Warning : The content of this fiction includes extreme violence, foul language, sexual situations, and non consensual situations.
Disclaimer : All characters here in are property of Toei animation and Akira Toriyama, save the characters Vavage, Phobe, Coma, and Jaxom.
Notes : This is an AU fan fiction, beginning at the Buu Saga.
Shadows Within
Part 6
by Reppa
"What-Why's Raditz down here?!" Gokou demanded, fear gnawing at his stomachas he took a step towards the cat, "What happened?"
Korin shrugged, looking over his shoulder at the long haired Saiyjin who now started to stir, before he turned back to his good friend, his normally mellow expression a little serious, "I have no clue, one minute I'm growing some senzu beans, and then he comes falling out of the sky from the Lookout. Plus I heard some noise up there, so it can't be-"
Gokou let it rest at that as he rushed back outside and propelled skyward to the Lookout. He knew it, something happened and they shouldn't have left. Damnit, what good am I if I can't keep up on these things?! I let Vegeta down!
The others followed after, quite confused at his behavior, Trunks looked very worried. Soon the Saiyjin touched down on the Lookout and ran towards the building, "Gohan! Shin! Where are you?!" His dread rose to a peak when he couldn't find anyone around.
Trunks frowned unhappily, "Dad?" His frown got a little deeper, he couldn't sense his father anywhere, and his worry was growing while he looked at Phobe, "Hey! Use Tracking! Find my dad!" The android made a nod, it's cheerful expression slowly underwent a funny transition into one of confusion, it seemed he couldn't.
Krillin just laughed, "I think he's broken…"
Gokou paid no heed to what went on behind him. He found himself ducking in and out of the halls, he couldn't sense any of them at all. Something happened….! When I get my hands on the bastard who's responsible, I'll-
"They're not here."
He skidded to a halt, just shy an inch in front of Dende and Mr. Popo. The Guardian looked up at him, looking somewhat exasperated, and Mr. Popo looked his relatively calm self as always, he braced himself for the terrible news, "They left, just as Vavage came. But I don't know where to, just that it's somewhere in Other World so you can relax. That demon didn't hurt anyone."
Gokou relaxed, falling backwards to the floor with a very relieved sigh, the others looked at each other, somewhat befuddled. Good Kami, I was so worried! I'd never forgive myself if Vavage got his filthy mitts on Vegeta….But where in Other World did they go?!
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Vegeta could have let himself scream like a wench if he had lost all dignity whatsoever, but instead he wrenched his eyes shut and braced himself when Vavage lunged towards them. Then before he knew it he was falling backwards and soon found his face buried in green cloth, What the-! What happened??
Slowly, the Saiyjin prince lifted just as Gohan started to sit up, putting them nose to nose with each other. Both sputtered in surprise before falling away, both starting to blush in their respective cheeks as well. But Shin paid them no mind as he got to his feet and let out a much calmer breadth, It's breaking the rules, but it won't matter… He frowned as he turned to them, looking down at the two who just stared at each other, Vegeta with disdain and Gohan with embarrassment, "Vavage won't be coming here, even in a million years, so I believe it's safe to say…that, well, it's safe."
Vegeta scowled, he didn't want to hear the words Vavage and safe in the same sentence. With a grumble the Saiyjin covered his face with his hands to groan before something horrifying dawned on him, causing him to jerk upright, "What about the others?!"
Gohan jumped at his outburst, looking utterly lost until he realized the situation himself, he leapt to his feet, "He's right! Vavage may be there when they get back!"
The Supreme Kai hadn't considered that, and when he gave it a moment's thought, he shook his head in disagreement to their worry, "I doubt it, Vavage's one true goal is you, Vegeta. And he's not stupid…unfortunately not! He knows we teleported somewhere and he'll be too busy tracking us down to think of staying on the Lookout."
Despite the fact that was all reasonable and good, Vegeta felt sick when he dwelled on it and the longer he pondered, the more terrifying the scenario. He was sure Goten and Trunks were with them now and if Kakarrot even thought to put his son in such a predicament, the prince would have his head, I lost Bulma, but I'm not losing Trunks, especially not to that freak who wants to parade around looking like me!
Shin looked towards Gohan, a smile on his face, "Let's start the training!"
Both of the warriors rewarded him with bemused looks, shouting at once, "Training?!"
"You didn't think I brought you here just for safety did you?"
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Where's my dad?! I don't care if you're all high and mighty stronger guy in the world, I wanna know where my dad is!!" Trunks wailed, more angry than upset, jumping up and down in frustration, "You big jerk! Tell me where my dad is!"
Gokou gulped, unsure of how to handle this, Gohan was never temperamental like this, and he had to remind himself, this was Vegeta's son and there could be severe mood swings without warning. Krillin was all the way on the other side of the Lookout, intent on staying away from the temper tantrum. Goten just stood there watching with the android sucking his thumb innocently, and Piccolo was with Raditz and Korin. Dende was not touching this either. Soon Trunks' temper tantrum mutated into a sob fest as the boy started bawling since he wasn't getting answers, "I can't -sniff- believe -sniff- you lost -sniff- my dad! -sniff, sniff- My Phobe -sniff- can't even -sniff- find him!!"
Dende looked thoughtful, remembering Shin saying something about going home, then he looked at Mr. Popo, "Hey, do you suppose they went the Kai home planet in Other World?"
That got the attention of all present, and put a stop to Trunks' crying, the boy blinked away the tears while his arms flop down at his sides. Gokou's brow furrowed as he gave them a curios look, "The Kai home planet? Where's that?"
"I don't know, when you go to Other World, you should ask the Kais about it, only they would really know."
Gokou nodded, standing to his feet and bringing his fingers to his brow, "All right, I won't be lo-"
"We're going with!"
He jumped before he turned to see Trunks and Goten run up to him, it seemed the two boys weren't going to take no for an answer on this trip either. The purple-haired boy pointed up at him, his expression surprisingly stern for an 8-year old, "We're going with you, whether you like it or not, I've gotta find my dad."
The tall Saiyjin sighed a little, he couldn't quite refuse him. Krillin soon spoke up, looking at the boys, "Hey, Trunks, didn't you say Phobe has Dragon radar? Maybe while you guys go find Gohan and Vegeta, you can have him tell us where the next Dragonballs are so Raditz, Piccolo and I can find them."
"Um, okay. Hey, Phobe, where're the Dragonballs?" Trunks inquired, looking up at his creation, who took a moment, a whirring noise emanating from his head before he stuck his tongue out and plucked out a piece of paper. Trunks took it and gave it a funny look, "It says the Dead Sea, inside Mount Fuji, Tokyo's central park, and the other's in Death Valley. But one's missing!" The boy looked at Phobe unhappily but the robot shrugged.
"It's no on this plane."
"What'dya mean it's not on this plane?!" Gokou demanded, receiving another shrug from the android. He sighed in defeat, they didn't have the time for all of this, grabbing Goten's hand who in turn grabbed Trunks and Phobe's before they teleported away to Other World. Krillin sighed himself, looking at the list of locations, hoping Phobe had left coordinates, but he wondered if the Dragonballs would actually be coming to them.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
A few hours had passed on the Kai planet, and in that time Gohan had freed the Z sword from the pillar and had started training with it. Vegeta sat against a tree a distance away from him, Shin standing next to him, as they watch him, the Saiyjin prince yawned tiredly.
His attention focused up to the Supreme Kai as the being stepped away with Kabito, the two getting into a heated conversation. Vegeta frowned, wondering what they were discussing, it seemed important from the stern frown on Shin's face. He couldn't quite hear them from where he sat and, while keeping an eye to see if and when they noticed him, he scooted close enough that his sensitive ears could just barely pick up their voices. The first was Kabito's.
"…why don't we just hand him over since he's all the demon wants, the important thing is that the orb is safe, Master, after all, the Sovereign can't expect both to be guarded."
"Kabito, you know we can't do that, he wants neither to fall to evil. But I don't understand how the Sovereign could speak through Vegeta, only the Kais can.''
"You can't suggest he's one of you!"
"What else can I? Any mortal would be dead now if they were possessed by the Sovereign, and that would include those Saiyjins."
The prince went stiff, blinking in disbelief. He didn't hear that, he refused to believe he did. Shakily, Vegeta got on all four and crawled back to the tree, chewing his lower lip. But what does he mean? I am a Saiyjin! I'm the prince no less! I'm not one of those ridiculous Kais! He scowled, pushing up to his feet to power up and jet away, zipping past Gohan who paused in confusion, "Vegeta…?!"
Shin jumped back in surprise with Kabito when they noticed Vegeta's departure, their mistake dawning on him, "I think he overheard us…!''
The giant just raised a brow, "And? It's not like we can keep this from him for long."
The Supreme Kai frowned to himself as Gohan followed suit. The half-Saiyjin blinked as he flew after, trying to piece together why Vegeta had taken off. Soon he slowed down, figuring the other fighter wasn't going to stop if he knew someone was following and he turned and went back to their training spot, "Shin, is Vegeta going to be okay out there? I mean…"
"He'll be fine, this planet has an energy barrier, making it hard to sense energy, but the plus side is that the barrier is made of a holy ki so demons like Vavage won't be getting in," Shin assured, personally convinced Vegeta wouldn't leave.
Meanwhile, Shin convictions would falter had he witnessed Vegeta's passing through the barrier and landing down on the winding road of Snake Way. He looked out and around at the bright colors of the clouds and down at the cool gray blue of the road. A brief walk would most likely ease his mind, he reached into his pockets and became startled when his fingers grazed across something warm. He grasped the object in his hand and held it up, it was the one-star Dragonball.
Vegeta frowned while he looked over it's pearl white surface, puzzling over how it managed it's way into his pocket. "I guess Kakarrot slipped it to me when I slept, that moron, he needs it too…" he suddenly gulped, the other Saiyjin's name causing his chest to tighten, "What…"
He took a deep breath, shoving the ball back into his pocket forcefully, Why does Kakarrot have such an effect on me?! He's nothing but a low-class Saiyjin! He's not even worth my time, let alone meaning anything to me!
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Gokou smiled as they phased in the front lawn of the Grand Kai's estate. Plus now he could sense the others, at least, he could sense Vegeta. He blinked as he felt someone tugging on his arm and looked to Phobe, who seemed very anxious as he pointed to the group of Kais walking towards them, King Kai and Grand Kai at the front, all of them seemed very displeased.
"You'd think he wouldn't be back so soon after being revived, but no!" King Kai grunted as they came to a stop in front of Gokou, "At least he'll be helpful. You got here in time though, we've got a little problem."
"What's that?" the tall Saiyjin asked in bemusement, scratching his head as he stared down at his mentor, "Is there something wrong, King Kai?"
The short Kai snorted at him, looking furious as he clenched his fists, "What do you call a powerful psycho named Vavage?! A blessing?! He's loose here in Other World!!"
"Vegeta!"
End of Chapter 6