"An Obvious Answer"
A Dragon Ball Z fanfiction
Written by Komadori-chan MD 
[Fanfiction is non-profit – DBZ © Akira Toriyama] 
Published 04-07-01 



For as long as he could remember since coming to this green planet 
called "Earth", Vejita had been in constant battle with Goku, always 
trying to find a way to become the more powerful of the two warriors 
so that he might finally beat the other Saiyajin at his own game. 
Well, it was a game, and a splendid one at that. The two were in 
continuous competition over just about everything, and since the 
knowledge that they were the only two living, full-blooded Saiyajins 
left in the universe hung between them, whoever came out on top was, 
under no uncertain terms, the "best". The primary contest, of 
course, was to see who obtained the higher power level, since the 
higher your level was, the greater your overall abilities. It had 
quickly become something of an obsession for the two men, and they 
were almost always training now. And because of their unique 
backgrounds, they excelled at what they did with a disturbingly high 
rate... always improving... becoming stronger, faster, or more 
accurate, but never truly gaining the advantage that he did not 
already have. So, it was a truly frustrating, drawn out contest, but 
neither of the men would give in... Goku wouldn't because of his 
intense love of the sport and Vejita wouldn't because of his immense 
desire to become the ultimate warrior. It was his quest to regain 
the honor that he was certain Goku had somehow stolen from him, when 
he was the one who had been rightfully destined to such greatness. 

So, the years passed, and time only served to make their rivalry 
grow fiercer, as well as strengthen the unspoken bond of friendship 
between them. For the most part, Goku was always on top, which 
annoyed Vejita to no end... though he did have his days, however 
rare. It seemed to him that the man just had this natural ability to 
accelerate at anything he did with an alarming speed and grace, even 
for a Saiyajin. Goku's grace off of the battlefield, however, was a 
completely different matter. But for all of that, Vejita was still 
thankful that the younger alien was on his side now. 

In the beginning, it hadn't been that way... both Vejita and Goku 
had originally come from the planet Vegeta, of which the former had 
been the Saiyajin prince. The Saiyajin race was a violent one that 
thrived on war and prided themselves on their unusual strength and 
battle prowess. Their bloodlust had run so high that they even took 
on the occupations of mercenaries and planet brokers, clearing 
entire populations from their respective planets to sell to the 
highest bidder. Goku had been chosen to "clean" the Earth and had 
been sent there as an infant with the orders to destroy. 
Fortunately, because of a brush with amnesia, he never accomplished 
his mission. Instead, he grew up on Earth, alongside those he was 
sent to exterminate, firmly believing that he was one of them. 23 
years later, Goku had learned of his heritage through his long lost 
brother, Raditz, who also revealed that Vegetasei had been destroyed 
and that he was one of the last four surviving Saiyajins. He had 
come to "collect" him, so that they could go conquer the universe 
together. 

To make a long story short, Goku helped to kill his own brother in 
battle so that he could save the planet and a year later, a very 
arrogant, hot-headed Vejita arrived on this planet with the firm 
intention of destroying it, but also failed at the hands of Goku. It 
hadn't made much sense to him at the time, but somehow, as well as 
summoning the strength to defeat him, a super-elite, in battle, Goku 
had also had the strength to show him mercy and spared his life. 
Even then, they were still strictly on the opposite sides of the 
team. But when they crossed paths again on Planet Namek, they had 
reluctantly formed a devastating alliance that would shock everyone, 
including themselves. An alliance that would carry over after the 
war on Frieza in the form of a cold, calculated rivalry, from which 
their present companionship had formed. The heartless prince of a 
dead race and the optimistic, third class soldier who would always 
whoop his ass while wearing a huge, lopsided grin… who would've 
guessed? 

So here they were, several years later, facing off once again... 
this time, though, it was just a little "friendly" competition. They 
sparred frequently to keep themselves and each other in check as 
well as to see who had improved the most since their last session, 
which was never too long ago considering that lately, the frequency 
was up to at least once a day. But today, Vejita had a different 
strategy. Yes, it was true that he was at a natural disadvantage as 
far as strength went, that he could admit, if only to himself... but 
he had a quick, clever, agile mind... and right now, he was sure 
that he'd just found the way to beat Goku hands down. Things were 
about to get pretty interesting, indeed... 

------------------------------------------------- 

Goku and Vejita were poised for battle, every muscle tensing, palms 
sweaty with anticipation, fingers flexing... focusing themselves on 
where they wanted to attack first. It was vital that they discern 
their opponent's weak spot immediately if they wanted to gain the 
upper hand early on. Then suddenly, like a flash of lightning, it 
started: they flew at each other with all that they had. Energy 
balls and lightning fast blows were flying everywhere and the men 
started to power up as fast as they could to keep ahead-- it was 
essential to be the first to reach your maximum level if you wanted 
to maintain your ground. They moved so quickly that the most that 
one could see were blurry, bouncy images that made you sick and 
disoriented if you stared too long. 

Adrenaline rushing madly through his veins, Goku fought hard against 
Vejita's awesome attacks the best he could, but it was soon quite 
obvious that he was fighting a losing match. "How?" was all that he 
could sputter angrily as he found himself knocked once again to the 
ground. There was no time! Suddenly, Vejita took advantage of the 
break in Goku's defense and bombarded him with several smaller 
energy attacks. "No fair!" Goku cried out indignantly, shielding 
himself as the concurrent flow of energy between the two started to 
take on an inverse flux. There was no denying it now. He was scared. 
His energy level started to drop rapidly, leaving him even more 
vulnerable to further assault. Vejita's confidence and strength, on 
the other hand, was growing by the second. 

"Take that Kakarotto!" he crowed as he made another round of attacks 
on the hapless Saiyajin. He used Goku's Saiyajin name, as always, 
which he knew that, in times like these, irritated the hell out of 
his partner. Right now, Goku had bigger things to worry about than 
names, but he refused to let Vejita have the satisfaction of knowing 
that he felt cornered. 

"No way! I'm not giving up now!" 

"You're finished!" 

"Don't speak so soon!" 

But for all of his confident words, Goku sure didn't feel confident. 
As the battle progressed, it only looked worse and worse for him. To 
make matters worse, he was still only on the defensive! This was 
insanity! How on Earth could Vejita be beating him like this? Where 
had Vejita learned all of his new techniques? They were too strong, 
and what was more, Goku's defense was dropping and he had nothing to 
throw back. Silently, he thanked Kami that none of his friends were 
around to witness such a humiliating defeat. And to think that he 
had actually tried to coax Gohan into taking a few hours off to 
stick around and watch! Finally, with a speed and strength that 
would've broken his controller, Vejita landed the last blow, sending 
Goku flying into the nearest wall. 

"YAAAAH!!!" 

"N…No! It can't be!!" 

"I have beaten Kakarotto!! Yess!! I did it!!" 

Goku slammed his fist down into the table that was supporting the 
Nintendo 64™, trying to keep in mind that if he broke it, Bulma 
would kill him. Vejita just snickered at him and set the game for 
another round. 

"You're a sore loser, Kakarotto" 

"I am not! You must've cheated!" 

"Hn, you're just upset that I'm better than you are. Besides, with 
all that time on your hands, you'd think that you'd be able to fight 
on a lousy video game better than Pan." 

"What?!" 

"You can learn a lot challenging Trunks to those `Street Fighter' 
games, you know…" 

"How on Earth did you become so good at video games?" 

"Practice, Kakarotto... lots and lots of practice..."