Author's Notes: I HAVE INTERNET! Yay… Thanks for all of the wonderful reviews. This is a short chappie, but I hope you'll like nonetheless. Oh, and this story will definitely comprise of 25 chapters, so there's four more to go after this one until the sequel.

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragonball Z nor did I create it, the rightful owners of the series are Akira Toriyama and Toei Animation. I'm just writing a story in the world Toriyama created with the characters he created. The story I make up is my own.

Chapter 21: Talents of Exaggeration

At six o'clock in the morning, a yawning Dr. Briefs had put Capsule Corporation's access to electricity back in order, a steaming cup of coffee in hand. But even though the morning of the nineteenth of August has passed into that of the twenty-second by now and electricity has been working all that time, things have still not returned to normal.

'Damn that erratic female,' Vegeta muttered to himself as he entered the living room.

The woman was still watching TV, just like she had been when he'd left her to it the evening before, snuggled up in the same stupid blanket, watching the same stupid shows (it was something of a marathon), and with the same neglect of everything that went on around her.

She didn't notice his presence until he resolutely turned off the TV by pulling out the plug.

"Hey! I was watching that!"

"Make me food."

"Ask my mom or a robot."

"Now."

"It's bad for the TV to turn it off like that, you know. What if it stops working?!"

"Then I'll finally have peace of mind. Now get at it."

Bulma frowned.

"Is it even morning-time already?"

A vein started throbbing on the saiyan's forehead. She was taking this too far.

"You can find your way to the window to go see yourself."

He left the room and went into the kitchen, pulling some cupboards open himself. It was too tiring to wait around for the woman to do as she was supposed to. Especially the last couple of days. She'd either been watching TV or been busy "improving electricity" down in the basement-leveled laboratory. He hadn't seen her go to bed, although he'd found her sleeping on the couch more than once, and she hadn't appeared for dinner, only eating actual nutritional food if her mother brought it to her personally. Otherwise she was just stuffing herself with strawberries, chocolate and ice-cream… it was disgusting.

The disobedient, obnoxious female had put the plug back in and continued to watch the human idiocy that was on when Vegeta passed the living room a glance again, dry toast in his right hand. It was infuriating. Without a word, he left the compound and took off, into the sky, leaving her to her newfound insanity. Again. A hollow sensation settled in his chest… He wouldn't be able to put up with this much longer.

"Eh, Bulma? Just a small question?" a lavender-haired man in a white lab-coat tried to address his occupied daughter cautiously.

It took some time before his message progressed in her brain, but he waited patiently for her to turn around until she finally did.

"What is it?"

"I was wondering what that translucent, purple shield in the basement is supposed to do…"

Her face lit up. "Oh! It's working, then? I'll show you." And she suddenly found herself able to turn off the TV with the black remote control and hop off the couch, leading her father to the strange shield he'd just brought up.

She was wearing a baby-blue fleece suit, obviously designed for wear at home, intended for relaxation. The heiress called it her 'lounge-suit' proudly. Her hair had been put in a slightly sloppy braid with a red ribbon very much like the one she used to wear so often.

Unnoticed by her father, the aqua-haired beauty shivered slightly as she took the first bare-footed step upon the cold tiles of the sterile laboratory. She ploughed on almost carelessly until they'd finally reached the brilliant protective sphere she'd made.

"Look, dad," she began her explanation. And she tried to put her finger into the lucid lilac layer that seemed to be nothing more than a vibration of air. Her finger stopped exactly an inch before it could touch. "I am trying to get through, but I can't until I switch this –", and she pointed to a blue button almost invisible in the wall, "off," she finished with a smile.

Dr. Briefs blinked. "But, the point?"

Her jaw dropped open. The density of her father could be so damned aggravating!

"To protect our emergency power-supplies I spent time perfecting the last couple of days, of course! An explosion can't get through; guaranteed."

He adjusted his glasses on his nose and scratched the back of his head.

"Well, it's great to have electricity with that much protection, I suppose, but are those measures really necessary? It's always fixed within twenty-four hours, after all, and if it wasn't for me blowing up the emergency stack, it would've been fixed much sooner."

"Ugh! Which is exactly why I've put a protective sphere around our emergency stack, dad."

"Oh. Yes. Well, I guess you're right then."

"Meow."

"Yes, that's true, kitty: we won't have to mind ourselves about the electricity ever again. If it wasn't for you always working alongside me… Good thinking."

Bulma knitted her eyebrows together. "What do you mean, 'we don't have to mind ever again'? What about maintenance? We don't want catastrophes like the one we've just had!"

"Catastrophes?"

"Argh!"

And she stormed off without another word, leaving a very startled scientist behind her.

Did her dad not understand anything? She might not have Yamcha back when they'd make their wishes to the dragonballs… It all depended on what wishes would be made. And if the green inhabitants would want to leave, they'd have to put one of their own wishes aside. The least he and everyone around her could do for her was making sure she had all the luxury she needed every second of every day! How would she manage in medieval circumstances like on Namek, where she couldn't even take a hot bath to push her worries aside? Well, decapsulizing a spare house in the garden was always an option if need be… But that wasn't even the point.

In all honesty, she wasn't sure what was, but it was important that she had electricity whenever she wanted it, wherever she wanted it. It was something of a safety-net. Besides, it would be bad for the reputation of the company if people in the neighborhood noticed they couldn't even keep their own power sources in order… They could lose clients that way!

She sighed. She needed sleep. She wasn't thinking rationally.

So at eleven o'clock in the morning, the heiress finally turned to brush her teeth and settle down on her bed in her lounge-suit. She covered her bare feet with the fuchsia sheets and fell into a deep sleep as soon as her head touched the pillow.

Blasts of yellow light lit up the dim area consisting of nothing more than steep rocks and dark clouds that settled around their peaks. The winds were extreme here, but this didn't bother the saiyan prince in the slightest. To the contrary. It was exactly what he'd wanted and what he hadn't been able to find anywhere else on this planet.

Finally a type of weather that did something. The warm summer just seemed to drag on forever were West City lay, and he was glad to experience something different for a change.

Besides that, experiencing a different weather-type than those on the compound experienced was liberating in a sense. Like he had nothing to do with the bunch of idiots; like he was really somewhere else. Not on earth. More specifically: just not in their vicinity. And definitely out of the vicinity of the woman and her sudden TV-addiction.

Just thinking about it made him angry. She was acting like a lifeless robot, following some kind of programmed routine that had been installed into her brain.

He'd tried to instigate her into arguments, and she just hadn't responded. There was no liveliness, no spirit… at least there hadn't been until he'd pulled the plug out of the device that had to be made by hell-born humans this morning, and he had won nothing that way, because all her agitated response had been about was the damned TV.

Fuck!

Thinking about the woman had messed with his concentration, and the blasts that had been circling around him, neatly avoiding each other, had been taken by a gust of wind and caused a huge explosion. There was debris flying around, and he protected himself with his arms while he hung in the sky, smoke blocking his vision.

When the smoke cleared, he saw a lot of the steep rocks had gone missing, and there were no longer fierce winds where he was floating. He'd been trying to control the movement of sixteen ki-induced blasts simultaneously… the mess was to be expected after the collision.

His underarms were stinging somewhat. Probably a couple of scratches from impact… which was what you got when you didn't pay attention!

He made fists as he berated himself. He was a warrior prince, the royal of royals of what were supposed to be the mightiest people in the universe, and he was slacking off so badly that he allowed himself to be hurt in a routine practice because his thoughts were with a stupid alien woman that needed help with even the insignificant act of opening a jar.

It was infuriating and way too much to bear. He set course for Capsule Corporation again, vowing that he would destroy the TV this time if she would be watching…

A knock on her bedroom door. She opened her eyes.

"Bulma, honey? I've made a bowl of fresh fruit for you."

"Oh, sure… come in." She sat up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and taking a look at her alarm-clock. Ten past four in the afternoon huh? That really proved she'd needed this.

Her mom put the bowl on her fuchsia sheets and looked up at her. "I've been worried about you, is anything the matter? You've been so closed off and gloomy lately."

"Gloomy? No I'm not gloomy. There's nothing to worry about, mom. I just need a little more beauty-sleep. I'll take it easy and go to bed early and I'll be back to normal in no time."

She yawned and stretched elaborately to prove her mother she was fine and stood up, taking the bowl off her bed. "I'll eat this in front of the TV and just relax there until dinner."

Bunny was pleased. If she was joining them at dinner again it probably hadn't been that big of a problem… maybe it had been hormonal.

The woman hadn't been around when he returned to Capsule Corporation, at least not in the living room, so the TV had been spared for now. He'd taken something from the kitchen cupboards that would have to serve as lunch for now (where had the darned ditz left all the pre-prepared sandwiches?) and flown off to see if he could train without losing his concentration for once. He couldn't permit his mind to dawdle at the woman and her crazy activities. It was inexcusable. He had better things to think about. Greater things.

So he'd taken a free-fall into the lake again, rinsing his mind of everything unnecessary that clouded his vision and impeded him from reaching into his full saiyan potential. He swam underwater for as long as his body allowed him to without extra oxygen, perfecting his control over the behavior of his ki-blasts in the different laws of the underwater-world.

After he felt he couldn't improve his control more at present time, he flew around the globe a couple of times before returning to the compound, testing out his speed. He was free of unnecessary thoughts and very pleased with himself when he walked into the kitchen.

It was only natural that the pre-prepared sandwiches could be found in the middle cupboard again; the blonde oblivion had been late in noticing, but she knew she had to serve him like she was supposed to. After all, he was royalty!

He ate half of the sandwiches that she'd stocked while sitting at the kitchen-table and then proceeded to enter the living room. That damned cuckoo-clock had just let him know it was five o'clock. He was annoyed at having been let know in such a fashion, but didn't mind the thought that it meant it wouldn't take too long before dinner would be served.

But it was the annoyance that outmatched the latter sensation by far when he saw the woman sitting in front of the TV again. Mindless, just like her mother. Nothing but blank staring. No creativity, no biting intelligence, and not even the bothersome thoughts she felt she had to voice at times… just nothing. 'Long live liberty', she'd called it. Well 'long live liberty' had gone on long enough! He'd put an end to this utter insanity and he'd do it now.

In a swift, small blast, a hole was made into the television-screen. It burst, various pieces fell onto the floor, and smoke issued from the inside.

Capsule Corp's heiress looked surprised at first, but was then overcome by a dangerously calm fury as she stood up and turned around, seeing eye to eye with the perpetrator.

"I don't care how you're going to do it, but you are going to pay for that, Vegeta. And I mean money."

Vegeta sent her an angry, challenging smile.

"According to your father I already earned this company six billion zeni when I drew the schematics of the scouter you wanted to know about."

The aqua-haired vixen blinked, taken aback. Her dad had not informed her of that. But then again, she'd never really thought about it herself…

"Then why don't you ask my dad to actually give you that money?"

"I don't need it. I just like the thought that there's nothing you can refuse me."

She smiled, amused by his reasoning.

"I bet you do. But what about it? If I buy a new TV, will I risk you destroying that one too?"

"It depends," the prince replied serenely.

"On what?!" the beauty shouted, her voice going a pitch higher than had been necessary. The fury had come raging back at his response, but the sense of eerie calmness had left it.

"On whether you're going to be spending as a ridiculous amount of time watching the thing as you've done the last couple of days," Vegeta stated firmly.

"Why the hell is that so big a deal to you?!"

"Because it annoys me!"

"How come? Look in a different direction or find something to do and it won't."

"Every time I do just that and get back here you're still at it!"

His voice quivered with infuriation while Bulma had just calmed down and was looking at him searchingly, as if she was studying an intriguing technological appliance that didn't behave like the guide had assured it would. A playful smile tugged at her lips.

"Oh I get it. Someone has been missing out on his attention, hasn't he?"

"What?!"

"Just admit to it, Vegeta… You've been feeling lonely."

"That's a ridiculous suggestion. Feeling lonely is a human emotion, not a saiyan one."

"Is it?" she cooed.

"It is!" he assured her angrily, his eyebrows twitching.

"I'm not so sure, 'Geta, but never mind that. I'll be more available from now on, 'kay?" she teased lightheartedly.

He looked away, his muscles tense. "Hn."

Stupid woman… but at least her liveliness had returned.

Bulma giggled at his flustered stature, touched his chest-plate jokingly and then proceeded into the kitchen, where she'd heard the clatter of pots and pans. Time to see if her mom was cooking up anything decent…