Alatrunks

Alatrunks
By Herve and Freewater
Disclaimer: Don\'t own \'em

oooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Prince Gohan\'s Escape

\"Breakfast is served, your Majesty.\" Some nameless servant announced, leading the Sultan and his Grand Advisor into the dining room where the Sultan\'s personal favourite was being set up.

French fries and roast elephant.

Goku could feel his mouth water hungrily at the sight, and he immediately took his seat and had a servant fill his giant plate. Once the sultan was seated, Vegeta was next to sit since there was no one else of higher rank in the room.

Goku looked around for Gohan through a mouthful of salted fries, and blinked when he couldn\'t find him. Swallowing, he looked towards Vegeta. \"Do you know where Gohan is?\" He asked.

Vegeta was about to lift his fork to his mouth when he was interrupted, and he tried to repress a scowl. \"I\'m not sure, Your Highness. The last time I had seen him was the night before.\" He said.

Goku frowned in thought. \"Perhaps he\'s only sleeping in?\" He asked aloud, remembering that he and Gohan did have a disagreement last night, and Gohan usually did stay away for some time afterwards.

Vegeta shrugged, not really caring. \"I\'m sure he\'ll be down on his own time, Your Majesty. He only needs to cool off.\"

The words were only half heartfelt, but they made Goku feel better nonetheless.

\"Thanks \'Geta!\"

That morning, as early as the crack of dawn the merchants were already setting up in their shops in the road between houses, and buyers were busily trying to grab the freshest of fruits and vegetables before they were taken and eaten by the morning rush. The shop keepers shouted out their fabulous offers and sales to anyone passing by who even took the slightest glance at their selection of items in the hopes of making a sale.

The street was crowded with people, all of which fumbled and stumbled passed one another, some more rudely than others, but all eager to get their day started. The chatter and arguments and gossip mixing together to make for one unintelligible sound.

In the middle of it all, Trunks was preparing to steal his breakfast, a clever grin on his face as he managed to slink over the top of one of the small shop canopies without being noticed. Years and years of practice paid off well.

\"You know what to do, Yajirabu.\" He whispered to the fat monkey on his shoulder, who saluted and went off to the other side of the fabric canopy with a bit more difficulty, but successfully nonetheless.

The usual plan was for him to distract the fat shopkeeper while Trunks grabbed their morning melon. He was a man whom Trunks took a rare pleasure in stealing from. Simply because he had more melons then he knew what to do with, sold them for ridiculously high prices even for the people who had money to spare, and was then forced to throw them all to the birds when they became far too rotten to eat, as opposed to giving them to the people who would beg for them anyway to ease their hunger ongoing hunger. The shopkeeper would see Yajirabu every morning, but he never saw Trunks. The man only thought the monkey to be a simple pest that would play around before suddenly leaving until the next morning, so aside from being a small daily annoyance, the shopkeeper never thought anything of the monkey\'s presence in order to do anything about him.

Yajirabu prepared himself for his mission, grabbing the pole that held up the canopy with his tail and easing himself down when the shopkeeper wasn\'t looking. His fat hairy body made the trip hard though, and his tail strained and shook under the pressure before finally giving out.

Yajirabu fell into the melon pile, knocking several of them over where they smashed on the sandy ground. The shopkeeper whipped his head at him and Trunks slapped his hand over his eyes.

He needed to put Yajirabu on a diet.

Yajirabu had his head stuck in one of the melons, and he struggled and fought to get out until finally his head came free with a pop. Yajirabu licked the melon juice off his face with a grin, but when he turned his head he saw that the fat shopkeeper now had a red face, his gigantic body shaking in rage.

Trunks, not wanting to spoil what could be their last theft of the shop, reached down and grabbed the melon he needed while the fat shopkeeper tried to catch and attack Yajirabu. Who thankfully managed to get away and run a few shops down before climbing back up the cracked buildings and making his way to where Trunks sat, looking sheepish as he frowned down at him.

Trunks cracked the melon in half before handing one half to his partner. \"I hope you enjoy it,\" He said, still hearing the shopkeeper curse loudly beneath them as he struggled to cleanup the mess. \"Because we won\'t be getting our food here for a while until he calms down.\"

Yajirabu pouted and bit into his melon, wishing Trunks wouldn\'t put all the blame on him like that. It wasn\'t his fault that he fell.

Several shops down the dirt street, Gohan was wandering around aimlessly, enjoying his new found freedom while eyeing all the strange and wonderful looking things in the shops. He owned many of his own expensive items and precious jewels, but he\'d never seen where they came from, and he couldn\'t help but find it exciting.

The night before he traded his fine clothes to one of the peasants for a place to sleep, figuring that the silk clothes would only attract attention to him that he didn\'t want, so he quickly got rid of them, and was now clad in only the servants clothes he\'d stolen earlier. Keeping the hood over his head to protect it form the hot sun beating down on his black head of hair. The only thing he decided to keep were his shoes. They were a fine silken blue and made for only wearing inside the palace, but were now dirty and brown, nothing that would give him away for who he really was. He wasn\'t used to walking around on rocks and getting his feet dirty yet anyway.

Gohan looked in the many tents with awe in his eyes, seeing some of the jewels that were for sale, bracelets made out of shells from the ocean that was miles away, and fresh fish from the river still flopping about on the racks.

That was a sight that particularly disturbed him, but he decided not to say anything and went on his way, clutching his robes tighter around him.

Gohan kept his head down to try and not attract the attention of the shop keepers, whom, if looked at in the eye, took it to mean that he wanted to purchase something and called him over.

Gohan was raised to be polite, and couldn\'t find the strength to just say to them. \"No I don\'t wish to buy anything.\" He always had to wait for another customer to come and save him by grabbing the shop keeper\'s attention.

As Gohan wasn\'t watching where he was going, he bumped into someone, his hood coming loose around his neck.

Trunks looked up from a mouthful of melon, just to check his surroundings and be sure that he had yet to be seen in his hiding place. Looking at all the faces of the people in the Market Place to be sure they were occupied with something other then him and Yajirabu.

That was when he saw him, and Trunks swallowed hard. He was the most beautiful creature Trunks had ever seen. Dark hair, high cheekbones and wonderfully big black eyes. Big black eyes that looked wide with curiosity as the owner gazed at all the shops and performers on the street with a happy grin on his face. He couldn\'t have been older then Trunks.

Trunks leaned his chin on his fist as he watched the black haired teen walk around. He sighed dreamily, smitten. \"Wow.\"

Yajirabu noticed this, and he frowned in thought at the purple hair teen before shaking his head and taking another greedy bite out of his melon.

Humans.

Gohan continued to walk around, stopping for only a moment to watch a fire eater work in the street. He clapped his hands like the rest of the crowd when he finished putting out his torches with his mouth, but as he had no coins to give, quickly walked away to see the other sights.

It didn\'t take him long before he was stopped by the sight of a hungry looking little boy. Staring longingly up at a rack of fresh fruits. Rubbing his stomach while his lip quivered.

When Gohan\'s shadow fell over him, the boy jumped, as though he were about to run away, but at the sight of Gohan\'s warm smile, he didn\'t move.

\"You must be hungry.\" Gohan said. The young boy didn\'t answer him, but nodded his head, trying not to look him in the eye.

As Gohan had never needed to pay for anything in his life, all his items and food always paid for by someone else, or just given to him as a gesture of goodwill towards his family, he didn\'t think twice about plucking the red apple nearest his hand and depositing it into the awaiting hands of the hungry little boy.

The boy looked up at him with a watery smile before whipping his head up and running off with his treasure as fast as he could, and Gohan was confused as to why the boy would leave so quickly.

That is, until he heard an angry sneer. \"You had better have the money to pay for that.\"

Gohan turned towards the owner of the voice, a giant man with an angry, scarred face. Staring down at Gohan as though he were the lowest form on the face of the desert. A look that immediately set off the alarms in Gohan\'s head.

\"Pay?\" Gohan asked, trying to understand why the simple apple wasn\'t just given to him so he could hand it to the boy.

Like lightning, the giant man seized Gohan\'s arm and swung him around with a force he\'d never before seen. \"You thief!\"

Meanwhile, Trunks was still sitting atop his small canopy, now on alert as he watched the cruellest and most greedy of all the shopkeepers, Mr. Shu, throw around the boy.

\"No please, I\'m not a thief!\" Gohan said quickly, placing his hand on his captive\'s in the hopes of calming him down a bit. It didn\'t work and he began to fear for himself. Something that had never before happened.

Everyone else in the market place who knew Mr. Shu tried not to look up at him as he sneered down at his latest victim. They all knew what happened to anyone who stole from him, and the ignorant boy he held would be no different.

\"Please, if you let me go, I can go to the palace and get your money from the Sultan.\" Gohan pleaded as the grip in his wrist tightened. He would have a hell of a lot of explaining to do to his father, but that was better then being man handled by someone who was so angry that he took only one of his little apples to feed a hungry child.

Mr. Shu only sneered harder at him, not buying his story of going into the palace. No one just walked into the palace and demanded money from the Sultan or his family. Especially not the kind of penniless beggar he had now.

Angry for being stolen from and now even more angered for being lied to, the Mr. Shu pulled out his swore and raised it high, slamming Gohan\'s wrist onto the table.

\"Do you know what the penalty is for stealing!?\" He roared, and Gohan paled and struggled, knowing exactly what it was.

\"No! Please don\'t!\"

Mr. Shu swung his blade down for the amputating shot, but Trunks reached out and grabbed his arm before shoving it away, stopping him just in time before he could cut off Gohan\'s hand.

\"Thank you, kind sir!\" He said loudly, in an overly cheery voice before removing the blade and shaking the giant\'s hand. \"I\'m so glad you found him!\" And then Trunks turned back to face the frightened Gohan with a stern expression on his face.

\"I\'ve been looking all over for you!\" He he said, shaking his finger and trying to lead him away.

\"What are you doing?\" Whispered Gohan, getting that something was up.

\"Just play along.\" Trunks whispered back before Mr. Shu placed a large hand on Trunks\' shoulder, stopping him.

\"You, uh, know this boy?\" He asked, still staring with little to no trust at Gohan, but also knowing that if the boy wasn\'t an orphan like he assumed he was then there would be repressions with the family.

Trunks sighed sadly. \"Unfortunately, yes, he is my brother.\" Trunks said, Shaking his head to appear as pathetic as he could to Mr. Shu. \"He\'s a little crazy!\" He said suddenly, circling a finger around his ear, and Gohan frowned.

How dare he!

Suddenly, Mr. Shu grabbed Trunks\'s vest and swung him around, much the same way he did to Gohan, and all anger from the insult was forgotten and replaced with worry.

\"He said he knew the Sultan!\"

Trunks laughed and shook his head, removing the giant\'s hands. \"He thinks my monkey is the sultan.\" He said, pointing to where Yajirabu sat, trying to get into someone\'s money purse. Once he noticed that he was being watched though, he withdrew his hands and held onto his tail protectively.

Gohan looked down at the monkey before returning his gaze back to Mr. Shu, who was looking at him expectantly. The purple haired boy was standing right behind him, sending Gohan furious hand signals to play along so they could get away.

Gohan instantly dropped to his knees. \"Oh wise Sultan! How may I serve you?\" He asked, bowing low and trying with all his might not to laugh.

If only his father could see him now!

Yajirabu didn\'t know what Trunks was doing with the dark haired boy, but out of force of habit, he played along, standing up straight and snirping orders at Gohan whom evidently thought he was the Sultan.

\"Tragic isn\'t it?\" Trunks asked, leaning forward enough to pick another apple off the cart with his foot, offering it to Mr. Shu as a replacement. \"But no harm done, eh?\"

Mr. Shu seemed to think over what was being said to him. Let the world call him cruel a thousand times over, but let it never be said that he attacked a cripple.

\"Fine, you may go.\" He grumbled.

\"Excellent! Come on dear brother, it\'s time we got you to the doctor.\" Trunks said, lifting Gohan to his feet and walking off, but then they came close to a camel, and for effect Gohan made his eyes go blank as he greeted the camel.

\"Why hello doctor, how are you?\"

Trunks wanted to laugh, the boy he held was a smart one. \"No, no, no, not that one.\" He choked. \"Come on Sultan.\" He called for Yajirabu.

Yajirabu\'s chest was puffed out more then what anyone could consider normal, and no one knew why until the monkey made a regal bow and food and money spilled out of his vest and onto the sandy ground.

\"What? WHAT?!\" Mr. Shu roared, realizing he\'d been tricked before turning back to the two, only to find them already gone. Ran away.

***

Oolong pedalled hard on the make-shift bike, beads of sweat running down his face as he breathed hard.

He was in Vegeta\'s lab, and they were trying to create a small storm for his latest spell, which required the energy he created by using the bike pedals. The storm that was now building over the stone ceiling of Vegeta\'s lab.

\"With all due respect, your rottenness,\" He ground out that last part as an insult for making him do such hard work. \"Couldn\'t we just wait for a real storm?\"

\"Save your breath! Faster!\" Vegeta ordered, taking the four star dragon ball and placing it into a contraption that would enable him to see whom he was looking for.

Oolong pedalled faster, creating enough energy for a bolt of lightning to strike the dragon ball, and the sand swirled around them before entering an open hourglass.

\"Show me who can enter the cave.\" Vegeta demanded, his voice that of a man possessed.

The sand took in the shape of the cave of wonders before spilling down into the bottom half of the hourglass, swirling and spinning until Vegeta could see a face.

It was Trunks\' face, climbing a ladder and helping a hooded figure up with him.

\"Ah! There he is! My Diamond in the Rough!\" Vegeta purred, excited and happy to be finally getting somewhere.

Oolong was not nearly as impressed. \"That\'s him! That\'s the clown we\'ve been waiting for--\" Oolong lost his footing on the pedals and was sucked into the rickety gears. Tossed around through them until he was finally spit out and thrown into a stone wall.

Vegeta was in too much of a good mood to care. \"I think I\'ll have the guards send him an invitation to the palace. What do you think?\" He asked.

Oolong was burnt black and still stuck to the wall. \"Swell,\" He coughed, falling to the floor, and Vegeta laughed hard.

***

\"So, is this your first time at the market place?\" Trunks asked.

Gohan looked at him, startled. \"Is it really that obvious?\" He asked.

Trunks picked up at poll on the roof, poll vaulting to the next roof top where he landed impressively. \"Well, you do kind of stand out.\" He said, looking Gohan up and down lovingly.

Gohan raised a brow at him and it was then when Trunks realized what he was doing, and he quickly looked away, embarrassed.

\"You just don\'t seem to know how dangerous Truhania can be.\" He said, picking up a wooden plank and placing it between the two buildings. He had meant for Gohan to walk over it, but when he was leaning down Gohan poll vaulted over his head, and Trunks looked at him with wide eyes as Gohan shot the poll at him to catch.

\"I\'m a fast learner.\" He said.

Trunks looked down at Yajirabu, impressed. \"C\'mon, my place is this way.\" He said, leading Gohan towards a hole in the wall of the building.

\"Watch your head.\" Trunks said as they ducked under beams and walked over fallen debre.

\"You live here?\" Gohan asked.

\"Yeah, just Yajirabu and me.\" He said, sounding impressed with himself for even having a place to sleep where so many others didn\'t. \"We normally just come and go as we please.\"

Gohan beamed at the idea of such freedom. \"That sounds amazing.\" He said.

Trunks shrugged, running a hand through his hair before heading for the curtain. \"It isn\'t much,\" He said, pulling it back to reveal the shining palace. \"But it\'s got a great view.\"

Gohan\'s face fell slightly at the sight of his old home, but Trunks didn\'t notice as he as still looking out the window.

\"The palace looks pretty amazing from here, doesn\'t it?\" He asked.

Gohan took a seat. \"Yeah, it\'s wonderful.\" He said, not truly interested.

\"I wonder what it would be like to live there? And have servants and stuff.\"

Gohan snorted. \"Great. People who tell you where to go, what to eat, and how to dress.\"

Trunks laughed. \"Well, that\'s better then it is here,\" He said, snatching an apple from out of Yajirabu\'s hands before the monkey could take a bite. \"Your always stealing for food and ducking the guards.\"

Gohan sighed. \"But you\'re never free to make your own choices.\"

Trunks took a bite of his apple. \"Sometimes you just feel kind of trapped.\"

They both looked at each other, sharing the same train of thought.

Trunks smiled and cleared his throat, sitting next to him. \"So, uh, where are you from anyway?\" He asked, offering a spare apple to Gohan.

Yajirabu sneered at his pathetic attempts at seduction, but watched on.

Gohan held the apple. \"What does it matter? I ran away and I\'m *not* going back!\"

Trunks took another bite out of his apple before handing it to Yajirabu, who looked disgusted with it. \"Really? Why not?\" Asked Trunks, genuinely concerned.

Gohan sighed. \"My father is, well he\'s forcing me to get married.\"

Trunks\' eyes went wide. \"That\'s awful.\" He said.

As far as Trunks knew, there was no way worse to take away someone\'s life.

Yajirabu slunk up behind Gohan, intent on stealing the apple that he held, but wasn\'t eating. All he had to do was reach out just a little bit further and...

\"Yajirabu!\" Trunks yelled, and Yajirabu scurried away, cursing and screeching.

\"What is it?\" Gohan asked, staring at the angry monkey.

Trunks thought fast, he didn\'t want Gohan to know that his monkey didn\'t like him just because he was holding an apple.

\"Um, Yajirabu says... That\'s not fair.\" Trunks said, smiling down at Gohan.

Yajirabu screeched again. \"What!\" But Gohan didn\'t understand what he\'d said.

\"Oh really?\" Gohan asked, not able to understand what Yajirabu had said but still knowing that Trunks wasn\'t being truthful.

\"Yep,\" Replied Trunks.

\"And does Yajirabu, have anything else to say?\"

\"Well,\" Trunks scratched the back of his neck. \"He wishes there was something he could do to help.\"

\"Hmm,\" Gohan sighed, he and Trunks leaning in a little closer to each other. \"Tell him that\'s very sweet.\"

Oh, Trunks had wanted to kiss him since the first time he laid eyes on him, and now he was finally getting his chance!

\"HERE YOU ARE!\" A loud voice interrupted, and Trunks whipped his head up to see Mr. Satan and his guards, chopping their way through the beams with their swords to get at him.

He and Gohan jumped to their feet.

\"They\'re after me!\" They yelled in unison. \"They\'re after you?\" They both asked each other, but Trunks didn\'t wait for an answer as he jumped for his window and looked down.

\"My father must have sent them to--\"

\"Do you trust me?\" Trunks interrupted, holding out his hand.

\"What?\"

\"Do you trust me?\" Trunks asked, harder this time.

Gohan tentatively put his hand into Trunks\'. \"Yes.\" He said, suddenly yanked forward when he and Trunks jumped out the window. Crashing into hanging laundry before landing in a large sand pile.

Trunks scrambled to his feet, taking Gohan\'s hand and helping him up so they could run again before Trunks crashed into Mr. Satan\'s chest.

\"We just keep running into each other, don\'t we Street Rat?\"

*\"That\'s impossible! How did you get here before us?\" Trunks asked.

\"There\'ll be time for explanations later. Now come here!\"

Before Mr. Satan could grab Trunks, Yajirabu jumped on his head and pulled down his turban, screeching loudly to try and give Trunks the time he needed to escape.

\"Run!\" Trunks yelled, dragging Gohan along but found that they were cornered by more guards.

Mr. Satan managed to grab Yajirabu off of his head before throwing him roughly into a vase, grabbing Trunks as he tried to run by. \"It\'s the dungeon for you, boy!\" He yelled, throwing him into a crowd of more guards, who eagerly grabbed onto him and didn\'t show signs of letting him go.

Gohan ran up and started furiously punching on Mr. Satan\'s arms. \"Let him go!\" He yelled.

Mr. Satan looked down at Gohan and laughed, no recognising him with his hood up. \"Well look at this men! Another Street Rat!\" He laughed before throwing Gohan off of him and into the dirt. \"You had best leave now boy, before we decide to throw you in a dungeon with him!\"

Gohan was not intimidated, and he quickly rose to his feet, never more happy in his life to be the prince. \"Unhand him this instant!\" He yelled, throwing off his hood. \"By order of the prince!\"

Mr. Satan took one look at him, and paled visibly before bowing low, the other guards bowing as well and forcing Trunks to do so as well.

\"Prince Gohan,\" Said Mr. Satan, shaking his head at himself for the way he treated him.

Trunks looked up. \"The prince?\" He asked no one disbelievingly.

Yajirabu was just as shocked, looking out at them form his place in the vase. \"The prince?\" His screechy voice asked.

Mr. Satan walked carefully over to the angry looking Gohan. \"What are you doing outside the palace? And with this Street Rat?\"

\"That\'s none of your business!\" Gohan snapped. \"Do as I command, release him!\"

Mr. Satan only seemed to get more and more nervous. \"I would Your Highness, but my orders come from Vegeta, you\'ll have to take it up with him.\" He said, bowing again while backing away to avoid the prince\'s wrath.

Gohan sneered and crossed his arms. Not too happy at all. \"Believe me, I will.\"

To Be Continued...................

* Stole that from the Simpsons 25 puppy episode