Chapter 9


Over the next few weeks, things were fairly peaceful at the Capsule Corporation. True to his word, Vegita pretty much kept to himself and his training, much to everyone's relief. He still had an annoying habit of staring at her sometimes, but despite that, Bulma began to relax a little around him, and so did everyone else, excluding perhaps Yamucha and the Nameks, who made no effort to disguise the fact that they hated his guts.

As for Bulma, Kuririn, and Yamucha, they continued their training too. Yamucha chose to keep his lackadaisical outlook about the matter, and didn't really push himself too much. Bulma and Kuririn, on the other hand, trained religiously in the gravity room every day. They each took a six-hour shift in the gravity room every day and worked diligently to increase their power. Neither one really knew why they wanted to improve so much, although they sometimes figured it had something to do with the fact that Goku would be back soon. Perhaps it just seemed more appropriate that they be in top shape for his arrival. In any event, by the time the dragonballs had become active again, Kuririn had gotten all the way up to thirty g's, while Bulma had reached a whopping forty-five. It was harder than ever nowadays to advance; each time she increased the power on the machine she had an even harder time adjusting. But she was determined to forge ahead as far as her strength would allow. She knew that as long as she stuck with it, she could keep improving, and maybe someday she too would be able to train in a 100g environment like Goku had.

Not surprisingly, Vegita had already surpassed that, having reached an astounding two-hundred and fifty g's! Admittedly, Bulma was very impressed, but as the weeks went by, she found herself becoming increasingly worried about Vegita's rapid improvement in strength and power. It was clear that he was doing his utmost to achieve his goal of surpassing Goku. She hated to let the thought enter her mind, but it had occurred to her on several occasions that he intended to undo their wish to revive Goku as soon as they made it. And unless Goku was training fiercely in Heaven, Bulma feared that Vegita just might make that a reality. It was a disturbing thought, but unfortunately, she had to force it out of her mind. Whether that was Vegita's plan or not, they were going to wish Goku back the first chance they got,

Despite all her apprehensions, the big day finally arrived. On a fine, sunny afternoon, Muuri dropped by the house to tell Bulma that the dragonballs were now active again. Bulma was prepared. She had a whole box of dragon radars ready, and she distributed them to everyone who was willing to help. Gohan couldn't make it - Chichi had told her over the phone that they had enough people searching; Gohan didn't need to waste precious time hunting down dragonballs when he could be studying. It was times like those that made Bulma feel kind of sorry for Gohan. But the hunt went on as usual even without him, and it wasn't more than three days before they had gathered them all up and brought them to the Capsule Corporation.

Although he hadn't been allowed to hunt the dragonballs with everyone else, Gohan was allowed to come watch them make the wishes. And not only that, Chichi and Gyuu-maou came too. Bulma understood. Gohan's studies were important to Chichi, but Goku was too.

They weren't the only guests, though, and they certainly weren't the most surprising. Kamesennin and Oolong had made the trip over, and Piccolo had come too. Even Vegita was there, although Bulma wasn't too surprised about that. She figured she knew why he wanted to be present for the wishes.

"So, you want to do the honors this time, Muuri?" Bulma asked, smiling at him. "I got to call Porunga last time."

"Go ahead and do it again," Muuri said, smiling back. "You won't get the chance for a while. Besides, I like to hear you speak our language."

"All right then," Bulma said, glancing happily at Gohan, who beamed excitedly back at her. "Here we go!"

She held her hands out over the dragonballs and called out the phrase that she'd been dying to say. "Takkaratto Po Porunga Pupirittoparo!" She cried, after everyone was ready. The dragonballs glowed brightly for a second or two and then suddenly Porunga burst forth, and in a matter of seconds he was towering over them. Bulma heard Chichi and her father gasp at Porunga. This was their first glimpse of the great Namek dragon, and it certainly had surprised them!

"Greetings, mortals," Porunga rumbled at them. "To thee I shall grant three wishes and no more. What is thy first request?"

Bulma grinned. "O Porunga," she called out. "Our first wish is for you to bring Son Goku back from the dead and bring him here to us!"

Porunga's eyes narrowed. "I cannot," he said after a short pause.

"Huh?" Bulma said.

"The man of which you speak is still alive," Porunga rumbled. "I cannot revive a living man."

"What?" Bulma gasped, along with everyone else. "Alive? He's alive? Well… okay then," she said, shrugging, and looking back up at Porunga. "In that case, please bring him here to us then!"

"He wishes to remain in his current location," Porunga replied, his eyes narrowing slightly. "He told me to inform you that he will return soon on his own but he is unwilling to return now." Porunga sounded less than pleased to have to pass Goku's message on to them. Perhaps he didn't think wish-granting dragons were supposed to deliver messages.

"Why in heaven's name would Goku not want to come back?" Bulma asked herself aloud, crossing her arms and furrowing her brow in consternation.

"I'll tell you why," Vegita said, grinding his teeth angrily. "It's because the coward knows I'm here waiting for him!"

"Oh, get over yourself, Vegita," Bulma grumbled crossly. "Goku's more afraid of his wife than he is of you. In fact, I'm almost certain that he'd jump all over the chance to try his luck in a match with you. But that doesn't explain why he isn't coming. Oh well," she sighed. "Muuri, I guess that just leaves my wishes for your people. Are you ready to go to your new home?"

"We're ready," he said, "but that will only take two wishes! You still have the third to make, and since Porunga will disappear with us when we go, you should save our wishes for last. Go on and think of something else you'd like to wish for."

"Oh," Bulma said, a bit surprised that she hadn't noticed that. "Well, gee, I don't need anything. Would anyone care to offer me their wish?"

At first, no one said anything. Then Vegita was the first to speak.

"I'm sure you know what I would wish for," he said, grinning fiendishly at her.

"And I know you're not getting it, either!" Bulma snapped. "Sorry, pal; I'm not making any immortality wishes today!"

"You could always wish for a pretty girl for me," Kamesennin offered. "The clothes would be optional, of course!"

Bulma thwonked him on the head. "Anyone else care to make any perverted wishes?" She asked, glaring first at her father, and then at Oolong, who both turned their heads away quickly to avoid her angry glare.

"Ooh, I have a great idea!" Mrs. Briefs exclaimed suddenly, clapping her hands. She leaned forward and whispered something excitedly in Bulma's ear, and Bulma laughed almost immediately.

"That's marvelous!" She cried. "Why didn't I think of that?"

"Porunga!" She cried. "My first wish is for you to create a new planet Namek, along with a corresponding star system similar to the old one, so that the Namek people can rebuild their civilization there!"

Porunga's eyes glowed red for several seconds, and finally he growled, seemingly satisfied. "It has been done. What is thy second wish?" He asked.

"Bulma!" Muuri cried. "What are you doing?"

Bulma smiled mysteriously. "Porunga!" She cried. "My second wish is for you to give little Dende limited powers of telepathy, so that if he or his people are ever in danger, he'll be able to tell us!"

The Nameks gasped, and Porunga's eyes narrowed. Dende suddenly began to glow with an odd white light.

"Whoa!" He cried, grabbing his head. "That tickles!"

"Dende," Bulma said. "I need to try something, all right?"

"Okay," Dende replied, relaxing a bit.

"I'm going to think something," she said, "and I want you to tell me what I'm thinking."

"Okay," Dende said. "I'm ready when you are, Bulma."

Bulma nodded. "Here goes," she said. She closed her eyes and cleared her mind of all extraneous activity. "Can you read this?" She thought as clearly as she could.

"Well?" Dende said after a short pause. "Aren't you going to think something yet?"

"Whew," Bulma sighed. "Good. That means that Porunga understood what I meant by 'limited.' All right, Dende; now you try thinking something at me, okay?"

Right away Dende's voice popped into her head. "Can you hear me?" It said.

"Loud and clear," Bulma said, beaming at him. "This is exactly what I wanted. You guys have a wonderfully clever dragon!"

"What did you do?" Gohan asked. Bulma smiled at him in apology. She had forgotten that everyone but her, the Nameks, and her mother was clueless as to what she told Porunga.

"I told Porunga to give Dende limited powers of telepathy," Bulma explained. "I wanted him to be able to contact us if the Nameks ever happened to need our help. Anyway, Porunga did exactly what I wanted. I wanted Dende to be able to contact other people with his thoughts, but I didn't want him to have the ability to read minds. Basically, he has one-way telepathy now," she finished, giving him a playful knock on the head.

Dende laughed. "Why didn't you want me to read minds, Bulma?" He asked her curiously.

"That was quick thinking, I must say," Dr. Briefs said, nodding. "It wouldn't be a pleasant thing to know what others are thinking about you all the time, and it would be a rather bad invasion of privacy too."

"Oh," Dende said, nodding. "I see."

"Oh, I'm glad you thought of that part, dear," Mrs. Briefs laughed, waving her hand at her. "It might have turned out to be a bad wish if you'd done it my way!"

"It was a great idea, Mom," Bulma said, beaming at her. "I'm glad you thought of it."

Muuri sighed. "Well, I guess this is goodbye," he said, stepping forward and shaking Bulma's hand, as well as those of her parents. "We're all going to miss you so much!"

"I know I'll miss you all too," Bulma said, giving Dende one last hug. "Capsule Corp's going to feel awfully empty without you."

"Oh my, yes," Mrs. Briefs said softly, dabbing at her eyes with a handkerchief.

"We're eternally grateful for all your kindness," Muuri said, his eyes having begun to tear up a little too. "And we hope to see you all again someday. Please come visit us!"

Bulma glanced at Kuririn and Gohan, who both grinned at her. "You can bet on it!" She exclaimed, looking back at him. "Why don't you make the wish, Muuri? I'd really rather not this time."

Muuri smiled. "All right," he said, turning back around toward Porunga. He said the words, and they soon began to disappear, every one of them waving furiously, with eyes full of tears.

Everyone else stayed where they were for a few seconds, silently staring up at the place where Porunga had been. Finally, Dr. Briefs sighed.

"Well, I suppose I'll get back to work on the ship then," he said sadly. "I really would have liked to fly them around in it tomorrow, but I guess It's out of the question now."

"Oh, is your new prototype spaceship nearly done already?" Bulma asked rather disinterestedly.

"Yes, it's all fueled up and ready for its maiden voyage," Dr. Briefs replied. "I still have to install the CD player, and I need to restock the beer in the fridge, but other than that, it's all ready to go."

"What?" Vegita cried suddenly. "That thing is finished already? And it's already been supplied with food?"

"Yep," Dr. Briefs said proudly. "Finished this morning."

Vegita grinned an evil grin, and right away Bulma realized what was going on in his devious little mind. "Imagine that," he said, balling his hands into fists. "What a stroke of luck!" Without so much as another word, he took off like lightning toward Dr. Briefs' workshop.

"Dammit, Vegita!" Bulma yelled, taking off after him, and quickly leaving the others behind her, who still hadn't caught on to what was happening. "You'd better not be thinking about stealing my dad's ship!"

Vegita laughed gleefully back at her. "I'm long past the thinking stage by now, you foolish female!" He shouted back. "I've had my eye on this thing ever since I first saw it! And now that I know that that coward Kakarrot is still alive and out there just waiting for me to slaughter him, I refuse to waste another minute waiting for him on this backwater planet!"

They had reached the ship by now, which was standing like an enormous white ball next to her father's workshop building. Vegita went straight for the entry hatch, but Bulma teleported there ahead of him and kicked him away from it in mid-teleport. She let time flow again, and stood on the platform, guarding the entrance to the ship as if it were her own child. Vegita fell awkwardly to the ground, but was soon up again, seemingly unsurprised and unconcerned by this turn of events. He quickly leapt back up to the platform, and was soon less than a few feet away from her.

"Get your worthless carcass away from my dad's ship," she hissed at him furiously. "He certainly didn't build this thing to fly the likes of you around the universe on a quest to get your ass kicked by Goku again. And I'm not letting you destroy all his months of work for that either. So back off, you arrogant jerk!"

Vegita grinned, and in one swift, effortless movement, he darted forward and pinned her to the door. "When are you going to learn that you can't stop me from getting what I want?" He said softly, his face nearly touching hers. Bulma bared her teeth at him as she fought back against the blind rage that was threatening to take over. She had to keep calm and think of a plausible strategy to win. She knew enough by now to realize that letting herself get explosively angry with Vegita never did her much good.

"Don't worry too much about the ship, if that's really what you're so concerned about," Vegita said suddenly, his face adopting a slightly more serious expression. "It - and I - won't be gone forever. Once I find that fool and dispose of him, I'll come back to share the good news with you and your friends. And then we'll just see who runs the show around here."

Bulma glared fiercely at him, trying not to let those cold eyes of his intimidate her again. But suddenly he did something so unexpected, so incredibly surprising, that she never could have anticipated it. Wrapping one arm around her waist and cupping the back of her head in his other hand, he pulled her to him and pressed his lips to hers.

Bulma was so totally taken off guard by what he was doing that it never even occurred to her to struggle against him. He held her firmly in his arms and kissed her for a good fifteen seconds while she just stood there, her arms limp at her sides and her eyes wide with surprise and increasingly building fear. Why in heaven's name was he doing such a thing?

After what seemed like an eternity, they could hear loud voices approaching them from where they'd left the others. Vegita finally let her go and stepped back a few inches away from her.

Bulma's heart was pounding wildly, and her cheeks were burning. She had backed herself flat up against the side of the ship in an effort to get herself as far away from him as she could, which, unfortunately, was less than a couple of feet. She shakily lifted her arm to push him farther away.

"S- stay away f- from me!" She stammered, trying unsuccessfully to push him back with her trembling hand.

Suddenly Vegita grinned. "As you wish," he said, and he grabbed her arm with both hands. Just as Yamucha, Piccolo, Kuririn, and Gohan led the pack around the corner of the workshop, Vegita flung Bulma at them by her outstretched arm, and as she crashed into them, he ducked inside the ship.

As Bulma and the others disentangled themselves from each other, they all got to their feet and began rushing for the ship, but its engines fired up before they reached it, and it blasted toward the stratosphere. Yamucha's ki flared in frustration, and he charged his ki for a blast.

"Damn him!" He cried, powering up. "I'll shoot him out of the sky!"

"No, Yamucha don't!" Bulma shrieked, jumping in the way. "Are you crazy? You'll fry Dad's ship! Just let him go. Maybe this isn't such a bad thing after all, his leaving. If he's out there in space, we won't have to deal with him. I just hope Goku's stronger than he is, because Vegita intends to kill him when he sees him."

Dr. Briefs shrugged. "Well, it serves the boy right if he suffers from lack of music and beer. Impatient boy indeed, that Vegita."

Everyone did a facevault at this, even Piccolo.

"Er… right," Bulma said, laughing feebly. "That'll teach 'im, Dad!"

"Well, now what do we do?" Kuririn asked. "Just wait around here for Goku to come back?"

"Or for Vegita to return and tell us he's killed him?" Bulma muttered quietly to herself.

"I'm going back home with Gohan," Chichi said firmly. "My boy can't neglect his studies just to wait for his ridiculous father to get back to Earth. Besides, Goku will probably come back home first anyway, when he does get back, that is."

"You mean he will if he knows what's good for him, right Chichi?" Yamucha laughed.

Everyone, excluding Piccolo and Bulma, laughed good-naturedly at his statement, and after that, things just kind of broke up. Gohan, Chichi, and Gyuu-maou drove off for Mt. Paouzu. Piccolo flew off to wherever it was he went, and Kamesennin and Oolong took off in an air car for the Kame House. Kuririn opted to stay behind with Bulma and Yamucha, so aside from Puar and Bulma's family, the three fighters were the last ones left.

Bulma hadn't talked much throughout all of this, which Yamucha took notice of after only a short while. He asked her if anything was the matter, but she quickly avoided his question by changing the subject. The last thing she wanted to tell anybody, much less Yamucha, was that Vegita had kissed her. Bulma was too upset and confused by what had happened to join them for a sparring match that night, so she just told them she was too tired and wanted to go to bed early. They seemed to be okay enough with that, although Yamucha gave her a funny look. It made her rather angry when he did that. Yamucha could somehow always tell when she was being less than honest with him.

Bulma had a hard time sleeping that night. Even though she really was tired, she kept seeing Vegita looming over her whenever she shut her eyes. But she finally did fall asleep, just as the sun was about to rise the next morning.

When she finally trudged down the stairs at about ten o'clock that morning, she found everyone disgustingly chipper and happy. Grumbling angrily when her mother had told her to 'turn her frown upside-down,' she shuffled outside to do her morning exercises. Bulma woke up a little more when the effects of forty-seven g's hit her, and before long, she was feeling much better.

She found Yamucha waiting for her outside the door when she finished, and she eyed him curiously when she noticed the stern expression on his face. "Is something wrong?" She asked him, mopping her face with a towel.

"We have to talk," he said, herding her back into the gravity room and shutting the door.

"Okay," Bulma said, frowning a little at his blunt methods. "You don't have to push, Yamucha! So what's up?"

"You tell me," Yamucha demanded angrily. "I want to know what happened to you yesterday. You've been acting weird ever since Vegita left. I've never known you to pass up a sparring match like that, Bulma! And besides, I saw the look on your face before Vegita threw you at us yesterday. He did something to you, and I want to know what it is!"

Bulma turned away from him. "I didn't want to tell you," she said quietly, drawing her arms in closer and cupping her elbows in her hands. "I had hoped I wouldn't have to."

"Well you do," Yamucha said, crossing his arms and glaring at her. "I demand to know. What happened?"

Bulma sighed. "You know, it's not really necessary," she said hopefully. "Vegita's gone now, and I just know you'll overreact to it. You and will I both be better off if I don't say anything."

"He didn't have time to do much," Yamucha said darkly, "but whatever it was, it's definitely got you acting strangely. It would take something really bad to make you act this out of the ordinary, Bulma, and I want to know what it is. And I'm not leaving until you tell me," he added firmly.

"Fine!" Bulma snapped angrily, balling her hands into fists and clenching her teeth. "You really want to know so badly? Then I'll tell you! He kissed me, Yamucha! He wrapped his arms around me and kissed me like it was the most natural thing in the world! There! Are you satisfied now? Do you have any idea how embarrassing it is for me to tell you this?!" She was blushing furiously, but she whirled around anyway to glare at him as fiercely as she could. But she was too startled by what she saw to glare at him for long.

Yamucha's face had gone ashen gray, and it was contorted into one of the strangest expressions Bulma had ever seen on him. She thought he was going to have a stroke or something. "What?" She asked worriedly. "Are you okay, Yamucha?"

"That conniving brute!" Yamucha croaked. He was livid with anger. "He's going to pay dearly for that! If he ever dares show himself around here again, I'll make him sorry he ever set foot on our planet!"

Bulma suddenly marched forward and slapped him in the face. He stopped spitting fire then, and he gaped at her in astonishment. "What was that for?" He asked in disbelief.

"It was for doing exactly what I was afraid you'd do!" Bulma cried furiously. "Threatening to wage a ridiculous war with that deranged Saiyan, simply because you feel like you need to defend my honor or some similar rubbish! I'm not some damsel in distress for you to defend, you dope! If I mess up, it's my own damn fault, and what happened yesterday was nobody's fault but my own. I'm sick of it, Yamucha! You've been sneaking around here trying to catch Vegita in the act of some unnamed mayhem, and the moment he goes and does something objectionable, you decide to get all tough and macho. Well, enough's enough! Vegita's gone for good, all right? Let's just leave it at that. I say good riddance and goodbye to him. Yes, I'm ecstatic to see him go, and I'd like to just forget about him. You've no reason to make such threats around here, so cut it out, Yamucha! You're fighting a battle you've already lost!" She then whirled back around and began marching toward the door. But she hadn't gone two steps before Yamucha grabbed one of her arms from behind and forced her to turn around and look at him. She glared angrily first at the hand that was clamped on her arm, and then at his face.

"Let go of my arm, Yamucha," she said in a very threatening tone.

"Now you listen to me!" Yamucha said loudly, ignoring her demand and instead gripping her arm more tightly. "You may have been oblivious to this for months, but I sure as hell haven't! I don't mind the fact that you're a little indignant about my wanting to protect you, Bulma, but I had damn good reason to keep my eye on that bastard, and yesterday proves it!"

"What, that Vegita was planning to shoot off into space?" Bulma laughed angrily. "Oh, Heaven help us! Hide all the women and children, because Vegita's going to leave us! That fiend!"

"Listen to me, dammit!" Yamucha shouted in exasperation. "It's not the fact that he shot off into space that has me so upset, and you know it! The reason I'm so angry is because he kissed you! Dammit, Bulma, I'm trying to tell you that Vegita had a reason for doing that! I'm absolutely positive that he's got some kind of fixation on you!"

Bulma went a little pale as cold fear crept into her mind. That thought had never occurred to her. What if Yamucha was right? Vegita did have that disturbing habit of watching her all the time… But surely that didn't mean he… She was halfway convinced when suddenly a clear, sensible thought leapt into her mind.

"You're out've your gourd," She retorted with a dry laugh. "The reason Vegita kissed me yesterday wasn't anything of the sort! He did that to lower my guard so he could get me away from the hatch. And I must admit, he certainly accomplished his goal! I was so dumbstruck that I practically put my arm in his hands for him! I'll give that jerk this much; that was a damned effective tactic."

"Oh, the hell with it!" Yamucha said disgustedly. "I give up! You believe what you want. I just hope you're right, and that lowlife doesn't come back, because if he does, I'll either kill him or die trying. That man's bad news. And if he attacks you like that again, there's no telling how far he'll go. He's capable of doing a lot more to you than kiss you, Bulma, and if you keep denying the obvious like this, sooner or later, he's bound to catch an opportunity to prove me right!"

"That's enough!" Bulma yelled furiously, yanking her arm out of his grip and throwing the door open. "Get out! And don't you dare say such a thing to me again, or I'll knock the stuffing out of you!"

Yamucha only had to look at her face once to realize that she meant it. Grumbling something unintelligible about bull-headed women, he stomped out of the gravity room, slamming the door behind him.

Bulma was furious. How dare Yamucha suggest such a ridiculous notion to her! Vegita hated all humans, and she was certainly no exception! Yamucha was just being his usual annoying, paranoid self. She couldn't believe that he'd let himself read so much into that one kiss. That dope.

Sighing angrily, she left the gravity room in a huff, also slamming the door behind her. Men! The whole lot of them could just take a hike, for all she cared. She'd had her fill of them!



On To Chapter 10 ~~~>