I've been wanting to have a go at writing an AU for some time, and I'm finally going to give it a try. I woke up this morning with this plot in my head, I am not sure how long my inspiration will last. If you are reading any of my other stories, I will include a small note about them at the end of this chapter. Thanks for reading - any feedback is appreciated!

I hope you enjoy!

An entire day had been wasted, and Vegeta wasn't happy.

Curled within the leafy limb of a tree, he was completely hidden as he watched the dome-shaped building that was 70 meters away. It wasn't long ago that he had started a new project - analyzing planets during his "off" time. Of course, Frieza never really allowed much "off" time, but Vegeta had mastered the art of purging long ago. He'd just completed four missions in the time it took most of his subordinates to finish just one, and now he had about three months to scope out new worlds before they expected him back at the base.

Oh, yes, Vegeta loved scoping out planets. He needed to find the perfect one that he would set as his own base when he finally was able to overthrow his tyrant boss, Frieza. Vegeta had studied several by now, but never had he really put much thought into Earth...

Earth, in particular, initially hadn't interested him at all. The place was mediocre at best. It had water, which was a requirement for the warm blooded saiyan, but there were plenty of planets that could provide that. The air on Earth was putrid. Overridden with methane and carbon dioxide, the sky of this world was clearly starting to turn grey. It was disgusting, and it left a terrible taste in Vegeta's mouth when he inhaled too quickly. Evidently, the creatures native to this world weren't capable of taking much care of it. It was easy to tell – this atmosphere had once been stunningly clean, and it was going to waste while the inhabitants seemed to be doing absolutely nothing to reverse the process.

The thing that had worked in making the Saiyan finally decide to set his courses for Earth was the power level he picked up on his pod's radar. There were a few entities that stood out from the rest – only a handful – but there was one in particular that caught his interest. As he watched the readings on his radar he had remembered that an infant saiyan had been sent to this quadrant long ago. This power level surely must have belonged to him. The lost Saiyan had failed miserably at his mission, but Vegeta didn't exactly care about that - fuck Frieza, and fuck his rules!

What Vegeta really wanted was to see what the hell the mystery saiyan been doing all this time, and perhaps partake in a challenging fight!

And so, he had dialed the coordinates into his pod and set off. It was going to take an entire day out of his precious time just to reach the planet, but he figured it might be worth it if he would at least have some fun. He'd surely get a good battle out of the ordeal.

So, what a letdown it was, when Vegeta traced the saiyan to this spherical house just as the power level disappeared. "Great!" He growled, climbing into the closest tree and glaring at the hut in front of him. He clicked a button on his scouter to refresh it, attempting to zero in on the ki, but to no luck. "I come all the way out here just for him to die before we meet!"

An entire day wasted.

Seething at his predicament, Vegeta leaned back behind the leaves of the tree and growled. It was just his luck that the only reason he came to this disgusting rock of dirt would suddenly croak! He should have just gone to Zausine, like he had planned in the first place! The irritable saiyan clicked the button on his scouter again, cursing under his breath. A couple of the individuals who had higher than normal readings were in that house, and evidently they were still alive. "Perhaps I'll just wait for them." He muttered through his teeth. It wouldn't be anything like battling another saiyan, but at least it would be something. At least he'd be able to blow off some of this steam.

And so he waited, bent up in the tree, watching for the right time to make his move. An hour must have passed before the door finally flew open, and out stepped three people. Vegeta began to lean forward, watching the numbers on his scouter. The two men were the ones he'd noted, and even with their readings he would still have to hold back to keep from killing them right away. The woman between them was even weaker.

Vegeta decided he'd let them step out further from the house before making his move – the longer he waited before ambushing them, the louder their screams of shock would be. He didn't care much for terrorizing the woman, but he was looking forward using those men to release some of his anger. As the figures moved even closer to the tree he sat in, he began to hear their conversation, and it was enough to jolt his ears.

"You have to do it. I'll go with you. You won't be in any danger."

"No, Yamcha! We can't!" Bulma replied. "You know we can't!"

"But come on! The dragon balls are our only hope! We gotta at least try!"

"Yamcha, just stop! You're making me feel even worse!"

"Any wish, B. He can grant any wish. There's no way he can't bring Goku back!"

"He can't revive anyone who's died of natural causes, and you know it!"

"He didn't die of old age, Bulma! He was younger than you and I!"

Bulma shook her head aggressively. She'd finally been able to get a grip of herself before leaving the house, and now tears were streaming down her cheeks all over again. Her mind was already whirling enough as it was with the shock that her best friend was suddenly dead. Yamcha didn't need to add to it. He meant well, but it was futile, and all it was doing was rubbing things in. "I know he was young, but you can die of natural causes even if you aren't old!" She snapped. "He had a heart virus! Diseases are natural causes, you idiot!"

"Well, I don't think they are! And I'll bet the dragon will take my side!" Yamcha shot back. "Now go get your tracker so we can find them. We're going to at least try! I won't let you say no!"

That was it. She just couldn't take it anymore! Bulma pointed a finger, readying herself to tell the Z-Fighter to just shut up for a second, but there was an abrupt rustling of the trees behind her. A quick second later she heard what sounded like something heavy falling to the ground, and she looked over her shoulder to see what had just happened. Her mouth dropped open, the residual tears glistening in her blue eyes.

There was a man – a beautiful, terrifying man – coming right for them. And something about him was instantly making her uneasy. They were in too rural of a location for this stranger to just be randomly approaching them – he had to have been there for a reason. And if his unusual clothing and face gear wasn't enough to put her on edge, his facial expression certainly was enough to do the job.

"Uh…" Krillin, who had been silent up until that point, started in. "Hi there. Can we… help you?"

Vegeta's attention had already been focused on him. Of the two men, the short one was far less prepared to defend himself.

Get rid of him first, and then take on the other.

Without bothering with a reply, the saiyan broke into a charge so fast that he disappeared from view, reappearing right in front of them less than half a second later. He grabbed the short one by the scruff of his shirt and flung him to the side, not even bothering to watch as Krillin flew straight through three trees that exploded on contact. It was when he hit the side of the mountain that he finally dropped, his body creating a small crater where he landed.

"Krillin!" The woman screamed, jumping back.

"Tell me what you know about those dragon balls." Vegeta ordered. "Is it true that they will grant any wish?"

Her mouth was hanging open as she stared at him with a dumb expression, her larynx trembling as she failed to form words. As her lips quivered she was pulled back, and the taller man stepped in her place. "Run." He said.

"Yamcha…" The woman whimpered, sounding as if she would pass out.

"Go on, Bulma! Get out of here! We're counting on you!"

She didn't have to be told a third time, turning and fleeing into the woods as the man fell into a pose. "I don't know who you are," He said, turning his attention back to Vegeta. "But you don't have the element of surprise, like you did with Krillin."

"Surprise?" Vegeta smirked. "I don't need that to win. You will tell me about the dragon balls, or you'll soon end up like your weak companion. And once I finish with you, I'll be after that gorgeous girl." Even as he spoke, the saiyan was tracking the woman's power level in the reader hooked over his eye, watching the exact trail she used as she ran. She wasn't very quick on her feet, and he'd catch up to her with no effort at all. Vegeta didn't really expect to get much out of this scar-face in front of him. From what he'd deducted, the woman was the one who would be most reliable with her information. Not only did she seem to understand the workings of the dragon balls better than this man seemed to, but apparently she had means of locating them as well.

"Come on!" The scar-face was yelling now. "You gettin' scared or somethin'?!"

"Tell me what you know…" Vegeta grinned. He was eager to go after her, and the conversation he was having only added to the gleeful suspense. "I don't usually bother with warnings. You should consider yourself lucky."

"I'm not telling you shit!" The man yelled. He jumped then, throwing a fist at Vegeta's face, but the saiyan stepped to the side and whirled around him. Yamcha looked over his shoulder with a gasp, just in time to see as Vegeta slammed an elbow into his neck. His ears rang with a loud crackling noise, a deep sting of pain shooting down his core.

"Tell me what you know!" The saiyan growled, as the Z-Fighter fell to his knees. Yamcha was groaning, trying to find the will to stand up, but he couldn't feel his legs anymore. Who was this guy, and where had he come from? The Z-Fighter had hardly been able to withstand him at all! As he coughed up a ball of blood, he just hoped he'd given Bulma enough time to make her escape. "Screw…" He breathed. "…You…"

"Fine." Vegeta rolled his eyes. "Your decision."

.

Bulma could feel her bare legs scraping as she moved as quickly as she could through the brush of the forest. She couldn't help but think, as a twig snagged on her shin, that she probably would have worn something other than shorts if she'd known she'd be fleeing for her life that day. She had seen what the stranger had done to Krillin – so powerful and effortless – and she knew that Yamcha didn't stand much of a chance either. Hell, even Yamcha knew that Yamchca didn't stand a chance!

'We're counting on you' – his last words to her – replayed in her mind as her ankle turned over a tree root, and she went crashing into the dirt. Bulma was all too aware of what exactly it was that Yamcha was counting on her to do. She really would need to find the dragon balls now. With a wince of pain, she managed to pull herself back to her feet, and she looked over her shoulder. The man had moved so quickly that there was no way she'd make it if she tried to get in her plane in front of him. But now she was deep enough in the woods, where he couldn't see her. As long as she could get in the air without him noticing, she'd make it.

Bulma was just about to throw her plane's capsule when she felt a jab in her back. Her injured ankle twisted once more, and she went tumbling down into the ground again with a screech. On her stomach, she looked up to see the stranger standing above her, and her brows furrowed.

How?!

She hadn't even heard him approach! Her mouth dropped open as she gasped with anxiety, her eyes locked with his as she lay completely motionless. Bulma knew there was no point in trying to get away. She'd seen just what he was capable of, and if she made any wrong moves he would easily make her his next victim.

"I don't want to use force, Woman, but I will if I have to. I want you to answer me. Are there really dragon balls that will grant any wish."

As desperately as the Bluehead tried, she was again unable to form words. Feeling useless, all she could do was nod.

He smirked. "That's all I needed to know."

A moment later and his gloved hand was wrapped around her wrist, tugging her to her feet. The force of his action was so strong that she let out a scream, feeling as if her arm would pop out of its socket. It was enough to bring the words back. "Ouch, ouch, ouch!" She wailed, obediently standing as he pulled. "Careful! You don't have to be so rough! You're going to break my arm!"

"This is enough to break your arm? You really are weak." He replied. Clearly he didn't care much about her pain, for he proceeded to give her a sharp tug now that she was on her feet. "Come on. You're going to take me to the dragon balls."

"It's not that easy!" Bulma spat, fighting back a yelp. She moved as quickly as she could, trying not to limp as she took a step with her injured leg. "I said they'll grant your wish, but I didn't say I have them! They're scattered all over the planet. You have to track them down!"

"How many are there?" He was still pulling her forward, whether she was limping or not.

"Stop!" She squeaked, no longer able to take the pain radiating through her arm and leg. "I'm hurt! I need a second!"

"You're going with me until we get these dragon balls, Woman." He said, ignoring her protests as she wailed. "I'm going to hold you to your word."

It wasn't until they were out of the woods that he finally let go of her. Like a dead weight she dropped back to the ground with a whimper, as she clutched her throbbing ankle. Vegeta pressed a button on the scanner over his eye to power it off. It wasn't typical of anybody to try and communicate with him unless there was some type of emergency going on, and Vegeta would normally leave it running to keep the base from getting suspicious about his actions. But he was going to have his wish granted now, so fuck them if they grew suspicious! Without his scanner running they wouldn't be able to track his location, and he wasn't going to let any of those assholes find him before he was ready.

"Get up." He growled, turning back on the girl below him.

"Look." Bulma sniffled, trying her best to contain her emotions. "I can't find them by myself. I need to go home first and get my equipment. I don't just carry it around with me everywhere I go."

"You've seen what I am capable of?" Vegeta growled, shooting her a threatening glare.

Bulma nodded.

"You know I can rip you in half with a single finger if you try to cross me?" He continued.

She nodded.

"You know that I've already analyzed the power readings of this entire planet, and there isn't a single person that can save you, so you might as well not even try to run?"

Scanned the power readings of this entire planet? What in the heck did that mean, and how had he done it? Bulma tried to hide her surprise as his words registered. It didn't take a genius to see this man was much stronger than anybody she'd ever encountered, other than Goku, but she hadn't expected him to be some kind of crazed mastermind. Trying not to gulp, the Bluehead nodded again.

"Perhaps you're fairly smart, after all." Vegeta scoffed. "Fine. We will retrieve your equipment. Come on."

What did you think? Should I continue with it? Please don't be too harsh in the reviews, this is my first attempt at an AU, so I'm nervous! Haha, that being said, any constructive criticism is really appreciated (just please don't be unnecessarily mean!)

If you are a reader of the 7 Year Gap - I wanted to note that I am still planning to continue that story, and am not going to abandon it for this one. I have been wanting to try something new for quite sometime now! I just need to take a little hiatus from that story. I've come to a pretty severe writer's block with it. I need to take some time to think about the plot before I can continue adding more chapters. I just want to make sure it is perfect. I'm so sorry if this comes as a disappointment, and I really don't plan to be on break for too long. I just need to take some time to think things through without the pressure of wanting to regularly update. I hope you understand! I love you all!