To See the Old Neighborhood.....

Part 6

For Gohan, if the kids were a pain on a regular basis, they were demons now. The atmosphere was exceptionally wild around the small, poorly constructed fighting 'ring'. The Saiyans around them were hooting for whoever was winning, and jiving whoever was losing at the time, be they friends on a regular basis or not!

Goten and Trunks signed up to fight as soon as they reached the booth. The man behind the counter gave them both dirty looks (an especially long one towards Trunks) and told them they had to be dressed properly before they could get onto the ring.

Both boys looked down at their gi's. They weren't ripped or even singed! They were accually dressed nicer than they were normally. Gohan put a hand on each of their shoulders and asked the Saiyan, "Where can we get some.....decent.....outfits? We got these clothes on the last planet we were on, and haven't had time to change."

The Saiyan smiled and raised a big burly arm to point toward a booth, "Jus' head in there, kids. They'll suit ya' up with all the armor ya could need."

"Thank you," Gohan said, almost subconsciosly being polite. The Saiyan behind the counter balked for an instant, then turned back to his chore of keeping the other contestants in line, dismissing the thank you as a mishearing.

Gohan brought the four children, namely Goten, Trunks, Bra and Pan, into the building indicated. It was darker inside than it was out, so Gohan had to pause for his eyes to adjust to the artificial light. The room was small, though seemed large enough to fit all the kids Gohan was sheparding well enough. There was no one else in the room besides them.

Gohan noted that one side of the wall was lined by many lockers. The writing above the lockers was in a language Gohan did not understand, but it was evident that the uniforms he was seeking were in them. After a little fidling, Gohan figured out how to open one.

Sure enough, inside were a few different sizes of Saiyan uniforms. After pulling out various sizes and holding them up to Goten and Trunks to see how they fit, he chose a black uniform for Goten and a white one for Trunks.

"Um.....," Goten said, turning the armor around a few times, "How do you put it on?"

Gohan smiled and laughed. After helping Goten get his new armor on, Trunks put his on by himself.

Turning around a few times to get used to the feel of wearing something not as loose or baggy as their gi's, they grinned evily at eachother.

"These are soo cool!" Trunks exclaimed, tightening a gloved fist in the air.

"Uh huh!" Goten agreed, pulling at the bottom of his armor in fascination, "And whatever these are made of is REALLY neat! I wonder why Vegita doesn't wear his anymore......"

"Eh, probably just wanted a change," Gohan said, smiling at how funny Goten looked in those huge shoulder pads.

"Aren't you going to wear one?" Trunks asked, looking out the door into the sunlight to make sure the fighting hadn't started without him.

"Me?" Gohan looked down at the gi he was wearing, "I suppose I do sort of stand out wearing this........okay, sure."

And so, soon Gohan also had dawned a unifrom, as well as fited one for Bra and Pan. Their suits didn't have any shoulder pads, and were slightly more pliable, though for the most part looked about the same. Both little girls found their whole ordeal of having new outfits put on them absolutely hilarious.

"Hookee," Gohan said, mimiking Noone's voice and making the boys laugh, "You guys all set to win?"

"Yeah!" they cheered, puffing up their chests and smiling proudly.

Gohan rolled his eyes back for a second and sighed, "You guys really want to do this, don't you."

Their smiles only broadened as they kept their hopeful eyes on his face, their silence saying it all.

Gohan nodded to himself, and with a look of defeat on his face, gestured for the kids to head out the door.

**** "So you say your Vegita from the future? Marai no Vegita?" Lotus asked, puzzled.

"Something like that," Vegita said, trying his best to expain, though he himseld didn't know exactly what was going on. Had Noone sent them back in time? Or had he accidentally brought back the younger version of himself......the "him" that had died, or no longer existed?

If either of these were the cases, then was there a younger Radditz? Nappa?...........would there be a younger Kakarot? A Kakarot who still went by the name Kakarot and still had his Saiyan memories, which were passed onto him from infancy?

Oh, if only he could talk to Noone right now, HE WOULD RING HIS SCRAWNY NECK!! Noone would probably not even remember what exactly he did! And Vegita at the moment wanted nothing more than to punch the facless man from his "big brother reality" right in the nose.

"You're not seriously going to believe him are you, father?" Vegita's younger self asked. Vegita had forgotten what a meddling little bastard he had been as a child.

"Accually," the King said, looking Vegita right in the eyes, "I do believe him."

Vegita sagged in releif. FINALLY they belived him. The little Prince just scowled and looked away, refusing to even look at his senior counter-part. That was just fine with Vegita, he didn't care what little him thought of himself.........Though the whole concept was confusing.

"So, you said you brought your children to our time with you?" the King said, intriged without showing it that he had grand-children.

"Yes," Vegita nodded, "As well as......just some other people. Chosen randomly.

"I'd like to meet these other time travelers as well," the King said, stroking his beard, "We could have a feast and you could all tell me what the future holds for the Saiyan race."

"Eh....heh," Vegita wondered if he accually SHOULD tell his father what the future of the Saiyans had to bring, considering how it might dampen the whole mood a titch.

Now what would become of them? He didn't know, and the dirty look his little self was giving him wasn't helping at all. When the King turned to whisper to Lotus, Vegita flipped little Vegita off.

****

Radditz couldn't stop looking at his brother from the corner of his eye. Kakarot, for some reason, had a look of seriousness that seldom graced his Saiyan features. He kept his eyes facing forward, and didn't make eye contact with any passers-by.

All this considered, you could mistake him for a natural, hundred percent Saiyan of the truest kind.

"What, Kakarot?" Radditz felt slightly disturbed by the intensity of his brother's normally easy going gaze.

Kakarot looked up at Radditz, and said, "I need to wear something appropriate."

"Pardon?" this wasn't exactly the response Radditz was expecting.

"I agreed to use the name Kakarot, right?" Kakarot asked, "Well, I may as well wear the right sort of thing."

Radditz smiled and nudged his little brother into the next booth that fitted for Saiyan uniforms.

"Ya know," Radditz smiled, "We might just make a Saiyan out of you yet!"

"Hah!" Kakarot grinned back, he had returned to his usual big smile.

They went indoors.

To be continued...........