To See the Old Neighborhood.....

Part 9

"Ow, Vegita, you don't have to tug!" Gohan pulled his arm out of Vegita's grip once they were out of the dining hall.

The rest of the dinner had gone reasonably smooth, and the convesation was just as unlively as earlier. After dinner, Vegita immidiatly grabbed Gohan and dragged him off to one side to speak to him.

"So what do you want?" Gohan rubbed his bicep, Vegita had sqeezed HARD!

"One," Vegita stood in close proximity of Gohan, in his face, "Do NOT yell at the royal table. You in every right shouldn't even have been allowed to sit there."

"Oh, come ON, Vegita, that's hardly right-"

"Shaddap, I'm not done." Vegita was glaring death, so Gohan became silent, "And second, I need to speak to Noone right away. This.....problem......has to be sorted out." Vegita looked over his shoulder at his smaller self to make sure Gohan knew just WHO the problem was.

"Um....okay," Gohan said, trying not to be frightened of the look on Vegita's face, "But I think I should talk to him."

"What?!" Vegita nearly spit fire.

"Well.....you would just yell at him," Gohan attempted to explain, "And then he'd get all upset and would forget about everything he did."

"He NEEDS to be yelled at! He needs to be beaten! He might have forgotten about us being here on this whole PLANET already!" a small speck of froth landed on Gohan's cheek as Vegita raged about all he planned to do to Noone for making such a screw up. So Gohan steeled his desition to NOT let Vegita talk to Noone.

Noone might get offended and leave them there, or worse, just destroy them. Though Noone seemed harmless enough, Gohan was all too aware that the strange, faceless being HAD been able to bring back a long dead planet like Vegita-sei. Or had he zapped them back in time? Or made an intirely NEW universe where both the young Vegita and the older Vegita could exist? One way or another, it was obvious that Noone had more power than he was willing to show, and Gohan didn't think he WANTED a demonstration of the destruction Noone could cause if he got mad.

"I'll make sure to talk to him, Vegita, but I just can't let you do it. I'm not going to change my mind."

Vegita recognized that determined look. That look that WOULD NOT change it's mind. Vegita tried once more to glare Gohan into submission, but it worked about as good as it usually did. Meaning-no effect what-so-ever.

"Fine, but I want to be there when you do it."

"Let's just do it now and get it over with, right?" Gohan asked, not really wanting to have to bother Noone so soon after arrival. But, never put off till tomarrow.........

****

The King watched the brief exchange that went on between Gohan and Vegita, though he didn't catch every thing they were saying. The King was good at reading body language, however, and what he saw shocked him. It seemed as though they were equals, Gohan and Vegita. But how could that be? He was a third class warrior, wasn't he? Vegita was the KING of that time, so wouldn't.......woudln't......wouldn't that just not be right?

The King sighed and turned to look at the children seated at the table, still munching on the remainders of the previous meal. The little third class one.......Goten?........acted like he was equal as well. The future Prince Trunks (the King wasn't too pleased to hear he wasn't named Vegita) seemed to get along TOO well with Goten. It just didn't seem natural, though, for a Saiyan Prince to play with a third class munchkin. Yet, here the King was seeing the innatural. Where third class was equal to the monarchy? This was very, very odd.

But the King had no intentions of getting involved. Vegita had been tested by a scouter to see how strong he had gotten, and when the scouter went up to 100,00+ before overloading, it was decided that whatever he had done in the past was obviously smart. If getting that powerful ment letting a few third class's into the close circle of the hirearchy, than so be it.

"STOP POKING ME!!"

Everyone in the room, from the chefs bringing out more food, to Gohan and Vegita on their way out the door, to the King himself jumped at the shrill yell that issued out of Goten as he stood on the table and held a finger right in the little Prince Vegita's face.

"YOU DARE TO ORDER AROUND YOUR PRINCE!?" came the answer, and the Prince also jumped onto the table. Both boys stood in fighting stances, though both were extremely different. It was obvious that a fight between the two was about to break out in more than a shouting match. The little Prince was taller than Goten, though part of his heigth must have been in his hair. Goten didn't look impressed.

"You're not his Prince," Trunks said calmly to the Prince. Little Vegita glared down at him.

"What, and you are?"

"Think about it," Trunks said, calmly stepping from his chair onto the table to join the other kids, "My dad is the king where I come from. Wouldn't that make me a prince?"

Goten almost opened his mouth to argue with Trunks, but shut it again when Trunks winked at him. He was baiting the Prince.

"Yeah, but that would make ME the King!" the junior Vegita countered, thinking fast.

"No, cause THAT'S the King!" Goten hooted, pointing at Vegita. Vegita was listening to the whole conversation and realized this was the first and last time he would probably ever hear Goten say that.

"Then what does that make me?" the Prince asked.

"Um....that makes you.....," Trunks tried to think of a witty thing to say.

"A big fat turd head!" Goten crowed, sticking his tounge out at the Prince.

"How DARE YOU!!!" the Prince launched himself at Goten, who jumped back off of the table and landed a couple hundred feet away.

*Goten, remember not to show them your real power,* Gohan told his brother mentally. Goten nodded to his older brother in acknowledgment. The Prince followed Goten off of the table and started to throw off a series of punches and kicks that never seemed to find the target they saught. Goten was just way too fast!

Even the King was amazed by the speed in which the little third class was moving. Ducking, twisting, turning......not a thing got through! The two miniature combatants flew through out the room, untill they finally stopped.

The little Vegita was hunched over, panting, while Goten grinned at Trunks and flashed the victory sign. Trunks grinned back. The King felt very unhappy.

****

"Is that him, Radditz?! Is that him!?" Kakarot was hardpressed to NOT tug at his older brother's sleeve.

"Yes, Kakarot, YES, now shut UP!" Radditz yelled at Goku, but inside he was asking himself the same question. Was that REALLY him?! Was that really him? Was that really their father?

Of coarse it was. He hadn't aged a day or changed a way since his death so many years ago. And then there he was, standing in that fighting ring, set to fight like the Saiyan he was. His X shaped scar added to his rugged appearance, but also added more character to his gruff demeniour.

And he was right there. Right there in that ring.

"How.....how do we approach him?" Kakarot suddenly came down with uncharacteristic nerviousness and shyness.

"We.....er....just.....," Radditz tried to think of the right way to say hi after so long.

"It's not like I can just walk up and say 'hi, I'm your long lost son here because some strange guy named Noone though we were his little brother reality so he brought you back from the dead.'"

"No kidding, Kakarot," Radditz said, though he made a lop-sided smile at the thought.

"Maybe we should enter the competiton?"

"You don't enter in this one. You just jump in the ring and challenge the fighter- Hey! Wait up!"

Radditz ran after Kakarot as the swam through the throng to reach the ring. Just as the two brothers were about to jump in and challenge their father, they paused when Bardock spoke.

"My son has asked in advance to fight me," he said. Goku and Radditz blinked at eachother in confusion.

Just then, another figure entered the ring. He was obviously not done growing, as his limbs seemed too long and thin to be full grown. Even then, though, the figure had hair that was longer than a human twice his age could grow.

"Radditz....who...?" Goku asked, though something seemed terribly familiar about the adolecent Saiyan that had entered the ring.

Radditz could only manage out the words, "That....that......"

"This is my son, Radditz," Bardock anounced as he patted the youth on the back.

"That's me from when this planet was destroyed!" Radditz finally managed to say. "We need to talk to Noone about this......." Goku said, staring. Things were getting wierd.

To be continued.............