Part Two: Chapter Seven: A Malfunctioning Image
"So, Chi-Chi, how are you alive?" Videl asked.

"Luckily enough I escaped at the entrance, and you took the fake Chi-Chi with you down the elevator." Chi-Chi told her.

"Oh." Videl was silent.

"You feel that?" Goku asked.

"Feel what?" Videl and Chi-Chi asked. Goku smiled.

"Gohan!"

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAANDPAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!" Pan flew into Goku, sending him backwards into the wall.

"Pan!" Videl scolded.

"Mom! Dad! Videl!" Gohan landed next to his wife and he hugged her.

"Grandpa, where's Uncle Goten?" Pan asked. "And Adrienne?"

"I have no idea." Goku told her.

"Let's go, then!" Pan ran off down the hall.

"Pa-an!" Gohan whined.

"Young lady, get back here!" Chi-Chi and Videl scolded in unison.

"Hey, Pan, come on!" Goku told Pan, who was standing behind him.

"Huh?" Gohan, Videl, and Chi-Chi turned around to see Pan and they stared. "But you just-"

"It's me!" Pan shrieked. She had come back to find out what the holdup was. Goku reached out and his hand went through the Pan in front of the group.

The fake Pan spit out her tongue and began to slowly rise towards the ceiling. Pan hit the ceiling, bit her tongue, and fell back down to the floor, causing Videl and Chi-Chi to giggle.

"They make me look so stupid." Pan complained.

"A malfunctioning image." Goku said.

"Dad, what did you just say!?" Gohan asked.

"Um…" Goku was silent for a moment as he thought back through his earlier statements. "A malfunctioning image…?"

"That's it!" Gohan exclaimed. "They're images! Just a copy of anyone who sets foot in this fortress! They'll be destroyed if they set foot outside it!"

"So what emotions do they act upon?" Videl asked curiously.

"Well, Goten really likes Adrienne." Chi-Chi stated as if they all didn't know.

"But why would he have stabbed her?" Goku asked.

"Dad, do you have an idea?" Pan asked. He was in that drone mode again…

"Hm…" Gohan was silent, then he looked up at them. He smiled. "Mm hm!"

*~*~*

"Put me down!" Vegeta sighed and dropped Marron. "Ow!"

"Come." Vegeta gestured for her to follow him around the corner. "This way."

Marron sighed and rolled her eyes, but followed him willingly. She would rather stake it out with Vegeta than be left for some freak to find her.

Bulma froze at what she saw at the end of the hall. Was it the real one or the image? She was going to have to take chances. "Vegeta!"

Vegeta's heart leapt at the sound of the voice and he smiled. He quickly scowled and swung around to see her: Bulma. "Woman, you are a thorn in my side!"

Bulma smiled and ran towards him only to be greeted by his open arms less than one fourth down the hall. She ran into him so hard she thought he was going to fall over, but this was Vegeta. It just wasn't fit for a Saiyan Prince. Vegeta wiped the tears from her cheeks. "Don't cry."

Bulma smiled and buried her face deeper into his chest. "I need to get to the computer room."

Vegeta nodded and Marron sighed. "So romantic."

*~*~*

"Are you sure we're going the right way?" Eighteen asked, glancing at the wall. The path they were taking was dark and the air was stale.

Chloe placed her hand on the wall to find her way and screamed. She immediately took her hand back and Trunks swung around. "What's the matter?"

"Mold!" Chloe wiped her hand off on his shirt and he rolled his eyes.

"Just don't touch anything." Eighteen advised. Chloe nodded and Trunks began down the path again.

"Wait for me!" Chloe whined and grabbed his arm.

"I'm not leaving you behind." Trunks assured her.

"Where are we going?" Eighteen asked. Trunks was silent as they continued on. "Where are we going?" Eighteen repeated. Trunks remained silent. "Hello!?"

"I don't know where we're going!" Trunks yelled.

"What!?" Eighteen stopped and placed her hands on her hips. "You don't know where we're *going*!?"

"Look!" Trunks yelled. "All I'm supposed to be doing is looking for the rest of our group!"

"Well that makes me feel a *whole* lot better!" Eighteen yelled. "If I had known we were going on a scavenger hunt I wouldn't have left Marron with Vegeta!"

"Shut up!" Trunks snapped. "My father's a trustworthy man! And what would you know anyway!?"

Trunks turned around and began to walk down the passage again. Eighteen was silent for a moment, then followed him. Eighteen looked around as the scenery began to change again. Eighteen stopped.

"Where's Chloe?" Trunks froze.

*~*~*

"Trunks, where's Eighteen?" Chloe asked.

"I don't know." Trunks told her.

"Don't you think we should go back for her!?" Chloe demanded.

"No." Trunks stated.

"What!?" Chloe stopped walking. "Trunks, how can you say that!?"

"Eighteen can take care of herself." Trunks assured her.

"I am not going one step further until you tell me we're going back to find Eighteen!"

Trunks shoved her up against the wall and Chloe swallowed as he stared into her eyes. "Then you don't have to." He purred.

"Trunks…!" Chloe whined.

*~*~*

Goten sighed as he walked around another corner. He groaned as he walked around yet another corner. All of these corners were getting annoying! Then it hit him as he spotted a familiar looking painting on the wall. "I'm walking around in a square!"

Extremely annoyed, he transported himself to a gigantic room with a lot of pipes. He stepped over a small pipe and then ducked under a big one. Someone whistled and looked up to see Adrienne standing on a pipe high above him, smiling down at him. Her tail was waving in pleasure beside her.

*~*~*

"Alright, here we *go*!" Bulma exclaimed as she pressed a button to download information. She smiled as a document popped up. "Now let's see…" Bulma scrolled down the page. "Images!"

"Well what does it say?" Vegeta asked.

"Come on, come on!" Marron exclaimed impatiently.

"We have created a program called 'Images' today, January nineteenth-"

"Don't give me this junk!" Vegeta yelled.

"Oh, right," Bulma nodded. "Sorry." She began to scroll down the page again. "Blah blah blah blah blah… okay! 'Images are a clone of anyone who sets foot inside this fortress. They are programmed to execute their deepest desires, and they will do anything to complete them. It is extremely difficult to kill them, seeing as they can become transparent and can transport themselves anywhere, but you may uninstall the program if they become uncontrollable."

"So all we have to do is uninstall the program, right?" Marron asked.

"Yeah, but it won't be that easy…" Vegeta frowned.

"Just uninstall it." Vegeta told her. "I'll stand guard."

Vegeta walked out of the room and Bulma smiled. "He's so sweet!"

"Uh, right…"

*~*~*

Adrienne jumped down from the pipe high above Goten and landed in front of him. "Adrienne!?" She smiled and winked. Goten shook his head. "Where is she?"

"What do you mean?" Adrienne asked.

"The real Adrienne." Adrienne smiled.

"Will you kiss me if I tell you?"

"Get real." Goten began to walk through the pipes to get to another room.

"Hey, wait for me!" Adrienne ran after him. "Meanie!"

*~*~*

"Daddy…?" Bra looked inside of a room, but to no avail, he wasn't there. She sighed and ran across the hall to another room. "Mommy?"

She ran to another: "Trunks?" She stood in the middle of the hall and looked up and down it. "Adrienne? Where *is* everybody!?"

"I'm right here." Bra turned around to see a man with short black hair that stood on end. He wore a tight, three-quarter-length, dark green shirt with a pair of khaki pants suspended by a brown belt and he wore white sneakers. She didn't know him, so as her only weapon of defense, she screamed.

*~*~*

A shriek raced through her mind, causing her to open her eyes. Adrienne looked around. She was in a huge, empty room and she was suspended in the air by wires. She quickly began to move, trying to set herself free. She bit into one that was holding her wrist, when s familiar voice interrupted her.

"You shouldn't do that."

"Huh?" Adrienne turned to look forward and see Goten. "Why not…?"

Goten smiled. "They brought you back."

Adrienne realized that she felt like she had just woken up from a long sleep… she felt reenergized. "Why did you stab me?"

The wires quickly released her and she was caught off guard, so Goten had to catch her. "I knew you wouldn't come here eagerly." Adrienne jerked away from him. "Don't you trust me?"

"I can't trust anybody." Adrienne told him.

"I'm not pushing." Goten said with raised eyebrows. Adrienne looked at the wall and Goten sat down.

"Where's Goten?" Adrienne asked.

"He's right here." The two turned their heads to see Goten. Adrienne smiled.

"Goten!" He smiled back and Adrienne walked into the room. Adrienne thought she was going to faint as she stared at the image. "You're…me!"

"Mm hm." The image nodded. Adrienne shook her head.

"No!"

"Adrienne, let's just find the other and get out of here." Goten told her. Adrienne nodded and began to walk forward when the Goten image grabbed her as he brought a knife to her neck.

"No!" The Adrienne image shrieked as she clutched her head and fell to her knees.

"Let her go!" Goten yelled.

"What's wrong with her?" Adrienne asked. Goten took a step forward and the image pulled Adrienne closer, along with the knife.

"Don't come any closer!"

"I know you won't do it." Goten acknowledged as he shook his head. The image sighed, threw the knife to the ground, and let go of Adrienne. Adrienne rushed over to the image and crouched beside her.

"What's the matter?" Adrienne asked her. The image looked up.

"She's coming." Adrienne was silent as she listened to the howling wind that had started in the room.

"Hey, guys, we figured out what the clones are!" Goku exclaimed as he ran into the room. He froze. "Goten, behind you!"

"What? Huh?" Goten turned around and shielded himself from the pink, liquefied goop. The goop retracted back up to the girl who had sent it out, morphing into her body, which reminded Goku a lot of Majin Buu.

"Oh my kami, Goten!" Chi-Chi cried in horror.

"Uncle Goten!" Pan yelled. Adrienne was silent as she stared up at the girl with shoulder-length black hair. She was wearing blood red spandex Capri's with a blood red spandex short-sleeve shirt. The black sneakers she wore were screaming out a memory in her mind, but she ignored it.

*~*~*

"Ah!" Goku screamed out in surprise as the goop splashed down around him. The girl put her hands on her hips, threw her head back, and laughed manically.

*~*~*

"Who are you?" Videl demanded.

"And what do you want with my little boy!? You let him go *right* now!" Chi-Chi yelled and shook her fist at the girl.

"I'm Sarah." She told them. Her form turned pink and Adrienne quickly shoved Goku out of the way. The pink goo fell down around Adrienne and once again the goop retracted. Sarah opened her eyes once she had molded with the goo and she popped her neck. "Smart girl."

"Let them go!" Goku and Gohan went into their fighting poses.

"Hey, you there, come help them!" Chi-Chi yelled.

"*Me*?" The Goten image pointed at himself.

"Yes, *you*, now come!" The image shrugged.

"Okay…"

"Hey, you, too!" Videl yelled to the Adrienne image as she struggled to hold Pan back.

"Alright." But the two suddenly disappeared.

"Huh? Where'd they go?" Pan inquired.

*~*~*

"*Yes*!" Bulma yelled excitedly. "We're uninstalled!"

"YAY!" Marron squeaked.

*~*~*

"Marron's up ahead!" Eighteen exclaimed and ran off down the path.

"Hey, Trunks?" Came Chloe's voice.

"Yeah?" Trunks glanced over at her.

"Thanks for saving me." Chloe said. Trunks smiled.

"No problem!"

"No, really," Chloe nodded. "It means a lot."

"You're welcome," Trunks said, ruffling her hair. He paused. "Squirt!"

"Hey!" Trunks laughed and ran off down the tunnel being chased by Chloe. "You take that back, Trunks!"

"*Never*! Mwa ha ha ha!"

"Tru-unks!" Chloe ran into Vegeta when she came out of the tunnel and she fell backwards onto the floor. She blushed. "Excuse me, sir…"

Vegeta scoffed and Trunks helped her up. "Come on, the others are in the next room."

"Alright…" They all followed Vegeta into the next room.

"Hey, guys!" Trunks came running into the room. "What's up?"

"That evil wench took my baby!" Chi-Chi yelled, pointing at Sarah.

"Do you want him back?" Sarah asked. Her form changed back into the pink goo as Goten and Adrienne fell to the ground covered in it.

"Goten/Adrienne!" Most of the women rushed over to them.

"I'm fine!" They both disputed.

"Adrienne, Gohan, you take everybody to Capsule Corp." Goku told them.

"But Dad!" Gohan whined.

"No buts!" Goku yelled.

"Daddy?" Adrienne cocked her head.

Vegeta growled. "Stay there."

"But-"

"GO!" Vegeta yelled. "Kakarott, Trunks, Goten, and I've got this…" Goku grinned. "I hate you."

Goku spit his tongue out at him. "Okay, come on, guys."

Adrienne mumbled something as they all held hands and she instant transmitted them at Capsule Corp. Adrienne turned to leave, but Bulma stopped her: "Adrienne, where are you going?"

"Back."

"But your father told you to stay here!" Chi-Chi told her. Adrienne was silent. She didn't want to double-cross her father, but…

"I left Bra." Adrienne dematerialized and they all sighed.

"No fair, I wanna go!" Pan yelled.

"No!" Videl scolded her.

"But Mom-" Pan spotted Chi-Chi, who was waving around a frying pan. "Alright…"

"Mom, that's cruel." Gohan said, frowning. Chi-Chi smiled.