Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Fall of the Mighty ❯ Challenge and Avoidance ( Chapter 29 )

~Awaken You With A Little Evil Inside~

I will also be posting a Halloween fic. Just a little old fashioned horror. Nothing too origional. ^_^ Just violent. *evil grin*

Dark Serapha : Kriegsmond does sound very interesting. I'm going to have to learn German. Wait a sec… O.o Did you just say…sophisticated? Wow… Thanks… I think that what you wrote in your review must be the best compliment I have ever received. I must make sure you never meet me in person. I wouldn't want you to change your mind. ^_^ I wonder if that's why I don't have many friends. It's too much effort to get to know me. *laugh* Nah, I just write what I feel. Everything that comes out of me comes from somewhere very personal. All of it has at least two meanings. I drive people crazy a lot. I'm glad you are connecting. I'm glad you enjoy the *levels* that I cram into this. I always figured it would drive people crazy on paper just like it does in real life. Welcome to my world. *smirk* I love to share it. It makes me warm to know someone *wants* to share it. Was the nightmare really that powerful? I cut it down a lot from what I initially intended. I tried not to lose the core of it though. It definitely freaked *me* out. *sticks hands in pockets and examines the ceiling innocently*

Yup Diane. *squeeze* Review 60! And 59 and 58 and 50! You have no idea how much you've gotten the inspiration pumping through my veins again. After you reviewed I managed to produce *three* more chapters that night! Wow. A whole page of nothing but diane on my reviews! I definitely put a very domestic tone in there. Vegeta has always been on the outside. Even with Bulma he was always very cosmetic when it came to his "family". Trunks' training was the only interaction he truly took part in. Here, not only has he assessed what needed to be done but he put out the needed effort to deal with it as well and took it upon himself to make sure it got done. Gohan definitely has gotten a little scatterbrained but that shows how much he cares for his kids. They have taken up his thoughts and he has realized that he needs to do something. He just has to figure out what and be able to do it. And he has to do it to the point where they accept it, which will be a chore. I don't care for wimpy Trunks either. Vegy would never have let that happen. Bulma was not weak enough for him to end up all wussy even without Vegy around. Trunks is more rounded than Vegy but he is still a Vegeta.

~I Want To Play With Your Evil Inside~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you are not ready to spar by the time I come out of my room then you better be gone." The prince dropped her and stalked out, slamming the door.

Spice sat stunned for a moment, staring after him, then she scrambled up and disappeared.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*Challenge and Avoidance*

When Vegeta emerged from his room, clean and wearing his usual training outfit, he was pleased to see Spice get quickly to her feet from where she sat at the end of the hallway. She had on a pair of loose black gi pants, light tennis shoes, and an olive tank. She looked in much better condition than when he first found her. She also slightly looked nervous.

He stalked off, secure that she would follow.

Spice screamed and careened into the ground, leaving a ten foot furrow. Panting heavily, she dragged herself out and sat slumped over, trying to catch her breath. They had only been sparring for a short while and she already found herself lagging.

"Is that all you've got?" Vegeta taunted from the air.

"No." She muttered to herself and went back to engage him. Less than ten minutes later she smashed yelping into the ground again. Snarling and pushing up on her hands and knees, she pounded the ground in frustration.

"Give it up brat."

"No! I just have to catch my second wind! I'm fine!"

"Liquor has dulled your senses and made you slow and clumsy. There will be no second wind. You might as well crawl back to your worthless father and beg him to take you back in." Spice stiffened where she crouched and was silent, breathing slow and even now. The prince's voice was cold and quiet. "You are weak, brat. Just a weakling Son with no control, and a crutch because you don't have the strength to stand on your own." Vegeta landed and leaned close and spat one word. "Pathetic."

Spice looked up into his pitiless face. She was shaking with anger and stared him in the eyes unblinkingly. "I am not weak. I am strong. I'm stronger than the rest of them. I'm stronger than you!" Her tone dripped with scorn. "What crutch do you carry? Vegeta no ouji. Sovereign prince of all Saiyajin. HA! And you pass that crutch down to all your kids. Princes of what? Me? Like hell! You princes have no rights over me. You call me weak?! I have everything to lose! What do you have? Who did you come to when you needed someone? Who did you come to to get drunk off your ass and forget your problems?! They don't go away that way, *I* know that! You wouldn't even have Kaky now if it weren't for me. You'd be exactly the same as you were before, an egotistical asshole who's afraid to let anyone get close. You'd be gone. I know you, Vegeta. I modeled myself after you…and I got it down very well! I always wanted to be strong just like you and now I'm a weakling?! What does that make you?" Standing, she faced off against the seething, scowling prince. "I am me! I don't need to prove it. I don't need anything to help me hold my head up high. I can stand on my own without help from anyone or anything! I'm not going back! I'll keep my word no matter what!" She powered up to SSJ2, blond and green spikes curving back over her shoulders. "I don't know what crawled up your ass and died, ouji, but there! Now you have a *reason* to take it out on me. So come on!"

Vegeta powered up as well, anger darkening his features, but now the disparaging disgust was absent. Challenge had been met by challenge and it had come back around to him. Good. That's what he wanted, a challenge. He nodded, his voice tense. She was pushing his already bad mood. "Strong words, girl, but there's no power to back them up. I'm going to make you eat them."

Spice scoffed and snorted. "You can try."

They met again. This time they both were focused and steady. The power of their blasts and hits shook the terrain.

Goku and Gohan sat at the kitchen table talking over a couple of cups of hot chocolate. "…I know, dad, it's just that she never seemed to be unhappy before. It's Tong that I always ended up butting heads with every time we talked. Whenever I talked to her she was always receptive and agreeable. We stopped having fights just after she started high school. Well…there was that phase she went through when she first started school and destroyed her record. That was pretty tough to get through but by the time she served her probation I thought she had settled down pretty well. I thought everything was fine. Um…that day…when I found out about you and Vegeta… That was our first fight in a long time and now she's just gone."

Goku listened attentively while his son talked. Finally Gohan finished and looked to him, pleading for answers. "I don't know what to say Gohan. Spice has grown some since she went to college but she really hasn't changed all that much. If you just talked to her you should be able to work things out."

"But I can't! I don't even know where she is! She just appears and disappears at will. I didn't even know you'd taught her instant transmission until she did it in front of me when we were arguing."

Goku laughed lightly. "That's cause I didn't teach her. She surprised me too. She just asked me to explain it to her a long time ago and figured it out on her own. She nearly gave me a heart attack when she just appeared out of thin air one day screaming and trying to rip my arm off because she was so happy. She worked on it for a really long time." Goku hesitated. "There she is…she's sparring with Vegeta…I think…"

The monitored the power fluctuations off in the distance in silence. When both kis skyrocketed Goku smiled proudly. "Ah, *now* they're sparring." He looked over to Gohan whose jaw was gaping open.

"Since when did Spice get that strong?!!"

Goku frowned. "You really *don't* use your senses much anymore, do you?"

Two exhausted and still slightly irritable individuals collapsed into their separate beds. One was immediately enveloped in his mate's embrace and fell into contented sleep almost instantly.

The other tossed and turned, groaning in helpless frustration before, at length, sliding from the warm mattress and shuffling tiredly out of her room.

Vegeta rolled out of bed with the dawn for the first time in far too long. He opened wide the windows and breathed in the cold misty air with an appreciative smirk. Behind him Goku grunted unhappily and burrowed deeper into the warm blankets. He walked over and tugged at the thick blanket but it barely budged. "Get up, Kakarott. I want to spar."

Goku groaned. "But it's still daaaaaaark n coooooold! I wanna sleeeeeeep. I'm still tiiiiiiired!!" Goku whined with his eyes clenched tightly shut.

"No." The prince asserted. "It is time to get up."

Goku whined piteously again and ignored him.

"Up!" The prince caught one corner of the bed and tilted it up but Goku clung to the mattress tenaciously. Vegeta dropped the bed in frustration and Goku bounced slightly but still refused to move. The prince noticed something dark and fuzzy sticking out from the blanket and reached for it thinking he had found a way to rouse the lazy bum.

*CRACK*

"Kisama!!"

Vegeta growled and shook out his stinging wrist while Goku hid his tail and snuggled further into the comforter with a satisfied smile.

The ouji examined the Saiyan, searching for a new line of attack. Nothing seemed to be working. He'd always had trouble getting the lazyass bakayaro up for spars in the mornings and usually it took him losing his temper and cussing the other out until the worthless excuse for a fighter dragged himself out of bed. But now the prince could employ other tactics… His scowl lit into a mischievous smirk and he poised to strike. "Hn." He pounced the unsuspecting sleeper.

"AAAAAAAAH!!" Goku broke down in writhing, giggling, laughter. "Hey!! No!! Stop!! Don't!! No…! AAAAAH Stop it!! Don't do…!! AAAAH!!! Okay!! OKAY!! I give!! I'm up!! I'M UP!!!"

Vegeta laughed richly as his prey squirmed and screamed helplessly under his onslaught of tickling. Goku fell out of bed to land hard on his ass. "Oh! I'm gonna get you for that, Vegeta!"

"Not today." The prince smirked down at him from where he perched on the rumpled bed.

Vegeta was in rare form today. He'd had his early morning spar, his shower, his lunch, and now he had his Kakarott laid out beneath him on the kitchen table. Life was unexpectedly good. He had just begun to explore his mate when there came an insistent pounding on the newly replaced front door. He snarled and decided that whoever it was could go to hell.

"Uh, Vegeta…"

"No."

The pounding came again and Goku pushed the prince away. "I have to answer the door." The taller man slipped from his grip and the prince slapped the table in frustration.

On the doorstep stood Tong with Fleaa sitting happily on his shoulders. Standing in front with a very no-nonsense look on her face was Naga. Tong had his tongue in his cheek, trying to hold back his laughter. "Hi, guys." Goku greeted cheerfully. "What's up?"

"I've been hijacked." Tong replied.

Naga interrupted before he could continue. "Where's my grandpa!" She glared up at Goku accusingly.

"What is it, brat?" Vegeta appeared, crossing his arms and expecting answers for the interruption of his pleasant afternoon.

"You!" She stomped right past Goku and up to her grandfather, jabbing his hard stomach with one tiny finger. "Said you would come see how good we've gotten. You never did!"

Vegeta stared down grumpily. "And just what are *you* going to do about it?"

"You are going to do what you promised!"

"And you are going to make me, are you?" Vegeta asked with partially amused annoyance.

"Yes!" She snapped. An aura of power flared up around her and a large ball of energy appeared in her hands.

Goku sweatdropped as the two royals eyed each other disdainfully then looked around his living room realizing that his house was once again in danger. He broke into nervous laughter then scooped up the little girl, breaking her concentration. The ki ball dissolved and Goku quickly linked arms with his prince before any fight could be put up.

"You're right, sweetie. A promise is a promise. You guys have fun! Don't worry about us! It's a beautiful day, enjoy it!"

Before Vegeta knew what was happening he found himself outside with the two little girls thrust into his arms and the two Sons hidden from view by a closed door.

Twin high pitched "Yaaay"s rang out accompanied by a select few harsh yet unintelligible foreign words.

Tong couldn't hold back the chuckles. His grampa was braced against the door as if afraid it might be forced open at any second. He need not have worried. Naga had already taken full control of the situation outside and Vegeta didn't have a prayer.

Goku relaxed as the three outside moved away. "I told him I'd get him back."

He grinned at his grandson. "So… How ya been?"

So, what do you think? A little sweetness after soooo long. ^_^ I thought it would be good to ease up on the other stuff for a little bit. So what do we have so far? Hmmmmm. Kaky is getting back to his normal self again. Vegy is a little more relaxed. Gohan isn't going to die and will be safe as long as he doesn't do anything too stupid. He and Tong are getting along a bit…as long as Gohan makes no forays into his personal life… Spice has pretty much just gone off. She's been trying to avoid everything and getting herself bogged down. Gohan and Kaky are okay with each other though Gohan still feels guilty. It's only been a month since Vegeta finally accepted Kaky as his mate.