Chapter 8: FAMILY LIFE...

An heir?

Year 778, four years after Vegetto's birth.

It was one of these afternoon Vegetto allowed himself and used to rest, lying on the sofa in the living-room, more often than not with his Bulma sitting on the near-by armchair, reading either a scientific magazine or a women's magazine, depending what her mother or father would have left behind.

The best word to describe such moments was 'tranquillity'.

Vegetto was looking up at the ceiling but he had noticed that Bulma wasn't reading anymore. She had been staring at him for almost a whole minute. Yet, he didn't make a single move and waited for what was to come. Indeed, Bulma reached out and touched her husband's face with the tip of her fingers. It was as if she wanted to make sure he really was here and not some illusion. As she was caressing him, Vegetto used his senses to check that nobody was going to disturb them during the next minutes. The several humans and the many animals that inhabited the house were far away. He also used his good hearing to detect the many robots and deduced from the lack of air movement that they were not working. Everything was ok.

He took her hand and she stopped. She pulled his arm a bit to make him sit down. In fact, she wanted to talk.

“Would like to have another child?” she asked.

“You mean, a fourth child?” he asked back, but just as it left his lips, he knew he had made a bad choice of words.

“Yes... and my second one...”

Vegetto looked back at the ceiling and Bulma gave him time to think about it.

A son... or a daughter... Not Son Gokû's, not Vegeta's... But his own!

He got up and looked straight in front of him, then said: “I'll think about it. I'll be back soon.” Then he disappeared. He found himself in their bedroom and took the invitation card that was on the bedside table.

Vegetto wasn't a Saiyan, and certainly not a human being. He was a gigantic abnormality living on Earth, but also in the universe.

If he was to have a child, would it endanger the universe?

He'd talk about it with the Kaioshins. He had promised them after all. But at first, he'd have to find if he wanted to, himself.

No matter how much he liked his children, he had never decided to father them. That half-wit Gokû had never understood the process of fathering a child. And Vegetta just didn't give a damn about having offspring.

And then, he understood why Bulma had asked him that question now. She was reaching an age where it'd not be reasonable to plan on carrying a child. It was now or never. So Vegetto had to decide now!

Vegetto went in several places. Here are some of them:

It was Sunday morning when he went to Kame House. Marron was seventeen year old.

[Note of the author: Marron is totally not 17 at this time of the story. It's a HUGE error of my part. I kept this paragraph anyway because I liked it. I'm sorry. Totally not canon ^_^]

She had grown one foot, breasts but also a liking for magazines and singers. Her hairstyle was just weird, her energy seemed to be limitless and her voice was quite high pitched. She also was chewing gum.

She was running out of the house, all dress-up and pleased with herself. She managed to not stick her stiletto heels into the sand. She swiftly took a capsule out that she threw on the beach. She jumped into the cockpit of the seaplane that had hardly appeared. She left for the continent with a thundering noise.

About twenty seconds later, a half asleep Kulilin came out to wave good bye to the little point that was disappearing in the horizon.

“Be careful!” he yawned. “Aaaan don talk to people tha' are weaaaker than your daaaddy...”

He then made his way inside as he wondered how that child could be such an early riser. Then he suddenly stopped and looked up. Vegetto floated quickly and discreetly out of sight.

Kulilin eventually went in, he was almost awaken. If Vegetto didn't show up, then it meant...

“Honey, someone wants to see you.”

18, or 'honey' was lazing around on the double bed on the second floor, even though she didn't need much sleep. She had heard what her husband had told her.

“Who is it?”

“Your lover.” he answered as he let himself fall on the bed.

It was a good thing that Vegetto hadn't as good sense of hearing as Piccolo's for he'd not have understood what that sentence meant. He actually didn't know what Kulilin had said a few months earlier: he had told his wife that if she was to cheat on him with anyone, it'd be best if she did it with Vegetto. After all, both of them were stronger than him, so he couldn't do anything against them and so, they'd avoid a crime of passion.

Most people, his wife included, didn't understand Kulilin's jokes.

She blushed because of her husband's allusion and because someone was waiting for her outside when she was still wearing her night-clothes.

She rushed into the bathroom at top speed for she feared that the one who was waiting for her could see her by the window. She let the water flew on her body and then quickly dried herself and brushed her hair really fast. Eventually, she was dressed even before Kulilin had managed to find his way under the blanket.

Then, as she was a distinguished woman, she opened the window and flew out.

She saw that Vegetto was flying above the house so she went to meet him there.

“You could have told us you were coming, we haven't prepared anything.”

Vegetto closed his eyes and concentrated. He hadn't lost the ki of Kulilin's daughter, even if she didn't emit much. He was proud to be able to follow weak people even though they were so far away: she was several thousand miles away and, according to the energy waves she emitted, he could feel that she was very excited. She probably was talking on the phone.

He didn't bother to greet 18 with a 'hello', to apologize or even to beat about the brush.

“Tell me, when you chose to have a child, did you wonder if you could?” he asked her.

“Yes, I wasn't sure if I was able to carry a child.”

“But did you feel you had the right to have a child?” the Saiyan specified.

18 understood he wasn't blaming her for having a child, but rather she understood what he really meant and their common point. The number she used as a name always reminded her that she wasn't a true woman. As the indestructible Vegetto, 18's nature kept her apart from the other human beings. She also knew that if Kulilin hadn't loved her, she most likely would have killed half of humanity.

“Even the ugliest duck has the right to have children. Even idiot, alcoholic and violent parents have the right to be parents. That's the most universal right of the world. So go, copulate and stop asking yourself questions.”

And with that, 18 slowly flew back toward the window of her room, but then, she stopped and turned back.

“You'll let me babysit your tot, one million zenis per hour. That's my price for the richest parents of the world and their over-powerful child.”

After that constructive conversation, Vegetto wanted to consult a wise master, an old man who would have gathered wisdom through the ages and whose practiced eye would know about any kinds of situation.

He thought of Mutenroshi for a second, but then considered that asking him about a situation involving a woman wasn't the best idea.

Master Korin was a cat. Yes, a cat. And no, Vegetto wasn't going to ask a cat for advice. Moreover, Master Korin was a martial arts expert before anything else.

Kami-sama was no more. He could have asked him some pieces of advice by asking Piccolo, but he found it humiliating. And the young Dende, even though he was the new Kami-sama, was definitely too young.

King Kai did had lot of knowledge; but enduring his bad puns was too high a price.

There was the Grand Kai that he could go to, even if he hadn't kept much contact with him. It was an incredible person. On the other hand, as he kept fooling around most of the time, he hadn't much credibility.

Above, there were the two Kaioshins... Ok, they were the oldest people there ever was, even older than some worlds. But he already had them as 'tutors' of some sorts and he wanted someone he could speak with as freely as possible. Maybe with someone who wasn't one of his acquaintances.

An old Indian on his mountain would do perfectly. But not some random Indian. He needed the very best.

So there was only one left...

Vegetto quickly found the location of the new planet Namek. He went there and started his discussion with Mori, the leader of what probably was the wisest people in the whole universe. The old Namekian, who drank nothing but water, offered Vegetto some tea, then they went in the house. Namekians lived in a community, so it was the only way to be at peace and to avoid any eavesdropper. They spoke about the farmers of Last Hope for a while but then, he got to the heart of the matter. Mori asked for precision.

“What would be the trouble of having one more child?”

“It's dangerous.” explained Vegetto.

“You're saying that the members of your family are strong enough to destroy planet per thousands. How having another child would be more dangerous?”

“I can easily stop my other children. If I had another son... Saiyan children usually overpower their parents. And they do overpower their parents by far in my family.”

“So, what you actually fear is that, if you child was to go out of control, he'd destroy the whole universe and you couldn't do anything about it.”

“Yes.”

“But why would your son do such a thing? Do you fear his teenager phase so much? Why do you think he'd turn out badly?”

“There are several reason. First, Saiyans are violent, it's in their nature. And they are known for their barbaric actions. And that was even before they started working for Freeza... If you were to compare a normal Saiyan with any other race of the universe, you'd find him very cruel, domineering, and rather megalomaniac if there wasn't other Saiyans to hold him back.”

“No one of your children is like that.”

“No one of Gokû's and Vegeta's half-earthling children is like that.”

“But maybe education is more important than genetics, don't you think? Gokû and Piccolo Daimao are convincing examples.”

“Maybe... But maybe we were lucky.”

“Hm...”

The Namekian was thinking. He hadn't think of it from the correct perspective. Education wasn't the problem, no, it was something else. Why did Vegetto foresaw a dark future? Gokû was utterly optimistic and Vegeta didn't really see things so dark. In his opinion, Vegetto's attitude seemed a bit weird. Kaioshins certainly hadn't hammered responsibility so hard into his head that he had become paranoid. That so powerful warrior wasn't that impressionable.

“Why would your child destroy the universe? No Saiyan had ever destroyed a planet because he found it fun. Besides, ruling the universe is quite meaningless...”

“There were people who wanted to do it...”

“People... like you?”

He had found it.

“I thought about it.”

“Why?”

“I'm bored. I know that I'll never find an opponent that'd be of some challenge. At times, I just want to leave everything. To mess around. But I won't do it.”

“That thought only crossed your mind. You don't have to worry about your future.”

“I'll never do it. I like my family, I'm sane and calm. I know I won't do it.”

“But if that idea was to cross your son's mind... you don't know if he wouldn't do it.”

“Yes... If I thought of it, it's possible he does too.”

“If you can control yourself, why couldn't he?”

“I had impulses. And some of them almost destroyed the Earth or even the universe. Vegeta is to blame for Perfect Cell creation, as well as Buu's resurrection, all because of his impulses. And when we go super saiyan, we are closer to the saiyan primal state, and strange ideas cross our mind, especially when we do it for the first time. I'm very powerful, but I'm old too. I'm born with two times 60 years of studies of my urges. When my son will become super saiyan, he'd be less prepared. The quiet Gokû became really violent when he turned super saiyan; and so did Vegeta. He was ready to go and destroy Freeza's entire empire. But he had decided to keep his strength for the cyborgs and his rival. They could have destroyed the planet they were standing on with my strength. Just in an off-guard moment.”

“Once again, you were pure Saiyans. Your three sons hadn't gone through such symptoms when they became super saiyans.”

“That's true, but that could happen to them too. When he reached the super Saiyan level two, Gohan did completely change.”

The chief of the Namekians fell silent again to think and to get in thoughts in order.

“You're just giving me excuses.”

“I'm sorry?”

“Even if your offspring were to lose his mind, he'd remain your son. And he'd remain less powerful than you for a long while... You'd manage to make him see reason. Your son to come isn't a danger for the universe. You are.”

“But I just told you that...”

“... that you can control yourself. But you fear that someday, you'll fail. You feel that there is a dark side in you, and you're afraid of it. And you think that your son will have it too.”

“I'm a danger for the universe?”

“Much more than your son would be. Maybe your son will have to bring you to heel.”

“...”

Bulma didn't see Vegetto for a long while. But it didn't surprise her. As she was typing up a text, she heard the usual sound of Vegetto's teleportation.

She didn't turn around. Actually, she was a bit anxious. Vegetto took her into his arms and leaned toward her. He didn't say anything for a while. And Bulma starred at the computer screen.

Vegetto whispered then into his wife's ear:

“What do you think about Saiyan names?”