Well, I have to be honest. I didn't really expect to be continuing this story over my other one, but I also did not expect to receive the attention that I did. So…as of this chapter this story is officially underway.
Since I had only intended for Witness to be a one-shot, I am still working out the story details, but I know where I plan to go with Seripa's character and to get her to the point she needs to be at in my next story…well, I guess we need to follow her as she begins her new life. Also, as far as I'm concerned the English name 'Fasha' does not exist. I do not think it should have ever been chosen as a substitute for Seripa.
And now, without further tickling your fancy, I present to you…Chapter two.
Individual Lies
Chapter 2
DBZ
Beep.
Seripa twitched in her sleep and her brow furrowed.
Beep.
She twisted around in the seat of her pod, shifting her position as she struggled to find a comfortable position…
Beep.
…which was proving annoyingly difficult since every time she started to adjust to her comfortable position-
Beep
-and began slipping into unconsciousness.-
Beep
-her damned computer had to send out an alert.
Beep
With a groan she straightened out in her seat, wincing as her bruised and sore muscles stretched and moved for the first time in several hours. As she leaned carefully back in the seat she rubbed her hands over her face bringing herself to full alertness.
She looked at her computer just as it sent another alert and she growled at it. Too bad it wasn't organic, she mused. Most living beings ran from a growling saiya-jin. The beeping intruded into her thoughts once more and she frowned as she leaned forward weakly to deactivate the alert system…But she froze when she saw on the monitor that the computer had been alerting her to another ship that was tailing her. Frowning, she quickly brought the offending ship up on display…and felt her blood turn to ice.
She was being tailed by an Ice-jin cruiser. And not just any cruiser, she realized with a sinking feeling in her stomach. She was being followed by an Imperial Cruiser!
Seripa did her best to ignore the fear that gathered in the pit of her stomach as she tracked the ship's movements as quickly as she could, given she was still grievously injured. She blinked in surprise when it was revealed that the ship was travelling at the same speed as hers. She was sure that they were chasing or following her. A frown overtook her features as she bit into her lower lip, her dark brows knitted together in thought.
Beeeeep!
She winced and covered her ears weakly as the computer signaled a hailing frequency from the Imperial Cruiser. She dug her teeth deeper into her bottom lip as she debated with herself over whether or not to answer the call. She took a deep breath and decided to go ahead an answer it. She couldn't show fear to the Cold Empire. Especially not now.
She took another breath and put on her toughest expression, doing her best to ignore the way her frowns pulled the bruised skin and muscles of her face, and opened up a channel with the ship.
The unexpected face of another saiya-jin female made her gasp out audibly.
While she gaped in surprise the woman smirked, tilting her head back just a little bit. It was difficult to say, but she didn't appear to be much bigger than Seripa was. She had thick, shaggy hair that hung around her face, down to her shoulders and she had midnight eyes, so deep they seemed black instead of blue. Seripa couldn't see the armor she wore as the image displayed only her face.
"Sister saiya-jin, it is fortunate that we have found you first. Cooler and Cold have both been through this quadrant several times in recent weeks."
"Thank you for finding me, Sister. I am in serious need of medical treatment." She took a breath and leaned her head back against her seat, closing her eyes. "I have not eaten in days…" she all but breathed out.
"Guide your ship to the next closest planet and we will recover you there. You may join our group and receive whatever you need."
Seripa opened her eyes and looked to the computer screen. "I am Seripa, and I graciously accept your offer. How large is your group?"
The woman's expression grew dark on the screen and she looked down.
"I am Colli and there were more than fifty of us to begin with, but…" she trailed off, her gaze still averted downwards. "Three days of 'galactic cleansing' later, and this group is less than twenty now." She said darkly, the bitterness dripping off of every word.
"Dammit." She cursed low under her breath as she envisioned dozens of saiya-jin being mercilessly wiped out by Frieza's cronies. She could almost see the faces of those saiya-jin as they fought and died left and right…and she was reminded, painfully, once more of her fallen comrades.
She looked up to the screen sharply. "Who is your leader and what is his power reading?"
The other woman glanced off screen, then she stepped back allowing another saiya-jin to step into view, this one a male with short black hair that was sticking out in all directions, and scars running over both eyes at opposite angles.
"I am. My name is Caul. As for my power reading…" the man smirked and folded his arms across his broad chest, making Seripa roll her eyes. "I am sure it is higher than yours by far: 1200."
Seripa snorted and leaned back in her seat. "Mine is 1600. I will meet you at the next planet." She cut the feed while the man was still in shock from hearing her own power reading.
Feh. Surprised at my reading? What would he have done had he heard Bardock's? she wondered as she altered the course her computer had laid out for her. She sighed as she typed in the last coordinate and leaned back in her seat once more, the ship shuddering as its direction altered. Within seconds a large blue and red planet loomed into her view. She was surprised. She hadn't realized that she was so close to a hospitable planet. Oh well. She would land in a few minutes and then be in a rejuvenation chamber within the hour. That, alone, was enough to bring a smile to her lips and sleep to her fatigued mind…
Even if it was only for ten minutes, her power nap gave her the energy she needed to climb out of her ship after its landing and up the gangplank of the awaiting ship. She hadn't expected anyone to meet her for assistance, but was grateful to find three saiya-jin (one female and two males) awaiting her at the top of the ramp. She limped her way towards them, peeling her destroyed armor off and tossing it by her ship. As she tossed it, a glint of light caught her attention and her eyes were drawn to her wrist. She stared down at the I.D. bracelet that had her name, her power reading, and her serial number burned into the metal.
A sudden wind kicked up, blowing dust up all around them. Seripa looked out towards her ship as the sudden sandstorm threatened to swallow it up, and tore the bracelet from her arm.
"That life is over," she said as she held her arm up. "Time to start a new one." She threw the bracelet towards the abandoned space pod, and turned and limped the rest of the way up the ramp. She made it to the top before she collapsed from exhaustion, one of the saiya-jin males catching her easily.
She was immediately placed into a rejuvenation tank and was left alone.
DBZ
"Bardock?"
A sigh.
"What is it, Seripa?"
"Will you look at me?"
Another sigh and grumbling as a man with wildly spiked hair sat up from where he was laying in a patch of red grass. He looked across from his patch of grass and to a young girl sitting atop a boulder that was twice her height. High above her the sky was a swirling mix of black and orange with the occasional green cloud floating by. They were surrounded on all sides by trees that stretched up for hundreds of feet, enshrouding them in shadowy darkness.
"Are you happy now?" snapped Bardock as he absently dug his finger into his right ear, closing his eyes in annoyance. His left ear was covered with a green-lensed scouter. After several long seconds of silence, he opened his eyes and looked back at the girl. He gave an annoyed sigh when he saw her sulking atop the rock.
"What do you want, Seripa?"
The girl lifted her downcast violet eyes and looked at him, trying her best to hide the apprehension she felt. She couldn't hold his fierce gaze, and eventually lowered her eyes again.
"A-am I progressing?"
"Feh, is that it?" He threw himself back down on the grass.
"Come on, Bardock, be serious. H-have I gotten stronger?"
"Hm," Bardock closed his eyes as he thought it over. "The last time we sparred you didn't seem any better."
"..Oh."
He opened one eye and looked up at Seripa, watching her shoulders sag and her head droop. He rolled his one open eye and shook his head .
"Female saiya-jin have no place being warriors if they're just going to sulk and mope around." He sat up, opening both eyes as he looked straight at her. "What's it matter if you've gotten better if you can't tell yourself?"
"It's nice to have a second opinion," Seripa mumbled, lowering her head til her chin was resting against the chest plate of her armor.
"You've got no one but yourself to decide your opinions, Seripa. I can't decide them, Toma can't decide them, Borgos can't decide them, and Shugesh sure as hell can't decide his own, let alone yours. Whether you've gotten any better don't matter to no one but yourself." He fell to his back, his hands behind his head.
The girl looked down-
"And stop that lookin' down shit. Keep your eyes up all the time."
She quickly snapped her gaze up, leveling it on him. She actually did think she had gotten better, but she wanted verification of that fact. She should have known better than to ask Bardock for his opinion. He was as cold and without emotion as ever. She sighed and lay back on the boulder, looking up at the star-filled sky.
"By the way, that reminds me." Said Bardock, suddenly. "You did well on Vaanil. Much better than you did on Zizap. I also noted that you're still making amateur mistakes. Watch it."
Seripa sat up in a flash and looked at Bardock, her eyes wide. Four years she had suffered under his training and leadership and this was the first time he had ever even come close to complimenting her. Not that she had ever expected it, but it was still surprising. She smiled towards him and lay back on her rock.
"So, when's our next mission?"
"We leave tomorrow."
"Good."
Silence filled the clearing.
Then…
"Bardock?"
"Grr…what is it this time, Seripa?"
"Thanks."
DBZ
Reluctantly leaving behind her memory, Seripa opened her eyes to the sound of the mechanical whirring that accompanied the opening door of the rejuvenation chamber, to find her body completely healed and completely naked. She rolled her eyes and pulled the black and silver oxygen mask from her face, taking a deep breath of fresh air. She hated these chambers. She always felt like she needed a shower after spending time in one, even though the liquid she had been submerged in was possibly the cleanest substance in existence. It was designed to heal a broken body, after all.
She wasn't sure how long she had been out, but based on the extent of her injuries she was sure it had to have been a week at the least. Until she stepped out of the rejuvenation tank she had been placed in and saw which model it was: it was a model designed specifically for use on the Imperial Cruisers for the high-powered warriors that the Cold family kept on hand at all times. They frequently took on some nasty opponents so it was necessary to have only the best on the fancy Cruisers. Also, the Cold family did not like being without their strongest on hand for so long. It made them feel vulnerable. She shook her head, shaking away the thoughts of the Cold regime. She could worry about that later.
She turned away from the chamber and noticed that someone had had enough foresight to scrounge up some armor for her. It wasn't anything like her old single-strapped chest piece, but it would be fine. She picked the armor up and examined it closely. It was an older model with the shoulder guards that extended outwards and was black and gold. The blue jumpsuit that had been laid out for her was much more modest than her old, but more practical suit. Where her old suit had concealed her private areas and nothing else, allowing for free, unrestricted movement, the old suit covered her whole body from the neck down. It wasn't to her liking, but she could deal.
As she pulled on her new armor, she eyed the machine and deduced that she had been in there less than three days. Once her armor was situated and straight, she looked down at a small readout and smiled at the time it read. She had been right in assuming that, as she had been in the tank for just 2 and one half days. As she stared at it she thought about how Bardock would have been completely healed much faster. Thinking of him, she was reminded of her dream.
"Damn Ice-jins have to have the best, right?"
Seripa glanced across the room, her thoughts interrupted by the sudden appearance of a teenage boy leaning in the doorway, with his arms folded across his armor. Her eyes widened at the sight of him. He had thick black hair that stuck up in multiple directions, identical to the way Bardock's hair had been. In fact…the boy looked just like Bardock. All the way down to the style of armor he was wearing (though his was red and white, instead.)
"You-"
"Turles," he interrupted. He straightened up, unfolding his arms as he did. "So, you're Seripa, hm?" He crossed the room, looking her over as he did so.
"What of it?" Seripa asked sharply. She frowned as the young man paused just a few feet from her.
"You knew my brother."
"Bardock was your brother?"
Turles folded his arms again and looked away. "Father bragged about Bardock until his dying breath."
She frowned at the way he said it. He had spoken with no emotion in his voice, not even bitterness.
"And yet," He glanced back at her, his face devoid of all expression, "he is not here, is he? The oh-so-great Bardock is dead, while his younger, much weaker, brother lives. As well as the weakest member of his team." He sneered down at her, while she struggled to grasp what had just been said.
Seripa couldn't believe that this boy could have possibly been related to Bardock. Sure, he was cold and ruthless but he was a warrior. This boy…he had no respect for his brother. Dead or alive, it seemed.
"What? You're not going to say something in his defense?" Turles scoffed and looked away again. "I guess you're weaker than I thou-"
SMACK!
The boy's face snapped in the opposite direction, the imprint of a small, but powerful, hand covering his cheek. He touched one gloved hand to the side of his face and looked at her sharply.
Seripa had not lowered her hand after slapping him. She was still holding it up, but she had balled it into a tight fist as she glared up at the taller boy.
"Listen here, you little brat." She seethed from behind clenched teeth. "If you ever, and I mean ever speak of Bardock in that manner again, then I will personally make certain that you never have the opportunity to become a man."
Turles stared down at her in stunned silence, his eyes as wide as they could possibly go. He had not expected her to threaten him, let alone slap him! But he wasn't going to take it. His eyes narrowed as the hand he had held to his cheek slowly balled into a fist.
"You whore," he spat out venomously.
Seripa's left eyebrow twitched.
Turles never saw it coming as her fist shot out so fast it was nothing but a blur, and struck him soundly in his exposed stomach. The force was enough to send him sailing backwards and out the door he had entered and into the wall across the hall, caving the metal in and sending a violent shudder through the whole of the ship.
As Seripa lowered her trembling fist and straightened up, she took a breath. She hadn't meant to put so much force behind that punch. Okay, so maybe she had, but she hadn't expected her own strength to be so great. Her power reading had to have increased greatly to produce a result like that.
"Huh? What happened here?" A woman wearing white and gold armor over a full-bodied yellow jumpsuit stepped through the doorway, glancing back at Turles still imbedded in the wall. She was a few inches taller than Seripa, had dark green hair that was shorter than Seripa's, coal black eyes, and a scar that ran horizontally below her eyes and across the bridge of her small nose. A white scouter with a blue lens adorned her face, as well.
"I just taught a brat a lesson," Seripa replied coolly as she glanced at the woman.
She smirked and glanced at teenaged saiya-jin in the hallway as he pulled himself from the indented wall.
"Yes, Turles has an attitude problem. But we've learned to ignore him." The woman looked back at her, her smirk fading. "You see, his entire team was wiped out recently. We found him on an empty planet surrounded by the bodies of his team."
Seripa frowned and looked past her at Turles, but he had already left. "No wonder he is bitter. But why does he have so little respect for Bardock?"
The woman frowned. "Bardock? Oh, his brother? That, I do not know. Anyway, my name is Amotto. Caul would like to see you on the bridge immediately."
She nodded in response. "Okay. Hey, would you mind checking my power reading?"
Amotto smiled and nodded. She pressed a button on her scouter and it beeped to life. Her eyes widened and she whistled.
"Wow. Your reading is higher than 2300." She deactivated the scouter and stepped aside as Seripa started into the hallway. "That makes you the strongest on the ship."
Seripa looked at her in surprise. "Really?"
"Yes. Caul did have the highest, which is why he was made the leader." She smirked and glanced at the slightly shorter woman. "Some of us have been thinking about making you the leader since you told Caul your reading was 1600."
"No thanks." She frowned and looked forward as they walked down the darkened hallway. She looked up towards the lights and saw that most of them were either broken or off. "What happened there?"
Amotto followed her gaze. "Ah. We had to fight for this ship and we are still repairing the damage it sustained in the attack. Our supplies are limited, after all, and Caul is wary about docking at any space stations." She sighed and shook her head. "We need someone who will actually lead us instead of sitting on the bridge and throwing his weight around."
"What about you?" asked Seripa. She followed Amotto when she turned into an open elevator.
As the doors closed, the other woman shrugged. "I don't have a high enough reading for anyone to want me to lead. It's only 850."
Seripa snorted, "Power readings only matter on the battlefield, Amotto." She paused and glanced at the other woman. "So am I right to assume that your group has no plan?"
"Unfortunately," the taller woman grumbled. "All we have done since Vegeta was destroyed is drift around space."
"How long has it been?" Seripa asked as the doors slid open and they stepped out into another hallway.
Amotto stopped and looked at her in surprise. "Wait, you don't know?"
Seripa stopped, too.
"I know the day it was destroyed. I was there." She added in a quiet voice. She was silent for a moment before continuing. "I drifted through space for a while before I became aware of what happened and powered my ship back on. I don't know how long my ship was traveling before I met you. I was in and out of stasis the entire time."
"Oh, wow. Vegeta was destroyed more than two weeks ago."
Seripa sighed and started walking again, Amotto falling into step with her. "That sounds about right, I guess."
Amotto was silent as she turned into a doorway, Seripa following her, and onto the bridge. She continued straight on to the center of the bridge where Caul was seated in the throne usually reserved for a member of the Cold regime. On either side of him sat two other men, one of them the one who had caught Seripa when she passed out.
The two women paused before Caul who looked immediately to Seripa.
He was silent as he stared at her. As his eyes looked her over, she felt her skin crawl. She didn't like people, especially men, looking at her for too long. She had dealt with that enough when she first enlisted.
"Hm. You don't look like much. Is your power reading really 1600?" Caul finally asked.
Seripa smiled slightly and shrugged. "No, it is not."
"That's what I thou-"
"It's over 2300, now." She grinned as a look of surprise came over the man's face. "Check it with your scouter if you don't believe me."
Caul, who was not wearing a scouter, waved a hand at the man to his left. He stood up and quickly activated his scouter. The look of surprise and his silence was all the answer that Caul needed.
He glared at her as she continued to grin fiercely at him. Suddenly he grinned, too, making hers vanish in surprise.
"With that kind of power you are more than suited to be my mate." He said coolly, his tone smooth and coaxing.
Seripa scoffed and frowned, "There is nothing appealing about that offer." At her side she heard Amotto snicker.
Caul's grin faded and he glared at Amotto, who was still snickering. "Something funny, Amotto?" When she immediately straightened up, her snickering ceasing, he smirked. He turned his gaze back to Seripa, to see her all but glaring at him. "What?"
She narrowed her eyes at him, taking a step closer to him. "What are your intentions regarding the survival of our race?" Might as well skip the annoying "pleasantries" and get right to the point.
Caul had clearly not expected that question as he stared at her in open-mouthed surprise. He closed his mouth and quickly pulled himself together.
"You just leave that to me, Woman." He said loudly, standing so that he could tower over her. His chest swelled with his bravado. Everyone on deck knew she could knock him around the ship easily.
Seripa looked up at him calmly. "Just as I thought," she smirked and cocked her head to the side lightly. "You're just up there playing the leader. You have no plans to ensure our survival. Which is just as well," she continued as Caul opened his mouth to protest. "You couldn't possibly lead us against any of Frieza's men."
"What does Frieza have to do with this?"
Seripa glowered at him. "Are you so stupid to believe that Frieza will let us drift around in peace?" Her tone was acid as she snapped at him. Her eyes widened in disbelief when she saw the dawning of realization in his eyes.
"You must be kidding me." She exclaimed. "You seriously thought that Frieza would leave you be? That lizard destroyed our world! He ordered Dodoria and his men to kill my team!" she ignored the collective gasp of surprise behind her.
She stepped closer to Caul making him step back and sit down heavily in his throne, so now she was towering over him. "You are too fucking stupid to be leading our people. Step down now or I will force you down."
"Oh yeah?" Caul struggled to regain his composure. He stood back up, but she wouldn't move back so he was left in an awkward stance. "There's no way you could face all three of us!" he declared, his bravery returning as he indicated the two at his sides.
Seripa quirked a brow and looked to his left and then to his right. She smirked and looked back at him. "I think you're flying solo for this."
He frowned and glanced to his sides to find that both of his next in command had abandoned him. He looked back to her, sweat drops beading on his forehead and neck.
"You can step down or fight. Your choice, Caul." She folded her arms across her chest and awaited his response.
Caul stared down at her and gulped. Any self-respecting saiya-jin knew the proper response was to fight back. He could try and fight her to maintain his leadership, but the outcome didn't help his ultimate plan. Sure, holding a leadership position helped, in the long run it didn't really matter if he was a leader or a grunt. Only the plan mattered. His gaze shifted from hers and over her shoulder. He looked right at Turles, who seemed to have appeared some time ago. He was leaning in the arched doorway that led to the circular hallway of the ship, with his arms crossed and his gaze firmly fixated on the back of Seripa's head.
Oh, so the plan was about to change.
"Fine, I will step down." He bowed his head and stepped aside, backing away from the throne and kneeling down. He lowered his head as much as he could, doing his best to hide the murderous grin that had appeared on his face. He looked to his left just in time see Turles stand up straight and march to the female saiya-jin.
Seripa frowned when she saw Caul look sideways. Was he grinning? She followed his gaze, turning around in time to see a rather large fist flying at her face. With no time to block or counter, she took the punch to her cheek. She was thrown violently backward into the thick metallic throne. It was bolted to the floor rather firmly she realized when it didn't give under her weight, jarring her roughly as she came to a violent halt. She looked up at Turles as he held his hands apart from one another.
"Fuck you and fuck Bardock! You can join him in hell!" A ring of golden ki appeared between his palms. The air around his body wavered with raw ki as he charged up the attack.
Seripa jumped out of the throne and to her feet, taking a defensive stance as scouters all around the bridge came to life.
"Kill Driver!" Turles shouted as he extended his hands toward Seripa. He grinned and suddenly threw his arms up, aiming the attack towards the ceiling of the ship. "Fire!" The blast rocketed away from his body and slammed into the roof.
DBZ
(Ooh, a cliffhanger…Sorry, I couldn't resist. Like I mentioned at the start of this chapter I am still working out the story details, so bear with me. As you will have no doubt noticed, I am jumping into the action early on. Don't worry, there is still more to come. I am also open to suggestions. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Reviews would kick ass.)
