Destiny Calls
Chapter 3 - Growing Pains
 

The next morning Kakarott was awakened by his mother far earlier than he was
used to being up.  Adding to his confusion was the fact that his mother
never woke him up.  Both she and his father always left early to report to
the King and Queen and he . . .  Kakarott sat up abruptly as yesterday's
events came rushing back.   "I'm not late on my first day, am I?!" he
yelled, panic entering his voice.
Kiichigo smiled at her youngest son, "Iie, I just thought you'd want
breakfast first."  Then she left the room so he could get dressed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Minutes later, he entered the kitchen only to find both of his parents and
his older brother at the table.  "Ohayo brat," Bardock greeted Kakarott as
he sat down,
"Ohayo gozaimasu, Otousan."  Leaning over, he tried to see what his brother
was studying so intently.  "Whatchya got there, Oniichan?"
Radditz paused in his breakfast assault just long enough to answer, "New
training and duty assignments.  Haven't you looked at yours yet?"
Kakarott shook his head and dove into his own breakfast, eating just a
little faster than normal.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
With his stomach satisfied, Kakarott was now able to concentrate on more
important things.  Running to his room he went to his computer console and
punched up his new assignments.  It looked pretty much the same except that
all of his teachers had changed, and his training time was much longer.  His
jaw hit the floor when he saw his new combat instructor.  "Nappa?!!  The
Prince's trainer?!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hours later, when Prince Vegeta entered the training room he had to surpress
a grin at the sight of his new training partners.  Kakarott and Jianu looked
like they were going to faint.  The three of them had talked for hours the
night before, learning much about each other, now it was time for them to
learn to fight together.  Placing his customary scowl on his face, Vegeta
walked up to them and Nappa who was smirking.  "Are we ready to begin
Nappa?"  The two high-strung elites jumped at the sound of his voice as
Nappa assured him that they were.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Well.  At least they aren't quitters," Nappa admitted as he picked up the
limp forms of the three young warriors.  Though he hadn't expected Jianu and
Kakarott to do as well as they had, he had been relentless with all three of
his students.  And though together they easily out-powered them, he still
had no trouble defeating them all.  His prince had fared the best and
sported the least amount of injuries, but he had to admit that the two young
elites hadn't exactly been pushovers.  With his prince under one arm and
Kakarott and Jianu under the other Nappa headed for the infirmary.  Ceripa
was already there, waiting for her mate to be released, when he strode in
with his students.
She raised an eyebrow at the royal trainer, "So they gave you some new
punching bags did they?"
"Heh.  Yeah, but these two hit back.  Almost as well as our prince," he
replied as the doctors rushed to take the children from his arms.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jianu woke groggy and disoriented, wondering where she was, 'Oh.   I must be
in one of the regeneration tanks,*'  Her mother's face appeared in the
little window, smiling at her as the fluid began to drain.  Once the tank
had drained, her mother opened the hatch and unhooked the monitors while
Jianu removed the face mask.  "Now I know why we do our training last," she
told her mother as Yashi toweled her off.
"Saa," Kakarott agreed before his mother began drying his hair.  "Okaasan!"
he whined as she vigorously scrubbed his head dry.
Vegeta snickered, "Don't whine, Kakarott.  It's beneath your status."
~Easy for you to say, your `Kaasan isn't trying to rub your head raw,~ he
sent to both Vegeta and Jianu who began giggling.  Anzu smiled at her son
knowing he was speaking telepathically to the other two.  Nappa had given
her a full report on their session and she was very pleased with the
results.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Walking to her and her mate's chambers Anzu couldn't stop the triumphant
smile that was coming over her features.  She had been right, the two young
elites and her son were becoming friends.  The ouji was exhausted and had
barely had the energy to eat and climb into bed.  Entering her bedroom she
saw her mate waiting for her.
Vegeta-Ou took note of the look on her face and snorted, "Well, how did they
do?"
"Didn't Nappa tell you?"
"I'd rather hear it from you."
"Our son is completely worn out and has already developed a strong bond with
the other two.  Nappa informed me that they already think as a team.   In
other words . . ." she moved to wrap her arms around him, "you have nothing
to worry about."
Vegeta sighed and kissed her, "Except that the girl will no longer be a
possible mate later on."
"There are other elite females, itoushii."
"But none with such promise."
"True, but who knows what the future will bring."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Three years later . . .
"If one more foreign dignitary pinches my cheek . . ." Kakarott growled as
they walked down the palace halls towards their training room.
"I know, I know," Jianu groaned in agreement as Vegeta chuckled.  At fifteen
years old, Jianu and Kakarott had yet to begin their final growth spurt**.
This meant that they still looked about ten years old.  Vegeta meanwhile had
grown some in the past year and looked about fourteen, two years younger
than his actual age of sixteen.  This of course led many foreign dignitaries
to believe that they were far younger than their actual age.  Fortunately or
unfortunately, depending on who's point-of-view you were looking from, there
was a strict rule against blasting and/or punching dignitaries.  Even if it
was an insult.   Reaching the training room, the trio spent the next several
hours venting their frustrations out on each other.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Vegeta was exhausted, he always was after training with Kakarott and Jianu.
He really wanted nothing more than to eat and go to bed when the sound of
his parent's voices reached him.
" . . . conquered another small backwater planet in the Giar system," his
father was saying.
'Conquered?'
"Which one?" his mother asked.
"Tarna."
'Tarna conquered?  But it's a protected planet!  Who would dare?' Vegeta
raged silently.  It was against intergalactic law to interfere with the
progress of young planets incapable of space travel.  Planets such as these
were to be left in isolation until they were able to make contact first.
There were also stringent laws on trade and treaty agreements after that to
protect them from becoming dependent on older planets.
"Frieza is growing bolder.  Tarna is on the edge of our galaxy."
"So was Chikyuu."
Vegeta snarled and stormed into his room. Chikyuu had been conquered ten
years ago.  It too had been a young planet and it's people had yet to travel
beyond their own solar system.  Frieza had taken it with no trouble.  The
monster had slowly been conquering the west galaxy, and until then had
remained out of the northern galaxy.  Tarna made two.  'That monster is
gaining a foothold in our galaxy!'  Unfortunately, no one could stand
against Frieza and his army, not now.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kakarott scowled at the message on his screen.  Frieza had conquered Tarna.
How much longer before the tyrant came for the rest of them?   His army was
said to be undefeatable.  Kakarott grinned though when he read the sentence
at the end of the message.  'We increase the pace of our training, starting
tomorrow.'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Frieza.  The name alone made Jianu shake with rage.  He was the reason her
father was dead.  Her father had once been in the King's elite.   Eight
years ago, they had been investigating some strange activity on a moon in
one of their allies orbit, when they had run into Frieza's Ginyu Force.
After losing many of his best soldiers, the King had been forced to retreat.
  But the Ginyu Force had not let up on them.  Jianu's father, who had been
the elite commander, brought up the rear, making sure that every man and
woman made it to safety.  As the King's pod lifted off, the Ginyu captain
had leveled a killing blast at it.  Seeing this, Jianu's father had gotten
between it and his king, but had been disintegrated by the blast.  'Otousan,
I will avenge your death.'

May 02, 2001
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
*~ There are several names used for these things.  The U.S. dub calls them
rejuvenation tanks, rejuvenators, or isolation chambers, and may have called
them regeneration tanks.  I'm not sure on that last one but I like it the
best.  The manga simply calls them medical machines.
**~ Based on how Goku aged throughout Dragon Ball.  He didn't grow
significantly until sometime between the ages of 15-18 while he was training
under Kami-sama.  Before that he looked like he was ten.