Surviving Together: A New Legacy

Chapter 3 - The Counterattack

Bulma blinked a few times before opening her eyes and taking in her surroundings. "Zarra?" She whispered as she tried to sit up.

"Shhh." Her long-time friend pushed her back down. "You need to stay still, you're hurt."

"Where's Trunks?" Bulma moaned, not listening to her friend and sitting up anyway.

"They brought him on the ship but I'm sure Cooler isn't dumb enough to do anything to him at this point." Zarra offered optimistically.

Bulma slowly looked around the cell and noticed it was full of crying women. "Where…Where are my colleagues?" Bulma asked confused. "I thought they came for the scientists."

Zarra sighed as she tried to steady her friend when she began to rise to her feet. "They are in another cell." Zarra paused a moment to lower her voice so the other women wouldn't hear. "Apparently Cooler seems to follow the same custom Freeza did when he purged a planet." Zarra tried to speak calmly, though she knew no amount of sugar coating was going to soften the blow.

"No..." Bulma shook her head as she glanced at the other women. "No!" Bulma repeated as she fell to her knees. She could not believe this. "History is fucking repeating itself!" She screamed thinking she was going to lose her mind. Zarra immediately wrapped her arms around Bulma as she stroked her hair trying to calm her down. "Please Bulma, save your strength."

"That is excellent advice." Cooler smirked as he suddenly walked into the cell, causing screams to be released by all of the women. "Oh, I love the sound of fresh terror in the afternoon." He chuckled coldly as he strutted over to Bulma and Zarra. "Well it's about time you awoke woman. I know my soldier didn't hit you that hard."

"Where's my son?" Bulma jumped to her feet in a fury, having no more time for self-pity.

"Oh… The pink haired brat? I have him well taken care of, don't you worry your little head off." He grinned evilly as he touched the side of her face. Bulma jerked away as she and Zarra took a step back. "Don't touch me you beast!" Bulma hissed while continuing to back away.

"Well, I suppose you still haven't learned anything." He shook his head before he lunged forward and grabbed the small woman by the waist. Zarra was going to act but Bulma sent her a look that begged her not to try and intervene. She saw no need for both to get hurt.

Cooler roughly pulled Bulma against him as he ran a finger down the side of her curvy body. She kicked him in defiance as she tried to escape his touch. However, the large lizard only smirked as he grabbed her jaw with his free hand and roughly forced her to look him in the eye. "Listen carefully woman. I can be a very violent man or a very gentle one. You will work for me and prove your loyalty. Otherwise, I'll have to force it out of you. And trust me, you won't like that." He finished in a voice dripping with intimidation.

"Oh?" Bulma asked smugly. She would be damned if she was going to cower down to this monster. "Then I suppose that you might as well kill me now and save yourself the effort because I'd never give you my loyalty."

Cooler's eyes narrowed as he violently threw her body to the floor. "Is that so?" He said in a cruel voice. "Well trust me then." He smirked as he got down on his knees and put his weight on her. Bulma screamed as the pressure was slowly suffocating her. "That's right my dear, by the time I finish with you, you'll wish you were dea-" Before Cooler could finish his sentence the entire ship shook. "What the hell was that!" He bellowed as his attention was momentarily diverted away from the broken woman beneath him.

"Another fleet, Sir! We've received an incoming message from the lead ship. It's the Emperor's fleet from Danior. The ship's captain says to hand over all of the scientists now or he'll attack!" The guard bellowed as another blast rocked the ship.

"Just kill them!" Cooler hissed. "It's only a secondary fleet!"

"But Sir," the soldier protested, "the captain also sends word that the Emperor himself is closing in on this location and if we don't comply we'll have to face the King himself!"

"Damn it!" Cooler grunted. He couldn't believe Vegeta actually got off of his lazy ass for this. 'He must be getting desperate.' Cooler thought elatedly before looking back down at the almost unconscious woman beneath him. "It seems this will have to wait my dear." He said icily before he threw her body like a rag doll across the cell as he headed to the main deck. Bulma's head made contact with one of the cell walls knocking her unconscious. Blood began dripping uncontrollably from above her right temple, as she lay helpless on the cold dirty floor.

"Bulma!" Zarra cried as soon as the beast left. She immediately tried to wake her friend, but nothing worked. 'Oh, please help us.' Zarra prayed hopefully as she began to rock her blood-covered friend in her arms.

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"AAHHHAA A!" Vegeta shot out of bed in a cold sweat as he held his forehead in disbelief. "It can't be!" He panted as he fought to control his breathing. His dream had been nothing out of the ordinary, until he felt it. Pain, mirroring the agony the night he awoke to ascend to his birthright. The feeling he had was unmistakable; it was her. 'But how? She's been dead for nine years,' he told himself as he tried to rationalize what he had felt.

The pain was chilling, it paralleled the agony of a beating from Freeza, but then suddenly the suffering ended. Almost as quickly as the pain was dealt, everything went black. 'It just had to be a dream.' He told himself as he threw the covers away from his body and walked into his bathroom. All he wanted was to do was take a long shower in hopes of eliminating the thought from his mind.

He froze suddenly as he glanced down at his hand and saw blood on it. In disbelief he turned to the mirror. His eyes widened at the sight. He moved closer to his reflection as he slowly raised his shaking hand to his brow. "It can't be." He repeated what he couldn't rationalize. He continued to wipe the blood away until he saw the long jagged scratch across his right temple.

He looked down again at the blood on his hand. Believing he might be going insane, he tasted the red liquid. However the rich salty flavor only proved the reality of his situation as he looked back up at his forehead. He growled as he tightened his fist and sent it right into the mirror. "What the hell is going on!" He screamed as he pulled his hand away from the broken glass. "It was just a dream!" He willed it to be true as he grabbed a training suit and threw it on in a rush.

His mind had played tricks on him before, allowing him to think she was there when he was alone and fooled him into hearing her voice. But he never before had a delusion as realistic and intense as this. A delusion, of course, that's all she ever was. "I will be diverted no longer." He cursed as he grabbed his cape and gloves. He would face Cooler in just under two hours and he did not intend to allow a memory to get in his way. 'I will forget this.' He repeated to himself as he set off for the main deck. 'It was just a dream.'

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"What is Cooler's response?" Durka, the young captain of the fleet from Danior grunted, loosing patience.

"Do you want the condensed version?" The communications officer asked in a disgusted tone.

"Spit it out man!" Durka growled having been pent up on the ship without any action for too long.

"Basically, he said fuck off and if we even think of coming after him he'll destroy us." The officer said in a 'lets go make him eat his words' kind of tone.

"Very well." Durka smirked as he rose from his seat. "Tell all ships to attack. I don't want Merigh to be hit with another blast. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Sir." The crew nodded in unison as they all began working on their specific tasks to make the order possible.

"Aphara." The captain turned to his commanding officer. "Send word to the Emperor's ship. I'm heading after Cooler personally."

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"Damn it, I said get us out of here!" Cooler bellowed at his pilot using fear tactics.

"I'm trying Sir, but Captain Durka's ship is on our tail and I can't shake hi--" Before the man could finish his thought, Cooler blasted him right though the chest. "Get me a pilot who can get us the hell out of here!" Everyone started rushing around to try and control the ship after it was so suddenly left unattended, however, no one could move fast enough. Cooler's murderous tendencies proved a perfect opportunity for Durka to ram the ship.

"Our shields are down, Sir!" One man screamed before the ship was rocked again, sending Cooler into a rage. "Damn it! Somebody blast them!"

"We can't Sir! Their last blast took out our ships defenses and the right engine. They've attached to our ship! We're being boarded!" The new pilot taking the reins called back, hoping he wouldn't share the same fate as the previous one.

Cooler clenched his fists. He never expected so many things to go wrong. First the damn planet's shield, then the little brat who held him up and now the damn squad from Dianor. "Then I will attack them personally!" Cooler hissed as he stormed off the deck.

"Sir, wait!" A soldier ran to try and stop him. "The Emperor's ship is in less than an hour of ours! If we don't get out of here right this second you'll be fighting him in space!"

Cooler grunted before he blasted the messenger right through the chest. "You!" He grabbed another guard by the throat. "Get my pod ready." Cooler demanded, strategically leaving the 'escape' part out of the title.

"What Sir?" The guard asked again, not believing his almighty ruler would actually retreat.

"You heard me!" Cooler bellowed as he threw the man to the ground. 'Maybe I can't get those extra scientists to complete my division but I'll be damned if I let that monkey get them! I'll blow up my own ship first!' Cooler smirked as he intended to do just that.

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"Where the hell is he?" Durka grunted as he began searching the second level of the ship.

"He's escaped, Sir." Aphara explained. "He got off seconds before we boarded. I sent a soldier to the main deck to check it out."

Durka growled in fury before he nodded for some guards to follow him. "We have to get the scientists off this ship. It's our top priority."

Durka's soldiers rushed down to the lower deck of the ship, fully armed and ready for blood. The numbers of guards rose as they came closer to the cells but most were hardly a match for Dianor's well-trained soldiers. "There, sir." Aphara nodded as she saw a cell with some weak, beaten men. "Are you all the scientists from Merigh?" Aphara asked as she opened the door to the cell.

"Yes." One scientist shouted with joy as he suddenly thought the Calvary had arrived. The men were immediately being lead out of the prison cells by the soldiers until Euran grabbed one of them refusing to leave. "Please, we can't go yet. This isn't all of us!" Euran protested as the others were already out of sight. "Women were taken to a separate cell."

"We only came for the scientists." Aphara said coldly.

"Aphara." Durka glared before he turned to his remaining soldiers. "You all come with me. Aphara take this man back on the ship and prepare the ship for our detachment."

"Right." Aphara nodded obediently as Durka took off to a lower level of the ship.

"That must be it, sir." One of the men said as he broke down the door to another corridor. The men all stumbled in completely flabbergasted by the sight before them...a small boy who was bleeding from every part of his body.

Durka's eyes widened, as he knew exactly whose handy work had left the child in such a state. He slowly walked over and checked for the boys pulse. "He's alive." The captain said in disbelief as he unhooked the boy's shackles lifted him off the ground. "Get him out of here." Durka ordered as he handed the weak child to one of his soldiers.

The guard who held the child blinked in confusion and disgust. "But sir, we only came for the--"

"Are you ready to leave a child behind!?!" Durka asked with fury as he grabbed the man by the collar. The soldier went silent as he and another man carried the broken boy back to the ship. "Now where the hell are these women?"

"I found them, sir." A soldier called as the rest followed into the next room. They were met by a group of weeping women as they ran to open the cell. "Everyone out!"

The women immediately complied as they all sped towards the exit. "That's it Sir." The soldier nodded before he turned to head back to the ship. Durka was going to follow as well, but a sound caught his ear. It was crying, and it caused him to turn back. He slowly walked into the cell, shocked to find two women curled up in the far corner. Durka immediately walked over to get them out, when his jaw almost hit the floor. "Zarra!" He cried in disbelief.

The green skinned woman slowly looked up in uncertainty. "Durka? How? When--"

"No time woman." Durka tried to remain calm as he extended his arms to help her up. "We have to get you out of here now!" He ordered as he pulled her to her feet.

"No! I won't leave without her." Zarra ripped her arm away as Durka looked down in and saw what Zarra was so adamantly protecting. He felt his stomach churn as he could only imagine what the unconscious woman beneath him had been through. She looked almost as battled as the boy he had found earlier, only this woman he wasn't sure was still breathing. "Alright." He nodded not wanting to upset the already hysterical woman. He gently picked Bulma up, and pulled her protectively into his chest as he nodded for Zarra to follow him. "We need to get onboard my ship."

Zarra nodded as she followed close behind. Durka pulled out his scouter to communicate with his ship when he suddenly felt an enormous power racing towards them. Everything suddenly turned into slow motion for him as his aura unconsciously engulfed his body along with that of the woman in his arms. He barely had time to look back as a bright light overwhelmed the darkness. To his horror, all he had time to see was the woman behind him suddenly disappear as the entire ship exploded.

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Author's Note: No! Evil, evil, what a bad author I am! I swear I just can't write a chapter without a cliffhanger! Anyway, in the next chapter Vegeta's ship FINALLY arrives, I know it's about damn time. You'll find out exactly what happened with the explosion and the casualties that result (though I think one is already painfully obvious). We also get a check up on Trunks, and if you're lucky you'll find out Durka's connection to Zarra. Oh, so much is happening in the next chapter I can't wait!