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Bring Me To Life
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The Briefs house, West City…
"Tien!" Hollered Bulma, as she stood in her front porch. Bulma had her hair tied back under a bandanna, and was wearing a grungy set of work clothes. Upon seeing an airborne white streak approach her house, she raised her arms and waved. The streak seemed to pause hesitantly, which prompted Bulma to call out again. "Tien, I'm down here you idiot!"
Bulma smirked as the glow began descending, the familiar profile of Tenshinhan quickly becoming visible against the whiteness. After a moment, Tien landed at the far end of the yard and hurriedly began walking toward Bulma. "Bulma, you got my message?" He asked urgently.
Crossing her arms, and not paying much attention to whatever Tien was carrying, Bulma responded. "What's the matter, Tien? Almost forget where I live? Come on, it hasn't been that long since you've been here..." Noticing his stern expression, she quit teasing him. "Yeah, I got a message. Dad said he got a call from Chouzu. He said there was something important you needed to talk to us about."
"That's it?" Said Tien hoarsely. He was obviously in a hurry, and sounded like he had been for some time. "That's all he said?"
Still keeping her arms crossed, Bulma's expression soured slightly. "Well, it was Dad who took the message... You know how he is."
Finally reaching the building's doorstep, Tien stopped walking and glared down at Bulma. "Fine, I don't care... We have a situation here. Just call the others, and get me Vegeta."
"Vegie?" Asked Bulma curiously. "What on Earth would you need him for?"
Scowling, Tien lowed his head, gesturing to the limp Saiyan he held in his arms. "This."
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Inside...
"Erm... Just set her there on the couch, Tien," directed Doctor Briefs. The sudden arrival of a beat-up Saiyan to his house hadn't seemed to phase the old doctor. Almost as if such occurrences were not uncommon, or at least not noteworthy. "I'll go get some sedatives, from the kitchen. They may not work as well on a Saiyan, but they may help..." Without waiting for a response, the Doctor wandered into the other room.
"I don't even want to know why he keeps sedatives in the kitchen..." muttered Tien. Gently, he laid the Saiyan on the couch. She was still unconscious, but Tien didn't want to take any chances.
For a moment, the room was quiet, the only sounds being the Siayan's light breathing and the muted clatter of Bulma trying to get Vegeta's attention from halfway across the compound. Tien sighed, knowing the calm probably wouldn't last long.
Taking advantage of the moment, Tien gazed at the Saiyan he had just fought. Her body was heavily muscled, just like every Saiyan Tien had met. But unlike other Saiyans he'd seen, her skin was gaunt. Her whole body seemed unnaturally tight. In some spots, he could almost see the bones through the skin. Not sure exactly what that could mean, Tien tried to think about something else.
His attention was then drawn to the Saiyan's face. Her hair still swept forward, some of it falling in her face. With a scowl, Tien noted how contorted her expression seemed. Even while unconscious, her expression was a pained grimace. For a moment, Tien was forced to wonder if that was because of his earlier actions, or if something else was to blame.
Abruptly, Tien noticed something else about her face. Moving forward for a closer look, Tien brushed the hair from her face. Just as he had thought, there was a dark band running across her forehead. Looking closer, Tien discovered the band consisted of a lace-like arrangement of black splotches across her skin. Additionally, the band traveled down the side of her head, down her neck, and disappeared under he armor.
Any further investigation was cut off by the loud arrival of Vegeta and Bulma.
"...Told you, Woman, to take that damn siren out of my gravity room!"
Leading her husband into the room, Bulma replied in a tone that left little room for argument. "First off, Vegeta, it's my gravity room. I designed it, I built it, and I'm the one who rebuilds it every time you break it. You get to use it simply because I let you." Vegeta grumbled something under his breath, which Bulma ignored. "Second, that klaxon is the only way I can get your attention once you're in there. And yes, I know it hurts your ears," Bulma turned to face Vegeta, doing her best impression of his scowl, " but that's just too bad."
Vegeta, dressed in his still sweaty training gear, growled and looked towards Tien. "You. What is so blasted import it couldn't wait until I was done training?"
Tien stood up to his full height, and glared down at the arrogant fighter. "Simply put, Vegeta, you're not the last full-blooded Saiyan on the planet." Tien stepped aside, letting Vegeta see what was on the couch. "Not any more..."
Tien smiled inwardly at the astonished look on Vegeta's face. "What..." Vegeta took a tentative step forward, before regaining his composure and glaring up at Tien. "Who is she? And how--"
"I don't know," cut in Tien. "She crash landed earlier this morning. And she didn't speak any language I understand..." Tien trailed off, as Vegeta did his best to look only mildly interested in the unconscious Saiyan. Bulma, on the other hand, was eager to get her first close look at the girl.
"Something seems... Wrong with her." Bulma looked up at Tien. "And why's she unconscious? Did she attack you or something?"
Tien snorted. "Yeah. There's something wrong with her." Tien leveled his gaze at Vegeta. "She turned into an Oozaru, Vegeta. In broad daylight, without any artificial moon or anything. The moment she wakes up, she'll transform. And it doesn't look like she does it willingly..."
"Transform?!" Bulma nearly shrieked. "As soon as she wakes up? Why the hell did you bring her here, then?!"
"Don't worry, Bulma," said Tien, "I've already drained most of her life force. She should be unconscious for a long while. And your father is getting some sedatives just to make sure." Tien turned back toward Vegeta. "Well, 'your highness,' know of anything that would make one of your subjects do that?"
Vegeta looked at Tien with a frank expression on his face. "No... A Saiyan can never go Oozaru without an outside stimulus." Vegeta's voice trailed off. "It's impossible..."
Vegeta seemed slightly unnerved, and that was enough to unnerve Tien. "Yeah, well... I saw it happen. Right in front of me..."
The conversation was once again interrupted by Bulma, who was still looking at the Saiyan. "Hey Tien, what's this thing on the girl's forehead? Some kind of tattoo or something?"
Tien was about to respond, but Vegeta beat him to it. "Forehead?!" Glancing at the Saiyan prince, Tien noted that Vegeta's face had suddenly become quite pale. "Woman, what is on it's forehead?"
Bulma looked back at her husband nervously. "Um, it looks like a tattoo..."
Vegeta's voice was ragged. "What kind of tattoo?"
Bulma glanced at Vegeta, wondering why this seemed so important. "Um... It looks like a whole bunch of black dots. Mostly below the hairline, a few along the cheek bones, a little by the nose--"
"Get away from that thing!" Bulma and Tien both jumped at Vegeta's panicked outburst. "It's a Black Brand Saiyan!"
"A what?"
Bulma's father had the misfortune to walk into the room at that moment. Vegeta instantly grabbed the front of the man's shirt, and lifted him into the air. "Tell me we have a spaceship!"
More than a little phased, Doctor Briefs stuttered. "Yh, yes. Well... Yes I believe we have one in a capsule--"
"Where is it?!"
Doctor Brief's eyes rolled up as he tried to think. "Well, I think it's in the garage, on Bulma's workbench. Labeled... NC-104, I believe..."
"Vegeta!" Bulma cried out indignantly. "Just what do you think you're doing?!"
Vegeta, however, had already dropped Bulma's father and had dashed out the door. A crash was heard, and Bulma rushed to the doorway to see what had happened. Looking down the hall, she saw Vegeta rush out of Trunks' room, with the still struggling toddler tucked under his arm. Ignoring his child's protests, Vegeta rushed back down the hall, and grabbed Bulma by the jaw.
"I have to get off this planet," he said, nearly shouting. "I have to get every Saiyan off this planet, else they will be infected. Get that--that--specimen into some sort of quarantine! It is extremely dangerous, and extremely infectious. Freeze it, or put it in some sort of stasis. But don't let it wake up, and whatever you do, don't let it die!" With that, Vegeta released his wife and flew down the hall to the garage.
Gasping for air, Bulma clutched her neck and leaned against the door frame. Tien laid a hand on her shoulder and stuck his head out the door. Vegeta was already out of sight. "Uh, Bulma, do have any idea what that was about?"
"No," Bulma gasped out. "I've never seen him like that... So, so... Scared..."
"Well," began Doctor Briefs, once again as calm as ever. "I suppose we'd better get started. I think we still have the cryogenics unit down in the lab. ...Bought it a few years back... Though I think we may have scrapped it for parts... It could take some rebuilding..." With that, Doctor Briefs wandered off to the family laboratory.
Not knowing what else to do, Tien looked down at the still recovering Bulma. "So... Now what?"
"Well," gasped out Bulma. "I guess we put the girl in stasis... And get some others over here. But we really can't do much until Vegeta settles down some and gives us a coherent explanation."
"So you don't have any idea what he was ranting about, either?"
"None," conceded Bulma. "But I'm sure, well, pretty sure that he has some kind of--" Bulma cut off abruptly, hearing something from the hallway. "Yamcha?!"
Tien instantly stuck his head out the door. He was greeted with the sight of a scruffy looking Yamcha, with Puar perched on his shoulder, walking down the hall. "Yamcha, what the heck happened to you?"
Yamcha gave his friends a weak grin. "Uh, well, I was kinda in the area when I saw Tien come in. So I came over to see what was up. ...Then I kinda got run over by Vegeta..." Yamcha rubbed his neck uneasily. "Guess I didn't get of the way fast enough..."
"Are you okay?" Asked Bulma, somewhat embarrassed by her husband's actions.
Yamcha laughed it off. "Oh yeah! I've had worse. Nothing to worry abo..." Yamcha abruptly trailed off, as he entered the room and noticed its third occupant. Or more accurately, noticed her tail, which was draped down the side of the couch. "...Uh, who's that?"
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