I Believe In You,
I'm Missing You,
In the same spot,
The memories clearly remain.
I Believe In You,
I'm Missing You,
It's alright if you're late,
I understand.
I know you'll come back,
If I still remain in you.
Where are you?
More than any other day,
I miss you,
Did you lose me?
You're my one and only,
You're irreplaceable,
I'm longing for you,
Day by day,
It hurts but I believe in you.
- "Believe" by Mackelli
(Hwayugi: A Korean Odyssey OST)
Episode 20
This I Promise You
The Saiyan Prince was fuming with searing, deathly wrath upon learning the truth coming out of his own father's mouth. He was so mad that he wanted to murder his father so badly for making him believe something for years, for thinking that he could use him for his own ambitions, for being the catalyst to a madness he wanted to destroy. But he knew that deep inside, he couldn't ever bring to kill his father despite everything he has done.
And so he decided to bring forth his anger and direct it to another person responsible for the so called 'Project Denzetsu'. The Prime Minister, Paragus.
He appeared on Paragus' house, intent on punishing the traitorous bastard once and for all. But then, he found something unexpected when he arrived there.
He found a lot of bandages, both rolled and others bloody, used and huddled across the table in a mess. There have been lots of antiseptics in there too. And a filthy white cloth with blood stains. Vegeta approached the table to inspect. There was something within those things that made him feel suspicious. He grabbed the cloth to find out that it was a cloak, a very muddy one that it's almost brown and with red spots of blood instead being of pure white. Something dropped to the floor and Vegeta quickly identified it as the same mask the killer of ATI 8990 used.
Vegeta picked the mask from the floor, memories of his defeat by the hands of the Masked Saiyan flashed mercilessly at the back of his mind. What is this thing doing in here? Does it mean that Paragus has something to do with this project's revival after all? Does he know the identity behind the Masked Saiyan?
"Your highness!" Someone gasped from behind him, making Vegeta turn his head over his shoulder to find his usually quiet and expressionless General standing there.
Broly, who just came in when he heard the Crown Prince's angry voice, bowed his head down to show the heir to the throne his respect. Vegeta turned his entire body to face Broly and the bowing Saiyan immediately noticed the eerie thing on the prince's hand. He quickly looked up at the completely suspicious flame haired Saiyan heedfully.
"Where is Paragus?!" the prince imperiously demanded.
"He went out to buy something, your highness. What brings you in here?" Broly asked humbly.
"I have a business with your traitorous father." The prince responded with a sneer.
"D-Did something happen, your highness? Did dad do something bad again?" Broly asked.
"I'm sure there is." The prince snapped. He finally noticed that something was wrong with his General. "What's the matter? Are you having a stomach ache?" Vegeta asked rather sadistically as he noticed that Broly was slouching forward with a hand on his abdomen.
Broly flinched, his forearm automatically going down to cover his abdomen. "I-it's an injury I got yesterday during training, your highness." he replied.
"Training?"
"My father send me to training missions every night. He said I should train to grow stronger so that I won't become a disgrace to him. You know he's being competitive with the both of us. Yet, I know that I will never be able to hold a candle against you at all." Broly gave him an awkward, sheepish smile.
The prince narrowed his eyes. Something in Broly's words is definitely pointing out that Paragus was doing something suspicious.
Vegeta sauntered forward towards his General. Finding the scowl on the royal's face deepen with scorn, Broly asked him fearfully, "Is there something I could help you with, your highness?"
"No, but maybe I could help you." The prince responded quietly.
"Huh?"
He took Broly's hand away and put his own over the part of his abdomen where the injury bleed, much to Broly's surprise. Vegeta's eyes narrowed when he felt something familiar inside Broly's body. He gazed up to Broly for a moment, a look of puzzlement upon his dark eyes. In the blink of an eye, Broly's injuries were completely regenerated. Vegeta let go of Broly's body, pulled away and gave him a suspicious glare while Broly just gaped at him in awe.
"Your highness..." Broly said breathlessly, amazed that his wounds are now healed by the prince's power.
"It looks like you had a hard time despite your great strength." Vegeta told him icily. "Whoever did this to you has given you a tremendous amount of damage. Your opponent decelerated the healing abilities of the Saiyans by releasing his ki energy within you to limit your own energy flow. If you continue bleeding like this, you'll die out of hypovolemia."
Broly simply shifted his eyes away in shame.
"Has Paragus been hard on you because of me?" The cold prince asked.
The timid general shrugged uncomfortably, "Why did you ask me such an uneasy question, your highness?"
"It's because I always get the feeling that he forces you to do whatever he wants."
Broly lowered his eyes but kept silent.
"Do you remember what I told you at the pub the night of the banquet?" Vegeta asked. (See Episode 12)
Broly recalled the Crown Prince's words to him back then, "You are a warrior capable of deciding on your own by judging what you think is right or wrong. It's all up to you which side you're going to take. Just so you know, I always believed in you and that I trust you. Even if your father dared to go against me, I never cared about you being his son or a possible enemy for the throne just as my father told me... You just have to decide for yourself of what you really wanted, of what you think is best for you. Do not let whatever you see or hear from other people control your decisions because in the end, the regret is yours if you let it control you. No one holds your decisions in life. Think of your Saiyan Pride. Stand by your choice and stand until the end."
"Yes, your highness." Broly responded.
Vegeta smirked at him haughtily. "That's good. I just thought of reminding you again."
Broly just stared at his prince without saying anything.
"Tell Paragus that he's lucky I didn't find him here or I would have killed him on the spot." Vegeta said as he turned around to leave. But he immediately halted when he turned to the table filled with medical supplies. "Oh... By the way, who are these things belonging to?" The prince asked, pointing at the mess on the table.
Broly lowered his eyes to avoid the intimidating doubtful glare the prince was giving him.
"They belong to a Saiyan named Irobu, your highness. I don't know him much and I haven't really met him in person yet but I heard that dad recruited him to participate in your Annual Power Assessment. I also heard that he is very powerful." Broly replied timidly.
"Irobu? What a lame name." Vegeta criticized with a heartless tone.
Broly didn't say anything about that.
"Irobu, huh?" The prince smirked devilishly. A fiendish chuckle escaping his lips. "I see. So that's the name of the warrior Paragus was going to put up against me. I'm beginning to become curious about him."
Vegeta concluded that the Masked Man and this Irobu guy could only be the same person. He watched at his General with a critical eye by now.
"If Paragus decides to make you meet him, tell him my message. I am looking forward to meeting him in the Annual Power Assessment Match."
"Okay. I will relay my message to him when I meet him, your highness." Broly responded.
"Oh wait! Cross that out!" The prince quickly cut. Broly's wide eyes shot up to stare at the royal heir who looked like he was deep in his thoughts. Vegeta was gazing up to the ceiling and humming a tune that sounded like a Grim Reaper's hymn. "Hmm... What should be a more proper way to tell him my message after what happened between us tonight?" Vegeta wondered to himself.
Broly waited, although he was feeling a bit uneasy having the Crown Prince at his house at this late hour. Also, he could perceive the prince watching at him intently on his peripheral vision.
"I know!" Vegeta exclaimed with a sinister grin and spark upon his black irises. "Tell him that when I confirmed his identity, I will hunt him down and show him no mercy when I rip him apart for being a prideless fool! Aside from that, I will make him pay for everything that he did to me. Maybe by eight thousand nine hundred ninety one times... Or more if he continues to be blinded by his own foolishness! Did you copy that?"
Broly responded a little too late, "Y-Yes, your highness."
"You better keep that in mind, Broly. It's a really important message."
With one last glance at his uneasy subordinate, Vegeta disappeared to thin air as he teleported himself somewhere else. Broly was left completely stunned at those words.
"Vegeta sure is mad..." Broly thought with dread in his chest. He sighed and slid down on the floor, staring blankly at the mess in the table. "Dad..." he muttered.
~=o-O-o=~
Vegeta appeared inside his private quarters in his royal palace. He was shaken by what he discovered on Paragus' home. Despite what his intuition was telling him, he still refused to believe it. He couldn't believe the possibility that the man behind the mask was Broly at all.
He once recalled the words Zorn told him months ago. (See Episodes 13 and 14)
"W-What are you going to do if the traitor is someone very close to you?"
The prince's facial expression hardened even more, "What do you mean?" his tone even more intimidating than earlier.
"W-What if one of your Generals is the traitor you were looking for? Or perhaps, that woman named Bulma… What are you going to do?"
Was he referring to Broly all this time and not Bulma? Does he know something about the Clones and the Project more than his own father? He was sure he sensed that it was his own ki that prevented Broly's injuries to regenerate, though he could not exactly remember how he did that kind of fatal damage if ever Broly was indeed the Masked Saiyan.
But how is that even possible? How could someone like Broly become a merciless killing machine when he looked like he couldn't even hurt a fly with his timid movements and gentleness?
He suddenly remembered the time when he and Broly almost fight each other because he was punishing Paragus for killing the rebels he was questioning during the Selection's banquet. (See Episode 12). That ki restrainer that looked like a golden crown with a green jewel on the center Broly wore around his head caught his attention when he sensed Broly's power skyrocket all of a sudden.
"That thing must be controlling both of his power and his actions. If it is indeed a restrainer then someone must be able to regulate its control. Could it be the gaunlet on Paragus' left arm?"
He gritted his teeth together. He wanted to believe that whatever Broly was doing, Paragus was behind all of it and that his General was only being forced to do whatever his father wanted.
He thought he needed to teach Broly a lesson about what true Saiyan Pride meant.
But before that, he needed to further investigate this so called Project Denzetsu. If his father's words were true that he has no idea about the clone he met today and claimed that he ordered the Project and any traces of it to be completely abolished by Paragus or Nasu, then those fools didn't follow their orders and used it to their own schemes. He cannot just punish them without proper evidence of their betrayal and attempt at treason.
He summoned for Nappa and commanded him to get him a new, much updated scouter. Knowing the Crown Prince's terrible mood, Nappa immediately obeyed and handed the prince a completely brand new red lensed scouter that's exclusively made for the Crown Prince himself. After tinkering with the device for a moment, Vegeta took a connection cable and disappeared once again. Nappa wondered what the prince is up to.
~=o-O-o=~
Vegeta appeared at the entrance of the Ministry of Science and Technology main office. It was already late, nearly 3h in the morning and so it seems the office is currently empty, aside from a few guards rounding up the place.
The Saiyan Prince strolled inside the building, his footsteps reverberating across the dark, silent hallway. There were a few alien guards rounding the area armed with flashlights and once they noticed his presence, they all gasped in shock and immediately bowed down before him.
"Your highness, what brings you in here at this late hour?" asked the guard boss humbly, who is the only Saiyan in the group.
The Crown Prince didn't turn to look at the guard and kept a commanding countenance, "Lead me to the room where you keep the main computer." he harshly ordered.
"Uhmm... The main computer?"
The prince raised a glowing hand in his direction, charging up a deadly Galick Beam on their direction and causing the guards to gulp and step back in fear for their lives.
"Don't make me repeat myself, fool! Get on with it or I will look for it myself after I send you all to the next dimension!" The irate prince growled, still not looking any of them.
The guards shrieked back, noticing the dangerous mood the future Saiyan King was in. "Y-Y-Yes! Our apologies, your highness. Please follow us."
The guards nervously led and escorted the irate prince into the top floor where the planet's most powerful and advanced computer was kept. The main computer AJI-07 of Planet Vegeta contains all the important data, information and projects of the Saiyans and of anyone associated with them.
The room was dimly lit, surrounded by metallic walls and ventilated by huge air conditioners. There was a group of computer technicians, programmers, data encoders and specialists within the room, all stunned upon finding the presence of the Crown Prince of all Saiyans within the room. Everyone immediately put their heads down in respect as they all welcomed his unexpected company.
"Good evening, your highness. It is a surprise to find you in here at this hour. Is there anything we can help you with tonight?" The leader of the main computer's technical group asked. A Saiyan wearing a gray coat. The prince ignored him as he carefully scanned the room with scrutiny in his onyx eyes.
"I can do it by myself. Get out and leave me alone." The prince commanded imperiously, still without glancing at anyone.
Everyone's eyes widened at his words. What is the Crown Prince about to do? They all looked at each other uncomfortably. They knew the Crown Prince is planning something not good. After all, he was widely known for doing troublesome things.
Becoming chaffed and pissed by his people's lack of response to his command, he raised his arm and waved it across him. An invisible yet strong force hollered everyone out of the room into a wall across the hallway. Before anyone could run back, Vegeta released his ki to create a barrier around the room, blocking anyone to enter it.
"What is he going to do?" gasped one of the technicians, panic in his tone.
"Should we report this to Minister Nasu?" suggested another.
"Someone report this to the Minister and his Majesty! Quick!" Another one pleaded.
Hearing of their plans to report his actions, Vegeta used his telekinetic abilities to freeze anyone who tried to do so. Everyone abruptly heard the Crown Prince's threatening command in their heads.
"I dare you to try and stop me, I'll see to it that you will all die right here!"
Unable to do anything, the late night workers of the Ministry of Science and Technology Office froze and waited until the furious prince decided to let them all go, which will probably take a long time.
Vegeta inserted the cable he was carrying into the scouter and connected it to the Main Computer's CPU. Once the connection was finally established, the main computer immediately recognized him being the owner of the scouter. He commanded, "AJI-07," facing the main computer's monitor.
"Yes, Prince Vegeta? How can I help you?" The main computer's virtual assistant program responded in a monotone female voice.
"Find and show me all the data files related to the code GHYUIENXATI19370004957294682019487."
"Affirmative, currently searching..." The computer responded and after a few moments, spoke once again. "Apologies but all data has been deleted."
"Tch!" Vegeta gritted his teeth in annoyance. It seems that someone has gotten here first before him. Did his father ordered for these data to be deleted before he arrived? "Hmph! What a nuisance! I thought it would be easier but it would take longer than I expected. Oh well, I'm sure it wasn't that long since it got deleted. I could still recover them from the hard disk. What fools! Who do they think am I?!"
Vegeta grabbed a chair, took a seat, pulled out a keyboard, activated the command prompt and started typing computer codes in an unbelievable pace.
After three minutes, he was able to successfully hacked into the computer and recovered the files he needed.
Hacking into the computer gave him all the information he wanted about the Project Denzetsu, right from the beginning of its creation nearly 20 years ago. He copied all files into his scouter for keepsake in case they decided to delete any proof. While waiting for the enormous amount of data to be transferred into his device, he decided to scan through some of the files.
"A Super Saiyan is said to appear every three thousand years. According to Legend, the Super Saiyan is said to possess the pinnacle strength of the Saiyan race. The blood line of this legendary figure runs within the royal family. The purpose of this project is to allow artificial means to create a Saiyan with the powers of the Legendary Super Saiyan. A member of the Saiyan Royal Family directed to the Original Super Saiyan's blood line will donate his blood samples to the Research Department of the Ministry of Science and Technology to become the source of the somatic cells to create a live clone modified by science to make the Legend a reality.
"The first willing subject is His Majesty, King Vegeta Benolencé Breigh III. Age is 22 years old. According to the current reading of His Majesty's power level, he possessed a power level of 9000, the highest reading seen in a Saiyan..."Vegeta scoffed at that for a moment. "... The hypothetical power level of the Original Super Saiyan is said to have reached the level of fifty million. If exposed to constant battle, it would take more than 75 years for the king to reach the Legendary status.
"Rejecting to wait for this amount of time, we plan to shorten the evolution process. A study was done about the possibility of creating a live modified clone of His Majesty using somatic cells taken from his blood samples. To create the Legendary Super Saiyan who would destroy the Galactic Emperor and his Empire... The project is led by King Vegeta himself, along with the best Tuffle scientist Doctor Raichi, the Minister of Science and Technology Doctor Nasu, the Minister of Personal Affairs Paragus and a Saiyan Scientist, Turles..
"However, unexpected outcomes and lack of further studies caused this plan to fail. The scientists involved failed to create an actual live clone despite several attempts. To cut the production costs it took for this project, His Majesty ordered the discontinuation of the Project."
The prince scanned to the next file dating fifteen years ago.
"Revival of the Project Denzetsu. His Majesty ordered the revival of the abandoned Project of creating a clone of the Legendary Super Saiyan done five years ago as of this writing. Doctor Raichi proposed a drug he called ATIK-903, which could create an actual live clone and simulate accelerated growth of the body to the present form of the original within a span of fifteen days. After successful studies done with several animal species, the ATIK-903 is confirmed to be a success. It is time to revive the Project Denzetsu with a new subject and a new goal.
"The subject is Prince Vegeta Benolencé Breigh IV, first born son of King Vegeta and the current Crown Prince of all Saiyans. Age is three years old. Currently the most powerful Saiyan to have ever been born with a neonatal power level reading of 12,000 and currently at 15,000. Seers across Planet Vegeta have forseen that the Crown Prince is indeed the Chosen One to become the Legendary Super Saiyan. The goal of this project is to create an entire clone army based on Prince Vegeta's DNA map, who will aid the royal family with destroying the Galactic Empire.
"It proved difficult to obtain samples coming from Prince Vegeta but after several means of convincing His Royal Highness that the following blood samples will be used for research purposes and with the help of His Majesty, we are able to obtain the Crown Prince's blood samples. The first live modified clone ATI 0001 was born after fifteen days within a cultivation machine at the Research Facility Institute at a cost of 500,000 Zen. Further observation was done for the copy, he looked exactly as the Crown Prince himself at the time, except for a pair of soulless gray eyes due to the modifications done to his DNA map. Another problem is that he has a mental state of a newborn. He doesn't understand speech nor able to walk or fight. As means of shortening the time it would take for the clone to learn things, Doctor Nasu created a stasis vault with a head gear connected to AJI-07 which will be used to input speech, logic and basic motor skills into the clone's memory. It went well so far, however, the biggest problems we noticed is that the clone's level of power is nowhere as close to the original's. Despite several other experiments done and the creation of ninety-nine other clones, they all ended up having only a power level of 100, which is less than 1% of Prince Vegeta's power. There are no experiments done if the clones could indeed transform into the Oozaru form either and how their modified bodies would react to the presence of Blutz waves as there's no full moon to experiment upon. Because of this failure and the high cost of this Project, His Majesty ordered the complete termination of the Project Denzetsu and the destruction of all traces of it. The one hundred clones were all destroyed accordingly as well and a new law was made to prevent leakage about this Project and to keep the Crown Prince from learning about it."
After scanning through soft copies of the research documents, images and video clips related to the said Project, Vegeta concluded that his father was indeed telling him the truth. However, he still wasn't convinced that this were all everything there was. If the Project was completely destroyed, then why are there live clones of his roaming around? And to think that the one he met has a model number 8990! His eyebrows furrowed together. He suspected that this ridiculous project is still ongoing. Were there any hidden files in here?
He typed in a few more codes in order for him to find these hidden files and after waiting for a short moment, he realized that there have been another one kept hidden and under a passcode locked zip file. Thanks to his computer skills, he was able to open the said zip file and found the files he was looking for.
The most recent revival of the Project Denzetsu.
"To achieve the powers of the Legendary Super Saiyan... Any Saiyan is fascinated about the power of the Chosen one, the Super Saiyan of the Legend, said to hold the pinnacle power of the Saiyan Race. There have been several experiments and studies about how low, middle and the elite level Saiyan Warriors have a different process to get stronger. While it is known that the Special Saiyan ability, the Zenkai boost, allows a Saiyan to grow stronger and raise his battle power after surviving a battle or a near death situation, Saiyans in each class group are different with coping up to using his ability. An elite class Saiyan warrior could gain a greater power increase in comparison to a low class or middle class Saiyan warrior. This is the same with how quickly they could attain a certain level of power. With these in mind, we wonder if it is possible for any elite Saiyan to achieve the same powers as the Chosen One and perhaps surpass him? Thus came the secret revival of the Project Denzetsu. Note that this Project needs to be done with extreme caution as this time, there are no orders from any member of the Royal Family for this Project to be brought back. This Project is led by the current Prime Minister, Paragus and the Minister of Science and Technology, Nasu, with the help of other scientists previously involved with the old ones.
"There was a study done between groups of willing but anonymous test subjects to examine any anatomical and physiological differences between each member of every warrior class. It is discovered that the strength of a Saiyan is also dependent to the special cells we called 'S-cells' found within the bloodstream. Several studies have been done with trying to increase one's S-Cell amount by transfusion. However, Saiyan immunity quickly rejected them and only caused deathly damage to the body. This led for us to conclude that there is no easy way for us to make a Legendary Super Saiyan in an instant. We figured out that a Saiyan could only increase the amount of S-cells within his body through fighting experience and training.
"Thus, the new Project Denzetsu will not focus on creating a live clone which will become the Legendary Super Saiyan. Instead, it will focus on awakening the power within an actual Saiyan by making him face continuous military drills, training and battle exercises, using the Zenkai boost ability as a key to gain the power increase with each fight.
"The subject's name has been kept anonymous and is known by his alias as Irobu, age 14, his newborn power level is classified information while current power level reading as of this writing is 15,000. Amount of S-cells in blood is 140,000 SC per cubic millimeter. He is an elite level Saiyan Warrior. Other information are kept confidential for privacy purposes. The subject will be forced to fight modified battle opponents during the experiment. However, there was no way for us to create such opponents which would not be taken notice by the public. We decided to do a mass production of somatic clones from the most powerful Saiyan - the Crown Prince himself, to aid the subject in his experimental trainings.
"After secretly and carefully obtaining a new, much updated DNA map from Prince Vegeta's hair, whose current power level is at 18,000 and s-cell amount at 360,000 per cubic millimeter, we are able to reproduce a new batch of clones who now have a power level of 180. We created several other copies through simultaneous productions. Creating eight hundred copies every fifteen days."
Vegeta paused for a moment, frowning and wondering how and when they were able to obtain this 'current' DNA map. Was it when he decided to cut his bangs during his eighteenth birthday?
He recalled the upheaval he caused during his own birthday ball in front of all his high profile guests. It was due to his displease at the comments he received from the Queens and their giggling Princesses finding him 'cute and innocent looking' despite the fearsome reputation he had across the universe. Completely offended at their words, he got up the stage, announced the reason for his ire, took a dagger and slashed his childish bangs off.
Learning of this deceit made his blood boil with dander. How dare they do this without his consent?! He heatedly continued scanning through the softcopy material despite his growing indignation.
"As for the test subject, Irobu. Since he is a busy man during working hours, it is only rightful that his military drills will be scheduled during the late night. There will be proper venues set especially for this secret training, somewhere unpopulated and unnoticable to the general public. The Ministry will provide the necessary technologies to keep the battle or whatever damages related to the experiment concealed to the rest of the planet as possible. Calculating the time and amount of clones it would take for the subject to reach the Legendary Status, it is possible for him to attain the level of power within three months after battling 7000 ATIs. There will be experiments where subject will fight one or more ATIs depending on the results and the plans of the Ministry.
"As for the budget to be used in the experiments, all Ministries decided to contribute to the Project by secretly making use part of their respective budgets."
"Update: Experiment is a success. Irobu is able to achieve the Legendary Super Saiyan transformation within a span of two months... Observation is that the subject has become a killing machine with seemingly unquenchable thirst for death and battle, just as the legends described him. In order to control this situation, the Ministry has developed a powerful ki restrainer for the subject. Also for further training in hopes of satisfying his primal desires, the subject's father requested for more ATIs to be created. Thus the creation of the next batch - 7001 to 9000.
"However, something went off with this next batch as they were created from a new DNA map from the Saiyan Crown Prince. They seemed to possess a greater power and surprisingly could act on their own despite and against their programming. In order to control the situation, the ATIs 7001 onwards are connected to each other via the ATIJEBU Military Network, and a special clone was created to become their 'commander', the control center and the main network of all the present and future clones - ATI 9001... The experiments will continue as ordered."
Vegeta stared, totally horrified at the words he was reading on the monitor. This one was at least eight months ago. At the back of his mind, the image of the faceless, masked Saiyan with a spiky neon green hair and glowing with greenish aura fade in to the dark recesses of his mind, standing on top of thousands of grotesque corpses with his face piled up over each other, creating a mountain of the dead. Completely stunned, he didn't realize that he was shaking in horror. How could they do this kind of experiment and without his consent? He didn't know why it felt as if he was the one who was killed more than a thousand times and unwillingly contributed to the strength of such a fearsome beast.
This feeling of dread, of helplessness... It was sickening. He never felt anything like this before. So this is how it feels to tremble in fear of witnessing someone else's fearsome strength and brutality. The Legendary Super Saiyan. It is said that the Super Saiyan has an unquenchable thirst for blood, battle and destruction. Vegeta never thought of himself becoming such a beastly thing. He was only fascinated because of the power it possessed. Meeting and fighting with such a thing claiming to be the Legendary Super Saiyan, and knowing that he was also meant to become one in the future, Vegeta wondered if he will turn into a monster like Irobu had become?
"Gaah!"
He suddenly felt a jolt in his chest and his hand automatically reached to his left chest as his body shuddered and stooped forward. A loud grunt of pain escaping with open mouth.
This spine chilling feeling again?
The idea of fighting constant battles boiled his Saiyan blood, a feeling of thrill rushed through him at the thought of bloodshed and destruction. Something within him writhed with desire and excitement. It was calling for him to just give in to what his primal instinct as a Saiyan was craving for.
"No! Damn it! I will not let it get the better of me again!" he growled through gritted teeth, his defiance directed at his primitive mind trying to take over him. He thought this was the same one he felt before he lost control while fighting Irobu.
He shut his eyes, which was already flashing back and forth from onyx to scarlet. He breathed in through his nose and out of his mouth for ten times in an effort to calm himself down. This isn't the time for him to be violent again. He did just that a few hours ago. He tried to focus his mind somewhere else, thinking of something to soothe away his anger.
Bulma. Yeah, he suddenly remembered about the couple jewelry he was planning to give her. Is she going to come to him this morning? Will he be seeing her when he returns to the palace?
Yes, it was becoming effective. He thought of seeing her, of the good, sweet and funny times they shared together. Of what he thought of her. Of how he felt towards her.
Once he has finally calmed down, he shook his head, clearing his mind. He opened his eyes, telling himself with such determination that he will never become like Irobu. He had enough reputation and he didn't wish to return to the way he was back then. Yeah, it felt good being the strongest and one of the most fearsome warriors across the entire universe when nobody will ever try to go against him, but the respect the people gave him out of fear for their lives is different from the respect he wanted because of acceptance, admiration, friendship and love his family, friends and people like Eschalotte gave him. His enemies should fear him and his power but as for the rest he wanted them to just think of him as someone they should admire. He somehow made it through the years after choosing to live a more meaningful life than just being a completely heartless ruler and warrior.
He cannot let some stupid revelation break his long time resolve, his Saiyan pride! He will put an end to this damn experiments!
After some time, he finally got a hold of himself and he straightened his back, leaning at the backrest of the leather chair he was sitting at. He looked up to the ceiling for a moment, planning his next move.
The sound of his scouter ringing once to notify him that the transfer of data was done woke him from his daydreaming. He quickly disconnected the scouter, deleted the recovered files on the main computer and restarted the system. After everything was done, Vegeta swept another glance at the room before teleporting himself back to his room in the Royal Palace.
~=o-O-o=~
Paragus hissed with unfettered rage as he angrily paced across a dimly lit laboratory while he waited for Nasu to create an antidote to heal his son from his injuries.
"It must be that damn 9001's fault!" Paragus roared as he slammed a fist over the thick oak table, which cracked in half at the impact.
"Please calm down, Prime Minister Paragus." Nasu said. "If you continue being like this, I won't be able to finish the antidote on time."
Paragus growled fiercely at such order and he irately sat down on a chair. His tail bristling with his anger. He recalled the life threatening damage Broly sustained during the training. It was good that one of the ATIs arrived on the scene to save his son from becoming the bloodthirsty Crown Prince's midnight snack.
"The 12th batch is quite troublesome isn't it?" Kabu sighed.
"This could be that Nine-Zero-Zero-One's doing! He's hacking through the other clones' programming with his own. He must have hacked through 8990's programming and ordered him to show himself to the Crown Prince."
"Since we used Prince Vegeta's latest DNA map and battle data - the clones have become quite as rebellious as he is. Something must have gone wrong with their programming." Kabu said.
"9001 is a special clone created to become the ATI Military Clone's command center and administrator. He is also the strongest clone we created so far, possessing power that is 50% of Prince Vegeta's level. Of course, his programming would be a lot different than the previous clones. He's like their superior in all aspects. It was surprising that because of this superiority, he acts just as stubborn and arrogant as Prince Vegeta himself." Nasu laughed.
"We should find that pesky little copy and finish him off!" Paragus growled in dander.
"No, we cannot do that, Prime Minister Paragus!" Argued the Minister of Science and Technology. "If ATI 9001 is destroyed, the rest of the ATIs would lose control! Remember that he controls the entire ATIJEBU Army! If the remaining clones rebel against us, it would be troublesome." Nasu said.
"Tch! Broly could eliminate them all in one go!" Paragus snorted. "After all, these clones are useless to him by now. He's just having fun with the rest of them."
"If you think they're useless now then why are you asking Gero to make modifications to the ATIK-903 then?"
"Because I have another plan for it. If he was able to do the modifications I told him to do, then we will be able to succeed where King Vegeta failed to do so." Paragus smiled.
"You don't mean..?" Kabu and Nasu gasped.
Paragus chuckled darkly at his evil schemes. "Yes."
"Still, if Prince Vegeta already has a clue on what's going on, we know he will stop at nothing until he learns everything about the clones. Don't you think he's already making his move to investigate now? If I know him better, he will come to the Ministry of Science and Technology and find evidence from there." Kabu said.
"Don't worry about it. I already sent an order to the administrators of AJI-07 to delete all data concerning the Project Denzetsu." Nasu said. "Perhaps, he will question us in the Assembly later. Just act surprised and feign ignorance to what he's saying. He will not have a proof to his claims after all."
They all agreed to that.
It was until a moment later that Nasu received a call to his scouter coming from his office concerning the Saiyan Prince's arrival.
"Minister Nasu, this is the Chief Tech of AJI-07. I'm sorry for intruding your evening but I thought you needed to know that Prince Vegeta has showed himself in the office tonight. He didn't particularly say anything about what he wanted but he went to see AJI-07."
"You deleted everything, right?" Nasu asked the chief tech of AJI-07.
"Yes, Minister. I did just as you said."
"That's good." Nasu grinned.
"But... it's strange that he took a long time inside the office. We cannot contact you immediately. He sent us out using his powers and then paralyzed us when he heard that we are to report the incident to you. He took almost an hour before he left. We investigated after he let us all go and he returned to the palace. It appears in the CCTV footage that he was able to retrieve the deleted data by hacking into AJI-07's system."
"WHAT?! How is that possible?! Since when is he able to hack computers?!"
"What are you saying?" Kabu asked Nasu, eyes widened in shock.
"I-I have no idea, sir! We didn't know he can do that. I did as you told me. I swear I deleted everything just as you said!"
"Well, damn it all!" Nasu cursed as he took off his scouter and crashed it on his hand effortlessly.
"What happened?" demanded Paragus.
"That damn Prince Vegeta came to the Ministry of Science and Technology, hacked AJI-07's system and retrieved all deleted data about the Project Denzetsu!"
"What?!" Kabu gasped in exasperation.
Paragus gritted his teeth together. This is going to be a nuisance. That persistent brat is never going to stop his annoying ways.
"We'll be in big trouble in the assembly tomorrow." Nasu whined as he sat down on his chair. "If Prince Vegeta knows the whole truth now, he will surely kill us all. Nobody will survive his wrath. We're all going to die. What should we do now, Prime Minister?"
Paragus snickered to himself. Just as he was about to say something, his own scouter rang. He put his green lensed scouter over his left ear and its green eye piece over his left eye. He pressed a button over the side as he answered the unexpected call.
"Yo."
A spine chilling voice greeted Paragus on the other line. It made the elder Saiyan froze in tension.
"Yes, your highness?" Paragus replied after a moment of staring dreadfully with his lackeys.
"I came by to your house earlier. I thought of visiting you but I'm disappointed that I didn't find you in there." Vegeta told Paragus.
"My apologies, your highness but I was not home." Paragus said in fake humility.
"I know. I felt bad finding Broly terribly injured and alone, so I took care of him." Paragus' eyes went wide in sheer terror. What could the merciless prince do to his only son? Moreover, did the prince notice something strange with his son?
"..."
"Why did you leave your son in such a state, you cold hearted bastard?" Vegeta growled on the other line.
Paragus clenched his fists and gritted his teeth in anger.
"... I was looking for something to heal Broly with, your highness." The Prime Minister responded, suppressing his growing ire.
"You don't have to. I already did you a favor." The prince said. There was some few tensed seconds of silence before he spoke once again. Paragus was perturbed by what the prince meant by that 'favor' though. "Don't worry. Broly's all fine now. You may come home."
"Thank you, your highness." Paragus said, faking a gratitude. In his chest, he felt relieved that his son was alive.
"Also, I found something really interesting today. Lots of interesting things, actually." the prince informed, sounding like he was in a good mood. Though Paragus couldn't miss the sarcasm in his tone.
"Okay..." Paragus said, not interested with whatever the prince discovered.
"You'll find out at the Royal Assembly. I just thought I needed to tell you in case you needed to prepare yourself."
"..."
"By the way, if you are with Nasu and Kabu, tell them about my word. I'll see you all at the assembly, tomorrow. Don't go missing." The prince instructed.
Paragus just responded humbly, "I understand, your highness."
"Have a good night's sleep, Paragus..." The prince said sincerely before his cold voice turned malevolent for his last message for his enemy. "...For it might be your last."
The prince hung up after that. Paragus was completely intimidated by those dreadful words. He was left still as a statue even after the prince hung up on him. Nasu and Kabu gazed at their leader, waiting for him to snap out of his trance.
Minutes passed by and Paragus' fearful expression melted into that of indignation.
Soon, Prince Vegeta will be dead!
~=o-O-o=~
Vegeta dropped his scouter on his bed after that conversation with the traitorous Prime Minister. His expression hard and menacing, his narrowed and slanted onyx eyes piercing and deathly. His lips twisted downwards into an upside down v, his eyebrows furrowed together, looking like the most hateful creature in the entire universe.
He already formulated a plan on how he would put an end to the experiments. But before he start to follow through his plans to completely destroy the Project Denzetsu and put a stop to these mad experiments - in order to save his remaining clones and the man behind the code name Irobu, who he suspects is one of his Generals - Broly himself... He needed to get rid of something first.
The Saiyan Prince took the jewelry box on the top of his study table, opened it and stared at the pair of couple jewelries he traded yesterday afternoon. Running his fingers through the intricate designs of the locket and pendant, he thought over the promise he wanted to give his Bulma.
He only hoped that she accepts it though. He wondered if she will be able to wait for him until he has completed his mission and fulfilled the prophecy he was meant to realize.
He took a piece of paper, cut a long strip of it and wrote what he thought of. He frowned to himself, criticizing the words he had written and scoffed about it. He eventually crumpled that and started a new one. It took him almost twenty tries before he settled for that last one. Once he already decided, he rolled the strip of paper, unlocked the locket on the bracelet with the key pendant and inserted it inside the locket.
Once done, he teleported himself on Bulma's room. It was dark, the only thing that enlightened the room was the moonlight bursting from the closed window of her bedroom. Vegeta has no problems with the darkness, his Saiyan vision was sharp enough for him to see through the darkness. It was cool due to her air conditioner turned on. Aside from the humming of the air cooler, he could hear her soft breathing and low snoring.
Like an experienced hunter, he silently stepped towards her bed. There she was sleeping peacefully under her covers. He stared at her for a moment, a feeling of guilt gnawing at his chest upon the realization of what he told her in the Gravity Room. He didn't really mean to tell her those words. He also didn't wish to ignore her and act so cold towards her. However, his desire to protect her from his father, the council and the law became more important to him. He didn't wish to put her life in danger because of him. Yes, he was angry that she didn't believe in him. But he knew he couldn't keep being angry at her when she's all that he ever wanted.
Vegeta carefully lay beside her, leaning on his left side, propping his elbow over the mattress while cupping his left hand over his chin. He watched at her sleep, reminiscing all that they shared together. Just like the night she fell asleep on his room, he found her beautiful. He lifted a hand to pull the hair over her face on the back of her ear.
She's all he ever wanted. He wanted her to be his and his only. Having another man take her away from him is an insult to him. No one could ever have her. Especially not that weak Earthling he confronted yesterday.
Vegeta knew he cannot win this declaration of war if he continued on becoming this soft due to his growing emotions for Bulma. Just like his father told him, he has to return to being his ruthless self if he wanted to be the victor. He cannot become the Legendary Super Saiyan if he's being too emotionally soft. He wanted to win, but doing so needed sacrifices. He cannot risk anything, not his Saiyan Pride or his own desires. It's that everything needed to be done on time.
If he ordered for Bulma to wait for him, will she be able to? He wasn't sure how long it would take for him to fulfill the prophecy but he will do whatever it takes to finish it as soon as possible.
So he can be with her with no one and nothing to ever stop him.
~=o-O-o=~
Bulma was awakened from her deep slumber by a soothing sensation of someone running his fingers through her silky blue hair. Popping her eyes open, she found the shape of a flaming hair over the head of a creepy silhouette lying on his side next to her, watching at her intently with his slanted, narrowed, dark eyes.
...
...
...
Before she could scream like a banshee, Vegeta quickly pushed her down on the bed and shut her mouth with his hand.
"Quiet woman, it's me!" he hissed quietly at her ear.
Bulma pulled his hand away furiously, moving away from him and flicking her bedside lamp on. "Stop doing that, you jerk! You almost killed me with a heart attack! I thought you're some ghost!" she yelled at him.
The prince chuckled, totally amused. "What? You thought I was some ghost? You think this handsome face is from a ghost?!" Vegeta pouted, clearly offended.
"You look more like a demon than a ghost to me! Plus, who wouldn't mistaken you for a ghost when you appear like that in someone's bedroom and staring at them quietly in the dark!" Bulma shot back.
The prince smirked, "Well... What can I say? I think that's partly true. I'm a Saruyasha after all, correct?"
She huffed, recalling that time when she asked him as Sadara and his Generals if they knew about that funny nickname the palace workers have for him. (See Episode 6)
Finally, Bulma's cherry plump lips gave way to an smug smile because of that memory, "It seems you accepted that nickname now, huh?"
The prince shrugged his shoulders. "Not really. But I thought it wasn't that lousy since I'm a bad monkey after all." As to make his playful words funnier, he showed her his wiggling monkey tail behind him.
Bulma laughed at his antics. He seemed happy seeing her tonight.
"So what took you so long? I thought you're not coming anymore." she asked.
"Something urgent came up and I needed to take care of it."
"Oh…"
"I missed you." The prince responded quickly.
The blue haired girl gave him an odd look. "You told me that in the coffee shop."
"No! Seriously! I missed you! A lot!"
As if to prove his words true, he suddenly pulled her towards him and wrapped his arms around her. Bulma thought he was acting really strange and remembering the apocalyptic events a few hours ago, she thought he was going through something. Her eyes looked down to find his tail lowering down and softly waved in between his legs. It confirms her suspicions.
She sighed and leaned forward. She placed her head over his chest plate, wrapped her arms around his waist and stayed like that to comfort him. She raised one hand to reach the back of his head and rubbed it over the soft yet rigid spikes of his black hair.
"Is something wrong?" she asked in concern. "There has been a lot of planet shakes tonight. Did you... Did you cause those scary phenomena across the planet earlier? Are you feeling all right?"
"..." The prince didn't respond for a moment, feeling contented at the way she rubbed his mane. After half a minute he muttered, feeling ashamed of his own actions. "Yes, it was me. I was fighting with someone."
"I see. Did you beat your enemy? It seems that you went on your full power today."
The prince's muscles tensed at the unexpected question. It broke his pride to realize that he failed to beat an enemy.
She smiled, "I know you did well. You are the most powerful among your kind after all."
"..."
"I just wish I saw how you defeated your enemy. Come to think of it, I haven't seen you fight seriously and in your full power."
Vegeta was surprised, pulling away from her. He stared at her eyes for a long moment, wondering why she was saying those words to him. He let out a smug smirk and snorted, "Heh! I doubt that you have the stomach to watch me do that, woman."
Bulma realized what he was trying to tell her, causing her to gulp and stare back with wide blue eyes. "Do you kill them? All of them?"
"I don't think anyone has ever survived when I fought them seriously and in my full power." Vegeta smiled in a haughty manner.
He didn't wish to be reminded about his humiliating defeat by Zarbon and Dodoria's hands, though.
"Really?!" she gasped.
The prince simply shrugged his shoulders and hugged her once again. She was tensed at his admission and he told her, "Don't worry... Like I told you, my journey as Sadara has made me go soft. Don't be afraid of me." He assured her.
And they were both silent for a long moment until Vegeta finally broke it.
"Bulma..."
"What is it?"
He shrugged uncomfortably as he looked away, as if feeling ashamed of what he would say. There was a visible flush across his cheeks though.
"Uh… I'm sorry about how I acted around you these past two weeks and for the words I told you in the Gravity Room. I didn't mean letting you go. I only did it as an act in order to put a stop to the scandals involving you with me. I thought of protecting you by making the people think I already broke up with you. My father was determined to get rid of you, and I didn't wish for him to do it so I did it myself. Sure, I was angry about your lack of trust on me but when I imagine you being with that damn Earthling bastard, I couldn't help but feel..."
She looked up at him, surprised, "Are you jealous?" she gasped.
He blinked at her, wondering if he should deny such foolish act but decided not to. After all, there's with denying something that was so obvious. "... Maybe." he muttered under his breath as he looked away.
She laughed as she leaned her head in his chest. She knew it.
"You know, when you told Yamcha-kun that I belong to you, I felt really offended and annoyed because I thought you never have any hold on me. Deep within me, I felt amazed, satisfied. I like it the most when you called me your dearest."
The prince snuggled his face over her head, sniffing at her hair and basking at the fragrant scent of berries caused by her shampoo and conditioner. He made an effort to keep himself from blushing at the embarrassment of his own sentimental words.
Bulma uttered while she was resting her head on his chest. "I know I tried to deny my feelings for you despite knowing about them already for a long time. I fear that you might be playing with my feelings again and hurt me in the end. But when I realized everything that has happened between us, I thought I was a fool for not believing in you. And I'm sorry for that. These two weeks made me realize that and I thought of telling you this later when I come to the palace but since you're already here, I guess it's time for you to hear my true feelings."
She pulled away from him and stared up, looking at him directly in the eyes.
"I love you, Vegeta." she told him with a grin. Such a gorgeous, angelic smile was upon her lips and brightened her sweet, beautiful face.
The prince of all Saiyans froze, completely stunned by the words he wished to hear coming from the woman he claimed to be his dearest. Why now? Why did she tell him those words just as when he decided to make her wait?
Vegeta wasn't responding. He just stared at her with his onyx eyes as deep as the night. Bulma waited for his reaction but something was off. He doesn't seem happy to hear them.
Her smile fading into worry, she asked him in concern, "Vegeta, what's wrong?"
It took him a matter of time before he responded with a grunt as he lifted his hands, gently grabbing the sides of her face, and pulling her into a deep, passionate kiss. Taken aback by surprise at first, she willingly kissed him back with as much passion as she could.
And just like their old kisses together, a flow of electricity pulsed strongly through the Saiyan Prince's veins. It caused his mind to become clouded with lust and he deepened the kiss further, forcefully opening her mouth with his tongue as she moaned breathlessly. Once she's open, he let out his tongue to lightly sweep it across her lower lip and later inside her mouth. Their tongues fought fiercely as they started to explore each other's bodies as well, with Vegeta effortlessly ripping the back of her long sleeved pajama top. While Bulma's hands were desperately looking forward to feeling the hot, perfectly sculpted muscles of his tough body, only to run her hands on his damn armor.
As if hearing her cursing to herself, he pulled away from her and removed his armor, his gloves and his long sleeved top. Finally gotten rid of his upper clothing, he pushed her into the mattress, causing her to lie down roughly on her back. He crawled on top of her and started kissing her lips once again, this time with more furor and passion. He completely dominated her like the primal animal sleeping within him. She was free to roam her hands over his upper body and while their tongues fought intensely within each other's mouths, he completely ripped her top off. He run his mouth into the smooth skin of her neck, sucking and licking until he had enough of it, making her moan and groan in pleasure. Her fingers lightly traced the curves of his muscles, his bulging biceps, triceps and wonderful trapezius. She ran her hands over his strong, protuberant pectorals and his amazing, stony abdominal muscles. His mouth travelled to her beautifully shaped breasts and playfully toyed at her nipples with his teeth, tongue and his fingers, causing her to cry out in ecstasy.
When he finally spread her legs apart, he leaned closer to her body, causing her burning center to feel his rock hard member within his spandex pants. He stared down at her flushed features, a vicious look in his darkened eyes.
"You shall become my mate tonight. You are going to be mine no matter what." he told her in a deep, sexy voice, inciting her arousal even further. "You should be honored to be the very first woman I'll share myself and everything I have with. Prepare yourself."
Bulma gulped nervously at the sadistic yet arousing look on his eyes. She felt like she was being hypnotized by those beautiful mean looking orbs of his. She nodded willingly and she gasped when she abruptly felt her entire body exposed to him with one sweep of his finger deciminating her remaining clothes. She saw him pulling something out of his pants as he put his clothes away. She recalled the image of his glorious manhood when she peeked through him on his room when she first became his niehre and became extremely nervous yet excited at the same time.
"Don't be afraid." He assured her. "I'll be gentle with you. I promise. Now, take a deep breath."
~=o-O-o=~
...
...
...
"I love you. I love you. I love you."
"Hmm..."
"I love you. I love you... I love you."
"Did you bottle up that much love?"
"Yeah. I didn't know why I tried to deny it for so long. I should have opened it up to you right from the beginning. After all, I started loving you even before I learned about your true name. It took me a long time to reconsider them after learning the truth. I thought I hated who and what you truly are, but... My feelings never changed. I was just being afraid... And then one day, I realized that losing you hurts me more than what I expected. I wish to say it to you again and again. I love you."
...
...
...
"I know..."
Vegeta and Bulma watched at the rising sun at the break of dawn from the window of her bedroom. Both are wrapped together with a blanket, completely naked. They were satisfied, glad, content, and comfortable in each other's warmth. Both would be happy to stay together like this forever. Everything felt so perfect and clear. It was as if they truly belong together right from the start and with this union, it made both of their lives feel complete.
But... Vegeta knew that this isn't the right time yet.
"Bulma..." he called her name softly as he sniffed through her hair, the sweet smell of their coupling still lingered.
"Hm?" she muttered under her breath, still caught in the moment of blissfulness.
"I have something to present to you..."
"What is it?" asked Bulma, still muttering with that satisfied smile in her face.
Vegeta put something around her neck, it was a necklace. Bulma reached out with her long fingers, staring down at the gorgeously designed pendant he gave her. It was a golden key with a breath taking design of a crescent moon, a round moonstone and three small stars embedded with moondust particles.
"It's my first present to my mate." he said as he pulled her towards him to embrace her from behind, locking her in his perfectly sculpted muscular arms. She gave him a grateful smile and he leaned over her to sniff at her nape. He caught the exotic new scent within her that wasn't present there before they made love. Something only he could probably notice.
Something that branded her as being his forever.
"A key? It's beautiful." she smiled as she ran her fingers over the breathtaking design of her pendant.
"Do you remember what I told you at the jewelry shop back in the Merchant's ship? About how our fate has already been predestined by the stars when we were born?"
"Yes. Do you think that we are fated to be together right from the start?"
He chuckled. "I thought so."
"I mean, we already met when we were children despite being born from different distant planets and found each other years later. I'm sure that's what we can call fate."
"Destined by the stars, huh?" he smirked. In the past, he will never believe such nonsense. Now that he has given much thought over it, he realized that some legends might even have some truth within it.
"If it was me, I was destined by the moonlight, too. A Saiyan's true power depends on the phases of the moon and to the moonlight it radiates. The moon's brilliance will not be visible if there's no sunlight to reflect. The Sun and the Moon don't usually meet but the moon does depend on the sun's own brilliance to shine in the cold, empty darkness. Even if they seldomly meet, they will always have a sort of connection. I am a Saiyan, a child of the moon and you are my sun..."
He has heard of another Saiyan Legend about bonds with mates. Only now that he has finally mated with his dearest did he realize what those electric sparks, fire, feelings of connections and strange visions he could feel everytime they shared a passionate moment together truly meant. They are bonded by their fate to each other. Now that they have accepted one another and made love, his bond to her was stronger than ever. He could literally read her mind, feel her emotions and somehow predict her next move before she does it. He wondered if she's able to do exactly the same with him now. Other than that, he felt more powerful, his ki powers felt stronger than it was ever before. The bond has unlocked his latent abilities too. She made him stronger.
He leaned his head to rest his chin over her right shoulder as he let out a sigh, a smile over his lips.
"Thank you. And I love you." Bulma said.
"Hmm..." he murmured softly.
He lifted a hand to gently caress her face, raising her head by her chin towards his direction and pressed his lips against hers. They shared another passionate kiss for a minute or two.
Bulma gently trailed her fingers over his muscular forearm. It's when she noticed that he was wearing a bracelet with long moonstone beads and a locket with the same design as the key he's given her.
"Oh! You have one, too!" Bulma said after she pulled away from their kiss. She took his left forearm off her body to get a better look of the jewelry. "Woah! These are a pair of couple's jewelry! Cool!"
"Why don't you open the locket using your key?" The prince offered with a smile.
"Really? It works?" Bulma asked, looking up at him. He smiled and she pulled away from him, took her key pendant in between his fingers to unlock the locket on Vegeta's bracelet. She found a small piece of rolled white paper inside.
"Take it and read it."
She took the paper between her fingers and rolled it out to read the beautiful calligraphy writing within it.
"I, the Crown Prince of all Saiyans, Vegeta-sama is making a lifetime promise to Bulma Briefs. This will serve as a symbol of my vow that no matter what happens, everything that I am belongs to her and only her. Only she holds the key to my heart, which will be kept for her forever. When I am done with my mission and duty as the Chosen One, I will find a way to return to her and make her my Queen as I belong to her and no one else."
Bulma's brows furrowed in confusion, unable to understand the meaning behind this 'vow'. "Are you going somewhere?" she asked, looking at him.
"No. Like I told you in the coffee shop, I have a duty to my people. So long as I am on that mission, I cannot give myself to you entirely.
"But since I love you so much, I cannot bring myself to just let you go and have anyone else take you away from me. You are mine, no matter what you belong to me and no one else. That's why I'm ordering you to wait for me. Don't go to another man because you'll only break me. Wait for me, and I promise you that I will do my best to fulfill my mission as soon as possible so you won't wait long."
So that was the reason why he was acting strange. Bulma stared at her prince, understanding his words and his 'promise'. He was being such a territorial man, and like everyone was saying about him - when he wants something to be his, he will stop at nothing until he gets it. He wanted her to be his, and since he already made up his mind and because she has willingly gave herself to him because she has finally accepted that she loves him - he took her and branded her as his property. His mate. They now belong to each other and nothing will ever seperate them - even such mission or forbidden love or the Saiyan law.
"Fool, I just told you I love you." Bulma said with a smile. "No matter how long it would take for you to fufill your mission, I will wait for you because I love you."
Vegeta smirked and nodded. She gave him an assuring smile and embraced him another time, tears started falling in her eyes.
"I'll be waiting." she assured as she gently rubbed his flame shaped hair with his fingers. Why was she crying? She could not understand why. It's not like she was sad at all. Everything was perfect for her and she was happy and content. But him giving her this all of a sudden after what they did? Has it ruined a perfectly good morning for her?
He pulled away after catching the scent of her tears. He raised his hand to touch at the soft warm skin of her beautiful face, his fingers gently wiping off the tears trailing down on her cheeks. "I'll come back to you. That is a promise." he whispered, giving her a kiss on her forehead. He pulled away to take the paper off her fingers and returned it inside the locket of his bracelet.
He knew she wasn't crying. The tears on her eyes were not hers, but his. Tears he was trying to keep since he started planning out his next move to put an end to the Project Denzetsu once and for all. He gave her the key to his promise, a symbolism of his heart he decided to close off to anyone else. He won't let anything hinder him anymore. If his enemies wanted to play that way then it is time for him to fight back the way he's used to.
"Wait for me, Bulma."
Those are the last words he told her before he moved with incredible superhuman speed to grab his clothes and teleported himself back to his private quarters.
Bulma stared at where he disappeared to, putting her hands over her chest. She has no idea how it happened but she feels like she became connected to him after he claimed her as being his mate. She was determined to wait because she knows that he will come back to her just as he promised.
"I'll be waiting, Vegeta."
~=o-O-o=~
Now that he's done with what he needed to do and assuring that Bulma will be his and will be waiting for him, Vegeta was finally able to make up his mind.
It's time for him to become serious with his responsibilities as the Crown Prince and the most powerful of all Saiyans. That in a sense that he shall be feared by his enemies and respected by his people. No more childish games and no more jokes. He will set aside all unnecessary things and prove once and for all that he is the chosen one to become the true Super Saiyan of Legend.
Thus, he should take his training seriously as well. Now that he has a Gravity Chamber made for him by Bulma, nothing could ever stop him from getting stronger. Being a royal blood, the prophesied one and the direct descendant of the original Super Saiyan, he knew it wouldn't take much time before he could reach the Saiyan's pinnacle of power. He was determined that he would reach the Super Saiyan level faster than that damn Irobu, if the studies were true. He is a prodigy, a one genius in a one point five million of his kind.
So after he has taken his morning bath and dressed up a fresh set of his Crown Prince's Royal Armor, he led his Generals into the Royal Assembly where he will face his enemies.
~=o-O-o=~
"His Royal Highness, the Crown Prince has arrived!"
Nappa announced at the throne room's entrance before Kakarot and Raditz opened up the doors to allow Prince Vegeta to walk in.
The royal council immediately sensed the Crown Prince's disturbing ki as soon as he regally entered the royal throne room despite the guarded, serious look upon his face. The king was as uneasy as he was when his son questioned him earlier. Vegeta strolled in his royal glory across the throne room, over the red carpet aisle just as the Members of the Royal Council put their heads down in honor. He slowly walked up a short flight of stairs and halted at the right side of the royal throne where his father sat and watched at him in apprehension. The prince ignored his father, turned around with a swift, about face movement so that the council could see his lividness. He scanned the throne room with piercing and scrutinizing eyes before they focused solely on the Prime Minister.
