Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Strange New World (That Has Such Creatures In It) ❯ Fight in the Mountains ( Chapter 7 )

Part 7

Though there was room to sleep behind Vegeta and enough blanket to cover them both, Goku didn't want to spoil Vegeta's change of heart by sleeping next to him without his permission. The next morning, he woke up curled on the floor beside his mate with an aching back and as tired as he'd been the night before. Sitting up, he noticed that the sky was still dark, although the first rays of dawn were appearing on the horizon. The temperature had dropped during the night and the air was uncomfortably cool. He wrapped his own blanket around his shoulders and stood.

A soft whimper made him turn around. Jalen was still nestled in Vegeta's arms, but he raised his own chubbier arms out to Goku. From his look, he figured Jalen had been whimpering for a few minutes now and was getting impatient. Fat tears gathered in his eyes as he sniffled. Goku recognized that sound from raising Gohan. It was the noise babies made when they were filling their lungs, getting ready for an ear-splitting wail. He bent and gathered Jalen up before he even thought of what Vegeta would say.

"Are you hungry?" he whispered, letting his son grab his fingers. Jalen pulled his hand up to his mouth and tried to bite. Goku's eyes widened. "Wow, I think your teeth are already coming in." He pulled his hand away and looked into Jalen's mouth. Sure enough, tiny white edges were already poking through.

"I wonder why you're not crying," he said. "Gohan cried the whole time he was teething."

Meanwhile, Jalen looked into Goku's eyes. This was his parent, he knew this, so why was his diiratta poking and prodding him and not giving him anything to eat? He whimpered again and grabbed Goku's hand, tugging it to his mouth again. When he didn't find any food, he growled and threw a miniature glare at him.

Goku knew that look all too well from his mate. Vegeta's "wounded prince" look meant that he better figure out exactly what he'd done to offend his mate and figure it out now. Usually Vegeta's mind worked in such complex patterns that Goku was left begging for his mate's forgiveness, soothing his prince as he slipped into his sulky moods, but this time he knew exactly what was wrong. Hunger was one thing he could understand.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Here..." He ripped a tear open in his palm and offered it to Jalen, who seized it and lapped up the spilling blood before clamping onto the wound itself. "It's okay. I can get a little grumpy if I don't eat, too."

When he heard his voice, Jalen glanced up at him but he didn't stop eating. He hadn't even taken a breath yet. This was blood was different from his teza's, a little cooler and more sugary. Teza's blood was thick and rich like hot cream, but Diira's blood was a little thin and sweet. After several minutes, he broke away from his meal and grinned at Goku, blood smeared across his mouth.

"Just as messy as Gohan was," he said and wiped the blood away. "Well, he had oatmeal instead of blood, but still...babies are messy."

Another whimper came from the bed, but this one sounded much different than Jalen. Goku gazed down at his mate, watching Vegeta turn slightly in his sleep. Despite their bond, Goku couldn't tell if Vegeta's usual tossing in bed was from nightmares or from flare-ups of old wounds. The prince never let his guard down entirely, even when he slept. He had a feeling it was a mix of both.

One of Vegeta's hands was trapped, twisted in the blanket, but his free hand moved blindly to where Jalen would've been nestled. When he didn't find him, whatever nightmare he was trapped in seemed to ride him harder. His breathing came faster, his body moved restlessly. Worried his prince might panic or wake up and assume the worst, Goku shifted Jalen's weight to one arm, freeing his other. Gently he slipped his hand into Vegeta's, bringing it to Jalen's.

Their son grasped Vegeta's hand, then looked at Goku. He'd already eaten, he didn't need anymore right now. First the prodding, now this? He was starting to think his diiratta was not all there.

Vegeta's eyes opened and he looked up at his mate and child. Jalen seemed fine, although his brow was furrowed and his eyes were intent on Goku's face as if trying to fathom out some strange secret. Vegeta couldn't help but laugh around his relieved sigh.

"Kakarrot...you're confusing the brat."

"Huh?"

"Never mind. Must come naturally to you." Vegeta pushed himself up slightly, waving aside Goku's offer of help. "I'm all right. It's almost healed now. I'm only tired."

"Are you hungry?"

"No." A small shake of his head. "A little cold..."

"Oh," Goku reached to the foot of the bed where the blankets were folded and kept. "There's plenty of--"

His voice trailed off when Vegeta's hand fell to his arm. He looked over at his mate and found a strange look on his face. Bonds, he'd discovered, were sometimes a little shaky early in the morning when mates had just woken up, but usually he'd been able to feel some kind of emotion from Vegeta, the prince's familiar anger, though usually his exasperation. On a rare occasion, fear. Right now he could hardly feel anything. Calm was a strange feeling on his mate.

"The window," Vegeta said, reaching his hands up to take Jalen. "Take me to the windows."

"It won't hurt if I move you?" Goku let Jalen go, tucking the blanket back around the pair. "I can still smell a little blood."

"It's what's dried. A few more hours and the damage should be healed, at least the surface of it."

"Oh. Okay." Goku bent and eased one arm behind Vegeta's back, one under his legs. With him in his arms, he carried him to the bed next to the window. And froze.

The bed was backwards. Or they were backwards. Either way, he couldn't set Vegeta down since his head was toward the foot of the bed. He stared at the bed as if that would make it turn. Then he noticed that his mate was shaking slightly and he looked down, afraid Vegeta had gone into shock. Instead the prince seemed to be...laughing?

"Kakarrot...I swear..." Vegeta leaned his head against Goku's shoulders and sighed his laugh away. "Turn around and sit down on the bed."

Goku obeyed. Now they were facing the right way, but he was in the way. His face must have shown his annoyance because Vegeta started laughing again until he winced and pressed one hand to his stomach.

"Honestly, this isn't hard to figure out. Lay back, Kakarrot."

"Uh..." Goku obeyed, swinging his legs up onto the bed. He lay back on the upraised section of the bed and watched Vegeta stretch out slightly, using him like a large pillow. Vegeta yawned once and held Jalen against his chest, on Goku's stomach.

"Not so cold now, is it?" Vegeta whispered to Jalen. "Now you see why I keep him around."

Whether or not Jalen understood, Goku couldn't tell, but Jalen smiled and snuggled in the folds of his gi.

"A tezata must have designed this room," Vegeta said. "It's almost perfect."

A steady breeze blew across the windows, just cool enough to make Goku's presence warm instead of stifling. Vegeta turned his head to look out the windows at the plains, and he smiled as Goku's arms closed around him, one hand stroking his cheek.

"Glad you came," he whispered again. "Everything's almost perfect again..."

"Almost?" Goku asked.

"Mm. There may be an asteroid on its way here, and I think all the kais are against us, but..." He shrugged. "We have the one true God on our side. Kigeta will guide us."

"Um...'Geta? I know this is gonna sound like another one of my dumb questions but, who's Kigeta?"

Vegeta blinked. "Who's..." He looked up at Goku with wide eyes. "Of course. You wouldn't know. And no one's explained to you...?"

"Raditz mentioned him. So did your dad. But no one's told me who Kigeta is, or how you managed to bring Vegetasei back, or how all the Saiyans are back." He gave his mate the familiar "confused Son" look, one hand already creeping toward the back of his head. "Is Kigeta a dragon?"

Vegeta almost sighed. Lots of things to tell his mate to bring him up to speed on the events prior his arrival, the black dragon deity, Raditz's ascension, the treachery of the kais. He did sigh at the thought of explaining what amounted to a cosmic conspiracy. First things first, though. He grabbed Goku's hand and brought it back down to where it had been before, softly stroking his hair. If he had to put up with giving long explanations, he would at least be comfortable doing it. He took a deep breath and began.

"When I arrived here, there was no life at all. Vegetasei was an empty husk, a rock. Fortunately I still had the woman's dragonball radar, and I located five black dragonballs in the center of the city."

"The city was here?"

"The buildings, at least. They were carved out of rock, so I suppose they're part of the planet itself. In any case, all the buildings were standing, and I found the dragonballs inside the second largest structure. It looked like a human cathedral."

"But I didn't see anything besides the castle when we flew in."

"That's because the cathedral exploded when Kigeta came forth. He was huge, bigger than any dragon I've ever seen. He was black and shimmered like a rainbow, as if all the colors of creation lay within those black scales."

"Wow...it exploded?"

"It couldn't contain Kigeta. Nothing can. He's immense. He used this castle as a perch, and the way it's made...I think it was designed just for Kigeta's use. He brought back the animals, resurrected the Saiyans who endured hell, and..." He looked down over his own body. "He healed all the damage ever done to me. He held me in one claw and reshaped me."

Goku's hand toyed with the bangs around his mate's face. "I wondered where these came from."

"Damn annoying things," Vegeta said, but there was no anger in his voice. "Beyond that, not much has happened. We're still gathering food before the winter sets in, so we won't be able to hunt animals until next spring. I've trained Raditz so that he's a Super Saiyan--"

"Wait," Goku said, staring down at him. "Raditz can transform?"

"Mm-hmm. He only just turned yesterday." He yawned and stretched, oblivious to his mate's surprise. "Gave me something to do besides reading all those books. 'Avatar this, dragon that,' and not one actually mentions what the avatar really does. And we're wondering when the asteroid will show up...if it even will. It's been so long now since Bardock foretold it."

"...huh?"

Vegeta knew that sound. The "confused Son" whimper meant that he'd completely lost his mate and if he wanted anything resembling an intelligent conversation, he'd better explain everything now. Preferably in small words and short sentences. He took a deep breath.

"Kakarrot, this is going to take a little while. Don't talk, just listen, and you can ask whatever questions you want later, understand?"

"Sure, okay."

Vegeta paused for a moment. Where to start? The asteroid? Bardock's gift of prophecy? Or perhaps with his father's explanation, Kigeta's sudden announcement, his own jump in strength? He smiled to himself. He'd start with the most important thing and work from that.

"I am far stronger than you now, Kakarrot..."

*

Comfortably nestled beside his own mate, Trunks lay wide awake, staring at the ceiling. It was simple and unornamented, but the stone itself sparkled in the morning light. He didn't really notice, though, too absorbed in his memories as he replayed parts of the King's little tezatae talk the day before.

Heat is our term for when the tezata desires children. This often occurs after your twentieth cycle, though it has been known to come to halfings differently, sometimes sooner, sometimes later. Usually there are smaller heats in the years building up to the true heat. Your temperature will rise, you will seek out a mate, and there will probably be a little more blood and biting than usual in your coupling.

"Oh," Goten had said. "That explains those nights when Trunks couldn't stop clawing me."

Trunks blushed as bright as he'd done then. Some of those nights were harder to remember than others, but Goten was always sure to describe them to him the morning after, in scandalous detail. Nights of Trunks creeping silently behind him, pushing Goten down on the bed or the kitchen counter or the lawn, starting slow with licks and nips until he was biting in earnest. Holding Goten down so he couldn't escape, pushing his wrists above his head or by his sides or transforming before Goten could, spending the entire night golden while Goten remained dark-haired. Nights when Trunks snarled and hissed, as if he had forgotten speech altogether.

And it's a good thing you've ascended as well, Goten. The diirata must be as strong as his tezata, at least strong enough to survive the mating. No doubt you've been on the receiving end of his rage during that time.

That was the worst of the heat, Trunks thought. Waking up beside a wounded mate. A mating during heat left more in the sheets than the little streaks of blood a normal mating did. Goten was often left with bruises over most of his body and deep punctures from Trunks' fangs and claws. "You thought I was trying to get away," was the usual explanation. "You thought I was fighting back." And no amount of apologizing could take away the dried blood on his teeth and hands nor alleviate the guilt. Despite Goten's assurances that he was all right, and his own efforts to quell his primal instincts, Trunks knew that creature lurked somewhere within him, his animal reflection waiting for the next opportunity.

The true heat, though, is much more intense and encompassing than these smaller heats. For one thing, a child will almost certainly be conceived. It's very rare that the tezata remains barren afterwards. The tezata should also become less violent, since his mate has already proven himself strong enough to handle the earlier heats and devoted enough to stay despite the pain. Instead he'll be more intent on keeping his mate close at hand, doing everything in his power to stay near to his diiratta. Your tezata will seem even more animal-like than before, unable to speak or act rationally. He'll depend completely on you to think and act for him, to keep him safe during the mating and afterwards. It's a remnant of our ancient behavior that's never bred out, so to speak.

The king had tried to sound reassuring, but Trunks didn't feel at all comfortable with the process. He hadn't said how long the tezata was stuck in what Goten called puppy mode, and from what he remembered of his father's absence with Goku roughly five months before, it could be several days. Sex with Goten was all well and fine, but a week of it? And him always on the receiving end? Trunks frowned. His mate had laughed and laughed at the thought of genius Trunks whimpering and growling, eating out of his hand and doing nothing more strenuous than submissively offering his body up to his mate. Trunks grinned. Grandfather had shot that thought down almost immediately.

Goten, you're thinking of this as far more tame than it actually is. Trunks will be at you day and night, riding you hard (Trunks blushed again) until you're half starved and exhausted. He'll do whatever he can to keep you mating with him, even if he has to sink his claws in. When you can't stand to stay awake any longer, he'll try to mount you in your sleep. You'll have no rest for several days, and remember this, boy. If you can't satisfy your tezata, he'll find someone who can.

Goten's smile had slipped through the entire speech until he had stared at Trunks with something akin to betrayal in his eyes. Fortunately the king had saved him from having to respond.

He'll have no choice. He'll be thinking like an animal, remember? But I doubt he will roam. You're young and resilient, you should be enough for him. Still, despite your strength, you will not come out of this entirely unscathed. You will have no choice but to give into his every desire, and at the end you will be a shattered Saiyan. Fortunately by then Trunks should have come back to his senses and will be able to nurse you back to health. That should only take a few weeks, plenty of time before the child has to be born. And that is the roughest part in itself.

For all his misgivings about the mating, though, this was the most frightening part. The birth. Like animals knowing instinctively to chew through the umbilical cord, he would know when to cut himself open. With his own claws. He couldn't imagine the pain he knew he'd feel. He brought one hand close to his face and examined his fingertips. Here on Vegetasei, Saiyans called them claws, and he had to admit the term fit better than nails. They'd always been shaper than a regular human's nails. He'd found out the hard way at school when he'd dealt with one of the upper grade bullies. Her face had seemed to blossom open under his hand. Claws indeed.

Mumbling in his sleep, Goten shifted so that his body curled closer against Trunks. The prince smiled and put his arm over his mate's shoulder, squeezing once. Goten was the only reason he'd risk having children, going through all that pain himself instead of siring his own on a female and letting her deal with the pain. He would give Goten children.

A knock on the door startled him and he sat up, dropping Goten face first onto the pillows. "Who's there?"

"It's me," Raditz called through the door. "I figured if we do this early, everyone can watch before they have to go back to foraging or training. Can you be ready in an hour?"

"We can be ready in a few minutes," Trunks said. He nudged Goten over. "You awake?"

"Mmf...g'way..."

"Get up, we gotta fight." Trunks swung his legs over the side and stood up, reaching for his pants. "You wanna do it in our uniforms or our regular clothes?"

"Mm...if I have a choice..." Goten rolled over and flung one arm over his eyes. "I'd rather just do it with no clothes."

"Goten!" Trunks flung a pillow at him. "Get up, or I'll just pound your half-asleep ass in front of our entire planet."

"...but I thought you didn't like an audience..."

Trunks groaned. Usually his mate would wake right up, but today Goten seemed determined to sleep in. Trunks finished dressing, went to the bathroom and scooped some water from the tub with one of the large basins in the room. He took it back over to the bed and dumped it on Goten's head.

"Aah! Trunks!" Goten flailed in his soggy sheets until he fell off the bed and landed on the floor at Trunks' feet. "Ow...that wasn't nice at all."

"C'mon, get up. We promised Raditz a demonstration fight, remember?"

"Oh yeah..." Goten shook the excess water from his hair and got to his feet. "We fightin' in our usual gear?"

"Yeah, it'll be better if we're totally comfortable. Besides," he said, slipping into one of his Capsule Corps jackets, "it'll look so cool when I ascend and blast this jacket off."

"Sheesh...drama queen." Goten fished out his orange gi from under the pile of clothes he'd uncapsulated the day before. "When it comes to showing off, you're as bad as your father."

Trunks ignored his mate and finished lacing up his boots. "Now remember, no stray blasts into the audience. No going so high that they can't see us and no trying to knock each other unconscious."

"And no sword," Goten said. "Leave it."

"Aww..." About to grab his sword, Trunks groaned but left it against the wall. "That's not fair."

"No, not fair is you knocking back my blasts like we're playing pong." Goten stretched, working the last bits of sleep from his body. His gi was pulled taut around his muscles, giving Trunks a perfect outline of his mate and a hint of the strength within. As he relaxed and breathed out, Goten noticed Trunks' attention and grinned. "You sure you wanna fight? We can do all the pounding in here..."

"You're not getting out of this fight that easy." Smirking much like his father, Trunks shook his head and started walking towards the door. He loved his mate dearly and would willingly suffer great pains to give him children...

...but today he was going to give him a kicked ass.

When they came out of the room, Raditz blinked as he stepped back. "Those are earth clothes, aren't they?"

Trunks nodded once. "Are they that weird?"

"No...they're just..." Raditz tilted his head. "Loose. How can you fight in them?"

"You'll see."

They followed the large Saiyan down the hall and out one of the windows, flying beside him north over the city. A few other Saiyans, either slow flyers or just waking up, straggled ahead and behind them. Trunks and Goten felt a little odd with all the looks their clothes received and kept close to Raditz.

"I thought the northern mountain ranges would suit you best," he said, raising his voice so they could hear him over the wind. "It's not much farther. You can almost see them now."

Small at first, the purple line of mountains grew larger and larger until they could make out the clouds covering the peaks and the broad plateaus that lined each mountain. When they arrived, they found their crowd already seated on large boulders or sweeping small rocks clear from the ground so they could sit. Trunks looked around. All the Saiyans were together in one spot so there was less chance of an accident, and even in this crowd he spotted the king and Bardock seated on the tallest boulder on the highest point, the king's cape undulating in the wind. Perfect, he just had to watch for that red cape to orient himself, plus it would give him a guide as to how low they could fire off blasts. Raditz's voice cut into his thoughts.

"Did Vegeta tell you how we start these kind of fights?" Raditz asked.

Trunks shook his head. "I don't think so. There's a specific way?"

"Of course. You have to follow tradition in this sort of thing."

"Aww," Goten sighed. "Tradition's always boring."

"The tradition is there for everyone's sake to keep them safe. Rule one, no firing blasts towards the crowd. That should be obvious, but sometimes a catcall at the wrong time can tempt you to blast someone. Rule two, no using the suns to blind your opponent. Granted, it's useful in a real fight, but here not only can we not see if you're fighting dirty, but if a stray blast comes towards us, we wouldn't be able to see it until it was too late."

"So that just means we have to stay where you can see us, right?" Goten asked.

"Exactly. Last rule, since this is only a demonstration and we don't know much about the ascension, you can stop when you're both drained. Still, no knocking each other out intentionally. We want a full fight, not a win by knock out."

"Gotcha," Trunks said. "Anything else?"

"When you're done, we'll all go back home and have a party." Raditz grinned and looked back at his king, who nodded once. He looked back at the boys. "All right. Start when you're ready. And remember, everyone's watching. Make it look good."

As Raditz flew down to the mountain, Trunks and Goten flew into position, hovering several hundred yards away from the crowd. The suns were still coming up over the horizon, but the clouds around the mountain diffused the light so there was no glare.

"Hey, Trunks," Goten said.

"Yeah?"

"Everything he said, we'd already agreed on. Weird, huh?"

"Nah, makes sense. It's tradition." Trunks stretched one last time. "Ready?"

Goten nodded and curled his hands into fists, bringing them to his sides as he usually did before he transformed. Trunks did likewise, allowing his ki to skyrocket up rather than simply blinking gold, letting the energy around him swirl. His hair turned spiky the same time his jacket was turned to ashes. On the mountainside, all the Saiyans gasped and cheered at the spectacle. Goten snorted and shook his head. His mate was such a showoff.

Turning gold amidst more cheering, Goten dived forward before he'd even finished turning and threw the first punch. Trunks dodged it easily and countered with his own, and soon they were zipping back and forth across the mountain range, kicking and punching so fast that the Saiyans were hard-pressed to keep up.

*

Only a few miles away in one of the rainforests, Piccolo woke up soggy, cold and crushed under Gohan, who had sprawled across him sometime during the night. He wasn't too uncomfortable, though, and he wondered why he'd woken up. With a grunt, he pushed Gohan off of his body and sat up, looking around.

"Mmm..." Gohan yawned and opened his eyes. "What'sa matter? It's still early, come back to bed...ah, I mean go back to sleep."

Something was happening, Piccolo could sense it. He stood up. "There's a fight going on."

"Huh?" Gohan sat up and blinked, trying to wake up fully. "Is that...is that Goten and Trunks?"

"Feels like it. And there's a lot of Saiyans around them."

"Oh, I know what it is. Remember, at dinner? Raditz got them to agree to a fight."

"Didn't think it'd be so soon."

"We might as well go take a look." Gohan sighed and reached for their clothes, only to find them in a wet lump. "Um...I think you might have to make us both new clothes."

"Hmm?" Piccolo glanced at the lump and nodded, vaporizing the mess first. "No problem."

A minute later, they dived off the cliff's edge and flew along the sheer edge until the reached the treeline, then skimmed above the trees, following the river out of the valley and through the mountains. They came up over one ridge and found themselves behind the throng of Saiyans, their collective eyes following the two demi-Saiyans across the sky. They watched for a moment, then glanced at each other.

"They're showing off," Piccolo said.

"Not that much. They're really hitting each other hard."

"Still...our training's never that showy." Gohan grinned as his brother did a series of loop de loops to avoid Trunks' spinkicks, instead of merely backing up. "They're gonna get tired fast if they keep this up."

"I don't think it's going to take that long," Piccolo said. "Look at Trunks."

"Mm. He does look a little stiff, doesn't he? Must've been all that time in that cramped spaceship."

"Not what I meant. Look at his face. Goten's having fun, but I don't think he's noticed how into this Trunks is. He doesn't want to lose in front of everyone."

Gohan squinted as Trunks and Goten moved farther out, darting from mountaintop to mountaintop. "You're right. He's acting like Vegeta. If Goten's not careful, he--"

A powerful crack filled the air, and then Goten slammed into the ground. The wind blew away the cloud of dust around him, and the crowd could see him standing in the center of a crater, shaking the dirt from his hair. He blocked the blast Trunks sent down after him, then fired his own and flew up after his mate.

Appreciative murmurs came from the Saiyans below, admiring the youngsters' strength.

Goten and Trunks fought with the ease that comes from knowing an opponent for years. Trunks dodged left before Goten had started to punch, Goten backflipped from a kick his mate hadn't even committed to. The Saiyans noticed how they fought and recognized the long hours of training together the pair had to have done to be able to move together like that. When one pushed, the other pulled, as one ducked the other vaulted. They didn't so much as fight but rather danced across the mountain tops.

On their elevated rock, Bardock leaned over towards the king. "Showy little things, aren't they?" he said.

"It's a demonstration," Vegeta said, "not a real fight. They must have some discipline to fight so well regardless." The king smirked and glanced towards his right, raising his voice slightly. "They don't do this in real fights, do they Gohan?"

Gohan sighed and sat up, wondering how the king had known they were there. "Um, no, not usually. They can be pretty reckless at times."

"To be young and reckless again," Bardock sighed. "Without all these damn old battle wounds..."

"How do you think you got those wounds but by being reckless?" Vegeta said. "Young again? God forbid. Always under someone's eye, hiding, sneaking around, getting in trouble and panicking because you're too damn young to realize it isn't that important. I remember accidentally smashing my father's scouter once. I couldn't sleep for days. I never want to be young again."

"There were good things," Bardock said. "Games, friends you inevitably lose later on. Getting into trouble is fun sometimes. At any rate, it's better than having grown up worries."

Vegeta gave a low, bitter laugh. "Time's improved your childhood. It's never idyllic. Childhood is hell, pure hell."

"Then why does everyone say they want to be young again?" Bardock asked.

"Because they only see children while they're playing, or think their problems are simpler somehow. Maybe they're simpler but without any experience, they're just as hard as 'grown up' problems." Vegeta sighed. "Maybe childhood would be fine if people didn't forget how awful it is, and stop treating their own children as if youth is idyllic."

"Or maybe life just sucks and then you die," Piccolo said.

They all looked at him, eyes wide. He snorted and watched the fight.

"What?" he asked. "You're in the mood to be morose. Just matching the mood."

For a moment, nothing was said. And then Vegeta started laughing, not loud or raucous, but more under his breath. "Perhaps."

*

The fight ended within an hour, but not without a few incidents. Though they'd tried to aim carefully, a few stray blasts had slipped through Goten's and Trunks' fingers and nearly scorched a few Saiyans. Fortunately they were more interested in laughing at the singed victims than yelling at the two fighters. Several times Goten had been forced to land in amongst the crowd, sending them diving out of the way as Trunks had landed and pressed his attack. Both were so caught up in their match that they had stopped using flashy moves and were fighting in earnest, throwing punches faster than the Saiyans could see. Since the Saiyans were warriors, though, they hadn't dived too far away. Instead they formed a ring around the pair, yelling encouragement and leaning forward, straining to see what they could.

In the end, while Goten was blocking Trunks' punches, he forgot the signature move of his prince. Confident as he increased his speed of his deflections and pushed Trunks back several steps, he gasped as Trunks suddenly dropped to the ground. The prince dug his hand into the ground for a good hold and lashed out with a sweeping kick that brought Goten flat on his face. A second later Trunks was on his mate's back, pinning one arm behind him.

The mountains rumbled as the Saiyans roared their approval, and a few called out suggestions for what Trunks could do to Goten now that he'd caught him. The demi-Saiyans both blushed at a few of the more explicit ones, and Trunks helped Goten back to his feet, possessively putting his hand on his mate's shoulder. They both powered down, and the entire crowd admired Trunks' hair as it went from typical Saiyan spiky to exotically straight and lavender. Goten frowned and crossed his arms, pissed that he'd lost and that Trunks was gloating.

Raditz glanced at his king, waiting for Vegeta's nod of approval before he spoke. When he saw it, Raditz grinned and walked up to his prince, edging his way through the crowd.

"One hell of a performance," he said. "I trust you've worked up an appetite?"

"We're gonna eat?" Goten asked, a big smile lighting his face.

Trunks smiled. "Goten never has to work up an appetite, he's always hungry."

"I've never seen you pass up a meal," Goten snapped.

"Good," Raditz said before the prince could comment. "I'll send some Saiyans out on a hunt while we return to the castle. No doubt you'll wanna take a bath first...and maybe some of us will, too." He glanced around at the Saiyans who started laughing, most of them covered in dirt and pebbles from diving out of the demi-Saiyans' path.

One by one they rose into the air, most of them flying low to the ground. Goten and Trunks flew higher, though, skimming over the clouds and dipping through them to escape the growing sunlight. As he was flying behind him, Goten reached up and smacked Trunks hard on the ass, startling his mate and making him drop altitude a few feet. He laughed as Trunks stared at him.

"What was that for?"

"Just following some Saiyans suggestions," Goten said. He yelped as Trunks suddenly darted towards him. Goten barely avoided his hands and swooped lower, flying backwards and keeping his mate in sight. "Trunks!"

"Just following some suggestions," Trunks said, an evil gleam in his eyes. "I think we can try the one where I spank you so hard you glow--"

"Trunks!" Blushing as bright red as Trunks was threatening to turn him, Goten turned and streaked towards the ground, flying so that the grass parted behind him like water. He zigzagged past other Saiyans, all of them yelling him on as Trunks zoomed after him, some of them cheering on their prince.

Behind the crowd, the king and Bardock watched the pair dive through the air like birds, winding their way back to the city and flying through the streets, Trunks right on Goten's heels.

The king started to laugh. "Those two'll be having brats soon enough, if that prince is anything to go by."

"I seem to remember another son of the house of Vegeta who couldn't keep his hands off his mate," Bardock said. "That temperament seems to run strong in your lineage."

"Much to your delight," the king said, glaring. "In a few months, the whole city will be crawling with brats, the castle included."

Bardock frowned and glanced at his king. "Vegeta...when Trunks has a brat, we'll have at least four princes. Five, counting Goten, maybe six with Gohan. That might be the most in our history. When the time comes, who will take the crown?"

"That's not as big a problem as you might think," the king said. "For one thing, I'm not so old yet that I have to abdicate. That's still several decades off. And then if there are threats from outside...it's a fact that we could lose a prince in battle, or all but one of the royal family could be left alive to assume command."

"Barring a catastrophic war, though," Bardock said, "what if all goes well and all the princes are alive come time to take a new king?"

"Jalen, most likely, will be Vegetasei's new king."

Bardock froze in the air. When Vegeta realized his mate wasn't following, he stopped and turned.

"Jalen's barely a few days old? How can you be so sure--?"

Vegeta couldn't hold in a smile, but it was a sad look. He held up his hand to stop Gohan and Piccolo who were about to pass them, and the pair halted close by. "Gohan," he started, "when my son lived on earth, did he call himself the king of all Saiyans?"

"No," Gohan said. "He called himself the prince of Saiyans."

"All the time," Piccolo grumbled.

"And if given the choice," the king said, "would you want to rule this planet?"

"Oh no," Gohan said, backing away a few feet and waving his hands. "No way. I mean, Vegetasei's nice and all, but there's no way I could rule a whole planet."

Allowing them to fly off again, Vegeta turned back to Bardock. "I'm sure Goten's of the same mind. Trunks...from what I've seen of the boy, I'm sure he would take the role if there was no choice simply out of duty, but these ones have been raised on an alien planet, ignorant of our history and culture. They will make fine warriors and generals, but they will never rule."

"And your son?"

"I think...I think it's too late for him. He is no longer suited to rule and he knows it."

"Vegeta--"

"I'm not slighting him in the least, Bardock. I know he could rule if he had to, and if things had gone differently, I think he might have made a fine king. But not after everything he's gone through. The rest of his life will be spent healing, resting. And certainly he's done enough for his people that he can rest."

"Rest?" Bardock shook his head. "I understand you, but I think Kigeta has other things in store for him. Why else make him the dragon's avatar?"

"Yes, but it's also another reason he should not rule. As the avatar, he must act in the manner Kigeta has set for him, in a religious function rather than as a monarch. He can provide guidance to the king, act as the hand of Kigeta, but rule must be left out of his reach."

They both breathed deep as they watched Saiyans scatter across the city, preparing for the feast yet to come. The shadows of clouds passed over the landscape, coloring the grass and trees a shade darker as they moved across the city.

"Something will happen. Kigeta would not have done all this for nothing. Our resurrection, your son becoming an avatar, the treachery of the lesser gods. I feel something big on the way, and not just that asteroid."

"I know. That troubles me. Still, we must have faith in our God. Kigeta tries most the ones that serve Him best."

*

TBC...