REMEMBERANCE
The silence is broken by the horrible sound, an unnerving, dreadful sound that means the end of all comfort and warmth. Vegeta finally arises from his blissful slumber and turns off the damned clock. Sitting on the side of his bed he picks the clock up from the table and looks at it. Kind of hoping he incorrectly set it, he makes a grunt when it displays 5:30 in its soft, red digital numbers. He puts it down and looks over at his wife lying in bed. He smirks knowing she won't be up until at least 7:00. His smirk fades back to a groggy scowl as he gets up, puts his jogging shorts, shirt, and shoes on and slips quietly out of the bedroom for his morning run.
It has been about eight years since our heroes battled and defeated the demon Majin Buu. Again the Earth has fallen into peaceful times.
As Vegeta steps out the front door the cool, crisp air envelopes him and begins to chase away the last of his drowsiness. Although it is the summer time, the mornings are always cool and perfect for his lengthy runs. Finishing his stretches he starts his daily 15K run. Over the years he had gotten used to the sights along his route. He would start by going up Capsule Corp. Blvd. Then make a left at the bank. He would go along this street until he hit the printing shop for the Western City Gazette. A friend of the family worked there and always gave him the morning edition before Vegeta started again. A few blocks away he would turn left again onto a road that took him back to the house. He always saw familiar faces along the way, other runners that shared parts of his route. Occasionally he silently nodded to some of them if he was in a friendly mood, which came about rarely. This morning is no different. Same sights, neighbors getting ready to go to their jobs and the paper trucks delivering the newspapers to all the houses.
Finishing his run, he enters the Capsule Corp drive way and begins to make his way to the old Gravity chamber located in the back yard. He learned many years ago not to take a shower this early in the morning in the bedroom. He learned that after he felt the wrath of a woken Bulma a few times. Not that he was particularly afraid of her yelling, it just saved a bit of the hassle and she wouldn't be in a fussy mood all day long. He takes his shower in the locker room of the chamber and slips on some comfortable house clothes. He then goes to the back door of the house, punches in the security code at the panel, enters and heads towards the kitchen. Here he preps the coffee pot and turns it on. Over the years of staying on Earth, coffee grew on Vegeta. Its not like the Prince of all Saiyans needs a cup of coffee to get going in the morning, but he had to admit it did make the morning errands a little more tolerable. After his morning run, Vegeta always had breakfast with the family and did some errands in the morning; drop the kids off at school (Trunks being 16 and Bra being 4), dropping off/picking up the dry cleaning, running to the bank. That sort of thing. He discovered that if he did these things, Bulma hassled him less about not having a job. Again not that he feared Bulma, but he could do his training during the day and afternoon without incessant nagging. After turning on the coffee pot, he grabs the paper, sits down, and begins to read.
It is now about 10:30. Vegeta is returning home from dropping the kids off and the bank. While he drives he listens to the radio. He occasionally likes to listen to the talk shows with the politicians and activists complaining about the stupidity of the general public. Suddenly an announcement comes on the radio.
"Time for a trip back to the past.we go 20 years ago to the day when the Earth came under siege. No it isn't the infamous siege by the monster Cell almost 15 years ago, but rather the day 2 aliens landed on the Earth and destroyed several cities. But thanks to the Earth's Special Forces, the Earth was saved from the Saiyans and near destruction."
Vegeta turns the radio off. It is clear that his relative light mood has changed into a serious and dark one. He looks ahead silently in a scowl gripping the steering wheel tightly.
He quietly mutters to himself, "Twenty years." as he pulls into the driveway.
For nearly ten minutes, Vegeta sits in the garage still buckled into the seat. Just staring ahead, he turns over the announcement many times in his head.
'Has it really been 20 years since he fought Kakarot for the first time,' he thinks to himself.
Getting out of the car he enters the private section of the Capsule Corp house and goes to his bedroom. Quietly he sits on the edge of his bed staring forward with a dark scowl on his face.
'Twenty years has made a great difference in my life. I was a different man then. Fueled by my ambition to achieve the legendary status of Super Saiyan and defeat Freeza.'
At the thought of Freeza, he clenches his teeth and a large vein bulges forth from his temple. He remembers the years of humility and loyalty he had to show that foul creature. That damned monster who killed his father and all his people leaving but four alive. The years of conspiring behind his back with Nappa and Raditz, growing steadily more powerful. All that changed the day Raditz was killed by Kakarot here on Earth. The day he and Nappa departed for the Dragon Balls of Earth. The day he first met Kakarot.
'When I first saw him it was the time I stopped by the Earth while I was destroying the planets in the outer galaxy.'
He remembers vividly the fight he had with Goku on Earth all those years ago, the pain, and embarrassment of a third class wretch who should have been kissing his feet beating him into submission. The Prince of all Saiyans being beaten by a supposed weakling peasant. 'Since then, I lived to be stronger than Kakarot.'
He then remembers when Goku saved him and beat the remaining Ginyus on Namek and the reaction he had to a lowly soldier being a Super Saiyan.
'You succeeded where I failed. You became the legendary warrior that our race had spoken of for 3,000 years. A privilege that my line of blood should've been entitled to. Not only that you defeated Freeza and gained revenge for our race, a duty that I should have accomplished.'
He remembers the intense training he underwent after meeting his future son, who was also a Super Saiyan when he wasn't. The pain and agony he faced for 3 years trying to catch up to Kakarot. Then he remembers the first time he became a Super Saiyan.
'Suddenly the Super Saiyan in me woke up because of the anger that built up inside of me. I was so pleased. Finally, finally I would be stronger than Kakarot and the prince of the Saiyans again.'
He then remembers being beaten brutally by Cell for the first time and then Goku fighting Cell at the Cell Game.
'But I couldn't be stronger than Kakarot, nor his son.'
He flashes back to Gohan surpassing the level of Super Saiyan and overwhelming Cell with his strength. Cell's Kamikaze and Goku saving him and the Earth once again.
'Even though I could never say it to him, it nearly destroyed me when Trunks died once Cell returned. My pride and anger took over, trying to avenge my fallen son. But I couldn't and because of this, I became a burden to a child. Me, a noble Saiyan warrior a burden to a child!'
Vegeta looks up at the ceiling, lost deep in thought. With a startle the phone rings. Snapping back to reality, he gets up off the bed and answers the phone. Routinely repeating the phrase that Bulma taught him to recite when answering the phone.
"Capsule Corporation, this is Vegeta." He instantly recognized the voice on the other line as Bulma's when she spoke.
"Hello hon', how is your day so far?"
Making a depressed growl he responds, "Fine I suppose."
"Can I ask you a favor?"
Sighing a little, he makes a grunt of approval.
"I need you to go over to the Son's house to pick up a research document that Gohan has been doing for me at the College. I won't be getting off until late tonight and I would appreciate not having to make the drive out there."
After completing high school, Gohan went on and became a scholar for a University in the city. Marrying his high school sweet heart Videl, he now lives in a house next to his father's and mother's in the Mountain district.
"Fine," responding with a grunt.
"Thanks babe, I appreciate it. I know this will take time out of training today, so tonight when I get home I'll whip you up something special."
Breaking a little bit of a smile, it quickly returns back to his normal scowl. " Ok."
"Ok thanks a lot and see you later on tonight. Bye"
In his expressionless way, "Bye."
Hanging up he stares forward thinking about his task at hand. Going to Gohan's house.
'Kakarot will be next door training no doubt with Goten,' he thinks to himself.
Falling back into his memories, he remembers the years of training he went through after the Cell game knowing that Goku would be training just as hard if not harder in the afterlife.
'I was given my chance although. The day that you came back and Buu arose. I let myself be charmed by that Magician to finally settle my score with you. The fruits of my training had finally paid off; I had you right where I wanted you. But because of our fight Buu was reborn. Sacrificing myself for my loved ones and the Earth I didn't get to finish our fight.'
He remembers saying good by to his son and blowing himself up to destroy Buu.
'In the afterlife I watched you become a Super Saiyan 3 against Buu. Damn you Kakarot! You held back to fight me at my level! Then that accursed fusion with you when I was sent back from hell to aid in the fight with Buu. But it wasn't until I watched Super Saiyan 3 in person go at it with Buu that I realized why I could never defeat you.'
Remembering the clash of powers, the thoughts bubble back to him. He stares up at the ceiling bringing back the moment when he gave up trying to surpass Goku and let their differences go. He remembers the dialogue that played in his head.
"Kakarot, you are great. I'm no match for Majin Buu. You're the only one who can fight him. Your strength has always surpassed mine. First I thought that your strength comes from the people you protect. I thought that the strong feelings you had of protection produces unbelievable power. It could be that it too. But that works for me now. I had fought for my satisfaction, the entertainment for myself, killing my enemies for my pride. But you Kakarot, you're different. You don't fight for winning. You fight for not losing and to push the lines of your limitation. So you don't care to kill your enemy. You never killed me. It's like you already knew that I would understand the feelings of people by now. You bastard. The Saiyan who loves battle and is kind. Do it Kakarot. You are the Number One."
Breaking his train of thought, Vegeta looks down at his watch and sees the time. The watch reads 11:00.
He thinks to himself, 'I'll train for two hours and then go to the mountains to see Gohan. After that I should have enough time to train for an hour or so more when I get back.'
He goes to his closet to get out his exercise clothes for the gravity chamber. Looting around for a minute, he becomes frustrated, as he can't find anything. Cursing to himself he goes over to the big walk in and starts going through his clothes. Becoming further frustrated he remembers that the maid was on vacation for the week so all the clothes have gone undone. Cussing he kicks an old box that's on the ground and knocks it's contents out. He grimaces and leans over and begins to pick it all up. It's mostly a bunch of mechanical junk, bits of electronics and such and some other like tinker toys. But what he finds at the bottom of the box brings back another set of nostalgia. He picks up the dark, navy blue jump suit and unravels it. Looking down at the bottom of the box he sees what he expected to be with it, a white Saiyan, torso armor. He picks it up and looks at it and the jump suit. It's the clothing that he came back from Namek with. He looks at it and can see where Bulma patched up the hole that was in the abdominal region of the suit. She did a good job, but not having the same materials as Freeza's armor producer she couldn't have matched it exactly. Looking up from the suit he sees the rest of his wardrobe hanging there, all of his pressed shirts and pants, the business and leisure suits hanging on their hangers. He returns his gaze to the suit.
'Twenty years ago these suits of armor were all I wore. Entire civilizations and planets fell at my feet while I was clad in this armor. I had everything in the universe I could've imagined then and even more. I didn't realize how little I really had until I came to this planet and was enriched by its culture and people, all because of Kakarot. Because of my defeat at your hands and becoming your ally on Namek to fight Freeza I have spent the last 20 years of my life on this planet. I have a beautiful loving wife, and two wonderful children. Though I hate to admit it, I owe you much indeed Kakarot. Living in your shadow all those years has gained me everything that I now hold precious.'
As if Goku himself was standing there to listen, he says, "Maybe it is time for me to repay what is owed."
Staring down at the symbol of his former self he puts on the jump suit and armor. Smoothing out all the wrinkles, he leaves the bedroom, descends the stairs and steps out into the backyard. He stares upwards at the sky.
Clenching his fists he again murmurs to himself, "Watch out Kakarot, I'm coming."
With this he crouches down and blasts upwards leaving a small divot in the ground from his take off. He races towards the Mountain district.
The minute brush passes over the small toenail very delicately and gently leaving a deep red path behind it.
Staring down at her foot, Videl remarks to herself, "Hmmm. maybe I should've gone with the pink."
Gohan taking his mother and little Pan to the city for shopping was going to make for a nice break she thought, but she never thought she'd be this bored on her day off. A pounding at the door interrupts her thoughts. Huffing she gets up and wobbles to the door not trying to damage the new paint job. Opening the door she finds Vegeta staring back at her in his normal angry scowl.
"Ah.Vegeta, Bulma told me that she'd be by to pick up the report from Gohan, but I didn't expect you to come."
She looks him up and down and cocks her eyebrow at him, "Especially in such strange clothes."
Growling a little he booms, "Where is Kakarot?"
She stares at him for a moment and then remembers that Gohan told her that Vegeta calls Goku that name, "Goku and Goten are on the other side of the mountain sparring or something."
He looks up at the mountain. "Is that so." Looking back to her he orders, "Stay here and I'll come and pick up the report after I go see them."
She nods her head and he turns, walks a ways into the yard and takes off again flying towards the mountain.
The two warriors stare each other down. Growling they poise to attack. Within an instant the two take off and become a barrage of punches, kicks, and blocks. Suddenly one warrior slams his foot into the other's side and he is sent sprawling. Looking up the fallen warrior watches the other approach him. Overtop of him the victorious fighter reaches down to the other.
"You're getting much better Goten."
Goku helps his son off the ground and back to his feet.
"But you got to focus less with your eyes and feel for the movements of my body more."
Goten quietly nods his head and gets ready to start again. Goku jumps back a few feet and poises to lead off. "You ready?"
Goten shouts in an excited way and the two stare at each other. Again Goku blasts forward towards his son, but this time a small ball of energy slams right in front of him, exploding and throwing up a plume of smoke and dust. Screeching to a halt he looks around for the creator. He thinks to himself, 'That wasn't Goten's ki, it felt like....' Finally his eyes find what they were looking for. The smallish figure perched up on top of a rock cropping with two fingers pointed towards them. Jumping off the rock the figure lands right in front of Goku and glares at him silently for a moment.
"Ahoy Vegeta. What are you doing here?"
Goku gives him a worried look as he can see that Vegeta is glaring at him. He then looks at the clothes Vegeta is wearing and notices that they are his old fighting clothes.
Eyes getting big and a stupid smile on his face he shouts. "I don't believe it, you came here to be my sparring partner!" Prancing and frolicking over to Vegeta, Goku gets his face very close to his and bats his starry eyes at the Prince. "I always dreamed the day would come when we could be sparring partners like this!"
Vegeta's glare breaks and he jumps back and yells at Goku. "Moron, I would never be your sparring partner! Don't you know what today is?!"
Goku closes his eyes for a minute and folds his arms and thinks as Goten watches the two. Opening his eyes again he puts his hand behind his head, smiles, and says, "The night that Chi Chi makes her Mountain Curry Chicken?"
After he says this both Vegeta and Goten are fall over and a sweat drop appears on Goku's brow. Jumping up Vegeta yells, "Idiot! Twenty years ago to the day we fought for the first time. You took my strength and my pride! I am here to do something that I should have done a long time ago!"
Goku's face turns into a grimace and remarks, "Humph, some things never change. Very well Vegeta."
Suddenly his body begins to tense up and Vegeta can feel his ki beginning to amount for the transformation to Super Saiyan.
Vegeta suddenly booms, "No Kakarot!" Smirking, "Let's do this the way we did twenty years ago."
Goku's grimace becomes a smirk as he realizes Vegeta's intentions aren't as malicious as he thought and thinks of the challenge of the oncoming fight. "Vegeta, you really are the Prince of the fighting race."
Closing his eyes and smirking, Vegeta returns the comment, "Yes I am Prince of the Saiyans." He points to Goku, "And you are the first Super Saiyan to arise in over three thousand years." He clenches his fists and poises for battle as Goku does the same. "This is our fight, the battle we were meant to wage, let's not disappoint fate."
Goku nods and they each begin to raise their ki. Blue waves begin to emanate from the contours of Vegeta's body at the same time red waves pulsate from Goku. Goten stares in awe as the ground begins to shake and small bits of debris begins to rise of the ground. Reeling back he remarks to himself, 'Amazing! I didn't know that Dad and Vegeta could be so strong without being Super Saiyans. Simply amazing!' The ground shaking violently and fiercely and their energies at their highest point, the two race towards each other to start their destined battle.
For nearly half an hour the titans of battle clashed again and again. In barrages of kicks and punches and ki waves momentary glimpses of their forms could be seen in motion. Goten watched on stricken in awe. 'Incredible!' thinking to himself. 'I had forgotten how strong Dad and Vegeta really were.' He looks on trying to decipher their movements. As far as he could tell it started out as a total and complete draw, each evading the others attacks only to then attack and is evaded himself. Then it began to slide back and forth. For a while Vegeta seemed to have the upper hand and then Goku and now it has been back to Vegeta. Backing off from each other after Vegeta landed a well-thrown right hook onto Goku's cheek, they land on the ground and stare each other down poised for attack again. Watching each other silently except for the sound of their heavy breathing, large smirks warm on their faces at about the same time. They each tense, coil their legs and then spring towards each other once again.
Before they meet, Goku suddenly flies upwards and Vegeta chases behind him. He suddenly stops about 50 feet or so in the air and suddenly rushes towards Vegeta who is only a few feet behind. Vegeta expecting this turns to the side dodging Goku's punch and landing his elbow squarely into his chest. Having the wind knocked out of him, Goku reflexively bends slightly and taking this opportunity, Vegeta clasps his hands together and swings them down with all of his strength and weight striking Goku's back making him plummet towards the ground. Watching his body fall, Vegeta knows he only has a small window of opportunity for a ki attack and his entire body bursts into blue flames. He puts his right arm out and snaps his wrist upwards exposing his palm outwards. Goku in the mean time regains control of himself and lands on his feet and hands to cushion the force from Vegeta's blow. A large crater forms under him as the blow's energy is transferred into the Earth.
With his back still to Vegeta, Goku knows what to expect. 'He's gonna fire an energy blast at me. If I dodge he'll be able to intercept me and I don't have enough time to charge a counter beam. It's too risky to block or deflect it..unless.'
He quietly murmurs to himself, "alrite" and turns around to wait for Vegeta's attack.
"Big..Bang.ATTACK!"
As Vegeta says this a large blast of ki is shot from his hand and races towards Goku. He smirks knowing that Goku will dodge it and prepares to intercept him no matter where he moves.
The blast only a few yards away from Goku he screams, "KAIO-KEN!"
In an instant he explodes in red flames and the crater he is standing in becomes erupts. Blasting off he flies towards the blast and bats it away just as easily as a balled up piece of paper. Before he can react, Goku's knee is embedded into the surprised Vegeta's stomach. Moving instinctively, Goku spins around and lands his other knee in the back of Vegeta's head, sending him racing towards the ground. He hits the ground and because of the angle slides several yards. Goku touches down; red flames disappearing and watches Vegeta. He hears a sound almost inaudible, but it is definitely there. A look of bewilderment covers his face as he listens to Vegeta laugh. Still laughing, Vegeta slowly gets up and brushes himself off. He turns around and begins to walk towards Goku. Goku can feel his energy slowly draining and is confused why Vegeta is backing down. Now smirking Vegeta walks past Goku with his arms folded and eyes closed. He stops a few feet behind Goku and finally speaks.
"Kakarot, you really are something. You haven't lost your gift for battle during the peace that's for sure."
Goku smiles and replies, "Neither have you."
He turns around and faces Goku and stares at him for a moment with a smirk growing larger and larger on his face.
"Even after such increases of powers and defeating such enemies you still are as humble and modest as you were when we met."
He looks at him for another moment and just watches as Goku looks back with a smile on his face.
"Hmph..The Saiyan who loves to battle and is kind and shows mercy."
Quickly retorting, "Mercy worked for you, didn't it Vegeta?"
He closes his eyes and is silent for a moment and then looks up at Goku again. Still smirking he extends his hand to Goku.
"Yes. Yes it did."
After the brief second of surprise, Goku grabs his hand and beams a smile. Former enemies lock eyes with each other, smile, and share a handshake. Goten looks on hunched over with a large sweat drop on his head. 'I don't get it at all.' Suddenly Vegeta grips Goku's hand very hard and slams a left hook into his cheek. Crying out in surprise, Goku is sent sprawling. Getting up he glares at Vegeta and yells.
"That was uncalled for!"
With his hands on his hips Vegeta stands over him and shouts back with a smirk, "Kakarot, never forget that we are rivals and I will keep surpassing my limits until one day we can fight as complete equals."
Goku smiles and remarks, "I look forward to it."
Turning his back to Goku, Vegeta looks over his shoulder with a smile, "Good bye Kakarot."
At this he blasts off and flies off towards the mountain again. Goten rushes over and helps his father up. Standing side by side they watch Vegeta's form disappear into the distance.
Goku quietly murmurs under his breath. "Vegeta, you really are a great guy. I'm glad that I had Krillin spare you all those years ago."
Goten hears his father's words and knowing the story, smiles as he watches his best friend's father fade into the horizon.
The knife slowly sliced through the pink flesh. Each tiny serration tearing and cutting through the fibers of meat. Bulma stared down at the chicken as she cut it into little cubes of meet for the Marcela sauce. Hearing the door to the personal sector slide open and shut she listens for a minute. Slowly walking to the kitchen area she looks out of the corner of her eye at the figure she expected to see. Noticing something strange she pulls her attention away from the cutting board and follows her husbands movements. Grunting, Vegeta tosses the file down on the table and walks to the glass cabinet. He pulls out a glass and fills it with water and gulps it down. Halfway done with his glass he notices she is staring at him and stares back. Putting the empty glass down he asks in a very complainitive way, "What?"
She looks him and to toe and replies, "What are you doing dressed like that?"
He looks down and sees the navy blue jumper and white armor. He looks back up to her and smiles at the look of pure bewilderment on her face.
He quietly and warmly replies, "Remembering how great the last twenty years of my life has been and how lucky I really am."
After saying this he gently moves up to her and places his hands on her arms. He slowly and passionately kisses her.
Slowly pulling away he looks at her and smiles as the look of her bewilderment has increased. He slowly turns around and walks away heading for the bedroom and still smiling. Finally a smile crosses Bulma's face as she realizes the meaning of his words and actions. She watches her husband slowly ascend the staircase, marveling at him and realizing how much he really has changed.
Slipping his left leg into the leg of his pants, he pulls them up and buttons them. Pulling over his house shirt his gaze is automatically fixed upon the jumper and armor he laid on the bed before he took his shower.
He stares at it for a moment fixing the wrinkles in his shirt and then quietly murmurs to himself, "Twenty years ago you were all I wore."
He then looks down at his clothes and those in the closet and smiles, "But not anymore."
Picking up the armor and jumper he puts them back into their box and puts the top on. Without a second glance he walks away and shuts the closet door behind him. Making his way down the hallway, the tantalizing aroma of Chicken Marcela wafts up the stairs. He follows his nose down the stairs and to the dining room. Bulma has already sat down and is serving the food onto the plates. Trunks and Bra are here now too, arguing over whose drink is whose. Smiling to himself he thinks, 'It's the moments like these that I would not trade for all the power and planets in the universe.' Sitting down, the Prince eats his meal with his family, quietly smiling, knowing that he is home.
The silence is broken by the horrible sound, an unnerving, dreadful sound that means the end of all comfort and warmth. Vegeta finally arises from his blissful slumber and turns off the damned clock. Sitting on the side of his bed he picks the clock up from the table and looks at it. Kind of hoping he incorrectly set it, he makes a grunt when it displays 5:30 in its soft, red digital numbers. He puts it down and looks over at his wife lying in bed. He smirks knowing she won't be up until at least 7:00. His smirk fades back to a groggy scowl as he gets up, puts his jogging shorts, shirt, and shoes on and slips quietly out of the bedroom for his morning run.
It has been about eight years since our heroes battled and defeated the demon Majin Buu. Again the Earth has fallen into peaceful times.
As Vegeta steps out the front door the cool, crisp air envelopes him and begins to chase away the last of his drowsiness. Although it is the summer time, the mornings are always cool and perfect for his lengthy runs. Finishing his stretches he starts his daily 15K run. Over the years he had gotten used to the sights along his route. He would start by going up Capsule Corp. Blvd. Then make a left at the bank. He would go along this street until he hit the printing shop for the Western City Gazette. A friend of the family worked there and always gave him the morning edition before Vegeta started again. A few blocks away he would turn left again onto a road that took him back to the house. He always saw familiar faces along the way, other runners that shared parts of his route. Occasionally he silently nodded to some of them if he was in a friendly mood, which came about rarely. This morning is no different. Same sights, neighbors getting ready to go to their jobs and the paper trucks delivering the newspapers to all the houses.
Finishing his run, he enters the Capsule Corp drive way and begins to make his way to the old Gravity chamber located in the back yard. He learned many years ago not to take a shower this early in the morning in the bedroom. He learned that after he felt the wrath of a woken Bulma a few times. Not that he was particularly afraid of her yelling, it just saved a bit of the hassle and she wouldn't be in a fussy mood all day long. He takes his shower in the locker room of the chamber and slips on some comfortable house clothes. He then goes to the back door of the house, punches in the security code at the panel, enters and heads towards the kitchen. Here he preps the coffee pot and turns it on. Over the years of staying on Earth, coffee grew on Vegeta. Its not like the Prince of all Saiyans needs a cup of coffee to get going in the morning, but he had to admit it did make the morning errands a little more tolerable. After his morning run, Vegeta always had breakfast with the family and did some errands in the morning; drop the kids off at school (Trunks being 16 and Bra being 4), dropping off/picking up the dry cleaning, running to the bank. That sort of thing. He discovered that if he did these things, Bulma hassled him less about not having a job. Again not that he feared Bulma, but he could do his training during the day and afternoon without incessant nagging. After turning on the coffee pot, he grabs the paper, sits down, and begins to read.
It is now about 10:30. Vegeta is returning home from dropping the kids off and the bank. While he drives he listens to the radio. He occasionally likes to listen to the talk shows with the politicians and activists complaining about the stupidity of the general public. Suddenly an announcement comes on the radio.
"Time for a trip back to the past.we go 20 years ago to the day when the Earth came under siege. No it isn't the infamous siege by the monster Cell almost 15 years ago, but rather the day 2 aliens landed on the Earth and destroyed several cities. But thanks to the Earth's Special Forces, the Earth was saved from the Saiyans and near destruction."
Vegeta turns the radio off. It is clear that his relative light mood has changed into a serious and dark one. He looks ahead silently in a scowl gripping the steering wheel tightly.
He quietly mutters to himself, "Twenty years." as he pulls into the driveway.
For nearly ten minutes, Vegeta sits in the garage still buckled into the seat. Just staring ahead, he turns over the announcement many times in his head.
'Has it really been 20 years since he fought Kakarot for the first time,' he thinks to himself.
Getting out of the car he enters the private section of the Capsule Corp house and goes to his bedroom. Quietly he sits on the edge of his bed staring forward with a dark scowl on his face.
'Twenty years has made a great difference in my life. I was a different man then. Fueled by my ambition to achieve the legendary status of Super Saiyan and defeat Freeza.'
At the thought of Freeza, he clenches his teeth and a large vein bulges forth from his temple. He remembers the years of humility and loyalty he had to show that foul creature. That damned monster who killed his father and all his people leaving but four alive. The years of conspiring behind his back with Nappa and Raditz, growing steadily more powerful. All that changed the day Raditz was killed by Kakarot here on Earth. The day he and Nappa departed for the Dragon Balls of Earth. The day he first met Kakarot.
'When I first saw him it was the time I stopped by the Earth while I was destroying the planets in the outer galaxy.'
He remembers vividly the fight he had with Goku on Earth all those years ago, the pain, and embarrassment of a third class wretch who should have been kissing his feet beating him into submission. The Prince of all Saiyans being beaten by a supposed weakling peasant. 'Since then, I lived to be stronger than Kakarot.'
He then remembers when Goku saved him and beat the remaining Ginyus on Namek and the reaction he had to a lowly soldier being a Super Saiyan.
'You succeeded where I failed. You became the legendary warrior that our race had spoken of for 3,000 years. A privilege that my line of blood should've been entitled to. Not only that you defeated Freeza and gained revenge for our race, a duty that I should have accomplished.'
He remembers the intense training he underwent after meeting his future son, who was also a Super Saiyan when he wasn't. The pain and agony he faced for 3 years trying to catch up to Kakarot. Then he remembers the first time he became a Super Saiyan.
'Suddenly the Super Saiyan in me woke up because of the anger that built up inside of me. I was so pleased. Finally, finally I would be stronger than Kakarot and the prince of the Saiyans again.'
He then remembers being beaten brutally by Cell for the first time and then Goku fighting Cell at the Cell Game.
'But I couldn't be stronger than Kakarot, nor his son.'
He flashes back to Gohan surpassing the level of Super Saiyan and overwhelming Cell with his strength. Cell's Kamikaze and Goku saving him and the Earth once again.
'Even though I could never say it to him, it nearly destroyed me when Trunks died once Cell returned. My pride and anger took over, trying to avenge my fallen son. But I couldn't and because of this, I became a burden to a child. Me, a noble Saiyan warrior a burden to a child!'
Vegeta looks up at the ceiling, lost deep in thought. With a startle the phone rings. Snapping back to reality, he gets up off the bed and answers the phone. Routinely repeating the phrase that Bulma taught him to recite when answering the phone.
"Capsule Corporation, this is Vegeta." He instantly recognized the voice on the other line as Bulma's when she spoke.
"Hello hon', how is your day so far?"
Making a depressed growl he responds, "Fine I suppose."
"Can I ask you a favor?"
Sighing a little, he makes a grunt of approval.
"I need you to go over to the Son's house to pick up a research document that Gohan has been doing for me at the College. I won't be getting off until late tonight and I would appreciate not having to make the drive out there."
After completing high school, Gohan went on and became a scholar for a University in the city. Marrying his high school sweet heart Videl, he now lives in a house next to his father's and mother's in the Mountain district.
"Fine," responding with a grunt.
"Thanks babe, I appreciate it. I know this will take time out of training today, so tonight when I get home I'll whip you up something special."
Breaking a little bit of a smile, it quickly returns back to his normal scowl. " Ok."
"Ok thanks a lot and see you later on tonight. Bye"
In his expressionless way, "Bye."
Hanging up he stares forward thinking about his task at hand. Going to Gohan's house.
'Kakarot will be next door training no doubt with Goten,' he thinks to himself.
Falling back into his memories, he remembers the years of training he went through after the Cell game knowing that Goku would be training just as hard if not harder in the afterlife.
'I was given my chance although. The day that you came back and Buu arose. I let myself be charmed by that Magician to finally settle my score with you. The fruits of my training had finally paid off; I had you right where I wanted you. But because of our fight Buu was reborn. Sacrificing myself for my loved ones and the Earth I didn't get to finish our fight.'
He remembers saying good by to his son and blowing himself up to destroy Buu.
'In the afterlife I watched you become a Super Saiyan 3 against Buu. Damn you Kakarot! You held back to fight me at my level! Then that accursed fusion with you when I was sent back from hell to aid in the fight with Buu. But it wasn't until I watched Super Saiyan 3 in person go at it with Buu that I realized why I could never defeat you.'
Remembering the clash of powers, the thoughts bubble back to him. He stares up at the ceiling bringing back the moment when he gave up trying to surpass Goku and let their differences go. He remembers the dialogue that played in his head.
"Kakarot, you are great. I'm no match for Majin Buu. You're the only one who can fight him. Your strength has always surpassed mine. First I thought that your strength comes from the people you protect. I thought that the strong feelings you had of protection produces unbelievable power. It could be that it too. But that works for me now. I had fought for my satisfaction, the entertainment for myself, killing my enemies for my pride. But you Kakarot, you're different. You don't fight for winning. You fight for not losing and to push the lines of your limitation. So you don't care to kill your enemy. You never killed me. It's like you already knew that I would understand the feelings of people by now. You bastard. The Saiyan who loves battle and is kind. Do it Kakarot. You are the Number One."
Breaking his train of thought, Vegeta looks down at his watch and sees the time. The watch reads 11:00.
He thinks to himself, 'I'll train for two hours and then go to the mountains to see Gohan. After that I should have enough time to train for an hour or so more when I get back.'
He goes to his closet to get out his exercise clothes for the gravity chamber. Looting around for a minute, he becomes frustrated, as he can't find anything. Cursing to himself he goes over to the big walk in and starts going through his clothes. Becoming further frustrated he remembers that the maid was on vacation for the week so all the clothes have gone undone. Cussing he kicks an old box that's on the ground and knocks it's contents out. He grimaces and leans over and begins to pick it all up. It's mostly a bunch of mechanical junk, bits of electronics and such and some other like tinker toys. But what he finds at the bottom of the box brings back another set of nostalgia. He picks up the dark, navy blue jump suit and unravels it. Looking down at the bottom of the box he sees what he expected to be with it, a white Saiyan, torso armor. He picks it up and looks at it and the jump suit. It's the clothing that he came back from Namek with. He looks at it and can see where Bulma patched up the hole that was in the abdominal region of the suit. She did a good job, but not having the same materials as Freeza's armor producer she couldn't have matched it exactly. Looking up from the suit he sees the rest of his wardrobe hanging there, all of his pressed shirts and pants, the business and leisure suits hanging on their hangers. He returns his gaze to the suit.
'Twenty years ago these suits of armor were all I wore. Entire civilizations and planets fell at my feet while I was clad in this armor. I had everything in the universe I could've imagined then and even more. I didn't realize how little I really had until I came to this planet and was enriched by its culture and people, all because of Kakarot. Because of my defeat at your hands and becoming your ally on Namek to fight Freeza I have spent the last 20 years of my life on this planet. I have a beautiful loving wife, and two wonderful children. Though I hate to admit it, I owe you much indeed Kakarot. Living in your shadow all those years has gained me everything that I now hold precious.'
As if Goku himself was standing there to listen, he says, "Maybe it is time for me to repay what is owed."
Staring down at the symbol of his former self he puts on the jump suit and armor. Smoothing out all the wrinkles, he leaves the bedroom, descends the stairs and steps out into the backyard. He stares upwards at the sky.
Clenching his fists he again murmurs to himself, "Watch out Kakarot, I'm coming."
With this he crouches down and blasts upwards leaving a small divot in the ground from his take off. He races towards the Mountain district.
The minute brush passes over the small toenail very delicately and gently leaving a deep red path behind it.
Staring down at her foot, Videl remarks to herself, "Hmmm. maybe I should've gone with the pink."
Gohan taking his mother and little Pan to the city for shopping was going to make for a nice break she thought, but she never thought she'd be this bored on her day off. A pounding at the door interrupts her thoughts. Huffing she gets up and wobbles to the door not trying to damage the new paint job. Opening the door she finds Vegeta staring back at her in his normal angry scowl.
"Ah.Vegeta, Bulma told me that she'd be by to pick up the report from Gohan, but I didn't expect you to come."
She looks him up and down and cocks her eyebrow at him, "Especially in such strange clothes."
Growling a little he booms, "Where is Kakarot?"
She stares at him for a moment and then remembers that Gohan told her that Vegeta calls Goku that name, "Goku and Goten are on the other side of the mountain sparring or something."
He looks up at the mountain. "Is that so." Looking back to her he orders, "Stay here and I'll come and pick up the report after I go see them."
She nods her head and he turns, walks a ways into the yard and takes off again flying towards the mountain.
The two warriors stare each other down. Growling they poise to attack. Within an instant the two take off and become a barrage of punches, kicks, and blocks. Suddenly one warrior slams his foot into the other's side and he is sent sprawling. Looking up the fallen warrior watches the other approach him. Overtop of him the victorious fighter reaches down to the other.
"You're getting much better Goten."
Goku helps his son off the ground and back to his feet.
"But you got to focus less with your eyes and feel for the movements of my body more."
Goten quietly nods his head and gets ready to start again. Goku jumps back a few feet and poises to lead off. "You ready?"
Goten shouts in an excited way and the two stare at each other. Again Goku blasts forward towards his son, but this time a small ball of energy slams right in front of him, exploding and throwing up a plume of smoke and dust. Screeching to a halt he looks around for the creator. He thinks to himself, 'That wasn't Goten's ki, it felt like....' Finally his eyes find what they were looking for. The smallish figure perched up on top of a rock cropping with two fingers pointed towards them. Jumping off the rock the figure lands right in front of Goku and glares at him silently for a moment.
"Ahoy Vegeta. What are you doing here?"
Goku gives him a worried look as he can see that Vegeta is glaring at him. He then looks at the clothes Vegeta is wearing and notices that they are his old fighting clothes.
Eyes getting big and a stupid smile on his face he shouts. "I don't believe it, you came here to be my sparring partner!" Prancing and frolicking over to Vegeta, Goku gets his face very close to his and bats his starry eyes at the Prince. "I always dreamed the day would come when we could be sparring partners like this!"
Vegeta's glare breaks and he jumps back and yells at Goku. "Moron, I would never be your sparring partner! Don't you know what today is?!"
Goku closes his eyes for a minute and folds his arms and thinks as Goten watches the two. Opening his eyes again he puts his hand behind his head, smiles, and says, "The night that Chi Chi makes her Mountain Curry Chicken?"
After he says this both Vegeta and Goten are fall over and a sweat drop appears on Goku's brow. Jumping up Vegeta yells, "Idiot! Twenty years ago to the day we fought for the first time. You took my strength and my pride! I am here to do something that I should have done a long time ago!"
Goku's face turns into a grimace and remarks, "Humph, some things never change. Very well Vegeta."
Suddenly his body begins to tense up and Vegeta can feel his ki beginning to amount for the transformation to Super Saiyan.
Vegeta suddenly booms, "No Kakarot!" Smirking, "Let's do this the way we did twenty years ago."
Goku's grimace becomes a smirk as he realizes Vegeta's intentions aren't as malicious as he thought and thinks of the challenge of the oncoming fight. "Vegeta, you really are the Prince of the fighting race."
Closing his eyes and smirking, Vegeta returns the comment, "Yes I am Prince of the Saiyans." He points to Goku, "And you are the first Super Saiyan to arise in over three thousand years." He clenches his fists and poises for battle as Goku does the same. "This is our fight, the battle we were meant to wage, let's not disappoint fate."
Goku nods and they each begin to raise their ki. Blue waves begin to emanate from the contours of Vegeta's body at the same time red waves pulsate from Goku. Goten stares in awe as the ground begins to shake and small bits of debris begins to rise of the ground. Reeling back he remarks to himself, 'Amazing! I didn't know that Dad and Vegeta could be so strong without being Super Saiyans. Simply amazing!' The ground shaking violently and fiercely and their energies at their highest point, the two race towards each other to start their destined battle.
For nearly half an hour the titans of battle clashed again and again. In barrages of kicks and punches and ki waves momentary glimpses of their forms could be seen in motion. Goten watched on stricken in awe. 'Incredible!' thinking to himself. 'I had forgotten how strong Dad and Vegeta really were.' He looks on trying to decipher their movements. As far as he could tell it started out as a total and complete draw, each evading the others attacks only to then attack and is evaded himself. Then it began to slide back and forth. For a while Vegeta seemed to have the upper hand and then Goku and now it has been back to Vegeta. Backing off from each other after Vegeta landed a well-thrown right hook onto Goku's cheek, they land on the ground and stare each other down poised for attack again. Watching each other silently except for the sound of their heavy breathing, large smirks warm on their faces at about the same time. They each tense, coil their legs and then spring towards each other once again.
Before they meet, Goku suddenly flies upwards and Vegeta chases behind him. He suddenly stops about 50 feet or so in the air and suddenly rushes towards Vegeta who is only a few feet behind. Vegeta expecting this turns to the side dodging Goku's punch and landing his elbow squarely into his chest. Having the wind knocked out of him, Goku reflexively bends slightly and taking this opportunity, Vegeta clasps his hands together and swings them down with all of his strength and weight striking Goku's back making him plummet towards the ground. Watching his body fall, Vegeta knows he only has a small window of opportunity for a ki attack and his entire body bursts into blue flames. He puts his right arm out and snaps his wrist upwards exposing his palm outwards. Goku in the mean time regains control of himself and lands on his feet and hands to cushion the force from Vegeta's blow. A large crater forms under him as the blow's energy is transferred into the Earth.
With his back still to Vegeta, Goku knows what to expect. 'He's gonna fire an energy blast at me. If I dodge he'll be able to intercept me and I don't have enough time to charge a counter beam. It's too risky to block or deflect it..unless.'
He quietly murmurs to himself, "alrite" and turns around to wait for Vegeta's attack.
"Big..Bang.ATTACK!"
As Vegeta says this a large blast of ki is shot from his hand and races towards Goku. He smirks knowing that Goku will dodge it and prepares to intercept him no matter where he moves.
The blast only a few yards away from Goku he screams, "KAIO-KEN!"
In an instant he explodes in red flames and the crater he is standing in becomes erupts. Blasting off he flies towards the blast and bats it away just as easily as a balled up piece of paper. Before he can react, Goku's knee is embedded into the surprised Vegeta's stomach. Moving instinctively, Goku spins around and lands his other knee in the back of Vegeta's head, sending him racing towards the ground. He hits the ground and because of the angle slides several yards. Goku touches down; red flames disappearing and watches Vegeta. He hears a sound almost inaudible, but it is definitely there. A look of bewilderment covers his face as he listens to Vegeta laugh. Still laughing, Vegeta slowly gets up and brushes himself off. He turns around and begins to walk towards Goku. Goku can feel his energy slowly draining and is confused why Vegeta is backing down. Now smirking Vegeta walks past Goku with his arms folded and eyes closed. He stops a few feet behind Goku and finally speaks.
"Kakarot, you really are something. You haven't lost your gift for battle during the peace that's for sure."
Goku smiles and replies, "Neither have you."
He turns around and faces Goku and stares at him for a moment with a smirk growing larger and larger on his face.
"Even after such increases of powers and defeating such enemies you still are as humble and modest as you were when we met."
He looks at him for another moment and just watches as Goku looks back with a smile on his face.
"Hmph..The Saiyan who loves to battle and is kind and shows mercy."
Quickly retorting, "Mercy worked for you, didn't it Vegeta?"
He closes his eyes and is silent for a moment and then looks up at Goku again. Still smirking he extends his hand to Goku.
"Yes. Yes it did."
After the brief second of surprise, Goku grabs his hand and beams a smile. Former enemies lock eyes with each other, smile, and share a handshake. Goten looks on hunched over with a large sweat drop on his head. 'I don't get it at all.' Suddenly Vegeta grips Goku's hand very hard and slams a left hook into his cheek. Crying out in surprise, Goku is sent sprawling. Getting up he glares at Vegeta and yells.
"That was uncalled for!"
With his hands on his hips Vegeta stands over him and shouts back with a smirk, "Kakarot, never forget that we are rivals and I will keep surpassing my limits until one day we can fight as complete equals."
Goku smiles and remarks, "I look forward to it."
Turning his back to Goku, Vegeta looks over his shoulder with a smile, "Good bye Kakarot."
At this he blasts off and flies off towards the mountain again. Goten rushes over and helps his father up. Standing side by side they watch Vegeta's form disappear into the distance.
Goku quietly murmurs under his breath. "Vegeta, you really are a great guy. I'm glad that I had Krillin spare you all those years ago."
Goten hears his father's words and knowing the story, smiles as he watches his best friend's father fade into the horizon.
The knife slowly sliced through the pink flesh. Each tiny serration tearing and cutting through the fibers of meat. Bulma stared down at the chicken as she cut it into little cubes of meet for the Marcela sauce. Hearing the door to the personal sector slide open and shut she listens for a minute. Slowly walking to the kitchen area she looks out of the corner of her eye at the figure she expected to see. Noticing something strange she pulls her attention away from the cutting board and follows her husbands movements. Grunting, Vegeta tosses the file down on the table and walks to the glass cabinet. He pulls out a glass and fills it with water and gulps it down. Halfway done with his glass he notices she is staring at him and stares back. Putting the empty glass down he asks in a very complainitive way, "What?"
She looks him and to toe and replies, "What are you doing dressed like that?"
He looks down and sees the navy blue jumper and white armor. He looks back up to her and smiles at the look of pure bewilderment on her face.
He quietly and warmly replies, "Remembering how great the last twenty years of my life has been and how lucky I really am."
After saying this he gently moves up to her and places his hands on her arms. He slowly and passionately kisses her.
Slowly pulling away he looks at her and smiles as the look of her bewilderment has increased. He slowly turns around and walks away heading for the bedroom and still smiling. Finally a smile crosses Bulma's face as she realizes the meaning of his words and actions. She watches her husband slowly ascend the staircase, marveling at him and realizing how much he really has changed.
Slipping his left leg into the leg of his pants, he pulls them up and buttons them. Pulling over his house shirt his gaze is automatically fixed upon the jumper and armor he laid on the bed before he took his shower.
He stares at it for a moment fixing the wrinkles in his shirt and then quietly murmurs to himself, "Twenty years ago you were all I wore."
He then looks down at his clothes and those in the closet and smiles, "But not anymore."
Picking up the armor and jumper he puts them back into their box and puts the top on. Without a second glance he walks away and shuts the closet door behind him. Making his way down the hallway, the tantalizing aroma of Chicken Marcela wafts up the stairs. He follows his nose down the stairs and to the dining room. Bulma has already sat down and is serving the food onto the plates. Trunks and Bra are here now too, arguing over whose drink is whose. Smiling to himself he thinks, 'It's the moments like these that I would not trade for all the power and planets in the universe.' Sitting down, the Prince eats his meal with his family, quietly smiling, knowing that he is home.