A quick note before you continue:
First, I'd like to thank everyone who has reviewed. You have all liked it thus far, and I am very appreciative of you kind comments. Thank you very much.
Second, I have revised and corrected the previous chapters – all of them. I was reading them today, and realized that my verb tense was flying all over the place! All instances where I have screwed up the tense have been fixed. If you see one, feel free to let me know – I want all my stories to be as good as they can be. Also, the first chapter has had a minor rewrite – if you even notice it, it will be a pay-off later in the story. The first person who figures it out and emails/reviews the answer will get my admiration and I'll write a short, one-shot story about the characters of their choice (maximum four people, ok?). I haven't tried anything like this before, but it could be fun!
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The door opens suddenly, and I twist to face Yamcha. His eyes flutter to Bulma, unconscious in my arms, and then to my stolen belt, which holds both the device and other supplies. "You bastard!" he shouts and his panic only increases when Bulma remains limp and still against me.
I spring into the air, cursing all of Kakkarot's ancestors for creating a creature incapable of such a simple task as distracting the moron. I slip and twist out the window as his cries and curses follow me. I think for one moment that he's too afraid to follow, but he screws his courage to the sticking point and pursues me quickly.
I pour the power into my flight, trying to escape him, but I know that he'll probably just continue to follow my chi signature, no matter how far ahead I get. And he won't hurt me as long as I have Bulma, which gives me an idea. I stop in mid-air and let him catch up. While he's coming, I make sure that Bulma is between us, so that he won't take a shot at me.
He snaps to a stop. "I won't let you get away with this, Vegeta," he screams, drawing his hands back into a fighting stance.
"Careful. You can't fight me without risking Bulma," I mock him.
"I know I can't beat you in a fight," Yamcha hisses. "But I can still stop your plans." His eyes never leave my face, but his hands begin to glow.
Almost too late, I realize what he means. I have only time to spin around, pull Bulma closer to me and hope that she's alright. As he blasts my back, I know that I have to stop him, quickly, before he hurts her. But I know that I have to just stop him, not kill him; Bulma would not easily forgive me for killing her play-thing, even in her defense.
My blistered and ravaged back is still to him as I decide my course of action. It is tricky, but it should work. If it fails, it will fail horribly. I gaze down at Bulma, allowing myself one moment to see her in sleeping perfection. "Good luck," I murmur to her, and then toss her straight up in the air.
I have to be careful with this throw – too high, and she'll never come back down. Too low, and I won't have time to both neutralize Yamcha and save her. I don't look to see how accurate my toss was; I whirl on Yamcha, the chi burning along my nerves as I call the power to my fingertips. The chi blast catches Yamcha in the chin; he was staring up at Bulma's falling body. The blast spins him end over end, and I hope that he'll fall to the earth, spent now.
Bulma falls past me, and I curse as I spin into a plunging drop to her. She is dropping fast, but there is nothing faster than a flying Saiyan. I catch up to her body easily and slip one arm quickly under her shoulders while slipping the other under her knees. Having my firm grip on her established, I began to slowly cut my speed so that I didn't hurt her with the powerful forces of my flight.
I cut my speed slowly enough that I actually land on the ground, my knees buckling to absorb the shock of landing. I end up on half-kneeling on the ground, Bulma locked gently in my arms. My back still aches, but the dull pounding is receding quickly. My mouth twists into a smug smile; the wimp still couldn't hurt me very much at all, even when I give him my back. That thought warms my heart as I rise to my feet and float up into the air again. A quick glance shows that Yamcha isn't anywhere in sight; it's nice to know that my chi blast can still drop the weakling to his knees.
On my flight to the meeting place, Yamcha's actions begin to fully register with me. He was going to harm or even kill Bulma to keep me from taking her. He was going to kill her, and I realize that my arms are aching as I attempt to keep from squeezing her frail, unconscious body tighter. How could he do that?
Then I realized – he probably imagined that he would just bring her back with the Dragonballs. And if I weren't around to argue the point, as I'm sure that he believed Kakkarot would kill me for kidnapping Bulma, I could then be blamed for her death. She would have believed that I had killed her. My hatred of the scarred man rises to new levels.
My destination draws near, and I drift toward the dark mouth of the cave slowly, my eyes studying the lay of the surrounding land again. It was as I remembered it from my solitary trainings here; a natural dry cave nestled between two sharp mountain slopes. The cave sat in such a way that those in its entrance wouldn't be able to see others approaching; it was perfect for the ambush. Kakkarot and the others should be here soon, and there were plenty of places to hide; even those morons couldn't screw it up.
I have one stop before beginning my wait in the cave. A natural chimney was hidden in one side of the mountain, well away from the cave's opening. I land and gently move Bulma to one arm. With my free hand, I secure the rope ladder with its aluminum rungs and drop it down the chimney. The weighted device slithers and clicks into the darkness, hidden well back in the cave.
The final piece of my plan in place, I then fly around to the mouth of the cave and land in the entrance to its dark recess. I walk deep inside, near to the rope ladder. Popping open on the woman's father's ingenious capsules, I lay Bulma carefully on the bed that appears. I move to the ladder and quickly hide it behind a stalagmite. A noise at the front of the cave puts me on alert. I move back out into the open, carefully, expecting to see Yamcha or one of the other fools.
A Tr'dalack stood in the opening, peering into the darkness. Several other alien creatures clustered around it, and I realized that my plan was in trouble. Montidulein's people were already here, and he was not. "Get lost," I growl arrogantly at them, deciding to play dumb. "You're not going to want to get involved in what is happening here."
"We're from Montidulein," the Andolisn says from behind the black bulk of the Tr'dalack, stepping forward with the race's typical grace. "You're expecting us, or at least, you'd better be expecting us."
"You're earlier than I anticipated," I snap. "I'm not ready to turn my prize over just yet."
The greenish-blue Andolisn slides forward further, moving as if his joints are on oiled pivots. "The deal was that we pick up you, a device, and the human female. No time stipulations were given."
"Montidulein promised me some time to settle grudges," I snarl. "This witch has had this coming for a long time."
The Andolisn sighs irritably, but finally nods. "Very well. You have twenty minutes, and that should be more than enough time for a Saiyan!"
I nod reluctantly, biting back the urge to destroy them. There were too many of them for one combatant, and I'm sure that they won't bother fighting fair. "This should keep you amused while I'm working," I growl at the alien as I toss Bulma's machine at him. I'm not worried about getting it back; once the rest of the fighters get here and we have an even fight, none of Montidulein's men will leave alive.
Now, the hard part. Bulma and I have to delay them until the others get here. I pull the first aid kit out of my belt and lie down next to Bulma. I know that I am putting my back to the enemy, but I can't let them seeing what I'm doing to her. Propped up on one arm, I crack the smelling salts open and wave them under her nose.
With a gag and a grimace, she comes to. Before she can say anything, I throw the salts away and put my hand over her mouth. "Play along, woman," I hiss quietly at her. "You're in danger here, and you must do as I say."
Reaching up, she tugs on the hand covering her mouth. I hope that she'll be quiet, and I let her pull my hand down. "What the hell is going on?" she whispers to me. "Why did you drug me?"
"To make Montidulein think that I was going to kidnap you for him, and lure him into a trap," I answer. "Unfortunately, it has hit a hurdle."
"What?"
"His men are early, and he's not here," I growl to her.
"So we're screwed," she snaps at me. "What a brilliant plan!"
"Hush. And I'm pretending to have my way with you to buy time until the others get here," I continue, ignoring her last outburst.
She looks sharply at me. "I thought that you could take them all, oh mighty Prince," she hisses.
I grab her wrists and roll so that she is ensnared under me, her arms trapped above her head. I am rewarded by a gasp from her and a wide-eyed stare. Whoops and cheers greet me from up the corridor. "I could," I growl as I shoot a glare at them, "if they would fight me one at a time, or even three at a time. But there are at least nine, and probably more outside. I could probably still take them, even against those odds, but the cost would be high." I don't tell her that the resulting battle would probably kill her, either from an unattended combatant taking her out or a widely-thrown energy blast.
"So you have to pretend you're raping me, huh?" she asks, her voice still soft, but now filled with a touch of humor.
I frown down at her, worried about her sudden change in emotion. "Actually, I'm pretending to scare you," I answer carefully, hoping that is the right answer. I drop my head to just above her shoulder, hoping that the men watching won't be able to see what I'm doing – or not doing in this case.
"Hmm," she replies, her eyes shining with merriment. My gut twists with nervousness as she suddenly wails, "Please, Vegeta, no!" I flinch; to me, she seems to be overdoing it, but the watchers further up the cave cheer enthusiastically again.
"Do you mind?" I bellow at them as I raise my head to glare at them again.
"No!" one shouts back but the Andolisn replies, "Just move a bit further back, if you don't want us to watch. Though to be honest, I didn't think that monkeys minded rutting in public like animals."
I seethe as I remain still over Bulma. I have to remember to wait just a short time until I can wipe his face in those words. I rise up and jerk Bulma to her feet with one hand around both her wrists. "Ow!" she snaps, and I merely stare at her blandly, funneling my anger into my gaze at her. I kick the bed lightly, shoving it deeper into the cave, away from the watching eyes and closer still to the ladder. As I start to kick it again, the Andolisn shouts, "Far enough back, Saiyan."
"Hey!" another one shouts. "Let me know if you need some help, monkey!"
"Like I'd pick an ugly asshole like you over a prince," Bulma shouts at him. I open my mouth to silence her, but one of Montidulein's men cuts me off.
The same hairy alien answers her. "Don't knock it until you've had it," he replies, grabbing his crotch and making obscene gestures at her. "Besides, are you sure you want a monkey?"
Bulma turns to me and, twisting her still-held arms out of her way, leans into me, kissing me.
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Oh, my! Oh, my! Poor, confused Saiyan!
Next chapter will be up sometime this weekend.
