A/N:Thanks for the reviews, guys!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Only my imagination that becomes dirty when Vegeta is around. Bad, WildVegeta!
Nappa and Radditz observed Vegeta warily as the prince came to a halt in the middle of nowhere. Was he going to show them a new technique? They waited patiently until the prince suddenly snapped.
"Shut up! That is none of your business! Now touch them."
"Uhm… Vegeta?" Radditz asked, concerned.
The gang from the future turned around as they heard a set of footsteps nearing them. Bulla turned around, but her cheery smile vanished completely. The Prince looked in a worse state than before. His nose was bleeding, as well as his split lip. His tail was not wrapped around his waist anymore. It hung limply behind him, twisted in an odd angle. He hadn't been gone that long. Had Frieza hurt him again? So soon after his last punishment? She walked up to him with worry straining her young features.
"Vegeta, what happened to you? Did he beat you again?" she asked softly.
"Shut up! That is none of your business! Now touch them."
"Uhm… Vegeta?"
Goku looked at Trunks and the younger man nodded. It would be safer if it was them who touched the saiyans, lest they got scared and tried to attack them. They quickly advanced on them. Goku gripped Radditz's wrist, whilst Trunks touched Nappa's chest. Both saiyans jumped as two men suddenly materialized before them. Radditz cursed and wrenched his arm away from Goku's hand. Nappa growled as he slapped Trunks's hand away from his chest and gave a step back. But, suddenly, both of them noticed something was extremely wrong.
"F-father?" Radditz whispered. It made sense. Goku currently looked much older than teenage Radditz.
"No." Nappa said. "That isn't Bardock. There's no scar on his cheek."
"No… I'm not Bardock." Goku said with seriousness on his face.
Radditz frowned. That couldn't be his brother either. Kakkarot would be around two years old. But then why did he look so much like Bardock? Did he have an uncle he didn't know about?
"Hey, Radditz." Nappa said. "Doesn't this kid look an awful lot like the prince?"
Radditz took his eyes off of the man before him for a moment and looked at the 'boy', who also looked older than him. He looked at his face and his eyes widened. Sure, he had purple hair and eyebrows, but he had the prince's expression. The same eyes, the same nose, the same frown… He looked back at Vegeta, who was frowning confusedly at his comrades.
"What the hell are you saying, Nappa?" Vegeta demanded.
"He does look a lot like you, Prince Vegeta." Radditz said.
"He does not! He has purple hair."
"Yeah. He obviously isn't a Saiyan." Nappa said. "Who the fuck are you two?"
Suddenly, out of nowhere, two girls materialized at their sides. They were extremely beautiful, and Radditz found himself smirking at the little girl that was around his age, a bit younger maybe, and she looked up at him, ignoring the big, damaged machine that appeared out of nowhere.
"Well, hello there, beautiful." He said. Bulla blushed.
This Radditz guy was hot.
"Shut up, kid." Nappa said. "We haven't got time for this." He shoved Bulma away from him and crossed his arms. "Now tell me, who are you?"
"I'm Bulma, this is Trunks, that's Bulla and that's Goku. We come from another dimension and accidentally landed here."
"Why do you look so much like my father?" Radditz growled in Goku's face.
"Oh… heh… Do I really? He must've been handsome!" Goku joked nervously.
"Shut up!" Nappa said. "There's no time for this. Do you have anything to do with Soldier Bardock?"
"I… don't think so." He lied. Vegeta knew he was lying, but decided not to comment on it.
"And you? Do you have anything to do with Prince, or King Vegeta?" the big man asked again, this time looking at Trunks.
"No, not at all." He said.
"What race are you?" Radditz barked.
"We're… not from around here." Bulma said. "We come from a planet located in another dimension and well… you won't recognize it."
"Why did you travel here?" Nappa asked.
"We already told you it was an accident." Trunks answered. "We were trying to reach another dimension to investigate some type of technology but found ourselves stranded here."
"You will have to explain yourselves better." Nappa growled.
"We haven't got time for this." Vegeta said, glaring at his comrades. He was feeling extremely light headed and his injuries were still bleeding. "They need us to steal some things so that they can repair their beloved machine."
"Why do you want to help these freaks?" Radditz asked.
Vegeta shrugged. He didn't want Radditz and Nappa to know. They would obviously want to leave as well and Vegeta knew that the strange group was reluctant to let him in, let alone him and his companions. He didn't want to betray his comrades, but he wouldn't blow his chance. Perhaps later, when things were a little calm and he gained the group's trust, they'd decide to take Nappa and Radditz along. As of now, the prince would use them to fetch things and help him hide everything from Frieza.
"Are you questioning me, thirdclass?" he growled. Goku smiled slightly as he was reminded of Vegeta back home.
"No, prince."
"Good. Then tell us what you need."
"Okay." Bulma said. "I still haven't got the full list yet, but I think we'll start with a few screwdrivers to open the control panel. Bring all the screwdrivers you can find. We have a lot of screws here."
PRESENT
"WHAT?" he screamed. "Why would they do that? Why would they deliberately go into Frieza's ship and – "
"Vegeta." Piccolo growled. "Calm down."
"Calm down? CALM DOWN!" he snapped.
"I believe they just went as spectators." Dende said, trying to soothe Vegeta's ruffled feathers. "They won't get any harm."
"Even if that was true, it was still a complete idiocy. Why would they want to go as spectators to Frieza's ship? Haven't they seen enough blood already?" Vegeta screamed.
"Maybe they just wanted to know about your childhood…" Goten said quietly.
"My childhood? It's my past to tell or not! How dare they try to – to…" he growled in frustration and punched one of the lookout's indestructible pillars. It cracked slightly and the whole infrastructure shuddered, but nothing major happened.
"Vegeta, calm down. I'm sure they're okay." Dende said. "They're with Goku."
"That's exactly what pisses me the fuck off." He growled. "We have to get them back."
"It might be a mistake to take you back to your own past." Dende said.
"That's preposterous. They are practically back in their own past. Past Kakkarot and Past Bulma are living there as well, just not in the same place."
"Exactly." Dende said. "Not in the same place."
"But Future Trunks was in the same place with baby Trunks when he came here." Gohan pointed out.
"I don't mean it in an ethereal sense." Dende said. "If you affect that timeline it'll split and become another one, but that's the least important issue. What if Frieza or his men see two Vegetas in the same timeline?"
"Please. Kakkarot and I could take on Frieza's army alone without breaking a sweat." Vegeta said. "Not to mention Trunks and the two emptyheads over there will be with us." He said, shoving his finger over his shoulder to point at Gohan and Goten.
"HEY!" both half-breeds yelled.
"I don't mean that." He sighed. "It's too complicated to explain, anyway. However, there's one thing that should worry you. Don't you think that the younger version of you would want to come with you? What if he reports to Frieza and Frieza decides to time travel as well? He could destroy entire timelines. THAT would be chaotic."
"But you said Bulma, Trunks, Bulla and Kakkarot went as spectators." Vegeta said. "How would the younger version of me know that such thing exists?"
"Unfortunately, the only way I see of sending you back will immediately make you visible for the people in that timeline." Dende mused. "And since we don't want that timeline to be ruined, you'd just take your family and Goku back, giving young Vegeta a chance of seeing you and going to Frieza."
"No. I know another way." Vegeta said. "I know the perfect way to go back."
PAST
"Radditz, the day has already started, so the technicians will probably be working there already. " Vegeta said as they walked back into the base. "I think the techlab #12 has only three technicians there. We can't kill them or render them unconscious, so Nappa, you will go and destroy the door of your room and call for them to come fix it. You have to demand that all of them come to ensure a faster service. Radditz and I will look in the lab and steal all the screwdrivers we can find. Got it?"
Both saiyans nodded and Nappa ran off to his room. The little prince and Radditz stood near the techlab, glaring at each soldier that passed next to them. They smirked as a faint crash told them that Nappa was successful. The oaf jogged up to them a few minutes later and entered the lab.
"You three!" he demanded. "My door stopped working. Come and fix it now."
"Uh… I'll go." One of them said.
"No. I demand the three of you. I need it repaired immediately."
"We're kind of busy" Another one said. "I'm sure only one of us – "
"I said I wanted the three of you. NOW. Or I'll rip your heads off and eat them tonight." He growled. The three technicians flinched and followed him outside. Radditz and Vegeta watched them leave before they barged into the room and began to look for the famous screwdrivers.
PRESENT
"I don't think Dr. Briefs will have a machine ready in less than a week." Gohan said after Vegeta told them their plan, which consisted in going to Capsule Corp and asking Bulma's father to build another time machine that could take everyone back. "Bulma's been working on this one for over a month."
"You knew it all along!" Vegeta accused.
"NO! No, no, no! She told me she was building it because Toriyama Corporation was offering a lot of money for it, but it wasn't quite finished yet. I think the whole let's-go-to-Vegeta's-past thing was a last minute idea." The younger man explained.
"Right. But the blueprints must be in her lab and that saves a lot of work. If the old man works only in the machine we'll have it in less time."
"Still…"
Vegeta blasted off of the lookout before Gohan could continue arguing. He sighed and followed him. Goten rolled his eyes and blasted off after them.
PAST
"Here." Vegeta said, dropping the tools at their feet. Bulma smiled as she leaned over to look at them.
"Awesome." She said. "Trunks, look for the ones we'll need."
Trunks nodded and picked them up, handing her mother a couple of them.
"I'll go to sleep now." Vegeta growled, limping away. Nappa and Radditz watched as he left before turning towards the group, glaring murderously at them.
"Okay. Now you listen." Nappa growled. "Vegeta is the Prince of our Race and we won't let any harm come to him. You will tell us your intentions now or we'll rip your intestines out and choke you with them."
"So that's where he gets those gruesome ideas." Bulla said, glaring at Nappa. The bald man decided to ignore her… if only for the time being.
"Start speaking now." Nappa said.
"We already told you it was an accident." Trunks said. "We can't be seen by anyone unless we touch them. That's why you couldn't see us before. We touched Vegeta's blanket by accident and he could see us, so we asked for help to try and fix our machine."
"We know Prince Vegeta. He wouldn't accept helping anyone unless having something in return." Radditz said, crossing his arms. "What did you offer?"
"Why do you care?" Bulla answered, raising her eyebrow.
Radditz glared at her, but tried to remain quiet. He hated her sharp tongue, but they had surely offered something to Vegeta, and they didn't want them to regret their decision because of them.
"Prince Vegeta is just a kid." He growled. "He is six-years-old. We are his guardians and we don't want you to take advantage of him."
Bulla's eyes softened and she sighed. "I thought Frieza was his guardian?" she said bitterly, more to herself than anything, but their sensitive ears picked up on it.
"Frieza is no guardian." Nappa growled. "And that is not your business anyway."
Trunks sighed. "We offered him an escape." He said.
"You can't promise him a thing like that." Radditz said. "Why would you get his hopes up?"
"We're not…" Bulma sighed in frustration. "Listen, we really need to get out of here."
"Can you really take him away?" Nappa asked suddenly. "Can you really help him escape?"
"We can try." Goku said.
"We'll help you." Nappa answered. "But you will have to take Prince Vegeta with you."
"What about you?" Bulma asked. She was almost sure they'd tell them to take both of them as well.
"Don't worry about us. As long as Vegeta is safe, everything's okay." Radditz said. "But if you betray him, we'll hunt you down and kill you."
Vegeta had been asleep for a little over an hour, when somebody knocked on his door. He sat up and put his armor back on.
"What?"
"Prince Vegeta." Nappa said.
"Come on in."
The two saiyans walked inside and the door closed behind them. Vegeta's eyes widened as he realized that Radditz was carrying four big pieces of meat. His stomach growled. He hadn't eaten anything in days. Radditz sat at the edge of his bed while Nappa stood behind him, his arms crossed as he stared at the prince. Vegeta gladly took the food from Radditz's hands and sank his canines into the hard piece of meat.
"I know it's not much, but it was all we could sneak in." Radditz said. "Uhm, listen… about the group you showed us earlier…"
Vegeta swallowed the first piece and frowned up at him. "What about them?"
"Well… they told us what they promised you." Radditz said. Vegeta tensed. "Vegeta… you're our prince. We promised we'd take care of you."
"I don't need you to take care of me. I can take care of myself."
"Vegeta, you already tried to escape once." Nappa said quietly.
"Don't…" Vegeta said softly. He didn't want to remember it. He had never felt so much pain in his life. "I remember well."
"Vegeta, you know we're with you in everything, but we don't think this is such a good idea. You are risking your safety by stealing things for them and… attempting to leave. Maybe you should think this over." Radditz said.
"I want to leave now. They are our only chance. They said they could take me away. I don't want to be here any longer." Vegeta said. "You have to help me." The little prince looked at the verge of tears.
"Vegeta, we will help you." Nappa said. "You're our prince. We just want you to think this over. Don't rush into anything."
Vegeta frowned and looked down at his food. He shoved another piece into his mouth.
"We mean it. We just want you to be safe."
Vegeta was about to answer when his scouter beeped. He grabbed it and pressed the button on its side. Zarbon's voice came in.
"Monkey, don't tell me you forgot our training session." He said. Vegeta's eyes darkened. "Hurry up or I'll add time."
Vegeta devoured the rest of his meal and sighed, getting off of the bed. Nappa looked at him with worry. The little prince walked to the door.
"I'll… It'll be around two hours." He said. "Then we'll talk about this."
PRESENT
"A time machine?"
"I have the blueprints here." Vegeta said.
"It will take a lot of time!" Dr. Briefs said, scanning the papers in his hands. "Not impossible but certainly difficult."
"It took Bulma a month with all the work." Vegeta argued.
"I might need a few days, a week maybe."
"Vegeta, we should just wait for them to get back." Gohan said. "They'll surely be back soon."
"Who will be back?" Dr. Briefs asked.
"Your daughter and my children used the Time Machine to travel to my past." Vegeta spat out.
"Oh, no!" the man said. "That machine wasn't done yet! It couldn't handle two timelines at the same time!"
"You're gonna have to explain that, old man." Vegeta growled.
A/N: Okay, there we go. I have to mention, first of all, that I am totally ignoring Turle's movie, so I discarded the possibility of Goku resembling another Saiyan because of how they are born artificially or something I watched when I was still too young and have not watched again - not for lack of interest, mind you.
Review, please!