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Chapter 5
The rest of the evening was quiet. I spent the time outside, enjoying the company of the dogs and even having a very late dinner with them. When it was too dark to enjoy the scenery, we slipped back in for the night, watching the dogs carefully though as to not disturb the still sleeping android.
I passed by the entryway between the rooms and looked in just to make sure he wasn't awake. Assuming he wasn't, I made for the bedroom and closed the doors to keep the overly excited dogs inside. I didn't fear them trying to hurt him; in all honesty the worst they would do is lick him to death. While a funny scene it may have been, I wasn't willing to risk it. I looked over to my phone and grabbed it, shot off a few text messages, then crawled into the bed with my laptop. I ended up searching for a few things online and made a few last-minute purchases. Satisfied with what all I found, I hopped back out of the bed and figured a quick shower would get the grime from the woods off of me. Well, that and the green goo that seemed to get on my arms earlier. I still couldn't figure out what that stuff was, but I figured it had something to do with why the armor was so heavy.
The bathroom attached to my bedroom was a wonderful reminder of why I had this house built; a main bath for guests and my own to get away from the world with. The dogs settled on the bed as I ditched the clothes for my pajamas and hopped into the shower. The next ten minutes were like heaven for my body. I leaned my head back and breathed in the hot steam, enjoying the pressure on my shoulders and back since they still strained a bit from earlier. The fact that I was able to put that kind of weight on my body was good to know; I hadn't lost my touch in fitness yet. But that reminder of having someone so dangerous on my back suddenly sent chills through me. What the hell was I thinking? We did make an agreement, so in theory if he was suddenly 100 percent better tomorrow I shouldn't die…
…right?
I needed to stop worrying. I needed to put some faith in his word. If I didn't give him a reason to kill me, he wouldn't.
I hope.
I was torn. Trust the most dangerous weapon in the world, or pack up the animals and run for the hills.
'Like that would matter. A million miles away would not keep me safe.' I stifled a laugh, finally giving in to the idea that if he really didn't like this world, there was not enough distance, time, or weapons that could stop him. And he knows that.
The water kept raining down on me, keeping my focus on the heat it pushed on my back and relished in it one more time before shutting it off. It was late enough and I expected tomorrow to be full of surprises. I just didn't know what kind.
The dogs were up before I was the next morning, tails wagging and noses sniffing at my face. I reached for my phone, read the text I got and got out of bed. I grabbed my contact case and popped them in, letting my world come back into focus. Heading down the hallway they followed at my heels like always, but this time I pushed them out the door, hoping they could entertain themselves so I could check on my 'guest'. I closed the door and turned to head the rest of the way down the hall, but found myself hesitating.
'Oh come on, he's already in the house; it's not like you can avoid him now,' I had to rationalize with myself. My mind wandered to the idea that he was still on the couch, still recovering, with only the little bit of his armor left on his legs and hips. 'That could be a bit distracting…' But how do you bring up a conversation like that? The exchange flickered through my head, and I had to keep from laughing aloud at the idea that he might not understand why I would offer clothes. Not that I had anything to offer just yet. Not until later this afternoon.
I reached the end of the hallway and was just about to round the corner until I stopped dead in my tracks as Cell suddenly stepped around and I nearly face planted into his chest. I stepped back quickly, taking in the full view by accident and felt my face flush red and I turned away, covering my face and swearing up a storm.
"Son of a fucking…damnit," I muffled the shout into my hands, totally disregarding who I was yelling at. It was quiet for only a moment; probably entertained with my reaction.
"Humans and your modesty… Good morning to you as well." So that was how my morning was going to start. Unbelievable. I refused to turn around, but I did take my hands off of my face.
"Sleep well I take it then?" I asked a bit snarkier than I probably should have but for the moment I was still both angry and flustered. Seriously it was a great body and all, but no way was I going to admit to that anytime soon.
"I do not require sleep, but a night without the weight of my armor let my body recover and has enabled me to be more mobile, apparently much to your disappointment…" That tone in his voice made it very clear he was enjoying my discomfort. So, just to defy him, I turned around and crossed my arms, but kept my eyes locked with his brilliant pink ones. This was my first time actually getting a good look at his eyes since the past days were either hidden by a branch or half-lidded in exhaustion. They were bright and alert today.
"Good to hear. And while you have every right to flaunt your perfection, a fair warning would have been nice." Sarcasm laced those words like icing on cake. His grin returned and a small nudge from one eyebrow acknowledged the statement.
"Careful, I may take that seriously. How long would you hold your resolve then?" I knew I would not win that battle of wits. I sighed and squeezed my eyes shut and clenched my fists all in a desperate attempt to hold my tongue.
'Don't dare him, you would regret that immediately.' So I turned to the cupboard and dragged out a mug for my morning latte instead of making a retort. "Care for anything to drink? I only carry lattes and teas if you are interested."
"I have no need for sustenance, and that was a terrible redirection of the conversation. Would you care to try that one again?" I shrugged my shoulders and hit the button to prep the machine, and knowing I was stuck there for a few more moments I decided to engage the conversation.
"Actually I already had a plan made, but you seem to be too impatient to wait for it to come full circle…My younger brother will be stopping by later. I asked him if I could borrow a bit of his closet until further notice. But he won't be here for a couple more hours." The liquid poured into the cup and I went to the fridge for ice cubes to drop in it. I managed to keep my focus away from him and only on my drink.
"And what gave you the notion that I would want to use human garments?" I was starting to get a kick out his choices for words. It was eloquent and the accent was fun to listen to, but his testing of my patience was a little more than a nuisance. Taking my mug and having my first satisfying sip, I turned back to him, eyes locked on his of course.
"I would never ask you to pretend to be human, but I would like to ask of some decency while you stay under my roof." I kept my face stern and serious, but kept my tone polite. If he moved an inch or attempted to approach me my nerve would be lost both from the fact that he was that much stronger than me and that I might see more than I bargained for. He stared back for a moment, but then he turned back away from me and headed back into the main room. I managed to look away before seeing too much more. I was not ready for that view yet either.
"While I would rather have my armor for both the coverage and protection it appears I will need to accept the offering. Also I took the liberty of borrowing your bath to remove the last bits of armor. I do hope you don't mind," he casually explained from the other room. I stood in the entryway with my mug, keeping my vision to the wall rather than to the couch where he sat.
"Borrowing the shower was never the issue..." I laughed at my mocking tone, but quickly added, "But thank you for not getting that green stuff everywhere. What exactly was it, anyway?" I really hoped it wouldn't be a sarcastic answer since I wasn't really showing the same courtesy.
"It is necessary for regenerating my armor back if it is broken. The Namekian blood regenerates my limbs, but the armor isn't technically part of my body anymore, so it needs its own regenerative cells." I hoped that answered whether it was dangerous or not since I still had an aching fear it may have been some sort of toxic poison I had on my hands. I sipped at my latte somehow feeling less and less worried about his presence in the house. I started to accept the fact that he had given his word on the deal and that it could be trusted.
"I'll be heading out back, is there anything else you might need? I don't plan to come back in until after my brother stops by," I finished my drink and set it on the counter.
"Unless you know the secret to get my power back, no." The sarcastic tone carried between the rooms and I rolled my eyes as headed toward my bedroom, still needing to prepare for the rest of the day.
The sun was high in the sky when I stepped out back, greeted by wagging tails and hungry stomachs. It was nice out for the moment but rain was predicted later that afternoon. 'Guess I got him out of the woods in time,' I realized how lucky the past three days were. After the dogs were fed I went to the paddock and through the barn door. Grabbing a few things I headed out and took the horses to another fenced field to put them through their paces.
An hour passed quickly and I looked out to the dirt road to see a black car coming up at a quick pace. I took the rope off of Artie and led him back to the main paddock. "I guess we're done today boys," I handed them their treats before locking up the gate. The dogs ran ahead of me around the side of the house to greet the car pulling in. I walked up as the door opened and the tall kid stepped out. I wrapped my arms around him in a close hug after chasing the dogs off of him.
"Hey Zack, thanks for coming out." He hugged back tightly before going to the back of the car and hauling out a huge duffel bag.
"Hey, no problem. I dug out a ton of stuff to pick from, so hopefully there's selection for a few days." He smiled and laughed as I took the bag.
"I knew I could count on your closet. I promise this is really temporary and he won't be going very far, so your clothes are staying here. Hopefully there's nothing here you can't live without…" He waived a hand at the bag.
"Nah, it's mostly oversized sweats and workout clothes I haven't worn much and a lot of shirts I haven't even gotten to yet. I've bought way too many clothes, so I'm glad they have a use finally." He went to walk towards the house, but I stopped him.
"If you wanna stick around we need to stay outside. He's not exactly social…" Zack gave me a weird look.
"Is this an old ex or something?" I dismissed the idea with a goofy look.
"Psh, I'm not that forgiving. But I do know him; he's just not from around here. I might be able to tell the whole story someday if he leaves soon enough." He shrugged, taking the story for face-value.
"Alright. I was sent with a message too. Don and Karen miss you and would like to know when you're coming for dinner again." I got excited for that idea.
"Hopefully soon, and tell them I'll be bringing the mongrels with me too. I'm sure they miss them too." Suddenly Zack got a bright look on his face.
"Oh, I have news about that too. They got the tests done for Gogo, so they're picking a male to breed with this week!" My heart jumped as the news hit.
"You're gonna get your puppy!"
"Hopefully! Fingers crossed for this one!" This was big news for us since I had Lati, who was from the first litter born at their kennel, and this litter would make for their second, so having one of those puppies in the family was exciting for all of us.
"I will be there they day they are born, count on it." And with that, he gave me another hug and hopped back in the car.
"We will try to get another day to hang then; it's been a while. We need to hit up a mall and food sometime." I closed his door for him and chat through the open window.
"I'd like to. I guess I could go spend some of the money I have now…" He gave me a sad look before speaking.
"You are doing alright, then? Dad worries about you," his voice cracked a bit.
"Tell him I'm alright. I'm not in over my head yet. Hopefully you two have been good." He nodded quickly.
"Yes. Getting better, but good." I tapped the hood of the car as he started it up.
"Glad to hear it. Thanks again!" He waived and I responded in kind as he backed out. Once he was on his way I turned up to the sky to see the dark clouds starting to loom in the distance. The winds had picked up and I could feel the rain coming in the air. I took a deep breath, waiting for my throat to stop choking up and fought back the quivering in my gut. "Two years apparently isn't enough." I looked back to the dogs playing on the porch and headed through the garage door. I took them back to the bedroom and grabbed my laptop, then closed the dogs in so we wouldn't be interrupted.
Back at the entryway between the rooms I slumped the bag to the floor and looked up to the couch where Cell sat, arms crossed and glanced up at me, then down to the bag. Balancing the laptop in my arm I made it clear we were getting nowhere until he was presentable. I turned away when he stood up, and I heard the rustle of him going through the bag. These quiet moments were always tense for me since I was typically a chatterbox, but I did not want to give him a terrible impression of humans in this world. Even though he gave his word not to bother this planet, I would hate to give him a reason to either.
"Is this suitable?" I looked up and looked him over and held back a giggle. The grey sweat pants he dug out were almost a good fit, if not a tad short, but the black top was too tight at the chest. I guess I forgot to mention that while Zack was tall, he was also lean, which meant tops were going to be way too small. I only looked a tad longer, letting my eyes skim over his toned arms, but stopped myself before I started to give too much away again.
'Might need to find a bigger sweater for him so I could keep myself from staring too much…' I mused. "Zack is nearly your height, but I guess a couple sizes smaller too... It works for now." I slipped around him and hopped on the huge sectional, flipped up the laptop and motioned for him to sit. As soon as he was comfortable I pulled up the first of the tabs I had opened and flipped the screen around. He looked down, reading the first lines aloud.
"Dragon Ball Z,, commonly abbreviated as DBZ, is a Japanese anime television series produced by Toei Animation," I watched his eyes as they swiftly scanned through the first paragraph, "Manga series? So this started from a book?" I pulled the laptop sideways so I could pull up another tab.
"Yeah, mangas are Japan's version of a comic book." Clicking up the first tab I scrolled down. "Here, this is a site where you can read the series… it takes forever to go through, but if you want to see what happens, this is where you'll want to go." He clicked through a few times, I assumed a few pages, before looking back up at me.
"Our entire world was started by books for entertainment, and then turned into a television show." I frowned for a moment, letting that mull over in my head.
"It looks that way… but maybe not. Your world may have already existed and we just happen to write a story about it," I gave a small smile, really hoping that it wasn't as sad as it sounded. I could not read his face or body language. He was still, stone-faced, staring at the screen but his eyes continues to scan through. I leaned back and brought my legs up to sit cross-legged on the couch, unsure of what to say. There was no real way to smooth it over; he was in a world that we would consider the real world and he came from the one that looked like nothing more than a fairytale. Comforting words would be nothing to him. The silence was nearly killing me, and I tried to keep it to myself, but gathering up a small amount of courage I finally broke it.
"How did you get brought here? Do you remember?" I looked over, a bit nervous to make any sort of eye contact, but he never looked up from the screen. He stayed quiet, then blinked slowly and shook his head slightly.
"It's not much. I've gathered more from just being in this world than I did in those few seconds." Confusion and doubt crossed his features for just a second, but he regained his composure. "It was a type of energy I had never felt before. Not the same we use to fight with; it felt empty, like a void. It surrounded me right when Goku surrendered, and by the time I realized I was trapped it collapsed around me. Next I knew I was dropped here." He stopped suddenly, thinking something through before he said it. "Wherever 'here' is." I found myself wanting to get back in the conversation.
"I would look at it as another world. You don't seem to be in a hurry to figure out the details right now." He finally took his eyes off of the screen and looked back up at me.
"Perhaps it's just semantics at this point. Does anything like this come up in these books or the entertainment show?" I shook my head.
"No, but there are games that toy with some ideas, especially recently, but nothing quite like this. This is new for me." He inhaled sharply and caught me off guard with his next question.
"Games?" I probably should have seen that coming too, but I didn't have any of that information up since I only played a few of them.
"The games are easy to look up too, but they are also based on the manga and the show, so there aren't many differences. I wanted to start from the beginning. Then the other stuff can make sense if you know where it all comes from…" The pressure of his presence was making my pulse race a lot more than I was used to. His focus went back to the laptop. "How much do you plan to look through? Going to see what happens?"
"Something tells me I won't need to." I stared, unsure of the statement.
"What?"
He sighed, and I started to see the reluctance in responding. "This little I've read has already let me make so many conclusions so quickly…" His hand skimmed over the laptop, turning it back toward me. I looked down at the laptop and saw the wiki page had been scrolled down quite a bit.
"You got through that much that quickly?" He gave me a quick nod.
"And from that I can see where this is going. The story follows Goku, from his childhood through his adult life and all of the challengers he faces…myself included. And there appears to be more." His voice changed, slowly going from a knowing confidence, to something darker… I could almost see it coming. "I am not the last fight he engages in, which means his life continues after the tournament." I bit my tongue; he almost had that right…
"Somehow I am defeated, otherwise this story would have to end, which it clearly doesn't." I couldn't tell if he was angry, shamed, or outright upset, but he straightened up a bit a locked his eyes with mine. "Am I correct?" I couldn't help the half smile that slipped through.
"Well, almost. There are so many other details that go along with it…" He scoffed and looked away. "You could look and see how it happens, but I doubt it would change the end result."
"Why would I want to see my own demise?" he barked, and I felt myself jump back several inches out of shock. "Even though I am the perfect warrior, with the most perfected power, somehow they manage a miracle and defeat me. I have no need to see the stunt Goku pulls this time…" I couldn't take it anymore; I felt that detail needed to be known, else he was going to be furious that he thought the games were pointless.
"Goku doesn't kill you. In fact you manage to kill him." He stopped and stared, definitely caught off-guard from that fact.
"That conflicts with what I've just read." I felt my body shake under his gaze. Was I really ready to just spill how it all ends? I really hoped he would read it for himself.
"That was a summary, not the details of what happens. Yes technically Goku does go on to save the world again after you, but he is not the reason you are defeated. Now are you going to look into this and see for yourself?" His gaze went back to the laptop.
"Will the information be accurate?" I shrugged my shoulders.
"I don't know. Unless I know exactly how things have gone up to this point, I'm only assuming this is following the manga better than the anime." He sat there and I dare say he looked like he was sulking with his arms crossed and head bent down a bit. Another moment passed before he reached out a bit for the laptop, but I quickly put my hand on it first, stopping him for a moment.
"If you're willing to wait a couple of days, you won't need to navigate on the laptop. The manga is on its way here." His hand stayed up, inches from the laptop, and I could see the brooding in his eyes. Then something seemed to click and he drew his hand back.
"You obtained them? For what reason if they are available here?" he motioned to the laptop again, but I shook my head.
"Oh I've been meaning to own them; it's a work of art to go through. Also, you're not subjected to the rough translations on the websites… And you can read through them without compromising my laptop." His focus seemed to stay on me rather than the laptop.
"Why are you showing me this?"
I shrugged as I clicked through a few tabs. "I want to." He didn't seem to take that answer outright even though it was the only answer I was going to give him.
"Even though showing me how I can avoid my own death could change the course of that world?" His gaze started to feel heavy, but I had my counter ready. I was prepared for this conversation.
"Like I said, even knowing how it ends may not change anything. You will probably still die." He didn't let up.
"What makes you so certain? If I can see where I go wrong I could correct it." I grinned, ready for this one too.
"I'd bet the world you wouldn't be able to." The smirk he sent back sent chills down my back.
"Oh really? Please, do tell." I cracked my knuckles; this was going to be fun. I've dreamed of this conversation for years.
"Sure you wanna do this? I might scare you," I laughed. His eyes lit up at the challenge.
"Please, Miss Erika, do your worst." I held my breath for a second. He has NO idea what kind of effect that had on me; I really enjoyed his accent.
"The Cell Games may have been deciding that world's fate, but it was the fight of the century here too. It made anime history's books." He straightened himself, clearly out of pride.
"Thank you, I didn't expect it to fall short." I couldn't help the giggle that slipped through, but I kept going.
"Your opponent was strong, but your pride and power blinded you. If he was killed before his power surfaced the rest would have fallen quickly. Instead your pride forced you to take the challenge." An eyebrow raised out of the sheer absurdity of my claim.
"Oh really? And who is this amazing opponent I needed to fear? I've had many death threats thrown my way; surely I would know which one could be true?" My eyes were definitely dancing at this engagement.
"I guess you'll have to wait for the books to learn that." Course I knew that was a bit of a joke; he could easily just skim through more of the wiki to find out Gohan was the one that defeated him.
"Not going to name my killer?"
"Nope. It would be so ridiculous to you that it would be too hard to believe. But he warns you of his power; he knows it's there and was willing to stop the fight and let you live. But you wanted to see it. You wanted that fight so badly you tortured him to release it. And eventually it does happen." His face hardened a bit, the playfulness dwindling away, but he kept up the conversation.
"And his power overpowers me in this state? Even though my powers are well above the likes of Goku and Vegeta, the strongest fighters there?"
I took the biggest breath of my life; this was fun, but terribly risky. "Overpowers? No, he flat-out pummels you to the ground. Relentlessly. Everything you throw at him he counters back tenfold. You became desperate, even to the point of trying to destroy the planet, but he even throws that back at you." My hands shook, even my stomach was doing flips. Why was I telling him this? He was going to find out on his own, but somehow telling him was the biggest thrill I had in days. I was actually scared of what I was doing, but I was too excited to stop.
"And is this the point where he kills me?" I shook my head again.
"No. Remember I said you kill Goku? How would that happen if this was so cut and dry?" He let that sink in before responding.
"Does he get overconfident? Not kill me quick enough?" That grin made its way back up again for me.
"Now you're catching on. Did you know your second form has a self-destruct sequence?" He half halted, unsure of that statement.
"Yes I am aware, but what does that have to do with the fight?" I swallowed a bit harder for this one.
"He forces Cyborg 18 out of you and it makes you revert back a form." His face fell. There was no other way to describe that look on his face.
"Impossible!" he gasped. I nodded my head very slowly.
"Sorry, this is the whole truth. Once you were in that form you knew the fight was lost. You knew there was no way to survive. What would you do if you knew the end was coming?" Realization dawned on him and he whispered the next line.
"I would try to take them down with me." I waited a moment.
"And you almost did, until Goku stepped in. That little vanishing trick came in handy one more time, sacrificing himself for the sake of the planet, again." He shook his head in exasperation, but kept his composure.
"So I end up pulling a kamikaze? That is a very underwhelming end to the tournament…" I smiled again, this time I couldn't wait to tell him what happened next.
"Nope. You still don't go down. This is why this fight is considered one of the best in history. You survive your own damn suicide."
"Really? Am I about to get a lesson about myself?" I nodded again.
"Long story short, you have a core within you that managed to survive the explosion with a single cell surviving. You were able to completely regenerate from it, and since you had achieved this form, it regenerates you back to it, despite 18 being gone. And to top it off, you get your power back plus some. From what I understand, that ability is called zenkai…"
"The power boost received from a near-death experience, yes. So I come back better and stronger? It is very hard to see how I lose at this point."
"This is why I said even knowing how it ends, you would probably still die because you desire to fight a real battle, especially now that your power comes back and you gain a fun new technique out of it…"
"Ah, do I pick up the vanishing technique that Goku used? That would make sense if that was how he prevented me from destroying the planet."
"Yup, and in our translation we call it the Instant Transmission, but call it what you like. You get to use it too since Goku took you billions of light years away from the Earth," I laughed. "Honestly you would have needed that move to continue the fight because it would have taken you forever to get back to the planet." He huffed a bit, obviously pleased with how the fight looks like it should have gone.
"So I make it back to the planet, stronger, with better techniques, and I am still defeated how?" He was getting into the conversation a bit more; that look on his face said it all. He was definitely egging me on for the rest of the fight.
"You catch the entire group off-guard; they thought you died. So of course when you show back up they didn't exactly jump back into the fight. You even throw a random shot in the crowd and kill Trunks… So that's twice you manage to kill the pretty boy."
"Hm, so that means he's not the one that defeats me. Keep talking; perhaps I can narrow it down enough to figure it out myself." I caught myself there and realized I needed to be careful if I were to keep that a mystery.
"Then I'll end this now. Do you know what two fully-powered Kamehameha's battling for dominance looks like?" He eyed me warily.
"No."
"Then I guess you'll see." He was silent again. I almost feared I had said too much, but I had to admit, that was a fun engagement. It was worth saying too much.
"So despite my power boost I could not overcome this opponent's Kamehameha and I lose the fight. At least the suicide move wasn't my end. I would have found a way to change that…"
"And the entire time we truly did not know if you would be defeated or not. This fight was right down to the wire. It was amazing to watch. I'm sorry you have to lose, but it would mean the entire universe would be destroyed if you prevailed." He rolled his eyes at that statement.
"Of course, the cliché of the heroes stopping the evil villain from destroying the world. Such sentimental rubbish…" Another laugh made its way out of me, despite trying to hold back.
"That's how human entertainment usually goes; you'll have to get used to it." He turned his focus back to me.
"You seem to know this all play-by-play. Is this a fight you're fond of?" I thought nothing of the question, so naturally I responded with more truth than I should have shared.
"Oh yes, this fight made the battle with Frieza look like fireworks. And while the fight with Vegeta seems to be the original major fight, it technically ends in a stalemate and Goku lets him go. So in the end, the games are the true fight for humanity." He said nothing but there was definitely something turning in his head. Deciding not to dig further, I posed a random question instead.
"Why didn't you kill Mr. Satan?" I noted his head cock a little bit to the side before answering.
"I promised to be lenient and not kill anyone if it could be avoided."
"Seriously, that guy was just begging to be killed. It was like you knew letting him live was more torturous to the audience!" He suddenly burst out with a laugh and I was taken aback by it. The laugh was deep and full, but not as evil-sounding as I expected it to be.
"Oh, I'm sorry, was this world actually hoping I killed the imbecile?" That smile made it across his face, definitely enjoying the fact that the idiot made for both entertainment and misery.
"We all were! There is a fine line between comedy relief and downright stupidity! Even you admitted he was absolutely ridiculous!" He shrugged his shoulders and grinned again, hopefully remembering that he did think something along those lines before the battle began.
"Perhaps, but my goal was to make the Earth tremble in fear, not do it any favors," he chuckled that deep chuckle again and I felt it go right to my stomach. I took in the fact that while this was fun, I was still engaging with the most dangerous weapon to exist. I still had a hard time realizing that the only thing standing between him and killing people in this world was literally a verbal agreement between us.
"You really need to stop that."
"Stop what? You're clearly enjoying this conversation as much as I am." My shoulders slumped a bit and I sighed slightly.
"It's so easy to forget who you are. Partly because the armor is gone and so is half of the intimidation, but I have to remind myself that you're still dangerous and I'm probably a fool for going this far already."
"You have no reason to fear me now; we have an agreement that has been fulfilled on your part. I will hold up my end of the bargain; I gave you my word." I felt my face soften and a nervous smile came through.
"And your word is good?" His head bowed ever so slightly, eyes closed for the moment to complete the look.
"My word is my honor; I do not go back on it." I relaxed a bit, still keeping my reservations, but not worrying about my life nearly as much.
"Then may I ask a favor?"
"Depends." That was fair; I couldn't expect him to lift mountains for me, but this was bothering me quite a bit.
"Don't kill the two I'm about to let out. I feel horrible leaving them locked away the past night." The look he gave me was curious, but not threatening.
"Kill the two? Two what?" I locked my eyes with his again.
"Promise me you won't." He waited for a second.
"Promise." It was a solid tone I felt I could trust. I stood up and rounded the corner. When I opened my bedroom door I felt the pair bolt past me and fly down the hall as fast as they could. I flew down the hall trying to keep up but they already rounded the corner and I could barely cry out my warning.
"Sorry, they are a bit eccentric! You might have to keep them off of you…" and as soon as I got back in the room I almost choked on the air I was breathing. The dogs had leapt on the couch and they were literally trying to glomp him with tongues licking and tails flailing, but in the blink of an eye they both were held up by their scruffs, tails still wagging furiously. I quickly ran up and pulled both out of his hands as he released them. Sitting back down I held them and encouraged them to stay down. "They will calm down eventually. Sorry about that." He stared at the pups.
"I will never understand humanity's desire for 'pets'," he stressed, making it clear they could be a nuisance. As they calmed down I was able to let them go and pat their heads.
"I'm grateful for them. They've gotten me through quite a bit." No response from the gruff android, but I didn't expect anything. Human emotions probably didn't jive well with him. "Just more of that 'sentimental rubbish'." A small smirk and light scoff were all I got in return, so I grabbed the laptop once again.
"There is still quite a bit of info here. Wanna go through some of it?"
"I'd like to see my fight with Goku. I'll decide if I need to see more after that." I smiled and pulled up YouTube.
"You got it."
Thanks for reading! And the reviews have been sweet and encouraging! Hopefully I can keep this from being too corny, but I really do believe a real conversation with the greatest weapon created could go something like this. Any additional ideas are helpful and feedback will always be welcome!