This is a pretty lame chapter, just filling up the time between the previous and the last chapter. Yes, I think the next chapter is the last. It's how I planned it at least. It's about time too, because I'm getting bored of the story. (as is apparent since I keep missing my deadline -_-)
warning: Not much happens, except some bad words and a ardbz reference. (what can I say, ardbz is awesome, I couldn't resist)
last time: Trunks got hurt! Bad Vegeta!
It's a warm, sunny day on Namek, and all the inhabitants are free to be their overly happy selves. There is no discontent whatsoever on this planet, the only time they're ever unhappy is when there's a huge threat to their planet. Like when Frieza came by.
But even then they're not as emotional as normal human beings, since they can always wish their planet back. Namekians are used to their monotonous days, so they're a bit shaken up when 3 badly wounded saiyans appear out of nowhere.
They're just surprised, mind you, not scared or anything like that. The elder immediately recognizes Goku from all the good things he has done for Namek, so he calls his healers out. Vegeta protests against the healer that wants to help him.
"Forget about me, save the boy!" The healer winces at the sight of Trunks.
"I don't think he has much longer, sir..." Vegeta sneers at him, gently putting Trunks on the makeshift bed they provide for him on the ground.
"I know that! Just keep him alive until I get all the dragonballs."
The healer flinches at the command in Vegeta's voice, apprehensive of failing the prince. The boy is dying, and the healer doesn't know if his skills will be enough to even keep him alive for that time. He's comforted by Goku.
"We'll be quick about the gathering, so just try your best." What the healer didn't dare to say to Vegeta, comes out naturally when facing Goku.
"If you're going to use the dragonballs to heal the boy, then it would be more humane to let him die for the time being. He's in a lot of pain, and..." The man is forced to stop talking by Vegeta roughly grabbing his neck.
"Pain is better than death, believe me. If you let the boy die, I'll make you experience death first hand, understand?"
The healer makes an agreeable sound, since he's unable to do anything else, and Vegeta releases him. Then he turns to Goku.
"And there is no 'we', Kakarot. You're going to collect some of the balls for me, not with me. I still hate your guts."
Without a second glance, Vegeta takes off on his search, leaving a heartbroken Goku behind. The only person present to say anything about what has just transpired, is a random bystander, and he only mumbles 'harsh' before continuing with what he was doing.
Goku hears it though, and it snaps him out of his daze. Goku takes off in the opposite direction of Vegeta, to help his friend in his quest.
It only takes the saiyans half an hour to collect all of the dragonballs, and that's almost too long. The healers are having trouble with keeping Trunks' breathing up, so they're relieved when the elder can summon the dragon.
Vegeta is the one to bring in the last dragonball, and he's anxious to get started. He's getting agitated by the looks Goku has been giving him since they arrived on Namek, and the sooner Trunks is healed, the sooner Goku will get out of his sight.
Vegeta tried to get Goku to leave Namek already, but the man refuses to leave without him and Trunks. It makes for a very nervous group of namekians, hurrying to summon the dragon.
Although Vegeta can remember the dragon, he's not prepared for the majestic wind that whips up. He's starting to think that there's something wrong with his memories, since they don't have the same impact on him as real memories do.
Like with his memory of changing to super saiyan in the past; he can remember doing it, but he couldn't get the swing of it for a long time.
If he remembers correctly, the dragon of Namek grants 3 wishes, so maybe he can wish for his memories. Vegeta discards the thought, since Trunks is more important.
What if he can't deal with all the memories at once and faints? He can't risk that chance, Trunks will need him. The sight of the dragon shocks Vegeta out of his musing. It's gigantic!
The elder speaks to the dragon in his own language, so Vegeta doesn't get a lot of warning before Trunks is enveloped in a bright light. The light seems to lift up Trunks about 3 metres into the air, giving everyone a clear view of how his wounds repair themselves.
When all the blood is gone, the light starts to dim, and Trunks starts to fall. Vegeta rushes over to the boy, to catch him before he hits the ground.
Trunks is still unconscious, but it's nothing that a few light slaps on his cheek can't fix. Trunks groggily opens his eyes, and after a short stare at Vegeta, he starts looking around.
"Where are we? And what happened?" Vegeta smiles in relief. Trunks will be all right.
"We're on Namek, because you were pretty badly wounded." Trunks frowns at that.
"Yeah... You didn't stop your attack when I got in the way..." It takes some time for the knowledge to really sink in with Trunks, and while he's busy doing that, Goku comes nearer.
"Hey Vegeta, the dragon has 2 more wishes, do you have anything you want?" Vegeta glares at Goku for interrupting.
"I don't know, Kakarot. Wish for ice-cream with sprinkles for all I care." T
he saiyans are locked in a small stare-down, until Vegeta is distracted by a hand on his elbow. He had put Trunks on the ground, to check him over before, and now the boy is using Vegeta as a means to get up.
"Why didn't you stop?" Vegeta helps Trunks stand up, and he uses that time to calm his agitation. He's still pissed at Kakarot for everything, and the boy is asking stupid questions.
"I couldn't. Once the beam is fired, it's impossible to change the course." Trunks pushes Vegeta away from him once he can stand on his own.
"Why did you fire at Piccolo anyway? He didn't do anything wrong!" Vegeta narrows his eyes, and he really has to fight to keep his anger from coming out.
"He did do something wrong, brat, you just don't know what he did!"
"Then enlighten me!"
"It's none of your business!"
While father and son are having a shouting match, Goku slinks away. He goes to the elder, who's still waiting for their other 2 wishes.
"could you ask the dragon if he could resurrect Radditz?"
The elder asks the dragon, and they have an entire conversation in their own language. Guessing it's not possible, Goku turns around to watch the others still yelling at each other. He missed a part of the 'conversation', but they're obviously still talking about their fight.
"Goku was protecting the earth, you can't blame him for getting rid of a violent psychopath!"
"What do you know about what happened back then! Kakarot didn't give Radditz a choice!"
"His name is Goku, and Radditz could've just left instead of fighting!" Vegeta deflates, and he isn't yelling when he answers. He speaks in a cold, dead voice.
"He couldn't, I told him not to. And I don't care what that bastards name is, I'll call him whatever I want."
Trunks can't bring up the energy required to keep talking to his father, so he sighs and looks over at Goku. When Trunks sees him staring back at him, he turns away with a scowl. Goku was looking at him with sorrowful eyes, as if he felt bad about what he had done.
It makes Trunks feel as if he did something wrong when choosing Goku's side. When Trunks turned around, he effectively put his back to Vegeta too. The sight hurts Vegeta, and he closes his eyes for a second.
"Trunks... I'm sorry. This is why I didn't want to stay at Bulma's house. I'm starting to remember things, and I just lost it today."
The only reaction Trunks shows, is lowering his head a bit. With a sigh, Vegeta looks up at the sky, and notices that the dragon is gone. He glances at Goku, fully expecting to see him holding an ice-cream with sprinkles. Goku isn't though, he's talking to a man that Vegeta immediately recognises.
"Radditz?" The man startles, and turns around.
"Vegeta!"
Radditz grins and starts towards Vegeta. Vegeta throws a glance at Goku, not believing that Radditz is really here. Goku smiles at him with his hands in his pockets. Vegeta almost smiles back, but he can stop himself. Instead, he glowers at him.
"This doesn't mean I forgive you, Kakarot." Vegeta doesn't see the smile fading away, since Radditz pulls him into a bone-crushing hug. Vegeta lets him do that for a while, before he struggles out of his grasp.
"Stop it, man, my son is watching." Radditz eyebrows disappear into his hair. He looks at Trunks, who is indeed staring at Vegeta with big eyes.
"What? It was a very manly hug between long lost friends. You aren't telling me there's something wrong with a man-hug, right Vegeta?" Radditz says this all in a fake sweet voice, grinning all the while. Vegeta glares at him and softly hits his head.
"Show some respect, will you. I'm still the prince."
"Aren't you technically the king now? You're old enough for it now right?" Vegeta huffs in response.
"Although, being a king of a grand total of 4 people isn't all that big a deal."
Vegeta and Radditz continue with their - kind of - friendly jesting under the watchful eye of Trunks. Seeing his father like he used to be just makes him more angry at Frieza.
He should be talking like that with his father, but he never could because Frieza destroyed this side of Vegeta. He would've started planning his revenge, if it wasn't for Vegeta calling him over.
"Trunks, come over here, I want you to meet Radditz." Radditz starts laughing uncontrollably.
"You called your son Trunks? That's a very royal name, I must say." Vegeta glowers at him.
"Shut up or I'll demote you." That just makes Radditz laugh harder.
"You'll demote me to what, exactly? 4th in command? That's more like a promotion, really."
Trunks feels obliged to laugh along nervously. It's uncanny how close the two seem, even if they haven't seen each other for so long. Luckily for Trunks, the two saiyans include him in the rest of their conversation. After 5 minutes of talking with Radditz, Trunks is having fun already, so he's quite annoyed when Goku interrupts.
"Hey, guys? I think it's time for us to go back to earth. The others will probably be worried... by... now..."
Goku was nervous when he came up to them, but he trails off when Radditz body language completely changes. Radditz was pretty laid back when he was talking to Vegeta and Trunks, but as soon as Goku got into the picture, he stiffened up.
He's standing behind Vegeta's right-hand shoulder, arms crossed, staring down at Goku with narrowed eyes. Radditz has effectively given Vegeta all the authority, just by taking a step back and shutting his mouth.
It's amazing how such a simple act can mean as much to Vegeta as it does. Vegeta may have shown his leader side before, but with Radditz behind his back, he simply radiates royalty.
"I'm not coming." Vegeta glances at Trunks, before continuing in a softer voice.
"I'm staying here. I don't want to deal with you or any of the other idiots on the planet." Goku is a bit dejected, but it's nothing compared to how Trunks is feeling.
"But dad... What about me? And mom? Are you just going to leave us on our own?" Vegeta snorts, and ruffles Trunks' hair.
"I didn't say anything about not coming back. I'm just not coming right now, brat." Vegeta and Radditz say goodbye to Trunks, half ignoring Goku, until he puts a hand on Trunks shoulder to teleport away.
"Kakarot! Ask Bulma for some kind of communication device, and bring it here."
Vegeta could have been a lot nicer, but he refuses to be. With a downcast look about him, Goku nods. It makes Radditz snort at him.
"Really, stand up for yourself a bit, little brother. You're a saiyan, so don't simply give in. It's weird."
Goku doesn't know what to say, so he pretends he doesn't hear and just disappears. After a little while of staring at the place Goku was just standing, Vegeta turns to Radditz. He was way too nice to Kakarot in Vegeta's opinion.
"What was that?" Radditz rolls his eyes.
"He killed me, and he resurrected me. It evens each other out, for me."
"Don't you want revenge?"
The blank look on Radditz face says it all. Radditz did leave Kakarot with no other choice, really. And Kakarot beat him fair and square... sort of... The Namek dude, though, still has something coming his way, if Radditz has anything to say about it.
But since that guy isn't here, Radditz doesn't say anything. With a say, Vegeta turns to the mountains in the distance. If he can remember correctly, there's a nice little cave somewhere over there.
"Never mind. I'm going to sleep."
The day after that, Goku drops of the communication device that Vegeta asked for. It's the last time he sees Vegeta for a long time, because the man literally yelled him off the planet. Goku would rather not face him again, even if he is worried about the prince.
Bulma and Trunks tell him about what Vegeta's doing, but Goku doesn't see them a lot either. He's been renovating the clearing he always stayed at with Vegeta: replanting the trees, levelling the ground, digging the river again.
It's a self-induced exile Goku put himself in, and nobody seems to care enough to get him out of it. Gohan is working, and Goten has school, but you'd expect Piccolo or Bulma to check up on him right? They don't.
The only time Goku sees them, is when he goes out to visit them. At first, Goku tried to go to them every few days, but it made everyone uncomfortable. So, over the span of 7 months, Goku slowly stopped going.
It has been over 4 weeks since he last saw any of the Z-fighters, so Goku is quite surprised when he can sense Piccolo's ki-signature coming closer. He puts down his shovel -Goku was digging out a lake, to have something to do- and waits for Piccolo to arrive. Piccolo doesn't wait with getting straight to the point.
"Vegeta wants to come back to earth, and he wants you to teleport him." Goku looks blankly at Piccolo.
"Are you serious? Vegeta asked for me to take him?" Piccolo agrees with Goku's dumbfounded demeanour.
"Yes. He asked for you." A short laugh escapes Goku, before he takes up his shovel again.
"Well, you can tell him to go screw himself and find another means of transportation." Piccolo groans mentally at the prospect of that conversation.
"Can't you just do it, so the guy stops being a pain in the ass?" Goku huffs, and continues on his lake.
"The guy is not a pain in the ass if he's on a different planet. So let him stay there."
Piccolo watches as Goku takes out his irritation on the ground. It's a bit disturbing to see Goku like this, especially since it's partly his fault. Dreading a talk about emotions, but feeling obliged to it any way, Piccolo approaches Goku.
"Are you okay, Goku?" Without looking up, Goku answers.
"I'm just peachy." He might say that, but he sounds pretty frustrated.
"Want to spar, or something?" The shovel shatters in Goku's hands, as he stares at Piccolo coldly.
"I do not. Now go away, and stop bothering me."
Seeing a lost cause when there is one, Piccolo takes off to Bulma. Who would have guessed that Vegeta was the one holding Goku together?
"He said WHAT!"
Bulma's hair whips around with the force of Vegeta's yell. Even though they're only speaking through a monitor, Bulma cringes away from his fury. Piccolo broke the news to him, and Vegeta doesn't find it funny.
"That third rate idiot is leaving me stranded on a different planet? How can he do that! What happened to his good for nothing morals?" Bulma tries to appease him as best as she can.
"Don't worry, we can just gather the dragonballs to wish you here. They should have regenerated by now." Ignoring the rest of Vegeta's tantrum, Bulma starts looking for her scanner.
"That's weird, I could have sworn I left the radar in this drawer..." Vegeta heard that, and now he starts yelling obscenities at her for losing the radar. He's stopped by Radditz.
"Calm down, Vegeta, she didn't do it on purpose."
Vegeta makes Radditz his new target, and Piccolo has to chuckle at what he sees. He might not like Vegeta, but when he sees the prince interact with Radditz, he just has to laugh. This is only the second time Piccolo sees Radditz after he got wished back, but last time went exactly like this.
Vegeta got mad at Bulma for not letting Trunks train enough in his eyes, and Radditz jumped in back then too. The man knows exactly what to do to get Vegeta under control, and Vegeta detests the fact.
It always results in a shouting match between the saiyans, until Vegeta backs down and tells Radditz to cut his hair. There must be some saiyan-habit that involves a haircut, because Radditz always shuts up after that. Eventually, Bulma gives up, and moves back to the monitor.
"Somebody took my radar, because it isn't here. I'll ask Trunks about it later." Vegeta huffs in response, keeping his eyes on Piccolo. The man is frowning for no apparent reason, and his staring through a window.
"What are you staring at, Namek!" Without looking at the monitor, Piccolo answers.
"I just sensed a strange ki appearing..."
Some 20 kilometres south, Goku looks to sky too. "I know that ki... But that's impossible..."
As Goku lifts to the sky, Piccolo leaves the lab to check out the ki. He too remembers who that ki belongs to, but he doesn't believe it either. Bulma hangs up on Vegeta, with the promise to call him back when she knows more. It pisses Vegeta off to no end.
AN: over 20.000 words! and that's not counting all the authors' notes I put in there ^^ I've written 22 pages in under 2 weeks, I believe I can feel proud ^^