Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ What A Trip! ❯ Warrior's Wives! ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer is still the same. I own nothing.

Three months later.

"Alright now, everyone here?" Bulma asked.

"Everyone that's going woman now let's get started," Vejita growled.

"Fine! Okay. I'll need the technically youngest members of both groups to step forward. Base, Bra'e here are the maps for both of your teams and your specialty kits. You will take different routes but you will have the same checkpoints. To make certain that everyone stops at the proper planets, you must acquire one item from each planet. Inside your specialty kits you will find twelve empty storage capsules, twenty various holding capsules, a video camera, a dragon radar, and twelve nova star pieces. You can place your items in the any of the storage or holding capsules. Each item is worth one nova star piece. There is a display module in your ship, for every star you earn place one into the display module. Then you are to transmit your proof to me. This is where your video cameras come in. You must videotape a member of the group obtaining the item. Send this back to me and I will upload your star into the main display, which will be stationed here on Earth. There will be time limits for your checkpoints; if you do not reach them within the given time I will contact you with a penalty route, which you will have to take. If you reach your checkpoints with anytime over a day to spare, the ship will remain where it is docked until the checkpoint time has been realized. Bonus points will be given for out of the ordinary achievements. Everything is already packed on the ships. Hurry up and board you leave within five minutes. Have fun, good luck, and may the best team win-the girls," Bulma laughed as she was left with many vapor trails.

"Wait!" a voice shouted halting everyone in their tracks.

"What's the matter Alu-chan?" Bulma asked.

"Isn't this a little unfair? There are more of them than us."

She had a point. Upon hearing the first invitation of the trip the guys were up for the challenge. Everyone had turned out. Goku, Gohan, Goten, Uub, Vejita, Trunks, Piccolo, Krillin, Tien and Base who only consented to come after he was told that Alumerzo would be on another ship.

"Ten on four is a bit stacked. Very well Alu-Chan. How about Nine to five?" Bulma proposed.

"That's very acceptable."

"Alright then. One of you guys is going to have to go with them," Bulma declared.

At once every one of them took a step back, everyone accept Uub, who didn't see what was so bad about going with them. All at once the girls seemed to take extra notice of his presence.

"We want Uub-chan!" the yelled in unison.

"Uub, you've been selected. Will you go willingly or will we have to tie you to a wall in their ship?" Bulma asked.

"I'll go. No problem."

"Come on Uub-chan let's go figure out where you sleep until I find those house capsules," Bra'e said as they all ran onto the ship, closing the door firmly behind them.

"That poor kid," said Krillin.

"Yeah. That poor kid."

"Don't guilt trip us Bulma, they chose him," Goku said.

"The only ones that look stupid here is all of you," she giggled.

"He didn't even protest. It was like he wanted to go," Base said, not really understanding that part himself.

"Think about it, you guys. He's a teenaged boy on a ship soon to be in space. With no one for miles around but very pretty teenaged girls. He's going to be spoiled rotten. Bra'e and Alumerzo cook exceedingly well. They're all more than good at regular housework. The most he'll have to do is maybe step on a bug, should one get on the ship, and kill small disgusting animals should they get too close to one of them, which he's pretty good at since Goku trained him in the outdoors. If he even sneezes wrong they'll toss him in a bed and wait on him hand and foot. Plus that fact that he'll be sleeping in somebody's daughters' room tonight, you guys should be a little worried. And Uub actually hangs out with them sometimes; they talk to him just like his gender doesn't matter. He knows things about those four that none of you may ever know. Oh, only two minutes until the race starts. Gook luck you guys," Bulma laughed dashing off.

"Hey wait a minute Bulma! What kind of things? What does he know?" Krillin and Tien yelled in unison.

"Have a little faith, you guys. After all, my dad did train him," Gohan said, not sounding too convinced himself.

"And wasn't your father trained by Master Roshi?" Krillin asked.

"Weren't you?" Tien asked.

"Come on, guys. Vejita's not worried, right Vejita?" Goku asked hesitantly.

"No," he responded.

"Why not?" Tien asked.

"Virgins of any race have a distinctive scent. If Bra'e's scent alters in the slightest, I'll just kill the boy. It's that simple."

The group sighed feeling somewhat worse than before. Before anything else could be said, Bulma began the countdown, leaving the guys scrambling to not be left behind. Up in the watchtower, Bulma smiled. It was a genuine battle of the sexes. And for the first time she wasn't participating.

"Oh well, I suppose that I was going to have to pass the torch sooner or later. And who could be more worthy of the title than those four?" Bulma said from the main terminal chair.

"I hope they'll be careful," Chi-Chi said fretfully as she handed out drinks.

"They'll be fine, Chi-Chi. Marron is very responsible, I'm sure she and Bra'e will keep them all together," Videl said accepting her glass of juice.

"I know you're right but I'm still worried," Chi-Chi said.

"We can talk to them, you know?" Bulma said quietly.

"Really?" Lunch asked.

"Sure," 18 replied, "We equipped both ships with countless communication devices. Krillin can go blow himself up for all I care but not my daughter."

Bulma smiled in slight admiration for the blonde. Her truly powerful emotions were beginning to emerge now that motherhood was well upon her. It was good to see such true emotion in the woman.

"I feel the same way about my boys."

"You know, when I first had Trunks I couldn't believe how strongly I felt for this little person that had nearly killed me to meet this world. I just kept looking at him and when we were finally alone I asked him why I loved him so much when I didn't even know him. I wasn't even sure how I felt about his father and then he's there in my arms and I know I'm tied to Vejita for the rest of my life by that little thing that carried so much of the both of us. And trust me, for someone as self driven as I was it wasn't easy at all to devote myself so completely to one person. And after he looked at me and called me 'mom' for the first time, I knew that I loved him and loved Vejita for everything that he was and had given me. Sounds weird, huh?" Bulma asked a little misty-eyed.

"Not at all. It's sounds totally normal to me. I mean I cared about Tien before Alu-chan came. But when I saw her. After three days of the most excruciating pain I'd ever felt in my life, after all the screaming, even after threatening Tien with every torture I could think of. I saw that dark hair, saw those huge green eyes, all three of them, and fell in love. I still don't get it, but it felt right. It just felt so right," Lunch said.

"What about you, 18?" Bulma asked.

"It was unlike anything I had ever experienced. It disturbed me because it went against all of my programming. Marron made me feel such regret and pain. She was so beautiful and I wanted to hold her to me and protect her from the universe forever," 18 said quietly.

"Why regret? Didn't your child make you happy?" Chi-Chi asked.

"I'm sure I wasn't the first mother that felt that way about her baby. How many children did I destroy without so much as batting an eye in thought, guilt, or regret? I killed the father of your children, Chi-Chi. I nearly killed your children. I've watched her every step since she learned to walk to guard and protect her. I was always so afraid that karma would conspire against me and take her away. I guess it's like fate's way of punishing me for all that I've done. It would have been justice against me, but she is innocent, especially in the face of all I've done. I don't see how Vejita can stand it. It was so obvious that he loves you and your children. Even when I met him in battle I could tell that he fought with everything because he could not stand it if something had happened to you or your child, Bulma. I think he's loved you and the boy since he first saw you. I understand. For a while before I really knew that you all accepted me, I knew that you left me in peace because of Krillin. I knew you wouldn't hurt Marron because she was his daughter, too. At the same time I knew that I could take care of myself. Think of what it must've been for Vejita. He's had it over a hundred times worse than I have. Think of all the enemies he made when he first came here. Think of all the deaths of your friends he was responsible for, whether he allowed the green things to kill, allowed Napa to kill or even if he killed himself. You are very brave Bulma. I don't think you realized all of the risks you took with him. Krillin told me most of what you did, most of it I wouldn't have done. When he was accidentally wished back, you invited him into your home. You put him in close quarters with your family. He was a murderer and you showed him such kindness. Your father built him a way to get stronger, even if it was to face me. You fed and clothed him; you offered him shelter and comfort. You tended him when he was wounded even when he shunned your kindness. You bound him to you by treating him like a person, rather than a monster. He didn't know. He didn't know that Tien, Piccolo or any of the other would never hurt you or your baby if they knew that the two of you were important to him. He and I think a lot alike, you know. I feared you most of all in the beginning Bulma. I feared you as much as my creator wanted and envied you. It was you that he would have sent us after first, had he the chance. You alone would have been our total undoing if you had been allowed near us. And you know why, don't you?" 18 asked quietly.

"Yes. It was the one flaw I could find in you. The one fundamental flaw in all computers."

"What?" Videl asked.

"Program," Bulma said.

"Bulma saw what no one else had ever thought to see. No program is 'etched in stone' as they say. It can all be erased, rewritten, or simply altered. And our eyes were the key to that. Our primary scanners are in our eyes. Due to our programming, we scan involuntarily. A simple remote control frequency designed to infect our programming would be all that was needed to defeat and soon destroy us. It's kind of like putting a floppy disk with a virus on it into the A drive on a computer. If you access the information, the computer has no choice but scan all of the data, virus included. We didn't have the choice of whether to access or not, therefore we were vulnerable. But only vulnerable to her."

"But if that's true then why didn't you do just that Bulma?" Chi-Chi asked.

"Even if Vejita had allowed me come anywhere near 17 and 18, Goku and the others wouldn't have. If you've noticed, in the past when things got dangerous I was only allowed to go anywhere or do anything when it was absolutely necessary. It's because though I was so weak compared to the others, I was always the last chance for any hope. Without me no one would find the dragon balls, everyone that could sense them were either dead or too busy training to search for them," she replied.

"But then, when did you two figure all of this out?" Lunch asked.

"Bulma did. All on her own after all the fighting was over and we met for the first time. She saw it right off the bat. A few months later when everything was over and settled she sought my brother and I out. Then she gave us a gift we'd never expected from anyone."

"I altered their programming to override that particular function and give them free control over it. I did it for two reasons. The scientist in me couldn't bear to see them with that one flaw and unable to overcome it. The woman in me saw that it was, in some way, stealing away their freedom. If I found that one true flaw, what would stop anyone else from taking advantage of it a few months or even years down the road. Besides, they were new friends, right? A gift is a great way to start off a new friendship," Bulma laughed slightly.

"I've trusted her ever since."

It was a simple statement but it made all the other women feel so much closer to her in that moment.

"We're all so different, but we're so similar for so many reasons. Everyone here needs to admit it because I've been here since the start and I saw it all: none of us liked each other at first. Chi-Chi hated my guts! And she'd better not try to deny it. Despite the good six-year age difference, she thought that Goku and I were more than friends for such a long time. It was one of the most annoying experiences of my life. And it really bothered me. I saw Goku as a little brother and just the thought of being with him romantically is almost funny," Bulma laughed as she looked directly at Chi-Chi.

"I won't deny it. I liked Goku since I saw him and you were always there. I thought that you liked him, too in the exact same way. We were just raised so differently. Where I came from women didn't act like you. Or dress like you, for that matter! I'm not ashamed to tell you now that I was jealous by all of the freedom you had. My father would have killed me if he knew that I started out on a journey alone and by the time I came home I'd ended up in the company of five guys."

"Three of which were small boys at the time, one I really thought was cute and another that I admired for his devotion to his friend. Tien always looked after that little guy so well. They were more like brothers. You know what? I always knew that he'd be a great father. I was so happy for you when you married him, Lunch. Really, you're all very lucky. Videl, Gohan was always such a sweet little boy and very protective of those he loved. 18, Krillin may not have been the strongest but he was among the bravest and most loyal. He follows his heart and that makes him very special," Bulma said smiling.

"You're really lucky too Bulma. Vejita will never tell you to your face, but you are everything to him. Everything that he believes in is tied in with you. You can just tell," Videl said quietly.

"Vejita has had to put his life back together one day at a time. I did what I thought I could to help him make that happen. He was a terrified, angry, and broken child when we met. And handled him with kid gloves. Especially that first time, I was surprised, but I already cared about him a lot then. I could not find it in me to be afraid of him. Any sane woman would have screamed the minute his intentions became clear. But I wanted the same thing he wanted, and if I rejected him after he'd opened himself to me, I would have hurt him to the core. It seems vain but I think I-" she trailed off.

"Saved him," the others chorused around her.

"You did," said Chi-Chi.

"Chi-Chi?" Bulma asked.

"Do you know how scared some of us were for you at first? But not Goku, never Goku. One night I finally asked him if he even cared that you were under the same roof as Vejita. He just smiled at me and said no. Even though I knew it would upset him, I sat him down and told him everything that I was willing to think that Vejita could do to you. And I was right; a lot of it really did upset him. A lot of it he didn't think people would actually do to other people. The domestic violence think made him wince, but he didn't even know what rape was. I was in tears by the time I was only half way through explaining it to him."

Chi-hi shut her eyes against the scene that replayed in her head.

"But Chi-Chi, Vejita wouldn't really hit Bulma. He knows he could really hurt her like that, and besides she wouldn't like him anymore," Goku said slightly confused.

"Goku, Vejita could even rape Bulma and she's not strong enough to stop him," Chi-Chi said as she tried to make him see that Vejita was a danger to Bulma.

"Rape? What's that mean, Chi?" he asked with a confused frown.

"You've never heard that word before, have you, Goku?" she asked.

"No."

"Well, rape is a really bad thing that happens sometimes. Usually men do it to women," she began.

"Do the hit them, or something?" he asked looking upset.

"Sometimes, but that's usually before or maybe during. Sometimes they threaten to, to make the woman do what they want."

"They shouldn't hit. But what do they want to make them do?" he asked.

"A lot of times to just be still and stop fighting. You know, we should stop talking about this. It's late and we should get some sleep," she'd said trying to stop the uncomfortable conversation.

"Wait Chi-Chi. I know you're not telling me something. What is it?" he asked.

The way he said it told her that he wasn't going to drop it anytime soon.

"Goku, do you remember what we did when we made Gohan?" she asked.

A large smile slid to his face.

"Yes, but what does that have to do with it?" he asked even more confused.

"Rape is when a man does that to a woman but the woman doesn't want to. The woman is usually hurt and forced. It's not like when we're together like that. It's mean and it's wrong and it's hurts the woman when it's rape. Goku, don't cry," she said unable to check her own tears.

"But why would a man do that?" he asked tearfully.

"No one really knows why all the time."

"Chi-Chi, have I ever.to you?" he asked.

"No! God, Goku no! You've never done that to me. You never tried to hurt me and you never did it when I didn't want to. I'm sorry, I didn't want to hurt your feelings with this," she said holding him closely.

"I'll be back. I have to talk to Vejita," he said jumping up and flying out of the window.

"I'm sorry that you had to go through that, Chi-Chi. My parents were afraid of that very same thing. I think I remember that night. Goku showed up looking so pale and terrified. He called Vejita to talk and they flew off. When Vejita came back he looked like he wanted to kill someone. When I asked what everything was about he just looked at me and asked me if I feared him hurting me. I was a little surprised by the question, but I said no. He kept looking at me for a minute, and then he walked away. He didn't come near me again for three months. He just kept his distance," Bulma said pushing back her own memory.

"Woman, I want to talk to you," Vejita said one day after his training.

"That's good. I was beginning to think you were mad at me or something."

"Have I given you a reason to fear me?" he asked.

"No, Vejita. At least not one different from the one you give everybody else," she giggled.

"Yes, I've threatened your house and your kin. But have I threatened your body?" he asked persistently.

"My body? You mean like beating me?" she asked.

"No, worse? Threatened your virtue by force?"

"My virtue by force? You mean my virginity?" she asked incredulously.

He nodded seriously. She looked at him crossly.

"Vejita, you have never threatened to rape me. Honestly I didn't think you were capable of such a thing. What's bringing this on?" she asked.

"Kakarott came here three months ago to talk to me. He asked me if I had or had any intention of raping you. It was unexpected, but I said no. He made me swear upon my life that I would never do so. He threatened to kill me if I ever broke that vow. Did you say something to make him think that I would violate you in such an appalling way?" he asked.

"No. I didn't even think that Goku knew what that meant. Vejita, believe it or not I do trust you. If I didn't, you would never get anywhere near as close to me as you have."

"The other night, did I force you then? Did you kiss me because you wanted to, or because you thought I would get angry and force you into more than the kiss?"

"Vejita, I said I trusted you. And if I did not want to kiss you, I wouldn't have. I have too many friends willing to kill you if you did. Even Goku. I know that no one has ever said this to you before, but I do trust you."

"I just wanted to be sure. I need you to know that I would never do something like that to you. Not to you," he repeated as he turned and walked away.

"Sharpner said something like that to me, too. He'd seen Gohan fight in the Budokai. He knew of his real strength. He didn't know that I already knew. He didn't trust him. But he didn't know Gohan like I do."

"Ladies we are what the world has respected for eons. We are warriors' wives!" Bulma said as she raised her glass in toast.

The others smiled and raised their glasses in agreement.

"Warriors' wives!" they said in unison.