Those Obnoxious Dragon Balls

Chapter 3: Plus Ten

Lum lightly giggled. Just from talking about this man for a few seconds, Goku's mood brightened up to its maximum capacity of happiness. It's as if being an orphan wasn't a hindrance for him in the slightest.

"I see. I can tell you loved him a lot."

"You bet! Even though he didn't have a tail like I did, he was still family to me. He was the best grandpa a guy could ask for."

Lum tilted her head to the side, examining Goku's backside. "Wait, tail? What do you mean by that, Darling?"

"Oh, right! I used to have a monkey tail a few years back. Sometimes I forget it isn't there anymore. Hehe." Goku laughed.

The Oni princess froze. Goku's black hair was beginning to seem oddly familiar in the worst way possible. She couldn't be too certain, but her suspicions were becoming more and more feasible by the second. Did her dad suspect the same thing during their game of tag?

"Was it... by any chance, brown and sorta bushy looking?" Lum inquired in a hesitant tone.

Goku looked surprised. "Yeah... it was, actually. How'd you guess?"

Lum froze again. She quickly darted around the room for a proper excuse. This came in the form of an actual monkey that was climbing in one of the Atrium's specially planted trees.

"That creature over there has that kind of tail, so I just assumed yours was the same. Teehee." She giggled awkwardly.

"Welp, you assumed right then. I've had it taken off a few times, but while it used to grow back, I think it's gone for good now. Probably cause Kami was the one who removed it this time."

Now, it was Lum's turn to be confused once again. "Kami? Correct me if I'm wrong, Darling, but does that mean you talked to Earth's... god?"

"He's more like the Earth's Guardian, but yeah, pretty much. He was my latest martial arts instructor. If you're wondering why I was so fast during our match, you can thank him for the most part."

"Ohh... so he's the reason you can fly like I do. I get it now..." Lum nodded in realization. "But I'd probably understand more if we didn't jump around to such a later point in your life. That's my fault."

"No worries. We can go back to the beginning, if you want." Goku brushed her apology aside. "Although, there's not much left to tell. For Grandpa, he was with me at one moment in time and then... he was gone just like that."

"G-Gone? As in..."

"I think so. I'm still not entirely positive what happened, but I just remember looking up at the full moon one night and then waking up the next morning without any clothes. And my Grandpa just... wasn't there anymore..." Goku reminisced in slight sadness. "I spent hours and hours looking for him, but he never came back. I had to fend for myself another six years after that."

Goku looked down at his feet, frowning. Lum didn't quite know what to say in that moment. On one hand, she was incredibly sad that Goku had to go through such pain and loneliness in his life, but on the other hand, she was terrified of the implications his story brought up.

She had heard many stories from Mr. Invader about a race of monkey-tailed warriors who could transform upon looking up at the full moon. He even recounted a time when these barbarous conquerors attempted to invade Oniboshi in the name of Lord Frieza. Of course, he ended up taking control of her home world, regardless, but it wasn't by that aforementioned race's hand in the end. In fact, according to him, they were all rendered extinct by some giant asteroid of all things.

But if that were truly the case, then why did Goku display characteristics of the Saiyans her father was so deathly afraid of? It brought up far more questions than answers.