DBZ Rec List

Dragonball Z Fanfiction Recommendations List

There are some truly marvellous fanfics out there. So I've made a list of my own favourites from DragonBall Z fandom. Be warned; the best DBZ fanfiction is the darkest. I like my stories to be emotionally complex and full of angst. For me, character development is everything.

Some of these are Bulma/Vegeta and some are Goku/Vegeta.

Here is a list of my favourite fanfics:

World Enough and Time - by Lisalu
Bulma/Vegeta, Complete
Summary: The Earth is purged and Goku is captured by the Ginyu Force. Radditz was too late to rescue his brother but manages to rescue his friend instead: Bulma.

My favourite DBZ fanfic ever. Such a gripping story. And the whole mechanisation thing was simply genius ... and seriously creepy.

Quote 1: The long rows of cages, dark and seemingly endless, stretched out from the icy, sterile laboratory's exit like an annex corridor to hell.

Quote 2: "What, I can't be relieved?" She frowned. "Screw you all."
"Toma," Bardock cocked an eye at the big, lanky Saiyan. "You still have the right to put your pup down, don't you?"
Toma shook his head mournfully. "She just turned fifteen---she's a legal adult now. I waited too damn long…"

Quote 3: Zarbon sat watching the big warrior Toma's daughter try to goad the boy Gokou into fighting her for the better part of an hour. The girl, Anyan, he thought someone had said her name was, had progressed from off-hand offers to spar, to insults, to open threats against specific parts of the boy's anatomy. Each mild, good-natured reply the other youngster gave her seemed to only enrage her further.

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A Glad Day - by Lisalu
Bulma/Vegeta, Complete
The emotions in this are put across so strongly. This story is very dark, NOT for the faint-hearted, I found some of it unbearable. I actually cried at least three times while reading it.

Quote 1: "It is cho-gugol," Vegita whispered. "Debt of blood and honor. A warrior can only pay such a debt with his life's blood."

Quote 2: "If," he told the dogs with soft menace, "either of you relieves yourself inside my house, we will dine upon roast dog this night."
They stared at him blankly for the space of a half-second, then ‘woofed’ happily and resumed their merry race around the hearth.
"Worthless beasts," he said disgustedly.

Quote 3: "What you have endured will give you strength, boy. It will cool your youthful rages to cold cleverness in the heat of the moment. You have in you the makings of a king out of legend, though you still have much to learn. Bring Mousrom to heel here on Vegita-sei, and I will look to winning the war until you are ready for the field. Resilience is the greatest strength of our race, my son. And the old saying holds true. What does not kill a Saiyan…" Ottousama grinned wolfishly. "…will soon have great cause to regret not having done so!"

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Chains of Affection - by Syldana
Vegeta/Goku, Complete
A wonderful fanfic which keeps Vegeta and Goku perfectly in character throughout and somehow manages to get them together anyway. Before I read this I thought that yaoi was distasteful (mostly because I'd only ever glanced at badly written PWPs). But this fic got me into yaoi. It's just so sweet! ^^

Quote 1: "You don't what?!" he roared, rage exploding like an erupting volcano within him, blazing, blasting, churning, and totally out of control. "You don't understand?! You stupid, brainless bakayaro!!"

Quote 2: "You're sleeping with my father?" Trunks burst out suddenly, his voice uncommonly shrill.

Quote 3: "Well, what did you say?" the boy pressed. "What happened?"
Goku tilted his chin. "Well… everything seemed to be going great. He came to the party to get me, like he really missed me or something. I could see it in his eyes as we made love… it looked like he was really beginning to trust me. Even afterward things seemed fine. I asked him if he wanted to go back to the barbecue and eat with me, but he refused again. And then, well, he asked if I wanted things to change between us. Kami, that really scared me and I said no right away." He paused, frowning slightly. "Do you think that might be it? He got really, really mad after that." He paused again, eyebrows lifting as he waited for a reply. One never came. "Uh… guys?"
They still said nothing; they all merely stared at him as if he'd grown an extra head or something. It was an expression he was rather familiar with, which meant he had just said something wrong again.
"What?" he asked, blinking rapidly in wide-eyed bewilderment.

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Unspoken - by LavenderGoddessV
Bulma/Vegeta, Complete
Of course, at least one LavenderGoddessV fic has to be on my list. I love the way she writes and the way she alternates between Vegeta's POV and Bulma's POV. Everything about this fic grips me.

Quote 1: Shit, Saiya-jin philosophy always wins out in the end. If intellect cannot help you succeed in your endeavor, just start pounding it with your fist.

Quote 2: "Come on," he waves a dismissive hand at my refusal. "We ugly people need to stick together." This time I do laugh and I realize I am not the only one experiencing a first here. I hear his deep laughter begin to echo with mine and I suddenly realize why I felt jealous at the thought of him with another woman. In some twisted way the two of us have become friends. Perhaps not by any traditional sense of the word, but that has to be what this is, it reminds me too much of what it was like on Chikyuu for me to be wrong.

Quote 3: "Close your eyes," I ask and he does after a few moments of hesitation. Once I feel certain he will not open them, I pull the bottom of my veil back, exposing only my lips. I touch them to his. He moans and parts them immediately. Our tongues clash, our arms wind around one another. I experience a sensation I have only read about back on earth: passion.

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Shadows of the Past - by Alithiel
Goku/Vegeta, Unfinished
A moving and beautifully story. However, this fanfiction is not finished, and it never will be. Alithiel died in a car accident in 2002, leaving her wonderful story incomplete. She had only one more chapter to complete before an epilogue. I strongly recommend this fanfic to any yaoi fan, it is a touching experience, that broadened my horizons.

Quote 1: His whole life he had felt a need to prove himself to others, and with Kakarrot it had been no different. From the beginning, he had wanted to force the Saiya-jin and all of his friends to respect and fear him for his strength and power. He wanted, he needed to dominate. But he couldn't. Kakarrot always found some way to better him, to defeat him, and, worst of all, even as he crushed him, he showed him compassion and mercy.

Quote 2: How had it happened that he, who was meant to be the king of an entire world, was left homeless, friendless, a refugee on an alien planet and allowed to remain only at the sufferance of one of his own subjects? Allowed to remain only as long as Kakarrot saw fit. Bitter tears built in his eyes, and he cursed himself for his weakness. Cursed himself for allowing Kakarrot to make him weep. He had tried so hard to match the other Saiya-jin, to better him, but he could not, because... He gritted his teeth, the admission crushing him. Because Kakarrot was better. He was stronger. He always would be.

Quote 3: When the final round began, they were both standing, teeth clenched, nearly growling in anticipation. The fight began and they lunged at each other, each voicing their hits or misses loudly. Neither noticed as their eyes turned aqua and their hair blazed gold, focused too intently on the television screen. Finally Vejiita landed a killing blow and Goku's character slumped to the ground, defeated. Vejiita shouted in triumph, dropping the controller and grinning widely.
"Oh, come on!" Goku moaned, dropping his controller in a much more defeated fashion. "No way, I had you!"
"You lose, Kakarrot!" Vejiita smirked, sticking his finger in Goku's face.

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You should be mature to read any of these stories. If you can read it without giggling, you're mature enough.