*keffs* Sorry it took me so long to get this chapter up…I've been really busy with some projects for school, not to mention the fact my father once again decided to screw around with the some of the computer's settings, leaving us without the internet for a week. Not only that, but I wasn't really inspired for this one…it was a pain in the butt to type, but it had to be done. Actually, as I got later into the story I was a bit more eager to write. It came out pretty good, considering I wasn't really too inspired with the events for this story…
The training had been going very well. For the past six weeks Bulma had pushed herself to her physical limits and beyond as she began to harness her unique powers. Thanks to Vegeta, she was easily reaching new levels of strength every day, and thanks to her power she was already beginning to master some techniques such as Big Bang attack and Final Flash. It was obvious she was skilled, and her karate experience as a child helped greatly with her hand-to-hand combat.
It was all fine until one unfortunate afternoon, when the temperatures were high and a certain genius's temper flared up with them.
"HOW DARE YOU!" Bulma screamed at Vegeta as she dodged an incoming ki blast from the prince. He laughed and skipped nimbly around the room as he avoided a series of incoming rapid-fire blasts.
She screamed in frustration and placed her right hand palm-out in the air. Growling she raised her left hand to touch the back of her right and called out.
"BIG BANG….ATTACK!"
Vegeta raised his eyebrows and leapt into the air to dodge the blast. Damnit! How had she gotten so fast? He had to be more careful around her. Rushing forward, he reared his right arm prepared to give her a punch to her right cheek. It was when she stumbled across the room and fell to the ground that Bulma got angry. Very angry. Something inside her began to burn, and for a brief moment Bulma got a glimpse of what she was capable of, something she hadn't seen since that one day on the cliff. She stood up and narrowing her eyes got into a fighting stance. She wouldn't lose, she couldn't!
Vegeta got into a stance of his own and returned her steady gaze. The whole room was silent for a moment. Even the birds outside had stopped their cheerful chirping as though they knew something serious was happening inside the dome.
Vegeta rocked back and forth on his heels, a cat ready to pounce. But Bulma wasn't stupid, and had no intention of giving him the chance.
They both leapt from the floor at the same time, meeting in midair and locking arms in a show of brute strength. Both grunted and powered up a little, the air around them crackling with energy.
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At Kame house almost 500 miles away, Kuririn and Master Roshi looked up from their little training session to see the faint dome of energy on the horizon.
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Goku and Gohan, having a little father-son moment fishing together surfaced and watched the sky, feeling but not seeing the enormous power. Gohan looked at his father, and his father looked back. Nodding, the two climbed from the water and took into the air.
*******************
Vegeta was so shocked he actually let his guard down for a moment. Bulma used this second to kick him quickly in the gut, sending him flying. He hit the gravitron wall with a thud, and shaking his head he stood up and clutched his side. What was going on? She'd never hit him this hard before, or with such violence. Something was happening within her…and he was about to witness it first hand.
Bulma gasped and arched her back as even more energy began to crackle around her. She started going into convulsions as her body was overcome with power. She let out an agonized scream, which was drowned out by the noise of the energy. Vegeta started to back toward the door. He didn't know what was going on, but he knew this place couldn't take it. It had been bad enough being blown up by this thing the first time, and he sure as hell wasn't going to stay around for a second.
Everything happened in a second. Bulma stopped convulsing and her body was still her eyes began to glow, flashing a dark shade of blue. Her hair turned to a sky-blue color and began to float in loose strand around her head, and at her back something even more fascinating was happening. For just above her butt, right at the end of her tailbone, something was growing. Something long and brown and fuzzy.
It was a tail.
Vegeta didn't have time to ponder why she was growing a tail or why her power level was flying of the charts. Actually, he barely had time to do anything before beams began to shoot from the floating energy ball that was Bulma and he and the rest of the gravitron was consumed by a blinding light.
**************
Goku and Gohan floated tentatively in the air over the city. They felt the enormous power and saw the blast that had accompanied it a few moments later. Goku frowned. Something was amiss in the city, and he had a sneaking suspicion is was from Capsule Corp.
"Gohan, you stay here."
"What? But dad, I want to go and help you-"
"No Gohan, it might be dangerous. Go back to the house and I'll be back a little later."
"But-"
"Go!"
Gohan sighed, admitting defeat. With one last look over his shoulder he turned and flew in the opposite direction.
Nodding slightly, Goku flew towards capsule corp. He landed to see an astonishing site.
The entire capsule corp. grounds looked like a bomb had hit. No, not even a bomb could do this much damage to a place like capsule corp.
The Gravitron was gone, for one thing. Nothing to even show it had been there, save the dead grass where the dome had blocked the sunlight on the ground. Windows all over the building had been shattered glass fragments all over the yard. The front of the building itself was scorched a dark brown, as was most of the area of the lawn. The trees, a large section of the fence…gone as if they had never existed. He landed on the ground to try and get a better idea of the damage and to make sure everyone was ok.
It was then he noticed the body. It was a wonder he hadn't seen it from the air; it was there as plain as day.
Most of Vegeta's front had been badly burned. All over his body were deep cuts and scrapes, and his arm was twisted at a funny angle. Alarmed, Goku ran over and checked for a pulse.
He was still alive, thank god but just barely. What the hell had happened here? Goku hefted the saiyan prince into his arms and was about to walk inside when he saw a delicate figure curled up over by the bushes. Raising an eyebrow he walked over and leaned down to inspect this new find, and much to his surprise he saw it was Bulma.
She was curled with her knees up to her chest shaking. Her eyes were opened wide, making her look like she had gone insane. She twitched a little and looked up at the shadow that had covered her.
"Go…Goku?"
She turned her twitching head back toward the ground and tears began to stream down her face.
"Goku-saa…I'm scared."
"Bulma...wait, just stay here. I'll take Vegeta down to the infirmary, then I'll be right back."
He waited for a response, but she didn't answer. Sighing, he stood up and carried Vegeta to the capsule corp. infirmary.
Much to his relief, Dr. Briefs had come up from his lab the moment he had heard the blast. He helped Goku lower Vegeta into the bed and strap him in. Dr. Briefs assured him Vegeta would be just fine, and Goku went back to get Bulma.
He found her sitting with her back against a section of the fence, rocking back and forth slowly. He helped her up and gave her hand a squeeze, assuring her everything would be fine. He didn't notice the strange color of her eyes or the frizzy tail swishing in the air behind her.
"Dear god Bulma, what happened to you? And what did you do to your hair? Did the blast do that?"
Bulma looked a little dazed as she looked around the infirmary. Where was she? Oh wait, this was her home. She lived here. A little voice in the back of her head laughed.
You're in a whole different league than these bumbling idiots. You? Live here? I think not.
Bulma ignored the voice and ran a hand through her hair. She pulled a strand to her face and stared at it.
"It's almost white." She mumbled to herself. And then she saw something moving out of the corner of her eye. On instinct she whirled to face it, giving both Goku and her father a view of her new appendage.
"A tail!" Goku gasped.
"A tail? What? Where?" Bulma looked around and realized he was pointing to her behind. She looked down at it and saw the large furry object, swishing lazily in the air.
"But that's…Bulma, you're not saiyan! Are you?"
Bulma came to her senses. Whirling back around, she glared at him. "Of course not Baka! I would have known that I was a saiyan a long time ago! But I don't know where the tail came from though…"
"Hm….most peculiar." Dr. Briefs said walking up to her. Grabbing the tail he gave it a gentle squeeze and Bulma let out a yelp.
"Hey dad, that hurt!" She yelled, snatching it from him and rubbing the sore spot.
"I'm sorry dear, just checking to see if it was real. But do tell me, exactly what were the conditions of that explosion out there? It must have something to do with this transformation."
Bulma nodded. "Yes well, I was training with Vegeta and-"
"You and Vegeta were training? But you can't fight Bulma! Can you?" Goku said looking surprised.
"What, of course I can…oh wait, you didn't know. Let me explain it to you from the beginning."
Bulma told him the whole story, from the day she'd gotten her power up to the events of that afternoon. When she reached the part about that day, Dr. Briefs scribbled some notes down on a piece of paper he'd gotten off his desk. When she was done both her father and Goku were speechless.
"So guys, what do you think? What's going on?"
"Well dear, if you ask me, I think when you powered up like that your body couldn't handle it and you had to expel it in some form so…"
"You went super saiyan." Goku said blankly.
Both Dr. Briefs and Bulma turned to him. "What?"
"The power. The huge explosion. The feeling. You went super saiyan, and that's all there is to it. I don't know how, but you did."
"Me a super saiyan? But I…no…that can't be! I'm human, I know I am! Right dad?"
The doctor nodded. "It's true Goku. She's 100% human."
"Then whatever gave you those powers must have been saiyan. Otherwise I don't know how any of this is possible."
Wow. Me, A saiyan? Bulma though to herself as she stared down at her swishing tail.
"Hey wait a minute, what happened to Vegeta?" Bulma said raising an eyebrow.
Dr. Briefs shook his head and motioned to a bed on the other side of the room. "Poor boy's hurt pretty badly. Even with his healing abilities I'd say it'll take him days, weeks even, to fully recover."
Bulma walked over and stared at him. He was hooked up to the respirator, his breath coming in shallow gasps. Various wires pumping fluids were hooked up into his body, and she could tell by the bloodstained bandages that he was really hurt.
Clutching at the fabric of her gi, she turned to look at her father.
"And did I do this to him?"
He nodded and frowned. "When you went "super saiyan", you must have caught him in the energy blast as well. I'd say was blown clean through the wall and landed on the other side of the yard. As for how he broke his arm, I suppose he was either trying to flip up after getting hit or he was unconscious and twisted it when he fell on the ground. Either way, it's not looking good."
"Oh my god…veggie-chan…" Bulma clamped a hand to her mouth in horror and stared at the figure on the bed. She'd never forgive herself for this, and she doubted he would either.
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Vegeta flew across the yard and slammed into the tree about twenty or so feet away. A shock wave from the blast hurled into the spot a second later, obliterating the tree and everything around it. Vegeta was thrown back again, wondering how the hell he was still alive. As he landed he instinctively shot out an arm to catch himself, only to have his body twirled around by the shock wave, twisting his arm in the socket. He opened his mouth to cry out, but before he could a stray piece of wall from the gravitron whacked him in the head. He slumped to the ground unconscious and didn't remember a thing afterwards.
He woke up a little while later feeling dazed; all around him were various equipment and beeping computers. A little off to his left, he was sure he could see figures moving around, mumbling things and scribbling on a piece of paper.
"He…hello?" He croaked. His voice was dry and scratchy from haven't being used for so long, and it hurt terribly to talk.
The people looked over at him and dashed to the bedside. A woman poked at him with a long rod and frowned.
"You're alive." She said simply. Another person leaned over to the woman and whispered to her.
" Shamae, this is perfect! If she's still alive after all that, she must be one of the strongest saiyans alive! Imagine what we could do with a weapon as durable as this!"
Shamae crossed her arms over her chest and deepened her frown. "I know, but think about it cougre…if she really is all that powerful, what happens when the danger is gone? We have an all-powerful saiyan girl rampaging around the planet; if you ask me, it's not worth the risk."
Cougre nodded. "I agree with you to an extent Shamae-san, but obedience won't be a problem. All we have to do is adjust the settings in her chip and she'll be the lap dog she was created to be."
"What? What are you people talking about? Stop it, leave me alone!" Vegeta said frantically. It was at that point that he realized his voice wasn't hoarse; it was high and feminine. He was a man trapped in a girl's body.
"No wait, don't! I don't want to be changed! Please stop!"
"Hmph. Babblings of a prototype. Just shutup and sit still…it'll all be over in a few hours."
He leaned over and lifted an arm to reveal a nasty looking forked tool. Vegeta let out a yelp and strained to get up, but he had been strapped into the bed. Had to get out, had to get out…
The man pressed the tool against Vegeta's forehead and pressed a button on the side. The forks dug painfully into his skull as they began to bore their way through bone, toward his brain. He struggled some more, knowing it was futile.
Wait…yes! His arm! It was free! Smirking, he shot up a hand and began to strangle the life out of Doctor Cougre.
*********************
Bulma sat next to the bed and stared sorrowfully at Vegeta. He was sweating profusely, his body twitching and turning over and over in the bed. Occasionally he muttered some pleas in his sleep and lay still for a moment, only to start moving again.
He must be having a nightmare. She thought sadly to herself as she wiped a wet cloth on his head. He'd been in a coma for almost a week; her father said he should wake up any day now, and she fully intended to be there to apologize when he did. The poor guy…she hadn't intended for any of this to happen.
All of a sudden his hand shot up and clamped around her neck. She yelped and started gagging; she hadn't been expecting it at all. She tugged on his fingers, struggling to pry them open, but he was too strong. She wasn't able to control her Super Saiyan ability well enough to conjure it up again, and that meant she was in trouble.
"Vegeta…let…GO." She gasped.
He pulled her face down to his and opened his eyes. For a moment he could still see Cougre, but as his vision cleared he realized who it really was.
"Bulma." He released her neck and leaning back began to massage his forehead.
Gasping for air she reached up a hand and rubbed her neck, where red marks had appeared from where his fingers dug into her flesh. "What the hell is wrong with you? What was that for?"
"Sorry."
"Sorry? You nearly killed me, and all you can say is sorry? That must have been one of a dream Vegeta, otherwise I'd say you've gone fairly insane."
"It…was a dream?" But it had seemed so real! Thought Vegeta. Who were those two people? And why was he a girl? This was so confusing.
"How long have I been out?"
"Uuuum…since Monday. I'd say it's been about six or seven days…I wasn't really keeping track."
"Six days? God…" He rubbed his head some more and propped himself on his elbows. It stung like hell, but he could manage.
"I'm really sorry Vegeta. I had no idea that would happen! If it weren't for me…Look, I'm really sorry and if you hate me fine. But could you please train me just a little bit longer? As you can see, I still need to get handle on my powers, especially since I went Super Saiyan-"
She stopped abruptly and turned her head to stare at the floor.
"You did what? Went super saiyan? You've got to be kidding me."
Bulma ignored him and pretended to count the tiles in the floor.
"But how? It's not possible damnit! I'M the royal one, and I should have the ability! Not that 3rd class baka Kakkarot, and especially not you a mere human! Pheh!"
He spat on the ground to emphasize his point. Bulma looked over her shoulder to glare at him.
"Hate to disappoint you your highness, but you're not on Vegeta-sei anymore. And as long as you're here you'll just have to get used to the fact that yes, there are people who are better than you, and yes there always will be. That's no reason to throw a complete hissyfit every time someone does something great."
"I wouldn't even be here if you foolish humans would stop getting in my way every five minutes! I don't want anything to do with you people, so why don't you just leave me the hell alone?"
Bulma threw down the sponge and sneered at him. "Fine Vegeta. We'll leave you alone. But I hope that when you're 205 or however old you saiyans live to be, you realize what a miserable life you had and what an asshole you were you stupid bastard!"
She stormed out of the room, muttering curses about him under her breath.
Vegeta rolled his eyes and flipped over in bed. He came face-to-face with a mirror that had been tacked up to the wall, and being slightly vain he gaped at his reflection.
His face was pale and pasty looking from loss of blood. His hair was a bit mussed, not really noticeable to any normal person, but Vegeta took great pride in how he looked and this would never do. He reached up to smooth back some of the more unruly spikes and at the same time ran a thumb along his chin, which had grown bristly from being unshaven for a week. He humphed at his reflection and leaned back into his pillow.
"I need to shave." He decided, and stared up at the ceiling.
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"That jerk! That pompous ass! That bastard! If only I was strong enough I'd clean his clock good…"
She rubbed the surface of the sink furiously with the cleaning cloth. It was her turn to clean the kitchen, and if there was one thing she hated more than Vegeta it was her kitchen. Grease, food stains, pots and pans…oh if only the bots were working!
"He really need to get off that high horse of his…probably makes the Empire State building look like a porta potty."
She mumbled to herself and kept scrubbing. After a moment though, she stopped and tapped her chin thoughtfully.
"Although you gotta admit the poor guys been through a lot of crap in his life…I suppose even he deserves to be happy…even if he ends up pissing off everyone around him when he is." She sighed and shrugged.
"Oh well. At least he's cute. Otherwise I wouldn't give a jerk like him the time of day." Smiling to herself, she resumed her cleaning a little more cheerfully.
