Disclaimer: All characters portrayed in this story are the property of
their respective creators and companies.
This story takes place after volume 38 of the Ranma manga and a few
years after the end of DBZ. It largely overwrites most of DBGT.
C & C welcomed.
Dragon Ball R1/2
by
Donny Cheng
Chapter 6
"Is that your uncle Goku in the regeneration tank?" Bulma asked as she
walked into the kitchen to eat dinner with her family. Her two
children, Bra and Trunks, pointed inconspicuously to their father who
sat with the paper in front of him. His entire face was covered from
view.
Years of being Vejita's wife had taught her to know when he was in a
good mood and from the way he didn't grumble at the mentioning of her
long time friend, she figured he was in a _very_ good mood. She could
imagine that infernal smirk of his behind the paper, just waiting for
her to demand an answer from him. She decided against asking him about
Goku directly as his ego seemed to be big enough for a dozen Saiyajins
at the moment. He was most insufferable when he was like this.
She rolled her eyes for the benefit of her children, knowing what they
must have gone through asking Vejita about Goku. "Well, Trunks?" She
asked, turning to her eldest child, deliberately ignoring her husband.
"Oh, Dad brought Uncle Goku in. I think they had one of their fights
again." Trunks was still slightly surprised to learn that his father
had surpassed the Super Saiyajin Two mark into the third
transformation. He smiled when he remembered his father's jaw lock into
place when both he and Bra said they must have missed it. The gravity
rooms were designed to block most of what went inside from the outside
world and vice versa.
"He looks pretty badly beaten. Did he have a fight before this?" Bulma
asked loudly, noticing the paper Vejita held twitching uncontrollably.
Bra managed to hold her giggle in at her mother's implication of Daddy
only putting Goku in this State because Uncle was softened up. "No, I
don't think so. I haven't felt any sudden rise in chi from people other
than Daddy and Uncle for a long time now," Bra smiled when she saw the
paper stop twitching. "It's more likely Uncle was still tired from his
last fight with Daddy. Daddy does have those regeneration tanks and
Uncle doesn't."
*Oh dear,* Bulma thought as she saw the veins on the hand gripping the
paper pop out. She gave a look to Bra, admonishing her. Bulma shook
her head as her daughter simply smiled impishly back.
"Oh, Daddy, you know I love you," Bra giggled as she went over and
wrapped her hands around his neck. She gave him a peck on his cheek,
his stony face didn't even soften a bit. "Congratulations. I'm happy
that you've reached a new level."
Vejita merely straightened the paper he held as if only caring that his
daughter's open show of affection had creased it.
Bra wondered if she had went too far, but she then felt her father's
hand on her own. It was gentle like always when he wasn't training her.
"Your chi level has raised. Yours too, Trunks."
"A little bit. I'm going to train some more now. Pan said she will be
back later tonight," Bra said, surprised her father had detected that.
She blushed as he patted her hand again, indicating he approved. *He
must really be happy today.*
"Ah, yeah, I guess a bit. The next tournament is going to be on soon
and I thought I might enter this year," Trunks said, trying hard not to
stammer as the spotlight centered on him. Pride welled up in him as he
heard his father give a noncommittal grunt. Anytime his father didn't
say anything at all or outright disapprove of it was a good sign.
"I'll come by later and see how your training is going."
"Okay," Trunks said. He was beginning to wish he hadn't been training
all afternoon. The fight his father and Uncle Goku had must really have
been something to watch for his father to be this happy.
Bulma watched with a smile as her children left the table. "Looks like
it's just us two for dinner again. They sure grow up fast."
"You coddle them. Trunks should have been off on his own years ago.
Bra should be married to a strong warrior by now."
Bulma ignored her husband's words. He didn't really mean the things he
said. This was a man that nearly destroyed a school when Bra had a
paper cut when she was still in elementary school. Not to mention the
number of boys that Bra brought home to meet him, fleeing after only a
minute of talking with him. Bulma also remembered the time Trunks had
been going through his rebel days and threatened to run away and nearly
did one time. It had been Vejita that flew after the boy, carrying her
sleeping son back over his shoulder.
"Hmph. Call Chi-Chi and tell her to pick up her husband in the
morning. The injuries his body took might take awhile to fully heal."
Bulma blinked. "Okay, that's it. You are not my husband. Is that you
Oolong? What are you trying to pull here?"
"What!?" Vejita thundered. "Are you out of your mind, Woman?"
"Now that's the Vejita, I know," Bulma said as she put her fingers to
her ears, muffling the loud deafening noise. She could now see her
husband's face. It was angry as usual. "Finally. I was wondering when
you would take that damned news paper away and talk to me."
Bulma was shocked to see her husbands angry frown lighten up as she
neared him. While he never remained angry at her for long, he never
forgave that quickly before. "You can't be that happy about Goku in the
tank and you out here, can you?"
"Of course not," Vejita lied. It was so silly, but what Bulma said was
true. A Saiyajin should never be happy at so small a victory, but he
was. Well a small part of it since Goku had been mostly acting as his
punching bag. His contentment had come from something even more stupid
a thought. When he was younger, being anything less than the best was
enough to send his blood boiling. Now, he was happy with a simply gain
on his quest to 'catch up'.
"Well, I suppose you want to 'celebrate' later. Should I cancel my
evening appointments?" Bulma asked as she sat on her husband's lap,
initiating things between them for once. Vejita had an utter lack of
interest in what age she was when they were in bed. Try as she might,
but convincing him that a woman in her fifties was different from the
woman he first met was impossible. Bulma had to admit though that it
did wonders for her self-esteem.
"I knew I married for some reason," Vejita growled softly as he nestled
his nose at the hollow of her throat.
"What?" Bulma asked, giggling like a school girl as his nose tickled
her. He would always answer that question the same way. His answers
were often frustrating: Sex, bear my children, you have wealth and
power, you were the closest... Bulma's ire grew as she remembered the
past reasons her husband gave her.
"I... you."
Bulma blinked. "What did you say, Vejita?" She couldn't make out the
word between the 'I' and 'you'. Did he say it? All she got back from
her husband was a grunt as he excused himself from the table to go
looking for Trunks, leaving her there with a look of bewilderment on her
face.
* * * * *
Trunks frowned, his good mood disappearing quickly as he entered the
gravity room. It seemed Ranma was back at work training. The boy's
stamina was amazing. From the logs in the computer he knew that Ranma
had just started with training in the room at twenty times the force of
gravity. And now here was he was again.
"Hey," Ranma said after noticing Trunks entering the room. He
carefully put the dumbbells down. Everything he did had to be done
carefully as even the smallest error could pull his arm from its
socket. He couldn't even contemplate how Vejita and the others could
work out at four hundred times the force of gravity.
"Hey. You mind if I use this room to train? Pan and Bra are using one
of the two rooms I just had installed and the other one is on the
fritz."
"It's your house," Ranma shrugged. He sighed with relief when the
older boy returned to room to its regular gravity. He felt the sudden
wash of power surging in his veins now that the power was no longer
needed for him to move in the room. It took only a second for him to
dissipate the power his will controlled and he was left with an empty
feeling that he had gotten used to.
"Never ever seen a human rise as fast as you," Trunks said, starting
the conversation. Just what was it about this human that made his
father take notice? Trunks couldn't believe it was power since as
impressive as Ranma was for a human, he just wasn't all that impressive
when you looked at the people his father associated with.
"Well, I am the heir to the Saotome School of Anything Goes," Ranma
grinned modestly. "But from what Vejita tells me, I'm slow in improving
compared to you.
"M-My dad said something about me?" Trunks asked, not sure if he could
believe it.
"Yeah, you reached that first stage of that transformation thing you
guys do faster than he did," Ranma recalled from his conversations with
Vejita. Well they were more like the other man talking and Ranma
listening. Vejita was not a man of many words but when it came to
motivation, the use of taunts was not above him. Ranma hated the
grating voice telling him of how even a person like Trunks, who had not
fought seriously for almost ten years, could beat him in three seconds
flat.
Trunks was still quite shocked by the fact that his father even thought
of him at all, so he did not notice the glare Ranma sent his way. "He
mention anything else? He never tells me these things."
Ranma felt kind of silly glaring at a now melancholy looking Trunks.
The expression on his face dropped as he sat down where the older boy
was. "Heh, better than what I get from my pop. All he wants from me is
martial arts. Vejita doesn't seem that obsessed with you learning it as
much as my pop is."
"Maybe," Trunks replied. His thinking however was the opposite of
Ranma. Trunks could still remember when he had told his father that he
wanted to do other things in life other than fight. His father argued
with him but in the end he got his way and his father never trained him
again. *Why didn't you stop me, Dad? I would have if you did. You're
the lucky one, Ranma. Your father cared enough about what he wanted of
you.* "Then again, maybe not."
Ranma felt suddenly uncomfortable as a long silence enveloped the two
of them. "Say, you want to spar? I need to get rid of some of the
kinks I have that the workout couldn't take care of."
Trunks looked over at the grinning human. An image of his father
superimposed itself over Ranma's face. Trunks shook his head to clear
the illusion. That grin is almost identical to Dad's. A grin appeared
on Trunks face that mirrored Ranma's and his father's exactly. "Sure."
"Hold it," a loud voice said. "Boy, what did I tell you about over
training?" Vejita walked into the room with a frown on his face.
"Ah, wasn't really over training. Just a light workout to finish what
I started this morning. Passed out before I could."
"You passed out because you were going too fast. Get out of here now.
Besides, I have to test Trunks for the night. Go do something else."
Ranma deliberately walked slowly to the door. Vejita's intimidation
had not diminished a bit since Ranma had first met him. It increased if
that was believable, but that had strangely made Ranma more determined
not to let his fear show. He nearly succeeded before Vejita's scowl
deepened and his legs involuntarily moved faster. *I just need a breath
of fresh air,* Ranma thought quickly to himself.
"Heh, was I ever like that?" Trunks wondered aloud.
"Worse."
Trunks couldn't believe his eyes when he saw his father's expression,
no matter how he long looked at it, was not taunting or even angry.
"Uh, so what did you want to do?" Trunks asked as a familiar frown
greeted him suddenly, making him wonder if he had been mistaken earlier.
"I've been going through the logs of the computer the past week.
You've stepped up the number of hours you train recently from what you
normally do."
"Y-You monitor my progress?" *Does that mean you do care?*
"It's one thing to decide you want to do something else, but quite
another thing to give it up entirely. No son of mine will be like that
bookworm Gohan."
Trunks failed to even grin as he normally did when his father
complained about Gohan. Gohan had reached the level two of the
Saiyajins the earliest of them all at eleven years old. It was not so
much as wounded pride rather than regret, Trunk knew. Regret at never
having fought the person that could have been the strongest ever known
had he tried.
*How long have you been monitoring me, Dad? Since I first decided to
stop?* he wanted to ask. Instead he just nodded his head as his father
assessed how his training was going.
"I've seen the readings also. If I'm right you should be at the
pinnacle of the first transformation. One more step and you should
surpass it. Do you want to reach it?"
*No,* Trunks remembered had been his answer when he was younger. He
knew what Vejita's question meant. His father would go all out on him,
causing him pain unimaginable. The thought of that happening has
sickened him, and yet he would have done it if his father had pushed the
idea on him. Before he had thought his father didn't care enough, but
now he didn't know.
"Yes, father. I want you to train me."
* * * * *
Bra fidgeted as she stood outside the gravity room waiting for Ranma.
*Thank you, Daddy!* she thought. She wondered if her father would have
asked her to watch over Ranma for the night to make sure he didn't train
again, if he knew what she had in store for the pigtailed martial
artist.
"Oh, hey, Bra" Ranma said as he exited the room.
"Hi, Ranma!" *No, stupid, too loud. Act natural.*
Ranma looked on nervously as the aura around the girl flared brightly.
*Does she want to fight me?*
"Um, you missed dinner. I know how much you like to eat, so I wondered
if you want to go out and get something to eat."
"Food? Hey, sure. Now that you mention it, I am feeling hungry. Just
let me get dressed and we'll be off."
Everything was going perfectly. *I just know this is one date where I
won't get dumped!* It then occurred to her that she was forgetting the
small matter of a girl coming to train with her. Bra raced to a phone
and dialed the Son household.
<<Hello, Son residence, Pan speaking.>>
"Hello? This is Bra. Look something came up. I can't train with you
today, okay?"
<<What? You were the one that made me beg my mom to go over there.
Something wrong is going on there,>> the voice said suspiciously.
"Nothing is going on here. Don't you trust your very best friend?"
<<Now, I know something is up. This doesn't have anything to do with
Ranma, does it? I'll be over in a second!>>
"Wait a minute..."
Ranma came back from his room only to see the aura around Bra flaring
uncontrollably. There were remnants of what used to be a phone in her
hand. *I think this was a bad idea.*
* * * * *
*This is just too good to be true,* Bra thought as she scarfed down her
ice cream, watching Ranma do the same. *He doesn't really care how I
eat!*
Pan was in heaven as she ate another bowl of ice cream. *Finally, a
date where I can eat decently for once.* She remembered the horrors of
the previous dates where she had to go through, starving but feared
eating anything large lest her Saiyajin heritage rear it's ugly head.
Once she got eating, she just couldn't stop and this tended to make for
very messing evenings.
*Now if only she wasn't here,* Bra and Pan thought as she glared at
each other.
The store owner looked on with mixed emotions. On one hand the
business was good with three hefty eaters, but on the other hand, all
his other customers sitting around the three had left in a hurry. The
strange thing was that as messy as they were, none of the ice cream
landed on themselves.
Ranma was oblivious as he continued to eat.
* * * * *
Dende laughed as the older Namek through him up into the air and then
into a bone crushing hug. "Is it really you, brother?"
Nail laughed. "Yeah, it's me. I haven't changed that much have I?"
"But, I thought Piccolo and your were merged," Dende said. "Your old
body was too injured for you to live on."
"It has been thirty years ago, Dende. My body has healed in that time,
but I had freely given myself to Piccolo so I had no right to demand to
be free. However, Piccolo has decided otherwise and given me a second
chance."
Something then clicked in Dende's mind. "The block! He couldn't pass
through the block barring his way from increasing his power. The both
of you are going to join again, aren't you?" Dende asked sullenly as
reality came crashing down upon him.
Nail turned to his younger brother and sighed. "It's the only way.
The both of us will train until we reach that block neither of us could
think of a way to pass. At that time, we'll have a fight to see who
gets control of the remerged body."
Dende saw a familiar glint in Nail's eyes as he talked. He was a Namek
made specifically for battle. This was his calling, Dende knew. "I
want to cheer for you, but..."
"I know. Piccolo has been treating you well. It was not entirely my
influence that did that. You would have to thank Gohan for that
actually. Besides, if I win, it would not be like I would force Piccolo
to remain inside me forever. If nothing else, I'll do that silly fusion
dance routine so the process only lasts thirty minutes."
Dende perked up at this and smiled. "This year's Tenkaichi-budokai
will be something to watch then."
Nail only smiled.
* * * * *
Buu watched Satan's deflated face and was worried. The list of
participants was growing larger with the number of the top martial
artists of the world. Satan's only chance of survival was if Vejita or
Piccolo didn't win. From the power he had felt recently, he knew that
the Saiyajin had quite a large chance of winning this year.
Looking dejectedly at the cake in front of him, Buu ignored it and got
up from his couch. His bulk waddled in response. He needed to get some
training in, it would seem.
* * * * *
Goku slept blissfully unaware of what was happening outside the
regenerating tank.
* * * * *
The End. (maybe)
Upcoming fics:
Lesbian 1/2 Chapter 6
Another Time, Same Place side story and Chapter 8
First Knight Chapter 4