Chapter 3: Sunshine


Bulma Briefs was exultant knowing that for the first time in her twelve years of life, she and her father were invited by King Furry in the Earth's Royal Palace. The King was immensely impressed by her father's genius in science and technology and wanted to recognize him and award him for his contributions to Earth's technological advancement.

Her father, Doctor Briefs introduced Bulma to the King and told him that she was also a born-genius in her own right. King Furry was glad to meet such a young prodigy.

"Your Majesty, about the recommendation..." Doctor Briefs asked. Bulma looked up to her father, wondering what recommendation he was talking about.

"Ah yes," King Furry said. "Due to your highly impressive works in the field of science and technology, I have recommended you to a friend of mine."

"A friend?" Doctor Briefs asked.

King Furry paused for a moment, before hesitantly saying, "Yes, a good friend of mine. The King of Planet Vegeta."

"Planet Vegeta?" Doctor Briefs was confused. He has never heard of this planet before.

"Yes, the home planet of the Saiyans, the Warriors of the Moon."

"Aliens? Woah, who would have thought..?"

"Yes, even I couldn't believe they exist." King Furry chuckled. "Anyways, King Vegeta was looking for a scientist that could build a highly advanced training room for his son."

"A training room?"

King Furry nodded. "The young prince's birthday is coming up soon and King Vegeta the Third wanted to gift his son a specialized training room with all technological perks to help his son in his training. Upon hearing the Earth's superior advancement in Science and Technology, he sent someone here to give a request for the best scientist we have and offered several perks in exchange for the work done. I immediately thought of you and told him that I will have to talk to you about this at first. He offered high compensation for you, a premium suite during your stay with your family, and protection of their elite warriors to be your bodyguards. I was promised the best for you and your family during your stay on Planet Vegeta. Plus, once you are done, the Saiyan Kingdom promised to protect the Earth from any galactic threat that may come to us. I have no idea what he was talking about but it sounds like there's a war going on out there. The Saiyans are considered to be the most powerful warrior race in the entire Universe so it would be safe for us to take their offer of protection and make them our allies. It's up to you if you wish to take the offer or not, though I highly recommend that you do."

Bulma shifted her blue eyes to her father's side, silently questioning herself if any of those stories were true. Aliens? It was always speculated that alien life was possible on another planet but there was no actual evidence of that. Excitement and wonder filled her curious mind as she silently hoped that her father agree to this. She's sure her mother and older sister would agree too.

Doctor Briefs turned his eyes to his young daughter and found her staring back at him. Big blue eyes curious and filled with elation she was trying to control. A smile as warm and brilliant as the dazzling sun. It told him how much his young daughter wants him to take the offer and he nodded. He faced the King with a grateful look as said, "Thank you for your grace, your Majesty. I do appreciate it. We will take it."

King Furry made a look of satisfaction and relief, as if he had been tensed during that moment. "Thank you, Doctor Briefs. Thank you." he said. "We shall arrange everything. The Saiyans will provide your ship and escorts. You just have to prepare what you needed to bring. You might as well prepare your ideas for the prince's training room so you can show it to King Vegeta when you meet him."

"Yes, your Majesty. Thank you."

After they were escorted back home by the Earth's Royal Guards, Bulma and her father immediately spilled the beans to their other family members. Panchy, Doctor Briefs' wife, congratulated her husband for such a feat. While their eldest daughter, Tights, was especially excited as much as Bulma was since she was going to see real life aliens. She was an alien fanatic and loved writing stories about them. Now that they will travel through space and live in an alien planet for who knows how long, she knew she'll have great, new ideas for her next big story.

Three days passed and someone came to their house. A tall, muscular man with black spiky hair and a somehow, intimidating features came to them and introduced himself as Zorn, the escort and royal guard assigned to them.

Despite his scary features, Zorn addressed them politely. "Good morning, is this the home of Doctor Briefs? My name is Zorn, a Saiyan Elite Warrior and I was assigned by the King of Planet Vegeta to escort you to our home to meet him."

'So this is a Saiyan.' Bulma curiously peeked with her older sister. He doesn't look like those aliens she and her sister were expecting. Despite his intimidating features, he looked similar to humans, well, except for his naturally spiky black hair. He was wearing a strange blue and grey armor she thought was made of rubber.

"Ah, yes. Yes. I am Doctor Briefs." he smiled. "This is my family. My wife, Panchy and our daughters, Tights and Bulma."

Zorn nodded firmly to acknowledge the Earth women behind the scientist. "Are you ready? Let's go and let me carry your things."

"Thank you."

Riding an air car towards the space port provided for the arrival of the Saiyan, Zorn took the Briefs family to the spaceship provided by the Royal House of Vegeta. They entered the strange looking spaceship and found another Saiyan sitting by the controls. He was lanky in comparison to Zorn, with shaved hair and big, wide eyes.

"That is Beets, the pilot of this ship." Zorn introduced as he dropped the Earthling's things in the corner. He waved a hand towards what it looked like rooms. "Those are private rooms. You may freely choose whichever you like to take. I will stay here with Beets."

"Okay."

The children went to choose the rooms they want, while Panchy followed them. Doctor Briefs remained, asking "Thank you, Zorn, but I would like to know a few things if it is alright with you."

"Sure. No problem." Zorn said.

"First, how many days would it take for us to travel from Earth to Planet Vegeta?"

"Since we are only on the same sector, it would only take us three Earth days to reach Planet Vegeta."

"Three days?! Wow!" Doctor Briefs gasped. Zorn raised an eyebrow and gave him an odd look before his features returned to its hard expression. "Okay. I see. My second question is about your people, the King and the prince. What kind of people are you? I apologize for I honestly have no idea. Despite our advancement in technology, we were unable to find life outside Earth."

"Well, now you do. You should feel honored for you are one of the few Earthlings to know this." Zorn said.

In his mind, he was beginning to doubt that this man would satisfy the King, especially their Prince, if they have no idea of life outside their home. How come the Earth was considered technologically advanced if they don't know about that? According to what he had seen so far, Earth was actually far more behind than the Freeza Force both in technology and military. He thought it has something to do with how backwater of a planet the Earth actually was and because it was not much known to the entirety of the Universe, they were still untouched by the Galactic Army. Perhaps it is the reason why King Vegeta chose to have a deal with King Furry, because the Earthlings were no threat to anyone.

"To answer your questions, we Saiyans are a proud warrior race. We live by fighting and conquering our enemies. King Vegeta the Third is a noble man, but despite being our ruler, he is not in total control of everything. We were all subjected to the whims of the Galactic Emperor. Despite being considered as a race of powerful warriors, the Emperor was on another level. He was extremely powerful it is said he can destroy entire planets with just a flick of his finger and he was so ruthless that he kills his own men when they become useless to him, so as much as we Saiyans wanted to break away from him, we have no other choice but to follow whatever he tells us to do. We wanted liberation but we are certainly no match for him. Once we go against him, he'll just probably wipe out the Saiyans or blow up Planet Vegeta.

"But then, when the Prince was born, we finally had our hope. Prince Vegeta was born to be very special that even as a newborn, he already possessed latent powers that greatly broke the previous records. He's the most powerful Saiyan among all of us and we hope that he'll be the one to bring that liberation we wanted from Freeza once he awakens to his full potential as the Legendary Super Saiyan. That is the reason why King Vegeta wanted to give him the best training equipment. However due to his growing powers, he eventually outgrew all the best things the Science Department could offer him and he became bored with training with those repetitive drills. King Vegeta wanted something new and something his son won't get bored so easily so he ordered to find a scientist capable of giving him that. King Furry was confident in your skills as a man of Science and I hope you can find a way to help us."

"I see. I understand. Thank you for answering my questions. This information will be a great help for ideas." Doctor Briefs said.

Three days later, they finally arrived on Planet Vegeta. The Briefs family was awed by the sight of the beautiful planet that was before them while in space. When they finally descended into the space port, they were immediately escorted to the Royal Palace, the tallest and grandeur building they have ever seen. The prestine Royal house sat in a cliff that oversee the vastness of Planet Vegeta. It was surrounded by various rock formations and an ocean not far beyond. It was a wonderful sight to behold.

The humans were astonished since this is their first time being in another planet. The Saiyans and some alien workers were looking in their direction too, wondering what they are here for. In the distance, they could hear several people shouting, "Prince Vegeta! Please come out, your highness! Your new royal tutor is waiting for you!"

In front of them, Beets and Zorn let out a sigh as they shook their heads, mumbling to themselves. "Not again."

Zorn turned to the humans and said, "Our apologies if this is the scene that welcomed you. Our crown prince is quite the troublemaker. I need to bring you quickly to our king."

Once they arrived at the throne hall, King Vegeta's majordomo informed Zorn that the King left the meeting for a moment to deal with his son. The humans were told to wait for the King in the reception. Not long after, King Vegeta finally arrived to meet his human guests.

"Your Majesty has arrived." announced a royal guard as he opened the door to the reception room and the Saiyan King enters majestically.

The Briefs family bowed down before the royalty just as how they did with their own king on Earth. Bulma peeked in silence to see what the King of the Saiyans looked like. He has a strange shape of hair, as if there was a burning black flame over his head. His eyes were intimidating. Cold, dark irises filled the narrow, slanted shape. He has prominent cheekbones, a beard and a scowling face. He wore a black and gold armor, a white drape around his waist, a flowing red cape pinned on his shoulder pads, white gloves and boots with golden toes.

He looked fearsome. He's probably a king who ruled with an iron fist. That's what Bulma thought of him. Is her father going to be alright working under this guy? She was worried.

"Your Majesty. This is the scientist sent to us by King Furry of Planet Earth. Along him is his family."

"My name is Doctor Briefs. This is my wife, Panchy and our daughters, Taitsu and Bulma." Doctor Briefs said.

"Hn." King Vegeta regarded them with his cold, dark eyes. "Thank you for accepting our request. I am Vegeta Sansei, the King of Planet Vegeta."

"It is our pleasure to meet you, your Majesty."

"You have too much pleasantries. Let's just get straight with the matter. Have you prepared your propositions for the Crown Prince's training room?"

"Uhmm... Yes, of course." Dr. Briefs said awkwardly.

"Then come with me and present them to my office. Zorn, show his family to their quarters." the King ordered.

"Yes, your Majesty."

Bulma watched as her father followed King Vegeta into his office. Meanwhile, Zorn lead them out of the reception room toward their private quarters. It is a villa situated behind the main Palace hall but still within the Royal Palace grounds. It was guarded by two Elite guards, two teenaged boys who introduced themselves as Raditz and Shallot.

As Panchy and Taitsu were busy looking around the house, Bulma decided to go sightseeing around their new home instead and appreciate the view of the nature. As she strolled around the backyard, she found a young boy around her age, climbing the wall from the other side. The boy gazed down at her with a shocked look, as if he didn't expect himself to be caught. Bulma's first instinct is to scream at the top of her lungs, "Aaaah! It's a thief!"

The boy panicked at her sudden yelling and he stumbled, falling down the wall into her.

"Aaaah! It's a pervert! Let me go!"

The boy quickly put his hand over her rosy pink lips. "Psssh! Quiet, girl! It's me!"

What? Does he even expect her to recognize him? She has never seen him before.

The boy turned his head to the right, where they could hear somebody coming. He made an annoyed look as he glared at Bulma angrily with his dark eyes.

"Aaisshh... Damn it." he groaned as he picked himself up. Without any other word, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her along with him as he dashed towards a nearby pillar to hide himself and the girl.

"Hey, what the hell are you doing?! Let go of me!"

The boy turned to her with a sharp glare, hissing at her in a low voice. "I told you to be quiet."

"But..."

The boy frowned at her as he looked down at his hand grasping her wrist. He let go of her as if her arm was a glowing hot iron rod. He looked at her from head to toe with a critical eye before his dark eyes settled on her with a dark glare. For some reason, she thought he looked kind of familiar.

"This is the first time I saw you around here. Judging by your appearance, you don't look like a Saiyan nor an alien who works in the Palace. Just who the hell are you?!" he demanded at her with an imperious tone.

Ha! Just who does he think he is? Does he think she should fear him? This boy is getting on her nerves. She raised her chin, challenging him with a fierce glare equal to that of his.

"And who the hell are you to climb up the wall of the Palace, you thief?!" she demanded back.

The boy stepped back at her with an astonished look on his face. "What? Me? A thief?!"

"What do you think are you doing climbing the wall, huh? Isn't that stealing?!"

"Hey! I didn't steal anything!"

"Well, you are planning to do so!"

"What?!" he defended. "How insolent of you! How dare you suspect me that way?! Don't you know that I'm Planet Vegeta's -!" his words suddenly stopped, as if he just realized that he's about to say something he shouldn't.

Bulma stared at him, waiting.

"I'm Planet Vegeta's..."

"You are Planet Vegeta's what?"

The boy had a stumped looked on his face.

"I'm... I'm..."

The two only stared at each other awkwardly, with the flaming haired boy looking so embarrassed like he didn't know what to do.

Out of any ideas, Vegeta suddenly yelled at her, "Bah! Who cares who I am?! With that kind of power level, I can still obliterate you to ashes!"

Bulma blinked back at him. "Wha.. What?"

"Enough about me! Only I should be asking questions here! Who are you and what the hell are you doing in the Royal Palace of Planet Vegeta?! Don't you know it is forbidden for just anyone to enter the Palace without an appointment?! Answer me, girl or I will kill you here for getting in my way."

Bulma let out a disparaging laugh. "Kill me? What? Are you serious? You are younger than I am. How can you kill people at that age-."

The boy dramatically raised a finger and fired what it looked to her was a high energy plasma beam towards a rock twice her size. The said rock exploded to small rubble when the energy beam collided with it.

And his face... It held a terrifying look of a cold, remorseless and unreluctant killer. It tells her that this boy is someone who is indeed capable of killing her as if she was just a mere insect in his way.

"So, do you still think I'm incapable of doing what I'm saying?" he said with an evil grin.

With fear replacing her earlier confident look, Bulma looked away and muttered in a low voice. "I am an Earthling human. My father was sent by our King here to work for the King of Planet Vegeta. We just arrived today, that's why you have never seen me around."

He snorted. "Work for the king? What for?"

"I'm sorry. I am not allowed to say anything about it because I don't know that much."

"What?!" the boy yelled. "I demand answers from you, girl!"

She glared back at him. "I already told you I don't know much. Maybe you can go and demand your king yourself."

"How dare you?! It is my right to know what that is!"

"Right? What right? Just who exactly are you?!" she challenged.

Vegeta groaned lengthily. Just how is he supposed to tell her that without revealing who he is? He turned his head again. All their yelling and that blast earlier caught the royal guards' attention once again. Plus, somebody's been watching at them. He cursed once more.

"Damn it all!" he muttered irately to himself.

Vegeta turned his angry eyes to Bulma and it appears that he had no other choice. "Come with me." he said as he grabbed her arm once again to pull her towards him. With a quick swoop, he carried her in his arms and swiftly rushed away from the scene, jumping off the ground, into the wall and into the sky. Bulma's breath and complains were caught by her awe of his strength and speed. The next moment, she realized they were back on the spaceport where she arrived earlier.

They were behind a post, hiding from plain sight.

"Hey... What are we doing here?" she asked him as he checked on his surroundings. Once the coast is clear, the boy grabbed her wrist once again and dashed towards an open space ship where they found Beets checking on the controls.

"Oh, it's you!" Beets said with a smile when he found her. He was delighted of the girl because during their trip, she was the only one who kept him entertained with her curiosity with piloting the ship they used. She easily learned to how to pilot the ship with his help.

But his smile was eventually replaced with a look of fear when he realized who was with her. "Your h-"

Before he could finish his sentence, the boy abruptly backhanded him without any warning, completely knocking him out cold on the floor. Without even flinching, Vegeta turned to Bulma, who was panicking at the sight of violence she just witnessed.

"Oh my goodness! Is he dead?!" she gasped.

"Relax. The weakling is just unconscious. I controlled my strength enough so it won't kill him." the boy said. "Back to you. What were you saying again about your father? You said he's brought you here to work for King Vegeta. What for?"

He really won't let it go, would he?

"I already told you I shouldn't be saying anything about it." she pressed.

Vegeta growled. What a stubborn female she is. "Tell me or do you want to join that fool on the floor?" he threatened, pointing at the knocked out engineer.

Bulma frowned. This boy's really pushy and he's getting on her nerves already. Taking a deep breath, she answered him with a huff. "Fine. My father is a scientist. He was ordered by the King to create a training room for his son as a birthday gift."

"A training room?" Vegeta repeated curiously. For him? Really? He rolled his eyes, visibly not impressed with the idea. "Tch!" he seethed. "You said you were from Earth, correct?"

"Yeah."

"Heh! What could mere Earthlings do to impress our Crown Prince? Ha! Even with all the technology provided by the Galactic Empire, it weren't enough to satisfy our Crown Prince when it comes to his training! His power is too much for technology to handle. I doubt your father could satisfy him, either. After all, Earthlings are an inferior species as compared to us Saiyans. You are a weakling who lives in a primitive planet located in the outskirts of the universe. Hahahaha."

What?! Primitive, he says?!

What an arrogant, self-centered prick he is! Annoying, pushy, demanding, condescending, egoist! Oh how much Bulma wanted to put him in his place after he dared to insult her and her father!

"Oh really?" she said with a sarcastic tone. She leaned forward to the smaller boy with her hands over her hips, glaring down at him. Vegeta smirked at the challenge and he raised his chin haughtily, giving in. "Let me tell you one thing, boy. If you Saiyans are so great, then why does your king need our help with our technology? If you only know what kind of ideas my father had for the Crown Prince's training room, then I'd say you'll be awed and wish that you had one!"

"Hahahaha. We'll see about that." Vegeta just laughed at her, pushing away her challenge as if it was nothing to him.

Ignoring her, he turned towards the controls and frowned to himself. Eyeing the buttons with a critical gaze, muttered to himself. "Damn it. This is an older model. I have no idea how to pilot this stupid ship. Maybe I shouldn't knocked the fool out." he said, turning his head towards the unconscious Beets on the floor.

Bulma walked up to him and gave him a knowing look. "Oh, did I hear that right? You don't know how to pilot this ship? And here I thought you Saiyans are so great."

Feeling suddenly humiliated, Vegeta yelled at her, "Shut up, girl! Don't talk as if you know anything about this!"

"But I do." she teased.

"What?" Vegeta muttered with a mocking tone.

Bulma gave him a haughty chuckle. "Hehehe... You don't have to believe me if you don't want to. But here's one thing you should know about me. Do not underestimate a scientific genius like myself!"

Vegeta darted his eyes away to the side and bitterly spat, "Scientific genius? Pffft."

"I told you I am a daughter of the scientist whose talents are recognized by the King of Planet Vegeta himself. And it just so happens that I, Bulma Briefs, is far more talented than my own father. Even at my age..." she winked at him.

"Hmph! If you are so great as you mentioned, then... Why don't you pilot this stupid ship for me."

"Why should I?"

"Because I ordered you to do so."

"Ha! Just who do you think you are to order me around like that?!"

"Do it!" he suddenly roared at her. Bulma stepped back in terror. To her, he suddenly looked like a ferocious tiger who wanted to eat her alive.

But then, she is a lioness herself. She won't let him boss him around like that.

"No." she refused.

"How dare you defy me?! Don't you know that I'm Planet Vegeta's..." his words drawled for a moment before he continued. "...High ranking official?! I am an Elite! I can destroy you to ashes whenever I want to!"

"Yeah. Whatever. If anything happens to me, do you think the king will be happy to know that? He might sentence you to your death."

"Why would the king sentence me to death?! I am important to him!"

"Seriously! I could tell that you are lying! For someone who says he is an Elite and a high ranking official, how come your words are that informal? Are you a brat or a part of a delinquent group? Ah... By the way you climbed up that wall, perhaps you are indeed a thief!"

"I am not a thief!"

"Then what are we doing here? Trying to steal a spaceship now, are you?"

"I am not stealing anything!"

"Then what do you call this?!"

"You cannot call this stealing if this ship belongs to me!"

"If it belongs to you then how come you do not know how to pilot it?"

"I-!" Vegeta was stumped on her debate. Damn. She is an annoyingly persistent one. Her suspicions of him are getting on his nerves now. Never has anyone defied him the way she is doing, and challenged him into a pointless but heated debate such as this. Anyone else he threatened to do so would eventually give in to his demands once he showed them what he was capable of doing.

But not this girl.

He was at a loss for words and she defeated him by a long shot. Vegeta already decided that he hated this girl.

He turned away in humiliation. "Fine. I guess there's no hiding it now. I will tell you."

He turned towards a seat and jumped into it, huffing as he crossed his arms over the chestplate of his black armor.

"In a few months, my younger brother will be sent off Planet Vegeta. We Saiyans are judged by the power level we had at birth and my brother had a pretty low power level. Those who are ranked as low class warriors are sent off to other worlds to be trained there. I would like to check on the planet he will be sent to just in case I need to visit him one day."

"Woah. I didn't know you had someone you cared about. You looked like you don't care about anything but yourself."

"Hmph! Of course, the bond between family is important. I'm sure you know about that."

"Yeah. It was good that the king allowed us to be with papa. I would be sad if it was only him who was brought here and leaving us on Earth."

"Yeah..."

Bulma gave him a smile, a dazzling one like that of a sunshine. "Okay. I will help you check out the planet your brother will be sent to." she winked at him. "So long as you know the coordinates."

Oh yeah, the coordinates. Vegeta didn't know where to go. In fact, even though it is true that Tarble is going to be sent off Planet Vegeta in a few months time, he's not interested with checking out the location. He was sure his parents would give him a good place to live in. It was an excuse to gain Bulma's sympathy so she could give in to his demands.

What is a good planet that has a fierce condition to satisfy his craving for a challenge in battle?

Ah, yes! The planetoid, Banpah!

As Bulma piloted the ship in its take off, the guards within the spaceport panicked.

"Hey! That's unauthorized!"

"Call the management, quick! They're not permitted to launch! Contact whoever is inside that ship!"

"But Beets is in there, right? There's no reason for him to do this."

Inside the ship, Vegeta and Bulma were receiving persistent radio messages from the base. "Please return to the space port at once. You are not permitted to launch. I repeat, please return to the space port at once..."

"Oh my goodness. What do we do?!" Bulma panicked.

"Just go on." Vegeta told her like a little devil tempting her to do an unforgivable sin.

"But they will surely come after us! I do not want to be reprimanded on a planet I just visited!"

"You said you will help me. Just do as I say and I promise you that you won't get reprimanded for this."

"What?!"

In the background, the radio continued to tell them to return at once.

Vegeta became pissed. "Ugh! This thing is annoying me!" he growled as he angrily grabbed the radio and crushing it with his hand. It shut the thing up effectively.

Bulma suddenly regretted involving herself with a criminal like him. She didn't know what possessed her mind for her to sympathize him and offering him her help when he clearly didn't care about her. "Seriously, what the hell are you?" she asked him.

He just gave her an evil smirk. "You will know sometime later."