The Army of Shadows

The Army of Shadows

By Matthew Andrews

Chapter One:

Mirror Creations

It was his most brilliant creation yet. He had succeeded in doing what no man had done before. For years other scientists had wanted to do this, but none had ever known how to do it. It was something that haunted the field of genetics like a spirit no one can see. Many scientists had spent their lives searching for the right formula or technique and had ended with the conclusion that it could not be done.

Twenty years ago, a man by the name of Dr. Horun had ended his research on the subject, which he had been studying for forty years. His final report had said, "After all my years of researching and studying, I have concluded that the all hopes of making this project work should be abandoned. It is an impossible feat that no man can achieve. It is virtually impossible." The world had accepted it and moved on, except for one man. This man had done the impossible; he had cloned another human being.

He had known Dr. Horun from his days with the Red Ribbon Army. He had helped in the programming of Android #8. After the Red Ribbon Army was defeated by Goku, they went there separate ways. Horun went on to the study of cloning while he continued to work on robotics with nothing more than Goku's death in mind.

About fifteen years later, he took over the research of Dr. Horun thinking that a man would have a better chance of beating Goku than a robot. After five years, he was successful. He had created a masterpiece, a group of masterpieces actually. An army of fighters who would destroy the Saiyan from earth and all of his friends lay in plastic tubes in a lab. They only thing keeping them from their carnage was a little remote held in the hands of their creator.

Dr. Gero, the man who had single handedly created these fighters, stood in his lab ready to release these fighters. He walked over to the row of endless tubes, each containing a fighter. He looked over too his left and saw his androids that he had created. They were backup incase the clones didn't work. First there were the twins: numbers 17 and 18. 17 was a male and 18 was a female. They would be the strongest of all the androids. Then there was 19, a pudgy, fat android who was rather weak. To his left was 16, a weak prototype that Gero considered a failure. There was a 20, Gero was it. He had changed himself into an android. It made him unbelievably stronger. These were his warriors in case his real warriors were unsuccessful.

He turned his attention back to the clones. He was particularly proud of the fact that he had not only managed to copy their looks, but their power as well. The clone possessed the fighting power and abilities of the person they were modeled after. This was the easy part. It had been done by the use of mechanical insects. They were sent after the models, drew blood and brought it back to the lab creating a perfect source of everything they he needed except for looks, which wasn't hard to do. All you had to do was know what they looked like.

He looked down at one container containing the clone of Goku himself. He was called C#1 by Gero. He had made a number for each clone. There were twenty-one in all. The extra one was for a future use, if he was to create for. They were the strongest warriors that Goku had encountered during their journey's, including his friends and himself. Even when future Trunks had came to Earth, Gero had gotten their DNA. The best thing was he had created them to serve him with full loyalty. He looked at the chart that had the order of clones. It read:

C#1-Goku

C#2-Vegita

C#3-Gohan

C#4-Krillan

C#5-Piccalo

C#6-Tien

C#7-Chaozu

C#8-Yamcha

C#9-Freeza

C#10-Nappa

C#11-Raditz

C#12-King Cold

C#13-Zarbon

C#14-Dodoria

C#15-Ginyu

C#16-Jiisu

C#17-Baata

C#18-Recuum

C#19-Guldo

C#20-Trunks

C#21-Unoccupied

He was eyeing the list seeing whom to release first. After a while, he decided to do Guldo, to make sure there were no problems in the unfreezing process. He pressed the little button and chamber number 19 began to thaw. Five minutes later, the door opened and a little, green, four-eyed man stepped out. "I am ready to serve you, master," he said as he bowed before his creator.

"Excellent," Gero said aloud. "My creations live at last." He pressed the button on the remote to open Goku's chamber. Minute's later, the great Saiyan emerged. "I am ready to serve," he said to his creator.

"Show me your power, so I may see that my work is successful," he replied to the clone.

Without even hesitating to ask why, C#1 assumed a position to power up. He looked towards the ceiling and screamed as he suddenly transformed. His hair turned gold and his eyes green as he became a Super Saiya-jin. He stood there in Gero's lab, surrounded by ki the color of the sun. "My, God," Gero shouted, "He's amazing. His power is so great and he's loyal only to me." He opened the door to Trunks and witnessed the same thing as he became a Super Saiya-jin. "This is great," he yelled as he began freeing all the clones in the lab. It wasn't long before the twenty warriors were all standing in a row, awaiting their orders.

"Listen all of my soldiers," Gero said, "You have one main objective, kill Goku and his friends. When you complete this, come back for further instructions. "