Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Some Life... ❯ Something we all wish we could do to our teachers... ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: I don't own Dragonball Z… If I did, I wouldn't be a poor college student… But I do own the characters Kori, Melissa, Kori's mom, Coach Ohm, and Professor Watts, so don't you dare use them without my permission…

Kori brushed her straying hair out of her face and grabbed her backpack. I can't be late, she thought as she rushed out the door. This was her first day at high school and she didn't want to make a bad impression on her teachers. It was also quite a distance from her house, so she'd have to fly to the outskirts of the city and walk from there. She ran a few yards from the house and crouched down, getting ready to launch herself into the air.

"Wait," her mom yelled after her. "You forgot your lunch!" The short older woman held out a bag to her daughter. Kori walked back towards her mother, unsnaking her tail from underneath her baggy t-shirt and grabbing the bag with it. "Remember what I said about using your tail, and not showing how powerful you are. You don't want to cause any commotion at school, right?"

She nodded her head. "I remember, mom. I just figured this is the last time I'll get to use it for a few hours, so I might as well make it count." She smiled warmly and bent down to hug her mother. "See you when I get home, mom." She turned and jogged off in the other direction.

"Bye! Have a good first day!" Her last words went nearly unheard as Kori launched into the sky. The wind felt so good whipping past her, she almost forgot where she was going. It seemed no matter how many times she flew, she'd never get tired of it. She touched down at the edge of Northeastern City, taking her bag lunch into her hand and hiding her tail around her waist under her shirt. She started to follow the directions from the letter she'd received from the school. After jogging a few blocks, she saw the tall building ahead of her with the school seal on it, just like on her letter.

This must be the place, she thought to herself. She checked her watch. 8:20. Great, right on time! Well, no time to waste, class starts in ten minutes. Once inside the building, she found the room listed on her schedule for her first class, Ancient Civilizations. She walked through the door rather timidly, and searched for the teacher. There was a short, balding, slightly chubby older man in a suit organizing some books on the podium in front of the class. Guess that's him. She walked towards the man and caught his attention. "Excuse me, sir. My name's Kori. I'm the new student from district 227." She extended her hand towards him, trying not to look like too much of a suck-up.

The chubby man looked up, taking her hand and shaking it vigorously. "Yes, Kori! We here at Northeastern have been expecting you. You did very well on your entrance exams. It's not often home-schoolers are as advanced as you. Especially with you joining the school a year early at the tender age of 17! I'm professor Watts. Welcome to Ancient Civilizations, I hope you enjoy the class." He smiled genuinely at her.

"Thank you, sir. I'm sure I will."

"Your seat is right up there," he said, pointing to an empty desk between two students. She nodded and headed towards her desk, plopping her backpack and lunch down as she got there. Now would come the true test of whether going to a public school was for the best or not. Her looks were so different from the other students' in the room. Aside from her tail, which she would take care that no one knew about, her hair was an unruly mass of light brown spikes falling every which way around her head. Even cut short in the style she'd grown to love, her hair refused to cooperate with any kind of attempt to style it in a different fashion. Her eyes were onyx, void of any color, yet shining with the intensity of a hundred stars. Her frame was not the typical feminine one. Her height of about 5'6" was one thing that was average about her, yet her broad shoulders and defined physique of aptly sized muscles hinted at the raw power her body contained. She did have attributes that marked her as definitely female. Curves in the right places, smaller, deceptively delicate hands, soft facial features. But unlike the other girls she saw, she did nothing to try and artificially enhance her appearance. No makeup, no distinctively feminine clothes. She dressed for comfort in jeans, worn in sneakers, and a t-shirt. She was secretly afraid of how the other students would react to her appearance. She thought about trying to fit in as best she could while still retaining her independence.

The girl in the desk next to her seemed to notice her silent thoughtfulness. "Hey there," she said, trying to break the ice.

Kori, startled, whipped around to look at the girl. "Uh, hi," she returned. She hadn't really expected anyone to speak to her. The girl looked genuinely friendly. Good, at least I'm not getting made fun of… yet. She flashed a small smile. "I'm Kori. What's your name?"

"I'm Melissa." The girl held out her hand, which Kori took, shaking it in greeting. The girl looked pretty average except that her hair, though at first glance appeared a kind of dark reddish-brown, was actually closer to very deep purple. "Don't worry too much about this place. Most of the people are really nice. And, no offense, but I don't think too many people would even consider trying to bother you."

Kori grinned openly. "No offense taken." One of the things she prided herself on was her strength. She'd always had unnatural strength… Not just for a female, child, or whatever you wanted to classify her as, but for anyone, period. She thought back to the time her dog had run out in the street. She was 8 years old. A huge big-rig was heading straight for him. The next thing she knew, she was in front of the truck, holding it in place with one hand. She had always seemed stronger than an average child, but that stunt was beyond the comprehension of her mother. It had occurred to her rather quickly that with power like that, it would have to be tempered greatly in order to prevent huge catastrophes. Her mother, who was an experienced martial artist herself, had trained her from that day on to control her power. She looked back at Melissa. "Yeah, I think I can take care of myself in that department." She almost smirked in her confidence. She rolled up her right sleeve, jokingly striking a pose, and flexed her bicep in a mock-bodybuilder style, which sent Melissa into a fit of laughter. Their joking was soon interrupted by the rapping of a meter stick on the chalkboard, signaling the beginning of class.

Kori set her bag lunch down opposite Melissa at the table. "I can't believe we have the exact same schedule. That's wild!" She was pretty excited to have someone who would talk to her in all her classes. The day had gotten off to a pretty good start. In the two classes prior to lunch, they had been able to sit next to one another, and even got to be lab partners in Physics. School might not be as hard to deal with as she thought. She looked down to Melissa's tray at the "food" the school supplied and silently thanked her mother for the packed lunch, then began to lay her food out in front of her: five cheese and tomato sandwiches (she hated cold lunch meat), a large thermos of chicken noodle soup, two apples, a pudding cup, and a 20 oz bottle of water. She started to lay into the meal as Melissa dropped her… whatever it was… and just gawked at Kori's food.

"Y-you're not going to eat all THAT… Are you?" Melissa was more than startled at the amount of food this one not-so-large person was consuming.

Kori looked up, her cheeks puffed out with bites of cheese sandwich. "Yrrh, rr dhn nh hy rr eeg sho nch…" She tried to talk, but noticed that Melissa wasn't responding. She actually looked like she was trying to hold in an uncontrollable fit of laughter.

"Would you mind repeating that without food in your mouth, dork?" She managed to choke down her laughter to avoid making a scene.

"//GULP// Hey! You don't have to call me names… nerd… What I was trying to say was: I don't know why I eat so much… I've never really gained weight from it, and if I eat less I get really weak and sick, so there's no reason to change my eating habits, right?"

"Yeah, I suppose you're right. Man, you're lucky if you can eat that much and not gain weight. I wish I could." Melissa watched as Kori polished off the rest of her meal, shaking her head periodically at the sight. She checked her watch. 12:25. "Hey, Kori, c'mon. It's almost time for P.E."

Kori got up, throwing her trash away. Great, she thought, here comes the real test. Can I control my power enough to not get noticed? She took a deep breath, and followed Melissa to the gym.

"Ok, class. For those of you who don't know," he glared at Kori, "I'm coach Ohm. Today we're going to learn some basic self defense maneuvers." He crossed his arms and glared at the lineup of girls. "None of us really would like to admit it, but there are people in this world who would try and take advantage of girls like you. I'm going to teach you some of the basic things you can do in situations where your dignity, or your life, is being threatened."

Kori just sighed. She knew self-defense wouldn't really be a problem for her, so she just looked down, trying to remember all the things her mom had told her. Keep your power in check. Don't use your tail. And whatever you do, don't fly… "You, new girl!" Kori's head snapped up. "Since you don't seem too interested, let's try and get you involved," said coach Ohm, walking slowly up to her. Oh great… Why couldn't you just pay attention and try to remain inconspicuous?

"The first thing we're going to learn is how to escape from some basic wristlocks. Everyone gather around and our new volunteer and I will demonstrate." The coach glared down at Kori. "Now, give me your hand." Kori held her hand out, and tried to act like Ohm wasn't being such an asshole. He grabbed her tightly round the wrist, and said, "Ok, now lets see if you can get out of the wristlock without knowing the proper maneuver first."

Kori looked up into his eyes. On his face was a smug looking smirk that seemed to say `just try it, cause I know some little girl like you can't handle yourself'. That look was what really sent her over the edge. That jerk… I know I'm going against my better judgment, but I can't let him mess with me like that. Her face contorted into a scowl as she set her jaw and glared up at him. With a quick jerk, which was invisible to the class, her hand was free and out to the side, and coach Ohm was grasping nothing but air.

There were startled gasps and murmurs of excitement from the class. Coach Ohm, just for a second, let his guard down and gawked, eyes trailing from his empty hand out to Kori's hand, which still had not moved from its place in the air. It was her turn to smirk. "Was that ok," she asked, innocently.

"Y-y-yeah… Um, that was f-fine," he managed to stammer out. He seemed like he was in a bit of a daze. However, something in him was unwilling to accept the display. His face hardened back into his usual glare. "Ok, lets move on to the next maneuver. Now, if I may have your hand again?"

She obligingly held out her hand, which the coach grabbed with both hands, one on the wrist and the other slightly higher on the arm. Jeez, this guy doesn't know when to quit! She considered playing the weak little girl, but something in her had gotten so excited to show off that she couldn't let it end now. She was having too much fun! She tried to think of something to really knock the coach off his feet…

"Would you like to learn the maneuver first, or give it a whirl on your own," asked coach Ohm, patronizingly. She smirked up at him, drawing his attention away from her hand. She rotated her wrist around, grabbing his wrist as well, then pushed forward, taking his arm to the side and behind him as he lost his grip with the other hand. She did these moves slowly enough so that the class could see, then sped up till she wasn't even a blur, stepping beneath his arm and pulling, using the leverage of his height with his twisted arm to send him sprawling, head over heals, to the mat. Of course, all the girls saw was one second, Kori had the coach in a compromising position, and the next second, the coach was on the mat, and Kori was standing there like nothing had ever happened. The girls in the class just stood there in awe. Melissa, who had watched the past events with curiosity and amusement, was now utterly shocked at the strength and agility of her newfound friend. Not to mention the audacity… "DUDE!!!" Melissa couldn't contain her excitement.

Kori just stood there and crossed her arms, looking rather pleased with herself. She even allowed herself a small chuckle as the coach tried to rise from the floor. Hey, even though he deserved it, maybe you went just a little to far there. Time to rein it in! Her face became more somber as the coach finally made it to his feet. This time when he looked at her, it was with a look of awe and something else… was it… fear? She tried to shake it off. I would never harm him. Just his pride. There's no reason to fear me.

Coach Ohm glanced nervously at Kori. He turned to the girls and prepared to play off his huge misjudgment. "Well, I think you've learned enough for the day, girls. I'm going to give you the rest of class off. You're dismissed." There was a murmur of gossiping from the girls as they walked towards the locker room. Melissa stood to the side of the locker room entrance to wait for Kori. Kori just stood there, arms crossed, waiting for the rest of the girls to be out of hearing range. The coach looked as if he really wanted to talk to her. She felt sudden remorse at having embarrassed him so much. She opened her mouth to try to apologize, but he raised his hand to cut her off, "No. I just want to know one thing. Do you have experience in the Martial Arts?"

"Yes. Ever since I can remember." Her mother had always been insistent on her learning Martial Arts. "Why?"

"Because it makes me feel a lot better knowing that I've been shamed by someone who's been in training their whole life. Maybe we could strike a deal. I'm sorry I assumed so much about you."

"I'm sorry I embarrassed you. And what kind of deal are you talking about?"

"I've been looking for a sparring partner. I'm not as much of a pushover as I might seem. I think there's a lot I could learn from you, and you from me. If you'll be my sparring partner, and promise not to embarrass me in front of the class, I can teach you some new techniques, and I'll leave you alone in class."

Kori pondered over the coach's offer. Leaving her alone in class would make it easier not to get noticed like she had today… And she was always looking for new techniques to add to her fighting style. There might be something truly useful Coach Ohm could teach her. She had to make sure that he was in earnest. One look at his face confirmed it. No one could fake a look of enthusiasm and earnestness as genuine as the one on his face. "Deal," she said, offering her hand for the third time, which the coach took, shaking curtly.

"We start tomorrow. Meet me on the practice football field in back of the school at 6," he said, turning from her and returning to his office. Kori smiled. Maybe he's not so bad as he seems. Her thoughts were interrupted by Melissa running up to her as soon as the coach was out of range.

"Wow! That was some move you put on Coach Ohm! You moved so fast, I could barely see you!" She clapped a hand on her new friend's shoulder, and pulled it away feeling as if she'd just smacked a brick wall. She shook it off, though. "Hey, c'mon, we've got a little while before English and we can go to the library if you want."

Kori smiled. She loved books. "Sure, lets go."

Kori heaved a sigh of relief as she took to the air. She let her tail uncurl from around her waist and stretched it out lazily behind her. It had been one hell of a first day. Her classes seemed as if they would be pretty fun. She'd always like learning new things. She was pretty excited about her sparring session with the coach, too. Crazy how that guy did a complete 180… She'd also come across an interesting book in the library. It was about an ancient legend of 7 magic balls that, when gathered together, summoned a huge dragon that granted a wish to whosoever gathered the balls. It seemed completely impossible, but intriguing, nonetheless. So she had borrowed the book, intent on becoming more familiar with the legend.

As she neared her house, she tried to think of some way to avoid telling her mother about gym class. If mom found out that I threw the gym teacher on his ass, I'd be in deep trouble. She touched down about half a kilometer from the house, deciding to walk the rest of the way. In the middle of her contemplation, she noticed something strange. It felt as if something familiar was very far off, so far that it wouldn't get there for a while, yet she knew it was coming closer. It was so faint, but she could feel it. She just shook it off. There are more important things to worry about right now… Like convincing mom that you had a wonderful, uneventful first day of school… She hated lying to her mom, but there was no reason to alarm her. Nothing bad had come of the little scene in the gym, so there was no reason to cause undo stress. She came up to the house, took a deep breath, plastered a smile on her face, and opened the door.

She was nearly bowled over by a very large, very slobbery jovial canine. "Hiya pups! Did `ya miss me today?" The big yellow dog, front paws perched on her shoulders, began bathing her face in huge laps of his tongue. She laughed as she turned her face to avoid his `kissing' and hugged him tight round the shoulders. "Well, I sure missed you, Donny!" She reached up and rumpled the loose skin and fur at the base of his head. He tried to jump even further into her arms, but she pushed him down. He made a pathetic whimpering noise in protest. "Hey, c'mon, I have to come in the house sometime!" She walked into the house, wiped her face clean of slobber, pulled the door shut behind her, and walked into the living room, panting yellow dog following her step for step. "Mom, I'm home," she yelled, plopping down on the couch and lavishing more affection on her `pup'.

"So, how was your first day, hun," the older woman asked from the kitchen. She was already busy preparing supper.

"It was pretty cool, mom," Kori admitted happily. "My classes are all really neat. I think I'll be learning a lot. And I already made a friend! Her name's Melissa. She's pretty funny, and we have the same exact class schedule." Kori hesitated, trying to figure out how to convince her mom she would have to leave a couple hours early in the morning for a sparring session she didn't exactly want her mom to know about. She couldn't figure anything out, so she decided to just change the subject. "So, how were things at the bakery?"

"Pretty good… Lots of sales today. There's a big custom design wedding cake order for some rich family, so it's giving me something to work on. I brought back some of your favorite chocolate chip cookies… They're fresh, too. Just got out of the oven before I came home." She mentally counted down from 3, and her daughter appeared at the doorway to the kitchen, hugging the doorframe with her mouth slightly agape and watering. She smiled in that knowing way only mothers have, and proceeded with the usual speech, "You know the drill, Kori, not until after dinner. I know, it's not like it'd ruin your appetite, but it's a lesson in patience." She sighed, "Just like your father," she whispered, almost to herself.

Kori returned the sigh. "Did he love your cookies, too, mom?" Her mother looked up, shocked, as if she hadn't realized she'd said what she did. She turned back to her cooking in thought.

Smiling half-heartedly, she said, "You know, I think if your father could've eaten nothing but those cookies all day, he would have…" A single tear slid down her cheek. Kori walked up to her mother and embraced her warmly.

"Aww, I'm sorry I asked about him. It's ok. You don't have to tell me any more if you don't want to." Kori didn't know much about her father. It seemed to really upset her mother every time she talked about him, so she tried to avoid the subject. But damned if she didn't want to know more about what he was like. She sighed and squeezed her mother's shoulders comfortingly.

Her mother backed away slightly and looked up into her face. "No, you're growing up, and you deserve to know more about him than you do. I don't think I'm ready to tell you everything yet, but I'll tell you one thing, for tonight. Your father was the singular reason I started my bakery." She chuckled a little, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye. "He had a tremendous appetite, more than twice yours! He just kept saying, `Sharon-chan, your cookies and cakes are so good, you could make a killing if you started a business off of them!' One day I guess I figured out that he wasn't just kidding, so I went out and got a loan to buy our bakery. It turned out he was right." She smiled at her daughter. "It barely took a month for people to spread the news about the bakery, and once word got around, I had so much business I didn't know what to do!"

"Wow, mom… So if dad hadn't had such a sweet tooth, you probably would never have had the money for me to go to school…" Kori grinned. "Guess that means I shouldn't feel bad about eating so many sweets."

"Now, I wouldn't go that far," she said, smiling at her daughter. "You need to eat right to keep yourself going. Speaking of which, I'd better tend to this dinner. You go do your homework and we'll talk some more over dinner."

"Ok, mom," she replied, turning back to the living room. "Call me if you need any help."

Kori sat on her bed, looking out her window at the thumbnail of a moon in the clear night sky. Her mother, though, had warned her never to look up at a full moon. She was curious to see what one looked like, but since her mother had told her terrible things would happen if she looked at it, she didn't exactly feel like risking it. She had terrible insomnia, though, so on the night of a full moon, she would make sure her very thick drapes were closed. She laid back on her bed, crossing her arms behind her head and trying to sort out her thoughts. That feeling that she'd had on her way home was back, like something was going to happen, not incredibly soon, but it was on its way. She closed her eyes to be greeted by a scene of herself in midair, in a fighting position. Her opponent was hazy, but she could make out a blue suit, and wild hair like black fire. By the look on her own face, this wasn't sparring. Both herself and the opponent, who was definitely a man, were speaking… yelling at each other. She couldn't really make out the words. They began fighting. It was clear that the man she was fighting was stronger… much stronger and faster than she was. She watched herself get thrown into the ground, the force of her impact creating a dent in the earth. As she struggled to right herself, her opponent landed behind her and clasped his hands together above his head, preparing the final blow. Just as he was about to strike, Kori's eyes flashed open…

She knew this was a premonition… She had them from time to time. Sometimes they were vivid, sometimes very hazy like the one she'd just experienced. But they all had the same feeling of being half awake and asleep. It was kind of like a daydream, only you couldn't really pull yourself out of it as easily. She knew this fight was going to happen, but didn't know the outcome. From what happened, though, things weren't looking too good for herself. Am I seeing my own death, she contemplated with a shudder. However unsettling, she had to admit that it was a possibility. Well, I guess I shouldn't dwell on it, and in the meantime, I'll figure out some way to give myself the advantage when this fight does happen. That guy was so much stronger than me… I guess I'd better try and narrow the gap. First thing tomorrow, I'm going to start pushing myself harder, she resolved. She turned on some soft music and pulled the covers over her, intent on attempting to get some sleep before the next morning's sparring session.

Prince Vegeta sat back in his chair and looked out the porthole of his pod, watching space move by. He had just layed in a course for Chikyuu, and would be there in approximately 27 of their days. Only recently had he come to the age of ascension, but he was not yet strong enough to be sure he could easily defeat his father in battle. But oh, how he wanted to. The king had made some grave errors in his recent years, first by allying with the tyrant Frieza, and then by allowing Frieza near complete and total power over the people of Vegeta-sei. Prince Vegeta and his right hand guard, Kakarrott, had been trying over the past few years to find something that would help them and their underground movement against King Vegeta, and they had just recently found it. It seemed that Kakarrot's father, Bardock, who had been missing since shortly after Kakarrot's birth, was a genius of a scientist who had been blessed (or cursed?) with clairvoyance. Bardock had fled Vegeta-sei shortly after King Vegeta's alliance with Frieza, claiming disgust with the King's reign. But later, stories had surfaced that he had had visions of Frieza's near enslavement and usurpation of the Saiyan race for his own personal gain. He also saw that the Saiyans would become steadily more powerful, frightening Frieza into destroying their whole planet. No one believed him at the time, but at the present it seemed very possible. The Saiyans were getting stronger with every purging mission Frieza sent them on, and, Vegeta mused, it may not be long before one achieves the legendary level of Super Saiyan. That one, of course, will be me. And once I have become a Super Saiyan, I will first put an end to my father's incompetence and then to Frieza's tyranny. But first, he had to find Bardock. Before he left, he had been working on some inventions that could quite possibly win the war with Frieza that was looming inevitably on the horizon. It had been rumored that Bardock had fled to Chikyuu, where technology was much more advanced than on Vegeta-sei, so that he could have peace while working on his inventions.

Vegeta activated the hibernation unit on the pod and dozed slightly. Just wait, father. Once I find Bardock and convince him to help me, I'll personally take the throne as per my birthright. And my first order of business will be to terminate our alliance with that genderless freak… He drifted off to a dreamless sleep as his pod rocketed off towards Chikyuu.