Goku's eyes found Bardock.
*Must be Kakarot's mother.*
The resemblance was undeniable.
A hand grabbed his jaw.
Fasha yanked his face toward hers, fingers digging into his cheeks, forcing his gaze to meet hers.
"Look at me." Her eyes roamed his features hungrily. "I'm going to wreck you tonight."
She turned his head left. Right. Up. Down. Inspecting him like livestock.
"No fear," she murmured appreciatively. "Most males tremble when I touch them. You're different."
Tiny footsteps echoed behind them.
"Move aside!"
The voice was small. The authority was not.
Fasha released Goku instantly. All three Saiyans turned, then looked down.
Princess Vegeta stood before them, barely reaching their waists, glaring upward. Her royal cape pooled around her small boots. Her tiny fists were clenched at her sides.
"Princess!"
They dropped to their knees immediately. Heads bowed. Fists pressed to the floor.
Princess Vegeta ignored them.
She advanced to the bars, stopping directly in front of Goku. The size difference was almost comical, this fierce little creature barely level with his waist, craning her neck to meet his eyes.
She studied him.
He studied her back.
"Open the gate," she commanded.
Every eyebrow in the vicinity shot upward.
"Princess!" A guard stepped forward nervously. "You are not of age to-"
"I said open it."
The words cracked like a whip.
The guards scrambled to comply.
"If Mother won't do it..." Princess Vegeta whispered, so quiet only Goku could hear. "I will."
Heavy cuffs snapped around his wrists.
"What's wrong, Princess?" Goku asked, that smirk tugging at his lips.
Her head whipped toward him, eyes blazing.
"Shut up. A weak worm like you isn't supposed to speak in my direction."
She turned on her heel, cape billowing.
"Follow me."
Goku obeyed, steps slow, deliberately casual. His tattered pants hung dangerously low on his hips, barely clinging to his frame.
Behind him, Bardock's eyes caught something.
A patch of brown fur. Just visible at the base of his spine. Contrasting against pale skin.
*A tail?*
Her eyes widened.
—
Their footsteps echoed through marble hallways.
Goku's were heavy. Deliberate. Princess Vegeta's were quick, tiny boots clicking rapidly to maintain her lead despite her short legs.
She was deep in thought.
Goku could practically see the gears turning in that small head. Replaying his performance against the royal guard. Replaying the pathetic beating Nappa had delivered.
*Trying to reconcile the two*, he realized. *Clever girl.*
"Where are we going, Princess?"
His voice shattered the silence.
She didn't look back.
"I'm going to give you a chance to escape from here."
"How generous."
"On one condition."
"Which is?"
"You beat me in combat." Her cape swished with each step. "If you lose, I kill you."
*A child challenging me to a death match.*
*Interesting family.*
"And if I win?"
"You won't."
*Confident too.*
Multiple footsteps echoed from ahead.
Princess Vegeta's eyes narrowed.
Five royal guards emerged from a side corridor, forming a protective formation around a single figure.
Queen Vegeta.
She stopped. The guards stopped. Everyone stopped.
Princess Vegeta dropped to one knee.
"Mother."
Goku remained standing.
"*Insolent!*" A guard surged forward. "Kneel before the Queen!"
Queen Vegeta raised one hand.
The guard froze mid-step.
Silence.
The Queen's eyes hadn't left Goku. They traveled across his chest. His face. Down to his waist. Lingering there, searching for something.
Her hand trembled.
Almost imperceptibly.
"Vegeta." Her voice was ice. "What are you doing with my property?"
"Mother, I took the liberty of borrowing the slave to test his fighting capabilities. His performance against the royal guard suggested—"
"You will do that another day."
Princess Vegeta's jaw tightened.
"But Mother—"
"Bring him to my chambers."
No room for argument. No space for negotiation.
Queen Vegeta turned and walked away, guards falling into formation around her.
Goku watched the exchange, the tension between mother and daughter, the unspoken power struggle, the simmering resentment in young Vegeta's eyes.
"That's why you need a man in a family," he murmured.
Princess Vegeta's head snapped toward him.
Two guards grabbed his arms before the Princess could respond, dragging him after the Queen.
Behind them, Princess Vegeta stood alone in the corridor.
Fists clenched white.
Tail bristling with barely contained fury.
---
The guards shoved him through ornate doors.
*Impressive.*
The Queen's chambers were vast. Vaulted ceilings. Tapestries depicting Saiyan conquests. A bed large enough to fit ten, draped in crimson silk.
The guards entered behind him, positioning themselves by the doors.
Goku turned to face them.
Their eyes weren't on his face.
They traced the lines of his chest. The ridges of his stomach. The sharp V of muscle disappearing into pants that hung just low enough.
*This species really is just inverted*, he thought. *Same hunger. Different packaging.*
He walked to the royal bed.
"Halt!" One guard stepped forward. "Remove yourself from the Queen's—"
He sat.
"Get up! That bed is sacred! Only the Queen may—"
He lay back.
The silk was cool against his bare skin. He stretched, deliberately, letting his abs tense and shift, arms folding behind his head.
"Make me."
The guard twitched.
She approached, heavy steps, aggressive posture, and grabbed his arm, yanking him upward.
He let himself be pulled.
*Momentum.*
His body collided with hers. Chest to chest. Her armor pressed against his bare skin. Her face suddenly inches from his.
He looked down at her.
She looked up at him.
His breath ghosted across her lips.
"You were saying?"
Her eyes went wide. Her face flushed deep red. Her breathing turned ragged, shallow, hungry.
She didn't move.
Couldn't move.
Her lips parted. Instinct overriding training. She rose on her toes, reaching for his mouth.
"What are you doing?!"
The second guard rushed forward, grabbing her comrade's shoulder, pulling her back.
"Have you lost your mind? If the Queen sees you—"
"I—I didn't—he—"
"Control yourself!"
Goku watched them with amusement.
*Too easy.*
The second guard turned to him, composing herself with visible effort.
"Back on the bed. Sit. Don't move."
He obeyed, sitting on the edge, hands still cuffed, that infuriating smirk still in place.
She stood before him, arms crossed, trying to project authority.
But her eyes kept dropping.
To his chest. His stomach. The prominent lines of his hips.
"See something you like?"
"Shut up."
Her jaw clenched.
She stepped closer, a mistake, she'd realize later, looming over him, trying to intimidate.
Goku leaned back on his hands.
The position made his body stretch. Every muscle defined. Every line accentuated. His pants slipped another inch.
Her breath caught.
"You should probably—"
He reached up, cuffs clinking, and caught her wrist.
Gentle.
*Deliberate.*
He pulled.
She fell forward, catching herself with one hand on the mattress beside him. Her face hovered above his. Close enough to count her eyelashes.
"Your heart's racing," he observed.
"Let go—"
"Is it always this easy to fluster elite Saiyan warriors?"
"I'm not—I'm not flustered—"
He tugged again.
She collapsed against him.
The first guard, recovered enough to feel jealous, moved without thinking.
"Hey, that's not fair, I was first—"
She joined them on the bed, grabbing for Goku, hands finding his shoulders, his chest, fighting with her comrade for position.
Goku lay back against the silk, two Saiyan warriors pressed against either side of him, their hands exploring, their breathing heavy, their training forgotten.
*Almost too easy.*
The door opened.
Queen Vegeta stepped into her chambers.
Stopped.
The scene before her, two of her elite guards sprawled across her bed, wrapped around a half-naked male, hands in places hands shouldn't be, faces flushed with unmistakable arousal.
The guards' heads snapped up.
Horror replaced desire.
"MY QUEEN!"
They launched themselves off the bed, crashing to the floor in their haste, scrambling to their feet, smoothing armor, fixing hair, trying desperately to look like soldiers instead of animals in heat.
Goku sat up slowly.
Queen Vegeta's eyes found his.
Held.
Something passed between them, recognition, assessment, a challenge issued and accepted.
"Leave us."
The guards fled.
The door closed.
And Queen Vegeta stood alone with the male who had crashed into her throne room, survived Nappa's beating, seduced two elite warriors in minutes, and now sat on her bed looking at her like she was the prey.
"So." Goku's voice was silk. "You wanted to see me?"
Queen Vegeta approached.
No hesitation. No nervousness. No trace of the flustered weakness her guards had shown.
Pure authority radiated from every step.
Goku felt the difference immediately. This wasn't a warrior playing at dominance. This was a queen who had ruled through blood and fire, who had bent an empire to her will, who commanded respect through presence alone.
*Finally*, he thought. *Someone interesting.*
"Get up."
Two words. Absolute.
Goku met her eyes.
She wasn't looking at his body like the others had. She was looking through him. Searching. Calculating.
*She knows.*
Or suspects, at least.
He rose.
Turned his back to her.
"You want to see this?"
His tail moved, sliding out from where it had been hidden inside his pants, unfurling behind him, swaying lazily in the air.
Brown. Long. Thick. A tail.
Queen Vegeta went still.
She'd suspected. From the moment she'd seen him.
But suspicion and confirmation were different things.
"How..." Her voice came out barely above a whisper. "How is this possible?"
She stepped closer.
Goku's tail swayed before her, hypnotic, rhythmic. The fur caught the light, rich brown with hints of amber. Thicker than any female tail she'd seen. Longer.
Her hand rose without permission.
Reached.
The tail moved, brushing against her fingers, a gentle caress that sent electricity racing up her arm.
She shuddered.
Her own tail uncurled from her waist. Moved toward his of its own accord. Smaller. More slender. But undeniably the same.
They touched.
Entwined.
Queen Vegeta's eyes glazed.
Heat flooded through her, primal, overwhelming. Her tail wrapped tighter around his, fur sliding against fur.
Her breathing turned ragged.
Her face flushed.
Her body swayed toward him.
"Surprised?"
Goku's voice cut through the haze.
She snapped back.
Her tail straightened, yanking away from his, coiling tight around her waist. Her composure reassembled itself piece by piece, cracks smoothed over with practiced control.
She retreated to her velvet chair.
Sat and crossed her legs.
"Who are you?"
Goku turned to face her.
He moved to the bed's edge, sitting casually, tail curling around his own waist now.
"Me? Truly... I don't know."
"Don't play games with me."
Queen Vegeta's eyes narrowed.
"You know that Saiyans are a female-only race."
"I noticed. Hard to miss."
"Yet you have a tail. Saiyan blood. Saiyan features." She leaned forward slightly. "How?"
Silence stretched between them.
Queen Vegeta's mind raced behind her calm exterior.
"Do you have offspring?"
"Yes."
"Saiyan offspring?"
"Five daughters." Goku's smirk widened. "Six soon."
Queen Vegeta rose from her chair.
"Five Saiyan daughters." She paced slowly. "From a male Saiyan. A breeding male Saiyan."
"If you want to put it crudely."
"Do you understand what this means?"
"Enlighten me, my queen."
She stopped. Turned to face him.
"For generations, we have relied on other species to reproduce. Weak males. Inferior genetics. Our bloodline dilutes with each generation." Her fists clenched. "But you... you could produce pure Saiyans. Strong offspring. Warriors worthy of the name."
"I'm flattered."
She approached him again.
"You could be the hope we've been waiting for. A way to free ourselves from Frieza. A way to rebuild our race. A way to finally produce..." She trailed off.
"Produce what?"
Her eyes met his.
"A Super Saiyan."
Goku's expression flickered.
"Super Saiyan?"
"You don't know the legend?"
"No."
Queen Vegeta turned away, moving to the windowl.
"It's an ancient tale. A prophecy, some say. That once every thousand years, a Saiyan of immense power will emerge. Strength beyond comprehension." Her voice turned bitter. "Strong enough to defeat any enemy."
Goku's mind flashed.
*Aionia. The prison. Desperation. Rage. Something breaking loose inside him.*
"Foolishness," Queen Vegeta muttered, shaking her head. "A children's story. Nothing more."
Goku said nothing.
But his smirk deepened.
*So that's what it's called.*
**KNOCK KNOCK**
Queen Vegeta's head snapped toward the door, irritation flashing across her face.
"WHAT?"
The door opened.
Nappa entered, seven feet of pure muscle, armor straining against her massive frame. She dropped to one knee immediately, fist to chest.
"My Queen. Forgive the interruption."
"This had better be important."
"Dodoria and Zarbon have arrived ahead of Frieza-sama. They request an audience to inspect the preparations for his arrival."
Queen Vegeta's jaw tightened.
*Of course they did. Frieza's lapdogs, here to ensure we're groveling properly.*
"Tell them I'll be there momentarily."
"Yes, my Queen." Nappa rose but didn't leave. Her eyes slid to Goku, still sitting casually on the royal bed. That predatory smile spread across her plump lips. "Well, well. If it isn't my favorite punching bag."
Goku met her gaze.
"You're looking... intact." She stepped closer, licking her lips. "I was afraid I'd broken you. But I'd be happy to break you in... other ways."
But Goku was already standing.
He walked toward the massive woman, chains clinking, stopping directly in front of her. Had to look up, she was taller, broader, built like a mountain.
"Break me?" His smirk was pure challenge. "You'd tap out before we even got to the main course."
Nappa's smile froze.
Irritation flickered behind her eyes. Her hand shot out, fast, aggressive, and grabbed him between his legs.
"Puny man, don't get over yourself because you survived one beat—"
She stopped.
Her eyes went wide.
Her fingers had found... something. Something that made no sense. Something impossible.
Goku's smirk widened.
"Surprised?"
Nappa's hand stayed frozen, her brain refusing to process what her fingers were telling her. Her mouth opened. Closed. Opened again.
"How... how is this..."
"NAPPA." Queen Vegeta's voice cracked like a whip. "You have duties to attend to."
The massive woman yanked her hand back as if burned, her face actually flushing beneath her taned skin. She bowed quickly, and practically fled the room.
The guards escorted Goku out, following in her wake.
He glanced back once at Queen Vegeta.
And she looked at him.
—
Queen Vegeta walked through the palace corridors.
Behind her, maintaining the proper distance, Eve walked in formation with the other guards.
But her eyes kept drifting.
To the Queen's back. Her shoulders.
*She looks so young.*
*Alive. Strong. Beautiful.*
Eve's chest tightened.
Queen Vegeta glanced back.
Their eyes met.
Eve looked away immediately, her heart hammering.
When she dared look again, the Queen was facing forward, but there was something in her posture. A slight tension. Awareness.
*She knows I'm watching.*
They continued walking.
Another glance from the Queen. Another quick aversion from Eve.
*Curious. This female warrior who arrived with the male. Strong. Disciplined. But something in her eyes... something familiar.*
The throne room doors loomed ahead.
Inside waited Dodoria and Zarbon.
And the game would begin again.
---
In The Male Quarter.
Goku pushed through the facility gates.
The guards didn't stop him, Queen Vegeta's scent still clung to his skin, an invisible pass that opened every door. The other males scrambled away as he passed.
Soba sat in his usual corner.
The little Yardratian looked up as Goku approached, those large eyes widening with surprise.
"You're back."
"I'm back."
Goku sat beside him. Cross-legged.
"That technique. The one you used earlier. Teach me."
Soba blinked. "Instant Transmission? I told you, it takes years to—"
---
The Throne Room.
Queen Vegeta pushed through the ornate doors.
And stopped.
Two figures occupied her throne room. One stood to the side, massive, pink, covered in spikes. Dodoria. His piggy eyes swept dismissively over the Saiyan guards lining the walls.
The other sat on her throne.
*Her* throne.
Zarbon lounged against the carved stone like he owned it, one leg draped over the armrest, green hair cascading over his shoulder. His pretty face held an expression of supreme boredom.
"—Ginyu might be unpleasant to look at," Zarbon was saying, examining his nails, "but his power level is exceptionally high. In your case, Dodoria-san..." He smiled. "You're ugly and weak."
"What did you say, you green tur—"
They stopped.
Queen Vegeta ascended the stairs. Her guards parted before her. Her cape flowed behind her.
She stopped before her throne.
Before Zarbon.
"You're sitting in my seat."
Zarbon's smile didn't waver.
He raised one elegant finger.
Pointed at the floor.
"There's your seat, monkey."
Silence.
Every guard in the room tensed. Fists clenched. Ki flickered at fingertips.
But no one moved.
They knew the power levels. They knew the gap.
Queen Vegeta's jaw tightened.
*Humiliation.*
*Again.*
*Always.*
She began to lower herself. One knee bending. Pride screaming. For the future of the Saiyan race.
"That's right." Zarbon's voice dripped with condescension. "Grovel like the monkey you are."
Her eyes widened.
*Flash.*
Goku's face. His smirk. His impossible existence.
*A male Saiyan.*
*Pure bloodlines.*
*The Super Saiyan legend.*
*Hope.*
She surged upward.
Her fist rocketed toward Zarbon's face, every ounce of fury, every year of humiliation, every shred of Saiyan pride compressed into one strike.
Zarbon caught it.
*Easy.*
His fingers wrapped around her fist like it was a child's toy. He didn't even shift in the throne.
"My, my." His golden eyes glittered. "What's the meaning of this, Queen? Has your time come so soon?"
"We will not—" she snarled, struggling against his grip, "—be humiliated—anymore—"
"Insolent monkey!"
Dodoria's fist crashed into her face.
Her head snapped back, blood spraying from her lip, body still held in place by Zarbon's grip.
"MY QUEEN!"
The guards charged.
All of them.
Dodoria moved.
For his size, he was terrifyingly fast. The first guard's jaw shattered beneath his fist before she could raise her hands. The second folded around his knee. The third, fourth, fifth, bodies flew, bones cracked, screams filled the air.
Zarbon released Queen Vegeta, letting her crumple to the stairs, and rose from the throne.
"So disappointing," he sighed. "And here I thought Saiyans were supposed to be warriors."
He caught a charging elite by the throat. Squeezed. Tossed her aside like garbage.
"This is what Frieza-sama fears? This... rabble?"
Another guard. Another broken body.
"Pathetic."
Queen Vegeta struggled to rise, blood streaming down her chin, watching her soldiers fall one by one.
*Hopeless.*
*It's always been hopeless.*
*We never had a chance.*
"ENOUGH."
The voice cut through the chaos.
Calm. Commanding. *Furious.*
Everyone turned.
Eve stood in the doorway.
Her face was composed, eerily so. But her eyebrows were furrowed, and something dangerous burned behind her eyes.
"And why should I listen to you?" Dodoria sneered, his fist still buried in a guard's stomach.
He let the body drop.
Approached her.
"Know your place, monkey." He loomed over her, spikes glistening with Saiyan blood. "Grovel before your better—"
Eve vanished.
*CRACK.*
Dodoria's head snapped back.
Teeth exploded from his mouth, shattered, bloody, scattering across the marble floor. His massive body launched backward, crashing through a stone pillar, skidding across the throne room until he slammed into the far wall.
Eve stood where he'd been.
Fist extended.
Expression unchanged.
No one had seen her move.
Queen Vegeta's eyes went wide.
Zarbon's pretty face twisted with shock.
"Impossible—"
"Insolent!" Zarbon recovered instantly, launching himself at Eve with killing intent. "You'll pay for that!"
Fists. Kicks. Elbows. Knees.
He threw everything, combinations that had killed warriors across a hundred worlds, techniques refined over decades of service to Frieza.
Eve watched them come.
And moved through them like water.
Left. Right. Duck. Weave. Each attack missed by millimeters, her body flowing around his assault with contemptuous ease.
Her eyes never left his.
Cold. Piercing. *Judging.*
"How—" Zarbon snarled. "Your power level was 1490! You can't possibly—"
Her fist buried itself in his stomach.
His eyes bulged. Spit flew from his mouth. His body folded around the impact, feet leaving the ground.
Queen Vegeta scrambled for a fallen guard's scouter.
Pressed it to her eye.
Pressed the button.
Numbers climbed.
"Impossible..."
*4,000.*
"It's still rising..."
*5,689.*
*7,809.*
"How is this—"
*10,887.*
*17,896.*
*24,860.*
The scouter screamed, circuits overloading, components frying, and exploded against her face.
"IT'S OVER 25,000!"
The doors burst open.
More guards flooded in, alerted by the commotion, weapons ready. And behind them, pushing through the crowd.
Nappa.
Princess Vegeta.
They stopped at the scene before them. Dodoria embedded in a wall, spitting blood and broken teeth. Zarbon doubled over, gasping. Eve standing untouched in the center of it all.
"Over 25,000?" Princess Vegeta whispered.
Her small fists clenched.
Her tail bristled.
*Stronger than me. Stronger than Nappa. Stronger than Mother.*
*Who IS she?*
Queen Vegeta stared at Eve with new eyes.
*Not the male. Her.*
*Maybe it's her.*
*Or maybe... both of them together...*
*Creating the Super Saiyan.*
*The legend made flesh.*
Zarbon straightened.
His pretty features contorted, bones shifting, muscles swelling, skin turning mottled and rough. His elegant form bulged grotesquely, transforming into something amphibian and monstrous.
"You think..." His voice had deepened, turned guttural. "You think this changes anything?"
His power level spiked.
Far beyond 25,000.
He kicked out, faster now, stronger, catching Eve in the ribs, sending her skidding backward.
"A monkey is still a monkey!" He pressed his advantage, raining blows. "No matter how strong!"
Zarbon's communicator crackled.
A voice emerged, high, elegant, dripping with casual menace.
"Zarbon. Report."
Everyone froze.
*Frieza.*
Zarbon's monstrous form straightened immediately, his brutish features twisting into something resembling deference.
"Frieza-sama." He stepped back from Eve, breathing hard. "There's been an... incident. The Saiyans are rebelling. One of them possesses a power level exceeding 25,000."
Static.
Then laughter.
Light. Amused. Terrifying.
"Is that so? How entertaining. And here I thought the monkeys had finally learned their place."
"I've already summoned the Ginyu Force, my lord. They'll arrive within—"
"No need to rush, Zarbon. I'll be there myself soon enough. With Father and Cooler." The voice turned silky. "We were planning a visit anyway. This simply... accelerates things."
Zarbon's chest puffed with renewed confidence.
"Of course, Frieza-sama. I'll ensure the situation remains contained until—"
Movement.
Queen Vegeta lunged.
Her hand closed around Zarbon's communicator, ripping it from his grip before he could react.
"What are you—"
She pressed it to her lips.
"Frieza."
Silence on the line.
Then: "Oh? The monkey queen herself. How delightful."
"Listen carefully." Her voice didn't waver. " The Saiyan race has served you. Conquered worlds in your name. Bled for your empire. Died for your profit."
"As is your purpose."
"No more."
The words fell like stones.
Every Saiyan in the room stopped breathing.
"From this moment forward," Queen Vegeta continued, "the Saiyan race answers to no one. Not you. Not your father. Not your brother." Her fist clenched around the device. "We are slaves no longer."
Laughter erupted from the speaker.
"Oh, this is precious. Has one of your monkeys finally snapped? Did someone drop you on your head?"
"Consider this our declaration of war."
"War? Against me ?" More laughter. "My dear queen, do you have any idea what you're—"
*CRUNCH.*
The communicator shattered in her grip.
Sparks flew. Components scattered.
Silence.
No one moved.
The guards stared at their queen with expressions ranging from horror to awe. Nappa's jaw hung open. The wounded soldiers clutched their injuries, frozen mid-groan.
Dodoria, finally extracting himself from the wall, gawked with piggy eyes.
"You..." Zarbon's monstrous form trembled. "You insane monkey. Do you have any idea what you've done?"
"I know exactly what I've done."
"Frieza-sama will annihilate this planet! He'll wipe out every last one of you! His power is beyond anything you can imagine, and his father, King Cold, is stronger still! And Cooler—"
"Then we'll defeat them all."
"With what ?!" Zarbon gestured wildly at Eve. "One warrior with a power level exceed 25,000? Against beings who can destroy planets with a finger?! You're not just insane, you're suicidal!"
Queen Vegeta raised her palm.
Ki gathered, bright, hot.
"Perhaps."
*FLASH.*
The beam punched through Zarbon's chest.
His monstrous eyes went wide. His mouth opened, no sound emerged. He looked down at the smoking hole where his heart had been.
Then collapsed.
Dead before he hit the floor.
Dodoria scrambled backward.
"You—you—"
"Run."
Queen Vegeta's voice was ice.
"Run back to your master. Tell him what you saw. Tell him the Saiyans are coming for him."
Dodoria didn't need to be told twice.
He crashed through a window and vanished into the red sky, trailing blood and terror.
Queen Vegeta turned to face her people.
Guards. Soldiers. Elites. All of them staring at her with something she hadn't seen in years.
*Hope.*
"For too long, we have bowed." Her voice carried across the throne room. "For too long, we have served. We told ourselves it was survival. Strategy. Wisdom."
She stepped over Zarbon's corpse.
"It was cowardice."
Murmurs rippled through the crowd.
"We are Saiyans! Warriors! Conquerors!" Her ki flared, making the air tremble. "Our ancestors carved empires from the stars. Our blood carries the legacy of legends. And we let ourselves become pets ?!"
Fists clenched throughout the room.
"No more." She raised her fist high. "From this day forward, we fight. We bleed. We die if we must. But we die as Saiyans not as slaves!"
"FOR THE SAIYAN RACE!"
The cry erupted from every throat. Guards. Soldiers. Even the wounded, dragging themselves upright to add their voices.
"FOR THE SAIYAN RACE!"
Queen Vegeta approached Eve.
The younger woman stood still, expression unreadable, power still radiating from her frame. She'd remained silent throughout the declaration, watching her with eyes that held too many secrets.
Queen Vegeta stopped before her.
Placed a hand on her shoulder.
"I don't know who you are," the Queen said softly. "I don't know where you came from or why you're here."
Eve's breath caught.
"But I know what I saw today. A Saiyan warrior with power beyond anything I've witnessed." Her grip tightened. "I'm counting on you. We all are."
Eve's face flushed.
*She's proud of me.*
"I... I won't let you down."
"I believe you."
Behind them, small fists clenched white.
Princess Vegeta watched the exchange with an expression that shifted like storm clouds.
Pride, her mother had finally stood up to Frieza.
Confusion, who was this stranger who appeared from nowhere?
Jealousy, she was supposed to be the prodigy. She was supposed to be her mother's hope.
Over 25,000.
The number burned in her mind.
*I was supposed to surpass everyone. I was supposed to be the one she looked at like that.*
Her tail bristled.
*Who are you?*
*And why does my mother look at you the way she's never looked at me?*
---
The Male Quarter.
"Wow."
Soba sat back, antenna twitching with disbelief.
"You're a quick learner."
Goku sat cross-legged before him, eyes closed, brow furrowed with concentration. The basics of ki sensing had taken most warriors months, years to grasp.
Goku had started understanding within hours.
*I see now*, he thought. *This is how Kakarot and Piccolo knew I was coming. Feeling ki signatures across distances. Reading power levels without machines.*
*Useful.*
He reached out with his newfound awareness. The facility pulsed with weak energies, frightened males, broken spirits. Beyond the walls, stronger signatures moved through the palace. Guards. Warriors. Elites.
And something else.
His eyes snapped open.
Turned toward the far wall.
*There.*
A ki signature. Approaching fast. Small but intense, burning with compressed power and barely contained fury.
"Soba. Move."
He grabbed the Yardratian and yanked him sideways.
**BOOM.**
The wall exploded inward.
Stone and dust and debris blasted across the facility. Males screamed, scrambling for cover.
Smoke billowed.
A silhouette emerged.
Small. Cape flowing. Tail lashing.
Princess Vegeta stepped through the rubble, boots crunching on shattered stone. Her eyes, burning with something dangerous, found Goku immediately.
"You."
Goku set Soba down.
Rose to his full height.
"Princess."
"Follow me."
A command.
They flew in silence.
Princess Vegeta ahead, cape snapping in the wind. Goku behind, hands in his pockets, observing.
The palace shrank beneath them. The city followed. Soon there was nothing but barren rock and red sky stretching to every horizon.
She descended toward a plateau of shattered stone, ancient, empty, forgotten.
Goku landed behind her.
"Now what?"
She moved.
No warning. No declaration. Just violence.
Her small body became a blur, fist cocked, aimed at his face with killing intent.
Goku watched her come.
*Slow.*
Time seemed to stretch. He could count the threads in her cape. See the individual strands of hair whipping behind her. Read the fury written across her tiny features.
He stepped aside.
Her fist cut through empty air.
She spun, another strike, then another. Combinations that would have shattered steel. Speed that would have overwhelmed most elites.
Goku swayed. Leaned. Shifted.
Never more than necessary.
That smirk spreading across his face.
"Hold still!" she snarled.
"Make me."
Her fury doubled.
Punches. Kicks. Elbows. Every technique she'd mastered, every move that had made her a prodigy, she threw them all at him.
He dodged them all.
Her fist sailed past his ear. He tilted his head.
Her knee rose toward his stomach. He pivoted.
Her tail whipped at his legs. He hopped.
*Infuriating.*
She overextended, one strike too wild, and her fist connected with the boulder behind him.
The massive stone exploded. Fragments flew in every direction. A crater remained where solid rock had been.
Goku glanced at the destruction.
*Small fists. Deadly.*
"Impressive."
"Shut UP!"
She created distance.
Hands rose. Ki gathered, bright, hot, furious.
"DODGE THIS!"
The barrage began.
"TATATATATATATA!"
Blast after blast erupted from her palms. Dozens. Hundreds. Each one screaming toward Goku, exploding at his feet, around his body, consuming him in fire and smoke.
The ground shattered.
Craters formed.
Dust billowed into a wall of obscuring chaos.
Princess Vegeta kept firing, pouring everything into the assault, screaming with each release, until her arms trembled and her ki reserves ached.
She stopped.
Breathing hard.
Smirking.
"Too bad for yo—"
Her voice died.
Goku walked out of the smoke.
Untouched.
Not a scratch. Not a burn. Not even dust on his clothes.
He brushed a speck from his shoulder.
"You done?"
Princess Vegeta's teeth clenched.
Her tail bristled to twice its size.
But beneath the fury, beneath the wounded pride, something else flickered across her face.
*A smile.*
Small. Fierce. *Hungry.*
"Finally."
She vanished.
Speed beyond anything she'd shown before, reserves she'd been holding back, power she'd kept hidden. She reappeared before him in an instant, fist already swinging, everything she had compressed into one perfect strike.
Goku's hand moved.
Caught her by the throat.
Her momentum died. Her body swung forward, legs flailing, then went still, suspended in his grip like a doll.
"Let go of me!"
Her tiny hands grabbed his wrist. Her feet kicked at his chest, his arms, anything she could reach.
"Release me this instant! I am the Princess of all Saiyans! You will—"
Goku studied her.
This small, fierce creature dangling from his grip. Power level impressive for her age. Technique refined beyond her years. Potential... significant.
*She's strong.*
His mind drifted to calculations.
*The strongest person I've fought here. At her age, I wasn't nearly this powerful.*
*So when I return to the present...*
*When the Saiyans arrive on Earth...*
*Would she be a problem?*
He looked at her struggling form. Her furious eyes. Her royal blood.
*Should I kill her now?*
*Remove the threat before it grows?*
His fingers tightened.
Princess Vegeta's struggles stopped.
Her eyes went wide.
"W-what are you—"
Tighter.
Her windpipe compressed. Air stopped flowing. Her face began to redden, slowly at first, then rapidly.
"S-stop—"
Tighter still.
Her tiny hands clawed at his grip. Her legs kicked weakly. Her eyes, those proud, fearless eyes, started to water.
*H-how?!*
Her mind raced even as darkness crept at the edges.
*Nappa hit him and he passed out! I'm stronger than her—far stronger! Unless—*
*Unless he was faking—*
*Unless all of it was—*
Pain.
Sharp. Absolute.
His fingers were pressing now, not just squeezing but *pressing*. She could feel them against her vertebrae. Feel them threatening to puncture through skin and muscle.
She looked up at him.
And froze.
His face had changed.
The smirk was gone. The amusement was gone. What remained was nothing, empty features, shadowed eyes, an absence of humanity that turned her blood to ice.
And in those shadows...
Glowing. Watching.
For the first time in her life, Princess Vegeta felt fear.
Real fear.
The kind that made her legs shake. The kind that made her bladder threaten to release. The kind that screamed *you are going to die* with absolute certainty.
She wasn't a princess anymore.
She was prey.
A memory of Rori flashed in his mind
His fingers loosened.
She dropped.
Hit the ground hard, gasping, coughing, clutching her throat. Air rushed into her lungs.
Goku stepped over her.
Walked to a nearby boulder.
Sat.
"Go home, little girl." His voice was flat. "Forget about everything."
Princess Vegeta knelt in the dirt.
Tears streamed down her cheeks, from the choking, she told herself. Only from the choking.
Her throat burned. Her pride burned worse.
She should leave. He was right. Go back to the palace. Pretend this never happened. Resume being the prodigy, the heir, the future of the Saiyan race.
But...
*Mother.*
The image flashed through her mind. Queen Vegeta standing before Zarbon. Crushing the communicator. Declaring war on Frieza.
*"We are slaves no longer."*
*Mother is going to fight.*
*Mother is going to die.*
*Unless...*
She looked at Goku.
This male who had defeated her without trying. Who had held her life in his hand and chosen to release it. Who possessed power beyond anything she'd imagined.
Her fists clenched.
Her teeth ground together.
Every fiber of her pride screamed resistance.
She swallowed it.
"You insect."
Goku's eyebrow raised.
"Train me."
Goku tilted his head.
"Huh?"