Strange New World, That Has Such Creatures In It

Vegetasei Reborn Chapter 1

No light came into the Capsule Corps room, save for the occasional car headlights as the workers drove home one by one. Split into sections by the blinds, the light started at the window, moved over the bare white walls and ran down the bed, disappearing just before hitting Vegeta's eyes. The light only reached Goku's chest, exposed as he kicked the blankets down a few more inches.

After the last delivery truck rumbled by, Vegeta eased out of bed and dressed in his black spandex uniform. White boots and gloves went on next, and he looked around the room, peering through the shadowed corners. Goku still slept soundly, smiling and turning his head to one side. Vegeta pulled the blankets back up over his mate. He shook his head and walked to the door, opened it, and closed it behind himself. A dull throb moved through his stomach, and he put his arms around himself as he walked.

The Capsule Corps halls were empty and the lights dim. He passed by Trunks' room, now shared with Goten, and a few minutes later Bulma's room, shared sometimes by Yamcha. Their two ki's hummed quietly together. After that came her parents' room, and then he stood outside the lab.

One of the few people allowed access, he took off his glove and set his hand on the pad by the door. The computer screen on the wall lit up green. "Vegeta," he whispered, wincing at how loud it sounded.

The words Code Key Password came up letter by letter, followed by a blinking cursor.

"Pride."

The doors hissed open and he entered, looking around the lab before spotting what he needed on Bulma's work desk. He picked up the dragon radar and left, the doors closing behind him. A few minutes later, he stood outside in the cold night air as a light rain began to fall. With a sigh and one last look at the building behind him, he flew into the sky.

Tien had the first ball, but he and Launch never heard him slip in and steal it from their bedroom. He glanced at them for a few seconds, watching them sleep spooned against each other. Both of them smiled in their sleep, and he frowned and left out their window.

The next dragonball lay in Roshi's house in the middle of the ocean. He nearly stepped on the turtle when he slipped in, and he'd slipped on two magazines on the floor, but he found the dragonball sitting on a stack of magazines like a paperweight. He looked around at the amount of porn magazines, discs and items he couldn't imagine the uses for, but if he incinerated them, the old man would wake up.

The flight half across the world calmed him. Two balls lay side by side in the midst of a coral reef, protected only by a few sharks, stinging coral and an eel that bit his arm and wouldn't let go. He'd snapped its head off and eaten the rest of it raw, though it didn't sit well in his stomach.

One more ball sat a few miles away at the bottom of the ocean. All the day's warmth had left the water and the water turned from dark to black after a few feet down. He used his ki as a lantern, but the glow attracted animals, things with no eyes and mouths so big he wondered how its food didn't swim out of its stomach.

He found a whale carcass on the floor, a few sharks bigger than him working off chunks of meat. The radar showed he was right on top of the dragonball, so he raised the whale's mouth and swam in. A few seconds later, he blew a hole through the top and swam out, the ball in one hand. When he reached the surface, he gasped for air and slipped the ball in his bag.

His next stop surprised him. The radar pointed the ball out in Krillin's house. He couldn't feel any ki signatures that meant anyone was awake, so he climbed in a half-open window and found the ball inside the window seat. He took it out and turned to leave.

"What are you going to wish for?"

She'd probably felt him miles away. He raised the one-star ball and stared at it.