It had been a week since Son Goku, with the the help of his friends and Trunks (the mysterious boy from the future who turned out to be Vegeta's son), defeated Android 17 and 18. They didn't have much time to enjoy their peaceful life though, because just a few days later, a gang of three new androids (claiming themselves to be 13, 14 and 15) showed up and begun terrorizing the city. Long story short, the Z-fighters once again joined together. The battle was tough but somehow they all pulled through and defeated the three terroroids.
"I'm glad we won guys." Said Son Goku cheerfully, smiling weakly dude to the injuries he suffered from the fight.
"There better be no more of these robots coming or I'll punch him back to his wrecked timeline." Vegeta, the prince of all saiyans, growled, glaring at his son from the future.
"It's not m-my fault!" Trunks spoke weakly, a drop of sweat rolling down his face. "I've never seen these androids before"
"Oh guys, I'm sure these guys are the last ones, if not, he'll run out of them eventually!" Grinned Goku optimistically.
Everyone laughed, except for Vegeta, Piccolo and Tien Shinhan. The three of them facepalmed simultaneously.
"Besides, fighting strong guys is fun, right Vegeta?" Added Goku.
"Fun for you guys, but not for me." Sighed Krillin.
"I feel ya, man." Yamcha spoke weakly from where he was lying on the ground.
"What did you even do?" Vegeta now turned his annoyance toward the scar-faced man.
"I did what I could." Snapped Yamcha.
"You barely lasted a second." Chuckled Vegeta.
"Now now guys. Why don't we all go back to Kame House and have a good ol sleep over?" Krillin stepped in between them with his hands held out to separate the men despite Yamcha seemingly unable to even stand up.
"Sounds fun!" Nodded Goku. "Let's go!"
"Um, dad," Son Gohan suddenly spoke, his face a bit pale. "We left mom back in the city."
"Oh SHOOT!" Goku gasped. "I totally forgot!"
He turned to the others, scratching the back of his head. "Sorry guys! I'll go get Chichi and we will meet you guys back on the island."
Once Goku and Gohan had left, Vegeta grunted about training and also blasted away.
"Guess we better get going then…" Said Krillin, putting his hands on his hips.
"Can we stop by Korin's place on the way home?" Sniffed Yamcha painfully.
Unbeknownst to them all, the battle was still far from over.
The Z-fighters had thought that they already destroyed Dr. Gero's whole laboratory during their fight with 17 and 18. Little did they know, the lab they had seen was just the tip of the iceberg. Gero was always a well thought-out man, never without a backup plan. The old man had transferred his consciousness into a supercomputer in the sub basement level where he kept his other works-in-progress.
"Curse that brat Son Goku." The computer lights flickered as Dr. Gero's robotic voice came through the speaker. "13 was my last fully functioning androids… 22 is not even half finished… Cell is just in his fetus state... And 12…"
There was a pause.
"On second thought…" His thoughts projected through the speakers. "With the new information I have learned… C-12 actually has a good chance of killing Son Goku… I'd say 90%... But… He does have a serious defect… Still, he is the last one I can use right now… If he fails I'll just have to wait for Cell…Hm..."
The machine beeped as the commands were being run on the screen. The was a click as the lock on the last pod within the sub-basement laboratory was deactivated. The door slowly lifted, releasing a gust of cold air.
- C-12 - Activated -
A robotic announcement came from the opened containment. Soon after, a hand reached out from inside, taking hold of the rim of the pod. With a metallic sound, the cyborg stepped out to stand on the platform.
No. 12 was a tall, moderately bulky cyborg with olive tanned-skin, sharp black eyes and long chin. His hair was black, thick and spiky, reaching down all the way to his waist. It was brushed back revealing the widow's peak on his forehead, save for a few strands still falling over his right eye.
His outfit included a brown sleeveless denim crop jacket, with the Red Ribbon logo on the left torso, outside a white tank top, and below was a pair of black compression tights. On his left upper arm was a red bandana-armband and, similarly, there was a red leg band on his upper left leg. The man also wore brown leather boots and gauntlets.
But most peculiar of all was the fact that the cyborg looked almost identical to a human, until one take notice of the long, brown monkey-like tail slightly moving behind him.
He looked at his arms and fingers then moved them, feeling the stiffness after such a long time kept hibernated inside the android-pod.
"Greetings, No. 12." Said the computer generated voice of Dr. Gero.
The cyborg glanced over to the supercomputer, slightly surprised when he saw not his creator but a machine.
"It's been a while." Continued the scientist.
Twelve smirked as his suspicion was confirmed.
"You're the old man." He said, now rather amused. "Was it Seventeen?"
The machine made a sound resembling a sigh. "Seventeen."
C-12 stepped away from the platform. He eyed around. "Where're all the rest?" He asked, noticing the emptied pods.
"That's kind of the reason why I'm reactivating you before I was able to cure your defects." Dr. Gero answered. "You see, Son Goku,"
"Son Goku" Twelve furrowed his eyebrows, turning around to look back at the supercomputer.
"Yes. I and Nineteen had failed to kill Son Goku. I had to wake Seventeen and Eighteen for help, but you see, Seventeen was never one to kindly take orders."
"You want me to get those two back then?"
"No. Son Goku had defeated them. I also sent Thirteen, Fourteen and Fifteen. But I'm sure you have guessed the outcome by now."
"So now you want to use me as your last resort." The cyborg said, clenching his fists, clearly showing signs of displease. "Am I lower than a fat clown now? You made me first. I trained those other androids for you. I helped you shut those two brats down last time. And who put that brain of yours into a new body. I should have been your top pick, you old geezer."
"Easy now, Twelve. I have my reasons." Said Dr. Gero quickly, trying to calm the man as he feared another case of betrayal was going to happen. "I haven't been able to fix your defect."
"Tch." The half-android rolled his eyes. "I guessed as much. You have been wasting your time on those incompetent creations. How about I send you to where they are right now?"
"Now Twelve, I know I haven't been giving you enough credit." Said Gero as if he was dealing with a child throwing tantrum. At least he had learned his lesson from the ordeal with Seventeen. "But you owe me your life. Without me you would have been a rotten corpse no one ever remembered. I brought you back, and now I'm giving you that revenge on Son Goku I promised. Don't you remember what he did to you? That he killed you?"
The cyborg appeared thoughtful. A flash of images showed up in his mind. Son Goku performing his signature Kamehameha, then a wave of energy went through his body and the rest was pitch black. Of course he remembered… It was the only thing he ever remembered of his life before he woke up that first time in the laboratory of Dr. Gero. The scientist had told him about how Son Goku had killed him and left him to die, and about how he had been revived using the Red Ribbon Army's technology.
"He had destroyed our army, killed most of our men, including my son. We share the same common goal, Twelve, and that is to take our revenge of Son Goku." The scientist had said to him back then.
Twelve grunted, crossing his arms. "Consider this a payment to you saving my life. Now we're even. Annoy me again and I'll make sure no pieces of you are left."
The supercomputer made sound like a sigh of relief.
The cyborg continued walking around the lab, then stopped in front of a glass tank, his tail moving gently as if interested in what he was seeing. "What is this?" He asked.
It took Gero a moment to register what No. 12 was curious about.
"Oh, that is Cell. It's the last creation I've made before I lose my body." Answered the scientist. The lights on the machine flashing as he spoke.
"I have never seen anything like this in your lab. Is it a clone or some sort?" The cyborg replied, now clearly showing his fascination. He knocked on the glass with the back of one finger.
"I advise you to be careful with that." Said Gero cautiously. "In this stage Cell is highly vulnerable. He is a new type of android I recently achieved. Cell is a combination of the DNA strands from the strongest fighters of this planet."
"Really now?" Chuckled Twelve. "So you are planning to wait for this thing to grow should we all fail? How long will it take?"
"Approximately? I'd say 20 years."
"20?" The cyborg laughed. "Well old man, I'll tell you why this thing is a waste. I'm going to end Son Goku today, You wouldn't be needing this."
"Are you sure about that? Son Goku had gotten much stronger in the past few years, and there are the other fighters-"
"What was that?" Twelve glanced up at the screen, interrupting the scientist.
"I- I mean, Twelve, you've only just reactivated." Realizing his mistake, Gero quickly added. "Perhaps, take some time to warm yourself up first and get your body used to fighting again?"
No. 12 smirked. "Fair enough."
He walked away from the liquid filled tank and headed toward the steel door. "I shall bring you his corpse."
Author note: This fanfiction is a revamp of my old comic with the same name. Since I'm too busy with other things I have stopped drawing this comic but it is such a great idea (with a sequel too -winky face-) I decided to make it a fic instead so I can still continue writing it during work.