Chapter Seven – Changes
She woke up because someone knocked on the door. Vegeta was gone.
"Shit. Give me a minute," she shouted and put some clothes on. She opened the door.
"Marshall!"
"Good morning, Kendra," he said smiling. "I thought I'd pick you up and show you around your new working place today."
"Do you mind if I take a shower first? I just got out of bed."
"So I see. Sure, take your time."
She got into the bathroom and while taking a shower, she thought: "Where the hell did he go and why? What went wrong last night, Vegeta?"
She followed Marshall to his car and they drove to the command centre of the defence department.
"I realise this isn't as luxurious as you're used to, but we have a lot of potential here," he told her. "Oh, by the way, Master Roshi hired Vegeta. He'll be defending his Master's honour tonight."
"Where is he now?" she asked.
"Training at Master Roshi's. He wanted to be left alone today."
"I noticed," she mumbled.
"I'm sure you want to watch the fight, so I got us tickets. Front row."
"Great," she said, but she didn't mean it. Marshall put her in Oversight where she spent the rest of the day monitoring incoming ships. While rubbing her lower back she looked at the clock. Almost done, she thought. Man, my back is killing me.
Marshall walked in.
"Are you ready to go?"
"Yep."
"Did you have fun?"
"It was a pretty boring day. But hey, I don't get impressed easily. I'm used to be a pilot, this is so different from what I did a couple of months ago."
"You're not a soldier any more, Kendra. Those days are over. You're a Supervisor now, just like me."
"Guess I need some more time to get used to that."
"We'll eat at the arena," Marshall decided. "I'm dying to see what that Vegeta is made of."
"It'll be quite a show, I promise," Kendra said. "I can't imagine there's anyone in the entire universe stronger than he is."
"We'll see about that."
The arena was huge and surrounded by some kind of unbreakable transparent material. Lots of people came in and settled down. Marshall greeted Master Roshi and invited him at their table. The moment he sat down, they heard a loud roar from the arena. They saw some kind of dragon-like monster enter the arena in a blaze of fury.
"Uh-oh," Marshall said. "Looks like they couldn't restrain him any longer."
"Who could blame them," the Master commented. "That thing is a killing machine!"
Kendra watched the dragon as it made his way to the middle of the arena. It started roaring furiously.
"This is going to be a good betting night," Master Roshi said. "Bring out my champion already!"
Vegeta stepped into the arena and looked at the creature in front of him. He didn't look too good; his gi was torn and Kendra could see bruises on his shoulders and back. Wondering what he had been doing all day to get messed up like that, she clenched her fist under the table and prayed that he would be able to take this monster.
He stood still and waited. The dragon noticed him and immediately charged in. Vegeta didn't even bother to move. The dragon fired an energy blast from its mouth and hit Vegeta in the chest. It took a while before the smoke cleared.
"Damn," Marshall cursed. Vegeta was on his back and seemed in trouble to get up. "What the hell is wrong with him?" he asked Kendra. "I thought he was a fighter!"
"He is," Master Roshi answered. "Shut up, Marshall and watch what he's doing."
The monster flung its tail towards Vegeta and tried to sting him with it. Vegeta dodged and waited, but didn't attack. The dragon got pissed now and charged again. Vegeta got hit by its claws and blood started to drip from his side.
"That's convincing enough, Vegeta. Now finish him."
Marshall looked at Master Roshi with a surprised look on his face.
"You told him to pretend he was losing?"
"Of course! That guy can make me a lot of money, but not if everyone already knows he's going to win."
The dragon hammered Vegeta with its tail and Vegeta flew towards their side of the arena. The transparent material cracked when he hit it.
"Impossible," Marshall whispered. "That stuff is unbreakable…"
Vegeta glanced at Master Roshi and saw him nod. Then he fell down on one knee and waited for the dragon to come for him.
"Oh shit, he's going to do it right in front of us," Marshall said, obviously scared out of his pants. The dragon approached, running towards them. Vegeta waited until the last possible moment and threw himself forward with amazing speed. He literally buried his fist in the dragon's chest. The dragon roared in agony and shook Vegeta off. Vegeta grabbed the dragon's tail and flung him over his head. The ground shook as if an earthquake was happening and a big crater appeared. The dragon was out of sight.
"Did he finish him?" Master Roshi asked curiously.
Vegeta jumped into the crater and a few moments later the dragon flew upward, crashed into the ceiling and fell down again. Vegeta caught the immense creature on one hand and looked at the three of them with a cold glare. Then he threw the creature down, it was as dead as a doornail.
He left the ring and walked to the table they were sitting at. The injury on his side wasn't bleeding anymore though the cuts were inches deep.
"Is that what you had in mind?" he asked Master Roshi.
"Perfect, perfect," the Master answered. "Even Marshall fell for it, very convincing."
Kendra looked at Vegeta but he didn't even seem to notice her. Instead he looked at Marshall briefly and then backed away.
"That guy scares me sometimes," Marshall said. "But I guess you found yourself a suitable champion, Master."
"I most certainly did! We have to celebrate, Marshall. You two will be my guests tonight."
"Thank you, Master," Marshall said. They followed him to the afterparty.
"Damn, I feel a little underdressed here," Kendra said.
"Oh, no problem, my dear," Marshall said. "You'll find something suitable upstairs. The dressing room is on the second floor."
"I'll go change then," she said.
Damn this is weird, she thought. Vegeta didn't even look at me, like I don't exist! I have to find out what happened to him. She went upstairs and walked into the dressing room. She almost forgot her worries as she saw the huge amount of stylish clothes. She chose a black dress with a low-cut back and silver glitters all over it.
"Well well, look what we have here," she heard a familiar voice say. She turned around and saw Vegeta standing at the door.
"Vegeta! Finally! Can we please talk now? I really want to know what went wrong last night."
He looked at her as if she was talking Japanese. "What the hell are you talking about, woman?"
"You don't remember?"
"Really I have no idea who you are."
"Damn it Vegeta, what happened to you?"
"Nothing happened to me." He looked at her angrily. "I never met you, I'm sure."
"Think again," she said, getting angry too. "We slept together last night."
He smiled.
"Certainly I would remember that, wouldn't I? Don't flatter yourself, woman." He turned around and walked away, leaving her with even more question marks in her head.
She went downstairs and saw Marshall talking to some people.
"Kendra… You look dazzling," he said.
"Thanks. Marshall, can I talk to you for a second?"
"Of course. Excuse me," he said to the others and walked with her.
"Something's wrong with Vegeta," she said. "Do you know what happened to him this morning?"
"This morning? He went to see Master Roshi and then prepared himself for the fight tonight. I didn't notice anything strange about him."
She shook her head. "He didn't recognize me, Marshall. I'm telling you, something's wrong here."
"Hey, he got hurt pretty bad. Maybe he's suffering from temporary amnesia or something. It'll wear off as soon as he recovers."
"Yeah, maybe." She sighed. Marshall put his arm around her shoulders and said: "I want you to meet some people from the defence department, are you coming?"
They disappeared into the crowd.
About an hour later she watched Vegeta walk down the stairs and being welcomed by a cheering crowd. But he wasn't looking at them; his eyes turned cold and he locked his glance onto Marshall. People got in the way though, and Vegeta was pretty much jumped by several beautiful women who desperately wanted his attention. Kendra turned her back on him: she had seen enough.
"I'm going home, Marshall. I've got a terrible headache."
"Do you need a lift?"
"No, I'm fine. See you tomorrow."
"I insist, Kendra. I'll walk you home, it's a beautiful night."
"Alright then."
They walked out after saying goodbye to Master Roshi.
"Kendra, forgive me for asking, but are you sure our engagement is off? I really miss you."
"Marshall, I'm really not in the mood to talk about this now," she said. "I need time to think things over."
"I…" He was interrupted by two men who jumped out of the alley in front of them.
"Wow! He's loaded AND he's got a fine lady with him," one of them said.
"Hand over your wallet, dude." The other guy approached Kendra and wanted to grab her wrists. She backed up, kicking off her high heels in the process.
"Run, Marshall," she said. "Get help." She blocked the guy's punch and kicked him in the chest. He flew backwards and hit the wall.
"Damn it, you bitch!" The guy drew a sword and attacked her while the other guy sneaked around her and grabbed her from behind.
"Let's see how well you fight without your legs, missy," he growled.
She saw how the sword flashed up in front of her and cursed. Then all of a sudden the sword was gone.
"What the…" The guy looked at his empty hands.
A bright light flashed and an energy beam hit him.
"Whoever you are, show yourself or I'll break her neck!" the guy that still held Kendra called out.
"Go right ahead, I don't care about her." Vegeta appeared out of nowhere. He turned to Marshall and asked: "Are you okay?"
Kendra felt the guy's grip loosen a bit and slammed her elbow into his gut. The moment she put her head down, she felt something fly by and turned around. The guy was lying on the ground with the sword planted in the middle of his face.
"Too much of a weapon for those guys anyway," she heard Vegeta say.
"Thanks, Vegeta," Marshall said.
"Go home. I'll be watching." He took off into the dark sky.
"I can see why you wanted him as a bodyguard," Marshall said, still shaking. "He was right in time."
"You hired him as your bodyguard?"
"I did."
"But he hates you!"
"Not anymore, I guess."
She shook her head. "I don't know how you did this, Marshall, but I will find out eventually."
"Why are you so determined to accuse me?"
"Because you changed, Marshall. I knew you were jealous, but you have no right to manipulate Vegeta to get your way."
"I'll be the judge of that. I hold his life in the palm of my hand, Kendra. Be careful with what you decide. I'll let him live if you marry me, but if you don't…"
"You're a sick bastard, Marshall. I'll never marry you! I'm sure Vegeta would rather die than live under your control for another minute!"
"You know what? You're probably right. Then I'll have to deploy plan B." He whistled loud and once more a bright light flashed. Kendra was knocked out by Vegeta's energy beam and the world went black.