Monster Hunter
Chapter 2
Transformation

Bulma sang out in glee as the cold, clean, fresh water engulfed her skin. It had been a long time since she was free enough to bathe in a stream like this, an unadulterated pleasure. She washed her skin with a bar of lavender soap she had handcrafted. Bulma had been on horseback for 10 hours a day and she had been sleeping out under the stars each night for almost a week. This was the first stream that was wide and deep enough for her to properly emerge herself in. This clean feeling was exactly what she needed after the rough ride on the back of a horse. The slick suds of her soap were sliding down her skin and washing downstream in the water. She dropped down into the water, further exploring and obliging her body. The feeling was so relaxing she closed her eyes for a moment.

"Yes, I think I want that feeling too" Vegeta said from behind her.

He was already down to his underwear when she spun around. Her face instantly flashed red as he began to slide his hands under the thin material. Bulma spun back around and threw her arms around her body.

"Vegeta! Can't a girl get a little privacy?! How much did you see?" Bulma squealed as he jumped into the water, splashing her with his wake.

Vegeta came up out of the water, taking a deep breath. Bulma looked around over her shoulder at him, he was smirking at her while running his hands through his hair. His body was on damn fire, the sunlight coming through the trees made his muscles glisten.

"HA! Since when are you shy Bulma Briefs?" Vegeta asked smugly.

"Excuse me, I am a lady, and you will treat me as such!" Bulma bit back.

Vegeta just laughed as he sunk into the water, slowly swimming around to face Bulma. She was avoiding his eye contact and blushing hard.

"A lady?" Vegeta asked her audaciously.

Bulma shot a fiery look at him. Pressing a button in him that he hadn't felt in a long time. This felt like old times, he had grown up with the seductive mage and he had watched her mature and flourish. But when it came to pressing her buttons, not much had changed. Bulma's expression melted from anger to a composed demeanor, as if she had figured out he was baiting her. He did always enjoy poking her and took pleasure in her reactions.

"I am a lady Vegeta, regardless of whether you have ever met one or not!" Bulma huffed at him.

Vegeta heartly laughed.

"Indeed" He chuckled.

"And don't get any funny ideas!" Bulma snapped at him, dipping lower into the water to try and hide as much as herself as she could.

"Don't be crass woman! I needed to bathe, that is all!" Vegeta barked turning from her.

Bulma couldn't stop the smile that tried to push through her lips. It seemed the tides had turned.

"Oh did the little monster hunter just realise he was naked in a female's company?" Bulma purred.

She saw his body visual tense up as she teased him. He swung his head to the side.

"Don't be ridiculous… Vulgar woman!" rumbled.

"Vulgar?!" Bulma wailed.

She threw her soap bar at the back of his head, he grabbed the impact zone and spun around just as a barrage of water was coming at him. By the time he had regained his eyesight, that he had lost in the soaking, Bulma was already on the shore. Her full and appealing bottom dazzling in the midday sun.

It was an unusually dark night as Vegeta walked back over from feeding the horses, Bulma heard him coming by the sound of his leather boots crunching grass under him. His body and face became illuminated by the fire as he stepped out of the darkness. Bulma turned away from him quickly, she was still pissed at his interruption of her bath and subsequent insult to her character.

He came and sat by the fire, to her side. Bulma was laying on her stomach, cuddling up to blankets as she watched the fire. All she saw was his both sat a while in silence, watching the rhythm of the fire.

"You never told me why you left" Bulma finally spoke, staring into the flames.

Vegeta didn't budge at her question, not even a breath. The flames popped from pressure in the wood. She clenched her hand into a fist.

"You could have said something to me Vegeta, anything, I looked for you for months"

Bulma was about to turn her head to look at him when she heard rustling in the bushes behind them.

"What was th…" She started.

"Quiet" Vegeta softly hissed at her, he was already on his feet.

Bulma looked up at him. Vegeta was searching into the darkness behind them, slowly reaching for his weapon that had been resting on a log beside Bulma. The anxiety started to build up in her, he was grabbing his weapon, what did he think it was?

She swung around to stare at the treeline behind them. She couldn't see anything, but she sure could feel it. It was watching them. That feeling was so instinctual it made her spine crawl with fear. She shot up.

"Bulma, it's a bear. Create a noise, quickly, the louder the better." Vegeta commanded.

"Right" she breathed out, swinging her attention to the fire.

She saw three large pots, they had used them to cook meat from rabbits that had been caught earlier in the day. They had been careful to only find enough food for the night, to stop this exact scenario from happening, it looks like they had failed.
She raised her hands and chanted. The pots exploded together and sounded out like thunder. Vegeta quickly threw his cape out beside him, making him instantly seem twice as large. He howled as deep and loud as he could. Bulma smashed the pans once more, ringing out an ear piercing bang. They heard branches being snapped as a large animal could be heard moving away from them. Bulma let out a sigh of relief as she lowered the pans.
Vegeta turned around at her, his face illuminated by the flames.

"That was close" She shakerley smiled at him.

"I will track it in the morning, when I have the advantage. Let's hope it was enough to keep it away for the night" Vegeta said to her as he finally put down his crossbow.

Vegeta had left well before she had awoken, neither of them slept very well. Bulma was sure that Vegeta didn't sleep even for a moment. He kept watch over her all night. She felt herself growing hot, her cheeks on fire.
Vegeta had abandoned her, for what seemed a lifetime ago. But before that, they had been close. He had protected her many times. It felt nice to be watched over by him once more. Although he would never admit that protecting her was what he was doing. He never gave her much of anything, he let his actions speak for him.

Bulma looked around their small temporary camp. Everything was packed and ready for Vegeta's return, except some clothes of hers. She wanted to wash them before they moved on, but they would not dry in time, so she had just hung them up on some low hanging branches away from the camp, in the sunlight. It would be better than nothing.
Bulma walked down the slight incline toward the trees. The sun hit her skin and warmed every part of her. The days were getting longer with each spin of the earth. As she trotted down to her clothes, her thoughts were interrupted by Vegeta's loud growls, coming from behind her.

She turned around, and began stepping backwards as she tried to make out what he was saying. He was waving his weapon in the air.

"I can't hear you…" Bulma sung out to him, waving back.

"BULMA!" She managed to hear him this time.

She stopped, something had occurred to her. Vegeta always had a cool demeanor, she rarely saw him rattled. He was flailing his arms around, trying to get her attention. It was unusual, except for in times where he didn't know if he could fight against something threatening him… Or her.
She turned around, right in time to see it come out of the woods. The big brown muscular bear advanced out into the clearing, foaming at the mouth, it watched Bulma as it began circling her. Bulma stood frozen in fear. This was what Vegeta was trying to tell her. He had tracked the bear, right back to her.
The bear stood on its hind legs, towering over any man who ever lived. It began to roar at her when she felt the arrow shoot past her face. It punctured into the beasts shoulder, blood spurting out of the wound. The impact sent it backwards and down back onto all fours. It yelped in pain and slightly retreated.
Vegeta was by her side in an instant.

"Get back" He demanded.

"Let me help you, I've never seen one this big!" Bulma pushed.

"GET BACK!" Vegeta yelled again, shoving her behind him.

The Bear, regaining its focus, swatted the arrow out of its fur with its huge paw. Looking back toward them. It's face was dead cold, nothing was behind the black eyes. It was like an empty shell, capable of ripping them apart in a single swipe.

It began it's assault as Vegeta raised his weapon, firing again and aiming for its head. But the bear moved out of the way, dodging his shot. The beast came bounding toward them, like an unstoppable projectile. Vegeta stomped his feet into place, he could not reload now. He was going to take the impact head on.
Bulma ran a few steps back and to the side of Vegeta, raising her arms as she went. Her powers shot out a gush of compressed air from her hands. The volley of power flew past Vegeta and came straight at the bear. It impacted the bear in the head and shoulders, sending it flying. But the impact was merely a few second distraction as the creature shook it off and it resumed its stampede toward Bulma.

"BULMA!" Vegeta shouted.

He began to try and intercept the beast. But it was too fast. The huge mass moving at what seemed like lightning speed. Bulma could barely shield herself before it was on her. The bear raised a huge paw and swiped her, contacting her left shoulder.
The sound was deafening, her bones cracked under the force. Bulma let out a colossal scream as she fell onto her right shoulder. Her vision went white, the pain made it seem like time had stopped. All she could feel was the pain, and she couldn't register it all at once. She knew it was bad, her whole left side was numb, her body was trying to send help. Her vision began to come back online as she looked up, the beast was above her, more enormous than it had ever looked. She shut her eyes waiting for the next impact.

The bear went for another swipe, it roared as it moved back onto its hind legs and it raised its huge arm. But something interrupted the creatures' movement. An arm, just as sizable, had grabbed the creatures paw. Another arm pumped into the beast's side, winding the creature.
Bulma opened her eyes, wondering why she had not been pummeled again. Her eyes widened as she looked up at the scene before her.

Vegeta was transformed, his body was almost completely black, the colour was racing to cover him like some kind of plague. He was almost twice his height and size as he had been before. His muscles had increased to an outrageous level, like a giant he looked like a mountain. Horns were protruding from his head and veins almost popping out of his skin all over his body. His eyes were wide and bright yellow like a demon.

Bulma screamed.