Disclaimer: Don't own it, never will.
A/N: Oh man, I have been waiting for ages for my computer to start working again! I've been waiting for this just as long as you guys have. I hope that you enjoy it.
The next morning is a drizzly one, just the start of the rainy season. Droplets of water collect up from the light drizzle and drip down from roof onto the indian red, muddy ground far below. The tree tops sway back and forth from the light wind as if enchanted. A few leaves fly past along with a pair of ordinary sparrows and a wonderfully plumed bird of paradise. An impossible sight anywhere else but Mute Point.
Goku watches all this with a grin on his face. He can relax today since its raining out. Unless his father decides to tutor him early today. He groans and hides his head with his blanket.
As expected, he hears footsteps coming up to his bed and a hand firmly grasps him on the shoulder, "Prince Goku, get up, I know you're awake."
The teenage saiyajin whines, "Ugh, I have a headache."
"I DON'T CARE, NOW GET UP!"
Goku yelps, bolting out of bed, only to trip himself with his covers. He recovers quickly, bouncing up and demanding, "Dad, what's the matter?"
Vegeta gives him a hard look and turns away, "Pack up your personal belongings. Anything that you want to keep."
His son blinks, "We're not going out onto another training trip are we?"
Without turning around, the ouji says in a firm voice, "Prince Ximitar Goku. We are never going to see this house or this forest again. Now pack."
Goku stares at him in disbelief and shakes his head slightly not seeming to comprehend, "W-we're LEAVING?!"
"I believe that you heard me."
At this the young saiyajin runs over in front of the ouji and yells in confusion, "We can't just leave! Dad, we LIVE here! This is our HOME! I-I- can't even imagine staying somewhere else!"
Vegeta puts his hands on Goku's shoulders and says in a hardened tone, "Prince Goku. DEAL with it." Then he lets go and then climbs down to the first floor of the tree house by the ladder.
Goku just gapes at the spot where the ouji was, in numb shock. Shakily, he looks at his small belongings sprawled all over the room, then he grabs his leather bag and carefully collects his precious items into the bag, still in disbelief, trying to deny what's going on around him.
Once he gets downstairs the reality hits him as he stares at a blank room. All the furniture is gone, no doubt packed up into capsules. Goku peeks outside and sees that all their cooking stuff is gone, too. He says in a hushed tone, "I guess we can't pack up the house."
A teenager's voice says, "Can't calibrate a frickin' tree into a capsule."
Goku turns back and glares at the demi-saiyajin spitefully, "This was all your doing, wasn't it?!"
Trunks smirks, "So what if it was?"
Howling in fury, Goku tries to pounce him, but Vegeta catches his collar in midair, yelling, "Will you stop that?! The decision was mine and mine alone. If I decided to stay here, there wouldn't be a damned thing that Trunks can do about it." With that he drops Goku onto the floor and hoists his own leather bag up onto his shoulder. "I spent last night trying to find a way out of here. We'll have to back track the way I came in through the jungle area and the Quicksand Pits."
With that he jumps out onto a branch outside, and then starts swinging through the trees. Goku quickly follows suit.
Trunks stares at them in disbelief, "Holy cow, they're just like monkeys!" He gingerly hops onto that first branch, but then he loses his balance and yelps, hanging onto it by just a hand. Panting nervously he clambers back onto the branch and looks up to see that Vegeta and Goku are nearly a mile ahead of him. He mutters low to himself, "Aw dammit."
He finally catches up to them about half an hour later, thinking only of making sure they're in sight instead of looking where he's going. He spots them on a long firm branch and sits down next to them, panting, "So, are we taking a break?"
However, the ouji has a confused look on his face, "We passed by here nearly ten times." Trunks looks up and his eyes bulge out, realizing they're right back at where they started at the tree house.
Goku smiles victoriously, "I guess the forest doesn't want us to leave."
The lavender haired teenager gives him a very odd look, "You're talking like it's alive."
The saiyajin snaps, "Of course it's alive! It's been mothering the two of us for as long as I can remember! Whenever our hunt was bad, bears or deer would wander into our camp site! Whenever we got sick medicinal plants would suddenly show up growing on the camp site the next morning! Whenever we needed supplies, random capsules would-"
Trunks rolls his eyes, "Okay! Okay! I got the point!" He turns to the ouji and asks, "So what are you going to do?"
Thinking hard, Vegeta stays silent for a long time. Both teenagers await his deliberation patiently. Until finally, "We need to go to Death Gorge."
Goku and Trunks stare down in awe at the ominous ravine, holding onto their branches tightly. Meanwhile Vegeta is below them right on the edge of the stony wall, his toes just barely hanging off the side as he leans over to look.
Goku yells, "Daddy! Be careful!"
The demi-saiyajin demands, "How deep is this thing?!"
The other teenager frowns, "I don't know. I was banned from here."
The ouji looks up with a scowl, "You were banned from the Quicksand Pits, too." Goku blushes, somewhat abashed. Looking back down, Vegeta once again feels chills along his spine, but he ignores it and says, "We need to get down there."
Trunks and Goku face fault and yell, "You've got to be kidding me!" simultaneously.
Giving them a dangerous grin, Vegeta salutes them and steps off the side, diving down into the darkness. Trunks stares at the side and moans, then he starts banging his head against the tree trunk. Goku has pretty much the same kind of look on his face. He grabs Trunks' wrist and says, "Come on." Without much enthusiasm the demi-saiyajin nods and together they jump down into the deep abyss.
In milli-seconds they land on rough, rocky ground, having as much impact as if they fell off a small tree. Trunks sits up and blinks, trying to peer through the pitch black, "That was very... odd. I thought the canyon was deeper than this."
Goku stands up and dusts the dirt off of himself, "I guess the darkness was just an illusion. Dad must be right about this place."
A deep voice answers, "Of course I'm right. What do you expect from me?"
Goku mutters, "Sorry Dad. Just wish I can see though."
Suddenly, as if on cue, the whole area lights up like a bulb, an uncertain source emitting a greenish sort of light. The teenage saiyajin blinks, "This is very odd, right Dad?" He gets no answer, so he turns around, "Dad?" There is nothing but a long rocky pathway behind him.
Then Goku starts to panic, "Dad?! Are you there?! Quit hiding! Trunks! You put him up to this, didn't you?!" All at once the light begins to fade out from behind him. The young saiyajin turns around and sees the green light moving away from him, down the path. Then it stops, as if beckoning Goku to follow. He can swear that it's...it's calling his name... Entranced, the saiyajin obliges, moving with the light down the narrow ravine path.
He wanders after the light for a long time, the path ahead seeming to be never ending no matter how far he walked. He begins wondering exactly what happened to the other two.
All at once, Goku smacks right into something. He mutters, "What the-" looking up and around him. It looks as if there's nothing there, but he holds out his hand and feels rough rock under his touch. Biting his lip, he starts to investigate and feels all over the obstruction blocking his hand. Suddenly he feels liquid. Pulling his hand away Goku looks at it and sees water glistening off of his fingers.
He looks back at the path where he just came from. There's something... not right about this place...
Goku... A sweet mellow voice calls out, gaining the saiyajin's attention.
Goku, come on inside. It's alright.
The voice...He remembers it from a memory of long ago...Such a soothing voice...With a deep breath, the saiyajin feels the edge of the water door. About five by three feet. Without really thinking about it, he holds his breath and goes through, disappearing from sight.
Meanwhile the other two are still completely lost in the dark and oblivious to the fact that Goku is gone.
"Dad, are you sure that there's something here?"
"I'm positive! So quit questioning me!"
Goku gazes around him in wonder as he seems to be in the middle of a neon green lit cavern of enormous proportions. The eiffel tower could fit inside it with plenty of room to spare. The saiyajin turns around and sees the gateway of water, rippling behind him.
Pools of springs litter the ground like puddles after a rainy day and right in the center of the cave, is a sort of plateau serving as a pedastel, all the green light emanating from something at the top that Goku can't get a clearer view of. His feet lift inches off the ground as he hovers over the pools to the edge of the huge rock, not disturbing the solid reflections of the water, which probably have been that way for thousands of years. Carefully he flies up and peeks over the top, squinting through all the green light.
Suddenly something grabs the back of his collar and he gives a sharp yelp as he's pulled from his position up to the top of the plateau. An ancient voice calls out of nowhere, Calm down, child. You're alright.
Goku blinks and looks around for the source of the voice, "Where are you? Who are you?!"
The kindly voice laughs, I'm right in front of you.
The saiyajin looks forward towards the green light, "Wait a sec, are you..."
The heart of the forest? Yes, I was created by a sorcerer long, long ago, to keep watch over this forest. I never expected that I would have to take care of sentient beings though.
Goku says awkwardly, "Uh, sorry."
It's alright. I think I've grown fond of you two. You respect the law of the land, not taking more than you need to, and overall not acting like any of the other baka ningen on the Earth.
The saiyajin sweatdrops as the voice grated that last part out spitefully.
In any case, it will be sad to see you go.
Goku frowns, "Wait a sec. I thought you wanted us to stay here. That's why we kept ending up back at the tree house."
I merely wanted to see you before you left. The teenager feels something similar to an ice cold hand brush his face and he shivers. The voice continues fondly, You've grown so much since you first came. It never ceases to amaze me.
The saiyajin asks numbly, "Um..... So now you've seen me, can I go now?"
The invisible hand withdraws. Just be patient will you? I have something to give you.
Goku blinks, "Eh?" Suddenly pain courses through his entire body as the green light reaches out to him and wraps around his body. He screams out in agony as ice cold fire courses through his veins leaving numbness in its wake. The light withdraws and puts the saiyajin gently back down on the ground.
Gasping in pain, the teenager glares up at the light hatefully, "What the hell was that for?!"
A goodbye present. It is also a matter of inheritance. You should have gotten it before, but it seems to have gotten bungled up with your other personality and the whole spirit form thing. It will be strange at first but you will enjoy it in the end.
Goku quickly looks over his body, seeing nothing different and turn back to the light, demanding, "What did you do to me?!"
You'll see soon, child.
Quickly enraged, the saiyajin clambers to his feet, "Who do you think you are, just doing what you'd like with me?! I'm grateful for all you did, but I refuse to be used as a toy!"
Suddenly the voice grows low and dangerous, Boy, you do NOT want to mess with me. Like the marshlands of this forest I have my bad side, and you don't want to see it.
Goku smirks, "Yeah, I bet you're hiding it under all that light! You ugly old crone!"
The light gives out an awesome roar of fury, blasting the cavern room with sound waves, bits of rock start to fall from the ceiling. The saiyajin stares up at it in horror and realizes that the light in the cave has turned red and is slowly growing, climbing up to the height of the ceiling. His eyes grow huge as he starts to see the real form of the light. His mouth opens and he screams in terror, running for the widening water gate as fast as he can.
Meanwhile..... Trunks yells, "Dad! We've been wandering around in this stupid canyon for an hour already! Why can't we just call it quits?!"
Vegeta yells, "Will you just be patient?! We're bound to run into something sometime!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"
Both Trunks and Vegeta snap back towards the sound of the terrible scream with astonishment. Suddenly, someone runs right into them, knocking them right off their feet. With a whole bunch yelps and angry snaps, the group get back on their feet.
The ouji demands, "Prince Goku, what the hell was that for?!"
At once, Goku gives them a quick, nervous explanation, "There was a light! And then you two disappeared! The voice! It- it led me to this cave and I think it electrocuted me or something I don't know! It just said it was a good bye present! Then I got ticked off! The light got ticked off! It turned into this huge gigantic THING! And now I think that it wants to eat me!"
Trunks mutters, "He's gone off his rocker."
Vegeta scowls, "That is the stupidest story that I've ever-"
"RRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARAROROAOARAOARRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!"
The ouji freezes mid-sentence and slowly turns around, a red light coming around the corner of the pathway illuminating the pitch black gorge, sending a crimson glow on everything.
Trunks stares at the light and squeaks out, "It wants to EAT you?" Goku nods his head vigorously.
Vegeta says quickly, "Okay, we are getting out of here!" He grabs both teenagers' hands and then flies them both out of the ravine, just in the nick of time as fire pours out through the ravine path.
Properly singed, the group makes it back up to the top of the ravine and then rest on the side, trying to take in deep breaths to calm themselves after that entire episode. The ouji looks down at Goku and asks, "Do you want to stay in the forest NOW?"
Goku yipes, "Hell no!"
Then behind him Trunks says, "What a freak, jeez."
The teenage saiyajin snaps angrily at Trunks, "Hey! Don't call me a freak!"
Trunks blinks, "I didn't say anything!" Then he adds with a voice as clear as day, "What the hell is wrong with him?" Only one difference though. His lips didn't move.
Goku's mouth drops and he stares at Trunks in shock. The teenager just frowns at him and asks, "Why are you looking at me like that?"
The young saiyajin tries to say something, but he only manages to sputter out, "How did you- Or did I? What's going on?!"
Vegeta gives him a worried look. "Is he that shook up about that light?" Again, no moving of the lips.
Flabbergasted, Goku falls down onto his butt staring at the two of them with wide-eyes. "I can- I just-"
Suddenly, the ouji blurts out, talking this time, "What's the matter with your eyes?" Both Trunks and Vegeta are staring directly at his face now.
The teenager blinks in confusion, "My eyes? What about them?"
Trunks looks down at his pocket, "Hang on. I think I have a mirror with me." He pulls out a small handheld mirror and hands it to Goku.
Vegeta frowns, "Why the hell do you carry a mirror with you?"
Trunks blushes, "I-"
But before he can say anything, Goku gives a great cry of surprise once he looks at his eyes in the mirror. Both of them have turned a deep bottle ink green.
Vegeta snaps irritably, "Prince Goku, quit rubbing your eyes!"
"But they're green!"
The group works its way through the trees, getting as far away from Death Gorge as possible. Still trailing behind them, Trunks calls out, "At least it's a nice shade! Like bottle ink or something!" just before he slips again and has to regain his balance, getting even further behind them. It's especially difficult trying to keep up since the morning drizzle made the branches all the more slippery.
Goku scowls, "I like my plain old black eyes, thank you very much!"
The lavender haired teenager frowns, thinking, Jeez, I was just trying to cheer him up.
"Well, you're doing a lousy job at it!"
Trunks yells back, angrily, "Stay out of my head!"
Ahead of the two, Vegeta groans, "I hate having kids."
All at once, they reach the end of the trees, coming upon great rolling plains stretching out as far as the eye can see. Goku stares at it in awe, his new green eyes scanning the bleak horizon. "It's so.....empty....."
Trunks mutters, "You don't get out much, do you." He hops down from the branch and out onto the long tan grass. He instantly bursts super saiyajin and cheers, "Man! I'll never take ki for granted again!"
Vegeta jumps next to Goku's branch and warns, "You better brace yourself." He flies down next to Trunks outside of the edge of Mute Point. At once his famous arrogant smirk comes to his lips and he can't help but blast super saiyajin 2. He yells up at the sky, "God damn! That feels good! At last I feel like I'm me again!"
Trunks says in awe, "Wow, you've gotten really strong in there....."
The ouji smirks, "No wonder it's such a good place to train. Without feeling your ki, it's like you have no boundaries to your own strength. I feel a hundred times more powerful than I ever did after training seven years after Cell."
Goku stares at them, completely clueless at to what they're talking about. Even after Vegeta's long lectures about the subject, he never really understood what ki is. Just that it is like a sixth sense and that he'll never be able to understand without feeling it himself. At least until now. Shaking slightly, he gingerly drops from the branch and reaches out a tentative hand outside of the boundary. All at once, he gets a shock of a lifetime as he feels.....power, pure unbelievable power flowing through his fingertips. He jolts his hand back as if he was just electrocuted, which is indeed what it feels like.
Vegeta smirks, "Are you coming or not?"
Putting on a brave face, Goku clenches his fists and steps out completely, his whole body becoming immersed in the tingling power. After taking several deep, he manages to get over the initial shock and starts to feel the awe that a blind person just given sight would feel. A huge grin comes to his lips when he looks up at Vegeta, "It feels incredible!"
The ouji gives a short chuckle, "I thought you'd like it."
Goku closes his eyes, focusing on just this new sense, "It feels like I'm the most powerful being in the world." Trunks just snickers. The teenage saiyajin opens an eye to give him an odd look and asks, "Dad? What's a universe?"
Vegeta yelps, falling down anime style.
Trunks blinks, "You really do need to get out more."
Goku growls angrily, "I do not suffer from chronic naivety!"
"I told you to stay out of my head!"
Clambering to his feet, the ouji mutters, "You could at least block out other peoples' thoughts."
His son protests, "Well, it's kind of hard to control."
Vegeta sighs and powers down, then floats about a foot above the ground, "We should fly over to West City before it gets dark."
Goku nods, "Okay!" Then he pauses. His eyes widen and he looks down. Then he jumps up in the air only to land squarely on his feet again. Looking up at the ouji, he says nervously, "I think I have a problem....."
Vegeta groans, "Dammit! I should have foreseen this!"
His lavender haired son demands, "What's the matter?"
"He doesn't know how to control his ki."
Trunks blanches, "He can't FLY?!"
"Exactly."
Trunks looks from Vegeta to Goku back to his father again, "I am NOT carrying him."
Vegeta humphs, "Well if he could fly before, he can fly now." He looks back at Goku and orders, "Now you concentrate some of that power and then push it under your feet."
Goku blinks, "What?"
"NOW!"
The young saiyajin gives a yipe and obeys, closing his eyes and focusing on the task at hand. The ouji and Trunks watch him curiously, when suddenly the ground beneath them begins to shake, knocking the demi-saiyajin off his feet.
Then the earthquake passes just as quickly as it came, leaving only a sweatdropping Goku. He grins sheepishly, "Ah, I guess that didn't go like it was supposed to."
Vegeta and Trunks look at each other. "I'm not carrying him either," his father says quickly.
Trunks sighs, "Well, maybe we can call Kinto'un?"
The teenage saiyajin frowns, "Kinto-what?"
"You'll see." Trunks turns to the sky and yells out, "KINTO'UN!!!"
A small object streamlines the sky from far away, flying faster than a bullet towards the trio. Goku stares in shock as a yellow puffy cloud flies out down the sky in front of him. Trunks does the introductions. "Goku, this is Kinto'un. Kinto'un, you remember Goku, right?"
As a yes, the cloud whizzes around the saiyajin's head and presses up against Goku's chest.
Vegeta says sarcastically, "It must be asking for a hug."
But Goku obliges anyway by petting it. To his surprise it feels solid under his touch. He mutters outloud, "What the-"
The other teenager explains, "You're supposed to ride it."
He gives Trunks an odd look, but he experimentally places a whole knee onto Kinto'un and slowly leans his weight on it. Impatient, Kinto'un pushes under him and Goku lands on it with a soft squish. Amazed, Goku looks around at the cloud in wonder and he grins, "This is so cool!"
Trunks blinks, "Wow Dad, I should congratulate you. You didn't corrupt him."
Vegeta swiftly smacks him over the head.
The teenage saiyajin grabs a bit of the fluff and says to himself, "It feels just like a pillow." Suddenly a massive round of déjà vu hits him. Wide-eyed he looks up at Vegeta and smiles, "Dad! I know this cloud! I remember it!"
Vegeta visibly pales, "What?"
Goku nods, "Yeah! I remember riding on it when I was little!"
Ticked off, Trunks says incredulously, "He doesn't remember me, but he remembers a CLOUD?!"
The other teenager says defensively, "Hey, we go far back, don't we, Kinto'un?" The cloud bobs up and down as if agreeing.
Trunks sighs, "Oh whatever. We better get going." He flies up into the air and starts heading across the plains.
Goku whispers to Kinto'un, "Come on, let's race him." Without any more prompting, the cloud revs up and whizzes past the demi-saiyajin. As Goku passes he yells out, "Be seeing ya, Trunks!"
The lavender haired teenager calls out angrily, "Oh no you don't! You're not beating me with a cloud!" He powers up and bursts into speed, racing after Kinto'un and its saiyajin passenger.
Meanwhile, Vegeta is left very far behind, halfheartedly trying to keep up with the two teenagers. In fact, he's more involved in thinking to himself rather than actually paying attention to the two. Thinking about what everything must be like since they left five years ago. About what he can possibly say to Bulma when he gets back home. Home? He has to think about that one. Mute Point had been his and Goku's home for a long five years. It's starting to settle in that he's never actually going to go back there. Then he thinks about the red light and shivers. Yup, he is definitely not going back there again.
He's at the city's edge before he realizes it. Goku is already waving off his cloud and Trunks is waiting patiently by a huge fluorescent sign declaring the words, 'WEST CITY: HOME OF CAPSULE CORPS.'
Vegeta frowns, landing besides the two, "Let me guess. You lost your car capsule in the forest and we have to walk."
Trunks mutters sheepishly, "Uh, yeah."
Goku demands, "Why can't we fly there?"
The ouji replies, "We'd scare the ningen."
"Well that's their problem!"
Shaking his head, Vegeta smirks and asks, "Can you block out thoughts yet?"
The teenage saiyajin nods, "Well, yeah, but-"
"Okay, then let's go," Trunks says, interupting the other teenager.
Goku glares at him and folds his arms, irritated, but that quickly fades when they start on the sidewalk, slowly coming up to the massive skyscrapers and huge crowds. In awe he stares up at the buildings, nearly knocking into everyone in his path. Until a deafening sound comes to his ears, so loud he tries to block it out by plugging up his ears. But it continues as loud as before.
Like he was GOING to say to Vegeta, he can block out thoughts just fine, but he still hears the sound of the brains at work as they go through the thought process, resulting in very annoying signature hums coming from each mind. But he can still see into other peoples' minds to an extent. By the sound of each brain's hums he can tell what kind of mood the owner is in.
Right now, his dad is extremely nervous. A medium high pitched hum with a quick tempo. Not surprising really. Meanwhile Trunks is much less nervous, but he's more elated and irritated at the same time. No doubt caused by Goku himself. His brain's working at a sort of twisted humming, squeaky at some points and rough at others. Really annoying actually.
Those two he can handle just fine, but a whole city full of the deafening roars of hummings! It's almost too much to bear! All too soon, he gets a pounding headache from it. Vegeta stops and looks back at Goku, his humming decreasing to what sounds like worry. "What's the matter with you?"
Goku gives him a small smile, massaging his temples, "I'll be fine, I just- " Suddenly he spots two creatures walking along their path and he stares at them in shock. They look almost humanoid, but there's something odd about the look of them. He points the two out to his father and asks, "Dad, what's that?"
Vegeta nearly has a cardiac arrest right there.
He screams at the saiyajin in disbelief, "YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT A WOMAN IS?!" gaining the attention of quite a few passerbyers.
Goku blinks, "Oh, is that what they look like?"
The ouji stares at him and goes over to a building, whacking his head against it several times. Everyone watching sweatdrops. Vegeta stops his banging just to send a death glare to them, sending the multitude of people scurrying away. He turns back to the young saiyajin and demands, "How could you possibly have become more naive when you spent nearly FIVE years staying with me?! Couldn't you at least have enough gratitude to know what the heck a frickin' woman is?! You're like an animal that just turned into a saiyajin! What the hell am I supposed to do with you?!"
At once, Goku's stomache growls and he looks up at Vegeta with a sheepish grin, "You could feed me?"
A death glare kills that idea off.
Trunks sweatdrops, "Well, we can go through the fair grounds on the way over to CC."
Vegeta frowns, "Since when did this city have a fair?"
They soon find themselves in a busy bustling street, teeming with activity, people, and the smells of delicious foods coming from the vending stalls. Row after row of shops and vendors line up the sides of the streets, while people nearly have to fight their way through the crowd.
Pizza, hamburgers, roti, roasted pork ball buns, sugar cakes and sweets, ice cream, chicken kebabs, cinnamon rolls. Goku looks at all the food stalls in wonder and grins, "Ohh, I'm in Heaven..." He takes a deep breathe and starts salivating at all the smells of the cooking. He starts to go teary eyed with joy, "It all smells so good! I wanna get something from everyplace!"
The ouji sweatdrops, "Why can't you just pick one?"
Trunks frowns, "I feel very reluctant pulling out my credit card for this."
Just then, a new crowd of shopping tourists comes in between Goku and the other two royals, separating them. Irritated, Vegeta has to wait for the dumb tall foreigners to pass to see Goku again. Only to see, when the last tall American has passed, that Goku isn't there anymore. The ouji looks around in horror. He's gone from sight. He curses loudly, "Dammit!"
Meanwhile, Goku is passing by the different vendors looking at them all in wonder. They seem to project a sort of golden halo around them. Completely mesmerized, Goku wanders up to a small bakery to look at the all the goodies and sweets. A middle aged female vendor walks out from behind a thin curtain and asks, "Hello? Can I help you?"
Thinking quickly, Goku looks up at her and says, "Feed me," in a completely childish manner. Meanwhile he thinks, Come on! You know you want to! I'm just a little kid! Just a normal little kid who wants to be fed. Oh please! I'm so hungry!
The vendor frowns, "Don't you have money?"
The young saiyajin blinks and shakes his head.
"Well where are your parents?"
Goku says in an innocent voice, "I don't have a mommy and I lost my daddy around here somewhere."
The vendor's heart melts and she says sympathetically, "Oh you poor dear. Why don't you just stay here until your daddy comes and finds you?" She takes something from the display case and gives it to Goku, "Here you can have a cookie in the meantime."
The saiyajin's eyes light up and he takes the cookie, bowing respectfully to the vendor first, "Thank you very much."
"You're very welcome." She leads Goku to the back of the bakery and says, "Why don't you stay in here and rest a little."
Goku chirps, "Okay!" sitting down in one of the empty chairs among the cookie pans and other machinery.
The vendor smiles thinking, He's such an adorable kid. He can't possibly be any older than six though. He's just much too short and so incredibly naive. In fact, he really does look about only five.
Unbeknownst to either the vendor or Goku, the saiyajin is casting a psychic image over the vendor's mind, his psyche spurned on by his hunger and to her he looks exactly the age of a five year old kid, sitting in a chair much too big for him, when in fact it is too small, enjoying his cookie, when Goku actually already finished it.
Goku glances at all the odd machinery and asks, "What's all this stuff?"
The vendor looks over at bunch of metallic appliances, "Oh this is all just stuff I use for baking." She points to a paritcular one, "Like that one is especially for brownies."
That's when Goku sees an ominous looking machine right next to him. More to the point, he sees a five foot long blade attached to it. His blood runs cold and he thinks, Sword! It's a sword!
Without another word he jumps from the chair and runs out of the shop.
The vendor yells after him, "Hey! Come back! You need to wait for your dad!" But the saiyajin is already gone. The girl frowns with worry, "I hope he'll be okay." She looks back at the machine, "But why in the world was he so afraid of a brownie cutter?"
Meanwhile Trunks and Vegeta are still looking for the lost saiyajin, when suddenly Goku whizzes right past him, heading over into the other end of the fair grounds. Vegeta curses, "DAMMIT!!!" And runs after.
They finally find Goku over next to an Okonomiyaki stand. The vendor is a very gruff looking bearded man, who is currently glaring at the young saiyajin in an extremely annoyed manner, "Look kid, just go away! If you don't have any money, you're not going to get any food!"
Goku frowns, asking seriously, "What the heck is money?"
Slowly shaking his head in disbelief, Vegeta makes his way over to the stand at least partially relieved that he has Goku in his sights once more. The vendor eyes the ouji warily as he comes up to Goku and puts a hand on the young saiyajin's shoulder. "Prince Goku, let's go. I have a few things to explain to you."
The vendor's eyes widen with surprise before narrowing into suspicion filled slits. "Oh come on! You can't pull that lame act with me!"
Vegeta glances up at the greasy giant and says in an even voice, "Excuse me? What act?"
"Trying to pretend that you're royalty of course!" the vendor roars indignantly. "You're trying to get me to grovel before you and humbly beg your forgiveness and offer you free food! I don't think so you freeloaders! I can see right through you! I can't even fathom how you can think you can get away with it! You make the sorriest royalty I have ever seen!"
The elder ouji watches the vendor with an even expression, his face not showing the slightest emotion of what was going on through his mind. Then slowly his hand begins to rise.
"You didn't really have to blow the whole place up!" Trunks yells in frustration. The three of them are walking away from the site of total deustruction where the food market once stood. Luckily no one had gotten hurt in the massive attack, even the vendor, though he's currently being rushed to the hospital.
The prince merely humphs, "What he said was completely uncalled for. He's lucky I let him live."
"You can't go killing people!"
"Stop being so human about it!"
"HELLO! YOU LIVE ON A PLANET FILLED WITH HUMANS!!" Trunks finally screeches back. Everyone on the busy street watches the trio walking away briskly from the commotion coming from the fair.
Goku is just about to argue back, when a hand on the shoulder makes him turn around.
Vegeta gives his son a lethal glare. "If I didn't counter your attack the whole city would be blown to kingdom come."
The young prince starts to pout, "But DadEE! I couldn't just let him get away with that! That's what you said!"
"Peers can't get away with it! Sniveling little ningen who aren't even worth your time can! Learn a little control!" Vegeta turns from him, trying to look as cross as possible. Yet he feels elated that Goku would do something like that. Goku, who is feeling his father's aura, is completely confused by the contentment he's sensing.
The purple haired teenager sighs, "Look just don't blow anything up anymore! We're in civilization! You can't just go blowing anything you want up! It's just not done!"
Goku merely sighs in resignation, folding his hands behind his head. "I liked it better in the forest. Nobody cared if I killed an animal."
"People aren't animals, Goku," Trunks says with a growl, very irritated.
"That's Prince Goku to you!" the teenage saiyajin sneers automatically. Suddenly his face goes blank as he considers his half-brother's statement. "Why?"
Both Vegeta and Trunks fall to the ground, twitching.
Goku's eyes are wide – wider than they had ever been in years – and his jaw is gaping as he stares at what is supposedly Trunks' home. The yellow capped dome seems even higher than a mountain to him, although the small lumps in Mute Point could hardly compare to any real mountains.
The young prince takes a tentative step towards the monstrous building, almost afraid the giant thing will swallow him whole if he comes any nearer. A sudden slap on the back, gets a small shriek out of him, which is soon followed by laughter. "It's not going to eat you, brat."
Goku's cheeks puff up indignantly as he walks behind his father. Trunks, meanwhile, is buzzing excitedly in front of them about their arrival at civilization. Actually, it was more like only Vegeta's arrival. "Man, Mom is going to be so freaked out once she finds out you're alive! We can have a huge party just for you, Dad! Well, I know you don't really like parties, but everyone's gonna want to see you again! We can have all your favorite food there too! I don't think that you've had any caviar in that rundown old forest. Maybe you had some-"
"Boy, we didn't even have salt," Vegeta growls irritably.
At that Trunks' eyes widen, "No SALT?! Wow, you really had been roughing it. Not even any new clothes I bet." His eyes travel over his father's blue training uniform that had endured many rough years of training and the elements of weather. Suprisingly it was still in decent shape.
Goku, on the other hand, has all his clothes made entirely from leather. His old gi could hardly fit him anymore once he started growing, even this set of clothes, which he made for himself a year ago, is already starting to seem a bit too tight.
"Good food and new clothes is the first order of business then," the teenager says with a determined nod. The trio suddenly stop, right in front of the blue front door. The young saiyajin watches his father and step- brother just standing there, not making the slightest move towards the door handle. Why are they staying so still?
Then it hits him. Bulma! Bulma's inside there. Goku can hardly believe it. For years his father had told him stories about the woman, about the wonderful lady, so much so that it felt whenever he did, she was right there, next to them, holding Goku in a protective embrace just as a mother would. He is actually going to meet her!
A hesitation comes to him, what if the woman he always dreamed about isn't what he expected. What she's mean and terrible. What if she hates him? A feeling of dread just as overpowering as his excitement, leaves him in a state of numbness, as he battles in his mind whether to run in the door or to run away. No doubt, Vegeta is feeling just the same thing. And Trunks...he's worried that his mother will not take his father's return so well...
Run in? Or run away? All three of them just stay there wondering what to do.
Their inner battles abruptly end, when the blue door suddenly swings open.
