Alliance - part 4

Four comets streaked across the sky, ki trails hanging in the air long after they had passed.

No one spoke. Kakarot was lost in thought as they sped toward Roshi's house, the designated meeting place for the Z warriors. Chi Chi and Krillen were dead, age and disease having taken them. Bulma was alive, but old and unwell. Roshi — well, he was already about 400 years old and would probably live another 400! Yamcha and Tien hadn't been seen in years. Piccolo was still enforcing the law in hell.

He was a grandfather again. Goten had finally married Marron and they had a son and a daughter. In a burst of rare humor, Vejita had suggested they call their daughter Eighteen-and-a-half. They settled on Kara. Eighteen herself had just disappeared one day. No one knew where.

He was a great-grandfather, too. Pan and Trunks (he still couldn't get used to the idea) had a son, Goku. Bra had a son, but never married. Gohan intimated that he thought it was Goten's, but that they both denied it. Vejita just smirked.

Vejita. Kakarot couldn't get over seeing him again. He knew that when he embarked on this long-term journey there could be an anomaly. He just didn't think it would be Vejita. And this whole scenario shouldn't be happening, anyway.

He looked the same as always. Saiyans just never aged, he had said long ago. It was the fighting that kept them young. The man flying by his side was proof of that. He didn't look any different from the man he had left on the ship. Except this one had once cut his hair.

As Turtle Island came into sight, they swooped over the water, splitting it in their wakes. Pan, Trunks, and Videl ran out of the house waving their arms excitedly. Kakarot touched down and was immediately engulfed by the trio, all asking questions and crying at the same time. Roshi just leaned on his staff and smiled. Turtle craned his neck and laughed his slow laugh.

"Ojiisan!" Pan cried. "Tell us everything! The last time we saw you, you rode off on Shen-Long."

"It's a long story, Pan," he said, suddenly sober. "We don't have much time. In fact, we may not have any time at all."

The group sat at Roshi's table and Kakarot told them the whole story in a nutshell. "By the way, how did you know I was coming?"

"Kaio-shin contacted Master Roshi. He said you were coming and trouble was following you," Gohan said.

Kakarot looked at Vejita who was standing against a wall, arms and legs crossed. "Double trouble," Kakarot murmured. Vejita smirked.

"I guarantee they've tracked our kis and they'll be here soon." He drew his hand across his eyes. "I'm getting such a feeling of déja vu."

"What should we do, dad?" Goten asked.

"Well," Vejita said. "I say we just destroy them."

The Saiyan general burst out laughing trying to imagine Vejita destroying Vejita. He found himself looking forward to the encounter. He couldn't wait to see the king's face.

"By the way, Kakarot. You never told us why you decided to be reborn." Vejita was looking at him evenly, for once neither scowling nor smirking.

"I..." He stood staring at Vejita with his mouth open. How was he going to say this? But he didn't need to. As one, every head swiveled at the approach of two powerful kis.

"Here they come," Kakarot said quietly. "Stay here until I've talked to them."

For once, even Vejita agreed.

The general took a deep breath and walked outside. He felt them before he saw them, and when he saw them, icy fingers ran up his spine.

With a WOOSH and a THOOM, Nappa and King Vejita landed and stood glaring at Kakarot, who squared his shoulders and held his head high. No one spoke. The king's tail was twitching furiously.

Then the king snarled, "I'm still trying to decide whether to kill you or not."

The general's face was passive. He drew himself up a little taller. "If you could hear me out..."

"HEAR YOU OUT?! You abandoned your post, you've..." The king was visibly controlling his rage. "You've betrayed us," he hissed.

"I haven't betrayed you..."

"You've sided with the ENEMY!"

"I've sided with my family!" he roared.

'Your..." The king's eyes widened and he staggered back several steps, gasping.

Behind Kakarot, the others had quietly walked outside. Vejita, Earth's Vejita, came up beside Kakarot with his arms crossed and his trademark smirk plastered on his face. Kakarot raised one eyebrow and continued to stare at the king.

The monarch's mouth was working, his face had turned pale. Nappa's jaw was nearly hanging on the ground.

"King Vejita," Kakarot said, the corners of his mouth twitching, "meet Prince Vejita."

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Gohan and the others were standing at ready. Videl, Pan and Roshi had wisely stayed in the house and were watching from an upstairs window. Kakarot's sons moved up alongside their father on the opposite side from Vejita, and Trunks stood beside his father. The five men formed a barrier dividing Earth from the invaders. Kakarot knew a battle would end in Nappa's and the king's defeat. He knew that they knew that, too. The king simply had not reckoned on his general's defection, and this put a serious wrinkle in their plans.

The king finally found his voice. "I...don't understand."

"I can explain if you'll let me," Kakarot said quietly, and for a moment, he thought the king would relent. But his hopes were shattered when the monarch clenched his fists and, with a scream of rage, burst into the sky, followed by a very perplexed Nappa.

Everyone but Vejita visibly relaxed, Vejita just said, "Hmph," and stalked back into the house. The intense moment over, Kakarot swayed unsteadily and Gohan caught him by the arm.

"Whoa, dad!"

"I think I'm just hungry, son," he said, and his stomach growled in agreement.

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Kakarot's sons, Trunks, and Videl all sat at Roshi's table silently, looking at their hands. The general had inhaled every last scrap of food in the house and was now snoring, sprawled out on Roshi's bed. Roshi, Pan and turtle had gone out for more groceries. Vejita had just taken off without a good-bye.

Gohan ran his hands through his thick spikes and sat back with a sigh.

"I don't get any of this," Goten said. Trunks looked at his best friend and nodded.

"Why would dad enlist his grandpa's help, obviously with the otherworld's permission, to be reborn? And it sounds like he may have done it more than once."

Gohan looked at Videl, whose hands were resting on the table edge. She started drumming her fingers and looked up at Gohan. A knowing glance passed between them.

Goten's head swiveled back and forth. "What?"

Trunks sighed. "I think I know."

"WHAT?!" Goten demanded.

"He said that this time it had worked. They defeated Frieza and the planet didn't blow up. Vejita got his kingdom back. That's what he was trying to do," Gohan said.

"But wouldn't that disrupt this timeline, too?"

"Maybe it did."

"Huh?"

"Maybe our whole history as we remember it is according to his timeline."

"But what about Vejita? He wouldn't be here, would he?"

"Goten, does it matter?" Videl asked. "Your dad is back and we have a new menace that must be dealt with."

Gohan's head lolled back. "Dad was right," he muttered.

"About what?"

"That every menace that came to Earth was because of him."

"That's ridiculous," Goten said.

"It's true." Every eye turned toward the door where Vejita stood. He strode through it and looked up the stairs where Kakarot's snores were loud enough to wake the dead. He had a familiar orange gi in his hand. "Being the strongest man in the universe is like being the fastest gun in the West. There's always going to be someone who thinks he can beat him."

Goten couldn't help himself. "Including you."

Vejita laughed, a loud bark. "Yes. Including me. Except this time, he brought the menace with him."

"Gohan said he did this to get your kingdom back."

Every eye was on Vejita's back as he continued to gaze up the stairs. For a long time he was silent.

"Looks like he succeeded," he said, and he began to climb the stairs.

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