Ha! It's finally out!!!
Chapter 7: Piccolo vs. Piccolo
Piccolo-6 flew toward the forest where he and Gohan-6 had lived in their time. All the Z fighters were a little overwhelmed by everything that was going on, and it was worse for Piccolo-6 and Gohan-6, having lived alone most of their lives.
Everyone pretty much avoided seeing Gohan-7 too much. It was creepy thinking that the serious, friendly guy most of them knew, whether as a child, teenager or adult, could be so evil.
Tam had flown off somewhere. She was a little uncomfortable around all the Gokus, since in her time every incident was the same, except that she was there instead of Goku.
Piccolo halted suddenly. There was a high power level coming from the forest. It felt strangely familiar, so he flew closer to investigate.
He centered in on a small wooden shack nestled among the trees, almost hidden from view. He heard conversation coming from inside and crept closer.
"Now that we've taken care of the scrap metal we can concentrate on the others."
That was a voice that sounded vaguely familiar, although Piccolo couldn't quite place it. The reply came in a voice he did know: Android 17.
"Relax why don't you. We've got plenty of time to kill every pathetic creature on this planet. I want to have some fun first."
Piccolo moved closer until he could see in the small, dirty window.
Android 17 was sitting cross-legged on the floor, watching someone pace across the floor. The someone moved into view.
He was almost an exact copy of Piccolo, but he seemed different, different from Piccolo 1, 2 and 6, though he couldn't quite see how.
And then he realised: the difference was the utter evil emanating from the other Namek.
This must be King Piccolo… Piccolo-4, Piccolo thought. Gohan-4 had explained how, in his world, King Piccolo and Android 17 were allies. And an almost unbeatable team that had destroyed most of the Z fighters, doing what Cell couldn't.
King Piccolo's eyes suddenly shifted to the window. "17, I think we have company."
The two flew outside, where Piccolo-6 was waiting for them. The sight of another him, working with something so evil, filled him with disgust. King Piccolo laughed. "Well, 17, we faced your copy, now it seems it's time to face mine."
"You did that to 17?" Piccolo asked, horrified. The injuries the android had sustained were awful; he'd been in the regen tank for two days with no sign of changing.
King Piccolo grinned. "I certainly did. And I believe I killed the woman you call Chi-chi."
No, that was wrong. Chi-chi had been hurt, but after a senzu bean she was fine. Why let King Piccolo know that, though.
17 looked from one Namek to the other. He shook his head. "Whatever. I don't need to see this."
He took off. Piccolo tracked his flight with his eyes, trying to figure out where he was headed. And in that moment, King Piccolo attacked.
They used hand-to-hand mainly, since the small clearing they were in was too small for energy attacks, and neither wanted to turn his back on the other long enough to get into the sky.
King Piccolo landed a hard punch on Piccolo's jaw. Piccolo retaliated with a kick to the other Namek's gut. And then the fight was too fast to follow.
Caught up in the action, Piccolo barely had time to telepathically contact Gohan-6.
Gohan! Be careful, I think an evil Android 17 may be heading your way! Was all he got out before turning back to the fight with his evil counterpart.
œ
Gohan-6's head jerked up as he heard Piccolo-6's urgent telepathic message.
Gohan! Be careful, I think an evil Android 17 may be heading your way!
Evil Android 17? Actually, from what Gohan-4, Chi-chi-4 and Krillin-4 had said, that made a lot of sense. It also made a lot of what 17 had said while he was barely conscious make more sense.
The other Z fighters who were there looked at him curiously. He said, "guys, Piccolo thinks an evil 17 might be coming here. I'm not sure where he is but he sounded in a hurry so he's probably battling someone."
Trunks-3, Tien-3, Tien-2, Piccolo-2, Trunks-1 and Yamcha-3 were the only ones there. However, they were pretty confident that they could deal with Android 17, when he showed up.
And he did show up. Only it was from a direction they hadn't expected.
A scream came from inside, cut off midway through. The Z warriors ran inside and stopped short. 17… the evil 17, since he didn't look beat up… was holding Bulma-7 tightly around her waist, one arm around her neck, cutting off a lot of oxygen. He grinned at the warriors.
"So nice to see you all again. Nicer to kill you all, of course, but that can wait. For now I only want my brother."
"He's kind of indisposed right now," Gohan-6 said. "You know, on account of you almost killing him?"
"What was the point?" Trunks-3 asked. "If you were going to come back for him why try to kill him first?"
"Oh, that was King Piccolo's idea," 17 said dismissively. "I've talked him round; we both agree it makes more sense to try and make my brother rejoin us."
He looked down at Bulma. "It would be a pity if I had to kill this pretty woman," he said, "but I'm willing to, if you don't help me out here. I want my brother and you're going to tell me where he is."
"He's hurt," Tien-2 snapped. The android laughed. "Of course he is. That makes it easier to control him until we can change his programming back to what it should be, before the Briefs woman in his time meddled with him."
He pulled his arm tighter around Bulma's neck, choking her. "Now tell me where he is. Or be prepared to lose another Bulma-san."
A blast suddenly hit the android in the back, sending him sprawling across the floor. Bulma twisted out of his grip and jumped up. They all stared at Gohan-4, who was standing behind the android, an unreadable expression on his face.
"Get out of here, scum," Gohan-4 hissed angrily. "Get out of here before I destroy you where you stand."
"I'll be back," 17 snarled before taking off and flying toward the mountains.
Gohan-4 stopped beside Bulma. "You okay?" he asked, that unreadable expression still on his face. She nodded wordlessly and said, "I'm gonna go check on 17… 17-3."
"Gohan, are you okay?" Yamcha-3 asked. The teenager just looked at the scar-faced fighter for a few seconds before sitting at the table and burying his face in his hands.
"It's like it's happening all over again," he said, the words coming out muffled. "In my world, this happened. Or something damned close.
"After Cell attacked, we managed to get 18 away. Bulma reprogrammed her… not that she really needed it. She'd fallen for Krillin long ago… 17 also got away, but with King Piccolo. Things were intense for a while; getting rid of Cell, dealing with the aftermath. But once everything was calm again, he showed up at home… he threatened Okaachan, said he'd kill her if we didn't give him 18.
"We didn't, of course; she was one of us by then, and you don't betray a friend. But 17 found out that she'd been reprogrammed and he's had a personal vendetta against all of us, especially Bulma, Vegeta, and Trunks, once he was born.
"18 was killed trying to protect Goten and Okaachan from King Piccolo. Since then, 17… it's like he just snapped. He doesn't care about anything except killing us all now."
There was silence for a few minutes. They'd known that AR3 was a bad place; they just didn't know it was that bad. Gohan-4 stood up suddenly. "I'm going out for a while," he said, flying off.
Piccolo-2 suddenly looked toward the mountains. "There's something going on up there," he said. Yamcha-3 nodded. "Yeah. But… but it feels like… two Piccolos."
Chapter 8: Piccolo's Victory
The Z fighters flew toward the mountains as fast as they could… some of them, anyway. They'd figured that whoever Piccolo-6 was fighting, there was no way he was strong enough to defeat all of them.
They followed the energy signals to a small shack in the mountains. Piccolo — a Piccolo — stood over… another Piccolo. When he heard the Z fighters he looked up and grinned.
"Hey guys. You're a little late."
They landed beside him and looked down at the dead Piccolo. Gohan-6 asked, "which one is that?"
"King Piccolo," Gohan-4 replied. "I'd recognise him anywhere. He's different to you other Piccolos somehow. I can't explain it, but I can tell the people who're from my time."
"It's the same with me," a female voice said. Tam landed beside them. "Hey. Sorry if I worried anyone when I left. I wanted to be alone for a while."
She looked down at King Piccolo's dead body. "I could tell that two Piccolos were fighting, and I could tell that they weren't my Piccolos. I wasn't sure which time they were from, I just knew that they weren't from mine."
"Aren't you the clever one," a cold voice said. Suddenly, a ki blast swirled dust and rock around them. When the dust cleared, Vegeta and Goku were standing there. But which ones?
Goku laughed nastily. "You've led us on a nice adventure, Princess, but it's time to go home now," he said. Tam sighed. "Great. You again."
She turned to the Z fighters. "These two have some idea that I'm a Princess. The Princess of all the Saiyans, for that matter. It's nuts."
"Or maybe not," Gohan-6 said slowly. "Look, in every world but yours Goku came to earth when he was a baby, to destroy it. That didn't happen in your world. Maybe the Saiyans are different there, I don't know, but you, the Princess of the Saiyans, came instead. You lost your memory and you fight for good now. Just like Goku."
Vegeta-2 smirked. "Look, Princess, you may be my sister but that doesn't mean I won't fight you. Now I think you'd better come with us before Kakarott gets bored."
Tam growled, "I told you, Earth is my home now!"
Vegeta-2 and Kakarott-2 glanced at the Z fighters. They were outnumbered by at least ten people. Vegeta-2 hissed, "we'll be back, Tamerisk! You can't avoid going home forever!"
The two evil Saiyans vanished. Tam breathed a sigh of relief. "I hate to admit it but I'm glad they're gone," she said. "Those two creep me out."
The Z fighters began to fly back to Capsule Corp, where the others were waiting, about half of them had gone to see what the deal with the two Piccolos was while the others stayed with the younger versions of Trunks and Gohan, the Bulmas and Chi-chis who didn't fight and the still-unconscious Android 17.
Once they reached Capsule Corp, Trunks-1 and Vegeta-1 went to the gravity chamber to train. Most of the others went back to sleep, since it was by now about midnight. Piccolo-6 and Gohan-6 flew back to the forest, intending to spar before going back to sleep.
About an hour after they'd entered the gravity chamber, Vegeta noticed Trunks slowing down a little. It was unlike the teenager to be tired after so little time, but the night had been eventful, so Vegeta thought nothing of it.
Until his son collapsed onto the floor, writhing in pain.
Vegeta flew to his side. Trunks' back was to him, so Vegeta gently placed a hand on Trunks' shoulder and turned the teenager to face him.
He gasped. Trunks' face was moving, as if there was something under his skin. Parts of his body shimmered in and out of existence and others looked as if they were ghost limbs, transparent images mimicking the real flesh and muscle.
"What the hell is going on?" he demanded of nobody in particular. Having no ready answer, he scooped up his convulsing son and ran into the main building.
Bulma-1 was there, cleaning. She dropped her cloth when she saw Trunks. "My Kami, what's happening to him?" she asked. Vegeta shook his head. "I don't know. It just started a minute ago."
By now Trunks was screaming in agony. Bulma's eyes were filled with tears as she asked Vegeta, "what can we do?"
"I don't know. I just don't know."
œ
Over the next three hours, Trunks got considerably worse. And by the next morning, Krillin-1, 2 and 3, Chi-chi-1, 4, 5 and 7, Bulma-1 and 7, Piccolo-1, 2 and 3, Tien-1, 2 and 3, Yamcha-1, 2 and 3, Vegeta-1 and 3, Trunks-3 and Gohan-1 and 6 were similarly afflicted. Nobody could tell why it had happened, or even what it was.
They'd called 18 and Videl to see if they, and the girls, were okay. Strangely enough, they were fine. They weren't sure about Android 17, who was still unconscious.
Videl, Pan, Marron and 18 came to Capsule Corp as soon as they heard the news. It was almost impossible to look at the afflicted men and women, their loved ones, but they forced themselves to stay by them.
Tam paced restlessly. "This doesn't make any sense!" she cried angrily. "If it's something to do with the temporal shift, why aren't we all affected? And why are the people from this world affected too?"
Teenage-Gohan-4 put his hand on Tam's shoulder. "Don't worry, we'll figure this out," he said. Tam sighed. "I hope so," she said.
Chi-chi-2 looked up from the bench where she was studying several samples of blood they'd taken. "Tam, come here for a minute. There's something strange about these samples."
Tam peered into the microscope and gasped. The molecules of blood were separating slowly, disintegrating bit by bit. She asked, "are any other samples like this?"
Chi-chi-2 bit her lip. "All of the ones I've looked at so far," she said. Tam's eyes widened. "Their blood is… what? Breaking down? Are you saying they're coming apart from the inside?"
"That's what it looks like," Chi-chi-2 said. "I'm gonna take some of our blood, see if I can't figure out why this is only happening to some of us. The rest of you, see what you can do to make the others as comfortable as possible."
They'd moved all the affected people to Capsule Corp. Bulma-2 refused to leave Yamcha-2's side, and Pan and Videl, Marron and 18 and Bra flat-out refused to let Gohan-1, Krillin-1 and Bulma-1, Vegeta-1 and Trunks-1 out of their sight.
Tam frowned. "Chi-chi, do you really think Goku-1 and Goten are going to let you near them with a needle?" she asked, knowing by now the aversion the two Saiyans had to needles. Chi-chi-2 sighed. "If it's for Chi-chi and Gohan they probably will," she replied. "I just hope I can find out what's wrong, and how to fix it, before it's too late."
Chapter 9: Deadly Illness
Tam woke at about 4am, the way she'd done when Piccolo had trained her, back in her world. She got up and pulled a cotton robe over the pink satin pajamas Bulma-1 had lent her, and quickly went downstairs to check on everyone.
Chi-chi-2 was asleep at the bench. She'd been trying to find a cure for what was afflicting the other Z warriors and she'd been forgetting to sleep.
Tam went to check on Android 17. But when she got to the regen tank, it was empty. She frowned and checked the readouts. Apparently the tank had only been empty for half an hour. The extra clothes they'd left were gone, too, so he must have finished healing and gone… well, somewhere.
She finally found the android sitting nest to kid-Gohan's bed, stroking the little boy's hair. He looked up when Tam entered and smiled.
"He had a nightmare," the android said softly. "I heard him crying when I came past. What else was I supposed to do?"
He sounded defensive. Tam held up her hands. "Hey, I'm not the one who was treating you like an enemy," she said. "And the others have good reason. A version of you did destroy their lives."
"I know. And I try not to hold it against them, but it's so hard with them all acting like I'm going to try and kill you all. Gohan-4 will never trust me, no matter what I do."
"Actually, he probably saved your life," Tam said. "While you were out, the other 17 came here. He wanted to take you with him."
"Reprogram me, probably. He thinks he's the ultimate android. Having two around would make his side much stronger."
"Well, Gohan-4 refused to let that happen. He blasted the hell out of Evil-17," Tam said. Android 17 smiled slightly. "So maybe he is beginning to trust me. It's a start. Now all I have to do is stop the Vegetas looking at me as if I'm the last pancake at a Saiyan breakfast buffet. It's kind of freaky."
"I'll bet," Tam said. "I had both teenaged Trunks and this world's Goten and Master Roshi checking me out ever since we arrived."
"What do you mean 'had'?" 17 asked. Tam swallowed and told him what was going on. When she was done, he'd turned pale and looked more freaked than she'd ever seen anyone look before.
"17? You okay?"
"Sub-temporal cellular cascade failure," the android whispered. "I know the theory of it, but it's never actually happened before…"
He barked a laugh. "Of course it's never happened. This has never happened before."
"What is it?" Tam asked. 17 glanced at the sleeping Gohan-3. "Not here," he said.
They went down to the lab where Chi-chi-2 had been doing her blood work. 17 sat down and pulled in a deep, shuddering breath. "Sub-temporal cellular cascade failure theoretically occurs when there's more than one of the same person in the one time. It affects those closest in age and personality, which would explain why only some of the others are affected."
"What does it do?" Chi-chi-2 asked. 17 glanced at her and replied, "it breaks down entities on a sub-cellular level. Like your blood samples showed, they're literally breaking apart from the inside. And if it goes on for too long, they die."
"D-do you know of a cure?" Tam asked, shaken. The android turned haunted eyes to her, a despairing expression on his face. "That's just it, Tam. Apart from getting us all back to our own time, there is no cure."
"Then we'll get everyone back to the proper time," Chi-chi-2 said. Tam shook her head. "I'd love to, Chi-chi, but we have no idea how we got here. So we have no idea how to get back. And that means, unless we figure something out, and soon, everyone affected with this is going to die."
Letter to anyone who bothers reading past the story: Sorry. Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. My Internet connection has been totally crap the past two weeks and I've had like ten minutes every six days.
So I've written a nice long three-chapter bit for anyone who actually reads my stuff. If anyone does, please review? All you gotta say is 'I like it' or 'it sucks' or 'you should be sent to a mental hospital, you crazy nutcase'. Whatever you want, really. But no reviews makes me feel like nobody would really care if I took this off.
See, I've had five, maybe six reviews. Those who did review, thanks, and sorry I can't write you here because as I write this I'm not on the Net.
Anyway, r + r please. It makes me feel better. I always review stories I read, even the ones I don't like or the ones that disturb me. I think it's common courtesy to let an author know what you think or their work.
Anyway, that's my rant for the week. I'll try to get this stuff out faster.
—-Ares