"This had better be really important!" Bulma declared as she exited and re-capsulized her jetcopter at the rocky edge of the desert where the rest of the group was gathered, "Because I had to cancel on a huge meeting to get here for this- whatever it is!" she glared at the males before her.

Kakarrot bounced up and down excitedly. "We're gonna spar in Oozaru and Raditz said he'll finally teach me how to fire a ki blast from my mouth!"

Bulma stared at him for a moment. "I don't know what ozzaroo, but the ki thing sounds like a recipe for heartache and pain."

Raditz shrugged from where he was standing nearby, unconcerned. "Better to teach him than have him try and figure it out himself."

"No, no ki attacks."

The group turned to Geta, who was sitting on a rock and staring at the horizon pensively.

"No ki attacks," he repeated, not looking at them, "Not transformed, it's too destructive. And stuff lives in these rocks."

"I wouldn't have pegged you for an environmentalist," Yamcha joked, but Geta just shrugged.

"Some of the stuff around here's supposed to be good to eat. No point in wasting food."

"Oh, come on, Geta," Bulma rolled her eyes, "I'm not thrilled at the idea of Kakarrot spitting ki either, but you have to admit-"

"NO!" Geta stood and spun in one swift movement, flaring his ki to its full level for once and scowling ferociously. "No ki attacks tonight from them or me! It is too dangerous! Even without ki it's too big and strong, too easy to break things you shouldn't!" he turned his full attention on his fellow saiyans, "You swear to me now you won't or I knock you both out, stick you in your ship, and launch you back into space! Swear it!"

…it was easy to forget just how strong Geta really was. He kept a tight lid on his power for the most part and tended to be fairly amiable. It was easy to forget he could play the 'because I said so and no one can stop me' card, because he almost never did – Bulma got the feeling this might even have been his first time using it.

He was doing a good job of it, though – his ki forming a corona around him, his expression cold, looming over them from the top of a rock – and the other guys were watching him warily.

Bulma wasn't impressed. She was well aware that all of the people there could kill her with no effort – being able to do so in a few milliseconds as opposed to a few seconds didn't really throw her. Besides, if you let a guy get it into his head that you were scared of him, he might think this gave him the right to boss you around, and that went against the natural order of things, because obviously it was Bulma who was supposed to be in charge.

Besides, she'd noticed something she didn't think the others had; not only did Geta have his tail wrapped so tightly around his waist that it looked like it was cutting off blood-flow, it was floofed to twice its normal size.

She preferred to be brash, it came more naturally to her, but Bulma could be quiet when the situation called for it, and right now what was needed was a 'woman's touch,' ala her mom during her occasional flashes of spooky levels of insight.

Walking slowly up to the flame-haired saiyan, she ignored his warning growl, along with the worried noises Yamcha and Raditz made and halted in front of his rock, looking up at him, arms folded. "Geta," she said quietly, "Enough stories. What are you so scared of?"

Geta blinked… and just like that the aura of power vanished and he slumped. "You," he whispered, wrapping his arms around himself like he was cold, "And Yamcha. And seeing those expressions on your faces."

"What expressions?"

"Like they had at the dojo the first time they saw me do a kata. Like I'm a monster. I can't- I used to be okay, being alone most of the time," he looked away, "Then you came along and- I can't anymore. I don't want you to leave."

Bulma reached up and pulled him off his perch and into her arms, hooking her chin on top of his head. "You haven't scared me off yet," she said firmly, "And maybe if you told me what was going to happen instead of being all vague and mysterious, it would help."

There was a moment of silence where she thought he wasn't going to answer. Then-

"It's why I've always got an umbrella," Geta admitted quietly, "And why I was always so insistent that other humans had tails. Because if they had tails and cut them off, then maybe that was why they could look at the full moon without changing. Because if they didn't change at all, if it was just me… then what did that make me? I mean, I've read about werewolves but this… it's different."

Bulma brought a hand up to stroke his hair and felt him relax against her slightly. "Don't sell us short. We handled finding out you're an alien prince-"

"'mnotaprince."

"-an alien," she amended, deciding to let that slide for now, "I think I can handle whatever this is. Can't speak for Yamcha, of course – he's a wuss."

Geta snickered in spite of himself. "Yamcha is a wuss."

"I am not!" the man in question snapped indignantly, "I just have a healthy sense of self-preservation!"

"Unlike them," Raditz muttered, then continued more loudly, "You weren't this concerned when you told us about the moon this morning!"

Geta shrugged, grinning weakly. "I am very good at pretending things don't bother me right up until the point I am forced to confront them. Like the fact that I turn into a giant monkey if I look at the full moon." The last part came out in a rush, "And there seemed a higher probability that you guys did, too, what with the tails and not-human and all."

Bulma blinked and looked down at the top of Geta's head. "What."

"Oozaru, not monkey, Oozaru," Raditz growled, "Great ape if you prefer, but not monkey!"

"Yeah, see, I've been thinking about that," Geta turned to look at Raditz, "And 'monkey' actually makes more sense, because apes don't have tails and we do."

The taller saiyan stared at him for a moment, then buried his face in his hands. "The three shittiest saiyans in the universe, and we're the survivors…"

"Hey, I'm an awesome saiyan!" Kakarrot protested.

Raditz glowered at his brother from between his fingers. "Ever fought off an army on your own?"

"No…"

"Ever led an incursion onto another planet?"

"No…"

"Ever murdered someone in cold blood?"

"Dagore's teeth, no!"

"Like I said, shitty saiyan," Raditz nodded, "And no swearing."

"As fascinating as all this is, can we get back to the turning into a giant ape-monkey thing?" Bulma interjected, " 'cause that's sending up some big, red 'bullshit' messages!"

"It's called the Oozaru form," Raditz growled, "And it's the secret strength of the saiyan race, unlocked only when we look at a full moon or the appropriate equivalent. Our strength, our speed, our size, our power – all increase tenfold in this form. It's the gift of Shimeihan, and thus we take her form in that state, in her honour."

Bulma shoved a hand through Vegeta's hair, making a gap to glare at Raditz through. "That last bit sounds like a lot of religious mumbo-jumbo to me."

The tall saiyan folded his arms and scowled at her, but, to his surprise, Yamcha beat him to the punch.

"Don't mock their beliefs, B," he said quietly but firmly, "We've seen Shenlong, and you know what Geta's capable of, and it's obviously based on something from the way Geta's acting. And even if it wasn't," he frowned, "Don't mock."

The blue-haired woman huffed, but turned her attention to Geta. "So, you gonna join in this Oozaru thing or just watch?"

Geta bit his lip and shrugged.

"You should join us tonight; I can show you how it works better," Raditz offered, voice calm.

Kakarrot had been watching the horizon for the moon to rise, but now he turned to Raditz. "So are you going to teach me the ki-blast from the mouth or not?"

"Not tonight," Raditz said firmly, "The prince has forbade it."

" 'm not a prince!"

"Then don't act like one."

Geta bristled. "I'm not!"

Raditz gave him an unimpressed look and began to list things off on his fingers. "Giving shelter to your subjects, keeping said subjects in line, protecting your territory, fighting all takers, enforcing your commands with your power-"

"Shut up!" Geta snapped, annoyed.

Raditz gave him a shit-eating grin. "Is that an order?"

"Kami, if I do this whole ozaru thing with you guys will you please give the prince thing a break?!" Geta glared at the older man. Raditz shrugged but nodded. "Fine!" extricating himself at last from Bulma's arms, he made his way behind some rocks, grumbling to himself as he went. "Five years, flawlessly avoided this- secret my WHOLE life- mckinfriggingrrrrrrr!"

There came rustling sounds and Bulma stomped after him. "Dammit, Geta, get back here and explain what you meant by- WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING WITH YOUR CLOTHES?!"

"Taking them off so they don't get ruined," came the far too reasonable-sounding response.

"I- I- cover yourself, at least!"

"No. I came back here out of consideration for the 'delicate female sensibilities' you claim to have. If you come after me, what you see is your problem."

"Why you- pervert!"

"Hey, you're the one who came after me, and you're the one, I might add, who has yet to look away. How does that make me a pervert?"

"It's different if a girl sees a guy!"

"That sounds like a really stupid double standard to me."

*SLAP*

"OW!"

"Is your hand okay? That looks like it hurts-"

"DON'T GET SO CLOSE WHEN YOU AREN'T WEARING ANYTHING!"

"Geez, okay, touchy…"

Bulma came out from behind the rocks, red-faced, fuming, and clutching her hand. "Not a word from any of you," she growled at the three onlookers.

Whether the older of the two would have commented (and, from the look on Yamcha's face, the answer was probably 'yes') became a question for the ages, because at that moment Kakarrot pointed excitedly towards the horizon.

"The moon's coming up!"

Geta poked his head out from behind the rocks. "Don't you two need to take your clothes off, too?"

"Ours stretch to accommodate the change," Raditz replied before catching Kakarrot with his tail and flying about fifty feet further into the desert to a large empty patch. "Stay over there," he called when Yamcha moved to follow, "Unless you want to get stepped on."

Geta sulked his way over to join the other saiyans, tail twitching crossly and as naked as Bulma had said he was, though he did keep his back to them and his hands in front of himself. Raditz didn't look at him, though he grunted in acknowledgement.

Yamcha went and sat next to Bulma where she was perched on a rock. "What do you think's going to happen?"

She snorted inelegantly. "It's probably more like werewolves than Geta thinks – I don't think he's ever met one before. They'll see the moon, get a little bigger and hairier, and then they'll do whatever wereapes do when they're transformed."

"I dunno," Yamcha's gaze was drawn to where the moon was a half-disc rising slowly from the horizon, "Geta's not stupid. If it was just a werewolf thing, I don't think he'd be so bothered. I mean, one of my classmates when you made me go to high school was a werewolf."

"Who, that Jetta girl?"

"No, she went to a different high school, and she was just a bitch."

Bulma snickered at that. "Still sore at her, I take it?"

Yamcha folded his arms around one knee and scowled. "She could have just told me her suspicions, she didn't have to make it traumatic!"

They sat in silence for a few minutes as the moon finished rising. For a moment afterwards, nothing happened. Then Yamcha tensed and sat up straight as he felt a spike in the saiyans' ki. Then-

It was-

Wow.

No wonder Geta hadn't wanted to tell anyone about this.

Yamcha gulped and realized his hands were shaking. He'd never felt ki this great before – hadn't thought anyone could have this much ki! And that wasn't the only crazy thing about it; now he understood why Raditz had warned him about being stepped on.

A distant little part of his mind pointed out that it was interesting how alike the three of them looked like this. Other than size and Raditz's still-crazy mane, the physical dissimilarities had been greatly reduced. Or, no – there was another difference. Raditz and Kakarrot both had a restless look to them, as though they wanted to move. Geta, on the other hand, was still, watching him and Bulma, waiting for a reaction-

Bulma!

Yamcha had completely forgotten about her – she was probably terrified! He turned to look at his friend and found the blue-haired woman was staring at the saiyans, slack-jawed. As he watched, she swallowed a few times, then managed to choke out, "Geta? Is that you?"

The giant, hairy ape-creature Geta had become scratched the back of its head and looked away, nodding sheepishly, and suddenly it was easy to see his friend in this impossible form. Something in Yamcha relaxed a little at this. It was still Geta. They were still them.

Bulma, however, looked like she had gone absolutely livid. Red in the face, she sprang to her feet, pointing accusingly at the three saiyans. "NO! This is not okay! This is just- And the mass- DAMMIT, I AM THE ONLY ONE WHO IS ALLOWED TO ABUSE SCIENCE LIKE THIS!"

Geta backpedalled as the tiny woman advanced on him, and suddenly the whole thing went from strange and scary to completely ridiculous. If he hadn't been sitting already, Yamcha was pretty sure he would have had to after this, he was laughing so hard. Geta was huge and could have destroyed Bulma with ease even before he'd transformed. Now, with the power to probably destroy the planet at his fingertips, he was fleeing before the wrath of a woman who could barely throw a decent punch! Granted, said woman was also Bulma Briefs, and Bulma was legitimately terrifying, but even so…

"Karn's first, Vegeta, just tell her to stop if she's bothering you!"

Everyone's head except Kakarrot's snapped towards Raditz at that, and Bulma pointed her accusing finger at him now.

"You can talk like that?!"

Raditz frowned at her. It was suitably menacing, even if it did bounce right off of Bulma. "Of course we can still talk. Why wouldn't we be able to?"

"But- snouts- and-!" Bulma sputtered, looking indignant. She turned to glare at Geta, who actually took another step back. "If he can talk, you can talk, so quit with the silent act!"

Geta nodded, then winced, then opened his mouth to answer. A few grunts came out, but no words. Frowning, he tried again, then turned to look at Raditz, puzzled, when it produced no better results.

The enormous saiyan put his face in his hands. Again. Seriously, if he kept that up he was going to leave indents on his palms… "Try mentally, like you were working on with Kakarrot and me the other day."

Geta nodded, and he and Kakarrot stared at each other for a few moments, during which Yamcha caught his breath and finally managed to calm down somewhat.

"He says he can't talk," Kakarrot finally announced, "He's trying, but the words won't come out."

Raditz growled to himself, but didn't appear overly surprised (though it was a little hard to tell), "Probably another side effect from the chemicals. Godspat incompetents. Come on, Kakarrot – we'll move further into the desert so we can spar safely. Are you coming, Vegeta?"

The (relatively) shorter saiyan thought for a moment, then shook his head, though he gave Raditz a warning look.

"I know, your highness, no ki blasts," Raditz waved a hand, then smirked when Geta growled at him, presumably at the title. "Sorry, your highness, I didn't quite catch that – could you speak a little more clearly?" he sniggered when Geta was unable to do more than grunt in frustration. "If you say so, your highness. Come on, Kakarrot – the prince won't be joining us tonight."

Geta sat down facing away from the other saiyans in a decidedly ridiculous sulk, watching them move off towards the open sands where nothing much lived. Bulma stomped over to him and proceeded to thoroughly chew Geta out for infringing on her science-breaking territory. He just sat there and took it, nodding or shaking his head contritely at appropriate intervals. Yamcha wandered over as she wound down, and she turned on him, pointing at Geta angrily.

"He's just sitting there and taking it! He never just sits there and takes it! Make him fight back!"

"Bulma, I know it's hard, but could you try to be just a little bit reasonable?" Yamcha asked, half amused, "The guy can't talk at the moment, and he's too big to be able to write or anything."

"Fine," Bulma huffed, sitting down as well, "But we're fighting about this when you shrink down again!" she added, pointing at Geta, who nodded in far too cheerful a manner to Yamcha's mind.

"You two are weird," the ex-bandit said drily as he sat down next to Bulma, looking at the moon. They were quite for a few minutes. "My life didn't used to be this strange, you know," he finally said, "Up until I met you, Bulma, things were pretty normal."

Geta grunted, and when they looked up he jabbed a thumb at his chest, then held up two fingers. 'Me too.'

Bulma rolled her eyes, "Oh please – you were a successful bandit at age sixteen, and you are an alien living on a planet that is not technically your home world! You guys were freaks way before I came along."

"Maybe," Yamcha replied neutrally, "But you have to admit, things always get way more complicated and strange when you're involved."

"Oh they do not – and Geta, stop laughing, yes, I can tell you're laughing at me, stop it, stop it now!"

They continued conversing for awhile, Geta joining in as well as he could without any means of verbal or written communication and a far more limited range of facial expressions than he was used to. It was amazing how quickly you could get used to things, like one of your friends turning into a gigantic ape-creature.

They must have fallen asleep at some point, because eventually Yamcha was woken up by Bulma yelling.

"GETA GET OFF ME, YOU ARE STILL NAKED!"

"Huh- bwuh?"

"OFF! OFF NOW!"

"Mrmph…"

Yamcha sighed and stretched, then went to go grab Geta's clothes from where they'd been stashed the previous night before Bulma had an aneurism.

OoOoOoOoO

That thing about 'it's okay if a girl sees a guy but not the other way around' comes up fairly often in anime, and it annoys me a lot – it's such a weird, sexist double standard.

This was an interesting piece to write, since it was another about Geta being forced to confront one of his deepest fears. (laughs) You guys are actually finding all this out way sooner than I did – this is one of the last things I wrote for this universe. Why he makes up stories, why he flees from strangers, why he doesn't like cities, why he's convinced humans have tails… I didn't know the answers to any of these questions when I started writing, they really were just character quirks. It was an interesting surprise to find out that not only did Geta have reasons for each of these behaviours, they were pretty solid ones.

Kakarrot's better at telepathy than Raditz, which is why he was working with Geta on it. Also, Bulma, I love you, you crazy, fearless science-lady, you, you are so much fun to write!