Chapter 48: Unexpected Help
Gohan stared down at Turles as Turles stared up into the sky. His eyes became unfocused and his breathing became more rapid. Half a mile to Gohan's side, a glacier erupted in an explosion. Gohan looked over and saw Cooler charging at him. Gohan didn't move and waited for Cooler, but he stopped about halfway. He looked up into the sky and then took off in the opposite direction.
"What was that all about?" Gohan muttered to himself. Turles stood up, his arms hanging limply in front of himself, his head pointed down at the ground. "You want some more?" Turles's head shot up and he looked into the sky.
"Before I lose my mind…" Turles quickly said to him. "…I want to tell you something. That blast I threw at you before, it was artificial moonlight. I'm going to transform."
"What!" Gohan looked above him into the sky. There was a ball of energy hanging in the air, radiating light like a full moon. Gohan quickly snapped his attention back to Turles, but Turles had already begun to grow in size. Hair grew all over his body and his armor grew in size with him. It didn't take long before Turles had completely transformed. "This is not good."
In a mountainous region, Krillin and 18 continued their search. "You find anything yet Krillin?" 18 yelled to him.
"No, not yet." He responded back. Just then, a flash caught his eye from underneath a pile of rocks. "Hey! I think I found the device!" Krillin made his way over to it when a blast shot up from the ground in front of him. Krillin quickly reeled back and barely dodged it. "Woah! What was that!" A person floated up from the rocks, it was someone that Krillin immediately recognized. "Dr. Gero!" 18, having heard the blast quickly made her way over to Krillin.
"It's you!" 18 scowled at him.
"We better be careful 18, he's a Mejinn fighter now."
"Yeah, but he's still mainly machine. Just how much flesh does he have left to improve?"
"Quite an astute observation my dear." Dr. Gero said to her. "I have benefited least of all from this Mejinn power, but I still have my brilliant mind to make up for any shortcomings of strength I might have." As if on cue, Saibamen popped up out of the ground all around them. They were of various colors that included red, blue, yellow, purple, and of course, green. "Bebidi had picked up some Saibamen seeds on his travels and gave them to me. They were too weak as they were to be of any use, but I genetically enhanced them." 18 had a brief look of worry on her face before Krillin spoke up.
"Relax honey." Krillin said with a smile. "I can sense their energy at this close range, and it's still no match for the two of us.
"How true, but they are only meant to annoy you. Here are my real fighters." On cue again, 3 new fighters popped out of the ground. They had 18 and Krillin surrounded in a triangle and the Saibamen were littered all about the place as well. "18, you and your brother 17 were failures, even 16 was a failure. I thought you would be superior to my earlier designs, but I was wrong. Allow me to introduce you to androids 13, 14, and 15."
"Yo." The short android with sunglasses and the oversized hat said to them. "I'm 15."
"14." The tall muscular one with the long braid of hair and no shirt said to them.
"Howdy." The final one said. He wore a vest with a ball cap and for some reason had a southern accent to his voice. "I'm number 13."
"These 3 were initially inferior to you and 17, but with the help of some alien technology, I have been able to greatly improve upon them." Dr. Gero said. "They're at least on your level now. Number 13, I am now giving you command of this operation. Your orders are to eliminate them."
"Got it." 13 then focused his gaze on 18. "Sorry 'bout this ma'am. I don't really like the idea of having to hurt a lady, but when you don't have free will, well, there's not much you can do about it. Oh well, let's get this party started." All the fighters disappeared into the air while Dr. Gero and a few of the Saibamen near him stayed on the ground. 13 and a bunch of Saibamen floated in a circle around Krillin and 18. Krillin blocked a fierce attack from the short one and 18 did the same with the big one. The two of them were fighting back to back, slowly rotating in a circle. They were blocking all their attacks and occasionally attacking back, but none of their blows landed either. It wasn't long before some Saibamen charged in as well. 18 managed to block another one of 15's attack and then quickly swatted away a blue Saibaman that had charged her. Krillin did the same with a red Saibaman and they were finding themselves quickly overwhelmed.
"Krillin! I could use some help here!" 18 yelled at him.
"I'm trying!" Krillin yelled back in frustration.
"Aah!" He heard 18 yell as 14 finally landed a hit to her gut.
"18!" Krillin quickly spun around and kicked 14 in the face. He was knocked back, but 2 Saibamen quickly charged at Krillin in his place. They then stopped as they got within a foot of him and hopped back. Krillin got a confused look on his face, quickly followed by one of a revelation. He turned his head around and a Saibaman was leaping right at him. Its arms were stretched out widely. An image flashed in Krillin's mind. It was of how the Saibaman that self-destructed on Yamcha looked. Aside from being red instead of green, this Saibaman looked just like that one did back then. Krillin had a sudden realization as to just why Dr. Gero bothered with the Saibamen since they weren't strong enough to fight him and 18.
'Kamikaze.' The thought floated through Krillin's mind. It was too late though. There was no way that Krillin could dodge it at this range. Dr. Gero smiled from below and 13 smiled from the air. Someone else there began to smile as well, but for an entirely different reason. A purple blast of energy suddenly struck the Saibaman. The Saibaman screamed in pain and then fell lifelessly to the ground. Krillin looked at the person who fired the shot. "Of all the people it could have been…"
"Who is it Krillin?" 18 said as she glanced over her shoulder at their rescuer. A smile quickly sprung to 18's face. "17!"
"Hey sis." 17 said back to her. "How are you?"
"A bit better now that you're here. What are you doing here anyway?"
"Naturally, I heard the announcement about the Kakarot games. I didn't plan to fight him myself, but I thought I'd come and watch up close. I kept my distance from the rest of you though. When I saw you all take off, I figured something more interesting must be happening elsewhere. It looks like I was right too."
"You're the same as ever, all you care about is having fun."
"What's wrong with that?" Krillin, having noticed that all the Saibamen and androids were distracted by 17's arrival, quickly tossed an energy blast down at the ground near Gero. The blast hit the ground behind him and blew up the beacon that had been sending out the false energy signals.
"17." Krillin said to him "I'm actually glad you're here, but this is no joke, so be careful."
"Whatever."
"Hey!" Snapped android 13. "That's mighty cowardly of you, pulling a sneak attack on the poor little critter like that."
"And I suppose it's fair to outnumber your enemies? Well, then again, you are just worthless trash, so it would take more of you to stand up to someone like me."
"Boy! You just earned yourself an ass whooping!" 13 vanished and charged at 17. Everyone else continued to fight as well, though now the beacon had been destroyed.
Elsewhere, Raditz, Bardock, and Future Trunks were scouring tundra for one of the devices interfering with their search for Gohan. Bardock and Raditz's tails stood on end and they both immediately looked north. As if acting purely on instinct, they both took off in that direction. "I found it guys!" Trunks said as he crushed the device in his hand. He turned around and saw the two of them flying off into the distance. "Now where are they going in such a hurry?" Trunks prepared to take off after them when he felt a sudden surge of energy. "Wait, now what was that? It feels different from the energy of these devices. Maybe that's Gohan!" Future Trunks then powered up and took off in a different direction than Bardock and Raditz.
In a swamp, Kid Trunks felt the same kind of energy that Future Trunks had and took off in that direction as well. Back at the arena, Goku and Vegeta's fight raged on in a stalemate, while Piccolo and Hercule watched from the side. In a desert, a battered Goten slowly wandered in search of aid and in the fierce conditions of the artic, Gohan prepared to fight a monstrous Turles.
