"Oh, excuse me!" Violet exclaimed two years later as she collided with into someone while walking out of the grocery store, her attention elsewhere.
"That's all right," the stranger she had bumped into replied. Violet looked up into the kind, naïve face of a young man with a rather interesting-yet somehow familiar-hairdo. "Here, let me help you with those bags," he offered.
"Thanks," she answered gratefully. He picked up three of her bags as if they weighed nothing and helped her to her car. "I can't thank you enough." Actually, I would have had no trouble at all carrying those bags, she thought to herself. I just couldn't refuse his offer. He was just being nice, I guess…
"No problem," he replied, interrupting her musings. "Pardon my being forward, but what is your name? I always like having a name to go with a face."
My goodness, he's naïve, she thought. Should I tell him my real name? I have no idea who he is, or what his intentions may be. He may be working for those against my parents…just to be on the safe side, I'll give him my middle name instead.
"Hello?" he asked her, breaking her thoughts again.
"Oh, sorry. My name's Aria. To return the favor, what's your name?" she queried.
"My name is Goku."
Violet glanced at her watch. "It was nice to meet you, Goku. But, I really should be going." She turned to unlock her car, when behind her Goku had a sudden intake of breath.
"Is something wrong?" she asked him as she turned around, then saw a stunned look on his face. "You look like you just saw a ghost!"
"Is…is that…a…a tail?" he stuttered, not believing what his eyes were seeing. He rubbed at them as if to clear them, incredulous.
"Oops! You weren't supposed to see that!" she exclaimed in a rush. Blast it all to the dark side! she cursed silently. Now what do I do? I guess the best thing to do would be to make sure he's 'on my side,' whatever I make that to mean. Here goes…
"Do you…do you fight?" Goku asked her after a pause for him to gather up his thoughts after that shock.
"How the heck did you figure that?" she replied, stunned.
"Well, I used to have a tail, and…"
"What?!? Um…what do you mean by 'used to?'" she responded, clearly confused. She had had no idea that her little trip to the mainland would turn out like this.
"Never mind. It's a really long story." He paused.
Violet took advantage of the pause. "Well, I really should be going now…" She turned to unlock her car door, when she stopped abruptly. Goku had grabbed hold of her arm.
"Wait!" he exclaimed. Seeing Violet's reaction to his stopping her, he hastily continued, "Will you please come with me to meet the others?"
"I hardly know you…" she began, but she broke off in mid-sentence, her curiosity aroused by his comment. "What do you mean by 'others?'"
"There's a group of us that have fighting abilities. Not all of them had or have tails, like you and me. I'd like you to meet them."
"Well…" she stalled for time to think this offer over. I barely know the guy. Who knows what his intentions may be? I've gotten too interested. I guess I'll go along with it-for a little while.
"Please?" he implored her.
"Oh, all right. But it can't be too long."
"Okay."
I'll have to get back to Mother and Father about this! she thought to herself. They will definitely be interested. She tried to persuade herself, That's the only reason I'm going along with this Goku, to gather information, and that's it. No more, no less. Here goes…
"Is it okay if you drive?" he asked her a little sheepishly. "I flew here."
"That's fine with me," she replied, putting more enthusiasm into the words than she really felt. Getting into the car, Violet driving and Goku in the passenger seat, she began to wonder if this was such a good idea. Driving those thoughts away into an unobtrusive corner of her mind, she concentrated on the directions he was giving her.
A few minutes later, they arrived at Goku's place. She noticed there were a few other cars there already. They must belong to those 'others' he mentioned, she mused. Snapping back to attention just in time to avoid a nearby mailbox, she parked close by.
When they got out of the car, a little boy, who looked about five or six years old, came running for Violet's new acquaintance. The boy grabbed Goku's pant leg and asked him while tugging on it, "Who is this lady, Daddy?"
He has a son?!? Goku looks too young for that. The boy is pretty cute, though.
"Gohan, this is Aria, a girl I met today. Aria, this is my son, Gohan," Goku said, introducing them.
Violet noticed something on Gohan when he turned around: a tail. After seeing this, she quietly asked Goku, "Is that a tail I see on him?"
"Yes," he answered. "Why don't we go inside? I'll introduce you to the others." Goku, taking his son's hand, turned towards the driveway of his house, with Violet following close behind. "This better be worth it," she muttered under her breath.
Opening the door, Goku let Violet and his son in first and shut the door behind them. "This way," he said, guiding them to a well lit dining room in which five people were seated, chatting idly with each other.
"Hey, you guys, I'm back!" he announced to the group.
"It sure took you long enough, Goku, "commented a young man who, Violet thought, looked a little bit like Goku. Then, noticing Violet for the first time, he asked his friend, "Who's the girl?"
"Oh, this is Aria. Aria, I would like you to meet Yamcha"-the one who had been speaking earlier-"Tien, Chou-su, Krillin, and my wife, ChiChi," he said, mentioning each of their names as he pointed to them in turn around the table.
"Sit down, if you wish, Aria," Goku's wife said, directing a look at her husband that said I'll talk to you later. Aria noticed the look and Goku's reaction: he scrunched down in his chair a little more. She chuckled inwardly. She's cordial on the surface, but she's very possessive of Goku. She's probably the same way with Gohan.
"So, why did you bring her here?" Tien whispered to Goku after he had sat down next to him.
"She has the power to fight," he whispered back.
"What?!?"
"Keep your voice down!"
"Sorry! But…but a girl?"
"Yeah, I had about the same reaction-inwardly."
Meanwhile, Violet was sitting at the table, feeling rather out of place. Now, just why did I come here again? she thought sardonically.
"Hey, Goku--why did you bring Aria along?" Yamcha practically shouted across the table.
Violet glanced down and Goku reddened a little at the comment. "I brought her here because she has the power to fight." His words brought a stunned silence down upon the group.
"What…what do you mean, Goku?" Krillin asked him, confused.
"Allow me to speak for myself." All heads turned towards Violet. She continued, a bit self-consciously, "You see, I have a tail--" Gasps around the table cut her off momentarily. "--and I learned how to wield my power in combat about twelve years ago," she hastily finished.
The group sat there, stunned into silence. Violet tried to stay outwardly relaxed, taking care to let none of her true feelings show on her face. Inwardly, she was wondering, Was that little speech of mine out of place?
Goku cleared his throat, breaking the silence. "Now do you see why I brought her here?" he asked the others, seemingly daring them to question him.
"When did you meet her, then?" Tien asked him, wondering why he had never told them about her before.
"I met her this morning."
"Oh," was all he could say in response.
Goku continued, "I thought it might be a good idea if she trained with us sometimes, you know. I think it would be good to have as many warriors on the Special Forces as we can. Don't you agree?"
Everyone but ChiChi nodded their heads in agreement, not feeling like arguing the point.
"So, who wants to try her out?" Tien asked the assembled group.
"I guess I will," Yamcha offered, thinking she would be a pushover and they would not have to worry about her anymore.
"Fine with me. Let's go," Violet replied, relishing the opportunity to fight a worthy opponent and being able to show off her skills.
They headed outside, with the rest of the group following to watch.
"You first," said Violet.
"Sure," he answered, smiling inwardly. He dashed for her head on. She vanished, reappearing right behind him and tapping him on the shoulder.
"Was that your best shot? I sure hope not," she taunted him, hoping to get something more out of him.
He grumbled under his breath. How the heck did she do that? he wondered to himself. I've never seen anything like it, and I don't think the others have either. He glanced over to where the others were standing. Sure enough, they all had stunned looks on their faces.
"Okay, okay, you're good. Really good," he admitted reluctantly. "Goku, you were right about her."
"Thanks," Violet said.
Goku gave Yamcha an I-told-you-so look.
Violet looked at her watch. "Yikes! I totally lost track of time! I really have to go."
"Are you sure, Aria?" Goku asked her, hoping he could persuade her to stay a little longer.
"Yes. See you around!" She goes out the door to her car, gets in, and starts the engine. Violet looks up to see them waving goodbye. She waved in return, and then backed out of the driveway.
Whew! That was weird, she thought to herself. I certainly have a lot to tell my parents when I get home. I wonder if I should introduce Cass to them…maybe not. At least not yet.
* * * * *
Violet drove up to the small one-story house she had bought just for staying at when visiting the mainland. She parked her car into the garage, grabbed the groceries, and walked into the house. Entering the backyard, she did not stop until she had reached her camouflaged X-wing. Carefully the princess took off the netting and replaced it in the storage compartment in the nearby tool shed.
She gently tossed the food up onto the starfighter and with a strong jump got into her cockpit. She stowed the food in her storage compartment, then lowered the canopy and strapped herself in. The next thing she did was activate the cloaking device. Once her systems showed green Violet triggered the repulsorlifts and rose up off the ground. As soon as she had gained about fifty meters in altitude, she started her sublight engines with twenty-five percent throttle and headed back to Yavinia.
Thirty minutes later the princess landed at Reilar's spaceport and handed her X-wing over to the trio of techs awaiting her arrival. She grabbed the groceries and allowed a chauffeur to take her over to the palace. The man dropped her off not long after that, and Violet headed for the palace kitchen.
Her thirteen-year-old brother was already in there, eating a snack. "You must have a bottomless pit for a stomach, Cass," she teased him as she walked through the door.
He looked up from his food. "Yup!" he agreed good-naturedly.
She appraised him for a moment. He sure has grown in the last year, she thought to herself.
"What took you so long, Violet?" he asked. "Any goodies for me in there?"
"No, nothing for growing pigs," she said, laughing.
"Seriously: what took you?"
"Oh, I got sidetracked."
"How so?"
"Well, I accidentally ran into-literally-a guy at the store, and he was really nice about it and even helped me with my bags, though I didn't need any help. Then, I guess he saw my tail, and…"
"He did what?"
"Yeah, he saw my tail." Cass' eyes were wide open in shock. Violet continued hastily, "It turned out ok, because he said that he once had a tail, but that it had been removed."
"This guy is a saiyan?"
"Yeah. And he knows a couple of other guys who can also fight like we can, but they aren't saiyans."
"Why doesn't he have his tail anymore?"
"He never told me."
"Interesting." Cass glanced over at her. "So, you going to tell the parents?"
"Yeah, I should, and I will. After dinner," she told him.
"Speaking of, when is dinner?" Cass asked.
"Cass!" Violet exclaimed, exasperated, yet laughing. "Didn't you just eat?"
He looked up at her sheepishly. "Uh…yeah, I guess I did."
She shook her head. "Silly boy," she said with a grin.
* * * * *
After a sumptuous dinner in the main dining hall, Violet drew her parents aside into the library.
"What is it, dear?" her mother asked, noting Violet's frowning expression.
"Well, you know how I'm a saiyan and stuff…"
"Yes?" her father interjected.
"Well, I ran into a guy at the store over on the mainland, and he was nice enough to help me with the groceries-though I didn't need any help-and he accidentally saw my tail…"
"He what?" King Ryo exclaimed.
Violet waved her hands around to calm him down. "Let me explain!"
"Okay, dear," Queen Ariana said testily.
"It's okay, really. You see, he had his tail removed a long time ago-"
Ryo interrupted. "He's a saiyan too?"
Violet nodded.
He leaned back in his chair a little. "Go on."
"Well, he took me to his house, where a bunch of other guys were who can also fight this way, but aren't saiyans, and introduced me to them."
Her father asked her, "How did you introduce yourself to this saiyan in the first place, anyway?"
"I told them that my name was Aria. That's all they know."
"Good thinking, dear," the queen complimented her.
Violet nodded her agreement.
"Hmm…" King Ryo said thoughtfully. "Violet, I don't want you getting too involved with these people."
"Da-ad, I can take care of myself," she said, rolling her eyes.
"What would happen if these people got really strong, fought you, and took you down?" Ariana said worriedly.
Violet remembered the open, innocent look that came so naturally to Goku and his son, and shook her head. "They would never do that, Mom."
"But how can you be so sure?"
"Mother, trust me. I just know they would never do that to me."
Ryo sat there silent for a moment, deep in thought. Finally, he spoke up. "Violet, I am going to have to put my foot down on this one. You cannot hang out with these people, and that is final."
Before she could protest, he and her mother stood up and left the room. When they were out of earshot, Violet slammed her fist down on the table, careful not to break the wood. "How can they do something like that to me? It's not fair!"
"So, what are you going to do, sis?" Cass asked.
"Oh, I'll go visit them every now and then."
"You'll what? But I thought Dad just said-"
"Dad could have said that I can go pick daisies for all I care. There is no way I'm going to let them keep me from ever seeing those guys again. If they met them, they would understand."
"Well, if you're going to be so stubborn, will you take me to meet them sometime?"
She glanced over at him. "Sure, if you can figure out a way for both of us to go."
"All right!" he said, raising his fist in the air.
Violet laughed, and they left the room together, talking about the fighters.