I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the rights to any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.

Chapter 13: Frozen Temple

"Vegeta, can you carry this bag for me? Vegeta?" Bulma asked as she slowly walked off the large boat. Vegeta was standing in the snow, checking out the frozen scenery as the drilling teams started to unpack and get things ready several hundred yards away. The entire team had ridden a large icebreaker boat into the area due to the extreme cold and the weight of their equipment. Vegeta had stayed somewhat separate from the twenty-four other humans on board, but had not taken his eyes off them at all. It wasn't a matter of hatred; he simply didn't trust them. While Bulma had bought the best drilling team money could buy, it was the fact that they were hired that bothered him. Only two of them were actual Capsule employees, and were Bulma's top scientists in their field of archeology. Vegeta had no doubt that he could easily plow through this ice with his power, but he also didn't want to put up with his wife's screeching afterwards since it was a delicate scientific matter. Trunks was brought along mostly because he shared an interest for history, and because they didn't want to risk the terrible twins making unsupervised trouble again.

"Vegeta!" Bulma screeched again, drawing his attention for just a moment.

"What is it woman?" he asked as he glared back.

"The bag, it's heavy!" she groaned.

"Then you should invest more time in training," Vegeta suggested as he turned back around and surveyed the drilling team.

"It's cold out here; my body has to keep up with it and I simply don't have the strength to lift it right now!" she shouted back.

"I've got it Mom," Trunks said as he picked up the heavy bag easily and walked off the boat.

"Men, so unreliable," Bulma snorted. Vegeta ignored this and watched as the team set up to drill at an angle.

"This cold is unbearable!" Bulma whined as she bundled up tighter with her coat.

"Another reason to take up training," Vegeta grunted.

"Well I'm sorry if a measly human like me can't stand up to extreme cold. It's negative twenty degrees Celsius out here, you know! On top of that it's windy and it's snowing! I'll be lucky if I don't get frostbite! Even you couldn't stand that for long without your jacket!" Bulma stated. She was a little jealous that Vegeta and Trunks could stay out there with no more than a light jacket and sweat pants and still stay perfectly warm.

"I would have to be incredibly injured and completely out of power for that to be a factor. But if it will stop your whimpering, you can borrow some heat," Vegeta growled as he walked up, offering out his hand. Bulma took it and Vegeta slowly transferred a low amount of ki into her body, warming her instantly.

"Wow, that is handy! Show me how to do that someday!" she said happily.

"Training, woman. Training," Vegeta repeated.

"Can't you show me without making it so rough?" she asked.

"You don't get one without the other. Great power comes with great effort. I believe you humans refer to it as no pain, no gain," Vegeta replied.

"Yeah, you're probably right. Oh well, first time for everything!" Bulma grinned.

"Oh, really?" Vegeta frowned.

"Well, I managed to snag a stud of a man who is loyal and who protects his family, which is what I wanted. At the same time I didn't want an arrogant, pig headed asshole that doesn't help me out at all! And I have to do just about everything for him as it is! Yeah, for once you're right Vegeta, no pain, no gain!"

"Damn woman," Vegeta growled as one of the engineers trudged up to them.

"Miss Bulma, we are commencing drilling!"

While Bulma and her two top aids remained in the slightly warmer command center that was set up, Trunks walked around the area to check out all the equipment. He wanted to fly off and play with Goten, but he knew that wasn't an option right now, especially not with his father watching over the whole area from the highest hill. He wandered up to the drilling team and watched as they slowly dug a hole through the thick ice and snow.

"Hey, how long will this take?" Trunks asked one of the guys monitoring the equipment.

"Not now kid, we're working here!" he said. Trunks frowned at this and decided to go find the guy in charge.

"Hey, how long will it take to dig through all that?" Trunks asked when he found the Captain, Gates.

"Shouldn't you be inside with your mother kid?" Gates asked.

"If I wanted to be, yes. You gonna answer the question?" Trunks fired back.

"Probably about a full day if everything goes decently, less if it goes better. My team is the best on the whole planet so we'll have things wrapped up quickly, assuming we aren't being pestered all day and night," Gates said, clearly trying to get the boy to leave.

"So how much is my mother paying you?" Trunks asked with a wicked grin.

"That is none of your business," Gates said as he attempted to focus on the job at hand.

"I hope it was all in advance, because if it wasn't, you just lost your cut!" Trunks smirked as he ran off.

"Dumb kid, oh well, he won't be a problem soon enough," Gates sighed.

"When do we finally engage the operation sir?" one of his workers asked.

"Not until we get the signal, Coleman. The kid is bad enough, but I really have no desire to deal with that one-man wave of destruction without some help," Gates whispered as he carefully eyed Vegeta, who stared back from a good distance away. Gates was pretty sure that the Saiyan prince hadn't heard anything over the sounds of the drilling and the winds, but that didn't stop a nervous sweat from running down the back of his neck as the death glare bore down on him.

"Turn up the speed a little fellas, I want to get this over and done with quickly!" Gates ordered.

"But we will fry all the drill bits; we only have a dozen extras!" Coleman yelled back.

"Well then, we will just have to be extra careful, I'm sure our client won't mind if we are ahead of schedule! Besides, do you really want to be around here once the fireworks begin?" Gates asked.

Coleman sighed slightly and turned back to his partners, "You heard the captain!"

Interlude: Verto and Lenz

Lenz and I were sitting on the living room sofa, watching some football on the newest TV when we heard Bulla screaming again.

"Do all humans cry that much when they are teething?" Lenz asked, exasperated from getting up all the time.

"They've been gone for barely a day and a half and you're already complaining about the baby? Do I need to point out that she is also half Saiyan? Vegeta calls it the cry of a warrior," I replied.

"I call it the merciless cry of agony! I'm gonna go nuts if the grandmother doesn't get here soon!" Lenz groaned as she got up and left the room to tend to the baby again. And here I thought I was the one who would go nuts around here lately. After a few more minutes of Bulla's constant screaming and the sounds of Lenz dropping things, I decided to go look in on things; the game was a sloppy slugfest anyway. When I arrived, there was a cloud of powder in the room and several puddles of milk on the ground.

"I don't know what to do! She doesn't need changed and she isn't hungry!" Lenz said, holding the baby awkwardly out in her arms.

"Let me hold her then, you aren't doing that good of a job anyway. I figured you would know a thing or two about taking care of babies if your race is so emotionally charged," I said as she handed Bulla over to me.

"Hey, I wasn't around the little ones that often! Besides, what does a runt like you know about infants?" Lenz growled.

"Only enough to know that you don't hold them at arms length and sideways," I answered. Once I had a hold of Bulla, she stopped crying almost instantly.

"Wow, I guess you do know a thing or two about them. Chicks dig that you know!" Lenz grinned.

"Probably just blind luck, just about every kid I've ever held has bawled their eyes out within a few minutes," I said with a slight shrug.

"Since you're so talented, can you clean up the mess she made too?" Lenz asked with a hopeful look.

"You made it, you clean it up," I said as I gently put Bulla back in her crib.

"But I have to be ready in an hour!" she whined.

"Better clean fast then. Wait a sec, where exactly are you going?" I asked. Lenz face faulted for a moment, as if she wasn't supposed to tell me something. Unfortunately for her, she had just slipped big time. "Well?"

"I planned to check out one of those human party clubs tonight since Bulma and the prince are gone," she admitted. Argh, figures.

"Didn't we already discuss that you shouldn't leave the compound unsupervised for a little while? You haven't been on Earth that long after all," I pointed out.

"I'll be fine, not like any of these weaklings are going to hurt me! Besides, you're the one with the restriction!" she said.

"Well good luck getting in without causing a scene. While you're underage for most places, they would probably let you in based on looks alone just so you stick around," I replied.

"As they should," Lenz smiled happily while posing.

"Just don't drink anything alcoholic. I'm not sure what the true tolerance for an average Saiyan is, but I know with our metabolism it'll affect you fast, and you don't need anything impairing your decisions as it is!" I suggested.

"Well, thanks for the tip! I'll keep that in mind for future use," she grinned wickedly as she skipped off. Note to self; inspect all food and drinks from now on when she is within a few miles of my position. I sighed slightly as Bulla fell asleep, and then whistled for one of the nearby robot maids to clean up the mess. When I left the room though, she started crying again.

"What's wrong now?" I whispered to her as I came back in. Once I peered over her crib again, she settled down and only gurgled a bit. Great, looks like she's suffering from the isolation bug. Oh well, not like I was doing anything important tonight anyway. I can surely survive babysitting until Bunny gets here. I sat next to the crib and meditated with my arms folded while Bulla shifted around slightly. In the corner of my senses, I thought I sensed something strange in the air, but there was nothing nearby as I heard Lenz leave the building, along with that crazy energy field of the Kai's. I attempted to focus to a more positive state, knowing that there was a chance that Bulla would go into a screaming fit if I gave in to the energy field. As much as I tried to counter its effect, I couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. But the feeling wasn't coming from anywhere near my position, nor was it emitting a clear signal. It was however, coming from the south.

"We are approximately seventy percent through now Miss Bulma. We've hit a snag currently as we fried all of our drill bits in trying to reach the deadline. We will have another set here within two hours by helicopter!" Gates reported inside the Capsule house that Bulma had set up.

"The maximum deadline was for four days of drilling, so why are you going so fast?" Bulma asked as she sipped some hot cocoa.

"My men work until we get the job done. And we feel that we should be able to beat every deadline set in front of us. I apologize for the delay," Gates replied.

"Well, your men can take a break and warm-up then; you've been at it for almost ten hours straight! You've done very well for today captain!" Bulma said.

"Thank you ma'am," Gates bowed as he departed.

"I see the grunts know royalty when they see it," Vegeta chuckled from the far wall, standing directly behind the door.

"They are probably just sucking up so they get paid extra. Or you threatened them beforehand, one or the other," Bulma smiled slightly.

"My presence alone has them terrified, pathetic humans," Vegeta snorted.

"Where is Trunks anyway? I hope he's not out there getting in their way," Bulma said with a questioning glance.

"I sense the boy on the ship, no doubt looking into ways of causing random mischief. Maybe I'll go join him; this trip is a complete waste of my time," Vegeta grunted.

"Oh shut up; it's not like you had anything important planned," Bulma pointed out.

"I intend to prepare for the next villain who drops in. Trouble follows this planet as a beast follows its prey! I will not let the boy and Kakarot show me up again!" Vegeta growled.

"In other words, you're just jealous because he's stronger than both you and Goku now, never mind Gohan. And you hate being left out of a good fight," Bulma pointed out as she finished off her drink. Vegeta only grunted and looked the other way.

"Oh lighten up; I'm sure you'll have plenty of battles where all the glory is yours!" Bulma said as she noticed Vegeta staring at the window.

"Maybe sooner than later," he replied as his eyebrows suddenly narrowed.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Bulma asked, knowing that look on her husband's face.

"Get some sleep woman," Vegeta whispered as he stared at the snow flying outside.

-

"We have completed drilling! We should be ready to take exploration teams down shortly!" Gates shouted as he literally ran into the Capsule house about six hours later. The only thing he found when he came in was Vegeta's death glare.

"Er…" Gates stuttered for a moment when he realized what he did.

"So, how long exactly did you want to live? The woman is sleeping, and I do not wish to listen to the ruckus she will create if she wakes up now. One more sound out of you and I promise that you won't be around to hear it!" Vegeta growled as he stared Gates down.

"Ugh, what's going on? Will someone close that damn door?" Bulma yawned as she entered the room.

"This noisy buffoon was just leaving, weren't you?" Vegeta asked with an even darker glare.

"We have finished drilling, I figured you would want to know that," Gates said quickly as he backed away.

"Oh, well give me a few minutes and we'll be right there," Bulma yawned again as she retreated back into her room to change. Before Gates could leave though, Vegeta had him by the shirt collar.

"Don't ever barge in here again," he growled as he opened the door and threw Gates out into the snow.

"Captain, are you alright?" Coleman asked as he helped Gates to his feet.

"I've been better Coleman; let's get this show on the road. Do you have a complete schematic of the pyramid uploaded yet?" Gates asked.

"The layout still shows hundreds of rooms built around the central core. Everything looks accessible, though there might still be hidden booby traps or passages from last time," Coleman said.

"Well, I guess it's a good thing we have someone strong to lead the way," Gates chuckled.

"Did you manage to plant the bug on him sir?" Coleman asked.

"The guy is like clockwork if you can read his reactions correctly without getting killed. His mistake was grabbing me and giving me the opportunity to slip it into his jacket. The good doctor's pet should be receiving its signal now," Gates explained as they both walked towards the freshly drilled hole.

"What if the alien device doesn't work? I'm pretty sure that guy could kill us all in his sleep. You saw how many of those Zerg he killed by himself!" Coleman pointed out.

"He could probably kill us all without his energy. Hopefully we will be out of there before that becomes an issue. I trust you have planted all of the explosives just in case?" Gates asked.

"Of course sir," Coleman nodded.

"Good, lets see the mighty Saiyan Prince get out of this one," Gates laughed.

-

"Hey Mom! What do you suppose we'll find in there? I hope it's a lot of treasure, or maybe an awesome weapon!" Trunks declared as they prepared to enter the dark chasm below.

"Be quiet boy; all of your noise will attract unwanted attention, namely mine!" Vegeta barked.

"Cool it grumpy! Is everyone ready to go down there Captain?" Bulma asked.

"We have a team of seventeen ready to enter, the other five will remain on the surface," Gates said as he prepped the sled they had setup.

"Sounds good," Bulma nodded.

"Hold on, I counted twenty-four of you; where are the other two?" Vegeta asked as he glanced around, noting that he didn't sense them in the area either.

"You tell me; they are your employees. Once the tunnel was done they told me that you ordered them down there upon completion," Gates shrugged.

"Oh, really?" Vegeta asked as he glared a hole through Gates' head.

"Calm down Vegeta, I wanted to make sure everything was safe before we all entered. Dr. Redwood and Dr. Gray probably just took the initiative," Bulma said.

"Pardon me Miss Bulma, but I was under the assumption that you would want to make the first dive into this piece of ancient history. It is your find after all," Gates said. Vegeta glare darkened as Bulma held him off with her hand on his arm.

"I never planned to be in there first if that's what you mean captain. I want to make sure things are safe first," she explained.

"I assure you, things are perfectly safe. The cavern is completely stable, unless of course your husband changes that," Gates said with a smarmy tone.

"I doubt your long fall down to oblivion will affect the cave at all. You on the other hand, well that is quite a drop for a weakling," Vegeta said with a thick grin.

"Fine, let's go since you guys are in such a hurry to get paid," Bulma sighed as she ignored Vegeta.

-

"Wow, I wonder who built this one," Trunks asked as they got their first look at the temple under the ice.

"Signs point to several different designs all embedded into one. It's possible that this may have been one of the first pyramids on Earth. I estimate that this one is well over ten thousand years old," Redwood said.

"Kind of a cold place to build it," Coleman commented.

"Let's proceed inside then," Bulma said nervously as they hiked up the stairs. Vegeta noticed this sudden change in attitude from his wife, but let it slide for the moment. Inside, they saw several statues of very alien looking warriors holding ancient weapons. Trunks was tempted to fly up and retrieve one, but his father's glare held him down. The group stayed primarily silent as they proceeded through the main hall, occasionally glancing at all of the hieroglyphs that were written on the walls. Vegeta thought he heard something in the floor as they walked through, but saw nothing behind, nor did he sense anything. They came to a stop when they entered a circular room with eight long tables in the center. On every table lay the remains of a corpse, each with a large hole in the midsection just below the rib cage.

"The room is labeled, the Sacrificial Chamber. I can only assume this is where they conducted their rituals," Bulma said as she translated the some of the writing on the walls.

"How nice of them to take out their hearts," Coleman noted as he looked closer.

"Humph, I would think most humans would be intelligent enough to know their own anatomy. I guess I was wrong," Vegeta scoffed.

"An expert at tearing out vital organs eh?" Coleman said smugly.

"You have no idea, fool. But that isn't where your heart is. And judging by the way the bones are twisted, I'd say something came out from the inside," Vegeta said.

"Glad whatever it was is probably long gone and dead by now," Bulma pointed out.

"Perhaps," Vegeta replied as he felt a cold wind blow through. His senses picked something up briefly in the area, but he couldn't locate it before it vanished.

"What is it dad?" Trunks whispered when he saw his father's battle ready grimace.

"Be on your guard boy; we are not alone," he said.

A/n: Okay, it all looks familiar right? I wouldn't bet on that continuing.

WDG: I hope it won't continue that way. There'd be no fun in it if things were that predictable. :P

VB: Oh stop whining, you're on the edge of your seat and I know it!

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