Chapter the second.

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragonball Z or any other trademarked materials in this fanfiction.

Goku shoved a Dragonball in Bulma Breifs's hand. "Be sure you take this with you. Go somewhere where nobody can find you okay? Don't get killed out there, Bulma!"

Bulma had volunteered to do something that could possibly take her life. What is that, you might ask? Well, she had volunteered to take the one Dragonball that Vegeta had found and protect it from the Saiyan that had landed on Earth, whom was searching for the Dragonballs so that he could wish for immortality; at least that was what he wanted. Bulma didn't know about Freeza taking them from this Saiyan.

"Oh, I won't get killed. There's no reason to worry about me." Bulma said. She placed the Dragonball in a pouch that was around her neck. She made sure to secure the Velcro very well before saying bye to her old friend and going through the house to the place where she kept all of her air ships. She put the Dragonball in the cockpit, then sat in the driver's seat. Little did she know that not bringing any food was a dire mistake on her part.

She waved once more to her parents, Goku, Krillin and Gohan. *At least I hope I don't get killed Goku. I can't promise you anything. * She started up the engine and got ready to fly the machine. The only thing she'd brought with her was her make-up.

* * * * * * *

Bulma was having smooth sailing with the machine's will to go on, and she'd usually had problems with it. Except for the fact it was very slow, everything was at a go. But weren't all flying machines really slow? Bulma began looking out the window of the car for a place she could hide the Dragonball, and easily remember, so that she could tell Goku and Krillin where the hell it was at instead of losing it. But she had no luck; just barren land underneath the ship. And, she couldn't hide the thing in barren land, or of course that Saiyan would find it, knowing Saiyans' sharp eyesight.

*I can't just keep it, or that Saiyan will track me down and grab it from me, possibly slaughtering me in the big process of it all. * She thought. And she had to land it fast or the Saiyan, just looking for someone to kill, might shoot her down anyway. So, maybe it was best to just land the ship right here? She decided that was the best option and landed the ship.

When she got out, she noticed how hot the atmosphere around her was. She was in a desert, not very far from the canyon in which Vegeta had just hidden his food, taken a little nap, and gotten beat in before. But she knew it was there, and had no plan at all on falling down in it. The canyon was HUGE, too deep for her to climb out of anywhere, but she knew that too. She had decided to take a route around it, after all, running was three times faster than that airship.

But, someone who was watching her had different plans on her detouring around the canyon. It wasn't Vegeta, but it happened to be someone Vegeta KNEW, by the name of Dodoria. A big, ugly slob. He didn't know that Bulma had the Dragonball, he was just in a bad mood and Bulma was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Bulma brushed some of her hair back away from her eyes. The sweat was plastering her hair to her forehead. "I should have brought a bottle of water or something." Bulma said outloud to herself. "I'm going to dry up if I don't find somewhere to hide this Dragonball and get back to Capsule Corporation." She whipped her sweaty head around, looking for someplace suitable to hide the Dragonball. But no where was in sight.

"Oh, God, where can I hide this thing?" She yelled around herself. But all that she heard was a vulture caw, and a tumbleweed rolled across her path.

She got back to running, for the faster she ran, the closer she might get to finding someplace to hide the Dragonball at.

It was as she was running as fast as she could that she started to sense some one was watching her, following her. She turned her whole body around to see if the Saiyan was there. Of course, she didn't know what he looked like; just that he probably had a tail around his waist. But, she didn't see a saiyan or anything else. Just still had that feeling that someone was following her.

"You'd better not be following me!" She yelled outloud. "Because if you are, I'll kick your butt! You hear that, Mr. Tough Guy Saiyan? Huh?"

She didn't get an answer from 'Mr. Tough Guy Saiyan.'

"But Saiyans aren't cowards. Saiyan's don't follow people, they just shoot at you the moment that they see you." She thought outloud. "So . . . maybe this isn't the Saiyan. Maybe it's just some kind of an animal."

But that scared her even worse. Animals could stalk you without you even seeing them, and then WAM, they'd pounce on you and cut your throat when you didn't even expect it. Bulma grew even more frightened that she had been before. "Oh Jesus! I should have taken Gohan up on that offer to come out here with me! Then I wouldn't have anything to worry about!"

She sat down and hugged her knees to her chest.

As Bulma was sitting there and rocking back and forth, she heard a noise come darting out behind her. "AHHH!" She shrieked in her annoying, scratchy voice, whipping her head around. And there, launching itself on her, was the ugliest creature she'd ever saw in her life. She didn't know who or what he was; she just knew she had to get away from it FAST.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" She screamed, jumping to her feet and beginning to run, trying not to look back at the hideous, pink thing that had been following her. But, of course her betraying eyes forced her to look back, and she saw that the ugly thing was just a few feet behind her.

"AHH, LEAVE ME ALONE! WHAT DID I EVER DO TO YOU? AAHHHHHHH!" She screamed, holding the pouch with the Dragonball in it close to her body so that her prized possession wouldn't fall out. She had nothing to defend herself with, and nobody to defend her.

As she streaked across the desert, feeling the thing's presence behind her but not actually looking, she didn't notice herself running closer and closer to the edge of the canyon. Her only thought was to get away from the ugly monster that was coming after her.

Bulma was running so fast when she noticed the edge of the canyon that she could not stop, and her feet slipped off the edge. She went tumbling down the side of the canyon painfully, first rolling on her neck and slicing it down almost to the bone, then sliding on her side and rolling a few times, cutting up her arms, back, and legs. She was almost thankful when she hit the bottom of the canyon, bloody and crying, but alive.

"Please . . . Mr. Alien, or whatever you are . . ." She cried, with her eyes still closed, "Don't hurt me!"

She noticed no pain or no one's presence around her so she opened her tightly shut eyes and looked around.

There was nobody there.

Bulma sighed with relief. "Phew! Maybe I imagined the whole thing." She thought. She dusted the rocks off of her skirt and tried to get to her feet, but her hurt and wobbly legs betrayed her. She went spilling back on the ground, back in the puddle of her own blood. *Jeez, I'm cut up pretty badly. I need help. * She thought. Staring at her legs was bad enough and she didn't want to have to look at any other parts of her body the way that it was.

She made sure that the Dragonball was all right before scooting over to the wall of the canyon. "I have to get out of here somehow. Down here I'm prey to any of the elements. * She thought, noticing there was really not much shelter around this place.

* * * * * * * *

Bulma's throat began to ache and sting, hurt and throb. She was so thirsty by this time, (7:00 at night) that her voice sounded like crinkling paper. She'd been trying to crawl up the side of the canyon all afternoon but only succeeding in getting more cuts and bruises. *Why me? Why do I have to die in such conditions? * She thought, not wanting to say it outloud because it might labor her voice even more. She grasped at her cracked and probably bleeding throat.

"There just has to be water somewhere." She said, in her rusty gate voice. Swallowing her own slobber was not working on her thirst, and her stomach churned. She was ravenous. "That's it. I'm trying to get up the side of this canyon ONE LAST TIME." She growled with determination. She crawled up to the side of the canyon, and grasped a rock firmly.

She strained with all her might to lift her body up, the cords in her neck standing out visible. As she lifted into the standing position her legs wobbled and wiggled uncontrollably from her not getting up again all afternoon. She felt one of her wounds split back open and begin to spill more blood, and pain roared up her side from this. "AHHHH!" She squealed, but kept on trying to pull herself up. She would not let herself fall subject to this pain; to this torture. She was going to get herself up the side of the canyon if it took her everything that she had.

"Come on, God, help me out here!" She prayed. "I need anyone's help, I don't deserve this! That big fat pink monster deserves this more than I do!"

As if someone were respondent to her wishes, she managed to pull herself up and balance up onto her feet, wobbling, but still standing. A smile spread across her pretty face. *Okay, this is the first step into it all Bulma. Just a little bit more and then you'll be laughing and wondering how come you even stayed in this canyon all afternoon. *
She leaned against the side of the canyon and rested for a second. Her wondering eyes went down to the bleeding wound. *I should make a tourniquet for that wound or I might faint soon. * She thought, already starting to feel a little bit woozy. She didn't know if her stomach now hurt because she was still ravenous or because she was getting sick from blood loss.

Bulma ripped a little bit off of her skirt and wrapped it above the wound on her thigh, tying it as tight as she could. She grimaced with the effort, her shaking arms about to fail on her. She quickly jerked her hands back before that could happen. She smiled a little bit and the looked up at the bit of night sky visible from the bottom of the canyon.

*In just a couple of minutes . . . maybe an hour . . . I'll be able to see ALL of the night. * She thought, digging one of her feet into the side of the cliff and heaving herself up a little bit. Her leg seriously shook, but gained its ground in a little bit.

"Yeah, you'd better stop shaking." She growled to her limb.

* * * *

Bulma was going very well, and was more than halfway up the side of the canyon wall. Her legs and arms were not betraying her anymore and she felt like a new woman. She felt like she was stronger than she'd ever been; she felt even stronger than she had after she'd broken up with her boyfriend.

Bulma finally placed both of her arms on the edge of the canyon, tears cutting through the dirt on her face like rivers. "Yes! I made it!" She rasped, going to pull her body up the canyon. She groaned with effort as she tried to pull herself up.

But, as Bulma was pulling herself up the side of the canyon, she felt her hand smack on something dry and scaly. She stifled a scream. *It's not a snake . . . it's a . . . SNAKE!! * Her thoughts screamed, as what was under her hand wiggled and slithered at her.

The snake coiled up and rattled its rattle.

Bulma was too dumbfounded to do anything but stare at the hideous animal.

The snake struck.

Bulma tried to weave her head to the side, but the snake struck the side of her neck painfully. Bulma shrieked out in pain, and started to tug at the snake without falling down the side of the canyon again. She almost fell as a wave of dizziness washed over her head. She was becoming sick, fast, from the poison!

*I've got to get myself up before I faint! * Bulma thought. Her eyelids were now drooping considerably. She yanked at the snake weakly once more. It popped loose, and Bulma threw it. She hoped that it died, but she had no time to think about that now. That snake was not going to keep her from getting up the side of this canyon! But, had she known that she'd meet someone very special in this canyon, she would have stayed. But she didn't know about that right now. She was only thinking about how badly she needed water.

Bulma's arms, in one of her spells of weakness, slipped from the canyon wall and spilled her down in again. Bulma bashed against the side of the canyon. She then began to roll down it, cutting herself up even more. She screamed in agony as she heard something on her body pop, possibly even break. She knew it was her leg when fiery pain ran up it. "EEEKKK!" She wailed as she rolled on the floor of the canyon, finally coming to a stop against the opposite wall. Now, she was in so much pain she was paralyzed. But more than in pain she was dizzy and nauseous. But tonight, fate would be with her, and she wasn't going to faint or die or even get SICK from the snake; the only thing the snake had really harmed was her getting up the side of the canyon.

"Oh, great." She muttered.

She sat up against the side of the canyon, breathing hard but still alive thankfully. She bent her leg to test it. It wasn't broke; but something was wrong with it. It was all purple near the place where her thigh connected to her body. *At least the bone's not coming out. * She thought. She wiped sweat off of her brow, after passing another dizzy spell. She felt very tired and as weak as a newborn kitten.

She decided to crawl around and look for a safe place to sleep in this hellhole. *Heck, who cares? I'm stuck in a freaking canyon; it'll all be just as bad to sleep anywhere in here. * She thought. But, her thoughts about where to sleep were suddenly interrupted when she spotted a peculiar looking sight a couple of feet away from her. * What the hank? * She thought, crawling closer to what looked like a bag. She noticed it was behind the rock as if someone had been hiding it, but who cares? She obviously needed it more than that person did right now. Was that person all bloody and stranded in the bottom of a canyon with no food or water?

She grabbed the bag and yanked it out, making the dirt fall off of it. A couple of oranges and an apple rolled out of the bag as she dragged it over. *Yes! It's food, and not something stupid! * She thought. She grabbed one of the apples. Her stomach growled angrily as if to welcome the food to her body as she took the first bite. That apple was more filling than any apple had ever been to her in her life.

After her apple, she grabbed an orange, peeled it with her teeth, and squeezed the juice of it into her mouth. It was a little bit, but at least it was something to soothe her cracked throat just a little bit. After squeezing the juice out she ate the orange, thankful for the food. It wasn't very long until she'd devoured the entire bag of food in her hunger, leaving her full enough for six women her size. But at least she wouldn't be hungry again for a while.

*I think it's time to go to sleep for a little bit. * She thought, laying down on her back and stretching her legs out. *Sleep will calm my mind, and in the morning I'll wake up refreshed. Then I'll go for climbing up the side of the canyon again. * She thought. So, thinking this, she went to sleep, not knowing that the food she'd just eaten belonged to someone else that was really going to need it after twelve tomorrow.

End of chappy two! (Sorry I didn't put a name on chapter one, I'll get around to that soon. I really don't like it when people don't name their chapters, and I'm sure that you don't appreciate it either.) Anyway, next chapter, Vegeta finds Bulma sitting next to his empty bag of food . . . with a DRAGONBALL! What does he do, and what will happen to Bulma? Even more, what feelings does Bulma get when she comes across Vegeta's handsome face and finds out about his horrible life when Vegeta helplessly spills out his past to her? Find out in the next chapters!

Luv, luvssaintbernards

P.S-Read my other stories, please!