[DBAP]
Obtaining Proper First Contact
[DBAP]
Capsule Corporation Headquarters, West City, Earth, August, Age 737
Despite living on a planet at the edge of the universe's North Area and having no apparent contact with any off-world presences, the inhabitants of Earth as a whole enjoyed a largely peaceful and very advanced lifestyle. By the early decades of the Age 700s, flying vehicles, robots, and other forms of technology one could argue originated from science fiction were commonplace on the planet to support the progress and sustainability of the Humans, sapient animals, and so called monsters that comprised the native Earthling population. Divided into forty-three independent sectors that, were in turn, answerable to a constitutionally elected monarch that commanded the loyalty of the emergency military force and could remain in power by popular support, the Earth hadn't faced any major crises prior to the August of Age 737. The time when the populace in its entirety learned that they were not alone in the universe.
Among Earth's four major cities outside of the main seat of government in Central City, West City was said to have been the planet's technological and economic heart, due in no small part to the fact it was where the multibillion Zeni enterprise Capsule Corporation was based at. Founded in Age 712 upon Doctor Baxer Brief's invention of the signature capsules used to make objects compactable for easy travel, the business developed and produced scientific research equipment, vehicles, and even houses that could be found within the capsules which secured Dr. Brief's reputation as a brilliant, if eccentric, success story made flesh. Making their home in the company's massive, round headquarters, the Brief family consisting of Baxer himself, his wife, Panchy, their two daughters, Tights and Bulma, and their numerous pets of diverse species, lived comfortable days of relaxation, learning new things, and earning money to finance their prosperous living arrangements. Nonetheless, in the August of Age 737, the Brief family and their company reached a new level of fame and success when Baxer helped initiate Earth's first, publicized meeting with an extraterrestrial.
On that fateful day, the anxious atmosphere that enveloped in the afternoon wasn't lost on the citizens of West City, or anywhere else for that matter. While it was true that in the twenty-five years Capsule Corporation had been stationed in their megalopolis, the company's scientists almost constantly performed experiments and tests for new inventions within the city itself, the televised arrival of both a Royal Army division encircling the Capsule Corporation building as well as the King of Earth himself left a reaction of mixed results across Earth itself. While numerous workers in the news industry and scientific community were quick to observe from a distance to see what they could learn and share from what they assumed was a groundbreaking achievement of Dr. Brief's, much of the common citizenry felt worry on the off chance that a doomsday device may have been made. There was so much excitement and trepidation surrounding the main building, that no one in the city seemed to have noticed a flying carpet carrying an elderly, bald Human with a white Fu Manchu mustache and beard as well as a walking stick and attired in a martials arts suit with a Turtle Shell on his back, sunglasses, and a small, orange, crystalline sphere with three red stars on it tied around his neck by a necklace approaching ground level before being rolled in a ball to fit the Turtle Hermit's pocket.
'Let's hope that this doesn't have a rough beginning, middle, and end.' He mentally said to himself as he walked straight to Capsule Corporation's home complex.
His name was Roshi, although he was referred to by his Turtle School students among others as Master Roshi. Even older than what he appeared, he had a reputation of being an incorrigible skirt chaser, a kindhearted teacher of martial arts, and the Earth's seemingly strongest fighter all in one. Although he intended to enjoy the day watching his favorite exercise show, Wide-Thigh Aerobics, he received an urgent, unexpected, and mostly unwanted visit from his fortuneteller of a sister, Baba, who had previously predicted that a warrior from the stars was coming to the Earth who would play a large role in its future. Upon hearing that there was a military presence in West City, with the planetwide King in tow, Roshi instantly knew that the space warrior Baba had foreseen would make their appearance there.
Normally during such crucial moments, he would've recruited his old students, Gohun and Ox-King, to aid him, but the Magic Carpet wasn't fast enough to get both of his students and fly straight for West City after, and he was pressed for time. Nonetheless, he was certain he wouldn't be alone in confronting this alien when away from the public to ascertain their motives as Baba had told him she would see Earth's reclusive Guardian to warn him of the imminent arrival and convince him to gauge the off-worlder's threat level in person. In spite of Kami's dislike for the more sinister aspects of Earth's people, Roshi had faith that he would show himself to help keep the planet protected as it was his home as much as it was Humanity's, especially if this new visitor would hold new information about Kami's people that he hadn't heard from his Other World contacts in the centuries he had lived on Earth. However, the two problems that remained were how powerful the approaching non-Earthling was and what the public's reaction to this supposed warrior would be.
Arriving outside Capsule Corporation's headquarters, Roshi stopped to stand in a large crowd of reporters, scientists, businesspeople, politicians, soldiers, and ordinary citizens who allowed their sense of opportunism, loyalty, or curiosity override their instincts of self-preservation. No one seemed to pay much attention to him, and he figured that was for the best. A few minutes later, the King of Nations, Furry, and Capsule Corporation's founder, Dr. Baxer Brief appeared to stand on the other side of the podium in front of the crowd. As soon as a step stool was added for the two short men to see the crowd at a measured level, the King took the stage first.
A blue furred, anthropomorphic, mustached dog with glasses who wore a purple vest over a white shirt and red tie as well as blue pants with a matching coat, Furry had been King since May 8th, Age 733, and was well-regarded by his subjects for his reasonable sense of authority and his strong work ethic. Although, upon using his Ki Telepathy, Roshi noticed that Furry was as mixed in his emotions as many of the other Earthlings. On one hand, the King of Earth had an amazing opportunity to make his reign the most significant by far and perhaps introduce all Earthlings of all types to a new era of progress and advancement from the terrestrial stage to the extraterrestrial step. On the other hand, he feared that even if the approaching off-worlder came in peace, his people wouldn't be ready for such a leap.
But that didn't mean he wouldn't do the best he could.
"My fellow citizens of Planet Earth, today may very well, if nothing else, mark the definition of our civilization's existence." He began in a solemn tone. "For many years, we have all grown as one nation for one world. While we are all diverse by nature and nurture, the Earth of Age 737 has never been more wonderful before in my eyes. We have made much technological and political progress that I believe few, if even one, of our distant forefathers could've imagined while keeping intact a strong, largely peaceful culture that has not known full scale warfare since the time before all nations joined hands as one pillar that has kept society on Earth uptight ever since. But now the time has come for us to be honest about ourselves and reveal the kind of people we are and what we may very well be destined to become."
Observing the reactions which throughout the first part held looks of hope, contemplation, and concern, King Furry spoke again. "Earlier today, I received contact from Dr. Baxer Brief here telling me that, in the midst of testing a new device, the computer systems of Capsule Corporation designed to track movements in space picked up the fuel signature of an approaching object speeding through space toward our planet. An object only five feet in diameter, but apparently possessing advanced cloaking technology to keep itself hidden from the radars used by the Royal Army itself. What I mean to say, my people, is that both Dr. Brief and I believe an unidentified form of spacecraft is coming to Earth." It didn't take long for many people to look either surprised or in denial at the weight of their King's statement. "With the approaching space ship's velocity, we didn't have the time to prepare appropriately for its arrival, even if we were able to do it silently without causing a panic. We cannot be sure if the alien inside is coming with hostility in mind or not, but I urge you all not to let any sense of fear you may have overtake you. If we are to make contact with far-off worlds starting today, it would be in our best interest to leave a good first impression through diplomacy. I will now let Dr. Brief have the floor."
Removing himself from the podium, Furry than allowed the short, stocky Human with bluish-gray hair and a large gray mustache that donned a white lab coat, blue undershirt, and black pants with a pair of large glasses take the stage in his place. Using his Telepathy on the scientist this time, Roshi noticed that Baxer Brief was surprisingly not as stressed as he believed he would be. Of course, he had his concerns for his family that were still on the second level of the buildings, but apparently, his immense brain power gave him the strength to rationalize the potential danger. Even if the occasional smoking helped him cope with the extraordinary events as well.
'Either way, such a relaxed spirit is definitely hard to come by these days.' The Turtle Hermit thought respectively before getting jealous upon seeing what the doctor's wife looked like. 'Now if only I had a woman like he does.' Pushing that obnoxious thought aside, he tuned his ears to the scientist's input.
"Greetings, everyone." The scientist said in an easy-going manner. "I don't do speeches much, unfortunately, but I will get to the bare facts of what we're going to do starting now." Taking out a capsule from his lab coat, Baxer Brief then pressed the lid before throwing it to the ground. A puff of smoke later and then a large platform had appeared. "Although tested only recently, this platform was designed and built to emit a focused tractor beam at any object in space that we chose, like asteroids that we could harvest resources from, and we are eighty-five percent certain that it will work for the space pod. For those of you who don't know, a tractor beam, as a device, is not too different from a magnet; all we need do is lock onto the spaceship itself before it lands in the Mount Paozu region, and the beam will attract the spacepod straight here at a measured pace. Then we can deal with first contact."
As the crowd began to ask questions in a rapid pace, Roshi hoped that the new gadget of Capsule Corporation's worked. While he wanted to believe that the incoming alien could be an ally to Earth, he wasn't foolish to accept that possibility blindly. If the arriving off-worlder was a danger and landed at Mount Paozu, his dear student, Gohun, would be at risk. It didn't take long before a Capsule Corporation orderly arrived to whisper to Brief who then turned to the crowd.
"All right, everybody!" He shouted to get the whole crowd's attention. "It's now or never!"
Messing with the platform's attached control pad, Brief was able to move the platform to face the far eastern sky and then activate the narrow tractor beam. As everyone looked on with bated breath, a round vehicle than came through the clouds before coming in contact with the platform itself which surprisingly didn't break from the fast-moving object. The reporters were quick to take pictures, the soldiers had their arms ready once ordered, and many others looked on in fear and wonder as the platform lowered the spacecraft to the ground. The space pod's hatch finally opened up to reveal its yawning occupant: a monkey-tailed boy with spikey black hair in armor.
"He's just a kid?!" Everyone practically exclaimed which shocked the alien boy's eyes wide open.
Finding his attention towards the crowd of Earthlings, the spacefaring child stared for a bit before he did the one thing no one expected; he threw a tantrum and in a language not to dissimilar to the Earthlings.
"Oh, I can't believe this! I get my first scouting mission and get caught without even starting?! Raditz is never going to leave me alone about this!"
[DBAP]
Took longer than I expected, but it was well-worth it. And I have a few more ideas to come. I was kind of was disappointed that I didn't get a lot of feedback from last time, but I can live with it. Please be sure to review this as a good writer, I believe, should live on responses.
I based the first name of Bulma's father on a mixture of "Baxter" and "Boxer", if that's okay. And as I'm sure you all have noticed, Roshi actually knows Kami in this. I understand that the latter couldn't confront his evil half for self-preservation reasons, but Earth, in Dragon Ball, only has one continent with an out of the ordinary populace and many inconsistencies have been shown in the past. Therefore, it wouldn't be hard to believe that Roshi, either through his meeting with Korin, or his sister's enterprise, may have learned of what's above the former's tower and who resides there.
I also made Earth's planetwide government an elective monarchy for practical reasons. I don't know when it came about, but if Furry's family has reigned for a good amount of time, you think we'd learn about his own heirs. It hasn't come up yet, so I figured that it would kind of be like Naboo of Star Wars. A worthy leader from a well-distinguished family to come into power in an honest election against other candidates from other noteworthy families.
And yes, I know the tractor beam sounds a little last minute, and maybe it was, but I didn't know how else the Earthlings could have got it other than using some KI stuff, or even a Nimbus.
Basically, this idea came to me as soon as I was done with the last one. I thought, what if Goku/Kakarot was raised by the Brief family and news of his arrival spread like wildfire? Would he grow up to be a good scientist and businessman, like his adopted family, and perhaps be a candidate for "Future King of Earth"? Could he also make early contact with Roshi, Kami, and the rest?
I think it's possible, and from this, I think Bulma (big sister, scientist, and business partner), Chi-Chi (princess, semi-martial artist, and perhaps oldest friend), Lazuli/Android 18 (fellow fighter, fellow orphan, and scientific curiosity), and Launch (helpful aid, sometimes fighter, and perhaps scientific curiosity) could be potential love interests for "Kakarot". I know these options have their fair share of criticism and canonical boyfriends/husbands, but I think what every character needs are moments to define themselves in both good and bad ways. It breaks my heart that while some make good fighters out of the four, others just bash them as if they were mindless monsters. Besides, it doesn't necessarily have to be a harem, and I confess having slight doubts for those in a Naruto or Dragon Ball setting, considering both main protagonists apparently started their canonical journeys as twelve-year-old kids.
In the end, it all depends on perspective, I believe. Also, other than these Alternate Paths and Beginnings, I also have challenge ideas for Dragon Ball Eternal Honor (where the Saiyans and Tuffles worked together to support the Galactic Patrol before Age 737 in an alternate history sort of way) and Dragon Ball Fractured Mirror (inspired by the description for Nickolaidas' Reflection) as well as found a trove of Dragon Ball fanfiction ideas on livejournal by molliemon1985 (I see the most potential in ideas 7, 28, and 75 put together and ideas 32, 53, and 58 put together). If anyone wants to give me ideas on how to present all those for you all to see, I'd greatly appreciate it. Until next time.