427 Vette: Thank you for your comments, both the good and the criticisms. The Dragonball way of life? That's a bit elusive isn't it? Let's face it, Funimation didn't really do such a great job in several areas of sticking with Toriyama's "vision" in their translations. So which way of life are you talking about? Funimation's, or Toriyama's? Yes of course there are numerous subtle, and some not so subtle ideas of what my religious and political views happen to be, as well as hints about my views on Man/Woman relationships, and a number of such issues. How can a writer write, and not put a little of him/her self into it? It's not possible. If writers of fan fiction were made to write in such a sterile manner, none of them would be fun to read. Through all of that, however, I do feel like I did a pretty good job of keeping people in character, or at least believable transitional character (people do change over time).
Yes, it was very awesome when Goku reached Super Saiyan. And awesome when Gohan first went Super Saiyan Two and defeated Cell. Then Goku pushed the envelope farther and went Super Saiyan Three, and then Gotenks did the same.
I was awestruck the first time I watched someone break the 4-minute mile barrier. These things are still awesome events.
"What cannot be conceived of today will certainly be done tomorrow, and in the next generation become common-place events."
Albert Einstein.
The original deeds are still awesome.
As far as Goku and Vegeta ALWAYS being the head honcho heroes coming in to save the day, well even Goku realized that his time was done way back in the Buu series when he took a chance on Gotenks beating Buu instead of doing it himself. Sure, he had to come in later and finish the job, but he had to know that one day the next generation would have to step up to the tasks at hand.
Again, thank you very much for taking the time and effort to post such a well thought out and detailed review.
Flameraven: Yep, you're right Epilogue is at the end, Prologue is at the beginning. My bad. Thanks for the save!
Now on with the story!
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Bulma gave Abigail and Videl a gravity belt to wear before donning one herself. "The Gravity on the Planet Vegeta is ten times that of Earth. We'll need these until our bodies can acclimate to the gravity. Bulma looked at Chi-Chi with no small amount of jealousy. "You won't be needed one I guess."
Goku, Vegeta, Chi-Chi, Bulma, Videl, and Abigail materialized in front of Roger and Yambia in the Royal Plaza outside of the Palace and Arena.
Vegeta looked around. Everything was as he remembered it when he was a boy. A smile crept to his lips as he remembered terrorizing the entire court.
"Prince Vegeta?" Roger said.
Vegeta turned to find everyone down on one knee, with their hand on their chest and their eyes downcast. Even Goku assumed the Saiyan position of respect.
"Will you accompany us Prince Vegeta?" Roger asked.
Vegeta followed Roger who took up the traditional forward guard position and noticed with a grin that Raditz, Bardock, Nappa, and Romaine took up the side flanks and rear guard position. Vegeta stopped and motioned Bulma to join him. Goku, Chi-Chi, and Videl took up the position directly behind Vegeta as was customary for honored guests.
"So this is why Kakkarot insisted on my wearing my royal armor." Vegeta smiled as he took his mate's arm in his own and continued the procession.
Roger led them into the arena, which was full of Saiyans. Not an empty seat in the house. In the middle of the arena was his son Trunks, his grandson Trunks Jr. Off to the side was his Father and Mother, both with halos. Vegeta looked into his mother's eyes, he hadn't seen her since he was a toddler, he started to call to her but she put her finger to her lips in a shushing motion. She then mouthed the word "later". Vegeta was led up to the dais where King Kai was waiting for him. Bulma was at his side.
"I would like to start by saying that I am honored that I have been asked to officiate this coronation." King Kai started then looked at Vegeta.
"Vegeta of the Royal House of Vegeta, Prince of the Saiyans, Keeper of the Sword of the Saiyans, please kneel before me and your people." King Kai said.
"Prince Vegeta, it is the consensus of your people, and by permission of your father, that on this day you become King Vegeta, and shall rule over all the Saiyan houses in perpetuity or until your people deem you unfit for such duties. Do you accept the charge that has been placed upon you?"
"I do sir." Vegeta answered.
"Your sword please." King Kai asked.
The sword appeared in Vegeta's hand without effort. With both hands he held the sword aloft and King Kai took it by the hilt.
King Kai waved the sword from Vegeta's right shoulder to his left. "By the power invested in my be the people of the Planet Vegeta, I dub thee King Vegeta, King of all the Saiyans, Keeper of the Sword of the Saiyans, and protector of his people until death relieves him of his duties. At that point King Kai stepped back and Trunks approached with an ornate crown and placed it on his father's head. Arise King Vegeta! Vegeta stood up tall and proud as his grandson approached with the royal cape and the Crest of the House of Vegeta to secure it around Vegeta's shoulders. It was the very cape that Vegeta's father gave Trunks in Hell. Once the cape was securely fashioned, the new King Vegeta stepped forward and waved to his people. The resultant cheering was tremendous!
After the cheering died away a bit, Bura stepped up to the microphone and announced that all family heads and chosen representatives were invited to the King's reception starting immediately upon King Vegeta's arrival to the Palace.
With that the arena started to empty out. Most everyone would be going home to watch the reception on his or her vidscreens.
Vegeta turned to his daughter. "How did you manage all of this in just a couple of days?"
"It was easy father. When we got here every food storage area was full, even the cupboards in everyone's home. The electricity was running, everything we needed was right here. It was as if the Saiyans just left yesterday and came back." Bura said. "Most everyone has either found their old homes, or been placed in new ones."
"The Ultimate Kai's doing no doubt." Vegeta smirked.
"That's what we figured." Bura said.
Vegeta left the dais and passed his mate with the intention of entering the palace's southern entrance straight from the arena when he stopped. Something about his mate caught his attention. He looked at her, then at Videl, then at Abigail, his eyes widening each time.
"What is it Vegeta?" Bulma looked at him.
"Umm.... You three won't be needing those gravity belts anymore." Vegeta smirked.
"Oh, and why not?" Bulma said a bit impatient.
"Mommy! Mommy! I've got a tail!! I've got a tail just like Raditz!" Jessica came running up with Raditz close behind.
"What? How did that happen Raditz?" Abigail said.
"Same way this happened I guess!" Raditz reached around and took a soft hold on Abigail's tail.
It was then that both Bulma and Videl discovered their own tails.
"Ahhhhh! Vegeta what is going on here!" Bulma screamed.
"I suspect that The Ultimate Kai is doing us some favors." Vegeta said.
"Favor? You call this a favor?" Bulma said.
"I like it." Videl said.
"Me too." Abigail said.
Abigail looked to see if Jessica liked her tail only to see Jessica and little Gerald hanging upside down from a tree branch by their tails.
"Well, it looks like Jessica likes her tail." Abigail smiled.
"It's more than just the tail you know." Vegeta said. "You're all stronger, and faster than before. You're all Saiyan."
Bulma was still pouting a bit.
"I told you that you should have had a tail when we first met Bulma!" Goku teased.
"Ohhh You!" Bulma walked off, her tail twitching her anger with every step.
Vegeta watched her go. He wondered if she knew just how cute she was. He wondered if she knew what her new scent was doing to him.
"Well, I guess I'd better go and find Gohan and give him the news." Videl said as she left the group.
"Oh! Speaking of Gohan, I promised to help him with setting up the reception!" Yambia said. "C'mon Gerald, let's go!"
Gerald floated in front of the upside down Jessica for just a second. Then he smiled. "See ya!" He cheerfully called as he flew towards his mother.
"I'll help you out too!" Roger said and flew off after his wife and son.
Raditz blushed for a second. "Well, I guess I've never actually asked you this officially or anything, but will you live here with me? I will live on Earth if you want." Raditz added quickly.
"No Raditz, I can be happy here. And I don't think you could ever be happy on Earth." Abigail smiled.
Raditz sighed. "No, I liked the Earthlings, they are quite a people. But I don't think I could live with them long."
"So, where are we living, specifically?" Abigail said.
"Well, that might present a problem. I was living with my father when the planet blew up. It was just a stroke of luck that I happened to be off planet when Frieza attacked." Raditz said. "I don't really have a home of my own yet."
"Well, I'm sure will make do." Abigail smiled at her warrior.
"Umm... I couldn't help over-hearing what you guys were talking about." A voice sounded behind them.
Raditz turned. "Oh hey Abigail, this is my Uncle Turles. Uncle, this is my mate Abigail."
"Nice to meet you Abigail, Raditz has told me a lot about you." Turles smiled.
"The pleasure is mine sir." Abigail answered.
"Your cousin, or I guess it would be your second cousin, Roota had a three bedroom house over off the second class residential section of town. If you're interested, I can give you the address." Turles said.
"Where will Roota stay?" Raditz asked.
"I'm afraid your second cousin Roota was always a stubborn Saiyan. He was one of the thousand or so Saiyans that decided to stay in Hell." Turles said sadly.
"I feel sorry for him. But we could really use the house." Raditz said. "Sure, we'll take it."
"Okay, I'll write out the address and give it to your father when I see him at the reception." Turles said.
"Thanks a lot Uncle!" Raditz said as he and Abigail left to join the reception.
Jessica hung back for just a moment or two, looking into the eyes of Turles.
Turles looked down and Jessica smiled. "Thank you Uncle Turles." Then Jessica ran off to catch up to Raditz and Abigail.
Turles looked after them for a moment or two. "Yeah kid, now where am I going to live?" Turles smirked and left to go to Bardock's house to clean up and change before coming to the reception. After all these years he still had the key his brother set him have.
Kirillin and 18 faced a similar problem. Quite a number of Saiyan houses witnessed Kirillin and 18 fighting and knew that they didn't have a place to stay. They had numerous offers to stay with various families until he got on his feet. But both Kirillin and 18 wanted a place of their own. They had enough of living under other people's roofs and made up their mind to do something about it.
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"Your highness. You're going to think I'm crazy, but an hour ago our long range sensors picked up energy emanations from system Q587. We decided to divert our course to investigate." A purple man with a long white trunk wheezed into a microphone.
"Q587? What system is that?" A disembodied voice returned.
"Vegeta sir. Where the Saiyans live..." The creature said.
"You mean lived, my cousin Frieza blew that planet up almost a century ago!" The voice came back.
"No your highness. I mean live. I'm picking up vid transmissions. They just crowned Prince Vegeta as their new King!" The creature exclaimed.
"What? How is that possible?" The void said. "Get back here at once! I want to see these transmissions myself!"
"Right away your lordship!" The creature turned his ship and headed directly for the western quadrant.
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The reception was a huge success. Most of the talk centered around the battle. The newly appointed King spent much of the evening trying to figure out why his mate was so moody. Her ki was different somehow as well, but Vegeta attributed that to her being Saiyan now.
Roger found himself to be the center of attention for quite a bit of the night. The Saiyans managed to piece together all of the details of the battle up until Rogeta teleported himself and Cordell to the center of the universe. They pumped Roger for information, and when it came to battle, Saiyans were not satisfied with any thing less than every detail!
Roger looked over at Vegeta who seemed to be similarly assailed. Their eyes met and the smirked at each other.
Roger excused himself after his audience seemed satisfied that every detail was wrung out of Roger's story, and he walked across to his mate and Abigail, who seemed to have the big warrior Raditz backed into a corner giving him the third degree. Raditz looked decidedly uncomfortable.
Roger thought he was rescuing his friend and showing male solidarity. Instead he ended up trapped like a big Saiyan rat.
"What's going on?" Roger started.
Yambia gave her mate a sidelong glance grinning the whole time.
"Abigail wants a real wedding. On Earth, with… How did she put it? Allt he trimmings?" Yambia said.
"And Raditz is.. Shall we say.. Resistant." Abigail crossed her arms and smiled up at Raditz.
"I just don't see the point! We are already bonded per Saiyan custom!" Raditz said.
"Raditz has a point Abigail. We're all Saiyans now living on the Planet Vegeta. Why do they need a wedding?" Roger said.
Abigail turned on both Roger and Raditz. "Look you lumbering, misogynistic, mono-browed oalfs! "
"What'd she say?" Raditz whispered.
"You don't really want to know." Roger whispered back.
"All of my life I've waited for my Prince Charming to come along dreaming of the day I would walk down the aisle with my friends and family all around. So what happens? The first son-of-a-bitch convinces me to elope, then sneaks out the back before the wedding even starts. DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA AT ALL WHAT IT IS LIKE TO BE LEFT STANDING AT THE ALTER AT THE EMPORIUM O' LOVE??
"Umm. No,.." Raditz said.
"Can't say as I do." Roger said.
"Now since that time I've had to lower my expectations from Prince Charming." Abigail said.
"Should I feel insulted?" Raditz whispered.
"Probably." Roger returned.
"BUT IF IT TAKES YANKING A KNOT IN EVERY SAIYAN'S TAIL ON THE PLANET, I WILL HAVE MY WEDDING!" Abigail screamed.
"I think that you should just agree to this Raditz. Think of it as a chance to learn more about Earth culture or something." Roger whispered.
"Ok woman. Plan your wedding." Raditz said.
"Thank you my love. We'll be planning a double wedding for next month." Abigail said.
"Double wedding?" Roger said.
"Yes love. I promised your mother that you would make an honest woman of me, according to Earth customs." Yambia winked.
Roger started to say something, but decided against it. "Sounds good lover." Roger smiled.
"I thought it would." Yambia winked. Yambia and Abigail walked off talking about wedding dresses.
"We are defeated." Raditz finally said.
"They didn't even go Super Saiyan!" Roger grinned.
"Hell, they didn't even break a sweat!" Raditz chuckled.
Roger and Raditz looked at each other and broke out laughing.
"I wonder if Vegeta will be my best man?" Roger said and started the laughter over.
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A young man stood before the great King Emma.
"So, Lumbistru, I had to send to the archives to get your original paperwork." King Emma complained. "Under conditions such as this, there is only one way to give you another chance. That's a complete memory wipe and reincarnation."
"Lumbistru will do it." Lumbistru said.
"Ok, now where to put you?" King Emma began to search the cosmos with his mind. A smile came to King Emma's lips. "Never let it be said that I lack a sense of humor."