CHAPTER ONE
Lydia sighed into the cold air. A stream of white breath covered her face for a second then disappeared. She stuffed her hands into the pockets of her black pants to try and keep warm. When she had left a few months ago it had been warm outside. So in her rush she had no time to pack
As she walked through the snowy streets of West city she mentally kicked herself for not grabbing a jacket in her fray a few months back. She passed by a bakery and sped up her pace. It had been two days since she had found anything to eat. Lydia spotted a bench and plopped down. She lowered her head backwards so that her now long curly red hair fell over the back of the bench. Lydia spotted a HELP WANTED sign in the window behind her and raised an eyebrow in thought. If only she could get a job. She could settle into an apartment and maybe even enroll into school again. She sat up with a determined face.
"No", she said. "Too much is depending on me, I have to keep going." She stood up and continued to walk down the side walk. Her blue eyes were full of ambition.
Lydia came to a corner and waited for the WALK sign to blink on. There was a pretty woman next to her. She had short blue green hair and was talking on a cell phone.
"Ten.", she said firmly. There was a short pause.
"Trunks, I've told you before. Your curfew is Ten! I don't care who this girl is, Ten. Okay fine, Ten thirty."
A man ran past her quickly while she was arguing and snatched the red hand bag she had on her arm.
"Hey!", "That man stole my purse."
Before she even finished the sentence Lydia was running after him. She caught up behind him and jumped. She had tackled him around the waist and he came crashing down.
"What the hell!", he yelled. "Your just a little bitch!"
He scrambled to his feet and looked confusedly into his imposer's face. Lydia took this opportunity to kick the bag out of his hand and catch it. The swung her foot around to meet the man's face.
"Well, this bitch just kicked your ass. Oh wait...my mistake...that was your face."
The man looked like he was about to retaliate but decided against it due to the large amount of people who had gathered around them. With a curse he took off. Lydia gave a sigh of relief as she examined the woman's purse. It wasn't damaged by her kick. She turned around and spotted the woman.
"I think this is yours."
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Bulma hung her jacket and purse on the hat rack as she stepped into her house. The young girl who had saved her purse followed. On her oval face was a pure look of awe. She could have given this girl anything she asked for as a reward for her bravery, but all the girl asked for was a meal. She had taken her to a noodle stand and watched the red head inhaul six bowls of romen. In many ways this girl reminded her of Goku. Bulma had insisted that Lydia come and stay with them. But she had turned her down. She said that she could not stay in one place for too long. Bulma had asked her many questions regarding this, but the girl would just change the subject. So Bulma convinced her to stay the night at least, and she had agreed.
"I'll show you to a guest bedroom and you can take a shower." They came to a stop on the third floor. She walked her into a shower room and showed Lydia the controls. After she had gotten in ,Bulma took her stinky cloths and dumped them into a washing machine.
When she got out of the shower her pile of cloths were gone and in their place was a folded stack of new ones. Lydia smiled and began to pull them on. 8
Trunks ran through the door into the living room. He spotted his father. ,"Dad!...Mom's in trou!...Phone!...I heard a scream!" "What?, oh I forgot to turn off my cell phone." Bulma said as she walked into the room. She calmly picked it up from the table and switched it off. Trunks stared at her with his jaw dropped. "Your...Okay?", he said slowly. "Yes.", she said as she sat down next to Vegeta. "Can someone please explain this to me?", Trunks said in puzzlement. Bulma told him everything.
"So this random girl caught your purse snatcher?", Trunks asked in awe. "That's right.", Bulma said cheerily.
Lydia examined herself slowly in the mirror. She now wore a pair of shiny black boots, a warm purple sweater, over a finely woven pair of black stretch pants. Out side her window was a very loud clash of thunder along with the sound of a hard rain.
A voice came in over an intercom by the door. Surprised, Lydia immediately went into a martial defense pose. "Lydia?", came Bulma's voice from the speaker. "Were going to have dinner in the dinning room. It's down the hall on the third level. Come and join us." Before Lydia had even considered rejecting the invitation; the speaker went off with a click. "I guess I have no choice", Lydia said happily. She walked down to the elevator and eventually came to the dinning room.
The door slid open when she pressed the button and revealed a small table with four people positioned casually around it. One was a dark hair man who looked about thirty. He had an unchanging stern look on his face that somehow seemed false. Next to him was Bulma who waved Lydia over when she walked in. On the opposite side of the table was a pretty little girl who motioned happily to her to sit in the vacant seat to her left. To her right was a positively gorgeous teen who gaped at Lydia. Lydia blushed when she realized that he was shocked by her beauty. It had been a long time since Lydia was ever able to think of such trivial things as vanity. She sat down in her seat and found herself facing the stern face man.
Bulma stood up and motioned to Lydia. "Everyone, this is Lydia, My hero.", "Lydia.", Bulma continued. "This is my hubby Vegeta, my daughter bra, and the star struck boy is my son trunks." With this the boy caught himself and pretended to cover up his mistake by coughing. "Its nice to meet all of you.", Lydia said.
"So your homeless hu?",
"Vegeta!", Bulma yelled.
"No, its okay.", Lydia said. "Yes, I guess you could say I'm homeless, but I'd say I'm more of a drifter."
"You mean a prostitute."
At this Trunks spewed his drink across the table and began to cough. Lydia would have choked too, but had nothing to choke on; so her thought settled for a squeal instead.
"No!!!", Lydia said. "I just...Drift. I mean I wonder around...no, you know what I mean!"
Bulma stood up and yelled,"Vegeta! Your being ru-",
Her sentence was cut off when all of lights went out.
"The electricity must have gone out.",, Trunks said. "I'll just make an energy ball and-- aghhhhh!",
A swishing sound was heard and then a crash as the table shook. Lydia was ready as soon as she heard him yell. She swung around and grabbed a black shrouded hand just as it was reaching for her neck. She hoisted the body over her head and into the wall opposite her. Suddenly a ball of light illuminated the room as it hovered above Vegeta's hand. the small glow revealed that the wall and ceiling were covered in the black shrouded beings with the glowing gray eyes.
Lydia got into her attack position, ready to fight when a deep voice stopped her.
"Now Lydia, there's no need for that. I find negotiation more convenient at this time."
Suddenly one of the shrouded beings grabbed Bra and carried her up the wall. "Daddy!", she yelled.
"Sake, let her go!", Lydia yelled. "This has nothing to do with her."
"Oh don't worry.", came the bone chilling voice. "I won't harm her...if conditions are met."
"What conditions?", Lydia asked, already knowing the answer.
"Now Lydia dear. This has been a very fun chase, but me and my crew are growing rather weary. So, I will leave these four people unharmed if you surrender yourself to me peacefully... Fair?"
"Hardly.", Lydia snapped. But she had no choice. "Fine." she said. But I will never cooperate.
"I am quite aware of that.", Sake said playfully. So I thought I would bring along a little persuasion." , he motioned towards the unconscious Trunks who was being carried away by shrouds.
"No!", Lydia yelled but then gasped as Vegeta grabbed Bra and quickly saved Trunks in what seemed to be an effortless bound. Sake hissed at this. He seemed to hesitate and then realized that he had lost the upper hand. he was gone almost instantly.