The learning curve A Dragonball Z fanfiction by LadyRivka Prologue Two years had passed since the end of the Cell Game, and Juunanagou and Juuhachigou, revived without their self-destruct bombs, were living in the attic of the Kame House. "Why in God's name did they make us go to high school, anyway?" whined Juunanagou. "Listen, it's a good idea," replied his sister confidently. "Kuririn says we should learn to act like normal humans our biological age if we want to live on Earth unmolested." "And you're just believing him because you're going out with him." "No I'm not! I'm looking forward to tomorrow...except I have to wear this uniform from hell. Don't they know fashion when they see it?" "Should they care if it's fashionable? We're supposedly there to learn, not to shop! But I don't know if we're going to learn anything...everything might be a repetition of our programming..." "I highly doubt it. Gero, damn him, would have never wanted this for us. All he wanted us to be were his goddamn little puppets. Not normal teenagers, no less high-school students." "I see. You have a quite valid point there. Now, I have to go try on my uniform..." Chapter 1 Juunanagou My sister and I arrived at Green Meadows High School to much fanfare, partially because we had arrived on a stolen motorcycle. A bunch of human girls were standing on the curb and waving at me, giggling, God knows what for. We made our way into the school, both looking for the first class, called "study hall". "Let's see here... Room 114B..." "Why don't you ask for directions, Juunana?" "Shut up!" If there was one thing I hated about my sister, it was her insistence I be like her. "Then I will. Excuse me," she said to a boy passing in the hallway, "can you give us directions to Room 114B? We're the new students here." "It's up the stairs over there and to the left. You can't miss it!" "Thanks." We climbed up the stairs, racing each other to the top. "Ha ha, you can't climb, sucker!" "Juunana, would you shut up? You are such a little kid sometimes..." Finally, after much arguing, we got to the top of the flight of stairs. There, to our immediate left, was Room 114B. I scanned the room for data about its occupants before I dared enter. Hmm. Interesting. 24 adolescents, most clustered in groups. One adult. Paper airplanes flying all over the place. Juuhachi, more confident than I, had already entered the room and was chatting with a group of girls. Slowly, I entered. It wasn't as unusual as my data had indicated. My eyes fixated on a black-haired girl with some kind of flat, foldable board with figurines placed upon it in the corner. She was alone and humming to herself. Slowly, I approached her. "What's that?" I asked, pointing to the board and figurines on the floor. "It's chess, silly," she replied. "Chess..." "I'll teach you how to play." "What is chess?" "It's kind of a war game. The object is," she said lifting up a tall figurine with a cross at the top, "to capture your enemy's king. That's called 'checkmate'. When your king is in danger of being captured, that's 'check'. You can also capture your enemy's pieces, and they are worth points. In case of a tie, the winner is determined by the point value of the pieces he or she has captured." A war game. With capturing and killing, right and left. This girl was speaking my language. Cipu "So, kid," I said to the boy facing me with his long jet-black hair tied neatly back in a ponytail, revealing two gold hoop earrings, "does chess interest you?" "Sure. Let's play." He smirked, like he somehow knew he was going to beat me. "Remember," I said demonstrating with each piece, "the knights go one, two, and over. You can only move your pawns two spaces forward on their first move, and, after that one space forward, unless your pawn is attacking another piece. Then you move it one space diagonal. Bishops always go diagonal. Rooks can only go horizontal or vertical. The king can move one space in any direction, but the queen is the best piece. She can move in any direction, any number of spaces... Are you paying attention?" "Yeah, I'm trying to process all this." "Do you want to be white or black? White always goes first." "Then, I'll be black," he said in a rather underhanded tone of voice. I moved one of my pawns out first. He counterattacked with one of his... Before I knew it, he yelled, "Checkmate". Checkmate? In only five moves? Impossible! It must be beginner's luck. "You want to play again?" "Sure." Surely enough, five moves later, he had captured my king. Wow, how is he doing this? We played two more rounds, and he always checkmated me in less than ten moves. That guy was amazing. Suddenly, one of the popular girls walked toward us. "Hey, what's a hot guy like you doing playing a geeky game like chess?" "Buzz off," he told her. "I enjoy chess." "But wouldn't you rather play sports?" "No. I. Enjoy. Chess." He pointed his finger at her. This was getting weird. "What are you pointing at me for?" "Heh heh... Wouldn't you like to know." He smirked. The bell rang. I yelled to the boy, "My name's Cipu. Deida Cipu. It's been a pleasure playing against you. What's your name?" The boy, standing by the door, grinned, and said, "I don't have a name." Juunanagou Finally, a break from studying. "Lunch", they called it. All of the humans were eating this food that looked like it came from the depths of Hell. Juuhachi and I were working on our homework from that morning. "You know, I consider myself lucky to be a cyborg here. We don't have to eat that "gelatin surprise" stuff, thank God," she said. "Yeah, but we'll look weird if we don't eat." "We can always say we're not hungry. With the crap they serve here, they'll believe us." A loud crash startled Juuhachi and I from our conversation. The girl I had played chess against earlier that morning was being thrashed against the wall. Should I care? Should I get involved? My sister stood up. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" she screamed. The head girl said, "Nice comment coming from a girl with no taste in shoes. Miss Mary-Jane Loser!" I know my sister, and one thing you don't do to her if you want to live, is to insult her fashion sense. "Okay, pal, you're going to get it!" "Ooooh. Blondie's going to give it to me. I'm scaaared." Her friends giggled. Juuhachi ran towards her, and punched her really hard in the gut. Her friends stopped giggling. The lunch monitor, seeing the fight, approached my sister. "You! Blond-haired girl! Go to the principal's office! NOW!" "Shut up." "Don't talk back to ME, young lady. Now MARCH!" Juuhachi, surprisingly, did what she was told. I remained there for a while, working on calculus. The Cipu girl was in pretty bad shape. I walked over there, and asked her, "Are you alright?" "Yeah, I think so." "Do you want me to help you up?" God, why was I being nice to a lowly human? "Sure. What class do you have next period?" "Physical...education." "Me too!" I lifted her up. She wobbled a bit on one of her legs, but regained her balance. "See you next period," I said.