“L’erreur de Nos Chemins”
by: Niebezpiczny Ksiezyc

 

Disclaimer: Still the same as before!

 

Sept
(Seven)

 

Bulma and Vegeta whirled around and before them stood a man so full of evil that they immediately knew who it was, Prince Freeza. The feared man had a black aura that surrounded him. Everything tried to avoid his touch, trees moved their branches aside when he walked by. Even the sun refused to spread its light upon the Prince. Vegeta, still holding his sword, glared at the Prince, while Bulma reached into her bag and withdrew an assortment of powders and liquids. Both stood, waiting for the Prince to make his move, but the evil Prince just stood there laughing. Finally, it was Bulma who spoke first. “What do you want with me and the Counsel de la Vie? You will never destroy us; you will never take over la Gaule!”
“Oh ma chère (my dear). You see, I will destroy the Counsel and have already started to,” he pointed to the piles of gray clothes laying on the ground. “Two down and eight more to go, my dear.” He laughed again, and then said to Bulma, “Tu as raison (you are right), however, I will not destroy you because you are not the one I want to kill!” Vegeta and Bulma looked at each other and then stared at Freeza. Bulma opened her mouth to say something, but the Prince continued on with his plan. “You see Bulma, I really want to kill your little friend Vegeta. Inviting you to my castle was only a way to separate the two of you, so that I could easily kill the boy. He is only getting in our way.” He held up his dark gloved hand and said, “Let me explain. You are a powerful sorceress, Bulma, but you have not even fully tapped into your vast powers. You have the potential to become as powerful as me. But you will never achieve this power because your mind spends too much time dwelling on thoughts of little Vegeta! Ahh, young love. It is so refreshing and easy to crush.” Bulma stood in horror, and was about to protest but the evil Prince continued with his story. “With Vegeta out of the way, you can train harder, and become more powerful. Also, with your broken heart, you will need someone to turn to. That person will be me, Bulma. I will turn you evil! Do not try to resist. I know that you can feel my power and yearn to have power equal to mine!”
“Pourqoui (why) are you doing this, Freeza?”, Bulma asked. “I will never turn evil, and you can never kill Vegeta or the Counsel, we will-”
“You will what? You will stop me? Je pense que non, ma chère (I do not think so my dear)!” Freeza said looking at Vegeta who moved to stand in front Bulma. The evil Prince smirked as he saw how Vegeta’s grip on his sword became so tight that his knuckles began to turn white. “Do you know why I will succeed Bulma? I will succeed because the Counsel cannot defeat what they have created!” Bulma and Vegeta gasped in horror. Why would the Counsel create such a monster? “They made me who I am, did they not Professeur Kai?” The two travelers whirled around and saw Professeur Kai standing in the opening of the cave wearing a long gray robe. “Oh, je suis desolée, Professeur Kai! Did they not know that you were a part of the Counsel de la Vie, and one of my teachers? Look at them Kai, they look so betrayed. How could you not tell them?” Freeza sneered with fake concern.

 

Huit
(Eight)

 

“Professeur Kai? Why? How? What? Je ne comprend pas!” Bulma stuttered, looking at the teacher she once adored. “How could you train such a monster?” Before Professeur Kai could answer the young girl’s questions, Prince Freeza let out a bestial yell and ran towards Vegeta swinging his sword. The mighty battle was heard throughout the forest. Metal against metal, the sound of the clashing swords echoed throughout the area. Vegeta fought as hard as he could, but was no match for the evil Prince. With one swipe, the Prince disarmed Vegeta.
“You will not win so easily,” Vegeta roared at Freeza. He briefly closed his eyes, and when he reopened them, the rage that burned within became visible. Vegeta used this rage as fuel, and with what little strength he had left, he head his hands towards the evil Prince and unleashed a sweltering fire attach. However, Vegeta was distracted momentarily by the sound of shock that came from Bulma. The Prince used this distraction and with a smirk of triumph and mockery on his face, and stabbed Vegeta in the stomach.
“No!” Bulma screamed with tears of sorrow streaming down her face. She ran over to her fallen companion. Vegeta struggled to stand up, but collapsed on the ground. Bulma dropped to her knees and held Vegeta in her trembling arms. Vegeta was sputtering, trying to speak. He wanted to tell Bulma to leave, to run while she could still get away, but he knew that she was too stubborn. So instead he whispered a few instructions to aid the girl, and then exhausted, fell silent. He coughed and more blood poured from the open wound, tainting all it touched. “No, Vegeta don’t leave me! Come on Vegeta please say that you are all right! Vegeta? Can you hear me? Please answer me!” Bulma sat on the hard ground weeping, holding the dying boy in her arms. “I am so sorry Vegeta,” she then whispered into his ear and gently kissed his pale cheek. She made herself let go of Vegeta after she removed her white cloak and placed it under his head, and then stood up before Freeza. She looked down at her hands now stained with the blood of her friend. With a fierce look of determination in her eyes, Bulma picked up Vegeta’s sword and ran toward Freeza. She hacked desperately at him, but to no avail. She was only making herself tired. The Prince used the same swiping motion to disarm Bulma that he had used on Vegeta. The Prince laughed again, only making the rage boil inside of Bulma more.
“Now, now Bulma you should know better than to try to beat me!” Freeza said. “This crude weapon is not worthy of our intellect and time. We as sorcerers, not common knights. I propose that we use our magic. Sorcerer against Sorceress.”
“If that is how you wish to die; by the magic that created you, so be it!” Bulma screamed. With all of her strength she threw at him as many powders and potions as she could. Puffs of smoke rose from the area where Freeza once stood, and revealed a bright smoking crater. Bulma smiled in triumph, but suddenly felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around into the face of a murderer, who was still very much alive. Bulma let out another scream and decided that she could not win this battle by making rash decisions. Closing her eyes and concentrating on a single thought, the girl slowly began to glow a bright blue. Freeza looked at Professeur Kai in horror and said, “What did you teach her old man? You never taught me that! Why?”
“I did not teach you that,” Professeur Kai said, “because you were never strong enough to handle the power. We created you to be a guardian of la Gaule, but you were intent to destroy it. You will never succeed! You were l’erreur de nos chemins!” Bulma finally opened her eyes and held out her hands towards Freeza and released all of the energy she had gathered. The bright blue ball flew towards the Prince and hit him with such strength and force that the Prince disappeared into its vanishing, bright blue core. Bulma fell to her knees, but slowly rose to her feet. She stumbled over to Vegeta and grabbed his hand. She whispered again into his ear and the boy opened his eyes. Blood stopped flowing from the wound, and slowly it began to close and heal. Vegeta sat up an looked at Bulma.

 

Neuf
(Nine)

 

“Je t’adore aussi (I love you too), Bulma,” he whispered back. The two embraced and Bulma helped Vegeta to his feet. Professeur Kai walked over to them an patted them on their heads, and smiled at his two brilliant, powerful students. Bulma and Vegeta walked hand in hand as Professeur Kai guided them into the cave. There the two were given those familiar long gray robes and asked to look into pool of purple water.
“There,” Professeur Kai said pointing to a black image in the water, “Est-ce que vous le regardez? (do you see that?)” The two newest members of the counsel de la Vie peered into the water and saw a dark image lurking along a secluded, sylvan mountain top. “That is your next challenge!”

To be continued... And yes, it will be continued!