Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Within You ❯ Move Behind My Eyes ( Chapter 2 )

The room illuminated with each flicker and flash from the small television set, momentarily accentuating the empty walls and lonely crevices with soft blue light. A single figure sat alone in the uninviting living area, uncomfortably positioned in a reclining chair before the glowing tube and looking as stiff as a corpse. His uninspired eyes barely reflected the images that passed the screen, his ears filled with the electronic hum provided by the otherwise muted television. The silhouette of the man's head and his unbelievably spiked hair proved to be livelier than the actual man, dancing back and forth across the plain white wall while he remained unmoving.

How long had this man been like this? Was this some meditative measure or more akin to bordering a comatose state? Slowly, sprawled fingertips crawled to life, curling to the fabric bound armrests of the recliner while hand muscles flexed. Within his head, his mind wandered through the doorways of contemplation, weighing the dull monotony of his settling life against that of his former glory. Could someone of his past be completely happy with normalcy?

These simple thoughts sparked emotions hidden inside of him. He could feel the extra, untimely beating of his heart and rushing flood of blood welling up his veins as the images of battles past were envisioned. The emotionless mask of his face steadily began to weaken and was finally overcome by a barely noticeable smirk, yet it conquered none the less. He inhaled a sharp, excited breath and leaned forward, enlightened by the feeling that the smothering veil had finally loosened its hold on him.

This man could never truly give up his alien ways. He could never betray what was in his heritage. No matter how hard he could try, he would never be able to forget who he was.

He is and always will be Vegeta, Prince of Saiyans. He knows nothing but strength and honour, virtues that are often accompanied by pain and violence. Something sadistic in him didn't mind but he kept it buried underneath his new heroic guise.

 

Arising like a champion who had just succeeded in his most brilliant victory, Vegeta arose from the recliner and immediately dispatched the soul devouring television with his bare fist. The near ancient electronics' thick screen yielded to his dominant force, exploding into shards and pieces until his hand met no further resistance. He looked over length of his arm and watched how weakly it bulged as he flexed his muscles, showing his displeasure with a familiar scowl.

"I've been out of my mind for too long. I have a lot of missing training to account for. It would be best not to waste any more time."

 

The reborn Saiyan grumbled, removing his unblemished hand from the destroyed screen. He overlooked the battle scars of his past momentarily, delving into them for further inspiration before abruptly turning and exiting the room.

Moments later, he returned wearing his old, dark blue fighting attire. The gold plating on his white boots was dull, hardly reflecting anything from its unpolished surface. He was moderately happy by the fact that his matching white gloves still fit perfectly, sliding into them with ease and clenching his fists to feel the familiar fabric. Vegeta stretched a few times in his gear to be reacquainted with its burden and manoeuvrability before completely exiting the claustrophobic confines of his home.

For a long time, he flew aimlessly through the lightly clouded sky. It was a reward of its own, being able to soar with the winds again. As much as he would have enjoyed continuing to explore the skies, he had much to do and never enough time.

Although some would prefer to have a partner to train with, they mostly proved to be more of a hindrance to his progress than a benefit. Before he realized it, he was touching down on the very outskirts of the desolate Wastelands. The harsh, barren environment would be great for his training and he surely wouldn't be bothered this far away from civilization.

 

The afternoon sun beat relentlessly in the fair sky, admonishing all underneath its glory with scorching heat that must have broken the one-hundred degree area. Sweat poured religiously from each and every pore on Vegeta's body as he continued his training, leaping to enormous boulders that doubled his size and wrapping his strong arms around them. With only a few steps of preparation, he hurled boulder after boulder high into the bright blue, ultimately bringing them down with bursts of destructive Ki.

The expanse between his leaps grew apart with each persistent jump, bounding across the tops of dusty plateaus in an effort to regain mastery over his agility. An invigorating roar burst loudly from the depths of his chest as he took an incredible bound toward the face of an enormous rock. He drew his tightly clenched fist back and his entire body flared up with reserves of energy, his entire figure consumed in a brightly glowing aura of power. Vegeta met the wall with impressive speed, launching his Ki ignited punch directly against the obstruction blocking his way.

His tightened hand landed with a resounding clap as the dispersion of energy shattered the sound barrier, blasting small chunks of loose stone and clouds of dust in all directions. At first glance, it appeared that the structure took on absolutely no damage from his strong attack. A small crack appeared against the rift of his knuckles, steadily expanding as it spidered out along the face of the mountainous plateau. The destruction gained speed and now the plateau crumbled in large boulders and landslides, resulting in the half demolition of the once prominent Wasteland landscape.

Vegeta drew his fist back to his chest, rubbing his sore and quickly swelling knuckles over with his other hand. Despite his accomplishment, the arrogant Prince had a look of dissatisfaction run across his face.

"The whole damn thing should have fell,"

He grumbled lowly to himself and then sighed in heavy exhaustion. That last stunt had severely drained his energy and left him with no other option; he had to call his training to a close for the day.

...................................

 

The wastelands lived up to its name very well. Hardly anything existed here worth mentioning. Rocks, rocks and more rocks littered in each direction. A red haired warrior sat there beside one of the only bodies of water in the area. His training had been going quite well so far.

He took a few moments to rest and regain his strength, washing his face clean of sweat and dirt before lifting himself to his feet. He felt a source of power moving, steadily away from him and he turned to look in its direction. It had been there for some time, but it was growing. The ground rumbled and shook as the power had released what he deciphered as larger attack. His knees bent ever so slightly before he leapt up onto one of the larger pillars of rock there. Peering out over to where the sky met the Earth, watching as the face of larger mountain crumbled and fell to the way side.

The energy was different than most humans he noticed. Perhaps an investigation would not be such a bad idea. It could be someone worth training with, or it could be… His thought process was interrupt by a rather large scream echoing in the other direction. Decisions, decisions. He turned towards the screams and shrugged; if he was capable of hearing those screams then the person must be pretty close. The warrior who was out wrecking the landscape would probably still be here in just a few moments after all.

Knees bent one more time; he took a leap forward and over the edge of the body of water, his feet digging into the barren ground momentarily before he tore off. The muscles deep within his legs tensed under his weight, ready to throw him forward, and a stream of dust was picked up and tossed behind him as he went.

Speedily moving towards the direction of the commotion, he came over the hill. Bright emerald eyes scanned the surrounding area as he slowed to a leisurely walk, taking only a few moments to rummage through what was there, looking for clues as to what might have happened.

Someone had set a Capsule corps home up here, the large logo from the company apparent on one of the knocked over walls. Seeing from the scattered magazines and numerous bottles of shampoos and soaps that had been strewn about, he assumed it was a female who had been here. Leaving the large pile of rubble, he followed the giant dinosaur footprints in the ground.

The footprints lead him far away from the house, and from the increasing gap in-between each step it was running full speed after something. He huffed and crossed his arms in annoyance. The winds had already swept away most of the tracks, so there was no telling which direction they had gone. Grumbling about a waste of time he turned and took a few steady steps back over to the smashed house, moving some of the walls and furniture out of the way to see if he could find anything of use. Maybe the person would come back, and if not, he could always just keep whatever he found couldn't he? After all he travelled all this way, might as well get something out of it.

Brushings pieces aside with his foot he found a few food capsules and a small capsule corps capsule holder. He picked them up and created a pile by where the door had stood earlier in the day. Not much, but it was a start.

................................................................. .....

 

Bulma hadn't realised how far away she actually was from where she had left her demolished capsule house. Everything around her looked the same, and she had no idea which direction she should be going.

“Perhaps if I can find that dinosaurs tracks, it will lead me back. It did chase me form the house after all... so I guess that could work...”

She followed the tracks around the Wastelands for about an hour, when her car began to shudder and cough.

“No.....no no no no!!!! Come on... you can't do this to me now! Please, come on car... stay with me!”

Unfortunately, it seemed that she had used up most of the car's petrol running away from the dinosaur and now it was down to its last drops. With a shuddering cough, the car ground to a halt and thudded to the ground. Bulma groaned and bashed her head repeatedly against the steering wheel.

“This is not good... I am so screwed. Thanks a bunch car...”

With a frustrated growl, she got out of the car and slammed the door shut. Yanking open the boot she brought out a white picnic blanket which had cherry blossoms printed on it and tied it firmly around her waist. It wasn't perfect, but it would do for now. She slipped on her Capsule Corp jacket and slotted the steak knife and battery operated hair straighteners into the top pocket. She was about to leave, but then remembered the pink lunch box her mum had given her, and she tucked it under her arm with a slight smile.

“Thanks Mama, I owe you one...”

With a sigh she began the long trek back to the remains of her demolished house. The sun was beating down on her tired body, sweat running down her face and her long blue hair was sticking to her damp flesh, curling in the hot sun.

Bulma was getting ready to lay down and allow the sun to have its victory, when a loud explosion on the other side of some not so far away mountains made her scream and jump to attention. She took a few steps back, her eyes wide and her heart thumping as if it was trying to escape her chest, as she watched the great foreboding landscape of the Wastelands shatter under exploding balls of great energy. What was worse, the explosions seemed to be getting closer.

Suddenly forgetting her fatigue, she turned and ran as fast as she could in the opposite direction. Her fear and adrenaline only got her so far though, as her tired dehydrated body began to give out. She fell to the hard, cracked ground and lay there gasping for some time. Turning around, she thought she saw a person hovering above the destroyed landscape, but in a blink of an eye, they were gone. Shaking her head in disbelief, she dragged herself to her feet and plodded on. She needed to get shelter and fast. If whatever had been making the mountains explode didn't kill her, then the sun definitely would.

It was another half hour of walking before she saw the cave. Elated as she was at its discovery, she soon despaired, as it was high up dug into the side of a mountain, to get to it, she would have to climb the steep craggy surface.
Zipping the lunch box into her jacket, Bulma rubbed her hands together and sighed.

“Well, standing here and feeling sorry for myself isn't going to get me safe, I'd better start climbing...”

The climb up was slow and difficult. The rocks cut into the soft flesh of her pampered hands and feet, she slipped several times, scraping down the side of the mountain and thorny brambles snatched at her hair. When she finally reached the cave, she was bloody, dirty and drenched in sweat.

“Well... I sure feel attractive...”

She cursed and grumbled as she crawled into the cool haven of the cave and leant wearily against the cold wall. Suddenly remembering the lunch box, she unzipped her jacket and opened the box. It wasn't long before she had devoured the lunch and drank the entire carton of juice.

“Should have saved most of that really... I don't know how long it's going to take me to get back to whatever is left of the Capsule house for supplies.”

She watched out of the mouth of the cave as the explosions stopped and she heaved a sigh of relief. Despite her discomfort, exhaustion won out and she soon fell asleep.