DISCLAIMER:
Vetyga: Hi'ya! It's me, Vetyga, again! Well, there's still no sign of Rath anywhere... I'm going to find her yet! And when I do... Ah ha ha haaa! (Looks evilly at readers) Uh hum! Anyways, remember that it is I, the DontownDee BeeZee Queen, who does not own DBZ! Ha, I'm getting better at this! (Suddenly hears a loud rumbling noise outside, so she quickly runs out the doors of her new palace. She sees a plane flying past with a large banner trailing behind that says "OPERATION 'RATH STRIKES BACK' COMING SOON TO A TRAITOR NEAR U" ) What?! How dare she! ( Vetyga becomes outraged) Grrr! We'll see about that, Rath, don't underestimate me! I will be ready for you! And as I said before, it is I who does not own DBZ... And don't you forget it! (Looks quizzically at the sign as it passes out of sight) Hmmph! 'A traitor near 'U'?! If Rath is going to threaten me, she should at LEAST have the decency to spell everything right! Just shows you how much she knows. Ah ha ha haa!
[Chapter edited: 5Jan2014]
WITHIN THE PAST WORLD:
Apprehension overtook Vegeta as he heard footsteps approaching the doorway. He was still unsure of how he would explain to Frieza his reason for being in there in the first place. Though he focused to keep his expression blank, the irregular twitching of his tail revealed his inner turmoil.
"What is it, Vegeta?" Trunks asked quietly, noting his younger father's uneasiness.
Vegeta interrupted him, "Quiet! Frieza's coming!" It was said not a moment too soon. The icy tyrant had just entered the room.
There were no words to describe the chilling glare that shined within Frieza's eyes as he realized his young pet was standing there within the room. Though Frieza's ire was not directed towards them, even the Z Warriors of the Present became nervous.
"Monkey," Frieza said in a dangerously calm tone of voice.
"Frieza," Vegeta mocked Frieza's exact tone. Then he thought the better of it and quickly corrected himself before Frieza had the chance to react, "I mean...'Master Frieza'!"
Frieza closed his eyes momentarily. "I'll give you one minute to explain yourself before I tear you apart. What are you doing in here!?"
Vegeta cringed slightly at this, but he tried to remain calm. He replied, "I was just questioning them..."
"Wrong answer. I'll hear none of your lies, monkey!" Frieza berated. "Why are you really here?!"
'Why bother asking if you're not going to believe a word I say!' Vegeta felt like saying, but instead he remained silent.
Realizing that Frieza was becoming angry, Bulma acted quickly by saying to Vegeta, "And as I was telling you before, Vegeta, I don't care if I am a technological genius! I will not help you serve Frieza!"
This sparked a note of surprise and curiosity into Frieza. His anger at the young prince was forgotten. "Is this true, monkey?"
Vegeta wasn't sure what the girl was up to, but he nodded anyways. He was relieved that Frieza's attention had been diverted away from him.
"Hmmm, then perhaps I can make use of her," Frieza murmured. He then pushed the communications button of his scouter as he ordered, "Zarbon, bring me the keys to the Prisoner Room locks immediately!"
"As you wish, sir," Zarbon replied from the other side of the ship.
Frieza then roughly shoved Vegeta out of his way as he approached Bulma. She clearly didn't like Frieza's utter disregard for Vegeta's well-being. Frieza must have noticed Bulma's distaste, for he then asked, "What's wrong? Don't like my methods of 'discipline'? Ha, ha! But I can assure you the monkey deserves every bit of it. Now, onto more important things, shall we?"
Vegeta, meanwhile, gathered himself up from the floor and made his way over to the opposite side of the room. It was as far away from Frieza as he could get without leaving the room. Frieza hadn't yet dismissed him. Vegeta leaned against the wall with his arms crossed tightly and his face set in a deep scowl as he listened to his 'Master' have a discussion with the girl. Although the conversation ended up being rather one-sided... It was mainly Frieza making the demands, expecting Bulma to concede without complaint. It didn't take long, before Vegeta became bored with it and began to tune them out entirely.
Apparently, Vegeta must have zoned out for several minutes. By the time he looked up again, Zarbon was in the room, Frieza and the blue-haired girl seemed to be done talking, and everyone's attention seemed to be focused on him... Vegeta gave them a questioning gaze, mixed with slight apprehension. This only heightened when he realized that Frieza had been speaking to him and he had not been paying attention...
"Zarbon," Frieza said impatiently. "Go bring that stupid brat here before me."
Before Zarbon could even lay a hand on him, Vegeta evaded his grasp. He glared up at Frieza, "I can come on my own, you know!"
"So you had ignored me by choice then?" Frieza questioned as he watched Vegeta approach with great caution.
"N-No!" Vegeta exclaimed quietly. "It's just that I didn't hear you at first. Really I didn't! I had j-just been thinking, that's all..."
"Thinking?" Frieza laughed. "I didn't think you monkeys were even capable of thinking for yourselves. Did you, Zarbon?"
"That's because they can't!" Zarbon laughed as well.
Vegeta's cheeks flushed with humiliation. He hated it when Frieza constantly shunned him like this... Especially in front of other Saiyans.
"Is that all you wanted to tell me?" Vegeta asked, hoping he had kept the disdain hidden from his voice.
"Actually, I have a task for you," Frieza said as he unlocked Bulma's chains. "Take her to Room T-1 on the main level. The other technicians there are already expecting her."
Vegeta nodded as he signaled for the girl to follow him.
"Oh and monkey," Frieza continued, causing Vegeta to pause momentarily. "Should anything go wrong..."
Frieza left his threat hanging, knowing that Vegeta fully understood the consequences. Vegeta nodded slightly. He didn't even bother to look back as he led the girl out of the room.
'I hope Bulma knows what she's doing...' Goku thought to himself.
There was only silence as Bulma followed the small Saiyan Prince down the long hall.
"Vegeta, can we stop to talk for a moment?" Bulma asked.
"No," Vegeta replied curtly.
Bulma sighed as they continued on. As they ascended to the next level, she tried again. "Well, it's just that, well, are you alright?"
"Don't ask me stupid questions," Vegeta growled.
Under normal situations, had it been her Vegeta that had said that, Bulma would have become very angry, but there was just something about this younger version that made her hold her tongue. Her heart went out to him. Perhaps it was because of the cruel situation in which he was forced to live under? ...Or maybe it was because he was the child self of her mate at home? She had always been interested in learning more about Vegeta and now she had the perfect chance.
"So, uh, where are you taking me?" Bulma asked, trying to make conversation.
Vegeta suddenly stopped and turned a glaring eye at her. "Just shut up and follow!"
"OKAY, okay!" Bulma muttered. "Forgive me for caring!"
When they entered T-1, Bulma was immediately taken to a nearby computer where one of the lower-ranked technicians instructed her in what she was to do. It was also made perfectly clear to her that Frieza would be sure to do away with her without hesitation should she prove to be anything other than top-notch.
"I'm more than 'top-notch'!" Bulma replied somewhat arrogantly. She definitely had a knack for technology and she knew it.
All the while, Vegeta had been watching her closely. He just didn't trust her... Not that he trusted anyone anyways, but he was becoming very suspicious of her. The more he listened to her make assurances to the technician that she would indeed be a valuable asset to Frieza, the more he became convinced that he had been foolish to believe the prisoners would bother helping him. They were on Frieza's side! With that in mind, he left the room. If he was going to escape this life of Hell, then he was going to have to rely solely upon himself...
When the technicians finally seemed satisfied that Bulma understood and would do all that she was told to, they left to complete their own tasks elsewhere.
'Finally,' Bulma thought. 'Now that I've convinced them that I'm on their side, it should be a lot easier to use the system to my advantage without drawing any unwanted attention.'
She was about to say something encouraging to the young Prince, only to discover that the child was no longer there.
.
MEANWHILE, IN THE PRESENT WORLD:
Kami had managed to translate more than half of the intricately complex ancient Namekian calligraphy into modern Namekian.
"It would seem that the more I study these references with respect to the actual scriptures, the more I can comprehend it," Kami stated. "Most of it I have finished, but the rest has become overly faded. I cannot make any sense of it. We're going to just have to make do with what we have... But is it enough?"
Dende read through the detailed notes that Kami had written out.
"It'll have to," Dende replied as he gathered up all of Kami's notes and entered the Chamber of Time. He made certain that he sat on the floor in a cross-legged position precisely in the center of the room. Once situated, he slowly closed his eyes and went into a deep meditation. He focused himself completely upon tracking down Goku's particular path leading back in time.
Of course, the best possible scenario would be that the four Z Warriors just happened to have remained all near one another. In that case, it would be a rather simple task for Dende to bring them all back himself, but if that failed to be, then they would be on their own...
In full concentration, Dende began to send out his thoughts, 'Goku? Goku, if you can hear me, it's very important you reply...'
"Dende?"
'Goku, are the others with you?' Dende asked urgently.
"Actually, it's me, Bulma," Bulma replied. "Where are you?"
She was drawing several strange looks from those around her, so she lowered her voice, "Dende, where are you?"
'I'm speaking to you through limited telepathy,' Dende replied. 'I had meant to get Goku. Is he near?'
'No, I'm afraid the others are locked up in a room on the other side of the ship,' Bulma replied in her mind.
'I was afraid of that,' Dende said.
"Dende," Kami warned. "You have less than 3 minutes remaining..."
'Listen, Bulma, I'm afraid we have little time,' Dende started. 'Because of your interference, I am not going to be able to bring you back to the Present World. You are going to have to return here on your own.'
'WHAT!' Bulma exclaimed. 'But how are...'
'Please listen carefully,' Dende interrupted. 'I have limited time. I can only tell you this once, so please pay close attention. It's all up to you to follow through with it. Now, according to the ancient scriptures, there's a special rift that appears once every 100 years. Its exact location is rather erratic, but it has habitually appeared within the Schreetept Quadrant. We have reason to believe that it will take form again within the next few weeks. You'll know it when you see it, but once it appears you will have a very limited time to make it through before it vanishes for another century. If you don't make it through in time, you will remain trapped in the Past World with no hope of ever returning back to the Present.'
'How much time will we have once it appears?' Bulma asked.
'Approximately 5 to 10 minutes if patterns are reliable,' Dende answered. 'So you will have to act fast. You will have to pretty much be in its general area in order to make it through in time. It's a bit of a long shot and it's quite risky, but...'
'We can do it!' Bulma declared. 'All we have to do is locate the coordinates of the Schree-whatever Quadrant and then find a way to get there!'
'Oh and there's one more thing about the rift,' Dende said. 'It seems to be connected to a strange riddle. It goes like this: AS COUNTED IN, IS COUNTED OUT. I am unsure of its meaning, but its solution must be very important, for it is repeated several times throughout the scriptures.'
'We'll figure it out,' Bulma assured him.
'Well, my time has just about run out,' Dende stated. 'After this, I will be unable to make any further contact with you or the others until your return to the Present Wor-...'
'Wait, Dende!' Bulma exclaimed. 'I have one more question! When we get through the rift, where will we end up?'
It was too late. Dende had already the lost connection with her.
'Oh no,' Bulma thought as she looked up at the blinking icons on the computer screen. 'What in the world have we gotten ourselves into?'
.
Rath: I'm BAAAaaack! HEY, did Vetyga just make fun of my sign?! I mean, give me a break. I'm on a budget! I didn't exactly have enough money on me to pay for the last few letters, so I had to cut it a little short. That was NOT my fault!
Anyways, I would have had this chapter up last week, but of course that was when my computer decided it would be the perfect time to give out on me. At first it kept freezing and restarting itself over and over for no apparent reason, which by the way drove me absolutely CRAZY. Now, it won't even connect to the internet anymore... My mom says we're going to have to take it to the shop, so I had to wait until I could go over to my uncle's house to use his computer in order to put up this chapter.
Note to Lil Shady (Talentless Muse): In reference to your previous review, it WILL affect him... Just not in the exact way I think you're thinking of. That is if I am correct in assuming that you are thinking of it affecting him in the way I think you are thinking of... In which it is not... Uhh, I guess this is just my way of saying that you'll just have to wait to until next time! ...Or the until the time after the next time! Ha ha! Anyways, thanks for having supported and encouraging me from the very beginning of this story and throughout my every chapter!
Note to Vegeta's Dark Fairy: I'd like to thank you as well for being my BIGGEST critic. ^_^ He he! You have constantly given me your opinions on the chapters as well as a few suggestions (etc) and you have also been a constant reviewer! You've been a great help so far!
Until next time! Sawatdee!