Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ To the Stronger ❯ Prologue and Chapter One ( Prologue )

To The Stronger

By Just Another Saiyan Wannabe

Copyright 2002

Disclaimer: I don't own Dragonball Z; Akira Toriyama does. I do own my own characters.

Japanese words:

Ani = respectful form of older brother

Dai = devoted little brother

Yasai = vegetables in general. In my story, this is the name of Vegeta's brother. So, Ani and Yasai are the same person.

Prologue

"Say it. Say it, Vegeta."

"No. . ."

"Say it!"

"To. . . to the stronger. . . I pledge my body. To the victor, I. . . I. . . I give my soul."

"Very good. Very good."

_______ _______ ______

"I can't believe how weak you are, Vegeta. How pathetic. You are a disgrace to the Saiyan name and the Royal line. Get up. We're not through sparring."

_______ _______ _______

"Come to bed. Little brother."

_______ _______ ________

Chapter 1

The King of all Saiyans was leaving the capital city to make the rounds of Earth and a few nearby planets, conducting Royal business. He was leaving his little brother in the care of his old trainer, Bardock. "You will show Bardock the respect due to a sensei," Ani had told him. "He has all the rights and privileges of a sensei. Do you understand me?"

He had. He knew what Ani's rights and privileges were. Of course, he was also King and brother. And he'd pledged to him.

`No. Don't think about that.'

So now Vegeta stood with his brother outside Bardock's house in the Lower Palace. He was so afraid he had to consciously will himself not to throw up. Not that you would be able to tell by looking. He had learned not to show fear; it drove Ani crazy. He had adopted the indifferent, arrogant expression that always made the servants leave him alone. It had served as a good shield over the years. Nonetheless, his heart was pounding loud and hard and he felt dizzy and short of breath.

Bardock came out of the house quickly and bowed-right arm pressed to the heart, down on one knee, bend the neck, and up again. "Your majesty, your highness."

"Bardock. This is my brother, Vegeta."

A slight blink of the eyes was the only reaction from the prince as Bardock saluted again. He scrutinized the boy without seeming to be. He looked like he'd be hard to please. He just hoped he wasn't an obnoxious sadist like Yasai had been at his age (14).

"Welcome to my home. I'll take good care of him, my King."

"You had better. You had better guard him with your life." Yasai turned to Vegeta then. "Behave yourself, Dai. Bardock will be your trainer while you stay here. We can't have you getting soft, now can we?" He smiled.

Vegeta's insides froze. He clenched his hands behind his back to hide their shaking. He couldn't believe Ani was just giving him over to Bardock. Ani hurt him, but at least he was used to him. Bardock was unknown.

The brothers uttered all the correct phrases for a monarch and a relative about to depart on a long journey. Bardock didn't understand all the looks that were passing between the two, though-especially that last one, right before the King left. He shrugged it off. He had to take care of his guest.

"Come on inside and let me show you around."

Vegeta said nothing, just followed Bardock inside. The living area, the kitchen-standing in front of the kitchen counter was a smiling, pretty woman, who inclined her head to him. "This is Sarah. She keeps the house and cooks."

"You don't have a tail," he blurted.

The woman laughed cheerfully. "No, I'm human."

Vegeta appeared mildly fascinated. He walked around her in a careful circle, eyebrows raised. She didn't look all that different, really. She even had black hair.

"Haven't you ever seen a human before?"

He shook his head.

"Well." Bardock and Sarah looked at each other over his head, nonplussed. `How could he never have seen a human before?' Bardock wondered. True, not many people had seen the prince, now that he thought about it. Now that he thought about it, he'd never met anyone who'd met the prince, although several had seen the King. He frowned. "Well," he repeated. "I hope that won't be a problem when you start school next week."

Vegeta spun around. "You're sending me to school?"

Bardock nodded.

"My brother had me tutored. Does he know about this?"

Bardock hesitated. "We never actually discussed your education. I just assumed. . . wouldn't he approve?"

Vegeta blinked, then shrugged. "You're in charge," he said numbly, then that mask of arrogant boredom and apathy came back down. This was getting worse and worse. There was going to be just too much to adjust to. His heart beat yet a little faster. Still. . . other Saiyans were his subjects. They couldn't do anything to him. He breathed a little easier.

"It'll be fine, I'm sure," Sarah stated firmly, interrupting his thoughts. "Now Vegeta, what would you like as your first meal here?"

He gazed at her smile. He knew nothing about humans except what he'd read and heard. Was she nice or just faking? She seemed awfully happy. "Whatever."

Sarah considered him. He seemed almost like a wild animal to her, one that could be easily startled away. She knew Bardock only saw a young prince, but she wasn't so sure. "Well, what are your favorite foods?" she encouraged, determined to win him over.

No one had ever asked him before. He pondered for a long moment. "Pancakes, steak, and cheesecake."

She laughed again. "All right."

"Um. . . well, let me finish the tour." Bardock led him down a hall. There were two rooms on each side and one at the end. The first one on the right was Sarah's. The one across the hall colored in creams and browns, was his son Radditz's. The one next to it, with the shockingly bright bedspread, belonged to Radditz's twin, Kakkarot. Across from that, "This used to be the guest bedroom, but I moved into it so you can have the bigger bedroom."

Vegeta stared at him in confusion. Weren't they going to share a room? Maybe-he did have two sons, after all. Maybe he wanted to keep it quiet. His face flushed as the tips of his fingers went numb. He didn't see that-that knowing expression on Bardock's face, but he was sure about what he would want. Ani always did.

"Radditz and Kakkarot are outside sparring. You'll want to meet them," Bardock said, cutting off Vegeta's pain-filled thoughts.

"Hai," he mumbled. Bardock led the way to the backyard, where two teenagers were punching and kicking at each other. They broke off instantly as Vegeta and their father came outside.

"Prince," they said, bowing, then rushed over to covertly inspect their new houseguest. Both had spent some time wondering how life would be different once the prince was staying with them.

Radditz couldn't read him at all. He was short, but looked pretty strong. His face had the most wary, closed-up look he'd ever seen but he didn't know why. Was he shy? Arrogant? Something else entirely?

"Wanna spar?" Kakkarot offered eagerly.

Vegeta swallowed hard. He'd just barely arrived and already he was to be humiliated? "No!"

"Kakkarot, he hasn't changed or anything," Radditz reproved him. "He's just really been looking forward to training with you," he apologized to Vegeta.

They were all startled by his reaction. "You're training all of us? Together?" he demanded, scowling.

Bardock hid a sigh. Oh yes, he was arrogant. Well, he was Royalty.

"Yes. I'm not surprised you were trained privately, but don't worry. I'll devote some time to you exclusively." Vegeta cringed inwardly. There was the innuendo. "Plus, you have these ready made sparring partners."

Vegeta vaguely realized that sparring was normally a simple matter of fighting. You were always allowed to defend yourself, for one thing. You could stop before you were beaten into a bloody pulp, for another.

But he did not want to fight. He had no illusions about what kind of warrior he was. He didn't want everyone to know he was nothing but weak and pitiful.

"If you want to change, there's time before lunch," Kakkarot continued, happily ignoring Radditz's wordless hints that he not be so shameless.

Vegeta felt his emotions all closing off. Why not just get it over with? They would find out eventually. There was no getting out of that.

So he nodded. His clothes, including his fighting gear, had been brought over from the Imperial Palace already, so he just went to his room and pulled on his spandex, boots, and fighting gloves. There was a banner above his bed of the Royal crest, he noticed. He almost tore it down in shame, but shut that feeling off, too, and went back outside.

"I'll watch," Bardock said. "I can analyze your fighting technique and see how far you've got and where I need to instruct you."

Vegeta didn't even spare him a glance. His eyes were on the two boys-his impending downfall.

They both attacked him almost at once. He dodged Radditz's rushing kick and struck him in the spine. He fell to the ground, impeding Kakkarot's momentum. He blocked Kakkarot's two blows, kicked Radditz back down as he tried to get up, dodged Kakkarot's foot, elbowed him in the stomach, and punched him in the face. He kicked Radditz down again, struck Kakkarot's kidneys, and slammed him to the ground, on top of Radditz, who groaned. Vegeta released a small ki blast point blank into both of them. Kakkarot rolled off Radditz, but stayed down. The four of them stared back and forth at one another.

Vegeta stood panting, completely confused. They'd barely touched him. Had they been humoring him?

Then the boys grinned, picked themselves up, and dusted themselves off. "You're good," Kakkarot observed.

"Very good," Radditz added.

Vegeta frowned. They weren't joking. They were serious. It didn't make sense. "But-but-he always beats me!"

The other three looked confused at that. Bardock frowned as well. "Vegeta. . . who's trained you?"

"Ani."

"Who else have you fought?"

"No one."

How locked up had they kept this kid? "Hmm. Well Vegeta, the King, as a fighter, has no equal. But amongst the rest of us, I'd say you're still one of the top ten fighters I've ever seen. And I've been training Saiyans for a long time. As young as you are, you'll just keep getting better, too."

This was-he didn't understand. This was all going too fast for him. If it was true-this turned his life upside down.

"How did you usually train?"

"He'd just. . . sort of do stuff and I'd. . . pick up on it. We sparred a lot," Vegeta hedged uncomfortably, still frowning.

"Hmm." He was that good, without formal training? What he could do with that kind of potential! He suddenly looked forward to teaching him.

"Hey Vegeta, we've got a trick we can teach you. Do you know how to sense ki?" Kakkarot bounced up beside them.

This sounded interesting. He ordered his head to stop whirling and concentrated. "No."

Bardock carefully explained about reading hidden ki's and powering up. "You already seem to know how to suppress ki."

Vegeta absorbed it all in with deep hidden excitement. He immediately felt for his brother's ki. It was enormous, so not hard to find, even though it was several miles away and getting farther. He set it in the back of his mind at a barely conscious level so he would always know where Ani was.

They were interrupted by Sarah sticking her head out the door. "Time to eat!"

Radditz and Kakkarot cheered as they all went enthusiastically inside.

"Steak, pancakes, and cheesecake to follow-as promised." Sarah grinned, waving at the food waiting at the table. The five of them sat down to eat.

Nobody had ever specially made a meal for Vegeta before. He found it strangely pleasing. But then, these were commoners, though Elites. He supposed they were impressed by him being the Prince, like the Imperial servants were.

`One of the top fighters he's ever seen.' Kami, could it be true? Wouldn't Ani be prouder, if it was? Maybe not. Maybe he'd be threatened. Maybe Bardock was lying. Kami, what was true?

"Vegeta, I noticed your clothes as they were being put away," Sarah broke the silence. "You seem to have nothing but fighting outfits and formal, ceremonial clothing."

Vegeta shrugged and grunted.

"You may want something more casual for school."

"Why don't you boys take Vegeta shopping this afternoon," Bardock suggested.

"OK," they agreed readily.

________ ________

Author's Note: Yes, I know Bardock and his family aren't Elites, but I didn't think the King would have been trained by a third-class warrior, so I changed it. And I've tweaked the ages and there may be some OOC, since this is an A/U. Now review, please!