CHAPTER TWO: The Trials and Tribulations of Bulma
"We're nearly there now," Vegeta told her, as they swooped across the lush pasture on the Amazon Rainforest, something else that truly delighted his partner, as she stared in total awe at the varied and beautiful landscape of the forest.
"Wow," she muttered, awestruck by the diversity and ecology of the landscape she witnessed as they chugged over the animal Utopia.
"Start teaching me about trees, I may just find myself dropping you ...by accident, of course," Vegeta said cheekily, to which Bulma gave him another jesting slap.
Vegeta put on another burst of speed, and they finally arrived in Peru twenty minutes later.
"Where the hell are we?" she asked with immense curiousity, as they crossed unseen over the Peruvian border.
"Near my favourite place," he answered casually. "You'll like it. There isn't much in this country, so I can't even really tell you where we are, or you may guess."
She trusted him with his little secret, although she spectated in shock at the mountains all around them.
"Wow, I've seen more in two hours than I have done in my whole life!" she informed him, and he smiled at the idea of making her happy.
Vegeta didn't want to admit to himself, yet alone her, but her love was making him soft.
They were nearly at their final destination, and Vegeta requested of Bulma that she shut her eyes so it really was a surprise, rather than a dawning of comprehension. She did so, and with a final spurt of speed, they reached their destination... Macchu Picchu, the ancient and lost city of the infamous Inca tribe. He set her down on a rock gently, and instructed her to open her beautiful green eyes. He could lose himself in those eyes, stare at them for hours without worry, angst or pain.
She opened her gorgeous eyes and stared around at all the prehistoric wonder before her, awestruck. "Where is this? It's wonderful," she enquired of him, not being able to remove her eyes from the landscape. Bulma was fascinated by history.
"This is Macchu Picchu, the home of the Incas," he taught, not wanting to underestimate her intelligence. He had done that before, to his cost; she had just thought of him as arrogant, and this was far from the image he wanted to convey.
"Amazing!" she cried, as she set off to explore, pulling him along with her.
"I wouldn't go down there," he called quickly, as she waited for him.
"Why not?" she demanded, staring at him if as if he was a deranged psychopath.
"Er, don't you think it may look a little weird if we just fly down there?" Vegeta answered sensibly, looking at the small throng of people visting the monument. "And we are too far up to just traverse right on down there."
"Oh yeah... Damn it," she muttered ruefully, cursing the small crowd of ants below her, and thinking for a moment.
"A-HA!" she said triumphantly, and Vegeta watched her fathomless eyes scour the valley floor, in search of something unbeknown to him.
"There! A rock big enough to conceal us-teleport behind it," Bulma instructed as she pointed into the distance corner of the chasm, and he stared, awestruck at her ability to see so far without Saiyan sight.
"Right," he said, holding his arm out for her to grasp. She reached for it gently, but as she did so, she lost her footing and slipped over a lethal patch of ice.
"BULMA!!!!!!!!" Vegeta bellowed, and she screamed as she fell over the side of the gigantic, earthy rock.
Vegeta didn't waste a nanosecond; he teleported, faster than lightning, over the edge and caught her just before a large structure of deadly rock that would have killed her for sure jutted innocently out of the cliff. "DON'T FUCKING SCARE ME LIKE THAT AGAIN!" he roared, as they floated down to the valley floor, unaware of busybody humans. "WELL, IT'S NOT LIKE I MEANT TO!" she shrieked right back, embracing with him as they touched down on solid, level, perfectly un-icy ground.
"Thank you for saving my life there," she added as an afterthought, smiling at him, kissing him passionately as a reward, to which he reacted a grunt and a very soft push away.
"What's up?" she queried, concerned at his lack of affection.
"Nothing," he said back, somewhat snappishly. "I just really..."
"What?"
"Well," he continued, still vainly trying to let his rough exterior show and not become too soft, "I thought for a split second there that... that I'd lose you."
Bulma gaped at him, open-mouthed. "So, you, er, do care then?" she said quietly, stunned at his reactions. It showed that Vegeta didn't just like her, he loved her, and the thought of losing her hurt worse than his own demise. He nodded, scarlet-faced.
"Likewise," she mumbled, embarrassed as hell. "I can't go on without you."
"I'm sorry to yell," he added, "but DON'T scare me like that ever again!"
"I'm sorry," she answered, as they locked lips, as though either of them needed a confirmation of their immense love.
When they eventually broke away they became all too aware of the attention they where attracting from fellow tourists, who had more or less clustered around them and into a circle, like teenagers eager to see a fight.
"And exactly WHAT are you pathetic humans staring at?" Vegeta demanded coldly, not letting go of Bulma, instinctually keeping her safe although the humans around them posed no threat to them.
"We, er..." an American-sounding lady in a swanky suit Bulma recognised as being made of linen; she herself owned one similar, although she hoped she looked btter than this particular woman in it, "Saw you fly?"
"And, your point is...? Or are you just being overbearingly sad, staring at us?" Bulma yelled at them, making them recoil slightly.
"But, men don't fly," the women pressed, as all of the others nodded.
"Or teleport!" a middle-aged man added, to which the others threw in things like "YEAH!" or "Hear, hear!"
"That's because he isn't from Earth," Bulma told them all matter-of-factly, looking at them all in turn, as though they needed brain scans.
"Move," Vegeta growled at the man nearest to him but he didn't budge. "Look, pal, flight is one of my many abilities that could kill you in an instant, so shift your ass," Vegeta snarled impatiently."Oh, forget it." He stomped back into the centre of the circle, picked Bulma up gently, and flew upwards and out of the sphere of weaklings who encased them, much to their rage.
"I would get back here if I were you," a small man shouted vindictively, pulling a firearm from his pocket.
"SHIT!" Bulma yelled, warning Vegeta, who looked immediately downwards, and saw the glint of the powerful gun against the Peruvian sunlight.
"I suppose I should be wary of that?" Vegeta shouted sarcastically, laughing at them.
"Yeah, you should. Especially when it does this to your girl!"
The gunshot rang out and Vegeta didn't have time to react. Bulma yelped in pain and Vegeta, to his utter horror, watched blood seep, in torrents, from her thigh. "YOU FUCKING BASTARDS!!!" he screamed at them, powered up. He summoned his ki, and called it into his left hand. "DIE!!!" he roared, and threw it at them, without a scrap of remorse. He watched them all scarper pathetically, but felt every last one of them perish with deep sastifaction at his annihilation.
"BULMA!!!!!!!!!" He flew like lightning to the floor, placed her gently on the ground, and saw the severity of her leg wound. "Fuck, fuck, fuck..." he whispered, as he ripped off some of his clothing to bandage up her wound, trying to get her to stay awake. "It's Ok... you'll be fine," he said loudly, trying to keep her attention.
"Vegeta?" she asked weakly, and he leaned over to her quickly.
"Yeah?" he answered gently, hanging on her every word.
"Sorry, guess that lecture today about children was pointless," she said softly, laughing without much humour.
"Do NOT talk like that," he demanded, staring at her pointedly, angry at her defeated attitude. "You going somewhere or something?"
"I'm sorry, Vegeta. We are not all-in-indestructible," she replied, fading fast.
"BULMA!!!!!!!!!!! STAY AWAKE DAMN IT!"
"Night..."
"NO!"
Bulma's eyes closed and she relaxed and prepared for death. She wasn't stupid, she knew the bullet had penetrated her deeply.
"FUCK!" Vegeta bellowed. Where was that idiot Kakarott when you needed him?!?
Maybe Bulma has her phone. I'll phone him, Vegeta thought madly as he searched through her dress.
"Nooooooooooo!" he yelled, as he found she didn't. "Must-contact-Kakarott..."
"VEGETA! HOW STUPID ARE YOU!" he shrieked at himself in panic. "YOU ARE THE PRINCE OF ALL SAIYANS, AND YOU CANNOT THINK OF SOMETHING TO SAVE A HUMAN'S LIFE!"
Suddenly, a desperate thought entered his head. Kakarott has always liked a challenge. Let's raise the power, he'll come running!!!
And, congratulating himself on his genius momentarily, he flew up and transformed into a Super Saiyan. Kakarott, for the first time ever I really need you and your instantanious movement. He gave to Goku as an urgent telepathic command and raised his power level all the way up.