Bulma woke up Saturday around noon with a bruise covering about a fifth of her face. Needless to say, she didn't feel like going out. She had managed to stay in her room all day Saturday, but Sunday, Vegeta and Juuachi had eventually dragged her out.
Krillinhad come over around 7 o'clock, and they had all settled in to wait for Goku and ChiChi to arrive.
"We're back!" ChiChi exclaimed as Juuachi granted her and Goku entrance into Capsule Corp. They had both gone to their respective houses to unpack and shower, and, afterwards, Goku had picked ChiChi back up and headed over to Bulma's. ChiChi would be staying there while Bulma's parents were away. Goku had gone to keep Vegeta company.
"We're all in the living room."
Juuachisaid leading the way. "We're going to watch movies once we can agree on which ones to watch. Krillin's here too."
"Hi guys." Krillin greeted as they walked in. "How was the trip?"
"It was great!" ChiChi answered.
"I taught ChiChi how to fish." Goku elaborated.
"You didn't know how to fish?" Krillin asked.
"He does it differently." ChiChi said. "No poles."
"How do you catch a fish without using a fishing pole?" Juuachi looked at them skeptically. "Nets?"
"No." Goku laughed putting his hand behind his head. "You just pick them up out of the water. With your hands."
Everyone stared at him silently.
"Hi!" Bulma said walking in with a giant bowl of popcorn, and Vegeta right behind her with armfuls of chips and cookies. "How was the..."
"Bulma!" ChiChi exclaimed dropping her duffel bag and running over to her. "What happened to your face?"
"Oh." Bulma tried to cover her purple nose. "I...uh...got in a fight."
"Are you serious?" ChiChi asked amazed.
"Who won?" Goku asked from behind her.
"Goku!" ChiChi reprimanded causing him to shy back. She turned back to Bulma. "With who?"
"Some slut at the party Friday night. She wouldn't leave Vegeta alone so I pulled her off him and she got all mad."
"Who was it?" Goku asked Vegeta who had just sprawled himself across the long couch.
"Ashla."
"Oh." Goku said like he should have known. "You shouldn't worry about her, Bulma. She's been like that since Junior High. But uh...just out of curiosity..."
"She got a fat lip and is probably missing a chunk of hair." Vegeta answered his unsaid question.
"Oh. That's too bad." Goku said quite unearnestly, and, with a small smile, plopped down on couch across from the one Juuachi and Krillin were on.
Bulma and ChiChi soon joined them.
"So did you ever decide on what we're watching?" ChiChi asked.
"Well I want to watch something romantic, and they want a thriller." Bulma said.
"I can go for romantic." ChiChi said snuggling up beside Goku. "What about you, Goku?"
"Well...I...I guess..."
"So we have three romance and three thriller." ChiChi declared before Goku could finish his answer. "Why don't we watch one of each."
"Action first." Krillin, who was closest to the TV, popped the DVD in before anyone could argue. Bulma turned off the lights and, by habit, sat herself behind Vegeta, allowing him to use her as a pillow. The rest saw this, but didn't say anything. They all settled themselves in to watch as well.
It was nearing eleven o'clock. All three boys had fallen asleep. Bulma and ChiChi were in tears, while Juuachi was trying to figure out why Jo had refused to marry Laurie. They had seemed to be good friends and he had money.
"They would have been perfect together." ChiChi said sniffling.
"Why Jo? Why'd you have to break his heart? You hardly know the Professor." Bulma grabbed Vegeta's, who was still lying on her, shirt and buried her face in his hair.
Suddenly the TV cut off and the entire room went black. Juuachi jumped up while the other two screamed. The three boys bolted awake.
"Whah happen?" Goku asked still half asleep.
"The power went out!" ChiChi squealed.
Vegeta got up and went over to the window. "It's on everywhere else." He said seeing the streetlights on an a few lights in the other houses' windows. "Someone go check the fuse box, and someone else get candles and flashlights."
Everyone just stood there.
"What are you deaf?" He yelled causing everyone to jump.
"Vegeta." Bulma whispered. "The fuse box is in the basement. I'm not going down there and no one else knows where it is."
Vegeta sighed. "Fine I'll go."
"I'll go with you." Goku offered.
"Me too." Krillin said
"Come on woman." Vegeta grabbed Bulma's arm and started dragging her to the kitchen.
"I said I wasn't going down there!" She said trying to pull herself out of his grip.
"I'm not bringing you to the basement. You're helping me find flashlights."
"Oh." She said and began digging in a drawer and pulling out three flashlights. She handed one to each of them. "Here."
The three boys took their flashlights and then followed Vegeta out of the kitchen.
"Okay." Bulma said sitting on the couch beside Juuachi and covering them both with a blanket. "No worries. The boys are going turn the power back on, and we'll just sit here and wait until then."
ChiChi took the one flashlight that Bulma hadn't given to the boys and shone it on the candle she was trying to light. "Are you sure they'll be okay?" She asked once she had lit two of them. "I mean what if it was that guy?"
"The police said he skipped town. No one's seen him in weeks." Juuachi said.
"But still." ChiChi said sitting on the couch and getting under the blanket as well. "You never know."
"Hey, uh Geta?" Goku said as they walked by an elevator. "Why don't we just go down that elevator."
"Because elevators run on electricity, dumbass."
"Oh yeah."
The three boys soon found themselves walking down a staircase.
"Ugh." Goku said holding his nose. "It smells like gas in here."
"It doesn't matter." Vegeta told him." This won't take long."
"So where is it?" Krillin asked.
"Well. I don't exactly know." Vegeta said staring around at the box filled room. "So just start looking. I'll go this way."
"Vegeta." Goku called. "Do you really think we should be splitting up? What if it wasn't just something shorting out."
"Come to think of it." Krillin said shining his flashlight from one pile of boxes to another. "Do you think we should have just left the girls up there by themselves?"
"Look." Vegeta said. "I was just fine with coming alone. If you two want to go back up with the girls, be my guest. This isn't going to take long."
Goku and Krillin looked at each other and shrugged. The girls would be fine. Without another word, they separated to look for the fuse box.
"Hey!" Krillin hollered. "I think I found it."
"Really?" Goku yelled back. He and Vegeta abandoned their own searches and headed over.
"The switch was just off." Krillin said.
"How'd it get turned off?" Vegeta asked.
"Uh..."
"I did it." A voice said causing the boys to spin around. Their flashlights trained on a single man standing at the far end of the basement near the stairs. "Although I really did not intend to kill all three of you."
"Kill us?" Krillin whispered. "Why would you want to kill us?"
"As I said earlier, I didn't want to kill all of you." He pointed to Vegeta. "Just him. And this is not how I planned to do it at all. But it will work just fine." He lit a match and threw it. Instantly a line of fire ran out in front of him, blocking the three boys from the stairs. The man turned and silently walked up the stairs. When he'd reached the top, he grabbed the gas can he had brought and poured gas all down the stairs. It didn't light immediately, but the fire in the basement was spreading.
"Who was that?" Krillin yelled.
Goku didn't answer but just looked at Vegeta, who had not moved his eyes from the stairs. "Guys we've got to get out of here."
"No kidding?" Krillin said as he watched the fire engulf box after box. "Do you think we can make it to the stairs?"
"We can try." Goku said as he grabbed Vegeta's arm. "Come on Geta. Pull yourself together."
Just then, the stairs exploded into flame.
"Okay." Krillin said. "The stairs are out."
Goku looked around for a window, but didn't see one. They were running out of time. "VEGETA!" He yelled giving his arm a jerk.
Vegeta snapped out of his trance and looked about the room.
"Is there another way out of here?" Goku asked.
"Only the elevator..." He answered.
"Krillin turn the power back on." Goku ordered cutting Vegeta off.
Krillin did as he was told.
"But it probably won't work when there's a fire." Vegeta finished.
They could see the lights in the hall flicker on as the fire alarm started to wail. There were sprinklers in the basement but not nearly enough to put out the fire.
"What is that!" ChiChi screeched.
"The fire alarm!" Bulma answered her. "The building's on fire!"
"Where are the boys?" ChiChi had only begun to panic. "What if they're hurt?"
"We have to go find them." Juuachi said, standing.
"The fireman will be here in a few minutes," Bulma said. "but I agree with Juu."
ChiChi stood up too. "Well let's go then."
"The basement's this way." Bulma said leading them out of the room.
"Come on somebody." Krillin said. "We need a plan."
"Those stairs will never hold us." Vegeta stated. "Even if the sprinklers do put the fire out. Our best bet is the elevator."
"I thought you said it won't work."
"We can just climb up the chute."
"Oh okay." Goku said. "That makes sense."
"Guys we'd better do something cough fast." Krillin choked, the stack of boxes closest him now on fire. The smoke was thickening making it hard for them to breathe.
"Look for a crowbar cough or anything that can pry the doors open." Vegeta ordered shining his flashlight around the room.
Goku, spotting something took off through the flames and emerged a moment later, coughing and patting his pants out. "cough cough Will an axe do?"
"Perfect." Vegeta wheezed before taking off through the flames in a different direction than Goku had a second ago. "The elevator's over here!cough cough"
Krillin immediately followed him choking, all the while trying to dodge around flames.
"I have to cough run through the fire again!" Goku shouted before running after Vegeta and Krillin.
Krillin walked up to the elevator and pushed the button, and then noticed Goku stairing at him oddly. "It was worth cough a try wheeze."
"Come on." Vegeta, who was now breathing through his shirt, ordered pointing to the elevator door.
Goku pulled his shirt over his face as well. He nodded to Vegeta and swung the axe toward the door. He wrenched it out and swung it a few more times.
"That's enough." Vegeta said pulling off his shirt, tearing it in half and wrapping his hands with it.
The other two boys stared at him oddly until he stuck his fingers into the hole and pulled, slowly making it bigger. Goku and Krillin finally figured out what he was doing and followed his lead.
Once the hole looked big enough for even Goku to fit through, Goku passed the axe to Krillin, who got to work making a hole in the inside layer of metal on the door. Vegeta and Goku began trying to stomp out the approaching flames. Once Krillin had made a few holes, the three boys, sweating and gasping, pulled the edges and opened the hole.
"Alright Geta." Goku said once they could see a hole clear through the elevator door. "You first. And hurry." Goku edged closer to the door to keep from being burned.
Vegeta decided not to argue at the special treatment he was obviously being shown, and crawled through the hole. He was careful not to get scratched, but quick nevertheless. When he was in the elevator, he started looking around for the emergency hatch. Spotting it, he went over, wondering how to open it.
Krillin crawled through next.
"Hey bring the axe with you." Vegeta hollered to Goku.
Goku tossed it in. He, being the biggest of the three had the most trouble getting through the hole.
Vegeta grabbed the axe and, using the handle end, began beating the hatch open. Krillin meanwhile was tugging Goku through the hole.
The hatch came open about the same time that Goku got loose.
"Now what?" Goku said taking the wrapping off his hand and tying it around a rather large gash he'd gotten on his arm.
"Through there." Vegeta said sliding the axe handle through a belt loop in case he needed it later.
Without another word, Goku walked under the hatch, laced his hands, and looked expectantly at Vegeta. Figuring that this meant he was first again, Vegeta stepped into the boost and was literally thrown through the hatch.
"Sorry Geta!" Goku called after he heard Vegeta clunk down on top the elevator. "I didn't think you were that light. You okay?"
"Yeah." Vegeta called down irately as he helped Krillin onto the top of the elevator.
Vegeta and Krillin pulled Goku up with them and then all three turned to the door in front of them. Being on top of the elevator they were almost even with the ground floor. Vegeta pulled out the axe. Goku immediately grabbed it from him and started hacking away at the door.
Rehtaf hadn't moved from his spot by the stairs. The fire was spreading to the first floor, but he still didn't leave. It was odd. He didn't hear any screams. This time he wanted to make sure that Vegeta died. He decided that he'd see it through to the end no matter what the cost. He knew that they weren't dead, but he couldn't tell what they were doing. He kept hearing voices and banging.
They'd stopped, though, a few minutes ago. With joy, he figured that they must've given up.
Suddenly, he heard more banging. It wasn't coming from the basement, though, but from down the hall. Curious, he followed the noise. To his great surprise, the door to the elevator was being hacked open.
Amazed that they had gotten out of the basement, he pulled out his gun. Vegeta wouldn't get away that easily.
He didn't want to get in the way of whatever it was that they were breaking through the door with, lest he be hit before he could finish his business. So that he wouldn't be seen, he stepped back around the corner. He could hear voices. When he looked back around the corner, his son was crawling out of the hole. He fell to the floor and then rolled over to sit on his butt.
This was his chance.
"Alright Krillin." Goku said with the axe propped over his shoulder. "You next."
Krillin was already at the hole and was about to climb through, but he stopped.
"Come on, Krillin." Goku said growing impatient. "It's hot in here."
Krillin backed away from the hole and turned to Goku. "That guy's out there." He whispered.
Goku shoved him aside and hurried over to the hole. He was met with the sight of Vegeta sitting on the floor with his father pointing a gun right between his eyes.
Goku didn't say anything, but took the axe off his shoulder "Run Vegeta!" He yelled throwing the axe. "Don't worry about us! He doesn't want us!" Unfortunately, the blade didn't hit Rehtaf. The handle did, though, knocking the gun out of his hand. This gave Vegeta enough time to scramble off the floor and dash down the hall.
Rehtaf grabbed the gun off the floor and took off after Vegeta, trying to aim as he ran. "I'll be back for you, you little bastard!" He yelled to Goku.
Goku hurriedly scrambled out of the hole. "Come on Krillin! We've got to stop him!"
Krillin followed him out, and they both ran down the hall the way Vegeta and his father had gone.
Vegeta purposely did not go in the direction of the living room. He knew the girls would be in there, and he didn't want them to be in the way of any bullets.
He could hear his father behind him, and to make himself less of an easy target, didn't run in a straight line.
Within a few minutes he was lost. His few weeks at Capsule Corp. were apparently not enough time for him to map the building.
He turned a corner and was met with a doorway and a dead end. Without hesitation, he went through the doorway.
This was apparently a storage room for old and broken machinery.
Bulma, Juuachi, and ChiChi rounded a corner to be met with two shadowy figures, one with an axe raised above his head and ready to strike. All three girls screamed and stumbled over themselves to get away.
"Hey wait!" The bigger of the two, who was wielding the axe said grabbing ChiChi's arm. "It's us."
"Goku?" ChiChi asked as though it were too good to be true.
"What are you all doing here?" Krillin asked, breathing hard. "The building's on fire."
"We were coming to find you." Bulma said. "Where's Vegeta?"
"A guy was about to shoot him." Krillin said.
"They both ran off." Goku said. "They were heading this way but we lost them."
"Well they weren't the way we came from." ChiChi said. "They must've gone that way." She pointed down the same hall that Goku and Krillin had come from but in the opposite direction.
"Hey kids!" A voice shouted from down the hall the girls had come from. "Are you all okay!"
All of the teenagers turned toward the voice. It was a firefighter.
The man turned to yell at somebody else. "I've found someone!" He headed over to them, and was soon followed by five other men. "Is there anyone else in the building?" The man asked once he'd reached them.
"Yes!" Bulma answered. "We think he went that way." She indicated the direction ChiChi had said earlier.
"Okay." The man said motioning two men to go down the hall. "We'll get him. The rest of you have to get ou..."
A gunshot cut him off. Before the firefighter could blink, Goku was charging down the hallway in the direction it came from. "Young man!" The firefighter yelled starting to run after him. "It isn't safe there!" He turned to the rest of the fire fighters who were trying to restrain Bulma and ChiChi and escort the four remaining teenagers out of the building. "Call for backup and ambulances! We have gunshots! I repeat! We have gunshots!"
He was going to die! He was finally going to die! Rehtaf stood staring at the boy he had spawned a giddy sensation creeping up spine. Vegeta was leaning against the wall clutching his shoulder and trying not to show fear. The boy kept his gaze fixed on his defiantly, but Rehtaf knew he was afraid.
When Rehtaf had followed Vegeta into the room, Vegeta had hidden behind the door and tried to attack him with a hunk of metal that looked suspiciously like a robot arm. Rehtaf had spun around before Vegeta had even had the chance to strike him and fired. The shot he had fired had hit his shoulder. It was bleeding heavily, but Rehtaf didn't think it was lethal enough.
Taking aim again, he smirked. He had prepared a long monologue on the car ride back into West City for just this moment, but now that he was here, he decided against using it. Too much could go wrong. He wanted to finish it off quick.
Some voices distracted him for a split second, but that small amount of time was just enough for Vegeta to push himself off the wall, charge toward him, and grab the gun. Rehtaf was startled by the sudden movement, but he didn't lose hold of his weapon.
The two struggled over the gun even after three men burst into the room followed closely by a fourth.
Vegeta could see the anger in his father's eyes as Goku, who was still wielding an axe, and three fire fighters burst in. The men paused for a second before Goku charged in like a line backer and tackled Rehtaf to the floor. The firemen ran over immediately and worked to subdue the murderer. Goku backed away, but Rehtaf proved to be too much for the firemen to handle. He wrenched his arm free of them, having somehow managed to keep his gun in his hand no matter how much the men tried to pull it out and fired four shots.
Rehtaf didn't know how many bullets hit his son, but he saw him slam back into the wall and then slide down. The flow of blood that he saw coming from his forehead was enough for him and he promptly stopped struggling and dropped his now emptied gun to the floor. Two of the firemen escorted him out of the room while the other went over to check his now surely dead son.
Rehtaf took one look back as he left the room and was satisfied.
Vegeta, despite what his father thought, was not dead, though he felt as though he would be soon.
He felt a light touch on his shoulder and directed his blurry vision toward the direction he assumed the person would be in.
"Geta." The person whispered, his voice trembling and laced with pain.
Vegeta just groaned.
Another voice was saying something but Vegeta couldn't hear what it was.
Vegeta tried to focus on the person in front of him but his vision was starting to blacken. "Geta. Stay with us." The person said again and started to say something else. Vegeta didn't hear him however. His world faded into darkness.
"Is he going to be okay?" Goku asked as he hobbled quickly down the hall being supported by a firefighter on each side. He had received a bullet in his thigh from Rehtaf's shooting spree.
Vegeta had been carried out of the building already by a very large firefighter who had reached the room soon after Rehtaf had been taken out. Two other firefighters went with them. The rest of the firefighters, consisting of only three, assisted Goku out of the building.
"From my medical training, which you must realize is not very extensive, I believe that he ought to be fine. The bulled didn't enter his brain; it just cracked his skull. Although any case like this is very serious, it's not as bad as it could be." The firefighter, named Jose, answered.
"Now about you." The firefighter on his right said. "They'll probably have to amputate that leg."
"WHAT!" Goku yelled in terror.
"I'm just kidding." The man chuckled.
"You're not supposed to kid with people during traumatic situations." Jose admonished. He seemed to be of higher rank than the rest.
"Sorry kid." The firefighter, who didn't seem much older than Goku himself, said.
It didn't take long at all for them to get out of the building. The fire seemed to be under control, but the yard was still swarming with activity. Goku was immediately placed on a stretcher and carted over to a waiting ambulance. As he was being loaded in, he saw ChiChi, wrapped in a blanket, running over in a panic.
"Are you okay?" She yelled as she pushed her way to his side.
"Yeah." Goku said looking behind her for familiar faces. He didn't see any. "Where is everyone?"
"Krillin was taken to the hospital right after we got out. Juuachi went with him. Vegeta was taken only a minute ago, and Bulma's with him. Are you sure you're okay?"
She climbed into the back of the ambulance with him. The doors were closed and they drove off.
"What about that guy?" Goku asked.
"I saw him." ChiChi said. "He didn't look too crazy. Anyway, he got in back of the cop car without a problem and they drove him off."
If anyone wanted to know about the Jo/Laurie thing, it's from Little Women (which I do not own).