Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Dimensions of You ❯ Chapter 4 ( Chapter 4 )

Vegeta suddenly found himself in a strange metallic room. There was someone before him, but he couldn’t see her clearly, although everything else around him was crystal clear.

He tensed as her eyes stopped on him for a second, then relaxed slightly as they looked right through him before continuing on with their scan of the room. She couldn’t see him.

Both he and the woman turned at the sudden opening of a pair of doors. A short, purple-tinged thing with black lips curled into a sneer and thick tail lazily swishing behind him walked into the room. Vegeta’s lip curled. The thing was disgusting!

He looked over and was surprised to see that the woman obviously recognized and hated the creature, for her whole body was tensed up as if she were a spring.

The monster, however, did not even seem to notice the opponent that stood before him and walked right past her to look out a window.

The woman looked slightly shocked by this action, but Vegeta was more interested in what was outside the window then this strange woman’s reaction.

He didn’t know what the deal was. The lizard seemed to be looking at a red-colored planet. He couldn’t deny that the color of the planet and the way the atmosphere of it seemed swirled by light winds gave the planet an expression of pride and stark beauty.

The lizard calmly raised a hand, and Vegeta’s attention was divided between the lizard’s action and the woman’s reaction as the creature let loose a ki blast and the woman opened her mouth in a silent scream of denial, trying vainly to move.

The planet exploded into dust and the creature suddenly disappeared. Vegeta could have sworn that he heard screams, yet that wasn’t possible.

He turned his attention fully to the woman, whose eyes were wide with pain, and saw her knees quake slightly before she locked them into place. He suddenly found himself close to her and watched as her eyes filled up with unshed tears. He watched her hold the tears back and suddenly knew what she was thinking as if she’d said the words aloud. 

She was suicidal. She knew that creature was more powerful than her but she still wanted to fight him. She had a deep connection to those who had died, for she wanted to join them in death. She had another option, but she believed that anything other than taking on the monster head-on would be dishonorable.

He watched as one tear escaped her eye and trailed down her cheek. He suddenly didn’t want it to fall to the cold, metallic floor.

He heard her let out a soft gasp of surprise as he gently wiped away the tear, rubbing it between two of his fingers and marveling at its warmth.

He looked her right in the eyes, but she once again looked right through him, not able to see him.

“Don’t be an idiot!” he was surprised when her eyes widened slightly. She could hear him, so he continued. “Your own death will avail neither you nor the dead anything. It would not be dishonorable to strategize your next move, but it would be foolhardy to recklessly jump into battle wishing your own death. Death is as light as a feather, duty as heavy as a mountain.” The woman and the scenery faded around him….

He suddenly found himself on Turtle Hermit Island. He blinked and looked around. He guessed he must have decided to do the deed tonight.

He crept slowly toward Kame House. As he entered the house, he crouched down lower and continued his forward movement in that fashion, alert to everything around him.

His alertness paid off as he suddenly felt a presence near him. He stopped all motion, one foot slightly off the ground. The presence felt familiar, and he was sure that he should have recognized it. Cautiously, he moved his head, looking all around him. Seeing nothing, he mentally shrugged and moved on.

A minute later he was looking down at a sleeping young boy, hair erratically lying on the pillow, one side squashed flat with his position on his side. A small, content smile was on the boy’s face, as if he were in a most pleasant dream.

Something flashed in Vegeta’s hand he raised the knife over Goku’s body. He tried to force it down, tried to make it touch the boy’s throat, slice across it in a fashion that would ensure that Vegeta was well-off.

The hand holding the knife trembled but the knife did not lower, did not touch the throat, did not slice it. He cursed under his breath. He knew the reason he couldn’t kill the boy.

Vegeta had quickly mastered everything he was taught, ki blasts, flying; everything, and he quickly surpassed both Yamcha and Krillin in mastery over the techniques. But it was this boy, this child that eluded him.

He fought constantly with Goku. Putting everything he had into every miniscule battle, every dirty trick, every insult and hateful word, but nothing fazed Goku. Goku fought with a smile on his face as Vegeta cursed him and was defeated. But the wounds to Vegeta’s pride were much worse than the physical ones Goku inflicted, and the boy didn’t even notice. The only thing that would salvage Vegeta’s pride would be the defeat of his enemy in open combat.

As he lowered the knife, feeling his body shake with repressed rage, he found himself outside the house. His body must have instinctually gotten him out of there.

He was still trembling. It took all his willpower to stop himself. Even then, he could feel the raging torrent inside.

He clenched his fists in front of his body and looked down at them in anger. He was the best there was, and a child continually beat him. The others were beginning to whisper again, were beginning to doubt his abilities. They continually put him to the test, until he found himself jumping at the slightest sound and movement, until the face he looked at in the mirror was so haggard and wary-looking he almost didn’t recognize it.

He flinched when he felt hands grab his own in a comforting hold and looked wildly up to see no one there.

“Your inability to defeat one foe does not make you an inept warrior,” a soft but firm voice said. “It is your own doubt, not the others’ that weakens your resolve. Perhaps, if you don’t like what is in the mirror, you should change it.”  The last sentence faded as the scenery around him did the same….

He jerked upwards, breath heaving and looked around at unfamiliar surroundings until it set in that he was at yet another inn. The constant threats to his life had not bothered him until one of the assassins had come to the Briefs’. Vegeta found that he was seriously distracted from his fighting while worrying about the Briefs. If they found out that his life was in jeopardy, they would involve too many people who didn’t need to be involved and would, in turn, find out too much themselves, which would lead to their deaths.

Luckily none of the assassins were stupid enough to attack the Briefs in the hopes of hurting Vegeta. Vegeta wouldn’t kill someone that stupid and everyone knew about and feared his torture methods.

But what was that dream? He didn’t dream, let alone dream this vividly or—it had just been strange.

A knock on his door brought him out of reverie and had him on his feet with a knife clutched in his hands before he put the knife down in the table, chuckling at himself with no mirth.

Assassins didn’t knock.

He cracked open the door and peered out at the very nervous boy who shakily held out a letter.

Vegeta recognized the seal on the envelope and opened the door just enough for his hand to dart out and grab the letter before closing the door.

He waited until he heard the sound of the boy’s hurried steps on the stairs before moving to sit on the edge of his bed, opening the letter.The vultures are circling. They are becoming bolder and may go for the nest whether it be wise or not.

The mother has not finished the hunt. The father will not wait forever. The mother cannot imagine herself to be irreplaceable; the father can find another mate.

The mother should guard the nest while not at the hunt. Hesitation at this time could be lethal to the eggs. If the mother cannot properly see to the nest, perhaps she should not have one.

Vegeta growled low in his throat and crumbled the paper in his hand. He tossed it angrily into the fire and watched with ire as it burned.

He didn’t have to burn it. Anyone reading it would have thought some crazy biologist had written it, but the words caused Vegeta to curse and rise up to pace the room.

He was in quite a predicament. If he stayed away from the Briefs any longer, they would be attacked, but if he went back, they could find out the truth while someone attempted his life. He cursed again, and the fire spit as if in answer to his vile words.

He paused to consider the fire and then mentally shrugged. At least at the Briefs’ home he would have more of a chance to protect them. Besides, with this job taking away all time for any other, he was finding himself short of cash. Meaning he wouldn’t be able to stay in inns or eat out of the house anymore. Therefore, he couldn’t let the Briefs die. They were too useful to him yet.

*   *   * I was a traveler, travellin’ alone
Crossin’ that desert they call the unknown…
…I thought I was dreaming when you appeared…
…You rescued me in the nick of time…
…You rescued me…”—You Rescued Me

Vegeta gasped in shocked surprise and shot upwards, his head meeting the hard underside of the table with a crack.

He scooted out from under the table and heard Mrs. Briefs anxiously asking if he was all right. He grunted and tried to wave off her concern, unsuccessfully as she still fluttered around him. He was trying to concentrate on what he felt, what he was still feeling.

It took her husband’s hand on her arm to calm down Mrs. Briefs enough to sit down, albeit reluctantly. She obviously wanted nothing more than to baby Vegeta, even though he’d let her know in no uncertain terms that he didn’t want that.

Vegeta cursed softly and Mrs. Briefs let out a hiss of air. She was known for becoming quite shrill when such words were said, but the look of Vegeta’s face must have stalled her.

He glanced at the couple. “Stay here.” His face was set in a stern look that brooked no argument. It must have been quite the emergency, for the usually hungry man left half his lunch untouched as he hurried out the door.

As soon as he was out the door, Vegeta leapt up and took to the sky. He didn’t caring if anyone saw him. He flew at top speed toward the two unfamiliar ki signatures he sensed.

He was still in partial awe at the size of one of them. They were both huge, but the weakest one seemed like someone he could hold his own against. It was the strongest of the pair that had his nerves on edge.

He had only been flying for a few moments before he heard a shout to his left. He glanced over and his lip curled in disgust as Goku, with a huge grin on his face, flew up to meet him. “Hey, Vegeta. Do you feel that huge ki?”

Vegeta snarled at the amiability of the seventeen-year-old. “Of course, idiot. I wouldn’t be here otherwise. I have better things to do with my time.”

“I bet you do, Vegeta. What do you do, anyways?” Goku asked, grin still plastered on his face.

Vegeta growled and pointedly looked forward, wanting nothing more than to send an elbow into the grinning idiot’s face.

“Oh come on, Vegeta. You can tell me! I won’t laugh if it’s anything embarrassing.”

Kami, couldn’t the kid take a hint? “Lower your ki. We’re here.”

Vegeta and Goku both landed at the edge of the clearing looking at the crater with quiet interest. A few seconds later, Yamcha and Krillin landed beside the two warriors, looking less than thrilled at the crater and the things that it held.

Vegeta glared at the two. “Where’s that three-eyed freak and his little mime?”

Yamcha pursed his lips. “They have names, Vegeta.”

Vegeta looked surprised. “Didn’t I call them something?”

Yamcha growled, and Krillin quickly spoke up. The last thing he wanted to see was Yamcha with his face in the dirt. “Tien and Chaotzu stayed with Master Roshi and Puar.”

Vegeta raised a brow at Yamcha, wanting to antagonize the man. “I was surprised to see you out of the house without your cat, weakling. I thought he had you on a shorter leash.”

Yamcha’s face darkened but Krillin quickly put a hand on Yamcha’s arm and forced him downwards so that he could whisper something in his ear.

Vegeta frowned as the weakling nodded at whatever baldy had said and turned away from him, still scowling. Both he and Krillin looked at the crater, curious, but deciding that where they were was close enough.

Vegeta huffed at the two’s reluctance and stalked forward to stand at the edge of the crater, looking down at the round, metal object at the bottom of it and debating whether he should slide down the crater for a closer look or not.

A hissing sound from the object decided him against that, and he moved smoothly down to a crouch, eyeing the ship warily as a door opened up from the side of it, making a ramp down to the steeply sloped ground.

Vegeta felt Goku step up beside him, radiating pure curiosity. Vegeta growled and pulled the boy down beside him. He wasn’t going to let some aliens take his kill.

Yamcha and Krillin had gotten enough courage to crawl forward on their bellies and were peering over the edge with wide eyes.

Vegeta almost snickered. They were in an appropriate position.

His attention was suddenly held as a huge, in both girth and height, man stepped out of the pod. He was bald yet sported a moustache. But it was his physique that made Vegeta intake a breath, that and the fact that this wasn’t the strongest of them. If the weakest was this big….

The next alien who stepped out was the one that Vegeta had his eyes on. Those eyes widened in shock as he saw a much smaller framed woman step onto the dirt of Earth to the right of Nappa. This was the more powerful one?

He heard Yamcha give out a low whistle and grimaced. Sure the woman was attractive, but the weakling didn’t have to be that obvious about it. The whistle also drew the attention of the two aliens, who looked up at them with considering glances.

Vegeta immediately leapt backwards, dragging Goku with him. The humans got up and ran to the cover of the trees. Vegeta sighed disgustedly. He let go of Goku and made his stand five feet from the crater, waiting for the aliens to come over the side. Goku, curiosity, as always, overriding any fear, stood beside him, waiting also.

Bulma looked over at Nappa with amusement. “Did I say something wrong?”

Nappa chuckled. “I think it was your great beauty that had them running from cover, your majesty.”

Bulma narrowed her eyes. “Yes, I noticed that one looking at me. I don’t like that.”

Nappa chuckled again. Bulma had been known to crack skulls if she caught a man leering at her. “Shall we go find Kakarott?”

Bulma nodded and they both rose up out of the crater. She was shocked to find that two of the men were waiting on them. The other two were peeking out from behind the cover of some trees.

Bulma’s gaze ran over the two men before them, scouter quickly dispensing numbers. The one on the right was younger and seemed familiar to her in a way she couldn’t describe, but she shook that off easily enough. His ki was decidedly low. It was the older one she looked at more closely. He was the one that had leapt back with such agility. His graceful movement belied the low ki, a little lower than the younger one’s, which her scouter sensed. He didn’t look too bad either. She decided that this one was more the danger. She was proven right when the younger stepped forward. “Hi, I’m Goku. Welcome to Earth.”

Bulma looked over at Nappa with amusement while the older man sighed in aggravation. Nappa, however, was looking closely at the younger one.

“Kakarott?”

The man, Goku, looked confused. “No. My name is Goku. I don’t know any Kakarott.”

Bulma ignored him. “That’s Kakarott?” She couldn’t believe they had found him so easily. “But if he’s alive, why isn’t this planet purged?”

Goku was waving a hand in the air. “Hello! I’m afraid you have me confused with someone else. I’m not Kakarott.”

Nappa looked at him sternly. “You are. I don’t know how you’ve forgotten, but you are a Saiyan and your name is Kakarott.” He looked at Bulma. “Princess, can you not see the resemblance to Bardock?”

Bulma looked at Goku again. “Ah, yes. That was why I recognized him.”

Vegeta suddenly spoke up, a smirk on his features. “If he’s a Saiyan than the whole lot of you must be as stupid as this buffoon. It’s a wonder you know how to breathe.”

Nappa’s features hardened. “Why you little—”

A hand on his arm stopped him from hurling a ki blast at the smirking man. He looked down at Bulma to see her giving the man an answering smirk. “I believe it was his prolonged exposure to you humans that caused his stupidity.”

Vegeta glared at the woman but was interrupted by the reappearance of Yamcha and Krillin to his left, who were both trying to sneak back onto the scene. He turned and curled his lip at them. Yamcha pointedly ignored him, looking at Bulma too intently, while Krillin cringed apologetically.

“Goku was adopted by a man named Gohan when he was just a baby. He had a very unpleasant personality until he got hit in the head with a rock. He’s been this way ever since. And his name really is Goku.” Krillin decided to put in, trying to stop any fighting from occurring,

Bulma looked at Goku and sighed. “Brain-damaged. That explains it all right. But maybe we can salvage this situation. We came down to recruit you, Kakarott, to aid us in our fight against an alien named Frieza. Our people were enslaved to him. Then he destroyed our planet and all of our people except the heir to the throne, who he holds as a slave. I am going to avenge our people and save the Crown Prince, but we need time in which to train and as many Saiyan allies as we can get.”

Goku smiled shyly. “I’m sorry. I’m an Earthling, not a Saiyan. And this Frieza person hasn’t done anything bad to Earth or me. I can’t hurt someone who’s done nothing to deserve it.”

Bulma hissed. “Nothing to deserve it? He’s killed millions of people, enslaved thousands of planets, and committed genocide on hundreds of species! If he hasn’t ‘done anything bad’ to your precious planet or you, he soon will. Surely your not so dumb, Kakarott, that you don’t realize a threat when you see it? Why not crush it while there’s still time, instead of waiting until it’s at your door to strike?”

Vegeta frowned at Goku. He was as surprised as the woman was by Goku’s refusal. The kid had always been the first to fight on the side of righting wrongs. What was so different now?

Goku’s face grew determined. “No. To do so would be to take away this Frieza’s right to choose. What if he doesn’t really want to be bad? What if he could change if someone would just give him the chance? And, please, my name is Goku.”

Bulma sneered. “Fine, Goku. You’re right. You are an Earthling. No respectable Saiyan would ever believe that Frieza could be ‘good’.” She looked over at Nappa. “Let’s go, Nappa, there’s nothing for us here.”

Nappa was glaring at one of the humans and Bulma turned to see that he was glaring at the one with the short, spiky black hair. He was practically drooling as he stared at Bulma. He didn’t seem to notice anything that was going on. So, when Nappa’s elbow cracked into his face, he was totally taken by surprise.

Yamcha looked up at the Saiyan that was towering over him and cradled a jaw he was sure was broken.

Nappa snarled at the man. “No one looks at the Princess like that.”

A sound from the right caused both men to look over at the offending laughter that came from Vegeta. Vegeta looked at Bulma. “You have him nicely trained, woman.”

As Nappa tried to do the same move on Vegeta that he had on Yamcha, Vegeta ducked down, sucker punching the bodyguard in the gut and making Nappa grunt in surprise. He backed up, eyeing the man warily, absently rubbing the spot where Vegeta had hit him.

Vegeta folded his arms across his chest and smirked. “Was that supposed to hit me?”

Nappa growled and fired off a ki blast that should have struck the irritating man. Vegeta just smirked and deflected the blast off his arm. “I know you can do better than that.”

As Nappa stood in shock, wondering how such a backwater planet had people that could manipulate ki, he heard a shriek to his left.

Bulma was ranting and raving, stomping about and making quite a fuss. The reason was apparent to everyone by the billowing cloud of smoke that was pouring up out of the crater.

Nappa worriedly floated the edge of the crater. His fears were realized as he noticed the large hole that was evident in the pod’s side, compliments of his ki blast.

When Nappa moved away, Krillin walked over and helped Yamcha, who was still holding his jaw and looking shocked, to his feet. Vegeta rolled his eyes at the weakling before turning his attention back to the two in front of them.

Bulma walked up beside Nappa and punched him hard in the side. The hit hurt much more than Vegeta’s had and made him double over, gasping for air.

“You idiot! Now what are we going to do? We’re stuck on this mud-ball of a planet with a brainless idiot of a Saiyan and a bunch of pathetic humans who—” she stopped, gritting her teeth as she heard that annoying laughter again.

She whirled around and stalked toward Vegeta. “And you!” she stopped in front of him and put a finger on his chest. “I don’t know what you find so funny, human, but I’d stop laughing now unless you’d like me to introduce you to Death!”

Vegeta’s mouth became a thin line and he angrily swatted the offending finger away. No one touched him, let alone threatened him. He glared at the woman, and she glared right back.

Finally Bulma sighed and looked away, walking back toward Nappa and turning to look at the surrounding Earthlings. “Look. We’re stuck here now.” she glared once more at Nappa and Vegeta. “And since we are the guests.” she ground her teeth and spat the next out. “We don’t need to antagonize anyone else. All we need is equipment to fix our ship and we will leave.”

Vegeta grunted. “I can get you the equipment, but how do we know you’ll leave?”

Bulma smirked at him. “So afraid for your precious planet?”

Vegeta growled and his arms tightened on his chest. “No, merely wanting your ugly mug out of here before I lose my appetite permanently.”

Nappa growled but Bulma shook her head wearily at him. “No, I deserved that one.” She turned back to Vegeta. “I can give you no more than my word. One warrior to another.”

Vegeta looked at her for a long moment before nodding once and turning to go.

“Wait. Let me come with you. I know what tools are needed to make the repairs.”

Vegeta gritted his teeth but waited for the Saiyan to catch up to him. Her bodyguard sputtered. “Princess, I can’t let you follow this human into unknown territory.”

Bulma looked back at Nappa and breezily waved a hand. “Someone has to stay and watch the ship. You can find out the extent of the damage while you wait. This man has no reason to harm me and couldn’t if he tried. No one else on this planet could either so don’t get your tail in a knot.”

Vegeta was going to glare at her, but his eyes fell on what he had assumed was a blue belt around her waist instead. It was a tail. The tall one, Nappa, had one too, but it was brown. He glanced away, gears turning in his mind.

Goku invaded his thoughts. “Hey, Vegeta, say hi to the Briefs for me.”

Vegeta grunted at the boy before turning to Bulma. “Come on.” He jumped into the air, heading for the corporation. Bulma leapt up after him and easily caught up and kept pace. Vegeta guessed that she could probably outpace him and gritted his teeth at the thought. It was just one more person stronger than he was.

Bulma turned to him, wondering at his stony gaze. “What is your name? So I don’t have to call you human all the time. It’s a little too generalized for a name.”

“Vegeta.” He answered shortly, not glancing over at her.

“Ah, the strong, silent type I see.”

Vegeta glared at her. “Why should I speak if there is nothing to say? I don’t waste my time with small talk, woman.”

Bulma frowned. “My name is Princess Bulma. I expect you to call me that.”

The human turned back around and huffed. “Whatever, woman. We’re here.”

Bulma put off chastising him again to land beside him and follow him into the house.

Immediately upon entering they were accosted by a blonde-haired human who insisted on chatting with Vegeta, stealing occasionally glances at Bulma, even though Vegeta did nothing but grunt in reply to all her questions while leading Bulma through the house. NEXT