'Maybe I should have stayed in bed,' Kakarott thought as he bowed to his
father.  He knew that Bardock would not hold back this time.   Crouching
down, he awaited the signal . . . now!  Dashing forward, Kakarott met his
father in the middle of the ring.  A flurry of kicks and punches were
exchanged before the boy was kicked across the ring.  Kakarott growled when
he landed, but Bardock was right there on top of him and after a few painful
hits was sent flying once again . . . .
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At the same time, Jianu was having problems of her own.  'At least he's not
making fun of me, like Jagaimo-san would,' she thought as she just barely
blocked each of Toma's attacks.  A powerful blow to her crossed arms sent
her skidding across the ground.  Her legs digging trenches as she went.
"Kuso!" she snarled, jumping back to avoid his next attack . . . .
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gathering ki in both hands, Kakarott prepared his attack while appearing to
be out of control.  Battered, bruised, and exhausted he knew that if he
screwed this up it was all over.  In an instant he righted himself and
blasted at Bardock.  Bardock blocked the attack but not his son, Kakarott
had followed his ki blast and attacked just as his father recovered.
Getting past Bardock's guard, Kakarott pressed his advantage, managing to
get behind his father and lock his arms.   Despite being half Bardock's
size, the hold he had on his father denied Bardock the leverage he needed to
break free.  The ten count was made and Kakarott released his father.  They
bowed to each other and Bardock smiled proudly at his son.
"Well done, Kakarott."
A huge smile spread across his face, "Arigato gozaimasu Otousan."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jianu yiped as a bolt of energy just barely missed her backside.   Toma had
her on the run now, not giving her a chance to think or prepare her own
attack.  'Which is the whole point.  What enemy would give me time to
prepare?  If I can't beat him like this then I can't protect my prince.'
There was only one thing she could do to possibly win, but it was a long
shot.   She'd never tried it before and wasn't sure it would work.  Still
dodging Toma's attacks, Jianu began gathering ki in her right hand.  A few
seconds later, a green baseball-sized sphere appeared in her hand.
"Nichibotsu Tama!!" she cried, turning and hurling the ki sphere at the
stunned elite warrior.
Toma was amazed to say the least.  'When did she learn that?!' he thought,
raising his arms in an attempt to block it.  He knew it wouldn't work, the
Nichibotsu Tama had been created by her mother Yashi.  It was unblockable.
Your only hope was that you were strong enough to survive it.   BOOM!!!!
The attack hit hard, throwing Toma to the ground and dazing him.   Jianu
shot forward and placed her boot on his neck as he struggled to
consciousness.   When he shook the fog from his head, the first thing he saw
was her smiling face.   He smirked up at her, before closing his eyes and
nodding at her.  She removed her foot and Toma got to his feet.  "Chip off
the old block," he said affectionately.  Jianu was beaming from both the
compliment and the win.  Now it was up to the prince.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Prince Vegeta eyed the candidates closely.  He already knew who half his
team would be.  Two of them he'd chosen the instant they had won.  But his
father might not approve of them.  Vegeta was smart though and had already
come up with a good argument for having them on his team.  After a great
deal of consideration he chose the remaining four.  He hoped that he had
chosen well, he'd never done this before so couldn't be sure.  His mother
had told him once that nothing is ever a certainty, that's what makes life
so interesting.  That wasn't helping him much here.  Quickly he wrote down
the names of his choices and handed the list to Nappa, his trainer and
currently the only confirmed member of his elite team.   Taking the list
Nappa turned to the King and Queen for permission to begin reading.   They
nodded their heads and the entire arena grew still . . .
"Our prince has chosen the following elites to serve on his personal team:
Radditz, Turles, Kakarott, Jianu, . . ."  Nappa went on, but neither
Kakarott or Jianu was listening anymore, they had done it!  Nappa finished
the list and now everyone waited for the King to give his approval.
Vegeta-Ou was not entirely enthusiastic about his son's team choice.   Two
of them were younger than the prince and one was the little female!   "I
agree with most of your choices . . ."
'Here it comes . . .' Vegeta knew which ones his father was concerned with.
" . . . but I will not approve two underage and inexperienced soldiers."
Jianu and Kakarott quailed inwardly, the king didn't approve of them!
Squaring his shoulders, the young prince gazed steadily at his father,
"Those two defeated warriors with decades of experience.  If they are that
good now, just think of how much better they will be when they are adults."
This surprised Vegeta-Ou, his son was right.  The two children showed
incredible potential and they had defeated warriors with numerous battle
experiences.  "Very well, you may have them too."
Vegeta smiled, "Arigato gozaimasu, Otoussama," he said, bowing respectfully
to his father.  At this the entire arena burst into a deafening applause.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There was a huge celebration party afterwards with lots of drinking and loud
off-key singing.  This meant though that three people were not in
attendance.
Vegeta was bored.  Nothing new there, but this time it was mainly because he
wasn't allowed to come to a party that was being held to honor his elite
soldiers.  It wasn't fair!  'Just because I'm not an adult.    Che.  I'm old
enough to choose my own warriors, but not old enough for this.'  He began
pacing about his room.  Life could be so unfair.  It was on probably his
hundredth time across his room when he realized something.  If he wasn't old
enough then that meant that . . .  Running to his terminal, Vegeta quickly
sent two messages off.
Not two minutes later, there was an almost hesitant knock at his door.
"Come in."
"You sent for us, sire?" Jianu asked softly, Kakarott by her side.  The two
of them had been sitting in their own rooms, bored out of their minds when
the summons had come.
"I did.  Shut the door."  No sooner was it closed that the prince breathed a
sigh of relief, causing the other two to stare at him somewhat confused.
Vegeta grinned at them, "I take it your parent's made you stay in your rooms
too?"  Now had the three of them been adults, this might have seemed odd.
But they were all kids and simply took this in stride.
"Hai.  My parents said I was too young to attend, sire" Kakarott said wryly.
Jianu smiled, "My okaasan said the same to me, sire."
Vegeta grimaced, something didn't feel right and he knew exactly what it
was.  "Jianu.  Kakarott.  When it is just the three of us, in private
situations like this . . . you will simply address me as Vegeta."
It suddenly dawned on the two elites the reason they had been summoned here.
  The prince was a boy their age, and he didn't just want them as his
soldiers, he wanted them as his friends.  "As you wish, Vegeta," they
replied in unison their eyes sparkling with mischief.  The three of them
looked at one another and burst out laughing, marking the beginning of what
would be a life-long friendship.

April 07, 2001