Vegeta\'s Romance

Discailmer: I don\'t own Dragon Ball Z


Astrid leaves Stephanie to go to the ship\'s main hall for an evening meal. Saskols bow to him when they see him. He sits beside an elderly woman at the front table. \"Smile grandson, or everyone will worry about the Saiyan girl on board.\" Astrid gives his \'grandmother\' a fake smile. \"Of course it would upset people if they knew their military strategist was thinking about how to use their new secret weapon.\" He replies sarcastically. The woman softens her voice. \"Astrid you may start feeling things for that girl-\" \"WHAT!?\" Astrid interrupts and his cheeks flare with color. \"Don\'t tell me you think I\'m still going through puberty! Regardless, she\'s the LAST person I\'d be attracted to!\" Grandma sighs. Obviously her gift of foresight has told her something Astrid himself doesn\'t know.

Astrid lacks this gift. \"I could never feel tenderly about a monster like that...\" Ignoring her grandchild, the elder wonders about how Stephanie is doing. \"Poor child. She lost her lover, you know? He was the Saiyan Prince Vegeta. I saw his face in her mind many times when I tried to reach out to her. He was very confident looking. Tsk. Prince of Saiyans, that is impressive, isn\'t it Astrid?\" Astrid folds his arms and leans back in his chair, hoping food will come soon to distract him from the old woman\'s taunting. \"The Prince of a bunch of uncivilised murderous apes? Oh how lovely... I don\'t think Saiyans are capable of feelings for their mates. I wouldn\'t worry about the girl.\" The Saskol woman lets her grandchild be after that. Clearly, he has much to learn when he ventures further into Stephanie\'s mind.

Stephanie lays in bed all day, depressed. -Pah! How pathetic. Saiyans don\'t get depressed!- She tells herself. -I should be angry! I should be killing them all.- But she doesn\'t. Some nameless Saskol brings Stephanie food, which she has no appetite for. Stephanie rolls onto her side and tucks her legs into her body. A twinge of pain strikes Stephanie. \"I miss Vegeta...\" She whispers. Again, the Saiyan brain debates emotion. -Why should I miss him? Sentiment is utterly useless to me now... And a weakness. Why did I let my emotions make me vulnerable?- For hours her mind goes Wayward. The last thing Stephanie wonders before she sleeps is, \'Does he think I\'m dead?\'

Astrid wakes Stephanie in the morning and orders her to change into a training outfit. It is basically her spandex jumpsuit with boots and gloves, nothing unfamiliar. He doesn\'t give her armor. \"I\'m going to teach you to take a hit.\" He smirks. \"Like I can\'t already.\" Stephanie spits back. She meets him in a combat room. Though he isn\'t trying to control Stephanie, she doesn\'t disobey. This could be partly because she\'s excited about fighting him.

In the combat room Stephanie is surprised to find that a fully charged Astrid has power enough to take her, Raditz, Nappa, and Vegeta at once. Stephanie shocked when she feels his chi truly for the first time. She never imagined he was so powerful. -How can this be? What creature is he..?- Stephanie asks herself. If he\'s reading her thoughts at the moment, he doesn\'t bother to answer. \"I won\'t do anything to hinder your moves Saiyan. I want you to fight me with all the strength you have. Our sparring will be fair.\" Except for the fact that his power level is so high. Stephanie spars non-stop all morning. The aggression she has towards Astrid is relieved during the fight. He is probably trying to gauge her speed and skill. Stephanie can tell he\'s going easy on her.

Eventually Astrid stops Stephanie and tells her to go to her room and eat. But Stephanie can\'t help asking him the question on her mind all morning: \"Why are you training me if you\'re so powerful already? It can\'t be to help me. I\'m a prisoner here. Why even bother...\" Astrid gives Stephanie a serious look. \"I\'ve reached my limit. I can\'t get any stronger than I am now. Look. Saiyan, let\'s get one thing straight. I detest you and your kind. I don\'t care if you are inconvenienced by being my captive. I have to push myself every time I see your face. I will NEVER forgive you for your crimes against the Saskols. My job is to train you to surpass me. I hate the idea of giving you such power, but believe it or not you are here to become the saviour of the Saskol race. We need you to fight for us.\" Stephanie mentally notes that he said \'we\'.

\"What do you want me to fight against anyway?\" Stephanie asks. \"We don\'t know much about his enemy. Only what the Elders have seen. I don\'t get premonitions, so I don\'t put all my faith in them anyway.\" Apparently they gave Stephanie some while she was still with Freiza. \"Our enemy is only one fighter. But he has the power to obliterate every fighting Saskol world and eventually kill us all or enslave us all. The Elders say they see you and I before him, and claim that we have the power to defeat him. For that reason I have brought you here to train and surpass me.\" The plan was not for Stephanie to fight alone. In some ways, Astrid is training her as a partner. But to work effectively with her he\'ll have to overcome his hatred for her. \"If there\'s someone THAT strong other than Freiza I definitely want to fight him!\" Stephanie understands that she has no choice. Even if Stephanie could get back to Vegeta, Freiza would kill her. If Stephanie surpasses Astrid, she may become strong enough to fight Freiza. To tell Astrid she will accept his training she says \"Fine. I\'ll fight for the Saskols. But only so that I can become stronger... and get my revenge on Freiza.\'\'

Astrid appears fatigued from talking so much, but then again he\'s always in a nasty mood. \"There are no guarantees you\'ll get out of the final battle alive, Saiyan. Even if you DO survive my training. Now get out of my sight.\" *********************************************** The next few weeks are agonisingly slow. Astrid pushes Stephanie to her limits every day and gives her little time to sleep. Stephanie is quiet and disheartened most of the time. Astrid notices Stephanie is becoming more tame and fights her with more of his power. He continually embarrasses Stephanie in training, hitting her hard whenever her guard is down. This tactic fuels Stephanie\'s anger and helps her become more viscous. Stephanie learns he can use ki attacks. The training room is built specially to reflect ki until it hits someone in the room. Every night Stephanie collapses from exhaustion. Her body aches all over, but she isn\'t permitted to use the rejuvenation chamber unless her wounds are life-threatening. Stephanie just been through three weeks of rigorous training.

After the first three weeks of sparring Astrid changes his method of training Stephanie. \"Sit.\" He points at the floor of the training room. (( Just realize how much that sounds like Inuyasha... Osuwari!)) Stephanie obeys, and he sits in front of her. \"You understand that Saskols use meditation to strengthen their minds for combat?\" Stephanie provokes him with a bored look. \"Among other things...\" Astrid smirks. \"Your thoughts are pretty messy, Saiyan. Why don\'t you close your eyes. We\'ll see what condition that bloodthirsty brain of yours is in.\" Stephanie\'s eyelids drop. He\'s right. She has so much on her mind; it hadn\'t occurred to her to meditate. Stephanie doesn\'t even want to meditate. She just wants to fight. That seems to be the only way she can concentrate. Astrid\'s voice is in her head telling her not to worry. \"I\'m not going to make you think about happy stuff like sunshine and rainbows. Saiyans probably hate those things. We will fight.\" Stephanie had heard his voice in her head many times in the last three weeks.

Astrid fills Stephanie\'s mind with the image of a barren landscape. The soil is red, sky is purple. It is simple, but authentic looking. (Especially for dbz fans..) She finds his image in the landscape, and suddenly Stephanie opens her eyes, looking directly at Astrid against the dark sky. Stephanie is vaguely aware of her real body back in the training room, but her mind is mostly in the new place. \"You\'re pretty sure-footed when you fight a normal fight... But how will you do when the odds are stacked against you?\" Astrid opens his flaming eyes and gets to his feet. \"This is my world. I control what goes on.\" Stephanie stands, moves her arms, learning how to focus on the superb form of meditation Astrid has presented to her. Most impressive.

Stephanie knows that if Astrid were to use his full strength, he would kill her and probably destroy the ship. This way he can train Stephanie at a higher level without harming her. However, Stephanie is concerned that her mind is not ready for this type of training. Astrid worries about this also, but he knows that he must push Stephanie to her limits. She will only achieve success by struggling. \"I can\'t control your movements here if you don\'t let me... but I can read your thoughts. I\'ll know every move you make before you even make it.\" He gives Stephanie a smirky look of challenge. She knows he hasn\'t used that ability to his advantage yet.

Astrid attacks first. Stephanie rolls with his movements out of habit. When she trys to throw her own attack, he counters her before she even touches him. Stephanie throws a kick at him, his forearm blocks it as he presses forward and drives his knee into her stomach. With a knife-hand strike he knocks Stephanie away. \"Your mind is TOO SLOW, Saiyan!\" He yells. Stephanie rebounds at him angrily, and he blocks every single move without breaking a sweat. Stephanie continues the futile sparring. -How can I beat him??- She demands of herself. \"Stop wondering about it and just do it! You\'re over thinking!\" Eventually Stephanie runs out of energy. Astrid flies above her and demonstrates a finishing move of his. His arms cross over his chest and the tremendous energy he releases shakes the facade of a landscape. He then directs the attack at Stephanie. She decides to fight fire with fire. \"BAJIRU HAAAAAAA!\" Stephanie shouts, her own finishes exploding around her. The explosion shakes Stephanie out of her trance. Stephanie finds herself cross-legged in the training room. Astrid opens his eyes casually and gives her a moment to get grounded.

\"I trust you\'ll make it back to your room for lunch?\" Astrid asks. Stephanie nods, gets to her feet and wobbles out of the training room. Stephanie\'s been moved recently from the spacious observation room to a small barracks with a bunk in the wall. There is enough space on the floor for her to do stretching, push-ups, and sit-ups. Stephanie sits on her bunk while she eats. Already she is getting used to life on the Saskol ship. It\'s harder than life was with Freiza though. She has no company other than Astrid, and no change of scenery like going to a new planet every day. One aspect of Stephanie\'s new life that she enjoys is that the training is more intense. Stephanie is always fighting someone strong instead of mindlessly killing a bunch of weaklings.

At their regular table, Astrid\'s grandmother brings Stephanie up again. \"How did Stephanie do with the image training?\" \"Good. Better than I expected. I won\'t have to use it for very long.\" \"You should bring her to sit at our table boy! She should know the people she will fight for.\" \"Possibly die for. And I\'ll consider it if you don\'t call me boy in front of her.\" This earns a smirk from Grandma. \"You don\'t want to lose face in front of her?\" Astrid frowns. \"Because she has to RESPECT me. Not because I like her you old crone.\" Grandma isn\'t convinced. \"Will you really consider it?\" \"Of course I WON\'T! It\'s bad enough I have to see her all day every day. I need a break from her every once in a while! Plus I\'d have to deal with her being around on top of YOU tormenting me.\" Yep. Astrid says he hates her.

Stephanie finishes lunch and heads back to the training room. Astrid is waiting for her. \"I\'ve been thinking about that attack of yours... Bajiru burst.\" Stephanie\'s not surprised he\'s bringing it up. \"You used it as a shield against my attack. Somewhat effective... but it\'s not meant for that is it?\" \"No. You\'re right, I take damage from it. It\'s meant as a last resort finisher or a first strike-\" Stephanie pauses, remembering Astrid\'s opinion of her as a killer. \"I\'ve used it to wipe out entire cities at a time. It\'s... quicker.\" Stephanie thinks she sees Astrid twitch a little. Astrid finishes the subject. \"Later, we\'ll work on new attacks for you. You\'ll need more than just the one.\" Stephanie nods in agreement. She goes back to image training.