Training Mika

It was another beautiful day in West City. The city was alive with activity, especially at Capsule Corporation. Trunks and Goten were playing their usual sparring game when Mika came running up.

Mika: "Hi Trunks, hi Goten!"

Trunks: "Oh... It's Mika."

Goten: "Uh, hi... Mika."

Mika was the 11 year old daughter of Val, the Saboron who grew up alongside Vegeta. She was identical to her mother except for her light brown coat color, an orange star on her forehead, a peach colored stripe under her eyes and a white mark on her shoulders. Although they were felines from space, Saborons can live as long as saiyans so even though she was as big as a small dog, Mika was still quite young. In fact she was the youngest member of the Z Fighters and the smallest... Something Trunks and Goten weren't fond of.

Mika: "Can I play?"

Trunks: "Uh... Yeah sure. In fact let's have a race!"

Goten: "Yeah to my place!"

Mika: "Ok!"

Trunks: (whispering to Goten) "Let's run at top speed and ditch her."

Goten: (whispering to Trunks) "Yeah, she can't keep up with us."

So the three got ready to run for Goten's home. The two boys were planning on ditching Mika as they weren't fond of her as she was slow on her feet and always followed the rules.

Trunks: "Ready... Set... Go!"

And just like that they all started to run, but they were no more than one mile away from Capsule Corporation's main entrance when the two boys left Mika behind. The young Saboron slowed to a stop as she watched Trunks and Goten run away from her. Sad and alone, Mika walked back home while tears ran down cheeks. Meanwhile in the backyard, a man was relaxing in the shade of a tree. It was Vegeta, the saiyan prince and second lieutenant of Squad 10, and next to him was Toushiro Hitsugaya, Captain of Squad 10. After the ordeal with Coge at the World Martial Arts Tournament 3 days ago, Vegeta was ordered to take it easy by Captain Unohana and Head-Captain Yamamoto for a few weeks in order to fully recover. So the saiyan prince went back home in the living world to recover and spend some time catching up with his friends and family. Of course where Vegeta was, Toushiro wasn't far behind. The child prodigy insisted that he go with Vegeta and the prince wasn't in any position to argue with his captain. So the saiyan prince brought the young captain along.

Toushiro: "Boy Coge sure banged you up badly huh."

Vegeta: "Tell me about it. I'd rather take my baby brother over Coge any day."

Toushiro: "Yeah... Wait... 'Baby brother'? You have another brother?"

Vegeta: "Oh yes... His name is Tarble and he is the exact opposite of Coge. No fighting talent what-so-ever."

Toushiro: "So you have a big brother who loves to fight, a little brother who can't fight and then there's you who's right in the middle. Your family is strange."

Vegeta: "You can say that again. Hey! What do you mean 'in the middle'?"

Toushiro just laughed. When he saw that the young captain was just having fun with him, Vegeta couldn't resist a chuckle as well. Just as they had finished laughing, Bulma came walking out with some drinks in her hand.

Bulma: "Oh! Toushiro, sorry I didn't notice you here with Vegeta."

Toushiro: "That's ok, Bulma. I'll leave you two alone for awhile."

Vegeta: "Don't get any ideas."

Toushiro: "What you think I'll spy on you two in hopes that you'll make out?"

Vegeta: "Ok first of all, I'm surprised that you even know what that means and second, you obviously don't know Trunks very well."

Bulma: "Speaking of Trunks, I haven't seen him for some time now."

Vegeta: "Last time I saw him he was playing with Kakarot's kid."

Bulma: "He has a name, Vegeta."

Vegeta: "Yeah, yeah I know it's Goten."

Toushiro just rolled his eyes as he walked off to look for something to do and leave Vegeta to spend some time with his wife. Since it had been 5 years since coming to the Soul Society, Vegeta hasn't seen or spent any time with his wife or son. So the white-haired boy figured that his second lieutenant wanted to spend some alone time with Bulma, which he respected. As he walked to the front yard, Toushiro heard someone crying. He stopped and glanced at the sidewalk just as a familiar cub walked into the yard.

Toushiro: "Hi Mika. What's wrong?"

Upon hearing her name, the young cub looked up with teary eyes. There was no doubt that something was upsetting her.

Mika: "Oh... Hello Toushiro. I'm fine, really."

That was a lie and the young captain knew it right away. He didn't become a captain of the 13 Court Guard Squads on just his brains and natural talent alone.

Toushiro: "Then why are you crying?"

Mika: "Well... I asked Trunks and Goten if I could play with them but they tricked me and ran off to Goten's place."

Toushiro: "Well that's not very nice. Why did they do that?"

Mika: "It's because I'm little. This isn't the first time they've done this. I can't keep up with anyone since I'm so small and I always follow the rules."

Toushiro: "You're as big as one of those small dogs like a Beagle or something a little bigger, and here you're saying that you're 'small'?"

Mika: "My mom isn't fully grown yet either. She said that we Saborons grow to be the biggest felines in the universe."

Toushiro: "Your mom isn't fully grown yet!"

Toushiro thought back to the day he and the 13 Court Guard Squads came to join the Z Fighters for a get-together party. When he first saw Mika's mother, Val, he was actually a little terrified of her. Then seeing how hard Vegeta tried not to get her any more angrier for fear of having his throat ripped out, Toushiro figured that there was a good reason why and now he knew one of the reasons.

Toushiro: "That would explain so much."

Mika: "Yeah and that's one of the reasons why Trunks and Goten won't play with me. Only Uncle Vegeta can calm down my mom when she gets upset."

Toushiro: *You sure about that?* "Well... I don't know if would make you feel better but... You can hang around with me."

That seemed to lighten up the little Saboron.

Mika: "Really? Thanks Toushiro! What do you want to do?"

Toushiro: "Well I'm not much for the whole 'playing' thing. You mentioned that you can't keep up with anyone so I could help you work on that."

Mika: "That'd be great!"

So Mika followed Toushiro inside to the indoor garden where the Z Fighters gathered for the parties. The garden had various trees and plants along with a small stream and small hills, so it was a perfect place for them to train. All day long they trained, doing various exercises. Toushiro could see that Mika wasn't lying about being slow on her feet, but the boy had to admire the cub's spirit. No matter what, Mika didn't give up. The only reason the young captain could think of on why she gave up so easily on following Trunks and Goten was that they simply moved too fast for her to even have a chance. In fact Toushiro was surprised to hear that Goten would do something like this, but he didn't put it past Trunks. For the last 2 days, that little trouble maker had gotten Toushiro into all sorts of trouble. Whenever Trunks was up to his usual mischief, somehow Toushiro was always at the wrong place at the wrong time and got blamed for it by the workers or Bulma's parents. The child prodigy didn't want to bother Vegeta as he was suppose to be recovering and Bulma was never around or too busy. It was to the point where even the normally mature Captain of Squad 10 was about to lose his temper. By the time Toushiro and Mika finished training for the day, it was night time. The cub had done fairly well in keeping up with Toushiro the whole time and if they continued like this every day, the Soul Reaper was certain that the little Saboron would be able to keep up with the others in no time. They had heard Bulma call out that dinner was ready and were on their way to eat when they bumped into Trunks just outside the door to the dinning room. When it got dark, the lavender-hair boy came home alone.

Trunks: "So what's the all high and mighty Captain of Squad 10 been doing all day? Hanging around MY dad I'll bet!"

Even though he respected his father's wish in staying with Toushiro in the Soul Society, Trunks wasn't happy that Vegeta spent a lot of time with him and not his own son.

Toushiro: "For your information, Trunks, I haven't seen your father since this morning. I spent all day with Mika unlike you."

Trunks: "Makes sense. Only someone like you who can't fly and uses a sword to fight and defend himself would hang around her."

Toushiro: "Big talk coming from someone who plays pranks on others and tricks someone else to take the blame like a coward."

Mika watched as the two boys glared at each other. Toushiro was relatively bigger than Trunks, but that didn't stop the half-blood boy from driving a fist across the Soul Reaper's face. The hallway wasn't very big so Toushiro only stumbled back two steps before he hit the wall.

Trunks: "I... Am not... A coward!"

Toushiro: "Why you little brat! It's high time you learned some manners!"

Trunks: "LIKE I'M SCARED OF YOU!"

Toushiro: "YOU SHOULD BE! I'VE DELT WITH GUYS THAT HAD MORE GUTS THEN YOU!"

"What's going on here?"

The two boys looked up at the door to find Vegeta standing there. All of their shouting and arguing obviously drew the saiyan's attention.

Trunks: "D-Dad..."

Toushiro: "Vegeta..."

Vegeta: "Do you two realize just how loud you were? Even Bulma and her parents could hear you over their conversations."

Right on cue, Trunks pointed at Toushiro.

Trunks: "He started it!"

Toushiro: "Like hell I did!"

Vegeta: "Quiet! Both of you!... Now Trunks, even if Toushiro started this fight, how is it that he has a bloody mouth and you a bruised and bloody knuckle?"

They hadn't noticed that. Toushiro wiped his mouth and discovered that he did indeed have a bloody mouth. Meanwhile, Trunks looked down at his hand and saw that his knuckles were bruised and had Toushiro's blood on them.

Trunks: "Yes I... Did punch Toushiro. But you're always siding with him, dad!"

Vegeta: "Son, it only looks that way and you know it. Now let's get you cleaned up or your mother will have a cow. You too, captain."

Trunks and Toushiro: "Yes sir."

And without any more arguments, the two boys hurried to the bathroom to get cleaned up.

Vegeta: "Mika, there you are. Your mother was starting to worry."

Mika: "Thanks Uncle Vegeta for letting me know."

The cub then hurried to join her mother for dinner. In the bathroom, Trunks was busy wrapping up his hand while Toushiro was cleaning the blood off of his face. Being the more mature one of the two, the young captain was the first to apologize.

Toushiro: "Sorry I called you a brat and a coward."

Trunks: "Whatever."

Toushiro: "What's your problem?"

Trunks: "My problem is that I have to face my mom with a bandaged hand! One look and she'll want to know how it happened and you'll probably rad me out!"

Toushiro: "Ok then let's make a deal. If you stop making me take the blame for your pranks from now on, then I won't 'rad' you out and just act like you came home with it from playing with Goten. Deal?"

Trunks: "Deal."

The two boys soon joined everyone for dinner. Indeed Bulma asked what had happened to her son's hand and Toushiro said that he came home with it from playing with Goten. Knowing how rough Goten and Trunks played, Bulma believed the story. For the rest of the night, Toushiro and Trunks said nothing to each other. The next morning, Trunks made good on their deal and didn't pull any of his pranks. Goku came by with Goten and hanged out with Vegeta, asking what the Soul Society was like. Mika, on the other hand, continued her training with Toushiro. Meanwhile, in an old abandoned toy factory, an old enemy of Goku's was plotting a clever plan. Goku's old childhood enemy, Emperor Pilaf and his two henchman Shu and Mai.

Pilaf: "BAH! No matter how hard I try to rule the world that little pest Goku keeps getting in our way!"

Mai: "I hate to break it to you sir but Goku isn't 'little' any more."

Shu: "Yeah, he's gotten bigger and now he has a lot of friends too!"

Pilaf: "What?"

Mai: "And to make things worst, some of them are just as strong as he is."

Pilaf: "Are you sure?"

Mai: "See for yourself."

Mai, a tall woman, pushed a button on the control panel and the screen came on. Soon the screen was showing images and data of all of Goku's friends and family. The data told of their backgrounds, abilities, strengths and weaknesses, and how they knew Goku.

Pilaf: "It's a good thing I hired another henchman to help us with my plan."

Shu: "Plan?"

Mai: "What plan?"

Pilaf: "It's a good thing that we have so much data on all of Goku's friends and family because my plan is to kidnap them and use them as hostages. With his loved ones in my hands, Goku will have no choice but to surrender."

Shu: "But how are we going to hold them, sire?"

Pilaf: "General Tao, I believe you have that covered."

Out of the shadows came another one of Goku's old enemies from when he was young. General Tao, whom Goku had defeated and was now mostly cyborg.

General Tao: "Indeed. Thanks to some 'out-side' connections I have obtained several cages made out of Katchin which I'm told is the hardest metal in the universe. Not even Goku and all of his friends put together can destroy these."

Pilaf: "Perfect!"

Shu, a small fox, had his concerns. The data they had was recent, but not that recent.

Shu: "But sire, there is one little problem."

Pilaf: "What is that, Shu?"

Shu: "It concerns one of Goku's friends. Here I'll show you."

Shu scrolled through the inventory of the Z Fighters until he reached the data on one particular person... Vegeta.

Shu: "This guy, 'Vegeta' is the problem."

Pilaf looked at the screen as it read all of Vegeta's profile.

Pilaf: "How is this a 'little' problem!"

Shu: "That's just it. There's little data on him. All we know for sure is that he can turn into animals and one of them is very small."

Mai: "Not to mention that he is the same Vegeta that won the annual Ocean of Fire race and the prestigious Kamunyak World Race. He is obviously very quick on his feet."

General Tao: "Don't worry about him. I've discovered that he is still recovering from a fight with someone named 'Coge' at the World Martial Arts Tournament a few days ago and is still pretty weak."

Pilaf: "Now is our chance! You three are in charge now go and capture them but leave Goku alone!"

Shu and Mai: "Yes sir!"

And so Pilaf's henchman went off to capture the Z Fighters. Back at Capsule Corp., Toushiro continued to train with Mika, unaware of what the two would find the next day.