Dragon Ball Z: The Error Saga
Author's Notes: This takes place as an altered timeline, branching from the period shortly before the Buu Saga, essentially during the time we were following the Great Saiyaman and his antics. I also fudged a certain detail. See if you can spot which one!
Episode 1: Yeah, That's All Well and Good, But Where's Videl?
Far within another dimension, a pure evil stirred. A terrible being comprised of only the most demonic, foul, repungent things know to man. Surrounded by these refuses that spawned it, it... no... as it became more aware, 'it' became 'he'... He opened a single eye, looking out upon the chaos that he ruled. He had only a single, domineering thought that coursed through his entire being:
j00 d34d, f00.
"GOHAN!"
"AAH!"
Gohan nearly leapt through the ceiling from where he had been doing homework. "I told you to get those clothes an hour ago!"
"But mom, I need to concentrate!"
"Gohan!"
"Uhm... uhm..."
Somehow, no matter how strong a son is, he seems to become as nothing beneath the wilting gaze of his mother. Gohan seemed to melt, slide from his chair, across the floor, out into the hall, and to the clothesline. "Where's dad, anyways?" Asked Goten, sitting at his own desk on the other side of his brother's room. "Out... training somewhere." Chichi mumbled. Goten didn't say anything else. His dad was gonna' get it when he got back. Goten didn't worry. Mom could never stay mad at Dad for long.
Goku actually had just cut out a large swath of a nearby forest.
"Kakkarot, you're getting slow in your old age!" Vegeta shouted from above him. Goku stood and rubbed his back, across which several dozen oak trees had just been broken. Multi-planet-saving hero or not, that hurt. Goku cracked his neck and took off again, bringing his fist back to meet with Vegeta's jaw. Vegeta leaned back ever-so-slightly, Goku's fist barely missing him. Vegeta snapped a kick at Goku's midsection, which met with open air. Goku reappeared from his instant transmission behind Vegeta, grabbed the Saiyan Prince by his shirt collar and flung him towards the Earth. With a rumble that sent what few birds Goku's crash didn't awaken towards the sky, Vegeta made a fantastic crater. Vegeta picked himself up and yelled to Goku.
"Kakarrot, you cheat! You said no energy attacks!"
"It's not an attack! Come on, we're tied one to one, best of five. You say you're stronger than me, you can do it!"
"Don't hop around like that anymore, Kakkarot, or I will be forced to hurt you."
"Oh! Vegeta's gonna' hurt me!"
Goku hung in the sky upside down. Vegeta's face became an expression of untold rage. Even without going Super Saiyan, the ground around him began to crack. Chunks of earth rose into the air. Goku made a confused face.
"Huh?" With a beastial yell, Vegeta bolted through the sky at Goku, fists flying. Goku's arms were a flurry of blocks and dodges as he tried to reason with the enraged Saiyan.
"Hey... Vegeta, hold on- whoa! Come on, let's..."
Vegeta landed a solid kick to Goku's jaw, launching him skyward. Goku reached the peak of the ascent and quietly muttered to himself.
"Ow."
He fell back to the Earth, and plummeted through another tree, making a Goku-shaped imprint in the forest floor. A squirrel stared at him in shock. It had very narrowly missed being crushed by the falling martial artist. Goku pulled his head out of the dirt and winked at it. "You might want to keep an eye on the sky, little buddy."
Then he took off again, returning to his sparring with Vegeta. After a few seconds of intensely trading blows, Goku seized Vegeta's leg and flung him earthward. Vegeta hit the ground and bounced up. Goku dove after him, planted his foot in the Prince's chest, and drove him into the ground again. He backflipped onto the earth and laughed.
"Two points! I win!"
Vegeta sat up. "Excellent match, Kakkarot."
He refused the hand up Goku offered, climbing to his feet on his own.
"So, what now?" "I must return... er... to..." 'I can't believe how embarrassed he is about having a family.' Goku thought.
"Training?" "Yes, training."
"Well, I'm heading home. Chichi's gonna' kill me! Same time next week?" Vegeta nodded.
"Alright!"
Goku took off for home.
Piccolo sat cross-legged on the lookout roof. Why couldn't the others sense it? There were powerful energies at work on the planet below. New warriors that they had not sensed before. A week ago, two of these energies spiked to a level that almost rivaled the Cell games, except it was different. These energies were different from their own. They had trained much differently, that was obvious. He had sensed them. Martial artists who held power on the level of the Z fighters had used their talents to fight for money and power, though few could rival himself, Vegeta, or Gohan. Piccolo had watched them, sensed their battles.The battle he had sensed a short while ago was between two of them, a mysterious warrior, and another named Bison, whom Piccolo had been keeping an eye on for some time. Bison would have posed a threat to Goku, yet this warrior had defeated him. Incredible.
Vega glared at Sagat. Sagat glared at Vega. Sagat charged. Vega leapt over him, running his claws through the man's shoulder. "Your blood doesn't even taste good..." Vega whispered.
Chun Li watched the action from a private box. One of the arena workers silently opened the door behind her.
"Ma'am?" "Did you bring him?" "Yes ma'am."
"Good. Come in Ryu."
Silent and stoic as he always became within a half mile of flaring chi, Ryu entered the private box, although he was not dressed in his normal karate gi. He was not fighting today, he had only come out to spectate, and so wore a simple black tee and baggy jeans, held up with a black belt. He sat next to Chun Li, eyes on the fight. Vega had been flung into the side of the cage, his mask clattering to the ground inches away. The Spaniard managed to somersault out of the way of Sagat's follow-up attack ("Too slow! Hee hee hee!"), sweep up his mask, and return to running circles around Sagat. "What do you want?" "There is a tournament coming up that I was hoping you would enter."
"The World Martial Arts Tournament."
"Yes. After the Cell Games, it was Hercule's wish for it to be reinstated fully. The best of the best fight there."
Ryu nodded. Hercule was as much a joke among the Street fighters (and the KOF fighters) as he was among the Z fighters. Although none of them knew who defeated Cell, or who the Z Fighters were, they still knew that there was an unknown power that had saved them from that evil. "I understand."
"Ken will be accompanying you. I already spoke to him..." Ryu silently noted a faint blush crept into her cheeks. No matter how she acted, the woman was still almost as immature as his... protégé. Ryu inwardly winced at Sakura and her bubbly personality. Years of training and he still couldn't stand kids. Especially ones he had to house, feed and train. "He is interested in fighting as well." She finished.
"And any others from the Street tour?" "None that we're sending. There are rumors of a few fighters showing from the King of Fighting tour, but not many."
Ryu nodded.
"I will do it."
"Thank you, Ryu." "Why do you want me to, though?" "Drug smuggling. Rumor has that someone uses the tournament to run... other businesses behind the scenes."
"How?" "For the past two years, our intel says the winner's trophy has contained trace amounts of cocaine. We want you to bring it to us so we can confirm that and trace the trophy's origins. Wherever it came from, larger amounts of drugs should be there. From that point we can trace who is receiving them and how they're getting them."
"There's always a catch."
"Well, you have been on our payroll, since after the Bison incident you refuse to get a job."
"I refused to flip burgers."
"Whatever."
Ryu grumbled.
"By the way, how's the search for Akuma going?" Chun Li instantly regretted her decision. Her drinking glass and the glass of her viewing window began to rattle. She felt her hair ruffle in a direction away from Ryu. "Ryu..."
He checked himself, and the room stopped vibrating. "Thank you. You'll meet Ken outside LAX tomorrow morning. Here's your plane ticket to Tokyo. You've already been registered in the tournament, all you need to do is show up." Ryu damned himself for being so predictable.
"The World Martial Arts Tournament? THE World Martial Arts Tournament?"
Ryu rolled his eyes and damned Chun Li along with himself.
"Yes, Sakura, THE World Martial Arts Tournament." Ryu's overzealous student jumped up and down with enthusiasm. "Woo-hoo! Can I come too? Can I can I can I please please please?!" Ryu double checked the tickets to make sure he hadn't overestimated Chun Li's preparedness. No, he hadn't. Right behind his own ticket was a second one labeled Kasugano, Sakura. There was no doubt about it. Chun Li was good. He absently handed the ticket to it's owner as he walked towards his car. Sakura held onto it as though it was a sacred treasure.
"We meet Ken outside LAX tomorrow. You need to pack."
"Ken-kun!"
Ryu shook his head as he opened the door to his car, a blue coupe. At least the girl was serious when she trained. He could be thankful for that.
"So can you come, Dad? Please?" Dr. Briefs waved his hands at Bulma.
"No, no! I have to stay here! The Capsule Corp. Main server is starting to seize up, and we're right in the middle of running a full diagnostic!"
"But your grandson! He's fighting!"
"And I do apologize, Bulma dear. Can't you take your mother?"
Bulma considered Trunks' opinion of his grandmother for a moment. That and Vegeta's opinion of his mother in law. She shuddered. Between the two of them, her mom may be in mortal peril. "No way!" "Dear, please, you're being immature."
Dr. Briefs began typing on a nearby console.
"That's funny, we keep getting the same message. This page cannot be displayed... but it doesn't say why... hm.... well, a few reloads and it works fine, but I wish it would..."
Bulma threw up her hands and stomped out of the lab and down the hall, nearly crashing into her husband.
"Vegeta, he says he won't go!"
Vegeta was silent.
"Do something!"
He grunted and took a step towards the lab. Bulma suddenly remembered just who she was talking to and grabbed him by the collar of his jacket before he could destroy anything expensive. "I swear, I married a wrecking ball..." "Where are we going?" he asked, wondering why he was letting her drag him like this, backwards through the halls of Capsule Corp. He didn't fail to notice that this was very embarrasing, and it was probably a stain on his Saiyan pride. Love stinks, he thought, before trying to turn himself around. "You're going to tell your son why his workaholic grandfather isn't going to come to watch him fight!"
he continued her monologue, mumbling to herself.
"...on top of that, I thought I would marry a nice guy and our kids would play soccer, or spelling bees, but no! I nearly die enough times just following a Saiyan, I had to marry one! And even with a world championship, WORLD championship! My workaholic father can't leave the lab for three days..."
"Um, er..."
Vegeta still had to force the word.
"D... D... Dear?" She let him go. On the rare occasion he made any sign of public affection, ANY sign, she knew he was being deeply troubled. He stumbled a bit before he caught his balance.
"Trunks will be so disappointed..."
"Well, I..."
"Here. You tell him."
She had mumbled her way through the living room of their apartment in the complex and to the door to Trunks' room. "Me?!" Vegeta still didn't enjoy the whole father thing one bit.
"Yes, you!"
"But, I, I..."
Bulma stared at him. Vegeta finally tossed his head and looked away.
"You do it."
"I can always ask Goku to..."
Vegeta snapped his head around and bellowed.
"Kakkarot's a fool!" He threw open the door to his son's room and yelled equally as loud,
"Your weakling grandfather won't come to watch us fight!"
And slammed it, leaving a very puzzled Trunks looking up from where he'd been doing push-ups. All his life, and Trunks still hadn't gotten used to Vegeta's unique approach to father-son talks. He shrugged.
"One hundred thousand eighty six... One hundred thousand eighty seven..." Bulma laughed as her husband glared daggers at her.
"What?!"
"You're so cute when you're angry."
She turned away, cupping a hand over her mouth, still laughing at what... what an idiot Vegeta could be. Vegeta suddenly felt a surge of love for this woman, (No! Dammit, bad heart! Cold! Ice cold!) who had understood him, seen a side of him he showed no one, absolutely no one else, and loved him for it. (Must... not... feel... emotion! Oh, I give up...) and he put arms around her. The corner of his mouth twitched, then turned up into a smile. They whispered sweet nothings for a moment.
Dr. Briefs dashed out into the hallway, his cat right behind him. They both dropped to the floor, a huge gout of flame shooting over their heads. When it had passed, Dr. Briefs turned over to survey the blackened remains of his terminal.
"Hm. So overclocking isn't the solution."
"Meow!"
Next Time, On Dragon Ball Z:
Well, that's the start, folks. The first Episode of the Error Saga. I'm hoping to make a full fledged DBZ saga, here, and anyone willing to stick to reading it from beginning to end I'll be much obliged. Even with the Street Fighter crossover, this remains largely a DBZ fic, and as such will focus more on the Z Fighters. Heck, after the tournament only a few resurface at all. Anyways, I need to get started on the next chapter, so, join us next time for Dragon Ball Z: 'A New Challenger Approaches!'
Author's Notes: This takes place as an altered timeline, branching from the period shortly before the Buu Saga, essentially during the time we were following the Great Saiyaman and his antics. I also fudged a certain detail. See if you can spot which one!
Episode 1: Yeah, That's All Well and Good, But Where's Videl?
Far within another dimension, a pure evil stirred. A terrible being comprised of only the most demonic, foul, repungent things know to man. Surrounded by these refuses that spawned it, it... no... as it became more aware, 'it' became 'he'... He opened a single eye, looking out upon the chaos that he ruled. He had only a single, domineering thought that coursed through his entire being:
j00 d34d, f00.
"GOHAN!"
"AAH!"
Gohan nearly leapt through the ceiling from where he had been doing homework. "I told you to get those clothes an hour ago!"
"But mom, I need to concentrate!"
"Gohan!"
"Uhm... uhm..."
Somehow, no matter how strong a son is, he seems to become as nothing beneath the wilting gaze of his mother. Gohan seemed to melt, slide from his chair, across the floor, out into the hall, and to the clothesline. "Where's dad, anyways?" Asked Goten, sitting at his own desk on the other side of his brother's room. "Out... training somewhere." Chichi mumbled. Goten didn't say anything else. His dad was gonna' get it when he got back. Goten didn't worry. Mom could never stay mad at Dad for long.
Goku actually had just cut out a large swath of a nearby forest.
"Kakkarot, you're getting slow in your old age!" Vegeta shouted from above him. Goku stood and rubbed his back, across which several dozen oak trees had just been broken. Multi-planet-saving hero or not, that hurt. Goku cracked his neck and took off again, bringing his fist back to meet with Vegeta's jaw. Vegeta leaned back ever-so-slightly, Goku's fist barely missing him. Vegeta snapped a kick at Goku's midsection, which met with open air. Goku reappeared from his instant transmission behind Vegeta, grabbed the Saiyan Prince by his shirt collar and flung him towards the Earth. With a rumble that sent what few birds Goku's crash didn't awaken towards the sky, Vegeta made a fantastic crater. Vegeta picked himself up and yelled to Goku.
"Kakarrot, you cheat! You said no energy attacks!"
"It's not an attack! Come on, we're tied one to one, best of five. You say you're stronger than me, you can do it!"
"Don't hop around like that anymore, Kakkarot, or I will be forced to hurt you."
"Oh! Vegeta's gonna' hurt me!"
Goku hung in the sky upside down. Vegeta's face became an expression of untold rage. Even without going Super Saiyan, the ground around him began to crack. Chunks of earth rose into the air. Goku made a confused face.
"Huh?" With a beastial yell, Vegeta bolted through the sky at Goku, fists flying. Goku's arms were a flurry of blocks and dodges as he tried to reason with the enraged Saiyan.
"Hey... Vegeta, hold on- whoa! Come on, let's..."
Vegeta landed a solid kick to Goku's jaw, launching him skyward. Goku reached the peak of the ascent and quietly muttered to himself.
"Ow."
He fell back to the Earth, and plummeted through another tree, making a Goku-shaped imprint in the forest floor. A squirrel stared at him in shock. It had very narrowly missed being crushed by the falling martial artist. Goku pulled his head out of the dirt and winked at it. "You might want to keep an eye on the sky, little buddy."
Then he took off again, returning to his sparring with Vegeta. After a few seconds of intensely trading blows, Goku seized Vegeta's leg and flung him earthward. Vegeta hit the ground and bounced up. Goku dove after him, planted his foot in the Prince's chest, and drove him into the ground again. He backflipped onto the earth and laughed.
"Two points! I win!"
Vegeta sat up. "Excellent match, Kakkarot."
He refused the hand up Goku offered, climbing to his feet on his own.
"So, what now?" "I must return... er... to..." 'I can't believe how embarrassed he is about having a family.' Goku thought.
"Training?" "Yes, training."
"Well, I'm heading home. Chichi's gonna' kill me! Same time next week?" Vegeta nodded.
"Alright!"
Goku took off for home.
Piccolo sat cross-legged on the lookout roof. Why couldn't the others sense it? There were powerful energies at work on the planet below. New warriors that they had not sensed before. A week ago, two of these energies spiked to a level that almost rivaled the Cell games, except it was different. These energies were different from their own. They had trained much differently, that was obvious. He had sensed them. Martial artists who held power on the level of the Z fighters had used their talents to fight for money and power, though few could rival himself, Vegeta, or Gohan. Piccolo had watched them, sensed their battles.The battle he had sensed a short while ago was between two of them, a mysterious warrior, and another named Bison, whom Piccolo had been keeping an eye on for some time. Bison would have posed a threat to Goku, yet this warrior had defeated him. Incredible.
Vega glared at Sagat. Sagat glared at Vega. Sagat charged. Vega leapt over him, running his claws through the man's shoulder. "Your blood doesn't even taste good..." Vega whispered.
Chun Li watched the action from a private box. One of the arena workers silently opened the door behind her.
"Ma'am?" "Did you bring him?" "Yes ma'am."
"Good. Come in Ryu."
Silent and stoic as he always became within a half mile of flaring chi, Ryu entered the private box, although he was not dressed in his normal karate gi. He was not fighting today, he had only come out to spectate, and so wore a simple black tee and baggy jeans, held up with a black belt. He sat next to Chun Li, eyes on the fight. Vega had been flung into the side of the cage, his mask clattering to the ground inches away. The Spaniard managed to somersault out of the way of Sagat's follow-up attack ("Too slow! Hee hee hee!"), sweep up his mask, and return to running circles around Sagat. "What do you want?" "There is a tournament coming up that I was hoping you would enter."
"The World Martial Arts Tournament."
"Yes. After the Cell Games, it was Hercule's wish for it to be reinstated fully. The best of the best fight there."
Ryu nodded. Hercule was as much a joke among the Street fighters (and the KOF fighters) as he was among the Z fighters. Although none of them knew who defeated Cell, or who the Z Fighters were, they still knew that there was an unknown power that had saved them from that evil. "I understand."
"Ken will be accompanying you. I already spoke to him..." Ryu silently noted a faint blush crept into her cheeks. No matter how she acted, the woman was still almost as immature as his... protégé. Ryu inwardly winced at Sakura and her bubbly personality. Years of training and he still couldn't stand kids. Especially ones he had to house, feed and train. "He is interested in fighting as well." She finished.
"And any others from the Street tour?" "None that we're sending. There are rumors of a few fighters showing from the King of Fighting tour, but not many."
Ryu nodded.
"I will do it."
"Thank you, Ryu." "Why do you want me to, though?" "Drug smuggling. Rumor has that someone uses the tournament to run... other businesses behind the scenes."
"How?" "For the past two years, our intel says the winner's trophy has contained trace amounts of cocaine. We want you to bring it to us so we can confirm that and trace the trophy's origins. Wherever it came from, larger amounts of drugs should be there. From that point we can trace who is receiving them and how they're getting them."
"There's always a catch."
"Well, you have been on our payroll, since after the Bison incident you refuse to get a job."
"I refused to flip burgers."
"Whatever."
Ryu grumbled.
"By the way, how's the search for Akuma going?" Chun Li instantly regretted her decision. Her drinking glass and the glass of her viewing window began to rattle. She felt her hair ruffle in a direction away from Ryu. "Ryu..."
He checked himself, and the room stopped vibrating. "Thank you. You'll meet Ken outside LAX tomorrow morning. Here's your plane ticket to Tokyo. You've already been registered in the tournament, all you need to do is show up." Ryu damned himself for being so predictable.
"The World Martial Arts Tournament? THE World Martial Arts Tournament?"
Ryu rolled his eyes and damned Chun Li along with himself.
"Yes, Sakura, THE World Martial Arts Tournament." Ryu's overzealous student jumped up and down with enthusiasm. "Woo-hoo! Can I come too? Can I can I can I please please please?!" Ryu double checked the tickets to make sure he hadn't overestimated Chun Li's preparedness. No, he hadn't. Right behind his own ticket was a second one labeled Kasugano, Sakura. There was no doubt about it. Chun Li was good. He absently handed the ticket to it's owner as he walked towards his car. Sakura held onto it as though it was a sacred treasure.
"We meet Ken outside LAX tomorrow. You need to pack."
"Ken-kun!"
Ryu shook his head as he opened the door to his car, a blue coupe. At least the girl was serious when she trained. He could be thankful for that.
"So can you come, Dad? Please?" Dr. Briefs waved his hands at Bulma.
"No, no! I have to stay here! The Capsule Corp. Main server is starting to seize up, and we're right in the middle of running a full diagnostic!"
"But your grandson! He's fighting!"
"And I do apologize, Bulma dear. Can't you take your mother?"
Bulma considered Trunks' opinion of his grandmother for a moment. That and Vegeta's opinion of his mother in law. She shuddered. Between the two of them, her mom may be in mortal peril. "No way!" "Dear, please, you're being immature."
Dr. Briefs began typing on a nearby console.
"That's funny, we keep getting the same message. This page cannot be displayed... but it doesn't say why... hm.... well, a few reloads and it works fine, but I wish it would..."
Bulma threw up her hands and stomped out of the lab and down the hall, nearly crashing into her husband.
"Vegeta, he says he won't go!"
Vegeta was silent.
"Do something!"
He grunted and took a step towards the lab. Bulma suddenly remembered just who she was talking to and grabbed him by the collar of his jacket before he could destroy anything expensive. "I swear, I married a wrecking ball..." "Where are we going?" he asked, wondering why he was letting her drag him like this, backwards through the halls of Capsule Corp. He didn't fail to notice that this was very embarrasing, and it was probably a stain on his Saiyan pride. Love stinks, he thought, before trying to turn himself around. "You're going to tell your son why his workaholic grandfather isn't going to come to watch him fight!"
he continued her monologue, mumbling to herself.
"...on top of that, I thought I would marry a nice guy and our kids would play soccer, or spelling bees, but no! I nearly die enough times just following a Saiyan, I had to marry one! And even with a world championship, WORLD championship! My workaholic father can't leave the lab for three days..."
"Um, er..."
Vegeta still had to force the word.
"D... D... Dear?" She let him go. On the rare occasion he made any sign of public affection, ANY sign, she knew he was being deeply troubled. He stumbled a bit before he caught his balance.
"Trunks will be so disappointed..."
"Well, I..."
"Here. You tell him."
She had mumbled her way through the living room of their apartment in the complex and to the door to Trunks' room. "Me?!" Vegeta still didn't enjoy the whole father thing one bit.
"Yes, you!"
"But, I, I..."
Bulma stared at him. Vegeta finally tossed his head and looked away.
"You do it."
"I can always ask Goku to..."
Vegeta snapped his head around and bellowed.
"Kakkarot's a fool!" He threw open the door to his son's room and yelled equally as loud,
"Your weakling grandfather won't come to watch us fight!"
And slammed it, leaving a very puzzled Trunks looking up from where he'd been doing push-ups. All his life, and Trunks still hadn't gotten used to Vegeta's unique approach to father-son talks. He shrugged.
"One hundred thousand eighty six... One hundred thousand eighty seven..." Bulma laughed as her husband glared daggers at her.
"What?!"
"You're so cute when you're angry."
She turned away, cupping a hand over her mouth, still laughing at what... what an idiot Vegeta could be. Vegeta suddenly felt a surge of love for this woman, (No! Dammit, bad heart! Cold! Ice cold!) who had understood him, seen a side of him he showed no one, absolutely no one else, and loved him for it. (Must... not... feel... emotion! Oh, I give up...) and he put arms around her. The corner of his mouth twitched, then turned up into a smile. They whispered sweet nothings for a moment.
Dr. Briefs dashed out into the hallway, his cat right behind him. They both dropped to the floor, a huge gout of flame shooting over their heads. When it had passed, Dr. Briefs turned over to survey the blackened remains of his terminal.
"Hm. So overclocking isn't the solution."
"Meow!"
Next Time, On Dragon Ball Z:
Well, that's the start, folks. The first Episode of the Error Saga. I'm hoping to make a full fledged DBZ saga, here, and anyone willing to stick to reading it from beginning to end I'll be much obliged. Even with the Street Fighter crossover, this remains largely a DBZ fic, and as such will focus more on the Z Fighters. Heck, after the tournament only a few resurface at all. Anyways, I need to get started on the next chapter, so, join us next time for Dragon Ball Z: 'A New Challenger Approaches!'
