Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ.
Full summary: What if Vegeta got the main role in DBZ? What if Akira Toriyama didn't hate Vegeta and made a manga about him instead of Goku: from childhood growing up into an adult sadistic killer? Akira wouldn't have changed him on Namek into a weak brute fool. This fic stays true to Vegeta's original Saiyan Saga character: a graceful, devious, smart & strong badass. Will the storyline change? Rewrite of my 2005 fic.
Vegeta will still go through major changes (from evil to good), but not the way to destroy his original characteristics into a weak ungraceful fool that Akira wanted him to be (though he never got his wish; Vegeta is always awesome regardless).
This fic is in Vegeta's POV; this way we may understand Vegeta a bit more and can empathize with him better this way. It will only be in 3rd person's POV if it's not Vegeta who's going through these scenes.
Kid Vegeta Saga:
The Boy Called Vegeta
There I am, back from a deadly mission after I recently pushed myself to the utter limit of my brute strength. I do this to meet up to the standards of my perfectionist of a demanding father, the king of this red-atmospheric planet called Planet Vegeta: my name, and my father's name. This planet of mine was named after my father in his honor when he slaughtered his opponents, the Tuffles, in a war that lasted a decade until six years ago, two years before I was born. King Vegeta was leading the Saiyan military at that time, as he also was the strongest Saiyan of all, and still is.
As much as I hate to admit it, the Tuffles bested us Saiyans in scientific intelligence, though Saiyans were naturally talented as great tacticians. The Tuffles were capable of making weapons to withhold us for a decade. How did we finally win? Well, by the power of the full moon that appears once in a long while; we transform into large apes as our power tenfolds. Now, there are no Tuffles left. I'd say, good riddance! But of course, I wasn't born during that time.
After the demise of the Tuffles, we Saiyans had no choice but to work together with the supreme ruler of the universe called Frieza. Working with that lizard freak gave us Saiyans some benefits, but I call it: two main benefits. One: technology. Two: New challenges.
My feet are making light tapping sounds as I'm slowly walking towards the grand main door of the highly built palace. It feels great to be home. Nothing can compare to what I feel right now: utterly pleased.
I am the second strongest Saiyan on this planet. My father as the strongest warrior. My mother is not as strong as I am, but she is outstandingly intelligent. She was known for her great strategies that she bested her stronger enemies with. Some say that I inherited my father's strength and my mother's intelligence. But I can't care less; I see myself different from the both of them.
"Greetings, Prince Vegeta," a large bald-headed Saiyan said as he salutes in Saiyan style by making a special arm gesture of ninety degrees and placing it on his heart. His eyes boring into the clear depth of my trapped soul.
Not now… Please not now! Why is he even my bodyguard if I can beat him easily? I have him in an eye-lock when I look up at him. Yes, he has the same face as a week ago. The same ugly face.
"The King will be utmost pleased to hear about your presence, sire," the bald doofus continued.
"What do you want, Nappa?" I snapped at him as I twitch my left-eye to show that I'm annoyed at the very sight of him, my stalker. Why can't he just leave me alone instead of kissing me up?
"Lord Frieza, reporting Prince Vegeta's return, sir!" A lowly soldier bows in respect before his superior who rules the universe.
At the corner of the room, a figure is standing in the dark who is taking a sip of his red wine in a delicate glass while looking out the large round window from the inside of his spaceship. That androgynous man catches the soldier who is kneeling down with his red piercing eyes. "Very well. You may leave now," Frieza replied through his black lips in contrast to his pure-white skin. That monkey prince survived again, eh? He is tougher than he looks. He's even about to surpass his father soon, who's the strongest Saiyan of the planet. Best to keep an eye on the boy.
I'm swiftly walking beside Nappa in the grand main hallway to the throne room until we reach it. Yes, it's annoying to have that leech sucking every life force out of me by not leaving me alone. But I have to put up with him, or else father might have a say in this, as he always does.
"Ah, Vegeta my son, you're back." My father dismissed Nappa before he continues with his speech. "Now, there's something we need to discuss."
Already? I just returned home and I'm hungry. Do I have to listen to it, right now? I look up to meet the eyes of the one who has my attention, my father, as I make a slight bow out of respect that I have for him. "Yes, father?" But I'm secretly hoping that our conversation won't take very long. I'm hungry, I'm tired, and I don't feel like talking to you right now, father!
"It's about your mother," my father said without warning. He slowly bends to meet me on eye-level as his reaction to my quick nod.
The tension is killing me. What can be wrong with her? She seemed healthy before I went away on a mission. No, there's more; I can feel it. I don't really know how to explain things, but I can sense that eerie feeling when my father takes a deep breath before opening his mouth.
"She died three days ago, son." My father, the king, still kneeling down before me, face-to-face. Not even making a small bend or even a slight movement. He is motionless. Empty. As I am. Which it rarely happens, considering how young I am now.
"What!?" I can't believe what I'm hearing. My mother, the queen, dead? But how is that possible? She's the strongest female Saiyan. How!? Mother…
"She was forced to go on the hardest mission of Frieza. She didn't survive." My father's scowl deepens at my reaction. I can swear that I'm hearing a faint low growl in the back of my father's thick throat.
"Frieza did this!? No! I refuse to believe it!" I'm panicking. As a kid that I am, I act like one now. I won't accept this. If Frieza's responsible for her death, then I will gladly spill his blood any time, even if it means to cause little damage to that beast. I will do something about it! "Frieza, you bastard! I'll get you!" Who dares forcing my mother to go on a mission if she can't survive? Frieza!
"Get real, son!" My father screamed as his frown deepens, completely catches me by surprise.
I've never seen my father this way before, it's frightening. Especially when he punches my face to send me flying to the opposite side of the large throne room adorned by golden and red decorations and statues. I'm expecting to hear a loud thud and feel pain caused by the king of all Saiyans before my body finally meets the edge of a statue as small as I am. I grunt in immense pain that is jolting through my body in a displeasing sensation.
"There's nothing you can do to bring her back! Do you want to get killed!?" I hear my father yell at the top of his lungs from the other side of the throne room, as the eyes of the guards are secretly focused on me. Who would have ever thought that the prince of all Saiyans will get a punch in the face from his father?
"B-But father!" I am still lying down on the cracks and dirt that my body caused when the king severely punched me. He punched me! Why did he do it? I can't move really well; his punch did a number on me.
"You're still a little boy, so I will let you off this time." My father is walking into my direction, still wearing that grotesque frown. "However, if you mention her one more time, I will punish you. Toughen up!" he screams as he continues to walk into my direction.
Toughen up? Is he out of his mind? That's the queen who has been killed! Why, father? Why?
"If a Saiyan has proven him or herself weak, then that Saiyan doesn't deserve to live. Let this be a life-lesson to you, boy!" my father grabs me by the collar. "Because strength is everything to a true Saiyan."
"Strength is everything? So if a Saiyan can't fight, then that Saiyan doesn't deserve to live?" I can't even believe what my father is saying. I now manage to move my legs in order to stand up slowly, struggling while doing so until I finally manage to stand straight, even if it hurts. I refuse to show anymore weakness to my father. Being the young kid that I am, I have a hard time controlling my emotions, especially in front of my father regarding sensitive subjects.
King Vegeta places his hand on my right shoulder. "That's right, son. Do not even show mercy to these kind of Saiyans who can't put up a good fight."
It all makes sense to me. Without strength, the Saiyans would have never won against the Tuffles. Yes, I can see it now, father. I want to thank you for opening up my eyes and to face reality. But I can't forget about this new hate that I just feel because of Frieza, who sent my mother to the hardest mission while being aware of her limits. Most of the times, the hardest missions are reserved for the Ginyu Force, and they can easily outmatch my mother in strength.
"Now, son, I have work to do." My father suddenly turns away from me after his hand slips away from my shoulder. I can't see his face right now; he won't show it to me, and hardly makes any sounds right now. But I choose to ignore my father when he's making his leave.
My mother's honor is ripped to shreds because of Frieza's hardest mission. One day, I will go on the hardest mission of Frieza, and that day will be very soon… I'll show Frieza what the Saiyans are capable of, and that we're the strongest fighters in the universe!
There will be no pushing myself to my limit.
There's only pushing myself past my limit.
Hearing the news of his mother caused by Frieza, will Vegeta avenge his mother by taking the hardest mission? Or will his father's ideals of life best the four-year-old child take control? Stay tuned for the next chapter of Legendary Assassin.
June 20, 2013
This fic is a REWRITE of my 2005 fanfiction; I sucked at writing back then because I was a kid. I didn't continue it after 3 chapters. I'm very glad that some people in the old days are still interested in my fiction! I got inspired by my new fanfiction called Misunderstood. However, that fic is mostly about a Saiyan girl who wakes up in the DBZ world, and even though there's a lot of action in that fic, that doesn't make Vegeta having the main role. In that fic, I really wanted to do something that Akira Toriyama himself never wanted to do: develop Vegeta's true self, instead of changing him during the Namek Saga to someone completely different from the Saiyan Saga. Akira Toriyama dramatically changed everything about Vegeta.
But then, when I read my 2005 fic, I saw that I already wrote a fic about Vegeta's true badass Saiyan Saga characteristics. So now, I have 2 fics about this Vegeta: Misunderstood (a V/OC romance later on fic), and this old-school fic that deserves a second chance.
Misunderstood is updated every Saturday. However, seeming that summer vacation is almost near, I may update this on Wednesdays. I can't promise that for now, though.
Now...
This fic will stay canon as possible. However, there are things that will change things if Akira continued to keep Vegeta's original character in character. It will have its own twist and might go into directions that no one ever knew, but still try to keep the canon DBZ storyline intact without the mistakes that Akira Toriyama made. I'll try to make this fic more believable. The difference is that I'm basing Vegeta's past to the few canon hints that were given and try to find out the reason of how he became the way he has become in the Saiyan Saga.
It is a fact that kid Vegeta (even mentioned in the manga) surpassed his father before his planet blew up; that he was the strongest Saiyan alive. I know that the movies aren't canon, however, some things in DBZ movies make sense. If Bardock was almost nearing the power level of 10.000 and was expected to exceed King Vegeta's power level soon, then King Vegeta should be between 10.000 – 12.000. If the five-year-old Vegeta already surpassed his father, that means that he should be around 12.000 as a five-year-old. But Vegeta is still 4, not 5, so he hasn't exceeded his father yet.
My guess is that if Vegeta was at 18.000 on Earth, then he only gained around 6.000 all these years. Which it makes sense, seeming that he didn't like to dirty his hands when Nappa and Raditz were by his side. He hardly had to do anything to gain a power boost, being a stuck up Prince as he is. Remember that he was mad at Nappa that he had to step in to fight Goku? Vegeta didn't want to fight Goku, but he had to because Nappa and Raditz weren't available anymore to to his dirty work. He thought too highly of himself to battle with Goku, the Saiyan that even exceeded Nappa's strength, who was an elite. My guess is that Frieza didn't send the Saiyans on hard missions after Planet Vegeta exploded to prevent the birth of a Super Saiyan. If so, Raditz being the one with the weakest power level of 1200 tops, should have died a long time ago. If Raditz survived every battle and achieved the power level of 1200 before he died, then Vegeta as the mission partner of Raditz, rarely had any challenges. Being the elegant prince that he was during the Saiyan Saga, he must have refused to battle with weaklings anyways, so once again: Nappa and Raditz did Vegeta's work for him. However, he did get turned on after Nappa's death to kill Goku slowly and painfully when it was his turn.
Akira Toriyama changed this characteristic of Vegeta, who didn't like to dirty his hands, into a guy who lusted after every battle, even with weaklings. Even if he is a Saiyan, he was still an egocentric prince until the Namek Saga. So what happened to that princely behavior of him after the Saiyan Saga? During the Saiyan Saga, he was the deadly sadistic but graceful prince. What happened to him after that? But this doesn't change the fact that Vegeta is a sadistic bastard who takes pleasure in the pain of others, like that event on Namek when he attacked a village. But from his fight with Zarbon and beyond, his character changed drastically. Vegeta was even politer (not actually polite, but still not a loudmouth like Nappa) and more princely during the Saiyan Saga, it was Nappa who showed off his arrogance when he clearly wasn't winning. And he was the patient guy during the Saiyan Saga who waited for 3 hours without complaining, it was Nappa who was the impatient immature brute. Not to mention that Nappa had quite an ego and was very loud, whereas Vegeta was smart, quiet, and laughed when Nappa got insulted by the Z-fighters. So, Vegeta became Nappa over time!? The Vegeta after the Saiyan Saga that we all know, is not the real Vegeta after all. So what is the real Vegeta? Who is he? And how can we get to know that original Vegeta when he changes his evil ways to good, while still not change into a Nappa-ish Vegeta from the official release after the Saiyan Saga?
Do you want to explore that princely original Saiyan Prince with me? Then please review, and this old fic will be reborn.
I want to say that reviewing this story each chapter is highly appreciated, especially if you say what you liked or disliked about it. Believe it or not, my readers can influence me too, and a writers block will be prevented this way. The help will be enormous and my gratitude even bigger!
DON'T ADVERTISE YOUR FIC IN MY REVIEWS SECTION! It is considered SPAM! I don't care about your "overrated" fic with tons of anonymous reviews and "new profiles" who review it. You know exactly that I'm talking about you. STOP advertising anonymously. You've been doing that to 3 of my fics and again and again! No one is crazy enough to advertise it for hours for you in EVERYONE's reviews section. Stop spamming us writers, as you've done that to several fics of mine. Not to mention this fic Legendary Assassin TWICE.