The History of Yamcha
WARNING: These chapters deal with very sensitive subjects.
A chilling wind brushed past all of those on the Lookout, Goku stared intently at Piccolo and Gohan as the others looked on in both horror and anticipation. From the previous fight, everyone already knew that Goku and Piccolo were tired, but Gohan had just been brought back from the dead, and no one doubted that Piccolo had filled his head with lies of how his father had chosen not to revive him. The child's facial expression told everyone that he wasn't about to let Goku leave the Lookout alive. Even though Goku's allies were all there, they were tired and bloodied from fighting the Ginyu Force, as well as trying to fend off Cold while Goku recovered, and they knew that once the fighting had begun, Goku would be on his own.
Vegeta had followed the others to the lookout, but instead of being met with criticism as he had been in the original timeline, he was met with praise. When Ginyu and his men began to attack the humans, it was Vegeta who retaliated the most quickly, taking Ginyu head on and fighting admirably. He himself knew that the only reason he had done so was because the purple alien had always been a thorn in his side while he was on Earth, but also because with Ginyu out of the way, Cold wouldn't be able to destroy the planet so easily. Despite everything he had told himself, Vegeta knew Cold would never accept Vegeta back into the ranks of his soldiers, so it was best to even the playing field rather than submit and be killed.
It didn't matter; he had done something heroic, which was more than anyone could have thought before Ginyu annihilated Chiaotzu with a single blast. Tien was the most grateful, but he wished he would have been able to have delivered the finishing blow to the bastard Ginyu.
Still, Vegeta was out of breath, bloodied and just as tired as the rest of them. No Senzu beans were ready, and in order for them to be on any use they knew that they would either have to combine their strengths or run away and regain their power.
Goku had already made their decision for them, and already knew how this would play out.
He turned to his friends after he had exchanged sympathetic words with his son, words that he knew fell on deaf ears. He smiled, the famous grin that would always give his friends hope, but now it seemed to serve as a grim admittance of defeat.
"This is my battle." He explained, still with a smile on his face "None of you have to be here, run." No one moved a muscle, none of them were cowardly enough to take Goku's words immediately, and all of them were willing to fight Piccolo rather than watch Goku die.
"That's not true! This is everyone's fight!" Krillin shouted over to his best friend, looking slightly over to find that Piccolo was grinning "Don't tell us to leave Goku, don't!" He shouted, a tear forming in the corner of his eye. Everyone had already adopted a fighting stance, but Goku shook his head and clenched his fists, his aura turning golden, as did his hair in a fiery explosion ok ki.
"I know none of you want to go, but it's useless to stay here. None of you can help me." Goku claimed, his voice more gruff and forceful. None of them moved an inch, causing Goku to clench his teeth in anger and sadness "I said run you fools!" He screamed, causing his friends to back away in fear. Krillin took one last look at his friend and nodded, blasting off. Yamcha took off right after Yamcha, and Tien grabbed Gon before heading away with Vegeta.
"That was the last time I saw you, Goku." Scar sighed, wiping a tear from his cheek "your smile was the thing that always stuck with me, that you would try to instill us with hope, even after we knew there was none." Goku shuddered, knowing that the implication was strong that Gohan had actually killed him in Scar's timeline.
"I'm sorry, Yamcha…" The Saiyan consoled, placing his hand on the man's shoulder. Scar accepted the gesture and nodded.
"Your death was only the start." Scar said, lifting himself up from the rock, brushing Goku's hand off of his shoulder as he began pacing.
They found a spot to hide as quickly as they could, using their senses to pick up the fight that ensued. Goku and Gohan were truly going at it, but none of them could tell. They had all suppressed their power so that if Goku died, Piccolo would not be able to find them and kill them. Hours passed, and none of them knew exactly who was winning. Their ki seemed so similar, and yet one of the signatures was waning, the other clearly winning the battle. Blasts of ki were heard throughout the fight, lighting up the night sky with their colorful splendor, but soon, all ki attacks stopped. One of the energy signatures was very weak, and some of the weaker fighters couldn't sense it at all anymore.
"Goku, he isn't…" Tien clenched his fists and started to move, but Yamcha caught his shoulder and shook his head in despair.
"We're no match…" They all felt the same way, even Vegeta, who was silently contemplating what the future would have in store for him with Kakarot having been killed by his own little brat. He felt a tinge of pain, maybe even sadness at the thought of the death of another pure Saiyan, but ultimately he knew that without Kakarot in his way, perhaps he could establish himself as the strongest once again.
They all felt at once as the ki signature went out, Krillin dropped to his knees and began to cry.
"Why, Goku!" He shouted, staring up into the dark sky "Why couldn't you just let me die fighting by your side!" Yamcha, Tien and Vegeta all looked at the small warrior in pity, with the two humans and Gon, the Namekian, also shedding a tear for their fallen comrade.
Mere minutes after the energy signal disappeared, a huge spike of energy could be felt from the lookout. An energy unlike any they had sensed before had emerged, and they were absolutely terrified of it. As soon as it had appeared, however, it dropped, and they could all tell that it was Piccolo's doing.
A few more hours passed in total silence before they couldn't feel Piccolo or Gohan's energies any longer, and Tien thought it best if they were to go into hiding. Vegeta, Yamcha and Krillin all agreed that in order to have any chance against Piccolo and Gohan they would all need to stick together and hide somewhere that he would never think so look. Gon was passed out at that point, and was being carried by Tien, who, still saddened by the loss of his friend Chiaotzu, decided to take it upon himself to watch over the small Namekian child.
Krillin, Tien and Vegeta went off to Capsule Corp. to find Bulma, knowing that she wasn't safe as long as she was living in her home. Yamcha volunteered to stay behind and check the lookout to see if it truly was Goku that had died, taking a few minutes to get the courage to fly back up.
Taking his time, Yamcha slowly flew up to the once sacred meeting place, looking around to find that everything was completely trashed. The white tiles were stained with blood, the garden destroyed, the house in shambles. He could make out three bodies: the Saibamen "Gorth", Mr. Popo and one other that brought him to his knees.
The orange gi was a dead giveaway, and Yamcha's worst fears were realized.
Not only had they killed him, they took his head.
Where Goku's body lay, only a bloodied stump could be seen where his head had been. Yamcha fell to the palms of his hands, eyes wide open as he hurled onto the ground. It took almost a half hour for Yamcha to gain the strength of will to get up again, and as he rose his legs shook in nausea and fear. He wobbled over to Goku's corpse, avoiding looking at the Saiyan's decapitated stump, kneeling down to the lower half of his body and looking at his shoes.
"You were a great…" Yamcha stopped himself and wiped the tears from his face, "Great friend Goku, I won't ever forget you." He gulped hard and he slid off the Saiyan's weighted shoes, tying them together and strapping them onto his own belt. "You l-loved these shoes, Goku…" Yamcha stuttered out, turning away from his dead body "I'll wear them proudly." He said, wiping off even more tears as he flew off into the distance.
Goku stayed silently still, breathing heavier now than he had before.
"That was when I started." Scar said, looking up at the starry night sky. "Twenty years ago, that's when I knew I couldn't sit around like I always did." He looked back to the tile flooring, shaking his head "You gave me the strength I needed to push myself, Goku." The Saiyan looked over the side of the lookout, peering over at the forest below.
"What happened to Chi-Chi?" He asked solemnly, not truly wanting to know the answer, but still forcing himself to ask.
Scar sighed, turning around to look at Goku briefly before turning to face the sky again. "I… I don't know."He said, placing his right hand on the top of his head, shaking it from side to side "We never saw her again."
Goku shed a tear and closed his eyes, regretting that any incarnation of him would have thrown his life away because of his shame.
Tien, Krillin, Yamcha and Vegeta met back up at Capsule Corp. along with Bulma and Gon, who lay fast asleep on the blue haired women's bed as she packed her items.
"Bulma, please, only take what you need" Yamcha pleaded, prompting a death glare from a crying Bulma. After they had broken the news to her, she nearly lost it, but Yamcha had straightened her out for the most part. Her facial expression quickly turned to a more saddened one, and she rushed into Yamcha's arms.
"I'm sorry, Yamcha, I just never…" She gripped the back of his clothing tightly, crying into his shoulder.
"No one did, woman." Vegeta coldly exclaimed, looking out a window with his arms crossed. "Now hurry up, no doubt the Namekian already knows we would come here first." The last full blooded Saiyan ordered.
"Why are you even here?" Krillin asked, sitting at the foot of Bulma's bed, staring at the wall. "You don't care about us, you don't care about Goku." His eyes were trained firmly at the middle of the wall. Tears wouldn't come anymore; he wore a cold, determined facial expression.
Vegeta scoffed and turned to face the small warrior "Kakarot may not have been my friend, but he was a kinsman, and he fought to the end." He explained, walking closer to Krillin, who continued staring at the wall "Sticking with you fools is the only way that I'll be able to survive. I won't have Kakarot's sacrifice be in vain."
Krillin's nose crinkled up in anger "So this is all about you huh?" He asked, turning his attention to the Saiyan "Goku died so you could live?!" Krillin rose from the bed, causing Vegeta to smirk "you self centered prick!"
"Do you want to die baldy?" Vegeta threatened, but was met with a firm hand on his shoulder. He looked back to find Tien eyeing him with malice, but also with a stare that reminded him what was at stake.
"Not now, either of you." Tien ordered, releasing Vegeta's shoulder. "If we get riled up now, Piccolo will know exactly where we are."
"Hmph." Vegeta scoffed, turning back to look out the window "like he doesn't already know."
Bulma threw a few more things in her pack, and Yamcha looked around to see if they needed anyone else to come with them.
"Is there someone here who we should take?" The former bandit asked, eyeing Tien to see if he knew anything Yamcha didn't.
"There's Chi-Chi and Roshi, but if we know that old Hermit, he's probably somewhere in a submarine by now, and Chi-Chi wouldn't come with us anyway." Tien explained. Yamcha nodded and gasped, he had one last idea.
"What about Korin?" He said, causing Krillin to look up in surprise.
"We should get as many Senzu's as possible." The bald man said, looking down at Yamcha's belt and finding that he had Goku's shoes. "Wait, are those…"
"Yes, they are." Yamcha turned his belt slightly so that the boots were out of Krillin's eyesight. The small fighter looked up at Yamcha and was about the speak when Tien gasped in terror.
"He's here!" Tien quietly stated, frightening everyone in the room. He felt a sudden surge of energy just outside the building, just as he had felt when Piccolo had first arrived on Earth via instant transmission.
"Oh shit!" Krillin whispered, grabbing Gon. "How are we going to get out of here?" Bulma rushed to a window and quickly but quietly lifted it open.
"Be as quiet as possible, and don't raise your powers for a second." Tien ordered, ushering Yamcha and Bulma out first, followed by Krillin and Gon, and finally Vegeta. They all flew somewhat slowly, not trying to gain attention to themselves, but also going fast enough so that they could get out of Piccolo's range of sensing as quickly as possible.
A few minutes into the flight, Bulma had a realization and began breathing heavily.
"My parents!" She quietly shouted "and Lod! He's going to kill them!" She squirmed in Yamcha's hands, but he kept his firm grip on her. "Go back Yamcha, we have to save them!" Despite her plea, Yamcha's eyes were fixed ahead, not wavering even for a second. He gulped; she saw the fear in his eye, the sadness. He knew they were already gone, and now, so did Bulma. She looked down to the ground and began to cry, and just a few short minutes later, the six of them heard a massive explosion.
"I thought she was done." Scar said, shaking his head and looking over to Goku, who had been sitting on the rock for some time. "The look in her eyes told me that she didn't want to go on anymore." He smiled briefly, but it turned back into a saddened frown as he spoke "I was wrong, she just needed time." 'Future' Yamcha looked over at Kami's house, having heard some loud noises going on the inside. Both he and Goku knew that it was the ceremony, although neither of them truly knew what was going on.
"Did Piccolo find you?" Goku asked out of curiosity, staring at the back of Scar's head.
He stood still and said nary a word for a moment or two, seemingly trying to remember what happened.
"Yes. Once." Scar explained.
It only took a few days to find a good hiding spot. Bulma had brought plenty of capsules with equipment to survive. Vegeta, Tien, Krillin and Yamcha went on regular hunting trips to get food, usually gathering enough in one hunt to last for a long while. They lived this way for a year, fending from the land and trying to keep quiet so that Piccolo wouldn't be able to find them. They trained themselves day and night, trying as hard as they could not to raise their powers, but finding other avenues to be able to fight Piccolo on a more even level. Tien, Yamcha and Krillin all attempted to last longer in a Kaio-Ken state in order to prolong the forms use in a fight, while Vegeta attempted tried his hardest to maintain his temper and not feed his frustration at not being able to unleash his full power, he was having the hardest time, as he had not yet attained the form he had seen Gohan and Goku using before.
During the course of the year, Bulma had returned to her old self for the most part, building contraptions and trying to find a way for the men to train without Piccolo catching on. She often spoke with Gon about how he missed his people, and what he would do before Frieza had come to his planet. She really liked him, and he was beginning to feel like he had some kind of family again with the people around him. Gon often tried to hone his healing skills, testing it on injured animals he found in the wild, and sometimes on the humans when they tried lasting longer than they should have in the Kaio-Ken state. The Namekian really looked up to Tien after Goku's death, as he seemed to be the leader of the group at the time. Tien would lead the humans in their daily meditations, and would more often than not exceed the others in his abilities. Vegeta seemed to be annoyed at the fact that he had little he could do, as the humans couldn't teach the Kaio-Ken, only a Kai could.
After a while, Vegeta became fed up with the way that he was living and wanted to leave the main group. He argued that he had no place with these humans unless he could hone his fighting abilities, and that without proper training he would lose power. In order to keep him around, Bulma promised him that she would have her invention that cloaks Ki signatures built within a month. Vegeta reluctantly agreed, grumbling the entire time.
As promised, Bulma finished the device, which was a chip that could attach to a fighters skin and create an invisible bubble around them that captured the excess Ki being given off and keep it contained. However, she warned that without a proper test, she had no idea if the invention could work properly, and so she decided to withhold it from Vegeta until she could be sure of its functionality.
After waiting a few more months, Vegeta had grown impatient, and foolishly used the device during the night. As Bulma had feared, the device hadn't worked properly, awaking the three ki sensitive humans. Each of them gasped in horror as from out of the darkness they could see Piccolo, walking slowly towards their camp.
"Oh no…" Tien said, his voice trembling with fear. From out of the darkness they heard a deep, soul crushing malefic laughter.
Vegeta's eyes widened in fear as he realized exactly what he had just done. He lowered himself to the ground right next to the others, backing away as the evil Namekian walked closer and closer.
Gon had been awoken as well, and dragged the sleeping Bulma over to Yamcha.
"Take her, please, we need to go." Gon whispered to the black haired human, who didn't take his eyes off of Piccolo for a second.
"You shouldn't have been so foolish, Vegeta." Piccolo shouted through the darkness, obviously playing up the drama to strike fear into his opponent's hearts.
A few moments after Piccolo spoke, Krillin donned a determined face and took up a fighting stance, walking in front of his friends and putting his arm in front of them.
"Go, now." He said, not looking back for a second. Yamcha almost immediately grabbed Bulma and Gon, rushing off into the distance. Vegeta soon followed, but Tien stayed behind.
"I'm not leaving you Krillin, I want a shot at this guy too." Tien explained, taking a fighting stance as well.
"No!" Krillin shouted, looking back towards Tien "Go, now! Protect Gon and the others, you're their leader now, they need you!" He quickly turned to find Piccolo directly in front of him, staring him down with a grin on his face.
"Hello, Krillin."
A crimson aura surrounded the man as he powered up, ramming his body into Piccolo's chest, sending the Namekian backwards. Krillin turned once again and shouted at Tien "Run, run now!" Tien nodded and blasted off after the others, leaving Krillin behind to fend for himself.
"The last thing I heard was a scream." Scar gulped, a tear rolling down his face. "Just like Goku, he gave his life so we could have more time." By now, Scar was sitting on the edge of the Lookout, his feet dangling over as he told his story. Goku looked down to the ground, shaking his head.
"What about all of your things?" Goku asked "The capsules, the device, the food?"
"Bulma had enough foresight to prepare; she had a spare of everything and kept it with her at all times." Scar explained, seeming to smile for a moment.
"Yeah, she's the smartest person on Earth." Goku assured.
"In the universe." Scar corrected, losing his smile.
There was a long silence before Scar continued.
"I went back a few months later to that same spot." 'Future' Yamcha said, throwing his bag to his side, pulling out Krillin's symbol. "Tore this off of his clothes, I don't want to go into what Piccolo had done to him." He took a look at the symbol for a while, then placed it back into his pouch, leaving on the ground next to him.
"Why did you defend him?" Goku asked "if he was so horrible, why are these Androids any better?" Scar lowered his head, his chin coming down to his chest as he sighed.
"That one took me a long time to rationalize." Scar said, lifting his head up. He picked up his pouch once again, searching through it for a single item and pulled it out.
Goku gasped when he saw what it was.
Scar's lip quivered as he held the item, memories of his past sprung back to him, and his gaze could not be shifted. It took him a full minute before he could even say a single word. "This… this was his…" Scar's trembling hands squeezed the plush monster doll, red and menacing, and yet cute at the same time. He pulled it to his chest as he cried, the tears rolling down his face. "H-he… when he was just seven, he played with it all the time…" Scar cried, fingers still trembling in sadness. "His mother and I… we thought it was ironic, a monster could calm him down, could make him happy…" Scar sighed, wiping his face and ending the tears.
"It's personal, Goku." Scar said, placing the doll back into the pouch "but it's more than that."
Goku had been moved nearly to tears, knowing almost exactly what Scar was feeling. "What do you mean?" The Saiyan asked.
"The Androids, they killed everyone." Scar explained, shaking his head "Piccolo didn't. He left entire cities untouched, while those robots destroyed them without a second thought."
Goku opened his mouth to say something but stopped for a moment, then decided to go on with what he had to say "but if Piccolo had defeated the Androids, what then?"
Scar's hair blew in the chilling wind; he had pondered that same question many a night.
"Maybe my son would still be alive." He thought hopefully, closing his eye as he felt the wind against his face. Goku knew better than to refute Scar's argument. "I know it's stupid, Goku." Scar said a moment later "but don't tell me that you hadn't thought of what would have happened if Raditz hadn't killed you, leaving Piccolo to raise Gohan."
"Don't…" Goku said, shutting his eyes tightly and looking away.
"I'm sorry, old friend." Yamcha apologized "I shouldn't have said that."
The two of them said nothing for another long silence.
"What was his name?" Goku asked Scar of his child. The man sighed, turning to face the Saiyan.
"We named him Goku, after you." Scar answered, seeing the look of surprise on Goku's face almost made him laugh, but he turned around and faced the night sky once more.
"I-I'm honored." Goku said, a grin sweeping across his face before it was crushed by the realization that he had died at the hands of the Androids. "Can you tell me about him?" The Saiyan asked, genuinely intrigued. Scar nodded and sighed once more.
"He was headstrong." Scar explained "he thought he could do anything." Goku nodded, intently staring at Scar as he told about his son "he loved to fight; he always wanted to be better, just like you." Scar said, obviously proud. "He wasn't a weakling either, I taught him how to fight since he was just 5 years old." 'Future' Yamcha nodded "yeah, he was a prodigy alright."
"Sounds like it." Goku agreed, looking over once more at Kami's house.
"He was the best thing to ever happen to us." Scar admitted, rooting around in his pouch once more. Once his fingertips felt it inside the bag, a chill was sent up his spine. He felt the edge of the thin sheet before pulling it out, reaching his arm back towards Goku. "That's the last picture we all took together, I…" Scar closed his eyes as he felt the picture leave his grip "I can't bear to look at it anymore."
Goku eyed the photo carefully; there in the middle was a smiling, happy child with his two smiling, happy parents. Despite the hell they went through, they were still happy somehow, and Goku was filled with a sense of hope.
"He had purple hair…" Goku said, not realizing he had spoken it aloud.
"Yes, he was interesting." Scar nodded, looking down as Goku gently slid the photo face down towards him. Scar picked it up and slid it back into the pouch. "I loved him so much…" Scar gulped and looked over the lookout, remembering all of the wonderful memories he had of his child.
Goku knelt down and placed a hand and Scar's shoulder. "I know."
After a touching moment between them, Goku lifted his hand off Scar's shoulder and walked towards the rock once again.
"So what happened after Piccolo found you?" Goku asked.
It didn't take long before the five survivors found shelter once again. From their last encounter, it was obvious to them that Piccolo was merely toying around, and allowed them to escape. They mourned Krillin, but also devoted their time to building a new home for themselves. Because of Vegeta's mishap, Bulma was able to modify the spare device she had made and fixed it so that it truly worked as it was supposed to. Vegeta, Tien and Yamcha immediately began training as soon as Bulma had finished her work on the training device.
During the following year, the three fighters had gained immense power, and Tien had nearly mastered the use of the Kaio-Ken. Vegeta concentrated his efforts on attaining more power, and Yamcha had a surprise of his own. He and Bulma had found out together that Bulma was with child.
The two shared a feeling of happiness mixed with fear, fear of what bringing a child into a world ruled by a Demon King would do to said child. Ultimately, they decided that they would go through with it, and seven months later Bulma had successfully given birth to her first child.
Tien and Gon were present for the birth, but Vegeta was out training. His Saiyan genes would not allow him to stop for anything.
"It's a boy!" Yamcha exclaimed, smiling as he held the crying baby in his towel draped arms. Tien and Gon both looked at each other, smiling back at one another as Yamcha held his baby son in his arms.
"Y-yamcha, let me hold him." Bulma said, reaching out and cradling the baby in her arms after Yamcha had handed him to her. "He's so beautiful…" She said, smiling at the wonderful ball of life she had created. She looked up at Yamcha, who smiled back at her with loving eyes. "His name will be Goku." Bulma explained, looking back down at the baby who wrapped his hand around his mother's finger "just like we planned."
Yamcha looked up at Tien, who nodded at the new father approvingly.
"Tien, would you do us the honor of being Goku's godfather?" Bulma asked, looking up at the three eyed human.
"Of course, the honor is all mine." Tien smiled, patting Gon on the back.
The Namekian awkwardly walked up to Bulma and, obviously nervous, asked "May I hold him?"
Bulma laughed a bit and nodded "Just be careful, alright?" Gon nodded and gently cradled the baby in his arms, nearly crying himself.
This was the happiest moment that any of them would ever experience, as just a few months later, another terror far worse than Piccolo would surface.
It seemed like just another day to them when they felt his power resurge. It was unlike anything they had felt before, and it was obvious that Piccolo was struggling against something or someone. It wasn't like the last time they had felt his power just six months ago, they knew that he was sparring then, but now it appeared that he was fighting an unknown enemy
"Should we check it out?" Yamcha asked Tien and Vegeta, who both agreed that they should.
"We need to know what's going on, Bulma, Gon, stay here." Tien ordered, blasting off quickly, followed by Vegeta. Yamcha stayed behind for a moment and looked at Bulma.
"I'll come back, I swear." He promised as he blasted off after the others.
"That was when it all got worse." Scar said, leaning against a pillar of Kami's house. "None of us had any idea what we were about to witness, and looking back, it would have been better if we hadn't even gone to check at all. At least then they wouldn't have known what we looked like."
Goku was quietly contemplating as he sat on the rock, wondering exactly how Piccolo and the Androids started to fight in the first place.
Just as Scar was about to continue his story, Gon came out along with Kami.
"It is done." Kami proclaimed, sweating from exhaustion.
"You mean Gon is-"
"The keeper of the Dragon Balls, yes." Kami interrupted Goku, turning to face his former pupil. "He is more than capable of holding the title 'Guardian of Earth'." The old Namekian nodded, walking towards the Saiyan as Gon wiped a tear from his eye.
"Kami, I don't know what to say…" Goku claimed, clenching his fists as Kami rested his right hand on Goku's shoulder.
"My time has come and gone already, my friend." Kami said, a tear welling up in his eye "my greatest joy in my life is that I was able to share it with the likes of you, Goku, and your friends."
"Kami, please, don't let this happen…" Goku pleaded, grabbing onto the wise old Namekian's arm. Almost instantly Scar had taken hold of the arm Goku used to grab Kami's forearm.
"Don't do this Goku, he knows and I know the severity of the situation." Scar said, his eyes firmly trained on Goku. The Saiyan released he grip on Kami's hand, allowing him to back away and walk towards the opening of his house. Scar let go of Goku and pat him on the back gently.
"He will be here soon." Kami said, turning to face Scar and Goku. "Take Gon and leave here, he must be kept safe." Kami turned, but before he started to walk into his home for one final rest, he decided to part a few last words of wisdom to his long time friend. "And Goku, remember." The old Namekian dropped his cane to the floor, his head facing the ground "No matter how long the night may seem, the sun always comes in the morning." Mr. Popo escorted Kami back into the building, leaving Goku with a profound sense of loss as well as hope.
He turned to face Scar. "Let's head back to Capsule Corp., you can tell me the rest of the story there." Scar nodded, and they both blasted off in the distance.
Scar took a seat on the edge of a bed in the Capsule Corp. building; Bulma and her family had been kind enough to allow him to stay there for the time being while he was sorting out what he was to do. Goku had followed him into the room, dropping Gon off with Bulma earlier so that he could listen to the rest of Scar's story. The aged man looked around the room for a moment, seeing Bulma, Tien, Krillin, Vegeta and Gon in the room- just as it had happened that night in his timeline. When he had come from the future, he wasn't sure if he could convince Piccolo to not take action against his friends, but he had a contingency plan in place for such an occasion. He was truly glad it did not have to come to that; without Piccolo, Scar knew that the fighters would stand no chance against the monstrous machines. It was as if he had been given a second chance to correct the faults of the universe, and he wasn't going to let this opportunity worm its way out of his grasp.
As Goku closed the door, Scar's attention was brought to his old friend, smiling up at him and nodding. The Saiyan nodded back, taking a seat in one of the chairs nearest the door. Both of the men had been through so much, they knew each other's pain, and in the brief hours they had known each other they had already formed a bond. Goku trusted Scar, his words all sounded genuine, and despite his previous trust of Piccolo, Goku still knew that he could tell when a person was truly good.
The room stayed silent for a few minutes as the two men collected their thoughts, Goku thinking about his son, while Scar thought about the Androids, and how he would go about helping these people in the following years. Somehow, they both knew exactly what the other was thinking, and out of a mutual respect they kept quiet for a while. It wasn't until Scar broke the silence with a sigh that Goku was awoken from his trance like thought process.
"I know what you must be thinking." Scar said to Goku, looking at the Saiyan intently as his fingers curled into a fist on his lap. Goku looked back up at Scar, his eyes pleading, begging for answers that he knew he couldn't have. Despite the fact that he knew Scar didn't know, he opted to ask the question anyway.
"Did Gohan say anything after I died?" Goku asked with a quiver in his lip, looking Scar directly in the eyes for a moment before breaking the contact and placing his hand on his forehead "did he tell you that he enjoyed killing me?" The Saiyan's voice broke, a tear nearly from his eye before he wiped it off. Scar shook his head, looking at the ground.
"He never spoke to me, I never saw him again after the Androids killed Piccolo." Goku's head immediately jerked up.
"What do you mean you never saw him again?" Goku asked in a rushed tone, almost as if he was angry. Scar looked to the window and then back to Goku.
"His body wasn't there, Goku." Scar began to explain. "That day when we watched those demons kill Piccolo, Gohan was nowhere to be seen."
"Did… did Piccolo-"
"No," Scar adamantly claimed. "Piccolo might be evil, but he cares about that boy." Goku scoffed and shook his head. "No, I think Piccolo bought him enough time to get away."
"So did you try to find him?" Goku asked, his eyes narrowed. Had Gohan lived? Regardless of timeline, choice of morality, or his hatred of his father, Goku wanted to know that at least somewhere his son was okay—even in the future.
"No, if we had found him, he would have killed us…" Scar said, hoping that Goku wouldn't take his words the wrong way. When the Saiyan stayed silent, Scar decided to elaborate further on Gohan's possible fate. "He could still be alive; I don't know. He could have been found and killed too, but…" Goku lifted his head and looked at Scar with half opened eyes.
"Goku, I need to tell you something." The Saiyan looked at the door to the room and back to Scar.
"You've told me a lot of things, Yamcha…" Goku said, sliding his hand through his hair "I'm happy to listen to anything else you want to tell me."
Scar sighed once more, looking to the ground and shaking his head in disappointment.
"There's nothing for me back there, Goku." Scar's voice began to tremble with each word he said.
"I'm not going back, everyone I know is dead and the Androids have broken me." Goku immediately stood up in his chair, visibly distraught at Scar's words.
"Don't do this, Yamcha; you're better than that!" Goku shouted, eyes trained on Scar's saddened expression. "Those androids ruined your life, killed everyone you love and now you're just going to let them rule your planet?" Scar shook his head, knowing exactly what Goku was going to say next. "What about Gohan? He could still be alive and you're just going to leave him for the androids to slaughter?"
"It's been twenty years Goku; the Gohan you knew is long gone." It was clear.
"That doesn't mean anything to me." Goku said, lowering his voice as well. "I thought you would have learned to never leave an innocent person-"
Scar stood up from the foot of the bed rather abruptly and looked Goku straight in the eye, his eyes burning with such fury that Goku stopped mid-sentence.
"The only thing that I have ever learned is that no one is innocent." Scar forcefully claimed. "Don't lecture me about saving people, Goku. All my life I had to watch as all the people I loved died because I couldn't save them, and you know what happened when I tried?" Goku's expression turned to shock upon hearing Scar's words. "I got these." Scar pointed to the scar on his eye, then to the giant gash on his chest. "These are my reminders of how pathetic I am."
Goku shook his head and tried to speak, but couldn't find the right words.
"Your son is still alive here, but in my time, he's so far gone that I don't think I want to know what he's like now." Scar sat back down on the bed, placing his right hand on his forehead "You haven't lost everyone yet, Goku. You're lucky, whether you want to think so or not." He looked back up to Goku, who decided to take his seat on the chair once again "I would sacrifice an innocent life to bring back my family; I would sacrifice anyone I needed to if it could bring back my wife and son again… But no, that's not possible, and tomorrow morning I'm going to destroy my time machine."
"But what about-"
"No, Goku. No buts," Scar said "if I go back I'll solve nothing, and even if I could defeat them the world would be no better off. Society has collapsed; the Earth that I know is irreparable."
"But you can stop their suffering!" Goku attempted to explain "all of the people whose lives haven't been destroyed yet, you can stop their sorrow."
"You don't understand, Goku, and you never will." Scar sighed, looking out the window once more into the pitch black night. "To be killed would be a tremendous relief for everyone back on my Earth; you don't know how bad it truly is."
Goku silently resigned and took a seat back on the chair, his face visibly distraught at Scar's words. They sat across each other for quite a while without exchanging a single word until Scar decided to continue his story.
"I'm sorry, Goku." Scar apologized "let's just get back to where I left off." Goku sighed and nodded, lifting his head so that he could look Scar in the eyes.
Mid flight to their destination, Yamcha had grown very anxious for what they were rushing into despite his initial suggestion to discover the culprit of this surprising turn of events. He had a wife and kid to protect, and now he realized how bad of an idea it was to even be anywhere near Piccolo, whether he was being beaten or not. Yamcha looked over at the two others for a moment to try and gauge their emotions from their facial expressions, but both seemed very stoic at the time, which was a trademark of both fighters.
"Guys… maybe we should head back!" Yamcha shouted to Tien and Vegeta.
"Don't be such a coward!" Vegeta shouted back. Despite the insult, Yamcha felt far more anxiety than anger towards Vegeta.
"We don't know what's over there; it could be a false alarm!" He replied, slowing his speed slightly. The others followed suit until all three of them were at a complete stop.
"Maybe he's right Vegeta; this could be a bad idea." Tien seconded, causing Vegeta to scoff at their suggestions.
"Do you feel that? Either of you?" The Saiyan paused for a moment to let the fluctuation of Piccolo's power sink into both of their minds. "The Namekian is being beaten senseless and neither of you want to see what's going on?!"
"It could be something worse than Piccolo; what if Gohan's gone off the deep end?" Yamcha suggested, causing Tien to shake his head.
"If it were Gohan, we would have felt his power by now; this power has no ki signature." The three eyed human said. "But you're right, it could be something worse than Piccolo."
"What could possibly be worse than that lunatic?!" Vegeta shouted, outstretching his arm to the area that they had been flying. "Whoever is beating that Namekian is doing this planet a service, we might as well go and see if we can get a few shots at him before he's completely dead." Tien and Yamcha looked at each other for a few moments and then back to Vegeta.
"Alright, fine." Yamcha agreed, causing Vegeta to grin slightly "but if anything goes wrong, I'm out of there, I have too much to lose."
The Saiyan chuckled at what he perceived as the human's cowardice. "However you want to justify yourself, coward."
Yamcha shot Vegeta a dirty look before the three of them took off once more, still in the same direction as Piccolo's waning power signature.
"Vegeta hadn't changed much." Scar explained, looking up at Goku, who was listening intently. "Still arrogant as ever, still thirsting for someone's blood."
"Did he ever really change?" Goku asked, thinking back to the time that he had fought Vegeta while he was an Oozaru.
"He did, Goku," Scar replied. "But I'll get to that, now, as I was saying…"
When they had arrived on the scene, the three of them hid behind rocks and masked their power levels as to not be detected. From what they could tell, Piccolo was already on the ground, kneeling as blood dripped down his face to the dirt. His turban and cape were off, his clothes were also torn, his shirt had been shredded completely, and his pants were also battle worn. It was clear that he had been fighting a losing battle for a long time now, and when they looked up they had found the culprits.
"Who the hell are they?!" Vegeta quietly asked Tien, who was right next to him. Tien stayed completely silent, still observing these new fighters. Yamcha had the best view of them, and he could tell that while Piccolo had taken the roughest beating, these two had also taken some rather harsh attacks, as their clothes were fairly battle worn and their bodies were somewhat dirty. What Yamcha didn't understand was why they appeared to be normal looking teenagers, and yet they had been able to take down Piccolo, someone whom not even Super Saiyan Goku could handle…
"Guys, I can't see Gohan…" Yamcha whispered to the other two, who looked in the direction Yamcha was pointing. "What happened to him?" Yamcha turned away and pressed his back to the rock he was hiding behind, staring up at the sky with a sense of both pity and dread. "What if they killed him?"
Tien and Vegeta looked over as the two teens landed next to the beaten Piccolo. The Namekian got up, revealing more clearly the extent of the damage he had taken. One of his antennae had been ripped clean off, and both of his index and middle fingers were also missing. However, his face showed no fear despite his certain demise.
"Can't do your special trick with your fingers gone now, can you green man?" The male fighter taunted, causing Piccolo to smirk. "Huh, what are you smiling about?" The Namekian chuckled and instantly re-grew his missing fingers, surprising the two similar looking teenage fighters. Piccolo raised his fingers to his head and vanished from sight, but all the young fighters had to do was look around to see that he had transported not far away.
"Damn it!" Piccolo shouted in the sky, his fingers still close to his head. "Work, damn it!"
The two fighters blasted off towards Piccolo, who threw many weak ki attacks at them. They blocked and dodged every single one, reaching Piccolo in mere seconds. The female struck first, ramming her leg into Piccolo's stomach as the male zoomed around and grabbed the Namekian as he flew backwards. The blond haired woman rushed up and delivered a series of blisteringly fast punches to Piccolo's body, causing him to scream out in pain with each hit until she was finally satisfied. She motioned to the other fighter to let him go, and both of them watched as Piccolo fell to the ground.
At this point, Yamcha, Tien and Vegeta were all wondering why exactly they couldn't feel these fighters energies, but what bothered them more was how they were somehow stronger than Piccolo. It was a mystery that they desperately wanted answers to—however, an odd sense of foreboding told them they'd never find their answer.
The black haired male picked Piccolo up by the back of his neck, lifting him until he was on his knees and then dropping him. The Namekian opened his eyes for a moment and caught a glimpse of Yamcha before the man quickly ducked his head behind the rock. A devilish grin came upon Piccolo's face, confusing the fighters who had thoroughly beaten him just as much as it confused the spectators.
"What is it with this guy and smiling?" The female asked in a casual tone, to which the male simply shrugged.
"Why don't you come out and play, Yamcha!?" Piccolo shouted over to where he had seen the human. "Stop hiding and meet my new friends!" The Namekian coughed out, devolving into a full coughing fit that lasted for a few brief moments.
Yamcha was frozen solid; he didn't know what to do at that point except for to definitely stay hidden.
"Don't move a muscle." Vegeta warned as quietly as he could.
"He's just delusional," The male fighter proclaimed. "We've beaten him so hard that he's hallucinating." The girl chuckled and flicked Piccolo's head, hard enough for him to wince in pain.
"Do what you want to me, but I have something of a challenge for you." Piccolo said as he looked up towards the teen fighters.
"Oh?" The male one replied curiously "and what would that be?"
"Kill those losers, the humans that escaped me." Piccolo explained as he chuckled "Yamcha's right over there; why not start with him?"
The two young fighters looked at one another for a moment and then back to Piccolo. "Maybe I'll take you up on that offer, maybe not." The male fighter pressed his hand against the Namekian's chest, his fingers outstretched. "You won't live long enough to know if I finished the job that you couldn't. It's still too bad you and that brat killed Goku, I would have loved to do it myself."
"My pleasure; don't thank me." Piccolo smirked as the man released a devastating ki beam through him, causing Piccolo to fall over.
"Oh, he isn't dead yet, is he?" The girl asked, kneeling down and picking Piccolo up by his neck. "Maybe we should take his head, like he took Goku's." She smiled and gripped his neck harder, but the now harshly breathing Piccolo couldn't muster the strength to scream in pain.
"I have a better idea sis," The boy said "let's just rip it off and leave it here to rot."
"Good idea." She agreed, throwing the body to her brother "you do it, I've already got enough muck on my shirt as it is."
"Fine, fine." He said, thrusting Piccolo's head down to the ground face first, putting his fingers tightly in a row similar to that of a karate chop. He quickly sliced down on the backside of Piccolo's neck with his fingers, causing it split open slightly and spurt out blood.
Tien and Vegeta watched in both horror and disgust, while Yamcha attempted to hide from view as to not draw their attention.
The brother then proceeded to dig his hand into Piccolo's neck, wresting his other hand in there as well, pulling his head apart from his body with such force that it took merely seconds.
Piccolo's head rolled a good few feet away, spurting blood profusely from the stump where it used to be attached to his body. His eyes were cold, and it was clear that he was now completely dead.
"That was fun!" The male said, wiping some blood stains from his hands onto his pants "I wonder if we can find a good dry cleaner around here." The two of them chuckled for a bit, giving Tien and Vegeta time to assess the situation.
"We should get the hell out of here." Tien suggested to Vegeta, who nodded in total agreement. They turned to Yamcha who turned back to them.
"We can't go now; we have to wait until they leave." He whispered to the two of them. They nodded and looked back.
"Oh fuck!" Vegeta shouted as he took a step back, right in front of the rock the two fighters were seemingly waiting for someone to look back.
"Pleasure to meet you too, Vegeta." The male said in a calm, almost insulting voice. He looked over to Tien and Yamcha as well, smiling in a friendly manner. "Tien and Yamcha, I see. So Piccolo wasn't delusional." He added, turning to his sister. "This here is my sister, 18, and I'm 17."
No one spoke a single word; they were all too frightened to comment on their strange names.
"You see, we're androids created by the late, great, Dr. Gero." 17 explained, putting emphasis on the word great. "We were built to… well, you just saw that."
"Y-you…" Yamcha spoke up, finally snapping out of his horrible fright. "You were built to…"
"More or less, I'm terribly sorry you had to witness that horrible event just now," He said, smirking rather smugly "that fight was nasty, I'm glad you didn't have to see the whole thing."
"How are you so strong?!" Yamcha asked abruptly, causing 17 to shift his attention to the man.
"Cybernetic implants." He grinned, knocking on his own arm to allow the others to hear the clang of metal. "Technology is rather wonderful."
"How did you know our names?" Tien questioned, turning 17's attention away from Yamcha.
"Dr. Gero had a database on all of you, I know every single detail of how strong you are, what techniques you know and all of your weaknesses." 17 answered, causing Vegeta and Tien to exchange worried looks.
"B-but you're not designed to hurt us right?" Yamcha worriedly asked. 17 chuckled and shook his head.
"Now why would I want to do that?" 17 said.
"I'm getting bored of this." 18 announced. 17 turned around and shot her a strange glance. "Don't look at me like that; I don't know what your fascination with playing with our victims is."
Almost at the same time the other three fighters' eyes shot open and began to fly away as quickly as possible.
"Great, thanks 18, you ruined it." 17 said in disgust "I'll get Yamcha, let the rest go."
"But-"
"Shut up, I'll tell you the plan in a second." 17 interrupted, catching up to Yamcha almost immediately and throwing him to the ground as Tien and Vegeta escaped. 18 walked over to Yamcha and knelt to get a better look at his face. Mockingly, she 'tenderly' stroked his scarred cheek.
"He's rather cute, don't you think?" 18 purred mockingly to tease Yamcha; 17 rolled his eyes.
"Not for long." 17 picked Yamcha up by his shoulder, squeezing down so hard that Yamcha screamed in pain.
"Why!?" Yamcha shouted out "Why are you doing this!?"
"For fun." 18 said, looking at her nails for a moment before placing her finger on Yamcha's forehead. "We haven't had so much fun in a long time."
"And since we didn't get to kill Goku, we might as well take it out on you." 17 chuckled, holding Yamcha in place as 18 clawed her way down the man's face. Blood dripped down Yamcha's face, screaming even louder than before, utterly powerless in the face of these two new psychopaths.
"No, stop!" Yamcha screamed as 18 made her way from his forehead to his left eye. She didn't let up however, and her two nails gouged through his eye, causing the man so much pain that his voice went hoarse as he squirmed in 17's grip. His aura flared up immensely, sometimes it would turn crimson as his power spiked and fell quickly, but it was no use, and 18 released her nails from Yamcha's face after permanently damaging his eyeball. 17 then dropped Yamcha to the ground, and the man immediately placed his left hand over his eye wound as he managed to lift himself up to his knees.
"Should we have more fun with him?" 18 asked, a hint of sadism caught in her voice. 17 shook his head.
"No, we let him go."
"What?!" 18 shouted "Why are you letting him live?"
"Simple, sis…" 17 assured. "Now we can make a game of it, a mark for every one of his friends we kill, starting with Piccolo. I suppose that's point 1 for me."
"You sick bastards…" Yamcha mumbled, blood dripping from his hand which covered his wound. 17 kicked Yamcha in the chest, lifting him in the air with the force of the kick and causing him to land on his back.
"Be a little more thankful that you aren't dead right now." 18 said. "Maybe this will be fun."
"I told you. Have a little faith, 18." They both had demented grins on their face as they began to depart. "Don't forget, Scar, we won't stop till everyone is dead." 17 shouted to Yamcha as he lay on the ground.
Scar's left hand covered his eye scars, shaking his head and trembling. "That's how I got this beauty." He sighed and lowered his head in shame.
"Those sounds…"
"Yes, even though it was happening to Piccolo, I still felt sick." Scar said, interrupting Goku "Even after he fused with Kami, he was no match for their combined power."
"The way you said it, it sounds like Piccolo put up one hell of a fight." Goku mentioned. Scar nodded; his expression wasn't so much one of pride as it was defeat.
"The Androids, 17 and 18, were really beat up by the time we had gotten there." The scarred man explained "I think if they hadn't taken him on at the same time, he would have at least taken one of them with him. Piccolo's power could've won if it wasn't a two-on-one advantage to the androids." Scar sighed, curling the hand lying on his lap into a fist "We aren't just training to defeat the Androids Goku; we're training to defeat Piccolo. We won't let the threat of the androids overshadow him. "
Goku and Scar both turned immediately as they heard a loud knock on their door. Scar looked over at the Saiyan, who shrugged and went to the door to unlock it.
"Hey you two," Bulma said as the door swung open, holding a plate full of food in her hands. Scar turned away to look at the window, afraid that if he saw too much of Bulma he would go mad from the temptation she presented to him. "I thought you two might be hungry after all that happened today."
Goku sniffed food on the rather large place. "Ahhhh…" He said, a smile returning to his face. "Thanks Bulma, I'd almost forgotten how hungry I was!" Bulma smiled back at Goku and walked into the room, placing the food on a table that Goku moved in between his chair and the foot of the bed that Scar was sitting upon.
"Do you guys mind if I eat with you?" Bulma asked, "Yamcha's been acting strangely, I don't blame him, but I think he needs some space."
"Yes."
Both Goku and Bulma looked at him curiously. "I'm sorry, but Goku and I need to discuss this alone." Bulma gulped and turned around without a word, walking out of the room. Goku hesitated a moment and then followed her out, closing the door behind him.
"I'm sorry about that Bulma; he's been through a lot you know." Goku explained, causing Bulma to turn and face her closest friend.
"I know, but I still want to know what happened." The blue haired woman said as she looked over her shoulder "I want to know if Yamcha is the right guy for me."
Goku took a step forward and placed his hand on Bulma's shoulder.
"That's up to you and Yamcha to decide, Bulma. No one can tell you who to be with. Heck, be with Vegeta if it makes you happy. Just follow your heart." The Saiyan released his reassuring hand from her and turned around, beginning to clutch the doorknob before he felt a pair of arms wrap around his waist.
"Oh Goku, I was so scared that you were going to die today." She cried, clutching his back as tightly as she could. Goku turned around and returned her hug.
"I know, Bulma." Goku said, patting her on the back "But I'm here, you don't have to worry, I don't plan on going anywhere." Hearing his words comforted her; she released him from her embrace and smiled up at him.
"I don't tell you this enough Goku, but being so terrified today I…" She wiped a stray tear from her eye and looked back up at her dearest friend "I love you, not in the way that I love Yamcha, but in the way that a friend who's grateful for you always being there loves you." She warmly smiled at Goku, and pictured him once more as the young and eccentric youth she had met so many years ago.
Goku returned her smile, picturing her as the wild and rebellious youth that had changed his life when their paths crossed.
"I know, I've never doubted that." Goku said, turning once more to open the door "Good night Bulma, and don't forget to tell Yamcha how much you care." With that, Goku entered the room and shut the door behind him. When he looked over, Scar had been stuffing his mouth with food and looked up at Goku with eyes wide open.
"Ah, sorry Goku." Scar said, mouth still full of food. He gulped down hard, clearing his mouth "I haven't eaten in a while, you know?" Goku laughed and sat back down on his chair.
"You remember who I am right? Yamcha, if anyone understands, I do."
The two of them ate the rest of the food rather quickly, but spent some time after talking about trivial things, such as what Chi-Chi was doing nowadays and how Ox King was faring. After the small talk deceased, all that was left was to continue Scar's story, which the man wasn't exactly ecstatic about.
"Well, as you know, after my mishap with the Androids I stumbled over to Piccolo's body to see if he had anything on him." Scar said, now resting his back on the headboard of the bed, one leg lazily stretched out as the other one bent up to allow his arm to rest on it. "Senzu beans, mostly, since we only had a few left from one of our trips to Korin's place."
"You never told me what happened to Korin, you know." Goku wondered, trying to think back and see if Scar had even mentioned senzu beans before.
"I honestly don't know." Scar said, looking up at the ceiling in thought "when we got up there, Korin was nowhere to be found."
"What about Yajirobe?"
"He wasn't there either." The man explained, looking back towards Goku "only things we could find were a few stray senzu beans on the floor."
"Damn." Goku shouted quietly "Piccolo thought of everything didn't he?"
"Yeah, he really did." Scar agreed, tilting his head to the side and shaking his head "anyway, I was in luck, he had one left in his bag."
"But…" Goku stopped Yamcha before he began his next sentence "how do you still have the scar?"
"I was getting to that." Scar said, shaking his head in disappointment "I guess that the older senzu beans gradually lose their healing abilities, because after I had eaten it, the bleeding stopped and the gash's immediately scarred over, but I still couldn't open my eye."
"I've never heard Korin say anything like that before, although the bean never made much sense to me in the first place." Goku said, thinking back to the first time he had eaten a Senzu bean.
"It could have been a lot of reasons really, but it doesn't matter, after I ate the bean I left for the group again."
When Yamcha landed back down at their makeshift home he was greeted by a rather powerful hug from Bulma. She scolded him for leaving and her expression turned to shock as she discovered the scar on his eye. Tien ran over after realizing that Yamcha had returned, feeling regretful that he had ran away while the Androids captured his friend.
"I'm so sorry, Yamcha, I should have stayed with you." Tien apologized, Yamcha's response only being a harsh glare. Tien stepped back and looked to the ground in shame.
"They did this to me." Yamcha explained, anger deep in his voice "I was lucky enough to find a senzu bean on Piccolo's dead body, but it only stopped the bleeding and healed over the scar."
"I'm just glad you're back." Bulma said, tears rolling down her face. After their embrace, Yamcha walked over into the house and up the stairs where the baby was sleeping in his crib, being diligently guarded by Gon. The Namekian nodded at Yamcha and left the room having heard everything that was said outside.
Bulma and Yamcha stood over the cradle, a tear fell down Yamcha's face as he realized that while Piccolo was certainly one of the biggest threats they faced, now they had two dangerously insane androids hell bent on destroying the remaining Z fighters.
"They won't stop till we're all dead." He said to Bulma, placing his hand on his forehead. "We can't stay in one place; we have to get out of here."
"We moved so much, to so many different places." Scar explained, his head resting on the pillow of his bed "We tried to blend in as best we could with the people of the cities, or at least what was left of them. The androids made short work of the cities still left intact from Piccolo's short reign." Scar's voice grew softer as he spoke, and Goku could tell that he was obviously tired. "Goku was… he was always making friends with the other children where we moved. My son, the social butterfly…" His eyes closed fully and his bent knee relaxed into a resting position. Goku slowly rose from his chair and looked at Scar's smiling face for a moment before exiting the room.
Goku sighed after the door had been completely shut, he needed to hear the rest of this story, but he also wanted desperately to go home to his wife and tell her how much he loved her.
Goku headed down to room where Bulma was working on some kind of device with her father, he looked around for a moment, amazed at all of the gadgets and gizmos that he saw around the room.
"Why hello there Goku, nice to see you again." Dr. Brief shouted down from a scaffolding, prompting a wave from Goku.
"Hey Dr. Brief, nice to see you too!" He shouted up, turning back to Bulma after seeing that the good doctor had went back to work on his project. "I'm going back home for the night, Bulma." He explained, causing her to turn around and nod back at him "get some sleep, you look tired."
Bulma smiled and shook her head "Not tonight, Goku, too many things on my mind." The two of them shared a quick hug and then Goku was off.
His dreams held no comfort for him; Scar's mind was running rampant with memories of the past that he had been trying not to remember. Everything was flooding back to him uncontrollably, his mind raced with thoughts that he successfully repressed from his memory, and he shifted wildly in his bed.
An old man with a wrinkled face looked down over a pale landscape as the Androids taunted him while they beat and tortured Bulma and his son. He swiftly turned to see a lumbering man in a green jacket holding him in place, his eyes red and face darkened by a looming shadow. His aura burst into a yellowish golden color, reminiscent of Goku's super Saiyan transformation, but it wasn't enough, and the lumbering man kept his tight hold of him as his family was being brutally beaten.
Tien slowly made his way towards the Android 18, the entire dream slowed down immensely before 18 caught Tien's leg and threw him into Bulma, sending them both flying meters away. 17 laughed and kicked Goku in the back of the head, causing him to land face first in the dirt. He knelt down and picked the child up by his hair, his face bloodied and his nose broken.
Scar screamed out in desperation for him to release his son, but 17 paid no attention to him and lifted the boy into the air, causing the boy to squirm and kick at the Androids hard metallic body. The dream moved by extremely slowly, accentuating the absolute torment that Scar felt as he watched the horror in front of him.
His child looked down at his father one last time, face full of freight and sadness as 17's arm ripped through his chest, killing him almost immediately.
Scar looked away in pain, screaming as loudly as he could as he heard Bulma's voice cry out for Yamcha to save her. He looked back over to find that Tien's neck was slit open, his face in sheer agony as he flopped around. 18 was mid punch. Her fist collided with Bulma's face, denting it inwards as blood exploded in every direction.
Scar screamed once more, still unable to move as he watched his wife's body fall to the ground, completely lifeless. Goku's body landed on the ground and bounced up slightly, all still in a painfully slow manner.
Tears flowed from Scar's face as he watched the Androids walk closer to him; each step more agonizing to watch.
Closer they came, ensuring Scar's death, or he hoped it would.
As 18 reached his face, she stepped forward and kissed him, laying her hands on either side of Yamcha's head. She received a knee in the stomach for her efforts.. The attack did nothing to faze her, however.
As the android's lips came off of his, she lifted her head to the side of Scar's head and began to whisper something in his ear, her deceptively sweet and soft voice tickling his ear. What he saw over 18's shoulder was even more horrifying, a large greenish insect like monster stood right behind 17, its tail hovering over his smug face as it opened on the tip and wrapped around his body. As 17 struggled, the monster's eyes stared at Scar, their redness even more horrifying that the brute that was holding him in place. Somehow Scar felt as if he had seen this monster somewhere.
"See you soon."
Scar jumped up in the bed, sweat dripping down his face as well as tears. He reached his hand up wiped it off, shaking his hand to the side. He rested on his arms and stared over to the wall, not wanting to think of anything, just wishing to relax.
The green monster's face stuck with him; its visage burned into his psyche. Whatever it was, he had a feeling that it wasn't something that he should take lightly.
"Nighmares…" Scar said to himself, lifting a cloth from the nightstand and wiping his forehead."I should have brought my medicine…"
Sleep did not return to him that evening.
Kami sat outside on the ground of the lookout, legs crossed, meditating as he used to do many years ago. So many things had happened in the years since Raditz had shown up, most of which Kami wished that he could have stopped. He tried to remedy the situation by using his powers to show Gohan the life that he could have led, with the love of friends and his father, but for all of Kami's hopeful optimism, it was only met with disaster. The boy had grown even more mentally unstable thanks to Kami's interference, and now there was almost no helping the child. In some small part he felt responsible for Gohan's start of darkness, his evil counterpart having taken the boy and turned him against his father while Kami sat by and idly watched. There was no denying that Kami felt terribly guilty about the whole situation, and Mr. Popo could tell.
The genie stood at the door to Kami's home, staring out at his best friend as Kami lifted up into the sky, still in a meditating pose. Mr. Popo knew well and good exactly what would happen that night, and tears streamed down his face as he solemnly watched Kami's aura flare. There was a new guardian of Earth, but Popo knew he would have to go through a lot in order to get over Kami's inevitable absorption. There was nothing he could possibly do, and so he allowed his friend one last night of silent meditation.
The elder Namekian felt freer now that he had released control of the Dragon Balls onto another, and in fact he felt somewhat at peace as well. Despite the fact that he was about to allow Piccolo to become whole again, he knew that somehow, some way, Goku and his friends would find a way to stop Piccolo as they had always done before. Kami's lips curled into a smile as he thought back on all of his years as Earth's guardian, the first time he met Goku, his happy years serving with Mr. Popo. Nothing could take those moments away, not even Piccolo.
Kami lowered himself back to the ground, his aura dispersing as he stood back on his two feet. He looked over to the crying Popo and began to walk over to his dearest friend.
"Mr. Popo, I-" Kami saw something materialize behind the genie, and as quickly as it had came it left with Mr. Popo. Kami quickly swerved around and found Piccolo holding Mr. Popo with one arm in a choke hold, his evil grin and malicious eyes staring directly at his other half. "Put him down, you monster!" Kami shouted up to Piccolo, clenching his hands into fists, ready to strike.
"You old fool." Piccolo shouted down to his counterpart, his arm firmly around a gasping Popo's neck "How did you not see this coming, huh?" he questioned as the genie kicked and struggled in his arm.
"He's done nothing to you, Piccolo." Kami shouted, readying a ki blast in his hand.
"Idiot!" The evil Namekian laughed, squeezing ever so slightly harder on Popo's neck. "I don't need a reason to do what I do." Piccolo formed his free hand into the shape of a gun and dug his nail slightly into the side of Popo's head, his toothy grin showing his intentions.
"Don't do it, Piccolo, for if you do…" Kami raised his hand to the lower left side of his face, a ki ball already made and ready to be shot. For a moment Piccolo's face lost its smug smirk, but he quickly regained it after coming up with a plan.
He dug his nail deeper into Popo's skull, causing him to scream out in pain as Piccolo chuckled
"I dare you to do it, old man." Kami's face was utterly serious, and the ki ball grew in size with every passing second.
They stared at each other for a few moments before Piccolo began to laugh, causing Kami to begin breathing harder than he had before.
"I knew you wouldn't, you coward." The Namekians demonic smile pierced the soul of Kami, who knew exactly what was about to happen if he didn't act soon.
"Bang." A beam of ki went straight through Popo's head, blood and brain matter splattered out, some of it covering half of Piccolo's visage. Kami unleashed the ki ball upon his own face, but to his dismay he found himself being thrown to the ground by Piccolo, who had used instant transmission to prevent Kami from ending his own life. The older Namekian rose up from the ground was met with a brutal kick to the stomach from his counterpart, who laughed all the while. "That was fun; I haven't gotten to kill an innocent since I landed on that planet." As soon as Kami rose again, Piccolo swiftly moved up to the old Namek and grabbed him by his neck, slamming him up against the wall of his house. "You're resilient; I'll give you that, old timer." Piccolo taunted as he looked deep into Kami's eyes.
Piccolo felt a blast of energy on his stomach. He looked down to find that Kami had attempted to blow a hole in Piccolo's body but failed, he looked back up at Kami's face with a smirk.
"Crafty, but I'm too strong for you to even harm." Piccolo said, gripping Kami's neck slightly harder than before. "Let me tell you something, Kami, I'm going to absorb you, and I'm going to go down there and kill every last one of those idiotic people that you've been so desperately trying to protect." His grin widened as he saw the look on Kami's face "I'll torture every one of them, just for you. I'll tear out every mother's beating heart and force it down their child's throats, I'll rip off their limbs and feast on their blood, I'll take every newborn child and roast it on an open fire." Piccolo brought his head even closer to Kami's until his mouth was right next to his ear "and all of it, every last dead human, will be your fault." He whispered, chuckling as he spoke "You should have thought a little harder about letting me absorb you, huh?" Piccolo pulled back and laughed as he saw the tears streaming down Kami's face, his arms latched onto Piccolo's in a desperate attempt to get free.
"This is it, fucker!" Piccolo shouted as Kami's body started to dissipate, his body and power being drained by his evil counterpart as he continued to try and be released from his grip.
A piercingly loud cackle could be heard in the surrounding areas. No one was safe anymore.
The morning sun rose over the horizon as Goku sat outside of his home. He had a long talk with his wife about what he was going to be doing for the next three years, and he also explained to her how much he loved her. He hadn't done it enough, but now he felt better that this version of Chi-Chi still had a loving husband, whereas the Scar's timeline's Chi-Chi had no one left but her father.
They made love that night, but that didn't help put Goku's mind at ease. He found no sleep, much as many other people had night had, but he was feeling awake as ever after feeling Piccolo's power skyrocket just a few hours ago. It was unfathomable, and Goku knew that if Piccolo wanted he could easily kill every last one of the fighters. For now he hoped that Scar's warning would keep him at bay, no matter how thinly veiled that hope may have been.
After he had eaten breakfast with his wife he gave her a passionate kiss goodbye and flew off to Capsule Corp. to check on Scar and the rest of the fighters.
When he arrived he was led to a larger room with many of the people that he knew in it surrounding a table with food. It was obviously breakfast time, as even the few remaining soldiers from Frieza's army sat around the table with the other fighters. Even Jeice and his fellow team members were there, eyeing Scar with suspicion and hate.
"I can't believe the cap'n is dead…" Jeice said, pushing around some food on his plate after he was tired at looking at the scarred man. Cui and Guldo shared his sentiment, but Fiore was just confused as to what was going to happen now that her boss was dead.
"I barely knew him, but I miss him now." Cui admitted, shaking his head in disappointment. "I guess that makes you our leader now Jeice." The red alien's head perked up slightly upon hearing that.
"I like the sound of that, Cui." Jeice said as he smiled "Team Jeice… lets go with that!"
Goku was surprised to see that even Vegeta was there, eating alone at the end of the table opposite of Jeice and his men. Scar was sitting next to Tien and across from Krillin, he had changed his clothes from his black gi and was now wearing a more informal flannel shirt and khaki pants. A seat beside him was open and Goku took it quickly.
"Hey Goku!" Krillin joyously said, happy to be talking to his best friend again.
The three of them talked a while, mostly about what they planned to do in the short time that they had before Scar's predicted date of the Androids showing up. After breakfast was over, Goku and Scar parted ways with the others and retired to the balcony of Scar's room that overlooked much of West City. Scar himself leaned against the rail of the balcony, the sunlight shining down on him showed how grisly his scars really were, and Goku attempted not to stare at them.
"You felt it last night, didn't you?" Scar asked, looking out on some of the people walking along the street. Goku nodded and closed the sliding glass door that he had come through.
"I didn't know what to expect when you told me about the power you felt when he absorbed Kami in your timeline." Goku admitted, walking up next to Scar and placing a hand on the rail "It was… incredible, and terrifying."
"I have a good reason Goku; the Androids did more damage to the world in a shorter amount of time than Piccolo had." Scar explained, shaking his head as he envisioned what the city would have looked like in his timeline, a desolate wasteland of death and destruction. "There were so many people dead in the first month that I couldn't believe it."
Goku swallowed hard and looked up to the bright sky, taking solace in the fact that Scar had bought him precious time to live. "Why were they so ruthless?" The Saiyan asked, turning back to Scar who brought out a small box of cigarettes from his pocket. He turned to Goku and smiled slightly at the man's surprise.
"You don't mind, do you?" Scar asked, Goku shook his head.
"No, but I just never imagined…"
"Its fine, it helps me deal with it all." Scar explained as he turned back to the city, placing the cigarette in his mouth and lighting it with the lighter he dug out of his pocket moments ago. He took a long drag of the cigarette before taking it out of his mouth and releasing the smoke into the air away from Goku's face.
"Doesn't that impair your fighting?" The Saiyan wondered aloud, causing Scar to nod.
"I've been doing it for so long now that sometimes it does, but I'm in great shape so usually it doesn't bother me." He answered, taking another drag and unleashing the smoke "I'm going to quit, though, before the Androids show up." He flicked the ashes off the end of the stick "Now how about I finish that story, huh?"
The six of them all moved around together for years, never staying in one spot too long, always trying to blend in with the distraught families that were mourning their lost loved ones from the Androids horrible slaughter. The Androids killed like it was a game, they seemed to have no rhyme or reason for the things that they did, almost as if they had forgotten all about their original directive. The power, it seemed, had gotten to them, and now they fancied themselves gods, raining death down upon the people of the Earth.
Gon would have been hard to hide, but people were usually so depressed that they didn't care about the small alien. True to his friendly nature, Gon helped the people that he saw as much as he could, healing them if they had gained an injury or simply comforting them if they needed someone to talk to. Keeping a low profile was difficult for some in the group, especially for Vegeta who despised all of the hiding he was being forced to do, and would rather be out trying to fight the Androids.
"You know they'll kill you in an instant." Tien liked to remind Vegeta, who still wasn't even as powerful as Tien was with the Kaio-Ken technique. It was easier for Yamcha and Tien to train, as they didn't have to power up in order to strengthen themselves with the Kaio-Ken, gaining access to new levels and more heightened levels of different parts or aspects of their abilities with it. Because they didn't know if these Androids could sense energy, they kept their power signatures as low as possible to avoid confrontation.
They moved around successfully for 7 years before anything of note happened.
Yamcha's son was being trained one day by his father when some of the people in their current group ran down into the basement of the building they were hiding. The man was in hysterics, shouting at the top of his lungs that they were coming, and that they had already killed some of the other men on watch.
"Who's coming?!" Yamcha shouted at the man, grabbing onto his son's arm.
"Those fuckers who destroyed everything!" He screamed out, causing everyone in the room to panic. Yamcha looked over to Tien and Vegeta who were both playing cards at the time, and they both nodded back to Yamcha. The scarred man took his son and grabbed his wife, rushing out of the building from a secret back entrance that they had built in case of an emergency.
"Goku, listen very carefully" Yamcha said to his son after he had found a suitable place to hide "Take mommy and fly to the nearest city, alright?" the child looked over to his mother and then back to his dad, totally speechless. "I said do you understand Goku?!" Yamcha quietly yelled, causing the child to nod.
"Yes, dad, I'll take mom and go far away." Yamcha smiled and pat Goku on the head, lifting himself from his knee and looking at his wife.
"Yamcha, take this." She said, handing him some kind of communicator. "When you're safe, call us on it…" She wiped a tear from her eye and hugged Yamcha "Don't you die out there…" The scarred man nodded and hugged back, releasing his wife from the embrace moments later and rushing off to help his friends.
When he arrived at the top of the building they were staying at he spotted the two horrible figures, leaning against an adjacent building while Tien evacuated the people, giving them directions on where to go. Vegeta simply stared at the duo, his eyes filled with years of pent up rage and aggression.
"Oh, look here sis, Scar decided to join the party." 17 chuckled, lifting himself from his leaning position.
"Maybe now we can have some fun." She replied, lifting her hand and shooting a ki ball at a group of fleeing innocents.
Tien immediately noticed the attack "Kaio Ken!" he shouted, his aura exploding into a crimson hue as he rushed over the ball of ki and slammed against the side of it with his foot, redirecting it towards the mountains in the distance. His aura dissipated as he lowered himself to the ground, Yamcha also lowered himself from the building to land next to his friend.
"Great job, Tien." Yamcha complimented, keeping his eyes peeled on the two androids. 17 began clapping, the smirk on his face enraged Vegeta even more now than he had ever felt before.
"Yes, great job baldy, you saved a few pathetic lives." 17 mocked, shaking his head and ceasing the clapping. Vegeta chuckled.
"Too bad there isn't anyone who can save your pathetic life, robot." Vegeta rushed at 17 and landed a powerful knee to the Androids stomach. 17 didn't move an inch, and merely watch Vegeta's face as he recoiled and screamed in pain.
"That tickled." 17 taunted in a calm voice as Vegeta clenched his teeth tightly together. Tien and Yamcha quickly flew to either side of their comrade and helped him to his feet. The Saiyan looked at the two of them for a moment and smirked.
"You two are useless, get out of here; I'll be the one to avenge Kakarot today." Vegeta claimed, knowing that the only thing he would be able to do is buy them some time to escape.
"Forget it Vegeta, we have to make a stand here and now." Yamcha said, clenching his fists "I'm tired of living in fear every single day! You two should never have been created, and now I'll make you wish you never were." Yamcha's aura grew in size as he powered up and took a fighting stance.
"Tall talk coming from the most useless fighter of all." 18 said in a monotone voice "You're way out of your league, Scar, why not run off and let the grownups talk things through."
"Kaio-Ken times twenty!" Yamcha shouted, his aura bursting into a shade of red as he blasted off towards 18. Her brother intercepted Yamcha as he made his way towards her and rammed his fist straight into Yamcha's gut, sending him careening across the ground.
"Yamcha!" Tien shouted over to his friend, his aura also bursting into a large red shade "Kaio-Ken times twenty!" 17 looked over and was met with a brutal punch to the face that sent his back a few feet in the air. Tien didn't let up, he pushed forward and rammed another fist into the Androids abdomen, causing him to bowl over slightly, giving Tien the opportunity to lift his arms up and cup his fists together. Before he could swing his arms down, 18 appeared behind him and grabbed him around the waist, causing Tien to look over his shoulder at the female Android and release his right hand from his left, pushing as much of his power as he could into his right arm as he slammed it into 18's face.
18 screamed out in pain as she released Tien and was sent flying towards the ground. Her face had been dented slightly, and she held her cheek as she arose from the crater that she had made upon impact.
"Kill him 17, he actually fucking hurt me!" She screamed to her brother as her back was met with a powerful kick from behind. Yamcha in his Kaio-Ken state flipped around after the kick and landed on his feet a few meters away from where he had kicked 18, jumping back and forth with his fists up.
"Who's useless now you bitch?!" Yamcha shouted at the enraged Android, who turned around to show her extremely angered facial expression.
"You, when I'm through mutilating your corpse!" She yelled, flying towards Yamcha at breakneck speed.
Yamcha threw up his arms quickly, using his Kaio-Ken to strengthen the defense around his arms. When 18's fist rammed into Yamcha's forearms she recoiled back in shock, not only had he completely blocked her attack, but he didn't seem affected at all. "What the hell!?"
Yamcha stood in place for a moment, trying to hold back the screams of pain he held inside. He had blocked the attack with minimal damage to himself, but the impact left behind a huge amount of pain. He lowered his arms and looked up at 18 with a smile.
Meanwhile, Tien had backed away from 17 and was dodging all of his punches with his augmented speed, using all of the power that Kaio-Ken gave him to quickly move out of the way of any and all punches 17 threw, infuriating him greatly.
"Stop dodging you coward!" 17 shouted, continuing his barrage as quickly as he could. Tien disappeared from 17's sight momentarily before Tien redirected the Kaio-Ken's power to his right arm once again, slamming 17 in the back with a powerful punch. 17 shouted out and was pushed forward, but managed to stop himself and turn around to find that Tien was totally out of breath. 17 smirked and shook his head, moving his shoulders to straighten out his back. "You hit hard, but you have no stamina." He said, knowing that the battle was already over.
Yamcha and 18 both looked over as the saw Tien's body falling quickly from the sky, landing with brutal force against the ground. Yamcha shouted in dismay and was met with a quick shot to the stomach by 18.
"Shut up." 18 said, grabbing Yamcha's shoulders and throwing him over to where Tien had fallen. Vegeta rushed up behind the unsuspecting 18 and put his hands against her back.
"Final Flash!" He shouted, unleashing a massive blast of ki that forced 18 forward before she forcibly stopped herself. Vegeta continued to push energy into the blast until 18 shot straight upward, flying behind Vegeta and kicking him in the back of the head. Vegeta flew a few feet and fell to the ground, but quickly turned around and looked up at the Android whose shirt and bra had been so badly damaged in the back that they had fallen off on the front. Vegeta was too focused to notice 18's lack of a shirt and quickly blasted another powerful energy beam at her chest, causing her to block it with her gloved hand and continue to walk towards him.
"You ruined my favorite shirt, Vegeta." She claimed, kneeling down and picking him up by his hair "Now I'll ruin you." Her fist quickly shot through Vegeta's stomach, piercing his body all the way through, causing blood to splatter all over the ground behind him and all over 18's body and face. Vegeta coughed blood once as he reached his hand toward the Android, raising his middle finger at her before he coughed once more and released his hold on life.
Yamcha looked away from Vegeta's dead body and attempted to get back on his feet, only to be met with an elbow to the back. He shouted out in pain as he landed on the ground, looking over to Tien who seemed to have fallen into unconsciousness. Yamcha looked over at 18 who walked into his frame of view; she leaned down beside Tien and shook her head.
"Hey sis, why do you get to have all the fun?" 17 asked, walking up beside her. She merely laughed as she placed her hand on Tien's throat, using her hand as a knife as she quickly slashed his throat, causing Tien to wake up and attempt to stop his wound from bleeding. Yamcha cried out and reached his hand out for his friend, but Tien gasped for air once and was already dead. Tears fell from Yamcha's face as he looked at his fallen comrade.
"You bastards!" Yamcha screamed out, resulting in a swift kick from 17.
"Shut it before I change my mind about letting you live." The Android picked Yamcha up by the collar of his shirt and threw him to the ground with his back up. "You got to cut him last time sis, now it's my turn to leave a mark. Throw me the weapon." He ordered. Yamcha could hear 18 walk away and then back, she was holding some kind of sack, and out she pulled something Yamcha hadn't seen in a long time. "Recognize this?" 17 asked, taking the blade from 18. Yamcha didn't say a word, he wouldn't play their games.
"We found that where you ditched it all those years ago." 18 announced.
"We thought it would be nice to see the reunion." 17 said as he placed the sword against Yamcha's throat. He laughed when he saw Yamcha wince and lifted the sword from his throat, placing it on his chest instead. Yamcha looked down at the sword as 17 swiftly cut across Yamcha's chest, leaving a deep gash that spewed blood all over 17. Yamcha screamed out in pain as he bled, trying to cover it with his arms to stop the bleeding. 17 rose to his feet and threw the sword next to Scar, shaking his head in disappointment.
"You cut too deep; he's going to die now." 18 scolded. 17 merely shrugged off her words.
"If he can't survive that then he doesn't deserve to live." The both of them blasted off, leaving Yamcha to his fate.
"That's…" Goku couldn't finish his words; his mind was filled with too much sorrow to say them.
"Don't worry, Goku, I've had a lot of time to deal with their deaths." Scar claimed, finishing off his second cigarette and placing it in the ash tray.
"How did you survive?" The Saiyan asked, astounded that Scar was able to live through such a horrible injury.
Scar sighed, shaking his head. "I don't know, dumb luck?" he lifted himself up off the rail and into a standing position "truth be told I should have died right there, maybe it was my family that kept me going, who knows." Scar looked over to the city once more before he turned and sat on a chair on the balcony "I lost a lot of blood, I cauterized the wound after I started thinking straight, but by that time I was already pretty woozy. My orange gi was so blood drenched that I had to tear it off after I woke from a long, long nap." Scar's head tilted downward "I didn't have enough strength to fly, but I still grabbed the sword for some reason. I also took Tien's belt and Vegeta's glove; I wanted them to be remembered somehow."
Goku nodded and looked back over to West City, noticing a couple with a child happily playing in a park area. "I'm glad you're alive, without you… I don't want to think about it." Goku gulped, watching as the father threw his son a ball.
"The worst part… I don't care to explain." Scar said, placing his hands over his head. "Whenever I think about it I-" He breathed heavily and his heart began to race "-I just can't do it."
"It's ok, Yamcha, I understand." Goku said, placing his hand on Scar's shoulder.
"Thank you Goku, I've said all I can, I tried to gather the courage, but it hurts too much to think about the rest." Scar explained, shaking his head "maybe I'll have the strength later." Goku nodded and released his hand from Scar's shoulder.
"What do you plan to do?" The Saiyan asked as he eyed Scar in curiosity "have you destroyed the time machine yet?"
Scar nodded and picked a remote from his pocket, holding it in his hand rather gingerly "This thing is useless now, but it's all I have left of her." Tears began to fall from Scar's eyes as he thought about his wife "Goku… it was just a few days ago to me…" Goku's eyes displayed confusion at Scar's words, not knowing exactly what he meant. "They found us, I don't know how but… She told me to run, to leave her, to do what we planned to do." He wiped the tears from his eyes and put the remote back in his pocket "She gave her life for you, all of you."
"And I won't soon forget that." Goku assured in a solemn tone.
"You'd better not." Scar forcefully said as he wiped the last of the moisture off of his cheek. "I have some things I need to do before I train Tien, Krillin and… Yamcha." Scar explained, lifting himself from his seat.
"Where are you going?" The Saiyan questioned. Scar sighed and shook his head.
"I have people to visit, things to pick up." He began to walk towards balcony, grabbing onto the railing with his hand "I'm going to make sure you're all ready for the Androids, I promise." Scar jumped over the railing and began to fly away before he turned back to Goku, smiling back at him much as Goku had done for him before he died in his timeline.
The Saiyan went downstairs to meet with his other friends who were all in the middle of a group training session. Tien, Yamcha and Krillin were sparring, but all stopped when they saw Goku walk into the vast training room.
"Hey there Goku, care to spar?" a very sweaty Yamcha suggested, wiping sweat from his forehead. Goku noticed a gravity change as he entered the room, it was rather heavy, but nothing he couldn't easily handle.
"Hah, you call that sparring?" Vegeta said over in a corner of the room, his shirt was off and he was kicking and punching in the air rapidly.
"You could join us you know." Krillin shouted over to the stubborn Saiyan, who grunted and continued his solo training method. The short man turned back to his friend and sighed "He's been training in here since yesterday, said something about Ginyu being dead."
"As long as he isn't hurting anyone." Goku said, eyeing Vegeta suspiciously "I can't spar today, but I am going to need to train with you guys sometime."
Vegeta stopped his training when he heard Goku's words. "Training with these maggots would be like flicking a fly away from your face, Kakarot." Vegeta exclaimed, grabbing a towel and wiping the sweat from his brow "why not show me what you're made of?" He took a drink of water and then threw it on the ground, his aura exploding with power as he charged himself up.
Goku walked past Krillin and Tien, both of whom attempted to say something but stopped themselves.
"I'm still the prince of all Saiyans, underestimating me would be unwise." Vegeta boasted, clenching his hands tightly into fists.
"Give it your best shot." Goku ordered, instantly transforming into his powerful Super Saiyan state. Vegeta rushed up to Goku and threw a punch, but Goku caught it midway to collision, and then caught the next one that Vegeta threw. The smaller Saiyan was stuck, so he used his legs to kick Goku in the stomach as hard as he could. Goku didn't budge an inch.
"What the hell?!" Vegeta shouted, both his fists being released, allowing him to back away from Goku. "So it is how they said." He calmed himself and turned around, instantly beginning his training again. Goku powered down and shook his head in confusion.
"What was that about?" Goku wondered as he turned around to face his friends.
"He's just an arrogant prick." Yamcha pointed out, taking a swig of water out of his bottle.
"So what do you plan to do Goku?" Tien asked his friend. Goku looked over to Vegeta and then back to his friends. "I'll come back here sometime; probably a lot actually, does Dr. Brief have any other gravity rooms?" All three of them nodded back.
"There's two, including this one." Krillin said "Jeice and his guys are taking up the other one, so that's why Vegeta is in here with us."
"They don't seem all that upset about their Captain being dead." The three eyed human said, wondering why they appeared to have moved on so quickly.
"I still don't trust em'" Yamcha noted, turning to look at Vegeta "him either."
"Don't worry about it Yamcha, you're all stronger than them anyway." Goku assured, beginning to walk towards the door. "Just don't stop training alright? I have a feeling that we're gonna be in for a lot more trouble once the Androids are dealt with."
Scar stood in the exact spot he had just two days ago. Their lab was a few miles away, but now it was just an unused cave. The man bent down and placed his hand on the Earth where she had died, tears falling to the ground, darkening spots around his hand. He remembered her screams, he heard them as he fled, and he knew that she died in pain and that there was nothing he could do to save her. He almost considered killing himself as he had gotten to the lab, but held off, knowing that Bulma had such high hopes for when they would travel back to the past together. It was a miracle his machine even worked, she hadn't tested it before and so she had no idea if her calculations were correct, but Scar was thankful now that it had worked, for now he could save everyone in the past from the same horrible fate his friends and family had encountered.
He lifted himself from the dirt and used a cloth to wipe his tears, placing it back into his belt once they were all dried. Scar sighed and began to walk to the cave at a slow pace, hoping that somehow he'd wake up and find himself back in their bed again. He thought back to Tien, Krillin, Vegeta, Goku. All had made sacrifices for him, all had died to protect the ones they cared about, and all of them deserved a better life now than they had before. Their faces all flashed before his eyes; Goku's smile, Tien's pained expression as he gasped for life, Krillin's frightened face as he ordered them to move, and even Vegeta's defiant smirk as he gave Android 18 one last reason to hate him. Gon was still out there, he hadn't been killed, but he had split from the group the day that Vegeta and Tien had died, and Scar was never able to find him after that. He hoped that wherever the Namekian was that he had found a group to look after and help, and that the Androids wouldn't be able to find him.
As Scar made it to the cave that he and Bulma had stayed in for so many years, he pictured a sturdy door where the mouth was, but of course that hadn't been built. He walked in and lit up the area with a flashlight he had brought. There were no animals in the cave that he could tell, but it was a relatively small cave and he could get out quickly if he could tell that he was disturbing any families of animals. He stepped into the room that he recognized as Bulma's workshop, where she held the two time machines. She had created an extra one for herself, as she was concerned about two people traveling together in the same ship. Scar turned around and watched as his mind created a ghost image of himself, running from the entrance of the room to where the ships were being held. He gasped as he saw himself shoot a beam of ki through the engine of the second time machine, effectively rendering it useless. He hopped onto the one that remained and pressed a few buttons, sending him back to just moments before King Cold had shown up on Earth.
He sighed and knelt to the ground, digging his hand into the ground and pulling out some dirt. He continued to dig until he had created a decent sized hole; he wiped his hands off and grabbed the pouch from his belt, digging out his son's favorite toy.
Scar gulped as he stared at the plaything, it had grown tattered in the years since his son had stopped playing with it. There was no possible way he could describe the feeling inside of him as he gently placed the toy into the hole, a single tear streaming down his face. The second item he grabbed was the remote to his time machine, he gulped and placed it into the hole next to Goku's toy, pausing before his hand let go in a moment of hesitation. He released it from his grip and dug around the sack for one last item, the photo he had shown Goku the night before. He pulled it out backwards so he didn't have to look at his sons face, as if somehow Scar felt that even so much as looking at it would cause him to break down into an unrecoverable depression. He closed his eyes and turned the photo over, slowly beginning to open them in order to finally face what he had been hiding from ever since his son was killed.
He dropped the photo and fell back on his haunches after finally viewing the picture, all of them standing together, looking happy as the camera took what was possibly the only indication that his version of Bulma and his son Goku ever existed. He cried for a moment uncontrollably, trying to stop for a moment to take another look at the picture. He scooped it up in his hand and took one last, long look at it before placing it in the hole with the other items.
"Goodbye Bulma, goodbye… Goku…" Scar said aloud, lifting himself to his feet after shoveling the dirt back onto the hole, marking where he had dug by placing a single ring in the center of the hole, the same ring that he had worn from when he and Bulma had a mock wedding. He didn't care if it wasn't an official marriage; for all intents and purposes she was his wife. "I'll come back and visit once this world is safe." He assured, wiping the tears from his face "hopefully I won't dwell on the past now…" He exited the cave and went on his way.
There the items sat; a grave for a destroyed family.
This concludes The History of Yamcha. While not all of his story has yet been told, perhaps more will come to light as the years go on, or perhaps his story will fade into obscurity, only time will tell. Will Scar's warning be enough to push the fighters to defeat the Androids?
Stay tuned and find out in Piccolo's Choice!
Hey everyone, Saucemonkey here to say that I hope you all really enjoyed this special! I'm glad to have finally gotten it out and to now be working on the main chapters so we can start moving forward with the plot! As promised I will be doing a Q and A with some of the questions that you have all been asking me since Chapter 33. (Some of these are from a while ago.)
Q: I don't fully understand why the senzu beans were ever gone. Gero could never have known about Korin and I doubt his DNA collector would have cared much for Yajirobe, so why did the plant die?
A: I hinted at this before, but in Scar's timeline Piccolo killed Korin and Yajirobe, ensuring that only Piccolo had the last of the Senzu Beans.
Q: Is the heart virus going to be in this fanfic?
A: No, I'm a firm believer that Goku had contracted the virus in space, and since Namekian biology is vastly different from Saiyan's, I doubt Piccolo would have gotten it at all. So like I said, no heart virus.
Q: Will we get learn about Piccolo's time between Namek and his return to Earth? Since he managed to learn Instant Transmission and brought Gon along to heal I assumed he'd been mellowed the tiniest bit by Gohan's sacrifice and maybe Nail's influence within him but his words and actions made me think otherwise! Did he A) torture the secret to Instant Transmission out of some poor Yardrats; B) pretend he was good (which he maybe found worryingly too easy) to get on their good side and be taught it or C) just learn it himself from observation as with the Kienzan?
A: This question will definitely be answered in the future, I promise you all.
Q: with Kami not around for much longer will Gohan keep his visions?
A: No, the visions were a last ditch effort and every time that Gohan had them they were being induced by Kami himself (except for the one of Chi-Chi in the Namekian hut in chapter 21.)
Q: Did Goku transform into a ASSJ, or SSJ2?
A: Not sure where you're getting that from, but no, he's just a regular SSJ right now.
Q: Is scar's son a human or half saiyan?
A: I don't mean to be rude but really? Yamcha = Human, Bulma = Human. So therefore, Yamcha + Bulma = Human child. Simple enough?
Q: Cell is going to show up 2 years after Goku leaves to train Uub, should he be born, I.e 786 is when cell shows up. your thoughts?
A: Can't say too much on this, really, but I can assure you that Cell will be showing up soon after the Androids. Nuff said.
Q: So, the "old man with a wrinkled face" is Yamcha?
A: Sorry, didn't make this very clear, but that's actually Dr. Gero.
Written By: Saucemonkey
Edited By: SSJ2 Silven, Super Vegetarott