Author's Notes- Hey guys! Once again, I took way longer than I should have to put this up and for that, I apologize. First, real life has gotten extremely hectic. Second, I was trying to work on my other fic that I couldn't find the inspiration for, and it's affected my progress with this story too. Also, the chapter is long, so it took a while to get out. I hope you guys like the new chapter. Enjoy!

I don't own any of the characters or anything.

Cut: Super Saiyan

Chapter 9- Meteor

"Of course I am still your friend, Cut. As long as you are doing good for the people around you and not evil, I will always stand by you. But I do not understand why you would choose to associate with these murderous beings." Nomu told me.

I had just explained what I had been up to while he was away. I was very afraid to tell him that I had made friends with the androids, and that they were still killing people. At first I thought he might just cut ties with me and leave the planet, or consider me a traitor. His reaction to the news was better than I thought it would be, but having him just accept it with no questions asked was still too much to hope for.

"Well, at first, I had no choice. I simply couldn't beat them or escape from them. But the whole time, I had... feelings... for Eighteen. She was just so beautiful, and strong too." I started.

"But she is evil! She is a cold blooded killer!" Nomu exclaimed. I hung my head.

"Nomu, I never considered myself a completely good person. I made peace with others out of the need to survive. You've always been a righteous being who wants to do good, but me... I'm not quite like that. I surprised myself with refusing to blow up that building when she told me to. Sometimes I wonder if I deserve your support." I explained.

"Of course you are a good person. Even now, you refuse to kill and pillage like them. You have saved civilians when possible. You fought but did not kill Trunks. And you have been loyal to your friends, such as me, and Gohan-"

"I got Gohan killed. They put a tracking device on me. That's how they found his mother's house. It was all my fault." I said grimly.

"You didn't know. A selfish person would not feel the remorse that you feel about Gohan's death." Nomu argued.

"Being around you and Gohan has influenced me. Each time I feel a desire to do something horrible and selfish, like take innocent lives, I think of how disappointed the two of you would be. I can't live with myself if I do it." I told him.

"A selfish person would never have shown emotion as they watched a friend die, the one you showed when Farsei was killed. I have seen this for myself. Many of Frieza's underlings merely laughed when one of their own was killed. But you cared. You say that I am a more righteous person than you, but you would have never joined Slug and did his bidding the way I did. Still, you accepted me and helped me walk away from evil. Now it is I who must help you walk away from evil."

I looked up at Nomu, but it seems he knew what I was about to say.

"As a Namekian, I am of a race that would never experience the sensation other beings call 'love'. I cannot begin to understand what it makes a being do. But I do not believe that it would mean that you must make this choice." Nomu said.

"It wasn't just that. Gohan told me earlier that the androids used to be human. Seventeen corroborated this. The world had forsaken those two, and willingly allowed an evil scientist to experiment on them. Seventeen told me this during an argument we were having because he didn't want me there. He had no reason to lie." I responded.

Nomu looked down, deep in thought.

"I see. They resent the entire planet for the cruelty they suffered at the hands of it. But does killing endlessly have to be the only solution?" He asked.

"No. But it wasn't until that day that I realized exactly why Seventeen was so against the arrangement. He was jealous, not just of me for spending time with his sister, but he was also worried he might be left behind. That made me think. Has anyone ever asked why they were doing this? Maybe they just want to be cared about. Maybe if someone shows them that they don't have to be monsters, they might turn over a new leaf. And since I'm still not quite strong enough to beat them, I think that could be our best chance at ending this nightmare." I finished.

Nomu said nothing, but I could tell he was struggling with what to do with this. I felt glad, as it seemed he was considering making peace with my decision.

"You truly do believe that this is the correct course of action." He stated.

"Yes." I confirmed.

"It is decided. I will not stop you from attempting to peacefully resolve the issue. But promise me that if you see that they are not changing their murderous ways, you will notify me so we may deal with it."

"Yes, I promise."

I had to think about what to do next. I was glad that I managed to settle things with Nomu on the matter, but now I truly had to see if I could convince them to stop killing. It was the only way to preserve my friendship with Nomu. I decided that I'd talk to Seventeen first. If I spun the right angle, I might be able to convince him. If I was extremely lucky, Eighteen would just sort of follow her brother and not bother questioning him. I had gotten to know them both pretty well. I knew what they liked, and maybe I could use that.

"Also, I shall not be present when you are with them. I cannot forgive their actions as easily as you can, I'm afraid." Nomu added.

"That's fine." I agreed.

"Cut, I would like to have a small sparring session with you. I would like to see the fruits of my improvements since I left." He told me.

"Of course. Let us just find a more secluded area." I said.

This could be interesting. Nomu must have really increased his strength if he wanted to spar with me. After I finished eating, the two of us flew to an area with no human beings around. I hoped that neither the androids or Trunks confronted me during this.

I had been so nervous about telling him the situation that I hadn't given too much thought to his change in attire. He now wore something that looked quite fancy. There was a shirt that was white, shaped like a t-shirt with what looked to be a blue vest. The short sleeves had the appearance of gauze. The pants were also blue, though he had what looked like a skirt (he didn't look like a crossdresser though) over it. I was sure there was a word for such a piece of clothing but I couldn't quite recall what. His shoes and the wraps on his hands were the same as before except different colors. His outfit finished with a blue cape that matched the other shades of blue on his clothes. He also had a turban, it was a little different from the one King Piccolo wore in that this one had a jewel in the front, and the rest was just the white wrapping.

We stood across from each other, preparing for light battle. I became Super Saiyan and summoned eighty percent of my power.

"I shall power up to my full power so that you may see the results of my training." Nomu told me. I nodded.

He began to power up. As his energy was rising, I was amazed at the level of strength he had obtained. When he finished, his power was higher than mine's currently was (at eighty percent, I mean). I powered up a little more, to about eigthy-five percent. His power level was still very slightly higher, but I figured we were at a roughly equal level this way.

"Are you ready to begin?" He asked.

"Yes. Let's see what you've learned." I said excitedly.

We both flew at each other at the same time, meeting in the center. I threw a few punches his way and he blocked them, though it was taking him some effort. Eventually he began to strike back. His speed and the power he was putting behind his punches surprised me at first, but then I dodged one of his blows and landed a solid punch to his jaw. He flew back, regaining his balance but making no move to close the distance again.

"You really have gotten better." I said.

"Yes. But in addition to my increased power level, I have learned some useful techniques." He responded. I smirked.

"Let's see them." I declared.

"Very well." He agreed.

His fist suddenly flew out and landed a punch to my face. Caught off guard, I wasn't given time to recover as more punches came in. After I got hit with a few, I managed to start blocking them. That was when I noticed something. Nomu hadn't moved from the spot he was in. His arms were stretching beyond what most beings were capable of. I knew some Namekians could do that, but until today, I had never seen Nomu do it.

I let forth an explosive wave from my body to stop his punching assault. Normally I would follow up with an assault of my own, but in this case my opponent was out of range. Instead, I fired a short blast volley his way.

He was bombarded with the small ki blasts. When the dust cleared, he was revealed to have simply used his arms to minimize the damage, as I hadn't put a lot of power into the blasts. He then charged up and fired a full power energy wave at me. I easily dodged it, but then I noticed him make a motion with his hands. Having a bit of experience with fighting, I knew what this meant. To confirm my suspicions, I turned around. Surely enough, the blast had changed directions and was coming after me.

I flew away, not using my full speed but what I thought would be enough. The blast kept gaining on me. I increased my speed until I was slowly gaining distance from it. Once I had enough space between me and the blast, I turned around, quickly charging and firing my own energy wave. The two blasts collided and canceled each other out. I landed back in the spot across from Nomu, who looked surprised that I managed to avoid his attack.

"Incredible! I was certain that you would have been hit!" Nomu exclaimed.

"Yea, I have a strategy to deal with seeking blasts. Still, it's amazing that you learned not only to stretch your limbs and fight from a distance, but also control your ki blasts even after you fire them. You would probably be a formidable opponent fighting from a distance." I told him.

"Thank you. I am satisfied with the sparring session." He responded. We both powered down.

"So I take it your quest to get stronger was a success?" I inquired.

"I actually have much to tell you about my trip to Namek. Let us talk about it back at the ship. I need to fetch your repaired outfit from there." Nomu suggested.

I nodded and followed him as he took off towards the ship. I was happy to hear about my suit, as I was beyond tired of not having it. It wasn't long before I spotted the ship from a distance. We landed and stepped inside. I felt a familiar sense seeing the ship that I hadn't seen in months, and smiled. Nomu immediately went and took out a folded pile and handed it to me.

"This is your repaired suit. I could not get it to be exactly the same as before, but I hope it suits your tastes." He told me.

"Thanks, Nomu. Let me go put this on." I said.

I went to the shower and rinsed myself quickly before putting on the outfit. It was slightly different, but I didn't mind the changes. The armor was now a darker blue, clearly blue whereas before it was more of a bluish green. The entire torso was now the same color, none of it was gold anymore. The gauntlets had been replaced. Now they looked more fancy, instead of the typical Saiyan armor ones I had before. I actually saw the old ones in the ship too, but their color no longer matched the armor. The new gauntlets matched the armor color, and covered my entire forearm. Part of the gauntlets was black and cloth, while most of it was the dark blue and metal. Nomu had also extended the sleeves on the white training shirt. With the long gauntlets and longer sleeves, my suit was now long sleeved and showed no skin. The boots also had the color change to match the rest of the suit's armor. The pants hadn't been changed from before. It looked pretty good in all honesty.

I came back out with the new suit on. "So, does it look nice on me?" I asked.

"It does." Nomu replied.

"So what happened when you went to Namek?" I asked.

He told me about his trip to Namek. He was initially given the cold shoulder by the people of Namek because he joined Slug. He told me how his planet was invaded by Cooler and his henchmen, and how he defeated them after fusing with some other Nameks. Before the elder died, he told Nomu where to find the secrets of training, which was how he taught himself to use those moves.

"I wouldn't have minded killing Cooler myself for what he did to my parents, but I'm glad you took care of him." I said.

"I would have wished Gohan back to life once it was all over, but because the elder was killed, the dragon balls were turned to stone." He explained.

I had forgotten about Chi Chi. It was kind of a miracle that I managed to smooth things over with Nomu about being friends with the androids, but there was no way Chi Chi would ever be okay with it. Hopefully she wouldn't have to find out.

"It's really good to have you back, Nomu." I told him honestly.

"And it is good to be back." He replied, getting up and walking towards the door. As he was speaking, the two of us opened the door to walk outside. "I feel at peace here on this beautiful planet, with all of these wonderful people."

"You mean wonderful people like me?" I looked up and saw Eighteen standing just outside the ship. She had her arms crossed.

"Eighteen." I said, acknowleging her.

"Cut, you were gone for a long time and you weren't at the restaurant, so I went looking. I saw this thing here and just knew you'd be inside. I see your little friend's back." She observed. Nomu fixed her with a serious glare.

"I must depart. If you need me, I will be at Chi Chi's residence." He gave me a soft look. "I will not tell her about your... arrangement... if you wish me not to."

"I would appreciate it if you didn't for now. Thanks Nomu." I said. He nodded and flew away.

"Gee, was it something I said?" Eighteen joked. I smiled at her humor.

"No. But he isn't thrilled about the situation." I said. "Look, is it possible for you guys to maybe not kill anyone for a while? I kind of told him I'd get you to stop so that he wouldn't attack you. And I don't really want to be a liar."

She snorted. "And why would I do that?" I fixed her with a serious look.

"Come on. Please? He's my friend, and I kind of don't want to have to choose between him and you. Vouching for you guys wasn't easy." I explained.

"So?"

"But I already said you wouldn't kill anyone. When people say they're going to do something, they should do it. Remember?" I said with a smile, throwing her own words back at her. She glared at me.

"So what? I wasn't the one who said it, you were." She argued. That was actually a valid point, too bad she hadn't used that logic earlier.

"Weren't you still mad at Seventeen for blowing up that clothing store, even though you were the only one who promised not to destroy it? By your standards, he didn't do anything wrong, but you were still upset with him. So really..." I let the sentence hang. She let out a frustrated growl.

"Fine. I'll try not to kill anyone, but good luck convincing my brother not to." She said. I smirked at her reaction.

"What?" She demanded.

"Nothing, it's... just... kind of... nice when you're upset like that. Well, not nice, but... I just..." I trailed off with a goofy grin on my face.

"So you think it's cute when I get like that?" She asked.

"Yeah, I think that was what I was looking for." I confirmed. I suddenly felt her arm wrap around my throat while her other one held me still.

"You know I can still hurt you, right?" She hissed into my ear.

"Yeah. But it would be worth it." I laughed, not feeling the slightest bit afraid. "Anyway, we should get going."

I shrugged her arms off of me and took to the sky, with her following. We had been flying for a few minutes when she spoke again.

"You really have gotten comfortable around us, haven't you?" She asked.

"Yeah, I guess so." I said. "You know, I've been wondering something. What's your name?" She whipped her head towards me.

"Hm?"

"You're not really a machine. You're human. What's your real name? I mean, I'm pretty sure it isn't Android Eighteen."

She looked at me with an expression I couldn't read. I was worried she might have gotten mad about me asking that.

"Okay, never mind. Sorry I asked." I said hurriedly. She sighed and looked down.

"I don't remember my name. I don't remember a lot about who we used to be." She finally responded.

"Seventeen sure seemed to. He never told you about it?"

"I guess I never asked him." She admitted.

We flew the rest of the way back to their living quarters in silence. I made a note to ask Seventeen about this when I saw him again.

The next day, Seventeen and I were on the scene in a partially destroyed city, with no casualties so far, thanks to me.

"Man, you managed to save every single person I tried to kill today!" Seventeen shouted.

"I've gotten better at it. Now let's fight. Sparring is the more fun part of this anyway, isn't it?" I said.

"I guess so."

"In fact, why don't you take a break from killing people altogether?" I pressed.

"Oh yeah. Eighteen told me about your friend being back and wanting us not to kill. Why should we? Killing is fun." He protested.

"Remember when we talked about you finding a mate? You do still want a mate, don't you?" I asked.

"Yeah. I can always just kidnap someone. It's not like anyone can stop me."

"Oh, but that's no fun."

"How would you know? Have you ever tried?"

"Well, no. But how could it be? I mean, a person just being scared of you and doing whatever you say? It's much more fun if the person actually wants to be with you. Don't you ever get tired of being the big bad wolf? Don't you ever just want to be normal?"

He thought for a moment. I knew there was a chance I would strike a nerve and he would go ballistic, but I had to take that chance.

"Actually, yeah. I have been thinking about what it would be like to be normal. But everyone knows what I look like. How could I ever blend in?" He asked. I was relieved he was actually considering this.

"With a good enough disguise, it's possible. Besides, if there are no attacks for a while, people will likely forget what you look like." I said hopefully.

"Okay, I might slow down. For now. But you better keep me entertained, you hear me?"

"Will do. Speaking of entertainment, let's go get this battle going!" I said.

I lead him to a more destroyed area of the city where I didn't sense any humans. We stood across from each other and prepared for battle.

There was no point holding back since he knew my full strength. I powered up to Super Saiyan at full power and charged. I threw a bunch of punches at him, most of which connected. But then he phased behind me and sent me flying with a kick. I flew back over to him with another punch, which he blocked. I then used both my feet to kick him into the air, after which I phased up to where he was flying and pounded him into the ground.

"Meteor blow!" I shouted.

He climbed back to his feet.

"Meteor blow? What kind of lame name for a move is that?"

"Are you serious? That's an awesome name. In fact, do you know the secret to being a great fighter?"

"Being stronger than your opponent?"

"A valiant effort, but no. The secret is, whenever you have a move that you want to use against your opponent, you take the name of that move, and put the word 'meteor' in front of it." I expalined proudly.

It was true, many strong Saiyans had adhered to this. According to my research, Kakarot had a move he used after he became a Super Saiyan called Meteor Smash. Another Saiyan I had heard of named Turles also had a devestating attack he called Meteor Burst. Finally, I heard that the move another Saiyan I had heard of used to blow up planets was called Gigantic Meteor. Obviously the whole 'meteor' thing had something to do with the awesomeness.

"Oh really? Then watch this!" Seventeen came charging at me. "Meteor punch!"

I blocked the punch and lifted my foot. "Meteor kick!"

"Meteor energy wave!"

"Meteor blast!"

"Meteor Crazy Rush!"

"Meteor Devestating Strike!

"Meteor energy barrier!"

"Meteor elbow!"

The rest of the sparring session was spent doing all 'meteor' moves. The two of us laughed and had a great time. It was silly, but sometimes you just have to goof off and have fun.

"Meteor charge!" Seventeen declared charging towards me.

"Meteor dodge!" I cried, quickly moving out of the way.

"You know," Seventeen started after stopping his charge, "I think if I charge someone hard enough I might actually be able to send them all the way out into space!"

"You might be able to, but you wouldn't be able to breathe in space. You'd die." I told him.

"Well, I'm going to practice it anyway. I mean, I won't actually go into space, but I'll practice charging someone really far. I mean, you never know when we'll need to use it."

I wasn't sure when he'd need to use that, but I guess it couldn't hurt for him to know how to do something new.

"I know you androids never get tired, but I'm spent. What do you say we head back to the quarters?" I suggested.

"Fine. I was thinking of whooping your butt in video games anyway." He agreed.

The two of us started flying back when I suddenly remembered what I was going to ask him.

"Oh yeah, I wanted to know. What's your name? Your real one." I asked. He looked over at me.

"Well, the name I was born with was Lapis. My sister's Lazuli." He responded. I was relieved he told me so calmly.

"Lapis huh? For some reason, I imagined you guys would be named Adrian and Andrea or something like that." I mused aloud. Seventeen frowned.

"Why's that, because they both sound like the word 'android'?" He asked.

"Uh... maybe... sorry about that..." I trailed off.

"Whatever, now I'm going to beat you extra hard in the video game."

The two of us made our way back to their quarters while bragging to each other about our video game skills. We played, had more fun, and nothing else out of the ordinary happened that day.

The next day I was back at the restaurant cooking when Nomu showed up again. I greeted him kindly.

"Nomu, have you come for a taste of this delicious meat?" I joked.

"It is Chi Chi. She wanted to see you since she hasn't done so since we've arrived back from Namek." Nomu answered. After that, Chi Chi came into the kitchen. I hadn't noticed her power level before.

"Cut, you're alive!" She exclaimed.

"Yes, it's good to see you, Chi Chi." I responded.

"Okay, well you two take a minute and then meet me at one of the tables. I wanted us all to catch up." She explained, walking back out to the tables.

"Okay." I said.

The meat took a couple more minutes to get done. Once it was, I put it on a plate, set it down and went out to the tables, with Nomu following. We spoted her seated at one of the tables and went to it.

"So..." I started, putting the plate down and picking up my fork to start eating.

"Cut, I talked to Bulma when I got back." She said.

"Bulma?" I asked.

"She's Trunks's mother. They both live at Capsule Corp." She said.

I got apprehensive. If Trunks told his mother about our encounter-

"And I can already tell by your expression that what Trunks told her before he left was true." She finished.

"Um-"

"That you've been being friends with the androids."

"What?" I tried to think of a way to deny it.

"Trunks said that he went to fight the androids and you fought him for them. And then as you were flying away, he saw you kissing Android Eighteen." She clarified.

My eyes were wide. I had not planned on having this confrontation. She couldn't actually hurt me, but still. I was hoping to avoid this.

"It's true, isn't it?" She demanded. I had no response. "HOW COULD YOU?!" I flinched at her angry tone. "How could you do this to Gohan? He cared about you, and now you're associating with his murderers!"

"Well... it's not like I've actually killed anyone-" I tried to defend.

"You might as well have killed people with them!" She shouted angrily.

"That is not true, Chi Chi. He would never do that! He believes he is doing what is right-" Nomu started to speak up, but Chi Chi interrupted him.

"You knew about this, didn't you?! You knew and didn't tell me!" She yelled at Nomu. "I trusted you! I trusted you both!"

"But I've saved people from them in the meantime. Doesn't that count for something? And they also agreed to stop killing already." I started to become defensive.

"You think it matters now? My son is gone because of them. I don't care what you say, there is no way you can justify forgiving those monsters!" She screamed.

"He is doing this because he doesn't believe that they are inherently evil. It is not fair to compare him to an actual killer!" Nomu continued to argue. I felt bad, the two of them had been through a lot together and now they were fighting because of me.

"He may not have killed anyone, but he saw a pretty girl and immediately threw away his moral standards! I should have expected as much from a Saiyan. Those monkeys are only interested in-"

My power exploded as I couldn't help powering up to my Super Saiyan form out of rage. Tables were thrown back, as was Chi Chi.

"Don't you EVER call me that again." I said in a low, threatening tone. "Nomu, I need to get out of here before I kill her."

I tried to go to the door but Nomu stood in front of me. "Cut..."

"This is exactly how I felt the last time I killed someone. The day I became a Super Saiyan." I explained.

"Slug was meant to be killed-" Nomu said.

"Not Slug. Remember when I told you a guy attacked me after I went to eat? I didn't tell you before because I knew you would have been disappointed, but I killed that person. I don't want to kill anyone else, especially not Chi Chi." I said.

I went and grabbed my meat and took it with me, flying away.

Nomu looked at Chi Chi. "Monkey. It is what Frieza referred to the Saiyans as." He explained to her.

I suppose that didn't go well. At first I just landed in a random spot to finish my food, but then I flew to a spot where I knew I'd be alone. Nomu would find me at the ship, so I went to the place where Gohan and I used to train. It was kind of ironic for me to go here considering the whole reason for the argument was that I was more or less disrespecting his memory.

Before I could think any more, that strange sensation came over me again. I was having another vision.

In the vision, I could see Trunks confronting the androids again, though he looked a little older this time.

"This is it! You're checking out!" I heard him shout at them.

Trunks was much stronger than the androids in my vision. I saw the whole battle play out, in very fast forward motion, of course, but I saw the whole thing. I was shocked and appalled at the display of what Trunks was going to do. My vision ended when the battle was over.

Back outside where I was, I first asked myself if I should try to stop Trunks from doing what he was going to do. But I thought about sparring and playing video games with Seventeen the previous day, how he said he was tired of being the villain, and how he said he and his sister were treated before they became androids. Then I decided. I would have to stop this vision from coming true.

But how? If Trunks were stronger than the androids, he was most certainly stronger than me. Maybe if Nomu helped? I know normally, Nomu wouuldn't want to help the androids. But he was a warrior of justice, and if I were being honest, there was nothing justified about what Trunks was going to do. At least not knowing what I know.

When I returned to the androids' living quarters, Eighteen was snuggling against me, but noticed me being distracted.

"Something wrong?" She asked.

I didn't think it was a good idea to tell her. I couldn't tell either of them, at least not without a plan. Sure I could train, but I don't know how strong Trunks is in the vision, or when the vision would come to pass.

"No, everything's fine." I lied.

That night, I went to find Nomu in the ship. I told him that I had a vision with Trunks returning more powerful than ever.

"You are sure it is a vision of the future?" He asks skeptically.

"Yes. I saw Eighteen in one before we left for Earth, and another one with Gohan dying. Both came true. From what I can tell, a Kanassan warrior cursed me with these glimpses of the future.

"Trunks has suffered a great deal at their hands. I'm not sure we should stop him from getting what he feels is justice. After all, it was his family and friends who were killed." Nomu said.

I then told him exactly what happened in the vision.

"What? But why would Trunks do this? He is supposed to be a warrior of good! Why would he want to do something so... unjust? I will most certainly try to stop him if he intends to take this course of action." Nomu declared.

I was glad to have his support, but would it be enough? All we could do was train and wait, hoping we could prevent the coming disaster.

Author's Notes- Okay so that's the end of chapter 9. I know a lot happened in this chapter, I hope it doesn't seem rushed. Reviews are appreciated and stay tuned!

Next time: What exactly is Trunks slated to do? Will Cut and Nomu be able to stop him?