Thoughts

"Speech"

Disclaimer: DC and DBZ belong to their respective owners; I own nothing.

Chapter 3: First Contact


Planet Earth

Age 737 (1987), Mount Paozu

The gray-haired man who would one day become affectionately known as Grandpa Gohan was taking a stroll through a forest. It was a particularly humid day causing beads of sweat to form on on his forehead. The elderly man paused to wipe the newly formed moisture and gazed into the sky. The sun was shining brightly, seemingly beaming directly upon him. Wrinkled hands readjusted Gohan's straw hat to better shield his face from the sun's rays as he continued on his trek.

The reason for his hike this afternoon was to search for herbs that could only be found in the bamboo forest. Living secluded on Mount Paozu, away from the rest of society, did not afford him the luxury of having readily available doctors or medical care. That meant he had to take care of his medical needs himself. By now, it was no problem; years of seclusion had taught him nearly total self-reliance. Unfortunately, his body was not as strong as it had been in his youth. Years ago, this trek would've taken him an hour at worst, but now at age seventy-nine, it took him at least four.

He was growing older every day and didn't truly have anything to show for his time on Earth. Sure, he had trained under Master Roshi, becoming an accomplished martial artist, and had gone on a significant number of adventures. However, there was still something seriously lacking in his life. His fellow student, the Ox-Prince, now King, had started a family and now had a daughter. Gohan had enjoyed the company of several beautiful women but had never once pondered settling down.

But now, at nearly eighty years old, he was seriously regretting it. If only I had settled down earlier. I could've had a son, a daughter, maybe even grand...!

Gohan's train of thought was shattered as he noticed something rocketing out of the sky. It was far too small to be a plane, and planes rarely flew over Mount Paozu. What could it possibly be? Focusing his stern gaze as he squinted, Gohan reached a sudden epiphany; it was headed directly towards the forest! Quickly gathering himself, the elderly man attempted to scamper out of the area before the unidentified object touched down, but it was already too late.

Boom!

Gohan was sent tumbling to his knees from the aftershock that followed the collision. Still slightly disoriented from the abrupt fall, Master Roshi's former pupil slowly struggled to his feet. As Gohan rose, his nostrils were bombarded with the smell of burning wood. Warily glancing around, he inspected the damage before exhaling a sigh of relief. Luckily the flames that the object had started weren't enough to seriously threaten to burn the forest.

Turning his sights towards the origin of the flames, Gohan contemplated what course of action to take next. Whatever had just crashed undoubtedly wasn't a plane; the impact would have been more significant if it was. There were too many unknown variables, and whatever landed could potentially be dangerous. But at the same time, whatever had crashed could be in danger or be in need of help. Gohan rubbed the whiskers of his white mustache before settling on a decision; he would help.

Passing several bamboo trees as he trekked deeper into the forest, Gohan's brows rose in shock once he finally reached his destination.

"W-wh...what in the world!?"

As he stood mere inches away from the massive crater, Gohan's eyes fell upon the small spherical machine located directly in its center. Sliding down into the hole, Gohan apprehensively walked closer to examine the unidentified object further. The Kamesennin student slowed his pace and came to a halt, standing over the contraption as he carefully inspected it. It was unlike anything he had ever seen- and his wary eyes had witnessed a lot over the span of seven decades. It appeared to be a ship of some kind, albeit a tiny one. Leaning down on one knee, Gohan gazed directly into its cracked window.

There was a seat! But where was its passenger? And what could even fit into something this small? Scratching his temple, Gohan glanced around, hoping to find whatever had previously occupied the ship. Maybe its passenger didn't survive? Or perhaps the ship was sent by itself? But that wouldn't make much sense, would...

Gohan's thoughts faded into obscurity once his ears picked up on a noise he hadn't heard in years; crying.

"Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

Following the high-pitched wail, Gohan was led to the edge of the forest as the cries grew louder. His short walk ended as he came face to face with a spiky-haired infant.

"A baby? Where in the world did you come from?"

Gohan lifted the chubby-cheeked child by his waist and smiled, which somehow managed to calm the boy as he instantly stopped crying. That was easy. Gohan chuckled to himself, lifting the boy over his head. The mysterious boy began giggling, and it was then that Gohan noticed a furry brown appendage that was wiggling, seemingly in conjunction with the child's laughter.

"A tail!" Gohan exclaimed. Could he be a Homo Magki? But none of us have tails! Maybe he could be a... [1]

A pudgy foot to the face immediately brought the Kamesennin student out of reverie.

"Well, aren't you a feisty one?" Gohan said while laughing. "I can't leave you out here all by yourself now, can I?"

Seemingly understanding Gohan's words, the child in question shook his head.

"Well, that settles it then; I'm taking you home with me."

Cradling the baby in his arms, Gohan turned in the direction of his home but suddenly stopped, digging his heels into the dirt.

"I completely forgot about your name!" The Kamesennin student palmed his face. "I can't leave you nameless now, can I?" Gohan arched a brow while mumbling to himself. "Goten? Gotenks? No, Goku! That's it, Goku!"

Beaming down at the now thumb-sucking child in his arms, Gohan grinned as wide as his cheeks would allow him. Maybe he could have that family after all.


Age 737 (1987), Smallville

On a bumpy road in Kansas, a lone red pickup truck was chugging its way across the highway.

"Jonathan, how many times have I told you to get rid of this thing?" An irritated Martha Kent asked from the passenger seat. She had pestered her husband numerous times about getting a new car.

"Why buy a new one? After all these years, she still rides just fine." Jonathan said as he patted the steering wheel. This car was one of the few remaining relics he had left from his father.

Martha rolled her eyes and sighed as she placed a hand on her husband's broad shoulder. "I know the personal connection you have with this car Jonathan but just look at it!" Martha pointed a hand out the window and alerted her husband to the clouds of smoke that were now emitting from his car's exhaust pipe.

"Aw damn it...not again!"

Jonathan slowed down on the accelerator and pulled the car over to the breakdown lane. This was the third time this month that the exhaust pipe had displayed this issue.

"If we had the money, we could've bought one of those Capsule Corp cars."

"Martha, you know how expensive those contraptions are; they'd cost an arm and a leg." Jonathan said, slightly raising his voice. The Capsule Corporation was a relatively new company with technology unlike anything the world had ever seen before. Unfortunately, Capsule products cost more than both of their annual salaries.

"Which is why I said if Jonathan, no need to get so riled up about it." Martha soothingly said as she rubbed her spouse's thigh. Her suggestion was nothing to start a quarrel over.

"I'm not getting riled up, Martha." Jonathan replied as he turned to face his wife. "You know the history I have with this car. It was the car my dad gave to me. It was the car I used to pick you up on our first date. It was the car we drove off with on our wedding day. It was the car..."

"Jonathan, I know….I know." Martha reiterated. Her husband had reminded her of those facts dozens of times. "I've heard all this...before?"

Jonathan's eyes narrowed as his wife's words suddenly trailed off, a blank stare appearing on her face.

"Martha? Martha!" Jonathan shouted as he began frantically waving his hands in his wife's face, attempting to awaken her from whatever trance she had fallen under. Finally, after several seconds, Martha blinked and grabbed Jonathan by his collar, shaking him as she used her free hand to point towards the windshield.

"Jonathan, look...in the sky!"

The farmer's head turned as he faced the direction his wife was pointing. Peering out of the driver's seat window, Jonathan saw something rapidly streaking from the heavens.

"Is that a comet?" Jonathan asked in pure disbelief, unable to rationalize what his eyes were seeing.

"I don't know what it is, but it looks like it's headed towards that cornfield!"

Jonathan and Martha unbuckled their seats and rushed to get out of their car. They were almost out of the vehicle when a tremor suddenly knocked them off balance. The object's impact with the ground had rocked the nearby areas.

"Jonathan, are you alright?" Martha asked as she was the first to recover.

"Excluding this headache that I have now, I'm fine." Jonathan responded. His skull was killing him, but he would live. "How are you, honey?"

"I'm fine." Martha said as she shook her head. She was mentally shaken, but physically she was as healthy as usual. "What was that thing that that landed in the cornfield?"

"I don't know Martha, but I'm going to find out." A determined look settled on Jonathan's face as he swung the driver's door open.

"Jonathan, wait!" Martha's words fell on deaf ears as her husband was already out of the door, dashing towards the cornfield. "Why doesn't he ever listen to me?" With a nettled frown, Martha exited the car and followed her husband's lead.


Dragonball DC

After several minutes of walking through the now-destroyed cornfield, Jonathan finally arrived at his destination.

"Oh my God!"

Standing on the outskirts of a gigantic crater, the farmer was awestruck by the object in its center. It appeared to be a rocket of some kind, but it didn't resemble the types he'd seen before. Could the government be responsible for this? It was possible, but they never did any testing in Smallville as far as he knew. Maybe a tech company like Lexcorp or Capsule Corp was responsible? But either way, whatever the mysterious craft was, looked astounding from the outside.

Stirring from his thoughts, Jonathan decided to go and get a closer look at it. A quick baseball slide down lead Martha's husband into the crater. Various scents tickled his nose as Jonathan walked, burning metal being the strongest. Approaching what appeared to be the door of the contraption, Jonathan attempted to force it open.

"Just...what...is...this...thing...made...of!"

Failing to open it with brute strength, Jonathan succumbed to his frustration and began kicking on the door in anger, which, much to his surprise, caused it to open. Even more surprising was the thing, or rather what was inside of it.

"A baby?!"

A small dark-haired child lay nestled in what appeared to be a seat of some kind.

Where did this thing come from? Where did he come from? Who would put a child in something like this? The government can't possibly be responsible for this! He's just a baby; where are his parents?

A tidal wave of thoughts rolled through Jonathan's mind as he stared at the sleeping child. He had a multitude of questions, but at this moment, they weren't so important. What was most important was making sure that this child was safe, regardless of where he came from. Maybe this is the answer to that child that Martha and I have always wanted?

Cradling the infant in his arms as he picked him up, Jonathan smiled from ear to ear. "Wait till Martha gets a load of this."


A big thank you to everyone who reviewed the previous chapter!

Authors Note: If you have any ideas that you feel like contributing to the story, pm me.

[1]: In the DC Universe, the people who can use magic are a sub-race of humans called the Homo Magi. Similarly, the people in this story who can use Ki are called the Homo Magki. I didn't want everyone in this story to be able to use Ki, only the DBZ characters. Every human who can use Ki is a part of this sub-race.


Q/A:

Superiornite: I'm not particularly sure about the pairings, some might change, and some might stay the same.

SaiyaStyles: There are two versions of the origin of the Saiyan conflict with the Tuffles. One version states that the Saiyans had lived on Planet Plant all along with the Tuffles. But another version, such as the Plan to Eradicate the Super Saiyans, says that the Saiyans pretty much invaded planet Plant. I chose the latter interpretation for this story.

HayabusaDragonForce: As I stated in my reply to Superiornite, some pairings might change, and some might remain the same. The one you mentioned could be a possibility.

Spencerlonewolf: I plan on deleting any comments about power levels. I've seen far too many stories review sections get filled up with them. I'm having a difficult time conflating these two Universes, so who knows what sagas might be implied lol.

ArmyWife22079: This story isn't set in any particular DC Universe. This story will be an amalgamation of various Universes, both New 52 and Post-Crisis.