Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Dragonball AU: Book One ❯ Chapter One ( Chapter 1 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Disclaimer: We do NOT own any characters from Dragonball Z. >_> The only thing we own is this storyline and our characters that go along with it! Enjoy the story.



Tumbling; twisting; turning. The motions repeated endlessly, as if the most pretentious and boring dancer in existence choreographed them. It seemed never ending, the waves of black and blue rushing past at great speeds though there was no wind, it was a complete vacuum. Small pieces of debris floated amongst the blue and rushed past just as fast.

Ugh, I think I'm going to be sick...Lianna thought as she felt her stomach churn; she couldn’t tell up from down, left from right, back from front, yet her stomach seemed to tell her that whatever direction she was facing was not the natural way her body should be. She wished she’d brought a paper bag or something, but she didn’t think it’d be necessary since she didn’t remember the travel being this arduous. Suddenly she felt a massive surge of g-force as the tunnel suddenly flashed a brilliant white and the time capsule in which she sat was hurled into the sky overlooking West City, but more importantly, almost directly over the one building she was happy to set her eyes on – Capsule Corporation.

-----

Bulma grinned triumphantly to herself as she finished one of her soon-to-be infamous inventions. She held the orange and black helmet in her hands and examined it carefully before setting it on the head of a mannequin near by. She stepped back and took one last look at her "brilliant" creation.

It should be a crime to be such a genius! Gohan's going to love this, Bulma thought happily to herself as she ran her fingers over the fine material of the blood red cape. She then turned and caught sight of the time on the clock hanging on the wall. It was a quarter past six o' clock.

"Oh!" she exclaimed quietly in surprise. She hadn't even realized how late it had been. She quickly capsulized the outfit and installed it into an average looking wrist watch. She pocketed the watch and hurried out of the room, she knew that arrogant ass husband of hers would barge in soon, demanding his dinner.

As she walked through the house to the kitchen, Bulma kept an eye out for her ill-tempered husband and, much to her relief, made it without coming into contact with him. Must be in the Gravity Chamber..., she thought, before shrugging and continuing her way to the kitchen.

-----

Meanwhile, Lianna guided her time capsule down to the street and landed, accumulating a huge crowd of gob smacked onlookers, who had seen her appear from thin air. She looked around and smiled, partly because she was the center of attention, and because most of the more pubescent members of the crowd were staring at her specifically. However, she mostly guessed it was because she was back where she’d longed to be for some time. She capsulized the ship and grinned to herself as she placed it back in its respective case. As the eyes of most of the male – and some female – spectators decided to look at her face rather than her shapely physique, whispers began to ripple through the crowd when some people saw a resemblance to the richest, and smartest woman alive.

Kitchenware clattered together as Bulma pulled several pots and pans out of their homes that were kitchen cupboards. She sighed to herself and placed them on the stove before gathering the vast amounts of food needed to satisfy Vegeta’s ravenous appetite. As she started to peel the potatoes, the doorbell rang. Tempted to not answer the door, Bulma continued peeling, wanting to get dinner done as quick as possible. Again, the doorbell rang, twice this time, and once more Bulma chose to ignore it. When the bell rang for the fourth time, Bulma decided to answer. The bell rang repeatedly, and grew more frantic each time it chimed.

“Alright, alright…jeez…” She muttered, wiping her hands in a tea towel as she left the kitchen and went to the front door. She opened it and was met by Lianna tumbling through the doorway. Bulma stepped to one side and let her stumble into the house, she looked out to see a mass of people standing in the street, staring at her. She quickly shut the door and looked at Lianna, who was busy making sure her hair wasn’t out of shape. Bulma stared at her hard and it quickly dawned on her who it was standing in her home and fixing her hair. “Lianna…?”

Lianna grinned cheekily at her, "Hi mom! Wow...it's been so long...um...sorry about rushing in like that...the crowd was getting kind of bad..."

Bulma cocked an eyebrow and locked the door, "Why’s there a crowd outside in the first place?” She queried, folding her arms across her chest.

“They uh…kinda saw me appear in the time capsule." Lianna replied sheepishly.

Bulma wanted to laugh, but she knew she shouldn’t. People weren’t supposed to know about time travel. It was bad enough they knew about aliens now. Bulma started on a question but stopped when she heard the unmistakable clanking of the Gravity Chamber door. Lianna’s face brightened – she recognised the noise, and knew exactly who would be coming out of the chamber.

Vegeta walked out into the living room, leaving the door open with full intentions of returning soon. He glanced at Bulma and Lianna and paused, was that the same little girl he met seven years ago? His little girl, he added, although it was a little strange to him to call anyone ‘his little girl’ he didn’t mind so much saying that about Lianna. She was a likable girl, even to Vegeta. She had changed quite a bit, although seven years will do that to a person.

She now stood at roughly five feet, give or take an inch or so, her jet-black black hair still had the soft lavender ends and it fell to just above her waist, even in the ponytail she kept it in. Her large blue eyes seemed to have a grin of their own now, very much like Bulma's eyes he noticed, only without the slight imperfections that came with human aging. She obviously trained in her time, though, Vegeta mused, her physique could be an inherited trait from him - he liked both ideas. His attention then turned to Bulma, and to why she wasn’t in the kitchen.

“Woman,” he started, his signature frown pressing down on his dark eyes, “Why aren’t you-”

“In the kitchen making your damn dinner? Guess.” Bulma interrupted, she knew what he was going to say, these days his vocabulary didn’t really extend much more than ‘woman’, ‘food’ and ‘now’.

He looked at Lianna again, who grinned and waved at him. “Hm…it’s been a while, Lianna.”

“I know!” Lianna cried excitedly before running over and hugging him tightly. He looked down at her and smiled just a little, despite his years on Earth he still wasn’t used to this ‘hugging’ concept, it just wasn’t him, much like celebrating Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Christmas, Easter, Halloween and Thanksgiving. In fact, the only concept humans thought up that Vegeta found worthwhile in any way was Father’s Day – he saw it solely as a day of worship to him, at least in their house. Not surprisingly, it was his favourite day of the year.

“So how’ve you both been?” Lianna asked, pulling away from her father.

“Oh, we’ve been fine,” Bulma answered cheerfully, happy that Lianna’d come back after so long. Vegeta just gave a grunt, it was indiscernible to Lianna whether or not it was his ‘yes’ grunt or his ‘no’ grunt – she took it as a yes anyway.

Bulma suddenly blinked and immediantly noticed the absence of one other person, “Didn’t Trunks come back with you this time?"

Lianna shook her head, “No, he decided to stay in the future with his new wife,”

Bulma’s eyes widened. A wife? Her son? Well…ok, the future Trunks wasn’t her son, but he was still a variation of her little boy.

“A wife? Who is she?” Bulma asked.

Lianna smiled cheerfully, “Her name’s Emily, she’s really nice. You’d like her.”

"Oh, I would, huh?" She suddently felt her motherly instincts come into play. She also couldn't help but feel excited. Even though Trunks wasn't really her son, it was still a glimspe into the future and well, gossip is gossip. "So what does she do? What's her last name? Who are her parents? How long have they been married? Do I have any future grandchildren? Where did she-"

Vegeta frowned in annoyance. He couldn't help but feel that women talked too much--especially Bulma. He already knew one of her favorite past times was gossiping and hearing news like this would only make things worse; considering the fact that the more she talked, the more time she was wasting on cooking his dinner. He decided it was time to interrupt, once he saw Lianna open her mouth to reply.

“Where’s my food?” It wasn’t really a question, he knew where it was and how it wasn’t being cooked; it was an undercover order for Bulma to go fix it. If he told her directly to ‘get in the kitchen and make dinner’ he knew she’d either tell him where to go or, out of sheer spite, order a pizza or Chinese food, and he hated, absolutely abhorred, fast food. It was OK if it was cooked properly in decent eateries or the home, but coming from those crappy, greasy little restaurants it was just plain vile. Chewing dirt off bathroom tiles was much tastier and was probably better for you anyway, according to Vegeta that is. Bulma rolled her eyes and went into the kitchen, back to her potatoes and back to inwardly complaining about her husband. Lianna couldn't help but grin to herself, 'Yup...things haven't changed not ooone bit.'

-----

Meanwhile, in a little house miles from nowhere atop Mt. Paozu, in the time it had taken for Lianna to appear, enter the Brief’s residence and meet her alternate parents for dinner; in this little house, dinner had already been served and eaten. That may not seem like a huge feat, but given the fact that dinner consisted of several, usually more than five, courses. Then again, considering the two who were eating were Saiyajin, five courses each isn’t really anything special. Chi-Chi scrubbed the dishes as they started to pile up on the table, Gohan and Goten could eat faster than she could clean, so it was wise to start when they did.

After their meal, as always, the two boys went to train outside. Chi-Chi didn’t really like Goten training all that much, just the thought of it made her think that something bad was going to happen, as was always the case when everyone started to train. But she also thought it was good for him to keep fit and she knew Goten had mounds of fun training with Gohan and Trunks, so she decided it would be a good thing to let him train.

Outside, Gohan was pretty impressed with Goten’s progression as a fighter; he was really improving. He’d even managed to land a few hits on Gohan, but the older Son put it down to luck and the fact that he hadn’t trained that much since the Cell Games, and in actual fact, gotten a little sloppy. Naturally, Goten was none too pleased by the remark and lay Gohan out flat on his back by leaping up and head butting him in the chest.

“Hey!” Gohan exclaimed, sitting up. “That was a sucker move!”

Goten pouted and folded his arms across his chest,“Well…you were mean!”

Laughing, Gohan got to his feet and rubbed his chest, “I guess if you were fighting a planet-destroying alien, sucker moves are allowed…” He said, ruffling Goten’s hair.

Goten grinned and bounced up and down on the spot. “C’mon, let’s keep going!” He said enthusiastically.

Gohan laughed again, his little brother reminded him of his father in almost every way – the way he looked, the way he acted, everything. It was great to have him around, he always did want a little brother, but Gohan couldn’t help but think of Goku each time he looked at him. It hurt sometimes; it hurt a lot. He could still see his father, one hand on Cell’s bulging body, looking back at him with the kind of smile he’d always give when he knew things would be okay. And things were more than ok from that day onward, they’d experienced the longest spell of peace since he’d been born and no one had been happier. Though they all wished Goku was still there, Bulma especially, who’d known Goku longer than anyone else.

“Bulma…” Gohan murmured, he was supposed to remember something, something to do with her, “…my costume!”

Goten blinked and tilted his head slightly, “What costume? Are you going to a party? Or is it Halloween?”

“Nothing squirt, I need to go to Bulma’s for a while. I’ll be back later, tell mom for me, ok?” The younger Son nodded and watched his big brother take off and disappear into the distance.

-----

Back at Capsule Corporation, Vegeta and Bulma were sitting at the table, eating their dinner in virtual silence, mainly because Vegeta hated talking while eating. To him, it was either one or the other, not both at the same time, which was why he could never stand eating at the same table as Goku, who jabbered between each bite. Lianna and Trunks were playing tag in the living room, under orders from Bulma to not make a mess. Orders they’d disobeyed as, after only five minutes of play, they had broken a lamp and two expensive-looking ornaments.

It was Lianna’s turn to be ‘it’, which would explain the broken items. Trunks dived over the couch and was almost followed by Lianna when there was a knock on the front door. Bulma sighed and got up from her seat and walked into the dining room. Vegeta didn’t budge an inch, and it wasn’t expected of him to move at all except to stuff more food in his mouth. She went through the living room, ignoring Lianna and Trunks tumbling around on the floor, and opened the front door. Gohan smiled down at her and he didn’t have the chance to even open his mouth before Bulma spoke.

“Come in! I’ve got your costume ready,” She said, motioning for Gohan to follow her as she walked back through the living room and into another room.

He stepped into the house and shut the door and, upon hearing a loud giggle followed by Trunks leaping up from behind the couch and disappearing down the hallway to the back yard, walked towards the couch. He stopped when Lianna quickly stood up, giggling to herself. She quickly noticed Gohan looking at her and stared at him, he stared back and quickly took in the image of beauty before him.

She was much shorter than he was, but he didn’t really notice that, the thing he did notice was the glow she seemed to give off, a radiance that he hadn’t seen since…well…he hadn’t seen that kind of radiance before, which made her all the more fascinating to him. Her large blue eyes were beautifully deep and her body, a living sculpture of physical perfection, curved voluptuously. And, of course, he couldn’t help but notice her rather large bust, something that set Gohan’s face ablaze in a furious blush. He could’ve stared at her all day, had Bulma not reappeared in the living room and barked an order for him to come with her.

Lianna's eyes slowly followed Gohan as he somewhat reluctantly trailed behind Bulma. Who was that...? She thought as she stared at the spot where he once stood. Lianna felt a slight chill in the room at the sudden loss of his presence. His mere aura seemed to warm her heart. And those eyes...his eyes...they were a soft onyx colour, gentle yet hardened by all of the trials and hardships that have occurred in his life. Most of all...they felt...familiar. She had seen those eyes before, felt like this before, but for some reason she couldn't exactly pinpoint it. Lianna smiled to herself, she just might be staying longer than she originally predicted.

In the room into which Bulma had practically dragged him, Gohan was still deep in thought about the girl he just saw in the living room.

“Who was that?” He asked. Or rather he would have asked had Bulma not tossed a small gadget at him. He caught the object and examined it. It looked like a digital watch, it even told the time correctly, but as Bulma had explained in greatly complicated and completely unnecessary detail it was basically a fancy casing for a capsule which, when he pressed a certain button, released a costume so loud in color it could drown out even the shrillest of banshee wails. As he stared at himself in the full-length mirror he grinned and pulled the helmet off.

“This costume’s so cool, Bulma. Thanks!” Bulma laughed and straightened his cape a little.

“You’re welcome, Gohan. Just be careful not to break the watch, okay?” Gohan nodded and pressed another button on the watch, which retracted the costume.

“I’ll be careful with it. Thanks again!” He’d gotten so excited with his new costume he’d completely forgotten about the mysterious girl he bumped into, even as he walked through the living room to the front door he hadn’t noticed she wasn’t there anymore.

-----

While all this was happening – Gohan enjoying his life, Lianna coming back after a seven-year absence – there was one person, one little girl whose existence was little more than woeful. In a darker part of West City, in the slummier part of white-trash suburbia there was a house, a very small and unkempt house, where this little girl lived with her single mother. This girl, a tot named Reeni, was old beyond her years, which could only be a bad thing for a two-year-old. Despite the rusty garden gate, despite the tall and uncut grass of the front yard and the rickety, woodworm-infested screen door no one could possibly imagine the sadness of this little girl’s short life.

Reeni sighed sadly as she waddled slowly into the kitchen. This was the eighth time she'd be sent to the kitchen to retrieve a drink for her mother. Much like most of the house, it was a place she hated to be, mainly because of all the bad things that had happened in that room. There were things, heavy things – sharp things – in that room, things she’d seen the wrong side of many times before. And it wasn’t just her mother; people she brought back were just as bad to Reeni.

They’d sometimes violently assault her and abuse her verbally until she was allowed to leave the room, crying as only a toddler could. Then it sounded like they’d turn on her mother, for she’d scream a lot, there’d be loud crashing noises and Reeni would come down an hour or so later after making sure they were alone to find her mother sitting on the floor either drunk or drugged up to her eyeballs with her legs wide open and blood trickling down her face. It happened on a daily basis, and she had no idea why her mother would do such things.

Reeni’s mother never cleaned the house, and as a result the floors in every room were dirty and stained with various substances – blood, alcohol, microwave food and other unknown things. Cupboards hung open, drawers lay on the floor with utensils scattered around them. Reeni cried out as she slipped on a fresh patch of something, she landed on her backside and looked down at the floor. What was it? It wasn’t blood…mayonnaise, maybe? It was a lot stickier than mayonnaise and it smelled awful, she daren’t touch it again.

The toddler got to her feet and hurried over to a low cabinet, opened it and pulled out a large bottle of Vodka. She really couldn't understand why her mother even bothered with the stuff. Not only did it smell horrible, but it tasted bad too. Sometimes her mother would forget to go grocery shopping and then she had no choice but to drink this disgusting liquid along with her. She never fully remembered drinking it, but she always remembered waking up with a very bad headache and feeling extremely nauseous, which made her hate the stuff even more.

“Hurry up, kid!” Yelled a loud and slurred voice from the living room. Reeni readjusted the bottle in her tiny hands and made an effort to leave the kitchen as soon as possible, dodging the patch of white slime she’d previously slipped on. She knew all too well how angry her mother could get if she didn't do something right. She still had the scrapes and bruises from the last time her mother had gotten upset with her. She tried to apologize between blows, but her mother was either too mad or too drunk to listen.

Reeni quickly entered the living room, a room with little more than a tattered and torn dark green couch, a coffee table made from three tyres stacked on top of each other and a cupboard door and a small television sitting on a small wooden chair in the corner. There wasn’t even a carpet and Reeni didn’t have socks to wear, so the wood would always irritate her feet. Save for the light from the television the room was completely dark for two reasons, one was because the windows were boarded up due to a couple of rocks finding their way through to the living room and the other reason was that, in a fit of rage, one of her mother’s past boyfriends had torn out the light fixture as well as putting a hole in the door with his fist.

Reeni quickly ran over the coarse and stained wooden floor to her mother, “Here, mommy. Here your bot-” She suddenly felt the bottle slipping from her hands. Reeni's eyes widened slightly as she quickly tried to hold it steady, but her efforts were of little avail, as the bottle crashed noisily to the floor, sending alcohol and shards of glass everywhere. She stared up at her mother in horror and watched her as she slowly rose from the couch, “Mommy...s-sorry...”

“You little brat! You can't do anything right! I'm so tired of you making all these careless mistakes!” the woman yelled angrily as she hastily raised her hand. Reeni shut her eyes tightly in fear and waited for her mother to strike her as she always did.