Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ The Eternal Treasure of Planet Vegeta ❯ Into The Chamber ( Chapter 3 )

Things start to get interesting now. Trunks and Veggie are joined by Nikki for a year in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber for a whole year. And a LOT of `things' can happen in one year…

Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ and all other related material

~~~

Vegeta was the only one left awake. Trunks was on the floor, his head resting on Bulma's knee. Bulma's head was on Vegeta's shoulder. Nikki was curled up on the recliner, Baby Trunks asleep against her chest. Vegeta's arms were crossed. He was staring at the television screen in a look of anger and confusion.

That baka, he thought. What is he doing? There has to be something more than just a Tournament he's after!

Bulma stirred next to him. Vegeta picked her up, and took her to their bedroom, laying her on the bed. He returned to lift Trunks onto the couch and cover his with a blanket from the linen cupboard. He went over to the recliner and made it vertical, pulling out the footrests, then covering the girl and baby with another blanket.

~

Trunks's eyes shot open. He looked around. For a second, he couldn't remember where he was. Then he remembered the night before and jumped up in shock. It was dawn, and the skyscraper was still smoking like a badly extinguished cigarette butt. Trunks came back into the living room. He saw Nikki and Baby Trunks sleeping on the recliner. He went over to stand next to them. Nikki was curled into a ball, one of her arms coiled protectively around the baby. She looked like a child herself, but a very motherly figure. Trunks smiled, although he didn't know why. The whole picture was sweet.

Vegeta came into the room, and beckoned to him quietly. Trunks came silently so he wouldn't wake the two up.

"What's up?"

"I am going back to the Lookout. I will spend one more day in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber to become stronger. Tell your mother where I went."

"Wait! I want to go too!" said Trunks.

"SHH!" Vegeta put his fingers to his lips. "You idiot! You're going to wake them up!"

"Sorry. So anyway, I'm coming. I'll just leave a note for Mother."

"Fine, just don't make a noise!" The two men turned to go, when there was a noise behind them. Nikki got up, rubbing her eyes.

"What time is it?" she asked. Her hair was tousled as she yawned and stretched. Vegeta glared at his son and said, "It's dawn. We're going out. We won't be back for the rest of the day. Tell Bulma."

"Where are you going?" she asked, getting off the recliner.

"Uh, just somewhere", said Trunks. Nikki raised an eyebrow.

"Just somewhere? Which somewhere? Oh, let me guess. You guys were frightened by Cell on TV and now you're going back to the Hyperbolic Time Chamber to buff up!" She could tell she had hit the nail right on the head. Trunks opened his mouth, but was silenced by Vegeta.

"Tell Bulma", he said. He and Trunks turned to leave.

"Not so fast!" said Nikki. She ran after them, and stood in front. "I'm coming with you. You can't just go into a place for a year without anyone but the two of you! Besides, neither of you can cook! How are you going to eat? And what if your clothes get dirty?"

"We'll live", said Vegeta, trying to push past. Nikki stopped him.

"No, I'm coming with you! What if you catch some disgusting hygiene related disease? What if you get food poisoning? I'll just come to help you guys out! I won't get in the way!"

Vegeta sighed. "Look girl, even if we wanted to take you, we couldn't. There can only be two people in the Chamber at one time."

Nikki smiled mischievously. "I can change that!"

"How?"

"A little gadget I invented in my free time. It'll do the job, don't worry!"

~

Piccolo looked sceptical.

"Do you think it's wise to let her come in with you?" he asked Vegeta. "We don't know anything about her."

"My boy has known her for six years", said Vegeta.

"Even if she is good", argued Piccolo. "I don't think a little girl going into a room with two men for a year is a good idea. What if something happens?" "Look greenie!" snapped Vegeta. "This wasn't my idea! She wanted to come! She's the one you should be preaching to, not me!"

Their conversation had to end there, because Nikki and Trunks returned with Mr Popo. Trunks was hardly visible under a huge pile of bedclothes. Nikki had a small suitcase in one hand. It contained clothes and stuff she wanted for the year.

"Do we age in the Chamber?" she asked.

"No", said Mr. Popo. "Are you ready to go, then?" Vegeta nodded, and they walked up to the brown door. Mr Popo opened it. Trunks entered first, then Vegeta held the door open for Nikki, before coming in himself. The door closed behind him.

~

Vegeta wanted to start training right away. Nikki wanted to unpack. Trunks just wanted some breakfast.

"I'm starving", he whined. "If you're here to help us out, can't you make some breakfast? I'm hungry!"

"You can have breakfast as soon as you help me unpack my stuff!" said Nikki. She had made him dump the bedclothes on the kitchen table.

"All you have to unpack is a small suitcase!" said Trunks. "It should take you ten minutes!"

"This?" said Nikki. She held up the blue suitcase in her hand. "This is just for tonight!" She reached into her pocket with her other hand and pulled out a small capsule. It released with a `POP' and on the floor was now a small mountain of bags of various sizes and shapes.

"What is this?" asked Trunks in horror.

"These are the stuff we'll need for the whole year!" she replied. "They've got clothes for the three of us, and books, CDs, and my sketch book. I have to have something to do in my spare time! Do you think I'm going to watch the both of you for a whole year?" She began to pull some bags from the pile. "We aren't doing anything until all this stuff has been unpacked!"

Trunks stared at the mound on bags in unhidden dismay. Vegeta had a very amused look on his face. Nikki began to unzip the bags and put things into the cupboards.

"The faster we get this done the more training you can do!" She looked over her shoulder at Trunks and Vegeta. Another capsule from her pocket released a luxurious looking bed with polished posts and muslin curtains. She pulled big white pillows out of another bag and put them onto it. The same sort of thing continued for about three hours. At the end of it, Trunks had learnt more about housekeeping than he had in his whole life. Vegeta hadn't minded it so much. It was a pleasant change to Bulma's screechy voice yelling at him all the time.

"Okay, we're done!" said Trunks thankfully. "Can you please make me something to eat now?" Nikki laughed at the mournful look on his face. She headed into the small kitchen. Under half an hour later, she was laying out at least eight dishes of food on the table. Trunks looked at them with ravenous hunger. He and Vegeta had polished off the large meal in ten minutes.

"Aren't you going to eat anything?" Trunks asked, as Nikki began to clear the table away.

"I already did", she replied. "I had a piece of toast and a glass of orange juice."

"Is that all?" Trunks sounded surprised.

"That's all I usually eat. I can't have more than that! You should know; I came to have dinner with you so often!" She picked up the last plate, and walked back into the kitchen.

"I never noticed before", said Trunks. He said it softly, so only he could hear, or so he thought. Vegeta, who was sitting on the couch, frowned. He wondered what was going on inside his son's mind.

~

A month passed with no great occurrence. The daily routine was as such: Nikki would make breakfast for Trunks and Vegeta, and then they would go to train, she would do some cleaning, and then have a few hours to herself. After that, she began to cook dinner. They would skip lunch, although occasionally Trunks would drop in for a snack. Vegeta would hardly speak the whole day, only to tell Trunks what he had done wrong in training. Occasionally he would tell Nikki to mend some of his clothes, and once he had even told her he had enjoyed the meal.

Trunks was getting used to waking up in the morning to the smell of breakfast. Nikki had to wake up early to have enough time to cook properly, so she was very tired by the end of the day.

One day, Trunks woke up at the usual time, but he couldn't smell any breakfast. He went into the kitchen. It was the same as it had been the night before. He went to see if his dad was awake.

Vegeta was asleep. His face was calm, and for once, he wasn't scowling. Trunks went to check on Nikki. The curtains were drawn around her bed. Trunks could make out her silhouette against the thin white muslin. As he came closer, he heard strange sound coming from inside the bed. They sounded like painful sighs.

He pulled back the curtains. Nikki was lying in bed, the covers pulled up till her knees. She was curled into a tight ball, and was wearing a very tight-waisted full-sleeved dress.

"Hey!" said Trunks. "Better get going! Dad's going to get up soon, and he'll want breakfast!" He thought he'd be greeted by a smile like very other day, but today he got Nikki's dark eyes with a furious look in them.

"Good morning to you too!" she said in a voice quite unlike her usual. "Thank you for asking me how I felt, and offering to make breakfast!"

"Uh, you're welcome?" said Trunks. "What are you talking about?" Nikki looked even more infuriated. She picked up a hairbrush that was lying on the side table and threw it at him.

"What was that for?" asked Trunks. He was completely bewildered by her strange behaviour.

"Go away! Damn you men! You don't know anything!"

"What the hell?" said Trunks, dodging another brush.

"GO AWAY!" He hastily retreated to his father.

"Dad!" Vegeta woke up.

"What do you want, boy?"

"Dad, something's wrong with Nikki! She's gone mad!"

"She's a woman. All women are mad! Now go away!"

"I mean madder than usual. She's lying in bed instead of making breakfast, and she's throwing brushes at me!"

"And you can't defend yourself against that? You are pathetic!"

"No, no! I can handle that! But I want breakfast! Just go and see what's wrong with her! I can't get anything out of her!"

"Idiot!" Vegeta got up unwillingly. He walked over to where Nikki was lying, and pulled back the curtains. He was immediately greeted with another flying hairbrush, which he avoided easily.

"Girl, what is the matter?" He asked, not unkindly, but firmly. Nikki looked up from her pillows. Her face was tear-stained.

"Go away!" she said. Vegeta was about to repeat his question when he noticed how she was lying. A familiar smell of blood was lingering around her. He also saw her arms hugging her lower abdomen tightly. He smiled, wondering how his son could have missed it.

"It's that time of the month again, isn't it?" he asked her. She looked surprised.

"Yes -how did you know?"

Vegeta chuckled. "I do know a little bit about how a woman's body functions. Anyway, obviously my son doesn't."

"That jerk!" said Nikki angrily. "He just came in this morning, ordering me to make him breakfast, not even noticing I was in pain! I'm not his slave!"

"Do you become like this every time?" asked Vegeta. Nikki nodded.

"I know you must think it's pathetic", she started, "but this is the kind of pain that makes you completely paralysed in agony. I can't do anything for at least six hours."

"It's alright. You can stay in bed. The boy will just have to make his own food today!" He pulled the curtains back and went into the kitchen where Trunks was waiting.

"Well?"

"Well what?" said Vegeta. He opened a cupboard and began to make himself a sandwich.

"What's the matter? Is she going to make breakfast?" Trunks put his hand on his empty stomach. Vegeta looked sharply at his son.

"Let me give you some free advice. That girl is not a machine. She has needs, and sometimes she needs a break. I don't know whether you've noticed, but she's been working her ass off for the past five weeks trying to keep up with our demands. She has gone to bed thoroughly exhausted every night, but still managed to get up early every morning and prepare a three-course breakfast for us.

"And she volunteered to come here with us for a whole year. Girls like to be around people they can talk to, and we aren't the best of company. She's lonely, but somehow she still manages to smile everyday!"

"We are training to save the world!" argued Trunks. "Aren't our needs more important?

"How do you know she won't save the world? Maybe she is the key to saving the world?"

"She's a weakling!"

"The smallest grain of rice can tip the scale!" said Vegeta philosophically. It was most unlike him.

"Are you saying you think she's going to help us against Cell?"

"There will be more battles after Cell! Don't you think she might be useful in the future?"

"No!" said Trunks shortly. "I've known her for almost half my life and I can say she's air headed! She won't be any use! You're the one who said not to carry excess baggage!"

Vegeta was at a loss of words. He remembered saying that sentence to his son a week ago. The proud prince found it hard to admit that he had positive feelings for anyone, especially those outside his family. Trunks looked at his father shrewdly and read his mind.

"You like her, don't you!" he said. Vegeta did not reply, telling Trunks he was right. But Trunks made a wise decision and dropped the subject from there.