Unsatisfactory. That's what Vegeta had decided the great quantity of mussed metal and beaten-in bolts was. Folded arms covered bulk that wasn't actually a valid representation of the muscles' power. A dignified gait led him to a touch screen, and fingers flew across a keypad hovering in front of a princely face.
"400 times normal planet gravity," an unimpressed mechanical female's voice stated.
It would do just fine for a warm-up.
"KERRRACKKKBOOOM!" another sparring droid blasted from existence. The sayian chalked up number 76 in his mind. Another bot flew up from the sliding door in the base of the ship and made an attack faster than human eyes could follow aimed straight for the back of Vegeta's neck. Barely a movement from the powerful fighter could have easily disposed of the feeble attack, but for the purpose of his training, he decided to use more force than necessary. A swift roundhouse kick and the droid was shattered, falling in pieces to the floor, pathetically and hopelessly ruined. Vegeta smirked to himself. Dr. Briefs would be thrilled to learn he had 77 bots to attempt to repair tonight.
He did have to respect the man. The scientist had come up with everything the prince had demanded over the past months. The more he asked for, the more he received, just the way it should be for royalty. Even if the technology wasn't exactly a formidable challenge.
Another attack from above. Vegeta was now feeling the pressure of 800 times Earth's gravity. Sweat glistened as it ran from his hairline to the tip of his nose and chin. Heat was radiating from his body as he jabbed his fist to send the offending bot crashing into the adjacent wall.
He sniffed. Time to start the weight training portion of his session.
The side of the weights attached to the bar in his hands read 300 pounds each. Muscles rippled beneath the soft, dark fabric of a training shirt as Vegeta pushed 480,000 pounds into the air for the forty-fifth time. A glowing light surrounded the warrior, and since a few moments ago his eyes replaced their normal coal black with light green and his hair had followed suit, a glowing and fiery gold.
A low grunt was emitted from the sayian's throat as he pushed the weight up once more, making it the 250th time. As he lifted, his mind continued its steady stream away from his actions. A matted tail twitched back and forth, following both his actions and his thoughts.
Vegeta thought about what he could do with his new strength. He assumed Kakarot would be undergoing similar training and wondered when he would get a chance to test his strength and skills on the closest thing he had to a worthy opponent.
Come to think of it, he did in fact have a second opponent that was more willing and available to him. And it would be doubly prudent to train with him since spending more time with his son seemed to be all he heard from his woman lately. Granted, it would be the future version of the son she wanted him to be around, but how much use was it to train around a ten-year-old?
To be honest with himself, though, Vegeta had thought a lot recently about his son's future as a fighter. If he trained him twice as hard now, would he be even stronger than his current future self was?
The furry appendage contracted as he pulled himself from his thoughts. Since when did the prince of all sayians concern himself with the affairs of earthlings? After all, his son wasn't even a full-blooded sayian and the woman seemed to always know how and when to push his buttons, for good or bad. He had to admit, though, that he hadn't dismissed the idea of settling down to create more half-sayians to carry on the race. It wouldn't be half-bad to live in a house where he could engage in intelligent conversation with a scientist father-in-law and be served by a doting mother-in-law while married to a woman who didn't drive him entirely crazy. Not a terrible life for a prince.
A prince. The furred extension twitched more aggressively now, raising itself questioningly. Vegeta stopped himself, suddenly entering something resembling panic. A prince! That's what he was. And the prince of a warrior race. Sayian blood ran through his veins! Why was he having these disturbing thoughts of a life without fighting?
"NGH!" an enormous grunt escaped his gasping mouth as he hurled the weight he had been lifting across his chest and straight into the wall on the opposite side of the ship, blowing a huge hole through it.
Vegeta leaped from his position on the bench, suddenly consumed by rage. "I am a warrior!" the scream tore at his lungs. Pupils dilated, he was emitting a low growl, which quickly escalated into a howl as he threw a punch into the perfectly white, tiled wall next to him. He grabbed hold of a huge wire extending into his line of sight and snapped it, pulling it apart between bunched fists.
Like a madman, he spun to face the computer screen. Earthling technology. He had to do something…anything to separate himself from the earthlings right now. He was a warrior prince, and he had to prove to himself that he would never allow himself to become soft or…attached.
Ten minutes later, Vegeta was lying face-up, staring at the place the ceiling used to be. His ship, which had been designed and built through hundreds of hours of painstaking labor from Dr. Briefs, had been torn to pieces by a prince's maniacal rage.
He was spent. His tail lay limp on the floor, imitating its owner, all remaining energy drained. As Vegeta's pants quieted, he summoned the strength to get into a seated position and take in his surroundings.
It was finished. He had satisfied himself. He would never succumb to attachments to earthlings. Never. He felt no remorse. None.
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Dr. Briefs heaved a heavy sigh as he held parts of his shattered invention. He was appalled, upset, but not surprised. Vegeta had destroyed hours upon hours upon hours of his hard work. Yet somehow the most irritating part was knowing that after everything he had done for him, he would not receive a shred of gratitude, let alone an apology.
His eyes brushed over the scene once more before he started to turn his back on the mess. With this last scan, however, trained eyes caught something that was out of place.
Kneeling to pick up a small slip of paper, he squinted to make out what was scrawled there.
"Dr. Briefs,
I'm sorry that your ship was destroyed. It served my purposes adequately.
-Vegeta"
A grin started at the corners of the man's mouth and spread to encompass most of his face by the time his daughter came up to comment on the scene.
"That Vegeta! At times like these I think he'll never change. He can be awful sometimes!"
Her father continued to smile. "Yes…a bit…unpredictable, that one…then again, most good men are."
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Hi, I'm new here. It would be absolutely fantastic if anyone would like to review this story or message me. This was a one shot but I am currently working on a story called Duality, and it would be great if I could get some feedback on how my writing's coming off, what you liked, what I could do better, etc. And…I would love to make some friends around here, so don't be shy, please review and message me! Thanks for reading!
