Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Unexplainables Explained ❯ Chapter 7 ( Chapter 7 )

“Bulma!”

She turned and then sighed as she saw Goku, standing up and waving excitedly until Chichi pulled him down and whispered in her ear. He sobered as she walked toward them, Piccolo already seated beside Gohan who was beside Chichi.

Bulma took the seat besides Goku.

“Sorry…I forgot…that—um…”

“Vegeta.”

&ldq uo;…Vegeta guy is gonna be in the tournament.”

“Yeah…. Can we not talk about it?”

He nodded, and she could feel his eyes giving her a worried look before he turned around. She kept her eyes trained on the arena spread out below them. At least they had front row seats….

‘Would you be amused if I said yes?’

She sighed and laid her arms on the wall in front of them, watching the first fights with little enthusiasm. There was nothing really exciting about them. Convicts and captured fighting each other for a right to be freed. A little blood and gore that she turned her face from. She…just didn’t want to see…. It wasn’t even two fights though before ‘Naku’ was called out to the arena.

She sat up straighter.

There was a hushed silence as Vegeta walked out into the arena. He was not wearing his disguise.

His tail was arrogantly unwrapped behind him, swaying lightly as he strode across the floor. His body shone in the light of the dimmed planet, reflecting silver into everyone’s eyes. He did not look around, just stalked to the center and stood there, waiting for his opponent.

She wished he’d look over at her. But another part of her begged him not to. It must’ve been this part that was listened to, for he did not break his stare with his adversary.

His opponent was staring at him with trepidation until the signal was given to begin. Then he wasn’t staring at all as a metal elbow plowed into his face, sending him into the far wall with a loud smash. The crowd surged upwards with a roar of approval.

Goku leaned in toward her. “Is that him?” She nodded silently, and he continued, “He’s not having any fun.”

Coming from anyone else, that would’ve been a strange comment. But Goku had always taken pleasure in fighting. And so had Vegeta…before the Hitori took him, before he gave up.

He walked back to his entrance before the announcer was even through with his declaration, still not looking around him.

Bulma sighed and put her head back on her arms, waiting for the second round. '   '   '

The rounds up to the finals were all the same. Vegeta quickly and easily dispatched of each opponent, not even seeming winded or entertained in the least. The crowd seemed restless and bored as he always ended every fight too easily and soon for them to enjoy. Bulma watched each strike, each blow, with trepidation. Each fight ending meant they were one fight closer to the final one.

And then it was the final one….

Bulma sat on the edge of her seat, watching as he strode out one more time, as his opponent did likewise. She did not move her eyes from Vegeta, as he did not turn away from his opponent.

Bulma held her breath as the referee gave his signal. Vegeta’s opponent stood there with wide eyes, his form trembling as he waited for the other man to strike.

And Vegeta didn’t move. In fact, when Bulma peered closer, she could see his eyes closed.

‘You’re going to die there….’

She stood up suddenly, one leg hitching up onto the stone that made up the wall surrounding the arena before she was grabbed around her waist and plopped back into her seat. Wide, black eyes stared at her. “Bulma—”

She turned to Goku and gripped his arms, eyes frantic and filled with tears. “You can’t let him die, Goku! Please! I—you just—please! I healed him…please don’t let him die.”

“Bulma—he wants to….”

“He doesn’t know what he wants! Let me cure him! Let me take away the Hitori in him. Please! I swear it will make him better! Give him another chance!”

He carefully broke her grip on his arm and leaned her back into her seat. “Stay here then.” He turned his head to see Vegeta rising to his feet from a blow that had sent him to one knee.

Sighing, Goku stood up and vaulted over the wall.

The crowd immediately responded to this interruption, and Vegeta’s head snapped over toward the other man before he turned it slightly to the side, spitting out blood onto the ground.

He didn’t speak until the other man was closer, Vegeta’s opponent hanging uncertain in the background. “Go away, Kakarott.”

Goku tilted his head to the side in a curious manner and stopped before Vegeta. “Bulma doesn’t want you to die, Vegeta.”

“What she wants doesn’t matter.”

“She asked me to not let you die. I—can’t you see what you’re doing?”

Vegeta turned toward his opponent. “Don’t just stand there. Attack me.”

The alien blinked and then found himself suddenly up to his neck in the dirt floor of the arena. The other Saiyan had moved in an instant, hand pushing the alien down by his shoulder. Goku took his hand off the alien. “She wants you to live. So—you’re going to live. She—”

“Just who are you to waltz into my arena and stop my fights?”

Goku turned to view the speaker behind him, but it was Vegeta that let out a gasp at the form.

Turning slowly, Goku peeked at Vegeta, who seemed to be blinking rapidly, as if seeing a ghost.

And…Goku could see why. The being’s entire body was encased in silver, just like Vegeta’s. But it seemed this wasn’t the only thing Vegeta recognized.

“You know, at first I thought it was you, Vegeta, who had slaughtered my brother. But…no…not you. You’re too puny and caught up in your own royal splendor to have slain the might that was Frieza.” The tail behind the creature swung lazily back and forth, kicking up dust.

“Koola….”

Goku furrowed a brow. Frieza he remembered…. Wait…this was his brother? His eyes widened.

The creature turned his head toward Goku, and smirked. “No, I knew it wasn’t you, Vegeta. But…you made nice bait. You brought my brother’s killer right to me. Good boy. It was a stroke of luck that it happened, hm Goku?”

Goku’s stance shifted into a fighting position, but his head jerked around as the man behind him suddenly let out a vicious yell, ki billowing around him as he charged toward the smirking Icejin.

He didn’t get halfway to Koola before his yell changed, sounding pain-filled as his ki collapsed and he dropped to the ground, twitching and trying to draw into himself. Koola chuckled as he strolled toward the Saiyajin curled into a tight ball, whimpering and trying to move away from the Icejin.

“And here I thought you’d love my present, Vegeta. Sure it was meant for my brother’s killer, and since you aren’t him this won’t be as fun.” His eyes glittered at Goku. “But, we Hitori are invincible.”

“Yo-you d-did all of th-this?”

Laughing, Koola turned his head toward Vegeta, who had managed to pull his head from the ground and look at Koola with narrowed eyes. “That’s right. They don’t remember anything about you, do they?” He sighed heavily. “You’ve made this so very difficult, Vegeta. You wouldn’t believe the strings I had to pull to get this to all work to my advantage.”

Bulma’s mind was already three steps ahead of this Koola’s monologue. She’d already figured out everything, so she really didn’t need to listen to him talk. In fact…she needed to act.

Ducking under the wall, she pulled a capsule out of her pocket and hoped the smoke and loud pop would go unnoticed.

“It was such a simple plan. I needed a pawn first. I found one on the old Namekian planet. I gave him what he needed to be perfect….” Koola chuckled and made a waving motion with his hand. “Then I let him go around and around the universe, trying to find the perfect being. When in all actuality I’d already programmed him with the characteristics of the ‘perfect being.’ A Saiyan of course. Little did I know there were two.”

Letting out a sigh of relief as the thing in the arena continued, Bulma hefted up the huge gun, running it through its diagnostics to make sure everything was operational.

“But…it just so happened that he chose you, Vegeta, as his first perfect being. I’m told the transformation is quite painful. Now…you were supposed to get Goku…but what was it you said?”

“H-he is not the best.”

Koola smiled indulgently down at Vegeta, still trying to move away from Koola and only succeeding in digging furrows in the ground beside him. “Yes! That’s right. You said he was dangerous for the Hitori…and you were right. So I do thank you for that, Vegeta. I also thank you for getting rid of the first voice…and listening to the second.”

Vegeta stilled, his eyes going wide as he looked at Koola. “Wh-what?”

“The Namek didn’t graft well into the Hitori program. He kept overlaying my instructions with his own. Destroying him left me free to control you as I willed…but unfortunately, to destroy him you went just a bit beyond my control…and so you ended up searching the galaxy for my voice.”

Bulma slowly lifted herself up, peering over the edge. She brought the gun around as someone shifted beside her and sighed as she lowered it from Piccolo’s glowering face. “Sorry, but you might think about warning someone before you just sneak beside them.”

“I sent everyone else off. The arena has been evacuated. They’re going to Ayamari’s ship to wait for us.”

Bulma nodded and hefted her gun up higher. “Help me steady this thing. It gives out quite a kick.”

“What are you doing to Vegeta?”

Koola turned his silver eyes to Goku, looking amused. “Why…giving him what he’s searched for. Unfortunately, now my instructions are for his body to rebel against him, sending him shock after shock of agonizing pain. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that he is holding out so well. He was under my dear brother for over two years.”

“Aya-Ayamari.”

Koola turned back to Vegeta and grinned indulgently. “Yes…I gave them the blueprints for the virus and the Caithness. I thought that they would destroy the one that had murdered my brother.”

“I didn’t murder him. He was—”

Goku was cut off with a grunt as Koola’s hand raised and a blast of ki struck Goku on the shoulder. “I wasn’t talking to you. You mustn’t interrupt someone when they’re explaining their brilliance. We’ll fight in a few minutes. I’m letting Vegeta know just how much of a puppet he allowed himself to be.”

“Come on, Goku. Move that asshole away from Vegeta.”

“What are you going to do?” Piccolo shifted the gun on his shoulder, watching as Bulma aimed it toward the group in the arena. “What’s this thing going to do?”

“It was so amusing, Vegeta. They tried to help you at every turn…and at every turn you evaded them. I sent Joso in next…gave it all the information it needed to take Earth…and even told it what it would find when it got there. It’s quite greedy…and was quite eager to assist me.”

Koola raised his hands and did a complete circle standing in place, his tail curling lazily around his ankles. “Do you like my arena? This is my little home away from home. This is where the Hitori first came to me. It whispered in my ear like I whispered in yours, Vegeta.”

Koola’s eyes turned toward Goku as he slowly rose to his feet, crackling with golden energy. “Ah…it would’ve been nice if he had been turned Hitori. Imagine such a warrior at my command. I was seriously addicted to having that power under me. Thank you, Vegeta, for helping me see the error of my ways.”

Smirking, he advanced toward Goku, his feet clanking metallically on the ground. Goku shifted his stance once again, this time obviously on the lookout for another cheap shot.

Bulma smirked and aimed the gun, staring through the gun scope at her target and pressing the trigger.

Both Koola and Goku’s heads turned at the sound of a high-pitched scream. Both of them watched with wide eyes as Vegeta’s body straightened and arched, head thrown back as he screamed in agony. His entire body covered by a glowing blue energy.

The last stream of energy from the gun died and Vegeta’s form slumped with the vanishing energy, apparently unconscious.

He was also apparently fully Saiyan. There was not a trace of metal anywhere on his body, from his neck to his limp tail.

Koola frowned, his eyes turning toward the source of the beam of energy. Cursing, Bulma ducked down behind the wall, though she knew that would hardly help her.

Piccolo’s eyes widened and he suddenly grabbed her, leaving the weapon forgotten as he flung his ki out and dashed to the side, pressing her flat to the ground and covering her as everything exploded around them. '   '   '

 “Woman! Get in here now!”

“No, your highness! If you need me that badly come find me!”

“You act as if finding that insignificant ki of yours would actually be a challenge.”

“What is it Vegeta?”

“What? No snide comeback? No smart remark? I’m shocked, woman! I thought your mouth would be the last in the universe to shut.”

“Listen here, jerk! I’ve had a really bad day and I don’t feel like any crap so cut it! If you want food, order it out. If the gravity room’s broke, go back to regular training. You know, the kind even Goku gets stronger doing.”

“So, how do you use the microwave?”

“I’m ordering pizza, Vegeta. Don’t touch that microwave!”

“Whatever do you mean, woman? I’m perfectly satisfied fixing my own meal.”

“I mean, that with as much as you overload that gravity machine, the simple operation of a microwave would be beyond you.”

“Whatever.

“Well? Call them. I’d like the food before tomorrow.”

“Yes, your highness.”

“Where are you going?”

 “Why, your majesty wishes to know about my insignificant life? You wanted the pizza, didn’t you?”

 “Don’t they ‘deliver’?”

 “The last time I had something delivered you almost killed the man, Vegeta. Now they won’t come here any more and that was my favorite Mexican restaurant too!”

 “Whatever.”

Groaning, he levered himself up, his eyes squinting down at the dirt below him until it finally focused. What the hell had just happened? He felt like something huge and heavy had just landed on his head. It pounded.

He slowly lifted his head up and looked down, only to fall back to the ground as something kicked him in the ribs.

“Sorry, um…Vegeta.”

He coughed and looked to his side, glaring at the nervously grinning Super Saiyan. “Watch where you’re going!”

Goku blinked at him. “Wow…you look really different without all that shiny stuff.”

Vegeta blinked, and then looked back down as his hands. His hands…flesh…tanned skin and fingernails and—he could feel the wind blowing across his back. He was…he was Saiyan.

He looked back up at the sound of something metallic and watched Koola walking toward them. He did not look happy. Vegeta rose quickly, glancing at Kakarott. “He’s mine.”

Goku blinked and scratched the back of his head. “Jeez, Vegeta, I wanna fight him too!”

Vegeta ground his teeth; well aware of doing something he hadn’t done for a while. He was feeling something he hadn’t felt in a while. He was annoyed and irritated at the whining fool beside him.

“I really should find whoever’s changed you back Vegeta and make sure she pays for what she’s done. She’s taken away my toy.”

Vegeta turned to Koola, his eyes narrowing as his irritation flared into anger. “I am no one’s toy!”

Koola merely chuckled, his tail moving behind him again.

And surprisingly, Vegeta found himself turning to Kakarott, of all people. “I want his tail as a trophy, you understand?”

The idiot looked much too eager, rubbing his hands together. “Sure, Vegeta! It’s all yours.”

Vegeta snorted and turned back around, looking Koola up and down briefly. “Well? Let’s get this the fuck over with.”

The Ice-jin looked between the two Saiyajins and chuckled. “It doesn’t matter if there are two or two hundred of you. The result shall be the same. I am perfect.”

Vegeta growled, gathering his ki around in a blue colored whirlwind before launching himself at Koola. Beside him, Goku did the same.

Bulma pushed impatiently at Piccolo. “You’re heavy!”

Grunting, Piccolo rose smoothly to his feet, pulling the human up beside him. “You’re welcome.” The sarcasm was thick on his voice, but the human was ignoring him, attention focused on the battle.

“That…isn’t good.”

Piccolo turned to see what she spoke of in time to see the metal creature with an arm halfway hanging off, only attached to the rest of his body by wires. But that wasn’t what Bulma spoke of. And it was quite obvious that she meant the fact that the barely attached arm was reattaching itself.

They watched as wires reached to grab the arm, placing it back in its original position. Then metal began to graft back onto the missing sections of arm in blocks that soon melted seamlessly into the original appendage.

Bulma’s eyes were wide as she hurriedly reached into her pocket, pulling out a green pyramid. She turned it around in her hands, opening up a side of it and beginning to fiddle with wires within.

Piccolo grabbed her arm and dragged her off. “We should stay out of sight.” He ducked both behind a pillar and then turned to watch the battle, which was not going well. Every time Goku did damage, the thing automatically repaired itself….

Vegeta growled lowly, barely catching himself as he was thrown to the ground again. Koola was even bothering with him, swatting him away as if he were a mote of dust. But Goku was certainly getting all of his attention. Goku was the only one able to actually damage him.

His head snapped up, a feral growl on his lips as he watched the two again met and trade blows. Goku’s punch glanced by Koola’s face, which cracked slightly only to repair almost instantly.

Koola chuckled. “You cannot destroy me. My perfection is such that any flaws to my system are corrected.”

Bulma’s eyes widened as she glanced at the metal thing. “What did he say?”

“You cannot destroy me. My perfection is such that any flaws to my system are corrected.”

She glanced over at Piccolo with a wry smile, who merely shrugged. Then she turned back to the Caithness. “So this may work….”

“What may work?”

It didn’t surprise him when he wasn’t answered.

Goku caught Vegeta as he was knocked backwards and got a punch to his cheek for his troubles. “Let go of me!”

Goku dropped Vegeta, who merely rolled out of reach of the other Saiyajin, growling and looking…well hateful was what Goku would call it. “Vegeta….”

“Shut up! This is my fight! He’s my enemy!”

“Vegeta, you’re not—”

Koola chuckled as he walked toward them, his metal feet ringing against the ground and echoing around them. “If he wants to die, Goku, let him. In fact, why don’t I just get him out of both of our ways? He’s no longer of any use to me.”

There was a scream of unaldterated rage, and Vegeta flew forward, ki billowing around him.

Without any effort, Koola’s hand grabbed Vegeta out of the air, encircling his throat even as Vegeta’s fist collided with his nose. The creature merely smirked and squeezed his hand, leaving Vegeta hanging in the air, choking.

“Vegeta!”

All eyes turned to the sound, and Koola smirked. “Ah, the young lady who changed you back, Vegeta.” He motioned to her with a finger, ignoring Vegeta’s kicking feet. “Come closer. If you come here, I will release him.”

Bulma shoved Piccolo aside and almost ran forward, tripping over her own feet and then slowing down. “Let him go!”

Koola still grinned, his finger motioning her closer still. “Come now, I can’t see your pretty face from all the way over there. Come stand next to me.”

“Bulma….” Goku moved toward her only to stop as Koola shifted Vegeta in his grasp, who let out a stuttering gasp through clenched teeth. He looked between Koola and Bulma, obviously torn.

Bulma steadily walked forward, eyes meeting Vegeta’s as they darted toward her. “Let…him…go.”

“You’re in no position to  negotiate. Not until you are closer….”

Bulma’s heart was racing. The pyramid was reset, but she didn’t know how it would affect Vegeta, and she really didn’t want to chance that it would kill them both. She suddenly stopped. “If you want me, you have to let him go….”

Koola frowned and a concentrated ball of ki gathered at his finger, which he pointed at Vegeta’s head. “If you’re not over here in two seconds I’ll kill him. And then it won’t matter.”

Bulma felt her breath stop in her throat even as Vegeta’s glare toward her did not let up. She watched his hand slide on the wrist that held in him in the air…and knew she had to do it.

She continued to walk forward, quickly striding toward Koola. As her hand reached into her pocket, Koola’s eyes followed her movements.

In the instant that she pulled her hand from her pocket, a multitude of things happened. Koola’s eyes narrowed, the ki in his finger flashing as he let it loose. A tan boot connected solidly with the side of Koola’s head. Koola stumbled a bit in surprise, his head turning to look at a grim-faced Piccolo. Vegeta felt the hand slip from his throat and gasped, the ki blast clipping his hair and searing the side of his hair as he fell to the ground in a heap. And a blast of green light from the pyramid struck the back of Koola’s head.

Everyone seemed to still, the only sound Vegeta’s wheezing breath as Koola slowly turned his head. He stared at Bulma in complete bewilderment. “What…did you do?”

Then his eyes widened as dawning realization reached him. “But…there’s no way. You couldn’t have done that….”

Bulma dropped the pyramid, running toward Vegeta. She didn’t even notice the look that crossed Koola’s face as his hand raised and glittered with ki.

“Get down!”

The strained voice was shouted from Vegeta as he levered himself up, his own ki blast flying from his hand to strike Koola on the chest.

The metal Ice-jin looked surprised as he was knocked back from the blast, his own going awry as it brushed past Bulma. She felt herself careened sideways as the force of the ki sailing past pushed her and heard the explosion as it connected with something. The blast behind her threw her forward.

Her hands moved to protect her as she watched the world spin dizzily around her. When it stopped suddenly, her breath escaped her in a gasp. She blinked and looked down to see tanned arms around her waist. A wheezing breath confirmed who had caught her. “What the hell did you do to him?”

She looked up, turning her to look at Koola, who was kneeling on the floor, twitching spasmodically as a clear fluid seeped from cracks appearing all over his body. “I made him sick.”

Vegeta watched with thin lips as Koola leaned back his head and cried out. He knew what he was going through right now, but there was not one part of him that felt any sympathy.

No one raised a hand to assist as Koola lay in a crumbled heap and died quite slowly. NEXT