Chapter 1

Broken, bloodied, and defeated.

These three words described Vegeta's, Prince of all Saiyans, body.

The Prince pathetically crawled - dragged really - his body towards the landing Pod he had arrived on the backward planet called Earth, the place of the one who beat him, another Saiyan, Kakarot, of a lower class no less, beat him called Home.

The man grunted as he neared his freedom of this hell, not even listening to Kakarot argue with his Human ally behind him argue. How had everything gone so, so wrong?

It was supposed to be a simple mission behind that bastard Frieza's back. He and Nappa would sneak off to Earth and use the items called Dragon Balls to wish for immortality and possibly become the legendary Super Saiyan. Well, he intended to. There was no way he was allowing that oaf Nappa get either of those things.

Nappa, Vegeta gritted his teeth as he was mere feet from the pod. He had been too hasty in killing off the fool. He had assumed the bald Saiyan had run his course, no longer a useful tool to him, the Prince of all Saiyans! He should have interfered when Kakarot had started to beat down the larger Saiyan, at least then he -Nappa - would have been able to deal with the Earthlings and Kakarots hybrid son while he took on Kakarot.

Instead, he went and killed the lumbering oaf. All to show off his power and intimidate the others, to show them just how much stronger he was compared to the man who had been beating them one-sidedly up until Kakarot arrived.

Kakarot. The name filled Vegeta with rage nearly on par with what he felt towards that monster Frieza.

He should have suspected something was off when the lower class Saiyan arrived on the battlefield. He had not noticed it at the time, to busy being amused at the thought of the low-class scum even daring to show his face after all that had happened. But the other Saiyan had gained an aura around him, one that radiated confidence and power. It was unlike what Raditz had reported to him during their brief talk before he had his final battle with his brother.

He expected a young fool who thought too highly of his training, who did not know what TRUE power was like, having lived on this disgustingly peaceful world for so many years.

What had landed before Vegeta and Nappa was an unpredictable force of Nature, hellbent on putting him and his partner down for good after what they had done to his friend's.

That was another regret of Vegeta's, Kakarot's friends. The Prince realized that part of his loss was from underestimating them as well. They were weaker than he was power level wise, so in his eyes, they were less than the dirt that he so graciously allowed to be beneath his feet. But what they lacked in power, they made up for with their cleverness. He had immediately seen the danger of the smaller bald human's spinning blade of energy. It honestly astonished him that someone so weak could create a technique that could have easily killed him and Nappa. He mentally filed the attack away for later, perhaps it would be useful once he got off this mudball of a planet.

Perhaps he could return and use it to slice that fat human in half, the one that dared to cut off his tail with something as primitive as a sword!

I've been defeated today, but I will return, stronger! And I will get my revenge for this humiliation! Vegeta mentally swore as the pod touched down and the door opened for him. Freedom was within his grasp, all he had to do was climb in and-

"THIS IS FOR MY FRIENDS YOU BASTARD!"

Vegeta swore he saw his life flash before his eyes.

With how numb his body had become, the proud Prince did not feel the blast from his pod exploding right in front of him, sending him flying across the rocky battlefield, face first into a rock, knocking him clean out.

Goku and Krillin both stared stunned as they watched their strongest opponent to date get sent flying and knocked out. The two had been too busy arguing over the fact that Goku had wanted to let the threat go, to possibly be a challenge another day.

Goku was the first to recover from his shock and shakily looked in the direction that the Ki Blast had come from that had blown up Vegeta's Pod, and through his bloodstained eyes he could not believe what he was seeing. "Y-Yamcha?!"

His surprised shout snapped Krillin out of his daze and he looked around for the person Goku spotted. His eyes widened as on top of a pillar of rock stood a shake Yamcha, covered hi his own blood and an arm hanging limply at his side and the other outstretched, small wisps of energy dissipating around his hand from the Ki Blast he had just fired. The former Desert Bandit had a pained but satisfied grin on his face as he stared at Vegeta's unconscious form.

"T-That was for Tien, C-Chaotzu, a-and... Piccolo..." The two watched as their fellow martial artist fell on top of the rock pillar with a soft thud.

"Y-Yamcha no!" Krillin shouted as he limply made his way to his friend and comrade, using Yajirobe's sword as a makeshift cane. Goku lay helpless, his body too broken to move any more. He expanded what little Ki he had left, feeling for Yamcha's only to grit his teeth as he felt nothing. He couldn't muster the strength to tell Krillin that his efforts in trying to shake their friend awake wouldn't work.

He extended his senses towards Vegeta and stiffened to find the other Saiyan was still alive. Very much injured, but most definitely alive.

Not good.

He had intended to have Vegeta leave the planet and warn anyone else out there not to come to Earth, as it was under his protection. Goku didn't think of himself as a Hero or anything, but he knew he had the power to keep peace and protect the people of Earth, today proved that, and Vegeta was going to be the message to the rest of the Universe not to mess with the Earth.

He also hoped Vegeta could recover while gone, and get stronger, just as he would, and come back for a second battle. Would it have been dangerous? Absolutely, but knowing there was such a powerful threat out there would have motivated him and his friends to become stronger, and Goku knew just the things they needed to do so, and quickly, they would have been well prepared.

Now all that was ruined. Vegeta had no way home and he had no doubt that when the others arrived upon realizing the battle was over, they would want to end Vegeta's life. Goku didn't like that, he didn't like to kill, but he knew it was a necessary thing. But in this case, he wanted to keep Vegeta alive. But how was he going to convince the others? It's not like he could stop them in his current condition...

Unless...

"Goku! You can't be serious about this! T-That monster, he, he killed our friends! He killed my boyfriend!"

Bulma had long since gotten used to Goku saying and doing dumb things, it was just a part of who he was as a person. A big, dumb, but strong person.

But what he had just said to her and the others? It took the cake for how dumb she thought he could get!

Bulma, Roshi, Chi-Chi, and Launch had arrived on the battlefield and were shocked to see the sheer damage they had caused. Not even Goku's battle with Piccolo a few years ago had caused this much damage!

They were also dismayed to find that the majority of their friends had been killed in combat, with Goku, Gohan, Krillin, and Yajirobe being the only survivors. Krillin had brought Yamcha's body down from the pillar and Bulma had been unable to hold back the tears that welled up at the sight of her boyfriend.

Despite how rocky their relationship had become, she still considered Yamcha someone she loved very dearly, and to see him lifeless with a content smile on his face had broken her heart. It had taken Master Roshi holding her back to keep the blue-haired woman from shooting the fallen Saiyan Prince in the head after Goku had informed them that he was still alive, if barely.

"I know what you mean Bulma, but hear me out," Goku grunted out as his wife, Chi-Chi, and Launch tended to his wounds as best they could. Chi-Chi had come over after ensuring her one and only child was okay and not on the verge of death. A few bruises here and there, maybe a fractured bone or two and exhausted, but he would be fine. She could not say the same for her husband however, she was amazed he was even able to stay awake from all the pain, let alone talk! "If Vegeta really did come from space, and the way he and his partner acted were anything to go by, then there might be others out there who would be as strong, if not stronger. If we leave him alive and question him later, we can find out if that's true or not! And believe me, I know how you feel, how he and his friend... took our friends from us..." The silence that fell on the group was heavy.

Piccolo was dead, and with him, so was Kami, and that meant the Dragon Ball's no longer worked. It had only occurred to each of them now that there was no way to wish their friends back, not that they could have wished Chaotzu back to life in the first place.

They now lived in a world without Miracles, a world without Dragon Balls.

"Can we wait to discuss these things?" Chi-Chi butted in, an annoyed bite in her tone as she finished wrapping one of Goku's arm in a bandage. The woman had disheveled hair, the stress and despair she felt at almost losing her only child, AND losing her husband, again! She turned her gaze to Goku, the Saiyan couldn't help but shrivel under the glare she was giving him. "And you! We are going to have some words once you're healed up, understand?"

Goku nodded rapidly, the only part of his body he could move. Saying anything would get him into more trouble with his wife, and he fully understood what "words" really meant...

Thank Kami she was letting him heal first, he didn't have the stamina!

Roshi hummed as he made his way over to the unconscious Vegeta. He would not lie, the anger he felt towards the downed warrio- no, the downed monster. A warrior would not have toyed with his opponents as much, or have been so disrespectful. He had seen what little had been televised along with the other, he had seen the way they "fought". It boiled the old man's blood who believed in treating your opponent with respect in a fight.

Neither Vegeta or Nappa had done either of these things. They used their martial Arts for killing, nothing more.

He had only been holding Bulma back with less than 1% strength when he held her back, a part of his own mind telling him to just let her shoot the monster on the ground.

Though Vegeta had not actually killed any of his students and friends, he was still responsible for their deaths.

I should have been out here with my students, not that it would have mattered much, I still should have been by them as they fought for our home... The grip on his cane tightened as the old Master reigned in his anger. Though Goku does have a point. This monster is no longer a threat, and it's better to get as much information out of him as we can before...

Roshi stopped his line of thought, unwilling to finish it as he reached down and picked the defeated Prince up by the collar of his suit and tossed him onto his shoulder and turned back to the others.

"Agreed, you all just leave him to me, it's the least I can do for not participating in the battle..." The others stared at Roshi as he carried Earth's greatest threat away to the plane/jet they had arrived in. Bulma moved to stop the old man only for Krillin to hold a hand out.

"Don't,"

"But he-"

"-will be fine. That monster can't hurt anyone anymore, Roshi could easily take him now if he tries something." Krillin reasoned before falling to a knee with Bulma reaching to catch him. "Ugh, let's save all this talk for after we've healed."

With the battle over and their enemy captured, the only thing they were left with was the relief of it being over, and the sorrow of losing so much.

To Be Continued