Disclaimer: I do not own Dragonball, Dragonball Z, or Dragonball GT. Those and the characters were created by Akira Toriyama, so please do not sue.
Chapter 4 - The Saiyan and the Human
The blasts grew nearer and nearer as Bulma hurried through the various compounds of Capsule Corporation, quickening as she got closer and closer to the boundaries and the forests that stood there. Another one of the ferocious blasts and she hastened to quicken her pace.
At long last she spotted Vegeta hovering near the tops of the trees, firing various ki blasts down towards the ground. Already, some sizeable-looking craters had formed where, just minutes ago, there was a lush green lawn. Many employees and members of security had gathered in this area, yet they were slowly backing off as Vegeta's ki blasts came closer and closer to the compounds.
Bulma dashed into the crater filled area and stood, hands cupped over her mouth. She yelled up into the sky.
"VEGETA!!! GET DOWN HERE THIS INSTANCE!!!"
He noticed her and stopped shooting off the ki blasts. With the usual smirk on his face, he descended down back onto the grounds.
Angrily, Bulma stomped over to him and jabbed a finger at his chest.
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?! DID I NOT TELL YOU THAT YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED TO FIRE OFF KI BLASTS ANYWHERE NEAR HUMANS??! YOU COULD'VE KILLED SOMEONE, MISTER PRINCE OF THE SAIYANS!!"
Vegeta just smirked. "How could a few weak ki blasts kill someone? I was merely having some fun with them."
Bulma gritted her teeth. 'Do not provoke him, Bulma,' she reasoned to herself. 'He can kill you with just one punch, and you don't want to die so young anyways.'
"What do you mean weak ki blasts?? This is EARTH, not Planet Vegeta, and we are HUMANS, not Saiyans, do you hear?!"
"Look woman, I am the Prince of Saiyans and I can do whatever I please whether it's on Planet Vegeta or this lousy excuse of a planet--"
"How DARE you insult Earth?! Your race is almost dead, with the exception of you and Goku! And it does matter that you're on Earth because you abide by OUR standards!"
Vegeta's eyes narrowed dangerously. He took a few steps closer to Bulma, causing her to back slowly away. Still he kept advancing.
"You--do--NOT--insult--the--Saiyan--race. I--am--the--Prince--of--all--Saiyans--and--I--would--NOT--tolerate--such--disrespect." He said all this slowly and calmly, which seemed more terrifying than if he had yelled at her.
Bulma continued to back away. The nearest compound pressed up behind her. There was nowhere else she could go. Slowly, she stared at Vegeta, just a mere three feet in front of her. Fear coursed her body, yet she refused to let Vegeta see any of it.
"Look Vegeta," she tried a different approach this time, "this is my place, so we go on my terms, okay? You leave my place and Earth alone, and we'll not bother with you. Does that sound fair?"
"Why should I consider your offer?"
"Because if I hadn't let you stay here, you wouldn't have anywhere else to go!! If I hadn't felt SORRY for you because you had no one left, I wouldn't even let you within a hundred feet of Capsule Corporation!" She could feel the nervous sweat running off her forehead, yet dared not reach a hand up to wipe it off.
He did another one of his famous smirks. "I wouldn't bother with any of these puny humans here anytime. They are a waste of time to contend with, so I'll give you that, I won't bother the weaklings here. But," he added as a second note, "if ANYONE bothers with me, I can assure you that they will pay dearly for it."
"That…that seems fair enough…" Bulma made a mental note to consult with her board members and all the employees who worked on the grounds as soon as possible. "But you cannot harm the people on Earth either, Vegeta. There may be only about a thousand workers here at Capsule Corp., but there are billions more people on Earth. You can't harm them, either."
"And why should I promise to that one woman? If I don't have anything else better to do, I'll find some random humans to have some fun with."
"Because you are on Earth!! Damn it, you don't need to be harassing us humans just because you think we are a weaker race! The gravity machine you asked for is going to be built soon, so don't bother with anyone else okay?? You can spend all your time in it for all I care, just don't you go and harm anyone!"
By this time, Bulma had almost run out of energy arguing with Vegeta. He was a hopeless person, and an argument seemed futile with him. He almost always won.
"The gravity machine that you were talking about the other day?" Vegeta sneered. "I'll have to see for myself just how good it is first."
"Well you can't at the moment because we only have the plans done. It's going to be finished building in about a week."
"Hurry up and start on it. Or else I will find something else useful to do in the meantime."
That did it for Bulma. She had had enough of Vegeta's ego and his "almightiness" to last for a long time. If there was something she despised most, it was Vegeta's thinking that humans were so much inferior to the Saiyans.
"You better not think of doing anything, Vegeta. Don't forget that Goku is back and--"
He turned on her then. Bulma swore under her breath. 'Damn, why'd she have to go and mention Goku for??'
"Do not mention Kakarott in my presence!" Without warning, he grabbed Bulma's shoulders and held her against the compound. "I will not be inferior to that third-class Saiyan! I WILL achieve the level of Super Saiyan, and when I do, I will destroy him once and for all!"
"Y-yes you will achieve it…" she managed to stammer. The fear showed deeply now; she was shaking all over. "You will become a Super Saiyan and be as strong as Goku--"
"NOT AS STRONG AS HIM WOMAN! I WILL BE STRONGER THAN HE'LL EVER BE!" Vegeta raged, his face inches from Bulma's. His eyes bulged like a madman's and a vein throbbed violently in his forehead. He tightened the grip on Bulma's shoulder.
A string of pain shot down her shoulders and she yelled out in agony. "Vegeta please let go of me!" Desperately, she tried twisting her shoulders out of his grip, but he was too strong. He gripped her even more tightly.
"Say that I will become stronger than Goku or I'll never let go!" Vegeta roared.
"Okay, okay OW Vegeta you will become stronger than Goku!"
"Good. Now don't let me hear you talking about your precious Goku ever again!" Letting go of Bulma, he flew off into the darkening sky.
Bulma slumped down onto the ground, supporting her back by the wall of the compound. Gingerly, she tried moving her shoulders. Pain shot all the way down to her fingers and she yelled out. Vegeta had really done it this time.
"Bulma!"
"Ms. Briefs?"
"Are you all right?"
All swarm of people rushed in from all directions. It seemed the time when she and Vegeta were yelling at each other, they had all hid in fear of the Saiyan prince. Now they flocked out like a herd of cattle and surrounded Bulma. Inwardly, she felt disgust that none of them had helped her stand up to Vegeta. They had all ran in cowardice, just like Vegeta had wanted.
"Coming through, excuse me, Bulma! Are you all right? Did Vegeta harm you?" Dr. Briefs, pushing his way through the people in the crowd arrived to where Bulma still sat, leaning against the wall of the building. "I just heard what Vegeta was doing and I came here as fast as I could from the lab. Your mother wanted to come too, but she had a little problem in the kitchen. Did he do anything to you Bulma? If he did I can--"
"No it's okay Dad, Vegeta didn't harm me. He just--OW DAMN SHOULDER…" She had tried to get up, wincing in pain as pressure was applied to her arms.
Dr. Briefs was immediately alarmed. "What's wrong with your arms Bulma?? Did Vegeta do something to them? Someone go get the doctors!" A few people ran off from the crowd.
"Dad, I'm okay. Vegeta was being lenient on me. If it was someone else, I'll daresay he would've blasted them to hell." She chuckled, trying to lessen the tension in the situation.
"But he can't do this to you! Bulma, I seriously think you should reconsider having Vegeta stay here. He's a madman! There's no telling what he can do to you or anyone else here!" Dr. Briefs cried out. "If he--" He stopped.
It seemed to Dr. Briefs that it was not especially wise to continue, as the majority of the employees of C.C. were grouped around them. He cleared his throat, giving warning that he had something of importance to say.
"The situation is all under control here. The work day is all over, and you may all go home."
A murmur ran through the people, and concern for Bulma was voiced.
"I assure you, I'm going to be alright," said Bulma. "You all go home to your families and I'll see you tomorrow."
Reluctantly, the crowd slowly dispersed, giving their well wishes to Bulma. When they were finally alone, Dr. Briefs turned back to face Bulma.
"Bulma, wouldn't it be best if we just made Vegeta leave? It would be best for you and--"
"No, Dad, we can't do that," Bulma interjected. She could already picture the vivid situation in her mind if they did kick Vegeta out, not that they could. "If we tell Vegeta to leave, he'll just go somewhere else and who knows what destruction he might cause? No, we can't take the risk." She looked up towards the sky, which by now had turned a dark blue in color. The first night's star was already winking down on her, and the sound of the security lights on the grounds of C.C. flickering on could be heard as well.
"Well…you do have a point there," Dr. Briefs agreed, rubbing his lavender-colored mustache in deep thought. "I guess we should all give Vegeta more space and hope he doesn't do anything more."
"Yeah Dad, I'm with you on this one." A smile spread across Bulma's face. "How about dinner? I bet Mom's waiting for us wondering where we are."
"Sure. Up until now I had no idea how hungry I was."
"Ms. Briefs? Are you alright?"
The shadowy form of a person was hurrying through the buildings, making their way towards Dr. Briefs and Bulma. Tall and lean, it walked with long strides and held a sort of box in its hand. As it came into the light, its face was finally distinguishable.
"Dr. Willis!" Bulma exclaimed.
"Bulma, I heard what happened from some of the other employees. Let me take a look at your arm."
"Dr. Willis, I'm fine. My arm just hurts a little, but I'm sure the pain will go away tomorrow." Yeah right, she thought sarcastically. A few weeks were more like it.
Dr. Willis examined both shoulders and arms. He frowned as she winced in pain, yet made no comments until he was through. Slowly, he closed the lid of the box.
"Well Ms. Briefs, your shoulders aren't broken nor dislocated, and I can't find anything else wrong with them. Just be careful from now on and don't try to do anything too strenuous."
"Thanks, doctor," Bulma said, as she tried once more to get up. The pain was too much to bear. "Um…I'll like to get off the ground…"
"Here, we'll help." Dr. Briefs bent down and took Bulma below the shoulder. Dr. Willis did the same on the other side. Slowly, they eased Bulma to her feet.
"There's nothing wrong with your feet, is there Bulma?" her father inquired.
"No, my feet are fine. Only my arms feel a little awkward." Bulma grinned sheepishly.
"I guess I should be heading home now," Dr. Willis spoke up. Bulma had forgotten temporarily that he was still there. "My shift at the hospital is over. Hope you feel better Ms. Briefs." With that, he strode off in the direction of the hospital.
"Guess we should be heading off to dinner, shouldn't we Dad?" Bulma remembered that she hadn't eaten a single thing since lunchtime, and already her stomach was twisting and aching just as much as her arms did.
"Your mother is waiting I bet." The two laughed.
Suddenly she stopped. "What is it?" Dr. Briefs asked, searching Bulma's face for some answers.
She raised her finger slowly to her mouth, signaling him to remain quiet for a second. The silence in the darkness revealed nothing, and she strained her ears to pick up once again what she had just heard. There it was again! A faint cracking noise was picked up, and slowly Bulma turned her head in the direction of where the sound was being emitted. From that direction, a distant sight caught her eye. It was difficult to confirm exactly what it was against the dark night sky, yet from the terror of that afternoon, the sight was unmistakable.
"Dad," she shouted, panic in her voice quickly rising, "there's smoke coming from the hospital!"
Chapter 4 - The Saiyan and the Human
The blasts grew nearer and nearer as Bulma hurried through the various compounds of Capsule Corporation, quickening as she got closer and closer to the boundaries and the forests that stood there. Another one of the ferocious blasts and she hastened to quicken her pace.
At long last she spotted Vegeta hovering near the tops of the trees, firing various ki blasts down towards the ground. Already, some sizeable-looking craters had formed where, just minutes ago, there was a lush green lawn. Many employees and members of security had gathered in this area, yet they were slowly backing off as Vegeta's ki blasts came closer and closer to the compounds.
Bulma dashed into the crater filled area and stood, hands cupped over her mouth. She yelled up into the sky.
"VEGETA!!! GET DOWN HERE THIS INSTANCE!!!"
He noticed her and stopped shooting off the ki blasts. With the usual smirk on his face, he descended down back onto the grounds.
Angrily, Bulma stomped over to him and jabbed a finger at his chest.
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?! DID I NOT TELL YOU THAT YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED TO FIRE OFF KI BLASTS ANYWHERE NEAR HUMANS??! YOU COULD'VE KILLED SOMEONE, MISTER PRINCE OF THE SAIYANS!!"
Vegeta just smirked. "How could a few weak ki blasts kill someone? I was merely having some fun with them."
Bulma gritted her teeth. 'Do not provoke him, Bulma,' she reasoned to herself. 'He can kill you with just one punch, and you don't want to die so young anyways.'
"What do you mean weak ki blasts?? This is EARTH, not Planet Vegeta, and we are HUMANS, not Saiyans, do you hear?!"
"Look woman, I am the Prince of Saiyans and I can do whatever I please whether it's on Planet Vegeta or this lousy excuse of a planet--"
"How DARE you insult Earth?! Your race is almost dead, with the exception of you and Goku! And it does matter that you're on Earth because you abide by OUR standards!"
Vegeta's eyes narrowed dangerously. He took a few steps closer to Bulma, causing her to back slowly away. Still he kept advancing.
"You--do--NOT--insult--the--Saiyan--race. I--am--the--Prince--of--all--Saiyans--and--I--would--NOT--tolerate--such--disrespect." He said all this slowly and calmly, which seemed more terrifying than if he had yelled at her.
Bulma continued to back away. The nearest compound pressed up behind her. There was nowhere else she could go. Slowly, she stared at Vegeta, just a mere three feet in front of her. Fear coursed her body, yet she refused to let Vegeta see any of it.
"Look Vegeta," she tried a different approach this time, "this is my place, so we go on my terms, okay? You leave my place and Earth alone, and we'll not bother with you. Does that sound fair?"
"Why should I consider your offer?"
"Because if I hadn't let you stay here, you wouldn't have anywhere else to go!! If I hadn't felt SORRY for you because you had no one left, I wouldn't even let you within a hundred feet of Capsule Corporation!" She could feel the nervous sweat running off her forehead, yet dared not reach a hand up to wipe it off.
He did another one of his famous smirks. "I wouldn't bother with any of these puny humans here anytime. They are a waste of time to contend with, so I'll give you that, I won't bother the weaklings here. But," he added as a second note, "if ANYONE bothers with me, I can assure you that they will pay dearly for it."
"That…that seems fair enough…" Bulma made a mental note to consult with her board members and all the employees who worked on the grounds as soon as possible. "But you cannot harm the people on Earth either, Vegeta. There may be only about a thousand workers here at Capsule Corp., but there are billions more people on Earth. You can't harm them, either."
"And why should I promise to that one woman? If I don't have anything else better to do, I'll find some random humans to have some fun with."
"Because you are on Earth!! Damn it, you don't need to be harassing us humans just because you think we are a weaker race! The gravity machine you asked for is going to be built soon, so don't bother with anyone else okay?? You can spend all your time in it for all I care, just don't you go and harm anyone!"
By this time, Bulma had almost run out of energy arguing with Vegeta. He was a hopeless person, and an argument seemed futile with him. He almost always won.
"The gravity machine that you were talking about the other day?" Vegeta sneered. "I'll have to see for myself just how good it is first."
"Well you can't at the moment because we only have the plans done. It's going to be finished building in about a week."
"Hurry up and start on it. Or else I will find something else useful to do in the meantime."
That did it for Bulma. She had had enough of Vegeta's ego and his "almightiness" to last for a long time. If there was something she despised most, it was Vegeta's thinking that humans were so much inferior to the Saiyans.
"You better not think of doing anything, Vegeta. Don't forget that Goku is back and--"
He turned on her then. Bulma swore under her breath. 'Damn, why'd she have to go and mention Goku for??'
"Do not mention Kakarott in my presence!" Without warning, he grabbed Bulma's shoulders and held her against the compound. "I will not be inferior to that third-class Saiyan! I WILL achieve the level of Super Saiyan, and when I do, I will destroy him once and for all!"
"Y-yes you will achieve it…" she managed to stammer. The fear showed deeply now; she was shaking all over. "You will become a Super Saiyan and be as strong as Goku--"
"NOT AS STRONG AS HIM WOMAN! I WILL BE STRONGER THAN HE'LL EVER BE!" Vegeta raged, his face inches from Bulma's. His eyes bulged like a madman's and a vein throbbed violently in his forehead. He tightened the grip on Bulma's shoulder.
A string of pain shot down her shoulders and she yelled out in agony. "Vegeta please let go of me!" Desperately, she tried twisting her shoulders out of his grip, but he was too strong. He gripped her even more tightly.
"Say that I will become stronger than Goku or I'll never let go!" Vegeta roared.
"Okay, okay OW Vegeta you will become stronger than Goku!"
"Good. Now don't let me hear you talking about your precious Goku ever again!" Letting go of Bulma, he flew off into the darkening sky.
Bulma slumped down onto the ground, supporting her back by the wall of the compound. Gingerly, she tried moving her shoulders. Pain shot all the way down to her fingers and she yelled out. Vegeta had really done it this time.
"Bulma!"
"Ms. Briefs?"
"Are you all right?"
All swarm of people rushed in from all directions. It seemed the time when she and Vegeta were yelling at each other, they had all hid in fear of the Saiyan prince. Now they flocked out like a herd of cattle and surrounded Bulma. Inwardly, she felt disgust that none of them had helped her stand up to Vegeta. They had all ran in cowardice, just like Vegeta had wanted.
"Coming through, excuse me, Bulma! Are you all right? Did Vegeta harm you?" Dr. Briefs, pushing his way through the people in the crowd arrived to where Bulma still sat, leaning against the wall of the building. "I just heard what Vegeta was doing and I came here as fast as I could from the lab. Your mother wanted to come too, but she had a little problem in the kitchen. Did he do anything to you Bulma? If he did I can--"
"No it's okay Dad, Vegeta didn't harm me. He just--OW DAMN SHOULDER…" She had tried to get up, wincing in pain as pressure was applied to her arms.
Dr. Briefs was immediately alarmed. "What's wrong with your arms Bulma?? Did Vegeta do something to them? Someone go get the doctors!" A few people ran off from the crowd.
"Dad, I'm okay. Vegeta was being lenient on me. If it was someone else, I'll daresay he would've blasted them to hell." She chuckled, trying to lessen the tension in the situation.
"But he can't do this to you! Bulma, I seriously think you should reconsider having Vegeta stay here. He's a madman! There's no telling what he can do to you or anyone else here!" Dr. Briefs cried out. "If he--" He stopped.
It seemed to Dr. Briefs that it was not especially wise to continue, as the majority of the employees of C.C. were grouped around them. He cleared his throat, giving warning that he had something of importance to say.
"The situation is all under control here. The work day is all over, and you may all go home."
A murmur ran through the people, and concern for Bulma was voiced.
"I assure you, I'm going to be alright," said Bulma. "You all go home to your families and I'll see you tomorrow."
Reluctantly, the crowd slowly dispersed, giving their well wishes to Bulma. When they were finally alone, Dr. Briefs turned back to face Bulma.
"Bulma, wouldn't it be best if we just made Vegeta leave? It would be best for you and--"
"No, Dad, we can't do that," Bulma interjected. She could already picture the vivid situation in her mind if they did kick Vegeta out, not that they could. "If we tell Vegeta to leave, he'll just go somewhere else and who knows what destruction he might cause? No, we can't take the risk." She looked up towards the sky, which by now had turned a dark blue in color. The first night's star was already winking down on her, and the sound of the security lights on the grounds of C.C. flickering on could be heard as well.
"Well…you do have a point there," Dr. Briefs agreed, rubbing his lavender-colored mustache in deep thought. "I guess we should all give Vegeta more space and hope he doesn't do anything more."
"Yeah Dad, I'm with you on this one." A smile spread across Bulma's face. "How about dinner? I bet Mom's waiting for us wondering where we are."
"Sure. Up until now I had no idea how hungry I was."
"Ms. Briefs? Are you alright?"
The shadowy form of a person was hurrying through the buildings, making their way towards Dr. Briefs and Bulma. Tall and lean, it walked with long strides and held a sort of box in its hand. As it came into the light, its face was finally distinguishable.
"Dr. Willis!" Bulma exclaimed.
"Bulma, I heard what happened from some of the other employees. Let me take a look at your arm."
"Dr. Willis, I'm fine. My arm just hurts a little, but I'm sure the pain will go away tomorrow." Yeah right, she thought sarcastically. A few weeks were more like it.
Dr. Willis examined both shoulders and arms. He frowned as she winced in pain, yet made no comments until he was through. Slowly, he closed the lid of the box.
"Well Ms. Briefs, your shoulders aren't broken nor dislocated, and I can't find anything else wrong with them. Just be careful from now on and don't try to do anything too strenuous."
"Thanks, doctor," Bulma said, as she tried once more to get up. The pain was too much to bear. "Um…I'll like to get off the ground…"
"Here, we'll help." Dr. Briefs bent down and took Bulma below the shoulder. Dr. Willis did the same on the other side. Slowly, they eased Bulma to her feet.
"There's nothing wrong with your feet, is there Bulma?" her father inquired.
"No, my feet are fine. Only my arms feel a little awkward." Bulma grinned sheepishly.
"I guess I should be heading home now," Dr. Willis spoke up. Bulma had forgotten temporarily that he was still there. "My shift at the hospital is over. Hope you feel better Ms. Briefs." With that, he strode off in the direction of the hospital.
"Guess we should be heading off to dinner, shouldn't we Dad?" Bulma remembered that she hadn't eaten a single thing since lunchtime, and already her stomach was twisting and aching just as much as her arms did.
"Your mother is waiting I bet." The two laughed.
Suddenly she stopped. "What is it?" Dr. Briefs asked, searching Bulma's face for some answers.
She raised her finger slowly to her mouth, signaling him to remain quiet for a second. The silence in the darkness revealed nothing, and she strained her ears to pick up once again what she had just heard. There it was again! A faint cracking noise was picked up, and slowly Bulma turned her head in the direction of where the sound was being emitted. From that direction, a distant sight caught her eye. It was difficult to confirm exactly what it was against the dark night sky, yet from the terror of that afternoon, the sight was unmistakable.
"Dad," she shouted, panic in her voice quickly rising, "there's smoke coming from the hospital!"
