Part 1

The Terror Chamber

Or

How Did it Begin

One year and a half ago...

Vegeta fell to his knees. He felt dizzy, his body aching in several spots. Even though he recovered quickly, his wounds still weren't completely healed; some had even opened again, either due to his efforts or because he had ripped off some bandages to keep them from restraining his movements. He hadn't stopped training since that annoying woman (Bulma... what a ridiculous name) had finally switched off the holographic screen and left him alone. Bitch. Who did she think she was? What did she care if he was healed enough to train or not? Did she take him for a loser, like her pathetic boyfriend?

A vision of Bulma sleeping beside his bed flicked in his mind. He shook it off with a frown, and began to float again. His sharp ears caught a soft buzz. He dodged a laser beam as he blasted off its source, one of the two training robots that he still hadn't destroyed. The laser rebounded off the opposite wall and hit Vegeta's side before he could avoid it again. It produced nothing beyond a slight burn, but he lost his balance and fell on his back.

Hell. What was wrong with him? He had endured much worse on Namek, or even in his first battle on Earth. With more than half of his bones broken, he had crawled to his pod after he being crushed by Kakarott's son in his oozaru form. A few wounds weren't supposed to cause him any trouble. Vegeta almost could hear B... the woman saying he should rest. He clenched his teeth. His anger gave him strength to spring up to his feet. He would show her that he didn't need her advice!

So absent-minded was he that he didn't even notice he was too close to the last robot. The droid's electronic eye blinked as the Saiyan entered into its firing range.

Meanwhile, inside Capsule Corp., Bulma paced around like a beast in a cage. Her mother had called her for lunch one hour ago, but Bulma ignored her, so the elder woman left her alone with an understanding shake of her head. Bulma didn't even notice her mother go; the only thing she could hear was her last argument with Vegeta:

"Will you die in three years?"

"No, I'm too young and beautiful to die!"

"Then SHUT UP!"

"Shut up... shut up..." she repeated over and over. How dare he? She was the one who told the others to shut up, not the other way around! Why couldn't he see that she told him to rest for his own good?

"That's it!" she yelled at the room, "If he wants to kill himself, it's fine with me, he'll be doing us a great favour! I wash my hands! And I'll tell him now!" the woman concluded as she ran back to the lab.

Her voice seemed to be rebounding off the chamber walls even before she had turned the screen on:

"Vegeta, I'm telling you three things: One, no one tells me to shut up! Two: I don't give a damn if you kill yourself! Three..." she silenced, a little surprised at the absence of a response, and also for not seeing the Saiyan floating around. "Vegeta?"

He was sprawled on the floor, his face down. Still. Next to him, the half-melted remnants of a training robot.

"VEGEETAAA!!!"

He didn't answer.

Bulma put her hands on her head. Oh Kami, she knew that would happen. That stubborn, thick-headed Saiyan! She looked at him more intently. He kept still, and despite the redness of the chamber lights, Bulma thought she had seen some blood on his body. It was serious. She had seen him collapsed many times, but never for so long. Maybe he was dead... Her heart tightened at the thought.

To her relief, his head moved a little, then it went still again. Whew. But, what now? Entering there, impossible. Her father said 10 G was enough to snap a human's bones like they were twigs; under 200 or more, that was what Vegeta used... Bulma shuddered and hugged herself.

There was no way of turning off the gravity without entering the chamber. She could power it off, sure, but then the ship would be closed shut with Vegeta inside. She would have to summon a bunch of employees with light torches to open an entrance in the ship, and before that happened Vegeta could already be dead.

Then it clicked in her mind. Of course! How could she have forgotten something so simple? Frantically, she searched through the lab lockers until she found a single device. It was constructed of two small boxes bonded to one another by green leashes, like a knapsack's. She put it on and adjusted the leashes, tying them around her thorax, in such a way that one of the boxes rested on the middle of her back and the other between her breasts. It was a new invention she and her father had come up with since Vegeta had forbidden them from installing an emergency switch outside of the ship, saying that he wouldn't have his training interrupted at every minute by the "dumb blonde" and her sucky pastries.

The device created a personal gravity field around its user. Theoretically, it would make a balance with the gravity of the chamber, allowing Bulma to

reach the machine and turn it off. They had planned to wait for a moment when Vegeta wasn't using the chamber to make a test. However, since he almost never left it, the small invention ended up forgotten on a shelf.

Well, its day had come.

She ran toward the ship and pressed the on button. A soft buzzing was heard and almost instantaneously she felt lighter. Not light enough to fly, but she smiled, realizing it was difficult to keep her feet on the floor, a bit like the astronauts on the Moon.

"Here I come, Vegeta."

Clenching her teeth, she slowly opened the door. There he was, as quiet as when she had turned off the screen. She put a foot inside...

WHAM!

A second later she was pinned, or rather, smashed against the floor.

Damn...

The personal gravity field was just strong enough to keep her alive, but not to allow her to stand. How had a genius like her not thought of this? Well, at least she hadn't been smashed to atoms, but... man! That was what Vegeta experienced in there? It felt like she had a Trans-Atlantic steamer on her back... worse, it was like she was getting compressed by a hydraulic press. Her nose throbbed from the fall and Bulma tried to reach for it but discovered, in panic, that she couldn't even move a finger!

"H-heeellp..." she tried to scream, but the only sound to leave her throat was a soft moan. It was hard even to breathe, let alone scream. The air came in slowly and left her pressed lungs even quicker.

Dazed as her parents were, it would take hours, maybe days before they missed her and decided to send someone after her. The employees, no way. Vegeta had them scared to death and they would never approach the ship unless they were expressly told to. Even if it occurred to anyone to look for her in the ship it would be too late. She was going to suffocate there, still young, beautiful... and without having found the perfect man. She moaned again.

From the corner of her eye, she saw something move. Something black and blurred, like a bush of spikes...

Vegeta blinked and lifted himself, resting his weight on his powerful hands. Shit. How could he faint like that? Then he remembered. Yeah, the robot. At least he had blasted it before he blacked out. He looked down and clenched his teeth at the sight of a small pool of his own blood. He hated to admit it, but he had really pushed himself too much. There was no option but to stop and wait for tomorrow. What a waste of time. Worse, he would have to endure that unbearable little woman gloat when she saw him coming back. By the way, he felt he had heard her voice calling for help. He threw a glare towards the screen: it was black. Mm. Maybe he had just dreamed it.

Then he heard another moan, coming from the door, and spun his head in that direction. What he saw made his jaw drop:

"You! What are you doing here?"

Even in her situation, Bulma's eyes shot him hateful sparks.

"I'm dying because of you, idiot," she wanted to shout. Instead, the only thing she could say was a pitiful moan, "T-turn it off... please..." She closed her eyes, seeming to pass out.

Vegeta stared at her for a moment, completely amazed by the fact that she had survived under all that gravity. Then, he noticed the small box strapped to her back and shrugged. He should have known. Another one of those crazy contraptions of hers. Obviously, it hadn't helped much.

"Hmpf. Stupid woman. It's amazing that you're still not dead."

Vegeta struggled to stand up. He toppled, but rose up again and began to walk with determination. Some blood dripped as he trudged his way toward the gravity machine and he almost collapsed again, but reached the panel and turned it off.

"Normal gravity restored" droned the emotionless robotic voice. He lost his balance and fell over on his backside.

Bulma felt the weight leaving her and opened her eyes. For a long moment, she just lay there, inhaling and exhaling slowly, as though as to make sure that her lungs worked normally. Her nose throbbed from the fall and she reached to touch it. If it was broken, Vegeta would pay... Vegeta? Where was he?

She looked forward. Her heart sunk as she saw the bloody trail leading to the machine. Vegeta was there, resting his back against its metallic wall and glaring at the floor. He didn't look up when Bulma came towards him (after getting rid of the anti-gravity invention).

"Now... go away," he snorted, his eyes set on the floor.

"What?!" Bulma snapped, her hands angrily planted on her hips, "I risk my treasured life to save yours and that's all that you say?"

"I didn't ask for your help. And I don't need it, either," the prince tried to stand up to prove it, but he was completely out of strength and collapsed. Bulma grabbed him before he kissed the floor, but his weight caught her off balance and they both slammed down. Without knowing how, the proud Prince of Saiyans found himself plunged between the soft breasts of the woman he had been avoiding!

"Aaah! You pervert! Let go! Let go!" Bulma shrieked in his ears as she slapped and pushed him. She hadn't finished and Vegeta had already sprung to his knees, his face getting redder than a baked lobster:

"You wanted to help me LIKE THIS?" he shouted.

"I..." Bulma started but she couldn't finish it. At the vision of a wide-eyed, embarrassed Vegeta flushing like a schoolboy and without his usual frown, she couldn't help but laugh.

"Don't laugh!" he threatened, blushing a little more, "Don't laugh, or I'll..."

The only effect it produced was to make Bulma laugh more. Deeply humiliated, Vegeta snorted and crossed his arms over his bloody chest.

"C'mon, don't be silly," Bulma said. Still giggling, she seized his arm and swung it over her shoulder. Surprisingly, Vegeta no longer objected. He leaned on her.

Once again Bulma felt his muscular, pleasantly warm form against hers. The first time, after the GR explosion, she was too worried about Vegeta's life to enjoy the contact; but now his scent and his heat assaulted her senses with such an intensity that she just couldn't ignore them. It would have been pleasant if Vegeta wasn't quite awake, and that made Bulma rather uncomfortable. All the way to the house she chattered to disguise it, her eyes avoiding his face. She didn't have to worry, though. Vegeta himself was too embarrassed to notice anything - and not only because he couldn't walk by himself.

Both were relieved when they finally reached the house. Their relief, however, didn't last long, because Mrs. Briefs almost fainted when she saw her daughter and the "handsome boy" entering soiled with blood. Bulma had to tell her at least twelve times that the blood on her dress wasn't hers; still, the elder woman became so hysterical that it looked like she would have not one, but two people to nurse, instead. Fortunately, the practical Dr. Briefs showed up and helped Bulma to calm his wife and carry Vegeta back to his room.

****More coming soon! I promise! The authoress said so! I promise! You can email her and see!

- Vegeta Goddess