Our Nights Out 2: The Beach
Vegeta could not believe it. His routine of training and occasional family duties was already being disrupted by taking his wife on another date. How could a month pass by so quickly? Their last date had been in the middle of August and this one was taking place at the very beginning of September. She demanded he took her on only one date a month and for this one she had begged that they go early in the month. She saw this as a chance to enjoy the last breaths of summer heat before colder seasons arrived. And what better way to enjoy that summer heat then by visiting the beach of West City?
The fierce warrior looked out the window as the family vehicle being driven by his wife pulled into the large, lively parking lot by the beach and neighboring pier in the late afternoon. With zero clouds in the sky and the sun bringing out the vibrant colors of the beach, it truly felt like a final opportunity to enjoy summer weather.
"You really have to get your driver's license one of these days." Bulma mused as she waited in line to find a parking spot. "You may be the Saiyan prince but I wanna be a passenger princess!"
"Once again, we could've flown here..." Vegeta complained.
"And once again, I don't want to draw attention to us! Remember?" Bulma responded as she finally found an ideal location to park in. "I think you'd look handsome in the driver's seat."
"Hmph..." Vegeta scoffed. A devious idea crossed Bulma's mind as she finished pulling in.
"You know, Goku has his driver's license..." she began, looking over seeing her husband already tensing up. "I'm sure you guys are close in strength but right now he's got you beat on the road."
"It's no surprise that fool wasted his time learning such a thing, I have no doubt his woman put him up to it!" Vegeta spat out. "And I have never seen him operating any vehicle, he gets to fly around wherever he pleases! I deserve that same privilege!"
Bulma grabbed a pair of sunglasses out of her purse as she shut the vehicle down and perched them on her forehead. "He also lives in the middle of nowhere so he can get away with it. We'll worry about this later, let's go enjoy the sun!"
"Very well..." Vegeta muttered as he exited the air conditioning of their vehicle into the scorching parking lot.
Why does she insist on constantly dressing me up like some flower? he thought as he adjusted his pink palm tree patterned button up shirt. At least he was not subjected to wearing matching swimming trunks as he chose a dark gray pair.
Bulma excitedly stepped out next, clad in a white crochet drawstring cover up. "I can't remember the last time I came here!" she exclaimed as she grabbed her purse next.
"I wanna go on the pier first!" she said excitedly over to Vegeta who was standing on the other side of the vehicle with his arms crossed out.
Vegeta was indifferent to which location they started their outing on, but Bulma practically skipped up to him as the two made their way up the steps from the parking lot to the pier. The crowds surrounding them were a welcome change from the crowds of their last date. Instead of mostly young people drinking they were surrounded by a lareg variety of people and could easily blend into the crowd rather than stick out.
"Don't worry honey, we're too old for the games or rides here so we're skipping all that." Bulma started as they walked down the wooden pier past various booths for games and rides, mostly being taken up by children. "However, I do have a special job I need your help with."
This isn't good... Vegeta thought. It's bad enough we're surrounded by morons and brats now what could this be?
Bulma dug into her purse for a moment. She then produced her phone and handed it to Vegeta. "On our last date we didn't take any pictures! And I want to save our memories on here."
"And what do you need me for?" Vegeta asked, annoyed. He looked at the phone, a mix of puzzlement and disgust on his face.
"That's where you come in. I want you to take my pictures!"
Vegeta stared at the phone in his hand, his expression somehow getting more disgusted.
So this is what I've been reduced to... I have gone from a mighty Saiyan warrior feared across the galaxy to some photographer...ugh!
"You know how to use it, right?" Bulma asked as she moved ahead of him. She was imagining the pictures he could get of her from behind in that moment.
"There can't be that much of a learning curve..." Vegeta mumbled as he struggled to enter in a passcode to unlock the phone.
"Oh! Here..." Bulma cut in as she snatched the phone and entered the passcode in. "Now you should be good. Need any more help?"
"I operated more complex spacecraft than this puny device." Vegeta muttered as he opened the camera application on the phone.
"Good! Now get to snapping some photos before we lose daylight!" Bulma ordered as she got ahead of him again. She soon heard the snap sound effect on the phone indicating pictures were being taken.
I can't wait to see these pictures! she thought as they made their way to the end of the pier. Once they reached their destination Bulma headed towards a tower viewer mounted on the wooden fence of the pier. She pulled a coin out of her purse and looked inside the telescope, hoping to see some marine wildlife in the distance. Even if no creatures appeared, she still enjoyed watching the sun sparkling over the vibrant blue waves.
Now these will look good! She thought, already imagining the photos Vegeta was taking behind her while she was manning the telescope. She could not wait any longer as she looked away from the telescope and sat on a wooden bench. After she gestured him to come over, Vegeta sat down next to her and handed her phone back.
"I couldn't wait any longer to see what photos my elite photographer took! Let's see what you got!" Bulma said, seizing the phone quickly. Slowly, her glee disappeared as she looked through her gallery. It turned out her photographer was the opposite of elite as she scrolled past blurry photos of her from behind as well as some inadvertent self-portraits of Vegeta's eyes looking up.
"Vegeta... these are all horrible! I thought you knew how to use a phone!" Bulma yelled angrily.
"I'm born to fight, damn it! Not use such a stupid device!" Vegeta snapped back.
Bulma took a deep breath and calmed herself down. "It's ok... you will figure it out eventually. And we have plenty of time for more pictures."
Damn! Vegeta thought. I hate to put on a poor performance in any area, even something so stupid like this but I was hoping a bad showing would free me from this humiliating duty...
Bulma handed the phone back to Vegeta. "Why don't you just play around with it some more? Get familiar with it and we'll try again later."
"Fine!" Vegeta fired back. After a few minutes of silence and familiarization she noticed him going through her phone gallery and various folders. Suddenly his demeanor changed.
What is this? he thought as he opened a folder where the thumbnail was Bulma sprawled across a lab counter in skimpy scarlet colored lingerie.
"Bulma..."he started as he held the phone so she could see what he was seeing. "Just what is the meaning of THIS?" He pulled up a gallery of dozens more self-portraits that his wife had taken of herself. Some of the photos were nude, others had clothes, barely. All of the photos were of a very suggestive nature. Turning red out of embarrassment, Bulma quickly grabbed her phone back.
"If you must know... " she whispered sharply, her face burning with humiliation. "I took those FOR YOU. I thought I would send those to you, they would help convince you to get out of the gravity chamber and come see me when I was feeling... in a certain mood. But YOU mister apparently don't like to look at your phone because it never worked! Not even once!"
"Oh...then let me look at those again." Vegeta replied. Now he understood the suggestive photos' purpose and he felt slightly embarrassed that he didn't even consider she could have taken the clothing challenged photos for him. He reached over to try and snatch the phone, eager to look at the pictures again and examine them further.
"No!" Bulma yelled, her eyebrows slanted down in anger, holding her phone out of his reach. "Maybe now you'll be motivated to use that phone I got you for your birthday!"
Perhaps I will use that piece of junk... Vegeta thought, still intrigued by the photos he saw and feeling a strong desire to look at them again. That would certainly make the day more tolerable. The Saiyan prince had to admit, the photos he saw would have definitely motivated him to at least take one break from the gravity chamber.
Bulma looked over to the shore down the pier. "Well, you have a chance at redemption if you can take good pictures of me on the beach. Maybe I'll let you look at more of my...uh... other pictures if you do a good job. Let's get going." Bulma quickly sprung up and began to head back down the pier with Vegeta behind her, slightly more enthusiastic. He now had motivation to improve his photography with that potential reward.
As the two reached the end of the pier past the crowds, mortification set in for Bulma. She realized that in her urgency to get to the beach for more photos she had forgotten the device she needed for those pictures, her phone.
"Vegeta, we need to go back...NOW!" Bulma cried after a short pause realizing the horror.
"Make up your mind, woman. Are we leaving this place or staying?" Vegeta asked, annoyed.
"I left my phone back on the bench..." Bulma announced, terrified.
"So?" Vegeta replied, indifferent. "What of it? You have enough money to get a new one."
"You don't understand!" Bulma snapped back. "There are tons of important Capsule Corp. files on there... not to mention the sexy pictures I took for you... what if someone gets their hands on all that company data? Or worse?! What if someone sees all my pictures!?"
Vegeta sighed. "Very well, let's head back."
"No, you are going to fly there right now and get it. We cannot afford to waste a second." Bulma commanded.
"What happened to avoiding any unwanted attention?" Vegeta sneered.
"GETTING MY PHONE BACK IS CRUCIAL RIGHT NOW! SO GET TO FLYING!" she screamed back at him not caring about causing a scene. Vegeta shook his head and hovered over the barrier of the pier before quickly shooting over to the other side of the pier where they had previously been. Sure enough, Bulma's pink phone with Capsule Corp stickers was sitting on the bench, undisturbed. Vegeta quickly picked it up and sat down to wait for his wife.
Damn... I wish I had remembered her passcode... I wouldn't mind indulging in viewing those scandalous pictures until the woman gets back...
After a few minutes Bulma got back, red in the face from jogging the long distance of the pier and panting. "Was... was it there...?"
Vegeta held up the phone in one hand as Bulma breathed a sigh of relief. Still breathing heavily and sweating from her sprint, she pulled out her Capsule Corp water bottle out of her purse and took a long drink.
"Was this insignificant machine really worth throwing such a tantrum over?" Vegeta asked her. "I would wager none of these simpletons wandering about even noticed your device sitting here."
As soon as he finished his sentence, he felt the phone slide out of his grip causing his eyes to widen. Before he had a chance to understand what was happening, Bulma cried out again in anguish as Vegeta turned and saw the phone in the claws of a gull that had just swooped in to grab it, perhaps it was drawn to the phone's bright pink color. Vegeta watched the bird fly away and join a flock of more birds as Bulma wailed some more.
The Saiyan prince shrugged. "I suppose you have no choice but to purchase a new device now, woman."
"THAT IS WHERE YOU ARE WRONG!" she shouted at him, her veins bulging in her neck. "WE ARE NOT GOING HOME UNTIL WE GET THAT PHONE BACK!"
Bulma crouched down, her hands behind her head on the verge of tears.
"All my work, it could get stolen... that bird could drop my phone into the hands of a competitor..." she ruminated softly. "Or maybe that flock is going to fly out to a certain island and some old pervert is going to get his filthy hands on it and do Kami knows what with my spicy gallery..."
Visions of the phone landing on the shore of Kame House Island out in the middle of the sea began to enter Bulma's mind and then visions of a dirty old man named Master Roshi finding it. She could just hear his cackles and picture the ensuing nosebleeds. Bulma was ready to moan out of sorrow but shortly she remembered something.
"Wait..." she began, her composure changing abruptly. "I have an idea."
"What? I blast every bird out of the sky?" Vegeta suggested.
"NO YOU GOOF! THAT'D DESTROY THE PHONE!" Bulma yelled before returning to her placid state. "I installed an application on both of our phones so that in case of an emergency, we'd be able to track each other down in case one of us was looking for the other. Give me your phone."
"I don't have it with me." Vegeta replied with a shrug.
Bulma giggled lightly before going back to her shrill form. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T HAVE IT?"
"I have no use for such a thing." Vegeta answered, unbothered by her volume. "It's back home somewhere. I forget where..."
"Well lucky you! It looks like we're going to go home early!" Bulma cried out. "We are going to find your phone then we will keep searching for my phone even if it takes all month long! So pick me up because we are leaving right this instant!"
"Ah, flying again." Vegeta scoffed. "It seems it doesn't matter how much attention we draw when flying is convenient." With an angry expression on her face, Bulma climbed on Vegeta's back.
"GET TO FLYING! NOW!" she strained, practically growling. Vegeta silently shook his head again as he grabbed onto Bulma's legs, and she wrapped her arms around his chest. He quickly flew off the pier in the direction of Capsule Corporation.
Minutes later they arrived at their destination. Bulma knew that there was only once place Vegeta's phone could be: the gravity chamber. For years Vegeta got his training in on a spaceship equipped to double as a training ground with adjustable gravity settings. Very recently, construction had been completed on a new, more challenging gravity chamber that was housed inside the main building of Capsule Corp.
As soon as Vegeta touched down on the lawn of the compound, Bulma squirmed off of him and ran towards the training area moaning anxiously. Vegeta walked slowly following her as she sprinted towards the building. Frantically she punched in the passcode to get inside the building that her husband spent most of his time inside of. By the time Vegeta caught up to her she had made her way into a locker room that was in the entrance of the gravity chamber. She was tearing through his wardrobe, opening drawers and lockers, throwing aside armor, white gloves, socks and whatever other items Vegeta had inside his drawers.
"Gah..." he strained, eyebrow twitching as she kept furiously digging around his locker room. "I had just organized all of that!"
In her panicked state, Bulma opened all of the desk drawers next to the wardrobe before seeing the shine of a navy-blue device. It was Vegeta's phone, a gift his wife had purchased for him for his birthday the prior year. Bulma squealed with glee as she picked it up.
"It's not even on?" she thought out loud as she powered it on. "How many times have you used this?"
"I don't know!" Vegeta answered. "It's a communication device and we live in the same building, if you want to communicate it's not like you don't know where to find me!"
Bulma ignored his explanation as she impatiently kept staring at his screen, shaking it back and forth as if that would make it load faster. It had turned out that Vegeta had not turned his device on in months. Once it finally powered on, a barrage of software updates began to process and many of Bulma's seductive picture text messages as well, only reinforcing her anxiety over someone potentially seeing them on her own device. In addition to her messages, she noticed one other person occasionally trying to communicate with her husband via text message: Goku.
She had to have seen at least ten text messages reading, "Hey Vegeta :)" from her oldest friend. Perhaps this was why Vegeta did not want to look at his phone and indulge Goku in conversation.
"Ah!" she moaned in exasperation. "This is going to take forever!"
Vegeta shrugged. "Well at least it still works."
After several minutes which felt like years to Bulma, the phone finally loaded up fully. She felt a small amount of ease as she opened up the tracking app for Vegeta and herself and wildly began looking for where her phone could be located on the map. She felt more her anxiety alleviate more when she saw her phone was tracking to a building near the West City beach. With the advanced tracking technology, she could see that more specifically it was on the roof of a building meaning hopefully the seagull had just dropped it up there and no human was aware of its' location.
"Good news babe..." Bulma began. "It looks like it's still on the beach and it's on top of some building. Give me a second to collect myself..."
Bulma closed her eyes and breathed in deep to attempt to settle down. Maybe this day could be salvaged after all. She decided to look at her husband's phone to try and find the last time it was powered on, purely out of her own curiosity. Before she could enter the phone's settings and find that data, she noticed there was one picture in the camera gallery of the phone.
Now, what could Vegeta possibly be taking pictures of? She wondered as she opened the gallery. Soon she began to chuckle when she realized what the photo was.
"Well well well, it looks like you aren't half bad at taking pictures after all." Bulma chortled, holding the phone up to Vegeta. "If you're taking pictures of yourself that is."
Vegeta looked up and saw a picture of himself in the mirror of his bedroom clad only in a white towel, a cocky smirk adorning his face. The picture presumably was taken after a shower given some droplets of water could be seen on his body. The towel was held dangerously past his abs, leaving little to the imagination of what could be underneath.
"Did you take this for me?" Bulma teased as Vegeta turned bright red and quickly turned away from his picture of himself in a compromising position.
"And what if I did?" Vegeta stammered loudly. He had forgotten that he made his own sultry picture to send to Bulma.
"Aw honey... looks like you thought of sending sexy pictures before I did." Bulma giggled and admired her husband's statuesque physique. "I'll just send that one over to myself now in case you forget again. You owe me more of these once all of this is said and done."
Vegeta strained as he more blood rushed to his face and beads of sweat began to form on his forehead.
"Once we find my phone, I think I know what my background picture is going to be..." Bulma said slyly as she finished sending the picture to herself.
"Enough of this! Then let's get moving." Vegeta snapped, hoping to forget his own not so modest behavior.
Vegeta was uncomfortably silent as he took his wife for another quick flight and soon the two were back at the West City beach. Bulma pulled out Vegeta's phone and began walking up the boardwalk next to the beach in search of the building where her phone was potentially located.
"You see now why I was so upset about my pictures maybe falling into the wrong hands?" she asked Vegeta as they walked up past beachgoers. "How would you feel if that picture on your phone got out?"
"I-..." Vegeta stumbled. He had just tried to forget he had even taken the picture. "I don't care if anyone sees me in such a state of... undress, as unbecoming of a prince as that would be... But the more I think about it, I would rather not anyone see your photos. Those were intended to be for my eyes only."
Bulma smiled and locked her hand in with his. "Exactly. And your picture is for my eyes only. Now you're getting it."
The couple soon arrived at an ice cream shop a short stroll up the board walk. It was a small teal colored building, more like a shack with a line of customers all waiting to get some cold treats on the scorching summer day.
"It should be up there..." Bulma said looking down at the tracking app on Vegeta's phone. "Can you please go up there and get it?"
Vegeta nodded and walked over to the back of the shop, trying to remain inconspicuous. He slowly hovered to the top and the unmistakable pink shine of Bulma's phone caught his eye immediately. He reached over and grabbed the phone, scaring away the flock of gulls perched on top of the ice cream shack. Surprisingly, the machine held up well despite being carried around by a filthy bird. The outer shell phone case would need to be replaced as it bore some scratches and cracks but the phone itself appeared to be fine.
The Saiyan prince walked over to the edge of the roof and held the phone up once again to show Bulma he had successfully recovered it.
"DON'T HOLD IT UP AGAIN!" she yelled out, drawing the attention of people waiting in line. "YOU WANT ANOTHER BIRD TO SWIPE IT?!"
Vegeta groaned as he descended down and handed the phone over to his wife, changing her demeanor completely.
"Oh, thank you thank you thank you." she cried out, overjoyed as she held the phone tightly against her chest. Quickly, she tossed her scratched up phone into her purse and latched onto her husband tightly. "Major catastrophe averted!"
"Are you going to subject me to more photo jobs?" Vegeta asked as he breathed a sigh of relief. Even he was thankful that this crisis was over.
"No, you've done enough for me today." Bulma answered, looking over at the sun. "Let's soak up some sun while we can." They had some an hour or two left before the sun would begin to set.
Soon the two found a small space on the beach amongst the crowd and laid out on towels and beach pillows that Bulma had packed in dyno-caps. They could finally relax after a date that had turned out to be a more stressful outing. Despite her pale complexion, Bulma still longed for occasionally sunning herself. She soon found herself in a daze shortly after removing her cover dress, applying ample sunscreen (which she made sure to apply to her husband as well) and letting the late afternoon sun kiss her skin as she lay in her orange two-piece swimsuit. Before she could fully allow herself to drift off, an idea crossed her mind.
"Vegeta, come closer to me." Bulma directed as she fished around in her purse, which was met with a sigh. Bulma pulled her phone out and held it in front of herself and her husband while they lay on their towels.
"You cannot be serious right now..." Vegeta groused.
"Aw come on, just one picture of us. " Bulma begged. "You can see how the experts take pictures."
"Fine, but don't draw this out. One picture, no more." Vegeta demanded.
"Deal!" Bulma said, her pouting erased as she slid closer to him. After wrapping her arm around his neck and conjuring a smile for the camera (while all Vegeta could muster was a scowl) she snapped a photo. Vegeta wasted no time retreating back to his towel, desperate to immerse himself in the white noise of the crashing waves in the distance and get some meditation in.
Bulma pulled up the photo she just took and admired it for a moment before she put her phone away. With her stresses of technology gone, she could now join her husband in relaxing and enjoying the last moments of sun.