Disclaimer: Once there was this show all the little boys watched and all
that it was about was these guys fighting and wanting to show each other
their 'ultimate power'. Boring! Do you think that I would have thought of
that? No way.
History Lessons:
She woke late in the morning with a dull headache and no memory of how she had gotten in bed. Cracking her eyes open, Videl stumbled into the bathroom to wash the crusted gunk from them. *What happened?* she thought blearily, *... yesterday... the tournament... Oh, Kami! Gohan!* Overwhelmed, she collapsed on the carpet by the tub, "Why did he have to go?... Why?... Why?" she pounded on the floor with her fists, then stopped and clenched the fibers in anger. *... 'a Saiyan powered up'* she thought, "... Saiya- man ... what's a Saiyan?"
There was a knock on her door. "Miss, are you up?" her maid called.
She hastily composed herself, "Yes, Lucy."
The maid bustled in, "Would you like some breakfast now? You were out late and Mr. Satan left orders to let you sleep."
"Just bring me some juice and cereal, please. Is my father here?" Videl asked, turning to the balcony, her voice expressionless.
"No, Miss. He left early on business. You know, with interviews and photo shoots, he'll likely be gone all day," the young woman chatted irritatingly.
"Lucy, I've changed my mind, I'm going out," she moved to her dressing table and grabbed her brush. Her eyes were dark smudges in her pale face framed by the short black curls.
"Are you all right? I heard you had gotten terribly hurt yesterday, perhaps you should stay in bed," suggested the maid.
"I'm fine," Videl lied and ran out the door. *What's a Saiyan? I need to know. I need to talk to Gohan's friends. Bulma Briefs said they were to be at Capsule Corp. so that's where I'll go.*
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Tell me of Goten."
They were flying over the mainland, heading for Himalayan Mountains where the next dragonball was. Goku had used IT to get them as close as he knew but they still had some flying time, so he made his request. Trunks complied, telling of childish adventures foreign to the country-bred Saiyan; of games and movies, of playing tricks on their parents and Gohan. He told of familiar things, too, such as fishing and camping and training.
They flew closer to their destination. Trunks lead the way, the black hair and orange gi of his companion flickering in the corner of his eyes, "Hey, Goten, do you remember the time when..." he began, lulled by the flight. He stopped mid-flight when he realized it wasn't his friend behind him but the stranger that looked like him. "Kakkarot, why are you here? You messed up everything!" the boy shouted out his anger and sorrow.
"Call me Goku," the man stated in a low voice.
"Why? Are you ashamed of being a Saiyan?" he spat.
"Look, Trunks..."
"Vegita, I am Vegita now," the boy crossed his arms and closed his eyes in preparation for a backlash, either verbal or physical.
The warrior took a deep breath for patience, "I am not ashamed of what I am, but I was raised on Earth and Son Goku is what I want to be called. Everyone who has called me 'Kakkarot' has hurt my friends, my family and myself. Do you understand; that's why I don't like it, not that's its Saiyan."
The young prince relaxed, opened his eyes and looked up at the other. This man had corrected him strongly, yet calmly; with an explanation, not condescending or threatening. "Fine, Goku," the boy assented, "I'm glad you don't mind being Saiyan because my father taught us- Gohan, Goten and me- about Vegeta-sei."
Goku nodded his approval, "As for your name, the man 'Trunks' I met was a strong warrior and brave. He was the first Super Saiyan we knew besides myself. He defeated the androids, King Kold, Frieza and his henchmen by himself and he saved my life. Be proud you were named after him."
"I- I was? I didn't know," the boy admitted, astonished. "I knew he helped fight Cell, though Mom said that Gohan was the one who really defeated Cell and Dad agreed but said he couldn't have done it without his help. But I find that almost as hard to believe as Hercule doing it like the people in town believe, I mean, he doesn't seem that strong now and he was just a kid then..." Trunks rambling died down as he realized who he was talking to.
Goku gave him a rueful smile then started flying again. "Trunks, let me tell you a story," he began when the boy caught up. He told the boy of his future self and the fight against Cell. Soon they reached their goal and faced sub-zero winds and a threatened avalanche while digging the dragon ball out of filled-in cave.
"Gee, are dragonballs always this hard to get?" complained Trunks after Goku his IT to take them to Australia as close as he knew to the Southern polar cap where the last ball was located.
"Not usually," the man answered, "though all this cold reminds me of when I nearly froze on my second dragonball hunt.
"Really? What happened?" The boy was eager to listen now.
"Well, it was like this," Goku then told of when he was young and met Bulma, Yamcha, and Kurillan. As he spoke, Trunks' eyes grew large as he recognized adventure stories that his mother would tell that started 'once upon a time, there was a Strong Boy and a Beautiful Girl'. His mother had never told him the stories were true and that the boy's name was Goku.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She ki-flew to West City and easily found the huge collection of domes that was Capsule Corp. She hesitated, almost wanting to retreat but it was too late, a man rose to meet her.
"Videl?"
"Yamcha, I- I wanted to talk to Bulma," she stuttered.
"Heh-heh, you might as well come join the gang. ChiChi's here also, if it's girl talk you want," the man presumed.
Videl bristled at the presumption and held her tongue until they landed near the others. "Actually, it's not," she stated hotly, "I want to know WHAT'S A SAIYAN?" she screamed, banging her fist on the table and making the men (well trained as they were) jump.
"S-Saiyan?" they quailed.
"Gohan, his brother and father, Vegita and his son can all become a Gold Fighter, they're all Saiyan and they were targeted by Babbidi. I want to know why," she demanded, glaring at them.
"Look at that, she is going to make such a good wife for Gohan," whispered ChiChi to Bulma. Eighteen smirked in agreement. The women were lounging away from the men and had been talking their worries out.
Yamcha and Kurrilan glanced around nervously, seeking escape, willing the other to talk. Master Roshi cleared his throat, (hey, he's not a master for nothing; besides, being an old man, he likes to talk) "I'll tell you," he gestured for Videl to sit down. "It was the year the moon disappeared, the year the aliens attacked and also the year the Animal People left the cities."
"Aliens?"
"Saiyans, to be exact."
"But Gohan..."
"If you want to hear the story, STOP INTERRUPTING!" the old man yelled at her.
"sorry"
"Hmph! Now as I was saying, The first Saiyan to come to Earth was found by my former pupil, Son Gohan, who took him in as his grandson and named him Goku. He was just a baby, and an ornery little thing he was, too, until he fell off a cliff and hit his head. When he got better, he was the sweetest child you could imagine, except he was strong and had a tail. We didn't know at the time what a problem that would be. Son Gohan must have known, for he warned Goku to never look at the moon. Many years later, a second Saiyan came to Earth, his name was Radditz and he was Goku's brother. This was what, thirteen years ago?"
"Yeah," Kurrilan confirmed.
"We hadn't seen Goku since he'd beaten Piccolo and won the WMT five years before. Boy, were we surprised when he showed up with little Gohan," Bulma added.
"We were even more surprised when Radditz showed up, beat me and Goku and took Gohan, knowing he was Goku's son because Saiyans have tails," the short man said.
"Gohan.. tail?" Videl murmured.
"He threatened to blow up the Earth if Goku didn't join him," Kurrilan continued, ignoring the girls question, "Piccolo and Goku teamed up to beat Radditz and rescue Gohan. It was during that fight that they discovered how strong Gohan could be. It took the three of them to defeat Radditz, that's how strong he was. However, before he died, he transmitted information about Earth to the other Saiyans and told them they would come and they were much stronger than he was. Unfortunately, Goku was also mortally wounded. Before he died, he told Piccolo to take Gohan and train him. It was during his training that Piccolo blew up the moon.
"It was actually the third time the Saiyans came to Earth when things got out of hand. Two of them, Vegita-"
"Vegita! Oops, sorry," Videl meekly apologized as Master Roshi speared her with a glare. She had been trying hard not to speak up. She recalled they'd said Gohan had been fighting for his life since he was four and now she knew why.
"and Nappa," the old man continued, "came seeking the Dragon-balls, wanting to wish for immortality. They were met by Earth's Special Forces, the Z Team: Yamcha, Tien, Chaozu, Kurrilan, Piccolo and Gohan."
Yamcha broke in, "We had trained hard for the past year and we fought our best until the time that Goku could be revived. It was just Nappa and the Sabamen (don't ask) that we fought."
"Only Gohan and I were still alive," Kurrilan picked up the story, "Vegeta held Nappa off, waiting for Goku to show up. It was during this time that that big, ugly Saiyan destroyed East City*, several villages, an air squadron and a naval fleet, just to kill time. Goku came back, stronger and faster from his training in the Other World, beat the crap out of Nappa but it was Vegita that killed him for losing. Then Goku fought Vegita for the first time..."
"And those two have been at it ever since," chuckled Yamcha.
"Heh-heh, yeah, to make a long story short, we could end it there, until a better time," the short man agreed with a laugh.
"What does all this have to do with the Animal People?" the teen asked curiously about those she had rarely seen.
"Humans saw that the aliens with tails were very dangerous and they became prejudiced against them. The Animal People saw the cities as targets for the aliens, so they moved out to the country and live only in small villages now," Oolong commented sadly.
"And that's why we had Trunk's and Goten's tails removed at birth to protect them," Bulma added from where she'd been listening.
"How could you marry such a dangerous man, no, alien as Vegita?" Videl turned to her.
Any answer she may have received was forgotten when Goku and Trunks popped back, blue and shivering.
AN: I tried to force this out a certain way for two weeks and it wouldn't go, I turned the view point and -bingo!- I wrote it in one morning. I recently read a comment about the lack of the Animal People from DB to DBZ and so I decided to put in a probable cause. Next chapter: wishes are made and what is the second wish? *I think it was East City Nappa destroyed. Feel free to correct me.
History Lessons:
She woke late in the morning with a dull headache and no memory of how she had gotten in bed. Cracking her eyes open, Videl stumbled into the bathroom to wash the crusted gunk from them. *What happened?* she thought blearily, *... yesterday... the tournament... Oh, Kami! Gohan!* Overwhelmed, she collapsed on the carpet by the tub, "Why did he have to go?... Why?... Why?" she pounded on the floor with her fists, then stopped and clenched the fibers in anger. *... 'a Saiyan powered up'* she thought, "... Saiya- man ... what's a Saiyan?"
There was a knock on her door. "Miss, are you up?" her maid called.
She hastily composed herself, "Yes, Lucy."
The maid bustled in, "Would you like some breakfast now? You were out late and Mr. Satan left orders to let you sleep."
"Just bring me some juice and cereal, please. Is my father here?" Videl asked, turning to the balcony, her voice expressionless.
"No, Miss. He left early on business. You know, with interviews and photo shoots, he'll likely be gone all day," the young woman chatted irritatingly.
"Lucy, I've changed my mind, I'm going out," she moved to her dressing table and grabbed her brush. Her eyes were dark smudges in her pale face framed by the short black curls.
"Are you all right? I heard you had gotten terribly hurt yesterday, perhaps you should stay in bed," suggested the maid.
"I'm fine," Videl lied and ran out the door. *What's a Saiyan? I need to know. I need to talk to Gohan's friends. Bulma Briefs said they were to be at Capsule Corp. so that's where I'll go.*
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Tell me of Goten."
They were flying over the mainland, heading for Himalayan Mountains where the next dragonball was. Goku had used IT to get them as close as he knew but they still had some flying time, so he made his request. Trunks complied, telling of childish adventures foreign to the country-bred Saiyan; of games and movies, of playing tricks on their parents and Gohan. He told of familiar things, too, such as fishing and camping and training.
They flew closer to their destination. Trunks lead the way, the black hair and orange gi of his companion flickering in the corner of his eyes, "Hey, Goten, do you remember the time when..." he began, lulled by the flight. He stopped mid-flight when he realized it wasn't his friend behind him but the stranger that looked like him. "Kakkarot, why are you here? You messed up everything!" the boy shouted out his anger and sorrow.
"Call me Goku," the man stated in a low voice.
"Why? Are you ashamed of being a Saiyan?" he spat.
"Look, Trunks..."
"Vegita, I am Vegita now," the boy crossed his arms and closed his eyes in preparation for a backlash, either verbal or physical.
The warrior took a deep breath for patience, "I am not ashamed of what I am, but I was raised on Earth and Son Goku is what I want to be called. Everyone who has called me 'Kakkarot' has hurt my friends, my family and myself. Do you understand; that's why I don't like it, not that's its Saiyan."
The young prince relaxed, opened his eyes and looked up at the other. This man had corrected him strongly, yet calmly; with an explanation, not condescending or threatening. "Fine, Goku," the boy assented, "I'm glad you don't mind being Saiyan because my father taught us- Gohan, Goten and me- about Vegeta-sei."
Goku nodded his approval, "As for your name, the man 'Trunks' I met was a strong warrior and brave. He was the first Super Saiyan we knew besides myself. He defeated the androids, King Kold, Frieza and his henchmen by himself and he saved my life. Be proud you were named after him."
"I- I was? I didn't know," the boy admitted, astonished. "I knew he helped fight Cell, though Mom said that Gohan was the one who really defeated Cell and Dad agreed but said he couldn't have done it without his help. But I find that almost as hard to believe as Hercule doing it like the people in town believe, I mean, he doesn't seem that strong now and he was just a kid then..." Trunks rambling died down as he realized who he was talking to.
Goku gave him a rueful smile then started flying again. "Trunks, let me tell you a story," he began when the boy caught up. He told the boy of his future self and the fight against Cell. Soon they reached their goal and faced sub-zero winds and a threatened avalanche while digging the dragon ball out of filled-in cave.
"Gee, are dragonballs always this hard to get?" complained Trunks after Goku his IT to take them to Australia as close as he knew to the Southern polar cap where the last ball was located.
"Not usually," the man answered, "though all this cold reminds me of when I nearly froze on my second dragonball hunt.
"Really? What happened?" The boy was eager to listen now.
"Well, it was like this," Goku then told of when he was young and met Bulma, Yamcha, and Kurillan. As he spoke, Trunks' eyes grew large as he recognized adventure stories that his mother would tell that started 'once upon a time, there was a Strong Boy and a Beautiful Girl'. His mother had never told him the stories were true and that the boy's name was Goku.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She ki-flew to West City and easily found the huge collection of domes that was Capsule Corp. She hesitated, almost wanting to retreat but it was too late, a man rose to meet her.
"Videl?"
"Yamcha, I- I wanted to talk to Bulma," she stuttered.
"Heh-heh, you might as well come join the gang. ChiChi's here also, if it's girl talk you want," the man presumed.
Videl bristled at the presumption and held her tongue until they landed near the others. "Actually, it's not," she stated hotly, "I want to know WHAT'S A SAIYAN?" she screamed, banging her fist on the table and making the men (well trained as they were) jump.
"S-Saiyan?" they quailed.
"Gohan, his brother and father, Vegita and his son can all become a Gold Fighter, they're all Saiyan and they were targeted by Babbidi. I want to know why," she demanded, glaring at them.
"Look at that, she is going to make such a good wife for Gohan," whispered ChiChi to Bulma. Eighteen smirked in agreement. The women were lounging away from the men and had been talking their worries out.
Yamcha and Kurrilan glanced around nervously, seeking escape, willing the other to talk. Master Roshi cleared his throat, (hey, he's not a master for nothing; besides, being an old man, he likes to talk) "I'll tell you," he gestured for Videl to sit down. "It was the year the moon disappeared, the year the aliens attacked and also the year the Animal People left the cities."
"Aliens?"
"Saiyans, to be exact."
"But Gohan..."
"If you want to hear the story, STOP INTERRUPTING!" the old man yelled at her.
"sorry"
"Hmph! Now as I was saying, The first Saiyan to come to Earth was found by my former pupil, Son Gohan, who took him in as his grandson and named him Goku. He was just a baby, and an ornery little thing he was, too, until he fell off a cliff and hit his head. When he got better, he was the sweetest child you could imagine, except he was strong and had a tail. We didn't know at the time what a problem that would be. Son Gohan must have known, for he warned Goku to never look at the moon. Many years later, a second Saiyan came to Earth, his name was Radditz and he was Goku's brother. This was what, thirteen years ago?"
"Yeah," Kurrilan confirmed.
"We hadn't seen Goku since he'd beaten Piccolo and won the WMT five years before. Boy, were we surprised when he showed up with little Gohan," Bulma added.
"We were even more surprised when Radditz showed up, beat me and Goku and took Gohan, knowing he was Goku's son because Saiyans have tails," the short man said.
"Gohan.. tail?" Videl murmured.
"He threatened to blow up the Earth if Goku didn't join him," Kurrilan continued, ignoring the girls question, "Piccolo and Goku teamed up to beat Radditz and rescue Gohan. It was during that fight that they discovered how strong Gohan could be. It took the three of them to defeat Radditz, that's how strong he was. However, before he died, he transmitted information about Earth to the other Saiyans and told them they would come and they were much stronger than he was. Unfortunately, Goku was also mortally wounded. Before he died, he told Piccolo to take Gohan and train him. It was during his training that Piccolo blew up the moon.
"It was actually the third time the Saiyans came to Earth when things got out of hand. Two of them, Vegita-"
"Vegita! Oops, sorry," Videl meekly apologized as Master Roshi speared her with a glare. She had been trying hard not to speak up. She recalled they'd said Gohan had been fighting for his life since he was four and now she knew why.
"and Nappa," the old man continued, "came seeking the Dragon-balls, wanting to wish for immortality. They were met by Earth's Special Forces, the Z Team: Yamcha, Tien, Chaozu, Kurrilan, Piccolo and Gohan."
Yamcha broke in, "We had trained hard for the past year and we fought our best until the time that Goku could be revived. It was just Nappa and the Sabamen (don't ask) that we fought."
"Only Gohan and I were still alive," Kurrilan picked up the story, "Vegeta held Nappa off, waiting for Goku to show up. It was during this time that that big, ugly Saiyan destroyed East City*, several villages, an air squadron and a naval fleet, just to kill time. Goku came back, stronger and faster from his training in the Other World, beat the crap out of Nappa but it was Vegita that killed him for losing. Then Goku fought Vegita for the first time..."
"And those two have been at it ever since," chuckled Yamcha.
"Heh-heh, yeah, to make a long story short, we could end it there, until a better time," the short man agreed with a laugh.
"What does all this have to do with the Animal People?" the teen asked curiously about those she had rarely seen.
"Humans saw that the aliens with tails were very dangerous and they became prejudiced against them. The Animal People saw the cities as targets for the aliens, so they moved out to the country and live only in small villages now," Oolong commented sadly.
"And that's why we had Trunk's and Goten's tails removed at birth to protect them," Bulma added from where she'd been listening.
"How could you marry such a dangerous man, no, alien as Vegita?" Videl turned to her.
Any answer she may have received was forgotten when Goku and Trunks popped back, blue and shivering.
AN: I tried to force this out a certain way for two weeks and it wouldn't go, I turned the view point and -bingo!- I wrote it in one morning. I recently read a comment about the lack of the Animal People from DB to DBZ and so I decided to put in a probable cause. Next chapter: wishes are made and what is the second wish? *I think it was East City Nappa destroyed. Feel free to correct me.