Language Barrier

by pureleaf

Prologue

Summary: Vegeta has a fall while training in the woods and returns to the Briefs compound to discover his language chip isn't working correctly, leaving him largely unable to speak or understand the humans he lives with. Can Vegeta and the Briefs family find a way to break through the language barrier? Will Bulma find a solution to Vegeta's problem?

If there was one thing good about the early morning, it was that there was far less chance Vegeta would run into the woman or her mother or the senior Doctor Briefs before he'd had a chance to truly wake up and get his mind settled.

At quarter to six, Vegeta rolled out of bed, rinsed his face with cold water, and pulled on a fresh pair of shorts and a clean t-shirt. He stretched and performed his usual rounds of crunches and push-ups before pulling on a pair of socks and his running shoes.

By five minutes past six, Vegeta was well on his way to a hilly dirt trail that cut through a huge, dense urban forest within a major municipal park. With the winter season over and summer quickly approaching, the Saiyan was intent on spending a bit more time in the sunlight. He'd made it through his first winter on Earth and decided that it was a miserable time of the year that went on for far too long: at first the glittering snow had been almost charming, but the darkness, bitter winds, ice, and mood swings that soon followed made Vegeta resentful and sullen.

At half past six, Vegeta was running at a good, fast pace, the blood racing through his veins and his heart rate steadily climbing. When it started to rain heavily, Vegeta persisted with his run, splashing through increasingly muddy and slick dirt trails, knobby tree roots and tiny, half-embedded rocks mere inches away on either side of the pathway.

After forty minutes of running, Vegeta reached the end of the long trail. He turned around and gazed down the path, finding it utterly deserted, and sighed with discontent when he realized the woman and her family were probably up and making breakfast, meaning he'd have to return home soon lest he be forced to reheat the "leftovers" once again.

Some five metres off the trail, Vegeta noticed a huge boulder, perhaps ten metres tall, and he inspected the rock with fascination. The rock was deep, deep brown, nearly black, and spotted with fragments of glimmering crystals. I'm going to climb this, he decided, and the Saiyan hooked his calloused fingers into tiny crevices and pushed himself up.

Four metres high, Vegeta was midway through hoisting himself up another few centimetres when a fat, hairy caterpillar was disturbed by one of Vegeta's fingertips and raced out of a crevice in the boulder, crawling across Vegeta's knuckles in the process. Startled and quite frankly disgusted by what he saw, Vegeta lost his grip on the rock as he tried to shake off the insect, instantly he lost his footing, and Vegeta tumbled back down towards the forest floor before he could properly react. He landed bottom first and the back of his head smacked against the leaf-padded ground a split second later.

The fall was hard enough to knock the wind out of Vegeta, who coughed and gulped down air as best he could to try and steady his breathing. He was so stunned by his own carelessness in that one moment, that the urge to chastise himself was overwhelming. When his breathing returned to normal, Vegeta snarled and pulled himself back onto his feet.

"Ya'ee'jyot," the Saiyan muttered as he returned to the trail, "wh'gesscer'de o'ffsom'tin lie'dat..."

Why does my voice sound so weird, he wondered, deciding he wouldn't speak out loud again until he was back in the Briefs compound.

He he, compound, it's such a funny word...com-pound. Pound. Company-pound. Compundy... comp... cump... pony? Pony-comp. Comp-pony'd.

By the time Vegeta reached the Briefs compound, the skies were clearing and the city grew lively. Vegeta went inside without greeting anybody and straight up to his room to shower before breakfast. It was strange, but Vegeta wasn't entirely certain he felt hungry.

Come to think of it, come to... oh, but I suppose nose, er, no...