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Chapter 3

Conflict

The army was made and their leader would be pleased. The thug led the army of thugs into the woods to find Dark Vegeta's cave. After an hour of walking they found it deep within the forest. The thug went to the entrance and cleared his throat.

"Dark Vegeta," he called into the cave, "Sir, are you here?"

Silence answered him, but then from behind he heard a voice, "Ah, yes, lovely. You have done well, there are hundreds of them. Surely this task will be easy for you."

The thug turned about to see Dark Vegeta standing amongst the ranks of the thug army.

"All for you, sir," the thug said with a proud smile on his face.

"Yes, and once Bulma comes back from her little trip, we will set the plan into motion," Dark Vegeta said, "For now, rest easy, knowing that within a week you will be rich."

The thug smiled and nodded, calling his army off and leading them away.

Dark Vegeta couldn't help but chuckle at the foolishness of the gullible criminals. They would do their part masterfully and then they would be disposed of. Dark Vegeta went back into his cave and sat down, resting his head against the rock wall. He closed his eyes and allowed himself to sleep with dreams of glory and revenge.

Vegeta decided to take the day off since he had trained three days in a row. He decided to walk through the city looking for something productive to do.

He decided he would play the part of a superhero if need be, just to amuse himself, but as of now he was just looking for someplace to pass the time by. He quickly found what he was going to do when he saw am electronics down the street.

He went inside of the electronics and entertainment store and immediately went to the television center where there were different stations with a large couch and big-screen TV at each. Vegeta sat down on one of the couches and began watching what was on the TV.

It was some sport, Vegeta knew, but he didn't know its name. Men wearing round helmets and armor on their bodies crouched in a line across from another set of similarly dressed men. The man in the center of one of the lines of men tossed a strangely shaped object to a man behind him, and the men in the line began to push the men in front of them. The man who had received the strange object started moving backward, and then he threw the object to another man who was wearing the same colors. The man caught the object and ran down the field until the announcer screamed, "Touchdown!"

Vegeta was extremely interested in this game, so when someone who worked at the store walked past, Vegeta stopped him.

"Excuse me," Vegeta said, "How much is this television?"

The man looked at the price tag that was hanging off the screen, "Three ninety-nine."

"I would like to buy one," Vegeta stated.

The man showed Vegeta where the TVs were at and the saiyan prince lifted the box with ease and went to the checkout register.

A young woman, barely out of her teens, stood at the register. Vegeta placed it on counter and made sure it was properly balanced.

The girl looked at him, unimpressed, and quickly checked the price code, "Four hundred."

Vegeta reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet, fumbling with it until he pulled out his debit card. He swiped it through the card slot and the transaction was complete.

"Do you need a bag?" the girl asked sarcastically.

"Shut the hell up, smartass," Vegeta said, glaring at the girl.

He picked the box up and went out of the store. He couldn't wait to try out his new TV, so he blasted off into the sky. Unfortunately, before he made it to Capsule Corp., he heard a woman scream from down below. He sighed and dipped downward. He landed on his feet roughly, all the while glaring at the mugger. He was trying to get the purse away from a middle-aged woman who, by the looks of it, was struggling to keep the mugger at bay.

Vegeta rested the box containing the TV casually on his shoulder, "I think you should leave the lady alone."

"What are you going to do about it, Shorty?" the mugger asked with an almost toothless grin.

Vegeta lifted the box off of his shoulder with one hand and gently placed in on the ground next to him. He began walking over to the man with a scowl on his face.

The mugger released his grip on the purse and went into an awful street fighting stance that left him wide open. The woman didn't run away, though, instead she backed off a bit and watched.

The mugger threw a jab at Vegeta, but the saiyan prince dodged quickly, only moving his head off to the side. A cocky smile came to Vegeta's lips and he moved forward. The mugger staggered backward, but regained his composure and went for another attack. His fist came forward quickly, but Vegeta caught it. He then slammed the man into the brick wall, knocking the mugger unconscious.

The woman went up to her savior and thanked him over and over. Vegeta, having picked up a few of his son's comic cooks, had learned a few superhero lines, now was his chance to use one!

"All in a day's work, ma'am," Vegeta said while putting his hands on his hips and puffing his chest out heroically.

Vegeta grabbed the TV box and shot into the sky while shouting, "Up, up and away!" leaving the very confused woman behind.

Minutes later, Vegeta landed in the Capsule Corp. yard and noticed Piccolo sitting cross-legged in the yard.

"Hey, Piccolo," Vegeta shouted to the green man.

Piccolo looked up and noticed Vegeta holding a big box.

"Do you want to help set this baby up so we can watch the game?"

"Sure," Piccolo said while getting up; he needed a little break from his worrying.

The two walked into the main building until they got to the living room. Vegeta set the box down and walked over to the old TV and began unplugging all the wires. He kicked the old TV and its wires out of the way, and then went to the box and opened it, pulling out the large television with ease. He then had Piccolo help him try to plug everything in the right spot.

"I think this goes here," Piccolo said, plugging the audio plug into the video slot.

"Maybe we should read the directions," Vegeta suggested after everything they had tried thus far had failed.

Piccolo read the instructions and told Vegeta what plug went where, and within the next half hour it was plugged in and ready to go.

Vegeta plopped down on the couch followed by Piccolo, and then the prince of saiyans grabbed up the remote and turned the TV on. He flipped through the channels until he found the game he had been watching at Best Buy.

"Oh, cool, football," Piccolo stated, "Man's favorite sport."

"Football?" Vegeta asked, "But they're not using their feet except to run around and when they kick the ball when they need to. And I wouldn't call that thing a ball; it's not even similar to a ball."

"I know, it's strange, but it's still pretty entertaining to watch."

So then they sat on the couch for hours watching the football game.

They had six dragon balls now and they were getting closer to the last. Goku held the four star ball, staring into it, remembering his grandfather.

He and Bulma were now way in the north and snow surrounded them in every direction. Bulma saw signs along the road saying that there was a town five miles from their current position. She needed to stop for gas, so she decided to stop in the town to get gas and maybe even spend the night there. So she kept driving onward, hoping the mobile home wouldn't run out of gasoline before they got to the town.

Luck was on their side, for the mobile home not only made it to the town, but had gas to spare. Bulma drove into a gas station and went to the door of the vehicle.

"Goku, I'll be right back, I'm going to fill up the tank and then I'm going to go get some groceries," Bulma told the saiyan sitting in the passenger seat.

Bulma put on a winter coat and hat and exited the vehicle. She walked down the steps into the snow and every time she exhaled steam would puff out of her mouth. She went to the gas pump and began pumping gas into the tank of her vehicle.

Goku set the dragon balls off to the side and went directly to the fridge; Bulma had said she was going to get groceries so he decided to "clean out" the fridge to make room for the new food items going in it. Goku opened it up and began eating everything in the fridge; he even drained the last of the milk.

Within five minutes the fridge was entirely cleaned out and Goku was throwing out the containers that had held the food that he had just eaten. Goku then sat back down in the passenger seat and waited for Bulma to return.

Fifteen minutes had passed when Bulma finally returned. She carried two bags of groceries and she immediately went to the fridge and opened it. She gasped audibly and then turned an angry glare Goku's way.

"Goku!"

"Yeah?" Goku replied innocently.

"Did you eat all of the food in the fridge?"

"Yeah, you said you were going to get groceries so I thought I'd eat all the stuff in there so you could fit everything you bought in there."

"Goku, I only bought a couple of things," Bulma explained irritably, "Now we have hardly anything!"

"Well, can't you go buy more stuff?"

"I wish I could, but they only take cash and I used what I had left to get the groceries!"

"Why didn't you bring more money?"

"Because I didn't know that you would be stupid enough to eat every goddamn thing in the fridge."

Bulma's words felt like a slap on Goku's cheek. She had hurt him. She had called him stupid many times before this moment, but it was different now; she had said it in anger. Goku turned about in the chair and stared dead ahead, not willing to look at Bulma.

Bulma immediately regretted what she had said and tried to apologize but Goku wasn't listening. After trying several times she gave up and got into the driver's seat, started the car and began to drive to their final destination.

Piccolo rolled his eyes, "That was the big conflict that was going to tear Goku and Bulma apart?"

"What?" Vegeta, who was sitting next to Piccolo, asked.

Piccolo's eyes widened, "Nothing…"

Vegeta jumped up and grabbed Piccolo by the front of his cape, "Tell me what you said!"

"My godly senses sensed that something was going to, uh, break Goku and Bulma's friendship apart," Piccolo lied, hoping that it was enough to satisfy Vegeta.

The saiyan prince sent Piccolo curious glance, but then he shrugged and sat back down to continue watching the game.

Piccolo sighed with relief and also continued watching the game.

Bulma came to a large mountain that was glowing at the top, suggesting that it was a volcano. Bulma brought out the dragon radar and extended it to Goku. He didn't look at Bulma when he ripped the radar from her grasp and left the vehicle. Bulma said a word of good luck but Goku slammed the door in the middle of it. The blue haired woman put her head in her arms and let out a muffled cry. She shouldn't have yelled at Goku, and now he was mad at her because of it. She wished she could make it up to him, so she decided that when he came back she would hug him and cry as she apologized.

Goku looked at the dragon radar and saw that the ball was somewhere inside of the volcano. As he flew upward he noticed it getting closer and closer. Finally it said that he was directly on top of it, but the only thing he saw in front of him was rock, but then he looked closer and saw a small opening. He reached inside of it and produced the six star dragon ball. He then began to descend slowly.

Bulma sat in her seat crying, knowing that she had screwed up, but she was determined to work things out, that's how all couples did things. But then something crept into her thoughts that she hadn't thought about before. Goku had been married to Chi-Chi for a long time and she had always argued with him and probably called him stupid on many occasions. So when Bulma, the one who Goku had come to love, had called him stupid, it had been devastating to him.

"Oh Goku," Bulma whispered, "I'm so sorry."

She heard a knock at the door of the mobile home and she quickly ran to it. She opened the door and looked out, seeing nobody. She then looked down and noticed the last dragon ball resting on the top step. She bent down and picked it up, looking around like mad trying to see Goku.

"Goku!" she screamed into the wind. "Gokuuuu!"

It was no use, Goku was already gone.

Bulma went back into vehicle and threw the dragon ball across the room, screaming in frustration. She fell to her knees and began sobbing heavily. She cried for many long minutes, but eventually found the strength to get up and get into the driver's seat so that she could begin driving back to west city.

"Damn it, Goku," Piccolo said suddenly, "what the hell is wrong with you?"

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Vegeta asked, emphasizing the "you".

"Goku left Bulma all alone, just because she called him stupid," Piccolo stated without thinking.

"I call him stupid all the time and he never runs away from me," Vegeta stated matter-of-factly.

"Yeah but it's different with her, because…" Piccolo stopped himself before he finished.

"What the hell is going on?" Vegeta demanded, "Is there something going on between Kakarrot and Bulma?"

"No, what makes you think that?" Piccolo said, trying his best to keep his cool, "I was just going to say that it's different because Bulma is Goku's oldest and closest friend, and to hear her call him stupid is like a kick in the face."

"I guess," Vegeta said, though he still was suspicious.

They both turned to watch the game.

Dark Vegeta sensed it all; Goku's leaving, Bulma's distress, and Vegeta's suspicion. He knew that Bulma was on her way back to west city. Now was the time for action. Dark Vegeta left his cave and went to find his thug.

Two days later, Bulma was back in Capsule Corp., but she never came out of her room. She had left the dragon balls in the mobile home, and didn't bother to capsulate the vehicle. She spent most of her days crying or looking at old photos which ended with her sobbing.

Vegeta didn't understand, though he suspected that something was going on between his archrival and his wife. Vegeta usually kept his distance allowing his wife some space. He stayed in the TV room and watched the game with Piccolo. He continued watching the game, not knowing the horrors that tomorrow would bring.

A/N: Well, that's all I have so far. Review, tell me what you think and perhaps I will finish it. I don't plan on making a part three for it doesn't seem like many people like the Dark Vegeta stories as well as my "meant to be" story. Besides, I like Meant to Be story better.