Shiver. Achoo! King Piccolo gritted his teeth in annoyance at the sound of Bulma's shivering, and he glared over at her.
"What is wrong with you!" King Piccolo barked. "You have the heat on full blast and you're still cold!"
"Of course I am! That lake was freezing!" Bulma argued. "And in case you haven't noticed, I'm not wearing anything!"
"Oh, I noticed." King Piccolo said with a nasty smirk. "It's a shame you aren't younger; you may have been more noticeable."
"What!" Bulma roared.
"How rude!" Chichi frowned. "You know, it's not easy to keep your figure once you've had a child!"
"That's right!" Bulma huffed. "And for your information, I'm – … wait." She looked at Chichi. "What the hell do you mean, Chichi? My figure is better than yours!"
"Is it not!" Chichi pouted. "I'll have you know I'm the slimmest woman in our village, and I've had two children!"
"Yeah, it shows." Bulma sniped.
"Shut up!"

King Piccolo watched in amusement as the two women started barking at each other. They certainly had confidence issues, didn't they? Well… actually, they were slim enough, but both of them could do with toning themselves – especially Goku's wife. She didn't have much in the way of definition, and then there were those calloused hands of hers… And the blue-haired woman had wrinkles; maybe they weren't visible to all those other poor-sighted humans, but King Piccolo's namekian eyes could see that Bulma was certainly middle-aged – and no amount of make-up could hide that from him. Hmm. What a shame… In their younger days these two women would have been quite the visions. Still… why did they keep blaming their loss of looks on their children? Producing offspring had been a drain on King Piccolo, but only because he had to create that offspring himself, with his own energy. The human process was different, wasn't it? They two didn't look old because they had become mothers; they looked old because they were humans.
"What does it matter how many children you've had?" King Piccolo frowned. "You are humans with weak bodies. Of course you've aged."
"Weak bodies!" Chichi yelled. "I'll show you who has a weak body, you overgrown slug!" She started to march over to him, but was stopped dead in her tracks when a sudden swipe from King Piccolo knocked her to the floor. Chichi cried out, then glared up at him. "You – aii!" She yelped as King Piccolo clasped his hand around her face and started to crush her cheeks.
"You were saying?" King Piccolo smirked. 'Overgrown slug'? Bitch.
"Hey! Let go of her!" Bulma screamed.
"Oh, shut up! You were just arguing with her!" King Piccolo snarled.
"Yeah but she's still my friend!" Bulma snapped. "Let go!"

King Piccolo looked down at Chichi and watched as she struggled to pull herself out of his grasp. Tch. She was pathetic. She wasn't even worth torturing. King Piccolo glared at Chichi and snorted disapprovingly, then released her from his grip. Chichi pulled herself away as quickly as she could and rubbed her cheeks, shooting King Piccolo a nasty glare.
"Bastard." She growled.
"Old hag." King Piccolo muttered.
"Old hag!" Chichi roared and jumped onto her feet. She started to move towards him again when King Piccolo raised his hand at her, stopping her in her tracks. She looked at him hesitantly, then met his eyes.
"Go on." King Piccolo smirked. "I dare you."
"… Whatever." Chichi pouted, and reluctantly sat back down. King Piccolo sniggered in amusement. Just as he'd thought. She was a coward.

The three of them sat in awkward silence for a moment, until King Piccolo was once again distracted by Bulma's shivering.
"Stop it!" He barked. "Why are you so weak!"
"Shut up!" Bulma argued. "I'm hardly wearing any clothes!"
"Frikiza wears barely any clothes and she doesn't get cold." King Piccolo growled.
"Who's Frikiza?" Bulma frowned.
"His girlfriend." Chichi replied.
"She's not my girlfriend!" King Piccolo yelled.
"Oh, right." Bulma said with a smirk. "You mean the Frieza you're fucking?"
"She isn't Frieza!" King Piccolo roared, his rage building. They were driving him crazy. What was wrong with these women? Did they want to die! He would gladly kill them. Oh, he would disembowel them!
"So she never bothers you with shivering, huh?" Bulma grunted.
"No." King Piccolo snarled. "And she's had a child and it hasn't aged her, so don't try to use your offspring as an excuse for becoming unattractive."
"Unattractive, huh?" Bulma snorted. "Compared to her?" She looked at him. "So… she still looks pretty good?"
"Yes." King Piccolo growled. "Flawless. She is nothing like you."
"Uh-huh." Bulma uttered, and glanced at Chichi. "Well I'm sorry." Bulma said with a smirk. "We can't all be as perfect as Frikiza."
"Yeah, sorry we're not as amazing as her." Chichi sniggered, and the two women started to giggle.
"What!" King Piccolo barked. Why were they laughing? They were laughing at him! "Are you mocking me!" He roared.
"Of course not!" Bulma protested.
"Just making an observation." Chichi replied, and they started giggling again. King Piccolo tapped his claws against the floor in anger. Bitches… He'd had just about enough of this. They wouldn't be laughing for long. Not when he had decapitated Goku's wife –
"Oh, hey!" Bulma exclaimed. "We're here!"
"Hm?" King Piccolo looked at her, and suddenly grew impatient. "Well, what are you waiting for!" He yelled. "Land this thing!"
"Okay! Wait!" Bulma scolded, and let out a frustrated sigh.

XXXXX

Meanwhile, in Otherworld, Frikiza's face was bright purple as she watched the scene.
"He thinks I'm flawless…?" She uttered, looking down shyly.
"What?" King Yemma blinked, and stared at her. "Frikiza – all he wants from you is your body, so of course he likes it."
"Yeah, but he never said it like that before…" Frikiza smiled. "He said he likes my body, but he never called me flawless…"
"So what?" Fortune-teller Baba scolded. "Just because he has a crush on you that doesn't mean he's not going to destroy Earth."
"You think he has a crush on me?" Frikiza gasped. Really? Did Piccolo really like her that much…?
"Well… I don't know." Baba shrugged. "Maybe – but that doesn't make him a good person!"
"Oh, well… it means he could be good." Frikiza replied, her heart skipping a beat as she thought about it. Piccolo having a crush on her… turning into a good person because of her… This was a dream come true! "It's a start!" Frikiza exclaimed. "This is what I've been telling you guys! Piccolo can be good!"
"That doesn't mean he will be." King Yemma grunted.
"I know, but please just give him a chance!" Frikiza pleaded. "Something good will come from all this, I just know it."
"Hm." Baba sneered, not convinced. "Just remember Frikiza, if he does something bad, I'm getting your hot tub."
"Yeah, that's fine…" Frikiza nodded, turning back to the TV. "… I can't believe he called me flawless!" She squealed and turned bright purple again, causing King Yemma and Fortune-teller Baba to fall over.

XXXXX

Back on Earth, King Piccolo watched impatiently as Bulma and Chichi searched for the dragonball. What was taking them so long? She said she'd found it!
"Where is it!" King Piccolo demanded.
"I don't know, it says it's around here…" Bulma mumbled, fiddling with the dragon radar. She looked around; they were at the bottom of a mountain with nothing but rocks and bushes around them, and had been looking for twenty minutes already.
"Maybe it's broken?" Chichi suggested.
"No – it can't be. It found the others okay." Bulma frowned. She started to look around again. "It must be under a rock or something. Maybe we just missed it –" She stopped suddenly when a large shadow swooped over her, and Bulma looked up. "… Oh wow." She uttered. "It's… up there."

King Piccolo and Chichi followed her gaze up the mountain, until their eyes finally settled on a gathering of branches, on top of which was a giant bird's nest, and the owner of the shadow… a pterodactyl.
"What!" Chichi gasped. "You mean he has the dragonball?"
"Well… I can't see it." Bulma admitted, staring up at the nest. "But it must be there – we've looked everywhere else."

King Piccolo studied the nest. He could see much clearer than the women; he could see a large egg through the branches of the nest, and something sparkling… Yes. That was it. It was his dragonball!
"It's there." King Piccolo stated, and smirked down at the women. "Your eyes are terrible."
"Shut up!" Bulma frowned. "What's the point in seeing it anyway? I have no idea how to get to it! If I fly the jet anywhere near her egg she'll attack –"
"Don't worry." King Piccolo said, interrupting her. He looked down at Bulma and smirked arrogantly. "This one's on me."

Bulma and Chichi watched as King Piccolo flew up to the nest and slowly reached out towards the dragonball.
"No…" Bulma whimpered. "It's going to attack!"
"Don't worry, he'll be fine." Chichi growled. "I hope it attacks."
"Yeah but what if it comes after us!" Bulma gasped.
"Oh…" Chichi mumbled, suddenly following her logic. Damn. They both tensed up as they watched the pterodactyl raise its wings and squawk aggressively at King Piccolo, but he simply clasped his hand around its beak, sealing it shut, and threw the dragonball into his mouth before he released the dinosaur and effortlessly glided back down to Bulma and Chichi. King Piccolo looked at them, and sniggered at the shocked expressions on their faces.
"What?" He snorted. "Did you think I could be harmed by a mere animal? Don't be fools." He turned round and headed back into the jet. "Come on."

Bulma waited until King Piccolo was inside the jet, and looked at Chichi.
"Actually… I'm kind of surprised how calm he was." She blinked.
"Yeah, that dinosaur didn't really seem afraid…" Chichi mumbled. "I thought he would have killed her."
"I was expecting him to just shoot the nest down." Bulma shrugged. "Hey…" She looked at Chichi. "How did he even get a girlfriend anyway? Wasn't he supposed to be in hell?"
"Yeah, but she was his counsellor. She was supposed to be turning him into a good person." Chichi explained. She folded her arms and grunted stubbornly. "Not that it worked."
"Well… Chichi, I think it might have done." Bulma replied. "I mean – he did just choose not to kill something, right?"
"Uh…" Chichi blinked. Wow… Bulma had a point there. That monster had just gone out of his way to get that dragonball, when he could have just destroyed the nest and caught it as it fell down… Could he… could he have really…?
"Shut up!" King Piccolo's booming voice came from behind them.

The women turned round to see King Piccolo glaring at them, his face filled with rage after hearing every word. "You… You think I've gone soft?" He seethed. "You want me to kill it? Fine! Have it your way!"
"No!" The women screamed as King Piccolo raised his hand towards the nest and fired a ki blast right into it, causing both the pterodactyl and her egg to go flying into the air. King Piccolo smirked evilly as he watched the pterodactyl scream, her eyes widening in horror as she watched her egg falling towards the ground.
"Oh my God!" Bulma cried.
"No!" Chichi gasped, and leapt up into the air. She managed to catch the egg just in time, and landed with it safely in her arms.
"Phew." Bulma sighed, closing her eyes in relief. "Good work, Chichi."
"Tch." King Piccolo grunted disapprovingly. How pathetic. It wasn't even her egg! "Such weaklings. You should have let it smash."
"How can you say that!" Chichi barked. "Your children are born from eggs too!"
"My eggs wouldn't smash." King Piccolo smirked. "And even if they did, it would be all they deserved for being too weak to survive."
"You're a monster." Chichi hissed.
"Point proven." King Piccolo winked, a look of satisfaction sweeping across his face. "Now. Come." He turned back towards the jet, and the two women followed him inside.

Bulma glared at King Piccolo as she sat down. What a bastard… and he was smirking! He was so proud of himself. Well… He wouldn't be soon, when Vegeta found him. Where the hell was Vegeta anyway? He'd better come to her rescue soon! Couldn't he sense that she was in danger? The jerk. "What are you waiting for?" King Piccolo growled, glaring at Bulma impatiently. "Take me to the next one."

Bulma hesitated. The next dragonball was the last one… Dammit. She'd hoped Vegeta would have come by now… What if they got the last dragonball before Vegeta found them…? There was nothing else she could do; she would have to fake its location. But what if he saw the dragon radar…? He'd kill her for lying to him! Unless she could tamper with it. All she had to do was make it look like the dragonball was somewhere it wasn't. Okay… she could do that. "Hey!" King Piccolo barked. "I will not ask you again. You aren't the only one that can use that device, and you aren't my only bargaining chip. So if I were you, I would go to that dragonball now."
"Sorry." Bulma replied. She grabbed hold of the dragon radar and stared at it. Okay… here goes nothing. "I was just thinking, I think this needs adjusting."
"Adjust it?" King Piccolo frowned. "What do you mean? It's working perfectly."
"No, it's not." Bulma replied, shaking her head. "If it was working then it would have told me the dragonball was above ground. I think I need to recalibrate it." Bulma held her breath, and awaited his reply. Please buy it… please.
"Don't bother, it doesn't need to be that accurate." King Piccolo grunted, causing Bulma's heart to sink. "This is the last one, so just take me to it!"
"Okay…" Bulma mumbled. Dammit… She couldn't risk tampering with the radar in front of him; he would know she was up to something. It was no use… She'd just have to buy Vegeta some time, somehow. Bulma looked down at the radar, and the location of the final dragonball. Okay… it was in a city. That was good. It would be harder to find in the city – maybe that would give him enough time… "Vegeta…" Bulma silently begged. "Hurry up!"

Bulma glanced at Chichi, who stared back with a worried expression on her face. She was thinking the exact same thing, Bulma could tell. As soon as they found this dragonball, they were as good as dead. Crap… Bulma reluctantly started up the engine, and headed for the final dragonball.

XXXXX

"Hurry up!" Vegeta froze when he heard Bulma's voice echoing through his mind. Bulma…
"Bulma!" He roared, racing through the wilderness. "Bulma, where are you!" She had to be around here somewhere. He could just about feel her ki; it was faint but… fuck! Now it had gone! Why was she moving away from him! "Bulma!" Vegeta silently screamed, but he got no response. He couldn't see her or sense her or feel her… dammit! Where the hell had that bastard taken her? That namek was dead! Dead! No amount of regeneration would fix what Vegeta was going to do to that alien freak! Vegeta was going to vaporise him! He was going to wipe every last trace of him from existence! Vegeta's ki exploded as he turned super saiyan and he bolted through the air, his eyes filled with rage. It wouldn't be long now… Vegeta could cover the entire planet in just a couple of hours. Soon enough, he would send King Piccolo to hell.

XXXXX

Bulma sat nervously as she piloted the jet, desperately trying to think of a way she could alter the dragon radar without King Piccolo noticing. Dammit… Dammit!
"Think, Bulma!" She scolded herself. There must be a way. There had to be a way to – huh? Bulma frowned in confusion when she suddenly felt warm. What the hell? She looked down to see that she was suddenly fully clothed. What? How had that happened?
"Perhaps now you could stop shivering?" King Piccolo growled from behind her. What? Had he done this…? Bulma turned around to look at him, her eyes widening.
"You… gave me clothes?" She uttered.
"Will you stop it now?" King Piccolo demanded. "It's irritating."
"… I'll try." Bulma mumbled. Wow…

Bulma looked down at her clothing. It looked like a martial arts gi… It wasn't really her taste, but it sure was warm! He didn't seem like the generous type… "Thanks."
"Shut up!" King Piccolo snapped. "I didn't do it for you! Your shivering was pissing me off!"
"Okay." Bulma replied, holding back a smirk. She looked at Chichi, who stared back with a confused expression on her face. Yeah, ditto.

Chichi's expression quickly changed when she caught a glimpse of the demon symbol on Bulma's back.
"Oh my God!" Chichi gasped. "Bulma – he put his own mark on you!"
"What!" Bulma cried out, leaping up.
"Hey!" King Piccolo roared as the jet began to plummet downwards.
"Crap!" Bulma yelped and grabbed hold of the controls, stabilising their flight. She flicked the jet into autopilot and attempted to look at the back of her clothing. "Okay – what the hell have you done!" She yelled. "Vegeta's gonna flip if he sees this!"
"Don't worry." King Piccolo smirked. "He'll be dead shortly after."
"I'm serious! What the hell is wrong with you!" Bulma barked. "I don't want to be part of the demon club!"
"Well if you want to take it off, be my guest." King Piccolo shrugged, and looked at her tauntingly. "But when I own the world, you will have to wear that if you want to be my servant."
"I don't want to be your servant!" Bulma yelled.
"Well then you'll die." King Piccolo answered bluntly. "Along with your husband." He looked at Chichi, and smirked. "And yours."
"Like hell he will!" Chichi snarled. "Listen – you are not taking over the world! Goku won't let you!"
"Goku isn't here." King Piccolo sneered. "He's on another planet."
"What!" Chichi gasped. "How… How do you know that?"
"I heard you." King Piccolo said. He looked at her, his eyes twinkling sinisterly as he relished in her horror. "So why don't you stop pretending? We both know your hero Goku isn't coming to save you. He doesn't even know you're in danger."
"Yes he does!" Chichi argued. "King Kai would have told him!"
"Oh?" King Piccolo taunted. "So why isn't he here?"
"… Shut up!" Chichi screamed, and threw herself at King Piccolo. "He'll come! Just you wait! He's on his way over here right now, and when he gets here he's going to tear you apart!" She yelled at him whilst hurling a torrent of kicks and punches at King Piccolo, all of which were easily avoided by the demon king. "You…" Chichi panted breathlessly, unwilling to give up. "Monster!" She threw her arm out and grabbed King Piccolo's antennae, causing him to howl in pain.
"Get off me!" He screamed.
"No!" Chichi yelled, tugging on his antennae as hard as she possibly could.
"I'm warning you!" King Piccolo snarled, clenching his fists in agony as a sharp, white pain flooded his skull.
"Chichi, what the hell are you doing!" Bulma cried. "Let go of him, he's going to kill you!"
"No he won't!" Chichi argued. "He needs us!"
"He needs one of us!" Bulma protested. "This is suicide!"

King Piccolo glared at Chichi.
"I would listen to your friend if I were you." He hissed. "Get – agghhhh!" He screamed in agony when Chichi moved her face to his antennae and bit down on them, almost cutting his antennae in half. "You bitch!" King Piccolo threw out his arm and clasped it around Chichi's throat. Her eyes widened as he ripped her away from him, taking his own antennae with her. He held her up by her throat and started to tighten his grip, watching as Chichi began fighting for breath.
"Let her go!" Bulma screamed. "Please – she didn't mean it! Let her go!"
"Chichi…" King Piccolo snarled, glaring at the woman. He groaned slightly as he regenerated his antennae, and smirked as Chichi tried desperately to pull herself out of his grasp. "You should have listened to your friend." King Piccolo said. He tightened his grip, ignoring Bulma's screaming as Chichi slowly suffocated in front of him. Any minute now… It was too bad Goku wasn't here to see this. King Piccolo had wanted to kill Goku's wife in front of him, but he couldn't let these women get away with any more attitude. She would be an example to her friend – evidence of what would happen if Bulma didn't do exactly what he said. Any second now. Slowly… slowly… –
"Father! Whatever you're doing, stop it!" What the hell? King Piccolo frowned. That was Junior's voice in his head. How did Junior know he was here? … Shit! That bitch Frikiza! She'd told him! Why did she always have to intervene! Why couldn't he just go a single day without her! Why didn't she die already!
"Shut up, Junior." King Piccolo spoke back to his son telepathically. "Either join me or stay away."
"Father, where are you?" Oh… He didn't know where they were? King Piccolo smirked. Wonderful. Even Junior couldn't stop him now. "Father, please! Stop what you're doing!"
"I'm killing Goku's wife." King Piccolo replied. "Did you want to watch?"
"What? No! Stop! Please!" Hm… Junior really was attached to that family, wasn't he? The worthless little traitor. Tch. Well… King Piccolo would show him. If he was so attached to that family, he could watch them die.

King Piccolo looked at Chichi, and smirked.
"Change of plan." He said, loosening his grip on her. "I'm going to wait for my son to arrive before I kill you. Then maybe he'll start doing what he's told." He dropped Chichi to the floor, and watched as she breathed great lungfuls of air, desperately trying to catch her breath. "Okay, Junior. I let her go. I'll let you know when I'm invincible, then you can come and watch me kill her."
"Thank you." Piccolo Junior replied bluntly. "Where are you? Where is Frikiza?"
"She's not here!" King Piccolo barked. "Why the hell does everyone keep mentioning Frikiza! I don't care about her!"
"I never said you did –"
"Shut up, Junior!" King Piccolo snapped. "Just think about whose side you want to be on, because that will determine how long you live!" He snarled angrily and blocked Piccolo Junior out of his mind. Tch. Little brat. He didn't even know Frikiza! Why was he asking about her? Why was King Piccolo the only one not obsessed with Frikiza?

XXXXX

Meanwhile, on the other side of the wilderness, Piccolo Junior was trying to get back in touch with his father.
"Father! Father, answer me!" He demanded, but it was no good. King Piccolo was ignoring him. Just because Piccolo Junior had mentioned Frikiza? Was there something going on between those two…? "Ew! No way!" Piccolo Junior thought to himself, and shivered in disgust. Whatever… He had to find him. This was worse than Piccolo Junior had thought – he'd had no idea his father had kidnapped Chichi! Why the hell wasn't Goku here? And wherever King Piccolo was, he was far away; Piccolo Junior couldn't sense his ki. Unless he was supressing it… Shit! "Vegeta!" Piccolo Junior called out. No answer… He couldn't feel Vegeta's ki nearby either. Dammit! Where the hell was everybody! He had to tell Gohan… Piccolo Junior had hoped to find his father on his own, but if he'd taken Chichi, and possibly Vegeta's wife, there had to be as many people as possible looking for him before he did something terrible. Piccolo Junior turned, and raced towards Gohan's house, desperately hoping that Gohan was home.