Disclaimer: Akira Toriyama and Toei Animation own DRAGONBALL Z. El Hazard is owned by Pioneer and VIZ. Now, if I owned Dragon Ball Z or El Hazard, this wouldn't be fan fiction, now would it?

Prologue: Applied Chaos Theory

Chaos Theory is an interesting thing, is it not? The human mind is trained from its early days to see big changes as having big effects, while small changes have small effects. Yet, mathematicians tell us that the exact opposite is true. In the most clichéd example in all of literature, a butterfly flapping its wings in China can, through a mind bogglingly complex series of reactions, create a tornado in America. This molecule bumps that molecule, that molecule bumps another molecule out of alignment, and so on, until Bertha Mae has to find herself a new trailer.

Now, if one accepts this theory as true, one should hypothetically live one's life in a state of constant paranoia, avoiding breathing simply to stop tornadoes halfway across the world. But we don't. The human mind simply can't track the changes. We can't see the playing pieces of Chaos Theory, and the actual effects take months to even be noticeable. So, we live our lives, possibly dooming thousands of people that we will never meet. (Especially not after the fact; it's kind of hard to know someone after a piece of sheet metal going two hundred miles per hour bisected them.)

What? You still don't believe me? Well, let me just pull out my Physics Police files and show you a good example. Let's see… OK, here we go. Universe codename DB-N001-8957-EH is a perfect example of applied Chaos Theory. I rest my case.

What now? You've never heard the story of universe DB-N001-8957-EH? What, were you raised in a barn?

Okay, fine, for the benefit of the people here who don't know what the heck I'm talking about, DB-N001-8957-EH is a primarily chi-based universe, home to species such as Saiyans and Nameks who have evolved specifically to interact with this energy field and make it their own, allowing for great feats of strength, speed and energy production. A process that violates all laws of Newtonian physics, but that is a debate for another day.

The deviation does not occur when you might expect it to. Most deviations involve decisions on the parts of the Saiyans and their friends, or some molecular difference that made Son Goku female, or some other such rubbish. But the change occurred several hundred years before Goku was a twinkle in Bardock's eye.

Let's have a look-see, shall we?

Universe DB-N001-8957-EH
Empire of Japan, Earth
December 3, 1796

It had been a horrendous battle. In a few hours, the numbers of the Kaio-Shin race had dwindled from five to the lonely, Mohawk-sporting warrior who sat upon the hard, sun-caked earth. He had lost everybody in his life, including his teacher and father figure, Dai Kaio-Shin. This was before he met his loyal attendant, Kibito. He was utterly alone in a dark, lonely universe.

But in the end, the beast known as Majin Buu was defeated. The childish demon was now laid to rest within the dark green pod before the exhausted Kaio-Shin. The sacrifices of his comrades had been worth it. The universe was safe again.

Or was it? Kaio-Shin acknowledged that his solution was, at best, temporary. The extended battle and some incredible luck on his own part had sapped Majin Buu's power, but he was not gone for good. Rumor had it that the evil magician Bibidi was simply one of an entire race of magically attuned beings. If any of them knew of Bibidi's plans, then they could find their way to Earth and release Majin Buu upon the universe anew.

Kaio-Shin grit his teeth. "This must not be allowed. I did not lose my friends… my family… for nothing! There must be a way to deal with him for good! This black-hearted monster must never know the light of day again!"

In most universes, at this point, Kaio-Shin would struggle for hours, trying to find a way to overcome Majin Buu's regenerative powers, but finding none, he would settle for burying Buu within the crust of the Earth.

In this particular plane of existence, a minor change in Shin's synaptic firing led him to a plan. He reasoned that there was one thing with more power than any flesh and blood being.

A black hole forty light years from the Sol System was selected to be Buu's tomb. With the mass of infinity crushing him down upon him, even Majin Buu could not survive.

Now then, I think you can grasp what a massive change this is to the fabric of this timeline. No Majin Buu means that the wizard Babadi never feels a need to make his way to the backwater that is Earth, so he and his minions are not present at the World Martial Arts Tournament. Nor are Kaio-Shin and Kibito. Without any outside interruption, the tournament goes as expected; Goku first, Vegeta second, Gohan third. Gohan is still surprised to find that he is no longer the strongest, but without the stress of Majin Buu, he feels no need to develop his fighting talent. Aside from occasional sparring matches with his friend Piccolo and his father (when he can get a day pass from heaven), he fights no more.

A more subtle change is brought about by Buu's absence as well. It seems as though the area in which Shin chose for Buu's resting place lay above a layer of quartz. The rubble that Shin blasted out to make room for the demon happened to contain a significant amount of gold. When not removed, a man named Akira Mizuhara in the late 1800's discovered this gold. Yes, you should recognize the name. Akira was a direct ancestor of Makoto Mizuhara. In most dimensions, he was a man of humble means who worked as a courier. However, he found the gold in the middle of a delivery and immediately abandoned his mission in order to stake his claim.

As a consequence, he never met his normal wife, Miho, who was the recipient of that message.

Instead, the gold that Mizuhara found made him a very wealthy man. The consequence? Makoto Mizuhara's father was never born, and as a because of this, Makoto was never born.

So you see? A small chemical change in the brain of one man saved the Earth from annihilation at the hands of a silly pink demon.

What's that? You want to know what happened to the people of El Hazard without their savior? Now that is an interesting tale…

Well, no duh. Gohan replaces him. It's fairly obvious, if you know how to read between the lines, or bothered to look at the summary. But it's still a good tale!

Trust me; I'm the official-sounding voice in italics. Would I lie to you?

To be continued.

Author's notes: This was inspired by a fanfiction I saw once by Hung Nguyen called Dragon Ball Hazard. I never actually finished reading it, but it still provided me with the germ of an idea. The premise was to replace Makoto with Trunks. This idea, although good at first, quickly became, well, not so good. This was mainly because the author immediately decided to make Trunks too perfect for his own good. I will go back and read it one day, but only when this is finished. Don't want it to be too similar, now do I?

Also, unlike Dragon Ball Hazard, this is based on the manga series of El Hazard, which is pretty different from the anime version. I have not seen more than twenty minutes of the anime, so sorry, sports fans, no cross-dressing here.

Webmaster: Larry F
Last revision: January 7, 2006