Chapter 1 – The Accident
Bra opened her eyes to see the dark interior of her room before twisting her way out of her tangled, bright red bed sheets. When she was three years old her father started training her in the ways of his ancestors, the Saiyans. So this morning, like every morning in the last fourteen years, Bra woke at dawn and prepared for a morning training session with her father.
"I would kill for another few hours of sleep." Bra muttered under her breath as she searched her cupboard for the bright red jumpsuit she used to train in. After pulling it out, she methodically pulled on underwear and a tank top before strapping her ankles and wrists. She slipped into the jumpsuit and attached weighted shoes to her feet.
Unconsciously, she opened her mind to her family and sensed her mother still sleeping and her father already training. Her brother was not home. Bra groaned and slouched onto her bed, wanting to crawl back beneath the warm blankets. She thought back to why she was so tired this morning in particular.
In celebration of her seventeenth birthday the day before, her mother with the help of one of the world's most popular fashion designers had organised a fashion show and party in her honour. The giant ballroom had been decorated in red, white and gold balloons with streamers and a giant banner which read 'Happy Birthday Bra!' in glittery writing. In the middle of the room ran a bright white runway surrounded by seating and encased in lighting to highlight the models in the show.
'Slightly tacky, but I appreciate the effort.' She thought, shrugging.
The guest list was full of celebrities, school friends and close family friends, which made for a bizarre mix of personalities. However the night was fun and she'd stayed up very late after the fashion show, dancing. She should have been insulted with the way all the runway models had dyed their hair bright blue, but the alcohol she'd consumed had dulled her anger. Thanking her half-Saiyan genetics, Bra was glad she didn't have a hangover.
Her musings were interrupted as she felt a sliver of impatience come from her father. She stretched forward and cracked her back. It was time to get to the Gravity Room.
-.-
Bra reached the door to the room which her father currently occupied and peered through the glass window. There he was, her father, the strongest man in the world. Smirking playfully Bra reached for the entrance panel, saw he was training in four hundred times the Earth's gravity, and promptly switched the machine off. The reaction wasn't what she was expecting. He barely rose a few centimetres and then turned to her with a glare.
'Sooo not fun.' she winced as she imagined the reaction she wanted; her father speeding headfirst into the ceiling and breaking the Gravity Machine for a time until her mother could fix it. Of course, he was too powerful to fall for such a trick. She felt amusement sharply in her mind and realised she had accidentally shared the thought with her father. 'Oops!'
With a hiss, the door slid open and her father stepped out, "You're late brat," he grunted.
Bra raised her eyebrows and widened her eyes, "Can we go out shopping instead?"
Vegeta narrowed his eyes and spat, "No." With that he spun on his heel and entered the room, leaving the door open in an unspoken invitation.
Bra sighed, this was going to get dirty.
Not a moment after the door had closed her father turned in her direction and threw a well-aimed energy blast at her chest. Jumping into the air and hovering well above blast zone, Bra was able to dodge the attack.
"Now try to hit me." He goaded.
Narrowing her eyes Bra jumped forward and attacked. For the next twenty minutes Bra was zigzagging through the air and returning her father's gesture – in kind. Their routine had become almost repetitive and she found that her moves became an automatic, well-tuned response. She was taking more hits than usual this morning, and her jumpsuit was mostly ruined.
'After all these years, you'd think I would be able to hit him by surprise, just once!' was the remark running through Bra's mind as she raised her power levels greatly. Yet, it was these moments she cherished most. Any time with her father was a good time, even if she ended up bloodied and exhausted.
Bra could feel each muscle spasm and tighten as her blood raced through her veins. A low growl escaped her throat as her sequence of moves became faster and more powerful. She reached Super Saiyan level, her father copying her actions.
Both fighters acquired aquamarine eyes, golden hair and a bright golden aura and they fought viciously; throwing energy blasts, kicking, blocking, punching and jabbing. This was the ancient ritual of the Saiyans and it was this daily ritual with her father which ignited the fire in Bra's blood. Bra pushed herself to her limits. Her father came close enough to punch and she ducked his attack and twirled to kick him in the spine.
"I got you!" Bra grinned brightly, her body tingling with excitement. She pumped her fist into the air.
Vegeta, the Prince of all Saiyans, was not finished. With a particularly sneaky energy blast, the match was won and Bra found herself inside a large crater in the wall. Moving almost instantly across the room, Vegeta wrapped his hand around his daughter's throat, forcing her to power down.
"Hitting your opponent once does not mean he is defeated. Don't be so stupid again." She felt disappointment through the mental bond she shared with her father.
Bra groaned, nodding and pulled herself from the wall. "Okay Daddy."
He powered down and released her throat, "You must block to your lower right. Your skills are left lacking. If you do not, it leaves you open to attack. Brat." He added the last word with a devilish smirk.
Bra nodded and touched his mind with hers, letting him know that she understood. "I'm going for breakfast, do you want anything?"
Vegeta shook his head, "I ate earlier." He turned from her to start stretching his muscles and begin another training routine. Bra nodded at his back and left.
-.-
Freshly showered and changed, Bra sat at the kitchen table eating and watched the kitchen bots moving around, preparing food. One of the automated servants carried a tray in her direction, filled with breads, jams, fruit and meat of all sorts. Capsule Corp was full of these bots, which did most of the cleaning, cooking and household chores. Some people, like her Aunt Chi-Chi, would say that it was lazy to have so many machines do all the work, but Bra thought that they were a smart decision. It meant more time to do the things she loved. Crunching on a piece of bacon, Bra looked up when her mother entered the room.
Her mother smiled and came forward to steal a piece of toast. Bra frowned at that, but didn't say anything. She watched as her mother munched happily and when finished, dusted the crumbs off of her white lab coat.
"Do you want to help me work today Bra? You can check out my newest invention. It's a new hover craft designed to hold up to twenty people. I'm trying to upgrade the speed and a helpful hand would be very much appreciated." Her mother wiggled her eyebrows and smiled widely.
Bra sighed, 'I should have gone out for breakfast.'
While she was smart enough to have graduated early, Bra wasn't as all-consumed with inventing as her mother. She was good at it and she enjoyed programming and engineering, but she would rather go out and have fun with her friends than stay at home all day in the lab.
"I'd planned to do some shopping, so I can only stay for half an hour." She replied reluctantly.
Her mother grinned, "Okay, come with me." Bulma turned towards the doorway and strode off.
"Wait, can't I finish breakfast first?" Bra yelled at her mother's back.
Her mother paused and turned her head, smirking. "Judging by those plates on the table you've already eaten a serving big enough for five people. Come on, you glutton!"
Bra huffed, looking at the kitchen bot at her side, "You are useless, clean these plates up!"
-.-
The clicking of Bulma's stilettos echoed off the walls of the hallway as the two walked towards the lab. Bra's bare feet made no sound as she followed silently behind the woman she so much resembled. The two shared very similar appearances, pretty faces, unique aquamarine hair and the same curvaceous body, for which her mother was known quite well. At this moment all Bra could think was of how she was constantly compared to her mother. Though they were similar in outward appearances Bra felt she was in a way, superior to her own mother. Gifted with intelligence, beauty and super human strength does that to a person.
Whilst Bulma was lost in some world of mathematic formulas, Bra was cursing her mother, 'Why, oh why did she have to wear those heals? I swear sometimes she does it just to irritate my sensitive hearing.' And the click-clacking seemed to get louder as they slowly became closer to Bulma's lab. As Bulma made small growling sounds in her throat, obviously as some reaction to what she was thinking, Bra's senses honed in on Bulma.
The sound of her mother's movement seemed incredibly loud. Her clicking shoes first and foremost, her silent muttering and grunting in relation to her thoughts, the grating of the coat against her shirt, her hair swishing back and forth and her bones creaking as she moved different parts of her body. Without having to concentrate, she could even hear her mother's heart pumping blood and her muscles stretching with each step she made.
Her Saiyan heritage allowed her almost complete control over the workings of her body. Her father had such perfect control that he was mostly silent, even to her ears at times. Bra was sad to think that her mother's senses were so dulled. Without her intelligence, she'd be practically useless.
'You're so weak…' She was worried at the thought. It would be too easy for someone to kill her. Her mother may be physically weak, but she was greatly loved by the people in her life, 'I'll protect you.' Bra promised to herself.
Coming to a slow stop at the entrance to her mother's lab, Bra stood in silence behind, waiting for instruction. Her mother turned to face her and smiled, "Now don't go telling anyone my codes, okay honey?"
Bra scoffed and flipped her hair over her shoulder, "Why would I do that?"
Bulma chuckled and turned back to the door. She waved her hand over the entrance panel, "Access code: Bulma B855884 alpha red."
The computer screen next to the door glowed green and in a digital voice replied, "Access granted."
Following her mother into the lab, Bra felt engulfed by technology. Bulma's private lab was a place for experimentation. It was the birth place of all ideas and inventions before they ever hit Capsule Corp Science Offices. The right side was cluttered with bots which had yet to be repaired. They had been destroyed by her father in the Gravity Room.
Bra followed her mother into the lab and her mother veered off to the left, sat at a computer and started typing away. "Come on over and look at this," she beckoned.
Bra ventured to the screen, where she marvelled at the blueprints. Her mother continued typing with one hand and used the other to gesture towards the back of the room, "There's a DynoCom back there with some algorithms I want you to look at."
Bra cast her eyes around the room, peering at many of the oddly shaped pieces of metal and benches loaded with equipment. She slowly made her way towards the back, past a half-built hover car, mechanical tools littered about and a large object covered by draping sheets before reaching the desk at the back of the room. She'd almost given in to the desire to levitate over everything to simply fly to the back of the room. She glimpsed backward to see her mother working hard, focussed entirely on the computer.
With little grin, Bra decided to investigate. She pulled a case of capsules from a shelf, swiftly reading their capsule numbers, 'Wow, I don't think I've ever seen a 3680 before.' Bra lifted the capsule and a few of its neighbours out of their places and stuffed them into her pocket, 'Mom won't miss 'em!'
After rifling through a few more capsule cases, Bra picked up an object which looked like a hair dryer. It was grey, with three buttons. There were no identifiable descriptions or instructions on the object, so she pressed the button closest to her finger. A loud bang made her jump and shriek, "Good Dende!"
Her mother jumped from her seat. A crinkle appeared between Bulma's brows as she regarded her with a slight frown, "Bra, put that down, it's not finished!"
Bra shrugged with a wince, "Sorry."
Bulma sighed, "Just get out the DynoCom from the drawer to your left. Can you do some comparative tests on the different formulas and results? The formulas are in there already, so once you put in the figures it should be fine. The figures are in the desk draw underneath." With that Bulma turned her back on her daughter and went back to her work.
Bra had done this work for her mother before. She was quick and efficient and didn't need instruction every five minutes, so she had been given this task many times. It was basically just re-running through test equations for the newest gadget or vehicle. It was nothing hard at all, but very time consuming.
So Bra sat down on the hard desk chair and picked up the DynoCom. The hand held computer was full of algorithms, as her mother had said, so she started to do her work. Checking and re-checking equations wasn't hard if you knew what to do, what equalled x and what x meant in accordance to y. Becoming entranced in her work, Bra whizzed through multiple equations. In fact, the time seemed to fly and before she knew it, Bra heard the beeping of the lab door as the lights dimmed.
Putting down her equipment, she ventured to the front of the lab. Looking to her mother's empty desk chair and the neatly stacked papers she could only assume that her mother had left for a break without telling her.
"What? She left! I can't believe she forgot me, that's so uncool." Bra let out a whine, "She better bring me back some lunch!"
So Bra patiently went back to her work, her half-Saiyan eyes adjusting to the darkened light. She'd completed her second DynoCom full of equations and gotten started on her third when her stomach growled. Checking her watch she was surprised to see that more than two hours had passed since her mother's disappearance. Growling with frustration she stalked to the lab door and waved her hand over the exit button to let her out.
"Access denied." That damned irritating electronic voice!
Bra sighed and waved her hand again, "Access code: Bulma B855884 alpha red."
"Speech recognition failed."
"I wish I could throttle you, you piece of no good junk!" was Bra's heated reply.
"Does not compute."
"AH! Stupid wall! You know what I'm saying! Let me out or I will be forced to eliminate you!" Bra turned a scary eye to the machine.
"Miss Brief, without the access code and correct voice reading, you are not allowed to exit the premises."
"Damn smart-aleck." She muttered back.
Bra pried open the access panel and fiddled around with the wires, hoping to open the door. After five minutes she gave up with a huff, everything she'd tried had not worked. She was reluctant to break the door down.
"I can't believe this has happened again!" Bra growled. She had been left and locked in the lab twice before today. The first time she was locked in had been a prank, Trunks and Goten luring her in with the promise of toys when she was a child. The second time was similar to today; her mother had brought her in to help, Bra had fallen asleep and then her mother had left, forgetting that her daughter was still in the room. Both times she had blasted the door off of the wall. Her mother was lenient the first time, but the second time she destroyed the door, she'd been made to repair it manually, and had been grounded for a month with her credit card confiscated for two months.
Bra wasn't pleased and didn't wish to repeat that experience. Later, after everything happened, Bra wondered why she didn't just send an email to her mother from the DynoCom to let her out.
So Bra ventured back to the capsule cases, found a 2031 and opened the capsule. A medium sized refrigerator popped up in front of her. She guzzled down the jerky, cheese and few cans of lemonade inside and decided to take a nap. She looked around the room.
'Which is the most comfortable chair?' she thought with curiosity.
Looking at the half-built hover car, Bra decided that the plastic seating just wasn't her thing and moved on to another object. The benches were covered in half-built junk, no good. Even her mother's computer chair was uncomfortable. The object covered in the draped sheet drew her attention. She pulled the sheet away and revealed a small white cylindrical machine just taller than her own height with a door cut into the side. She pulled the handle and saw inside the most luxurious and cushiony red seat.
'Hmm that looks a bit more comfy,' she weighed her options, 'roomy plastic chair or a small space and really nice chair?'
Bra grinned, "That's not really a hard decision."
Small and comfortable would have to do. So Bra squeezed into the machine and sat with a whoosh as the air left her lungs in a sigh. Wiggling to get into the right position, Bra saw the door she'd just entered swing closed. Furrowing her brow she wiggled a little more, and found her pants caught on something to the left of the chair.
Bra pulled her leg harder causing the material of her sweatpants to rip and she watched in fascination as the inside of the machine lit up with lights and knobs and swirly signs which hadn't been apparent before. She looked to the left of her chair and saw a leaver.
With growing dread, Bra heard the countdown.
"10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Mechanism activated" an electronic voice ringed out through the small compartment.
Bra's world started to shake.
The machine started to sputter.
"Enforce safety procedures. Malfunction detected. Enforce safety procedures." The electronic voice ringed yet again.
The whole world shook harder, with enough force to send Bra hard against the safety belt she'd hastily plugged in.
She was overcome in a bright light. So bright it blinded her vision.
'Oh Dende, what have I done?'
End Chapter
Author's note: Thank you for taking the time to read the first chapter of my story. I hope you enjoy it, and please don't hesitate to tell me what you think about it. If you liked what you've read and are interested, I am looking for a Beta Reader. Thankyou.