he was his grandfather..... }} she thought to herself as she held a hand before her face, quickly letting it slide to her side because it made her uncomfortable. {{Well, what to do now... I know I heard the stream nearby, and if everything else is the same, it ought to be there still...}}
The faint sound of running water came to her again, and she smiled, continuing in the right direction.
---
A few minutes later her feet stepped from the forest into a clearing where a translucent pond formed in the flow of the stream she'd been following, the water sparkling a soft green and an even more lovely scent, to her at least, than anything hands could ever make. Swiftly she bent down, cupping her hands in the water and bringing to her nose for a moment before drinking deeply, and smiling. This was the place alright.
Stepping back, she reached her hands to loosen her belt, but stopped. She was still in Piccolo's body.
Turning a bright fuchsia at the thought of what she'd nearly done, she reached her hands to her earrings and resumed her own form before continuing.
A slight yelp passed her lips as she waded in- it was wonderfully warm, but still a bit colder than she'd thought. Shrugging it off, she giggled slightly {{It's been forever since I've been able to feel homeworld water.... Chiuku's is nice, but it just feels too hard, not soft at all like good water should be....}}
Her train of thought was interrupted as she dunked her head underwater, but she picked it back up as she used her claws to scrape at the remaining grime {{Same with the air, and the soil, and the plants... Nothing is sweeter than Nameksei, especially when the adjica are in full bloom.... You can show me whatever beautiful thing you like, but nothing can match the adjica. *smiles* Ah, but I forgot him....}}
Grabbing her gi off the bank, she scrubbed it thoroughly with her hands, working them through the fabric like a baker kneading dough to soften it and pull out any impurities they might find. The cool green water flowed through airily, helping her along with her task and washing away the mud down the stream and off into the forest. She sung softly to herself the tune from before, and without the odd likeness in voice this time, it was far more relaxing for her, a smile slipping across her sapphire eyes.
After a few minutes, she laid the wet gi on the bank again and stood up, shaking her head to sent the droplets flying in every direction. She was about to dry them with her ki, get dressed and go, when something in the corner of her eye caught her attention. She blinked, and turned her head to the opposite shore, about twenty-five feet off.
Slack-jawed, the water pail clasped in his hand long since forgotten, stood Osu, eyes wide with shock.
~~NOTE- late again //.
~~~NOTE- ok, this is gonna be a long one. *picks up the flower she'd been holding, lies it on the grave of PN* A moment of silence, please.
As some of you may or may not know, Planetnamek.com was one of the most amazing sites ever built, and one of the places that was crucial in the sparking of many a fandom, including my own. But now it has left us, for good. I'd heard this rumor long ago, but not until yesterday did I have the courage to actually check up on it. It's true. Before I get started typing this next chapter, I'm going to leave a message out. Anyone who doesn't care can just check the end of the note for the musical inspiration and read c66. For the rest of you-
Planetnamek.com was one of the most magnificent sites I ever laid eyes on three years or so ago when I was just a beginning fan- It was that site where I first heard of 'fanfiction'.... and it is that site to which I owe everything in my own writing. If it wasn't for that, a much younger me would have never gotten the idea into her little blond head to write a story named "dreams", or any of the others she's done since. It's there that she read her first-ever fanfic, where she learned the words 'manga' and 'subtitled' and 'uncut' and 'fanart' and everything else that she knows today about the world of anime. It's that site that lead her to others, which lead her to others, which lead her to Cremrock's shrine, where she first posted a modest 23 chapters of the story that you are now reading. (Once this fic is finished, and it will be one day, I'll pay my due to Crem, so I won't go on how much he helped me here) It was at Cremrock's where she found the links to the two stories that have influenced her more than any others before or since- "silent one" and "mamono sakuhachi". It was Planetnamek where she found a message board called "Gundam", four pages long at the time, and made a myriad of friends whom she shall never, ever forget (I'll also pay my dues to them, in time). It was there that she would go to find out anything she needed to know about the DB universe, there that everything began.
I shall never, ever forget that place.
*sighs quietly* and one last note- Kain, Skullmac, if you ever chance across this..... I think I've finally forgiven you for selling GL all those months ago. We all knew it wouldn't last.... I just want to thank you, Mr.E, Kaio, and everyone else on the staff for all that you have done for us. Nothing beautiful lasts forever. But it was a blast while it lasted //.^ *walks away from the site's plain-screened grave*
Musical inspiration- "Wishing Well", "Sculpture Garden", by Semisonic ~~~
Everyone was silent the next morning, going about their work as usual. Something in a blue pair of eyes told them to ask no questions.
Noone questioned why she'd come barging in to the temporary sleeping quarters they'd set up on the lookout so late, or why she hadn't slept at all, or why Yen had found Videl collapsed in a drunken stupor outside the next day. They'd merely laid the black-haired girl to rest in one of the beds, left Chi-chi to tend her daughter-in-law, and gone about their business.
They all had a feeling they didn't want to know the answers.
---
Left
Right
Left
Right
Damn.
That's all that could register in Lute's young mind as he watched the two adults acting like they were his age. His mother (anoco right now) and Vegeta-san had been at it for almost an hour now, laughing slightly and grinning like idiots as they pounded each other with mud.
It was actually pretty funny. They seemed to be taking it so seriously, but they weren't. Anoco had told him before how he'd spar with the little sayian, and he always smiled a bit fondly while recounting the times- he'd never quite said it, but it was obvious they were friends.
It also seemed Vegeta had forgotten who he was 'fighting'.
---
Gohan watched the same scene with less introspective and far more amusement. Oboe had ducked behind a tree which the original color of was indistinguishable now, only poking her head out to hurl insults. Vegeta had posted himself in the middle of the puddle for easy-access to the weaponry. Both were thoroughly soaked and caked from head to foot, and Vegeta's short new hair was flattened in a thousand different directions, a rictious grin plastered on his face.
"Comeon you damned namek! Show your cowardly face!"
"Why should I?"
"....I.... said so!"
Laughter coursed out from two places, and Vegeta swirled around and slammed Gohan right in the face with a nice nasty glob of the stuff, sending the halfling flying flat on his ass two feet away, and his glasses in another direction. Then it was his turn to laugh.
Not for long, as he soon found himself face-down in the mud, a green hand pressed into the back of his head.
"You loose."
"..... you suck, namek" he managed to spit out as he pulled himself back up, spitting out a few other things as well.
All he saw was Piccolo crossing his arms and replying cockily "Well I won, didn't I?"
".... *fumes* "
"WHERE ARE MY GLASSES?????"
Lute trotted over to the halfling, holding something out to him. "Here, Gohan-san"
"Oh.... thanks Lute."
"*stifles a laugh* "
Gohan glances over half-blindly to the child as he put the glasses to his face, asking "Why did you- AH! There's mud all over these!"
Lute couldn't help it, he slipped and fell down, laughing as he plopped to the ground "They 'fell'!"
"No they didn't, you did this on purpose didn't you, you little imp?"
"......maybe!" he grinned out in that extended high tone that gave away the understatement.
"I am so gonna get you kid........ huh? Guys? Why are you all looking at me like that... hey, don't..."
"ATTACK!!!"
---
Gohan wiped at his now-brown gi an slight annoyance. He'd never be able to get it clean again... {{Of course, }} he thought with a gleam in his eye and a glance to the others, {{I'm in better shape than they are, anyway.}} Lute looked almost as bad as Vegeta and his mother... no, father, but no, she was.... ah, damn it all, the other namek that looked like his sensei. It was too confusing to try to name them right now.
Back to Lute- when they'd attacked him, the kid had dove straight into the fray, laughing the whole time, and though he never got a single shot in, he kept laughing with the same joyous intensity, the same brightness in his emerald eyes. The little guy was really starting to grow on him...
His head pulled up when their other namekian sighed aloud, murmuring "This is helpless... we're gonna have to wash it off. It's just to caked on to clean off the clothes without burning it off, and that might torch the fabric as well, which I don't think anyone wants."
A slight chuckle from Vegeta was all she got, so she stood up, looked at them until she got their attention, and continued "So I suggest we go find somewhere to wash off. You three go off that way to look for somewhere. I'll find one on my own, and we'll meet back at the next village. Anyone gets lost, raise your chi- we'll find you.
"So I have to watch the two kids?"
".... *gives him a look* "
At that, Vegeta realized what he was saying, and slapped himself. {{STUPID! What did you think, the woman was gonna bring the halfling along with her?}} Trying to redeem himself, he snapped "What about him? He's your kid."
"He needs to spend some time with others. All his life he's been kept to practically himself, I want him to get to know someone else." And without a further word, she turned on her heel and disappeared into the forest.
Vegeta sighed a bit, knowing he was defeated yet again, and trudged off in another direction, locking in on the smell of flowing water.
---
Oboe strolled in silence through the blue foliage all around her, smiling softly as the shadows flitted overhead. Thick forests were rare on Nameksei, and she knew this one well- Swiftu had often brought her or Arcos here to practice stealth, something they both lacked.
Her favorite image of her much older brother came to mind, that proud sort of look he'd get on his face when she did something new with her chi, the one where he'd hook a thumb in his belt and smile a bit cockeyed, one fang glinting a bit in the sunlight that sparkled in his soft eyes as well.
A sudden pang of loss crept into her heart once more at the thought of him, and she shook her head, humming a snatch of a tune to herself that Kattatsu had always sang to them before tucking them to sleep at night as children, about stars and distance and change and eternity and love. It had a calming effect on her, as it always did, even though the voice which said the words was a bit to similar to the one who used it first.
{{Hai, he was his grandfather..... }} she thought to herself as she held a hand before her face, quickly letting it slide to her side because it made her uncomfortable. {{Well, what to do now... I know I heard the stream nearby, and if everything else is the same, it ought to be there still...}}
The faint sound of running water came to her again, and she smiled, continuing in the right direction.
---
A few minutes later her feet stepped from the forest into a clearing where a translucent pond formed in the flow of the stream she'd been following, the water sparkling a soft green and an even more lovely scent, to her at least, than anything hands could ever make. Swiftly she bent down, cupping her hands in the water and bringing to her nose for a moment before drinking deeply, and smiling. This was the place alright.
Stepping back, she reached her hands to loosen her belt, but stopped. She was still in Piccolo's body.
Turning a bright fuchsia at the thought of what she'd nearly done, she reached her hands to her earrings and resumed her own form before continuing.
A slight yelp passed her lips as she waded in- it was wonderfully warm, but still a bit colder than she'd thought. Shrugging it off, she giggled slightly {{It's been forever since I've been able to feel homeworld water.... Chiuku's is nice, but it just feels too hard, not soft at all like good water should be....}}
Her train of thought was interrupted as she dunked her head underwater, but she picked it back up as she used her claws to scrape at the remaining grime {{Same with the air, and the soil, and the plants... Nothing is sweeter than Nameksei, especially when the adjica are in full bloom.... You can show me whatever beautiful thing you like, but nothing can match the adjica. *smiles* Ah, but I forgot him....}}
Grabbing her gi off the bank, she scrubbed it thoroughly with her hands, working them through the fabric like a baker kneading dough to soften it and pull out any impurities they might find. The cool green water flowed through airily, helping her along with her task and washing away the mud down the stream and off into the forest. She sung softly to herself the tune from before, and without the odd likeness in voice this time, it was far more relaxing for her, a smile slipping across her sapphire eyes.
After a few minutes, she laid the wet gi on the bank again and stood up, shaking her head to sent the droplets flying in every direction. She was about to dry them with her ki, get dressed and go, when something in the corner of her eye caught her attention. She blinked, and turned her head to the opposite shore, about twenty-five feet off.
Slack-jawed, the water pail clasped in his hand long since forgotten, stood Osu, eyes wide with shock.
~~NOTE- late again //.