A/N: If you ever watched Dragonball Z Abridged on youtube, you'll get the references when you see it.
Vegeta dared not to open his eyes until the blasted headache that assaulted him would die down. No need to irritate his corneas further with possibly more light or Kakarot's sorry face. He could tell from the pressure on his back that he was lying on the ground, face-up. He also could feel dirt, which was a bit strange, as the last place he remembered being was inside of a spick-and-span, waxed floor lab.
With a grunt, Vegeta picked himself off of the ground with minimal effort. He would need to favor his right leg for about an hour. His left was sore from actually landing on the ground at what he presumed was high speed. Rotating his arms and working the kinks out of his neck, he looked down and shortly to his left to see Kakarot, snoring away. Removing his glance and looking around, he noticed the sky held a light red tint, giving the impression of an eternal sunset anywhere you looked.
"What the hell, what the hell..." Vegeta muttered. He recognized the setting alright. Looking in random directions, tall rectangular spires could be seen protruding from the ground, and not far from their location was an impressively large palace with banners plastered over the walls. On it, the insignia of a vertical arrow with two curved but flattened looking "U" shaped marks laid over them horizontally.
The Royal Saiyan Emblem.
"Preposterous," Vegeta said aloud. The statement was more to convince himself, but there it was, in all its former glory. All of this implied that he was standing on Planet Vegeta...
The prince looked down again to see Kakarot still snoring. With a scowl, he lightly kicked Goku with his right leg, his foot pressing on the side of the exposed half of his face.
"That's right, Chi-Chi. Pour that Syrup on those pancakes, you beautiful woman," Goku muttered in his sleep. Not wanting to think of what food fantasies Kakarot had, Vegeta kicked harder, snapping Goku awake.
"Hey, Vegeta! What was that for!?" Kakarot bellowed in hurt annoyance. Rubbing his face and sulking, Vegeta ignored him and simply stated, "Look," with a point.
Goku ceased massaging his own forearm to look at where he was pointing.
"I don't know. This place looks familiar," he admitted dismissively, "Don't know from where though." He looked every which way and studied the red-tinted sky, as though it would jog his memory.
"It's Planet Vegeta," the prince said, not angrily, but in distracted thought. The feeling of nostalgia cancelled out some of the anger that was in his voice earlier.
"The good thing is we're away from a lot of people, if this is what you say it is," Goku observed, standing to his full height and lifting his hand to scratch the back of his head. "Mhm," he said with a nod, agreeing with himself. "It's going to be simpler trying to get back to our own place..."
"Wait! Vegeta! I'll be right back! I'm going to Instant Transmit to Earth. Be right back," he suddenly amended before pointing his index and middle finger to his forehead and dissappearing.
Nearly as quickly as he left, he returned.
"I was hoping it wasn't true...My house is gone. Capsule Corp is there but...Bulma's dad looks like a teenager," he said, the slightest bit depressed. He was going to miss Chi-Chi's food until he could return home.
Figured as much, Vegeta thought. My woman is a prepubescent youngling, Vegeta thought to himself. The concept irritated him to no end. That explains it, he finally convinced himself. They were in the past. Decades back, if the clues they found were any indication. Before he could pursue a thought, Kakarot interrupted him.
"We need to find out how we can possibly get back to our own time," Goku stated, his expression suddenly serious. His eyebrows were angled downward, a mask of seriousness that was rare to see on Goku's face.
At least this was the Kakarot he could work with. He didn't need a clumsy oaf following him around while trying to find the necessary technology.
"So where do you think we could find the stuff to build a time machine? Couldn't we just go to Mr. Briefs?" The taller saiyan asked the obvious question. Vegeta had thought about that too but they didn't have the technology then.
"Point. However, remember that ship that was built to go to Namek when we first confronted Frieza? That was the first time that they acquired space technology. Their technology wouldn't be anywhere near advanced as even that time," Vegeta answered, referring to the ship's first travel to Namek.
"We'll need to go into the city. The scientists there might have some equipment available to get ack to our time," he concluded, beginning to fly towards the city before he stopped in mid-air.
"And don't try to fly too quickly, our power levels far surpass anyone on this planet, including my father's and your father's."
Goku's eyebrows shot up at the mention of his father.
"This might be my chance to meet him!" he yelled excitedly. Vegeta merely grunted, but it went unheard by Goku. He supposed that whatever they did here wouldn't matter in the long run, as it wouldn't affect their present, in theory at least. He resumed flight, with Goku a small distance to his left.