'Your planet is gone.'
There was a numbness seeping through him hours after the transmission in his scouter had informed him of his planet's fate. The significance of what this meant was lost to him because he could not feel nor believe it.
A meteor shower.
'The late King Vegeta was also lost in the crossfire. Lord Frieza sends his condolences, Prince Vegeta.'
He sat in silence in his pod, replaying the message on the scouter in a loop until the battery died. When it did, he removed it and let it drop to the ground. He saw a reflection of himself in the glass of the pod and there was nothing there. The royal crest on his armor glinted back at him mockingly. The black, cold void of space offered no escape.
He suddenly couldn't breathe. His heart was thudding strangely in his chest and he couldn't get enough oxygen. The enclosed space felt like it was getting smaller and like he was shrinking along with it.
I'm going to die like them.
He was minutes away from reaching Frieza's station. Just a few more minutes and he would speak to Nappa. Everything would be explained.
He managed to compose himself by the time he arrived and was greeted not by Nappa, as he had anticipated, but by Frieza's two lackeys: Zarbon and Dodoria.
"Welcome back, Saiyan Prince. Frieza has been anticipating your return," Zarbon said, curtly. "We are aware it may be too soon, however, Frieza knows you need some closure in the wake of this tragedy. You are to be escorted by Dodoria and I as the soldiers are rather rowdy at the moment. You understand that however mighty the Saiyans were, not many people favored them."
"There are a bunch that don't, that's for sure," Dodoria muttered with a dark chuckle.
Zarbon shot Dodoria a glare. "Either way, he must come with us. Lord Frieza must not be kept waiting."
Something was amiss. "I'm not going anywhere with either of you clowns until Nappa arrives."
Zarbon seemed to smirk at that. "Nappa is not capable of helping you at the moment."
Vegeta's fists clenched. "Where is he?!"
"He's gotten himself into a rather dire predicament, I'm afraid. He's dealing with some nasty fellows out in the back."
With this newfound knowledge, he flew past them, his crimson cape billowing behind him. If he had any remaining subjects he had to ensure they would live. His father would want that much from him.
"Hey! Don't go! Lord Frieza still has business with you, little monkey!" Dodoria yelled.
Dodoria made a move to fly after him, but Zarbon held him back by his armor. "Let him go and earn his just reward for disobeying Lord Frieza's direct orders. It's time the little brat learns some restraint."
Vegeta felt a sense of dread as he zipped past the dome-shaped building and still didn't spot Nappa. He landed, surveying his surroundings. He shouldn't have let his scouter go to waste. Now he would have to guess whether there were any incoming power levels.
He was standing in a dark, dimly lit alley. There were distant sounds of laughter and joyous celebration emanating from what he could only assume were a variety of bars and pubs. Hostile-looking soldiers of all different humanoid species were giving him menacing looks that none would have dared attempted before the destruction of his planet.
A sudden cackle coming from behind him made him turn sharply with a ball of ki in his hand.
"So the Saiyan Prince lives? Oh this is gold," said a giant, robust soldier. "But the question is whether or not he's a Prince anymore."
He appeared to be strong, but his armor only denoted him to be a third class soldier.
"Where is Nappa?" Vegeta demanded. "Or would you like the question to be whether or not you'll live?"
"Oh that other balding Saiyan that always pampers you?" He grinned. "Come to join the party, eh? I'll take you to him, your highness."
Vegeta glared at the man's back as he led him towards a bar, prepared to power up if he got any ideas. As they neared the entrance, he heard booming voices chanting a song.
"BING! BANG! THE MONKEYS ARE DEAD! THE MONKEYS ARE DEAD! AND SO IS THEIR HEAD! BING! BANG! THE MONKEY KING DEAD! THE SAIYANS ALL BLED A DEEP CRIMSON RED!"
He paused for a second as the smug man had the audacity to swing open the door and say, "After you, highness."
As if he would ever turn his back. "I can hold my own door, cretin."
"Suit yourself, little monkey."
At that moment, Vegeta could only describe walking into the bar as a near out of body experience. He had known that Saiyans were hated by a significant number of people, but this display truly cemented his isolation in the universe. There were no others left to defend the Saiyan legacy. It was just him and Nappa now.
In his mind's eye the world moved slowly as he gazed at each person cheering to the downfall of his people, as he desperately scanned for the only other Saiyan, to his knowledge, that was alive.
He finally saw him...crumpled in a heap on the ground, chest barely heaving with life, and blood dribbling out of his mouth onto his beard. The Saiyan general looked defeated as his gaze met his. There was nothing but shame there; the shame of failure and humiliation. Five different high-ranking elite soldiers stood in a circle around his fallen guardian, taking turns at kicking him in front of around thirty spectators.
The chanting in the room finally died down as each individual in the room took notice of the arrival of the Saiyan Prince. The tension only grew as he strode purposefully towards his comrade; the silence deafening.
One of the perpetrators turned to glance at him with a smirk, voice dripping with condescension as he said, "The Prince of All Saiyans. I never thought I'd see the day where King Vegeta's little brat would be this speechless after strutting around with so many arrogant things to say about the strength of Saiyans."
He was promptly backed by the racous laughter of the others watching. The man was enormous, even for a Jartinian, towering over him significantly. The smug expression on his green face evidently showed that he was very accustomed to using his size to intimidate.
"Hey, Gandorrah!" He called, motioning an equally imposing woman forward. She must also be a Jartinian. "Do you think King Vegeta cried when he gave his little monkey away cause' he couldn't get it up anymore for the the Queen? Hard to imagine that this is what the Saiyans considered to be a gem of their empire or that King Vegeta put up a fuss over this measly little half-pint."
Gandorrah joined in, howling along with the others. "Ay Jako, there's nothing left of them but the spoiled seed of King Vegeta."
Vegeta's fists clenched to the point that he felt his gloves tear.
Jako snorted, turning his nose up. "Nothing to say, little boy? It was quite hilarious to see this general of yours defend you as if you were some messiah. But all I see is a little runt-"
Fully powered up, Vegeta's fist sailed into the Jako's jaw with a shattering force, managing to sever the man's tongue with his own teeth.
He fell backward with shocked cry, a spray of his blood splattering Vegeta's armor. With just as much speed, Vegeta spun in the air with a well-aimed energy beam at Gandorrah's face. She shrieked, her flesh burning to the bone as she fell to her knees.
"Anyone else have anything interesting to say?" He snarled at the crowd.
The three other elites all formed fighting stances, suddenly defensive. The other spectators also rose from their seats. Some in their sudden reconsideration of their strength chose to flee.
"I see I have some contenders conveniently lined up for me already." He spit at their feet. "Well? What are you clowns waiting for? Are you going to dance for me in your pretty poses?"
Shouting a battle cry, they all charged at him at once. Vegeta managed to dodge the onslaught of fists and kicking legs, using his speed and small size to his advantage. But soon one of them struck him and Vegeta noticed that several others in the crowd decided to join.
He promptly shot out an energy blast around him to delay his foes. Some fell back, but others were unfazed and continued throwing punches at him. He was soon trapped around a large circle of attackers. Many of them began shooting their own energy beams at him, and although he was managing to avoid most and take out many of the attackers with him, the ones that hit were wearing him down.
The space was enclosed and he could not summon his Oozaru form without the moon.
Perhaps if they had been lower-powered or if there had been less of them, he would have been victorious. But many of them were elites and all of them were attacking him at once. After one particular knee to the gut by one of the stronger elites Vegeta fell to the ground and was left breathless for a few moments. Many different legs kicked in his direction. He managed to grab one of them and use the person's body as a weapon by flinging it at the horde enclosing on him. It gave him the opening he needed to get back on his feet. However, the elite that had kneed him was anticipating that move and lunged at him with his full weight to tackle him back down. His assailant punched viciously at his face, and though he blocked, he was still hit.
"You have a lot of fight in you, little ape! But you can't defeat us all!"
If only he could show this fool what he was truly capable of.
Vegeta could feel blood seeping from his nostrils when he managed to land a hit on his nose. His vision began to blur as the pain assaulted his senses.
Father, I have failed you.
A man came up from behind and yanked him up forcefully by his hair. He realized it was the same man who escorted him into this mess.
"Absolutely ridiculous that this little shrimp gets a cape! Well I don't think he needs it any longer," he said, tearing the royal cape from Vegeta's shoulders and blasting it to smithereens.
As Vegeta saw his royal garbs be tarnished so blasphemously, he thought to himself that if nothing else could be avenged, it would at least have to be his dignity.
"Hey, cretin! The cape comes with a tax!" He yelled, using the last reserves of his energy into releasing a beam that shot straight through the imbecile's head and caused it to explode.
At the very least there was some retribution; half of his attackers were either dead or incapacitated.
He laughed and laughed until he started choking on his own blood and his ribs protested. A darkness began to creep into his blurry vision. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Zarbon and Dodoria breaking up the crowd around him.
"What are you morons doing?! Frieza will skin us all! You all better hope he lives!"
That quieted them all enough. But it had Vegeta wondering why Frieza was so desperate to speak to him or why he wanted to keep him alive. It angered him. He was not Frieza's dog.
Father lied to him; he had promised he would return.
As he lay there in a pool of his own blood knowing fully well that he would never forget this day, Vegeta vowed he would be stronger than the whole lot of them. He would ascend and show them all. He began to drift off, but there was a thought that wouldn't leave him; a thought that would nag him until he was fully unconscious and flirting with death.
It wasn't a meteor shower.
A/N: Thoughts? Commentary? All highly appreciated.