Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Fall of the Mighty ❯ Insight and Discovery ( Chapter 15 )

~I Am Still Queen Of The Fic~

DO'H! Sorry it took so long. Time flies when you are buried in brats. I have been finding myself having to tweak this stuff more and more but I think I'm satisfied now. TWO MORE WEEKS AND I AM FREE!!! NO MORE BRATS!!! The sad thing is that I am catching myself thinking it wouldn't be so bad to continue babysitting the little one. But, NO, I must do something with my life. College classes start next week. That's gonna suck too. I have to crash an English or math or something to go along with my chemistry. I wish general ed weren't so worthless. Hopefully I'll be done with it by next summer. Anyway, you don't want to know about that.

*Juggling a bunch of very sharp, jagged, pointy, glinting, dangerous looking trains of thought* Hmmm… What to do? What to do? Shall I be evil, sorta evil, really evil, or mega evil? Hmmm… What to do?

Incase you haven't guessed I am sorta up in the air about how to proceed but I am starting to lean in a particular direction or two. *can't help but grin* My, my, my… So many directions and so little time/paper/ink. Don't worry. I'll figure it out. I had two more chapters mapped out but decided that direction was not worthy for the time being so I am now rewriting them. It's nice to be in control. You guys are a great help to get those creative juices flowing again (I always hated that term *yuck* but it fits). As for how I am going to handle "certain things"? That is for me to know and for you to grovel and beg until I feel inclined to show it to you. Poor Vegy. He's still the bad guy. At least to some. He freely takes the pressure and spotlight off Kaky and what does he get for it? A punch in the puss. I'm so mean. And, no, I am not bashing Gohan. He just has a less than rosy limelight. This is a fanfic not a basher. Just thought I'd clear that up. Don't worry, I've got it all under control. Sort of. Hopefully. Eh, maybe not. Oh well.

~Bow Down Before My Almighty Worthiness~

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His thoughts turned to Kakarott but he pushed them away. 'He can just get over it. He… Damn it! He's just too fucking sensitive!' He growled silently, frustrated at having to deal with all this crap.

Arms encircled him from behind, strangely calming. He had begun to really enjoy that, though he would never admit it.

"Let's go."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*Insight and Discovery*

Spice glanced up from the book and raised an eyebrow speculatively. Her father's ki just shot up in the distance. 'What the…?' She felt around for a bit and laughed. 'Ho boy! He's at grampa's house and he's pissed.' After thinking a moment she closed her fantasy novel and stuffed it into her backpack before walking out of math class. 'I know I should mind my own business but…dad *is* my business so it's alright.' Normally she wouldn't butt in but she wanted to know what was going on sooo badly. She knew that her dad would flip out. He was so excitable about such inconsequential things like dating and boyfriends and criminal records. There were times when she thought he'd go crazy over some of the stuff she'd done and who knows what he'd do about this considering...

"Hey, dad." Gohan landed on his doorstep to find his little Spice smiling at him. "Oh, honey." He sounded so distraught. He looked away like he couldn't bring himself to share such terrible and devastating knowledge. Spice touched his arm with quiet concern.

"Hey, dad, I could use a spar. Ya think?" Gohan smiled at his little girl. "Sure, honey. I think I'd like that."

"Not bad for an old man." Spice panted. Her dad laughed, a bit out of breath as well. "Hey! I'm still in my prime."

She shook her head. "Yeah, whatever. So what were you so freaked about earlier?"

Gohan drooped miserably again. "I… I have some news. I don't know how to tell you… It's… Kami! Don't be upset with your granddad. It's not his fault. It's not!"

Spice rolled her eyes. "Just spit it out, dad."

Gohan realized he'd started babbling. "Vegeta…and father are having a relationship."

Spice looked at him with unconcern. "So they finally decided to tell. Cool." Gohan gaped. "You… You knew?! Don't you care?!"

She shrugged indifferently. "Not really. It's their business." Here she eyed him with disapproval. "What does it matter what two adults decide to do on their own time? What are you gonna do? Chaperone Kakarott? You're not the only one privileged enough to have sex you know. They've both been lonely for a long time. Maybe if you hadn't immersed yourself so much into human life it wouldn't have been such a shock."

Gohan grew angry and his ki rose just slightly. He couldn't believe something so crass just came out of his daughter's mouth. "How can you talk like that! You've spent too much time with that man! I'm your father! How can you say that?! You don't know Vegeta like I do! It's wrong!"

Spice glared at him resembling the ruthless prince much too well for Gohan's peace of mind, all signs of fatigue from their spar disappeared from her. "You may be my dad but you can be such a dumbass at times. How can you know what Vegeta is like? From those archaic horror stories of when you were little? That was a long time ago and I've heard all sides of them. I know what happened. Grow up, dad. Your childhood trauma doesn't mean shit now."

Gohan powered up and took a step toward her. "How can you talk to me like that? You will not disrespect me!" He moved as if he might smack her but she caught his hand easily. "Or what? I'm stronger than you. You are overreacting. I trained with both Vegeta and Kaky. I know them. You obviously need someone to tell you what an idiot you're being and grampa won't do it so I will."

Gohan drew back and yelled in anger. "Your granddad is pregnant! He's Kami-forsaken pregnant!"

Spice threw up her hands in frustration. "Yes! And I can't wait to babysit the kid and teach it to fight and have fun! You've got a half-brother or sister now! Get over it! That kid's gonna grow up to kick your ass someday if you don't get over it and I'll help it!"

He spun away. "Damn it!! Am I the last one to find out *everything*?!!"

Spice calmed and spoke in a lighter but still disapproving tone. "If you ever paid attention to what goes on around you then you would have felt all the activity lately but you never took your abilities seriously. All sorts of things have happened. I bet you didn't even notice that Vegeta's ki increased twice just lately. That only happens after he's been in a battle or has been hurt really bad. The only person around who can really hurt him is grampa so what happened? Huh? You tell me. This is anything but one sided, dad, trust me. It doesn't matter what you think. Nothing you say could convince me that Vegeta took advantage of Kaky or forced him into anything so don't you tell me not to blame grampa. Who cares who started it anyway? It's done and that's just the way it is now."

Gohan shook his head and frowned at her, his anger lessening some but he still had his jaw set stubbornly. "How do you know all this?"

She raised an eyebrow. "You don't know me at all do you? I'm the bad one remember? I'm the paranoid one. I trained with the Saiyajin no ouji. I always keep track of what's going on and listen to these instincts that you and most of the others buried under your humanity." The sneer in the word 'humanity' was clear for anyone to hear. "Vegeta taught me how. I may not know what it is to be Saiyajin but I refuse to be just human. I'm *me*. I don't fit in. Why should I want to?" She paused with a flat unimpressed expression before changing it to a smirk and continuing. "I also took Vegeta out for a night on the town and something he said helped it all to come together."

The father couldn't decide between anger or disbelief. "You got Vegeta drunk?!"

"Twice."

Ugh! Gohan put his hands to his temples in frustration. Too much had happened already for him to add his daughter's drinking problem to the list so he pretended not to hear that part. "What did he say?"

The girl turned thoughtful. "He said something along the lines of not needing beer because Kaky and I already make him do dumb things he would never do otherwise." She looked at him speculatively. "Did you even notice when I went head to head with him a few days ago? You know what, dad? You're acting just like he was that day. You've been out of the loop for a long time, you can't just step back in and decide what's acceptable or not. It's not up to you."

Gohan stood rigidly. "I'm not going to stand by while Vegeta takes advantage of my father. I won't let Vegeta hurt him this way."

Spice closed her eyes and took a deep calming breath. This was going nowhere. "You're going to protect him? Oy! Dad, what do you think…" She stopped again disgustedly and pushed all her negative impulses away. With a clear mind, though still miffed, she continued again. "I assume that, since they told you, it's free info? If you don't mind, I think I'll butt in for the newsbreak." She didn't wait for his answer. Her face hardened with concentration and she winked out of existence leaving her gaping and baffled father behind.

"Ack!" Trunks nearly dropped another device when Spice appeared next to him. He stared at her. "Since when did you learn that technique?"

"Hey, Trunks. I just wanted to know if anything horrifying or shocking has happened to you."

Trunks glared at her. "That depends on what exactly you mean by horrifying and shocking."

She innocently picked up and examined a piece of lab equipment. "Have Kaky or Vegeta come by?" Trunks nodded. "Yes, both."

"And they told you?"

Trunks set down the thingy he held. "Yeah. I started research on Goku already. Do you know about…?"

Spice answered his unfinished question. "Yeah, I know. You seem to be handling this pretty well."

Trunks shook his head wonderingly. "You know father. He does what he wants and there's not much you can do about it. Goku and mom were the only ones who could really handle him and since Goku is in the picture I trust that it'll work out fine. I knew father cared about him. Just not *that* much. Then there's you and I have no clue how you get him to react the way he does."

She smiled and put down the device. "Well. My dad doesn't hold the same opinion. He's convinced that Vegeta has some evil ulterior motive. I don't know about you but I know for a fact that that's not the case. If it were then your dad would not have been as on edge as he's been." Trunks nodded as he listened. "I think we should have a family get-together and break the news before my 'dear daddy' has a chance to make an ass of himself." She grinned at him. "And it's pretty easy to get Vegeta to do stuff. He's a pushover as long as you find the right angle."

Goten was playing with Fleaa in the yard outside his little house when Gohan showed up. "Hey, bro, what's up?" Fleaa saw her uncle and ran up to hug him happily. "Hi, uncle, is grandpa coming too?"

Gohan snatched her up with a smile and swung her around a couple of times before setting her down. "Sorry, sweetheart, grandpa's not with me. Um…" He turned to Goten looking unsure of himself. "Do you know…?" He stopped and started again. "Have you seen dad lately?"

"Yeah, he's been babysitting Fleaa for me."

"Oh." Gohan eyed him suspiciously. "Was Vegeta there?"

The younger demi-Saiyan frowned at him unsure why his brother was asking and why he looked so stressed. "Now that I think about it, he was there the last time. Why?"

Gohan felt a little more reassured now that it seemed that Goten didn't know what had happened. 'So I'm not the last to find out after all.' He looked down at the little girl still hugging his leg. "Sweetheart, I need to talk to your dad for a sec, okay?"

Fleaa pouted but let go. "Okay." She bounded off to the house.

"What's up, bro? What's wrong?"

Gohan took a deep breath. "I went to dad's house earlier." He paused again.

"What? Is something wrong with dad? Is he okay?" The younger brother was beginning to worry.

Gohan laughed nervously. "I think he's fine, as fine as he could be, at least. I… I kind of…caught him and Vegeta…together…intimately…"

Goten just stared at him frowning confusedly. "What?"

"Dad and Vegeta are…together and… Kami. I don't know how to say it… Dad's pregnant."

Goten shook his head, still uncomprehending, then did a double-take. "What?"

"It's because he's a third-class Saiyan and we might have inherited it from him too."

Goten giggled nervously, looking just like their father, before turning serious again. "Oh… Vegeta? And dad? And Vegeta?" He shook his head again. "You're kidding me, right? This is a joke?"

Gohan shook his head solemnly.

Goten frowned, perplexed, his brow crinkled in thought for another moment but then he couldn't hold back the grin that formed on his lips. "Wow. That's weird but…" He thought fondly of the surly man who had been like a step-father to him for a good portion of his lifetime. He'd known Vegeta longer than he'd known his own father. If the prince had really done what Gohan was saying then he knew that it had to be a pretty big thing. He laughed again. "…It's kind of cool. It makes sense I guess."

Gohan's jaw dropped. "What?! Cool?! What do you mean cool?"

Goten shrugged. "Well, they are the last two Saiyans and they've known each other forever and I guess the fact that dad *could* get pregnant means that it's, you know, a normal thing, right? It's definitely weird but the fact that Vegeta…" Goten searched for the right word but couldn't find it. "…*agreed* to it is really something."

Gohan couldn't believe his ears for the third time that day. "Aren't you worried at all about what he might do to our dad?"

Goten frowned, clueless. The family resemblance was astonishing at times. "What do you mean? What would Vegeta do to dad?"

Gohan threw his hands up in the air. "That's the whole point! I don't know! He's capable of anything!"

Now it was Goten's turn to be incredulous. "What the heck are you talking about? Vegeta never did anything to Bulma, why would he do anything to dad?"

"What?! He's done plenty of things!"

Goten stepped up to his older brother and put an arm around his shoulders comfortingly. "Gohan. I know it's a surprise but it'll be okay, you'll see. Vegeta may be hardheaded and a little hard to get along with sometimes but they've been friends for a long time and dad can handle him. Go on home, take a load off, relax. Don't worry."

Gohan reluctantly did what his brother said. 'What's going on? Has everyone gone nuts?'

Fleaa and Naga bounced up to where Goten and Trunks stood talking. Fleaa tugged on her dady's arm. "Where's grandpa? He hasn't come to see us in forever. He promised to teach me to use my ki more. Can we go visit him? Please?"

The two men exchanged a look before Goten knelt down to his daughter's height. "I'm sorry, honey, but your grandpa isn't home right now."

Fleaa frowned and whined at him. "Why not? Where'd he go?"

Naga piped up. "Did he go on vacation like my grandpa did?" Goten blinked and looked at Trunks who merely shook his head and shrugged, at a loss.

"Um… Yeah, I think they went on vacation together." Goten answered, struggling to hold back a snicker.

Naga rolled her eyes with a frustrated sigh. "Come on Fleaa. They'll be gone for a million years! We'll just have to practice without them. Let's go."

Goten hesitated. "Hey, wait a minute. You can use ki?"

Naga growled impatiently. "Of course! Now if you don't mind, we've got important things to do!" She stomped off with Fleaa following along behind. The two fathers exchanged a surprised and worried look before bolting after their girls in the hopes of keeping the property in one piece.

"Come on, dad." Pan pleaded. "Calm down. Grandpa's fine. Don't worry so much."

"Yeah!" Came Spice's voice from in front of the computer screen. "You're gonna give yourself an ulcer."

"Yeah, Mr. S, Get a grip!" Trunks oldest/teenage son, Nigel, yelled from another room and another computer where he was playing a networked deathmatch game with Spice. "Hey! You're not supposed to just go after me! You've killed me 16 times! Go after someone else, you jerk!"

The youngest daughter cackled evilly and Gohan groaned.

"I just wish I knew where they were. I wish I could just talk to dad."

Videl came out of one of the rooms. "I agree with the kids, Gohan. You already talked to Goku and he said he was fine. He can take care of himself. I'm sure they'll come back when they're ready. Your family has always been a little weird, this really isn't much weirder." Gohan sighed, no happier than before.

One of the twins spoke from the floor where they were playing a board game. "So this means you can't be mad at uncle Tong for liking guys anymore, huh grampa Gohan?"

"Aaaarg!" He did not need to be reminded of that! He stomped out of the house.

"Kale!" Pan reprimanded her son but her other son, Kane, and her sister Spice just laughed and continued playing their games.

A few minutes later a tall young man came down from upstairs. "Was that dad I heard scream a second ago?"

"Yeah." Pan answered. "He's a little stressed."

The young man nodded with weary acceptance. "What else is new?" Tong was a mirror image of his dad at age twenty-one, thin and lightly built, though he was taller and his hair was spikeless and sleek, hanging down to his shoulders and gathered in a tail.

There was a clinking sound from the kitchen and Videl appeared carrying a huge tray to the dinner table. "Here, mom." Tong jumped to help her with her burden. "There's seven people here, you don't need to haul around this stuff you know." Easily he lifted the heavy platter from her hands.

She glared at him. "I may be older than I used to be but I am *not* helpless *or* weak. I can handle it just fine." Then she smiled at him, pushing back a lock of graying hair. "You are sweet though and you do have a point." She turned to look at the other occupants of the room. "Alright. If you want food then make yourself useful. If not then go scavenge somewhere else." Pan and Spice got up and headed quickly for the kitchen. Videl moved a few things on the large table so Tong could set down the platter. "Thank you, honey." She gave him a quick hug and went back to the kitchen. From beyond the door a frustrated shout went out. "No! Don't touch that! That's not done yet. And *that* is for dessert! Get out!"

Spice shuffled out of the room suppressing a smile and licking pink frosting off of her fingers. She shrugged at her brother. "Hey, I *tried* to help, she wouldn't let me."

Tong shook his head, his expression berating. "Do you have to be so childish?"

She raised an eyebrow at him challengingly. "Do you have to be so much like dad?" Tong growled, stepping past her into the kitchen while she went back to her game.

"Hi, Trunks. What are you doing? I haven't heard from you in a while. How's Dady?" Bra lounged on her couch with a bowl of Peaches-n-Cream and her favorite soap-opera on mute while she talked happily to her big brother over the phone.

"Hi, Bra. I just thought I'd call and see how you were doing. How is it out there on the other side of the world?"

"It's different. It's definitely different, but the men are all the same. Greg's doing well. He's at some sports martial arts thingy so I'm all alone and bored. What's been happening at home? Same old same old?"

Trunks laughed a little. "Not exactly."

"What?!" Bra was now pacing in front of her tv, Peaches-n-Cream forgotten. "Wait a minute. Repeat that." Finally she stopped and stared at the phone. "You're kidding. Dady? Really? I don't know what to think. *My* dady?" She turned around a few times in the huge living room, just trying to soak up the news. "You're sure? With *uncle* Goku? That's… That's… I don't know what it is. That's just so odd… Gosh, I can't even… It just… I keep wanting to say *cute* but... I don't know." She finally found her way back to the couch and sat, picking up her P-n-C while she listened intently to her brother on the other line. "Wait. Did you just say… Oh my gosh! Is that even possible? Really?" She let out a stream of giggles. "Oh poor dady."

I tiny glimpse into the lives of the two families, what do you think? I will have to go a little more in-depth at some time or another but this is good for a start. You've met everyone now I believe. I think. Maybe. No promises. I am trying to keep all these personalities from blending so bear with me.