Hail to the Prince Chapter 2

Apparently, I had this chapter written months ago, and I somehow didn't realize I never posted? I'm such a fucking dumbass lmao. I'll be working on chapter three in between chapters and post it whenever I can, cuz I feel bad.

Chapter 1 is on my snippet threads on QQ and FFN

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Edited by: Priapus, Marethyu

– Nappa –

Something felt a little off about the prince since he’d been hit in the head during their mission to wipe out Planet Chaiturn.

Vegeta's actions left Nappa in a state of bewilderment. He appeared as a different person, a version of himself that Nappa was not familiar with. There was a newfound respect, a regal air that replaced the bratty demeanor Nappa was accustomed to. He felt… older. Wiser. This change in the Saiyan Prince’s behavior was very puzzling.

When he’d emerged from the healing pod, Nappa had expected him to explode in a fit of rage, but he took it surprisingly well. He was out of it for a little while, but after recovering, he wasn’t in a bad mood. Instead, he seemed thoughtful, which only deepened Nappa's concern.

One may attribute it to him feeling pleased with his increased power level surpassing Dodoria, but that wasn’t it. He was in deep thought nearly the entire time he’d been out of the healing pod. Nappa didn’t know what he was thinking about— the prince usually kept it to himself and only spoke when he needed something or to belittle someone. But still, this was very different.

Did those monks on Planet Chaiturn do something to him? He had heard of their strange illusions that mess with one’s mind, but as far as he knew, they could drive people mad by showing them their worst nightmares, not change someone’s behavior like that.

And it wasn’t amnesia, either— they discussed a few things during their training session, and it seemed that Vegeta still remembered pretty much everything: his father, Tarble, Planet Vegeta’s destruction, the Freeza Force—all of it. There wasn’t anything notably missing. It was just very odd. Even in their current training, the prince was being very careful, not wanting to injure Raditz or Nappa in any capacity. In fact, he was mainly dodging.

Prince Vegeta was admittedly an annoying brat. He was a powerful one, but his arrogance caused them a lot of problems. He’d even gotten two other Saiyan bodyguards killed on a mission a year after their planet’s destruction, but Nappa was loyal. He had always been ever since he’d served King Vegeta the Third.

Besides, he was still a kid. He’d outgrow this childishness of his soon enough. So, naturally, Nappa was still worried about his prince. With their race practically eradicated, Vegeta was the only person who could possibly lead them right now.

Obeying their prince’s orders, Nappa and Raditz worked together as they tried to land a hit on Vegeta, who was evading every punch and blast thrown his way. It was a given, of course. Combined, Nappa and Raditz had a power level of 5,200. Vegeta was nearly five times stronger than that. Even if one of their attacks were to connect, it would do no damage.

Vegeta ducked under a swipe from Nappa and effortlessly deflected a blast from Raditz, vanishing and reappearing behind the large Saiyan, kicking him in the back and sending him crashing into the walls of the training chamber. The strike hurt, but the prince was clearly holding back. If he had truly tried, he would’ve killed Nappa instantly.

Nappa grunted and got back on his feet, watching as Raditz hesitantly tried to continue the assault on the prince on his own, but to no avail, as Vegeta either avoided or deflected all his admittedly pitiful attempts at striking the Saiyan Prince.

Vegeta then responded with an open palm strike on Raditz’s chest, breaking some of the brat’s armor and nearly knocking him out as his back hit the wall, prompting him to cough violently as he had trouble breathing properly.

Raditz tried but failed to get back up on his feet, gritting his teeth as his lips trembled in pain and fear. Vegeta noticed this and paused, then approached the pained Raditz slowly. He flinched as he saw the prince walking toward him menacingly, and he and Nappa expected another physical and verbal beating—as what always would happen. 

Nappa held no love for Bardock’s brat. He, too, would mess with him every once in a while, but even he had to admit that Vegeta would always go overboard with his abuse. He’d break down Raditz with his words, calling him pathetic, a coward, low-class garbage, and so much more. Sometimes unprompted.

Like his father before him, Vegeta was as Saiyan-like as one could be. Cruelty was a given.

But to his and Raditz’s surprise, Vegeta, instead of mocking the other boy, extended his arm, offering a hand for the downed Saiyan. Something he had NEVER done before. He didn’t know if this was kindness for his fellow Saiyan or if he simply didn’t feel the need to destroy Raditz’s self-esteem…

“I’ve seen enough. I’m satisfied.” He expressed with a blank tone. “Get up, Radtiz. Nappa, we’re done for today.”

“Got it.” Nappa rolled his neck, relaxing his stance soon after.

Vegeta tilted his head at Raditz, shaking him out of his stupor as Nappa walked towards the exit. He paused and watched the two boys, focusing on the prince with a suspicious glance.

“Y-yes, sir.” Raditz hesitantly accepted the hand as Vegeta pulled him back up.

“You did well,” Vegeta said before exiting the training chamber. “Let’s go.”

Raditz seemed shocked at the unexpected praise, as was Nappa. If offering a hand was unheard of by the prince, then giving compliments was just not him. Indeed, this was definitely not the prince he knew, but how? And why?

Did those monks change him somehow? Or was it his first near-death experience that had rewired his brain? Nappa had yet to decide what to make of this. Just what had happened to his prince? What exactly made him more… compassionate?

Such a trait was highly uncommon for Saiyans, much less from an elite class like Vegeta. And exactly what was he planning to do? In their training, he seemed deep in thought. He was looking far less smug and arrogant and more troubled.

“T-thanks…” Raditz muttered shyly, following the prince closely. “Um, where are we going?”

“Somewhere quiet.” He said vaguely, but Nappa understood what he meant. “It’s noisy here.”

Somewhere where they can’t be eavesdropped on and monitored. Typically, Vegeta wouldn’t care if he was heard because he knew what not to say. As cocky as he was, not even he wanted to get in trouble with Lord Freeza.

But this implied he wanted to do something big.

As he silently stared at Vegeta, Nappa frowned. Admittedly, he wasn’t sure what to feel about this… new development, so to speak, but he’d wait and see what the regal brat had in mind. It was too soon to decide.

Nonetheless, Nappa was still loyal to the royal family.

And he’d take Vegeta over Freeza any day of the week.

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– Vegeta –

It hasn’t even been a day, and I’ve already made a significant discovery—a more profound knowledge and understanding of this world. What always looked like a silly show about buff guys shooting lasers, blowing up planets, and beating the shit out of each other had become something much deeper than I thought.

So, after this weird epiphany, one thought keeps ringing in my head.

Ki is absurd.

Its capabilities are mind-boggling. Making a ball out of it is nothing like utilizing it more in-depth. A simple spar with Nappa and Raditz showed me things unlike anything I’ve seen before. Seeing it on a screen and experiencing it are completely different feelings.

Reflexively spreading my ki throughout my body before the fight, deflecting literal plasma with my arms like it was nothing— even the way we moved was nothing like normal humans are capable of. They’re simple things, but from my perspective, it was phenomenal.

And the way that these two were moving in slow-motion for me? An untrained body hijacker? It made me want to laugh at how insane it was. Nappa and Raditz may be weak in the greater context of Dragonball, but they are still super-powered aliens who are capable of wiping out entire civilizations. Put one of them back home, and no weapon would be enough to put them down.

Let me reiterate: Even Raditz could take out Earth— my Earth before an hour passed if he really wants to. Thousands of years of technological progress rendered moot and useless by one child with a monkey tail. And as for me? I’m not just able to wipe out civilizations. I can destroy planets. 

This isn’t even exclusive to Saiyans. Anyone can get this strong.

So, just as I pointed out before, Ki is absurd. But that’s enough gushing about hilariously powerful power systems.

I discovered something else during my sparring with the other two Saiyans. While I’m pretty sure I’m very bad at fighting, this body is thankfully used to it. Muscle memory is very strong here, helping me mimic Vegeta’s elite stance relatively well—as far as I know, anyway.

Am I good at fighting? I don’t know. The gap in power between me and these two is massive, so it’s hard to tell when I can one-tap them. I personally don’t think so, so for now, I’ll have to relearn everything Vegeta knew through muscle memory, if that’s even possible.

For now, at least. I don’t plan to stay here forever. I want to leave the force and find martial arts masters and ki specialists to train under. I don’t have the prince’s planet-sized ego, so I’m not against learning from my betters.

But before that, there’s one thing I have to do. Something very important.

“Huh?” Nappa blinked after gulping what I assume is the alien equivalent of beer. “You wanna know where Tarble is?”

“Yes.” I nod, pretending that I didn’t see my food twitching. I miss earth food… “I know Father sent him to a distant planet because of his low power level, but he never told me where.”

With my knowledge about this series and considering the position I’m in — being in the body of Vegeta, of all people — I’m confident in being able to overthrow Freeza and the empire. Granted, I don’t see myself doing that for at least five years, but it’s very possible.

But there’s no reason to do that by myself. Nappa and Raditz are here, sure, but with me knowing that there are more Saiyans out there? I’d be stupid not to gather them to make a counterforce to the empire.

And as the prince, they’d be obligated to help me. Well, except for Paragus and Broly, but I don’t plan on seeing them anytime soon. Sure, Broly is crazy strong even as a kid, but that’s why I’m avoiding him. I don’t feel confident in taking him out if he goes berserk.

The guy went from struggling against base Vegeta to beating the everloving fuck out of two Super Saiyan Blues in the span of, like, an hour. I’m NOT taking the risk. So, for now, it’s just Tarble and Kakarot. Maybe Turles, too, if he’s around.

Then, from there, work to recruit other notable characters into this faction I plan to make. Warriors of Earth and perhaps Granolah. Would be hard convincing him, seeing that the Saiyans annihilated his world, but I’ll come up with something.

And who knows, maybe I’ll find more Saiyans out there.

“Well…” Nappa paused to think. “I don’t recall which planet, but I know it’s somewhere in the eastern sector.”

And from what I’ve noticed, we’re in the central sector of the universe. Freeza Planet 12 is a kind of hub world for the force where most come to unwind if there aren’t any assignments to work on. The planet is filled with all sorts of bars, taverns, and other entertainment facilities.

Unsurprisingly, besides the prominent Freeza Force building, there isn’t a lot of security. You’d think someone like Freeza would be sure to set up a camera on every corner of the city, but this Pre-Z Freeza where he’s still uncontested and the strongest by a massive margin.

If it’s Super Freeza? Sure. He’s a lot more experienced and intelligent, somehow knowing everything about the Heeters’ plan to overthrow him. But I digress.

After our spar, we took off to the city below and ordered some food in one of the taverns since I felt a little hungry, expecting something better than what we had in the Force building. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. It's still the same vomit-inducing ‘food’. How are they even living like this?

I can’t wait to go to Earth. I want a burger.

“Isn’t the eastern sector the most populated?” Raditz asks, swallowing some disgusting-looking alien slop. “It has twice as many planets as the western sector.”

“I mean, findin’ him shouldn’t be too hard.” Nappa shrugged. “Could always use a terminal to get his coordinates. As weak as he is, he’s still part of the force, and as long as his scouter is working, we’ll get to him in no time.”

Convenient.

“Though, dunno why you’d bother.” The older Saiyan added, looking at me with a raised eyebrow. “Last time we talked about him, you turned up your nose and called him a weakling. What’s with the change of heart?”

I know what he’s trying to do— He’s been giving me odd looks ever since I woke up. He definitely noticed something off about the Vegeta he used to know, but he hasn’t made any move yet. I don’t know why, and I don’t know how much he knows, but I definitely can’t hide this from him forever.

Though, that was never the plan. I don’t want to be the same heartless Vegeta who wiped out worlds in amusement. I don’t want to kill innocent people for sport. And I’m not going to make the same mistakes as him.

He grew into a great character and a hero who saved the universe more than once, but before that? No. He was a monster. I refuse to be like him. So if Nappa ever decides to have a problem with me, then he either leaves me or I kill him.

He’s also a monster, and I won’t feel bad getting rid of him if he ever goes against me.

“I want to see what became of him,” I answer tonelessly. “Is that a problem?”

I still make sure not to say anything too suspicious, though, because there are people here who wouldn’t hesitate to snitch and get us in trouble. 

“It’s not,” Nappa says. “I was just curious. That’s all.”

“What about my brother?” Raditz asks, trying to hide his enthusiasm. “I know where he is. Though, he’s really weak. He was born with a power level of 2. Imagine that?”

He says that, but he looks like he really wants to see him. 

“We’ll visit him after.” I nod. “For now, I want to bring Tarble with us.”

“Dunno how much help he’ll be, but sure,” Nappa says. “I guess we can check out the terminal before we leave for our next assignment since it’s in the same sector. I doubt Lord Freeza would mind.”

Which is in a few ‘cycles’. I still don’t know what that means, but I hope it gives me enough time to figure out a few crucial things about Ki. Mainly how to sense and hide it. Scouters are a big problem— it’ll be impossible to hide from Freeza if he could spot me across solar systems.

I don’t think it’s going to be complicated. If I remember correctly, in the original, Vegeta figured it out literally right after his first appearance on Earth. Somehow. Without any prior knowledge or experience. Then again, he’s always been a talented bastard.

Or I guess I am the talented bastard now.

“What should we do until then?” Raditz wonders.

There isn’t much we can do besides training, but that also could be risky. I don’t want to alert Freeza so soon, and with me being already more powerful than Dodoria, that’s bound to make him suspicious.

If I want to train, it has to be in a way that no one can detect my power level. Maybe some mental training would do the trick: image training or plain meditation. I don’t know how to do the former, though.

Before I can answer, though, someone kicks the tavern door down, getting our attention. It's the same idiot I knocked out a few hours ago.

“VEGETA!” Shisami roars as he spots me, approaching our table. “How dare you, you Saiyan filth?!”

“A pain in the ass…” Nappa mutters, mirroring my thoughts. “What do you want now, Shisa–”

The older Saiyan doesn’t even get the privilege of finishing that sentence before he’s backhanded away and sent through the tavern wall, making Raditz flinch as he gets into combat position. The red-skinned bull-like alien snarls as I narrow my eyes at him.

“What you did to me back there was a mere fluke!” He snaps. “Get up and face me!”

I don’t say anything, scanning the tavern as the other customers look at the scene with a mixture of worry and interest, almost like they’re looking forward to a fight breaking out. Knowing damn well that a battle between us would annihilate a chunk of the city.

If I held back.

“H-hey!” Raditz gets in front of me, facing Shisami as he trembles in fear. “What’s your problem?! Can’t you see we’re busy?!”

“Get the hell out of my way, you stupid brat!”

As Shisami is about to do the same thing to Raditz as he did to Nappa, I get in between them and catch his strike, then respond by releasing a ki beam at his chest. However, I may have underestimated my own strength a little, as the blast that was supposed to just launch him away and perhaps knock him out instead goes through him, taking a chunk of the building with it.

Raditz flinches, and I do, too, at what I had just done. Shisami gasps, and his eyes widen, the pain making him look down at the hole in his chest. He coughs up blue blood, takes a few steps back, and then looks at me in a mixture of shock and despair.

“H-how…?”

That’s the last thing he says before falling on his back, losing consciousness, or dying. I don’t know. 

The silence afterward is deafening as I continue staring at his motionless body in shock. Unsurprisingly, it’s not guilt I’m feeling because why would I feel that way for another monster that loves killing people? 

No, it’s just shock at how weak he was. Or rather, how much stronger I am. I know that I’m stronger than canon Vegeta at this age, but to just fall like that after a single blast? Seriously? I didn’t even put that much power behind it.

Why didn’t I punch him like last time? What drove me to blast a hole in his chest anyway?

But beyond just shock, there’s fear. Killing a soldier like that in broad daylight in front of so many people on one of Freeza’s planets? 

As the witnesses’ shock wears off, the civilians run away, and soldiers in the tavern stand up, pointing their hands and blasters at me, causing Raditz and me to freeze. This is when Nappa also returns to the building from the hole he was sent through, only suffering a minor injury on his face.

“What the hell was—” Nappa freezes as he sees the large hole in Shisami’s body. “Oh… shit.”

I fucked up.

“Put your hands in the air!” One of the soldiers barks, pressing a button on his scouter. “We need immediate backup! Prince Vegeta just killed Shisami!”

I click my tongue and immediately release a blast that vaporizes the soldiers surrounding us. I make sure not to hurt the civilians as I direct the blast upwards, hitting one of the towers of the Freeza Force fort. I seriously fucked up— and with how disliked we are, they’re going to spin it as me starting the fight. We need to get away from here as fast as possible.

Damn it.

“Nappa!”

“Right, follow me!” He nods in understanding, blasting off towards the fort. 

As I’m about to follow him, I notice that Raditz is frozen in fear, so without wasting my breath, I grab him by his arm and fly after the older Saiyan, surprising the boy as he yelps. We arrive at the station reasonably quickly as Freeza’s soldiers scramble at the suddenness of the situation.

I take the lead as more soldiers begin swarming us, and with my power level, I easily dispatch them. I feel nothing as they scream in fear and pain once my ki blasts incinerate them into nothingness—only urgency as I spot a small ship, but big enough to hold all of us.

“Over here!” I point at it. “Go!”

As the two Saiyans do as they’re told, I turn around and do my best to mimic a certain Vegeta technique— doing his signature pose as ki gathers in my hands, glowing a deep purple.

“Galick Gun…” As I aim the blast at the fort, the purple ki orb grows larger and brighter. “FIRE!”

The powerful wave of ki pushes me back slightly as it utterly annihilates the entire building, killing everyone in it before the blast travels into deep dark space. Once the wave disperses, I back off and enter the ship.

“Destroy your Scouters!” I tell them, taking mine and crushing it.

“G-good idea!” Raditz says as he does the same, getting over his shook.

“Gah, it’s a new model!” Nappa complains as he breaks his, sitting on the pilot seat. “Damn it!”

As he turns the ship on, we take off into space, quickly leaving the planet in disarray and a state of panic. I watch as Freeza Planet 12 grows smaller due to the widening distance; all three of us are silent for minutes as the situation settles down.

No one is going after us, certainly not when I killed most of the soldiers there in what amounted to a surprise attack, but that’s not gonna last forever. We’re forever on Freeza’s shit list now. Killing Shisami is one thing, but doing all of that?

A part of me feels like I’ve overreacted. Would I really have been killed if I’d surrendered? I doubt it— I’m technically the strongest in the force with my Oozaru form, but whatever punishment Freeza gives me, he will make sure it hurts. 

“Damn it…” I curse under my breath.

“It’s gonna be fine,” Nappa says, hearing me. “That was a good call there. Destroying the fort.”

“It was?” Raditz asks. “How? That’s just going to make Lord Freeza even more mad.”

“Freeza’s gonna be mad and send someone after us regardless.” Nappa shakes his head. “Vegeta just bought us a lot of time to hide.”

I say nothing.

“The problem is putting us in this situation in the first place.” He adds, looking at me with an annoyed look. “Why did you do that? I get knocking him out and humiliating him, but killing him knowing the consequences?”

“...I didn’t mean to,” I answer truthfully. “I thought… I thought he was stronger.”

Nappa pauses, then sighs deeply.

“There goes our careers in the force…” He says. “Ah fuck it. Never wanted to be Freeza’s lapdog anyway.”

“What are we going to do now?” Raditz asks an excellent question. “Now that we’re wanted?”

I recompose myself, knowing that there’s no reason to panic. I was planning to defect anyway— this just came as a surprise. Originally I thought we could go rogue right as we land on whatever planet we were supposed to conquer, but this is good enough too.

But what do we do now? Well, seeing that we can’t get Tarble’s location from a terminal right now, then the second best option would be…

“What planet was Kakarot on?” I glance at Raditz, knowing the answer.

“Huh?” He blinks. “Um, Planet Earth, I think. In the northern sector.”

“We’re going there.” I decide. “We’ll lay low, get acquainted with the locals, and have Kakarot join us. Only then do we consider fighting back.”

“Earth, huh?” Nappa hums, setting the location to the planet. “Good plan. There’s little to no presence of the Freeza Force anywhere near that solar system. We should be good there for a few years.”

And a few years would be a boon to us right now. Mainly Raditz because he only has a power level of one thousand. That’s nothing if we want to take on the empire. Spending time on Earth, where some of the greatest masters of this universe live, will do us real good.

Better ki control and general martial arts training. That’s what I need.

“Well, get comfortable, you two.” The older Saiyan says. “This will be one long journey.”

“How long?” Raditz asks.

“We’d be lucky if we make it there in less than two years.” He snorts. “Earth’s solar system is in the outer edge of the northern sector, where there’s barely any life.”

“So that’s why Lord Freeza has no interest there…” Raditz realizes.

As the two converse, I rest in one of the back seats, crossing my arms and closing my eyes, trying to control my ki on a deeper level. I just proved that I have a terrible handle on my power. There’s no time to waste— I have to find a way to lower my power so we’re not immediately found out and killed.

If we’re going to be hunted down for those two years, then every second counts.