CHAPTER SEVEN:

Ayeka’s mind was now filled with panic. Vegeta was barely hanging on and if things weren’t put under control soon, he could pass out in mid-air and that was not going to be very good.

“Please Vegeta, hang on. We are almost there.” She begged feverishly, noticing their rapidly decreasing speed.

Vegeta grit his teeth, silently wishing that he had one of those blasted senzu beans with him. He had stupidly left them in the spaceship and now he had been hurt by some stupid, useless gunshot. It was no ordinary shot though. He could survive those pathetic earthling weapons of destruction. This was something else and whatever it was, was beginning to drain away his strength. His eyes were getting heavier and he could barely concentrate on his flight. He hoped that they were almost close, because the two girls were beginning to weigh a whole lot heavier on his arms and he wasn’t sure if he could hold up any longer.

Sasami’s sudden squeal of excitement, snapped him out of his daze. “There’s the spaceship!”

~ Thank Kami. ~

Ayeka’s coaxing voice gave him directions to a safe landing spot. Eventually reaching the ground, the Saiyan prince’s legs gave way, and he collapsed onto the cold floor, gasping and panting for air. He was in serious pain and he hated his feeling of helplessness.

Ayeka stood for several minutes in indecision, her mind torn in two different directions. What could she do now? She could hear the approaching officers since they had used their air cars to follow them and Nagy could be anywhere. Finally coming to a decision, she ran into the hanger where the spaceship was kept, leaving Sasami to take care of the ailing prince.

“Hello?! Hello!!! Is there anyone in here? Please, I need some help!!”

When no response was forthcoming, she raced up to the seemingly locked office door and banged in frustration. About to give up, she was nearly toppled down as the door was suddenly opened, revealing the sleepy visage of the manager.

“Wassa matta?” he murmured, rubbing his eyes as he took in the picture of the dishelved and distraught looking female in front of him.

Ayeka clutched his coveralls and began shaking him, all the while trying to get her jumbled message across. “Help…he is hurt…outside….after us….please!! You must help!!”

“Okay! Okay, lady! Take it easy.” The poor man said, placing his grimy hands on her arms. “You want me to help take someone to your spaceship, right?”

Ayeka could only nod and dragging the man behind her, she led him towards the two figures that were waiting for them.

“Whoa!” The man said, looking at the pale countenance of the bleeding Saiyan. “What the hell happened to him?”

“No time for that right now.” Ayeka replied sharply. “Just help us take him into the spaceship.”

The man nodded and bending down he tried to lift Vegeta up, only to have his hand swatted away with a growl.

“Leave me alone!” Vegeta mumbled, his thoughts clearly not coherent. “I do not need anyone to take care of me. I am the Saiyan no Ouji and I need help from no one!”

Three pairs of eyes blinked in confusion for a minute, especially the rose-colored orbs of Ayeka. Had he actually said he was the Saiyan no Ouji? Shaking her head, she refused to believe that, claiming the statement as a result of delirium.

“He is not in his right mind.” She said apologetically. “Please help me lift him.”

“Uh…if you say so lady.” The man replied, scratching his head doubtfully. Leaning down again, he tried to lift Vegeta up again. This time he received no resistance and with lumbering steps, flanked by the two worried girls, he led the delirious prince into their spacecraft.

“Put him in here.” Ayeka said, pointing to one of the empty small cots.

Smiling gratefully at the clearly confused man, she slipped a few woolongs out of the prize money and gave it to him.

“Thank you for all your help.” She said, beginning to push him out of the ship, before he could begin asking any stupid questions. “I think we can handle it from here.”

Shutting the door behind him, Ayeka ran over to the controls of the spacecraft, frowning in concentration as she tried to remember what she had read about earth-built machines. Since, Ryu-oh, her own spaceship had been controlled by her voice and her royal crown, she had had no use for switches and buttons.

~ They are much more primitive, so I would have to be careful. Okay…here we… ~

“Are you sure you can handle such an old machine, Princess Ayeka?” came the voice of her trusty old guardian.

“Of course I can!” she snapped angrily. “I can handle anything kind of…..huh?!”

“COME OUT OF THE SPACESHIP! WE HAVE YOU SURROUNDED! HAND OVER THE PRINCESSES AND NO ONE GETS HURT! THIS IS THE GALAXY POLICE! SURRENDER NOW!”

“Ayeka?” Sasami squeaked out in fear, looking out of the windows at the glare of lights from the row of Galaxy Police air cars that were now surrounding them. “ What are we going to do?”

Gritting her teeth, Ayeka answered tightly. “Buckle up Sasami. This is going to be a bumpy ride.”

And with a push on the power button, the dull hum of the engine starting caused her to heave a small sigh of relief. Watching as Sasami buckled herself in, she gripped the handles of the control panels and with a grunt she yanked it backwards, nearly screaming out in pain as the spaceship exploded off the ground with a burst of enormous power. The gravitational pull was constricting and she could barely breathe. A sharp jolt caused her to fall forward, nearly breaking her neck and sending her hair flying loosely around her.

“They are shooting at us, Princess Ayeka.” Kamadake said in a nervous tone.

“I can see that.” Ayeka spat out through clenched teeth as she focused her attention on leaving the atmosphere. She had to get out of here and the faster the better. Another jolt almost sent her flying out of her seat.

“ARGH!! THOSE FOOLS!! I SHOULD HAVE THEIR HEADS FOR DARING TO SHOOT AT ME!”

“But, Princess Ayeka, they think that you are being kidnapped…”

“WELL I AM NOT AM I, AZAKA?!!”

“Umm…no…you are…”

“Then please be silent, until I get out of here!!”

“Ayeka?”

“Yes, Sasami?”

“Maybe you could use the shield. That should protect us until we get there…to earth.”

Ayeka frowned. She wasn’t sure if the shield would be able to hold them with an ordinary space ship, especially one as old and primitive, but it was worth giving it a try. Closing her eyes, she tried to focus her energy into her inner Jurian powers, willing her shield to protect her.

~ Please. Tsunami. Help me…us…~

Her face was now contorted into an intense frown. Beads of sweat now on her oval shaped face. Already tired and weary from her exertions of the day, she wasn’t even sure she had enough strength to pull this off. Another painful jolt erased all thoughts of forming a successful shield and so abandoning the effort; she instead began focusing her attention on the attack weapons of this particular spaceship.

~ Argh! Which switch is it? ~

“We have successfully cleared the planet’s atmosphere, Princess Ayeka.” Kamadake said quietly.

Ayeka could only nod. She was still too busy trying to find out a way to blast her attackers.

“Oh, Tsunami! I can’t do this!!” she finally yelled out in frustration, angrily feeling the tears about to fall.

“Move over…”

She snapped her head around as the raspy voice, clearly laden with pain, spoke out. She watched in shock as Vegeta, still injured, staggered up to the controls and leaned heavily against the pilots chair. His face was extremely pale and his breathing was haggard and harsh. The bloodstain on his shirt was beginning to dry to a dull maroon and it was taking all of the princesses’ strength not to panic at the sight.

“You should be lying down, Vegeta.” She said, although she found herself giving him room to sit down. “You are in no condition to be…”

“Shut up and sit down, onna!” Vegeta barked out. “You need to get out of those bakas way…so be it.”

And pressing a switch on the side of the panel, he let loose a round of missiles that succeeded in taking down some of their attackers. Pressing his foot down hard on the base pads of the controls, he pulled hard at the navigational handles, increasing their speed with the painful effort. He was practically soaking wet now, the simple task had proved to be a drain on his already weakened state. Groaning weakly, he collapsed against the chair, earning soft cries of panic from his companions.

“Vegeta…” Sasami whispered, leaning down to wipe the sweat off the furrowed brows.

“Senzu…senzu beans…” Vegeta muttered weakly.

Ayeka leaned down to catch his words. “What do you mean, Vegeta?”

Vegeta turned his head and stared blankly into the worried visage of the princess. “My senzu beans…” he muttered again. “In…the…room…my gloves…”

Ayeka nodded sharply and headed into the small room that Vegeta slept in. Whatever it was that Vegeta needed was in here apparently.

“Senzu…beans?” she thought, with a puzzled frown on her face. “What in the world do those do?” She scanned the neat room and finally spied the said white gloves on the sink in his bathroom. Lifting them up gingerly, she shook them out and watched in growing bemusement as the small green bean shaped object fell out. Picking it up and studying it with increased curiosity, she finally took it to the delirious man.

“What’s the matter, Sasami?” She asked, as she noticed the mixture of confusion and fear on her little sister’s face.

Sasami swallowed tightly before answering. “I think he is going sick, Ayeka. He keeps on saying strange stuff about…carrots and…and…”

“And what?”

“Something like Frei…friza? And super…super…Saiyans?” Sasami finished with a squeak. She knew how much her sister detested the Saiyan race and if this man…Vegeta…was actually a Saiyan…then all hell was sure to break loose.

Ayeka snorted and shook her head. Vegeta was obviously too sick to know what he was talking about. To the best of her knowledge, saiyans had tails, and Vegeta clearly did not have any.

~ Maybe he has just heard about them as well. There is no reason for me to think that he has anything to do with those…people. ~

“Here you are.” She said out loud, giving the green bean to the gasping prince.

The two princesses watched as Vegeta carefully chewed on it, watching the small grimace he made as the bitter tasting seed went down his throat. The next thing that happened absolutely stunned the Jurians into shock and disbelief. In the blink of an eye, the wound on the saiyan’s chest was healed. They watched, open-mouthed, as he roared in renewed energy, letting out a bright glow of resurgence and revitalization.

Getting to his feet, the Saiyan no Ouji stretched his muscled form and flexed his arms, nodding in satisfaction at the results. Finally turning around to face the speechless girls, he smirked lightly and said,

“See something weird?”

“You…you…” Ayeka began shakily, unable to believe what she had just seen. “You…you…”

“You are healed!” Sasami squealed, jumping into Vegeta’s arms and ignoring the glare that was thrown at her.

“I guess I am.” Another jolt, sent them all crashing into the sides of the ship and with an angry growl, Vegeta took over the controls, frantically trying to maneuver the ship away from the angry blasts of their pursuers. Another sharp hit caused him to groan as he noticed the steady decrease of their air pressure. They had been hit… and badly. They were going to crash.

“What is happening?!” Ayeka screamed, panic-filled now as she clutched Sasami to her.

“Hang on!” Vegeta screamed as he focused his attention on landing on the rapidly approaching planet before them. “We are going to crash on earth in a few seconds!”

Ayeka bit her lip to control her scream. Another crash. Just what she needed. Closing her eyes and breathing in slowly, she tried to will herself to think of pleasant thoughts. At least if she died, she would have died happy. But there were hardly any happy thoughts that flickered through. Come to think of it, she had never really had a happy life. Always being in the shadows of Yosho, then his disappearance, and now her role as future empress of Jurai. Top that with all the pressures of trying to find a suitable mate….it was a wonder she was even still here.

~ I have never really known true happiness. And I guess I never will…. ~

She opened up her eyes slowly to stare at their pilot, unconsciously feeling her cheeks heat up as she took in the straining body. What was it about Vegeta that made her want to give up everything? Was it the fact that he did not treat her like she was a fragile little thing? He wasn’t the best in the manners department, but at least he did not treat her like she was nothing. And that kiss…she felt her body flare up in awareness again and she kicked herself for thinking about it now. They were going to probably die in this crash and then….

“ARGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!”

And then everything was pitch black.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Bulma Briefs stared at the monitor in front of her, typing frantically as she tried to calculate how long it would take for an electromagnetic field to form enough of a radiation to combat….

“Bulma. I think you need to take a look at this.”

“Not now, dad. I am kinda busy.” She replied shortly, her eyes still fixed on the screen in front of her.

The short, purpled hair professor pushed his glasses up on his nose and stroked his trusty old black cat, mumbling softly. “Well, I still think you should come and see this. It looks like the spaceship has returned.”

“The spaceship?!!’ Bulma said sharply, spinning around on her seat to stare at her father in shock. “You mean the one that Vegeta took?”

“That’s right.” Dr. Briefs said, nodding as he stared at the blinking red cursor of the map. “It seems he has crash-landed a few miles off the coast of South America.”

“That good for nothing bakayaro!” The blue-haired woman screeched. “How dare he steal our spaceship and then crash it!!! Is he alright though?”

“I wouldn’t know now, Bulma. I guess you would have to take your friends to go find out, ne?”

“Right!”

Grabbing the capsule that contained her airbus, she dashed out of the lab in a hurry. She would go over to Kame Hall and get the others and then head over to find the stubborn Saiyan prince.

~ And he better have an apology for me when I get there or he is going to wish he had remained in space. ~

And jumping into the car, she flew towards the island in the middle of the nowhere.