Chapter 17: Day 13 — Of Gods and Men
*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP*
Sugar Petal and Hassim woke up from the alarm.
"Sugar… did you set… the alarm earlier?" Hassim asked, rubbing his eyes.
"No…" she yawned, "Why?"
"The chickens usually go off first…"
She lifted her head. "The chickens?" She crawled over and climbed down the ladder.
"Hassim! Hassim!" Sugar Petal ran back up the ladder a few minutes later, "The chickens are gone!"
Hassim instantly snapped awake. "What?!"
Sugar led him to the pen. One of the seams between panels had been pried apart enough for the birds to slip through.
"Awe man…" Hassim ran his hands through his hair in disbelief.
"What's with the yelling so early in the morning?" Vegeta wandered over. He saw the hole in the fence. "Ah… Are they dead or did they just escape?"
"I think they just escaped," Sugar Petal said.
"Ok, let's get breakfast…" Vegeta walked off. "We have a long day!"
The camera crews rolled in as Vegeta returned to camp.
"Good morning," Nathan said as he hopped off the ATV.
"If you guys hurry, there's excitement at the chicken pen."
"Thanks," the cameraman who had begun riding with his camera out said and he darted in that direction.
Vegeta headed for the smoker. If they were going to eat, he needed to free up the wok first.
"Wow, the water really evaporated overnight, these are practically encased in solid salt blocks," Vegeta said mostly to himself as he pulled out the hardened fish. He put the solid mass on the shelf and took out the wok.
He glanced over his shoulder and saw his crew ready to film.
"I'm taking this to the stream to scrub with soap bark before we boil water in it," he said, "Looks like you will get to watch us cook for once."
As everyone finished eating breakfast, Vegeta stood up, "Ok everyone, battle plans for today. Finish the fish and get them smoking like Jerry told us to. After that, all three of us, no arguing Hassim, will be heading to the grow-man forest…"
"Don't you mean Mangrove?"
He glared at Hassim, "Whatever. Anyway… we have two objectives. Find as many clear-plastic two liters as we can. Once we exhaust that recourse, we'll regroup and consider other options for the windows. Second, materials for the inside of the soccer football. I remember seeing kids play with balls made with trash and dead banana leaves on the trip where I learned how to make the big hive. I think there's less chance of messing up if we make the inside first then cut the leather. So, lots of coconut outsides. Green, brown, don't care. Sugar, that's your job. Also, if you find any nice ones, feel free to have a snack or save for lunch. You'll be the most likely to run into the blue team. Just make short talk and say no trading today."
"Ok."
"Hassim?"
"I understand."
"Ok, the ocean falls in the morning. Let's hurry and go find today's haul."
Vegeta was carrying Sugar Petal the last distance to the beach when he stopped.
"What's wrong?" Nathan asked, seeing his face.
"Jason is back. I can sense him on the beach," he said concerned. He felt Sugar Petal shrink behind him.
"You mean that producer who—" Hassim started.
"Yeah," Vegeta interrupted. He looked over his shoulder. "Sugar Petal, I need you to be strong today. Jason will try his best to provoke you. Do not let him get the satisfaction of seeing your tears."
"I will," she said with conviction.
"Good," Vegeta said looking forward at the entrance to the sand. "The enemy is in front of us. The battle starts now."
Nick was watering the local plant life when he saw Vegeta, Hassim and Sugar Petal exit the ATV track. Vegeta and Hassim entered the mangroves with two crews while Sugar Petal and the other crew stayed on the beach. She started looking at coconuts.
Nick hurried back to camp.
Back at the camp, people were stretching and starting to prepare breakfast.
"Hey Vegeta, Sugar Petal and Hassim are here," Nick said, lifting up the flap. "I just saw them at the mangroves."
"What?" Casey said, "It takes over an hour to walk here. When did they get up, 5 am?"
"If they are willing to do all that, leave them," Jamal said yawning. "They deserve whatever they find."
"But Sugar is still on our beach stealing our coconuts."
"Didn't Vegeta say he was going to fill his ball with coconut husks?" Casey said.
Jamal chucked, "I didn't think he was actually serious."
"Never doubt an Aspies capability of taking everything seriously," Daisuke said, "My kids are sweet as heck, but if you accidentally get something in their heads, you better be ready to pull your end of the bargain out of your—"
"Ok, stories aside. Is no one going to watch her to make sure she doesn't steal the FOOD part of the coconuts?"
"Nick, seriously. It's too early for this," Jerry said, rubbing his hands over his face.
"It's not like she can eat all of them in the 30 minutes it takes us to eat," Jessica said, grabbing plantains from the shelves. She lifted the flap.
"Actually, it's pretty light out, Jerry. Can't be too much earlier than when we normally wake up."
Jerry moaned.
"What the actual bloody hell? Why are you picking that up?"
"What?" Vegeta said, holding up a flower-print Hawaiian shirt that was as wide as he was tall while still buttoned. Although it had a few tears in it, it was still relatively intact.
"I thought we were after bottles?"
"Sugar can sew, I bet she could find something to do with this."
"You already have her making a ball."
"A soccer football can't be that big, that's like four coconuts and a third of a hide."
"A soccer ball is made of dozens of little pieces sewn together."
Vegeta paused. "… We'll need to talk to her about simplifying it then."
"Hello, Sugar Petal," Casey said, walking up to her.
"Hello, sorry. No trading today," she said hurriedly.
"I figured that much," Casey said sitting down next to her, "So how are you feeling?"
"I don't think we're really supposed to talk to each other…" Sugar Petal said awkwardly.
"Hasn't stopped us yet," she smiled. "But really. How are you doing? Hearing you almost died was really scary. But you look a lot better today."
"Thank you. Vegeta is letting me walk now. I actually walked part of the way here."
"That's a good mile. Must have been tiring suddenly walking that far."
"I've been walking more each day. But I get to rest on the beach now until lunch."
"We're all glad you're doing better. You gathering coconut fibers for the football?"
"Yes!" she said happily, "I'll be making it when we get back."
"I can't say who, but one of my teammates is worried you guys might steal any of the coconuts you've been husking. We'd like them in case they are edible."
"Oh… ok… Is food bad for your team?"
"It's a little thin protein wise, but it is The Last Survivor. But you guys must be swimming in food. With all the goats and fish, I bet you guys are gaining weight."
"We eat a lot, especially Vegeta. But he makes sure we have food… I hope we stay together…"
"As long as Berapi keeps blowing us away at challenges, I don't think he's in danger of being voted out."
"Hassim said there are team swaps in this game."
"Ah…" Casey's eyes widened. "It is half way through the team portion, isn't it?"
Sugar Petal pulled her legs up, hugged her knees and hid her head.
Casey thought she might be crying. "Hey, don't worry. I doubt the producers would leave you alone on the red team without Vegeta there. And if you do get transferred, we'll probably be finding a live goat or something tied to a tree the day afterwards."
"I don't think you would like it… I helped Vegeta butcher them… Hassim was coughing the whole time and it was so messy the producers gave us real showers to get all the blood off."
"Yeah, that sounds about right," Casey said, "When my grandparents would have a barbeque, they'd bring live animals for the family to kill and butcher together. They were old fashioned like that." She chuckled nervously, "But I guess for a city girl like you, that must have been pretty traumatic."
"I was ok... Hassim was the one freaking out…"
"Glad you were ok then," she looked at the blue bag. "So, who made that? Looks like the net Vegeta had."
"I did…"
"That looks really well made. Have you done that before?"
"Yes, with my Grandma..."
"It looks great. Maybe you should start a designer line of bags made from old fishing nets when we get out."
"I'll think about it…"
"So… when you stretched the hides… did you do anything else with it? Like using the brains?"
"I don't know what Vegeta did. He did it after we went to sleep."
"Ok," Casey began counting off on her fingers. "Soak it, cut it, stuff it, shrink—"
"Shut up right now!" Jason shouted.
They turned and saw Jason had snuck up on them through the trees.
He walked in front of her and pointed in her face, almost touching her nose. "The only reason you people have been getting away with this shit is because the temp didn't do his job. I am chief field officer of Samundra, and now that I'm back. This stops. The new head producers may say chit chat is fine now, but aiding each other like this is over."
"Where were you?" Sugar asked.
He moves his finger to her. "None of your business."
"Montezuma," Casey whispered.
Sugar did not know what that word meant, but whatever it meant, this man was now turning red.
"Shut up! I'm the one who got two players disqualified last season. If you don't want to join them, shut your trap."
"You can't threaten contestants like that, Jason."
"Stay out of this, Leticia."
"I am chief field officer for Vegeta's group. I know all the rules. Just because you're embarrassed, doesn't mean you can escalate this incident like that."
"This doesn't involve you! You're only responsible for that Klingon's whore right now."
Those two words Sugar Petal did know the meaning of.
Sugar Petal stood. "I am not a whore!"
"Oh really. What are we supposed to think when you and that bastard sneak off at night and cover up the standing cameras after those lovely performances with Michael."
"The… the… the machete," she stuttered.
Casey stood up.
"Camera didn't see it, it didn't happen, Sugar," he said Sugar condescendingly. "And that location is going to be so blurred when aired it won't matter anyway. No one will ever know he had it, you little bitch."
Sugar Petal was silent. Then she did something where she surprised herself.
Sugar stepped forward and tried to punch Jason, but her little 4'10" frame could not reach and he simply stepped back and grabbed her arm with both hands.
It was a feint.
Sugar Petal put all her thin fame's power into a kick to the balls. It was not a lot, but it did not take a lot.
Casey then shoved Jason while he was off balance into the sand. She then grabbed Sugar Petal's hand and dragged her running towards their shelter. "Jamal! Daisuke! Jerry!"
"Did you hear that?" Daisuke said.
—"Nick! Jamal!"—
"That's Casey!" Jessica said.
—"Daisuke!"—
"Fuck!" Jamal jumped up and darted through the center of the house before the other men took their first steps.
The team either cut through or went around the house. They saw a crewmember on the ground, another screaming "Security!" into her handset, and Casey almost dragging poor Sugar Petal towards them with one of the camera crews on their heels.
Jamal proved how he got MVP at two of his three super bowls and got to them first. He actually left skid marks in the sand trying to stop. "What's wrong?"
"Get her in the shelter!"
"Wha—"
"Just get her in and away from that pervert! Don't let him near her!"
Out in the mangroves, Hassim had cut up two smaller drink bottles to show Vegeta an idea.
"See this is how a Mediterranean tile roof is made, two curved pieces on top and a third upside-down underneath to catch any water and it'll slide right off."
"Good. Let's do it your way and start—"
Vegeta suddenly jerked his head and his expression dropped.
"Umm, why are you looking at me like that?" asked the technician.
"Something's wrong with Sugar Petal, I can sense it." Vegeta ran around the group then practically vanished.
"Hey, wait for me!" Hassim began to run back towards the blue beach, but the roots slowed him down. Then he felt something behind him and his feet lost contact with the ground. He suddenly felt like he was getting slammed back into the passenger seat when his brother showed off the acceleration of his sports car. As suddenly as it started, it stopped.
Hassim was dropped into the sand and he looked up to see Vegeta running off at more human speeds. He stood up, grimaced at his sore right shoulder, and ran after.
At this point security and medical have responded, but the blue team was in a protective circle around Sugar Petal, except for Nick, who had backed off after the group had been threatened with mass expulsion. Leticia was also there and was aggressively talking with the guards.
"What the fuck is going on?!" Vegeta stormed up. He looked like he was ready for murder.
A security guard blocked his path, "Stay out of this Mr. Brief." Then the security guard felt what he could only describe as his skull going transparent and became instantly dizzy. The man passed out and Vegeta stepped over his body.
This distracted the other guards and Vegeta inserted himself in between them and Samundra. Vegeta dug his feet into the sand and stood at a diagonal to the more aggressive guards. Daisuke and Jerry recognized a fighting position when they saw it. It was a casual guard, but nothing that should not be taken seriously. This man was clearly a brawler, and very confident in his abilities.
"Do not make me repeat myself again. I am not budging from between you and little Sugar until Jason is dealt with!" Leticia said loudly. "That was completely unacceptable behavior. That was sexual harassment."
"Ma'am, you know the rules about physical altercations. We need to take everyone into custody."
"And I know the rules about sexual harassment. Do your jobs. The two are separated. You have our statements. Now review all the camera footage and get him off the beach."
The lead guard glanced at Vegeta looking ready to murder him and sighed. "We're backing off for now. But don't go anywhere."
"And where would we go? We're in the middle of nowhere," Vegeta snarled.
"Just keep the woman on the beach." He turned around and the guards walked away to check on their coworker.
Leticia turned and the men of Samundra stepped aside. She walked up to Sugar and knelt down, "Everything is going to be all right. We're not going to let anything happen to you. You did nothing wrong."
Sugar tried to hold back her tears. Casey and Jessica hugged her.
Hassim walked over carrying Sugar's blue bag. "I just overheard that we need to stay on the beach."
"Technically, since you were not involved, you two should be free to walk around." Letica said standing.
"Sugar Petal," Vegeta looked down at her, "Are you comfortable with me going back and grabbing the items we left in the trees when we ran here? Or do you want me to stay?"
"You can go get our things…" she said softly.
"I'll be back soon," Vegeta said to Hassim. He ran down the beach.
"Wow, he's really fast," Jamal said. "Glad he doesn't play football."
Once back in the trees, Vegeta moved at speed back towards the place they left everything. He spotted the camera crew, but did not let them see him. They were not carrying their things, so he left them. Vegeta found their plastic tub backpacks. He put his on and carried Hassim's, but he did not immediately head back. He began running through the trees picking up any small bottles he saw. When they both filled, Vegeta stopped and cut them up like Hassim demonstrated to save space and continued. He also collected, cut and stored any 2 liters he came across, but those were rarer.
Then, Vegeta spotted another huge shirt dangling in a tree at the high tide mark. Then a large pair of shorts tangled in the roots at the water's edge. Vegeta took the backpack off and jumped into the clear ocean water.
Vegeta spotted a hard-shell suitcase lodged deep in the roots. It was partially opened. It had more clothes near it than hanging out of it. The clothes themselves looked unharmed by decay and wildlife. The suitcase must have been lost intact and only recently came open by the tide.
Vegeta came up for air, then dived back down. He put his arm through the roots and reached out with his energy, bubbling the water around his hands and in an invisible line towards the clothes and suitcase. Pulling the loose clothes was the easy part, but the suitcase and the items still firmly inside proved impossible. But in the end, he bagged four more Hawaiian shirts and three pull string shorts besides what he found up top.
Vegeta levitated out of the water, and knowing he had wasted time, stopped looking for plastic and darted back through the trees while zapping himself dry.
Vegeta came to the edge of the mangroves and waded across the stream, as Nathan's team was about to come back across.
"There you are," Nathan said, "We were just about to look for you."
"It's only been about 20 minutes, right?" Vegeta asked, faking confusion.
"More like 35," Nathan said.
"Ah. Is everyone still here? Where's Sugar Petal?"
"Yeah, everyone's still on the beach. Come on."
Vegeta came up to the blue shelter. Sugar Petal was curled up under the frame with the original blue tarp over it by a fire. The other women were with her. The men were nearby laying around and doing random things.
"How are you doing, Sugar Petal?"
Sugar Petal didn't respond.
"I have a surprise for you Sugar, if you would look at me," Vegeta said, putting Hassim's backpack down.
But as Vegeta was about to take his off, everyone's radios lit up. The field producers picked theirs up to listen to the message.
"Conner is coming with Mr. Reynolds," Leticia said. "There is going to be a big speech for broadcast."
"When are they coming?" Casey asked.
"They're going to pull ashore any minute."
Meanwhile, on Berapi…
"Dead?! What do you mean the fish are dead?!" Becky screamed.
"The fish we stole went belly up, I don't know what happened," Sam pleaded.
Michael stood. "Ok, show me…" he sighed.
The ground was definitely muddier when they arrived at their pond. They had completely walled it off, causing a backup and the water to cut around the sides, flooding part of the track.
There were dead fish bobbing along the stone wall.
Michael rubbed his forehead.
"Fuck…"
Meanwhile, at Samundra…
The film boats became visible first. Then the host in his boat with him standing at the bow like a glorified George Washington. A heavily armed security boat was also there. The camera crews took position as the boat beached itself and Conner and Mr. Reynolds stepped off. The security detail beached itself next and they already had their guns drawn and hands near the triggers.
"Everyone gather," Conner ordered.
Vegeta dropped his backpack and stood between them and the others. Jerry and Daisuke again saw Vegeta ready to pounce. Daisuke stood behind Vegeta. Everyone else followed his example keeping Vegeta in between them and the security.
"I understand this morning has been a very trying one. The head staff and lawyers have reviewed the incident." Conner paused and locked eyes with Vegeta. He began speaking harshly, "Although utterly detestable, unethical, and completely inexcusable Jason's behavior was today…" His voice turned to defeat, "It did not breach his employment contract and will be returning to his position."
"What?!" the women shouted.
"Leticia," he sounded apologetic, "However, your behavior did. I'm sorry, but you are hereby fired. All of your belongings have been gathered and are waiting for you at the airport."
Reynolds suddenly stepped forward and pushed Conner aside, hard enough for him to stumble. He raised his hand and three security guards stepped forward guns raised.
Leticia walked up to them, who then used zip ties to restrain both her arms and legs and dragged her to the security boat.
Reynolds walked up and whispered in her ear. "Your last paycheck has been used to buy the first ticket available to the Western sector. From there how you get home is your own problem. Also, if you do not hurry and miss this flight you are completely on your own." He smiled, "Also your passports and cards are inside your luggage, so good luck with that."
Reynolds turned to face the group. "Now, Samundra. For your involvement, it has been decided that you will be stripped down to your original kit and all other belongings and food will be burned."
Samundra erupted into screaming and cursing. A security guard shot his automatic rifle in the air to shut everyone up.
Reynolds continued, "If you continue to resist. Then all of you will be terminated from this show and sued for the 150 million zeni penalty for breach of contract according to the terms you signed to compete!"
Everyone looked furious but resigned.
"Now Sugar Petal! Step forward!"
Sugar Petal made her way to the front and stood next to Vegeta.
"Normally for attacking a crew member, you should be expelled. However, the executives have ruled that because it was under emotional duress, you have two options. First, you can immediately be sent to Maroon Bay, where you will have to survive on your own without food, clean water, and fire for two weeks until the individual competition starts and you can return to the game to compete. And for those two weeks, anything short of a medical evac will also result in triggering the civil penalty clause. Or, number two. You can remain here and support your team, BUT, you will no longer be eligible for any monetary prizes or immunities. If you survive all the way until the final four, you will be removed from the game and the final jury vote for the winner will be held. Do you understand?"
Sugar started to cry.
"Do you UNDERSTAND?!" Reynolds shouted.
"Yes…"
"You have one minute to decide which option from the moment I stop talking." Reynolds raised his arm up and put his other hand on his watch. "If you do not answer within that one minute, you will have forfeited the game, be bound and evicted alongside Leticia, and be sued for breaking a contract for the 150 million zeni. Starting now.
"What?" she said softly.
"45 seconds."
Sugar started to panic.
"30 seconds."
"Calm down, woman," Vegeta said strongly, "You're not helping yourself."
"20… 19… 18… 17… 16—"
"I'm staying with Mr. Vegeta!" she screamed, latching onto Vegeta's arm.
"Wait!" Nick said, raising his hand and stepping forward. "I want to munity!"
"You piece of shit!" Casey shouted.
"Not like I wasn't the next person going to be voted off. I'd rather take my chances with the red team."
"The fuck you are!" Vegeta shouted. "I know what you did! You think you can retreat from protecting a woman then join the same camp as her?! If you're joining the red team, you're joining Michael's camp!"
"Are you sure of this Nick?" Conner asked.
"Absolutely."
"Ok, take off your buff and step over here."
Nick threw his blue bandana into the sand and stepped over to the host.
"Ok. Security, destroy the camp." Reynolds ordered
Some security came out of the boat with chainsaws. They begin destroying everything. One touched their backpacks.
"Hey! Those are ours!" Hassim ran over.
While that was happening, Mr. Reynolds walked up to Vegeta.
"What the hell do you want?"
"We need to speak with you about what you did to that guard," he said as softly as he could over the chainsaws.
Vegeta nodded and followed him away from the scene with Sugar Petal still clinging to his arm like a scared child.
Once they were far enough away, Mr. Reynolds turned around. "Ok now what did you do to the guard that fainted? He said like it felt you were digging into his skull."
"I was digging into his skull. He refused to tell me what was happening, so I read his mind. If he got lightheaded from it, that's his own damn fault."
"Then you were perfectly aware that mind reading could cause him to collapse?"
"Telepathy in all its forms can be a little disorienting if you're not used to it, but if he got dizzy enough to faint from such a superficial pin prick then that's not my problem. I did nothing to hurt him."
Vegeta smirked.
"But if you have a human sacrifice, I'm more than willing to demonstrate what it DOES look like to injure someone mentally." Reynolds heard Vegeta say, but his mouth did not move. He then felt a sudden rush of vertigo, but not enough to lose his balance.
"You have made your point," Reynolds said. "I will have to discuss this with the head staff to see if any punishment is necessary. But the three of you need to collect your things and leave this beach."
After gasoline was thrown on the pile, a torch was lit and handed to Conner. He took a deep breath and walked forward. He made a show of raising the torch for all to see. Then he paused. Everyone waited for him to set the shelter on fire.
Suddenly he plunged the torch into the sand and kicked it out.
"What do you think you're doing?!" Reynolds shouted.
"Do your own damn dirty work!" Conner shouted walking back towards the boat. He stopped when he came to Sugar Petal, still weeping into Vegeta's side.
He leaned down to be eye level with her, "You've done nothing wrong. Absolutely nothing wrong. Just because something is legal does not make it right. Never confuse anything that has happened to you here for being RIGHT."
"Conner!" Reynolds shouted.
Conner glared at him and walked back to the boats. He got in and crossed his arms.
Reynolds was turning red. "Ok! That's it! We're reshooting this without Conner! Cut her loose so we can do this all again!"
After hearing this, Vegeta looked to see if he had a clear shot. He then put his hand behind his back and pointed two fingers.
Suddenly everyone turned around as the shelter erupted in flames.
Reynolds grabbed the vest of the guard next to him. "I told you guys to pour their water on their camp fire!" he pointed.
"Let go of me for a moment," Vegeta whispered.
Sugar did and felt a gust of wind. Then after a split second, he was back.
While the blue team watched their camp burn. Hassim, Vegeta and Sugar Petal began walking toward the track. Sugar Petal was still clinging tightly to Vegeta's arm, so he carried his backpack by a strap. She was crying.
"You did absolutely nothing wrong, Sugar Petal." Vegeta said, "This is all Michael's doing. Him and men like Jason who laugh at such things."
Sugar's knees gave out and she just collapsed in a ball of mush, still gripping Vegeta's hand.
Vegeta rolled his eyes, then held up his backpack to Hassim. "Sorry to turn you into a carrier drone."
Hassim took the backpack, "No. It's fine."
Vegeta then forcefully picked up Sugar Petal and carried her back to camp.
Vegeta laid her down in the hammock and Hassim put the backpacks into the hut. He quickly came back out.
"Can you watch her for a few minutes? I'll… I'll be back shortly." Vegeta walked off without waiting for a reply.
Leticia's old crew quickly went after him, but Vegeta was gone.
Up. Up. And up.
Faster and faster until Vegeta broke through the clouds and into the thin blue air.
After checking that all the nearby energies were on the ground, he screamed. He screamed until he was hoarse. Then, when that didn't make him feel any better, he transformed and gathered all his energy into a final flash into the sky, satellites and international space station be damned. When that didn't work, he did it again. And again. He did it until he was so exhausted, he couldn't even stay transformed anymore.
"Done with your tantrum yet?"
Vegeta did not even turn around to look at Piccolo.
"Yea…"
"We've been monitoring you at the Lookout. You don't have to say anything."
"Piccolo… I know you and Dende intervened with that girl. You better not have impersonated her grandmother…"
"No… that was real. Dende was just the facilitator."
"Good…"
"I'm sorry you are going through this. If we had been told, we could have looked into this and saw what was happening. The former host set this whole thing up, Michael abusing that girl and putting the unstable husband of Bulma Brief in the middle. He…"
"Never thought he would stumble across the Prince of all Saiyans… … …
"…How would a human go about this situation?"
"What do you mean?"
"Bulma told me to act like a human being. So I've been trying to copy the Doc or Krillin or even fucking Yamcha! I give her things and make her comfortable like I know Bulma and Panchy like… I'm out of ideas…"
"What would you do if you didn't have to pretend to be human?"
Vegeta turned around. He raised his hands and clawed them in frustration on either side of his head. "I'd start fucking killing people! What do you think I want to do! Why does this fucking planet make things so fucking complicated!"
"I think you're over thinking things, Vegeta." Piccolo said, but his voice changed. It had an older, weary sound to it.
Vegeta stayed silent but on edge. He had never met the former divine guardian, but he knew what that fusion did to Piccolo. He must have been an old but fierce warrior to cause that type of change.
"Vegeta, Sugar Petal was always destined to kill herself after attending this show. But there is a major flaw in the vision pool. It relies on a closed system." Kami looks intensely at Vegeta. "And up until very recently, it was a closed system. I cannot ethically tell you what will happen now, but I will say I never thought that girl would ever utter her real name again before taking her own life. But you got her to say it. The three times you've gotten to her; you were being yourself. And there is more to you than just a trained killer. You're intelligent and cunning. And when you're not being an arrogant prick, you actually have a good head on your shoulders."
Vegeta crossed his arms, "So you want me to do something cruel and manipulative that has an 80% chance of making things infinitely worse?"
"So," Piccolo said in his normal voice, "What's your plan?"
Vegeta closed his eyes and thought for several minutes.
"What are the symbols in her native language that write her real name?" he asked, slowly opening them.
Yamcha and some of the staff were watching through binoculars. They saw Vegeta fall from the sky and the green man fly off.
"See," Yamcha said, handing back his pair to Reynolds, "Told you Piccolo was harmless. Stop freaking out over every little thing. Vegeta wasn't doing any harm but responsibly venting in a safe location and then Piccolo came to see what the heck he's having a tantrum about this time."
"You're saying THAT is completely normal for you?"
"Would you rather one of those blasts be aimed at someone's head?" Yamcha said, "Vegeta walked away from a very bad situation, had his freak out, and now is returning with a calmer brain. Just because the fireworks can be intimidating doesn't make it bad." He walked away.
Vegeta dropped out of the canopy without any warning into the middle of the camp, scaring everyone.
Hassim got up from falling on the ground. "What the fuck! Where have you been? You've been gone for over an hour!" Then he noticed how sweaty and exhausted he looked, "What happened to you?"
"Taking out my anger in a slightly more constructive manner than first degree murder." Vegeta then looked at Sugar Petal and began walking towards her.
Hassim grabbed his arm, "She's asleep. Passed out a little bit ago… Ugh…" He got a look of disgust on his face, "Ewe, this isn't water, is it?" He looked for something to wipe his hand on. "Go take a bath Vegeta!" He ran towards the stream. Jackie's team followed.
Vegeta's eyes widened, "Take a bath…" He looked at Sugar Petal passed out in the hammock.
Vegeta walked into the hive and found the two backpacks sitting untouched on the floor. He dumped them out, grabbed all the clothes and darted towards the outhouses. Nathan and his crew followed.
He walked past the rot pile down to the stream and tossed everything on the trail next to a pile of stones at the shore. It jutted out just below the water line leaving a small bowl of water in the middle.
"What are you doing?"
"Laundry."
Vegeta then walked over and climbed the trees the soap vines had overgrown and started throwing down twigs and bark. He returned to the platform.
Vegeta grabbed the muddiest clothes first. He rinsed as much mud as possible out in the middle of the stream, then placed it on the platform. He took the twigs and bark and lathered it up in the depression. He went back and forth between the platform and the open stream a few times until he was satisfied.
Vegeta grabbed one of the shorts he pulled from the suitcase and was surprised he felt an object in the pocket. He slipped it out.
A metal cigarette lighter. Vegeta quickly pocketed it and continued washing.
After washing the clothes, Vegeta returned to camp.
Hassim was sitting on the bench with several pieces of the small plastic bottles, the half machete with the handle, and Sugar's bamboo needle and blue thread. "So where are you going to stick those?"
"I'll make the clothes line in a minute," Vegeta said entering the hive. He threw the wet clothes on the floor and grabbed vine and the full machete. He came out and went to the spare bamboo pile.
"Hassim? Did you use all the bamboo and not cut anymore?"
"Not yet."
"Perfect…" Vegeta walked back through camp and down to the stream with his crew in tow. He waded across the creek and cut some thin stalks down.
He came back, tied the vine between two trees a few feet in front of the hive entrance, fashioned some bamboo clips, and hung the clothes. "Don't bitch. I'll move them later."
"That's fine. Hey, how big of a window are you cutting?"
"What size you got now?" he walked over.
Hassim had about a 2-foot by 2-foot square.
"I was thinking a little bigger. Let me cut the holes and I'll bring you the inside."
Vegeta walked into the hive with the machete and climbed to the second floor. He walked over to the wall and cut out a large hole. "Look out below!" he shouted as he pushed the piece out.
It landed next to Hassim.
"Hey! You almost hit me in the head!"
"Oh, toughen up you baby," Vegeta said, poking his head out the window. "That's your chunk by the way." Vegeta then moved and cut out a second hole completing the triangle between the fireplace and the first window.
He came down and grabbed his piece. He then brought a stool up to Hassim. "Ok, let me watch what you are doing."
Vegeta watched him poke small holes and tie the pieces together securing the edges of the lower pieces to the upper arches. He then took the second needle and more blue thread and began his panel.
Hassim looked over and was surprised how slow Vegeta was actually working. He usually worked extremely fast, but with this he was walking on eggshells. Hassim returned to his work and finished the final knots, "So how do you plan to attach these?"
"Bamboo hinges. Wait… Are you done already?"
"Yes."
"How?"
"As resourceful as you are, I don't think you're meant for detail work," he awkwardly chuckled.
"Fine…" Vegeta rolled his eyes. "Give me that and finish this one."
He took it and walked up to the second floor of the hive. He held it over the window hole to get an idea how to physically make his mental design. Afterwards he put it on the floor and headed down. Vegeta took the tops of the poles he cut earlier and cut the wider bottoms in half. He then poked two small holes and pushed the thin tops, about the diameter of his thumb, through them. He then inserted small scraps through those to make sure they did not come out. He took it inside and threaded the two sticks through the gaps in the plastic. Vegeta then took vines and tied them to the upper part of the weaving, so the bottom stuck out the window. They could be lifted, but just enough to look down at the courtyard between the two shelters. It let in a massive amount of light.
"I'm done with the second!"
"You're fucking kidding?" Vegeta said, lifting up the window.
"Nope," Hassim stood and showed him the panel.
Sugar Petal woke up midway through the afternoon. She turned over from looking at the kitchen to the fire pit and saw Vegeta sitting on a stool. He had cut the handful of straight-sided bottles and was heating them next to the fire in a bamboo spreader he made to hold it flat while the curl softened out.
"Hello, Mr. Vegeta," she said softly.
Vegeta looked behind him, "Welcome back."
She looked at her watch. "It's 3:42…"
"We finished the windows in the second floor for you," he pointed at the hive. "I'm surprised they're letting in so much light."
"That's nice…"
Vegeta eyebrows flattened. "Look at the hive now," he commanded.
Sugar quickly turned to look, afraid of his sudden dark tone. Her jaw drops. "… Are those… clothes?"
Vegeta smiled. "Found a suitcase in the mangrove roots. Those were the ones still in good shape. So… I'm thinking we can make some Castaway Chic out of that stuff. A nice flower dress," he holds up a bone choker with a glass flower centerpiece, "to go with the flower necklace I've finished."
Sugar gasped and gingerly took it in her hands. "Did you learn this on your History Channel?"
"Nope. Just because we're advanced enough for space travel doesn't mean ancient traditions don't still hold meaning. Bone jewelry made from trophies was an important tradition even among the elites. I also learned how to make stone knives from a man born from the lowest class in my unit."
"Your people have classes?"
"It may not be codified in law," Vegeta pointed at the hive, "But your people have a third class too. Ours lived in homes of mud, grass and sometimes scavenged garbage as well. But everything was built to last and spotlessly clean." He chuckled, "After my first tour, I screamed at my maids to clean my suite better because they were making me look bad."
"You sounded like an entitled brat."
"Oh, I'm still entitled, except now I'm an entitled son of a bitch."
She makes a small squeak like the beginning of a giggle, but it dies in her throat.
"Sugar. Stop blaming yourself. They protected you like any other decent human being. Right and wrong and legal and illegal do not match up as much as they should. What they did was RIGHT. That's all the gods truly care about."
"But I—"
"Also did what was right. Honestly getting kicked in the balls was the least serious retaliation you could have done."
"What do you mean?"
"I would have just grabbed the machete. But I guess for a person as meek as you, kicking him in the balls must feel like committing murder."
Sugar Petal rotated to turn away from him, and spotted an engraving on the bone plaque the glass flower is attached to. She gasped and put her hand over her mouth.
"Why are you surprised I added that to your gift?" Vegeta stood and took it from her fingers, stood behind her and looped it over her head.
She closed her eyes and tears began to run down her face.
"NEVER doubt your worthiness to wear this against your skin," he spoke to her telepathically as he tied the knot. "Even if that secret remains hidden from the rest of the planet. Now you just rest. Telepathy seems to make humans dizzy."
Sugar Petal did feel dizzy almost immediately. "Ok…" she whispered.
Sugar turned over to face the kitchen again.
Vegeta turned around and checked on the heating plastic. He touched the two, and they felt warm enough. He removed the frames from leaning against the inside of the fire pit walls and took them to the stream and dunked them.
As he was taking them out of the frames, Hassim came up with two medium-sized freshwater fish and two smaller ones on a vine loop. His hands and lower part of his arm is covered in small bite marks.
"What the hell happened to you?"
"These things bite," Hassim held up the string, "Jackie said they're called catfish."
"I thought you wanted to go spy on the munity guy? You yelled at Sugar for sneaking over yet you stopped to fish over there!"
"There's a slow spot behind that waterfall you mentioned and I saw these. Not like you can go fishing today to feed that black hole of yours. And we can't have that guy on the blue team check your work with the salt."
"I'll eat everything myself then," Vegeta said looking at the fish. "Is that location far enough from the red camp?"
"I wouldn't recommend it," Jackie said. "It's literally on the game area border. It's a matter of inches chasing fish and you guys don't need that shit right now."
"Well let's get those cooking then." Vegeta took his two plastic sheets and led the way back to camp. "So, how bad is it?"
"I overheard his diary video being filmed. Michael and Becky are literally forcing him to do everything he suggests instead of helping and are keeping Sam away from him on other tasks. Then screaming at him for why breaking rocks for tools or rebuilding the shelter or going spear fishing isn't instantly completed and to their satisfaction. Becky literally thought the extra bamboo and palm leaves made them look like hobos then ripped it all down and dragged it into the ocean.
Vegeta threw his head back and laughed. "Serves him right."
"How's Sugar Petal?"
"She woke up for a little bit but she's back asleep now. She'll be better in the morning."
"I hope so."
They walk into camp, and see Sugar in the hammock wrapped up in one of the oversized Hawaiian shirts and a second bundled up in a ball for a pillow.
"I see she's already found uses for two of them," Hassim said.
"Just try to cook without bugging her too much," Vegeta said, walking over to the bench where he laid the other straightened pieces. He then began organizing them in a pattern on the ground. He quickly settled on a 2x3 pattern, saving three other flattened pieces for other windows. Then he took the needle and thread and began poking holes in the plastic painstakingly sewing them together.
Meanwhile Hassim was quickly learning there is no perfect way to skin a catfish while periodically looking over at Sugar Petal to make sure he had not woken her up.
Night came and Vegeta finished installing his window as the others lit the fire in the second-floor stove. Unlike the two others, his did not need a bamboo frame. It was just directly tied to the woven walls so it could swing upwards. He also added a bamboo weight connected by thicker vines to help hold it closed for wind storms.
At night the two windows leaked light luminating the darkness. Vegeta took the bottom half of the second machete he conveniently left in the tree house and slid down the ladder. He walked to the stream and crossed it, then followed the other small creek up the steep slope until he found the bedrock clearing with the trough cut in it.
Vegeta made three fires to spread out their light. Saiyan eyes did not need that much. Then, he began running up and down the hill carrying stream stones up to the spring and formed a large pile.
Once the prep work for tomorrow was done, he started.
First, Vegeta used his energy to push all the water out of the trough. Then, Vegeta lit his hand blade. He crisscrossed the bottom and lifted out the rock fragments. Once he smoothed the sides and bottom, he had added another two feet in depth. It was now somewhere over three feet deep.
He then cleaned the moss around where the water came out of the rock to improve the flow and was surprised to discover a carving. He began ripping all of it off and discovered the cliff the water trickled down from was actually a very lovely wall with carvings of animals and people Vegeta assumed were ancient gods. Humans universally thought springs were magical across all tribes. Judging from the walls of bottles at the food stores Panchy had dragged him to a couple of times, many humans still refuse to drink anything else.
He threw more wood on the fires before he continued.
The water had barely covered the bottom when Vegeta used a half piece of bamboo to scrape the bottom getting any mud that he missed or formed from the dust out of the bottom. Once Vegeta was satisfied, he did one last modification. He deepened the drainage groove so the water would remain at a foot deep — unless it was blocked.
This is the part that Vegeta was dreading. Hassim was right. He was not a details person. Blasting rocks was fine. Cutting and smashing 2-foot-wide, 100-foot-tall bamboo plants, also fine. That glass flower was a nightmare, and he HATED how it turned out.
But this, he had barely paid attention to. Not even 10 seconds. But now he needed to make one with no time for mistakes. A woven bamboo mat. Advertised as air-tight, but the demonstration showed it as legitimately water-proof.
Vegeta broke a piece of bamboo into as many small strips as possible. Then he tried to slice them long ways, and failed horribly. Even when he carefully tried to push the stick into the blade, Vegeta still managed to break it. He added more and more broken bamboo to the fire next to him. Eventually he just put everything down and stepped back.
Vegeta took a deep breath, held it for about 30 seconds, then let it out slowly. He looked up. The moon was now out from behind the mountains and peaking above the treetops. It was now somewhere between 10:30 and midnight.
"Time to douse the fires and head back down."
Vegeta sighed and glanced at the rock piles he carried up. He grabbed one of the larger ones and trimmed it to fit the spillway. It blocked it half way, but wasn't very tight to the sides. He added uncut medium and small rocks behind it with clumps of moss to fill in cracks.
"Hopefully that will be enough to allow the water to rise up," he thought. After throwing the unburnt bamboo over the side of the hill, Vegeta used his energy to float up water and began to drench the fires. Once they were out to his liking, he returned to camp with the machetes.
He found Sugar Petal wrapped in her big shirt in the hammock.
She lifted her head, "Mr. Vegeta… Where have you been? It's 11:14." She held up her glowing watch face.
"Sneaking some extra work in on a project. I've gone as far as I can by myself, if you're interested in not mopping all day in camp tomorrow."
Sugar nodded. She then revealed the necklace.
"I'm not taking that back or altering it." Vegeta said firmly.
She looked up surprised. "No, I… I just…" Sugar hung her head, "thank you… It's pretty. And the shirts too… umm… a bracelet, if that's not too much trouble?"
Vegeta smiled, thinking his plan was working, "I'd be happy to. It's nice to find a woman appreciative of my talents."
"Oh? Your wife doesn't like these?"
"I tried to make one once, but she had a rather negative reaction, to put it mildly. So, I never bothered again. She's too obsessed with the dust on the bottom of her boots to see any meaning in what she's wearing."
"What do you mean?"
"It's what my mother called precious metals and gemstones. Father tried to modernize our nation to gain more respect in the intergalactic community, but my mother wouldn't have it. She wore them for state dinners, but the rest of the time she wore so much traditional jewelry she clattered as she walked. Made every piece herself and she made sure I knew how to make them so I could treat my future queen with respect." He sighed frustrated and crossed his arms, "But like I said, my wife finds no meaning in my work."
"But you made it because you care about her."
"That's not what I mean by 'meaning'. If that's all it was, I could have just bought beads and thread." Vegeta took the necklace that was held loosely in her hand and held it up, "What is this necklace's meaning? The meaning written in every bead and strand?"
"I… I don't know the symbolism in that design."
Vegeta sighed and rubbed his temple. "Ok I need a synonym… Uhm…" He thought for a few several extended moments. "History… What is the history of this necklace? The history of each part of it."
Sugar took the necklace back and held it in her hands. "The string comes from the net you found that you cut up and wove together. The beads…"
Vegeta smiled seeing the light turned on in her face.
She rubbed the beads, rotating them on the strings. "… All the animals you killed. All the work you put into making the food you gave me… The bed you made me… The flute that guided me here…"
Vegeta saw her rub her thumb over the engraving of her name and choked up.
She held the necklace to her chest. "Goodnight, Mr. Vegeta," she said hurriedly and darted back into the hive.
Vegeta began climbing up the ladder. Then he suddenly stopped. He paused, then hopped down and left the camp walking up the hill.
Vegeta was floating above the canopy looking down at the red camp. Humans naturally did not look up, so no cameras should be able to see him.
He held his hand out to help visualize and gently poked the minds of the sleeping team until he recognized Nick.
Nick was dreaming about food.
"Good," Vegeta thought, "I don't know what I'm doing as it is…"
Vegeta spent a good half hour lightly poking his mind. He was trying to steer it in the right direction while trying not to leave a mark. It was like trying to touch water without causing a ripple. He finally gave up and flew off.
He landed in the burned section of forest and followed the stream until he found the only slow pool above the waterfall. He could see it was full of fish even at night.
Vegeta took the lighter out of his pocket. Whatever fluid was in it was long gone, but the wheel sparked brightly now that it was dry. He scratched and dented the outside to make it look like it had been victim to the elements for a long time. Then he placed it on the rocks in the moonlight, angling it until it shone like a mirror.
Vegeta smirked to himself, then flew to the other side of the peninsula.
Vegeta seized as he viewed the smoldering wreckage. He couldn't see the blue team, but he could feel them in the shade of the tree line.
He was about to poke Jessica when she sprang up and darted out of the tree line. To his horror she looked up, causing him to duck into the canopy.
"What the fuck is up with this woman?"
Vegeta quickly left.
Down below, Jessica's heart was racing. Whatever that sensation was, it was not pleasant. She was a lucid dreamer, and for a moment… it was like feeling a pickpocket bungle trying to lift a wallet, but in her head… and trying to steal her dream?
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her senses had been going crazy, but even with the reassurances from Daisuke and Jerry, she did not want to look like Casey on television. But her senses had always gone screwy when Vegeta was involved, and even though she didn't directly feel his presence, she couldn't shake the thought it was him.
She scanned the trees. He wasn't here now that she could tell.
"If Vegeta was here… What would he do?"
"Hide stuff for us," she answered herself.
After checking to see everyone was asleep, she walked off towards her meditation rocks and entered the trees there.
It was dark. The moon was on the other side of the trees. She stumbled through the speckled light not even sure she was headed in the right direction.
But then she saw something odd out of the corner of her eye to her right. A palm leaf with most of its leaflets stripped off was tied to a tree by its stem. The intact portion sticking out like a flag.
It was the clay tree Vegeta had dug under. The dead zone for the cameras.
"There it is."
She slid down the hill and found the hole covered with banana leaves. No one else knew of this spot other than the three of them, so it was clearly Vegeta. She lifted them up and gasped. She got on her knees and had to touch them to make sure they were real.
The clay pots. All five of them. And their lids. And inside the bowls and cups still stored there. She did not know how or when he did it. But he had stolen the pots. He could not have taken them for himself. He was the one who began the trading to begin with.
Then her heart sank.
"I can't take these back… Jason will smash them the second he spots them…"
She covered them back up and put some light debris on top. Then she climbed up the rise and untied the palm leaf. If Vegeta ever came back, he would know it was found but left behind. It would also mean it would be less likely to be spotted by staff.
She stood and walked away.
Coming out to the beach, everyone was awake and waiting for her.
"Where were you?" Casey asked, practically demanded.
Jessica sighed. She closed her eyes, "I had a dream that spooked me. So, I went to check something. Everything is fine. Let's just get back to bed."