I don't own anything.
A Legend in the Dark
Bulma Brief was many things, but a coward was certainly not one of them. And that was precisely why the phrase "curiosity killed the cat" did little to faze her.
Oh no, Bulma Brief was a very curious girl, and ambitious, too. After all, she was the heir to the biggest, richest, most famous and successful enterprise in the world: Capsule Corporation. And she was perfect for the job: Exaggeratedly intelligent, highly active, and stubborn like the devil. In fact, the young woman was so absurdly stubborn that she had ignored her parent's pleas of not going on a journey all by herself chasing some sort of wish-granting orbs that were scattered all around the globe.
She had found one of them in her basement: A precious two-star dragon ball that, along with other six of them, would supposedly give Bulma what she most wanted: a prince. A perfect prince to match her exotic beauty and whip-lash intelligence.
So instead of going to the beach or lying on the couch watching TV, Bulma's summer plans began when she left her home in search of the seven dragon balls.
She packed everything she would need, including the Dragon Ball radar she had built herself, and jumped on her vehicle, bidding farewell to her parents as she went on her quest.
Little did she know that she was up for the adventure of her life.
"Dammit!" he screamed.
His pod was beeping annoyingly and the small, cramped space inside was full of black smoke coming out of the various panels. He tried pressing buttons, tapping on the control panel, even activating the Voice Control, but nothing was working. Not even the oxygen mask. He was choking in the smoke, but there were more important things to think about. The fuel, for instance. He squinted his eyes as he once again tried to type the coordinates of the nearest one of Frieza's planets, but it was no use. The coordinate panel was damaged as well. It was displaying a bunch of zeros.
He smashed his finger against the scouter to try to contact Frieza's closest base planet.
"You've reached Base 37, coordinates…"
"This is Prince Vegeta! I need help right now! My pod is malfunctioning!" he screamed.
"If you were so kind as to give me your coordinates maybe I could…"
"I don't fucking know the coordinates, dammit! The coordinate panel is not working and I am in the middle of space."
"What spacepod are you using, Prince Vegeta?"
A wave of relief hit him. They could track his pod and make it land safely on the base.
"Spacepod 98XA98. It should be under my name." he said, nervously picking at the soft armrest.
"Hello? Soldier Vegeta? Are you still there?"
"Yes! 98XA98!"
"Prince Vegeta? Can you hear me?"
A soft buzzing sound began to emanate from his scouter and he screamed in frustration, ripping it away from his face. It began to smoke as well.
With a growing dizziness from the lack of oxygen, the young prince watched helplessly as millions of signs appeared on it, making it beep horribly just like the spacepd. He growled and turned it off. It continued smoking. He sighed and put a hand on his forehead, swallowing nervously. The tip of his tail was flicking agitatedly as he held the scouter in his gloved hands and his eyes traveled back and forth between the control panel and the small red glass of his scouter.
It was probably because he was feeling dizzy and groggy, but the prince felt acceptance flow through his body. His tense, twitching muscles relaxed and his eyelids dropped heavily. There was nothing he could do but await his faith like a warrior. If he had luck – which he doubted – a nearby planet would have a gravitational field big enough to suck his pod and force it to crashland, because, since the malfunctioning pod didn't even have a destiny now, it wouldn't use the fuel to pull away from the planets on his way. It was Vegeta's last hope. He coughed a few times and his hands fell limply on his legs.
After a few agonizing minutes, he felt a rough shake from the gravitational atmosphere of a planet and closed his eyes.
He was asphyxiating, but he tensed his muscles, hoping there was oxygen in there.
Bulma blinked a few times and yawned. She had been driving for five hours straight, but the radar hadn't shown any improvement yet. She began to seriously doubt their existence… But she was Bulma Brief! Her radar couldn't be wrong! She frowned and kept staring straight ahead, clenching the steering wheel even as her legs began to hurt from the lack of movement.
Some minutes passed before something caught her eye. It was quite big and was falling absurdly fast from the sky. And it was smoking! Could it be a meteor? She accelerated as her blue eyes widened. She suddenly heard an awful boom in the distance and screeched when her car was thrown into the air by some kind of gust. The car rolled a bit on the ground before halting.
She let out an angry sigh as she opened the door and jumped out of it, grabbing her backpack. Luckily she was not hurt, so she only cleaned her dress and took a deep breath.
"What the hell was that?" she muttered as curiosity got the better of her and she squinted. She could only see clouds of smoke rising from the spot.
She glanced back at her car and winced. It was destroyed. She capsulated it to check on it later and ran to where the impact was heard. It had been far from where she had been driving, so it took her several minutes to get there.
She froze when she saw it.
There was a huge crater on the ground. Smoke and dirt were rising from it, accompanied by a low hissing sound. She walked over to the edge and peeked inside. A big sphere was there. It was silver, covered in dust and debris, with a small purple glass at the front. She gulped. Was that a spacepod? Could it be some sort of spacecraft? Could there be an alien inside of it?
She cocked her head to the side. "Hello? Is anyone there?"
No answer.
She waited, studying the pod deeper. She crouched low and narrowed her eyes, wondering what could've made it crashland on Earth. Judging on the smoke, it was severely damaged.
She gave a short yell as it opened up. Shrieking, she fell on her butt and her eyes grew wide as she froze on the spot, expecting something to jump out of it.
Nothing happened.
Calming herself, she got up and leaned over the edge of the crater. The 'door' was open, and a lot of black smoke was coming out. She coughed when it reached her and narrowed her eyes, which watered instantly. She put a hand on her mouth and tried to see through the thick haze. A faint beeping sound could be heard coming from the inside.
"Hello?" she said with a choked voice, waving her hand to keep the smoke and dirt away from her face. "Hello?"
Still no answer.
She thought about going down, but she would probably slip, fall, and end up dirty and hurt. She decided to wait.
A groan came from the inside.
"Oh my! There's someone in there! Alive and hurt!" She took a deep breath. Aliens? Really? "Can you hear me?"
She bit her lip and weighed her options. She couldn't leave the person in there if he or she was hurt, and they probably were unconscious or severely injured so them climbing up was out of the question. She bit her lip and made up her mind, beginning to climb down the crater, trying to be extremely mindful of the sharp or loose rocks that she tried to hold on to. More than once, a rock slipped out and nearly made her fall.
"Damn you. He better be handsome." She said. "Or a really good kisser."
As she grabbed the rocks with her perfectly manicured hands – not so much after that little stunt she was pulling though – and dug her formerly beautiful shoes into the ground to keep from falling, a noise came to her ear. Footsteps. She turned her head to see… a man. And a very weird one at that.
He was wearing some kind of armor, with broken plates covering his shoulders and outer thighs. Under it, he had a blue spandex suit, ripped and bloody. He was barely standing, with one arm on the spacepod to keep balance and the other one lying limply at his side. Blood was running down his nose, mouth and one of temples and there was a large bruise on his cheek. His hair was upswept in a black flame, defying gravity, its base a giant widow's peak. Her eyes widened when he coughed up a goblet of bloody phlegm.
Suddenly, the rock she was gripping slipped out from the soil, making her lose balance and slip. She skidded down the curve of the crater, squealing, and came to a stop before the man. She looked up at him and he looked down at her. Something in his eyes made her cower and she pushed herself backwards, until her back found the wall of dirt and she squeaked. His sweaty and bloodied face turned into a fierce scowl. He growled.
"Please, don't hurt me!"
He gave a step towards her, but fell on his knees. Her eyebrows knitted together.
"Uhm… Are you okay?"
He didn't answer. After a few seconds, he slumped forward, unconscious.
"Crap, crap, crap, crap. What am I supposed to do now?" She swallowed and crawled up to him. "Damn. This always happens to me." She looked up at the edge of the crater. No way she was climbing up again, let alone climb carrying him. She put a hand on his forehead and winced. He was burning.
"Where did you come from anyway?" she muttered. She frowned in confusion when she saw the furry belt he had wrapped around his waist. It was covered in blood as well. She chewed on her lip and sat beside him, sighing.
"That's it!" she said, snapping her fingers. She reached into her fanny pack and took out a small box. Various colored capsules were stored in the box, and she had memorized each color code before going on her little trip. She grabbed the one she needed.
"Bulma Brief, you are a genius!" She giggled as she threw it into the air, and it popped.
After a swift poof, a small helicopter appeared, parked awkwardly at the curve of the crater. It wasn't much. It really couldn't hold a lot of fuel and couldn't fly very high, but it was enough to get them out of there. She stood up and put her hands below his armpits, preparing to drag him over to the aircraft and leave the god forsaken pod behind. The smoke was already dizzying her and she worried that it would explode suddenly, ending both their lives.
She couldn't even budge him, though. The man was heavy as hell. She glanced at his muscles and couldn't help the smile that climbed to her face. His tight spandex didn't leave much to the imagination, and she could see every detail of the perfectly built body that she was currently trying to save. She giggled as naughty thoughts crossed her mind and forced herself to concentrate on the task at hand. She pulled again, and again, and again.
After a while, the heavy body budged a centimeter. Her arms were already aching, but she knew that the guy before her needed help, and fast. She pulled and pulled for at least an hour, until she had him on the automatic ramp of the helicopter. She pressed a button and it activated, moving upwards until his body was inside the device. She mentally thanked her father for this little detail on the machine and stepped on the ramp, thoroughly worn out. "Damn you." She breathed out. The ramp closed and she turned the engine on.
The apparatus lifted off of the ground and Bulma tried to find an open space to put her house up in there. She bit her thumb as she looked around. She jumped when she heard a groan behind her. She turned around. He hadn't moved. At least she had put him right at the end of the ramp, so she wouldn't have to pull him down. The automatic slope would do it for her.
After half an hour, she found a clearing and landed there. She sidestepped the unconscious body and went down, activating her Capsule House. She ran inside and went straight into the small infirmary that his father had installed in the little house. It was nothing, just a bed and some first aid stuff. But what she needed was the stretcher that Dr. Brief kept in a closet next to the bed. She opened it and took it out, carrying it outside. She put it right at the other end of the ramp and re-activated it.
The man's body came down until it reached the stretcher. He was not perfectly fitting in there, but she didn't care at the moment. She capsulated the helicopter and pushed the stretcher back into the infirmary, ignoring her aching muscles.
She rubbed her eyes. It was already night. The blue-haired scientist stepped out of the shower after having a hot bath to ease her muscles and she put on some khaki shorts and a white top and went back to the infirmary to check on her little guest. After cleaning him up, she had found that he was really very handsome. And absolutely hot. He was now naked on the bed, covered in bandages and a clean, white cotton sheet. Most, if not all, of his injuries had been caused by the impact. She sat on the small wooden chair at the side of the bed and put her elbows on her knees and her head on her hands, glancing at his tail.
She smiled as she remembered the moment she had tried to take it off, finding out that it was, in fact, a tail. She had been scared, but now she was calm. So he had a tail, that didn't mean he wasn't a suitable pair for her. She glanced at the clock and got up for a night snack.
.
Vegeta's eyelids fluttered before shooting upwards. He scanned the room he was in, his body tensing instinctively at the unfamiliar surroundings. This wasn't his pod… nor was it any kind of medical bay in any of Frieza's bases. Where was he?
He noticed that he was bandaged and naked on a comfortable bed. His armor and spandex were on some table at the other side of the room. He relaxed. He was obviously somewhere where nobody had the direct intention of harming him. Hadn't they recognized him? Perhaps they were just one of those weak races that held the strong belief of helping anyone, no matter how evil? He shrugged. He had no time for this. He had to get back to his pod, get his scouter and try to communicate with one of Frieza's technicians. He kicked the covers into the air and got up. His stomach growled. Maybe he could hunt before leaving… Eating his host wouldn't hurt either.
He jumped from the bed and stretched his muscles, cracking his neck and testing his previously injured limbs. His tail uncurled behind him and waved around lazily.
"Oh… You woke up." A female voice said behind him. He turned his head and cocked an eyebrow. A girl was standing at the door. She had navy blue eyes and hair. He glanced briefly at her cleavage before turning around and grabbing his spandex to put it on. "Uhm… I'm Bulma Brief."
He kept on ignoring her. She got angry.
"Hey, you! I'm talking to you! I saved your life out there!" She waved her arms in the air and he growled.
"Cease your incessant blabbering, woman. It's annoying."
He didn't know why he didn't blast her into oblivion right away. He just shrugged it off and looked at his spandex. His left eyebrow twitched imperceptibly. It was covered in blood and ripped. He couldn't wear it in that state.
Bulma rolled her eyes.
"Whatever." Rolling her shoulders back, she turned around. "Dinner's served, in case you're hungry." She stalked out of the room and he followed her with his gaze. "There are clothes in the next room… which might as well be your room from now on!" she said as she walked away.
He frowned. Now on? What was she planning? To keep him like a pet? He growled and looked back at his spandex. Fine, he could do with some clothes. For now.
He got out and walked into the room next to the small infirmary. The room smelt like cologne and cigarette. Growling again, he threw the closet doors open, almost ripping them off the hinges, and grabbed a pair of grey sweatpants and a black sleeveless shirt. He felt awkward with the weird looseness of the clothes, but shrugged it off and followed the scent of warm food.
Bulma Brief was sitting there, reading some kind of thin book and eating a piece of cooked meat. There was an empty seat with a plate in front of it. He sat down and her blue eyes went up to him. She smiled.
"Eat it. It's great."
He raised an eyebrow at it.
"I'll need more than this." He grumbled. "Bring me more, Bulma Brief."
"Eat that first and then…"
"I SAID BRING ME MORE!" he roared, snarling. Her eyes widened minutely before she slammed the magazine on the table and got up.
"Listen here, bud! You are my guest, and as much as I'd love to serve you, you have to have manners here! YOU don't demand, you ask, okay?"
He was left gawking at her. How dare she? She was the first one that had ever screamed at him… apart from Frieza, of course, but that was an entirely different case. Who was this girl? What was she doing? He hadn't overcome his stupor when she smiled sweetly and walked over to the kitchen. "Now, I'll gladly bring you more food."
He shook his head and growled, but his stomach growled louder and so, the Prince of All Saiyans attacked the piece of cooked meat before him. It was delicious.
.
"More, woman." He said, pushing the tenth plate. Her blue eyes widened. She put the Cosmopolitan down and got up.
"Geez, have a stomach there, do we?" she said. "What's your name, anyway?"
She hadn't had time to talk to him since he had been stuffing his mouth with food. She served three cans of canned sausages and a lot of tuna on a plate and gave it to him. He devoured it in a second and looked up at her.
"Vegeta." He grumbled. He was surprised when her eyes didn't widen in fear and her body didn't tremble.
"So… what happened there? Where did you come from? Don't tell me you're from outer space. That'd blow my mind."
He cocked an eyebrow at the curious choice of words and shrugged it off as an expression from the land. He pushed his chair from the table and stretched. "I'll be going now, Bulma Brief."
"You can call me Bulma, you know. And where are you going, anyway?"
"Back to my pod." He answered. He debated whether or not to blast her off, since he did that every time he spoke to someone on an alien planet. He decided he wouldn't since she seemed to live away from the rest of her civilization and wouldn't talk to anyone about his small visit. He walked into the infirmary to grab his spandex and armor. She ran behind him.
"Wait! Why do you want to go there? It's late. Sleep here."
"I'm not staying on this planet."
"What? You're kidding, right?" He didn't know what was so weird about that. Was she so ignorant that she didn't even know about space travel? He turned around and gave her a puzzled look. "It's impossible to travel to outer space."
His suspicions confirmed, he put his broken armor over the new, strange clothes and folded the spandex, tucking it under his arm. He put on his boots and gloves and walked out the door, sidestepping her.
"Hn."
"W-wait!" she said, trying to overcome her shock. Was he mental? "Uhm… You say you're planning on going to outer space with your pod but it… it seems broken." If he was as insane as to think that he could travel to space, then he shouldn't wander alone in the dark. She would have to take care of him.
He stopped dead in his tracks. Yes, the pod was broken and so was his scouter.
He turned around and glanced at her. He debated his options. He knew Frieza's technicians were good at speculating. They could track the last transmission of his scouter and calculate the coordinates of the nearest planet with enough gravity to pull him down into a crashland. Then they'd find him. But that could take months, and that'd lead to his slow demise. If he could send a transmission and give them the exact coordinates so that they could find him faster, he'd save his ass… maybe. No, he couldn't stay.
He turned to walk outside. Bulma groaned. He was mental and stubborn. She followed him. "If you stay, I might be able to fix the pod."
"Don't be ridiculous. You don't even know about space travel. How do you expect me to believe that you can repair a space craft?" he said, crossing his arms.
"Well…" she stole a glance at his tail. What if he was an alien after all? She shook off those thoughts immediately. He couldn't be. "If I look at it I might sketch some things out and fix it for you. I'm a technological genius! I invented this! Well, me and my father." She said, lifting her arms to indicate the whole house. He raised an eyebrow, not amused.
"What? The house?"
"No, silly. This is a Capsule House. It gets capsulated and can be carried everywhere." She explained. "We invented the system. I'm an expert in mechanics and machinery… Maybe I could help you."
Why did she want to help him? He sighed through his nose and looked her up and down. Well, there was nothing to lose anyway.
"Fine. Come on, let's go."
"Now? It's almost midnight!"
"So?"
"You should wait until tomorrow. Get some sleep, you know… Heal a bit." She suddenly noticed. "Oh my god! One of your legs was broken, how are you even walking?"
"That was hours ago."
"Exactly!" she tried to find words to explain her frustration, but nothing else came out.
"If you're not coming with me, then I'm going back. Alone."
"Wait. It's late… You don't even know where it is."
He frowned and turned around, walking outside. She ran after him. He growled. What an annoying being. He powered up and blasted off. Bulma screeched and fell on her butt. "Oh my god, what the hell!"
She stared as a blue streak crossed the sky, right towards the pod.
So many things for a day.
She shakily got up and walked into the house, deciding she'd go find him when she had gotten some sleep. Maybe this was just an awful nightmare. She'd wake up any second now to find out that it had all been a dream.
