Chapter 1: A mysterious youth
Bulma Briefs stared into the clear blue sky, deep in contemplation. As much as she tried she just couldn't forget about her dream this morning. A dream she, a woman supposedly in love with her handsome reformed bandit boyfriend of 15 years, had no business having.
To downplay the effect it had on her, she decided to confide in said bandit.
"He was actually nice to me," she had said, "and a good kisser to boot." Yamcha was still busy twitching on the floor, following her confession. In hindsight, not one of her brighter ideas for someone who's supposed to be a genius. She didn't know why she blurted out the content of her dream so callously to her boyfriend. Thank goodness she stopped there. Her dream certainly hadn't, she thought, recalling with perfect clarity the sensation of his big calloused hands running over her sweat slicked skin. Oh Kami, she thought, suddenly feeling flush. I shouldn't be having thoughts like this about arrogant, mass-murdering, not to mention RUDE Saiyan jerks.
Would he be returning? She wondered, after all, her father said he should be running out of fuel any day now. What will he do when he realises Goku isn't back yet? Probably go out searching again. She sighed.
Bulma glanced at Yamcha. Maybe she was just bored, she mused. After all, things have been quiet after the whole Namek fiasco and Bulma was someone that craved adventure. Maybe she subconsciously wanted to bait him. He's been so sickeningly sweet ever since his resurrection, never arguing with her or calling her on her shit even when she knew she was being a bitch. Another sigh. One would think that after 15 years she would already have a ring on her finger and a couple of rugrats running around. I mean, for Kami's sake she was already 31. She was ready for the great adventure that is motherhood. It just… never seemed the right time, with threat after threat making itself known on their small blue planet. Villains coming and going, all unoriginally bent on gaining immortality then ruling or destroying the planet. All of them being defeated by Goku. Then the threats became intergalactic and Yamcha died, but the cycle continued. When he wasn't off training for or fighting the next big threat, he was the sweetest and most caring and attentive boyfriend. Especially after a near death (or in this case, an actual death then resurrection) experience. It lasted only until after a successful baseball season, then the groupies came flooding in and mister sweet and attentive turned into mister wandering eyeballs. He never cheated, at least not that she knew of, but he looked, and somehow, she just couldn't bring herself to commit. This dream, maybe it's a sign that she was ready to move on with her life.
Bulma was snapped out of her reverie when Yamcha suddenly stood up. His abrupt action was shortly followed by an earth-trembling crash that nearly knocked her off her balcony perch. Yamcha immediately leapt from the balcony. She followed his decent until her eyes found the dinged up but still intact hull of Capsule 3: Vegeta's stolen Gravity Chamber SpaceShip. He was back. Bulma's heart fluttered in fear and a little bit of excitement, a sensation she had already associated with dealing with the Saiyan Prince. The sensation immediately morphed into real fear as she saw that dimwit getting into a fighting stance as the gravity chamber's doors opened. "You're going to get yourself killed, Yamcha." she muttered under her breath as she ran to do damage control.
Her fears were confirmed when she rounded the corner to find the two warriors antagonizing each other. Vegeta took a menacing step towards her boyfriend. She had to do something fast.
"Pee-yoo! What is that smell?" she exclaimed, sauntering in between her boyfriend and the irate Saiyan. "Oh it's you." She said, daring to stop before him.
"Wha-'' he sputtered, seemingly at a loss for words. As long as his attention was on her and not her suicidal boyfriend, she thought, slightly relieved. Her heart was pounding as she poked his breastplate before crooking her finger in a come-hither motion. "You need a bath." she continued, channelling her mother's flirtatious nature before spinning around and sauntering off again, putting a little extra sway in her shapely hips. She held her breath as she heard his growl,and paused. "Well? What are you waiting for?" she snapped sassily, "for me to roll out the red carpet?" Shortly afterward she heard his footsteps trail her, muttering what was probably alien expletives, with every step. She tried, she really did, but she couldn't keep the smug grin off her face as she lead the Saiyan Prince to the washrooms. She even dared a sly wink to her flabbergasted boyfriend. Yep, Bulma Briefs, even with this ridiculous perm you had no business getting, you still got it, she thought vainly.
"Don't think I don't know what you did back there, Woman." Vegeta suddenly spoke as they entered the compound.
Bulma laughed nervously. "Wha – what do you mean, Vegeta?" she played dumb.
"You were trying to protect that weak excuse of a warrior. He was on the battlefield when I first came to this pathetic mudball. He was killed by the Saiba, if I recall correctly." He added with a snort. "Can you be more of a loser" he mused to himself before adding, "You carry his scent. Is he your mate?"
The question was so serious, and downright civil for Vegeta who seemed genuinely interested, that Bulma was stunned silent for a beat. In the short time he stayed with them he did nothing but rudely demand stuff from them his entire stay before stealing their ship to go who knows where.
"I-uh, nothing as permanent" she answered finally, and immediately berated herself for it. I mean, they had been together for 15 years, granted it was on and off, but still. Why did she feel the need to downplay her relationship to Vegeta of all people? She blamed that stupid dream, she thought with a frustrated sigh.
"So, you just fuck?" he continued his prompting. Bulma felt her cheeks flame. How dare he!
"That's not of your business! Kami, can you be more crude?" she exclaimed, fanning her face before daring to look back at him. The bastard was grinning like a Cheshire cat. Why that… she simmered, glaring menacingly before turning to continue their journey.
"I take it you didn't find Goku." She asked, effectively changing the subject. He only grunted in reply. "You know, Goku will come back eventually. He always does. Why don't you stick around here until then?"
"You do realise that my primary objective is to murder that clown, don't you?" he asked sardonically.
"You would try." She simply shrugged. Leaving the implication clear for anyone with half a brain. Bulma suddenly found herself slammed against the corridor wall. Her frightened 'Eep' was quickly cut off by a grimy white glove around her throat. He leaned in, his voice low and gravelly as he spoke.
"I can do more than just try, human." He spat, "I could kill you and everyone on this planet and there'll be no Kakarot here to stop me."
Bulma was trembling in his grip with her eyes shut tight as she waited for death to take her. She had become complacent in his inactivity it seems, and in her error, treated him like she would any ally and let her smart mouth get away from her. Bulma was cursing her own stupidity in believing him anything but a savage. That is, until she noticed that she breathed with no difficulty. His hand was around her throat, slightly constricting, but not really hurting. She popped one eye open, then the other. Since they were roughly the same height, they were eye to eye. Instead of the black empty pits of a true psychopath, his eyes burned with a fiery rage. Rage, Bulma thought, she could work with. Indifference, not so much. Carefully lifting a hand towards his, she touched the forearm of the hand holding her. His muscles seemed to jump at the contact.
"What's stopping you then?" she whispered, carefully. He snarled at her, tightening his grip. Bulma gasped, feeling her airways constricting.
"I don't have to explain myself to you, wench." He said, seemingly satisfied as he watched real fear bleed into her reddening eyes as he gradually cut off her oxygen. Then just as quickly, Bulma felt her knees hit the ground as he released her. After spending a few moments getting oxygen into her lungs, Bulma lifted her head to glare defiantly at the Saiyan above her. He was standing, legs apart and arms crossed tightly over that broad chest, and from her position at his feet, those tight spandex really did leave nothing to the imagination. Great Kais above, why did this grade-A specimen have to such a complete Asshole. The universe is so unfair.
"You're a dick" she swore, getting to her feet.
"You'd do well to remember that, little earthling, before you run disrespectful mouth at me again." With that, he turned a walked away from her, finding the shower on his own. She didn't bother to tell him the washroom he found was in her own living suite. "Self-entitled Prick," she muttered before heading off to go find him clothes. She at first was tempted to leave him in his stinky spandex and armour, but was afraid that he might do something crazy, like walk out in the nude to demand clean clothes, and Bulma was way to curious to see if the Saiyan… erm, measured up in reality to the one in her dream. Far to curious indeed. So she tossed the rank clothes in the washer. Better to leave those waters untested, she resolved with a nod. The man was obviously mentally unstable. Besides, there were ways to get revenge that was much less hazardous to her health and sanity, she thought as she held up the pink button up shirt, cackling with glee. Dashing off to her computer, Bulma added the final touches to the Prince's outfit, before placing it on the countertop.
They were all having a good laugh at the pink and lime clad Saiyan Prince. Yamcha all but fell out if chair when he read the words screen printed on the back of the shirt while Bulma made a crack about how much it suited him. Then Vegeta had to go ruin it by threatening to blast them all. Honestly, Bulma thought, the guy really had no sense of humour. Would it kill him to lighten up? She pouted.
What started as a nice sunny day, barbequing on the balcony soon went to hell in a handbasket. Frieza was coming to earth and their chances of survival looked pretty bleak, judging from the terrified expressions on the Z-fighters' and even Vegeta's face, before they took off to Kami knows where again. Bulma gave a frustrated growl as she watched their energy trails disappear into the horizon. Yamcha was busy hovering in the air, getting ready to launch when Bulma yelled out:
"Don't you dare, Yamcha!" He paused, glanced in her direction and flinched at the fierce look on her face.
"Babe, what's wrong?"
"If you think I'm going to sit here and wait for the planet to explode while you guys are making your last stand, you got another thing coming, Mister. Now pick me up and let's go." she demanded, jumping up to catch him around his neck. He immediately adjusted their position, gripping her under the knees. She caught the mischievous twinkle in his eye right before his hand inched upwards to tickle her upper thighs.
"Yamcha!" she gasped, squirming dislodge that wondering digits. "The world might be ending; this is no time to be getting frisky!"
"This is the perfect time to be getting frisky." He countered, fingers reaching the seam on her panties. She dropped one arm to swat at his hand. Yamcha quickly steadied her when she lost her balance.
"just fly, you goof." She laughed.
"Alright." He said, and off they were.
To be honest, Bulma was a bit disappointed at his easy acquiescence. She reflected, on their way to the landing sight. Sometimes she wished he would be just a little more take charge in the bedroom department. Oh well, she sighed to herself. She couldn't have it all.
They set down on a barren, rocky wasteland, for which Bulma was grateful as that meant no civilian casualties. She knew objectively what type of work Vegeta did for the Galactic Emperor, but it would be another thing to witness the realities of it. Especially on her own planet.
Vegeta observed his surroundings, the familiar landscape sending a thrum of though his blood. This would be his final stand, he realised. It was oddly comforting, he realised. He would die a good death. A warrior's death in an environment that reminded him so much of his own home planet. Dry and arid, hardy like his people.
"Its seems Frieza has landed just a few kilometers north of here," the Namekian said as they all gathered, "What's the plan?"
"Are you kidding me?" the scar-faced weakling exclaimed as he landed, with the woman herself hanging from his neck. "We have no chance against this guy. His energy is… astronomical"
"Coward" Vegeta snorted.
"Well excuse me for not wanting to be dead again, Vegeta." he defended hotly.
"Nobody wants to be dead again" Piccolo answered, "but unfortunately we don't have the luxury of sitting on our asses while Frieza and his goons go on a rampage. We must fight."
What the hell was she doing there? Vegeta wondered. Catching a glance of the blue haired woman.
A new sentient energy suddenly spiked off in the distance toward where Frieza landed and Vegeta became momentarily distracted trying to pinpoint the new person. As fast as it came, however, it was suddenly gone, taking most of the lower leveled fighters with it. What the? Vegeta noted that the Namekian was also frowning towards the landing sight. He felt it too, it. The others were seemingly preoccupied by Bulma's presence.
"...wasn't going to let you guys have all the fun" he caught the tail end of the conversation. "Besides, I didn't really have a chance to see Frieza on Namek. I wanted to see what the fuss is about."
He had to give it to her, Vegeta thought, this weak earthling female had more courage than a lot of warriors a hundred stronger than her. Even her own 'not-permanent' mate. Then again, he thought with a snort, these earthlings were all spoiled by the existence of their precious dragon balls. Death seemed to be a temporary state of being for them so they don't have the good sense to fear it.
The earth suddenly started to tremble, the mysterious power spike started skyrocketing, reaching and then in an instant surpassing the power level of Frieza.
"It can't be…" Vegeta heard himself mutter.
"That power." Gohan said, "That's a super saiyan. That's my dad! He's back."
"Woah!" Scarface exclaimed. "Intense"
"That's not Goku!" Piccolo yelled. Vegeta didn't wait any longer. He blasted off towards the massive ki. He was followed shortly by the rest of the fighters. Rage was simmering deep in his gut. A super saiyan? Impossible. There was no way he would see another claim his birthright, It's bad enough that the third class managed to attain it while he lay, broken and bleeding out on the ground. As he crested the mountain and beheld the spectacle occurring in the air just past its peak, the utter absurdity of what he saw made him stop dead in his tracks. Before he could even process everything that was wrong with the picture, he saw Frieza be completely split in half, then chopped into pieces, then turned into ash by a ball of ki. It was over in less than a blink.
The ki had come from the hand of a female adolescent with, glowing brightly with a golden aura. Even her tail was gold. Yes, that was a fucking Saiyan tail that was bathed in the gold of the super saiyan. A girl super saiyan. All his strength seemed to leave him at once and Vegeta fell from the sky. Landing hard on his knees.
"This is a nightmare," he muttered. This had to be a nightmare. As if in a daze he watched the girl quickly dispatch of King Kold and then blast their skip into kingdom come shortly afterward. The earth warriors, who have all since landed close by seemed similarly stunned. The youth landed and looked around her, catching sight of their group. She smiled. Not a malicious grin, or a smug smirk, but an honest to goodness smile that somehow reminded him of the blue haired woman.
The girl exhaled and her power faded. Her hair falling limp and turning… BLUE?
The same blue as the Woman's. Something very strange was definitely going on here and he wasn't the only one to think that.
"Uh.. Is it just me, or does that girl look a lot like a younger Bulma?" Krillen asked.
The girl cocked her head to the side, her brown tail catching Vegeta's eye as it swayed lazily to and fro then wrapped itself securely around her waist.
"Uhm, sooo Goku's is arriving in about two hours. I'm gonna head over to meet him. You guys obviously have questions. If you follow me, I'll do my best to answer them all." The girl spoke for the first time, addressing them all. Her voice was high-pitched, confirming her youth. Her eyes wandered to Vegeta, lingered a bit and moved on before she took off into the sky.
The gaggle of earth warrior followed, the Saiyan prince being the most perturbed of them all.
AN: Sooo.. yeah. I'm excited for this story. Tell me what you think. And why is it that you always notice your mistakes when you're reading your story as a reader and not an author? So weird.