Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Short, Dark, Pointy-Haired Man Banned From Disney ❯ It's a Small World and the 3:00 Parade ( Chapter 4 )

Chapter 4

By Elbereth in April

They all met back up at the base of the castle. The ladies were empty-handed.

"Didn't you buy anything?" Vegeta asked incredulously.

"They'll ship to your hotel room! Isn't that great?"

"Yeah," Goku agreed, knowing he would have ended up carrying most of it.

"What's next?"

"I want to go on the Small World ride," Bulma said, smiling.

"Ack! Onna, no!"

Piccolo was also looking horrified.

"You went to the Presidents with Chi-Chi. And I've gone on all the rides you wanted."

"But--but--It's a Small World," Vegeta sputtered.

"It won't last that long," Chi-Chi argued. "I want to see it, too."

"Come on guys, we can take it," Gohan sighed.

"Yeah, I want to see it," Goku grinned.

"You would. Baka."

"Let's go, Vegeta!" Goku tugged at the Prince's arm. Vegeta pushed him away, then sighed and followed. So did the rest. They walked past the castle into Fantasyland. After standing in line for ten minutes, they got impatient again and transported.

"Rows 1-3," the bored employee directed them.

They got in the boat. A large family all wearing orange shirts got in behind them. The children were quite loud.

The boat moved off. The ride, and the song, began. They passed smiling, singing chibi figures from various countries. "It's a small world after all, it's a small world after all, it's a small world after all, it's a small, small world," they sang. Over and over and over.

Piccolo ground his teeth together. Vegeta clenched his fists.

Suddenly the boat stopped. "What's this?" Piccolo cried.

A voice came over a loudspeaker. "Your ride will resume momentarily. Do not get out of your boat."

"We're broken down! We're stuck!" Vegeta turned pale.

He and Piccolo looked wildly around. Not only was the song still playing, but they had stopped in a section of the ride that had happy chibis in a jungle. A couple hyenas were cackling on their right, a mad little burst of repetitive, annoying laughter.

"I can't take much more of this!" Vegeta moaned, gripping the side of the boat so tightly Bulma was afraid he'd break a hole in it.

Several more minutes crawled by. Piccolo was desperately trying to meditate. `Take deep, calming breaths.' All around them, "It's a small world after all. . ." and "He he he he!"

A little boy behind them began to whistle along. His younger sister joined in.

"Gah!" Piccolo slammed his hands over his ears. "No more!" He stood, powering up.

Vegeta instantly joined him, rapidly progressing to Super Saiyan status. Their boat, and those of the other tourists, began to rock back and forth. Water spouts burst around them. People began to scream.

"Stop it! You guys!" Bulma and Chi-Chi were ignored, however.

Electricity began to crackle around Piccolo and Vegeta. The chibi animatronic figures started to crack. Limbs and heads broke off and rose into the air. The water sprayed higher. Chunks of ceiling started to fall around them.

Goku grabbed the two and teleported them out of the ride. They materialized back out in front of the building.

Piccolo and Vegeta looked around. They were sweating and gasping for air.

"It's OK," Piccolo panted. "We're safe now. Thank Dende!"

They abruptly relaxed and powered down. Piccolo collapsed to sit on the ground in a limp heap.

Vegeta threw his arms around Goku. "Arigatou! My faithful subject! That place was worse than HFIL!"

Taken aback, Goku patted Vegeta on the back. "Um, glad to have helped."

Vegeta pulled away and pointed back to the inside of the ride. "Go rescue Trunks!" he commanded.

"Yeah. OK." With one last look at the two of them, Goku shook his head and disappeared.

A couple moments later he returned with the rest of the group. Vegeta scooped up Trunks and hugged him.

"Papa, you're really scaring me."

Vegeta drew another shaky breath, patted him on the head, and set him down. Then he cleared his throat and looked away. "Shouldn't the parade start soon?" he asked, fiercely pretending as if nothing had just happened.

"I think so," Goku replied innocently. "Just a second." He walked over to the young custodial worker standing a few feet away. "Can you tell me what time the 3:00 parade is?"

The worker smiled bravely. "3:00, sir."

Goku grinned, placing a hand behind his head. "Oh. Thanks!"

The worker watched him walk back to his group. Then the young man sighed, rolled his eyes, and made a mark in a notebook. Thirteenth person to ask me that today."

"According to my watch, it's 2:30," Bulma announced. "We should find a place to sit and view it."

They made their way around to the parade route and sat behind a roped off area. Goku went to a food cart and came back with an armload of pretzels, Cokes, and ice cream in the shape of Mickey Mouse. They sat and ate and watched the crowd go by, Vegeta making caustic remarks and Roshi ogling all the females.

Eventually it was time for the parade. The floats began to go by. The boys and the women were standing in front of the men, and Vegeta found to his annoyance that he couldn't see. So he climbed up and stood on a ledge.

The brave young custodian saw him. "Excuse me, sir, I'm sorry but you'll have to get down for your own safety."

Vegeta hadn't fully recovered from his earlier scare. With an evil glare, he turned and blasted the guy.

A wife nudged her husband. "Honey, is that part of the parade?"

"Sure!" he replied, clapping. "And very well done, too."

Meanwhile, Bulma screeched and planted herself in front of Vegeta. "What do you think you're doing?"

Goku hurridly examined the body. "It's OK!" he said with a sigh of relief. "He's not dead. Hang on, I think I've got a senzu here somewhere. . ."

Vegeta got off the ledge and stood nose-to-nose with Bulma. "He was trying to tell me what to do! I'm the Prince of all Saiyans! No one tells me what to do!"

Trunks grinned and hummed the Small World song.

Piccolo clapped a hand over the boy's mouth as Vegeta screamed and started to quiver. Bulma's whole demeanor changed. "Oh, you poor baby, you're still all tense, aren't you? Let me give you a back rub." He relaxed as she did so.

Goku revived the worker, who hid in the bathroom mopping the same spot over and over for the rest of his shift.

When the back rub was over, Vegeta levitated himself slightly in the air so he could see over Bulma's head.

When the parade ended, they continued on to Tomorrowland.