Warning: Implied rape. Vegeta fans may hate this chapter.

Monster's Reflection

Nappa laughed and clapped Vegeta on the back. "Wow, Vegeta, you sure know how to have fun!"

Vegeta smirked and crossed his arms over his chest. Beside him Nappa continued laughing, doubling over when he couldn't breathe. In front of him Raditz was howling in pain and trying to untie the knot in his tail without causing himself more agony. The third-class deserved his punishment after eating the last of the food allotted them by the lizard.

"I said I was sorry!" Raditz bellowed.

"When is 'sorry' ever good enough?" Vegeta asked. The punishment was harmless, really. Sure, it hurt, but it didn't do any lasting damage.

Raditz finally got his tail untied. He winced in pain as it wrapped around his waist. He glowered at his prince from his seat on the floor. He ignored Nappa's guffaws and rolled his shoulders back to muster as much dignity as he could.

Vegeta snorted at his attempt and turned to leave their quarters on Frieza's ship. "Come on, you morons. Frieza wants to see us. He probably has another mission for us. About damned time."

The three saiyans walked to Frieza's throne room. The guards at the doors opened them to allow them entrance. With chins held high the saiyans strode in and knelt down on the floor before the lizard tyrant's throne, feigning respect and reverence. It made Vegeta's blood boil every time he had to act like a servant to the freakish creature. Still, his expression remained stoic and his ki was held in check. He kept his eyes on the floor while he waited for Frieza to acknowledge him and his comrades.

"Vegeta," Frieza said, his scratchy voice grating on the saiyans' sensitive hearing, "I have a mission for you and your monkey squadron. There is a planet in the third quadrant of galaxy BY. Planet 1562BY is filled with resources I want. It will take you five absmonths to get there. It is known to have strong warriors, my pet. Do not get yourself killed. You are to leave immediately."

"Yes, Lord Frieza," Vegeta ground out. "How long do we have to complete the purge?"

"Six weeks."

"As you wish, Lord."

"You are dismissed."

The three saiyans rose and left the throne room, heading toward the hangar. They needed nothing more than their armor and scouters, which they always wore. A few minutes later they were standing in front of their space pods receiving more detailed information about the planet they were to purge. Vegeta feigned boredom as they were warned over and over again how powerful the fighters of the planet were, but inside he was filled with excitement. He would get to kill worthy opponents. It had been far too long since he fought anyone worth fighting while on a mission.

Raditz kept glancing at Vegeta as the instructions and information were given. He couldn't see anything beyond the stoic mask his prince always wore, but in his mind he could feel the excitement radiating from him. Their minds, always linked, let their stronger feelings across. They were impossible to completely control. Vegeta had changed since the purge of the ice planet. Instead of hurrying the purges, killing quickly and somewhat mercifully, he now took great pleasure in their missions. He was ruthless, crazed. He lived to kill and he loved it. While Raditz had been afraid of Vegeta's lack of enthusiasm, he had to admit that sometimes Vegeta's sadism was worse.

Once their debriefing was over, the saiyans got into their space pods and launched. They slipped into artificially induced slumber for the duration of their journey to planet 1562BY.

Three space pods shot across the sky and crashed into a mountainside. The planet's natives near the landing site ran out of their homes toward the three craters to inspect them. They were blown away by a wave of ki that engulfed the entire area.

"Nappa!" Vegeta shouted. "You idiot, what are you doing?"

The bald saiyan lowered his hand. "Killing that scum."

Vegeta rolled his eyes. "Yes, I can see that. But you didn't wait for my command to do so."

"I'm sorry, Vegeta."

"You know sorry is never good enough," Raditz grumbled.

Vegeta cast a glare at the long-haired saiyan before turning away to take in his surroundings. There wasn't much to see now that Nappa had his fun. Sighing, he took to the air to find the next group of natives. Hopefully Nappa's attack drew the attention of the supposedly powerful warriors of the planet and they would come to defend their people from the saiyans. He didn't have to wait long before the first warrior's energy brought his scouter to life. He smirked when he saw the power level: 7,690. An easy kill for him, but he would be a suitable match for Nappa.

"Nappa, this one's yours." Vegeta lowered himself to the ground. Raditz followed him and landed a few feet behind him. They both looked up, waiting for the fight between the alien warrior and their bald comrade to begin.

"Do you think they're all that strong?" Raditz asked.

Vegeta understood his question for what it was. He was worried that he wouldn't be able to fight any of the planet's warriors. They were much too strong for him. His power never got much higher than 2,000. Pathetic third-class warrior. Vegeta grunted. "If they are, there's always the weakling civilians you can kill."

Raditz nodded, though Vegeta's back was to him. He was grateful that his prince didn't point out why he asked even though he understood. That was one thing he could appreciate about Vegeta. He was insanely powerful, even by saiyan standards, but he didn't lord it over his subjects – too much. He gained his power through beatings more than battles. In a way he wasn't proud of his strength as he should be. Besides, he never considered himself strong. He was always weak in comparison to the ones who mattered. Dodoria, Zarbon, Frieza. They were much, much stronger than him no matter how much his power grew.

"Should we start purging?"

Vegeta shook his head, never taking his eyes off the warriors in the sky. The fight had started and it was fairly evenly matched. Vegeta hoped there were even stronger warriors on the planet. If there were, he wanted to be ready for them. If he could learn some of their techniques by watching the battle between Nappa and one of the native warriors, he would. It never suited him to sit on the sidelines and watch, but he was above fighting someone so pathetically weak in comparison to himself when he had subordinates to do it for him.

The fight lasted half an hour with the warriors darting across the sky, blinking in and out of sight, throwing ki blasts at one another, engaging in close hand-to-hand combat, destroying the landscape around them, and beating each other senseless. In the end, though, Nappa won by blasting his opponent into oblivion. He dropped down to the ground near Vegeta and Raditz and wiped a trickle of blood from his mouth.

"Good job, Nappa," Vegeta said mockingly, "That only took you 35 minutes."

Nappa frowned. "I didn't want to finish him off too fast. He was a lot of fun."

"Whatever." Vegeta pushed the button on his scouter for the first time to locate the strongest energy signals on the planet. "There's more warriors heading this way. Most of them are weaker than that one. But there is one with a power level of 13,065. I'll take that one. Split up. Don't get killed. Report back here when they're all dead."

"Yes, sir." The two tall saiyans took off in opposite directions to lure some of the warriors away from their meeting spot. Vegeta flared his ki, hoping to attract the strongest warrior. His power could reach 17,000, but he wouldn't use his full strength in this battle. He wanted to drag it out as long as he could.

Vegeta waited impatiently for the arrival of his opponent. His scouter indicated that most of the warriors were hanging back, probably to finish up if the first wave of warriors were unsuccessful in defeating the enemy. There was a weaker warrior with a power level of 1800 heading toward Raditz and one with a power level of 6710 heading Nappa's way. Raditz would have a hard time with his fight, but Nappa probably wouldn't have much trouble.

The young saiyan yawned dramatically when the warrior finally reached him. He didn't even look to see what he was up against as he took to the air and started stretching his arms in preparation for battle. He didn't flinch when a small fist rammed into his cheek. He caught the second fist before it landed. "Excuse me," he drawled, "I wasn't ready yet. Have patience."

The other warrior growled, finally gaining Vegeta's attention. His eyebrow raised when he saw that he wasn't fighting a male. The corner of his lips turned up and a low chuckle rumbled in his chest. "They sent a female to fight the Prince of all Saiyans?"

"They sent me to fight the nobody prince of a dead race?" she snapped.

Vegeta's growing smirk turned down in a frown. "You'll pay for that."

"For what? Telling the truth?" The woman drew back from him and moved into her fighting stance. "Don't tell me I hurt your feelings."

It was only then Vegeta noticed her appearance. Her hair, the color of the sea, was cropped short. Her eyes were a piercing turquoise, and her skin was pale ivory. She was wearing loose-fitting pants, boots, and a tight tank top that matched her hair. He noted her lack of curves. Her body was unappealing to him, but her hair… for some reason it made him not want to hurt her. But that was ridiculous. Why did it matter what color her hair was? He growled and took his own fighting stance.

"The only thing you hurt was your chance of survival."

"Oh, I'm scared now."

"Stupid bitch. You should watch what you say to me."

"Oh really? Why don't you stop the small talk and fight me then?"

"I will." Vegeta tried to push back the feelings he couldn't explain. The feelings telling him not to hurt her. 'What the hell is wrong with me?'

"Get on with it then."

"Shut up!"

She straightened her posture and put her hands on her hips. "It's really not that hard. You do know how to fight, don't you?"

"You insolent wench! You have no idea what you're up against."

"Why don't you show me?"

"I'm not sure I want to lower myself to fighting a female. Are you really the best this planet could provide?"

She crossed her arms over her chest. "As a matter of fact I'm the strongest warrior on this planet. Why do you think females are weak? Around here they're stronger than the males."

"I'd hate to see how pathetically weak your males are then."

"Are you going to fight me or are we going to talk all day? I have better things to do with my time."

Vegeta couldn't figure out why he had misgivings about fighting her. She was a warrior. Who cared if she was a female? Who cared if she had strange blue hair? She was talking to him as if he weren't to be taken seriously. That was an insult to his pride. Yet, he still didn't feel right killing her. It wasn't that he thought it was wrong to kill her. He just didn't want to.

He snorted. "As if talking to the saiyan prince isn't the biggest honor you'll ever have in your pathetic life. Not that it's going to last much longer. And I don't see you making the first move. I don't think you want to fight me. You know you'll lose."

"No I won't."

"Fine, then I guess you're so entranced with my dashing good looks that you can't bring yourself to fight me and embarrass yourself when you find yourself clearly outmatched."

"Get over yourself."

He was getting angry with her. But the more he bantered with her the less his desire to kill her was. It made no sense. If she angered him, he should want her dead. But he didn't. He wanted to keep talking to her. He wanted to spar with her verbally, not physically. What for?

"Look, I know you're here to destroy my planet," the woman said, resuming her stance. "I'm not willing to let that happen. I will protect my people at all cost."

"Are they really worth it?"

"It is my duty. I am their queen."

Was that it? He didn't want to kill her because she was royalty? He shook his head. That didn't make any sense. Even if he had any particular qualms about killing monarchs, he hadn't known she was one before she told him. He thought she was a warrior like any other.

"Their morale is going to drop when I kill you."

"You won't kill me."

"We'll see about that."

Finally shoving aside his feelings, Vegeta charged forward and started their battle. The first thing he found out about her as a fighter was her incredible speed and agility. She was able to dodge every one of his blows, but she was never able to go on the offense against him. She would be strong, he had no doubt, but her power was in her movement. When she phased out of sight, he had great difficulty tracking her.

When she reappeared right in front of him, ready to strike, he forced his knee into her stomach and brought his fist down on her head. She fell to the ground and landed on her hands and knees. She shot into the air and started kicking and punching furiously, almost blindly. He dodged and blocked each blow. He could see her frustration building. While they were fighting he found himself laughing at her attempts to hit him. He knocked her to the ground several times, and each time she got up again he felt a rush of adrenaline pumping through his veins. She was no threat to him. She was a little girl, weak and furious, never able to compare to his power. But she didn't know it or wouldn't admit it; either way it didn't matter, she was going to lose.

He grabbed her around the waist, and dove toward the ground. Despite her fists beating against his back, he held onto her until the last second. He released her and swooped back up while she slammed into the ground head first. She didn't get up right away this time. He looked down at her, slightly disappointed that she was hurt so badly after that. He dropped out of the air next to her and straddled her chest, pinning her arms over her head with one hand.

"Poor queen, lying in the dirt," he taunted. "How fitting for such a weak race."

"You're a monster," she spat.

"You think I'm a monster?" he asked. He gently rubbed his knuckles against her swollen cheek. He saw how she tried not to wince in pain, but he could smell her tears. She was hurting. He felt nothing but pride in her pain. "The only monster in this universe is Frieza."

She snarled at him and fought to free herself. "You're just like him!"

Vegeta's eyes widened for a moment, then narrowed as he scowled at her. "I am nothing like him!" He clenched his free hand into a fist and struck her. "He is a monster! A beast!" Each statement was punctuated with another punch to her face. Soon she was beaten practically beyond recognition. "How dare you compare me to him! How dare you! I am not like him! I hate him!" He brought his fist down, one last time, but it landed in the dirt next to her face. The ground shook.

"You poor fool," she whispered. "You have let him shape you into himself. Your own hatred has poisoned you."

"I am not a monster," he breathed. "I'm not. I kill to survive. I am not like him. I'm not."

He froze when she wriggled her arms free. Instead of attacking him, as he would have expected, she wrapped her arms around him. She was embracing him. Trying to comfort him. He wanted to push her away. He wanted to blast her into the next dimension for her audacity. She had some nerve touching him so intimately. She was pitying him. He didn't want her pity. Rage and confusion swelled in his chest.

"Vegeta, Prince of the Saiyans, don't let him do it to you. Don't let him make you like him. You can still change." He thought she was going to say more, but her words were cut off abruptly. He felt her blood flowing down his shoulder and over his hand. He freed himself from her dead embrace and pulled his hand out of her chest.

"You talked too damn much," he muttered. He raised his hand and blasted her body to ashes. "I will never be like Frieza. He can never make me into what he is. I kill because I am ordered to, not because I want to."

'That doesn't mean I don't enjoy it.' He refused to allow that thought to linger as he took off to find the next warrior to fight. She had been a good challenge while it lasted, considering he wasn't using his maximum power. He craved a stronger fighter, someone who could really put his strength to the test. He wasn't going to find such a challenge on this planet.

Vegeta flew high in the atmosphere, much higher than most warriors would go where it was cold and the air was thin. Numbers continuously scrolled across the display of his scouter, telling him he was flying above strong fighters, but he wasn't interested in them. Actually, he had lost all interest in the purge after his fight with the planet's queen. She hadn't brought back his conscience he cast off years ago. She hadn't made him rethink his willingness to kill others for his own sake. But he couldn't stop thinking that maybe she was right. Maybe he had become like Frieza. When did it happen?

There was a time when he killed fast. The saiyans finished their purges in record time. They never spent many days on any planet. Instead, they rushed through it, quickly killing off the warriors and then wiping out the civilians, never playing with their victims. They hardly fought. They moved in, they killed, they left. Not anymore. Vegeta used to want to be different from his master. He wanted to give the best deaths he could. Now he took pleasure in torturing them before ending their lives. He drew his battles out much longer than they should have ever gone for the sole purpose of feeling a rush of power running through his body.

'I really have lost my mind.' The saiyan prince stopped in his flight. 'It's true then. I'm a monster, like him. I can choose to accept it right now, or I can struggle against it the rest of my life. Either option is less than ideal. Which is worse?' Vegeta raked his hand through his hair and tilted his head back to look at the dark sky above him. There was no answer to his question. He shrugged. 'Who gives a damn what I am? As long as I'm alive it doesn't matter.'

So the decision was to accept what he had become. He felt nauseous. How could he throw away his honor and give in so easily to the tyrant? 'It doesn't matter. Honor, life, whatever. The only thing that matters is my own strength. I don't care how I gain it, so long as I become strong enough to kill the lizard and take over his empire. That is my destiny. No one ever said I had to be sane to do it.'

Vegeta twisted around and dove to the ground, letting himself freefall without any ki. He laughed maniacally as he fell, the sound caught up in the wind and carried away for no one to hear. He waited until the last second to thrust his ki under him and shot to the west to find another warrior to fight. They were weaklings, all of them, but he could play with them. Cat and mouse was his favorite game when he was the cat.

'Maybe I should have kept that wench alive a little longer. She was probably strong enough to withstand a good banging.' Vegeta laughed again and spiraled through the air, throwing ki blasts in every direction and reveling in the destruction caused by his hand.

His scouter told him there was a warrior with a power level over 8000 ahead a few miles. Unlike many of the other stronger fighters on the planet, that one wasn't moving to find the hostile invaders. Well, he or she was about to get a fight whether it was wanted or not. Vegeta smirked as he flew faster, eager to take on another opponent he could kill. Sparring was great, but it never gave him the satisfaction of complete victory as he watched the life flicker out of his adversary's eyes. He flew in a direct course to the high power, blasting through buildings on his flight through the city where it was located. The screams of surprise and terror were music to his ears. Soon enough every one of them would be turned to a scream of agony as their lives were stolen away from them by the almighty Prince of all Saiyans.

"There you are." Vegeta came to a halt when he saw the warrior he was looking for. She was floating in the air with fists clenched at her sides. No doubt she had been waiting for him when she heard the sounds of devastation coming her way.

"Who are you?"

"That doesn't matter. What matters is what I am." Vegeta crossed his arms over his chest and circled around her slowly, predatory eyes roaming over her body. He liked her figure much more than the queen's. She had more curves. Rounder breasts, wider hips, longer legs. She had vibrant orange hair and peach-colored skin. "And what I am is the monster who is going to end your life and the lives of all the people on this pathetic planet." It felt strangely liberating to call himself a monster. As if he had finally stopped fighting an uphill battle he had been in for years, he could now admit the truth. He was no longer revolted by it. He no longer cared. If anything, it amused him. Yes, he was a monster. He always had been. He had no conscience. He had no honor. He was nothing more than a killer. And he enjoyed it.

The woman wasn't fazed. She moved into her fighting stance. "Even if you manage to defeat me, my queen will see to it that you bring no harm to my people."

"Your queen is dead."

"You lie!"

Vegeta chuckled. The sound was unnerving to the female warrior. It wasn't the sound of humor. It was the sound of insanity. "Don't be stupid. I killed her." He held up his right hand, covered in a glove that was once white. "This is her blood."

"No!"

"There's no need to be upset. You'll be joining her in hell soon enough."

Instead of engaging in more banter, the warrior flew forward and swung a hard right hook at Vegeta. While he was dodging that her left leg swung around and caught his ribs. He coughed, more from surprise than pain. He growled and grabbed her extended leg before she could retract it and crashed his elbow down on her knee. She screeched in agony as her leg was broken.

"That must hurt something awful," he said with fake concern. "I'll have to put you out of your misery."

Despite the pain, she gave him a solid uppercut that snapped his head back. While he was recovering from the unexpected blow, she backed away from him and readied herself for another attack. She watched as Vegeta reached up, put his hands on either side of his head, and cracked his neck. When his eyes met hers she felt a chill run down her spine. All she could see was madness in those onyx orbs.

"That was a good one. And it'll be your last." Vegeta phased out of sight and brought his fists down on her head in a double axe handle. She fell to the ground. He was immediately on top of her, keeping her pinned down. "You know all this fighting really gets the hormones flowing. That must be why they call it bloodlust. What do you think? Do you feel it too?"

The orange-haired fighter couldn't mask her horror. She frantically kicked and struggled under the saiyan, but he was immovable. "No! No, don't do this to me! Just kill me! No!"

He leaned down and whispered in her ear, "Oh, I'll kill you. Don't worry about that. Until then, enjoy the ride."

…

"This is Master Roshi?" Bulma quirked an eyebrow as she appraised the old man standing before her. He was strange, to put it lightly. Long white mustache and beard, red-rimmed sunglasses, a crooked wood staff in his hand, and a purple turtle shell strapped to his back, he looked more like an escapee from the local loony bin than a master of martial arts. Of course she had heard of him. Who in martial arts hadn't? He was supposed to be the greatest martial artist in the world in his heyday. Maybe he still was, but she wasn't sure when she saw the man standing before her. He was old, scrawny, and a pervert. He kept trying to convince her to let him touch her private areas. How disgusting. She never let boys her age touch her, let alone some ancient creep like him.

"The one and only." He laughed as a deep blush spread across his prominent cheekbones. Obviously his mind was mucking in the gutter again. "What do you say I give you some lessons?"

Bulma rolled her eyes. "As if. I already know martial arts without your help, you old pervert." She crossed her arms and looked away from him. She really wished she was wearing something other than her nightshirt. Like a pair of baggy jeans, a frumpy old sweater, and a parka. She didn't care that she was standing on a tropical beach, she wanted to be as hidden as possible from his ogling. She sighed as she watched Goku flying around on the gold cloud Roshi gave him as a reward for returning his pet turtle home. He should give her something! After all, she was the one who found Goku in the woods. If she hadn't, he never would have met Turtle and never would have taken him to the ocean. She wanted credit given where it was due.

She backpedaled away from Master Roshi when he suddenly advanced on her, hands outstretched to grab whatever parts of her body he could. She screeched as he nearly tripped over a rock. "What do you think you're doing?" she screamed. That was when she finally noticed the object he had tied around his neck. It was orange, glowing, and it had a red star in the middle. A dragon ball! How had she missed it before? She had to get it, no matter what. "Listen," she said calmly, "I think you should give me something for helping bring your turtle back. Why don't you give me that thing on your neck?"

"What, this old thing?" Roshi asked, taking the dragon ball in his hand to examine it more closely. "Why would you want this piece of junk? It just washed up on shore one day…"

"It's pretty, that's all," Bulma said, maybe too quickly.

Master Roshi turned to Turtle. "Who helped you get back home?"

Turtle glanced between Bulma and Goku, who was still flying around. "It was the boy."

Bulma fumed silently at the turtle. She would admit she hadn't been too keen on the idea of helping him at first. It was a long way out of the way to take him to the ocean from where they were camped. She was on a tight schedule. Or at least, she was in a hurry to make her wish. If there hadn't been so many dinosaurs around she would have left Goku to his own devices and let him take Turtle home without going after him. She was strong, she could fight, and she wasn't afraid of anyone. But dinosaurs, that was a different story. The memory of being clutched in the claws of a pterodactyl the day before flashed through her mind. If it hadn't been for Goku, she would have been that lizard's dinner. Besides, it was always safer to travel in groups. Her attention was drawn back to Roshi, who had decided to bargain for the dragon ball.

"You show me your panties and I'll give you this thing."

Her face paled. Show that pervert her panties? How degrading! And yet, how easy to get another dragon ball. If he really was Master Roshi as he claimed to be, she wouldn't be able to fight him for it, that was for sure. She wasn't willing to take her chances and lose. She was still hesitant. There had to be some other way.

"No way!" She stamped her foot. "I helped bring your turtle back so I should get a reward for that. You gave him that cloud thingy, why can't I have that?"

"Sorry, but Turtle said you didn't help. I won't reward you for nothing."

'Boyfriend or dignity, boyfriend or dignity? Oh, man! This sucks!' Bulma's hands moved to the hem of her nightshirt. She squeezed her eyes shut and lifted her nightshirt. "Here, look, old man! Now hand it over!"

Master Roshi looked. He didn't see panties. Blood squirted from his nose. "Oh-ho! This is my lucky day!"

Bulma dropped her nightshirt and crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at the old man. She was disgusted by his display. She was blushing deeply, ashamed of herself for stooping so low for a dragon ball, but it was the only way to get him to give it up without a fight. She dug her toes into the sand and waited for him to gain some control over himself before demanding the dragon ball be handed over to her.

"Well, give it to me!" she shouted when he successfully stopped the flow of blood from his nose. She held out her hand for the dragon ball.

"All right, fine," Roshi mumbled as he took the dragon ball from around his neck and set it in Bulma's outstretched hand.

Bulma squealed with excitement and jumped around. "Yes, I did it! I got another dragon ball! This is great!"

"A dragon ball?" Roshi scratched his bald head.

Just then Goku came back to them, still on the flying nimbus. "Look, Goku!" Bulma said, bubbling over with joy, "A dragon ball! Master Roshi gave me his dragon ball!"

Goku grinned. "Wow, that's great, Bulma!"

"Come on, we need to get going." Bulma turned back to Roshi and Turtle. "Thank you, Master Roshi. You don't know how much this means to me." Giggling, she ran to her motorcycle and hopped on. "Bye!"

Goku went along beside her on the nimbus, laughing at how slow her motorcycle was in comparison. Before long they were back on track in their quest for the dragon balls. She was, for a change, happy that Goku was so naïve and helpful. Helping Turtle turned out to be one of the greatest ideas the kid ever had. Who knew she would get a dragon ball out of it? Good thing, also, that she decided to tag along, otherwise he might never have found her again and she wouldn't have ever gotten that dragon ball. Now they only needed three more and then she could finally wish for her perfect boyfriend. Nothing could stand in her way!

Nothing, she discovered, but a blue midget with a serious Napoleon complex. She had been close, so very close to getting her wish. She only needed one more stinking dragon ball, but that little creep Emperor Pilaf already had it and he was searching for the dragon balls as well to make a totally stupid wish: to rule the world. Bulma sat on the cold stone floor of the cell where she, Goku, Oolong, Puar, and Yamcha were being held and crossed her arms over her chest, pouting. 'This is just great! How do I get myself into these situations? Man, I should have stayed home where it was safe. Now I'll never have a boyfriend!' Bulma rubbed furiously at the tears stinging her eyes. 'Stupid little midget and his stupid sidekicks. Ugh! I could just scream! Well, what's stopping me?' Bulma stood up and screamed. She stomped her feet and threw her fists in the air and screamed and screamed until her voice was hoarse.

"Let me out of here you little freak!" she yelled at the screen on the wall. "I'll get you for this! You just wait!"

"Wow, Bulma," Goku said, rubbing the back of his head, "You're really mad."

She turned on him and had to restrain herself from punching his happily grinning face. "Of course I'm mad you idiot! He stole our dragon balls and he's going to get to make his wish! What is there not to be mad about?"

"Well, when you put it that way it does seem pretty bad."

Bulma threw her hands up in the air and slid down the wall to sit again. There was no reasoning with that boy sometimes. He was way too cheerful to take when they were in dire situations like this. He took everything too lightly. It grated on her nerves. She would rather have him panic for a change. Bulma banged her head against the wall a few times. "There has got to be a way out of here."

Yamcha hit the wall a few times, but it didn't give at all, no matter how much strength he put into it. He sighed and ran his hand through his tangled mass of hair. "Hey, Goku, do you think you could use a kamehameha wave to break us out?"

Goku shrugged. "I could try."

"Well hurry it up!" Bulma yelled. "That creep is going to summon the dragon and make his wish any second now!"

"All right, everyone step back," Yamcha said, motioning for Oolong, Puar, and Bulma to head to the wall farthest away from Goku. They watched with bated breath as Goku cupped his hands to his side and started gathering his energy. Soon a bright blue orb of energy glowed in his hands.

"Ka-me-ha-me-ha!" Goku threw his wave of ki at the wall. There was a blinding flash of light, but when the dust cleared all there was, was a small hole in the wall not large enough even for Puar to escape. He frowned. "It would have worked if I weren't so hungry."

"Great," Bulma grumbled.

"No, look," Yamcha said, running over to the hole. "Puar, can you change into a bat and go stop him from making his wish?"

"Sure!" Puar transformed into a bat and flew out the hole. Upon Bulma's insistence, Oolong turned into a bat as well and followed her out. As soon as he was out Bulma ran over to the hole in the wall to look out and see what was going on. She gasped when she saw the massive dragon winding through the sky. It was bigger than she ever imagined. She looked down and saw Emperor Pilaf and his lackeys standing down below where the dragon balls were gathered. She growled and started beating the wall. "Hurry up, Oolong!" she yelled, though she was sure he was out of earshot. "You better not let him make his stupid wish!"

"Let me see!" Goku said. He hopped up and down trying to get a peek out the hole between Bulma and Yamcha.

They watched as Oolong wished for something and heard the dragon's voice boom, saying his wish had been granted. While she was frustrated that she didn't get to make her wish, Bulma was thankful that the pig had pulled through and prevented Pilaf from wishing for world domination when the dragon should have been giving her a boyfriend. She sighed and sank to the floor.

"Goku, can you try another kamehameha to get us out?" Yamcha asked. He knew the kid was hungry, and that made him weak, but they had to get out before Pilaf decided to take revenge for them foiling his plot.

"Sure, I can try." Bulma and Yamcha ran to the other side of the cell as Goku again gathered energy and blasted the wall where the small hole was. This time the explosion created a large enough hole for them all to get out and they made a run for it. They had no idea where to go to get out of the castle, but at that point they didn't care. They just wanted to escape with their lives intact.

But fortune was not on their side. After a brief run around involving Doberman pinschers and hungry boys, they ended up in a new cell with a tempered glass ceiling that even Goku's hard head couldn't break through. Bulma collapsed on the floor and sniffled after a few silent sobs. So she was going to die in the morning, whatever. She missed her only chance to ever get a boyfriend anyway, so what reason did she have to go on living? She sighed and rubbed her forehead. A serious headache was coming on.

"What're you looking at, Puar?" Oolong asked when he saw his old schoolmate gazing longingly through the ceiling.

"I was just admiring the full moon. Even though we're in a bad place it's still so calming." Puar sighed and turned back to gaze at the full moon.

"Oh no, guys! Don't you know a giant monster comes out on full moons?" Goku asked. Bulma raised an eyebrow.

"Don't be ridiculous," she told him. "Everyone knows monsters aren't real."

"No, I'm serious! My grandpa told me to be careful on full moons because a monster would come out and destroy everything. And it – it killed him."

Yamcha looked over at Goku and then to Bulma. He turned back to the tailed boy. "What do you mean it killed your grandpa?"

"There was a full moon one night, and when I woke up my grandpa was crushed."

"When you woke up? You mean you didn't wake up when it happened?" Yamcha put his hands on his hips and cocked his head. It was hard to believe such an outrageous tale when someone is claiming to have slept through the whole thing. If there was a giant monster close enough to crush his grandpa, how could he have not been woken up?

"No, I slept through the whole thing."

"Oh, really? That's…strange." Bulma glanced up at the full moon and the turned her gaze to Goku. Funny how he could sleep through that. It would be quite a feat, even for him. But hadn't he mentioned another time that his grandpa told him not to look at the full moon? Was there some sort of connection? Bulma gulped and rose to her feet again. "Hey, Goku, did you happen to look at the moon that night?"

Goku scratched the back of his head, his brows furrowed. "Well, now that you mention it, I think I did."

By then the rest of their group had figured out what Bulma was thinking. They backed away from him until they were pressed against the wall opposite him. It was unreal. Right? How could a little boy, as innocent and loving as Goku, possibly turn into a monster on the full moon? Monsters didn't exist! Bulma shook her head, trying to convince herself she was letting her imagination get the better of her. But the thought wouldn't leave.

"Just… don't look at the full moon, ok, Goku?" she asked. She couldn't keep her voice from trembling with fear.

"What full moon? I don't see it." Goku looked up through the glass ceiling, then caught sight of the glowing orb hanging in the sky, casting its silvery light on his face. "Oh, wow! Look at it! It's so huge!"

"No, Goku, don't look!" Bulma screamed.

"What? What's wrong, guys?"

Bulma cracked one eye open, expecting to see some sort of hideous beast standing where Goku was. All she saw was her friend. His tail was waving happily behind him and he was looking at her and the others with confused amusement. She breathed a small sigh of relief. If he was going to change into a monster because of the full moon, he would have done it already. She laughed nervously and was soon joined by Yamcha and the others.

Their laughing stopped when Goku's eyes turned red and he started sprouting thick, dark fur all over his body that was rapidly growing. His clothes tore as his muscles expanded. His companions all screamed in terror as he continued to grow, his nose and mouth extending into a muzzle with razor sharp teeth. His eyes glowed red and his hands and feet grew black claws that looked like they could tear through anything. And still he grew until he was towering over them, breaking them out of the cell and easily destroying half the castle.

'This is not good,' Bulma thought as she stared up at the howling monkey-monster. She couldn't help herself. She screamed.

And that scream grabbed Goku's attention. He roared and brought one fist down on the castle while he swiped Bulma off the ground with his other hand. He squeezed her until she thought her ribs were cracking under the pressure.

'Not good, not good! I do not want to play King Kong!' Bulma started to panic, beating her fists against Goku's enormous hand and screaming at the top of her lungs. "Put me down! Someone help! Help me!" She looked down and wished she hadn't. The ground was so far down, easily fifty feet. It made her dizzy. Or was that from the way Goku was waving her around through the air? It was too much stress. Being put in so many perilous predicaments in one day can wear a person out, even someone as strong-willed as Bulma Brief. 'He's a monster,' she thought. 'My little Goku is a big, scary monster. At least we're free from Pilaf.' With that thought, she fainted.

Bulma woke up some hours later, the faint light of dawn already tinting the dark blue sky with tendrils of pink and orange. She blinked a few times and rubbed her head, wincing as her chest ached with the movement. She turned to the side and saw Goku lying near her, back in his small humanoid form. She sat up, holding her head in her hands. "What happened?"

Yamcha, again keeping a safe distance from her now that they weren't trapped in a small room together, told her, "Goku was holding you and you passed out. Puar cut his tail off and he turned back into his normal self."

"Huh? Oh, I remember," Bulma said. It was too wild even for her dreams. Goku really turned into a giant monkey and went on a rampage. The ruins of Pilaf's castle in the distance eschewed any doubt about it. The kid was a freak.

Goku started to rouse a few minutes later. He had the same question as Bulma on his lips as he regained consciousness. He, like Bulma, was informed that Pilaf's castle was destroyed while he was out, but he wasn't told that it was he who did it by transforming into a crazed monkey beast.

"So now what?" Bulma asked while Goku was putting on Oolong's trousers. "We have to wait a whole year before we can collect the dragon balls again. I have to wait a whole year longer to get a boyfriend."

"And I have to wait another year before I can wish to stop being afraid of girls," Yamcha added sullenly.

Bulma and Yamcha looked at each other, giant grins spreading across their faces as they realized both had gotten their wishes without the dragon's help. Bulma squealed with delight while Yamcha whooped for joy as they embraced each other.

'Yes! I finally got a boyfriend, and he's totally dreamy!' Bulma thought. She'd had a long night and a crazy adventure, but now it was time to go home and show off her new boyfriend to her parents. It wasn't the first time she was bringing some wild, homeless boy to Capsule Corporation to stay with her family. She knew they would accept him right away. After all, they had accepted Vegeta all those years ago. 'Oh, Vegeta, where are you?' she wondered. 'I guess you're never coming back, but I hope you're ok wherever you are.'

A/N: Yes, I know we all hate Vegeta doing what he did. I hate it as much as anyone, but realistically, if he's raped the cycle will continue. He doesn't have a conscience anymore anyway. Of course he won't stay like this, so hang on. It would be a shame to give up on him now. You will have the pleasure of seeing him overcome Frieza's influence, I promise.

This story was supposed to be about 30 chapters when I originally came up with the plot. Obviously it's going to be a lot longer than that. How much longer? I'll put it this way. I've been outlining future chapters, and it's surpassed Rediscovering Honor...

Vegeta: 17
Bulma: 16