Welcome to Boxer & Rice

► Prologue     Chapter 01     Chapter 02     Chapter 03     Chapter 04     Chapter 05     Chapter 06     Chapter 07     Chapter 08     Chapter 09     Chapter 10     Chapter 11     Chapter 12     Chapter 13     Chapter 14     Chapter 15     Chapter 16     Epilogue Bardock bled.

He was so high in the atmosphere that his lungs were straining for air, and his blood ran off in weird directions, not as troubled by gravity as usual. Burns and bruises covered most of his skin, and one eye had swollen shut. Patches of fur were gone from his broken tail. None of it mattered.

He stared at the boy, his face twisted with a wolfish smile. A golden boy, saiyajin night transformed into a scream of daylight. Golden hair, green eyes, an aura of power that had exploded every scouter for miles around them, and the white armor of a prince of Vegetasei, marked with the royal crest in the color of blood. Vejiita. His prince. The Saiyajin no Ouji. Super saiyajin.

Around them, beginning the slow fall to the ground, were the remains of a hundred, two hundred, of Furiza's elite fighters, mostly ashes. Of Furiza himself, nothing remained. The tyrant who had held Vegetasei's fate in his fist, who had meant to destroy Bardock's entire species, was entirely gone. Vaporized by Saiyajin wrath. By the prince who now stood in the thin air before him, blazing with victory and hatred.

Bardock bowed deeply, his fist over his heart. "Ouji-sama."

" Who are you? How did you know what he was going to do?" the prince demanded.

How to say it? "I am Bardock, ouji-sama. I...I have visions, sometimes, of the future. I saw Furiza."

"And you attacked, by yourself?"

"No one believed me."

The prince looked into his eyes. Bardock had never seen such eyes, such fierce intensity, before. "I was late," the prince began softly. "I should have been off his ship already, on another mission. I am never late. But this time I was. I saw you fighting. I went outside to see why a saiyajin was fighting with Furiza's troops above Vegetasei. I heard Furiza! I saw what he meant to do. And I had to... This."

He gestured at himself. The super saiyajin. His voice grew frantic. "This! And Furiza is *dead*. He meant to... all of us! All of us! But you have *visions*! And I was *late*! And *this*... this..."

Bardock suddenly understood. Vejiita was incredibly powerful and advanced for his age. He was born and bred to be ruler of his race. But he was also a small boy, no more than 6 years old, who had, in the space of a few minutes, achieved his kind's deepest dream of power, crushed the tyrant who even saiyajins had come to fear, and saved his homeworld from annihilation. Moving very slowly, the father of two young sons approached the distressed and shaking prince, slid into his aura, and took the boy into his arms.

For a long time the prince was unyielding, but he said nothing, and eventually he laid his head on Bardock's shoulder, leaning into him. He still glowed with unimaginable power. It rolled over Bardock's flesh without hurting him. The man felt warm amidst the bitter cold, wrapped in Vejiita's aura.

Over his shoulder, Bardock saw Nappa, the prince's bodyguard, approaching, concern plain on his face. Bardock made a negative gesture with one hand, and the huge man stopped a little distance away, nodding in understanding. For some time the three of them were quiet together.

"Nappa." The voice was tired but still strong.

"Yes, ouji-sama?"

"Are there any other saiyajins on Furiza's ship?"

"No, ouji-sama."

"Are you sure?"

"I make it my business to know such things."

"Then come here, close to me. Touch Bardock's shoulder."

Nappa looked perplexed at this, but he was even less inclined now to disobey his prince than usual. With some hesitancy, he moved into Vejiita's aura and grasped Bardock's shoulder with his large hand.

Without saying another word, without even lifting his head from the strong shoulder beneath it, Vejiita stretched his arm out towards the huge spaceship that was still nearby, the crew thrown into confusion by Furiza's death. He held his palm out flat towards it. A second later a blinding burst of furious death streaked from his palm to the hapless ship. The monstrosity disappeared in an orgy of destruction, sending violent shockwaves through the upper atmosphere. No one on the ground below could possibly have missed the additional sun that burned above them for long moments before subsiding into nothingness.

When the chaos subsided, the little trio of saiyajins remained, protected by the enormous ki of the small prince. A few moments after they were safe, the gold flickered away, leaving a small, exhausted child in Bardock's arms.

"Take me home," a little voice said.

"Gladly," Bardock answered.

"And, Bardock?"

"Yes, ouji-sama?"

"Stay with me."

"Always, my ouji. Always." ► Prologue     Chapter 01     Chapter 02     Chapter 03     Chapter 04     Chapter 05     Chapter 06     Chapter 07     Chapter 08     Chapter 09     Chapter 10     Chapter 11     Chapter 12     Chapter 13     Chapter 14     Chapter 15     Chapter 16     Epilogue