| Communication Breakdown Chapter 13 |
| Author: Valeyard Rating: R Disclaimer: She doesn't own, so don't even bother. |
| People will tell you that space is cold. People will tell you that space is empty. People will tell you space is lifeless. People will tell you that two out of three isn't bad. Sometimes, what people tell you, can be tragically wrong. Somewhere, in a very out of the way part of the universe, there was a creature drifting from gravity field to gravity field, meagerly surviving without ever knowing the sweetness of breathing air. It gorged on the magnetic fields surrounding planets. The creature had to gorge, for it to have enough strength to reach the next solar system, and the next "pasture" of magnetic fields. Not endowed with any special intelligence, it was totally unaware and uncaring of the weakened magnetic fields it left in its wake. The weakened fields would sometimes collapse, resulting in untold devastation to the planets these magnetic fields surrounded. The creature floated from planet to planet, pushed by solar winds from the latest solar system it encountered. Its expression was peacefully languid after successfully catching a ride on these winds. After expending so much energy to reach a new solar system, it was a relief to let the system's star do all the work. The creature craned its spindly neck, as it turned from side to side, sensing for fields on which to feed. The blue hues of the third planet attracted the creature. The planet had the cloudy essence of rich fertility. Differing hues of terra firma peeked out from behind the cloudy layer, bordered by bright spans of sparkling oceans. The creature found the planet a pleasing sight, perhaps harkening back in its genetic memory, to some more fortunate land-based ancestor. What drove his ancestors out into space, was not a concern for this lone, forsaken creature. It had not the intelligence for such questions, and its present need for food was the only thing that drove it from planet to planet. It made a mournful call as it reached the blue planet. An instinctual call to others of a new field for feeding. A call that could no longer be heard by the others. They were too few and too spread out to sense vibrations from each other. This pitiful creature could not have understood, its kind were heading down a road to eventual extinction. It only knew it had finally reached rest and food. It raised its head sweeping from side to side, searching the vibrations and usual background radiation for approaching predators. None existed, but instinct borne of "land days" still dictated the creature. It reached out with feelers vibrating at the same intensity as the magnetic field. All it had to do was find the right pitch and it could feed. As it began to satiate its hunger, a huge explosion rocked the planet below, sending tremors for miles and disturbances through the magnetic field. Before the unreasoning creature could react, a stronger explosion so frightened it, it cried out a warning and fled. It floated on and fed on the magnetic fields that spread out in all directions from the outer rim of the solar system. This caused the outer rim to crumble slightly and several asteroids to hit Jupiter. It was a spectacular show which scientists marveled about for years to come. The creature floated on after feeding, never to be a part of living memory other than its own. Condemned to loneliness and constant hunger, its own extinction was eventually and probably in the final analysis, the ultimate mercy. Thus, the Earth was saved from certain destruction from the collapse of its magnetic field, as had happened to so many planets before. None of the planet's inhabitants could have foreseen their near escape from disaster. Nor could the two fighting a life and death battle have known they saved the planet from total cataclysm. They only knew their animal desires that had long ceased from possessing any reason other than their lust to obliterate each other. Bulma still felt weak from the berries' poison, content to yell at her father as he attempted to fight the controls against shock wave after shock wave. They got stronger as they approached ground zero of the battle. Piccolo watched the battle from a discreet distance, totally unnoticed by the two antagonists. Goku and Vegeta were moving at blinding speeds as they waged a savage battle against each other, oblivious to anything, but their inflamed rivalry and hate. Piccolo was well pressed to keep up with them as their speed practically shifted them through time and space as they fought. An explosion pushed them apart, as each took advantage of the separation to catch their breaths. Vegeta's chest heaved as he reached up to wipe away blood. Piccolo could hear Vegeta say something to Goku. His voice was low and resonant, but Piccolo, with his attuned hearing, could pick up his words. "You should have seen, Bulma when I took her. The way she cried out my name, and all that blood. And then when I was done, she begged for more." Even Piccolo, who believed Vegeta guilty, was stunned to hear this admission. Piccolo's sharp teeth ground in fury, "And they call me a Demon!" The effect on Goku was immediate. "You unspeakable fuck!" Goku screamed. "I'm going to tear off your balls and make you eat them along with those words!" "Come on, Kakarotto!" Piccolo heard Vegeta rage in return. "Show me what you got! Let's just see who eats what today!" There was a blinding flash of light, as Piccolo watched them slam into each other. Both were flung into separate rock faces from the impact. Vegeta climbed out of some rubble wiping more blood from his face as he wryly eyed the place where Goku had hit. Piccolo was amazed anyone could survive such an impact. It didn't matter how long he had known these monsters he came to know as the Saiya-jin, they never ceased to astound him. "Shut the fuck up!" Vegeta screamed as if to no one. 'Who is he talking to?' Piccolo thought. "Himself?" Vegeta turned a little red, in spite the hardened look on his face as Goku climbed out of his own pile of rubble and looked at Vegeta perplexed. "Who are you talking to?" Goku barely accused. "Sometimes, I think you are just plain nuts, Vegeta." "Like I care what you think!" Vegeta screamed as he launched himself into Goku. Goku grabbed Vegeta's arms as Vegeta struggled to get free. Vegeta's gnashed his teeth in rage. "What's a matter Kakarotto, afraid to fight? Let go of me!" "Why don't you get yourself free?" Goku uncharacteristically smirked. "You plan to kill the androids all by yourself, but you can't even get free from me?" 'What the hell are you trying to pull Goku?' Piccolo clenched his fists in fury. Piccolo watched Vegeta power up higher in his fury. The explosion broke him free of Goku's grip. Vegeta cartwheeled several times in the air before he righted himself, shooting a ki blast at Goku. Goku shot the blast away with a ki blast of his own. A smile spread across Goku's face. Piccolo smirked when he saw this smile. He knew what it meant. Goku had overcome his rage enough to think. That meant trouble for Vegeta and Piccolo knew it. Goku may have been far too gentle for Piccolo's liking, but he knew one thing about Goku. In battle there was no one more brilliant in exploiting the weakness of his opponent. If there was a weakness, Goku would find it, and Goku knew Vegeta like a book. The smile changed to one Piccolo had never seen on Goku's face. It was so unlike Goku and yet like him, that it gave Piccolo an uncomfortable deja vu. Where had he seen it before? Then it came to him in a flash, 'Raditz!' "Actually," Goku began, "I think you care a lot about what I think, Vegeta." Goku snickered. "A lot more than you will ever let on." "You disgust me!" Vegeta screamed back. "There is nothing that you think that is the slightest interest to me!" "Not even when it comes to Bulma?" Goku chuckled so wickedly it sent chills up Piccolo's spine. 'What is he up to?' Piccolo screamed mentally. "What the fuck are you talking about?" Vegeta's voice became threatening, as he moved closer to Goku, his body coiling in, fists clenched. "You think you are the first to have her?" The smile that crept across Goku's face became downright evil. "You're lying!" Vegeta screamed. "Am I?" Goku replied chuckling. "Shut the fuck up!" Vegeta exploded. "You're just trying to delay the fight because you're afraid of dying!" "Don't flatter yourself Vegeta." Goku snickered. "You do that enough. But why should you care? Bulma is just another piece to you, right?" "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" Vegeta screamed as his expression changed from pure hate to deranged frenzy. Goku was slammed back but righted himself, immediately. "Why should that upset you, Vegeta?" Goku smirked. "You told me all about enjoying her, I just want to return the favor and tell you what happened with us." "Shut the fuck up!" Vegeta screamed so loud, it tore the air with the same ferocity as the ki blast he shot toward Goku. "Aw, come on!" Goku taunted, barely dodging the blast. "Fair is fair. You told me about your one night. I wanna tell you all mine, too. Although, it was more than one night." Vegeta moved so quickly he practically disappeared, reappearing behind Goku, taking his arms in a lock. "Say, one more word," Vegeta hissed, "and I will snap your spine, Kakarotto!" "You're right about Bulma begging for more." Goku continued unabated, as he strained against Vegeta's intended death grip. "Man she can't get enough can she? You should have seen the scratches all over my back. She's a real wildcat in bed, isn't she?" Goku turned his head to look at Vegeta out of the corner of his eye. Goku's face twisted into an expression more evil than anything Piccolo had ever seen on Vegeta. "At least she was a wildcat with me!" Piccolo watched in disbelief as Goku's lip curled contemptuously and he laughed derisively. "Whose side should I take in this?" Piccolo asked himself in numb shock. "They're one and the same!" Goku screamed as an explosion shot from his body, breaking him loose from Vegeta. But now, it was Vegeta's turn for his eyes to bulge in rage. Arcs of power rose up Vegeta's body in the wake of his rage. "I'm going to pull you apart, starting with your lying tongue and stuff it down your lying throat!" Vegeta blindly threw himself at Goku, completely out of control, in a flurry of punches and kicks. 'What the fuck is Goku trying to pull?' Piccolo thought, dismayed. 'Can this be a side of Son, even I haven't seen? What's happening here? Has everyone lost their mind?' Piccolo's mind was racing trying to figure out how things had become so out of control. 'I never should have started this!' He thought. 'It's no longer about avenging Bulma. It's a contest to see who can inflict the most pain before they kill each other. Which means . . .' Piccolo looked up at Goku and Vegeta appalled. 'They're both lying!' 'Son, listen to me!' Piccolo thought to Goku's heart. 'Stay out of this!' Goku slammed back into Piccolo's mind, with a force Piccolo never felt out of Goku.' 'Son, listen!' Piccolo mentally screamed. 'Something is not right. Vegeta is becoming far too angry for a cold-hearted rapist. I think he's lying.' Goku didn't answer. The fight raged on heedless of Piccolo's protests. Piccolo looked around desperately for some means of stopping this fight. 'What have I done?' Piccolo screamed in his mind. 'Have I set in motion something that has driven them both insane? We need everyone for the androids and they are trying to out lie and kill each other!' Piccolo looked back up at the two fighting, knowing there was nothing he could do to separate them. "Are we there yet?" Bulma screamed impatiently. "Really Bulma!" Mr. Briefs replied just as impatiently. "Don't you think you are too old for that?" "Don't mess with me right now, Dad!" Bulma screamed at the top of her lungs. "The father of my child is at stake! Are you sure you are going in the right direction?" "There's no way to be mistaken about it." Mr. Briefs screamed over another explosion as it rocked the car. "Just follow the explosions to their source and you know where we'll be." "Just step on it!" Bulma screamed even louder. "If Goku kills Vegeta, I will never forgive him!" Bulma looked down sadly and said quietly. "But if Vegeta kills Goku, how can I forgive that either?" Her reverie was interrupted by an explosion that knocked the car off-course with its force. She screamed as the car flipped over several times before righting itself. "Watch where you are going!" Bulma cried "You know damn, well I'm watching where I am going. It's not my fault your boyfriend, er I mean husband is a Saiya-jin!" Mr. Briefs screamed over the noise as he hastily struggled with the controls. "Well if you hadn't told everyone my husband . . . huh?" Bulma said perplexed. "Husband? Where did you get that from?" Mr. Briefs looked back at her for a second, turning slightly red. "He said it." He turned back to fight the controls over another explosion. Mr. Briefs yelled the next over his shoulder. "He said some crazy thing about challenge having been met and answered, something like that. And that you were now his mate for life." Bulma reeled, partly from the fading toxins and partly from the shock of her father's words. 'Mate for life? Vegeta said that? I thought, maybe, he hated me. He loves me, he really does!' Bulma felt tears come to her face as she thought this. 'Maybe it isn't love. Maybe he just wants me, but that probably is as close to love as Vegeta could come.' Bulma shook her head. 'I don't care if it's just a want or real love. I'll take it and see how far it will go. I've never met anyone like Vegeta. All his ways are so strange. I think I will never understand him. But maybe that is why I want him so much. I don't understand him. It doesn't matter. He fills a hole that I never thought would be filled with Yamcha. Maybe it's because I think he needs me and Yamcha never really did. That is why I want our life together so much. I don't care how crazy it gets, it won't be boring. Just stay alive, Vegeta, please!' Bulma let out a scream as a blast broadsided their car. It flipped over three times before skidding across the ground, slamming into the rocks. Bulma felt herself over to make sure she was still alive, and nothing was broken. Then in her dazed state, she realized her father could be hurt. "Dad!" Mr. Briefs was hunched over the steering wheel trembling, but unresponsive. A trickle of blood was coming down his forehead. "Dad!" Bulma screamed. "I'm sorry for all those things I said. Don't you get hurt today, too! Please say something!" She started to shake him but he jerked right up in her arms, and started looking himself over. "I'm alive?" He asked her stunned. "I'm alive!" He turned to smile at her, but Bulma was already climbing across the seat to exit the car. Bulma's father gave her a stunned and disappointed look, and then quickly followed. 'Those idiots!' Bulma's raged as she looked up at Vegeta and Goku doing their best to kill each other. 'Am I ever going to give them a piece of my mind. What are they trying to do? Kill us all before the androids even show up?' "Goku!" Bulma shrieked at the top of her lungs. "You get your monkey butt down her right now! What the hell do you think you are doing? That was your blast just now and it almost killed my Dad!" Vegeta and Goku blurred into blinding flashes of light as their movements became so fast it was impossible for Bulma to even watch them. 'They're so intent on destroying each other, they didn't even hear me!' Bulma thought desperately. She swayed, leaning against the wreckage of the car as she desperately tried to follow their movements. Bulma felt herself give into more tears, as her eyes raked the sky, looking for any sign of them beside blinding streaks of light. 'That's my husband and my best friend up there and they don't even see that I'm here. They're like animals! They're totally out of control. How do you reason with two embodiments of rage?' Bulma looked around for any sign of help, and saw Piccolo standing off in the distance, looking just as helpless as she felt. "Piccolo!" Bulma screamed. "Do something! Stop them! We can't let them kill each other!" Piccolo looked at Bulma, then back up at the sky. He looked back at Bulma with a look Bulma had never seen on Piccolo's face before. He began to tremble and in his eyes, Bulma could see someone backed up into his last corner, forced to make his last terrible choice. Piccolo's eyes widened, as if for one final moment, he was begging Bulma for some small portion of forgiveness. Then a swift, terrible change came over his expression. He gnashed and barred his canines as he drew his arms up, muscles bulging, arcs of power running up his body and lighting up his eyes. 'Piccolo's going to try and stop them, and he knows it will get him killed!' Bulma screamed inwardly. 'I don't want him to die too!' Before she could say anything, a demonic, insane laugh ripped out in loud peals from Piccolo's throat. He brought his fists up and shook them at Vegeta and Goku as if he was celebrating some victory he had already won. So, stunned were Vegeta and Goku at Piccolo's outburst, they stopped fighting and starred at him. Piccolo had changed in an instant from the stoic icon they had known for years, to the uncontrollable demon, that had tried to destroy the world. "You fools!" Piccolo looked up and screamed at Vegeta and Goku, derisively. "You fell into my trap! You think I gave up my dreams for world conquest? I was, and am the Demon Piccolo!" Bulma's mind was frozen. It had seemed she had stepped from a nightmare into hell itself. "A few words and I have you at each other's throats. Now the players are all here. Prepare for my revenge on all you!" Piccolo turned toward Bulma with demonic glee in his eyes. "I take from you what you both value most!" Piccolo launched himself at Bulma so fast, Bulma didn't even have time to react. She tried to run, but Piccolo grabbed her roughly. Before she could scream, Piccolo took her wrist and sunk his sharp canines into her. Bulma let out a wail and then suddenly fell, limp into Piccolo's arms. Piccolo took one, last gleeful look at Goku and Vegeta, before he flew off laughing, Bulma in arms. Vegeta had been oblivious to anything but his rage against Goku, when Piccolo's insane laughter penetrated his tenuous hold on reality. It paralyzed both opponents in mid air, still drawn back for the next punch, as they turned to look at Piccolo in total disbelief. "You fools!" Piccolo screamed. "You fell into my trap! You think I gave up my dreams for world conquest? I was, and am the Demon Piccolo!" "A few words and I have you at each other's throats. Now the players are all here. Prepare for my revenge on all you! I take from you what you both value most!" Before Vegeta could react, he watched in shock as Piccolo grabbed his woman and bit her like some demonic serpent. He heard Bulma cry out and watched her suddenly fall limp. At the same instant, her ki disappeared. "No!" Vegeta heard Goku scream. Vegeta hardly heard Goku's scream of despair. He hardly heard anything except the blood pounding through his burning veins, fueled by his heated rage. "No!" Goku screamed again. "I let him stay at my house for three years! I thought he was my friend. How could he do this?" Vegeta floated motionlessly in the sky, as all sense of what had been reality suddenly became numb and out of focus. She was just standing there a moment ago. She was alive and now she was dead. He was Vegeta, greatest elite from the greatest warrior race in the universe. He was a Super Saiya-jin, delighting in death and destruction. Yet, the death of one simple earth woman, had just destroyed him from inside. Vegeta found he couldn't take it in. He couldn't accept it had happened. There was no hold on the here, and now. Pain began to filter through the blunt shock that tried to shroud him from all harm, until all that screamed in his mind was the word 'death!' Madness, pain's cursed and constant disciple, slowly, inexorably crept into the glisten of Vegeta's eyes. A madness that gleefully took up the chorus, 'death!' 'My name is no longer Vegeta.' He thought as the abandonment of all reality took its hold. 'I am no longer the Prince of all Saiya-jin. I am death. Death to all.' "Starting with you!" Vegeta screamed out loud as he turned, ferociously launching himself against Goku. "You!" Vegeta screamed insanely as Goku grappled the wrist of the hand that had him around the throat. "You! With your gentleness. You took that bastard in! You let him do this. You listened to his lies. This is all your fault! You let him do this to my woman!" "You lying shit!" Goku screamed, surprising even Vegeta for his ferocity. "This isn't my fault, it's yours, you lying sack of shit! You didn't rape Bulma! There would have been no fight to begin with, and Piccolo wouldn't have had a chance to harm Bulma, if you had just told me the fucking truth!" "How do you know I didn't?" Vegeta screamed, too full of pride to admit he lied. "And who are you to talk about lies? What about your shit about the scratches on your back?" "I know you lied, because a cold-hearted rapist wouldn't be trying to take my head off right now. A cold-hearted rapist wouldn't give a shit about what just happened!" Goku said as he twisted around and wrenched Vegeta's arm behind his back. "As for the scratches and shit. I just said that because you pissed me off!" Vegeta screamed hoarsely as Goku forced the arm threatening to make it crack. "I'm going to kill you!" Vegeta's voice was a hoarse cry of pain. "That won't bring Bulma back will it?" Goku screamed as power exploded from Vegeta's body forcing him free from Goku's grip. "I don't care!" Vegeta said truthfully. "All I care about is making both of you pay!" "Vegeta, you have to care!" Goku cried, alarm in his voice. Vegeta regained enough control of his fury to let the tinge of a smirk run across his maddened features. "What's the matter Kakarotto?" Vegeta's eyes narrowed. "Are you finally confronting the fact that you are facing death?" "Fuck this fight!" Goku roared at the top of his lungs. "Don't you get it? If you kill Piccolo, the Dragon Balls are gone!" Goku was interrupted as Vegeta disappeared and reappeared right in front of Goku, kicking him squarely in the jaw. "I told you I don't care, so shut the fuck up!" Vegeta shouted. Goku flew into a rock face and didn't move for several moments. Vegeta watched him lying there motionless, giving into the hope this time he would finally die. He knew the hope was fruitless, when he felt Goku's ki flicker, like a small candle in the darkness. Goku's hand began to tremble then move, propping himself into a sitting position, as Vegeta felt his ki flare into life--the strong burning flame, Vegeta had learned to hate but admire at the same time. "You have to care about this, Vegeta." Goku said gravely struggling to his feet. "Because if you kill Piccolo, the Dragon Balls die. And if the Dragon balls die, then there is no way to bring anyone back the androids might kill. No way to bring back anyone, and that includes Bulma." The despair and hopelessness of these words hit Vegeta like a cold slap. He settled down to the ground beside Goku, shaking with helpless rage. The woman he had struggled to win was gone. Not only was his woman taken from him, but so was his right of revenge. Before Goku could react, Vegeta shot straight into the sky. Vegeta felt reality fall away from him faster than the mad onrush of power that rose in him screaming to be released. It was a power that in a Saiya-jin, could not be denied. Thus, a new Super Saiya-jin Level 2 could be heard, from miles away, screaming his despair and rage to the sky, and to a world, he promised himself, that would suffer under his wrath. |