A.N. Technically, this story is a Prequel. It follows the same alternate timeline as 'A Stowaway from the Heart,' and I would highly recommend that you read that story before this one. Of course, both stories will contain spoilers for each other, but I suppose it would be feasible to just read this fanfic.

Unlike Stowaway, this is completely new writing, right from the start. I did think of all sorts of abduction stories for Bulma in the past, but never really fully wrote a fanfiction. Especially when there were already dozens of stories that dealt with Saiyans kidnapping her, and an eventual love story forming with Vegeta (Some of which being pretty awesome reads.). But I'm hoping this short story will be somewhat different. If you're read Stowaway, then you'll already know the basic alternate history for the Saiyans. I'm certain that elements of the Stowaway history will be repeated/developed/explored further, within this fic. And yes, yes, this story will include everyones favourite Saiyan Prince (:P)

Since I have to cover 11years of Bulma's life, please be prepared and forgiving for various time skips and flashbacks. Also, for updates that may take a little longer than the usual 48hour timeframe. I would love to cover every aspect of her alternate past, but would also like to keep the overall story quite short and more to the point .

'Beyond Science'

Chapter 1: Red Sky

The day of the Saiyan's First Invasion of Planet Earth would certainly go down in the history books as a life-changing event for the entire populace of the human race. There would be incredible death tolls leading to gaps in family trees, destroyed cites and irrevocable damage, both physical and mental. But there was one detail that the text books would fail to mention. A detail known by only a select few. For on the morning of the invasion, a warning sign had been projected in the skies. Bulma Briefs had been among those many early bird citizens, who at the break of dawn, had each opened their curtains or blinds. Only when gazing through their windows, they were to be greeted by the thick spread of a blood red and tangerine skyline.

'Red Sky at night, dragon's delight.

Red Sky in the morning, dragon's warning.'

Yet the usually superstitious heiress had sighed in a carefree and swooning way, instead reading nothing but a new day filled with pure romance on the horizon. Looking over her shoulder, the recently turned twenty year old could ask for nothing more, than to wake up like this every morning. Why? Because her completely naked, baseball star of a fiancé, was currently sprawled out and tangled between her golden, silk sheets: A Prince Charming amongst the desert dunes. It was true that they didn't always get along; at first he'd been scared of women in general, and in his defence, Bulma knew that she often came across as quite a strong personality at the best of times. Despite their incompatible flaws though, the pair had stuck together through thick and thin for almost four years. The only thing that really stood in the way of wedding planning now, was the Inventor of the Year award. The almost Nobel prize winning heiress was determined to win this year, especially after losing out to Doctor Gero of the Red Ribbon Army in the previous two consecutive years. Her father and Gero shared a distinctive rivalry, as did the companies they worked for. Unfortunately, Capsule Corporation had failed to earn a prize since the invention of DynoCaps, but this year, Bulma was determined to change that. First the Inventor's award, and then; the prize of marriage.

"So! Then I realised what I'd done wrong, and I figured, wow, you're such a total dork Bulma! The blue wire had to be connected to the XB9 circuit, else the power core would short circuit every 50 minutes tops. I can't believe I overlooked something so simple. Can you imagine?"

The young lovebirds sat around the kitchen table, tucking into the rather scrumptious breakfast Mrs. Pansy Briefs had prepared, as always. Kame forbid Bulma ever attempt to cook a meal! But as the spoilt heiress ranted on hardly having touched her plate, a rather inadequate feeling Yamcha tried his best to pay attention. Alas, it was times like these that he found it impossible to follow her strands of conversation. It was a well known fact that the rambling heiress was easily distracted though, and for such a smart woman, it often boggled people how easily she could skip from one subject to the next. One moment she could be discussing quantum physics, only to swiftly move on to the latest fashion gossip from Central Capital. Similarly, it also boggled many how such a beautiful woman with such a voluptuous yet very trimmed figure, should settle into such an intellectually demanding career. With her distinctive love of fashion, she could easily settle into a comfortable and very well paid modelling or acting career. Still, despite how inadequate Yamcha felt around her on an intellectual level, when Bulma was in the right mood, she definitely knew how to make a guy feel special. So a rather large grin spread across the desert bandit's lips, as he remembered how the previous evening had played out.

"Oh! Oh Yamcha! I can't believe you bought me a diamond ring! Wow it's… it's so beautiful, just like me!"

His intended had always hinted that 'diamonds are a girls best friend,' and for once he'd actually paid attention to her blabbermouth. Indeed, the heiress liked to talk a lot, among her other incompatible flaws. But the thieving Yamcha was a sucker for her more material attractions. Not that his girlfriend needed any extra assets, because she was also drop dead gorgeous. He'd really be a fool to let such a rare gem slip from his grasp.

"You're so good to me. Just you wait, when we get home later…" Now, a rather lecherously grinning Yamcha snickered to himself. Oh yes, the diamond engagement ring had definitely been worth those extra few hundred Zenni.

"Are you even listening to me?" Yet back in the present timeline however, the not-so affectionate and swooning Bulma, was now frowning at her widely grinning and lightly chortling boyfriend.

"Huh? Uh… yeah! Of course I was babe." The buxom, blue-haired beauty, was hardly convinced. As attractive as she was when she folded her arms under her bosom, Yamcha gulped as he realised he was in for a scolding right about… now.

"Oh really? Alright. Then what was I just talking about? Hmm?"

"Ehehe!" He grinned nervously, quickly checking his watch. "Wow, would you look at the time? I'll be late for practice." In a flash, he was grabbing his 'West City Titans' baseball jacket and leaving a goodbye peck on the growling woman's cheek. "Catch ya later babe! I'll be back around six, 'kay? Don't wait up."

"Yeah right," she grumbled through grit teeth, mumbling more silent curses until the front door slammed shut. Just one look down to the diamond ring adorning her left engagement finger however, and Bulma could hardly stay mad at her fiancé for long. A longing sigh later, and her chin was propped on her palm. She was going to have the wedding of her dreams, and she still had time to mould Yamcha into the perfect husband, right?

Wrong.

It started with various emergency news flashes interrupting every single T.V channel possible. Apparently, an alien ship had landed on the outskirts of Capital Central, but the elusive aliens were yet to emerge from the spaceship's hold. Various humans had gathered; from military personal, to the far more peaceful 'alien rights' hippies. Apparently a newly invented organisation. Bulma however, remained buried in her basement research facility, fervently working on her award-winning invention. The television merely provided the usual, droning background noise. Even if she had fully realised what was happening, it would take her at least two hours to reach the Central Capital. The highway from West City was no doubt crammed with people who had the exact same idea. Besides, to many more eager listeners, it all sounded like some kind of publicity stunt. Until the aliens finally presented themselves, and all hell break loose. At last, Bulma begun to pay more attention to the reports, but even by then, it was too late. Along with the gathered army and innocent civilians, various reporters joined the first death toll numbers, but not before recording their exclusive, never-before-seen images of the alien invaders. There were four in total, each of them very human in appearance, and in varying shapes and sizes. The army fought bravely together with the joint Red Ribbon forces, but bullets and missiles seemed to do nothing but briefly stun the intruders. Soon, the Central Capital City was under immediate attack.

When the West City siren wailed, Capsule Corp joined with the initial efforts to rid the planet of the 'alien scum.' Dynocaps containing the most recent gun upgrades, grenades and missiles, were handed over to the armed forces, who gave very little information other than for civilians to remain in their homes. The TV tower abruptly fell shortly after the aliens agreed to meet with the Earth's leaders, only to provide a broadcasted series of more murders. What looked like laser beams generated from the open palms of these humanoid aliens, were relentlessly shot between the eyes of each and every gathered leader. Now that democracy and peace talks had failed, it was inevitable that the rest of the planet, would soon fall too. West City was left with local radio stations as one of the last remaining forms of communication. Even phone signals were scrambled, much to Bulma's distress. She tried over and over to contact Yamcha, knowing that he would be among the several other very mysterious fighters, who would do their best to protect the planet as the last line of defence. Just as they had on numerous other occasions in the past, but even they would be no match for these opponents. A single voicemail message, was all she had left to comfort her.

"Hey babe," he started in his usual, carefree manner. "So me, Tien and good ol' Krillen figure it's high time we got it together like old times."

Of course Bulma translated that to 'time for us to save the planet again.' Nipping down on her lower lip with her front teeth, she listened on. The background voices clearly belonged to the two other fighters mentioned.

"No rest for the wicked I guess. So yeah, looks like I'll be a little held-up tonight. Don't wait for me, 'kay?… But seriously, listen up. You better take care of yourself, 'kay? Don't do anything stupid just… just lock the doors and stay hidden somewhere. I'll come rescue you soon, alright?"

Despite the optimistic message, less than two hours since the aliens had first landed, new explosions erupted from the outskirts of West City. It seemed these aliens travelled extremely fast, and the Briefs family were left with no other choice. Taking refuge in their sealed, basement bomb shelter, it was there that their last prayers for someone to put an end to all this chaos, were left unanswered. If only they had recognised the bad omen that had been predicted at the break of dawn that morning, perhaps then, they could have prepared for the invasion? But now, an awareness of time was completely irrelevant. Both the small and the big hand of fate's clock, ticked slowly, and for that Bulma was both grateful, and ungrateful. She of course wanted this to all be over as quickly as possible, but waiting to die like a sitting duck, certainly wasn't a very fun prospect to handle. There were plenty of resources in the bomb shelter, but the question wasn't how long before they starved to death. More like; how long until the hostile aliens found them? At the home defence control panel, Dr. Briefs remained composed and alert with his daughter by his side. Soon enough, the first alarm was triggered; the aliens had penetrated the main corporation doors.

"They're in!" Dr. Briefs' voice almost cracked. Rapidly, both he and his daughter begun to type various commands and overriding pass codes into the computer systems. All the while, Bulma shrilly wailed, accompanied by her mother's shrieks. The poor black cat perched on her lap, received the tightest hug of his life.

"How did they even know we're in here?" Bulma demanded to know as she took control over various heat-seeking turret guns. "What do they want from us? Haven't they done enough already? Why don't they just blow up the planet and move on already?" Most of all, she wished Yamcha was there with her. "And where is he!"

A mothering pat on the shoulder from Mrs. Briefs, was the only comfort she would receive. "There, there hunny bunny. Yamcha will be alright. He always is."

"Well I'm not alright! He should be here! GAH!" The second alarm rung out. The aliens had easily bypassed the turret guns, lasers and even the Mech-Assault robots, and were now rapidly venturing down to the second level.

"Activate toxic gases!" The heiress shrieked, hammering her fist down on her keyboard. The room shook.

"It's no good!" Her father wailed. "Here they come!"

Before he even finished the exclamation, the main, heavy set of metallic doors, thumped and banged.

"DO SOMETHING!" Bulma wailed desperately, trying to gain control over the control panel where flashing lights mirrored her state of total panic. While her equally panicking father merely stepped back, and clutched at his chest.

"I'm trying," he countered weakly. The only thing he was trying to do though, was recover his strangled breathing. It suddenly felt like the room was devoid of any oxygen at all, accompanied by a sharp pain on the left side of his chest. In a matter of several joint, bated breaths, the main doors flew off their hinges. A single blast that resembled a red laser beam, shot through the gap in the doorway. Doctor Briefs suddenly clutched fully at his chest, where his racing heart was painfully reaching breaking point.

"I… can't…" he wheezed and panted, voice straining.

"Daddy?" The daughter cried, abandoning her station to catch her father as he slumped to the side. Mrs. Briefs soon joined them, immediately fussing over her husband, reaching for the ventolin respiration inhaler which he always carried in his lab coat pocket.

As the smoke cloud cleared, the two aliens responsible for all the recent chaos and panic, casually stepped into the room. Just as the earlier news reports had shown, they were indeed perfectly human in appearance. The two males both stood at over six feet tall, built of well-trained and rippling muscles behind their strange armour and what almost looked like lycra bodysuits. The armour consisted of an all-in-one chest, groin and hip piece, that resembled an exoskeleton shell-like structure.

"Which one of you is the Briefs Doctor," the oldest looking alien male demanded to know. He was well tanned in very earthy, brownish-red hues. Unlike the younger male next to him, he wore his pure-black hair spiked up slightly. The rest was tied behind him in a neat ponytail. The second male's black, gravity-defying spikes seemed to point in every direction possible, and his facial features were sharp yet at the same time, very boyish. The two females tried their best to smother the hyperventilating and panting old man, who was still clutching his chest in clear pain. Meanwhile, the two aliens lightly smirked; this was unfortunately far easier than they expected.

"You see that Kakarot?" The eldest alien pointed at the doctor. "This planet breeds nothing but weakness."

Ignoring the aliens, the two women continued to fuss over the official Dr. Briefs. "Breathe hunny bunny," the eldest female cooed, puffing the inhaler one more time between his lips. Bulma rubbed her palm over the struggling man's back, but her wide blue eyes were completely focused on the two aliens who confidently stopped in the centre of the room.

"Should we put him out of his misery?" The younger asked, lifting his arm to point his palm at the huddled family of three.

"He's not dead yet," the oldest revealed, clicking at the button on his scouter. The green screen fixed over his left eye, flashed with various alien digits. "He can still be of some use. Fetch him."

"Wait!" The young female gestured for the aliens to stop, rising to her feet quite bravely as the younger male advanced calmly. "No, you can't do that! My dad's in no condition to -"

"Move aside," the alien commanded.

Bulma Briefs did not know what came over her at that point, but as the male swatted her aside with his arm and she fell to her hands and knees harshly, something snapped. That was her father; a man who'd done everything he could to train her in the arts of science and mechanics. A man currently suffering from what she presumed to be one of his usual asthma attacks, and these aliens wanted to take him to Kame knows where! Suddenly scrambling back to the control panel, a groaning, mechanical screeching announced the awakening of the final, defensive act.

"Bulma no!" Dr. Briefs tried his best to stop his daughter, reaching out for her attention even as he was plucked from his wife's loving embrace, and clumsily hauled over the shoulder of the young alien. His inhaler cracked as it fell to the floor, just as his heart gave another uncomfortable twinge. "It's…n-not ready… yet!"

But it was too late. The final confirmation code had been input, and the metal tiled floor trembled. The two aliens naturally exchanged lightly frowning glances, looking around curiously as to what this new challenge was. They had enjoyed all the little puzzles needed to overcome in order to reach the final level, so what now did the clever doctor have up his sleeve? As the centre of the floor opened up, the older alien stumbled backwards, grinning excitedly. Out jumped a rather chunky, seven foot tall, mech-assault suit. It resembled the other machines that had fruitlessly attacked on the previous level with their silly laser beams and mini rockets, and therefore the aliens were hardly impressed. Wasting no time, the rather courageous Bulma begun to control the robot, using her nifty remote control pad. The taller alien only continued to laugh, as the robotic limbs shot out one after the other, attempting to launch various slow punches at him. He evaded each move easily, finding the whole 'fight' extremely amusing. Even the younger male, still supporting the heaving older doctor on his shoulder, begun to more light-heartedly chuckle. It was fun to watch, and so he finally rather absent-mindedly dropped Dr. Briefs. His wife hurried over, trying her best to tug pull the struggling man to safety away from the distracted aliens.

"Damn it," Bulma cursed, tensing at the shoulders as she tried to control the robot better. "Hit it!" She demanded, launching another punch. The overconfident alien jumped to the side, but certainly did not expect the chunky humanoid robot to lift a very large and very hard knee into his back. The tough metal crashed against his exoskeleton armour, and that alone, wiped the smirk off the man's long face.

"WHY YOU -!" He started, ducking the follow up swipe that attempted to grab his upper body into a crushing, large fist. Enough was enough, so as the alien begun to more seriously beat on the machine. A panicking Bulma pressed as many emergency buttons as possible, without knowing the real consequences of her actions. This was her father's invention, after all.

"Oh no!" She cried, twisting what resembled a console game controller in various directions, as she ducked in tune with the robot. It were as though she was actually fighting in its' place.

"D-D-… The - the re - red - bu-button!" Dr. Briefs exclaimed from the floor, still struggling to breathe. Any further attempts to communicate were drowned out by his painful winces and heavy wailings.

"Huh?" A wide-eyed Bulma blinked. "Hit the red button?" She did, and the mech-suit very oddly stood perfectly still. "GAH! Daddy it didn't work! What do I do now?"

Though in actual fact, it did work, exactly as planned. Steam quickly burst and hissed from the various joints of the mechanical beast, causing the frowning aliens to freeze in total curiosity. 'What now?' They thought to themselves, even taking a curious step forwards. The archaic alien species were not so accustomed to such technologically advanced creations, and so curiosity had more than often gotten the better of them during this certain mission to Earth. When the robot begun to shake however with various beeping sounds, Bulma finally realised what was happening. Just about managing to duck underneath the control desk in time, it was the two aliens who faced the majority of the self-destruct blast. For a long moment as the smoke engulfed the room, Bulma prayed that the explosion would be enough to finish with the aliens, once and for all. As the noise and smog cleared, she slowly peered over the edge of the desk, and inhaled a startled breath. Deep down, she knew it was too good to be true. Indeed, the two males still stood in the centre of the damaged room, frozen in their defensive positioning. Where their bodysuits had torn and peeled away slightly, the revealed skin appeared to be only slightly marked in lightly charred burns from the blast. Better still, Mrs. Briefs was vigorously shaking the shoulders of her rather still husband.

"Hunny bunny? Wake up! Please wake up." Meanwhile, the two aliens were bickering amongst themselves, as if the explosion hadn't even occurred.

"You baka!" The eldest swiped the back of his hand across the younger male's cheek. "I told you to grab him, not kill him! Now look what you've done."

"But… I had him," the one called 'Kakarot' frowned and blankly blinked. He was sure the doctor had been draped over his shoulder. "I didn't do anything to hurt him, I swear."

"Well, that's that." The older only growled, frowning down at the old man once more. The scanner over his eye never lied, and currently it was reading a zero ki energy from the limp doctor. "It will be you who tells the King of your failure, Kakarot!"

The teenager slumped his defeated shoulders, feeling another scolding shove against the side of his head. He was meant to be proving himself on this mission, not failing further. His great father would not be impressed, and neither would the King for that matter. The revolutionary man wanted improved technology of his own, away from the prying eyes of Lord Frieza. Though these archaic dogs of the universe obediently followed the changeling Prince's orders, they had their own King's extra orders to consider. Planet Earth had definitely showed promise on that front. At this moment, the blue-haired woman who had controlled the strange, mechanical beast, peered over the table block she hid behind. Unfortunately, she was caught by the agitated, clearly higher ranked alien.

"You!" He pointed, resulting in her shrill cry as she ducked under the table again. "Get over here onna!" When the woman only seemed to scramble around from behind the desk, the Saiyan nodded to his accomplice. Before she could find something to defend herself with, the younger alien leapt over the desk, landing behind the trembling woman. Her screams and various swatting as the alien picked her up by the scruff of her t-shirt, went unanswered. The older Saiyan merely rubbed his chin, frowning at the woman being held up for examination.

"This one will have to do," he finally nodded. She had, after all, been controlling the mechanical creature, all by herself. "Perhaps it knows something of use."

"But Tora, that one's a female." Stated the young Kakarot, causing said woman to considerably scowl and fold her arms. Normally she would argue over how a woman was just as capable of doing what a man could, and how she was living proof of that fact as far as intelligence went. But she couldn't make such statements, not when her mother was weeping on the floor ahead of her, and while her father lay deathly still in a crumpled mess.

"You… You monsters!" The woman instead screamed, causing Kakarot to merely blink as he raised the woman a little higher. Now her kicking feet had no hope of touching the ground again. "You killed my father! How could you? What did he ever do to hurt you? Why are you doing this?"

Bulma Briefs, notorious for never knowing when to keep her mouth shut. A simple nod from the alien in-charge of the mission, gradual blackness engulfed her thanks to the simple yet very harsh and powerful flick between the eyes. As her eyes rolled back and her head dropped forwards, the finishing words of the one called 'Tora' once again scolded his younger comrade.

"Now be careful with this one. You should know by now how fragile these Earthlings are. We can't afford anymore accidents, else the King will have both our heads."

Thus the alternate story of Bulma Briefs, began.

It all started, with a red sky.

To be continued…