"What did you say?!" the King Kai of the North screamed as he looked at the pinkish red skies of the Otherworld. "What do you mean they used those Dragon Balls?!"

"I had no idea that it still existed to this day," Dende, the guardian deity of Earth replied to him telepathically. "It seems that the previous guardian deity of Earth sealed the Black-Star Dragon Balls away deep in the temple. How anyone managed to remove that seal and stole them while we were here with Goku-san and Uub-san could be a very powerful person."

"For them to be able to do that while Son Goku and Uub were nearby…"

"Goku-san said he cannot sense anyone near so we tried to look for where Shenron was summoned below the Earth. It seems Vegeta-san was around the area during that time but his ki eventually diminished so Goku-san wasn't able to find anyone there. I think he went to Capsule Corporation to ask Vegeta-san about it."

King Kai scowled. Suspecting that something sinister was going on. Could this be Vegeta's doing all along?

Chapter 2

The Black Star Dragon Balls

No one could believe it. How could this happen? How did this happen? Vegeta, father of Trunks and Bulla, husband of Bulma Briefs, known for being an intimidating and a very strong man, was reduced into a child who could be around four or five years old. He was so tiny, and the way he reacted showed how helpless and powerless he currently was.

Trunks and Bulla stared at the utterly hysterical boy who claimed to be their father a few minutes earlier in utter disbelief. Trunks was the first to believe him since he was able to sense Vegeta's ki first hand but initially thought it was just weird and all until the boy realized what just happened to him. Bulla, on the other hand, cannot sense ki so she had no idea what was going on.

"Bulla, please tell your friends to go home," Trunks told his sister quietly as he slowly approached the devastated Vegeta who was still screaming and almost crying in disbelief, his small hands grabbing his head as he continued to stare at his reflection.

"Eh? Onii-chan? Don't tell me you believe that this kiddo is–" Bulla whispered as he turned to her older brother.

"I… I think we should go home," one of Bulla's friends whispered to Bulla. "Don't worry, we won't tell anyone about this. We all know Vegeta-san can be pretty scary even if he… turned into that. We'll see you at school tomorrow."

The three other girls left the convenience store, but not before apologizing and saying goodbye to their friend's father and older brother. Vegeta finally shut up after that and simply nodded back to his daughter's friends.

"What happened to you, papa? Who did this to you?" Trunks asked in genuine concern.

Vegeta didn't answer for a moment. Trunks thought the shock was just too much for his father to even say anything or even move.

"I think we should go outside and talk about this. We can't stay here like this, you know. Do you need me to help y– oof!"

Vegeta suddenly elbowed Trunks on the gut. Even if his strength depleted that much, that surprise attack was enough to make his son double over on the floor.

"This must be that Hebinian's doing! I swear once I find that bastard, I am going to–!" Vegeta growled lividly. He stopped himself mid-sentence before he could say something too violent for his children to hear.

"Hebinian?" Trunks and Bulla repeated.

Vegeta rose from his position, still shaking in his anger. The tiny hands covered with dark gray, fingerless gloves balled into trembling fists on his sides as he glared at his reflection at the door with a portentous gaze, which would have made any civilizations from his dark and bloody past run for their lives.

"You two should come with me to that new bookstore near the Tongari clock tower," he said.

Trunks and Bulla looked at each other, "New bookstore?"

They reluctantly escorted their father to the place where he said he met the Hebinian he claimed who did this to him, all the while telling his children what happened to him that day, leaving out the fact that the Hebinian did it to take revenge on him. Both Trunks and Bulla could not believe how their strong father fell to such a trap, silently wondering what evil motives this Hebinian had against him, both obviously unaware of their father's dark past being a cold, ruthless, and bloodthirsty Saiyan Warrior once feared by many civilizations across the cosmos.

When they arrived at the place, they realized that where the said bookstore Vegeta was talking about should be standing was nothing but an empty space of land.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" Trunks asked.

"I'm sure about it," Vegeta replied, walking into the empty land while looking around in confusion.

"But there's nothing in here."

"That's odd," Vegeta muttered. He crossed his arms over his chest, touching his lower lip with his left thumb as he tried to think. He was 100% sure this was the exact location of that cursed bookstore he discovered this morning. Perhaps, if he went to the grocery store where he ate ice cream, the boy working as a cashier would know what happened.

"Then let's go to the grocery store."

The three proceeded to the grocery store where Vegeta ate his ice cream earlier. He noticed that the poster of the Monkey King taped on the wall was not there either. The boy working as a cashier noticed them. He told them that he was closing already and that they have to come back tomorrow.

"Where is the poster of the Monkey King that was taped on this wall earlier this day?" Vegeta asked.

"Poster? Monkey King? I don't know what you're talking about," the baby-faced dark-haired boy told him innocently. He clearly doesn't recognize him at all, though he knows who Trunks and Bulla were since Vegeta would bring them here when they were kids.

"Wow, you two grew up so fast! How are you two doing? Vegeta-san stopped by this morning."

"Yeah… He… He did mention that," Trunks responded awkwardly. "By the way… Have you seen a newly opened bookstore nearby?" he asked.

"Bookstore? There's no such thing as that around here. Why?"

"Uh… Uhmm… I think we got the wrong address. Sorry to bother you."

The three left the grocery store, disappointed.

"What now? The bookstore you're talking about doesn't seem to exist anymore," Trunks said.

"Wait, does that mean that if that bookstore magically just disappeared, or if we don't find that Hebinian or whoever did this to you, you are going to be like this forever?" Bulla hissed at her father.

"Probably," Vegeta muttered.

"No!" a suddenly agitated Bulla yelled. "I can't have a father like you! I mean, look at yourself! You could be Onii-chan's illegitimate son, or my nephew, or even mama's grandson!"

"What the hell are you so pissed off about? I may have become a child right now but no matter what happens, I am still and will always be your father!"

"Noooooooo! You don't understand! This is embarrassing for us! How could you let yourself become like this!" Bulla hissed once more.

"Hey! It's not my fault!"

"You said you fell into their trap, right? How could you be such a fool? For someone as strong as you, being reduced into this?!"

Vegeta opened his mouth but no sound came out of it. Realizing his daughter was right, he closed his mouth and lowered his eyes, trying to keep his tears at bay. It was already bad enough that he was reduced into his child self, losing his strength, powers, and even what remains of his pride. Bulla surely took that straightforward and brutal attitude from him. If he was facing his past self, surely he would be receiving such cruel words as well, perhaps even greater. Something like:

How could you, the Prince of all Saiyans, allow yourself to be reduced into a small, pathetic child like this? How foolish! A useless brat who lost his pride and his strength should not be allowed to live! Why don't you just go ahead and die? You shame yourself! Blah, blah, blah.

Trunks stared at his father and his sister as they argued and eventually found Vegeta on a losing ground. He could tell how Bulla managed to break Vegeta's already broken pride with those words. Trunks felt like his father was about to cry.

Bulla immediately felt bad when she saw Vegeta quiet down and began to look so hopeless. She straightened herself, crossed her arms over her chest, and turned away, huffing angrily in the air while giving Vegeta a side glare. Another thing she got from him, Trunks thought to himself.

"Relax, Bulla. We will find the Dragon Balls and wish Papa back to normal, okay?" Trunks suggested.

"Then we better find the Dragon Balls now," Bulla said, letting out an exasperated sigh as she eyed her little father. "I can't stand seeing him like this!"

"Come on. It's not that bad. Right, papa?" Trunks assured.

Vegeta looked at Trunks in surprise. He was right, too.

"Right," Vegeta agreed. "Even I can't stand being like this. There should be a way for us to fix this mess. Let's go home and ask Bulma for the Dragon Ball radar."

With that, they returned home to their immense, yellow, dome-like abode at the West City's center. Bulma was in awe to find out that her husband had become a child, though she didn't react as exaggeratedly as how Vegeta and Bulla did. She was calm and collected just like Trunks was as she listened to the story. Although, much to Vegeta's annoyance, she seemed to fall in love at first sight all over him when she realized how adorable he now looked.

"Wow! I can't believe this, Vegeta! I didn't know how cute you were when you were a child!" Bulma said as she hugged him tight, rubbing her face against his chubby little cheeks and causing Vegeta's face to flush entirely red.

"Hey–hey, let go of me, woman!" Vegeta complained as she continued to coo at him.

"You could stay like this forever! Just tell me where this magical bookstore is so I could enter it too and be as young as you are right now!"

"Eeeh?! But mama–!" Trunks and Bulla whined, both holding a disgusted expression at what their mother was thinking of doing.

Bulma pulled away from Vegeta, held his shoulders and stared at him for a moment.

"Although if we become so small like this, we might have to wait so many years before we could make love again and have another baby. How about we use the Dragon Balls to change us into young adults so we won't have to wait for that long?"

Trunks and Bulla fell.

A flustered Vegeta turned away from his wife, "You can't be serious about that, Bulma."

"Well, at least we could live a little longer."

"But we're both going to be younger than our children."

"I don't see any problem with that."

"Are you even serious?"

Bulla rolled her eyes at her mother's antics while Trunks sighed on her side, both wanting to just turn their backs away with embarrassed looks.

"Mama, I will take the Dragon Ball Radar now. I will be back in a few–" Trunks said. He disappeared for about five seconds and returned with the said radar on his hand. He pressed the plunger-like button on the top of the circular device.

Trunks looked at the screen in confusion, "Huh? That's weird. I don't see them," he tried pressing the button several more times, with his family looking over his shoulder to see what was happening.

There should be seven blinking dots over its green-colored screen. The said dots represent the location of the seven Dragon Balls, golden magical spheres with orange-colored five-pointed stars ranging from one to seven. These balls, once collected and having said the passcode, could unleash a powerful wish-granting dragon god.

But there was none.

"Has anyone used the Dragon Balls lately?" Trunks asked as he pushed the plunger several more times.

Somebody suddenly appeared out of nowhere making the four of them turn their heads over their shoulders.

"Goku-san!" Trunks recognized the newcomer.

"Son-kun!" Bulma grinned.

"Yo!" Goku greeted them as he flicked his two fingers over his head, his gesture of saying hello. Everyone was awed and surprised to finally see Goku after he left with Uub ten years ago. He looked exactly as he did last time they saw him.

"What are you doing here? How have you been?" Bulma asked him with a huge grin, happy to see him after so long of him gone.

Goku smiled at his long-time friend, "Wow, Bulma. Nice to see you're doing great, although you look a bit more of an old lady now than the last time I saw you–!"

"That's rude, you know!" Bulma abruptly yelled at him furiously, causing Goku to flinch away from her and take a step back. Vegeta, Trunks, and Bulla shook their heads. That would have given her more reason to find the Dragon Balls and wish to be young.

"I'm looking for Vegeta. Has anyone seen him? I can't sense his ki around. I wonder if he's alright," Goku said while rubbing his ears.

"Maybe if you try to concentrate even harder you could have sensed me, fool," Vegeta replied to him with a growl.

Goku turned to him with an innocent look, blinking back at him, "Huh? Who's this tiny guy? He looks a bit like Vegeta, except that he looks a bit cuter. Ah… He reminds me of Goten when I first saw him. I didn't know you had another kid with him, Bulma! Congratulations!"

Vegeta fumed at him. "This fool…"

"Actually, Son-kun… that is Vegeta," Bulma told him.

"Eh?!" Goku blinked again, looking down at him as if he was a tiny little thing he couldn't see. "Seriously? You are Vegeta? Waaaaah! What the hell happened to you? How did you get this small? Wait–don't tell me you used those Dragon Balls to make you like this?!"

"Idiot! Why the hell am I going to do such a thing?!" Vegeta suddenly yelled, causing Goku to flinch and step back once again.

"Eek! Yeah… Yeah, you are Vegeta, alright. Hahaha! That temper of yours hasn't changed at all," Goku nervously laughed. "If that's the case, then it's not you who stole the Dragon Balls in the temple and used them?"

"I'm telling you I'm not! I even had no freaking idea how I ended up like this!"

"Could it be the Hebinian you were talking about?" Bulla asked.

"Hebinian?"

"Just an old enemy of mine probably seeking some sort of revenge," Vegeta answered.

"Ah!"

Goku suddenly went serious after that.

Noticing this, Vegeta finally turned to him, asking, "What's up, Kakarot?"

"Whoever those guys are, they could be pretty dangerous. I couldn't sense their ki when they stole the Dragon Balls."

"You said you couldn't sense their ki? It's probably because their ki were as low as the humans or they were masking it just like we do," Vegeta said as he began to think. Suddenly, he remembered an important thing. He thought he heard Rava say that he 'will use the Dragon Balls that Maguma stole from the temple' before he lost consciousness. "Ah, yes! That's right. I think I remember one of them saying they will use the Dragon Balls they stole in the temple! So they used the Dragon Balls to turn me into this!"

"I guess that answers your mystery, Son-kun," Bulma commented.

Goku's serious expression finally relaxed and he grinned.

"I see. Hahaha!" he laughed. "I honestly thought they were really evil guys wanting to wish for something very bad! I guess that settles it then!"

"What do you mean they didn't wish for something very bad?! Are you blind?! Look at my papa!" Bulla yelled.

"Relax. I'm sure that once the Dragon Balls can be used again, we can wish for Vegeta to go back to his normal self."

"Or wish for me to become as young as him too!" Bulma cut in.

"No, you don't understand! The Dragon Balls cannot be used for one year! I can't accept that my papa will be smaller than me and Onii-chan!" Bulla hissed.

"Well, that can't be helped."

"I know! Mama! Maybe we could build a machine that could turn papa back to normal!" Bulla suggested.

"Hmm… That's a good idea, but I don't know if that is possible without any detrimental effects," Bulma said. "Although that may take a lot of time since we have to do more research about it. Waiting and using the Dragon Balls could take a shorter time than that."

Bulla sighed as she slumped forward with a tired look, defeated.

Suddenly, King Kai's voice calling for Goku echoed within the Briefs' family home. They all looked up to listen to the voice.

"Goku! Goku!"

"Ah! It's Kai Ou-sama!" Goku recognized the owner of the voice.

"I did some more research about what happened earlier and I found out something terrible," King Kai said.

"Something terrible?" Goku asked.

"The Dragon Balls that were used earlier were completely different from the Dragon Balls you guys were using on Earth. This other set of Dragon Balls were sealed within Kami-sama's temple for thousands of years and were created by the former guardian deity of Earth before he was separated to Piccolo Daimao. In other words, these so-called Black Star Dragon Balls are immensely more powerful than the ordinary Dragon Balls with the orange stars. However, once those Dragon Balls grant a wish, they must be collected within one year, or else, the planet in which it was used on will be destroyed completely."

"You mean, we have to collect those Dragon Balls within one year from today or else, the Earth is going to be destroyed?" Trunks repeated for clarification.

"That's right."

"Hmph! Well, that's pretty simple," Vegeta snorted, his lips crooking up into a smirk.

"It's not going to be that easy, though." King Kai continued. "Ordinarily, the Dragon Balls scatter across the Earth, but this particular set scatters all across outer space, through North, East, West, and South Galaxies. Considering how vast this Universe is, collecting them within one year is a difficult task, even impossible."

"What?!"

There was a deafening silence that followed that revelation. Everyone stared at each other in utter disbelief.

"This can't be happening…" Bulma and Bulla gasped.

Vegeta gritted his teeth together. "Those darn Hebinians… They probably knew this all along and set me up into this darn mess," he growled.

"So, what are we going to do now? We cannot let the Earth be destroyed," Bulla asked, worry obvious in her voice.

"What else? We will still try to collect the Black-Star Dragon Balls. Right, Vegeta?" Goku answered.

"That's right," Vegeta agreed with a cold, serious demeanor upon him. "This leaves me no other choice. I will find those Dragon Balls and those Hebinians as well. I have to deal with those damn trash or I will be a brat forever! I will definitely make them pay for this… I won't let them get away with turning me into a brat!"

He turned to his wife and gave her an order, "Bulma, prepare the spaceship tomorrow morning for our departure. I will bring the Dragon Ball radar. Trunks, you are coming with me."

"Eh?! But, papa..! I–" Trunks immediately protested.

Vegeta gave him a piercing gaze and sneered, "No buts, boy. You are going to come with me whether you like it or not!"

"I mean, I have a lot of work to do at Capsule Corporation!" Trunks excused, with an awkward laugh.

"As if you do your work properly! Since you decided to escape the punishment I bestowed upon you this morning, I will take you with me so I could keep an eye on you and prevent you from slacking off your training! It would be a good experience for you to see what life outside of this peaceful Earth is like and I'm hoping that you will realize something there!"

"Eh?! No way! Mama, help me!" Trunks quickly ran towards his mother, hoping for her to rescue him from his father's cruel punishment.

Bulma let out a long sigh. "Trunks, you've been a delinquent boy lately. I will not save you from your father this time. I'll have him punish you plenty."

"What?! Mama! No!" Trunks whined.

Vegeta chuckled at his son. "What are you so afraid of, son? I'm just a helpless little brat right now."

Trunks knew how sarcastic his father was on that comment. Even if he is a little kid, Vegeta would still be as intimidating to him as ever.

"Papa! Let me come with you, too!" Bulla suddenly volunteered excitedly.

"No," Vegeta answered his daughter quickly.

"Eh?! Why? Aren't you going to punish me for staying out after curfew?"

Trunks nodded, "Yeah–yeah! That's not fair! I demand equality!"

"Equality, your ass! Your sister is too young and has no proper training in combat! You, on the other hand, I've trained you since you're as small as I am right now!" Vegeta shouted at Trunks.

"But... Papa!" Trunks and Bulla protested in unison.

"Wow, Vegeta. Can I come, too? I bet there are a lot of strong guys to see and battle out there!" Goku volunteered with his usual grin.

"Hmph! Do as you wish, Kakarot," Vegeta told him.

Bulma turned to her husband. "As much as I wanted to come with you, if you are taking Trunks then there's no one who can take care of Capsule Corporation while you're gone. That settles it then! Vegeta, Trunks, and Son- kun are going to space. I will prepare the spaceship first thing tomorrow morning so the three of you can leave as soon as possible," she told him.

"How long do you think it would take?" Vegeta asked Bulma.

"A day or two would be enough," she answered. She looked at Goku and asked him, "Are you going back home to Chichi-san, Son-kun? Could you tell Gohan-kun and Videl-san to come over tomorrow for them to assist me so I could work faster?"

"Sure! Sure! No problem. I will see you guys tomorrow!" Goku said. He put his right index and middle fingers over his forehead and disappeared to thin air, leaving Trunks and Bulla whining to their parents.