Chapter One
It was time for Vegeta to show Kakarot what a true saiyan could do and end this futile battle. He released the small moon and it floated into the clear azure sky. The light from the moon glowed in his onyx eyes. His muscles began to switch as raw power spread like liquid through his veins. He began to laugh maniacally as his body began to grow.
Goku stared up at Vegeta in horror. "He's going ape."
Coarse brown hair sprouted like a chia pet all over Vegeta's body and sharp canines protruded from his mouth.
"Now he's really getting huge!" Goku said, lifting his head as he continued to watch Vegeta grow. He knew he was in trouble.
In a matter of moments, Vegeta's transformation into the Giant Monkey Oozaru was complete. With solid red eyes, he gazed down at his puny nemesis below. Even if he could not defeat the lowly, third class Kakarot in his normal saiyan form, as Oozaru he was unbeatable.
"Goodbye, Kakarot," Vegeta said in a deep menacing voice. "It's been fun."
Vegeta brought down his large hairy fist like a wrecking ball.
Goku dodged before he was smashed to pieces along
with the rest of the rock structure. He had to keep moving as Vegeta continually shattered the rocky terrain around them.
The battle continued until Vegeta managed to catch Goku mid-jump in a powerful grip. Goku was no larger than a action figure in Vegeta's beefy, hairy hands.
When Krillin and Gohan arrived a while later, they were horrified to find Goku crying out in pain as Vegeta crushed Goku's body between his giant ape hands. If this went on much longer every bone in Goku's body would be shattered.
Vegeta, who was missing one large red eye at this point, mercilessly continued to squeeze Goku's body, laughing victoriously as Goku's bones popped, and snapped between his hands. Desperate to save Goku, Krillin and Gohan prepared to attack, but then all went quiet. Vegeta suddenly stopped laughing. Goku went silence too. Both of their heads rolled back and a glazed look passed over their eyes. Krillin and Gohan knew this was a bad sign, but weren't sure what it meant.
Goku was the first to snap out of his daze, with an earsplitting howl of pain. Frantically, he looked up at the monstrous ape who held him captive and yelled, "VEGETA!"
Vegeta showed no sign of response.
"PLEASE. LET. GO!" Goku pleaded, clearly in agonizing pain. This time his cry reached Vegeta's ears.
Vegeta looked down at Goku with a curious frown, that seemed out of place on his menacing hairy face. His raised his massive brow and then loosened his grip.
Gohan and Krillin exchanged looks of surprise. (I know Yajirobe was there, I just don't want him in my fanfic.)
Without warning, Vegeta dropped Goku, who fell thirty feet onto the hard-packed dirt below. He hit with a bone shuddering Thud!
Goku's body bounced once and then he landed on his stomach.
Vegeta brought his hands up in front of him. He examined the large, hairy hands, turning them over. Then he looked up at the moon-like orb. With one finger raised, he blasted it out of the sky. Slowly his body shed the hair and he shrunk back down to his normal size.
"What's going on, Krillin?" Gohan asked, watching Vegeta change back into his normal form. "Why would Vegeta stop now? He was winning."
Krillin shook his bald head, "I don't know, but let's keep on our toes. Vegeta has to be up to something."
They continued to watch cautiously from the sidelines.
Meanwhile, Goku was in even more excruciating pain after being rudely dropped by Vegeta. "Never do a belly flop on anything but water," he mumbled into the ground.
After changing back, Vegeta walked slowly over to Goku when he realized something was off. He felt like he was leaning toward the left a bit. He stopped and took his right hand and examined his face. He was missing an eye! The Prince of all Saiyans was missing an EYE! Kakarot! Once he reached the lowly third class saiyan, he roughly kicked him over.
Goku groaned.
"Out of all the time and places we could have been sent she chose now!" Vegeta yelled in his low gruff voice. "I AM MISSING AN EYE!"
Goku attempted to cover his ears but found he couldn't move a finger. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, Vegeta, at least you can move. You really beat me up, it hurts just to talk," Goku whined in response.
Vegeta sniffed, unconcerned. "Don't whine to me about your problems. This whole mess was your doing."
Gohan and Krillin couldn't make sense of the situation. They kept looking at each other, then at Goku and Vegeta, then back to each other again. Goku seemed friendly to Vegeta. And Vegeta was no longer trying to kill Goku. A few moments ago, they were locked in a battle to the death and now they were…chatting!
"Well, Kakarot, what now?" Vegeta asked hovering over Goku's damaged body. "Has your brain been damaged as well as the rest of your body? In that case, why don't I bury you right here and now?"
Gohan felt rage bubble up inside him at the prospect of his dad being buried alive. But what if Vegeta was talking about finishing Goku off first? He no longer cared what was going on, Vegeta wasn't going to touch his father. The saiyan prince maybe stronger, but Gohan was now angry.
"You. Leave. My DAD...ALONE!" Gohan flew at Vegeta with all his power encircling around him. His raw anger was his own secret weapon that he had yet come to fully understand.
Vegeta was caught off guard. He felt a small but strangely painful punch in the gut. Vegeta looked at the one who had dared to punch him while he wasn't paying attention. He had forgotten that the demi-saiyan and the q-ball were there when he first came to earth. He saw Gohan with his cold black eyes focusing on him, as Gohan readied for another attack.
"Haven't you been taught that it is rude to interrupt a conversation?" Vegeta asked in a cool tone.
"You're not going to harm my dad anymore," Gohan cried. "I WON'T LET YOU!" He balled up his fist and held them at ready.
Vegeta smiled smugly and got into a battle stance. The kid stood no chance against him but Vegeta wasn't going to back down. Nothing wrong with having a little fun while putting the pipsqueak in his place. "Then I believe you are going to have to show me, Brat. And I won't allow anymore cheap shots."
"You asked for it," with that said, Gohan powered up all the strength he had and once again flew at Vegeta.
Every furiously fast punch that Gohan shot was blocked by Vegeta. No matter how fast he went he couldn't touch him. Gohan wasn't sure, but considering how badly Vegeta was hurt, he still seemed stronger than he was when he first arrived on earth. This scared Gohan, how can he possibly be stronger? What if through the whole fight with his dad he was just playing?
While Gohan was pondering all this, he failed to notice the foot that was coming toward his face until it was too late. The force of the kick snapped his head to the side and sent him flying like a Frisbee through the air. With a thunderous Smack! he hit one of the rock pillars. The pillar cracked and crumbled to the ground, burying him under the rumble.
Vegeta watched as Kakarot's brat fought his way out of the rocks. He might be going a little hard on the twerp but he needed to get off some steam. Fighting was just the method that he chose to release his anger.
Krillin watched the fight, unsure what he was seeing. Gohan fought with everything he had, that was no surprise, but Vegeta…there was something very different about him. Vegeta most certainly was taking it easy on Gohan. Every time Gohan was down, Vegeta waited for him to get up again. Vegeta no longer looked murderous, only arrogant. The battle went on for a while like this. Gohan was getting tired. Krillin shook off his previous thoughts. Vegeta was evil and if Krillin didn't intervene soon, Vegeta might get bored of playing around and eventually kill Gohan.
Feeling Krillin powering up, Goku spoke, "Krillin, don't worry about Gohan. He'll be fine." Goku coughed. "Do me a favor. Come over here."
Krillin wasn't sure if he should totally trust Goku. Why wasn't he worried Gohan? Still, Krillin did as Goku asked.
When Krillin reached him, he asked, "Aren't you worried about Gohan? Vegeta could kill him."
"Forget Gohan! I can't even move my eyebrows," Goku said with a slight smile raising his eyebrows. "Ouch! See?" Goku stopped smiling. "Would you reach into my pocket and see if there are two senzu beans?"
"Sure, Goku. I thought that you ran out of senzu beans," Krillin said as he reached into Goku's pocket and pulled out two small, green beans.
"Err, I did. Didn't I?" Goku mumbled. "Um well, I, uh, wasn't talking about these ones. Yeah! I was talking about some other senzu beans that I ran out of," Goku answered, giving Krillin a quick reassuring smile. "Ouch!"
Krillin raised a brow and placed one of the beans into Goku's mouth. Goku chewed slowly and then sat up. "That doesn't make any sense," Krillin pointed out while helping Goku to his feet.
Goku smiled sheepishly at Krillin but didn't elaborate. He turned away from a dumbfounded Krillin and watched the battle between his son and Vegeta.
Gohan had just about had it. He was tired but not badly hurt. Gohan got back up again and locked eyes with the prince.
"Hey," Goku called out.
Vegeta and Gohan looked to Goku.
"Vegeta," Goku said. "Do you want a senzu bean?"
Vegeta let out a low growl and walked over to Goku, leaving Gohan watching his retreating form. "Why didn't you mention you had a senzu bean sooner?" He reached out his gloved hand to Goku.
"Wait! Goku, what are you doing?" Krillin yelled. "Did you forget that he came to earth to destroy it? Were you hit on the head too hard?"
"Don't be silly," Goku laughed. "I have never been hit on the head too hard."
Gohan flew over joining Krillin. "Then why are you giving him a senzu bean?" What was his dad thinking?
"Hmm," Goku thought tapping a finger on his chin. "Okay, you two have a point." Turning to the saiyan prince, Goku asked solemnly, "Vegeta, do you swear not to destroy earth and huh, stuff?"
Krillin and Gohan mouthed "and stuff" together. This whole situation was beyond bizarre. What was going on?
"Whatever," Vegeta replied still holding out his hand for the bean.
Gohan and Krillin looked at Goku and shook their heads "no" vigorously.
"Good enough for me," Goku said cheerily giving Krillin and Gohan a thumbs up before tossing Vegeta the senzu bean.
Krillin and Gohan fell over "anime style".
"Dad, you can't trust him!" Gohan cried, getting back on his feet. But it was too late because Vegeta had already swallowed the senzu bean.
Goku looked at is son with an understanding smile. "Don't worry, Gohan, have I ever…," Goku paused staring at Gohan like he was seeing him for the first time. "Wow! You are really little!" he exclaimed.
"Huh?" Gohan and Krillin cried in unison.
Vegeta growled and then hit Goku in the back of the head.
Goku grabbed his head and squinted his eyes in pain as tears formed in the corners, "Ow! Vegeta! Why did you do that?"
"Never mind that," Vegeta said walking over and picking up his scouter. There was a red light on the side that had been blinking. He put the scouter on and so two white dots flying on the red glass. "We need to get to my ship."
"Why?" Goku asked.
"Because someone is moving it," Vegeta answered and without any further explanation he took off.
Goku wasn't sure what he meant but followed anyway, with Gohan and Krillin trailing behind. Goku caught up to Vegeta and whispered, "Do you think it has something to do with the mission?"
"Yes, Kakarot. Why else would I care about my ship? I don't need it," Vegeta replied in an impatient tone.
Goku paid no attention to Vegeta's curt reply. Vegeta was just being Vegeta.
Gohan turned to Krillin looking anxious. "What do you think we should do?"
"I don't know. But whatever you do, don't let down your guard, not even with Goku."
Gohan nodded.
"Kakarot," Vegeta said looking back at Krillin and Gohan. "Those two are getting suspicious."
Goku frowned thoughtfully as he too looked back at them. "Don't worry. I'll take care of them if they get in our way."
Five minutes later they came upon the two saiyan ships that looked like large white tennis balls. The ships seemed to be dancing around each other, going up and down, around in circles, and spinning out of control.
Inside Nappa's ship you could hear a small boy cry, "TURN IT OFF. I DON'T LIKE THIS RIDE ANYMORE."
Coming from Vegeta's ship another small boy's voice yelled back, "LIKE I KNOW HOW!"
"I AM GOING TO THROW UP."
"Waah!" yelled one.
"Waah!" replied the other.
Then the two ships went flying toward each other, and before anyone could stop them, they crashed. Flying out of the explosion of metal and fire an orange and black blob went screaming up into the sky. Out of the other ship, a purple and blue blob went screaming right toward Vegeta, knocking him to the ground.
Vegeta growled furiously as he opened his eyes. In his lap, looking extremely nervous, was a blue-eyed little boy with purple hair. Clenching his teeth, Vegeta growled more menacingly deep in his throat.
"Uh-oh," Trunks said, frozen to the spot.
Trunks stared into his father's angry face. Vegeta's black eyes gleamed murderously. He knew that he was in some trouble. Luckily for him, his father didn't know who he was in this time. His real father was in the future. So, when you find yourself in a position like this, the best thing to do is play dumb.
"Eh, sorry, sir. I didn't mean to run into you. I was kind of out of control," Trunks said as innocently as he could. It was not convincing. Trunks was about to get to his feet but was shoved aside by an enraged Vegeta. Obviously, Trunks wasn't fast enough for his "royalness". So, once more, Trunks attempted to get to his feet, but he was still too slow. Vegeta grabbed him by the collar and held him up close to his snarling face.
"What were you doing in my SHIP?" Vegeta asked threateningly.
Trunks held on to his father's large hands as his feet dangled beneath him. "I was just looking. I've never seen a real alien spaceship before."
Trunks figured that pretending to be a curious child was his best option now. Since no one here knew who he was, he thought it would be easy to pull off. Vegeta's vein in his forehead started to pulsate and Trunks knew that that wasn't a good sign. But, it was also to be expected.
Vegeta glanced at the fragments of his spaceship that were all over the place. Some of the parts were still on fire. "Just looking?" Vegeta asked in a tone of disbelief. "I believe that you have a bit more to explain," he said while still holding the boy by the scruffs of his training dōgi.
"Well, my friend and I were planning on just looking. And, uh, my friend, being the idiot that he is, accidentally tripped and fell into the ship," Trunks answered quickly, impressed by his own quick wit.
"How did the ship open?" Vegeta asked raising a brow. "In order for your friend to fall into the ship it would have had to been open in the first place." Vegeta smiled thinking that he caught the weasel in his lie.
Trunks stared down at his dangling feet, looking for an answer to his question. Then he smiled to himself, he was so brilliant. "That's simple. It was already opened because there were people investigating it. We scared them off by telling them that you were coming back. They ran and then my friend fell into the ship. I went to help him out, but I accidentally fell in the other one."
Vegeta gave him a look of disbelief as did Goku and Krillin who landed beside them. Gohan seemed to believe the boy's story.
"Honest!" Trunks said looking at everybody, holding up his hands, as if that made him look more innocent.
Vegeta threw Trunks down to the ground and was just about to scold him when he was interrupted by Trunks' friend.
Goten, who failed to notice anyone else, landed next to Trunks. "That was so cool," he said enthusiastically. Trunks started to give him the sign to shut up but it was ignored. Once Goten was excited there was no stopping him. "You were right. That was way better than a roller coaster," Goten continued. "Can we do it again?"
Trunks hit his forehead. Why was Goten so dumb? After all the work that he put into that lie, did Goten think that coming up with such a clever lie came easy? Trunks felt a large powerful hand grip his shoulder and roughly turn him around. Trunks tried to pull away only to have his father squeeze harder.
"So, the truth comes out," Vegeta smiled victoriously.
"You kids could have been hurt playing around in there," Krillin told the two strange boys. Krillin gave the black-haired boy a double take. Was he going crazy, or did that kid look like Goku?
Trunks rolled his eyes. It was too bad that Goten and him had to keep it a secret about who they were. It would have been a lot of fun showing them their powers.
Trunks saw that Goten was about to speak so he quickly stepped in. "You're right, we could have been hurt. And we will never do something like that again." He turned and gave Vegeta his biggest glossy, blue-eyed look. "Will you please forgive us and allow us to live?" Trunks knew that his dad wasn't stronger than him since they were in the past. It was hard to keep a straight face. This situation was comical. Mwhahaha! He laughed to himself.
Vegeta scrunched his eyebrows and snarled, "Don't get smart with me, Trunks. I won't kill you, but you might be sent up in space with your mother's cooking again. And this time I won't come and get you."
Fear passed over Trunk's eyes, was this his father?
Trunks gulped and took a step back.
Goten tilted his head, confused. "Trunks, how does he know about you being sent to space?"
Trunks, still not being able to break eye contact with Vegeta, answered, "Because Goten, it is my dad."
Check out my first published novel, A GRIM AWAKENING: THE FOREST OF HOLLOW. It is now up for sale. If you are interested, search it up on Barnes and Noble, or Amazon. Also, there is a book trailer on Youtube!
Here is a synopsis -
Awaken to a grim world once hidden before your eyes.
There must be something wrong with 13-year-old, Ian Grim. Why else would Mitchel Trent, who everyone believes to be the nicest guy in school, bully him? Why did everyone at school give him nasty looks and whisper about him in spiteful gossip? Even teachers didn't like him. They always made him sit in the far corner of their classrooms where it was easy to ignore him. Even more hurtful, was the fact that Ian's own father blatantly ignored him. If it wasn't for his loving mother; his fun, yet psycho, younger brother; and his own sparkling sarcastic personality; Ian might think his life was a bit difficult. That is, until his mother goes missing one night.
In a twist of cruel irony, his father finally pays Ian's some attention only to threaten his life and force him on the run. Desperate for answers, Ian is compelled to accept help from Mitchel, the "nice" bully from school. That's when Ian learns that his mother was taken by the Reaper.
If Ian wishes to save his mother, he must first survive his father. And in order to do that, he will need to learn of the spirit world, discover his own power, and embrace his role in an ongoing shadow war, before the Reaper tears his world apart.