A DBZ fanfiction by LadyRivka
A/N: I got the idea for this fic from the Jennifer Lopez movie "The Cell", but I decided to put Kuririn in Jennifer's place and #18 in the psychopathic killer's place, and Bulma (of course!) as the scientist. Things will deviate slightly from the movie (of course), as I have to take characterization and such into account. Enjoy!-Rivka
It was two months after the destruction of Cell. Two. Long. Months.
Chichi was pregnant again, and everyone else was trying to make do…
Except for #18. She didn't know where her brother was, she didn't know where she was, for that matter. Lost in a sea of nothingness.
Sometimes her nightmares would wake her from her short sleep (cyborgs didn't need much sleep, maybe a "power nap" a day), and create an irrevocable sense of panic.
Something nagged at her. A voice deep inside. It screamed that she had to fulfill her programming, to kill. The sweet sound of blood oozing from severed veins. It would take away her pain, resolve her conflicts.
But who?
The only name on her mind, the man who had wished the bombs out of both her and her brother's bodies. She was reluctant, but it nagged at her, gnawing her mind away like a mangy dog at a ham-bone.
Kuririn.
The name repeated itself a million times over in her brain, like a reflex. She had to kill him, damn it, she had to. She had to look out for herself and not some measly human.
She knew where he was, she had visited his residence before.
The Kame House.
And off she flew form her makeshift home in the middle of a campground to that place.
The trouble was, her prey wasn't there.
Ah, well.
No, where the hell is he? I need to know. You need to get him.
Shut up! Juuhachigoo hated these mental conversations that she had with herself; at points they got unnerving.
Then she sensed him.
He was at Capsule Corporation for some reason or other.
She needed her blood. NOW.
And off she went…
Bulma was testing a new device with Kuririn as her subject.
The short fellow was confused by all this high-tech gadgetry of Bulma's. "Say, what's this thing again?"
"It's a mental transmitter. What it does is scan your brain, seeking out the neural connections. From there, it re-creates the inside of a person's mind, and, via this feedback loop, enables one person to travel inside the mind of the other. If I don't get a Nobel Prize for this, I don't know what those jerks in Stockholm are thinking!"
"Say that in English, Bulma?" Kuririn scratched his head.
"You can journey inside other people's heads. It'll revolutionize psychology and psychiatry."
"Oh."
"Give it a go?"
"Sure."
But before Kuririn and Bulma could get strapped inside of the machine, #18 lept through the window and pounced onto Kuririn, not minding the trail of broken glass in her wake.
Ha ha, got you, my delicious prey. #18 smirked as Kuririn's head slowly turned around, his face contorted with fear.
"Now, now, relax, it'll be less painful for you if you relax," she cooed.
"What the hell…?" screamed Bulma. "Juuhachigoo-san, you know better!"
"Oh, do I?"
"You-you were n-nice to him last week. Let him go before I call the police!"
"Ha. Don't make me laugh, Bulma." #18 gripped Kuririn's neck even harder. The former monk struggled to breathe.
He managed to choke out, "Something's…wrong…with her…"
Yes, thought Bulma. Maybe her cybernetic portions need re-adjustment or tune-up. She got out her malfunction detector she used on her lab robots, but nothing was wrong.
It was purely psychological, or perhaps neurological.
A perfect chance for the machine to start working.
Bulma ran to get some tranquilizer for the cyborg, but she wouldn't know how effective it might be, so she got the largest dose recommended for a person of her height and weight, ran behind her (as she was preoccupied with Kuririn), and injected it into her arm.
After a few seconds, she let go of the gasping Kuririn and fell on her back, asleep.
"Kuririn-san, are you OK?"
He coughed a bit, and then said, "Yeah."
An awkward silence.
"What was wrong with her?"
"Psychological disturbance. My detector showed no cybernetic abnormalities. And I'm betting it is psychological…wouldn't YOU go crazy if you got absorbed by a monster like Cell?"
"I guess so." Kuririn got up. "Now what do you want me to do?"
Bulma patted the beds of the device. "You carry her here, put her down, and hop in. I'll do the rest."
END CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2: Kuririn in the strange reality of Juuhachigoo's mind.
A/N: How'd you like it? Any comments, suggestions, things you'd like to see? Click the Review box!! -Rivka