Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ For the Sake of the Saiyan ❯ Discovery ( Chapter 3 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Part Three-Discovery

"Is everybody okay?" Anai asked when the last person was inside headquarters and the entrance was shut.

"I got bit by a hellhound, but it's not bad." Kyris said, touching his shoulder where blood had stained the torn gray fabric red. "I'm more interested why you have Vegeta wrapped up in a lab coat."

Anai gave a start. "How-how did you know who he was?"

Kyris blinked and stammered a response. "Well, I...uh..."

"You've been searching through our history files when I told you not to, haven't you?"

Kyris looked down at the floor. "Y-yeah, I was."

"What? Wait, what's going on?" Lorn asked.

Anai glanced down at Vegeta's limp body and sighed. "I'll explain after we get him in a bed." She walked over to the medical lab, placed Vegeta on one of the beds and covered him with a sheet. "Silva, hook him up to your machines and do whatever you can for him."

"Okay..." Silva began pushing buttons on her computer.

"Anai, I already told you," Nemie said, stepping toward her, "he's in a coma and he'll stay that way unless we find a way to get his ki to a stable level."

"Hang on a second." Ren said. "Story, please."

Anai nodded. "He's Vegeta, Trunks's father."

The group gasped and Mercay started to ask a question, but Anai stopped him.

"I don't know how he's alive now, but he is. Nemie and I found him in a generation tank in the lab. We think Ryukin was trying to bring him back to fight in the Dark Army, like he did with us. I couldn't just leave him."

There was silence for a moment.

"This is unbelievable." Lorn muttered. "How can they bring people back from the dead?"

"Didn't you guys say the Z Fighters used to do it all the time?" Kyris asked.

"Yes, back when they had the dragonballs." Mercay answered. "But since Earth's Guardian is gone, there are no more dragonballs."

Anai snapped her fingers. "Maybe this will help." She reached into her belt pouch and pulled out the small data disk.

"You mean you actually remembered your main purpose for infiltrating the enemy base in the first place?" Mercay asked dryly. "Simply amazing."

"Hey, can it, Greenie. We risked our necks to get this piece of information while you sat outside and watched!" Nemie said hotly.

"Waited outside and fought the army so you two could entertain yourselves by blasting random soldiers, you mean." Mercay shot back.

"Look you pointy eared slug, Anai and I were nearly killed trying to steal this important disk. The data on that thing could help us win this war and all you can do is complain." Nemie snorted, thrusting her finger an inch from his face.

"Okay you two, that's enough." Anai ordered.

Nemie went on like she hadn't heard. "I don't need some giant booger getting up in my face and telling me I'm an air head teenager that doesn't know how to fight a war. I may be young Pickle-Boy, but aside from Anai, I'm in charge. Remember that."

Mercay started toward her, his unbridled anger raging in his eyes. Anai stepped between them.

"I said that's enough. Stop where you are Mercay."

The Namek growled, showing his fangs, but took a step back in submission.

Anai glared at Nemie. "Sis, do us all a favor and go get something to eat."

"But--" Nemie started to protest, but her grumbling stomach made her realize that her moodiness was because of her lack of food. Nodding curtly, she started in the direction of the kitchen.

Anai turned her icy gaze on Mercay. "You, tend to Kyris while Silva works on Vegeta."

Lorn held out his clawed hand toward Anai as the Namek grabbed Kyris and walked away. "If I may...?"

Anai placed the disk in Lorn's offered palm. "By all means. And please tell us what you find."

"I will, believe me." He turned on his heel and headed for the lab.

"Anai..." Silva's voice made Anai wince. She didn't like the concerned tone in the human's voice, "there's a problem."

"What?"

Silva looked up from the readings on the screen. "What Nemie said earlier was true. His ki energy is so depleted that he'll be in this state until we bring it back up." Her intense gray eyes were full of uncertainty. "But I don't know of anyway to restore an empty ki reservoir."

Glancing at Ren, Anai chewed the inside of her cheek. "Ren, can you do some research to find something, anything at all that can help us here?"

Ren scratched his head. "I can try." He saw the way Anai halfway closed her eyes in a defeated sigh and spoke up. "Hey fearless leader, we'll do what we can around here. You get some sleep."

"No, I'm fine--"

"That wasn't a request, Anai, that was an order." When the redhead looked up in defiant alarm, Ren made his voice more soothing. "You're in no condition to work, so I'm pulling rank. Go to bed."

Reluctantly, Anai nodded, too tired to argue. She walked to the bunks, muscles lax from exhaustion.

Not far away, Nemie came out of the kitchen, the plate in her hands piled high with food. As she made her way over to the genetics lab, she practically inhaled a loaf of bread and a block of cheese.

By the time she got to where Lorn was sitting in front of a holo-screen, there was nothing left of her snack.

Lorn chuckled slightly. "An appetite like a true Saiyan."

"And I'm still hungry."

"Go easy on those reserves, we're running low."

"Uh-huh. What have you found?"

"Some very interesting things." Lorn brought up a screen and leaned out of the way so Nemie could read what was on it.

Her brows pinched together in concentration. "'Sufficient DNA was not available for total cloning to take place. Animal tissue was required to fill in chromosome sequential gaps. Incomplete DNA was implanted into host body...' Wait a minute. Host body?"

Lorn nodded. "It seems that you and Anai were once human embryos. Possibly even fully developed neonatals that were altered with Saiyan genes. I haven't gotten to where it tells your development."

Nemie's face turned ghostly white. "That's...that's terrible! They took us from our mother and mutated us?! Those monsters!"

"Look, read this. It explains a little more."

Nemie went on to read that they were in fact zygotes when the Saiyan chromosomes were injected. The fertilized eggs were left to grow in generation tanks for eleven months.

"The log ends there." Lorn said, closing the file and swiveling in his chair.

"That must have been when Master Trunks rescued us." Nemie said, still in shock about the revelation. "Is there anything else on this disk?"

"One more file, but I haven't looked at it yet. I'm not sure what it is."

"Well pull it up and we can sort through it together."

"Right." Lorn began typing and another screen of words popped up. The Alikai gasped at the title that flashed across the page. "I...I don't believe it!"

"What?" Nemie read it and nearly fainted. "We need to tell Anai about this!"

"Not now. I saw her going to bed a few minutes ago. She can read it for herself later. Let her sleep; she needs it."
* * *
Anai grinned smugly. "Come on, Nemie, you can do better than that!"

The white-haired Saiyan chuckled and charged her sister, fists at the ready. She punched at Anai's face and turned the punch into a clothesline when the redhead ducked. Anai blocked the blow easily and delivered a kick to Nemie's side, knocking her off balance. Nemie staggered back a foot or two and started at Anai again, but suddenly stopped in her tracks.

The look on Nemie's face made chills run up Anai's spine. Her blue eyes were struck with sheer terror and her limbs quivered in fear.

"Nemie? What's wrong?" Anai asked, her voice wavering slightly.

Nemie's mouth moved in answer, but no sound came out. An instant later, she disappeared without a trace.

"Sis?" Anai looked around, hoping it was just one of the girl's stupid little pranks. The cold feeling Anai had in her stomach indicated it wasn't. "Nemie?! NEMIE?!" She shouted, spinning on her heel to look around. For the first time, she noticed her surroundings.

She was standing in complete darkness. Not even a photon of light entered that black, empty room.

Anai felt her heart begin to race and she squeezed her eyes shut, silently trying to force her breathing to slow.

Suddenly, she heard a voice. It was a soft, hoarse voice like tarnished silver.
"Why don't you just ask Trunks? He'd know what to do."

Anai's eyes flew open at the mention of her sensei. She still saw nothing, but...a flash of something to her right caught her attention. It was gone when she turned her head, but she thought it had looked like something white and furry.

A shrill scream sliced the silence, making Anai scream, too. It was Nemie, without a doubt.
Immediately following the scream, more cries for help echoed in the blank space. She recognized them all as her friends'.

"Hang on, guys! I'll find you!" Anai shouted to the emptiness. She hadn't taken two steps when she ran into something resembling a concrete wall. She tumbled numbly to the ground. A sudden bright light shined in her eyes, making her shy away.

She couldn't see anything clearly, but she vaguely made out the silhouette of...Vegeta. Next to him stood a shapeless cloud of black smoke with wild blue eyes.

"What--"

The cloud cut in with a cold, gravel voice.

"You could have saved them, you know. You're just not as careful as you used to be. If you had only seen..."

Without a word, Vegeta held up his hand and released a powerful Big Bang attack, engulfing Anai in white hot ki energy.

"NO!" Anai cried at the top of her lungs, sitting blot upright in bed. She clutched the blankets with a white knuckled grip, her fingernails ripping through the fabric. Tears ran down her flushed cheeks.

"Anai?" Kyris was the first to her side, his blue eyes wide with concern. "What is it?"

Nemie wasn't far behind. "Sis? Are you okay?"

Anai could barely stop sobbing enough to speak. "I-I had a...nightmare. It w-was terrible!" She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths to calm down.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Nemie looked closely at the redhead. "Do you want to tell me about it?" When Anai shook her head forcefully, Nemie shrugged. "Okay, then. Calm down, it wasn't real. It was just a dream."

Anai sniffled a little more, then stood up and tried to smooth out her wrinkled T-shirt and exercise shorts. "There was one thing..." She said softly.

"What?"

"Something said to me, 'Why don't you ask Trunks? He'd know what to do.'"

Nemie cocked her head quizzically. "How can we ask Trunks anything? I hate to remind everyone of this, but he's gone."

Anai chewed the inside of her cheek in thought. Suddenly her eyes lit up. "His personal files. There might be something in there that can help Vegeta."



^Ä^~^Ä^~^Ä^~^Ä^
If you would like to be notified when the next section is posted (I don't know when that will be) please e-mail me: sway_j60@hotmail.com
Feel free to e-mail me just to chat, too!
<3, Jade