Authors Note: Hey, everyone! I'm back with another full length story. Yay! I am honestly so excited to write this, I hope you guys enjoy reading it as much as I have enjoyed developing and writing this story. This follows the same timeline as another of my stories that you may have read, Shattered Soul, and I will make references to things that happened in that story from time to time, but this can be read as a stand alone story, for those of you who have not read Shattered Soul.

Here is a bit of history you will need to know to fully understand some things. The kanassans, who are part of the main focus in this story, are the people that were supposedly fully wiped out by Bardock and his crew, and they have special psychic abilities, if you remember. That's all I will say for now, because I don't want to reveal too much about the story, but if there is any confusion about anything in the future, don't hesitate to say so, and I will clear it up for you.

I do not own Dragonball Z, or any of the characters. That belongs to Akira Toriyama, the luckiest bastard in the world XD. Only the characters I create are mine, as is this story. Anyway, on with the story!

Violent Avenger

By: Angel Wings-008

Space really was a beautiful place, even if it was a little unsettling. Trunks gazed out the viewport at the blackness surrounding them, marveling at the luminescence of the stars from up close. Never again would he feel the same looking at them from the ground on Earth, not after seeing them like this. How ancient they were was astounding to him. They had been here since the beginning of time, outlasting everything and missing nothing. Eons more would pass with the stars still watching, long after he was gone, without a doubt.

Honestly, Trunks was still amazed he was even here. His dad had promised to take him training again after he'd gotten sick a little over a year ago, but he hadn't expected…well…this.

"What exactly are you looking at? There's nothing to see but darkness," said Vegeta, startling Trunks out of his reverie. Trunks smiled softly, and chuckled to himself. Of course his father wouldn't be able to see the beauty in it. He'd always been such a pessimist. Besides, Vegeta had been to space countless times before.

"Nothing really. It's just that I've never been to space before…it's pretty fascinating," Trunks replied, trying not to seem overly excited. After all, this was supposed to be a training expedition, not astronomy for dummies.

Vegeta snorted, and sat down on the couch across from the viewport. "That feeling wears off fast, trust me. Especially after it's all you see for months on end. With that freak Frieza breathing down my neck every second it was made even worse!" he finished, with a sneer of disgust.

Oh, right… another reason to hate space, thought Trunks. How could he have forgotten that one? After all, that terrible time with Frieza was what had helped make his father who he was today. Trunks wasn't entirely sure where his own brain went sometimes, which was fine because he wasn't sure he wanted to know. Though he had to admit, he found it quite amusing to joke around about his own misfortune. He'd contracted scarlet fever around a year and a half ago, and there had been a possibility of brain damage, so Trunks always liked to joke that he actually had been. Always finished with a bout of laughter on his part of course, nevertheless Vegeta never found it all that funny. Despite Trunks' constant reassurances, the Saiyan prince still felt guilty about that little incident. He didn't say so of course, but he could tell.

"So what planet are we going to anyway?" asked Trunks. Vegeta still hadn't enlightened him with that important information. Why, he didn't know, but whatever. His dad was kind of weird and secretive sometimes. The Saiyan prince hesitated for a moment, as if trying to decide how much he should tell him, but after a few seconds, he spoke.

"Back when the saiyan race had not yet been exterminated, there was an order from Frieza to go to the small planet of Kanassa. The mission was to eradicate the people living there, so he could do whatever the hell he had planned with the planet. So, a team of low class Saiyan warriors was dispatched to do it. From what I heard, it didn't take long to defeat the Kanassans, but the planet is barren now. After Frieza destroyed Planet Vegeta, he never did anything with Kanassa. I suppose he forgot all about it in the uproar," Vegeta seethed, fists clenched tightly, his body rigid.

Trunks scowled and felt his own muscles tense up. He may not have witnessed the destruction of the Saiyans, or Frieza's brutality, but that certainly wasn't enough to stop him from being furious about it.

Just then, Vegeta's head snapped to the right to look out the view port, and he sprang to his feet instantly. At first, Trunks didn't understand why, but when he reached out with his senses, he felt it too. While they had been talking they'd come up on planet Kanassa, and it most certainly wasn't barren. There were enormous power levels coming from this planet, and lots of them.

Trunks quickly shot up from the couch he'd been sitting on, adrenaline pumping through him. "This is Kanassa? I thought you said it was barren!"

Vegeta dashed toward the controls of the spaceship, taking a second to toss a hasty glance at his son. "This has to be Kanassa; I couldn't have plotted our course wrong. There aren't any planets within a close enough area of Kanassa to mistake it for something else!" he replied, in a voice filled with confusion and uncertainty.

Well, that certainly couldn't be good. "Maybe some other people came along and took the planet over," Trunks suggested, though he wasn't putting much hope into that.

"I doubt it. Their power signatures are very distinct; those power levels are definitely Kanassan." Vegeta stopped speaking and banged his fists on the control board, seemingly frustrated. "Damn it all! The communications system isn't working, so I can't call your mother to see what she says, but our own navigation system says that this is Kanassa."

Hmm...this was going to be even more interesting than Trunks had thought. Kami, he hoped that was a good thing…. "Only one way to find out, right?" he questioned, but he really didn't need to. He already knew what his father's answer would be.

The prince of all Saiyans clenched his fist, mouth twisting up into his trademark smirk. Looking his son straight in the eye, he spoke in a voice filled with intensity and strength. "That's right! They may not be too happy to see us, but we're getting to the bottom of this." Vegeta chuckled and went back to the controls, flipping it off of auto pilot and readying it to land. "Those idiots won't know what hit them!"

Trunks gazed thoughtfully out the viewport at the planet they approached. For some reason, he had a bad feeling about this. He just hoped his instincts were wrong.

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The young demi- Saiyan stood frozen in place, horror and disbelief rolling off of him in waves. Scarcely believing his eyes, he scrutinized the landscape in shock, not wanting to believe that such destruction could exist on one tiny planet. The shattered remains of a once great civilization lay scattered and ruined upon the dusty ground, chunks of stone from toppled skyscrapers littered all around him. Not a single building still stood fully erect, some half toppled, still others having nothing left of them except for splintered wood and demolished possessions.

The smell of death in the air was a thick miasma, and Trunks had to force himself not to gag or turn away. Tucked away on his safe little planet Earth, he had never seen destruction as horrible as this. Even during the fight with Majin Buu, he hadn't witnessed such complete death before. Dead cities, dead planets, dead, dead, dead. Everything dead….Suddenly, something caught his attention, and his eyes widened in sorrow when he saw what it was. With trembling hands, he picked up a child's teddy bear from the ground, half burned and broken beyond repair. This had been held by a child once, comforted and hugged. Did that child miss this little thing? Were they even around to miss it?

Chills ran up and down his spine as he held the simple little toy in his hand, a cold sweat breaking out upon his brow. He hardly even felt the gentle hand on his shoulder, hardly even notice when Vegeta knelt down beside him and gripped his chin in his hand. His mind was far away, focused on the people who had once lived and the child who would never come.

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Turning his son's head to face him, he looked into Trunks' eyes, blackest onyx meeting the brightest blue. The boy was in shock, and with good reason. The wreckage around them had been no surprise to him, unfortunately, but it had to be a huge blow for someone like Trunks. Vegeta had been trained to fight and see things such as this from the day he was born; his first conscious memory was of ruin and death. It had to be far different for his son, who had never seen such a thing in his short life. He should have known this would happen from the start, but it had slipped his mind. Careless idiot, he chastised himself. As unfortunate as it was, Trunks simply had to learn to handle these things, whether the boy liked it or not. The sooner he did, the better it would be for him.

"Trunks," murmured Vegeta, giving his son a little shake. Oh Kami, now the boy was trembling. Damn it all, he should have prepared him for this!

"Trunks!" he shouted, finally succeeding in getting his attention. The young prince jumped and turned bewildered eyes to his father. They were wide with uncertainty, and something far too close to panic for Vegeta's liking.

The prince of all Saiyans heaved a heavy sigh. He was going to have to try to be gentle…unfortunately, he was terrible at it. Where the hell was that woman when he needed her? She was better with this mushy shit. Vegeta straightened his spine and steeled himself, new determination rising within him. He had vowed to himself and to Trunks that he was going to be a better father and damn it, he was going to do it if it killed him.

"Listen to me son. Look at me, really look! Focus!" he shouted, not quite succeeding at calm. Vegeta saw the struggle on his son's face, but the boy at least made an effort to look interested. That was something, and as much as he could hope for at this point.

"What did you expect, son? Tell me that. I told you this planet had been as good as demolished. What did you expect to see but this?" he uttered, in a firm but soft voice.

"I....I don't know. I just, I-I guess I didn't expect it to be so… heartbreaking. As soon as we walked in here, it really hit me. Everything is so barren, so dead… " Trunks choked, sounding as if he were fighting back tears.

Vegeta sighed, placing his hand on Trunks' shoulder. "It is simply the way of things. We may not always like it, but it is inevitable. I won't sugar coat it for you Trunks. This may be your first time seeing ruin and death this complete, but it is far from the last. As harsh as this may sound, you have to learn to handle such things. I know you aren't use to this, of course I know that! But you are a Saiyan prince, and as such you have no choice but to be prepared for destruction, even when it is caused by your own hand," replied Vegeta, dragging his other hand through his hair.

He took a breath and scowled inwardly. Damn, he hated doing this. "But, I should have better prepared you for it," he forced himself to say, feeling his muscles tense up. Vegeta knew he'd never get use to admitting when he was wrong.

Trunks gave a shaky smile, probably knowing that himself, and recognized the statement for what it was. "No, don't worry about it. I should have better prepared myself," he uttered. His face was still too pale for Vegeta's taste, but his voice wasn't quite as shaky. Good. This boy was a fighter, no doubt about it. He felt his mouth curve up into a smirk. Of course he was! He was a Saiyan elite!

Trunks gently, almost tenderly, set the stuffed bear down onto the rock strewn ground, pushing off with his hands to get to his feet. "Something's bothering me though…maybe it's just my imagination, it's not like I have experience in this, but doesn't all of this seem a bit too… fresh to you? I guess it could be my brain interpreting things wrong. It's still mush right now," he finished with a slight smile, though it didn't quite reach his eyes.

So he'd noticed too….Vegeta supposed he shouldn't be surprised by that. With parents who possessed superior intellect, what could you expect? "You noticed right. I can smell the death in the air as thickly as if it only happened yesterday. Who knows? Maybe it was yesterday….How these people survived that massacre all those years ago is beyond me, but obviously they did," he said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"If their race survived and has been here all this time, chances are they rebuilt at least some of the planet's cities. So, what happened to destroy them like this again?" asked Trunks, setting his chin in his hand and rubbing it thoughtfully.

"I don't know, but we'd better find out. I have a bad feeling about this," Vegeta grudgingly admitted, feeling uneasy. This planet was said to possess odd properties to it, but Vegeta had never realized how true that was until he had come here. It oozed psychic energy, or at least he assumed that was what it was. Whether that was good or bad news for them, he couldn't say. So much for training….And this was suppose to be a peaceful little outing, he thought to himself, snorting in disgust. Vegeta should have known that nothing involving him was ever peaceful. He just hoped they'd get out of there in one piece, or at least somewhat intact.

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The Kanassan second in command approached his leader, bringing the news he had been waiting for. Slowly, he approached the elder Kanassan, reverence evident in even the slightest features of his face. Bowing from the waist to the elder man, he spoke, voice a soft cadence of respect. "They have come, my Lord."

"Excellent. Just as I have foreseen," replied the leader, setting a tentative smile on his fishlike lips. "Everything is going according to planned. Our last hope has arrived."

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Oh, I did so miss doing cliff hangers like this XD. My favorite :D. Thanks so much for reading, and I hope you'll continue to do so. Reviews are much appreciated!