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His highly attuned ears catch the end of a conversation, the voice is female and it seems quite worried about something. Weary from endless hours of martial arts he takes this as an excuse to end the session and to check upon his guests. Walking back into his abode he nearly stumbles into a frantic Ayeka. Catching her from falling and putting her back on her feet before she even realises anything has happened, he observes the mess in the living room and looks back to the troubled Ayeka.

“I hope there’s a rational explanation for this behaviour Ayeka, or else …”

“Oh yes, it’s terrible. I just can’t seem to find the dragon radar you gifted to me. I-I’ve looked everywhere but it’s gone and without it I just don’t know what I’m going to do and I …” Ayeka is working herself into a state and is on the verge of tears. Not wanting her to start a scene and also that like all men he has a weakness for crying or distressed women he gently puts his hand on her shoulder.

“It can’t have gotten far, now get a grip on yourself whilst I search for it.” Ayeka weakly offers a smile at the area where Vegeta was as he has now gone off to seek out the missing radar at supersonic speeds. Appearing in front of the person he deems most likely to know where the radar is he wakes her from her nap abruptly.

“You wouldn’t by chance happen to know where the dragon radar has suddenly disappeared off to now would you?” Vegeta accuses Ryoko who is still weary from waking up but hears the implication in his tone and takes offence at it.

“Nope, no haven’t seen it and if little miss goody two shoes over there can’t keep track of it then it’s not my problem.” Ryoko dismissively replies. Vegeta looks down at her calculatingly.

“Without that device no-one gets their wish, including you remember?” Not surprised in the least Vegeta sees Ryoko perk up and energetically begin searching for the device, all too easy. Having completed his entire search of his entire house before he woke Ryoko up he heads to the last place he hasn’t checked yet. Knowing all too well he could search for hours in there and still come up with nothing he steadily pushes open the door to Washu’s laboratory. Entering the realm of the unknown and best left unknown he decides on his best course of action and Instant Transmits behind Washu. The miniature scientist is engrossed with the machinery she is busy tinkering with on her work bench and so has no idea that Vegeta is silently walking up behind her, his footsteps completely muffled.

“ Now what do we have here? That wouldn’t be the dragon radar there now would it?” Vegeta menacingly declares looking over Washu’s shoulder at the dismantled electronics. Startled she abruptly turns around to she him leaning over her and sees his penetrating gaze. She starts to deny that thought but half way through her sentence he starts cracking the knuckles of each finger slowly and deliberately as his eyes darken. Even if he were just a normal man he would still be able to overpower her being twice her size and she knows full well he would feel no remorse in snapping her like a dry twig.

“Ok so I took it to run a few little harmless experiments on it, I’ll give it back to you when I’m done OK? Wait even better with my intellect I’ll improve and modify it, maybe even duplicate several copies of it -”

“ I don’t care about the details, just how long will this take?” Vegeta interrupts her half way through her spiel losing patience and not liking the way this day is turning out already.

“I’d estimate around a day or less, not too long working with this primitive device…” Before Washu can finish her sentence the shadow looming over her has gone and exited her lab, she lets out a sigh of relief and wipes her wet brow before returning to work. Arriving back into reality Vegeta looks about himself to see Ryoko, Ayeka and Sasami all looking about the house as if their lives depended on it. After enjoying the scene from the doorway for a while he goes into his living room where they all are and explains the situation to them.

“Apparently the radar will be unavailable for a day as Washu has taken it upon herself to investigate the device and … do something to it to make it work better.” The women look relieved by this news and so stop searching and begin to go about relaxing around Vegeta’s house. Trunks and Sasami have commandeered the television as Trunks tries to teach her how to play Earth’s video games so Vegeta heads off into his training room.

However, no sooner has he taken a step into his favourite room then he backs out, slams the door shut, splintering the wall, and storms into Washu’s lab with a red haze descending over his eyes. She is alerted to his prescence by the splintering sound as her door is kicked down again and Vegeta breaches into her dimension heading straight for her.

“Who do you think you are?! You’ve got some nerve woman. I kindly let you live in my house, even experiment on me and for what? You to do whatever you like in my own home! Messing about where you shouldn’t have gone, I’m afraid you’ve forgotten your place and I’m about to kick you back down there.” Seething with rage he stalks his prey, slowly following her every move as she attempts to flee deeper into the darkened recesses of her refuge. Each doorway she turns to scamper through reveals a waiting shadow.

“Wait now, come on be reasonable. I-I improved things in your home! Fine so I tampered with a few things, but now the artificial gravity machine can produce a much larger gravitational force and I’ve completely reworked the heating and energy efficiency of this dwelling, added a dimensional gate to my own luxurious personal bathing quarters and added a 3 dimensional output to the monitor in the living room.” Vegeta stops a foot away from her accepting this reason and leaving her again as he is curious as to how the increased force that the training room can generate could help his training regime. That thought is then discarded momentarily as the raised voices of Ayeka and Ryoko tear through the house again. Resigned to their inability to get along with one another he goes to try and establish peace or some semblance of it in his home and figure out what they are arguing about this time.

“Lord Vegeta this she-demon has gone and stolen my clothes, look she’s even shamelessly parading around in them.” Ayeka does not need to persuade Vegeta on this matter as he can clearly tell that what she is claiming is true. For all her guile Ryoko can’t spin a web of lies to get out of this one as she is wearing the offending items, another one of Ayeka’s many lavish kimonos but tied up loosely and exposing more flesh than the princess would ever be comfortable with.

Sighing to himself Vegeta momentarily leaves the two women to continue their argument before returning to them and handing over a small leather purse to Ryoko. She squeals in delight as she hears the jingle of coins inside and her eyes greedily light up at the sight of the golden cash, she goes to hug Vegeta. Allowing her to embrace him he explains to her how that money is for her to buy her own clothes with. With that she is off, out of the house and flying off in search of a city, town or anywhere else to spend her zeni. The look of disbelief and shock on Ayeka’s face says it all.

“What by the powers of Jurai are you thinking? Giving her money is like rewarding her for her barbaric behaviour this simply will not do.” Ayeka’s annoyance at Vegeta’s gift to Ryoko is surfacing clearly.

“It will stop her stealing your clothes won’t it? Anyway I only gave her a few million zeni …” Ayeka’s jaw drops at how flippantly Vegeta talks about such a large sum of money. “ … and as my son is the sole benefactor of Capsule corporation, that’s but a drop in the ocean to the wealth my wife left us.” He walks away leaving Ayeka in a stunned silence as her shocked mind tries to comprehend how his level of wealth could rival even hers. Looking out the window at the clear blue sky and the faint breeze stirring the trees, his primal yearning to be outside rather than cooped up in a metal box gets the better of him as he turns to face the princess.

“Lady Ayeka, would it not be in your interest to learn how to fly so I don’t have to carry you around? Come, I will teach you briefly.” He beckons her as he leads her outside, the surprised expression is quickly replaced by that of contentment as she follows his lead. With the warm summer sun bearing down on them she stands ready in front of him as he examines her with his sixth sense.

“Yes you have sufficient power so come, demonstrate your ki powers.” Vegeta stands with his arms at his side defenceless and ready for her show of power.

“Ki? What is that Lord Vegeta, I don’t understand?” The look of befuddlement says it all to Vegeta as he tries to explain to her what ki is. After several fruitless minutes of trying to explain life energy and the force that you tap into he gives up.

“I … I don’t get it. The power I tap into is the power of the Jurai Royal family that only those of noble birth can access.” The sound of his palm impacting into his face resounds and echoes across the landscape.

“Fine then just tap into that and blast me with all you’ve got.” He braces his legs and prepares for the impact, that never comes.

“What? I couldn’t do that. What if I hurt you, oh I couldn’t live with myself if anything bad happened to you because of me.” He looks at her and scoffs at the thought of her injuring him. His mocking and laughter at her impotence towards him succeeds in goading her to attack him. As the smoke clears after her blast Vegeta is seen checking his clothing to look at the substantial charring on it whilst Ayeka looks on at him regretting her actions and hoping she didn’t hurt him. The lack of any physical harm and the peak of her power he sensed leaves Vegeta disappointed.

“It’s been a long time since I met someone weaker than Raditz by that margin. I suppose though you do have enough ki though for flight, so start channelling that energy into your feet, not your hands, and slowly try and release it. Don’t want you blasting off your shoes now.” He says no more and watches her face furrow in concentration. Many minutes pass and all that has happened so far is most of the morning dew of the grass has been blown off from around Ayeka.

The prince calmly waits as he sees the disturbance in the grass increase in magnitude and the princess’ dress start to flutter about. Then millimetre by millimetre her feet leave the ground as she begins to hover a measly foot off the ground. No longer is she concentrating with all her willpower but now smiling gaily at her tutor. Her radiant happiness would be infectious to most people but Vegeta simply nonchalantly levitates as well and leads her over the lake at a snail’s pace. This simple act of moving whilst in the air is greatly building her confidence in her ability to fly as he continues to help her perform simple aerial manoeuvres. Her pure joy at this simple feat leaves her happily laughing as she ascends and descends with Vegeta above the lake.

“Yoo-hoo, Vegeta I’m back!” Ryoko and several large bags full to the brim materialise outside Vegeta’s house. Ayeka’s focus is lost by this surprise and she forgets all about channelling ki into her legs and plummets towards the lake. Her screams are cut short as Vegeta catches her with one arm and escorts her back to dry land. As she is released from his grip she continues to blush from the intimacy of the moment as he strides towards Ryoko.

He eyes the bags and looks at Ryoko who is more than happy to show off her many new purchases if Vegeta tells her what he was doing over the lake with Ayeka. In as many words Vegeta brusquely replies he was teaching her to fly, which in response leads to a torrent of laughter and mockery from Ryoko at the premise of Ayeka being able to fly. As the two women glare at each other waiting for a single spark to ignite their conflict into a full blown fight he intervenes. Their fight between each other is soon forgotten when they feel the strong hands of Vegeta on their shoulders. They turn from each other to look at him and blush at the contact whereas he just looks about disinterested and waiting to find out what Ryoko spent his money on.

Eventually the two women come back to their senses when he withdraws his hands from them and Ryoko happily rummages through her shopping bags showing off the many things she bought. Around a dozen different multi-coloured outfits she shows to Vegeta seeing whether he likes them or not … he couldn’t care less. After realising that her new clothing isn’t getting much of a reaction from the Saiyan she sidles up to him and quietly whispers in his ear.

“You know I also have a few more … private outfits that I’d be more than willing to show you.” She winks at him seductively as Ayeka watches and scowls. Ignoring Ryoko’s last comment he raises one of his eyebrows and points at the many other bags which don’t have clothes in. Her mischievous grin widens as she reveals that the contents of all the other bags are all alcoholic beverages of one kind or another but mainly sake and a large cardboard box containing a music playing device. He helps her carry the bags inside for no better reason than for some slight physical exercise as Ayeka leaves them to go and check up on her sister. With the bags set down out of the way Vegeta cannot continue being unproductive and heads off into the training room to see Washu’s improvements. As he starts to open the door to his sanctuary he turns to face Ryoko who was approaching him and about to say something.

“Let me train with you. I’m a space pirate after all, I have to keep up my strength.” Ryoko pleads. Vegeta concedes and allows her to join him knowing that she has no motivation for hard work and only wants to train out of jealousy for the time he spent with Ayeka earlier. She dashes off to one of her bags and gets out a red and black tight fitting jumpsuit and begins to change into it there and then, Vegeta sees this and hurries off into the training room before he sees too much. Not waiting for her to get ready he boots up the artificial gravity machine and puts it on an automatic setting and begins doing pushups.

He doesn’t look up as Ryoko saunters into the room but stays focused on his exercises, she glances at him then idles about exploring this new room she hasn’t been in before. Again she looks at Vegeta and then does some basic and rudimentary exercises in front of him in a vain attempt to show off. Vegeta continues paying no attention until the console has fully loaded and initiates artificial gravity, starting at ten times Earth’s gravity. To Vegeta there is no change, he feels nothing when his body drastically increases in weight, but for Ryoko however it is not.

She has never been under increased gravity situations before, most of the time she is in space and so doesn’t feel gravity or weight that often anyway. Her legs feel like lead and she is finding it difficult to move, but in plain sight of Vegeta she cannot show her weakness and must persevere through it. After a few minutes of pushing herself to her limits the gravity machine beeps again and it exerts fifty times the natural gravity of the planet. Sweat pours from her brow as Ryoko is brought to her knees under the crushing force that so far is still not effecting Vegeta’s movements or actions in the slightest. Struggling back to her feet Ryoko manages to stand up, but is shaking violently from the effort of it. Her eyes widen as another beep is emitted along with a rise to seventy five Gs. Sinking to the floor, with all her strength leaving her she collapses in a heap on the cold metal floor in a puddle of her own perspiration.

Looking over at her unconscious form Vegeta somersaults onto his feet and shuts off the gravity. Kneeling beside her he lowers his head towards hers and places two fingers on her neck, checking her breathing and pulse. Gently picking her up he carries her out of the training room to set her down on one of the sofas, standing back up he looks up at the other woman in the room and freezes. The shock of this woman is paralyzing his brain as he tries to comprehend, he detects no difference in her ki but physically something drastic has changed.

The woman in front of him is Washu. The last time he saw her she was near two feet shorter and around ten years younger. She now has the mature body of a woman and knows it. He continues to stutter and back away from her as his mind is still in disbelief. She slowly struts towards him in an extremely feminine way she was unable to do a few minutes ago.

“I take it that you no longer wish to be called Little Washu, but what kind of power is this to alter one’s own age, did you use one of your blasted machines?” Vegeta spurts out trying to buy time whilst his mind races as he watches her approach him.

“I do not rely on technology for this, it’s a simple feat which anyone of my intellect would be able to accomplish at will.” She disinterestedly replies whilst closing the gap to Vegeta who is unsure what to do in this situation. Ayeka strolls into the room bored from seeing her younger sibling so engrossed with those interactive virtual games she was playing and freezes when she sees the all new grown up Washu. Vegeta takes this opportunity where Ayeka basically repeats all of Vegeta’s questions towards Washu to slip away unnoticed in the background when her attention is elsewhere.

Now safely upstairs Vegeta takes a deep inhalation to calm himself and regrets breathing through his nose. Having olfactory sense that are as sensitive as that of a dog his own personal reek he has managed to produce through all his toil and labour nearly overwhelms him. Remembering his conversation with Washu earlier he thinks ‘now would be as good a time as any to see what she has done with my bathroom’. Silently padding down the corridor so that the women won’t be alerted to his location he opens the door to what was his bathroom but now seems the doorway to an entire new building.

As far as the eye can see there are pools of pristine waters, fountains made of enamelled metals, jewel encrusted wash basins and flora from around the galaxy decorating the land. Warily he enters, not trusting anything remotely to do with Washu. Carefully he walks around the large heated pool by the entrance and inspects the waters, testing it before deciding to bathe in it. Seeing a storage unit for clothes near the entrance and a towel dispenser he heads back where he entered, closes the door and begins to undress. Folding his clothes and placing them on a shelf he dives head first into the water. He breaks the surface and judges the distance of a length of the pool before starting to swim laps around the Olympic sized pool, for his idea of bathing does not include idling about. He slices through the water with powerful strokes at speeds parallel to those he is capable of on land, churning the water into a steaming, frothing current.

Sasami is bored of being cooped up inside and so has wandered off into the forest surrounding Vegeta’s house with Ryo-ohki for company. She is captivated by the natural beauty all around her and is not paying attention to how far off the beaten track she wanders. Unfortunately for her she doesn’t know yet about the few rare creatures that stalk the remote areas of this planet and at this moment one is watching her right now with its keen reptilian eyes. The Juraian child kneels to pick some of the many vibrantly colourful flowers when an ominous low thundering growl shakes through her.

Slowly she timidly raises her head to see the large mottled green scaly foot in front of her. In a frightened state of shock she continues looking up to see the full size of this terrifying Paozusaurus as it slowly opens its mouth. Petrified she stumbles backwards and begins to scream whilst Ryo-ohki stands her ground and hisses at the gigantic dinosaur. The high pitched screaming aggravates the dinosaur and so responds with a deafening ear-splitting roar. Saliva drools from its razor sharp maw as it moves it’s head closer towards it’s trapped prey, terrified beyond her senses the little girl cries out for her big sister to help her.

As impending doom looms closer and her tears start wetting her face a thunder like whip-crack resounds through the air. The jaws of death stop inches away from Sasami’s face. She opens her eyes to see a thin sliver of blood trace around the predators neck as its eyes gaze at her with a glazed expression. Sasami shies away again. The earth shakes and she feels the hem of her dress getting wet causing a fresh outburst of tears from her, when she feels a hand on her shoulder she nearly jumps out of her skin with fright.

“Heh, that was fun you wanna play some more?” Trunks impishly grins at her as she looks back at the freshly decapitated animal. With blood dripping from her dress she runs off back to the house so her sister can comfort her leaving a bemused Trunks wondering whether he said something wrong as he sheathes his sword.

Back in the house the space pirate rises from her slumber and looks about to see where she is. Slowly she recalls what happened and hears the drone of voices coming from the kitchen, still weary she can only just make out the sobs of Sasami and the gentle reassurances of her sister. Not interested in the slightest with the Juraian royals she gets to her feet and winces at the pain in her screaming muscles and sits back down. A few minutes pass as she massages her muscles into working condition again then phases in pursuit of the one she tried to impress but failed miserably. Not sure where he is she searches for a good long while before she pops her heads through one of the many doors to see a flurry of activity that could only be the one she seeks.

Fully phasing through the door so as not to attract attention from the swimmer a wide grin spreads across her face and she giggles as she slowly starts to remove her clothes. Throwing them in a rumpled heap on the floor she phases into the water directly in front of Vegeta. A sudden spike of ki is sensed by Vegeta as he halts in the water mid-stroke and water from his massive wake engulfs him and the person in front of him. Steaming the water from his eyes with energy he already knows that it is Ryoko before him but he wasn’t prepared for the sights he saw.

He blushes immensely seeing her wet and naked body before him before realising that his state of dress is no different to hers. His face turns an even deeper shade of red and she begins to slowly swim towards him with a wry smile on her face. Not needing to tread water as he can fly, Vegeta quickly improvises and uses one of Piccolo’s techniques to instantly materialise and spawn clothing on himself. Frowning at his … reluctance … she continues slowly swimming towards him in such a way to show off her womanly curves and body the most. With limited options and wanting to find out what the hell is going on in his life, he stops her by placing his hand on her damp forehead. She is confused at him by such a random place to touch her as she looks at his closed eyes, a weird sensation fills her head causing her to recoil away from his hand. She pauses and looks at him as he slowly opens his eyes with a worried and embarrassed look on his face.

“Wh.. what was that?” She asks inquisitively as she sees him slowly backing away, she continues moving towards him. He reluctantly looks at her again.

“I just read your thoughts … I know.” He slowly says, it takes a while for the words to sink in. Ryoko looks puzzled still for a bit and then it hits her, he knows. He has probed her, although not in the way he now knows she would like, and she turns a very deep shade of crimson as she blushes from what he must know. With her distracted he makes his getaway out of the bathroom … straight into Ayeka.

Barging into her accidently he once again catches her and puts her back on her feet before she knows what this sudden movement is but this time he places his hand on her forehead. Startled by the sudden jolt she is about to say something and then senses his hand on her head and the other feeling, she frowns in discomfort.

“I apologise Miss Ayeka” he says as he takes his hand off her head whilst blushing again. “ I had to clear some things up so … I read your mind” Her look turns from one of confusion to realisation to embarrassment to anger.

“How … h-how dare you i-invade me in such a personal manner it … i-it’s not right! A v-violation of this magnitude … h-hey come back here I’m not finished with you!” Not wanting to get a lecture on the moral issues surrounding knowing a persons innermost thoughts he continues his escape from the women leaping down the staircase in a single bound. Knowing only of one way to solve the problem of the troubling things he has found out he swiftly enters Washu’s lab and finds her sitting in her hover cushion only a few metres from the interdimensional doorway. Still running he goes up to her and demands to know how long until the dragon radars are ready for use. She swivels round to face him with a smile on her face.

“How nice of you to come, I knew it was only a matter of time before you paid me a little private visit, hehe.” By the time she has stood up Vegeta has had enough of being messed around with and takes matters into his own hands – and knows he doesn’t need to read her mind. Disappearing and reappearing in the same instant, he now holds all five dragon radars that Washu has been working on, to him they look the exact same. Frowning at his rejection of her she watches him press the single button on top of each radar for the same response, no dragon balls detected. Infuriated he crushes one in his hands and glares at Washu.

“Tell me you didn’t break them, or you will suffer the same fate”. With his gritted teeth bared Washu knows he is serious but unmoved by his show of aggression.

“None of the core electronics were changed, they all work perfectly fine. You think the greatest scientific genius in the universe would create a faulty product?” Her eyes show she is not lying and that leaves only one other reason left, could he have been so preoccupied with his training he didn’t realise? Angry with himself now he casts aside the radars at Washu who manages to catch most of them and vanishes into thin air.

Landing once again at Mount Paozu he calms himself down before approaching the lone houses in this wilderness. He bellows out the name of the only other surviving member of his race and waits for a response before calling for him again. The door to the house slams open and nearly falls off its hinges.

“What is it?! Oh, its you. My husband has gone away with our Gohan and will be back soon.” The annoyed house wife reluctantly lets him into her house to await Goku. Neither of them pleased with the situation they are currently in, they sit across from each other at the dining table and wait. The seconds drag on and the silence is left unbroken for what seems like an eternity. Having spent years at a time in transit between planets, Vegeta sits patiently until he hears the pitter patter of little feet.

“Um Mr Vegeta sir, is Trunks here?” Vegeta doesn’t bother to look at Goten and just slowly shakes his head. The disappointed kid then wanders off leaving the two adults alone again. More minutes pass before Vegeta decides to break the ice.

“So tell me woman, when is that kid of yours going to get round to marrying that daughter of a clown.” Apparently the first topic that came into his head wasn’t the best subject as talking about it seems to displease Chichi.

“I don’t know, maybe next year some time. Why are wedding bells on the horizon for you too?” He didn’t expect the question to be turned back round on him like that and resents the implications this woman is making. His eyes narrow and his brows furrow.

“Whatever you’re thinking you can forget it, those women mean nothing to me!” He snarls at her only just stopping himself from bringing his fist down onto the table. Her only response to his outburst is a sly raising of her eyebrows, the insinuations in those dark eyes cause his facial capillaries to expand.

“It’s OK, most people do choose to move on after the death of a loved one. In those seven long years without my Goku I was tempted to find company for those long and lonesome nights … but, I couldn’t bring myself to do it. It just wouldn’t have been right with Goten and Gohan … and I knew he was going to return to me someday.” Not sure what to do with what she has just confessed to him another awkward silence begins and lasts until voices can be heard nearing the house. Goku doesn’t manage to set a foot into his own house as Vegeta immediately heads for him and grabs the front of his gi. Paying no attention to the young couple who have entered with Goku he snarls at him and lifts him off the ground.

“Kakarot, were you the one who used the dragonballs?” He continues to lift him higher but Goku’s height advantage makes it difficult to lift him any further. Not feeling threatened and used to this sort of behaviour, Goku just scratches his head trying to think back as to whether he did or not. Goku carries on thinking for a while as Vegeta’s patience breaks.

“It’s not a difficult question you damn fool, the dragon radar is not picking up any dragonballs, therefore they must be inert as someone used them and that someone is you!”

“But I haven’t used the dragonballs I swear Vegeta, at least I don’t think so.” Vegeta seems reluctant to accept this answer but yields and drops Goku back to the ground.

“No, dad didn’t use them. I did.” The prodigal son of Goku steps forward facing Vegeta who’s eyes narrow on him maliciously. “I gathered them and used them around three months ago, I only used one wish and that was for world peace, it’s about time they were used for such a noble purpose.”

“A Saiyan wishing for peace? I hope my son doesn’t get that sort of cowardice from a human mother.” With that last disparaging remark he barges through them and jets off back to his home to face the music.

Back with his home in sight and his feet with firm ground beneath them he holds his head in hands before approaching and entering his house. Trying to appear confident and in control of the situation he walks in to find all the female occupants of his house squeezed onto one of the sofas and sobbing at a wishy-washy romance flick they found on the upgraded TV-hologram. Not in the least bit interested by any of the broadcasts from earthlings he looks again at the women who have taken over his life. Ignoring the film, Ryoko and Ayeka look up at him and dry their eyes whilst blushing from the memories of their last extremely personal encounter. If only all of the women in his house acted like them for at a speed at which any normal being would have been taken unaware Washu stands and goes to envelop Vegeta in her slender arms. Unfortunately for her his reaction time puts insects to shame and she is left holding thin air whilst he looks on unimpressed from the other side of the room.

“Whilst you lazed about I went off to Kakarot’s shabby hut to solve our little situation, unfortunately I don’t return with good news…” The women seem interested by what he has to say and so switch off the television set to listen to him recount what he found out whilst visiting his rival and the implications of it. “ … The dragonballs will remain inactive for up to a whole month so Ayeka and Sasami you will be stuck her for a while…” He then looks towards the other two women. “… and only one wish will be available for use.”. Washu and Ryoko look down disheartened by this turn of events.

“ Oh well, guess it can’t be helped, we’ll just have to keep you company for a little while longer … and for the kind hospitality I even made a few more changes in your little training room …” Washu’s announcement gets Vegeta’s attention as he looks quizzically at her wondering what she’s been up to in his absence. “… if you must know all I did was simply install a holographic simulator that allows you to refight any battles that were recorded on those primitive discs of yours.” This news is the best he has heard in a long while, his face lights up as he prepares for what he deems to be a very important occasion. As he goes upstairs to put on his Saiyan armour Washu sits back down next to the women and quietly says to them. “I also built in observation cameras that feed directly to this television so we can watch him whilst he trains.” Both Ryoko and Ayeka rush for the remote to turn back on the Television. Having slipped on a clean new pair of white gloves and boots he lowers the expandable chest piece over his head and readies himself for battle.

Entering the metal chamber he notices few changes, a few new buttons here and there on the main console and a weird metallic box embedded with many glinting lights and diodes hanging from the ceiling, but apart from that it’s the same training chamber. Looking at the buttons he is glad to see that Washu has labelled them clearly and in the language of earthlings which he is now accustomed to. Gleefully pushing a combination of buttons he makes one of his most sought after dreams come true. The walls of the training chamber fade and are replaced by the rolling hills of blue grass and seas of green water, by a sky lit with multiple suns and no life in sight except for a few spindly Ajisa trees dotting the landscape. Before him a figure is simulated into existence, a small figure of the same height as Vegeta, the same figure he has wanted to pulverise into the dirt all of his life.

The white and purple alien standing before him is Lord Frieza in his final form with his tail swishing restlessly from side to side. The being responsible for his race’s destruction, his father’s death, his first death and why Goku was able to ascend to levels of power that were but a legend for him. He has to give it to Washu, she has perfectly recreated this foe as he listens to the mighty conqueror of the universe rant on about his awesome power and how he a small pathetic monkey will not take any effort to defeat. Having listened to monologues like that from Frieza he smirks at the memory and how Frieza still thinks he was as weak as he was on Namek.

Vegeta steadily gets into a defensive fighting position and with two fingers goads Frieza into trying his luck against him. Frieza smirks at the overconfidence of the Saiyan and gladly accepts the challenge charging into Vegeta. Vegeta doesn’t move an inch and before he knows it Frieza is laying into him left, right and centre. Blow after blow lands on Vegeta until Frieza decides to finish it with a vicious swipe to the face. The punch lands but, unfortunately for the virtual Frieza all it does is simply move Vegeta’s head slightly to the side.

“No, no it can’t be. The legends can’t be true.” Frieza slowly backs away from the Saiyan prince trembling as he sees that he is more or less uninjured. A flash of light and the piercing blue eyes of a super Saiyan are staring directly at Frieza with only one thing in mind. Savouring the moment he appears behind Frieza with one of his arms outstretched to the side and turns back to look at the still form of Frieza. Purple blood jets into the air as the ruler of the universe’s head rolls off his shoulders and comes to a rest at a pair of white boots. The detached head stares at him lifelessly as he brings his foot down in sadistic glee, crushing his skull and loving the sound it makes.

“He … he killed Frieza in a single blow?” Ryoko stares at the screen gobsmacked. She might have seen that he was strong but never did she think he was so strong as to voluntarily take a beating from what she thought to be the most powerful being in the galaxy and still be standing afterwards. What happens next shocks her even more.

Smiling and laughing manically with his old bloodlust returning to him and sending him spiralling down into the mind-set of a berserker, he punches in several commands in the control panel and awaits his entertainment. This time his fight isn’t a one on one, he chose instead to input ten of the tyrannical ruler to duel with him. War erupts. Fending off all of the heartless monsters at once the battle rages for over an hour but only because he allows it to, not wanting to spoil his fun as he toys with them pitilessly. Confidently controlling the battle the whole time he ascends to his highest levels of power in the transformation to super Saiyan 3 for no other reason but to see the fear in his opponents eyes. One after another is brutally executed in painfully torturous ways as he exacts his lost revenge on them all. Every one of them fail to land a single hit on him.

The women watch in stunned awe as they try and fail to follow his speed and agility on the projected hologram. Washu begins to mutter to herself as she attempts to calculate the impossibilities of the feats she is witnessing and mumbling incomprehensible science jargon and formulas. Ryoko continues to stare at the screen in amazement even when the victorious warrior emerges from the chamber in armour only scarred from the power of his own blasts. He continues past the women still in his super Saiyan three state which all but Ryoko have never seen before at such proximity. Ignoring the unwanted attention he is getting, he heads upstairs and shortly afterwards is coming back down dragging his son behind him.

He stops outside the door to the training room and simply points towards it. Trunks, knowing better than to argue with his father, goes in there and unsheathes his sword. Vegeta goes back to where the women are and leans on the back of the sofa and powers downs back to his base form. Ayeka looks at him, unsure of what to make of such a monstrously powerful person so close to her, but then she sees his fatherly pride shine through as he watches his son stand his ground and take on the same despot he fought with. His son has to go super Saiyan to fight the son of King Cold, but in the end Frieza is overpowered and tastes the cold steel of Trunks’ honed blade. Weary from the exertion of fighting a foe so strong Trunks nearly bumps into his father looking down on him. The descendant of Saiyan heritage looks up with a weak smile at his father who returns the smile and puts his gloved hand on his son’s head.

“I’m proud of you son, remember that. Now off with you.”. Ruffling the purple hair of his son as the youth runs back upstairs. Watching his son as he disappears around a corner he turns to face the three women. No longer with a smile of pride or battle euphoria his stone cold expression takes control of his face once again as he begins his speech.

“All of you will still be welcome in my home during this delay waiting for the dragonballs to become active again. However, none of you are allowed to show or express in any way your … your romantic interest in me. That is unless you prove yourselves to be worthy to me.”. They all see how deadly serious he is but Ryoko and Ayeka can’t help a little blush at how bluntly he has acknowledged their feelings for him.

“Prince Vegeta… how might one go about proving themselves if they …. Um” Too embarrassed to continue she blushes and just cannot say it aloud in front of so many peers.

“All it would take for any of you to prove your worth would be to cause me to bleed.” Vegeta sternly replies, turning from them to leave the room. All the women seem apprehensive by the herculean task set before them and Ayeka more so than the others, for she does not want to try and physically harm him in any way.

“Yaaargh!” Ryoko shouts and in a flash is across the room with her energy sword stabbed down into Vegeta’s armour. A faint sizzling sound is heard in the deathly silence as Vegeta slowly turns his head round to look at Ryoko. He smirks at her as she dissipates the sword to see her efforts were in vain for she didn’t even singe one of his hairs. Content with how he has sorted out the situation he leaves the room as Ayeka glowers at Ryoko for making the first move.

The women then go their separate ways with Washu slinking off back into her realm to reanalyse all the data she has collected on the Saiyan prince to pinpoint any of his weaknesses. Her research is faultless, her methodology superb but she is probably the only one in the household who can truly comprehend the sheer force and power known as Vegeta. Not truly disheartened by the news for she has no true romantic feelings towards the head of the house she turns her attention to other projects she has been studiously working on.

Ryoko sees whether trying to do some training like Vegeta to raise her strength to his level would do her any good but falters at the door remembering what happened last time she tried that and so goes for a nap instead to think. Attempting a more subtle approach Ayeka roams about the house and finds her younger sister still playing video games with Trunks. Saying she is playing against someone who has a lot of experience at the game and can control his body at supersonic speeds she is doing exceptionally well against him. Casually she asks Trunks about his father and whether he might have any metaphorical chinks in his armour.

“Weaknesses? No! My dad’s the strongest guy in the universe.” With that Ayeka sees it is hopeless and leaves the two children to their games.

Hours pass and the sun is now low in the sky, dinner has been had and everyone is resting letting their meals go down … save one. The man who never indulges in relaxation is sat on his own in the corner of the room meditating trying to ignore all external stimuli. Having opened one of the many bottles she bought earlier Ryoko is on her way to intoxication rapidly. Not following her example Ayeka and Washu refrain from drinking too much and only have a glass each, even this is pushing it for the princess of Jurai though having never dabbled with the firewater before.

Ryoko did try and offer Vegeta a drink but she should have known that he would never touch anything that could bring harm to the body he has worked so hard to perfect and improve. Ayeka notices that Vegeta is still trying to distance himself from her and throws occasional glances at him not sure what to do. The mood in the room would be a cold and sour one if not for Ryoko’s drunken debauchery that is obviously severely irritating Ayeka. Stumbling across the room and almost tripping over Ayeka’s feet Ryoko snatches the remote and turns on the TV with no thought or care about what the other people in the room want to watch.

“Ryoko turn that off right now, I don’t want to be watching such vile things.” The first thing that caught Ryoko’s eye was an old horror movie that does not sit well with the princess’ delicate sensibilities. The reply she gets is Ryoko’s tongue stuck out at her followed by many more rude faces and gestures. Ayeka snaps and a full blown row between her and the now instantly sober Ryoko is in full flight. Slinking away in the background Vegeta heads into his sanctuary and sighs to himself then does a few warm up stretches to prepare him for the course he has decided to take.

The loud clunk of the training room bulkhead sized door interrupts the women’s argument and Ryoko pushes a button and Vegeta appears on the holographic display in front of them. Seeing that arguing will get her nowhere and that she is now watching something she wants to, Ayeka calms down and sits back on the comfortable sofa. Trunks and Sasami come inside as they were playing outside but the dim lighting has forced them to end their game. The display shows Vegeta press several buttons and stand back from the controls as a rolling grassy landscape appears. The greens of the grass and blues of the sky seem more vibrant and alive then those of Earth but there is one blip of colour on the horizon, a small dot of pink.

“Huh, what’s that … it looks like, no. Oh no what is dad doing!” Trunks seems scared for his father as the pink blob starts to oscillate and slowly take on the form of a small pink humanoid with a long head tentacle. It takes a while for the women to place this villain from the recordings they watched a few days ago, but when they recognise Kid Buu they start to share Trunks’ apprehension and fear.

Vegeta slowly strides towards Buu who has taken up beating his chest and hollering for a reason still unknown to Vegeta. Soon there is barely a few metres between Vegeta and the short menace of the universe, and then they’re off. Minutes pass before any sign of the warriors emerge and then all it is are many of the hills and cliffs randomly vaporising or getting blown apart. Then both fighters appear exchanging blows and blasts right next to each other. Vegeta was hoping his newfound strength in super Saiyan three would give him an advantage, but he is forced to use the form to keep up with the speed of Buu.

The shockwaves and explosions from their intense duel is cracking the planets crust around them, the land deforming beneath their feet. Only rarely does either pugilist land a blow on the other and each impact is devastating. Vegeta never seems to have the upper hand as fatigue sets in from maintaining the transformation and the way that every single injury he lands on Buu is instantly healed by his regenerative powers. Pumping up his strength and increasing his power to the highest he has ever got it, he charges Buu in a last ditch attempt to try and vanquish him as he can’t rely on a spirit ball this time.

The lightning fast combo of strikes raining down on Buu is too much for him and his guard soon breaks taking blows to every part of his body and disrupting his amorphous form. The flurry of violence has taken a lot out of Vegeta who is sweating profusely and consequently is nanoseconds too slow to get his guard back up after the last blow. Buu repays every single blow to Vegeta tenfold as the Saiyan is slammed around and into the planet, decimating the landscape further. Trying to climb back out of a crater his own body made when he was sent to the ground a sharp cracking sound bursts from his outstretched arm. He shrieks in agony at his shattered arm and the continual assault from Kid Buu which he is now helpless to defend himself against. Executing a final move Buu charges and unleashes a point blank range salmon coloured Kamehameha wave inches away from the battered prince.

The audience watching him look on with horror and disbelief as Vegeta is enveloped in a blinding light … slowly the smoke and debris from the blast clears. Only just able to get his guard up Vegeta smoulders as he grimaces at the pain that racks his body in great throes. Protecting his own life with his broken and ruined arm he is left with only fragments of pulverised bone left in the mangled flesh that was his arm, the rest of his radius and ulna are jutting out of his arm or embedded in the small amount of armour that has survived intact in jagged splinters.

A grim look of pain and determination crosses his face and the anger from the throbbing his tortured body is hardly coping with gives him the required boost of energy he needed. Buu is just staring beady eyed with his mouth open, unable to comprehend how his attack didn’t kill him. The hesitation of Buu is interrupted by an uppercut to the chin, rocketing the pink destroyer high into the atmosphere of the Supreme Kai’s planet. Recovering in orbit of the planet Buu unleashes wave after wave of pink coloured ki blasts at the crumbling planet. An iron grip encircles Buu as Vegeta instant transmits behind him, grapples the mighty foe and dives towards the ragged rocks of the planet below.

Buu’s ability of transformation are no help when it tries to escape from the warriors grip, the first hint of escape and Vegeta summons multiple manacles of pure energy wrapping around his adversary. Letting go and coming to a dead stop only a few feet from the desecrated planet, Vegeta starts gathering energy as Buu hurtles through kilometres of rock into the molten core of the planet. Hoping the intense heat and pressure of the inner core will slow down Buu and buy him a few seconds, Vegeta cups his hands or what remains of them together and executes a gallick gun.

The planet and the destructive force known as Buu are instantly obliterated from existence in a shining amethyst conflagration. The last remaining vestige of energy that Vegeta had is gone as he floats in the vacuous abyss of where the planet’s implosion flung him, now in base form and bleeding from more wounds then he has intact bones. Coughing up even more vital fluids he manages a faint whisper to deactivate the training room (for Washu also installed voice commands). Like a lead balloon he falls and collapses onto the cold tiles.

Ayeka and Ryoko watch in deathly silence as he struggles to rise then slumps unable to move the wreck of a body he has. At the sight of him not moving they rush to the thick metal door to get to him, as Ayeka struggles with the weight of it Ryoko phases through. Not being able to get up at all, Vegeta just manages to lift his head to see Ryoko flying towards him and Ayeka in the doorway with the door swung wide open.

“Console, 450G!” He shouts through gritted teeth, knowing what will come. Lights on the console start to flash and Ryoko gets herself out of the room quickly, hovering next to the princess, both with no way to get to him.

“LEAVE …. ME …B… BE!” Vegeta screams at them as his fractured body is slowly being crushed, intensifying all of his wounds to limits previously undreamed of in the realms of agony. Trying as hard as he can, he stops himself from yelling out at the world of pain his body is forced to endure. No more can he keep his head up to look at them. His head thuds to the floor with a resounding meaty thud.

Helplessly looking around for a way to reach Vegeta the women start to fret just when a blonde saviour goes to his father’s rescue. Being the only one in the house able to survive in the conditions Vegeta has left his prone body in he quickly flies in and back out again carrying his father. Carefully laying his father down on the vacated sofa Trunks stays by his father’s side as Ryoko and Ayeka hasten to see if he’s OK – or more realistically going to survive. Drifting off into unconsciousness Vegeta smiles weakly seeing the two women leaning over him.

“Well looks like someone will need a little bit of medical attention. Don’t worry my lab is fully outfitted with all necessary equipment for me to nurse him back to health.” Chuckling to herself Washu looks down at the ravaged barely alive body.

“Leave dad alone, he doesn’t need your help.” Trunks steps forward in-between her and his father.

“Don’t be unreasonable, just look at him. Only I have the knowledge and facilities to heal him, it’s not like you can take him to a hospital.” Washu grins at how the situation is turning in her favour when Trunks decides enough is enough and carries the soon to be corpse of his dad elsewhere. The women tail him anxious for the health of Vegeta and stay by his side as Trunks lays his father down on his bed. The son looks back at Ayeka and Ryoko before opening a window and diving out of it, flying off into the sunset’s amber gleam. Washu who was slowly following behind, like a wolf stalking its prey, eventually gets to the room to see the two women barring her entrance.

“It is our duty as guests in this house to respect the wishes of Trunks so I will not let you in.”

“Yeah, what she said.” With that they slam the door in Washu’s face and go to Vegeta’s bedside inspecting the extreme major damage he has sustained. After a few minutes Sasami hurries into the room, past Washu sat down outside of it, and hands over a small first aid box she managed to find in the kitchen. Still disturbed by the bloodshed she saw earlier she has to leave the room whilst Ayeka and Ryoko carefully and tenderly nurse his bloody lacerations, gaping wounds and gore pumping slashes. The provisions that Sasami gave them were basic and all they could do was bandage the worst of his wounds and try to stop the worst of the haemorrhaging, the cooperation between the two rivals lasts a long time. That is until Ryoko has the smart idea of taking advantage of the comatose Vegeta.

“Well Ayeka it wouldn’t be proper if we didn’t check all of his body for injuries would it now, so you just leave the room and I’ll check under here.” Ryoko puts her hand on the Saiyan armour preparing to remove what isn’t seared to his mutilated flesh. Ayeka slaps her hand away threateningly.

“How dare you! He has been mortally wounded and you still have such abhorrent base thoughts on that filthy mind of yours, have you no compassion?” The women are about to lock horns when a great whooshing sound draws their attention. Landing back at his father’s bedside Trunks pays no attention to the squabbling women and feeds his dad a senzu bean. Reflexively the bean is swallowed.

The eyes of the warrior snap open as the bean works its magic repairing his body and providing him sustenance. Leaping out of bed he shrugs off the tightly woven bandages the women affectionately applied. Not sure what just happened the women look startled at Vegeta and how he is perfectly fine. As Trunks walks out of the door Washu seizes the opportunity and enters, to find to her disappointment her services are no longer required.

Turning around slowly and surveying his room and the women in it Vegeta smiles as he walks back to his bed. The women still look on unsure as he removes the sheets from his bed that were soiled with his blood and rips off what is left of his Saiyan armour. Without replacing any of the bedding he lays himself back down on the hard bed with several new scars on his chest and arms and small patches of carbonised clothing being the only thing protecting his modesty. Ryoko and Ayeka approach him and investigate whether he is as miraculously healthy as he appears. Staring up at the three women crowded around him he quietly asks them to leave him in peace. Ryoko and Ayeka put up no argument and leave, understanding he will want to rest after his near death ordeal.

“ You ended up in a bit of a sorry state back there … and it was my invention that caused all your bloodshed so…” Washu slyly sidles closer to Vegeta and leans over his bed.

“You just try it woman and I’ll show you bloodshed.” Vegeta stares at the ceiling not looking at her. With that threat in mind Washu silently walks out of the room dejected and closes the door behind her leaving Vegeta alone.