Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ That'll Do, Son. ❯ The Journey Begins ( Chapter 1 )

Chapter 1, revamped. Gonna revamp the first few chapters until I'm satisfied with the story, but the plot and occurrences will NOT change. Anyway...

~ ~

It was raining.

Most would call it a thunderstorm or lightning storm, and the exaggerative might call it a monsoon, but it was merely rain for Vegeta. Great, stinging pellets of fresh water fell by the bucketful and beat into his flesh as he stalked the ground under an endless midnight sky. He found the pain as a cleansing, almost comforting sensation and thus welcomed the bite at his scalp and body given to him from the raging storm that dumped horrendous amounts of water upon him. He was in a sour mood and the backdrop of an angry sky suited him just fine.

As usual, his thoughts were pointed in the direction of his remaining subject. Subject. Singular, he mused. He thought it funny that he had been born and raised as a prince, come to adulthood as a slave, then handed one last saiyan, one ignorant brain-damaged fool for his efforts toward survival. What exactly was he supposed to be? A consolation prize? He snorted and squeezed the water out of his soggy mane so that it would be easier to feel that beloved sting again.

He'd rather be alone.

He was familiar with alone. It had been his childhood friend, his hero... His saving grace. At least after a night with "Master" Frieza. Sure he got lonely occasionally, but alone was preferable to... well...

"Kakarot."

The name was a curse to him. A disease.

Frowning, he stopped his pathetic trudge down whatever path he was on and turned his face to the rain. Did Kakarot even count as a subject? He hardly thought so, but then again, did he even count as a prince? How many years had he had a chance to wish his planet back? His race? His father, at least? How many times had he held his tongue when in the presence of a dragon? How many wishes...no, opportunities had he let trickle past his fingers into the hands of his..."subject"?

...Too many. That's how many.

Too many opportunities passed up in favor of...what? Normality? Fitting in? Where had it gotten him to? He cocked his head and licked the water from his lips. He had a wife. In the earthen sense of the word, anyway. He liked her well enough, he guessed. Her cooking was...tolerable and her attitude was certainly amusing, but she wasn't saiyan.

Certainly not.

What else? He had a son. Trunks, not Vegeta. Had he been so bent on perhaps a small amount of companionship that he had broken his family tradition? Had he been so truly desperate that he allowed for his only heir to be raised as one of the very beings that he mocked and ridiculed daily? Pathetic.

Truth of the matter be told, he admitted with a tight frown, was that he failed. Abysmally.

He was the weakest link. His father had outright told him so when he was a child. Was that why he had been sent to Frieza? Did his father hate him? Was he off in his little dreary corner of Hell laughing and chanting "I told you so!"? It would be surprising to him, but then again...

He -was- the weakest link.

Fallen victim to a lower class. The lowest, in fact, and Vegeta suddenly decided that he didn't care. He didn't mind that Kakarot was stronger than him, or that his son was more human than saiyan. He didn't care about the screaming that he would be subjected to when he got back "home". He didn't really care about anything anymore. Not training, not Kakarot, not anything.

He laid back onto the ground, still relishing the sting of the ever-present storm, and reminded himself that he didn't care about waking up the next morning.

~ ~

Vegeta was courting death again.

Well, no, not really... But he -was- out napping in a ridiculously powerful rainstorm. Which wasn't exactly death material for a saiyan, but... Goku sighed and propped his head on a large hand. These depression spells, these... emotional roller coasters had begun about three years ago, he'd guessed, right around the appearance of Goten as a super saiyan. Was it because his youngest son looked so much like him, and Vegeta was thrown back to the days or Namek when he failed to achieve the ascended level? Was he the original cause of so much grief for the prince?

However... Goten was still a super saiyan. Pride swelled in his belly.

He was so proud of both of his sons. Gohan was growing up to be a fine young man, making excellent grades and new friends. He had come so far since the troubled teenager that Goku had last seen, what with helping his mother with her pregnancy, training Goten, and fighting crime within the city. His power had slipped dramatically, though, and this worried the earthen saiyan. What if there was a new threat to the earth? What if he wasn't able to help his friends, and Gohan was somehow pulled into the mayhem? What if he was killed because of it? Goku shook his head and sighed. There were too many "what ifs" to be pondered at the moment...

Goten. Goku wished so badly that he could meet his youngest son; his "clone", as he had been called. To have achieved the power of Super Saiyan at such a young age was beyond impressive, and Goku had never felt such pride. Having grown up without a father (or a mother, for that matter), he could understand what Goten was probably going through, and Goku could only hope that it made him a stronger person.

Another sigh pierced the silence around him, and he looked away from the crystal ball. Baba was floating across from him quietly, hovering up and down minutely and blinking her wise, beady eyes at him. He allowed a small smile and pushed the crystal ball closer to her, signifying that he was done with a small nod and a thank you. Baba cocked her head, causing her hat to flop messily to one side of her head and Goku bit back a chuckle at the site of an old woman trying to straighten herself with a small amount of grace. She caught the hiccup, however, and glared at him before her gaze softened. "Goku, I'm worried about you."

"I'm fine, Baba."

"Don't give me that, Goku, I've seen the clouds in your eyes and the way you try to hide them."

"Really, Baba. Please, I'll be okay, I just need a little distraction, I guess. That's all."

She blinked her beady eyes at him and smiled. It always unnerved Goku out that she and King Kai could see things in people that he couldn't. Taking her crystal ball away from the pining Saiyan, she chuckled. "I know, Goku. But you did choose to stay here, and brought this upon yourself. Why don't you go to King Yama's place and help him out with the newly arriving souls? I'm sure he wouldn't mind the assistance."

Goku's eyes lit up. "Wow, Baba! Are you sure? That would be great!"

"Yes, Goku. Go on, and stay there for a while!" She chuckled again and reached forward to tousle his hair. "Such innocence shouldn't be tainted with worry over things you cannot control."

"Okay, Baba, I'll try not to worry too much. See ya, and thanks again!" With that, he smiled and faded out, reappearing at the beginning of Snake Way. Seeing the new souls arrive would be fun! He might even see someone he knew!