Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Project: Vegeta ❯ Round 2 Ding Ding Ding! ( Chapter 5 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

A/N: Now we’re out of the known and into the unknown... And things are gonna get interesting. At least I hope you’ll think so. Anyway, hold on to your tails, it’s gonna be a bumpy ride. A little cussing in this, and some minor minor violence, but nothing too major. Just Mucho Angsto.

Disclaimer: Next year I’m hoping to make a million-kabillion dollars so that I can buy Dragonball Z and make it mine. Until then... It belongs to that Toriyama guy. Poop.


Chapter 5:
Mission the Second: Faith



Later that night Bulma was getting ready for bed and grinning like a fool. She was pretty amazed at the progress she’d made on mission 1. Before he’d realized what happened, Vegeta had slipped into a relatively comfortable demeanor with her at lunch. For just a minutes he’d let her open up to him about Yamcha. Sure he hadn’t exactly been sharing on his own part, but trust was a two way thing. And it was a pretty major step. She was starting to feel comfortable with moving on to her second goal. Mission 2: Get Vegeta to have Faith in her. If he believed she could truly help him they chances were better he’d let her try.
She pulled on her favorite nighty and reached for her hair brush. Everything she’d learned so far still led her to the same conclusion. Vegeta needed to relax. He was stronger now then Goku had been when he’d first turned Super Saiyan. However, it seemed that Vegeta was consuming too much of his potential energy fighting with his own Ki. All her research led her to think that his concentration levels had to be much higher to do even the simplest ki energy manipulation.
She moved into the bathroom to brush her teeth. If only there was some way to manually reset Vegeta’s Ki frequency. She just needed a magic wand she could wave and... She stopped brushing mid-stroke. “Ob Co’s! Why didn’ ah ee id befo’?” She spit a large glob of toothpaste into the sink. “Id’s so simble!” She finished rinsing and then ran into her room. She had plans to make and... she had to pack!
Bulma pulled a duffle bag from her closet and began shoving it full with various articles of clothing. After a few minutes she paused to think. “What am I going to tell Vegeta?” she wondered aloud. She didn’t think he’d appreciate the genius of her plan. She was sure that he’d have some kind of issue with going about it that way, and she didn’t really want to have to deal with trying to convince him otherwise. Well, she’d worry about that later. For now, she had to get everything ready.


Bulma had planned on leaving the very next morning, but putting a little more thought into her idea she realized there were some things she needed to take care of before she left. She had to talk to her father about some things at work and let him know she was going out of town for a while. She needed to draw up the blue prints for something special in her “Cure Vegeta” plot and then fax to one of the many Capsule Corps. manufacturing plants to begin construction right away. She would have to place a rather strange phone call to one of the companies many psychiatrists and hope money really could buy everything. And, last but not at all least, she needed to talk to Vegeta.
The first three things were relatively simple and she had them done by the end of the week. As for the last part, she was starting to wonder if she could put it off till she got back. Deciding to bite the bullet, she waited up for him to finish that night. Of course this was one of the nights he decided to train late.
Around 1 am Bulma finally heard the GS powering down. She was on her seventh cup of tea which she downed quickly and then walked to the sink to rinse her cup. She listened intently as the door to the outside opened and closed and then she waited. Sure enough Vegeta entered the kitchen in search of sustenance before retiring to bed. He paused only a second when he noticed her standing there and then continued on his original path. Bulma waited while he grabbed a glass of water, downed it, and got another.
Finally it seemed Vegeta’s curiosity overcame his desire to ignore her completely. “What is it, Woman?” he took a sip of his second glass.
“I... I just wanted to tell you...” Bulma was still unsure how to phrase this the best possible way.
“Well, spit it out already!” Vegeta growled. “I haven’t got all night, you know.”
Bulma calmed her nerves and clenched her jab. Then she started again. “I may have figured out a way to fix that problem of yours.”
Vegeta stared at her for a beat and then downed the rest of his water while he considered a response. He knew which problem she was referring to, but he just knew he wasn’t going to like her solution. Why else would she be so nervous? Finally he spoke. “How?”
Bulma took a deep breath. “Well, I’m still working out the details, but I’m sure my idea is going to work. I’ve been going over everything I know about you and your past and, I think I’ve deduced the origin of the disruption.”
Vegeta glared at her impatiently. “And what could you have possibly deduced about me, seeing as how you know almost nothing about me? I thought you said it was going to take “psychotherapy” to be able to figure that out.”
“Yeah, well, at first I did, but we both know that’s never going to happen.” Vegeta grunted in agreement. “So I’ve been thinking about alternatives and... well, it just came to me.” She couldn’t help herself. She paused for dramatic effect. “I think the cause of the disruption was the Spirit Bomb that Goku used to defe... to almost defeat you the first time you came to Earth. From what I’m told about the Sprit Bomb it’s derived from a little bit of the life energy from all the living things on the planet. Somehow you must have absorbed some of the Earths life force or... well, I’m not sure about the specifics, but that’s the only thing I can think of that would be powerful enough to cause a condition like this.”
The glass in Vegeta’s hand exploded into a thousand little pieces. Bulma yelped as the shattering glass flew everywhere, the sound of the drinking glass’s demise disrupting the otherwise silent kitchen. “So... this is Kakarrot’s fault? I should have known...” Vegeta continued to squeeze his fist in anger. Bulma was sure she saw blood starting to drip down his wrist and along his arm.
“Uh... Vegeta... your hand...?” Bulma winced as she reached toward him.
“Never mind my blasted hand,” Vegeta jerked away from her.
“Look, Vegeta, I know you must be upset, but, trust me, we’re going to fix you. You’ll be good as new in a few weeks or so, just... don’t freak out on me!” She had know he would take it badly, but she hadn’t expected this. Her hands had been shaking when she lowered them back to her side and she could feel her stomach starting to quiver.
“A few weeks!?” Vegeta shouted, turning his burning eyes back to her. “What could possibly make it take so long?”
Bulma whipped a now sweaty palm on her leg. “It’s a very complicated process, Vegeta. I have to gather some... ingredients... from around the world to assist in the procedure. I’m leaving in the morning to start working on that part of things and I have the rest of the preparations being taken care of while I’m gone. In the mean time you can continue training and when I get back then... we’ll make you better.” She was not watching the blood drip off the back of his elbow and onto the floor.
“Better?” Vegeta growled and stepped towards her. “I’m never going to be “better” until I kill that son of a bitch Kakarrot. I’ve had to bear one humiliation after another by that 3rd class sorry excuse for a Saiyan and I refuse to let him cause me one more second of irritation. It’s about time I put that fool out of his misery...” Vegeta looked towards the door. “He should never have had the ability to rise higher then a Saiyan elite and now I discover he was the very one to hamper my ascension in the first place it is... It is intolerable!” Vegeta roared and stepped towards the door.
Bulma panicked. This couldn’t be going any worse! She jumped in front of Vegeta and put up her hands to stop him. “NO! Vegeta, stop!” she yelled, hoping he wouldn’t just swat her like a fly.
“Get. Out. Of. My. Way.” he said, the fierceness of his words was nothing to the fire in his eyes.
“Just wait, Vegeta, just listen to me for a second!” she was speaking quickly, hoping her death was just as swift. Vegeta paused, the tension in his body so intense the room nearly vibrated with it. It seemed as though she’d bought herself a few more seconds. “It’s not like... It’s not like Goku knew what was going to happen, right? I mean... there’s no way he’s smart enough to have figured out what was going to happen, and I know he’s not devious enough to have planned something like that even if he had known.”
Vegeta shook his head. “If you think that matters to me one little bit, you’re even more stupid then you look,” he sneered and started to push forward again.
Bulma stepped back, putting herself in his path one more time. “Well, I could be wrong, you know! I’m just guessing about the whole Spirit Bomb thing! I mean, it’s like you said, I don’t know hardly anything about you, or your past. It could be something completely different.”
Vegeta paused again, a flicker of hesitation passed behind his eyes and he seemed momentarily torn. “If you weren’t sure about the cause then you wouldn’t think you could possibly have the cure. Why should I listen to anything you tell me? You’d say anything to save your pathetic friend...” The hurt and anger in his face tore at Bulma’s heart. She couldn’t be sure, but he almost sounded... betrayed. “I won’t listen to anymore of your lies! Now, move!” He pushed her out of the way and walked past her.
The force of his arm knocked her against the wall next to the door and she had to grip the doorframe to keep from falling onto her backside. Pulling herself up quickly she raced after him. If he got outside, she’d never be able to stop him from flying off. Her panic increased as she turned and followed Vegeta down the hall. ‘OH Kami! Please let me stop him in time!’ She prayed. She realized she wasn’t really afraid for Goku. She was pretty sure he could take care of himself. But that was just it. If Vegeta forced a confrontation between them would Goku be able to spare his life again? If Vegeta kept pushing eventually Goku would probably have to kill him... that thought alone pushed her to move faster then she’d ever moved before. She was in the entry way now. Across the room she saw Vegeta had reached the door. In one last ditch effort she said the only thing she could think of.
“If you go after Goku, you’ll never get your cure,” her voice was loud, but deceptively calm. When Vegeta’s hand paused reaching for the doorknob she felt her courage growing. “I’ve let you into my house, my life, and I’ve done everything to try and help you that I know possible. But if you leave now to go kill my “pathetic” friend, as you say, then you... Then you will become my enemy once again. You can’t expect me to help someone that willingly seeks out the people I love in order to destroy them. I know that’s what you did before, but... things have changed. You’ve changed and whether you’ll admit it or not, things have worked out pretty good for you. I’m offering you the one thing that can help you do the one thing you haven’t been able to do on your own. The one thing that you’ve desired more then anything else.”
It was dark in this part of the house, but Bulma could tell from his outline that Vegeta hadn’t moved. Stepping farther into the room she kept talking. “I can FIX you Vegeta. I can make it possible for you to finally become a Super Saiyan, but I can’t do that if you go off to kill Goku. So, go ahead, Vegeta. Go ahead and leave. Go find Goku and blast him into a million bits, but just remember that if you do that, you’ll be giving up the one thing you want most in the world. The one thing I thought mattered more to you then beating “Kakarrot”. It’s your choice. You can speed off and pick a fight you may or may not win with someone that may or may not be responsible for what’s happened to you and you can loose the one thing that’s really important to you. Or...” She was standing right behind him now. “Or you can stay and let me help you. You’re move.”
Inside Vegeta felt as though he’d been punched in the gut. His teeth were grinding together as he tried to keep himself under control. His hand still reached halfway to the door knob. Even in the dark he could see the shadowy trail of blood running across his forearm. He stood, his entire body shaking as his thoughts raced with the Woman’s words. It infuriated him that she would dare give him such an ultimatum, that she thought it mattered to him whether or not she offered her help willingly or not. It enraged him that she thought he depended on her help so much, that he was some incompetent toddler that would cease to exist with out her blessing and her assistance. And worst of all, he felt choking lividity by the fact that she was right. There was nothing more important then becoming a Super Saiyan. And if she was right... If...
“And what if you’re wrong?” he hissed almost inaudibly. “What if you don’t have a cure?”
Bulma stared at the Saiyan’s back and felt a flicker of hope. “Then I’ll keep trying to find one. As long as you’re on my side, Vegeta, I’ll do everything in my power to help you. I’d never give up looking. But you have to trust me on this Vegeta. Whether I’m right about the cause or not, this is going to work. My plan IS going to make you whole again. Believe me.” She pleaded quietly, fighting the urge to reach out and touch him.
The very concept of putting faith in another person to help him seemed so foreign to him that his head started to pound as he tried to wrap his mind around the idea. And that made his hand hurt, too. Pushing the pain away he turned very slowly to face the source of his discomfort. “And what guarantee do I have?” He asked slowly.
Bulma’s forehead creased in surprise. “What do you mean?”
“What guarantee do I have that this isn’t just some kind of trick to cause me further harm? What guarantee do I have that you have my best interest in heart? If this idea of yours doesn’t work, how will I know you weren’t just stalling to save Kakarrot’s life? And what’s to stop me from just going off to kill him anyway, whether you cure me or not?” Vegeta was grasping at straws, trying to put himself back in control of the situation.
Bulma felt a stab of pain at his cold, heartless words. It seemed everything she’d done, everything she’d tried to show Vegeta about how different things could be if he wanted them to be, was for nothing. “There are no guarantees, Vegeta. That’s not what trust is all about. You think you need guarantees because you see deception behind everything anyone does and says, even though most of us, here on Earth at least, have never given you any reason to think that is the case. You’re so paranoid you can’t even see that it’s all in your head! Trusting is about looking at who a person is and what they’ve actually done. When someone offers you the hand of friendship and goes out of their way to give you everything you’re supposed to look at that and say, yes, this is a good thing. I’ve given you no reason to think I was out to hurt you, none! But you can’t see that, can you? You can’t let yourself believe in anyone but yourself!” Bulma swallowed a sizable lump in her throat. Her eyes burned as she continued. “And that’s why you’re alone, Vegeta. That’s why you’ll always be alone.” She couldn’t believe in less then a weeks time she’d let Vegeta bring her to tears twice.
Vegeta couldn’t believe his ears. Had the woman just said she was trying to be his “friend”? The very idea was insane. He didn’t need any friends and she was a total moron if she actually thought he could be one to her. “If you really believe what you just said about trust then you will agree with me when I say that YOU should not trust ME. I’m a selfish murdering bastard who’s destroyed more worlds then you can count. Enough that, if you knew, it would turn your stomach and worse. I’ve done nothing but kill your friends, attempt to destroy your planet, and threaten your life and well being, and yet you have the audacity to look me in the eye and tell me that you’ve looked at who I am and what I’ve done and you believe I’m trustworthy?” Vegeta laughed a harsh and bitter laugh that tore at Bulma’s soul. “You’re not just an idiot, you’re insane. The answer is very simple. I am and always will be alone because I DESERVE to be so. Thinking otherwise is just... crazy talk.”
And there it was. Laid wide out in the open for Bulma to see. She’d always kind of know, deep down that this must be how he felt, but that didn’t make it any easier to take. “Everyone makes mistakes...” she began, but that just made Vegeta laugh in her face again. She forced herself to continue. “Look, Vegeta, I know it doesn’t make any sense to you, but that’s one of the things that separates you from me. I have faith that people can change. I believe that everyone deserves a chance to prove that, when situations change that people can change. I’ve seen good in you, even if you haven’t been able to recognize if for yourself. And since you’ve been here... well sure you’ve been a royal pain in the ass. You’re demanding, selfish, rude, and constantly grumpy. You eat all my food and break all the things I make for you to help train and you never once said thank you. You take up a lot of my time with making you newer better toys to play with and you’ve never once said your sorry for irritating the crap out of me and picking fights with me and generally just trying to make my life miserable... But you know what? None of that matters to me. I realize that most of that is just the way you are, and that will probably never change. What matters to me is the fact that you’ve been living here for months now and you haven’t killed a single person. Even when my dad couldn’t fix you’re bots right away, and when my mother babied you and babbled on and on to you about stupid human things, you just said something smarmy and let it go. Even when I annoyed the crap out of you and picked fights with you and made your life miserable...” she let that hang. “The truth is, before you came here you wouldn’t have hesitated to blast anyone you thought was the least bit irritating. But you’ve changed. On Namek you could have killed Krillin and I after we gave you our dragonball, but you didn’t. And after we wished you back you were the one that helped us figure out how to wish Krillin back. And now you’re doing all this training to help us fight the androids! Can’t you see? You’re still an asshole. Probably always will be, but you’re still one of the good guys now!”
Vegeta shook his head and walked around Bulma, back into the middle of the entry way. “Enough. You’re so deluded you actually believe what you’re saying.” He stood in the center of the room, his back to her and fought against her every word. “I’m not different. I’m opportunistic. I’ve just been using you all to achieve my own evil ends, and when I have no more use for you, then you will see how just like my “old self” I can be.”
“I don’t believe you.” Bulma said boldly. “I guess we’ll just have to wait and see, when that day arrives, which one of us was right.” And with that she walked past him and back into the hallway.
“Yes, we will,” Vegeta said. And Bulma felt a shiver in her spine. If she was wrong about Vegeta, they would all pay dearly. She just prayed she was right.


Bulma had returned to the kitchen to clean up the broken glass. After a while she’d thought she’d heard Vegeta go upstairs and sighed in relief that he’d given in. For now. With the mess cleaned up she’d retired to her room where she laid in bed, completely awake, until morning. She climbed from bed when her alarm went off a 7, showered, and dressed quickly. Outside she was relieved to find Vegeta was already inside, probably beating himself to a bloody pulp and convincing himself that Bulma was nothing but a deluded lunatic and what she’d said last night was nothing but insane human dribble. For the first time she wondered if what she was trying to do was even possible. If trying to help Vegeta was a lost cause then doing so would only result in pain and probably death for all she loved.
“Well,” she muttered as she gathered her pre-packed capsules and slid them into her capsule belt, “It’s too late to turn back now.” She ate a quick breakfast and then hugged her parents good-bye.
If she didn’t go ahead as planned Vegeta would figure she’d just been lying the whole time and go off and try to kill Goku anyway. And get himself killed in the process.
Wouldn’t they all be better off, then?
She let herself consider that thought for about 2.7 milliseconds. She believed everything she’d told Vegeta. She knew she was right and she knew he was just too stubborn to admit it. Well, she was going to make him see. Somehow she’d get it through his thick monkey skull that they were on the same side now. Like it or not he was one of them.
She pulled her hair back into a ponytail and removed a capsule from her belt. With a quick click on the button she tossed it to her left. Her motorbike appeared with a puff of smoke and she climbed onto it feeling the first pangs of excitement. ‘Adventure time!’ she thought with a smile. ‘And when I get back... I’ll show him. I’m right, Dammit! I have to be.’ And with that she drove off into the rising sun. Never once did she stop to wonder why Vegeta had suddenly become so important to her.


(So... what has Bulma got planned? Find out in our next exciting installment of Project: Vegeta!)