Another chapter, another batch of changes, more filler content. Of course this covers the beginning of a love story so I'm happy. I try to pace this out a bit, not have everything too rushed, I'm not sure if that's better or worse. Anyway, you tell me. Enjoy!

Gine spent a long time waiting for her mother to return to her. She waited until all of her food ran out, then she went and got more. She then waited again for all her food to run out, and then she got more again. Did she die, wondered Gine. No, her mama was strong, she wouldn't die that easy. Is she mad at me? Is that why she hasn't returned? Did I do something wrong? When her food ran out for the third time, Gine wondered if maybe she could convince her mother to return by becoming stronger. She tried to hunt much bigger game, and those beasts fought fiercely; she went home hungry, and resorted to begging for food from the cooks. All they could afford to give her was scraps; the food was priority for the returning warriors. Gine tried waiting for her mother at the food distribution stations, hoping she would arrive to eat there. She waited so long, that the cooks told her that mother was probably dead and she had to leave. Gine refused to believe it. Gine then had the idea that if she never returned home, her mother would return; she figured her presence kept her mother away. Gine wandered the streets of Vegeta as well as the wastes of the wilds, not even sure what she was doing out there.

She wandered for some time, not even aware of the passage of time. She began to angry with herself, for being weak. She got angry with her mother, for not returning to her. She got angry with the adult Saiyans, for not helping her more, with food and finding her mother. She was starving, and angry with being abandoned; she came across a large beast, one she had trouble killing before. She released all of her anger at once and dealt a killing blow to the creature. This brought her out of her stupor, as she now realized she had food. She got a fire going, and started to roast her kill. She sat by watching it, mulling over her situation in life. She shed some tears, hoping her mother would know she had gotten a bit tougher.

As her food was nearly done cooking, she realized she wasn't alone. She smelt other Saiyans around. Were they adults who would chase her off or something else…? She got up and looked around. She put up her dukes, shakenly; Gine had trouble believing in her own strength, not sure if she could fight off other Saiyans.

Suddenly, she was attacked. A kid with spikey hair came at her. He tried throwing punch after punch, but she was really good at defending herself. He tried to sweep her legs to make her trip, but she jumped to avoid his reach. That is when she realized that he wasn't the only one there, he was just the distraction. She quickly turned her head and saw other Saiyan kids trying to put out her fire and steal her meat. She went to deal with them, but the spikey haired kid grabbed her tail, causing her intense pain. He shouted at his cohorts to hurry up, so they decided to work through the burn of the spit and just take the whole thing. Gine had to watch as her dinner was being stolen, she didn't want that. She kicked at the kid so he would let her go, and then pounced on her meal. She started to devour it, yelling out that it was her kill, she was starving and she was going to eat it, they couldn't stop her. They shouted out they were starving too, and started to devour it as well. Gine realized that these kids were in a similar situation to herself.

"Why didn't you say so?" said Gine. She climbed off of it, which puzzled the children. "I'll split it up so we all have an even share." She then went around and pulled apart the beast, separating the meat and bones into piles. "There, we each get one." The children ate what was put in front of them. The spikey haired kid approached her with curiosity.

"You gave us your food," he said. "Why?"

"I want people to give me food when I'm hungry all the time, if I don't do the same I'm a…jerk I guess."

"You hunted this all by yourself?" said another of the kids, chowing down on a leg.

"I was angry, and I got lucky I guess."

"It tastes good too," said another. "The stuff we eat is raw or old."

"Do you not know how to cook your food?"

"Not well," admitted a girl.

"Who are you guys?"

"We are a group of meat scavengers," said the spikey haired one. "My name is Turles."

"Fasha," said the girl.

"Bootarega," said one.

"Nipurto," said the last one.

"There are actually a few more of us," said Fasha. "We're just a hunting party. We need to hunt huge game to feed all of us."

"Or steal it," said Gine. "If I had known, I would have divided it up more."

"It's okay," said Nipurto. "It's group policy that we try to get enough food for everyone, but if we don't they go out and get food the next day."

"It's easier to get food when we're in groups," said Bootarega.

"Why'd you form the group?" asked Gine.

"We have no one looking out for us, so we look out for each other," said Turles.

"You have no parents?"

"They've either died or left us," said Turles with a shrug.

"Either they're trying to toughen us up or they don't want to care for us," said Fasha. "Either way, we're all we've got."

"What about you?" said Nipurto. "Why are you out here alone?"

"I'm Gine," she said. "My Mama still hasn't returned yet."

"So she abandoned you," said Bootarega.

"I don't know," said Gine.

"How long ago was this?" asked Turles. Gine waved her hand over the horizon.

"A bit ago," she murmured.

"You're still alive," said Turles.

"I can get my own food," said Gine.

"Would you like to join our group?" Gine was confused, not thinking she was wanted anywhere.

"Turles, we already have a lot of mouths to feed," said Fasha.

"Gine's proved she can feed herself just fine, also she's a bit of a fighter."

"I am?" questioned Gine.

"You were able to get free of me when you were intense pain. You don't go down easy, you do anything to get food, and those are good traits to have as a scavenger. Come on, Gine; if you join us you won't have to be alone anymore."

"Well," said Gine.

"Admittedly it would be nice to have another girl, there's three of us so far, so you'd make four," said Fasha.

"Yeah, and she's a great cook," said Nipurto. "I'd love having her around!"

Gine had to admit, she had been rather lonely without her mother. Also, these kids were like her, so they knew how she felt. They were also praising her, which didn't really come from her mother.

"Okay, I'll join you!"

"Welcome to the meat scavengers, Gine!" cried Turles, picking her up.

Living with the scavengers, they quickly learned she wasn't as strong as they thought she was. The reason she had survived for so long was due to her smarts. Yes, she was smart for a five year old, at least where it counted. She knew how to defend herself very well, and she knew how to get out of sticky situations. She had impressive survival skills, which the others lacked. She helped steal enough meat from distributers for the entire group, about ten in total. She would venture into the wilds and find fruit and large enough game for them to eat. She always got help hunting the creatures that were too large. When the food was gathered, she would roast it up, sometimes turning what they gathered into a hearty stew. Everyone was impressed with her skills, and how fast she could adapt to her situation. Everyone in the group treated her with respect, despite her being one of the youngest. She quickly rose to being their leader, next to Turles. He was the brawns and she was the brains. Together they made sure their group was well fed, and Gine broke up unnecessary squabbles.

Now that the group was well fed and more cohesive, they grew more curious. Their minds were allowed to wander now that they didn't have to focus on surviving so much. They grew curious of the space pods and ships that would travel to and from the planet. They apparently had newer versions then the ships a few years ago. These ships could travel farther and faster, and could hold more people. Low and mid-class warriors were using them at their leisure.

"I heard that they sent kids like us to conquer planets," said Turles.

Gine remembered what her mother had said with those doctor folks. Low class warrior children with low potential for change were sent off to prove themselves to Saiyan society, by conquering worlds. Of course, it was only for the newborns placed within nursing capsules.

"They won't send us," said Gine. "We've been here too long; we're already apart of society."

"Are we though?" asked Fasha.

"I think there's still a chance we could go," said Turles, "That we could be sent off to prove ourselves."

"Our parents would regret abandoning us," said Nipurto.

"We could special treatment when we return," said Bootarega, "specialized training, our own fighting team, even nice places to live and good food."

"That sounds like a dream come true," said another girl named Tata.

"All we have to do is conquer a planet all on our own," said a boy named Root.

Gine shook her head. She liked her home Vegeta, and spending time with the people she knew. She didn't like the idea of being sent off alone to strange and dangerous planet. Not only that, but she had a gentle heart. If she saw a happy little family, she'd leave it be. She'd be more fascinated with understanding the culture and getting to know the people there; she was not a fan of the idea of conquering planets. It wasn't as if she could stop it, but she didn't want to be a part of it. Unfortunately, as she had learned, adult life was mainly about fighting and being strong. If those principles didn't apply to you, Saiyans didn't think much of you. Gine knew she was odd, and her pack mates knew this as well, and it was a fact her mother also recognized; she was an anomaly, she was a kind Saiyan. Her pack mates did appreciate her kindness where her mother didn't, because being in the pack meant being fed took priority, and Gine provided that as their leader. She was someone who looked out for her friends regardless of battle power or usefulness. They saw her as a beacon of hope in their somber existence. Of course, they thought she was rather odd for not wishing to join a fighting team or to go conquer a planet all on her own.

Still, this respect garnered from her pack gave Gine confidence, confidence she did not have with her mother. Her mother didn't appreciate her kindness, even though it was just her nature through and through, much like Saiyan nature was one aligned with conquest. Her pack appreciated her enough to respect her say on certain matters.

"Come on, Gine," said Turles. "Don't you want to see the pods? The Ships?"

"I'd like to go to other worlds, but only to visit, not conquer."

"You're weird, Gine," said another girl, named Hishimi.

"Who said anything about going?" said Turles. "We just want to see the ships and I bet you do to, so why can't we?"

"Alright, we can go check out the ships," said Gine. "On a couple conditions: 1. don't talk about conquering planets around me. The point of this group is to stay alive, we don't need to talk about others dying. 2. If we get caught, we're leaving; we're not skulking around to continue looking, we're not sneaking back later. If we get caught we're not going back for a while. I hear they're willing to use force on us kids, and we don't need to be more beat up then we have to be."

"Where's the fun in that?" asked a boy named Shoot.

"We can get beat up on food runs," said Gine. "There's thrill in it because we're trying to survive. This is just a field trip, an observational one. No need to pick a fight with an adult, especially if you don't know if you'll win."

"Gine's right," said Turles. "We don't have access to the healing pods, we're just kids. If we're going to pick a fight, we can't get too beat up because we might not recover." The kids grimaced with that. They all agreed to Gine's terms and they set off to check out the pods the next day.

Pinta was the mechanic tasked with looking after the pods. Pinta was a low class Saiyan with a menial job. Pinta didn't hate the job, it was what he was good at. During the Tuffle war, his main job was taking apart Tuffle machinery; understanding how the things worked and how to go against them. During this time of the war, he had found himself attracted to the Saiyan intercepting these machines and bringing them to him. She was a bit of a collector of the odd things, so whenever he took apart machines, he'd give her some bit or bob she found intesting, telling her what it did. She grew more curious about it, and ended up learning more of Pinta's trade. She eventually settled on the fact that they made great partners in the business, so she proposed marriage.

Together they had a son, whom they named Bardock. Unfortunately, Boomba had a bit of run in with a hidden explosive that she couldn't anticipate in time when Bardock was three years old. Pinta was raising him on his own ever since. The war ended when Bardock was five years old, and had his power read when he was six. Pinta had a power level of 225, thus was considered low class. Bardock had a power level higher than his father, at 250, of course at six years old that still meant you were low class as they were ranked out of 1000. This meant however that Bardock had amazing potential, and that if he was trained right he would become a warrior one day. Due to Bardock's amazing potential, his father was given an important job and status, (still low class, but important). Pinta was very proud of his son. Bardock was doing really well in his training, being a very proficient fighter. The higher ups were looking to place him on a fighting team soon.

At the moment, Bardock was taking a break from training. He was helping his father to guard the pods from unauthorized attempted users.

"I'm telling you, Bardock," said Pinta to him in the middle of his work. "This technology…is amazing. It's the future of the Saiyan race, you mark my words. You don't realize how lucky your generation has it. Battling has never been easier."

Bardock nodded, being a child of few words. He enjoyed his father's company. While his father was busy, Bardock noticed some small shapes sneaking into one of the hangers. He decided to go check it out, to give himself something to do. He found they were not criminals looking to steal a pod. No, they were in fact a bunch of scrappy looking kids, street urchins by the look of it. He deduced that these must have been the band of misfits that have been gaining a reputation lately.

"Hey! Get lost! This doesn't belong to you!" shouted Bardock to the miscreants. The children upon hearing him took alarm. Some put up their dukes, but then the spikey haired one stopped them, whispered something to them, and then they scattered. Bardock was about to go back outside to his father, but then he spotted a small girl, hiding behind a pile of crates.

"That goes for you too, short stack, beat it!"

"Sorry," murmured Gine. "I just wanted to see a pod up close."

"Yeah well, now you have, now get!" He narrowed his eyes at her. Gine walked out from behind her cover of crates and gazed up with wide eyes; filled with a mixture of fear and timidity.

"Your armor looks nice," she admitted. Bardock blushed, quite proud of his armor as well; he got the most recent stock due to his good training. He quickly hid it.

"Don't change the subject! I told you to get lost!" Gine didn't move though. Her fear was replaced with curiosity.

"Are you a warrior? Have you piloted one of these before?"

"I'm not one yet," he huffed. "But soon, and you don't pilot these things. You just input a destination, it takes you there, you do your job, and then it takes you home; that is, if you survived." Gine's eyes sparkled.

"Whoa, that sounds awesome!" Bardock regained his composure.

"Listen, you need to get out of here, now! Or else we'll both get it in the neck."

"Can…can I come see it again? Maybe, some other time?" Bardock looked at her. She was standing up to him, despite her tiny frame. He was like a head taller than her.

"Sure," he conceded. "Just come alone next time; and knock, I don't like it when you kids sneak up on us."

"Oh, alright," said Gine with a smile. Then she left without question.

Pinta was confused when Bardock left the hanger.

"What was that all about, son?"

"Aw nothing, just that pack of mongrel kids roaming about; nothing to write home about father."

Pinta laughed. "Oh, they're not that bad. I don't blame them for wanting to take a gander. All of us non-warriors are pretty envious you know? We would all love to fly one of those someday."

Bardock looked at his father. "Come now, they wouldn't be able to get off the ground if not for you and your trusty tools."

"That's kind of you to say, son. Now we should probably get some rest. The prince and his squadron are expecting you to be at your peak physical condition. I mean, it's not every day that a low class warrior gets drafted into the royal escort."

"Heh, I got time," said Bardock.

This was true, as the higher ups were just talking about placing him in the prince's squadron as an escort. If he kept up his training it would happen sooner, but he had at least a few weeks. He would be joined by General Paragus, an advisor to the prince. The mission would take place in the far reaches of the galaxy. Not sure what to expect, they wanted all potential warriors in top condition. He wanted to help his father wherever and whenever he could.

The next day, Bardock was tinkering with a pod's thrusters. Who should show up but Gine? She walked up to him and bade him 'Hello.'

"Hey, I came alone this time." Bardock eyed her up.

"Good, you follow directions. Father's not here so, come on in." He motioned for Gine to go inside, and then she skipped off to go look at the pod. She didn't have to worry about any punishment befalling her.

It wasn't easy getting away from her pack, especially since she told them that if they were caught they would not be going back for a long while. She seemed like a bit of a hypocrite in this case, but she only told them that because she was afraid of them getting unnecessarily hurt. She wasn't going to get hurt, so she was an exception. Also, there were times she wanted to be away from them. Over the past year, she would find time by sneaking back to her old place of residence and pretending her mother had come back, telling her how far she had come. Now, she wanted to learn everything she could about space travel.

She walked around the pod, touched every part of it, and even got inside one to see how comfortable the seat was. The seat was very comfortable; in fact it was the most comfortable thing she sat on in her life. No bed she ever slept on was ever that comfortable. Bardock smiled at seeing Gine take pleasure at the small things. He had grown bored of facts such of these. He had to do test flights to prepare himself for missions, as well as to test them for his father's practice. He couldn't take pleasure every time he sat in one if he were to become a warrior, so he quickly grew out of it. Yet, seeing Gine take pleasure in these things reminded him when he was younger and his father had first introduced him to space pods and space ships, how he imagined piloting a ship or flying a pod. To Gine, this was all amazing and otherworldly. Bardock recalled how blown away he used to be of this technology. Gine certainly was different, she was very lively, and fresh faced and innocent. She had a sense of wonder about her; other Saiyans Bardock had met didn't have that. Gine respect Bardock for his power like most people, even his own father, she just truly enjoyed his company and liked him as a person. She liked to learn, she wanted to know what he knew. She respected him for his smarts. That was very interesting to Bardock.

Several more of these visits passed, spanning from a couple days between to a couple weeks between. Gine's pack demanded to know where she kept running off to. The girls thought she was going back to her house like she always did, but one time they went to find her and she wasn't there. They reminded her on how they rely on her and they didn't want to think they were a burden to her. She told them she cared about all of them, but she needs some time on her own. They wondered what she could possibly need alone time for. She told them she liked exploring Vegeta and taking in the sights and the Saiyans bustling about. She figures that will be her future one day, so she wants to see what it's all about. They just commented that she was weird and they dropped it.

After all of Gine's visits, Bardock deduced that Gine was not planning anything nefarious with the pods. She was just curious, and she really found the pods to be cool. She even asked about ships, but Bardock didn't know much about them as of yet, only of what he helped his father with. After careful consideration, Bardock gave Gine the access code to the pod hangar.

"Here," he told her one day. "With this access code, you can go inside whenever you want and look at the pods; even when I'm not there." Bardock was sure his mission with the prince was just around the corner. "Just promise me you will still come alone. This code is for your eyes only."

"I promise," said Gine. She treated the piece of paper she was given like the highest badge of honor. "I haven't come with pack all this time; you can count on me to keep it up."

She kept her word; no matter how much her pack tailed her whenever she decided to visit, she always found a way to lose them. She would go and sit in the pod for hours on end, alone; she even took an occasional nap in them. She came to say goodbye to Bardock when his big mission came up. If he did well on this mission, he would keep working with the prince in the foreseeable future. His father wished him luck, and hoped he would bring honor to their name. Gine showed up after his father had left.

"Are you sure your father won't be okay with me coming here?" asked Gine.

"Who knows," said Bardock. "He's okay with your pack, but I wouldn't go blatantly announcing your coming here. He does have a job to do."

"You know I'm harmless," said Gine.

"Yeah, you're harmless alright." Gine pouted playfully. She then looked solemn.

"I'll miss you," said Gine.

"I believe that."

"It won't be the same not having you here to show me the ropes."

"You already know enough about them, I question why you keep coming here."

"I'll never fly one. This is the closest I'll get. Also you're here; and you're my friend."

"Must be a low bar for you," he said whilst hiding his blush.

"You better not die," said Gine. "I'm hoping to see you again one day."

"I'll keep that in mind," he said with a smile. Then the two parted ways.

What the Saiyans didn't know is that danger loomed above them. One day, the capitol ship of the Glacier force headed for planet Vegeta. Saiyans on masse got a message ordering them to return to Vegeta lest they be on missions of utmost importance. The Saiyans were not sure what this was about: Maybe they were getting new gear, like having energy cannons attached to their ships; maybe there was a big planet to conquer that needed all of their fighting force, or at least most of it. The main rumor was that there was an announcement to be made that would impact all of their foreseeable futures. Bardock while on his mission, thought that was strange, for the fact it could've been given over the radio. He figured he'd ask his father or Gine about it when he went back to Vegeta.

As the main vessel of the Glacier Force floated stationary above Planet Vegeta, Prince Cold was called into the bridge by his father.

"Read this," said Glacier to his son, not even greeting him, just tossing an old book towards him; an anachronistic medium, how crude. It was called: The Book of Namek. Cold wasn't aware the slugs knew how to write, let alone document such a massive tome. Cold read through the marked chapter, and then looked at his father.

"You're on about this prophecy again? Father, this is preposterous! It's just a silly fairytale!"

"Ah! As long as they believe it, it is and shall continue to be a problem. They started to breed faster than you anticipated, Cold! They're adapting faster than you anticipated, Cold; and they are far too successful for their own good. I have no alternative."

"But to eradicate them?! This is not good for business, father!"

"Not total eradication, boy; merely break their spirits and…purge their numbers. This is but a correction: you failed to deal with them how I wanted you to deal with them, so let me fix your mistakes…again."

Cold was disgusted. He didn't care about the Saiyans, no, but he didn't want them expunged like this. They were quite useful, they each paid their dues; they were efficient, each paying their efforts to the coffers of the empire. This act from Glacier wasn't an act of ruler-ship; it was of paranoia getting the better of him. The old man had gone mad, clearly.

Glacier hovered over the planet, and had his ships rain fire of energy blasts upon the planet's surface. It eradicated everyone on it, starting with the royal palace. Every one of the Saiyans yelled and screamed with fear with what was coming down upon them, unsure of what was happening, unable to defend themselves or prepare for the blasts. The game on the planet had been severely dwindled, and the vegetation was pretty much destroyed utterly. It wasn't much of a home for the Saiyans anymore; in fact there were hardly any Saiyans left; around a hundred or few at most from the ones not present, not enough to keep the species going. Vegeta was a husk of a planet.

"No signs of life detected my lord," said an attendant. Glacier grinned madly.

"Excellent; if anyone asks, tell them we were coming to warn them of an incoming meteor, but alas, we arrived too late to destroy it. Its remains carpet-bombed the surface. Now call the survivors, I believe we are in possession of a much more controllable race.

Far away from this, Prince Vegeta, Vegeta the third, was shocked to receive the message.

"Our people…decimated." Paragus looked on in horror; the same was true for the rest of his men and younger warriors; Nappa and Bardock were amongst them.

"My liege," said Nappa. "We have to go back and salvage what's left."

When the survivors returned, Prince Cold was there to offer his personal condolences. Prince Vegeta knew this was no genuine act of sorrow. At this point, he wasn't sure how many Saiyans remained? Was it a hundred Saiyans? A few hundred? It was looking pretty grim to the prince, who knew he was the one in charge now after the death of his father. He ordered his subordinates to gather any functional equipment and technology they could find and then consolidate. Now their future was completely tied to the Glacier force. This purge had sent them back to before the Tuffle war, no further, it had sent them back decades, to before they even had a home anywhere.

Bardock used the opportunity to check on his father's hangar. He didn't find a body there to bury; it seems his father was vaporized in the onslaught. Miraculously some of the pods had survived. It seemed Pinta did everything he could to make the pods as durable as possible. Bardock did find one of his father's red jumpsuits. In order to have some memento of his father, he tore a piece of it off, and turned it into a bandana for him to wear. A permanent tribute to his father, who never got to travel the stars, and with this gesture a part of him would.

Before Bardock left, he noticed that one of the pods was missing from the still standing hangar.

When the announcement came, Gine's pack had wanted to listen to it with all the adult Saiyans in the town center, thinking it would announce some big war like battle where everyone could prove themselves. Gine didn't want any part of that, so she went to visit the pods again, to hear the announcement from a cushy seat.

She was on the way to the hangar when the energy started to rain down from the sky. Gine knew it was bad news, so she rushed to the hangar as the energy came crashing down, quickly inputting the code. She hoped Pinta was nearby, so he could find shelter as well. The rumbling and shaking boomed around her, and parts of the ceiling were crumbling. Gine was scared, so she rushed into a ball and curled into herself, hoping the chaos would end and she could make it out unscathed. As the ground shook, so did the pod, causing her to bump into the keypad. It shut the door to the pod. Gine did not know if she was entirely safe, but figured if she needed a new hiding spot, the door needed to be open. She pounded on the door, accidently pounding on the keypad as well, setting some random coordinates and launching herself into space.

Gine was too scared to look around much; all she saw was a bunch of energy coating the planet's surface. Soon enough, hyper sleep kicked in, causing Gine to lose consciousness.

Okay, some notes: Fasha is not the same person as Celefa, I just needed a name. Nipurto is turnip swapped around. Bootarega speaks for itself, and so does Root. Shoot and Boomba are plays off of Bamboo shoot, Hishimi is a play off the Japanese words for water chestnut, and Tata is a play off Potato.

I made Bardock and his father low class Saiyans because I do not agree with how high powered Masakox keeps making Bardock. Also according to Toriyama, there is mainly high and low class saiyans and not a lot of middle class. Also, I made it so he wasn't on missions yet. I said Bardock was measured when he was six, so I gave him three years of training before he went on missions.

Bardock is three years older than Gine, he met her when she was six, he was nine. Also, Saiyan children are rather short. They don't spring up until they're eighteen, so Bardock and Gine are actually around the same size. She's still shorter though, because she's shorter than him as an adult.

Gine was seven and Bardock was ten when the planet was decimated.

Anyways, tell me what you think in reviews. Stay tuned for the next chapter!