Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Fallen Heroes ❯ Chapter Three ( Chapter 3 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Andais Jacobs 
Anime/Manga: Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Drama | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 10.20.2008 | Pages: 2 | Words: 3.8K | Visits: 158 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Drama | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 10.20.2008 | Pages: 2 | Words: 3.8K | Visits: 158 | Status: Work In Progress
Vegeta and I stood side by side smirking as the ambulance took Yamcha away. Apparently I had broken his jaw.
“Corbin,” Bulma said, coming to stand in front of Vegeta and me. “What did he do to you?” She grabbed a hold of me, hugging me tight. “Did he hurt you?”
“No, Bulma, he didn’t hurt me.”
“Well, I will be going straight to the hospital tomorrow morning to tell him he is not welcome in my house anymore and I might just break the other side of his jaw. How dare he touch you.”
“Bulma, I’m sorry I ruined the rest of your lovely party. If you will excuse me, I’m going to retired for the rest of the night.” I left the now empty dome and walked to my room. Once inside my bathroom, I looked in the mirror and saw that I was scowling. The same scowl Vegeta wore non stop. Strands of my unruly Saiyan hair had come out of my bun, so I pulled the rubber band out. My hair bounced back to life immediately, the clumped spikes pointing down towards the ground. I kind of looked like the singer from one of Bulma’s favorite hair bands. I took my dress off and laid it on the vanity table. My body was toned. I didn’t look nearly as strong as I was and the scars all over my body, mostly cuts and burns, showed how strong I was. Bulma had made the comment of how horrible my scars looked but I thought they added character. I showered quickly and went to bed.
Vegeta and I stopped training early the next day, at about 10AM, and he ran directly into his gravity room.
“Well you’re in early today.” Bulma said as I came into the kitchen. She prepared a bowl of rice and stir fry for me as I sat down at the table.
“Vegeta ran off the his gravity room early today. I hate training in there with him because he practically kills himself for hours in there. That’s not the way I like to train.” I ate the bowl of rice quickly. “Thank you.”
“I have something for you.” she said reaching into her pocket and pulled out a wrist watch. “I’ve programmed this tracking device to take you to Goku’s house and then back home again.” I put it on.
“It’s perfect. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Now run along, you’ve got a lot of training to do.” she said, waving me good bye. The tracking device worked perfectly and got me there in almost no time at all. I touched down in front of Kakarrot’s and heard laughing inside as I knocked on the door. Kakarrot’s wife, Chi Chi, answered the door and led me into the kitchen.
“Corbin! You made it!” Goku exclaimed.
“Hi Corbin!” Gohan said. Piccolo nodded his head.
“Corbin please sit down and have some lunch.” Chi Chi said, pulling a chair out for me.
“Thank you, Miss Chi Chi.” I said, sitting down in the chair and eating the teriyaki she put in front of me.
“Do you think you’re up for the challenge today, Corbin? We all want to see what you’re made of.” Goku said after we finished eating.
“We’ll see.” I answered. The four of us flew to a secluded spot about a mile away from the house to spar. Gohan and I went first and within the hour he was down. Don’t get me wrong, the little tiger put up one hell of a fight but I had years more experience. I took a few minutes to rest and then prepared for my next challenge. The fight with Piccolo was going to be tough but I was ready for it. At the start, I knew I was going to be faster but not stronger. My strategy was to wear him down and then finish him off. In the beginning, I proved right, but as the fight wore on I realized it was going to take a lot more to wear down the Namek. As I dodge all of his kicks, punches, and ki blasts, he started to get angry. He grabbed a hold of me, in his anger, and blasted me in the chest, sending me flying. I flipped to land on my feet and found that he had singed my shirt and given me a large burn above my navel. My shirt burned off in pieces and left me standing in my black sports bra and lime green jogging shorts. As I walked toward Piccolo, my shoes, which Bulma had called wrestling shoes, crunched in the gravel of broken rocks and little pieces poked my foot through the soft soles. I took my time getting to him trying to gather my energy and when I got close enough, I flew at him and began my offence. Blood flew out of his mouth as I landed a hit to his stomach. I took to long rejoicing in the victory and he hit me, sending me flying again. We continued the exchange of one good hit for another for another hour and by the time we had finished in a stalemate, Chi Chi was calling us in for dinner. As we landed on the ground, I noticed Gohan and Kakarrot had started there own sparring and it was starting to get dark.
“We’ll finish this tomorrow then.” I said to Piccolo, extending my hand.
“Definitely.” he replied, taking it. We shook hands and flew back to the house. After dinner, I flew back to Capsule Corp. and at 11 o’clock crawled into bed. I awoke the next morning to the feel of the sun on my face. I jumped up, confused by what was going on. It was eight o’clock, why hadn’t Vegeta woken me up by now? I looked out my bedroom window and saw shadows playing in the windows of the gravity room. Was I so tired that I didn’t wake up when he called me? I dressed quickly and ran to the gravity room. The simulation ended as I opened the large steel doors and he came to stand in front of me.
“What?” he said gruffly.
“You didn’t wake me up. Why?”
“You are far to weak to continue to be my training partner and besides I don’t need one.” His words stung me as he said them very coldly.
“But… you’re suppose to help me get stronger. You’re the one who made me this strong and now you’re telling me I’m no longer strong enough to train with you? Why?” Tears stung my eyes but I blinked them back.
“I don’t have time to explain to someone like you. Go play with dolls or something.” The door slammed shut in my face. I almost made it back to my room, but as I snuck through the kitchen Bulma popped up out of nowhere.
“Good morning! Are you hungry? I made breakfast.” I collapsed to the floor crying my eyes out. “Corbin? What is it? What’s wrong?”
“Vegeta won’t let me train with him anymore.” I answered as my tears subsided. “He says I’m too weak and he doesn’t need me.” She wrapped her arms around me and held me close to her.
“Well, I’m just going to march out there and…”
“Bulma, please don’t. He already thinks I’m a weakling. I don’t want to give him more reason to think that. Please don’t.” She hugged me tighter and ran her fingers through my hair to calm me.
“Are you sure? Cause I’ll go take his gravity room away if you want me to.”
“I’m sure. I’ll be fine. I’m always fine.” I wiped the tears off my face. “I’m gonna go take a shower.”
“Ok, hun. If you need anything I’ll be in the lab.”
“Thank you.” I said leaving the room. I showered and changed, then went to the lab to say bye to Bulma.
“Damn it! You piece of shit!” I heard Bulma yelling as I drew closer to the lab. Bulma was covered in grease and sweat and she was throwing tools around as I entered.
“What’s wrong?”
“Well, I can’t get the damn thing to work properly.” I walked around the machine looking closely at it.
“This is a training simulator for Vegeta?” I asked.
“Yeah, I’m trying to make them more durable so he’ll stop breaking them.” I nodded my head.
“Well, your capacitor isn’t wired correctly.” I leaned in close to it and fixed the wires. “There, try it now.” She pressed a button on the remote and it started up.
“Holy shit, where did you learn to do that?”
“I started apprenticing under a scientist after Vegeta left. I learned a lot from him.”
“Well, I have an apprenticeship open at the moment. Are you interested?”
“Really?! I’d love to! I could work with you in the morning and train with Kakarrot in the afternoon. That’s perfect. Thank you, Bulma.” I said, hugging her. Everyone I had met on this planet so far had been so inviting and friendly. It amazed me how much I liked it here. I was given a home, food, clothing, and anything I could have wanted, all within hours of leaving Frieza. The only thing that really bothered me was the fact that Vegeta had grown so cold to me. In years past, we were inseparable. He was my second father, my best friend, and now he had thrown me away. Had I done something to upset him? He wouldn’t tell me even if I did. Hell, he wouldn’t even give me the time of day now. When he slammed that door in my face, my goal became getting stronger so he would accept me again. As I was saying bye to Bulma, the floor began to shake. Fearing an earthquake, I threw myself on top of Bulma, using my body as a shield to protect her. Small chunks of ceiling and shelves fell on me and within seconds it was over. I cautiously pushed the shelves off of me and pulled Bulma to her feet, making sure she wasn’t hurt. We looked around, assessing the damage, as the smell of burning oil filled my nostrils.
“Vegeta.” I said, and ran from the lab to the gravity room. The gravity room was a pile of rubble. Bulma ran up behind me with a fire extinguisher and put the flames from the generators out as I sifted through to find Vegeta. I lifted a large piece of concrete up and found a bloody hand under it. Bulma screamed his name and the hand came to life, pushing rumble away. A few seconds later, Vegeta was standing in front of us, bleeding badly and wobbly. He took a step forward and his legs gave out. Bulma ran to him, catching him, just in time.
“I don’t need your help woman.” he said, pushing her away from him. As he did, he fell flat on his face. I picked him up, roughly, and slung him over my shoulder.
“We’ll take him up to his room and patch him up.” Bulma said, leading the way. He flopped down on to the bed as I shrugged him off while Bulma brought peroxide and gauze. I helped clean him up quickly and then left for Kakarrot’s house. Vegeta was in recovery for three days and Bulma sat by his side the entire time. Bulma’s mother, thankfully, stopped having tea parties by herself and took up the cooking and cleaning. I continued training and within days I had finally beat Piccolo. I trained with them and worked with Bulma for the next two years. At the end of the two year mark I had beat Kakarrot in his normal form and decided to challenge Vegeta. I had come home early that night from Kakarrot’s house, still at full strength from just watching techniques today. The sun was still shinning and I spotted Vegeta walking inside for dinner as I landed. The three of us ate dinner in silence and as soon as he was done he ran back outside.
“I challenge you, Prince Vegeta.” I said as I caught up to him.
“Go away, pathetic girl.” he said laughing.
“What, are you scared this pathetic girl might just kick your ass?” I asked, baiting him. He stopped dead in his tracks and turned to me.
“You’re going to regret that.” He took off to the clearing in the woods where we used to train. It had a small stream running through it. It was stunning in the dark, the moon reflecting off the water. We sparred for hours and in the end I was broken, bleeding, and bruised. I touched down on the ground and collapsed to my knees. As he looked down at me with his deadly glare, a ki ball formed in his hand. Final flash. He was going to kill me. I had seen that look in his eyes before and knew I had to get out of the way. My mind screamed at me to get out of the way but my body screamed that I was too hurt. My left arm was broken and my collarbone was a gleam of white and red sticking out of my skin. As I looked up at my death, I decided I wasn’t going out like this. My mind and my body fought over which would win and as he let the ball go, I screamed. White hot pain flared though me and I opened my eyes. My vision was clearer than it had ever been and I looked up at Vegeta. The ki ball was gone and I could see that he was staring at me, wide eyed. I lifted my right hand and saw a yellow glow coming off my skin. The pain left in stages and I stood. My arm was still broken but I felt reenergized. I walked to the stream and looked at my reflection. The moon gave off just enough light for me to see that my black hair was gone, replaced by yellow spikes pointing straight up and my eyes were green. I looked up at where Vegeta had been, but he was gone. I flew back to the compound and called for Bulma on the intercom. My strength left me again and I collapsed to the floor.
The sun glared in on me bright, and hot as I came to. My eyes adjusted to the light in stages and eventually focused on Bulma sitting in a chair beside my bed, reading a book. My torso and my left arm were in a cast and my body screamed fire as I tried to get up.
“Welcome back.” Bulma said, putting her book down.
“How long have I been gone?” I asked, my voice a faint raspy whisper.
“A week. I was scared I’d lost you.” She pushed my spiky bangs out of my eyes. I tried to think of the last thing I remembered. I fought with Vegeta, he tried to kill me, and I turned into a super Saiyan. Did I make it back to the house by myself?
“I found you in the foyer, front door wide open, in a pool of blood the next morning.” she said, as if she had read my mind. “Your body is healing at an incredibly rapid rate. That’s why it hurts so bad. I think you should be out of that cast in a few days.”
“Where’s Vegeta?”
“He’s gone, Corbin. He left right after we knew you weren’t going to die.”
“Where did he go?”
“I don’t know. Into space somewhere.” She started sobbing with her head down on the desk. I tried to move closer to her to console her.
“What is it, Bulma?” I said wrapping my good arm around her.
“Corbin, I’m pregnant.” she sobbed.
“That’s wonderful news! Who’s the…” And then it hit me. Vegeta was the father. That’s why she was so upset. “Does he know?”
“I just found out yesterday and he’s too far away to get a signal out to him.” she cried harder now.
“It’s ok, Bulma, he’ll be back.”
I waited for night fall before I left, sneaking out my window. I flew to the clearing. I needed to clear my head. My thoughts were a thunderstorm and I couldn’t sleep. I sat on a rock close to the stream and looked at my reflection. Within seconds of the thought occurring, I was a super Saiyan and I felt my body healing more rapidly. This was all my fault. Vegeta was gone because of me and now he wouldn’t be around to see his first child born. I started to cry as I thought of how much pain I was causing Bulma and she didn’t even know it. I was a coward because I couldn’t tell her. I was scared to see that look of hate in her eyes as she realized this was all my fault. The sun was peaking through the trees as I finally fell asleep by the stream.
************
The phone rang at the Son residence late that night.
“Hello.” Chi Chi said, picking up the phone. “Bulma calm down.” Three sets of ears perked up. “He’s right here, hold on.” She covered the mouth piece of the phone. “It’s for you, Goku.” He got up from the couch and took the phone.
“Hi Bulma!”
“Oh Goku.” Bulma said, sobbing into the phone. “It’s Corbin. She disappeared three days ago and we can’t find her. I’ve sent out five search parties and they’ve turn up nothing. Can you find her? Please?”
“Hold on.” He took the phone away from his ear and concentrated on her power signature. “I found her. I’ll bring her home.” Goku hung the phone up and turn to his wife. “I have to go. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” He kissed her cheek and used his instant transmission technique to transport to Corbin.
*************
My hands were slick with it. My clothing stuck to my skin because of it. I looked down with an animalistic pleasure at the deer I had just killed and gutted. The sharpened stone that I was using as a knife bit into the flesh of the deer’s leg as I started to skin it. I felt his energy before he appeared and I dropped into a defensive stance. No one was taking my kill. He appeared with his back to me and turned, looking around.
“Kakarrot.” My voice was a low growl from not having spoken in three days.
“Ah, Corbin!” he said, with his genuine smile. “Bulma’s worried sick about you.”
“I’m not going back there. I can’t.” I went back to skinning my deer. He came up beside me and sat down.
“Why not?”
“I can’t stand the caring look in her eyes and her unconditional love for me. I’m the reason why Vegeta’s gone and I can’t tell her. I’m too much of a coward.”
“Well, what did you do to make Vegeta leave?” he asked.
“He was trying to kill me and I turned into a super Saiyan. He beat me up pretty badly. He stayed just long enough for the doctor to look me over and tell him that I wasn’t going to die. He’s off somewhere in space now and doesn’t even know that Bulma is pregnant with his first child.” I had skinned the deer completely and was starting to cut the meat from the bones.
“You know this isn’t your fault right? He would’ve left anyway when Bulma gave him the news. The clock is ticking away and he still isn’t a super Saiyan yet. The word baby probably would’ve sent him running.” We laughed at the joke.
“You really don’t think this is my fault?” I asked, tentatively.
“Not in the slightest.” He wrapped his muscled arm around me and lightly bumped our heads together. I finished cutting up the deer. “You ready to go back now, kiddo?”
“You know I’m not really a kid anymore. I’m seventeen now.” I jumped into the stream to wash the blood off and I used the pieces of cast I had torn off yesterday to bundle up the deer meat. My arm was still a bit tender but I could use it again. We flew back to capsule corp. together.
“You take care of yourself, Corbin. Oh, and by the way, don’t forget to come by tomorrow. Can’t wait for the challenge of fighting a super Saiyan.” His outline blinked a few times and he was gone. I packaged the meat quickly and put it all in the freezer. As I walked through the living room to go to bed, I spotted Bulma asleep on the couch. Her face was red and blotchy and she had tissues wadded up in her limp hand. I carefully carried her to bed and tucked her in before going to my own. As the months flew past, Bulma got bigger and bigger and eventually had to stop working in the lab. I stopped training to take over for her and with two months to go on the clock, Bulma had a beautiful baby boy. She named him Trunks. I looked down at him in the basinet and wonder if this blue eyed, lavender haired baby was really a Saiyan. Trunks quickly showed me who was boss when he grabbed my finger and almost broke it. We celebrated my eighteenth birthday the week after Trunks was born. Yamcha approached me at the party and instead of being a lecherous fiend, he apologized for his misconduct. As the days grew longer, time grew shorter. It was finally the day we would find out if our training was enough.
“Corbin,” Bulma said, coming to stand in front of Vegeta and me. “What did he do to you?” She grabbed a hold of me, hugging me tight. “Did he hurt you?”
“No, Bulma, he didn’t hurt me.”
“Well, I will be going straight to the hospital tomorrow morning to tell him he is not welcome in my house anymore and I might just break the other side of his jaw. How dare he touch you.”
“Bulma, I’m sorry I ruined the rest of your lovely party. If you will excuse me, I’m going to retired for the rest of the night.” I left the now empty dome and walked to my room. Once inside my bathroom, I looked in the mirror and saw that I was scowling. The same scowl Vegeta wore non stop. Strands of my unruly Saiyan hair had come out of my bun, so I pulled the rubber band out. My hair bounced back to life immediately, the clumped spikes pointing down towards the ground. I kind of looked like the singer from one of Bulma’s favorite hair bands. I took my dress off and laid it on the vanity table. My body was toned. I didn’t look nearly as strong as I was and the scars all over my body, mostly cuts and burns, showed how strong I was. Bulma had made the comment of how horrible my scars looked but I thought they added character. I showered quickly and went to bed.
Vegeta and I stopped training early the next day, at about 10AM, and he ran directly into his gravity room.
“Well you’re in early today.” Bulma said as I came into the kitchen. She prepared a bowl of rice and stir fry for me as I sat down at the table.
“Vegeta ran off the his gravity room early today. I hate training in there with him because he practically kills himself for hours in there. That’s not the way I like to train.” I ate the bowl of rice quickly. “Thank you.”
“I have something for you.” she said reaching into her pocket and pulled out a wrist watch. “I’ve programmed this tracking device to take you to Goku’s house and then back home again.” I put it on.
“It’s perfect. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Now run along, you’ve got a lot of training to do.” she said, waving me good bye. The tracking device worked perfectly and got me there in almost no time at all. I touched down in front of Kakarrot’s and heard laughing inside as I knocked on the door. Kakarrot’s wife, Chi Chi, answered the door and led me into the kitchen.
“Corbin! You made it!” Goku exclaimed.
“Hi Corbin!” Gohan said. Piccolo nodded his head.
“Corbin please sit down and have some lunch.” Chi Chi said, pulling a chair out for me.
“Thank you, Miss Chi Chi.” I said, sitting down in the chair and eating the teriyaki she put in front of me.
“Do you think you’re up for the challenge today, Corbin? We all want to see what you’re made of.” Goku said after we finished eating.
“We’ll see.” I answered. The four of us flew to a secluded spot about a mile away from the house to spar. Gohan and I went first and within the hour he was down. Don’t get me wrong, the little tiger put up one hell of a fight but I had years more experience. I took a few minutes to rest and then prepared for my next challenge. The fight with Piccolo was going to be tough but I was ready for it. At the start, I knew I was going to be faster but not stronger. My strategy was to wear him down and then finish him off. In the beginning, I proved right, but as the fight wore on I realized it was going to take a lot more to wear down the Namek. As I dodge all of his kicks, punches, and ki blasts, he started to get angry. He grabbed a hold of me, in his anger, and blasted me in the chest, sending me flying. I flipped to land on my feet and found that he had singed my shirt and given me a large burn above my navel. My shirt burned off in pieces and left me standing in my black sports bra and lime green jogging shorts. As I walked toward Piccolo, my shoes, which Bulma had called wrestling shoes, crunched in the gravel of broken rocks and little pieces poked my foot through the soft soles. I took my time getting to him trying to gather my energy and when I got close enough, I flew at him and began my offence. Blood flew out of his mouth as I landed a hit to his stomach. I took to long rejoicing in the victory and he hit me, sending me flying again. We continued the exchange of one good hit for another for another hour and by the time we had finished in a stalemate, Chi Chi was calling us in for dinner. As we landed on the ground, I noticed Gohan and Kakarrot had started there own sparring and it was starting to get dark.
“We’ll finish this tomorrow then.” I said to Piccolo, extending my hand.
“Definitely.” he replied, taking it. We shook hands and flew back to the house. After dinner, I flew back to Capsule Corp. and at 11 o’clock crawled into bed. I awoke the next morning to the feel of the sun on my face. I jumped up, confused by what was going on. It was eight o’clock, why hadn’t Vegeta woken me up by now? I looked out my bedroom window and saw shadows playing in the windows of the gravity room. Was I so tired that I didn’t wake up when he called me? I dressed quickly and ran to the gravity room. The simulation ended as I opened the large steel doors and he came to stand in front of me.
“What?” he said gruffly.
“You didn’t wake me up. Why?”
“You are far to weak to continue to be my training partner and besides I don’t need one.” His words stung me as he said them very coldly.
“But… you’re suppose to help me get stronger. You’re the one who made me this strong and now you’re telling me I’m no longer strong enough to train with you? Why?” Tears stung my eyes but I blinked them back.
“I don’t have time to explain to someone like you. Go play with dolls or something.” The door slammed shut in my face. I almost made it back to my room, but as I snuck through the kitchen Bulma popped up out of nowhere.
“Good morning! Are you hungry? I made breakfast.” I collapsed to the floor crying my eyes out. “Corbin? What is it? What’s wrong?”
“Vegeta won’t let me train with him anymore.” I answered as my tears subsided. “He says I’m too weak and he doesn’t need me.” She wrapped her arms around me and held me close to her.
“Well, I’m just going to march out there and…”
“Bulma, please don’t. He already thinks I’m a weakling. I don’t want to give him more reason to think that. Please don’t.” She hugged me tighter and ran her fingers through my hair to calm me.
“Are you sure? Cause I’ll go take his gravity room away if you want me to.”
“I’m sure. I’ll be fine. I’m always fine.” I wiped the tears off my face. “I’m gonna go take a shower.”
“Ok, hun. If you need anything I’ll be in the lab.”
“Thank you.” I said leaving the room. I showered and changed, then went to the lab to say bye to Bulma.
“Damn it! You piece of shit!” I heard Bulma yelling as I drew closer to the lab. Bulma was covered in grease and sweat and she was throwing tools around as I entered.
“What’s wrong?”
“Well, I can’t get the damn thing to work properly.” I walked around the machine looking closely at it.
“This is a training simulator for Vegeta?” I asked.
“Yeah, I’m trying to make them more durable so he’ll stop breaking them.” I nodded my head.
“Well, your capacitor isn’t wired correctly.” I leaned in close to it and fixed the wires. “There, try it now.” She pressed a button on the remote and it started up.
“Holy shit, where did you learn to do that?”
“I started apprenticing under a scientist after Vegeta left. I learned a lot from him.”
“Well, I have an apprenticeship open at the moment. Are you interested?”
“Really?! I’d love to! I could work with you in the morning and train with Kakarrot in the afternoon. That’s perfect. Thank you, Bulma.” I said, hugging her. Everyone I had met on this planet so far had been so inviting and friendly. It amazed me how much I liked it here. I was given a home, food, clothing, and anything I could have wanted, all within hours of leaving Frieza. The only thing that really bothered me was the fact that Vegeta had grown so cold to me. In years past, we were inseparable. He was my second father, my best friend, and now he had thrown me away. Had I done something to upset him? He wouldn’t tell me even if I did. Hell, he wouldn’t even give me the time of day now. When he slammed that door in my face, my goal became getting stronger so he would accept me again. As I was saying bye to Bulma, the floor began to shake. Fearing an earthquake, I threw myself on top of Bulma, using my body as a shield to protect her. Small chunks of ceiling and shelves fell on me and within seconds it was over. I cautiously pushed the shelves off of me and pulled Bulma to her feet, making sure she wasn’t hurt. We looked around, assessing the damage, as the smell of burning oil filled my nostrils.
“Vegeta.” I said, and ran from the lab to the gravity room. The gravity room was a pile of rubble. Bulma ran up behind me with a fire extinguisher and put the flames from the generators out as I sifted through to find Vegeta. I lifted a large piece of concrete up and found a bloody hand under it. Bulma screamed his name and the hand came to life, pushing rumble away. A few seconds later, Vegeta was standing in front of us, bleeding badly and wobbly. He took a step forward and his legs gave out. Bulma ran to him, catching him, just in time.
“I don’t need your help woman.” he said, pushing her away from him. As he did, he fell flat on his face. I picked him up, roughly, and slung him over my shoulder.
“We’ll take him up to his room and patch him up.” Bulma said, leading the way. He flopped down on to the bed as I shrugged him off while Bulma brought peroxide and gauze. I helped clean him up quickly and then left for Kakarrot’s house. Vegeta was in recovery for three days and Bulma sat by his side the entire time. Bulma’s mother, thankfully, stopped having tea parties by herself and took up the cooking and cleaning. I continued training and within days I had finally beat Piccolo. I trained with them and worked with Bulma for the next two years. At the end of the two year mark I had beat Kakarrot in his normal form and decided to challenge Vegeta. I had come home early that night from Kakarrot’s house, still at full strength from just watching techniques today. The sun was still shinning and I spotted Vegeta walking inside for dinner as I landed. The three of us ate dinner in silence and as soon as he was done he ran back outside.
“I challenge you, Prince Vegeta.” I said as I caught up to him.
“Go away, pathetic girl.” he said laughing.
“What, are you scared this pathetic girl might just kick your ass?” I asked, baiting him. He stopped dead in his tracks and turned to me.
“You’re going to regret that.” He took off to the clearing in the woods where we used to train. It had a small stream running through it. It was stunning in the dark, the moon reflecting off the water. We sparred for hours and in the end I was broken, bleeding, and bruised. I touched down on the ground and collapsed to my knees. As he looked down at me with his deadly glare, a ki ball formed in his hand. Final flash. He was going to kill me. I had seen that look in his eyes before and knew I had to get out of the way. My mind screamed at me to get out of the way but my body screamed that I was too hurt. My left arm was broken and my collarbone was a gleam of white and red sticking out of my skin. As I looked up at my death, I decided I wasn’t going out like this. My mind and my body fought over which would win and as he let the ball go, I screamed. White hot pain flared though me and I opened my eyes. My vision was clearer than it had ever been and I looked up at Vegeta. The ki ball was gone and I could see that he was staring at me, wide eyed. I lifted my right hand and saw a yellow glow coming off my skin. The pain left in stages and I stood. My arm was still broken but I felt reenergized. I walked to the stream and looked at my reflection. The moon gave off just enough light for me to see that my black hair was gone, replaced by yellow spikes pointing straight up and my eyes were green. I looked up at where Vegeta had been, but he was gone. I flew back to the compound and called for Bulma on the intercom. My strength left me again and I collapsed to the floor.
The sun glared in on me bright, and hot as I came to. My eyes adjusted to the light in stages and eventually focused on Bulma sitting in a chair beside my bed, reading a book. My torso and my left arm were in a cast and my body screamed fire as I tried to get up.
“Welcome back.” Bulma said, putting her book down.
“How long have I been gone?” I asked, my voice a faint raspy whisper.
“A week. I was scared I’d lost you.” She pushed my spiky bangs out of my eyes. I tried to think of the last thing I remembered. I fought with Vegeta, he tried to kill me, and I turned into a super Saiyan. Did I make it back to the house by myself?
“I found you in the foyer, front door wide open, in a pool of blood the next morning.” she said, as if she had read my mind. “Your body is healing at an incredibly rapid rate. That’s why it hurts so bad. I think you should be out of that cast in a few days.”
“Where’s Vegeta?”
“He’s gone, Corbin. He left right after we knew you weren’t going to die.”
“Where did he go?”
“I don’t know. Into space somewhere.” She started sobbing with her head down on the desk. I tried to move closer to her to console her.
“What is it, Bulma?” I said wrapping my good arm around her.
“Corbin, I’m pregnant.” she sobbed.
“That’s wonderful news! Who’s the…” And then it hit me. Vegeta was the father. That’s why she was so upset. “Does he know?”
“I just found out yesterday and he’s too far away to get a signal out to him.” she cried harder now.
“It’s ok, Bulma, he’ll be back.”
I waited for night fall before I left, sneaking out my window. I flew to the clearing. I needed to clear my head. My thoughts were a thunderstorm and I couldn’t sleep. I sat on a rock close to the stream and looked at my reflection. Within seconds of the thought occurring, I was a super Saiyan and I felt my body healing more rapidly. This was all my fault. Vegeta was gone because of me and now he wouldn’t be around to see his first child born. I started to cry as I thought of how much pain I was causing Bulma and she didn’t even know it. I was a coward because I couldn’t tell her. I was scared to see that look of hate in her eyes as she realized this was all my fault. The sun was peaking through the trees as I finally fell asleep by the stream.
************
The phone rang at the Son residence late that night.
“Hello.” Chi Chi said, picking up the phone. “Bulma calm down.” Three sets of ears perked up. “He’s right here, hold on.” She covered the mouth piece of the phone. “It’s for you, Goku.” He got up from the couch and took the phone.
“Hi Bulma!”
“Oh Goku.” Bulma said, sobbing into the phone. “It’s Corbin. She disappeared three days ago and we can’t find her. I’ve sent out five search parties and they’ve turn up nothing. Can you find her? Please?”
“Hold on.” He took the phone away from his ear and concentrated on her power signature. “I found her. I’ll bring her home.” Goku hung the phone up and turn to his wife. “I have to go. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” He kissed her cheek and used his instant transmission technique to transport to Corbin.
*************
My hands were slick with it. My clothing stuck to my skin because of it. I looked down with an animalistic pleasure at the deer I had just killed and gutted. The sharpened stone that I was using as a knife bit into the flesh of the deer’s leg as I started to skin it. I felt his energy before he appeared and I dropped into a defensive stance. No one was taking my kill. He appeared with his back to me and turned, looking around.
“Kakarrot.” My voice was a low growl from not having spoken in three days.
“Ah, Corbin!” he said, with his genuine smile. “Bulma’s worried sick about you.”
“I’m not going back there. I can’t.” I went back to skinning my deer. He came up beside me and sat down.
“Why not?”
“I can’t stand the caring look in her eyes and her unconditional love for me. I’m the reason why Vegeta’s gone and I can’t tell her. I’m too much of a coward.”
“Well, what did you do to make Vegeta leave?” he asked.
“He was trying to kill me and I turned into a super Saiyan. He beat me up pretty badly. He stayed just long enough for the doctor to look me over and tell him that I wasn’t going to die. He’s off somewhere in space now and doesn’t even know that Bulma is pregnant with his first child.” I had skinned the deer completely and was starting to cut the meat from the bones.
“You know this isn’t your fault right? He would’ve left anyway when Bulma gave him the news. The clock is ticking away and he still isn’t a super Saiyan yet. The word baby probably would’ve sent him running.” We laughed at the joke.
“You really don’t think this is my fault?” I asked, tentatively.
“Not in the slightest.” He wrapped his muscled arm around me and lightly bumped our heads together. I finished cutting up the deer. “You ready to go back now, kiddo?”
“You know I’m not really a kid anymore. I’m seventeen now.” I jumped into the stream to wash the blood off and I used the pieces of cast I had torn off yesterday to bundle up the deer meat. My arm was still a bit tender but I could use it again. We flew back to capsule corp. together.
“You take care of yourself, Corbin. Oh, and by the way, don’t forget to come by tomorrow. Can’t wait for the challenge of fighting a super Saiyan.” His outline blinked a few times and he was gone. I packaged the meat quickly and put it all in the freezer. As I walked through the living room to go to bed, I spotted Bulma asleep on the couch. Her face was red and blotchy and she had tissues wadded up in her limp hand. I carefully carried her to bed and tucked her in before going to my own. As the months flew past, Bulma got bigger and bigger and eventually had to stop working in the lab. I stopped training to take over for her and with two months to go on the clock, Bulma had a beautiful baby boy. She named him Trunks. I looked down at him in the basinet and wonder if this blue eyed, lavender haired baby was really a Saiyan. Trunks quickly showed me who was boss when he grabbed my finger and almost broke it. We celebrated my eighteenth birthday the week after Trunks was born. Yamcha approached me at the party and instead of being a lecherous fiend, he apologized for his misconduct. As the days grew longer, time grew shorter. It was finally the day we would find out if our training was enough.