Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ The Legacy of Ansai ❯ The Loss of a King ( Prologue )

The Legacy of Ansai

Prologue: The Loss of a King

"King Vegeta, sir! I have urgent news!" The messenger cried 'pon entering. He was gasping for breath and had obviously come in a great hurry. "Well, don't just stand there! What is it?" King Vegeta demanded. He stood up quickly, his cape billowing 'round his ankles. The messenger stood at attention immediately. "It's Prince Vegeta, sir. He has challenged Frieza. Alone." He explained gravely. "WHAT!?!?!? My son!" King Vegeta quickly pushed past the messenger, cursing unintelligibly under his breath. The messenger collapsed heavily on a chair, breathing hard once again. Soon after, he rose to go check on the outcome of the battle.

"Frieza, I can't believe you! This is too easy! I wanted a challenge!" Prince Vegeta taunted Frieza, flying in and out between attacks. He laughed maliciously, and fired at the evil tyrant. Frieza caught the blasts, smiling evilly. "Yes, Prince Vegeta, I too had hoped for more of a challenge. Yet I am not even trying yet." Prince Vegeta stopped cold, fear overwhelming him. He had been giving Frieza everything he had, and the monster wasn't even trying. He had no chance. His thoughts consuming him, he was left wide open for an assault. Frieza, (not one to ignore such an opportunity) powered up a small blast and, with near-perfect accuracy, fired at Prince Vegeta's chest armour; what would be a deadly attack… King Vegeta's shoulder collided with the body of his son, sending it plummeting into the dirt. He had saved his son, but he didn't want Frieza to know that. Prince Vegeta had been knocked out by the force of his father's blow and Frieza's attack had pierced his left ankle. "Stupid child! You knew you couldn't beat Frieza and now look at you! Dead! With no reason!" King Vegeta reprimanded his unconscious son and turned to face Frieza. "You will pay for what you have done." He threatened menacingly. "Oh, I'm sure I will. VERY sure." Frieza replied sarcastically, knowing very well that King Vegeta was inferior to him. King Vegeta knew this too, but he didn't show it. (Such wonderful actors, Saiyans. I mean, faking that your son is dead, pretending not to be afraid… *Goku taps me on the shoulder, "You have to keep this story going, you know…"* oops,went off topic. Anyway…) King Vegeta decided he would stay on the defensive, hoping he would last longer that way. Frieza pointed his finger at King Vegeta's left shoulder and, 0.5 seconds later, that shoulder had a hole through the bone. King Vegeta stared at it then Frieza disbelievingly. The evil tyrant was smiling mercilessly and moved the finger around quickly. With each small movement, another part of King Vegeta's body was pierced. Skull, thigh, right bicep, right knee joint, until he was nothing but a bloody mass of mangled limbs, sinking limply to the ground. "Idiotic monkey. He never even had a chance." Frieza whispered quietly to himself, also sinking to the ground, wanting to check his victims. King Vegeta was as good as dead; he wasn't even recognizable. No, what Frieza was interested in was the boy. Prince Vegeta. (Plain and simple, he's the ONLY Vegeta from now on. But that doesn't matter to the Saiyans. Yet.) Frieza strode over to him and kicked him over so he was face up. The tyrant studied his face carefully; it was slack and there was some blood stained on it. Frieza kicked him again and he showed no reaction to this pain. The monstrous tyrant decided that he had killed enough Saiyans for the day and flew off, hoping to find a planet or two to conquer.

The messenger landed and looked around. It had been easy to find the battlefield; he had simply looked for bloodshed. He saw one bloody, shapeless mass and the body of a 5-year-old. He first walked over to the mass and checked it. Then he drew back in horror. "King Vegeta." He whispered nearly silently. His hand shot up and he spoke into a hidden comm device, "Get reinforcements here, NOW! King Vegeta has been nearly destroyed by Frieza! He's barely alive! We need to get him to the Regen tanks!" He knew that they would come; they knew who he was. He turned to the small body, identifying it immediately as Prince Vegeta. "Poor kid. His dad's probably not going to make it. Let's hope he does." He said to himself as the team of six reinforcements arrived. (Good response time…) They landed near King Vegeta, and immediately heaved him up onto their shoulders. One of them came over to the messenger. "Hey, Bardock, are you coming?" He asked. This person's name was Voin; a sixteen year old who was extremely powerful for his age. Bardock shook his head. "No. I'm going to bring Prince Vegeta in a little while. We're sparring partners and besides, his Father's as good as dead. I think he'd rather be told by someone he knows than some messenger." He replied, still watching Prince Vegeta sadly. Voin shrugged, said "Suit yourself." and took off with the others transporting the near-dead King Vegeta. Bardock watched them leave, then picked up the seemingly lifeless body of Prince Vegeta and flew to a spot he had gone many times before.

Prince Vegeta's eyes flickered. He was lying on the ground in a fairly well lit cave. His body ached and he couldn't feel his left foot. He struggled to sit up, and felt a hand on his back, supporting him. His head whipped around and he saw the face of none other than 24 year old Bardock, his sparring partner. "Oh, it's you Bardock. What are we doing here? Where's Frieza and my Father?" He asked, nearly demanding. Bardock sighed; this wasn't going to be easy. "Frieza has left. But he'll probably be back; looking for those who are angry with him for…" Bardock broke off, knowing he would get reprimanded for doing so. "For what? Tell me, Bardock!" Vegeta ordered, annoyed that a trained warrior like Bardock couldn't even deliver a message properly. "For killing your Father." Bardock replied sharply, having received the news recently and not wanting to be on this extremely powerful youngster's bad side. In truth, Vegeta was stronger than half of his father's army put together. Vegeta's face went blank with shock. The pain in his body he had been fighting came back suddenly, along with a huge dose of emotional pain. It was too much for the young Saiyan and he lost consciousness. Bardock lifted his body from the ground and took off, heading silently for the Base. They needed to keep the new Rebel Leader alive.

(Disclaimer: I own none of the characters in this chapter. The genius Akira Toriyama does.)