I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.
Chapter 11: TJGA
I stirred on the Satan's black leather couch; its smooth and cold surface slowly roused me into my surroundings and reminded me of why I was there in the first place. I heard a ticking around in front of my feet, coming from a large type of grandfather clock. It read eight-thirty, a little time before the tough day really started. I heard something breathing on the other side of the room, looking up to see the dog Bee sleeping softly on the ground. His now bigger size got my attention for the day, reminding me to scan for scattered ki signals. I found none, but Buu's signal interfered a little bit. Speaking of the demon, he came into the room with arms loaded with snacks and candy, flopping down on the other couch and grabbing the TV remote. He didn't notice I was awake yet, and tried to flip the TV on. It didn't work, mostly likely needed batteries or something. Buu took a minute to figure this out, before throwing the remote down and cursing at it. He then flipped his forelock around and magically made it glow pink. And just like that, the TV flipped on, to apparently his favorite channel as he started to laugh and cackle loudly in his child like voice. It was unfortunately the same show that Trunks liked so much: Pokemon.
"Buu really like when the bad guy go boom!" he said out loud as a turtle was set on fire. He didn't seem to notice my piercing glare at the screen.
"Buu, do you know about the bad things that were in the basement? The purple colored animals?" I asked, startling him.
"Yes, Buu know, me thought they were Satan's. But they meaner than Bee, and they stayed in the big purple floor room down there. Buu no like them, but they never bother Buu!"
"Next time you see one Buu, kill it. They are dangerous creatures, and would hurt Satan and Bee if you don't," I warned.
Buu's face turned into a confused frown, but he nodded, "Okay, Buu do!" he replied before laughing at the screen and shoving candy in his mouth.
I looked at him strangely, "Don't you want any more information?"
"No, I know they not beat Buu! Buu beat them!" I guess that will have to do, as long at he is aware.
"Well I don't know if they're coming back Buu, I blew up the room and all of the creatures there. That's just a warning to you, okay big guy?"
"Okay, Buu watch out for bad things!" I sighed and got up to a sitting position. Well it looks like what the Kai's and Dabura said are true, the Zerg really are coming to Earth, and we're the only resistance that can stand against them. Granted it was easy to beat those small Zerglings, but I know the Zerg have more agents then just those, many more.
"Hey Buu, when the Zerg come to Earth, we're going to need your help too. Some are already here; probably scouts and that's no surprise. But when the big invasion arrives, can we count on you to help out?" I asked.
"Yeah, Buu help!" I nodded to him as I stood up and felt relieved. I walked towards the kitchen, seeing a couple of maids and cooks running around in there.
The apparent head maid noticed me after a moment, "Good morning, you're that sweet young date Miss Videl brought home aren't you, are you hungry?" I grinned back at them, Stupid question, very stupid question.
-
I found that Videl had already gone to school, but the servant staff still gave me a good size meal, jaw dropping for them. I left an hour later to get back to Capsule Corp as I was looking forward to going back to my planet; even if it was only for a short time. I was also dreading it, I knew if I went back now then I'd want to stay and prevent Frieza from blowing it up in the first place. I also didn't feel very keen on leaving this Earth with the chance of more Zerg running around, but we did need the information. I flew back to West City quickly, anxious to get a move on. Landing, I went inside and upstairs. Vegeta was still in the gravity room, so I had a little time. I entered my room, and immediately sought out different clothes. Since I wasn't completely sure where the time machine was going to put us, or for that matter how we would enter, I chose a simple black T-shirt with matching training pants and boots. Then I walked downstairs to see Vegeta, Trunks, and Goten waiting at the bottom of the stairs.
"Any more signs of the Zerg?" Vegeta asked.
"No, I warned Buu about them, but he said he had seen them before. Dunno if we can really rely on him that well, but he said he would kill any Zerg he saw," I said, hands in my pockets.
"Well, the woman wanted to explain this machine of hers before we get going. I've already figured it out though, so I guess you're the only one who will learn anything. She apparently thinks that we should be completely prepared for anything, but yet guarantees her machine to work perfectly. I don't care just as long as she shuts up," he groaned.
"Hey Dad, can me and Goten come too?" Trunks asked. I was wondering when that was going to come out.
"No son, this isn't a mission for fun, and we won't be staying. The boy has enough to think about as it is," Vegeta said, noticing my lack of excitement.
"Aw! How come he gets to go and we don't?" Trunks whined along with Goten.
"Because it's his planet, and you two will cause havoc! You do every other day!" Vegeta roared. Mom came walking in just then, silencing the boys' whining.
"Well Vegeta, Verto, come with me please, I need to show you what to do!" she said simply. We followed Mom down the halls to her lab, and found an extra room attached to it inside.
"This is the new time machine," she said, holding a wrench proudly.
"I know that Woman!" Vegeta barked. I quickly prepped for the explosion.
"I WAS TELLING VERTO, SOMETIMES HE IS A LITTLE BIT INTERESTED IN THINGS I DO AROUND HERE! UNLIKE SOME PEOPLE WHO JUST TRAIN ALL DAY!" Ouch, did she have to scream so loud?
"All right woman, hurry it up!" Vegeta said in retreating fashion.
"I planned on just modifying the old one into a two seater or something, but that was going to be tough so I came up with something different. I have tested it to know for sure, so don't worry. You enter this machine and punch in your co-ordinances, and then the machine sends you there. But before you go, you put these on!" she explained as she held up a bracelet of some kind, "These are like mini-time machines that work in according to the main one. All you have to do is travel with it on, and then press the red button on the side to bring you back here. You need to be careful with these, I only have two and they are pretty fragile," she said, putting the bracelet back on the table.
"So in other words, without those you can't get back correct?" I asked.
"Yep, now these watch things are kinda like Goku's instant transmission. So even if there is one left, any number of people can travel back here just by contact to the user. That's no problem, but I made two just in case anyway, I know Vegeta likes to blow stuff up a lot," she snickered.
Vegeta rolled his eyes a little, "Woman, we're not going on a vacation here. According to the boy, it won't take very long to pick up the things we need and get back here. I am not planning to stay away long, I'm a bit concerned about these Zerg and where they are on the planet. It is highly unlikely we would find only one location when we found a stray Zerg five hundred miles away."
She snorted slightly, "Right, you're just worried about little old me and your soon to be new daughter!" Vegeta grumbled at that comment by his wife.
"Well come on you two, I need to pack you some emergency supplies just in case. I know what you're going to say Vegeta, but there's always a chance that something goes wrong with this, time travel is risky. I already programmed the correct place and time into the computer, so all you need to do is grab your ticket home and push the button inside the chamber," Mom explained, motioning for us to follow her back to the lobby for supplies and such.
Interlude 11.1 -Sabotage
"Trunks, I can't see!" Goten whined. He and Trunks lowered their ki to nearly nothing and listened to Bulma explain the time machine mechanics. Once they were gone to get supplies, the boys snuck into the lab.
"See Goten, you just need to put in something here, and then press the button, then were gone. Then Dad and Verto will have the way back and we just ride along! Now to just hide in here! Damn, it's just a circle in here, they'll see us for sure!"
"So Trunks, how does the machine thingy know where to go? Your mom didn't say!"
"Yeah she did, you just have too much space between your brain and ears! Dad probably has the code memorized anyway. I saw him messing with it last night, he'll punch it in a number and letter code like this!" Trunks said, punching in numbers and letters in a twelve-digit code, replacing the one that was already there.
"Oh, I get it, then press the big red button!" Goten pointed, almost touching it.
"No dummy, we have to wait! Do you wanna get stuck somewhere without any food?" Goten barely thought that over before pulling his arm back and away.
"What are you two doing in here?!" A loud voice shouted harshly.
-
Vegeta and I walked back to the time room with the supplies Mom had given us, packed away in capsules. We suddenly heard some commotion and stepped into the chamber to see what it was. Trunks and Goten were hovering around the activation computer and it was not a good sign. We stepped in silently, before Vegeta startled them.
"What are you two doing in here!" he shouted.
"Uh nothing!" Trunks lied badly.
"Bullshit, you two are still not going and that's final!" Vegeta roared.
"What is going on in here?" Mom said, coming to the doorway.
"Dad and Verto won't let us go with them!" Trunks whined, trying to appeal to the other parent.
"Honey, its too dangerous, maybe next time okay? Now come on out, it would be boring for you anyway!"
"See Trunks, told ya they wouldn't let us go! At least they stopped us before I got into another one of your dumb ideas!" Goten said, showing a rare sign of intelligence.
"Oh its my idea? Like you didn't want to go, you've been talking about it all morning!"
"Was not!"
"Was too!"
"Was not!"
"Was too!"
"Was not!"
"Was too!"
The argument quickly turned into a wrestling match, with the boys rolling all over the floor.
I sighed, "Come on you two, go spar in the gravity room or something!" They continued, eventually coming to their feet and rushing each other, jumping all over the room, and getting dangerously close to the control panel.
"Stop it, RIGHT NOW!" Vegeta barked. The boys stopped, but not before Trunks punched Goten straight in the gut. He was forced back a little bit, and hit the panel dead on the red button, before the panel cracked and flew apart.
"Good job Goten, now you broke it!" Trunks shouted. Some kind of energy barrier formed directly behind me, where the doorway was, and Mom was on the other side of it.
"The machine is turning on!" she shouted. I then realized something rather bad, there wasn't a bracelet on my wrist, nor Vegeta's, they were still in Mom's lab on a table.
"Shit!" I said aloud. Mom ran over and grabbed them and tossed them at the barrier. I held my arms out to catch them, but when they hit the barrier, they exploded in a huge puff of smoke.
"Oh no!" Mom screamed as she pulled her hair slightly. The room turned bright white, and then blue, because Vegeta decided to blast the thing right then and there to stop the process. He aimed for the computer, and blew it apart. But the barrier remained up, and the machine sound continued to build higher and higher. This kept up until the room suddenly went pitch black, and my stomach felt as if it were being turned inside out. Vegeta, Trunks and Goten were suffering a similar predicament, all three bent over slightly. The feeling passed within about ten seconds, and I opened my eyes.
We were standing in some kind of field, but the dirt was red with no grass. I looked up to see the sky was also a shade of red, slightly lighter. The gravity was different too; I guessed it was about ten times that of earth. The air was a bit thicker, but nothing to worry about. I glanced around, we were in some kind of desert surrounded by small mountains, and the wind was blowing a little bit, kicking up red dust.
"This isn't your planet," Vegeta said.
"No kidding!" I said in anger.
"Whoa Trunks, where are we?" Goten asked.
"How should I know?" Trunks grumbled. I used my ki sense to help me scan the area, only to find that most of the power levels on this planet were way higher than any normal human.
"Do you know where we are boy?" Vegeta asked, but he seemed to be struggling to keep a scowl on his face.
"No." I said, giving him a strange look.
"Do you know Trunks?" Goten asked.
"What, no! I told you I didn't know dummy!"
"Well, you're the one that pressed in that long number right before your dad showed up! I thought you knew where to go!" Goten said.
I gave them both a deathly glare "I hope you two are happy, because now were stuck, wherever this is, with no way home!" I shouted at both of them, stomping in their direction. They both cringed in fear, backing up slightly. Vegeta's arm stayed my explosion, a look of contentment with the situation.
"I know we will find a way home, don't worry about that. And as for where we are," he suddenly smirked brightly.
"Where are we Vegeta?" I asked, curious now.
"I don't expect you or the brats to know, but any other Saiyan would know exactly where we are!" I glanced around again, this time taking in the view a little slower. The red environment and something in the air was driving the beast inside me. I felt slightly excited, and I wanted to pound something into the ground until dust remained. I wanted to fight some insanely powerful beast even if I lost and got killed. I took a few deep breaths, looking back at him for the answer.
"Where are we Dad?"
"The birthplace of myself and our ancestors, Planet Vegita!"
-
"Incredible, by some blind luck, you managed to get us to a place worth taking a vacation at," Vegeta chuckled slightly as Trunks looked at the ground.
"Sorry sir," he muttered.
"Well, if luck holds. The woman will already be building a replacement time machine and will use the co-ordinances on the computer to find us," Vegeta said, slightly at ease with the situation.
"Uh, hate to rain on your parade, but I don't think that will work," I said.
"Why not boy, are you doubting your adoptive mother's abilities?"
"No, it's not that, but you kinda blew up the computer before we ended up here," I said. Vegeta snorted and turned his back to us, I could tell he wasn't happy with himself over that.
"If were on planet Vegita, then is there a chance we could hop a ride to either Namek or Earth? Then can't we just use the dragonballs to get back to our time?" I asked.
Vegeta turned back around, "It may take a little time, but yes we could without much trouble. However we shouldn't just barge in and take one, they would likely blow it up out in space. And we don't have any Vegitan or Frieza credits in which to purchase one, the currency used here," Vegeta said.
"How would we acquire credits then, other than thievery?" I asked. Goten and Trunks inched a little closer, but remained away from me.
"How else boy? Jobs! But the job market here is much different. As I understood it, the main source of income is army service, rather its training and maintaining the barracks, or planet clearing for Frieza," he said. At the words planet clearing, I immediately scowled in disgust.
"Before the destruction, Saiyan males about the age of four Zurals, or eight earth years, were generally put into the academies for schooling and primarily fight training. Depending on how they progress, they would enter the regular army anywhere from age six to age ten Zurals. Anyone entering after the seven Zural mark usually skipped the academies as most were trained by a noble. They were required to enter the army and typically were put into planet clearing like any other. After fifteen Zurals of service, if they lived, they could come home and work in the barracks, training younger Saiyans that had not entered yet. Females could enter the army as well, but it was not required as they bear children. By the way, Males were not supposed to mate once in the planet clearing business, however once they come home and stay with the main army they could. This rule was usually ignored, especially with the arranged matings, and half the soldiers would mate with each other as long as they were not on the same clearing team," Vegeta explained. The boys gagged slightly at the word mate, but then set about torturing a strange frog-like creature that hopped by. This speech sounds rehearsed for some reason. Especially if he brought up that mating crap again.
"What I think we should do, is first register as off-planet civilians so we can get a place to stay. Then to get credits, we send you with a team to clear planets for trade. The brats and I will stay here and see what we can dig up around here while you pile up some money. Then we can either get a transport or buy a ship ourselves and get to Namek or Earth," Vegeta suggested.
"You want me to go clear planets?" I asked in a low voice.
Vegeta narrowed his eyes, "Yes boy, it isn't quite like it sounds. Besides maybe this will teach you how to be a Saiyan a little better. As ruthless as you are in battle with your established enemies, you still have a soft spot that needs removed from those who are not. Being around other Saiyans on this planet will do you some good, see if that mean streak in you still works," Vegeta scowled at me.
I sighed, "Fine, but I still don't like it."
"Would you rather we remain stuck here, or better yet, get blown out of space? Then not be able to get back to our earth to stop the Zerg, would that be better?" Vegeta shouted in anger. I didn't answer, just grunted.
"Now first thing we must do is lower our power levels, very low. Once we find a scouter, we can give you a power level to go by. A lot of things are determined by how strong you are around here," Vegeta said, lowering his ki to miniscule levels. I complied and did so as well, Goten and Trunks followed our lead.
"If I remember right, the main port should be that way!" Vegeta pointed to the distance on our right. I couldn't tell what direction was which yet, so I just followed his lead into the air.
-
The terrain didn't change very much from a red desert. A few bones of random animals and random size could be seen, but that was it. We up to a large city, and landed just inside it in a back alley area. I could see a few Saiyans huddled in the nooks and crannies, the equivalent of bums with tails. The roads were mostly dirt, with a few patches of a sticky tar like substance scattered about. Vegeta stopped at one and scooped some into his gloved hand. Then he ran it through his hair, making it slide to the side more, and then hung a bang over his head, making a hairstyle similar to mine. The tar made it stick to where he put it, and made it look grubby compared to his regular hair. He then picked up some more and motioned Goten over and fixed his wild hair as well. He didn't mold it into any style, just pulled the wild sides upwards a little, so he didn't look like himself.
"Just about every Saiyan recognizes the royal hairstyle down to a half millimeter difference, no use taking a chance right now," he explained as he did up Goten's hair to be similar. He left Trunks alone, though somehow I knew that would get brought up. It was after all, purple.
"Keep your level lowered at all times boys, I'm surprised the scouters didn't pick us up out in the desert, but they didn't scan out there often. I'm not quite sure what the exact date and time is for here, but I'd guess it's at least three months before Frieza destroys the planet. We can't stay long and we must be careful." Vegeta explained, sounding like he had planned this ahead of time. He started walking again, this time out into a main street and towards a large sign with strange language.
"Where we going now?" I asked.
"Low level registration."
"Why low level? I thought you said a lot of things depended on power levels, wouldn"t higher be better?" I asked.
"Because there's less of a chance to be discovered if your hanging with low levels, and I think I know what team will need a new member," Vegeta explained as he walked towards the doors. I had to blink twice at that, How could he know that? We went inside, and saw a strange alien at the front counter. He was a sickly green color with an orange Mohawk, wearing armor with a red cape.
"Yes?"
"We need to register for room and board, we're off-planets," Vegeta began as if he had memorized the lines.
"Name please," Mohawk guy said.
Vegeta smirked slightly, "Goku." My mind did a little flip, and Trunks had to put a clamp on Goten's mouth right away.
"And how old is your oldest son?"
"Eight and a half zurals."
"Name please?" he asked me this time.
"Verto."
"Okay, power level?" Aw, Damn! I don't think a digit for me exists!
"Twenty-two hundred," Vegeta said quickly.
"Kind of strong for a low level," the guy noted.
Vegeta's fake smile emerged, "What can I say, I'm proud of my son!" Yeah thanks. I noticed Vegeta started to suppress his ki even more under mine, but not much more.
"Okay, will your other two sons be staying with you until they are of age to begin barracks training?"
"Yes, and send all of the credits gained to my account," Vegeta finished. Damn, they didn't even ask what the boys' names were, but then they probably don't care. The Mohawk clerk pressed a button on his desk, and the ceiling opened up above me, dropping clothes directly to my hands. It was a green Saiyan bodysuit with full sleeves, dark colored armor, a scouter, gloves and boots.
"Here's your key card, be back in about an hour so we can find a spot for him," he ordered, pointing out the door. Vegeta nodded slightly and headed out the door, Goten, Trunks and I in pursuit.
-
He led us down the street a bit until we hit some kind of housing development. After a few turns, we came up to a really bad looking metal door. He put the card into a slot where the handle should have been and slid it out. The door opened on it's own, revealing a small apartment of some kind.
"Go change into those, but leave me the scouter," Vegeta ordered. I was starting to get irritated by all this, but if we were to get home I guess I had to follow through with it. What was strange was how Vegeta seemed to know what to do even though he lived most of his life off his planet. I changed out of my Earth clothes and into my new Saiyan bodysuit, noting the wonderful stretchiness of it, as well as the hole in the back for my tail. The armor, to my great dismay, had overhanging shoulder pads and hip pads on them. But this wasn't really a time to be picky, Vegeta explained on the way that the usual style for low levels was darker colored and old style armor. I understood the reasoning of stating that we were posing as low levels just fine, but there had to be a different reason behind it. Elite teams would probably made more money in one trip then I would in three. I put on the boots and looked at myself in the mirror. All I needed was the scouter and I looked like a planet clearing Saiyan, I wanted to vomit at the thought of it. I just hope I can be forgiven. It's in the best of interests, and come to think of it they would have died anyway. I stepped out and into what I had dubbed the living room. The couch was falling apart and there was a chair that looked like it had been set on fire at least five different times.
"Boy, I told them you had a level of twenty-two hundred, but we need to establish that now!" Vegeta said, putting the scouter on his ear and over his eye. He turned it on, pressing a few buttons.
"Change language mode to basic," he told the scouter.
"Preparing for new user, state name please," the computer said.
He motioned for me to speak to the scouter as he handed it to me, "Verto."
"Set mode and command for Verto, language basic. User power level readout now please." Vegeta took the scouter back and pressed the main button again. The target set directly on me, and jumbled some numbers around.
"Forty-five, a bit too high boy. Suppress your power more!" Vegeta barked. I did so, and I saw the number fall as I did, until I hit somewhere near twenty-two hundred just as the scouter did.
"Now remember how that feels, you're going to need to be there a lot and will need to fight while suppressing it. I know you're completely capable of doing that, but there's your fair warning. Now it can go up a bit higher as you complete missions, but it can't be by more than a hundred or two or your cover will likely be blown, so watch it. Now come, we need to meet your captain, he should be arriving shortly," Vegeta said, pulling me towards the door. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a capsule.
"Boys, do not destroy the place while we are gone, here's an incentive!" Vegeta ordered as he tossed them what looked to be a food capsule, before handing me what appeared to be a smaller one.
"What's this?" I asked as he opened the door.
"Senzu beans. There's five there, you shouldn't need them, but the woman was pretty demanding about it," he muttered as we walked out the door into the filthy street.
"Wait a sec, how do you know that my captain should be there soon and all this other stuff? I thought you said you were rarely on your own planet, never mind in the low level dwellings!"
"That fact shall be revealed very soon boy, just trust me on this," he said, not turning around. I sighed and followed, Vegeta usually did know what he was doing. I slid on the scouter, finishing the look on the way. The screen was green in color, with yellow text and numbers.
-
We made our way back to the registration center, telling the clerk that we were back and what not.
"Please wait here until we can contact an available low level captain," the clerk pointed to a few chairs, but we remained standing. My senses picked up a stronger than average ki heading our way, at least the average I was starting to adjust to. A few others were coming this way as well, about the same, maybe a little less. The door swung open, and a Saiyan woman a little shorter than me stepped in, wearing pink with black armor and one shoulder strap, no overhanging pads. When I first set eyes on her, my heart fluttered.
"I'm still not sure about dragging me into this Fasha. We don't need another crewmember, and knowing our luck we'd finally get pasted with some elite that thinks he overrules everyone!" a grumpy voice said behind her.
"Oh, can it Bardock! At least we can look around this time instead of them assigning one to us!" she chuckled at him.
"And it will take forever to get a newbie's strength up, if they live," Bardock said as he entered. Holy shit, Goku's clone just walked through that door! He was the spitting image of Goku, the hair, the general body build, the face and chin, everything. The only thing really out of place was a deep scar on his cheek that never appeared to heal, and the armor of course. I recognized him from the Buu fight when he and the other Saiyans came back to fight Frieza and his army, but I hadn't been on Earth at the time. So this is Goku's father, Bardock.
"Captain Bardock, how did your mission go?" the clerk stood up.
"Fine, we ran into a lot of resistance though, and it took quite a bit longer than we had hoped. A lot of the inhabitants liked to hide and use guerrilla warfare on us. Since have only five, it took a little time," Bardock said to the clerk.
"What can I do for you then sir?"
"My room key first of all. Then give me a list of new troops; we are looking for a possible sixth crewmember. As long as there are some that are worth a damn. No elites unless you have higher orders, I don't care what the mission is," Bardock said, taking a clipboard the clerk handed him.
"So this is the great Bardock?" Vegeta stepped out from behind me. Uh oh.
"Yeah, I don't consider myself great, except for fighting. What do you want?" he snapped back at the prince, not recognizing him of course.
"Me and my family just came back to Vegita. My mate and I were sent off planet long ago and we decided to bring our offspring back to Vegita, so they could be trained correctly. My eldest son needs a spot on a team and I would be honored if you will accept him," Vegeta said, again like he had expected this to happen. Bardock took a quick glance in my direction before looking back at the clipboard.
"Ah, a low level. Good cause I can't stand upper and elite classes, all of them are too smug for their own good. What's his power level?"
"Twenty-two hundred."
Bardock choked on his tongue, "And you were a low level?"
"Yes, I'm very proud of my son, he surpassed my strength last year!" Vegeta boasted. Yeah, he probably wouldn't have believed last week. Bardock pulled out a scouter and pointed it towards Vegeta. It spit out eighteen hundred for a reading, as Vegeta was doing really well on the power hiding, something I never knew him to be that good at. Then again, we had both stayed up late and guarded the kitchen from the boys; we could blend in with the air for hours on end. Bardock gave me another look over, this time more intent on consideration.
Bardock hesitated, "Hmmm, well I kinda do need another crew member. He's been in battles before I presume?"
"Many a time, the planet my mate and I were sent to was a war stricken zone and he had to fight in it since he was two," Vegeta lied. Bardock rubbed his chin, something that was obviously passed on in his bloodline, as I had seen Goku do it a lot.
"Oh come on Bardock, we need another man and he is kinda cute!" The woman known as Fasha elbowed him a bit while giving me the hungry eye.
Bardock seemed to ignore the last part, "Boy, are you aware that my team goes on some of the most dangerous missions that some elites don't even go near?" I nodded, even though it seemed contrary to what Vegeta had stated earlier.
"Good, I'll grant you a temporary spot on my team, depending how well you do. And if you stay alive long enough, you might get some strength in that body," Bardock said, spinning on his heel, "Fasha, you take him back to the dorm and get him settled, I need to visit the woman and then I'll go to the command center to get our next mission!" Bardock ordered, talking to the clerk about some last minute details.
"Good luck boy," Vegeta said, giving me a sly grin and exiting. Man, how did he know Bardock was going to show up, sure he sticks out a little better than most low levels would, but still. The answer came through the door barely a half minute later. A big balding brute with an above average power smashed the door open for himself. He had to be the size of a small building, though in reality he was probably about seven to eight feet tall, it was just his bulkiness that startled me. He wore gold and black armor with matching gloves, and what remained of his hair looked like it could fall out any minute. He stepped in and Bardock spun around to see who it was. In stepped a small boy with white and gold armor with a strange symbol on it, dark bodysuit and an orange cape. His hair was a bit untamed, and his bangs needed a slight trim, but the rest of it spiked up into a widow's peak. So that's how he knew. Bardock and Fasha dropped to their knees and bowed. I was too startled to react before Fasha pulled my pant leg for me to comply.
"Humph, what a dump! I thought at least low class facilities would be kept better than this place! I should speak to father about this," the tiny version of Vegeta said. He had to be the young prince, he even grunted the same.
"Uh, prince Vegeta, I wasn't expecting you sir!" the clerk stood at attention and saluted.
"You, low class, you're the one called Bardock correct?" Vegeta barked.
"Yes sire!"
"I have a mission I need you to carry out. Normally I wouldn"t call on low class soldiers for such a job, but your service record is, interesting. I need you and your crew to go to planet Treme and make contact with the Treme government. It seems they are having a nasty revolution there and they requested Frieza's help on it. You are to wipe out the rebels, understood?"
"Yes sir, we will depart in the morning!" Bardock stood up and saluted.
"Good, dismissed!" Vegeta barked. Bardock went out the door without another word. Fasha headed for the exit, but had to grab my hand because I couldn't stop staring at the young prince's uncannily likeness to the older version.
-
"You know, the prince has killed people for less than just looking at him wrong. I doubt you would last long if he became agitated," Fasha scolded me once we were out of the center.
"Sorry, I just didn't expect to meet the prince on my first day on Vegita," I lied carefully.
"That's okay, some people go their entire lives without meeting him or the king. Even elders," she said.
"You got a name kid?" Bardock asked, staring at me hard.
"Verto," I said, looking up at him. Man, it's Goku with an attitude.
He grunted slightly, "Well there's a name that I've never heard, at least your shrimp of a father picked a Saiyan name. Fasha, get going to the crew quarters and introduce him to the crew. I'll arrange an additional space pod when I stop by the command center for the mission details," Bardock ordered, spinning around and heading for the housing area.
"Where is he going?" I asked.
"Oh him, it's hard to believe that he actually has a personal life sometimes, but he's going to visit his mate. She's pregnant with his second son," Fasha explained.
"Second son?" I played along, though it did tell me about what timeframe I was in.
"Yeah, his first son was a real winner, he was born a first class. Kind of incredible really, except that first class boys are trained by the high-class nobles and not their own fathers. He turned out a little brat though, his name is Raditz, and he's about seven zurals old now, and his power hasn't quite turned out like they once hoped. His second son is due in a few months. If he's second class, Bardock can train him. But if he's below that, he will get sent off world. I can't imagine that he will be, not with Bardock's strength now. Kind of a shame but that was the law as of thirty zurals ago and it hasn't changed," Fasha said. I looked back towards the housing area, following Bardock's movement with ki sense.
"Anyway kid, can you fly? Even though you're cute and all, I don't want to carry you!" Fasha said with a sly grin.
"Yeah I can fly."
"Good, follow me!" she lifted into the air and took off towards the deeper insides of the large city. I followed, remembering to keep my ki low, but still caught up with her easily. Our flight was silent; I spent most of it looking around at the large city-port. Most of it was pretty run down until we got to the center, then all the buildings were polished nicely and the housing actually looked like it rather than shacks strung together. Fasha pointed out a large dome looking building and descended to its base.
"This is the Desert Rain, the bar and inn for most of us in the army with crews waiting on a mission. The most we're ever here is three days, but Bardock usually has us gone within two. Watch it in here, this isn't the best place to be for a low level kid," Fasha said as she opened the saloon like doors. I followed her inside, noting the fact I had never been in the presence of so many Saiyans. Inside was mostly a large bar and grill type place. There were a lot of Saiyans drinking; others arm wrestling, some eating and basic chit chat. I started to notice the many types of armor, from the dirty and dark for low levels, to the highly polished types that accompanied higher powers, those belonging to elites. Fasha went straight through the crowd, many males began hooting at her. She kept a slight grin on her face during that and kept moving forward. I followed, a little timidly, because the males glared at me, especially the first class and elite types. Then we passed through what appeared to be a mostly females area, some were wearing armor, some just the jumpsuit, or a part of it. All of them though were damn good looking, but I assumed they were also equally deadly. Some said hello to Fasha as she went by, a few gave me the suggestive eye, causing me to blush a little bit.
"Hey, a young male like you would look good on my wall!" one said, before stepping out in front of me, cutting me off. She was a big one too, easily as big as Nappa was. She bore 1st class armor, and her power level backed it up, somewhere slightly above my suppressed level. She was very attractive despite her size, and if anything she reminded me of Mom, except her hair was black and she had a tail. Plus, like I said, was much bigger. She made me feel as if I had never had the growth accident.
"Excuse me," I tried to say as polite as I could.
But she stood in my path regardless, "You know, I'm the daughter of a high-class noble! I could make you a very happy man when you're home from missions!" She slowly advanced on me.
"You got the high part right," I said under my breath.
"Why are you bothering with a wimpy low-level, Clerpe? He probably doesn't even know what a ki blast is!" a few female voices rang out the similar line.
Another of her entourage piped in, "Yeah no joke! What's his power level, fifty? You'd probably kill him if you mated him!" I attempted to get by her large form again, only to get shoved into a chair rather harshly by her large hand. Oh keep that up, please keep that up. No stupid, don't show your strength, its way too high even by their standards!
"You'd like it if I killed you while mating wouldn't you?" Clerpe asked in a softer tone, her large hand getting closer to my lower extremities than I would have liked at the moment. All of a sudden she was struck from behind and knocked across the room.
"Hands off!" Fasha yelled after her, yanking me out of the chair and to my feet. She stepped in front of me as if to protect me, though I felt kind of insulted by that.
"You bitch!" Clerpe stomped back. Fasha didn't budge an inch, and stared her down, even though she was almost twice her height and easily three times her general size.
"You know, I could have you killed for that!" Clerpe threatened and grinned at the same time.
"And I'll make sure they knew you were trying to court a low level, not to mention a member of Bardock's crew!" Fasha answered.
"That little thing is part of your zombie squad? In that case you can have him, though it is a waste. How long is he gonna last, about a minute?" Clerpe laughed. I scowled and growled slightly, catching her teasing attention.
She grinned slyly, "Oh what's wrong you little runt, did I offend you?" Maintain control, must maintain control, and keep with the verbal jabs and do not jump to the physical ones!
"You know what's funny, she's right. It does look pretty bad if you're flaunting with a scrawny low level like me if you supposed to be all high and mighty," I said smugly, satisfied that I got a good line in. She was pissed right away, and started stomping my way. I spun around and kept my grin, I was literally itching for a fight, even if it was with a girl. Damn, being on planet Vegita is messing me up.
Fasha blocked her path, "Don't even think about it, not if you don't want a piece of me!" I measure both girls' fighting powers, and was a little surprised to learn that Fasha's was higher than the so-called upper class, not by much though.
Clerpe took a minute to think about it, but did back off, "I just don't want to get my hands dirty. Have fun little man, I'm sure she will bore you to death!" Fasha turned back in her original direction and I followed until we reached some kind of elevator. We stepped inside and waited for the doors to close first before speaking again.
"Be careful around there, those higher class females tend to try to coax lower level men in before killing them. And the upper level men like to pick low levels out of the crowd and beat them up on sight, then give them to the women, just for the fun of it," she warned. Yeah, and they'd get one hell of a surprise when they tried that on me.
"Why would they do that to fellow soldiers? I'm not really used to this lower and upper class thing yet," I admitted.
"Since you're young and naïve, I'll at least warn you. They do it because they can. Maybe they're just bored and won't accept a dangerous mission so they hang off the walls around here. Get used to bad treatment kid, us lower class soldiers never get any respect, unless its from our commanders," Fasha sounded disgusted. Time to play along some more.
"So if she's supposed to be stronger than us, how come she didn't try to fight you back there?"
"Because Bardock takes us on such dangerous missions, we tend to come back injured from time to time. No doubt you know a Saiyan's power goes up after every fight, well it goes up a lot after severe near-death injuries. Since you came from a planet of war, that explains how you can be so strong for a third class Saiyan. That's why they don't mess with us much. Those losers in there hardly ever end up in a real fight anymore, but they have learned to leave Bardock and our crew alone. Some learned the hard way," Fasha grinned slightly.
"So the upper class women get a kick out of subduing a lower level man and killing them in the process?" I asked, disgusted at the revelation.
"Yeah, its kinda weird. Sick sadist pleasure I guess. I mean I like it rough too but it's not quite to that extent, at least I won't be killing a partner. They just lure them in with the promise of being mated to a great family house only to kill them while mating. What pisses me off the most is that almost all of them get away with it because us low levels are considered worse than street trash and are virtually ignored," she frowned slightly.
"That isn't right," I growled slightly. The elevator stopped on floor twenty-eight and the door opened up.
"C'mon kid, time to meet your new teammates," she beckoned me to follow.
Not that they matter, but here ya go:
Verto (suppressed): 2200
Vegeta (suppressed): 1800
Clerpe: 2800
Fasha: 3000
A/n: Yep, it's the good ol' back to the past routine. The actual chapter title was Time Journey Gone Astray. Try and guess what happens, I dare ya! And Review me!