Choice to be Different
Disclaimer: Premise and characters belong to Akira Toriyama, I’m just borrowing them for a little non-profit fun.
Chapter Nine: Cross-roads
‘Geta and Goku sat on the banks of the stream that ran through the valley they’d been inhabiting for the last few months. Both boy had traded their compact child-forms for gangly adolescence. They were too tall for their weight and struggling to adjust to limbs that were suddenly longer than they were used to. But the day was sunny and warm, the fish were biting and even considering growth pains life was good.
Goku let the tip of his tail dangle in the water in place of a fishing line.
‘Geta ambled upstream in search of his own fishing spot. He stretched and let the warm sun bake some of the soreness out of his muscles. ‘Geta didn’t enjoy the growth pains anymore than Goku did, but he had to admit that his primary growth phase had turned out to be something of a reprieve. The Dragon Balls should have regenerated several months ago, it was past time for them to go back to their real lives... But he wasn’t going to go searching the globe for a bunch of wish-granting balls when there were mornings when all he wanted to do was curl up in a ball and whine about the pain in his joints. As for going back, that simply wasn’t happening until he was back in fighting form. Even so he couldn’t put off going back forever. In just another three months they’d be done growing and he’d either have to go back or find another reason to delay.
‘Geta didn’t doubt what his older counterpart had said about him not being strong enough to face Frieza yet. Even though he’d have his full height in a few more months he knew he’d be in his early twenties before his muscle-mass filled out completely. Raditz was eighteen and he was still in the process of filling out.
‘Geta didn’t want to believe what his older counterpart had said about what he’d do to Raditz and Appura. He didn’t want to believe that but he did. His counterpart was right, he couldn’t go back to Frieza. He’d experienced something better and he couldn’t go back to that life. The question was what was he going to do about it.
A year wasn’t enough time to prepare for Frieza. So what was he going to do.
Thousands of miles away that same sun shown down on the 25th Tenkaichi Budoukai.
No tournament took place without a few behind the scenes catastrophes but in the opinion of the officials this one was cursed. First every camera on the entire island blew up. Tournaments had been held without being televised before and so they forged onward. Even if the reigning champion and savior of the world wasn’t happy about it.
Then the punching machine broke before they were even half-way through the prelims. They barely managed to get the back-up calibrated before the Junior Tournament ended. They should have been done with the prelims by then, everything was behind schedule. Also the scores of the last group who’d been tested on the original machine were suspect. After careful consideration the tournament officials decided to let the scores stand. They were behind schedule, asking that bunch to retest would only hold things up more. As for Contest 88... well they didn’t exactly have a score recorded for him but the unanimous decision was to declare him a qualifier, punching machines weren’t cheap after all. It wasn’t that they were afraid to ask him to retest... honestly.
There was a minor issue with needing to restock the kitchens.
The tournament officials breathed a sigh of relief when the final sixteen competitors began their matches without any further incidents. It turned out that they’d relaxed too soon. In the third match Videl Satan, Mr. Satan’s beloved daughter and the darling of Satan City, took a brutal beating at the hands of her opponent. That disaster was quickly followed up by over half the remaining competitors walking, or flying to be more precise, out on the tournament.
What else could go wrong today?
Across a narrow sea and a mountain range, in a rocky valley west of the Tournament Island Vegeta doubled over in agony.
“Fight it!” “Give in to it.” The Supreme Kai and the Wizard Bobbidi were both shouting orders at him. Vegeta ignored them. He was Vegeta, Prince of all Saiyans, he took orders from no one.
Darkness lapped at his mind and whispered to him.
”No you don’t Kakarrot! We have a duel to fight!”
“What?! This is no time to be-“
“Don’t even try to run out on me!” 1
His last chance to prove himself slipping away.
“Hey guess what!! Son-kun defeated Frieza!!” 2
It should have been his vengeance.
Kakarrot, standing there with gold hair and strange light eyes, wreathed in a tangible aura of power; a Super Saiyan. The legendary made flesh.
It should have been him.
He was always one step behind. In spite of his heritage, in spite of his determination and all of his effort he was never more than second best.
This was his last chance.
‘Assuming you still want it,’ the darkness whispered mockingly.
“Don’t feel too bad. My boy just comes from better stock.” 1 He slapped Kakarrot on the shoulder in an almost friendly gesture.
For a moment he had been no different from any other parent in that stadium. Bragging on his child, exchanging jibes with a friendly rival.
He would have been satisfied to have his rematch against Kakarrot under tournament rules. With ring-outs and in a place where they would have had to restrict their powers to a mere trickle to avoid causing collator damage.
“The only reason I came to this infantile game was to settle with you one-on-one!” 1
‘But Kakarrot will never fight you seriously unless you become the villain again.’
He would never be strong again. Not so long as he allowed himself to be distracted by things like his family and the fate of the world.
This was what he wanted, what he’d been seeking. Vegeta stopped resisting and let the darkness take him.
Bulma knew something was wrong the instant Vegeta and the others reappeared in the tournament ring. It wasn’t just the ugly ‘M’ tattooed on Vegeta’s forehead either. It was the way he held himself. It was the way his gaze fixated on Goku as if nothing else was real to him. She hadn’t seen that obsessed look in his eyes for so many years. Bulma had believed that the person with those eyes had died on Namek. It was her Vegeta that the Dragon Balls had revived, not this one. How could he be standing there looking like that again?
Even though Bulma could see that Vegeta had changed it still caught her by surprise when his first blast ripped through the stands scattering bodies like confetti.
She could see Vegeta and Goku talking but she couldn’t hear them. The screams of terror as the rest of the audience tried to flee were too loud. She needed to hear, she needed to understand.
Casually Vegeta blasted the crowd again. This time it was so close Bulma felt the heat and debris from the explosion wash over her. Yamcha pushed her back out of the path of a splintered 2x4.
Then Vegeta, Goku and the others were gone again. There were no answers just the destruction, the corpses Vegeta had left in his wake. Proof enough that this was more than some horrible nightmare.
“We have to get the Dragon Balls,” Bulma said feverishly. “We have to undo this.”
‘If I erase the evidence maybe it won’t be real,’ she thought.
As Goku readied himself for the fight Vegeta’s words echoed in his mind.
“If I hadn’t, I’d never get to fight you. After today you’re leaving this world forever.”
“Insane?! You think this is ‘insane’?! Who cares about Boo?!! This is what I live for!! He surpassed me! He’s Saiyan just like me, but he far outstripped me!! ME - the prince!! The strongest of them all! Once... he even saved my life! I can’t stand it! I can’t!”3
Goku was upset with Vegeta for forcing this fight now but he was even more angry with himself for not dealing with this sooner. Vegeta had been friendly at the tournament. If they’d fought then it would have been fun. Now, with Bobbidi influencing Vegeta’s mind, the fight was going to be ugly. “I don’t want to get hurt and give Boo any energy. I’m going to end this quickly, at full power,” he said.
“I’m looking forward to seeing the fruits of your training in the Afterlife...”3 Vegeta replied.
Goku surpassed the first Super Saiyan limit but he couldn’t bring himself to go to the third level even thought he’d told Vegeta he’d fight at full power. It would burn up too much of his time on Earth and Gohan might still need help.
“Pretty good. You’re stronger than Gohan,”3 Vegeta acknowledged.
Goku grimaced he knew that Gohan didn’t enjoy fighting the way he did but Gohan could have maintained his training a little.
Then Vegeta powered up.
“I guess this won’t be so quick...”3 Goku admitted.
“Come on!! I’ll kill you!!” 3 Vegeta challenged.
Goku couldn’t help it. He knew this was not the time. He knew that he and Vegeta were feeding Boo the power he needed. He couldn’t help it, he loved fighting against Vegeta.
When they broke apart they were both grinning. The second time they paused both were panting for breath.
“Unbelievable... I thought I trained so hard in the Afterlife... But we’re dead even... You must’ve trained harder than I did...”3 Goku wanted to recognize how far Vegeta had come since the Cell Games. He hoped that by talking he could reach the Vegeta he’d seen at the Tournament. Their mutual joy in battle seemed to be loosening Bobbidi’s hold on Vegeta’s emotions.
“No... I thought I did, but you’re more gifted than me... I could never make up the difference between us... I finally saw this when you fought Bobbidi’s monster... It was a huge blow... That’s why I made up my mind...”
“So that’s it!! You got Bobbidi to...”
“Yeah... At the Tournament the guys who’d known Bobbidi’s minions mentioned they’d gotten stronger... I thought... maybe it would close the difference between us... if I let him control me... And I was right... though I hated what I had to stoop to...”
“Your pride let him control you... Just to get stronger?”3 Goku felt disappointed. Disappointed in Vegeta for choosing this route. Since Namek he’d always held the other Saiyan in the highest regard. But this...
The look on Goku’s face forced the full truth out of Vegeta. “I... I... I wanted to be the way I used to be!!! I wanted to be the ruthless and cold-blooded Saiyan!! To fight it out with you - not caring about anything else!! I hated how your influence was making me softer... less aggressive. I got myself a family... And it wasn’t so awful... I even started to like the comfortable life on Earth... That’s why I needed to be evil again! Thanks to Bobbidi... I finally feel strong again!”3
Goku’s earlier disappointment was replaced with a deep sadness. He was sad that Vegeta was so afraid of being happy. Sad that even after so many years Vegeta still couldn’t understand that emotions could be a source of strength rather than a weakness. Vegeta still didn’t understand that you fought harder when you had something to lose.
Goku felt sad that they couldn’t have fought like this; all out, to the best of their abilities just for the hell of it. That Vegeta didn’t realize they could fight like this just for the thrill of it, without either of them wanting to kill the other.
‘I should have let Gohan deal with Bobbidi from the first,’ Goku thought. ‘I’m dead, this isn’t my world anymore and I only made things worse by getting involved. If not for me Vegeta wouldn’t be doing this; feeding Boo all this power. But maybe...’
Kakarrot wouldn’t let it go. He kept harping on the damned genie instead of focusing on the fight.
And now Vegeta could sense Trunks and Goten’s ki. Naturally the brats were flying straight for the Djinn... ‘Not that I care,’ Vegeta reminded himself.
“But everybody will be killed!! Everybody!! Even Bulma and Trunks!!”4 Why couldn’t Kakarrot let it go?
“Sh-shut up! Shut up, shut up!!”4 It was all for nothing if he still cared. “I sold my soul to Bobbidi to eliminate this compassion!! I don’t care what happens to anyone!!”
“That’s a lie... You didn’t sell your love for them...”4
And Vegeta knew Kakarrot was right. Trunks was much too close to that damned genie and he did care. Gohan hadn’t really trained in far too long, Vegeta couldn’t trust him to handle things. “... Fine... We’ll put this off... since you can’t focus with Boo out there.”4
It was much too late to just be realizing that Bobbidi hadn’t taken his emotions after all. Vegeta didn’t want to even think about what he’d see in Bulma’s eyes after she’d watched him off-handedly kill several hundred of her fellow humans.
“I can’t focus?” Kakarrot muttered to himself.
“Give me a senzu. We’ve both used up a lot of energy.” Vegeta ordered.
“Sure!” Kakarrot was always so trusting, turning his back as he dug about for one of the magical beans. “We can beat him if we work together!”4
Vegeta slammed his joined fists into the base of Kakarrot’s skull and the younger Saiyan dropped like a stone. Vegeta shook his head at Kakarrot’s foolishness. “Even you can be vulnerable when you’re off guard.”
Vegeta picked up the senzu bean Kakarrot had dropped and ate it. His strength returned with a rush.
“I let him loose - so I’ll take care of him!”4 And maybe Bulma would forgive him if he fixed his own mistake.
Kakarrot was right about there being something abnormal about Boo’s ki, and that ki was huge now.
“We’ll settle this later... If I come back alive.”4 And if he didn’t he wouldn’t have to worry about looking into Bulma’s eyes and seeing revulsion or fear there. Either way he wouldn’t allow anyone else to pay for his mistake.
But even that resolve came too late. Before Vegeta could return to the ship he sensed Gohan’s ki as it disappeared. Vegeta felt a wave of regret and sorrow come over him. It was a pale shadow of the madness inducing grief he’d felt when Mirai-Trunks had died at Cell’s hands but it served as a reminder. It tempered his resolve to see Boo destroyed, no matter what it took, before he could do anymore harm. And the regret he felt at Gohan’s loss made Vegeta realize he’d been wrong all along.
For so long his worst fear had been ‘what will happen to me if I lose Bulma or Trunks.’ He’d worked to rid himself of those feelings which he believed made him weak. But what would happen to him wasn’t the important thing at all. To lose them and feel nothing would be beyond monstrous.
Trunks was so close to the Djinn now. Vegeta embraced the horror he felt as the danger Trunks was putting himself in. He couldn’t lose now, Trunks and Bulma were counting on him to win...
Goku-chan paced restlessly around the valley despite the lingering pain in his joints. “Vegeta’s dead,” he exclaimed. “Gohan’s dead. We have to do something!”
“What the hell can we do against something that killed Gohan and Vegeta-jiji?” ‘Geta demanded.
“I don’t know!” Goku shouted. “But look at what he’s doing! He’s destroying whole cities looking for Trunks and Goten!”
“And they are hiding! What does that tell you?” ‘Geta snapped. “The brats are stronger than us and they’re hiding. What the hell are we supposed to accomplish by charging out there and getting ourselves killed?”
“I don’t know!”
“I can’t die now! I have to kill Frieza first. Isn’t it the same for you? Isn’t there someone back your right time who you have to beat?” Vegeta reminded Goku.
Goku resumed his agitated pacing.
It wasn’t long before the wizard Bobbidi invaded their minds again. //Warn us?! Hehe-heh! How funny! I must let the rest of Earth listen in on this”//
//The ones you’re looking for will show themselves! I promise!//5
“Hey, that’s me,” Goku-chan exclaimed.
“I thought you were dead in this time,” ‘Geta said.
“I am, don’t you see the halo?” Goku-chan replied.
“He’s the most lively looking dead person I’ve ever seen,” ‘Geta stated.
//I wanted to teach you about Super Saiyans...//5 Goku said.
‘Geta’s attention snapped back to the drama Bobbidi was broadcasting.
//So... This is normal. This is Super Saiyan. And this is the Super Saiyan level beyond that. Super Saiyan two, I guess.// Goku explained as he demonstrated each level. //...And then... this... is the next level up!//5
“What is he?” ‘Geta whispered as the entire Earth trembled beneath Goku’s power.
Goku-chan just shook his head. He was too stunned to speak.
The boys watched with shock and awe as Boo and SSJ3 Goku battled viciously. Then suddenly Goku dropped back to his base state. //Bobbidi, the ones you’re looking for will come in three... no, two days. Just wait. Stop this killing. Just wait two days, okay?//5
“See,” ‘Geta said. “They don’t need us and we couldn’t have helped anyway.”
Grudgingly Goku-chan nodded. But he remained restless. A short while later he glanced up. “Boo isn’t waiting. He’s killing people again.”
“So what?” ‘Geta demanded. “We can’t change that.”
“Didn’t you hear Old-Me?” Goku exclaimed. “We don’t have to win the fight! We just have to delay Boo.” And with that Goku took off flying toward the Djinn’s ki.
Reluctantly ‘Geta followed him. “Why do we have to get killed distracting him? He’s happy wasting his time blowing up cities. You and I have more important things to do than dying here!”
“The others will wish us back after its over,” Goku replied calmly.
“Why not let them wish the humans back?” ‘Geta demanded.
Goku stopped in mid-air and turned back to face his friend. “ ‘Geta, they don’t know about the Dragon Balls!” he exclaimed. “They’re scared! That’s why they were tellin’ that Bobbidi guy stuff about Trunks and Goten. People do bad stuff when they’re scared! I don’t want them to be scared!”
“And you don’t want them to live with the knowledge of the evil they’re capable of when pushed to extremes.” ‘Geta sighed. “Fine, let’s do it.”
Goku nodded and took off again. Several minutes later he paused. “Old-me is gone,” he said solemnly.
‘Geta nodded. “His power had been dropping ever since the fight with Boo. He must have been injured.”
“Yeah,” Goku said. “I know.”
“We won’t be much of delay if we fight nice,” ‘Geta said. “And right now we’re not going to be much of a fight for anyone unless we use our Oozaru states. The Growth Phase doesn’t effect them.”
Goku grimaced but he didn’t disagree. They were weaker than all of the z-fighters Boo had killed thus far.
“We ambush him,” ‘Geta proposed. “Two on one, no hesitation. We aren’t going to be able to kill him but anything we can do to hurt him, we do.”
“All right,” Goku agreed.
The city was empty of life, everyone was dead. “Boo bored. No one left to play ‘kill the human’ with.” The bloby pink genie pouted with a child-like scowl. After a moment he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Then he paced back and forth a few times. Finally his arms flew up in triumph. “Oh well, Boo just go to new city!”
A ball of pure white ki appeared in the sky. “What that?” Boo wondered.
Twin roars split the air. The buildings on either side of Boo toppled to make room for two giant apes.
Boo stared up at the towering creatures. “You big! Strong fighters Boo was promised?”
The Oozaru on Boo’s left wore a navy blue body suit and armor that had somehow managed to expand with the body inside it. ‘Geta drove his fist into Boo. He smashed the Djinn flat as well as putting a four foot deep crater in the asphault.
Boo leaked out of the cracks around ‘Geta’s knuckles and reformed. “You not nice. You try to hurt Boo! Boo make you candy!”
Agilely ‘Geta leapt out of the path of Boo’s magic beam. Goku swatted Boo to the ground. Before Boo could recover ‘Geta grabbed the Djinn with both monstrous hands and ripped him in apart. ‘Geta tossed the two pieces in opposite directions then sent his most powerful ki attacks after them.
The two pieces of Boo quickly reformed into two smaller but whole Boos. Each half-Boo swatted ‘Geta’s blasts away.
Goku leapt at one of the half Boos, covering the distance in a stride. The Oozaru’s vocal cords were incapable of human speech but the motions of the Kame-Hame-Ha were clearly recognizable. He released the attack from point blank range.
The half-Boo frowned at the whole in his center with mild annoyance.
All over the Lookout the Z-Fighters stopped what they were doing.
“Who’s that?” Yamcha asked as two new ki’s flared brightly in opposition to Boo.
“Tien and Chaotzu, maybe?” Kuririn said uncertainly.
“They’re too evenly matched,” Master Roshi said slowly, the pieces falling into place in his mind.
Trunks and Goten exchanged a look. “It’s ‘Geta and Goku,” Trunks said. “Well, Goku-chan I mean.
“Huh?” Yamcha said.
“We have to stop them!” Piccolo exclaimed. “Their assistance later could be invaluable!”
“I’ll go,” Kuririn volunteered quickly. “You’re the only one left who can teach the boys Fusion, you can’t get anywhere near Boo,” he told Piccolo.
“ ‘Geta? Goku-chan?” Yamcha asked.
Videl shrugged, she didn’t know either.
“It’s been over a year now,” Roshi commented to Bulma. “When I didn’t see them with you at the Tournament I assumed they’d been wished back to their own times... I should have realized otherwise when we used the Dragon Ball to bring back the people Vegeta killed.”
“What is everyone talking about?” Yamcha demanded.
“The short version: Trunks and Goten wished for fifteen-year-old versions of their fathers for playmates,” Bulma explained. “Vegeta-chan, well, basically he ran away from home several months ago.”
Yamcha glanced toward Trunks then whispered, “You’ve been letting Vegeta, a fifteen-year-old Vegeta wander around Earth? Have you lost you mind!? Did you completely forget that he kills people for fun?”
Bulma glared at Yamcha. “Vegeta-chan isn’t a bad kid! You don’t even know him! You won’t believe it but he’s actually the one who ends up playing peacemaker when Trunks forgets that Goku’s more independent-minded than Goten.”
“You’re right,” Yamcha said. “I don’t believe it.”
“Goku-chan went after Vegeta-chan,” Chichi contributed. “We didn’t leave him completely unsupervised.”
“That’s a relief,” Yamcha said.
“Goku-chan was supposed to bring him back,” Chichi continued. “Instead they both went into hiding. Gohan and Piccolo-san managed to locate them. They decided it was best to leave the two of them alone.”
“I think Vegeta was pushing too hard about training,” Bulma commented. “I’m sure he and Vegeta-chan got into some sort of fight and that’s why Vegeta-chan ran away.”
Bulma glanced toward the horizon. “When the Dragon Balls regenerated and they still didn’t come home it was a relief. I want Vegeta-chan to stay here. I don’t want him to go back to Frieza.”
Roshi frowned. “Are you sure that’s wise? Without the threat of Vegeta’s arrival Goku wouldn’t have trained with King Kai, Piccolo wouldn’t have trained Gohan. There wouldn’t have been anyone to step in and save Kuririn and Gohan from the Ginyu force on Namek.”
“We wouldn’t have ever gone to Namek,” Bulma pointed out.
“And we never would have met Dende. When Piccolo and Kami-sama fused who would have stepped in as the Earth’s Kami? Without Vegeta there would have been no Trunks, no one to warn us about the Androids.”
“I know!” Bulma exclaimed, her voice anguished. “But how can I send him back when I know he’s being abused there?”
The half shocked, half disbelieving looks on Roshi and Yamcha’s faces made Bulma slap her hand over her mouth as if to put that word back. ‘Abused’ was one of those words Vegeta would never tolerate being used in conjunction with himself. But Bulma couldn’t call it anything else. Martial Arts training, no matter how intense, didn’t result in weekly hospitalizations. Not even if you had access to something like the Regen Tanks which could seem to make near fatal injures vanish in a matter of hours.
The thought of Vegeta’s probable reaction to what she’d said was quickly followed by a renewed realization of Vegeta’s death. Bulma’s eyes filled with tears. Chichi wrapped her arm around Bulma’s shoulders and led her inside after glaring at Roshi and Yamcha as if they were to blame for her tears.
While Yamcha was being brought up to date on Vegeta-chan and Goku-chan’s visit to the future, 18 turned to Piccolo. “What point is served by rescuing those two?” she asked.
Goten gave her a dark look but after a small grimace Trunks nodded in agreement. “It’s not like they can help. They’re not even as strong as you are, Piccolo.” He turned to Goten. “We could wish them back with everyone else, like my grandparents.”
“They might not be the strongest, but, from what I saw, they are your approximate size,” Piccolo said. “I am uncertain as to how far we can stretch Fusion’s requirement of matched ki. However, from what Goku told us about this technique two fused beings can fuse with each other. If it is possible for you and Goten to fuse with your time-displaced fathers before fusing with each other...”
“We don’t need them,” Trunks argued.
“They may not have much power in comparison to you or Goten but the two of you have never been in a life or death battle before. Their experience could be invaluable.”
Down on the planet below the two Oozaru Saiyans continued their battle against Boo. Nothing they did had any lasting impact on the Djinn and their escapes were becoming increasingly narrow as they tired.
Goku paused to help ‘Geta free himself from a thick band of Boo that the Djinn was using to strangle the Saiyan Prince. Boo took advantage of Goku’s moment of distraction and fired a replica of Vegeta’s Gallic Gun.
‘Geta saw the attack over Goku’s shoulder and tried to throw them both out of the way. He didn’t quite manage it. Goku’s shoulder took the brunt of the blast. He screamed in shock and pain as his arm was ripped away.
‘Geta jumped on Boo, once again attempting to use his Oozaru form’s massive size to crush the Djinn. As Boo oozed out of the crater ‘Geta grabbed the reforming Djinn and began ripping him into pieces. He tossed each piece into the air as he tore them off and sent the most powerful ki-blast he was capable of after them. Normally ‘Geta reduced the power of the individual blasts when he used a barrage attack, but this time he went all out each time.
When it was done, ‘Geta stood there scanning the skies. Every time he saw a bit of Boo reforming he blasted it again. As his ki reserves were depleted the false moon waned and ‘Geta shrank back into his natural form. Shaking with exhaustion, ‘Geta dredged up ki-blast after ki-blast. When he was completely spent he crashed to his knees and watched helplessly as Boo pulled himself back together.
Boo marched up to ‘Geta and scowled at the boy. Steam shot out of his head. “You bad! You hurt Boo!”
‘Geta smiled. “Glad to hear it, you repulsive abomination.” He swayed weakly. “I wish I could hurt you much, much more. I wish I could kill you, you disgusting freak.”
“Boo hurt you more!” Boo declared as his eyes narrowed nastily. “Hurt you most!” He doubled up his fists and struck ‘Geta with all his immense strength. The blow decapitated the boy, killing him instantly.
A short distance away Goku took a deep breath and bit his lip. He remembered ‘Geta using his ki to roast meat and used a similar blast to cauterize the gapping wound where his arm had been. His eyes shown with determination as he turned to face Boo.
Kuririn started down at the two boys’ mangled corpses in anguish. Once again they were too late and helpless before Boo. Gohan, Vegeta, Goku and now these two all gone. It was all down to Trunks and Goten now.
After several moments’ hesitation Kuririn moved the bodies to a sheltered nitch then turned back toward the Look-Out. It wouldn’t do their families any good to see them like that.
Author’s Note: Hopefully I put in enough interpretation of the scenes from the “Boo Saga” to make them worth including. Having my story actually intersect with cannon is a little awkward for me, I’m always undecided about how much I should condense since we already know the story and how much I should include to show that the intersection happened, and that the characters have changed due to that. Hopefully the balance worked.
I want to properly cite the direct quotes beyond the general disclaimer at the top:
Toriyama, Akira, Shonen Jump Manga, “Dragon Ball” g 1984, Bird Studio, Printed in the USA, 2003-2006, Viz Media,
1: DBZ Viz Manga Vol. 21
2: DBZ Viz Manga 12
3: DBZ Viz Manga 22
4: DBZ Viz Manga 23
5: DBZ Viz Manga 24