Vegeta Takes on the FEI .
Disclaimer: I do not own Dragonball Z, or its characters. They are property of Akira Toriyama and Toei Animation Ltd. I also do not own any of the actual 3- day eventers. I also do not own, and am not author of the books mentioned here. These people also exist in real life. No money is being made from this story, so suing is pointless.
"Denotes Speech"
Denotes Flashback
'Denotes thoughts'
Chapter 6
"Alright, everyone is present and accounted for." Bulma Briefs ticked off Krillin's family arrived with a suitcase full of clothing for the trip. The blue haired scientist lifted her head to see the saiyan prince zipping back and forth between the air liner and the equestrian arm of the compound. She sweatdropped at the sight of him wearing camouflage gear and carrying parts of her mothers rhododendron bushes as cover.
'So much for being inconspicuous about packing all that stuff for the Trials…' Bulma thought, amazed that no one else had spotted the obvious traveling plant life.
Ten minutes later, everyone was settled in their seats. Well almost everyone. Bulma was piloting the aircraft and all the Z senshi and their families were seated. One person was missing. Yamcha glanced around skeptically, feeling something was out of place. It took the former desert bandit a few minutes to figure out exactly what was bothering him. After scanning the aircraft several times, the answer smacked him in the head. Rather, a small leather bound book did, but never-the-less something did.
"Hey! I thought Vegeta was coming on this trip too!" Yamcha complained, rubbing the sore spot where the book – which happened to be his passport – had left an angry red mark.
"It's not like anyone's missing him." Tien shrugged, glancing over to the scarred warrior.
"AHEM!" Both Tien and Yamcha looked at the now glaring Bulma and instantly shrank back into their seats. Not even the strongest force in the universe could stand up to the wrath of an angry human female. "For your information, Vegeta is kindly watching over the luggage, especially the delicates."
All the passengers, except for Goten, Trunks and Goku stared at Bulma if she just turned into a ten foot tall, slimy, rabid, zombie – rabbit. Chichi shook her head vigorously not quite comprehending the situation.
"Vegeta… is doing something nice…willingly?" Chichi started to twitch.
"Of course." Bulma bit her lip to stop the secret from getting out before the time came. Chichi woodenly fell into the isle. After hearing the commotion from the level below, a large hatch opened in the floor near Chichi, a tuft of hair poked out from the floor before the owner pulled his top half through the hatch. The Saiya-jin no Ouji prodded the semi – unconscious woman with a stick. A second head popped up alongside the ouji, the head of a horse. Firedance pulled a 'Son Goku' – esque grin onto his equine features before wiggling non existent eyebrows at the passengers.
"Who says I can't be courteous and helpful at times? I AM the Saiyajin no Ouji after all!" The short prince boasted. As soon as he'd finished striking a dramatic pose the Anglo- Arab and the Saiya-jin disappeared down the hatch, which promptly slammed shut. Chichi weakly crawled back to her seat, believing the event of the past minute was a dream. The rest of the passengers looked to Bulma, who was staring where the hatch was moments ago.
"Well…that was weird."
Krillin glanced over to Yamcha "I'm just going to pretend that we're hallucinating… it's too early in the morning to comprehend that man's actions."
"I'm still asleep Krillin. That didn't just happen." The desert bandit sighed, deciding that he was either going senile or that Vegeta took one too many of Goku's blows to his cranium.
The rest of the flight to England went peacefully. Mostly because Vegeta was not present and no one dared to question the Ouji's motives for guarding the luggage. Most were still in shock from the random appearance of a non-existent hatch in the isle along with Vegeta and what seemed to be a horse with an attitude problem.
The Z-senshi tumbled out of the aircraft, their jaws swinging in the breeze at the sheer size of the place. A large manor house stood before them, directly upon the Badminton Trial grounds. Bulma turned to the group of people, grinning.
"I managed to rent out enough rooms here for us to go around. Its nice being one of the richest people in the world."
"Wow… this place is huge…" Krillin gasped, looking up at the magnificent structure.
"No kidding…" Yamcha blinked a little, noticing Vegeta had already hopped out of the luggage compartment and was removing the majority of everyone's suitcases.
"We had better get going, they're expecting us." Bulma said, while picking up her own suitcase. The entire gang, minus Vegeta entered the large manor house. The first noticeable thing was the decoration. Many of the rooms had intricately carved furniture adorned with plush luxurious coverings dating back many centuries. Even some of the wallpaper seemed to be made out of fabric.
"Wow, look at the paintings on the ceiling… this place is amazing… nothing like seeing it on television or in books." Gohan commented as they approached one of the house maids.
"Good day. How may I help?" The friendly woman regarded Bulma with a friendly handshake.
"We're the Briefs party… we rented a… ah… a few rooms to accommodate us over the Trials." She nervously looked back over at the large group of people, mentally groaning at the fact that Vegeta had already disappeared.
"If you would be so kind as to follow me. We have prepared the rooms as you requested, and we are happy with your payment." The woman smiled, leading the large group of people around the house to settle for the evening.
Meanwhile…
"Uh right this way Mr.Briefs." A rather nervous stable attendant led the Saiya-jin no Ouji down the row of competition stabling. "Here we are. These boxes have been reserved for a Mr. Vegeta Briefs … horses names, Firedance and … 'Saiya-jin Pride (?)'" The man lifted a brow at the second name, and then shook his head. As far as he could tell the owner was a lunatic either way.
"They will do nicely. I shall return in a short while with my equipment and animals. Bwaahaahaaaa!" The excitable prince dashed from the site to where the aircraft remained de-capsulated. They'd brought a small trailer, enough to store all the items required to last the three days away from home. Both the Anglo – Arab and the lanky eventer – type looked pleased to see the temperamental prince.
"This is it you two, you'd better behave." He looked pointedly at Firedance "And no scaring off people with your Kakarotto-esque grin. You can do that when we win." The chestnut gave out a little groan of disappointment before shrugging.
Vegeta dragged the small trailer behind him, letting both the horses walk beside him, completely loose. As they made their way back to the temporary stabling, the attendant made the mistake of looking up as the three walked past. His eyes bugged out at the site of one man hauling all his equipment alone in one go… as well as both horses following him without any signs of running off.
"Better lay off the caffeine drinks…"
Vegeta snickered at the ningen's mumbling. Socks and Firedance settled into their temporary homes fairly quickly. There were a few other horses in the area belonging to some other top riders of the country. He'd only just finished hanging the hay nets and checking the water before a human woman started nosing into the stable. She had an orange and blue checked rugby shirt on. This was a bad thing around horses that belonged to Vegeta.
Firedance saw something orange out of the corner of his eye. Immediately he decided to inspect this source of the bright colour. The woman reached out to pet his neck only to find her shoulder being chewed and drooled on. She immediately tried to get the Anglo-Arab to let go, but nothing seemed to work.
"Ahh come on, let go already!" She huffed, frustrated.
"Hehehe…." Vegeta snickered then turned to his smaller horse "Let go Fire, that isn't Kakarotto." As if the horse understood exactly what the Saiya-jin prince was saying, he let go of the woman's clothing, giving her the Goku-esque grin. This more than wigged out the human.
"Is there any reason you disturbed my animals ningen?" Vegeta asked, perking a brow.
"Actually, you mean to be competing with this short animal? I wish you luck." The woman said haughtily. Vegeta pulled a childish face, and then puffed out his chest with pride.
"This short animal has some amazing talents that larger horses lack! We're going to be number one."
"Well good luck with that." The woman stalked off to her own horses, all of which were at least two inches taller than Socks, and all of which at least a hand taller than Firedance.
"Yeah… you'll need it." Vegeta pulled a face at the woman's back before exiting the stable. "I had better get back before those baka weaklings start to suspect something."
Everyone had just been informed that their meal was ready. The rather suspicious trio (Krillin Yamcha and Tien), had also noted that Vegeta had not made an appearance since they had arrived. All three were roused from their singular contemplation when five hurricanes scattered z-fighters left right and centre. The gang sweatdropped at the five saiya-jin inhaling the food at the table as if there were no tomorrow.
"Hang on… five?" Yamcha slowly counted his fingers.
"Hey would you look at that, Vegeta is ALIVE." Krillin muttered sarcastically.
A certain Saiya-jin prince over heard the comment; fixing the monk with an icy glare. Krillin visibly gulped, moving to the nearest available seat that was furthest from the irritable ouji. The housekeepers gawped at the appalling table manners, as well as the sheer amount of food that hungry saiya-jin could put away in one sitting.
Chichi glared at the short saiya-jin, wanting to know what evil schemes that he might be plotting. This went for half of the group at the table; however, all knew that it was pretty risky to bother any saiya-jin during a meal. It was very easy to lose a limb if one even reached for food that was within a saiya-jin's reach.
Half an hour later, and after several helpings for each saiya-jin; the gang was well fed and ready to retire for the evening. However, the short ouji was not getting out of things that easily.
"So where have you been all afternoon? I thought you were helping with the luggage?" Yamcha spoke up boldly. Vegeta looked at the scarred warrior oddly.
"Why would I help you with your luggage? I don't even like you."
Yamcha sweatdropped. "That's not the point." Tien butted in, "the point is you disappeared without a word to anyone… not that we missed you." Tien gulped as he was now being glared at, by a rather irritable saiya-jin
"You know what we're really here for don't you?" Krillin piped in. Vegeta looked between all three, and then shrugged.
"Yes I know what we're all here for." Vegeta smirked as the group leaned in eagerly.
"Well, are you going to tell us?" Yamcha pushed for more information. After a moment of consideration, Vegeta nodded. By now all three human warriors were crowded around the ouji closely.
"It's a surprise." Vegeta grinned cheesily, causing all three to fall over, causing a minor earthquake that measured 4 on the Richter scale.
Tien was the first onto his feet, having recovered from the moment of dumbness that knocked him cleanly to the floor. "We KNOW that."
"Well, you'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out what it is." Vegeta grinned slyly before taking off up the stairs, leaving all three humans pondering over the 'Big Surprise' as Bulma's father put it.
"I don't know whether to be excited or scared." Krillin grumbled.
"I guess… we're just going to have to wait." Yamcha blinked at the stairs, a feeling of foreboding invading his chest. He hoped this surprise was not going to be painful in any way.
"We better go get some rest. Bulma said we have to be up early for the first events tomorrow. 'Night guys." Tien ascended the stairs toward his room. Krillin turned to Yamcha
"Tien's right. Let's just go to bed and not worry about tomorrow. It can't be anything bad."
"I just hope you're right Krillin." Yamcha shook his head. He had a feeling something strange was about to happen.
End Chapter 6
Sorry, not a lot going on in this chapter. I needed somthing to link it to the next part, it seemed more logical at the time. I know this chapter got a little weird, but its all coming together now that i've lost my plans. Thanks to the reviewers so far. I'll try and get this finished within the next few days.
Oh yeah, one last thing... I'm plotting a sequal. I'll keep you posted on this decision at the end of chapter 8