flowing in through the hatch in front of him, he crouched down and felt the opening. A little more to the left, yes, here was the ladder. According to the metal sound, Bulma was climbing down. Now she was downstairs and jumped to the floor of the hold.
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"Where are you, Vegeta?I need your help!"
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He almost laughed. Did you need him? What for? Curious, he carefully climbed through the hatch. The cool metal of the ladder gave him security. Wait, it was a bit bent here, he had to be careful not to miss it.
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When he too felt the solid floor of the cargo space under his boots, he turned his head searchingly in all directions. "Bulma?"
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"Here!" She said and stepped over to him. "The impact tore a bad hole in the wall and made the outer hatch unusable. Can you manage to blow away those annoying cables with an energy attack? I need a nice, clean hole with rounded edges and no sharp edges anywhere, I already have enough scratches to get."
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Since that was apparently the only way out, Vegeta concentrated to estimate the position of the hole based on the air flow. He raised his arms and put his palms against the hole.Bulma stepped behind him so as not to be in his way. The remains of the water tanks and supplies were of course scattered between him and the hole, but none of them was usable. Golden balls of energy shot out of his hands in quick succession, brushing aside everything that was in their way. As requested by Bulma, the hole was enlarged by the energy and in the heat the metal on the sharp edges melted.
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"Thanks, that should be enough," she said and Vegeta dropped her arms. "Now you can fly out, the hole is big enough."
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Vegeta raised his eyebrows. How should he do this without seeing anything?
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Bulma stepped close to him with her face to the hole, took his hands and pulled them forward so that they came to rest under her chest. "If you carry me, I'll guide you. But woe if you let me fall."
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Vegeta swallowed hard at her unconditional trust.He could feel the warmth of her skin through the fabric of her coveralls. He'd just have to slide his hands up a little more to ...
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"Don't get strange thoughts," Bulma interrupted his thoughts. "If you get cheeky, I'll stick one for you, regardless of whether we hit it somewhere or not."
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"It's okay, don't get so upset!" Vegeta growled, but couldn't help but pull her tighter. Bulma blushed and tried to pull away again, but he wouldn't let that happen. "If you are not calm, I will still drop you."
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Sighing, she gave up. "So take off, but very slowly ....!"
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Vegeta adjusted to the cool wind that was blowing towards him and slowly flew towards the place where the draft was coming from.
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"A little bit higher!"
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"More to the left!"
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"No, not that much, further to the right!"
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"Deeper and very careful!"<br />
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Both of them were sweaty when they finally made it and were outdoors.
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"Fine, you can land and let me down."
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But Vegeta didn't want that yet. "Where is your ship?" he asked Bulma. "A little further north. That direction, yes, exactly."
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"I'll take you there." Slowly Vegeta flew her towards the ship. She conducted him until just before it and almost regretted it when he let go of her again. Bulma opened the lock and trudged forward with clearly audible steps. Vegeta reached out and took her shoulder. "I don't know my way around here, you have to guide me a bit."
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"If there is no other way, woe to you trample on my feet!" With Vegeta in tow, she entered the spaceship. Instead of a hatch, there was a small lift, which essentially consisted of a platform in a wide tube. It was easier for Vegeta and Bulma showed him how to control the elevator.They drove into the quarters and since the furnishings there remained the same as in the older model, Bulma left it to Vegeta without her help to find her way into the kitchen, where she greedily drank a few glasses of water. After Vegeta had found the table and had a couple of glasses, she let him in a hot bath and pushed until he was persuaded to get into the tub. As a precaution, she set everything up within easy reach, but refused to scrub his back. "Here's a brush that does the same thing. I have to fix it up, or we'll be stuck here when the water is long gone."
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With that she left him alone. With the toolbox in hand, she searched for the place where the energy beams had hit the engine. That looked anything but rosy. Sighing, she grabbed the laser cutter and cleanly cut off the defective parts. Well, I had a replacement for the valve here, but the converter, she wouldn't be able to fix it again, unless the counterpart was still usable in Vegeta's ship.She made a note and checked the other side. A piece of wire was burnt and half the power cell was unusable. If only it wasn't that heavy! Groaning, she dragged the power cell to the maintenance hatch and dropped it out onto the dusty floor. All right, she had enough spare cells, but beyond that the circuit for the energy buffer was nothing but a pile of molten metal. If necessary, she could recreate one, but whether it was reliable was another matter.
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It took her a good two hours to record and sort out all the damage. Now it was time to find out what else she could use from Vegeta's ship. It was dusk outside. The sky had turned a deep purple and the wind was almost chilly. Bulma stretched and wondered if she should check out Vegeta first.
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Since it was noticeably quiet on the quarters deck, she took the elevator.When she opened the bathroom door, she met a surge of hot steam.
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"Vegeta?", She couldn't see the hand in front of her eyes, but she felt something move next to her and before she knew it he had grabbed her wrists and pulled her to him.
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"No, I'm really dirty!" She fought half-heartedly.
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Vegeta didn't seem to hear her protest. "Why?" He asked quietly, "why were you looking for me?"
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"Because ... because ...", she could not get a clear thought, his warm breath brushed her ear and it ran comfortably down her back. His skin was so warm, apparently he hadn't dressed again. The thought alone made her cheeks glow even more.
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"Because what?"
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Should she tell him? Would he believe it? No, it was too early. As soon as he could see again, she would admit it.
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"Because I was to blame for what Safrano did with the ship," she said and since it was the truth, her voice sounded completely honest and open.<br />
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Vegeta let go of her. "Oh ..." He couldn't explain why he was so disappointed. He had been waiting for her in the steam to punish her for neglecting him. But no sooner had he felt her trembling and her racing pulse than he wished he could only hold her and much more ...
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"I don't suppose I have to help you get dressed, do I?" She asked, handing him the basket with the fresh laundry and the new overalls. "The boots are on the left in front of the door and now I apologize, I have to go over to your ship again to remove a few parts."
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Without turning around again, she ran to the elevator and went back down. This Vegeta, first scare her and then ... She clenched her fists. Damn it, why did everything always have to be so complicated? Life with Yamcha had not been easy either, and she had seen enough adventures, but compared to what she had been through with Vegeta ...<br />
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Brooding wouldn't get her any further. First of all, she had to see that they both got out of here safely. Then she could take care of the next problem.
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In the dark, this world had no moon, despite starlight and a powerful torch, it was not easy to find the way without stumbling over the remains of a wall. So far, Bulma had barely had time to think about the planet itself. What catastrophe had happened here, that the whole civilization had perished? Or were there still residents and they had only migrated to the more fertile lowlands?
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Once at the ship, thanks to Vegeta's help, it was now much easier to get inside. Bulma found the remains of the drive and her heart sank. If even one screw was still usable, then she was lucky. She fished the list out of her pocket and lit it to see which parts she still needed. So there was this circuit, then the converter and then ... After about half an hour she had broken the parts of the drive that had not yet been destroyed into manageable pieces with the laser cutter and shook her head in disappointment.Nothing could be used here. What should she do? Wait a minute, that was Vegeta's spaceship and the way Bulma assessed her father, he must have ... She only needed a few minutes to find the storage room where her father had kept the spare parts. Unlike the one with the water and food supplies, this one was almost completely intact. Humming happily to herself, Bulma searched all boxes and cupboards and piled the usable parts on the floor in front of her. Suddenly she stopped. Wasn't there a sound? She held her breath and listened intently. Yes, there it was again. It sounded like something heavy was dragging across the floor. What could it be? Had Vegeta managed to follow her and wanted to scare her? Well that's what she would say her opinion about! Bulma gripped the flashlight tighter with her sweaty hands and threw open the door of the storage room.
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"What are you thinking of, Ve ...!" She got no further.<br />
Two yellow eyes shone in the beam of light from the flashlight. Bulma's heart sank into the back of her knees and she backed away in fear. The animal hissed threateningly and bared its