Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Attachments Detached ❯ Chapter 8 ( Chapter 8 )

Chapter 8

"Are we there yet?"

Bulma sighed and turned to Kakarott with a glare. Vegeta too glared at the Saiyan who was wiggling in his seat with impatience. Kakarott squirmed in his seat further at the two identical glares, trying to sink into it. "Jeez! I just asked a question!"

Bulma snarled in a very Vegeta way. Spending almost three weeks cooped up with the two Saiyans had made some of their more feral aspects rub off. Besides, it was a good way to wordlessly say that she was irritated, "The same question you've asked ten times in the last twenty minutes."

Vegeta gladly voiced his opinion, "If you don't shut up, Kakarott, I'm going to make sure you're using that cot back there!"

Kakarott turned back around with a huff of indignant anger, folding his arms across his chest and pouting to complete the image of a petulant child.

Bulma rolled her eyes, "Look, there's the Earth. Why in the world are you asking if we're there yet when you can plainly see that we aren't?"

Kakarott shrugged, "I'm bored." Vegeta snorted at the whining tone.

Bulma smirked suddenly, directing it back to Vegeta, who raised a brow. "Oh! Well in that case, we'll play a game."

Kakarott's face brightened immediately and he grinned at Bulma, "Ooh, ooh! I wanna play!"

Bulma giggled at his child-like manner, "Okay. I spy with my little eye something the color-pink. Now you have to tell me what I see that's that color. And nothing in the ship counts."

Kakarott immediately turned his eyes to the outside of the ship, watching the black space float past them and the shining of planets and suns that were every color but pink.

Vegeta let out a small chuckle and Bulma turned to him to see him mouthing 'good one' to her. She smirked again at him, "Well, hopefully you get it before we get there."

"How long?"

She turned to glare back at Vegeta, "Five minutes less from when you last asked. Do you want me to play a game with you?"

Vegeta merely sneered at her, enjoying annoying the girl, "Depends."

She growled at him and he chuckled as she spun back around, checking all their stuff to make sure everything was ready for landing. "Keep your little Prince under control, Vegeta."

She smirked at the angry sound behind her, "It is not little!"

"I wouldn't know. I was just referring to the fact that it had to be smaller than your ego."

She could hear the smirk in his voice, "Oh, you might be surprised."

"Ok, this topic is getting off the topic. Let's just have a moment of silence before the ship explodes because the pressure from your growing ego is more than the pressure outside the ship."

Two minutes… "Are we there yet?"

Bulma chucked the first thing that came to hand at Kakarott, which happened to be a notebook she had been doodling in. Kakarott ducked the object but not the cuff he received upside the head from the levitated Vegeta. "OW!"

Vegeta floated back to his seat, turning to Bulma with a vicious twinkle in his eye. "How long?"

Bulma let out a roar of frustrated rage and tackled the Saiyan before he made it to his seat, thumping him fully down into it with a surprised 'oof'. Kakarott laughed as he watched the two get tangled up, one trying to choke and the other trying to disengage.

"Get off me you crazy girl!" Vegeta finally managed to heave the girl off him, watching with wide-eyes as she straightened and brushed herself off as if it was not at all strange to 'glomp' the Prince of the Saiyans.

A beeping sound from the computer had Bulma back in her seat and Vegeta and Kakarott crowded around her. She waved her hands to back them off, "Get away! You two smell worse than Kiwi did!"

Vegeta glared at the impetuous girl while Kakarott raised an arm to sniff himself. Vegeta made a disgusted face and pulled Kakarott's arm back down because of both the gesture and the ripe smell. "You don't exactly smell like roses either, human."

"Don't remind me, Vegeta. Get in your seats and buckled in. We're entering Earth's atmosphere."

The two men complied without a word and Bulma too buckled herself in tightly.

The G force immediately plastered them all back into their seats, which was a good thing since their landing was anything but gentle. If it weren't for their seat belts, they all would've ended up on the floor. See, seat belts do save lives!

After swallowing her stomach back where it belonged, Bulma unbuckled her seat belt and rose on unsteady legs, glaring at the two men, one of which was bouncing on his heels before the door, the other smirking at her obvious weakness, levitating slightly to stay off his not-yet-healed leg.

She straightened completely and shoved her way to the front of the two, "Let me go out first. They should see someone they know before you two."

Vegeta nodded and pulled Kakarott by the collar of his shirt behind him, glaring at the audacity of the man to think he would exit before his Prince. Kakarott pouted and Vegeta rolled his eyes. Yep, the two had lost none of their charm on the trip.

Bulma sighed, not able to stop a smile at the two behind her and turned around, keeping the smile on her face. She hit the button that would open the door and watched as it hissed open.

Her face fell as nothing but dark, overcast clouds greeted her instead of the happy crowd she had expected to greet the heiress of Capsule Corporation back after a whole year. Just as she stepped out, the heavens suddenly opened up and poured down on her. She squealed and ran back inside the ship, barreling past the just-exiting Vegeta and Kakarott, who looked back at her with confused gazes as the rain soaked them.

Bulma peered out at them, "It's raining!"

Vegeta tilted his head back to let it catch the full force of the downpour, floating out to catch the full effects of the rain and wind. "Raining? I hadn't noticed."

He brought his head back down and smirked at the frustrated half-scream she uttered, "I'm afraid you'll have to come out here, girl, if you want to-"

A sharp pain suddenly ripped through his body, right below his shoulder. Vegeta heard his own scream of pain mingle with both Kakarott and Bulma's voices as he hit the ground, feeling as if the very mud of the earth were swallowing him up.

Kakarott made to move toward Vegeta, eyes scanning where the beam of light had originated only to halt at a commanding voice. "Don't move. We have you surrounded. Put both hands into the air or you'll end up like your Prince."

Kakarott glanced at Vegeta out of the corner of his eye. The man was trembling on the ground in pain, but seemed aware enough to return his look. Kakarott raised both his hands and glared at the hefty man, almost as big as he was, who, through the gray haze of the rain, stepped out of the bushes, flanked by two equally big men who each had huge guns hefted onto their shoulders, aimed right at Kakarott. The man who had shot Vegeta also stepped from the bushes, ready to fire if it looked like Vegeta was going to move.

Bulma covered her mouth with one hand and ran to stop whatever it was that was happening, heedless of the wetness now, only to have another man jump from where he had been hiding at the side of the ship and wrap his arms around her, effectively immobilizing her.

"Wait! What are you doing?" She yelled; then went to kicking and hitting the one that held her, "Let me go! Do you know who I am?"

The hefty man, brown hair shorn almost to his scalp to frame his round, hard face, turned to her, not blinking as raindrops dripped off his hair and into his eyes. "Yes, Miss Briefs. We are quite aware of who you are. We know who these two are as well and what exactly they have done to you. We are sorry to have to detain you like this, but we need to think about the safety of our planet."

He turned back to the helpless Kakarott and the prone Vegeta. "These two are a danger. They have rebelled against our Lord. Lord Frieza has requested we keep them until he arrives to take them out of our hands."

Bulma again kicked the man behind her, causing him to yelp at the pain, yet he still kept his hold, "Done to me? They've done nothing but save my life! It was Frieza that was trying to kill me!"

The man shook his head regretfully, "He told us they would've brainwashed you. Why in the world would Lord Frieza want you dead?" He sighed and waved his men forward to Kakarott and Vegeta, rain lashing out like a clear whip from his hand. "We will discuss this at Capsule, Miss Briefs, after these two have been properly detained."

Bulma still fought against the secure hold, trying to trip the man in the growing mud. "What are you doing? Don't touch them!"

Of course, the men ignored her, one still training the gun on Kakarott while another pulled out a round, metal device; like a collar. Kakarott stiffened, looking at Vegeta, who was growling at the lone man approaching him. Kakarott's eyes flicked back to the two, narrowing as his own lip curled up. The look, coupled with the wet state of the Saiyan, was intimidating enough that the two men paused.

Vegeta raised one hand, allowing his anger and pain to flow into his palm and reside there. The man stopped all movement; his gun still on Vegeta, looking wide-eyed at the ball of death that hissed as drops of rain hit it.

"Prince Vegeta."

Vegeta's eyes flickered over to meet the leader's green ones to see him motioning toward Kakarott. The threat was quite clear as the man with the gun on Kakarott shifted it a little on his shoulder.

Vegeta met Kakarott's eyes, letting the ki blast die in his hands and lowering it. He stared for a few more minutes at the other Saiyan and made a subtle motion with one hand. Kakarott quickly tried to negate with a headshake, rain flying with the motion of his hair, but was stopped by Vegeta making the motion again, more demanding, eyes reminding Kakarott of why they were there.

Kakarott's shoulders seemed to slump and he turned back to watching the one with the device approach him, reaching for his neck.

As Bulma gave a particular nasty kick backwards that made the one holding her bellow, Vegeta threw himself up, fighting the sucking mud to rip a ki blast without any warning from his hand to encircle the gun held against Kakarott, throwing it from the man's singed hands to land in a charred heap at the leader's feet, hissing much as the ki ball before had.

Kakarott leapt into the air without a backward glance, blue ki surrounding him as he took off as fast as he could. The one holding the gun at Vegeta aimed it at the flying man at a shouted command from his leader, shot going awry as Vegeta slammed into him, both sliding in the mud and rain as Vegeta's shoulder painfully clashed with the gun's hard, cold metal.

Vegeta grunted as the butt of the gun connected with the back of his neck and knew no more.

<~>

Bulma paced the room they had locked her in as soon as they had entered Capsule Corporation. She had given them a fight Vegeta would've been proud of if he'd been able to see it: kicking, screaming, hitting, and clawing anything that came into contact with her.

The last she had seen of Vegeta, they had put the device they had been going to put on Kakarott around his neck and carried him off in an opposite direction. She cursed vividly as she remembered not only the round device but the guns as well. She'd made both for Frieza, plasma guns and ki blockers.

They had left her in here for a good two hours now, leaving her quite dry but ignoring her demands to be let out or to speak to someone in charge. She had a feeling that this was deeper than some mere misunderstanding. Obviously Frieza had sent a few messages and spread some pretty big lies. She sighed and sat down in the lone chair provided for her, staring at the tray of food they had left for her that she had yet to touch.

The sound of the door sliding open had Bulma standing quickly, almost knocking over the tray. She frowned as the leader of the group that had ambushed them stepped into the room, pausing to look at her appearance. She knew she looked even worse then when they had arrived with the fight she had put up, as useless as the fight had been.

He smiled amiably at her and motioned toward the chair. She merely folded her arms across her chest and glared at him.

He sighed, his face setting into a serious expression, "I'm sure you have many questions, Miss Briefs. First, my name is General Ribery. I'm in charge of making sure that all interplanetary relations are secure."

Bulma cut through him, "Actually I only have one question. Where is he?"

The General tilted his head as he tried to figure out who she spoke of, "Prince Vegeta?"

Bulma gritted her teeth, reining in her anger at the man's seeming confusion. "General Ribery, I'm sure that what Frieza told you has some ring of truth. However, I have been on that ship for a year and have seen and heard things that go against all the-all he claims to stand for. I have been with Prince Vegeta for only three days, not counting the three weeks spent getting here, and I respect him from only that short time. He has proven time and time again that he is not only trustworthy but an honorable man.

"But that is not the most important part. It seems to prove that Prince Vegeta isn't the bad guy here I have to prove that Frieza is." She reached into her pocket, pulling out the piece of paper she had printed on the files of Earth from Frieza's private database.

General Ribery took the proffered paper, unfolding it and carefully looking it over. After a few silent moments, he lowered it to raise an eyebrow at Bulma, "And Prince Vegeta gave you this."

Bulma shook her head, "No. I was suspicious because of some things said and done on Frieza's ship and took it into my own hands to investigate. That is what I found on my own. Prince Vegeta was on a purge at the time."

The General's face darkened at the mention of a purge and he looked back down at the paper. "Lord Frieza told me you may have had some information on you that had been falsely constructed by the Prince. It looks real enough, but I don't know…."

As he trailed off, Bulma approached him, pushing her point since he seemed so hesitant, "Please, General, investigate this yourself. I'm sure you will see that Frieza plans horrible things for this planet. He's going to purge the whole planet and sell it to the highest bidder. If you are truly to make sure things are peaceful between us and other races than you have a duty to look into this."

He nodded, looking quite serious, "I will indeed look into this. For now, I must ask that you stay on Capsule Corporation grounds. Despite your assurances that these men mean us no harm, there is still one loose. I'm having the Z fighters search for him. Lord Frieza will be here in two weeks."

"Thank you." Bulma sincerely stated. "But, about Vegeta. He's being-?"

"I assure you, madam, that he is fine. The only reason we fired on him is because Lord Frieza told us that would be the way to subdue him and the other. He's resting now in fact. Not very happy though."

Bulma nodded, "I can imagine." She allowed the man to hold the door open for her and smiled at him as he took his leave. She too took her leave. After all, she hadn't seen her family for a whole year, and Vegeta was in good hands; she would see him right after General Ribery found out the truth.

A/N: Hmm, yep, that's a good place to leave you. Next time: Thursday, June 20th. What has happened to Vegeta? And what is going on at Capsule with the 'family reunion'? (rubs hands)

Nicole del: Thanks! I may have just been anxious for some hint of Bulma or the Prince (the more Vegeta the better I say!) and skipped the part that separated them…. Hmm, I guess I can survive with Trunks's pansy hair color…. Oops. Sorry. People get mad at me cause I don't like Trunks before I saw him in Final Atonement…. Must be the hair color…. Heehee Thanks! You can comment as much as you like!

Jadedbest: Hey! Don't be down on yourself! You did guess right! Some good ole fashioned cabin fever is great fun…. Wish I could glomp the Prince of the Saiyans and get away with it. Some girls get all the luck…like you! My life is like a broken record, just keep going over and over the same tune again and again with no change in tempo…. Anyways, enough pity-party, hope you liked the double-dose…. Fanfiction.net is just sucky right now…that's all. ^_^ Thanks Vegeta! Wow! *_* Heh…. *_* Hmmm, *_* Yep, that's all.

Susan: Hey, now you know! Isn't it weird how just when you get over one wave another comes and knocks you off your feet? Well, let's delve into some Earth politics! Heehee *_* (Oh, I'm still starry-eyed from Vegeta's comment)

Lupin Wolf: Sorry it was late…. You whine? I mean, you say that and I hear an actual wolf whining…. Oh, wait, that's my wolf CD, nevermind *_* Yeah, I have noticed that married couples and siblings fight the same way, so, since V and B aren't siblings…. At least, I don't think they are…. *_*

SkittleKicks: Eat at Joe's? lol, you're funny! You're as entertaining as Kakarott is or Vegeta can sometimes be…sometimes. Yes, smack into Earth but who needs danger coming into it when it's already there? (smirks) See, I believe in inner turmoil combined with outer to give us a nice rounded case of chaos! *_* That's definitely a Goku-thing…. Then again, only Bulma could get away with glomping Vegeta…. Heehee

Moonsaiyanprincess: More's here!

Sorceress Fujin: (sorry I've been spelling it wrong all this time…. I really hate that word!) K, man, you should get an award for shortest review! That's so cool! *_* ^_^