Disclaimer: Hmm. . .I guess I could tell you that I don't own Dragonball Z, but where's the fun in that?

*In the room lies a desk and a computer that is turned on. A mob of angry readers crowd the room. The author is nowhere in sight, but a faint scrambling can be heard from somewhere in the room.*

<SaiyaTrunks' voice> Okay, now I know I have been gone for quite a while, but ganging up on me is not the answer!

*The angry viewers produce a rope and a roll of duct tape. One makes a gesture and two of them go behind the desk and drags SaiyaTrunks from under it and puts her in a chair.*

Hey! Wait a second! I was in the middle of apologizing! *The reader with the duct tape hands the roll to Marron-girl 16 and she tapes her wrist to the keyboard. The crowd parts and Angry Reader enters and takes the rope from the other*

Angry Reader: That was smart of you. . .running home to escape us.

I was actually practically forced to go home, since the dorms close over break. But that wasn't the reason that I couldn't write.

Angry Reader: *begins to tie SaiyaTrunks to chair* Is that so? Then what was the real reason?

Well, I could have written something over break if my dad hadn't thrown my old crappy computer out. I would have been more than happy to bring this crappy computer with me.

*Computer screen flashes red* <Computer> Windows has now crashed. . .permanently.

Well, now you guys made me piss off my computer. How the hell do I write now?

Angry Reader: *tosses her a laptop* Here.

You really thought of everything. . .thanks *mumbles* you jerk. . .

Angry reader: I heard that! *ties rope even tighter*

I. . .cant. . .breathe. . .I have to get this chapter out before I pass out. Here's the next chapter of:

Facing it Together

Chapter Twenty-four: The Beginning of the End

He was a lot tougher than he looked, Kakarrot realized as he got out of the way of another one of Turles' punches. Kakarrot couldn't help but admit that he had sorely underestimated him from the start and wasn't taking this match quite as seriously as Turles seemed to be doing. The other man was throwing punches that had a lot more damage behind them than they appeared, and Kakarrot knew that as he felt one nick his shoulder blade. Perhaps he too should kick things into high gear.

Turles' fist cracked against his jaw, forcing him out of his thoughts. Kakarrot stumbled backwards, feeling the blood that pooled in his mouth from the blow. Despite the coppery taste, he smirked at his opponent. "Was it something I said?" His head turned and he spit out the crimson liquid. "Or perhaps it was something that I interrupted."

"You really have no business fighting me, Kakarrot. You are under my stature and I am way out of your league. Why don't you just give up, go cry and run to your little alien and attempt to leave the planet in order to insure her safety?" And with that, Turles gave him a dark smile. "You would at least live for a little while longer until I come after you again."

Kakarrot wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "You say that as if you're going to win this."

The enemy laughed. "You still don't believe me?" Turles allowed some of his ki to flare around him. "Then I will have to prove it to you to make you believe." His feet glided to across the ground to his opponent.

Kakarrot was prepared for Turles' offense this time and threw up a ki shield of his own, powerful enough to stun his adversary and knock him back a little. Balling his hand into a fist, he struck Turles in the stomach while he was off-guard then following up with a swift kick to his ribs. He then grabbed his opponent's hair and forced his face to crash down hard on his knee.

Turles staggered but was able to block some of Kakarrot's punches, intending to strike his face. He was guarding poorly, however, since he was still suffering from the pain of the last flurry of attacks. One did make its way past his block, and collided with his forehead.

Turles recovered quickly and clasped his two hands together, driving his elbows down on Kakarrot's head. The other man fell to the ground, giving Turles a perfect opportunity to incessantly kick him and eventually slamming his foot down on his neck, crushing him even further into the marble floor. "You're going to regret even coming after me, by the time I'm through with you," Turles commented, nearly smiling by the way that his enemy coughed up blood.

"And the same thing goes to you," a voice said, floating down the hallway. Both men turned their heads to the source. There, the king of Saiyans stood, on hand on his hip and a glare on his face. Turles sneered at him before leaving his downed opponent to meet Vegeta.

"King Vegeta. . ." Kakarrot groaned out before returning his head to the floor. Chi Chi ran past the group to her love.

"Kakarrot? Are you alright?"

"Give me a minute," he managed out. His sides were still aching from the many kicks they received.

"Well, I'm here now, and I will make sure that the fucking bastard does not lay one more hand on you." she stroked his hair, looking fiercely at Turles.

But Turles' attention was not on the pair of lovers. It was on the blue-haired woman standing beside Vegeta, looking at her with uncontained lust, as well as an unspoken promise. The king followed his gaze and glowered.

"She's mine Turles. Everything here is mine. . .the ground you walk upon, the skies outside of the windows, the walls that will have craters in them when I kick your ass." Vegeta said before wrapping an arm around Bulma's waist and pulling her to him without breaking his eye contact with his adversary. " And especially her."

Bulma could feel the heat rise in her face at Vegeta's barbaric statement. Some part of her told her that she should have been appalled by it, but it was overshadowed by the warm feeling inside of her, the joyful sensation in the pit of her stomach.

'Oh yes, Bulma. . .you're so in love with him.'

Vegeta was oblivious to the direction her thoughts were traveling. Turles, however, saw the expression plastered on her face and barely suppressed his growl. 'Soon, I will wipe that look off of her face when Vegeta is six feet under and replace it with adoration for me.' he vowed, before taking another step forward.

"Are you really that sure of yourself, King Vegeta?" Turles mocked the word. Soon he, himself would have that title. And everything that Vegeta had mentioned would be his.

Especially her, as the soon-to-be-former-king had so eloquently put it.

The tension in the room built to new levels, the two enemies stared at each other for a few minutes. "Well," Vegeta started. "What's it going to be, Turles? Are you going to go running down the halls like the sissy you are or are you going to finally show some balls and fight me?"

"After all of the effort in planning, if I ran, it would be such a waste, wouldn't it?" Turles took a step forward. "And besides, I have a lot that is to be gained by killing you."

Vegeta scoffed. "As if you could lay one finger on me." He unwrapped his arm around Bulma and walked to him so the pair was face-to-face. "Let's get this over with."

"Vegeta!"

The king's head turned to Bulma with a questioning expression. She managed a smile. "Be careful." Vegeta huffed and returned his attention back to Turles.

Turles was furious that the king had her support and he did not. She actually saw him as the bad guy? 'That will all change once this is over,' he reminded himself.

They both took a step back and lowered themselves into their fighting stances. Vegeta's more regally than Turles, as well as more poised and ready to start. Turles' stance was not flawed either, his back sunk down as he prepared himself for the fight.

The fight that could cost him his life.

(Well, I was going to end it there, but I'm trying to end this story within twenty-five chapters and maybe an epilogue (we'll see ^_^), so I'm going to keep going. . .any complaints? None? Good.)

Vegeta was the first to move, disappearing and rematerializing as he slammed a fist in the center of Turles' chest, expecting him to go down. Turles did teeter back, but as he was falling, he kicked a leg up and struck the king's jaw, snapping his head back hard. Vegeta was, however, not rendered completely vulnerable, grabbing his leg and sweeping the planted one from under Turles, forcing his back to make a rough impact to the ground.

Turles snarled and tried to kick his opponent's legs to gain the same advantage as the king. However, Vegeta leapt back to avoid the attack and disappeared again, giving Turles some time to rise and recover himself.

He waited for a moment, trying to detect his ki and discover the location of where he was hiding. It was everywhere. . .almost as if Vegeta was moving all around him in haste. Turles' lip curled up in a wicked sneer.

'How very clever,' Turles thought to himself. 'He's running around so I can't find him and anticipate his next move.' All that he could do was feel the shifting energy and attempt to elude it whenever the king decided to strike.

Turles was not prepared for the next course of action. All at once he was hit in almost each place on his body, jolts of pain everywhere. His eyes could not see the force, but he knew it was Vegeta, knew it was the source of all the ki that he had felt earlier. His front soon connected to a wall, slamming his head forward and creating little white, blinding specks on impact. Vegeta materialized again, that classic smirk on his mouth.

"You are nothing, Turles. You can't defeat me and you never will. All you can do is let me end your miserable life and then you can watch me in the afterlife, living out the rest of my natural life as king of this planet. Ruling and possessing everything you crave. . .Including the woman.

And then, something inside Turles snapped.

Author's Note:

*sighs* Well, there it is. . .can you all let me go now?

Angry Reader: What, and let you take 2 more months to update? Are you freakin' kidding me?

But I'm a human being! I need to eat, sleep. . .and use the bathroom!

Angry Reader: Don't worry, we have everything covered. Food, we can get from the vending machines downstairs; Sleep. . .well, your on your own with that one; And bathroom-wise. . .*tosses her a metal bucket* There you go.

Eww. . .you actually think I'm going to use that?! Where the hell did my muse go?!

Angry Reader: You won't have to worry about him. . .

*In the background* <Mirai Trunks' voice> Dear God, somebody help me!!

So it's not bad enough that I'm tortured, but him as well? Don't you know what's going to happen to you once all the members of the Trunks' All-Girl Fanclub finds out about this?!

Angry Reader: *starts to get nervous* Fanclub? What fanclub?

*There is banging at the door* Open up! We know you've got him!

Well now, it seems that you've missed one part of your plan.

Angry Reader: We have to get rid of them somehow! *the door breaks down into splinters, revealing a mob of furious girls*

Angry Reader: *points shakily* He's in there. . .in the closet! *the girls remove Mirai Trunks from the closet and head for the exit*

W-wait! Hey! Trunks, you can not leave me here!

Mirai Trunks: Who was it that ignored my attempts to get them to write a new chapter?

So you're just going to let them torture me?! *watches as Mirai Trunks leaves the room* W-what?! Hey! I'm telling your father on you!

<Mirai Trunks' voice fading> Hah! Like he'd care!

*sighs* This is abuse! I refuse to write ever again! *looks to the angry mob of readers* Alright. . .maybe I will. . .? But you can forget me ever talking to you again!

Angry Reader: *stretches out a strip of duct tape* Who said anything about talking?