Disclaimer: Well, I wish I did, but I don’t. Own DBZ, that is.

Pre-Fic A/N: This is a new idea I came up with a little while ago, as I was looking for a way to renew my love of B/V get togethers. Well, my love of writing them, anyway. I hope you enjoy this, but just realize that we all know how it ends. *gulps* I hope I do it justice. Just know that it won’t be too much like ‘Opposites Attract’, I’m doing it differently this time around. Well, obviously.

An Alternate Love

By: Hella

Oh, my god. . . What the hell is that?” She whispered, eyes wide.

Yamcha turned his head and mouthed for her to shut up, but his eyes were pinned on the white lizard-things as well. But where her eyes held shock and disgust, his were blank with fear. He was looking at his own death. Bulma swallowed hard and looked around her at the other faces surrounding her. It was all the same, just in varying degrees. Every one of these men knew that this would be the last day of their lives.

They were flat on their stomachs, on a cliff high above what they were looking at. A enormous ship that looked like a giant parasite, surrounded by alien foot-soldiers, bowing to two of the most evil-looking creatures Bulma had ever seen. They resembled each other vaguely, but it was clear they were the same species. One was huge, towering over the other. Black horns thrust out of the side of it’s head like a bull’s, and it’s- his? face held an expression of evil delight that she could see even from her vantage point.

The other was smaller, and. . .and was partly made of metal.

Frieza?

From the look on everyone’s face, especially Vegeta’s, it was he. She darted a look at him, noting the gritted teeth and hate glittering darkly in his eyes. He must really want to kill him, she thought. Or be really afraid of him. She looked to her left and nudged Gohan in the ribs. He was shaking slightly,  but he turned and looked at her, eyes wide.

“What are we going to do?” she asked softly. All they were doing was sitting here, staring at the guy who was going to blow up the world. They were just watching. Kami, she wished Goku were there right now. He’d show them who was boss. No one messed with Earth and got away with it, least of all this metal midget. Goku’s son shrugged minutely and looked at Piccolo, who was staring hard at the scene below. The tall Namek’s eyes darted to Gohan’s for a moment, and he shook his head slightly. Bulma saw the slight softening of his face as he looked at the kid, and the regret that was hidden there. She smothered a whimper.

We are all going to die here. There is no hope.

She groped for Yamcha’s hand beside her, and gripped it hard. Puar burrowed in between them, mewling softly in fear. Yamcha looked at her for a long moment, and squeezed back in a gesture of comfort that did next to nothing to deter from her fear. But she didn’t let go.

A voice drifted up from below them, full of hate and triumph.

“. . . when you do, show no mercy!” Frieza hissed to his men. Bulma nearly fainted. This was it. The alien men took to the air, spreading out in different directions. They didn’t know they were there, she realized. That meant that they. . .

Would destroy the population along with them.

“No,” she whispered, starting to tremble. “No!” she cried again.

Her friends realized it the split second she did. And they came to life. Yamcha threw off her hand and stood, grimly knowing what he had to do. Piccolo and Gohan rose to their feet, looking at each other for a moment before simultaneously powering up. Krillin, Tien and Chao-tzu powered up and took a deep breath, before taking to the air. Someone was missing, she realized. Vegeta had already taken off towards the men. All she saw was a pink and yellow dot surrounded by a blue aura. Everyone flew after him, leaving her and Puar by themselves in a matter of seconds. Not even a goodbye to her, or even a ‘stay hidden’. But she knew it would never matter anyway.

She looked at the small shape-shifter in her arms. She smiled, but it trembled and didn’t look too convincing.

“Guess it’s just you and me, Puar. I guess all we can really do is watch. Man, I was such an idiot for wanting to come here. It was bad enough seeing Yamcha die on television, but now in real life. . .” she trailed off when Puar started to shake. She cursed herself for scaring the creature more. But there was nothing any of them could do. . .Not without Goku. Where was he? She lifted her head to watch the scene unfold below her. The other’s had most definitely been noticed by Frieza, four of his men were in pieces around him. He was looking to the skies with amusement, watching as his soldiers were obliterated one by one. The hulking purple-skinned thing beside him laughed as Frieza dodged a severed green hand that flew his way. Bulma thought she was going to vomit.

Can this get any worse? She asked herself. Her friends were all doing very well against Frieza’s men, but that didn’t mean for a second that they were going to win against the creature himself. Yamcha was fighting hand to hand with a purple fish guy, and they seemed pretty evenly matched. Piccolo and Gohan were fighting back to back against three more soldiers. Everyone was fighting, except for her. She wished that she had the strength to help out, or even the bravery. But just then she had neither. She just hoped that it would end soon. She held no illusions that they would win this.

“Hiya, Bulma!”

Her eyes flew wide as a familiar voice sounded behind her. It couldn’t be. . . she turned around, holding Puar, who’d since fainted.

Then she screamed.

A full throated shriek of disbelief. Goku!! She sat Puar down and jumped to her feet, throwing her arms around him, hugging him as tightly as she could. He was here! Things would be okay now, now that he was back. Where had he come from?! He fell back a step from the force of her leap into his arms, and grinned.

“It’s nice to see you too! Jeez, I can’t breathe,” he said in a strangled voice as her grip tightened. She let go and stared at him. He was dressed so strangely. But she didn’t dwell on it.

“Goku, you’re here? Where have you been? No one sensed you or anything!! You have to go fight Frieza, h- he’s over there, with a huge guy and they’re going to kill everyone and you have to stop them,” she said all in a rush. Her long-time friend’s happy expression melted away and was replaced by one of deep seriousness.

“I know. I knew he was heading here from way out in space. I have on idea how he survived Namek though-“

“Shut up, Goku! Go help, don’t stand here talking to me!” She barked, pushing him towards the edge of the cliff. He threw out a hand and grinned. “It’ll be okay, Bulma. I promise. Just stay out of sight until it’s all done with.” She nodded numbly, unable to actually believe that he was really there with them, on Earth. If he was a Super-Saiyan like everyone said, he could save them all. He flew down to Frieza before her very eyes, almost like he was meeting an old friend or something. Which was how he treated defeated enemies, so it didn’t make her too confused. She’d known him a long time.

The ground rumbled slightly as a poorly shot blast carved a crater in the ground below where Gohan was fighting with an almost human-looking soldier. As she looked around in startled awe, she noticed that he was the last one left out of the men that had flown to do Frieza’s bidding. The others were all dead. Maybe she shouldn’t have been so quick to dismiss everyone’s strength.

Everyone’s eyes were on Goku now. The others called out in surprise and joy, except for Piccolo and Vegeta. Gohan had to be restrained by his mentor from flying over to his father in happiness. Bulma eyed Vegeta uneasily. Would he try to kill Goku, now that he had returned? Or maybe he was just pissed that Goku was here and was ready to do what he couldn’t.

Kill Frieza.

She sat down on the edge of the cliff, with Puar in her lap. Yamcha would never forgive her if something happened to his friend. She watched the scene unfold below with sick fascination. Frieza was no longer smiling as he was, instead he looked at Goku with all the hatred a living being can feel for another. Her gaze flicked back to Vegeta. Well, almost. She strained her ears to hear what they were saying. She could hear the faintest murmur of their conversation.

“Well, well, if it isn’t the Super-Saiyan from Namek,” Frieza sneered. “You’ve arrived here a lot sooner than I had predicted. What a shame that your little friends are still alive to see you. Ah, no matter. You can watch them die before you do.”

Goku stood before him with a grim expression on his face. “It’s not going to happen, Frieza. You shouldn’t have come here.”

Frieza looked at him with mock surprise. “What? You think you can stop me from destroying this place, monkey? I am the ruler of all the universe! What think you of that?” he laughed maniacally, his mechanical tail snapping behind him with a buzz. Bulma shivered. So evil. Get him Goku, she thought silently. Her head jerked up at sudden movement from above her. Vegeta was flying down low, heading straight for Goku and Frieza! Rage darkened his face, making him look almost demonic. He was charging up a Ki blast, preparing to fry Frieza with it. The orb was glowing purple-white, and it hurt her eyes to look at it. Goku snapped his head around also, and his eyes widened.

“No, Vegeta! Stay out of this!” he yelled to the prince. “You’re not strong enough!”

That only served to infuriate him even more. “Forget it, Kakkarot!” he shouted, and charged up the blast even more. Frieza burst into laughter.

“Indeed, Saiyan! Let the little Prince have his pathetic revenge. Let him see if he can kill me! Or will I get to him first? Again!” he asked maliciously. Bulma’s hands fisted as she watched this. Vegeta was enough of a loose cannon as it was, and now Frieza was practically driving him off the deep end! Piccolo swooped in to restrain Vegeta bodily, but was driven far back with a kick to the ribs. Gohan cried out. Everone up in the air was almost in a panic. She soon saw why. That was the same attack Vegeta had used when he first came to Earth, she remembered Goku had said something about it long ago. It had the power to destroy the Earth in it, and the only reason it hadn’t was because Goku had countered it with a blast of his own. It was undoubtedly stronger than it had been then, what with the strength Vegeta had gained since that fight. What was it called? A Gallic Gun? Ah, something like that. This was bad.

“No, Vegeta. Stop!” Goku cried. “Do you want to kill us all?”

“Do I look like I care?!” The Prince shouted back. He unleashed the blast with a roar, and it was sent streaking towards Frieza. Bulma shut her eyes and prayed to Kami for luck. The Earth set itself rumbling from the force of the blast, and a violent light seared through her closed eyelids.

But no explosion blew the ground out from under her, and after a few moments she looked up. The wind was blowing fiercely, close to pushing her back with its force. Frieza had caught the blast that Vegeta had thrown at him, and held it high above his head, laughing. He was absolutely unscathed.

“Why, thank you, Vegeta! But I already have one in this colour. Here, have it back!” He then reared back and slung the Ki blast at Vegeta, who was frozen and staring at Frieza as if hypnotized. The others all scattered like pigeons, preparing themselves for the backlash. Bulma gasped. She was about to see him be killed! Oh, shit! I can’t believe this! He isn’t even moving out of the way! She thought frantically.

“Damn it, Vegeta, duck!!” she yelled from her place on the cliff. “Do something!”

He didn’t hear her yell, and she covered her mouth in surprise. She could have given her position away by doing that. And who cared if Vegeta was killed? He was a monster just like the other guy. But someone else didn’t think so.

Goku flashed in front of Vegeta in a sudden movement, and deflected the blast away from him, high into the sky so far that she thought it left the atmosphere before it dissipated. She gaped at her long-time friend. How did he get to Vegeta so fast? Was that a side effect of being as strong as he was now? As she watched, he turned to Vegeta and grabbed him by the shoulders, saying something to him. She couldn’t hear what it was, they were too far away from her. But Goku looked pissed. After a few seconds so did Vegeta. Bulma looked back down to Frieza and the other thing with the horns, and shivered. They were just watching patiently, as if they had all the time in the world. But the big one looked a little bored to her.

“Son, I don’t see the point in waiting for their little squabble to finish. Just kill them both and lets destroy the planet,” the horned guy said in a cultured voice. Bulma blinked. That was Frieza’s father?! Frieza looked aggravated.

“Have some patience, father. I want to have a little fun here you know. After all, look what he did to me. I mean to exact all the revenge I can.”

Hah, good luck, Bulma thought. Goku will can your ass in a snap, little freak. She looked back up as Goku and Vegeta began having heated words, but she still couldn’t hear. Then Goku flew back a pace or two and shook his head, looking almost. . .apologetic? She didn’t think that was the look on his face, though it looked a lot like it. How could it be?

She found out about two seconds later, when Goku chopped Vegeta on the side of the neck with his hand, knocking him unconscious before he even knew what had happened. Bulma stared in frightened disbelief as Goku then flashed out of sight again, holding Vegeta by the back of his shirt.

Then he was right in front of her.

“Here, I’ll leave him with you while I get rid of Frieza. Be careful,” Goku said to her quickly, dumping Vegeta almost in her lap before disappearing again. How the hell was he doing that? She thought numbly, before the shock set in. She was supposed to watch over him? She looked down at Frieza, but they hadn’t seen where Goku had gone, so she was still safe. It seemed they were as baffled as she was at how he kept disappearing. Where had he learned that?

Resting Puar a few feet from her, she scooted back on her butt to draw level with Vegeta. She looked at him, wondering when he’d wake up again. She hoped it was a long time from now. Shrugging, she turned back to watch Goku.

What she thought would turn out to be an epic battle was, in her eyes, a major let-down. She had missed this on Namek? Big deal. Goku powered up unbelievably, not that she could sense Ki or anything. But he had to have, his hair changed colour and everything. He looked pretty cool as a blonde. But the effect it had on Frieza was even better. He looked petrified for a moment, before covering it with malevolent humour.

“Well, monkey. Let’s see if you can save this planet as you were unable to do for Namek. Let us see if you can save your friends this time.”

And Goku just silently took the insult. Then he leapt at Frieza, and the battle began.

Bulma barely saw a thing, it just seemed to her like they had disappeared, and there were little explosions of Ki in the air and on the ground for brief moments when they re-appeared. But everyone else saw it. Even Yamcha’s head was jerking around as he followed their movements with his eyes. They all looked like they were watching an invisible tennis match or something.

“Damn, I wish I could see this,” she muttered to herself. “Not fair.”

Her eyes strayed down to the spaceship that they had arrived in. That thing was huge. . . what kind of technology made it? She wished she could get a look at it. Maybe she would be able to, once Goku had killed Frieza and the other guy, his father. She looked at him, standing near the ship. He was watching the fight too, but he didn’t look happy. Was Frieza losing?

There was a shuffling sound behind her, and it dragged her attention away from Frieza’s father for a moment. Vegeta was awakening. And boy, was he pissed. Bulma swung her head as he let loose a stream of curses she had never heard before, and sat up. He glared at her venomously before getting to his feet and powering up. Bulma started.

“Idiot! Goku can take care of it himself, he doesn’t need you horning in, you jerk!” she hissed at him, darting a glance at Frieza’s father. What if he saw them there? He hadn’t attacked the others, but he was starting to look pretty bored. Vegeta grit his teeth and glared at her so hard she thought he’d burn a hole in her.

“You’d do well to shut up, idiot woman,” he said angrily. Bulma shrank back a little, but managed to look only vaguely unsettled.

“Fine, whatever. Why don’t you go and take on that guy down there then, if you need to bash something so much. Let him kill you instead,” she said with a mean smile. Vegeta growled.

“My fight is with Frieza, not Kold. But Kakkarot had to interfere like the do-gooder that he is,” he muttered almost to himself. Bulma blinked at that, then shrugged, dismissing the last bit.

“His name is Kold? How did-“

“Would you shut up?! I’m trying to study the fight, and your annoying voice is breaking my concentration!” he said angrily. His eyes were darting around as he followed Frieza’s movements. Bulma thought that that was the longest sentence Vegeta had spoken to her yet. What a bastard. Whatever possessed her to invite him to her home? Thank god Goku was back, and Vegeta would move on after Goku and he had their fight. Or die, either way he was gone.

Strangely, Vegeta didn’t go and leap into the fight again. Maybe he had gotten a dose of reality and knew he didn’t stand a chance, she thought wryly. But now I’m stuck with him.  She vowed to herself that she’d shut up and ignore him, in case he took his frustration out on her.

For a little under ten minutes they just kept ricocheting off each other. She yawned. While everyone else could see what was happening, she was completely left in the dark. What was taking so long?

“Fucking worthless piece of trash, he’s playing!” Vegeta rasped harshly. Bulma jumped and turned to face him. “What?”

But he didn’t seem to hear her, he just kept muttering to himself. “He does it to mock me, I know it! End it, you fool. End it!”

Bulma had no idea what he was talking about. Was he talking about Goku? That had to be it, but what was Goku mocking? Vegeta’s strength? She huffed irritably. Who really cared, the ego maniac was just getting what he deserved anyway. She wasn’t going to waste any more time thinking about it, when she could be doing more important things. Such as staring into space while Goku took his sweet time killing Frieza.

It happened while she was staring into middle distance, tuning everything out. Man this was boring. . .

Zzaap. . .boom!

She shrieked as what felt like a bar of solid heat hummed straight past her and hit Vegeta in the shoulder, knocking him straight off his feet and pinning him against the ragged line of boulders six meters back, then shattering them into rocky shards. She looked down in panic. Kold! Two more followed the initial blast, and Bulma reacted out of self preservation. She grabbed Puar by the tail and dived over the haphazard pile of rocks that had been shattered, using them like a barricade to protect her against the searing blasts. What the hell was happening? Why had he shot at Vegeta and herself like that? She squeezed her eyes shut with a whimper, waiting fearfully for another blast to come. But nothing reached her except cruel laughter.

Bulma stayed crouched behind the rocks for another few minutes, before opening her eyes carefully. She peeked over the top of the rock she hid behind, Puar still unconscious beside her. The others were all dodging hits too, but all she could see was that they were coming from down low. Frieza’s dad must have gotten bored, she thought in near panic. But it looked like he was just playing around almost, because everyone was fine. He hadn’t hit any of them. Why? She thought. The others had felt that his power level was even higher than Frieza’s. This was crazy!

Bulma winced as she pulled a shard of rock out of her arm, the little sliver tinged pink from her blood. She hoped that cut didn’t scar, that was the last thing she needed. Dusting off the dirt on her clothes, she examined herself for any other damage, and only found a few tender spots on her otherwise unhurt body. She was fine.

“Well, that was close,” she muttered. “That thing almost hit me! Luckily he was a crappy shot though-“

“Idiot, he was aiming for me,” a strained voice said from behind her. She flinched and turned to look at Vegeta, who was pulling himself out from under the rubble, clasping his shoulder hard. Blood was trickling from between his fingers.

“Great,” she mumbled. “You’re still alive.” He gave her a harassed look and half-dragged himself out of the rocks fully, turning so that his back was resting against the pile, breathing hard. From where she could see, the blast had dug a deep gouge out of his shoulder, almost like someone attacked him with an ice-cream scoop. Ouch. The pink ‘badman’ shirt was irreparably damaged, probably to Vegeta’s delight. She debated whether to try to help him out, but decided against it. He’d probably just blast her one, as he had threatened earlier today.

“So why did he shoot you? More importantly, why didn’t he kill you?” She asked the wounded warrior, trying not to sound like she was disappointed Kold had missed. Vegeta glared at her.

“Do I look like a mind reader to you?!” he spat, then grimaced as he pressed harder on the wound. It didn’t look like it had gone straight through. Bulma scowled.

“Ass. I was only asking.”

“Don’t. I’m not in the mood to answer pointless questions.” He tried turning around to look back at the fight, but stifled a curse when he shifted the skin of the ragged wound. Bulma’s eyes narrowed. Six inches to the right and down a little, and that blast would have saved her from having to put up with this treatment from him. Did he always have to be such a jerk?

But she admired him, just a very tiny bit. She didn’t think she’d be able to talk, much less be coherent if she had been hit like he had. Aside from the curse he said every time he moved, he was acting like he always did. But then, he was a warrior, and a Saiyan at that. He was used to taking hits like that.

She eyed him for a second. “You’ll need more than your hand to staunch the bleeding, if you don’t want to suffer the effects of blood loss,” she told him. “No one has a senzu with them.”

“Shut up. As if I’d take one anyway,” he said irritably. More blood trickled down his arm from between his fingers in a steady flow. She shrugged. The stupid asshole, he’d die before taking any help. Well, she wasn’t going to force it on him. She rose to her knees and peered over the side of the rough barricade. Was Goku done yet? She had utter faith in her friend, he’d defeated Frieza once, he could do it again and send his dad with him as a consolation prize. All he had to do was make his move.

But when was he going to do it? Bulma was worried that while Goku was taking his sweet time getting rid of Frieza and Kold, she might accidentally get caught in the crossfire, just like she almost had then. She didn’t want to die so young! She was in the prime of her life, for Kami’s sake. She stopped trying to peek over the boulders, scared that she would be seen again. With a muffled curse, she plunked down against the rock once more. She’d just hide here like a loser and wait it out. As much as she wanted to see the fight, she liked her head on her shoulders, not splattered against a wall.

Zzzzzzzing. . . . . BOOM!!!

Bulma screamed with all the breath in her lungs as something crashed into the rocks behind her, sending her sailing up into the air, straight over Vegeta’s head. A feeling of uncontrollable helplessness crashed upon her, as did the rock she showed down after she hit the small pile of debris twenty feet away. Pain flashed throughout her head, and a sharp, hot agony embedded itself in her back. Horror filled her for an instant as she felt herself fade off.

Then all that filled her was empty darkness.

A/N: Hey, look, a cliffhanger!!! Don’t worry folks, call this a prologue of sorts, before the real stuff truly begins. Did I do all right? And for those of you who wondered, OA is not abandoned, the last chapter will be out soon. This is just something to sustain you. With a little hope some of my OA fans will latch onto this one as much as they did to my last!! Well, leave me your review, tell me what you think!!!

Hella