A/N: So sorry this took so long. TDOY is a complex story with a lot going on at once and after my computer died and I was unalbe to write for 2 weeks I forgot what I had done and what I'd only planned to do for this story. I've since gone through and skimmed it all creating a small time-line / out-line for it and now I can continue once more!
Chapter Ten - The Path to Home
18 had watched as her daughter had tentatively moved from where she sat over to speak with Bra. Her ears had picked up the conversation from where she was, mainly because she was focusing on it and actually trying to hear it. It had started with a very nervous 'hi' and then Marron had tried her best to help the other girl forget the danger Trunks was in, and to assure her that her brother would be okay everytime Bra came back to that topic. The Android felt a touch of sadness, she could hear the pain in Marron's voice.
After a few mintues their conversation shifted to Goten. 18 noticed Vegeta direct his gaze from Trunks to the Eawpon woman and glare at her as Bra broke down into tears. Vegeta's eyes moved toward his daughter and he both stiffened and relaxed at the sight. Bra had her face buried in Marron's shoulder crying, the blonde girl trying to comfort her. The Android watched his reactions closely and could tell that Marron would be fine. That was one weight off her chest at least. Turning her eyes back to Trunks she continued to wait on his recovery.
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"So then, everything is in order?" Tien asked the young man he was speaking with.
"Yes sir. We've cleared the upper levels of all refugees, they're in the bomb shelters now. The kitchen's have been brought on-line and we have about four hundred people going through the capsulated food reserves. Area six-zero-six-one has been prepared and is ready as well."
Tien nodded. "Good. Everything's ready then. Now we just wait for Frieza to come."
"Are..." the youth started tentatively. The curious look from Tien prompted him to continue. "Are we really evacuating everyone from Earth?"
Tien nodded. "It wont be here next week." he said sadly. "We've already found the perfect planet out there and it's been ready for us for a few years now. Shenron sheilded it so the Masters can't find it. We'll be safe there."
The man nodded but another behind him grunted. "I don't like hiding." he growled. "I'd rather just blast Frieza out of the sky!"
"I know how you feel." Enzeru said walking into the room from outside. "But even we are no match for the Masters yet..."
The man grunted again. "And as you get stronger so do they, and they're faster at it! At this rate you'll only get further and further behind them!" and with that he stormed off, the other following after him quickly.
"He's right, you know." Tien said solemnly. "The Masters grow stronger by the hour. We're only Human, Enzeru... how... how can we catch them?"
She rested her hand on his cheek before leaning in to kiss him. As she pulled back again she looked him in the eyes. "Tao will find the Ancient's Homeworld. He'll get us the Potaras. With them we will defeat the Masters. We even have improved chances now that I have my someone to fuse with as well."
Tien sighed and nodded. He often wondered how Enzeru could be so optimistic no matter the situation. "I hope so." he said. "Too many people have already died..." Enzeru kissed him again as she realized his mind had wandered back to his childhood friend.
"Come on Tien, the others are waiting for us." she said walking from the room.
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Mitsuki leaned against the stone railing of the baclony as she gazed out over the ruined remains of West City. As the chill wind blew across her face and tousled her hair she closed her eyes and considered the day's events. When she'd gotten up that morning she'd been a soldier in the Empire's army. Now... well, now she was one of the rebels. "Blown in the winds to far away lands, controlled by the whims of the gods in the clouds, no path to follow to where I call home, blown in the winds to far away lands." she said softly. It was a poem she'd heard a few years back and it had stuck with her.
"That... sounds like me." a voice said softly from behind her. She turned and saw the young woman from earlier that day, Rei, standing in the doorway. She had on some fresh clothes and she'd been washed up since their first encounter. She could see some fear in her eyes, fear that was fighting a battle against anger. No, against pure hatred.
As soon as her eyes met the other's, Mitsuki cast them to the ground and her shoulders sagged even more than they had been. "Look... Rei... I... I'm sorry I didn't stop... I shouldn't have let them..." she swallowed, not finding the words she wanted. As she stood there with the girl all the things she'd done as a soldier of the Empire came rushing back to her and she fell to her knees and began to cry.
Rei stood there watching her in silence before walking up and kneeling beside her. Mitsuki looked up as she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder and found herself looking right into Rei's eyes once more. The fear was still there, the hatred had ebbed away some, and now an intense sadness was there as well. Mitsuki buried her head in the girl's shoulder as she did the same and both of them sat there crying.
It was this scene that Yamcha, Tien, Krillin, and Enzeru walked in on as they emerged from the building onto the balcony. The four of them stood their in silence for a moment before Tien motioned to go back in. Yamcha and Krillin followed but Enzeru moved out further onto the balcony and rested a hand on each girl's shoulder. Their crying slowed as their tears ran out and a moment later they stood.
Enzeru looked over to Mitsuki first. "We're ready to head out and search the planet for injured. It'll be easier to find them here on Earth as opposed to our next world." Her sister nodded, gave Rei one last glance, and went inside. Enzeru moved in front of Rei then and rested her hands on her shoulders. "How are you holding up?"
Rei nodded slowly, her eyes red from crying. "I'm doing... ok." she said. "It's just... it..."
Enzeru pulled the other girl closer to her and held her. "I know." she whispered softly into her ear. "I know how much it hurts, I know how it feels. I wish... I wish I could say it will go away but it wont, not completely. It wont be so bad in time but it will still be there. You just need to give it time and... I know this is going to sound harsh and hard to do but... you need to try and let go too. If you cling to it, it'll only hurt worse."
Rei nodded against her. "I'll try."
Enzeru pulled back and looked at her again. "Come on, let's head inside. You told Yamcha you're good at tending to injuries, right?"
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17 stood at the hole in the wall Pan had created nearly ten minutes ago. He could still see her aura pulsing brightly in the distance but now it was on ground level. He wasn't sure if he should go to her or let her be. Slowly her aura began to fade and his scanners picked up her power once more, dropping steadily. That was his cue and he launched from the room and out into the blizzard. It only took him a few moments to locate Pan's still dwindling power and land beside her.
She was laying in the snow curled up into a ball and still sobbing softly. He paused as he saw her and just stood their in silence. 17 knew how the Sai-jin viewed such emotions, even though they could fuel their transformations, and didn't want her to know he'd seen her crying. She had the same stance as the others, tears were a sign of weakness. He sat down just far enough away from her that she couldn't see him through the snow and waited.
Five minutes passed, and then ten, and he began to worry about her health out in this cold. Finally he stood and walked over to her, Sai-jin pride be damned. She barely heard his footsteps crunching on the snow as he neared. Her head jerked up quickly as she felt the warmth wash over her and saw 17 standing there, his arms held out, and Ki radiating over her body to keep her warm. Her first instinct was to pull herself back together and hide her weakness. But as she sat up she instead found herself grabbing onto him and crying anew.
17 reached up and rested a hand on the back of her head as she continued to cry. "You're so different from the rest of your family. I've no doubt that Kakkarotto and Gohan are planning revenge against Spear, possibly all the Eawpon's. And yet you... you let your emotions through. You're not as cold and detatched as they are. Even Videl's becoming cold like them." He rested his head against hers. "It's not a weakness to cry... but here and now you do seem so frail. But don't worry Pan, I'll do everything I can to keep you safe."
He looked down at her as Pan's sobs faded and found her sleeping. "You rest then." he said picking her up and turning back toward the palace. He could have flown back in a matter of seconds but he didn't feel like it. Instead he walked back slowly holding Pan against him, and thinking. He wasn't sure how much longer the Masters would last. He wasn't expecting an outside force to destroy them, no. He was waiting for them to tear apart from the inside. He'd been seeing it coming for years now, too many of the Masters had different views. All it would take would be one defining moment, one event to set the ball in motion. And then it would all come crashing down around them.
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Dr. Gero sat down at his terminal and pulled up the information on his current work in progess. "Let's see how you're coming along Tenshi." he said going through the data. His fingers clicked across the key board at high speeds as he pulled up reports, live data feeds, and adjusted formulas and compounds. Tenshi was his longest running project, he'd started working on her while designing the Androids, and she was almost finished. Gero frowned as he read over one of the data reports. "No, that's not right, these levels should be higher... Now where did I put that test subject's file..." he muttered digging through a stack of folders.
"Ah, here we are, Test Subject Mitsuki." He flipped the folder open and skimmed through the information quickly. "Now why is this?" he wondered. The levels had been perfect for Mitsuki but they were far too low in Tenshi. "Perhaps..." he stood and walked from his computer and through a series of doors into a large room. In the center of the room was a large tank full of green fluid. Floating in the center of the tank with wires and tubes running to her body, was a young looking woman who appeared to be in her twenties.
She was naked and her blue skin glistened in the lighting of the room. Running down her back was a red stripe with tiger like stripes that reached out and around her body. Her hair reached halfway down her back and was a dark purple in color. Her eyes, currently closed, were a solid purple a few tones lighter than her hair. Gero walked up to the tank and placed a hand against it tracing it along the glass outlining her form. "Perhaps it's due to your age." he said gazing at her. "Your daughter was far younger when I began work on her. The tests on her finished by the time she was fifteen..."
He narrowed his eyes as he gazed at her. "I don't think I can get your levels up to the right point Tenshi. But I can make adjustments for the lower levels. Don't worry, I wont fail. I wont let you die on me. Father's watch out for their daughters." he was about to say more when he heard the door behind him open and, since his sensors picked up no energy readings in the labs, he knew it was one of his creations. Turning he saw the round and extreamly pale white form of 19. "What is it 19?"
"Contact from Xeno again." it said in it's odd voice. "Pod occupant ID confirmed."
"Oh? So then, do tell, who is in that pod?"
"Acorrding to Xeno, it's Brolly."
Gero raised an eyebrow. "Brolly... well now, this is interesting. 19, keep an eye on the lab for me, I'm going to speak with Vegeta again." 19 nodded as Gero walked passed him. Just on the other side of the door he paused and looked back again. "Have you seen 16 recently? I've been meaning to speak with him the last few weeks. I've finished his newest AI upgrade that should fix his operational problems."
"Last I saw 16 he was dealing with Capsule Corp for Vegeta."
Gero nodded and left the lab.
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Five streaks of light moved through the night sky, three white, one blue, and one purple. Mitsuki was using her scouter to track down powerlevels in the city below them while the others used their senses. "Over here!" Mitsuki called dropping down quickly. She descended through a hole in the roof of a home and landed in the living room. There she found four people. There was an old man standing there, probably in his seventies or eighties, a man in his mid fourties or so, a young girl no more than fifteen or sixteen, and a young boy of about eight laying on a torn and dirty couch. He was soaked in sweat and shivering.
Mitsuki's gaze turned to the old man as she heard the sound of a gun cocking and found him aiming a shotgun at her head. "It's okay, I'm one of the good guys." she said.
"Then why do you wear their armor and technology?" the man demanded.
Mitsuki shook her head as she walked toward the couch. "Relics of an old life." she replied. As she reached the couch and knelt down Enzeru and the others landed in the room as well and the four adult's faces brightened instantly. The four Humans were easily identifible and if the girl in the armor was with them then she was what she said she was. "He's got Zinion's." Mitsuki said gazing into his eyes.
"Zinion's?" Yamcha asked gazing at her intently. He still didn't like her. "We've seen people like this before, what's 'Zinion's'?"
"The Sai-jin version of the flu." Mitsuki replied fishing a capsule out of a pouch tied to her waist. "Most Humans are completely immune to it but there are those who it hits like a ton of bricks. If it's not treated it's always fatal." She depressed the button on the capsule and dropped it onto the ground. A moment later she had a small med kit opened beside her.
"Can... can you save my brother?" the girl asked nervously.
Mitsuki didn't say anything as she dug through the kit and took out a syringe. She then fished out a couple of medicines, mixed them, and filled the syringe with the mixture. "Krillin, Yamcha, you'll need to hold him down." she said looking back. The two came around and one held his feet while the other his arms. "Enzeru, hold his head still." her sister nodded and moved over to hold the boy's head in place.
Mitsuki bit her lip and looked over to the others. "The bacteria settles in the brain." she explained. "The fastest way to get rid of it is a direct injection into the brain. Without the proper equipment that's dangerous, on the field like this the best bet is to inject him through the eye." she shook her head slowly. "He'll lose all vision through that eye afterwards, and if the disease is far enough along.... he may already be partly blind in his other eye."
"Just... save him. Please." the man asked.
Mitsuki nodded and looked up to Enzeru. She nodded as well and Mitsuki moved the syringe up to his left eye. After a moment to steady her hand she pushed the needle down in and the boy screamed and tried to thrash but the hands holding him were firm and unmoving. Once the needle was in far enough in, Mitsuki slowly began the injection. When she pulled the needle out again the boy's left eye had gone from having a blue iris to being solid white. He laid there screaming for a moment longer and then began to calm down as he slowly drifted to sleep.
"I mixed in a sedative as well." Mitsuki explained. "It's better if he sleeps through this part, it's extreamly painful..." she reached up with one hand and massaged her temple for a moment. Then she packed up the med kit again and stood. The five of them talked with the other three for a moment before leaving and going in search of more injured and sick.