I do not own DBZ, or any of it's regular characters. However, my children
do own several action figures that sometimes get caught in the vacuum
cleaner. I did a number on Frieza last year with the lawn mower. He
hasn't quite been the same since that time.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Vegeta looked at his watch on the bathroom counter, 2:30 PM, t-minus 3.5 hours until launch. "Ouch! That was some workout with Trunks!" Vegeta smiled as he remembered his opening attack. "Hehehehe.. The look on Trunk's face!! Absolutely priceless!! I wish I'd had a camera!" The three words that Vegeta had only used a few times and only with Bulma was not easy for Vegeta to say. First of all, only softhearted slobs used words like that, and secondly, Vegeta was so unaccustomed to using them that he really didn't much know how or when they should be used. Vegeta was always afraid of sounding insincere, or flip. If he learned anything at all from his relationship with Bulma is that these words had power like no others, and shouldn't be taken lightly. So, he opted not to use them at all, until today. "Hehehehe.. It took Trunks a full thirty seconds to recover and direct his full attention back to the fact that I was beating the crap out of him." Vegeta then remembered what came next. "I love you too, father" Trunks said with a wide grin just before powering up a bit more and returning Vegeta's attack with a vengeance. "I'm going to be sore for a week!" Vegeta moaned. "But it's worth every bruise!" Vegeta stepped out of the shower, dried, and dressed in a pair of black sweatpants, and a black tee-shirt that he had the textile division of CC make for him with "BAD MAN" silk-screened on the back. Then left the forward bathroom and headed towards the front of the ship, and into the pilothouse. Vegeta was just about to search for the coordinates for New Namek to download into the ship's computer when a sudden movement and a small voice startled Vegeta into a defensive posture.
"I've already taken care of that father" Bra declared from the environmental control panel.
"Good Dende Bra!! Don't you know any better than to sneak up on a warrior like that?? And just what is up with that any ways! That's the second time today someone of a significant fighting power has taken me by surprise! When did you and your brother get THAT good at hiding your ki?" Vegeta let the ki ball that formed in his hand dissipate.
"Well father" Bra returned, "I don't know about Trunks, but I wasn't making any special effort to lower or hide my ki. Perhaps you've just been preoccupied lately."
"Don't patronize me daughter! You know as well as I do why I didn't feel your presence." Vegeta looked away.
Bra knew that her father was taking getting old very hard, so she simply nodded her head.
"I heard most of what you and Trunks was talking about. I got to say that I don't fully understand." Bra ventured.
"It's Ok princess, you're strong, but you're not a warrior like your brother. It would be hard for you to fully understand. The only thing I really need you to understand right now is that I need to do this for my own reasons." Vegeta smiled. "Just call it one of those Saiyan Prince/Pride things."
"But why do you have to go off and die dad?" Bra started crying.
"We all have to die Bra, I'm just trying to choose how I die. I want to die in a manner more befitting a warrior." Vegeta explained.
Bra felt like a little girl again, even though she was approaching 50 years old herself. She reached out and embraced her father, crying into his chest. Vegeta put his arms around her, and just held her. He found himself rocking back and forth on his feet, the way Bulma had shown him when Bra was just an infant in order to quiet her. That is, on the few occasions that Vegeta permitted such contact.
"If this is what you must do, if this will make you happy, then I won't try to stop you." Bra cried, muffled against Vegeta's chest.
"I knew I could count on my princess." Vegeta said, tears flowing down his own cheeks for the second time that day.
Vegeta held his daughter for as long as he could, finally releasing her. "Well, I got to prepare to get this rust bucket in the air."
"Rust bucket? Well I'll have you know that this craft is still state of the art and in good condition! Did you forget that I was the project team leader for this baby! This ship will get you there and not so much as break a sweat!" Bra said, prideful of her accomplishment.
Vegeta sweatdropped, "Just like her mother!" Vegeta thought, "Yeah, I guess I did forget about that. Well then, tell me everything I need to know to get to New Namek."
Over the next hour, Bra filled her father in on the technical aspects of the ship, navigation, hyperdrive, stealth technology, the works.
"And your course is all laid in to the coordinates for New Namek. Basically, you just launch and the guidance computers take over as soon as you're airborn. " Bra finished.
Being no stranger to spacecraft, and galactic travel, Vegeta was quite impressed with this ship. "Tell me Bra, why didn't you design some defensive weapons for this baby?"
"Mom said that if we were to design weapons on the same level of technology as the rest of the ship that humans would use them against each other. She said she did not want that on her conscience."
"I see, the humans seem to be creative enough in their methods of killing one another without our help." Vegeta mused.
"Exactly" Bra answered.
"Still, I'd feel a bit better if the thing had a couple of measly ion blasters, or something." Vegeta stated.
"Well, if you could give me a week or so, I could rig something up." Bra looked at Vegeta hopefully. Bra was not above exaggerating her time estimates to keep her daddy on Earth for a bit longer.
Vegeta smiled inwardly, knowing what his only daughter was up to. "Well, thanks for the offer, but I think that the stealth features should see me safe to New Namek.
"By the way, when you get to New Namek, press this green button. Thirty minutes after the button is pressed the ship will launch, return to Earth, and land itself in this hangar. Capsule Corp is financially at the top of the game, but we still can't afford to toss multi-trillion zeni ships into space and not retrieve them." Bra smirked.
"Understood… Anything else?" Vegeta asked.
"No, I think that about covers it." Bra anwered.
Vegeta embraced his daughter one last time. "I will miss you the most Princess!"
"I love you father." Bra cried.
"I love you too my daughter."
With that, Bra left the ship and flew up and out of the hangar, sobbing the whole way.
Bra flew across the compound, straight to the office buildings where she flew into an open window on the upper most floor, where she joined her brother. They embraced for just a moment, then both turned and stared out the window towards the sub-lab hangar.
"Well, I hope mom and Goku are right that this is the right thing to do." Trunks said.
"Please trust us son!" Bulma's disembodied voice pleaded.
"There is so much more at stake than Vegeta's life, Trunks. You must trust us." Goku's voice joined in.
"We do trust you both, and thanks." Trunks said.
With that, Trunks and Bra felt their psychic link to their long passed loved ones fade out.
Author's note: I have decided, for the sake of this fic's continuity, and my own sanity, to leave the plots of the movies out of this story. That isn't currently apparent, but will be in the next chapter. I will explain it then.
Please review!! I love reviews!!
~~~~~~~~~~~
Vegeta looked at his watch on the bathroom counter, 2:30 PM, t-minus 3.5 hours until launch. "Ouch! That was some workout with Trunks!" Vegeta smiled as he remembered his opening attack. "Hehehehe.. The look on Trunk's face!! Absolutely priceless!! I wish I'd had a camera!" The three words that Vegeta had only used a few times and only with Bulma was not easy for Vegeta to say. First of all, only softhearted slobs used words like that, and secondly, Vegeta was so unaccustomed to using them that he really didn't much know how or when they should be used. Vegeta was always afraid of sounding insincere, or flip. If he learned anything at all from his relationship with Bulma is that these words had power like no others, and shouldn't be taken lightly. So, he opted not to use them at all, until today. "Hehehehe.. It took Trunks a full thirty seconds to recover and direct his full attention back to the fact that I was beating the crap out of him." Vegeta then remembered what came next. "I love you too, father" Trunks said with a wide grin just before powering up a bit more and returning Vegeta's attack with a vengeance. "I'm going to be sore for a week!" Vegeta moaned. "But it's worth every bruise!" Vegeta stepped out of the shower, dried, and dressed in a pair of black sweatpants, and a black tee-shirt that he had the textile division of CC make for him with "BAD MAN" silk-screened on the back. Then left the forward bathroom and headed towards the front of the ship, and into the pilothouse. Vegeta was just about to search for the coordinates for New Namek to download into the ship's computer when a sudden movement and a small voice startled Vegeta into a defensive posture.
"I've already taken care of that father" Bra declared from the environmental control panel.
"Good Dende Bra!! Don't you know any better than to sneak up on a warrior like that?? And just what is up with that any ways! That's the second time today someone of a significant fighting power has taken me by surprise! When did you and your brother get THAT good at hiding your ki?" Vegeta let the ki ball that formed in his hand dissipate.
"Well father" Bra returned, "I don't know about Trunks, but I wasn't making any special effort to lower or hide my ki. Perhaps you've just been preoccupied lately."
"Don't patronize me daughter! You know as well as I do why I didn't feel your presence." Vegeta looked away.
Bra knew that her father was taking getting old very hard, so she simply nodded her head.
"I heard most of what you and Trunks was talking about. I got to say that I don't fully understand." Bra ventured.
"It's Ok princess, you're strong, but you're not a warrior like your brother. It would be hard for you to fully understand. The only thing I really need you to understand right now is that I need to do this for my own reasons." Vegeta smiled. "Just call it one of those Saiyan Prince/Pride things."
"But why do you have to go off and die dad?" Bra started crying.
"We all have to die Bra, I'm just trying to choose how I die. I want to die in a manner more befitting a warrior." Vegeta explained.
Bra felt like a little girl again, even though she was approaching 50 years old herself. She reached out and embraced her father, crying into his chest. Vegeta put his arms around her, and just held her. He found himself rocking back and forth on his feet, the way Bulma had shown him when Bra was just an infant in order to quiet her. That is, on the few occasions that Vegeta permitted such contact.
"If this is what you must do, if this will make you happy, then I won't try to stop you." Bra cried, muffled against Vegeta's chest.
"I knew I could count on my princess." Vegeta said, tears flowing down his own cheeks for the second time that day.
Vegeta held his daughter for as long as he could, finally releasing her. "Well, I got to prepare to get this rust bucket in the air."
"Rust bucket? Well I'll have you know that this craft is still state of the art and in good condition! Did you forget that I was the project team leader for this baby! This ship will get you there and not so much as break a sweat!" Bra said, prideful of her accomplishment.
Vegeta sweatdropped, "Just like her mother!" Vegeta thought, "Yeah, I guess I did forget about that. Well then, tell me everything I need to know to get to New Namek."
Over the next hour, Bra filled her father in on the technical aspects of the ship, navigation, hyperdrive, stealth technology, the works.
"And your course is all laid in to the coordinates for New Namek. Basically, you just launch and the guidance computers take over as soon as you're airborn. " Bra finished.
Being no stranger to spacecraft, and galactic travel, Vegeta was quite impressed with this ship. "Tell me Bra, why didn't you design some defensive weapons for this baby?"
"Mom said that if we were to design weapons on the same level of technology as the rest of the ship that humans would use them against each other. She said she did not want that on her conscience."
"I see, the humans seem to be creative enough in their methods of killing one another without our help." Vegeta mused.
"Exactly" Bra answered.
"Still, I'd feel a bit better if the thing had a couple of measly ion blasters, or something." Vegeta stated.
"Well, if you could give me a week or so, I could rig something up." Bra looked at Vegeta hopefully. Bra was not above exaggerating her time estimates to keep her daddy on Earth for a bit longer.
Vegeta smiled inwardly, knowing what his only daughter was up to. "Well, thanks for the offer, but I think that the stealth features should see me safe to New Namek.
"By the way, when you get to New Namek, press this green button. Thirty minutes after the button is pressed the ship will launch, return to Earth, and land itself in this hangar. Capsule Corp is financially at the top of the game, but we still can't afford to toss multi-trillion zeni ships into space and not retrieve them." Bra smirked.
"Understood… Anything else?" Vegeta asked.
"No, I think that about covers it." Bra anwered.
Vegeta embraced his daughter one last time. "I will miss you the most Princess!"
"I love you father." Bra cried.
"I love you too my daughter."
With that, Bra left the ship and flew up and out of the hangar, sobbing the whole way.
Bra flew across the compound, straight to the office buildings where she flew into an open window on the upper most floor, where she joined her brother. They embraced for just a moment, then both turned and stared out the window towards the sub-lab hangar.
"Well, I hope mom and Goku are right that this is the right thing to do." Trunks said.
"Please trust us son!" Bulma's disembodied voice pleaded.
"There is so much more at stake than Vegeta's life, Trunks. You must trust us." Goku's voice joined in.
"We do trust you both, and thanks." Trunks said.
With that, Trunks and Bra felt their psychic link to their long passed loved ones fade out.
Author's note: I have decided, for the sake of this fic's continuity, and my own sanity, to leave the plots of the movies out of this story. That isn't currently apparent, but will be in the next chapter. I will explain it then.
Please review!! I love reviews!!