Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ The Chosen One ❯ Chapter Sixteen ( Chapter 16 )

The Chosen One

Chapter Sixteen

"Gohan, it's time to wake up."

Gohan groaned. "Just a second, Mom," he mumbled.

"Gohan, the king is inviting you to dinner."

Gohan sat up, yawned, and rubbed his eyes. "The king is inviting me to dinner?"

"Yes," the servant answered. "All of your friends are invited to dinner. Even the androids and the Nameks are coming."

Gohan laughed. "I hope he realizes how much food it's going to take to feed three Saiyans." He then looked down at his clothing. "Uh-oh. I don't know what to wear."

"The king would like you to wear the armor he gave you," the servant responded.

"All right," Gohan said. "I'll be down in a few minutes."

"How are you enjoying your steak, Gohan?" the king asked.

"I'm really enjoying it!" Gohan responded enthusiastically. "This is undoubtedly the best steak I've ever had!"

Piccolo took a long drink of water from his glass. "Sire, this water is excellent! I don't think I've ever tasted water this good!"

"Wow, that water must be really good, sire," Gohan said. "Such enthusiastic praise from Piccolo is extremely rare!"

"I'm glad you like it, Piccolo," the king responded. "It comes from the springs in the Cana Mountains. Some say it is the best water in the galaxy. I can bottle some for you if you like." He looked at the empty seat next to Gohan. "Excuse me, but where is Vegeta?"

Gohan buried his interest in his steak. 'Curse these Saiyan ears,' he thought. On his way down to dinner, he had passed Vegeta's room. As he passed, Gohan's Saiyan ears picked up what sounded like sobbing. He didn't want to say anything about it, so he kept it to himself.

"I'm right here." Vegeta walked around the corner and into the dining hall, wearing his new armor; however, the medallion was conspicuously absent. He took his seat next to Gohan and began to eat. Gohan looked over at Vegeta and saw that the skin around his eyes had a slightly red and puffy look to them.

"Pardon me, Vegeta," the king said, "but why are you not wearing your medallion? I gave it to you in the hopes that you would wear it."

Vegeta swallowed a bite of steak, and without lifting his eyes, said, "The medallion has the same significance as your crown. It shows that the wearer is the king of all Saiyans."

"Well, you are, aren't you?" the king asked. "Your father was king, and now that he's dead, doesn't that make you king?"

Vegeta wiped his mouth and then shook his head. "What good is it to be king if you have no kingdom? Until recently, I was the last pure-blooded Saiyan alive. The home world was destroyed, Raditz was killed eight years ago and revived by the Dragon Balls, Kakarot sacrificed himself to save the Earth, and Nappa was murdered in cold blood."

"That's funny," Gohan remarked, "I seem to recall you killing Nappa yourself, Vegeta."

"Excuse me!" Vegeta half-shouted. "Don't interrupt me while I'm talking! Anyway, the original medallion had the blessing of an ancient Saiyan high priest, and that was crushed by Frieza when he murdered my father."

The king's eyes widened. "Frieza killed your father? I thought he died when the meteorite struck the planet Vegeta."

"Wrong," Vegeta answered. "Frieza not only killed my father, he also destroyed my home planet. Raditz, Nappa, Kakarot, and I were the only Saiyans away when it happened. But Frieza didn't stop there. He tried to kill both Kakarot and Gohan, and he did kill me."

"He also killed countless Nameks when he was after the Dragon Balls," Piccolo added, "and he also killed Krillin. That's what caused Goku to become a Super Saiyan."

"Pardon me," the king interrupted, "but what are these 'Dragon Balls' you keep talking about?"

Gohan and Piccolo looked at each other. "BULMA! You've got a story to tell!"

And so Bulma and the others proceeded to tell the king and his daughter the story of the Dragon Balls and of her adventures with Goku, from searching for the Dragon Balls, to stopping Emperor Pilaf, their numerous World Tournaments, the Red Ribbon Army, killing King Piccolo, stopping Piccolo and destroying the World Tournament arena in the process, stopping Garlic Jr, stopping Raditz, fighting off Nappa and Vegeta, hunting for Dragon Balls on Namek, fighting the Ginyu Force, Frieza, Garlic Jr's return, Frieza's return, the androids, and Cell. Gohan was telling the story of his fight against Cell, but when he got to the point where Goku sacrificed himself to save the Earth, Gohan began sobbing uncontrollably, and Piccolo had to continue until the point where Cell returned, then Gohan picked up until the end.

". . . and then we gathered the Dragon Balls. Now, Dende had enabled the dragon to grant two wishes instead of one, but we only needed one. We used our first wish to bring all of Cell's victims back to life. This included Trunks and Android 17, but for some reason, it didn't include King Kai, Bubbles, or Gregory."

"What about your father?" Sephra asked.

"Well, even though Dende was the new guardian of the Earth, Shenron could only revive a person once, and he had already revived Dad after the fight with Raditz. However, Porunga, the Namekian dragon, could revive a person an unlimited number of times as long as he didn't die a natural death, so we planned to use our second wish to go to New Namek. Then, using King Kai's telepathy as means of communication, Dad contacted us. He said that long ago, Bulma had said that he had a knack for attracting evildoers, like Frieza and Cell." Gohan's eyes began swelling with tears. "He told us not to - to - to wish him back. He said the universe would be better off." With that, he squeezed his eyes shut, dropped his head, and began sobbing. Then, someone touched his right hand. Gohan opened his eyes and looked up to see Sephra with her left hand on Gohan's right hand, her eyes also full of tears.

"I'm sorry, Gohan," Sephra said. "Your father really seemed like a good man." Unable to speak, Gohan nodded. "I know how it feels. I lost my mother."

Gohan looked at Sephra and said with a hoarse voice, "I'm sorry to hear that. Can you tell me what happened to her?" He then added, "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

"My mother was born with anemia," Sephra said. "She was a wonderful person, but she never had much energy. I was kidnapped once before, by a faction that plotted to overthrow my father. I was rescued by a knight named Sir Beruch. While I was away, my mother's health declined. She died just as I reentered the palace. Had she lasted two minutes longer, she would have gotten to see me one more time."

"Hey, I have an idea!" Yamcha exclaimed. "We can use the Dragon Balls to bring her back!"

"The Dragon Balls can't revive a person who died a natural death, Yamcha," Tien responded.

"Then explain how they brought back Guru!"

"Oh, yeah! I forgot about that!"

"That's all fine," Piccolo said, "but how do we know that the queen died of a broken heart?"

"We don't know," Gohan answered. "We have to hope."

"Wait," Sephra interrupted. "You mean the Dragon Balls can bring Mother back to life?"

"As long as she died of a broken heart, then she will be revived," Gohan answered.

Sephra seemed to overflow with joy. "Oh, thank you! Thank you all! You are all so wonderful!"

"You're very welcome," Krillin said. "We just need one more piece of information. How long ago did your mother die?"

"She died six years ago," Sephra answered. "I was ten."

"That means we'll need the Namekian Dragon Balls," Gohan said. "There's just one more thing I need to know."

"What's that?" Krillin asked.

"What in the world am I supposed to do with myself for two weeks?" Gohan exclaimed.

"I have an idea!" Sephra exclaimed. "Daddy, can Gohan come with me to school instead of another servant for their time here?"

"I don't see any reason why not," the king said.

"I think Sephra has a huge crush on Gohan," Tien muttered to Yamcha.

"Well, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out."