Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Dragonball Infinity ❯ Wish You Were Here ( Chapter 22 )

Clutching at her belly, she kept her senses open to Vegeta, and followed his escape from the strange people with very similar energy signatures. Her baby stirred, and kicked at her hand, but she only smiled softly, stroking her protruding belly tenderly, "It's all right. Daddy will be okay."

Hearing someone come to her door, she looked up to see her father. He nodded, and smiled faintly, "We got through the Space Circas. Welcome to Circa 7813 - this was the year that Freeza destroyed our planet." Gokuu stood up carefully, minding her girth since it was still steadily growing, and walked out of the ship with him, "We can travel by flight now that we got through those Circas. Besides," he bent down to whisper with a chuckle, "we're kind of out of fuel, and low on cash."

Giggling, she looped her arm with his as if he were escorting her, "That's okay. I think you guys will be able to manage."

"Ha!" With a smirk, he lead her out where his Original Images and Turles were waiting.

Turles cocked his head to the side at her when they flew up into the air, and blasted toward the next Gateway, "Are you sure the baby can handle flying this fast?"

"Hmm? Oh," she laughed, and patted her stomach. Gokuu was currently flying face-up to avoid having her belly dangling dangerously while she flew, "The baby will be fine. I fly faster than this all the time." When his eyebrows lifted in doubt, she grinned, "Remember, I'm a Super Saiyajin ... and a little bit more now. The baby is just fine, and it likes flying anyway." He still looked worried, so she waved her hand at him, "Besides, you said they have some kind of bus system for Gateways. I'll only be flying when we get to our destination so we can go wait at the next Gateway."

"Well," Turles said as they landed beside the Gateway, "if you're sure." He walked ahead of them, and they followed to look at a bulletin board for the times that ships took Saiyajin back and forth through Gateways. "Let's see ... There's a Gateway Transport leaving for Circa 7500 in ten minutes." He grabbed a brochure, and handed it to her after opening it up. After a moment she realized that it was a sort of map of Ept Pinto'Per'End when he pointed at one of the slices in the pie-like diagram, "We're in this one, and Circa 7500 is over here." He slid his finger over the edge of the pie-shaped map to a blue shaded slice, "It's a residential zone so if he's around there, maybe he's found a nice little place that you three can stay at until he finds something bigger."

After a moment of doing calculations in her head, she frowned, "He's farther than that though." She ran her finger along the edge of the circle until she figured that she had vaguely found his location, "He's around here now."

"Shit," the first Bardock murmured - first for they had discovered that he had been born the earliest of them all, during Circa 342. "From what you were saying before, I thought he'd be in around Circa 7400 or something, but that's way back around Circa 6000. How'd he get there?"

"I've been keeping track of his location," she began, "and about an hour ago, he was suddenly travelling very fast, and stopped about there." She sighed, and pouted, "He had to get away from those Original Images, and I think some people helped him, and led him onto one of these ships. They're still with him too." Gokuu glanced up at the first Bardock as he sighed and rubbed his face tiredly, "Is there a ship that can take us that far?"

It was the third Bardock - born in Circa 5274 - that spoke, "This station can only go as far as Circa 6500 right now."

"We'll take it then. When does it leave?"

"Twenty-five minutes. Let's go find the lift for it so we can wait," nodding, she followed them into the little building beside the Gateway.

Since she was out of the ship, she was able to actually see the Gateway, and Gokuu gaped at the immensity of it's pillars and arch which seemed to stretch up past the sky. The stone was a glistening white in the two suns, and it was a stark contrast to the red planet on which it inhabited. After a moment, she tugged at her father's hand, almost feeling like a little girl doing so, "Why doesn't anyone go through without a transport ship?"

"No one knows. I'm not even sure if anyone can," he chuckled before he brought her closer to wrap an arm around her shoulders, "but don't worry about that. We got to find your mate so he can finally see one of his kids. We'll go on a bunch of picnics when he's born, and I can help train him when he learns to walk."

"Oh ..." she looked down at the floor, "I can't do that though."

"What?"

"When I find Vegeta, we have to come back to life," she elaborated, holding the hand that was resting on her shoulder. "There's an android that's destroying planets left and right as we speak, and I've been asked to stop him, but we're going to need Vegeta's help since I'm still pregnant. After we find out how to come back to life, we'll have to go to Namek-sei to get Earth to come back."

"... You've never really made a lot of sense before, but now I know you bumped your head too hard as an infant."

Vegeta scowled at the men sitting before him, and bit deeply into the meat that had been offered to him. None of them seemed particularily interested in him, and he muttered nothing, rubbing over a temple as he felt a migraine begin to hit. He stared at his grandfather the most of all though, wondering just what was going to happen to him now that the old Saiyajin had him in his clutches. Try as he might have, Vegeta couldn't shake away the feeling that the man would want to use him somehow - though he knew that none of the blame should have been put onto the man.

Jerking when he felt Kakarotto abruptly begin to shoot down through the Circas, he lurched to his feet, and turned to look over at the Gateway. Did she know where he was? Perhaps she was travelling by the transport system to get to him instead of taking the short way. She had been moving so slowly before that he had assumed she didn't want to see him, but now that she was moving so quickly ...

Of course! She was moving slower because she went straight to the Last Circa, and she had to go through the Circas where Planet Vegeta hadn't existed. There isn't a set transport system in those decades because they're so new. She must have taken a ride with someone, so now she's ... but she can't read or speak Saiyago ... Who would ...?

"What the hell's got you so excited?" The man called Romantic asked.

He scowled at him before he deemed it unnecessary, and pointed toward the Gateway, "... Someone I know will be coming soon."

"Yeah, those guys that beat you into the dirt," he said, and then reclined back into a rock among many that they were currently among. "We'll lay low here a while, and see if they pass us by before we start to move again. After a few hundred years, you'd be surprised how much people forget things. They'll stop chasing you eventually."

"Don't be so hard on him. He's only forty years into being after all. I'm near to eight thousand now."

"No," he murmured, "these men have been waiting for almost eight thousand years. I don't think that a couple of decades will make them forget."

"'Eight thousand' ...?" Romantic stood up, and looked the younger Saiyajin up and down before he laughed. "Of course! Hey, guys," this he directed to the others that had aided in Vegeta's escape. "Remember this? 'Hair like a dark flame, and a grand widow's peak.' People used to think it was your grandfather or father that was the one, but not you. Your hair must've changed through your teenage years though. If Planet Vegeta had still been around then, you would have made quite an uproar among the people. Imagine, being compared to that coward and yet so powerful ..."

Vegeta withdrew from them, shutting down a bit as he took that all in. The similarities between himself and the Saiyajin of the Hin'I region had always nagged at him. Yet the prince knew the truth. The Saiyajin of the Hin'I region was actually the Legendary Super Saiyajin. Just how had the two completely different characters been formed however?

The Legendary isn't really a great hero ... he's the one that planned the destruction of our planet and our race. Yet how did a story of destruction and genocide become one of heroics and valour? When did the tales of the Hin'I Saiyajin appear? There are just too many loose ends left over. I need to know ... before those Original Images show up again. I might learn something so Kakarotto and I can fight them!

He twitched when he realized that Romantic was still rambling on about the similarities between himself and the 'coward from Hin'I,' "Shut up."

"Excuse me?" He turned to frown at Vegeta, "You have no right to tell me to be quiet. Go back to your mother's apron strings."

"No thanks, never knew her anyway," he tossed aside the slightly bitter thought before he began to walk toward civilization, intent on finding more information.

Romantic ran ahead to walk beside him, "Just what do you think you're doing? Those Original Images are still looking for you, and they should be coming by this Circa soon."

"Actually, they stopped in a Circa about a hundred years up for some reason, and they haven't moved for hours. I predict another hour or so before they move again. Until that time though, I want to find some information about the Legendary."

"What?" He glanced back at the other two men who had deigned to follow them - Vegeta's grandfather, and the one they called Addict. The rest seemed to not mind having to stay behind.

"How'd you think of the Legendary when he was calling you that Hin'I bastard?" Addict asked of him.

He ignored that particular question as they entered into the crowd.

The prince dove straight into whatever scrolls and books that he found, going through all of the ancient texts, and whatever new prints of the works that he could get his paws on while his grandfather and the others watched.

To be sure, he recieved many strange glances, but he noticed that most went to his grandfather who bore it all with a stony face. The bookseller was happy to help him no matter how much he glowered at his grandfather, and began a stack of old books and scrolls that contained information on the Legendary and the Saiyajin of the Hin'I region. Upon finishing a useless roll of parchment, Vegeta reached for a book to open it, and his eyebrows lifted almost to his hairline as he realized it was supposed to be a direct translation of writing that was even older. He went straight to the first page with near glee.

'Hair like a dark flame, and a grand widow's peak. All was as I had been told,' he glanced around the marketplace before he went to take a seat near the bookseller's stand. 'He didn't frighten me though, and he told me something ... very strange after I reacted to him like some moon-faced girl. He said, "I am a Saiyajin." He was right.' Vegeta's gaze paused over those strange words, trying to find some kind of meaning inside of it. Biting his lip, he closed the book to look at the cover, and nearly cursed for the cover read 'Tales of Love and Blood.'

"That book," the bookseller boomed with his deep voice, and patting his broad, muscled belly as if he had just eaten his fill, "is the closest to the original that you'll ever find. It's one of my prized possessions."

He paused over the book, wondering whether he should put it down or not, yet the odd heaviness of the woman's words had hit him like one of Kakarotto's attacks, and he instead clutched it tighter, "How much for it?" If this was written by someone that knew the Hin'I Saiyajin ... then it might tell me clues about how we can beat those Original Images.

"Not for sale," the man chimed almost comically, "I merely let others gape at its ridiculousness."

Snorting, he raised his hand, preparing an energy ball the size of the man's head, "How much for it?"

"Kggh! Free! Free! A gift from me to you! Take whatever you want!"

His eyes narrowed, letting the ball grow larger, "Do you have anything else hidden in the back about the Hin'I Saiyajin or the Legendary Super Saiyajin?"

"No! Honestly, there's nothing more! Just take it, I beg of you!" Vegeta sneered at the merchant, suddenly realizing just how cowardly the Saiyajin merchant minority really was before he headed off deeper into the marketplace with the small book tucked under his arm.

"Are you serious?" Romantic asked when they caught up with him, "That old piece of junk? You know that the lady who wrote it was a complete nutcase, right?"

"Only because Saiyajin don't like hearing the truth," he grimaced at a place two feet in front of himself, thinking of the woman's words.

The troupe walked on until Vegeta stopped at the Gateway, and secured seats for himself and the other three. The ride into the next Circa was in an hour, so he sat to read while Addict summoned the other men on his scouter.

'When the party came to an end, I found myself alone with him and a deal that I dreaded. He had asked to use my body as an incubator for his heir and that he would give me my own in return. For weeks afterward, I forgot all about him, but the Axe Moon always seemed to remind me of his presence and status in the universe and his burning question. When the Axe Moon fell, I always wondered, where would it land? When he returned home from his mission, the next place that I saw him was in my study. He had snuck up on me, and discovered how I had taken to sleeping in my office to avoid suitors. How was I to sleep at night, knowing what he wanted to do to me? Worse yet, as the days went on, I began to speculate that I had avoided the suitors to wait for him. After I was attacked by my old bodyguard, Brolli, I accepted the Lord's deal.'

He stopped there to take a deep breath, his eyes tightly shut as he blocked out everything else but the name he had just read. There's one of them ... and one of the reasons that Brolli hates Kakarotto so much is ... His hands twitched before he realized just what he was implying, and he flipped the book over to find the name of the author.

'Kakarotto of the Shin'Ai Region'

Pale, he flipped it back over so that he wouldn't have to see the name. She wrote a book about me ... She wrote about us - a book about us ... He opened the book again, going far ahead in the book, and his eyes skimmed over the text until he found something of interest.

'We were gone for so long that he forgot about the world we left behind. He went so far as to claim that he would never return and that he adored me. I did all that I could to deter him, and make him return home. Our planet needed him more than I ever would, and I was just a grand distraction from his duties. I didn't want him to realize this when our world fell apart with him gone. I didn't deserve him or the babies for what I was doing to him. I didn't need little kisses on my growing belly and lips. He had to return home to our people. He never listened.'

Swallowing dryly, he sat back in his seat on the bench, and closed his eyes, Why would any man give up a little piece of Heaven like that? Why wait to die to be with you? His people needed him, but he never needed them ... He let his hands smoothe over the embossed title on the cover, feeling out the little bumps and dips of the text before he frowned. Vegeta opened his eyes to look over the title of the book again, seeing it with new eyes. He was just a Saiyajin, and he ... loved you like I ... love my Kakarotto. He waited to see if the sky would fall.

They ran for days on end from the Original Images, and Vegeta kept his senses aware for the woman that drew steadily nearer every day. They did not continue to go straight down through the Circas however. Sometimes, they went upward a few decades, and then switched back down to confuse them. One day, they had ended up higher up in the Circas than their followers, and they had stayed neatly sandwiched between them and Kakarotto for some time now. Throughout the entire debacle, Vegeta read, and researched.

The similarities between the Hin'I Saiyajin and the Legendary continued on, and Vegeta had even started a list in a small journal that was nearly filled in. The 'Tales of Love and Blood' had yielded more than just the tale of the Hin'I Saiyajin however, and he discovered strange connections between the men in the other tales and Vegeta's Original Image. He suspected that they were his other Original Images - those that had existed before the Legendary.

Still nothing on how the Legendary defeated all of these men that want him dead ... but ... He bit his tongue when he recalled that the Original Images could ascend into Super Saiyajin state. Why is he the one called the Legendary if the others can become Super Saiyajin? Could there be something beyond Super Saiyajin? If I am to take into account that these legends used to be the same story, then was something omitted or changed in the original text? Radittsu and I already figured out that our scriptures had been changed - so why not the stories and myths of our people? Growling, he clutched tighter at the book, but before he ripped it to shreds, he put it beside him on the bench, and clenched his eyes shut in thought.

Here, I thought nothing could beat the might of a Super Saiyajin, but what could he have become that made him a Legend? All the stories had claimed he had not been able to control his power, and thus could only reach the state in his Oozaru form. Remembering this made him pause to look around himself at the transport terminal. He glanced at the book again before he picked it up to skip to the end of the Hin'I Saiyajin tale, reading about how Kakarotto had seen her lover transform.

'After a bright flash of golden light, the man that had been was no longer a man that stood before us, but a beastly figure. His power radiated like the full moon above us, but the sheer weight of it was felt even in my bones as my ship departed. The heaviness was there even after he died.'

Vegeta frowned, and set down the book again as he thought, "... Grandfather, what do you think would be more powerful than a Super Saiyajin?"

Muscle - a man aptly named - cut in before the man could say anything, "Pff, nothing's more powerful than that."

"But if there was," the prince insisted, "what would it be?"

Reclining back, Addict scratched his chin in thought at that, and Romantic raised an eyebrow at him. He gestured to the book, "You've been doing a lot of thinking lately. Do you actually believe what that woman wrote? That the Legendary and the Hin'I Saiyajin are one in the same?"

"No," Vegeta said, "I know." He looked over his grandfather who had yet to say anything, and frowned, "What do you think? Is there anything stronger?"

His grandfather finally tilted his head to the side before he picked up Vegeta's book, and asked, "What page were you reading?"

He nearly jumped up to show him, "Here's the page, and I've been studying this section here."

Taking a deep breath, the older man sat back to read the paragraph before he flipped back a page to read something before it. He finally closed the book, and said, "According to her, he transformed into something after he became gold."

"After?"

He opened the book again to find the page, and recited, "'Golden arches cascaded around him, and he finally raised his eyes upward to the full moon where I dared to not look.' After that, she goes into a whole page of some kind of nonsense before ... 'and as he transformed into an Oozaru, I was continually blinded by the same golden arches.' He became something after becoming Oozaru though. She called it a 'beastly figure.' This must be the transformation that the legend always spoke of."

"... When is the next full moon?"

"Kakarotto?" Moaning softly, she stirred, staring up at Turles in confusion. "We're here. Now you have to tell us where Vegeta is again."

"Where ...?"

He sighed, and helped her sit up, "We're in Circa 2400, remember? You said he was close to Circa 2000."

Smiling slightly, she yawned before she attempted to get up, but found that her belly didn't agree, "Mm ... help me up." He did so, and she yawned again, rubbing her rounded form as her child told her that it was awake too with a mighty little punch. Gokuu smiled tenderly down at her stomach before she nodded at him, "Show me the map. I think I'll be able to point him out exactly if we're that much closer."

Turles brought her a new map, and she studied it as she felt out the prince's energy signal only to come upon three other signatures that matched Vegeta's. She took a sudden deep breath, and clutched at the map until it was torn asunder.

"Kakarotto!"

She jerked away, gasping sharply for air as the pieces of the brochure map fluttered to the ground, "I ..."

"No," Turles said soothingly, "it's all right. I'll just get another map. Stay here, and I'll ... I'll just hold it for you, okay?" She nodded numbly, and looked up when the fourth Bardock entered who looked in confusion at the torn map at Gokuu's feet. Turles told him as he left, "Watch her."

"So you didn't like that map?" The fourth Bardock toed at the ripped paper before he looked at her with a chuckle.

"No, Vegeta is-" she stopped to frown ahead at nothing, trying to form her thoughts into something that would make sense to him. "I mean, there are three of him that are off away from our Ve ... my Vegeta ..."

His other eyebrow raised up, "Oh? ... Where are they now? How close?"

"They're with someone ..." she muttered to herself before she grabbed the side of her head gently, feeling a headache strike abruptly.

"Back!" Turles said, waving the new map brochure. "Let's get off the transport first before we look at it though. Are the other's off already or do I need to wake them up too?"

"They're off now - I was actually sent to wake you two up," the man chuckled. Her uncle snorted a soft growl, but he was amused enough that he let it pass. Gokuu followed them both off of the transport, and Turles finally turned to her with the map when they were off, revealing it, "Now then, let's start from the beginning again - without tearing up the map, hm?"

Blinking at how oddly that he was acting, she looked at the map, and tracked out Vegeta's signature again, though her mind was kept distracted by the group of signatures that felt like Vegeta. After a moment, she realized these must have been Vegeta's Original Images, and she worried momentarily that she might have been following the wrong Vegeta.

She idly listened to a mother talk to her son as the two passed by, "You know that you can't pin point your father through the Gateway. Scouters only work when you're in the same Circa."

"But can I still talk to him with it?" The boy asked, and Gokuu glanced at him to see that he was having trouble getting his obviously new scouter on.

"Yes, scouters can work that way," she said. "You can't find or gauge anyone's energy on the other side of a Gateway, but you can certainly talk to them through one."

She almost lifted up her hand to point before she stopped, and kept her hand at her side. Turles raised an eyebrow at the twitch of her hand, but said nothing. Looking up discreetly, she examined the scouter he always wore, and remembered how she had felt the other Original Images always heading toward Vegeta whenever they were. All that those other Original Images had on them were scouters, and she doubted that anyone among them knew how to sense energy.

Yet the thing that began to shock her the most was that the boy and mother had not been speaking her language. Swallowing nothing, she studied Turles' scouter, and realized that she could read the blinking glyphs - though it took a while since they were inverted. After concentrating a moment, she read:

'TRANSMITTING AUDIO'

Standing straighter, she pursed her lips, "... This was a trap."

Turles frowned softly at her in confusion, "What the hell are you talking about?"

"You're getting too eagar," she murmured. Gokuu looked over at the four Bardock Images - who were also wearing blinking scouters - and told them, "You guys were pretty good actors too." She faced the scowling fourth Bardock - her birth father - and smiled sadly, "That was a nice touch too. About the picnics and helping me train my baby."

"Fuck!" Turles tossed aside the map, and grabbed her forearm, "At least we have you for a hostage. All four of those idiots will come running when they find out you're in danger."

"Kakarotto," the fourth Bardock said as they walked through the transport, "we can still go out on picnics with the baby - just without Vegeta."

Shaking her head, she averted her eyes from him, "Stop it, I'm sick of listening to lies." She yanked her arm out of Turles' grasp, ready to fly away. Her shoulders hackling in shock when she felt three of the Bardock Images acsend into Super Saiyajin. Gokuu clutched protectively at her baby when they came toward her.

"Well, how'd she figure it out!?" Nappa snapped, grating his large fangs together as he paced the room. His thick tail smacked against the wall of their ship in a loud bang that he was sure the fourth Turles could hear on the other side.

"She would only say that we were too eagar or something."

Rolling his eyes, Nappa went to sit down, "You could have improvised, damn it - at least, until she told us the Circa. We could've had a better lock on Vegeta."

"A couple hundred Circas isn't that bad though," Turles said. "I figured something out anyway. If you guys join us, Vegeta won't raise a finger against a couple dozen Super Saiyajin." Rubbing his jaw, Nappa listened on as Turles continued, "There's a moniter that flashes the news every hour in every Circa. All we have to do is borrow one of the stations, and broadcast us threatening Kakarotto's life of something like that ... Vegeta - all of them - will come running." As a grin spread over Nappa's face, he heard Turles chuckle, "The best thing about it is that we only have to speak in Japanese, and smile. No one would know that we're threatening to kill the bitch."

"I hope you remember our terms from last time," Turles said with a calm smile. "Planet Vegeta is apparently back in its rightful place already, but now all you have to do is open the way. If you do that, she and the child will be freed. Not a spike on her little head will be harmed - all you must do is open the way." He shrugged, the weird jovial grin still in place, "I trust that that you will do what is right, Vegeta."

"No ..." he hissed, lowering his head to knock it against the hard wall. Gripping the banister, Vegeta began to twist and mold the metal unknowingly.

He looked up when he heard Radittsu speak, "I'm sure you want to know whether we're telling the truth. So here she comes." It was the Radittsu wearing a toga, and he reached off of the screen for something, pulling Kakarotto over, "Smile for your lover now, slut."

For a wonder, Kakarotto did smile quite genuinely at the screen, and his chest suddenly ached when he saw how large her belly had become.

There was so much more girth than he first thought she would have when he had learned about her pregnancy over a year ago. He held his breath when he saw that she was wearing a dark yellow Saiyajin dress, the neckline at a modest cut, and the hem seemed like it reached the floor - though he could not see any lower than her knees. As style dictated, there were several dark strings of beads that were looped around her belly - each string for each month. Vegeta counted them at least a dozen times almost ceremoniously.

"Vegeta," she said, "it's going to be okay. I promise."

What about my child? He abruptly tried, eyes straining for even the smallest twitch to see if she had received his message.

"And the baby is fine," her voice had lowered slightly, like a soft husk, and he knew. You're watching now?

How the hell can I not? These damned moniters are everywhere in this town! He didn't tear his eyes away from Kakarotto on the screen, watching as she was taken out of the picture by Radittsu.

Vegeta, I missed you.

Paragus spoke up then, grinning a bit maniacally at the screen as the broadcast continued in Japanese, "You must respond by opening the way in the next three days. I'm sure that you can get to the First Circa from wherever you are in that amount of time."

And I you ... Kakarotto, they'll be waiting for me, won't they? Swallowing nothing, he started walking toward the Gateway, ignoring his grandfather, Romantic, and the others that had followed. I doubt those little shits would be happy with just having the Saiyajin race back. They want me dead, don't they?

I'm not sure what they're thinking, but they keep talking about opening something and how it's in the First Circa ... Vegeta, I just heard something. They're prepping their ship right now to get there. Maybe they just want to drop me off there when you open whatever it is.

Vegeta clutched the balistrade tighter, Maybe. Are you and my child really okay?

Yeah, it's kicking right now. I wish you could feel it.

Closing his eyes, he sighed, and cradled his face in his hands, ... I do too ... Kakarotto, don't ... just be safe.

Of course.

"Proud?" Vegeta looked up at Addict who raised an eyebrow at him, "Just how do you think you're going to open the way?"

"Why? Do you know anything about it? ... And you speak Japanese!?"

The men laughed, and Muscle switched easily into the language - much to Vegeta' shock, "All of the men known as Vegeta have to study on the language that the youngest Vegeta uses the most. Ever since you first went to Earth, you used it nonstop, so we all learned it."

"So wait, you're saying that my all of my ancestors knew what they were saying? They could help!"

"No," Addict said, "We could help. Those morons have never seen us before. All we'd have to do is dress up like civilians from around that Circa. We could distract them long enough for you to move in, and get that girl back."

Clearing his throat, Vegeta stood straighter, wary of the men suddenly, "What makes you think that I want her back?" When Addict pointed down at the metal balistrade that Vegeta had twisted and reshaped, Vegeta coughed, and started flying toward the Gateway with the others following close by, "... Do you know what I'm supposed to be opening?"

"I heard it used to be the link between Ept Pinto'Per End and our planet," Brain murmured. "But it was closed thousands of years ago when the dead kept coming back to life. To close it, the Gate God was killed, and the way became shut - presumably for all time."

That must have been what they were talking about then. They told my Original Image when he took over my body to bring everyone back. With this ... way open, the dead Saiyajin will be able to come back to the world of the living, and live again. "'Presumably,'" Vegeta snorted, and he saw Brain smile tightly. "You're saying there's a way to re-open it?"

Addict scowled at him, "You want that damned thing open? The dead aren't supposed to return to life, Proud."

"I've done it before. I don't think anyone will mind if I do so again."

Brain glanced over at Muscle before they both went to his side, Brain saying, "Our mother told us that in order to open the gate, the Goddess must give birth to a new Gate God."

"I don't have that kind of time! I only have three days to get it open, or Kakarotto will be killed!" He clenched his fist, glaring at the Gateway looming overhead. "It will take years to get her pregnant, and to get her through her pregnancy."

"Not so," Brain suddenly said. "There was once a boy that traveled with us for some time."

Romantic flew up to join them, "You mean our descendant? The soul of Proud's son?"

Vegeta's heart stopped until Brain elaborated, "No, he was just a boy we made you believe was Proud's. It's not that hard to imitate clothing to fool fools."

"That was a godling!?" The other man shouted before he went still, "... So where is the soul of Proud's child?"

Looking back and forth between the men who were suddenly speaking of things he had no awareness of, Vegeta growled, "What the fuck is going on!?"

Brain smirked, "Soon after you first claimed Kakarotto down on Earth, Muscle and I stumbled upon the soul of the Gate God. From watching you, we knew that the Goddess was about to lose her game with the War God, and so we took her son's soul under our wing, and hid him as best as we could with these idiots. When you and your Kakarotto died, we realized that the War God found out about her pregnancy, and that the Goddess was preparing for the final round of their game. The boy was gone as soon as you two were were situated in Heaven and Hell." Vegeta swallowed nothing, trying to keep up with what was being told to him, "If all is going as planned, the Gate God's soul has made his bluff, and he and your Original Images are now waiting in Desmen'Po'End Ept'Tedin."

"Where the Gods Walk," he translated before he shoot his head, still slightly confused, "... What of this bluff? And what about my child's soul?"

"The Gate God lied to your Original Images, saying that he stole your child's soul, and that he would put it back if they went to Desmen'Po'End Ept'Tedin."

"Okay ... so the way is in Desmen'Po'End Ept'Tedin, but how the hell do we get there?"

"That's the easy part," Brain said when they landed at the Gateway, and he glanced around before he and Muscle started walking straight toward the Gateway. Stopping directly in front of it, Muscle and Brain began to push against the strangely firm substance that the transport ships always went though. He said over his shoulder when the other men hesitated, "Only Proud needs to go through this."

"There's a passage way through ...?" He looked between the two of them, "And why aren't you coming?"

Brain grimaced, "Because you don't need us. All you have to do is make sure the Goddess has that baby, and that the War God doesn't do anything drastic to her in the mean time. After all if she gives birth, the God of War will lose the game, and I doubt that gods like to lose. If you can do that, and keep the Goddess and her baby alive until after his birth, then the way will open, and you should get your lover back."

After a while, Muscle said as he grunted slightly, still pushing hard against whatever was resisting their passing through the Gateway, "I hope your death wasn't too painful, Proud." When Vegeta raised an eyebrow, he said, "Don't take this personally, but I don't feel like reliving my death - even if I have company."

Brain explained rather amiably, "When you go through, you must relive your death a thousand times."

His eyes narrowed suddenly, and Vegeta asked in a low voice as a dark arch appeared in the Gateway where they were pushing, "How do you know all of these things?"

"We're the first kings of Planet Vegeta," Muscle told him, "and the twin sons of the Legendary Super Saiyajin - your last Original Image." He grinned a wide set of fangs when Vegeta gaped at him and Brain - both of whom looked more a little more familiar now that they had said something about it. Muscle was rather bulky, but suddenly the large mane of hair made more sense since Radittsu had the same, and the jigsaw puzzle that was Brain's hair became slightly tamer in his mind, and he saw a slimmer version of Bardock and Turles in him. Muscle laughed softly as he dusted his hands off, "Mother told us a lot of things when we were old enough, and we've been doing whatever we could for the Goddess ever since."

"Your mother ...? Kakarotto's Original Image!" Vegeta paused before he frowned to himself, "Wait, I've havn't seen hide nor hair of her Original Images ... and none of the other Images have even talked about them before. Where are they?"

"Not sure," Brain said when Muscle had faltered, and they both looked slightly confused. "We think that the Gate God knows though."

"I won't worry too much about it then," he sighed after a moment, and looked up at the opening in the Gateway. "In three days ... the full moon is in three days too. I wonder ... do you think that they know the Legendary's secret beast form?"

"Hard to say," Brain said. "The only one that seemed to know of our father's transformation was our mother, and maybe the other two Kakarotto Images, but they're all missing."

"I see." I guess they'll show up if they think they're needed ...

Vegeta stepped inside.

Gokuu swallowed dryly, and glanced over at the faucet again before taking her cup, and filling it once more. On the other side of the room, she could feel the second Brolli's stare on her back as she drank. Her babe had been unusually still and quiet for the last few days, and she rubbed her belly in worry. Her doctors had told her that meant there was less room for the baby to move, and that her due date was fast approaching. She didn't want to give birth to her child among these men. Who knew what they might try to do to it or her after it was born.

After a moment, she also remembered that heightened thirst was another sign that the birth would be soon. Closing her eyes, Gokuu filled her cup again before she sat down, abruptly feeling tired. She murmured softly when her baby finally stirred slightly, "Good morning, baby ..."

"It should have been mine," Gokuu stiffened when the second Brolli spoke. He had spoken in the dark, coarse language that he had learned as a boy, but ever since she had discovered the trap, she had realized she could actually understand the Saiyago languages and dialects that the men were saying around her. "You and every child that you've carried should have been mine, Kakarotto. I would have done anything to make you happy."

Her eyes glazed over slightly, and she looked away, petting her stomach even though the baby didn't need to be soothed. Just anything doesn't make me happy though. I want ... someone that will make me happy and content by just being beside me - I don't need anything but that, Vegeta. You and the baby.

Vegeta, I love you so much ......... Vegeta?

Long ago, the War God and Goddess started a game. For Gods, a game meant doing what one did not want to do. The War God wanted all of his people to live on, and the Goddess yearned for their demise.

This made the rules quite simple. The War God had to kill off his beloved Saiyajin while the Goddess had to save them all from destruction. There would be a tie if their remaining players all died on the same day. Should the Goddess lose, she had to give her immortal life to the War God, and if she won, the God had to pass on his own immortal life to her.

Once the rules had been set, they began their game. The Goddess claimed that she could win with only one player against the War God's chosen seven, and thus was how they rolled the dice. As the game went on, their players effectively killed the Gate God in only three rounds, setting the stage for the final round.

The new Gate God was concieved soon after, making the Goddess slow his growth expodentially while she planned. Being aware of the War God's need to destroy all living Saiyajin, she had seduced the War God to give her the means to come back on top and win. With the Saiyajin all dead, the Goddess would lose the game - unless she had a way to give life back to at least one Saiyajin within ten years.

The Goddess had almost lost before the final round even began, but the Gate God waiting in her womb ensured the safety of her immortal life.

However, all of their remaining players died on the same day, and thus left the eternal beings at a standstill while they waited for their players to move into new positions. The War God realized why there had been a standstill instead of a tie or a win for him, and thus discovered his unborn son within the Goddess.

Yet they could do little else but wait and play. Each dreading every roll.

... XP I'm moving soon ... Again! Gah ...