Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Kingdom Earth ❯ Chains of Command ( Chapter 2 )

Kingdom Earth

Part 1
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Chapter 2
Chains of Command

Princess Bulma had been studying her spell book in her private rooms when word of the attack came. Earlier, she had given all the guards around the castle orders that she was not to be disturbed.

It was because of that order that she had nearly laid a curse over her boyfriend Yamcha when he had come barging to tell her the news.

Her attitude had changed completely when she heard what he had to tell her. Growing pale she had run to her window to peer out of it…

Only to find that it was true. Her kingdom was under attack. She could see spots of smoke billowing up from surrounding towns and villages. The kingdom was framed by mountains on all sides except from the southwest… and southwest was the direction that the savages seemed to be approaching from. This was bad. That is, until she rushed to her other window and saw the smoke from that direction as well.

This was beyond bad. They were surrounded. They had no hope.

She had known that this day would come. The savages had made short work of conquering the kingdoms in and around Earth for nearly two decades. Now that they had moved on to her kingdom she could only hope that her people and her armies would somehow be able to stand up against the ruthless invaders.

"How, then, are we fairing?" She asked weakly, turning to face Yamcha.

Yamcha lifted his arm and scratched the back of his head with a hand. "Um..." He muttered.

Princess Bulma glared. "Just SAY it," She snapped impatiently. They had no time for idle...

Yamcha hung his head. "Not good," He admitted. He raised his head again and looked her right in the eyes. "Princess, we should leave." He suggested bluntly.

Bulma's eyes flashed with anger at the very suggestion. "WHAT?!" She shouted. "No way! I'm not going to go anywhere!" She deliberately rolled up her sleeve. "If they want to take the castle they're going to have to go though me first."

Annoyingly enough Yamcha looked like he was torn between laughing and being serious. Lucky for him he opted for the later. "Princess," he said, suddenly bowing and making a show of great respect. "Please forgive me for saying so, but your pathetic little charms aren't going to hold off *anybody* let alone an entire army of savages..."

Bulma looked like she was nearly ready to order him beheaded.

"Think of your parents," Yamcha continued quickly, catching the deadly look on the princess' face.

This stopped Bulma. Her father was the kindest ruler the land had ever had and all the people loved him. If something were to happen to him because of her she wouldn't be able to forgive herself. She also did not want anything to happen to her mother. Her mother was also kind hearted and did not deserve any sort of cruel fate... the woman would often roam the country side searching for the poorest and weakest and sickest among the people to cheer up and make them happy and give things to them. Even though she was ready to fight for her country and her people in an instant, she could not risk sacrificing them.

Yamcha sensed her decision even before she had voiced it.

"If its any consolation I'm sure Goku will drive them out," He said cheerfully. "And then we'll be able to come back, and everything will be well again..."

There was a spot of too much hope in his voice, but even so Bulma perked up considerably at his words. "Of course!" She said. Her friend Goku was the strongest warrior in the land, he'd be able to drive them all out-single handily even! After all he had done so before...

So with that she consented to leave. Within minutes they had gathered up her bumbling father and worried mother and fled out the back into the shelter of the forest beyond.

~~~

Moaning very softly, Gohan rolled over and sat up, rubbing at his eyes. Upon removing his hands he blinked into the waning evening light. He looked around in confusion.

He was sitting on the rock at the side of a river, he realized after a moment. He looked from the crystal clear river that ran beside him on one side to the grand trees that framed him on the other, his eyes growing very round. Where was he? How did he get here? And, most importantly, where were his parents?

Last thing he recalled he had been at home...

Then he remembered.

The Son Family had been eating breakfast together. Chi-Chi was looking out the window when she started shouting. Goku stood up from the table and went to his wife's side, concern showing on his face. They talked, quickly and urgently about an attack of some sort or something like that. His mother had wanted Goku to go and help somewhere else, yet father wanted to stay at home to protect them from whatever it was. His mother had won out finally and after some more shouting and a desperate kiss between them, his father had left. Gohan had still been sitting at the table at the time, watched this all take place out of wide eyes.

His breakfast had been forgotten when Chi-Chi approached him quickly and he found himself suddenly gathered up in her arms. She took him into her bedroom and moved the bed aside, revealing a small trap door under of which she kept a few of her most precious belongings. She had lifted the door and had placed him in the small space, all the while insisting that he be quiet, and that it was very important that he didn't make a sound. There was something about the way she spoke to him that he somehow knew, despite his young age, that he should obey her no matter what. She had kissed him on the forehead then and told him that she loved him and shut the door. He heard the bed being scraped back across the floor. Mere seconds later he heard the sound of crashes and awful sounds originating from the outside. After that he had heard shouts and most terrifying of all, he heard his mother screaming. He had started to cry then. Even so he stuck his tail in his mouth in a desperate attempt to be quiet. It seemed like forever but soon the shouts and crashes had stopped and all that he could hear was eerie silence. He stayed there without making a sound even as silent tears ran down his face, listening and waited for his mother to come and retrieve him.

No one came... hours past, and still no one came. Time began to slow. He was sure that something terrible must have happened to his mother. Since he could no longer hear anything he sat in the dark little hole and cried to himself, forgoing quiet for grief. More time had elapsed and his sobs had faded to barely anything when he heard a faint sound. Instead of shouting out for help he was frightened and he hunched down low in the box, trying his best to appear invisible though he couldn't be seen-and trying his best to muffle his sniffles. Terrified he listened as light, purposeful footsteps tread through the house, all the while moving unerringly towards the room. When they had sounded like they had reached the room they stopped.

Gohan thought his heart would burst from fear. He tried very hard not make any sound at all… but he was still half hiccupping and sniffling. He tried again to muffle the sounds, covering his face with his sleeve and tail, but it was of no use. He supposed whoever it was had heard him because within seconds there was the scrapping sound of the bed being moved aside and after that the floor was pulled up again. Suddenly Gohan had found himself staring up into the face of something… green.

After that everything was a blur. He was fairly sure that he had been upside down at one point, and that he was being yelled at. But after that...

He frowned, looking around himself desperately, at the river and the trees, then at the sky. Nothing made any sense! How come he was out in the middle of the forest then? Confused the boy climbed to his feet and stumbled off of the rock he was on. He walked forwards a bit... only to run into something.

Something black. Or rather someone clothed in something black. Gohan looked down at a foot, then looked up and up, past a torso, past two thick inhuman arms folded across a chest, right into the face of something... green. With pointed ears. And a pile of cloth wrapped around his head where his hair would be.

For a moment child and creature regarded each other silently. Then Gohan blinked and opened his mouth wide...

"Scream and I'll kill you." The creature said calmly.

Gohan shut his mouth and reconsidered his actions. Whatever the creature was he looked pretty serious, since he didn't even bat an eye when he said that.

"W-who'er you?" He finally managed to stutter out. "An' wh-where's my mommy and daddy?"

The creature glared. "Your father is dead." He said shortly. "I have no idea where your mother is, but I wouldn't doubt that she is dead as well."

If Piccolo were one to have a sense of humour he may have found the stunned look on the boy's face humorous. However he didn't have one of those and he didn't have much patience either. Especially when the stunned look began to turn into something that looked like it might have much crying and tears involved.

"Don't. Even. Start." He snapped.

The boy just looked at him and took several huge gulping breaths. That wasn't good for him because suddenly he looked like he was going to pass out again.

"Don't..." Piccolo began to growl.

It was too late. The boy did exactly that... his eyes rolled up into his head and he fell back into the dirt with a dull thud.

Piccolo stood. And waited. Nothing happened... the boy didn't move.

Extremely irritated Piccolo bent down and picked the boy up by the scruff of his neck. With one smooth motion he wound up and tossed him into the river.

~~~

Prince Vegeta was disgruntled. His plans to take the kingdom from the humans had been extremely successful, but when the castle of the capital had been raided it had been completely empty of all occupants. He knew that there had been a king and a queen and a princess in this kingdom and he expected to at least have something to show for his attack. The spoils of conquest were his to claim, and yet there was nothing about for him to take.

No only that, he had *insisted* to his fellow saiyans and other barbarians when the assault began that they should save the strongest human for *him* to fight... as was the right he had as the crown prince and the adoptive son of King Frieza. Instead he had discovered, thanks to the confessions from a few bothersome humans they had placed down in the dungeons, that the strongest man of all the humans was already dead. His name had been Son Goku and he had been the one that had died fighting Radditz by the hand of the Namek they had seen the day before.

This left him more than irritated. He would have accepted the Namek being delivered to him for destruction in compensation, but apparently the Namek had disappeared as well as the Royal Family. Rumour had it that the Namek had taken Goku's child with him where ever he went but no one could confirm that rumour. As for the Royal Family… he had no idea where they had gone.

Needless to say his victory wasn't as he had planned. This left Vegeta very agitated indeed.

That coupled with the fact that King Frieza wanted to see him again.

He let out a groan and very nearly blasted the small trembling servant who had been the one to deliver the message to his new royal quarters. Instead he gathered his robes about himself and stalked off to the throne room.

"You called for me sire?" He said, bowing himself low upon the ground the moment he entered the room. After a pause he got up and his eyes met the gaze of his King. The King's blackened lips curled up into a smirk.

"Vegeta," the lizard-like creature purred, rolling the wine in the glass that he held around and around. "Zarbon has some important news for you, don't you Zarbon?" He asked of the blue skinned creature that stood beside his throne. He indicated for Zarbon to speak with a lazy motion of his free hand.

Vegeta's eyes narrowed as he turned his attention to the creature. He disliked Zarbon. Zarbon was powerful… nearly as powerful as he was, and he was an exotic creature as well... rumoured to be from the Far East were many *interesting* creatures were known to exist. If only this one hadn't the changeling's ability to turn into the most disgusting of creatures...

"Well?" He snapped at the blue skinned creature. "What is it?"

Zarbon frowned minutely at Vegeta's lack of respect, his beautiful brow crinkling. He began to speak anyway when Frieza once again motioned him to go ahead.

"The human that fell along with Radditz the yesterday was the son of Bardock as well." He said blandly.

Vegeta blinked in surprise. Bardock had been a low class warrior of his kind, who had died at the hands of Frieza that day so many years previous when the tyrant had taken over their small kingdom and home. Prince Vegeta's father had also died as well that day, along with most of their kind... save for his son Radditz, the prince, and a few choice others. "Bardock doesn't have another son." He snapped furiously.

Frieza smirked. "He did," He corrected the small Saiyan. "You do recall, my dear prince, before your father was met with that most *unfortunate* accident, what happened to children of the third class ranks like Bardock?"

Vegeta gritted his teeth ever so slightly. Of course he did and he did not appreciate the patronizing tone of the Frieza's voice. However until he was strong enough to defeat Frieza and reclaim his throne from him he had no choice but to put up with it. "Of course, my lord. They were sent to neighboring kingdoms to purge or repress their unwelcome inhabitants." He replied swiftly.

"You are quite correct," Frieza agreed. He took a lazy sip of his wine. "Bardock's son Kakarrot was send away to this here kingdom mere days before his father's unfortunate demise. Isn't that right Zarbon?"

Zarbon nodded assent.

"If that is so true," Vegeta snapped heatedly. "Then why was this land still teaming with humans? And furthermore, why was Kakarrot fighting *for* them instead of against them?"

Zarbon shrugged. "Maybe he wasn't quite right in the head." He said. "Goodness knows his father wasn't." The blue skinned creature chuckled.

Vegeta just barely managed to bite back a retort before he checked himself mentally. Defending a third class warrior was definitely *not* worth it.

Even so, Frieza must have caught the look on his face because he laughed heartily. "My dear prince," He said kindly. "You mustn't worry about it. After all, now that he is dead, he can hardly cause you any trouble."

Vegeta forced a smile and bowed stiffly. He was rapidly developing a headache, as he often did when called to speak to the King. "Of course my lord." He said and straightened. "If there's anything else...?"

Frieza shook his head once. Vegeta turned to go. "Oh and Vegeta," Frieza called after him.

Vegeta turned back again, one brow raised questioningly.

"Do tell me if Kakarrot continues to bother you... I'm sure we'll be able to find another human for you to defeat." And with that the tyrant threw back his head and laughed loudly.

Fuming at the jibe at his strength, Vegeta nodded once sharply and stormed from the room, flushing darkly at the laughter that followed him.

How *dare* he compare me to a third class warrior, the prince thought darkly on his way back to his personal quarters. If King Frieza knew anything about his kind at all he would know how insulting his last remark had been. Then again Frieza probably knew exactly what he had implied by his remark and had made it for the express purpose of upsetting the prince.

However, Vegeta thought as he entered his own lavishly decorated room and looked about appreciatively, he had to be grateful for the tyrants' generosity. Frieza could have easily killed the young prince when he had the chance... kill him like he had his father and most of his kind. Instead he had kept the young prince alive and not only that, he had taken the time to raise him as his own child. He had kept him by his side as they moved from kingdom to kingdom. Vegeta's lips curved up into a smirk.

Frieza's minions and men were like a plague. They brutally and ruthlessly took over and destroyed each kingdom they came to… that was what they did. It was how they earned their name... they were known as "savages", and they were much feared by kings and queens alike throughout most of this world. Having no conscience they killed without a thought, raped and plundered, then moved on when they had drained each kingdom's resources and left it desolate, only to repeat the process elsewhere.

Except here. Here would be different. Vegeta had insisted on it the moment he had laid eyes on it that *this* kingdom would be his. It was more beautiful even than that of his old home, the now desolate kingdom of Vegeta. He had helped Frieza conquer so many lands before this one and the little tyrant still lorded over them all. He didn't want the land of Vegeta back… it had been left a barren wasteland and unliveable even for him. Instead he wished this land for himself, untouched, with its lofty mountains and nature and beauty unrivalled by most. Surprisingly Frieza had been willing to agree to give it to him-- or at least played along with him for he had granted the prince his wish. In fact he was only here for a small space of time before returning to one the many other lands he possessed, to leave Vegeta as the lord and master of kingdom Earth. His only condition had been that he was going to leave the prince with a small amount of his loyal subjects and part of the forces to help him run it.

Vegeta was looking forward to the day when Frieza left with heavy anticipation. Even if he knew the remaining subjects would more than likely be spies for Frieza, he didn't care. Just to be out of the constant supervision of the King would give him the opportunity to secretly plot his downfall. For despite Frieza's apparent generosity he had not forgotten what the tyrant had done to his people. No, he would never forget, and someday… someday he would avenge his kind. And then… and then Kingdom Earth and all of that which was Frieza's would be his and then HE and he alone would rule this world.

But before that…

Before that, he had to rule this small kingdom first. And there was one small problem that came with attempting to rule this kingdom and it bothered him like the prick of a thorn in his side. The royal family was still missing. He let out a tremendous sigh, flopping down on a generously pillowed chair. His defeat of the kingdom Earth was incomplete without them. If the human royals continued to be at large for any amount of time he could expect them to stir up dissidence in the humans against him. Not that they could ever defeat him, all the humans in the land could not defeat him, he knew. But it would be a terrible waste of completely capable slaves if he had to kill off a couple hundred of them because of an avoidable misunderstanding...

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