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"What the hell is this!?" Bulma screeched as she skidded to a halt in the back yard. She had been in the middle of a project when she heard the explosion. Leaping from her chair in surprise, holding her chest to try to get her heart to beat normally, the unexpected sound had almost made her fell over from shock, but she had a sinking suspicion what was the cause.
She ran through the doors of her lab and rounded the house to the back yard. Anger and rage building as she took in the sight before her, there was Vegeta. She had known he would be culprit, as anything exciting happening at Capsule Corp. these days was because of him. Or so she heard her staff say at several occasions. At this current exciting encounter Vegeta was standing outside of the Gravity Simulator kicking it with all his might as the entire machine was engulfed in flames, again!
He only stopped when she ran up to him and started putting out the fire with a fire extinguisher, house bots flying over to assist. "What did you do?" she asked with an accusatory tone, slamming the empty fire extinguisher on the ground. "Do you have any idea how long it took me to build this?!" she screeched. Vegetal folded his arms and snorted at her. "I should have known a week human woman wouldn't be able to build anything to withstand my strength." He said arrogantly. "Week human woman…" she seethed. "Why you unappreciative, over grown…" she picked up the fire extinguisher and threw it at him as hard as she could.
Vegeta was caught off guard by the projectile and almost didn't move out of the way, she never threw anything at him before. He watched it go by shocked that she would have the nerve to even attempt to harm him. He turned his glare back on her, trying to intimate her with his hard stare "Why you..." he advanced on her, "how dare you!"
"How dare I?" She echoed, holding her ground. "You purposefully blew up my machine!" She screamed her accusation. "How dare you!" She added while putting and emphasis on word 'you', while poking him in the chest with her finger.
Vegetal stood his ground, although he was just her height, he still seemed to be able to look down on her, or anyone for that matter. "Careful." He warned. "Or what?" She taunted. "You gonna kill me?" He growled in response, "I have half a mind to!" She was really starting to push her luck and he was already angry that the Gravity simulator didn't with stand his power, again.
"Go ahead; kill me, then who would build this for you?" She asked gesturing to her destroyed gravity simulator. "I am better off without it!" He shot back. "Oh? You can just go anywhere and change how high your gravity is? Just go next door and get energy reflecting bots? Just go to the corner store and find those weighted cloths you ware?" She said, folding her arms and raising her nose into the air. "You can't do anything without me." She stated arrogantly.
"What…." Vegeta was about to retort when he was cut off by Bulma's mother. "You should just kiss and make up; things would be much easier if you did." Bulma looked at her mother in outrage, "I would never!" She seethed stomping her foot and balling her fists. "Anyone who acts like they own the planet is not someone I find attractive." She shot at her mother disgustedly. Vegeta gave her a smirk, "says the woman who watches me train from the kitchen window."
Bulma turned to face him outraged. He stood there, the perfect picture of arrogance with his trade mark smirk, and he arms folded. He was still looking down on her as if to remind her that she would never compare. Oh that was it, Bulma couldn't take it anymore. She took two steps forward and slapped him. He frowned at her, but didn't move. She quickly retracted her hand and cradled it. She had to admit, that wasn't smartest move. Vegeta gently took her arm and inspected her hand, it was already bruising. "I should blast you for that disrespect." He said calmly as he looked her hand over. "Let the pain you're in be a lesson to you, never strike me again." He stated with a promise of pain behind his words. He gave a hard stare, then released her hand and walked away.
Bulma wanted to cry, in anger, pain, and frustration. This was the third time this month alone he destroyed the Gravity simulator and she couldn't keep repairing it. There had to be a way to reinforce it so that it could withstand the punishment that Vegeta put it through. Unfortunately, she didn't know what that was, or when the next time she was going to be able to actually do any work because she might have broken her hand on Vegeta's face.
She frowned inspecting her hand closer. It was swelling and the burse that had formed was starting to spread. "Yep, probably broken." She said out loud to herself. That should teach her for thinking she can do anything about him. The only person who could do anything about him was Goku, but he refused saying, "c'mon Bulma, Vegeta's one of the good guys. Sure he's a little rough around the edges, but you get used to him." He would then laugh and leave it at that.
She couldn't even understand why he had to live here anyway. He should go live with Goku, wouldn't he be happier there, after all they could fight all the time and then he would be out of her hair forever. But no, he refused to go anywhere else. Instead, he continued to break her machines, and the best one's she ever build too, all for him and the thanks she got was to constantly repair one of the world's greatest inventions. She stomped her food and screamed to herself in her lab, she was so angry that she could kill someone. She sighed in defeat, taking a seat in her lab chair. He seems to always have the upper hand. There had to be something she could do about that.
The pain in her hand was starting to become unbearable. Bulma searched for something that would help relieve the pain. Failing, she sunk back into her chair and inspected her hand a little closer. She defiantly broke something, a couple of fingers, and probably something in her hand she guessed by the look of the burse that was getting darker and darker, the bruise was even moving up her hand to her wrist. She frowned, that meant her wrist might be broken too.
She needed to get to a doctor. She got up and left the lab and went outside, she pulled her capsule from her pocket that housed her air car and stared at it. She couldn't drive, not with her hand in the condition it was in. Someone was going to have to take her. She turned back to the house with the intent on finding her parents to take her instead. If she ignored her hand and the pain too much longer the adrenaline would ware off and the pain would become unbearable, not the mention how it could heal badly.
She walked into the house calling for her parents. "Mom? Dad? Where are you?" She walked into the kitchen where her mother spent a good portion of her time only to come up empty. So she went in search of her father. She headed straight for his lab, but he wasn't there either. "Where'd they go?" She asked herself allowed walking back into the main building. If they weren't here, they had to have gone out and not tell her. This wasn't uncommon; they didn't always tell everyone where they were going. She looked at the phone in the kitchen. She could call, but that would mean it would take time for them to get home. She really needed to get to the doctor's office now. She sighed and looked out the sliding glass door to the back yard; Vegeta was training in the yard, with the absence of his gravity simulator. He always waited for her to fix it and knew it was inevitable that she would, otherwise he would drive her insane until she did. She wished she could just ignore his constant badgering and complaining, but he just annoys the hell out of her until finally she gives in just to shut him up.
She stood watching him for a little while debating with herself. She could either wait for her parents, or she could just go ask Vegeta to take her. She narrowed her eyes at him, it was his fault anyway, and he should be responsible for helping her. Finely, making up her mind, Bulma headed for the door. She slide the door open and walked outside. "Vegeta?" She calls as she approaches him; she wasn't surprised when he didn't pause in his movements, but gave a grunt in reply. "I think I broke my hand." She says, looking at it again.
"Humph, serves your right." He said, still not pausing. Bulma sighed, she forgot that she actually had to spell things out for him; he wasn't very good at interpreting implications. "Well, I need to go to the doctor." She said, Vegeta paused and looked at her. "And? Why would I care?" He asked. She sighed again as dramatically as she could, "I need you to take me, my parents aren't here and I can't drive with my hand like this." He stopped and turned to her fully. "You are not serious?" He said, folding his arms and scowling at her. "You strike me of your own will, without even thinking or realizing the repercussion, in the process, injure yourself, and then expect me to take you to be healed?" He growled out. She put her hand on her hip while still nursing her injured one. "No, it's your fault that I am in this situation in the first place, and I wouldn't ask you if I could do it myself, and my parents were home!" She was starting to shout. "But if you don't take me then I won't fix your gravity simulator and then you will have to train like that for the rest of your life!" She gestured to the yard implicate her point. He frowned. "What?" He snapped. "Do you forget that your father is able to repair my Gravity chamber?" She frowned. "Not with the recent modifications that I put in it, he hasn't worked on that thing in months, I mean, he could try, but..." She trailed off, folding her arms. He gave her a glare and clinched his fists at his sides. He didn't dare move lest he blast her to oblivion. He knew that if he did that, then the Doctor was sure to refuse helping him, and if the woman was right, he wouldn't be able to help him anyway, best not take the chance, he had to get stronger, no matter the cost.
He stood there, contemplating his next move. Finally he growled at her, he turned his head to the side, "Fine!" He snapped, while walking up to her, and unceremoniously plucks her from the ground and tosses her over his shoulder. "Which way?" he demands as he rises into the air. "Do you have to carry me like this?" She screeches as he starts to rise into the air, "which way?" he repeats, giving up she points in the direction of the hospital, "that way, East!" Of course this would be the outcome, what was she expecting, Him to drive her to the hospital? She should have known better.
The entire visit took a little over an hour, and Vegeta almost killed a man in the waiting room while Bulma was getting her cast fitted. Thankfully she was able to intervene before that happened and dragged him out. They were now standing in front of the hospital, Bulma was adjusting the sling on her arm, and getting ready for Vegeta to sling her over his shoulder again, just as he turned to do so he paused and looked down at her arm. He picked it up gently and inspected the white cast that the doctor had put on it. "What is this? "He asked curiously. Bulma gave a small smile, she forgets sometimes that he wasn't from this planet and some of the things they did probably seemed strange to him. "It's a cast." She explained. "They reset the bone and then put a cast on it to keep it in place so that it will heal right." She said. "You have to keep it on for 6 weeks, for worse breaks it's more." She said frowning at it. "I wish I had something that would make it heal faster."
"The regeneration tanks on Frieza's ship would have done the trick, after setting the bone of course." He replied as he lifted her over his shoulder. She screeched at him and pounded his back as he took to the air. "Do you have to carry me like a sack of potatoes?" She shouted. It was not a question. He didn't respond.
"Hey do you know anything about those regeneration tanks?" She asked as they flew towards Capsule corp. she couldn't believe she didn't think about that herself. He could heal so much faster when he blew himself up in the gravity simulator. "Not really, I only know that they are filled with a synthetic solution that has traces of DNA to assist in rapid healing. It has the ability to entice the cells in the body to heal." He said. Bulma sighed, oh how she would love to get her hands on this technology. Maybe one day she could get him to take to her to space to one of Frieza's old bases so she could either get one, or hack the system for the schematics.
That brought her to the idea that she might be able to get them from his old space pod, well not his, but either Raditz or Nappa's. She still has those hidden away somewhere, she could salvage some of the information and technology; maybe it had its own memory bank since they were used from birth for conditioning. "Hey Vegeta, would your old space pod have any information or connection to Frieza's network?" She asked. He touched down in the front yard of Capsule Corp. and put her back on her feet. "No, why?" He asked, walking into the house. He went to the fridge in search of something to eat. Bulma followed him into the kitchen and activated the kitchen bot to get dinner started, he could have a snack now, but he will be starving again shortly.
"Well you mentioned the regeneration tanks and I wondered if the old space pods you used to travel in would have that in its system, or some way for me to hack into Frieza's system." He frowned and thought that over for a moment. "First, those pods don't have any info other then the programming of the pod, and historical educational information of our race. Second, it was never connected to Frieza's mainframe." He said. "Really? Saiyan historical information?" She asked, her interests peaked. "But why?" He sat at the table snacking on some salad while he waited for his dinner, and Bulma brewed a cup of coffee. "Saiyan's have the same pod from the time they are born, it's how we travel anywhere. When in hyper sleep during travel, we are fed information of our race and planet for educational purposes, as well as basic fighting technique and conditioning."
"Oh, their isolated." She sighed. "I was hoping I might be able to get the schematics for a regeneration tank and build on here." She said, "It would be useful, especially with the way you train." She said, as an afterthought.
"How are you going to repair my gravity room with your arm injured like that?" He asked. She signed, "My dad will have to do it until it heals, which means I will have to supervise." He shook his head, he was done spending time with her. The amount of time he was with her was too much already, and he had training to do. "Just make sure he gets it done today!" He snapped and he walked out, dinner will be ready soon, but he would wait until everyone was asleep, he had had enough exposure to humans for one day.
Now that his Gravity simulator was out of commission, He wasn't going to be able to train properly on his own. He needed to find someone to pummel, and who better to pummel then a clown. He smirked as he rose into the air, and sped off in the direction of the mountains.
Six weeks came and went, and Bulma couldn't be happier to be separated from the god awful cast. She walked into the house with her new manicured nails and waved them around. She felt so good that she could finally use her hand again and let her arm breath! She moved and twisted her wrist; it was still sore but overall much better. She walked into the kitchen and poured herself a glass of water as Vegeta walked in to do the same. "Hay Vegeta?, Look!" She said, waving her arm around. She was so excited to finally have her arm back that she forgot that he always seemed to put a damper on her good mood. "Humph, good now you can finally get back to being useful around here and fix those droids." He snapped as he walked through the kitchen and to the Gravity simulator. "Whatever you jerk! You can't ruin my good mood!" She called after him, happily. "But it will feel good to get back into my lab." She said, smiling. She took her cup of coffee and headed straight for her lab waving to her mother on her way out. Her mother giggled and waved back. "Oh I just love it when she's in such a good mood." Bulma's mother sighed happily.
In the lab, Bulma was in the process of catching up on some of her work when she heard an all too familiar explosion Vegeta's voice was heard soon after, "Woman!" He shouted, Bulma growled and slammed her hand on her desk, she hadn't even been able to get started on any of her other projects, and Vegeta already has broken the GR again! "Of course..." she said, turning to face the angry Saiyan's he walked in still shouting for her.
"Woman, that damn sorry excuse for a machine is broken again!" She folded her arms. "Stop breaking it!" She shouted. He growled at her, "I wouldn't break it if it wasn't so sloppily made!" He shouted back at her. "What? Sloppy!" She took a step forward. "I'll have you know that capsule Corp. Machines are made of the highest quality in the world!" How dare he call her work sloppy? "Not from where I'm standing, anything as breakable as that is sloppy." He said, smirking at her. Oh that does it. "Why don't you fix it your damn self then!" she shot back and turned back to her desk. "It would hardly be worth it with the weak materials that you pathetic humans use. I need something much superior." She turned around. "Superior, there isn't anything stronger then Graphenea, which is what it's made out of!" She shouted, turning to him and taking another step forward. "That, for your information, is the strongest material on earth!"
"Ha! That is nowhere near the quality or strength of Klangite, which is the strongest metal in the universe. I suggest you find some." He said, Bulma opened her mouth ready with a comeback when she paused. "Klangite?" She questioned, "Something stronger then Graphene?" She thought out loud, her argument forgotten. Vegeta frowned at her and folded his arms. "Are you saying that there are stronger metals in space?" She asked serious. "No." Vegeta replied, "But there is a planet that has stronger metals." He said. When she got inquisitive like this, he couldn't help but be curious about what she was thinking. "I wonder where." She thought out loud going to her computer. She searched all databases that she knew of, even the link she put in to the old space pods the Saiyan's used to get to Earth, but she came up empty.
Vegeta frowned at her as she turned to him and sighed. "Well it's not like I can't get any of that here." She shrugged and walked out of her lab with the intent of repairing the gravity room. Vegeta stared after her; did she just leave to do what he asked? All because he mentioned something that put her in scientific thought? He shook his head, she was just like Bardock.
Not that he had very much exposure to the scientist, but he would observe his father's encounters with him, and any time they would discuss anything, especially a new initiative or idea that was somewhat scientific, then he would let his thoughts carry him away, and back to his lab. Vegeta shook his head and walked out of the lab in search of food. If he couldn't train, he might as well get some substance for the energy that he was going to need for when she was done repairing his gravity room. It had better not take up too much time; he really needed to get back to his training if he was ever going to surpass Kakorott.
Bulma repaired the GR within record time. She was proud of how quickly she was able to get things back up and running, not that it was beyond her talents in the first place, but she acquired one of the other staff members to help her get things done. She was cleaning up just as Vegeta walked in to inspect her work. She dusted off her hands and cloths and headed out the door. "Go easy on her Vegeta, I'm not fixing it again for at least a week." She said as she walked out of the room. Vegeta ignored her and started entering in commands at the control panel. Once the door was closed he powered it up and began his training.
Bulma shook her head as she made her way back to the house to get back to her other projects that she seemed to always be interrupted from. She really needed to find a way to prioritize work better, or find someone who can do the updates, and simple repairs to the GR. She shook her head with a laugh at that, there are never any simple repairs to the GR. She just needed to come up with something, she was sure she would.
Just as she was about to close the door to her lab, she looked up and saw as the Gravity Room shake violently and then go up in smoke, the lights inside turned from the deep red, to the normal lighting of a room. She groaned as she leaned against the door. "Not again…" Vegeta came flying out of the machine and towards her lab.
Bulma just stood leaning against the door, he was doing this on purpose, he had to have been, She wasn't even able to think as he landed right in front of the door, she hadn't even had a chance to go inside. "It wasn't even five minutes." She whispered staring through Vegeta to the Gravity room, as if he wasn't standing right in front of her scowling at her. "Five minutes!" She screeched at him and made eye contact. "Are you freaking kidding me?! UGH!" She said, throwing her tools to the ground. "I am not fixing it!" she shouted at him and stormed into the house.
Vegeta followed her. "Woman, get back out there and fix my Gravity simulator, now!" He said demanded. Bulma screeched to a halt and turned on him. "I will not!" She said, "You need to learn to not over exert the equipment!" Her face was red, and the volume of her voice was reaching new heights. She turned away from him folding her arms. "You need to build things less weak!" He shot back. "Weak, Ha! I already told you, there is nothing stronger. Apparently you forgot because you have a brain of an ameba!" She shouted back. "What?" He said, advancing on her. "You heard me, you're an over grown monkey with the brain of an ameba!" She said, turning towards him. "Woman, you are over stepping your place." He said gruffly and quiet. Bulma scowled at him. "The only one over stepping their place here is you! You clearly have forgotten that you are the house guest here, and you constantly make demands and then break things for fun!" She said, "You have overstayed your welcome!" She shouted at him. "Get your weak ass back in that Gravity Chamber and repair it, now!" He demanded. "No!" "Woman…." he shook his fist at her. "Don't break it then it wouldn't need to be fixed." She said, sticking her nose into the air. "Make it stronger then it won't break!" he shot back.
"Children, children…" both turned their scowls on Dr. Brief, who walked into the kitchen, where they currently stood arguing. "I overheard your conversation from earlier and I think I have the perfect solution to this constant battle." He said, as he poured himself a cup of coffee. "Well, what is it old man." Vegeta demanded. "Ah yes..." he responded, pulling out his pack of cigarettes and lighting a new one off the one that was currently in his mouth. "Since we are at a stale mate with this gravity simulator issue." He began, "being that it needs to be stronger in order to withstand the treatment that Vegeta is putting it though, and at no fault of his own." He said, pointing his stare at Bulma, "That being said, we can't keep fixing the contraption every day." He said, now pointing his look at Vegeta. "Do you have a point?" Vegeta responded folding his arms. "Yes, always a response…" he mused, taking a sip of his coffee. "If there are stronger metals in space, then I suggest you go get them." Dr. Brief said taking another sip.
Vegeta frowned, "What?" Bulma said. She looked at Vegeta and then her father. "Be my guest." She said, and started to walk away. "Well, here's the thing." Her father continued as she turned to leave, stopping her in her tracks. "If we sent a whole crew out there, it would take years to get it all back. But if you two went together…" he paused.
Bulma turned around and glared at her father. "No way!" She was appalled that he would even suggest such a thing. "I am not going into space with Vegeta!" Vegeta didn't say anything, he just watched. To be honest, he didn't mind going back into space, the only issue he saw was spending so much time with this woman.
"Now dear…" Dr. Brief started. "It won't take too long, of course, I couldn't say how long as I don't know where this planet is, but it would be an opportunity for you to research a new metal, and the be the first to discover it," he encouraged, "were talking the possibility of a Nobel Prize!" He said. That stopped her dead in her tracks. Dr. Brief could see the wheels turning now. "Imagine what this could do for your reputation!" He pressed on. Bulma took a step back and folded her arms, one hand on her chin in deep thought. "Nobel prize huh?" She said, "Wouldn't that be something?" She said looking up dreamily, "Imagine me, the youngest, and for sure most beautiful woman to ever win the Nobel Prize!" She grinned in excitement. "Ha!" she said triumphantly as if she won already.
"Where is this planet Vegeta?" She asked excitedly. Vegeta frowned. "Haven't a clue." He said, turning to walk away. "What? Oh come on! You have to know!" Bulma said, following him, "You're the one who suggested it in the first place!" He stopped and turned to her. "I only stated that your metal was not the strongest and that there were others out there, not that I knew where it was." He said calmly.
Clearly this woman was letting things get to her head. "Your old space pod has a star map on it, do you know the name of the planet?" She asked, trying a different approach. "As if you could read that data." He said, still walking down the hall towards his room. "That shows how much you know, I already decoded it." She said, as they reached the door. He stopped and turned to look at her suspiciously. "Impossible." He said, turning to his room and opening the door. "Not impossible," she replied, "done." She said following him in. He stopped dead in his tracks and glared at her.
Bulma stopped at his glare and took a few steps back so she was out of his room. It would be best not to crowd him. "Oh come on!" She said, "Please just take a look?" He rolled his eyes at her and turned around. "If I am not mistaken…" he said, turning his head, "and I'm not, but I recall you wanting to have nothing to do with his idea." He said, retrieving a towel and a change of clothes. "Yeah, but that was before the mention of a noble prize! That's like... like…" she moved her hands trying to come up with a comparison. "Like reaching super Saiyan to a scientist!" She said, grinning in excitement.
Vegeta stopped in his tracks and frowned at her. That couldn't possibly be a good comparison. "Look, I know this doesn't mean anything to you, and I don't care, but what does mean something to you is training, I could build you a better, stronger and more capable Gravity Simulator then anything you have access to now. We could increase the amount of gravity that you could use, right now it's only at 300 times, we could go higher with a stronger metal. The only reason why it's not higher is because that amount of the gravity can compromise…."
"Done!" He said, cutting her off. He didn't want to hear any of this science mumbo jumbo, he just wanted to train, and train hard. Anything to get him to his goal, if he needed to go to space for a little while to get it done, then he would do it.
Bulma jumped into the air in triumph. "Yes! You won't regret this!" She said, turning to leave. "I seriously doubt that." He mumbled to himself as he closed the door. Just what he needed, more time with that damn woman.