Chapter Text
Vegeta inspected the bathroom mirror, admiring his work. In a few smooth strokes, the mustache was gone, replaced by a clean smirk.
”Dad, that mustache has got to go!” His preteen daughter scolded. “It makes you look like a total geek… total geek… total geek!” The memory had echoed throughout his mind until the proud prince decided to take action.
Vegeta snapped out of his flashback, feeling a funny sensation as he stood outside of the bathroom door. He strode through the hallway of his home, Capsule Corporation, passing by a young man in a long sleeved white shirt and purple pants, his spiky black hair pointed at an angle.
”Hey Goten! Notice anything different?” Vegeta ran a hand over his mouth and flashed a confident smile. “Huh?”
Goten ran in place and looked Vegeta over, not understanding the question. Vegeta’s clothing wasn’t different: the dark red tank top, dark pants, lavender fingerless gloves, and Capsule Corporation brand boots were pretty standard for him; surely even Goten could figure it out! “Uhhh… do I know you?” Vegeta frowned, giving Goten an annoyed look.
”Nghhh! A simple yes would do.” After Goten continued to stare with a dumbfounded expression, Vegeta grunted, shook his head, and walked away. “Hmph, just like his father.”
As he made his way to the dining room, Vegeta cleared his throat. Somehow, his voice sounded a bit off, but he didn’t feel sick. And come to think of it, why did Goten appear so tall all of a sudden? He’s too old for another growth spurt… isn’t he? Then again, he knew that Saiyans were often late bloomers.
He passed by Bulma and Chichi, stopping at his wife’s voice.
”Huh? Vegeta?”
“Hm?”
”Whaaa~?” Bulma jumped to her feet. “Vegeta, you look… so young!”
Vegeta grinned. “Why thank you!”
”No, I mean… why do you look like a little kid???”
”What? What do you mean?”
“I mean~ look in the mirror!”
Vegeta scrunched his eyebrows. “Ridiculous, I just looked in the mirror when I shaved my moostache, but I suppose I’ll have to humor her.” Vegeta reluctantly held out his hand as his wife offered him a hand mirror; he gasped as he saw a boy staring back at him, his majestic widow’s peak covered with bangs, and his hair grown taller, back into the shape of a black flame, while his body had shrunk! “What- what kind of madness is this?!? How bizarre!”
He inspected his can of shaving cream, wondering what those crazy Earthling scientists put in it!?
”Do Saiyans age backwards when they reach a certain number of years?” Chichi wondered aloud. “Ohhh, I hope that doesn’t happen to Goku, he’s childish enough as it is!”
”Hey Mom, the sky just turned pitch black all of a sudden not too long ago!” Trunks announced as he entered the room. “Someone must have made a wish on the-“ Trunks stopped and made a face when he noticed the stature of his father.
”On the dragon balls.” Vegeta finished. “But what kind of fool would wish for this!?”
Earlier that day, a bald, mustachioed, musclebound man in black and gold armor soared through the skies, followed by three people in a combined robot.
“There, the last dragon ball is that way!” The elderly, little blue imp in the black collared coat, pointy yellow shoes, and a colorful gongfu hat exclaimed.
”Haha, that tracker of yours really came through!” The Saiyan cheered. “Let’s go get it!” He rocketed away into the clouds while his partners scrambled to keep up!
”Wait, Mr. Nappa! Wait for us!” The canine member in the indigo and yellow ninja suit pleaded.
“Hurry up, you three, immortality awaits us!”
”Mr. Nappa, may I point out that we have the dragon ball radar, so there’s no point in you going too far ahead of us!” The woman in the red soviet overcoat and grey bandana reminded him.
”Yeah, yeah… Twenty-five years I’ve been training to get revenge on that backstabbing rat prince, you know that?!”
“Hehehe. Of course, when we find that last ball and summon the eternal dragon, we’ll all be kings!” The blue dwarf said. “And I, Emperor Pilaf, will finally rule as I was destined to!”
“Heck yeah, you should be more excited!” Nappa then hoisted the robot, speeding up again with a devilish grin! Even in his old age, his face wrinkled and worn, his enthusiasm for bloodshed was unwavering! “Come on, then, we’re not getting any younger!”
”Not yet!”
The quad laughed together as they followed the blip on their radar!
”So, he just chickened out on you, huh?” The blue-haired girl in the red tank top, skirt, headband, and matching gloves and knee-length boots summarized as she stirred her tea.
”Yeah…” The black-haired girl in the orange bandana and red crop top sitting across from her sighed and took a sip of her coffee, wincing at the bitterness. They sat in a lively diner in Hercule City. “He seemed so cool before he saw me beat up those bank robbers. I swear, boys are the worst!”
”Boys like him… my dad says guys who can’t handle strong women aren’t worthy of calling themselves men.” The fashionable girl sipped her matcha and folded her arms. “You’re better off without him, Pan.”
Pan smiled. “That does sound like Uncle Vegeta. What about you, Marron?”
The blonde in the pink dress and hat stirred her coffee. “I dunno, I haven’t thought a lot about that kind of thing. I think as long as he’s sweet and shows he really cares about you, you’ve got yourself a winner. But I don’t meet too many guys living on a beach island with a pervy old man. Bra?”
Bra blew her hair upwards. ”Dad says I’m too young for a guy. Last time I brought a boy home, he said he could only go out with me if the guy could last 30 seconds in a sparring match against him… honestly, we should look into getting a ‘Beware of Dad’ sign!”
Marron laughed. “Sounds like things are rough for all of us!”
As the young ladies enjoyed their lunch, Pan noticed a strong energy signature approaching the city, and she grabbed Bra and Marron out of the way as a white hot blast incinerated the nearby street!
”The four star dragon ball!” Pilaf exclaimed.
”I’ve got it!” Nappa descended to pick it up before Pan kicked him into one of the destroyed buildings, the ball flying out of his hand!
”I don’t know who you think you are, but you can’t destroy this city if I have anything to say about it!”
”What!? A little brat?!?” Nappa gritted his teeth as he got up, dazed. “What’s her power level?”
”Oh no…” The dog Shu mumbled. “This looks very familiar…”
”Yeah, she kind of looks like…” The elderly woman Mai began. “Is she…?”
”What?!?” Nappa’s scouter beeped as the number rose and rose. “Impossible! This stupid thing says she’s over… over a million… and still rising!” Overwhelmed, he switched targets on his scouter. ”Huh? Hah, but the blue haired girl is only 10.”
“Close, old man, I’ll be 10 in December. By the way, nice belt!” Bra complimented as she spotted the brown tail wrapped around Nappa’s waist. “Love the fur!”
”Wait, that’s… that’s a tail, isn’t it? Papa said that he and the other Saiyans used to have tails!” Pan recalled. “Are you a Saiyan too?”
”Your dad? You’re not… Vegeta’s daughter, are ya?” Nappa squinted.
“He knows my dad?” Bra thought. “And those Dragon Balls look different; why are the stars black? I thought they were red!”
“Hmmm… you don’t look like him, but that would explain that kick… or maybe… you just got lucky!”
Nappa aimed a white ball of energy at Pan, but she redirected it back at him and followed up with a swift punch to the gut! As the giant Saiyan reeled from the attack, she turned her attention to his partner, who had just grabbed the four star Dragon Ball, ready to join it with the rest.
”Oh, so that’s what you’re after! You’re going to make an evil wish!”
“Eternal youth isn’t even evil, you presumptuous pint-sized punk!” Pilaf shouted. He turned to his partner. “Well, go on! You can take her, can’t you!?”
Nappa snarled and charged at Pan, attacking with a mad frenzy of punches and kicks! She dodged them with ease, waited for an opening, and planted an uppercut square in his jaw, plus a barrage of her own energy blasts!
Pilaf clenched his fists. ”Rrrrgh! I thought this guy was supposed to be leagues above even King Piccolo! This is ridiculous!”
”E-Emperor Pilaf? Doesn’t that other girl look just like the girl who used to hang out with… you know who?” Mai asked.
”Who?”
”You know… with Goku, the little kid who always foiled our plans.” Shu said.
”Goku?” Pilaf’s face fell. He called out to Bra. “Hey! Hey you, with the blue hair! You don’t happen to know a Goku… do you?”
”Huh? Yeah, that’s Pan’s grandpa’s name!”
The trio stepped back in horror!
”His Earth name, at least! Dad calls him Kakarot!”
”Kakarot?!?” Nappa lifted his head, previously facedown on the ground from Pan’s onslaught, to face Bra for a second and grinned. “Ha, great, I can get revenge on both of them in the same day! Hey Pilaf, call that dragon already! The sooner I’m young, the sooner I can pay Kakarot and Vegeta back for what they did to me!”
”Oh no, you don’t!” Pan flew over to the Pilaf gang, who fired missiles in her direction! She caught two and knocked one back at them, wrecking their combined machine!
However, while Pan was distracted with the comedy relief, Nappa raised two fingers in the air and blasted the ground underneath her feet, and she disappeared as she was caught up in the explosion!
”Pan!” Bra and Marron shouted.
”That’s more like it!” Nappa walked toward the crater while Pilaf crawled out of his robot towards the remaining six balls, under cover of the dust and debris. “Just a little closer…”
”Hold it, ugly!” Bra stepped in front of Nappa and pointed her finger at the bald Saiyan. “If you know my dad, you’ll know he’s your prince, and as the future princess of all Saiyans, I order you to stop attacking this city and my best friend!”
Nappa grunted into a low snicker. ”You’re Vegeta’s daughter, huh?!? Then I’ll kill you when your daddy gets here, so he can watch you die! Ha ha ha… no, wait… he wouldn’t care; he only cares about his own strength, not for anyone else!” He stomped towards Bra. “Then I guess I’ll kill you now and save the suspense!”
”No you WON’T!!!” Marron formed a disc of energy and hurled it at Nappa, who recalled the technique and ducked!
”You little…”
”RISE, ETERNAL DRAGON, RISE!!!” Pilaf shouted!
The sky grew pitch black, flashes of lightning illuminating the silhouette of a long red dragon.
”It’s Shenron!” Marron yelled.
“Speak your wish, and it shall be granted.”
”We wish we were eternally yo-“ Bra covered Pilaf’s mouth before he could finish.
Nappa was flat on his back, now with Pan standing on top of him.
”Rragh… getting humiliated this bad by a half breed snot nosed brat… I must really be getting old! If only I was 50 years younger… come to think of it, 50 years ago, Vegeta was just a spoiled little brat! I wish we were both 50 years younger, and then I could really teach him a lesson!”
”Hey, us too!” Pilaf’s gang cried out!
”Your wish has been granted.” Shenron’s eyes glowed, and Nappa’s wrinkled skin became smooth once more, his eyebrows and his mustache turned black. The Pilaf gang de-aged right after him. “Farewellllll…” The great dragon disappeared and the dragon balls rose into the sky, scattering in seven different directions as the sky returned to its pale blue color.
Pilaf tossed his cane away. “Well, that’s close enough to the original wish. So now that you’re younger and stronger, you’ll take over a continent for us as promised? Preferably someplace warm?”
Nappa ignored him and smirked. He let out a loud battle cry and a powerful burst of energy, pushing the three girls and his partners back!
”That’s real power! Now it’s time for Vegeta to pay, and everyone on this planet to die…” He locked eyes with Pan, his desire for revenge overwhelming. “Starting with you!”