Dragon Ball Z: New Future
Chapter 5: Intertwined Fates
In the middle of a town square a faded blue van was parked there as a multitude of other cars and citizens went about their business around it, it's worn exterior allowing it to blend in and draw little attention to the owner inside.
Dr. Gero growled as he tightly gripped his hands onto the sides of his control panel, his eyes glaring at the red blinking light that signaled his lab's demise.
"Complete facility destruction! The entire place up in smoke along with all of my Androids!" he hissed to himself through gritted teeth, watching the light blink a few more times before angrily slamming a button to cut power to the alarm.
"It was that boy, that boy who I've never seen before in my life! How on earth was he capable of even finding my secret facility?" Gero snarled as he looked to a screen that was playing the security footage of the event, showing the young man easily dismantling his creations on repeat.
"At least I have some solace in the fact that Android 13 was able to eliminate this nuisance in his final act!" he added as the footage went to static, the explosion from the Android's bomb most likely destroying everything in a good one mile radius.
Dr. Gero sighs in exasperation as he then turns his attention back to his computer, quickly setting about typing some commands which prompts a data page to show up, the screen displaying three entries listed there with several sub-entries beneath each one.
He looks over the first entry designated as A and he grimaces as he remembers the many failures that had resulted from the facility associated with that one, his eyes scanning through the numbers 1-9 that made up the sub-entries there.
"Site Alfa. There was a steep learning curve for myself and Dr. Flappe with our experiments there," Dr. Gero muttered as he looked over the greyed out symbols, "I'm almost glad that it's gone along with that damned traitor!"
His gaze then hovers over the second site designated as B with the numbers 10-16 listed below, and with a shake of his head he clicks a button that causes all of the blue symbols to grey out as well.
"With site Beta out of the picture that just leaves me with my last remaining facility, site Gamma. Not a particularly favorable situation if I do say so myself!" he continued as he then looked over the last entry, knowing that his final site was far less capable than the previous two.
"It is infuriating that I must resort to a lesser facility, but I will simply have to redouble my efforts in order to get my revenge on Goku…" Dr. Gero finished as he looked out the tinted window of his van, his eyes gazing at the exterior of a familiar looking building.
He then flicks a switch that changes one of his screens to a camera feed, the interior of a motel room appearing and showing three individuals inside, two young women sitting at a table as a young man laid on the couch and seemingly asleep.
"I may not be able to capture you today my future Androids, but in time you will become my creations regardless of who gets in my way!" Dr. Gero thought with a sinister grin, making sure to take a good look at the face of the black-haired woman who had stopped his thugs earlier.
After a few more moments he shuts off all of the monitoring equipment and steps through to take a seat in the van's cab, promptly starting the engine as he prepares to pull onto the street.
As he begins driving down the road a faint blur of motion moves through the sky overhead, unnoticed by the doctor as it quickly passes by and down to land next to the motel that had been his focus for the past hour.
Trunks touches down in the yard of the motel where he and Mai were staying, feeling comfortable with his speed that no-one had detected his descent to the ground.
He had ample reason to be more cautious too, as not long after taking off from Dr. Gero's lab he had sensed the Z Fighters and his father making their way to its location, having no doubt detected his large energy signature and at the very least noticing the huge explosion that had accompanied it.
"That really was a close call, I got so caught up in fighting the Androids that I forgot about masking my presence from the others," Trunks thought with an ashamed expression, knowing that they'd now be on the lookout for any more signs of him.
Trunks shakes his head in disapproval as he then walks over to the set of stairs that leads up to the room, his mind replaying the fight whilst he took the steps two at a time.
"Well I believe it was necessary to go Super Saiyan, and now that I think about it... it was definitely a good thing that I didn't power up higher!" he concluded as he came up to his room number, his inner thoughts coming to a halt as he finds to his surprise that the door was locked.
"That's odd, I wonder if Mai is out at the moment?" Trunks thought in slight confusion to himself, stretching out his energy sensing to check if she was inside.
To his shock he notices not only Mai's energy signature but two other unknown ones as well, instantly making him feel uneasy as he goes to knock on the door.
"Hey Mai I'm back! I didn't bring a key with me so could you please open the door?" Trunks called out as he lightly wrapped his knuckles on the wooden frame, his senses picking up Mai as she rushed over towards him.
The door is quickly flung open and before Trunks knew what was going on Mai had launched herself at him, embracing him in a fierce hug and causing him to simply stand there in surprise.
"I'm so glad that you're back Trunks! I know I shouldn't worry but I still couldn't help it!" Mai exclaimed as she pulled away after a few seconds, unable to contain her relief at his return as she smiled happily at him.
"That's alright, and I'm sorry for leaving like that. You know I wouldn't have done it if it wasn't important right?" Trunks said rather guiltily as he realizes just how concerned Mai had been with his sudden absence.
Mai nods her head in response and the two of them share a look of understanding before Trunk's expression turns more serious, his eyes flicking over to the half-open door before returning back to Mai with a questioning look.
Mai quickly picks up on what he was referring to and she glances over her shoulder to see Lazuli watching her attentively, and when she turns back to Trunks she makes sure to speak in a low whisper.
"So there's two people you're going to meet, just promise that you won't freak out okay?" she said whilst shifting uncomfortably, to which Trunks raises his eyebrows in confusion as Mai then takes a deep breath before pushing the door fully open.
Trunks looks in curiously and barely manages to stifle a gasp as he sees none other than Android Eighteen staring back at him, his fighting instinct kicking in as he automatically clenches his fists at his sides.
"Trunks this is Lazuli and that's her brother Lapis lying on the couch. Lazuli this is my friend Trunks whom I told you about," Mai said with an awkward smile, being unable to mask her uneasiness at the situation.
Lazuli simply nods as she seems to analyze the man who'd stepped through the doorway, her expression hard to read as she takes note of his initial reaction to her presence.
"This guy seems a bit on edge. Guess he's not as friendly towards strangers as Mai is," Lazuli thought with a slight frown, her eyes lingering on his tightly formed fists as she tenses up herself.
Trunks notices her defensive posture and upon realizing his mistake he hastily unclenches his hands, opting to clear his throat as he goes to greet the human version of his once hated enemy.
"It's good to meet you Lazuli. Forgive me if I came across as a bit on guard just then, I've had somewhat of a crazy day so far," Trunks said with a forced chuckle, Lazuli simply shrugging at that as Trunks then looks over at the other twin who was still unconscious.
"What's up with Seven... err, Lapis. Did something bad happen?" Trunks said as he corrected his slip up, earning him a puzzled look from Lazuli before he turns back to Mai in order for her to explain things.
"I came across the two of them whilst I was out in the city this morning. They were being attacked by these thugs and Lapis was injured before I could chase them off," Mai said regretfully, to which Trunks gives her an incredulous look as he wonders what the likelihood of meeting the twins were.
Deciding that he'll ask for the full story later, Trunks then walks over to take a closer look at Lapis, giving him a quick scan under the watchful gaze of Lazuli as he sees how bad the injuries were.
"He looks pretty badly beaten up, maybe he's suffering some sort of head injury if he's been out for this long," Trunks thought as he then pulled off his backpack, sorting through it until he found the bag of senzus and pulling one out.
"Just what exactly is that thing?" Lazuli asked suspiciously, regarding the green bean that Trunks had in his palm with a wary expression.
"It's a senzu bean, it'll help Lapis recover quicker if he swallows it," Trunks said as he spared Lazuli a glance, seeing her gaze fixed on him before she looks to Mai for reassurance.
"Don't worry Trunks is telling the truth, this senzu bean really will help!" Mai commented encouragingly, causing Lazuli to relax slightly as she then nods in consent for the odd looking medicine.
Trunks then gently places the bean in Lapis's mouth, the boy swallowing it instinctively as the three others watch intently as he ingests the healing plant.
After a few moments of tense silence Lapis's eyes snap open, the young man quickly sitting upright in confusion as he stared around at the strangers looking over him, but adopting a relieved grin when he sees Lazuli sitting next to him.
"I can't believe that actually worked! Hey Lapis take it easy, you just recovered from some injuries," Lazuli said as she looked over her brother, seeing to her amazement that his wounds had practically all vanished.
"Good to see you're doing okay as well sis, but where the hell are we? And what's up with these guys?" Lapis said as he glanced between Trunks and Mai, adopting a curious expression as he tries to gauge the intentions of the new people.
"They're some people who helped us out after we were attacked. Mai fought off the thugs and Trunks here healed you with some medicine," Lazuli explained calmly as she gestured to the two in question, Lapis taking in the information with a wary look.
"Okay that's great and all, but why exactly did you two help us? Because if you want something from us you're looking at the wrong set of broke teenagers," Lapis said to Trunks and Mai, cocking his head to the side as he leans backwards onto the couch.
"Would you believe me if I said it was just to help someone in need?" Mai replied hopefully, earning her a snort of disbelief from the young man.
"No, I wouldn't. But then again I suppose it doesn't really matter as long as you helped me and my sister," Lapis said with a shrug as he looked back at Lazuli, "So did those thugs give you much trouble after I was out?"
"Well I kicked one of the bastards in the balls. Mai however sorted them out pretty quickly when she drew a pistol on them," Lazuli began recounting as Lapis listened in earnest, Trunks only half-paying attention for a short while before he subtly shot Mai a look along with a head gesture towards the other room.
Mai quickly nods in agreement as they both silently leave the twins to their talk, neither of the teenagers seeming to pay them much mind as the two of them head into the bedroom.
As Trunks shuts the door behind him he turns to Mai with an expectant look, clearly awaiting for an explanation of the whole situation, to which Mai sighs as she takes a seat on the bed in front of him.
"Okay this will probably sound completely ridiculous, but somehow I just came across them whilst I was walking in the city outskirts," Mai said as she stared up at Trunks with an uncertain expression, herself still believing it was some kind of miracle that she'd found them at all.
"I don't know if it was fate or maybe I just got really lucky, the main thing is we've found them now and it's up to us to keep them safe!" she said as her expression switched to one of determination, Trunks meanwhile placing a hand to his forehead as he thinks everything over.
"It might not be as simple as you think. I get the sense that they aren't too trusting of people," Trunks said with a frown, "Not to mention my little expedition to Dr. Gero's lab didn't exactly go fully to plan."
Mai gives him a fearful look at his admission, silently wondering what could have happened as she awaits for him to explain further.
Trunks in response just sits down next to her with a sigh as he clasps his hands in front of him, staring down at the ground with a disheartened expression as he goes to relay the news.
"Well the first thing that caught me off guard was the Androids that I encountered there. As you might have guessed they weren't the ones we knew about, with Sixteen being the only exception," Trunks said as he thought back on seeing the base for the Android, feeling a slight twinge of sadness as he realized that it had likely been destroyed in the ensuing explosion.
"I managed to take out the majority of them before the last one self-destructed, annihilating the whole place in the process," he finished with a concerned look, "And that's the real problem, Gero wasn't there and now we have no way of finding out where he went."
Mai adopts a worried look at his story as she bit her lip nervously, feeling very uneasy with knowing that the mad doctor was still out there and potentially plotting his twisted plans still.
"His lab was destroyed at least, and that might be enough of a setback to keep him away for a good while," Mai said hopefully as she tried to see the positive of the situation.
"I hope so, though I'm still going to keep an eye out for that lunatic. I don't really trust that Dr. Gero will give up easily," Trunks replied in a resigned tone, sighing heavily as he feels the stressful events of today catching up with him.
Mai sees the tired look in his eyes and she takes a hold of his hand comfortingly, making sure to let him know that he wasn't alone in this.
"Whatever happens we'll do our best okay? We'll put a stop to Gero eventually and in the meantime we'll look after Lapis and Lazuli," Mai said encouragingly as she proceeds to lean against Trunk's shoulder, the Saiyan cocking his brow before he chuckles at her gesture.
"Thanks for being here for me Mai, I don't think I'd be able to handle all this without you," he said with a smile, to which Mai smirks as she then closes her eyes, the pair of time-travelers simply sharing a quiet moment together as they take a break from worrying about the future ahead.
Lazuli frowned as she ran behind Lapis down the alley, her footsteps echoing along the concrete walls as her brother led them away from the motel.
"Lapis will you just stop for a second! What are we even doing?" she cried out as they approached the exit to the street, her brother eventually slowing down to a stop as he waited for her to catch up.
"What do you mean? I told you we're getting out of this place before they realize we took their stuff," Lapis said in confusion, gesturing to the bag that he had taken from Trunks and Mai's apartment.
Lazuli takes a second to get her breath back before she frowns at her brother, her eyes drifting over the backpack with the case full of capsules hastily shoved inside.
"Are you serious, I can't believe we're stealing from the people who saved our asses and looked after us!" Lazuli said in a displeased tone, a nagging feeling of guilt setting in the back of her mind as she thought of Mai's reaction to their actions.
Lapis just gives her a look of surprise at that before he frowns back at her, having no idea what the problem was considering they had literally made a living off of stealing other people's stuff for years now.
"Come on sis, since when did you have a conscience about this sort of stuff? Why is it this time that you have some issue with it!" he said with a slightly irritated look.
"The issue is that they went out of their way to help us! I just don't think this is the best way of repaying them after what they did for us!" Lazuli replied heatedly, her anger rising as she folded her arms in a huff.
Lapis just rolls his eyes as he looks away, not really seeing why his sister was getting so worked up about two people they barely knew.
"Okay then what do you suggest, we walk back and apologize for stealing pretty much everything they own? I'm sure they won't despise us for that!" Lapis snapped back sarcastically, sending a glare towards his sister who instantly returns the look.
"They won't do anything to us I'm sure of it. Mai seems like a kind person and she's probably more forgiving than you think," Lazuli said as she held her ground, to which Lapis groans as he dumps the backpack onto the ground and quickly walks up to his sister.
"Lazuli we don't need to rely on other people! We can look after ourselves and with all of these capsules we'll be set for years to come!" Lapis said as he placed his hands on her shoulders, trying his best to convince his stubborn sibling.
Lazuli looks him dead in the eye as she considers his words for a moment, before she shrugs off his hands and takes a step back, her expression one of determination as she speaks her true feelings.
"I can't do this, at least not to Mai anyway. She actually seems to care about what happens to us, and nobody has ever done that for you and me before," she said in a quiet tone.
"Sure I had my reservations about her at first, but if she is truly willing to help us then why do we have to steal from her and Trunks? If we asked them I'm sure they'd give us a place to stay or something to help us be able to live on our own," Lazuli continued, sounding almost on the verge pleading with her brother.
"I know this might seem like a risk but I think this could be a chance for us to change things, to stop living like a couple of nobodies and finally have somewhere that we can call home!" she finished in exasperation, the toll from years spent living in hardship seemingly showing in her the look she sent into her brother's eyes.
Lapis remains silent for a good while as he takes in his sister's words, before eventually with a sigh he walks back over to the backpack and lugs it onto his shoulder, giving her a bemused look as he shakes his head in resignation.
"Alright then sis, if this is what you want then I'll stand by you on this," he said as he went to stand next to her, "But promise me that we'll still look out for each other first? I don't want anyone to come between us, you hear?"
Lazuli nods as she smiles at him gratefully, knowing that no matter what happened that she could always rely on her brother to have her back.
"Yeah well I never said that I was ready to completely trust these guys yet, just enough so that we can benefit from their help," she commented with a smirk, trying to lift the mood a bit with a joke.
"Good, because I was worried you were getting all soft on me for a second there! So I'm glad you've come back to your senses somewhat!" Lapis jabbed back with a matching grin, the twins sharing a laugh as they head literally and figuratively towards whatever future that was held for them with Trunks and Mai.
Bulma wore a puzzled expression as she analyzed the data she'd recovered from the objects, her mind racing with all of the potential that these scavenged parts could provide her and the Capsule Corp business as a whole.
"So Bulma just what exactly does any of this stuff do?" Krillin asked with a somewhat confused expression, staring at all of the pieces of machinery and other odd items that they had recovered from the crater.
"I'm not quite sure yet, but it seems a lot of it involves some sort of advanced mechanical constructs," she replied absent-mindedly, flipping through some notes that she'd jotted down earlier.
"Oh I know! That means it's robotics right? What if these parts make up some sort of artificial being, wouldn't that be cool!" Gohan piped up with an excited look, his age barely limiting his ability to understand complex concepts such as this.
"Jeez Gohan, you're putting the rest of us to shame with your knowledge!" Yamcha joked as scratched the back of his head awkwardly, chuckling a bit as he could easily see how intelligent the little kid was at only six.
"You could be on to something Gohan, especially if you take a look at this piece here!" Bulma agreed as she held up what looked like a robotic head, with only half of it remaining as one side of the metal skull was blown away.
"Not gonna lie, that thing gives me the creeps! Something about killer robots kind of scares me to be honest!" Krillin said with a nervous shiver, Bulma rolling her eyes at him as she puts the head back down.
"Quit being a baby Krillin! This tech you guys have gotten me could make for some really incredible advancements, and I've yet to look through it all fully!" Bulma said excitedly as she sifted through for the next piece, picking up what looked to be the remains of a control panel.
"Yeah it's great and all, but we still don't know who made all of this stuff or what happened to them," Yamcha mentioned with a frown, his expression going serious as he wonders who could have been behind all of this.
Bulma simply shrugs at his statement as begins to work on the piece of tech, Krillin meanwhile sending Yamcha a concerned look as Gohan stares in awe at all of the stuff sitting on the table.
"Hey Krillin, who do you think that huge power level was anyway? From what Piccolo said it was even stronger than Goku as a Super Saiyan," Yamcha asked his bald friend curiously, taking the moment to talk about the unknown person they had detected this morning.
"I don't know and I have to agree, his power sure was overwhelming!" Krillin exclaimed as he struck a fist into his open palm, "Whoever they are we need to be ready just in case they show up again! It was only a mountain this time, but who knows what it could be next!"
Yamcha grins at Krillin's determination, opting to stretch his arms out a bit as he knows exactly what the answer to that problem was.
"Alright then, what do you say we do some training together? I hear Vegeta's been going at it in the gravity chamber since we came back," Yamcha mentioned casually, to which Krillin nods in agreement and the two of them leave to head outside where they could spar more easily.
In the gravity facility elsewhere on the Capsule Corp grounds, Vegeta glared angrily at all of the destroyed robots surrounding him, his breathing heavy from the exertion that was being placed on his body at 250 times Earth's gravity.
"How pathetic! These machines are hardly a challenge for me at all! Is it really so hard to make a robot capable of pushing my abilities even a small amount?" Vegeta growled as he clenched his fists, his eyes glowering with rage as he then widened his stance.
Suddenly with a furious yell he begins powering up to his full strength, the remnants of the training bots being quickly obliterating from the intense energy emanating from his body, the entire structure shaking violently as his primal scream echoed loudly throughout the chamber.
Vegeta maintains his max output for a good while before he then collapses from the strain, falling down on his hands and knees and taking in large gulps of air as he panted from the effort.
"I will not allow Kakarot... nor this newcomer to surpass me! I will become a Super Saiyan... no matter what it takes!" he thought to himself with steely determination, his eyes briefly flashing a slight shade of emerald before he suddenly slumps to the ground unwillingly, the effort to sit up becoming too much for him as he simply lies prone on the tiled floor.
As he drifts into unconsciousness the gravity is abruptly lifted from on top of him, and he soon hears the familiar footsteps of the human woman stomping her way over to him, his last weary thought being that he would have to tolerate one of Bulma's rants about his training when he wakes up again.
A/N: Hey guys, sorry for this chapter taking a bit longer than usual, but as I said in an earlier chapter I will try to get things just right for each update before publishing it, and this one was proving to be a bit more difficult for me thus resulting in the extra time it took to write.
With this chapter I know this may seem like a lot of characterization, but just know that this is intentional and I am simply aiming to slowly build up towards the main plot, as I really want to establish and develop the main characters in the chapters leading up to the bigger moments.
Hopefully the time taken now will make the payoff well worth it in the end, and all I can ask is that you stick with me until things kick off properly, so I appreciate your patience and I hope that I'll see you in the next chapter, many thanks Literal.