Count Down From Ten

As It Starts

Chapter One

(Bulma's POV)

The leaves on the trees surrounding the compound were no longer bright green; instead they had turned to warm browns and vibrant reds. Only a few trees had shed all their leaves as the crisp month of October finally set in. I couldn't believe it had been two months since the boy from the future had come to warn the Z fighters and myself about the androids. Since nobody wanted to listen to my plan on using the Dragon Balls to resolve this whole ordeal, life at Capsule Corps has been a little hectic. Yamcha is constantly up my ass, not training at all and the "prince" was always commanding my father and I to make training harder for him.

It felt like I never had time to myself anymore. All I wanted to do was sit outside; take some time to enjoy the fresh crisp air, all bundled up in a nice cozy sweater. Instead, I was neck deep in work; all due to a hard-headed house guest. On the rare occasion where I could sit down to a cup of coffee with my mother, I would express my disdain for his pretentious attitude, simply trying to vent to her. She would retort that she just adored his determined demeanor and she was always quick to remind me that she loved catering to his huge Saiyan appetite. It was hard not to notice how she would always swoon around him; regularly commenting on how handsome he was. She would constantly tease me saying as a scientist I should jump at the opportunity to study a specimen like him, a knowing wink accompanied her insane statements. It irked me, I had no clue what fantasy land she lived in but I swore if it wasn't one thing it was always another.

My morning had started well enough, my father and I were in the lab discussing business when Vegeta had barged in with a mangled pile of metal. He undermined my father and I's intelligence with his casual harsh words then stormed out the room leaving a slight dampener on my mood. What was supposed to be an easy morning in the lab turned into a morning of grunt work. As we proceeded to re-build two new bots we continued to discuss our next couple of projects for the company. By the time we finished the training droids it was well past noon. My father quickly called down a work-bot to deliver the finished droids to the gravity room. We walked to the kitchen together.

I was not surprised to see Yamcha and Puar sitting at the table. They had been coming over quite often, I felt my mood lighten as I gave Yamcha a warm smile. My mother tossed us a cheery greeting as she continued to place assorted dishes on the table. I took a seat next to Yamcha and we chatted lightly as everyone stacked their plates. My soured mood dissolved as I enjoyed my lunch, so much so that inspiration had hit me for a much better design for the arrogant prince's training droids.

~

I have once again found myself in front of my disorganized workbench, frustrated with the half metal sphere in front of me. Yamcha was not making this process easy. He had decided it would be a brilliant idea to keep me company while Puar took the opportunity to help my mother with the dishes.

I didn't have the heart to turn him down. It was nice to have his presence but the more he deterred my focus the more I mentally berated myself for allowing him the pleasure of watching me work so hard. He was sitting at my desk, his feet lazy propped on its surface as he kept chattering away about the uninteresting lives of his baseball team mates. It was easy to draw up the blue-prints I had in mind but the process of building the droid was proving almost impossible. He would occasionally ask for my opinion on certain matters thus interrupting my train of thought; yet I clumsily continued to work.

I focused on soldering the last components of the mainframe chip when Yamcha interrupted me once more.

"Why do you think Cody acts like that babe?" The scar-faced fighter inquired curiously.

I didn't even look up to meet his eye, "Yamcha could you give me a moment, I am trying to finish this droid for Vegeta and it's hard to concentrate with you asking these questions every minute." I chidded honestly, trying to not come off as harsh.