Dragon Ball: Governed


Chapter 46 - Lessons

Contrition. Throughout all his life to the present point of him contemplating his past actions, Freeza had never felt regret for anything. Still, doubts began to plant themselves in his mind - his ego fighting against his rationale. Did he make the logical choice when he decided not to destroy the Saiyans all those years ago? Right now, even the Saiyans considered lower-levels were deemed stronger than the average upper-combatant that worked directly under him in the Freeza Force. Of course, not for a second, did it ever cross his mind that a species of pugnacious, blood-thirsty simians would ever manage to be superior than he, but now? He began to question himself.

Freeza hated questioning himself. King Vegeta's son, the fifth in line to the throne, was proving to be an unusual one. Just a mere child out of the incubator, he proved worthy of having a battle-power of 10,000. A grown man wouldn't even be able to pierce a burning, curved sword into him at that age if he so desired. Just how much stronger would he develop? Still a growing boy with seemingly indefinite potential - he proved to be an unpredictable danger. Freeza had already concluded that he was a mutant when he first laid eyes on him and got a read of his battle power. That much, in itself, was already blatant. And upon finding out that King Vegeta had been plotting to overtake him for years, Freeza knew that he had to do something. Destroying the planet wouldn't just be enough - there was a chance they could actually prove a force when fighting back a simple super-nova from him. He didn't want to be the one to make the first move. No, it was up to Vegeta to do so. So when that time is to come, he's going to embarrass him by using his own biggest weapon against him.

Sitting in his hover-chair, he remained quiet in deep thought. As he pondered endlessly, he had forgotten that he wasn't the only person in the room.

"Something on your mind, Lord Freeza?"

Looking to the beloved BeriBlu, Freeza shook his head, denying that he had any sense of worry. "Of course not." Worry was weakness and he was not weak. Though while the current subject of the Saiyans and the royal blood-line ran through his head, he wondered if one of his advisors happened to have an opinion on the matter. "Do you find it to be rather extraordinary that the King's son is so strong yet he doesn't seem to show any signs of a mercurial mind - someone unpredictable and erratic?"

Freeza's advisor got to stroking her chubby chin. "Actually, yes. So much power for someone so little would normally drive them mad if you were to ask me - especially considering the nature of his ancestors. He acts perfectly normal."

Freeza smiled. "Good. It is imperative that the boy prove himself to be an obedient soldier - otherwise his power would be for an absolute waste."

"Agreed."

"Aren't you at the very least concerned with who is training him?"


For minutes that felt like hours - Vegeta had to answer to his little brother regarding the care that Prince Vegeta was currently being placed in. In the eyes of the Saiyan King, as much as he wanted to train the boy, his duties wouldn't allow him to find time to do so. Though at first he questioned it, Vegeta did inevitably acquiesce to the idea of his son being trained by none other than Freeza's son himself. He didn't even know Freeza had a son until he was told. Though scary, Vegeta saw opportunity in this. If his boy were to be trained by someone with great potential such as Freeza's child, then of course his own would grow powerful enough to overthrow Freeza. He understood why Tarble was worried over it, but the king gave it no second thought.

"Not in the slightest," Vegeta spoke to his brother as he sat on his throne.

Tarble didn't know why, but he just had a bad feeling about it. He heard stories about Freeza - about how not only sick but conniving he could also be, but how merciless he was. He didn't want to lose his own nephew to Freeza, the one with the forked tongue.


As far as Prince Vegeta's training - it had absolutely nothing to do with the basics. Nobody taught him how to fly, how to charge attacks, much less even how to fight. Instead, he was thrown to worlds that even some adult Saiyans would have trouble with.

He wasn't alone, though.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Kureeza laughed his heart out as he had the entire world crashing down on his victims. Mercilessly, he fired ki blast after ki blast, burning people's entire homes, cities, infrastructure...and their very bodies. He didn't care. The screams were like music to his ears.

Prince Vegeta, on the other hand, just stood there - watching as lives were being taken away casually. Hovering in the sky, his eyes caught every single detail. The explosions that soon erupted into the smoke, how the small fires would manifest into big ones, connecting with one another and spreading across an entire city.

The looks of horror, despair, and anger, all in one. This was his true first time seeing a plethora of emotions all in one. It was completely new to him - yet - he didn't appear to feel bad about it. This was his life. This is what he was meant to do.

"What's the matter?" Kureeza asked with balls of ki in the palm of his hands. "Are you not going to join in on the fun?"

The scouters of Kureeza and Vegeta both started to beep, entailing that a signal was making headway for the both of them from behind. Vegeta got out of the way just in time as the man hoping to get a surprise attack camouflaged himself in the heap of smoke down below the burning city.

"This one's mine."

Flying right into the smoke, Prince Vegeta decided to get his first taste of action. From the very moment that they got there, he had been watching Kureeza as he fought, so he decided to copy him.

Vegeta's initial strike had been missed head on as the man hopped out of the way just in time. In the heap of smoke he wasn't able to see anything and the man took advantage. The young Saiyan prince was blasted head on and into a burning building from afar. Letting out a yell, the building collapsed on top of him, but that did him no harm. Shooting back for the mysterious figure, his fists collided with his chin, sending him back as well.

A bright light zoomed out into the sky, indicating he to be the target. Prince Vegeta followed right after him. Far above the clouds they both went, going in circles, as they exchanged a plethora of blows.

Kureeza, keeping watch, made sure to pay extra close attention to his scouter as the prince got into his first physical altercation on his first conquest. the entire time there, he simply observed. Initially it got on Kureeza's nerves but he gave the boy the benefit of the doubt believing that he was going to apply what he was watching. As Vegeta fought, Kureeza's scouter just wouldn't stop beeping. At first, Prince Vegeta's fight was practically even...but it was quickly becoming one-sided.

"11,000...13,000...16,000...20,000…" Kureeza's eyes continued to widen. It became apparent to him that the more he fought, the more his battle-power grew. Strength came to him naturally sure, but this? This never even happened to him. "What the heck - is he even a Saiyan?"

Prince Vegeta's lips curled into a wide smile as his punches connected with every aspect of his opponent's upper-body. It wasn't long until his victim was out of commission, but the Saiyan's intrinsic desire for battle overcame him. He couldn't help himself to stop his merciless assault. One solid punch to the temple was more than enough to send the man crashing down into a smoking crater below.

Prince Vegeta's opponent wasn't able to move. His body was paralyzed - mind in a wonder. The concept of death wasn't something he had ever welcomed until now. "K-Kill me…"

"Get up and fight!" the prince demanded. His tail wagged side to side violently. He was itching for battle. To end this man with a ki attack like Kureeza had been doing his countless victims wouldn't damn near be enough to satisfy the feeling of blows connecting and crushing his victim's bones.

"K-Kill me…"

"I say you do him a favor…" Raditz came down below, standing atop a sky-scraper that was tilted. "He's weak and broken - he can't fight anymore." Sticking his hand out, he charged a ball of ki. "His time's up, Prince Vegeta." Even Raditz, a man that loved to toy with his victims before he killed them, knew that there was a time and place to prolong an inevitable victory or to just end it right then and there. This time was one of the latter and it was a lesson that Prince Vegeta would have to learn as he grew.

"I WANT TO FIGHT!" the boy growled.

"Tch." Raditz knew it was only an amount of time before the brat's temper got the best of him. He recalled how it was working alongside King Vegeta when he was just a prince and how almost every little thing irked his nerves. When he was mad, he was scary. And knowing this anomaly of a Saiyan - despite being royal blood - he could be very dangerous. Still, Raditz knew there was a lesson in all this. When an opponent was beaten, they were to be killed. One could only play with their food for so long. Without hesitation, he vaporized Prince Vegeta's target's body as he lied down in the crater.

Coming to the realization that his kill had been taken away from him, Prince Vegeta growled angrily, rendering Raditz cold looks that even surpassed his father's glare of rancor. "I wanted…." Prince Vegeta started to shake. "...TO FIGHT!" his eyes went pupiless.

The great tension rising up in Prince Vegeta's body caused his own scouter to shatter in a moment's notice. Raditz and Kureeza were both taken aback by the dramatic increase in strength. Just as Prince Vegeta's power-level hit the one hundred thousand mark, he let his frustration get the best of him and rocketed toward his elder.

Raditz, knowing not to take this boy lightly, rammed his fists down into Prince Vegeta's face as hard as he could. The boy plummeted and landed violently on his back, bouncing in the process, but the young prodigy proceeded to flip over on his feet and bounce right back at Raditz. This time, he managed to get a clean hit to the cheek, knocking his scouter right off.

The two started to go back and forth now.

It wasn't easy for Raditz, not even from the start. He had dozens of years of battle experience over this kid, but his sheer rage, will, and raw power started to put him on his toes. Each consecutive strike had more brute force behind it, as well as undeniable quickness. For the while, he was blocking him with his forearm, but had to resort to using both hands to prevent himself from being hit.

"Why you bodacious runt!" Raditz yelled.

The eldest son of Bardock could feel Vegeta's ever growing power as the two continued to fight. He knew that he had to get this over with quick. Dodging a strike for the face, Raditz maneuvered behind the young boy and made an attempt to grab his tail, but a strike from Vegeta's elbow brought him to an absolute halt. The blow was enough to bring Raditz to a standstill. Holding his nose, Raditz started to slowly descend toward the ground on his knees.

But Prince Vegeta wasn't going to let that happen. Raditz crashed thanks to Vegeta firing off a brutal wave of ki. The long-haired Saiyan's armor was in pieces and his eyes went in circles. He was no longer conscious, albeit still alive.

"Enough of this effrontery," Kureeza hissed. Dashing over to Prince Vegeta, he tackled him and the two slid through the scorching hot ground.

Kureeza used his legs to kick himself off Prince Vegeta, who went crashing into a building. Flipping over on his feet, he blasted the entire infrastructure until it came on top of Vegeta prior to blasting the entire thing to smithereens. Still, this wasn't enough to stop Prince Vegeta as he came from under the rubble, unscathed.

Kureeza growled. "You must be kidding me."

A harsh blow to the face was powerful enough to have him stumbling backward. This in itself surprised the living hell out of him. He dodged the next punch and retaliated, though Prince Vegeta didn't seem to go down either. From then on, both children started fist fighting on the ground, trading blows - testing their own endurance and willpower.

Kureeza was more powerful and skilled, sure, but it didn't seem to be by much now. The more they kept on, the faster Prince Vegeta proved himself to be. His strikes came harder and induced more pain. This only pissed Kureeza off.

"Father always tells me just how much less superior you apes are in comparison to us yet here you are able to go toe to toe with someone who has a battle power of 800,000!?" He lifted his thick tail. "LUDICROUS!" Sweeping Vegeta off his feet, he gained leverage and kicked him dead in the chest, cracking his armor. Grabbing his tail before he could go anywhere, Prince Vegeta started to be slammed all over the place mercilessly as Kureeza cursed and damned him incessantly.

Unbeknownst to him, the weakness to any Saiyan if untrained happened to be their tail. Kureeza didn't know, so when he got his rage out and Prince Vegeta was lying on his face, twitching involuntarily, Kureeza believed it was due to his own prowess that he managed to finally put an end to the boy's tantrum.

Prince Vegeta groaned in pain once Kureeza stomped his feet on top the boy's head, with nearly enough force to shatter his skull, digging Prince Vegeta's face into the dirt of the planet.

"Allow me to make this clearly this time and this time only," Kureeza started. "I couldn't care less even if you had killed that unconscious baboon over there, but I? I am Kureeza - LORD KUREEZA to you. You defy me, you defy my father - Lord Freeza. He is the man that governs you and I both. He is the emperor of the Universe and will have your head on a stake if he ever thought you were to go against him! Know this; I am aware that your rage came about solely because your imbecilic Saiyan proclivities urged you to continue fighting. My father keeps you around for one reason and for one reason only - as a weapon. You comply to him, meaning you obey me. Be assured that my father will know what has transpired here today if he hasn't already gotten the big idea by listening through the scouters." Removing his foot from Vegeta's head, Kureeza crouched down so that he could lean in and whisper in Vegeta's ear, "and he will make sure you never pull such a stunt again...monkey."

And with that said, he smashed Prince Vegeta's bloodied face back to the ground.


The young boy Son Gohan had been put into homeschooling by the time he learned to write, which was pretty much at 2. Because of his constant studious nature, the kid proved himself to be far more advanced than the other kids his age. After constantly progressing, the young boy had finally met his match.

Sitting in a small chair, pencil in hand, looking at an equation, his tail started to thump against the chair as he grew impatient. Chi-Chi didn't know a damn thing about any of the subjects he was studying so she couldn't help him. It wasn't like she could support him anyhow since she was out shopping, leaving him and Kakarot home alone.

"∇p is the pressure gradient...not the rate of change of pressure...so…" the three-year old began to put his pencil to the paper and tried to force himself to write...but nothing. The pencil snapped and bits of granite fell onto his work. Closing his eyes, tears of frustration began to fall down his cheeks. "Why'd they think I can solve the Navier-Stokes equation...this is so stupid."

"Something bothering you?"

Gohan jumped up and turned around. There, Kakarot was drinking green tea and as he had a handful of carrots in the other hand. Gohan faked a smile and shook his head. "No, no, all good."

Kakarot stuffed his face with the food and didn't even bother chewing as he washed it down with the rest of the tea he had to drink. He towered over Gohan, scrutinizing the homework he was doing. The Saiyan was literate and surprisingly smart, though when it came to Earth's education, he had no damn clue where to even start. Gohan taught him a thing or two, but this? He was at a loss. "I'm assuming you can't even solve this."

"No," Gohan sighed. "This is just too hard."

"Mhm. I could tell you were getting annoyed." Before Gohan could even object to being annoyed, Kakarot pointed to the back of the chair, which had a crack in it. "Your tail tells me everything I need to know." He then chuckled. "But I don't really care. We can get a thousand of those if we wanted. Take a break."

"And do what?" Gohan asked. "I don't have anything else to do…"

"That's what you think." Kakarot started to walk away. "Come outside with me; I think it's about time you pick up on family education rather than whatever that education is."

Getting excited, Gohan hopped out the chair and dashed past his father and right through the door.

Standing in the middle of the yard surrounded by trees, where the woods lied just a few dozen yards out, Gohan's body seemed to be giddy. He had seen his father training for so long and hoped he would teach him. He asked his mom because she trained with him from time to time but she was so hell-bent on him chasing after an education. Now was the time.

"Someone's getting ecstatic," Kakarot observed. "You've been anticipating this, haven't you?"

Gohan nodded his head excessively.

"Very well." Kakarot stroked his chin. "But you're still young - I mean - I started fighting when I was around your age, but we come from two different worlds. I think we should start off slow with the basic fundamentals."

Gohan, deciding to show off, took a leap from the ground and flipped over on top of the house. Just when Kakarot thought he couldn't get surprised any more, his son decided to take it an extra step further and fire off a little dot of ki that travelled deep over into the woods until they heard a low growl from what sounded like a bear.

"There's dinner."

All Kakarot could do was ask, "How?"

"I watch you out there every day, daddy. The things I see you do, I try and copy them when I'm home alone. Remember when you found that hole in my closet? It wasn't because I was playing with my toys..."

Kakarot was speechless, yet proud. Over the years, he had always kept a keen eye on his son's power that remained beneath the surface. He didn't even think that Gohan would be able to pick up on things so quickly, but he could only deduce that to being the fact of his son carrying Saiyan blood inside his veins. Whenever frustrated, Kakarot felt a quick rise in power. He always told Chi-Chi about it, but she just ignored it, saying they would train him when the time was right.

The wild-haired Saiyan grinned. From what he could gather, there was no time like now.