Vegeta Muyo!

by Llwchwr

A year after the Buu saga the Z warriors continue life in peace until tragedy strikes, a family is shattered and hearts broken. One Saiyan excommunicates himself and lives as a hermit training day and night until one day a visitor crashes into his life.

22. Vegeta Muyo! Chapter 22

Chapter 22

"You bastard! Don't you dare take pity upon me, Kakarot. You're doing the same thing now that you did during our fight before Buu. I won't let you sabotage my pride like that ever again, don't try and deceive me, let me see your full power. Am I truly that weak that you always have to hold back when in my presence? I know because of my training over the last few days I am barely at half my maximum strength but, damn it, I know you are stronger than this! Show me! Show me what death has cost me!"

Two super Saiyan 3's stand engulfed in a raging, golden conflagration. One pointing towards the other stood calmly with his shining arms crossed against his light emitting chest. Both having well and truly practised this transformation so that they can easily ascend to it without causing extreme damage to the environment, but still the sparking energy radiating from them electrifies the air and dances in lethal arcs all about. Vegeta and Goku stare at each other, the Saiyan prince's breathing intensifying and quickening part due to anger and part due to the exertion of this form. He lowers his arm and awaits for the low class warrior to make his move, gritting his teeth and tensing his muscles in preparation.

Hovering in the air above them, Ryoko drearily floats about. Proximity to Vegeta is too painful for her, and not entirely due to her broken heart. The all engulfing pain in her breast is now being accompanied by a keen and penetrating ache inside her skull. Vegeta opened her up to the world of ki sensing, as he also opened her up to love, and at the moment all his gifts are giving her is intense pain. Such mind-numbingly absurd levels of power are being generated below her and she can't handle it, akin to a blinding light being forcefully shone into her eyes. Its pain though is only a dullness compared to that wracking her very soul, the knowledge of being unloved and that all her efforts so far have achieved her absolutely nothing but merciless agony. All those dreams and hopes she had slowly being crushed under a Saiyan boot.

Ryoko lands on the roof, curling herself up into a ball out of sight. Her tears flowing as the bright red poppy is blown out of her hair by the gushing winds emanating from the omnipotent Saiyan fathers. The slightest and smallest comfort that is keeping her together is the fact that Vegeta's lack of love and affection for her is also shared with that of her Juraian rival. Although Vegeta is now too concerned with his own nemesis to care for her feelings, let alone those of Ayeka he worked so hard to defend.

"Do we really have to do this now, Vegeta? If you really want me to … I'll go 100%, you won't like it though. But, I think you have other things you should be dealing with right now."

"Shut up! I decide what I should and should not be concerned about. You don't understand, you never have and you never will because of your soft, human upbringing. … I … I tried, Kakarot. I tried to put it behind me, to let my pride go and allow you the limelight. You deserved it, you were the best. None compared to you when we fought Buu, bar your son and that temporary boost he got from that filthy kai. … Each day that passed it bothered me less and less until I had entirely given up on ever attaining your level of strength. My training lessened. Some days I didn't even train at all, just relaxed about the house… and it felt good. I started to spend time with my family, to enjoy life and being with my son and my wife. I never did thank you, Kakarot. Even though you destroyed my honour and my pride time and time again, your victory over me was the turning point in my life that led me to her, to Bulma. I never felt more alive then on those days and nights I spent in her company. I was slowly becoming the man my wife and my son deserved … but it was all too late. She died, Kakarot! She died! I lost her to a damn microbe. I was too ignorant, too arrogant and pathetic to notice my own wife slipping through my fingers to a place I cannot follow her and-and-and because of her and her love and my love for her … I was finally able to compete with you."

After so long of keeping it bottled up inside of him, Vegeta lets it all flow out of him. The year of pain, grief and sorrow culminating in this confession to the Saiyan he despises the most, but also has the most respect and admiration for. Before this there was only ever one person he would dare discuss such things with, and she now is the main subject of the conversation. His aura rages and burns in synch with the fiery passion of his words. The warrior so often devoid of emotion sinks to his knees with his head in his hands, not sobbing but growling. Vegeta's detest and self loathing for his own lesser power boiling within his veins along with the godlike amount of ki as he stares at Goku through his hands, with eyes of a broken man. With a snarl, Vegeta curls a fist and slams it into his own face. He spits out blood onto the wilted and charred grass, now ready to stand back up.

Two sets of eyes look on at the Saiyan prince in shock of this sentimental behaviour that the proud warrior has never indulged in before. She looks at him, peeking over the edge of the roof, seeing within him the same inner turmoil and anguish threatening to destroy her. Ryoko mouths his name. It cuts deep when she hears him talk about his love for his wife, the depth of the adulation and devotion he still feels for her even after her passing. She realises she can't blame him for staying loyal and dedicated to his other half even after death for during the brief period in which Vegeta had also left the realm of the living she could not say how long it would have taken her to get over it had he never been brought back. Ayeka is no longer her main rival, the impassable obstacle blocking her own desires of romance from being fulfilled is nothing more than a ghost and a memory.

"My wife died, allowing me to ascend. Bulma … Bulma is the sole reason that I can stand here, in this form, challenging you. You ask of me to ju-just squander and throw away my wife's final gift to me?! Make it so that she died for nothing, her death to be in vain? … She gave me strength. Strength that I alone was incapable of gaining, unlike you, and I will see it put to the only use I care about. Kakarot, I need to do this. I have to surpass and beat you. As much for her pride as for mine. Go full power, Kakarot, I need to know what I have to exceed … for Bulma." Vegeta's whispered voice is only just loud enough for it to be heard over the thunder of two super Saiyan 3's. Goku nods at Vegeta. He understands now, the reason why Vegeta has suddenly become utterly hell-bent on taking him down. His initial thought all that time ago when Vegeta spontaneously challenged him was that by losing one of the few links he has tying him to a 'normal' Earth life he had reverted backwards into his egotistical and proud nature where nothing mattered to him except being the best. He was wrong. Goku's assumption turns out to be way off the mark; Vegeta is not doing this for himself, but for the memory of the one he loves as he knows of nothing else he could do to bring honour to her.

Quietly, Vegeta thanks Goku as he takes a few steps backwards and shrinks his own aura so it is barely visible. Smiling, Goku once again warns Vegeta that he won't like what he is about to be shown and once again Vegeta tells him that he would only be able to hide the truth from him for so long. The hairs on Ryoko's fake tail raise as the static build-up in the air grows. Goku braces his legs and very gradually releases more and more of his untapped power. Miniscule tremors and cracks run through the lakeside, even with Goku being as careful as he can, this level of power can only ever cause destruction wherever it is unleashed. Silently, his power rises and rises, not stopping as it destroys whatever notion Vegeta had of his rival's true power.

In an infernal blaze of sheer power and strength, Goku stands. A stone cold and stern expression on his face as he watches his comrade nearly crumble into dust at the power he is sensing. Flexing the fingers of each hand, the Earth raised Saiyan lets out a deep breath and dissipates his aura. Silence reigns as he transforms back down into his black haired base state. Paralysed and stunned by the terrible mass of power he just sensed, Vegeta roars, a terrifying and bloodcurdling scream of impotent rage and failure. Fissures burst open and hewn boulders rocket into the sky as Vegeta all too quickly reaches the zenith of what he can manage in his exhausted state. His pride withers to an empty husk as he tries to push it further, willing his body to output more ki but he has plateaued. Vegeta shakes his head in disbelief. The great and mighty Saiyan prince barely reached over a third of Goku's maximum power.

" … Vegeta, I know how much this means to you , but-"

"But nothing! Of course the clown gets a Zenkai boost the likes of which we haven't seen since Namek the one time he is defeated whilst I never did all those times my strength proved ineffective, it's just my goddamn lot in this world isn't it? Curse you, Kakarot, why are you always so much stronger than me! … I'm not out of the game yet. I … I can surpass you, right now. Your reign over me will end!" Fires rage in the prince's blue eyes as he tenses all of his muscles in preparation for what he is about to attempt, a most dangerous feat that might not even work. Fruitlessly, Goku tries to calm down and pacify the Saiyan enraged by being eclipsed to such a degree. Goku's words do not get through the thick skull of Vegeta as he continues to channel more and more energy. A smirk plays across the desperate prince's face and the low class warrior realises all too late what he is about to attempt. Before a single word of warning can be said, Vegeta risks it all for the sake of power in an ear splitting scream.

"KAIOKEN!"

A red star births itself on the planet as the whole lakeside is engulfed in a flash of crimson light. For a fraction of a microsecond a truly godlike power stands on the Earth. Such power brings Ryoko tumbling off of the roof clutching at her head, the level of ki boring into her brain like a searing hot drill. Thudding to the floor and writhing in pain, the screams of Ryoko are masked in the tempestual storm of energy. Then, as soon as it began, the ki level and signature completely vanishes.

Woozy from the sudden pain, Ryoko wearily pushes herself up, looking about to see what happened. She screams in alarm and panic. Just a few inches before her face lies Vegeta back in base form, and she cannot sense his energy whatsoever. Her feline eyes dart about in worry as she looks to the other Saiyan stood there and shaking his head and then to the house but no one is coming out or making any effort to help him at all. Teleporting so that she is knelt by his side, she places two fingers pale and cold with fear to his throat and jerks it back after a few seconds of waiting. In a hushed voice she continually repeats the word 'no' over and over again, shaking her head wildly in denial of what logic is dictating. Ryoko failed to sense a pulse. She cannot sense his energy. Only one conclusion remains to her, but Goku hardly seems worried in the slightest that the only other of his race is laying still and unmoving on the ground.

It is all down to her now; Goku is not helping and with time being of the essence she cannot afford to mess around trying to get help from inside, she must act. Ryoko knows the procedure and how to do it, being a pirate for so long she has seen it done many a time, yet she pauses and wastes precious seconds in thought over what she has to do. Timidly, she leans over the prone body of Vegeta, her heart beating wildly and still openly bleeding from his rejection. Trepidation and worry creeps and slithers throughout her mind, Ryoko's breaths becoming shallower and faster as her face gets closer to his. She stops herself, their lips inches apart. A tinge of redness graces her cheeks, moisture forms within her eyes again as her beating heart races ever faster and more painfully. She steels herself in preparation for her next action. With her cyan hair falling past her face and around his, her lips quiver and twitch as the gap between hers and Vegeta's narrow to millimetres.

Vegeta sits up straight, eyes snapping open and alert, and accidentally head-butts the face right before his. Recoiling away in pain as she clutches at her nose, Ryoko looks on in confusion at Vegeta's miraculous recovery. Tears and blood trickle down her face, both she tries to wipe away on the back of her jacket's sleeve, but they just keep on flowing. The ki signature of Vegeta is back, much lower than it was before but Ryoko is just thankful that it is there. Goku asks Vegeta how he's feeling and whether he's ok, Vegeta ignores him. All the Saiyan prince does to acknowledge Goku's presence is to point at the bobbing yellow cloud, his eyes are focused on another individual. Goku complies, hopping onto his flying nimbus and calling his son as he leaves with Chichi's lost bag in his hand. Father and son fly off over the horizon, Ryoko and Vegeta are left alone, outside and on the floor.

After being delayed for quite a while, Ryoko's time she was promised with Vegeta has belatedly come about, however now all she wants to do is to go and be somewhere else. He apologises to her. Ryoko maneuverers herself so she faces away from him. The crimson liquid fails to dye the black material of her right-hand sleeve, her sobs are quiet and muted and her nose continues to bleed despite her attempts to stem the bleeding. A small and slightly charred patch of elasticated blue fabric flutters down into her lap, she doesn't look at him, just picks it up and begins using it to clean and dry her face. It's warm to the touch and if she wasn't suffering from a blow to the nose then she would be able to clearly smell his musky scent on it – which in turn would cause a different suffering for her.

Now standing behind the space pirate, Vegeta breathes deeply as he recuperates from his extremely rash power surge. In normal form Kaioken is viable as the strain put on his body he can easily handle, but when combined with that of the already monumental strain and exertion from the third super Saiyan form the power boost just becomes way too much for his body to handle. It nearly completely drained him of everything in one heartbeat, and his heartbeats are a lot more infrequent then that of regular beings, hence Ryoko's mistake of presuming him to need CPR. For now he wouldn't be able to use the training room even if he could, he needs time to regain most of his lost ki wasted in a pointless technique; it might have allowed his power level to be on par with Goku's but it completely wiped him out in the process. Vegeta spies movement coming from the doorway of his house.

A delicate hand places itself onto the man's shoulder and long, red hair tickles his arms as the woman leans in close and whispers into his ear.

" Weren't you the noble gentleman then, helping out those poor women … and being altogether too friendly with that blonde. If my little guinea pig starts getting any funny ideas then it won't be allowed outside of its cage, understand? … I know about all those many, many tales concerning your little indiscretions, Yamcha. You try and pull anything like that with me … and you'll be waking up on that table with a different one of your organs missing. Ok?" Yamcha freezes upon hearing these words being susurrated into his ear from the rosy lips of his lover. Nervously trying to laugh it off, he playfully puts his arm around Washu and hugs her close to him, kissing her on the forehead and saying many a sweet nothings to her. Yamcha reiterates to her that he would never do such a thing to her amidst the copious flood of flattery and blarney. That is until he catches a glimpse of the deadly serious threat lying within her verdant emerald eyes and the sly, almost reptilian, smirk of hers.

Abrasive metal scrapes across his flesh as Washu brings out an object from thin air. Two blades open and close, open and close as she holds them in front of her face. Needless to say, Yamcha is no longer hugging her but stood outside the house and hurriedly backing away from her with a very worried expression. The scientist continues to snip the old and rusted pair of scissors in her hand as her smirk becomes a malicious grin. Mysterious stains coat the blades of the scissors, whether it is merely corrosion or something altogether less pleasant only Washu knows.

Ignoring the weeping Ryoko knelt on the grass for he is not too sure how Washu would take him going away from her to talk to a different woman, Yamcha walks up to Vegeta looking quite nervous. Right now though it isn't the Saiyan prince who is instilling fear into his heart but his girlfriend who is clearly just misunderstanding his kind and caring nature for something completely different. He asks Vegeta how long ago Goku left and that he should have at least said goodbye to him. From under a heavyset frown, eyes mercilessly bore into him, no reply is given. That conversation died before it even began, a frosty air of unwelcome is all that is offered his way from the Saiyan. Naturally, Yamcha's eyes drift towards the openly upset woman, he can only imagine at this point what might have caused her this upset but he doesn't have to guess at all for the who. Before any questions can be asked or formed in his head, Vegeta tells him to go and use some of his charm on Washu to get her to hurry up fixing his training room. Yamcha looks over his shoulder, the dull glint of well used metal can still be seen as Washu innocently waves at him all the while snipping the scissors slowly and deliberately in front of her.

"Uh, yeah, I wouldn't worry 'bout that if I were you. She's …uh, really making some good progress on it so she doesn't really need me at all for encouragement or owt. I'll just be going now to … to, umm, t-take a bath. Yeah, I've worked up a bit of a sweat and my hair's getting troublesome again so … See ya." Yamcha quickly disappears off, a gust of wind and dust trail blowing past Washu still with a menacing smile on her face. Turning around to face into the house and up the stairs where she hears a door slam shut, the magenta haired genius murmurs to herself that he cannot escape her that easily as she begins to ascend the staircase in pursuit of her lover.

A sigh quickly transitions into a full blown yawn. A hand lightly ruffles the hair on Ryoko's head as a Saiyan seats himself down again. Rolling his shoulders and massaging out the many cramps that have built up within his screaming muscles after his near fatal power up, Vegeta eases his body into a more relaxed state as he crosses his legs and closes his eyes. Before this whole hoo-ha began he was trying to be productive and meditate, so that is what he starts to do now, picking up where he left off as it were. A few gravely silent minutes pass by as the only thing that interacts with his body is the gentle breeze rolling down off the hills. Steadily, his mind starts slipping back into the Zen state of peace. His oneness with the flow of ki returns to him and it allows him to see how badly the Kaioken ravaged all of his reserves of energy.

A slight pressure is felt and his mind surfaces from its meditation due to this external stimuli. Ryoko's head is in his lap, her body curled up tightly around him, Vegeta pats her on the head gently as he opens up his eyes.

" … It's my time with you now. I – I don't care if you don't like it, but you promised you'd stay with me, and only me. …" Ryoko murmurs under her breath, if not for the enhanced hearing that Saiyans posses then Vegeta would have struggled hearing her poignant words. Her bloodshot, golden eyes look into the black depths of his colourless eyes, he sighs and pats her on the head again. Smiling down at her, Vegeta begins the task of undoing some of the hurt that his truthfulness has caused.

" I never said that I do not enjoy your company, nor do I intend on breaking that promise. I will keep you company for as long as is necessary… You are a brave one, Ryoko. Now you know the pain I suffer every waking moment. The pain of not being able to be with the one you love. However, in your case it's a little less permanent. In time I will be able to start thinking about you and Ayeka as potential lovers -"

"That ungrateful little bitch doesn't deserve you! Don't talk about that snot nosed, prissy princess like that, your way out of her league, just forget about her … and think about me." Not even with Vegeta being currently unavailable, Ryoko will not bury the hatchet and forget her intense dislike of the Juraian who hogged her Saiyan for so much of this day already. Vegeta strokes her hair again to calm her down. The soothing affect of his touch lessens the anger and emotion in her face, to a certain degree though.

" Ryoko, she is only waiting for the same thing as you and remember, at this moment in time both of you are on equal footing as to whom will succeed when the time comes."

"It's not fair though! What right's she got to try and steal you away from me, I was here first! She's got everything she could ever possibly want: money, palaces, crowns, half the Juraian empire would willingly ma- go out with her and … and a family. So … so if she takes you then what will have? If you leave me then I'll be all on my own again. … I'll have nothing." She buries her head into his body, holding on to him and curling up even tighter around him. A shuddering exhalation breathes warm air straight into the Saiyan's lap. Ryoko's emotional words do not sway Vegeta, the fact that her head is extremely close to a part of him he'd rather it wasn't does give him pause for thought.

" Life has never been about what's fair, but I understand, Ryoko. You've finally realised how desperately lonely your existence was as a pirate, how it doesn't matter at all how strong or powerful you are or how many you kill if there is no one for that power to protect. … Took me a lot longer to get to that epiphany, well, relative to my time on Earth, not my age, Ryoko."

"You-you meanie! First you say that you don't love me and now you're making fun of my … of my age! H-how – w-wh-why-"

"Shh, I'm just teasing you. Age is just a number, and physically you could still pass for someone I fathered with relative ease. … Ryoko, even if it is not you that I end up choosing, I want you to know that despite that you will always be welcome in my house. That is a promise. We survivors of the Planet trade organisation have got to stick together, right? You won't have to be lonely, I assure you." He smiles at her and feels some of the tension leaving her body and grip. Carefully, Vegeta rubs away the wetness in the corner of her eyes. Ryoko's hand darts out and grabs his, firmly holding on. Making a few comforting shushing sounds like he had to when his son was still learning how to fly, the two killers from space stay where they are in relative silence. Not speaking to each other, for there isn't much left to say, only Vegeta allowing her to satisfy a small part of her desires by giving Ryoko his time and his full attention.

Meanwhile in the room to the immediate right of Ayeka and Sasami's, the two newcomers to planet Earth busy themselves with unpacking the few outfits of clothes they had in their travel bags. Just like the two Juraian sisters, Kiyone and Mihoshi are sharing a room but only because Mihoshi pleaded with her partner to do so out of fear of being on her own in the scary man's house. Lucky for them there was one room left in the house that had any sort of furnishings in it so instead of having to sleep on the floorboards or the sofa downstairs they have two fresh and unused futons. Mihoshi claimed the one furthest from the door, putting several of her soft toys she brought with her around the pillow.

"When I said I wanted a promotion I didn't mean this. What the hell am I supposed to do here when every single criminal I meet I have to let go 'cos I can't arrest them." Kiyone sighs morosely, pushing some of her teal hair behind her shoulder and adjusting her head band again.

"Well it might not be the best job in the world but atleast you've still got me, Kiyone." Always cheerful and chipper, Mihoshi attempts to cheer up her partner. Humming to herself and messing around sorting out her stuffed animals, it's as if Mihoshi hardly cares at all that her life nearly ended a few minutes ago. Kiyone always admired this one singular trait of her partner; the way that no matter what life threw at her Mihoshi could always bounce right back up with a happy smile on her face.

"Yes. I know. What kind of luck must I have for this to happen."

"Oh, stop, you're gonna make me blush, Kiyone." Not picking up on the heavy sarcasm whatsoever, Mihoshi's obliviousness causes Kiyone to groan in frustration. With all their personal belongings neatly put away in their shared cupboard, Kiyone checks her only gun's charge and sits down on her futon with her head hung down in defeat. Her and this spare and outdated handgun have been through a lot. Right now it is as useful as a rather dull spoon in terms of defending her though she is thankful she had the foresight to pack a secondary firearm.

"Hey, losers!" A young, laddish voice shouts at them from the doorway to their room. Both police women jump out of their skin at the suddenness of his arrival and sound of his voice. A squeal of fright comes from Mihoshi as her mind flashes back towards the awful moment today when a man emerged from the air behind her and held a gun to the back of her head. Whilst the blonde police woman cowers holding her pillow over her head, Kiyone stands up again and looks at the lavender haired boy addressing them. Trunks' brows are furrowed in anger, his fists clenched and shaking with semi-repressed anger and most of that anger seems directed at them for some reason unbeknown to them.

"I don't care who you are or if you are with some space police or not, but I'm watching you so you best be careful. I have an awesome sword and if I see either of you trying to steal my dad away from me like all those other horrible women are then you can see first hand what I can do with it." With that abrupt threat, Trunks storms off down the corridor, the room shaking with each of his small footsteps. As the vibrations die down, Mihoshi peeks out of her hidey-hole at the now vacant doorway. Assured that there is no angry or threatening person there anymore, she goes to her partner's side and taps her on the shoulder to get her attention.

"Uhh … Kiyone? I don't suppose you know who that was just now?"

"And how would I? You were the one who that scruffy man talked to about living here and the other tenants." Kiyone disparagingly reminds her partner of the chat she had with Yamcha. She turns around to look at Mihoshi, who at the moment has the exact expression of a school child being told off by her teacher for forgetting her homework. Kiyone always calls her out on the mistakes she makes or when simple things slip her mind, Mihoshi might not like it that much but she will never learn from her mistakes if she doesn't know she is making them.

"Oh yeah … but I forgot what he said, Kiyone. There was just so much to learn and he didn't give me a chance to memorise any names, but you must know Kiyone. You are the best detective ever after all."

"Let's just say I'll hazard a guess and say that considering the very similar facial structure and temper that he takes after his father in enjoying to threaten people for no reason, so that means he's the Saiyan's son."

"Wow, I was thinking the same thing, Kiyone. That's why we're the number one team of detectives, isn't it?" Smiling infectiously at her best friend, Mihoshi starts humming again and fiddling about with her stuff. A small smile graces Kiyone's face as she watches Mihoshi peacefully enjoy herself, completely unfazed by these alien surroundings. The last time they shared a room like this was back when they both were studying in the academy as roommates; it feels like such a long time ago for Kiyone, all those long, sleepless nights of revising and cramming for exams, exercising in preparation for the physical tests and for all her hard work she still ends up in the same place as her laid back friend. One good thing that Kiyone can think of about being abandoned on this planet by her superiors is that at long last she has advanced a pay grade or two, however she doesn't think her Galaxy Police health insurance will cover her here which is unfortunate because she highly suspects she will need it.

All of a sudden, an agonised scream erupts from somewhere within the house. Jumping up ready for action, both police women leave their room in search for the point of origin of the scream as they have no knowledge of the layout of the house. As the scream dies down into silence, the two coppers carry on making their way stealthily down the corridor. Whoever made that awful sound was not too far away and on the same floor as them. Kiyone signals for Mihoshi to keep up with her and to watch her back. Nearing the end of the corridor they approach the final door, they take up breaching positions on either side of it, listening intently to gauge what kind of situation they might be dealing with. Their ears pressed up to the wood of the door make out the tell tale sounds of a scuffle, someone is being pinned down and gagged, and there is also a disturbingly wet sloshing sound accompanying the muffled cries for help.

Holding up her right hand and three fingers, then two fingers, then one, Kiyone nods at Mihoshi as she twists the door knob and swings the door wide open in one well practised manoeuvre. With Kiyone crouched down on her knees with her gun pointing into the room and Mihoshi stood up and peering into the room – for there isn't much else for her to do being weaponless – they see a growing pool of liquid working its way towards them along with the eyes of the two bathers. This time it is the police women's turn to scream. Hurriedly, Kiyone holsters her gun and exits the room, leaning heavily against the wall as her face becomes redder than her headband. Mihoshi, on the other hand, just continues to stand there dumbstruck and not knowing what to do.

Washu is pinning down Yamcha with her body, a gleaming, pinkish gem held in her right hand pressing into Yamcha's chest. Utilising this borrowed technology, she reminds Yamcha that despite his power, speed and strength she is the one who wears the trousers in this relationship. Feeling completely helpless and drained, Yamcha's eyes dart hopefully towards the blushing blonde still staring at him and Washu in one of the large bathing pools. Not exactly comfortable with being seen in the nude by a woman he doesn't really know, or anything else in this little predicament he has found himself in, Yamcha uses this moment when his lover is more occupied in glaring menacingly at the peeper to roll over. Now on top of Washu and having successfully dislodged the energy absorption gem from him, he tosses the sapping device into a far off pool.

A hand darts out and yanks Mihoshi backwards with a start and another slams the door shut. The two uniformed women look at each other, the same mixture of shock and embarrassment showing on their faces. That definitely was one way to welcome them to Earth. Preferring to rather forget about that scene than scold her partner for her inaction, the partnered pair amble their way down the corridor. Mihoshi's mouth opens but before her thoughts can manifest themselves into words Kiyone cuts her off and brusquely tells her not to, she does not want to think about that. Walking along in a subdued manner beside her best friend, Mihoshi continues to glance at Kiyone with rosiness still gracing both of their cheeks.

Arriving at the banister to the top of the stairs, the duo stop and rest, leaning against the wooden railing in ponderment about what they are supposed to do with themselves. Without having to wait too long, an answer is given to them. Another raised voice, but this time originating from outside of the house. Nodding to each other and confident they won't have a similar experience to what they just went through, the two uniformed officers hurdle the bannister, land with a forwards roll and rush to the large window of the living room to scope out what is occurring.

"Son, stop this now. Violence may solve a lot of things but this is not one of them. Stand down." Vegeta shouts at his son stood before him. Father and child stand in defensive postures, although Vegeta's is slightly lax on account of trusting his child not to do anything foolish. The knuckles of Trunks are white and his teeth are bared, a slight scuff is on Vegeta's arm where he blocked an attack intended for the woman who was recuperating from the emotional blow he dealt her. That woman right now is hiding behind the Saiyan prince, still in a very vulnerable state and rightfully afraid of the kid who could and would have squashed her like a bug if Vegeta hadn't stepped in.

"No! I won't, dad. Someone has to stop you from betraying mum and that someone is gonna be me!" Shouting at the top of his lungs, Trunks' rage continues to develop further and further. Pebbles and small clods of dirt begin to levitate into the air. Vegeta can sense his son's heightening power and motions for Ryoko to back away to a safe distance, which she does. His son has never been a match for him, he might be able to ascend but his base power and skills as a warrior are still far inferior to his own. Lowering his fists, the prince approaches his child with a deadly serious attitude about him.

"Don't be stupid, son, you can't-"

Vegeta's hand catches the fist directed to the back of his skull from behind him and keeps his son firmly within his hold as he windmills his arm so that Trunks is now in front of him again. Kicking and squirming for release, both of Saiyan blood fix each other with a harrowing gaze of anger. The younger angry for his mother's memory being soiled by his father's current actions and choices and the older infuriated that his own flesh and blood would dare to openly challenge him like this. Saiyan pride dictates he should never back down from any fight but for his son's sake he hopes he does not push this any further lest he will be forced into action.

"Trunks! You dare to defy your own father! So be it. Maybe I have been too lax in your discipline as of late, allow me to rectify-"

Blazing embers of ki glitter down onto the turf, followed swiftly by a coughed up splatter of crimson. Staggering backwards, Vegeta stares at his son with eyes set on vengeance. A super Saiyan's fist hangs in the air, the owner of it channelling more and more ki into their small body. Struggling with the shock of the attack and not the damage nor the pain of it, Vegeta sees how serious his son is on this. He might be doing these things out of love for his deceased mother but that does nothing to negate the fact that this is a declaration of war on him. Pissed off that his son has struck him, Vegeta ascends to the same level as his son, going no further than the first state out of pride. Father and son begin to duke it out.

Streaks of lightning and fire sear the air into wakes of fiery plasma. A hail of bone crushing blows dissipate the clouds in the sky, detonating thunderous shockwaves all around. All too soon though it comes to a crashing halt. Rock and dirt explode upwards into the air with a cacophonous boom, water from the lake quickly begins to fill this crater next to it. Tossed aside like a ragdoll out from the muddy waters comes the wheezing and panting form of Trunks. Trying to blink aside the blood freely pouring into his left eye and noticeably wincing as he eases himself up onto his elbows, the clenched teeth of the boy grit together in frustration as his blonde hair flops back down around his ears.

Striding out from the newly formed pond, the father strides up to his son. Still struggling to properly rise and putting up resistance when Vegeta lifts him to his feet, Trunks snarls. All of his life he has been taught how to fight from his dad, his techniques and abilities are unparalleled for all his age yet the handicap of still having a child's mind and mental ability left a great oversight when he dared to pick a fight with the second most powerful being in all of existence. His father is his master in martial arts, his teacher and sensei, there is not one move that Trunks can pull off that his dad has not taught him and knows how to perfectly counter. This distinct disadvantage cost him the match and caused his loss to occur much faster than it should have. However, the tell tale bruises and wounds on his father's exposed flesh tell that for all his fighting prowess, Vegeta did not have enough time to successfully recover from his Kaioken escapade before this fight broke out, on top of his weary body being riddled with days' worth of fatigue.

The Saiyan father places a senzu bean within his son's mouth, having unnoticeably Instant Transmissioned to Korin's tower to pick one up. It was the last one there and the last one available until the next harvest of these mystical healing beans; Vegeta's overdependence on consuming them to counteract the harm of his near masochistic training regime has exhausted the stockpiled supplies early.

"Trunks, this is not a Saiyan problem, a Saiyan method of solving it will not work. I am sorry for having done that to you but your rash actions left me with no choice. If you attack me again then there will be no Senzu bean to heal you after I am finished with you so choose your fights carefully. … My son, as loath as I am to admit this … Bulma, your mother, is gone. It pains me to say it, but it is the truth, there is no coming back for her. Your loyalty for her is admirable and makes me proud, as I am sure she is of you as well, but would your mother want you to be attacking defenceless women on her behalf? She was a woman of peace Trunks, as much as I am a man of war, if you truly wish to honour Bulma's memory and do her proud then honour her will by not starting up unnecessary fights. … These women will never replace your mother, nor do they want to. They do not intend on taking me away from you or corrupting my mind against you or Bulma, all these women desire for is happiness. They will not be leaving our home anytime soon, so accept this fact and get used to them, or do I have to give you another beating?"

Solemnly, Trunks trudges back inside the house, not saying a word in response to his father. With his feet dragging behind him in defeat he walks past the two police officers quaking in their boots at the manner of fighting they just witnessed. Apparently, the child who threatened them earlier could also effortlessly slaughter them as well, and Kiyone's deduction that he was Vegeta's child has been proven to be correct for all the good that's worth. Neither of them could follow anything after the first punch was blocked yet they could feel every impact rattling their bones, vibrations jarring them as frequently as the fire from fully automatic weaponry. They stare blankly out of the window. Mihoshi tries to lighten up the mood by suggesting that they could summon for their mech suits from Central Command but Kiyone merely says that Mihoshi can try that on her own for she will not go anywhere near those freaks.

Vegeta lets out a pained breath as he rubs at his left shoulder, his son has grown strong indeed and fights well even with a mind clouded by unruly emotions. His pride in his son though is swiftly counteracted by his great disappointment in his own performance, that match should have been decided with one blow. His body is demanding of him to rest now, to take things easy so it can replenish his ki back to an astronomical level. He himself could use one of those Senzu beans as a trickle of blood runs down his left bicep and drips from his elbow.

Something rubs against his flesh, mopping up the sanguine fluid on his arm. She asks him if he is alright and thanks him for protecting her, with his uninjured hand he lightly holds the wrist of Ryoko that was cleaning his wound causing her to drop the bloody rag on the floor.

"I'll be fine, both me and my son can take hits like that but you cannot. If Trunks steps out of line again then I will step in the way again. Bulma would not want our son to go taking after me in that regard, that he takes the lives of innocents, or you, in pursuit of his own selfish agenda."

"It's nice and all that you'd rather your kid get hit than me but ... are you ok, with this … with me?" He lets go of her hand and takes a few paces forward, Ryoko's hand weakly reaches out to him before it falls by her side. A small burst of energy cauterises his cut. Working one of his knuckles back into its rightful place, he turns and faces her, seeing the clear look of doubt and uncertainty troubling her face.

"Saiyans have no need for sympathy or pity, though I appreciate the sentiment. You can stay here, in my home, and carry on doing what you will. What I have said changes nothing for me, if you want to continue with your ludicrous behaviour and lewd acts then by all means go ahead. I am not up for a relationship now, but this female company is beneficial … and who knows, if you play your cards right -"

"Really! If-if I just stick around and keep on acting like my beautiful and seductive self then you'll start noticing me in-in that way, is that what you're saying?" Suddenly, Ryoko is right next to him, a gleaming smile born from hope birthed on her face. The swishing sound of her tail wagging, her hands clasped together by her chest and her breath held in by excitement, the Saiyan needs no other signs to see how much this chance means to her. She lives for her hopes and dreams coming true, of him wanting to be with her romantically, as much as he lives for the day at which he forces Goku's knees to bend in submission to his prince. He doesn't want to raise her hopes up too much lest they be irrevocably dashed later on, but to trample on her desires and dreams now would be needlessly cruel, even for him.

"To a certain extent, yes. That is a possibility."

Ryoko slams her body against his, forcing him down onto the floor with enough force to cause even more cracks to rupture forth on the already riddled ground. The Saiyan prince allows her to do this, letting himself be tackled to the dirt for the sake of her feelings and because of the promise he made to her involving spending time with her in whatever way she sees fit – even if it does mean a bit of the physical contact she likes so much. Gaily smiling at him as she lays besides him with her arms wrapping around him, it is as if all her previous woes and worries afflicting her heart have been cast aside at the mere mention of him saying she is still in with a strong chance; not considering her rival Ayeka to be of any threat to her position in winning him over when the time comes.

"Well, you definitely have grown in strength by quite a degree, give it a few more days and I'd like to see Raditz try and stop you. Congratulations, Ryoko, you're stronger than what the average Saiyan used to be ... but, can you get off me now? I did say you could continue on with how you behave, but it did not mean I will react to it any differently. If you don't get off now then I'll just have you go and explain to my son, and Miss Ayeka, what my time is." Vegeta half sits up. The arms still holding onto him do not let up in the slightest, the merry grin of the space pirate beaming up at him at his compliment and unfazed by his want to stand up, for her it is as if everything is back to normal, to the way it should be. She snuggles her face against the bare part of his chest and soft purrs begin to emanate from her throat.

"Oh, I'm sure this whole goody-goody innocent Ayeka is a whole sham, she ain't half as pure hearted as she pretends. Poor girl can't even be honest with herself, unlike me. When you were … away … you didn't get to hear her whiny voice when she droned on in her sleep, that girl does have quite a vivid imagination on her, I'll give her that." Ryoko can sense his partial unease in this intimate situation, how her close proximity to him is causing him some slight anxiety and nervousness. However, she also sees he isn't doing anything about it. Feeling the warmth of his pecs against her cheeks, her fingers once again take up their exploration of the many scars and cicatrices on the patches of his exposed flesh. In her mind she keeps on thinking that if she just keeps at it and persists then she will break through his defences and then she will get to explore even more with her hands.

"Surely, not as vivid or lecherous as a certain space pirate's is, most of the things you cry in the night are absolutely vile and would disgust even that sleaze ball Roshi." Vegeta sits up straight, looking down at the woman next to him starting to blush.

"You-you-you … How do you know what I say? …Has Vegey been a naughty boy peeping on me whilst I'm asleep?" Ryoko turns her embarrassment into mock anger which Vegeta merely shrugs off as he stands up. She looks up at him, about to remind him about his promise when he begins to talk again.

"No, and honestly I don't have to. Most of the time I don't even need my Saiyan ears to hear it when I'm training downstairs. … I'm getting a snack, I'll be back shortly." With that, Vegeta turns and walks back into the house leaving Ryoko to pick herself up off the floor and grumble about the appetites that Saiyans possess. He could have at least asked her if she wanted something to eat, even though she doesn't want any food at the time being, all she wants is him.

Rubbing his bare feet on the doormat as he steps into his abode, Vegeta's senses immediately detect the scent of food extremely close by. He follows his nose in search of sustenance into the front room where he finds a few empty packets discarded on the table top. Pausing for a moment he carefully vaporises the waste whilst all the time his eyes struggle to tear themselves from the lone family picture on said table. Shaking his head, he enters the kitchen and silences all sound from his padded footsteps.

Content and sitting next to her best friend, Mihoshi has no idea what is looming over her shoulder until the hand darts out. She whips her head around in alarm and consequently freezes stiff as a board when she sees that menacing smile. Vegeta carries on his way to the fridge with the packet of nibbles he just stole from the police officer.

" I don't recall giving you permission to freely gorge yourselves on all my food that I bought to feed my family. You can of course, I'm not going to starve you … yet. Living here does not mean you can just go about my house taking liberties wherever you want, you would do well to remember that." Intimidating Mihoshi even further with his cold and detached demeanour, he completes his task of filling his stomach to a level that will keep him satisfied until dinner and begins to head out of the room when Kiyone stops him. She pushes out her chair and stands up, addressing him as he halts in the doorway, slowly turning his head to look her way. Their glacial eyes lock on one another. She asks him in a very serious manner about the legality of their stay in his house, whether they have any forms they have to fill in or such to which he raises an eyebrow.

" This planet has no laws pertaining to those from distant planets as it has no knowledge of any alien civilisations existing. With that knowledge in mind, what legal paperwork do you think you or I could sign when our only forms of identification would cause mass panic in the streets by its implications? My wife had to forge documents on my behalf on several occasions, though I doubt upstanding officers such as yourselves would use counterfeits." He has a valid point. Vegeta turns back to continue on his way as she muses at this thought that she will have to keep her true identity under wraps if she does go into a public place, and keep a very close eye on her partner to make sure her tongue does not slip.

Attuned ears pick up a loud racket still being made in the bathroom, Vegeta pretends he doesn't hear anything and concludes he would be better off not knowing. Though not entirely forgetting about Washu and the job she is supposed to be doing instead of cavorting around in the bath, Vegeta takes a few seconds to empty all the rubble from his training room and dump it right in front of the entranceway to Washu's lab. Satisfied that this will give her a bit of motivation to get on with the job at hand and speed up her progress, he goes to return back outside to the woman waiting for him when he spots the other woman who holds feelings for him stopped at the top of the staircase looking down at him.

Ayeka stays on the step she is on, not daring to traverse anymore as all the strength has fled from her body upon seeing Vegeta. Her dainty hand holds onto the bannister for support as her legs begin to tremble and wobble uncontrollably. Averting her eyes from his steely visage, she turns her head to the side and gasps in alarm to see him hovering there besides the staircase.

"How are you feeling, Lady Ayeka? If my words have caused you hurt then I apologise for it." Vegeta sees the fear in her eyes, eyes that continually dart to the top of the stairwell looking for a way out. Yet, in her mind Ayeka has full knowledge that it would take very little on Vegeta's end to stop her from running off. Lowering her head, she timidly replies that she is ok. Vegeta lifts his legs over the railing and sets down on the same step as the Juraian princess. She is lying. Her body betrays her as it as all to clear for him to see that the fair maiden is hopelessly trying to struggle against an inundation of tears; she fought and rebelled against her father for something she now finds out to be a mere fantasy still light years off from existing. Backing away until her back is firmly pressed up against the wall, she lets out a few fearful and distressed mewls.

"Ayeka, you are not Ok. This day has been hard for you, all the more so because of my actions and your father's. … Come here." He opens his arms in a welcoming manner that simultaneously terrifies her and delights her. Adamantly shaking her head in rejection of his offer in the same manner that he rejected her feelings for him, visible trembles begin to course through her limbs. Vegeta disregards her decision and closes his arms around her.

"Hush now. We have known each other for barely a week and my wife's death is still fresh in my mind, my dismissal of your mother's proposal is probably for the best for both of us. I know of your feelings for me and how this must be hurting you but rushing into such life changing things is not the way to do it. It is far too early for me to seriously think on that choice; I have my son to think of as well. Though I might not feel for you in the same way you do for me, just give me time and then I can properly answer your feelings. Ryoko will be waiting for that day, how about you … my arranged fiancée?" That one, last, special word he called her drives an arrow straight through her heart. Mumbling his name as she buries her head into his shoulder, the tears of Ayeka are let loose yet again.

Footsteps race across the downstairs floorboards, Mihoshi and Kiyone come into view at the base of the stairs, arriving at the sound of their ward in distress. Though both have a distinct distrust of the Saiyan they see that he isn't causing her any physical harm as Ayeka's slender arms tenderly wrap themselves around the bulk of the warrior. Feeling nearly as awkward as the previous scene they unintentionally walked in on, the two coppers turn away and give them some privacy. Seating themselves on the far sofas in such a way that they can still keep an eye on him and have a clear line of view outside the floor to ceiling window.

Easing her woes and worries just as he did with Ryoko, Vegeta calms Ayeka down to the point where her tears naturally stop flowing. The embrace they are in terminates. She apologises to him and he calmly tells her that she has no need to be saying those words to him yet she carries on asking for his forgiveness for being so selfish and uncaring towards how him being a widower has affected and still is affecting him. For her sake, he obligingly accepts her heartfelt and kind words. Escorting her down the stairs and towards her two would be protectors, he explains to her about how he has a prior engagement to attend to in the form of promise to Ryoko that he made in exchange for her to not interfere with the diplomatic negotiations. Unexpectedly, she takes this news very well, a lot better than he thought she would. She understands and deep down is quite moved that he is willing to sacrifice so much of his time on her behalf. Bidding her goodbye for the time being, he leaves her to sit with the klutz and the headband wearer.

Re-joining with the patiently waiting vagabond of the stars, she enthusiastically hugs the prince and eagerly requests for him to spar with her. Ryoko looks up at him with puppy dog eyes, he offhandedly agrees to what she wants for want of nothing better to do. Vegeta does warn her that he may accidentally harm her. She smirks and says she isn't as soft and delicate as she may appear. Her red sword of energy coalesces into her hands and she begins to teleport rapidly in-between many different random locations. A shadow follows her every move.

"Umm, Vegey? Can you perhaps just power down a teensy tiny bit please? Come on, it'll be more fun this way." Ryoko takes off her orange and black jacket, throwing it to the floor. Appearing in view before her, Vegeta tells her that he will need to see her absolute maximum of power to make that judgement on how much to lower his own strength. Willingly, she agrees to this, winking at him before she takes up the tense stance of preparing her body for unleashing her inner power.

It takes her a few minutes before the crimson flames licking at her flesh burst upwards into a bonfire engulfing her body, her cyan hair billowing about wildly as if a strong gale were blowing down from the mountains. Grinning at the powerhouse prince, she awaits his verdict. He nods ever so slightly and lets out a lengthy exhale as he decreases his own power to a matching level to make things a bit more even. Sensing his change, Ryoko is quick to ask what he thinks about her magnificent strength as she warms up by throwing a few light jabs in the air in a blur of fiery red. Flying towards him with her sword still drawn as he absently picks off some congealed blood from his cheek, she begins to plan the first stage of her offensive.

" Truly marvellous." Ryoko's face merrily lights up hearing him compliment her in such a manner. Knuckles rap against her nose shocking her and bringing her wandering mind back to the matter at hand. All too late, she tries to teleport away as Vegeta grapples her into joint lock, immobilising her movements. She is so easily distracted, Vegeta saw that as a good opening to exploit before starting. Struggling in this hold, Ryoko swiftly finds out her every motion to her imprisoned limbs is causing her intense pain and that Vegeta's little tap on her face has caused her nose to start bleeding again. Ryoko grunts in discomfort as Vegeta waits for her to surrender. Phasing out of his grip and passing straight through his arms she makes a break for it, teleporting off.

Attacking in a guerrilla style, Ryoko keeps on teleporting back to Vegeta to make a few rapid strikes before disappearing off. Not one blow contacts properly on Vegeta as he hovers, waiting for his prey to come to him. Bolts of fire hail down from the sky forcing him to evade and move from his position, driven into the path of a recently teleported Ryoko. Ambushing him with a sudden dash and lunge with her sword, Ryoko charges thinking she has victory. Seeing through her basic plan within nanoseconds, Vegeta reacts to her oncoming sword, stopping all his forward moment driving him towards her attack. Strafing inches to the side so the energy blade only just misses him, he slaps at her free hand and twirls about so in the same motion he retracts his arm in and pins Ryoko's right wrist against his body with his elbow. With one contraction he causes Ryoko to lose grip on her weapon, leaving it to harmlessly fade away. Ryoko realises herself to be disarmed and losing that small advantage she held over him of having a weapon and so lashes out quickly with a kick to get some distance between her and him so she can spawn a new one, he predicts this though. Vegeta flips over her back and jabs her in the small of her back so that her spine curls in pain allowing him to easily pin her head back with two fingers directly under her jaw.

He releases her so they can spar again having won that round. Confidently smirking at her, Vegeta sees the determination in her eyes to try and prove herself to him; if only she had bothered to focus more on her techniques and tactics when training and not just on raising her physical attributes. She summons a new sword, burning brighter than the last, as she pushes her ki higher in an attempt to gain an edge over Vegeta's set power level. Her boost falls within the calculations of the Saiyan prince, she is a pirate after all and so he half expected some trickery to be involved. A surge of power leaves her around 20% higher than Vegeta and now she smirks in self confidence. Ryoko goes back onto the offensive, defence was never her style.

A white hot lance arcs through the sky. Vegeta gives up the attempts at directly blocking these strikes. With her strength and speed where they currently are he would sustain severe injuries to his forearms if he even attempted to redirect these vicious swipes. Instead, he keeps on dodging and avoiding whilst all the time pressing forwards to close the gap and get too close for her weapon to be of any use. Ryoko utilises her teleportation abilities to maintain a constant distance between her and the Saiyan. Sometimes he even Instant Transmissions behind her yet her amplified speed allows her to always react in the knick of time and save herself.

Blue lightning blasts at her hand, flinging her sword far away and leaving her with no choice but to engage in hand to hand combat with the fast approaching prince or to retreat again. Several of her punches break through his blocking arms, hitting him in the sternum whilst others are directed towards his shoulders to try and get him to drop his guard. His defence does fall eventually and she seizes the moment without hesitation, beginning to lay into his torso with hits designed to wind and stagger. Though her blows are connecting, they do not seem to be having the intended effect at all as the cold eyes of the bringer of death focus on her striking limbs before his own arms lash out and grab a hold of them. He nimbly wraps one of her own arms around her, Ryoko's arms now in the position they would be in if she were wearing a straightjacket, and fastens her wrists together with a manacle made of ki. At this moment, panic starts to emerge in her eyes. Vegeta dives to the ground with her in tow, stops millimetres from slamming her into solid Earth and swats away a few blind blasts she fires from her tied hands as he sets her down on the grass.

"Let me go! Please Vegeta, let me go. … I-I don't like this. I don't like this at all . … You might be into that kind of thing, Vegey, but you have to respect what the woman wants as well." Ryoko's pleading eyes beseech him and he waves away the restraints. Rubbing at her wrists, she stands back up and resumes a fighting stance as if her lewd comment will make him forget about that moment of weakness she had. Vegeta, though, takes a second or two just to re-evaluate his tactics. All that time he tried to use the least physically harmful moves he could, not wanting to cause her injury, yet from her words he sees that his techniques for subduing her and imprisoning her movements were having a far greater effect on her; having spent the majority of her life locked up in a cell Ryoko is not fond of anything that reminds her of that dark period in her life. Saving that mental note, he ups his power to be on par with hers and grins as they begin to test each other's tactics and techniques against each other whilst on terra firma.

"Is that honestly all that psycho ever does, sounds like someone could really do with a hobby." Kiyone peers through the windowpane at the dust storm of activity, sighing to herself as she does so. Sitting on the left side of the princess, she glances over at the Juraian and then to her friend who is completely engrossed and enthralled by Ryo-ohki. She smiles at her merry partner thoroughly enjoying herself cuddling the furry, brown creature.

"Lord Vegeta takes his training extremely seriously. Would you prefer it if he did not and that the police had to tackle Frieza and the like instead of him? He betters himself so that others can be protected from any and all harm." Ayeka's eyes continue to face into her lap as she speaks. Looking directly at the police officer talking to her would cause her to see the two of them outside, and though she sits comfortably in the knowledge that her prince is doing that only for her, she still would rather not see it.

"You have a point there that freaks like him may have their occasional use from time to time, though maybe I wouldn't be worrying so much if he wasn't a stone cold killer who has already threatened my partner's, and my own, life. Lady Ayeka, in just this one house there are three people responsible for mass murders. Think on that." The serious police woman rests uneasily inside this killer's lair. There are too many risks, too many unknown variables she cannot account for, and she is just one woman bundled with an incompetent blonde. If she is going to carry out her job she feels it would be a lot easier if her charge did not willingly walk into the lion's den not caring about the great potential danger she is in. Restlessly, Kiyone checks her single firearm once again; it is all they have against the omnipotence of the Saiyans.

"Don't worry Miss Makibi I already have, this isn't my first day here unlike you. I take it when you say 3 that your are including Miss Washu in your list of criminals but she has been officially pardoned for all her previous misdemeanours-"

"Knowing your father really has helped her along that road to redemption hasn't it?"

"That is besides the point. Miss Makibi, if you are indeed to serve as my bodyguard, or whatever father called it, and serve me then maybe you should let this go. I trust both Miss Washu and Lord Vegeta, neither of them will ever let any harm befall upon me. I understand your narrow minded viewpoint concerning the past transgressions of Vegeta but he is a changed and reformed man. As I recall, you were the first one to open fire, not he, and if he was still the same man that you and the police pursue then neither you, nor I, nor this planet would still be here, would it?"

"That is for a court of law to decide. … What about her though, that one out there getting her arse handed to her?" Kiyone points over her shoulder to the two still ferociously duking it out between one another, the upper hand obviously belonging to the proud Saiyan father. At this, Ayeka looks up and out of the window. Amidst the flurry of activity and extreme rapid and darting movement she can spy Vegeta landing a few good blows on Ryoko causing her to stagger about with stars in her eyes. Ayeka smiles seeing her adversary in pain, hurt purposefully caused to her by Vegeta's own hand. But then, her red eyes spot something else as they grapple and wrestle with one another and that is a genuine smile on the Saiyan's face.

"Chain her up and throw away the keys for all I care. Let her fester forevermore within the dampest and darkest dungeon till she forgets what sunlight is and where her only company will be fellow vermin. She is still the same vile, rotten and heartless monster as ever. That Ryoko is the one I want you to keep an eye on, she has already made attempts at my life, if not for Vegeta …" Bitterness and enmity course through her words. The green eyed monster rears its ugly head yet again. She, his fiancée – whether he accepts her as it or not, sitting here inside to stew in jealousy and morosely ponder about the hectic day she has had whilst the villainous pirate gets to be outside and enjoy the touch of his body; Ayeka's mood deteriorates and she tears her vision away from the sparring pair.

Kiyone nods in acknowledgement of Ayeka's words. If Ryoko has dark and dangerous intentions towards the princess then it would indeed be wise to focus most of their attention on her. On the other hand, looking at how capable the space pirate is at fighting and going toe to toe with the Saiyan she seriously doubts that she could prevent much, at most maybe stall for time. Flying people, teleportation, super strength and mountain destroying blasts and then her with one standard issue sidearm that has seen better days, however she looks at it the odds have always been stacked against her.

Mihoshi looks up from the cabbit and towards the staircase to see a very sheepish and docile Yamcha gradually descending the stairs with hair still damp from the bath. Sensing an awkward air from the two police women who caught a glimpse of him earlier in a state he would rather have not been caught in, Yamcha gawkily waves and smiles at the three females in the front room and slumps down onto the one remaining free seat next to Mihoshi as Ryo-ohki leaps onto her lap. Iciness drifts his way from the teal haired one and Ayeka seems in no mood to be troubled by such menial things as small talk so, for lack of any other option, he strikes up a conversation with the dark skinned cop. She readily opens up to him, beginning to ramble on about many pointless things in her past. Mihoshi enjoys herself chatting to this man as they begin to learn things about each others' past in a very amiable manner. That is until one slip of the tongue angers Kiyone and brings her into their conversation.

"What?! Don't tell that you're another criminal evading the law and hiding out here, are there no innocent people at all on this damn planet?" The headband wearing officer snaps at the former bandit, her anger rising again. Kiyone's grip on her pistol tightens but she maintains enough self control to not think about levelling it on this man of unknown strength.

"Hey, I forget your name but I'd appreciate it if you didn't slag off Earth. I'll admit I was a bandit and a highwayman way back in the days when I was still a youth-"

"Still old enough to be responsible for your actions, and it's Kiyone if you must now."

"Thanks. Uhh, legally debatable on this planet at the age I was at, but yeah, sure I got no excuses for my actions. The point is that was almost 30 years ago now and I'm-"

"30? How old are you? I thought you were about my age." Confusion begins to cloud Mihoshi's face, something not too hard to make come about. Kiyone also seems to have an eyebrow raised in suspicion for she too was under the assumption that there wasn't much of an age difference between them. Hoping that neither of these women's concepts of age and time are like that of his lover's, Yamcha has a little nervous laugh about how the conversation has descended into talking about how he is technically middle aged.

"Thanks, sweet cheeks, but I'm the same age as Vegeta out there, well a bit younger from what I gather. Not looking too bad for a 46 year old am I?" Yamcha smiles at Mihoshi as he watches the cogs grind in her head as she thinks about this. He's not too sure if what he glanced was true or not but for a split second he could have sworn she appeared slightly disappointed. The blonde cop bashfully says she's only 21. Kiyone quickly interrupts and calls her partner out on that, stating that both of them are 23 years of age. Mihoshi pouts sullenly at her friend until Yamcha offhandedly remarks that both of them could easily pass for whatever age they wanted to, then Mihoshi smiles in an abashed manner. Padded footsteps sound on the stairs.

"Well, well, glad to see you making friends over there, Yamcha. Although of course I win hands down when it comes to looks, isn't that right, dear?" For a split second Yamcha freezes then he rapidly turns around and hastily agrees with Washu, showering her in compliments. Still stood two steps before the bottom, the intelligent scientist surveys the scene with raised eyebrows. Her hawk like eyes narrow on her boyfriend and a sinister smile appears on her face as she walks into the room. "Now come on, be a darling and move that scrap out of my way, wouldya?"

The intellectual leans on Yamcha's shoulders as she points towards the heap of charred and distorted metal in front of the door to her lab, like a faithful hound he nods, gets up and heads off towards it. Smiling to herself as she continues to rest on the back of the sofa, Washu eyes Mihoshi to try and figure out this new woman. Both Kiyone and Mihoshi's eyes nearly pop out of their sockets. Standing and asking Washu what she wants him to do with the junk, he casually balances a good few tonnes of jagged metal in his arms showing barely any strain. Washu waves her hand dismissively and tells him to dispose of it, which he does. The heaving chunks of metal glow red then white, drooping down as they heat up and suddenly go up in a puff of noxious gas, evaporated by a small charge of ki in Yamcha's hands.

Whilst the two coppers stare at Yamcha seeing now his strength is far in excess of what they thought it was, Washu hooks her arm around his and drags him off into the training room to help her with the repair work – and to keep a watchful eye on him. Diligently, she sets to work. Spawning her holo-laptop and pressing a few keys she sees that all the necessary parts are ready and quickly orders Yamcha off to go and fetch them for her. A few seconds later he returns setting down several mechanical looking chrome briefcases all aglow with flashing lights. Washu strategically places them apart from each other and activates them from her floating semi-aetheral laptop. They spring to life, popping open and expanding in size as the many pieces extruding from the cases start knitting themselves together with their surrounding components and basically constructing themselves. In less than a minute the main central hub stands before them, reaching from the floor to the ceiling and shining as the whirring and clanking of its inner machinery comes to a halt now it is complete.

Getting some praise from Yamcha concerning her magnificence, ingenuity and brilliance, Washu removes a large external pane and sets it down on the floor. She pokes into the guts of her new device that looks extremely similar to its predecessor to double check that all the right connections have been made and if there are any noticeable faults.

"Hi. Do you two need any help in here? I can hep if you want." Mihoshi pokes her head around the door, peering inside this strange tiled room she hasn't seen before. Her sudden appearance startles the redheaded scientist probing around within the extremely complex machine she just created causing her to bang her head. Grumbling to herself as she rubs the back of her sore head, Washu barks at Mihoshi to get out and that she does not want any of her help in the slightest bit.

Entering the room, Mihoshi asks again. Silence and ill tempered mumblings are all she gets in response from the woman busy at work. She looks to Yamcha who merely shrugs as he sits cross legged on the floor. Mihoshi does not look behind her as she leans on one of the few standing pieces of exercise equipment and yelps in surprise as something falls off of it. Rolling until it comes to a complete stop, the one tonne dumbbell sits unmoving on the floor with one of Washu's feet pinned helplessly beneath its massive weight. An infuriated groan rises from the depths of the machine. A dainty foot begins to fidget about it in vain.

"Get. Out." Seething with her pale hands clenching tightly onto the sides of the training console, Washu gradually retracts her head from the cavity in the side of thick and sleek metal mainframe and fixes the clumsy woman in the middle of apologising with a deathly stare. Mihoshi says again that she is sorry. The scientist points towards the door. "Now!"

Hurriedly, Mihoshi leaves the room. Looking down at the weight trapping her leg, Washu mutters insults under her breath concerning the clumsiness and idiocy of the blonde. Yamcha doesn't need his sixth sense to feel the unease and spiteful air circling the magenta haired genius he calls his own. Shuffling over to her, he easily pushes off the dumbbell and begins to rub at the red mark on her foot caused by the pressure of the dumbbell's handle pressing down on her.

"Heh, I never woulda pegged you as the kind of lady who would lose her cool over other women like that. This whole jealousy thing actually is kinda cute." Smiling impishly up at her, his hands creep their way up from her foot to her calf and then her thigh. Washu turns herself around to face the large machine again when his hand begins to encroach on her short skirt with a visible blush on her face. Without a word she goes back to work. It may have built itself but she still has many aspects of it to check and double check, especially the quantum quasi-singularity acting as its power source and the generator of the gravity levels. Not before long strong hands knead her shoulders in a tender massage, his thumbs digging into her back and relieving all the pent up stress and tension she was accumulating within her body. Soothing her, Yamcha whispers to her how he will not betray her or cheat on her and that she is the only one for him. Washu smiles happily to herself as she laboriously tests the circuitry and wiring for any defects with one hand as the other holds onto his.

Several hours pass by with Washu tinkering away inside whilst trying not to let herself get too distracted by Yamcha. Evening graces the lakeside. The fading daylight of these early autumn days as the Sun creeps down behind the sloping hills fails to compete against the glow shimmering off of the two space farers out in the fresh air. With a woman sat cross legged astride his back, Vegeta pushes himself up and down with his left arm. Ryoko is still panting from the exertion of sparring with Vegeta on and off for so long and lucky for her Ryoko's healing factor has already kicked in and only a few minor nicks and bruises remain on her skin. However, she is already getting bored of doing nothing except for acting as an incredibly light weight for Vegeta's training, she senses within him the growing urgency and want to be back within his adopted habitat of intense gravity.

"Having fun down there, Vegey? I think I'm almost ready for another round one on one with you, give me a minute to catch my breath and then I'll be all set to get hot and sweaty with you again." Floating upwards and then to the side, she stretches her legs downwards and stands up besides the exercising man and starts strolling casually in front of him. Ryoko wipes off the sweat from her forehead and crouches down in front of Vegeta so her face is next to his.

"I think you need longer than a minute, you could use a little work on your stamina among other things."

"Probably … and I hope this isn't the last time by far that I get to compliment you on your stamina, hehe." Standing back up again Ryoko walks a few steps away after seeing him roll his eyes at her predictable and commonplace innuendo. She threw everything she had at him and after all that he came out of it with a few scratches and scrapes, all of which from when he allowed himself to be hit to lure her in for another one of his ploys. He didn't even seem to be trying that hard either, as if even when he was facing her and matching her in speed and strength he still held a very distinctive edge over her. But, she never thought she could win against him and Ryoko feels like she got a very nice reward, all things considered, for he was actually having fun and enjoying himself with her.

Grinning to herself, she turns around and lets her eyes scan all over the prince's honed body. Lingering over those patches of bare skin she tried to enlarge throughout their little skirmish her eyes also drift down to her own costume and the disappointingly small amount of tears and rips in its fabric. Spontaneously, Ryoko decides to make things a little more fun. Pouncing off of one foot into a dive towards Vegeta with both hands outstretched and ready to start grabbing, Ryoko calls out his name with a mischievous giggle. His eyes look up at her not seeming too impressed or amused. Then Vegeta's form vanishes from her view.

An ear-splitting and pain-wracked scream tears itself from the lungs and throat of Ryoko, and somewhere inside the house Ayeka smiles contently to herself. Sharp, unadulterated agony erupts through Ryoko's skull. Vegeta stands there looking confused as to how she is in so much pain from the very small thing he is doing.

"Let go, let go, lemme go! Please, Vegey, let me go." Her hands dart to his and viciously start trying to pry him off. With a dark smile born from understanding curling his lips, Vegeta loosens his grip on her ear he grabbed to stop her. There is no doubt about it, she was in acute pain when he applied pressure to her elfin ears, just as she was when Ayeka grabbed them during their duel.

"So, someone has a weak spot after all. For all that talk you prattle on about wanting me to touch you, you sure kick up a fuss when I do. I wonder … if that is your reaction to me grabbing one, what would happen if I were to …" Vegeta moves one of his fingers near her other ear. The appendage twitches at his words. Her body shudders and tenses, he watches as her eyes close, her cheeks blush and her fingers lightly start to curl as his digit closes on her ear.

"As I thought." Vegeta takes back his hand, crossing his arms in front of himself with a smug sense of satisfaction concerning this telling revelation. " It appears Saiyans are not the only ones born with overly sensitive parts of their body. Now I know about your little private weakness. It would be such a shame if by some accident any future misbehaviour on your part led for my tongue to slip and for a princess of Jurai to somehow find out about it. … Or are you more concerned about might happen if I decide to start touching your ears?"

"You meanie. It-it's not nice to tease a girl like this, Vegey. And if you're so deadest on …on touching my special areas then there are a few others you could put those hands of yours to use on as well." Still with some rosiness on her cheeks, Ryoko slips one of the straps to her top off her shoulder and winks at Vegeta. He shakes his head at her and very lightly flicks her nose telling her to behave herself. Playfully, she flicks his nose back and sticks her tongue out at him. At this point Vegeta looks back towards his house and then back to Ryoko explaining that their time is now up and he believes that Washu has finally completed her repairs to his training facilities. Sighing disappointedly, Ryoko huffs and says that it was fun whilst it lasted as he purposefully strides back into his house away from her.

Pushing open the door to his front room Vegeta can clearly see that his training room is back in working condition, and has been modified quite extensively, by the well polished and new door stood beckoning him to it. Mihoshi yelps in alarm when she sees the Saiyan in the room, Ayeka demurely greets him and inquisitively asks about the banshee like wail that she heard a few minutes ago.

"That would have been Ryoko learning a valuable lesson on behaving with a bit more decorum. Anyway, how long has that room been operational for and where has that schemer gone and skulked away to?"

"Miss Washu completed her work only a couple of minutes ago and … well, she umm …" Ayeka hesitantly pauses as she tries to think of a polite way to word what Washu did indeed say to her, but all she ends up doing is going red in embarrassment at the thought of having to relay something like that to Vegeta. The other woman who does know the answer seems eager to give it and help out the princess stumbling over her own words.

"She said she was going off to play doctors with Yamcha and got really angry when I said I wanted to play too …Please don't hurt me." Mihoshi suddenly starts shying away from him when his eyes travel towards the one speaking to him. Every time she shows fear untoward him he gets a smug sense of satisfaction that despite his partial 'domestication' that enough of his original self is left to perfectly intimidate her and leave her as a trembling wreck when in his presence. Though Vegeta also finds her obliviousness and childish innocence rather distasteful, in his mind he muses whether she or Sasami is the more mature mentally. He leaves the two women to continue watching whatever random trash is on the television, some nature documentary about the evolution of the many anthropomorphic beings on Earth by the looks of things, and swings open the new and even denser bulkhead door to his private sanctuary.

There is someone else already inside. Vegeta mistook their incredibly low and almost negligible ki as mere background noise but one step into the training room and he can just about feel some marginal increase to the gravity and see the one who dares to intrude. It is Kiyone he finds doing some rudimentary warm up stretches with her jacket, hat and tie piled in the corner of the room. He walks across the room and stands in front of her, they both stare at each other. Neither speaks but many words are exchanged in their silent communication. Reaching behind him, Vegeta cranks up the output gravity to a measly 5 times Earth's natural force from the 3 it was on and sees the emerging beads of sweat form on the police officer's brow and the effort of staying stood up rooting her to the spot but not overcoming her.

"5Gs and still standing, you aren't just another of those run of the mill law enforcers, are you? Although, as far as I can recall, it was only special forces members who got the body and performance enhancements … an augmented skeleton would explain your stability and some of that additional weight." Vegeta casually strolls around the woman rooted to the spot, mocking her and her inability to do anything about it. She grits her teeth at his apparent insults. However, she can feel the gravity beginning to affect her physically. Her knees and ankles are screaming out in pain and her vision is slowly losing focus and darkening.

"Though you should get out now, woman, before I turn up the gravity to something actually worthwhile. If, of course, you're not so weak you can't get out the room on your own." Crossing his arms, he stands in front of her and watches her feeble attempts to lift her feet off of the ground. Her centre of gravity rapidly sways about her body from the most minute of movements under these intensified conditions, if she were to move by any means apart from slowly shuffling and dragging her feet across the floor she would be finding out how much more it hurts to fall over at 5G.

Vegeta allows her this small amount of time to vacate what is his, making sure she knows how pathetic he views her as. Eventually, Kiyone reaches the doorway and the edge of the output gravitational field. Panting hard due to exertion, she looks back into the room to stare maliciously at the Saiyan. As soon as he is in her sight her jacket and hat are thrown into her face and the large bulkhead door slammed shut. Putting back on her uniform, she walks off in a huff to check on her partner and the two Juraian princesses. Vegeta takes a few minutes examining the new and /or improved features of the training room console and then, despite his growing weariness and fatigue, turns the gravity on to the lowest possible 4 digit number and begins exercising in the way he has craved for hours on end.