Disclaimer: I don't own DBGT or To-Love Ru

Enjoy!

Chapter 3: The Bodyguard appears! The Princess's Revelation?

"What's wrong, Goku? Why'd you get so serious and say we need to talk?" asked Lala, confused. Wearing Peke in dress form, she stood next to Goku on the river bank. "C'mon, I wanna go back and play some more video games."

Goku groaned inwardly, sitting up; due to the activities he took part in nowadays, video games looked boring in comparison. "…Do you really want to live in my house?"

"Eh? Didn't you say it was ok?"

Goku cocked his head to the side, confused. He wore jeans and a light blue button up shirt over a red T-shirt.

"Married couples live together, right?"

Goku gaped soundlessly at her, turning red. "…I already told you, we're not married! I said, it's a misunderstanding! I was trying to confess to somebody else, not you!"

He groaned. 'Well, she probably already rejected me. Since Lala arrived, everything's been going wrong. I don't wanna be mean to her, though.'

"…So you don't like me, Goku?"

The boy hesitated, slightly flustered. "Well, its not that…"

"It's okay, I can live with that!" chirped Lala, looking completely unfazed.

As Goku began to splutter incomprehensibly, Peke spoke up slowly, "Lala-sama…I think I know what you're trying to do."

"What are you talking about, Peke?" asked Lala, looking offended.

"What was that?" asked Goku curiously.

"Nothing! Please be good to me, Goku!"

Goku raised an eyebrow, then his eyes narrowed. 'There's a relatively high power level behind us. Feels like the same one from earlier.'

"Lala-sama!" yelled a young man, stepping into view. He had longish silver hair with a purple tint, armor that looked like bones with a cape draped over it, topped with spiky shoulder pads. To add to his bizarre yet rather handsome appearance, a dog was chomping away at his foot and he had a spiked segmented tail.

"Zastin!" said Lala, said surprised.

"Is he your bodyguard or something?" asked Goku, to which Lala nodded.

Zastin smirked. "I really do dislike underdeveloped planets like this. I went through a lot of trouble to get here. I got lost, got chased by a dog, and I got arrested. But!"

He reached out to Lala. "This is the end! Come back to planet Deviluke, Lala-sama!"

Goku frowned. 'Lala did say that she's a successor to a throne. So she's a princess and doesn't want to be married?' "Hey, why does Lala have to marry now?"

Zastin glanced at him. "It's customary for Devilukean royalty to marry when they're Lala-sama's age. But that doesn't matter to you, human."

Goku raised an eyebrow at as Lala made a face at Zastin. "Bleeeh! I am not gonna go back! I have a reason!"

"Oh?" said Zastin. "And that is…?"

Lala hesitated for a second, then pointed at Goku. "I-I fell in love with this guy! Son Goku Jr!"

'WHAAAAAT?' screamed Goku internally, completely taken off guard.

"So I'm gonna marry him and stay on Earth!"

'She's actually using me as a reason to not go back…?" gaped Goku. 'You've gotta be naïve or an idiot to believe that!'

"I see…" said Zastin, nodding slowly, stroking his chin thoughtfully. "So that's how it is…"

'He's a naive idiot?' Goku shook his head to himself. 'Nah, theres gotta be more…'

"However," Zastin said, regaining a serious look, "it's not that simple. I was instructed by your father to bring you back to Deviluke. I cannot return and tell him that I approved a marriage between an odd Earthling and you, Lala-sama."

Lala looked irritated. "Then what can we do?"

As Zastin was silent at this, Goku's eyes narrowed, noticing the subtle in Zastin's chi. 'Here we go…', he thought tensely.

"…Please stand back, Lala-sama," spoke Zastin tersely. His hand darted to the back of his waist.

Zastin swung his arm forward, holding something long and bladed. As Goku jumped to the side, Zastin sliced a long gash in the ground at a speed that a normal human could not follow.

But Goku could, with ease. 'A blade of…chi?'

"Let me determine whether or not he is suitable for you, Lala-sama," said Zastin calmly, holding a bone-like handle from which projected a humming blade of greenish chi energy.

Goku sighed, catching both Devilukians off guard. "You know, I've already seen that kind of thing before. And I can tell you're different from the last two guys. But I don't want to fight you."

"I'm afraid not!" retorted Zastin, charging forward. "You never fought against my men, and I must find out if you are worthy of the princess! Now show me your true strength, Son Goku Jr!"

As Zastin started to swing his sword, Goku let out another sigh, which turned into a small confident smile.

Zastin blinked as he suddenly found himself hurtling face first towards the ground, his wrist stinging. "…Eh?"

He impacted hard with the dirt, approximately 50 feet away from Goku and a shocked Lala, resulting in his entire upper body being buried in the ground.

Goku walked over to Zastin, whose legs were comedically waving around, picking up the fallen sword handle. He grabbed one of Zastin's legs, and yanked Zastin out of the ground with a pop.

Goku grinned cheerfully at the unconscious Zastin. "That enough for ya?"

Zastin stirred, groaning, and Goku set the larger male on the ground.

Zastin sprang back, nursing his injured wrist. "You…how did you do that?"

Goku shrugged. "Just parried your sword arm, chopped the wrist, which made you drop your energy sword, then grabbed that same arm, and threw you over my shoulder."

Zastin was speechless. He, Deviluke's best swordsman and Lala-sama's personal bodyguard, had only seen a flicker of motion, and the teen had done all that without breaking a sweat?

"I-I demand a rematch!" Zastin exclaimed. There was no way a simple human could have done that in an instant.

"Stop it, Zastin," said Lala, sounding slightly annoyed, but still looked surprised. "He beat you fair and square!"

"But…But Lala-sama!" protested Zastin. "Even so, marrying you, heir to Deviluke's royal family, would mean ruling countless planets that are in your father's care! He can't be as great as your father, and he might break under the pressure! Which is why your father gathered the best possible suitors in this galaxy for you, Lala-sama!"

"I already said, I don't care about that!" Lala yelled. "You know that Daddy cares more about the throne than me!"

"That isn't true-" "CUT IT OUT!" erupted Goku. He had had it.

"I don't care about ruling some planets, that would be boring!" said Goku exasperatedly. "I don't care about any of this crap you're spouting!"

'I don't hate Lala…' thought Goku. 'She's really pretty, and I did feel a little excitement on maybe marrying her.'

An image of Haruna flashed in his mind. 'But…'

"A PERSON SHOULD HAVE THE RIGHT TO LIVE A NORMAL LIFE! AND NOBODY SHOULD BE MARRIED TO SOMEBODY THEY DON'T LIKE!" Goku yelled angrily. "SO JUST LEAVE! I WANT TO BE FREE!"

Goku took a deep breath and let it out, trying to calm down. Now, though, he was a little worried. 'Did I sound really mean when I said that?"

He looked up and saw Lala wearing an unexpected strange expression.

She seemed surprised, embarrassed, touched, and like she had reached some revelation. It was like when a girl hearing the boy that she liked confess that he had feelings for her.

"Goku…" Lala said softly, her cheeks now tinted red.

"…I'm glad. I know you said you didn't like me…but your feelings are the same as mine."

'Wha…?' thought Goku, thrown off track.

"With what you said…I want to be free too," Lala said distantly. "I want to try a lot of new things. I want to choose my future husband myself for myself. That's what I thought."

Goku started to realized what she was talking about, and started to shake his head desperately. "No, no, wait…" he said feebly. 'I was talking about me and I can't marry you since I don't actually like you."

"Goku…it's true that I used marrying you as an excuse to not go back," Lala admitted softly, sounding ashamed.

"But now I know…" the girl said, her voice growing stronger. "It feels like I can really marry you…for real, Goku. I mean, I want to marry you!"

Goku stared in shock for a moment, then frantically started to shake his head. "No, no, that's not what I meant!"

He turned to Zastin. "Oi, say something!"

Zastin sighed. "…I've lost."

'Eh?'

Zastin shook his fist, crying slightly in shame. "I had to follow the king's orders…I knew Lala-sama's feelings on her being married, but I tried not to think about it. But as you have pointed this out, I will concede defeat."

Zastin turned around and walked away, his cape flowing behind him. "I don't know if the countless suitors will agree with it, but I will report to King Deviluke that we can entrust Lala-sama to you! You are the one who understands her feelings!"

Goku stood speechless, even as Lala latched onto him.

"…IT'S NOT LIKE THAAAAT!"

I have some important information for all of you. Firstly, this story will not be discontinued. I am not giving up on it.

Secondly, the events before this point in time contain virtually no events from DBGT. The only thing taken from GT are characters and events from the DBGT special and the epilogue.

Why? Because I will be going by the timeline in Dragon Ball Online, which continues from the end of the manga. Thus, there is no Baby, Super 17, or Dark Dragons. I do not care if Super Saiyan 4 exists in this story or not, as I will not making references to it.

Stay tuned for the next chapter of Dragon Troubles, and happy holidays!