Can't Resist - Chapter 2 - Explosion
Even though Yamcha didn't recognize the volume of her door-slam as an explosion, Bulma did. Casting Yamcha forcefully from her mind, she identified the source as the GT (gravity trainer) in the backyard. She'd relished the challenge of building a GT when Vegeta had demanded it of her father. Since he was busy with upgrading his spaceships, she'd decided to take on the responsibility. It had been fun while it lasted, technical work always was. Once the blueprints were tested, she'd had some company employees come over and they'd built it in a day. Vegeta had flown in from wherever he'd been and started training.
However, he'd never blown it up before. Well to be more accurate, the explosion hadn't been this loud. He'd blown chunks out of it, but she'd programmed the robots to fix it. This explosion sounded like the whole GT. The noise of rocks and debris landing on the roof confirmed her theory.
As she sprinted through her house, Bulma cursed the size of the Brief mansion. A huge house was always an asset she'd favored, great for parties, but not when one had to sprint through it, dodging the furniture and cleaning bots just to get to one's own backyard. 'Well if he blew himself up, maybe he'll get a good hard knock on the head and end up nicer.' Bulma thought as she remembered what had happened to Goku when he was a baby. 'And speaking of Goku, I wonder how Chi Chi's taking his return and departure for training . . .' Bulma's thought drifted.
When she finally opened the backdoor, she froze in shock. Pieces of the GT were strewn all over the yard, ruining most of her mother's beautiful gardens. The GT had stood off to the left, but now it was nothing but a pile of rubble. The beautiful spring day was marred by the devastation in her back yard.
Shaking off her paralyzation, Bulma ran over to the rubble, underneath which she knew Vegeta must be. She dropped down on her hands and knees and frantically started clearing away the rubble. 'If he's dead . . .' she allowed herself to think, "I will never forgive myself for letting him work so hard.' At that moment a hand shot out of the rubble in front of her and to the left. She jumped slightly, startled, and grasped it, pulling Vegeta up and out of the debris.
Vegeta coughed and protested weakly as he tried to stand. 'Just what exactly had gone wrong?' Vegeta wondered. He'd been warming down, having decided to quit early to raid the kitchen, when he'd felt a burst of anger. It wasn't even what Frieza would've described as 'productive anger'. He'd just felt angry, vented, and now here he was, being pulled out of the rubble by the weak human female who yelled a lot and annoyed him, but she was gorgeous and she fixed things when he wanted her to, so he tolerated her. Still, what was that ringing in his head and why did he feel as if he'd just had a fight with Kakarott and lost big time?
"Vegeta, can you hear me? Can you hear me?" Bulma asked as she helped him sit up.
"Of course I can. I'm not deaf." Vegeta mumbled as he passed out. Bulma laid him down gently and ran into the house, screaming for her parents. Abruptly she remembered they'd gone to a conference, so she grabbed the holophone on the back porch and pressed the 'Emergency Room' button. The medics arrived a few minutes later along with her parents, who only seemed vaguely worried at the sirens.
In the end, her parents had Vegeta, still unconscious, installed in the infirmary and her father began programming some bots to rebuild the GT.
"Bulma honey?" Mrs. Briefs called from the living room, where she'd been seeing off the medics.
"Yeah, Mom?" Bulma asked, walking into the room from the infirmary.
"Do you think we should call Goku and ask him when Vegeta will recover? Those medics said a month, but they had Goku in a full body cast and said six months and he was okay in two weeks. Besides, I'm sure Goku would like to see if his friend's okay. I told Chi Chi what happened, she called for you a few minutes ago to ask you if you two were still on for tomorrow. Are you two going shopping? Well should we invite him over honey? He could be here real soon and I haven't seen him in such a long time. Why that was before you went to Namek! Come to think of it-"
"Mom! I'm not sure Vegeta would like it if his . . .friend . . . saw him in such a weakened state. Shouldn't we ask him?" Bulma stalled.
"Well I guess you're right honey. He does have his pride. But as they say 'Pride goeth before a fall.' He's such a nice young man though, and so well mannered-"
"Mom I want you to know I broke up with Yamcha for good this time."
"Ahhhhh!" Mrs. Brief hugged her daughter and jumped a couple of times. "I was hoping you would. I'm so happy, honey, and your father is too! Yamcha is a nice young man but honey, he's been playing you. And there are sooo many other gentlemen out there more faithful then him. I'm glad you two are over. Let me go and tell your father the good news, he's in the lab of course. The conference went well by the way and your dad decided to start a scholarship with the extra zenii. Oh it's wonderful Bulma! Oh that Vegeta blew himself up on such a nice day. I know he would've wanted to hear the news. Oh well. I'll tell him tomorrow when he wakes up. He's such a nice young man. Well it's late. I think I'll just head to bed. We had dinner at the conference you know. Make yourself something honey. Goodnight. And tell Vegeta goodnight if he wakes up." with that Mrs. Brief fairly skipped up the stairs.
Bulma simply shook her head, trying to visualize Vegeta's reaction when her mom told Vegeta about the scholarship. And who was this 'nice young man' her mom kept talking about? 'Really,' Bulma thought 'my parents can be so dense it's unbelievable. At least she's happy about Yamcha. I can hardly imagine what Vegeta would do if Goku came here and saw him in bed, unable to get out, . . . . . . He'd flip. He'd just flip.'
Bulma made herself half a cheese sandwich, grabbed a sappy romance novel, and sat down at the table next to Vegeta's bed. 'Well I do feel a little guilty.' She thought after she finished her sandwich and sat gazing at him. 'He looks so much more peaceful asleep, like he must have when he was a toddler.' she smiled at that image. Vegeta in diapers. 'I did build that GT . . . but where else would he train? I guess I'm glad he's here to add a little spice to my life . . . someone to argue with, he he he . . .' and she drifted off to sleep ' . . . I think I'll change my hair tomorrow . . . . . . curls are over-rated . . . maybe he'll like it better . . . . . . . . ."
***********
Sleep was torture now. All he dreamed of was Kakarott and that other super saiyan boy. They taunted him. Oh he knew Kakarott wouldn't really taunt him. It was just that he never remembered that while he was dreaming. There were the forms of the androids. There was Frieza. There were Nappa, King Vegeta, his mother, Raditz, they were all still alive here. There were the Ginyu force, Zarbon, and King Yamu, whom he'd seen in the Other World sp long ago it seemed, when he'd been dead.
Dead. He'd found that death wasn't so horrible, so final, as he'd thought. It was just a new dimension, a starting over perhaps. King Yama hadn't known what to do with him, but he'd been wished back before Yama had made a decision, so that wasn't so bad. Vegeta didn't really want to know anyway.
And there in a bright haze was someone mysterious, a slender figure he couldn't quite see, that beckoned. It was a woman and he was drawn to her, but who was she? Yes, here comes the part. He gave in and floated towards her. It took ages . . . a few more seconds and he could see her face. But the light was too bright. He was awake. He opened his eyes - and saw the woman with that ridiculously curly hair asleep with her head down on a table beside his bed. Vegeta stared at her for a few moments. 'What's she doing here? Why am I in the infirmary?' Then it all came back to him in a rush - the feelings of anger at a betrayal, resolve to push his body to the max, releasing his ki in one big rush, misjudging the speed, and explosion, summoning enough strength to reach his hand up, felling the warm clasp of a small hand, half standing, being pulled from the rubble by her so he could breathe again, saying of course I can hear, dreaming, and then now.
And here she was. 'But why is she here?' Vegeta asked himself. 'Does she feel sorry for me? weak human woman . . . '
He dozed off once again, this time slipping easily into a dreamless sleep.
*************
"Rise and shine sir! My you've had a time of it, what with your accident and all. It's time for me to get your vital signs, hon." an insanely cheerful female voice chattered. Vegeta slowly swam into consciousness and beheld a woman in a white uniform of some sort bustling around the infirmary, opening the curtains. With a slight pang, he noticed Bulma was gone.
Slowly, as if moving through water, he lifted his right arm and moved the oxygen mask to the left side of his head so he could talk. He was displeased to realize that that simple action drained a surprising amount of his energy.
"Who are you? Did I give you the right to come in here and barge in on me?! Get out." he scowled, radiating malice.
"Well now. You're just a little cranky. Not a morning person are we? I'll just take your pulse and your temperature now, hon." the nurse chattered, coming towards him.
"I am not 'just a little cranky'. I'm not going to die, so leave before I get angry."
The nurse stopped a foot away from the bed. "Now don't you threaten me. You could still die, so just let me-"
"GET OUT!" Vegeta roared, impatient, looking more furious thatn ever and mustering the strength to sit up. He scowled, eyes cold and hard.
The nurse backed up towards the door, picking up her bag. "If you'd just-" she started timidly.
"LEAVE!" Vegeta ordered, relishing the moment as fear washed over the nurse's face.
She turned and fairly flew out the door, not bothering to slam it behind her.
'What's wrong with me, that I scare a weak human female and feel as if I've won a battle?' Vegeta hated to admit it, but that other female, the blue haired scientist, Bulma, he allowed himself to think, wasn't scared of him anymore. And her mother was too dumb to be scared. He'd been a little afraid that all humans were like that - either they yelled a lot or where too dumb for their own good and couldn't be intimidated. 'At least that one gave me the respect I deserve, even in this weakened state.' he thought, and settled down to sulk over the waste of training time.
Even though Yamcha didn't recognize the volume of her door-slam as an explosion, Bulma did. Casting Yamcha forcefully from her mind, she identified the source as the GT (gravity trainer) in the backyard. She'd relished the challenge of building a GT when Vegeta had demanded it of her father. Since he was busy with upgrading his spaceships, she'd decided to take on the responsibility. It had been fun while it lasted, technical work always was. Once the blueprints were tested, she'd had some company employees come over and they'd built it in a day. Vegeta had flown in from wherever he'd been and started training.
However, he'd never blown it up before. Well to be more accurate, the explosion hadn't been this loud. He'd blown chunks out of it, but she'd programmed the robots to fix it. This explosion sounded like the whole GT. The noise of rocks and debris landing on the roof confirmed her theory.
As she sprinted through her house, Bulma cursed the size of the Brief mansion. A huge house was always an asset she'd favored, great for parties, but not when one had to sprint through it, dodging the furniture and cleaning bots just to get to one's own backyard. 'Well if he blew himself up, maybe he'll get a good hard knock on the head and end up nicer.' Bulma thought as she remembered what had happened to Goku when he was a baby. 'And speaking of Goku, I wonder how Chi Chi's taking his return and departure for training . . .' Bulma's thought drifted.
When she finally opened the backdoor, she froze in shock. Pieces of the GT were strewn all over the yard, ruining most of her mother's beautiful gardens. The GT had stood off to the left, but now it was nothing but a pile of rubble. The beautiful spring day was marred by the devastation in her back yard.
Shaking off her paralyzation, Bulma ran over to the rubble, underneath which she knew Vegeta must be. She dropped down on her hands and knees and frantically started clearing away the rubble. 'If he's dead . . .' she allowed herself to think, "I will never forgive myself for letting him work so hard.' At that moment a hand shot out of the rubble in front of her and to the left. She jumped slightly, startled, and grasped it, pulling Vegeta up and out of the debris.
Vegeta coughed and protested weakly as he tried to stand. 'Just what exactly had gone wrong?' Vegeta wondered. He'd been warming down, having decided to quit early to raid the kitchen, when he'd felt a burst of anger. It wasn't even what Frieza would've described as 'productive anger'. He'd just felt angry, vented, and now here he was, being pulled out of the rubble by the weak human female who yelled a lot and annoyed him, but she was gorgeous and she fixed things when he wanted her to, so he tolerated her. Still, what was that ringing in his head and why did he feel as if he'd just had a fight with Kakarott and lost big time?
"Vegeta, can you hear me? Can you hear me?" Bulma asked as she helped him sit up.
"Of course I can. I'm not deaf." Vegeta mumbled as he passed out. Bulma laid him down gently and ran into the house, screaming for her parents. Abruptly she remembered they'd gone to a conference, so she grabbed the holophone on the back porch and pressed the 'Emergency Room' button. The medics arrived a few minutes later along with her parents, who only seemed vaguely worried at the sirens.
In the end, her parents had Vegeta, still unconscious, installed in the infirmary and her father began programming some bots to rebuild the GT.
"Bulma honey?" Mrs. Briefs called from the living room, where she'd been seeing off the medics.
"Yeah, Mom?" Bulma asked, walking into the room from the infirmary.
"Do you think we should call Goku and ask him when Vegeta will recover? Those medics said a month, but they had Goku in a full body cast and said six months and he was okay in two weeks. Besides, I'm sure Goku would like to see if his friend's okay. I told Chi Chi what happened, she called for you a few minutes ago to ask you if you two were still on for tomorrow. Are you two going shopping? Well should we invite him over honey? He could be here real soon and I haven't seen him in such a long time. Why that was before you went to Namek! Come to think of it-"
"Mom! I'm not sure Vegeta would like it if his . . .friend . . . saw him in such a weakened state. Shouldn't we ask him?" Bulma stalled.
"Well I guess you're right honey. He does have his pride. But as they say 'Pride goeth before a fall.' He's such a nice young man though, and so well mannered-"
"Mom I want you to know I broke up with Yamcha for good this time."
"Ahhhhh!" Mrs. Brief hugged her daughter and jumped a couple of times. "I was hoping you would. I'm so happy, honey, and your father is too! Yamcha is a nice young man but honey, he's been playing you. And there are sooo many other gentlemen out there more faithful then him. I'm glad you two are over. Let me go and tell your father the good news, he's in the lab of course. The conference went well by the way and your dad decided to start a scholarship with the extra zenii. Oh it's wonderful Bulma! Oh that Vegeta blew himself up on such a nice day. I know he would've wanted to hear the news. Oh well. I'll tell him tomorrow when he wakes up. He's such a nice young man. Well it's late. I think I'll just head to bed. We had dinner at the conference you know. Make yourself something honey. Goodnight. And tell Vegeta goodnight if he wakes up." with that Mrs. Brief fairly skipped up the stairs.
Bulma simply shook her head, trying to visualize Vegeta's reaction when her mom told Vegeta about the scholarship. And who was this 'nice young man' her mom kept talking about? 'Really,' Bulma thought 'my parents can be so dense it's unbelievable. At least she's happy about Yamcha. I can hardly imagine what Vegeta would do if Goku came here and saw him in bed, unable to get out, . . . . . . He'd flip. He'd just flip.'
Bulma made herself half a cheese sandwich, grabbed a sappy romance novel, and sat down at the table next to Vegeta's bed. 'Well I do feel a little guilty.' She thought after she finished her sandwich and sat gazing at him. 'He looks so much more peaceful asleep, like he must have when he was a toddler.' she smiled at that image. Vegeta in diapers. 'I did build that GT . . . but where else would he train? I guess I'm glad he's here to add a little spice to my life . . . someone to argue with, he he he . . .' and she drifted off to sleep ' . . . I think I'll change my hair tomorrow . . . . . . curls are over-rated . . . maybe he'll like it better . . . . . . . . ."
***********
Sleep was torture now. All he dreamed of was Kakarott and that other super saiyan boy. They taunted him. Oh he knew Kakarott wouldn't really taunt him. It was just that he never remembered that while he was dreaming. There were the forms of the androids. There was Frieza. There were Nappa, King Vegeta, his mother, Raditz, they were all still alive here. There were the Ginyu force, Zarbon, and King Yamu, whom he'd seen in the Other World sp long ago it seemed, when he'd been dead.
Dead. He'd found that death wasn't so horrible, so final, as he'd thought. It was just a new dimension, a starting over perhaps. King Yama hadn't known what to do with him, but he'd been wished back before Yama had made a decision, so that wasn't so bad. Vegeta didn't really want to know anyway.
And there in a bright haze was someone mysterious, a slender figure he couldn't quite see, that beckoned. It was a woman and he was drawn to her, but who was she? Yes, here comes the part. He gave in and floated towards her. It took ages . . . a few more seconds and he could see her face. But the light was too bright. He was awake. He opened his eyes - and saw the woman with that ridiculously curly hair asleep with her head down on a table beside his bed. Vegeta stared at her for a few moments. 'What's she doing here? Why am I in the infirmary?' Then it all came back to him in a rush - the feelings of anger at a betrayal, resolve to push his body to the max, releasing his ki in one big rush, misjudging the speed, and explosion, summoning enough strength to reach his hand up, felling the warm clasp of a small hand, half standing, being pulled from the rubble by her so he could breathe again, saying of course I can hear, dreaming, and then now.
And here she was. 'But why is she here?' Vegeta asked himself. 'Does she feel sorry for me? weak human woman . . . '
He dozed off once again, this time slipping easily into a dreamless sleep.
*************
"Rise and shine sir! My you've had a time of it, what with your accident and all. It's time for me to get your vital signs, hon." an insanely cheerful female voice chattered. Vegeta slowly swam into consciousness and beheld a woman in a white uniform of some sort bustling around the infirmary, opening the curtains. With a slight pang, he noticed Bulma was gone.
Slowly, as if moving through water, he lifted his right arm and moved the oxygen mask to the left side of his head so he could talk. He was displeased to realize that that simple action drained a surprising amount of his energy.
"Who are you? Did I give you the right to come in here and barge in on me?! Get out." he scowled, radiating malice.
"Well now. You're just a little cranky. Not a morning person are we? I'll just take your pulse and your temperature now, hon." the nurse chattered, coming towards him.
"I am not 'just a little cranky'. I'm not going to die, so leave before I get angry."
The nurse stopped a foot away from the bed. "Now don't you threaten me. You could still die, so just let me-"
"GET OUT!" Vegeta roared, impatient, looking more furious thatn ever and mustering the strength to sit up. He scowled, eyes cold and hard.
The nurse backed up towards the door, picking up her bag. "If you'd just-" she started timidly.
"LEAVE!" Vegeta ordered, relishing the moment as fear washed over the nurse's face.
She turned and fairly flew out the door, not bothering to slam it behind her.
'What's wrong with me, that I scare a weak human female and feel as if I've won a battle?' Vegeta hated to admit it, but that other female, the blue haired scientist, Bulma, he allowed himself to think, wasn't scared of him anymore. And her mother was too dumb to be scared. He'd been a little afraid that all humans were like that - either they yelled a lot or where too dumb for their own good and couldn't be intimidated. 'At least that one gave me the respect I deserve, even in this weakened state.' he thought, and settled down to sulk over the waste of training time.
