Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Thorns Of The Rose ❯ Discovery ( Chapter 1 )

~*Thorns Of The Rose*~

by Shasta

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Disclaimer: *as Johnny Tight-lips* I ain't sayin' nuthin!

A/N: It's been a while since I last wrote a Cell fic, so don't blame me if I mess anything up. I'm doin' most of this from memory! Well, anyways, I'm not gonna spoil the plot for you. Oh, and the only reason I named the main female character Sarah is because…I LIKE my name!

Okay, I'll shut up and let you read. But before you, do here's a key for referance:

~"Blah blah blah"~ = dreams, flashbacks

"Blah blah blah" = Talking

<Blah blah blah>= Thinking

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ = Scene change, passages of time.

Dedicated to Jen 'SaintMe' Prepodnik, mother of Vegeta fangirls everywhere.

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~*Thorns Of The Rose*~

Chapter One: Discovery

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Thunder crashed loudly outside the un-curtained window, bright flashes of lightning illuminating the inky-black sky. Rain pattered heavily on the glass, trickling down the windowpane and leaving cold, wet trails. There was a slight movement in the far end of the room, where a small Japanese bed lay, worn and thread-bare.

From under a mass of ragged blankets, a head slowly emerged. Getting to her feet slowly, the young girl stretched her aching muscles as she crossed the room to the beaten up dresser against one wall. Peering into the cracked mirror on the wall, she gazed at the reflection staring back at her.

A deathly pale, almost milky white face stared back, emerald green eyes gazing out of sunken eye sockets, reflecting years of vented up anger, sorrow and pain. A tangle of wavey, raven black hair reached her portuding collorbone, framing her face and making her look even paler.

She was skinny to a degree, collorbones sticking out slightly from the ripped collor of a ragged grey sweatshirt that was at least 5 sizes too big.

The girl appeared to be no older than 16 at the least, but her frail physique gave the appearance that she was much younger. A soft sigh escaped her soft pink lips as she reached into her dresser , pulling out a small bundle of clothes which she threw into an old leather sports bag hidden under a pile of blankets next to her bed. She then walked around the room, thankful that the crashing thunder masked the creaking floorboards, collecting her possessions and stuffing them into her bag. Pulling on a pair of baggy blue jeans, she tied up her hair in a messy bun and pulled up the hood of her black trenchcoat.

She glanced back one last time at the concrete walls of her bedroom. Slowly lifting up the window frame, she heaved herself out onto the balcony leading down the fire escape. Taking a deep breath, she pulled down the ladder and made her escape. At long last, she was finally free from the confinements of the orphanage…..

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Elsewhere…..

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Haunting blue eyes scanned over the readings flashing up on the computer screen before him. A soft chuckle escaped wrinkled lips as he rose from his chair, stretching aching muscles.

"It seems my creation has finally escaped her confinments.." he said out loud, smirking at the image of a skinny, pale girl with raven black hair displayed next to a complete biography on the computer screen.

"Sarah Rose Margera. Aged 16 years old, female… orphanned…yes, it is deffinantly her." The white haired scientist read out loud as he scanned the bio, tenting his fingers eagerly. A sudden movement in the corner of the room alerted Dr.Gero that someone was coming in. He watched as the tall, strapping figure of Android Seventeen entered the room, looking somewhat sleep-deprived, dressed in light blue pjamma bottoms and a white vest. He walked towards the doctor, brushing several strands of jet black hair out of his eyes. He peered over the doctor's shoulder at the screen, brow furrowed in confusion.

"Thinking of kidnapping another human to use as a lab rat?" Seventeen queried, in a bored tone of voice. This earned a laugh from Dr.Gero, who rose from his seat and clamped a hand on the raven haired android's broad shoulder.

"My boy, THAT.." he pointed to the screen; "..is your baby sister."

Seventeen's eyes widdened momentarily. "Nani?! But how can a human be related to a machine such as myself?"

Dr.Gero shook his head. "My boy, you are aware that the DNA of the Z-fighters courses through your biological parts?"

Seventeen nodded and folded his arms. "Yes… "

The doctor pointed to the girl on the screen again.

"Well, this girl also has the DNA of the Z-fighters within her, more so in the causes of Son Goku and Gohan. That is the reason you both have black hair….there is one major difference, however. This girl is by no means mechanical. I created her from the ovum of an unnamed donor, to which I infused the DNA into the ovum's nucleas. Once this was achieved, the foetus was placed inside a development chamber untill fully grown. However, the mayor of Nicky Town got wind of my experiment and shut me down. The child was taken away by Social Services and placed in an orphange, were she has lived to this day, unaware of her true heritage."

Seventeen tilted his head to one side. "I see…. What exactly do you intend to do with her?"

"Well, you know Project 22 I've been working on for the past 3 years?" Dr.Gero said, pushing a few strands of bone white hair out of his eyes. Seventeen nodded and glanced over the many blueprints scattered across the desk.

"Yes….the bio-android Cell….but what does that have to do with this girl?"

Dr.Gero chuckled sinesterly. "My boy, I ask of you to fetch her at once. I wish to study her. As she is a prototype for Project 22, she will prove usefull in developing Cell's being. I trust you to bring her back unharmed."

Seventeen sweatdroped. "Tonight?! But sir, there's a thunderstorm-"

"You will be fine. Now, go change and bring her back her. If you can't find her, I don't want to see your face."

Sighing in defeat, Seventeen nodded and walked out of the labritory. He walked down the hallway, mentally cursing the doctor for sending him out during a thunderstorm. He reached his bedroom and pushed open the door, closing it silently behind him as he stepped into the dark blue room. The raven haired android shook his head as he searched through his iron-cast chest of drawers, wanting so much to be in bed asleep than risking getting electrocuted outside.

He peeled off his white vest and pjamma bottoms, quickly changing into a black shirt, beige cargos and a tanned color trenchcoat. He tied a bright orange bandana around his neck for good luck and quickly pulled on a pair of sneakers before heading outside to find the girl Dr.Gero was so eager to meet….

Sarah let out a deep breath as she sheltered under an old bridge, the cold piercing her body like a thousand knives. She shivered, wrapping her trenchcoat around herself to sheild from the cold. Thunder crashed loudly overhead as rain pelted down like bullets, rapping against the brickwork and pattering into the stream nearby.

"And I though nothing could be worse than the orphanage…" she whimpered to herself, bringing her knees to her chest. She looked up into the sky, wishing there was something that could help her escape her torment..

As if in answer to her silent prayers, a figure emerged through the solid sheet of rain, drenched from head to toe. He landed near the bridge, his feet just visable from under the brick archway. Sarah watched silently as he paced around outside, obilvious to the rain pelting down from the black sky. There was something vaguely familiar about him, but she could'nt place him.

"Sarah?" came a soft voice from nearby. The teenage girl snapped out of her stumpor to see a tanned face peering at her, water dripping down chiselled cheekbones, raven hair plastered to his head.

Sarah jumped back alarm, almost hitting her head on the bricks above her. "Whaaa….wh..who are you? How d'ya know my name?"

Seventeen crawled in under the bridge and sat down, wringing the water from his hair. He turned to the skinny teenager and smiled weakly. He appoliguised for scaring her and held out his hand. She did'nt shake it.

"My name's Seventeen. I'm your big brother….in a sense.."

Sarah arched an eyebrow. "I have no siblings. I was an only child when my parents died.."

Seventeen shook his head. "So much you don't know. Come.. I will give you answers to the questions in your head.."

Sarah's brow furrowed. It seemed this man knew more than he appeared. Still, she did'nt trust him and inched further away from him, emerald green eyes glaring coldly at him.

"Forget it, pervert! I know whatcha tryna pull and I'm not fallin' for it so why don't you get lost and leave me alone?"

The raven haired android chuckled at this. His sapphire eyes glinted with menace as he slowly edged towards her.

"I'm not what you think…if you won't join me willingly, I'll have to use force." Before Sarah had a chance to react, she felt two strong arms hoist her onto Seventeen's back. She screamed in alarm, but was cut short when he began to rise up into the air, rain beating down hard upon their faces, wind howling like a banshee. With a burst of white ki, Seventeen sped up and flew of towards the mountains, ignoring Sarah's screams of terror.

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Sarah could'nt remember how long she had been asleep, but she knew she had just been awakened by someone prodding her in the ribs. She growled and sat up, rubbing her eyes as they came into focus. She saw the man who had kidnapped her the night before standing over her, smirking.

Remembering what had happened last night, she jumped out of bed and kicked him as hard as she could in the..erm….nutsack.

Caught off-guard, Seventeen's eyes bulged as he fell to his knees, curling into a foetal position.

"What was that for?!" he yelled, 5 octaves higher than normal. Sarah flicked her wavy black hair out of her eyes, glaring down at him.

"THAT's for kidnapping me!" she yelled, before promptly stepping on him as she made her escape from the room. Running down the maze of corridors, she realized that she was in an unfamiliar surrounding. It appeared to be a sort of mental asylum, the walls white plaster and covered with innumberable doors. Within a few minutes, she was lost.

Beads of sweat began to trail down her temple. Sarah never did like being trapped somewhere with no way out, especially if it was as confined as this corridor. The walls seemed to consume her as she tried franticly to find away out, panic overcoming her…

"Aaaah….we meet again, Ms.Margera…"

Sarah let out the breath she was holding, spinning around on her heels to face Dr.Gero, a tall , white haired man that looked to be at least 70 years old.

"Wh….what do you want from me?!" she practically shrieked, chest pounding painfully as she struggled to get her breath back. Dr.Gero quickly caught her just before she fell to her knees in a weakened state. She had no energy left to fend him off, so instead, she allowed herself to be guided into one of the doors on the right-hand side of the corridor, leading into a huge laboritory. Dr.Gero lifted her up onto a huge metal operating table in the centre of the room and checked her over. It seemed all was going well untill he checked her back.

His brow furrowed in confusion as his eyes roamed over a mass of scars and fading bruises upon her slender shoulders and spine, clearly visable against the near milky-white skin.

"Child, what is-"The doctor began, only to be cut short by Sarah pulling her top back down. She brought her knees to her chest and shrugged.

"It's nothin'…..now, could you please tell me what the hell is goin' on? Why did you kidnap me?"

Dr.Gero knew better to press the subject so he brought up a lab chair and sat down in it, facing the raven haired girl. His hand reached to stroke his long beard, as if wondering how to set about answering her questions. A brief moment of silence followed before the 'good doctor' spoke.

"Well, Sarah…..you have been brought to me because you are a valuable asset to my team. Let me explain in further detail.." The doctor rose from his seat and crossed the lab to a filing cabnet near the wall. He pulled open the top drawer and rumaged around inside for a few moments before pulling out a file enclosed in a clear green folder.

He walked back to the table and handed the file to Sarah, who gave him a quizzical look.

"That file contains the details of your creation." Dr.Gero said, his eyes harsh and cold as they stared deep into Sarah's own. She glanced down at the file in her hands, then back at Dr.Gero.

"Created…??"

The doctor nodded and began explaining everything he had told Seventeen the previous night….

"….And so you see, you have more Goku cells than anything else. That is why you have black hair…it is also the reason for your incredibly high power level."

Sarah sat on the operating table, still trying to regiester this new information. It sounded like something from a sci-fi movie, yet some of it made sense..in a strange way. She looked down at her bare feet, breathing slowly.

"….So…what becomes of me, doctor?"

Dr.Gero motioned towards one of the development tanks in the middle of the lab floor. Sarah peered inside and almost screamed at what she saw. A huge insect, possibly a giant cockroach, was crouching inside, it's brown scaled body surrounded by purple fluids. Several wires stuck out of it's shell and it appeared to be in a deep sleep.

"What the hell IS that THING?!"Sarah yelled, wrinkling her nose in disgust. Dr.Gero frowned at her before directing his attention back to the creature in the tank once again.

"THIS…is my latest creation. He was created the same way as yourself, except he also has the genes of many insects. This is because many insects can adapt tovarious conditional changes. For example, a cockroache can survive even the most extreme conditions. It has been found that after the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima at the end of World War 2, the cockroaches had survived without so much as a scratch…" Dr.Gero rambled on.

Sarah was'nt really listening. She was too busy staring at the thing in the tank, which had woken up half-way through the doctor's science lesson.

The creature stared at Sarah with huge, magenta eyes the size and shapes of tennis balls. A soft series of clicks resounded from it's beak-like mouth, only just loud enough for Sarah to hear. A sweatdrop appeared on her temple as she tried not to make any sudden movements.

<That thing is gonna eat me the first chance it gets….> she thought worriedly, gulping nervously..

"….He is the perfect warrior. Of course, in this stage of his development, he is at his weakest but once he sheds his skin, he will consume the first energy source he can find in order to survive. I have named him Cell. Is'nt he a handsome little devil?" Dr.Gero beamed, snapping Sarah away from her staring match.

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I guess…"Sarah muttered, giving the doctor a wary glance. Dr.Gero shook his head and placed a hand on the glass panel of the tank.

"What I want to do with you is to use you as the energy source he needs to consume once he completes his larval stage. You are powerful enough for him to survive long enough to reach his second evolutionary stage, my dear."

Sarah's eyes widdened. She could'nt believe what she was hearing. Dr.Gero, the man who had created her from scratch, wanted to feed her to a giant cockroache?!

"WHAAAT?!"she screamed, eyes taking up half of her head as she held her hands out in front of her, fingers twitching involentarily. Dr.Gero nodded.

"That is why I created you in the first place…" He glanced at Cell, a smirk on his face; "…you will become part of the ultimate perfection…I calculate he will be able to live outside the tank in approximidly 3 hours, if my calculations are correct. Take the time to say goodbye to the world, my dear, for you will never see it again."

Sarah gasped in terror. If she thought being confined to a concrete room for the rest of her days was bad enough, it was nothing compared to what she had to face within the next 3 hours……

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Sarah ran as fast as her legs could carry, stumbling over rocks and fallen tree trunks. She collasped in a clearing deep in the forrest, her muscles screaming in agony. Still, she had to keep going. It was only a matter of time before Dr.Gero noticed she was missing. She sat up, breathing hard and looked around. She was long way away from the labritory but even so, she did'nt feel safe. The clearing was shaded by many closely knit trees, rays of sunshine pouring in via the gaps in the leaves. There was a huge waterfall nearby, leading down into a small valley were there was a large, crystal-clear lake.

It was absolutely beautiful. The raven haired girl quickly forgot all her troubles as she sat down near the edge of the valley, gazing down several feet to the gentle waves below, reflecting the light of the sun. She smiled softly, feeling the urge to lie back in the tall grass and catch a few rays. Kami knows she could use a tan..

A sudden snapped of a twig sent several birds flying from a nearby tree. Sarah got to her feet, ready to strike at anything that proved a threat. The long, green grass before her russled softly. A clicking noise could be heard faintly within the emerald blades. All of Sarah's fears came back to her at full force. Her body froze in fright as she watched the enormous, cockroache-like creature crawl out of the grass, staring at her with tennis ball -shaped eyes.

<Oh….shit…> She thought, trying hard to run but her legs refused to move. The creature moved closer, clicking softly at her as it's bulky feet moved animatedly in the soil. Sarah watched in silent terror, her heart pounding painfully in her chest. Her legs soon managed to move again, but she had no-where to go. The only way out was to jump into the stream but Sarah was'nt a great swimmer and from this height, it was bound to hurt.

She drew in her lip, wishing for some way out..

Suddenly, the creature stopped in it's tracks. It slowly cocked it's head to one side, clicking in a questioning tone. Sarah sweatdropped and took a step back, nearing the edge of the valley.

"Umm…. Please don't eat me…" she whimpered, her body shaking in fear.

Click. Click. Click.

The creature seemed to be surveying her. It's eyes swiveled around like a chamelions before it became motionless again. Sarah waited for it to strike, clenching her eyes shut as she braced herself for what was about to come….

Nothing happened…

Crrrrrrraaaaack….

Sarah opened her eyes and blinked. A large crack had suddenly appeared on the creature's back. The sweatdrop on Sarah's temple got, if possible, even larger. She had remembered Dr.Gero's words loud and clear: "He will consume the energy of the first being he sees." She was in deep shit..

The crack got bigger still, untill it was so big that the creature split open all the way, a dark purple fluid oozing out of the shell. Sarah wrinkled her nose. Not only was the fluid fowl smelling, the sight she had just witness was enough to turn anyone off their food for a few days. But that was nothing compared to what was slowly rising out of the shell.

It appeared to 7 foot tall and masculine. Like Sarah, it was extremely petite, but muscular instead of bony. It's entire body was dark green in colour, the exact same colour as Sarah's eyes, and spackled with black spots. Plates of black armour covered it's chest and a long tail swayed absently from behind, the end a deathly sharp stinger. It's face was completely green too, eyes that appeared cat-like and magenta in colour, and a large orange beak-like mouth.

It flexed it's muscles, shaking off the last of the purple fluid before setting it's sights on Sarah.

"EEP!" she squealed and tried to back away, which resulted in her falling over the edge of the valley. Luckily, she managed to catch hold of a portruding tree brance on the way down and was now dangling about 6 feet above the water. She gulped and looked up. Cell was standing at the edge, looking down at her quizzicly.

"What are you doing, human?" he said slowly, his voice horse and raspy, as if he had a throat infection. Sarah's eyes widdened.

"YOU CAN TALK?!"

Cell glared at her. "Of COURSE I can talk, baka ningen! Dr.Gero's data provides me with all the knowledge I need to communicate. I can speak over 18 different languages fluently. Now, what on Earth are you doing down there?" he growled, magenta eyes narrowing.

Sarah suddenly felt incredible stupid as she dangled from the branch.

"For your information, bug-boy, you scared me!"

Cell folded his arms over his chest and chuckled mirthlessly. "Idiot…I expect you want me to pull you up, hmmm?" he said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

Sarah rolled her eyes and swung towards the valley face. She gripped onto the rocks and slowly pulled herself up, crawling into the tall grass. The bio-android stared down at her with a look of the upmost loathing upon his face.

"I don't need yo' help, Captain Cockroach!"

"My name is Cell, weakling!" He growled, feeling anger towards this human for even daring to insult him. The raven haired teenager rolled her eyes. From what she was witnessing, Cell did'nt strike her as being dangerous. If anything, he was obnoxious and rude and it was possible that Dr.Gero had meerly exaggerated in order to scare her…still, she could'nt let her guard down.

"Not that it's any use to you, but I'm Sarah…"she said curtly, still glaring at him. A small smirk crossed his lips as his tail began to sway violently behind him.

"Aaaaah….the energy carrier Dr.Gero has informed me of…yes….you will be a perfect asset to helping me achieve perfection!"

Sarah snorted and folded her arms. "Oh really? And just what makes you think I'll be willing to go along with this?"

Without warning, Cell's tail suddenly lunged forward, catching her off guard and implaining her in the stomach. She screamed in a mixture of alarm and agony as she felt the android suck out her ki, her life energy..With a scream, she grabbed hold of the stinger part of his tail and yanked it out of her stomach, trying to ignore the white-hot pain that surged through her body.

Cell tried to pull his tail away, but this only resulted in Sarah squeesing it hard with all her strenght. Cell's eyes bulged and a cry of pain escaped his lips. He raised a hand to punch her but the teenager was quicker and drop-kicked him in the face. Cell fell to the ground with a sickening thud, purple blood oozing from his mouth. She had hit him hard, no doubt about that.

The android looked up, eyes wide with shock. He growled and tried to get to his feet, only to fall back on his rear as his legs buckled from under him. Sarah glared down at him, eyes glinting coldly.

"You little piece o' shit!!! Try that again and I'll break out the bug spray!" she growled, holding a hand to her stomach, which was bleeding profoundly. She groaned in pain and collasped beside him on the grass. Both were too exausted to do anything..

Sarah groaned again and curled up into a foetal postion, clutching her stomach.

Cell watched as a trail of blue blood trickled out of the small, circular wound visable through the rip in her shirt. This startled Cell, who had thought her to be human. He sat up slowly, ignoring his own aching muscles and slowly inched towards her.

"Get….away…from me…..Cap'n….Cockroach…"she croacked, clenching her eyes shut against the pain.

"You are not human…I can tell because you have blue blood.." Cell said coldly, scanning her injuries carefully.

"Long story short, I was created like you….*cough*….I'm an android…"she croaked, breathing hard as she felt herself getting dizzy from the pain. She was vaguely aware of Cell picking her up in his arms. The faint buzzing of wings was the last thing she heard before she slipped into unconiousness……

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To Be Continued….

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A/N: Like it? Hate it? Wish it would crawl into a hole and die? Well, review and tell me, for cryin' out loud! Don't expect an update immidiatly. I'm tryna juggle 2 fics along with this one, and on top of that, I get my Junior finals on June 4th. But don't worry. I won't let you die of old age! ^_^

Well, untill next chapter, catch ya later!