Winter Ends
Vegeta hit the disengage button on the gravity simulator and trudged over to the captain's seat of the spaceship, dropping into it unenergetically. He had been training for a few hours and finally decided it was time to rest when his stomach started growling. But before going down to the lower deck, he wanted to check the coordinates of their next destination and how much time it would be before landing. Before he began his training, it was a little under 17 hours. Now it was closer to 12. More than enough time to eat and sleep. Yawning, he stood and stretched, then walked over to the ladder that led down to the lower deck. There was a kitchen, pantry, and small living room in the middle with sleeping quarters on opposite sides, each with its own miniature bathroom. Their living arrangements were rather cramped, but at least they could have some privacy, and it gave Bulma a safe place to stay while the saiyans were using the gravity simulator on the upper deck.
Bulma was sitting at the small kitchen table talking to her father on a video communicator when he came down. Though she couldn't keep up her full duties as vice president of Capsule Corporation while in space, she called home every day both to see and talk to her parents and to help her father with some business and keep up to date on its growth. Seeing her mate coming down for his meal, she said goodbye to her father and ended the transmission.
"Hey, 'Geta," she said cheerfully as she got out of her chair and went around the table to kiss him. "How was training?"
"Fine. Where's Raditz?"
"I think he went to sleep about twenty minutes ago." Bulma looked over at his door and shrugged. "Why, do you need him for something?"
Vegeta smirked. "No." He pulled Bulma flush against him and trailed his hands down to her legs, lifting her and wrapping her legs around his waist. He kissed her forcefully as he walked over to the counter, setting her on it and pushing her skirt up around her waist.
Bulma giggled and started unbuttoning her blouse. "You don't think we'll wake him?"
"If we do, he'll know better than to come out of his quarters." Vegeta kissed along her jaw and down her neck, purring when she freed him from his training shorts and pulled him closer with her legs.
"I thought you'd be hungry after training," she said through a moan.
He nipped her neck and shoulder. "I am." But, as she had learned over the past two years, sating his hunger was not always his top priority after training. And, as usual, she wasn't complaining as he took her to the heights of pleasure and held her there for far longer than she thought possible. Despite being tired from training and hunger, it was a long time before he ate his dinner.
After he ate, they retired to their quarters to sleep for a few hours. Vegeta sat on the edge of their bed and watched Bulma as she sat in front of her vanity and smeared moisturizer on her face and brushed her hair until the silky strands were free of frizz and tangles. He never did understand her obsession with her appearance, but he rather liked the end result so he never (well, rarely) said anything about the pointlessness of her habits.
"We should land in about ten hours," he told her when she came over to the bed and sat next to him.
Bulma sighed and nodded slowly. "So this is it, huh? Finally got to Cooler's hideout. Man, that coward's been leading us all over the galaxy for the past six months. You don't think he's set up an ambush for us, do you?"
"With what army?" Vegeta snorted and put his arm around her waist, holding her close. "We've already stopped at seven of his major base planets and killed every soldier there. And Kakarrot and the Namekian are in other galaxies killing his soldiers as well."
"I guess I'm just a little nervous."
Vegeta chuckled and pulled her down on the bed, wrapping both arms around her. "What is there to be nervous about, woman? I'm stronger than I was when I defeated Frieza, and Raditz is close to ascending. Sleep now. You can't be tired when we land."
Even with his reassurances it was long after she heard Vegeta's breathing slow that she finally fell asleep with him. She was too worried, her mind conjuring up a hundred ways Cooler could defeat Vegeta that didn't necessarily include him being the stronger warrior. Hell, it was hard to imagine anyone being stronger than her mate now that he was in full control of his ascended form. But if Cooler was anything like Frieza, he was a ruthless beast who would use any advantage he could find, exploiting it without shame. She hoped she wouldn't be that weakness. He finally got her to promise to stay away from the battle, but that didn't guarantee Cooler would stay away from her.
Vegeta woke a few hours later and carefully got out of bed to avoid waking up Bulma. He stopped at the edge of the bed and looked down at her, brows furrowing as he felt her ki. Something about it was different. It wasn't unhealthy, but something about it was off. Unable to decipher what had changed, Vegeta shrugged it off and went to the bathroom to take a shower before she got up.
By the time he finished his shower and dried off, the anticipation of a good fight was making him jittery. Already adrenaline was coursing through his veins and they were still three hours from landing. Bulma still hadn't woken up, so he went over and sat on the edge of the bed and watched Bulma sleep for a few minutes, still unable to figure out what was different about her ki. He couldn't put his finger on what the change was. She wasn't stronger or weaker and it wasn't spiking and dropping as if she were in danger, real or imagined.
Finally, shaking his head, he rose from the bed and went out to the kitchen to find some breakfast. He didn't have any particular attachment to the planet Earth, but he definitely did miss Mrs. Brief's cooking. More often than not he had to make his own breakfast, and for his other meals he had to rely on Bulma. She wasn't a bad cook per se, but her culinary skills were limited to a few select meals she was good at and a few others she could usually prepare decently. Anything else was purely experimental and may or may not be edible even for a saiyan. If that wasn't bad enough, their food supply consisted of foods with long shelf lives and what food they picked up from other planets when they stopped was sometimes good for eating and sometimes better used for bartering for other commodities.
He was finishing his breakfast when Raditz came out to the kitchen and started scrounging around for food. A few minutes later Vegeta felt Bulma's ki rise slightly as she roused from sleep and moved across their quarters to the bathroom to shower. He hoped he left enough hot water for her so he didn't have to listen to her screeching about how he always used it all before she could shower. He got up and carried his dishes over to the sink to wash later before going to the upper deck to try sending a transmission to Nappa with the ship's communication system to verify the coordinates of Cooler's location. He would have the most recent information since Bulma had hacked into the mainframe of one of Cooler's largest bases and set it up so all incoming information about any of Cooler or King Cold's armies would be forwarded to Capsule Corporation. It was an impressive feat that not only astounded Vegeta but proved invaluable many times already.
The saiyan prince sat in the captain's seat and pushed the button to begin transmission with Earth, hoping Nappa would answer soon. The last thing he wanted was for Cooler to leave the planet they were going to before he could get there, leaving behind another expendable segment of his army. Looking out the main window, he could see a small speck of light far from the star it orbited. There, supposedly, he would find the elder of the Cold brothers to finally kill him. It would take more than his death – or even his father's death – to break up the empire completely, but it was a huge step in the process.
He hadn't realized he lost himself in thought until he felt a small hand on his shoulder, bringing him back to reality. "What is it, woman?"
Bulma walked around the seat and sat down across his lap, looping one arm around his neck and using the other to cup his face, making him look at her. "Is something wrong? I called your name three times and you didn't answer."
"Nothing is wrong." Vegeta reached up and pulled her hand away from his face, but he didn't let it go.
"If you say so." Bulma rested her head on his shoulder and watched as the stars flew past. Even after traveling through space for two years she never lost her sense of wonder at the incredible distances they covered between planets. "It's hard to imagine you did this all the time when you worked for Frieza."
"Did what?"
"Traveling in space like this. Wasn't it lonely?" Bulma shifted a little in his lap so she could see out the window better.
"No." He wanted her to drop the conversation. This certainly wasn't the first time she compared their current mission to those of his mission under Frieza. Each time she did he was forced to note the similarity between the purges of planets the lizard wanted to conquer and the purging of the army bases. The only consolation he had in this was that he was killing soldiers in a war rather than defenseless civilians in an unwarranted slaughter. Still, it made him uncomfortable knowing he was doing what he had always done and hoped never to do again after deciding to reside on Earth. Even worse, it forced him to accept the fact that, though Frieza was locked in the Dead Zone for eternity, he was still exerting power in his life through his family. Cooler and King Cold undoubtedly wanted revenge for Frieza's undoing, which meant Vegeta had no choice but to kill them as well. In his efforts to protect his freedom and safety, he had to compromise both until the Cold Empire was disestablished.
Bulma sensed his dismal mood and sighed softly. She had hoped that his moodiness would ease once Frieza was gone, but it didn't. Apparently that was just a part of Vegeta. "So what do we do for the next two hours?"
Vegeta snorted. "I'm trying to send a transmission to Nappa, but he isn't replying."
"I think it's like two in the morning there."
"So?" Vegeta groaned and leaned back in the seat, rubbing his temples.
She laughed a little and twisted around so she could reach the controls. "Well, if we can't reach Nappa then why not contact Goku? We haven't gotten an update on their progress for a few days."
"Do as you like, woman." Vegeta lifted her off his lap and slipped out of the seat to go train in normal gravity to pass the time.
Bulma cut the pending connection to Earth and entered the command to send a transmission to Goku's ship. She had to wait a while before the two ships could connect, but eventually she saw Gohan's face on the screen. "Hey, kid," she greeted him. "Is your dad around?"
"Hi, Bulma!" the demi-saiyan chirped. He looked over to the side and then turned back to the screen. "He's busy training right now. Do you want me to get him?"
"No, that's okay. I was just wondering how you guys have been doing. Chi-Chi still making you study?"
Gohan nodded, smiling weakly. Since wishing his mother back to life, she had been traveling with them since they didn't have time to return to Earth. Besides, she didn't want to stay on Earth while her husband and son were out tramping across the universe. "Yeah, but she still lets me train a couple hours every day. I've gotten a lot stronger, and my dad's trying to help me become a super saiyan."
"That's great," Bulma said. "Where are you going now? Have you gotten a lock on King Cold's location?"
The boy shook his head, scowling a little. "No, he's been hard to find. His ship travels faster than ours and reports about his movement aren't always clear. Nappa sends us reports whenever he receives information about him, but it's not usually helpful."
Bulma slumped back in her seat and tapped her chin with her finger. "It's weird that he's always moving. Vegeta said he used to always stay on his home planet. Maybe he's afraid to fight a super saiyan. I wouldn't blame him."
Gohan grinned proudly. "Yeah, my dad could beat him. But since we can't find him we're going to the base planets and taking care of the army."
"Good idea. At least then Cooler and King Cold won't have anyone to send to purge more planets and kill more billions of people." Bulma ran her hand through her long hair and looked around the ship. Not that there was anything new or interesting to see. "Hey, you want to talk to your uncle?"
"Yeah!"
"Alright, I'll go get him. It's been good seeing you, kid. Tell everyone hi for me, okay?" Bulma stood up and went down to the lower deck where Raditz was still eating. "Hey, Raditz, Gohan is waiting for you to talk to him. You've got about an hour before we land."
Raditz quickly finished off his breakfast and went over to climb the ladder to the upper deck. Bulma sat down in one of the chairs at the table and groaned. She was tired of being cooped up in the ship. It had been almost three months since their last landing. She was ready to feel firm ground beneath her feet and the pull of real gravity, breathe some fresh air. The next hour passed slowly for her as her excitement to leave the ship grew, but finally she heard the computerized voice announcing landfall would be in ten minutes, so she went up the ladder and strapped herself into the captain's seat for landing.
Considering how far from its star the planet was, it wasn't surprising to see it was a frozen wasteland. Bulma cursed her luck as she pulled on several layers of clothes, topping off the look with snow boots and a stocking cap. She knew she looked ridiculous, but she was not going to waste an opportunity to leave the ship when she had it. Besides, Vegeta wanted her to stay a safe distance from the ship, which he considered to be an easy target for attack. She told him he could just capsulate it, but that wouldn't have helped her anyway and he insisted a capsule was too easy to get lost or stolen.
While she was bundling up, Vegeta and Raditz had changed into their armor in preparation for battle. They met up in front of the hatch while the saiyans searched for any nearby ki. Feeling none, they gave the go-ahead for Bulma to lower the hatch. She was pleased when they stepped outside and noticed there wasn't gusting wind and snow blinding them. Still, it was insanely cold and she had to raise her ki to keep herself warm even under all the layers of clothing she was wearing.
"Why would anyone want to come to a planet like this?" she muttered, her voice sounding loud in the crisp, still air.
"The lizards thrive in cold climates few other species could endure." Surveying the area, Vegeta spotted an icy alcove and pointed to it. "Take cover over there, woman. Try to keep your ki low, but don't freeze to death. I'll go after Cooler and Raditz will stay back to fight any soldiers, so if you need help he should be able to reach you. You know the signal."
Bulma nodded and hugged him as tightly as she could, though her arms hardly bent. She kissed him and backed away. "Be careful, Vegeta." She turned to Raditz before heading over to the alcove. "And good luck to you."
At least an hour passed before Bulma heard the telltale sounds of battle. Shockwaves shook the ground and rang through the air and the dark sky periodically lit up with exploding ki blasts. She never saw any soldiers, so Raditz must have been doing a good job of holding them off and killing them before they could reach her. It was nerve-wracking to sit still and wait for them to defeat Cooler, but there was little she could do to help. She kept up with her training enough to stay as strong as she was at the time of Frieza's arrival on Earth, but she hadn't gotten any stronger.
The minutes dragged by as the sounds of battle came faster and louder. Either they were moving closer to her or they were speeding up and putting more power into their attacks. The latter was more likely; Vegeta was always careful when fighting to keep it as far from her as possible. There was no way to know who was winning – if anyone was at this point – and who had a greater chance of defeating his opponent. Bulma hated not knowing what was going on and having no way of finding out. She understood that she had to keep her distance to remain safe and not distract her mate, but in her opinion battles always seemed worse when she couldn't see them and know for sure that Vegeta was doing well. As she sat there, crouching behind a wall of ice and snow, she thought for the millionth time that she needed to learn to sense ki as all her friends could. It would certainly help her relax while her mate was battling far away.
She nearly forgot the cold as she listened, trying to make sense of each sound. Her heart was hammering in her chest as she strained to hear more. But it was hopeless. She was too far away and there was no way to know what was causing the booms that shook the heavens. So intent was she on the battle that she nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt a large hand on her back. She spun around and sighed with relief when she saw that it was Raditz.
"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be helping Vegeta?" she asked.
The long-haired saiyan shook his head as he sat down beside her. "No, he wants me to stay here with you to keep you safe. From soldiers or the cold I'm not sure." He chuckled a little and draped his arm over her shoulders. "You don't have to worry about him so much, you know. He's grinding that lizard into the dirt."
"Really?" Bulma craned her neck to see where the battle was raging, but she couldn't see anything anyway. "You're sure?"
"I'm sure. Cooler is losing power fast. It won't be long before Vegeta finishes him."
True to his word, it was only a few more minutes before the noise of battle stopped. The silence that followed was deafening as Bulma waited for Vegeta to return, afraid to see what condition he would be in after fighting Frieza's older and presumably stronger brother. Unable to contain her apprehension, she stood up and ran to the spaceship to get all the medical supplies ready. She didn't have to wait much longer before Vegeta arrived at the ship and came inside, closing the hatch behind him to block out the cold. Bulma frowned when she saw him covered in blood – not all of which was his own – and burns, cuts, and bruises. He walked with a limp and his breathing was heavy and ragged.
"Come on, 'Geta," she said, "I'll get you cleaned up. You beat him?"
Vegeta smirked, reopening his busted lip that had already begun healing. "Another Cold is dead. Only one more survives, and now we can spend more time tracking him down. I need to send the message to Nappa to let him know."
Raditz went over to the captain's seat and sat down. "I'll take care of it, Vegeta."
Bulma ordered Vegeta to take off his armor and started cleaning the blood off him, carefully dabbing at the deeper wounds. She hadn't seen him covered in so many injuries since, well, since he fought Frieza. At least he didn't have any particularly serious wounds that his body couldn't heal on its own. She was relieved that he didn't make it out of the battle in worse shape, but more than anything she was relieved that Cooler was finally defeated. They were one step closer to ending the Cold Empire, which meant they were one step closer to returning home. She smiled at the thought of seeing her parents again, finally safe from the Colds.
…
Goku really liked the last planet they stopped at. It was a small planet far removed from any bases, but it was a hospitable planet good for a pit stop before traveling on to the next galaxy in search of King Cold. They spent a lot of time on that planet, but the natives were friendly and they provided more than enough food to feed a saiyan and his half-breed son and two humans. Not only that, but they taught him a new technique that would definitely come in handy. Eager to share his new technique with everyone, he opened a three-way transmission with the other two Capsule Corporation ships and waited for the connections to go through.
It had been eight months since they received word that Cooler was defeated, and during that time they stopped at two more base planets and killed all the soldiers stationed there. While he still didn't like killing and didn't like having his son learning to kill, he knew that the universe was a better place because of it. Soldiers for the Cold Empire were evil, and while some of them may have been redeemable, he figured it wasn't worth the risk of letting them live when they might seek vengeance or rise up to take the throne of tyranny once the Colds were gone.
The transmission finally connected and he saw the faces of Vegeta and Piccolo side-by-side on the screen. It was hard to believe they were thousands of light-years apart when they looked so close in front of him. Grinning, he waved at them. "Hi, guys!"
"What do you want, Kakarrot?" Vegeta growled.
Goku laughed, rubbing the back of his head. "I wanted to tell you about this great new technique I learned on this planet we stopped at for supplies."
Piccolo raised an eyebrow. "What technique?"
"Unless it's some way to find King Cold I don't care," Vegeta snapped.
Goku cocked his head to the side. "Hey, I hadn't even thought of that. Maybe if I could sense his ki…"
"What is it?" Piccolo barked.
"Oh yeah!" Goku was so excited he jumped out of his seat as he explained, "It's called instant transmission. All I have to do is lock onto someone's ki anywhere and I can teleport myself there instantly."
"This I have to see," Vegeta grumbled.
Piccolo crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm with Vegeta on this one."
"Well, okay." Goku looked thoughtful for a minute before snapping his fingers. "I know! Vegeta, can you raise your power really high? Maybe I'll be able to sense it from where I am and use IT to come to you."
Scoffing, Vegeta nodded his assent. In a flash he ascended to super saiyan and pushed his ki as high as he could without inadvertently destroying the spaceship with his power. "Can you sense me now?"
"Are you sure this is a good idea, Goku?" Piccolo asked warily. "Even if you can do what you say you can, you're both moving faster than light. How would you be able to hone in on his ki and go to where he was? You might end up in space where he was at the time you sensed him and get yourself killed."
"Aw, don't worry, Piccolo," Goku assured him. "With this technique I can move even faster than the ships. Alright, I think I found you, Vegeta. Going in three – two – one –"
Goku suddenly appeared behind Vegeta, waving stupidly at the screen over his shoulder. "See, guys?"
Vegeta jumped, spinning around. He gaped disbelievingly at the younger saiyan before he could mask his surprise with stoicism. Soon gaining control of himself, he remarked with a markedly bored tone, "Well, that could be useful."
"Hey, I could see Raditz and Bulma while I'm here!" Goku walked off to find the other passengers aboard the ship, abandoning the conversation he started.
Piccolo shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Is that all, then?"
Vegeta shrugged. "Apparently. Do you have anything to report?"
"Nothing out of the ordinary. We're still going to base planets to destroy the army. This galaxy is almost clean. Any news on King Cold?"
The prince shook his head. "Nothing as of three hours ago when Nappa called. But I think I might have a way to flush him out."
"How?"
Vegeta glanced over his shoulder when he heard a crash on the lower deck. He stood up and walked away from the control panel, muttering to himself about the younger saiyan's idiocy.
"Bulma!" Goku shouted, pointing at her, "Why didn't you tell us?"
The blue-haired woman shrugged. "I guess it just never came up."
"How could that not come up?" Goku picked up his chair and sat down in it backwards, shaking his head slowly.
She laughed, rubbing her round belly with one hand. "Okay, so I didn't tell you because Vegeta didn't want anyone to know. So don't tell anyone else, got it?"
"Sure, I guess." Goku whistled lowly, scratching his head. "Wow, Bulma. That's really great. You've been feeling okay and everything?"
"Yes, Goku, I'm fine."
Vegeta jumped down to the lower level and rushed over to Bulma's side. He coiled his tail around her waist possessively, snarling at Goku.
Bulma laid her hand on his arm to calm him down. "Relax, Vegeta. Why are you a super saiyan? Something going on?"
Visibly relaxing, Vegeta shook his head. "No. Now how the hell do you plan to get back to your own ship?"
"Huh? Oh. Gee, I don't know."
Vegeta smacked his forehead with the palm of his hand. "Idiot."
"How did you get here in the first place, Goku?" Bulma asked.
"Instant transmission!" Goku then preceded to tell her all about how he learned the technique and how he honed in on Vegeta's ki to make the jump to their spaceship from his own. Bulma didn't try to hide how impressed she was when he explained it to her. Vegeta didn't like that she was so interested in the other saiyan's new ability, so he found himself struggling to suppress jealousy more than listening to the conversation. With his mate's current condition his instinctive drive to protect her was heightened and his possessiveness was exponentially greater. Sometimes it was hard to keep himself from ripping Raditz's throat out when he so much as looked at Bulma in a way that could be interpreted wrongly.
Vegeta was only able to endure the rest of Goku's visit by blocking out his senseless drivel. He occupied his mind with any other thought that would enter his head, sometimes focusing on the ki of his growing son, planning how to lure King Cold back to his home planet where he would walk into an ambush, how much he wanted eggrolls, and even how he could push Raditz to ascend to super saiyan. For a while he even considered the possibility of reaching a level higher than a super saiyan, a strange but increasingly persistent thought weaving through his mind. After about two hours Goku finally decided it was time for him to get back to his family. When he couldn't sense his son's ki – easily the highest ki on his own spaceship – he decided to take a detour, using IT to move to Otherworld where he could get King Kai's help to find Gohan and get back to him.
Once he was gone, Vegeta went back to the upper deck and sat in the captain's seat to send a transmission to Capsule Corporation. He had some planning to do with Nappa. It only took three minutes for the transmission to go through and he saw the face of his former bodyguard on the screen looking rather exhausted. It never occurred to him that he might be calling at some ungodly hour in the morning, especially since Nappa had Dr. Brief set up a mechanism that would wake him up whenever a call was coming in from one of the ships. Now Nappa answered right away almost every time, no matter what time it was at the compound.
"Vegeta, what's going on?" Nappa asked tiredly. He rubbed his eyes while trying to suppress a yawn.
The saiyan prince smirked. "I've been thinking of a way to locate King Cold. Or rather, play him into our hands.
"What's that?"
"We know very little about him, but we do know that before we started our mission he spent almost all his time on the Cold planet. It was his base of operations and his home. Frieza and Cooler sometimes traveled there to meet him, but he rarely – if ever – went anywhere to meet with them. In other words, we know he values his home planet." Vegeta crossed his arms over his chest, waiting for Nappa to figure out where he was taking this line of thought.
"So you think you'll find him there?" Nappa asked, still not getting it. "But we've received several reports over the past few months that he's moving from planet to planet, not even in the same galaxy."
"Which leaves his own planet vulnerable."
At first Nappa raised an inquiring eyebrow, but then he realized what Vegeta was suggesting and silently mouthed an 'o.' He threw his hands up in the air, then, exclaiming, "Why didn't we think of that before? If you threaten his home planet he'll go back to try and protect it!"
Vegeta nodded. "Hypothetically. Which ship is going to land on a Cold army base soonest? I'm sure King Cold hears of all the attacks on the bases, and if we were to send a message to him from one of his own bases, he would be likely to receive it."
"It's a good plan. How do we know it'll work?"
"We don't, but I'm sick of chasing the coward across the universe. I'm done waiting for him to make a move. This time we're invading his planet and it'll be up to him to save it. He knows that we defeated both Frieza and Cooler. He won't be stupid enough to rely on his soldiers to defend his planet from us. He'll come personally."
"Right." Nappa ran his tongue over his bottom lip as he searched for information on the Cold planet and calculated which spaceship was scheduled to land on an army base next. Their databases on Cold Empire information had grown substantially over the past two years; now they had essentially everything on file and readily accessible. It didn't take long for Nappa to pull up all the known information on the Cold home planet and scan through it.
"Who will land first?" Vegeta asked.
Nappa looked back to the screen, having momentarily forgotten Vegeta was still on the line. "Kakarrot."
"Fine. Give him a message to relay to King Cold from the base. What information do you have on the Cold planet?"
"I'll forward it to you," Nappa said. "It looks like the Namekian will actually be closest to it at the time Kakarrot delivers the message, but I don't think he and three-eyes will be strong enough to take King Cold."
Vegeta snorted. "Obviously."
"You and Kakarrot are actually both moving away from it. If I reset your course now, it would still take you almost a year to get there, maybe longer." Nappa paused, stroking his mustache. "If Kakarrot leaves the base right away, it would take him around eight months to get there. But since we have no idea where Cold is, we don't know when he would make it back to his planet. We don't want to waste time stationing someone there if he won't be there, but it would be better to have one of our teams there first to keep him on the defense."
"Go ahead and reset the course," Vegeta ordered. "If he isn't there yet and we have extra time we can stop at nearby bases and take out the soldiers. That would prevent them from coming to aid King Cold anyway."
"Yes, sir. And what about the Namekian?"
Vegeta shrugged one shoulder. "Keep him in the general area. There should be many bases in that galaxy. If King Cold hears that the bases near his home planet are being destroyed he'll be more inclined to believe our threat anyway."
"Good thinking, Vegeta."
"Any other reports?"
"None recent."
"Good. Update the Namekian's course and tell Kakarrot what to do when he lands." With his final orders given, Vegeta cut the transmission and leaned back in the seat, watching the stars fly by for a few minutes before he stood up and went down to the lower deck. Raditz had already retired to his quarters and Bulma was sitting at the kitchen table nodding off.
The saiyan prince picked her up and carried her into their bedroom. By the time he had her undressed she had already fallen asleep, so he laid her on the bed and pulled the covers up over her. He sat there watching over her a minute, then stripped down to his boxers and crawled under the covers, pulling her close and resting his hand on her belly. At first he felt their son kicking, but soon he settled down. In the darkness Vegeta allowed himself to smile, both with pride and contentment. He held in his arms everything that mattered to him. He feared for their safety as he planned to go after King Cold, but he trusted his own power to be enough to protect them from harm. What terrified him more was the prospect of having to help her give birth. She said she was due in another month, but he felt the fluctuations in both her ki and the baby's, and he knew it would be time sooner than she thought. But he didn't tell her, not wanting to trouble her. He could tell she was nervous about giving birth without a doctor already. But there was no need for her to worry; as a saiyan he knew instinctually what to do to help his mate through it. But that didn't mean he felt comfortable with it.
…
"So this is a super saiyan?"
Goku grinned and rubbed the back of his head. "What? No, I mean yes I am, but not right now."
The giant tyrant who bore a strong resemblance to Frieza's second form raised an eyebrow, frowning at the foolish saiyan. He had rushed back to his home planet to protect it, expecting to encounter some mighty warrior with an insatiable thirst for blood. Also, he expected him to be taller. But, he knew as well as anyone that it was unwise to judge an opponent by size; after all, neither of his sons were anywhere near his own size.
Goku's expression grew more serious as he stopped laughing and rested his hands on his hips. Not far away he could sense Krillin and Gohan battling some of King Cold's lackeys. Chi-Chi was back at the ship lying low. "I was going to wait for Vegeta, but I don't think that'll be necessary."
"Vegeta?" King Cold asked. "Isn't that the name of the monkey prince?"
"Monkey?" Goku's expression betrayed his confusion. "No, Vegeta's a saiyan."
Rolling his eyes, King Cold shifted into an offensive fighting stance. His cape billowed behind him in the freezing wind. "I don't believe it was you who defeated my sons, but I am perfectly willing to kill you anyway."
Goku frowned as he took his own fighting stance. His ki flared up around him, not so much to power up as to keep warm. He hadn't planned on the planet being so cold, so he was only wearing his orange gi – and freezing. "You can try."
King Cold lunged forward, but to Goku his movement seemed clumsy and awkward. Either he wasn't much of a warrior or he was out of practice and his technique was rusty. The saiyan easily jumped over him, kicking him in the face before landing cleanly behind him. His frown turned into a pout when he heard the emperor's cry of pain. Here he finally got the chance to fight one of the Colds and he turned out to be a total weakling, no challenge at all.
He was still brooding when he was struck by a swift kick to the gut that forced him back a few yards. Coughing, Goku sat up, eyes widening when he saw the specks of blood in the snow. After wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, he jumped to his feet and ran forward with fist raised to strike. He was surprised when King Cold dodged the blow and retaliated with a hard right hook.
'Maybe he'll be a challenge after all!' Goku thought excitedly.
They were still fighting when Goku saw a flash of light dart across the sky and felt Vegeta's and Raditz's ki on the planet. He ducked under a kick and swept King Cold's other foot, felling the large creature. While he was down, Goku flew up into the sky and finally powered up to super saiyan – not necessarily because he needed to, but because he wanted to show the monster what a super saiyan was before finishing him off. Cupping his hands at his side, he started gathering energy for his kamehameha wave.
He didn't need much time to charge his attack before releasing his beam of energy on the Cold emperor. King Cold was, in fact, much weaker than his sons; his main advantage was his size, and that wasn't enough of an advantage to hold his own against Goku even before he ascended to super saiyan. He screamed as his body broke apart and incinerated in the ki beam, leaving nothing more than muddy ash on the ground where the ice and snow were melted. Lowering himself to the ground, Goku turned in the direction he felt Vegeta and Raditz and waited for them to come.
Just a few minutes later the two saiyans appeared on the horizon and soon they were landing near Goku, looking around at the battleground. Raditz was the first to speak. "So he's dead?"
Goku nodded. "He wasn't really that strong. I was kind of disappointed."
"Don't be a fool, Kakarrot," Vegeta growled.
"Gee," Goku said lightly, "I thought you'd be a little happier that he's gone. If he's dead then the empire's gone too, right? I mean, there's no one for the army to follow anymore."
Raditz shuffled uncomfortably when he saw Vegeta turn on his brother with anger burning in his obsidian eyes. "Are you that much of an idiot? You killed him before I got here. I explicitly told you not to kill him before I could get here!"
"What's the big deal?" Goku asked. "What, did you want to be the one to kill him? You already got Frieza and Cooler!"
"That's not the point!" Vegeta spat.
Raditz sighed, throwing his hands up in the air as he walked away from the arguing saiyans. He knew they could go on for quite a while with Vegeta becoming increasingly aggravated by his brother's stupidity. He sensed out Gohan's ki and took to the air to go find him and pay a visit while he had the chance.
"The big deal is that you could have persuaded King Cold to assemble all of his troops here and then we could finish them all off at once instead of hunting the vermin down!"
Goku's cheerful smile drooped. "Oh. Oops. But hey, maybe we can use his ship to send a message and they won't know it's not from him!"
Vegeta's eyes narrowed. "You mean the ship you destroyed?"
"Um… yeah. That one."
"Idiot."
"Sorry." Goku rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, since everyone's here, why don't we hang out for a while? It's been a long time, you know."
Vegeta didn't care much about socializing with the band of misfit warriors from Earth, but he knew his woman would want to see her old friends. And she would definitely want to show off their son and brag about how fast he was growing, the fact that he was already walking and starting to talk, and every other little thing he did. He turned back toward his ship, a small smirk curling his lips. Well, what wasn't there to brag about? His son was growing strong and some day he would be a mighty warrior worthy of his royal saiyan lineage.
"Whatever. I'm going back to my ship. If you want to 'hang out' you can go there." Vegeta levitated off the ground, flaring his ki, and took off.
Not an hour later Goku and his family plus Krillin were in Vegeta's ship and Piccolo, Tien, and Chiaotzu were landing nearby. They gathered in the lower deck living area to celebrate the end of the Cold family. Bulma and Chi-Chi immediately went to work preparing a huge feast from their odd stockpile of food while the men sat around relating all the gory details of their feats on the base planets. All of them except for Vegeta, who stayed in the kitchen area with his mate, careful to stay out of the way as the women scurried around the small room. His ears rang from their delighted shrieking, laughter, and excited squeals whenever the lavender-haired demi-saiyan infant so much as babbled or balled his chubby hands into fists.
"So Chi-Chi," Bulma asked as she started washing some dishes to reuse for another portion of the extravagant meal, "when are you due?"
Chi-Chi shrugged, but her smile brightened. "I'm not sure the exact date, but I think about ten weeks."
"That's great!" Bulma said. "I'm so glad Trunks will have someone his age to play with who he can't accidentally maim or kill."
The other woman suddenly sighed, staring at the bowl of stuffing she had been mixing as she lost herself in thought. "Assuming we ever go back home."
"Don't say that, Chi! Now that King Cold is taken care of it shouldn't be much longer." She turned to her silent mate and quirked an eyebrow. "Right?"
Vegeta snorted. "Thanks to Kakarrot it may take several more years to eradicate the remnants of the Cold army."
Chi-Chi nearly dropped the bowl as tears started spilling down her cheeks. "Years? Oh, no! I can't stand it flying around in that awful little spaceship for years! How will Gohan ever get into a good school? I don't want to raise my little baby in space! It isn't right!"
The saiyan prince ground his teeth as her voice rose with her hysteria. He didn't sugarcoat anything, but he was thinking maybe it would have been a good idea to sugarcoat his answer when talking to the normally overemotional and now very pregnant banshee. With ringing ears he finally left the kitchen and went into the cramped living room to lean against the wall and hope no one would bother him.
"So what now?" Krillin was asking his comrades. "We're done, right? We can go back home."
Raditz snorted derisively. "We're not done until the entire empire is gone, which means we keep fighting until every soldier is dead."
"How will we ever find all of them?" Tien argued. "They're all over the universe. There's no way we can hunt every one of them down!"
"Maybe not," Piccolo said, "But we can reduce the army to a few stragglers that wouldn't have the power, courage, or motivation to step up and run the empire in King Cold's place."
"How long will that take?" Tien muttered. "We've already been in space for over three years. I don't know about you, but I'm ready to go back to Earth."
Krillin nodded, smiling bashfully. "Yeah, I'm starting to think we'll never make it back. And I'm – I'm kind of homesick."
Vegeta scoffed, bringing everyone's attention to him. He rolled his eyes. "You're free to run home anytime, Baldy."
"With what ship?" Krillin retorted. "We don't have a spare!"
"Vegeta," Gohan mumbled, "don't you think we could go back to Earth for a while? Then we could go back to space and fight the army."
The prince sneered at them as he pushed off from the wall and started pacing. His tail unwound from his waist and flicked with irritation. "If you're all so damn eager to go back to Earth then go back! No one is stopping you."
"We can't leave you alone to take out a whole army," Goku said.
"I never asked for your help. Go back to Earth and give Nappa your spaceship. We can go back to the original plan."
"Aw come on, Vegeta, don't you think Bulma might want to visit Earth? And I bet her parents would love to see Trunks before he's all grown up." Goku looked around at his friends, who all nodded their heads in agreement.
Vegeta growled angrily as he went to the ladder to go up to the upper deck. He would rather train than listen to their stupidity. "Weaklings. I'm not stopping until it's done. If you want to leave your precious planet in danger, that's your business, but I will not settle down there and wait for the next attack."
Raditz frowned after Vegeta disappeared up the ladder. A few seconds later they heard the whirring sound of the gravity simulator. He sighed and raked his hand through his long mane. "You'll never convince him to go back to Earth before he thinks it's safe."
"Why?" Gohan asked. "Doesn't he want to go back?"
"He does, at least for the sake of his family. But he doesn't have any real attachment to Earth aside from his pack, so he doesn't understand why you want to return so bad. His main concern is killing all the soldiers before going back so he knows he's taking his family somewhere safe." Raditz looked at the door that led to the kitchen, imagining Bulma sitting at the table feeding Trunks as he had seen her do so many times. Vegeta didn't care about any particular planet, material items, or anything that the others took for granted. All he wanted was to keep his family safe, and if that meant spending the next twenty years or more in space, then he was willing to stay in space.
Goku bowed his head, then took a deep breath. "I think I understand where he's coming from. He's right, I guess. We have to finish what we started."
"Yeah," Krillin sighed. "You don't whack a hornet's nest and walk away without killing the hornets. Otherwise they'll follow you home and sting you."
"I guess that settles it then," Piccolo said. "We're not going home until the last remnants of the Cold Empire are destroyed."
…
Tien cut the transmission from Earth and stared at the blank screen for a few minutes before rising from the captain's seat and going to find Piccolo and Chiaotzu to tell them the news. He felt like he was in a daze as he descended the ladder to the lower deck where he expected to find Piccolo meditating and Chiaotzu cooking their meal. He wasn't surprised as they were exactly where he imagined they would be.
"What did Nappa have to say?" Chiaotzu asked when he saw Tien come into the kitchen.
The three-eyed man pulled out a chair from the table and nearly collapsed in it, still unable to believe what he was about to share with the others. He glanced over at Piccolo and saw that he was relaxing, which meant he was no longer meditating but listening in on their conversation, no doubt equally curious to hear Nappa's latest report.
"He said –" he stopped, cleared his throat, and continued, "He said we're finished. We're going home."
Chiaotzu gaped at Tien wide-eyed, unable to form words for a moment. Then words came flooding out of his mouth. "What? Are you serious, Tien? We're really going home?"
Smiling, Tien nodded. "It's kind of surreal, isn't it? I mean, we've been in space for nine years and we're finally going back to Earth."
"This is great!" Chiaotzu grinned and started laughing as he floated around the kitchen cheering.
"We can thank Goku. If it weren't for him we wouldn't be going home already. His instant transmission technique really sped up the process," Tien said. Actually they might not even be halfway done if Goku hadn't been able to skip around solar systems with Krillin and Gohan while the spaceship kept flying through. When Nappa realized the potential use of his instant transmission technique, he started directing Goku's ship to areas with dense concentrations of base planets so he could wipe out large portions of the army in the same amount of time it would take the other teams to clear a single base once time for landing, takeoff, and resetting coordinates was calculated in. Because of Goku, a mission that could have easily taken half a century was completed in less than a decade, and now it was time for the warriors to head home and go on with life with the security of knowing they helped rid the universe of evil that may have set its sights on their home in the future.
Piccolo grunted as he opened his eyes, finally acknowledging the news. He wouldn't say it or show it, but he was as relieved as the others to be returning to Earth. The truth of the matter was, he didn't care for space travel, and nine years of it was more than enough for one lifetime in his opinion.
"How long 'til we get to Earth?" Chiaotzu asked once he was done celebrating.
Tien frowned a little. "Eighteen months."
Chiaotzu's enthusiasm deflated. "Oh. What about the others?"
"Vegeta's ship will take a couple weeks longer to get back to Earth. Goku's will only take nine months."
Without any stops to make – they had no need of more fuel, food, or other supplies – the journey back to Earth was excruciatingly long. Making it worse was the eager anticipation of finally setting foot on their home planet again. The days and weeks crawled by, slowing turning into months until finally they were only a week away from landing.
Piccolo opened his eyes as he finished meditating and smoothly got to his feet, a deep frown forming. "Do you feel that?" he asked Chiaotzu.
The small man looked over at the Namekian and shook his head. "Feel what?"
"That power. It's huge – and evil." Without further explanation he flew up to the upper deck where Tien was training under high gravity. Hardly aware of the added strain on his muscles, Piccolo strode over and stood in front of the captain's seat looking out the window. He couldn't see anything, but he could feel it. Something – someone – was out there moving in the same direction, but their ship was bypassing it.
"What's wrong, Piccolo?" Tien asked when he saw his agitation.
Piccolo looked down at the controls and growled, "Doesn't this thing have some sort of radar or something?"
Tien walked over to the control panel and pushed a few buttons, bringing up the radar screen. They looked up at it and saw that there was, indeed, something moving parallel to their ship at a slower speed. It had to be another ship, but it couldn't be either of the other Capsule Corporation ships; Goku's had already landed on Earth and Vegeta's was still far from their solar system.
"What is that?"
"I don't know," Piccolo answered, "but someone with enormous power is on it. We'd better keep an eye on it in case it's heading for Earth."
"Do you think it is?"
"Do we want to take the chance that it's not?"
Over the next few days the three passengers of the Capsule Corporation ship kept tabs on the unidentified ship. They kept waiting for it to change direction, but it kept moving in the same trajectory, aiming straight for the same destination as them. They had passed by it after only two days, but they didn't have much of a head start in case there was trouble afoot. When they were one day away from Earth they sent a transmission to Capsule Corporation to warn them about the possibility of a hostile visitor.
The next day they landed at Capsule Corporation where they were greeted by Goku and his family, the Briefs, Nappa, and the rest of their friends – Roshi, Oolong, Yamcha, and Puar. Mrs. Brief led them inside for refreshments while Dr. Brief stayed outside to perform maintenance on the ship and capsulate it for storage.
Once they were all seated in the living room of the compound, their mood turned serious as Goku brought up the subject of the mysterious ship nearing Earth. "So what do you know about it?" he asked.
Piccolo's brows furrowed. "Not much, only that I could sense someone aboard is extremely evil and powerful."
"You don't think it's someone from the Cold Empire, do you?" Yamcha asked. He released a deep breath when he saw Piccolo shake his head. As much as he tried to keep up with his training over the past decade, he lacked the motivation and he was much weaker and he doubted he would be much use in a serious battle. Counting on Nappa in case any real threat came to Earth, he unofficially retired from fighting.
Gohan frowned and crossed his arms over his chest as he thought about what their next move should be. "We can use Capsule Corporation's resources to watch for it. If it lands on Earth, we'll know where and we can go and investigate."
"You will do no such thing!" Chi-Chi shrieked. "Gohan, you haven't even been back on Earth for a year yet and you're already trying to play hero! You're in school now, young man, so you can't go gallivanting all over the world anymore!"
The teenager sighed as he nodded. "Fine, Mom, I won't go, but that doesn't mean I can't help them plan what to do."
"What about me? Can I go? I'm not in school yet!"
Chi-Chi looked down at her youngest sternly and shook her head. "Absolutely not, Goten. It's too dangerous."
Piccolo rolled his eyes. "Anyway, the ship will probably be landing within three days."
Goku shrugged. "It's no problem, guys. I'm sure we can handle whatever it is. I don't think we should worry about it. So how about Nappa lets us know when and where it lands and we can go and see who it is? Until then, let's just relax."
After they all agreed with their de facto leader, they turned the topic of conversation to more enjoyable matters, such as training, family life, and getting back into the swing of living on Earth. Mrs. Brief occasionally came in to reimburse their refreshments, encouraging them to have fun in all the compound facilities including the recreation room, swimming pool, and library. It was a great party except for one thing: they were missing the life of the party, their blue-haired friend. No celebration was the same without Bulma Brief in attendance.
Three days later they received word that the ship had landed in a desert wilderness. Leaving his sons behind, Goku left home and was soon joined by Piccolo and Krillin, who were flying in the same direction. It took them nearly three hours to reach the desert, but when they got there, they didn't see anything worth noting. Lots of sand and rocks, but no spaceship. There was a small village nearby bustling with life, nothing out of the ordinary.
"Are you sure this is where Nappa said it landed?" Krillin asked.
"Pretty sure," Goku said.
"Well, that's weird."
"Do you sense any energy?" Piccolo asked.
The others focused on feeling out any nearby energy for a minute, but they both shook their heads. There was nothing.
"I don't like this," the Namekian said.
Goku shrugged and levitated off the ground, ready to leave. "Well, there's nothing here, so I doubt there's anything to worry about. Hey, the World Martial Arts Tournament is in three days. You guys want to come? I wonder if there'll be anyone really strong there."
Krillin grinned. "Yeah, sure."
Piccolo rolled his eyes, shaking his head as he turned his focus back to the desert plain. There was definitely something worth worrying about if what he felt on the way back to Earth was any indication. He could feel it in his bones that something big was amiss, something they would regret ignoring.
"Something is here," he insisted, drawing the other two out of their friendly banter about fighting and winning. "I don't know what it is, but something is here. I think one of us should stay here to keep watch in case anything shows itself."
Goku's expression screwed up with indecision as his gaze moved over the barren land. Really he just wanted to get back to his home at Mount Paozu, train Goten, eat Chi-Chi's cooking, enjoy himself after years of constant work. But then he looked at Piccolo and sighed when he saw his anxious frown. "Okay, Piccolo."
Krillin's head bowed when he realized they would never get a break from fighting evil. "Right. We'll stake out the area."
"Good," Piccolo said, turning into the wind so his cape whipped behind him. "I'm going to take care of something. I'll be back as soon as I can. And don't you dare follow me!"
Goku held up his hands in surrender. "Okay, not following, got it. Yeesh."
Piccolo flew off then, ascending high into the air before heading northeast. The other two watched him until he disappeared, then turned to each other and shrugged. Mutually deciding it was better not to ask, they again started joking about their previous experiences at the World Martial Arts Tournament, oblivious to the evil brewing underground.
As the Namekian headed toward Kami's Lookout, there was only one thing on his mind. Piccolo thought it was time for some rest. After training for two years straight, spending a decade taking down an intergalactic empire headed by three monstrously powerful tyrants, and destroying an army with hundreds of millions of soldiers spanning forty-six galaxies, all he wanted was peace. But he had come to realize that though two indescribably huge threats had been knocked out, there were countless others lurking the universe, seeking a vulnerable planet to enslave or destroy. Earth fit the bill of an inhabitable, weak planet with few defenses, so he knew that he and the other warriors could never lose their vigilance. Perhaps for the first time he fully understood Vegeta's tireless obsession with training and eliminating potential threats. When there were so many unknowns in the universe, why chance it? They couldn't count on fate to always work in their favor, and right now it seemed fate dealt Earth another hard blow that was going to be difficult to overcome.
A/N: Let me reiterate this: No Sequel. Once this story is finished, it's finished. However, I am considering writing a companion story or two to go with this chapter since it did cover a huge time gap. Honestly, I'm still not completely satisfied with how it's going, but I can probably work it out in the end. Hence the kind of late update... I've been revising the end of this chapter over and over. It's driving me crazy. Heck, I might rewrite it again, I'm not sure. And no, there's not going to be any detailed, hot, or whatever else you describe them as lemons in my story. Even if I wanted to write one, I'm not changing the rating on the whole story because of one scene at the tail end of the whole thing.
[Mostly] Beta'd by lilpumpkingirl
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