How Time Flies

(This story was inspired by an episode of the Power Puff girls, and for those of you who have seen the episode, this plot should be quite familiar to you.)

Vegeta stretched and laid back on the beach chair, letting his skin soak up the sun. "Finally, a vacation," He said picking up his pina colada and sipping it. "No evil villains, no bad cooking, no annoying children running around. Just a whole week of peace and quiet…"

Goku nodded and signaled a waiter. "I don't know how you talked Bulma into it. I mean, it was really nice of her to pay for all of this. How did you do it?"

Vegeta smirked and took another sip of his drink. " I have my ways…"

The waiter walked over and smiled at Goku. "Can I help you sir?"

"Yes please, can you get me another margarita?"

"Certainly Mr. Son. And what about you Mr. Vegeta, would you like more pino colada?"

Vegeta glared at the man. " What does it look like? The things almost empty, of course I want more. And be quick about, I'm sure this hotel isn't wasting their money on you for nothing."

The waiter picked up both glasses and smiled, even though it was obvious how forced it was. I'll be right out with your drinks. Turning, he walked off, muttering.

Goku shook his head at his friend. "You shouldn't be so mean ya know. He was just being polite."

Vegeta narrowed his eyebrows even further. " The only reason you're here is because that woman invited you. So do me a favor and just don't talk to me for the rest of the vacation."

Goku grinned and sat up. "Hey, I have an idea! I'll race you around the pool!"

Vegeta lowered his shades and raised an eyebrow at him. "Gee, I didn't think you were the kind to break rules."

Goku jumped off the chair, and stood there smiling at his friend. " No silly! I mean, let's fly around the pool! Better yet, a quick lap around the resort. Loser pays for dinner tonight!"

Vegeta smirked. "You're on!"

Both of the men jumped up and knelt down on one knee on the ground, both eyes glued to the sky. After a few seconds, Goku started counting. "3….2….Hey wait Vegeta, you cheated!"

Vegeta laughed and shot through the air, knowing only Kakkarot would be stupid enough to fall for that trick. And then, Goku shot past him. " Cheater's never win, and winners never cheat!" Goku called back to him, and grinned as his friend's fury began to show through. He powered up and flew after Goku, until he was practically neck and neck with him.

*FLASH*

"Heeeeeeeeey, I have,have, and idea. Let's race race race! Loser pays pays for dinner!"

"You're on! You're on! You're on!"

"threeeeeee……….twoooooo…..you cheated, you cheated, you cheated!"

*FLASH*

Goku and Vegeta finished their lap and landed back near the pool. Or at least, where the pool should have been. Both of them looked around, completely stunned.

The resort had been reduced to rubble. There was a massive mountain of rusty pipes and rock, and where the pool had been the was a deep empty crater in the earth. No one was in site, but then again, they had no idea why they expected someone to be there.

Goku was the first to speak. "What…what happened here?"

Vegeta shook his head, just as shocked. "I have no idea…this is impossible…we…we would have seen it happen." He shook his head again and pinched himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming. Suddenly, both of their head shot up.

"Bulma!"

"Chi-Chi!"

Goku nodded at Vegeta. "I'll go with you to see if Bulma's ok. Then we go check out Chi-Chi and the others. I hope nothing's happened to them…"

Both of them took into the air and flew off

A few minutes later, outside Capsule Corp:

Vegeta rubbed his eyes. This had to be some bad nightmare, and he was going to wake up. But he knew this was no dream. The entire top half of capsule corp has been blown off. Jagged edges of what was the left of the giant dome building jutted into the blood-red sky, the white dimmed to a dusty gray. Scorch marks spotted the front lawn, and sitting there, a grave…

They both walked over to it, not wanting to see what the tombstone read. Goku knelt and slowly read the words, tears filling his eyes. "Bra Briefs, age 16, dead July 15,2236. Died in battle."

Goku looked up at his friend sadly. "Vegeta, I'm sorr-"

Vegeta turned his back to Goku and walked inside. Goku wiped the tears from his eyes. Bra died in battle…what battle? What had happened in the few seconds of their race? This just couldn't be…Bra…dead. "I hope the others are still alive." He said quietly as he got up to follow Vegeta. But something told him no one had heard his wish…

**************

The lab was dark and dingy. Destroyed machinery parts lay scattered around, and broken test tubes and vials were broken on the floor, many leaving nasty chemical burns on the table. This was the last place Vegeta'd seen Bulma, and he hoped she was still here.

That's when he saw her. A figure sitting there, rocking on her knees, a wrinkled old lady with mangled and knotty white hair. She didn't even acknowledge his presence. She just sat there, rocking and rocking, talking to herself.

" We're just going for a week woman. We'll be back. For a week. We'll be back. I sit here waiting…and then he comes. They'll be back. In a week. They're coming back woman. In a week. But then he came. Going for a week. Be back…"

Vegeta approached the figure slowly. Staring at her for a second he gently placed a hand on her shoulder. "Bul…Bulma?"

The lady looked up at him. At that moment, there was a cough as Goku entered, waving the dust from his face.

She stared at both of them, and lept up. "GET AWAY FROM ME!"

Vegeta stepped forward and placed both hands firmly on her shoulders. "Bulma, you've got to tell me, what happened here?"

Bulma wriggled free and crawled behind a table, her legs obviously too weak to support her weight anymore.

"GET AWAY! WHY WON'T YOU LEAVE ME ALONE! GET AWAY!" She grabbed a piece of metal and threw it at him. "GET AWAY! LEAVE ME ALONE I TELL YOU! LEAVE ME ALONE!"

She continued to scream and throw things at them, until finally they both shot up out of the roof, and floated above the building. Bulma had stopped her barrage and was curled up again, rocking slowly, muttering to herself again.

Vegeta shook his head, still too stunned. He didn't even notice it when Goku put a hand on his shoulder and teleported them to the son household. The landed right on the front lawn, except this time, Chi-Chi was waiting for them. Sort of.

She was standing there, pimples and wrinkles all over her face, her clothes smelly, torn and baggy. She waved at them, or in their general direction anyways, but by the way her eyes were glossed over, it was obvious she didn't even see them.

"Bye Goku. Have fun on your vacation. Have fun. Goku. On your vacation. Bye."

She continued to chant in the same monotonous voice Bulma had used. Goku approached her, while Vegeta went to inspect the two stones stuck on the front yard.

"Son Goten, died in battle. Son Gohan, died in battle. Goku, where were you?"

Vegeta shook his head and turned to look a Goku, who was already standing over him. Vegeta turned back to look at Chi-Chi, who wasn't even phased by their presence, kept waving and talking to the empty air.

Goku massaged his forehead and didn't even bother to hide his sadness as tears rolled down his face. " I'm sorry guys…I don't know where I was." He said choking back a sob. Vegeta raised a hand, hesitated and crossed his arms again. Everyone needed to mourn in his or her own way. Goku's just happened to be more open than his was.

Suddenly, there was a voice behind them.

"Well well well look who's back after all these years."

Both men looked up, and almost instantly, fury rose within them. For floating there, an evil grin on his face, was Frieza.

He laughed at them. " Sorry if there's no warm welcome for you. I'm afraid there's no one left to celebrate. Well, no one in their right minds that is." He said glancing at Chi-Chi. Looking back at them, they both were flying up at him, SSJ4, both prepared for attack.

Frieza had no time to react as Goku's fist connected to his jaw. Falling back, he looked up just in time to see Vegeta's flying at him, and before he knew it he was caught in a barrage of kicks, and then a blast from Goku finally blasted him in the back. He punched Frieza repeatedly, pummeling him into the ground. Finally, Vegeta fired multiple final flashes at him, until there was nothing left but a huge cloud of smoke. Looking over, Goku saw that Chi-Chi was standing just at the edge of the crater they'd created, still waving into the air.

There was a noise from the cloud, and as it cleared, frieza was lying face down in the ground, laughing. "Is that the best you can do boys?" He stood up and brushed himself off. "I must say, that was fun, but now, let me show you real power"

He began to grow and change, his horns getting smaller and smaller, and finally dissapearing all together. He growled slightly, smirked at them, and there was a bright flash. They rubbed their eyes, and when they could see again, Frieza towed over them, crackling with power.

"You stupid boys. This is what real power looks like. There's now way you're going to be able to beat with that puny power level. You'd need to be at least SSJ10 to be somewhat of a match for me, if there is such a thing. But wait. I bet you're wondering how this happened right? Well, let me tell you. By going on your happy little race, you went so fast that you outran time. So, by the time you stopped, you'd ended up years away from the actual day. 50 years to be exact." Frieza laughed at them, and waved his hand. Floating in front of them, were shadowy figures, all of whom were staring at them with dead, souless eyes.

"Tousan…" Gasped one figure, stretching bony fingers at Vegeta. "We called for you…you never came. Why did you let us die Tousan? Why?"

"Tousan… where were you? I tried to save mom…I died trying to save mom…and where were you? Tousan, we needed your help…why didn't you come?" Another figure wheezed, stretching bent and skinny fingers at him. A wisp of hair fell from her face, revealing a face that once might have belonged to a pretty young girl.

Another gripped onto Goku's arm. "Dad…didn't you love us anymore? Why didn't you help us? It's your fault…all your fault…"

"Dad…Piccilo..we lost dad. Because you didn't help us. Why? Why? Didn't you come? This is all your fault…"

They figures pointed their fingers at him. "It's all your fault…it's all…your fault…it's all your fault…it's all your fault.."

They both looked shocked and started shaking their heads. "No…we…didn't…do it…."

"Heeeeeeeeey, I have,have, and idea. Let's race race race! Loser pays pays for dinner!"

"You're on! You're on! You're on!"

"threeeeeee……….twoooooo…..you cheated, you cheated, you cheated!"

Goku gripped his head. "No…I didn't know…I didn't mean to…I'm sorry…NOOOOO!" With that, both of them flew into the sky, the disappearing into the same time tunnel that had brought them there.

**********

At Capsule corp:

Bulma and Vegeta lay side by side in bed, staring up at the ceiling. "Well, you've talked me into it. I guess I can pay for your trip…"

Vegeta sat up abruptly. "NO!" He said, almost shouting.

Bulma looked startled. "Umm, wasn't that the whole reason you bought me up here in the first place?"

Vegeta shook his head. "Yes…but…look, forget I even mentioned the vacation. I'm not wasting my time lying by some pool when there's training to be done. He got up, put on his clothes, and stomped from the room, muttering to himself.

Bulma turned over to her stomach and propped herself on her elbows, watching him go. "And they say we have mood swings…" She muttered as he walked out. Yawning, she flipped back over and fell onto her pillow, slipping into a peaceful sleep.