Part 31

The Ultron Cometh

By Bobcat

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my editor for all the hard work he put into this fic.

Phil lay upon the Masaki's roof. He looked up into the clouds, seeing various shapes. "That one's an M1-A1 Tank firing its main gun... ooh, there's an A-Wing blasting apart a TIE Fighter! Now, that's Ayeka's decapitated corpse..." He obviously had a one-track mind.

He sighed. All in all, life was... well, it wasn't good, but it was more tolerable than it had been. No ancient evils, no otherworldly demons, no Cell looming over the horizon, promising to vaporize the world. Heck, even Ayeka had been more pleasant. By pleasant, Phil meant absent. Having somebody attempt to kill you while exhibiting more power than everybody you've ever seen in your life combined tends to make you want to avoid that person.

Phil smirked. "Let her think I can summon that kind of power at any moment. Paranoia is good for her." To be perfectly honest, Phil probably couldn't reach that potential again without reaching another level of Super Saiyan. For a bit there, he'd been like the Incredible Hulk; his hate had made him powerful, even without his advanced technique. However, it had also all but shut down his mind. Of course, he couldn't get into that kind of state at will, but again, let Ayeka think that he could.

Of course, there had been a few major bummers. For one thing, he now found his body reshaped by contact with water. He had checked with Washuu about a possible cure, and she'd promised to look into it. He suspected that she had other projects that she had assigned higher priority, but he didn't mind. He had all the time in the world.

Then, he had discovered a number of very distasteful things about his heritage. He shuddered. "How? How could I possibly be related to Ayeka? It just isn't fair!" Plus, the fact that he was a Saiyan, who he had always looked down upon because of their complete inability to use their brains for anything but fighting. "More important than the skill to use a sword is the knowledge of when to sheath it." Yeah, that sounded good. It wasn't a direct quote; more of a paraphrasing of something he had read in a Battletech novel once, but it still sounded wise and ancient, so he decided to keep it as is.

Of course, his ancestry was all part of a program to create the ultimate warrior. This had made him feel good. In fact, it confirmed what he had always suspected; that he was the best at what he did. Even if what he did wasn't very nice, he enjoyed the power.

He let loose the proverbial genie from its bottle. His short brown hair grew several inches and turned a bright yellow, and his green eyes turned a turquoise and lost their pupils. He sighed contentedly. If he didn't like the "Saiyan" part, he could definitely live with the "Super". Even if it was a waste of energy, the transformation just felt good. The Mystical Powerup gave him greater strength overall. However, it always made him feel pensive and angry. Or at least, more so than usual. The Super Saiyan state, on the other hand, made him feel invincible. He knew that that wasn't the case; he was as mortal as the next guy. He was simply very hard to hurt. He believed that the sensation was known as a "God complex," but he didn't particularly care; he thought that he could control it.

He suddenly felt tired. The yellow aura around Phil collapsed, and his hair returned to normal. He frowned. "If I'm gonna use this state in battle, I have to learn to use it for longer." Ignoring his light fatigue, he transformed again. This time, he dropped the aura, but let his hair remain the same.

He continued looking at the clouds. "Cool! A statue of Jebediah Springfield! Well, without the head at least. Wait a second... that gives me an idea... oh wait, Bart Simpson already did that."

These quiet times alone with his thoughts were the moments that he treasured. He had sent Ralph and Ecks out to get the Dragon Balls so that they could wish back everyone and everything destroyed by Cell. Again, Ayeka was giving him a wide berth. Nothing bad or weird had happened in over twenty-four hours.

For those of you who have any sense of pattern recognition, we all know that the next bit of weirdness will appear in...

5!

4!

3!

2!

1!

To say that Phil was surprised when a time hole opened in the air above him was an understatement. "Aw crap. Not another random hole in the space-time continuum! Those things are so hard to close!" When an E-Wing starfighter exited said wormhole, his surprise grew. When said E-Wing landed in front of the Masaki home, it grew more. And when the canopy opened to reveal a little girl with grayish blue hair, he went into full fledged bewilderment. He quickly leapt to his feet, while the yellow aura exploded into action again.

He floated down to face this newcomer. "May I see your time hopper's license?"

"Hi Phil." Phil's jaw dropped. She was, in every last detail, identical to Ryoko. The hair. The tail. Everything. Except for one minor detail: she was about 8 years old.

Phil sighed and rubbed his temples. "Let me guess. You're Ryoko's daughter from the future."

She blinked. "Uh, how did you know that?"

"I've started to notice a pattern. Geez, does anybody have any MALE offspring?"

"Yup. You have two sons, and Gohan has a boy."

"Are... they coming back too?"

She grinned. For some reason, Phil felt like running for his life. "Actually, nobody knows that I'm here. Yet."

"Whatever. I'll introduce you to the crew. Say, who's your dad?"

She smirked again. "Who else?" She phased through the nearby wall.

Phil could sense Tenchi's Chi in the distance. "May God have mercy on his soul." The boy felt his ears burning, but ignored it.



Meanwhile, Ayeka was enjoying something that she hadn't been able to for weeks; the sensation of cool, clean water on her lips. She sighed contentedly. Ralph had finally found the spell to undo Phil's curse. "And I'll never touch anything even close to raspberries so long as I live." She took another sip.

That was when a little girl identical to Ryoko materialized directly behind her. "Hiya, target!"

"What!?"

"Oops, how rude of me. My name's Ryoko the Second, but everybody calls me Chibi Ryoko."

Ayeka instinctively surrounded herself with a force field. "Are you another of Washuu's creations?"

She grinned. Ayeka had much the same impulse that Phil had felt. "Naw, don't be silly. I'm Ryoko's daughter from the future!"

"Another one?"

"Yup! Oh, and guess who my father is."

She almost didn't. "Is it that awful Phil fellow?" For some reason, she detected the same air of not-quite evil surrounding her as she felt from him. Also, he and Ryoko seemed to get along pretty well.

"Wrong! My Daddy's name is Tenchi!"

"What!?" Ayeka was now furious. "You must be some kind of bastard offspring, from an incident in which Ryoko finally managed to force herself upon poor Tenchi! It's the only way! Oh, my poor, innocent Tenchi."

Ryoko snorted. "Such language. Especially in front of a sweet little girl like myself. Your imagination is getting the better of you, Auntie. Occum's Razor: the simplest solution is always true. They're married."

"No! It can't be true!"

She smirked. She thought, "And now to twist the knife." She hated to do it. Almost. "Oh it is. Very true. And guess what? You never do get together with your "true love," despite the fact that the Juraian legal code doesn't demand monogamy. Daddy apparently never got over the fact that you're his great aunt. You live alone, the Baroness of a minor planet, in a minor sector of the Juraian Empire. Enjoy this while you can." She swiftly teleported away. Chibi Ryoko loved that kind of unverifiable lie; Ayeka did have some influence, and still lived on Jurai. But she had no way of knowing that. "Now to find my friends!"



Ayeka did the only thing that she could do; she fainted.

Meanwhile, in Tokyo:

A wormhole opened directly above an ice cream parlor on thirteenth street. A gleaming humanoid form left the portal, which closed soon afterwards. Not bothering to activate his rockets, the metal being crashed through the roof of the parlor. It took no damage, as it's entire exoskeleton was composed of adamantium.

It looked human. Up to a point. The head was completely inhuman; it's long jaws ended with vaguely tooth-like shapes cut into them. However, each part of the jaw was only divided once, so they resembled buck teeth. On each side of his head was a short antennae. His gleaming metal skin made him look like the avatar of some ancient god of war... or improper dental care.

Ultron didn't remember why he was here. The last he had remembered, he had managed to escape a battle with the Avengers, then had fallen into a wormhole. The Master, whom he had never seen, had rebuilt him, making him faster, stronger, better. And he had sent him with only one order: destroy. Which he would have done on his own anyways.

"Unit Ultron rebooting. Location: unknown. Scanning for organisms." He turned his head about. And the soulless slits that served as his eyes rested upon the shopkeeper. "Organism found. Threat potential being analyzed... analysis complete. No advanced abilities detected. No weaponry. Threat potential: zero. Scanning orders: destroy. Order not in conflict with prime directive, the eradication of all life. Beginning termination sequence."

Although the aging man didn't speak English, he'd seen enough movies to know what was going to happen next. And he knew that he couldn't escape, so he decided not to dishonor his ancestors by trying. He closed his eyes, waiting for the end to come. Ultron's disruptor beam was more than willing to comply. The man shrieked for a moment as his body was converted into its component atoms. Ultron turned his head. "Target eliminated. Scanning for new target."

The other inhabitants of the store had already beat a hasty retreat. "Targets fleeing. The hunt is on." Activating his jets, Ultron flew through the air, and began to vaporize anything that moved. And quite a few things that didn't.

* * *

A few minutes later...

Ryoko shuddered. It was rather unnerving to have a little copy of yourself running around. Particularly one that displayed her mother's genius. Right now, Chibi Ryoko and Washuu were debating the relative effectiveness of something called a warp drive that ran on antimatter against the merits of something called a "hyperdrive." Ryoko got lost very quickly and sighed. "I guess genius is one of those things that skips generations."

Phil was sitting back, absorbing the news. The little girl from the future had just revealed a lot of information, and not all of it was to his liking. For one thing, he had been rather surprised when Chibi Ryoko had indicated her reason for coming to the past; she had missed her friends. Apparently, the three were the best of friends in the future. He still had a hard time believing that that was the only reason, but decided not to press the issue. Phil sighed. In a way, he envied them; with a childhood filled with training and constant dimension hopping, he hadn't had much time to get close to anybody besides his father who, bless his soul, was long dead. However, he was quick to notice that each child carried themselves with the confidence of a warrior, and their stance was very similar to his. "Perhaps I'll find a happy medium? Training groups of children together? Yeah, that could work."

Another thing that he had discovered was that, in addition to caring for GoChibi in the future, Chibi Ryoko spent much of her time in his care as well. When he had sarcastically remarked, "What am I, an intergalactic babysitter," she had simply responded yes. Phil had been distraught at first, but that had faded somewhat. In fact, Ralph had been quick to point out that there was a major advantage to being in charge of the education of future princesses; when they took the throne, who would they look to for advice? Why, good old Uncle Phil of course! He practically drooled, thinking about all of the political power that he would one day wield.

Of course, he had immediately ordered that nobody breath a word of future events to Tenchi. The boy might be driven to take his own life, or at least become a monk. All had agreed, which relieved Phil. "I've done enough damage to the timeline without her getting into the act." All the young Juraian Prince was permitted to know was that Chibi Ryoko was Ryoko's daughter from the future, and that he went on to be the Emperor of Jurai.

Phil's watch beeped. He pressed a button. "This is Phil. Talk to me."

Chief O'Connor's tiny voice emanated from the wristwatch. "Phil, we have reports of an unregistered wormhole opening in your area."

The Policeman looked at the younger version of the Space Pirate. She was still arguing with her grandmother, and seemed to be winning. "Affirmative. It's already under control."

"Not her! There's some kind of disturbance in Tokyo. Go investigate."

"Roger Chief. Over and out." Phil disconnecting the communicator, he flew over to Tokyo.

* * *

A few moments later:

Taking out his villain-dex, Phil aimed it at the flying robot.

A tiny robotic voice said, "Ultron. Originally created by Hank Pym, AKA Ant Man, he judged his creation to be a failure and junked it. It is unknown if it revived itself or some third party rebuilt it. It returned a few years later to fight the Avengers. Abilities: somehow, it returned with a wide variety of weapons that Hank Pym had not intended for his creation. Chief among its powers is its skin, which is composed of the alloy known as adamantium. This substance is virtually unbreakable. It is capable of flight, and has disintegrator rays built into its arms. Physical strength is far above human norm. However, its limit has never been fully tested, so his full power is unknown. It is capable of holding its own in battle with beings such as Iron Man and Thor. No further data." Phil flipped the device shut.

Phil focused his Chi, and his hair turned a bright yellow. The Super Saiyan smirked. "His power's never been fully tested, eh? Time to fix that."

Ultron fired a blast from his disruptor, vaporizing a Honda and its passengers. A Chi bolt slammed into the robot. "Who dares?"

Phil shook his head. "Tisk tisk. That wasn't very sporting, now was it?"

Ultron ignored the banter. "Analyzing... analysis complete. Warning: power readings indicate a level 10 threat. Analyzing energy utilized in attack... energy field known as Chi. Activating Chi Dampers."

Phil cursed his luck. "Can't let him get too close. I'll have to keep him at arm's length and use my other equipment."

While Phil was considering his situation, Ultron took the initiative. Zipping in at high speeds, Phil was barely able to dodge the assault in time. As he passed through the edge of the damper's effects, he felt his Chi level drop significantly. "OK, since when is he that fast?" He readied another attack. "Ka... me... ha... me... ha!" The blue blast of energy flew out, engulfing Ultron. When he became visible again, the robot appeared no worse for wear. Phil couldn't determine whether it was because of the dampers or because of his adamantium hide.

Ultron fired the Disruptors in his arms, which Phil hardly managed to avoid. A Toyota and a comic book shop were both disintegrated. Phil had to move quickly to avoid the shrapnel.

Ultron zipped in, catching Phil across the face with a right hook. The robot's strength, while nowhere near Phil's level, was enough to send him flying. Also, Phil's hair reverted to its normal brown. "Shit!" Phil activated his lightsaber. "Time to see if that adamantium stuff is as indestructible as they say."

Phil faded away, then appeared next to Ultron. The lightsaber's yellow blade impacted the side of Ultron's head. And it had no visible effect. "Foolish organism! None may hurt Ultron! My adamantium hide is impenetrable!"

"Sez you." Phil faded away. Again, his hair shifted to yellow. "Got to keep my distance. Improved Kamehameha!"

Phil's attack is very interesting. It takes all of the energy of the Kamehameha, and converts it into an invisible laser bolt with roughly the diameter of a quarter. So, what begins as a Chi attack ends up as a laser. He can't power it up within the radius of a Reality Checker or a Chi Damper, but it maintains its integrity upon entering said interference. Phil had designed the attack with this very reason in mind.

So, Ultron was as surprised as his limited emotion chip would allow when said attack struck him in the chest. He went flying through a billboard. He struck the concrete and skipped across it several times, eventually ramming into a fuel truck. A roiling fireball became visible from a good distance away.

Phil didn't lower his guard. He had seen Ultron for a few moments before he flew out of sight. And saw that Ultron had retained his structural integrity upon being struck by the laser, so Phil doubted that the explosion had harmed him in the slightest. "Damn! This is as bad as fighting Cell!"

Ultron found himself in the sewers. The blast had sent him through the ground. Activating his rockets, Ultron put his computer brain to work.

Phil's Force-based danger sense, for lack of a better word, tingled. Although Ultron was not an active part of the Force, Phil could sense how he interacted with the part of the universe that was. However, it was too late, as Ultron smashed up through the ground and grabbed Phil's foot.

As the viselike grip held Phil in place, Phil cursed. "OK, he's obviously been upgraded. Or else, the Avengers would all be dead by now." His power seeped away, and he grew weaker by the second. After a few moments, Phil's hair once again reverted to its normal brown color. Ultron tossed him aside.

Phil was unable to transform, or even to power up, immediately following his time in the Chi damper's radius. He flew straight through one brick wall, then another, and another. At some point he must of his a water pipe, seeing as how he was in his cursed form. She lay there, taking stock of her situation.

"OK, I'm virtually helpless. None of my weapons have any chance against that adamantium hide of his. I'm cut and bruised all over. I don't have enough energy left to transform, much less get away. I'm going to die."

Since she was in Japan, she decided to compose a death haiku:

"Here I lie in the

Rubble, waiting for the end.

God I hate Mondays."

Ultron's inhuman face looked down upon the helpless Phil, and she braced herself for the brief pain, followed by oblivion.

End Part 31