DISCLAIMER:
Rath: (Looks up proudly at her newest disclaimer) Ah, isn't it GREAT! An invisible disclaimer! Ha! Now, Vetyga can't charge me for saying 'I don't own DBZ'!
Vetyga: Ah HA! I HEARD that! Hmmm, let's see, by now you've accidentally said it 18 times, so if I multiply 0.01 by 2 to the power of 17... And then add that to 0.01 for the FIRST time you slipped up... That means you now owe me... $13,107.21 more! Yep! I'll be rich in NO TIME!
Rath: (Grumbles with indignation) Didn't I already tell you a MILLION times?! I already went BROKE a long time ago!
WITHIN THE PAST WORLD:
Vegge was left with a great feeling of unease ever since Trunks had revealed to him his superior strength and power. It was a familiar feeling, but that didn't mean he minded it any less. Were ALL of the Saiyan strangers stronger than him? How was that even possible? Trunks noticed how withdrawn and tense Vegge had suddenly become, but he pretended not to notice anything.
'Even he is stronger than me,' Vegge thought with disdain. 'Am I really so weak that just about everyone can surpass me, now! ME, the Prince of Saiyans! Perhaps I haven't been pushing myself hard enough… Or maybe I was not beaten into the ground enough…." He shuddered at the memory of Frieza's so-called daily training regimen.
"Vegge," Trunks stopped suddenly after he noticed they had passed the same doorway and dead body three times. "I hate to admit it, but…."
"Then don't," Vegge interrupted. "Because I'm not interested in anything you have to say! If it was important, you would have said it already!"
"Point taken," Trunks replied. "But I honestly have no idea how to get out of here. It's a bit too disorienting for me. Unlike you, I'm not so used to ship-life, so you're going to have to start cooperating with me if we want to make it out of here."
"And if I refuse?" Vegge retorted bitterly. "What then? Will you force me to do as you wish?"
Vegge was testing him and Trunks knew it. He wanted to see just how far he could push Trunks before Trunks acted upon him in anger. If anything, Vegge probably expected him to act out, but Trunks wouldn't be baited so easily!
"I could," Trunks replied calmly as they continued down a different path, "But you can stay here for all I care!"
Vegge decided to risk taking it one step further with his little 'test'.
"Ok then," Vegge said as he deliberately paused and sat down in the middle of the floor. "Now, what will you do?"
"Vegge, we don't have time for this," Trunks was getting a bit irritated, though he chose not to show it.
"Of course we don't," Vegge faked a yawn. "I know that better than anyone, but what are you going to do about it?"
'What are you up to, Vegge?' Trunks thought suspiciously, before asking aloud, "What do you mean by that?" When Vegge didn't respond, Trunks repeated louder, "Vegge, what did you mean when you said YOU should know better than anyone?"
"I think you have more important things to ask," Vegge smirked.
Clearly, Vegge knew something that Trunks didn't, but there was NO WAY he was going to tell! 'They won't know until it's TOO LATE…..!' Vegge nodded to himself. 'But by then, everything will be set! Even if I am beaten severely for it by the one known as 'Goku', it will all be worth it! For I will finally be free….!'
Vegge mentally chanted the deceptively simplistic riddle to himself, "AS COUNTED IN IS COUNTED OUT!" Even if he reversed it to "AS COUNTED OUT IS COUNTED IN", it still bore the same misleading conclusions! Only the riddle's twisted form left room for but one true answer: "AS IN-COUNTED IS OUT-COUNTED"! And it was the solution to THAT which would change everything! Admittedly, Vegge hadn't thought the riddle was so important when he had FIRST glanced at it from the papers Sugo had given him. He had even gone so far as to dismiss it entirely! It took a dream to finally realize its hidden importance, but now things made perfect sense! There was a hidden balance in the universe and he would disrupt it…. Thus there was a hidden price to be paid that only HE knew about! Oh yes! The Planet Rijow would prove interesting indeed….!
WITHIN THE PRESENT WORLD:
Vegeta was having yet another vision—though this one seemed even stronger and more real than the last one…..
Once again he found himself in the middle an eerie deserted forest… And once again, he saw his younger self huddled under a large tree, shivering from the cold.
"Can't you find a better place, brat?" Vegeta commented, momentarily startling the young Saiyan, but Vegge remained silent.
"Generally, when someone asks a question, they expect a response," Vegeta stated with annoyance.
Vegge looked away. "I have nothing to say."
"We're connected aren't we, brat?" Vegeta questioned the obvious.
Again Vegge seemed to dismiss his words altogether. "And if we were?" he shrugged.
Vegeta was quickly loosing his patience. "Have you met anyone by the name 'Kakarrot'? Or perhaps he goes by that ridiculous name 'Goku'."
A flash of recognition formed in Vegge's eyes, but still he said nothing.
"My patience wears thin with you, brat!" Vegeta growled as he forced Vegge to his feet with his back trapped against the tree. "Do you or do you NOT? I will NOT ask you again!"
Vegge decided not to push his luck any further. "They call me 'Vegge', you know," he muttered quietly, his eyes looking anywhere BUT at the older Saiyan before him. "The one you call 'Kakarrot', he is with three others…"
"With who?" Vegeta unintentionally tightened his grip around Vegge's arms.
Vegge cringed slightly in pain from the added pressure, but his older self was too intent on getting an answer out of him to notice. Vegge wasn't sure whether or not he should be happy his older self was so strong or dismayed by it! "I—I believe their names are Bulma, Trunks, a-and Goten!" Vegge stammered.
"And what are they doing, NOW!" Vegeta demanded.
"I—I don't know!" Vegge uttered.
"What do you MEAN 'you don't know'!" Vegeta asked angrily. "Are you not WITH them?"
"I am," Vegge replied quickly. "One moment I was with M-Master Frieza…And the next thing I knew, I was with THEM! After Goku killed Frieza, I guess he decided I could be useful or something, because he brought me along… I don't really remember much…"
"Kakarrot killed Frieza!" Vegeta exclaimed in surprise. "Why the hell would he do that? As if he hadn't screwed things up enough! Now, what's he doing?"
"I TOLD you," Vegge replied quietly. "I don't know! We got separated…Trunks and I…"
"Well, isn't that damn 'convenient'," Vegeta muttered sarcastically as he finally released his hold on his younger self. "Do they even know how to return?"
"Yes, I believe the girl knows" Vegge answered carefully. He did NOT want to reveal what he was planning, not even to his older self! "But things may not turn out as perfect as she thinks they will…"
Vegeta, however, did not miss the hidden deceptiveness within Vegge's answer. Vegeta once again grabbed the child by the arm, this time roughly, as he jerked Vegge's chin upwards, forcing Vegge to look at him. "I swear, boy," he threatened. "If you do ANYTHING to jeopardize their return, I PROMISE you I will find a way back to the Past to make you regret it! Frieza may not have been able to break you completely, but I assure you I CAN! Do I make myself clear?" He then shook Vegge a bit for added emphasis. Of course, he didn't REALLY want to hurt his younger self, but he wanted to be sure he got his point across.
"Perfectly," Vegge replied as Vegeta released him from his tight grasp. But as Vegeta turned to walk away from him, he continued softly, "Only by THEN it will be TOO LATE!"
"What was that?" Vegeta yelled as he whipped around furiously, but Vegge had already vanished…
Vegeta awoke with a start, only to find himself back within his own bedroom. Now, he KNEW he wasn't just imagining things. That had been no dream! In a way, he almost wished it was… There was no telling what his younger self was planning.
"Damn it, Vegge!" Vegeta growled. "What are you up to?" That's when he heard an urgent knocking from somewhere downstairs. "Now, what?" Vegeta grumbled as he headed towards the front door—Never mind the fact that he had to step over several tipped over potted plants to get there! He raised his eyebrows up in bewilderment, but didn't think too much of it. As he opened up the door, he saw it was none other than that scar-faced weakling, Yamcha.
"Vegeta…!" Yamcha started, before the door was slammed promptly into his face. Again, Yamcha determinedly banged on the door. This time he was extremely pissed off. "Open up, Vegeta! Where's Bulma!"
"Do you NEED a better hint?" Vegeta asked as he once again opened up the door. "Or do I need to slam you into the ground first before you truly understand? I suggest you LEAVE NOW, weakling, before I get ugly!"
"Too late for that!" Yamcha remarked under his breath. Before he knew what hit him, Vegeta roughly grabbed the collar of his shirt.
"I dare you to say that again to my face, coward!" Vegeta growled.
"Well, maybe I will!" Yamcha foolishly called Vegeta's bluff. Though secretly he was hoping Bulma would step in at the last minute to save him. That wasn't the case! But just as Vegeta was about to clobber him, they both began to smell something strange coming from the kitchen….
"Oh shit!" Vegeta exclaimed as he unceremoniously dropped Yamcha to the floor.
"What the HELL!" Yamcha exclaimed as he pointed in the direction of a large river of white flowing down the far hallway.
Momentarily forgetting their earlier dispute, Yamcha and Vegeta slowly began to follow the 'river trail' throughout the house.
Everything was a complete disaster area to say the least and things only got worse as they continued onwards… All of Bunny's prized house plants were tipped over spilling dry dirt and moist soil all into the lush new carpet…. Then there were chocolate chip and oreo cookies tossed around rather erratically, some half-eaten…. Further down, they had to step through an 'island' of soggy potato chips mixed with a bunch of frozen vegetables surrounded by some oily-like yellow substance…..
"How the hell did she do all this?" Vegeta rubbed his temples in dismay as he noticed several round slices of ham and turkey along with several square pieces cheese and bread plastered to the wall in 'neat' little designs.
At last they entered the dining room where they saw Bra calmly sitting in the middle of a large lake of white, orange, and purple. She seemed to be 'hard at work' pouring milk into small potted plant which she had pulled down from one of the lower shelves…
"Daddy!" Bra exclaimed in a singsong voice as she finally noticed he and Yamcha had entered the room. "I help Mommy's flowers grow BIG and STRONG!" She emphasized this by tossing her little hands up into the air, which unfortunately still held nearly a third full carton of milk….Thus she ended up drenching herself AND the two gaping adults in a rainfall of white….
"What the hell were you thinking leaving a 2-year-old alone like this?" Yamcha exclaimed accusingly at Vegeta.
"Leave me the hell alone, freak!" Vegeta shouted with irritation. "If I had KNOWN she was going to do all this…!"
"Oh, FUCK OFF, Vegeta!" Yamcha shouted back.
"Leave now, weakling!" Vegeta demanded. "I can handle this on my own!"
"Hmphf!" Yamcha snorted. "Like HELL you can! It's a good thing I'm here! Who knows what other trouble you'll get yourself into!"
"Why you..." Vegeta growled. He was this close to throwing Yamcha through the window...
Meanwhile, Bra seemed to pay the two bickering adults no mind as she struggled to open up a box of her favorite brand of cereal: "FREEZIES".
"LEAF hell 'LONE!" Bra sang happily.
Both Vegeta and Yamcha froze...
"Wh-What did you say?" Vegeta prayed he had heard wrong.
Happily Bra obliged the request as she repeated loudly and innocently, "Leaf hell 'LONE! FUK COO!"
Both Yamcha and Vegeta panicked.
"N-Now Bra," Yamcha tried to sweet-talk his ex-girlfriend's daughter out of saying such 'naughty' words. "Uh, only BIG people can say those words. Your Mommy wouldn't be very happy at you! Those are No-No words! So how about you sing a different song?"
Bra, however, didn't seem to understand as she continued to chant, "Leaf HELL 'LONE! FUK COO! WEE—KING!"
Yamcha and Vegeta looked helplessly at each other. Uh oh... Were they ever in trouble now...
Rath: Well, I suppose this is as good a spot as any to end this chapter! I really hope all of you enjoyed it! Please do continue to Read and Review! I really DO appreciate what you guys think!
Until Next Time! Sawatdee!