Grr. . . there's no soda in the house! I think I'm gonna go insane! There
is :no: caffeine whatsoever in this house!
Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ, yadda yadda yadda, etc., etc., etc. . . You get the idea.
____________________________________________________________________________ _____________
"I hear a buncha fighters from the US came to the tournament to fight!" Krillin told anyone who would listen.
"Oh joy," Vegeta muttered. Bulma elbowed him and gave him a strange look. "No," Vegeta hissed, so only Bulma could hear, "I :don't: think it's Alex. He would never leave his precious horses to fight! The boy hates fighting!"
"That was twelve years ago, Vegeta. He was a lot like you then. I can only imagine, now."
"Still," Vegeta tried to argue, but an all-too familiar voice caught his attention.
"Well, A.J.! Looky what the cat drug in!" Panthara was leaning against a cement wall, dressed in her typical cowgirl get-up.
There was no answer.
Panthara punched somebody who was standing behind her. It wasn't Alex, that was obvious. It was a young tiger. Or at least is looked like a tiger at first. Its tail was far too bushy and the ears too pointed for it to be a full tiger. It definately had some wolf in it.
"What?" The tiger-wolf whined.
"Where's yer father?" Panthara whispered.
"He's in another arguement with Lynx and Katie, over there," :he: said, pointing towards an opposite corner of the intersection. "Somethin' 'bout lettin' me fight, I'd reckon."
Panthara silently pulled out a sapphire and bronze boomerang and threw it in Alex's direction. It caught his hat and then came back to Panthara. Alex, not knowing what hit his Stetson, looked at every single person standing there. He wore a denim button-up shirt and black leather chaps. With the Stetson on, he looked like a true wrangler, which he had become. His hair was in better order, cut short and spiked, but still black streaked sky blue. He looked at Panthara and saw her waving the boomerang back and forth.
Grabbing his hat, he started yelling at Panthara, "Gods rot you, woman! Do you :enjoy: makin' a fool o' me in public! 'Cause I'll be damned if I don't kill ya fer that!"
"Ha ha," Panthara mocked. "Yer startin' to sound like yer old man, A.J.! Ain't he, Vegeta?"
Vegeta was frozen. Everybody was staring at him with the same "Do they know you?" look.
ChiChi (sp?[imanidiot] ) wasn't paying any attention to Vegeta, however. "Panthara," she whispered. "You're alive."
"Damn right, that rotted tiger's still alive!" Alex yelled. "She ain't gonna be when I'm through with 'er, though!"
Panthara shook her head. "Now, Alex. . . think about poor Libre-lobo here. You can't kill me. The poor boy wouldn't have a mother then!"
ChiChi stopped midstep towards Panthara. *My daughter. . . has a son!?* She thought. She hadn't seen Panthara since Gohan was born. Eighteen years, which meant Panthara would've been 20. But far from it. Panthara, like Alex, had advanced aging, and was already eight years old by the time Gohan was born. Panthara's age was uncalculable, just like Alex's.
Libre-lobo, the tiger-wolf, narrowed his two-toned eyes. "Honestly, people. You call yourself my parents." With that, he stalked off down the sidewalk without another word to anybody.
"Not your girlfriend, huh, Alex?" Bulma taunted.
Alex took off the dark Oakley's that he wore to cover up his injured eye, and the Z-senshi (A/N: I read that in this magazine my friends Katie and Allison have.) drew back a bit. Alex's eye was still alabaster white, as it always had been. "Huh. That was twelve years ago, mother," Alex said flatly, emphasizing the word "mother". "Things. . . and people change."
"You still said she was just a friend."
"I'll say it again: I said that twelve years ago. I was only nine years old. I wasn't interested in girls at the time," Alex retorted through gritted teeth. "And besides, it's not like I married her or anything."
Panthara swung her paw around into Alex's face, not actually hitting him, just shoving the silver engagement ring in his face. Then she held it up for everybody else to see. "See folks? Never listen to a wolf."
"Oh, gods rot you," Alex spat, putting the Oakley's and Stetson back on and following slowly after Libre-lobo.
ChiChi had broken out of her reverie by now. "He's the father!?" Panthara just nodded. "But. . . he looks just like Vegeta!"
"Exactly," Panthara said. "He's actually the secret Bulma and Vegeta have been keeping for twelve years, if you wanna get technical."
"This isn't happening," Vegeta growled to himself. But the rest of the gang still gave him a cold, piercing stare, Yamcha's the angriest of the lot.
"What!?" Yamcha yelled. "What do you mean 'secret', tiger? You mean to tell me that. . . that :cowboy: is Bulma's and Vegeta's son, born how long ago?"
"Twelve years. And yes, that's what I'm sayin'." Panthara stared coldly at Vegeta. "C'mon now, you knew they would find out sooner or later, didn't you? You can't keep a cur like Alex a secret for very long." She shook her head to settle her fur. "He didn't come back to fight, y'know. He came back to tell your secret. Yer lucky he kept quiet the whole time we was on Namek, y'hear? Sneakin' round the place like you told 'im to. And people ask why he came to be such a loud mouthed wrangler."
Yamcha looked at Bulma then. "That wolf, the one you called Shadow. That was him, wasn't it? That wolf was Vegeta." Bulma couldn't do anything but nod.
Before another word could be said, Libre-lobo skidded up, hollering, "They're closin' up the sign-up in three minutes, ya'll! You wanna fight, ya'll best stop talkin' and move!"
Everybody but ChiChi stopped arguing and got to moving. But ChiChi wanted to ask Panthara one final question. "'Libre-lobo? What does that mean?"
Libre-lobo stood up straighter and said, "It's Spanish for Freedom-wolf. My dad made it up."
____________________________________________________________________________ _____________
Sorry it's so short. Writer's block. I won't jump times in the next chapter, though. Basically Libre-lobo kicks major @-$$ in the Junior Division, and Alex fights Krillin. Not gonna be pretty. lol
Sorry, Katie, that yer name was only mentioned, but you'll be in the next one more. I needa know if yer up to bein' a fighter or just sittin' in the stands.
Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ, yadda yadda yadda, etc., etc., etc. . . You get the idea.
____________________________________________________________________________ _____________
"I hear a buncha fighters from the US came to the tournament to fight!" Krillin told anyone who would listen.
"Oh joy," Vegeta muttered. Bulma elbowed him and gave him a strange look. "No," Vegeta hissed, so only Bulma could hear, "I :don't: think it's Alex. He would never leave his precious horses to fight! The boy hates fighting!"
"That was twelve years ago, Vegeta. He was a lot like you then. I can only imagine, now."
"Still," Vegeta tried to argue, but an all-too familiar voice caught his attention.
"Well, A.J.! Looky what the cat drug in!" Panthara was leaning against a cement wall, dressed in her typical cowgirl get-up.
There was no answer.
Panthara punched somebody who was standing behind her. It wasn't Alex, that was obvious. It was a young tiger. Or at least is looked like a tiger at first. Its tail was far too bushy and the ears too pointed for it to be a full tiger. It definately had some wolf in it.
"What?" The tiger-wolf whined.
"Where's yer father?" Panthara whispered.
"He's in another arguement with Lynx and Katie, over there," :he: said, pointing towards an opposite corner of the intersection. "Somethin' 'bout lettin' me fight, I'd reckon."
Panthara silently pulled out a sapphire and bronze boomerang and threw it in Alex's direction. It caught his hat and then came back to Panthara. Alex, not knowing what hit his Stetson, looked at every single person standing there. He wore a denim button-up shirt and black leather chaps. With the Stetson on, he looked like a true wrangler, which he had become. His hair was in better order, cut short and spiked, but still black streaked sky blue. He looked at Panthara and saw her waving the boomerang back and forth.
Grabbing his hat, he started yelling at Panthara, "Gods rot you, woman! Do you :enjoy: makin' a fool o' me in public! 'Cause I'll be damned if I don't kill ya fer that!"
"Ha ha," Panthara mocked. "Yer startin' to sound like yer old man, A.J.! Ain't he, Vegeta?"
Vegeta was frozen. Everybody was staring at him with the same "Do they know you?" look.
ChiChi (sp?[imanidiot] ) wasn't paying any attention to Vegeta, however. "Panthara," she whispered. "You're alive."
"Damn right, that rotted tiger's still alive!" Alex yelled. "She ain't gonna be when I'm through with 'er, though!"
Panthara shook her head. "Now, Alex. . . think about poor Libre-lobo here. You can't kill me. The poor boy wouldn't have a mother then!"
ChiChi stopped midstep towards Panthara. *My daughter. . . has a son!?* She thought. She hadn't seen Panthara since Gohan was born. Eighteen years, which meant Panthara would've been 20. But far from it. Panthara, like Alex, had advanced aging, and was already eight years old by the time Gohan was born. Panthara's age was uncalculable, just like Alex's.
Libre-lobo, the tiger-wolf, narrowed his two-toned eyes. "Honestly, people. You call yourself my parents." With that, he stalked off down the sidewalk without another word to anybody.
"Not your girlfriend, huh, Alex?" Bulma taunted.
Alex took off the dark Oakley's that he wore to cover up his injured eye, and the Z-senshi (A/N: I read that in this magazine my friends Katie and Allison have.) drew back a bit. Alex's eye was still alabaster white, as it always had been. "Huh. That was twelve years ago, mother," Alex said flatly, emphasizing the word "mother". "Things. . . and people change."
"You still said she was just a friend."
"I'll say it again: I said that twelve years ago. I was only nine years old. I wasn't interested in girls at the time," Alex retorted through gritted teeth. "And besides, it's not like I married her or anything."
Panthara swung her paw around into Alex's face, not actually hitting him, just shoving the silver engagement ring in his face. Then she held it up for everybody else to see. "See folks? Never listen to a wolf."
"Oh, gods rot you," Alex spat, putting the Oakley's and Stetson back on and following slowly after Libre-lobo.
ChiChi had broken out of her reverie by now. "He's the father!?" Panthara just nodded. "But. . . he looks just like Vegeta!"
"Exactly," Panthara said. "He's actually the secret Bulma and Vegeta have been keeping for twelve years, if you wanna get technical."
"This isn't happening," Vegeta growled to himself. But the rest of the gang still gave him a cold, piercing stare, Yamcha's the angriest of the lot.
"What!?" Yamcha yelled. "What do you mean 'secret', tiger? You mean to tell me that. . . that :cowboy: is Bulma's and Vegeta's son, born how long ago?"
"Twelve years. And yes, that's what I'm sayin'." Panthara stared coldly at Vegeta. "C'mon now, you knew they would find out sooner or later, didn't you? You can't keep a cur like Alex a secret for very long." She shook her head to settle her fur. "He didn't come back to fight, y'know. He came back to tell your secret. Yer lucky he kept quiet the whole time we was on Namek, y'hear? Sneakin' round the place like you told 'im to. And people ask why he came to be such a loud mouthed wrangler."
Yamcha looked at Bulma then. "That wolf, the one you called Shadow. That was him, wasn't it? That wolf was Vegeta." Bulma couldn't do anything but nod.
Before another word could be said, Libre-lobo skidded up, hollering, "They're closin' up the sign-up in three minutes, ya'll! You wanna fight, ya'll best stop talkin' and move!"
Everybody but ChiChi stopped arguing and got to moving. But ChiChi wanted to ask Panthara one final question. "'Libre-lobo? What does that mean?"
Libre-lobo stood up straighter and said, "It's Spanish for Freedom-wolf. My dad made it up."
____________________________________________________________________________ _____________
Sorry it's so short. Writer's block. I won't jump times in the next chapter, though. Basically Libre-lobo kicks major @-$$ in the Junior Division, and Alex fights Krillin. Not gonna be pretty. lol
Sorry, Katie, that yer name was only mentioned, but you'll be in the next one more. I needa know if yer up to bein' a fighter or just sittin' in the stands.