Hello, nice to meet you all! This is my first fic I put on here, so excuse all the crappy stuff about it. It WILL be crappy, since the person that usually makes my stories read so much easier, is stuck in Africa without a laptop.
(she's not really stuck, she's just on a safari for a long time. but saying she's stuck sounds so much more interesting =P)
longer summary: In hindsight, Trunks and Goten realize that maybe, wishing Vegeta young again wasn't such a great idea. Especially not if Shenron was called during his favourite tv-show.
Trunks and Goten's wish has been granted, but in a way that they didn't want. Yes, Vegeta is 16 again, but he also forgot everything that happened after that age. He remembers Frieza blowing up his home planet, but he doesn't remember how Frieza died.
This wish was supposed to be a birthday present for Vegeta, that's why all the Z-fighters were present at that moment. The downside of all the people present, is that everyone can see first hand just how different Vegeta used to be.
Disclaimer: I do not own DBZ. If I did, I'd have killed off Chichi after she first hit Goku with a frying pan. Or maybe after she gave birth to Goten, I like that kid.
Warnings: I don't think it actually has anything creepy written into it, but I have a creepy mind, so if it shows, tell me and I'll change the rating.
Vegeta is completely disoriented when the bright light disperses. He was expecting to see Frieza there, ready with another ki-blast, so when he sees a group of non-fighters staring up at him doesn't know what to think. He keeps his arms up in a defensive stance though, just to be sure.
Vegeta is starting to panic a bit when after a whole minute of staring, nobody has moved an inch.
He scans the people quickly, singling out the person that looks the most powerful as the leader. Goku would probably be flattered if he knew about that train of thought, but as it is, he's just confused when Vegeta barks at him.
"What's the meaning of this, big guy? Where did Frieza go?"
A lot of eyebrows go up at that question, and Vegeta glares at them. Goku takes a step towards him, thinking it's a lame joke or something.
"Frieza's been dead for 20 years, Vegeta, he's probably rotting away in hell somewhere."
Vegeta frowns at that, and shakes his head. He glances at the sky, apparently looking for something. He doesn't drop his defensive stance though, even is he isn't paying full attention to the z-fighters.
"Is this another one of your mind games? It won't work Frieza!"
Goku is obviously thinking Vegeta has gone a little crazy, so he starts walking over to him. Of course, Vegeta notices it in a second, and he jumps back.
"No! Stay away from me!"
The panicked look he has on, makes everybody wonder. Just what is Vegeta thinking about Goku? Bulma doesn't like seeing Vegeta like this, so she pushes through the little crowd to stand in the front.
" 'Geta, what is wrong with you! You're acting like we're enemies!"
Vegeta doesn't show any sign of recognising Bulma, he just seems a bit more desperate when he's looking at her. Goku is the only one close enough to hear Vegeta mumbling something.
"He's throwing old ladies at me now too? He really has no respect for the saiyan ways. I'm going to kill him when I'm out of this!"
The old ladies comment makes Goku giggle, and he speaks softly enough so nobody but Vegeta can hear.
"Don't let Bulma hear you calling her an old lady, she'll get mad at you." Vegeta glares at Goku.
"So what! She'll probably change into some weird vixen that will try to kill me if I don't kill her first!"
Goku really doesn't understand what Vegeta's talking about, and it shows plainly in his demeanour.
"Look, Vegeta, I know this might not be what you wanted for your birthday, but that's no reason to act all crazy. You'll just have to wait until next year, and then we'll change you back, okay?"
It takes a while for Vegeta to figure out what is wrong with what Goku said.
"How did you know it's my birthday? Not even Radditz knows when it is." Goku shrugs in defeat, and turns to walk away.
"Fine, you keep acting like that, see if I care." When Goku doesn't really answer his question, Vegeta runs after him.
"Hey! I asked you something! How did you know!"
Goku doesn't react until Vegeta grabs his arm. He roughly pushes Vegeta away, making him fall to the ground.
"Drop the act already, Vegeta! It's not funny any more, and it's below the belt to bring my brother into this!" Vegeta shakes his head, uncomprehending.
"Radditz doesn't have any older brothers..."
The Z-fighters can feel Goku losing control over his ki, and they hurry to get to a safe place. But Vegeta doesn't react to the rising ki until it starts to destroy the environment. When it starts doing that, Vegeta starts to crawl backwards, with a look of horror blossoming on his face.
"What the..."
Goku looks at Vegeta coldly, slowly changing into super saiyan. The look on Vegeta's face would be hilarious, if it wasn't so disturbing to know he has no idea what Goku is.
"If you're not stopping it on your own, I'll just have to beat you out of it!"
Goku flies towards Vegeta at lightning speed, leaving Vegeta just enough time to cover his head and scream. Goku stops his fist mere inches from Vegeta's arms, taken aback by the scream.
"Did you just scream, Vegeta?"
The softness in Goku's voice makes Vegeta chance a look at him. Seeing that Goku won't be hitting him any time soon, Vegeta rolls to the side and jumps up. He doesn't bother to answer Goku, and he simply runs away towards the forest.
At least, he tries to, but Goku saw it coming and teleports right in front of him. To stop Vegeta from running away again, Goku grabs his arms in an iron grip. He miscalculated the force he would need for controlling Vegeta, making them both fall over, with Goku landing on top of Vegeta.
It's as if that fall triggered the power switch in Vegeta's brain, because he suddenly starts fighting back, his ki level rising exponentially.
"No! You won't be doing That to me! Not any more!"
Vegeta keeps yelling those sorts of things at Goku, all the while trying to get him off but failing. Soon he turns super saiyan too, but he doesn't seem to notice it in his blind panic. Goku fails to keep up with the speed of Vegeta's rising power level, resulting in Vegeta turning the tables and ending up on top of Goku. Vegeta starts hitting Goku with all his might, his power level still rising and rising.
"Never again! Never! NEVER!"
Vegeta would probably have continued hitting and screaming if it wasn't for Trunks knocking his father out cold with a hit to his neck. Vegeta slumps over onto Goku, all his ki dissipating into the air. Goku let's go of his super saiyan state too, softly pushing Vegeta off of him. Trunks helps him up, and they stand side by side, staring down at Vegeta.
Trunks is the first to break the silence.
"What was that all about?"
Goku shakes his head. "I have no idea, but I think that Vegeta wasn't playing. Maybe he really thinks he's 16, and back on Frieza's ship or something. Although that didn't really sound like Vegeta. Did you hear him scream? There's no way Vegeta would do that."
Trunks nods, thinking it all over. "He still has his power though, even if he doesn't remember it. What if he starts attacking everyone because he thinks we're a threat? Nobody would be able to take him on, I mean, even you couldn't!"
The silence returns for a while, until Goku sighs. "I'll take him to some abandoned place where he can't harm innocent people. Maybe if it's just the two of us, he'll come to his senses."
Trunks looks at Goku in surprise. "What if he goes berserk again? Nobody would be there to stop him."
Goku grins at Trunks. "But I was unprepared this time! Even if he still has all his power, my power trumps his any day! Just tell Bulma not to worry, I'll bring him back safe and sound."
With a reassuring grin, Goku slings Vegeta over his shoulder and teleports away.
Waking up is a hazardous thing for Vegeta. He never knows where he'll be, since Frieza thinks it's funny to move him around when he's sleeping.
Most of the time, Frieza drops him in someone else his room, resulting in Vegeta being kicked out of the room rather forcefully.
Not a fun way to wake up, that's for sure. Even when Frieza hasn't played that trick on him, Vegeta is woken up with a shout and a kick to the stomach.
Why? No reason other than because it is older Vegeta had learned to sleep lightly and to wake up when something changed in his environment, but this 16 year old Vegeta doesn't have that skill yet.
So when Vegeta wakes up on his own, with no-one there to kick him around, he feels highly disoriented once again.
Vegeta sneaks around the bedroom he's in, to look out of the window. He's in the middle of a forest, with his window looking out at a small clearing. On the other side of the clearing, Goku is chopping up a tree for firewood.
Mesmerized by the view, Vegeta can't help but to keep staring. Eventually, Goku notices, and waves at him.
With a soft yelp, Vegeta ducks beneath the windowsill, expecting to have Goku on his back for sleeping so late.
All he hears is Goku's laugh and the sound of chopping wood. After a while, Vegeta slinks out the room to find a way out.
He's in a cosy little house, with 2 bedrooms, a bathroom and a large living area. The only door that leads outside is on the side of the clearing, so Vegeta opts to climb out of a window instead.
He starts wandering around the forest in a leisurely way, keeping his eyes and ears open for a sign of Goku coming after him. Vegeta thinks about running off as fast as he can, but he decides to take his head is still woozy from the hit he took yesterday, so it's better to save his energy for whatever they'll throw at him.
Vegeta thinks about 2 hours have passed before he hears Goku closing in on him. Vegeta drops into fighting stance, ready for whatever the man wants to do, and waits for Goku to show himself.
He doesn't have to wait long, and while Vegeta doesn't know what he was expecting, it certainly wasn't Goku walking over with a dead bear over his shoulder.
"Hey, Vegeta! I caught us some food. Want to help me skin it?"
Goku's jovial smile takes Vegeta completely by surprise.
"Who the hell are you? You're always acting like I'm your best friend or something, and I have no idea whatsoever about who you are."
Goku's smile turns a bit sad at that. "So you really don't remember anything from the past 20 years?"
Vegeta pulls a face that radiates his thoughts; what the hell is that guy talking about? With a sigh, Goku turns around.
"I'm Goku, although you always called me Kakarot. Come along, I'll tell you about everything while we're cooking."
During the skinning and cooking of the giant bear, Vegeta stays twitchy and distrusting of Goku. Goku pretends he doesn't see, and keeps talking about how him and Vegeta met.
He neglects to tell Vegeta about Radditz' death, because he figured they were close. When Goku tells about how Vegeta killed Nappa, the boy gives a wry laugh.
"Hah! I didn't kill him because he was weak, but because he was a backstabbing traitor to all that is saiyan!"
He stops laughing after that. "At least, I think I did. The Vegeta you're describing doesn't sound like me at all!"
With a frown, Vegeta starts working on the meat again. When he doesn't say anything else, Goku starts telling about Namek.
"I wasn't there at the start, but Bulma and Gohan were."
"Who are they?"
"Your wife and my son."
Vegeta frowns, but motions for Goku to continue. "Anyway, they were searching for the dragon balls, So were you, and so was Frieza. Bulma fell in love with you when she first saw you, but then you opened your mouth and she hated you for being a bastard. Then there was an all out battle against some dancing guys, our team winning of course. You helped us out, even if you weren't actually on our team.
After that you took on Frieza, failed, healed up, took him on again, won, Frieza transformed into his second form, you died, I came in, I went all super saiyan on his ass, you came back to life, ran to planet earth – against your will I might add – I killed Frieza, and Namek exploded."
Goku expected a reaction out of Vegeta, but when he doesn't get any, he looks over to him. Vegeta is looking at him as if he's crazy. When nobody moves or looks away for a while, Vegeta starts asking.
"You killed Frieza?" Goku nods with a grin.
"But I overpowered you yesterday." Goku shrugs.
"I didn't expect you to go all crazy on me. You never freaked out during a simple spar before." Vegeta gives him another one of those 'are-you-insane'-looks.
"THAT was a simple spar? You came at me with all your power!" Goku has the authenticity to smirk at that comment.
"That wasn't all my power, that was the first level." With a raised eyebrow, Vegeta turns back to the cooking meat.
"I could practically feel the power radiating off you, there's no way there are other levels."
Goku laughs at him, and throws some wood on the fire. They didn't bother to go inside, since the weather is pretty nice, so they are sitting outside next to a camp fire. The night is coming up, so the fire is as much for light as it is for cooking right now.
"You went to level 2 yesterday, didn't you notice?" An incomprehensible noise comes from Vegeta, showing his disbelief.
"I was too preoccupied with getting you off of me, excuse me for not paying attention."
"Why was that, any way? You never had any problems with grappling before." Unbelievingly, Vegeta glares at Goku.
"Then I'm not the Vegeta you know, obviously. There's no way I'd let a lowlife like you do something like that to me without a fight."
Goku feels like laughing at the similarity between this Vegeta and what the old Vegeta always called him. But then the second part of the sentence breaks through to him.
"Something like what?"
The old Vegeta would yell at him for being ignorant or something, but the young Vegeta simply looks away. His demeanour changed from slightly uneasy to highly uncomfortable.
"You don't need to tell me, I just want to know what I did to make you panic so I won't do it again."
Vegeta makes a pained face, before shaking his head and looking back at Goku. "What happened after Frieza died?"
With that, most conversation is over. And except for a few comments from Vegeta here and there, Goku does all the talking for the rest of the night. When Goku's done with the Cell-story, They decide to call it a day and go to bed.
At the break of dawn, Goku wakes up. Way earlier than he's used to, but he can't put his finger on what woke him up.
Since he's awake anyway, Goku figures he might as well get up and take a bath. It's when he opens his door to step out of his room, that Goku notices what woke him up.
Vegeta is trashing and moaning in his sleep. Guessing Vegeta is having a nightmare, Goku goes to his room to wake him up.
He's looking panicked, even in his sleep, so Goku changes to super saiyan just to be sure. After that, he shakes Vegeta awake.
Goku was right in his suspicion to change into super before waking him up, because as soon as Vegeta's eyes are open, he flies at Goku. Vegeta's ki-level starts rising again, but this time, Goku is ready for him. Goku matches Vegeta's power step by step, always holding onto Vegeta's fists as he tries to get loose.
When Vegeta turns super saiyan 2, Goku thinks he'll stop fighting soon, since his power doesn't go any higher than this. He's in for a surprise though, because Vegeta starts fighting harder and harder, eventually destroying the house with the amount of power the two are exuding.
The exploding house doesn't deter Vegeta's rising ki though, and soon after, he actually turns super saiyan 3. Goku is still holding onto his hands, even though it's starting to become very hard to keep Vegeta under control.
Slowly, Vegeta starts slowing down, until he falls to his knees in front of Goku. As soon as Vegeta stops fighting, Goku let's him go. As soon as his hands are free again, Vegeta hides his face in them. It takes a minute for Goku to figure out that Vegeta is actually crying.
The realisation is so surreal, that Goku freezes up. A loud, angry Vegeta? That's easy to deal with. A proud and distrusting Vegeta? It's within the acceptable borders. But a crying, vulnerable Vegeta? How is that even possible?
Vegeta never broke down like this before, not even when he blew himself up to save the world. Goku thinks that letting go of his super saiyan form might help, be he doesn't dare to do that until Vegeta's back to normal too. Goku mentally slaps himself in the face.
"Hey, Vegeta, cheer up and look at yourself. You're super saiyan 3! This is the first time I ever saw you do that!"
Vegeta glares up at Goku with red-rimmed eyes. "What's the point if I can't win?"
Vegeta completely believes Goku has an answer to that, because he keeps staring at Goku. Goku laughs nervously and pulls a hand through his hair.
"aaaah... intimidation?"
Vegeta huffs and pulls himself together, standing up. "That's actually a very valid reason, if I could do it without the fearing for my life."
Goku grins happily, relieved to have a semblance of the old, sarcastic Vegeta back. "Then we'll just have to train to get you there without the craziness!"
Vegeta glares at Goku, and yells at him in his old angry-Vegeta voice. "Who said anything about crazy, you buffoon!"
The rest of the day is spend in a friendly silence, while Goku and Vegeta work together to build a new house. Goku an't help but notice the way Vegeta smiles every now and then, so unlike how he used to be. Or rather, how Vegeta will be in 30 years time. The entire idea starts to give Goku a headache, so he just lets it drop.
That evening, they are sitting around the camp fire, and Goku continues their life story where he left off; at Buu. When he gets to the part where Vegeta let Babidi take over his mind to gain more power, Vegeta glares at the ground.
"I don't get it. How could I ever give up on the saiyan ways so completely?" Goku doesn't know what he's talking about, so he asks Vegeta for some clarification.
"Saiyans are a proud people, as you've probably noticed. For me to use the possibility to gain more power without doing anything for it, is one of the most despicable things to do. It's like me saying I'll never be strong enough without some third party's help. Where did my pride run off to? Whatever could have broken my spirit so thoroughly?"
Vegeta obviously expects Goku to know all the answers, so Goku shakes his head.
"You were always like that though. The first time I met you was when you were trying to get the dragon balls so you could wish for immortality. So if you say something happened, it must have been before you even came to earth, and you never told me anything about your life with Frieza, except for some random facts here and there. Like how he always called you monkey and you hated it."
Vegeta makes a face at that. "God, I hated that name. I'm married right? And the woman's not pregnant any more or something?"
"I don't think so, why?" Vegeta stands up with a slight smile.
"Because that means I'm together with her for more than just her genes, which means I probably told her stuff about my past that I didn't tell you. Let's go to her right now!" Goku grins up at Vegeta, and jumps up to lead the way home.
They arrive at Capsule Corp. after an hour of flight. It's Trunks that opens the front door, and he's delighted to see Vegeta.
"Dad! You got your memories back already?"
Trunks is so overly happy that Vegeta expected him to jump at him for a hug, but when he doesn't, Vegeta takes the first step. Trunks' eyes are big as saucers when he looks at Goku over Vegeta's shoulder. When Vegeta let's go of Trunks, and holds him at arms length to look him over, Trunks speaks up.
"What happened to you?" Vegeta frowns and looks him in the eye.
"What? I just hugged you because you looked like you wanted it." With raised eyebrows, Trunks looks over to Goku again.
"What did you do to him? He's like a different person!" Vegeta's frown deepens, and he steps back from Trunks.
"Goku told me I was a bit of a bastard, but was I really that bad? I never hugged my own son?"
Both Goku and Trunks become a bit uneasy, and this time, it's Goku's time to explain.
"You weren't that big a fan of physical contact with people, but you showed you're love in some way or another. You were not a bad father or anything, just a bit... distant." Vegeta huffs and puts his hands in his pockets.
"Let's go find the woman, I need some explanations." Trunks smiles a bit.
"Still calling her woman, huh? At least that didn't change."
Trunks leads the way to the sitting room, and tells his guests to wait while he goes to wake up Bulma. Vegeta starts looking at the pictures covering the wall. There's one with him and the Z-fighters, where he's standing off to the side with a glare. Vegeta runs a hand through his hairline.
"Wow, I'm balding in that picture. Never thought that would happen to me, so that's why you guys wished me young again, right? I really look like an anti-social prick here, though. "
He says the last thing with a sad grimace on his mouth, so Goku just grunts in response. After a little while, Trunks returns, saying that Bulma is getting dressed. He enters just when Vegeta takes down a picture of him and Bulma on a party, when they just got married.
"This is Bulma?" Goku tells him it is, earning a wide grin from Vegeta. "I can see why I married her, she's hot!"
The comment is so out of character for Vegeta, that Trunks and Goku both break out in laughter. 15 minutes later, when Bulma enters the room, Trunks and Goku are still laughing, and Vegeta is glaring at them from the corner. She clears her throat, making Goku and Trunks pay attention to her. Goku immediately stops laughing, remembering how Vegeta reacted to her the first time.
"Vegeta, meet Bulma!" Hoping against all odds that Vegeta won't call her old to her face, he grins expectingly to Vegeta. The grin falters though, since Vegeta looks a bit... devastated, to state it nicely.
"That old lady is my wife? How old is she? 200?" With a mental slap to the face, Goku groans.
"She's 65." Vegeta raises his eyebrows.
"Oh... Humans age faster than we do then?" Feeling ignored, Bulma is seething in the doorway.
"If this is the only reason you came over in the middle of the night, you might as well leave again!" To empathize her point, she points to the door. Vegeta throws up his hands in defeat, and smiles at her.
"It just took me by surprise, milady, no harm intended." Seeing Vegeta smile sincerely for the first time in her life, leaves Bulma speechless. Trunks figures it out immediately, so he moves over to guide her to the couch.
"I know, mom, he's like a different guy. It's still Vegeta though, don't worry."
It takes a while to explain the full situation to Bulma, but she finally understands just what Vegeta wants. She feels bad about not knowing the answer.
"I'm sorry 'Geta, but you didn't talk to me all that much about your past. I kind of figured some stuff out by your scars and some random things you'd say when you got mad, but I don't have the whole story. And what I do know isn't an appropriate subject to talk about with your son around."
Vegeta thinks that any small thing could help him, so he suggests taking a walk in the gardens with her. Goku and Trunks stay behind, talking about nothing in particular.
After an hour, Bulma enters the room alone. "Goku? Can you go and follow Vegeta? Because he figured out what happened and it made him freak out. He flew off to god knows where, and I don't want him to be alone."
Goku immediately jumps up and listens to her, flying through the open widow. Trunks asks his mother about what he found out.
"Remember that metal plate I showed you? The one I dug out of his back after Namek? Apparently that was some kind of mind-control device, used for a special group of people. He didn't tell me anything more, but he didn't like the thought of being part of that group, so now I'm a bit worried."
The two stay silent while drinking their remaining tea. Eventually, Bulma goes back to bed, telling Trunks to go too. That night, She gets no sleep at all, with her head infested with theories about Vegeta's past. None of them are very positive, and it scares Bulma half to death.