Chapter 8

New enemy

"Are the rumours true?" Gine asked, looking at Kakarott.

They were in their dining room, having breakfast together. While the palace had its own dining hall, saiyans eat breakfast at home and only went to the shared area for lunch and dinner. Apart from the royal family and the elite warriors, nobody lived in the palace, even though when they were not on missions, they spend a lot of time there. 2nd class warriors lived at the near vicinity of the castle, while 3rd class warriors had houses a bit farther away. Thanks to Kakarott's promotion, his whole family owned to a new house, which was quite spacious, compared to their old one. They had 4 rooms, a living room, two bathrooms and a kitchen with dining area. Every house was the same, with the same layout, furniture and garden. Saiyans had only a few personal items, hence it was hard to differentiate between their homes. The walls were painted white, the floor was made from chestnut wood, without any decoration or frill. All the furniture was made from wood; saiyans had an alien race, who was enslaved to make them these, as they were really skilled with woodwork.

"What rumours?" Kakarott asked back, while he struggled to gulp down the food in front of him.

"That you are on good terms with the Prince" Bardock added.

He was eating the same way as his younger son, while Gine and Radditz did the same activity slowly and with grace.

"I don't think anybody is in good terms with him. He is a complete jackass with everybody!"

"Kakarott!" Gine called and jumped up from the table. "Don't you dare to speak about him like that!"

"But it's true, everybody knows it."

"Still, thinking something and speaking out something is not the same" Gine sighed and sit back down.

"We have trained a few times. He says he is not interested in my new techniques, but he is." He shrugged.

"I agree with him, you are stupid to learn from slaves" Radditz commented, while he threw a side-glance at his brother.

Radditz was 18 years old, but he was really tall, unlike Kakarott, who was still a midget at age 14. They were never really close to each other, however it was common with saiyans; they were not even so close with their parents and children.

"They have a lot of cool techniques."

"It's true" Bardock nodded. "I just learned how to use this bright blinding light and it came in handy at my last mission."

Bardock had to struggle with himself a lot, until he finally asked his younger son to teach him what he learned from the slaves. The breakthrough happened just a few month ago, when he was sent on the same mission with him and he witnessed his powers. He was pretty disappointed when he learned that Kakarott was also born as a 3rd class, but on that day, he has seen his enormous potential.

"Even so, it has no saiyan origin" Radditz signed.

"Scouters, armours and spaceships are also based on alien technology and we are still using those" Kakarott objected.

"That's completely different" Radditz answered. "Where are you getting this, anyway?"

"Bulma told me."

"Are still spending time with her?" Gine called.

"Vegeta is also around her a lot" Kakarott shrugged.

"True, I find it quite strange" Bardock added. "On the other hand, she is the best scientist, I find her quite competent."

"She certainly has skills, I'm just concerned about her attitude" Gine explained. "She is too disrespectful sometimes and that might get her killed one day."

"I have to go, we will go to Aoi-sei with Karris, to get the gold" Kakarott said and got up.

Then, he grabbed an other croissant and wolfed it down, before he went out in the door.

"I also have to go" Radditz added and he also left.

While Gine cleaned up the table, Bardock got up and stretched. He walked to the fridge, picked out an apple and began to eat it. Gine looked at him with an amused smile; he just couldn't have enough to eat. She still remembered the day, when she was sent on an assignment with Bardock and somehow they connected right away, even though they have hardly ever spoken before. Bardock wasn't an extraordinary fighter compared to all, but he was pretty good among the 3rd class warriors. Both he and Gine hoped that their children might be born with a bigger power level, but both Radditz and Kakarott were rather weak. After Radditz, Bardock wasn't even planning to see Kakarott before he was sent away, thinking that it had no sense bonding with him, as it will be months, maybe years before he will see him again. It was an unexpected surprise when he got promoted to a 2nd class and Gine was happy for him.

"Just one more year and we will get out of here" Bardock called.

"Actually, I'm quite sorry for it" Gine answered, stepping to him. "I never expected to enjoy spending so much time on Vegetasei, but I actually like it. It's nice to always wake up in the same house, next to you."

Bardock smiled and kissed her lightly on her lips. Just for that second his hard and serious face became warm and friendly. Even though Kakarott looked really similar to him, Bardock was always serious, while his son constantly had that goofy smile on his face.

"There are certainly good aspects" Bardock answered, this time pulling her closer, pressing her body against his."

As he kissed her again, this time with passion, he was also happy being able to spend so much time with his family. Due to the constant missions, sometimes he couldn't see her for months as they rarely had the same assignment. Most of the saiyans chose their mates based on their power level, aiming for the strongest one to make sure their children will be strong enough to survive the constant fights. Gine wasn't bad in their class, but Bardock might have ended up with a stronger wife, if he wanted to. Still, for some reason he choose her, never fully aware that what he felt for her was love and it was mutual.

"I feel some strange Ki coming from the planet" Kakarott called as they prepared for landing.

Karris was controlling the ship, so he failed to detect it first, but now, as he concentrated, he could also feel it.

"I see what you mean. It's so unfamiliar, I don't think it's coming from the Aois or the humans" Karris nodded.

They could hardly wait until they finally landed and then rushed out of the spaceship. They saw smoke coming from the direction of the mines, so without discussing it, they were flying towards it. As soon as they landed, they saw 4 warriors, who were wearing almost the same armour and they also had scouters. Still, they were no saiyans; they looked rather like crocodile-people with brownish skin and pointy teeth.

"Who the hell are you?" One of them asked, as his scouter indicated him that they had company.

The crocodile-guy was in progress of snapping somebody's neck, who looked like Gray. It was hard to tell though, as his whole face was covered in blood. Kakarott checked for his Ki and even though he could feel it, it was very weak.

"Let him go!" He called, pointing at Gray's limp body.

"Sure, let me just kill him first and I can play with you after…" but he couldn't quite finish it, because Kakarott hit him full in the face, covering the distance between them in a slit-second. The creature staggered back and dropped Gray.

The remaining 3 soldiers looked at the young saiyan shocked and they raised their arms, where they each had a big cannon attached and fired on him. While Kakarott easily avoided the energy balls, he tried to survey the damage done by them. He felt a few injured around them and saw two lifeless bodies, but it looked like these soldiers also just arrived here. One of them was the little girl, whom he saved when he first came here. Then it hit him; he felt rage, not because these soldiers invaded a saiyan territory, it was due to the fact, that they killed the inhabitants here. People, who had no chance of defending themselves as they had a small Ki. At that moment, he could see the irony of the situation; he as a saiyan was doing just the same, until recently and the only reason why he hasn't killed others was due to the fact that the King ordered them to train. He jumped from one to the other, killing them one by one with an instant blow.

"Behind you!" Karris called.

Kakarott turned and saw that 6 other soldiers rushing towards him and 3 others from the other direction. Karris wasn't much of a fighter any more, but this time he had no other choice then to fight. Now he was really happy that he never stopped with his training, even though he spent less time with it as the others. He didn't really had time to worry, as Kakarott killed the new attackers with ease, apart from the only one, who was killed by him. They looked at each other and without speaking they nodded and walked towards the woods. They detected at least 20 other creatures a few hundred meters from them and based on their experience, they could be quite sure that they also had scouters. In order to avoid detection, the two saiyans went there on foot and as they arrived to them, they saw a spaceship with an oval shape, standing on many small legs. It reminded them a little bit of spiders. They split up and tried to kill the enemy one-by-one. After a certain point they were detected, but mostly thanks to Kakarott they managed to kill all of them.

"Who the hell are these guys?" Kakarott asked as they entered the now empty spaceship.

"I have no idea, but I find it strange that they have similar technologies as we" Karris answered.

They arrived to the control room and while Kakarott looked around randomly, Karris checked the computers, trying to find out their identity.

"Maybe they bought the same technology from the Inthros and the Thages."

The Inthros was a very advanced race, who had a constant population growth and usually they were in need of new planets. They sold the armours and the battleships for the saiyans, among other things. Thages were not that advanced, but they had interesting technical solutions; they invented the scouters.

"Could be…"

Karris was soon lost in the database and after a couple of minutes Kakarott gave up on him and decided to explore the rest of the ship on his own.

"Sire, Karris is asking for a hearing. May I let him in?" Borage reported, stepping into the Throne room.

He was one of the elite fighters and the King's most trusted man. He was a bit of a cocksucker for the Prince's taste with all his way too polite talk and constant bowing. Still, he had to deal with him as his father was away with some of the elite fighters on a high level mission.

"Karris? That's peculiar, he rarely seeks out my audience" Vegeta smirked.

He was aware how he unnerved the scientist and it was always a pleasure to feel how others were intimidated by his power.

"What shall I do, Sire?"

Just go and fuck off… Vegeta thought. Compared to Borage, he actually even preferred the woman's insolent style.

"Let him in and leave us alone!" He sighed.

Borage bowed and left the room, just so that Karris could enter the next moment. It was clear, that he was rather unnerved, especially as the heavy wooden door closed behind him with a thud. Vegeta first couldn't pinpoint what was so strange about the guy, until he realised that his overall was thorn and blood-stained and he appeared to have some minor injuries. How? He was a scientist, not a warrior; a real disgrace to their race.

"Aoi-sei was attacked" Karris began and he became somewhat relaxed as he saw that the Prince was hooked on to his words after only saying this much.

It was understandable as nobody ever attacked a planet, which was under saiyan's control; their race was feared all over the universe. Who would dare to make such an attempt to take over their colonies? As Karris explained everything, Vegeta became more and more outraged.

"Did you identify them, based on the data from their computers?"

"I tried to hack it, but it's encrypted. I wanted to fly here with the spaceship, but it got damaged during the fight. I was thinking bringing along Bulma with me, if you allow it."

Vegeta cursed, he also had the intention to visit Aoi-sei to see the soldiers with his own eyes (well, their dead bodies at least) so it would mean he will be forced to share the same spaceship with her. That was undesirable, even without their recent encounter a few days ago. He hasn't spoken with her after that and he had every intention to avoid the confrontation as long as possible.

"Fine, let's go immediately!"

"I need to get some tools, but it's the middle of the night. I'm sure Bulma is already sleeping…"

"Just hurry up damn it, I will get her! We assemble in the hangar in 10 minutes."

"All right" Karris nodded and hurried out of the room.

Vegeta sighed and followed him. He stopped near the lab, where the sleeping quarters of the scientists were and checked for Bulma's room. He simply busted in, not bothering with knocking, but he stopped dead, as soon as he saw her. She was just about to go to sleep and now she was standing at the other end of the room (which meant only 2 meters away from him) in a white nightgown, which wasn't just rather short, but also slightly translucent at given places. As be backed off, he hit the door and closed it behind him, but he failed to realise it as he was too occupied to remove his gaze from her body. First Bulma wanted to cry out and throw something to him, yet when she saw his mostly stoic face confused, she realised that as unlikely as it was; Vegeta was the victim, not her.

"Have you ever heard of knocking?" She asked. "You know, even though you are royal and stuff, you have no manners."

She couldn't fully repress her smile, while she took a step towards him.

"Manners? I'm not the one, who is dressed as a concubine!" Vegeta snapped, desperately trying not to lower his gaze from her face.

"Although that would be quite funny" She answered and as she saw the mental image from him dressed in a nightgown, she just had to laugh.

Vegeta hated this feeling, it seemed like he lost the ability to think rationally when he got distracted by temptations of fair flesh; at least when that flesh belonged to her.

"We don't have time to engage in meaningless dialogues, I came here to get you, because we are going to Aoi-sei."

"You mean right now?"

"Of course now, why else would I be here at this time at night? Get dressed at this instance and let's go!"

Bulma nodded, then remained there, standing. Vegeta looked at her questioningly, until she finally explained:

"I thought you will leave until I change my clothes, but if you want to stay, by all means…"

She couldn't even finish it, Vegeta was already out, slamming the door behind him. Bulma giggled, while she got her overall from the wardrobe and put it on. It seemed like she had found a new kind of entertainment in Vegetasei; the Prince himself! It wasn't necessarily a good sign, that she actually enjoyed even just watching him from a distance and especially after their kiss, her head was full with him… still, recently she was rather happy when she saw him and they talked or argued (mostly the later).

"So you left Kakarott there?" Bulma asked, when they were already in the ship, flying towards Aoi-sei.

Karris just programmed the autopilot and walked to Bulma, who was checking the toolbox, making sure they had everything.

"Yeah, we decided it's for the best. Whoever those attackers were, others might come to check on them."

As Karris and Bulma were discussing all the happenings, then the technical stuff about the spaceship, Vegeta was sitting at the back of the spaceship, silently watching them. He has already seen how familiar they are with each other and once again it stirred a strange feeling inside him. Just what was so special about this woman? It was like she hexed him, forcing him to experience feelings, which he never felt before. The desire for her was bad enough (he couldn't deny it any more, at least to himself), but this… when he saw him with Karris, was something else. He closed his eyes and tried to switch of his mind, he just couldn't listen to all their jabbering! It was lucky that they landed within 30 minutes and once he was out of the ship, he felt much better.

"Wow, I'm here! I cannot believe that after so many years, I was finally able to return" Bulma called with a bright smile on her face.

"Oh, you are back!" Kakarott called, peeking out from the other spaceship.

He had his hands full with food, indicating that he managed to locate their food supplies.

"I feel so light!" Bulma called and as she jumped up, she managed to reach 5 meters high, before she landed on the ground. "Wow, this is amazing!"

"We are not here for you to play!" Vegeta snapped, looking at her.

"Sure, sure, I know!" She nodded, still unable to stop smiling.

She was just simply glad for this change in the scenery, even though she got used to live on Vegetasei. It's not like she has given up on her plan to escape from there, it was a long and complicated project. So far, she couldn't find any suitable planet and she kept thinking about the legend of the Dragon Balls. It would be so nice to restore Earth to its previous state and wish her parents back to life. As soon as she entered the control room, Karris began to fix the engine, while Vegeta checked out the dead soldiers.

"They armours are not as good as ours" Kakarott said, stepping to the Prince.

"Still, it's the same design, without the modifications of the woman" Vegeta stated.

"Yeah, Bulma really managed to improve it a lot!"

Vegeta ignored the remark and crunched down to one of the bodies. First he removed the armour, then the scouter, studying them with care. He also removed the cannon from the soldiers arm and fired it. It wasn't very impressive compared to the saiyans' power, yet it was powerful enough to kill a few people with it. Just who the hell were they and more importantly, who ordered them to mess with the saiyans?

I hope you liked the Bardock-Gine scene; hopefully it wasn't too cheesy I mean for their character.

Also; Vegeta learned the importance of knocking on a girl's door :D