Dragon Ball Yugure Z
A Dragon Ball Z fanfiction
by Son Goharotto (son_goharotto@hotmail.com)
Welcome to Dragon Ball Yugure Z, my personal pet project. This is what I like to call a "multi-generational alternaverse epic." Expect a complex story spanning several volumes that are littered with cliff-hangers and titanic battles. DBYZ has been revised in its entirety. While some episodes have merely been ridden of typos, others have been rewritten completely. I'll be starting from the beginning at one episode a day so new readers can join in, undaunted by DBYZ's length, and old readers can review past events. All this is leading up to the new Episode 37, from which I'll try to keep a normal updating pace instead of letting this be forgotten as it once was.
DISCLAIMER: As much as I mgiht wish it not to be, DBZ does not belong to me. It's the property of Akira Toriyama-sama and many others who (unfortunately) aren't me. I'm not trying to make any money off of this and it's just a way for me to show my love of all things Dragon Ball. Well, except maybe GT. Bleah. I is teh poor, so don't sue me.
WARNINGS: As a whole, this series contains mature language (usually in Japanese), graphic violence, brutality, mature situations (non-lemon), and a touch of angst.
NOTES: A liberal amount of Japanese vocabulary is sprinkled throughout, though nothing extremely important is ever said in another language that isn't translated. Mostly just basic Otaku Japanese. I've compiled a list of phrases I use on my homepage here: www.enpitsudo-dojo.com/libjapanese.html.
"dialogue"
""layered voice"" (Fusion, for example)
{alien language}
[thoughts, telepathy, memories]
_stressed words_
*sounds*
~scene change~
Volume I -- The Nagareboshi Saga
Episode 04 -- Goten's Determination!! Please Tell Me!!
Vegeta looked through bloodshot eyes across the battlefield to regard the young man he thought he knew to be Goten. Goten was always so lighthearted, so unbecoming of a Saiyajin warrior. But recently, after his encounter with Kakarotto, Goten seems to have become a new person. He was often quiet now, almost withdrawn. He also showed more spirit in combat, an actual challenge for Vegeta. Normally, the elder Saiyajin would approve of this, but now...
Vegeta berated himself for letting himself get sidetracked. He rose from his crouched position, wincing as he put pressure on a sore leg, it might have been fractured. He spat some blood and wiped his chin with the back of his hand.
Vegeta's gaze flickered briefly away from his sparring partner to look at his son. Trunks lay on his back in a crater, half-conscious. Goten had quite obviously wanted him out of the way. But father and son weren't the only ones hurting. Goten was pretty roughed up himself, blood running down his right arm and smeared on his clothes. Determination seemed to be the only thing keeping him standing.
As painful as it was, Vegeta resumed a battle stance. He smiled ruefully, "You've got some nerve, yaro. Such disrespect for your sensei. Tsk, tsk." His smirk faded and his usual frown returned. "Why the sudden change?"
Goten gaze was calm, but cold, devoid of emotion. He was focused. "Found something to fight for," he said slowly.
"Which is?"
"...A question." Vegeta was silent, he knew what was coming. "What do you have against Goku-san?" Goten finished.
Vegeta snorted. Silently, he limped over to his son's prone body and lifted him up by the belt. Half-carrying, half- dragging his heir, the Saiyajin no Ouji headed toward the lab. "We're done for the day. Clean up," he called over his shoulder.
Goten, however, would not be brushed off again. He shot forwards and stopped just in front of his sensei, forcing Vegeta to stop. Glaring down into the Saiyajin's midnight eyes, though they were nearly the same height. "I deserve to know."
After a pause, Vegeta replied, "Sou ka? Just how did you come to _that_ conclusion?"
Goten took a deep breath. "That's what confuses me. It feels like... there's some kind of... connection between us. I can't explain it..."
".........I can."
"Nani nani!?"
~~~~~
[Coward! Failure!! Quitter!!!]
Goku reflected on those words. How true they were. He was all these things and more. He abandoned those who would call him friend. He had failed to protect his wife from death's grip. He wasn't there when his son, his own flesh and blood, needed him most.
Goku wept.
[Coward! Failure!! Quitter!!!]
*sigh* [Vegeta was right. He's always been right. I am weak. Just another low-class warrior. I'm nothing. I'm weak...]
Suddenly, memories of the previous morning flash through his mind. [But then, what about that day? Goten... We fought and I felt so... so alive. I didn't _feel_ weak!]
Goku heaved himself out of bed with a grunt. [If so... why did I fail... so long ago...?] He pounded the wall in frustration. [Why!? I don't understand! Why can't I!?... Why can't I...]
~~~~~
Vegeta stalked past his young charge and into the lab. [Kakarotto! We were almost ready and you had to screw everything up!] Vegeta's thoughts were interrupted by Trunks, who was stirring from his daze.
"Onegai shimasu, ojisan! Hanashite! What do you mean!?"
"Enough!!!" Vegeta roared, "Why do you bother!? Be happy with what you have!"
"That's not enough! I have to know!"
A primal growl escaped Vegeta's throat, "You're just like Kakarotto! Irritatingly persistent!" He threw up his hands in frustration, dropping Trunks in the process.
"Ka-kaka-ro -- Who!?"
"Kakarotto," he said quietly. "The one you call Goku. His true Saiyajin name is Kakarotto."
"A Saiyajin!? No wonder he's so strong..."
"He's also...you're father."
To say the least, Goten was shocked. [My tousan... alive... Goku-san...] Goten staggered a bit, hand to the wall to steady himself. "Vegeta-san." His voice was somber, measured. "You once told me my whole family was dead. That my father had died."
"He did. The man I knew, the man that would have been you're tousan ceased to exist long ago. Kakarotto is an empty shell of a man. No true Saiyajin warrior would allow himself such a fall from grace." Vegeta's voice was contemptuous.
"...I need to talk to him," Goten proclaimed calmly.
"I don't want you going near him again," Vegeta replied much the same way.
"Where is he?"
"Are you listening to me, baka!? I said stay away from him!"
"Hanashite!"
"Iie!! I will _not_ l--" Vegeta stuggled to verbalize what he was feeling, but such expression was unkown to him, so the Saiyajin no Ouji settled for a sharp bark of "Idiot!" With that, Vegeta stomped into the lab. He was worried that Kakarotto had already influenced the boy. [I don't need this! Not now!]
Goten was even more confused. [Why does Vegeta-san hate Goku-san so much?] He walked slowly into R&D. No lights were on; there was only the dim illumination coming from inside of the regeneration tank. Vegeta had his hands on either side of the door to the isoation chamber. He was leaning forwards, staring into the observation window.
Inside the regen tank, Trunks was hooked up to the machine, immersed in a thick, greenish blue liquid. Goten wanted to say something, anything to ease the tension. "Ah, Vegeta-san...um, how does the regen tank work?" he said carefully.
Vegeta did not move, his voice quiet and calm, "Baseline Saiyajin DNA. Replaces damaged organic tissues." Goten could think of nothing in reply, but Vegeta continued. "My mate made this a while back..."
"..."
"Goten. I...was entrusted with your up-bringing when you were born because Kakarotto was...unavailable. I never knew my tousan, and I didn't care to. But, if you feel the need to confront him... I won't stop you. You can find him in the place humans call Paozu, a mountain range to the east."
"...Arigato, jisan." Goten turned to leave, but his sensei's voice stopped him.
"Goten. I raised you like my own son..." There was no emotion behind that statement, no admitance of caring. Even the very utterance seemed to shame the prince, but he held his ground, so to speak.
"And I'm grateful." He ran out of the lab of the lab and shot into the air. He knew where the Paozu mountains were, so at full power, he could be there within the hour. Goten's ki flared, casting a golden light on the terrain that flashed by below.
[Tousan... I need answers that Vegeta-san won't give me. I want to know! What happened so long ago? Why don't I know you?]
~~~~~
Goku peered out the small window. Wind rustling through the leaves, birds chirping, despite the chaos and destruction. [Live. Why can't I just live?] Goku shook his head and stepped outside. [I-I need to talk to someone. But who? Kami disappeared when Piccolo did. Vegeta's _definitely_ out of the question!] He thumped his head with the heel of his hand. [Of course!] Goku took off to find the only person left that he could talk to.
~~~~~
After several minutes of high speed flight, Goten arrived at Paozu and was now hovering above the rolling hills of green. He flew for a time, following a well-traveled path. After a time, he came to a ruin. It was a small house, or what was left. There were large craters and scorch marks everywhere.
"O-osoroshii...what happened here!?" Goten's feet touched down on the barren rock around the ruins. Rubble littered the area. The hard ground was burned bare of life, boulders upturned around the deep craters that dotted the surrounding area. "Bakana... such destruction..."
Goten walked over to the remains of the house. Stepping over what was probably once a wall, he picked is way through the damage. [Nani mo nai. No moss, no ivy, not even any _weeds_. No way to tell when this hap--Nande!?]
Goten saw a glimmer of light ahead on a hill, well past the ruins. He sensed an enormous ki as a figure shot off into the air. "Tousan!!" he called, but the man in the distance did not react.
He ran forward a few steps, but tripped on a chunk of rotten wood and inadverntantly performed a graceless face-plant. "Kuso!" Goten rubbed his head, however unnecessarily. He kicked the offending wooden beam into splinters, but his attention was drawn to what was beneath the chunk of wood.
On the ground lay a broken picture frame. The glass was shattered and the wooden frame fractured and burned. Reaching down, Goten carefully removed the photo, shaking off excess glass. The picture was faded, but became clearer after he smoothed out the creases. In the photo, a young man with wild hair held a young woman and a small boy in his arms. The woman looked shocked, but the man and child were laughing.
[Hm, looks like a family... maybe the people that lived here?] Upon further inspection, the man looked almost like... [Tousan!?] He was certain that the young man in the photo was his father. [Which makes her my... kaasan...] Goten's fingers brushed over the image of the young woman's face. [Kaasan...]
He stifled a sob, refusing to cry even for the mother he would never know. [Iie, I can't lose focus. Demo... Who's the boy? Could he be my niisan? ...Another piece of the puzzle...] He shoved the photo into a pocket. [I do have a family. Or at least I did,] he thought, looking around. He hung his head for a moment, then peered off in the direction his father had taken.
"Sankyuu, otousan. Another time, maybe."
A Dragon Ball Z fanfiction
by Son Goharotto (son_goharotto@hotmail.com)
Welcome to Dragon Ball Yugure Z, my personal pet project. This is what I like to call a "multi-generational alternaverse epic." Expect a complex story spanning several volumes that are littered with cliff-hangers and titanic battles. DBYZ has been revised in its entirety. While some episodes have merely been ridden of typos, others have been rewritten completely. I'll be starting from the beginning at one episode a day so new readers can join in, undaunted by DBYZ's length, and old readers can review past events. All this is leading up to the new Episode 37, from which I'll try to keep a normal updating pace instead of letting this be forgotten as it once was.
DISCLAIMER: As much as I mgiht wish it not to be, DBZ does not belong to me. It's the property of Akira Toriyama-sama and many others who (unfortunately) aren't me. I'm not trying to make any money off of this and it's just a way for me to show my love of all things Dragon Ball. Well, except maybe GT. Bleah. I is teh poor, so don't sue me.
WARNINGS: As a whole, this series contains mature language (usually in Japanese), graphic violence, brutality, mature situations (non-lemon), and a touch of angst.
NOTES: A liberal amount of Japanese vocabulary is sprinkled throughout, though nothing extremely important is ever said in another language that isn't translated. Mostly just basic Otaku Japanese. I've compiled a list of phrases I use on my homepage here: www.enpitsudo-dojo.com/libjapanese.html.
"dialogue"
""layered voice"" (Fusion, for example)
{alien language}
[thoughts, telepathy, memories]
_stressed words_
*sounds*
~scene change~
Volume I -- The Nagareboshi Saga
Episode 04 -- Goten's Determination!! Please Tell Me!!
Vegeta looked through bloodshot eyes across the battlefield to regard the young man he thought he knew to be Goten. Goten was always so lighthearted, so unbecoming of a Saiyajin warrior. But recently, after his encounter with Kakarotto, Goten seems to have become a new person. He was often quiet now, almost withdrawn. He also showed more spirit in combat, an actual challenge for Vegeta. Normally, the elder Saiyajin would approve of this, but now...
Vegeta berated himself for letting himself get sidetracked. He rose from his crouched position, wincing as he put pressure on a sore leg, it might have been fractured. He spat some blood and wiped his chin with the back of his hand.
Vegeta's gaze flickered briefly away from his sparring partner to look at his son. Trunks lay on his back in a crater, half-conscious. Goten had quite obviously wanted him out of the way. But father and son weren't the only ones hurting. Goten was pretty roughed up himself, blood running down his right arm and smeared on his clothes. Determination seemed to be the only thing keeping him standing.
As painful as it was, Vegeta resumed a battle stance. He smiled ruefully, "You've got some nerve, yaro. Such disrespect for your sensei. Tsk, tsk." His smirk faded and his usual frown returned. "Why the sudden change?"
Goten gaze was calm, but cold, devoid of emotion. He was focused. "Found something to fight for," he said slowly.
"Which is?"
"...A question." Vegeta was silent, he knew what was coming. "What do you have against Goku-san?" Goten finished.
Vegeta snorted. Silently, he limped over to his son's prone body and lifted him up by the belt. Half-carrying, half- dragging his heir, the Saiyajin no Ouji headed toward the lab. "We're done for the day. Clean up," he called over his shoulder.
Goten, however, would not be brushed off again. He shot forwards and stopped just in front of his sensei, forcing Vegeta to stop. Glaring down into the Saiyajin's midnight eyes, though they were nearly the same height. "I deserve to know."
After a pause, Vegeta replied, "Sou ka? Just how did you come to _that_ conclusion?"
Goten took a deep breath. "That's what confuses me. It feels like... there's some kind of... connection between us. I can't explain it..."
".........I can."
"Nani nani!?"
~~~~~
[Coward! Failure!! Quitter!!!]
Goku reflected on those words. How true they were. He was all these things and more. He abandoned those who would call him friend. He had failed to protect his wife from death's grip. He wasn't there when his son, his own flesh and blood, needed him most.
Goku wept.
[Coward! Failure!! Quitter!!!]
*sigh* [Vegeta was right. He's always been right. I am weak. Just another low-class warrior. I'm nothing. I'm weak...]
Suddenly, memories of the previous morning flash through his mind. [But then, what about that day? Goten... We fought and I felt so... so alive. I didn't _feel_ weak!]
Goku heaved himself out of bed with a grunt. [If so... why did I fail... so long ago...?] He pounded the wall in frustration. [Why!? I don't understand! Why can't I!?... Why can't I...]
~~~~~
Vegeta stalked past his young charge and into the lab. [Kakarotto! We were almost ready and you had to screw everything up!] Vegeta's thoughts were interrupted by Trunks, who was stirring from his daze.
"Onegai shimasu, ojisan! Hanashite! What do you mean!?"
"Enough!!!" Vegeta roared, "Why do you bother!? Be happy with what you have!"
"That's not enough! I have to know!"
A primal growl escaped Vegeta's throat, "You're just like Kakarotto! Irritatingly persistent!" He threw up his hands in frustration, dropping Trunks in the process.
"Ka-kaka-ro -- Who!?"
"Kakarotto," he said quietly. "The one you call Goku. His true Saiyajin name is Kakarotto."
"A Saiyajin!? No wonder he's so strong..."
"He's also...you're father."
To say the least, Goten was shocked. [My tousan... alive... Goku-san...] Goten staggered a bit, hand to the wall to steady himself. "Vegeta-san." His voice was somber, measured. "You once told me my whole family was dead. That my father had died."
"He did. The man I knew, the man that would have been you're tousan ceased to exist long ago. Kakarotto is an empty shell of a man. No true Saiyajin warrior would allow himself such a fall from grace." Vegeta's voice was contemptuous.
"...I need to talk to him," Goten proclaimed calmly.
"I don't want you going near him again," Vegeta replied much the same way.
"Where is he?"
"Are you listening to me, baka!? I said stay away from him!"
"Hanashite!"
"Iie!! I will _not_ l--" Vegeta stuggled to verbalize what he was feeling, but such expression was unkown to him, so the Saiyajin no Ouji settled for a sharp bark of "Idiot!" With that, Vegeta stomped into the lab. He was worried that Kakarotto had already influenced the boy. [I don't need this! Not now!]
Goten was even more confused. [Why does Vegeta-san hate Goku-san so much?] He walked slowly into R&D. No lights were on; there was only the dim illumination coming from inside of the regeneration tank. Vegeta had his hands on either side of the door to the isoation chamber. He was leaning forwards, staring into the observation window.
Inside the regen tank, Trunks was hooked up to the machine, immersed in a thick, greenish blue liquid. Goten wanted to say something, anything to ease the tension. "Ah, Vegeta-san...um, how does the regen tank work?" he said carefully.
Vegeta did not move, his voice quiet and calm, "Baseline Saiyajin DNA. Replaces damaged organic tissues." Goten could think of nothing in reply, but Vegeta continued. "My mate made this a while back..."
"..."
"Goten. I...was entrusted with your up-bringing when you were born because Kakarotto was...unavailable. I never knew my tousan, and I didn't care to. But, if you feel the need to confront him... I won't stop you. You can find him in the place humans call Paozu, a mountain range to the east."
"...Arigato, jisan." Goten turned to leave, but his sensei's voice stopped him.
"Goten. I raised you like my own son..." There was no emotion behind that statement, no admitance of caring. Even the very utterance seemed to shame the prince, but he held his ground, so to speak.
"And I'm grateful." He ran out of the lab of the lab and shot into the air. He knew where the Paozu mountains were, so at full power, he could be there within the hour. Goten's ki flared, casting a golden light on the terrain that flashed by below.
[Tousan... I need answers that Vegeta-san won't give me. I want to know! What happened so long ago? Why don't I know you?]
~~~~~
Goku peered out the small window. Wind rustling through the leaves, birds chirping, despite the chaos and destruction. [Live. Why can't I just live?] Goku shook his head and stepped outside. [I-I need to talk to someone. But who? Kami disappeared when Piccolo did. Vegeta's _definitely_ out of the question!] He thumped his head with the heel of his hand. [Of course!] Goku took off to find the only person left that he could talk to.
~~~~~
After several minutes of high speed flight, Goten arrived at Paozu and was now hovering above the rolling hills of green. He flew for a time, following a well-traveled path. After a time, he came to a ruin. It was a small house, or what was left. There were large craters and scorch marks everywhere.
"O-osoroshii...what happened here!?" Goten's feet touched down on the barren rock around the ruins. Rubble littered the area. The hard ground was burned bare of life, boulders upturned around the deep craters that dotted the surrounding area. "Bakana... such destruction..."
Goten walked over to the remains of the house. Stepping over what was probably once a wall, he picked is way through the damage. [Nani mo nai. No moss, no ivy, not even any _weeds_. No way to tell when this hap--Nande!?]
Goten saw a glimmer of light ahead on a hill, well past the ruins. He sensed an enormous ki as a figure shot off into the air. "Tousan!!" he called, but the man in the distance did not react.
He ran forward a few steps, but tripped on a chunk of rotten wood and inadverntantly performed a graceless face-plant. "Kuso!" Goten rubbed his head, however unnecessarily. He kicked the offending wooden beam into splinters, but his attention was drawn to what was beneath the chunk of wood.
On the ground lay a broken picture frame. The glass was shattered and the wooden frame fractured and burned. Reaching down, Goten carefully removed the photo, shaking off excess glass. The picture was faded, but became clearer after he smoothed out the creases. In the photo, a young man with wild hair held a young woman and a small boy in his arms. The woman looked shocked, but the man and child were laughing.
[Hm, looks like a family... maybe the people that lived here?] Upon further inspection, the man looked almost like... [Tousan!?] He was certain that the young man in the photo was his father. [Which makes her my... kaasan...] Goten's fingers brushed over the image of the young woman's face. [Kaasan...]
He stifled a sob, refusing to cry even for the mother he would never know. [Iie, I can't lose focus. Demo... Who's the boy? Could he be my niisan? ...Another piece of the puzzle...] He shoved the photo into a pocket. [I do have a family. Or at least I did,] he thought, looking around. He hung his head for a moment, then peered off in the direction his father had taken.
"Sankyuu, otousan. Another time, maybe."