Vegeta was slow to awaken and clasped a hand over his head as a throbbing sensation threatened to split his skull. He groaned drowsily and blinked his eyes into focus, finally noticing the obnoxiously shrill alarms likely responsible for his migraine. At first glance it looked like his spaceship was crashing, but the destination was still far enough away where only a bit of skill was necessary to manually land the craft. It took him a while to sift through the fog of his brain and remember how, exactly, he ended up in an unfamiliar ship hurtling towards some planet.
He'd woken up amnesiac on some other unknown planet inhabited by a species that all looked the same, found out his long-lost brother resided on the world, then ended up escaping into space being chased by violent kidnappers and still had no clue what his name was or where he was from.
The teenager frowned bitterly and groaned as he sat up straighter until he realized he was being shoved into his side of the spaceship with something leaning against him. He slowly turned his head and found the horrified expression of his little brother staring intently out the front window, his knuckles white from how hard he was gripping the steering mechanism, and tears rolling one after another down his cheeks. He gave the younger a very odd look, wondering what the heck he missed before he suddenly recalled something.
"I thought I told you to wake me up if anything happened!" He shouted furiously, shoving Tarble away and taking hold of the steering control.
"I tried! You weren't waking up!" He shouted back, peeling himself from the passenger side door as he shook like a leaf on a tree.
"What the hell happened!" Vegeta shouted again, flipping some switches and pressing some buttons.
"I didn't do anything!" Tarble yelled back, curling his knees to his chest and trying to calm his racing heart. The elder boy's eye twitched dangerously as he absorbed those words, suddenly becoming very suspicious.
"What. Did. You. Do." He seethed, slowly turning to give his brother a deadly glare. Tarble yelped at the sight, scooting further away.
"Nothing! I didn't do anything!" He defended, glancing out of the corner of his eye as he lied through his teeth.
"It was on autopilot! How'd you take it off autopilot and WHAT DID YOU DO?" Vegeta demanded, silencing most of the alarms as he typed in a few more commands. He scrolled through a bit of the ship log history and felt as a vein in his forehead nearly popped.
"Ongar? What the hell is planet Ongar? ! What the hell happened to Oyasuumi? !" He shouted, typing in a few commands and cursing viciously when he realized the corrected trip would be too long and their fuel was running low.
Not to mention he was STARVING, a fact that didn't help to alleviate his awful mood.
"I-I didn't mean to!" Tarble shouted back, cowering further into his seat.
"What the hell do you mean you didn't mean to? !" The elder demanded, using some muscle memory tricks to slow their ascent into the atmosphere before they blew up. Tarble watched him with fascination for a moment, thinking to himself he had the coolest brother in the galaxy, when he suddenly remembered he was being yelled at.
"I-I-I was j-just looking at different planets on the star charts! I don't know what happened, somehow the computer glitched and locked onto some other planet!" He tried to defend, yelping when his brother reached across him and yanked his seatbelt over his head, fastened the buckles, and tugged the straps tight enough to slightly restrict his breathing.
"You're so dead if I land this thing." Vegeta seethed under his breath, taking evasive maneuvers when the defense system alerted the two that a targeting system was locked onto them. Vegeta spun the craft into a barrel roll, dodging the attack just in time as he gave up trying to decelerate and sent the ship spiraling into a corkscrew. Tarble shrieked with horror, grabbing his stomach and doing his best to keep whatever contents in his gut to remain there.
They did manage to land, surprisingly. Tarble rushed out of the cockpit then stumbled a few paces away before collapsing and retching up the remaining contents of his stomach. Vegeta gave the sight a sour grimace before also giving the ship a sour grimace and cursing his bad luck. They'd have to find a refueling station and carry the fuel back all the while hoping bandits don't steal their ship. He let out a grumpy sigh and set to work exposing the solar panels by unlatching the trunk and unfolding them, revealing eight panels.
"H-How'd you know to do that?" Tarble asked shakily, climbing to his wobbly legs and approaching his brother with an expression that said he still might puke. Vegeta held out a hand, stopping Tarble before he got too close and gave him a displeased frown.
"This piece of junk is hardly top of the line, just some scraps a grade schooler put together in her garage." He bit out, glancing around the area and satisfied they could go out in search of fuel.
"I meant all of it, how'd you know to do any of that stuff? I certainly don't know the first thing about flying a spaceship!" Tarble announced, spitting a glob of saliva on the ground. Vegeta regarded him oddly a moment, just staring blankly which made Tarble a bit uncomfortable.
When he finally broke from his stupor his shook his head and motioned for the younger to follow. "We've lived very different lives." He offered as an explanation. Tarble thought over the answer and figured his aniki just hadn't remembered everything yet. He dashed after the other in an attempt to keep up.
They'd landed in the clearing of a forest and were now trekking through it, much to the great displeasure of Tarble.
"Aniki, it's been hours! I'm tired, and I'm hungry!" Tarble whined, stumbling after his brother. The elder rolled his eyes.
"Yeah? No shit, me too." He griped back at the other, giving him a dangerous glower. Tarble yiped at the sight, mentally reminding himself he was no longer capable of being the hangriest person around anymore, and grumbled an annoyance under his breath as he continued to follow.
Vegeta had been looking for any type of fruiting plant or wild animal passing by, but neither seemed to happen. They eventually stumbled through some thicket and came to a large, populated area with streets and ramshackle vendor stalls. They'd heard the bustling sounds before they saw all the patrons milling about and the area was filled with all sorts of species bargaining for good deals. Tarble marveled at the sight, taking in everything he could manage and realizing an error in a hypothesis he'd formulated. Growing up on the planet he had, he'd always assumed he was part of some alien race of giants but seeing everyone around had him realizing he was closer to a normal size and Gure and her people were just very small.
Tarble glanced over at his older brother and found him with a devilish glint in his eye, causing him to tense up wondering what the other was going to do. Before he could stop him, Vegeta walked into the streets and followed his nose to a food vendor stall with a chef who didn't pay terribly close attention. Tarble did his best to whisper-shout after the other, but it was no use and he ran after the older boy in an attempt to bring him back to reality.
"We don't know anything about this place, or these people! What if we get in trouble?" Tarble pleaded, tugging on his sleeve. Vegeta ignored him and found a stall with ample hunks of meat easy for the taking and swiped two shanks before Tarble had time to complain. He blended back into the crowd without incident, dragging his brother behind him until they could duck into an alley where he handed a piece to his younger brother.
"T-That's stealing!" Tarble accused. Vegeta gave him an annoyed look before shrugging his shoulders and digging into his share. The younger boy's mouth watered at the sight and it didn't take long before his resolve crumbled and he accepted the meal.
"So… Where do we get fuel?" Tarble asked, wondering if it was some kind of liquid they needed to carry and if so, how they were going to carry it without a container. Vegeta picked his teeth with a fingernail and shrugged lackadaisically, flicking whatever morsel was stuck onto the ground. "You don't know? ?" He asked indignantly, receiving a punch in the arm as a response. "What was that for? ?"
"Felt like it." The teen responded, standing and walking back into the streets. Tarble groaned in annoyance but followed. They passed more food vendors, art stalls, mechanics, fortune tellers, and all sorts of other booths until they found one that said "Fuel".
"Huh…" Tarble commented, scratching his head. He figured it'd be a little bit more complicated than this, but then again, he wasn't going to complain about it. They entered and glanced around, noticing all kinds of interesting things in the store as Vegeta went up to the counter. With his stature he was barely able to see over the top of the counter, so when the merchant turned, he was met with an impressive tuft of black hair and an intense widow's peak.
"One fuel cell." He stated gruffly, looking at the creature expectantly. The merchant eyed him suspiciously.
"And what, pray tell, will you be paying with?" The creature asked, flipping its appendages dismissively. Without missing a beat, Vegeta pulled out a wad of cash and unfolded it, fanning the bills out to show the amount.
Tarble smacked his forehead with his hand and marched away, unwilling to be any part of this transaction with his pick-pocketing older brother. He wandered the shop, looking at all the spare parts and fliers on the wall until one caught his eye. He stepped closer, ignoring the haggling going on at the front counter as he reached out and pulled the sheet from the wall. It was a poster with his face on it… Well, most likely the face of his aniki, but the description drained the color from his face.
"Wanted, Dead or Alive, Prince of all Saiyans, Prince Vegeta from Planet Vegeta."
Tarble's breath caught in his throat at the sight of his brother in a Freiza Force uniform and looking to be about the same age as Tarble was now. His hands shook, but he crumpled up the paper and stuck it in his pocket, wondering if this was already going to be the end of their adventure through the universe together.