Chapter 13

"And that’s about all the news I have," Bulma said, as they approached
the cave. "The next thing that happened was your arrival at Saichorou’s
house."

"Wow!" Kuririn said. "Amazing! So you got to see Freeza up close and
personal, huh? I would have been too scared to speak!"

"I would have too, if I hadn’t known ahead of time that I could get
away from him whenever I wanted," she said in reply. "But believe me,
Kuririn. We can’t fool around with this guy. He means business."

"Yeah," Kuririn agreed. "It’s a good thing Goku’s on his way. We’ll
need all the help we can get."

They finally reached the entrance to the cave, and landed just outside
it. Bulma and Kuririn smiled at each other and ran inside. It was time
to tell Gohan some good news for a change!

"Gohan!" Kuririn called out as they walked into the kitchen. "Come out,
Gohan! It’s me, Kuririn! And Bulma too!" There was no answer, and no
sign that Gohan had been there recently. They searched all over the
small capsule house, but couldn’t find any trace of him anywhere.

"Where’s Gohan?" Bulma asked Kuririn, sitting down at the kitchen table.

"I don’t understand," Kuririn said, looking around the room in
confusion. "He should have been back by now."

"Where did he go?" Bulma asked.

"Well," Kuririn began, "before Dende and I left, Gohan said that he had
located a dragonball on your radar. He said it wasn’t too far away, so
he’d go get it while I took Dende to Saichorou’s. I agreed, since we
need every dragonball we can find."

"Oh no!" Bulma exclaimed, covering her mouth with her hand. "But
Kuririn, that was one of Vegita’s dragonballs! Remember? I told you
that he had stolen one before he took Freeza’s."

Kuririn suddenly turned pale. "What if Vegita found Gohan?" He gasped.
"That would explain why he hasn’t come back yet, wouldn’t it?"

Bulma gulped as images of all the terrible things Vegita could do to
Gohan floated into her mind. It was too horrible to think about. All
the signs seemed to point toward one thing: Gohan had been discovered
by Vegita.

"I don’t know, Kuririn," Bulma said in frustration. "I can’t for the
life of me think of any other reason for Gohan’s absence. You don’t
think Vegita," -- she gulped -- "killed him, do you?"

Kuririn lowered his eyes sadly. "If Vegita found Gohan anywhere near
his dragonball, I would say yes," he said slowly. "Vegita wouldn’t take
any chances. Besides," he added, "don’t forget that back on Earth it
was Gohan that finally defeated him in the first place. Vegita might be
holding a grudge about that."

"Well, what if he didn’t find Gohan near his dragonball?" She said
hopefully. "I mean, that thing must be a good hundred miles from here.
It’s possible that Vegita just met him on the way. What then?"

"I don’t know," Kuririn said. "Maybe he just injured him. Maybe he
killed him anyway. Who knows? I can’t pretend to understand Vegita, or
any other Saiyan, for that matter. I mean, Goku’s my best friend, and
most of the time I don’t even know what the hell’s going on in his
mind."

"Well, there is some hope that Gohan is still alive, right?" Bulma
asked. "We can’t give up hope on him yet."

"Right!" Kuririn agreed. "And I think we should try to find out where
he is, at least."

"Well," Bulma said, popping open her travel bag capsule and taking out
her dragon radar. "I think we should see if that dragonball has moved
at all, first. If it has, then we’ll know that Gohan had it with him
when Vegita found him." She put on the scouter and turned it on.

"Well," she said finally. "It looks like it hasn’t moved from its
original position, and it isn’t moving now. I suppose Gohan didn’t get
that far."

"All right then," Kuririn said. "We know that Gohan has a definite
chance, since he didn’t get to Vegita’s dragonball."

"Yeah," Bulma said anxiously, "but I can’t sense any kind of ki over
there, Kuririn. I don’t think he’s in that direction."

"Either that, or he’s dead," Kuririn muttered. He looked up. "Bulma,"
he said finally, "if Vegita found Gohan, and Gohan is still alive, then
Vegita more than likely made sure he was somewhere far away from his
dragonball. The problem is finding out where."

"Well," Bulma said slowly, "if that’s the case, then the only one who
could tell us where he is would be Vegita."

"Exactly," Kuririn agreed, nodding. "And to find out from him, we’d
have to pay Vegita a little visit."

"Well, yeah," Bulma said, suddenly apprehensive, "but we won’t do that,
right?"

"No," Kuririn said. "We won’t. What if Gohan manages to come back? One
of us needs to be here just in case he does."

"But you do think that one of us ought to go question Vegita," Bulma
continued, her spirits sinking.

"Yes," Kuririn said firmly. "I don’t like it either, Bulma, but it’s
the fastest way I can think of to find out the location of Gohan."

"So...," Bulma said hesitantly, "are you going to go?"

Kuririn looked at her intently. "Bulma," he said, "I think you should
go. I’m not being cowardly here; it’s just that you’re stronger than I
am now, and you may even be stronger than Vegita. If it came down to
having to fight him, I think you’d stand a better chance."

Bulma had a lot of trouble hiding her nervousness. Even if she had
gotten stronger, she couldn’t shake that same old fear that overtook
her every time she thought of Vegita. But she knew at the same time
that she was going to have to face Vegita sooner or later, and besides,
Gohan needed her help. She sighed.

"If I’m going to get anywhere with Vegita, I’ll have to threaten him,
and that probably will lead to a fight," she said unhappily. "I don’t
know, Kuririn. Do you really think I could win?"

"It’s hard to say for sure," he replied. "But I know that the last time
I sensed Vegita’s power was when he was landing on Namek in his space
pod. You were there. You remember how strong he felt then? Well, you’re
a lot stronger than that now, Bulma. And we both know that Vegita
doesn’t know how to mask ki. I’d say you stand a good chance of winning
if you end up having to fight him."

Bulma sighed. "All right," she said finally. "I can’t believe I’m doing
this, but okay, I’ll go confront Vegita. I’ll just have to be extremely
careful."

"You do that," Kuririn said. "I know you’ll do fine, Bulma. Just stay
focused and be careful, and I know you’ll win."

"I wish I had your confidence," she said. She left her scouter on, and
floated up into the air. "Goodbye, Kuririn," she said, waving briskly.
"I’ll be back soon."

"I know you will," he said, waving back. "Good luck!"

Bulma flew off in the direction of Vegita’s five dragonballs. She
wasn’t exactly sure what she was getting herself into, but she was
determined to see Gohan back safely.

When Bulma was only a few miles away, she stopped. Perhaps it wasn’t
such a good idea to let him know she was coming. She decided to
teleport the rest of the way. She made a quick mental note of where the
dragonballs were, then she stopped time and continued. After a few
minutes, she finally found Vegita and the dragonballs. They were in a
narrow gorge that was almost invisible from up above. She wouldn’t
have noticed it if it hadn’t been for the flash of orange that she
noticed coming from the dragonballs. She flew down and landed lightly
on the ground in front of Vegita. His eyes were closed, and he was
sitting on a dragonball. Bulma wondered for a second why he’d just been
sitting here all this time instead of searching for the other
dragonballs, but decided it didn’t matter at the moment. What mattered
was Gohan.

She bent over and lifted Vegita up a couple of feet. As he hung
suspended in the air, she took the dragonball he’d been sitting on in
her hands and stepped back. She took a couple of deep breaths to steady
her nerves. She knew full well that this guy was going to be seriously
pissed off when she let time flow again and he saw her with one of his
dragonballs, and she wanted to be mentally able to handle it. Sighing,
she decided that no number of deep breaths would ever fully set her
mind at ease, and that now was as good a time as any to halt her
teleport. So she let time pick up where it left off, and watched Vegita
fall to the ground with a grunt on his royal rear. Bulma normally would
have laughed at the amusing sight, but right now she wasn’t exactly in
a laughing mood.

Vegita jumped up like a bull that had just been stung by a bee, looking
around for the culprit who’d ... er, stripped him of his dignity. He saw
Bulma and stared at her in surprise, almost appearing to have forgotten
his anger for the moment.

"Where is Gohan?" Bulma asked him coldly, glaring at him as fiercely as
she could. "What have you done with him, Vegita?"

Vegita suddenly noticed that she had one of his dragonballs. He glared
right back at her. "You’d better give that back to me," he threatened,
taking a step toward Bulma.

Undaunted, Bulma persisted. "Where is Gohan?" She asked again, cradling
the dragonball under her left arm and placing her right fist on her
hip. "I know you’ve done something to him. Where is he?"

Pretending suddenly that her having one of his dragonballs didn’t
bother him, Vegita turned away slightly and crossed his arms. "Oh, you
mean Kakkarot’s brat, don’t you?" He said nonchalantly. "I haven’t seen
the little nuisance. I didn’t even know he’d come with you to Namek."

"You’re lying," Bulma growled, taking a step closer. "Gohan went after
one of your dragonballs a while ago, and not only is it still in the
same place, but he hasn’t come back yet. That leads me to conclude that
you’re the reason he hasn’t returned."

"You mean he was going after one of these?" Vegita asked, motioning
towards the group of dragonballs a few feet away.

"No," she said, playing along with his little innocent bit. "He was
going after your other dragonball -- the one you stole from that Namek
village you raided."

"How did you know about...?" He began, but cut himself short. "Feh," he
said. "I haven’t touched him. If I were you," he added, smirking at
her, "I’d try looking in Freeza’s ship. The little baka probably got
himself captured. He’s not very bright."

"You don’t say!" Bulma exclaimed, feigning surprise. "Does that mean
that even half-saiyans can inherit the stupidity that is so prominent
in full-blooded Saiyans?"

Vegita glared at her again. "I hope you don’t expect me to laugh at
that pathetic attempt at humor," he said haughtily.

"I don’t expect you to do anything," Bulma retorted, "except tell me
where Gohan is."

"I already told you," he said, looking thoroughly annoyed with her. "I
haven’t seen him."

"Very well then," Bulma said. "If that’s how you’re going to act, then
you leave me with no alternative. If you don’t tell me where Gohan is,
then I’m going to teleport away each of your dragonballs, one by one,
until you do tell me."

"Dammit, woman!" Vegita exclaimed, uncrossing his arms. "Don’t you dare
threaten me! Do you realize I could kill you in less time than you
would take to do that?"

Bulma glared at him, held up the dragonball she had in her hands for
him to see, then teleported it away, all the way to the cave where
Kuririn was. She wondered how surprised Kuririn would be to see a
dragonball pop out of thin air just outside the cave entrance. "Do you
realize that you’re down to four now?" She said snidely.

Vegita stared in astonishment at her empty hands. The dragonball had
been in them at one second, and had simply vanished in the next. He
looked up at Bulma’s calmly serious face, and suddenly became
explosively angry.

"Bring that dragonball back here right now, or you’ll be tasting my
fists!" He yelled, assuming a fighting stance.

Bulma frowned. "Do you want me to send off another one?" She asked
angrily. "I don’t like using such unfair methods, but I’m not leaving
until you tell me where Gohan is. You’d better cooperate, Vegita."

"Cooperate this!" Vegita yelled, leaping at her. Bulma had anticipated
this, and easily dodged him. "Oh, by the way, Vegita," she said, not
bothering to turn around to look at him, "I think I should warn you
that I’ve greatly improved since our last meeting. You won’t find me
such an easy opponent as you might think."

"We’ll see," he said, lunging for her again. Rather than dodging him a
second time, she decided to take a more offensive approach. She ducked
underneath his oncoming fist, and slammed an uppercut into his jaw. He
sailed backward, but managed to land somewhat unsteadily on his feet.
He shifted his jawbone around a bit, then spit some blood on the ground.

"My, my, my!" He said, grinning at her with an expression of approval.
"You have improved! Unfortunately, you’re nowhere near my level. Allow
me to show you what it’s like when I fight for real!"

"Huh?" Bulma gasped in horror as she felt his ki skyrocket. He’d been
holding back on her! Vegita attacked again, only this time he was much
faster. He was so fast, in fact, that Bulma wasn’t even able to see
him. She waited tensely for a couple of seconds, trying to figure out
where he’d gone. Suddenly she felt a hand grip her shoulder, and she
jumped.

"Boo!" Vegita said playfully in her ear.

"Why you!" She cried, spinning around out of his grip, and punching at
him. But she found herself punching through empty air. She’d lost him
again. She gritted her teeth as she realized the bitter truth: he was
just toying with her. She also realized that this was a one-sided
battle. He was tremendously faster and stronger than she was, and there
was no way she could ever win in a fight against him. Realizing that
she had to get out of there fast, she darted forward and grabbed one
of his remaining four dragonballs.

"Rapid Tele..." she began, but was suddenly cut off as Vegita kicked her
violently in her right side. The dragonball went flying one way, and
she went flying in the opposite direction -- head first into one of the
rock walls of the ravine. She crashed squarely into the rock, sending
large pieces of stone and dirt shooting out behind her. Now
unconscious, she half-slid, half-rolled down the face of the rock wall
to the ground, along with a sizeable amount of dust and pebbles. She
lay in a crumpled heap on the ground as the dust and rocks settled
around and on top of her.

Vegita watched her motionless form tensely for a few seconds, just in
case she might get up and attack. She didn’t move. Cautiously, he crept
closer to her, trying to sense any ki that might show itself. She was
nearly down to zero, but not quite. Finally, he seemed fairly satisfied
that she was in no position to get up and attack him, so he walked over
to check her pulse. It seemed a bit slow, but was regular. He smirked a
little as he thought that any normal Earthling would have been killed
by such an impact. She might get a bump on the head, but she’d survive.

"Well, now what do I do with her?" He muttered to himself. He obviously
couldn’t keep her here. That teleportation trick of hers was a real
nuisance, and it wouldn’t be wise to keep her anywhere near his
remaining dragonballs.

Of course, the easiest way to dispose of her would be to just kill her
now. It would certainly save him a lot of hassle. But for some reason,
he couldn’t bring himself to do that. He would have had absolutely no
problem with obliterating any other opponent, but for some reason, this
one was different. Damn. It figured that an Earth woman would cause him
to act so out of character.

He sighed angrily and looked down at her face. His eye suddenly caught
something he surprisingly hadn’t noticed before. She was wearing a
scouter! He took it off and looked at it. It was one of the older
models, the kind Raditz had preferred. He figured that she must have
taken it from him. But hadn’t she mentioned on Earth that she didn’t
need a scouter? Now he was aware of her and the other Earth warriors’
ability to read ki without one, so it struck him as odd that she would
be wearing Radditz’s old scouter. Well, he might as well see if it
still worked, at least. He still hadn’t perfected his ki sense yet,
and the scouter would be able to detect intruders much faster than he
would at this point. He put it on and pushed the little button on the
side. The radar locked on to seven targets immediately, but each one
had strange characters next to it. Not only that, but each target was
round with a little star in the middle. He gasped as he wondered
suddenly if those targets could be dragonballs. There were seven of
them, after all. There were four in one group, two in another, and one
by itself. Deciding to test his theory out, he pointed the scouter in
the direction of the lake he’d hidden the other dragonball in, and
found that the single target was then centered on the radar screen. An
evil grin slowly spread across his face. So the little vixen had wired
this thing to detect dragonballs! He had to hand it to her; she
certainly was resourceful.

"Well," he thought to himself. "If that one is the one I hid in the
lake, then these four must be the ones I have here. Which means," he
added, turning until the group of two was in the center of the screen,
"that the one she stole from me must be in that direction with this
other one. Well, not for long!" He laughed. He started to take off in
that direction, but stopped suddenly as he remembered Bulma. He turned
back around and looked at her for a second. He couldn’t leave her here.
If she woke up, she’d most certainly make off with his dragonballs.

Not knowing exactly what he should do about this new hindrance, he
looked toward the direction of the two dragonballs again. It was then
that he noticed that there was a weak ki over there. She hadn’t come to
the planet alone. That much he knew for sure. At the very least she had
brought that little brat she called Gohan along with her. Perhaps that
ki belonged to him. Suddenly a new thought hit him. What if he was to
take her there with him, and trade her for those two dragonballs? Then
he wouldn’t have to bother with any resistance from that other
Earthling, whoever he was, and he’d have gotten rid of her in the
process. But how would he keep her from following him again when she
woke up? Hmm... He wasn’t sure, but he decided that this plan was worth
a try.

Vegita knelt down and somewhat roughly hoisted Bulma up onto his
shoulder. He then took off toward the last two dragonballs and that
weak ki that most certainly belonged to one of her companions.


On to Chapter Fourteen...