Pride Rekindled: Chapter 6 (Patreon)

Like she tended to do, Papri woke up from her restless slumber slowly, and then all at once. Orange eyes snapped open only to close immediately once more as they were assaulted with an unknown liquid. She frowned, her hands coming up to her face to attempt to remove whatever was causing the discomfort, only for them to move achingly slow compared to what she was used to. Almost as if they were submerged in glue.Where in the world was she?Her memory was foggy, snapshots of the past several months coming to the forefront of her mind as she attempted to figure out exactly where she was. She shuffled through them lethargically, brain working slowly as if she had been in deep sleep for a long time, and came up blank on what had happened and where she had found herself.Deciding that there was only one way to find out, Papri opened her eyes, much more this time, to find herself surrounded in the slightly viscous, green liquid common in PTO healing tanks. Which, as she looked out into the actual room she had found herself in, seemed to be exactly what it was.How in the hell had she gotten into a healing tank? In fact, how in the hell had she gotten off of Grinn the first place?The memories were coming back faster now, but the big questions still eluded her. What was she forgetting?Before she had the chance to ponder the question any further, there was a loud beep that emanated from outside the tank, a beep Papri vaguely recognized to be an indication that the draining procedure had been initiated. It seemed that whoever was monitoring the tank had noticed that she was awake.The healing liquid filling the tank began to drain as several large vents opened up along the edges. Papri slowly sank to the floor as the stuff keeping her suspended disappeared, floating downward until her feet were upon the solid metal at the bottom.The glass face opened with a hiss, oxygen flooding into the vacuum left by the liquid, and Papri took the opportunity to rip the mask off of her face, taking several greedy gulps of air and grimacing at the hollow feeling in her chest.Having oxygen forced into your lungs for extended periods of time tended to cause discomfort, even for Saiyans. Papri didn't know how long she had been in that tank but her lungs certainly weren't having a good time.Brushing a hand through her hair in a vain attempt to rid it of the tangles that had appeared in it during her stint in the tank, Papri froze as her hand brushed against cool metal. Probing fingers revealed that said cool metal extended around the entirety of her neck circling it like a…A collar. She was wearing a collar. Someone had put a collar on her while she was healingThe Saiyan scowled at the sheer audacity of whoever had put her inside that tank, bringing both of her hands up to grip the metal ring as she prepared to tear the disgusting contraption free of her neck. And then, just before she jerked it free with all of the strength available to her, she was stopped.“I wouldn't do that if I were you.”Papri snapped into a defensive stance at the voice whirling around to face the speaker with a scowl on her face. She found a purple skinned woman staring down at the console in front of her intently. She didn't turn to look at Papri even as she addressed her, continuing to fiddle with the knobs and dials as she continued to immerse herself in whatever task she was engrossed in.Taking a closer look at the woman, Papri could see the telltale seams in her exposed face and neck, as well as the way her eyes seemed to almost glow despite the harsh lights of the med bay. The signs rang in Papri’s head, a memory of a specific race she had read about with some interest while stranded on that rock.The woman was a Visurii, a fleeting race of manually created biomechanical beings who seemed to have been brought into the galaxy all at once and then never again. They were all rather strong, having been designed to have high power levels for purposes unknown, and were an oddity in the galaxy simply due to how few of them there were left. There was only a single generation and they had no way to replenish their population, which was rather unfortunate as they could make incredible warriors when they chose to, as rare as that was It had interested Papri endlessly to know that an entire race of extremely powerful beings had simply been created. The idea that just intelligence alone could allow someone to create a species that surpassed even the strongest Saiyans was insane, and it made Papri wonder exactly how far they could have taken it with just a few more generations.Unfortunately, whoever or whatever had created the Visurii were long gone. The planet that the androids originated from had been devastated and abandoned long before the race had even been awoken, with absolutely nothing indicating where they had gone or what had happened to them.It was a miracle that the Visurii were able to find the schematics of space-faring vessels in the ruins of the long-gone civilization, otherwise it was very likely that they would still be stranded on the planet of ruins and dust.Back in the present, Papri stared at the woman warily for a moment, before deciding to disregard her advice. She didn't know what this collar on her neck was for but she wanted it off. She didn't care if she got in ‘trouble’ for it or not.She dug her fingers underneath the slick metal, knuckles sliding against the skin of her neck as she got a good grip on the thing, before yanking with all her strength-!The next conscious thought Papri had was that the floor in this med bay was extremely dirty as her face rested against it. The only thought she had after that was that she had no idea how much electricity hurts when you're wet.She groaned as a cool hand was placed on the smoking skin of her back, soothing her slightly as she rose onto her hands. Her skull felt like it was buzzing with the amount of electricity that had run through it, “What was that?” She managed to say.“That was the result of messing with a Class-B anti-riot collar.” The woman explained as she stared at Papri, purple eyes looking the Sayian over intently, “It's wired to prevent tampering. Any fiddling with it without the key to deactivate it will send a shock through your nervous system powerful enough to put down someone with a power level of sixty thousand.”She apparently thought Papri was fine, as she backed up, looking her in the eyes seriously, “What you just experienced was a third of that, a bit of a warning. You won't get another.”Papri stared down at the collar around her neck with much more wariness than before. She could still feel the residual electricity tingling in her skin, and if that was only a third of its full output, she'd had a feeling she didn't want to experience the rest.She rose back to her feet, wrapping her tail around her waist in what was definitely not an attempt to comfort herself as she looked around the room.It looked to be a standard Med Bay, with the standard medicine shelves and medical tanks that were mostly empty of the healing liquid that normally occupied them.There was another occupied tank but the green surface was almost completely opaque, the inside invisible to her eyes. That usually indicated that whoever was inside was undergoing some extremely heavy-duty treatment. Papri wondered what had happened to them. A training accident maybe? She wasn't able to ponder long as she was forced to turn her attention back to the only other occupant in the room as the woman walked back to her, stopping directly in front of the Saiyan.The Visurii looked her up and down with a gaze so intent that it was actually making the Saiyan a little uncomfortable. She coughed lightly, looking away from the woman's searching purple eyes.“So uh,” She began awkwardly, “What's your name? I've never met a Visurii before, i-if that's even what you are I mean. I don't mean to assume.”Papri wasn't used to talking to anyone who wasn't Bot and her head was starting to hurt from that shock she had received. This woman wasn't making it any easier with her curt demeanor either though Papri got the distinct feeling that she didn't even want to be there.The purple-skinned woman didn't say anything for a moment, merely continuing to look Papri over, and just as the Saiyan went to repeat her question, she stepped back, turning to make her way to her desk.“Rima. And yes, I am a Visurri.” The woman said shortly as she grabbed a device that Papri didn't recognize. She returned to the Saiyan, pressing a button on said device and frowning when it beeped.“I've never seen one of your species before. You guys are supposed to be really strong.” Papri said in awe.Rima just smiled, though Papri could detect absolutely zero happiness in it, “Just like yourself yes?”Before the Saiyan could process the statement, the Visurii pulled away from her, stowing her device as her diagnostics were finally complete.“Well, you are completely healthy.” The woman said, stepping back, “No cell damage or accelerated cell growth so that's good as well. All things considered, you are an exceptional specimen for your species, even disregarding your Mutant traits.” She hummed, retrieving a datapad from a nearby table and tapping on it.Papri tilted her head in confusion, “Mutant?” Rima continued on as if she hadn't heard her, “Let's see. Two days ago your power level was a little over eight thousand. Now…” She looked at Papri and her eyes glowed, some unseen process going on behind her eyes that the Saiyan wasn't privy to.Papri shuffled a bit nervously, slightly uncomfortable by the staring. Luckily, it didn't take long before Rima was finished, and the woman looked away as she turned her attention back to her datapad.“Hmm… A bit over thirteen thousand, interesting. Congratulations Saiyan. You have reached the top point seven percentile of your race before you reached your majority. A major feat for one stranded on a planet with no strong opponents.” She said simply.Papri was stunned. She could count on one hand the number of Saiyans with power levels over nine thousand and two of them were in the Royal Family. She hadn't even been to Planet Vegeta in ten years and somehow she had surpassed nearly her entire race!?“Are you sure the reading’s right?” She questioned, “I've spent most of my time hunting and practicing attacks to blow up buildings! There's no way it's that high!”Rima completely ignored her, instead muttering to herself as she tapped rapidly on her device, “Still, that's a five thousand point increase in a completely rested state over the course of several days. Even for Saiyans that's almost unprecedented so it's likely another manifestation of her mutations. Cases like this have been documented before but never in one so young.”Papri just sort of stood there awkwardly as she watched the woman ramble to herself. Most of the technical jargon flew over her head, but what she did know was that she was still naked and the air inside of the med bay was actually pretty cold.“Hey, do you have my clothes and stuff?” She asked, her bushy tail tightening around her waist in a vain attempt to warm herself.The woman didn't respond, continuing her rambling, “Her tail is recording the same power level as before so it didn't grow along with her. What will happen when her power level exceeds that of the appendage? Will it start growing as well? Maybe I should run some non-invasive tests-”“Hey!” Papri was getting more than a little annoyed at being ignored. She fought back a eye twitch as Rima looked up at her with a raised eyebrow as if she was confused why she was interrupting her rambling, instead gesturing down at her naked body, “Do you have my armor? I'm getting cold.”Rima blinked and Papri was privy to the first emotion she had seen from the woman other than boredom, embarrassment.“Ah, yes.” Rima coughed lightly, “Sorry about that. I can get a bit caught up in my own head sometimes.”Papri watched as she put the datapad away, turning and pointing to a nearby set of lockers, “Your armor is in there, third locker from the right. Well, I say your armor, but truthfully it's only your boots, everything else was too damaged to be replaced.”Papri nodded, making her way over to the lockers as turned to walk to the still-occupied healing tank, “Someone's on the way to pick you up for debriefing so you've got at most ten minutes to get ready.” Rima said over her shoulder, “I'd be quick about it. Depending on who it is they might just drag you out of here regardless of your state of dress.”How fun. Opening the locker, Papri found exactly what Rima had described; spandex, armor, gloves, boots, and surprisingly, her cloak as well, the thick cloth folded neatly on the top shelf.It didn't take long to get dressed, though the feeling of the brand new spandex suit clinging to her body was a bit unfamiliar when compared to her old one.Her new armor was similar to her old set, same material and shoulder pads, although unlike her old set, this one was a slate grey instead of the normal white. A bit odd, but she wasn't going to complain.As she fitted the armor to her body, Papri turned and pulled the cloak out, looking it over. Unlike her old armor, the cloak was relatively new and remarkably sturdy besides that and as such, it was in pretty good conditionShe knew that now that she was free of Grinn, she likely wouldn't need it, but even though the armor she was wearing fit perfectly thanks its elastic properties, something still felt like it was missing. She had a feeling she knew what it was.She threw it over her shoulders, the familiar weight settling on her as she allowed it to drape around her. She sighed in satisfaction as the discomfort faded away, before moving on to the last piece of the set. Her boots.Things had mostly come back to Papri by now. Or at least, a portion the battle that had occurred on Grinn. She remembered killing or at least nearly killing Pumm, the Fruitian's fate unknown to her.She remembered killing Buri after what he had done to her scouter and Bot by extension, though the details were slightly foggy and most importantly, she remembered stowing the AI’s datachip within her boot, hopeful that she would be able to restore him.Rima had said the boots were hers, did that mean his chip was still inside?Papri gave a small prayer as she pulled one of her boots from the locker, looking inside it with a hopeful gaze. That hope turned to elation as she caught sight of a tiny piece of metal gleaming withing the lining of the elastic footwear, and she quickly reached inside to pull it free, holding it in front of her eyes reverently as she looked it over.Bot's datachip had sustained very little damage in the time between when she had put him in her boot and now and the longer she examined him, the more hopeful she became. There was very little damage to the actual chip itself. A single small crack ran upon the surface of the casing, but Papri could already see that it was surface level and likely hadn't compromised the internals in the slightestWhich meant that if she got the materials, she could modify her new scouter just as she had her old one to take the AI’s datachip and download his personality to a new one. She could get her friend back.She placed the chip back into the lining of her boot, and just as she finished dressing and went to put her dark blue scouter on, the door to the room hissed open.A man entered, walking with purposeful slowness as he called out, “Hey, Rima. Got word the Saiyan was awake.”Papri looked him over. With his sunny yellow skin and the crown of horns peeking out from under his blue hair, he didn't appear to be a member of any species that Papri knew.There was also a collar around his neck, same as Papri.“Halvar.” Rima greeted the man, “I assume Orishi sent you.”“Mhm.” The man nodded, looking like he really didn't want to be there, “He said to bring the Saiyan to him immediately.” He wiggled a finger in his ear, “Course he wasn't nearly as nice as that but that was basically what he said so I'm here to take the her to him.”“I have a name you know.” Papri said in annoyance as she placed her scouter on her face, still unsure what was going on.“I doubt he cares and I know for sure that I don't.” Halvar said simply, before turning around to exit the med bay, “Come on. If you're late he's gonna take it out of my hide. And then yours too.”Papri stared after the man as he left, before turning her eyes towards Rima. The woman just nodded at her, “Better follow him. You don't want to make Orishi angry.”Papri nodded slowly, before turning to make her way out of the med bay, “Alright. Thanks for the help I guess.”“Just doing my job.”It wasn't hard at all to catch up with Halvar at the pace he was moving and the man didn't acknowledge her as she joined his side.The Saiyan still had very little idea what was going on and her memory had yet to come back completely, but she had a feeling that wherever this man was leading her would shed some light on things.Although the collar around her neck and the churning in her gut told her that she probably wouldn't like the revelations that would follow.