Over the course of the next two weeks,
activities boiled down to a dull
roar--which meant business as usual.
When Bulma first brought back the
seven pods, she was rarely seen in within
the confines of Capsule
Corp--unless you were down in the bowels
of the building, where the
research labs were housed. Within
the silent walls of steel and among precision
machinery, there was housed some of the
most advanced scientific
discoveries created by the best of the best--which
usually meant Bulma
herself.
But she did call in a crew of research
technicians to help her with
this project. The purple-haired genius
knew her limits and was not afraid
to ask for help. Inventing was her
forte`--not genetics.
Word got out to their circle of friends
about Bulma's new
discovery, and they all satisfied their
curiosity at one point, coming to
nose around the pods. Bulma patiently
answered their questions to the
best of her ability. She didn't know
much about them, but as she and her
crew studied the live and the dead pods,
small pieces of the immensely
complex puzzle formed, giving them tiny
bits of insight into what the
creatures were that housed themselves in
the pods.
This particular evening, two weeks
after the initial discovery, Bulma
had emerged from the darkness of the labs,
purple hair disarrayed, and a
wild look glinting in her eyes. She
ran into the kitchen, head turning frantically,
before she vacated the empty room.
Her next destination was outside,
and she burst into the gravity room just
as her mate and husband was
turning it off.
She moved quickly to him, pulling on his arm. "Vejiita! Come quick!"
The Saiya-jiin no Ouji growled at his
mate. What do you want,
Onna? You know I will not be disturbed
during my training!" He pulled his
arm easily from her grasp.
She growled back and reattached herself
to his arm. "There's no
time for arguing, Vejiita...you need to
come with me!"
He physically picked her up and deposited
her none too gently
outside. "I'll go when and when I
want to, Onna. Leave me alone." He
turned around and was about to close the
door.
Bulma let out a high pitched noise
in frustration and pounded the
ground with her fists. "Vejiita!
It's the pods! I think they're gonna open
up!"
He stopped mid-swing, and stared at her. "What did you say?"
"The pods are going to open up."
"Are you positive they are opening?"
He peered at her through
half-open eyes, not believing her.
She stood and glared at him before
going back inside. "I don't have
time for this, Vejiita! I wanted you
to be there to run interference--in
case something nasty comes out. But
I guess you're too busy to protect
your family! I'll go call Gohan-kun.
He'll come and.."
Bulma stopped ranting when she felt
Vejiita breeze by her. She
felt his iron grip on her hand and was literally
pulled inside and down the
many halls. "Do not try to coerce
me into doing what you want. It will not
work." He quickly made his way down
the corridors until he came to a
closed steel door.
Bulma smirked at him and punched in
her security code, opening the
thick doors. "That's what you think,
Otoko." She walked in and made her
way through several rooms before coming
to another steel security door.
"This just better not be another of
your false alarms, Onna. I don't
have time to play with your pet projects."
He crossed his arms and glared
at her. "Get Trunks to play with his
ki for you."
"Baka," she punched in the last
security code and the doors open
silently. A breath of air pushed by
them as they entered the secret labs.
Many technicians in white coats were busily
running around, trying to cope
with the new developments of the pods.
"He's down here already. I
wouldn't have interrupted your 'precious
training' if it wasn't important.
The last dead pod disintegrated this morning,
and I had Trunks take care
of it. But when we were done, one
of the live ones started flashing."
"Hn. They've flashed before.
They just turned out to be false
alarms, like the last three times you dragged
me out of the gravity room
and down here."
She rolled her eyes. "I know,
I know. But I'm not crying wolf here.
It's different."
She pushed open a set of swinging doors
to reveal a group of
white-coated technicians surrounding a table.
Trunks stood in a corner,
looking rather bored. He nodded to
his parents. "Nothing's happened yet,
'Kaasan."
At Trunks words, the technicians parted
like the Red Sea, leaving
one white-coated male. "Bulma-san!
You're back!" Vejiita scowled slightly
at the male who was acting rather familiar
with his mate.
She nodded and moved close, studying
the pod. Vejiita was glued to
her side, giving the males that dared come
close to her scalding glares.
"Hai, Tashi-san. Any changes?"
Tashi shook his head. "Iie, Bulma-san."
He indicated to the pod on
the table. It was emitting a soft
light, that pulsed rhythmically. She
placed a hand on the shell, and could feel
a soothing warmth that seeped
though the leathery material.
Vejiita glanced at the flashing pod,
and wrinkled his nose, smelling
the last vestiges of the last expired pod.
"It looks the same as before,
Onna. It is another false alarm."
Bulma glanced at Tashi. "Which one is this?"
He looked at a chart. "Number
3, Bulma-san." He handed her the
papers.
She glanced through them, noting the
specifics. Her face pulled
into a frown. "It's hull temperature
is up nine degrees, and the pulsing is
at fifty beats per minute." She handed
the chart back to Tashi, glancing
at Vejiita. "Ki?"
He nodded, staring at the pulsing pod.
"It has risen some, but it is
no where near being a threat." Trunks
nodded in agreement.
He moved from the wall and joined his
parents. "Do you think it's
going to hatch? The pods have pulsed
before." He crossed his arms and
frowned slightly, not liking the new events
that were unfolding.
"I don't know, Trunks. We'll
just have to see." She gave him a small
reassuring smile. At least she tried,
for she felt the same apprehension as
her son.
He nodded slowly and let out a grunt.
"Should we have a guard on
it? In case it hatches tonight?"
He glanced at his parents, who were
giving him funny looks. "Nani?"
Bulma shrugged her shoulders and smiled.
"Nothing, Trunks." She
quirked an eyebrow. "Are you volunteering?"
He glanced back at the pulsing light.
"It doesn't matter to me. I
just suggested it--better to be safe than
sorry."
At that moment, a small bundle of blanket
and teddy opened the
swinging doors and attached herself to Vejiita's
leg. "Papa, you said you
were going to tuck me in and tell me a story!"
Bra blinked her large blue
eyes. "I was waiting but you never
came."
Bulma knelt down and opened her arms,
and Bra willingly ran into
them. She held her daughter close,
and giving her a peck on the cheek, stood up.
"Sorry, Bra-chan. I pulled Papa
away to look at the pods."
The small female Saiya-jiin glanced
at the immobile blinking form on
the table. "It's going to wake up
soon, Mama?"
Bulma shrugged her shoulders.
"I don't know, Bra-chan. That's why
I called your Papa down here."
Bra nodded, and leaned forward, toward
the pod. She put her hand
on the smooth surface, stroking it like
a pet. "It's really warm." She
stopped petting the husk, letting her palm
rest on the center of the pod,
where it's heart would lie. To everyone's
amazement in the room, a faint
blue light began to outline her hand, and
in response to Bra, the light in
the pod started to pulse faster, gravitating
toward Bra's small hand. But
as sudden as it developed, it ended, and
Bra pulled her hand away and
smiled slightly.
Bulma gasped and pulled her daughter
away from the pod, which
slowed down the blinking once more, resuming
the pace it had set before.
"What did you do, Bra?"
She blinked at her mother and grinned. "I talked to him."
"You talked to 'Him'?" Trunks
gasped, staring wide at his sister.
"How?"
Vejiita grunted. "She used her
ki, gaki." He reached for her, and
Bra went into her father's embrace willingly,
wrapping her small arms
around his corded neck. She buried
her face in his shoulder, letting out a
small sigh of contentment.
"Gonna tell me a story, Papa?
You promised." The small Saiya-jiin
yawned wide and curled tighter in her father's
arms.
The Dark Prince grunted and turned
around. "The security cameras
can watch the pod, Trunks. If you
want, you can." He glanced at Bulma
before he left. "It's time to start
training her."
She sighed and nodded. "If she
wants to. But don't push her too
hard if she's not ready."
He let out a snort. "Don't tell
me how to train my own brats, Onna.
I did fine with the first one."
Trunks smirked. "Yeah, but are
you going to drop her off a cliff to
teach her to fly, 'Tousan?"
Vejiita ignored his first and focused
on his second when she pulled
on his hair. "Story, Papa...tell story."
she murmured sleepily. He grunted
and left the lab.
Bulma rolled her eyes and turned to
Trunks. "She has him wrapped
around her little finger, doesn't she?"
The purple haired male smirked and
nodded. "Yup. She is definitely
a Papa's girl." He gave the pod one
last glance. "I'll come back after
awhile. How long are you going to
be in here tonight, 'Kaasan?"
She glanced at Tashi, who had been
silent during the family
discussion. "For a little while. I
want to run some more tests on the other
three pods; see if they are doing anything
as well."
He nodded and with a wave, left the room as well.
Bulma turned back to her helpers, who
were waiting patiently for
her orders. "Let's get a new set of
readings on all four pods. I want to
see the exact numbers on their vitals.
Hopefully, we'll be prepared when
they actually do hatch from their--whatever
they are. Haven't we figured
that out yet?"
Tashi grinned slightly and shook his
head. "Not yet, Bulma-san. We
have some theories, but nothing is proven
positive."
She sighed and pulled up a stool, sitting
next to the still pulsing pod 3. "Who
are you? What are you? When
are you going to present yourself to us?" she
ran a finger along the smooth surface.
"According to Bra, you're male. But why
the elongated spine? Do you have a
tail? And why the extra vertebrae in the back?"
She sighed again, murmuring to herself.
"So many unanswered questions. But do I
actually want them answered?"
****************
~~*Sub-Basement labs, After Midnight*~~
The steady hum of the running scanners
was the only noise that
echoed in the still silence of the usually
bustling laboratory. A soft light
lit the control panels, showing their ever-continued
vigilance on their
unmoving charges. But the light that
illuminated the room was not from a
man-made source. Pod 3 still pulsed,
the 'natural' light steadily flickering
out its own rhythm.
But now, as it sat alone in the room,
its only company being the
mechanical watchdogs that were attached
to its smooth hull, pod 3 began
to change.
A fine, hairline fracture started at
the apex of the elliptical casing.
It began its journey down the hull, moving
in a straight, unbroken line until
it reached the base, effectively creating
two hemispheres. As the crack
began to widen, the soft light that once
illuminated the room began to get
stronger, increasing in intensity as the
fission became wider.
Soon, a loud cracking sound shot through
the room, and the sensors
and cameras caught and recorded the once
whole pod became two halves.
The searing light filled the room, and the
steady pulsing from before
became strong and hurried. A high-pitched
squeal was recorded in the
logs as the blinking finally became one
full stream, touching every corner of the
empty lab.
Slowly the light faded, leaving the
now cracked-open pod in complete
darkness, and the steady hum of the watchdog
sensors and machines was
the only sound that filled the laboratory
once again.
**************
~~*Capsule Coproration, The Next Morning*~~
The bright morning sunshine shone cheerily
through the large bay
windows in the dining room, casting her
warming rays upon the inhabitants
of the building.
Trunks was the first at the table,
and when he sat down in his
customary spot, he plunked down a large
stack of books next to his plate.
He pulled out a notebook, and as he shoveled
the morning's nourishment
into his mouth, he looked through the pages
of notes.
Bulma poured him a cup of orange juice,
and helped herself to a
piece of his notes as she sat down next
to him. "Test today, Trunks?" She
wrinkled her nose as she saw what he was
studying. "Ugh, Mythology. One
of my most dreaded subjects in school."
She quickly handed him back the
paper, treating it as a dangerous toxin.
Trunks smirked as he glanced at the
paper. "Hai. Mythology is kind
of a drag, but it's rather neat to see how
some of the old legends were
created. Some of the creatures from
Greek, Norse, and Roman times
were pretty fantastical. As were the
imaginations of the people that
created them."
Vejiita entered the dining room and
sat down in his customary huff.
He glanced at the stack of books on the
table and snorted. He began to
pile large quantities of food on his plate.
"Vejiita-sei had few creatures of
fancy and folklore. There were the
gods of War, Destruction, and Death."
He ate for a bit and continued, after swallowing.
"And of course the
Legend of the Super Saiya-jiin."
Bulma scrunched up her nose.
"Of course, Vejiita. What a pleasant
topic for the breakfast table. Do
continue." She snorted right back at
him when he gave her a dirty look.
Bra entered the room, a thoughtful
look on her face. She glanced
out in the hall a few times before sitting
down in her customary place next
to her father. "Ohaiyo, Papa, Mama,
Trunks-oniichan."
Bulma gave her youngest a smile and
filled her plate for her. "You
look tired this morning, Bra-chan.
Did you not sleep well?"
She stared down at her plate, not really
looking at its contents. "I
slept okay, Mama." She blinked a few
times and turned to her father.
"Papa, can people have wings?"
He grunted at her, not looking up from his plate.
Bulma rolled her eyes at her husband.
"Why do you ask that,
Bra-chan?"
Bra's thin eyebrows knitted together
in concentration. "I had a
dream last night about people that had wings.
Pretty wings like butterflies
and dragonflies, and birds. Lots of
colors. Some were really big, and some
were really tiny, like the size of a leaf."
Bra used her hands to
demonstrate the sizes. She really
started to get into her storytelling.
"But there were some also my size, too.
Some had tails and others didn't.
A lot of them had antennae like Piccolo-san,
and pointy ears. They were
really friendly and they wanted to play
with me and sing and dance. We
were running around in a forest with lots
of trees. Pan-chan was there
too, but she kept running away from a man
that had feet like a horse and
horns on his head. It was so real--it
didn't seem like a dream." She smiled
slightly at her mother and began to eat
her food.
Trunks snorted, glancing up from his
notes. "What story did Papa
tell you before you went to bed?"
Bra scowled slightly at her brother.
"Stop teasing me, Oniichan." He
shrugged and turned back to his notes.
"Well, that sounds like a very fun
dream, Bra-chan," Bulma gave her
youngest a smile. "You have a very
good imagination."
Bra blinked a few times, her face serious.
"I didn't imagine it, Mama. I was there, in
the woods, playing with the people with
wings." She glanced over her
shoulder. "I know it was real."
Vejiita glanced up from his food, a
small frown on his face. She
really did think that her dream was real.
"People can not have wings, brat.
You were dreaming."
Bra shook her head vehemently.
"No, Papa! I was there! In the
forest! And it had to be real.
I saw one of the people this morning!" She
pointed behind her, to the entranceway.
Trunks frowned. "You were sleepwalking,
B-chan. People can't have
wings." He blinked and pulled out
a large book from his pile. He opened it
and flipped through the large volume until
he came to what he needed.
"Did your dream have people that looked
like this?"
The book was opened to a two page spread
of a scene where a large
number of mystical creatures: fairies,
elves, nymphs, satyrs, and other
assorted fae were dancing and partying in
a large forest setting. A lot of
the creatures had wings, and some were aloft
in the air, doing intricate
dances with the winds.
Bra pulled the book closer, excited.
"Hai!" She pointed out specific
fae. "There were a lot of these, and
a couple of those. This kind was the
one chasing Pan-chan around," she
pointed to a male satyr, playing a small
wooden flute. "And this kind is an
elf."
Trunks glanced at his mother, surprise
written on both of their
faces. "How did you know that, B-chan?"
She smiled at the book, running her
fingers over the
two-dimensional creatures that frolicked
on the pages. "Because I asked
one of them what he was, and he said an
elf. He was really nice to me and
we talked about a lot of things. He
used some of his magic on me and he
turned me into an elf too! I had really
pretty purple and green wings like a
butterfly, and my tail grew back!
He seemed really surprised at my tail,
though. I don't think he knew I was
Saiya-jiin." She glanced up, and saw
that her family was staring at her.
Vejiita scowled. He didn't like the
sound of what she was saying. It was
too vivid and realistic to her to be just
a dream. He blinked as he
remembered the last comment she made to
him. "What did you say, Bra?
You saw one? Here?"
She nodded. "Hai, Papa.
When I woke up, the elf that I talked to
was in my room." She frowned, thinking
about her visitor. "He looked
really scared, though. Really confused.
I don't think he likes it here. He
was much happier in the woods." Bra
turned her attention back down at
the book.
Vejiita growled. "What are those creatures, Trunks?"
The purple haired Saiya-jiin glanced
at the book. "Those are
faeries, Papa. Mythological creatures
of magic. The legends that
surround them were created from the unexplainable
in nature, their
protectorate. There are different
types of fae for the different types of
nature: mountains, valleys, oceans,
lakes and streams, forests, meadows,
etc. They were believed to also bless
children when they were born with
luck, or health, or long life. But
some were labeled as tricksters, too. A
few kinds decided that their only pleasure
in life was to make the humans
that lived near them as miserable as possible.
Most were just fun and
games, but some could get nasty. Especially
if their homes were harmed."
He shrugged. "But they're all tales--figments
of imagination and drunken
states and shadows. They are the reason
of the creation of the term
'fairy tales'."
Bulma stared at him, an eyebrow raised
in surprise. "I think you're
ready for your test today, Trunks."
"You know me and school, Mama," he just shrugged modestly.
Vejiita snorted and crossed his arms.
"It seems to be just fanciful
fluff. A little girl's dream."
His eyes wavered toward Bra pointedly. She
just scowled and flipped the page in the
mythology book. He returned his
black eyes to his oldest. "When was
the last time you checked on the
pod?" Bulma stared at him, the pod
forgotten in the morning's events.
Trunks blinked a few times, startled
by the topic switch. "Around
midnight."
"What happened to 'guard duty?'" Bulma threw him a teasing smile.
"Well, I wanted to, but then I remembered
the Mythology test for
today and I wanted to look over the notes
I borrowed from Mariko-chan.
Then I fell asleep." He blushed slightly,
his hand rubbing his neck in
embarrassment.
Bra giggled slightly, pointing her
blue eyes at her older brother.
"Who's Mariko-chan, Oniichan?"
Trunks' cheeks flushed pink.
"None of your business, brat." He
scowled and gathered up his belongings.
"I have to go. Goten-kun wanted
to look over Mariko-SAN's notes as well."
Bulma chuckled and put her hand on
his arm. "You have plenty of
time, Trunks! Now sit and tell me
all about Mariko-chan. Is she pretty?
Are you going to make me a grandmother soon?"
Trunks gaped at his mother, his face
turning purple in
embarrassment. "Okaasan! Shimatta!"
He threw her a glare and bolted
out of the room.
The older female sighed and stared
into her coffee cup. "That boy
gets embarrassed so easily."
Bra giggled and asked again. "Who's Mariko-chan, Mama?"
Vejiita pushed away from the table. "I'll be in the gravity room."
As he was leaving the room, someone
ran into him. "Bulma-san,
Bulma-san!"
The Saiya-jiin no Ouji rumbled out
a growl. "I am not the Onna,
human."
"I'm over here, Tashi-san. What's
up?" She waved at her lead
technician from the table.
Tashi backed away from Vejiita, bowing
as he moved away. "Gomen nasai,
Vejiita-san." He rushed over to Bulma.
"Come quick, Bulma-san!"
The purple-haired genius gave him an odd glance. "What's wrong?"
"The pod! The pod!"
Bulma threw Vejiita a questioning glance
and he nodded. She stood
and wiped her mouth. "Tell us as we
go, Tashi-san."
Tashi led the way, explaining what happened
they moved through the
corridors at a fast clip. "When I
arrived this morning, I went directly to
pod 3's room, to check on it. But,"
they paused at the steel doors and
Tashi entered his clearance codes, opening
the security entrance.
They continued down the hallways.
"But when I went in there, it
was gone!"
"Gone?"
He nodded. "Well, part of it.
The outside hull was there, but the
creature inside was gone."
The trio entered the lab that housed
pod 3. Several technicians
clustered around the main table, whispering
and arguing to themselves.
Tashi cleared his throat, and when they
saw who was here, they scattered.
letting the Mistress of CC examine the new
findings.
Bulma and Vejiita moved to stand next
to the table. What they
found there made the female suck in a breath.
The hull of the pod was
indeed still there--it was split in two
like a husk. But it was empty.
Nothing rested within the slimy walls.
Bulma poked a finger inside, touching
the shiny liquid. She peered at it in
distaste. "Get a specimen jar."
When she was handed the container, she
used a handy spatula and scooped a sample
of the mucous into it. She
handed it to one of the technicians.
"Analyze this. See if it's what I think
it is."
Tashi held up the jar containing the
pale, viscous fluid. "Embryonic
fluid?"
She nodded, cleaning her hands in a
towel. "Hai, or something close
to it. I don't think the pods are
eggs, but I'll bet the liquid has some
nutritional value to whatever was inside."
She peered back into the pod
wrinkling her face at the mess. She
glanced at her mate, who was looking
closely at the door frame. "What are
you doing, Vejiita?"
He let out a grunt of dissatisfaction.
He bent lower to the ground.
"I'm trying to see where it escaped, Onna."
He stood and studied the rest
of the room, frowning. "There is no
sign of a forced exit, anywhere."
Tashi cleared his throat. "Well,
there was a little. We found a
small table knocked over, and the items
that rested on it were strewn all
over the floor. We just picked
it up." He glanced between the mated
pair. "Was that wrong?"
Bulma shook her head. "Iie, that's
fine, Tashi-san." She glanced at
the pod again. A slow look of realization
crossed her face. "What about
the other three pods? Is there any
activity?" Vejiita let out a mumbled
curse and vanished from the room.
Tashi shook his head, his eyes widening
in slight horror. "We
haven't had a chance to look in on the others,
Bulma-san. It's been rather
hectic."
Vejiita came back into the room, a
deep scowl darkening his
features. "Well, you better check
on them, human. Two of the pods'
temperature have increased dramatically."
Tashi let out a small gasp and rushed
out of the room, several
assistant following in his footsteps.
He came back a few minutes later
with his hands full of papers. "Pod
1 has almost reached the same
temperature as Pod 3 did, and Pod 4 is getting
close." He handed the
results to Bulma.
She gave them a quick look-over and
glanced sharply at Tashi.
"They're going to start blinking soon, ne?"
He nodded, his eyes locked on the papers
in Bulma's hands. "Hai.
Pod 1 will start pulsing tonight, and Pod
4 soon after that, if they follow
the same pattern as the first one."
He looked up, locking eyes with his
boss.
She nodded. "Make sure someone
is with each pod at all times. Let
me know immediately if anything begins to
happen to any of the remaining
three pods."
"Hai, Bulma-san."
She glanced at Tashi and without a
answering remark, pulled Vejiita
out of the room by his arm.
Vejiita allowed himself to be led away.
"Where are you going,
Onna? Where are you taking me?"
The purple-haired female glanced at
her perturbed husband and
slid her hand into his. She gave it
a small squeeze. "We are going to find
out what actually happened." She stopped
in front of a steel door marked
in red letters--'Security.'
The male smirked. His mate was not just all beauty. "Cameras."
She nodded, opening the door.
"Hopefully, they caught our guest waking up
and leaving the room."
How's that? Ya got some info
in there...is it enough to tie ya over? *grin* So the pod opened
up...and the guest inside is now roaming around CC...hehehe...Let me know
what you think of the chapter...And what you think was in the pod..you
might guess right, but I'm not tellin...
Gie-chan.
