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2,963Chapter 34: Touch of the Past

"Is that home?" Elery asked, jabbing a finger in the direction of Planet Vegeta. It might have been about six years since I've last seen it, but I still recalled what it looked like with ease. It hadn't changed at all during the last six years - the same lush green colors, the oceans were a cyan blue, the clouds swirled in violent patterns that hinted at multiple storms raging on the surface.

In the past six years, I've been on hundreds of planets by now, but Planet Vegeta stood out from the countless others that littered the galaxy. It wasn't the birthplace of the saiyan race, Sadala was lost to time, but it was the home for the saiyan race. And we brought back what was left of our warriors in a small shuttle ship.

"That's it," I confirmed with a nod as we sailed closer to the planet. It was odd seeing one with a moon now, I was more used to seeing debris or nothing at all coming from them. Despite myself, I looked down at it as it rapidly approached with some apprehension. Last time I was here, I was months old and low-class. Now…

Now I was the second strongest saiyan alive.

"It looks boring," Elery decided, pressing her face against the glass, her breath fogging it up for a moment before it cleared, only to repeat each time she breathed out. "Do we really have to be here? I wanted to see a shield world like you were talking about." She said, still looking at the Planet Vegeta, and I didn't see a need to correct her that she wouldn't see the shield world until after we took it.

"It's what King Vegeta wanted. He even got approval from Lord Frieza, so we don't have much of a choice," I admitted with a small shrug. I was more nervous than angry, like Mom. I hadn't spoken or seen King Vegeta since I left the planet behind years ago. I didn't even know if he had acknowledged me formally - I got a message from Vegeta, and Mom seemed to welcome me into the royal family, but nothing from King Vegeta. Who was arguably the most important.

"That's your dad, right? Why do you call him King Vegeta and not dad?" Elery asked, tearing her gaze from the planet to look at me. Her scouter was hanging around her neck since she didn't like seeing everything with a green tint all the time. I just got used to a red tint after awhile. And, as usual, she cut right into the heart of the matter in a way that only the ignorant could manage.

"Because I used to be really weak, so he didn't acknowledge me," I answered, turning my attention back to the planet I hadn't seen in years.

Elery nodded, thinking that made sense. Or she didn't understand what that meant. Either or, she quickly moved on, disinterested in the subject. "Do we have to stay here long?" She asked, returning her attention back to Planet Vegeta, and I didn't have an answer for that. I didn't know, and neither did Mom. King Vegeta hadn't bothered to give details, simply informing us that we were expected back here in a few day's time.

"Maybe. But Planet Vegeta has a lot heavier gravity than you're used to experiencing, so you're training is going to be a lot more effective." I pointed out, distracting myself from a worry that gnawed at the back of my head, my thoughts tugging at theories on why we could be here. "And there are going to be a bunch of people that are around your strength to spar with-"

"So I can win?!" Elery whipped around at me so fast I spared a worry that she might hurt herself. Despite myself, I cracked a smile at that. "I'll be able to win?"

"Depends on who you fight, I guess. But you were born into the elite-class, and there are only about seven members in it. You're probably the strongest kid out there," I admitted, trying to stop my smile from growing. Actually, since she was still about a year and a half away from being 'born', she was considerably stronger than most kids. Maybe her victory deficient could come to an end.

Elery's jaw dropped as she started pushing on the glass, trying to push the shuttle down to the planet faster. Before she broke the glass and ventilated the entire ship, I grabbed her by her armor to pull her back. "Let gooo! I wanna go down there now! Tell them to go faster!" She ordered, trying to lurch forward.

Preventing Elery from killing us all served as a decent distraction as we made the trip down to the planet's surface. We touched down with little fanfare, the door going down to serve as a walkway and revealing a sight that wasn't unfamiliar, but I hardly remembered it. It was the same docking area as before, only now it was empty. Not only that, I saw signs of disuse-

"Ugghhh!" Elery grunted as she stepped out of the ship. Glancing behind me at her, I saw Mom, Matillo and Fasha behind me - they were the only ones we took back to Planet Vegeta. The others chose not to come back to Planet Vegeta when given the choice. Most likely because the fleet would be going to another planet to conquer. "It's heavy!"

"Do you need me to carry you?" I asked, making Elery shake her head with some difficulty as she stepped on to the planet surface for the first time. Her face was showing some signs of exertion, but she didn't look like she couldn't walk under her own power.

"No! It's just really heavy," she clarified. Then she pouted at me, thoroughly uninterested in the surroundings. I guess, to her, Planet Vegeta was just another planet. "Make it stop being so heavy," she ordered me, much to the amusement of Fasha and Mom. Even Matillo looked amused. I just looked back at Elery's expecting gaze that demanded that I put an end to gravity.

"Yeah, make it stop being so heavy," Fasha teased as we walked from the ship. I gave her a look. How would I even do that? The only way I could think of would be to create a technique that…

Hm.

"And you've given him an idea," Mom said with some humor, her lips curling upwards as Elery decided to climb onto my back anyway once the others began to float upwards. She hung off of my shoulder, pouting, but was otherwise fine.

"Maybe," I admitted, adding the idea to find a way to manipulate gravity to the list of ideas in the back of my mind. I started to fly up, only to realize that none of the others were.

"I don't think this is a conversation for me," Fasha pointed out, earning a nod from Matillo. Technically speaking, only me and Mom were supposed to come. However, she didn't look like she was willing to budge. "I'm going to meet up with Gine-"

"I'm going too," Mom decided, making Fasha raise an eyebrow at her queen. Mom shrugged in response.

"Your father can kiss my entire ass. If he wants to see me, then he can come to me. Now, introduce me to this Gine woman. I want to meet her," Mom stated as she flew up. Fasha seemed to think about it for a moment before she shrugged, floating up as well. Matillo nodded at me before all three of them blasted off in the exact opposite direction from the palace. I watched them go for a moment before I turned to face the opposite direction.

Really don't look forward to delivering that message.

With Elery still clinging to my back, we took off towards the palace in the distance. Castle Vegeta looked the same as the last time that I saw it. Grand buildings poised on the edge of a cliff, a spire going down to support the base so it didn't collapse under its own weight. The other planets that hung in the sky almost overlapped in the light blue sky, arcing perfectly behind the castle.

It took no time at all to reach the grand front gate of the castle, and I sensed a powerful saiyan nearby, and that was without my scouter alerting me as we touched down. Vegeta stood at the front gate, his arms crossed as he seemed to be waiting for us. He got a lot stronger in the past two years, I noticed, feeling the difference even without my scouter alerting me.

24,000.

He looked stronger, even though his appearance hadn't changed much since I last saw him. The only real difference that I noticed was he had a scar on his neck where it looked like he hadn't quite managed to dodge a plasma thrust completely.

"What are you wearing?" Vegeta snapped at me as soon as we touched down. For the briefest of seconds, I thought he was talking about Elery. Then I realized he was probably talking about my scouter. Did it really look that bad? At the very least, I was almost certain that he hadn't seen the show. Otherwise, he would have started making fun of me right out of the gate.

"Oh, it's my scouter-" I started, only for him to shake his head before jabbing a finger at me.

"No, that ridiculous looking armor," he interrupted, pointing at me. I looked down at my armor, feeling Elery do the same. I didn't know what he was talking about. It was the standard armor - black and white, a slot for my tail around my waist, and squared shoulder pads. Because I was looking down, I nearly missed it when he threw a capsule at me.

I caught it, looking at him, then at it for a moment before I clicked it open. Inside was...armor? More confusingly, it was the same model as my current one- oh.

Right over the heart was the royal family crest. A half-circle that had a point downward in the center while the two ends became hooks pointed upwards. Two bars marked a small space between an upwards arrow with two others branching out from it.

"...Thanks," I said, feeling a weight vanish that I hadn't noticed until it was gone. Elery hopped off me, allowing me to shrug on the other armor. For the first time, I wore the royal symbol - it was a bright red so it stood out on the black armor, announcing my status to anyone who knew what it meant.

"Hm. Better," Vegeta allowed as he took a few steps forward. Elery stepped forward to meet him, looking up at him, then at me, blinking a few times. "You've gotten stronger, little brother," he observed with a smirk sharp enough to cut.

"You're one to talk," I shot back at him. "You're over twenty thousand pl," I observed. There was an air of relief, but at the same time, there was a different kind of tension. I recognized how he was looking at me because I saw that same look in my own expression in replays whenever there was a powerful opponent. A look of anticipation of a worthy challenge.

I wasn't used to that, I guess, but it was a welcomed change. The last time I was on this planet, I was among the weakest saiyans, and now I was second only to one.

"You aren't far behind me at eighteen thousand," Vegeta pointed out, his smirk becoming a feral grin. "I suppose-"

"Why do you look like my brother?" Elery interrupted, kicking Vegeta in the shin to get his attention. He looked down, making me tense. Elery's eyes were narrowed into slits, a frown tugging at her lips.

"Who are you?" Vegeta shot back, frowning at Elery, who looked shocked that he didn't know who she was. Given that she only interacted with members of the 501st and the army we were attached to, I guess it wasn't too surprising.

"She's Elery. She's Mom and Parslee's kid," I explained, making Vegeta blink as he looked down at Elery with renewed interest. He pressed down on his scouter, and it only took a moment for it to calculate her power level. Despite himself, I saw Vegeta's eyebrows rise high when it settled on four hundred.

"...How old is she?" He asked after a moment, but before I could answer, Elery kicked him in the shin again for ignoring her. For a moment, I thought Vegeta was going to kick her back, but he seemed to decide against it.

"Mom decided to go with normal aging, so she wouldn't have to remember later, so right now she's negative a year and a half." Was that the right way to say it? I guess it didn't matter because Vegeta seemed to understand.

"She's stronger than I was at that point," he admitted, looking at Elery with some amusement as she began to rapidly kick his shin so she wouldn't go ignored. From the look of it, she was hurting her foot more than him. I nodded, unsurprised.

"Mom thinks not putting her in the tank helped a bunch. She didn't get any information downloaded in her head, but she was able to start training a lot earlier. I had to teach her a bunch of stuff - Elery, he's going to hit you back if you don't stop. What did I say about picking your opponents?" I asked, grabbing her hand before she could punch Vegeta in the groin.

"He's ignoring me! Why do you look like my brother?!" Elery demanded, kicking Vegeta's shin since she couldn't throw hands at him. Vegeta looked amused for a moment, his dark eyes darting to mine, only to get a helpless shrug in response.

"Because I'm his brother," Vegeta answered shortly, making Elery pause as she looked at Vegeta with no small amount of bewilderment. "I am Prince Vegeta, heir to the throne," he introduced himself, his gaze flickering to me as he said it. Elery whipped around to me for confirmation, her expression could best be summarized as disbelieving.

"It's true, Vegeta is my older brother and he's going to be king one day, like King Vegeta," I explained, seeing Vegeta shift as I spoke. I glanced up at him to see that his eyebrows were drawn together for a moment, but when our gazes met he gave me a smirk that grew into a smile for some reason. My attention was quickly snatched back to Elery when she turned back to Vegeta, apparently unconvinced.

"That makes you my brother too, right?" Elery pointed out, earning a small wince from me. "So, I'm Princess Elery." She decided, testing the name out, and judging from her expression, she liked the sound of it.

However, Vegeta shook his head. "No. You can only be a member of the royal family if you are born from Father and Mother. Your father is that Parslee clown, so neither of us are your brothers," he informed with callous brutality. I went still, opening my mouth to argue, but...he wasn't wrong.

Elery wasn't my little sister in view of saiyan society. We were related, obviously, but she wasn't acknowledged as part of the royal family, just like I wasn't for the longest time. King Vegeta wasn't her father, and that was that.

"No," Elery shook her head, though I wasn't sure what she was saying no to.

Neither was Vegeta, apparently, "No?" He echoed, cocking his head to the side.

"No, I'm Princess Elery," she decided before she pointed at me. "And he's my brother. You aren't though, because I don't like you." She explained, earning a huff of laughter from me as Vegeta actually cracked a smile at that, more amused than anything.

"It doesn't work like that," he informed, though not unkindly. "You can't decide that you're a princess, or who your brothers are." Ah...you know, it never really was clear to me until it was directed at someone else, but Vegeta really had a soft spot for family. Even if by our laws, she wasn't related to him.

"Can," Elery argued stubbornly. "Did."

Vegeta let out a huff of laughter, "I see the resemblance to Mother," he commented, ignoring Elery's demand for an explanation on what he meant by that. He turned around, gesturing to the door that would take us to the palace. "Father is expecting us. She can come if she likes, but if she attacks Father then she's dead. He won't tolerate it," he warned, earning a serious nod from me.

"I'll-" Elery started to bluster, only to fall silent when I pulled her tail, making her go limp before I put her on my back. She was just small enough for it to work, but it wouldn't forever.

"Be quiet while we meet the king. I want you to promise me, Elery," I said, following Vegeta into the palace. Almost immediately, as soon as the large doors opened, I was struck by the difference. Last time, there had been material wealth scattered about, but now it crowded the hallways to the point that more than two people couldn't walk shoulder to shoulder without hitting something.

"...I promise," Elery agreed, and that was enough for me. She hadn't broken on yet, and after I stressed how important it was to keep your promises, I don't think she ever would.

The halls were filled with statues, boxes of precious metals and anything else that could be used to display the prosperity of the royal family. There was even art hanging from the walls, and judging from the different styles, I'm guessing that they were looted from different species. Elery looked around, still hanging off of me, taking in all the stuff with disinterest.

"My princes," a waif of a saiyan announced his presence with a deep bow. I recognized him solely because he was the one that handed out the catalog for planets after my first mission. His gaze didn't linger on me exactly, but it did on Elery, who was looking at him with some suspicion. "It's so good to see both of you once again," he said as he rose from the bow, his expression didn't change so I couldn't tell if he meant the words or not.

"Hm. Take us to Father," Vegeta ordered with ease, earning another small bow as the butler Saiyan led us to the king. I looked around - I still didn't understand wealth or money, but I recognized some of them as rare and valuable for construction. Our ship had a fabrication bay and rare materials were the bottlenecks that prevented me from completely outfitting the 501st with top of the line equipment.

"This place filled up...do you know why he recalled us?" I asked, glancing over at Vegeta as we walked side by side.

Vegeta shook his head, "no. I'm guessing it has something to do with the current generation of saiyans. They're about ready to enter the war," he said, making me frown in thought.

"I'm not sure how much use they'll be," I admitted. "Even with the Wrath State, they're only going to be as strong as a scout."

Vegeta nodded, "You're thinking too short term. The war won't end in a few years. Most of them will probably die, but by the time they'll hit their first and second growth spurts, they could be useful." He pointed out, and that was a fair point. Still, that raised its own problem.

"There aren't that many saiyans left outside of this generation," I pointed out, earning a puzzled look from Vegeta. "I've been trying to transfer them into my unit for a while now, but there's only about thirty left in total, including me, Mom and my team."

Vegeta let out a noise of acknowledgment, "that few? Hm. Now that you mention it, me and Raditz are the only ones left in Frieza's personal army." So Raditz was still alive. I would shoot Bardock a message with the good news when I got a chance.

"The Saiyan race could go extinct if we're not careful with our population. All that's left that are mature adults are the working-class, most of the mid-class and Mom and King Vegeta." I stated, making Vegeta nod with reluctant acceptance.

"You're talking about boring stuff," Elery commented from my back, sounding like she was about to go down for a nap.

"If about...fifty adults die, then the entire Saiyan race will be kids," I told Elery. That seemed to perk her up, mulling over that revelation with more than a little interest. "And no. You wouldn't be in charge. Me and Vegeta would be," I pointed out, making her pout as she began to eye the two of us like an obstacle in her way to unlimited power.

"King Vegeta awaits you inside," The butler informed, gesturing to a massive door that would lead to the throne room. I felt Elery shift on my back, letting go.

"Are you going to talk about boring stuff with the king guy?" She asked, prompting me to look at Vegeta, who shrugged in response.

"Probably," I admitted. Outside of cartoons and fighting, Elery didn't exactly have a variety of interests, so it was more than likely that she would be bored to tears during the meeting. Not only that, but I also wasn't certain having Elery meet King Vegeta was a good idea. Actually, I was nearly certain that it was a bad one.

"I don't want to go then," Elery announced, and, surprisingly, it was Butler that spoke up next.

"If you would care for it, I know of several children that would prove to be worthy challenges," he said. It seemed that he also thought it was a bad idea, and I'm guessing that he understood how children thought since Elery practically glowed with excitement. "If you would follow me, I can take you to them."

"'Kay! Don't die!" Elery said, waving goodbye as she practically grabbed Butler to haul him to her next challenge. I wasn't worried. Elery was stronger than Butler by half, and unless something really crazy happened while we were away, she would be the strongest child on the planet.

"Let's not keep Father waiting," Vegeta said, drawing my attention back to him as he pushed open the doors. I barely and any time to brace myself for meeting my father for the first time in years because my brother strode into the room with well-practiced ease. I followed in step, hesitating for the briefest of seconds before I followed.

Instantly, my gaze landed on King Vegeta. He sat in his throne and it was even more opulent. Precious metals, gemstones the size of my head. Lining the walls were dozens of statues. Some depicted singular saiyans, but not all of them. I saw statues that depict the war against the Truffles, our victory over them, our victories against the Reach and...one of me in the Wrath State.

King Vegeta hadn't changed at all since I last saw him, his expression unchanging even as he stood up and walked down the steps. We continued to approach, meeting in the middle underneath a multicolored statue of King Vegeta the First stepping on a Truffle corpse.

"My sons," King Vegeta started, kneeling down in front of us. He reached out, placing a hand on our shoulders before the ice-cold visage melted away so a fearsome smile was displayed. "Both of you have made me so proud I can't put it into words. You exceeded my wildest expectations a hundred times over and the Saiyan race will remember your names for eternity. I'll make sure of it," he swore before he brought us in.

It took me a moment to realize what was happening. And even once I realized it, a part of me didn't believe it was happening. Even as my face was pressed into his shoulder, his hand pressed into my back to hold me close, I still struggled to believe it.

He was hugging me. And Vegeta. But...he was hugging me.

"Especially you Tarble," King Vegeta continued, pulling back as he stared directly at me. "The Wrath State has single handedly changed the future of our race. With it, we can finally take our place as the ultimate warriors in the universe.

I felt like a little kid again. I mean, I still was a little kid, but I felt like I was fresh out of the tank and meeting King Vegeta for the first time. My words failed me, forcing me to nod numbly as emotion swirled in my chest. I was just hugged by my father for the first time. I fought, bleed, killed and nearly died for years for this moment and now that it was here, I had no idea what to do with it.

"We did what was expected of us," Vegeta spoke up, saving me from sticking my entire foot into my mouth. King Vegeta's smile grew a fraction at that, giving our shoulders a small squeeze in response. "But why did you recall us? I was going to take a planet by myself." That was...possible, wasn't it? With a power level of twenty-four thousand, multiplying that by ten would put him just under a fourth of a million.

I doubt it would be easy, but it would be possible.

I nodded, "I was going to hit a shield world," I echoed. King Vegeta gave both of us an approving nod, he rose to his feet.

"It concerns the future of our race," King Vegeta informed gravely. To build up suspense, he turned around, his cape swaying dramatically as he walked towards the throne. Me and Vegeta followed him a split second later. King Vegeta pressed a button before the throne gave way, revealing a staircase leading down. "Leave your scouters up here," he said, prompting Vegeta and I to take them off and leave them on the floor.

The short walk was enough time for me to come to grips with myself. It just caught me off guard. It would be a lie to say that I wasn't expecting rejection of some kind - even when I was standing in the same room as King Vegeta, he hadn't acknowledged my existence. I know I was stronger now, but...it still caught me off guard just how different he acted now that I was in the elite-class.

Walking down a steep set of stairs, King Vegeta brought us to an open room. It was a simple one, white walls, the floor made of stone slabs and the ceiling was white as well. At the center was a hologram projector of what seemed to be Planet Vegeta.

"I suppose I should start at the beginning," King Vegeta began, turning to face us as we came to a stop. "Our ancestor, King Vegeta the First, was the one that bent the knee to King Cold. After he conquered the Truffles, he turned his gaze to the skies above once we mastered their space travel - the attack balls. We found a minor race as we took our first steps into the galactic stage - their name was never recorded, but it is known that their planet was becoming unlivable for the race, so they hired us to conquer a planet that was more suitable for them."

This, I thought, wasn't covered by either my lessons or Matillo. Listening with rapt attention, I hung on every word, knowing where this story was headed.

"It was this action that brought King Cold's attention to the saiyan race. Our ancestor, King Vegeta the First, chose to bend the knee to him, knowing that King Cold could not be defeated. At least, not then. We were too weak and our numbers too few," King Vegeta explained, his voice grave so each word felt like they had physical weight. "My grandfather made the ultimate sacrifice. He swallowed his pride for our race's continued survival and agreed to allow the saiyan race to be enslaved, in exchange for some small concessions - we maintained our own system of government, ownership of Planet Vegeta, and the only population control is a cap."

I nodded - something that I learned over time was that not all slave races were created equal. The races that Lord Frieza enslaved personally had nothing - no rights, no control, no ownership of anything, not even their lives. Likewise, there were slave races that had more freedoms than us, to the point that they were slaves in name only. Then there were races that bought their freedom entirely.

"This killed him," King Vegeta continued. "My father was a short-sighted fool. In the dead of night, he committed the ultimate sin - he drugged my grandfather before murdering him because he was too weak to do it in a proper fight," King Vegeta spat with no small amount of rage. Vegeta made a noise of disbelief while I thought it over. King Vegeta the First was a legend, but his death was never elaborated on.

I guess this was why. Murdered by his own son after bending the knee.

"But wasn't he stronger than King Vegeta the First?" I questioned, recalling the few times Matillo had spoken about the second Vegeta.

"He was. And even still, he was too afraid to face my grandfather in battle," King Vegeta answered with disgust in his tone. Then he sighed.

"However, my grandfather was a brilliant man. I wasn't much older than you when he was murdered, but I remember him well. My father wasn't a fraction of a man that he was, and it is my greatest shame that I allowed him to rein as long as I did. It took me nearly a century to grow strong enough to best him in combat," King Vegeta seemed to gather himself for a moment before he continued. "However, your great grandfather was a peerless strategist. Nearly three hundred years ago, he laid the foundation for our revolution."

"Revolution?" I echoed, my heart squeezing in my chest. Against Lord Frieza? Images of Sereall drifting apart appeared in my mind, and my disbelief must have shown on my face because King Vegeta nodded grimly.

"I understand the task at hand. Not even my grandfather could have predicted the monstrous strength of King Cold's children," he agreed while Vegeta crossed his arms. He was with me as Sereall, and despite his efforts, not even he could keep his doubts off his face. "But, in the end, it changes little."

"What is the plan?" Vegeta asked, his tone colored by curiosity.

"To summarize it simply?" King Vegeta started, "to overwhelm the Cold family's influence in the Trade Organization."

"...What?" Vegeta started, blinking in surprise and I felt like doing the same because...wow. That wasn't what I was expecting at all. Then it clicked into place.

"The plan is to oust the Cold family?" I hazard a guess, thinking that was more feasible than defeating them in battle. But it was difficult to imagine us amassing so much influence that the Cold family didn't just take us out to take back the influence we gathered.

King Vegeta smirked as he nodded, "in a sense," he hedged before continuing. "Since we were enslaved by King Cold, the goal is to become instrumental to the Trade Organization. This is why I allowed Bardock to remain the employee of the year for a decade - he established what other races could expect from our race." Vegeta nodded at that while I made the conscious choice not to bring up that Bardock was nearly killed by Vegeta more than once.

"We are to become irreplaceable to the Trade Organization. The easiest way to do that is through the military - for the longest time, the oozaru transformation was our key. The Wrath State has replaced it. Tarble, with the creation of that technique, what could have taken thousands of years could be accomplished in a century." King Vegeta explained and I fought not to fidget underneath the praise.

"Once we accomplish that, the next step would be to expand our influence beyond the military aspects of the Trade Organization. The board of directors that controls the Trade Organization - Frieza rules over them, but he is one man. When we control the board of directors, then we will control the Trade Organization. Our reach will stretch far beyond a mere planet or two. And then, we can search for something that can kill the Cold family with the resources available to us."

King Vegeta smiled a vicious smile, "and when the dust has settled, it will be the saiyan race that stands at the top of the galaxy."

I put together the pieces in my head - it was easy to gather them up now he told me what to look for. The sudden hike in our population, how many of the mid-class ended up as generals…all of it were stepping stones to increase our influence. We were already on the path to become the dominating force in the military, and with enough time, with millions of saiyans, it would become an inevitability.

"Lord Frieza is going to see it coming," I pointed out with a small frown, mulling over it. "Wait...no...he won't. Because right now, he thinks it's his idea." He was turning my life into a cartoon, he was increasing my responsibilities, he was turning me into the face of the saiyan race. He was purposely increasing our influence for his own ends, unaware that he was doing the hard part for us.

"Frieza thinks I'm plotting an open rebellion," King Vegeta informed. "The only reason he hasn't stamped me out is that we are beneath his notice. He won't suspect anything until it's too late," he informed. Even better, Lord Frieza would think it was his plan all along.

"Where does the current generation play into all of this?" Vegeta asked, mulling over what he heard with a thoughtful expression.

"The current generation is the cumulative work of hundreds of years," King Vegeta began, his tone turning boastful. "They are the children of our most powerful warriors throughout our history - out of the millions there are on this planet, none of them are low-class." He stated, making Vegeta and I go very still. "Any that were below the threshold were aborted. With this generation, our race will grow more powerful than ever before."

That was...that had implications that I didn't have time to think about. "What happened to the class system?" I asked at the same time that Vegeta asked his own question.

"How many are in the elite-class?" He asked, and that was an even better question than mine. Until recently, there were only six members in the elite-class. More were on their way, but that would take time. Only now there could be hundreds-

"A hundred thousand of them are born into the elite-class," King Vegeta informed, the number was like a punch to the stomach. A hundred thousand of them were born with a power level of over two hundred? Meaning, in twenty or so years, there would be, at least, a hundred thousand saiyans that had a power level of over a hundred thousand in the Wrath State.

The rest were mid-class strength. It varied, but that was fifty to ninety thousand pl in the Wrath State.

"The class-system is being altered. With the wealth that we have claimed from the Reach, the working-class will be slaves that we import now that we have the wealth. The markings of entry of each class have been increased, so a significant portion of the newest generation is considered low-class but they are closer to mid-class than not. Likewise, those that are mid-class would be considered elite-class by previous standards and the elite-class are stronger than ever. As the baseline power of our race increases, that threshold will climb to keep the bloodlines clean of weakness." King Vegeta answered my question, and it struck me that he gave this a lot of thought.

"...You stayed here to oversee the current generation," I realized. Bardock, the team, and Mom thought that King Vegeta was either a coward or lazy. Sometimes both, according to Mom's mood.

King Vegeta nodded, "I have overseen their progress since the working-class numbers have dwindled considerably since they emerged from their tanks. They have learned that they owe their loyalty to the throne." A tension seemed to ease out of his shoulders as I looked at him in a new light. It was impossible not to given the sacrifice he made.

King Vegeta, until recently, was the most powerful saiyan in our history. He was a warrior. Yet, when the call to war came, he refused to go to battle, what saiyans were made for, in favor of staying here to preserve and guide our race. All the while, everyone called him a coward once he was out of hearing range.

"We can discuss more on the topic later, but what you need to know is that those hundred thousand warriors will be given to you and several others to lead into battle. Twenty-five thousand each to be divided between you two, your mother, and Matillo," King Vegeta explained, taking a knee before us. "These warriors, once they reach their majority, will serve as the foundation of the usurpation of the Trade Organization. The generation after them will only be more powerful, and the same with the one after that."

King Vegeta let out a small laugh, "that is the reason why I waited so long to have children of my own. I waited for over a century for someone like your mother that could bear me powerful children, and you outstripped every expectation I could think to place on either of you."

Both me and Vegeta stood a little taller after hearing that, making his smile widen. "Turn them into powerful warriors, but not so powerful that they can challenge you...though, I doubt that they ever could." He said, his gaze drifting over both of us. Standing back up, he turned to the hologram projector.

"We have much to discuss, my sons," he said, pressing a button before the projector came to life, displaying a planet with a name underneath it.

Vampa.

So, since there isn't an easy way to have a discussion on this site, I'll drop a hint about King Vegeta. Look at his prior scenes, then look at him here and think about what has changed. Also think about who he is. Now, get rid of any emotional aspects. Hope that helps some figure out King Vegeta's motivation.

The next chapter is currently available on my Pat re