In case you are all wondering about the sudden burst of posting, I can say only this – This is what happens when my works get reviewed. Thanks to all how have read and all who have reviewed.

Nappa dropped the red-tailed varnek's body, feeling satisfaction at the ease of the hunt. The armored shell of the varnek has slowed him, but he had still taken it out easily.

A streak of white light raced through the sky over his head, and the giant looked up. It was a Saiyan, but they were moving so fast that they were gone almost before Nappa realized it. He turned on his ever-present scouter and checked the ki signature.

Nappa frowned when he saw it was Avia's. "You're supposed to be at the temple for another day!" he growled, then powered up and gave pursuit. He was fast, but she was fast too, and he settled in for a long flight when he realized that he wasn't going to catch her anytime soon.

Prince Vegeta's heart sank as his father stopped over a village – a real town, with houses, businesses and Montessi. "Are you sure they came this way?" his father said to the Saiyan noble hovering next to him.

The noble nodded. "Yes, Your Highness, the traitor fleeing the camp came here. I followed him all the way," the Saiyan assured him.

"And they didn't turn him out?" King Vegeta asked.

"No, they didn't, my King," the noble said, anticipation warming his voice.

"And by harboring traitors, they are treasonous too," the King nodded. "Kill them all."

A Montessi boy stood up below them, staring up at them; Prince Vegeta realized that the third-class child was almost the same age as Vegeta himself. As the waiting nobles watched, he began to approach the party. "Him first," the King said, "before he cries warning and scatters them."

"What?" Prince Vegeta yelped. "Father, he's just a child!" He didn't see the fist, his father moved so fast. The prince spun twice in the air before catching himself, staring up at his father.

"Never question me!" the King roared, the whine of him powering up terrifyingly loud at this range. "Now, boy, you take care of that peasant."

Prince Vegeta stared at the boy looking curiously at them, waiting for the Elites to notice him before approaching and probably wondering what the nobles were fighting about. He studied the boy's skin, hair, eyes; it was so close to his own. He thought of his mother, and what she would feel – and he heard Trunks' voice saying, "treat their own people like shit!" If I am to be King, Vegeta realized, I will have to be a different King than my father, or nothing will change. Trunks is right; this is wrong, all wrong.

"No," he said, looking his father in the eye. "And you cannot make me do it either."

The King's face grew red with fury, but Prince Vegeta did not back down. "How dare you defy me?" King Vegeta screamed and threw himself at his son, fists glowing.

Prince Vegeta shot backwards, away from his father, to give himself time to reach his stance. When King Vegeta struck at him, Prince Vegeta blocked the blow with his arm, sliding it down his arm, redirecting the force. His forearm stung, but he had stopped it! Still trembling with elation, he shouted at his father, "I defy you because you're wrong! You're wrong to treat people this way!"

The King's face turned nearly purple with rage, and Prince Vegeta felt his first stirring of fear. Lord Vegeta intervened, grabbing the King's arm, pulling him away from his son. "Vegeta, stop it! He's not some puppet; let him have his op--"

King Vegeta didn't even look at his father; at this range, he didn't need to. He merely thrust his grabbed arm at his father and shot a ki blast into Lord Vegeta's face. The blast was blinding to those merely watching; none of the hovering elites were surprised to see the ruined remains of the former King fall to the ground.

"No!" Prince Vegeta shrieked, extending his arm toward his falling grandfather. King Vegeta took advantage of the opening and slammed his fist into his son's back. Prince Vegeta turned to face his father, moving into a fighting stance. "Why?" he screamed. "He's your father!"

"And you're my son," the King said with a thin smile. Prince Vegeta had just enough time to feel fear spread up his spine before his father began the fight in earnest with a strong right cross.

Prince Vegeta didn't try to block this time; he used his shorter stature to hunker down under the swing and throw his own punch forward. The fist took his father square in the gut; the older Saiyan grunted in surprise at the strength in his son's punch. "I guess all that extra training paid off for you boy," the King growled. "Relent of your stance, help me raze the village, and I'll forgive you – this time."

"No!" Prince Vegeta hissed. "I'll never fight by your side again – I see what that earns you!"

King Vegeta arched his back and screamed, calling more power forward. Prince Vegeta gulped with a suddenly dry throat as his father's power level shot well above his own. Then his father blurred, disappeared –

He had anticipated the double-fisted punch in the center of his back, but Prince Vegeta couldn't move fast enough to avoid it. Instead, he started to tumble to the ground, breath knocked from him, when his father pushed him up into the air again with a kick to the gut that sent pain screaming through the muscles. And that was just the start, for the beating when on and on until it all blurred into endless pain.

When Prince Vegeta was finally allowed to tumble to the ground to collapse bonelessly next to his grandfather, he was only relieved that he had not given into his father, despite the pain. With effort, he pulled himself over to his grandfather, ripping his gloves off to feel for a pulse. He had been sure that there wouldn't be, but to have that fragile hope destroyed sapped his remaining energy. He collapsed on his grandfather's cooling body and cried like a child as he listened to his father and the other elites destroy the village.

Avia slammed to a stop, her eyes widening as she took in the scene before her. A large groborzk, its black scales shimmering in the sunlight, lunged at the form in the golden light. The figure twisted away from the massive maw, grabbing at the whiskers that lined its mouth. As the groborzk's head continued on the arc past the Legendary fighting it, the Legendary yanked on the whisker he had grabbed. It tore lose with the horrible sound of skin ripping, and the groborzk shrieked as it lost the delicate appendage.

Nappa appeared next to her, and she scowled at him. Preparing to lay into him, she was interrupted by him asking, "Who is that?" Avia's eyes widened as she focused on the face inside that glowing cloud. Trunks!, she thought, afraid to voice her realization. But that didn't stop Nappa; he gasped and shouted, "No, not the slave!" His voice was the agonized cry of a man's world crumbling.

"My Trunks," Avia murmured, filling her heart swell with overwhelming emotion, but she didn't get long to consider this turn of events. With a sobbing snarl of despair, Nappa pointed glowing hands at the slave. Avia didn't think; she brought her forearms down on Nappa's arms, knocking the blast away. "No!" Avia cried. "Nappa, leave him be!"

"Why?" the Saiyan growled. "Because he's so good in bed? He's a slave Avia, not a Saiyan!"

"He's my mate!" she shouted as she punched him in the chin. The statement had been so instinctual; it had just popped out. Somehow, she realized, she was his mate, and he hers.

Nappa roared, "No, I am your mate! I can feel the bond! I can feel you in my soul!"

"All you're feeling is foolish pride," Avia snarled, "to think that I could ever be your mate!"

"Avia!" Spara's call distracted the woman; when she glanced at her cousin, Nappa kicked her with a sharp hook kick, knocking her away and down from the fight. She caught herself almost immediately, faster than Nappa expected, giving him almost no time to fire his blast at Trunks. He barely got it off before Avia's blast caught him in the gut, sending him spiraling away from her.

The groborzk has retracted its head, coiling its long, thick body for another strike. Trunks' ribs ached badly, and he could see dots of blood staining his bodysuit. Fortunately, when the creature had last caught him in its mouth, the teeth had barely penetrated his skin; he only wished that it hadn't bruised him so badly. He was calling for a break after this, and the sentiments of Osper be damned!

The ki blast caught him in the lower back, spinning him closer to the groborzk and knocking him out of stance. The groborzk was no fool; the grizzled bull groborzk had fought for its territory for years, and knew an opening when it saw one. He snapped forward, not to bite, but to wrap his coiling body around his opponent. He could bite and claw at the ends of the creature, or squeeze it to death if he couldn't reach his audacious prey.

Trunks was suddenly blind and suffocated, pinned in the coils of the monster. He didn't even get a chance see who had hit him with the bolt. With considerable effort, Trunks placed both hands against the creature's body and built power, screaming as it reached excruciating levels. The groborzk had just enough time to realize that his prey was doing something extremely painful when the blast exploded in his side. It tore a terrible hole, and the bull groborzk screeched as it fell into shock and collapsed.

Trunks screamed again as the backlash washed over him, but he was simply happy to be able to be able to draw breath after the scream. The groborzk's coils slithered further open, and Trunks dropped to the ground, clutching his ribs. The black-green body shuddered once and was still, and Trunks fell to his knees, wrapping both arms around his torso.

"Child, child, are you alright?" Osper shouted, grabbing Trunks arms and shaking him lightly. The golden aura hissed and crackled over Osper's arms, and he showed the whites of his eyes as he realized that he was man-handling the bond-heir.

"For the love of God, don't do that," Trunks hissed as his muscles protested the forced movement, but Osper was already releasing his arms. "Who fired that ki blast?"

"Some bald Saiyan," Spara said, pointing the direction that Nappa had gone flying. "Avia's chasing him."

"Avia? Here?" Trunks gasped, turning pale. "And that Saiyan sounds like Nappa!"

"Who is he?" Osper asked.

"Trouble," Trunks growled. "He's fanatically loyal to the King."

"Then we'll have to kill him before he can warn King Vegeta," Osper said, shooting up into the air, flying after Nappa and Avia.

Review!