TITLE: Reality Crisis
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Dragon Ball Z or anything related to the franchise
RATING: T for language
He was woken by the constant sound of water droplets banging against the floor. Struggling to open his eyes he realized he's ki level was unnaturally low. The last time he felt so week was after being beaten to a bloody pulp by kid Buu in the afterworld a couple of years ago.
With great difficulty, Vegeta finally managed to open his eyes which subsequently got stung by the sharp, artificial light in the room. He found himself lying in bed, in what seemed to be some sort of a cold, white cell with barred windows and a heavy iron door. There was nothing in the room except the bed he was occupying and that damn leaking pipe in the ceiling, which woke him up in the first place. Vegeta also noticed he was wearing nothing but a white V-neck T-shirt and loose white pants.
"That's not Capsule Corp.'s hospital ward" he said quietly to himself, getting up to inspect his surroundings.
His head was heavy, his vision clouded but he still managed to maintain his balance. As he suspected, the door was locked, which normally wouldn't be a problem for the mighty Sayian prince, but at that moment he could barely stand on his own so summoning his ki to form even the tiniest energy blast was out of the question.
What the hell is going on here? Where am I?
He had half a mind to start banging on the door while spewing a wide plethora of insults and threats aimed at whoever was responsible for his predicament, but eventually decided against it.
I've gotta find out what happened and who's behind this circus before I tear this place apart. This better not be one of Trunk's or that idiot Kakarrot's stupid pranks. Either way, heads will roll!
Vegeta let out a low growl, as his irritation started to escalate. He couldn't remember what had happened to him and trying to recall the latest events only caused a massive headache.
He took off his T-shirt to inspect his body for cuts and bruises but found none. While examining his head, something else caught his attention. His hair! Somebody had cut his hair! It felt short and unruly, as if refusing to proudly stand up the way it used to.
His body looked different as well. His massive biceps and abs were gone, and judging by the visible ribcage he was now sporting, he must have lost a lot of weight. In fact, he looked downright skinny. His skin was unnaturally pale and the numerous battle scars he'd obtained during his time under Freeza rule had mysteriously vanished!
That's not my body! Vegeta mentally exclaimed, struggling to push back the surfacing feeling of terror. He wasn't unfamiliar to creatures fully capable of transferring their consciousness into their victims' bodies, trapping the original "owners" in their own - Commander Ginyu being one example.
No, don't panic now! You're the prince of the most powerful warrior race in the whole universe. Think! Try…try to think!
His inner pep talk didn't work that well this time. He found it hard to form a coherent thought feeling so weak and helpless, even though Vegeta was used to functioning in high-stress situations. Hell, to say his whole life had been one giant high-stress situation would be a huge understatement, but he'd never let his guard down. He was cold, calculating and clever. Many a time his wit, rather than his strength, saved his tail form impending doom.
Yet, at that moment, he felt tired. He was drained both physically and mentally. There was no plan, no clever way out. He could only hope his wife and son were safe at home. Home… he really must have gone a long way from trying to destroy that mud ball of a planet called Earth to end up actually calling it his home…
His thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of footsteps at his door (how come he couldn't register any ki sources approaching? He really must be out of it). They were men, at least two of them, talking to each other, laughing?
Vegeta briefly considered ambushing them, but if he learned anything from his former master Freeza is not to initiate an attack without knowing the exact numbers, power levels and weaknesses of the enemy. With his senses apparently numbed, he wasn't able to gather much information about the approaching figures, so he sat on his bed and waited for the inevitable encounter.
Vegeta heard a clicking sound and a moment later, just as he anticipated, two men stepped into the room. The first one was a medium-height, overweight, bald man, whose pale skin had an odd pinkish hue. Despite his bulkiness he appeared to be relatively strong. The other one, tall and lanky, looked much more sophisticated, effeminate even, sporting long brown hair pulled into a braid. His facial features were soft, almost feminine, but his cold, green eyes betrayed his malevolence. Both were clad in white scrubs, similar to the ones he'd seen on Capsule Corp.'s medical staff. Somehow the two seemed awfully familiar to Vegeta.
Dodoria? Zarbon? But that's impossible! They're dead. And how come they look so..so human!
Vegeta was so taken aback by the unexpected reappearance of the despised duo, that he completely froze.
"Time for your meds, Prince" said the taller man as he pulled out some white pills and handed Vegeta a plastic water glass.
Vegeta scowled at the disdainful way the man stressed his title.
"Who the hell are you two? What is this place? I demand…" Vegeta started his tirade but was cut off by the taller man.
"Before you decide to throw a fit again, I suggest you swallow these" he calmly said handing Vegeta three white pastilles. "Do not test my patience today, I'm not in the mood for your nonsense".
Vegeta responded by snatching the glass and throwing its contents along with the pills in "Zarbon's" face.
"Go fuck yourself Zarbon!" he yelled while jumping into a defensive stance.
The bulky man just rolled his eyes at Vegeta's display. "He's at it again" he murmured more to himself than to his soaked colleague.
"It's always the same with you!" the Zarbon-look-alike yelled in Vegeta's face. "Just take these damn pills or I'll shove them down your throat! I'm not joking Ian!"
Vegeta was so enraged by the man's threat that he almost didn't register the way he'd been addressed. Ian? Who the hell is Ian?
One thing was certain though, he wasn't going to let them speak to him like this. His ki was still completely blocked out, but he wasn't going down without a fight.
"You filthy bastards" Vegeta hissed. "Dou you know who I am? I'm the pr….."
"Yeah yeah, the prince of all Sayians, a warrior race of space monkeys" the obese man interrupted. "We know the story kid. You've been retelling it for years now".
Seeing Vegeta's confused expression, the man continued.
"Look, we still gotta visit Santa Claus next door, and there's a couple of Elivses waiting for their meds as well, so stop causing trouble, take the pills and get your deluded ass back to bed so we can go about our day, will ya?"
That was enough. With an enraged snarl, Vegeta launched himself at the obnoxious fat man, aiming his shaking fist at his opponent's nose. Before he could land a punch though, Dodoria's doppelganger grabbed Vegeta's wrist and twisted his arm behind his back while using his own superior mass to force Vegeta on the floor.
Vegeta tried to break free, which basically amounted to kicking, trashing and screaming, but the truth was, he felt overpowered like a small child trapped in the other man's powerful deadlock. From the corner of his eye, he could see "Zarbon" taking out a syringe and loading it with some translucent liquid.
"It's always the same with you Ian" the taller man repeated his earlier comment shaking his head in resigned disapproval.
He approached Vegeta and grabbed the prince's left arm preventing any movement by pressing his knee down the smaller man's wrist.
"Sometimes I really do wonder what screwed you up so bad" he continued his taunting while lifting Vegeta's sleeve up.
"Get the fuck off me you freakish blob!" Vegeta shouted, hearing his increased pulse pounding in his ears.
As much as he tried not to panic up to this point, the jab of the sharp needle reaching his (puny) bicep made Vegeta scream his lungs out, not so much out of agony but out of fear and hopelessness.
Suddenly he felt even weaker than before. His body became completely numb and his fluttering eyelids felt heavy as if somebody forcefully tried to shut them down. His vision blurred and his breathing became more steady and even.
Everything seemed so quiet all of a sudden, as his mind was slowly succumbing to the comforting blackness of unconsciousness.
He could feel being lifted and laid in bed. The last thing his senses managed to register was an increasing pressure on his wrists and ankles. Then everything went black.
TBC…
Author's note: Hi! Thank you for reading the chapter. This is my first DBZ fic but I've been following the fandom for a long time. Finally, I decided to contribute. Hope you like it.
Please let me know what you think. I have the whole story planned out but I'm open to suggestions. I'm a relatively unexperienced writer so feedback would be very much appreciated. I really would like to improve and your help is necessary for me to do that so please R/R.