Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ DragonBall Zenith: How Young Hearts Bleed ❯ Tussney and Kahler ( Chapter 7 )

Episode 7 - Tussney and Kahler

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Disclaimer: I do not own DBZ, its characters, story line, or any likeness of the characters. My name is not Akira Toriyama. However, this story line has been created by me to be used by me and to be written by me. You know that drill. Also, I do not own Mountain Dew, though I really wish I did. I am not endorsing any brand names I use here in any way either, along with the future topics of gangs, fighting, and the like. If you look carefully, you'll notice that I am strongly against those things and try to make that clear to you, the reader.

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A/N: Wow! Episode 7 already! I never thought I'd have the ambition to get this far! Wahoo!

Broken bodies, broken dreams.
All is lost, or so it seems...

""I got lost in thought once… It was uncharted territory." - Unknown

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An eight-foot-tall, seemingly human man walked slowly out of the crowd of miss-matched aliens, hunched over and looking around fearfully at the rowdy group. Noticing his posture, Trunks thought he might be somewhat of a punching bag or even a slave for them. His hair was frightfully untidy, long, jet back, and sticking out all over, though some futile attempt to comb it back looked like it had been attempted.

Eyeing the new character up, Trunks took note of his very strong, muscular, and dense build, though one feature really caught his eye. The young man had a tail! Brown and fuzzy, the two-foot-long appendage sought refuge between its owner's legs. He was a Saiyan! …But how was that possible? Planet Vegeta had been destroyed more than 70 years ago!

"You called, sir?" the young man asked, keeping his eyes to the floor as he addressed Riigo.

"Look at me when you speak, you dumb ape!" the ornery alien spat as he gave the young Saiyan a glancing blow to the side of his head, knocking him to the floor and stunning him momentarily.

Once he shook off the blow, he stood up and made eye contact with his superior. "Yes sir. What is it that you need?" he asked tentatively, but not without a note of contempt in his voice. His pride, whatever shred was left of it, wouldn't let him completely bend to anyone's will, especially so contemptuous a person as Riigo.

"Monkey, take the new kid here and show him the town. Be at HQ by 18:00 hours sharp or no dinner! And don't you dare try running off again; you remember what happens!" Riigo yelled crossly.

"Yes sir. C'mon, new guy." He motioned for Trunks to follow him. "It's lunch time and I'm hungry."

Trunks followed the young Saiyan back in the direction he had come from and into a busy marketplace. The taller boy purchased an assortment of strange items Trunks guessed was food before snatching Trunks somewhat roughly by the arm and flying them to a more secluded spot. Trunks wasn't happy about the treatment he was receiving and had to fiercely curb the reflex to whir around and punch the guy in the face. In the end, he decided it would be better for him to just dangle down by his arm rather than fight his way out of the situation.

The Saiyan landed, released Trunks, and sat down to eat his food. Trunks took out a small capsule, clicked the top, and set it down. With a loud "poof", a suitable meal appeared in front of him. Both men finished their meals at roughly the same time.

"Ok, shrimp. What was that and how did you make food come out of it?" the taller man asked.

"I see you mustn't be familiar with Capsule technologies... Well, it's one of my little toys, and I don't think I'd be able to explain how it works. I don't understand half of it myself." Trunks replied, unsure why he trusted this stranger enough to tell him. After all, he was a gang member and a Saiyan, and the lavender-haired man had heard stories about how evil most Saiyans were before Vegetasei (the home world of the Saiyans) was blown up. "Ok, my turn. Who are you, and what is this Silverarm gang?"

"One thing at a time. My name's Tussney." The man told Trunks.

"You're a Saiyan?" Trunks asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"Of course. We didn't all die when Frieza blew up the planet. My parents were sent away to conquer another planet as infants. Hey, what's your name?" Tussney questioned him.

"Uh..." Trunks thought hard, not wanting to disclose his real name. "I'm Kahler." He quickly replied, deciding on the name his father would have given him had his mother not insisted on "Trunks".

Tussney's eyes widened quickly. "What? That's a Saiyan name!"

Trunks thought fast. "Oh, it is?" he said, trying to act clueless. Tussney seemed to settle down slightly. "It's a common name where I come from. It means, uh, purple." He lied. Though he was a terrible liar, that statement adequately fooled Tussney.

Tussney nodded. "Alright, new guy. I guess I'll show you around then. It doesn't seem like you're from around here."

Trunks nodded and laughed nervously. Tussney had no idea. They walked out of the alley together, Tussney explaining some of the history of the galaxy to the point he understood it and Trunks soaking it up.

"...And then some Saiyan defeated Frieza. I hear he let the monster live the first time, wanted to give him a second chance apparently, thought he'd change. What a dumb move!"

"Yeah." Trunks half-agreed meekly, remembering his battle with Frieza in the alternate future. He decided to test this young Saiyan's knowledge. "So, who was that Saiyan?"

"I think I heard from Pa what his original name was Kakkarot. He was one of the infants sent off the planet because his infant power level was too low. He got sent to some nowhere planet called Earth, got a new name there from the natives too. Go-... Go- something, I think it was..." Tussney told Trunks, trying to remember the name.

"Goku..." Trunks mumbled quietly without thinking. Unfortunately, he momentarily forgot about the excellent hearing all Saiyans possess.

"Yeah, that's it." Tussney narrowed his gaze at Trunks. "Say, Kahler, why are you so interested in Saiyans anyway?" They had reached a sparsely trafficked area when Tussney stopped Trunks dead in his tracks with that question.

Trunks decided he could be somewhat truthful. "My trainer was a half-Saiyan named Gohan. My mother was a close friend with his dad before he died."

"A trainer, you say? Stronger than you?" Tussney asked.

"Of course, at least he was my trainer before he died as well." Trunks replied, looking away as they began to walk again.

Tussney hummed in thought. "That's strange. Usually Saiyan hybrids are deformed and pathetically weak, if they survive at all."

"Gohan looked alright to me." Trunks assured his new friend.

"I guess. I mean, your species looks pretty similar to us Saiyans..." Tussney put it to thought, concentrating hard on the effort. "Wait, your planet had friendly contact with the Saiyans? How is that possible?"

"I don't really know. Gohan's dad was sort of the champion of my home world; he always used to protect us from anything that threatened the planet." Trunks replied, shrugging.

"Hmmm... Well, he could have been sent away from Vegetasei because his power level was too low or something and then forgot his mission to conquer the planet somehow. My parents hit the crash site too hard and it scrambled their programming. Almost everyone I've met so far who's come in major contact with the Saiyans hates us for some kind of damage done to their race. Even though I wasn't even alive yet when Saiyans were still conquering worlds, everyone still hates me. You're the first guy I've been able to talk to without getting a nasty glare or a weapon pulled on me. I think we share a common understanding."

"I guess..." Trunks told him. Tussney had no idea...

That night...

They made it in time for the meal, but it was a sad disappointment to Trunks. They stood in line outside HQ to receive a small bowl of something lumpy and putrid-looking, though it didn't taste all that bad once Tussney convinced Trunks to eat it. Unfortunately, it was barely enough to dull the edge of his hunger.

Trunks and Tussney became fast friends, and Trunks even rooms with the taller Saiyan.

HQ was a large, interstellar freighter. As Trunks found out, the Silverarm gang was an intergalactic alliance of some of the best criminals in the universe, as well as some of the strongest fighters.

Riigo wasn't even the strongest person on the ship, though he was an officer: the one in charge of "inducting" new members. The captain himself, well... let's just say that he was a bit too proud of his power level. He spent a lot of his time walking stiffly past the crewmembers, power at near maximum and sticking his nose as high into the air as he could reach. However, without powering up and merely walking around at normal, Trunks was only about four times as strong as that macho idiot.

Trunks's first encounter with him was enough for him to decide that he seriously disliked the man. The moderately tall, physically unimpressive captain had walked past their table as Trunks and Tussney were finishing their meal and talking. Tussney was immediately silenced as the captain's shadow passed over him. Unfortunately, Trunks didn't know any better.

"What?" Trunks asked, noticing his friend's paling face and fearful expression.

"Zo, zis iz ze newe keed. Ah jou note?" the captain asked sarcastically in his heavy French accent.

Trunks turned around. "I'm sorry, sir. I didn't catch what you said. Would you mind repeating?"

The captain's smug expression fell into a frown as his pale white hair fell about his pale blue skinned face. "Jou insolente leelle vorm! Vy, I jould svash jou into vorm pazte! No vone azkz Captaine Lasiehr to repeate 'ihmzelfe!"

"...Sorry?" Trunks repeated.

Tussney's eyes widened. "Kahler... Just shut up..." he warned the boy tersely.

Trunks, sensing his friend's uneasiness, cocked an eyebrow and turned to him. "What? What is it, Tussney?"

"Kahler... That's Captain Lasiehr... No one talks back to him unless they want to see their insides on the wrong side of their body..." Tussney told the boy, his voice wavering terribly.

Trunks's eyes widened. "Oh! Sorry, terribly sorry, sir. I didn't know who you were..."

"ZILENCE!" Lasiehr ordered, looking the unflinching boy in the eyes. "Normally, jou vould be zix feet undere by nowe, but I ame veeling generouse zis daye. I ville let jou live." He said contemptuously, an evil glint in his eye. "Nexte time, jou ville note be zo lucky..." With that, he turned and walked off, his cape billowing behind him.

Tussney sighed with relief and slumped down onto the table.

Trunks cocked an eyebrow, scanning the captain's ki. "What a blow-hard. He's not very strong. Who does he think he is?" he mumbled out loud.

Tussney sighed. "You're an idiot, Kahler."

A while later, Trunks and Tussney settled down into their beds in the far-too-cramped equivalent to a bathroom stall they were assigned for a room and had to share. Trunks, because he was smaller, shorter, and lighter, got the top bunk. The two began to talk while waiting for lights-out. Trunks wasn't very tired; it was only 1:00 PM on his watch, but ship time was 21:30 hours.

"So, Tussney. What's your story? How did a Saiyan like you get mixed up with these bozos?" Trunks asked him.

"Well, they landed on the planet my folks were on and killed 'em, just attacked. I was about 7 standard years old at the time; I'm 17 now. They're names, my folks' names, were Bermuccu and Chycari. They were actually pretty weak, but I was really strong at the time. Lasiehr brought me aboard as his "pet monkey". Basically, I'm the crew's punching bag. I have been ever since."

"That sucks." Trunks commented.

"Yeah, but you should know how we Saiyans are. Every blow makes us stronger. They're just fueling the flame. Well, that's provided they don't kill me first."

"Yeah..." Trunks mumbled, immersed in his own thoughts. He knew first hand how that goes. After healing, a Saiyan's body becomes stronger in proportion to the damage done because the body tries to shield itself from more damage of that kind. He remembered well the regular beatings the androids gave him.

"So, what kind of alien are you?" Tussney asked, surprising Trunks and bringing him back to reality. "I've never seen one like you before, and I've seen a lot of different kinds of aliens. Purple hair? That's not common in the galaxy, that is, unless you dyed it."

"Ha ha. Very funny." Trunks rolled his eyes. Oh, shoot. He couldn't tell Tussney he was part Saiyan, but he still didn't trust these gang members enough to disclose that he was from Earth either. After all, if Trunks ever got away from them, they might attack his home world to get back at him. "Well, uh..." he stalled.

"Lights out!" the PA system blared. Trunks sighed in relief.

"Saved by the bell.," he whispered to himself. Unfortunately, Tussney heard.

"Alright, Kahler. You don't have to tell, there's ways I can find out. I need something to keep me busy anyway. Days around here are pretty boring." Tussney told him, laughing at his apprehensiveness.

Trunks laughed weakly as Tussney turned out the lights. He wasn't used to having someone with hearing that rivaled his around. He would have to stop mumbling his thoughts...

"I have to say though, it's nice to find someone who's comfortable around Saiyans." Tussney told him sincerely.

Trunks smiled to himself. If only Tussney knew why...

To be continued...

**Dragon ball ending theme begins to play**

Mirai Trunks: Hey there! It's my turn to do the wrap up. I'm really glad I made a friend like Tussney. Despite countless slip-ups on my part, he still hasn't figured out my little secret. What a lucky break! I just hope I'll be able to keep it up! By the way, Tussney told me that we have planet leave for another day yet! All right!

**Clips of the inner city are shown, various people throwing things at Tussney and calling him nasty things**

Mirai Trunks: It looks like what he said about people hating him wasn't an exaggeration. I'd sure hate to be a full-Saiyan. It doesn't look like he's all too happy about extended planet leave.

**Clip of a mysterious cloaked figure pouncing on Trunks and knocking him to the ground**

Mirai Trunks: And who's this mysterious person? Is this the answer to my uneasy feeling of being followed? What could this person possibly want?

**Cloaked figure lowers her hood, reveling the face of an extremely attractive young woman, she says, "I know who you are, Trunks."**

Mirai Trunks: Woah! How does she know who I am? Will she blow my cover? One thing is for sure; I'm going to have problems of my own next time. Don't forget to tune in, next time: Episode Eight, You Can't Run Forever! It's definitely a headache for me!

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STORY BY:
Silent Willow

TYPING BY:
Silent Willow

HTML CODING BY:
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ACTORS:
Trunks Briefs: Trunks Briefs
Tussney: 17-year-old Radditz
Lasiehr: Morten
Riigo: Fat Bastard and a lot of makeup
Various Aliens: Random people off the street

SPECIAL THANKS TO:
The number 777 (for Trunks777, my absolute favorite web group!)
Zamba Sabertooth (for her excellent reviews via MSN Messanger!)
Riptor Velochi (Because he's my #1 dragon buddy!)
Mountain Dew
My cousin Tyler (For watching a video so I can have time to type this!)
Final Fantasy 9 (For being an absolutely awesome game)
Fanfiction.net (For being a cool site)

And finally, readers like you!