Here is the next chapter. Is pretty straightforward, and a little short, only 1200ish words. I did not go into the entire detail of the story since they made those whole two TV shows about it.
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Chapter 6:
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We return to Goten's recitation of family history. The entire story was rarely told. Goten knew it all just from asking for pieces at a time. There was one part he knew better than to ask about, but on the one day that was the anniversary of his fathers death, he heard all he needed. On the day that would have been his father's birthday he heard all the good stories about the man he never met. Not that he had known he wanted for more. As far as the boy could tell his older brother was all anyone would want from a surrogate father or even a real one. He was very close.
These things did not occur to Goten when he began with the history lesson. 'I have never been to a time when we needed to go over the whole story at once. This must be big deal, just like Trunks said it would be. I hope I pass this test.' Were his thoughts when he paused seconds into his story.
"Many years later, Son Gohan found a boy on the mountain there, Mt. Paozu. The Boy was wild, uncontrollable, always lashing out and fighting, if it wasn't for great-grandpa Gohan he would have really cause a lot of trouble but Gohan, like our Gohan, was very strong."
"That is just how mom tells that part." Said Gohan proud of his brother's attention to detail.
"I know. Anyways, one day Gohan decided to take a walk back to where he found the boy, to see if he could find any record or evidence as to who his family might be. You see even though the boy was a handful Gohan was getting fond of him, and wanted to make sure no one was missing him. As Gohan climbed the hard path, harder with the boy on his back, up the bed of moss he found the boy on he saw something metal shine above it. It was a white metallic pod, smashed into the side of the mountain. This machine had no business being here, and since great grandpa was a smart man he knew there were only two possibilities, either the kid was a test subject or an alien. Both answers were not something that he wanted others to know about for fear of loosing the boy for one reason or another."
"So as he lifted a boulder to throw at the ship, the boy bit him on the shoulder causing two effects: first the boulder missed and it ended up knocking the ship down the side of the mountain into a ravine. Secondly it caused Gohan to fall and loose the boy into the valley on the other side of the mountain where he fell hundreds of feet."
"Oh, my." Gasped Videl at Goten's engrossing story.
"Fear not little one. The boy was fine, even better for the fall." Added Goten as he had heard all his life. "For you see the bump on the head had changed the boy. Instead of being mean and nasty he was as nice as could be. It was then that Grandpa Gohan adopted him and named him Son Goku."
Before Videl could react to this Gohan editorialized. "I guess it would be hard for anyone who has met him to think of that name going with a nasty person. Please continue Goten, what comes next?"
"They lived happily together for years, as grandpa and grandson, studying martial arts and living a simple life until Gohan was trampled by a ferocious beast on a full mooned night. He was very young when that happened my age or even less. He lived alone till he was 12 when he met a young girl on a quest. Her name was Bulma Briefs. And Bulma was hunting Dragonballs."
"You want to tell the dragonball story? It in not part of your test."
"I know, let me tell it. You see Videl for the past several hundred years on earth there have been these mystical items called dragonballs. There are seven in all and when they are gathered together, you can make any wish you want. You can become a king; live-forever; even raise the dead. There are some rules though. She came looking with her dragon locating radar and met Dad. Since he still held his grandfather's keepsake the suushinchuu, the four star dragonball. See?" He asked as Gohan produced the item he seemed to always have with him.
As he handed her the ball, she could feel the power of the cool crystal ball in her hand. It was like the power of the mystic sphere was warming her hand just below the surface. As she gazed into the orange orb, and then to Gohan's face, she knew the legend was true. As she held the dragon ball in her lap, she listened. Goten recounted the times that the world had been saved, as they sat together on the lawn. He especially always played up Gohan's role as if to help in a way he could not have known about, until he reached the point where his brother's actions spoke for themselves.
"So then Gohan had finally found the strength to defeat Cell once and for all. Then he helped raise his cool little brother cause daddy decided to stay dead to help the world stay safe. Then he met a new friend named Videl and she became good friends with Goten too. The end."
Videl was overwhelmed with stories of saving the world. Of aliens and wars and loss. More than being lost in the ramifications of the stories, not that she missed anything, she was surprised at how well she was getting to know Gohan, young living Gohan. He had helped Goten in a few sections, but every time before he interjected he must have moved his lips when he thought because she had a pretty good idea of what was about to be added. And the two times she was going to ask him about it, he smiled knowingly and pointed back to the story.
"You seem a little overwhelmed." She could only nod in response as she took his hand as help up. "Tell you what why don't we walk back to that water fall to catch our thoughts, talk there for a bit then come back for a quick lunch?" Another nod. "Goten are you ok here?"
"Sure big brother."
"Don't forget once I am done with Videl we will have to discuss your new powers."
"Ok."
"Then teach you to fly. You can learn then too Videl." Instead of the excited response of Goten about flying he just received a "hmm" from her. He took her hand and led her. Along the path to the lake, up the river that connected the pool at the bottom of the waterfall to the lake, they walked in silence. They were still silent until they sat on some rocks at the base of the waterfall, their feet dangling over the water below.
"Are you ready for more yet, Videl? Cause there is a bit more to go."
"I have a few questions." She said, still looking into the pool below her, before finally looking up for his response.
"Let's tackle those first."
*********
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Endnotes. When I wrote about not needing to do the entire story, I thought it would be cool to write a general, Goten tells the story of DB/Z. However since I had such trouble perfecting the tone of his age, not wanting it to be too childish, but avoiding the sentence structure I prefer most of the time. It is something I fight even writing dialog. You can tell at some point above where I wanted to write whom so badly, but we know that would be out of place (when I finally changed it to who, word even yelled at me!) Maybe I will come up with some rules to write it by, balancing the 7-year-old factor with the raised by Chi-Chi and taught by Gohan factor. Enough of my editorializing, more to come...
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Chapter 6:
*********
|
|
|
We return to Goten's recitation of family history. The entire story was rarely told. Goten knew it all just from asking for pieces at a time. There was one part he knew better than to ask about, but on the one day that was the anniversary of his fathers death, he heard all he needed. On the day that would have been his father's birthday he heard all the good stories about the man he never met. Not that he had known he wanted for more. As far as the boy could tell his older brother was all anyone would want from a surrogate father or even a real one. He was very close.
These things did not occur to Goten when he began with the history lesson. 'I have never been to a time when we needed to go over the whole story at once. This must be big deal, just like Trunks said it would be. I hope I pass this test.' Were his thoughts when he paused seconds into his story.
"Many years later, Son Gohan found a boy on the mountain there, Mt. Paozu. The Boy was wild, uncontrollable, always lashing out and fighting, if it wasn't for great-grandpa Gohan he would have really cause a lot of trouble but Gohan, like our Gohan, was very strong."
"That is just how mom tells that part." Said Gohan proud of his brother's attention to detail.
"I know. Anyways, one day Gohan decided to take a walk back to where he found the boy, to see if he could find any record or evidence as to who his family might be. You see even though the boy was a handful Gohan was getting fond of him, and wanted to make sure no one was missing him. As Gohan climbed the hard path, harder with the boy on his back, up the bed of moss he found the boy on he saw something metal shine above it. It was a white metallic pod, smashed into the side of the mountain. This machine had no business being here, and since great grandpa was a smart man he knew there were only two possibilities, either the kid was a test subject or an alien. Both answers were not something that he wanted others to know about for fear of loosing the boy for one reason or another."
"So as he lifted a boulder to throw at the ship, the boy bit him on the shoulder causing two effects: first the boulder missed and it ended up knocking the ship down the side of the mountain into a ravine. Secondly it caused Gohan to fall and loose the boy into the valley on the other side of the mountain where he fell hundreds of feet."
"Oh, my." Gasped Videl at Goten's engrossing story.
"Fear not little one. The boy was fine, even better for the fall." Added Goten as he had heard all his life. "For you see the bump on the head had changed the boy. Instead of being mean and nasty he was as nice as could be. It was then that Grandpa Gohan adopted him and named him Son Goku."
Before Videl could react to this Gohan editorialized. "I guess it would be hard for anyone who has met him to think of that name going with a nasty person. Please continue Goten, what comes next?"
"They lived happily together for years, as grandpa and grandson, studying martial arts and living a simple life until Gohan was trampled by a ferocious beast on a full mooned night. He was very young when that happened my age or even less. He lived alone till he was 12 when he met a young girl on a quest. Her name was Bulma Briefs. And Bulma was hunting Dragonballs."
"You want to tell the dragonball story? It in not part of your test."
"I know, let me tell it. You see Videl for the past several hundred years on earth there have been these mystical items called dragonballs. There are seven in all and when they are gathered together, you can make any wish you want. You can become a king; live-forever; even raise the dead. There are some rules though. She came looking with her dragon locating radar and met Dad. Since he still held his grandfather's keepsake the suushinchuu, the four star dragonball. See?" He asked as Gohan produced the item he seemed to always have with him.
As he handed her the ball, she could feel the power of the cool crystal ball in her hand. It was like the power of the mystic sphere was warming her hand just below the surface. As she gazed into the orange orb, and then to Gohan's face, she knew the legend was true. As she held the dragon ball in her lap, she listened. Goten recounted the times that the world had been saved, as they sat together on the lawn. He especially always played up Gohan's role as if to help in a way he could not have known about, until he reached the point where his brother's actions spoke for themselves.
"So then Gohan had finally found the strength to defeat Cell once and for all. Then he helped raise his cool little brother cause daddy decided to stay dead to help the world stay safe. Then he met a new friend named Videl and she became good friends with Goten too. The end."
Videl was overwhelmed with stories of saving the world. Of aliens and wars and loss. More than being lost in the ramifications of the stories, not that she missed anything, she was surprised at how well she was getting to know Gohan, young living Gohan. He had helped Goten in a few sections, but every time before he interjected he must have moved his lips when he thought because she had a pretty good idea of what was about to be added. And the two times she was going to ask him about it, he smiled knowingly and pointed back to the story.
"You seem a little overwhelmed." She could only nod in response as she took his hand as help up. "Tell you what why don't we walk back to that water fall to catch our thoughts, talk there for a bit then come back for a quick lunch?" Another nod. "Goten are you ok here?"
"Sure big brother."
"Don't forget once I am done with Videl we will have to discuss your new powers."
"Ok."
"Then teach you to fly. You can learn then too Videl." Instead of the excited response of Goten about flying he just received a "hmm" from her. He took her hand and led her. Along the path to the lake, up the river that connected the pool at the bottom of the waterfall to the lake, they walked in silence. They were still silent until they sat on some rocks at the base of the waterfall, their feet dangling over the water below.
"Are you ready for more yet, Videl? Cause there is a bit more to go."
"I have a few questions." She said, still looking into the pool below her, before finally looking up for his response.
"Let's tackle those first."
*********
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Endnotes. When I wrote about not needing to do the entire story, I thought it would be cool to write a general, Goten tells the story of DB/Z. However since I had such trouble perfecting the tone of his age, not wanting it to be too childish, but avoiding the sentence structure I prefer most of the time. It is something I fight even writing dialog. You can tell at some point above where I wanted to write whom so badly, but we know that would be out of place (when I finally changed it to who, word even yelled at me!) Maybe I will come up with some rules to write it by, balancing the 7-year-old factor with the raised by Chi-Chi and taught by Gohan factor. Enough of my editorializing, more to come...
