Disclaimer: I don't own DB/Z/GT.
Android 18's expression lit up like the sun when it first peeks over the horizon in the morning. She knew this was perfect. She had to have it. 'This is such a cute outfit!' she thought to herself, eyeing the size on the tag, 'Oh! And what luck! It's my size!'
The outfit was displayed before her eyes in all of its spectacular glory. It consisted of a small white blouse with a tight black tank-top vest over the top layer. The mannequin was also wearing dark blue jeans with a thin chain attached from the beltline to one of the front pockets. There was a small gold medallion attached to the chain.
The mannequin was wearing black gloves, upon which its left hand wore a thin gold bracelet. It had small black flat shoes, and a dark brown belt. A delicate looking pearl necklace adorned the mannequin's neck. 18 stood and stared at the dummy for a second before promptly picking it up, and dragging it to the changing curtain behind the clothes stand.
Inside the changing room there was a small mirror propped up. 18 examined how the outfit looked on her in delight. She turned around in all sorts of odd angles, trying to make sure nothing was out of place. Everything had to look good. 'Just perfect!' she thought. 'This definitely suits me.'
Android 18 casually flicked her short blonde locks over shoulder as she walked out of the dressing room. She expected the owner to flip out on her as she left without paying, but she was surprised to see that the owner had fled. She glanced over to where her brother was waiting for her, and noticed that he was no-longer there.
She furrowed her brows together in somewhat confusion, yet also annoyance. She heard a loud thump, and witnessed her brother go flying into a wall from around a faraway corner. All of a sudden, she could feel a strong ki. It felt like mixture of the kis of the Earthling warriors they'd confronted earlier, but it was weird, this was just one being.
She took a nervous step backward, and chose to hide behind a clothes rack just to be safe. Her brother was getting his ass kicked. If she stepped in, she'd be granted the same fate. That's when she saw it, the terrifying lizard-like creature with a tail that stood out like a whip with a dagger for the tip, and the eyes of a snake.
She could see that her brother had been too cocky, and was being beaten down. She contemplated helping him, but she didn't want to lose her life just as soon as she'd gained it back. Was this compassion she was feeling? Was it selfishness? Her eyes were wide open, and for the first time since Gero had given her the operation, she felt fear rushing through her veins. Terror felt so new to her, almost exhilarating, but still horrifying none the less.
She nearly screamed as she saw the creature's tail come out from behind it and stab into her brother. It began to suck at her brother's life force. 'What are you doing? Help him you moron! He's your brother!' her mind screamed, but her will to live was far too great to forfeit her life for her brother.
Android 17 slumped as his energy was drawn from him. She watched as her brother was vacuumed in through the monster's tail. She watched him fight against it. She heard his grunts and protests, and finally, she heard his last utterance, a petrifying scream. She felt like crying, but no tears came. She felt like running, but her feet were glued to the floor. She wanted to scream, but she feared for her life.
The monster was laughing; his cackling laugh resonated throughout the shopping mall. Her hand clenched into fists as she could feel her brother's power joining with the monster. He had literally absorbed her brother whole, and was now going through some sort of disgusting transformation.
18 could suddenly feel the ground move below her feet, the whole building was trembling from the creature's power. The monster was glowing, and she could see its body contorting and reforming before her very eyes. The transformation this creature was going through was utterly repulsive.
Android 18 nearly jumped out of her own skin as she felt something tug on her arm. In a flash she turned to see what it was and nearly obliterated Android 16 on the spot.
"Come, 18, we must go. He will come after you next," he spoke in a monotone voice.
18 was completely shocked. She'd forgotten 16 was still with them. More than that, she was surprised he'd even thought to save her. She thought that his only intentions were of killing Son Goku, like he was programmed to do. Apparently, she had been wrong; he too, had a mind of his own.
Together, they exited the building, and headed for safety. 18 glanced back one last time, a thought of final farewells to her brother echoed in her mind. Absentmindedly, she wondered where the aching feeling in her chest had come from.
Piccolo sat atop the lookout with a look of complete and utter concentration upon his face. A bead of sweat slid down his temple down to his jawbone, and onto his chin, before silently dripping to the ground. Only moments before, his face had been as placid as a lake in the middle of a beautiful thriving forest. Now, things were different. He had just sensed something all of a sudden that was extremely disturbing.
The Namekian who was once regarded as an evil demon out to destroy the Earth, now felt like one of the Earth's guardians, and rightly so. This thing, this evil monster he was sensing, threatened the very existence of his precious planet. The solution was simple, it had to go, but the means to create this solution was a lot more complicated, especially now.
'How?' thought Piccolo, breaking away from his former concentration. 'How did Cell gain so much power so suddenly?"
Piccolo scowled at the ground in deep thought, completely ignoring the group that had come up to him. They had felt it too then; Krillin, Yamcha, Tien, and Trunks must have sensed the commotion this Cell creature had created.
Piccolo could remember Cell's exact words from their former confrontation: "I don't mean to leave you so soon before I've even began to have fun of it with you all, but I have some pressing matters I must attend to."
'So these must be those pressing matters then?' thought Piccolo, as he recalled one more of Cell's earlier statements: "…you see, I would like to reach perfection as fast as I can. Now, I really must be going, I must say, you all disappointed me, make sure to do better to entertain me next time, won't you?"
"Perfection," muttered Piccolo aloud, still deeply immersed in Cell's words, trying to decipher what he had meant by them.
"Would you mind hearing my opinion, Piccolo?" intervened a somewhat worried, yet calm, looking Trunks.
"Not at all," replied Piccolo, raising an eyebrow at the boy out of intrigue.
"Well, first things first, we know that Cell has the ability to literally suck the life out of his victims by puncturing their skin with his tail. Each time he sucks the life out of somebody, they join with him, and he even stated that to us earlier. If they join with him, he gains more power, so needless to say, he's constantly looking for more victims to gain more strength and reach what he deems is his 'perfected' state," explained Trunks.
"That's precisely what I had been afraid of," mumbled Piccolo in response.
"Did any of you guys sense a strong ki around Cell when he absorbed whoever it was he absorbed and his strength increased tenfold?" questioned Krillin.
A chorus of the word, "No," could be heard echoing atop the lookout.
"I think-" mumbled Trunks, "-and I'm not sure if this is even possible… I think he may have absorbed one of the androids we'd encountered earlier."
An assortment of gasps could be heard from the group.
"I agree with you, Trunks," replied Piccolo, nodding his head in approval, "That would explain why we couldn't feel a huge ki being absorbed. The androids don't have ki, but they seem human enough, so it could be possible that Cell may be able to absorb their power too."
"Guys, this isn't looking good for us, not at all," stated Krillin, receiving a handful of nods.
"Don't count us out yet, Krillin. He was strong before, but I know we could've beaten him, if Goku hadn't been so reckless… She… or Vegeta…" Yamcha paused, suddenly feeling embarrassed of himself. Since when did the Z-fighters only depend on Goku and Vegeta to fight their battles for them?
"We can beat him!" Yamcha corrected himself, "We just need to ban together and give it our all!"
"We also need to prevent this Cell creature from absorbing any other renegade androids," pointed out Tien.
"I'll go get Goku, you guys. We all need to be in this together! There's no leaving anyone out this time. We don't want to take any chances," announced Krillin, preparing to leave.
"Get Vegeta too," suggested Piccolo, 'Probably won't be hard,' he thought to himself, 'Seems like he's always around Goku as of late.'
"Can do," bellowed Krillin, jogging into the building atop the lookout.
'Maybe that's not such a good idea,' thought Trunks, 'Poor Krillin's probably going to get dragged into their argument.'
Krillin made a quick search for Goku and Vegeta's kis, and was delighted to find that they were near each other, 'Less work for me,' he thought with a grin.
'Geeze, now that I think of it, those two sure have been hangin' out a lot lately,' his thought process continued, 'It's kinda weird… Since Vegeta hates Goku and all…'
Krillin paused as he approached the room he'd sensed their ki in, 'Now why the heck is the door on the ground?' he thought. 'I hope they aren't attacking each other or anything.'
Krillin narrowed his eyes in suspicion, as he turned to walk into the room "You guys better not be training in here, there are specified rooms to train in ya' know…."
All of a sudden, Krillin stopped dead-still. His eyes bugged out, and his jaw nearly dropped to the floor.
"G- Goku?" he mumbled.
Goku and Vegeta's lips were definitely connected in a passionate kiss. Goku arm's were most certainly intertwined around Vegeta's neck, her finger's entangled in his infamous flame-shaped hair. Vegeta's arms were proudly adorned around her waist, pulling her close to him. It was obvious what was going on, yet still, the trivial question was asked:
"W-What are you doing?!?" Krillin nearly shouted in surprise.
Goku immediately shoved herself away from Vegeta, wrapping her arms around herself as if she felt naked. Vegeta let out a low growl and crossed his arms in annoyance.
"What's it look like cue-ball?" he hissed.
Krillin scowled at Vegeta, "I didn't ask you!"
Goku's now rather pallid face glanced up at Krillin. She looked embarrassed, and at the same time, mortified. She was completely caught off-guard. Krillin was a mellow guy, he normally wouldn't shout at someone, even if said person was Vegeta.
"Krillin… I-" began Goku, who was abruptly cut-off by:
"Goku, what's wrong with you? The Goku I know, my best friend, would never…" Krillin said with a sad, almost pitiful look upon his face.
He was unable to finish what he was going to say. Too many thoughts were rushing into his mind. For one, he'd just seen his best friend, who was born a boy, kissing another boy, who supposedly despised him/her. Secondly, Goku had completely neglected the threat to the planet, for Kami's sake, had she even noticed what had just transpired?
"Goku," Krillin muttered, looking at his toes, "I need to talk to you alone for a moment, 'kay?"
"She doesn't need to hear anything you have to sa-" began an angry Vegeta, who was interrupted by:
"No, Vegeta," mumbled Goku, "I need to talk to Krillin too. Please, just leave."
"Vegeta," muttered Krillin, his voice very terse, "You should go see the others. They will have something to say to you, you have more important matters to attend to… rather than… kissing…"
Krillin couldn't finish his sentence, but apparently his notion was understood, because Vegeta left headed in the direction of the others. Krillin turned to Goku, and found himself completely taken aback by the unsettling look that had drawn itself upon Goku's face.
Goku now sensed why Krillin was in such dismay. It was Cell, and his newfound power was disconcerting to say in the least. In fact, it was so disturbing, Goku almost felt sick for not even noticing, for being so… selfish?
"Krillin-" Goku whispered, she could feel a disgusted feeling churning in her stomach, and she couldn't get the feeling of such embarrassment, such selfishness, such betrayal out of her head. She couldn't control it any longer. She hated that she couldn't. The tears began to pour down her face, and she turned away from Krillin.
'Why am I crying?' she thought feeling utterly humiliated. 'I don't want Krillin to see me cry dammit!'
She hated how she couldn't control the tears. It was so painful to have other people witness you crying. 'Why couldn't I be one of those strong women that can control their emotions? What the hell is wrong with me?' her mind screamed in anger. Unfortunately, willing herself not to cry wasn't going to work.
"I am s- so sorry, K- Krillin," she stuttered in-between sobs.
"Goku," stated a worried Krillin, placing the palm of his hand on her shoulder, "It's okay, don't cry."
"No!" shouted Goku, "It's n- not okay, not at all! I'm sorry I let my emotions distract me from more important m-matters!"
"Everyone makes mistakes" Krillin felt so awful now, he felt like such a jerk.
"I'm sorry you had to see me like this. I- I can't help it, really, I can't," she stammered, turning to look Krillin in the eyes.
Her eyelashes were wet, and were sticking together. Tears were still streaming down her face, and dripping from her chin. Her cheeks were a bright puffy red. Some of her hair was matted to her wet cheeks. The sight was really despicable and she was fully aware of it.
"Krillin, I'm so confused. I don't know what to think anymore!" she sobbed.
"Goku, it'll be alright. A year will pass by before you know it, and we can find the dragonballs and wish you back to being a man again," comforted Krillin, patting Goku on the back.
"Krillin, you're going to hate me," Goku mumbled, almost inaudibly.
"I could never hate you, Goku, you're my best friend, always will be," replied Krillin.
Goku allowed herself to give Krillin a soft smile, but it quickly faded into anguish, "I- I don't think…"
"You don't think what, Goku? You can tell me," stated Krillin, "I'm there for you, buddy, through thick and thin."
"I don't think I'm going to… I'm not going to wish myself to be a man again," Goku murmured.
"What? Why not?" asked Krillin, starting to worry.
"I think," began Goku, a look of revelation spelling out on her face, she looked directly into Krillin's eyes, "I think I've fallen in love with Vegeta."
A/N: :D I updated the poll on my profile, check it out if you haven't already! Oh, and thank you very much for the reviews for the previous chapter!
