Dreams fulfilled - and stories told.
By Velasa
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Note: Basically none of this complies to the future Z timeline. I have heard and learned a good bit about the following sagas, but since I have only seen the Sayian + Frezia sagas, these two are the only ones I formatted my story to fit. The beginning paragraph is set five years after the defeat of Frezia. It has been mostly peaceful, but they have met, fought, and defeated the androids even though I allotted no time for it, because #18 is one of my characters. As for the Cell and Buu sagas and Dragonball Gt? I haven't formally written them out of my timeline (except maybe Gt), but I just haven't had them happen yet in this fanfic.
And there are a few problems between the current show and my story. I brought Dendea back, but since he's suppose to come back anyway, that not much of one. The real problem is that some of the ages are off, but only after I had written about 40 pages did I realize this, so I didn't really try to change it too much. In my second paragraph, the ages that are out of line are Trunks' and Goten's. In the second paragraph, Trunks is 8 and Goten is 7, but at a later point in the story when Vegeta is thinking back to a time before the first paragraph, Goten and Trunks are the same age. So, everyone else gets older while Goten and Trunks stay little. Besides that, the ages are in chronological order. And as for the people who would be 40 or older? They've been wished to be younger. They're the same in actual years, but not in spirit and ability.
But...
Before I let you go on to the fanfic, I leave you with a warning. Some of the character's attitudes towards different things, such as each other, have changed dramatically!! And some of the new characters I have introduced are totally unpredictable and shocking to an unsuspecting reader. Especially the first of them. And, if some of you fans who hate changes in your favorite characters want my head by the third word, that's perfectly understandable. She is quite a shock. I've looked around the Internet, and found nothing like her, so there's no warning, no guesses that can lead to who, or more specifically, what she is. ((NOTE- Well, when I wrote this story, it was all brand-new ideas that I had never seen the like of before, since I never went on the internet- I know better now.))
Sorry for keeping you so long, I do tend to go on if given 1/2 a chance. And I give full credit to LIVE (mention of two songs, "We Walk in the Dream" and "Pillar of Davidson"), Blizzard Entertainment + all their affiliates (mention of Protoss), and all the affiliates of Z (this whole thing is about Z) for the use of their material in my fanfic. Oh, on the frying pan thing- As with everything else, I wrote this story long before I went on the internet, so I didn't purposely steal any gags. I do not own the rights to any of the characters or such in this story, except those originally created by me.

One last note, {{ is the beginning of a thought, and }} is the end. Now for my fanfic. Enjoy! Or not...

((NOTE- the beginning of this was written a LONG time ago, so it sorta sucks. And if you feel like you've missed something, you have- it's because I work backwards- saying something first and explaining it later. Everything will be explained in time.))

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___Chapter 1___

Piccolo and Oboe sat in the fading twilight as Vegeta flew off home, soaring through the sky with a screaming Bulma being held only with one hand. As real night approached, Oboe suddenly shivered.

The sudden movement caught Piccolo's eye, and he glanced over at her and whispered "What? Is it too cold out here?"

Oboe cocked her head to the side. "No, it's not that. I just remembered this dream I've been having lately." she said softly as they sat on the high tower of rock and watched the last light of day disappear. Oboe yawned slightly, stretching her muscles and flipping her antennae out of her face before continuing. "It's not a dream, actually, more of a nightmare..."

She began speaking, the disturbing images playing in her mind for the thousandth time that day. Her voice threatened to crack, but she continued talking without allowing her emotions to win her over. "Then someone comes, and...." Oboe choked on her own spit at that point, and buried her face in her hands.

Piccolo sighed, turned his head the rest of the way toward her, lifted her head with one hand and said "It's ok. A dream is just a dream, nothing more. You don't need to cry." He wiped the back of his hand gently across her face, cupped her cheek, and flicked one last tear away, whispering "There. That's better." softly as he stroked his fingers across her face.

Her eyes glanced down at the hand on her cheek, and she glanced back up at his face and mumbled "But what if it isn't 'just a dream'? What if I loose you?" Her voice was calm, but her sapphire eyes were downcast.

Piccolo just smiled, and lay his arms by his sides. "Three reasons why not. One, my friends wouldn't let that happen. Two, I wouldn't leave you. Three, who could possibly be strong enough to beat me? Now stop crying. I've never seen you so sappy in my life. You've been hanging around Chi-chi and Bulma too long. You're starting to whine like them." Oboe flared up at the last few sentences.

"Whine?!? Sappy?!? I'm gonna kick your ass now!" Oboe yelled at him as she jerked up, standing with her hands on her hips. He stood up and crossed his arms, a small sarcastic smile on his face.

"That's why I love you. You're brave, strong, and won't back down to anyone. There are more, but that's enough of that. Now forget about that silly dream. Let's go home."

She put her arms down, smiled, and said, "You're sweet." Then she gave him a kiss.

He just threw her an annoyed look and said, "You know I hate it when you do that." Oboe gently slapped his face and laughed

"You're pathetic. There's no one around, you can drop the stupid image thing." A little 'knowing' smirk passed her face as she finished with "And you're calling me sappy."

"Oh, yeah." he smiled softly, and continued, saying "Thanks for the reminder, darling." as he swept her up in his arms, and kissed her briefly. Then they flew off to the area of forested mountains they called home.
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It is now seven years later. All of the Z fighters have rarely seen each other, except Goku and Vegeta, who practiced together a good bit, their sons (who threatened death [or worse- crying to their mothers] if not allowed to see each other) and Yumcha, Krillan, Tien, and Chautzu- who were on tour as their rock band 'The Headbangers' which they just formed on a whim (and a dare) one day, and decided to stay together because they were good. Kami-sama saw everyone, except for his 'son' and Oboe-san. He hadn't even heard a word from the two, but he had a good feeling that they were doing fine. Kami always could sense how Piccolo was doing...

And it was Kami who asked all of them to meet that day seven years after they last encountered each other.

The message got out when Goku had stopped by, and asked if there was any way he could get the others together on the sanctuary for a reunion. The god consented, and sent the message out to each of the Z-senshi via mind speech. A date was sent for two weeks later, and when the day arrived, Goku came first with Goten.

The sayian-jin landed on the edge of the Tenkai, his hair still whipping slightly in the breeze his ki had made when he dispelled it, and no sooner had he been about to ask about food when Goku's mind detected six familiar chi powers in the west.

Kami tilted his head to the side, and said "Yumcha, Tien, Chautzu, and Krillan." as he looked at Son and smiled "They're arriving almost as quickly as you."

Goku nodded, and was about to speak when Goten ran up, exclaiming "Where's Trunks!!! I wanna see Trunks!" as he leapt up and down between the two, his fists balled in indigence.

Goku laughed, put his hand on Goten's head, and said "You just saw him three days ago."

"Three days is a long time!"

"No it-"

"Yes it is!"

It continued like this for three minutes straight.

And would have longer, if eight people hadn't landed behind the bickering sayians at about that moment. Goku turned his head, and laughed out "Hi guys, girls!" to the four men and their wives/girlfriends/girl friends.

Everyone returned the greeting, but one voice came low and angry from the back.

"Goku......."

The spiky haired man in question cringed, squeaking out "hi.... Chi-chi.." while the wife he had tried to leave behind (for the sake that she'd insist on telling his friends how much of bad men they were) glared angrily at him.

Amazingly, she forgave him (without smashing something over his head), but not before he begged.

Another chi force appeared on the lookout then, followed by a bright yellow helicopter with the "Capsule Corp" logo on the side. Bulma hopped out quickly once it landed, young Trunks running out from behind her to get to Goten.

The sayianjin who had flown alongside was not as happy as the two. One look at his fellow kneeling before Chi-chi was enough to make him sick.

"Groveling before some stupid woman... Kakkarott! You are sayian! Do not let that onna command you!" Vegeta growled, but exactly then Bulma smashed him over the head with a frying pan she produced from thin air.

A tall, willowy shape with flowing black hair down to her knees and a kimono-style red dress walked forward and said "It seems like you, Chi-chi, and Ranchi can do that, make weapons appear from nowhere."

Bulma flashed a peace sign, and laughed "Yen! Nice to see you! How are you and Tienshinhan doing?"

"Fine." Yen said, her third eye hidden by her bangs for a second as she nodded.

(a little background) Yen just appeared in the middle of one of their training sessions one day, and she and Tien, who had known each other as children, fell for each other after a relatively short time. They were married a short while before the gang split up. And Puar had somehow gotten stuck as a little human with blue hair and a tail. She could still transform and fly, but her normal form is now a human. She and Chautzu have been pretty close friends over the last few years. Yumcha and Ranchi started dating after Bulma set up her lonely old boyfriend with her, and they were nearly inseparable, because he still hasn't forgotten about how he lost his last girl. (Now, back to the story.)

Vegeta recovered from his 'injury' in time to see Gohan and Videl step onto the lookout. The sayian then smiled in his own way, and declared, "Looks like everyone's h..." his voice came to a sudden halt as his eyes scanned the crowd. {{wait a second!}} Veg's mind said, followed by his mumbling "Where's the green bean?" to noone in particular.

Gohan's face grew concerned as he stated "Actually, I haven't seen him at all in the last seven years. What about you guys?"

They all said it in different ways, but 'no' was the unanimous answer. That knowledge was followed by furrowed brows and degrees of concern showing on all faces, because not hearing from a person in a world as dangerous as theirs was now a good sign at all.

{{He can't be dead at least.}} thought Vegeta to himself after a quick glance at Kami-sama, who was talking to a very upset Gohan, who was being calmed down by his soon to be wife Videl.

The air felt amazingly still, and the humidity did nothing but to accent that feeling. The original dragonball gang conversed in a corner, mumbling quietly to each other. Yen was with them, the two young boys played tag off to the side, and Vegeta was getting a bit anxious almost to know what was going on. Then the silence was sharply broken by a sigh, and everyone looked up to hear someone say "Can't you guys have more faith in me? I can take care of myself!"

Gohan couldn't help but smile when he heard that voice, and twirled around to shout "Piccolo!! I missed you soo much!!" as he ran up to greet his teacher/mentor/idol.

When Piccolo could pull away from Gohan, Bulma immediately noticed something out of the ordinary. Piccolo informed her (upon being asked) that Oboe was going to be an hour or so late.

---

Everyone was having a good time, but Vegeta noticed that Piccolo had a strange look to him when anyone asked him what had been going on lately. Like he was holding something back. The sayian got exasperated when he got the same reaction, and the same reply, basically "No change.", and angrily dragged him off to a more secluded area of the lookout.

---

"Ok. What's going on Piccolo? You're not telling the whole truth. What happened?" Vegeta yelled at the tall namek.

He only sighed. "Vegeta, you'll see in a while. I wanted this to be normal for a while before it got turned upsi-down. Let's just say I have something surprising to tell you guys." Piccolo smirked as he looked down at the sayian's exasperated look.

{{How dare he not tell me! I am the moron's... *grumbles* Well, I haven't said it to his face yet, but he knows it...}} thought Vegeta annoyidly, but then he just rolled his eyes and admitted, "I'm not going to get any answers out of you when you're like this. If you won't even tell Kakkarott's brat, no way in hell you're telling me. Sometimes I think that little punk is more like your son than hi--" Vegeta stopped dead for a few seconds, and exclaimed "What in the name of god is THAT!!" as the warrior suddenly felt a strong power approach.

"Holy.." Piccolo muttered, eyes widening.

Vegeta nodded. Whatever matter of thing this was, it was strong. And, as the two realized at once, the Z-senshi were at a huge disadvantage, with more than just warriors in the line of fire.

---

They rushed back to the others immediately. Piccolo went right to their immediate problem, yelling to those who were not of the ten Z-senshi "You 9, get inside! From what I remember, you have somewhere in there where you can get to ground level, right? And where's Dendea anyway?"

Goku glanced at the two, cocked his eyes, and muttered "Huh?", a plate of noodles shoved halfway into his face.

Vegeta glared at him, and said "Just look over there *gestures to where he detected the chi signal* ." Goku's eyes widened immediately, and the plate went smashing to the ground as he dropped it. "NOW do you see what I mean, Kakkarott?"

"...Yes...." Goku whispered shakily.

Chaos reined in the air as Chi-chi moaned loudly, and fainted. Piccolo ignored it, shouting again "Where is Dendea!"

Out of the shadow of the grand building's door came a smaller, running as fast as it's little legs could take it. Panting slightly from running so fast, Dendea exclaimed "I'm here! Something evil is coming! I can feel it!"

Upon looking up and seeing the serious faces of the warriors, he was told all he needed to know. Dendea turned to the girls and the two who lived on the sanctuary and cautioned "Come on. We're just going to get in their way if we stay out here."

"What about me?" #18 questioned, arms crossed and cool blue eyes narrowed.

Krillan broke in, saying "Somebody's gotta protect you guys if we get distracted. You, Videl, and Yen need to stay with the others."

#18's eyes lowered themselves as she realized he was right. The girls said their good-byes, and as they were led into the heart of the lookout by Popo, Kami stopped in mid-stride beside Piccolo.

The old god looked straight into his counterpart's questioning onyx eyes, and said "Be careful, my son. Not just for our sakes, but for all's." Then he turned, and disappeared into the darkness of the doorway, his cape whipping slowly behind him.

Piccolo only turned his attention from that spec of white in the blackness when Dendea started speaking with Son Goku, and only caught the end of the conversation. "Tell me if anyone needs help. They'll all be safe at the base of the tower, and I shall stay up here." and he ran off to a safer area, ready to help, but not to fight.

Piccolo glanced back at the entrance to the lookout in silence.

{{What does he mean by that crap??}} he whispered in his mind. The wind rippled his cape softly, giving him an almost regal look as he stood there without moving, a single thought in his head for that short time.

{{Damn you Kami.}} he cursed under his breath.