III. Vegeta's Second Mood Swing

There was a pause after Cell spoke his words, and then, Vegeta abruptly burst out laughing. "Little Bitch?" he queried, "Little Bitch??" Frieza fumed, folding his arms and looking down, "Don't call me that in front of the monkey, Cell." Vegeta laughed harder, falling to his knees. Trunks had never seen his father laugh so hard in his entire life. He wasn't sure if he should laugh along or be scared. The Prince of Saijins laughed hysterically, slamming his fist against the ground, accidentally crushing the heart he held. "Opps," Vegeta said, turning serious for just the briefest of moments before he burst out laughing again, falling over onto his side, clutching his midsection. Freiza sighed, glaring up at the android, "Now look at what you've done."

Before anyone could continue anything Bulma screamed at the top of her lungs. "YOU...YOU RIPPED HER HEART OUT!!" the scientist proclaimed, as if the notion finally registered in her mind. Vegeta looked up at her from the ground, "Hmm? Oh, yes. Yes, I did." Bulma stared for a moment. With clenched teeth she yelled, "HOW CAN YOU BE SO CALM!?" Vegeta pushed himself to his feet, wiping off his bloody hand onto his pants, "Woman, are you stupid? You know very well that I've committed genocide. It's amazing I haven't killed off all you pathetic humans yet. And who knows why I ever decided to mate with you." Bulma's eye twitched and Vegeta continued. "Apart from the fact you seemed to be the only one who cared about me. That scored some points. Not to mention your wonderful figure," the prince said, giving a sloppy grin about the last half of his comment. The blue-haired lady was dumbstruck, "Vegeta, are you okay?" A wider, more playful grin, "Yes, of course I am. What makes you think otherwise?" Trunks decided to speak, "Well, you did rip someone's heart out at random." Vegeta shrugged and turned around, "Whatever. Let's go gambling." He strolled forward to the Hell gang, motioning for them to follow, "C'mon, I want something to drink."

***

"I want you to know that this is an exception to the rule," King Kai said in his basic overbearing voice, "So don't expect too much from it, alright? Hey...Hey Goku, are you even listening to me!?" The black-haired Saijin raised both of his eyebrows as he smiled, "Sure thing, King Kai! I understand! I have to get everyone who escaped and bring them back to the afterlife. No problem." The blue-skinned god didn't seem too assured, "Just remember that I'll be watching over you and Pikkon." Goku's eyes narrowed in confusion, "Who's Pikkon?" King Kai sighed heavily, "Another warrior that's going with you! He's done this type of thing a lot longer than you have, so be sure to follow his orders." Goku nearly fell over has his jaw dropped, "WHAT!? But I've dealt with a lot of the people who are now missing!" The god stood on his toes as he shouted towards Goku's face, "I'M IN CHARGE AND I SAY TO LISTEN TO PIKKON!" Goku cowered back a little, saying quickly and quietly, "Okay, okay...no need to get upset..." A green-skinned man approached the pair, "Are we prepared to leave?" King Kai nodded to him, "Here's your badges. Hurry along now." The two warriors took a badge and pinned them to their shirts before Goku placed his hand on Pikkon's shoulder. They promptly disappeared.

***

Bulma, to say the least, was having an unpleasant time. First Vegeta had been acting like a total jerk. Then he ripped out some old woman's heart. Then he acted like it was nothing. Then he joined up with his old enemies to go gambling where she was now stuck. Trunks stood a bit beside and behind her, keeping all opinions to himself. At first she was thoroughly made fun of because of how weak she was. Then they (and by they I mean the Hell gang) began to ask her all sorts of personal questions. Then lastly, as what they were still doing now, they critiqued her body. Not that they were making bad comments, but the fact that they were lewd upset her. There was nothing like, "I love what you've done with your hair. Do you use Pantene Pro V? Really? What a coincidence! I do too! And is that nail polish you're wearing Cloudy Day Sunset Pink?" Instead it was, "Damn, you're a fine piece of ass." Or, "Word, bitch, I'd love to take you home!" So she sat, silently fuming, and wondering exactly how she was going to get revenge upon her darling boyfriend. For some reason she remembered the day she gave birth to Trunks. Gritting her teeth she recalled how much it hurt and how much she blamed Vegeta for it. Yes. It was all Vegeta's fault. Ironically, this was not far from the truth, however, it happened to be related to a different situation. All in all, Trunks was not Vegeta's fault considering she was willing towards the prince. Yes, for extreme pleasure she had to pay with extreme pain....She fumed silently and asked herself, 'Who's side are you on!?' Of course though, she got no answer. More happily, however, that cute guy Zarbon looked over at her.

His gaze wasn't as leering as the other men's, in fact, it held no leer at all. He smiled. She smiled. "Do you use Pantene Pro V on your hair?" he questioned politely. "As a matter of fact," Bulma replied, sounding almost bored, "I do." Zarbon's face brightened as he reached behind his head and pulled his ponytail over his shoulder so that he could play with it easier, "Really? What a coincidence! I do too!" Bulma blinked, feeling as if she should be doing something at the moment. "And is that nail polish you're wearing," Zarbon continued innocently, "Cloudy Day Sunset Pink?" Bulma took more time blinking this time round and finally gave up on the blink and gave him a nod. "It looks lovely on you," the alien said as he ran a finger over the tip of his braided ponytail, seemingly losing interest in the scientist all at once. The blue-haired lady suddenly realized that that was the conversation she had wanted an instantly got angry that she had neither noticed it as well as failed to become happier by it. Damnit. It must've been Vegeta's fault. Her attention focused on the masculine conversation that was underway. Something involving sex, which was really quite unsatisfying, especially because it involved her. However, when Trunks was mentioned her complete and full attention was grasped. Before panicking her mind replayed the message so that she wouldn't make a rash decision. 'But the Siberian Tiger position isn't so bad. Don't you agree, Trunks?' Vegeta had said out of nowhere. The purple-haired teen rubbed his forehead, "Ah.....sure, dad." Vegeta threw his arms up into the air as if he was making an ominous prediction, "There, you see!" Though in all technicality there was nothing visible other than the fact that Vegeta's arms threw themselves up into the air, and that phrase in itself isn't to be taken literally, otherwise, the prince would have two detached arms.

"Four of a kind," Cell said, laying down his cards as everyone else groaned in disappointment. "I swear you're cheating," Frieza declared, stealing someone's shirt and putting it on. "Little Bitch," Cell asked in a highly over-innocent tone, "Would I ever cheat you?" Vegeta sat back in his chair, glad he didn't participate in the game, "You've already cheated death by coming back." Cell nodded and shrugged, "True, true."

At that moment in time, a great disturbance came about the casino like when a pair of pathetically unfashionable clueless dorks walk into a crowded room looking all at once determined to start a fight, yet at the same time look like a charitable pair of holy men that'd go on a crusade if a youth minister from a local church group jokingly made the suggestion. So it was to no great surprise when a pair of pathetically unfashionable clueless dorks actually did walk into the room. One wore a hideous orange-navy combination that though the colors were alright, the style was defiantly not with the times. The other wore mostly white and nothing really sparked an interest except for the fact he lacked a nose and his skin with a deep green like Piccolo's. The most interesting thing about them was that each had a golden ring that floated above their heads supported by nothing at all. In short, the halos were defying gravity in the most disturbing of ways. Another noticeable thing about them was the fact they each wore a shiny golden pin on the breast of their shirts. Each pin said: "V.I.P." Upon closer examination you'd notice a crease in the side, and if one took their finger they could grab hold and pull open the pin, which essentially, was more like a locket without the chain of a necklace. On the inside of the said pin-locket it clearly stated: "Very. Important. Person. This badge hereby gives the powers vested in me - Kai of the North Quadrant - that this person is allowed all passage rights and privileges into the world of the living. The owner of this badge has the power to capture, threaten, beat, rekill, belittle, and/or game those who have escaped from their proper place in the afterlife. If found please bury with the next available person." It was also to no great surprise that this pair looked all at once determined to start a fight, yet at the same time looked like a charitable pair of holy men that'd go on a crusade if a youth minister from a local church group jokingly made the suggestion.

Yes, Goku and Pikkon had entered the room. They both stepped forward until they spotted what they came here for. Pikkon was ready, though Goku suddenly found himself at a loss when he saw who the Hell gang was with. "Vegeta??" the taller Saijin asked, quite confused why Vegeta would calmly sit with his greatest foes. The prince's eyes moved up and met Goku's, and in that moment something happened. A flicker of emotion stirred in Vegeta, his eyes shining though it seemed like they weren't, or more like, they shouldn't have been.

"You fucking asshole," the prince said, his voice deep and heavy with emotion. Any normal person examining the situation would have found it strikingly odd and uncomfortable that Vegeta would act in such a manner and would become quite irate that the great Saijin warrior act in such a feminine sort of manner in the way he spoke to Goku. All in all, there were plenty of good reasons behind this course of action though Vegeta himself didn't know exactly why he spat it out except that he figured he must have wanted to say it. "You fucking asshole," he repeated in a calmer voice, "You walk out of my life and you expect to just walk back in?" No one knew quite what to say because it rather sounded like Vegeta was giving the sort of walked-out-on-lover speech to Goku. Another few moments of uneasy silence ensued as everyone stared at Vegeta, except Vegeta, who stared at Goku.

And Goku said the only thing that seemed reasonable to say, "I didn't even know you felt that way, Vegeta."