WHAT DARKNESS BROUGHT.
CHAPTER 1 – What's done in the cover of darkness?
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN DRAGONBALL/Z/GT.
ALL CHARACTERS ARE A PRODUCT OF AKIRA TORIYAMA.
This story may contain Nudity, Sexual Themes, Violence/Gore, Strong Language, and Ideologically Sensitive.
A/N: -thought- "speech" (mental speech) *internal conflict/conscience*
He was consumed, obsessed with his loss against the foul creature he once called 'master', Frieza. He had been beaten and brutally killed by the Icejin lord. Not long afterward he was revived just as the final battle had begun, arriving just in time to see the newly born Super Saiyan in all his golden glory. To think that he, 'The Prince of All Saiyans', was outshone by the third class simpleton, Kakarott. He had to beat him his honor and pride roared for it.
The warrior in question had arrived back on Earth days ago with a new tried and perfected technique. Kakarott called it 'instant transmission'. Once the younger Saiyan had learned everything he could from the people he had taken refuge with after Namek's explosion, he left planet Yardrat, homebound. He was able to cross the wide expanse of the galaxy in seconds. Such a technique could prove more than useful if the prince was able to learn it. The prince's lips twitched with a hint of a smile as he thought of how to obtain the information. He would just have to pluck the knowledge from the man's mouth as he watched him die. Vegeta knew from experience that people or beings were very talkative as their death came upon them. He figured that the idiot would be more than happy to divulge his secrets along with the key to Super Saiyan transformation. Kakarott would do it out of love for his mate and brat, while under the impression that their pathetic lives would be spared.
Vegeta had spent a great deal of time since he had come to Earth on a fluke of a wish carefully devising a plan. He would be in the other man's shadow no longer. He would take back his honor and claim the title of 'Strongest Warrior in the Universe' by stripping it from the bastard's shoulders.
He palmed the 'Dragon Radar' from the woman's lab weeks ago and begun to collect the dragon balls meticulously, spacing out his excursions into the wilderness so as to not draw any suspicion of his intent. Once he retrieved the last ball he waited until the right moment to summon the Earth's dragon and begin his revenge.
The lightening ceased and with it the great green reptile vanished and seven yellow-orange streaks of light, stretching across the sky from a centralized point where the dragon had once been. Vegeta had made his wish and marveled at his newly regenerated tail. The pain that dropped him to his knees as it burst forth from his skin and sinew was well worth it. He flicked the prehensile appendage back and forth in front of his face and smiled at it as if he was greeting an old friend.
Bulma's snarky words echoed in his ears. 'How do you know that you can truly beat him if you wish yourself immortal? When you have won, how would you know if it was truly 'your' power that was the reason for his defeat?' She spoke to him truthfully, but never thought it would actually happen. She laughed to herself. 'It would take you an eternity to match Goku in strength and by that time we would have all died from old age.' She had become too trusting and complacent of her murderer of a house guest.
-Any moment now Kakarott and his lot of misfits are sure to arrive to investigate the dragon's appearance. Unfortunately for them it's already too late.- There was no doubt in his mind that they felt the dragon's immeasurable ki. He desperately fought to urge to look at the newly restored moon. The beautiful celestial orb was the reason for his furry companions return and he marveled at his missed strength. He would wait until Kakarott arrived so he could watch as the spectrum of emotions cross his face from question to absolute mortification as he gasped his last breath.
Vegeta had carefully chosen a night to wish it back that coincided with the Human's calendar that depicted when it would be full again. All of the pieces to his carefully laid plans were falling into place. Now, all that he lacked was the guest of honor, his foe, the exiled Saiyan known to Earth as Goku.
Bulma was working tirelessly when then the building seemed as if it was going to be shaken off from its foundation. She braced herself against the wall and a counter to keep from falling to the floor. After the tremors subsided she rushed out the door into the darkness of the night to see what the cause could have been. What she saw before her was both an expected and startling sight.
Her eyes scanned the minor damage around the compound before she noticed Goku and Vegeta were locked in a stare off. Two craters, one at either side of her long time friend's feet from where she deduced Vegeta's warning blasts had dug furrows through the yard before exploding in the distance. She rushed up to the two of them to stop this madness. Vegeta was closest and his back was facing her. She reached up and lightly touched his shoulder and then wrapped her hand around his bicep to try to coerce him from this fight. If Bulma had seen his face, she might not have approached the prince in his feral state. He was blinded with the goal for the completion of his revenge as he began to transform into his Oozaru form. He didn't see 'Bulma'. He saw a mere hindrance and batted it away and effectively removing the nuisance of an obstacle.
He ripped his arm out of her loose grip. Soon after she was met with the back of his hand to her abdomen and was sent sailing into the outer wall of her home. Her head hit the domed structure first with a wet crunch of skull. A millisecond later her body followed suit. The sudden stop forced all of the air from her lungs and the blackness swallowed her under shock induced unconsciousness. Blood trailed behind her as she slid down the wall into a crumpled heap.
A sharp gasp left the Earth warrior's lips as he looked back at his childhood friend that lay presumably dead. Rage etched its way into his face as he charged the massive were-ape monster. "VEGETA! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" Goku screamed as he transformed into his Super Saiyan form.
The two warriors fought through downtown West City. Goku was desperate, there were a large amounts of casualties a collateral damage. He had become so wrapped up in the fight that he didn't think to use his newest technique. He placed his fingers against his forehead once he got out of the rampaging Oozaru Vegeta's way. He was ready… now all he had to do was get close enough to touch the Oozaru transformed prince and then he could transport them to a barren and uninhabitable area to where no one would be hurt… save for the prince and himself.
Dr. Briefs had witnessed all that had happened to his daughter and rushed to her side. He checked her pulse to see that she was still alive. Bulma was hardly breathing and barely clinging to life. He scooped her up into his arms and carried her at a rushed pace to the Capsule Corps Infirmary. "Bunny, call the medical staff, now! Let them know that I'm on my way with Bulma. Tell them that she is badly injured without giving them too many details how it happened."
By the time he arrived with his daughter the onboard medical staff was prepped and ready to go. She had lost a severe amount of blood, but blood was not something they had readily available at Capsule Corps infirmary. Dr. Briefs only chose the internal hospital because how dire the situation had become. Also, he didn't want the knowledge of his daughter's condition to reach the public and the staff at C. C. was bound by 'Gag Order' to speak of nothing that went on the Capsule grounds or anything that involved the Briefs family.
Goku appeared before Dr. Briefs. The doctor looked worn and worry made him look much older at this moment than he actually was. Goku could only assume that he was grieving his daughter's death. "She's not going to make it, Goku, my boy. She's lost too much blood and she'll not make it in time to a hospital… I've given all that I can and her mother is of a different type… My concern for the public… It's my fault…" The man was falling apart yet he still struggled to hold himself together. He reached into his front pocket and fished out his cigarettes. He put one in his mouth and then he shakily bought his hands up to cup the end and light it with a lighter be pulled from his pants pocket. He took a long deep drag and then released the nicotine infused smoke a short time later. The smoke circled around him like an eerie dark halo.
Goku dismissed the doctor's admissions of guilt and focused on what was more important at this moment. "What about me? Didn't you once say I had a universal blood type?" He desperately pleaded with the doctor.
"Goku…. That was before we knew you were Saiyan. If we transfused your blood into her it could kill her if the blood is rejected…." The doctor tried to help the young man before him see reason and get him to see that it was a lost cause.
"Well we're kind of running out of options, doc… You said she's going to die regardless… So we might as well try if there's a chance to save her life!" His voice took on a serious note. It was the tone he often used in the midst of a battle. It was the same tone that he used against Frieza.
The doctors eyes widened and he took the cigarette from his lips and threw it down on the floor crushing it under foot. "You're right! A Brief doesn't give up in the face of adversity!"
They entered and Dr. Briefs had his wife escorted from the room. He explained to his staff what they intended to perform and the possible outcome if it should fail. He made it known that he was grateful for all that they had done to preserve his daughter's life and that he didn't hold them at fault to any measure. Another bed was moved into the room beside Bulma and Goku lay down in the vacant bed beside her waiting to begin.
"Are you ready, my boy?" The doctor asked with a needle in hand that was attached to tubing. At the other end Bulma had the opposite end already inserted into her arm waiting to receive her pardon or her doom.
Goku was unordinarily calm as the doctor asked the question. He kept silent and nodded his head to let the doctor know that it was alright to proceed. He stiffened when the needle grazed his skin and was inserted with a sharp sting. Other than that he was stone still as the doctor released the clamp the kept the tubing free of air. As Goku's powerful heart pounded with his life's essence, through the tubing it traveled to Bulma pouring into her.
Nearly Four Hours Later…
Goku turned his head away as Dr. Briefs clamped the line then removed the needle from his arm. Goku was given gauze from the nurse and told to put pressure on the place where the needle had been. The young Saiyan could swear that the needle was still inside of his arm from the faint sting he felt as he moved the limb. "Is she going to be alright?" He asked to doctor almost as if he was afraid of the answer.
"Only time will tell, lad." The doctor patted Goku on the back and then left the room to retrieve his wife for these may very well be the last moments she would spend with her… their daughter.
The warrior looked over at Bulma's bone white face. She was a patchwork doll of stitches, bandages, and bruises. Sweat coated her pasty skin and hair stuck to her face with perspiration and dried blood. Her breathing was labored and every so often she gasped as if it were her last breath. Those moments Goku thought he felt his heart stop as if he didn't expect her breathing to pick back up again.
Goku looked up from Bulma stilling his movements and then whipping his head as if he heard a sound coming from that direction almost as if someone called his name. He felt the dark familiar ki approaching, a ki that could only belong to one man, Vegeta.