Dragonball Extreme

Piccolo sighed and carefully repositioned himself into a more comfortable position. He grumbled inwardly about not being able to train or meditate, but he was thankful that the child was finally quiet - the first time in several hours. He never realized how many hours an infant spent each day either sleeping or crying.
The cost of the silence, though, was that Piccolo was now sitting on a hard, stone floor, leaning against an equally hard, stone wall. Reed was cradled comfortably in the crook of his arm, with one tiny arm draped across his chest and the other resting on Piccolo\'s firm chest.

Piccolo decided to take his mind off of his discomfort by idly perusing the ki signatures on Earth. He really hadn\'t needed to watch over the Earth since Dende had taken over as Kami-sama, but every once in a while he liked to poke about, just to reassure himself. Well, he thought inwardly, everything seems to be normal. Everyone\'s where they belong except that woman of Gohan\'s, but she\'s just at the Lookout. He did a mental double take. What was Videl doing at the Lookout? He glanced at the infant sleeping in his arms and decided this time the situation took priority. He would just have to risk having Reed wake up. In a flurry of motion, Piccolo was on his feet and headed toward Kami\'s Lookout.

Silence greeted Piccolo as his feet touched quietly on the tiled surface of the Lookout. He glanced about and realized that Dende, Videl and Popo were in the main building. As he started forward, Dende and Popo stepped out to greet him.

\"Piccolo!\" Dende said in surprise. \"What are you doing here?\" He noticed the baby in Piccolo\'s arms and smiled. \"So that\'s what the little guy looks like. I was aware of his presence, but I hadn\'t really taken a close look yet.\"

Piccolo grumbled under his breath. \"I figured he was your practical joke on me.\" Then he straightened up. \"I came to find out why Videl is here. Is something going on with the saiya-jin?\"

Dende looked a little uneasy. \"Well, yes and no,\" he replied. \"It\'s mostly between Videl and Gohan. Their relationship hasn\'t been doing the greatest lately, and she came up here to get my help. She wanted me to erase all of her memories of Gohan.\"

Piccolo looked up sharply. \"You didn\'t do it, did you?\" he demanded.

\"Well,\" Dende said slowly, \"she seemed pretty determined; I figured she would just use the dragonballs if I didn\'t help her...\"

\"Fool!\" Piccolo spat. \"Do you grant stupid requests to every human who makes their way here? Gohan\'s going to be shattered, not to mention what this will do to the rest of her family! Do you have any idea how many people are connected to her on Earth?\" Piccolo\'s face was quickly turning a deep purple-crimson with anger.

Dende mumbled something under his breath.

\"What was that?\" Piccolo snapped.

\"I said, Gohan\'s already shattered,\" Dende said clearly. \"She left a note for him telling him that she was leaving him.\"

Piccolo closed his eyes, trying hard to contain his temper. He slowly counted backward and then opened his eyes. \"Hold the brat,\" he said brusquely. He shoved Reed into Dende\'s hands. \"I\'m going to take care of Videl and see that she gets back where she belongs.\"

Piccolo\'s eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness inside the building. A sense of familiarity came over him, and after a moment he had no trouble navigating to where he figured Videl to be. He found her lying unconscious on a small cot. She appeared to be merely sleeping, and Piccolo knew it was a side affect to the technique Dende had used on her.

\"Videl, get up,\" Piccolo said. He kicked a leg of her cot, making the whole thing shiver.

Videl blinked and grasped the sides of the cot; she sat up a bit unsteadily and looked around. \"What\'s going on?\" she asked. She looked up at Piccolo and narrowed her eyes. \"This isn\'t my bedroom. And who the hell are you, waking me up like that?\"

\"I\'ve no time for lengthy explanations,\" Piccolo said shortly. \"You\'ve lost part of your memory; I\'m taking you back to your family.\" He grasped Videl\'s hand and pulled her to her feet then walked out of the building pulling her along behind him.

Dende started to speak as the two of them walked toward the edge of the Lookout, but Piccolo shook his head. \"Keep the brat here with you until I get back,\" he said. He started to step off the side of the Lookout, but was tugged backward. He looked behind him to see Videl peering fearfully over the edge of the Lookout, her feet braced firmly on the ground.

\"What are you doing?\" Piccolo snapped.

\"What are you doing?\" Videl snapped back. \"Do you really expect me to jump off of that? I can\'t even see the ground!\"

Piccolo groaned. \"Don\'t even tell me you don\'t remember how to fly.\"

\"Fly?\"

Piccolo sighed inwardly. It was times like this that he really didn\'t miss being the Guardian of Earth...but then, if he were Guardian, this wouldn\'t have happened. And he was still cleaning up the mess.

He wrapped his arm around Videl\'s waist. \"Just hold on,\" he said shortly. He blasted off into the sky before Videl could get a word in edgewise again.

*

Piccolo touched down lightly on the bare, stone ledge that poked out into the saiya-jin territory. His eyes combed over the valley for a sign of Gohan or Pan. He could hear ChiChi yelling something about Gohan, but it seemed to be directed toward Gokou.

Videl struggled in his grip. \"What are you doing?\" she demanded. \"This isn\'t my home! Why are we here?\"

\"I\'m looking for your husband or daughter,\" Piccolo replied curtly. \"I can\'t be a baby-sitter for you until I figure out a way to clean up Dende\'s mess, so one of them is going to have to do it.\"

\"D-daughter?\" Videl stammered. \"What are you talking about? I\'m only seventeen, I\'m too young to have a daughter!\"

Piccolo sighed. \"You are not seventeen,\" he replied. \"Your daughter is even older than that.\" He felt around and sorted out Gohan and Pan\'s ki signatures from the rest. \"I\'ve found them,\" he said. \"I\'ll let them straighten you out.\" Piccolo leaped off of the ledge and landed in front of Gohan\'s door. His arrival hadn\'t gone unnoticed, and several eyes were on him as he approached Gohan\'s door.

Just then, Gohan opened the door. He stood framed in the doorway with Pan looking around his shoulder. \"Piccolo!\" he said in surprise. \"What-?\" His voice cut off as he spotted Videl in Piccolo\'s grasp.

Piccolo interrupted his train of thought. \"Dende\'s made a mess of things,\" he said gruffly. \"You\'ll need to take care of Videl; I\'m going to see if I can straighten things out.\"

\"But she-\" Gohan started to say.

\"I know,\" Piccolo cut in. \"I found her at the Lookout. Her memory is partially gone. She doesn\'t remember you or anything after she met you; she thinks she\'s still seventeen years old.\"

Gohan and Pan stood with their mouths agape, unable to speak for several moments. After a bit, Gohan shook off the shock and reached for Videl.

Videl started to back away but was blocked by Piccolo. Piccolo startled her by speaking.

\"I have to get back to the Lookout,\" he said shortly. He powered up and was gone without another word.

Gohan reached out to pull Videl into the house. \"Come on, Videl,\" he said coaxingly, \"at least come in and sit down.\"

Videl backed away. \"Forget it!\" she snapped. \"I don\'t know what kind of sick joke you people are playing on me, but I\'m not going to have any part of it!\" She turned to flee but found herself at the edge of a steep drop.

Gohan stepped up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. He brushed her cheek gently and smoothed back a stray lock of hair from her face. \"At least let us tell you what\'s happened. Even if you don\'t have any memories of us, you should at least know who your family is and what year it is.\"

Before Videl could respond, a shadow fell over the two of them. Vegeta landed a few steps away, followed closely by Gokou.

\"What\'s going on?\" Vegeta demanded. \"Why was that namek-jin here?\"

Gohan sighed. \"He brought Videl back. He said she\'s lost part of her memory, but he didn\'t explain how or why.\"

\"Did he say where he was going?\" Gokou asked. He cast a concerned eye over Videl.

\"He said he was going back to the Lookout. I guess he figures this is Dende\'s fault somehow.\"

\"Well,\" Gokou reasoned, \"he must have had some part in it. How else could she have lost her memory so suddenly like that and be perfectly fine?\"

Vegeta grumbled under his breath. \"I seem to remember an idiot saiya-jin who fell into a ravine and hit his head, wiping out all his memories of his home world.\" He smacked Gokou on the back of the head.

\"Ow!\" Gokou rubbed the back of his head. \"Yeah, but that\'s different, Vegeta. It\'s not like she\'s a saiya-jin or something.\"

Videl was watching the banteth cth confusion. As Gokou paused, she jumped into the conversation. \"What\'s a \'saiya-jin\'?\"

Gohan groaned. \"It\'s a good thing I don\'t have to work after all,\" he said. \"It\'s going to be a long day.\"

*

Gokou, ChiChi, Vegeta, Bulma, Gohan, Goten and Pan were sitting around the table in Gohan\'s living room, trying to help Videl remember, or even understand, her relationship with them.

There was silence in the room for a moment, and Videl took a deep breath. \"So, you said that Gohan is my husband and Pan is my daughter. Gokou and ChiChi are Gohan\'s parents...and Goten is his brother. I guess I can understand that much.\" She looked at her hands. \"But...you said that Vegeta is the King of the Saiya-jin...does that make Bulma the queen then? And how does this royalty thing work, anyway? I thought the King of the World was still alive.\"

\"He is,\" Bulma said. \"But things have been kind of tense between saiya-jin and humans lately; that\'s part of the reason we\'re living out here, for some peace and quiet.\"

\"Are there more saiya-jin then? It\'s not just a few of you?\" Videl asked.

Vegeta snorted. \"There are only a few of us left. But yes, there are more saiya-jin here than are in this room. Kakarott\'s parents and my parents, my children, and Kakarott\'s brothers.\" Vegeta paused for a moment, as if in thought, then suddenly looked up. \"Speaking of which, what are those two idiots up to now? They\'re not in the valley any more.\"

Gokou looked up sharply and felt around for their ki. \"You\'re right,\" he growled. \"Do you want to me to go find them?\"

Vegeta sighed with frustration. \"No, don\'t bother. As long as they\'re not blowing something up or killing someone, you might as well leave them alone. For all we know they could just be out hunting.\"

The room fell silent for a moment, and Videl spoke up again. \"Say, I\'m kind of tired. Is there somewhere I can take a bath and get changed out of these clothes?\" She plucked uncertainly at the blouse she was wearing. \"I\'m not sure where I got these clothes, but...I\'d like to find something more comfortable.\"

Gohan jumped to his feet. \"Of course!\" he exclaimed. \"Come on, I\'ll show you where our bathroom is.\"

Vegeta stood as well. \"Hn. We\'re done here for now,\" he said. He gestured for everyone else to leave.

As they walked outside, Vegeta noticed that Gokou seemed inordinately preoccupied. The tall saiya-jin had an uncharacteristic scowl on his face, and his eyes were pinned on the horizon. Vegeta followed his gaze and felt about with his senses, trying to figure out what was going on. He could faintly in the distance sense Tales and Radditz traveling together.

Vegeta growled. \"Forget it, Kakarott,\" he said. \"They\'re not causing trouble, so don\'t go making any.\"

\"I don\'t trust them,\" Gokou said. \"I can tell they\'re not just out hunting. They\'re up to something, and they\'re going to start trouble.\"

Vegeta smirked. \"So what has you so paranoid? You weren\'t worried about me starting trouble after I returned to Earth.\"

Gokou frowned. \"That was different,\" he said.

\"Was it?\" Vegeta argued. \"I was the one who ordered Radditz around, remember? I was the one who came here to destroy this miserable little mud ball.\"

Gokou fell silent and looked at the ground. \"All right,\" he said after a moment.

*

Tales and Radditz flew south out of the mountains and over a light green plain. Below them they saw nothing but open wilderness.

Tales looked over at Radditz. \"So where are we going?\" he asked. \"There\'s nothing but grass out here.\"

Radditz glanced at his younger half brother. \"I saw a village out here when we were first coming to the valley. You and I are going to need mates indirectly; we don\'t have any alternative options any more.\" He frowned and shuddered at some private thoughts. \"Anyway, I\'m hoping that there\'ll be some decent looking women available there. I doubt very much that there\'s a woman on this entire planet that can be considered strong enough to challenge us properly.\"

Tales sighed. \"I suppose you\'re right,\" he said. \"I am starting to feel hot again.\"

Radditz was focusing on the terrain ahead of them. \"There!\" he said. He pointed to a small cluster of buildings that were seeming to draw nearer to them as they flew. \"That\'s the village I was talking about.\"

\"It looks really small,\" Tales said doubtfully.

\"If we don\'t find anything here we can go on to the next one,\" Radditz said. \"I want to stay away from the larger cities, though, because I don\'t want to draw any more attention to us than necessary. I don\'t want Vegeta-sama to find out about this until he has to.\"

The two saiya-jin touched down on a dusty, worn road that wound between the buildings. Surprised villagers looked up from their daily chores and work.

Radditz and Tales looked around disdainfully. Mostly men were on the streets, and a few middle-aged women. The village didn\'t appear to have a large population from the number of buildings present.

\"Hmph,\" Radditz snorted. \"I can smell more women here than are on the street. I wish I knew how Vegeta-sama and Kakarott do that energy-sensing thing.\"

Suddenly a female voice sounded through the air. \"Who are you? What do you want here?\"

Radditz and Tales turned toward the voice. A young, blogirlgirl stood facing them. She looked nervous, but at the same time had a determined scowl on her face. She stepped forward, brandishing a pitchfork in front of her. \"Answer me!\"

Radditz smirked. He studied the girl; her long, golden colored hair swept almost at her knees, and fairly shimmered on the aqua colored dress she was wearing. Her blue eyes flashed with fire as she stepped forward to challenge the two saiya-jin. Beneath her dress, her curves hinted at a slim, shapely body. \"Gorgeous,\" Radditz murmured.

Tales grinned and cuffed Radditz on the back of the head. \"Horny dog,\" he laughed. \"Going after the first one you see, ne?\"

\"Well she is,\" Radditz muttered. \"Don\'t you think so?\"

Tales shook his head and grinned again. \"Sorry, not my type. I don\'t like my girls to have glow in the dark hair.\"

\"Hn,\" Radditz sneered. \"Good, more for me.\"

\"Pig,\" Tales retorted.

\"I know,\" Radditz replied with a grin.

\"I meant that in both respects,\" Tales added.

\"I know that too,\" Radditz said.

Tales sighed. \"Well, you may have found someone you\'re interested in, but that doesn\'t help me.\" .\"

\"There has to be more women than this, here,\" Radditz said. \"For one thing I can smell them; almost every one of these houses has the scent of a woman of some kind or another on it.\"

The blonde haired girl stepped forward again. Behind her, a middle-aged woman reached out in concern. \"Sumiko!\" !\" she whispered hoarsely.

The girl threw a look over her shoulder. \"I\'ll be fine,\" she said. \"I can take care of myself.\" She turned back toward the saiya-jin. \"You didn\'t answer me!\" she said. \"If you come in peace, then say so!\"

Radditz smiled and grasped the end of the pitchfork. He pulled her toward himself and took her wrist in his hand. \"What a fascinating woman,\" he said. \"So pathetically less powerful than us, but she still challenges our right to be here.\" He chuckled, then turned his attention to the village in general. \"Bring out the unclaimed women of your village,\" he demanded.

The people standing around looked at him in shock. \"What?\" some of them cried.

\"You heard him,\" Tales said. \"All of the unclaimed women. Now.\"

\"And what if we refuse?\" a male voice demanded.

Radditz smiled and closed his eyes. \"We\'ll destroy your village and take what we want anyway.\"

Sumiko struggled in his grasp. \"Brute!\" she shouted. \"Even if you two are strong, you can\'t possibly destroy a whole village by yourselves!\"

Tales laughed. \"Brother, I do believe that little thing you\'ve taken a liking to doubts your claims,\" he said. He pointed to the side and without looking fired a ki blast into a nearby boulder, shattering it like glass and causing bits of debris to rain down around them.

\"I would be willing to wager that your dwellings are nowhere near as strong as that boulder,\" Radditz said with a smirk. \"Now please, do as we asked.\"

A frightened, worried murmur rose out of the villagers; after a moment, the center of the street began to fill with women, some clinging tightly to their mothers or fathers, some just standing alone trembling.

Radditz and Tales surveyed the group before them. \"Half of these females aren\'t even old enough to have children,\" Tales cursed.

Radditz sighed. \"I can tell. See anything you like, Brother? I think I\'m going to keep this little light haired girl. She\'s amusing, and she\'s nice to look at on top of it.\"

Tales scanned the group again. He had a nagging feeling in the back of his head. \"Something doesn\'t seem right,\" he muttered.

\"What do you mean?\" Radditz asked.

\"They\'re hiding someone,\" he said. \"It\'s just a feeling I have. I\'m almost sure of it though.\" Tales stepped forward and walked past the group of women. He surveyed the buildings for a moment, then headed toward a small, sturdy cottage.

\"Hey! What do you think you\'re doing?\" an older man called angrily.

Tales ignored him and knocked the door in, prying it nearly loose from it\'s hinges. A moment later he emergeoldiolding a young, raven haired woman tucked under his arm.

\"I told you they were hiding someone,\" he said triumphantly. \"And she\'s quite a gem too.\" He set the woman on the ground.

Radditz stared down at her. \"She looks too much like Kakarott\'s mate for my liking,\" he said.

\"Yes, I know,\" Tales said. \"But that\'s what I actually like about her; she has the gorgeous looks, but she\'s quiet, unlike Kakarott\'s mate has been lately.\"

\"Hn,\" Radditz sneered. \"Is she the one you want, then?\"

\"Yes, I\'m pretty sure. I don\'t see much else here.\" He reached down and picked up the young woman again.

The older man who had protested earlier stepped forward. \"You\'re not going anywhere with my daughter!\" he exclaimed.

\"Stupid humans,\" Tales sneered. He lifted off the ground slightly. \"When any one of you is able to stand up and fight us, theu hau have the right to say what we can and can\'t do.\" He took off back towards the saiya-jin valley.

Radditz gripped Sumiko around the waist and followed suit as well, amid protests from others on the ground.

The two of them flew a good distance into the mountains before they slowed. Sumiko was struggling in Radditz\'s arms, despite being many feet off the ground. Tales\'s chosen mate, on the other hand, was curled in his arms, her eyes clenched shut, clutching tightly to his chest.

Radditz glanced over at Tales curiously. \"Hey, what\'s wrong with your woman?\" he asked. \"I don\'t think this little shrew I picked up has been still for a second since we left.\"

Tales slowed and lowered himself to the ground. Radditz followed suit, and sat Sumiko, sputtering and swearing, down beside him.

\"You\'re right,\" Tales said. \"I wonder if she\'s that frightened?\" He brushed a few raven locks out of her hair. \"Hey,\" he said, \"What\'s wrong?\"

The young woman\'s eyes fluttered open at the touch, but she didn\'t respond. She made a sound that sounded like a muffled sob and pulled her knees up close to her chest.

\"Try to get her name,\" Radditz suggested. \"Vegeta-sama\'s going to pitch a fit when you have to introduce her if you don\'t even know her name.\"

Tales nodded. He turned back to the raven haired girl. \"What\'s your name, woman?\" he asked.

The young woman seemed to be staring off into the distance and didn\'t respond.

Tales started to feel frustrated. \"Well, now what?\" he asked. \"How am I supposed to even mate with her if I can\'t get her to respond to me?\"

Radditz raised his hands in a defensive gesture. \"Hey, your choice, not mine,\" he said.

Tales sighed. \"I know,\" he said. \"I don\'t know why I\'m so fascinated with her. Maybe because she looks so much like ChiChi...\"

Sumiko watched their conversation with muted curiosity. \"Her name\'s Museiko,\" she said suddenly. \"She\'s not responding because she doesn\'t talk.\"

\"Doesn\'t talk?\" Tales looked confused. \"Does she understand what we\'re saying? I thought she was just cooped up in that house because her father was trying to hide her from us.\"

\"Her father\'s kept her cooped up since she was little, when her mother died,\" Sumiko said. \"She doesn\'t go out of the house much. But yes, if you talk directly to her, she understands what you\'re saying.\"

Tales sighed. He pulled Museiko close to him. \"If it\'s not one thing, it\'s another,\" he said. He glanced at Radditz. \"So, do you think it\'s better to wait until we get back to mate with them, or should we go ahead and mate here?\"

\"We might as well wait until we get back so that the women are more comfortable,\" Radditz said. \"Everyone else has mated already, so it\'s not like anyone\'s going to steal them from us.\"

Tales nodded. \"All right,\" he said. \"Let\'s get going then.\"

The two of them scooped up their respective mates and blasted toward their houses.

No one was outside when they entered the valley. Tales quickly dove to his house, and Radditz went equally as fast to his own. He stepped through the door and set Sumiko on the floor. \"I trust you can walk,\" he said, \"since you were strong enough to fight me most of the way here. I wouldn\'t recommend trying to run away, though, because we\'re on the face of a cliff.\"

Sumiko sighed. \"Fine,\" she said.

She followed Radditz as he walked into the main living area. She was surprised to see that the room was comfortably but plainly furnished. She was also surprised to see a small, red-haired child sitting on the floor with a box of crayons, happily coloring on the wall.

Radditz stared at Miracle for a moment, puzzling over the markings she was making on the wall. Then he shrugged his shoulders. \"everever.\" He continued on toward the kitchen.

Sumiko followed him. \"You\'re just going to let her keep coloring on the wall?\" she demanded incredulously.

Radditz shrugged again. \"Why not?\" he asked. \"It\'s keeping her quiet.\" He took a bottle of juice out of the refrigerator, opened it, and drank most of the contents directly from the bottle. He held the remaining contents toward Sumiko. \"Want any?\" he asked.

Sumiko looked a little green. \"No, thank you,\" she cur curtly.

Radditz put the cap back on the bottle and placed it back in the refrigerator. When he turned around, Sumiko was standing over Miracle, bent slightly to talk to her.

\"Honey,\" Sumiko was saying, \"you really shouldn\'t color on the walls. Wouldn\'t you rather have some paper to color on?\" She jumped back, startled, as a bright red crayon hit her squarely between the eyes.

Radditz roared with laughter. \"I\'m guessing that means no,\" he said. \"Come on, leave her alone.\" He grinned wickedly. \"We have business to attend to in the bedroom anyway.\" He put his arm around Sumiko to guide her toward the bedroom.

Three more crayons hit Sumiko in the back of the head as they started to walk away. Radditz threw a warning glance over his shoulder at Miracle. She returned the look with a disgruntled look of her own and went back to coloring on the wall.

Sumiko looked a little shaky as Radditz closed the door to the bedroom behind him. He turned to her and smiled, but it was a warmer smile than his earlier grin. \"Hey, after all that fire you showed earlier, you\'re not scared are you?\"

Sumiko looked away from him. She felt him put his hand on her chin, but she refused to look at him. \"Most women don\'t take the prospect of being raped very lightly,\" she said.

Radditz moved the two of them to the bed and sat down. He pulled Sumiko down in his lap with him, and found the zipon ton the back of her dress. He unzipped the cottony material and slid it off of her shoulders.

\"Try to relax,\" he whispered. He ran his hands over her shoulders and across her back.

Sumiko shook a little at the feeling of his hands on her body. She hadn\'t really taken the time to notice before just how big he was in comparison to her; she felt like he could cover her entire head with one of his hands. Before she knew what was happening, her dress was on the floor and she was on her back on the bed in only her underwear.

Sumiko turned her head so that she wouldn\'t have to look at Radditz. \"What do you plan to do with me when you\'re done?\" she asked bitterly. \"Are you going to kill me? Or are you just going to toss me away and let me fend for myself?\"

Radditz smoothed his hands over her hair. \"Nothing like that,\" he whispered soothingly. \"I know it\'s hard for you to understand, especially since this obviously isn\'t how humans do things.\" He paused. \"I don\'t know how to convince you that I have no intention of hurting you. I plan on you becoming my permanent mate; I was in too much of a hurry to dally long because of the heat creeping up on me again.\" He laid himself down next to her and drew her toward his chest. He ran his hands over her smooth breasts and down to the edge of her underwear. \"You have to trust me,\" he whispered.

Sumiko closed her eyes and tried to fight the shivers that ran through her body. She knew that either way this was going to hurt if she couldn\'t relax.

Suddenly, a pounding on the door made both hem hem freeze. \"Radditz!\" Vegeta\'s harsh voice called out. \"Get out here, now!\"

Radditz clenched his eyes shut. \"Kuso,\" he whispered to himself. He hesitated, trying to think of a way to hide Sumiko.

\"Radditz!\" Vegeta\'s voice bellowed again. \"I know about the woman in there; get out here and explain yourself!\"

Radditz cursed a blue streak under his breath and walked to the door.