Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Dragon Ball VE: The Keeper Saga ❯ Chapter 7

Dragon Ball Vegeta's Era: The Keeper Saga

 

Chapter Seven

 

 

Disclaimer: I do not own DBZ. I do, however, own the plot of DBVE and all of the original characters that might appear.

 

Co-written by: Mia Skywalker

 

~*~

 

Dynin trotted nervously through the halls, rubbing at the fabric of his pocket as he made his way to the control center. He got there just as Lanassa was entering her latest data on Gohan.

 

“Good evening, Dynin,” she chirped pleasantly.

 

“Good evening, Lana,” he responded, beginning to enter in his own data on Bra. “How have your studies been going?”

 

“Much better these past several months. I keep meaning to thank you. The half Saiyan has been so much more tractable ever since you won his trust. I normally don't approve of lying, but what you did was a stroke of genius.”

 

Dynin smiled. “It was so hard to get Gohan to believe me that I didn't think it would work at first.”

 

“You're the youngest researcher on board, but we do appreciate your fresh, clever ideas. Have a pleasant rest time, youngling.”

 

With that, the older scientist beamed a smile at him and left the control room. Once he was sure she was gone and not coming back for anything, he pulled a small disk from his pocket and inserted it into the computer.

 

By the time he was finished inputting his new data on Bra, the disk was finished with its task. According to the computers, the suppressant collars were still working at full capacity. In reality, the Saiyans could now access ten percent of their ki.

 

That would be more than enough for them to overpower the Keepers and make their escape, when the time was right.

 

…

 

Bra was humming softly to herself and working on a puzzle involving light and prisms when Dynin's program went into effect. The young Keeper had left her alone in an observation room, planning to take her back to the newly finished Saiyan habitat once he was finished in the control room.

 

The point of the puzzle he had left with her was to use crystalline blocks with different facets and color patterns to create a specific set of colors and intensities of light. She finished the puzzle just as a small amount of power filled her.

 

A startled blink was her only reaction at first as she tried to decide if she was imagining things. Then she held out her hand, palm up, and concentrated, creating a small blue ball of ki.

 

She stared at the ball of energy and then at the light puzzle, an idea forming. Light was a form of energy. If different colors of light could have different strengths and intensities, could different colors of ki have them as well?

 

The little girl shifted her attention back to the ki ball, her small face scrunching up in concentration. Sweat began to bead her brow as the ball separated into smaller, irregular shapes of energy, each one slowly becoming a different color.

 

Eventually, she held a constantly shifting, dazzling array of colors, the sparkling mass lighting up her triumphant smile.

 

…

 

Vegeta shuffled along between his two guards, his shoulders slumped and his head tilted down. Anyone looking at him would have been justified in thinking that they saw a defeated, worn-out man. His guards pitied him more than anything and considered their main job to be to make sure he didn't get lost or hurt, not to keep him from trying anything destructive.

 

The fact that he was naked added to his seeming vulnerability. Kiddae was much too far along to be interested in forcing herself on him anymore, but she still enjoyed tormenting him, and the forced nudity was part of it.

 

A trickle of power suddenly flared through the Saiyan prince, startling him. He turned his inadvertent reaction into a stumble.

 

“Careful,” a floating ball translated for the guard on his right. “We're almost to Kiddae's habitat. You don't want to go in there injured.”

 

“If you insist on putting me in there with that woman, you could at least restore the sight in the one eye I have left,” Vegeta said quietly, careful to keep his voice soft and dull, but completely free of whining. Whining would just annoy them. The best plan was to have their sympathy and their pity, not their contempt.

 

“I wish we could, but the captain and the scientists in charge of you all agree that it should wait until after Kiddae successfully gives birth. Here we are now.”

 

The guard on his left opened the electronic door, and Vegeta was gently pushed into the room. The door softly whooshed shut, locking him in with Kiddae and the other animals in the habitat.

 

He whistled sharply, calling for the two creatures that had distracted him on his first forced visit. They came to him, one roughly house-cat sized furry dragon perching on each shoulder. He stroked their heads and moved confidently forward, a slow, bloodthirsty smirk crossing his face.

 

He would continue to play the game for now, but once the time was right, they would pay. They would all pay.

 

…

 

Gohan lay on his bed, every nerve in his body numb from the repeated shocks and pain. He almost wished the rest of him hurt as much, that he had some physical injuries to go along with the pain, so he would have some proof of what he experienced every day. But the creatures that held them captive were determined; all damage done to him during their tests would be healed before he was returned to their habitat, since those injuries were not `natural'.

 

He had argued that Vegeta's blindness was no more natural, but they remained adamant; they wouldn't heal Vegeta's blindness until Kiddae had a healthy baby. They felt that if he could see, he would have a better chance of escaping her, cutting down on the chance that Kiddae could be impregnated again without resorting to artificial insemination.

 

Things had changed greatly as the months had passed. They had been moved to a large forested area like Kiddae's, and Gohan no longer had difficulty in saying one thing out loud while telepathically communicating something else.

 

He also found himself thinking in Saiyasi almost as often as in his native language. Lately, all of their telepathy had been almost exclusively in Saiyasi, except on the rare occasions when something could be explained better in the other language. It was minor rebellion against their captors that made the three of them feel far less dispirited then they otherwise might have.

 

Gohan was just beginning to debate whether he ought to catch dinner for the evening when there was a sudden strange tingle in his collar. He sat up abruptly, expecting the sharp pain that came from it every time the Keepers felt that he was being disobedient. A few minutes passed, however, and nothing further happened, except that he could feel ki surging through his body for the first time in almost a year. For a moment, he was tempted to make a ki ball and blast something near him, but that impulse passed instantly. Whatever had happened to cause this, alerting the Keepers would be the wrong thing to do.

 

He would wait until Vegeta came back, and they would decide together. If he had access to some of his ki, maybe Vegeta did as well. He knew better than to distract Vegeta when he was with Kiddae. His prince needed all of his alertness focused on the female Saiyan, or she would be able to torment him even more than usual.

 

Gohan would trust Vegeta and follow his lead. They would just have to wait until the time was right to make their escape.

 

No longer mindful of the pain singing through his nerves from his daily ordeal, Gohan smiled as he left their clearing to hunt their evening meal.