Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Second Chances for Bardock's Sons ❯ Take me to the tournament! ( Chapter 13 )

Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Ball Z or Full metal alchemist. Funimation brings us these master works of anime on DVD. Toriyama created DBZ. I can only claim responsibility for the plot and the character of Tomic, Merlot, Cabernet and other fan characters here. Captain Scarlet is inspired by Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons owned by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson even though he's a bad guy here! The only pay I get is your reviews so please keep them coming! And my thanks to those who have already reviewed! Kudos and hugs to you!

Second Chances for the Sons of Bardock

Meeting of Minds

By Trynia Merin

Scarlet's sharp eyes spotted dust kicking up from an air bike. Behind the handlebars a shapely female's blue hair whipped over her eyes. He snickered evilly, rocketing at full force towards her.

"Stop right there, Miss Briefs, you can't escape us!" he shouted.

Bulma snapped her head up. Her eyes widened in terror. Sliding her hand along the handlebar she pressed a small button. A muzzle shot out of the headlight along with a flickering display. Seconds later a hail of fine bullets peppered Scarlet. He snickered with ease zigzagging back and forth to escape her machine gun fire.

"Eat this you tin can!" she shouted, shaking her fist.

"Two can play that game, vixen," Scarlet laughed. He clenched his fist. Red ki crackled along it, then surged in a basketball blast headed right towards her. Bulma twisted her handlebars to evade the sphere. Another button depressed on her dashboard replaced the machine gun with a thick smoke cloud. Scarlet waved away the smokescreen, switching to his heat sensor. He circled around, lobbing basketball sized ki balls in a ring.

Out of the heart of the smoke sizzled red rods. One of them singed his Red Ribbon sleeve. Amused he shot downwards, aiming another blast. Bulma's air bike shot out of the smoke quickly in a 45-degree arc. Gaining altitude Bulma pressed another button to engage the small heat-seeking missile out of the back cargo container. "Not so fast bud," she laughed. "No man will keep Bulma BRIEFS captive!"

"I'll be the first!" Captain Scarlet taunted, swooping out of the way of her missile. It hairpin turned to jet back towards him. Back and forth he surged over the landscape, dodging and weaving his flight through the rock needles. Bulma peeled off towards the west.

Unfortunately a basketball sized ki slammed right into the side of her bike. Bulma narrowly twisted out of the way inches from the impact in sand. Rocks flew everywhere around her in the shockwave. She tumbled head over heels, bike spinning out of control. Quickly she pressed a button in her belt. Around her body shot a white sphere, hiding her from view. It bounced and rolled free, finally jolting to a stop. All around her rose the smoke from her exploding air bike. She peeled her way out of the safety-landing bag, shaking her dizzy head.

Two boots landed inches from her face. Overtop her leered the form of Captain Scarlet in Red Ribbon uniform. Bulma swallowed hard at the fist crackling inches from her face. "What the hell… you were working for piccolo!"

"A necessary convenience. But we were using the green man," Scarlet cackled. Bulma brought the hand behind her back quickly forwards to shoot a handful of sand into his face. Throwing sand in his face. Angrily he aimed a blast in the sand right near her. With a squeak she rolled over, hugging her knees while the sand sprayed hotly over her.

"Stop right there bitch, or die. You've reached the end of the road, Bulma Briefs," said Scarlet. "Now turn over, slowly."

Bulma did so; scooting backward crab like at the fist crackling inches from her. Leaning over Scarlet scowled at her at the same time brushing sand from his eyes. "Oh crap…"

"You just had to try and escape. Well, you've caused us enough trouble. Thanks to you my whole career was ruined," Scarlet grimaced.

"What do you want?"

"Only what anyone wants. World domination. Revenge. Dr. Gero wants you all for himself. But he didn't specify what condition to bring you back in, see?" Scarlet laughed. Bulma continued to scuttle backwards, her chest heaving in and out.

"But…"

"Piccolo is a puppet. And those space monkeys will be our next Androids. Such power will let Red Ribbon be on top again," he snickered. "And you can either join us or die."

"Piccolo will stop you!" she cried, hand thrown before her face.

"We can stop him easily. If Goku doesn't kill him, one of us can do the honors. And there's always the ki suppressors," he said, patting his belt.

"How did you develop those?" she gasped.

"Some friends from high up. Dr. Gero's no slouch. Seems he's found some wreckage from 20 years ago. And he managed to study the files of a certain ET who happened to have botched his mission," snickered Scarlet.

"Wait… how could you," she gasped.

"Your little friend Goku is a space alien. Those two outer space monkeys landing proved it. But they're going to be pawns in our gambit to take over this world. Thanks to your Goku he's sealed your fate," said Captain Scarlet with a leer.

"But you can't possibly know…"

"You'd be surprised how persistent Gero is. It almost drove him mad deciphering that space pod's database. But we learned some VERY interesting things. And not even space monkeys can save you now," Scarlet laughed. Red lighting licked along his arm suspiciously resembling the power trace that she had seen the female Tomic use.

"Goku, Yamcha help!" she screamed.

"There is no hero to save you, bitch. I take it from your resistance you'd rather die then join us. What a pity," laughed Scarlet. Bulma whimpered, hugging her knees as his fist encroached. All she heard was Scarlet's nasty laugh.

Then silence. A loud whoosh blasted air from her face. Suddenly she heard a loud cry of fear. Next moment she was lifted up in a pair of sturdy arms, rocketing backwards at great speed. "What the HELL?" shouted Scarlet.

"Thank you for telling me all I needed to know, you weakling fool," laughed a harsh voice under Bulma's chest. She opened her eyes to see Scarlet gaping in shock with his raised fists.

"You what the hell ARE YOU?" Scarlet gasped. A white-gloved hand rose up to block the basketball sized sphere lobbed towards her and her rescuer. Bulma screamed clutching onto the spiky haired armored figure holding her in his arms.

Easily he deflected the blast, and then laughed. Bulma opened her eyes to see light flickering off a red scouter lens. The owner twisted his face into a cruel smile, raising two fingers to point them at Scarlet. Angrily Scarlet hurled blast after blast. Her stomach dropped into her feet with the blurring of the world around her. Every molecule vibrated with a strange blue frequency with the tightening of the gloves on her body.

Moments later, Scarlet stood panting, his gloved hands smoking. The Prince raised his gloved fingers, wrapping a blue glow around his body. Screaming Scarlet grabbed his neck. Red energy snaked out around him, crackling against the blue aura that constricted. "You can't stop me alien!" he howled.

"Oh shut up you weakling and die like you have some dignity," Vegita snorted. With an angered grunt the Prince flicked his wrist. A blue beam shot out from his fingers about the breadth of Bulma's wrist. It sizzled through Scarlet's heart, and then enveloped him in a blue glow hotter then the sun. Bulma's eyes flickered shut with the blinding flash eclipsing all else. The last thing she heard from Scarlet was a loud scream fading into nothingness.

"Weakling," Vegita snorted. Bulma blinked at smoking ashes swirling away in the breeze.

"You… you killed him like he was nothing," Bulma whispered.

"So? He was about to kill you," Vegita said casually. Bulma's blue eyes saw the strange glimmer in the depths of bottomless black. Panting she leaned forwards and kissed his cheek.

"Thank you," she wheezed.

"Ugh what in the name of Great Father Oorzu was that for?" Prince Vegita spat, almost dropping her in his shock. "Don't you DARE salivate on me!"

"What kind of being are you? That was only a kiss to thank you! I'm not going to bite you!" she gasped. Vegita let go of her with one hand to rub his cheek angrily with his other.

"You have no idea, woman," Vegita glanced at her levelly. His annoyance turned into wide-eyed shock at her words. At that moment Bulma saw the thin angular line of his jaw. He had no facial hair to speak of, save the crest of black hair fluttering vertically in the breeze. That confusion twisting his thick dark eyebrows resembled that of a child not knowing what would happen next. Especially when his eyes widened in near horror.

"How did you move so fast?" she panted, feeling her heart thumping. He had ruthlessly blown up Scarlet without batting an eyelid, yet he had saved her without question.

"Must you ask so many blasted questions?" Vegita grumbled.

"I'm a scientist! Asking questions is a good way to find answers, DUH!" Bulma stuck her tongue out at him. Vegita shook his head in utter confusion.

"Oh I feel faint," she gasped, when the blood rushed to her head. Adrenaline petered out, and she shivered with the cold of shock. Mercifully she passed out in the Prince's arms.

"Humph, humans," Vegita snorted. Cradling the female in his arms he slowly levitated in the air to assess the scene. Green Saibamen rocketed into view on his left and right. He barked orders in Saiyanese to them to rocket after the traces of ki on the far horizon.

A huge blast rocked the sky. Android No. 6 aka Violet, and No. 8 landed opposite the armored giant who had shot past them. He leered at them with a cruel grin. "Okay let's see what you've got, fleas," Nappa laughed.

"Another space monkey," said Violet, shaking her head. "No. 8, destroy him."

"Only if he's a threat," said 8.

"C'mon I've not got all day," Nappa impatiently said. On his left and right appeared two green creatures in a blur.

"What the hell are those?" mumbled Violet. She jerked a finger at No. 8.

Two Saibamen sizzled back and forth then spun around No. 8. He turned to track their movements with his eyes. Inhaling deeply he breathed a prayer of thanks that he didn't have to fight the alien who he had no reason to hate. Let Violet get the worst of it while he made short work of the drones. His senses told him they were just puppets designed for the purpose of killing without real independent thoughts of their own.

"Why don't we warm up first, pretty," said Nappa.

"You take care of the cabbage men, I'll get King Kong," said Violet. She cracked her knuckles, sidling up to Nappa.

"You wanna tangle with me lady? Let me know if this tickles," Nappa laughed. Lighting crackled around his form. Cruelly Violet spanned her arms, letting sizzling electricity shoot over her body while she powered up. Around them the very atmosphere sizzled with ionized particles.

"C'mon King Kong, show me what you've got," laughed 7. She grinned savagely as Nappa's mouth opened.

"Bomber DX!" he shouted. From his throat shot a wide beam. She flipped easily out of its way, then hurled a series of bolts towards him.

"Foofighter!" she laughed. Nappa's face brightened up from its scowl. Perhaps he would find this fun after all.

Bulma blinked slowly. Something crackled over her body with an ozone smell. She blinked awake to stare into a pair of very dark eyes. Immediately she gasped, kicking backwards at the confused face of the Prince. At least that is what he called himself. Pain erupted at the contact of a hard object on the back of her skull.

"OUCH!" Bulma cursed, rubbing the back of his head. "What the hell."

"Can't you keep your mouth SHUT for one second?" the Prince gritted in disgust, backing away. He bared his teeth hissing in anger at the female's loud cry.

"Wait a minute, what… oh yeah, you saved me," Bulma mumbled, still rubbing her bruised noggin. Around her curved the surface of a small spaceship. In a thickly padded seat she sat peering at a frowning alien prince through the open hatch curving above. Vegita crouched on white booted feet peering in at her like she was a specimen or dangerous animal.

"No kidding female. Though why I bothered is eluding me at this moment," he answered in a thickly accented voice. Such a voice was just learning human speech, Bulma surmised from the inflexions, and his native tongue must be guttural indeed.

"So you're not kidding me? You're really a Prince?" she glanced up at him.

"Are you ignorant as well as loud female? I told you I am! You try my patience, fool!" he bared his teeth at her.

"EXCUSE me for freaking breathing, your high and mightiness!" Bulma yelled back at him, causing him to clamp a hand over the ear not covered by a scouter. "I've been through HELL and you're shouting at me!"

"You have no comprehension of what hell truly is, female," Vegita glared back at her. To his satisfaction this caused Bulma to shut up. She trembled on the seat of the space pod, hugging herself.

"Crap, oh crap I can't believe this. I'm talking to a monkey prince who just vaporized a bad guy with his finger," she shook her head.

"Idiot," he grumbled, turning away. "Stay there. If you value your life. I'm sick of saving your ass. The next time you try and run for it and get killed I'm NOT coming after you!"

"Fine," Bulma mumbled. "So what fly crawled up your royal butt, huh?"

Snapping his head around Vegita glared at her through his scouter. "Quite a tongue on you, female. Be glad you amuse me or else I'd have vaporized you for your incessant babbling!"

"Hey, I'm cold, hungry and I DON'T do outdoors, your HIGHNESS! I'm stuck in the wilderness after being SHOT at, savaged by bug eyed robots, and I don't have an ice cream soda or a boyfriend so LAY Off!" Bulma yelled at him. Vegita blinked at her, astonished at her gall.

"Spoiled brat," he snickered.

"Takes one to know one, Prince," she shot back.

"How hard did you hit your head, female," he mumbled.

"My name is BULMA, BULMA got it, not BABE, female, or woman! Sheesh!" Bulma glared at him.

"Fine, BULMA, shut up," Vegita glared at her. "And tell me what I wish to know. Or else you'll be sorry!"

"You can't blow me up, Prince," she said with a mock cooing tone that made him sick to his stomach. "I'm beautiful, smart and I'm your information booth. So maybe you could act like a Prince and use some manners."

"Don't push my buttons woman, you wouldn't like the result," he snarled, moving his face to within inches of hers. His chest heaved in and out as he grabbed the front of her shirt with one gloved hand. Hot breath pulsed against her lips, and Bulma did not back down.

"I don't like men pushing me around, your Highness," Bulma breathed, staring him down. "So just chill okay?"

"You're not scared of me are you? Are you insane or just stupid?" Vegita marveled in disbelief.

"Are all Saiyans as handsome as you are?" she asked sweetly, mustering a smile though she was terrified.

Her statement caught him off guard. Vegita's jaw opened but no sound came out. Inside his chest his heart thumped violently while the sweet scent of her beauty products overloaded his sense of smell. Surely she was just saying that to keep from being killed. Glancing into those eyes he saw his own image reflected, totally unnerving and Un Saiyan. "Naturally," he said, smoothing his voice out and giving her his best diabolic smirk. So she wanted to play head games, he would bite.

"So, what do you want to know?" Bulma smiled, resting her hand on top of the gloved one holding her shirt. Lightly she ran her fingers over the back of it.

"Where are my soldiers," Vegita breathed, lips next to her ear. Bulma felt the warmth of his body, suddenly feeling nervous and shaky. The bastard was playing right back with her, she thought.

"At the 23rd Budakai," she whispered. "A martial arts tournament. They're trying to stop Piccolo from taking over the world."

"And you say my men are there?"

"One of them is fighting for Piccolo against her will, Prince," she said, glancing up at him wide eyed. Somehow her gut told her that he could tell truth from lies so she might as well come clean. "And the other is with Goku I guess. He's fighting with the rest of Earth's Special Forces. If you mean the guy with long spiky hair and stuff."

"Idiotic buffoon I didn't give him leave to sightsee!" Vegita snorted, retreating a bit. Still his hand clutched Bulma's shirt while his other pinned her shoulder into place. He shifted to sit on the edge of the seat so his armored hip brushed hers. Bulma leaned on her side to squeeze her legs shut.

"I don't know why, but Piccolo's trying to kill Goku. And I've no idea why you guys are here, but I'm guessing from your database that it's to blow this planet up. And I'm begging you not to," Bulma panted.

"Begging me?" he snickered.

"Prince Vegita, we can trade," Bulma swallowed. "I mean I'm a scientist. What do you want? Power, universal domination? Cause I might be able to help you!"

"You help me? Don't make me laugh!" he snorted.

"I decoded your scouter and made it speak my language, hot shot," she smirked at him. "And if you want to get stronger, I might know a way to help you."

"Who says I'm not already strong enough," he smirked.

"From what your database said it was something about selling and buying planets," Bulma swallowed. "And you must be doing that to get rich. And you must want to buy something. And you've got someone ELSE as your boss cause you said your name was Vegita of the Saiyans, and someone ELSE was listed as the big boss. And judging from your personality you don't like someone telling you what to do any more than I would."

"Woman, you presume much," he laughed. "You mean to tell me you translated a database in a matter of months?"

"Yes, I did say I was smart," she smirked.

"Take me to this tournament," he glared at her.

"Oh no, that would ruin it!" she glanced at him.

"You dare question me?" he snapped.

"If Goku and Piccolo don't fight, Piccolo would kill a lot of people. He wants to take over this planet! And if you're going to do something wasteful and stupid and blow it up, I'm sure he'll give you one hell of a fight! So why don't you just tell me what I can do to help convince you otherwise, hmm?" Bulma blurted out, voice shaky.

"You've got a lot of guts, woman," Vegita said. "You'd better not be jerking me around, because I'll show you how capable I am of blowing this entire world to space dust…"

"Whoa easy Prince, then what good would it be for your boss? If you don't get anything out of your investments…" she trailed off. Sighing Vegita released her shirt. That shrewd minx had a point and he hated her for it. What sort of creature was she, but a Princess. She had knowledge of matters of state, and acted in a manner that suggested a life of pampering.

"Very well then, Bulma, we'll play this your way. But I don't like my soldiers messing around when they're supposed to be securing this planet for MY use," Vegita said.

"Capsule is very wealthy. You could easily get what you wanted by trade. My daddy owns a lot of…" she trailed off.

"Your primitive technology is nothing compared to ours. But I will bite. Provided you swear allegiance to me," he snickered.

"EXCUSE me?"

"I don't like my allies and servants thinking they can outthink a master strategist. And those foolish enough to betray me have paid a heavy price. So you'd BEST not try and double cross me, or your whole race will suffer the fate of your folly," he said with an icy tone that sent chills over her spine.

"Okay, Prince, you've got a deal. I'll swear or whatever, but ONLY n one condition," Bulma said.

"You drive a hard bargain. What is it!" he snapped.

"Don't hurt or kill any of my friends," she said quietly.

"I can't promise that. But I can promise that if you serve me well that you will not come to harm, although your life is insignificant in the long run," he snorted. "Such a weak creature like you could hardly pose a threat unless she had great faith in a hidden resource."

"Fine whatever," she glanced up at him. Extending her hand she said, "Shake?"

"Stupid earth customs," he snorted, grabbing her hand and squeezing it. Bulma gritted her teeth at the sudden pressure in his gloved grasp.

"Ow!" she yelped, wincing as her face twisted into a grimace. Vegita yanked her out of the space pod, then gripped her around the waist.

"Hold on if you value your worthless life," he mumbled, levitating into the air. Bulma gulped, gripping him around his neck as he rocketed up with her in his grasp. Her feet dangled at the same height as his white boots with gold tips. It dawned on her that they were the same height give or take his crest of wiry spikes.

"Where are we going! Hey! They can sense your energy!" she cried.

"They cannot sense mine, simpleton. I'm perfectly capable of masking my true power," he laughed with a deep harshness. Blue ki surged around his form, crackling overtop Bulma to fold them in an envelope. Around them the ground raced at a blinding pace. Vegita relentlessly thrust against the planet's atmosphere. Far below she saw the crackling surges of power accompanied by roiling dark storm clouds rolling all around. The very air burst with highly ionized particles tingling her scalp even through Vegita's protective shield.

"What's he doing!" she gasped, pointing down at the armored figure of Nappa surging with electricity. Two other figures in Red Ribbon outfits rained energy blasts on him as he zipped in and out.

"What are those things?" Vegita mumbled. "I can't see them on my scouter!"

"They're machines, and who is that?"

"My right hand man Nappa. He's an elite warrior, and those things are matching him. This is intolerable! Nappa what are you doing?"

"Having fun, your majesty!" came Nappa's laugh.

"Let yourself be captured. And see if you can learn anything about these tin cans," said Vegita. "And send the Saibamen back to the pods. I'm going after Raditz and Tomic."

"Sure Vegita," he laughed. "This will be a blast."

"Don't blow anything up till you've recorded a full assessment of their strength. Then you can atomize them," he said.

"Wait," Bulma swallowed. "There could be more."

"Don't insult me, woman," Vegita rolled his eyes. "Call me in two hours. Then blow their headquarters sky high!"

"Will do!" Nappa's voice crackled. "Nappa out!"

"Vegita… I mean your Majesty… you can't just blow up a Red Ribbon base… they could…"

"I can do as I please," he laughed. "Now tell me where this tournament is so that I might see if this Piccolo is a worthy adversary!"

"You're going to just WALTZ into a martial arts tournament like THAT?" she glanced at him. "Are you nuts?"

"Would you rather I blow it up first? I don't have time for your games woman," Vegita glanced at her impatiently. "And who the hell is this GOKU?"

"Don't you know? He's just like you guys, with a tail and the hair!" she glanced at him.

"You mean to say he's a SAIYAN?" Vegita gaped at her. "Then why in HELL can't I sense… damn it!"

"I thought you and your buddy had come to take him back," Bulma trailed off, eyes wide. "I mean that's what Tomic said…"

"Kakkarot was presumed missing. I can't believe how a mere third class could evade capture so long. Just how powerful is this Piccolo, and why didn't Raditz report back?" Vegita stammered in anger.

"Easy Prince, let's just follow your plan. The tournament's about 250 miles that way on the largest island…" she pointed. "Due south."

"Raditz has a lot of explaining to do!" Vegita snarled, gripping Bulma to him more tightly.

"OUCH not so hard you brute!" she yelped.

"Shut up or I'll drop you!" Vegita barked. Bulma hung tightly to him, burying her face in his neck. The Saiyan Prince rocketed at twice the speed of sound, suppressing his true levels tightly under a shutter of mental might.