Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Wish For The Past ❯ Mischief ( Chapter 20 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimer: *whistles cheerfully as she puts away her bloody mallet* I don't own DBZ. If I did, Mr. Satan would never have gotten away with taking credit for killing Cell. *smirks evilly* Which means I just have to settle for beating him up in my disclaimers. Something that feels really good, actually.

Mirai Vegeta: *matches Brenda's smirk* Indeed. You know, Brenda, I believe that you would make a worthy Saiyan.

Brenda: *grins* Why, thank you, Vegeta! *thinks* Good Kami, what's the world coming to? Vegeta just complimented me?!

"Truuunks," Goten whined from his bunk bed. "I'm boooored!"

On the upper bunk, the purple haired demi-saiyan heaved a sigh and rolled over to peer over the edge of his bunk down at Goten. "Yeah, me too. There's nothing to do!"

"How much longer 'til we get there, Trunks?" Goten looked up at Trunks, yawning widely. They had already been traveling for most of the day, changing course every so often to make sure no one would be able to track them to Namek. This, of course, had lengthened the journey considerably.

"Probably another few hours, Goten," his friend replied. "Hey, maybe we could play a prank on someone!" His voice had suddenly become excited and a large grin spread across his face. "We haven't done anything like that in days!"

"Great idea, Trunks!" the black haired chibi cheered. "What should we do?"

"How 'bout we play a joke on your grandpa? I know my chibi-dad would be fun, but we've never done anything to Bardock before! This'll be fun!" Not having any other ideas, Goten quickly agreed and together the two trouble makers plotted the mischief they were about to make.

While the two boys schemed about ways to play pranks on Bardock, the Saiyan in question was currently standing bare chested in his room wearing only the black pants that he'd been wearing for the past few days. In his hands he held the tattered and bloodied green shirt, staring at it slightly despondently. He wondered if it was even possible to return it to a semblance of its former state, before all of the mayhem he'd been pulled into had damaged it. The fabric itself was intact enough that it might be salvaged, but he had no idea if the blood stains would ever come out. Dropping the garment on his bed, he headed for the bathroom. Maybe there was something in the there that would work...

Within the bathroom, he discovered a cabinet with a wide variety of containers. "Sham-poo, con-di-tioner, de-o-de-rant... wonder what that is.... Damn, I can't read any of this! I guess it's all in whatever language they speak on Earth. Hmm... well, since they're being stored in the bathroom, they're probably things used to clean things." He grinned at his deductive abilities and grabbed several of the bottles. "One of these things has to be able to remove blood!" It didn't occur to him that maybe he should just ask Trunks or Goten what they were.

He stepped through the door of the bathroom and headed for his bed where he'd left the shirt, intending to get straight to work on restoring his shirt. However, when he reached his bed, he discovered that he wouldn't be able to clean his shirt after all.

The green shirt had mysteriously disappeared.

Bardock looked around suspiciously, certain that he had placed the thing on the bed only a few minutes before. Suddenly, he heard a faint scuffle coming from the closet where he supposed a normal passenger would store their clothes. He didn't have any extra clothes, so the closet was empty.

Or was it?

Grinning, he walked over to the closet door and opened it. He smirked in self-satisfaction as two small bodies tumbled out of the closet with horrified looks on their faces. Goten was holding an open bottle of something in one hand, the cap in the other. Trunks was clutching the missing green shirt to his chest. Both boys gulped.

"He found us Trunks!" Goten wailed, dropping the bottle on the carpet. In an instant, the pale blue carpet began to turn a neon pink color as the liquid within the bottle spilled out. The two tried to dart past Bardock in an attempt to escape, but somehow Bardock managed to snatch them up by the backs of their shirts. It was then that the two chibis noticed the reckless grin on the older warrior's face and the flicker of something akin to insanity in his eyes. I think we're in trouble, Trunks thought in panic. That's the same look Gohan got when we showed up at his school and blew up the cafeteria! He shuddered as he remembered what Gohan had done to them.

"What were you two boys planning on doing with my shirt, hmm?" Bardock's smile only broadened as his captives squirmed in his grip. "You do realize that's the only shirt I have, right?" There it was again. That crazed gleam was in his eyes, making the smile on his face that much scarier. Goten was trying his best not to melt into a puddle right there, his own eyes wide in terror. Bardock's gazed shifted from the mischievous duo to the green shirt that Trunks still held in his hands.

Or, rather, what had once been a green shirt. Streaks of pink stained the fabric in a crazed swirl that, after a moment, Bardock realized made a pattern of sorts. Symbols from that Earth language he had read on the bottles in the bathroom decorated his once green shirt. Four of them. B. A. K. A. His eyes hardened. "What does that say on my shirt?" If it was possible, the two boys paled even more and began to stammer incoherently. "Well? I'm waiting...."

"It says 'baka,' grandpa," Goten whispered.

"Oh." That was all he said as he contemplated what to do with the two. Taking his silence as an indication of impending doom, Trunks figured that the best thing to do was get the heck out of there. Flashing into Super Saiyan, he pulled free of Bardock's grasp and grabbed hold of Goten by the arm. Goten, catching on to his friend's plan, also went Super.

"Run away!!!" they shouted in unison, darting towards the exit. In his haste, Trunks dropped the once-green shirt before he vanished through the door.

Bardock picked up the shirt and sighed, looking over the shirt. Trunks had unconsciously taken his stress out on the thing, leaving holes from his fingers and tears from being twisted too hard in some places. Added to that were the tears and singe marks from the fight with Nappa, along with the bright pink letters that spelled out 'baka'. All in all, the shirt had been rendered totally and utterly unwearable.

"Great. Now what am I going to wear?" He'd have to track down his grandson and his friend later on after he thought up an appropriate punishment. It wouldn't be too hard to find them. After all, they would be stuck on this ship for several more hours, and there weren't exactly that many places to hide.

It was definitely a good thing Radditz had kept himself from falling asleep. The ship he was following changed course so many times that if he had not been awake, he would never have been able to track them. Now they were approaching a green planet and he guessed that they had finally reached their true destination. Checking the star charts, he found that the planet was one called Namek, inhabited by peaceful green bipeds with fairly high kis. Other than that there was nothing of interest on Namek-sei. That's odd. Why would the prince's kidnappers stop here? Unless they mean to drop him off for someone to pick up... No. Surely not. Why go to all the bother of taking the Prince of all Saiyans hostage if you only intend to let him go? There must be something more to this planet than the records show. If so, then I intend to find out.

But if they do mean to abandon the prince here, then I will need to pick him up. Either way, it looks like I'll be landing. So far he had managed to keep from being detected by the other ship, keeping a respectable distance which had made it difficult to keep up

In the end, Bardock had tossed the shirt in the disposal and had opted to just go shirtless for the time being. Like he had much choice. Still, he supposed he should be grateful that Namek had a moderate climate. A light breeze swirled over his broad, muscled chest as he inhaled the fresh scents of the new world. Beside him, wearing shirts with the the letters B, A, K, and A painstakingly dyed in pink, the contrite duo took in their new surroundings as Vegeta smirked at them. Since he had not been a party to the prank, he had been spared Bardock's punishment. It was rather amusing to see the brats plucking self-consciously at the shirts Bardock had told them they had to wear for the entire time they were on Namek. Which meant, of course, that they would be wearing them when they wished themselves back home. It really was hilarious.

"Well, let's get started, then," Bardock stated as he finished examining the world around him. He didn't let it show, but on the inside he was wrestling with his emotions, forcing himself to come to terms with the facts. Soon, they would have the dragonballs gathered and the wishes could be made. Trunks and Goten would return to their time and their families, Vegeta would return to Vegeta-sei, and Bardock... Bardock didn't know what he would do. He couldn't imagine life without Goten in it anymore. The child had somehow found his way into his grandfather's heart and permanently lodged himself there. When he left, there would be a huge, gaping hole that the Saiyan didn't know if he would ever be able to fill. Goten had come to mean the world to him, and he was about to lose him.

Still lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice as Trunks pulled out the Dragon Radar and pressed the button. Nor did he notice the frown appear on the demi-saiyan's face. He did notice, however, when Trunks spoke up, his voice filled with worry. "Uhh.. guys, I think we have a problem. The Dragon Radar isn't picking up anything!"

Surprised out of his depressing thoughts, Bardock turned his head to look at the boy quizzically. "What does that mean?"

"Well, one of two things. Neither of which is a good thing. Either the dragonballs here are dormant, or," he inhaled slowly, attempting to calm himself, "or the Dragon Radar is broken. If it's broken, I don't know if I'll be able to fix it." It was obviously that last possibility that worried him the most.

"Why exactly are we looking for these 'dragonballs', anyway?" Vegeta asked, raising one regal eyebrow.

"Because dragonballs grant wishes and me and Trunks are gonna wish ourselves back where we belong," Goten explained. "That's how we got here in the first place. We used the dragonballs. I came here by accident 'cause I didn't say my wish right. Trunks came 'cause he wanted to help me."

"They can grant wishes?" the young prince asks, stunned at the prospect. Goten nodded enthusiastically.

"But you have to have a Dragon Radar to find the balls." That dashed any hopes he might have had of finding these dragonballs himself. Oh well. It had just been a thought.

Trunks peered off into the distance, frowning in thought. "Maybe we could ask the Elder of the Nameks if the dragonballs are just dormant. If they're dormant, they wouldn't show up on the radar. Come on. I can sense some Nameks this way. They'll probably know where to find the Elder." The nine year old chibi capsulized his ship, then took to the air. One by one, the other three followed him as they sought out the one who might have the answer to their question.

Mixed feeling played through Bardock's mind during the journey. If the dragonballs were dormant, or the radar was broken, then that obviously meant a delay, whether permanent or temporary, in Goten's departure. Goten would be trapped in the past for that much longer. However, that would also mean that Bardock would be able to spend more time with him. While it saddened him that Goten would not be able to see his family for however long it took to fix their current problem, part of him was pleased that maybe, just maybe, he would be able to keep his beloved grandson just a little longer.

Radditz stepped out of his pod and looked around at the world he had landed on. Seeing nothing of immediate interest, he turned his scouter on and began to track the kis of the prince and his three captors. Locking onto the prince's signature, the young man took off in the direction the scouter said they were. Perhaps he would find the opportunity to rescue the prince from the criminals. Then his job would be done and he could return to Vegeta-sei. And to his father.

He frowned as he remember that these criminals might have something to do with the large ki that had appeared on Vegeta-sei and seemed to be linked to the feelings he had been getting about his father. Maybe he would find more than just the opportunity to free Vegeta. Maybe he would also find some answers. There was only one way to find out, though.

With the wind flying through his hair, the fifteen year old boy sped off after his quarry, keeping low to the ground. They weren't traveling at a particularly fast rate. In fact, it looked like he would overtake them in a few minutes if he wasn't careful. He slowed down. Now was not the time to run into the criminals. He only needed to be close enough to observe them until the chance to do something arose.

With these thoughts in mind, Radditz grinned. The hunt was on.

*reaches into her handy dandy Bag O' Generic Requests For Reviews (TM)* Ah, here's a good one. "Please review!" ^_^