DRAGONBALL U.S.M.C., Part Two
by Clarice_Lecter
Krillin knocked on Goku's door the next morning. "Hey, guys, you up yet?" he called out.
Goku opened the door. "C'mon in, Krillin, but don't bother Vegeta right now," he replied. "He had another bad night..."
"Where IS Vegeta, anyway?"
"He's in the shower, trying to wake up..."
Pained sobbing could be heard from behind the bathroom door. "Ohhhhhhhhh, boy," Krillin groaned, "hasn't he stopped crying yet? Bulma's been dead for almost a year..."
"You know how much he loved her," Goku interjected. "Stubborn jackass that he can be sometimes, he really loved her. I don't think he'll ever recover from it..."
Krillin thought back to that day...the day he and Goku lost their childhood friend...the sad, sad day Vegeta lost his wife...
"KAKAROT!!!!!!! KAKAROT, COME QUICK, SOMETHING'S WRONG WITH BULMA!!!!" Vegeta called out in an anguished voice, the tears flowing from his eyes.
He had run out to the practice field, where Krillin, Goku, Goku's son Gohan, and Vegeta's daughter Bra were warming up for the next Budokai Tournament. "Daddy, what's wrong?" Bra had asked.
Vegeta was in such a terrible state that he couldn't get the words out, so the others ran back to the Capsule Corporation building with him...
What they found was heartbreaking.
Bulma and Vegeta had been working on her father's latest invention, with their son Trunks, when she began complaining of a terrible headache. Vegeta had gotten her to take a break, but it only got worse...she had collapsed as soon as she'd gotten in the chair.
The teenage Trunks was kneeling over her, trying to revive her, but she didn't respond. "Mom? Mom, please!" he pleaded, trying to get her to wake up. At that moment, Prof. Briefs, Bulma's dad, came running into the room...
"God in Heaven, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!" he had wailed when he saw her...
Bulma had died of a massive brain hemorrhage, and was already gone before anyone could save her. She was only 38...the same age as Goku.
Everyone had taken her death hard, but no one grieved more than Vegeta, Trunks and Bra. Most heartbreaking of all, she could not be resurrected by the Eternal Dragon...her death had not come as a result of battle, but from natural causes. She had literally worked herself to death.
Vegeta and everyone else tried desperately to make her take a break from her job at Capsule Corporation, but she, like her father, was a born workaholic. She was devoted to her family, to her husband, but she liked to stay busy all the time. She didn't like to be lazy...
After her death, Prof. Briefs retired from Capsule. He felt great guilt over her death...he had pushed her into a scientific career, had pushed her to succeed a little too hard.
Vegeta didn't blame him for what happened. Nobody blamed him...he just couldn't forgive himself.
"I could have saved her!" Vegeta raged under the shower's spray, venting his grief to the Heavens. "I should have made her leave that company, I should have made her rest!!! Oh, Bulma, why?!? Why didn't you LISTEN TO ME?!?!?!?!?!?"
Vegeta wasn't a man who cried very often, if at all, but ever since Bulma passed away the tears had not stopped flowing. He now cried on a daily basis, sometimes twice a day, over her...she had been the first person he had ever truly loved.
She was also the reason why he'd broken away from Frieza in the first place...
That wasn't entirely true. He'd wanted to take all of Namek's DragonBalls for himself, so he could become immortal...but Bulma had inspired him to break from his evil past, to break from Frieza once and for all.
At first glance, he thought she was a "bonehead," a "dope," for her normally optimistic outlook on life. Also, for finding him attractive, although she was in a relationship with Yamcha, another of Goku's friends. But he couldn't get her out of his mind...
When Yamcha betrayed her, left her for someone else, no one had been angrier about it than Vegeta...but he couldn't understand why. Although he found her attractive, she was, after all, human---and a "silly" human at that. He couldn't help himself.
He was in love with her...he could no longer deny that. And now, after her death, he would continue to love her...
"Col. Gray, are you sure about this? You want to enter Pyle in the Budokai?" Sgt. Carter asked when the fighters returned to Camp Henderson two days later.
"And Duke Slater and Charles Yellowbear," Col. Gray replied. "They're good enough to compete in Osaka, Sergeant..."
"But they've only competed the last few months! I don't mean any disrespect, sir, but are you positive?"
Col. Gray smiled. "I've never been more sure about anything, especially where Pyle's concerned."
Chuck Norris now spoke. "Vince, you saw how Gomer took out Tank Abbott in that shoot-fighting tournament," he said.
"I'll say! Pyle beat the livin' shit outta him---!"
"Exactly. That's why we're sending him to the Budokai...all the matches he and the other guys have been in are qualifiers for the tournament. The match with Tank Abbott clinched it."
Col. Gray produced the visitor visas he'd obtained for their party. "Our men are the only U.S. representatives in this year's tournament," Col. Gray now revealed. "Competitors from all over the world, and all over the galaxy, have competed in the Budokai for centuries..."
Sgt. Carter became confused. "Did you say 'Galaxy,' sir?" he asked.
"The representative from Namek will explain everything to you," Norris now said.
With those words, the Namekian warrior Piccolo entered the room. "Sgt. Carter, meet Ambassador Piccolo from the planet Namek," Col. Gray said. "Mr. Ambassador, this is Sgt. Carter."
The hulking, green-skinned fighter towered over Carter in a way Gomer never had. He looked to be 6-ft.-8, and despite his cloaked, somewhat fearsome appearance, he was actually harmless.
"Hello, Sgt. Carter," Piccolo said, extending his hand. "I assure you, I don't bite."
"Uh...heh-heh-heh-heh-heh," the sergeant giggled nervously as they shook hands.
"I've been watching your man, Pyle...so have some friends of mine...we've never seen an American fighter quite like him..."
Sgt. Carter's giggling became even more nervous. "Yeah...yeah, well, there's never been anyone like Pyle..."
"Vince, are you shittin' us?" Duke asked an hour later when the announcement was made. "We're goin' to the freakin' BUDOKAI?!?!?!?"
"Gawwwwwwwwwwwwwwww-llllllleeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!" Gomer chimed in.
"The representative from Namek will explain the rules of the tournament to all of you, so please, for the love of God, make him feel welcome," Sgt. Carter said. "He's coming in with Col. Gray, Sgt. Hacker, and Charlie after they talk to them..."
"Gee, Sergeant, what's Namek?" Gomer now asked. "Issat another country?"
"No, Gomer, it's another planet. For real," Duke replied. "You'll have to see him for yourself..."
"So how's it feel to be goin' to Osaka, Pyle?" Sgt. Carter now asked. "Feelin' better?"
"Ah'll say! Wait'll th' folks back in Mayberry hear 'bout this! Gaw-lee, ah feel so good ah wawna lose mah virginitay!!!"
Sgt. Carter and Duke couldn't help chuckling at that remark. "Well, the guy from Namek won't be here for another 20 minutes, so why don't you and Slater change into your competition gear before they arrive?"
"Right, Sergeant!" Gomer said, saluting before returning to his barracks.
Duke then went to his locker and brought out his competition outfit---black karate pants, white tank top, black sleeveless karate shirt, black boots, and black belt. "I think he's getting over Lou Ann, finally," Duke now said.
"It's about time, too," Sgt. Carter replied. "Do you believe the nerve of that little bitch? She sent him a postcard the other day that said 'Wish you were here,' that had a clipping of her wedding to that Eford prick!"
"And did you see how fast Gomer ripped it into confetti?" Duke then asked. "At least now he's saving up all that anger for the matches, and that's a good thing."
While Duke went into the back to change, Sgt. Carter wondered if Gomer were serious about wanting to "lose mah virginitay"...
Gomer, Duke and Charles engaged in a series of sparring exercises, so Piccolo could see their fighting styles for himself. Charles and Duke were impressive in themselves, but it was Gomer who held the Namekian's interest.
"Goku and Vegeta were right," Piccolo thought to himself. "Pyle DOES fight like a Saiyan...am I glad I'm competing against him in the first round. I'll get to see for myself how powerful he is---and if he IS a Saiyan..."
"So, Piccolo, you're competing in the first round of the Budokai, too?" Sgt. Hacker now asked.
"Against Pyle, in fact," Piccolo replied. "I want to see everything he's got...somehow, I think what he did to Tank Abbott only scratches the surface of his abilities..."
Gomer, clad in black tank-top, black slacks, black belt, and black boots, took out Duke and Charles with ease, then helped them back up. "So whaddya thank, Mr. Piccolo?" Gomer called out.
As Piccolo's eyes met Gomer's, he was able to see into his soul...
And into his true past.
"It can't be," Piccolo now thought, stunned beyond belief. "It can't possibly be..."
In the outer reaches of space, the intergalactic warlord Frieza began his latest journey to Earth. His destination...
Osaka, Japan. The Budokai Tournament.
The Guardian had been found...
END OF PART TWO
by Clarice_Lecter
Krillin knocked on Goku's door the next morning. "Hey, guys, you up yet?" he called out.
Goku opened the door. "C'mon in, Krillin, but don't bother Vegeta right now," he replied. "He had another bad night..."
"Where IS Vegeta, anyway?"
"He's in the shower, trying to wake up..."
Pained sobbing could be heard from behind the bathroom door. "Ohhhhhhhhh, boy," Krillin groaned, "hasn't he stopped crying yet? Bulma's been dead for almost a year..."
"You know how much he loved her," Goku interjected. "Stubborn jackass that he can be sometimes, he really loved her. I don't think he'll ever recover from it..."
Krillin thought back to that day...the day he and Goku lost their childhood friend...the sad, sad day Vegeta lost his wife...
"KAKAROT!!!!!!! KAKAROT, COME QUICK, SOMETHING'S WRONG WITH BULMA!!!!" Vegeta called out in an anguished voice, the tears flowing from his eyes.
He had run out to the practice field, where Krillin, Goku, Goku's son Gohan, and Vegeta's daughter Bra were warming up for the next Budokai Tournament. "Daddy, what's wrong?" Bra had asked.
Vegeta was in such a terrible state that he couldn't get the words out, so the others ran back to the Capsule Corporation building with him...
What they found was heartbreaking.
Bulma and Vegeta had been working on her father's latest invention, with their son Trunks, when she began complaining of a terrible headache. Vegeta had gotten her to take a break, but it only got worse...she had collapsed as soon as she'd gotten in the chair.
The teenage Trunks was kneeling over her, trying to revive her, but she didn't respond. "Mom? Mom, please!" he pleaded, trying to get her to wake up. At that moment, Prof. Briefs, Bulma's dad, came running into the room...
"God in Heaven, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!" he had wailed when he saw her...
Bulma had died of a massive brain hemorrhage, and was already gone before anyone could save her. She was only 38...the same age as Goku.
Everyone had taken her death hard, but no one grieved more than Vegeta, Trunks and Bra. Most heartbreaking of all, she could not be resurrected by the Eternal Dragon...her death had not come as a result of battle, but from natural causes. She had literally worked herself to death.
Vegeta and everyone else tried desperately to make her take a break from her job at Capsule Corporation, but she, like her father, was a born workaholic. She was devoted to her family, to her husband, but she liked to stay busy all the time. She didn't like to be lazy...
After her death, Prof. Briefs retired from Capsule. He felt great guilt over her death...he had pushed her into a scientific career, had pushed her to succeed a little too hard.
Vegeta didn't blame him for what happened. Nobody blamed him...he just couldn't forgive himself.
"I could have saved her!" Vegeta raged under the shower's spray, venting his grief to the Heavens. "I should have made her leave that company, I should have made her rest!!! Oh, Bulma, why?!? Why didn't you LISTEN TO ME?!?!?!?!?!?"
Vegeta wasn't a man who cried very often, if at all, but ever since Bulma passed away the tears had not stopped flowing. He now cried on a daily basis, sometimes twice a day, over her...she had been the first person he had ever truly loved.
She was also the reason why he'd broken away from Frieza in the first place...
That wasn't entirely true. He'd wanted to take all of Namek's DragonBalls for himself, so he could become immortal...but Bulma had inspired him to break from his evil past, to break from Frieza once and for all.
At first glance, he thought she was a "bonehead," a "dope," for her normally optimistic outlook on life. Also, for finding him attractive, although she was in a relationship with Yamcha, another of Goku's friends. But he couldn't get her out of his mind...
When Yamcha betrayed her, left her for someone else, no one had been angrier about it than Vegeta...but he couldn't understand why. Although he found her attractive, she was, after all, human---and a "silly" human at that. He couldn't help himself.
He was in love with her...he could no longer deny that. And now, after her death, he would continue to love her...
"Col. Gray, are you sure about this? You want to enter Pyle in the Budokai?" Sgt. Carter asked when the fighters returned to Camp Henderson two days later.
"And Duke Slater and Charles Yellowbear," Col. Gray replied. "They're good enough to compete in Osaka, Sergeant..."
"But they've only competed the last few months! I don't mean any disrespect, sir, but are you positive?"
Col. Gray smiled. "I've never been more sure about anything, especially where Pyle's concerned."
Chuck Norris now spoke. "Vince, you saw how Gomer took out Tank Abbott in that shoot-fighting tournament," he said.
"I'll say! Pyle beat the livin' shit outta him---!"
"Exactly. That's why we're sending him to the Budokai...all the matches he and the other guys have been in are qualifiers for the tournament. The match with Tank Abbott clinched it."
Col. Gray produced the visitor visas he'd obtained for their party. "Our men are the only U.S. representatives in this year's tournament," Col. Gray now revealed. "Competitors from all over the world, and all over the galaxy, have competed in the Budokai for centuries..."
Sgt. Carter became confused. "Did you say 'Galaxy,' sir?" he asked.
"The representative from Namek will explain everything to you," Norris now said.
With those words, the Namekian warrior Piccolo entered the room. "Sgt. Carter, meet Ambassador Piccolo from the planet Namek," Col. Gray said. "Mr. Ambassador, this is Sgt. Carter."
The hulking, green-skinned fighter towered over Carter in a way Gomer never had. He looked to be 6-ft.-8, and despite his cloaked, somewhat fearsome appearance, he was actually harmless.
"Hello, Sgt. Carter," Piccolo said, extending his hand. "I assure you, I don't bite."
"Uh...heh-heh-heh-heh-heh," the sergeant giggled nervously as they shook hands.
"I've been watching your man, Pyle...so have some friends of mine...we've never seen an American fighter quite like him..."
Sgt. Carter's giggling became even more nervous. "Yeah...yeah, well, there's never been anyone like Pyle..."
"Vince, are you shittin' us?" Duke asked an hour later when the announcement was made. "We're goin' to the freakin' BUDOKAI?!?!?!?"
"Gawwwwwwwwwwwwwwww-llllllleeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!" Gomer chimed in.
"The representative from Namek will explain the rules of the tournament to all of you, so please, for the love of God, make him feel welcome," Sgt. Carter said. "He's coming in with Col. Gray, Sgt. Hacker, and Charlie after they talk to them..."
"Gee, Sergeant, what's Namek?" Gomer now asked. "Issat another country?"
"No, Gomer, it's another planet. For real," Duke replied. "You'll have to see him for yourself..."
"So how's it feel to be goin' to Osaka, Pyle?" Sgt. Carter now asked. "Feelin' better?"
"Ah'll say! Wait'll th' folks back in Mayberry hear 'bout this! Gaw-lee, ah feel so good ah wawna lose mah virginitay!!!"
Sgt. Carter and Duke couldn't help chuckling at that remark. "Well, the guy from Namek won't be here for another 20 minutes, so why don't you and Slater change into your competition gear before they arrive?"
"Right, Sergeant!" Gomer said, saluting before returning to his barracks.
Duke then went to his locker and brought out his competition outfit---black karate pants, white tank top, black sleeveless karate shirt, black boots, and black belt. "I think he's getting over Lou Ann, finally," Duke now said.
"It's about time, too," Sgt. Carter replied. "Do you believe the nerve of that little bitch? She sent him a postcard the other day that said 'Wish you were here,' that had a clipping of her wedding to that Eford prick!"
"And did you see how fast Gomer ripped it into confetti?" Duke then asked. "At least now he's saving up all that anger for the matches, and that's a good thing."
While Duke went into the back to change, Sgt. Carter wondered if Gomer were serious about wanting to "lose mah virginitay"...
Gomer, Duke and Charles engaged in a series of sparring exercises, so Piccolo could see their fighting styles for himself. Charles and Duke were impressive in themselves, but it was Gomer who held the Namekian's interest.
"Goku and Vegeta were right," Piccolo thought to himself. "Pyle DOES fight like a Saiyan...am I glad I'm competing against him in the first round. I'll get to see for myself how powerful he is---and if he IS a Saiyan..."
"So, Piccolo, you're competing in the first round of the Budokai, too?" Sgt. Hacker now asked.
"Against Pyle, in fact," Piccolo replied. "I want to see everything he's got...somehow, I think what he did to Tank Abbott only scratches the surface of his abilities..."
Gomer, clad in black tank-top, black slacks, black belt, and black boots, took out Duke and Charles with ease, then helped them back up. "So whaddya thank, Mr. Piccolo?" Gomer called out.
As Piccolo's eyes met Gomer's, he was able to see into his soul...
And into his true past.
"It can't be," Piccolo now thought, stunned beyond belief. "It can't possibly be..."
In the outer reaches of space, the intergalactic warlord Frieza began his latest journey to Earth. His destination...
Osaka, Japan. The Budokai Tournament.
The Guardian had been found...
END OF PART TWO