Chapter 10: There's a New Sheriff…
The skies cleared and sunlight was allowed once again to rule the mountain plain. The Dragon Balls were gone, the Eternal Dragon was gone, and everything returned to its previous state. But in the middle of all the natural beauty lay one boy would never be the same again.
Robert Barnes lay still among the shifting grasses, unconscious. Meanwhile, the wind caressed his new body, changed drastically from its original. The air gently ruffled his newly spiked hair which stood off the back of his head in a fan, slid along well-defined muscle groups, and caused his tail to flap like a windsock. Because of all this commotion, the young, and new, Saiya-jin began to awaken. Eyelids opened, and blue eyes looked upon the scenery.
Robbie was up in a flash, gently pushing himself from the ground. Or rather, what he thought was gentle. The extra power boost sent him reeling up thirty feet in the air. A scream echoed throughout the valley.
The Saiya-jin came back to ground and stood stock still, completely unnerved by what had just occurred. Still not yet awake, Robbie did not yet realize that his wish had been granted. The boy suddenly jerked as an unknown sensation came to his waist. Something was slithering around him. He was terrified to look down, thinking that some DBZ creature had him and stood ready to crush him like a bug, also not realizing that he was now more than a match for even the Tyrannosaur that had provided him such a merry escapade earlier. No mere Earth creature would be able to hurt him now.
Finally, he screwed up the courage to look down, and saw the furry appendage wrapped around him. He stiffened again, but now the appendage had disappeared. With a shock, he realized it was still there, right next to his ear. Turning his head, he saw it wavering on his right side like a snake at the mercy of the charmer. Then it hit him: this was no creature, this was him. Or rather, a part of him. Slowly, the tail relaxed to a comfortable position around his waist, and Robbie finally understood. His wish had been granted, and he was a Saiya-jin.
Immediately his lips parted in a smile, but not one of the goofy smiles that had won him dates to the school dances in his previous life. This was the sardonic smirk of a man who knew that the long awaited moment had arrived, and delighted in his first opportunity to take action. And take action he did. Robbie began to test his body in a variety of tasks.
He began with the simplest action of all: running. One muscle twitch later and he was rocketing across the mountains at over 75 mph, crossing the valley in mere seconds. He now had speed that would make Johnson break down and cry. Next, he practiced jumping, finding a tall cliff face interspersed with ledges. Three jumps and 700 feet of elevation later, Robbie stood atop the stone ridge. Jordan no longer held the title of Air Man. This was followed by a series of graceful flips and mid-air somersaults along the summit which would have caused an Olympic gymnast to run screaming back to the locker rooms, following with a barrage of kicks and punches that would have elicited a thumbs-up from Bruce Lee. His exercises complete, he stood in place, 700 feet up, and decided to attempt the real test of his power. He walked to the edge, looked down once, and leapt off the cliff.
Of course, Robbie was not trying his hand at becoming a vertical crash dummy. He was attempting what, in his mind, was the most basic of a Z warrior's skills: Flight. Trunks had implied that if he couldn't do even that, he was of no use in the coming fight. Therefore he decided to start there.
The ground came at him swiftly and inexorably. He had only seconds to pull out or he would perform the most graceful of pile drivers straight into the earth with the finality of a coffin nail. In a panic, he realized he had to get this right. Or the results would not be pretty.
Robbie's thoughts began to whirl like a gyroscope as his mind kicked into action and began searching for…what was it? What did he need, what kind of power…
That's it! Ki!
Robbie switched from searching his body and mind and instead began to search his soul. He was searching for his warrior's lifeblood, the force known as ki that would allow him first to save his neck and later to block attacks, sense power levels, and even strike back with power all his own. Yet for now he just needed the power not to go splat!
The ground rose closer and Robbie began to get desperate. He had a hold of something, glimmering in his mind, but he couldn't quite figure out how to use that quasi-tangible something. He tried to move it into his body, even just his neck, anywhere where it could be some use.
Twenty feet above the ground, it finally moved, but not where Robbie had expected, and not even really under his direction. It just sort of…twitched. One second he was plummeting toward his doom, the next his hand flew out, palm down, and a bright flash erupted. It took the shape of a ball and slammed into the ground directly in front of him. Dirt, grass, and a huge shockwave ricocheted back and Robbie was hurled off his flight, or rather fall-path, and backwards into the stone cliff face. The impact knocked the wind out of him, ripped his shirt, and scraped the skin from his back, but a few seconds and twenty feet later, he was on the ground again, though unceremoniously so. He looked around at the ten-foot wide crater he had made and then fallen into with a disinterested sort of satisfaction.
Whatta ya know? I made a ki-ball.
He was a bit surprised that he would learn that technique first, but decided that it would be best to start there, where he didn't have to worry about killing himself if he just plain couldn't do it. At least with a ki-ball or blast, if you screwed up, it was still going away from you, not toward you.
So Robbie began his first training session. Without pressure, trainers, or even enemies, he simply tried to find his ki, form a ball with it, and launch it at some unsuspecting cliff face. After about an hour, he could launch one at will. They weren't very powerful, only making scorch marks on the stone faces, but Robbie knew he had to start small. He couldn't tell if that was his old self or his Saiya-jin self instructing him.
Almost without realizing it, he began to picture their faces on the cliff walls. All around him, he could see the sneering faces of the Androids. In some places, it was Seventeen's fierce countenance, in others, it was Eighteen's cold mask of frozen beauty that mocked him. He continued his attacks, but now they were growing in intensity, and Robbie did not notice at all. He soon found himself consumed by the same emotion that had gripped him on Namek as he clutched a distraught Bulma to his chest. Except this time it was felt by a Saiya-jin heart. A heart beating inside a body now capable of responding to that anger.
Slowly, his attacks grew in ferocity. The ki-balls grew in size and power, and they no longer simply scorched the exposed rock, they pulverized it. First the craters were a foot in diameter, then two, then three, and finally five as Robbie stepped up his speed and rained violent power on every crag and precipice he could see. On every thing that bore the faces of his enemies. He began with both hands, then brought them together for another burst of power. Within minutes explosions resounded through the peaceful valley in unending succession and the Earth shook with valence power. Growing tired of simple energy, Robbie leapt forward and engaged the now masticated cliff walls in a series of punches and kicks, bringing down many stone monoliths. Only when every feature of everything in his sights was completely decimated did he stop.
Following this, Robbie's energy and battle-lust drained from him, and he slumped to the grass. He was completely exhausted from is exercises, and sprawled out flat on the ground. Yet in spite of it all, Robbie reveled in the pain. It was good, and it meant that he was now capable of something, as the decimated walls of the valley bore testament to.
Robbie stood once again. Turning slowly, he surveyed his creation, or rather, anti-creation. Deep in his primeval psyche, ruled by instinct, all seemed right and good to him. He no longer viewed the sneering faces of the Androids anywhere. He was about to declare victory when he realized that the Androids were never here at all, but still lived in a time beyond this one. The very shadow of their existence filled Robbie with another wave of fresh rage, and he growled audibly. Then, snapping into action, he sprinted across the open field and back to the time machine. He began punching in commands with manic speed, and was about to wink out when he realized what destination he had just laid in. He was about to head back to Earth, presumably to challenge the Androids. The only problem was he had left Bulma on Namek, and if he didn't go back and get her…well, let's just say Robbie wasn't very confident that even his new Saiya-jin powers could save him from her wrath.
Robbie shuddered once, then changed his course to include a stop on Namek to grab his woman. In a moment, the Time Machine was airborne and shooting through the temporal streams to its destination. In minutes, Robbie was standing once again on the surface of Namek.
……..
Not far from the place of the new Saiya-jin, a woman lay inside an alien building. She lay on a plain steel cot, covered only with a blanket, for the owners of the building had no need of superfluous comfort. It was here that she slept. Here she slept and dreamt. For her in her mind, she was not on an alien world, lying alone. She was on her home world, and next to her companion, the one she loved. Bulma Briefs dreamt, and remembered.
She awoke that night drenched in a cold sweat. The dream had come to her again. No, the nightmare which had haunted her for the past three nights. Her love, her life, gone, leaving her alone to raise their son in the shadow of a terrible evil. It was the one thing she feared more than anything. She needed him. She needed Vegeta, alive and well, and not dead on some godforsaken battlefield.
She looked over to his side of the bed, and panicked. He was not there! She looked all around the room, thinking he would be sitting in a chair, or doing a few hundred push-ups before bed, but his presence was absent. She trained her ears to listen, but all was silence. No creaking floorboards to herald his approach, no sound of creaking doors, no breathing, no footfalls. The home was quiet. Naught stirred.
"No…" Bulma breathed silently. This could not be happening, she told herself. The dream could not come true. Vegeta could not be … gone…
Bulma began to panic. A cold vice gripped her heart. Her hands shook and her palms grew slick with sweat. Slowly, her blood began to freeze inside her veins, and in her heart. She looked even more frantically, and still could not find the object of her need. Finally, the panic took complete control and she lost herself amid the fear.
"Vegetaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" An anguished wail stormed the halls and passages of Capsule Corp. Resounding from walls, it traveled down every corridor and continued long after the voice that created it fell silent.
One moment later, a black flash tore into the bedroom, shattering the door to pieces and sending them everywhere. The flash stood at the foot of the bed, one hand glowing with a dark blue light. The flash spoke urgently, albeit angrily.
"What is it?! Are you hurt?! Did you see a monster?!" Vegeta stood his ground. Bulma merely blinked a few times. Vegeta's teeth remained clenched and the room was still full of his ki. The energy he was exuding made her hair stand on end. Bulma blinked a few more times, and finally accepted the reality of what was in front of her eyes. Her love was safe, and very much alive. Inside, it felt as if every cell in her body breathed a sigh of relief.
"Umm…nothing…"she stammered, now a more than a little embarrassed at her emotional upsurge. This seemed to ease the Saiya-jin prince, and he released the ki-ball in his hand.
"Gods, woman, I thought you were being tortured! That's the last time I go check on your brat without telling you! I just hope for both our sakes that he doesn't wake up and start bawling his fool head off. Although, if he can nap through seven of your 'scientific discoveries' which nearly destroyed our home, I suppose even your hellish screeching won't disturb him."
This seemed to satisfy him, and he crawled into bed next to Bulma, rolled away from her, and lay silent. Bulma wanted to do the same, but her soul was still not quieted, even by the obvious proof that Vegeta was alive and not going anywhere anytime soon.
"Vegeta?"
"What?!" He growled.
"Sorry, I just wanted to know where you were so late."
"Where else would I be, but in the training room?"
"Yeah, I guess you're right. I just got a little worried is all."
"Ha! Remember this, woman, it's MY job to worry about your weak carcass and your whining brat, not the other way around. A human worrying about a Saiya-jin elite, how foolish!" Bulma huffed a little at this.
"So you're saying I'm NOT supposed to worry about the health and safety of my stubborn, pigheaded HUSBAND?!"
"Not when your husband is a seasoned warrior and you're just a weak woman!"
"Fine then, I won't worry about you ever again!"
"Please don't. It's unbecoming of you, as well as annoying."
"So you're really okay?"
"You're the one who was screaming for help, remember?"
"I know that! I just thought…I thought maybe something happened to you. And I was really scared that you wouldn't ever be coming home."
"What ever gave you that stupid idea?" Bulma paused, unsure of how to continue. 'Should I tell him?' She thought, 'Oh well, the worst he'll do is laugh at me.'
"I've been having dreams, no, nightmares for the past few days. Terrible ones, where you were dead. You and everyone else were gone and I had to raise Trunks all by myself. Tonight, I woke up and you weren't there. I just thought that…maybe it had come true, and I was truly alone." From the darkness on the other side of the bed, Bulma heard a series of low 'hmphs.' Vegeta WAS laughing at her! "Do you think this is funny?!"
"You think I could be so easily killed! HA! I'm a Saiya-jin prince, and I don't plan on going anywhere until I choose to. There isn't a being on this planet or any other that can kill me, so your dreams must be wrong. You won't be getting rid of me for a long time to come."
"Oh, okay then." She was silent for a few minutes. "Vegeta?"
"What?!"
"Could you tell me that you love me? I…I just need to hear you say it. Just once."
"Arrgg…you can infuriate even the strongest of nerves sometimes. I won't spout your weak human words, but I will say this: I completed the Saiya-jin bonding rite with you. You are my first, last, and only for such an event. If nothing else, this alone should satisfy your unwarranted curiosity. Now go to sleep before your idiot brat decides to steal such a precious opportunity. Even my endurance is beginning to run low."
"Alright then, goodnight." '…and sweet dreams, my love.'
The very next day, the impossible happened, and after that fated battle on an island southwest of South City, the Great Vegeta, Prince of Saiya-jins, fell to the inexorable power of the Androids. Bulma's nightmare was realized in all of its hellish entirety: her true love was dead, along with all of her life-long friends, and the Earth was plunged into a darkness from which it could not escape.
Bulma rushed back to reality with a dull cry. Her throat was still raw from her outburst earlier, and thus could not produce as much sound as it undoubtedly would have. It took Bulma several seconds for reality to set in until she fully awoke in the present. Still, the past remained a major ghost in her mind. Finally, she rubbed her puffy eyes and looked around. She wasn't in her home, obviously, since whoever decorated the place seemed to have a taste for…well, anti-taste. Even 'Spartan' would be too good to describe the spare dwelling.
Bulma pulled the covers back, set her feet to the floor, and began to walk out the door. Immediately the sun struck her sensitive eyes, and she shielded them from the blinding glare. In increments, she began to open them…and what her sight fell upon was enough to almost send her back into la-la land.
She saw a man standing in the grassy field before her. His hair was long, black, and spiky. He was muscular. A tail whipped lazily in the wind behind him. His tail. Bulma shut her eyes one more time and then forced them open. Looking again, she recognized the figure.
"Robbie?" The figure turned and finally noticed her.
"Hello, Bulma. It's good to see that you're awake." There was no doubt in Bulma's mind that it was the strange boy from another Earth, but…how the hell did he turn into a Saiya-jin?! She ran to him.
"Robbie! What happened to you?!"
"Oh, you mean this?" He said, waving a demonstrative hand over his new form. "I took a little trip while you were resting. Using the time machine, I went into the past to the time before you ever met Goku. There, I used the Dragon Radar and the machine's jump ability to gather up the Dragon Balls from the past, and made my wish."
"And you wished to be a Saiya-jin?!"
"Yup."
"Why?! Why would you do something so radical?"
"You know the answer to that. Didn't you hear Trunks? He said he wouldn't help me unless he could defeat the Androids. I know for a fact that he won't be able to do it on his own for a long time, so I decided to give him a little help."
"Oh, not you too!"
"I don't mean to scare you Bulma, but when Trunks goes to fight the Androids, and there is no doubt that he will, I'm going with him. And together we're going to win."
"I don't think so! Neither of you are going anywhere near those two, especially not my one and only son. So you can get those crazy little ideas right out of your head!"
"Sure thing, Bulma." He said, walking off in the direction of the time machine.
"I mean it," she called after him, "you'd better not even try it, or you're dead meat, buster!"
"Right." Robbie continued walking. He sighted a few of the Nameks and decided to go thank them for the hospitality they extended during their brief stay. After a gracious and verbose 'you're welcome', Robbie headed for the time machine with Bulma close behind. He walked with a new respect for the Namek people, and he no longer thought of them as just comic relief for an anime series, but as real people with hopes, dreams, and determination all their own.
Bulma, meanwhile, followed after Robbie. From behind, with the sun shining above him, and the wind striking him full on, he looked completely changed. He stood taller, and his gait was stronger, more sure. He walked ramrod straight, with his hands fisted, his head level, and his tail wrapped tightly around his waist. Indeed, she would think he was a man, if not for her knowledge of his tender age. He was fifteen, but she knew that his boyhood was now past forever.
Robbie leapt up into the cockpit effortlessly, becoming more at home with his new body as the minutes and hours passed. Bulma climbed up the ladder and found him sitting in the captain's chair, eyes set dead ahead, ready to go. She took her place on his lap and activated the engine. Robbie absently noted that he did not respond to her the way he had previously, but attributed it to his newfound sense of self-control, a trait that was absent in his previous thought processes.
"Are you ready to go, Robbie?"
"Ready when you are."
"Right, let's go!" Bulma ignited the engines, and the craft rocketed from the surface, soaring into space. Once in Namek orbit, Bulma slammed forward on the levers, and the craft winked from sight, bound for Earth, and inevitable but unknown destinies.
…………………..
A quick apology to all. This chapter is obscenely overdue, and I pray that you all don't collectively try to hunt me down. Anyway, I plan to keep the updates coming, and I will try to get his finished very soon. Also, I have decided to add a shout-out section, so that I will be able to personally respond to all reviews. Here's the deal: leave a good review, get a good shout-out.
Codemastar: Your interest is greatly appreciated. I definitely plan to continue to the end.
B leeding while b reathing: Damn, that's a morbid name. I like your last one better. Thanks for the vote of confidence. I'll take this opportunity to beg for an update on Love Me Not. It's a really great story in spite of some myriad mechanical errors, and I really like it.
Animeduchess. Hopefully you're not reading this shout-out, but if you actually are, than I have nothing to say to you.
Chico: Thanks.
You loser: I really wish you were brave enough to leave an email address, or your pen name, since I would love to respond to such an underhanded blow. I sincerely hope you read this and gain a little maturity. Right now you have less than my thirteen-year-old brother. And he acts like he's ten.
Nothing Extraordinary: Thanks.
Kiyone Signatta: Thanks for all the faithful reviews. You'll be getting another SO in the other fics. I must ask you: if you were going to a world full of certain danger, no matter how sweet, wouldn't you be just a little frightened? I, for the record, would wet myself.
Christina: How enthusiastic! I'm happy that you hold me in such high esteem, and I will not let you down as I continue on.
Specifywhatisuck: You, my friend, have the funniest, original, and creative name I've ever seen. Big congrats. In answer to your question, I didn't send him to GT because I haven't seen any of those episodes, even now. In fact, I don't have a solid grasp on the series after the Androids, only bits and pieces from Cell and Buu. In addition, Mirai Trunks is my favorite character of all and I have a severe crush on Android 18 *drool*. And that is my insane moment of the day. Thanks for your support.
RavenMirage: Glad you like it. I can understand why you wouldn't have found it, since I had not been updating for a while until chapter 8. Not to mention that there are tens of thousands of DBZ fics, making it easy for my itsy bitsy one to be lost among the sheaf.
Thomas Drovin: You want more? I'll give you a truckload and then some. This story will be pretty long, and there will be at least two sequels, one of which will cross with another story I'm writing for another fandom. *cracks knuckles* This is gonna take awhile…
Vegeta'z-gurl: I feel sorry for any female belonging to that animal. Actually, he ain't that bad…Thanks for the reviews.
Fireyone233: Hold yer horses! I'm going as fast as I can! I'm literally buried in a thousand other things, and fanfiction is kinda near the bottom, but I will try to get updates out there. Thanks for your enthusiastic support.
Chiichobi: Now this is unexpected. Thanks muchly for such a massive review. It's a good sign of interest when someone writes a lot. Thanks for an addition to the Author alert, but I think you messed up on the Favorites, since I don't see you in my stats. Thanks a lot!