--- Disturbance, Book 1: Convergence ---

Chapter C01 - Sons of Plunder

Disclaimer: Yeah, like I own Dragonball Z. If I did, would I be posting stories where anyone can read them for free? Yeah, didn't think so. I do, however, own any and all original characters; well, my friend and me do, at least. I also don't own any and all songs, movie and/or books mentioned or hinted at throughout this series. That cover everything?

Other Disclaimer: The events described within this series are entirely fictional. Any and all similarities between these and actual events are purely coincidental. If you believe something within this story infringes on events that transpired in your life, we advise you to seek psychiatric help, as you are probably insane.

Additional Note: For those looking for the start of Book 2: Divergence, it starts at chapter 21. However, if you haven't already read the first 20 chapters, you're probably going to be a little lost.

-Legend-
"blah" – speech
'blah' – thoughts
"blah" – Saiyan / Saiya-Go
"blah" – telepathy
-blah- - song lyrics

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-Tell me you like it / Tell me you like it-
-You say you found yourself a new sound / The shit's loaded and ready to go-

Gohan yawned widely, turning his head from gazing listlessly out the window to cast his eyes over the other occupants of the airbus, as he listened to Vegeta bitch about how he'd ridden faster galactic slugs. While the spiky-haired teen himself had never even seen a galactic slug, let alone ridden one, he doubted it could have travelled slower than this thing...

He tuned out Bulma's counter-screech, despite the fact it almost made his ears bleed as it echoed through the confines of the airbus. On the pair of seats directly in front of him sat his little brother and his partner-in-terror, Goten and Trunks, the pair sitting strangely quiet. 'Probably nervous about the tournament... After all, they've never fought in front of an audience before,' he mused to himself, continuing his scrutiny over the rest of the passengers.

Krillin and 18 sat opposite the terrors, Marron being held on 18's lap; with the strength the cyborg woman had, the young blonde was no doubt safer there than any seatbelt could match. The two were talking quietly, and from what he could hear, the formerly bald monk was bemoaning his fate, considering no less than five Saiyans were competing in this year's tournament, four of them full-bloods.

-A bit too much just like the old sound / Already heard it for the hundredth time-

His mother sat next to Bulma in the front, the two chatting away cheerfully, while sparks danced between their eyes as the two rival mothers not-so-secretly competed vicariously through their husbands and children; Chichi had three entrants to Bulma's two, so, naturally, she felt she had the better odds of 'winning'. Directly opposite Gohan sat Vegeta, the flame-haired man wearing his trademark blue-spandex-with-white-boots-and-gloves combo, and between the two sat his grandfather, the Ox King, and Master Roshi.

Yawning again, Gohan subconsciously adjusted his blue gi, the same style that had become his standard, as his mind drifted to the topic of the person he'd spent the past fortnight training in the ways of ki manipulation, the same girl he was fast falling for. 'Videl... I wonder how she's doing...'

-One hundred more, all have the same sound / Running around with all the sheep that you know-

'I. Am. In. HELL!'

Videl ground her teeth together as she fought the urge to punch her father right in the mouth, as he flapped his gums to some nameless blonde hussy, draped across his lap like a housecat. The half-plastic bimbo giggled mindlessly as 'the Champ' blathered on about how there was no competition for him, and about how the tournament organisers should just hand him the check and be done with it. He then did a one-eighty, going on about how, if they did that, the people wouldn't get to see 'the Champ' in action. And then came that grating horselaugh of his.

It was at times like this she really hated her father. She'd wanted to travel to the tournament island with Gohan and his family, but her father insisted - no, ordered - her to go with him. Not so that he could spend time with her, of course, but so he could show her off to his adoring fans like a trophy. It was enough to make her feel sick. Running a hand through her now-short hair - her new haircut prompted from a simple, off-handed comment from Gohan - she reflected back on her training.

-"It sounds sublime, they're breaking new ground" / "They're sure to have another hit this time"-

The lessons Gohan promised had not started well. It had taken her a full day just to access her ki, and another week before she could control it enough to fly properly; Gohan had started her off with creating a ki blast, stating it was easier than flight, which, as it turned out, it was. Nonetheless, Gohan has assured her that she was progressing quickly, then joked with her that he had been taught how to fly by being thrown at mountains until he could stop himself; at least, she thought he was joking...

After having spent the past fortnight around Gohan's family, she had to admit she'd almost be jealous of how her spiky-haired crush had things at home, if his family hadn't all but adopted her as one of theirs; Goten was always calling her 'neechan', an action which made matching blushes appear on both her and Gohan's faces the first couple of times, and Chichi was all smiles while she was there, insisting she come over whenever she felt like it, and that there was always room for her if she wanted to stay the night.

Blissfully, she noticed that their transport was descending, meaning her nightmare was almost over; her mood instantly soured as she looked out the window, seeing the hordes of screaming sheep, and realising that another nightmare was about to begin.

-Come on, can't you just leave it alone / It doesn't have any soul-

Gohan yawned widely again, stretching his arms and flexing his back to work out the kinks from the long flight, while secretly vowing to himself to never again agree to ride in that thing, anywhere, ever. Finishing his stretch, he grabbed Goten and Trunks by the scruff of their gi's as they made to race away, hoisting the pair onto his shoulders as he walked over to where they'd agreed to meet the others, trusting the rest to follow.

Arriving at the wooded courtyard, he noticed that they were the last ones to arrive. Piccolo was standing in the shade of a tree, as far away from prying eyes as possible, and with him were Kaen and Pi's fathers, Avarrdo and Kellre, the three of them discussing something. Yamcha was standing around nearby with Truniz, the two having hit it off well several months back; if Gohan remembered rightly, the two still went bar-hopping together every now and then.

Over the other side of the courtyard stood April, Raene, and Cherri; Avarrdo, Kellre, and Truniz's mates respectively, the latter bond being only three weeks old. Nonetheless, the two older women had instantly adopted the third as one of them, and the three of them were happily chatting away; he vaguely noticed Bulma and his mother going over to join them.

-Just find a thing of your own / And stop pretending to know-

In the centre of the courtyard were a series of wooden benches, set up in a circular shape, and upon these benches sat a series of familiar faces: Kat, Leo, Aeris, Hawk, Falcon, Eagle, and Condor. Off to one side was another group, consisting of everyone under ten: Faile, Oran, Lime, Vincent, and Gina. Setting Goten and Trunks down, he watched them race over to the other children before heading to the group on the benches, as he noticed 18 joining the circle of women, Marron joining the group of children, Roshi and Krillin joining Truniz and Yamcha, and his grandfather and Vegeta joining the older men; everyone, it seemed, had their circle of close friends amongst the large group of mostly-friends.

Casting his mind over the list of attendees again, he realised that everyone wasn't here yet. He was mildly upset to realise that Videl wasn't here, but then he didn't fully expect her to have gotten away from her father either; she'd told him the previous night that if she could, she would, but if not, she'd see him during the prelims. He also noticed Kaen and Pi weren't there yet either; closing his eyes and stretching out his mind's eye, he felt the ki signatures of the pair for the first time in a month, noticing that they were approaching the island, albeit from different directions, almost as if they hadn't been together...

There was one other of their group that hadn't turned up yet, but then, being the guest of honour, Gohan knew he'd be late. Son Goku, his father, was coming back for the tournament. Gohan couldn't wait. It wasn't that he hadn't seen his father for that long - after all, Goku still visited every now and then - but Goku had never been able to stay for more than a few hours before, so they'd never had a chance to properly catch up. And by 'catch up', Gohan meant fight.

-As the countless numbers hunger / For world wide renown-

"Hey Gohan, how was your 'training'?" His introspection was broken by teasing tone of Kat's voice. Opening his eyes and looking over at her, he noticed her yellow eyes sparkling, and the big grin on her face as she added, "Did you 'train' her good and hard?" Gohan blushed. Her statement sounded innocent enough, but Gohan knew what she meant by 'training'; after all, the girl was familiar with Saiyan culture.

Clearing his throat to compose himself, he replied levelly, "Videl's ki manipulation lessons went well; other than that, there was no 'training' involved." He muttered an 'unfortunately' under his breath, and at the same time heard Kat add a 'yet'; he was well past admitting he felt something for the formerly pig-tailed girl.

-All the pimping sons of plunder / Will roll up their sleeves-

Kat opened her mouth again to continue teasing, but before she could so much as utter a syllable, cries of "Niichan!" and "Neechan!" rang out from Oran and Lime respectively, as the two full-blooded Saiyan half-pints threw themselves at the latest arrivals to the group. Heads spun around in the direction the newly arrived pair was standing; in his distraction, Gohan hadn't noticed their approach.

Almost everyone not seated on one of the benches felt some degree of shock at the large scar running across the fiery male's face, having not laid eyes on him for at least a month, though some showing this shock more than others; while Bulma gaped openly at the striking change to his appearance, Vegeta didn't so much as bat an eye, and Kaen and Pi's respective families looked more curious than shocked. Eventually, it was Krillin who spoke, asking, "Who did that to you?"

A grin on his face, Kaen replied cryptically, "I did."

More confused than before, Yamcha added, "Uh, how? Why?"

If anything, his grin just widened as he replied, "Ah, now that would be telling."

-All searching for the answers / They don't even care to know-

He was saved from anymore questioning by a sudden rush of air, and a familiar voice calling out, "Hey guys! Did you miss me?"

The reaction to this particular newcomer was, to say the least, overwhelming, as every Z-Fighter present raced up to greet their returned friend with a simultaneous shout of "Goku!" The only Z-Fighters who didn't fit this category were Gohan, who walked up calmly, albeit with a massive smile on his face, and Goten, who literally jumped into Goku's arms from where he stood; Piccolo and Vegeta didn't even twitch, but they didn't really consider themselves Z-Fighters anyway, and Goku wasn't exactly a 'friend' to either of them.

Casting his eyes across the courtyard, Kaen locked eyes with Vegeta, the two sharing a silent conversation before the older man nodded, turned, and began walking towards the stadium; specifically, the sign-in booths. Casting his eye over the Club Chaos gang (into which Leo and Aeris had been inducted), he inclined his head in the direction Vegeta left in, before putting an arm around Pi's waist and following, and with a shrug, the gang followed. They didn't really care who this 'Goku' guy was; they came to see Phoenix and Roc fight.

-Give it to me, give it to me / You like it?-

After a few minutes, all greetings, and the occasional bit of teasing (like about Krillin's hair) were made, Goku looked around, realising someone was missing. "Hey, where's Vegeta?" he asked no one in particular.

"He went to register already." Piccolo replied from his spot in the shade.

Goku just laughed, "Typical Vegeta; eager to fight as always."

"He probably left to question my wayward son about where he's been for the past month," Avarrdo commented offhandedly.

The comment seemed to cause the Earth-raised Saiyan to realise the other Saiyans were there. Laughing in his typical way and rubbing the back of his neck, Goku commented, "Sorry, I guess I didn't see you guys there." Suddenly realising something, he added, "Wait, he's back on Earth? Since when?"

Kellre grinned, "You really don't keep up-to-date on events here on Earth do you Kakarott?"

Any further questions were silenced when Gohan interrupted, "In any case, he's got the right idea. We should go sign up, assuming we actually want to compete today." He finished with a smart-ass grin. Deciding that this was, in fact, a good idea, the group headed off after them.

-I'm still surrounded by the new sound / I've had enough and I'm ready to go-

By the time the group arrived at the sign-in booths, Vegeta, Kaen and Pi had already registered and were waiting, leaning casually against the wall nearby. The two males had their eyes closed, but the occasional facial twitch showed the two were talking telepathically; Pi, meanwhile, was conversing with Kat and the others, and fending off questions about where they'd been for the past month, other than to say that, for the past two weeks, they'd been training separately.

The Z-Fighters who were going to be competing in the tournament - that being Goku, Gohan, Piccolo, Krillin, 18, Goten, and Trunks - all quickly moved to register before the line got too long. As Goku began to regale the others with stories of his time in Otherworld, Gohan cast his senses out, searching for Videl; he needn't have bothered.

"Hey Gohan!"

He turned his head quickly in the direction of the shout, seeing a familiar crop of dark hair weaving it's way through the throng of people towards him. His face broke into a grin as her familiar face slipped past the crowd. "Hey yourself Videl."

-I'll strangle hold about the world now / The new obsession will fade in time-

Taking a moment to catch her breath, she said, somewhat apologetically, "Hey, sorry I couldn't meet up with you guys earlier; I only just managed to get away from 'The Champ'. Have you registered yet?"

Gohan just waved the apology off, grinning at her good-naturedly, "Nah, don't worry about it. I figured you were caught up in something. And no, we haven't registered yet; just about to actually."

"Who's this Gohan?" Krillin's voice interrupted, a strong teasing undertone to it. "Is this your-"

"Guys, I want you to meet Videl," Gohan cut the shorter man off. "Videl, this is Krillin, and his wife 18, my old mentor Piccolo, and my father."

-I fear reminder of the past now / I'm coming up and now I'm ready to go-

"Pleased to meet-" The girl cut herself off as she realised something, "Wait, father?" Turning to Goku, and clearly seeing the resemblance both to Gohan and Goten, and to old pictures she'd seen, she added, "Uh, forgive me if I say the wrong thing, but, Gohan said you were dead..."

The spiky-haired man blinked for a moment, before laughing cheerfully, "Oh, that's alright. I am dead." He paused, flicking the golden halo above his head, before adding, "See? I died seven years ago. I'm just back for the day."

She blinked, "So... You're dead, but you're allowed to come back for the day?" When he nodded, she blinked again, before her confusion quickly changed to anger; anger which was, as usual, directed at her half-Saiyan crush. "Gohan, you've got some explaining to do..."

-Their hearts and bones remember this now / I think you've given us a few this time-

The pleasant conversation, and the mental conversation, cut off abruptly as a hand fell on either of Kaen's shoulders, the arms tracing up to the stern faces of a pair of fathers. As Kaen's eyes slid open, flashing a fiery red for a moment, he gazed upwards to regard the older men's faces, asking dryly, "Yes?"

His expression a grim mask, Avarrdo commented, "We need to talk." With that, the two older men all but dragged the younger away.

Blinking in surprise, Pi turned to her adopted sister and asked, "What's that about?"

Kat just shrugged, "Probably because you guys've been missing for a month. We couldn't sense you or anything."

-Come on, can't you just leave it alone / It doesn't have any soul-

Pi opened her mouth to reply, but was drowned out by shocked cries of "What? Junior Division?" coming from the two kids in the registry line, followed by Gohan trying to appease them by saying that, this way, they stood a chance of winning. Muttering sourly as they walked off, Trunks turned to the other kids assembled and asked, "Hey, are any of you guys competing?"

Oran answered for them, snorting, "Pfft, no; why would we? We've got nothing to prove, and it's not like any of us need money."

Lime shrugged and added, "'Sides, we figured you two'd end up in the junior division, and we knew we couldn't defeat you guys yet, so, what's the point? If we wanted to fight you, we'd do it somewhere where half a million people wouldn't see it."

-Just find a thing of your own / And stop pretending to know-

Trunks opened his mouth to retort, but like Pi before him, he was cut off by a shout, and all heads shot in the direction the sound came from. This time, the voice belonged to Kaen, exclaiming, "HEY! She is my mate, and I will take care of her how I want to! Keep your nose out of my business old man!" The group was too far away for the humans to hear Kellre's reply, and he leant in close to Kaen's ear and angled his voice low so the others couldn't hear either, but whatever he said obviously struck a chord, as Kaen, usually ever the tough-guy, cringed.

"Did... Did Kaen just flinch?" Videl asked dazedly, not believing her eyes.

"I... I think he did..." Gohan replied, just as surprised.

Pi just put a hand to her forehead and groaned, muttering, "My dad is such an embarrassment..."

Digesting this new information, Videl asked, "So, Kaen is scared of your father? I didn't think he was scared of anything?"

Pi grinned, "Name a guy that isn't scared of his girlfriend's father?" "And you don't count Gohan!" she jibbed teasingly, before adding, "No, seriously, Kaen isn't scared of anything, or anyone, but he does respect my father, and that respect goes a long way. I mean, I could count the number of people Kaen truly respects with just my fingers, and probably then only need one hand."

Conversation over, Kaen began walking back to the group, before noticing every eye on him. Growling harshly, he barked, "What are you gawking at?" Every head snapped away so fast you could almost head a few vertebrae crack.

-As the countless numbers hunger / For world wide renown-
-All the pimping sons of plunder / Will roll up their sleeves-

The registration process continued as normal, the only oddity being that Piccolo registered under the name 'Ma Junior'. When Gohan questioned him why, the Namek had merely smiled slightly and replied, "Precedence."

Currently, the fighters were assembled in what was called the 'practice yard' behind the tournament stage, awaiting the start of the preliminaries that would determine which fifteen fighters would go on to challenge Hercule for the title. Steeling himself, Gohan turned to the girl beside him and asked a question that had been bothering him for a while. "Hey Videl," he paused while the girl turned to face him, "How come you haven't said anything about Piccolo?" When her curious expression turned confused, he clarified, "You know, because he's green."

-All searching for the answers / They don't even care to know-
-Give it to me, give it to me / You like it?-

She turned to face the Namek, her face paling a shade, before she looked back at him and replied, "You know, I never noticed until now... Guess meeting your dead father kind of threw me off..." What she didn't want to say was that she'd been so distracted by just being with Gohan himself that a nuclear blast could have gone off and she wouldn't have noticed if not for the heat and wind.

Changing the subject quickly, lest she start asking questions he, like an idiot, hadn't considered until after his last statement, he asked, "So, do you know what these preliminaries involve?"

She grunted sourly, "Yeah, it's some stupid punch machine that tests the fighter's strength." Shaking her head, she continued, "If you ask me it's a waste of time. How strong a fighter is doesn't always determine who's going to win..." Grunting again, she added, "You can thank dear ol' dad for this particular change..."

"Why?" Goku's voice interrupted, "Who's your father?"

She turned to face the older man, confused again. "You don't..." She trailed off as she realised who, exactly, had asked, muttering, "Oh, right, dead..." Shaking her head, she replied, "My father's Hercule Satan. He won the last tournament, so he's got some clout with the organisers."

-As it's blown apart, hundreds thrown away / Makes me question just what I believe-

Krillin burst out laughing as he heard who her father was, while Goku seemed to be racking his brain trying to place the man, "Satan... Satan... Ah, I remember him now. Still got the brown gi, afro and giant moustache?" Fortunately, Goku knew that Gohan had not come forward with his claim as victor over Cell, and had instead let 'that fool Satan', as Chichi put it, take the title instead, so he knew not to bring up the subject.

Videl just nodded replying dryly, "'Fraid so. He's really got no sense of style..." She probably would have continued to bag her father, finally glad to find another group of people who didn't like her father (the first being Kaen's circle of friends), had the announcer-slash-organiser not interrupted her fun by arriving.

"May I have everyone's attention please?" Once the crowd of people quietened down, the blonde man continued, "Now, first thing, I'd like to welcome everyone to the twenty-fifth Tenkaichi Budokai." The man paused again as a roar went up from much of those assembled, before he continued again when quiet resumed. "Now then, I give you the man who needs no introduction: HERCULE!"

-Brothers torn apart, mindless drones enslaved / Makes me search for an answer I don't want to know-

Once again, a massive roar went up from the people assembled, so much so the five Saiyans, and one Namek, had to hold their hands over their ears to avoid going deaf. The group tuned the man out as he went on about his greatness, and how he hoped everyone had been training so he could have a challenge, as well as most of the rest of the crap that spewed from his mouth. Several of the group - namely Kaen and Vegeta - mentally willed him to die as he show-boated, but unfortunately, lacked the ability to kill telepathically; fortunately, Piccolo put a quick stop to that by blowing up every camera in the area.

-It's like a plague from below / Killing all that I know-
-One hundred voices the same / Drench their sorrow in fame-

His capering was put to an end by the announcer suggesting Hercule strike the punch machine to give them a score to go by, and after 'focusing' the 'Champ' struck the red pad with his hairy fist, registering 137, before declaring he hoped some people at least broke triple digits, and striding off like a peacock; Videl just groaned, muttering to herself about how much of an idiot her father was, and making not-so joking promises of disowning him.

Finally, it came time for the assembled fighters to try out, but, unfortunately, it turned out that they needed to try out in the order they'd registered, meaning many people has quite a while to wait...

-As the countless numbers hunger / For world wide renown-

Almost half an hour later, it finally came turn for the first three of their group to try out: Kaen, Pi, and Vegeta. The older of the two flame-haired men grinned as the younger walked up to strike the machine, jeering, "Come on boy, let's see what you can do."

-All the pimping sons of plunder / Will roll up their sleeves-

Stopping in front of the machine, Kaen fell into a loose stance, drawing back his right fist and even winding up a bit for show... before quickly jabbing the machine with his left. The numbers on the screen flashed for a moment before stopping on 666; Kaen grinned in satisfaction, as the crowd gasped in shock.

One of the attendants commented, "Uh... It appears the machine is malfunctioning... Maybe it needs recalibrat-"

"Look," Kaen interrupted irritably, "If you think the machines wrong, I've got a simpler solution than you wasting more of my time fiddling with it. Why don't you give it a try, and if you score over 10, we know there's a problem."

-All searching for the answers / They don't even care to know-
-Give it to me, give it to me-

The man sweat-dropped at the bluntness of Kaen's remark, but nonetheless he replied, "I suppose that's one idea..." Winding up, the attendant punched the red pad, the digits flashing for a second before displaying 006; the man sweat-dropped again, mumbling, "Well, it looks like it's working..."

-As the countless numbers hunger / For world wide renown-

Sighing irritably, Kaen casually backhanded the machine, the numbers displaying 222 this time. Turning to the attendants, he growled, "Better?" The two men just nodded fearfully, so Pi took his place, copying his lazy swat and scoring herself 204.

-All the pimping sons of plunder / Will roll up their sleeves-

Vegeta, however, was having none of it. Vegeta would not hold back. Winding up, he delivered a solid blow to the very centre of the red pad. Moments later, the ruined remains of the machine crashed through the brick wall behind before bouncing off a nearby parked car and landing in the ocean. Spinning around to the mass of 'weakling humans' Vegeta sneered, "Anyone here who doesn't want to end up like that should just take off now." Not surprisingly, a bunch of those who had yet to try out fled.

-All searching for the answers / They don't even care to know-

Videl's eyes nearly fell out of her head as she exclaimed, "Did you see that? He not only destroyed the machine, but he sent it flying for at least half a mile!

Gohan just shook his head, "That's Vegeta for you."

-Give it to me, give it to me /You like it?-

Her head whipped in his direction, "Wait, you aren't the least bit surprised by this? I mean, I may not like my dad, but he's meant to be the strongest man in the world, and he only scored a 137, while your friends are all scoring over 200. Care to explain?"

-Tell me you like it-

Gohan could only drop his head in defeat, groaning, "Vegeta..." This was not something he wanted to explain right now.

-Tell me you like it-

"Well, I'm waiting," Videl remarked, tapping her foot irritably.

-Tell me you like it-

Gohan just sighed; it was going to be a long day. He had no idea how right he was...

-Tell me you like it-

To be continued...

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Author's notes:

Well, here we are, the first chapter of my third story arc, and this one promises to be a doozy. I will be honest and say I have no idea how long this series is going to be, but it will most definately come in over the 40 chapters mark, if not over 60, so it's been broken up into three 'books'. I have a rough-ish plan on the chapter layout for it, but that'll probably change the more I write. Rest assured, however, that the basic storyline is completely planned out.

I'm going to be trying something a little different with my writing style. My original plan was to have each chapter set to a song, however, I haven't planned out all the songs yet. So as to not have this hamper my updating schedule, which I am going to try to have at once a week, I intend on writing the chapters first, and adding the song after. Thus, a chapter might be posted sans song. If this happens, and there's an update reported without a chapter being added, this means I've found the song for an already posted chapter and gone back to add it.

Also, if a chapter has been posted without a song, and you find one you believe suits it, feel free to let me know, and if I feel you're right that the song you chose is the best for the job, that'll be the song I use.

Any feedback about this series, or my plans for writing it, is appreciated - so long as it's constructive feedback - so leave a review if you want. I won't lose any sleep if you don't.

EDIT: Some minor formatting changes.