Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Ball Z or any of its characters.

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Definition(s);

1. Sama: This word is used to call people who you respect highly, like emperors or gods.

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Bold—Thoughts

"Blah... Blah... Blah..."—Talking

Chapter 13: Two Steps Backward

When Bra made it into the banquet hall almost ten minutes later than one of the diplomats from Earth, Bardock immediately became suspicious. He noticed that her face was flushed and she couldn't quite look at anyone in the eye, which was odd, considering that she had always been a haughty woman—or at least, she was until Vegeta had told her that she was going to mate with Toma before Trunks' tournament.

"Sorry I'm late," she murmured, her voice light.

"Take a seat, dear."

Bulma's tone conveyed how disappointed she was with her daughter and Bra noticed that as she took one of the only seats left in the banquet hall; she immediately choked on an anguished cry when she realized that she was sitting across from the man she had mated with.

How strange, he mused thoughtfully.

Idly stroking his chin with one of his gloved hands, he turned his dark eyes to scrutinize Goten—who, incidentally, had come to the banquet hall late as well, with rumpled clothes and kiss-roughened lips, but Bardock knew that since he wasn't a Saiyan, there wasn't anything he could have done with Vegeta's precious daughter—at least, nothing life threatening...

... Unless he really is a Saiyan...

He was pulled away from his thoughts when a soft voice started, "So, Prince Trunks..."

Shifting his gaze to the other diplomat from Earth—

What did she say her name was? Marven? Marron? Yes, I think that's it.

—he saw that she was delicately wiping her mouth with the finely embroidered napkin that sat next to her plate during the course of the meal. He noted with wry amusement that she was one of the few people to have even touched their napkins.

But, that's to be expected since we aren't exactly noted for our table manners, he thought with a wide grin; that was mostly because they ate too quickly to accommodate such tedious foolishness.

While they weren't messy eaters, or at least, they weren't for occasions such as this one, they didn't bother to waste any time wiping their lips since it would only stay clean for a minute or two.

"How is the search for your bride coming?"

Trunks' lips curled upwards, "I believe I have found a... suitable candidate."

He took a small sip of wine from his goblet and then swirled the scarlet liquid in his glass for a moment, before putting it down. He kept his eyes trained on Marron's face and for a moment, he could have sworn that she flushed underneath his scrutiny.

A derisive snort from Vegeta greeted his statement as the Saiyan King looked up from his food.

"Oh, really?" He sneered sarcastically. "Well, that's certainly news to me! Tell me, Trunks, since when did the word suitable become an appropriate way to refer to that disgusting woman?"

Trunks scowled faintly, "I wasn't referring to Ruuka, father."

Bardock's eyebrows shot up in surprise and he yanked his attention away from the human diplomats long enough to give Trunks a hard, measuring look, I wasn't aware that he had changed bed mates.

He frowned, wondering if he was slipping or if Trunks had gone out of his way to prevent him from finding out. He generally made it his business to know who had captured the Demi-Saiyan's interest, as that person might end up being a possible threat later on or potentially, the future Queen of Vegeta-sei.

Either way, he was always supposed to be up to par, Maybe this suitable candidate is new. This is the first time I have heard of her.

Apparently, this news caught Vegeta off-guard as well because he set his utensils down—a sure sign of shock among Saiyans, who never put their utensils down unless they were finished eating.

"You replaced that filthy cow?" He asked, not even bothering to dignify Ruuka with her given name.

At Trunks' affirming nod, he snorted approvingly, "It's about time. So, who is this new woman you're referring to? Of course, practically anyone would be better than that whor–"

"Ahem!"

He cut the word off with a slight frown, glancing at Bulma as he did so; she smiled tightly and made a brief gesture to Goten and Marron with her eyes.

Right. Polite company and all that crap.

"–Woman," he amended after a barely noticeable pause. "Still, I would like to know who you have chosen this time."

Trunks smiled cheekily, "I don't think that you've met her, father. I'll have to bring her to meet you sometime."

He failed to mention the small fact that Pan might not agree with his sentiments regarding suitability since the idea that she might not want to be his bride never crossed his mind.

"You do realize that I must approve of your final choice, don't you, Trunks?" Vegeta commented nonchalantly, not liking the way Trunks kept avoiding his questions.

When Trunks said nothing, he added, "Remember that your time is running out. The tournament is only a week away."

Trunks tensed and shot Vegeta a venomous glare, "I will choose my own mate, father!"

When Vegeta had first issued the ultimatum, Trunks hadn't thought anything of it, since he figured that he wouldn't meet anyone he would actually want to mate with and like his father had already said, anyone would make a better future Queen than Ruuka, but that was before he met Pan!

"Only if you can do so before the tournament begins," Vegeta calmly replied, picking up his fork and knife once again to continue his interrupted meal and thus, signaling the end of the discussion.

Inwardly, he was somewhat surprised by Trunks' reaction to his words. When he had first announced the tournament and its purpose, Trunks hadn't made any kind of protest.

I wonder... he allowed the incomplete thought to trail off with a small shake of his head. Nah.

After watching Trunks a moment longer, Bardock turned his gaze back to Goten; the spiky haired youth hadn't paid any attention to Vegeta or Trunks. Instead, he was happily focused on the food in front of him. His earlier suspicions were immediately rekindled when he saw the way Goten was shoveling the food into his mouth; it was at a rate that rivaled the speed of even some of the table's Saiyan occupants!

No human could eat that much food, Bardock thought with contempt.

He briefly glanced at Marron's plate for confirmation and nodded to himself when he saw the pathetic portions of food she had served herself in comparison to the heaping mounds her partner was consuming.

That boy is a Saiyan. There's no denying it. All I need is a blood sample to prove it. I'm sure of it! Pursing his lips, Bardock silently vowed to drag Goten to one of the science labs as soon as the feast was over, so that he could personally run the tests himself.

However, another thought struck him a moment later, But, if he is a Saiyan, then that means he could've done something with Bra.

He glanced at the blue haired Princess, who still wouldn't meet anyone in the eye as she played with the food seated on her plate absentmindedly.

Or maybe she's still angry that her father is forcing her to mate with a man she hardly knows, his conscience offered.

He frowned pensively, shrugged and promptly went back to eating, Maybe.

Up until this point, Marron had kept silent, sensing that her voice in Vegeta's argument with Trunks would be unwelcomed.

However, now that the confrontation seemed to be over, she decided to risk a question, "I know that I may be overstepping my boundaries here, but what tournament were you referring to, Vegeta-sama?"

"Tournament?" Goten's ears almost visibly perked up at the word; he was finally showing interest in something other than his food.

Yet another Saiyan trait, Bardock noted grimly.

A tap on his shoulder distracted him from his thoughts.

"Bardock, where's your brother?" Gallot asked quietly, jerking his head in the direction of the suspiciously empty seat where Turles should have been sitting.

"I don't know, Gallot," Bardock replied just as quietly, so as not to draw the attention of any of the other diners.

Scowling at the empty seat, he added, "I know that he knew about the banquet and that he was supposed to be here. When I spoke with him an hour ago, he said that he was going to get cleaned up."

When a quick scan of the room failed to produce his brother, Bardock let out a string of expletives that made Gallot squirm uncomfortably.

"... tournament will be all female," Bra's voice drifted down the table from where she was speaking with the two foreign diplomats. "Officially, the tournament is being held, so that Trunks can assess the general improvement of the planet's fighting ability."

"But, unofficially," Bulma started. "It's a contest to find the strongest woman on the planet. The winner will be the future Queen of Vegeta-sei."

"Coincidentally, all of the contestants must be unmated and of marrying age," Bra muttered, shooting her father a disgruntled glare—which he promptly ignored. "We wouldn't want a possible pregnant woman to fight and get hurt. Anyway, the theory is that the stronger the parents, the stronger the children will be, so the winner of the tournament would be the ideal mate for my brother."

Marron frowned, "Doesn't Prince Trunks have a choice about this?"

"Oh, trust me, he's had his chance," Vegeta snorted. "I told him last year that it was time for him to take a mate and that he had a year to find a suitable woman before I found someone for him myself. The year ends in one week."

Trunks muttered darkly in response, but whatever he said was lost in the gentle babble of conversation from the rest of the table.

"... took out a third of the first class soldiers..."

"... heard it was a woman..."

"... money's on her for the tournament..."

"... doubt it was a woman. No female's that strong and how do you even know if she's even of marrying age? Oh, do me a favor and pass the wine... No, not that bottle. Give me the red one. That other stuff tastes like vinegar. Bleck!"

"I'm going to skin him alive," Bardock growled, violently spearing his meat with his fork and imagining it was Turles' head.

"Skin who, brother, dear?"

Sliding into his seat a couple of chairs down from his brother, Turles raised his voice to address the head of the table, "I apologize for being late, your Majesty. I was... detained."

With a small smirk, Turles began to help himself to the food on the table, but paused briefly to toss his infuriated brother a lewd wink.

Vegeta chortled knowingly, "Yes, I imagine you were. So, who was it this time?"

"You remember that cute new officer in the science department?" Turles waggled his eyebrows to emphasize the word cute.

He briefly glanced at Bardock to see the reaction his words would cause. After all, it wasn't everyday that his latest conquest occurred amongst his brother's own ranks.

Shooting Turles a nasty look, Bardock barely managed to refrain from bashing his head in then and there, I don't understand why Vegeta is always so forgiving with him when he always goes too far with his words. I hope one of these days, Turles' tail is served up on a silver platter—or even better, his head!

"It isn't so much that I find your brother's stunts amusing, Bardock," Vegeta murmured, startling Bardock out of his thoughts.

The older warrior barely had time to wonder if the King had somehow learned to read his thoughts before Vegeta continued, his eyes twinkling mischievously, "It's the way you react."

Bardock opened his mouth to speak and then closed it—several times—as the words to express his indignation failed him, Oh, hell, they're both doing this just to annoy me!

Before he could sputter an indignant accusation, Vegeta started speaking again, "By the way, Turles, there are much better reasons for being late to banquets..."

His voice was too casual for Turles' liking and the older twin swallowed thickly when Vegeta grinned slyly, "... Such as a friendly spar, but since we're already here, how about we spar afterwards?"

It was a hard fight for Bardock to keep himself from snickering at the look on his brother's face, That'll teach the arrogant ass. I bet Vegeta was just itching for an excuse to beat someone up and since Turles is one of the strongest beings on the planet, he's the perfect candidate.

Lips twitching with amusement, he silently added, It's a good thing he came late, otherwise, I'm pretty sure Vegeta would've asked me to spar with him. I'll have to thank Turles later—particularly, when he's bloodied and beaten.

Paling as the blood drained from his face, Turles gulped and nodded miserably, "Yes, sire."

"Good! We'll meet in the training room off of the east wing immediately after dinner is done," Vegeta smirked broadly at his soon-to-be-victim.

He then refocused his attention on the diplomats, "I apologize for the interruption."

He didn't sound very sorry at all as he continued, "Now, where were we?"

Wearing twin expressions of bemusement, Goten and Marron glanced at each other, uncertain of how they should respond to all of this—they both missed the dark look Bra gave Marron. Goten opened his mouth to say something, but whatever it was was abruptly cut off when the doors to the banquet hall were thrown open with a loud bang! Every head turned in the direction of the disturbance, the noise level in the room falling dramatically as conversations trailed off.

Bardock frowned, wondering who else had been foolish enough to arrive late, Whoever it is probably won't get off as easy as Turles did. I pity the poor fool.

To his surprise, the person who strode into the banquet hall was none other than his own son, Radditz. Upon seeing the people gathered for dinner, the wild maned warrior's steps faltered, surprise—

Wait, is that fear?!

—flickering in his eyes. Behind him was a woman, clad in clothing that looked suspiciously like the clothing Sereri used to wear when she was younger. Her silky black hair was oddly affected by the gravity to fall in smooth, flat curtains—not a hint of typical Saiyan spikes anywhere. But, she was a Saiyan, as evidenced by the fuzzy brown tail lashing the air at her side.

Bardock raised an eyebrow in surprise, recognizing her as the woman he had run into the night before, Then, that means the clothing she's wearing is Sereri's! Who is she and why is she with Radditz?

A sharp intake of breath alerted Bardock to the fact that Turles had also noticed the strange female. Glancing at Turles, Bardock was surprised to see a light of recognition in his onyx eyes—eyes that were glaring at the two newcomers.

"It's her!" Turles hissed, standing up so suddenly that he knocked his chair over. "That's Pan Son!"

With those words, chaos erupted throughout the room.

Bardock got to his feet and instinctively raised his guard as he whipped his scouter out of his pocket and attached it to the side of his face. Pressing the button on the side, he trained the scouter's sensors on the surprised female at his son's side; numbers immediately appeared in the green lens and then started shooting up at an astonishing speed.

"What the–?"

"Pan?!" Goten yelped as both he and Marron jumped up; shock, bewilderment and alarm were equally evident on both of their faces.

"What is she doing here?!" Marron asked, her voice frantic.

"Forget about that. What is she wearing?!" Goten's eyes ran over Pan's barely clothed body and he scowled.

"Pan," Trunks breathed, looking both surprised and pleased at the same time; he immediately stood up and began walking towards Radditz and Pan.

"Radditz, what is the meaning of this?!" Vegeta roared, obviously confused by the sudden pandemonium caused by one soldier and one female Saiyan.

Of course, he didn't know that Pan was the same woman he had ordered Bardock to track down and bring before him, as Bardock had not had the time to report his findings to the King before the banquet began. He too would have gotten out of his seat if it hadn't been for Bulma's sudden restraining grip on his arm. Shooting her a startled and angry glare, Vegeta roughly pulled his arm away and rose to his feet.

"Vegeta, wait!" Bulma cried, trying to grab Vegeta's arm again, but he was already out of her reach.

"Not now, woman," he growled, striding swiftly towards the pair standing frozen in front of the open door.

Even from across the room, Bardock saw the way the blood drained from his son's face at Vegeta's sudden approach.

"Radditz, what the hell is going on?! Who is this woman?"

Radditz's mouth worked soundlessly for a few moments, but it seemed that words refused to come; the only sound in the room was the confused babble of the people who had no idea what was going on and the rapid beeping of Bardock's scouter as it continued to try to get a reading on Pan's energy.

How can her power level still be rising? Bardock's eyes widened with alarm when he realized how high the numbers were already. Thirty thousand?! Th–that's impossible!

And yet, the numbers were still rising.

"Ve–Vegeta?" Pan squeaked.

Her breathing was becoming short and erratic, the panicked expression on her face growing more and more pronounced.

She took a few nervous steps away from the approaching Saiyans and shrunk into Radditz, "Tr–Trunks?"

Then, her eyes landed on Goten and Marron, who had both gotten out of their seats as well and she began to tremble. Her lips moved, as though she was forming names, but whatever she said, she said it too quietly for Bardock to hear.

Bardock's eyes narrowed, She recognizes them and they recognize her! Pan and Goten Son; I would bet my tail that those two are related.

Seemingly sensing that his charge was about to bolt, Radditz's hand snaked out and latched onto Pan's wrist, startling her out of her shock. Feeling like a cornered animal, she let out a low growl and struggled to free herself from Radditz's tight grip to no avail.

Bardock grinned at his son with pride since he was one of the strongest Saiyans on the planet, Pan will soon find that breaking free will not be easy.

Cra–boom!

Bardock's head jerked back reflexively as the scouter exploded in his face. Cursing profusely, he clapped a hand to his ear and rubbed it for a moment before reality caught up to him. Then, he really swore.

She destroyed the scouter! His mind screamed, referring to the level of strength it usually took to make a scouter blow up.

Nowadays, it took a ki of about seventy thousand or more to accomplish that feat—a strength unheard of in any but the strongest of Saiyans in their untransformed state.

For an untransformed Saiyan female to be that strong...

"Let me go!" Pan snarled at Radditz, a visible red aura dancing around her figure.

Abruptly changing tactics, the diminutive woman stopped trying to pull her wrist out of Radditz's hand. Before he even had a chance to register what was happening, Pan had curled her free hand into a fist and punched him hard between the eyes with such force that he was sent hurtling across the room. Radditz slammed into the wall and then slid to the floor in an unconscious heap, leaving behind a spider web of cracks where his head had impacted with the stone wall.

A moment of stunned silence ensued as everyone in the room—Pan included—gaped at the fallen warrior. Almost as though she couldn't believe what she had just done, the young woman's eyes flicked from Radditz to her fist and then back again. Turning his attention back to Pan, Bardock thought he saw a slightly guilty expression in her eyes, but it was gone before he could be sure.

"Oh, my God!" Pan breathed, taking an uncertain step backwards before she abruptly spun around and darted out of the room.

"Trunks, go after her!" Vegeta bellowed at his son—the closest person to Pan—who needed no second urging as he was already sprinting after her. "Turles, Gallot, go with him! When you find her, bring her to me at once!"

"Yes, sir!" Turles and Gallot immediately ran out of the room on the heels of the Saiyan Prince.

"Vegeta," Bardock hurriedly approached the shorter man, holding out the broken pieces of his scouter, his expression grim. "Her energy—"

"I know, Bardock. I can sense ki, remember?" Vegeta stated, frowning pensively.

Bardock nodded; he had known, but it was still his duty to inform the King about the overloaded scouter.

"Get your son and put him in a regeneration tank. I want him healed as quickly as possible."

Glancing at Radditz's still form, Vegeta's features hardened, "Find out what he knows about all of this and then bring him to me."

"Yes, sir," Bardock replied somberly, shaking his head as he walked over to his unconscious son; he had a feeling that Radditz was in a lot of trouble.

Bending down, he grunted and lifted Radditz into his arms, "While I'm at it, I should take the diplomat, Goten Son, down to the med labs and get his blood tested."

Bardock straightened up and opened his mouth to call out to the suspected Saiyan to follow him—only to stop short before the first word left his lips since Goten was nowhere in sight.

He inwardly cursed, Oh, hell. This is just not my day...