Chapter 1 - Part 1
Submitted November 7, 2004 Updated November 7, 2004 Status Incomplete | Arale's innocent naiveté collapses at the jeers of several cruel men, throwing the android girl for a sudden, emotional spin. Can the friendship and love of Goku bring her back to herself before she abandons all that she once was? Goku/Arale.
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Anime/Manga » Dragon Ball series |
Chapter 1 - Part 1
Chapter 1 - Part 1
Disclaimer: Dragon Ball/Dr. Slump is the property of Akira Toriyama, TOEI ANIMATION, and various other companies, as well as all characters within. I am using them without permission, and I am making no money off of them.
Legend:
( ) Denotes thoughts.
[ ] Denotes sound effects.
-
In a world of darkness and light
Both will ignore the victim's plight
Will you answer the light's call?
Who will lift you when you fall?
-
In a Bit of a Slump
By Reid M. Haynes
Arale-isms:
N'cha: Shortened form of Konnichiwa. When hollered at full blast, it becomes a Dragon Ball-esque beam attack. (a.k.a: the N'cha Cannon)
Bye-cha: Like "N'cha", only for farewells. Also able to be used as a beam blast.
Hoyo: Expression of confusion, astonishment, and various other emotions. (think: "oro")
Hakase: A nickname for Norimaki Senbei, and a general way of referring to someone with a doctorate degree. Can also mean "professor" or "doc."
Go-kun: My own custom Arale-ism. A cutesy way of referring to Goku, similar to "Goku-kun."
>>>>><<<<<
"Hoyo!" the girl cheered, landing on the grass with a brief skid. "That was cool!" Behind her, the wreckage of a shattered police car smashed on the ground, courtesy of the robotic projectile that had collided with it. But she listened not to their angry cries; she just wanted to have fun. And fun was a place far away from dumb ol' cops who probably ate too many doughnuts, anyway.
Norimaki Arale was running, running, down the rolling fields of Gengoro Island, home of the quaint and strange Penguin Village. The four-foot-tall android was moving as fast as a locomotive, if such a thing is possible for the short figure to do. But it was, for she was tearing up the earth far better than her multi-wheeled counterpart, each foot sending up another wave of dust clouds into the air. It served her well, indeed, for she was already well past the borders of her hometown and was swiftly headed towards new adventures and new excitement.
Behind her, a pair of short squeals cut through the air, two singsong little voices almost as cheery as she was. Arale turned mid-dash and smiled mischievously at her distant pursuers, the two Ga-chans. "Betcha can't catch me!" she taunted her friends, sticking out her tongue and making an absurd sort of face. Then with a laugh, she was off again, leaving them in the dust.
The girl continued her run through the island paradise, palm trees rushing past her like expressway cars. Squinting through her glasses, she looked off to the distance, trying to catch sight of her distant destination. "Oh, there it is!" Arale said suddenly, picking out the mass of short buildings hovering just beyond the horizon. "That's Walrus Village!" She giggled and picked up speed, ready to hurry up the trip as much as possible.
Arale's face was beaming with uncontested joy, like a bespectacled little sunrise. "I've never been over this way before!" she said to herself, looking back and forth over the numerous little houses in the area. She then giggled a bit, gritting her teeth in a broad smile. "Today's gonna be lots of fun!"
And [ZOOM!] she was off towards the distant village, laughing and smiling all the way.
>>>>><<<<<
Unfortunately for Arale, she didn't do all of her research heading into this unknown area. The place she was headed was actually a former Red Ribbon Army base, set up after General Blue's encounter with the Penguin Villagers. Though the army had collapsed some time ago, the soldiers-turned-townspeople still carried resentment for the weird people that inhabited the majority of the island. Indeed, one of their favorite things to do was to take a hapless little villager and show them just what an oddball creature they really were.
In short, this was Walrus Village, not Penguin Village. And they didn't take kindly to silly strangers.
>>>>><<<<<
Skidding to a stop amongst the entrance sign, Arale let out the deep breath she had accumulated from her lightning-fast jog. "Woo-hoo!" she cheered, raising her arms above her head in a stretching motion. "I'm here!" Straightening the winged cap on her head, the girl prepared herself for another jaunt into the unknown. Then, with a bounce in her step, she pranced on into the town, ready to have some more fun in this new locale.
Walrus Village was quite a bustling place for the small little hamlet it was. Though the domed Capsule Buildings were small, the people were huge, numerous, and mostly men, stomping around town like knights on a march. Sporting many different types of tattoos, these guys were tough customers, much more accustomed to holding guns than they were baskets of bread. Moreover, they were mean, and had a penchence for playing jokes on their fellow soldiers...and anyone else they could find.
Arale didn't notice any of this, however, and just continued to leisurely stroll through Walrus Village like she was born there. Moving straight through the crowd, she glanced at everyone and everything, looking for the most interesting person or object: that would be her playmate. She did feel the perturbing stare of several of the villagers, sizing her up like a rack of fresh meat. But the android girl just figured them to be looking for a playmate as well, in which case she was always happy to oblige.
Suddenly, a brief whistling sound called out from beyond a stack of barrels. Arale turned her head, and found a young man beckoning her with a crooking finger, a sly smile on his craggy face. She smiled back, and quickly made her way over to him. Maybe he wanted to play!
"N'cha!" she greeted this new person, raising her hand as a means of greeting.
"Yeah, hi," he said slowly, smiling and quickly looking back to a group of people, probably friends of his.
"Do you wanna play?" Arale continued, looking innocently at whom she hoped was to be her new friend.
The man turned back towards the girl, a somewhat suspicious smile on his face. "You're one of those Penguin Villagers, right?" he asked Arale, leaning closer to her and showing off his golden tooth. When she nodded, his smile picked up several notches. "I have a very cool game that we can play," he said, looking over to his side again.
"Yay!" she cheered, raising her arms up in the air.
She didn't notice the wink he gave his chuckling friends.
Reaching over to his side, the man fiddled with some object beyond sight of the girl-shaped robot. When he was done, he showed it off to Arale, who put her hands to her mouth in astonishment. In his grip was a long, sticklike object, standing about two feet from the curl of his fingers. And at the end of the stick was a flair of glorious energy, sparking like a Z-Fighter's charge-up mode.
"This is a 'Magic Rod'" the golden-toothed man explained, making sure the girl got a good look at this wondrous new toy. "It's a source of great magical power." He motioned over to the open barrel to his left, which shimmered with a strange, black liquid. "When you place the rod in one of these barrels, mystical Mana Faeries spring forth from within. They love to play with people carrying Magic Rods."
"Ooh!" Arale almost swooned at the sheer excitement of it all. "Coooool!"
"Hurry now," the man said, trying to hold back his giggles as he handed her the object. "Don't let the magic fade away!"
Taking the sparkler from his hands, she eagerly strode over to the open barrel, ready for another exciting game with the faeries. Looking at the mass of oil sitting calmly within, she lowered the firework into the container, the sparks flying perilously close to the muddy black goo. Taking a look at her muddled refection, she smiled eagerly at herself, bearing the fabled Magic Rod like a fairytale magician. Then, she plunged it deep into the oil, completely submerging it within its shadowy depths.
Of course, you can guess what happened next.
[B-BOMB!!!!]
"Iyaaa!!!" Arale hollered out, the heat overloaded her pain circuits. "I'm on fire!" Mentally running over fire drills she learned in school, she rolled about on the ground, trying desperately to snuff out the flames that clung to her clothes. Finally getting rid of the burning sensation that had overtaken her, she lay in a charred heap on the ground, smoking like a burnt barbecue on the Fourth of July. After waiting a moment, she then lifted herself off the ground, wondering what on earth had happened to cause a reaction like that.
The girl then took a look around at her surroundings, maybe for the first time. All around her, there were people laughing, grabbing their bellies with a dark sort of mirth. The golden-toothed man was currently exchanging high-fives with his buddies, the "other" center of attention in this wild scene. Right now, he didn't seem concerned with magical faeries...at all.
"Good job, Marvin!" a dark-skinned man was saying to the golden-toothed one, clapping his buddy on the back. "You got that weirdo good!"
"Personally, I thought it was kinda lame," a short, stout man was saying, clasping his hands behind his back complacently. "I mean, sticking a sparkler in an old barrel, that's just stupid."
"Well, stupid is as stupid does," the gold-toothed man commented, putting a finger under his nose to wipe away some snot. "And nobody's stupider than those Penguin Villagers!" He let out a loud guffaw at his own joke, putting his hand on his head with his sniggers. And the others, including the stout man, laughed along with him, a group of merciless crows preying upon the naivete of one small hummingbird.
Weirdo, stupid. Arale stood there trying to contemplate all of the disturbing images before her. Why were they saying such mean things about her, when they were supposed to be playing with her? Why were they laughing when she was hurting? Did they know she was hurting?
(Maybe...this isn't part of a game.)
That was when she realized the truth. The men weren't laughing with her; they were laughing at her. They didn't want to play at all: no, they were too mean for that. They wanted to...make fun of her.
"You guys..." she said quietly, looking down at the ground with strange sort of grimace on her face. "You guys aren't very nice."
"Yeah?" the golden-toothed man, Marvin, responded snidely, still whooping it up with his friends. "Well we think you're nice! Nice and stupid!" At the amendment to his statement, the group of former soldiers starting laughing even harder, slapping their knees with much gusto. And Arale just stood there and took it, for once at a loss for all actions.
No, this wasn't how it was supposed to be! People were supposed to be nice to each other, and enjoy playing games! The girl's eyes were quivering in their sockets, and her little fists were clenching up with frustration. This...wasn't fun anymore.
Before they had the chance to launch into another wave of insults, Arale dashed off to the hills, as far away from these people as she could get. And this time, she didn't bother spreading her arms like an airplane, making noises, or doing anything else that was...weird.
>>>>><<<<<
"Isn't this a nice day, honey?" Midori was saying to her husband, as she served him another lump of mashed potatoes.
"Yes, indeed," the man responded, eagerly snatching a spoonful of the fluffy white substance. "Perfect time for a good meal!"
Suddenly, the familiar sound of pattering feet entered the homestead, causing him to drop the mashed potatoes onto his lap. Senbei turned with a low growl to the front door, which was currently blown off its hinges and lying on the grass outside...again. Into the house dashed his android "daughter," once more paying no need to the trail of destruction that seemed to follow her every step. "Damn it, Arale!" the middle-aged scientist yelled out, shaking his fist angrily. "I told you no running in the house!"
The girl acted as ifs he hadn't heard him at all, too caught up in herself to notice. With a haste unbecoming even to her, she ran straight past both of them without so much as a "N'cha," making for the hallway where her room was located. Yanking wildly on the doorknob, she swung open the door and darted inside, not even stopping to take off her shoes. And just as suddenly, she slammed the door in the first violent motion the good doctor had seen from his "daughter."
"Huh?" Midori said, looking over to where the girl had just departed. "Was that a tear in her eye?"
Having never installed tear ducts in his greatest creation, Senbei had no answer to this.
-
NEXT UP- Part Two of IaBoaS
Legend:
( ) Denotes thoughts.
[ ] Denotes sound effects.
-
In a world of darkness and light
Both will ignore the victim's plight
Will you answer the light's call?
Who will lift you when you fall?
-
In a Bit of a Slump
By Reid M. Haynes
Arale-isms:
N'cha: Shortened form of Konnichiwa. When hollered at full blast, it becomes a Dragon Ball-esque beam attack. (a.k.a: the N'cha Cannon)
Bye-cha: Like "N'cha", only for farewells. Also able to be used as a beam blast.
Hoyo: Expression of confusion, astonishment, and various other emotions. (think: "oro")
Hakase: A nickname for Norimaki Senbei, and a general way of referring to someone with a doctorate degree. Can also mean "professor" or "doc."
Go-kun: My own custom Arale-ism. A cutesy way of referring to Goku, similar to "Goku-kun."
>>>>><<<<<
"Hoyo!" the girl cheered, landing on the grass with a brief skid. "That was cool!" Behind her, the wreckage of a shattered police car smashed on the ground, courtesy of the robotic projectile that had collided with it. But she listened not to their angry cries; she just wanted to have fun. And fun was a place far away from dumb ol' cops who probably ate too many doughnuts, anyway.
Norimaki Arale was running, running, down the rolling fields of Gengoro Island, home of the quaint and strange Penguin Village. The four-foot-tall android was moving as fast as a locomotive, if such a thing is possible for the short figure to do. But it was, for she was tearing up the earth far better than her multi-wheeled counterpart, each foot sending up another wave of dust clouds into the air. It served her well, indeed, for she was already well past the borders of her hometown and was swiftly headed towards new adventures and new excitement.
Behind her, a pair of short squeals cut through the air, two singsong little voices almost as cheery as she was. Arale turned mid-dash and smiled mischievously at her distant pursuers, the two Ga-chans. "Betcha can't catch me!" she taunted her friends, sticking out her tongue and making an absurd sort of face. Then with a laugh, she was off again, leaving them in the dust.
The girl continued her run through the island paradise, palm trees rushing past her like expressway cars. Squinting through her glasses, she looked off to the distance, trying to catch sight of her distant destination. "Oh, there it is!" Arale said suddenly, picking out the mass of short buildings hovering just beyond the horizon. "That's Walrus Village!" She giggled and picked up speed, ready to hurry up the trip as much as possible.
Arale's face was beaming with uncontested joy, like a bespectacled little sunrise. "I've never been over this way before!" she said to herself, looking back and forth over the numerous little houses in the area. She then giggled a bit, gritting her teeth in a broad smile. "Today's gonna be lots of fun!"
And [ZOOM!] she was off towards the distant village, laughing and smiling all the way.
>>>>><<<<<
Unfortunately for Arale, she didn't do all of her research heading into this unknown area. The place she was headed was actually a former Red Ribbon Army base, set up after General Blue's encounter with the Penguin Villagers. Though the army had collapsed some time ago, the soldiers-turned-townspeople still carried resentment for the weird people that inhabited the majority of the island. Indeed, one of their favorite things to do was to take a hapless little villager and show them just what an oddball creature they really were.
In short, this was Walrus Village, not Penguin Village. And they didn't take kindly to silly strangers.
>>>>><<<<<
Skidding to a stop amongst the entrance sign, Arale let out the deep breath she had accumulated from her lightning-fast jog. "Woo-hoo!" she cheered, raising her arms above her head in a stretching motion. "I'm here!" Straightening the winged cap on her head, the girl prepared herself for another jaunt into the unknown. Then, with a bounce in her step, she pranced on into the town, ready to have some more fun in this new locale.
Walrus Village was quite a bustling place for the small little hamlet it was. Though the domed Capsule Buildings were small, the people were huge, numerous, and mostly men, stomping around town like knights on a march. Sporting many different types of tattoos, these guys were tough customers, much more accustomed to holding guns than they were baskets of bread. Moreover, they were mean, and had a penchence for playing jokes on their fellow soldiers...and anyone else they could find.
Arale didn't notice any of this, however, and just continued to leisurely stroll through Walrus Village like she was born there. Moving straight through the crowd, she glanced at everyone and everything, looking for the most interesting person or object: that would be her playmate. She did feel the perturbing stare of several of the villagers, sizing her up like a rack of fresh meat. But the android girl just figured them to be looking for a playmate as well, in which case she was always happy to oblige.
Suddenly, a brief whistling sound called out from beyond a stack of barrels. Arale turned her head, and found a young man beckoning her with a crooking finger, a sly smile on his craggy face. She smiled back, and quickly made her way over to him. Maybe he wanted to play!
"N'cha!" she greeted this new person, raising her hand as a means of greeting.
"Yeah, hi," he said slowly, smiling and quickly looking back to a group of people, probably friends of his.
"Do you wanna play?" Arale continued, looking innocently at whom she hoped was to be her new friend.
The man turned back towards the girl, a somewhat suspicious smile on his face. "You're one of those Penguin Villagers, right?" he asked Arale, leaning closer to her and showing off his golden tooth. When she nodded, his smile picked up several notches. "I have a very cool game that we can play," he said, looking over to his side again.
"Yay!" she cheered, raising her arms up in the air.
She didn't notice the wink he gave his chuckling friends.
Reaching over to his side, the man fiddled with some object beyond sight of the girl-shaped robot. When he was done, he showed it off to Arale, who put her hands to her mouth in astonishment. In his grip was a long, sticklike object, standing about two feet from the curl of his fingers. And at the end of the stick was a flair of glorious energy, sparking like a Z-Fighter's charge-up mode.
"This is a 'Magic Rod'" the golden-toothed man explained, making sure the girl got a good look at this wondrous new toy. "It's a source of great magical power." He motioned over to the open barrel to his left, which shimmered with a strange, black liquid. "When you place the rod in one of these barrels, mystical Mana Faeries spring forth from within. They love to play with people carrying Magic Rods."
"Ooh!" Arale almost swooned at the sheer excitement of it all. "Coooool!"
"Hurry now," the man said, trying to hold back his giggles as he handed her the object. "Don't let the magic fade away!"
Taking the sparkler from his hands, she eagerly strode over to the open barrel, ready for another exciting game with the faeries. Looking at the mass of oil sitting calmly within, she lowered the firework into the container, the sparks flying perilously close to the muddy black goo. Taking a look at her muddled refection, she smiled eagerly at herself, bearing the fabled Magic Rod like a fairytale magician. Then, she plunged it deep into the oil, completely submerging it within its shadowy depths.
Of course, you can guess what happened next.
[B-BOMB!!!!]
"Iyaaa!!!" Arale hollered out, the heat overloaded her pain circuits. "I'm on fire!" Mentally running over fire drills she learned in school, she rolled about on the ground, trying desperately to snuff out the flames that clung to her clothes. Finally getting rid of the burning sensation that had overtaken her, she lay in a charred heap on the ground, smoking like a burnt barbecue on the Fourth of July. After waiting a moment, she then lifted herself off the ground, wondering what on earth had happened to cause a reaction like that.
The girl then took a look around at her surroundings, maybe for the first time. All around her, there were people laughing, grabbing their bellies with a dark sort of mirth. The golden-toothed man was currently exchanging high-fives with his buddies, the "other" center of attention in this wild scene. Right now, he didn't seem concerned with magical faeries...at all.
"Good job, Marvin!" a dark-skinned man was saying to the golden-toothed one, clapping his buddy on the back. "You got that weirdo good!"
"Personally, I thought it was kinda lame," a short, stout man was saying, clasping his hands behind his back complacently. "I mean, sticking a sparkler in an old barrel, that's just stupid."
"Well, stupid is as stupid does," the gold-toothed man commented, putting a finger under his nose to wipe away some snot. "And nobody's stupider than those Penguin Villagers!" He let out a loud guffaw at his own joke, putting his hand on his head with his sniggers. And the others, including the stout man, laughed along with him, a group of merciless crows preying upon the naivete of one small hummingbird.
Weirdo, stupid. Arale stood there trying to contemplate all of the disturbing images before her. Why were they saying such mean things about her, when they were supposed to be playing with her? Why were they laughing when she was hurting? Did they know she was hurting?
(Maybe...this isn't part of a game.)
That was when she realized the truth. The men weren't laughing with her; they were laughing at her. They didn't want to play at all: no, they were too mean for that. They wanted to...make fun of her.
"You guys..." she said quietly, looking down at the ground with strange sort of grimace on her face. "You guys aren't very nice."
"Yeah?" the golden-toothed man, Marvin, responded snidely, still whooping it up with his friends. "Well we think you're nice! Nice and stupid!" At the amendment to his statement, the group of former soldiers starting laughing even harder, slapping their knees with much gusto. And Arale just stood there and took it, for once at a loss for all actions.
No, this wasn't how it was supposed to be! People were supposed to be nice to each other, and enjoy playing games! The girl's eyes were quivering in their sockets, and her little fists were clenching up with frustration. This...wasn't fun anymore.
Before they had the chance to launch into another wave of insults, Arale dashed off to the hills, as far away from these people as she could get. And this time, she didn't bother spreading her arms like an airplane, making noises, or doing anything else that was...weird.
>>>>><<<<<
"Isn't this a nice day, honey?" Midori was saying to her husband, as she served him another lump of mashed potatoes.
"Yes, indeed," the man responded, eagerly snatching a spoonful of the fluffy white substance. "Perfect time for a good meal!"
Suddenly, the familiar sound of pattering feet entered the homestead, causing him to drop the mashed potatoes onto his lap. Senbei turned with a low growl to the front door, which was currently blown off its hinges and lying on the grass outside...again. Into the house dashed his android "daughter," once more paying no need to the trail of destruction that seemed to follow her every step. "Damn it, Arale!" the middle-aged scientist yelled out, shaking his fist angrily. "I told you no running in the house!"
The girl acted as ifs he hadn't heard him at all, too caught up in herself to notice. With a haste unbecoming even to her, she ran straight past both of them without so much as a "N'cha," making for the hallway where her room was located. Yanking wildly on the doorknob, she swung open the door and darted inside, not even stopping to take off her shoes. And just as suddenly, she slammed the door in the first violent motion the good doctor had seen from his "daughter."
"Huh?" Midori said, looking over to where the girl had just departed. "Was that a tear in her eye?"
Having never installed tear ducts in his greatest creation, Senbei had no answer to this.
-
NEXT UP- Part Two of IaBoaS
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