Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Dragon Ball XG ❯ Training Trouble ( Chapter 9 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Ever since the whole ordeal with Baby Jr., the warriors resumed their training. Apparently there could never be such a thing known as a peaceful life without some enemy appearing out of nowhere to disrupt this peaceful time. It was better safe than sorry, they supposed.
Nobody was keen on training more than the younger generation. For the past two years, Kumo trained roughly with his father, Goten, and older cousin's husband, Akira. As hard as he trained, however, he had yet to attain the Super Saiyan level. Although she was only three, Akira and Pan pushed Mizu towards the family traditions of fighting endlessly for either safety of the planet, or just plain fun. She seemed to be easily influenced, with a family full of warriors, even her great-grandmother Chichi showed off a few tricks, despite her pressuring the young child into studying and books. The only ones who didn't seem interested in training were Uub and Bra's young children, Pants and Baby Jr. (who now went simply as "Junior"). Pants found enjoyment in the books that his grandmother would give him, and followed his mother everywhere she went. Junior, on the other hand, was fun loving, but still aggressive and liked to rough-house a lot. Uub tried to channel it in a way to make the tuffle boy stronger without him realizing it, hoping to one day see the result from it in a Tenkaichi Budokai match.
And finally, despite her mother's objections, Zurosu herself was into heavy training by none other than her grandfather, Vegeta. Ever since she got to watch him train in the gravity room, she became so impressed, she begged Grampa to show her those "cool moves" he did. Vegeta, who, although he loved the child, didn't pay too much mind to her at first, was rather pleased to see her enthusiasm about training and was more than willing to bring out the Saiyan inside her. Trunks didn't seem to mind one bit; he was happy his daughter had something that she really enjoyed doing, and he couldn't help but be reminded of himself when he was her age. Bulma had only expected this, knowing she was born in a family of alien warriors.
The only person who didn't agree with Zurosu's lifestyle was her mother, Icalla. Quarter-saiyan or not, she was still a little girl! Having grown up around martial artists herself, she had always hoped for a daughter that she could play dolls with, dress up in cute clothing, and be as sweet as anything. She never imagined having a girl who would act like... a boy.
What really appalled her was how she would go through such gruesome training, and that her one and only grandfather would put her though it to begin with. Of course, Zurosu didn't seem to mind. As long as she was getting stronger, she loved training with him. But she was just a child, she didn't know just how hard it was to just be in the gravity room with Vegeta, the big bad Saiyan Prince, for five minutes. Icalla tried constantly to talk some sense into her daughter, but all that mattered to her was getting strong and making Grampa happy, no matter how badly it hurt.

"I think you've had enough, brat!" Vegeta smirked.
Zurosu, bruised badly but stilled spunked, dropped back into her battle stance. "No way!"
"Well then... it's your funeral!" Vegeta darted at the young girl and threw his fist at her skull, only to have her jump back, land on the wall, and shoot herself at the Saiyan Prince, her arm ready for a blow. He blocked her attack with a single forearm, and threw punches at her as she dodged every fist. "Come on, girl!" he shouted, "Attack! Don't just dodge!"
Zurosu, however, didn't have the chance to attack as she kept fending off her grandfather's attacks. Finally, she managed to catch his fist, jump in, and jam her own little fist into his stomach. To any other opponent, she would have managed to knock the wind out and most likely K.O him at the spot. But since this was an overpowered alien species who trained under even the most crucial conditions, all it did to Vegeta was make him cough slightly, and wiped the small amount of saliva from his mouth. He looked down at the child and smiled slightly.
"You've been practicing. I can feel it." His smile then turned to a wicked smirk, and he stopped training with only a small fraction of his power that he'd normally use to train his granddaughter with, going to full power. "Training's over."
He then rammed his fist into the girl's gut. Zurosu lost all her breath, felt her entire body shiver with pain, and everything went dark.

"Zurosu...?" a soft familar voice called in the darkness, "Zooey? Are you all right? It's Momma, honeh..."
Zurosu slowly fluttered her eyes opened, and immediately began groaning.
"Take it easy, sweetie. Yoah pretty banged up..."
The girl slowly turned her head to face her mother. "What happened...?"
"You got knocked out during yoah trainin' session," Icalla responded, "But yoah back in yoah lil' bed now." She brushed the little girl's bangs out of her face, "Momma's here, sweetheart. You just take it easy."
"Where's Grampa?"
"Don't you worreh about Grandpa," said Icalla, "He's trainin' by himself."
Zurosu fell back into her bed, groaning some more. Icalla held her down, "Honeh, don't move so much!"
"Grampa's not mad at me is he?" said Zurosu, "I always get knocked out by him... He must think I'm weak."
Icalla took hold of her hand. "Zurosu," she said, "Listen... Grandpas aren't suppose to 'knock out' their grandchildren. Ah know yoah young, but you must realize that yoah grandfather can't keep beating you up like this!"
"Grampa doesn't beat me up!" said Zurosu, "He's training me!"
Icalla sighed. She just couldn't get her child to understand. "Zurosu, listen to me. Ah want you to stop this trainin', okay? Little girls are not suppose to be fighting. They're supposed to be playin' and havin' fun!"
"But training IS fun, Mama..."
Icalla sighed once more and shook her head. "Just... please, do it foh me, all right?"
Zurosu sighed. "But... if I quit, then Grampa will kill me!"

"Hey, how Zurosu doing?" Trunks asked as he walked by Zurosu's room, just as Icalla was exiting.
"Ah finally got her to rest," Icalla closed the door, and then turned sternly to her husband, "And Ah don't see how you can be so calm 'bout this!"
"You're acting like she's dying or something," Trunks groaned, "This is almost a daily routine for her and my dad. So she gets knocked out during a training session. She'll be as good as new by tomorrow."
"Trunks, you just don't get it!" Icalla cried, surprising the purple-haired man, "Yoah daughter is constantly gettin' hurt! Ah I know he's yoah father an' all, but that doesn't mean it's okay for him to do this!"
Trunks took her shoulders assuringly. "Look," he said, "My father may be a lot of things, but he does care about Zurosu. He just wants to bring out her full potential."
"Ah don't CARE about her potential!" Icalla shouted, pushing his hands away, "All Ah care about is her safety! Trunks, Ah don't want her doin' this trainin' anymoah!"
Trunks sighed, "Icalla, listen, this is Zurosu's decision. Sure, it may be painful, but she enjoys it."
"She's just a child! She doesn't know bettah!"
"She's not stupid! If she didn't like it, she would have quit!"
"You weren't in there a second ago..." Icalla sighed, "She's too scared to quit. She's afraid yoah dad's gonna kill her if she stops."
Trunks smiled and shook his head. "Oh, you don't know my father," he said, "He's just bigheaded. He's not going to 'literally' kill her. The only thing that's going to get killed is his ego."
Icalla crossed her arms. "And how would you know?" she asked crossly as well.
"Trust me... I was trained by the guy myself."

It wasn't long before the next Tenkaichi Budokai had arrived. The children were only more than ecstatic to be fighting in it. Especially Zurosu, seeing as this was her very first tournament that she was entering.
"Where do you suppose Goten and all them are at?" Bulma asked, glancing around herself at the arena, "They said Kumo's entering again this year. I'd love to see him and Zurosu go at it."
"Probably at the competition hall," Trunks responded, "And you know what, Zu, you'd better get over there yourself. They'll be starting soon."
Zurosu scratched at her lip. "How do I get there...?"
"We'll take you, sweetheart," said Bulma, "We wouldn't want to miss this for the world. Come on, guys, I'm sure it's this way."
The small group headed off towards a direction, except Vegeta, who turned and walked the opposite way. Bulma looked back. "Vegeta, where are you off to? Don't you want to see Zurosu off?"
"Why bother?" the Saiyan Prince responded gruffly, "I already know how it's going to turn out. We'll be seeing Zurosu in the finals. I'll be in the exec suite if you need me." He gave a short wave and continued off.
Icalla frowned and stopped in her tracks, watching her father-in-law disappear into the crowd. How could he possibly be so sure of himself? Or of his young granddaughter winning against dozens of strong men with years of experience?
"Icalla?"
The woman turned quickly to face her family, who noticed she wasn't keeping up. "You all right?" Trunks asked, "What's wrong?"
"Er... nothing," she blushed and turned away slightly, "You go on ahead. Ah'll meet up with ya in a moment."
Trunks eyed her suspiciously for a moment, but then got distracted by his child pulling on his hand and begging him to come on. So the rest continued their way to the hall, and Icalla turned tail and ran the direction the Saiyan went.

"Vegeta!!"
The prince had just entered inside the stadium towards the VIP elevator just as he heard the voice of his daughter-in-law, and turned to face her. "What do you want?" he spoke, coldly as usual.
"Vegeta, listen," the woman moved closer to the Saiyan, "You really need to use common sense heah. I know yoah a prideful warrior and all, but Zurosu isn't like you."
Vegeta didn't speak, and barely moved a muscle as he just kept eyeing his son's wife in a cold manner.
Icalla frowned more, "Zurosu is just a child! It's one thing to make her go through all that unnecessary brutal trainin', but you can't be serious makin' her enter a martial arts tournament! She's no fight'a! She shouldn't be put through all this! She should just grow up like a regular young girl should!"
Vegeta huffed and crossed his arms, clearly getting annoyed having to listen to his daughter-in-law's southern-accented banter.
Icalla was getting frustrated at his obvious answer of not giving a damn. "Ohhh... You just listen to me, buddy!" she shouted, "Ah don't care that yoah Trunks' father! Yoah a horrible grandfather, and a horrible person!! I don't know WHY everyone else seems to let this all slide by! If you even cared the SLIGHTEST for Zurosu's well-bein', you wouldn't put her through all that torture, and force her to enter a tournament that's way above her league!! Stop makin' her do what YOU want her to do! Tell her that you love her no matta' what and she shouldn't do what you decide for her to do!"
"This isn't my decision, Icalla!!" Vegeta finally snapped, shutting the woman up, "Zurosu is the one who wanted this! SHE'S the one that begged me to train her. SHE'S the one that kept coming back to do more! SHE is the one who wanted to enter the Budokai this year. If it WERE up to me, I'd make her wait for the next one..." he groaned, "I don't think that she can stand much of a chance against Kakarrot's grandbrat."
He glared daggers at Icalla, "So why don't you just be a good parent and butt out of your kid's business!" And with that, he turned and continued off, not even giving the brunette a second acknowledgement.
Icalla watched in disbelief as he went off, until he got on the elevator and finally left her sight. Finally, she groaned, threw her arms in the air in frustration, turned, and stormed off to find her family.