Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Sculpted In Gold ❯ Welcome to Frieza's Palace, Bulma! ( Chapter 19 )

Sculpted In Gold

Chapter19


Goku’s mind was still reeling in all of the things that Kiwi had told him, but he knew honesty when he heard it. Kiwi hadn’t been lying- well most of the time. Goku sighed, so that meant he really was an alien, and he was on earth because he had been sent here to destroy it when he was a baby? That part of the puzzle didn’t make a whole lot of sense, but he had always felt that deep inside, he was different than his friends, like Krillin and Yamcha- why it was so much easier for him to pick up new fighting techniques and getting stronger, for instance…

He was still learning to sense the locations of his friends using their Ki signature as a homing signal, but he knew almost instinctively where Kiwi was- he was so much stronger than anything else on Earth there was simply no mistaking him for anyone else. Though at the moment, Goku could only hope that Bulma was ok if she was with him, he half prayed that she wasn’t because Goku had known from the instant he saw him looking at the blue haired earthling that the alien meant to rape her. Goku shivered remembering the way that the alien had grinned as Bulma had tried to get away from him- despite his assurances that Bulma wasn’t in any danger, Goku had sensed that was a lie. Kiwi wanted her to be afraid, and he had wanted her to try and escape.

All at once, Goku stopped… Bulma! She was moving quickly away from them- and Kiwi wasn’t with her. Her Ki felt as strong as was normal for her, though something was most definitely wrong, he knew she was physically not being harmed. Had he launched her into space for some reason?? Was there any other explanation? But why?? Where was he sending her? And how could they get her back?


**


The dream she was having was just horrid and yet she just couldn’t seem to wake up…

Bulma squealed in fear unable to stop trying to shrink away from the short bluish-purple alien who had grabbed her breast through the thin material that covered her bosom. He kissed her roughly, forced his tongue inside her mouth and actually had the gall to laugh at her when she tried to bite it off, pushing away from him with all of her strength. He was about to tear off the top of her bikini when his scouter blipped and distracted him. They were on another of the tiny Papaya Islands in the warm South Seas so she wasn’t at all surprised when he let her go and moved away, thinking she was helpless.

He had no sooner turned and pressed the button on his scouter than Bulma whipped out her capsule case and tossed down a hover car. He was just about to take a step toward it when one of her captor’s impossibly strong arms grasped her around the waist yet again. He nipped her ear, but continued to talk to the scouter for a moment.

“What is this?” He asked her finally, pointing at the now expanded capsule car. But at the same time he took the capsule case out of her hand and pressed the plunger on one of the other capsules. He hadn’t let go of it, so when the copter expanded to its full size, he seemed astonished, for its weight and size were completely different, and she noticed with some chagrin, that he had no trouble balancing the heavy vehicle on one hand. “What manner of technology is this?”

Since he was suddenly more interested in her capsules than he was in her body, Bulma answered his questions quickly. “These are Hoi Poi Capsules, my father invented them.”

“Are they all vehicles?”

“No, I have my Capsule house in there too, but you have to have a big enough spot to set it on though. STOP!! If you pop it open here it will crush my hover- car. You asshole, I don’t suppose you’re going to offer to buy me a new one, are you?” Bulma’s cherry red hover car’s bumper was now all that was left of her favorite hover car.

He grinned rather evilly at her, shaking his head. “Do these go back into the capsule things?”

“Sure,” Bulma nodded and demonstrated the closing mechanism’s switch on her copter.

“How many times will it allow you to open and close it?”

“You mean like will it wear out? I don’t know, I’ve never heard of it happening. My father builds high quality merchandise that comes with a money back guarantee, I’ll have you know. Most of the time when a capsule has to be replaced it’s just because its owner was using it improperly.”

He laughed at her and looked again at the capsule house. He let himself in, simply knocking in the door, leaving the key hanging on the switch that would close it, much to Bulma’s annoyance. He came back to her side and motioned to the door rather pointedly. “There is a bed in here…”

She rolled her eyes. “Duh, I told you, it is a capsule house, you pee brain, and people all over this planet live in the various models of capsule houses we produce...”

Luckily he ignored her sarcastic tone. “How much larger objects can be contained within these capsules? Is this the largest or…”

“My dad made my mom her own Shopping mall capsule for he birthday a few years ago and he would have given it to her but I reminded him that the stores needed workers and the mall itself that he had constructed was so huge it wouldn’t fit on our block much less in the yard.”

“Show it to me.” He demanded.

“It’s at home in West City. That’s a hell of a long way from here, you idiot.” She snapped. “How fast can you fly?”

“Far faster than one of your capsules, I’m betting.” He grinned cheekily. “Just point, me in the appropriate direction, little girl, and we will get there just fine. But you may not want to get lost. You see, if it looks like this technology might be of use to Lord Frieza, then I will be glad to spare your planet, while you and Lord Frieza work out a little business arrangement.”

Would he really?? Bulma didn’t dare to breathe for a moment, he seemed like he was really interested. He didn’t look at the capsules like he was only humoring her… Well, as much as she didn’t want this creep anywhere near her family, she also didn’t want him to destroy the earth… “Home is that way.”

He kept her body pressed very close to his, but he seemed to be behaving himself now, apparently absorbed in business rather than pleasure- his rather than hers so she hadn’t minded at all. He wasn’t kidding either, she realized, he really was fast. They reached West City, and found Capsule Corp with impossible speed and from there; he followed her into her home, his manners proved to be improving along with his behavior, leaving her quite relieved, since he didn’t touch or destroy anything in her father’s workshop.

Because the mall in this capsule was so huge it was inconceivably dangerous to let it fall into the hands of someone who didn’t know what it was, or where to open it, it was locked in a special safe in the wall, neatly tucked inside of a capsule case next to a half dozen different kinds of mechanized war machines and a spare aircraft carrier that the military had commissioned but not come to pick up yet. She looked at the sheet of paper in the safe next to the capsule container and found the malls’ number. “Ok. Now before we can pop this open, you have to find a spot big enough to put it in, because this thing is not only big, it is three stories tall, I couldn’t even guess how much it weighs without looking it up or asking my dad… So I’m not letting you drop it on anything or anyone.

Just to the east of the city was a large plain of grass, and before he landed, she told him to float up a bit higher just in case, while the capsule was opening. “Where the capsule touches the ground will be the center of the building, and we don’t want to be under it.”

He nodded and complied, and Bulma held her breath as she dropped it. It had been two years since she had seen the grand, ridiculously extravagant gift her father had made for her mom; she only hoped it was as colossal and impressive as she remembered it being. As it turned out, the state of the art shopping center was still every inch the monument to her mother’s great love of shopping that her dad had intended it to be. Everything about it, from its lovely marble walls to the huge fountain in the center court’s elegant botanical garden in the atrium directly below them was a gleaming work of art.

It was indeed three stories tall, and covered even more ground than she remembered from the last time she had seen it. Kiwi landed without a word, and wasted no time dragging her inside. As the alien pulled her along, he reached into his armor and pulled out what looked like some sort of a remote control pad. He pressed a few of the keys on it, and then touched the button on his scouter. “This is lieutenant Kiwi; inform commander Zarbon at once that I will be sending a female prisoner to Home Base One. She needs clearance to land on deck one of the landing platforms there; she will be bringing with her a few samples of the technology now being produced on earth. Assure Zarbon that Lord Frieza will find this very interesting.”

“Understood, sir.” The scouter had replied.

Bulma hadn’t had a chance to do much more than squeal unhappily as she hit the switch to encapsulate the mall than the little alien had picked her up and tossed her into a tiny little round globe that closed behind her, trapping her inside. The green computer screen in front of her had two words flashing on it in large red letters. “Capture mode.”

Bulma shuddered as she frantically pressed buttons and not one of them had any noticeable effect. The pod took off with a sudden lurch that had her heart up in her throat, yet the momentum was continuing to build- the catapult was still under her and it’s speed was increasing just as she finally dared to breathe again, a digitized computer voice spoke. “Launch sequence in Capture Mode successful. Initializing sleep mode, sweet dreams Lieutenant Kiwi…”

Bulma awakened with a start, suddenly terrified all over again as she realized that she wasn’t dreaming! She was really in a space pod being sent to some other corner of the universe, as a metallic voice spoke to her in a perky though somehow husky female voice. “This pod will be landing in 10 seconds... 9 seconds… ”

“8 seconds…”She sat up quickly as she realized there was nothing visible in the tiny red window before her, but before she had a chance to scream, a tiny blue almost purplish speck appeared in the distance, and drew closer with alarming speed. “7 seconds…”

“6…” With impossible swiftness, the tiny ship drew closer and closer to the planet that was rapidly getting bigger and bigger. “5…” As she entered the planet’s atmosphere and the pod still had not even begun to slow down, she started screaming again. “4…” She squeezed her eyes shut and screamed, pressing more buttons frantically, and she didn’t want to look at the ground anymore as it crept closer like the proverbial hand of god moving in to crush her and the tiny ship. “3…”

“2…” They were going so fast the pod would disintegrate as soon as it landed, the crater would be huge but there would be nothing left of her of the pod except for a tiny little ball of what would look to others like aluminum foil… Unable to believe that this was how she was meant to die, Bulma sat back in the seat, curling up into a ball and began to cry. “1… Landing in capture mode successful, welcome home, Lieutenant Kiwi. ”

The metallic voice of the ship was suddenly the most beautiful sound she had ever heard, but she no sooner looked up to the window than she screamed again. There were men out there, wearing armor like Kiwi’s and they were all staring at her- the same way that Kiwi had been leering at her right after he had grabbed her. She started pushing buttons frantically all over again. But the pod’s door opened, and released a thick cloud of vapor. She screamed and thrashed helplessly as more impossibly strong hands grabbed her and pulled her out of the pod.

She wanted to demand that she be sent home immediately, she wanted to get back in the space pod that had brought her here and make it take her home, and most of all she wanted to be able to stop staring at the gorgeous hunk that was holding her arms. But, looking into his flashing amber eyes, she couldn’t get her jaw to work and her knees shook so badly that when he set her on her feet, she fell down. He picked her up again and glared at the crowd that had gathered around the space pod to see the new arrival, they left quickly. “You are still feeling the effects of the sleeping gas that kept you in stasis on your trip here. It will pass in a few moments. I am Commander Zarbon. What is your name, my lovely?”

After the day she had had, Bulma didn’t feel lovely, but she blushed anyway- this man was so handsome it was positively wicked, and she liked his elegant, well educated accent too… She finally forced her eyes to leave his face and those gorgeous eyes and realized they were standing on what looked like a cross between a gigantic pillow and a catcher’s mitt in Baseball, which the space pod had landed directly in the center of. “I-I’m Bulma, Bulma Briefs.”

“Kiwi sent word that you would be bringing with you a sample of the Earth’s technology, is this true?”

She nodded, holding up the two capsules she still clutched in her hand. That seemed to satisfy his curiosity for the moment. So he took her in his arms and started to fly to away from the military like complex toward the grand palace she could see rising majestically above the trees around the base. “W-Where are you taking me?”

“To Lord Frieza. Unfortunately I will have to make a stop with you first. There is going to be a huge party tonight. It is the Anniversary of the Empire celebration and although your outfit looks highly attractive on you, it isn’t exactly appropriate attire for a gathering of the peerage.”

Bulma snorted. “The peerage- are you kidding me? Have I just died and gone to Regency London or something?”

“Lords and Ladies from all over the Empire will be in attendance here tonight and I can’t bring you into their midst with garments that look like those of a pleasure slave- at least not without the entire Purge Alliance trying to run off with you. Lady Vallishara, from Planet Zarashan and the Elves of Talon wouldn’t mind your choice of garments, but no one else would keep quiet, which is why Raya is going to create for you an appropriate ensemble. Besides, she and Empress Shinesta are going to want to help you save your planet.”

“I don’t understand- who are Raya and whatever and why would they want to help me when they haven’t ever met me?”

“This is the Empress’s private balcony; notice how high the slanted gates around this little building are? Empress Shinesta is a prisoner here, she and the Lady Raya are always trying to help others avoid sharing their fate.” he told her as he hovered above a lush garden courtyard balcony and he had no sooner landed than three exquisitely beautiful females came out to join them. Two were golden skinned, and had huge silver eyes, with long glorious manes of golden blonde hair. The other was just as pretty, but her skin was so pale it seemed to have a silvery sheen to it and her hair was glossy black and very curly, her eyes were a blue so rich that they shamed the sapphires she was wearing. Each of them was also dressed in elegant silk and literally dripping with a fortune in gold and jewels. Bulma had never felt so intimidated by meeting anyone before, but before anyone spoke, all three of the women smiled at her kindly.

“Welcome,” The golden woman with some of the longest hair Bulma had ever seen, greeted her warmly, offering her a hand; she led her inside the sumptuous guest house that was cleverly concealed within the palace’s gardens except when viewed from the air. “I am Shinesta; this is my daughter, Shannelle, and my best friend, Raya. We have been expecting you, Bulma. Zarbon does not mean to be rude, dear, but he still has to dress for the party, so he has already gone to do that, but he will be seeing us later. I know with your trip that you must be exhausted, and hungry. Can my servants offer you anything?”

“I-no thank you. I’m way too nervous to eat anything tonight. My friends are all on earth, fighting against that bastard Kiwi! I’m afraid that I’m wasting time that they don’t have… he told me I have to see Frieza to save my planet. But I don’t want the monster who decided my planet should be destroyed to have my father’s inventions.”

“Truly, that is understandable, but if you don’t at least make the offer, I’m afraid Kiwi will go through with his mission to destroy your planet. Even if Lord Frieza doesn’t want the capsules, he will keep your planet in tact if he sees that the capsules interest other rulers who are already members of his Empire. You are your world’s only hope now, Bulma. Goku and his friends are not strong enough to take on Kiwi, and they won’t be for some time, but I do admire their persistence, as they are already hatching a plan to come to your rescue...”

“H-how do you know about Goku- how do you know anything about us?” Bulma asked, looking startled.

“You had better just get used to it.” A decidedly male voice spoke up from the other end of the room. “Those two are wizards; among other things and that one is just trouble.”

“I’ll have you know that I resent that, Vegeta- I’m not always trouble, you just make me enjoy being naughty a whole lot more than an unmarried princess should.” Shani giggled, “I don’t want to go out there with Frieza- I want you to take me back to bed and make love to me again... Although, it does make me happy that you are starting to accept the reality of magic.”

“Popping in and out of mirrors several times every day tends to leave an impression... Speaking of impressions,” Vegeta shrugged but he paused and scowled a bit when he saw what she was wearing. Then he turned and glared at Raya. “I thought you were dressing her for the party tonight not a private performance at the Satin Doll Club in the…”

“There is nothing wrong with my gown, Vegeta!” Shani interrupted, looking at her outfit in a nearby mirror. She was basically wearing a bold flame colored crisscross silk mini dress with a matched set of jewelry formed by tiny disks of Rose gold, linked together into a cascading necklace, broach and a thick layered belt set with dozens of flashing gems that shimmered in rich red sparks and hot flecks of pure golden fire. There was also a very delicate flame colored half veil of matching silk over her face, trimmed in more rose gold, and there were little beads of the same fiery gemstone strung through a few strands of her hair behind her sharply pointed ears that held her veil in place.

“That’s right, Shani.” Raya nodded. “She’s got enough jewelry on to hold down a tent that the Traveling Royal Circus of Talon performs in, Prince Vegeta, no one is going to see anything. I never would have taken you for a prude though. Don’t give me that look, young man, if you want me to change her, then fine I will but you better be ready for her to show up at this party in a red version of what I am wearing. Remember, Planet Zarashan’s delegation has arrived and we are dressing to welcome them since no one else will. Even Napa wasn’t this bad about what I put Charsi into…”

The prince of all Saiyans was not used to getting ultimatums from others, but Shani’s current outfit was in fact extremely tame when compared to what Raya was wearing. The black haired elf knew perfectly well that the rest of the guests would be stunned by her blatantly feminine and outright scandalous attire. Normally he would have laughed, admiring her figure as well as knowing that she was doing it on purpose, being unconventional again. The thought of Shani wearing that in front of anyone other than him made him relent immediately, because he didn’t doubt Raya would do it, just to spite him for objecting in the first place.

“I think Shani looks amazing, absolutely gorgeous.” Bulma said, quietly. Then she turned to admire the exquisite job someone had done of making Raya a bikini and a delicate skirt out of silver and sapphire colored beads and rich sapphire colored silk; she too, had a colorful silver trimmed colored veil over her face. “For that matter, so do you, Raya… I could never wear something like that, but it looks perfect on you. Are those beads real silver and what are the blue ones made of?”

Shinesta laughed. “Entirely platinum and sapphires, dear, nothing but the best will do at the event of the year. Besides, Vegeta, if you think Raya looks scantily clad now; you should have seen what she wore to one of the masquerades last year. It was pretty much the same outfit but made of entirely white gossamer- and clear diamonds. Even Frieza couldn’t keep his eyes off of her that night. So, with that said and if there are no further objections to what my daughter is wearing, to the party, we should probably decide what to have you wear too, Bulma dear.”

“I see you aren’t ready either, mother.” Shani giggled; when she was little she had always loved watching Raya perform the magic that transformed her mother into the Empress of their people, and she couldn’t wait to see what the black haired elf would come up with tonight. She was always beautiful of course, but Raya’s eye for detail and costuming made every move her mother made and every word she spoke at the affairs of state she had to dress up for all the more dramatic and enhanced even more her royal beauty and grace.

“You know better than that, guests first, Shani, dear. Besides, I haven’t decided what to put her in yet.” Raya chided her playfully, she grabbed Bulma’s hand and lead her over to a huge floor length mirror and smiled. “Now then, I want you to look into the mirror and picture the formal wear typical of your planet…”

“You mean formal wear like what I wore to the Prom?”

Raya grinned impishly. “If it was appropriately well turned out, I suppose I could recreate it, but I assure you dear, I love creating new variations. You are your planet’s only hope and you must look like the ambassador of high standing that you were sent here to be.”

B-But I don’t have anything with me… I didn’t exactly have a chance to pack for this little trip- I have no clothes, let’s not even mention my jewelry… This is my stupid bathing suit for Kami’s sake!! It’s just hopeless.” Bulma shook her head sadly.

Raya placed a hand on her arm and smiled gently. “Nothing is ever hopeless, dear, not when you believe in magic. You may not want to believe it yet, but you really are among friends here, Bulma. ”

“Great Galaxies aren’t you females bloody well ready yet, Raya?” Zarbon snapped at the black haired elf as he entered through the balcony doors. Once again Bulma had a terrible time looking away from the amber eyed hunk, since he looked even more incredibly gorgeous in that custom tailored black tux he was wearing- which Bulma noted was trimmed and accented in the same sapphire colored silk that Raya was wearing… were they dating or was that a coincidence she wondered.

“I know that you are only being a total jerk today because the Empire’s Anniversary actually commemorates the day that Frieza killed your planet and adopted you Zarbon, but you need to remember that Bulma is new to our situation and she is having a little trouble adjusting right now. So, either go sit by Vegeta- and be quiet or go figure out if Napa still has his tie on in the other room.” Raya told him with a dismissive glare. Then she turned and grinned impishly at Bulma as Zarbon took the latter suggestion. “Yes, he is gorgeous, isn’t he? Even when he’s crabby he’s still hot it’s just not fair being with him sometimes… But anyway, he is right; we do need to get going soon. All you need to do is picture a pretty dress or two in your mind that is native to your planet and my magic will allow me to do the rest.”

Bulma didn’t really understand what kind of magic they could possibly have that could come up with anything like what Shani and Raya were dressed in, but she sighed and nodded. After seeing these luxurious and elegant outfits it was hard to envision something formal to compare it with from earth, but when she thought of her prom dress again she sighed anyway, she had loved that dress. It was pale aqua silk that set off her hair color beautifully and its mermaid style cut made her feel like a real live princess. Her mom had allowed her to wear her white gold snake chain with an elegant slide pendant shaped like a knot topped by a very fine aquamarine crystal.

“Hmm, yes that’s very nice I can work with that.” Raya smiled. “Alright, so, what do you think of… this?”

The black haired elf had no sooner spoken than a soft white light appeared at Bulma’s feet, surrounding her and it enveloped her completely before she could jump back. As it faded Bulma stared into the mirror- unable to accept what her eyes were seeing. She was wearing a knee length mermaid style gown of rich aqua colored silk. It was strapless, but the plunging neckline featured an exquisite aquamarine and white gold (or perhaps platinum she wasn’t really sure) broach nestled between her breasts. Her gown was slit in the front up to each hip. Luckily the center portion was quite heavy so Bulma wasn’t worried about it shifting around as she moved because it was heavily brocaded with lustrous white gold thread and more aquamarine crystals winked playfully at her from invisible settings. She realized it was longer in the back than it was in the front, its lush white gold embroidery repeated along the bottom even though the back fully reached the floor.

Her wrists and her neck were also adorned by a veritable fortune in white gold and aquamarine jewelry. But it was her sudden change in hair style that had the young scientist in the most shock. Her long aqua tresses were drawn up and back into an elegant and colorful bundle of curls at the top of her head, held in place by very slender and delicate looking of strands of white gold snake chain along whose smooth lengths even more tiny aquamarines twinkled like smalls stars. A single large sparkling marquis cut aquamarine nestled among tiny glittering diamonds rested upon her forehead, dangling not from the chains at the top of her head, as she thought at first but as part of a delicate circlet made to match the decorations used to create her hair style.

Bulma’s shocked and confused silence was broken though when Raya took a step toward her and smiled. “Well? What do you think?”

“I-I think you’re just… amazing!!” Bulma whispered, tears gathered in her eyes, overcome with gratitude that a total stranger would go to such incredible lengths to help her. “I just don’t know what to say! I-I mean, thank you.”

Raya smiled and assured her that it was nothing, while Bulma sat down in a chair and tried to get her head to accept that she could see and touch the gown’s luxurious fabric and the jewelry too. She didn’t even notice the rest of the room or the even the radiant and very sexy ensemble that the black haired elf created for the golden Empress.

“Now, try not to be afraid, dear, I know that will be hard, but stick close to Raya and I and the tyrant will come to you, Bulma.”