Black Dawn: Part 1
Revival of an Android
Author's Note: Just to make sure you know where the story starts, it is set four years after The Majin Buu Saga. Goten is eleven and Trunks is twelve, the only ages I can give you right now. Please don't pester me about how long I take writing each part. I'm working on an original series at the same time so don't push me. Now, let's get to the story!
Saicho had always considered himself a strong person. At birth his power read 13000, though of course all that power was untapped. By the time he was 7, his power read an amazing 18000 and he was drafted into King Cold's army. He had wanted to be in Freeza's army, because they got to do MOR dirty work, but Coola and Cold were getting all the strong soldiers who weren't Saiyans.
However, when Planet Vegeta was tragically hit by an asteroid, Saicho got his wish.
Now, Freeza was long gone, his only legacy, the log of his journey to Namik and his adventure their. After Freeza, Coola and Cold all disappeared on Earth, their had been a power struggle between the remaining members of the Cold Empire. Saicho hadn't exactly won, a man called Cazaza had done that, but he felt he had come out on top, after all, not only had he stolen Freeza's log, he had learnt the Cold family's darkest secret.
"Sir," one of Saicho's men said through his communicator, using his space suit's thrusters to move closer. "We've completed the search of the area where Freeza was found. Nothing."
"Could Freeza have been moved by the explosion of Namik?" Saicho asked, hovering above his soldier.
"Certainly, he could have been thrown several miles by the initial explosion. The item we are searching for could also have been moved a long way by the thrusters of passing space ships. If your assumption that this object cannot be destroyed is incorrect, then we are wasting our time here. It would certainly have been destroyed by the sudden change of environment when Namik was destroyed."
Saicho scowled behind the visor of his helmet. "Keep looking!" he ordered.
***
"Woman!!!" Vegeta roared. "Wake up! The stupid gravity room isn't working!"
The words that wrenched Bulma from sweet dreams of her husband cooking Bacon and Eggs for breakfast. No no. Instead it was the gravity room again. "Vegeta, it isn't working because you broke it! You fix it yourself!" Vegeta's face turned blue. "I am the King of the Saiyans!" he yelled. "You do not-" Bulma leapt out of bed, whacked the saiyan with her bedside lamp, which smashed to pieces on impact with his head, and walked over to the wardrobe to get dressed. "Good, wench," Vegeta said, leaving the room.
***
Goten was, as he had been since late yesterday afternoon, on the phone. His girlfriend, Kaew, had kept calling back, though Chi-chi must have got Goten off the phone 20 times. She was running out of reasons. Her plea, "You have to have breakfast Goten!" was countered by, "I'll make up for it at lunchtime." Chi-chi's eyeballs rolled up into her head at this… a saiyan never resisted the temptation of her cooking! Goten's girlfriend had to be one hot chick!
Goku and Gohan couldn't help either. Gohan was at university, on a three day mathematics course and Goku had gone to see Yamcha. Well, Goku wouldn't have helped; he'd just shrug, scratch his head and say, "Let him be Chi-chi." He wouldn't get it.
How much had this relationship cost already, 50 Zeni? But really, deep, deep down, she didn't care. Her son was doing what he wanted to, and that was what mattered most. This might turn out like Gohan and Videl's relationship had, eventually. They would be married in two months. Not long. She couldn't wait.
***
The universe is ruled by hundreds of different deities. The Supreme Kai was one of the MOR powerful ones. But the universe could not possibly rest on one person's shoulders. No, that would be too dangerous. Not even Dai Kaio could hold that much power, before he was absorbed by Majin Buu. Their were many gods above the kame's and the Kai's and the Supreme Kai's.
And one of them, like so many other people, had become interested in a small insignificant blue ball in the middle of a galactic desert. The home of the only remaining Saiyans. The place where Freeza, Coola and Cold all died. The place where Doctor Gero invented his androids. Doctor Gero's androids. One in particular. The misfit. That was what had interested him. Created in only one timeline, but somehow leaving his mark on all of them. Never fulfilling the destiny that he had meant too. Never going to complete his true quest, Freeza's legacy. Confusing the higher gods, he had somehow wiped out several timelines in this cosmic catastrophe. Then he was gone, blown into pieces. Tiny fragments scattered over a large battlefield. Fragments that the god new, with care and a little magic could be reassembled. This was what he had been doing for the last few days, and now, he needed only one more piece, and then the android who was to play such a futile part in the upcoming battle would be revived. It was so vitally important, what he had to do, what Gohan, and Goten, and Trunks, and the android had to do. To set it all right. To repair the damage the Future Trunks had caused trying to fix a smaller problem. "It has to work!" he thought,"Or the universe is done."
The last piece was difficult to retrieve. A rock had been rolled on top of it, and it had pushed the fragment of steel deep into the ground. The god had to dig down carefully with his hands until he found it. He would have used energy but it was important that none of the parts were damaged. Some how, Android 16 had been neatly killed, just blown into pieces, with no real damage. Of course, they were rusted, and some were scratched and dirty, but the memory was complete, and everything else could be repaired by magic. The god brought the last piece over to the huge pile he had made, and added it to the other parts. Then, standing over the pile, he pointed his palms down at the fragments and called forth the energy he would need. His palms began to glow faintly, as did the scrapheap before him, then the pieces…changed. They didn't move, but fused into each other, melding seamlessly into one piece. A few seconds later a giant android lay prostrate on the ground. But the god was not finished yet. Suddenly, clothes appeared from nowhere on the android, fitting perfectly. Finally, the android stood, slowly. The god relaxed his arms, which he had held in front of him through the entire process. "Who are you?" he asked, "Tell me your name."
"I am Android 16," the android said.
"Good. What is the last thing you remember?"
"Earth, Gohan and Cell," the android said simply.
"Good," the god said, "that is all you need." He reached out, touched the android's arm, and the two disappeared.
***
Bulma fixed the bedside lamp, and Vegeta spent that day training, like he spent every other day. He never grew weaker, like the others did from lack of exercise. Though he didn't want to kill Goku anymore, he still wanted to be the strongest, nothing could dampen that desire. Trunks shared it, deep inside, he could tell. It made them Saiyan. He just wished that Kakarot's boy would keep away. He was a bad influence, and together they could really get to him, something they did all too often when they got the chance. But at least they were good fighting partners. When he sparred them together, he had a hard time keeping them both at bay. They definitely new how to fight as a team.
***
A group of soldiers suddenly came rushing excitedly to Saicho. "We've found it," the leader said. It's being hoisted onto the ship as we speak."
"Good," Saicho said. "I will supervise. Tell them to have it put in the cargo hold. We will now return to Freeza Planet #79, to make sure this is the item I have been seeking. And then…It will be time."
***
Android 16 was in the forest, the forest he had enjoyed all that time ago, when Cell was terrorizing Earth. Here, he had completely defeated the program Doctor Gero had installed in him. The god had not incorporated it into him when he was rebuilt. Now, only the memory of it remained. He was free…almost. He still had his final mission to complete. After he had been revived, he had been taken to the planet of the being who had recreated him, and he had been put through many tests, until the Lawgiver, as the deity had called himself, finally decided that he was ready. Then, Android 16 had finally been told why he was there. He had been given only clues, because direct help from immortals, other than to correct mistakes in the course of events was forbidden, but he had all the information he needed. He had ten days. Ten days to prepare himself and the other Z soldiers for the end, and the beginning. The Saiyan prince, the savior and sons.
And the Black Dawn…