Dragonball Z: Unlikely Romance
A Dragonball Z FanFic By Eric Jacobson
Chapter 7 -- The Kidnapped Saga
Episode 11 - They Don't Work
Bulma found herself walking
down a hallway, confused and disoriented. She had no clue how she got here,
let alone where here was. Dizzy, she put her hands on the walls to keep herself
upright as she staggered further ahead. The hallway had no doors, no intersections,
it just seemed to continue on forever.
As she continued on for
a few moments, she began to hear what sounded like fighting coming from somewhere
around her, though she couldn't tell where. The further along she walked, the
clearer the noise became. After a minute, she was able to make out the voice
of one of the combatants. It was Vegeta.
"Vegeta?" She
started to call to him, praying to Kami that he would hear her. "Vegeta,
where are you? I can hear you but I can't see you." In the distance, the
sounds of combat raged on. It seemed as though they were oblivious to her presence.
"Vegeta, please, answer me! I'm scared, Vegeta! Please, help me!"
She continued to listen to the battle as closely as she could. It sounded furious,
as both Vegeta and his opponent seemed to score rather good blows.
In an instant, the sound
was gone. A flash of light brought Bulma into a room filled with nothing but
blackness. All she could see was herself, there was nothing else. And then,
the footsteps started. The sounded distant at first, but were deffinately moving
closer to her with each passing second. After a few moments, she was able to
tell where they were coming from. Behind her. She turned around, not ready for
what she saw, but brave enough to face it head on...
Randall seemed to have a handle on the battle, but the Amazon gave him a run
for his money. The two traded punch after punch, kick after kick, and energy
wave after energy wave. The stalemate raged on for nearly ten minutes, and then
the two seperated.
"You know, Randall,"
The Amazon smiled as he caught his breath. "There was nothing you could
have done that day. Nothing at all you could do to save your comrades. How did
it feel to know you were the only survivor? The only dirty monkey left out of
the whole bunch... and not a banana in sight. Must have been horrible, wasn't
it, Randall?"
"Actually, I'm rather
greatful for it."
"Why do you say that?"
"You killed them all.
They were my co-workers, my friends. When you killed them, and I was left to
live on, I was furious. I could barely contain my rage. That's what made me
turn Super Saiyan, you know. When I found that I had the power that Brolli himself
possessed 3000 years ago, I knew I was meant to survive. Their sacrifice allowed
me to reach a new level. They gave me the power to avenge their deaths. So I
devoted my life to tracking you down. I found you once, and I tossed your sorry
ass into the brig. But like all good things, it came to an end when your boss
busted you out of the big house."
"Yes, that was a rather
fun day for me. I remember it well. That was the day that we destroyed..."
"The day you killed
Vegeta, you asshole!"
Jumping back a bit and letting out a little yelp, Bulma found herself face to
face with Vegeta. It was he who had been walking up behind her, the source of
the footsteps. "My Kami, Vegeta, you scared the hell out of me."
"I'm sorry to dissappoint
you, Bulma, but I'm not here."
"What are you talking
about, lunk head? You're standing right there! Of course you're here!"
"No, Bulma, I'm not."
"What the hell do
you mean?"
Vegeta stood silent, his
arms crossed and his usual scowel gracing his visage.
"Are you trying to
tell me that this is a dream? Is that it?" She looked at him closely, searching
him for an answer. After a few seconds, she found it. "This IS a dream,
isn't it? If it's a dream, then you represent something inside of me. Now, what
is it you represent?"
"I'm closer than you
know, Bulma. And I'm coming to help you. I promise you that I will not leave
you." As he said this, he began to float backwards into the darkness. "I
promise... I promise..." In a few seconds, he was gone.
Bulma turned around and
began to try and piece together what was happening. "He promised he wouldn't
leave me. Yet he was just a figment of my imagination. What does it mean?"
She thought of all the possible reasons Vegeta would be in her dream, other
than some of the naughtier ones she's had of him recently. She pushed those
aside, though. There would be time for those later.
"I promise... I promise...
I promise..."
Those words echoed in her
mind over and over. 'Vegeta. He promised. He promised he wouldn't go. He promised
he wouldn't leave me. What does it symbolize?'
"WHAT THE HELL ARE
YOU TRYING TO TELL ME, VEGETA???"
Her words reflected back
in an endless echo as she yelled them into the void around her. It was a futile
gesture, but her frustration had gotten the better of her. 'This mind bashingly
high IQ, and I can't even figure out what's going on in my own mind. Wait a
second... My own mind. He's representing my thoughts.'
"Oh my Kami... My
destiny... It's all so clear now... My destiny is with... Vegeta..."
His fists clenched together, the Amazon brought the hammer down on Randall with
tremendous force. The largest of the Saiyans fell to the ground like a rock
dumped from an airplane 30,000 feet up. When the dust settled, the Amazon stood
over his opponent, secure in his victory.
Accross the battlefield,
Vegeta stood in shock. He had heard the large one say the words "You Killed
Vegeta." He was frozen by the thought of anyone killing him. It both enfuriated
and scared the hell out of him. His thoughts flashed back to when Freiza had
put a beam right through his heart. How he had been rendered helpless in an
instant. Pouring his heart out to Kakkarot, letting his emotions live again,
even if only for a moment.
Seconds later, to him anyway,
he was revived by the Earth's Dragonballs. The things that had gotten him into
this mess in the first place granted him a second chance at life, which was
no rival to immortality. And now, he was hearing the words he dreaded all his
life. "You killed Vegeta."
"Alright, Randall.
It's been fun, but I think it's time we ended this little game of ours. We have
some big plans for your friends. I'll admit, though. You were a worthy rival,
and I'm gonna miss you. Kind of. Ha ha ha!" The Amazon raised his hands
and powered up his Ki, ready to bring down the final blast. But he never got
the chance.
In a heartbeat, Vegeta
was holding back the Amazon's arm, preventing him from sticking the fork in
his Saiyan comrade. "He told you that you killed Vegeta. What the hell
did he mean by that?"
Looking up at his arm,
and then back at his attacker, the Amazon began to sweat profusely. The reason
they had killed Vegeta in their dimension was that they feared his power. In
this dimension, though, his power was much greater. "They never told you?
How we killed that slimey Prince of monkeys? It was a preventitive measure.
The little bastard fried like an egg on a sidewalk in the summer. You should
have heard him beg for his life before the boss laid into him. It was pathetic
at best."
Neither words, nor pictures,
or any form of description could do justice to the fury that Vegeta felt inside
of him. Not only had they taken his woman companion from him with the intention
of forcefully cross breeding her with his own Saiyan blood, but they had called
him pathetic. Whether in another dimension or in this one, Vegeta always had
his pride. It was his greatest weakness and his greatest strength all in one.
They attacked it when they killed his dimensional counterpart, and this one
attacked it now with his unremorseful commentary on the matter.
"Awwww. Did I piss
you off, monkey?" With those words, he suddenly vanished.
Vegeta remained standing,
and began looking around. "Where the hell did you go, coward? How dare
you assault my name and then run? What kind of yellow creatures are you Amazons?
Can't fight your battles head on?" He powered up his Ki, ready to anihilate
the Amazon at the drop of a hat. Then, he heard the sound of grinding metal.
They all turned to the
entrance of the base to see the doors opening and the Amazon standing in front
of them. "Catch me if you can, monkeys. Good luck, though. It's almost
over! Ha ha ha ha ha!" As he left, his laugh careened off the tunnel walls,
echoing in their ears as they stood motionless, in total shock.
Rico was having no part
of it. He immediately flashed to Super Saiyan mode and took off into the base
after the Amazon. He had the look of death on his face, and noone wanted to
stand in his way.
"Holy cow! This whole
thing keeps getting weirder and weirder. Hey, Vegeta, check out Randall! Let's
give him a hand!" Krillin pulled the Senzu Bean pouch out from the belt
of his Gi and ran to the Saiyan's side to help him. "Here, man. Eat one
of these." He held a bean to Randall's lips, which he greatfully ate. "There,
you should be all fixed in a few seconds. Yo, Vegeta..."
Vegeta stood, unmoving,
staring down the corridor that lead into the base. He hand't moved from that
spot at all. His anger and rage was paralyzing him.
"Vegeta?" Krillin
looked at his friend, and he used the term loosely, and sighed. "Sometimes
his anger gets the best of him. But that's what makes him such a great fighter.
He's unpredictable when he's angry, and surprise can be the greatest advantage
of all." Randall rolled over a bit, prompting Krillin to turn his attention
away from Vegeta for a moment.
"Krillin. I don't
feel anything."
"What? They bean should
have worked by now. You should be up doing cartwheels and flips and stuff. I
don't get it."
"Heh. I don't think
they'll work on us, Krillin. It must have something to do with the dimensional
differances. Look. I'll be alright. I have a transmitter here, I'll be able
to get back to my dimension and get help. But you, you have to listen to me."
"Alright man. What's
up?"
"Keep him alive. Keep
Vegeta alive. He's the only one that can beat the Amazon's leader. Rico may
be his brother, and he may have his blood in him, he's still not strong enough.
Just keep Vegeta from getting killed, and you guys stand a chance." He
clicked a button on his belt, and strange static began to surround him. "Take
care, Krillin. Give em hell for me, will ya?"
"You bet I will, bro.
You did good." When Randall had faded out, Krillin stood up and turned
to Vegeta, who was still staring into the base entrance. He walked over to the
Saiyan Prince and spoke with cold determination. "Vegeta. The Senzu Beans
don't work on the other Saiyans. If Rico gets hurt, there's no way to get his
energy back. It comes down to you and me. Now, I don't know about you, but I
wanna go in there, get Mizuki and Bulma, and finish this game once and for all.
Are you in?"
As he stared down the hallway,
Vegeta thought of only one thing. He had someone in there counting on him. He
had heard Krillin's words, and they had registered, but his top objective was
clear. He powered up his Ki. "Alright, Krillin. Let's do this." With
that, he took off down the entrance hallway, with Krillin right behind him.
"Vegeta..." Bulma snapped to conciousness, her strange dream at an
end. Almost immediatly, she felt it. It was a huge power, and it was getting
closer. She knew she couldn't sense Kis like Goku and the others could do, but
she knew she felt one. And then it hit her. She and Vegeta had a bond. She could
sense him, and he was getting closer. "Vegeta, you're here. You've come
for me. Please be careful..."
Vegeta may not yet know Rico is his brother, but then again, does it matter?
What we have here is one really ticked Saiyan Prince! All they had to do was
mention his name. So what's next for our shrinking band of heroes? Find out
in Episode 12: Rico's Victory, Coming Soon! Check out all my fics at Eric's
Writer's Lounge. And of course, stop by the DBZ:UR
Home Site and visit the Message
Board! Shameless Self Promotion RULES!