Chapter 16

DISCLAIMER: I don’t own DBZ…or any of the shows that I rip off!

8OOoooooooooo (a worm)

Bulma scuttled quietly through the air ducts; luckily the noise Vegeta was making rummaging through the cupboards was covering any noise she was making.

She was heading for the bathroom; she had a plan - a very simple plan but one that she felt would work…as long as nothing went terribly, horribly wrong. She intended to get more of those mushrooms and then she’d feed them to Vegeta again. He’d only eaten a few mushrooms last time and he’d turned about as strong as an average human being…if she fed him all of them he’d completely lose his power and Lucas would have nothing more to feed and he’d fade away…

Well, he’d fade away theoretically.

The blue haired scientist reached the grill that opened into the bathroom and pushed it out easily. She dropped to the ground athletically and searched around the toilet for any mushrooms that she might have dropped when she’d flushed them down the loo. But there were none; which meant she’d have to do the almost impossible. She’d have to lure Vegeta out of the kitchen and go through the cupboards for more mushrooms…there were bound to be more, after all she’d noticed that they had multiple supplies of everything on this ship.

Bulma opened the cupboard under the sink and dug around; looking for anything slippery like detergent or liquid soap and after only a minute of searching she found some green, ooze like liquid soap. Quietly she tiptoed out of the bathroom and crept up the kitchen door, Vegeta was inside eating something red…Bulma’s eyes widened, he was eating more mushrooms! This was perfect!

She quirted the soap around the outside of the kitchen door and quietly backed away. She’d let Vegeta eat for an hour or so until he had gorged himself on enough mushrooms to render him weak, then she’d lure him out here and hopefully knock him out or at least force him to chase her until he collapsed of exhaustion! It had worked last time when he’d burst through the bedroom door and had gone careening into the shower - hopefully the old soap-on-the-floor trick would work again.

Bulma crept close to the doorway again and began to spy on Vegeta as he talked to a disgruntled looking Lucas.

“I really don’t wanna kill her, I mean Bulma feeds me! If I kill her who’s gonna make me food?” Vegeta was stuffing mushrooms into his mouth as if there was no tomorrow, Bulma could only imagine how delusional his brain must have been getting.

“If you kill her Vegeta, I’ll cook for you!” Lucas sounded desperate.

“No, you can’t fool me Lucas, you can’t cook, you can only lie.” Vegeta stuffed a few more mushrooms into his mouth and chewed happily. Behind him Lucas snarled and sprang at Vegeta’s back only to pass right through him. Lucas looked frustrated and crept back up behind Vegeta and tried to strangle him…only his hands kept passing through his neck.

Vegeta kept chewing, unaware of Luca’s half assed attempts on his life.

Bulma crept back from the door way as Lucas flickered dangerously again, it was now or never…

“Hey! Vegeta! Looking for me!” Bulma sprang into the middle of the room where Vegeta would have a perfect view of her from the kitchen. The ‘happy saiyan’ looked up and frowned. “Lucas the incredibly good looking elf said you were trying to kill me…that isn’t very nice Bulma, especially after how nice I’ve been to you lately.” Vegeta put the mushrooms down and an evil smirk formed on his features. “I guess I’ll have to teach you a little lesson!”

Vegeta began to run unsteadily towards Bulma, he passed through the kitchen doorway and gave a Homer Simpson type squeal of fear as he careened off balance and crashed into the couch. Bulma took off running for the kitchen as Vegeta dragged himself to his feet and launched himself at Bulma, grabbing her ankle and sending them both careening to the floor where they promptly hit the liquid soap again and slid into the kitchen, ending in a tangled heap against the kitchen cabinets.

Vegeta recovered first, he grabbed Bulma and slid her under him, effectively pinning her to the ground with one hand while he knelt over her with a menacing expression. “You know it isn’t nice to try to kill me Bulma, I’m going to have to punish you.” Vegeta sneered at her and Bulma gave a yelp of fear as he tried to punch her, jerking her head to one side just in time to miss his fist, which rammed into the floor and shattered he tiles.

Usually this wouldn’t have hurt Vegeta, but the mushrooms were quickly sapping his strength and Vegeta howled in pain. Bulma took advantage of his momentary pain to scream as loudly as she could. Over Vegeta’s shoulder she could see Lucas flickering in and out of sight. Vegeta recovered and glared down at Bulma; his eyes alight with a mad light.

“I’m gonna get you for that woman!” He raised his fist to try to hit her again and Bulma closed her eyes and kneed him in the groin, hoping it would have some effect.

It did.

Vegeta leapt off her and howled in pain. Bulma dragged herself to her feet and grabbed an empty glass bottle conveniently placed by the fridge and smacked Vegeta on the back of the head with it. His painful howling abruptly stopped as he slumped to the floor, out for the count.

Lucas gave a triumphant laugh. “You did it! I’m free!”

“I’m Afraid not.” Bulma crept closer to Vegeta and sure enough she could feel a very weak pulse when she felt for a pulse. “You see those mushroom sapped his strength…and with no energy to feed on your gonna die.” She smirked sadistically as fear flooded Lucas’ eyes.

The elf stopped grinning and stared at Bulma in horror. “No…it can’t be true!”

“I’m afraid it is.” Bulma grinned. “Bye bye, Baby!” She waved as the elf began to fade.

Lucas the incredibly good-looking elf screamed as his body began to melt into a puddle, his screams turned painful as bit by bit he melted until finally all that was left was his head. “I’ll get you for this Bulma Briefs! And your little saiyan too!” He cackled.

Bulma raised her eyebrows as Lucas’ head melted away. “Go away Lucas!” She rolled her eyes.

With a final tortured scream Lucas faded from existence and Bulma collapsed onto the floor, now all she had to do was make sure Vegeta survived…

~*~

Bulma wiped the damp cloth across Vegeta’s forehead and he twitched and tried to pull away. “No…too cold.” Vegeta protested weakly.

“Shhhh, it’s okay Vegeta, you’re safe.” Bulma put the cloth down and watched him as he struggled back into consciousness. For the past four days Vegeta had been in and out of consciousness…apparently the mushrooms had had a worse affect on him then Bulma had thought as Vegeta had been rendered powerless for the first few days.

He opened his coal black eyes and looked at the woman who lent over him. “Please tell me that I didn’t try to hurt you…tell me it was a dream.” Hi voice was barely a whisper he was so weak.

“It’s okay Vegeta, you weren’t yourself.” Bulma snuggled up closer to him, relieved to have him awake again. “Besides you didn’t actually hurt me.”

“But…I tried to hit you!” Vegeta looked aghast. “I’m so…sorry!”

“It’s okay.” Bulma told him softly. “Besides I’m the one who hit you on the back of the head with a bottle…I almost killed you.” Bulma tried to cheer him up by kissing him on the cheek. “But at least I killed Lucas.”

“You killed him? How?” Vegeta struggled into a sitting position.

“He was surviving on your energy. I just had to push you to the brink of death so you had no energy for him to feed on then he…well…melted away like the wicked witch of the west.” She pushed her hair behind her head. “Vegeta…I don’t know if this is the right time to tell you but…I love you.”

Vegeta looked up at the woman who had held his attention from the first day he had seen her and smiled faintly. “Feh!” He dismissed her. “I knew that! Foolish woman! What woman wouldn’t love Prince Vegeta?” The saiyan prince smirked.

Bulma scoffed. “There you go, getting all egotistical on me again, but let me tell you something Vegeta, you’re not as irresistible as you think you are!”

Vegeta gazed into her blue eyes and gave a genuine smile. “Yes I am. And for the record, I love you too. Now let’s go home.”

~*~