Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Another World ❯ Chapter 3 ( Chapter 3 )

ANOTHER WORLD

AN: This fic begins on the day Radditz would have arrived on Earth. Warnings: Language, possible references to sex.

Disclaimer: I did not create DragonballZ. Although I've been offered millions, I refuse to make money on my stories.

Chapter 3

The dining room was empty when Yamcha returned from his shower, but he followed the voices through the kitchen into the back yard. Bulma and the king stood in close conversation with Goku looking on. From the look on Bulma's face, whatever he was telling his wife fell just short of the most Amazing and Fascinating information of all time.

She spied him coming through the door.

"Yamcha! Radditz has gone to get their ship---their spaceship! He's going to land it right here in the back yard! And then he's going to put Vegeta in . . . what did you call it? A recuperation tank?"

"Regeneration tank," Vegeta said.

The original plan hadn't been to land the ship, but the blue human, Bulma, kept asking questions about how he and Radditz had traveled to Earth. He had answered them all (as well as he could anyway. He hadn't studied hyperdrive mechanics in some time,) and he had finally said, "We could land it here." The delight in her face when he said it echoed through him. He wished he knew what it was with this woman---why he wanted to please her and why he felt so ridiculously happy when he did so.

"That's right! Anyway, this tank will heal his son in a couple of hours. Isn't that amazing?"

"Yes," Yamcha said and looked at the king. "You've made someone's day."

"Would she explode if I told her about the matter transporter?" the king said.

"You have those?" Bulma said, her eyes as big as saucers.

"No."

"But you said---"

"Bulma, I think he's joking," Yamcha said.

Bulma looked at the king's face, so expressionless, then she saw the lips twist ever so slightly. She pressed her lips together, pissed at being made fun of. Behind her anger was a spark of pleasure that this man wanted to play with her and somehow, she knew what game he liked to play.

"What a world-class wit you are," she said sarcastically.

"Not really. I only appear so around people like you."

"What do you mean, 'people like me'?"

"Easy targets."

"If I appear to be an 'easy target' then it's because I have more manners than to make fun of people I just met!"

Vegeta snorted. "Manners---the usual comeback of the slow-witted."

Bulma drew breath to snap back, but was interrupted by her mother.

"Yamcha! Telephone!" Mrs. Briefs called from the doorway. "I think it's your manager."

Yamcha didn't want to leave his wife alone with the alien, but there was no way he could ignore the call-if he told Mrs. Briefs to give the manager some excuse and to call back later, Bulma would want to know why and he could hardly admit that he thought his wife was having too much fun picking fights with an alien.

Or that the alien was having fun picking fights with her.

So with a quick "excuse me" Yamcha went inside to take the call. It was not good news. The team plane was leaving tonight at eight o'clock rather than at six tomorrow morning for the doubleheader in Pepper City. OK, on any other day it would have been indifferent news, but today, the day there was a strange alien king with a world of new technology and predilection for baiting his wife standing on his patio, it was very bad news. He glanced out the window at the trio on the patio. They were pointing at the sky and Vegeta had again ensnared his wife into some tête à tête about fusion engines, anti-matter containment devices or some other gadget from his bag of tricks. He felt his jaw clench. A part of him, the reasonable part, knew he was being reactionary. It wasn't as if Vegeta was on his knees entreating his wife to "come to the Casbah" (or whatever planet he was from). Ever since he'd come home, though, he had been getting this weird vibe that made him wonder if he was living in a fool's paradise and the snake in the garden had finally made an appearance.

When he returned to the patio, Bulma grabbed his arm and pointed to the sky.

"That's the ship!" she said. "Amazing, isn't it?"

Yamcha looked up, but he couldn't see anything.

"Where? I don't see anything."

"There! See that blur? That's it. They've got some kind of cloaking device."

Yamcha looked again and this time he did see it---a shape in the sky, smearing whatever was behind into a trail of color. Only when the ground depressed as it landed did he realize it was not as large as he first thought, only about the size of a bus. Whatever device created the camouflage was deactivated and the ship was finally realized in the sunlight. Silver and smooth, like the boy's pod, only larger and more threatening. Not that there were any weapons visible on the outside, of course. He knew those were on the inside.

And on his patio.

"Wow," Bulma breathed. She opened her mouth to say something else and grinned when she couldn't. "I can't say anything. I'm speechless!"

"Bet that won't last long," Vegeta said and Bulma stuck out her tongue. The hatch opened and Radditz emerged.

"I've prepared a tank, Sire."

"Good. I will get Vegeta," Vegeta said and walked back toward the blasted infirmary wall.

"I'd better go with you and remove the IV," Bulma said and trotted after him.

Yamcha pressed his lips together as he watched his wife trail after the alien, but then Radditz joined them on the patio and looked at Goku.

"So, little brother, how Saiyan are you? We know you like to eat. Do you like to fight?"

"Goku is the best martial artist on the planet," Yamcha said.

"Really?" Radditz seemed unimpressed. He walked a few feet away into an open area. "Care to show me what you've got?"

Goku didn't need to be asked twice. "Sure!" He reached into his gi and removed the weights he habitually wore, and then he walked over to Radditz and crouched into a fighting stance. When Radditz didn't move after a couple of moments, he said, "Uh, do you want me to go first?"

"By all means," Radditz said. "Take your best shot."

Goku waited a second more than pulled back and punched. Radditz easily evaded the strike and countered with one of his own, making contact with Goku's stomach. Goku fell back with an "ooomph!" but caught himself before hitting the ground. He turned back to Radditz and grinned a grin that Yamcha recognized---supreme delight at the challenge this new opponent presented. He unleashed a volley of punches and kicks. Radditz blocked them all except the last, a feint that connected with his jaw and bloodied his lip.

"Sorry!" Goku said. "I guess I got carried away."

"This?" Radditz asked, reaching up with one hand to dab at the blood. "This is what we Saiyans call a 'love tap.' Let's make this more interesting," he said and levitated off the ground.

"How do you do that?" Goku asked with wonder. "I wanted to ask before, when you went to get the ship, but you flew off so fast I didn't get a chance."

"You haven't learned to fly?" Radditz asked. "Saiyan children learn to fly almost as soon as they learn to walk. But I guess living on a planet of ki-less weaklings doesn't give you any idea of what you're really capable of.

"It's simple. Can you throw a ki blast?" Goku nodded and Radditz looked to the heavens in relief. "That's good. At least you're not totally unskilled. It's very similar to throwing a ki blast. You simply reach inside and push the ki through your feet."

Goku closed his eyes and reached inside for his ki. He slowly gathered it, concentrating the energy to his feet and then he pushed. He felt himself lift off the ground and looked up at Radditz. "Like this?"

"Yes. Now push again harder."

Goku did so and this time he did more than levitate; he shot into the sky with a "Woo-hoo!" He flew a few hundred feet into the air, then instinctively pulled with his ki to stop and he turned and looked down.

"This is amazing! Yamcha, you've got to try this!"

Yamcha already was. Irritated by Raddtiz's "ki-less weaklings" comment, he decided he was going to learn to fly if it killed him. Death mattered not; shoving something in that arrogant Saiyan's face meant everything.

So he pushed and although he didn't make it off the ground the first time, he was delighted to find himself mid-air on the second try. Considering the big Saiyan's focus was on Goku during the first attempt, it was as good as making on the first try. He pushed again and flew toward Goku, his own goofy grin matching Goku's.

"Krillen's going to die when he sees this," Yamcha said.

"Oh yeah," Goku agreed.

"So did you want to fight or chat?" Radditz called. He had flown up to their height and hovered a hundred yards away. He gathered ki in his palm. "Either way, you'd better start moving!"

He hurled the small ball of ki at the pair and they separated in time for the blast to breeze between them. Goku and Yamcha looked back at each other and silently agreed that Radditz had made his first mistake.

Goku grinned. "Remember---you asked for it!" he yelled and the pair charged.

Radditz saw the team rushing at him and decided he still liked his odds. Grinning his own grin, he flew to meet the pair head on.

********************************************************* ************************

Back in the infirmary, Bulma and Vegeta were freeing Vegeta's son from the monitors and other medical equipment. Bulma pressed a cottonball onto the IV entry point and then pulled out the needle with her other hand. She looked at the boy's sleeping face and then at the father.

"I was right," she said. "It does suit you-him"

"What?"

"The hair. My mom thought it was too unusual, but I said I thought it suited him." She looked again at the boy's face. "Although I don't think he favors you through here." She gestured across the cheekbones and lower face. "His mother?"

"Yes," Vegeta said.

"The eyes and the brow though, that's all you." She smiled at him, a simple, quiet smile that tugged at him somewhere inside. He swallowed.

"You have no children?" he asked.

Bulma rolled her eyes and her smile grew exasperated. "Not yet, though not for wanting on the part of my mother and Yamcha!"

Her attitude confused him. "Do you not want children?"

"Oh, yes! One day. Just not now," she said. "Yamcha and I have only been married six months. I just want to wait a while before we rush into kids."

His face clouded for a second, then it cleared. He said, "Don't take Tomorrow for granted. It breaks promises too easily."

Bulma was startled at his dark tone. "Ooh-kaay," she said. "I won't."

She reached for a Band-aid and placed it where the IV had been. "That's it. He's ready to go. Do you want to carry him or do you-"

"I will carry him," Vegeta said and leaned down to gently scoop up his son. They departed the infirmary through the hole again-it really was a shorter route to the back yard---and went back to the ship.

"Where'd everybody go?" Bulma asked at the sight of the empty patio.

"Hey, babe!" Yamcha swooped down past her so fast Bulma could identify her husband only by the color of the blur and sound of the voice.

"What the?!" She tracked him with her eyes and saw him soar back overhead toward an orange dot that could only be Goku. "Well, I'll be! They're flying-they're really flying!" She whooped and waved and saw the dots jiggle in a manner that might be waving back.

"Look, here comes Radditz," Vegeta said and a black dot charged Yamcha and Goku.

Bulma watched the frantic exchange and came to the only conclusion possible.

"Are they --- fighting?"

"So it would seem." He watched a moment longer, then uttered a small oath. "That was close. If Radditz doesn't watch himself he's going to lose. Those two may not have his power, but they're quick and well-trained." He turned to Bulma. "So did you want to see the tank or not?"

"Do I? Is a frog waterproof?" she said. At his blank stare she realized he probably had no idea what a frog was and whether it was waterproof or not. "Sure," she said, "I'd love to see it."

They entered the ship and Bulma's eyes feasted on more dials and knobs and buttons than she'd ever seen before. What did they all do? She reached up to finger a lever that was temptingly close, and Vegeta said:

"Don't touch anything!"

Bulma jerked her hand back. "I was only looking."

"Sure you were," he said, moving back through a doorway further into the ship.

Bulma followed, her eyes darting from one gadget to another.

"I'll have you know I'm a genius," she said.

"In whose opinion? Yours?" Vegeta said, passing through what appeared to be some sort of lounge area into another room.

"Everyone's," she said. She spied a silver gadget resembling a gun lying on a table and picked it up. "See? I can tell this is some type of weapon just by examining it."

Vegeta looked at the item in question and grinned. "I can see that 'everyone' is wrong. That device opens food containers," Vegeta said.

Bulma looked again at the gadget and felt her face color. "Oh." She sheepishly returned it to the table.

"The tank is through here," Vegeta said and disappeared through another hatch.

Bulma followed him into what looked to be a small sick bay, but the examination tables she would have expected were absent.

"How do you . . . ?" she started.

"Push that blue button there," Vegeta said, nodding toward it with his head.

Bulma noticed for the first time the two glass chambers on the wall. She located the blue button and pushed it. One of the glass doors opened with a hiss and Vegeta gently placed his son inside it.

"Hand me that mask," he said. Bulma reached into the top of the tank and released the mask and handed it to Vegeta. He fastened the mask over the boy's face.

"Step back," he said and pushed the blue button again.

"Just a mask? How does--"

"You're the genius," Vegeta said. "Watch and figure it out."

"Hmmmph!" Bulma sniffed. "What you mean is that you don't know."

He quirked an eyebrow and graced her with an infuriatingly smug smile. "Maybe I do or maybe I don't, but I do know I'll have a lot more fun watching you figure it out than telling you about it."

"You don't think I can?" she asked.

"Does it matter?"

Her eyes met his black gaze and whatever retort had been on her lips died. There it was again, that connection. She'd felt it twice before, once during lunch and once on the patio. She didn't know how to describe it other than to say it felt like a link, a joining, like holding hands with her eyes. Does is matter he had asked. Oh yes, she thought, I don't know why, but yes, it matters. It matters much more than it should.

She jerked her eyes away and said, "I don't suppose it does."

A gurgle drew her attention back to the tank. It was filling with a clear blue liquid.

"Liquid? Amazing. What is it? Some kind of antibiotic?"

"Synthetic DNA infused with a growth hormone. It accelerates healing."

Bulma grinned. "Can I have the recipe?" Another blank stare from Vegeta. "Never mind," she said, looking back at the tank. "I'll figure it out on my own. How long before he's healed?"

"First the computer assesses injuries then gives an estimate on healing time. Not long, I should think."

The ship rocked violently and Bulma and Vegeta were thrown against the wall, then to the floor. The ship went dark. A second later power came back, but the ship's lights were red. Vegeta recovered first, then helped Bulma to her feet. He steadied her by grasping her shoulders.

"Are you injured?" he asked.

Bulma shook her head. "I don't think so. What was that?"

"I don't know, but I have an idea," he said and led the way back outside the ship.

They emerged into the sunlight to the sound of loud voices-Goku's and Radditz's.

"---I told you I was sorry, Radditz. I didn't realize you were focused on Yamcha and not me. I promise I never would have fired that blast if I thought that you weren't going to block it."

"It was too big to begin with-"

"You told me to take it up a notch---"

"Silence!" Vegeta had clearly had enough of the exchange. He walked over to Radditz. "He blasted the ship?"

"Yes, Sire," Radditz said, but he quickly added. "It was an accident. We were sparring and---"

"---and you got your butt kicked by two fighters who learned to fly today. Nicely done."

Radditz lowered his eyes. What could he say? Goku leapt to his defense.

"It really wasn't a fair fight, Vegeta. Yamcha and I were double-teaming him. And I'm the one who threw the blast. If it hadn't been two on one, I know Radditz would have blocked it."

Vegeta never turned his face from Radditz's as Goku spoke, but when Goku was finished, his lips twisted into an almost smile, as if the long-lost little brother's defense amused him. Then he spoke. "Assess the damage. Auxiliary power came on. Hopefully the system is just offline."

Radditz nodded and disappeared into the ship. Vegeta turned then and faced the group, but he said nothing. Goku and Yamcha suddenly found the grass interesting. After a minute of watching two grown men get stared down, Bulma took a page from her mother's book.

"You guys must be really thirsty after all that! I'll get us some lemonade," she said and went into the house to make it.

When she came back out, Goku and Yamcha were on the patio, but Vegeta had disappeared. "Did he go back onto the ship?"

"Yeah," Goku said. "I think he's kind of mad I blasted the ship, even if it was on accident."

"Well, I'll take theirs in to them. If something's wrong, they'll probably need my help to fix it," she said, heading toward the ship.

"Bulma," Yamcha called,"don't interfere. These men fly around in space all the time; I don't think they're going to need your help."

Bulma rolled her eyes at Yamcha. "Silly boy, all men need my help! Haven't you figured that out yet?" She gave an artful flip of her hair and vanished into the ship.

********************************************************* ******************************

"What do you mean, 'ruined'?" Vegeta was saying as she entered. She stopped at the door. She felt horrible eavesdropping, but she couldn't resist hearing what they would say when they believed they were alone.

"I mean ruined. Broke, busted, unusable, destroyed-take your pick. That blast hit the ship at the one spot it needed to fry the energy cell beyond repair."

"What do you recommend?" Vegeta asked.

"I'll just pull this spare energy cell out of my pants and plug it in---"he snorted. "Vegeta, there is no recommendation. I can't repair the damage and we didn't bring a spare cell. We weren't planning on taking the ship into battle; we weren't even planning on landing it." There was a mild accusation in his tone. Clearly their relationship was much closer than that of king and servant. No servant would dare to speak so to their king.

There was a pause and then Vegeta answered, "Are you questioning my decisions?" He sounded as if he didn't like whatever Radditz was accusing him of and wanted to put the conversation back on formal ground.

"No, Sire," came the reply. "But without power, we can't leave. We can't even transmit at hyperwave speed; the only message we can send is a sub-space transmission. At forty-three thousand light years that should reach Vegeta-sei in-"

"Two weeks," Vegeta finished.

"Yes."

Vegeta cursed softly. Bulma decided to make her presence known.

"Here's the lemonade!" Their black eyes fixed on her and Bulma was reminded that these were not some clients she could schmooze into submission. These were aliens whose previous pastimes included wiping planets clean of all life. "Uh, is there a problem?"

"No," Vegeta said and Radditz answered "Yes!" at the same time. They glared at each other, but Radditz spoke.

"Goku's blast fried the energy cell. Without it, we can't leave."

"Can it be repaired?"

"No."

Bulma thought a moment. "So you need another power source, one compatible with your technology and that can power this ship at hyperspeed?"

"Yes."

"I suppose I could do some research and come up with something. That'll probably take some time and I know you want to get going . . . . Wait a minute! What about Vegeta's pod? Would it have an energy cell you could use?"

"A small one, but it would be better than nothing," Radditz said.

"You have his pod?" Vegeta asked.

"Yes! Vegeta was still in it when we pulled it out of the ocean. It's in my lab."

Radditz grinned. "Bulma, you're a genius!"

Vegeta scowled. "Don't encourage her."

********************************************************* ***********************************

The Briefs home lab was reserved for either pet or top-secret projects. A pod from outer space qualified as the latter so it wasn't in one of the large corporate laboratories across the compound. It was in the basement.

Or so she told Vegeta. But when he entered the "lab" he found the room almost empty. There was an odd gadget here or there, but most of the work surfaces were bare of technical equipment. He did see a series of what looked to be computers against the wall. Amazing how computers look similar in almost every culture, he thought absently. He scanned the room again. But where is the pod?

Bulma walked across the room and started pulling drawers out, rifling through the contents. Every once and a while she pulled out an oblong container, examined it, then tossed it back in the drawer. They waited. Then she went to another wall and began to repeat the process.

"I thought you said the pod was in your lab?" Vegeta said impatiently.

"It is---I'm looking for it! Keep your pants on!" she said and continued on her bizarre hunt.

Radditz leaned toward Vegeta. "I don't think we're talking about the same thing. She keeps pulling out these tiny capsules."

Vegeta rolled his eyes. "Figures. It was too good to be true."

Bulma was on her knees now, opening cabinets, muttering. "I know it's here. Dad must have come in to take another crack at it . . . . It's going to be so much easier to figure out now that you guys are here . . .Aha!" She held up a capsule triumphantly. "I told you it was here."

She stood up and walked to the center of the room. "Stand back a bit, boys." She popped the capsule and tossed it.

*Poof* and smoke filled the area where she had tossed the capsule. It cleared quickly revealing . . .

The pod was there. Inexplicably, impossibly, undeniably there. Vegeta blinked. It was still there.

"How did you do that?" Radditz asked.

"Do what?" Bulma said.

"Make the pod appear."

"Oh! I didn't make it appear, I just decapsulated it." She picked up the opened capsule on the floor. "It was just in here. It was too big to keep in the middle of the floor. Not to mention secret! We had this horrible photographer once who----"

"Do it again!" Vegeta said.

Bulma stopped her story. "Do what? Decapsulate the pod? I can't do it again. Well, I could, but I would have to encapsulate it first."

"Then do that!"

She started to comply, but a new thought struck her. "Haven't you ever seen capsule technology before?"

They shook their heads 'no'.

"Oh! I guess I just assumed people who had managed the hyperdrive would have figured out how to encapsulate stuff. It's so convenient. See, all you do is . . .

Bulma launched into her standard capsule presentation. She didn't make all the corny jokes she made for the high school science students that were her usual audience and added a bit more technical information. When it was over, and she had decapsulated the pod one last time, she turned to her audience of two.

"Any questions?" she said automatically with a big smile. She saw Radditz's hand twitch, but he didn't raise it.

"That's . . . amazing," he said. "Is there any limit to the size of the object you put into the capsule?"

"There used to be," she answered. "When dad started, very large objects would fall into electron degeneracy, effectively ruining the object. At fifteen, I discovered a new way to encapsulate massive objects that wouldn't compromise the atomic structure, so now there's pretty much no limit to what can be encapsulated."

During her little presentation, she had kept looking at Vegeta, looking for some sign he was impressed, interested---something. But he had stood there like a rock, expressionless, taking in every detail, but giving nothing away regarding his thoughts. She was still smarting after her embarrassment on the ship. A gun! Why would aliens with the personal power these men possessed carry a weapon? She mentally smacked her head. Way to go, girl! You really know how to impress a guy-NOT! Some part of her rebelled at this thought; she wasn't supposed to be concerned with whether or not she was impressing Vegeta. She wasn't supposed to be concerned with Vegeta at all! That didn't change the fact that she wanted to impress him, wanted it badly.

"So," she said brightly to hide her disappointment. "How about we check out the power cell to this pod?"

********************************************************* *************

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Big thanks as always to my beta, Ember and to debbiechan for creative consultation. You gals are fab. And the rest of you---go read their stories! They're posted right here at mm.org. (So convenient to your current location!)