Welcome to Boxer & Rice

► Chapter 01     Chapter 02     Chapter 03     Chapter 04     Chapter 05     Chapter 06     Chapter 07     Chapter 08     Chapter 09     Chapter 10 Not a cloud could be seen in the bright blue sky as the seagulls circled round a vast ship, diving down on deck every once in a while to try and pick up the fisherman’s catch. Only to squawk away in anger as they were chased off by sailors.

The salty sea air with combined smell of freshly caught fish was like a taste of pure bliss to those on deck as the waves crashed up against the side of the ship causing it to rock back and forth on the ocean. The chatter of the crew as they worked to bring up their fishing nets and prepare the sail was the most common sound to be heard. There was never a man without something to occupy him at this time of day.

Even the prince lent a helping hand on deck. His dog Icarus, close by, barking happily. The only passenger who wasn’t enjoying the fresh air was Yamcha. He was leaning over the rail, with a green face, letting out his breakfast for the seagulls to come and happily eat.

Prince Gohan came up behind his advisor and friend “Isn’t this great, Yamcha?” He asked. “The salty sea air, the wind blowing in your face!” He took a deep breath. “It’s the perfect day to be at sea!”

He leaned over the rail with him. Yamcha brought his face up and Gohan was a little stunned to see how green he looked. “Oh….Yes. It’s a…beautiful day.” He grumbled out almost sarcastically before quickly putting his face back in the direction of the water and throwing up again.

“Are you alright? He asked with concern. “Yes, your highness…I’m fine. I just need to…Get this out of my system. I must’ve…eaten something bad.” He took a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped his mouth with it.

“Well if you get any worse, I want you to go below deck and try to rest. Ok?”

“Yes, your highness.” He replied in a shaking voice.

Satisfied, Gohan went off to help the crew again. It was hard work being a fisherman but he loved every minute of it. Since their Kingdom was so close to the sea, it became part of everyday life to know how to handle a ship. Even the royals participated. It was a way to learn how to man a ship in case of an emergency as well as to teach them more skills and responsibilities. Right now his younger brother, Goten was too young to be doing this sort of thing but in a few years he would be learning how to sail too.

Another net was soon filled with fat salmon and he quickly went to help the other crew members pull up the heavy load. Water dripped from the bottom of the net and onto the deck as the squirming haul was lowered down. These must’ve been the biggest salmon that Gohan had ever seen!

“Quite the load we have here, King Vegeta must be in a very good mood.”

Gohan turned around to the source of the cracked voice to see an old sailor sitting on a barrel, wearing an eye patch and eyeing the catch that was just made. “Who is King Vegeta?” He asked curiously.

“Why, ruler of the merpeople, lad. Never heard of a sailor who didn’t know about him.”

He continued to look at him as if waiting for further explanation. Yamcha came up behind him shaking his head in a disgusted manner and decided to put in his own two cents, “Merpeople? What nonsense! Gohan you shouldn't listen to a word of this mans lies!”

The old sailor marched up to him in a threatening manner for calling him a liar. “It ain’t nonsense! It’s the truth!” He picked up a fish and shoved it in Yamcha’s face and backed him up into the rail. Gohan just watched in amusement as his friend squirmed at the sight of the thing. “I’m telling you, right now at the bottom of the ocean, he rules them all!” In fear the salmon flipped and squirmed until it was free of the fisherman’s hold and dove back into the dark ocean water with a splash.

It took a huge breath of air before sadly looking back up to the ship where all the rest of the fish were. They would die soon due to the lack of oxygen they were getting outside of the water. There was nothing he could do for them except for not waste this chance he got at life and swim away before another net snared him. With regret he turned and swam away towards his freedom and away from the passing ships.

The salmon went into the depths, the water getting darker and darker with the more distance that it put between itself and the ocean surface. Swimming through schools of other fish, seaweed and coral, he headed for the underwater city of Vegeta-sei. The king would need to know about the fishermen’s boats to keep the other fish away.

Large shadows passed over the small fish as he swam, but he paid no attention to them. He knew what they were. The mermaids. They all were going to see a concert that was put together by the royal family themselves in the golden palace. The prince and princess would be singing together, and mermen and mermaids from all over the ocean were going to see it. This would make it easy to find the king.

Soon, there were more of them. All swimming excitedly and gracefully in the direction of Vegeta-sei. He must be getting close. It was strange looking at the rulers of the ocean who resembled the fish eating humans. They all hated the humans, and none more than the king. His queen was interested in the humans and even collected any human things. She supposedly put them in a secret hiding spot, but no-one knows where. When searching through a shipwreck, one day, the thing collapsed on her and crushed her before she could get out. King Vegeta was devastated and blamed it all on the humans. But sadly, that’s just how it is sometimes.

It would be hard for any land creature to see anything with how dark it was. The water all around was a deep navy blue and made the ocean floor look quite beautiful. Smaller schools of fish quickly broke up and swam away in both fear and instinct at the approaching mermaids, causing bubbles in the water to form.

They swam on beautifully towards the approaching glow of the underwater palace in their groups, and their shadow like forms eventually became clearer in the water as they got closer to their destination. When it suddenly came into view over the horizon the approaching mermaids would have to shield their eyes until they adjusted to the light.

The palace was the largest and most beautiful thing any fish had ever seen. It had a look that suggested that it was a natural anomaly of the sea, but the sheer colour suggested that it was crafted out of shining gold many centuries ago.

There were mermen waiting outside to show others to spare seats for the show. It was easy enough to get in, and once inside one could see hundreds of mermaids already seated in a beautiful and vast dome like room, waiting for their king to arrive and the show to start. They were all speaking amongst themselves, and with the design of the large dome room, their voices were magnified. Causing a really loud sound to come from them.

An incredibly small seahorse and an average sized red crab that looked a lot like Krillin, came onto the stage. The seahorse cleared his throat. For such a small seahorse he managed to make a large enough sound to silence the chattering crowd, even though the room was designed for just that purpose. So, the performers could be heard by the audience.

When all attention was focused of him, he spoke in an incredibly low yet squeaky voice. “Presenting, his Royal Majesty, King Vegeta!”

The crowd cheered at this and did a standing ovation when he entered the room through an entrance in the ceiling, riding on a giant shell that was being carted around by two dolphins. He had a blue tail and his black hair stood straight up, making it easy to see the gold crown that he wore. He masterfully steered them around the dome like room before pulling out his trident and using its power to shut out the lights. Leaving only enough for the audience to clearly see the stage.

They oohed and aahhed at the sight of his power at work. It wasn't all that often that any normal merman would have the opportunity to see it, and it amazed them. His trident had the power to control the ocean, only it wasn't showed off all that often. He steered his dolphins on over to his private balcony where he would view his children perform, before sending the dolphins out of the room. He took a seat and nodded in the direction of the seahorse and Krillin, signalling that it was ok for them to start.

They both bowed low and the seahorse quickly swam away while Krillin went over to the awaiting band. Getting ready to act as the conductor. Vegeta smirked. This would be a good show. Trunks and Bra both had great voices, which they inherited from their mother. Bra sang all the time but Trunks only did it when she was around to practice and to help her out on some notes. This would be his first public show and to do something like this would allow all their subjects to see that the royal family is interested in what the people think and will work hard for them. Not to mention show off some of the personal skills of the prince.

This show was also designed to help him find a mate. Perhaps someone in the audience would see him and become interested. He was sixteen now and would have to pick one out soon. Not for another two or three years to be precise, but it was better if he got to know whom he was choosing to rule at his side with than just being thrown into a marriage.

He so far had not brought home any suitors yet, male or female. And this had the king a little worried that his son appeared to take an interest in no-one at all.

Krillin tapped on his board and the band started up with something slow. The curtains opened up to reveal his little princess on stage who began to sing softly to the music, while stage performers in the background swam around with grace to her song. She had a sea green tail with light blue hair done up with an orange star fish and a pearl necklace. She also had a wonderful voice as did her brother. When they sang together it was like being able to hear harmony. Trunks would be joining her on stage soon. Krillin looked happier than ever while watching her perform the song he wrote.

Vegeta had his arms crossed and tapped his fingers in amusement. His daughter looked so much like her mother down there on stage. It was strange how she acted more like him at times though. His son looked like he did, aside from the hair and eyes, but he had the personality of his mother.

The song soon began to pick up and the performers swam faster signalling that it was almost Trunks’s turn to get out there and join his younger sister. The final note came and Bra looked to her left expecting to see her brother swimming up to her to help finish the song. He wasn't there. She looked up at her father who was frowning at his sons tardiness. The band members stopped and waited a little confused. Still nothing. Vegeta was getting angry now. Bra, seeing her father upset, swam over to the side of the stage to peer behind the curtains. She looked up at him and shook her head. He wasn't here.

Vegeta was shaking with rage while the mermen in the audience whispered amongst themselves and shook their heads in shame over spoiled royals. Krillin and the band members all looked afraid. This couldn't be good. Their king was good ruler but had a nasty temper.

He screamed out his sons name in pure rage for humiliating him and his sister like this. “TORANKSU!!!”

***

Far away from Vegeta-sei where there are no mermaids or other fish around, we find one mermaid and one turtle, in the darker part of the ocean where few creatures still roamed. The turtle was acting all nervous and afraid, but the merman was excited. He had just found another shipwreck and was going to explore it.

He poked his head above the large rocks he was resting on and looked at his prize with excitement. He had shoulder length, lavender hair and blue eyes. His tail was the same color as his hair and it sparkled in the light whenever he went near the surface.

“Hey, Trunks! Wait up!” A lazy voice called from behind. Trunks turned his head, his hair waving smoothly around his head as he did this, to the source of his friends voice. “Hurry up, Turtle!” He called while motioning with his free hand. He carried a sack with his other hand, made out of seaweed to collect whatever unusual objects he may find.

Turtle swam up behind him with an exhausted look on his face. This wreck was a lot farther away than all of the others, and Trunks always found reasons to drag him on down with him to the spooky looking things to help him cart off some strange new human thing that he may find.

“You know I can’t swim as fast as you!” He complained. Trunks just ignored him and pointed to the wreckage that seemed to be covered in shadows.

“There it is.” He said with fascination in his voice. “Isn't it great?”

“Oh, yes. It’s very nice. Now, let's go home!” Turtle said while turning around to try and swim away. Trunks quickly grabbed his small tail and pulled him back down. “You wouldn't happen to be AFRAID now would you?” He asked in a teasing tone before releasing him and swimming on down to the ghost ship with bubbles trailing behind.

“I’m not afraid!” Turtle called after him not fully realizing that he was following him down to the ship. “It’s just that it’s all covered in dirt and mold and you know how bad my allergies get.”

Trunks swam up to a broken window and looked inside before snorting in disgust. “You don’t HAVE allergies!”

A blush appeared on Turtles beak at being caught lying. Trunks looked back into the ship. “Alright then, I’m going inside.” He turned to his friend and gave him an innocent smile. “You can just stay out here and watch for sharks!” He quickly glided in through the window, leaving Turtle out there by himself. “Good idea, Trunks! You go in, and I’ll watch for-WHAT!? SHARKS?! Trunks!” He called while making a dive for the window and the safety of his friend.

His shell was too wide however, and he got stuck. “Trunks, help me!” He called out in fear. Trunks turned around from across the ship and laughed at the sight that met him before swimming on down. “Don’t worry, Turtle!” He chuckled. “I’ll get you out.” He grabbed his fins and started to pull, Turtles shell making creaking sounds as it was inched through the window.

“Trunks, do you really think there might be sharks around?” He whispered in a shaking voice, unaware of the giant shadow that just passed him on the other side. “Turtle, stop being such a guppy!” Trunks scolded before finally pulling him through with a loud popping sound.

They searched around the dark wreck, going through rotting cabins and other areas of the ship for anything of interest. They didn’t find too much. Just broken drawers, rotted pieces of wood and shattered glass. The tide must’ve washed most of the human things away. After about ten minutes or so and still coming up with nothing, Trunks started to grumble to himself about the uselessness of the place while Turtle continued to try and persuade him to leave with him.

“We might as well look through the other rooms, Turtle.” Trunks said calmly. “We’re already more than halfway done anyway.”

Turtle nodded his head. As long as they were going to leave soon then he didn’t really care. He had a bad feeling that something terrible was about to happen and didn’t want to be around for when it did.

They finally made it to the last room in the ship, to Turtle's relief. The door was jammed so they had to swim in through a hole in the floor. It was on the top floor and was the largest room of them all. It had a giant window in the back that was cracked up but amazingly not shattered. Trunks looked around. This room was his last hope to get something good. He had never been in a ship that had so few things in it in all the times he went out to collect.

Collecting human objects had been a hobby that he shared with his mother back when she was still alive. He used to almost always go with her when she found a new wreck to explore and they would always take their finding to Master Roshi, the seagull. He would tell them what the objects that they had collected were, then they would take their finds on down to their secret hiding spot. It was so cool having all those human things piled up in one spot. Kinda like their own secret treasure room that nobody else knew about, not even his father. Turtle knew about it, but only because they were best friends and he trusted him. He would never tell anyone about it.

It was getting harder to get him to come along to some of the ship wrecks with him, but he always gave in, in the end. So, it didn’t matter. He really needed these trips to loosen up anyway. Turtle was always so stressed out.

Trunks turned around in circles, trying to get a look at the whole room all at once, his hair waving around in the water and getting in his face. `Man, I really should cut my hair.’ He thought disgustedly as he placed a strand behind his ear. Turtle kept near him in case of danger, eyeing the vast room suspiciously.

Suddenly, a sparkling something caught his eye way off in the corner. He sucked in his breath and excitedly swam up to it as fast as he could. It looked like a silver stick with small dull spikes coming out the end. “Oh my god! Turtle would you look at this!” Isn't it the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen! I don’t even have one like it at all!”

“It’s wonderful, Trunks.” Turtle said, looking at the object over Trunks’ shoulder. “Now that we have something, can we go?”

Trunks didn’t hear him as he spotted on old pipe on the other side of the room and raced to get it. “Hmm…I wonder what this is?” He asked picking it up and examining it.

“Truuuunks.” Turtle whined. He was turned around so he didn’t see the giant great white shark through the window behind him, eyeing him like he was supper.

“Turtle, will you relax already?” Trunks said lazily, not looking up at him in time to see the shark open it’s jaws. “Nothing is going to happen.”

A thundering, crash sound behind Turtle alerted both him and Trunks to the shark. Turtle screamed his head off as he swam for his life while the shark gave chase. Trunks threw his things inside of the sack he was carrying and swam off after his friend. The shark twisted and turned in the vast room that was suddenly to small for the three of them, quickly and gracefully in the water with the professionalism of a true hunter. Trunks did the same, knowing fully well that his friend was doomed if he didn’t get out of the way soon.

The shark snapped his jaws open and closed in a very threatening manner as he gained on his prey. Turtle continued to scream as Trunks clenched his teeth, trying to speed up to save his friend. The shark eventually backed him up in a corner and was about to come in for the kill until Trunks dived in, grabbed him and swam away as fast as his fins would take him. The shark crashed loudly into the rotted wood and sharp splinters floated everywhere.

They swam as fast as they could for the window in which they came in, with Turtle in the lead. The great white behind them and looking completely pissed off. “Oh, No!” Turtle cried out as he crashed into the window and got stuck again. Trunks charged up behind him and didn’t stop, so he ended up roughly pushing Turtle through the hole and getting himself through just in time before the shark smashed his way through the ships outer wall.

They ended up swimming circles upwards, around the ship, trying to get away from the very angry, very HUNGRY shark. They were losing their breath fast! Turtle ended up going so fast that he smashed his face into one of the ships sail poles. He was knocked completely out, and descended to the ocean floor slowly. The shark saw this and followed the prey that was easier to catch. “Turtle!” Trunks screamed out in fear as he dove to get him.

When he got close enough he reached out and grabbed him. Looking around he noticed that he had reached through an anchor hole. He held Turtle protectively close to him as the shark drew nearer at amazing speeds. He grabbed the side of the anchor and pushed himself out in the other direction just in time as the shark sped through the hole.

Turtle woke up a bit dazed. They were about to try and make a break for it again when Trunks turned around and started to laugh hysterically. Turtle looked at him as if he were insane. “What’s so funny? We need to get out of here right now!” He yelled. Trunks stopped laughing enough to explain things to him. “Look down there, Turtle.” He said with a smirk while pointing in the direction of the shark. Turtle looked down and was pretty amazed to see the shark stuck in the anchor hole!

“H-he’s stuck!” Turtle exclaimed happily. They both grinned at each other for their get-a-way and swam on down for a better look at the thing. They had never seen a shark up close before, and now that they could the idea intrigued them. “Awww. Is the poor shark stuck?” Trunks asked it in a mocking tone. It just glared daggers at him. Turtle also found some courage and swam a little closer to it. “You big bully!” He said. Then he stuck his tongue out at it. He was so close that as the shark snapped his teeth at him, he could practically feel the water current change in his direction. His eyes immediately went wide in both surprise and fear as he and Trunks swam for the surface.

Trunks was snickering at him. “Turtle, you really ARE a guppy!”

“I am not!”

***

Out in the sun, sitting on a rock humming to himself, while reading porn magazines, was a large seagull wearing sunglasses. He turned the pages over to get a better look, soaking up the hot rays of the sun when suddenly he heard his name being called.

“Hey, Master Roshi!”

He hid his magazines away as fast as he could, the call having startled him, and pulled out his telescope and looked through the wrong end. He saw what looked like Trunks and Turtle several yards away, when in fact they weren’t even two full feet away.

“Hey, Trunks!!” He called. “How you doing, kid?!”

Trunks smiled at the display while Turtle rolled his eyes at the crazy old bird as Master Roshi put down the telescope to get a better look, only to see them directly in front of him in the water. “Whoa, what a swim!” He said with amazement. Trunks didn’t bother to correct him as he pulled his bag out of the water and handed it over to him. “Look at all the cool stuff we found, Master Roshi!” He said excitedly while dumping the contents onto the rock for him to see.

It wasn’t the most stuff he’d managed to get in all the times that he and Turtle went out to collect, but he didn’t have anything like them in his whole collection. And the idea that there were more human things out there still waiting to be collected excited him to no end.

Roshi looked down at the back before happily beginning to snoop through it. “Alrighty, lets see what we got today.” he said to himself. He suddenly gasped with his head still in the bag as he pulled out the fork. “Well would you look at this! My, this is special! This is very, very unusual!”

“What?! What is it?” Trunks asked getting all excited at Roshi’s mumbling’s.

“It’s a dingle hopper!” He said with awe. “What’s a dingle hopper?” Trunks and Turtle asked at the same time. Roshi just smiled at them. “This is something you could use, Trunks. Turtle won’t be able to though.”

“Why not?” Trunks asked wondering why his friend wouldn’t be able to use the extra special item that they found. “Well you see, Trunks, a dingle hopper is what the humans use to style their hair!”

“Really?” He asked looking up at Roshi excitedly. “Yes, really! Look!” He put the fork into his feathers and started to twist them around. Trunks and Turtle watched in fascination. Soon he had nice looking curls on the top of his head and then he pulled out the fork and gave it back to Trunks. “That’s all you have to do until you get a style that humans go nuts for!”

“Wow.” Trunks said in an impressed tone while looking it over.

“What about the other one?” Turtle asked. “Oh ya, I nearly forgot!” Trunks said as he pulled out the pipe from his bag. “What about this one, Master Roshi?” He asked

“Well, well, well. What do we have here?” He said while taking the pipe from Trunks’ outstretched hand. “You certainly have been getting lucky with your finds lately, y’know that?” Did you get anything else from that shipwreck?” He asked curiously.

“No.” Trunks said with regret in his voice while Turtle looked a little happy. “This was all we could find. The current must’ve destroyed the rest of it or washed it all away.”

“That ship did look rather old, Trunks.” Turtle added. He just nodded his head in agreement. “Do you know what it is, Roshi?” Trunks asked, bringing his attention back to the scruffy old bird while leaning up against the rock. “Yes. It’s a snork flat.”

They just looked at him in confusion, so he continued. “The snork flat has been a very popular item amongst the humans for hundreds of years. Even know you can see many of them with one of these. You just blow into the smaller end here, and it will produce fine music. Allow me.” He took a huge breath of air and then blew hard into the pipe, just to have seaweed and mud come out the other end and a little down his throat.

“M-music?” Trunks said with remembrance while Master Roshi choked on what came out of his end of the pipe. “Oh no! The concert!” He said frantically while snatching the pipe from Master Roshi. “My father is going to KILL me!”

“The concert was today?” Turtle asked with an equal amount of fear in his voice.

“Trunks, you may want to clean that out before use–”

“I’m sorry Master Roshi, but I have to go!” He said while swimming off a bit and waving. “Thank you!” He called out before he and Turtle dove back into the depths.

“Any time, Trunks!” Roshi called, waving back. “Any time.”

***

The two of them swam as fast as their fins would carry them through the dark ocean, creating air bubbles as they went, frantically trying to get back home before they got into too much trouble. `How could I forget!’ Trunks thought miserably to himself. `Bra was looking forward to this too! I hope father won’t fillet me!’ Turtle just followed along, trying to think of some decent excuses that would help to get his friend out of trouble.

What they didn’t know, was that they were being watched as they swam. Two eels with the heads of Cell jr. watched them both with interest from the shadows in the rocks. Their two glassy eyes projecting the images they saw back to a crystal ball inside of a faraway cave near some underwater volcanoes, that gave the place a strange looking evil glow.

“Yes, hurry home little prince.” Said the figure who watched with little fascination from inside the cave he was in. He came out of the shadows and we see a black octopus with the body of perfect Cell from the waist up. He sneered at the screen of Trunks and Turtle swimming. “We wouldn’t want to miss daddy’s celebration now would we? Celebration indeed! Bah!” He grabbed a large sea snail from a nearby bowl and placed the little screeching thing in his mouth before chewing it slowly to increase it’s pain before he swallowed it.

“He celebrates while I am forced here! Banished, exiled and practically starving!” He clenched his shaking fists with fury. A sudden thought occurred to him, however and he eyed the projection with a sudden interest and burst out laughing. “Of course! It’s so simple! King Vegeta’s only son! He would do anything to keep his brats safe! The little girl is always around her father, so who better and easier to get at then his rebellious brat?”

He snickered evilly as his plan formed in his minds eye. “I’ll give him something to celebrate all right!” He then used his sorcery to call to his eels. “Listen up you two!!” He was so loud that they ended up banging their heads in surprise on the rocks above them. “I want you to keep an eye on Vegeta’s pretty boy son here.”

He started to rub his hands together with greed at the thought of all the power he could have. “He may be the key to Vegeta’s undoing!”. ► Chapter 01     Chapter 02     Chapter 03     Chapter 04     Chapter 05     Chapter 06     Chapter 07     Chapter 08     Chapter 09     Chapter 10