The Protector
Chi-chi studied the fighters; she recognized Bardock, but not the others. As the invasion force got closer, they spread out, each one taking up a sizable portion of Fire Mountain's defense system so that she had no lack of coverage. While she hadn't asked for their help; they were here. However, what she couldn't understand is, why? They each had a tail; just like the girl she had found. Not a word had been heard about any of them over the past couple of years, not since this madness had started in West City.
The shortest of the group had jet black hair that stuck up a little, a red tail curled around his slender waist. Pointing out minor details to some of the humans, he quickly fixed some of the issues that they might face once the robots got there. She had saved everyone of these men and women... How many would die before it was over? Despite all the people she had saved, her best friend was still missing. She wanted to find her... there was a possibility she had already been killed, but she didn't stop hoping.
"You're not like most of the other humans," she heard the shorter Saiya-jin comment, his dark eyes studying her. "In fact... if I didn't know better, I'd say your energy levels match another human we know. Did Master Roshi teach you at some point?"
"My father." She said nothing else, the subject matter close. He heard a hint of grief in her voice, but she focused on her current tasks and responsibilities. "Can I ask you something?"
"You could, doesn't mean I'll answer any more than you're willing to."
She seemed to hesitate, but decided that if she wanted to figure out how or if they were connected to the girl beneath Fire Mountain, she had no choice. "That fighter there," she pointed at Bardock, "He's the only one I remember from the Battle of West City. Was there a reason why the rest of you weren't?"
"There were two battles being fought, and only one of them was televised."
"There were three people there that day... Where are the other two?" Chi-chi was good at reading another's expressions, and he couldn't hide the flash of pain and regret.
"It's not something I want to talk about," he growled, turning away.
"No, but I'm willing to." Everyone looked up, the Saiya-jins taking a step back. Hovering over them, his eyes a blood red, was Raditz. No... It was the Oozuru that shared a body and mind with.
"Bulma! Did you...?" Kakarot started to ask, but a gust of wind slammed all of them against the ground or a rock facing.
"She's the reason that you're not dead right now," he snarled, baring his teeth.
Turles made no move to stop him; if Raditz had been fully berserk, then all of Fire Mountain and the army approaching them would have been wiped out. Descending, his feet touched the ground. Chi-chi didn't have to see their faces to know that they were afraid of this fighter. She wasn't to certain about how she felt either, but... looking into his eyes, she saw something that had her approaching rather than backing away like the others. "You were the second fighter... After you showed up that day, the battle ended shortly after. Why... why if you had that kind of power, have none of you done anything? I know she would have... that's the kind of fighter she was..."
"You seem extremely interested in her; why?"
Chi-chi clenched her fingers together, her eyes a storm of rage and hate... She remembered finding Pepper several months ago, lying in the garbage beneath one of the Red Ribbon Army Prisons. Maybe she should have left there, but seeing her like that, broken, unable to open her eyes... Despite that, she had refused to let go of the object that the Army was after, shielding her through enemy lines... The girl shouldn't even be alive, but she was fighting... She was alone...
The reporter stopped her before she did anything, shaking his head, trying to get her to see reason. "I know you're angry, but... he's the last person that would harm that girl."
"Then why... Why did I find her that way! Why didn't they come after her?! I'm not as strong as they are, but I still found a way to get her out of there!"
"She's alive?" Vegeta asked.
"If you call being in a coma, your spine broken from the neck down, and her eyes scarred shut... Yeah she's alive!" She watched the blood drain from their faces, Raditz trembling in agonizing rage... "You really didn't know?" she whispered.
"She disappeared two years ago... It's complicated, but we had no reason to believe that she was alive," Kakarot said.
"If you had let me search for her," Raditz roared, boulders cascading around them, "I would have found her! It wasn't the first time our link with her snapped! However, I had a different one with her; she wasn't even aware of it! Do you have any idea, what's its like to not have the ability to do anything other than feel the empty terror that she's suffering through. She doesn't know who she is... She doesn't know who we are... She has no idea what her purpose is... I couldn't get to her!"
"We have incoming," The reporter told them, letting Chi-chi go. Raditz turned and with a roar, kicked a plane into several tanks. However, that was one plane, and when they looked in front of them, all they could see was a sea of robots, tanks, transports, and planes... all of it pointed at Fire Mountain. Chi-chi didn't know what to think... The Saiya-jins seemed subdued, shocked that Pepper was still alive, and with a cry that echoed Raditz's, they too clashed against their enemy.
Several hours later, Chi-chi felt the sting of scrap metal flying past her face. There were piles of machines everywhere, and they were still fighting, but ammunition was running low, and the Saiya-jins were exhausted. This wasn't like the first time... They were hurt, tired, and almost outmatched. Raditz, though. He was nothing short of amazing.
When the first wave ceased, the enemy taking the time to regroup, she saw him... standing separate from the others. Taking a deep breath, she walked over to him, handing him a cup of water. He looked at it, and after a long pause, he took and drank it. "I've been in a lot of wars... and I've killed a lot of people... I've never failed at anything before..."
"I don't understand."
"She's been a solitary fighter for a long time, and perhaps we grew accustomed to thinking she was invincible. After awhile, I started to feel softer towards her than I did the others. Like you, she had a tendency for trouble. I'd bring her home, to find her gone the next day, charging neck deep into another conflict. Kakarot had lost the desire to fight... Vegeta gave up trying to train her... Bardock let her do as she wanted... I knew they didn't want to go after Frieza any longer; why did they have to if we were safe and happy here... I promised to keep her alive..."
"She's not dead yet," Chi-chi encouraged. He looked down at her, some of the hostility gone from her expression. "I'm sorry... I shouldn't have reacted the way I did... Part of my anger stems from how helpless I've been. Every time I find someone, I always hope that the one person I'm searching for is the one. I haven't seen her in a long time, and I want to believe she's still alive. I've never stopped looking, and that's why I choose to save the people that I come across. I would hope someone might find and do the same for her."
For a brief moment, they understood one another, and with a nod, he strode forward as the second wave raced towards them. The fight would continue this way, giving little time to restock ammo, water, or food. Sleeping wasn't an option, not when the enemy were machines that could operate indefinitely.
"Sir... The fighters from two years ago are standing between us and Fire Mountain."
"Take the new prototypes with you. Is the one with the silver tail with them?"
"We haven't spotted her?"
"More than the dragon ball; find and take her. Am I understood?"
"Yes sir."
The transmission ended, and he stared at the files and news clippings on his desk. He had searched the entire world for the perfect parts... the perfect humans... Staring at the hero of West City, he knew he finally had the perfect specimen to complete the perfect Android. While he had other projects like Androids 17 and 18... Even Cell... but all of them were nothing in comparison to the little girl that had tied for first place in a martial arts tournament designed for grown men and experienced fighters. All he needed was more data... it didn't matter if he got it from her other companions. While they had a similar strength and power to hers... he had seen how they congregated towards her, shielding her... She was the one he wanted... It was a feeling he had, but to obtain her, he could control or destroy the others.
It was like a soft warmth that fluttered against her, glowing in the darkness that surrounded her. At first she ignored it, content to remain where she was. Here, there were no battles, no sorrow, no regret... and yet, she felt a lingering emptiness that wouldn't go away regardless of how hard she tried to feel nothing at all. When her connection to them snapped, only one thread had remained, gold, with blue, red, and silver intertwined. She had always been aware of it, but she hadn't spent a great deal of time analyzing it. After the others had vanished, it remained, the only tie to a past, present, and future she couldn't remember.
Eventually she accepted that it wouldn't leave... At first it simply co-existed in her silent world. Neither seemed to move, neither reaching, neither touching... It seemed lifeless. As time slowly dragged on, she found herself curious despite herself. The thread... it belonged to someone she had known... someone that made her hesitant to remember. Why did it hurt so much when she thought of that man? She was done with visions that were impossible to change... she was done with fighting battles that no longer held any meaning.
And yet... as the darkness persisted, so did that single thread floating beside her. It was the rage that had her looking at it again... an intense hatred and desperation that confused her. It wanted free of the darkness... it strained and struggled, as if something was purposely preventing him from getting what he wanted.
She had accepted this place; was it so bad... to stay here? In a way, she had grown accustomed to the only presence beside her, and that same feeling of loneliness came back when she thought of him no longer being there. Eventually another thread joined it... it was a black-gold, strong, and supportive of the thread that stayed with her. It gave comfort and strength, and in a small way, she felt it cascading towards her as well. That black-gold thread was like a ripple effect, others joining it, helping and pushing that thread closer and closer to her.
It hadn't been with any purpose, but she brushed her mind against it and watched as it exploded with determination, parts of the darkness dissolving. While it wasn't enough to unlock the memories or the reason behind her existence, it turned the dark void into a soft grey. The thread came near her, wrapping itself around what remained of her flickering soul. A brief image floated in her mind... I know him... Protector... Why had this thread remained when all the others had vanished? What did it want from her? One-by-one, they connected with him, fusing with his spirit... There was something that he needed to do, and then she saw it, a single vision and she recoiled in terror. Something was after her, and the threads that were trying to find a way to reconnect to her; she'd wipe out them, the Earth, the galaxy, and the twelve universes.
For the sake of this one thread, the one that stayed with her, the one that continued to circle around her, she had to find a way out of the darkness. She understood that he had been looking for her, and when she never responded, he lingered beside her, waiting, needing her to reach out. I don't even remember who I am any longer, but... but... I want to save him! Another image of a girl... she had black hair.
Magic... the girl was capable of connecting to her without the threads. Chi-chi... The woman, stilled, looking around. She was in the middle of an invasion... She was hurt, and the ones that were connected to the gold-black, red and blue thread were with her. They're helping her? They're protecting the humans? She hissed in agony when the girl was thrown back, caught by someone... It hurt... even though the threads weren't fully connected to her, she was starting to fill their pain and desperation. The danger was getting closer to her... Chi-chi!
Who are you? She asked, struggling to remain conscious.
There are several fighters with you... Is there one with long, black hair...
She paused, looking around, her vision blurred from warm blood... Yes... Almost all of the attacks have shifted to him now.
Go to him... I don't have a lot of strength left... Something is trying to dig under Fire Mountain. Dr. Gero... the Android Army... if I become one of those things... this fight will lose every ounce of meaning. I will destroy it all... Please... my memories are like shattered pieces of glass, but I remember trying to protect this world, and I remember him. I think I once had a connection to the fighters that are helping the humans, but I don't have enough power to re-connect. Raditz... he can do it... I don't understand why we have a connection the way we do and I don't know how to save them... I used to, but... Please... I know he can fix all of the broken bonds, my memories, and save the humans of Fire Mountain and the planet!
Raditz smashed robot after robot, but it seemed like he was making no headway. People were dying, most of the other Saiya-jins were down. He knew she was here... but because of this invasion force, he hadn't been able to finish the search. Snatching Turles out of the path of a super sonic blast, the two tried to regain their breaths. "They're a lot stronger than the first time we fought..."
A finger tapped his shoulder... "You should take cover," Raditz told her.
"Not happening. We'll either crush this army, or I'll die. I refuse to let them take me again." Her arm was broken, and it looked like it was everything she could do to stand. "There are Androids digging beneath Fire Mountain." Raditz crushed another robot, turning to face the human female. "Follow the tunnel, through the door, go half way around the pit of lava and through the door on the other side. We'll try to buy you time to get to her."
"How do you know what's happening to her?"
"I have the power of insight... it's nothing like my grandmother's, but I think she's using that to communicate."
"Did she say anything else?"
"She can't reconnect to the other Saiya-jins; she believes that if you create a bond with her, she'll indirectly connect to the ones attached to yours. You need to go before the Army overruns this place. Please... She can't fight back! I already lost my best friend! I lost my dad and my grandma! I know this is war! And I know people die! But that girl... she won't even have the ability to run! You have to save her... We'll try to hold the army off... We won't let up until there's nothing left! Just save her! She's fighting in her own way! She's fighting to save you and the others!"
Vegeta stumbled up beside him... If he fought for much longer, he'd die. Kakarot and Yamcha were down also, the reporter standing over them, recording silently as he tried to apply limited first aid to them. "That human... he never ceases to amaze me."
"We'll help her to keep them back," Bardock said. "There about to unleash another wave... I don't know how they got this strong, but we'll worry about it after. I hate to admit it, but we need her."
Raditz nodded, and with tremendous will power, Kakarot and Yamcha forced themselves to stand back up, making a semi circle in front of the humans and the tunnels. Vegeta gave him a weak smile... "Get my sister back."
"I always do; don't I?"
"Yeah, and thanks."
Raditz flew through the dark tunnels, and as Chi-chi said, he came to a large chamber where the lava fed the fire above. Walking around to exactly the half way point, he stopped in front of a door and entered. It was dark, fans blowing towards a pile of blankets and curtain. It was still hot, but tolerable, and it provided a safe environment during an invasion. For two years he had struggled against his restraints and that room, but when he slid back the curtains, his heart felt like it had stopped. He hadn't known what he'd find... Hearing and seeing Chi-chi's description; there was no comparison. Even if he did re-establish a bond... he'd think about that later. If she wasn't willing to give up, then neither would he. Between Mr. Popo or the Senzu Beans... there was also the medical teams on Turles's main ship.
Raditz wasn't familiar with bonds or how to make them, but then he recalled the mark on Bulma's and Kakarot's necks. With great care, he pulled her into his arms and held her. He had forgotten how soft her hair was. The sound of drilling reminded him that he had little time to accomplish what he had come down here for. Do I bite her? Sliding her hair out of the way, he brushed his teeth against her skin, hesitated, and with a deep breath clamped down. At first he didn't feel anything, and then his eyes widened. He felt her! Even though she couldn't move or wake up... she was alive! It was only a partial bond though. The only way to link her mind to his was to have her mark him, but how...
If she was supposed to return the mark, that wasn't possible in her current state. Taking his arm, he clamped down, growling at the pain, watching as large droplets of blood began to form. Pressing it against her mouth, he forced it past her lips, stroking her throat to let it slide down. I'm sorry it took so long...
Raditz... they're connected to you now... Use it; order all of them to transform.
They can't control...
Yes they can... You're strong enough to not loose control. Don't let the army take me; please...
I thought they were after the dragon balls.
That is one of their objectives, but it was to help create an army of machines; Androids are being created from human and machine parts, using the information gathered from the strongest fighters and military equipment around the world. I don't know why they would want me, but it doesn't matter. If I become an Android, my power will destroy this universe and those connected to it.
Grabbing a blanket, he wrapped her inside of it and took her back to the surface, placing her in front of the reporter. Glancing at Chi-chi... "Alert the other humans... They need to stay down... Their first instincts will be to run, but if they value their lives, they must not move! Is that understood? What we're about to do is dangerous and if we don't maintain control; the army won't have to worry about taking this position."
Raditz walked towards the other Saiya-jins... All of them were almost tapped out, barely standing as they waited for the wave that would most likely finish them. "Are you guys forgetting something?" he taunted. He jerked his thumb towards the full moon behind him.
"No... we can't" Turles growled.
"Do you have a better idea? Admit it, this situation is beyond our current abilities and we're out of options. If we don't... all of us will die! Take out every robot, their transports, their human commanders, and don't give them a chance to relay the data back to their creator."
Chi-chi helped the reporter to move Pepper, taking cover beneath a rock ledge. All of them looked at the full moon, ignoring the incoming wave. They were out of ammo, so trying to keep them back was impossible. She had only seen them once before, but this fighter... when he had joined Pepper, the invasion had ended. The others believed in him and then it happened. Their clothes began to tear, their muscles expanding and with a thunderous roar, six giant Oozuru's stood between the army and the mountain.
They started to unleash their attacks in random directions, and with the last of her strength, Pepper reached out to Raditz. They are connected to you... call out ... They will answer and you can crush the enemy.
They're not connected to you?
She didn't answer, her spirit severely weakened. Reaching for her, he lifted her, keeping her in the center of his large hand and nudged her with his nose. If they didn't crush this force in the next attack; she would die. He felt it, her life force quickly fading. Releasing a howl of rage and pain, the other Oozuru's paused, trembling as they listened to the call... hearing the sound of an Oozuru that was close to losing its mate. Turning their focus on the invasion force, they opened their mouths, and released a single, unified blast, and the invasion ended.
"Incredible..." the humans whispered.
As the moonlight faded, they reverted back to their normal forms, and Bardock tossed his son something that he had forgotten about. He always had it on him, but he had never thought to use it. "Give it to her."
"Will it work?"
"It isn't the first time that I've brought her back from death's door. She's a lot stronger than you give her credit for. With the injuries and the severed links, she should have died already, but she held on. There's a reason that she chose you."
Leaving him, Turles, Kakarot and Yamcha followed. While they wanted to see Pepper as much as he did, they felt that he should be the one to see her open her eyes. Placing the bean in her mouth, he once again forced her to swallow. With nothing to do other than to wait, he sat and leaned back against a large rock. That fight shouldn't have been as hard as it was. Chi-chi knelt beside him, her gaze on Pepper.
"I didn't know what to do with her... When I first found her, she was buried under a lot of trash. At first, I just thought she was dead, but I had this feeling..."
"I owe you," Raditz replied tiredly. "Name your price... Whatever you want... I will rip this world apart to give it to you."
"I want to find my best friend... I want this insane war to end! It's pathetic that people have to kill each other in the first place; but to lose our lives to a machine... to become one! It's wrong! Our pride... our honor... it's all striped away and replaced with wires and programs."
"What will you do now?" Vegeta asked her.
"Until I find my friend; I will fight. That's all I can focus on. It makes the pain I'm feeling easier to tolerate."
"Bring the survivors to Capsule Corporation."
"Wha-?"
"You saved my sister; I have just as much of a reason to thank you. We can provide resources, food, water, and better training. I cannot guarantee that we'll find your friend, but we will put an end to this war."
"If it's alright with you guys," The reporter asked. "May we tag along..."
"Do as you want," Raditz growled. He felt a tickling sensation on his arm. Glancing down, he noticed her silver tail wrapped around it. Startled, he sat up, watching. Her fingers were the next to move, curling and uncurling.
"Her eyes... They're not scarred over anymore!" The camera man shouted. With a shaking hand, she struggled to lift it, reaching for and touching his face. As her eyes slowly slid open, the darkness vanished, and she looked up at him. "Raditz... You're name is Raditz."
The reporter remembered how they had been after the last battle, but this was different. It seemed that whatever had happened to her, it had changed him and he was no longer willing to keep his distance from her. "Maybe you should take her to the Time Chamber?" Vegeta suggested. While he felt a link, it wasn't the same. Something was still wrong with his sister.
"What's the Time Chamber?"
"In exchange for one Earth day, the Time Chamber allows a fighter to train for one year. That senzu bean might have physically healed her, but she's lost a lot of strength and I think she needs time that we can't spare otherwise to repair the damage caused by the severed links. We'll figure out a way to deal with the Red Ribbon Army when you're done. I think the rest of us could use a couple of days regardless."
Turning away, he gave instructions to Chi-chi and took off. The choice to join them at Capsule Corporation was up to her, and as she watched him fly away with Turles, she understood that she couldn't continue doing the same things. Eventually they would catch her and she had to stay alive long enough to see her friend again.
Once they were alone, Raditz brushed aside a strand of her hair. He couldn't deny that something was wrong. While she had woken up, the only person she had acknowledged was himself. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm supposed to know who you are... I remember your face... and I know you were someone important, but past that..."
"It's fine..."
"But..."
"Pepper... I said it's fine. In all honesty, you shouldn't have survived. If your memories need time to recover, then I'm okay with that. I'm fine if they don't and you make new ones. Perhaps you might actually listen for once and stop running off." She nodded, not resisting when he stood and continued holding her. As lost and confused as she was, he was afraid if he put her down, she'd get lost and he needed to keep her with him... until the feeling of losing her went away. It was possible it wouldn't...ever.
