My Secret- 10. Vegeta II
Back in the Capsule Corps family room, Trunks laid sideways on the brown leather sofa, with one arm across his chest and the other one scraping the carpet, while the Spongebob theme song began playing on the television.
Oh, who lives in a pineapple house under the sea?
Spongebob Squarepants!
Even at its blaring volume, Trunks slept soundly, oblivious to everything around him. That was, until the phone in the kitchen rang. He, who has been so deep in his sleep like nothing could ever wake him up, suddenly jolted upright on the second ring. It took another round of rings for him to realize he was no longer sparring with Goten in his dream, and by the fourth ring, he picked himself up and stumbled into the kitchen on his half-asleep legs to answer the phone.
"Hello?"
"..."
"Hello? Who is this?"
"Trunks? Wow, it actually worked!"
"..." Trunks looked quizzically at the receiver. Who in the world...
"Oh, sorry, this is Goku." Trunks rolled his eyes. Figures. "Chichi's out, and I wanted to call your house, but I didn't know the number so I pushed on the redial button."
"Great. So why did you want to call me?"
"Oh that's right. Can I speak to your father?"
"Dad? Um... I'm not so sure. He's not in the best of his moods today, and he's in the middle of training."
On the other end, Goku raised his eyebrows. "And you're not? Training with him, I mean."
"No. Dad kicked me out today. And Goten just happens to get himself grounded as well. This sucks."
"Oh yeah, that's too bad. Listen. Tell your dad that this is important... Tell him it's about your mother."
"Mom?! What happened to her?" Then, after a while, added, "I don't sense anything wrong with her ki."
"Don't worry about it. I'm sure it's nothing. I just wanted to talk to your dad."
"Oh... okay. Hold on."
Trunks, nearly ripping the glass doors apart, dashed to the GR and flung the door open. A stunning sight that met him almost hurled him back down the steps. The phone fell out of Trunks' grip and landed noisily on the cement floor.
"Dad?"
Vegeta was suspended in mid-air, his spine arched backwards like he has been shocked by a lightening or some sort of high-voltage electricity. His eyes were dull and lifeless, like his mind was possessed by an alien force.
---
Just minutes ago, Vegeta has been fiercely training as always. Under 300 G Force when that same, unnerving wave crashing into him. The force felt like a real wave, but there was no water. Then he heard it. First faint and distant, the piercing shriek penetrated his skin and electrocuted his spine with force and speed even he hadn't expected.
---
"Dad!"
The room echoed the word back into Trunks' ears, and then all fell silent again.
"DAD!" Trunks, just this one time only, would admit panic. He was scared, not for himself, but for his father. He jumped into the air, which no longer had any G-Forces after he opened the door, and shook his father's hands violently.
Vegeta let out a grunt. He looked down at his side to find his son grasping his hand tightly, eyes full of relief.
"Are you okay, Dad?" Without a single word, Vegeta powered up and shot out of the Gravity Room, leaving Trunks to stare out in bewilderment.
When Vegeta flew out the door with his maximum speed, the forgotten phone lifted into air, narrowly missing the top of the doorframe, and only Trunks' quick thinking saved it from crashing into the cement floor again.
He studied the phone in his palm for a few moments, trying to remember what it was doing on the floor. His father's sudden mood swings totally blew all his other thoughts away. "Trunks? Trunks?!" The phone shouted.
"Oh, sorry." Now everything came back to him. "I was just um... preoccupied."
"Oh that's okay. But what was that, that high pitched squeak just a second ago?"
"Uh, I think that's from the changes in air pressure."
"Air what?"
"Nothing. Never mind." Trunks rushed on. "Dad is busy right now. I've got to go. Sorry. Bye." Without waiting for reply, he shut off the phone and blasted out of the gravity room, following his father.
---
The golden sun was fast sinking by the time Trunks spotted his father yonder, and he rushed forward.
"Go home." Vegeta growled without even looking at him.
Trunks stared straight ahead as well, avoiding eye contact. "Dad, I can't just sit around the house while Mom could be in danger."
"She's not."
"But she is! Ojisan told me so!"
"I told you never to trust that fool."
"But he never lied..." Trunks said uncertainly. He wasn't sure if talking back was the best option right then.
"You should never listen to an Earthling... besides your mother."
"Ojisan isn't an Earthling. He's one of us."
Vegeta shot him a deadly glare that, even without looking, Trunks felt though his temple. "Kakarot was raised by the Earthling ways. Therefore, he has became an Earthling, regardless of his blood."
"Besides, I can't feel her ki either."
Silence filled between them for a while. Then, Vegeta spoke again.
"Your mother is safe. You best go back home."
"But... what if she isn't? How are you going to protect her and fight the bad guy at the same time?"
"She's fine. She's in good hands."
"How do you know? Do you know who's masking her ki? Huh?"
"You let me worry about her. Go back home. If... if what you say about Kakarot is true, then he's probably already at our front door. Son, you must keep him from going anywhere." Vegeta gave a stern look, and Trunks nodded in understanding the silent message. "I don't want anyone else involved. This is between your mother and me." Vegeta watched Trunks turn around and fly back, a mix of confidence and worry in his eyes.
---
"Darn! I just wish I could go over to Bulma's house right now! This suspense is killing me."
"Dad, you know Vegeta won't sit still if Bulma's in danger." Gohan said, trying desperately to calm his frustrated father.
Goku stopped and looked at his two sons, and resumed his pace around the kitchen table again. "That's exactly what I fear he'll do. I can't even sense Bulma. How is he going to, when he's busy concentrating on training? Darn. I just wish Chichi was here right now so I'm not bound to this house."
"Dad, I'm hungry." Goten's stomach rambled in agreement.
Goku's mood brightened immediately. "Okay, let's eat!"
"Then I guess I'll fix up dinner." Gohan called, already digging inside the refrigerator, when several weak knocks came from the door.
Goku looked from to Goten's puzzled face to Gohan's bewildered one, and he knew neither of them was expecting this visitor. He walked over to the front door. There, standing in torn clothes from which blood seeped out and various branches sticking up from his light blue hair was a boy around age eight.
"Hello. You look like you're in pretty bad shape." Goku looked at the legs and arms full of scratches.
Fear was evident in the little boy's eyes. He looked up at the towering man, and the two faces peeking behind him. "I... I'm sorry to bother you." He bowed in apology. "I got lost, you see... and I think... I think my-" Before he could finish his sentence, the boy fell into Goku's arms, unconscious.
---
Bulma woke up with painful, jagged rocks stabbing her back. The beautiful azure sky this morning has been replaced by a bloody, scarlet sunset. Her back ached terribly. What happened? She looked to her left and right to discover both of her wrists being held to the cliff wall with some sort of energy bond, and she guessed there was a similar thing around her neck. Her clothes looked to be in good condition, except for the few cuts made by the flying glass of her car's windshield. There were some bloodstain on her sleeves, but they were all dried up. When she looked down, her stomach did a summersault. There was, literally, nothing below her except darkness. Then, she saw the identical yellow bands across her ankles.
That's when it finally hit her, that she was suspended midair with only those rings to hold her from dropping into the bottomless crevice. Bulma yelled frantically, hoping against hope that someone was around, but there was only the dry, crimson, sedimentary rocks surrounding her. Looks like she was in a canyon.
I'm going to die. Fear was wiggling up her spine like slimy worms. I'm going to die, and no one will ever find my corpse. She yelled even louder.
"Help! Someone, help me!"
"Now," a deep crackling voice echoed though the rock walls. "Don't be so scared. You are merely my bait."
Bulma looked around, startled. Suddenly, Vegeta materialized in front of her. With the most horrifying smirk. Bulma gaped.
"Y... you aren't Vegeta." The scary movie played back in her head. She saw herself scream as the figure charged towards her, though the windshield. Later, she remembered the same figure, carrying her, flying though the sky in unbelievable speed to this spot, and bounded her to the canyon wall. And that same figure stood in front of her right now. Of course, how she knew this was beyond her understanding, for she, no doubt, fell unconscious right after the car incident. "You are an imposer."
"Well, it looks like you figured it out at last, Bulma." The fake Vegeta, glowing in bright green light, soon lost his flaming hair and piercing obsidian eyes. His sharp features were gone, replaced by a feminine face of a young girl. She had shimmering emerald eyes and soft chocolate brown locks. The last face you'll expect to see on a kidnapper.
---
At last, the second Vegeta is revealed. Now it might be easier to see the clues I dropped earlier, doesn't it?
Sorry it took so long to update. I'm trying to translate my personal site and some lyrics into Japanese, and they take so long. On top of that, I can't use the computer after 8:30pm; so that gives me even less time to get everything done. Nevertheless, I'm going to finish this before I leave for Japan this summer, and that's near the end of June. I will never even think about abandoning it. I know how the feeling too well when an author starts a story and never finishes it.
And this year, I've had first-hand experience on finals. I'm not yet in high school, but since I'm taking a high school class, I had to take the math final. It was mostly easy except for the factoring problems. The reality of finals has struck me pretty hard. I'm still having hard time imagining having to take it for every class for the next eight years. I mean, I have taken finals before, but they never took more than 45 minutes, and certainly not created by the district. My math teacher told me it's going to go in my permanent file. I barely finished checking my answers…
Back in the Capsule Corps family room, Trunks laid sideways on the brown leather sofa, with one arm across his chest and the other one scraping the carpet, while the Spongebob theme song began playing on the television.
Oh, who lives in a pineapple house under the sea?
Spongebob Squarepants!
Even at its blaring volume, Trunks slept soundly, oblivious to everything around him. That was, until the phone in the kitchen rang. He, who has been so deep in his sleep like nothing could ever wake him up, suddenly jolted upright on the second ring. It took another round of rings for him to realize he was no longer sparring with Goten in his dream, and by the fourth ring, he picked himself up and stumbled into the kitchen on his half-asleep legs to answer the phone.
"Hello?"
"..."
"Hello? Who is this?"
"Trunks? Wow, it actually worked!"
"..." Trunks looked quizzically at the receiver. Who in the world...
"Oh, sorry, this is Goku." Trunks rolled his eyes. Figures. "Chichi's out, and I wanted to call your house, but I didn't know the number so I pushed on the redial button."
"Great. So why did you want to call me?"
"Oh that's right. Can I speak to your father?"
"Dad? Um... I'm not so sure. He's not in the best of his moods today, and he's in the middle of training."
On the other end, Goku raised his eyebrows. "And you're not? Training with him, I mean."
"No. Dad kicked me out today. And Goten just happens to get himself grounded as well. This sucks."
"Oh yeah, that's too bad. Listen. Tell your dad that this is important... Tell him it's about your mother."
"Mom?! What happened to her?" Then, after a while, added, "I don't sense anything wrong with her ki."
"Don't worry about it. I'm sure it's nothing. I just wanted to talk to your dad."
"Oh... okay. Hold on."
Trunks, nearly ripping the glass doors apart, dashed to the GR and flung the door open. A stunning sight that met him almost hurled him back down the steps. The phone fell out of Trunks' grip and landed noisily on the cement floor.
"Dad?"
Vegeta was suspended in mid-air, his spine arched backwards like he has been shocked by a lightening or some sort of high-voltage electricity. His eyes were dull and lifeless, like his mind was possessed by an alien force.
---
Just minutes ago, Vegeta has been fiercely training as always. Under 300 G Force when that same, unnerving wave crashing into him. The force felt like a real wave, but there was no water. Then he heard it. First faint and distant, the piercing shriek penetrated his skin and electrocuted his spine with force and speed even he hadn't expected.
---
"Dad!"
The room echoed the word back into Trunks' ears, and then all fell silent again.
"DAD!" Trunks, just this one time only, would admit panic. He was scared, not for himself, but for his father. He jumped into the air, which no longer had any G-Forces after he opened the door, and shook his father's hands violently.
Vegeta let out a grunt. He looked down at his side to find his son grasping his hand tightly, eyes full of relief.
"Are you okay, Dad?" Without a single word, Vegeta powered up and shot out of the Gravity Room, leaving Trunks to stare out in bewilderment.
When Vegeta flew out the door with his maximum speed, the forgotten phone lifted into air, narrowly missing the top of the doorframe, and only Trunks' quick thinking saved it from crashing into the cement floor again.
He studied the phone in his palm for a few moments, trying to remember what it was doing on the floor. His father's sudden mood swings totally blew all his other thoughts away. "Trunks? Trunks?!" The phone shouted.
"Oh, sorry." Now everything came back to him. "I was just um... preoccupied."
"Oh that's okay. But what was that, that high pitched squeak just a second ago?"
"Uh, I think that's from the changes in air pressure."
"Air what?"
"Nothing. Never mind." Trunks rushed on. "Dad is busy right now. I've got to go. Sorry. Bye." Without waiting for reply, he shut off the phone and blasted out of the gravity room, following his father.
---
The golden sun was fast sinking by the time Trunks spotted his father yonder, and he rushed forward.
"Go home." Vegeta growled without even looking at him.
Trunks stared straight ahead as well, avoiding eye contact. "Dad, I can't just sit around the house while Mom could be in danger."
"She's not."
"But she is! Ojisan told me so!"
"I told you never to trust that fool."
"But he never lied..." Trunks said uncertainly. He wasn't sure if talking back was the best option right then.
"You should never listen to an Earthling... besides your mother."
"Ojisan isn't an Earthling. He's one of us."
Vegeta shot him a deadly glare that, even without looking, Trunks felt though his temple. "Kakarot was raised by the Earthling ways. Therefore, he has became an Earthling, regardless of his blood."
"Besides, I can't feel her ki either."
Silence filled between them for a while. Then, Vegeta spoke again.
"Your mother is safe. You best go back home."
"But... what if she isn't? How are you going to protect her and fight the bad guy at the same time?"
"She's fine. She's in good hands."
"How do you know? Do you know who's masking her ki? Huh?"
"You let me worry about her. Go back home. If... if what you say about Kakarot is true, then he's probably already at our front door. Son, you must keep him from going anywhere." Vegeta gave a stern look, and Trunks nodded in understanding the silent message. "I don't want anyone else involved. This is between your mother and me." Vegeta watched Trunks turn around and fly back, a mix of confidence and worry in his eyes.
---
"Darn! I just wish I could go over to Bulma's house right now! This suspense is killing me."
"Dad, you know Vegeta won't sit still if Bulma's in danger." Gohan said, trying desperately to calm his frustrated father.
Goku stopped and looked at his two sons, and resumed his pace around the kitchen table again. "That's exactly what I fear he'll do. I can't even sense Bulma. How is he going to, when he's busy concentrating on training? Darn. I just wish Chichi was here right now so I'm not bound to this house."
"Dad, I'm hungry." Goten's stomach rambled in agreement.
Goku's mood brightened immediately. "Okay, let's eat!"
"Then I guess I'll fix up dinner." Gohan called, already digging inside the refrigerator, when several weak knocks came from the door.
Goku looked from to Goten's puzzled face to Gohan's bewildered one, and he knew neither of them was expecting this visitor. He walked over to the front door. There, standing in torn clothes from which blood seeped out and various branches sticking up from his light blue hair was a boy around age eight.
"Hello. You look like you're in pretty bad shape." Goku looked at the legs and arms full of scratches.
Fear was evident in the little boy's eyes. He looked up at the towering man, and the two faces peeking behind him. "I... I'm sorry to bother you." He bowed in apology. "I got lost, you see... and I think... I think my-" Before he could finish his sentence, the boy fell into Goku's arms, unconscious.
---
Bulma woke up with painful, jagged rocks stabbing her back. The beautiful azure sky this morning has been replaced by a bloody, scarlet sunset. Her back ached terribly. What happened? She looked to her left and right to discover both of her wrists being held to the cliff wall with some sort of energy bond, and she guessed there was a similar thing around her neck. Her clothes looked to be in good condition, except for the few cuts made by the flying glass of her car's windshield. There were some bloodstain on her sleeves, but they were all dried up. When she looked down, her stomach did a summersault. There was, literally, nothing below her except darkness. Then, she saw the identical yellow bands across her ankles.
That's when it finally hit her, that she was suspended midair with only those rings to hold her from dropping into the bottomless crevice. Bulma yelled frantically, hoping against hope that someone was around, but there was only the dry, crimson, sedimentary rocks surrounding her. Looks like she was in a canyon.
I'm going to die. Fear was wiggling up her spine like slimy worms. I'm going to die, and no one will ever find my corpse. She yelled even louder.
"Help! Someone, help me!"
"Now," a deep crackling voice echoed though the rock walls. "Don't be so scared. You are merely my bait."
Bulma looked around, startled. Suddenly, Vegeta materialized in front of her. With the most horrifying smirk. Bulma gaped.
"Y... you aren't Vegeta." The scary movie played back in her head. She saw herself scream as the figure charged towards her, though the windshield. Later, she remembered the same figure, carrying her, flying though the sky in unbelievable speed to this spot, and bounded her to the canyon wall. And that same figure stood in front of her right now. Of course, how she knew this was beyond her understanding, for she, no doubt, fell unconscious right after the car incident. "You are an imposer."
"Well, it looks like you figured it out at last, Bulma." The fake Vegeta, glowing in bright green light, soon lost his flaming hair and piercing obsidian eyes. His sharp features were gone, replaced by a feminine face of a young girl. She had shimmering emerald eyes and soft chocolate brown locks. The last face you'll expect to see on a kidnapper.
---
At last, the second Vegeta is revealed. Now it might be easier to see the clues I dropped earlier, doesn't it?
Sorry it took so long to update. I'm trying to translate my personal site and some lyrics into Japanese, and they take so long. On top of that, I can't use the computer after 8:30pm; so that gives me even less time to get everything done. Nevertheless, I'm going to finish this before I leave for Japan this summer, and that's near the end of June. I will never even think about abandoning it. I know how the feeling too well when an author starts a story and never finishes it.
And this year, I've had first-hand experience on finals. I'm not yet in high school, but since I'm taking a high school class, I had to take the math final. It was mostly easy except for the factoring problems. The reality of finals has struck me pretty hard. I'm still having hard time imagining having to take it for every class for the next eight years. I mean, I have taken finals before, but they never took more than 45 minutes, and certainly not created by the district. My math teacher told me it's going to go in my permanent file. I barely finished checking my answers…
