Chapter 125

Uncharacteristic for Vegeta he wakes up later than usual. Only by half an hour – which for his sleeping habits is extravagant – for he knows he will need to be as alert as possible given the 24 hour task ahead of him that he will not be able to deviate or falter in. He throws on some loose jogging bottoms and goes to get a quick breakfast on the go for his needed strength will not be there if he starts to starve. Time is of the essence, even though he has faith in his son Trunks does not pull all-nighters like this usually, and never for training unlike his father. No mistakes shall happen under his roof whilst Misaki is entrusted to his family.

In the kitchen he finds two early birds to have already woken up before him. The young Sasami is huddled in a blanket she used to cross from his house to Capsule Corp HQ. in the cool early morning with Ryo-Ohki astride her back. Sat down not fully awake is Lady Seto nursing herself a fresh brew of coffee to get herself going. Centuries of her demanding job leave her little ability to lie in even if granted the opportunity. She allows herself to be seen in this more vulnerable and less presentable state with her hair only brushed and not adorned, her face washed yet without make-up and a rather plain light pink robe being worn as a kind of dressing gown. Seto watches Vegeta go about this kitchen he is familiar with grabbing what would be sickeningly hearty affair for her to eat at this time and decline Sasami's want to cook as he shall be dining upstairs.

As Vegeta looks satisfied with his haul of food, Seto sets down her mug and comments that for a long time it was once a nightmare of hers that any Saiyan would be anywhere near her daughter, and yet here she is allowing the one with the largest body count in whilst she sleeps. The Saiyan Prince states that whatever Lady Seto allows, or disallows, is irrelevant to himself. He pauses slightly for she is still a woman he has not got a full read on and her current actions so far have proven herself to at least be worthy of his attention. Vegeta stops before exiting the kitchen and asks her how old he would have been when her parents died to see if that would help him place the actions on that planet better. Seto shakes her head slowly and some loose pale green hair falls before her shoulder. She calmly says that it is too early in the day for such serious matters and that she would not want to act uncouth towards him which she might given her mood before some caffeine has roused her.

"... However, there is one thing you might be able to enlighten me on. For a while now I have pondered upon my apparent gross negligence that somehow had the Namekian dragon Porunga mistakenly revive the wrong Vegeta. Was your mother, the Queen of all Saiyans, a ruler more loved by her people than King Vegeta?" Seto muses to the half dressed warrior as she picks up her coffee again. By all accounts the simplistic rule of Saiyans denotes the King holding a higher Power Level as the true ruler so where she went wrong is of want for her to learn.

"Like I cared what the rabble of low class Saiyans thought." Vegeta shrugs. "King Vegeta held the title as strongest at that time and his notoriety for the victories he personally achieved and led the Saiyan race to far overshadowed what my young mother was only just starting to reach. You said it yourself, that you wanted my father returned to life under the hope that his diplomatic abilities rare in Saiyans would aid your cause for this peace deal. Queen Vegeta, as you might surmise from her personality, is not keen on those parts of ruling. She was not present when King Vegeta shamed my blood-line and swore fealty and obedience to Frieza by kneeling before him. He forsook whatever power and titles the Saiyans gave him that day so that we might live those few years longer."

"Because he took act as a better and wiser ruler, he no longer became recognised as a true Saiyan King – I do enjoy that irony. … Take care of my daughter, please, Lord Vegeta." Seto politely bows her head to Vegeta as he leaves before her attention turns to her sleepy granddaughter.

"And how long would your Emperor's rule last if we rested our boots upon his head whilst sitting upon his throne?"

He phases into Misaki and Azusa's room to disturb their sleep as little as possible after telepathically telling his son of his arrival and that he can go to bed now. As Trunks gratefully relinquishes his duty and leaves, Vegeta sits in the corner where his son just vacated and eats his breakfast. Once his food is consumed he splits off a multi-form to train since he is awake, however both multi-forms are of equal power as Vegeta cannot risk lowering the power of his guarding self too much. He will need strength enough to contend with whatever the Kai's might throw his way until he reforms or to act quick enough if the Counteractor erupts forth and her strength grown once again. For a minute he senses the weak ki of Seto outside the door to the room before she goes on her way to her own room. No matter how powerful or prolific the child, it is always a mother's duty to worry.

It shall be a good few hours until he expects most people in the house to have awoken. Luckily Vegeta is a patient man despite his temper. In the gloom of the room he sits and he watches and listens. An hour later and his training half of his self has to immediately halt and leave their training room.

Upon the lawn a bag of belongings is hastily dropped besides the feet of two Saiyans. Goku is not wearing a chipper smile upon his face. In but his underwear he stands with a hand clamped over Queen Vegeta's mouth to silence her in respect to the hour of morning it is. The warrior woman is raging and thrashing about, trying to pry herself free with her tail and hands but Goku is resolute. With Vegeta leaving his training room and joining them to see why his mother is here he gets told the unfortunate news that in a twist of Chichi's fears Queen Vegeta has become a literal homewrecker.

What began as a night terror and nothing of note to the Son household quickly exploded out into major structural damage and destroyed furniture. It was a loud awakening and needless to say they were not impressed with what she had done to their home they had mostly welcomed her into. True to her bloodline she acted exactly like a Vegeta when confronted with why some of their house was gone. She would not admit what caused it, why she had the outburst, and Chichi was not keeping her cool about it and so neither was Queen Vegeta. Things were said that should not have been and so Chichi has finally kicked her out of her house. With her being pregnant and any wayward attack from her being fatal to Ox-King she will no longer tolerate her presence.

Vegeta groans to himself at this. It was bound to happen sooner or later that something his mother did would diminish all chances Chichi would give her, but he hoped at least for a little longer before this burden were given back to him. Queen Vegeta is released, wearing very little – only what she was forced to put on to talk to Chichi - and as soon as she is let go she turns to get to Goku. His form vanishes from Instant Transmission. She rockets into the sky with her aura blazing and pauses sensing where his ki is and jets off as fast as she can fly. Being abandoned by the only Saiyan male is not a prospect she will take laying down.

This noise and charged ki wakes up Ryoko. Wearily she bobs awkwardly in the air flying out with her eyes half open and her mouth wide in a yawn. She just misses Queen Vegeta being deposited for a second time and again flying away. Prince Vegeta goes to the bag of what his mother owns and picks out and throws down the training room capsule so that he might distract his mother and cease her antics without forcefully relinquishing her ability to move. Ryoko makes a half formed questioning noise towards him to see what is up since the energies that woke her are not here anymore. Vegeta casually answers that his mother will be reluctantly staying with them since Goku's house no longer has all 4 walls as he chucks the remainder of his mother's possessions into the training room.

On the third time Queen Vegeta is deposited in Capsule Corporation her son takes action and fires ki manacles to bolt her to the ground so that Goku can this time depart in peace. Her child should not stand between her and her future mated partner unless he fears what power a sibling to himself might threaten against him, which she doubts he would. Rings of ki tying her to the ground have an obvious weak-spot, rock nor earth cannot stop her and so the manacles now manifest within spherical barriers locking her in place even if she tears herself from the floor. Vegeta stands over Vegeta.

"So what caused your little outburst? Terror, rage, grief, pride, death and what we've gone through beyond or were you merely wanting a room with a better view?" He asks, for her being here does not mitigate her destroying this building or threatening his in-laws or the rest of the city.

Queen Vegeta shall not talk of her weakness or of the emotions that made her vulnerable and attacked her sleeping mind. Like with Goku she shall keep her Saiyan facade and not confess for she is a Vegeta and she is a Queen. Her son expects as much and bends down over her. With a straight jab he almost breaks her jaw. He asks if dealing with these misdemeanours in the Saiyan manner are more to her liking. Silently she lays there with blood pooling from her mouth into her throat. This is the reverse of how a parent-child relationship should be for Saiyans and so she grits her teeth as best she can and nods for more punishment for her failings. Vegeta stands and steps away from her, declining to give her the beating she is forcing herself to want. The manacles are released from her limbs, and as he stares down at her he orders her to go train and clear her head.

As his mother stands and checks she is not concussed from that strike a hand strokes against Vegeta's back. He turns his head to see Ryoko soberly wagging a finger at him. In a low voice she seriously tells him not to go hitting women like that. She brushes her morning hair from her eyes and stretches like a cat in the air. Vegeta would correct Ryoko that the gender of who he hits is in no way a factor for him but that would only annoy her since this is all stemming from his attack on her and her projecting when he is violent to other women. He waits until his mother is out of earshot and then states that he struck her as a Saiyan for her to prove a point against that system. Ryoko questions why this change of ideals from him since she has witnessed him using the exact same tradition of Saiyans dealing with emotions.

"... It would be easy to say that alone with no others knowing the Saiyan ways I preserved their traditions and acted thus to stop the extinction of my people's culture. In all honesty though, sometimes a reflection is an ugly thing to behold. I know the damage what she wants does to us, it's why Kakarot was able to pay his respects to my dead wife earlier then I could set foot here again."

She floats forward and gives him an affirming hug – partially because it is cold out here this early – and does not say anything to press this issue with him for he can so easily push back. Her eyelids are heavy and so she asks if she can go back to bed now and not be woken up by rude Saiyans. He questions whether there is more than 1 woman here now who has been having nightmares, to which she can happily shake her head. The warrior asks if she is keeping the Juraians safe, to which she lazily smiles and nods thinking he might praise her kindness for he should be doing much the same in regards to Misaki now. Vegeta informs her that Sasami has been awake over an hour now and Ryoko swears.

The Sun truly rises as morning proper returns to the city. Light drifts in from around the curtains as the noise of birdsong and traffic begin anew. For all that noise though an unearthly silence stands close. A pressure of danger, the sixth sense of being watched, things are not as they were when he fell asleep. Through mostly closed eyes a silhouette stands out blocking the light and just beyond the warmth of his wife he can feel in his arms. The blade of Azusa is drawn and swung with one hand at the threat.

Vegeta looks at the energy blade as it rebounds harmlessly from his chest. He stands looming over Misaki for if he cannot rely on sensing her Counteractor ki the only way to tell is visually, and so to make his perception more responsive he needs to cut down the distance said light travels – he fights where microseconds are vital to survival so whatever time save he can find he will use. Azusa's half open eyes begin to recognise the hair line of Saiyan royalty as he sits half up with his beard uncomfortably stuck mostly under Misaki's shoulder. Vegeta lifts his tail and bats the sword away from him. At least Azusa has that level of action and awareness in him even if he has not the power to act on it.

Movement from her husband rouses Misaki who is as unperturbed by waking as her daughter Sasami is. Waking to see the body of a man next to her is nothing strange for her since these last 20 years of marriage, yet that is not her husband as for one he has both legs. She makes a quiet noise of recognition and says a bashful 'good morning' to Vegeta. He simply nods and grunts in response. Only a few seconds into being awake Misaki is feeling discomforted by Vegeta's almost menacing presence which will not leave her side for an entire day. The Juraian royals get up and when she has gathered her things under his careful gaze Vegeta Instant Transmissions her a few metres from where Ryoko lays sleeping to enter the bathroom dimension of Washu's within his house.

His heightened ki from being on guard which she is attuned to gets Ryoko to open her eyes from slumber again. Getting up is a hassle and so floating upwards and rotating herself vertically is easier for Ryoko to get to her feet. She goes towards Vegeta as the bathroom is somewhere she likewise would like to visit when his arm bars her way which she lolls her arms and neck over and groans. Vegeta explains that Misaki is in there for privacy and does not need a guard since it is both a different dimension outside the Kai's realm and one where she cannot be a threat to anyone, if Ryoko is to enter then he will have to go inside also but his eyes will not be on her. She makes a show of pouting.

Minutes pass by as Misaki is ignorant to there being any rush in how she as an Empress gets ready for the day and is even partaking in some warm up lengths in the large pools as she anticipates another day of tutelage under Goku. An on alert Vegeta is little fun for Ryoko and so she ensures the one she was protecting is safe and then that she is awake by jumping on her sleeping form. Anyone in her room is a cause for great alarm and the screams and retaliatory struggles of Ayeka have to be quickly shut down by the pirate atop her. The temptation is there to play around with this situation more but there is a Vegeta close by so instead she waits until Ayeka is only glaring death up at her. Fair warning is given to Ayeka that there is a Vegeta outside this room and until her mother leaves the bathroom that room is unavailable, then Ryoko teleports away into Capsule Corporation to find a free bathroom.

With the majority of the household up and dressed, breakfast proper can begin in Capsule Corporation. Vegeta has no issue having a second meal this early in the day standing directly behind Misaki's chair. The oppressiveness of this man so openly and close not even stalking but shadowing her is unnerving Misaki. She is a royal bodyguard so understands the nature of the job however never has stuck inches away from her ward like he unerringly is. Expecting Vegeta's mindset to revolve around training, both of hers and his own, she is already dressed in her Juraian combat attire for when she goes to visit Goku. The saving grace when she loses Vegeta from her side for a while.

All this attention being so laser focused on Misaki is not being missed by Ryoko and she is envious of Vegeta not looking her way even so much in passing. That black arm is causing hassle and if Vegeta has to be with Misaki then he cannot be with Bulma. To voice or act on her jealousy causes him trouble and so Ryoko takes the high ground and so when strolling by him she gives him a pat on the shoulder which in turn has her fingers begin to grope and knead the flesh in a light massage as she compliments him on a job well done.

A surprising band of people turn up together for breakfast; Lady Seto, Utsutsumi and Queen Vegeta come in together having been discussing the current plans for the rulings of the Saiyan Empire and the modifications that Queen Vegeta has for what Gohan wrote up on her behalf. Without persuasion Queen Vegeta is trying to get this out of the way so she can solely focus on her own growth as a warrior and without escort the Juraians are near her and not under direct threat. Her attention is more on Seto than her husband as Queen Vegeta can tell at a glance the power dynamic in their relationship and this is in turn the woman she directly owes her very life to – a debt she wants out of as fast as possible. The inexperience and ignorance of Queen Vegeta surrounding the running of any efficient governing body she accepts as her own failings at the moment and does listen to what is advised towards her plans, though is still stubborn in her Saiyan ways when any changes suggested veer from her own ideal Saiyan utopia. Those few who were not witness to her arrival back to where her son lives are shocked at her unannounced arrival and in a grumpy huff all Queen Vegeta shall say on the reason is 'Chichi'. Ryoko's feline eyes drift over towards Ayeka to ensure she hears that and the idea of evicting some other woman over the man you love exists.

The upcoming hen-night will drastically cut into both Misaki's time and Vegeta's time to train and thus no time to digest or rest after her meal is given before the caring matriarch of Jurai is whisked away to Mount Paozu. An earful is quick to come his way from Chichi as the Son family are still occupied fixing their house and here he is with not so much as a sorry for what Queen Vegeta did. The Saiyan Prince only comments that his family is one whom raze planets so that small wall was sheer good fortune on their part already.

Misaki feels in the way and a nuisance given the prospect of destruction that the Counteractor foretells. Yet, Goku splits a multi-form to be with her so that their training can start although it is nothing strenuous as the correct mind-set is empirical to the success of her gaining control. Whilst his other self is with his wife and Ox-King fixing the hole in the wall and making a list of what furniture is beyond salvage, he sits at the forest edge with Misaki and talks to her to get her to let go of some of her fear surrounding her arm. When Vegeta first landed on Earth and was driven into the corner in their fight so that he transformed into a Great Ape was the blood-curdling moment that Goku made the horrific realisation that he was personally responsible for the killing of the kind old man who raised him on this mountain. His tail is the part of his anatomy that caused the hurt to his loved ones in the same way that Misaki fears her arm shall. How he views and acts with his tail is not like Misaki's terror towards her arm and he empathises with her over this common ground.

Guard duty is postponed until Misaki is back in his care and thus Vegeta reforms into one being and goes to continue his training for the tournament. After a short while of warming himself up at his re-merged power he has an intruder letting herself into his training room. He does not have any serious levels of gravity on for he is focusing on techniques and ki control and mastery of his transformations but regardless his mother stands at the side of the tiled room and silently observes him for half an hour. He has made it clear that he will not act as an instructor to her but that does not mean she cannot indirectly learn from him and his superior fighting style. For a while she inspects the differences on the main console of this training room to see how much more he has available to him though the language barrier hides most from her. Queen Vegeta watches intently as she attempts to decode her son's fighting style.

After half an hour of being only an observer she becomes more active in her own training. When she sees him pull off an unfamiliar move or technique she takes a step closer for a better view and then spends several minutes of her own time slowly trying to perfectly mirror it. She gives him plenty of space to not disturb him and give herself room to experiment. Some of his manoeuvres require a high amount of focus to be on ki, sensing how he internally constructs his techniques, which stall his mother for longer in figuring them out.

She likes his way of fighting. It is akin to her own Saiyan style but the added polish and years of honing every move she wants for her own as well as the more technical martial arts that highly skilled warriors like Goku and Cell have forced him to become capable with. Her son is not ignorant to her presence and can tell what she is doing and so long as she is there and not bothering him it matters little for he spends time like this training with Trunks too. The areas of weakness she has would be easy for him to point out yet she is doing well – as a Vegeta should. The one technique that he himself still needs to completely master if not continue to rework into a usable one within the heat of battle he decides shall be a showcase to his eager mother.

Vegeta begins a simulation of a large and barren open expanse and his mother wonders if this is the beginning to some epic simulated fight she can experience first hand. That is not what Vegeta has in mind. He rises into the air as a Super Saiyan 3. Arms and hands out wide he braces as firmly as he can whilst hovering. For a good several dozen times he fully charges and safely dissipates a Final Flash – a move still nigh impractical to use in a one on one bout. He needs to shave off so much of its charge up time still even after years of work on it and then maintain its level of stability as with that much power stored up a mistake in release could be fatal. The constant demand on his ki of this move whilst within his highest transformed state saps at his strength and so before he can no longer perform the move he fires his Final Flash arcing up over the horizon. Drained and tired, he lowers himself to sit on the ground back with his original black hair and slowly panting with beads of sweat beading off of him. This showcase his mother is smiling gaily and wide at.

He recovers and she takes to the air. Checking her posture and position, she places her arms where his were and though with only a fraction of his power starts to emulate one of his most powerful attacks. Planet destroying beams she can fire. This Final Flash is wholly different in the magnitude of power it requires and the overwhelming stress holding those charging energies in separate hands before joining them into something that could so easily rip her asunder. Queen Vegeta shakes her head and discharges and makes a few attempts. Things are not adding up. Slight discrepancies in her flows of energy or lack of synchronisation between left and right sides of the power up have her quickly cease the attack to try again. Eventually holding one charge of the blast and trying to grow it completely drains her of her ki and she fails to recover her energy. Queen Vegeta lets her body fall unaided and lands with a roll and her ki reserves empty.

Exhausted, she lays down on the false ground looking up and thinking on how she will need to improve to even get to a point comparable to her son. A stray thought passes through Pranis' mind that she has never taught her son any martial technique or way to kill due to the majority of time she ever spent with him when he was young he was a newborn, and after that seen only in passing and short meetings. Queen Vegeta shrugs off that failing of hers for both her crime and punishment for that were death. Pranis also never got any time to teach Tarble nought but how to die in shame.

His mother becomes silent for a couple of minutes as Vegeta remains seated and lets his ki regenerate. When she is not talking and boasting of her feeble power and her hollow title she is bearable company. As a child he never cared to watch others to learn of their power unless it was on the battlefield itself and directed towards him. Even if she says the Saiyan way is not isolation and solitude it does not sit right in his head for this ideal of what a Vegeta is. Her life shall become this room the same as his has. This time when the next Saiyan ascends to the legendary warrior he shall not miss it – be it his mother or Chibusa.

" … How often does the war interrupt your sleep?" A timid voice questions, almost confusing Vegeta into thinking someone else is in the training room. His mother's eyes are straight up at the ceiling and even from this distance he can spy those ghosts that haunt her.

"Which war?"

"Our war. The one of being born a Saiyan."

Vegeta rolls his shoulders and stretches his neck. Even though earlier he asked his mother of her nightmares it is a hard answer for him to voice when thrown back at him. They both are Vegetas, and Vegetas have no equal in strength nor room for weakness. Restlessly their tails curls along the ground. It is not something they can easily hide, most of the time it is a silent and sinister presence yet like with what happened to Pranis this morning it will always let itself be known to the world. They are not destined for easy lives.

"Sometimes. … Things I have done. Things done to me and etched into my skin and bones, and things that shouldn't come to pass. ... Him. That purple blooded bastard. And me." He nods as he answers. "Is this the reason you sleep under things?"

Pranis half rolls onto her side away from him out of shame. Her son holds so much strength and power and is a decade out from having been under Frieza's tyranny and his great power has brought him no salvation from his pains and so neither shall it save her. Being stronger will not grant her any release. Not even her partner the king asked or cared to know, though it is not as if they shared a room or a even a bed. All she can do is half-whisper her answer: 'it's not safe'. Vegeta does not know what attack permanently made Pranis cower under whatever cover she could when not awake or how early in her life it occurred.

They are both child soldiers yet he went into war with a high power level and the bodies at his feet being the piles of his enemies felled like wheat whereas she went in a weak child just trying to survive and gain a home. When she thinks of the horrors of war she has flames, her comrades being massacred and years and years of it never ending as their numbers dwindle in vain. Her son cares more for when he reported back on his ventures in war and when the tyrannical despot Frieza sought to discipline his pet monkey.

"Was it the war though that did wake you? We've both died and gone beyond, and you still carry that paper of my brother-"

"It isn't fair that you were born in his exact image, the same face as my King." Queen Vegeta interrupts to stop that question.

Queen Vegeta stands. Her pride resisting all that this talk is and her ego unwilling to dive any deeper into the weakness she nearly spoke of in full. She points at her son and demands that he strike her for that poor show as is only right for those of Saiyan blood. Vegeta does not. Instead he wafts his hand so a blast of air sends her back down onto the floor. He tries to manipulate her pride by stating that it has already been proven how no matter how hard he himself is hit he will not be changed or altered in his thoughts and so by her asking for this she is proving herself to be lesser. She argues back this is to change nothing and just a simple reminder of getting back in line with how she must act and discipline her faltering from being a true Saiyan. Vegeta goes on to explain that whether completely selfish or selfless she cannot eternally keep her emotions under lock and key if she is to attain her grand goal of becoming a Super Saiyan. Great rage, grief and a near mind breaking level of erupting emotions is necessary for a pure-blooded Saiyan to take that step.

She goes quiet. It is not her place as the only non-transformed Saiyan to speak out on this and she so desperately needs to gain that power and form. Then she can hold her head higher than the dirt it is in and maybe look at her reflection with anything but disgust at what she has been reborn into. Rage she can accept, only that she can accept as an emotion she shall show. Grief cannot hold any dominion within her. With a growl she stands and spreads her arms wide with violently sparking violet energy accumulating at her palms. Queen Vegeta roars as she slams her hands together and fires off a weakened variant of her son's ultimate finisher. Her son still has far too much ki left to recover before he can begin any serious training anew.

"As your Queen I demand you confess all that you knew of that runt Tarble." She glares and points at him asking as Pranis but under the guise of Queen Vegeta.

Her only remaining child stands. She senses his ki level changing and rising. He heads towards the main console and turns up the artificial gravity to levels uncomfortable and painful for her and he begins training. Vegeta keeps his back to her for the eyes of another are so paramount to how a Saiyan keeps up their facade of bravado. As he trains he recounts the few memories he has of Tarble. The scant times they met whilst Tarble was old enough to speak and walk. One occasion he as the elder sibling sparred against him for a pitifully short time due to Tarble's great weakness. It all leads up to the memory of his dead father and the debris that was moments ago his home planet. Pranis listens in absolute silence as she endures the heightened gravity. When it is all said she leaves with the serious intent to finish up the document that Jurai wants from her.