Disclaimer: I do NOT own Dragon Ball Z or any of its characters, however much I'd like to. If I DID own it, you'd be sure to know.
Ghosts of Redemption:
Prologue
Son Goku smiled in contentment and patted his now-full belly. Nothing was better than stuffing your face full of delicious food, seated at a ten foot long table big enough to hold a feast upon.
Except, maybe, stuffing your face with your wife's cooking -which was, arguably, the best food ever cooked- with your family and friends, Goku thought, his smile dropping a few notches. But he had been dead for nearly two months now, so that option was out.
It was for the best; he was always drawing trouble to Earth somehow, so it would be better if he stayed dead. That way his family and friends would be safe. It didn't matter if he wasn't happy, and he was certainly was not.
Goku shook his head, frowning, trying to shift his mind from the path it was wandering down. He needed a distraction.
And a distraction he got.
"Goku! Get over here, I need to talk to you!" A loud nasal voice called from somewhere behind the lounging Saiyan. "Cell is throwing another fit down in HFIL and King Yemma wants you to go sort it out again!"
The ever enthusiastic Saiyan sat up abruptly. "Really? Again? All right! Finally something to do!" In just a few short seconds, Goku had shot to his feet and teleported down to the Home For Infinite Losers, ready to put the power-hungry cockroach/grasshopper android back in his place once more.
After a few hours of batting Cell around HFIL and successfully having a blood-boiling fight with the monster that had killed him, Goku felt he had accomplished his original goal of alleviating his boredom and thus returned to the newly-restored planet of King Kai to take a long nap.
King Kai had left to run errands, according to the note pinned to the door, and would be back in a few days, but Goku suspected he was just taking a vacation for a while. Well, all the better for him! You needed to take a vacation every once and a while, or you'd get too stressed and your body would give out on you! Even if you were already dead…
That being decided, Goku lay back against one of the few trees on the small planet and closed his eyes, prepared for a nice long eight-hour nap at least. Maybe, if King Kai stayed gone for a while, he could sleep for a few days! It wasn't like he had anything else to do, other than eat and train, right?
"Wrong," a voice spoke in a monotone from somewhere above Goku, and with a loud yelp, the black-haired man jumped to his feet and automatically dropped into a fighting stance.
"Calm down; I'm here to help you, not attack." The voice was coming from a tall black figure who was floating six feet in the air in front of Goku. Because the figure was wearing a full body cloak, complete with hood, Goku was unable to tell who -or what- the figure was, but he would guess from the voice and the shape of the cloak that it was a man. A man with a hardened voice and a strangely familiar ki signature, though Goku was sure he'd never sensed it before.
Goku slowly relaxed out of his ready crouch and frowned. "Who…who are you?"
The man chuckled darkly. "Sorry, I can't tell you that, it's against the rules. But for now, you may call me the Ghost of Remorse, if you must have a name for me."
Goku tilted his head to one side, noting the bright gold ring floating above the hooded man's head. "You're dead," he pointed out seriously.
The Ghost of Remorse seemed to shake his head in amusement. "So are you."
"Yeah, I suppose I am…" Goku agreed good-naturedly, folding his arms over his chest comfortably. "So, why are you here? And how did you get here, anyway? Did you come on Snake Way?"
The Ghost shook his head. "No. How I appear before you I cannot say and it is non of your concern either way."
"Fair enough." Goku looked the cloaked man up and down. "You're dressed a bit weird; aren't you hot in that?"
Remorse sweat-dropped. Was Son Goku really that much of an idiot? "It doesn't matter; I was sent here for a purpose, and I intend to carry it out.
"I was sent here to warn you Kakkarott, son of Bardock and Elliena, adoptive grandson of Son Gohan, the first Super Saiyan in over a thousand years; father of Son Gohan, husband of Son Chichi, Protector of Earth and the surrounding universe, defeater of Freeza, King Piccolo, and many, many other evils."
Goku stared back at the Ghost, all traces of humor and light-heartedness gone. "How do you know all that about me?"
Remorse shook his head, his voice inexplicably sorrowful. "I know more than you think. I've been watching you for many years, and I've seen your life change with every choice you've made. And I have seen the choices you've made now, and the consequences of those actions."
"What are you--" Goku started to ask, but the Ghost of Remorse shook his head to silence him.
"I know why you've chosen the paths you have, as I too have done, but I must warn you not to go any further toward the end you may see." Here the ghost paused and his next words seemed strained. "I was once like you; I was rash, chose what path I thought best and assumed that I had been right, not realizing what I'd caused by my careless actions. And many have suffered from it; for that I am truly sorry. You are headed down the same path."
Goku stared back that the ghost, shocked. "What are you talking about? I haven't done anything…"
Remorse shook his head. "You don't realize it now, and that is why I'm hear: you have no idea what ripples you've created with one small, seemingly insignificant pebble. These ripples will cause pain, fear, hate and death for many thousands of people."
A translucent screen appeared next to Goku, glittering and flickering like a crystal of snow caught by sunlight. After a few seconds, a fog appeared on the screen which soon dissolved into a blood red moon. The view panned to show crimson rain coming from a black cloud, and suddenly heart-wrenching screams of pain and terror were heard from the translucent viewing window. The Saiyan warrior flinched, eyes wide with horror at the sound.
"I am here to warn you that you have yet a chance of erasing those ripples, of preventing that pebble from being cast. It is not a small effort, and you must want to catch that pebble before it hits the placid lake, otherwise it will never succeed." The Ghost of Remorse shook his head sorrowfully and slowly the screen disappeared, the agonized yells fading slowly. "I hope for your sake that you chose your actions wisely."
"What…are you saying?" Goku asked quietly, face pale. "I don't understand…What pebble did I throw? What have I done that could possibly cause so much pain…?"
Remorse's shape was beginning to become fuzzy now. "I cannot say; you will have to find out on your own.
"Listen close and listen well, Son Goku: You will be haunted by two spirits and, if you chose wisely, a third will come before you. Only with their help can you hope to change the future I have alluded to."
By now the Ghost of Remorse was just a faded black outline, but his voice remained clear. "Expect the first ghost, the Ghost of Consequences future, by the end of the hour. From there, I cannot see what lies beyond your path, but I hope that it is a different end than I've seen."
"Wait!" he called, reaching forward to grasp at thin air, but with a shake of his head, Remorse faded completely.
And then Goku was alone, staring at the space in front of him where moments ago the Ghost of Remorse had been, foretelling his doom.
:D Okay, I haven't tried a Dragon Ball Z fanfiction before...don't shoot me, okay? It may be old, but it still kicks some major butt. Well, up until the Majin Buu saga u.u;
Anyway, this is based, more or less, off of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickonson, which I don't own any more than DBZ. This story started a while ago when I was in my communities local production of A Christmas Carol --I just played an extra, so don't get exited :p-- So this story came from that. I'm trying something I've rarely done when it comes to fanfiction and writing on a word program instead of a notebook, so the updates may or may not be quick. I'll try to at least have one chapter ahead complete before uploading anything, that way I'll have something in store so it won't go TOO long without an update.
PLEASE REVIEW! Okay? Reviews are like little Christmas presents come two weeks early :D Seriously, when I read reviews containing anything from praise to light critiquing, I pretty much glow with happieness!