Princes on their Own
There is a battle that many wondered about during the Android Saga. That battle was Vegeta against Piccolo, the Last Saiyan Prince against the Namekian Demon Spawn of King Piccolo. That battle though never occurred, Piccolo entered the Hyperbolic Time Chamber and Vegeta soon grew too powerful for Piccolo to even struggle against. Though what-if, on a night before the Cell Games, the Saiyan Elite stared down the Namekian Fusion, Vegeta stared down Piccolo?
Brown moccasins touched down upon a dusty brown floor, the bottom of a canyon were only four years ago he had died at the hands of a monster, a Saiyan by the name of Nappa. White fabric snapped around the Namekian as his weighted garb caught the wind, his eyes were waiting for something, no someone to arrive. This was something that he wanted to look forward to for a long time.
Seconds later two spotless white boots kicked up the dust on the floor. This was the one he was waiting for a warrior from a lost race, the last of his royal blood and one of the two full-blooded Saiyans left in the entire Universe. The Saiyan Prince Vegeta stared forward arms crossing the white plate over his chest, white gloves gripping the attached biceps. Flaming black hair waved over his head as the midnight breeze fluttered by.
"I am surprised you showed up," Vegeta scoffed arrogantly. His rather short frame was positioned to look up at his towering green adversary. Pompousness was the only trait the Elite seemed to ooze and it was near overpowering.
"Why is that Vegeta? Were you planning on taking a forfeit victory?" Piccolo responded while calmly staring forward. His booming tone took to the air like a bomb would, shifting the sleeping wildlife into a mild frenzy.
The the Saiyan chuckled, holding back the urge to laugh." No, Namek I was not. I just thought you had more common sense than staring down the Prince of All Saiyans!" he shouted a flash of white light tearing over the dust. His aura was intimidating just not to the Namekian that was staring him down.
Piccolo merely smiled removing his turban and cloak, their weight crunching on the ground behind him. The toned Namekian turned back to the Saiyan Elite without a sign of concern on his face." You have given me nothing to be afraid of, aside from allowing Cell to obtain his Perfect Form," he said taking the Demon Clan stance that he had learned from birth.
"Is that so Namek? I am fairly certain even a Super Namekian knows where he belongs," Vegeta snorted cockily. His hands removed from his biceps and slowly he lowered into stance, the Royal Stance that only the Elites were taught in their youth. His spiked black hair whipped back and forth as a field of white ki spun up his body moving the dirt around.
"Against you? I am sure that I will be victorious here," Piccolo fired back by firing up his own veil of white ki.
As if by a pin drop the two warriors took off towards one another in a vibrant white flash. Piccolo's right hand flashed into Vegeta's face throwing the Saiyan backwards several feet as he tried to regain balance. A brown shoe followed quickly giving the Elite very little time to evade, that little time though was all he needed though as he ducked and popped up on the side of the Namekian.
Piccolo grunted bringing his left arm over, it smashed into the crossed forearms of the flame haired warrior. The strike's force ripped out as Vegeta was thrown across the dusty flooring and into a rock formation that started showing signs of cracks and shaking.
'No, is his base power still greater than my own?' the Elite growled pushing himself free from the tower of brown rocks. His onyx eyes narrowed as Piccolo's frame flashed forward in an attempt to keep offense going.
Vegeta cartwheeled his boots driving themselves into the abdomen of the Namekian shooting him towards the air. A white zigzag shot up and a right fist curled into the belly of the green skinned alien sending out a booming ripple. Airborne, Vegeta brought a heavy cross-chop upon Piccolo's back throwing the purple donning Namekian towards the ground where Piccolo collided with a thundering cloud of debris.
"Feh, I thought you were nothing," Vegeta mocked turning his glance away only for a moment.
When he turned back a left arm snaked up and grabbed his shoulder. Like a reel it dragged the Namekian attached up to the Saiyan's level where a right hand bashed into his face. The widow-peaked Saiyan rolled wildly through the air where he had to stop himself by firing out his aura in a star-like pattern around himself in white contrast to the black sky.
Piccolo's image shifted into being and a double ax fist was fired down upon his head flame-haired head. Vegeta was sent careening towards the ground where he fired a yellow sphere out to redirect himself upwards to evade contact with the floor of the canyon.' Vegeta knew how to counter that as well. I can see why he can boast about being Goku's rival,' the Namekian told himself as Vegeta flipped into position.
"GALICK GUN!" Vegeta grumbled throwing his cupped hands forward. A laser of glowing purple-pink surged out filling the sky briefly with its hue before making contact with its target.
"RAH!" the Namekian's tone ripped out throwing the pink beam out from around his body. Piccolo hovered with a few rips through his dogi, aside from that though he was almost untouched by the Saiyan Elite's attack.
"You're tougher than I give you credit for Namek," Vegeta growled knowing that Piccolo was still far from finished with their bout. His white gloves were tensed as the glare of the green skinned being stared down towards him.
"Oh please. I know that you are taunting me by not transforming," the once Demon King snickered looking his Saiyan adversary in the eye.' I am impressed that I can keep up with Vegeta thus far. I guess I should thank the old man after all,' he smiled referring to Kami his fusee.
Vegeta appeared in a series of line behind the Namekian warrior. His gloved hands broke down over his foe's head blasting Piccolo down in a crater that sent debris into the air with a cloud of dust. The Namekian managed to flip onto his feet keeping the damage to himself and the environment to a minimum. Pain though rode through him especially the now bruising spot atop his head where the blow connected.
"You're half-right. I am taunting you by letting you last this long against my base form,"the Saiyan snickered hand held forward one placed forward the other drawn back at his hip.
"I guess that makes two of us!" the green skinned Namekian stared up a veil of golden lightning sparking around his muscles. His right hand was held forward while his left supported the wrist of said hand.' I should have known better than that. His base had to rise to compensate for the new Super Saiyan form,' Piccolo told himself gathering more energy in his palm.
"EXPLOSIVE DEMON WAVE!" he shouted a large golden flash of ki firing out shining the entire length of the wasteland. The opposition stared forward as a dual pair of energy bolts arrived in either palm.
"IS THAT!" the bolts of energy fired out in rapid succession holding the huge flash at bay. His ki fired out far more rapidly than the attack of his adversary just to hold it back.
Then something slipped and their equilibrium shattered and a flash of light emerged rising in a dome. Rocks were ripped away from the ground as a vibrant dome of light tore out in a spiral. Lightning creaked across this rising dome of inner energy shaking the ground beneath them whilst the dust along the ground piled back on one another to create banks of glass. It resounded with a thunderous 'BOOOM'!
"I hope you're still alive down there Namek. I haven't even started yet," Vegeta grumbled his frame being revealed to be covered in black smudges and scruffs. His black hair was disgruntled from the attacks from earlier, but he was in relatively good shape.
Piccolo's frame appeared through the clouds of black smoke face marked with a bit of damage and his dogi torn and ripped in more places." Looking at you Vegeta I would say that you are baiting your own pride," the Namekian grumbled while patting black dust from his torso.
The alien prince clutched his hands sending a fire of white light into the air around him. His black locks swayed left and right as cracks began to form along the rocks around him. Filtering in came sparks of yellow-golden light that morphed the Saiyan's hair into an erect fire of glowing gold putting his previously gravity defying look to shape. Both of Vegeta's onyx eyes filled with a sea of blue-green color that seemed almost bottomless.
"If you wanted me to stop pandering to myself then maybe you should have posed a better challenge!" Vegeta rumbled with a heavy voice his eyes narrowing on the Namekian.
Piccolo fired forward in a spiral of glowing ki right hand drawn back. It hammered into the face of the Saiyan sending him careening away with a whooshing ball of energy. A kick came swinging into the Saiyan Elite's gut throwing Vegeta higher into the air. As Vegeta dropped down slightly where a purple covered left knee rode forward into the chin of the Saiyan.
"You act like you have been dominating the fight!" Piccolo shouted throwing energy bolts into the air around the blue donning alien. Vegeta looked around as the orbs of ki hung around him harmlessly
'This could prove troubling,' the Super Saiyan grunted pulling his hands close to his body. His green eyes stared around towards the Namekian, who hovered several feet below.
"HELLZONE GRENADE!" the orbs crashed towards the royal Saiyan as if homing. They smashed together around him sending out a massive sparking flash of yellow-orange ki across the wasteland. The energy piled up swiftly keeping the air heated while he kept hands drawn towards the Saiyan Elite.' Even Android Seventeen feared that attack. A Super Saiyan can not be too different from that,' the Namekian thought as the black clouds billowed away.
Vegeta hovered where he had been though his clothing was shredded to almost ribbons in certain places, like the shoulders and knees. Blood was running down in two narrow streaks from his mouth and a cut had appeared over his left eyebrow. Black scars lined the revealed skin and his gloves were torn away from where he attempted to block that attack.
"That was more than a tickle wasn't it Vegeta," Piccolo snickered crossing his arms over his chest. At the last second, Vegeta must have used an Explosive Wave to neutralize the Hellzone Grenade.
The Saiyan reached up and dabbed the streams of blood away from his lips, a crimson stain forming on the right glove." Heh, very good Namekian, I never expected you to have that type of power let alone against me a Saiyan Elite," he mumbled face contorting into a smile as smoke rippled from his flesh.' I never thought a Super Saiyan would have to worry about something that was not an Android designed to kill Kakarot,' he huffed calmly to himself, still believing that to be true.
"But that ends this instant Namekian! No more games!" Vegeta screamed hands held out to his sides. Coils of light spun around him as his muscles touched by the light bulged out slightly. Lightning crackled through his aura briefly as his hair extended back in large points and his skin too on a reddish tint, to supply extra blood for the energy to travel. His teeth grit together as he continued to scream out.
Piccolo covered his face with raised hands as the energy blew large clouds of dust his way.' This is the form he discovered within the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. The form that provided that attack,' he remembered the Final Flash from several days prior, and the power that it used.
Vegeta's image shifted forward and Piccolo's body was tossed through the air. The Namekian took a wild tumble through the air, both eyes widened from the contact that Vegeta's right hand had provided against his midsection. The heir to the Saiyan throne shimmered atop the green skinned warrior driving both hands down upon the small of Piccolo's back, shooting his face towards the ground.
Piccolo tossed a ki blast down to stop his momentum while allowing him to hover over the ground to avoid contact." Gah," the towering Namekian huffed as a string of purple blood flung from his mouth onto the ground below.
Vegeta hovered a few feet before his foe, arms crossed over his muscular chest the flaking battle armor held there as well." Had enough yet? Or do you want to hopelessly flail about some more?" he snickered cockily as Piccolo glared up.
Piccolo looked up the streak of blood from his mouth thick like a river.' Part of an intelligent warrior is one that knows how to retreat when there is something greater at stake,' the alien sighed looking at Vegeta." I understand that this battle is one that we can return to later, the one with Cell will not be. You should save this vehemence for that," the Namekian remarked flicking away the purple fluid from his chin.
"Very well, after I destroy Cell we will resume this battle. With my victory being assure," Vegeta said blasting off while losing the transformation about half a mile into the air.
Their rematch was one that would never come. The day of the Cell Games brought forth an ending for Vegeta that he never had expected: Son Goku died to preserve the Earth and Son Gohan stepped to to put Cell to rest. Those two factors left the Saiyan Prince crushed and nearly unable to go on living let alone continue his training. That was until Trunks grew up, and the story after that is one that you all know.
Hey, thanks for reading folks. This is just a quick one-shot that came to mind after watching Team Four Star's latest installment of Dragon Ball Z Abridged, though it carries a far more serious tone to it.
Hopefully it entertained,
~Herodan3