Empire: A Family Affair

Chapter 9: The Rivalry Begins


"Trunks, say something," Bra said.

Trunks and Goten were speechless. Bra appeared healthy enough. All body parts were where they needed to be. She had not sprouted any extra appendages. Her hair had not changed color or anything. Besides the fact that she was still dripping in the green substance from the tank, she seemed perfectly fine as she stood with her hands behind her back, twisting her foot into the floor.

"Trunks!" Bra squealed.

Trunks finally came out of his stupor and looked his sister in the face. He glanced behind him at Goten. He swallowed and smiled back at Bra. "There's nothing wrong with you, Bra. You look... fine. Um, why don't you go wash up and wait for Mom or Father to come down."

Bra nodded and turned back inside the bathroom. She shut the door. When they heard the water running, the teenagers looked at one another.

"Trunks, what the hell happened?" Goten asked.

Trunks shrugged. "I don't know! She was only in there for a few minutes during the storm. My father is going to kill me!" Trunks whispered loudly.

"What would cause me to commit such a travesty?" Vegeta asked dryly from the door.

Trunks and Goten winced at the sound of his voice. They looked up as the elder Saiyan as he strolled in the room. He seemed to notice the mess on the floor and recognized the noise in the bathroom. It appeared that his daughter was alive and well.

"So, uh, how's Mom?" Trunks asked, trying to change the subject.

"Unconscious. She'll wake up sooner or later. Her head's had worse trauma." Vegeta turned to leave. "When the bratling is finish showering, bring her to..."

"DADDY!"

Vegeta's eyes widened. That was not his daughter's voice. Well, it was her voice. But it somehow seemed... different. Before Vegeta could turn around completely to face whoever was trying to impersonate his daughter, he was tackled by a blue-haired teenaged girl dressed in nothing but a towel.

Trunks and Goten watched as Vegeta went flying backwards with Bra. Or the girl they assumed was Bra. While the scene had been funny when Bra was in a 6-year-old's body, it was absolutely hysterical while she was in a 16-year-old's body. They watched as she giggled like she always did while hugging her favorite person in the universe.

Vegeta was at a loss for words. He did not know what to do. He could not just throw the girl off of him. He did not want to hurt her. Then again, he had no idea HOW he was supposed to handle her. Bra was in a teenager's body now. He did not know how to exactly... get her off of him. He looked up at his son. Trunks seemed to understand and touched Bra's shoulder.

"Bra, I think you've hurt Father," Trunks said softly.

Vegeta frowned at the boy's excuse. However, it seemed to work as Bra hastily retreated.

"I hurt you, Daddy? I didn't mean to! I'm really sorry!" Now she looked like she was on the verge of tears as she stood up.

Vegeta made his way to his feet. Somehow, Bra was still shorter than him. She still looked exactly like Bulma with the exception of her eyes. They were very reminiscent of his. Vegeta found himself feeling very faint at the thought that his daughter was an exact replica of her mother. This did not bode well for his heart or sanity. Then he glared at his son.

"What the HELL did you do, boy?" He tried to keep his calm.

"ME?! I didn't do anything! When we came down here she was already like this!" Trunks yelled.

"Yeah. She was already out of the tank and everything," Goten piped up. He shuddered because Bra was now playing with his hair and giggling.

"Goten, did you shrink?" she asked.

Vegeta sighed and pulled Bra away from Goten. He glared menacingly at Goten for a moment before looking back at Trunks. "She just aged ten years in an hour? Is that what you're telling me, boy?"

"Maybe it had something to do with the magnetic storm, Father. We should ask Mom when she wa..."

"Daddy, I'm cold. Can I go get some clothes?" Bra interrupted. Vegeta released her hand and nodded. Bra skipped off back to the bathroom.

"What I was saying is that we should wait for Mom. She'll know what happened."

Bra walked back out of the bathroom holding some clothes and humming to herself. All three guys watched as she dropped the towel. They immediately turned away from her as she shamelessly got dressed.

By the gods, what did I do to deserve this? Vegeta thought as Bulma walked in.

"Vegeta, why are you three standing li..." Bulma looked behind them. She saw a blue-haired girl that was not her half-naked and humming a lullaby from Earth. "Vegeta, tell me that's not my daughter."

"That is the bratling, woman," Vegeta said flatly.

Bulma sighed and walked past the three males. She went over to Bra. Bra looked up and saw her mother. A big smile spread across her face.

"Mommy! Look-it! I have the big chest-pillows like you!" she said loudly.

Trunks and Goten snickered at Bra's term for "breasts." Vegeta used both of his elbows to quiet them. He had to admit that the child's/teenager's term for them was cute, though.

Bulma groaned, but still smiled at Bra. "I see that, Bra. They're very... nice. Let's get you dressed. Mommy wants to give you a little check-up. Is that okay?" she asked.

Bra nodded and put on a shirt. She next felt her mother dragging her out of the room by the arm. When she passed her father, brother, and his friend, she turned and waved. "Bye-bye!" she called over her shoulder.

Vegeta sighed. This is not happening. This is a nightmare; the worst nightmare I have ever had and I will wake up from it any moment now with a splitting headache. My daughter cannot have just aged ten years...


Brolly stared in hidden shock at the princess as she sat on an examination table in Bulma's lab. Some of Bulma's techs were taping little electrodes to Bra's head. She had stopped fidgeting sometime ago. Now she just looked bored and her tail was thrashing about in irritation. Brolly found this curious. He glanced over at the queen.

Bulma was setting up some sort of machine. When the techs cleared away from Bra, she stood up and looked at her daughter. "Okay, Bra. Hold still for mommy," she said softly.

"Why are you talking to me like I'm five?" Bra asked.

Bulma blinked as she looked at Bra. Then she looked back down at the machine in front of her. Impossible...

Vegeta walked in the lab. He saw his daughter. He noticed the way she was sitting and her tail. She's annoyed. He made his way over to Bulma. Bulma immediately noticed him.

"Vegeta, this is so interesting. While Bra's body aged in the tank, it looked like her mind stayed the same at first. But this shows that her mind is aging, albeit at a slower rate. Right now, I'd say she's about twelve," Bulma said.

"So eventually her mind will join the party as well?" Vegeta asked. Bulma nodded. "Great. Now I'll have two annoying teenagers to deal with. One will just be a female."

Bulma chuckled a little. "At least she's a pretty teenager," she said as she looked at her daughter. Once again, Bra had that bored expression on her face. "By tomorrow morning, her mind will have caught up with the rest of her body. I'll run another test on her to make sure the aging stops. After that, we might as well have fraternal twins."

Vegeta stared at his NEW daughter. He got the impression that this was not a good thing. Bra had pretty much just skipped her entire childhood and gone straight to adulthood. In the Saiyan race, the women became eligible for marriage at 16. Although his daughter was only 6, her body said otherwise.

My worst nightmare realized. My daughter has actually grown up, Vegeta thought with a sigh. He pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. In one light this is a good thing. In another, this is a bad thing; a very, very bad thing.

"Daddy?"

Vegeta opened his eyes and looked down. Bra was standing directly in front of him. She was definitely no longer 6-years-old.

"Daddy, is something wrong?" she asked.

"Not at all, brat. Why do you ask?" Vegeta replied.

"You just seem angry about something. That's all." Her aqua blue eyebrows furrowed. "It's not because my body has changed, is it?"

Vegeta must have looked either appalled or angry because his daughter suddenly turned tail and ran in the opposite direction. She ran right out of the room, leaving Bulma and Vegeta in her wake.

Bulma stared at the vacant doorway for a moment before glaring at her husband. "What did you say to her?" she asked. Vegeta started to answer her question, but she put a hand up. "You know, it was actually something you DIDN'T say. Vegeta, at this moment Bra is mentally probably thirteen. They're really insecure."

"Will she grow out of her attachment to me?" Vegeta asked, approaching Bulma.

Bulma let out a loud cackle. "As if! Once a Daddy's Girl, ALWAYS a Daddy's Girl. I just wonder if she'll still have that fighting spirit. I can't very well send my daughter off to war, can I?" Bulma muttered. "I hope she feels better in the morning. You should apologize when you see her."

Vegeta raised an eyebrow. "Apologize? Woman, I don't apologize to you."

"Well you had better learn to apologize to Bra. Teenage girls are far different than teenage boys. They're... temperamental."

Vegeta growled. Temperamental? The bratling was temperamental as a brat. How could she possibly be any different now?


As expected, the next morning, Bra's door was locked. Bulma was called immediately to the princess' quarters on the ship in order to get her to open it. After much pleading, Bra relented and allowed only her mother in.

When Bulma entered the room, Bra was nowhere to be found. She had expected her daughter to be able to gain some sort of grasp on her enhanced abilities quickly, but not that quickly. She could not find Bra. However, she did find a lock of blue hair peeping out from beneath her bedroom door. Smirking, Bulma hesitantly approached it. She was not quite prepared for what she saw.

"Oh my..." Bulma whispered.

Bra ran a hand through her now extremely long hair. "It just kept growing. I woke up and I was covered in it. It was all over the place." She sounded as if she was going to cry as she stood up, the mass of hair moving with her. "There's just so much of it..."

"I know, sweetie. We'll just have to give you a hair..." Bulma stopped and Vegeta came through the door.

Vegeta looked around at all of Bra's newly acquired hair. He crossed his arms and looked up at his daughter and then at Bulma. "I hope you don't plan on cutting it," he said.

Bulma faced him completely. "Why the hell not? She can't walk around with all this hair. I'm curious as to how it got this long in the first place; especially overnight. My hair was never even this long. The back of my knees is as long as it ever got."

"If you cut it, it'll just grow back within a day. Why do you think the boy gets haircuts so frequently? A Saiyan's hair doesn't change. The bratling's hair was as long as her body, if not longer, when she was... smaller, and it is the same way now," Vegeta said.

Bra stepped forward. "So what am I supposed to do?"

Vegeta just stared at her. Bra narrowed her eyes and met his challenge.


At breakfast, Trunks and Goten were watching Vegeta eat. The king seemed almost nervous. The two younger Saiyans slowly lifted their forks as they plotted the closest escape route should the ticking time bomb that was Vegeta blow. It was when the door to the hall opened that they almost zoomed for the exit. Instead, they turned and watched Bra enter with Bulma.

There were few differences between the two. One was that Bulma was wearing a dress and a lab coat. Another was that Bra was dressed in a training suit and scowling. The third was that there was a gigantic ball of hair at the top of Bra's head. She seemed to notice that both Trunks and Goten were staring at it and shot them evil looks. They quickly averted their eyes as she took a seat next to her father.

"Is it me or does she remind you of someone?" Goten whispered to Trunks.

Trunks nodded. "Yeah. She reminds me far too much of Father right now. What's with all that hair? I don't remem..."

"I can HEAR you, you know!" Bra said loudly. She continued glaring murderously at her brother and his friend as she waited for her food to be placed in front of her. Then she began eating like she had not eaten in years.

Vegeta looked over at his wife. "Well?"

"Her mind has stopped aging. That's what Bra would've been like had we waited ten years for her to become that age. She won't always be that hungry. From her hair's mysterious 'growth spurt' last night, she apparently exhausted herself," Bulma said as she cut into a piece of fruit.

Vegeta winced. "But why is she eating so much? She never ate this much."

"For the same reason you always want a turkey sandwich after maritals, Vegeta," Bulma answered. She glared at him as he glared right back at her. "She needs to replenish her strength."

Bra burped loudly as she finished downing her grape juice. She pushed her empty plates away. Then she burped several more times in succession.

"Manners, young lady," Bulma said.

"Excuse me." Bra stood up, surveying the table. She pointed at Goten. "Let's go. Daddy's training room. Now."

Goten sat there in shock as the princess stood and stalked over to the door. When she noticed she was alone she turned and glared at Goten. He looked back and forth between Trunks and Vegeta.

"Please don't make me do this," Goten said.

"Bra wants to spar, Goten. I suggest you not keep her waiting," Bulma said calmly.

Goten nodded slowly and stood up. I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't, he thought, thinking of the temper Bra had retained from being... smaller.


Trunks and Vegeta decided to sit in the control room of the training room in order to watch the little sparring match. Bra had not made an appearance yet. Goten was standing around, shuffling his feet. This caused Vegeta to frown. He turned on the microphone.

"Take this seriously, boy. But if you hurt the princess, I will string you up by..."

Trunks took the microphone from Vegeta. "Just don't break any bones, Goten," he said. He watched as Bra entered, wrapping tape around her knuckles. "You two kids have fun now."

Bra looked up and shot her brother a glare. "You're next, Trunks," she said.

Trunks' left eye twitched. He pushed the speaker on. "What was that, twerp?"

"You heard me." Bra turned away from him and looked at Goten. "Ready?" she asked.

"Uh, Bra? I'm not entirely comfortable with..." Goten barely got the words out before the smaller princess knocked him in the nose. He had to blink back the tears of utter surprise at how hard she hit him. He glared down at her. "OOWW..." he moaned.

Bra smirked. "That was just a love tap, you big baby. I'm not going easy on you." She easily punched him again, this time with her left. "Goten, fight back!" Goten threw a punch. Bra caught it deftly with her left hand, grabbed him by his hair, and pushed him into the wall. She stepped back away from him as he tried to regain his countenance.

Trunks sighed. "He's gonna piss her off if he doesn't fight her back. Then she's really going to kick his ass," he whispered. Vegeta nodded slowly in agreement.

Goten had no idea what to do. On one hand, he did not want to hit Bra. This was his best friend's little sister and the Sovereign Princess of Vegeta-Sei and Earth. One just did not haul off and sock her in the eye. On the other hand, she was kicking his butt and it was beginning to tick him off.

"You call yourself an Elite? I know techs who put up a better fight than this!" Bra kicked him in the gut. She stopped for a moment and watched him cough and wipe blood away from his lip. She frowned. "You're letting me win."

Goten immediately shook his head. "No, I'm not," he said quickly.

"Yes, you are. You don't think I'm strong enough to fight you evenly. You think I'm weak." Bra began advancing on him. "I'll show you I'm stro..."

Before she could hit him, she caught sight of lavender hair between them. Bra frowned and Goten breathed a sigh of relief. Trunks was standing between them, smiling at his sister.

"I tag in, Goten's tagging out," he said.

"That's not exactly how this works, big brother," Bra said.

Trunks leaned down to her face. "That's how it works because I say so."

"Is that so?" Bra asked, meeting his challenge.

Goten took this time to quietly sneak away. He vowed never to slight the princess again when she wanted to spar. He would fight her for real... next time. However, he would rather sit back and watch the two siblings who might as well be fraternal twins now duke it out.


Vegeta watched the minor stare-down his children were having. Trunks appeared not to want to give in to his sister. He knew she was only six when it came to actual years. However, mentally and physically Bra was now his age.

Does this pose a problem? Vegeta thought. He vaguely remembered Bra's desire to rule. Yes, I believe it might. He visibly flinched when he saw his daughter throw the first punch. But the real shocker was the response that Trunks gave.


It had been almost instantaneous. Trunks stood there for a good 30 seconds trying to figure out how he had completely forgotten that the person before him was his younger sister. After Bra had punched him, he punched her back. It was the natural response and pretty much a reflexive action. Trunks had almost no control over his right arm as it happened. Only after it happened did he realize what he had done.

Now, the aqua-haired "teenager" was on the floor, rubbing her face. A bit of her hair had come out of the tight knot at the top of her head. She managed to stand up, still rubbing her face.

"Bra? Bra, I'm really..." Trunks coughed and looked down. Bra had planted her knee in his stomach.

"Don't worry about me. I'm a trooper," she said. "Now fight."


Bulma walked in the control room of the training room. "Vegeta, have you seen Trunks? I want him to..." She paused when she saw her children beating one another senseless. "Vegeta! Why are you allowing them to do this?" she yelled.

"This is great! Bra's the only person other than me that I know who's been able to keep up with Trunks. Other than our superiors, I mean," Goten said, still watching the fight. Bulma thumped him on the back of the head. "Oh, sorry."

"Woman, it's a sparring match. It isn't like they're trying to kill one another. The boy knows not to let it get out of hand. He knows how far to go with the bratling," Vegeta said, still not looking away from the fight. Then there came a break. "Well, it appears that someone has the upper hand. You may enter if you wish."


"SAY IT!" Bra yelled as she pulled Trunks' arms back. She was stepping on his head at the same time, making the hold particularly painful. "SAY IT, TRUNKS!"

"NO!" Trunks yelled back at her. That only caused more pain to the prince. The princess was relentless as she twisted and pulled on his arms. But Trunks did not give in to her at all. "I'm not saying it, you little runt!"

"Saying what?" Bulma asked as she walked up to them. "Bra, release your brother. Trunks get off the floor."

Bra begrudgingly did as she was told, but not before dislocating Trunks' left arm on purpose. Trunks winced and stood up, but not before tripping Bra up, spraining her ankle in the process. They both sent one another evil glares before looking back at their mother.

Bulma looked between the two. She's only been sixteen for a day and they're already acting like they've been twins all their life. Heaven help me, she thought glumly.

"She was trying to get me to say that she won, which she DIDN'T," Trunks said as Bra hopped up on her feet.

"I did to! You're just too ARROGANT to admit it, jerk. You're such a sore loser," Bra said. They both crossed their arms and looked away from one another.

Trunks looked back at Bulma. "What was it that you needed, Mom?" he asked.

Bulma shook her head. "I don't even remember, darling. I'm sure it wasn't even important." She smiled and turned to leave.

Once Bulma was gone, Bra and Trunks faced one another again.

"Rematch."

"Let's do it."

"Anytime, anyplace, shorty."

"You know where to find me, chump."