Chapter 3
Vegeta-
Vegeta hated being with Kakarot, or Goku, as most people called him. It wasn't really for the reason everyone seemed to think. Sure, jealously was apart of it. After all, Vegeta was expected to be the best. His father had always pressed him to surpass the very warriors who were supposed to be Vegeta's bodyguards. What sense was there in having bodyguards who were weaker than you, though?
'He always acts like an idiot.' Vegeta glared at the sleeping Goku. That was the whole problem with their not-so-good relationship. Though he acted like an idiot whose brain cells had melted and dripped out one ear in the middle of the night, Kakarot looked just like any Saiyan soldier Vegeta remembered from his home world. The serious, proud soldiers who prided themselves would have been embarrassed at the comparison between them and Kakarot. In truth, it was only looking at Kakarot that Vegeta could remember Vegetasai.
Much to Vegeta's sorrow, the more time that passed, the more Vegetasai grew dim in his memory. He was starting to forget the little things he thought would never fade from his mind: his father's favorite meal, his youngest sisters' bell-like laugh. He even found himself trying to remember first and only night he'd watched the full moon rise at his father's side.
It was a glorious day in ever young Saiyan's life, the first moon rise. Vegeta had been four when his father had brought him out to a hill outside the castle and had put his hand on Vegeta's shoulder as the silver moon crept up over the horizon. "This is it, my son." King Vegeta had said, his voice deep with emotion. "Don't blink your eyes and don't say a word. Just let it come." And Vegeta had, reveling in the feeling of wild abandonment as he completely let go of his full Saiyan heritage.
'Even that's gone, now.' Vegeta thought. He no longer had a tail thanks to that horrible little human who'd cut it off. 'I still have to find him and kill him.' Vegeta reminded himself as an after thought. It didn't help Vegeta's pride that his children had their tails removed at birth. After all, the full moon rose ever month on Earth, not every seven years on Vegetasai. It would cost to much money and lives to allow Saiyans to have their ozaro form. 'As if money or human lives mean anything when it comes to pride and honor. The woman wanted it this way, though...and I never can resist her anything.'
Vegeta focused again on Kakorot and saw the legions of proud warriors, ready to embark on a new mission and crossing one arm over their chests, begging for the king's blessing for the endeavor. It was ceremonial, really. Of course the king would wish his troops well on their mission, the success of their mission meant food, clothes, and life itself for the Saiyan people. They weren't a people meant for creating their own technology or science, so fighting really was the only possible life for them.
It was the nature of the Saiyan people to lust for battle. Vegeta didn't understand it, he'd never thought about it until he'd encountered humans. No. That was a lie. Vegeta had never thought about his people's desire for violence before he'd met Bulma. It was only when the blue haired female had entered his life that Vegeta had any thoughts for anything other than battle.
His thoughts turned to mating and children, which had suddenly become just as important as fighting, if not more so. After all, children were the future of the doomed Saiyans. Kakorote's sons, Gohan and Goten, as well as Vegeta's beloved children, Trunks and Bra, were the only Saiyans who would live to carry on the race and they weren't even fully Saiyan.
There would be no more Saiyans after Vegeta and Kakarot died. The children would, most likely, interbreed with humans and the Saiyan blood would fade away.
Perhaps.
Perhaps not. The human blood actually seemed to make the children stronger, so perhaps more human blood would make them stronger still. 'I'll have to ask Bulma. She understands this all far better than I do.'
It saddened Vegeta more than he would ever admit to know how his proud race had fallen. Once the greatest fighters in the universe, fallen to slaves and now merely two refugees on a backwater rock in the middle of nowhere. The whole race of Saiyans now reduced to only two full-bloods and four half-bloods. It was worse than insulting or degrading. It was...it was...worth tears. For the death of his people, Vegeta could have broken down in tears, had he not been so proud. The only hope he had was that the children, for all that they had traces of human in them, were all stronger than their fathers. Rather, they had the potential to be stronger. Perhaps, with the death of the Saiyan people, the birth of a new race would bring great pride.
Vegeta recognized, when he took an outsiders look at his dead people, that Saiyans were self-destructive. Evolution had made a mistake when creating them and it seemed to be trying to correct that mistake. 'We were to violent for our own good. If we had been less addicted to our own power or less in love with fighting for fighting's sake, we would have been even greater. Not that I would ever change our history even if I were able to.' He paused and looked again at Kakarot. 'Our children will be greater. They will be the start of a new race and that race will rule the universe as Saiyan's once did.'
Yes. Perhaps it was time to stop looking at Kakarot and seeing the past. It was time to start looking at the children and to see the future.
'My Trunks will be a great warrior, but he's as smart as his mother. Saiyans were never great scientists or thinkers. With Chibi-Trunks, his people will never have to sell themselves to other races for technology or medicine.' Goten was so much like his father, almost identical to the man Vegeta was now traveling with. 'His love of fighting is unmatched, he'll be a good soldier to help my son when he is king. After all, Trunks is the crowned prince, it was only right that he should lead this new race.' Gohan, who had been a disappointment at first, in Vegeta's eyes, was starting to look valuable. 'He wants to be a teacher, does he? Well, a new race will need teachers. He'll make our race smarter. We'll have a whole society of fighters and intellectuals. Our children will rule.'
"Vegeta,"
Vegeta was jolted out of his thoughts by Kakarot's voice and he looked at his companion irritably. Again, in Kakarot's brown eyes, Vegeta saw the past. He saw the whole of his lost society, a civilization destroyed at the whim of that lizard creature, Frieze. He saw a lucky escapee, who'd never known life as a slave and had never had to feel the pain of losing everything in one terrible blow. Not just his father, not just his sisters, not just his home...everything. Kakarot had grown up happy and stupid on a world where there was no doubt about his strength and he wasn't hated for it. He was admired by the simple Earthlings and made into a hero.
"What is it, Kakarot?" Vegeta turned away. He didn't want to see what might have been had he and Kakarot changed lives. He didn't want to see that in another life he and Kakarot might have been comrades and even gone on missions together, competing in the Pit for the glories all great warriors received.
No.
Better not dwell on the past.
"How well do you think this thing works?" Kakarot poked and prodded at the control panels. "I know Bulma's a great inventor, but a dimension hopper? I know I'm not the brightest bulb in the basket, but this does seem kind of...weird."
This coming from a man who never noticed he turned into an ozaro every month until he was almost fourteen years old and then someone had to tell him before he realized it.
"The woman always knows what she's doing." Vegeta replied with complete faith. "Just shut up and go to sleep. I don't want to listen to your voice if I don't have to, it's bad enough we're both trapped in here together. Don't touch anything, I don't want you fouling it up."
Vegeta, made curious Kakarot's question, went to look at the complicated control panels. He'd been given all kinds of instructions on how to use the machine, especially on how to bring it safely back to Earth. He knew what buttons to push and what levers to pull even though Bulma had said 'My woman's machine seemed to be working properly. I think. She told me exactly what to do and I followed all her instructions, but it's hard to tell. Bulma's mind works a little differently than most people. She has a unique way of thinking and it's a little hard to understand her sometimes. Still, she said when we reached where we were supposed to be the red light on the third panel would flash and it was flashing right now.
Kakarot had been serious when we'd started out, but now that he was relatively certain the children we going to be safe, he was getting back to his normal self. How irritating. Currently, he had his ear pressed against the side of the machine. "I can't hear anything. Do you think we're there, yet?"
Vegeta rolled his eyes and struggled to remain calm. 'He was standing right next to me when Bulma explain the workings of this machine. I KNOW he's not as stupid as he acts, so why does he do this? I'll bet he's trying to push me over the edge. Yes, that's it. He's trying to drive me mad.' Finally, he said, "No. The woman said we'd land when the red light stopped flashing and the green light came on. The red light just means we're stopped crossing dimensions." Vegeta told Kakarot with a low growl.
"Ohhhhhh." Kakarot replied, making his eyes look as wide as possible. "Then we've landed, right?"
"You idiot! What did I just tell you? Not until..."
Kakarot pointed over Vegeta's head and Vegeta the pointed finger with his eyes, looking up to see the green light glowing brightly, right above his head. 'Yes, he's definitely trying to drive me mad.'
Still, before they opened the door, Kakarot turned serious again and Vegeta could tell that the taller Saiyan was readying himself for battle. There was no telling what they would find on the other side of the door. "Bulma said the kids could have ended up in open space." Kakarot said just before Vegeta pushed the button that would open the door. "Is there any way to tell where we are before the door opens?"
"No." That was a bit of a daunting thought. If they were in empty space, they would probably be lost forever or, more likely, die of asphyxiation the moment the doors opened.
Neither of them flinched away from their duty. "Right." Kakarot nodded. "I just wanted to know. Open the door."
When they opened the door and saw where they'd ended up, Vegeta couldn't hide his shock. He stared in open amazement at the fortress-like castle that stood only a short distance away. More mind numbing than the sight of the castle was the feel in the air.
On Earth, Vegeta had learned to sense power levels with his ki. He had gotten used to the feel of millions of Earthlings and their low levels with a few high levels mixed in. Most of those high levels were the people Vegeta associated with on a daily routine. He had learned to ignore the low levels, they just weren't worth noticing, after all. Here, though, Vegeta could feel millions of powerful levels. It was like...like being surrounded by an uncountable number of butterflies, all beating their wings against your skin. Vegeta could almost feel the power of the Saiyan people.
"Someone's coming." Kakarot muttered and Vegeta knew it was true. The feeling of power that tickled along his skin was getting closer. "I suppose they saw us land."
"Or felt us." Vegeta added. The power of the Saiyan's approaching really wasn't anything to worry about.
Goku-
Goku had never seen such a force in his life and he wondered what Vegeta thought about all this. Fifteen years ago, Goku would have found the twenty soldiers intimidating, but now he knew he was in no danger from them. Vegeta, the moment they'd stepped out of the Dimension Shifter, had gotten a look on his face that Goku had never seen there before. It was a look of unabashed wonderment.
"What is it?" Goku asked. It was a nice enough looking planet, but clearly it wasn't Earth. It just felt wrong. Goku had known since his earliest memories that Earth had a particular pulse, a rhythm that was distinctly Earth and could never be duplicated. This planet had it's own signature pulse, too. Deep inside, Goku felt something...stir.
It was something Goku hadn't felt since his first meeting with Raditz and then at the arrival of Vegeta and Napa, but those times had been only a brief spark whereas this feeling was something far more powerful. It was like...like he had finally come home. It felt like this planet was pulling at Goku and, though Goku loved Earth dearly, this place felt so much like home.
"Vegeta..." Goku said, not quite sure how to describe what he was feeling.
Vegeta didn't seem to need any encouragement to speak, for once. "Our people were born on this world. We belong here, not on Earth." Vegeta stepped down onto the ground and closed his eyes for a moment. "Home." He gave Goku a small smirk that wasn't nearly so bitter as Goku was used to seeing from his friend. "Welcome to Vegetasai."
Goku believed Vegeta, Vegeta would have no reason to lie, after all. He certainly wouldn't lie about the planet and people he was so proud of.
The Saiyan soldiers flew in, in full armor of traditional blue and silver, all of them landing with black looks on their faces. Being Saiyan's, not one of the soldiers carried a weapon, their bodies were considered their weapons. Vegeta had made that very clear to Goku on many occasions, telling him that real Saiyan warriors didn't use weapons.
A whole horde of Saiyan warriors with traditional uniforms and scouters attached to their faces, stood in front of them, but their threatening postures were short lived. They dropped their guard at the sight of Vegeta and one of them stepped forward. "Y-your majesty?"
If Vegeta was at all surprised, he didn't let it show. Instead, he raised his chin proudly. "What?"
"Ah..." The soldier looked at Vegeta up and down, apparently puzzled by Vegeta's clothes, which shouldn't have been all that much of a surprise since Vegeta was still in his khaki trousers and a t-shirt. There wasn't likely to be anything like that on Vegetasai.
Vegeta-
Naturally, Kakarot chose to ruin the wonderfully tense moment.
"Ohhhhh, Veggie," Kakarot said from behind Vegeta. "Look at all the people."
'He CAN NOT be as stupid as he wants me to think he is! It's just not possible!'
The soldier gave Kakarot an odd look, but said nothing before turning back to Vegeta and bowing slightly. "Your majesty, we thought you were still at the castle. Frieze," He spit the name. "Has just sent a message and plans to arrive in just a few hours, he seeks an audience with you. Those visitors killed his Ginyu force and I guess Frieze was starting to get curious about where they'd gotten to." The Saiyan gave a smirk that must be a genetic trait of all Saiyans. "I think we ought to keep those children, sire. They aren't only powerful, but they're also useful in getting rid of pests. You don't need to worry about parents for them, several soldiers under my command have all ready expressed interest in fostering them. The little boy with purple hair is very much like a real Saiyan, anyway."
Purple hair?
Vegeta and Kakarot both started at the remark about a boy with purple hair. That could only be one person, Trunks. Indeed, as Vegeta felt out with his mind, he found Trunk's ki signature as well as Mirai's ki. They were both at a resting level, which meant whatever trouble there had been had all ready been dealt with. 'Of course, they are my sons, so naturally they didn't have any difficulties.' Vegeta thought. He couldn't deny
Almost more importantly than the safety of the children was the other name mentioned. Frieza. Vegeta felt his breath catch at the name Frieza. His fear of the disgusting alien had long since faded away, since Vegeta's power had increased so much, but he couldn't help the memories that Frieza's name conjured. In truth, Vegeta had few real memories of his family and his home world. He'd been taken from them when he was very young and forced into a life of slavery by that lizard, Frieza. The torment of serving the demented Frieza wasn't nearly so bad as what his henchmen had done to Vegeta.
At first Frieza had only forced Vegeta to do menial tasks, such as cleaning and serving food to the 'real' warriors. He'd worked Vegeta like a servant until he'd thought he'd broken Vegeta's vast pride.
For all his power, though, Frieza didn't understand Saiyans. He didn't understand that you couldn't break a Saiyan's pride. It just wasn't possible. Little Vegeta had suffered the humiliation of being made to wait hand and foot on not only Frieza, but also on Frieza's prized fighters, the Ginyu force. Cowards and bullies had laughed at him, he'd spent days scrubbing the floors of Frieza's base, he'd been made a laughing stock among people who wouldn't have stood a chance against an adult Saiyan, and it had only made him stronger. Vegeta had kept his strength and his desire for vengeance under control for many years until Frieza had decided to have Vegeta train as a fighter. After all, he was a Saiyan and what was a Saiyan good for, if not fighting?
'So, the Ginyu are dead, huh?' Vegeta thought. Of course he knew, in his own world, that the Ginyu force had been destroyed, but the knowledge that they had existed in this dimension had re-ignited Vegeta's desire for death. He wasn't sorry about the loss of opportunity to kill the Ginyu force, he had his eyes on a better target. 'This time, I'll put an end to Frieza, myself.'
Vegeta opened his mind, reaching out to feel all the power around. It was quite simple to find the power of the children and Vegeta knew they were at the castle. At least, they were where the castle was in his memory. All the better, at least Vegeta knew they were all together.
"He's up." Kakarot muttered, softly enough so the Saiyan's wouldn't hear him.
Frieza was, indeed, still up in space, though his power level was coming closer and closer, at a leisurely pace.
"I wouldn't want to keep our good lord Frieza waiting." Vegeta said to the soldiers. "Why don't we all head back to the castle?" He couldn't help the tiny smirk and really didn't care if anyone saw it or not.
Kakarot followed as Vegeta and the soldiers took off, flying towards the castle, for once keeping his mouth shut.
'I wonder what he thinks of all this.' Vegeta wondered idly, not that he'd actually ask. 'Is he impressed? Disappointed? He's never seen Vegetasai before, so I wonder...what did he expect it to be like?' Vegeta knew that Kakarot loved Earth, loved it enough to die for it more than once. He knew the pull Kakarot was feeling, the surge of 'rightness' that this was where he belonged. It was the same for all species and their homeworld, even Earthlings would feel the same way if they were able to leave their planet. 'I wonder if he wishes he grew up on Vegetasai instead of Earth? He's never said any such thing, but has he ever wanted to know what it would have been like if he'd grew up as the warrior he was meant to be? Of course, if he hadn't grown up on Earth, he'd have died like all the other Saiyans.' Vegeta turned his attention away from Kakarot. 'I suppose I'll never understand him. He's to much like a human, really.'
Still, Kakarot had his talents. "Kakarot,"
"Yeah?"
"Contact your oldest brat and tell him we're here. I think I'd like to surprise Frieza."
Chibi-Trunks-
Chibi-Trunks did not like Frieza.
He hadn't even been born when his dad and Goten's dad fought and killed Frieza, but seeing the lizard-like person sitting on King Vegeta's throne, Chibi-Trunks could understand why Frieza was so hated. Not feared. 'He's not all that tough.' Chibi-Trunks thought from where he watched the lizard alien from behind a heavy curtain.
Goten giggled. "He's wearing lipstick!" Goten tried to stifle the giggle behind his hand, but he didn't quite manage it. "Gohan told me all about him, but he just looks silly."
Chibi-Trunks had to agree with Goten. It was hard to believe that their dads and Gohan had ever been weak enough to feel threatened by this...whatever he was. "Shhh." Chibi-Trunks hissed. "I want to hear what they're saying."
In the throne room all of the Saiyan guards wore icy, implacable expressions as the alien conqueror lounged on the throne of their king and mocked them with his very presence.
"I was most surprised to find that my men had been killed." Frieza said. "More than surprised, really. I hadn't thought you had anyone on this little rock that was strong enough to defeat even my lowliest of warriors." He looked at King Vegeta with a deceptive smile. "Have you been hiding warriors from me?"
"Of course not." King Vegeta replied with something very like hate in his voice. "How would I be able to hide a warrior powerful enough to kill all the Ginyu force from you?"
"True." Frieza said thoughtfully.
Mirai suddenly appeared next to Chibi-Trunks and whispered, "Don't make a sound."
"Mirai?" Chibi-Trunks said, surprised. "What's going on? Why don't we just blast him like you did to those weird posing guys?" He couldn't understand why his older self was being so reluctant to fight. "He's not THAT strong."
"True," Mirai agreed. He sat on the floor next to them and peered out at what was happening. He didn't seem worried and, in fact, had grabbed a quick snack to eat. "But we're going to stall for time. We'll be going home in a short while, by the way."
Goten looked at Mirai with hopefully eyes. "That machine's fixed?! That didn't take long at all."
"Yeah, it was no problem." Mirai said with a careless shrug. "The real fun is about to start." He smiled.
"What fun?"
"Just watch." Mirai pointed to where King Vegeta was still speaking with Frieza, trying very hard to keep his temper in check.
The throne room door was flung open and who should walk out, but Gohan, still carrying baby Bra and wearing his most idiotic, kick-me expression. It was the kind of vacant eyed expression that had often enticed foolish bullies to try their luck with Gohan only to find that there was a brain and muscles behind that innocent face.
"What's he doing?" Chibi-Trunks whispered. "King Vegeta told us to hide."
Mirai said, "He was told to do this. He's supposed to distract Frieza for a little while, just long enough so he doesn't leave to soon."
"To soon for what?" Goten asked, pulling on Mirai's sleeve.
"You'll see."
King Vegeta-
King Vegeta kept his face carefully under control when the boy walked in, still holding the baby that had rarely left his arms for the passed few days. 'Is he an idiot?!' King Vegeta looked at Kakarot for any support, but there was nothing he could do other than stand with the other guards. Anything out of the ordinary could get them all killed by Frieza and Gohan was nothing, if not out of the ordinary. 'I KNOW I told them to keep out of sight when Frieza got here!' A sidelong glance showed him three sets of feet peeking out from under a heavy curtain that separated the throne room from a balcony that overlooked the courtyard. 'At least those three are keeping out of trouble. What's Gohan thinking? I told him Frieza was a lot more powerful than the Ginyu force and he brought the baby, too!'
"Hello!" Gohan chirped pleasantly with a bright smile as if he didn't even see Frieza. "I was looking for my dad, Sire. I don't suppose you've seen him. Oh," He belated noticed Frieza. "I didn't see you had a visitor. I'm so sorry, didn't mean..."
"Who is this?" Frieza demanded, getting up from King Vegeta's throne. "Since when do you allow children into your throne room, King of Monkey's? Are you showing me disrespect by letting your people know you think so little of my power?" His tone turned slightly threatening as he looked from Gohan to King Vegeta.
"No, lord Frieza." King Vegeta assured him, while he wondered how he was going to get out of this little situation without getting anyone else killed. "He's...um...the nanny."
Frieza gave King Vegeta a look that would freeze the sun. "The what?"
King Vegeta hardened his resolve. Once, many Saiyan children had died for his mistake of defying Frieze and King Vegeta was determined that no more children were hurt for his mistakes. Even if it was this simple minded boy who'd caused the problem in the first place. King Vegeta wasn't even sure he'd be able to talk his way out of the Ginyu force's deaths, but he had to give it his best effort, as much as he hated crawling to this lizard.
"He's the nanny of the crowned princess, Braka." King Vegeta said in a firmer voice. "After my death, she will take the throne of Vegetasai."
Frieza, who'd listened with a sour expression, went to stand in front of the oblivious looking Gohan and then down at little Bra. With his clawed fingers, Frieza pulled back the blanket that covered Bra's head. "Blue hair? Since when do Saiyan's have blue hair?"
"All infant females are born with blue hair. It turns brown as they grow older." King Vegeta lied. The last thing he wanted was for Frieza to learn that there was a dimension travel machine close by. That would be a real disaster.
"I had no idea you were mated, King Vegeta. You've never given me the opportunity to meet your queen and this is the first I've seen your lovely daughter."
King Vegeta opened his mouth to answer, but Gohan beat him to it. Still holding Bra in one arm, Gohan used his free hand to slap Frieza on the back in a friendly manner as he laughed uproariously. "What?! His majesty married? Are you nuts, pal? Jeeze, what a stupid idea!"
King Vegeta was valiantly fighting off a heart attack.
"Stupid, eh?" Frieze looked dangerously at Gohan, who still didn't seem to notice what peril he was in.
Staggering backwards, away from the foolish boy and the deadly Frieza, King Vegeta bumped into Kakarot. "Sire, what are we going to do?" Kakarot muttered under his breath. "He'll kill them."
Once again, King Vegeta took a deep breath and stepped back into the brewing inferno. "Not if I have anything to say about it." He raised his voice slightly. "Lord Frieza,"
But Gohan was speaking very loudly and very quickly, keeping Frieza's attention on him, even as he began pacing the room, darting this way and that. "King Vegeta's not married, you see, this isn't his daughter. This is his third cousin's, second son's, twice removed aunt's daughter. Since he hasn't got any children, he bought this one. Isn't she adorable?" Gohan tossed Bra up into the air once or twice before he grinned again at the fuming Frieza. "Boy, you sure don't know much, do you? Who are you anyway? I didn't know we had any lizards on Vegetasai as big as you. Is he for eating, Sire?" Gohan licked his lips and stepped closer to Frieza. "He looks a bit stringy, not to mention little, but," Gohan's innocent eyes narrowed just a little. "I'll eat anything I can sink my teeth into." Gohan lashed out with one hand and caught Frieza's wrist. "You'll do."
Furious, Frieza tore his wrist away from Gohan. "How dare you!" Frieza snarled. "You insolent monkey, you've just signed your own death warrant! I'll tear you apart with my bare hands before I kill you!"
Gohan spun on one foot and suddenly threw Bra towards the heavy curtain, behind which King Vegeta knew the other three children were waiting. Calmly, Mirai stepped out into the open and caught the baby. "Be careful, Gohan." Mirai warned. "That's my sister you're tossing around."
"Awww, come on. You know I wouldn't hurt her." Gohan called back. "She's practically my sister, too, you know. I just didn't want her in the middle of things if it came to fighting."
"What do you mean, if?" Frieza drew back his arm and aimed for Gohan, but Gohan easily dodged out of the way. The simple dodge only made Frieza more furious. "Who are you?"
"Me?" Gohan pointed at his chest. Oh, I'm no one for you to worry about. If I were you," He put an arm over Frieza's shoulders boldly and steered him to the still open door. "I'd worry about him."
Vegeta stepped into the doorway and he was smiling.
How strange it was, King Vegeta thought, to see yourself. It really was like looking into a mirror, except for the strange clothes his other self was wearing.
Kakarot, or, rather, Kakarot's other self, came in behind the other Vegeta, smiling pleasantly. It was only then that the other children made themselves known, rushing out from behind the curtain and going to their fathers. "Hi, kids."
"Daddy!" Goten cried, throwing himself at the other Kakarot. "We missed you!"
Chibi-Trunks went to the other Vegeta, but was far more reserved in his greeting. "Hi, dad."
"Hi, brat." The other Vegeta looked down at his son and then up at the older boy, Mirai. "Brat. You both look healthy enough."
"They took pretty good care of us." Mirai agreed. "I think Gohan wanted to give you a present, though. He didn't even hurt Frieza, just like you asked him to, dad."
Goku-
Vegeta looked across the hall at Frieza. His eyes were burning.
For a moment, Goku remembered what is was like to be on the end of Vegeta's fiery glare, but even he had never had such a hate filled look directed at him. Goku had often been looked at by Vegeta with jealously, irritation, anger, and disgust, but never with such raw hate. This wasn't going to be a good day for Frieza.
Frieza looked at King Vegeta and then turned to Vegeta. A grin on his face, he said, "I didn't know you had more than one monkey king on this world." He commented.
Goku looked at Vegeta with a happily innocent smile. "He's all yours." Goku gestured to Frieza with a slight bow in Vegeta's direction. "Enjoy." Vegeta had been longing for this opportunity for far to long. All right, so it wasn't exactly going to be a fair fight. Right now, though, Vegeta didn't look like he cared much about fairness.
"Thank you, Kakarot. I will have to repay you for this...unexpected pleasure." Vegeta started to smile, his eyes narrowing. "Do take the children out of the room. The woman would make me sleep on the couch if they see what I'm about to do."
"You heard him, kids." Goku looked at his sons and Vegeta's children. "Time to leave."
Chibi-Trunks whined, "But I wanted to see it, too!" Even as Goku
"Now, now, this is no time to argue with your father. Why don't you all tell me what you've been up to? By the way, Gohan, thanks for keeping him busy while we got here."
King Vegeta-
King Vegeta noticed all of his soldiers quietly filing out of the throne room. "What...?" But Kakarot taking him by the arm and pulling him in the direction of the retreating soldiers silenced him.
"You need to leave, Sire." Kakarot said in no nonsense tone of voice. "It's far to dangerous for you to stay."
"I'm not going to run away from my own throne room, Kakarot!" King Vegeta tried to pull his arm away from Kakarot, but, once again, found out the reason why Kakarot was his bodyguard. As strong as King Vegeta was, Kakarot was stronger. There was no sense in having a bodyguard who was weaker than the person they were guarding, after all. King Vegeta, sadly, had to spend most of his time with kingly duties instead of training.
Kakarot gave him a hard look. "My responsibility is to guard your body. You are leaving where it's on your own feet or if I have to carry you. Make your choice."
It wasn't often that Kakarot asserted his authority to safeguarding the royal person and it made King Vegeta cautious when he saw the small light that showed Kakarot was using his scouter. "Their power level? What is it?"
"Very, very high. I think you'd be happier not knowing, sire. You need to leave." He gave a longing look over his shoulder to his other self who was standing with the children now. "I wonder what it would be like to fight with myself? Maybe he'll stay long enough for me to find out."
"If he survives Frieza." King Vegeta said darkly as he finally allowed Kakarot to lead him out of the throne room.
"Oh, I don't think that'll be a problem."
Outside the throne room, King Vegeta and Kakarot listened while Frieza started to scream.
"I've been waiting a long time to hear that." Kakarot muttered. Then he turned his attention to his other self who was holding his younger son on one shoulder and squatting down so he could talk to Chibi-Trunks. "So," he said, speaking to his other self for the first time. "What's it like being a father?"
"Great!" The other Kakarot replied enthusiastically. "Have you ever been married? Do we have kids in this dimension, too? This is so weird."
"No, no children. I'm not mated, yet." Kakarot answered, slightly blushing at the idea.
Mirai-
"You didn't really have to come all this way for us." Mirai told Goku. It wasn't that he was sorry his dad had come to rescue them, it showed that his dad actually cared a bit, but he was a little disappointed that he hadn't been trusted enough to get them all back safely. "I fixed the machine mom built and we were all heading back today, anyway."
Goku gave him a knowing smile. "Your mom was very worried about you." He changed the subject when Mirai started to turn away, embarrassed. "Besides, this gave me time to explore a little. I've never seen Vegetasai before, so it's a good experience..." Goku paused. "I think Vegeta's done."
The screams of agony from Frieza ended abruptly as Frieza died a long overdue death
When Vegeta emerged from the throne room, he was covered head to foot in sticky looking purple goo. "Ewww!" Goku said, flinching away. "I forgot how much Frieza's blood stinks! You'll need a bath, Veggie!"
For once, Vegeta didn't get irritated at Goku's remarks and, instead, went to take Bra from Mirai. "How's daddy's little princess?" He cooed happily. It really seemed that he didn't notice all the muck on him, until he told King Vegeta, "I'd get a cleaning crew in there as soon as possible, if I were you. You've got a few stains on the carpet. Heh, heh. Purple stains."
Vegeta was in good mood all day.
And so, everyone went back to where their own dimension. Vegeta repeated Bulma's instructions on returning to their home dimension to Mirai and it was decided that he and Gohan would take one of the Dimension Shifters while Vegeta, Goku, and the two children would take the other one. No one wanted to leave one around when King Vegeta might later get notions of conquest.
Once at home, they came out of the Dimension Shifters to find a tired looking Bulma waiting for them. She sprang up the moment she saw them and ran to her family, hugging and kissing as if she'd never see them again.
"Honestly, woman." Vegeta grumbled, with less heat in his tone than an ice cube. "You'd think we'd all died again."
"Shut up, Veggie-chan." Bulma whispered, putting her arms around his neck and putting her head on his shoulder. "Just stand there quietly and let me hold you." She sniffed once, but didn't break into tears again. "You really are my hero."
The end
Author's note: My, but that took me long enough, huh?
Hope you all enjoyed it.
This wasn't really meant to be such a long fic, it was just going to be a very short one chapter thing, but, as usual, it grew.
Vegeta-
Vegeta hated being with Kakarot, or Goku, as most people called him. It wasn't really for the reason everyone seemed to think. Sure, jealously was apart of it. After all, Vegeta was expected to be the best. His father had always pressed him to surpass the very warriors who were supposed to be Vegeta's bodyguards. What sense was there in having bodyguards who were weaker than you, though?
'He always acts like an idiot.' Vegeta glared at the sleeping Goku. That was the whole problem with their not-so-good relationship. Though he acted like an idiot whose brain cells had melted and dripped out one ear in the middle of the night, Kakarot looked just like any Saiyan soldier Vegeta remembered from his home world. The serious, proud soldiers who prided themselves would have been embarrassed at the comparison between them and Kakarot. In truth, it was only looking at Kakarot that Vegeta could remember Vegetasai.
Much to Vegeta's sorrow, the more time that passed, the more Vegetasai grew dim in his memory. He was starting to forget the little things he thought would never fade from his mind: his father's favorite meal, his youngest sisters' bell-like laugh. He even found himself trying to remember first and only night he'd watched the full moon rise at his father's side.
It was a glorious day in ever young Saiyan's life, the first moon rise. Vegeta had been four when his father had brought him out to a hill outside the castle and had put his hand on Vegeta's shoulder as the silver moon crept up over the horizon. "This is it, my son." King Vegeta had said, his voice deep with emotion. "Don't blink your eyes and don't say a word. Just let it come." And Vegeta had, reveling in the feeling of wild abandonment as he completely let go of his full Saiyan heritage.
'Even that's gone, now.' Vegeta thought. He no longer had a tail thanks to that horrible little human who'd cut it off. 'I still have to find him and kill him.' Vegeta reminded himself as an after thought. It didn't help Vegeta's pride that his children had their tails removed at birth. After all, the full moon rose ever month on Earth, not every seven years on Vegetasai. It would cost to much money and lives to allow Saiyans to have their ozaro form. 'As if money or human lives mean anything when it comes to pride and honor. The woman wanted it this way, though...and I never can resist her anything.'
Vegeta focused again on Kakorot and saw the legions of proud warriors, ready to embark on a new mission and crossing one arm over their chests, begging for the king's blessing for the endeavor. It was ceremonial, really. Of course the king would wish his troops well on their mission, the success of their mission meant food, clothes, and life itself for the Saiyan people. They weren't a people meant for creating their own technology or science, so fighting really was the only possible life for them.
It was the nature of the Saiyan people to lust for battle. Vegeta didn't understand it, he'd never thought about it until he'd encountered humans. No. That was a lie. Vegeta had never thought about his people's desire for violence before he'd met Bulma. It was only when the blue haired female had entered his life that Vegeta had any thoughts for anything other than battle.
His thoughts turned to mating and children, which had suddenly become just as important as fighting, if not more so. After all, children were the future of the doomed Saiyans. Kakorote's sons, Gohan and Goten, as well as Vegeta's beloved children, Trunks and Bra, were the only Saiyans who would live to carry on the race and they weren't even fully Saiyan.
There would be no more Saiyans after Vegeta and Kakarot died. The children would, most likely, interbreed with humans and the Saiyan blood would fade away.
Perhaps.
Perhaps not. The human blood actually seemed to make the children stronger, so perhaps more human blood would make them stronger still. 'I'll have to ask Bulma. She understands this all far better than I do.'
It saddened Vegeta more than he would ever admit to know how his proud race had fallen. Once the greatest fighters in the universe, fallen to slaves and now merely two refugees on a backwater rock in the middle of nowhere. The whole race of Saiyans now reduced to only two full-bloods and four half-bloods. It was worse than insulting or degrading. It was...it was...worth tears. For the death of his people, Vegeta could have broken down in tears, had he not been so proud. The only hope he had was that the children, for all that they had traces of human in them, were all stronger than their fathers. Rather, they had the potential to be stronger. Perhaps, with the death of the Saiyan people, the birth of a new race would bring great pride.
Vegeta recognized, when he took an outsiders look at his dead people, that Saiyans were self-destructive. Evolution had made a mistake when creating them and it seemed to be trying to correct that mistake. 'We were to violent for our own good. If we had been less addicted to our own power or less in love with fighting for fighting's sake, we would have been even greater. Not that I would ever change our history even if I were able to.' He paused and looked again at Kakarot. 'Our children will be greater. They will be the start of a new race and that race will rule the universe as Saiyan's once did.'
Yes. Perhaps it was time to stop looking at Kakarot and seeing the past. It was time to start looking at the children and to see the future.
'My Trunks will be a great warrior, but he's as smart as his mother. Saiyans were never great scientists or thinkers. With Chibi-Trunks, his people will never have to sell themselves to other races for technology or medicine.' Goten was so much like his father, almost identical to the man Vegeta was now traveling with. 'His love of fighting is unmatched, he'll be a good soldier to help my son when he is king. After all, Trunks is the crowned prince, it was only right that he should lead this new race.' Gohan, who had been a disappointment at first, in Vegeta's eyes, was starting to look valuable. 'He wants to be a teacher, does he? Well, a new race will need teachers. He'll make our race smarter. We'll have a whole society of fighters and intellectuals. Our children will rule.'
"Vegeta,"
Vegeta was jolted out of his thoughts by Kakarot's voice and he looked at his companion irritably. Again, in Kakarot's brown eyes, Vegeta saw the past. He saw the whole of his lost society, a civilization destroyed at the whim of that lizard creature, Frieze. He saw a lucky escapee, who'd never known life as a slave and had never had to feel the pain of losing everything in one terrible blow. Not just his father, not just his sisters, not just his home...everything. Kakarot had grown up happy and stupid on a world where there was no doubt about his strength and he wasn't hated for it. He was admired by the simple Earthlings and made into a hero.
"What is it, Kakarot?" Vegeta turned away. He didn't want to see what might have been had he and Kakarot changed lives. He didn't want to see that in another life he and Kakarot might have been comrades and even gone on missions together, competing in the Pit for the glories all great warriors received.
No.
Better not dwell on the past.
"How well do you think this thing works?" Kakarot poked and prodded at the control panels. "I know Bulma's a great inventor, but a dimension hopper? I know I'm not the brightest bulb in the basket, but this does seem kind of...weird."
This coming from a man who never noticed he turned into an ozaro every month until he was almost fourteen years old and then someone had to tell him before he realized it.
"The woman always knows what she's doing." Vegeta replied with complete faith. "Just shut up and go to sleep. I don't want to listen to your voice if I don't have to, it's bad enough we're both trapped in here together. Don't touch anything, I don't want you fouling it up."
Vegeta, made curious Kakarot's question, went to look at the complicated control panels. He'd been given all kinds of instructions on how to use the machine, especially on how to bring it safely back to Earth. He knew what buttons to push and what levers to pull even though Bulma had said 'My woman's machine seemed to be working properly. I think. She told me exactly what to do and I followed all her instructions, but it's hard to tell. Bulma's mind works a little differently than most people. She has a unique way of thinking and it's a little hard to understand her sometimes. Still, she said when we reached where we were supposed to be the red light on the third panel would flash and it was flashing right now.
Kakarot had been serious when we'd started out, but now that he was relatively certain the children we going to be safe, he was getting back to his normal self. How irritating. Currently, he had his ear pressed against the side of the machine. "I can't hear anything. Do you think we're there, yet?"
Vegeta rolled his eyes and struggled to remain calm. 'He was standing right next to me when Bulma explain the workings of this machine. I KNOW he's not as stupid as he acts, so why does he do this? I'll bet he's trying to push me over the edge. Yes, that's it. He's trying to drive me mad.' Finally, he said, "No. The woman said we'd land when the red light stopped flashing and the green light came on. The red light just means we're stopped crossing dimensions." Vegeta told Kakarot with a low growl.
"Ohhhhhh." Kakarot replied, making his eyes look as wide as possible. "Then we've landed, right?"
"You idiot! What did I just tell you? Not until..."
Kakarot pointed over Vegeta's head and Vegeta the pointed finger with his eyes, looking up to see the green light glowing brightly, right above his head. 'Yes, he's definitely trying to drive me mad.'
Still, before they opened the door, Kakarot turned serious again and Vegeta could tell that the taller Saiyan was readying himself for battle. There was no telling what they would find on the other side of the door. "Bulma said the kids could have ended up in open space." Kakarot said just before Vegeta pushed the button that would open the door. "Is there any way to tell where we are before the door opens?"
"No." That was a bit of a daunting thought. If they were in empty space, they would probably be lost forever or, more likely, die of asphyxiation the moment the doors opened.
Neither of them flinched away from their duty. "Right." Kakarot nodded. "I just wanted to know. Open the door."
When they opened the door and saw where they'd ended up, Vegeta couldn't hide his shock. He stared in open amazement at the fortress-like castle that stood only a short distance away. More mind numbing than the sight of the castle was the feel in the air.
On Earth, Vegeta had learned to sense power levels with his ki. He had gotten used to the feel of millions of Earthlings and their low levels with a few high levels mixed in. Most of those high levels were the people Vegeta associated with on a daily routine. He had learned to ignore the low levels, they just weren't worth noticing, after all. Here, though, Vegeta could feel millions of powerful levels. It was like...like being surrounded by an uncountable number of butterflies, all beating their wings against your skin. Vegeta could almost feel the power of the Saiyan people.
"Someone's coming." Kakarot muttered and Vegeta knew it was true. The feeling of power that tickled along his skin was getting closer. "I suppose they saw us land."
"Or felt us." Vegeta added. The power of the Saiyan's approaching really wasn't anything to worry about.
Goku-
Goku had never seen such a force in his life and he wondered what Vegeta thought about all this. Fifteen years ago, Goku would have found the twenty soldiers intimidating, but now he knew he was in no danger from them. Vegeta, the moment they'd stepped out of the Dimension Shifter, had gotten a look on his face that Goku had never seen there before. It was a look of unabashed wonderment.
"What is it?" Goku asked. It was a nice enough looking planet, but clearly it wasn't Earth. It just felt wrong. Goku had known since his earliest memories that Earth had a particular pulse, a rhythm that was distinctly Earth and could never be duplicated. This planet had it's own signature pulse, too. Deep inside, Goku felt something...stir.
It was something Goku hadn't felt since his first meeting with Raditz and then at the arrival of Vegeta and Napa, but those times had been only a brief spark whereas this feeling was something far more powerful. It was like...like he had finally come home. It felt like this planet was pulling at Goku and, though Goku loved Earth dearly, this place felt so much like home.
"Vegeta..." Goku said, not quite sure how to describe what he was feeling.
Vegeta didn't seem to need any encouragement to speak, for once. "Our people were born on this world. We belong here, not on Earth." Vegeta stepped down onto the ground and closed his eyes for a moment. "Home." He gave Goku a small smirk that wasn't nearly so bitter as Goku was used to seeing from his friend. "Welcome to Vegetasai."
Goku believed Vegeta, Vegeta would have no reason to lie, after all. He certainly wouldn't lie about the planet and people he was so proud of.
The Saiyan soldiers flew in, in full armor of traditional blue and silver, all of them landing with black looks on their faces. Being Saiyan's, not one of the soldiers carried a weapon, their bodies were considered their weapons. Vegeta had made that very clear to Goku on many occasions, telling him that real Saiyan warriors didn't use weapons.
A whole horde of Saiyan warriors with traditional uniforms and scouters attached to their faces, stood in front of them, but their threatening postures were short lived. They dropped their guard at the sight of Vegeta and one of them stepped forward. "Y-your majesty?"
If Vegeta was at all surprised, he didn't let it show. Instead, he raised his chin proudly. "What?"
"Ah..." The soldier looked at Vegeta up and down, apparently puzzled by Vegeta's clothes, which shouldn't have been all that much of a surprise since Vegeta was still in his khaki trousers and a t-shirt. There wasn't likely to be anything like that on Vegetasai.
Vegeta-
Naturally, Kakarot chose to ruin the wonderfully tense moment.
"Ohhhhh, Veggie," Kakarot said from behind Vegeta. "Look at all the people."
'He CAN NOT be as stupid as he wants me to think he is! It's just not possible!'
The soldier gave Kakarot an odd look, but said nothing before turning back to Vegeta and bowing slightly. "Your majesty, we thought you were still at the castle. Frieze," He spit the name. "Has just sent a message and plans to arrive in just a few hours, he seeks an audience with you. Those visitors killed his Ginyu force and I guess Frieze was starting to get curious about where they'd gotten to." The Saiyan gave a smirk that must be a genetic trait of all Saiyans. "I think we ought to keep those children, sire. They aren't only powerful, but they're also useful in getting rid of pests. You don't need to worry about parents for them, several soldiers under my command have all ready expressed interest in fostering them. The little boy with purple hair is very much like a real Saiyan, anyway."
Purple hair?
Vegeta and Kakarot both started at the remark about a boy with purple hair. That could only be one person, Trunks. Indeed, as Vegeta felt out with his mind, he found Trunk's ki signature as well as Mirai's ki. They were both at a resting level, which meant whatever trouble there had been had all ready been dealt with. 'Of course, they are my sons, so naturally they didn't have any difficulties.' Vegeta thought. He couldn't deny
Almost more importantly than the safety of the children was the other name mentioned. Frieza. Vegeta felt his breath catch at the name Frieza. His fear of the disgusting alien had long since faded away, since Vegeta's power had increased so much, but he couldn't help the memories that Frieza's name conjured. In truth, Vegeta had few real memories of his family and his home world. He'd been taken from them when he was very young and forced into a life of slavery by that lizard, Frieza. The torment of serving the demented Frieza wasn't nearly so bad as what his henchmen had done to Vegeta.
At first Frieza had only forced Vegeta to do menial tasks, such as cleaning and serving food to the 'real' warriors. He'd worked Vegeta like a servant until he'd thought he'd broken Vegeta's vast pride.
For all his power, though, Frieza didn't understand Saiyans. He didn't understand that you couldn't break a Saiyan's pride. It just wasn't possible. Little Vegeta had suffered the humiliation of being made to wait hand and foot on not only Frieza, but also on Frieza's prized fighters, the Ginyu force. Cowards and bullies had laughed at him, he'd spent days scrubbing the floors of Frieza's base, he'd been made a laughing stock among people who wouldn't have stood a chance against an adult Saiyan, and it had only made him stronger. Vegeta had kept his strength and his desire for vengeance under control for many years until Frieza had decided to have Vegeta train as a fighter. After all, he was a Saiyan and what was a Saiyan good for, if not fighting?
'So, the Ginyu are dead, huh?' Vegeta thought. Of course he knew, in his own world, that the Ginyu force had been destroyed, but the knowledge that they had existed in this dimension had re-ignited Vegeta's desire for death. He wasn't sorry about the loss of opportunity to kill the Ginyu force, he had his eyes on a better target. 'This time, I'll put an end to Frieza, myself.'
Vegeta opened his mind, reaching out to feel all the power around. It was quite simple to find the power of the children and Vegeta knew they were at the castle. At least, they were where the castle was in his memory. All the better, at least Vegeta knew they were all together.
"He's up." Kakarot muttered, softly enough so the Saiyan's wouldn't hear him.
Frieza was, indeed, still up in space, though his power level was coming closer and closer, at a leisurely pace.
"I wouldn't want to keep our good lord Frieza waiting." Vegeta said to the soldiers. "Why don't we all head back to the castle?" He couldn't help the tiny smirk and really didn't care if anyone saw it or not.
Kakarot followed as Vegeta and the soldiers took off, flying towards the castle, for once keeping his mouth shut.
'I wonder what he thinks of all this.' Vegeta wondered idly, not that he'd actually ask. 'Is he impressed? Disappointed? He's never seen Vegetasai before, so I wonder...what did he expect it to be like?' Vegeta knew that Kakarot loved Earth, loved it enough to die for it more than once. He knew the pull Kakarot was feeling, the surge of 'rightness' that this was where he belonged. It was the same for all species and their homeworld, even Earthlings would feel the same way if they were able to leave their planet. 'I wonder if he wishes he grew up on Vegetasai instead of Earth? He's never said any such thing, but has he ever wanted to know what it would have been like if he'd grew up as the warrior he was meant to be? Of course, if he hadn't grown up on Earth, he'd have died like all the other Saiyans.' Vegeta turned his attention away from Kakarot. 'I suppose I'll never understand him. He's to much like a human, really.'
Still, Kakarot had his talents. "Kakarot,"
"Yeah?"
"Contact your oldest brat and tell him we're here. I think I'd like to surprise Frieza."
Chibi-Trunks-
Chibi-Trunks did not like Frieza.
He hadn't even been born when his dad and Goten's dad fought and killed Frieza, but seeing the lizard-like person sitting on King Vegeta's throne, Chibi-Trunks could understand why Frieza was so hated. Not feared. 'He's not all that tough.' Chibi-Trunks thought from where he watched the lizard alien from behind a heavy curtain.
Goten giggled. "He's wearing lipstick!" Goten tried to stifle the giggle behind his hand, but he didn't quite manage it. "Gohan told me all about him, but he just looks silly."
Chibi-Trunks had to agree with Goten. It was hard to believe that their dads and Gohan had ever been weak enough to feel threatened by this...whatever he was. "Shhh." Chibi-Trunks hissed. "I want to hear what they're saying."
In the throne room all of the Saiyan guards wore icy, implacable expressions as the alien conqueror lounged on the throne of their king and mocked them with his very presence.
"I was most surprised to find that my men had been killed." Frieza said. "More than surprised, really. I hadn't thought you had anyone on this little rock that was strong enough to defeat even my lowliest of warriors." He looked at King Vegeta with a deceptive smile. "Have you been hiding warriors from me?"
"Of course not." King Vegeta replied with something very like hate in his voice. "How would I be able to hide a warrior powerful enough to kill all the Ginyu force from you?"
"True." Frieza said thoughtfully.
Mirai suddenly appeared next to Chibi-Trunks and whispered, "Don't make a sound."
"Mirai?" Chibi-Trunks said, surprised. "What's going on? Why don't we just blast him like you did to those weird posing guys?" He couldn't understand why his older self was being so reluctant to fight. "He's not THAT strong."
"True," Mirai agreed. He sat on the floor next to them and peered out at what was happening. He didn't seem worried and, in fact, had grabbed a quick snack to eat. "But we're going to stall for time. We'll be going home in a short while, by the way."
Goten looked at Mirai with hopefully eyes. "That machine's fixed?! That didn't take long at all."
"Yeah, it was no problem." Mirai said with a careless shrug. "The real fun is about to start." He smiled.
"What fun?"
"Just watch." Mirai pointed to where King Vegeta was still speaking with Frieza, trying very hard to keep his temper in check.
The throne room door was flung open and who should walk out, but Gohan, still carrying baby Bra and wearing his most idiotic, kick-me expression. It was the kind of vacant eyed expression that had often enticed foolish bullies to try their luck with Gohan only to find that there was a brain and muscles behind that innocent face.
"What's he doing?" Chibi-Trunks whispered. "King Vegeta told us to hide."
Mirai said, "He was told to do this. He's supposed to distract Frieza for a little while, just long enough so he doesn't leave to soon."
"To soon for what?" Goten asked, pulling on Mirai's sleeve.
"You'll see."
King Vegeta-
King Vegeta kept his face carefully under control when the boy walked in, still holding the baby that had rarely left his arms for the passed few days. 'Is he an idiot?!' King Vegeta looked at Kakarot for any support, but there was nothing he could do other than stand with the other guards. Anything out of the ordinary could get them all killed by Frieza and Gohan was nothing, if not out of the ordinary. 'I KNOW I told them to keep out of sight when Frieza got here!' A sidelong glance showed him three sets of feet peeking out from under a heavy curtain that separated the throne room from a balcony that overlooked the courtyard. 'At least those three are keeping out of trouble. What's Gohan thinking? I told him Frieza was a lot more powerful than the Ginyu force and he brought the baby, too!'
"Hello!" Gohan chirped pleasantly with a bright smile as if he didn't even see Frieza. "I was looking for my dad, Sire. I don't suppose you've seen him. Oh," He belated noticed Frieza. "I didn't see you had a visitor. I'm so sorry, didn't mean..."
"Who is this?" Frieza demanded, getting up from King Vegeta's throne. "Since when do you allow children into your throne room, King of Monkey's? Are you showing me disrespect by letting your people know you think so little of my power?" His tone turned slightly threatening as he looked from Gohan to King Vegeta.
"No, lord Frieza." King Vegeta assured him, while he wondered how he was going to get out of this little situation without getting anyone else killed. "He's...um...the nanny."
Frieza gave King Vegeta a look that would freeze the sun. "The what?"
King Vegeta hardened his resolve. Once, many Saiyan children had died for his mistake of defying Frieze and King Vegeta was determined that no more children were hurt for his mistakes. Even if it was this simple minded boy who'd caused the problem in the first place. King Vegeta wasn't even sure he'd be able to talk his way out of the Ginyu force's deaths, but he had to give it his best effort, as much as he hated crawling to this lizard.
"He's the nanny of the crowned princess, Braka." King Vegeta said in a firmer voice. "After my death, she will take the throne of Vegetasai."
Frieza, who'd listened with a sour expression, went to stand in front of the oblivious looking Gohan and then down at little Bra. With his clawed fingers, Frieza pulled back the blanket that covered Bra's head. "Blue hair? Since when do Saiyan's have blue hair?"
"All infant females are born with blue hair. It turns brown as they grow older." King Vegeta lied. The last thing he wanted was for Frieza to learn that there was a dimension travel machine close by. That would be a real disaster.
"I had no idea you were mated, King Vegeta. You've never given me the opportunity to meet your queen and this is the first I've seen your lovely daughter."
King Vegeta opened his mouth to answer, but Gohan beat him to it. Still holding Bra in one arm, Gohan used his free hand to slap Frieza on the back in a friendly manner as he laughed uproariously. "What?! His majesty married? Are you nuts, pal? Jeeze, what a stupid idea!"
King Vegeta was valiantly fighting off a heart attack.
"Stupid, eh?" Frieze looked dangerously at Gohan, who still didn't seem to notice what peril he was in.
Staggering backwards, away from the foolish boy and the deadly Frieza, King Vegeta bumped into Kakarot. "Sire, what are we going to do?" Kakarot muttered under his breath. "He'll kill them."
Once again, King Vegeta took a deep breath and stepped back into the brewing inferno. "Not if I have anything to say about it." He raised his voice slightly. "Lord Frieza,"
But Gohan was speaking very loudly and very quickly, keeping Frieza's attention on him, even as he began pacing the room, darting this way and that. "King Vegeta's not married, you see, this isn't his daughter. This is his third cousin's, second son's, twice removed aunt's daughter. Since he hasn't got any children, he bought this one. Isn't she adorable?" Gohan tossed Bra up into the air once or twice before he grinned again at the fuming Frieza. "Boy, you sure don't know much, do you? Who are you anyway? I didn't know we had any lizards on Vegetasai as big as you. Is he for eating, Sire?" Gohan licked his lips and stepped closer to Frieza. "He looks a bit stringy, not to mention little, but," Gohan's innocent eyes narrowed just a little. "I'll eat anything I can sink my teeth into." Gohan lashed out with one hand and caught Frieza's wrist. "You'll do."
Furious, Frieza tore his wrist away from Gohan. "How dare you!" Frieza snarled. "You insolent monkey, you've just signed your own death warrant! I'll tear you apart with my bare hands before I kill you!"
Gohan spun on one foot and suddenly threw Bra towards the heavy curtain, behind which King Vegeta knew the other three children were waiting. Calmly, Mirai stepped out into the open and caught the baby. "Be careful, Gohan." Mirai warned. "That's my sister you're tossing around."
"Awww, come on. You know I wouldn't hurt her." Gohan called back. "She's practically my sister, too, you know. I just didn't want her in the middle of things if it came to fighting."
"What do you mean, if?" Frieza drew back his arm and aimed for Gohan, but Gohan easily dodged out of the way. The simple dodge only made Frieza more furious. "Who are you?"
"Me?" Gohan pointed at his chest. Oh, I'm no one for you to worry about. If I were you," He put an arm over Frieza's shoulders boldly and steered him to the still open door. "I'd worry about him."
Vegeta stepped into the doorway and he was smiling.
How strange it was, King Vegeta thought, to see yourself. It really was like looking into a mirror, except for the strange clothes his other self was wearing.
Kakarot, or, rather, Kakarot's other self, came in behind the other Vegeta, smiling pleasantly. It was only then that the other children made themselves known, rushing out from behind the curtain and going to their fathers. "Hi, kids."
"Daddy!" Goten cried, throwing himself at the other Kakarot. "We missed you!"
Chibi-Trunks went to the other Vegeta, but was far more reserved in his greeting. "Hi, dad."
"Hi, brat." The other Vegeta looked down at his son and then up at the older boy, Mirai. "Brat. You both look healthy enough."
"They took pretty good care of us." Mirai agreed. "I think Gohan wanted to give you a present, though. He didn't even hurt Frieza, just like you asked him to, dad."
Goku-
Vegeta looked across the hall at Frieza. His eyes were burning.
For a moment, Goku remembered what is was like to be on the end of Vegeta's fiery glare, but even he had never had such a hate filled look directed at him. Goku had often been looked at by Vegeta with jealously, irritation, anger, and disgust, but never with such raw hate. This wasn't going to be a good day for Frieza.
Frieza looked at King Vegeta and then turned to Vegeta. A grin on his face, he said, "I didn't know you had more than one monkey king on this world." He commented.
Goku looked at Vegeta with a happily innocent smile. "He's all yours." Goku gestured to Frieza with a slight bow in Vegeta's direction. "Enjoy." Vegeta had been longing for this opportunity for far to long. All right, so it wasn't exactly going to be a fair fight. Right now, though, Vegeta didn't look like he cared much about fairness.
"Thank you, Kakarot. I will have to repay you for this...unexpected pleasure." Vegeta started to smile, his eyes narrowing. "Do take the children out of the room. The woman would make me sleep on the couch if they see what I'm about to do."
"You heard him, kids." Goku looked at his sons and Vegeta's children. "Time to leave."
Chibi-Trunks whined, "But I wanted to see it, too!" Even as Goku
"Now, now, this is no time to argue with your father. Why don't you all tell me what you've been up to? By the way, Gohan, thanks for keeping him busy while we got here."
King Vegeta-
King Vegeta noticed all of his soldiers quietly filing out of the throne room. "What...?" But Kakarot taking him by the arm and pulling him in the direction of the retreating soldiers silenced him.
"You need to leave, Sire." Kakarot said in no nonsense tone of voice. "It's far to dangerous for you to stay."
"I'm not going to run away from my own throne room, Kakarot!" King Vegeta tried to pull his arm away from Kakarot, but, once again, found out the reason why Kakarot was his bodyguard. As strong as King Vegeta was, Kakarot was stronger. There was no sense in having a bodyguard who was weaker than the person they were guarding, after all. King Vegeta, sadly, had to spend most of his time with kingly duties instead of training.
Kakarot gave him a hard look. "My responsibility is to guard your body. You are leaving where it's on your own feet or if I have to carry you. Make your choice."
It wasn't often that Kakarot asserted his authority to safeguarding the royal person and it made King Vegeta cautious when he saw the small light that showed Kakarot was using his scouter. "Their power level? What is it?"
"Very, very high. I think you'd be happier not knowing, sire. You need to leave." He gave a longing look over his shoulder to his other self who was standing with the children now. "I wonder what it would be like to fight with myself? Maybe he'll stay long enough for me to find out."
"If he survives Frieza." King Vegeta said darkly as he finally allowed Kakarot to lead him out of the throne room.
"Oh, I don't think that'll be a problem."
Outside the throne room, King Vegeta and Kakarot listened while Frieza started to scream.
"I've been waiting a long time to hear that." Kakarot muttered. Then he turned his attention to his other self who was holding his younger son on one shoulder and squatting down so he could talk to Chibi-Trunks. "So," he said, speaking to his other self for the first time. "What's it like being a father?"
"Great!" The other Kakarot replied enthusiastically. "Have you ever been married? Do we have kids in this dimension, too? This is so weird."
"No, no children. I'm not mated, yet." Kakarot answered, slightly blushing at the idea.
Mirai-
"You didn't really have to come all this way for us." Mirai told Goku. It wasn't that he was sorry his dad had come to rescue them, it showed that his dad actually cared a bit, but he was a little disappointed that he hadn't been trusted enough to get them all back safely. "I fixed the machine mom built and we were all heading back today, anyway."
Goku gave him a knowing smile. "Your mom was very worried about you." He changed the subject when Mirai started to turn away, embarrassed. "Besides, this gave me time to explore a little. I've never seen Vegetasai before, so it's a good experience..." Goku paused. "I think Vegeta's done."
The screams of agony from Frieza ended abruptly as Frieza died a long overdue death
When Vegeta emerged from the throne room, he was covered head to foot in sticky looking purple goo. "Ewww!" Goku said, flinching away. "I forgot how much Frieza's blood stinks! You'll need a bath, Veggie!"
For once, Vegeta didn't get irritated at Goku's remarks and, instead, went to take Bra from Mirai. "How's daddy's little princess?" He cooed happily. It really seemed that he didn't notice all the muck on him, until he told King Vegeta, "I'd get a cleaning crew in there as soon as possible, if I were you. You've got a few stains on the carpet. Heh, heh. Purple stains."
Vegeta was in good mood all day.
And so, everyone went back to where their own dimension. Vegeta repeated Bulma's instructions on returning to their home dimension to Mirai and it was decided that he and Gohan would take one of the Dimension Shifters while Vegeta, Goku, and the two children would take the other one. No one wanted to leave one around when King Vegeta might later get notions of conquest.
Once at home, they came out of the Dimension Shifters to find a tired looking Bulma waiting for them. She sprang up the moment she saw them and ran to her family, hugging and kissing as if she'd never see them again.
"Honestly, woman." Vegeta grumbled, with less heat in his tone than an ice cube. "You'd think we'd all died again."
"Shut up, Veggie-chan." Bulma whispered, putting her arms around his neck and putting her head on his shoulder. "Just stand there quietly and let me hold you." She sniffed once, but didn't break into tears again. "You really are my hero."
The end
Author's note: My, but that took me long enough, huh?
Hope you all enjoyed it.
This wasn't really meant to be such a long fic, it was just going to be a very short one chapter thing, but, as usual, it grew.
