I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.
A/n: I apologize to those who don't know much about American football or bowling, but most of the extremely technical stuff will be left out. I don't suggest you get too bored with this chapter.
Chapter 9: Vegeta's day out
I got two nasty surprises when I went down for breakfast. First of all, Vegeta had picked both activities. We would watch a football game first, it started at half past ten in southern West City, and then we would go bowling afterwards. Well, this would be enjoyable for me, but I know I'll be answering questions and explaining things all day long. Just fuckin great. The second thing was that Trunks was coming as well, but luckily there would be no Goten today. It was possible that Dende wanted to make it up to me before I went up and disemboweled him. Another thing, though it was unlucky, was that because we were members of the Capsule Corp family, we got tickets very quickly. At first I was slightly concerned about that, we may end up in the nosebleed reserve area, but then that may not be so bad with Vegeta and Trunks around.
At ten sharp, Vegeta barked at us to get out the door. Again luck smiled bright today, Mom had gotten Vegeta to wear something other than his training spandex. Of course she got him to wear his pink bad man shirt with blue jeans. Geez, a notorious badass wearing pink at a football game. She couldn't stop him from wearing his Saiyan boots though, but that was okay. Trunks wore a blue capsule corp. T-shirt and black jeans. I managed to find just a plain black shirt with dark brown khakis to match my tail better. Mom had found us a game between Satan City Trojans and West City Warriors, and it was being played in West City, limiting the fly to a few minutes at the most.
We arrived to a packed house; apparently it was the big rivalry in the world football league that was formed on this earth. Vegeta refused to support the Satan City team, no surprise there, so we sat on the West city end. I was pleasantly surprised to see we managed to get through the packed crowd without incident, until we got to the stands. Vegeta had taken the lead in finding a good seat, since it was a general admission game. He went to the most unlikely place to find a clear seat, in the middle about halfway up the stands.
He stopped there and looked around sharply, "We will sit here, move it humans!" He barked at the three large men that had taken up residence there. They looked like they might be a few of the more rabid fans in the whole stadium. There certainly wasn't a concern about Vegeta getting into a fight, hell I expected it. It was the fact that he seemed to make sure he was in the best possible place to cause a scene and be noticed.
"What the hell do you want?" the one nearest Vegeta asked, stuffing a hot dog down his throat.
"I said to move your sorry ass, I have chosen to sit here!" Vegeta barked at him again.
"We got here first shithead, if you don't like it, do something about it!" Bad move. I needn't even try to think that, the man was already gone. A victim of Vegeta's usual toss into the distance attack. The other two guys weren't about to take this sitting down, so they stood up and charged at Vegeta. Two piles of ashes lay smoking a few seconds later, then the red and yellow hats dropped on top of them.
"Any other objections?!" Vegeta yelled, looking around to take on anyone else. There were no further arguments towards the Saiyan prince, in fact, most people made sure he had plenty of room. Vegeta sat down first, ordering me to sit on his right and Trunks on his left.
"Okay brat, I did a bit of research on this competition. I'm counting on you to offer information as needed," he whispered.
"I'll do what I can," I said, shocked that he bothered to due research. The Satan City Trojans came out first, decked out in green and white jerseys with a big black and green flag out in front. The other side of the field went nuts, it being packed as well. The warrior fans, dressed in yellow and red mostly, booed horribly. Then the warrior team came out, deep red and yellow, and I thought Vegeta was going to blow up right there because the cheering was so loud. He managed to stay calm over this and even stood up to observe the team he was supporting, or at least glancing at. Everyone settled down once the teams were out, starting the first string of Vegeta's questions.
"The woman fancies this, team, so you two will as well, understand? Good, now then, how do they decide who kicks off first?" Wow, he did look it up a little bit.
"Coin toss, one team calls heads or tails, whatever side wins gets to choose," I said, just as they performed it.
"Satan City has won the toss and has elected to defer, West City will defend the south goal!" came the announcer's voice, sounding oddly like the tournament MC. In the midst of it, part of his voice was drowned out by the various cheering and booing.
"What does that mean brat?" Vegeta asked right away. I faked a grin purposefully just to hold back my opinion, A little bit, he apparently didn't hit details that hard.
"That means the Trojans will kick off now and receive the ball first in the second half," I said quickly. Vegeta shut up for a little while, until the kickoff was in the air. The Warrior kick returner received the ball at the ten-yard line and took off in a furious sprint towards the pack. He was brought down in the middle of the field at about the twenty-three, and the respective offence and defense took the field.
"Why didn't that player just jump or fly over all of them all? Or at least pick a different route. Up the middle is too obvious!"
"Typically the coaches don't use trick plays early on. As to why he didn't jump or fly, I believe you call them weakling humans with no ability," I whispered, trying not to be noticed. The first play set up with a single running back and several receivers lined up and then went into motion, it was a run play to the weak side that gained two yards, second down and eight.
Vegeta was already playing analyst before the play was whistled dead, "Why would they run the ball to the weaker side with less blockers, that doesn't make sense!" He generally ignored the vein that was starting to expand on my forehead; Well this day is off to a fine stop!
"Maybe not, but then if the other team doesn't expect it, then it could work very well," I explained, hoping he'd get it and not just blow up the place. He remained calm however, and waited for the next play. This time a full back came in, making for two runners in the backfield. The quarterback handed off to the running back again for a similar play, this time the runner broke through the initial line behind the block of the full back and picked up five yards.
"I see what you mean boy, though the formation was slightly different, they didn't expect a similar tactic. I didn't realize this game was such of strategy, might be worth a look after all," Vegeta said, half way satisfied. Third and three lined up, this time a single running back again with two tight ends and two receivers. The quarterback faked the hand off and the runner blocked for him while he looked for an open target to throw. He found the open receiver down the field and fired. The runner zigzagged around the defensive back and circled back to make the catch, being brought down quickly. He picked up twenty-five yards on the play, making for a first down on forty-five-yard line of the Trojans.
"I see, you can throw the ball as well. I must have missed that when I was researching it. Now if the runner out there doesn't catch it, can anyone pick up the ball?" he asked. I scowled, I knew it, he glanced over about two things and called it research, must have been bored out of his mind before declaring it a waste of time.
"No, it is an incomplete pass and the ball returns to its previous spot for the next play, no gain or loss," I said. The next play went by, running play, no gain. On second down, the first penalty flag shot up into the air. It being a false start on the offensive line, which led to explaining the many penalties.
"Are there illegal ways to strike and bring down the opponent?" Vegeta asked.
"Yes actually, you can't grab the facemask, nor can you take out the legs from behind either. If your arms are literally holding another and prevent him from moving at all, you get nailed for that. If you strike one from behind when he had nothing to do with you, they call for that. There's a bunch of them," I said quickly at the end.
"Are there ever any fights?" Vegeta asked. Well that took long enough.
"Occasionally, the heavy fights turn into game ejections. Most of the other stuff is left alone, unless its obvious or the players are talking too much trash to each other and the refs," I said. The next play went by, incomplete pass, but the receiver was pulled down as the ball got there, calling for pass interference on the defense. Now the warriors were on the thirty-yard line, and massive cheers were starting to go up. On the following play, the level of violence increased by a few factors. Two defenders broke the line quickly, coming up on either side of the quarterback just as he was looking for a target to throw to. He released the ball just in time to throw it incomplete, but the defenders didn't stop and both rammed into his sides at the same time, crushing him on impact. A massive groan went up, as well as Vegeta's eyes.
"Oooo, he's done," I said with a slight grin. Sure enough, the signal caller for the Warriors was done, he lay motionless on the grass and wasn't moving much. The medical team came out and got him on a stretcher, taking off in the ambulance a few minutes later, the player was on oxygen by then.
"Wow, that has to be the fastest I've ever seen a QB leave, but then they did hit him pretty hard," I noted.
"And here I thought this would be a waste of my time. Those doctors will find one hell of a surprise when they get that padded armor off of him," Vegeta smirked.
"Why's that dad?" Trunks asked, his long silence finally ended.
"Because son, that player had five ribs broken and two were sticking out of his skin," Vegeta said as calm as a sleeping dog.
"COOL!"
After a replacement came in, the game resumed. However the Warriors were still sore about their first string quarterback going down so quickly and violently, so the offensive line did something about it. Next play they blocked until the runner got past, and then they started smashing into the defenders as they turned around. Soon the defensive-line was sprawled out on the ground, and all the big guys jumped and landed on them hard. Another groan went up, and four defenders lay sprawled out cold with penalty flags all over the place.
"Well, that's something new," I muttered. All the yards the runner just got were now history, but so were the four defenders. They hobbled off the field with the help of their teammates, who started shouting threats at the Warriors.
"Hahahaha, about time this got interesting!" Vegeta chuckled. I however was amazed at two things: How violent this game had started out, and that Vegeta was actually enjoying it. One play later the Warriors hit a twenty-seven yard pass to score a touchdown, in which the stands were instantly on fire with cheers. The extra point was kicked through and good, making the score seven to zero West City.
"Truly an entertaining game you have here brat, and I thought these humans were completely boring," Vegeta held a bright smirk of enjoyment.
-
The first half went through pretty smoothly. Both sides scored a few times and kicked a field goal each, and no turnovers for either side. There also wasn't much besides a few cheap shots and a few scuffles, not to mention that Vegeta didn't do or say much. That changed once halftime was approaching. With about two minutes left in the half, the warriors were at the fifty-yard line trying to put together a scoring drive. The score was tied at seventeen a piece, so both sides were getting tensed up for a potentially exciting second half. It was second down and six when the yellow penalty flag came flying out. The call was false start on the offence.
"But none of them moved," Vegeta said.
"Yeah, sometimes they make a bad call, or they see something we don't. In this case I can only guess he lined up too far ahead," I said quickly.
"No, the one they accused was lined up correctly, and did not move. Even an amateur could have seen that," Vegeta said in slight annoyance. Two plays later the warriors were forced to punt, both passes were dropped and incomplete.
"So because of the referee's bad call, they end up losing the ball. Is that correct boy?" Vegeta growled.
"Yeah, it happens," I said, trying to be mellow about it.
"Stupid human officials, too bad you can't penalize them too!" A few plays later, the Trojans got lucky and the ref called off sides on the defense, even though the offensive line moved first.
"That was another one, that official is playing favorites! He missed the offensive penalty and called it on the defense instead!" Vegeta said as he started to look agitated.
"Well, they're supposed to be impartial. It may seem like they are playing favorites when multiple calls show up on the same team, but sometimes that team is just making many mistakes in a row," I explained.
"Are you calling my woman's team unworthy?"
"I'm just trying to explain it to you, take it as you like. This game has a lot of emotional ups and downs," I said, backing off the subject. The next play the ref missed a pretty obvious facemask call right in front of his eyes, and the runner was off to the races and scored for the Trojans.
"That's it, that ref is not impartial! Now he's going to pay!" Vegeta said as he got up. I rose to stop him, but he pointed at the seats with the most serious of eyes, telling me to just stay where I was. Somehow getting into a fight with him right now over a blown call doesn't seem like a good idea.
Vegeta stomped down the stands as the extra point was kicked good. He leapt onto the field, causing quite a stir right away, and made a walking beeline for the ref who was supposedly guilty. Security came in to stop him, but they were thrown aside pretty quickly. The ref put his hands up in defense, until Vegeta kicked him to the ground, then took his whistle and examined it momentarily. Then he shoved the whistle down the ref's throat, string and all. While the ref struggled with his throat being clogged, Vegeta lined up behind him and kicked the ref into the air lightly. The body sailed through the air to the other side of the field, where he went straight through the field goal uprights from about seventy yards out. At first a groan uttered from the audience, before Vegeta threw up his hands in a field goal signal, causing the stands to erupt with cheers on both sides. Extra security tried to come restrain Vegeta, but soon they were part of the sprinkling system. Vegeta came back into the stands slowly, basking in the glory of what he had just done.
"That's a first, you feel better now?" I asked as Vegeta came up to sit down again.
"What is, the first time my dad has done that?" Trunks asked.
"No, the first time the ref has ever been used as a ball and kicked through the goal!" I laughed slightly before realizing the guy was probably dead. It's almost not worth it trying to stop him, he's going to do it whether I'm around or not.
-
The first half resumed momentarily, as soon as the security managed to pick themselves up and a replacement official nervously appeared. The Warriors put together a minute long drive that concluded with a score with nineteen seconds remaining, leaving the score tied at twenty-four at halftime. I was somewhat surprised that no more security attempted to get anywhere near Vegeta to ask him to leave or something, but perhaps they finally recognized him. Then Vegeta's stomach growled a bit, being halftime meant it was time to go get food. He had Trunks and I remain to save the seats and said he'd get the food himself. Ten minutes went by during the halftime show, and no sign of him.
It wasn't long after that when we heard why, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE OUT OF NACHOS?!" Oh hell. I sensed a ki blast or two shoot off underneath the stands before Vegeta made his way back, his arms packed with hot dogs, burgers, fries, chips, candy, and soda.
He handed off several items of each to us, "It seems some of the vendors wanted to donate their food to me today."
"Yeah I wonder why," I muttered.
-
The second half started with a bang, literally. Another bad call came against the Warriors, and Vegeta actually used his Big Bang attack on the unsuspecting ref, leaving a large scorch mark on the field. I just shook my head and ate the rest of my burger; there was no stopping him anyway. I was more amazed that he left the fans and players alone for the time being. Soon after that the warriors scored another touchdown. Then on the kickoff return, the Trojan runner fumbled the ball on his own thirty and a warrior covered it, giving them the ball back in deep territory. The Trojans dug in and hit three straight sacks, making West city settle for a field goal. The Warriors kept a ten point lead through the rest of the third period, and only one more referee left the living world during it.
The first half of the fourth saw the end of two more officials, and then a severely injured Trojan who talked smack to Vegeta after the second ref was blown away. The warrior fans were going completely nuts when Vegeta beat up the player. His whole team didn't come out to help, they were all too afraid. Instead, with two minutes to go in the game, they took the backup quarterback out, and then the running back. The warrior coach stomped over to the other side and engaged a fistfight with the Trojan coach. When the Trojan players backed up their coach, the Warrior players rushed over and started to fight with them. Both sides of the stands went crazy again, many saying that this was the biggest fight they ever saw between the teams. The replacement refs attempted to eject the perpetrators, but found they couldn't kick everyone out. They called the game in a draw, which turned out to be a huge mistake.
Fans of West City stormed the field and started beating up the refs, and then the Satan City fans got dragged into it and the whole place was rioting. Random people were fighting each other all over the place, many being left bloodied and beaten on the ground. Soon, Vegeta, Trunks and I were the only ones left in the stands.
"Wow, I can't say that I've ever seen that before," I said in amazement, taking a sip of the rest of my soda.
"Never?" Vegeta asked.
I shook my head, "Not like that. Sure there's been plenty of fights on and off the field that I've seen, but nothing that involved pretty much everyone!"
"Yes, entertaining competition you have here boy. Now, since that is over, we go to the bowling place next!" Vegeta announced, motioning for us to join him in the air. No one even bothered to turn around to point out three flying figures, they were too busy swinging at each other.
-
Vegeta led the way through the air, saying he located the resident bowling alley earlier. A few minutes later we came to a glowing sign reading West City Bowling on top of a big building. We landed and went inside. I instantly thanked Dende, the place was pretty empty, only a few bowlers on the far ends.
"What first brat?" Vegeta asked.
"We have to get a lane, then bowling shoes and balls," I said, leading the way to the counter. Overall the place was pretty decently sized, about fifty lanes or so.
"How can I help you sir?" the clerk asked with a bright smile. I was fearful of what Vegeta might say, so I spoke for him.
"A lane please, and shoes for all three of us, and bowling balls," I said quickly. After getting shoe sizes that fit correctly, he sent us to lane twenty-four. We did so, and then came back and he had three black balls sitting out, all had a few lights glowing from them as well.
Clerky continued to hold his bright smile, "Okay sirs, now I need to know how you throw your ball, straight or curve?" Interesting.
Vegeta and Trunks weren't sure at first so I answered for them, "Straight, they're new at this. I throw a hook."
"Okay, just hold your palm over the blue sphere and let it measure your hand size," the clerk ordered, holding the ball up for Vegeta. Vegeta put his palm to the blue dot on the ball and it lit up several times. Then three holes appeared as if they were melted in, two for fingers and one for thumb.
"That's cool," I said without thinking.
"What's that young man?" Clerky said.
"Oh nothing, I'm just used to old style drilling the balls."
"Really, where were you raised? Up in the mountains maybe? It's been like this for at least fifty years now!"
"He was not raised in some backwater station. Another attempt at mockery like that and I guarantee you will be wearing that ball over your head!" Vegeta said deathly calm. Clerky didn't really respond to that, instead fitted Trunks' hand, then mine.
"Fingertips I presume?"
I nodded and my ball finished, almost a spitting image of my old bowling ball that was destroyed along with my Earth by Frieza. We went down to the lanes and put the balls on the racks and put on our shoes.
"What first brat?" Vegeta repeated.
"Hmmm, I guess I need to provide example since there's no one around here," I said, looking around before stepping onto the approach. The computer listed a few practice balls, which was a very good thing since I was way out of practice. I went through my old motion, hoping that I remembered how to do this correctly, and threw the ball, putting spin on it at the end. I remembered to hold back my strength, but it still rolled like a bat outta hell. The lane didn't have much oil on it so it hooked a lot to the left and banged the middle solidly, leaving only one pin on the far left side. Vegeta and Trunks didn't say anything, only observed as the lane was cleared and the ball came back for the second throw. I picked up the spare pretty easily and came back.
"This doesn't look that hard," Vegeta muttered, stepping up to the lane and grabbing his ball. Luckily he didn't try to imitate my motions, I had explained earlier to him that everyone's style is different and that you had to make your own. He cranked his arm back and fired hard, the ball hit the lane and skidded down in barely two seconds. It bashed the right side and took out five pins, cracking them apart on impact and leaving a trail of smoke behind.
"Those pin things should be made of steel or something harder," Vegeta said, picking up his ball when it came back. I took note of a crack on his ball already. He fired another missile at the remaining pins, taking all but two of them out but not breaking.
"This seems rather simple," Vegeta said, slightly disappointed.
"Then why didn't you get them all?" I asked without thinking. The glare I received wasn't a pleasant one.
Trunks stood up and grabbed his ball and prepared to throw. He took his time and walked up carefully, before rolling the ball pretty decently for a first-timer and had it dead set on the head pin. It slid a bit right and took out the head pin on the right, causing all the pins to go down in a strike.
"Yeah! I got em all in one shot!" Trunks celebrated and sat down with a bright smile.
"So who wants to go first?" I asked, punching buttons on the computer console.
"I will go first!" Vegeta declared. Why did I even ask?
-
The game began and Vegeta took his place. His first ball smacked the middle and left two pins on the far right. Apparently I didn't have to tell him not to throw it so hard, he figured that out on his own. The balls were like leaves in the wind anyway when it came to weight. Vegeta threw the second ball and totally missed both of them. He looked slightly annoyed, but knew it was his own fault. Trunks got up and took his turn; he shot seven on the first ball and picked up two of them. I got up, threw a strike and sat down, pleased that I wasn't completely rusty.
"So how do the X's and slashes count on the score? I noticed they didn't print ten right away on that?" Vegeta asked, hiding whatever interest he had.
"Spares count ten, plus whatever the next ball is. So if you get a spare, and then a six on the next ball, you'd get sixteen for that frame alone. The six will also count again for it's own frame once you throw the second ball. If you get a strike on a spare, it'll count twenty for the spare frame and ten again for the strike frame. Strikes work the same way, but they count the next two balls instead of one," I explained.
"So getting several of these X's is a good thing?" Trunks asked.
I grinned slightly, "Yeah, getting three or more of them really cranks out the score."
"Has anyone ever gotten an all strike game?" Vegeta asked. I knew that one was coming.
"Yeah some people have, I haven't myself. An all strike game is a perfect game of three-hundred for the score, most I've gotten is two-fifty-seven," I said, shrugging.
"That was before you were a Saiyan though right?" he asked. I nodded, that was technically correct. Vegeta got up and threw his next turn, a five spare. Trunks went again and slipped a bit when he threw it, causing it to fall into the gutter for no score. He looked ready to cry when I pointed to remind him of another turn. He chucked the ball and got nine of them to make up for it. I tossed another strike immediately, though the last pin wobbled and played with the air for a moment before dropping. Third frame and Vegeta was ready to go again. He pulled the ball back, but dropped it too early on the downswing, causing it to blaze into the gutter and streak off. Vegeta looked ready to kill himself over that one. The next ball got everything on the lane. I wanted to make a joke at that one, but I didn't for my own safety.
Trunks threw an eight and a spare next; celebrating that he got a mark. I threw yet another strike, causing Vegeta to start wondering if I was cheating. I assured him I wasn't, and he got up and threw his ball. The pins flew apart, leaving one that was shaking back and forth, threatening to fall down but didn't.
"Damn you!" Vegeta shouted at the pin that refused his wrath. His second ball missed it by a hair. Trunks threw a seven next, and I tossed another strike, I was on a streak of four now. Vegeta threw his ball just as picture perfect as it would get, leaving that same pin wobbling back and forth. This time it didn't stay up, he pointed his finger and fired a small blast, destroying it on the spot.
I shook my head slightly, "Couldn't resist could you?" Thankfully there is replacement pins. Hell I shouldn't complain, I've wanted to do that many times over.
-
The rest of the game went on without much of a hitch, with the exception that I kept getting strikes and never lost focus. I wasn't sure how I could be so rusty and be doing that, but I wasn't complaining. I didn't matter to me that I had experience and Saiyan strength plus agility, I still shouldn't have been able to do it that easily. Vegeta finished with one hundred forty-five, Trunks right behind him at one hundred forty-two. I however was at the tenth frame with nine strikes on me.
I took a deep breath as Vegeta called out slight encouragement, "Okay brat, you can do this!" I nodded and sank back into focus, throwing the ball. It was just as beautiful as anything I had thrown that game, and hit the pocket dead on, spreading the pins out and dropping them all in the pit behind the lane.
"Yes!" Trunks shouted, while Vegeta smirked. Not over yet, two to go, but the hard one is done. Behind the lane, Clerky and some others had formed a slight crowd and all were applauding me. The ball came back and I threw another perfect ball, and another strike. Loud claps and cheers could be heard now, everyone in the bowling alley scampered over for the last ball to be thrown.
"Ladies and gentleman, this young man is on the verge of throwing a three-hundred game!" Clerky announced through the mic. No Pressure, no pressure. I grabbed the ball and prepared for the moment of truth. As I stepped forward, time seemed to slow down for me, and everything turned blue before I even moved my arm. What the hell? Must be something of my imagination for a tense moment. Focus, ignore it! The blue hues didn't fade as I released the ball and it slowly rolled into a hook; sailing to the center with grace I had never seen before. Come on, get over there, I silently encouraged the ball turned towards the head pin. Just before it hit, I saw a thin blue energy around the ball. Before I could blink, time sped back up and the ball smashed the pins, leaving one wobbling on the lane. I smiled, shaking my head slightly and turning around.
"Oh well!"
A massive "Awe!" rang out and everyone started to clap. All of a sudden everyone clapping stopped and started hooting and hollering, as well as jumping. Trunks did so as well, and Vegeta stared a dagger at the pins. I thought I sensed something behind me, but it wasn't from anyone's ki going off, so I spun around to see the pin wobble one way real far, then fall the other way. At first no one reacted much, especially me, the shock was still being processed. Then huge cheers rang out and a lot of hands suddenly stuck out for me to slap or shake. And for the moment, I didn't care what made it fall over, even if it was Dende giving my heart a lift, it was pure bliss to know I had just shot a perfect game. I began my celebration by pumping my arms into the air.
"Great job kiddo!" Clerky said over the microphone. Others joined him with the congratulations, though Vegeta stayed out of it. I settled down quickly and returned my shoes, but one thing was still bothering me as we prepared to leave.
"You didn't fire off any energy blasts on the last throw did you?" I asked.
"Why would I do such a dishonorable thing? You achieved that on your own, maybe that still hasn't sunk in yet!" Vegeta grunted. Then just what did I see and sense around the ball? Unless it was my own power, but I didn't try to use my energy on it. The ball would have blown up or sailed on by. Maybe I should just forget about it, I'm letting the surprise dumb me down into thinking it was impossible.
-
After the short celebration concluded, we left the bowling alley. My tail swished back and forth in my happy mood, and I bore a big smile.
"Well, you are a Saiyan, you should expect no less than perfection!" Vegeta snorted. Not even his cocky remarks are going to ruin this. We flew back towards Capsule Corp slowly; Vegeta suddenly seemed to be a bit on edge and never took off in any sort of speed. Suddenly he flew down to an old alley that remained in a deserted part of the city. Trunks and I flew after him with slight concern.
"What's going on Dad?"
"I don't know Trunks, keep your guard up. I know I detected something here," he whispered. Behind a dumpster we noticed a leg sticking out from the other side.
Trunks ran over before Vegeta could stop him, "Trunks hold on a second!"
"What dad, it's just a bum sitting here. Probably drinking or sleeping anyway, no need to WORRY!" Trunks suddenly gasped in shock when he looked at the man and backed up against the wall, almost terrified. We rushed over to see what was wrong, only to see that his head was gone, and the neck was bleeding badly. Vegeta narrowed his eyes, mine did the same by instinct. Trunks was still gasping as we looked around for whatever might have done this.
"Be weary boys, that blood is very fresh," Vegeta ordered. Using my ki sense, I picked up on something faint nearby, but I couldn't recognize it as anything I had ever sensed before. It seemed more spotty and hard to find. Vegeta picked up on it too, and we triangulated it to directly in the back of the alley in the shadows.
"What is it?" Trunks whispered. We didn't answer as we hadn't seen much movement yet, but we did make out two slightly glowing eyes. Then I saw why I didn't recognize the ki signature, it just wasn't anything close to what I had encountered in the past. The head of the man nearby came rolling out, it was covered in blood and bite marks. The poor human's eyes probably burned the image of his encounter permanently into his head. Then a loud growl came from the shadow. Out stepped a four-legged creature, covered in lean muscle and just a few hairs for fur and tiny protective spikes along its back that I almost mistook for a backbone. Its face was hideous, beating out just about anything I had ever seen before.
Frieza and Buu didn't have shit on this thing in the ugly department. Its skin was a sickly purple, and its face was covered in the red blood of the human. On it's front two legs were razor sharp claws that looked like they'd tear through steel pretty easily. It growled again, baring many razor sharp teeth, and walked a bit closer very slowly like it was stalking us. From a distance, someone could have mistaken it for a large dog, but up close it was anything but. The thing dared come forward some more, prepping to attack from the looks of it. It seemed focused on me, but Vegeta stepped forward to await it just five feet away. I have no clue what this thing is, but I do know it's barking up the wrong tree today!
"Boys, get into the air and stay away! I'll deal with this!" Vegeta ordered. I complied as well as Trunks, floating about twenty feet above Vegeta and the strange creature. Suddenly the thing leapt forward and took a swipe at Vegeta, who was more than ready for it and dodged easily. The creature tried again and missed, then again and still missed. The creature kept attacking in the same manner and Vegeta kept dodging. What was staggering was the recklessness and rage behind the attacks and the speed that came with it, even though the thing barely had any noticeable ki coming off it. After massive failures, the creature charged straight at Vegeta. It missed horribly when Vegeta phased away to just below us in the air. It smashed into the dumpster and drilled right through it. It spun around when it seemed to either sense, or maybe smell Vegeta in the air. Then it started jumping. What caught us off was how high the thing could jump, it reached Vegeta's altitude very easily the first time, but still missed with its front claws. Vegeta rose up higher, as he continued to study the beast. The thing jumped again, probably reaching twenty feet up this time, but nowhere near Vegeta. It tried a few more times before stopping and giving him a dark look before eating the dead body of the bum.
"What the hell is that thing?" Trunks asked. The creature ducked back into the shadows again suddenly, and then a cop rounded the corner, inspecting the dead body he had just found, headless and all. He traced the blood towards the shadows, and we sensed the creature prep to attack him as well.
"Look out!" Trunks shouted. The cop looked up at us in surprise, marking it as his last mistake when the creature attacked. Unlike Vegeta, the cop had no ability at all, and the creature started tearing into him with its claws and biting his limbs in a frenzy. In no time the cop was down and dead, the creature beginning to eat his insides.
"What a beast!" Trunks noticed.
"Yes, and it will be stopped right now!" Vegeta said, flying down with his arms crossed. The creature looked up at its former prey, growling again.
"I don't know what you are, but I do know this, you made a mistake coming here. I don't know if you can understand me or not, but mark this as your gravesite!" Vegeta announced. The creature didn't take it very well even if it did understand him, it charged toward him with frightening speed for something supposedly so weak. Vegeta phased away just as it tried to bite, and hit a smashing one-arm blow to it's back. The blow took the beast to the ground, but it got right back up. It received another blow to the back, and I heard bones shatter. But still, it got back up and challenged Vegeta. It either couldn't feel pain, or it didn't care. Whichever it was, it swiped at Vegeta with a back claw, tearing part of his jeans easily and lightly cutting his skin. Vegeta put a bit more power into his next kick, sending it into the wall and seemingly out cold. He knelt close to it and listened to it with his ear. Then he pointed his finger and shot a ki beam to the center of its head. What I could sense of it's life force vanished and it died right there.
He motioned for us to come down as he examined the cut on his leg. We landed and got a good whiff of the disgusting smell it was now emitting, not to mention the two dead bodies nearby. Something was setting off warning bells in my head, something about the way this thing fought. I certainly had never seen anything like this up close and personal, but it was almost like I had seen something just like it. I recalled what Old Kai had told me not long ago, realization hit me and I gasped sharply.
Vegeta glanced over from looking at the blood from his leg, "What is it boy?"
"This thing, I think I know what it is," I said, shuddering a bit.
"What?"
"It's a Zergling," I said sharply.
"Zergling, as in Zerg?" Vegeta asked.
"Yeah, that's what I mean," I said, feeling a bit nauseous all of a sudden.