The Lion King and The Lion Guard, along with its general plot and songs are not owned by me. Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball z and Dragon Ball Super do not belong to me. Each franchise is owned by its respective people and companies.
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Trigger warning
This fic includes disturbing and possibly triggering content such as abuse, child manipulation, drugs, violence, manipulation and assault. You have been warned!
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1
1
Goku and Vegeta hurried towards each other, settling their stances back to back so that they were defended from all sides. Both Froze and Frost hissed had circled around them, amusement flashing in their eyes as they stared down their two victims.
Froze crackled his knuckles. "Well, I gotta say, Kakarot, you put up a good fight, but breed-stock will always be breed-stock, and not only did you throw away your only chance at survival with your little magical stick thing, but you've successfully made me mad," he smiled wickedly, and Kakarot sneered challengingly at him. Blood dripped queasily from the vermilion icejin's lip.
Frost budded in his own input soon after. "You really would have made a good super saiyan, Vegeta, but I'm not begging for you to join me, no matter how much wasted potential that would be. You can go fuck yourself. You tried to rip my tail off! My tail!" The pallid icejin ranted, throwing his arms in the air like a fuming child.
"He tried to rip off your tail?" Yet another voice piped in, revealing itself to be the portly Chilled, who was covered head to toe in bumps and bruises, though Nappa behind him looked far worse for wear. Goku gasped in horror and Vegeta grit his teeth in rage as the huge saiyan limped from the shadows, clutching his left arm. His eyes were bulbous and swollen shut, skin bumpy with bruises, shifted bones and popped veins.
Chilled laughed, almost hysterically as he caught sight of his comrade's gored tail, Froze soon catching on to the jest and laughing so hard he began to cough and grip furiously at the indentation made in his stomach by the Power Pole. "Oh my god, Frost, how the fuck did you let that happen?" He howled, wiping tears from his eyes. "How- just why- oh my god,"
Frost could see nothing but red. "No, strop! This isn't funny, none of this is funny! Why are you laughing? Anything is only funny if I find it funny, and this isn't funny!" Frost hissed like a feline, voice crazed. "Shut up!" He yowled lecherously as he quickly aimed a Ki-empowered hand towards Froze, a small ovoid crashing into the side of his comrade's face. Nappa, who had barely gathered himself, quickly motioned to the two cubs standing stiffly by each others sides.
Goku looked at him, eyes wide with confusion as he cocked his head in innocent question, for a short moment disregarding the tension of the battle undergoing around him. Vegeta was rigidly eyeing their opponent's scuffle, clearly losing what ever negligible scraps of respect he had for them as they dignified playground taunts with a response.
He, after careful consideration of their behaviours and actions so far, had played the three Icejins off to be rowdy, sketchy figures of poverty, brains muzzled up by the lingering radiation so much so that they could barely think straight. The simplistic fact that they thought it tactically acceptable injure their own allies in a battle against three worthy opponents was enough to prove their ignorance to basic strategic thinking, something that fighters of their power should have drilled into their minds long ago.
It was as if they were children who had been born with a terrible amount of power but had been reluctant to water and feed it out of their own laziness, instead choosing to fight like street boxers with nothing but the confidence in their own hype to draw them on. They truly were pathetic beings, icejins. Vegeta really had no real respect for them outside of their rumoured power levels, but if they were so vacuous as to act on sibling-like bitterness within the belly of a battle then they didn't even deserve his consideration. Either that, or, they really didn't believe he was a worthy opponent at all. He gripped his hands tighter at the thought.
He truly hated them, all three of them. He hated Frost's squinty red eyes, he hated the way Froze looked at Kakarot. He hated the contended trio's ridiculous grins, and their stupid clucking and their fat, ratty tails and sketchy, high toned voices that just made his ears pop. He wanted to beat their faces in, and with a new resolution, he promised himself that he would do so while exacting upon them the most dire of humiliation and pain.
Vegeta was pulled from his salty pondering by a nudge from Kakarot's elbow, quite rough as though the younger saiyan had been doing it to him for a while with no response, or like a suggested challenge. Vegeta really hoped that Kakarot didn't intend to fight with him while their enemies battled; it seemed like something his naive friend would get up to, but instead Goku was motioning wildly towards Nappa, who they quickly approached with elevating speed.
"See, Daddy always liked me more than you! That's why I was the heir to inherent the business, not you, you worm-" Frost decked Froze in the face, sending his slightly more buff comrad careening to the deserted grounds they were fighting above. Despite the rumbling tremor sent through the land upon Froze's collision with the ground or the small trench left in his wake, Froze launched back into the air like a rocket, unharmed and ready for blast-off. Neither noticed the usually dull Chilled scanning the area with his buggy eyes suspiciously, scratching away the dirt on his elbows. He hated being dirty.
"Ha, maybe, but that's probably just because he wanted to spend more time training me to be the mightiest warrior in the universe while you were buried chin-deep in paperwork, administrations and expensive responsibility!" Froze's hard built head slammed into Frost's chin, and the smaller icejin whirled a few long yards back with a pained yell.
"-Y-you- salty bastard! I would have been buried forehead-deep in wine, pretty paramours and money as a result!" Frost returned, brimming with revenge for the teeth rattling blow to his jaw by twisting Froze's ankle and sending the claret monster into a near airship rusting away the rest of it's sad life among the remaining rubble.
The damaged icejin pulled himself free, glaring. "Hah, after dealing with fat, lecherous nobles and planetary royal snobs," Froze hissed in rebuttal, preparing to charge once more when the dim-witted Chilled intervened with his fluttery voice.
"Speaking of pretty paramours, lecherous nobles and planetary royal snobs- did we order our dinner to go?" The two scrabbling Icejins turned to Chilled with startled looks on their faces. "Because there it goes!"
Froze, Frost and Chilled didn't even notice their company was gone until they realised how unnaturally quiet their opponents were and swerved around frantically, just in time to see three furry, brows tails disappear behind an upturned trench.
2
Prince Vegeta had never run so fast in his life. He ran so fast he couldn't even see his own feet, which had been reduced to skewed blurs barely tapping the ground as he bolted. He ran past the corpses of solders and airships alike, ran over lumps of parched bone and sedimentary matter, ignoring the rips and blemishes it left in his previously perfect boots, the mustard-yellow tips already crumpled and scrunched like an elite's nose when they smelt the pungent odour of poverty.
He could feel Kakarot booking it behind him, breathing heavily as he fought to keep up with the lithe Prince, but Vegeta was dreaded to realise that Nappa seemed to have taken a different direction, possibly to split up the trio of Icejins that would surely come after them.
Vegeta not only had to wrangle with his stamina, but with his saiyan pride as he and his best friend tore through the unfamiliar levels of wastland that shrouded them like a disease. Saiyans never ran from fights, yet here he was, disembowelling the very reason he set out to come to the blasted ruins. He wanted to prove his bravery, and yet now he was showing even less courage than that of the slummers and tramps.
Nappa, however, had indeed taken another path, hoping to lead the Icejins away from the Prince and his future mate. He ran as fast as he fucking could but it wasn't enough, as he felt a familiar three-toed foot embed itself in the crook of his back, right where, just a few hours earlier, Prince Vegeta had sent a Ki blast. He howled in pain at the far more pestilent assault, grunting as his hard head smashed into the dead earth.
Meanwhile, the two cubs found themselves panting and wheezing with their backs against the crackling carcass of a particularly mammoth airship, it's cables wiring out of its metallic skin like tortured arms and hung blankly over the two saiyan cubs. They were both very exhausted by their aimless sprint.
"W-where's Nappa?" Kakarot breathed, head revolving around with fright for the fate of their assigned protector. Goku would never be able to forgive himself if he found himself responsible for the noble warror's demise. He'd feel like a murderer.
3
"Aargh!" Nappa hollered as the three giggling Icejins dragged him, quite like a sack of rolling potatoes, towards a boiling-over cauldron like pod, oils and various other unsafe liquids piping within its pursed lips like a spar. Each of the Icejins were perfectly capable, despite his violent struggling, of hauling his large body towards the make shift boiler. Each one had restrained his limbs and the advisor's nerves were still spazzing and tingling from the sensitive area on his spinal chord being damaged. He was thoroughly incapacitated.
"Time for the major right hand man to hippity-hoppity all he way to the baldy boiler," Froze cackled, his comrades sizzling in amusement as Froze acted like a puppeteer to the larger Saiyan, forcing him to walk like a doll towards quite the painful fate indeed.
Nappa's eyes widened as he caught on the where he was being leaded. "Oh no, not the baldy boiler!" He wailed as he was shoved into the scalding pot of liquid, yowling in pain as it scorched his usually thick, resilient skin and leaving red, blistering, bulbous blemishes upon the skin that contacted the lethal concoct. The three icejin's eyes were alit with glee at his suffering however, uncaring to the heated steam that blew in their faces.
"Aarrgh!" Nappa yowled as the pod he was stuffed into shot into the air with only a small encouragement from the three giddy sadists, who were howling with laughter on the ground as they watched the advisor take off to the air very much like a rocket. They had buckling knees and were falling to the ground in great humour, as nothing could brighten their day like another's pain.
"Hey, why don't you pick on someone your own size?" A piecing voice cut into their fun, and each icejin lazily composed themselves, not in the slightest interested in formalities. They turned their attention to a small ledge in their base, and there they saw a pair of rather angry looking saiyan cubs, staring down at them with fire burning in their black eyes.
"Like you?" Frost grinned toothily and watched as Prince Vegeta's face fell from his previous confidence with satisfied muse.
"Oops," Vegeta's revelation was clear to all, and Kakarot even managed to catch a break from his own muddled state to give his usually hardy friend an incredulous glare.
Frost, who had last spoken, propelled his leith mass forward with frighting grace, yet he snapped his teeth and snarled like the rabid canine he looked like in personality. The Icejin's red eyes glinted, and Kakarot let out a startled yelp as he and his best friend reeled away to avoid Frost's animalistic onslaught so that said monster's white fangs only grazed the furs of their tails. Prince Vegeta looked back to catch glimpses of Frost's two cronies, who he had picked up to be called Froze and Chilled, follow suit after their trio patriarch.
Both he and Kakarot turned their focus away from their pursuers and instead on a steady getaway, though the unlucky pair didn't get very far. It was only after a few meters of weaving leanly around terrace and debris that they almost charged into a jutting steam eruption of chemicals and radiation from a near gas leak in the ground. Prince Vegeta could hear Kakarot scream in alarm as three ghostly familiar faces appeared throughout the toxic mist, each simultaneously yelling, "boo!" In their crackly, haggard yet somehow sheeny voices.
They cackled amongst themselves before leaping forward once more in attempt the grab at the pair of youthful cubs in what could be a lethal grip. Kakarot and Vegeta both relented by twisting around and altering their direction, though not without their opponents biting at their heels as they fled.
Frost knew he could very well just speed up and wrangle the two cubs to the ground before they could even think to call for help, but it was both amusing and hellishly satisfying to see the usually prideful, arrogant enemies of his race cower and run from his influence. It warmed his heart enough to allow them to live for a notable amount of time. Seeing the fear in their eyes was a pleasurable bliss for him.
Goku wanted to hiss at the splinters of chipped bone that he kicked up from the ground when he rounded any particularly rough corners, and he found that his stamina was slowly slipping. Prince Vegeta, who was a few steps ahead of him had quite the advantage with his training due to being a prodigy alpha who was constantly kept in the most suitable conditions to cultivate his growth to becoming a worthy King and hardy warrior, while Goku felt that he was kept away from more dire training like that of the saibamen. In the back of his mind, though he never really liked to think about it, he wished he wasn't a beta. Maybe if he was an alpha like Vegeta he'd be stronger and more able to keep up with his friend in situations like this. Maybe, he frowned, people would stop babying him and let him train with the saibamen.
After another desperate scramble to escape a close clip with the jowls of one of the Icejins, Kakarot promised to himself that, no matter what anyone said or lectured, he would improve his training conditions. When he scraped by a particularly bladed chunk of scrap-metal, possibly once from the automatic doors of an escape pod, and felt small tides of dark blood run down to his elbow from the flesh would now inflicted, a horrible thought finally flashed through his mind and made him truly realise what was at stake each time one of his attackers almost got a hit in on his exposed back.
Would he make it out of this? He must, he would, right? There was still so much he needed to do before- he died. He needed to be there to greet Raditz when he got home from his off-planet excursion, he still needed to learn how to fly like Vegeta, he needed t go say hi to Master Roshi, needed to grow stronger and prove that betas were more than dolls you could give away. For the first time that day, Goku almost considered his bucket list as, instead, a list of things he wished he done before he died. Almost. With a renowned courage and determination to succeed Kakarot burst forward. He didn't understand why he was thinking so negatively. There was a way out of this. The was always a way.
Ignorant to his friend's internal washing-machine of emotions, Prince Vegeta clambered, cloaked in skewed shadows, up the familiar haunting front of the Oozaru skull's face, knotting his protective shoulder pads and flailing gloves within the wavering cobwebs netted throughout the monster's anatomy. Still high on adrenaline, Goku followed suit, strongly leaping from the ground and clambering upwards straight from the exoskeleton's eye sockets.
He grit his teeth as he, still being a few centimetres behind Vegeta, felt spindly clawed fingers rake loosely down his calf muscle, yelping in pain as he felt his own blood pooling redly in the wrappings stemming upwards from his martial arts shoes. Instinctually bounding away from the source of his pain and headfirst into the prince, he sent them both careening down the Oozaru's spinal chord like some sickly built slide.
Vegeta, who was in front and therefore had the best view of their eventual destination, gulped as instead of sturdy ground he saw mounds upon gruesome mounds of dead bodies and bones, the air thickly accented with rot, time and decay. He winced as is friend behind him clawed skittishly at his back, trying in vain to ascertain a sturdy grip on something in order to steady his whirling world. Vegeta put up with it, however, knowing that it was the younger who had likely sustained the most damage from their three attackers.
With a sickening, scream like crunch they reached the crescent curved end of the Oozaru's spine, flung uselessly into the air like tossed rag dolls. Vegeta writhed in attempt to control his Ki in time to save both Kakarot and himself from a nasty landing amongst an assembly of serrated remains, but the intensity of the situation proved to bet to much and instead they suffered the worst of the two options.
Prince Vegeta could hear the bones of fallen enemies and comrades alike crush and bend under their interference with their steady decomposition, but had no time to think about such an underlying dishonour as he scrambled to gather a secure grip, bloodied hands so numb from all their scrapes and oozing wounds that he was able to ignore the damage and scramble upwards to create a safer distance between him and his attackers. Damn him and his pride and his bad choices, wanting to go back to help Nappa knowing that the doofus would be perfectly fine. Nappa may not be the sharpest knife in the crayon box, but he certainly was capable as a fighter.
From a small, slightly clouded distance away strode Frost, Froze and Chilled, still trotting at a mocking and lazy pace. Their jaws sagged open in stupid grins as they approached the scrambling cubs, who were still desperately wrestling with their grips.
Vegeta, who's hands were by far more calloused from his intensive training sessions and extreme pain tolerance, found himself able to make the top in an accomplished time, pulling himself away from the whetted reckless of bones with a heave of relief. If he just had time to get a hold of himself he could perhaps think of a way to get both him and his flightless companion away from danger, assuming that the three crafty Icejins wouldn't make to follow them into the sky. Before he could even begin to make good of his plan, a pained yell cut through to his consciousness.
"Vegeta!" He couldn't help but gasp at what he saw. Kakarot, who was usually boyish yet prettied (by his family) was now garbed in countless cuts and scrapes, nothing as serious as to scar but still able to bloody him almost scarily. His fringe was matted around his face and his eyes were widened with grit and panic, hands clawing almost angrily at the bones for any amount grip. He had seemed to land on a particularly unstable patch of bones and, instead of ascending like Vegeta himself, was tumbling further and further to his fate at the hands of the Icejins. Kakarot let out one last panicked scream before he finally lost his last pathetic hold.
Prince Vegeta didn't know what it was. It may have been the fear across Kakarot's face or the rarity of the almost unnervingly fretful yelp that escaped his lips, but Vegeta found himself renewed with bustling determination, a sneer on his face challenging both himself and the three Icejins closing in on his friend. He surfed down the sea of remains, propelling himself off the mound with his legs in one last gain of speed before planting his boots masterfully into Frost's temple just as the reptilian monster was about to send a Ki blast to Goku's back and sending the shocked being turmoiling towards the scratchy earth it claimed as its own.
Frost, who was still for a short moment, turned his gaze towards his victims. His eyes were darker than before.
With no time to spare, Prince Vegeta quickly propped Kakarot up with his shoulder and side by side, the two cubs manipulated the ki under their boots to much more efficiently clear the rack of bones and finally cover the plot of land they had struggled so relentlessly with. Vegeta couldn't help but be pleased with himself.
Still hurrying along, the cubs sprinted through a temporary break in the wreckage, diving through a shady cove of upturned rock formation, sweat pooling down their brows and panting. By this point in time their adrenaline, the driving force to their small successes, finally began to waver in its supply, and exaughstion was beginning to make itself more visibly known. Goku wasn't sure where he was going anymore, only really focussing on the blood pulsing through his veins and the loud thuds it was making.
His reverie only made it worse when they encountered yet another steep, bony cove, though this one only housed crumbling erosion and the cadaver of an aged warship. They struggled up its circular Windows and its upturned wings until finally the ancient mechanic collapsed, sending the two heavily to the ground like dead bodies.
Goku didn't get up right away, his shoulders twitching with pain, but Vegeta still scrambled to his palms with a low groan of denial. Clutching his chest, Kakarot soon steadily rose to his feet, though his knees were quaking and looking as though they could buckle at the slightest influence or change of breeze. Vegeta also looked worse for wear— his fringe tangled, windows peek matted with fluid and with cuts and scrapes dressing his skin all about. A small line of blood dripped down his chin from where he bit his lip.
Vegeta grit his teeth and moved so that he stood as a flesh shield infront of his friend. It had been he that had gotten Kakarot tangled up in this mess, all to prove himself as brave, when in reality it would just end up killing him and possibly the only other saiyan to care about him for any other reason besides personal gain. Seeing his best friend curl himself against the dead wall, tail twitching erratically and eyes wide full of fear made guilt twist at the Prince's gut. Kakarot was only nine years old. No saiyan should die so young.
Sly cackling informed them that they were no longer alone. Frost, Froze, and Chilled sauntered towards them, the shadows illuminating their glowing eyes so that they looked like monsters, their large heads swaying and shoulders rolling. The Prince could see the excitement in their eyes, and it sickened him.
With a roar Prince Vegeta tightened his fists and allowed his suppressed power to run freely underneath his skin, rattling lose debris and rising little pebbles centimetres off the ground. He yelled as his broken muscles tightened and stretched until he could feel his skin stretch, muscles bulging. He felt his knees quake and threaten to buckle underneath his weight, yet he grit his teeth together and refused. He bluffed and tufted his power, but according to the three Icejin's mocking grins, it just wasn't enough. Vegeta ignored the dread twisting at his gut.
"Ooh, that was it? Hah!" Frost clucked, chest heaving as he and his cronies rutted like gargoyles. The little prince felt biting rage claw at his mind, blanketing his usually rational mind as if someone had thrown a rug of mule skin over a fire. He grit his teeth and began to shake, before finally letting free a gruesome raw, the surrounding terrain crackling and disembowelling itself, mangling and mauling and warping its own geography until everything and all was unstable with pure, unadulterated power.
"H-huh?" Was all the Icejins could manage, jaws loosened.
A huge wave of energy swept through the area, and a large, magnificent figure bowled into the three Icejins with a frightening power that blinded all five of the other residents. Froze didn't even know what hit him when a stunning weight crashed into his ribs, sending him toppling unorthodoxy to the ground with a horrid 'smack'. He scrambled away as the same weight abandoned him in favour of elbowing Frost in the chest, sending his comrade yards away with only a single connected hit. Froze, who had tripped under the jump scare and landed painfully on his shoulder, quickly recovered and attempted to land a parasitic kick to his attacker's lower spine, but it merely bounced off and his whole body was deflected by a mere flick of the monstrous interferer's palm.
As Froze was propelled into the grasp of a cobweb grave Frost limped his way back to the scene of the battle, chest still throbbing from being pounded so powerfully, and sprung up with feline grace to land on his new opponent's back, clawing at it like a rabid animal in his rage. Everything had been going so well, he couldn't afford disruptions.
Froze, who also recovered, leapt savagely at the godly powerful monster's front, swaddling his plummy hands around it's neck and applying as much pressure as he could, biding time for both Chilled to recover and for Frost to hopefully incapacitate their contended. The trio of delinquents' attacks seemed to have no effect on the stranger, however, as he ripped the red icejin from his skin with his bare hands and, at a speed even Frost, the fastest of the trio, couldn't comprehend, backed into a near ridge and crushed the small, pallid icejin against it.
After Frost's scream of pain ringed through Chilled's ear, the portliest of the three Icejins raced forward, and as soon as he was in proximity, placed a thundering uppercut to the monster's chin, sending his opponent rocketing a few meters upward through the air. Potent power and unstable Ki crackled around Chilled's fist, and he panted. No mortal should be able to withstand his enhanced fist, as he was undoubtably the brawniest and physically strongest of his pack. For a moment Chilled was stone cold sober, his eyes connecting with the rage-crazed ones of his opponent. He realised with rapidly increasing horror that his supposedly undefeated fist had no significant effect on his enemy. This was no mere mortal-
It was then that an angry fist introduced itself to his cladded jaw, sending Chilled flying back at great speeds. Not willing to waste his combo opportunity, the intruder revolved around with an affective burst of stormy Ki and placed a well timed back-punch to his orange victim's cranium, sending the dull icejin into the ground along with his own knee, which quickly found homage buried deep into the sensitive back muscles of Chilled.
Prince Vegeta didn't even realise Nappa had landed shakily by them until he felt a large, comforting hand settle upon his back and rub in comforting, circular motions. Nappa leaned forward and gathered the frozen Kakarot with his thick tail, pulling the beta closer as he shook with both awe, exhaustion and shock. The youngest saiyan leaned into the embrace, shaking slightly. All that had happened in the last few hours was a lot to take in, and having your life switch like a light from in danger of being ended to safety had him quaking in relief. Goku had fought tough many opponents, but none as sinister as the three Icejins currently being mauled.
Not once did Vegeta's eyes leave the scene in front of him.
Spurred on by the intruder's grunts of releasing anger and their comrade's yells of pain, Froze and Frost made to leap back into the rally when a hard surface smashed into their temples and they found themselves rolling across the ground, skirting over each other's flailing limbs like rolling pins as they emitted various yelps and cries. It seemed that the mysterious intruder had thrown Chilled at them like a bowling ball.
Before the three could make to stand what little left of visible sunlight was blackened out of their immediate vision, indicating a large figure was looming insidiously over them. They wheezed and rattled with fear, red eyes trembling in the might of the mysterious warrior's wake. They were out matched, out classed, out numbered and possibly at the end of their lives. They chattered and mumbled nervously between each other, sweat pooling down their faces.
"-ow, ow, ow, ouch, ow-" Frose snivelled at his aches and bumps.
"Oh, please please please-" Frost grovelled sheepishly. Froze only juggled a collection of strange swollen sounds from his bruised throat.
"Silence!" King Vegeta's powerful, resonating voice reverberated throughout the hollow battlefield like a blaring siren, and the three Icejins pinned underneath him quivered like little feathers, rushing to collect the words in order form a coherent sentence. They shrank into their own bodies, wincing.
"Oh, we're gonna shut up right now-" Froze jittered.
"Ah-ha, we're really sorry-" Frost tried. Chilled shuttered and hugged himself weakly, fatted shoulders squishing his other two comrades together.
All three Icejins cowered at the herculean, reining patriarch's might. They saw, blazing within the King's eyes, unbridled fury beyond what they had ever seen before. Frost came to the startling revelation that it was that of a guardian standing by the guarded, a dragon in defence of his glittering treasure, a father protecting his son. For the first time in his life, Frost was scared, and he despised it.
"If you ever come near my son again..." The King left the threat hanging, but the three Icejins could only imagine what horror he would exact up them, and each one shivered as the monstrously strong beast leaned in towards them, baring his teeth. His eyes seemed to be glowing with as much power as his stance, and Froze briefly wondered if their victorious opponent was a super saiyan, though it was drowned out by renowned hope that he and his comrades may survive this situation if they played their cards correctly.
"Agh, this is- this is your son?" Frost strutted sheepishly. He and Froze were both laughing uneasily, attempting to lighten the situation as if the assault on the Prince was all but a simple misunderstanding between good friends. "D-did you know that, Froze?" Frost grinned widely at his partner, seemingly thousands of mixed messages flashing in his red, beefy eyes.
"No, Frost! I- I didn't know that," Froze was quick to assure, urging himself to sound as if he was repenting for his sins and asking for forgiveness. A simple miscommunication between friends indeed. "No, did you?" He turned back to Frost unsurely, as if questioning his friend's motives.
"No, of course not!" Frost's voice was far more squeaky than usual, having raised a few octaves in his fearful mess.
"Chilled?" They both turned to the last of their trio expectantly, and for a while silence hung in the air. Still shaking but with a surprisingly jovial air, Chilled nodded vigorously. When scared he wasn't usually able to lie very well, and so the truth just came spilling out.
King Vegeta roared once more and all three Icejins squeaked, shrinking back and grabbing onto each other for support as they quailed. At this point, neither cared about pride or honour. "Ehh- toodles," Froze yipped before he, Frost and Chilled wormed out of King Vegeta's grasp, untangling their limbs and bolting away as fast as their throbbing limbs could take them in a matter of seconds.
For a while King Vegeta stood, disdain for their cowardice clear on his face as he watched the trio of pests disappear into the distant dystopia. The reigning saiyan simply couldn't fathom how such a race would be able to display such disgraceful plagues to their reputations, cowering in the face of death instead of facing it honourably like one should. It utterly disgusted him to no end they they continued to tarnish the earth they walked upon with their presence, but he refused to end three lives while in the presence of cubs such as Kakarot. Apparently unlike his son, he was considerate of his peoples' wellbeing.
Nappa quietly edged away from Kakarot's grip, quietly padding forward to stand by his King with a blank, sorrowful expression that made even the king's spirits fall. His advisor was usually so eccentric that seeing him so downtrodden was quite unpleasant. He attempted to nod pleasingly at the King, artificial enthusiasm plastered upon his face in an effort to relight the mood with some after-battle cheer, but King Vegeta sent him a withering glare. Now was not the time for happy endings and celebratory hugs. He ignored the pang in his heart when Nappa's expression fell like a potted plant from a window sill in favour of his much more comfortable vexation. His son had better have a good reason for his little excursion.
Prince Vegeta instantly snapped out of his daze, shaking his head and padding fourth to explain himself to his father though nervousness and worry pricked muckily at his gut. The ground felt impossibly stiffer under his boots, but as the small sound resonated Kakarot quickly gathered himself and tiptoed lightly after him, as if even a single peep of sound would provoke the King into in untameable rage. Personally, Goku didn't want the King to do to him what he had done to the Icejins.
With a terrible unhappiness Vegeta regarded those surrounding himself deeply for the first time. Nappa seemed to still be covered in burns, bruises and loosely shut flesh wounds, though the distinct aroma wafting from the advisor's thick, welted skin signified a hasten, quick treatment allowing him just enough energy to travel back to the scene of the battle alongside King Vegeta. The huge saiyan's tail tip, he realised with spurring guilt, was twisted at an odd angle, while his shoulder was sporting a nasty dark lump, probably a dislocated limb only recently replaced, once more likely the work of a few quick, high end rejuvenation pills.
Behind him, Kakaot was adorned with blotches of darkened, swelling skin, his gi all but destroyed around his knees though it had fared surprisingly well considered his beat down. Vegeta winced as he realised it had cloaked most of his mor effecting injuries. His eyes were wide with fear and apprehension yet he stumbled slightly, drunk on relief. Their little escapade could have ended horribly, and they barely escaped said ominous outcome by the furs in their tails.
He gulped and turned to his father, eyes drooping and shoulders sagged. "...Father, I-"
"You deliberately disobeyed me." King Vegeta lashed out, swerving to face his son and greeting the little cub with all the burning effects of his glare. Prince Vegeta felt asphyxiated, but refused to show weakness in front of Nappa and Kakarot. He lowered his sharp chin in shame for his actions.
"Father, I- I'm sorry-" Vegeta eyed the ground, black orbs falling upon his bedraggled boots. He really was apologetic, but had a hard time expressing it in the words that seemed to be needed. Prince Vegeta never really was good with emotions.
"Let's go home." The contrast lighting illuminated King Vegeta's towering form as he turned away from his kin, brown tail lashing around his ankles angrily until he signed resignedly and made to wrap it around his waist. The clip of his much cleaner boots across the grubby ground was enough to signal his departure to any of those who had averted their eyes, Prince Vegeta included. There truly was nothing worse then disappointing his father, especially because the only reason he had ventured to the ungodly graveyard in the first place was to prove himself as worthy. Kings had to be brave.
Nappa glided after his boss glumly, casting the two cubs lagging behind a quick, forlorn glance to make sure they could keep up with their sustained injuries.
Kakarot and Vegeta began their trek after the two older saiyans, shoulders drooping as they moved. Kakarot was gazing at the ground with lidded, glazed eyes, recalling the events prior to the lecture. He cast his best friend a quick glance. "I thought you were very brave." He inquired quietly, though it wasn't upbeat or encouraging like usual, merely a statement. Vegeta looked away in shame as he fell into step with his friend, avoiding eye contact as his tail tightened around his waist. Kakarot closed his eyes and looked forward, light glittering upon the top of his hair as he exited the dark umbra they had been cornered in.
Up, far higher and nestled within the tight grip of the piling megaliths stood Paragus, watching over the unfolding events darkly. No one noticed him.
2
The sky was mellow and pink as the sun descended like a sinking submarine in a soupy lake, the final yawns of the townsfolk falling upon death ears as the small group of high-ranking saiyans padded through, each with their heads craned in exhaustion. It had been a long day, and no-one had the energy or motivation to appreciate the particularly stunning dusk.
The widows had watered the family garth and unwound the shutters, lit the hearth and settled down with steady beverages to dine and chat with the family. Solders and warriors had returned from a long day of training and protocol, muscles tired and in need of ointment and massage, while the final remaining clusters of market goers dispersed to return home with bulging bassinets of various abundances of fruits, vegetables and saplings, and those who owned stalls were busy dismantling their tents. The quadruple payed no mind to the questioning stares, instead looking pointedly forward in the direction they were headed with tired eyes.
The only noise was the chirping of crickets. Everyone was to afraid to speak.
Kakarot and Prince Vegeta were walking side by side, neither daring to speak nor make a sound. Much had happened today, and neither wanted to face the consequences. Both the prince and his future consort's limping had subsided, as their saiyan genes had picked up where the two small tablets of rejuvenation Nappa had bought had left off.
Goku let his gaze drift aloft from it's stiff glare forward, eyes softening but still drooping sadly as they met the side of Prince Vegeta's face. Kakarot couldn't recall a time where he had seen his friend so quiet and miserable. It unnerved him. Instead of attempting to make conversation as he usually would, the youngest saiyan of the group returned to trotting sullenly, neck craned forward as he shifted his weight from foot to foot. Vegeta continued to stare at his feet, no emotions playing across his face. It was as if he were dead.
Nappa, who was hovering about a few feet infront of the pair, watched the exchange with a heavy heart. How could a wonderful day have ended so unpleasantly?
It wasn't long before they had entered a quiet knoll, sheltered from the last bustle of the growing night. Lush grass battered eerily in the wind, which whistled and howled as it weaved in between the tree leaves and rattling branches. Kakarot couldn't help but shiver, though kept any other physical evidence of his discomfort on the low as to not disturb the mood. King Vegeta, however, caught on. He was much more observant than he was given credit for, really.
It was then that his spearing voice impaled the depression. "Nappa." King Vegeta's tone wasn't at all pleasant as he uttered that single word. That word still held a thousand emotions. The King was stalking forward, shoulders elevating with his forward steps as he bit down on his lip and clenched his hands. In his voice was anger, loathing, relief, concern, regret, and frustration, though he hid his more parental emotions far more thickly. The advisor couldn't help but flinch as he snapped to action, ready to obey his master's every command to his most apt and fullest ability.
"Take Kakarot home." King Vegeta hissed loudly. There was a rapidly darkening scowl on his face. "I've got to teach my son a lesson."
A few meters back Kakarot and Prince Vegeta had overheard the exchange when it had first began, settling down quickly from their pace and staring intently and alarmingly at the King and his advisor. The sun shone prettily behind them as it said its final graces and continued its decent. It wasn't hard to notice that, while Kakarot's face was creased with worry, Vegeta's was stony and emotionless, though he visibly shrank back like a recoiling snake at being referred to through his father's gritted teeth. Goku only sent him a pitying glance.
Nappa was stern and robotic as he approached the two cubs, settling his hand upon the smaller beta's head and ruffling at the wild, dark hair fondly. "Come, Kakarot," Nappa showed less feeling in his words than his actions. Goku looked to the ground. "Vegeta?" The advisor then turned blankly to the little Prince before him, kneeled down and placed his burly hands upon Vegeta's shoulders. The comically huge limbs almost encircled the cub's whole upper back. "Good luck." He breathed finally.
Vegeta looked on hopelessly as the huge saiyan hobbled back over to his friend, feeling quite betrayed. For a small while Kakarot looked back at Vegeta as he padded away after Nappa, eyes full of sorrow and apologies, but neither made to speak, as if any communication outside orders were against the unwritten rules of father-scolding-son moments. Vegeta briefly wondered if Bardock would have a go at Kakarot for their escapade too, but Goku never usually got in trouble for their adventures and most of the blame was usually diverted back to he himself by his friend's biased parents.
The prince didn't face his father right away, merely staring blankly into the distance in an attempt to put off the inevitable. Prince Vegeta didn't even realise his tail had dropped pathetically from around his waist to the ground in defeat until it was itchy from the gelled grass.
"Vegeta!" The king's powerful voice resonated, causing him to flinch and squint his eyes shut, blocking out all sounds but his beating heart. Slowly and cautiously, though not without much self encouragement to build his confidence, Prince Vegeta swerved in his father's direction and stalked over as quietly and lightly as he could manage.
He felt more shameful as he had ever felt as he made those few pitiful strides' towards his fate, and in his trance he wasn't prepared to step down a slightly steep indentation in the ground. He stumbled forward slightly, eyes wide and pitiful before he quietly gathered himself and looked down upon what seemed to be a large footprint, easily identified as his father's posh, seated boot. His own foot was far smaller in it's outline.
Vegeta looked back up, distraught, to his father, and after not receiving a response, quietly toddled closer to the leering beats that was the reining King of the saiyans and so many others under their omnipotent rule. He slowly sat down and, with a small gaze, glimpsed cautiously upwards. This time the King responded, looking down on him pressingly.
"Vegeta I'm very disappointed in you." He began with a scowl that made chills wither up the little prince's spine like beetles. King Vegeta sighed, pinching his temple in thought.
"I know..." The prince's voice was devoid of its usual pride. He was a dejected mess.
"You could have been killed!" King Vegeta pressed on urgently. He leaned forward and grit his teeth. He knew his child was prideful and reckless, but this was unbelievable. He not only endangered the life of himself, but his best friend and most trusted guard. King Vegeta grunted and gulped down an intake of breath before he pulled back and looked to the night sky. It really was so very hard to find trust in your comrades these days. "You disobeyed a direct order! And what's worse, you put Kakarot in danger!" His larger eyes balled the back of Prince Vegeta's down turned head.
Prince Vegeta flinched away, but he finally seemed to gather the courage to once again meet his father's questioning eyes, though not after mulling over what he was about to say. He really hated talking about feelings. "I juh-just wanted to be brave like you." He hated how his voice was strained and cracked. He felt so weak and pathetic.
King Vegeta softened. "I'm only brave when I have to be," King Vegeta sighed, looking over the little prince, concern and hints of desperation within his eyes. It made Prince Vegeta wince. "Vegeta, being brave doesn't mean going looking for trouble."
"-But saiyans aren't scared of anything. I am Vegeta, Prince of all Saiyans! Y-you're not scared of anything." Prince Vegeta's tone was alit with confusion. Saiyans were a proud, influential warrior race, the strongest in all the universe, especially he, his father and their blood line. It made no sense that they should be able to fear; they were gods amongst mortals.
King Vegeta looked away, only spurring his son's emotions. "I was today." That was the sentence that blanked out all of Prnce Vegeta's thoughts and he opted to stare, caught entirely off guard. "Yes, I thought I might loose you." The King kneeled in front of his son, locking eye contact. Never in Prince Vegeta's short life had a stare told so many stories.
"I- guess even kings get scared, huh?" Prince Vegeta didn't look away. Neither did King Vegeta.
"Son, I believe it's time I told you the story of the Golden Warrior." King Vegeta settled in a relaxed position next to his son, who was still staring at him with announced awe. The little prince blinked in confusion and scrunched his nose, as if repulsed.
"You mean the Super Saiyan? Peh, I've heard that story one to many times. A huge, golden Oozaru rises to the heaven with golden fur and godlike strength so powerful that it lost its mind and went mad with power and killed itself, or something. It's all the little third class cubs always talk about." Vegeta's tail twitched with agitation. How could this perfect moment be addled by a silly fairy-tale? It was like throwing a rock at a meditator.
King Vegeta, however, shook his head. "That really is just the talk of the children, I'm afraid. The true Golden Warrior, however, is not." His voice was deep, steady as the calm of night. Prince Vegeta was entranced by his words, cocking his head to the side to promote his interest. King Vegeta took that as a sign to continue. "The Super Saiyan's ascension was more than a mind-fuck of power that drew him over the edge of insanity. What drew him over the edge of insanity was in fact actually the trigger for the transformation."
"He and the Saiyan race were combatting an impossible foe. They lost. He and his friend were the last of the battalion alive. Their names were Bejita and Velarius." King Vegeta's eyes had turned a constellation-blue, reflecting Planet Vegeta's solemn night sky. "Bejita and Velarious- their names were pregnant mush on the streets of poverty, and yet, glaring into the eyes of their fate, they still swore, in their pride as saiyans, to never give into their death without a fight."
Prince Vegeta's swaying tail stilled, fists clenching the grass whiskered between his fingers as he pulled it from the ground. "Velarious... I've heard that before. That name. Wasn't he, like, the beta God? I always hear the females praying to him in the gardens. Even Kakarot mentioned him once, and he knows religion as much as he knows advanced strategic formulas." The little prince wasn't dull witted, there was more to his mind than his power-is-all-that-matters mindset. He was more observant than people gave him credit for, really.
King Vegeta nodded. "Yes, Vegeta, but gods aren't just birthed by the cosmos."—Which was strange, Vegeta thought they were— "they rise from legacies. Now don't interrupt." The King slyly flicked his tail by his son's nose, causing the disgruntled prince to flinch with surprise. The King chuckled, but it didn't reach his eyes very much. In the darkness, Vegeta couldn't really see his father's eyes.
"It was when Velarious had suffered a severe head injury that he felt his end draw near. He couldn't feel his legs, couldn't move. A monster had risen from the shadows, lifted him to the sky and, with a mighty implode of Ki, destructed him. Bejita was so enraged by the death of his comrade, his- friend, that he flashed golden with unabridged power and utilised that rage to decimate the monsters they were fighting. He was unable to save himself, in the end." King Vegeta was quite silent for a while, and Prince Vegeta didn't respond easily.
"Why isn't that common knowledge? And how could the death of another effect someone so?" Prince Vegeta frowned, the farmed plantae around his nails withered and wilting as their throats were cut in the child's frustration. King Vegeta mostly ignored him.
"Our dynasty, 'Vegeta', was derived from a combination of the two names, Bejita and Velarious, because it wasn't just Bejita who won. Without Velarious, Bejita very well may not have achieved his stupendous power and defeated the monsters."
Prince Vegeta was boring holes into his father. "Who were the monsters they fought, father?" Prince Vegeta cocked his head. They sounded dreadful, (though exiting); monsters strong enough to only be defeated by the Golden Warrior.
"Themselves, my son. They were fighting themselves."