Hello all! Well, I'm writing again, and let's just say that this story is a bit different from my others. But, please give it a chance and let me know what you think. Ok, here it is.

Disclaimer: I do not own DBZ or Vegeta (but I wish I did), so no suing! Akira Toriyama has complete control over the show and series and manga of DBZ.

Chapter 1

Freiza's clawed grip held him to the cold ground. One hand wrapped around the back of the prince's neck, pressing his face against the dirty linoleum, and the other clawed hand had Vegeta's right arm twisted behind his back, on the verge of snapping all the bones. Vegeta struggled and the claws in his neck tightened, drawing blood and his arm was twisted more until the prince could barely contain a muffled cry. Vegeta knew this wouldn't be as terrible if the fighters from earth weren't watching. But they were; they were watching the thirteen year-old saiyajin being tortured by the lizard tyrant.

Vegeta was thirteen, but already he had died by Freiza's hands, battled the androids and Cell, and changed his evil ways after the fight with Majin Buu. So how was it that he was here, in his awful childhood again? The earth was in danger and the Z fighters were on an unusual mission.

It seemed that a power source, the Schakine jewel, was an energizer to control the barrier between hell and everything else. It was discovered that this Schakine jewel was running out and no more could be found anywhere. The jewel could last for about 10,000 years, and the one in use was just about finished. Who else would King Yemma turn to but the fighters of Earth? Upon hearing the news, Vegeta had blurted out, "I've heard of this. Freiza sent Radditz, Nappa, and me to go get it."

"And then what?" Goku had asked.

Vegeta gave him a blank stare and slowly reddened in the cheeks.

"At the time, the inhabitants of planet Pyargrit were too powerful. We, uh, well, Nappa and Radditz got the shit kicked out of them and I got poisoned."

After much laughter on this story, the fighters made a plan. With the help of Bulma; Goku, Gohan, Vegeta, Eighteen, Piccolo, and Krillin were sent back to the past. It was decided that to fulfill the mission, Vegeta was aged back to thirteen, the others disguised themselves as Freiza's weak foot soldiers, and they had to wait until Vegeta received the mission again. Then, with all of them together, they would be able to Vgeta get the Schakine jewel and rid them of this problem.

Unfortunately, Vegeta was truly hurt by this mission, but hadn't dared open his mouth about it to anyone. He wasn't going to embarrass himself and ruin the plan, explaining he was too damn terrified to go back to Freiza clutches. Even worse, he would resume his same attitude and power level so it wouldn't be suspicious to Frieza and his men.

So now, here he was, the arrogant, thirteen year-old prince again. His face pressed into the cold floor of Frieza's gargantuan compound, his neck bleeding and his arm aching and his evil master gloating as Vegeta's allies could only watch amongst the rest of Frieza's army. This was one of the many beatings Vegeta had received on his return to his past. The first one began on the first day of his arrival.

Bulma had equipped the time-traveling device with the power to transform armor or clothing onto a person. Vegeta returned to planet Frieza in his old royal, blue, white, and yellow armor, whereas the others appeared in white armor, wrist held guns, and white helmets. The time traveling itself was a bit rough. Goku and Gohan landed right outside the doors to Frieza's compound, and Eighteen, Piccolo, and Krillin landed in a quiet hallway inside. Vegeta landed far from the white, purplish base and sighed.

He glared at the awful place and felt a cold, sinking sensation in his stomach. He tried to track his earth comrades and felt an instant rush of panic hit him like a truck. He could not sense them. He couldn't sense any power levels at all! A cold sweat broke out under his long, childish bangs as he tried to figure this out. And then he realized the problem. When he was thirteen, he could not read power levels mentally. When he was thirteen, he was much weaker, and now he was again. Vegeta's dark eyes, which had gained more emotion and life in his stay on Earth, suddenly darkened and slowly became black and cold.

"So here I am again," he whispered.

He was shocked to hear his much higher and younger voice. He knew it was all so true now. He was back in his childhood. He was back in the prison that he struggled so hard to run away from.

Goku and Gohan slowly entered the pearly white building and quickly found Piccolo, Eighteen, and Krillin.

"Where's Vegeta?" Goku whispered.

A few guards dressed like them meandered around, but took no notice of them.

"I don't know, but we just can't wait here, right?" Krillin asked.

"Maybe we should," Eighteen replied. "I mean, we have no place else to go. What's the worse that can ha—"

"You five!" A loud accented voice yelled.

The five startled fighters leapt into the air. They turned to the man before them, Gohan and Krillin gasping as they remembered from a long time ago.

The tall turquoise skinned, green haired Zarbon stood in front of them. None of the fighters noticed, at first, the small figure that stood behind him. The short, white, pink, purple, skinned warrior moved forward and glared at them with red eyes. A chill ran up their spines as the evil emanated from the tyrant.

"Do tell me," Frieza's high-pitched voice rang out. "Why are five of my guards gathered together talking, when they should be…..hmmmm…..GUARDING!"

The fighters were at a loss for words. Sure, all five of them could tear Frieza apart, but that would completely ruin the plan. They needed to find out where this planet Pyargrit was.

"They seem to be at a loss for words," Zarbon snickered. "They could be plotting something, my lord."

Frieza's purple-black lips curved into an evil smirk. His cold, red eyes slowly moved from one face to another as he anticipated a fun killing.

"What are all of your names? I don't remember hiring any of you."

Again, they all stared at him, not knowing what to do. This silence began to anger the lizard tyrant. His smirk faded and a wicked scowl replaced it. His usual child-like expression became a demonic glare.

"Well!" He bellowed. He raised a hand up and the fighters froze, not knowing if they should attack or run. "I will not tolerate insubordination!"

As Frieza's energy became stronger in his hand, quick footsteps could be heard echoing from one of the narrow hallways. A short blur appeared at the entrance of a corridor and there was a short squeak of boots.

"Lord Frieza!"

All eyes turned to the small saiyjain as he knelt low on one knee and stared at the ground. His black bangs fell over his eyes and his soft, brown tail wrapped tightly around his waist. Vegeta felt himself go red as the earth fighters gawked at the usual arrogant prince lowering himself before Freiza. Humiliation and anger flowed through him as he bowed to the tyrant who ruined his life. The pale lizard's eyes settled on the thirteen year old boy.

"Yes, dear Vegeta," the cruel voice purred mockingly. " Do you have a conflict with my killing these fools?"

Vegeta hesitated. He had to endure Frieza's taunting voice in front of his allies and other crewmembers. He felt he could not raise his head. He couldn't look anyone in the face as he was stepped all over by Frieza.

"Do forgive, Lord," he spoke slowly and respectfully," but there is somewhat of a problem with this. On my last pillage, I found these fighters and thought that they would make good soldiers for you."

A cold sweat broke out on his forehead and he could feel it run down his face. There was no way Frieza would believe that, he thought. He had just arrived to his horrid past and he already managed to piss off his master. Frieza remained silent and studied his interesting pet.

"A gift?" Frieza's voice asked softly.

Vegeta looked up at him and nodded eagerly. "Oh yes, my lord….to help strengthen your army."

Goku and the others watched this interesting conversation with nervousness. Vegeta definitely knew how to talk to the evil monster and they were impressed by his ego and attitude control in this situation. The cruel eyes of Frieza seemed to pierce into Vegeta's black eyes and he was forced to look at the floor again.

"I see," he turned to the fighters again. "You five will follow Zarbon to your new quarters."

Vegeta gave a small sigh of relief that did not get past Freiza. His horned head snapped toward the young saiyjain and he froze as he felt those hated eyes on him. The earth fighters heard Frieza snap at the prince.

"I'll let you keep your little friends, but you must get over your soft-hearted savings. You cannot bring me every piece of shit you can't kill. And for not telling me of these soldiers in advance, you shall meet me in my quarters in five minutes."

The earthlings had rooms on the same floor. They all met in Goku's quarters an hour after they settled and tried to formulate a plan. Unfortunately, with Goku and Gohan, they spent a half-hour trying to figure out their scouters.

"I hope we don't get lazy with these," Goku said examining his red frame. "What if we forget how to use our own senses?"

His friends shot him an exasperated stare.

"What?"

"Listen, we need to find Vegeta," Piccolo stated. "As soon as we do—"

There was a loud knock on the iron door. The fighters froze and looked at each other.

"Do these doors have a peep hole?" Krillin whispered nervously.

"If all five of us are in here, we're dead for sure," Eighteen hissed.

"Krillin's eyes narrowed, "Well, not dead, but definitely in trouble."

The fist pounded again. Goku slowly stood up and slid next to the door.

"Who is it?" He asked in an annoyingly high-pitched voice.

An obvious sigh could be heard on the other side of the door. A somewhat breathless voice could be heard.

"Just open up, freak."

Goku grinned and turned to his friends. "It's Vegeta."

"Well, duh."

Goku opened the door with a grin, which quickly slid off his face. The short saiyajin stood in front of him with feet firmly planted and arms crossed. His already dark eyes were much more shaded than usual and his armor was chipped and broken. His lower lip looked as if it had just stopped bleeding and a stream of blood had dried from his temple to his chin. The arrogance emanated off of him even as he stood before them, beaten and bloodied. He casually strode into Goku's room and sat on his bed.

"Close the door," he barked.

Goku walked to his door and stared at it. There was no doorknob or handle, but a red button was evident on the wall next to it. He leaned over and inspected it closer.

"Press the red triangle, fool!"

The door slid closed with a quiet "bleep"! Goku turned and grinned sheepishly. Vegeta returned the grin with a cold stare. Normally Vegeta would have rolled his eyes or shake his head, but this younger Vegeta was much different. The other five fighters also notice this change in the saiyajin.

Ever since the battle with Buu, Vegeta seemed to have lightened up greatly. He even gained a slight sense of humor. Now this Vegeta before them held the same cold stare that he had when he first came to earth with Nappa. There was a defiant arrogance, but they could also sense a shadowy grief and defeat.

"So," Gohan's voice rang out of the silence. Vegeta sent him an icy glare. "Er, do you know exactly when we'll get the assignment to Pyargrit?"

The dark brown eyes of the saiyajin prince lowered. After a while, his small, rounded shoulders shrugged.

"As I told Bulma on Earth, it was within my thirteenth year."

"So, that means we could be stuck here for an entire year?" Krillin gasped.

"Yeah, but, when we get back to the future, we can land at the exact same time as when we left," Goku explained.

He noticed Vegeta's gaze darken at the notion of staying there for an entire year. A wave of guilt hit Goku. He knew that this was the only way to save everything from turning into hell, but it didn't seem fair to force Vegeta to live through the pain again. Vegeta turned slightly to see Goku watching him. He growled quietly and turned away.

"Listen, while we're here we must try to not look like a clan. I'll talk to you only if I have to and you talk to me only if you must. If I have any problems with Frieza or his men, stay out of it! All of you must stay out of trouble or it's my ass, got it?" Vegeta spoke slowly and clearly to make sure they understood. "You were all here for only five minutes and you already got me in trouble."

Their eyes lowered in embarrassment and they nodded.

"Right," Piccolo agreed. "We keep a low profile. Fake names and weak power levels."

Vegeta nodded slightly and stood from Goku's bed. He winced mildly as pain shot through his ribs where Frieza had repeatedly kicked him. He reached the door.

"My room number is B12 on the second floor," he explained without turning around.

The door quietly beeped and he was out in the hallway in a flash. The others looked at each other. The same thought went through all of their heads. 'Could Vegeta handle a year with Frieza again?'

Whew! Well, how was it? Trust me, the chapters will be getting better and better and more violent…..poor Vegeta! I hope that you continue to read, cuz it gets good! Thanks!