Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ RipTide ❯ 13 ( Chapter 13 )

Chapter 13

Vegeta, Vaya and Kakarrot were all sitting at a table. The king and queen were engaged in a heated game of chess while Kakarrot watched indifferently with a bag of snacks. Suddenly, the doors busted open and Gohan came running in. The three nearly jumped as he skidded to halt, panting.
"Y-Your majesties...Dad...Mission Control just got word that a ship is making a landing at the royal docks..." Gohan panted. They looked at him with quirked brows.
"This tall guy with big black hair and this woman with purple eyes. Something about bringing back their grandchildren," Gohan said. At that moment, the three older saiiyans got up and rushed to the door.

~*~
Canta and Lea were called over immediately and rushed over as quickly as their legs could carry them. They all stood at the royal docks as a very familiar ship landed before them and the doors slid open. Smoke flowed out from inside as two figures stood: one compact yet masculine and the other, lithe and petite. When they walked down the boarding ramp, eyes widened.
Adrian came walking down with Hitomi by his side. Vaya was the first to rush over and pull her son happily into her arms, hugging him tight.

Adrian smiled at the intensity of his mother's embrace, realizing just how worried she at least must have been about him. Something soft touched his mind and then enveloped his consciousness in a warm golden glow. Adrian recognized it as his mother's "mind state"...it was always bright and warm and soft there.
When Vaya released him, Adrian tried to breathe, but he was swept up in a stronger pair of arms as soon as the queen let go. Kakarrot had him around the shoulders and was swinging him around happily. "Where've you been, little buddy? We missed you!" he cried excitedly.
Adrian laughed as Kakarrot put him down again, but then he had the wind knocked out of him as someone took a flying leap onto his back.
"You big dumb jerk!" Gohan yelled, pounding him on the back. "What'd you go and do that for? Your damn cats were worried sick!"
"Aw, did you miss me, Gohan?" Adrian purred in a babylike voice as Gohan hopped down.
Gohan grinned. "Of course I did! Without you here, who else would I have to tease for being so dense and infantile?"
"Oh yeah, right, like you're so much older than I am."
Adrian and Gohan were snickering and jabbing at each other, when Adrian noticed his father standing a few feet away. Vegeta's arms were folded and his face was stern, unlike the happiness shown on the faces of the others. Adrian gulped, but gathered his courage and went over to face Vegeta. He stood tall to show that he was not afraid, and suddenly realized that his growth spurt had put him at eye level with his father now. It made everything different, somehow.
"Dad..." Adrian started to say, but Vegeta merely raised a hand to stop him. He gave Adrian a long, careful stare.
"So this is, what, the ultimate prank for you, isn't it?" he finally said. There was the slightest hint of an old familiar smile.
Adrian smirked. "Something like that."
Vegeta nodded. "Too bad you weren't here to see our reactions to it."
Adrian shrugged. "Oh, I think I can imagine."
"Can you now." Vegeta stared at him for a moment more. Then he smirked. "Welcome back, son."
"Thanks, Dad."

"Ack! Mom! Dad!" Hitomi gagged as her mother scooped her into a tight bear hug that was knocking the wind out of her.

"I missed you too, now could you put me down before I die from asphyxiation?" she coughed and her mother put her down. Canta nudged her, "Don't you ever go running off and doing something like that again!"

"Hey! It's not my fault the prince was in that junker. I just went looking for him!" Hitomi put her hands on her hips. Then she paused and looked to Adrian with a nervous, yet familiar grin. It was time to break the news to them.

"Mom...Dad...Hitomi and I have something to tell you..." Adrian started, but was interrupted by Gohan.
"Holy cow, dude, what happened to your arm?" he cried, pointing wildly.
Adrian looked down at his arm and remembered the bandage. He had been so...preoccupied recently that he had forgotten it was there. As if on cue, his cut started to ache again. Vegeta raised an eyebrow, but that was all he did.
Vaya, however, was suddenly next to her son. She took hold of his arm and stared back and forth from it to him. "What happened? Are you hurt?"
"Mom, I'm fine," Adrian mumbled with embarrassment. "It's nothing...I'll explain later. Right now--"
"Are you sure it's nothing? Maybe you should go to the infirmary," Kakarrot suggested.
Adrian stared at him, his mouth hanging open in exasperation. He turned to Hitomi and shrugged. The message he sent her with his eyes was simple. I give up. Maybe you should say it this time.

Hitomi grumbled at their rudeness, "Would you guys leave him alone! He's not a baby anymore! He was trying to tell you that we're mated!"

Hitomi mumbled a low 'oops' as resounding gasps filled the room and the couple received gawks and dropped jaws.

"YOU'RE WHAT?!?!"

Hitomi's father was on her first, tears running down his eyes, anime style, "Finally! My little girl's finally gained some sense and gotten herself a mate! And the prince no less!"

"DAD!!"

"Adrian?"
Adrian, who had been watching this display with an amused smirk, jumped and did a complete 180 at the sound of his father's voice. He gulped and faced the group that was composed of his father, mother, soul-father and best friend. Vaya was the only one who didn't look stunned by this news. Even Gohan's mouth was practically touching the ground.
"Yeah, Dad?"
"Is this true?" Vegeta asked suspiciously. "YOU...you MATED...with her...?"
Adrian nodded, wincing as he waited for the blow to fall.
Vegeta heaved a deep sigh. "IT'S ABOUT DAMN TIME!"
Adrian blinked as Kakarrot burst out laughing and Gohan kangarooed over to jump up and down next to his friend and pound him on the back. Vaya shook her head and sighed affectionately, taking hold of Vegeta's arm and giving him a slightly reproving glance. He merely shrugged.
Just then, as if sensing the commotion, Warfrost and Cassinian soared overhead and made a landing that shook the floor. Warfrost bounded over to Adrian and head-butted him happily. Adrian snickered and rubbed the Emera's fur, trying not to fall over. Then Warfrost padded back to sit regally behind Vegeta, his head towering over his master. Vegeta scratched the underside of his pet's chin.
Cassinian, however, paid no attention to the group, even to the newly returned prince. He focused his attention on the ship. He took a few tentative steps forward and whined. The old Emera caught a familiar scent, then another. He lifted his head to face the open door of the ship and roared.

The two teens blinked. Cassinian apparently seemed to know the two elders inside the ship. Everyone turned to the older Emera as he lightly pawed at the ship and two more figures came walking down the ramp. A familiar old voice spoke, "You ruined the surprise Cassinian!"
The expressions of the king, queen and Kakarrot seemed to widen as they recognized the voice right away. A light, pleasant feminine giggle also filled their ears, "You and your surprises. He probably sensed our presence before any of the cubs did."
Sdhoirm and Zafira finally stepped clearly out of the shadows so that everyone would see them. Before anyone could say anything, Sdhoirm was tackled to the ground by the large cat who proceeded to lick his master.
"Augh! Cassinian, you're ruining my clothes! I'm happy to see you too, now get off!" Sdhoirm complained while everyone laughed. The big cat finally obeyed and let him loose as Zafira approached him and petted him, earning loud purrs from Cassinian. The two elders finally turned to the other inhabitants in the room with warm smiles. Vaya was the first to react and ran into her father's arms, tears already forming. Sdhoirm chuckled and hugged his daughter tight, "Vaya! Look at you!"
Zafira smirked and put her hands on her hips, turning to the king, "Well, are you going to stand there waiting for a fly to hop in your mouth, or are you going to give your mother a hug?"
Vegeta smirked and grunted before walking over to his mother and hugging her tight. He fought back the moistness forming in his eyes and grumbled, "I missed you mother."
"I missed you too baby," she whispered, hugging her only son close. Kakarrot could only smile brightly while Gohan merely blinked. "S-Sdhoirm?...Queen Zafira?"
The two elders looked to Kakarrot with knowing smiles. He approached them slowly and bowed. When he rose, Zafira hugged him as well.
"Look at you boy, you're a monster!" Sdhoirm exclaimed, earning a laugh from Kakarrot. Zafira looked to Gohan with a smile, "Is that little Gohan?"
Gohan blinked and Kakarrot nodded, "Children grow up so fast these days."
"Tell me about it. The last time we saw you, you couldn't even sit up without Chi-Chi's help and now look at you!" Sdhoirm smiled, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder, who was now smiling.

~*~
Back at the palace, the group gathered in the courtyard to hear the stories of the teenagers and the adults. Adrian, Gohan and Hitomi were on the ground, with Adrian in the middle, his bandaged arm resting on one knee. Hitomi was sitting Indian-style and Gohan was lying on his stomach. Vaya, Kakarrot, Lea and Canta (who had been invited back with them) sat at a table together. Warfrost and Cassinian were opposite each other. Warfrost was seated sphinx-style, and Vegeta was on his pet's back with his arms folded on top of Warfrost's head. Cassinian was lying on his side with his head across his paws, his body curled in a half-circle. Sdhoirm was lying with his back up against Cassinian's stomach, his arms behind his head. Zafira was next to him, resting against his shoulder. The adults had let the children give their information first, and Hitomi and Adrian were rapidly trading back and forth as they told the story.
"--We had to sleep in a tavern with all these drunk weirdoes--"
"--the tavern owner was pretty nice, his name was Ariton--"
"--they kept telling stories about this mega-huge black-gray wolf that they called Maugrim--"
Sdhoirm smirked, but the others didn't notice. Zafira jabbed him to keep him quiet.
"--Ariton made him sound really scary--"
"--his owner's name was Natsumi--"
Zafira had to smile.
"--Ariton said if we were lucky we'd see him--"
"--we did see him, he was really big--"
"--and he looked at us, and Ariton said he never looked at anybody--"
"--so we decided to follow him--"
"--and try to find Natsumi too--"
"--it was really dark and quiet--"
"--but Adrian cut himself pretty bad on a branch and fell unconscious--"
Adrian lifted his bandaged arm for emphasis. At this point, Hitomi had to pick up the story because Adrian remembered nothing.
"--this big creepy-looking cat thing attacked us, and it was gonna kill us but then Maugrim jumped outta nowhere and killed it instead, and then he called his wolf pack to guard us, and he lifted Adrian onto his back and told me -- well, he showed me that he wanted me to ride on his back, and he took us to a cottage on a sea cliff and it belonged to Natsumi and she treated Adrian's arm--"
Hitomi gasped for breath as Adrian picked up the story again.
"--and when I woke up we were talking to Natsumi and she told us her real name was Zafira--"
All eyes turned to Zafira. She smiled and shrugged. Sdhoirm ran his fingers through her hair.
"--and I remembered she was my grandmother, but I couldn't remember what happened to Sdhoirm, so we asked--"
"--and then Maugrim changed back into Sdhoirm, and it was really cool--"
"Whoa, whoa, freeze," Vegeta interrupted, waving a hand from his perch on Warfrost's head. "What do you mean, 'changed back'? Sdhoirm?" He looked at his soul-father curiously, as did everyone else.
"I didn't know you could change form," Vaya said in surprise.
Sdhoirm smiled. "I know, I learned. Couple of years ago, I picked it up on another planet."
"That is so cool," Gohan broke in. "So you can turn into a wolf whenever you want?"
"Yes and no," Sdhoirm explained. "I can turn into just about anything you can think of, but just like any power trick, it requires energy, and that energy takes time to gather. The bigger the animal I'm changing into, the more energy I need, the longer it takes -- you get the idea. If it was something small, like a mouse maybe, the change would be instantaneous."
He paused, and then there was a sort of tiny shock. Sdhoirm disappeared, and a tiny gray mouse landed with a plop in Zafira's lap. Everyone's mouths fell open, except for Zafira, Hitomi and Adrian. Warfrost and Cassinian jerked their heads in surprise.
The mouse skittered onto the ground. Then there was another shock, and Sdhoirm appeared again next to Zafira, standing up.
"Maugrim is pretty big," he continued, "but I'm so used to making that transformation that it requires almost no effort anymore. I like that shape a lot, because Maugrim is strong and very fast. However...there is one other form...with power beyond anything else I can transform to...but it's so big, that it takes a full minute to gather almost all the energy I have. If you think about it, that's a long time."
"Well, what is it?" Vegeta asked.
Sdhoirm merely smiled and sat down next to Zafira again, his eyes sparkling in their old familiar way. Vegeta sighed. He was surprised at himself for expecting Sdhoirm to give him a straight answer about anything.
Adrian and Hitomi soon finished their story after getting back on track again, skimming quickly over the whole Harvest moon incident. Lea and Canta were practically bursting with happiness, but the king and queen seemed proud if nothing else. When the tale had ended, there was a flurry of congratulations and questions and excited comments from the teenagers' audience.
Sdhoirm and Zafira, however, did not take part in the whirl. They watched for a while, taking in the familiar sight and actions of their loved ones. Then Zafira looked up at Sdhoirm, and very reluctantly he nodded. It was time to reveal some very unfortunate news.

"We have more news," Zafira spoke, silencing everyone. Their smiles all faded when they saw the frown on her face.

"Everyone living saiiyan on this planet and any other is in grave danger," Zafira started. Resounding 'whats' filled the room. Sdhoirm looked to all the adults, "Do any of you remember The Ginyu Force?"

Eyes widened and Vegeta sat up, "They used to work for Frieza. I can't believe we overlooked them!"

Sdhoirm lifted his hand, "It is quite all right, Vegeta. With Frieza gone, we figured they wouldn't be a threat either."

"But we were wrong," Zafira said solemnly, "What they lack in power, they more than make up in manipulation. They have easily managed to convince many planets that we are a threat to their existence by reminding them of the Planet Trade that took place when Frieza was still alive."

Vegeta frowned, "So that's why planets have been cutting off trade ties with us."

"They're joining up with the Ginyu against us," Vaya almost whispered. Sdhoirm nodded, "If they get enough planets, they could easily wage a war against us and wipe us out of existence."

"We have to stop them," Canta spoke up. Zafira shook her head, "We could easily wipe them out ourselves, but then that would prove to other planets that we are a threat. We'd never have allies, we'd always be feared and everyone would be our enemy."

"Then we'll have to settle things non-violently," Vegeta said, holding his chin.

"That is the reason we returned. We also wanted to inform you that they are--" there was a sudden knock at the door and all heads turned to it as the doors slid open and an alien servant walked in. Zafira frowned; this would be another aspect counted against them. They were still using inhabitants from purged planets as their slaves.

"Your majesties and guests, there is an incoming transmission labeled 'urgent'," he spoke, bowing.

"Who," Vegeta looked at him with a cocked brow. The alien looked up, "Captain Ginyu."

~*~

"Ah, King Vegeta, how good it is to finally meet with the revered Saiiyan no Ou," the captain smirked evilly before turning his attention to Vaya who was standing by his side with a stern look. He ran his eyes over her body with a grin, "Ah, Queen Vaya. Still looking lovely, I see."

"Can the compliments Ginyu, what the hell do you want?" Vegeta scowled. The Ginyu had to resist a laugh, "I see you still like to get down to business."

He dropped his pleasant mask and revealed a sinister one, "The people of this galaxy see you and your people as a threat to peaceful existence, your majesty. And frankly, I agree with them. I have invited leaders from planets all over the galaxy to a council meeting at Planet Frost," he grinned evilly, "and as leader of the Galactic Revolt, I felt it would only be fair to invite the leader of the problem we wish to eliminate to hear your views before we have you and your barbaric race wiped out of existence."

Vegeta's scowl deepened, "Don't be so sure of yourself, Ginyu. If we could get rid of Frieza, taking care of you and your band of misfits should be a walk in the park."

Ginyu smirked, "We shall see."

Then the transmission ended. Vegeta growled and exited the room.

Sdhoirm and Zafira met him outside the door.
"Do you want us to go along?" Sdhoirm asked. "I've been traveling through other planets since I was a teenager, I can assure you I know how to deal with other races. Besides, some of them might know who I am."
"Of course I want the two of you to come along. I'll need all the advice and information I can get. And the two of you are my best reliances," Vegeta said as the four of them walked down the hall.
"I've already ordered to have things packed and a ship ready for our trip."
"What about the cubs?" Vegeta looked to Sdhoirm, "What about them?"
"You know they'll want to come along," Zafira said with a knowing look. Vegeta sighed, of course.