DB Multiverse

Chapter 6: When we're not in the mood...

It is in such occasion that people notice that hurry isn't necessarily the best thing to follow when we've to make a decision. Indeed, after his recent exile, Vegetto had wanted to have his own appartment until the choice of who he could live with was made. Of course, Bulma paid for it. He had choosen a modest place in Satan-City suburbs, he was rarely home anyway. His only furniture were a bed, a chest of drawers and a green plant. However Bulma had insisted, and got, that he adds a table and some more chairs, « just in case ». Once he got his house, Vegetto had taken advantage of it to meditate, happy to be alone. His neighbours weren't noisy, the neighbourhood was calm. What else? Except that today, Vegetto felt the weight of loneliness, and it crushed him. Fear twisted his stomach. The thought that he could die of hunger, which hadn't even crossed his mind until then, constrained him until he was left breathless. He had never thought of dying, in part because he was dead several times before his birth, but now he was worried about it. He wanted to stay alive to enjoy a normal life (which he had never done when he still was Gokû and Vegeta), and now he discovered that perhaps he'd not be able to! He strongly hoped that Korin-sama would find a solution for his problem. His stomach twisted and emitted gurgles. Vegetto sighed as he put his hand over it. Hunger was one of his greatest fear, right after hospitals. He decided to call Chi-Chi and Bulma to keep them posted.

Bulma was in the kitchen, making dinner for her son when the phone rang. She lowered the fire to let her stew prepare before picking up.

"Hello?" she said out of habits.

"Bulma? It's me." answered Vegetto.

"Ah! I was waiting for your call! So?"

"So, I went to Dende's palace and he told me he didn't understand what was happening, then I went to Korin-sama to get senzu beans. That's the only way to satisfy my hunger..."

"But if the senzu are enough to fill you up, it's good news! All you have to do is to make sure you always have some at hand..."

"How? Korin-sama has only three beans once in a blue moon!"

"Did you ask him to increase his crops?"

"He said he would think about what he could do..."

"I see... You just have to... wait..."

Bulma heard Vegetto sigh at the other end.

"You know that I hate waiting without doing anything. You know who I got it from..."

Bulma allowed herself a smile at that joke, in spite of the rather tragical situation. She wasn't afraid of death either for, thanks to her friends, she knew many gods, but to be separated from Vegetto gave her another reason to feel hurt. She offered:

"If you are hungry, come over, I'll prepare you some things to eat..."

"No, thank you... Paradoxically, I now have a knot in my stomach due to these bad news.... For now..."

"Will you call Chi-Chi too?"

"Yes. I'll tell her everything... She too was worried."

"So hurry up! I've to hang up now, I've got something cooking!"

After the usual goodbye wishes, Vegetto hung up, gloomy and picked up the receiver once again to explain the same things to Chi-Chi. Her reaction was, of course, very violent, but Vegetto's gloomy mood tempered it. Once he had hung up, he sat down. That was at that moment that his stomach emitted an awful gurgle. His body was calling him to order, but he didn't feel like eating. Saiyans were beings that ate when they felt like it, feasting without pleasure didn't attract him much. Vegetto, on his couch, let his mind wander. He could feel the pain of his starved stomach throughout his body, up to his brain, getting him weak. He felt as if his brain was contracting itself in the search for stocks in order to keep working. The sound of his guts was so unpleasant that he put his palms over his ears, but still, he heard it in his body. He thought of Bulma's and Chi-Chi's offers but his limbs felt too heavy to move and his mouth felt too furry to eat anything at all. Gokû tended to weaken excessively if he didn't eat. Unfortunately, Vegetto had inherited of that other particularity. His phone rang. He got up without enthousiasm and picked up to answer with a gloomy voice the usual

"Hello?"

"Gokû? It's Kulilin! Long time no see! Would you like to come over for dinner? We'd just love to have you!"

Even if he still wasn't tempted with a dinner, the prospect to see two of his best friends made him feel happy. So he eagerly accepted the invitation before he went to get ready and teleported himself in Kame House.

He appeared right then in front of Kulilin, 18 and their daughter. He greeted them, smiling from ear to ear. There was nothing like visiting friends to relax. Kulilin said:

"Let's sit down at the table now! I prepared a chicken in coconut milk, you'll see, it's really good!"

Vegetto pretended to be interested not to hurt his friend. He'd force himself for him! He owed him that. He took a bit and put it in his mouth. The flavour of the meal was so exquisite that he winced of pleasure. His taste buds filled with the taste of Kulilin's cooking and his stomach asked for more. Spoonfuls followed one another. Kulilin seemed glad. At the end of the dinner, he confessed:

"Actually, Bulma had called to tell me of your problem and I said to myself that even if you didn't want to, you had to eat. Apparently, it's done..."

Vegetto had actually eaten more than a dozen dishes in a row. 18, being a cyborg, didn't eat much and Marron and Kulilin had normal appetites. Vegetto glanced at his friends. He had had a very good time that had definitely cheered him up. He came back home with instant transmission a few hours later and, even if he was still hungry, he slept like a baby.

The next day, as he had said he was going to Chi-Chi's, a promise made is a promise kept. He was about to go when he heard a voice in his head.

"Vegetto, it's me!"

"Master Kaiô Shin?"

"Yes! Korin-sama had called god who had called Kaiô who had sent me a message regarding your... hunger problem..."

"Oh, really?" exclaimed Vegetto, hopefull.

"Go to god's palace, we're going to meet you there!"

No sooner said than done. The Saiyan appeared in front of Dende and Piccolo. They smiled at him (a bigger smile for Dende). Vegetto smiled back at them, relieved that a solution had been found in so short a time.

Kibito Kai, and the doyen Kaiô Shin he had taken by the arm, appeared beside Vegetto. He waved at them. The elder cleared his throat and said:

"We won't stay for long. I want to be brief. Vegetto, in order to live, you'll need an enormous amount of senzu beans. A lot more that we could grow on this planet."

Vegetto nodded. He was of course aware of it. Old Kai carried on:

"That's why you'll need to plant them somewhere else."

"But... where?" asked Vegetto.

"Let me finish!" screamed the old god. "So, where was I...?"

"At 'somewhere else'." answered Kibito Kai.

"Ah, right, thanks. So, that's why you need another planet to grow there. An uninhabited planet and with an athmosphere that's suitable for the growth of senzu beans."

"But it doesn't exist." said Vegetto, discouraged.

"I told you not to interrupt me! Of course it exists!" Old Kai lost his temper. "Otherwise, I'd not be talking about it!"

"That's right, I'm sorry..." mumbled Vegetto, sheepish.

"We've already found a planet that'd suit what we need. She is at some thousands light-years from here..."

"But how am I going to go there?" asked a panicked Vegetto.

The oldest one glared at him. Kibito Kai put an hand on his shoulder to soothe him. His master's angers were never good omen. The old Kaiô took a deep breath before saying:

"I know very well that your instant transmission allows you to teleport yourself towards a strength you feel and not towards a place. But it happens that I've at my side someone that'd be able to teach you to teleport yourself towards a place you can visualize."

Vegetto looked up at Kibito Kai, hopefull. That latter nodded.

"You'll come with me in the land of the gods until you learned that technic. But first we're going to show you your planet."

Vegetto smiled at him. He was certain he could learn how to teleport in a short time. But the old Kaiô Shin interrupted his trail of thoughts.

"Listen, a senzu bean needs one year to grow. So you'll add that time to the time you'll need to learn the teleportation, and to the time you'll need to find people who will help you."

"One year?! It means I'll be hungry for... a year?!"

"Well, yes." sighed the old man. "These things happen."

Vegetto felt weary. A year, that was a long time. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see that it was Kibito Kai that was giving him his support.

"Listen, we need to hurry." said his friend. "Let's go now. The sooner it's done, the better it's."

"Alright, but I've to tell my familly first..."

"I agree!" exclaimed Kibito Kai with a wide smile. "I wanted to see Son Gohan again."

"Dende, Piccolo, Old Kai, do you want to come with us?" offered the Saiyan.

"I'd like to!" said the young Namek.

"So do I," said Piccolo, with a tone as neutral as ever.

Vegetto asked the group to put their hands on him so that they could go there with the instant transmission. They appeared beside Bulma.

"Hi." greeted Vegetto.

"Vegetto, why did you bring all these people along?" asked the earthling woman. "I haven't prepared anything!"

"Can you call Chi-Chi, please? I have something to tell everyone..." answered a serious Vegetto.

Bulma went to the phone and dialed without saying anything.

"Hello?" said a sleepy voice at the other end.

"Hey Chi-Chi, it's Bulma."

"Bulma, do you know what time it is?" asked Chi-Chi, suddenly more threatening.

"Look come as soon as possible, Vegetto has something he wants to tell us."

"… Alright, coming." said Chi-Chi, instantly more awake.

Half an hour later, she was here with her tuxedo-clad sons.

"Chi-Chi, you're among friends, it's not a weeding." joked Bulma.

"I want my sons to be presentable." retorted the matron. "And I did well." she concluded. "The great gods of the universe are with us, it's an honor!"

Bulma burst out of laughing when she saw Gohan's face, red as a beetrot.  They all went in the living-room.

"Listen, I'll have to leave for a while..." announced Vegetto.

"What?!" everyone exclaimed.

"I'll learn a new technic in gods' realm. In order to survive, I'll have to plant senzu beans on another planet." he explained.

"But how are you going to do it?" asked Trunks/

"Well, I'm going to hire people, I think..."

Gohan googled at him. Vegetto said:

"I'll need to think more carefully about it.. But I'll eventually find something!" 

"Have you thought of aliens?"

"I'll consider it after the first harvests..."

Bulma sighed. She wasn't really fond of the idea, but it that was the only way, then so be it. Chi-Chi said:

"But do you have notions of farming?"

"Well, you did do some farming with Gokû. I remember how to plant, sprinkle, extract..."

"Yes, but you don't know the methods that enable to get the best quality and quantity possible, do you?"

"Er..." merely replied Vegetto, scratching his head.

"I'll tell you everything you'd have to know about it, Vegetto. You're lucky to have me around because you'd not have managed otherwise."

Bulma glared at Chi-Chi.

"Everyone can do that." the director of Capsule Corporation said, haughty.

"Because you know anything about fallow lands and harvest?" 

Bulma fell silence because she simply didn't know. Vegetto calmed things down.

"Come on, it's nothing. Chi-Chi will explain it to me when I know how to teleport. In the meanwhile, please, don't fight one another."

Both women sighed. Kibito Kai hurried Vegetto.

"We have to hurry. I don't want to turn the 'good byes' short, but your days are numbered, my friend."

Vegetto looked sadly at his familly and waved at them one last time before he disappeared with the two gods. Bulma said:

"Do you think he'll learn fast?"

"Yes," answered Chi-Chi. "He has Gokû-sa's and Vegeta's genes, so it's certain he'll."

And the whole familly let out a deep sigh, praying Dende that Vegetto would manage it.