AN: Happy Friday! Hope you enjoy the chapter. :)

Chapter 16

Bulma sifted through the pile of blueprints and small metal pieces strewn across her desk, letting out a relieved sigh when she came across the plunger component she was looking for.

It's almost there! I can finally add this final piece! she thought triumphantly. She hurried her way over to her personal work room within the larger lab, nodding at her team as she passed. Each of them was working on their own individual projects, either assigned by her or one of their own designs that she approved. There was rarely a project she turned down. Even ones that she didn't feel had much merit or was likely improbable she figured could either provide new insights that could assist in an unexpected way with current or future projects or could have unexpected outcomes that branched into new discoveries. In fact, it was one of these projects that helped further her own.

She practically floated into the workroom, headed right for her jumbled pile of electronics. She grabbed the small pill-shaped cylinder she had been working on previously and gently set the plunger she had retrieved from her desk into the small hole worked into one end of the thumb-sized tube, giving it a small twist and smiling wide when she heard the tiny click. She made some notes in her notebook, being sure to document its dimensions and weight as a newly completed item. Bulma palmed the item and held it to her chest, taking a deep breath.

"This is the moment of truth," she said to herself. She grabbed a round glass paperweight from her work bench and set it on an open space on the floor. She made sure there was a good six-foot radius around it that was clear of other items, stood back, and took another deep breath.

"The moment of truth…" she repeated in a whisper. "Here we go…"

She depressed the newly added plunger and tossed it at the paperweight. The tube landed on top of the glass ball with a little tink before letting out a large puff of smoke, hissing. Bulma took a step back just in case something went wrong, but when the small haze quickly dissipated, her heart leapt in her chest. There was her little tubular invention laying on the floor—the empty floor. The paperweight was gone.

She broke into a huge grin for a moment, letting herself relish the feeling for only a short time before her scientific brain brought her back to logic. This was only half of the equation. If the other half didn't work, this wasn't very useful at all. But, it was a good sign, she hoped.

The blue-haired saiyan cautiously approached the item, gently picking it up. She marveled that the weight was essentially the same. She brought it over to a scale on her desk to take the new weight and dimensions, noting that the dimensions remained unchanged while the weight had changed by increasing half a gram. She weighed it twice, as she had initially, to ensure it was accurate, and wrote down her observations. She held it up to her face, eyeing it closely. It appeared unchanged.

"Now for the real test," she muttered, walking back over to her cleared space. She shook her arms, getting the nerves out, and closed her eyes with a deep breath. 'Wish me luck,' she unconsciously thought to Vegeta. She felt a moment of his confusion before she depressed the plunger of the tube and tossed it again to the floor, her muttered pleas following behind it.

Another tink, puff of smoke, and hiss. Bulma stared intently at the haze, willing it to disappear faster. When it cleared, there on the floor was a small tube…

… and a fully intact, seemingly unchanged glass paperweight.

The shriek of her cheer and subsequent hysterical laughter rang out through the lab, causing all heads to turn toward their director's workroom.

Vegeta winced, grabbing his head and pausing in the middle of his training session with Kakarot. He very nearly missed a punch aimed directly at his head, grabbing his partner's arm and stopping further attacks. Kakarot immediately dropped back down to the ground from their floating position. He took note of his prince's hand on his head, an expression of mixed pain and annoyance.

"What's the matter, Vegeta?" he asked, knowing to keep his distance.

Vegeta shook his head lightly, like he was shaking fog out of his head. "Ugh, just Bulma, she—" he cut himself off, his eyes flashing over to Kakarot's. Shit, he wasn't supposed to talk about that stuff. He didn't want people knowing…

Kakarot's brows forked in confusion shortly before they shot up again, his mouth forming a small 'o' of acknowledgement. "Oh yeah! Chichi told me about that." He winked at Vegeta, earning him an annoyed look. "What happened?"

Vegeta put his hand on his head again. "I haven't had a chance to figure that out yet… just got screaming and a painful amount of excitement. I need to figure it out. One moment…"

'What is all of the screaming about, woman?' he sent to her, pushing through the molasses of her excitement-addled brain.

What he received was a jumble of random words and feelings he couldn't make out other than the underlying joyful fervor. He waited a moment before sending a more targeted, as best he could, shout. 'Bulma! What is happening?!'

The commotion died down for a moment—she must have finally registered him. The response suddenly resounded like a thunderclap in his head. 'I DID IT!'

He flinched slightly but otherwise tried not to react outwardly. He didn't need more questions from anyone other than his training partner. 'Did what?' he emphasized.

'The project I've been working on for months! The idea I've had for years! It works! I am able to target a solid item, encapsulate it into a tiny container, and remove it again without any noticeable disruption in the atomic makeup of the item! Now granted I have to run many more tests to be absolutely sure, but my first trial was a success! This has the potential to revolutionize storage and travel capabilities!' Apparently, Vegeta noted, no breathing was needed through mental connections…

Vegeta looked up to Kakarot, not noting that he was looking beyond him. "Apparently the woman successfully completed and tested a new invention that she claims will revolutionize storage and whatever," he said flippantly, rolling his shoulders in preparation to continue training.

"What will revolutionize storage?" a voice came from behind him. One he recognized with a flinch. He turned to acknowledge the saiyan his father intends to be his queen.

"Kari, what are you doing here?" he said tersely. She only smiled blithely, being completely used to this kind of response and attitude from him.

"I just came by to see how the endless training is going. I heard you say something about an invention?" she said amiably.

Vegeta looked blandly at her for a moment before acceding. "One of my former elites, the one you appointed to the Science Department, has created some new invention she claims is revolutionary."

Kari's eyebrows rose at this news. "Well that's a surprising development. How did she do that at one of the entry-level benches?"

Vegeta couldn't entirely hold back the prideful smirk that instinctively rose, but he cut it off quickly. "Oh she was already given her own lab to run. She leads a team now."

Kari's eyebrows rose a bit more, and there was a thoughtful silence. It made Vegeta uncomfortable. Did he not wipe the pride off his face fast enough?

"Is that so?" she finally said, slowly and deliberately. The prince didn't respond. He knew it wasn't a question requiring an answer.

His unasked for betrothed drifted slowly to the door. Vegeta was about to turn back to Kakarot to resume training when she said, "We should go see this new marvel of science. It is our duty as the royal family."

Vegeta shot a look to her back. 'Presumptuous…' he thought but recognized the wisdom of the words. If it was as important as the woman made it out to be, he should go witness it.

'What?' reverberated in his head. He sighed.

'Not you, woman… But you should prepare. Kari and I are on our way to view this new technology of yours.'

There was a charged silence before she sent back a terse, 'Kari?'

'She appeared behind me and heard me telling Kakarot about your invention.'

Another pause. 'How does she think you found out…?'

'She heard the tail end of the conversation. I didn't say how I knew. She likely thinks she eavesdropped on a conversation Kakarot and I had been having.' He felt her mental tension lessen. 'But we're on our way. Be prepared.'

With an immaterial squeal, she closed their connection.

When the prince and his betrothed arrived, it was like a madhouse. Various saiyans in and out of lab coats were rushing from one end of the lab to the other collecting items and taking notes, and in the middle of the storm was a blue-haired whirlwind. She was directing and going from one bench to another, looking over others' notes and progress, completely engrossed in whatever mission she had for herself. It seemed she had invited scientists from all of the other labs to join them.

Vegeta stood with his arms crossed for a moment before clearing his throat loudly, commanding the attention of the room. The room that was formerly like a kicked hornet nest went still and silent for a moment as everyone acknowledged his presence, and then all of them ran to what appeared to be assigned spots and awaited the head scientist's orders.

The woman in question ran back to another room for a moment before returning, a large smile on her face.

"Welcome! You have heard that I had a breakthrough earlier, and you are here to witness its majesty, correct?" she cried happily.

Vegeta rolled his eyes, and Kari nodded with an amused smile. "We were promised it would be revolutionary, I'm told," Kari commented lightly.

Bulma smiled even more. "This is a promise we will keep. Allow me to demonstrate." She directed some of her team to set up the items required, and soon they were set up with a glass paperweight in the middle of the empty floor that was now ringed with people. Not even her team had seen this phenomenon yet, either, so the energy in the room was electric with excitement.

"Prepare to be amazed!" Bulma called as she depressed the plunger on the tiny capsule she held in her hand, so insignificant appearing that the two newcomers hadn't even noticed it until then, and tossed it onto the glass ball. There was a puff of smoke, and suddenly the object was gone. In its place was the tossed capsule, rolling on the floor.

Kari covered her gasp with her hand, and Vegeta's jaw dropped slightly before he caught himself and steeled his features. The room had erupted in gasps and excited chatter around them.

Bulma clapped and went to grab the small capsule from the ground. "It gets better," she said to them as she returned to her spot with the capsule. She once again depressed the plunger and tossed it back to the same spot. The same puff of smoke appeared, but when the smoke cleared the glass ball was back with the capsule dropping beside it.

The room seemed to explode with excitement from the gathered scientists as they talked animatedly to each other about the implications of such technology. Many went over to Bulma and patted her on the shoulder in congratulations for this achievement.

Vegeta and Kari stood stunned. They glanced at each other in a universal look that said no, Bulma had not been exaggerating when she said it was revolutionary.

Bulma's voice broke through the crowd and the royal's contemplation as she approached them. "Now obviously many tests need to be run, and we need to determine just how much they can actually hold. However, from initial tests I have run, the atomic structure remains unchanged, there are no mutations in the object, the size and weight remain the same, and if my calculations are correct I should be able to hold many hundreds—maybe thousands—of pounds in these! Some of the tests I will run are how it affects different types of objects such as wood, cloth, metal, and even organic matter. I will also need to test how the outside atmosphere affects the integrity of the capsules including temperature regulation. From this moment, though, we know that it works and can have so much potential!"

Bulma was gushing. Bulma was alight. And Vegeta was entranced. The pride he felt for her was immeasurable, and she got even more beautiful when she was in such a state of euphoria and personal accomplishment. He had almost forgotten Kari was even there.

Almost. He didn't entirely forget. He couldn't.

Amongst the excitement, both of them noticed a twinge of a power surge and movement originating from… Bulma. Something beyond anything they had felt before, likely ramped up due to Bulma's wired state. Simultaneously their eyes widened and their gazes shot down to Bulma's midsection. Time seemed to stop as both of them instantly knew what this twinge was. The realization that the things they had been noticing before and had just attributed to the new feeling of the bond were not that alone. They had been… this new development. This new ocean of problems to wade through. Bulma could feel her face warming while Vegeta only had the ability to swallow dryly. Both looked away and had the same thought in tandem.

Shit.

AN: Dun dun dunnnnnnn...

- Trixie-chan