Note: This part is only contested by Vegeta. What about Bulma? I'll go into that in the next chapter.
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Just a smile
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Part 9
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Vegeta was leaning against the closed bathroom door and staring at the tiled floor with wet eyes. She was gone.
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Slowly, as if he couldn't bring himself to look the painful truth in the face, he pushed away from the door, turned around and opened it.
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The bed was empty. The imprint she had left on the sheet was barely visible. Vegetas turned up the lights. The splinters of the destroyed exchanger sparkled on the floor. Vegeta bent down and picked one up. It shimmered blood red.
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Life, it could be really crazy. Crazy and bloody unfair. Vegeta crushed the crystal to red dust in his fist. Actually he could be satisfied, now he had his peace.It was so quiet on the ship that he could hear every breath and ... a soft beep from the ship's computer. With a suppressed sigh, Vegeta climbed the stairs. Two warning lights flashed on the display. For one thing, an energy cell urgently needed to be replaced and for another ... Vegeta frowned and leaned forward. The automatic location had discovered signs of life. Weak signs of life from the debris field or rather from its immediate vicinity. Apparently someone had managed to escape into an escape pod before the disaster struck the ship. Vegeta was anything but in the mood to play the noble savior. Nevertheless, he was curious and carefully directed the ship in the direction from which the signs of life had come. The capsule was not in the rubble field (luckily, because Vegeta didn't dare to steer the ship as well manually as Bulma had done), but a good distance outside.Maybe the explosion had given her extra boost. The capsule was an elaborate model, almost a tenth the size of his spaceship. Fortunately, it had its own hatch to which the spaceship could dock. Vegeta had to start three times before the maneuver succeeded. He only had to go to the bottom floor and open the lock there. Opening the escape pod hatch was a breeze.
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"Hello, is anyone ...?" He called into the capsule, but he couldn't get to the end of the question when an energy beam shot towards him. Cursing, he brushed aside the rather weak attack that left a sooty stain on the wall.
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"Well, if you don't feel like coming out, then you can stay in there until last day and bob through space. But remember one thing, if we weren't in space, I would crush you and your ridiculous capsule to dust because nobody irritates the Saiyans prince with impunity! "<br />
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Suddenly there was silence in the capsule. Vegeta felt that the quite considerable fighting power that the refugee had in there was losing its aggressiveness and turned to passive caution.
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"Vegeta? Are you really Prince Vegeta?"
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“You know my name?” Vegeta took a step back. "Who are you?"
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A quick shadow slipped out of the capsule and a tall, slender figure with the elegance and grace of a cheetah landed right in front of him and bowed one knee respectfully. "
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Vegeta could have slapped himself that it hadn't occurred to him earlier. A proud Saiyan warrior kneeled before.
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"I accept any punishment for my improper behavior and for not recognizing you, my prince!" Said the woman and bowed her head even lower.
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"What's your name?" Vegeta asked curiously.
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“I'm Leeka.” She lifted her head and the devout astonishment in her beautiful, dark eyes almost blinded him.<br />
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He cleared his throat. "I will not punish you because our people have shrunk to so few that everyone is too valuable for them."
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"Your grace is as great as your strength", Leeka whispered and a tear ran from her eyes onto the floor. "I am overjoyed to be able to be in your presence."
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"It's good!", Vegeta wasn't used to so much praise and admiration. The longer he looked at Leeka, the more he became convinced that she must be about three or four years younger than Bulma.
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"Get up, then we go upstairs and you tell me where you come from and what you did in the slave ship."
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Leeka was only too happy to comply with this request. In their eyes, this ungracious-looking warrior was a demigod. She followed him through the hatch to the top of the ship. Vegeta showed her the kitchen, as she looked completely starved, and left her to herself while he climbed back down and closed the hatch on the capsule.After he had also closed the hatch of the spaceship, he returned to the top floor and reprogrammed the course to his training target area.
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The on-board computer carefully separated the ship from the capsule and when there was enough space again, it actually wanted to set it to full power, but ... the power cell had meanwhile been used up.
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Vegeta cursed. He had wanted to change the cell. Well, better late than never. The operating instructions were simple and clear, he followed all the rules and safety tips and just ten minutes later he disposed of the old, empty cell through a maintenance lock into the vacuum. The ship accelerated as desired and Vegeta went back downstairs to finally be able to satisfy his curiosity.
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A hissing and boiling sound could be heard from the kitchen. Vegeta looked in briefly and shrank back a little when he saw the chaos Leeka had created. There was steam from some pots and it smelled very appetizing.* Finally someone who can cook *, he thought, * Bulma could learn more than a slice from her. *
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When Leeka saw him, she bowed. "The meal will be ready soon, my prince. Please sit down."
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* Bulma would have told me to set the table * thought Vegeta. * I have it really better with this Leeka. *
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Now that she had already bothered to cook something for him too, he wanted to show goodwill and sat down at the table. He waited ... and waited ... and waited ... After three minutes he got up again and did some stretching exercises. Then he sat down again and waited ... and waited ... After another five minutes he went to the bed and made new sheets and pillows and changed the covers. He turned up the ventilation to get rid of the smell of sweat and sickness that still lingered in the room. And again he waited at the table and waited ... and finally she came with the first full bowl.She put three of them on the table in total. "Please, I hope you like my simple dishes, Prince Vegeta. If I were at home ...", she shrugged and took a humble step back.
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"Why don't you sit down and get yourself a plate and a place setting. You are probably much more hungry than I am."
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Leeka raised an eyebrow in surprise, but quickly composed herself, mumbled something of special favor, and followed his suggestion. At first he wanted to wait until she had finished the scoop, but she didn't lift a finger, so he took a plate full of stew with meatballs for himself. He dipped the spoon in and carefully tasted it. It was delicious. The meat slices with mushroom noodles and the ragout with egg and rice turned out to be just as delicious. Since he was no longer very hungry, he ate slowly and enjoyed. Leeka, on the other hand, seemed really very starved, because she swallowed the food so quickly that you could hardly follow it with your eyes.* Finally someone who can just eat and not give me lectures about table manners *, thought Vegeta. Although the one lesson before this festival was quite amusing ...
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Leeka watched his eyes take on a slightly distant look. "What are you thinking of, my prince?" She asked.
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"Nothing important," he quickly waved him off. "If you are full, could you tell me how you survived Freezer's murder of our people without being accepted into his troops?"
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Leeka laughed harshly and slapped another large ladle of mushroom noodles onto her plate. She was almost as voracious as Son Gokou, Vegeta realized in silence.
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“Who said I got away from him?” She nimbly grabbed a bundle of the long, pale noodles with her chopsticks.
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Vegeta waited for Leeka to finish the pasta before digging. "But I've never met you and I always thought that I and my few loyal followers were the last survivors."<br />
"That was probably one of his tricks to weaken us." Leeka had already cleared her plate again. "He kept you and a couple and me and my group separate so that each part thought they were the only and last."
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"Your group?", Vegeta was electrified. There was more of his people. "Are you still alive?"
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Leeka, who had just had her mouth full of stew again, just nodded. She swallowed quickly and said, "I and twenty other Saiyans were probably kidnapped by Freezer when we were almost babies. None of us can remember anything from our childhood other than our names. Freezer has us on one He had not yet sold planets raised by some of his female subordinates. Later he sent us trainers and we gradually teased out who we are and where we come from. This is how we learned from our king and his son Vegeta .We wanted to become very strong quickly so that we could avenge both of you, we thought you were dead. We even managed to steal some data that contained images of the planet, its demise and also of you and your father. We discovered that we should never show our true strength in order not to appear threatening to Freezer. So we pretended to be weaker and he gradually integrated us into his troop. Of course we were never called to his main base, then we could have met you. "
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"How did you break free?"
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"That was child's play. About a year ago we felt that Freezer no longer exists. His aura has disappeared from the universe. We showed our true strength and the