Chapter Six: Verbal Blunders

"Uub, this is Vegeta. He's going to spar with you, and I want you to take note of his technique, okay? And just a warning. Watch out for his rapid fire technique."

Goku was introducing Vegeta and Uub to each other, the morning after their dinner. Goku saw Vegeta sizing up his opponent, with a calculating smirk on his face. Goku caught the gleam in Vegeta's eye, that sort of gleam that only battles can produce. Vegeta felt his own heart pounding a little faster, in expectation of a decent fight. Vegeta tilted his head to the side

"Alright, boy. You'd better be good, I didn't drag my ass out of bed two hours early to be here for no reason. But, you should be good, if Kakarot is training you."

"Kakarot? Who's that?" Uub asked.

"That would be me, Uub. It's my saiyan name, and only Vegeta is allowed to use it."

"Why?"

Goku put his hands on his hips, and looked over at Vegeta.

"Well, that's cause he's got a higher rank than me, right, Prince?"

Vegeta nearly fainted.

Kakarot is calling me Prince? He's never done that directly! He always refers to my title indirectly! How odd. Is he really starting to think better of me?

"Er, that's right. Uub, you'd better not embarrass your sensei."

Vegeta gathered his wits together, and cracked his knuckles, and stretched. It felt good to be wearing combat armour again. He'd tweaked it quite a bit though. It was similar in design to his sleeveless navy blue one, except the boots and gloves were black, the boots tipped with silver instead of gold, the gloves fingerless. The suit was also black, with BAD MAN stencilled on the back in red. Uub watched Vegeta, and when they were both ready, they stood far apart on the desert plain. Goku stood on the top of a nearby cliff, ready to step in just in case either fighter got carried away. Vegeta remembered these arid plains all too well. A hard, dry, unforgiving environment that tolerated energy blasts and provided no comfort for falling fighters, nor brooked any mistakes. Much like real life.

 Uub led off, starting with a standard uppercut, only to have his arm swing through Vegeta's after image. The boy looked around, but couldn't see Vegeta anywhere. Nanoseconds later, a concrete fist slammed into his gut, then a knee met with his nose, as Vegeta grabbed the boy by the head and  smashed Uub's shocked face into his awaiting knee. Goku watched as Vegeta took advantage of Uub's surprise, and flew upwards. A laugh, then Vegeta began his trademark rapid fire technique, a trick that the other (mostly retired) Z fighters had picked up from him. The wind created by the attack blew Goku's spikes backwards, but his face remained impassive, his arms folded and his brain taking every detail.

There was a yell, as Uub managed to fight his way out of the storm of energy. He charged up, then flew towards Vegeta. The Saiyan's smirk remained in his after image, but Uub anticipated better this time. His arm went up to block the fist that was charging towards his face. But Vegeta was quicker. Vegeta swung his leg around, and caught Uub in his side. Vegeta flew backwards a bit, as Uub gasped.

"What's the matter, boy?"

Uub shook his head to chase away the dizziness, then got into a fighting crouch.

"Nothing, old man. I'm just getting warmed up, and then I'll remind you how old you really are."

Vegeta folded his arms, and laughed, which made Uub gulp.

"Spare me the theatrics, child. You obviously haven't been paying attention to your sessions with Kakarot. For one of your strength, your technique leaves much to be desired. "

"is that so? Try this one, Vegeta."

Uub put his hands to the side.

"Ka…me…"

"Oh, a Kakarot technique? This should be easy enough."

Vegeta slowly unfolded his arms, and put his hands against his side too, but his right hand was in front of his left, palms forward.

"Galick gun…"

The humming of energy was beautiful to Vegeta's ears. It had been a while since he'd challenged a kamehameha.

"ha….me…."

"FIRE!"

"HA!"

A purple energy beam (Vegeta) and a pink beam (Uub) clashed, sending out shock waves that ripped though the desert. The mountain under Goku crumbled, but he just lifted into the air, arms still folded as he watched. Memories were flickering in his head, of his very first battle against Vegeta. He would have lost it too, if Gohan, Krillin and Yajirobe hadn't come back. That look on Vegeta's face almost mirrored the one he'd had back then.

Except now, instead of a grimace, he had a smirk. He exploded into super saiyan two, and his beam became much stronger. Uub, tried to counter, but he'd been caught off guard. Vegeta's beam started pushing back his, and Uub's feet started crunching into the rock.

"TAKE THIS! SUPER GALICK GUN!"

There was a roar of energy as the beam pouring out of Vegeta turned gold and became thicker, electricity snapping all around it, like ivy curled around a pillar. There was a scream, as Uub was buried into the rocks, his own beam totally swallowed by Vegeta's. 

Vegeta cut off the power to the beam, and appeared next to Goku.

"The kid needs more training."

"Hmm."

"It's not a bad reflection on you, Kakarot. He's got the power to thrash me, but he doesn't know how to use it."

Goku sighed, dropping his arms to the side.

"I know. That's why I asked you to spar with him. Your technique has always been better than mine and I think he could really learn from you."

Vegeta stared as Goku, as he floated in front of him.

"Are you insane?! My technique? Better than yours?"

Goku nodded, which made Vegeta's eyes widen.

"You're kidding, Kakarot? Right?"

Goku shook his head, a small smile on his lips.

"No jokes, Geta. I win by strength. You're the brains. Why do you think Veggeto was so awesome? Our strength combined, with your brain steering the whole operation. You're the smart one here. Just accept the compliment."

Vegeta looked away, hiding his blush.

"It's just that…well…any compliment coming from you means so much more than anything anyone could ever say."

"Huh?"

Vegeta realised that he'd said too much.

"Oops."

Without even a glance at Goku, Vegeta disappeared, and winged his way home by hyper speed, leaving behind a rather vexed Goku.

"What was that all about, Geta?"

A slight shifting of the rocks below.

"Uh, Goku! A little help here, please!" yelled Uub from under a pile of rocks. Goku put his thoughts on hold, flew down, and started to lift rocks off Uub. Soon, the tuft of black hair was visible again, and Uub got up and dusted himself off.

"Hey, where did Vegeta go? I want a rematch."

Goku smiled to himself.

"He forgot something at home."

Vegeta blasted all the way back home, let himself in, went straight to his room and collapsed face down on the bed.

"That was such a fucking stupid thing to say! Jeez, I've probably freaked him out. I never say stuff like that!" he told his bed covers. He rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling.

"How embarrassing…he probably thinks I'm in love with him or something."

"I think that's enough for today, Uub. Besides, I need to go discuss something with Vegeta. I'll catch you tomorrow sometime."

Uub nodded, feeling relieved. He was hoping that Goku wouldn't be too hard on him for being beaten so quickly by Vegeta. The young fighter flew away, and Goku blinked out of sight.

Vegeta's entire body stiffened when he sensed Goku arriving.

Now what do I do? Pretend I'm sleeping?! Oh man, oh man, oh man…

Vegeta wasn't entirely sure why he was panicking, but it seemed like the best plan of action.

There was a soft knock on the doorframe, and Goku leaned around the slightly open door. He wanted to force down the laugh that wanted to come out. Vegeta's wide-eyed, deer-stuck-in-headlights look was so adorable!

"Geta?"

Vegeta just gulped. Goku stepped around the door.

"Hey, calm down, I'm not going to hurt you. No need for you to look so scared."

Goku sat down next to Vegeta, whose heart started beating faster, then tripled in speed as Goku put his arm around his shoulders.

"Aaw, relax, Geta! Are you so freaked out by what you think I'll say because of what you said earlier?"

Vegeta nodded, which made Goku chuckle and pull Vegeta's stiff body into a hug.

"Silly Geta! It means so much to me that you said that! I didn't know you cared about that sort of thing! You're so weird. Getting all worked up and freaked out just because you allowed yourself to show that you actually have emotions."

Vegeta relaxed, and hesitantly put his arms around Goku. It didn't feel bad at all. Goku felt Vegeta's body relax, and smiled to himself.

Silly Geta.

An – Thanks for all the help with the doujinshi! Now I finally get it. And I'm looking to submit my work to a fanfic site that doesn't have all the limitations that does. Anyone out there with a site?

Ozuma's girl – as much as I would love to write a lemon…I CAN"T! and even if I could, I'd get kicked off again. Won't ya wing those scans my way? Pretty please with senzu beans on top….

Mkh2 – good to have you back! There will be much more to come…sunshine and roses don't last forever.

Blueflameangel – many thanks.

Clarobell – Vegeta had to leave his spice rack of saiyan spices back home, and Frieza destroyed it. So, he'll make do with earth stuff.

Gutterball – Vegeta the grinch…there's a story in that….thanks for the inspiration!

Goleta – of course, if any of us hysterical female fans lived with him, we might just eat more than just his cooking! Hehehe.

Queen Phoenix – I think my version is better. Goku shouldn't have ditched Vegeta!

Lenora – hey, Goku's happy! A beautiful chef…sigh.

Review award for chappie 5:

GutterBall

2004-07-20

5

Anonymous

As far as I know, a doujinshi is a fan-drawn manga. It is a comic book, but not canon -- not by the original author. shrug Of course, I could be wrong, but that's the impression I get.

Hn. I forsee some "The Whos down in Who-ville all say that Vegeta's heart grew three sizes that day" in the future...

'Course, we all know Geta's got a big heart hidden under all those prickly thorns, but it was a lovely crack -- "you might have trouble finding mine" indeed...

(also wins inspiration award…I could toy with a Grinch idea. I grew up on Seuss. Does it show?)