Pendulum Control

Pendulum Reset


It was around 7 AM when Goku landed feather softly on the primped lawn of the Briefs. It wasn't Capsule Corp.-- Bulma had invested money in a new home of their own, mostly at Vegeta's request.

The reclusive Saiyan never enjoyed living in such crowded conditions. It didn't help that his in-laws often fussed over how he was straining his “no-longer-youthful” body during his often extreme training sessions. So, it was Vegeta who lived in the new, spacious home on the other side of the city while Bulma made weekly commutes between the two, often needed at Capsule Corporation to assist her father in his latest projects.

Goku entered the large dome of a house unannounced and went straight to the kitchen where he was greeted with the sight of an unsociable Saiyan. He was sitting alone at his sizable table, hunched over a dish of questionable looking eggs.

When Vegeta saw Goku at the kitchen door, he sized him up curiously before going back to his breakfast.

“Ah, you've returned,” he said, “you rushed off yesterday before we'd finished sparring. I suppose you're here to continue the session. Well I'm busy at the moment, you'll have to come back later.”

Goku advanced further into the kitchen until he was in full view and stopped.

“I'm not here to spar,” was all he said.

It was true. Though Vegeta wouldn't know it now, Goku was still charged from their last spar. He had woken up that morning feeling vitalized and renewed. He was sure of things that had never before even crossed his mind.


Goku had hopped out of bed an hour earlier that morning and for the first time, food was not his waking thought. He was immediately searching for something, something that made him briefly pause when passing the closed door of Goten's room. Though what he sensed on the other side was promising, the thing he sought was not in there.

He paused again in the kitchen when his senses pinpointed the next closest thing. However, he skimmed over that as well when he realized that the power was no more if not less promising than that of the dozing Goten upstairs.

He was on his way out the door when a clattering of pans and a gasp reverberated behind him.

“Goku,” Chichi said, alarmed that she hadn't noticed him go by and that he hadn't stopped to greet her.

Goku failed again to acknowledge his wife and went on out the door, letting the screen clamor behind him.

Chichi followed after him, pan of bacon in hand.

“Goku, where are you going?” She called.

Goku stopped in mid-takeoff and turned to his wife, whom he was noticing for the first time this morning. He almost looked offended by the intrusion.

“I don't go by that name anymore,” was all he said.

Chichi watched, dumbfounded, as her husband shot off into the sky, having left no clue as to where he was going or what had been the cause of his suddenly odd behavior.

Goku's senses reached further as he hawked over the terrain, some miles above the main city. He was heading west and behind him were the prominent energy signals of his two Saiyan sons, his youngest slightly more radiant. Ahead of him was a similar energy, however vaguely stronger than young Goten's, coming from the heart of the metropolis. Before he could consider closing in, his senses touched onto something that made him jerk to a halt in mid-air. To his left, coming from the outskirts of the city, was an astonishing power, far greater than any of the small fish he'd sensed earlier. This was indeed a power that rivaled his own.


Goku stood now, ready and waiting, as the captivating power sat only yards away, groggy and somewhat grouchy. Every breath from the haughty Saiyan's lunges served a direct assault to Goku's goals.

“Well, what do you want, Ka—Goku?” the last word was said with an unusual softness and Vegeta was unable to meet the eyes of his guest, instead occupying himself with his dish of sloppily prepared breakfast.

A glint flickered past the eyes of the standing Saiyan.

“What did you call me?” He asked.

Vegeta looked up, annoyed.

“Oh, don't start.” he said, “You won. We know you won. Are you here to gloat then? Well alright, I suppose you've earned it. Goku. Goku, Goku, Goku.” He said it clearly now with all the enunciation he could fit. He would allow Goku his bragging rights whatever it cost him, as he was sure Goku would allow him his own had their last fight's outcome been reversed.

Vegeta gave Kakarot a humoring smile.

“Satisfied?” He said, then went back to forking his runny eggs.

“Call me Kakarot.”

Vegeta went blank for a split second before the cheeky grin returned to his lips.

“You went through all that trouble yesterday so I could call you Goku and now you want me to call you Kakarot again? That's very funny, I see irony is not beyond you. Now get out. I'm eating breakfast and I'm not much in the mood for sparring actually.”

“I'm not here to spar.”

“So you said," Vegeta countered, agitation showing in his voice, "then what exactly is it you want, Goku? If you've come to raid our fridge, you're out of luck. Bulma's been at her father's for the past week and we have nothing. I just barely managed to find some ingredients for this omelette and I'm not even sure if I've done it right. It doesn't look like an omelette-- certainly doesn't taste like an omelette. Where the hell is that woman when you need her?”

“You said she was as her father's.” Goku cut in smoothly.

Vegeta's eyes wandered back to the tall man still standing inexplicably in the middle of his kitchen.

“Are you still here?”

Goku paid no mind to the obvious snideness.

“I need to see you outside.”

“Can't you see I'm eating, Goku? Or has your ridiculous hair finally grown to impair your vision?”

“I said not to call me that anymore.” Goku's eye's became shaded in the slanted morning light.

Vegeta did not fail to notice the severity of his tone.

“But you won the bet,” he said, now having a bit of fun, “it would be dishonorable of me to go back on it.”

“Forget the bet,” Goku said at once, “Forget everything that's happened up to this point. Now come outside.”

“What has gotten into you, Goku? If you think I'm just going to drop everything because you're ready to go, you're more self involved than you let your friends think!”

“My name is Kakarot, and I won't tell you again. The reason I want us to go outside if for Bulma's sake. I wouldn't want any of her high-end furniture to suffer any damage on behalf of her stubborn husband.”

Vegeta stared perplexed.

Though thus far, Kakarot had maintained a calm and causal demeanor-- not so much as raising his voice-- it was clear to Vegeta that something was boiling beneath the surface and it hinted that every minute Vegeta did not comply was a minute closer to someone having to suffer the consequences.

Vegeta would later tell himself that it was not fear that drug him away from his makeshift breakfast and made him follow Kakarot out onto the patio, but rather an overwhelming curiosity as to what had gotten the clown so serious all of a sudden.

“You haven't got me fooled, Kakarot,” he said, once the screen door was shut behind them, “You've gotten me outside. Good work. Now, I suppose you'll want to spar.”

The strangely behaving Kakarot had his back facing Vegeta and was making no move to attack.

“I've had a change of heart, Vegeta” he finally said, without turning to face the shorter man.

“Is that what you've brought me out here to tell me?”

Goku turned to look at Vegeta.

Vegeta, with his hands on his hips, waited fervently for an explanation.

“I've brought you out here to fight you.” Kakarot said.

“Well, figures.” Vegeta crossed his arms and blew at some dust.

“No. I've brought you out here to fight you.” he said again, but with effective emphasis.

Fight as opposed to spar, Vegeta reflected. However, before he had a chance to consider it further, a sizable energy blast was thrown his way. He quickly deflected it with an instinctive swat.

“You said you didn't want to damage the house!” He shouted at the now ascending Kakarot.

“I can't wait forever,” was his response.

Vegeta glared up at the reckless Saiyan hovering higher and higher. He didn't know what was going on, but he had enough sense to move away from the expansive house bought from his wife's earnings before it was threatened any further.

“I don't know what's gotten into you Kakarot, but if you like I can have the woman prescribe you something for it.” This was said as a jab but Vegeta was beginning to feel earnest concern for the unusually stern Saiyan.

“I'm not playing games,” he said quietly, and though he was gaining height, the sound carried clearly down to Vegeta who was still planted firmly on the patio (however, now distancing himself from the house).

“I'd start taking this seriously, Vegeta,” Kakarot continued, “Or you won't be able to deflect the next one so easily.”

Vegeta snarled as Kakarot's hand sparked with the beginnings of a new ball of energy.

The hovering Saiyan stared down at the grounded Vegeta, daring him to stay put.

With a growl, Vegeta lifted off the tiled patio and gracefully ascended to meet his foe.

Kakarot waited for Vegeta to match his height before killing the radiant ball in his hand.

“So, where to then?” he asked.

Vegeta tweaked a brow.

“Hm?”

“I picked the last place. It's your turn.”

Vegeta had to consider this for a moment before catching on. A spiteful glare furrowed his face.

“You said we're fighting now, remember? Not sparring.” he said.

“We were never sparring,” Kakarot answered immediately.

Vegeta knew he was referring to their weekly sessions and was startled by the confession. Was this what Kakarot truly believed? The former prince supposed it wasn't too far fetched. They had always been extreme in their training sessions, often taking each other to the brink of their powers. If anyone were watching during their spars, it would appear that the two brazen men were out specifically to hurt one another, as though they were settling a deep-seated grudge. On occasion, Vegeta had thrown some of his own potentially fatal blows. It was only by chance that Kakarot happened to be on guard and able to evade them. It was not unreasonable, Vegeta concluded, to say that every time they fought they were fighting for real and with real stakes.

“Alright, Kakarot!” he spat, “We'll fight. But you follow me.”

“Where are we going?”

Vegeta turned.

“The canyons,” he said seriously, “are you coming?”

At this, Kakarot grinned and followed. Vegeta had always favored the vastness and privacy of the canyons. Kakarot hadn't needed to ask where he'd chosen nor did he need to follow; They'd been there many times.


The canyons erupted with bursts of clashing energies. The two brazen Saiyans bounced from surface to surface and sometimes kept to the air.

Kakarot had wasted no time upon reaching the canyons to engage his foe. Without so much as a taunting jeer to kick them off, the changed Saiyan charged Vegeta into battle.

It had seemed to Vegeta that the persistent man had a certain grudge to settle, of what the the former prince had no idea. However, Vegeta wasn't complaining-- he would pick a senseless fight over meaningful chatter any day of the week. Still, he couldn't deny the pull in the back of his mind that wondered what had fired up the naturally passive Saiyan.

For a short time, after landing a dropkick that sent Kakarot sailing to the Earth, Vegeta had felt he was dominating the fight. However, there was no dust cloud to signal his rival's crash landing, and before he could process another thought, an energy materialized at his back.

Vegeta's head was jerked backward by the hair and he felt a static warmth growing in the arch of his back. He knew that this was Kakarot's idea of a finishing move, however, Vegeta wasn't done yet. He flipped out of the way of the radiant blast that would have seared a hole through his middle and heaved a sidelong kick to his stunned foe's head that sent him soaring through a nearby cloud.

Vegeta, panting, called out, “Alright, Kakarot, you've had your fun! That's enough clowning for one day!”

The cloud remained still.

“If you continue to hide from me like a coward, Kakarot, I'll have to blast you out!”

Vegeta briefly waited for a response before raising his hand to do what he said he would.

However, the cloud responded first.

Vegeta was just barely able to dodge the massive blast that speared a hole through the puffy cloud and went roaring off into the endless sky. The time it took Vegeta to recover from the near-fatal blast was enough time for Kakarot to initiate another action.

The crafty Saiyan came spiraling out of the cloud like a flaming hurricane headed straight into the distracted Vegeta.

Vegeta got caught with a lightning-quick kick that sent him straight into a canyon wall below. Then, as though the force from the kick had jerked the very life from him, he fell limply from the wall and landed in a crumpled heap at the canyon's base.

Kakarot certainly had the element of surprise going for him, Vegeta recounted.

Before he could begin to gain his feet, Kakarot was descending. The quick Saiyan landed at a startling speed, ramming both fists half a foot through the ground on either side of Vegeta's head.

The stunned Saiyan could only look up aghast as his captor stared stoically down at him, a picture of perfect composure. However, though Kakarot appeared placid on the surface, there was something undoubtedly brewing beneath.

There was a foreign look in Kakarot's eyes, a dark and terrible look, a look Vegeta should have noticed when the man first came strutting into his kitchen that morning.

“You're...You're not Kakarot...” he chocked out.

Kakarot smiled with a delinquent malice.

“But Vegeta,” he doted, “that's exactly who I am. And you've known it all along.”

He eased off of the bested Saiyan until he was standing over him.

“I came here to kill you but now I see that I can use you,” Kakarot said and looked up to the clear sunny sky, “I want to conquer this planet, Vegeta, like I was shipped here to do when I was kid. I won't kill you because I think you're just the one to help me. Not that I need the help but if I remember correctly, this is a specialty of yours.”

Vegeta's voice, as well as his strength, had gone and all he could do was lie at the feet of his rival and listen to the unusual offer.

“Come along with me, Vegeta,” Kakarot said, turning to look straight into the eyes of his defeated quarry.

When Vegeta didn't respond, Kakarot raised his hand.

“Come with me, or I'll finish what I started,” he said lowly, a ball growing in his hand aiming at Vegeta's prone and defenseless form.