*** 4 months later ***
"Mom! I'm home!"
"Good, dinner is almost ready. How did the training go?"
"Fine. Vegeta is still annoyed you are only letting me train 2 days a week, but I am getting better all the time. By the way, Bulma says her dad almost has the new ship finished. They will be testing it next week."
Chi-Chi looks at Gohan as she set a large bowl of food on the table. "So, it is almost time."
"Yup."
"I had hoped they would not get the ship finished in time. Oh well, eat up. You still have studies to do tonight."
"Yes, mom."
" Oh, and tell Bulma I have decided to take her up on her offer to stay with them while you are away."
"Great! Trunks will be happy to see Goten again I am sure." Then Gohan dug into dinner and ate like only a Sayian can do.
*** 2 more weeks have passed ***
Another small crowd stands near the landing pad, but this time looking at the ship already sitting there. It was not your usual bubble shape, but looked more like a giant egg sitting on its end with 4 large rockets attached to it.
"This ship is almost 50% wider and just a bit more than twice as tall. This was for a couple reasons. It has a new engine design that makes it faster and will give it almost twice the range of our other ships. The second reason was to make room for the larger Gravity Room Vegeta wanted put in."
Dr Briefs when on to explain more about the workings of the new ship. "The very top deck is the control area. All the main seating for takeoff and landings is up there too. The next three decks are living space, storage, medical bay and all that good stuff. We have also fitted the medical bay with one of those rejuvenation tanks that Vegeta has brought back. Then we have the Gravity Room, it's been reinforced so it should take the strain of a couple training Sayians better. Below that is more of the engine and other equipment you need for a ship."
"I don't like the name." Several heads turned towards Chi-Chi as she pointed to the large letters on the side of ship spelling out 'Capsule 13'. "It's bad luck."
Vegeta snorted in amusement. "Bad luck only for those standing against a Sayian warrior."
Bulma asked, "Why is that?"
Vegeta grinned wickedly. "The 13th, on planet Vegeta, was always the night of the full moon."
There was a moment of silence from the others while Chi-Chi glared at the back of Vegeta's head.
"Well, enough talk." Vegeta started up the ramp into the ship. "Come on Gohan, let's get going."
Gohan turned to his mom and gave her a hug. "I'll be careful." And before she could say anything, he let go and jogged up the ramp past Vegeta and into the ship. At the top of the ramp Vegeta paused a second and turned his head to lock eyes with Bulma. "I'll be back." Bulma raised her arm in a wave but Vegeta was already inside and closing the door. A few minutes later the ship lifted off and was on its way.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Once the ship was in space, Vegeta spent a couple minutes pushing buttons setting up the course for the ship to follow. Then he turned and looked at Gohan. "It's 6 days to our first stop, so we might as well get training. But first I need to lay out a couple of rules."
Gohan got out of his seat and started to stretch a little warming up. "Go ahead."
Vegeta led the way down to the Gravity Room while talking. "For this tournament, we are Sayians. We will wear Sayian uniforms and use Sayian gear. That also means I am in charge. You will follow my orders at all times." Vegeta glared at Gohan for a moment. "Understand?"
Gohan nodded.
"Good. At least we have a few days to practice, so we should be able to pass you off as a full Sayian easily enough." Vegeta walked to the GR controls and turned the gravity up to 150 times normal. "One more thing, unless we cannot help it, do not transform into a Super Sayian."
"Why is that?"
Vegeta moved to the center of the room and got into a fighting position. "I want to keep that in reserve. By now, some people know that Kakarott has become a Super Sayian. But they won't know we can do it too. So it will be a surprise for when we do have to use it."
"Now! Defend yourself!" And Vegeta leapt to the attack.
Gohan and Vegeta walked down the hall pushing past the crowds of people. Most of them ignored the pair as they passed, but a few watched carefully like they were trying to judge the competition and see how tough they were. Vegeta stopped in front of an archway that had a large banner hanging over it. The banner was a flashing neon green and yellow monstrosity that was painful to even look at. "The Great Ceti Thersus Tournament Begins Here!"
Vegeta growled, "I should blast somebody for even making that ugly thing."
Gohan just walked past him and into the room to get away from the flashing colors. "Maybe that will get to be the great prize. The winner can blow up that sign."
They walked over to the front desk. "We are here for the tournament."
The oversized orange blob behind the desk didn't even look up. "Fine. Names?"
"I am Prince Vegeta, this is Gohan."
"Race?"
"Sayian!"
The creature behind the desk looked up in surprise. "I didn't think there were any Sayians left. Freiza killed them all."
Vegeta glared at it. "Not all of them, and Freiza has paid the price for that act of treachery."
The blob shrugged. "Whatever. Just the two of you competing?"
Vegeta nodded.
"Okay. Report to the next room for a blood test and power scan."
Gohan was surprised. "Blood test? What for?"
"Well, we need to make sure you are of the same race don't we? Or did you expect us to just take your word for it?"
"Are you saying our word is not good enough?" Vegeta growled.
The blob just sighed at the challenge from Vegeta. "Everybody has to take the same tests. If you do not want to follow the rules, you can just not fight in the tournament."
While Vegeta stood there for a moment trying to coming up with a good retort, Gohan just shrugged and walked away to the next room. After another glare from Vegeta at the blob, he followed Gohan.
They had some blood taken and were told to wait while the tests were done. They sat down on the floor facing each other and started a telepathic sparing session. While they were sparring, they also covered a few things.
"If they are doing a power scan, they are probably trying to judge the strength of all the warriors. So keep your power level down. Don't go any higher than what I do."
"Sure Vegeta. I wonder if they will tell us how we rate against the other fighters."
Just then they were called back. "Okay, you two are of the same race. And we have confirmed your Sayian heritage. Now, we will need each of you to stand under the scanner and power up. One at a time, and please, don't hold back."
Vegeta walked over to a metal frame holding a large crystal disk. He stood under the disk and closed his eyes for a moment and started to power up some. Gohan stood next to control panel watching the power level climb. Vegeta leveled out at about 10 million. The operator seemed a little surprised. "Ten million is incredible for a Sayian. But you are still only ranked number 23 out of nearly 200 warriors that have come through here. I hope the little one here is a real powerhouse, or you are not going to be able to keep up for very long."
Vegeta just powered back down and said, "We will surprise you at how well we can do." And stepped out of the scanner and nodded for Gohan to do in.
Gohan stepped up and grinned at Vegeta as started to power up. "I have been training hard so I bet I have more power than you now." The number climbed quickly but not for long. Gohan leveled out at about 9.8 million.
Vegeta laughed. "That's why I am the prince and you are only a baka warrior. You will never outdo me, little one."
Gohan powered down with a frustrated sounding sigh. "One of these days, oh mighty prince, one of these days."
The scanner operator punched a couple more buttons. "Okay, your team power is 19.8 million. We have had a couple teams come through with combined powers of almost 50 million, so good luck. You are going to need it."
Before Vegeta could answer the operator tossed a disk to Vegeta, "Go to this location for the first test." And he turned away.
Vegeta and Gohan walked out and headed back for their ship.
"Mom! I'm home!"
"Good, dinner is almost ready. How did the training go?"
"Fine. Vegeta is still annoyed you are only letting me train 2 days a week, but I am getting better all the time. By the way, Bulma says her dad almost has the new ship finished. They will be testing it next week."
Chi-Chi looks at Gohan as she set a large bowl of food on the table. "So, it is almost time."
"Yup."
"I had hoped they would not get the ship finished in time. Oh well, eat up. You still have studies to do tonight."
"Yes, mom."
" Oh, and tell Bulma I have decided to take her up on her offer to stay with them while you are away."
"Great! Trunks will be happy to see Goten again I am sure." Then Gohan dug into dinner and ate like only a Sayian can do.
*** 2 more weeks have passed ***
Another small crowd stands near the landing pad, but this time looking at the ship already sitting there. It was not your usual bubble shape, but looked more like a giant egg sitting on its end with 4 large rockets attached to it.
"This ship is almost 50% wider and just a bit more than twice as tall. This was for a couple reasons. It has a new engine design that makes it faster and will give it almost twice the range of our other ships. The second reason was to make room for the larger Gravity Room Vegeta wanted put in."
Dr Briefs when on to explain more about the workings of the new ship. "The very top deck is the control area. All the main seating for takeoff and landings is up there too. The next three decks are living space, storage, medical bay and all that good stuff. We have also fitted the medical bay with one of those rejuvenation tanks that Vegeta has brought back. Then we have the Gravity Room, it's been reinforced so it should take the strain of a couple training Sayians better. Below that is more of the engine and other equipment you need for a ship."
"I don't like the name." Several heads turned towards Chi-Chi as she pointed to the large letters on the side of ship spelling out 'Capsule 13'. "It's bad luck."
Vegeta snorted in amusement. "Bad luck only for those standing against a Sayian warrior."
Bulma asked, "Why is that?"
Vegeta grinned wickedly. "The 13th, on planet Vegeta, was always the night of the full moon."
There was a moment of silence from the others while Chi-Chi glared at the back of Vegeta's head.
"Well, enough talk." Vegeta started up the ramp into the ship. "Come on Gohan, let's get going."
Gohan turned to his mom and gave her a hug. "I'll be careful." And before she could say anything, he let go and jogged up the ramp past Vegeta and into the ship. At the top of the ramp Vegeta paused a second and turned his head to lock eyes with Bulma. "I'll be back." Bulma raised her arm in a wave but Vegeta was already inside and closing the door. A few minutes later the ship lifted off and was on its way.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Once the ship was in space, Vegeta spent a couple minutes pushing buttons setting up the course for the ship to follow. Then he turned and looked at Gohan. "It's 6 days to our first stop, so we might as well get training. But first I need to lay out a couple of rules."
Gohan got out of his seat and started to stretch a little warming up. "Go ahead."
Vegeta led the way down to the Gravity Room while talking. "For this tournament, we are Sayians. We will wear Sayian uniforms and use Sayian gear. That also means I am in charge. You will follow my orders at all times." Vegeta glared at Gohan for a moment. "Understand?"
Gohan nodded.
"Good. At least we have a few days to practice, so we should be able to pass you off as a full Sayian easily enough." Vegeta walked to the GR controls and turned the gravity up to 150 times normal. "One more thing, unless we cannot help it, do not transform into a Super Sayian."
"Why is that?"
Vegeta moved to the center of the room and got into a fighting position. "I want to keep that in reserve. By now, some people know that Kakarott has become a Super Sayian. But they won't know we can do it too. So it will be a surprise for when we do have to use it."
"Now! Defend yourself!" And Vegeta leapt to the attack.
Gohan and Vegeta walked down the hall pushing past the crowds of people. Most of them ignored the pair as they passed, but a few watched carefully like they were trying to judge the competition and see how tough they were. Vegeta stopped in front of an archway that had a large banner hanging over it. The banner was a flashing neon green and yellow monstrosity that was painful to even look at. "The Great Ceti Thersus Tournament Begins Here!"
Vegeta growled, "I should blast somebody for even making that ugly thing."
Gohan just walked past him and into the room to get away from the flashing colors. "Maybe that will get to be the great prize. The winner can blow up that sign."
They walked over to the front desk. "We are here for the tournament."
The oversized orange blob behind the desk didn't even look up. "Fine. Names?"
"I am Prince Vegeta, this is Gohan."
"Race?"
"Sayian!"
The creature behind the desk looked up in surprise. "I didn't think there were any Sayians left. Freiza killed them all."
Vegeta glared at it. "Not all of them, and Freiza has paid the price for that act of treachery."
The blob shrugged. "Whatever. Just the two of you competing?"
Vegeta nodded.
"Okay. Report to the next room for a blood test and power scan."
Gohan was surprised. "Blood test? What for?"
"Well, we need to make sure you are of the same race don't we? Or did you expect us to just take your word for it?"
"Are you saying our word is not good enough?" Vegeta growled.
The blob just sighed at the challenge from Vegeta. "Everybody has to take the same tests. If you do not want to follow the rules, you can just not fight in the tournament."
While Vegeta stood there for a moment trying to coming up with a good retort, Gohan just shrugged and walked away to the next room. After another glare from Vegeta at the blob, he followed Gohan.
They had some blood taken and were told to wait while the tests were done. They sat down on the floor facing each other and started a telepathic sparing session. While they were sparring, they also covered a few things.
"If they are doing a power scan, they are probably trying to judge the strength of all the warriors. So keep your power level down. Don't go any higher than what I do."
"Sure Vegeta. I wonder if they will tell us how we rate against the other fighters."
Just then they were called back. "Okay, you two are of the same race. And we have confirmed your Sayian heritage. Now, we will need each of you to stand under the scanner and power up. One at a time, and please, don't hold back."
Vegeta walked over to a metal frame holding a large crystal disk. He stood under the disk and closed his eyes for a moment and started to power up some. Gohan stood next to control panel watching the power level climb. Vegeta leveled out at about 10 million. The operator seemed a little surprised. "Ten million is incredible for a Sayian. But you are still only ranked number 23 out of nearly 200 warriors that have come through here. I hope the little one here is a real powerhouse, or you are not going to be able to keep up for very long."
Vegeta just powered back down and said, "We will surprise you at how well we can do." And stepped out of the scanner and nodded for Gohan to do in.
Gohan stepped up and grinned at Vegeta as started to power up. "I have been training hard so I bet I have more power than you now." The number climbed quickly but not for long. Gohan leveled out at about 9.8 million.
Vegeta laughed. "That's why I am the prince and you are only a baka warrior. You will never outdo me, little one."
Gohan powered down with a frustrated sounding sigh. "One of these days, oh mighty prince, one of these days."
The scanner operator punched a couple more buttons. "Okay, your team power is 19.8 million. We have had a couple teams come through with combined powers of almost 50 million, so good luck. You are going to need it."
Before Vegeta could answer the operator tossed a disk to Vegeta, "Go to this location for the first test." And he turned away.
Vegeta and Gohan walked out and headed back for their ship.