Everybody Loves Vegeta

Chapter 9

"Have you ever flown around just for fun?"

Vegeta opened his eyes at the sound of Goku's voice. They soared above the clouds in some part of the world he'd never seen before. Up here, the moon's brightness gave everything an ethereal glow. If not for his sweater and the furnace-like heat radiating from Goku's chest, Vegeta would be freezing. "Not really," he finally spoke into Goku's neck.

"Not even when you were small?" Goku asked.

"No. I spent most of my time training when I was younger." Vegeta paused, then took the bait. "I take it you were different."

"I trained a lot as a kid, too. But I also traveled. I spent a lot of days flying on my nimbus cloud just exploring the world around me."

"What the hell is a nimbus cloud?"

"It's a magic cloud I rode when I was a teenager. Only the pure of heart can sit on it." Goku raised his brow. "Do you want to see if it'll let you ride it?"

"No, I don't need to ride on a stupid cloud!"

"You're right. This is much more romantic, right?" Goku squeezed Vegeta closer to his chest.

Vegeta scoffed. "I take it all your friends could ride it?"

"Hehe. Not at all. Bulma and Krillen could never ride it. Master Roshi couldn't ride it either, and he's the first one to give me the flying nimbus."

"So you're saying only you were pure enough to ride it. How typical."

"Mmm, not exactly..." Goku looked away. "A few girls I met could ride it. And Chi-Chi."

Vegeta tightened his grasp around Goku's neck. "Fine. Let me try it."

"Wha? Really? What changed your mind?"

Do I really have to say it? Vegeta thought. "Just let me try to ride the damn thing!"

"Alright." Goku inhaled deeply. "FLYING NIMBUS!" he screamed into the night air.

"Fuck Kakarot, you're going to destroy my eardrums if you yell like that again!"

Miles away, Vegeta watched a yellow mass speed toward them. It barrel rolled and loop-de-looped in the air, as if delighted to fly again after years of dormancy. Once it reached them it skidded to a stop in mid-air and hovered next to Goku's legs.

"Are you sure about this?" Goku grinned cheekily at Vegeta. "You might fall right through it."

"I can handle it."

Goku nodded, and dropped Vegeta onto the nimbus cloud. He grunted on impact, but managed to land safely.

"No way!" Goku yelled. "You can ride the nimbus cloud?!"

Vegeta crossed his arms. He couldn't fight back the growing smirk on his face. "Do you have such little faith in the kind of man I am?"

"Wow! I can't believe it." Goku scratched the back of his head, astonished. He lowered himself to the nimbus. "I guess we can ride this the rest of the way—" Goku gasped and fell through the cloud.

Vegeta leaned over and watched Goku plummet down past all the dark clouds clustered below them. "Huh." He ran his fingers through the nimbus cloud and watched the yellow moisture curl around his hand, then dissipate. "Um. Go get him...cloud...thing."

The nimbus cloud flipped in the air, then dove toward Goku. Goku flapped his arms to try and stop himself from falling. Vegeta rolled his eyes. "Stop playing around and fly already!"