Prince of Nothing

Chapter 1

Disclaimer: This story is a non-profit fan project. I don't own Dragon Ball. If I did, Savior of Demons would have an anime adaptation by now.

The meteor impacted one hundred meters outside of West City at 22:13 hours. Dr. Briefs stood at the edge of the crater, dumbfounded by what he saw. The almost perfectly spherical object was only around two meters in diameter. It sat in a crater of only twenty some meter diameter. Taking in the scene, his mind flooded with thoughts. Why didn't it break apart in the atmosphere? What kind of meteor is spherical? It's almost completely intact, and the crater is way too small, and… He decided to put aside what didn't make any sense and get a better look at this thing.

Despite the cries of the retrieval team telling him that it was unsafe, the scientist slid into the crater. As he got closer, waves of confusion turned to excitement, only to be washed away by fear in half a second. The 'meteor' was obviously man-made, with its polished metal surface and strange emblem below the small, circular window. The astronomy crew said the spectrographic analysis of its material was unlike anything that had been observed before. There was only one thing this could be, and the doctor could feel his knees quivering as the realization hit him.

This is it: first contact. The window meant that this ship had an occupant. However, the impact was over thirty minutes ago, and it hadn't opened. Is the pilot injured ‒or worse, dead? What if more of its kind come to earth looking for it? Initiating first contact by delivering a corpse probably wouldn't end well. With that grim thought, Dr. Briefs approached the window and peered through. What he saw was somehow more astonishing than everything else he had seen today. Inside was a child.

Vegeta lost himself as he floated within the nothingness. Colors slowly came to his eyes: then black, then red, then black again. Incoherency plagued his mind in its struggle to understand what was happening. Air seemed to surround him from all sides, as though gravity had lost its touch. This could not be so, however, as his heightened senses could feel a slight tug pulling him downward. Am I… dead?

His eyes shot open. The blanket was blasted across the room from the sheer wind pressure jolting into a crouch had formed. A bed? Scanning the room, the Saiyan noticed that it was like nothing he had seen before. The rectangular room was plain, the bed's headboard centered against one wall. Lacy white curtains allowed the sun's rays to grace the bed from across the room. Armored chest plate, boots, and cape were all arranged on a small table to the right of the bed. Behind this table was a strange-looking rectangular indention in the wall which seemed to be the door. He concluded that he had been brought here by the locals ‒primitives, based on the architecture.

He hurriedly threw on his armor and approached the alien door, bumping into it when it didn't open automatically. So, the locals intended to hold me prisoner? They have no idea who they're dealing with. With a smirk, Vegeta threw a punch that sent the door flying off its hinges. Hah, it'll take more than that to hold the prince of all Sai‒ An earthy, smoky aroma ‒unmistakably meat‒ overwhelmed him, halting his train of thought. Wait, what is that smell?

As Dr. Briefs watched his wife gingerly plate the freshly made bacon for breakfast, he considered the decisions he had made last night. Should I have turned the child over to the police? No, they would have doubtless performed some kind of torturous experiments on him. Although, Perhaps I shouldn't assume that the alien is even a child at all; maybe his species just naturally looks like children? The doctor's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of boots crashing into the kitchen table.

The boy was crouched on top of the table, devouring the spread like a wild animal. Food enough for four people was gone in seconds. How can he eat so much so quickly? Dr. Briefs decided to attempt some kind of interaction. Trying to step forward, his vision flashed white as heat whizzed past one ear. The alien was standing straight up on the table with his palm outstretched towards the scientist. First the the man noticed the sunlight pouring in, then the birds' chirping. Dr. Briefs fought the urge to turn his head and confirm his suspicion of a hole opening through the wall; he wouldn't dare take his eyes off the extraterrestrial. It had happened so fast the the scientist hadn't even seen it, and realization that made him quake with terror.

"Who are you? Where am I?" the alien demanded answers.

"Y-y-you… you're speaking my…" was all Dr. Briefs could get out.

"Answer me!"

"M-my name is Dr. Briefs. This is the planet Earth."

"Where's my ship?"

"It's in my garage. B-but I don't know if‒ "

"Take me to it."

"But‒"

"Now!"

At last, the weakling decided to lead Vegeta to his ship. Now, I can get off this mudball of a planet and… The memories hit like one of his father's punches. Suddenly, his stomach twisted, weakening his balance momentarily. Before he had time to think, the primitive spoke up.

"There it is. But, I warn you, it's not in the best condition." The prince entered a large room that seemed to have some kind of wheeled vehicles inside of it. Where the door's attachment had been, shards of metal jutted outwards at odd angles, threatening to cut and scratch any unsuspecting victim who wandered too close. The body of the pod was littered with dents and scratches, with dirt settled into any small crevice.

"What have you done?" he admonished the vehicle's state.

"I-i-i-it didn't seem to have any power!" the stupid, ship-destroying barbarian placated, "I tried pressing the buttons on the outside, but nothing happened! I had to use a crane to pry the door open! How else could I have gotten you out?"

No power? Vegeta stuck his head into the pod and turned to the fuel gauge, which read 'empty.' "No!" He yelled as he slammed his fist onto the seat. "She only put in enough fuel for one way? Why? Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!"

Tremors erupted along the ground as the boy struck the floor in frustration. How had the past few hours of Dr. Briefs' life been such a roller-coaster? One moment, he was on the verge of one of mankind's most important discoveries. Then, he was helping a lost, potentially injured child. At this moment, he was afraid for his life because that same alien was apparently capable of shooting lasers and causing miniature earthquakes with his bare hands. Not only that, but this terrifying being had now discovered that he was stranded on this planet. What would he do now? A full minute passed in which they were both statues in their respective positions.

Eventually, the silence was broken by the unmistakable sound of a stomach growling. The alien stood, turned to the doctor, and muttered, "I need more food." His tone was lower, more somber than Dr. Briefs had yet heard from him, and his speech seemed to slur slightly.

"R-Right this way." He stammered as he led his apparent new houseguest back to the kitchen. Along the way, he noticed that the child was wobbling a bit as he walked. Maybe he isn't fully recovered after all.

As before, the boy inhaled any food presented to him with alarming speed. The inventor finally built up the courage to ask, "What's your name?" The child paused briefly.

"Why do you care? You tried to hold me prisoner before."

"What?"

"Your door wouldn't open when I walked towards it."

"Uhhh… Our doors don't open automatically. You have to twist the knob to open it."

The boy sighed, "This planet really is backwater, isn't it?" After a few seconds of silence, Dr. Briefs tried again, "so, your uh…" Suddenly, a new kind of panic gripped the inventor as he heard tiny footsteps coming down the stairs.

"Woah, are you the alien? Ooooh, and you have a tail! That's so cool! My name's Bulma. What's your name? Where are you from? Do all of your people have tails? Do‒"

"WOULD YOU SHUT UP?!" Vegeta yelled as he rose from his seat, unable to take this inquisitorial onslaught. "I am Vegeta, the prince of all Saiyans; and I will not be addressed in such a disrespectful manner!"

At long last, that seemed to shut the earthlings up. It was bad enough he had to deal with this blasted headache pulsing through his temples. All of a sudden, his stomach did flips, and stomach acid, mixed with the remnants of bacon from earlier, squelched onto the table.

"Oh my gosh! Are you ok?" The annoying blue-haired girl gasped.

"I d-don't need your p-pity." Vegeta struggled to reply.

"I thought this might happen," the scientist chimed in, "You were unconscious when we found you. Then the slurred speech, the wobbling, and now this."

"I know what a concussion is ‒it's not my first!" Vegeta fumed, "I need one of your beds."

"Sure, we've got lots of them," the earth child piped up.

"Uh, just until your people come and get you," the old man hurriedly added. "I mean, if you're a Prince, they're not just going to leave you here."

Vegeta went numb as he coldly answered, "They're dead."

"Wh-what do you mean?"

"I mean my planet is gone, and I'm the last of my kind!"

Bulma wanted to console him, but the raging waves of turmoil in Vegeta's eyes kept her silent. Even at four years old, she knew what orphans were. She was significantly more intelligent than other kids her age, and she had access to the internet. The world outside her mansion wasn't a nice place. Still, that knowledge couldn't prepare her to see the agony behind his eyes. The silence only lasted five seconds, but it felt like an eternity.

"The beds?" Vegeta piped up.

"Right-Right, up the stairs behind you. Every room up there is a guest room, just pick one." Her father replied.

The prince disappeared in an instant. A dust cloud left extending up the stairs was the only evidence of what had happened. Another uncomfortable silence lingered between Bulma and her father, before she finally piped up, "we should let him stay here."

Dr. Briefs gave her a look that she had never seen on him before ‒one of fear. "W-we can't."

"What!" She cried out in anger, "you heard him; he has nowhere else to go!"

At this, her father's face became more sorrowful as he pointed to the hole in the kitchen wall. "Bulma, he was able to do that with his bare hands. It's not safe to keep him here," he stated in a low voice.

Bulma remained unfazed, "we're offering free food and a bed. He can't say no to that."

"I… I don't know."

"When he wakes up, if he wants to kill us, he will. This way, there's a chance he won't."

"... You're too young to be talking like that."

"Then you shouldn't have passed your smarts onto me."

Her father contemplated for a moment before relenting, "all right, we'll try it your way."

Satisfied, the girl grinned. She always had a natural talent for getting what she wanted.

Vegeta was still in bed. How long has it been? Hours? Days? Weeks? He didn't know and didn't care. Right now, there was nothing except him and this bed. Here, there was no Frieza, no PTO, no planet Earth. Maybe he could just stay here, forever. What am I doing here? I'm a saiyan; I can't just lie here wallowing in self-pity! With that, Vegeta stood up. But, with my ship in that condition… At that moment, his stomach began growling.

He marched towards the door with newfound determination, ready to shatter its hinges.

'Our doors don't open automatically. You have to twist the knob to open it.' His host's words came to mind. Inspecting the door more closely, he found an odd looking lever near one of the edges. Slowly, he gripped the cold metal, twisting it downwards until the door seemed to open outwards on its own as it was pushed by his weight. So, that's how it works. Storing that information in his brain for later, Vegeta made his way down the stairs and arrived in the area from before.

Disappointingly, no one was there. To his left, he saw the hole he had blown through the wall. To the right, was another door. He carefully gripped the odd metal handle, scrutinizing it to make sure it opened the same as the other. Behind the obstacle, he spotted the annoying blue-haired girl looking at a rectangular box with images of light dancing and flickering around on its surface. Clearly, it was some kind of entertainment device. This must be a truly dull world if its entertainment is just sitting around staring at something.

"Earth girl, I need food. Get me some." He commanded the lower life form.

She jolted in surprise. "Oh, you're awake!" Now, she was smiling, like she was talking to nobody special. "Are you feeling any better?"

The nerve of this weakling! Vegeta realized he would have to show this ignorant peasant her place. He charged a ki blast in his hand and pointed it towards her. "Food, now." He growled.

To his surprise, the girl began laughing. "You know, you're kinda stupid. Go ahead, try it. Just don't expect to get anything from anyone else who lives here. The only reason anybody's still here is because I wanted to help you. Without me, they have no reason to do anything for you."

After getting over his initial shock, Vegeta scoffed. "You think I require anything from you people? I could get anyone I want to do anything for me. Your planet has one of the lowest average battle powers in the cosmos. If I wanted to conquer this planet, no one could stop me!"

Even still, the earthling was smiling. "You said average battle power? That's a dangerous assumption. If everyone but one person has a low battle power, then the average would be low, but that one person could be the one that could stop you. You don't know anything about our planet. How about this? There's a tournament that's held every five years. It's called the Greatest Under Heaven Tournament. The best fighters in the world gather to show off their skills. How about you just stay with us until next one. If you win, then you'll know that you don't need us, and you can take over the world or whatever."

As much as Vegeta wanted to vaporize this obnoxious lower life form that didn't know her place, he couldn't deny that what she had said actually made sense. This Greatest Under Heaven Tournament sounds interesting. He dissipated the blast and lowered his arm. "Fine, I'll play your little game." His stomach growled again. "I still need food." The girl smiled again, only this time it was more of a smirk. "Sure thing."

Well, you read till the end. So, welcome to my first fanfic. This project came about because I read Dragon Ball Sai and was annoyed that the author felt like he had to screw up continuity by de-aging Vegeta to make the story work. That got me thinking about what a more canon-compliant version would look like. The problem I ran into is that I couldn't find a way to get a five-year-old Vegeta to form a meaningful connection with Grampa Gohan, and would therefore just kill everyone and take over the planet. Finally, I thought, does he have to land on Mount Paozu? And then, the idea to have him land at Capsule Corp. hit me like a ton of bricks. So, here we are; I hope you like it. Be sure to leave a review, because I'm not perfect and I need to know how the story could be improved. Be on the lookout for plot holes, OOC moments, and contradictions to continuity. I'm not above changing past chapters if mistakes like that are pointed out. Also, if you like the fic, I guess you could leave a positive review or whatever. Also, I'm going to suggest theme music for different parts of the story, because that's fun. The theme song for now is Speed of Light by Stratovarius. So, that's it from me. See you next chapter.