Chapter 1
She was dead. Dead, dead, dead. Disease had taken his mate away from him. A stupid human disease, Vegeta wanted to laugh. He was one of the strongest warriors in the universe and he had lost his mate to a disease. She was gone. Forever, for the dragon could not bring back people who exited this dimension naturally and death by disease was natural. There was no point for him to remain on Earth. No point in staying on this cursed planet that had swallowed his pride, changed him forever and will now swallow his only love and never yield her back to his touch.
He floated above the graveyard watching silently as her friends and their children performed the burial ritual. He could not bear to be near them, near her. His son Trunks and his daughter Bra raised their eyes to him. They had her eyes and Bra could pass for her mother any day. That was the last straw; he had to leave. He could not survive another reminder of her and death was the coward's way out. No, no matter how overwhelming the desire to kill himself was, he would not give into it. He will live with his pain, for that was the brave thing to do and the Prince of the Saiyains was brave. But he could not remain here. Not here, not on Earth. He took one last look at his two children and the people who he had reluctantly come to think of as friends and took off.
He flew to his secret place. A place he had brought no one but … her. Ah, he had to get off this planet. He would kill himself if he remained here a moment longer. He went into a cave and pushed out from within a Saiyain one-man space pod. It used to belong to Radditz. She had rebuilt it as a challenge, with improvements of course. He had kept it not knowing why. But now he thought that perhaps subconsciously he had known that one-day, he would have to leave Earth for good. Subconsciously, he had known the day would come when he would be forced to live out the rest of his life without her.
Pain began to throb inside his heart. The memories of them together flooded into his mind, causing him even greater anguish. It was an overpowering pain that he felt like shutting off by plunging a fist full of KI into his heart. But no, he would not take the coward's way out for he was still the Prince of Saiyains. So he got into the pod and blasted out into space. He did not care where he was going or what he was going to do. Right now, all he wanted to do was get out of this cursed plant that reminded him constantly of his mate.
Goku and Trunks jerked their head upwards and gasped when they saw the faint trail of energy heading out to space. As dense as Goku was, even he understood what Vegeta was doing. 'No,' thought Trunks, 'I am not going to lose my father as well.' He took to the air, all the time trying to reach his father mentally, telling him to stop. Vegeta heard his son's calls and answered him back calmly, coldly. 'It's either this or my death at my own hands. Whichever way, you lose me Trunks. At least this way there is a chance that I will come back one day. When her memories stop tearing me apart from the inside out.'
Trunks stopped when he heard his father's words echo in his mind. He continued to watch the pod till he could not see it anymore. Then he dropped down to the ground insanely wondering what he was going to tell his sister. Insanely wondering how he was going to deal with the loss of both his parents. After all, his sister had Goten, her husband. He had no one and, come to think of it, Bra did not need him anymore. He stopped suddenly and looked to the area where he had seen his father's craft last. He was only thirty-five years old. For a Saiyain that was very, very young considering that they could live at least two hundred years. Perhaps it was time he explored the universe, or at least the galaxy, himself.
After a month of aimless wandering, Vegeta came upon a world that looked halfway interesting. It sustained life, which was more than he could say about the planets he had passed up until then. It was thus reason enough, he decided, to land. He did not make a hard planet fall since that would create unwanted destruction and he was beyond taking pleasure in such things. He smirked at himself as he remembered how he had been slightly annoyed that when he first landed on Earth that the building he had destroyed, due to making a hard planet fall, was not filled with people. But that was a long time ago. It was before he had met… erg, he did not want to think about her anymore. It hurt so much just to say her name. He couldn't say her name. He had thought it silly at first, after all what kind of a name is Bulma, but for years it had been to him the most sweetest and dearest of names. He shut out the thoughts from his mind, and opened the hatch of the pod, and slowly drifted to the ground. He began looking around.
On either side of him lay vast stretches of arid wastelands. Strong defiant wind howled and whipped all around him, blowing grit into his hair and bringing the strong scent of animals of some sort to his sensitive nose. His stomach growled at the smell. 'Well,' he thought, 'I might as well go and find out what it is.' He began to follow his nose to the potential lunch.
'You can't leave!' Bra had yelled at him in unison with Goten when Trunks had told them what he intended to do. But he had been resolute. He was his father's son. A strong and powerful Saiyain warrior and before he allowed himself to sink further into the role of the president of a multinational company, he was going to explore at least a bit of the galaxy, fight against warriors worthy of being fought against and generally have fun. Bra had the capability to run Capsule Corp. by herself, not that she had to. Goten had, as time went by, showed some signs of having a brain and was quite capable of helping his wife with some of her tasks as CEO of a big company. Gohan too was working for the Corp. as a scientist and he would be of great help as well. There was no need for Trunks to remain. Besides he would not be gone forever and if Bra ever ran into serious trouble then all she had to do was call him on the long range communicator and he would come back to help her. But he would not stay. They stopped arguing when the full depth of his resolution became clear to them. So Trunks Briefs Vegeta blasted off into space in a replicated, though enlarged, Saiyain pod with as little knowledge of what he was going to do and where he was going as his father.
Vegeta came upon a hoofed animal that did not resemble anything he had seen before in his life. Well, that was not exactly true, it looked like a mutated amalgamation of an Earth cow and a Vegitasei deer. Which meant that it had fangs, a dopey looking face, a slender body, large fleshy thighs, and a hole in its stomach after it encountered the KI blast from Vegeta's fingers. He approached it slowly to begin systematically thrashing it to tenderise the meat and proceeded to KI fry it to perfection, or at least edibility. When he was done, he sat next to it cross-legged and began to eat it. At first he found it hard to swallow. It had been a long time since he had eaten like this. In fact, he had not eaten like this since he met… her. Vegeta shook his head in a vain attempt to get the memories out. It did not work entirely. But it worked enough for him to be able to get back to his meal. After a while his meal did begin to taste really, really good. He smirked at that at least Earth had not ruined him totally.
'I should have insisted that father tell me about his days of wandering through space,' thought Trunks, as he made his way through a crowded platform of the spaceport. He had gone in the opposite direction to that of Vegeta and had stumbled onto this place. A spaceport, orbiting a planet whose atmosphere was too harsh for any living organisms. He had learnt some Nemekian from Piccolo just before leaving and had communicated in that language with the communications officer who had given him the clearance to dock. But apparently no one else seemed to be able to speak Nemekian or any other language he knew. He even tried speaking in Saiyain. His father had taught him that when Bulma had told him to 'bond' with him in some other way than by beating the crap out of him. Vegeta, not knowing what else to do, had imparted all his memories and knowledge of Saiyain culture, tradition, and language to him. Trunks had paid attention to what his father had said out of the knowledge that there was likely never going to be another occasion in which his father would connect with him without the exchange of blows. He had remembered it because as Vegeta had spoken, something about his manners indicated to Trunks that he wanted him to remember what he said and Trunks did not dare disobey his father.
But now Trunks was positively glad that he had remembered it, for after sometime he did find someone who understood Saiyain. This creature, resembling a humanoid porcupine, told Trunks that if he wanted anything on the spaceport he would have to pay for it and pay for it using galactic bucks. When Trunks told him that he did not have any, the creature suggested that Trunks take part in the fighting matches that the administrators usually put on for the entertainment of the visitors and residents every other day. Trunks was in luck for today there would be some matches on. The admission was free and if the challenger was able to defeat the champions put forward by the port, the monetary prize was great. But, the porcupine warned that the champions were no pushovers and that Trunks had to be very good to just survive the encounters and that he had to be exceptionally good to actually win. Trunks merely shrugged and said that he was exceptionally good. He thanked him and headed for the place where he had to go to register for the fights.
'Wait!' yelled the porcupine just as Trunks turned to leave. 'I know that only four Saiyains survived the destruction of the planet Vegeta. Which one of their offspring's are you for you certainly are not a pure blooded Saiyain.
'I am the son of Prince Vegeta,' said Trunks indifferently and walked on without looking at him again.
'Well,' thought the porcupine out loud, 'I know who I am going to bet on.'
Boring was how Vegeta would describe the planet he was now exploring. There was absolutely nothing here save some rather large wild life. But even those were boring. They were too weak to put up a good fight when hunting and too slow and dumb to make good sports when stalking. Vegeta was very, very glad that he was leaving. But as he landed near his spacecraft after flying around the planet for one last time, just to make sure he had not missed anything important, he felt a sudden wave of weariness overcome him. He felt sick, weak, tired. Considering Saiyains never got sick, were not weak, and hardly ever got tired, this event was very, very disturbing. Vegeta could not help but sit down on the ground, hard. His mind was a mess of images and sounds. Memories from when she was alive.
'That is it, isn't it?' thought Vegeta angrily, 'I have spent so much energy trying not to remember her that it has drained me and now I am going to have to think about her for I have barely enough energy to sit.' A look of pure pain washed over Vegeta's features. But it could not be helped; he had to go through it.
He remembered the first time he had taken her. It was shortly after she had broken up, for good this time, with that weakling Yamcha. She had been working late, and was just making her way to her room when they crossed paths. She had flashed him the sweetest smile and had regarded him with eyes that danced with delight. Delight, he abruptly realised, from seeing him. She looked beautiful. Beautiful and serene, it was clear that she was over Yamcha, finally. He had stood there staring at her, struggling to control his instincts. He wanted so much to touch her, kiss her, take her, and make her his for all eternity. He wanted so much to give himself to her. But his pride was standing in the way.
His pride and a feeling in his stomach kept reminding him that she was human and could never form a Saiyain bond and yet, that was what he wanted. A Saiyain bond with the woman he loved. He could not deny that he loved her, no matter how weak he considered the feeling to be, he could not delude himself, the feeling was too strong. It was then that she did something totally unexpected. She walked over and planted a kiss on his lips. That did it. He could not control himself any longer. He took her that night, made her his, gave her a son, and formed a Saiyain bond that was far deeper than he ever imagined it could be. He did not know how he formed a Saiyain bond with a non-Saiyain, just as Bulma could never explain what had possessed her to kiss him. It did not really matter to them anyway.
Vegeta put his head in his hands. The inside of his heart throbbed with pain. He wanted so much to touch her, to feel her soft, silky lips on his. He felt like he would die if he did not feel her touch. The pain increased ten-folds. The prospect of ending this miserable existence was looking particularly appealing when suddenly, he felt it. His head jerked back. His eyes darted to all sides. His senses stretched out in all directions. Nothing, nothing at all. But he had felt it. He had felt her. He had felt her touch on his hands. But she was not here. The event was about to increase his misery. Then he felt his eyes close and his body lay back, against his will, on the ground. Then he felt her. Bulma was all around him; he could feel it. Her lips on his, her soft fingers caressing him. Easing away his pain like she always did. Vegeta did not dare open his eyes, he did not dare move, afraid that he may somehow break this wonderful spell that for a moment at least made him truly forget that she was no longer in this dimension.
Trunks looked around with assessing eyes at the fighting ring. It was certainly a ring. A large ring with metal floors and 1km high walls made of a clear plastic material that was supposed to be strong enough to take KI blasts from Freeza himself. Trunks smirked, wondering if the walls would be able to take blasts from a person who was way stronger than Freeza. 'Well, only one way to find out,' he thought as he made his way towards it. He had some very good luck. First, he had gone to the registration office and had found a Nemek on duty. He entered Trunks in the tournament without any hassle and explained the few rules of the matches. They were simply no transforming, weapons were allowed as long as it was disclosed before the match began, and the challenger had to fight with five port champions in order to get the full amount of money. But the challenger could opt to leave after winning against an opponent with only one-fourth of the money. Also, the challenger had to decide whether he or she was staying for a fight before seeing his or her opponent, and last, the match was won when a combatant was either unconscious or dead.
His second bit of good luck came when the Nemek agreed to exchange his universal translator for an air-car capsule. The translator worked by replaying comments made by a creature back to the user of the translator by an earpiece in the language of choice. Which for Trunks was Saiyain. There was a time delay aspect to the contraption, but it also had a dictionary feature. One that Trunks knew he could use to learn to speak many of the more popular languages to the extent that he no longer needed the blasted device. Plus he was already thinking of a number of different ways of modifying it. Half of which, when implemented, would make the contraption very, very user friendly and reduce the time delay greatly. But that would have to wait. Now all he wanted to do was fight.
It took Trunks a moment to comprehend what the little fox-like biped was saying. It took him another minute to comply with his request, or more accurately, condition of entry. It seemed that the organisers made no attempt at hiding the fact that this tournament was staged, so that the residents of the port could get a rush out of it, in more than one way. The fox had asked Trunks to take off his shirt. It seemed that all men or male equivalent species had to fight barebacked and all females or female equivalent species had to fight wearing ridiculously tights clothing. Though Trunks had no problem fighting without a shirt on, after all he had such a well-sculptured body, he did take offence at it being a condition of entry. But he needed money, boy he never thought he would ever have to worry about that, and this was the easiest, and the most fun way, of getting it. So he complied and was rewarded with gasps from the nearby female spectators. He turned slowly towards them and gave a short graceful bow, a gesture that attracted even more admiration, and entered the ring to face his first opponent.
Vegeta woke feeling truly rested. Last night had been good. He had felt her with him and it had been enough to take away his pain, even if it had been for a moment. He had felt a small pang go through his heart when dawn had broken and he had unconsciously turned to kiss Bulma good morning. But she had not been there and reality had dawned on him once more. He had quickly shrugged off the feeling. He was now ready to be on his way once more. Hopefully, whatever had brought Bulma back to him last night would travel with him.
Gazing into the crystal ball, a hooded figure watched Vegeta enter the pod and blast off. The creature smirked a deadly Saiyain-like smirk and whispered, 'Don't worry Vegeta, she will travel with you. Comfort you when you can no longer bear your pain and lie dormant when you do not need her. You will bring her to me and then you will truly lose your mate. For you will lose what ties your souls together.'
'This is idiotic,' thought Trunks, annoyed, as he took out another opponent with a single punch. That made four, one more and the prize money will be his. 'Ah, if these pathetic losers are the best of Freeza's former army, then it is little wonder that my future self had such little difficulty disposing of them and that dolt Freeza with them.' To contain his disappointment, he reminded himself that he was here for the money and not for the fight. It lessened the disappointment, but only just. Trunks grunted a yes, when a stunned referee asked him if he wished to accept the final challenge. The referee then announced a ten-minute break and hurried to meet with his superiors.
'He is good,' commented a female as the referee entered a room high above the ring. She had her back to the referee, so he could not make her out at all.
'He is a Saiyain. A hybrid no doubt, but Saiyain nonetheless,' commented a man who stood next to her.
The room they were in was a smell grey rectangular structure with one wall made entirely of one-way glass. It was through this glass that the two figures watched the proceedings in the ring below. The room contained nothing but three chairs arranged around a small round table. There was a small communications unit in one corner and a sliding door, other than the one the referee entered through, on the opposite wall of the com-unit. The two of them were studying Trunks intently. Trying to trace his parentage no doubt.
Finally the girl spoke, 'He looks like Vegeta with purple hair and blue eyes.'
'I think you are right. He must be Vegeta's kid.' Then he looked at the girl smiling an odd teasing smile, 'You had a thing for Vegeta didn't you?'
'So did you,' barked back the girl. The man turned beet red at that and promptly shut up. After a few more moments of inspection he commented, 'He doesn't have a tail.' A disappointed note creeped into his voice and the girl broke out laughing.
'I think he is a bit young for you. But then again, so was Vegeta,' she said with amusement, 'Besides, if he is anything like Vegeta, he is likely to only care about things that is female, inside and outside.'
'Oh be silent. I don't do guys anymore, but asking you to remember that would be too much, wouldn't it?' he yelled at her, as he crossed his arms, 'And yes, I am well aware of the conservative nature of Saiyains. Honestly, with your brainpower you might as well be a Saiyain!'
'Pity for you, I am not,' she snickered. The man turned to glare at her, but then both faced the fox humanoid referee.
Both of them had orange skin and long white hair. They were no taller than 5'6', but the girl, with her stiletto-type shoes, looked like she was far, far taller. They were both wearing robes made of colourful, slightly silky material. Their features were humanoid. Very attractive humanoid features at that. The referee always found it hard to take his eyes off the girl; too bad she was such an eccentric creature. He shook himself from his trance and reminded himself that he worked for them and that he was not on equal footing with her. Besides, she was a bitch anyway. After bringing himself back to reality, he asked unemotionally. 'Who do I send out against him now?'
The girl's mouth curved up into an evil grin, 'Xenon.'
The guy started at that, 'Are you mad, woman? Xenon is as strong as Freeza fully transformed!'
'I have not forgotten. Have you forgotten that it is our job to make sure the money stays in the ports account?'
After a moment of thought, he conceded, 'You are right. The boy is powerful and it is unlikely that anyone save Xenon can take him on. Though,' he added looking back down at the meditating Trunks, 'don't be surprised if he takes him out as well. Remember, it is said that the Saiyains were the ones who destroyed Freeza.'
'I remember,' she said angrily. 'But have you forgotten about our secret weapon?'
'No,' uttered the man, surprised nearly out of his wits. 'You can't possibly mean to use that.'
'Look, the bloody thing only works against Saiyains. Considering that they are pretty much an extinct race, we are unlikely to get another opportunity to use it. So what the bloody hell are you waiting for?'
'Ah fine. Do as you please. I don't care,' said the man in a tone of resignation. He really, really had a thing for Saiyains and did not like the idea of one as handsome as Trunks having his face rearranged. His mouth quirked up at one corner for a second. Of course, if they were as ugly as Nappa, he would gladly send them to the next dimension himself.
'That's, bloody, it!' screamed Goku as he shot up in bed, rudely waking Chichi.
'Goku, what is the matter?' asked Chichi groggily.
'I can't take it anymore. Vegeta is my friend. I can't just let him wander through space in the state that he is in. I have to find him.'
Chichi regarded her husband with pure astonishment, 'Goku, be reasonable. Vegeta has been wandering through space for years. In fact, since he was eight if I understand correctly. He does not need your help. He knows how to take care of himself.'
Goku thought about what Chichi said for a long while, but found that it could not alter his mind. His only course of action was to try and make Chichi understand. So he looked at her with his puppy dog eyes and said, 'Nobody is doubting his ability to take care of himself when he is himself. But he isn't himself. Besides, before he used to work for Freeza. Then he had a place to go if he needed healing, food and stuff like that. Now he doesn't. He might as well be as clueless as Trunks. Only Trunks will have his wits about him where as Vegeta may not.' Chichi winced. One thing about her husband she knew was that he displayed intelligence only when his mind was totally made up. She knew there was nothing she could say or do that would change his mind. But she could not help but try once more.
'How exactly are you planning on finding him?' she demanded.
'Oh, Bra has a device with which she is tracking both Vegeta and Trunks' pod. I can just use that,' stated Goku flatly. Chichi had no choice now but to simply give in. She, however, could draw comfort from the fact that another spacecraft would not be ready for a while and she hoped something might happen in the meantime that would alter her husband's mind. Though the probability of it was slim at best.
Trunks floated in the middle of the ring, meditating. Something inside him told him not to underestimate his next opponent. Not that he would underestimate any opponent, but Trunks decided to be extra cautious this time.
As if to confirm his thoughts, the walls of the ring were reinforced with a blue-tinted energy shield and then the floor of the ring opened up and let in this huge, ten-foot lizard biped that looked like he hadn't eaten for days.
The beast was fearsome, to say the least. It had scale-covered muscles and sharp fangs that looked as if they could tear through him with little trouble. The KI reading Trunks was getting was incredibly high as well. It was clear that this guy was not going to be as easy as the others, but Trunks was still stronger. Smirking one of his father's trademark pre-battle smirks Trunks slipped into a fighting stance, and waited for his opponent to charge.
Xenon charged at Trunks with full force. Trunks got ready to counter it when suddenly, a weakness overcame him. He abruptly realised he was down to half his strength and could not possibly take that charge. He quickly moved out of the way, barely missing the big lizard. In mid-air, Trunks quickly recovered and charged up fully to attack. Again, as soon as he got within a meter of his opponent, his power and speed plummeted to about half of what they should be, allowing Xenon to counter all his hand to hand attacks. It was not as if Xenon's blocking techniques were formidable. Trunks had no problem breaking them down. It's just that he could not go through the KI shield. Trunks almost broke his own leg when his turning kick connected solidly with his opponent's KI shield. Not that Xenon was having any luck either. Though Trunks' KI shield had been weakened, his defensive blocks were not breaking down. Xenon just could not find an opening. Thank Kami Vegeta made a point of drilling strong non-KI blocking techniques into Trunks.
As the match went on, two things became clear to Trunks. He should not keep this stalemate going for long, for as more time passed, the greater the chance of him accidentally dropping his guard became, and that long-range attacks were his only hope against this thing which clearly emitted something that made him weak when he was near it. So Trunks flew as high as possible and yelled out, 'Final Flash!' The powerful KI attack began strong but weakened as it got nearer, so much so that Xenon was able to block what would have normally killed him. But the blast was able to damage a metallic bracelet that Xenon was wearing and Trunks did not fail to notice that afterwards, when Xenon charged towards him, he did not get weak. Quick manoeuvring brought him behind Xenon. Trunks positioned himself at about the centre of what looked like Xenon's spine and he dropped with his toes pointed, spinning, he went through Xenon like a screw through a wall.
Xenon fell to the ground convulsing with pain. Trunks knew the attack would not kill him. He had heard about his species from Vegeta. Though he himself did not come out of it totally unmarked for he was now covered in this icky, gooey yellow goo. He was declared the winner by a stunned and terrified referee. But before he went to collect his prize, he made a point of getting the bracelet from Xenon. He could not be sure if Xenon was doing something mentally or whether this thing was really the cause of the weakening effect, but he was going to find out, one way or the other, what could possibly reduce the power of a Saiyain.
Amongst the crowd watching intently was an old woman dressed in faded, broken armour. Her ancient eyes watched Trunks walk out of the ring inspecting the piece of metal carefully from under lowered eyebrows. She thought that she could detect the features of her old student in the face of the young man. She thought the boy looked like the Saiyain Prince Vegeta.
There were certain advantages in having a large space pod, Vegeta conceded. But there were also certain advantages in having a small pod. The one that Vegeta could think of when he forbid Bulma from enlarging this one into that monstrosity Kakarott came to Namek in was concealment. All along, he had wanted to keep it hidden well away from Capsule Corp. His reason at the time was simply that he was going to get off that god-forsaken rock as soon as he defeated that fool Kakarott. That, of course, never happened and when he finally accepted that Bulma was and always will be his mate, Earth became home to him. But his Saiyain pod, only slightly larger than what it used to be, remained hidden. Though Bulma had wanted it destroyed, he remembered.
He was training late as usual. Bulma was already asleep. He crawled into bed, being careful not to wake her. She looked so beautiful, so serene. Vegeta could not help but be overcome by a desire to touch her. He reached over and gently wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her naked form against his equally bare one. She made some small noise and slowly opened her clear blue eyes to stare into his smouldering black ones. She smiled the sweetest smile and kissed him on the chin. Vegeta smirked and kissed her fully on the lips, pouring all the passion he held for her into it. They shifted and wrapped each other in their arms even more.
Vegeta inhaled Bulma's scent and let out a soft sigh. 'How could you do this to me?' he asked, his voice a breathless whisper. 'How could you make me fall in love with you like this?'
'I don't know,' said Bulma, nuzzling even closer to him. 'All I know is that I love you, more than life itself and that I never want to leave you. Promise me you will never leave me.'
'I would die if I could not feel your touch. I can never leave you,' Vegeta said sincerely.
'Then you can destroy that damn pod I fixed for you,' Bulma stated flatly. Vegeta did not reply.
The memory shot through his heart like a bullet as he cupped his head in his hands and rocked back and forth, waiting for that damn sleeping gas to take effect. But it took time due to his Saiyain metabolism. Normally that would not be a problem, but now it was. Whatever had happened that night had allowed him to think her name without doubling over in pain. But it had not made the memories any less painful. If anything, they were more painful than ever. The pain increased when he realised fully that he had known all along that this day would come. For why else would he have not destroyed the pod? He had known and he had done nothing about it. He was willing to gather the Dragonballs to wish for immortality, to wish for universal domination. Why had he not wished that his mate aged like a Saiyain? Why?
But then again, age had not killed his mate, an illness that was beyond the Dragon's ability to remove did. But there must have been some other kind of wish he could have made that would have kept her with him. Why had he not? Pain, unbearable pain, racked his form. It was then he heard it. It was then he smelled it. It was then he felt it. Her voice whispering, 'It was not your fault. Happy in each others arms after you were resurrected we had merely forgotten that such a thing as disease or even old age could separate us. Besides, I am not sure I would have allowed you to make such a wish.' Vegeta opened his mouth to protest to ask her where she was but no words came out. Even his mind was an utter blank. He was fully engulfed in her smell, her feel. Slowly, her touch lulled him to sleep long before the sleeping gas took effect.
Trunks studied the busted contraption with interest. As far as he could tell, without taking it apart fully, was that it was some sort of waveform generator. Now why would a waveform generator weaken him? It was than that it hit him. He was a Saiyain. Forget about the term demi-Saiyain. Over the years Bulma had run numerous tests on him and had found that other than his outward appearance, he really didn't have that much in common, DNA-wise, with a human. Had she not known that he was a hybrid, she would have pronounced him to be a full-blooded Saiyain, the match with his father's and Goku's DNA was so pronounced. It seemed that the Saiyain gene had a tendency to dominate. Indeed, the only place the all-conquering Saiyain gene was willing to back off, so to speak, was appearance. Thus he was Saiyain and Saiyain's are were-beings and negative moon rays could weaken were-beings. The contraption was a negative moon ray generator.
Gohan looked up at his father with pure astonishment in his eyes. He could not comprehend what could possibly make his father make such a request of him. But he knew from the look he was getting from Goku that he was deadly serious about going to look for Vegeta. Goten also had had half a mind to go after Trunks, when nothing was heard of him since his departure, but Bra soon put him out of that idea. However, Chichi was getting on in age and found it easier to give into Goku then try and reason or yell him out of any idea he chose to cling to. Gohan knew that Vegeta and Goku had a peculiar friendship. It was deeper than any he had ever experienced himself. The closest he came to was with his mentor-student relationship with Piccolo, but, though it was very, very deep in its own accord, it was nothing compared to what his father and Vegeta had developed over the years. Heck, no earth friendship compared to what the two Saiyains had. Only the unique bond shared by Trunks and Goten came close. Accordingly, he did not argue with his father, merely informed him that it will take sometime since Trunks had taken the only complete spaceship. Goku was satisfied, just told him not to take too long.
Orbiting around the Earth, a hidden spacecraft monitored the conversation between father and son. Watching the monitor was a short, white, horned creature with thin black lines for lips. As he watched the progress of the conversation, the black lips pulled themselves into a smile. 'Good,' said he aloud, in his soft sexless voice, to no one in particular, 'As soon as the Saiyain leaves we will attack.'
The two scouts also monitoring the screen looked at each other fearfully. But their fears were voiced by a figure hidden totally in the shadows. 'I hope for your sake, Freeza, that you know what you are doing. Kakarott may leave, but he would still leave behind, not one, but three Super-Saiyains, not to mention that Uubu creature. Can you be so sure you will succeed where others have failed?' asked the low feminine voice.
Freeza regarded his hands as if they were the most interesting things in the universe, then said, 'There are certain advantages in being a clone. You can be born with certain…upgrades. I am far stronger than the 'original' Freeza ever was. Heck, I could vaporise Kakarott, Gohan, Goten, Bra, Vegeta and Uubu without even getting out of my hovercraft.'
'Now you are deluding yourself,' stated the figure flatly, 'do not overestimate yourself and do not underestimate your opponents. King Cold did that and look what happened to him.'
'I am not overestimating myself. If I was, then I would not have waited till Kakarott left. I would have attacked now.' retorted Freeza.
The figure in the shadows laughed a low laugh, 'You are deluding yourself Freeza, you just don't know it, yet. I suggest you discover completely your limits before thinking at all of attacking.'
Freeza turned his head pointedly away from her at that, but inwardly decided to take her advice. Accordingly, he began to think of ways to test his strengths and weaknesses when his thought pattern was interrupted by her melodic voice, 'You better also hope really, really hard that Young Prince Trunks does not discover his true potentials, his true abilities. For if he does, nothing, nothing in this universe short of living energy, could stop him.'
'Isn't that why I put up with you, witch?' asked Freeza a little angrily. 'Are you not here to ensure that Trunks' powers remain…hidden with your living energy talent, or kill him using the same living energy if it accidentally got exposed?' he demanded.
'Ah, but what are my abilities concerning living energy compared to that which is wielded by the Bucchies?' she wondered absently.
'The Bucchies are a myth,' stated Freeza in a tone that brooked no argument.
The figure said nothing out loud, but could not help but think, 'I wish I could be as sure as you, Freeza, but if the only description that exists of the Bucchi are correct, then it would mean that Kakarott and Vegeta are not alone.'
'My friend, you have made me a very, very rich man,' said Trunks' old acquaintance, the Porcupine, with a smile that spread the entire width of his face. 'I knew if I bet on you I would get good returns.'
Trunks smiled faintly, 'I am glad.' Then he turned to leave.
'Wait, let me buy you a drink,' said the Porcupine.
'I don't drink,' replied Trunks flatly, 'but thank you for the offer, anyhow.'
'Ah, but I must show you my gratitude somehow,' said the Porcupine, a little disappointed. Trunks was about to comment that he did not have to show his gratitude in anyway, for he had not done anything to deserve it, when the Porcupine continued, 'I know! I can show you were to get lodging for the duration of your stay at the port and where to get supplies, like food and star charts and show you around the more useful and interesting areas of the port. Since all star ports are designed about the same, this tour will be very, very useful.' Then the Porcupine smiled, 'Afterwards, you can watch me get drunk and I can tell you how I met your father.'
Trunks started at that, 'You knew my father?' he exclaimed.
'Yes and no.' said the Porcupine. 'I will tell you all in good time, but first, lets show you the hotels.'
It took nearly two hours, but the Porcupine was finally finished. Not that it had been a total waste of time, Trunks warily acknowledged. It was just that it had been on the slightly boring side of things. But the Porcupine had taken him to a rather nice hotel and had gotten him a room despite almost every room in the port being occupied. It seems that after Freeza and King Cold were killed on Earth, their entire empire fell into disarray and now a war raged over control of the various planets and spaceports. This was apparently one of the few ports that had been able to get on the Free-from-all-claims-treaty that existed between the major warring fractions. Trunks was informed that the only way to get on the list was to pay a huge amount of money and the owner of this port, who by the way owned every other port in this sector of the galaxy, was the only port owner capable of paying the fee. As such this port was always busy and it was very, very hard to get a room here. But since Trunks did get a room he thought no more about it.
The Porcupine then led him to an eating area and sat down with him at a table after ordering a jug of some very alcoholic beverage. Trunks ordered massive quantities of meat dishes, paid for them, and sat down, and got ready to find out a little about his father's past. A past Vegeta rarely spoke about.
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