Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ The Legend Of the Bond ❯ 3 years later... ( Chapter 4 )

(3 years later)

“Father, I want you to immediately execute Yasai! She has once again disrespected our royal house by slutting around with another piece of 3rd-class trash!” Prince Vegeta said as he busted through the doors of the throne room. His father was alone, reading the latest reports on Freeza’s latest conquests. King Vegeta looked up coldly at his son’s noisy intrusion, irritated that he would bring this issue up yet again this month. Just because the boy recently returned from a successful mission for Freeza, it didn’t mean he could become disruptive whenever he felt like it.

“Brat, show me proof and I will execute her myself!” the king declared, knowing full well that the prince did not have any proof to give. Yasai was an Elite and the king sincerely doubted she would go and do something so below her. It was also no secret that the prince hated the fiancé that had been chosen for him. He wouldn’t go near her, let alone touch her.

“I saw her with my own eyes! That is proof enough!” The prince was now visually upset, his face red as a beet, every vein popping on his neck and forehead. No one realized how much he hated her. To him, she was a complete whore. He had caught her in the act at least a dozen times, almost as if she was flaunting the fact of her treachery, each time with a new and willing 3rd-class idiot. Vegeta knew she kept doing it because he refused to give her what she wanted. He was disgusted by her, even though she was strong, her personality reeked. She was disloyal, dishonest, and, in his eyes, ugly. Why, she reminded him more of a damn man than a woman! Most Saiya-jin females looked fairly feminine with just a little extra muscle, but not Yasai. Because of this and her rotten attitude, he avoided her as much as he could.

Vegeta was much too busy to take interest in women, let alone one that looked like a man. He had a damn rebellion to lead, more underground treaties to make, missions to partake for the white lizard, to whom he was forced to show his “loyalty,” training, and, of course, being a prince. The idea of dallying with whores seemed below him. He would never touch one and besides, he already had a damn fiancé, so he could not show disrespect for the royal decree and openly court another woman. It made his hate for Yasai even worse. What he truly wanted was a woman as untouched as he! Whenever his thoughts turned to this subject, he would always think of those delicate whispers that seemed to have a hold on his reason from time to time. He wondered if the Chikyuu-jin female with whom he had this bond was untouched as well and if she was beautiful…but those thoughts only tended to make him angrier. His rage piqued with the frustration of it all. Thanks to all of his involvements, he never had the time to look for her. She was probably of no use anyway. Most likely, as a slave, she would have been ravaged a hundred times by now.

“When you can show me tangible proof, I will believe you, Vegeta. But for now you must accept her as your Queen-to-be,” his father stated firmly, his tone not permitting an argument. The prince would have to do as he was told.

“NEVER!” Vegeta shouted, venting his anger with his voice. Then the prince turned on his heel and left, leaving the king alone to sigh in frustration at his son’s behavior. The prince needed to do something to fully release his anger and hate. Vegeta decided to train, alone, because if he sparred with anyone right now, it would only end up with one less Saiya-jin to use against Freeza. His father didn’t know about his underground work, still allowing himself to be manipulated by Freeza. The white lizard would soon destroy Vegeta-sei and his father. The king was helpless because he was clueless as to Freeza’s true intentions. But not the prince. Vegeta swore that he would save his people and his pride from both an unfit king and Freeza.

*********

It was night and the stars were like jewels, shining in beauty. But Bulma didn’t notice, not now anyway. She was too busy practicing her kicks under the starlight, in her little garden, now perfectly trimmed, weeded and so very green. The bushes and trees rewarded her for all of the attention she’d given them by growing taller, allowing her more privacy from unwanted eyes. She was sweating, but didn’t want to stop. Off to the side were her slave robes, her old decomposing book, and three inventions she had decided to keep over the last three years. Bulma loved feeling stronger; it meant she would live longer. Before, all she would care about was her beauty, but now she felt dedicated to her strength. Luckily for her, her beauty came naturally but it was also getting to be a headache, given her status as a slave. Ever since Bulma turned 15, more of the Saiya-jin males didn’t even bother to keep their hands to themselves. She was becoming more womanly by the day and now she had to work twice as hard to keep herself safe, pure, and alive. Thankfully, she was smart enough to be able to avoid situations that would have ended in rape or death or both. Her frayed, loose robes hid her figure, and her hair, though long, was kept greased flat against her skull. And she smelled. Though it irked her, she hardly bathed in order to keep the men away from her and so far it was working. She still needed to get stronger, and that was why she trained every night, under the stars, here in her garden, with utmost enthusiasm.

The last three years had been very hard for Bulma. Her training was hard simply because of the beatings she received daily and anything resembling peace was hard to come by for her. She was still struggling to learn the Saiya-jin language. Over the years, she had learned much about the culture and still it did not seem enough. After she found that trail that lead to her garden from the slaves’ chambers, she slipped out to train every night though sometimes she was too beaten and bruised to do so. On those nights, she stayed inside to heal and turned her energies to inventing many different things, using various discarded parts from her job in the engineering department, or studied her book. After making a box capsule in which to keep her things and tools, Bulma fashioned a flashlight of sorts that could replicate music and could also record audio/visual images. That particular invention came as a must for her as she hated doing things in silence and needed to see her stances to improve on them, as well as having a light for reading and inventing. With that invention in hand, she could now experiment and make a number of things, but she would also dispose of them the next day so that people around her would not become suspicious of her accumulating too much stuff. Another necessary invention came to her after she had been beaten one too many times for sleeping in. It was an alarm that only she could hear, and she made sure to keep that invention hidden as well. But her latest invention was created because of the increasingly bold advances she’d been getting from men. It was a small, handheld ki disrupter, which could steal ki from an attacker, build up a stored charge, then be fired back with disabling results. She had already used it a dozen times and thanks to its effectiveness, no one knew what hit them.

She smiled as she continued to methodically kick the air. Bulma was safe for now, as long as she had her pint-sized ki disrupter with her, she could keep her virginity intact. Her book was coming along slowly; she could understand very little, but she did find out about the other half of the book. It was divided in four parts: history, culture, war tactics, and battle strategies of Vegeta-sei. Unfortunately, that was all she had been able to make out so far; the written language was far more complicated then she originally thought. With what she had learned by listening to conversations and by reading the book, her ability to speak and understand the Saiya-jin language was almost fully developed.

Bulma sighed as she stopped her kicks. It was getting late and she needed rest. She pulled on her robes that signified her status then sadly put away her things in the capsule box. She loved her alone time at night and was disappointed each time she had to go back. She closed the lid then pushed the capsule button so that the box turned into a little capsule that fit into her palm with a button on one end. She carefully put the capsule in a packet she had sewn on to her belt from materials she had found here and there, which she wore under her robes. It was small, but secure and out of sight, and that was all that mattered to her. Her duties never got easier, only harder. The other slaves were jealous of her simply because she was strong and survived anything their masters had thrown at her. Slave Master Chili hated her the most; she was the one slave he failed to break, the first to survive so long at her post. On more than one occasion, he chose to beat her almost to the brink of death simply because she didn’t look hurt enough or that she happened to succeed in doing something when he fully expected her to fail.

The soldiers were just as bad as Chili, but Seripa was different. Bulma knew Seripa respected her, but still had to treat her outwardly like the slave she was. She clearly remembered when Seripa had intervened when a male soldier had pinned her against a wall. Later, Seripa commented she was just walking by and would not have bothered to help her otherwise, Bulma knew better.

As the last three years went by, Bulma made another discovery that gripped her heart. While with Seripa, Bulma heard her speak with her Captain, a man named Bardock, about Chikyuu. It was then that Bulma found out who had been responsible for the destruction of her home world. She learned to hate him, that faceless man who would forever be her enemy: Prince Vegeta. It had been he who had released the blast that destroyed her planet and she would never forgive him. The news had made her sick with hate and rage.

Bulma quietly climbed into the slaves’ chamber window and slid into her bed right below it. She had no comfort in life now, except those strong whispers that seem to never go away, especially at night when she was the most tired. Sometimes, the whispers were hateful or fitfully angry, but they were always prideful and strong, and they always lent her their strength, especially when she was being beaten for one thing or another. She did not know who or what the whispers were, but she accepted that their presence signified a type of madness within her mind, or that she had finally stepped over the sanity line. She didn’t care; she would continue to survive, no matter what.

**********

Chikyuu, the name of a planet that Vegeta could not forget, no matter how much he tried. Three years ago, he had learned about the bond and his destined Chikyuu-jin, and fretted about what he should do with his information. At first, he wanted to seek her out and kill her immediately, but wondered if doing that would somehow affect him becoming the Legendary. Yet in his mind he knew he couldn’t kill her for another reason. Vegeta would no way admit it, but somewhere deep inside him the idea of killing her brought him anguish. He decided to leave it be; he told no one and ignored it. Let her continue to be a slave, she was of no use to him and he didn’t want or need a weakness. It was lucky for him that Freeza had been too busy to notice that Vegeta took slaves from Chikyuu three years ago. If he had, Freeza would have figured out his real intentions when he was brought before the lizard and being beaten almost to death. If Freeza had suspected anything, Vegeta would have been killed outright.

The secret remained secure. Vegeta had left behind the 15 officers who had rounded up the Chikyuu-jin slaves with Nappa and Radditz, back on Chikyuu, thus sealing their doom along with the planet’s. He swore the other two to complete secrecy and had them handle the slave placement when they returned to Vegeta-sei. They were told to report to him about the placement of every Chikyuu-jin, which allowed him almost immediate access to any one of them, including his bonded, though he did not know which one was her. Much to his disappointment, only 67 Chikyuu-jins survived the three-month journey from Chikyuu to Vegeta-sei. Now, after three years, only 32 remained. Knowing that they were not his, the thoughts that passed through his head were sympathetic to the plight of the survival of her species. He shook his head, forcing, disallowing her thoughts and sympathies to dictate his actions.

Vegeta was lying on his bed, staring at the top of the bed‘s canopy with his hands behind his head. The day was wearing on him and the 16-year-old price felt more like an old man with each passing day. His bed was basking in calming starlight flowing in through the window as the darkness surrounded him. Vegeta was aware that his thoughts were plagued by the girl, this stranger, to whom he was bonded. He had to struggle to keep himself at times. If what the old scholar had told him was true, he also knew she was probably affected in the same way by his own thoughts. He smirked. At least he was not going through this madness alone.

He rolled to his side and suddenly caught a glimpse of a specter, of a woman laying in his bed with her back to him. Her long, blue tresses flowed off the pillow towards him like a river and he reached out, trance-like, to touch her, but the image immediately disappeared. Vegeta stared straight forward, shock plainly written on his face. Madness! Am I truly becoming mad…or just lost? he thought for a second, but then relaxed. Perhaps he would do something about the Chikyuu-jins after all, but not tonight. For now, he would sleep and forget about his own foolishness.

**********

The next morning brought no happiness for the prince. He awoke from tormented dreams of being beaten for no reason, trying to hang on to consciousness. He clearly remembered wishing to be stronger while in the middle of the dream. The odd thing about it all was that he could not determine if the feelings were his or someone else’s. His scowl deepened. The only reasonable explanation was that the dream had likely been a combination of both his bonded’s and his own experiences.
Clearly troubled, he got out of bed. On his way to the shower, his scouter went off. He sighed angrily and went to retrieve it. After securing the device on his ear, he pressed the receiving button.

“What?”

“Prince Vegeta, you father wishes to see you regarding Lord Freeza immediately. It seems that Lord Freeza will be arriving here shortly,” the officer said clearly in a rush. Something must of happened for the lizard to come here on such short notice and within a day of Vegeta’s return. The prince hoped his time was not up for his planet.

“I will be there shortly.” And with that he took his scouter off and tossed it on his bed. The prince hated this uncertainty. He quickly showered and dressed in his royal armor.

**********

“Lord Freeza will be here by the end of the day, boy. It seems he has specifically requested your assistance in purging the next couple systems for his conquest,” the king stated, somewhat proudly. Freeza was almost finished his conquering of a neighboring galaxy and for his boy to be apart of it made King Vegeta swell with pride and accomplishment.

“How long do I have to prepare for this assignment and how long will I be gone?” the prince asked emotionlessly.

“You have six hours from now to prepare yourself and, according to the information Lord Freeza has given to me, you will be gone for almost a year.” The king eyed his son, who clearly appeared as if all of this boring him. The king was upset that his son did not realize what this meant. “Boy, you should be proud of what this! Don’t you realize that this will mean for the Saiya-jin Empire and how it will make your name even grander than it is already?” the king snapped at the prince. Clearly, the boy was clueless.

Yes, father, my name will be written ever grander in more newly shed blood; all of which will make it that much harder to find alliances against Freeza! Vegeta’s mind silently screamed, while his face remained emotionless. “Humph.”

“Boy–“

“It does not matter, Father. At least I will be away from Yasai. Since I have I only have six hours to prepare, I’m afraid I have no time to sit and chat with you.” Prince Vegeta turned to leave, but stopped on the way out, keeping his back to his father. “But you can be certain that I will do my utmost to glorify my name and our Empire, so do not worry, old man.” With that, he was gone, leaving the king satisfied but slightly furious at the lack of respect his heir showed him.

**********

Pota, a tall 3rd-class Saiya-jin, had been fantasizing lately about his slave assigned to him. It irked him that she was always dirty and she seemed to always find a way out of his grasp. He did not know why or how but he never got to taste her or even kiss her sweet lips. Pota had just returned from a mission that had left him sore and wanting, during which his little fantasy about the slave played out over and over in his head so many times. One night with her was all he wanted; one night was most likely all he would have, since she probably wouldn’t survive the night. Pota didn’t care; he wanted what he wanted, and besides, she was only a slave. She did not matter. It was his right. Up until now, he never got a chance with her. But all of that would change today. As he opened the door to the slave master’s chambers, he smiled at the orange man with four red eyes. The slave master bowed to his visitor as Chili was still a slave himself and it was dangerous for him to disrespect even a 3rd-class Saiya-jin.

“Yes, Lord Pota?”

“Chili, how would you like to make some extra money?”

Chili raised an eyebrow at this. “What do you mean, Lord Pota?”

“That blue-haired female slave assigned to my post…I want her in my chambers for the night…though she might not come out.”

Chili smiled from ear-to-ear. He wanted to rid himself of that damned bitch who seemed untouchable, unbreakable. It shamed him to think that after three years he could not break her or destroy her, but now he had his chance. Killing a slave outright was very much against the law, but the use of other, more subtle means were always allowed, if not recognized. Pota was willing to pay him for the slave, to compensate him over her death and rape, so neither of them would get into any trouble. And both of them would get what they wanted.

“I will make arrangements for tonight, Lord Pota,” Chili said as his evil smile grew bigger. He bowed to the Saiya-jin as Pota left. Now, he had plans to make.

********

Vegeta was talking to one of his servants about his princely duties and who would be overseeing them while he was away working for Freeza. His face was static, but his mind was moving fast. He had much to do; especially informing Bardock about a dramatic change in his plans. He needed someone to be in charge of the rebel alliance in his absence and he had no choice but to let Bardock take the position temporarily. He needed to get some training done before Freeza arrived to personally retrieve him. Vegeta also knew he needed a reliable ally to be there with him, and he had not made up his choice.

The one Saiya-jin that had completely mystified him, the one that he had been keeping a eye on from a distance, was Kakarotto, Bardock’s younger son. Vegeta’s informants had told him that Kakarotto had been taken from Chikyuu, and kept insisting that people call him by the odd name of “Goku.” Plus, he had, by some odd fate, slowly gained incredible powers. Kakarotto was now ranked as a 1st-class soldier, but he was hardly Saiya-jin. He was emotional, kind, thoughtful, and quite naïve, all things Saiya-jins were usually not. After Kakarotto achieved his 1st-class status, he stubbornly refused to go on any purging missions for Freeza, declaring his preference to stay on Vegeta-sei as a guard. The Chikyuu Saiya-jin had then taken on his assignment as guard for the Royal Science and Technology Division with such gusto, most believed he would lay down his life for it. It disgusted Vegeta to think that that such a power as Kakarotto’s was wasted on such a menial assignment. The prince decided then and there that Kakarotto was going to be reassigned to new “guard” duties. He would be ordered to accompany Vegeta as his new guard while the prince was doing Freeza’s work. Of course, Vegeta did not necessarily need a guard, but he did need to have someone watching his back; someone who was loyal, naïve, and strong. And Kakarotto would fit the bill nicely.

Then another thought caused Vegeta to cringe –the Chikyuu-jins. With only six hours to prepare, he needed to find a way to inconspicuously protect the remaining Chikyuu-jins while also keeping his accursed bonded one alive. He wanted to kill her with his own hands for putting him through all this frustration. But the quick stab of anguish he felt at the idea of her death made him quickly put aside that desire and fill it with new ones. Now, he was battling with the desire to…ravage her…then kill her. He didn’t want to anyone to be forced on him, no matter if it was destiny or not. Vegeta didn’t want some alien whore; he wanted a Saiya-jin female that he could choose by himself from the royal court. He wanted to be rid of this damned bond! Vegeta kept telling himself that he wanted all that. But deep in his heart he wanted to know if she was really worthy of him; if she was beautiful or if she really was the other half of his soul. He turned to his servant:

“Kabba, before I leave I want you to record this into law: All slaves species that are on Vegeta-sei with less then 100 in population are not to be executed, killed, or maimed until I return to give further orders. The females of these species shall be ordered to wear hoods and are not to be…touched by any other men except those of their own species. That will be all, I’m going to train.”

Kabba nodded as he watched the prince head towards his training chambers. Kabba thought that the prince’s last orders were strange but Kabba would not be the one to question them. After all, Vegeta was the prince and his word was the law.

**********

That evening came to Vegeta-sei as black as death. Ready to board, Vegeta stood ahead of Kakarotto in front of Freeza’s spaceship. When no one came to greet them and the ramp continued to stand empty, the impatient prince and his fellow Saiya-jin moved to enter the ship. Just as they reached the top of the ramp, another alien officer showed up and directed them toward their corridors, then abruptly left. The prince fumed, knowing that Freeza would never show the Saiya-jins the respect they were due. For him, the sooner the ship took off, the sooner he could get this year working for Freeza over and done with.

**********

Bulma’s day had passed just like any other: stressful, tiresome, and unmerciful. She was looking forward to returning to the slave chambers for the night, so she could sneak out and train, but then she was met face-to-face with her Slave Master. She hated the man with such a passion she felt sickened by it. To make things worse, all day she was plagued by feeling of being torn away from something precious. Then Chili grinned at her in a way that made her go pale with horror. Was he planning to beat her for something she had done, or hadn’t done and didn’t know it? Or had he found out about her nighttime excursions?

“Well, Bulma. It seems I have a new assignment for you – something important,” Chili talked through his grin.

His obvious delight made Bulma pale even more. He was up to something and it could only mean her doom. She felt like running, but…where could she go? No, she had to survive and be strong. “Yes, what do you want?” Her sigh apparently didn’t faze him.

“Pota needs some assistance. He just returned from a mission and his room is quite messy from his celebrations, so you need to go there and clean it up promptly.”

“Fine.”

Bulma left feeling like her death was just around the corner, waiting for her. Pota was such a lecher. As she walked towards his room, she reached into her pocket to touch the small device in there. She prayed that her ki disrupter would be enough to keep her safe. She would rather die then be raped by any Saiya-jin. If she was really being sent to Pota for that reason, then her death would be welcoming. The moment she entered his chamber, she immediately knew her fate: the room was unlit and when the door slid shut behind her, it locked itself. Panic coursed through her, but she knew she had to do something fast if she was going to survive. She could not see Pota in the shadows, so instead she darted for the window as quickly as she could. As she got halfway towards the window, a hand covered her mouth and pulled her back hard against what she knew was his chest. Bulma’s arms were held down by another arm wrapping around her from behind. She could not move and she could fight back. No doubt, Pota was smirking with lust written in his eyes.

“Welcome, slave. I’m going to have fun with you, thanks to your slave master.”

Bulma had guessed as much. As frightened as she was, Bulma never felt so clear-headed. He was probably planning to rape her first and then kill her. She wouldn’t allow either, if she had anything to say about it, but she just needed to come up with a plan…then she suddenly thought of the fighting techniques she’d seen in the book Seripa had given her. She also began to remember some tactics from back home on Chikyuu. As her mind formulated a plan, Pota pawed at her robe and training suit, revealing her shoulders. He started roughly kissing her there, sometimes nipping at her shoulder. Her stomach flip-flopped in protest. His slobbering attention was making her nauseous.

**********

Out in space, Prince Vegeta once more fidgeted in his chair, sitting restlessly in the room assigned to him and Kakarotto. He was overwhelmed again by those whispers. This time they were urgent, fearful, sickened, and weak. Whatever was happening to his bonded was disturbing him greatly and it showed clearly on his face. Kakarotto stared at him oddly, saying nothing, unsure what was going on with the prince. He had never seen Prince Vegeta like this; no one had.


**********

As Pota forced Bulma to turn around so he could finally taste her lips, Bulma found the opening she needed to use her ki disrupter. Before their lips met, Bulma’s right arm was loosened enough so that that she could reach in and pull out her little device. Instead of a kiss, Pota suddenly felt his ki drain from his body then he felt the same ki strike him like a massive bolt of electricity. He fell to the ground, releasing Bulma from his grip. As soon as she was free, she ran towards the door, trying to use the control panel to open the doors, but she was not quick enough. An angry Pota got to his feet and stumbled forward to grab her by the hands. If her hands could do that to me then I’ll break them! Pota thought venomously, squeezing Bulma’s hands painfully. She could feel the bones break in her left hand, but the other was spared because the ki disrupter took most of the crushing force, thus breaking it. Bulma silently cursed with pain and frustration. She didn’t know what else to do but stand and fight.

**********

Kakarotto was perplexed. For the last few minutes his prince had been sitting, staring out into space with a look of absolute confusion and worry. And he also could sense Vegeta’s ki raising and lowering, slowly and sporadically. The warrior had no idea what was going on with his prince or if it was a good idea to disturb him. With no other option available to him, Kakarotto decided to close his eyes and concentrate on the prince. Perhaps by reaching out to Prince Vegeta through his ki, he could calm him down.

**********

Pota’s hand continued to grip Bulma’s while slowly pulling her forward. Despite the pain, she jerked and tried to pull away but it was no use; Pota was too strong. His lips came down onto her neck, slowly using his tongue to lick his way down her bared shoulder. He wanted to feel her breasts and hold them in his palms, so he took one hand away from hers, slowly making his way to her chest. As soon as her good hand got freed from his grasp, she hit him across the face. Her actions stunned him for a split second, so she kicked him in the crouch. Pota stumbled back, releasing Bulma. He was in a small amount of pain from her surprisingly strong kick. Again she bolted to the window, ready to jump, even to her death if need be. Pota came to his feet within a moment and, with his greater speed, he grabbed her by her long blue hair and threw her onto his bed. She was dazed. Everything was happening too quickly. He was upon her within moments, ripping her slave robes off of her. With just the dimmest of light coming in through the window, she could see the disappointment on his face when he saw her training suit. He slowly took his hands and slid it under the ripped shoulder piece. Bulma could feel tears forming in her eyes. No…no…no…NO!! This can’t happen…NOOOO!

**********

Once he heard her anguished mental scream, Prince Vegeta’s mind shut everything else around him and he quickly stood up, focusing all of his ki on his accursed bonded. His aura surrounded him with a strange, dark blue glow that felt entirely different from his own. His rage spilled out of him, boiling through the surface of his heated skin. He felt as though his body and mind were suddenly flying away, as if separating from him in a dream. Was this death? Then, as suddenly as his ki flared out, his power exited from him, completely absorbed by some unknown target and he fell, utterly unconscious.

**********

NO! Bulma shook her head violently from side-to-side, her tears falling as she tried to deny what was going to happen to her. Pota slowly inched forward, sliding his hands deeper under her training suit. She placed her damaged hands on his chest, trying to push him but to no avail. He kept pressing closer and her weak attempt only caused an evil smirk to spread across his lips. Then Bulma felt a suddenly hope rise within her, or perhaps it was a sense of assurance, making her felt very warm and very powerful. She closed her eyes for a moment to savor her last moment of peace.

“WHAT the FUCK?” Pota yelled, causing Bulma’s eyes to shoot open. What she saw made her eyes grow even larger.

There, between her hands and his chest, was glowing ball of ki, forming from within her. It was growing brighter and bigger by the second. Pota’s confusion caused him to be slow to react. How could a slave be able to shoot ki and with this much power –?

Any further questions Pota might have had were cut off when the ki finally broke loose from Bulma’s hands, frying him to a crisp within seconds. His still hot and charred body slumped forward onto Bulma. She blinked once, then twice. The powerful warm feelings she felt a moment before were gone. Then it hit her: she had killed Pota. How, she did not know, but there was no question that he was dead and she was the one who had killed him. She wanted to scream, but the cry caught in her throat. If she yelled for help, an investigation would be sure to follow. Grunting, she shoved his dead carcass off her, grabbed up her torn robes, and made for the door. It was still locked but for someone with her technical mind, that wasn’t going to stop her. She dug around and found a couple of food utensils lying about, which she used to completely take apart the door’s control panel cover. She quickly crossed a few wires here and there and…presto! She was free! Bulma ran fast as she could away from Pota’s chambers and the nearing footsteps of the guards. What the hell was she going to tell Chili?

**********

Freeza stood on the bridge of his ship, very displeased. He had felt the monkey prince’s ki earlier. It had felt odd – not at battle strength, but odd nonetheless. It displeased him greatly that he could not place it, or that the prince might be holding a secret from him. Perhaps it would be a good idea to watch that monkey a little closer than he had lately. Freeza decided to allow this situation pass; but he would also be watching the prince like a hawk from now on. The best thing to do would be to keep Vegeta busy by working him even harder. Freeza would see to it personally that the boy prince would have no rest in the coming year.