Chapter 2:

Gohan couldn't believe his eyes, as he looked down at the struggling female hanging onto dear life at the edge of the roof. She just didn't give up! She had actually tried to throw him off. Him! As if a petty fall like that could kill him. As he'd hit the concrete and created the relevant dent, he'd simply lay there for a moment, staring straight up at the dangling human. She hadn't even looked over her shoulder, not even to make sure he was finished or remotely injured. Big mistake number one. But there was just, something very admirable about her spirit. Like the great, wild beasts of Vegetasei, never giving up a fight until there were finished, once and for all. You could remove a limb, or blind them, and they would never lose their spirit. The more emotional she'd become, the higher her ki level had risen. So it was true then. Emotions really were tied to power. But how much did these humans realise the extent of the theory? Was this female just holding back?

He had to test the theory further, and so he'd appeared one last time before her. Of course, Gohan wasn't really going to fire the ki beam. The way her eyes stared up at him, so innocent and scared to death. He knew right then, she had never felt ki energy before in her whole life. And then, right when he was about to save her. She let go.

Orange, yellow and red explosions illuminated the early evening sky, watched by the unscratched Kakarrot and his three Saiyan companions. Their tails swished and curled in delight. There was nothing more beautiful, that the smell of sweet success and the sight of pure destruction and chaos. Human cries still rung as a distant melody in their ears. Tonight, they would all sleep peacefully. Until, that is, the ki energy of the last member of the crew, came closer. Together with another, faint and weak, barely-mentionable excuse for a ki energy. Radditz and Kari exchanged uneasy glances, while Nappa bit into another fried chicken leg. The Earthlings seemed to have a whole building that produced paper buckets filled to the brim with the strangely seasoned meat. The large Saiyan's appetite had quite gotten the better of him.

"Inside," Kakarrot ordered. "Now! I want to speak to my son. Alone."

Each of them silently complied. Moments later, the eyes of the proud father, narrowed on the sight of his son's descent. White-toed boots, touching down to the ship cargo hull. What concerned him more however, was the bundle of limbs he cradled effortlessly in his arms. Human limbs.

"Explain yourself," he ordered, glaring at his son before he could even set his feet properly on the pure white tiles of the docking bay. Where could Gohan even start, when he was asking himself the same questions his father no doubt would.

"I…" he couldn't even find the words to lie. Hence his shoulders slightly slumped as the truth quietly rolled off his tongue. "Don't know. I just-"

"That isn't even close to good enough."

"Listen. She was the only human out of all of them, to stand up and fight me. Even when I beat her down she just…she stood up and, tried again." The teen looked down at the female in his arms, and an ironic smile tugged at his dry lips. "Heh. Stick a tail on her and she might just - "

"Gohan," the father's voice was level, and he even lifted his arm to rest a comforting hand on his son's broad shoulder. "You know the law. Slave or concubine. It doesn't make any difference. There's no way she'll be accepted. You'll just have to leave - "

"What? No!" The accusation brought amused laughter to Gohan's lips in light, breathy chuckles. "No you've got it all wrong. I don't want to…you know." Kakarrot just arched a brow.

"What else is it good for?"

"How can you, of all people say that. Do you forget it was you who mated with a-"

"Don't even think about bringing your mother into this! It's… different."

"How can it be? She's an Earthling, and I share part of that blood!"

Kakarrot took a moment to observe his son in silence. It wasn't just teenage hormones, or the heat of the moment, as all Saiyan's could relate to. The boy was showing signs of emotion again. The same emotion his mother harboured. His dark, burnt umber eyes found the girl again, and he lowered his head to sniff in a bestial manner.

"It stinks of purity." He meant the term in several ways. There was no murder on her flesh. No carnal delight in ending other lives or the tearing of flesh. She smelt as ChiChi once had, before Vegetasei had robbed her of all her human innocence.

"If you bring it on this ship, you're taking full responsibility."

"Of course," Gohan quickly nodded, thinking he already knew the total dangers of his actions.

"And…keep it away from Nappa. You know his carnal weakness for female flesh."

"Right." Again, Kakarot was silent as he focused his eyes on his fool of a son. Gohan stared back, trying to determine the emotion held back in his father's deep, burnt umber pools. Disappointment? Concern? He cleared his throat, and attempted to reassure his father further. "It's an example. The next generation of human. I want to…examine it further. The, potential and -"

"It's forbidden to train non-Saiyans, you know that Gohan."

His father practically growled the words, turning his back a moment to slam his fist into the nearest wall. He knew his son too well. The boy had always been an intellectual as well as a warrior. He delved into the sciences and asked questions from an early age. They blamed his human blood for his philosophical nature. Now, he was bringing an inconvenience back onto the ship, and desperately seeking his father's approval. But Kakarot knew it would make no difference. Not in the end.

"There is so much we could learn! You're right. Mom was different. But this one. This is a whole new…project!"

Kakarot had heard enough, and demonstrated just that as he hammered his fist against the giant red button, that begun to lift the cargo doors shut.

"I won't discuss this any further. Indulge in your needs, whatever they are. As soon as we land on Vegetasei, it's fate is no longer in your hands, son. Just remember that."

Nerves begun to awaken to the sensations that surrounded and invaded her body: Water. Cold. Metal. Sharp. Pain. Soothing. Beep… Beep… Beep… Strange sound. A hand bravely lifted, and pressed its' palm against the flat curving of the glass tube, feeling the mixed textures against her skin. Then came the sound of moving water against her ears, as she tilted her head slightly. Something was covering her nose and mouth, supplying her with oxygen and, an odd taste in her mouth. Something, medicinal but, it was neither solid or liquid; just plain gas. She twitched again, now able to move her toes and the fingers on her other hand.

Gohan watched from the other side of the tube; a flat computer screen in one hand, and an inkless pen in the other.

"Transfer data," he commanded to the main computer console, and within seconds, various figures and statistics scrolled across his private screen. "Impressive."

In those precious minutes as he studied the maths and physics, the demi-Saiyan missed the cerulean eyes slowly opening to the stinging sensation of water all around her. And then, after much blinking, her elevating state of panic as limbs thrashed and fists slammed against the tube casing. Instead, he read her rapidly increasing heart-rate, the brainwave chart, and her rising temperature. It only excited him enough to step closer, until the pointed tip of his nose was almost pressed against the glass wall. She was trying to make sounds of protest and rebellion, as she pounded her palms and barged her shoulders against her tougher-than-glass confines. The rejuvenation tank was always an odd experience, the first time. He understood that. Especially when both the mind and the body believed it had already died.

"Shhh," he cooed, and rested his palm against the glass, as if he were fathering a child there. For a brief moment, the young woman froze. Large, wide eyes, staring back at her abductor. Recognition seeping straight through the glass, and hitting Gohan head on. In a moment of weakness, he succumbed to his humanity, and hit the toxin-release button. The girl's consciousness faded out once more, to the beating of a steady pulse.

Videl had no dreams. Not even nightmares, unless endless and empty blackness suffices as that. When she slowly opened her eyes, she was blinded by the initial, piercing brightness of the small, actually dimly lit room. A primal cry escaped her lips, like she had been re-birthed once again. With her awakening senses, she heard silence. Tasted bitter, metallic bile and Kame knows what else on her tongue. And felt the aching pain of her limbs. If this was the true face of heaven, then she'd been severely lied to.

As she tried to move, she soon discovered that she lay on something hard and cold. A metal table, her fingertips soon found, as she tapped it with her now longer nails. Attempting to open her stinging and sensitive eyes again, and again, several tears rolled down her cheek. Her chest tightened, and she struggled to breathe, as rising and raw emotions mixed with the reaction to sudden pain, overpowered her sense of awakening judgement.

The metal door slid open, producing a fluid mechanical sound. She managed to turn her head on a numb and stuff neck, to see a figure in mostly white, getting closer. A lab coat? Oh thank Kame! She closed her eyes in relief, as she realised this had to be a hospital. Though her memories remained blank, she remembered pain. Lots of pain. The footsteps stopped at the bottom of her feet, and a series of digital beeping sounds echoed in her eardrum. Her lips parted, but a dry and silent breath escaped. The beeping stopped, and the figure stepped closer. Fingers gently but firmly pried her eyelids open, then her lips, inspecting the colour of her tongue and tonsils.

"Hmm," came the inquisitive male voice, in a very strange accent that she even more strangely recognised. It sent a chill of rare fear down her spine, which was odd. Videl always tried her best not to fear anything. You name it: spiders, snakes, heights and small spaces. She conquered them all.

"Subject V is recovering quicker that I predicted. Almost up to, hmm… young, un-trained, Saiyan standards. Remarkable."

Videl tensed. As the voice spoke, images rapidly flashed in her mind. A man, dressed from neck to toe in rich marine blue and white. Earth, coated in flashes of white, orange and red. Screams of panicked people. And then, she saw herself, clinging on for dear life, before her slow motion plummet into an abyss of total, annihilating pain. A snap. A twist. A dislocation. The sounds made her stomach churn.

To say that Gohan was surprised, as his 'subject V' clumsily scrambled and suddenly flailed her limbs, trying to sit up on the metal bed, was far from an understatement. He froze, just watching his little science project, as her wide eyes stared in horror at him. Human behaviour was beyond interesting. It was compelling. Perhaps humans were a sub-species of Saiyans? Their lack of tails clearly rendered them weak, along with their enhanced hormones. Or, what was the correct term. 'Feelings?'

"You," she managed to breathlessly utter, as her shoulders tensed to her ears and her toes touched down on the cold floor, on opposite side of the 'bed.' She shuddered as her senses reacted and adjusted to the new temperature.

"Memories and sensory nerves are returning. Brain capacity…. Higher than Saiyan standards? No, that can't -"

"What a-a-are….yuh-you -" She wanted to ask what he was talking about, why he kept mentioning the same words and talking like she was a frog lying on an examination plate, about to be pinned wide open. Instead, she winced as a sharp pain shot up the nerves in her legs, as she sought to put pressure on her feet. "W-W-What ha-haaave you… d-done?"

"Subject is forming words. Coherent sentences."

Before he could even register her rising ki-levels, Gohan felt the retribution of the confused human. The metal of the bed rammed against his pelvis in one, shocking blow. Alert eyes under frowning, dark brows, quickly lifted to the staggering form of the standing, 'weak' human.

"STOP SAYING THAT!" She yelled with all her strength, then lifted her hands to the sides of her skull. "S-STOP IT! JU-JUST STOP IT! I ca-can't…I…I j-just…"

And then, her knees buckled, bringing her short form down into a quivering mess on the floor. Gohan froze, almost dropping his private console as he watched her. The way her shoulders and back begun to shake, and her ki wavered all over the place from one extreme to the next. Then, her voice broke into staggered sounds. Strange, choked, female wailing, that he'd never heard before. For once in his life, he had no idea how to react. Part of him was even scared by what he witnessed, as her fingertips clawed at the tile floor, and the strange whimpering grew louder and more desperate. He knew this should've been a pathetic display and yet, why was he drawn towards it? Why was he compelled to investigate and, why was his chest hurting?

Silently, he stepped forwards, and knelt beside the human. Reaching out, he not longer let his brain do the thinking. Just acted, naturally, by strong and raw instincts alone. As he reached out to lift her head, he registered the texture of her raven-black hair. Then, the softness of her skin, as his thumb hooked under her chin, and lifted. She trembled and swallowed back her pitiful sounds, as her eyes lifted to his. He stared at the strange trails of liquid from her leaking eyes, and traced a fingertip down her cheek. It was warm and moist, and as he brought her tears to his face, he sniffed at their traces on his finger. Salty? Timidly, his tongue flicked out, and now it was his turn to flinch at the odd taste. Videl could only watch with her blurred vision, confused, shocked and appalled by what she witnessed. And then, his face came closer; close enough to feel his warm breath against that same cheek.

"N-No," she barely whispered, without even knowing his true intentions. This close proximity was enough. But then, the texture of his lips found her tear-trail, and sure enough, the flicking of his roughly-textured tongue against her skin. She flinched at the intimacy of his animalistic, dog-like actions, but couldn't move, as he held her head still. Next, in more canine reactions, he was sniffing at her skin, and hair. Kame, she smelt so good. Her scent was just, nothing he had ever experienced before, it was, intoxicating. More-ish. Before he knew it, he was nudging at her cheek with his nose, a light purring sound vibrating in his throat. And all Videl could do, was sit there in total astonishment. The man had turned into a tomcat…dog…thing!

"Gohan."

The intrusion at first brought a growl to his throat, rumbling in his gut as he snatched his attention from the female to cast wild eyes in the direction of the third voice. It took a moment for him to realise that he had locked the door from the inside, and therefore the male voice was coming from the ship's intercom. Tearing himself from the enchanting creature, Gohan swiftly rose to his feet, pacing back and forth as he ran a hand through the back of his slightly moist hair. His neck was already coated in a layer of sticky sweat.

"Gohan!"

"WHAT?" The brief silence of the voice confirmed the owner's startled reaction to the barking response.

"You're needed on the Bridge. Son."

The demi-Saiyan was there in moments, having stormed down the bright white corridors, bashing his elbow and fists into the passing walls repetitive times. Only self-inflicted pain seemed to calm his raging hormones. His father sat beneath a large console, which for now, was blank.

"Forgive me son," spoke the Elite in a sombre, quiet tone, as soon as the door had shut behind the teenager. "I couldn't… I'm not a traitor to my home. I won't let you make the mistakes I -"

"Enough Kakarot!"

Gohan's attention immediately registered the owner of the deep, thick voice, and his eyes moved directly to the wavering and flickering screen. The image of a permanently frowning, angry Saiyan male, came into focus. His long, almost black hair, defied gravity in thick, almost sharp spikes. His skin wore a natural, darker, more golden and earthy 'tan' than the Son family. As if the soil of his planet had grown and nurtured him, only to spit him out.

"Brat. You have ten seconds to explain yourself."

Gohan bravely clasped his hands behind his back, and straightened his back in an attentive stance under the intense glare of the King.

"I wish to study the hu -"

"I wish? So, the hybrid suddenly believes he can think without my permission."

"I'm s -"

"SILENCE! How dare you contaminate my ship with that…thing!" Gohan dared not utter another word. The only sign of his determination and personal insult, being the tensing of his jaw. "Well? Don't just stand there. Speak!"

"Your majesty," he started more formally and respectfully, which finally gained the attention of the egomaniac King. "The Earthlings have clearly evolved over twenty years. If my research and calculations are correct, Subject V was conceived exactly two years after the first invasion."

"Go on," the King growled. His attention threatening to fail again, should Gohan not keep it entertained and intrigued.

"Well, there are theories. Some say the Earth's atmosphere changed after our arrival, encouraging human evolution. A bacteria from our planet, is one suggestion. Others say the evolution is just natural, or that - "

"The 'ChiChi' could barely birth you. A fucking half-breed." Gohan swallowed back, hard. He despised such talk, not only directed at himself, but also, strangely, of the mother he barely even knew. "I refuse to wait another 9months to see if this human bitch is any different."

"She isn't for breeding," Gohan shot back coldly. His icy voice lined with the most serious, almost threatening tone he could muster. The King only cackled.

"The Onna is good for one thing, and one thing only. Use it, and dispose of it." He made his next point even more official, as he pointed a white-gloved finger directly into the camera. "Dare to bring it on my soil, and you will pay. I will not allow my people to suffer a repeat of the past."

The transmission abruptly cut short, leaving a cold and empty silence between the father and son. Before Kakarot could utter a single word, the stormy teenager bolted back down the main corridor, leaving further wall-dents in his wake. Only when the door slid shut behind his torment, was a new transmission made. A breathy, slightly high-pitched voice practically whispered through the microphone, but the face remained hidden behind scrambled white noise. Kakarot would take no chances; walls had ears, even in space.

"I'm here, Goku."

To be continued…