Update: August 18, 2011
Hello, everyone! Here's the edited Chapter 4!
All editing is provided by aria710! Rounds of applause and love, everyone!
Now, let's get to the story!
I don't own Dragon Ball Z.
Chapter 4
In a five star café-restaurant, Ox Chichi was in the middle of a blind date with a stranger. Both were sitting at a table in a corner apart from the rest of the tables so they could concentrate better on getting to know each other with minimum interruptions. Except the waiter that came to the table once a while and assisted them with anything they needed: food, drink, dessert, appetizers—ANYTHING!
This idea of being somewhat excluded from the other tables came from the stranger so he could work his magic on Chichi. From what he had heard through the grapevine, no other man had ever come close to Chichi with her scary short-fuse temper. He was sure there was more to Chichi that shooed away men, and he was about to find out…
As far as this blind date was going in Chichi's opinion, this man was already quite the competent candidate for the role of the future father of her children. The man came from a respectable family from high society. Yes, he had it all: the good looks, a solid education, a cool personality to match his looks, a stable job, and most importantly, trust funds! Her future children would have a great and secure future thanks to him. How dreamy-licking-licious…
Those details the guy mentioned about himself were made to gain the upper hand in the blind date with the only daughter of THE Ox-King. Ha! He was so owning her like the rest of the women he had went out with in the past. His lifestyle was true but exaggerated to some extent. But hey, he had to do it, she was THE Ox-King's only daughter! By the end of this blind date, she would be his and her daddy would so love to have him as his son in law, for marrying his sweet and difficult daughter. He heard from Chichi herself in some period during the blind date that her lifelong dream was to have her own family and become a housewife. And while that happened, he was going to do anything he wanted with the fortune amount of zeni!
More zeni, here we go!
Oh, right…It was now his turn to ask Chichi questions about her so he could pretend and act like he gave a damn.
"What do you do for a living, dear?" He asked when Chichi was taking a sip of her chai tea as she held an expensive teacup carefully with her hands.
Chichi sat her teacup down on the table and took a napkin to wipe her lips gently. With this, she demonstrated her lady-table manners to impress the man. "Oh I don't want to brag…I am a proud instructor and learning disciple of the Martial Arts Academy: Dragon Ball Z, and a part time home-school teacher. Oh and I also do voluntary work as an assistant nurse in the Western Regional Hospital once in a while and teach the sick children." She beamed proudly of her lifestyle.
The guy chuckled at her, "How cute. You sure are a busy and fulfilled woman."
"Let me tell you a little something else." She took a brief moment to clear her throat, "The founders of Dragon Ball Z, the great Son Gohan, who may rest in peace, and Master Roshi, named the Academy that because they believed with their hearts of the legendary seven dragon balls. My father was one of the people who fully supported the idea by giving the necessary funds for the construction of the Academy facilities. And I might proudly add, he was one of the first disciples of Master Roshi and Gohan's training partner. Other Masters like Master Korin became fascinated with the Academy that they are still with us today, sharing their vast wisdom with us. The Z is what-we the disciples call ourselves—The Z Warriors, in other words. Our goal is to fight for our inner peace and if Kamisama permits it one day, to also fight for world peace."
"Ah good, no wonder you are in great shape. Tell me, sweetheart, what are you looking for in a man? How is the man of your wildest dreams?"
Chichi smiled before stating her desired qualities in the opposite sex, "I don't ask much in a life partner. I only ask for him to be hard-working, serious, responsible, sophisticated, sincere, sensible, kind, a great father and role model for my children, free of bad habits, someone I could get to meet my father and impress him, have a great and respectable job while I'm taking care of the house…and if not, he has to be smart, strong, and overall…affectionate."
The guy swallowed his own saliva because he was feeling rather intimidated with the list, "Waiter! Check please!" He stood from his seat, being quite panicked, "I am positively sure you will find that man you always wanted. You are a headstrong woman, knowing what you want in life."
And with those words, he left the establishment to not be seen ever again by Chichi.
Chichi sighed: this was no big deal, it happened every single time. 'And there goes father #30 of my future children…' she took out a small notebook with a black pen and wrote down on it.
Bulma entered the café-restaurant when she noticed a man running for his life to his vehicle that was parked across her car. He was good-looking too. She shrugged it off and at that moment spotted her best friend sitting at one of the tables and walked up to her without any hesitation. "Hi, Chichi!" She smiled and took the seat where the blind date used to seat. "What are you doing here?"
"Watching how my blind date leaves me here in the speed of light," Chichi replied with her mood somewhat down after putting away the small notebook and black pen into her purse.
Bulma gave a disapproving frown and put her hands on her hips, "Hmph! He's a jerk. He is not worth the effort. He doesn't deserve to be with you." She set at ease with the next question she made to Chichi, "So tell me, do you have nothing else to do for the rest of the day?"
Chichi thought with her hand under her chin as she revised her agenda in her mind, "Now that you mention it, Bulma, I do not have anything else on today's agenda. Why do you ask?"
"Ah, that's good to hear." Bulma smiled with a familiar glint in her eyes, "Let's go."
Chichi raised an eyebrow in curiosity; that familiar glint seemed mischievous, and it was brewing with upcoming trouble, "Where to?"
"We are going to prepare ourselves to look for… The One!" Bulma proclaimed as she stood from her seat and made a pose that heroes make when they are on an adventure, encouraging their team to search for an important item in their quest. Yeah, it looked exactly like that kind of pose.
Chichi blinked her eyebrows in confusion, "The…One?"
"Yup! We are going to find our partners—whatever it takes! And we will find them this week!" Bulma took Chichi by grabbing one of her sleeves and pulled her all the way out of the cafe-restaurant to her parked vehicle, "Come on, Chichi! We have a lot of work to do!"
In West Burger and Tacos, Vegeta worked as he prepared the customer's dishes in the grill master area at a nice rhythm.
"Hello, Vegeta." Tien arrived by the side of Vegeta to get ready for his other shift. His shift at the front cash register was over, "Fancy seeing you here this early."
Vegeta grunted in response, "Pay day's today."
"Of course. You get to leave early and have the rest of the day off for yourself."
"You got that right. Did you do the usual?"
"The usual?"
Vegeta took a pause on his work to look at Tien expectantly, "Oh come on. You know what I'm talking about here…Wink, wink!"
Tien was confused at Vegeta's words that he didn't get him at all. "Care to elaborate for me? Because seriously, I don't know what you are even trying to talk or 'wink' about here."
"I'll give you a subtle hint: that frequent customer you always get to attend to during your morning shift at the front counter." Vegeta explained to Tien.
Tien thought about it for a minute. "Oh...Now that you mention it, she did come not too long ago."
"And?"
"And?"
Vegeta nodded, "Yes." He used one of his hands to motion the other to carry on, "And?"
Tien now understood that Vegeta was getting at. He wanted to know what happened between him and the customer he attended. "And we had a short chat because I had to give her the order she made. Her name is Launch, by the way."
Vegeta threw his hands up in the air in disbelief, and he shook his head, "Tsk, tsk, tsk…You really need to get your three eyes checked. Why can't you see that lady customer wants something else from you beside your service?"
"She does?"
"Why yes, it is too painfully obvious. She doesn't really want the honey buns sold in this restaurant- she wants your manly buns of steel! I congratulate you. I thought you were all square and nonsense, but you got a woman after you to lighten you up."
"There is also this other woman trying to persuade me at my nightshift."
"There's another one? Excellent! There are two! I hate to admit it, but I got to hand it to you. You got two women at the same time: absolute double fun."
"Both of them are very different. While Launch is charming, the other girl is aggressive. I think she is blonde-haired."
"Sweet and spicy…Gold."
"I'm going to work on my second shift."
"Aw, but we have yet to discuss on how you were going to go out with the two of them."
"Less talk and more work, Vegeta. I want to get paid today as much as you do to pay the bills on Monday."
"Shinhan, you are not amusing me anymore."
After Tien left to take the customers' dishes to the front, Vegeta shook his head a few times. He was just starting to get some fun-time coming from his usually serious, focused and boring co-worker, who decided to leave the topic there.
Vegeta then pondered as he made one dish after another. His deep thoughts went on about the decision he made this morning before leaving the apartment. 'Yes. I made the best decision ever. No doubt about it.'
In the past, Vegeta had tried other methods to get rich in little time. He played the weekly lottery numbers, participated in contests made numerous investments (most of them were epic losses), followed the advice of made millionaire people (in his own stubborn way, and it didn't work), pimped Goku at times (the pimp business was going well until the plan had to be aborted), and did many other things. This new plan would definitely be a success after those epic and miserable failed attempts to getting towards the ambitious goal.
"Can I know why handsome men like me are not working at the front cash register?"
Tien stopped in his tracks before coming up with his answer; Vegeta had asked him without even looking straight at his face. Vegeta used this opportunity since Tien came over to his side to pick up more prepared customers' dishes to take to the front, "Do you remember The Radditz and Nappa Incident?"
Oh, yes. That incident… Radditz, of age 27 from back then, had worked in this same restaurant with a bored expression in one of the front cash registers on one boring afternoon. He hadn't paid any attention, or better yet, never bothered to look, at what a female customer had ordered, but he did understand the following order: "One Radditz with fries and milkshake!" He'd processed the order first through the microphone that was beside the cash register, and he did it electronically on the cash register. Those were his last words before he'd disappeared…his kidnapper took him as the hottest select item on sale in a store at West City Mall.
Nappa's case was the same as Radditz, and he was 35 years old. He worked at the very same spot where Radditz last worked before getting kidnapped. He was about to take a female customer's order when said customer was accompanied by two muscled men. They both grabbed Nappa and tied him to a rope. The woman and the two men brought a struggling Nappa with them as Nappa screamed for the people in the restaurant to help him out. But the people were threatened by the crazy woman to not do anything.
Up to this day, the whereabouts of the two victims had remained unknown.
"I think it has been four years since those incidents happened. Kakarrot still cries for his kidnapped brother..." Vegeta was talking to no one specifically: Tien had already left the side to continue his work.
"Vegeta."
Vegeta turned around to find Baikamaru, and he took a pause from working. "What now?"
"Come over to The Manager's office to sign your payroll and receive your monthly paycheck."
Vegeta smirked upon hearing the words he wanted to hear for an entire month. He took off the black apron and the transparent gloves from his hands before taking his leave to the office. On the way, he thought of ways to alter his payroll and add more zeros to his check. He also must compliment The Manager on his weight loss improvement.
'No wonder he came early in the morning…'Baikamaru glared at Vegeta's retreating form,'…that bastard is so full of righteous crap.'
Back in the shared apartment, Goku was thinking carefully about on Vegeta's dating history record between middle school, high school, and college. He thought that tracing back to Vegeta's school era would lead him to a clue of Vegeta's woman choice. He did not find any job for the day, so he took the freebie day for himself to do mental research of his quest.
To begin with, pre-school and elementary school didn't count much. When he had first met Vegeta, he was already in the sixth grade and his interest in girls or catching cooties wasn't developed in the least. He was a serious and reserved boy back then. He only limited himself to caring about getting the perfect grades and having an active participation in sports, martial arts and extracurricular activities.
In the middle school period, Vegeta was yet to be interested in girls. His mindset was still the same. Although, the girls still followed and drooled on him like lovesick puppies. They thought Vegeta was interesting even if he was short and scrawny but in the working process of developing his muscles.
Between freshmen and sophomore year in high school, Vegeta was the athlete with the perfect grades and attended extracurricular activities. His interest in the opposite sex increased in the slightest thanks to the cheerleaders and teen girls with fully developed bodies. Somewhere between his junior and senior year, Radditz cracked open his eyes to girls and changed his view of them from annoying pests to another interesting new concept to explore such as the wild and exotic Amazon forest.
Radditz had done it while he helped Vegeta out in the gym to develop his muscles further, or got him into wild late night parties, which violated the school night's curfew. Radditz also taught Vegeta everything he knew about girls and women from ABC to PMS. It had been discovered at that time that Vegeta was facing late puberty: the reason he hadn't shown his interest in the opposite sex over the earlier years. However, Radditz prepared Vegeta's mind, soul and body for the process to separate the boy in him into becoming a man. He was Vegeta's mentor when he was confronting the changes in his body- from becoming a late pubertal teenager to an adult with hormones and a temper from HFIL.
As the time went by during the transition (and Vegeta grew his first chest hair for the very first time), Nappa helped Radditz out after he managed to recover from his trauma. Vegeta came to him one day with unexpected questions about sex in general along with a concerning curiosity about women and their anatomy. Turles , who was Goku and Radditz's distant cousin, donated his knowledge and expertise together with his posse when he wasn't a tree-hugger and on his own separate way. Brolly, their bipolar frenemy, somehow got involved with the situation with Radditz's and Turles's convincing words. Brolly joined in the trips to the gym as a gym partner. However, he wasn't much help when he had his own version of PMS, especially with Goku on the same room.
Anyways, Vegeta was more into women during his college days. He slept with them when studying, exams, projects, presentations, the gym, sport tournaments and practice, and clubs reunions and activities weren't filling his tight agenda. When he was not busy with his agenda, he was a bona fide ladykiller manwhore. Many of the college gals wanted to share more than a one-night stand with the hot and sexy "prince" and that's where they had it coming. Vegeta broke each of their hearts with no mercy. They either asked him to move into a steady relationship or for his hand in marriage- they were just that crazy for him.
When he got employed at West Burger and Tacos at the age of 25, Vegeta gradually lost his time with women. He became worried with paying the monthly bills and his student loans with Radditz and Nappa out of the picture. He had to take a long pause in his studies since he couldn't handle the pressure of both college and a full time job for a long time. His grades dropped. He started to get sleep-deprived and later on became addicted to caffeine, which wasn't a nice mix with his "chill pills"; it was The Atomic Bomb. He wasn't with women like he used to be in his college days. Mostly when he either wasn't too frustrated with his situation or too tired from working, he would go out with one.
"In the past, Vegeta always went out with beautiful girls and they had bodies to die for. Each of them were a slave to his needs, that he took advantage of them until he got bored and disposed of them, moving on to the next gal. Maybe he likes his women obedient, educated and helpful as a servant maid or a housekeeper? Yes, that must be it…" Goku thought out loud as he made himself more comfortable on the sofa in the living room.
To conclude his thoughts, Goku had never seen or heard of Vegeta being in a long and stable relationship with any of the women he had been with. Vegeta usually shared one-night stands or was with one woman for a specific period of time until disposed. In short, Vegeta never had a girlfriend or had ever fallen in love in his life. His past excuses were not having time for a steady relationship; no woman had ever caught his definite attention or changed the fact of him never wanting to get married.
Suddenly, there were several knocks at the front door.
"Coming!" Goku got up from the sofa and walked to the front door's direction. The trip to the door was rather short that he reached to unlock the doorknob in less than a minute. When he opened the door, it revealed two intriguing men.
"Is Vegeta in there?" One of the two asked unfriendly like.
"Eh, who are you, guys?" Goku never saw these men before in his life, so he had the right to ask for their identity! What if they were dangerous? From the looks of them, they could be! His grandfather had taught him to not judge people by their superficial appearances, but man, they were giving off an unsettling vibe waves and creepy auras! The one that looked like a pink blob thing of the two was kind of giving himself away. Anything could possibly happen with the girly-metro sexual one, the one who questioned about Vegeta.
"Eh… we happen to be old associates of his?" The pink blob finally spoke by answering Goku's curious question.
Goku wasn't satisfied with the answer, but he played along by showing warm hospitality, "Why didn't ya say so before! Come in, please! Vegeta will come back soon from work." He stepped aside so the two guests could enter the apartment. He hoped when Vegeta came back, he would get the chance to obtain information about them. Vegeta didn't have many people visiting him in his apartment for a long time and had no sense of hospitality whatsoever.
The girly-metro sexual man looked at the pink blob before approving with a nod at Goku, "All right then, we will wait for his return." Both visitors passed through the open door to reach the living room and took a seat on the only large sofa.
"Zarbon and Dodoria."
Goku and the other two looked at the opened door: Vegeta was standing at the front door. He had just arrived from his job with a 'WTF' look on his features.
The pink blob (a.k.a. Dodoria) grinned. "Well, well...Long time, no see, Vegeta."
Vegeta now shifted his gaze to Goku, "Kakarrot. Leave me with these two."
"But—"
"Now," with this command, Goku left the room quickly. Vegeta turned to his two unlikely guests when he reached the middle of the living room and furrowed his eyebrows. "What ARE you two doing here?"
"Freeza returned from North City yesterday and he sent us to investigate how his favorite person in the entire Planet Earth was faring." Now that just left the girly-metro sexual one called Zarbon. He explained sternly about his and Dodoria's motive for visiting the apartment.
Vegeta clenched his fists to his side. He was actually Freeza's favorite victim to torment, and Freeza made his life a living version of HFIL as long he could recall, from being a young child. Not only did Freeza find sheer excitement in tormenting him, but also to his own family members when his father was still alive. It was a favorite hobby of the Cold family: something that every member shared mutually in equal parts. "I've been fine, thank you very much. Now you two leave at once before I do so myself!"
"Oh but what's the rush, Vegeta? Aren't you glad to see us?" Dodoria faked sadness in his voice by Vegeta's horrible sense of hospitality.
"I would be more than glad to if you two were seven feet down and rotting along with the fucking tyrant-control freak that is Freeza." Vegeta's words were cold and mixed with resentment.
"Your vocabulary is getting more vulgar…you are mingling with lower class people. This is unlike you, Vegeta." Zarbon said in irony.
'Who are they, really? And who is this Freeza they keep bringing into their conversation?' Goku saw everything as he eavesdropped from his own bedroom. 'Whoever Freeza is, he is not a good person in any aspect.'
"Speaking of the devil, Vegeta, are you eating well? And are you taking your "chill pills" correctly? We were worried sick all this time, even Freeza himself. He sends his apologies for not visiting you in the hospital the last time you had your nervous breakdown." Dodoria was having a hard time containing his laughter as Zarbon chuckled, not holding back his amusement for once.
Vegeta glared at the two amused men with a vengeance; if only looks could kill two men or more. Freeza and those two thought his occasional nervous breakdowns were high-larious, their chicken soups for their black souls, and a source of gratuitous entertainment. Even the Ginyu Force thought the same way as them. His mental health matters were not a freak show! This was one of the many reasons why he hated Freeza and all of his colorful androgynous henchmen to death and beyond!
Goku gave an inaudible gasp; so those two and Freeza also knew very well about Vegeta's "chill pills". He wanted to punch those two badly and this Freeza for making amusement of Vegeta's weak mental health. It was not funny; Vegeta could have lost his mind and sanity in any of the moments he had his nervous breakdowns or fits of irrational rage. Those states could lead Vegeta to end up in a madhouse and in a straightjacket for the rest of his life.
"Well, judging from Vegeta's mood swings, we came at a bad time, Dodoria. Apparently, somebody in this room forgot to take his daily dose of "chill pills"." Zarbon crossed his arms to his chest with a smirk of satisfaction as he examined Vegeta's shifted annoyed expression.
Dodoria nodded his head in agreement, "Of course…but first, we are collecting the monthly payment. You owe Freeza the accrued late debt of three months."
Vegeta was silent for that moment. "I don't have a zeni in my pockets."
Zarbon raised a shaped eyebrow in disbelief. "Are you certain you are not lying to us? You know how we agreed to run business in the beginning, Vegeta. If you fail to pay your debt even one time, your brother would have to pay it in your stead."
His words had a double meaning that Vegeta understood perfectly, and he was crumbling on the inside.
'Anything but that…Kamisama, I ask you to make Freeza do whatever he pleases to me, but don't let him find Tarble and use him against me.' On the outside, Vegeta kept himself cool and collected. He could not show weakness to them by any means necessary. Another reason to hate them: they enjoyed seeing Vegeta tormented even if he was stubborn enough not to show his emotions freely. "I will pay Freeza soon; he just has to wait…"
"Ah! I remember now! Vegeta got his paycheck from work today!"
'KAKAROTT!' Vegeta growled upon hearing that moron's meddling loud mouth. How dare he say something that was not any of his business?
It didn't matter now that the moron opened his mouth loud enough for Zarbon and Dodoria to hear. Vegeta searched in his pocket for the said paycheck. When he took it out, he showed it to Zarbon before handing it to him.
Zarbon took the check and examined it as if he were making a mental calculation in his brain since he was good at numbers and analyzing. He looked again at Vegeta with a disapproving look when he was done analyzing. "Hmph. It is not enough to cover the three months. Do you want Freeza to charge you double for interest?"
"I would be paying Freeza until the last cent if I had a much better job. As much as I want to, the manager won't raise my salary anymore. I am at actual risk of getting fired if I ever ask for another cent. Most of the banks of this country deny me the loan to pay off the debt." Vegeta said honestly to Freeza's Personal Agents.
"If that is the case, then why not come back to work under Freeza? That way you don't have to pay him anymore." Zarbon offered him the only payment method to liquidate the long-term debt.
"Oh please, spare me from that misery," Vegeta changed his expression like he had just tasted rat poison, "I rather die first than going back to that situated hellhole." Back when he was working under Freeza, he was treated worse than dirt and had no sense of liberty. It was the ultimate humiliating experience for his pride. If he went back to his old ways, he was going to be like that for the rest of his life and not able to live out his life the way he really wanted to.
Then again, he had no other choice left…
"Oh I almost forgot! Vegeta keeps his all of his savings in one of his socks!"
'Kakarrot, shut the fuck up already! I had to send that to Tarble!' Vegeta screamed in his mind at Goku, hoping that message would've been transferred.
But to no avail, he went to search in his own bedroom for his stashed zeni savings.
After doing so, Zarbon took the money.
"And that covers it." Zarbon had counted the zeni carefully that Vegeta had hidden in a blue sock. It was just not only an ordinary sock; it was Vegeta's lucky sock. He and Dodoria got up from the sofa to walk through the door as if it was their cue to leave; their job was done here.
"See you next time, Vegeta." Zarbon said as he went first ahead to leave.
"Until next month!" Dodoria waved his goodbyes as he then followed behind Zarbon with a key of the apartment in his pocket. Goku gave them a copy of the key while Vegeta looked for his lucky sock not too long ago.
Goku got out from his bedroom and back to the living room. He turned to a silent Vegeta, "Who are those people? Why do they have to come here and treat you like that?"
"I…I owe Freeza a lot of zeni…well, my father does. However, since his death was unexpected, the responsibility has been transferred to me, being the eldest son. That's about it." Vegeta said quietly, unsure why he had the need to explain his financial situation with the terrible Freeza.
"...Why?"
Vegeta shook his head, "I do not want to talk about it, Kakarrot. Drop the conversation here and don't you ever bring it up again in my presence."
"Vegeta, you are my best friend, close to becoming another brother to me. I know this Freeza character bothers you to no measure. What's going on? Tell me."
Vegeta sighed and brought a hand to cover his irritated face; he knew perfectly where this conversation was rightfully headed, "Kakarrot, please…just drop it."
"I will not drop the case until you tell me why Freeza and those two men make your life a living hell!" Goku was being stubborn.
"Fuck off!" Vegeta was pissed to the point that he had raised his voice to the other. "I will not tell you anything! It is only me and my father's business! Stay out of it, you big headed moron!"
"Vegeta, I just want to help you!" Goku insisted to the angry and stubborn Vegeta.
"I never asked for your help! Stop playing the hero and savior of the people, Kakarrot! You are not perfect nor will you ever be one! You are nothing but a defective man-child moron who hit himself hard in the head in the past! You piss me off with your freaking "Mary Sue" satire when you poke your nose in every person's business and tend to fix their problems!"
Goku worked hard to keep himself under control while he took in the venom each spoken word contained. His self-control on his resentment wanted to slip and beat Vegeta into a bloody pulp; something inside him wanted to hurt Vegeta badly for his hurtful words. Goku was mortally terrified of this abnormal bloodthirsty urge to hurt—no, to murder Vegeta right from where he was standing with his own bare.
'Kamisama! Grandpa, please! Don't let the secret inner demons from the seventh ring of HFIL take over my mind and do something I would forever regret!' Goku prayed in his mind for Kamisama's divine powers for his sanity and tried to hold on to his grandfather's teachings in the martial arts as if it were his living-breathing bible.
When those urges tried to take course and flow in his veins, he feared that he was not himself but another person. That other person was more than capable of hurting his loved ones and innocent people! This gained knowledge harmed Goku over the recent years, and the fact that he was secretly that sadistic, brutal, cold and heartless bastard scared him senseless.
Goku went back to reality as he now witnessed the following: Vegeta's breathing became rigid and he started to cough from the lack of air in his lungs, looking like he was catching signs of asthma. He rushed to his side to his aid, forgetting completely about his inner demon attempting to posses him, "Vegeta! Are you okay!"
"Yeah…it's nothing. It will go away…" Vegeta managed to talk between the coughing fits, brushing Goku's helping hands aside. "Go away. I'm angry at you, remember?"
"I will not leave you in this condition; you were almost out of breath and no one else would've been here to take you to the hospital if something worse happened to you."
"Kakarrot, for the last time, I'm fine now! You can stop acting like an annoying nurse now!"
"I just wanted to make sure that you are okay," Goku finally gave up on helping Vegeta out with his problems…at least for now.
"By the way, did you find her?" Vegeta came with the unexpected question. He had recovered his breathing, which was now at its normal and flowing rhythm.
"Ah that… no, I wasn't able to find your fiancée. I'll try again tomorrow though."
Vegeta narrowed his eyes, "I see…Give me the truck keys. I need to do an important errand."
Meanwhile, Bulma and Chichi were at The Beauty Parlor after going out shopping for new clothes. They were currently doing their manicure and pedicure with specialists after doing their respective hairs.
"Bulma! Are you sure with everything we did during the afternoon, we will now be able to find our life partners?"
"Yup! For real, Chichi! We must polish our presentation so our search becomes less difficult and a lot easier! Tell me this, are you thinking of actually wearing the little black dress you got for your birthday last year?"
"No way! Only the…the, um…eh, shameless women wears it."
"Oh c'mon, Chi! You are too young to wear anything coming out from my great granny's closet! Not even my mom would ever wear them!"
"I'm sorry, Bulma. Those clothes that come from "your great granny's closet" are the clothing that I feel comfortable in. Neither you nor anyone else will make me dress as them, and they don't even have respect for themselves."
"You are as stubborn as a mule. That's why no man ever comes close to you."
"Look who's talking. Why do you want me to wear that hideous and scanty dress for anyway?"
"Didn't I tell you? There will be a new club opening tonight."
"Bulma, you know I don't like those types of places."
"Yeah, I know that, but it is only this one-time. Besides, the security at the joint is to the MAX."
"That is what you said last time when two men actually kidnapped us and my fists got us out of the danger that night…Fine then, I'll go with you…You must know my conditions."
"Right, conditions, smoditions. Blah-blah and yadda-yadda."
Vegeta returned to the apartment three hours later, wearing new clothes that he bought possibly at the mall. He wore a dark brown button shirt with short sleeves with the first three buttons already unbuttoned. His pants were a beige color and his shoes were leather, almost matching the same color of the shirt he wore.
"Well, someone looks handsome," Goku complimented all the way from the kitchen.
Vegeta threw a shopping bag at Goku and he caught the flying shopping bag without letting it fall to the floor. "In two hours, a new dance club will open in the upper town. Most of the rich people will go there and you know what that means," he crossed his arms to his chest. "Go on now, go get yourself changed; I will give you further details in the truck."
One shower and a change into the new clothing later…
"Hey, Vegeta, are you sure I must wear these duds? I feel like I'm in a monkey suit." Goku had gone out of his room, wearing the new clothes. He wore a white jacket with an orange shirt underneath. His pants were the same color of the jacket, and his belt was a brown color along with his shoes. He felt rather strange wearing the clothing since it was not his style; heck, he was not even a fashion follower! He only wore simple and normal clothes on a regular basis.
"That is how millionaire people dress up more or less, Kakarrot."
"Wow, Vegeta. How do you know so much about their lifestyle?"
"I just do." Vegeta replied simply and put his hands in his pockets. "I assume we are ready to leave."
"Yup, no doubt about it," Goku nodded his head as he went to follow behind Vegeta, who was already by the front door's entrance "By the way, Vegeta, where did you get the money to buy the flashy clothes?"
"Let's just say I asked for a personal loan," Vegeta said as Goku was closing the front door with his own set of keys.
Meanwhile, "Did anyone see my pay check!" Baikamaru was desperate from wherever he was at the current moment.
"Now, a question I'm going to ask you, Vegeta: why do you insist on going out to this dance club?" Goku asked his best friend while the two of them were walking down the flight of stairs of the apartment complex.
In Bulma's apartment-pent house, "Bulma, please enlighten me once and for all about your persistence on going to this specific club." Chichi said to her best friend while she was applying makeup to her face. Both were already showered and changed into the new clothes they bought together in the mall right before the Beauty Parlor.
Vegeta had stopped in his tracks to look at Goku in the eyes, "I am certain that I will find her, Kakarrot. Usually, I don't believe in fate but I have a feeling she will be there: the woman who will get me out of my misery." He made a cocky smirk on his face, "She will be very useful and resourceful; I will not get rid of her too easily."
Goku remained quiet at the answer, and he kept staring hard at Vegeta.
Bulma thought for a minute before looking at Chichi to give her a logical explanation after she placed her earrings on each of her ears, "I am absolutely sure I will find the love of my life in that club, Chichi. The heart tells me so…it is like it is my destiny to go there and meet my soul mate in person." She put her hands on her chest, where her heart was beating at a normal rate, "I had this hunch ever since I found out about the club opening on my phone this morning."
Bulma smiled at a quiet Chichi and put her hands on her lap, "Don't worry, I am also sure you will find your future husband in the same place. That's why I wanted you to wear the little black dress, so he would find you in a speedy blink of an eye."
Chichi rolled her eyes as Bulma gave her a suggestive wink, "Bulma, please. When it comes to love, the other accepts you as who you are, skin deep and not appearances."
"Yeah, love works strangely in its mysterious ways and maybe even for you since you are so old fashioned."
"What did you just say?" Chichi glared at Bulma with a raised and clenched fist.
"Nothing!" Bulma laughed nervously and lifted her hands as a sign of peace. She just remembered the important detail of not messing, joking or angering Chichi any further than she was. "Let's finish up or we will be late to meet our darling hubbys!"
"Wait. Why don't we invite Krillin, Tien, and Yajirobe as well?" Chichi suggested the idea, as she regained her calm and composure.
Bulma nodded in agreement so that way she could finish applying her own makeup, "Good idea, Chi! But, please, don't invite Master Roshi. I don't want last time to hit the repeat button."
Chichi took out her own C-Phone from her purse and began to dial first Krillin's C-Phone number. She put the smart phone in her ear when she was done and waited for an answer on the other line until it was picked up, "Hello? Krillin?"
"Krillin? Who is Krillin? I think you have dialed the wrong number."
"…Oh, well…I apologize."
"No problem."And the phone on the other line hung up immediately.
Chichi looked at her C-Phone with both of her hands in utter disbelief, "How funny…A woman answered Krillin's phone…" She now looked at an also utterly disbelieved Bulma. "Do you know what that actually means?"
The two of them thought for a minute and thirty extra seconds upon reaching a conclusion:
"KRILLIN HAS A NEW GIRLFRIEND!"
Perhaps they spoke too soon...
'Who is this 'Krillin'…?' Android #18 contemplated hard on this Krillin person. She happened to be the one who answered Krillin's C-Phone since the ringing smart phone device was left abandoned on the bar counter where she was sitting in a fine bar and restaurant downtown.
"Who the hell is this Krillin?" She said out loud, starting to become impatient. She was so stressed that she couldn't think clearly and had a few alcoholic drinks for her therapy.
"Miss, everybody knows him around the globe." The waiter behind the bar counter spoke to her. "It is really a shame that you don't even have the slightest idea who he is."
"What are you getting at, waiter?" She gave the know-it-all waiter a cold and annoyed look. "Out with it."
"I mean Krillin is the idiot that you personally rejected no more than ten minutes ago." He explained to the half human-android. To give substance to his words, he took out of nowhere the Millionaire People: May Edition. When he opened the magazine, he searched for an article and handed it over to her, "Take a load of this."
18 took the magazine reluctantly with one of her hands. When she read the article written about Krillin in the magazine, her eyes widened in surprise, 'It can't be…Impossible.'
Krillin was the same man she had rejected, as the waiter rightfully said. It all started when Krillin was looking at her with 'love-at-first-sight' eyes from his seat that was three seats apart from her. He had difficulty making his approach to her and talk to her since he felt shy and unconfident. 18 had noticed this and quickly misjudged him; he was short in height, bald-headed, and his attire shouted HUMILITY. But the important detail about him was that he seemed to be nothing but a poor man who earned little zeni.
To reject him, 18 had looked coldly at him in the eyes and said the following to him, as she remembered the little conversation that had occurred between them:
"Excuse me but, what the hell are you looking at? It is rude to stare at people."
"I-I…I'm sorry. But your beauty had captivated me when you entered this place earlier through the door. You are the most beautiful woman I've ever seen in my entire life."
"You think you can win me over with your cheap talk?"
"But I-"
"I would never give you a chance, not even in HFIL. Just look at you: you are a straightforward loser. Do me the favor of retiring out of my sight. You are not my type."
And Krillin left the bar, keeping the cold and hurtful words…with a broken heart.
"Krillin is one of the most successful entrepreneurs and ex-chief director of West City Bank that this city ever had in its history." 18 dropped her train of thought to look again at the speaking waiter, "His zeni grows and keeps growing like a weed in his bank account. The woman that gets to marry him will have the world at her feet and live off like a queen."
The resourceful waiter looked now at the direction of the door entrance of the bar with a smug look on his face. "Speaking of second chances…"
Krillin came back through the front door of the bar. He looked like he was searching for an item of his.
18 looked at the waiter, who mouthed: "Go get him, girl." Without losing anymore of her time, 18 took the C-Phone in her hand, stood up from her seat and walked hastily, but in discretion, towards the back of the mid short entrepreneur. "Excuse me."
Krillin turned around to find the cold beauty of not too long ago. He blushed, forgetting instantly the horrible words she had said to him. She was standing right in front of him of all people!
"Please, listen to me. I apologize for what I said to you back there…you were looking for your phone, right? Is this it?" She showed him what he was looking for.
"Yes it is. Thanks a lot." Krillin took the C-Phone and put it away in one of his pockets. Then there was an awkward silence…Krillin didn't know what else to do. Here he was with the most beautiful woman at his side, and he had cold feet.
18 looked at him and rolled her eyes inwardly; he needed a boost and obligatory help on meeting women. She used the opportunity to set their meeting in motion, "Hey, how about we sit around somewhere together and chat for a while to get to know each other better?"
"Y-yes, o-of course, miss."
"Please, call me 18."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, 18." Krillin smiled brightly because 18 somehow inspired him some confidence to talk. "And may I say what an odd name for someone so beautiful like you."
"Blame my insane adoptive father, who may rest in the depths of HFIL. He gave me the name, the life, and everything else. But enough about him, let's talk about another topic. "
"Yes, we can talk about whatever you want."
Since Krillin was a people person and learned a little of psychology in college, he quickly deducted that she never had a good relationship with her adoptive father. Perhaps that's one of the reason 18 was difficult, hard to read and couldn't possibly have a healthy relationship with other people. He felt pity for her as he was also intrigued by her unique beauty. He hoped that his friendship would help her to heal her emotional wound in order to make her a better person in the future.
A\N: And there you have it, folks! Krillin will have a new girlfriend on the way. It will be official very soon- fate is awfully generous to him.
And that's a wrap for the edited Chapter 4!
The History and Evolution Channel now brings you:
The Tuffles and The Saiyans: Two Species, One Planet
The Tuffle race was renowned for their remarkable capability of creating and developing technology and was the founding fathers of advanced science. The Saiyan race was renowned for their ruthless and power-hungry nature. The two species were different from one another but somehow lived in peace on Planet Plant.
One day, the Saiyans wanted to overthrow the Tuffles and take over the planet for them to govern with their own laws, with the Tuffles as their slaves. The Saiyans were tired of living like a barbaric species in caves, fighting to obtain their food, and the Tuffles were using them for the purpose of research and experimentation only, with death as the result of the experiments.
The Tuffles didn't agree with the Saiyans' view, and the disagreement led eventually to a war declaration. It broke the peace treaty that was already forgotten by their blinding hatred. The Saiyans initiated the attack on the Tuffles with their ability to blast energy from their hands, their brutal combat nature and experience, and the ability to transform into giant apes called Oozarus. The Tuffles had to rely heavily on their technology and high intelligence to fight back the brutal, tactical and bloodthirsty Saiyans.
After the long-intense war between the Tuffles and the Saiyans, the Saiyans won the war thanks to King Begita leading them to victory the entire time with his outstanding charisma. He took over the wasteland battlefield-like Planet Plant and renamed it as Planet Begitasei. The Tuffles' technology was what was left of the latter race. The Saiyans mastered it, and they went from a barbaric species to smart technologic-adapted beings. With said technology in their hands, they created the space pods, which they were able to fly anywhere in the universe with. The Saiyans became so ambitious that they conquered other residing planets. They were feared among the entire galaxy.
