There was a crumbling of stone, then a muffled yell as a round object, not quite like a boulder... or exactly graceful, rolled out bottom first and landed a few feet down in a large puff of dust.
"Ah Choo!" Raditz sneezed and shook the white powder out of his hair, rubbing his eyes with his fists as he sat on his bottom in the southernmost corner of the castle gardens. He looked up, his mouth hanging open as he observed the high trellises that decorated the interior walls, then the long, curling vines of blood flowers that graced it. He picked one of the maroon blood flowers out of his hair and sniffed it, it smelled oddly sweet. His nose pricked at the odd, yet delightful scent. He'd never seen one in person before, in fact; as far as he knew there was only violet grassland, and Xenoba fruit trees as far as the eye could see on Planet Vegeta.
He stood, looking around conspicuously as he tucked the blood flower into his hide armour, careful not to stab himself with the thorns. Raditz stayed close to the garden as he walked, hovering just below the dangling vines of wandering greenery. He slowed as he watched the red water flowing from a large statue of King Vegeta, where he so famously stood, holding the head of the King of The Tuffles. Water gushed from the neck wound, and all around the foreboding figure like he was a god of war.
Raditz quivered, looking up at the whites of the realistic statue's eyes in fear. He didn't want to come across the real version of King Vegeta, that was for sure. From what he had heard, the man was ruthless. Ruthless being a positive personality trait in their society; he had heard his mother and father discussing their views on his leadership more than once over dinner–not that he cared to understand why this was so interesting to the adults. He did, however, catch on when there was mention of his legendary conquests, or the latest public execution. The people of Planet Vegeta did not get there after all, by politely asking their enemies to submit.
Raditz stiffened when he heard a noise, and well, with his advanced olfaction; he not only heard but also smelled the source. He found the scent akin to flapping slabs of spoiled meat on an acrid wind; the rotting stench of it permeating the flower garden and souring the otherwise sweet fragrance. He perked his black, spiky head of hair up from behind a flower pot, his tail twitching as he saw the guard asleep at his post, leaning up against a pillar, snoring away. The guard's lips being the source of the foul odor. Raditz grinned, his tail coiling around like a viper as he crept over to the guard and looked up at his sleeping face fearlessly.
He snickered, as he oh so carefully, snaked the guard's tail around the pillar and fastened it around itself. The guard's tail coiled around in reflex and the trap was set. The small boy admired his work after he'd climbed up the garden lattice and placed a flower pot precariously on the top of the pillar, connected by ivy vines that wrapped around the guard's crossed ankles.
Now, all that was left was to alert his prey. Raditz looked around for some type of diversion. His eyes lit on the fountain once again, where he pulled a board out from beneath. He found the fountain's pressure gauge and cranked it up on high, making the severed head gush a torrent of red blood much more realistically.
The statue began to shake with the velocity of the water pressure pumping through it, and the majestic fountains of arching water that flowed peacefully behind King Vegeta became geysers of blood red water, drenching the cobble stone path and hissing as the valves creaked, the water that was coursing through bringing it to the very brink of combusting.
The guard woke up after being spayed unkindly in the face, then he shook his head and gasped as he stumbled forward and fell on his own tangled feet. He grunted as the flower pot fell on his head, preceding the large pillar attached to his tail that fell and cracked in half once it hit his back. Raditz laughed uproariously into his hands from where he crouched in the garden. The fountain made a long whining intonation, then burst, the head of King Vegeta flying over the wall into the training fields, effectively vandalising his now beheaded image.
Raditz's eyes widened at the prospect of what type of punishment would await him for this unexpected, yet awesome effect. He fled further into the garden as he heard the frantic cries of the guard as he regained consciousness and scrambled to shut off the fountain, if only he could untangle his legs from the vines.
Raditz flew, looking behind himself and snickering, that was surely one of his best pranks yet! He slowed and hovered as he looked around, a bit puzzled as to how he would get out of the garden. He looked up, seeing the overgrown lattice and frowned; this garden may as well have been a cage for how closed in it was. He contemplated leaving through the way he came, but he didn't dare chance being caught by the guard, or his father.
The only way was onward, even if that meant destroying Queen Vaseyna's treasured thorn bush... Which, although pretty, with its long, crimson thorns and long stemmed pink lilies, it doubled as centerpiece of the garden, and a deadly form of pest control. Its thorns reached out and created a wall that divided the outer garden, and the inner sanctum, where she was known to roam often-times at her leisure.
Raditz gulped, and heated up his hand with a ruby aura, at his skill level he had not yet learned how to create a blast that projected further than an inch from his palm. It was more or less like a drop of water as the aura quivered and pulsed from his palm without disconnecting. Raditz hovered his small splayed hand over the wall and dissolved the thorn barrier until it melted, and a large enough opening was made to allow him access to the inside. Raditz shook the burning heat from his hand and blew on it as his ki quelled, and crouched as he crept through the runt-sized opening in the vinery.
He made it out, or so he thought, as he crawled out a thorn caught on the back of his ragged tunic and shredded it without his knowledge; creating a visible butt-flap. At most, he noticed a pleasant breeze as his tail swished above his small rear curiously. He looked at his surroundings and saw at first the ornate door leading directly into the castle, where two guards stood post, these ones much tougher looking and far less dopey.
No, that won't work.
The windows, much too high and too obvious for him to crawl through.
Aha, perfect...Raditz slunk along the perimeter of the garden, careful not to make any noise as he slipped past the guards and made his way towards the back door used by the gardener, who most likely lived in the servants quarters of the castle. He would have to go that way if he wanted to avoid being directly seen.
He zipped past without being seen, directly through the flimsy wooden door where he nearly crashed into some gardening tools before deftly avoiding them, darting down the dark passageways until he saw light underneath the crack of the door.
Surely there was some type of entrance into the castle from here, even though the servants lived in the colder, less luxurious area, they had to have some way into the castle, or vice versa. He pushed the large wooden door open slowly, seeing a shining hardwood floor before him, his nostrils were assailed by the pleasant scent of cleanliness; the rich aroma of some delicacy he would probably never taste in all his lower class life. Raditz squeezed through the door, and behind some pots and pans as he observed the activity in the kitchen.
"..Hmm, I think you're low on Ruuter sprouts...Versi snaps are nice and fresh. Everything else is ready. "
"Oh good, would you go out in the garden and see if the new ones have come in yet Ankja?"
"Alright, I'll be right back ..."
"Don't forget those cayer stalks need trimming, or else they are indigestible!"
"Yes, Mrs. Gine... I'm sorry I won't make that mistake again...!"
"Ah, don't apologize to me, dear. It wasn't my stomach that was upset for a week! I don't dare tempt the King's sensitive constitution. You know those royals cannot live off the meager means that sprout from the rock soil like we do."
The women laughed, sending a shiver down Raditz's spine as he was only feet away from being discovered by his own mother. He jumped inside a large stew pot and pulled the lid over his head as Ankja the gardener walked quickly past, out the door way he had come. He had entered the back bowels of the castle, to his relief he had only to escape from the kitchen, and dart through the mess hall, then perhaps he could reach the throne room...
The pot's lid suddenly quivered as a small, spiky black-haired female walked by, hefting up a large bag of root vegetables with ease and walking back to dump them into a deep pot of water, stirring them around with the ladle wrapped in her tail as she turned her attention on the butcher's block and began chopping meat with loud, precise slices. Raditz wedged his nose out of the pot and sniffed, his stomach growling at the heavenly scent.
Momma always lets me sample the food at home, why not here? He heard her soft singing as she swayed her hips side to side as she worked, after seeing her calm demeanor he smiled and crawled out, then crept over to cling to her leg, tugging on her white apron.
"Hm? Not now, Raditz, Mommy's got to save this for the royal dinner...she still has so many things to do..." She said, distracted as she attended to 4 things at once, forgetting that she was at work and not in her modest little home. Instead of homemaker, she was head chef of King Vegeta's kitchen, a title she had been blessed to have by her sheer ability to make delicious foods.
"But I'm hungry, I've never had food like that before!" He whimpered, and attempted to crawl up her leg. Gine whirled around in shock as she realized he was in fact physically here, and she was not just imagining things.
"Raditz!" She hissed, her dark brown eyes widening as he scattered back and smiled sheepishly.
"What are you doing here?!" Gine covered her round cheeks with her hands, more terrified than angry, as she glanced at the doors worriedly.
"I want to eat here tonight! Can we?" He asked innocently, and she hushed him, "Shh! No... No little one, you need to go back to the nursery! You cannot be here!" Gine threw her hands out in frustration, then turned quickly and stirred the pot before it boiled over. Her tail curled around the handle of a frying pan to sauté some fried vegetables before she turned to look over her shoulder at him, frowning.
"Return there, and please keep an eye on your brother Kakarot! I swear, those den mothers are more focused on the science of making children rather than watching them-oops!" She attempted to censor herself, but Raditz only tilted his head naively.
"But-"
"Run along now, before Ankja gets back!" She huffed, puffing out her rosy cheeks. She didn't want to have to use excessive force on the child, but she was extremely busy and didn't have time for his endless questions he always seemed to be full of. The door swung open and the younger girl walked in, holding a large crate. Raditz scurried under the counter by his mother's feet as the woman came over and set down the wooden crate.
"Whew! I gathered plenty of ruuters, but have mercy on the gods! The garden is in ruins! Rendo was knocked senseless! Somehow an intruder snuck in and tripped him, the hole came from the training fields!" She whispered sharply, in fear of the wrath of Queen Vasenya if she knew her flower garden was in shambles, not to mention the statue of her beloved husband beheaded.
"It was now, eh? Hmm. This is not good, were you able to save the vegetables?"
"Yes.. they will be fine if we can move them, the entire garden is just a mud slick..The Visage of Vegeta exploded! Water everywhere!" Raditz cringed with each word, as he was deftly kicked in the gut under the table as punishment. His mother was kinder than some Saiyan mothers, but she had grown accustomed to enacting punishment when needed, or else Raditz would never learn.
"Such a tragedy, all that work you've done to make it beautiful! Destroyed! Here, assist me once you wash up, perhaps I can help get things in order once the feast is ready."
They moved on to finish the work that needed to be done, hurriedly putting together enough for an army, but it was no skin off Gine's back. Her small, lithe body darted quickly from place to place as she prepped each item, and as they were distracted, Raditz took this opportunity to sneak out at last.
Freedom! He thought, having given up on getting a sample of the feast, he had other ideas in mind. More mischievous, more exciting than food! He darted through a crowded washroom, seeing towering dishes, and the women scrubbing them. Soap was slopped on the floor as he startled them with his speed, the scullery maids washing dishes screamed and fell as he darted between their long skirts and got tangled up, effectively knocking them over. Raditz shook off soap suds from his hair as he dashed away, grumbling to himself.
He made a querulous little growl as he paused to look around, seeing the dark, dimly lit walls around him he could only assume he had not made it into the castle quarters yet. The castle was massive; the servants quarters alone were like a maze of separate rooms hidden within the walls, with secret passageways for the maids and servants. Raditz sniffed, attempting to use his sense of smell.
What do snobby, smug-faced princes smell like? He wondered to himself, he'd never gotten close enough to tell.
"Make way! You, grab those platters!"
He heard the familiar yell of his mother and froze, ducking into a dark corner. Then a small grin formed on his cheeks as the maids began toting out the many platters of food, directly past him and to the dining hall. It was too perfect, in fact, it was like destiny was calling him, and in response his stomach roared.
He waited for an opening, then followed not far behind, watching as a switch was activated and the whirring of a machine startled him. He watched, puzzled as they placed the platters through a window, where on the other side they were taken, presumably to be placed on the dining table. He curled his tail with anxiety, watching closely for any more movement as the maids returned to their posts, and the door began to close.
Raditz hopped up and scrambled through, hearing a loud tear but disregarding it and he shimmied through just before it closed on his tail. He hopped out, looking all around and licking his lips eagerly at the spread before him. His jaw nearly dropped as he smelled; practically tasted the heavy, cloying, succulent sweet scent of food. His tongue swiped over his canines, then he ran over to the table, hopping up in a chair and nabbing a large, juicy drumstick off one of the many roasted ducks. He bit in savagely and tore off a large chunk of meat, gulping it down so fast he barely tasted it in his eagerness.
Not long after, there was the shuffling of feet in the corridor, and Raditz darted under the table, after snatching a handful of stuffing out of the duck to hold himself over until his next chance. The heavy wooden chairs pulled out from the table, and there were murmurs of conversation as the royal family sat down for their mid-day dining. The butlers and maids stood at the end of the long table, ready to attend to anyone's needs as the family settled in. Raditz was startled to hear his mother's voice, and looked over to see her familiar, scuffed boots at the end of the table.
Wow! My momma cooks for the king... !
He realized, with delayed admiration.
"It's with my greatest thanks that I have the pleasure of presenting you with the highest quality meats from Planet Parme today, the roast duck was acquired by his majesty the King himself during their hunting expedition. I hope you all enjoy it."
"You are dismissed." A low voice said, with no thanks in it.
"A splendid spread. As expected of you." A female voice said apologetically, but with a refined air that would refuse to verbally thank the commoner chef.
Gine bowed and left the room, wiping the sweat off her brow, and the heavy door closed with a resounding thud. The clinking of silverware alerted Raditz that it was time to eat, and his head perked up, looking at the varying feet and legs above him.
"The duck is missing a leg, my dear. We will have to deduct that from her pay." The queen said haughtily, with a disgusted scoff. Raditz watched as she crossed her long, shapely pale legs with criss cross straps going up from her sandals, a flowy blue gown trailed onto the floor from beneath her, her tail moving around and wagging as if agitated.
"Disgusting! How dare they place their grubby paws on our meal! She should have her hands cut off!" An annoyingly nasal, raspy little voice chimed out from the higher chair, with pillows padding it so that his highness the prince could reach the table as he kicked his feet out in his anger.
There was a low, grating chuckle from the very head of the table, where two thick, muscled legs daubed in a dark blue material, with white boots with gold tips resounded.
"Foolish child, if we cut off her hands, she will no longer be of any use to us. No, we shall deduct it from her pay as your mother suggested. Now, let us eat."
They began to dig into the food, as well-mannered as Saiyans could, with Raditz pouting angrily beneath the table as he licked the stuffing from his fingers.
Deduct her pay? What do they mean? Will my mommy be punished for what I did?
He sucked one finger worriedly, his brows furrowed upwards. Raditz was very young, but he knew that money was something important; his mommy often gave him coins to buy sweets at the market if he behaved. If they deduced her pay, they could no longer afford that. Things were meager at best, even with Bardock's missions, he received pay only for when he was successful, and that pay was divided amongst his purge team.
Gine had retired from her soldier's life when she became pregnant with Raditz; having to leave the team, she decided she wanted to pursue her career goals. So, from shortly after the time Raditz was consummated, he was placed in a birth pod like all Saiyan children. Gine began her hard work to impress the king with her cooking, it was tireless work; she first began as a scullery maid, then worked up to a kitchen maid, and then at last when she had snuck a new thing she had discovered, that she called seasonings into the head chef's cooking. The royal family demanded to know who had discovered such a tasty thing, and when it was revealed to be her, the last chef was quickly retired and she took his place.
There was the sound of a throat clearing, then the pop of a wine bottle as the butler filled glasses for the king and queen.
"Mmm, this fermented Ox blood wine is quite rich!" Vasenya giggled, her tail wrapping beneath the table with King's
"It should be, It was slain in the year 635, on Planet Dunessa, that particular Ox Demon was the largest and most powerful of the Ox Demon Tribe. I slayed it with my own bare hands, ripped its jugular out and feasted on its entrails."
"Daddy! Tell us how you slaughtered its people!" The little tail wiggled excitedly, and the family seemed amused by the gory tale as Raditz crept along, looking up at the edge of the table and pulling a string of roasted chestnuts off a platter.
"...Then I blasted the beast up its backside with my Galactic Sword piercer, and I was washed in a hot wave of beast blood, when I tasted it I realized how delicious it was and I ordered my men to quickly bottle it before it soured."
Raditz munched down the chestnuts, becoming more hungry as he listened to the king's tales of conquest, he reached up and managed to nab a kabob of interesting meat and vegetables.
"I would like to partake in the beast's blood as well!" The raspy little voice of Prince Vegeta demanded, and his mother tutted reprimandingly.
"Now, child, you are too young to partake in adult malts. It will stunt your growth." Queen Vasenya warned, with her warm velvety voice.
"Let him have it, he should have a strong tolerance, if he is ever drugged he will learn to resist it." The King said, and Vegeta giggled excitedly, his tail twitching as they poured him a glass. Raditz growled, wishing to bite down on the tail of the spoiled brat.
"Ppppbbbbtt!" He spat, "Blech! This is unpalatable! Fetch me a new refresher, dog!" Vegeta snapped, as his parents chuckled. The man-servant fumbled to quickly apologize, pouring him a glass of Xenoba juice instead. The Xenoba fruit looked much like a peach, but had the pleasant sweetness of strawberries.
"Ah, much better. It's blood red as well, but has a much more preferable flavor. " He hissed, crossing his legs.
Raditz rolled his eyes, brushing his hands off on his tunic. Spoiled brat. He saw a large chunk of meat fall to the floor and quickly grabbed it, holding it by the bone and curling up on the floor to gnaw on it as he listened to the boring conversation of the adults.
"...Prince Tarble is doing well, dear. I checked his pod this evening, he should be born within the month."
"Ah, good. Then he shall begin his ki training, I'll let the old master know that he is ready."
Raditz furrowed his eyebrows, Royal children begin training from birth?!
"I wish to go hunting this evening, father. I want to show you my new Galick Pistol on something moving! It shot a slave cleanly through the heart!" Vegeta said excitedly, and Raditz jumped when he saw a blue aura surround the other child.
"Perhaps, I have matters to attend to this evening. We shall be expecting the Cold's at the end of the week, once they return from their conquests of the East Galaxy."
"Oh, darling! Can't we hold them off?! Where shall we put Prince Tarble!" Queen Vasenya asked, frantic. The King calmed her, stroking her leg with his tail.
"Do not fret, we have nothing to worry about. Our army has been doing extraordinarily well under their regime, I see no reason to panic, darling."
"But, Vegeta! I despise that cold-blooded lizard child! Have you seen the way he eyes Prince Vegeta?"
"He is eyeing him for his strength! Quiet yourself, woman!"
King Vegeta bellowed, with a hard thud on the table with his fist. Raditz jumped, gulping. The Colds are coming! That means father will be leaving once again!He shivered, recalling the things he had heard about King Cold and Prince Frieza, it sent a chill down his spine just thinking of the deadly duo. The chairs began pulling out, as the meal was over and the King's mood was soured. Queen Vasenya picked up Vegeta in her arms and pouted as the King glared at her and the child.
"I shall put him down for a nap, then we will commence mating for the princess, will that please you darling...?" She said softly, hoping to recant her offenses.
"No. He is coming hunting with me. Attend to Prince Tarble. I want him removed from the birth pod this instant, he will begin his ki training immediately." He demanded, pulling the child from her arms.
"But he is not ready!" She cried, clutching his arm desperately.
"We will be ready, none of my children shall be defenseless if I have any say in the matter. I will expect your submission to me later this evening, until then you will respect my command, my wife." He ordered, and she sniffed, looking up at him and kissing him on each cheek submissively.
The King turned around, taking Vegeta with him. Raditz's eyes widened, watching the family retreat with a thrumming heart.
The Hunt! A royal hunt!
