Dragonball Fanon Wiki

RIP Akira Toriyama. The legend of your being will never be forgotten.

READ MORE

Dragonball Fanon Wiki
Register
Advertisement

This page, The KidVegeta Anthology/A Space Christmas Story, is property of KidVegeta.


A Space Christmas Story was conceptualized after Creeperman created his Christmas Story Bash! blog in early December 2016. I had no plans to create Ikigai at that stage, but seeing Creeperman's contest, I got the idea to write a story in the flavor of Christmas. When I settled down to write it, not long after Creeperman posted his blog, I knew that this one-shot would not be a part of A Short-Lived Dream, which was my current one-shot collection at the time. I knew that this was going to be a story from another collection, but at the time of writing it, I knew nothing else about Ikigai.

This story was conceptualized in early to mid December 2016. I did not start writing it until December 22nd. This one-shot is unlike any other one that I've written before, or since. I wrote it scene by scene, and then after each scene was done, I took a several hour break before returning to that scene to edit it. Once it was edited, I posted it on the wiki. I did this on the 22nd, the 23rd, and the 25th. The third section was posted with a one day delay because I was lazy, although I had written the first draft of the final scene on the 24th. I just didn't edit it until the next day.

So yeah, from start to finish, I wrote this story over a four day span in the very early morning. I remember waking up everyday and working on it before having breakfast, before the sun had risen in most cases. I was highly inspired by DeadlyChestnut's unfinished fan manga about Kuriza, which is my favorite fan fiction that is not canon to my universe. Alas that that manga was never completed. In any case, I wanted to write about kid Vegeta and Kuriza interacting as a result of reading that story. I had written about Kuriza before this story, as he appeared in Monster, I'm a Candy Man, and The History of the Decline and Fall of the Planet Trade Organization. I made him act much more formal around Vegeta than he had previously. This was an intentional move on Kuriza's part. I think he will make the same choice when he meets Ledas in Dragon Ball: Heart of the Dragon.

This was the first Ikigai story written. Like most of the first stories in my one-shot collections, I think this one is stylistically a little bit different from the rest of its collection. Bluestreaker, for example, is prose-wise, not much like the other stories in The Black and White Collection, and I would argue that Sixth and Not So Far, to name a few, are similar. In the same way, I think A Space Christmas Story is somewhat unique for Ikigai stories. There is an indulgence in the prose that is not emblematic of my minimalistic and indirect style of late 2016. The prose of this story is somewhat richer than what is seen later in the collection, although it's not totally detached, in similarity, from the other one-shots of Ikigai. One Chop Man, the next completed story (although not the next one I started writing), is I think somewhat in the style of this one, but it's not a super clear-cut parallel.

In terms of content, this story was full of naïveté and optimism. There is a childish spirit running through this story, mainly chosen because of the required theme of Christmas. The rest of Ikigai, I would say, is less optimistic than this. One Chop Man is also optimistic, but a bit more cynical. The other stories I would not say are optimistic. One of the tonal considerations that was consistent throughout the other five stories was a gentle application of emotion which was layered in and built upon indirectly through the prose. Perhaps I succeeded in that, or perhaps I did not, but it was my intention to apply emotion in a more gentle and indirect way than in previous one-shots, or indeed even multi-chapter stories. Kuriza and kid Vegeta are two of my favorite characters, so it was great fun for me to have them interact. This story was not super serious - there were many structural and plot-based jokes, but that's not to say it's non-canon. I consider this to be canon to my universe. The wild, cheerful optimism was a refreshing style to attempt.

I do not remember much of the specifics about this story, so I will address all that in the endnotes as I re-read it.


Story[]

Kuriza, drawn by DeadlyChestnut

Once upon a time Frieza and the gang went to Planet Frieza 79 because the vending machine on Frieza’s ship ran out of space funyuns.

It was snowing pretty bad, so everyone stayed indoors. Captain Ginyu took the opportunity to start a karaoke contest; the ultra-competitive Burter and Jeice couldn’t resist singing love ballads to one another, and even though Recoome didn’t know how to read, he did a wonderful job reciting the lyrics to Kush Baby rap on the screen, but it was Guldo’s rendition of “Revolution 9” that really brought the crowd to tears.

Unable to take it any longer, young Prince Vegeta stormed out of the room, his cape fluttering behind him. He liked his cape; it made him feel like proper royalty. If Zarbon was allowed to wear a cape, then it was only fair that a real prince like him got to wear one too.

Down the hall, staring out a window at the snowy landscape beyond, stood the elegant baby boy known as Kuriza. He was bundled up in a crimson snuggie and was sipping hot space cocoa from a straw.

The Saiyan boy just wanted to be left alone so he could train. He wanted to be the best there ever was. He wasn’t a singer or a lover or any of that other alien nonsense. Storming down the hallway, ranting to himself inside his head, he barely noticed when he ran into the Arcosian prince. Kuriza squealed like an underage Konatsian and dropped his drink.

“Excuse you, monkey!” The little Arcosian blushed in incertitude. “Watch where you’re going!”

Vegeta looked up, almost as if he didn’t realize what he had done. But when he saw the broken glass and steaming, spilled cocoa, his eyes narrowed, and he crossed his arms. “Hmph. You watch where you’re going.”

“Excuse me? How rude.” Kuriza raised his chin just like his father had taught him. Vegeta was after all just a filthy ape, if Zarbon was to be believed. “You should maintain proper etiquette, Vegeta. Your manners are severely unrefined. You are going to get yourself in trouble if you continue to act like a brute.”

“That’s Prince Vegeta to you.”

“Prince…?!” Why, I-I…!” Kuriza’s eyes nearly bulged at of his head. The Saiyan’s impudence was outrageous. “Y-you better be careful, Vegeta. If you don’t stop right now, I’m telling papa!”

The Saiyan boy raised a gloved hand, waving Kuriza’s threat aside. “I know you won’t tattle.”

“Really? How do you know?”

“Because only babies tattle.”

“Vegeta!! My patience is running thin! Daddy will punish you if you don’t stop being mean to me!”

Vegeta was tired of that blabbering fool’s blabbering mouth. Kuriza’s skin was sallow and crimson, and his face was even uglier than his father’s. That warranted a ki blast to the kisser in the Saiyan Prince’s assessment.

“Here, catch!” he smiled deviously, throwing a blue ball of ki at Kuriza.

Kuriza was an awkward child, a child of the stars if you will, and his power level was not yet respectable. He took the blast like an Arlian concubine and fell over, shrieking wildly. “Wh-what was that for, Vegeta?! You insolent cretin! You pervicacious ape! I’ll make you pay for that!” He jumped to his feet, sneering monstrously. His snuggie had been torn to pieces by the attack, so he ripped the remnants of it from his thin, pale body. It was very sad, because Papa Frieza had given Kuriza his snuggie two months prior, after the young Arcosian had beaten Cui in a dance-off. It had taken Kuriza weeks to learn his dance moves. And for what? Ire bloomed in the young lord’s veins.

“Pay…? Me?” A small grin crept onto Vegeta’s face. “What, you need money to buy another blankey, baby?”

“That’s enough, Saiyan! I’m done speaking to such a stubborn imbecile!”

A pink ball of ki formed between the Arcosian boy’s hands. It grew larger and darker in color until it was a deep, sparkling carmine. He raised a palm and fired the blast at Vegeta, who, laughing, jumped out of the way. But when the ball split into many smaller tendrils that homed in on Vegeta, the Saiyan boy’s eyes widened and he realized that maybe it hadn’t been such a good idea to provoke Kuriza’s wrath.

Falling to the ground, half of his armor blown away, revealing a bare shoulder where blood was seeping out from a deep cut, Vegeta grimaced and got to his feet again. His cape lay in tatters on the floor. “Why… you…!”

He was preparing a blast that would one day be known as the Galick Gun when Nappa came strolling down the hallway, whistling a tune about cabbage to himself. When the former Saiyan General saw what was going on, he ran over to the boys. There was a crack in the looking window and the metal-tiled floor had been blackened and charred. There were a few holes in the ceiling from Kuriza’s last attack, too.

“Heeeeeey Vegeta!!” came Nappa’s cheerful voice. Glancing at Kuriza, he said, “And uh, hey Lord Frieza’s kid.”

“That’s Prince Kuriza to you, Saiyan,” the child said haughtily.

“Uh right, Prince Kuri–”

“Show me what you’ve got!” Vegeta shouted, rushing at the other prince.

“Heeeey, whoa now, kiddo.” Nappa grabbed Vegeta by the tail and picked him up, holding him upside down. “You gotta calm down, Vegeta.”

“Shut up, Nappa! Stay out of this!”

“No can do, princey-poo.” Nappa gave him a good shake. “Now why don’t you and, uh, Prince Kuri-whatever talk out your problems?”

“I don’t wanna talk to that fool! I wanna blow him away! He’s space trash!”

“How impolite,” Kuriza replied, folding his arms and looking away, as if he had been deeply offended. “That boy is an uncouth barbarian.”

“Oh yeah?! At least I’m stronger than you!!”

Vegeta shot a flurry of indigo ki balls at Kuriza, blowing up the wall and shattering the window. Instantly, an icy gust of wind blew in, draping the three in a dainty layer of snow. Nappa punched Vegeta deep in the gut to make him stop struggling. The sudden sneak attack took the boy by surprise, and he spit blood as he hung upside down like an adventurous Christmas ornament.

“Look, you two have a lot of problems, and that’s great, but I wanna go make snow Super Saiyans, so see ya!” Nappa threw Vegeta to the ground and jumped out of the window. They were on the fifth floor of the outpost. Nappa remained hovering in midair and turned around. “Oh, and you better not misbehave, Vegeta.”

“Why?”

“Because if you do, Space Santa won’t get you anything for Space Christmas!! Harharhar, if you’re naughty, you’ll be the only one without a present! Think about that, Vegeta!!”

“Wha… who?” Vegeta was lost for words. Rubbing his bleeding shoulder, the Prince of all Saiyans scowled at Kuriza, who stood deft as a water dancer right next to him. “What’s he talking about?”

“It does not surprise me that you don’t know about Space Santa,” Kuriza scoffed. “Saiyans are such a savage species.”

“At least we don’t need to wear blankets when it gets cold out!” Vegeta launched himself at the young Arcosian lord only for Kuriza to spin around and slap the boy in the face with his tail. Vegeta fell to the ground, sliding on the melting snow, and crashed into the wall. Lying in pain, he did not get up.

Kuriza yawned and marched off down the hall back to his room. When he passed Vegeta, he said, “Space Santa comes once every year on Space Christmas. If you’ve been good, you’ll get whatever you want. But if you’ve been bad, Space Santa’ll give you… well, I shouldn’t spoil it.” He raised a hand to cover his mouth as he giggled to himself. He was so prim and proper, it sickened Vegeta. “You’ll find out soon enough, Vegeta.”

That fool had insulted his pride; he couldn’t let that slide. Prince Vegeta tried to stand, but he slipped on the icy metal tiles again and fell over, smacking his head so hard that he was knocked unconscious. And as he lay there, the noble Saiyan Prince dreamed of Nappa and Guldo and a big fat man with a beard who was most certainly not his father.


N5dmcjj

The young lord genuflected before his father’s hover pod, his head bowed in trepidation. Papa Frieza was glaring through his chestnut skull. He could feel it. It was the worst feeling in the world.

“Explain yourself,” his father said coldly.

“F-father, I…”

Lord Frieza’s tail flopped around like he was an annoyed space cat. “You know it’s almost Space Christmas, don’t you? You should be on your best behavior, not acting like some ill-mannered monkey. I have enough to worry about without hoping you two don’t destroy my outpost.”

“But Father… he ruined my snuggie!”

“He did what?!

“And he spilled my cocoa!”

His daddy smiled and closed his eyes. “Very well. We’ll go see Vegeta so you two can work out your problems.”

They walked in silence to the medical room, where Zarbon was sweet-talking Malaka and Guldo was getting his third eye opened (he had gotten a terrible case of pink eye from the karaoke mic). The rejuvenation tanks were empty.

“Where is Vegeta?” Daddy asked, all bored and such.

“He checked out an hour ago, Lord Frieza,” the bird-faced birdboy told them.

“Is he fully healed?”

“I’m afraid not. I advised him to remain in the rejuvenation tank for at least 24 hours, but he was stubborn about it.”

“Where is he now?”

“I don’t know.”

“Zarbon!”

“Yes, Lord Frieza?”

“Find Vegeta so we may leave.”

“At once, Lord Frieza,” Zarbon replied dryly, bowing.

They walked back to the throne room together, father and son. “You haven’t told me what you want for Space Christmas,” Lord Frieza observed. “Would you like another stuffed animal? A Wintaar, perhaps?”

“I would very much enjoy a new space snuggie, Father,” Kuriza said with a fierce, boyish scowl. He shivered and hugged his own shoulders. “And for Vegeta to get a timeout. He must pay for his rudeness.”

They passed Cui on the way back. The officer bowed and wished them a happy Space Christmas. He was looking for a raise, no doubt. “That one annoys me,” Father mused. “Always sucking up and grinning. Why is he so happy? He has whiskers like a space catfish.”

Kuriza couldn’t disagree. Cui was an unsightly fellow, and he didn’t get the boy’s heart to flutter any day of the week. They soon returned to the throne room, which was utterly vacant. His father’s hover pod, however, was not like it had been before. Someone had drawn all over it with a permanent marker.

Kuriza felt his face growing hot. There was a near-stick-figure likeness of him with a monstrous face and wild hands painted on the hull. Not to mention, Kuriza’s likeness was wrapped up in what looked like a blanket. Beneath his visage was printed: ‘I smell laik a dirty ape!!’. Next to him someone had drawn his father kissing Zarbon while Dodoria cheered them on.

Papa Frieza stopped dead in his tracks. “Who… did… this?” His father’s temper was rising to a furor. “How obscene!”

“It was Vegeta, I know he did it!”

There was silence for a minute or so. “Leave me.”

“But Daddy–”

“I will not ask you again, Kuriza!!”

Kuriza ran. He heard something explode after he closed the door and didn’t stop running until he found the Ginyu Force. They were lounging around in the break room. Ginyu was passed out on the couch with a plastic cup of space eggnog in his hand. Recoome and Jeice were competing over who could eat the most Tordo’s Flavor Dust, while Burter was playing a game on the tele called Sonichu: Gotta Go Faster.

“Wake up, Mr. Ginyu,” Kuriza whispered politely, giving the sleeping horned alien a shove. “Wake up, wake up! You promised to take me to the space zoo today!”

But he wouldn’t budge. It was nearly as sad as when Mufasa wouldn’t get up either.

“Heh, mate, he ain’t wakin’ up,” Jeice grinned. “The cap’n drank the whole bottle himself, ha!”

“He really went overboard!” Burter agreed.

“Duuh, yah!” Recoome added.

“Hmph.” Kuriza drew his tail up to his chest like a proper fancyboy. “Fine, then I’m not getting him a present for Space Christmas. And you can tell him that when he wakes up.”

He left them to their games and wandered back down the hall, unsure where he was headed next. That’s when he saw him – a tall man, wearing red-and-white clothes, running down the hallway. His beard was white, his belly fat, and slung over his shoulder was a sack filled with lots of things.

“Sp-space… Santa?” Kuriza gasped. “Wait… come back! Please, sir, come back!” he put out his hand, but Santa was gone, just like that. The Arcosian boy’s eyes widened. He didn’t know what was going on. Was it Space Christmas already?

That was when he noticed Prince Vegeta, whose armor was still half-destroyed. His shoulder looked pretty bad. He was coming out of one of the workout rooms. A sense of guilt washed over Kuriza, then pity, then fear. Was Space Santa going to give him a present after all that had happened? Was he going to blame Kuriza for the fight? The boy hoped not. He was going to say something when suddenly Zarbon appeared from the other side of the hall. Shouting at Vegeta, he ran over. When the Saiyan gave him the sass mouth, Zarbon punched him in the chest, and Vegeta collapsed on the ground. Slinging the young warrior over his shoulder, Zarbon made his way out.

Kuriza sighed and found a vending machine. It was out of hot cocoa, so he got real mad. His first ki blast wasn’t strong enough – it bounced off the machine and hit the ceiling, raining sparks down upon the boy. Not wanting to mess around, Kuriza created a tiny Supernova attack and flung it at the vending machine. This time, an explosion rocked the room, and that made Kuriza feel a little better.

The sound of an explosion caused a guard of the same species as Appule to come running over. “Sir, what’s going on? Did the machine malfunction?”

“Cocoa!” Kuriza cried. “I want my cocoa!!”

“Y-yes, sir… right away!” The dude ran off like he was being chased by a space lion on the savanna.

He sat up against the wall, feeling uncomfortably cold, and stared out a window at the white expanse beyond. It reminded him of home, but he wasn’t used to the cold anymore.

“Kuriza!” His father’s voice had a metallic ring to it over the scouter, and that frightened the boy. “Answer me.”

“I’m here, Father.”

“We’re leaving at once. Return to the ship.”

“Yes, Father.” He almost hung up, but, biting his lip, Kuriza continued in a delicate tone, “Um, father… I-I… what about Space Christmas?”

“What about it?”

“Are we going to get our presents before we leave?” He left out the part about him seeing Space Santa on the outpost.

“Don’t test my patience, Kuriza. Return to the ship.”

“Yes, Father.”

He stood and walked down the hallway, pausing at the workout room Vegeta had come out of. The door was still open. Inside, seven Saibamen lay dead, squashed like bugs. The walls were painted with their blood. A janitor, wearing official janitor clothes, came plodding over, pushing his little cart, and when he saw what was inside the room, he screamed, created a ki blast between his hands, and shot it at his own face, killing himself.

When his corpse fell, and his blood began to pool on the floor mats of the room, Kuriza could only think that it would be even worse for the next janitor, and that made him feel a little better.


B573741efa775cae82c1ece206fc527c

“My apologies, Lord Frieza.” The shark-faced Captain Ajira fell to a knee as the snow fell around them. “We will remedy this situation as quickly as possible.”

“You better,” Zarbon said sharply, giving her a dirty look. “We have places to be.”

It was so typical of a station commander. The Ginyu Force led the charge out into the snow, where time could be wasted far more efficiently than on the landing pad. Dodoria and Zarbon as well as our good Lord Frieza stayed behind, annoyed at the childishness of everyone else. Appule and Orlen made a snow Appule (it’s really hard to make an eggheaded snowman) while Cui took out his trusty pair of ice skates and danced around a frozen lake.

Vegeta sat on a metal wall, watching the rest of them throw snowballs. “Oy, watch this Burter!” Jeice grinned. “It’s my patented fastball!”

That made Burter hiss. “No way, man. I’m faster than any fastball you could throw!”

“Hey, shut up! All you talk about is how fast ya are!”

“Well, it’s true–”

That was when Jeice’s snowball hit him in the face.

“Dah hah, good one, Jeice,” Recoome grunted. Vegeta was scowling at the huge alien who didn’t look like an alien at all.

It was at that moment that Nappa came strolling out of the outpost, after having finished a particularly gruesome endeavor in the men’s room. Stretching his neck, he walked up to the landing pad, where Ajira’s technicians were probing Frieza’s saucer like proper Greys.

“Heeey, uh, what’s going on?” Nappa asked in his usual gravely voice.

“The ship won’t start up. There appear to be technical difficulties,” Zarbon replied in a lazy tone.

“Zarbon… what is that Saiyan wearing?” Frieza looked a little more than shocked. It was a shame that he wasn’t sitting in his hover pod. Wonder where that went. It’s too bad that a galactic tyrant can’t sit around all day and has to actually stand. That’s just brutal.

Zarbon looked Nappa up and down like he was a piece of meat (he was). “Uh… I believe he’s dressed up as Space Santa, Lord Frieza.”

“Space Santa?”

“That’s right!” Nappa said cheerfully. “Ho ho ho!!”

“That’s quite enough, Saiyan. Go… do something until we leave.”

“But I’ve got all these presents!” he complained, ruffling the brown sack slung over his shoulder.

“I’ll take that,” Dodoria grunted like a good girl.

Nappa deemed this acceptable, as Dodoria was a peerless porker who would make a good Space Santa when he was dead and gone.

The fake beard was itching like an Arlian love rash. Nappa strolled on down to where the snow was piling up in the road. Everyone was having a grand old time except for Vegeta, who sat with his cape blowing in the wind, staring out at the approaching tundra.

“Hey Vegeta.” Nappa patted him on the shoulder, and Vegeta jolted as he stifled a cry. “Why aren’t’cha out there with the rest of them?”

“I hate them all,” Vegeta replied.

Kuriza was shivering bad. He looked like he needed a jacket or something. But he was having fun, at least. He was throwing snowballs at Ginyu. The black-horned officer was flopping about, dancing and posing like some working girl from Arcose.

Nappa pulled a space cabbage from his pocket and bit into it. “Cheer up, Vegeta, it’s Space Christmas!!”

The boy looked up at him and scoffed. “You look ridiculous, Nappa.”

“It’s Space Christmas!” Nappa repeated, trying to coax the boy into raising his spirits.

“Hmph, shut up Nappa.” The prince crossed his arms and looked away.

“Hey Vegeta, remember that time it snowed on Planet Vegeta? That was cool, huh?”

“No.”

He was being a naughty boy, and Nappa was regretting buying him that gift he had, so he bent down, gathered some snow between his hands, and flung it at Vegeta. Vegeta was too lost in thought to expect such a dirty trick, and when it hit him in the back of the head, he nearly fell off that wall. Nappa nearly cried. It would have been so much funnier had Vegeta fallen off. He lamented how cruel fate had been to his comedic timing.

“Nappa!”

“That’s not my name, Vegeta! I’m… Space Santa,” Nappa whispered obnoxiously.

Vegeta’s cheeks were flushed. That might’ve been the cold, or it might’ve been the rage. It was probably the rage. “There’s no such thing as Space Santa, you brainless fool!”

“Hey, take that back!” Nappa retorted, stroking his beard. “Space Santa comes every Space Christmas. It’s a Christmas fact, Vegeta!”

Out of nowhere, another snowball pegged Vegeta on the nose. “Ooh!!” several members of the Ginyu Force shouted in unison.

“My apologies, monkey,” Kuriza called from across the street. “My previous throw was marginally errant.”

An ultramarine ball of ki formed in the boy’s gloved hand, melting the snow at his feet as he held it.

“Aw, Vegeta, don’t do it! Think of Space Christmas! You gotta be a good boy.”

“Hmph, whatever.” The prince marched off back to the landing pad.

“Heya, nice beard,” Recoome said, coming over to Nappa. “Say, uh, whaddya get me for Space Christmas, Santa? I need a new tutu for my dance routines after I ripped the last one, ahhhuhuhuh.” He smiled a wide-toothed smile, and Nappa thought that the stupid orange-haired oaf would look better with a few of those pearly whites missing.

“Space Santa only gets presents for good boys and girls!”

“Heya, whaaa?!” Recoome’s eyes got real big. He was just about to realize he needed to get angry now. “What’s that supposed ta–”

That was when Captain Ginyu hit him so hard in the face with a snowball that Recoome fell over, knocked out cold. “Heheheh, oops,” Ginyu said carelessly, walking over to his man. Recoome was bleeding out into the snow from a gash on his forehead. “That one must’ve had a rock in it. Oh well!”

He went back to playing in the snow like the others, as if he were a child too. But the only actual child out there was Kuriza. Nappa wasn’t very powerful, and he wasn’t very smart, but everyone recognized his authority as Space Santa, and he held court out there on the ice like Lord Frieza never had. Kuriza even sat on his lap and wished for a new snuggie, whatever that was. It sounded like something girls would wear.

By high noon, Ajira returned to the landing pad and confronted her God-emperor. “Just a few space-badgers in the hyperdrive.” She held up a burnt, furry corpse. “They didn’t do any serious damage. My technicians were able to make all necessary repairs, so you’re good to go.”

Zarbon screamed wildly. “Disgusting creatures, ugh! Take it away!”

“Heh, back on my homeworld, we used to eat those little fellas for breakfast!” Dodoria grunted lustily.

Frieza shook his head. These were his two highest-ranking assistants. He blushed in displeasure at himself for promoting such fools so high.

The snow was melting in their hair when they returned to the ship, except for Nappa and all the other baldies (there were a lot of them; bunch of ugly bald aliens, goddamn). Nappa wanted to grow a huge mustache and beard one day so that it could wrap around his neck and cover his poor bald head on cold days such as this.

As Nappa was walking down the hallways, he felt the ship take off. He was wondering if Dodoria had distributed the presents when he heard Kuriza shouting with glee from a room to the right. Peeking in, he saw the young Arcosian standing in a shiny new hover pod with a big red bow on it.

“Wew, yeah! Aww yeah!” Kuriza dropped to his knees and pulled something out from under the seat, throwing it up above his head like he was holding baby Simba. “That’s right, that’s what I’m talking about, yeah!!”

It was a crimson-purple bathrobe-blanket thingy of some sort. Nappa didn’t get why the kid liked it so much. He was much more concerned with Kuriza’s speech patterns and why the Arcosian was no longer acting very elegant. A guard came running over, sweating bad, and pushed Nappa aside in his mania. Sprinting in, he presented a silver platter to the young lord, knelt, and spoke leally, “O-one piping hot space cocoa, my lord.”

“Thank you, soldier. You are most kind,” Kuriza said, hiding away his blanket in his fancy new hover pod and jumping out to collect his drink. “You may leave now.”

“I-I… what?!” The green-skinned fishy-faced man looked utterly bewildered.

“You heard me.”

“I… it’s just usually Lord Frieza blows up his servants after they deliver him anything.”

“Oh.” Kuriza hopped back into his hover pad, his tail going mad like a hungry one-eyed snake. Sitting down in his hover pod, he sipped his cocoa with a huge grin. The guard took the hint and rushed out of there with a mixture of terror and unbridled enthusiasm on his sweaty face.

Nappa didn’t remember getting that kid anything for Space Christmas.

Further down the hall was Vegeta’s room. The Saiyan boy was in there, pulling off his armor. On his bed lay one single wrapped package that the boy had yet to open.

Space Santa poked his head through the door. “Hey Vegeta, whaddya get for Space Christmas?”

“I don’t know, Nappa.”

“Open it, open it, open it!” Nappa chanted impatiently.

Vegeta pulled off one of his boots before sighing and walking over to the bed. “Fine, if it’ll shut you up.”

He tore it open and held it in his hands and kept his back to Nappa. “Well?! Whaddya think, Vegeta? Isn’t he cute? Isn’t he the best? Aw Vegeta, don’t’cha love him?!?!”

The boy narrowed his eyes as he looked over his shoulder. “Why don’t you go do something, Nappa? You’re being annoying again.”

“Fine, fine, whatever.” Nappa marched off. He knew better than anyone how Prince Vegeta could get sometimes.

A lot of the aliens were gathered in the training room, bragging about their gifts. Nappa worked out for a few hours alone in the corner because no one likes a filthy monkey. He was the sweatiest Space Santa ever. Finally, feeling a bit tired and somewhat peckish, Nappa decided to retire to his quarters where he knew no presents awaited him.

On his way back, he peeked in on Vegeta’s room and found the boy asleep in his bed, snoring softly. The prince was clutching the lanky Saibaman stuffed animal in his arms as he dreamt of better times and better places. Nappa could barely suppress his joy. “Heh princey, what happened to your pride? If only Zarbon could see ya now!”

The barbarous warrior was quite pleased with himself as he made his way back to his room that night. “It’s the best Space Christmas ever!” he declared to himself. “That’s the first present I ever got him that he actually liked!”

But he knew the boy would never admit it. Nappa shook his head and swore under his breath. He cursed himself for not owning a camera. Maybe next year, Space Santa would get him one. One could hope. But first, he’d have to be a good Nappa… and even the bald Saiyan who had nothing going on in his brain knew that that was an impossible task.


Endnotes[]

  1. This story was named after the famous movie, A Christmas Story.
  2. I don't like chips very often, but funyuns are pretty good in my opinion.
  3. I thought sending the saucer back to Planet Frieza 079 for such a trivial reason was thematically an important choice, as it shows the trivial nature of this story's surface-level plot. I also think it's funny because it shows how inefficient and irrational the Planet Trade Organization is.
  4. Revolution 9 is perhaps the worst Beatles song of all time, and it was fitting, in my opinion, that the trashboy Guldo sang it. Of course, the fact that it doesn't really have lyrics and is mostly an instrumental song was part of the joke. A great karaoke choice in my opinion.
  5. Vegeta was being very defiant wearing that cape, as this story takes place after His Majesty's Pet, where Zarbon removes the boy's cape and warns him not to wear it anymore.
  6. Kuriza being cold and needing a snuggie was a joke in and of itself, as the Arcosians are supposed to be one of the most cold-tolerant species in the universe. Also, snuggies are so stupid that I just had to use one. The cocoa in the bottle with a straw was based on the picture I used of Kuriza as the banner for the first section of the one-shot.
  7. Kuriza acts particularly refined in his speech when talking to Vegeta at first. However, he starts to revert to his more silly persona when he gets angrier, for he forgets his grace in his fury.
  8. Vegeta did a really stupid thing by throwing that ki ball at Kuriza. That could have gotten him vaporized.
  9. I am not quite sure what Kuriza's power level is in his restrained first form. He's also fairly young in this story. I think it takes place in Age 739, so that would mean that Kuriza has only recently been born (in my universe). He certainly was an Arcosian of high potential, but that's only seen in his fourth form. His first form is something else entirely, and if it's like his father's, its potential is less than 1% of his power. Judging by all of that, I think it's reasonable that he and Vegeta were of comparable power levels at this point in time.
  10. "It was very sad, because Papa Frieza had given Kuriza his snuggie two months prior, after the young Arcosian had beaten Cui in a dance-off." - this is a reference to I'm a Candy Man. In that story, Kuriza won the dance-off competition over Cui and the four members of the Ginyu Force and won a carved chocolate Guldo as his prize (although Guldo used his time-stopping ability to steal the head, at least, which greatly saddened Kuriza).
  11. Nappa whistling a tune about space cabbage was meant to show how self-indulgent he is.
  12. Kuriza acts extra polite once Nappa returns. Notice how he just lets Vegeta go off without really responding. He purposefully wants Vegeta to make himself appear irrational in front of Nappa so that Nappa won't take his side. This type of cunning is an example of a personality influence from his father.
  13. Vegeta's super elite quality comes out with the fact that Nappa could pick him up by the tail. Imagine that happening to Goku at this point in the timeline. He would've passed out.
  14. When the snow comes into the clean, metal outpost hallway, that ushers in the talk of Space Santa.
  15. You would think that Vegeta would have heard of Space Santa before, being 6-7 years old in this story. That is one of those intentionally absurd moments that defines the tone of this story.
  16. Kuriza starts to show his class once the wounded Vegeta attacks him. I think he'd be able to 1v1 Vegeta at full power, but it would not be a ten second fight. But against a wounded Vegeta, he has to dominate. It only made sense.
  17. From a plot perspective, the first scene accomplished two things: 1, giving me a space to explore a fight between Kuriza and kid Vegeta; 2, allowing the introduction of Space Santa to be done in a fluid way. Space Santa becomes important later on, but he was not an important concept in the first section. Still, I needed to introduce him at this stage in order for it not to seem ham-fisted later on.
  18. I had decided to have each section be from a different point-of-view before writing them. However, that's not to say I had much of the plot planned out beforehand. For example, with the third scene, the only thing I knew was Vegeta's present. I was unaware of what the plot would be until I sat down to write it. The second scene was more vaguely defined to me at that time. I knew that Kuriza would go complain to his father about Vegeta, but didn't really know what else I would end up doing in that section until I wrote it.
  19. Frieza loved that space snuggie as much as Kuriza did.
  20. There is more of Guldo in this story than I had expected. Gross little animal.
  21. Malaka is in three scenes with Vegeta. One is in canon, and the other two are in this story and His Majesty's Pet. In all three instances, Vegeta refuses to listen to Malaka and instead leaves his rejuvenation pod before he is fully healed. A bit of a funny trope, in my opinion, that also shows off Vegeta's stubbornness quite well. He could have healed up - he did this to himself.
  22. Wintaars are furry predators native to Arcose, the homeworld of Frieza and Kuriza. I chose that animal because it was the Arcosian equivalent of humans giving their young offspring stuffed animal bears. Bears are wild, terrifying predators. Perhaps the wintaars are not so cute-ified as bears are.
  23. I thought it would be funny to have Frieza and Kuriza despise Cui (although for different reasons). I think Cui's a perfectly fine member of Frieza's army, and it's a shame he had to die, but it's not like anything either of them said about him is inaccurate.
  24. Having Vegeta draw graffiti on Frieza's hover pod was inspired by this picture that DeadlyChestnut colored. As can be seen, I was in a huge DC mood when I wrote this story, and that artist was highly influential to me in multiple ways.
  25. The Frieza graffiti is much more offensive than the Kuriza graffiti. It makes me laugh and laugh, but I'm sure it's deeply embarrassing for the emperor. For the Kuriza graffiti, an interesting thing to note is that Vegeta insulted his own species with the phrase ,‘I smell laik a dirty ape!!’. I'm sure he did that to make it appear like he hadn't been the one who drew those heinous pictures.
  26. Tordo's flavor dust is from one of my favorite Tim and Eric sketches, "Jim and Derrick".
  27. Ginyu absolutely did not promise to take Kuriza to the zoo that day. The boy just wanted his friend to wake up.
  28. Space eggnog could do that to anyone. Although, I would like to think that Ginyu is a bit of a lightweight with alcohol.
  29. It was nice not having Guldo with the others in the break room. As I've said many times before, I don't think of him as much of a Ginyu Force member, and thus having him be absent for whatever reason is preferable for me.
  30. Recoome added a lot in that scene, as he is wont to do.
  31. The Space Santa who Kuriza sees is of course Nappa.
  32. Zarbon being a cunt to Vegeta was something I always liked to write, for it made Vegeta killing him on Namek all the more satisfying to me, personally. Also, Zarbon seemed like the member of Frieza's crew who would be the hardest on Vegeta just from how they interact in the Namek Arc.
  33. The vending machine paragraph was only two sentences in the original draft. It was significantly expanded upon during the editing phase, as I wanted to highlight how Kuriza is well-meaning, but inept. He tries to be like his father, but he doesn't necessarily have the personality to do so.
  34. Notice how the vending machines in the Planet Trade Organization suck. This is the second one that is not stocked. The low-level soldiers tasked with that duty are not very good at their jobs, implying there is infrastructural decay in the empire.
  35. The soldier who went to get Kuriza space cocoa is definitely Orlen.
  36. "It reminded him of home, but he wasn’t used to the cold anymore." - this line gives some parallel development to Kuriza that Vegeta got in the first section. They both miss their homes for differing reasons, but the loneliness they experience on Planet Frieza 079 is similar. I would also say that this is an example of my developing writing style at the time where I tried to not overstate or repeat things like this, as I had in previous writings up to this point. This is the only time that that is mentioned in the whole story.
  37. I always feel bad for the janitors in the PTO. This is also seen in His Majesty's Pet, as well as How To Act Like a Professional Mercenary (a story that is unreleased, but fully completed, as of writing this commentary). In fact, the ending to HTALAPM is very similar to the ending of this story's second section.
  38. Kuriza does have a bit of his father in him. It's not exactly normal for a kid to watch someone commit suicide and then be comforted by the fact that someone would have to clean that up. Not normal at all, I would say for such a sweet little innocent boy.
  39. The third section being from Nappa's point-of-view was to done for a myriad of reasons, but the most important one was to show his interactions with the crew as Space Santa. The stuff between Nappa and Vegeta was of prime importance. However, choosing him meant that dealing with stuff with Kuriza, Frieza, and high-ranking officers was not as easily written as if I had chosen, say, Zarbon to be the point-of-view.
  40. I had forgotten I had included Ajira in this story. It's an interesting reveal about her history. In a couple of decades, she moves onto an entirely different world, one which is not as big as 079. Perhaps not so much a demotion, but due to the rising stock of Sorbet. In any case, I have no memory of including her in this story, so this was a cool reveal for me.
  41. Jeice had some good commentary on Burter. While Burter looks very cool (easily the best-looking Ginyu Force member), his personality is almost entirely about how he's the fastest being in the universe. He's not even faster than Ginyu, Frieza, or Kuriza. Suck it nerd.
  42. Vegeta's pride prevented him from making a fool of himself in the snow, but I'm sure deep down inside he wanted to.
  43. Orlen and Appule's snow Appule was a very difficult thing to create, and I'm extremely proud of them for persevering throughout this entire story to do so.
  44. I think it's funny that Frieza celebrates space Christmas yet doesn't know what Space Santa looks like.
  45. I constantly refer to Dodoria as girlish in this story due to TFS making him female in their parody dub of the series.
  46. With that said, Dodoria was extremely greedy to take all the presents from Nappa without giving him credit for buying them. Truth be told, I don't know how Nappa bought them. Maybe the PTO has a pay system? It is possible. In that case, Nappa was extremely generous to pay for all those gifts. Not to say he did, though. I left that unclear.
  47. Vegeta suppressed a cry when Nappa patted him on the shoulder because he was still quite injured from what Kuriza did to him in the first scene.
  48. Lots of Frieza's soldiers are sort of whimsical, and this story is on the lighter side, but it must not be forgotten how much Vegeta hates the Planet Trade Organization and how much he wants to kill all of them. I showed this earlier in the story when Vegeta did not heal himself fully in order to give himself more time to train.
  49. Nailo originally appeared in this story, but after I published His Majesty's Pet, I changed up the timeline a bit in terms of when he dies. Thus, that mention was removed as I did this commentary. Originally, Kuriza had a snowball fight with him in the third scene. That was changed to Kuriza having a snowball fight with Ginyu, which is more in-character for both of them anyways.
  50. Nappa reminded Vegeta of the time it snowed on Planet Vegeta, which was seen in the Reunion Saga of Dragon Ball Z: The Forgotten. Vegeta had a swell time in the snow, but those memories are painful now, as his only friend at the time, Ledas, was assumed to have been killed by Planet Vegeta's explosion. Fond memories can turn bitter when stuff like that happens. Vegeta is quite cheerless in this story, and he's not spoiled like Kuriza. The two parallel each other in several ways, but there is no denying that Kuriza has an easy life at this point in time, while Vegeta is living in miserable slavery.
  51. Nappa's dialogue with Vegeta during the snowball fight is very cheeky and reminiscent of his style of speech in the TFS parody of DBZ.
  52. I don't think Kuriza's throw was marginally errant, but that's mere speculation.
  53. Vegeta has grown a bit in his reaction to Kuriza here. Perhaps it's because his body's hurting, but he could have easily gotten himself killed had he given in to his rage.
  54. Recoome is an ugly man, and he should not have all his teeth to fit with how reckless and tanky he is.
  55. Recoome does not deserve anything from Space Santa in my opinion, but neither does anyone else in this story sans maybe the suicidal janitor.
  56. Frieza did it to himself by promoting Zarbon and Dodoria to such high ranks. Neither is a particularly impressive fighter by the PTO's standards.
  57. There is an unusual number of bald soldiers in the Planet Trade Organization. I know a lot of them are lizard-like aliens, so that's more tolerable, but still. Recoome and Jeice are the only Ginyu Force members with hair.
  58. The snow melting in everyone's hair signifies their upcoming demise in, oh, about 23 years.
  59. I am not sure if I will ever show Kuriza in a hover pod, but who knows.
  60. Orlen must have delegated the space cocoa run to some low-level soldier.
  61. Imagine if it were actually true that Frieza killed all of the low-level soldiers who delivered him anything. He would be going through hundreds a month. That seems inconvenient, no? But in-line with the opening paragraph of this story, the comical inefficiency of the PTO is one aspect I love about the empire.
  62. Kuriza was quite merciful to let that guy go. He wouldn't have done so in his father's presence. That act reveals a lot about Kuriza as a person.
  63. Vegeta treats Nappa the same way that Frieza does. He has little patience for the oaf and always wants him to go away and do something somewhere else so that he won't have to think about him. That's a sad way to treat a guy who just gave him a present, I must say. Where's his Christmas spirit? Well, I know Frieza snuffed that out, but still. Saiyans gotta stick together. The melancholy at the end of this story isn't just directed at Vegeta, but also at Nappa, who is not so likely to receive pity points from fans of DBZ.
  64. The ending to this story is rather melancholic, but perhaps a bit hopeful too. Vegeta is not dead yet, and though he has acted very rough around everyone, he's just a kid. He's not coping with the shitty situation he's been placed in well. At least he appreciated that Saibaman. Of course, the idea for that was inspired by the picture at the top of the second section of this story. Vegeta is a dynamic character, while Nappa is a static character (not that there's anything wrong with that), and so I needed to end the story on a character-building moment for Vegeta, not Nappa. Perhaps there's a bit of the Christmas spirit with Vegeta at the end? I dunno. It feels melancholic to me. There's some sadness at his position and psychological state, but I think at least, for that one moment, he was somewhat happy. Hopefully he was dreaming of the past, of the Prince Vegeta Saga, when times had been good. But knowing Vegeta's luck, he was having an dream about Zarbon and Dodoria oiling each other up.

I am quite fond of this cheeky little tale. Almost four years after having written it, I think the prose remains strong. It's not a story I would make major edits too even now. I enjoyed the diverse cast and the dialogue for everyone. Most of it was spot on. Kuriza's development here was really fun to work on. His dynamics with Vegeta were extremely fun and rewarding to write. This story was definitely me scratching an authorial itch I had as well as developing some characters and lore for my overall universe, and so I can see myself coming back to this one in the future.


<---- Part 79

Part 81 ---->


The KidVegeta Anthology
1: Were It So Easy2: Ground Up3: So Lonely At The Top4: Dragon Ball Z: In Requiem5: Sixth6: Slaved7: Womanhood8: A Mother's Love9: Derelict10: Dragonball KC11: The Redacted Scenes12: Dragon Ball Z: Cold Vengeance (Original draftFinal draft)13: Spindlerun: The Tale of Yajirobe14: The Anonymous Series15: Speedball16: Second-best17: Strength18: Separator19: Skulk20: Soup21: Scelerat22: Serial23: Slick24: Sovereign25: Dragonball lies in the old hat26: Ode to Dodoria27: Bitterly Bothered Brother28: KidVegeta's Theogony: From Silence to the Greater Kais‎‎29: Dragon Ball Z: The Forgotten (29.1 Prince Vegeta Saga29.2 Outbreak: Paved In Blood29.3 Lauto Saga29.4 Stomping Grounds Saga29.5 Planet Earth Saga29.6 Reunion Saga29.7 Forever Alone29.8 Fulfillment Saga29.9 Characters29.10 Who Are The Forgotten?29.11 Miscellaneous Information)30: Sink to the Bottom31: Bluestreaker32: Lionheart33: From Magic to Monsters34: Tyrant35: Be a Man36: Brave37: Yellow38: Sleep39: Prideful Demons Black40: The Watcher41: The Perfect Lifeform42: Ain't No Hero43: Dragon Ball: The Great War44: Glory45: Monster46: Burning Man47: Bonetown Blues48: Ergo Sum49: Suicide Missionary50: We'll Never Feel Bad Anymore51: Before Creation Comes Destruction52: Midnight City53: A Soundless Dark54: Scourge55: The Ballad of Dango56: Zarbon and Dodoria: A Love Story57: Thank the Eastern Supreme Kai for Girls58: A Shadow on the Wind59: I'm a Candy Man60: Down the Well-Worn Road61: Cool Cat62: Starfall63: Crushing Blue64: Black Dawn65: The Great Sushi-Eating Contest66: The Adventures of Beerus and Whis...IN SPACE!‎‎67: The Guacamole Boys Hit the Town‎‎68: Fin69: Nowhere to Go70: Not So Far71: Ice Age Coming72: Small73: Shame74: Untouchable75: A Demon Tale: Running Gags and Memes: The Movie76: Superior77: He's a Baaad Man78: Sandboys79: This is a contest story 80: A Space Christmas Story81: The One Where Bulma Goes Looking For Goku's Dragon Balls82: The Ginyu Force Chronicles83: Country Matters84: Chasing Oblivion85: Bardock's Some Hot Space Garbage and You're a Cuck86: The Story Without Any Cursing Except For This One Fuck And It's In The Title or (Sex Drugs and Rock and Roll Except Without Any Of The Sex)87: A Flap of the Wings88: Broccoli Tail89: Black as Blood90: Bi Arm or the One Where Baby is Actually A Rich Man or the Last One Of All the BYARMS91: One Chop Man92: Girl93: Twelve Majestic Lies94: Spaceball95: The Monster and the Maiden96: Mountain Bird97: A Quest for Booty98: Yaki the Yardrat's lecherous crime cartel, can Jaco and Strabbary stop it?99: Across the Universe100: His Majesty's Pet101: Destroyer of Universes102: The One with Several No Good Rotten Space Vermin103: The Scouring of Paradise104: To Kill a God-Emperor105: Extragalactic Containment Protocol106: Appetent Justice107: The Naptime Championships108: Really Big Scary Monsters109: Old Nishi110: He Needs Some Space Milk111: Filthy Monkeys112: The Mortal Flaw113: Leap114: Dyspo Sucks115: The Royal Exception116: Mushin117: Doctor Piggyboy118: The Space Taco Bandit119: The Big Book of Very Important Things (119.1: Why the supreme kai thinks there are only 28 planets in the universe by kidvegeta, esquire119.2: The raisin why supreme kai thinks theres only 28 planets119.3: Supreme kai why do you think there are only 28 planets pls respond119.4: Vegeta: The Tale of Chiaotzu119:5. Sweet Nothings About Cuber by KidVegeta and Destructivedisk119.6: ☉‿⊙119.7: The Part Where He Actually Blows Himself119.8: The truefacts tht hhyperzerling ssahhy119.9: Dragon Ball Supper119.10: A list of people yamcha's been intimate with)120: Memories of a Bloodless Thrall121: Lights of Zalama122: The Deathless Scraps123: Time-Eater124: Dragon Ball: The Mrovian Series: Hidden Memories of Chaiva125: Nineteen Assassins126: Welcome to Rapture127: Bean Daddy128: Zeta Male129: One Word From The Crane130: The Big Ugly131: The Legend of Upa132: Trickster is Meaningless133: Three Foolish Monkeys134: Killing General Copper135: One of Them136: The Swindler137: Softpetal138: How To Act Like a Professional Mercenary139: Insatiable140: Every Turtle Has His Day141: No Second Chances142: Blue Wolf143: The Shunko Onsen144: Nam's Big Dive145: Hard as Diamonds146: In Search of Pork Buns147: Feeding Time148: Chi-Chi's Got Talent149: Patient 240150: Divine in Maturity151: Tail Don't Lie152: Pontas Pilot153: Soft Matter154: PFR155: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Planet Trade Organization156: Dragon Ball: Heart of the Dragon157: Community Roleplays (157.1 Dragon Ball: Future Imperfect (2nd Saga)157.2 No Way Out157.3 Vacation157.4 Cool Runnings157.5 What Role Will You Play?)158: Deleted Stories (158.1 Dragon Ball: Short Story Project158.2 The Last Saiyan)159: Final Thoughts
Advertisement