Summary: A technicality gone wrong in a wish from the Z fighters leaves Android Seventeen in a coma, and with Dr Gero gone the only person who can save him is still a shaky ally. Without her twin, and with Android Sixteen gone Android Eighteen is left alone to put together the pieces of her past and the truth of her own being, with just one person left with faith in her.
Disclaimer: Dragon Ball Z is owned by Akira Toriyama and TOEI Animation Ltd. No money is being made from this work.
Lovefools Chapter Nine - What I Fight For
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The process Bulma had outlined went smoothly with eight different buildings around Hope City throughout the morning. The three fighters would bring down the buildings with as little fuss as possible, then gather and surreptitiously fly the rubble to the appropriate waste dumps. By midday, Krillin and Yamcha were sweating, dirty and very hungry. Although Eighteen, annoyingly, seemed to remain sweat-less, she was still coated with a thin layer of dust.
"Uh, Eighteen?" Krillin ventured. "Just wondering, do you want to have a break now?" It had taken him a full nine sites to work himself up to asking the question, but his hope quickly faded when he saw the affronted look on the android's face.
"Do you actually think that is medial work is too much for me? How typical." Eighteen flicked her hair over shoulder as emphasis. Krillin's brain clocked overtime trying to figure out what he'd said wrong.
"What? No! That's not what I meant! I just meant that Yamcha and I are getting kinda hungry." A moment later his stomach growled obnoxiously, and he had never felt so relieved to hear it. Eighteen raised her eyebrows; her stomach certainly never announced itself like a rocket engine.
"Oh." Was all she said, but she did sound rather embarrassed. "Well, are you leaving to get lunch then?" She asked, attempting to wipe some of the dust from her bared leg. Krillin's voiced was stilted as he forced out his reply.
"Well I was wondering if I could er....could I treat you? I mean it's no trouble, and I'm sure you could get whatever you wanted on your own, but I just thought I'd offer the favour seeing as you came out of your way to help out today and..." He purposefully shut his mouth.
"Sure." She sounded completely offhand, but Krillin's heart surged. She'd just agreed to go out to lunch with him! It seemed like the impossible had occurred. Sure it wasn't exactly a date, but how many people could have actually gotten a yes from Android Eighteen for a question like that?
Half an hour later, much to Krillin's great astonishment, they ended up in a bakery-cafe. He had been expecting demands to be taken to an expensive foreign restaurant but Eighteen seemed to be as blase about her food as she was about the rest of her life. Yamcha had gone off to have his ramen, leaving the two alone. Whilst they ate, they conversationally discussed how many places they had left to go.
"So we've got sixteen condemned buildings in Orange City, and that's it for the first day. We should knock off at about half past four."
"Good. I need time after work to go shopping. I can't stand wearing Bulma's clothes anymore." Krillin tried not to goggle.
"Really? They look nice on you."
"Thank you." She looked shiftily sideways. "Actually I wasn't referring to these. They're not so bad. It's more what I have to sleep in."
"Oh? Why is that so bad?" There was definitely colour to her cheeks now.
"I like to have a certain degree of style. Hot pink just doesn't cut it. Bulma seems to have fairly decent fashion sense, but I don't know what she was thinking with those things." Krillin smirked behind his danish. He was feeling warmed by the atmosphere in the shop and the growing ease of talking with Eighteen.
The rest of the day followed much the same as the first half had - grueling work with little time for small talk. Knock off time couldn't come soon enough for any of them. Bulma might be paying them well for this, but she sure knew how to get her money's worth.
Once back at Capsule Corp Headquarters, Dr Briefs emerged to give them their day's pay. As each accepted the envelopes, Yamcha asked,
"Didn't Bulma want to check over our list?" But Dr Briefs shook his head and took the clipboard back from Krillin.
"It looks like you've done a great job today. I checked that everything went smoothly. Bulma's gone to bed, and I don't want to disturb her if I don't have to. She's exhausted. Vegeta too." He finished.
"Vegeta?"
"Mmm." Bulma's father mumbled, still looking at the clipboard. "Vegeta's been training for well over twenty four hours too, and he didn't get much rest after the defeat of Cell. Even Saiyans run out of steam I guess. Besides, it's very rarely that Trunks gets to have both his mom and his dad to himself, so I'm leaving them alone to catch up on family time." Yamcha's eyes flickered almost imperceptibly towards Eighteen before a closed look came over his face. "Well anyway," continued the old man, "you can all head home now. We'll have you back here the same time tomorrow morning. Miss...er...Eighteen? We can draw you a bath now if you'd like." Eighteen looked down at her attractive but extremely dusty clothes and nodded.
"I want to go to your nearest shopping district afterwards though. Can you direct me there?" Dr Briefs looked skeptical, and Eighteen suddenly felt foolish for asking him. Dedicated scientists could be guaranteed to know nothing about shopping.
"Er...I can take you there if you like." Krillin interjected. "Dr Briefs, I'm sure you're very busy..." the man nodded, relieved. "And I've shopped around here quite often before, so I can probably show you some nice places."
Eighteen looked at him calculatingly, from the corner of her vision taking in what Yamcha probably thought were very encouraging gestures not intended for her to see. She finally decided that even if Krillin's motives were as bad as Yamcha was making them look, it was worth it just to avoid those hideous pajamas.
Northern Hills Shopping District was a classy and competitive area, the general sparkliness and familiar air-conditioning were so refreshingly part of this man-made environment, it lifted Eighteen's entire aspect.
She had expected Krillin to sit outside the stores or wander off after he showed her the place, but to her surprise Krillin not only stayed with her, he turned out to be a pretty decent shopping partner. When shopping with Seventeen, Eighteen had always had to put up with her twin's impatience and complete lack of appreciation for her purchases. Krillin didn't linger outside the stores, he came in to see what she liked. Whilst Eighteen was a confident shopper who didn't need to ask for opinions on what she bought, when Krillin complemented her clothes she found her ego flattered. He even stammeringly offered to carry her parcels for her, assuring her he knew she could easily carry it all on her own.
"You're quite the ruthless shopper you know." Krillin said to her on the way out, looking half-amused and half-exasperated.
"What do you mean?"
"You know exactly how to get what you want, all the vendors were terrified of you. Even I thought you were going to kill the one who fell on you in Lady Lucy's."
"People never fall that conveniently, why let him get away with it? Besides, I ended up getting a good deal on the dress he ended up selling me." She said with a smirk. Krillin could only laugh at her exuding confidence.
Krillin dropped Eighteen at the doors of Capsule Corp. He handed back her bags and boxes, one of which contained a dark, sultry nightdress which had made Krillin think things he'd sooner have died than admitted to Eighteen.
She had not said thank you for anything, but she smiled at Krillin as she said goodbye. As Krillin soared through the skies back to the Kame House, he found himself making a silent prayer.
Please Kami, tell me she's real.
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Roughly a week and a half passed in this manner. Eighteen's nightmares continued, and even Bulma noticed the difference in her hostility between morning and evening. Krillin and Yamcha would come to Capsule Corp at the crack of dawn to find Eighteen and either Bulma or Dr Briefs waiting outside. The list of the day's sites were given to Krillin, and they all set off together for another day's work. For the most part, very little was said, and after that first day, Mrs Briefs continually packed all three of them with huge bento boxes for their lunch, so going out to restaurants was no longer needed. Yamcha had been foolish enough a couple of times to try to make sly comments about Eighteen's body, but was rewarded each time either a boulder or a fist to the face from the android. The fist hurt more, he usually complained later. Work would continue until about dusk, and Eighteen would occasionally go out shopping afterwards. Although Krillin always offered, she only accepted his company twice more. He noticed she had a tendency to blow her money all at once, and doubted she had enough to even buy herself lunch the next day each time. The silences between them at work were becoming more comfortable however, and the few times when the opportunity for conversation presented itself, Krillin's nervousness was beginning to lessen. It was getting into late afternoon on a particularly hot and tiresome day when once such opportunity did present itself.
CRASH! Eighteen took a vicious pleasure in the destructively loud sound the wall made as she shattered it.
"Uh, everything okay?" Krillin asked politely. Eighteen flicked her hair over her shoulder - Krillin had come to accept this as Eighteen's version of a shrug.
"This work is ridiculous. All I've been doing is moving a couple of rocks from one place to another and ruining all my clothes. We should just be blasting these sites, it's foolish and inconvenient to do it all by hand!" She finished her speech by aiming a light kick at a remaining wall, which promptly fell backwards and nearly crushed Yamcha before he scrambled out of the way.
"Geez, was that really necessary? You could've killed me!" He grumbled over at Eighteen, but catching her glare silenced him, and he hurried back to work, hauling an armful of stone into the sky grumpily and disappearing. As Eighteen and Krillin got to work gathering the scattered stone into piles, Krillin spoke.
"It's funny you say that, because I was thinking the exact opposite. This is the reason I fight." Eighteen sneered.
"You fight so you can clean up rubble? What's the point in that?" Krillin frowned thoughtfully.
"Well, a long time ago I used to fight for the same reasons Goku and Vegeta fight - to become the best and not be overcome by anyone. Well, admittedly I also thought it was sexy ..." He added bashfully, "But the truth is, I'll never be the best, and any chance I had faded the moment Goku came to Earth.
As time has gone on I've become less and less useful in the battles to save to world, and I know that if there's a next time I might be of no use at all. By Kami, did you know I've already died in the attempt twice?
But when the time does come around, useful or not, I have to fight, because I can't just stand by and let the people I love die. All my friends are out there fighting, who am I to just sit back and let them take it? I can't, and I don't. When I go out there and fight battles I have no chance of winning, it's to try and hold on to what's worth saving. I'm not there for the glory or the pride, I'm there because more than anything I want to be able to protect something with my own hands."
As if to reinforce this, he looked down at his dusty, open hands as he spoke. "I know doing this work isn't like saving or protecting anyone, but it's a sure sign that we're all still alive, and we mananged to protect the Earth. It's helping the people who suffered because of our fights. Rebuilding is showing how we never gave up, and protected everyone after all."
Even me. Eighteen thought, turning away.
Krillin appeared to be musing to himself, but he spoke up again after a time. "Well, I know I'm not really so good at doing the protection thing. Last time I tried to save someone, Cell became complete." He hesitated several more moments, with a heavier silence. Eighteen realised with a start he was talking about destroying the controller. That day, despite his most desperate efforts to protect her, Krillin had been swept aside like a feather when Cell had come for her. She wondered if he really blamed himself for that. "But I'd really like to have something I could protect, something that really needed me." Again he paused, then laughed carelessly. "Something like being a father I guess!"
Eighteen found herself surprised at him. She thought of Seventeen and his foolish actions, his directionless pursuits and his disregard for all else. He could be fun, and he knew her like he knew himself, but he was a virtual Peter Pan. His only true wishes were to enjoy himself, and remain the best, just like every other fighter in the universe. Krillin's brand of courage was something Eighteen had never seen before, and she felt humbled by it.
Perhaps she had underestimated his character after all.
"So anyway Eighteen, what about you? What are your future goals, now that Cell's been defeated?" Eighteen was silent on this for a time, then said dismissively,
"Future or past, there is no difference for me. The way my body is built, I will never grow old. What's the point in thinking things like 'What do you want to be when you grow older?' That'll never happen to me." She continued to shift stone in silence for a few seconds, then realised Krillin had not moved. She looked up at him, the gravity in his face taking her aback.
"You might not ever grow old, but that doesn't mean you can't grow up." He held her gaze, then went back to working in silence, leaving Eighteen feeling confounded, almost scolded. She too went back to work, shortly afterwards taking her own load of stone into the sky, but thinking a great deal about what Krillin had said to her. She knew in all honesty that she had no idea what was supposed to come next. What does a robotic creature, free of it's creator, find purpose in? Seventeen would probably be content to simply continue as they always had, playing games until he grew tired of the rules and then switching to something new. Was that what was going to happen once he'd woken up again? Was that really what she wanted to go back to?
Bulma was waiting for them when they arrived back that evening, and offered for them to have some tea with her before they went home, as she sometimes did. All four of them went inside and sat around Bulma's living room table; a much higher, more western styled set up than the low table at the Kame House. Mrs Briefs bustled in and out and served everyone azuki bean cakes and tea, whilst the conversation revolved around the media of the Cell Games.
"I think they're trying to decide on a high enough honour to bestow on the 'Saviour of the World'." Bulma said caustically.
"Oh, didn't you hear dear?" Mrs Briefs chimed in. "Hope City is getting renamed. As of next year, it's officially going to be called 'Satan City', because that's where Hercule lives." Yamcha, Krillin and Bulma all simultaneously gaped in disbelief. Mrs Briefs nodded enthusiastically, completely mistaking the atmosphere. "Yeah, it's been all over the TV. You might be able to see it even now." She turned on the TV set. Sure enough, Hercule was still featured on every channel. It seemed the newscasters were all competing with each other to see who could compliment Mr Satan the most, and several short videos were played over and over of Mr Satan waving at fans at parades, surrounded by adoring women and followed closely by a young, angry-looking girl, presumably his daughter. The looks on the Z fighter's faces did not change as they watched.
"Ugh." Said Yamcha at length. "Unbelievable the credit that guy is getting. I could beat him up with my fingertip, why does he get all the girls and glory?" Envy oozed out of the ex-nomad.
"I know!" Agreed Krillin with feeling. "And just look at how much he's gloating! The guy can't even fly!"
"That's true and it's ridiculous," Bulma put in, "but if he takes all the glory, he also takes all the attention away from us, and we get lives normal lives again."
The fervent conversation was brought to an abrupt halt upon the entrance of an addition to the party. Vegeta, who had not been seen by the working party since the day Trunks had left, had at last emerged from the gravity chamber, likely searching for food. He was wearing another ruined saiyan-style battle suit and his regular scowl until the moment he spied Eighteen. Then his face became a mask of anger, and anyone with any knowledge of martial arts felt his ki signal skyrocket. Furious eyes fixed on the figure of Eighteen, an energy ball formed in his hands as he bellowed,
"ANDROID!"
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A/N:
Thanks so much for the support and the reviews guys, I really appreciate the critique.
Coppelian, Yeah, I had SO much trouble with line breaks in that chapter. I edited it so many times only have something else screw up in the process. The computer didn't like the formatting I think. Hopefully it'll be better in this chapter. And OH, there will be so much Hercules when you come back, and we shall make rocky road ice cream and sip daquiris.
Vampire Cabbit, I appreciate very much that you stayed for this story even though Seventeen doesn't play a big part. Yeah, for consistency's sake, I've decided that Mr Satan's first name is Hercule, so it clears up confusion no matter which version of the series you watch.
Hope you're all enjoying so far, the plot thickens from here on in.
