Disclaimer: I don't own it.
"Prince Vegita!" Nappa called, halting in front of his post-apprentice. Vegita raised his eyebrows in a threatning manner and even then, Nappa did not realise his mistake.
"You shall adress me as King Vegita. If you fail to do so once more I shall have to deal with you myself. Is that understood?" Vegita threatened icily.
"Of course your Majesty, King Vegita." Nappa paused then continued after seeing the look of impatience on Vegita's face. "We have been trying to contact Earth, Dr. Breif's home planet for hours now but we are not getting any reply. The doctor and his inventions, as we know, was of great importance and intrest to the kingdom and the technicians are worried that Freiza has perhaps already begun an invasion."
"Send a few sentries to Earth- that crossdressing feind will not even set foot on Earth for he prefers to watch him minons do his dirty work. Come to think of it, why not send Bardock and his team of pathetic 3rd class warriors. I'm sure they're itching to do something for their new king." Vegita smirked in spite of himself.
"Right away, my king." Nappa said in the midst of a bow, and left the room.
Almost immediatly, Vegita left his throne and walked briskly through the catstle halls, heading for his personal training grounds. Vegita had requested that one of his guards, Radditz, train with him that morning. Radditz, who happened to be Bardock's oldest son, was also fairly strong. not as strong as Vegita but strong enough to give him a mild challenge, unlike most Sayajins on Vegitasei. This was likely as bardock was rumoured to be even more powerful then Vegita himself which was one of the reasons that Vegita despised him.
Now close to the door that led to his grounds, Vegita let a smirk form on him lips, the anticipation of training taking its toll on him. Pushing open the door, he could just barely make out Radditz stretching, close to an enormous tree. Trees were quite rare on Vegitasei and if you had one on your property you were most likely considered quite powerful, and were most likely respected.
vegita continued his short walk over to Radditz and sunk wordlessly into his stretching routine. Any good fighter knew that flexibillity was one of the most important factors in being powerful and deadly to your ennemies. That is why Vegita always stretched before beginning anything else. Like meditation, flexibillity opened even more oppertunities for an avid warrior. After their stretches, they did some katas and finally proceded to the spar itself.
"Ready to admit defeat?" Vegita taunted.
"Not unless I've dragged you down with me..." Radditz replied and lunged at Vegita.
Nappa was on his way to Bardock's home when he saw him training with his small battalion. They were only 5 or 6- Nappa didn't bother counting because frankly, he didn't give a damn. He approached them annoyedly and gave them a rough outline of their mission.
"Earth eh? Isn't that where Dr. Breifs lives?" Bardock wondered aloud.
"Yes and if you had've been listening, you would've already known." Nappa replied while rolling his eyes.
"Quit rolling your eyes at me Nappa. Being the king's lapdog is nothing I'd be proud about (Nappa fumed). So what do you guys say? Should we go on the king's little mission?"
"That was an order, not a choice Bardock!" Nappa cut in, still angry about Bardock's little comment.
"Shut up will you? I was asking my team their opinion, not you!" Bardock half-yelled, a tinge of amusement in his voice. "So, what's the verdict men?" Celipa glared at Bardock. "and women?" He added hastily, getting a satisfied look from Celipa.
"Aye!" His troops yelled in unison.
"Show us the way Fido." Bardock said nonchalantly, his crew snorting into their hands.
Bulma rushed towards the sound of the sobbing woman, pushing people violently out of the way. The woman, she recognised, was the mother of a little boy she had babysat a few times. This gave her an even better reason for going after him.
"Don't worry too much Marielle, I'll find Damien for you." Bulma said calmly and nodded her head silently in the direction of Marielle's husband who was clutching Marielle softly in his arms. "Do you have anything that belongs to him at all?" her husband handed Bulma a small tattered blanket wordlessly and Bulma sniffed a few times to make sure she got the right scent. Bulma handed it back then, her head full of his scent.
She darted through the crowd once more, even quicker this time, and reached the elevator panting only to see Goku standing beside it, waiting for her. He looked like he was about to speak but she held up her hand.
"Goku, there is not much time 'til we are ready to leave so I have to go alone. I am the only one that will be able to find him fast enough and silently enough. Even though you could too, you must make it to Vegitasei. Give my crew this message: Once they are ready to lift off, get everyone on, and lift off. Those are my orders, no negotiating is to be done, that is my final verdict." and she slipped onto the elevator, pushing a switch on it so that no one could get in the elevator from below.
the elevator ride was fairly long, a good 10 minutes, and by that time, Bulma was sure that Damien had been there because the whole place reeked of his scent. The elevator doors parted and Bulma stepped out into one of their many linen closets and watched as the elevator door became almost invisible once more. She dashed down the right corridor, slowing down once in a while to make sure she was still following his scent. It led outside and continued down the road a bit until she began to see bloodstains and another scent which Bulma determined was a woman's. Thus her worst fears were confirmed: Cilice had taken and hurt Damien.
Bulma, now enraged and upset, dashed down the street until she spotted something curious- a foreign spaceship. It wouldn't have been surprising except for the fact that it bore Vegitasei's royal crest. And what was even more baffling was that Damien's scent led into the spaceship. Suddenly putting two-and-two together, Bulma came to the conclusion that Cilice was on the Sayajin's side and was even more enraged that they had led them into such a trap.
She deactivated the security on the shuttle trying not to look at the spattered blood everywhere. Once disarmed the door hissed open and she stepped inside, immediatly picking up the sound of whispering voices with her acute hearing. She snuck towards the sound, trying to forget about the wayward trail of blood that she was also following. Finally she found the source of the whispering and stood outside the door, intent on listening to the converstation.
"...but I just don't understand. I couldn't find him anywhere, let alone anyone around the vicinity of his home. Everyone has just vanished! Like I said, all I found was that little brat, laying on the street bleeding to death." A woman's voice said.
"There was no blood anywhere except from the cuts the little boy? That is strange Celipa. It is also worrisome considering everything is normal around the towns I visited and I th- hey! Can any of you feel it? Something is outside the door!"
"Yes, I can feel it Monz. Keep your voice low, we do not want to wake the poor boy..."
Bulma panicked for a second and then remembered what she was there to do. Drawing herself up off the floor she stood in front of the door, and waited for it to open. There stood Bardock, the spitting image of Goku in front of her. She could hardly beleive her eyes.
"Goku?" was all she could say.
"No. Never heard of the guy, I'm Bardock and if you do not tell me who you are, I will fight it out of you." He said, sinking into a fighting position. Once Bulma was over the initial shock of finiding someone that looked almost identical to her best friend, she replied:
"My name's Bulma, Dr. Breif's daughter."
"Really? then you'll show us where he is? we've come, on orders from the king to find him, we couldn't contact him. Any idea why?" Monz shot her an almost accusatory glance.
"He was killed. Whether it was on the way back home or whether it was when he got here, we do not know. I found him dead with no traces of any of his crew in the ship. The only living thing in there was a woman I assume is working for Freiza. She goes by the name Cilice and can repair her wounds instantly." Bulma finished with a shudder.
"where is everyone around your home? We found no trace of any of them, except for that boy." Bardock inquired, while pointing to Damien.
"They are all underground awaiting the lift-off of an emergency ship I built with my father. They are relativly safe for now. I only came to retrieve Damien." and at the Sayajin's puzzled expressions she added, "the boy."
"Ah. I see. You'll have to come with us, Bluma." Bardock told her.
"My name is Bulma and I am not comming with you! I have to get Damien back to his parents!" Bulma yelled angrily.
"You will come with us Bulma. We need to make sure you make it to Vegitasei in one piece and I am sure your friends can handle themselves. If we cannot ensure your father's safety anymore, we will ensure yours." Bardock stated in a no-nonsense tone.
"What about Damien! He has to get back to his parents!" Bulma pleaded.
"He will come with us, we will meet your companions on Vegitasei... that is where they are headed are they not?" Bardock inquired losing his laid-back nature.
"Yes, they are. But mark my words: if anything goes wrong it'll be your heads." Bulma stated in a deadly tone.
"We believe you Bulma. Now come, we must prepare the ship."
"Bulma hasn't come back yet! My poor baby!" Buni cried.
"Bulma gave everyone strict orders Mrs. Briefs," Goku consoled "We have to follow them... she would've wanted all of us safe, including the blueprints of Dr. Brief's and her inventions."
"I know but I'm just so worried even though she's such a smart girl. I just hope she finds a way to get back to us!" Buni cried.
"I know she'll find her way back to us, it's just a matter of time." Then Goku turned towards the crowd huddled in the shuttle:
"We sadly must leave Bulma behind. Maybe we'll see her again someday. Prepare yourselves for lift-off." For once Goku looked sad and serious, a look that had never before shown on his face.
Chi Chi turned to him rubbing his back. "She's a genius, she'll find a way." but she did not even seem certain of herself.
"I hope she does, for all our sakes. Even the Sayajins have limits to their power." Goku muttered.
NOTE: I changed my pename to Onyx Masquarade and it is no longer Fire-bound heart. I just want to make sure no one thinks that I am copying my own work or something wierd and confusing like that lol!
Whew! I havn't updated in a long time (try a month or two...) anyway, all that counts is that I fed you all another chapter. Hope you like it! Please review!