THE TIME TRAVELLING ADVENTURES OF THE NEXT GEN DB GANG, AND #17
chapters 11, 12 & 13
Chapter 11: Will our heroes make it home safely?
Trunks, Goten, Marron, Bra, Pan and #17 found themselves in a state of darkness as Mirai Trunks' world gradually disappeared. But soon they could see a dim light. It grew larger and closer to them.Finally it engulfed them in a bright light.This must be the portal, Trunks thought. Suddenly it was dark again, and a hole opened in the darkness, letting the light from outside in. "Looks like we're home, guys." Trunks said to the others and stepped outside the portal. The others followed suit.
They found themselves not at home. Hundreds of men surrounded them, some armed with guns and grenades while some were unarmed but were in fighting mode, with more coming from all directions. "Surrender! In the name of the Red Ribbon Army!" One of the men yelled. Trunks blinked. He turned to Goten, who also blinked. They both shrugged and grinned mischeviously. After doing all the good works in Mirai Trunks' world, surely they're entitled to a bit of fun, right?
And so the (one-sided) fight began between the two Super Saiyajin level young men and the entire Red Ribbon Army. The three girls sat at the side and watched, while eating a packet of popcorn Bra had mysteriously found there. Pan had wanted to join in, but didn't get a chance as everybody got thrashed before she got to even touch them. So she sat at the side with the others and had some popcorn too.
Exactly two minutes later, Trunks and Goten emerged from the dustcloud. They looked just fine, not even a hair out of place while the Red Ribbon men lay unmoving on the ground, defeated. Trunks grabbed the popcorn from Bra's hand, but found it empty. "Hey! You finished all the popcorn!" "Well, you didn't need to fight that long." Bra shot back. "You could've finished them all in 5 seconds, but no. You had to fight for a full two minutes."
"Guys," Marron said. "We're obviously not in our own timeline. What do you say we go back to the portal before it closes and we're trapped here forever."
"You're right," Goten said. Indeed, the portal was still there. Maybe they had got out too soon and ended up in the wrong timeline, or maybe Mirai Bulma had miscalculated. As they started to head back to the portal, Trunks finally noticed someone was missing. "Hey, where's #17?"
Indeed, where was he? They all turned and looked around but he was nowhere to be found. And as he was a cyborg he couldn't be detected using ki. Then suddenly they heard a high-pitched scream of terror, and they rushed to the source.
They found #17 standing over an old man with white hair. #17's right hand was ablaze with ki he obviously intended for the already unconscious old man.
"Uncle, wait!" Marron cried out. But it was too late, as #17 threw the ki ball at the old man. Thankfully, he was already unconscious, so there were no screams, although what was on the floor now was not a pretty sight.
#17 turned around, a strange expression on his face, almost like pure hate. But it was there for only a second. His expression turned to normal again as he faced his niece and the others. "Don't worry, I didn't kill him," he said, his tone strangely expressionless. Marron opened her mouth to say something, but a soft whimper in the corner caught their attention.
A little boy and a little girl stood huddled in the corner. Fear showed on their tear and snot-stained faces. Marron walked over to the two little children and knelt in front of them so she was at the same eye-level as them. "Don't worry. Everything's OK." she said to them kindly. "I'm Marron. What's your name?" She asked the black-haired little boy. The (cute) little boy frowned as if concentrating very hard on something before replying, "#17."
Everybody (except for chibi #17 and his sister) fell over in shock. When they've recovered, Marron shakily asked the similarly cute blonde little girl. "And you are...?" Although she already knew the answer.
"I'm #18," she said between sniffs.
"What happened here?" Marron asked.
"That bad man, he was going to hurt us again," chibi #18 said pointing to the burnt figure on the floor, "but uncle here saved us." She looked at (adult) #17 adoringly. After a bit more questioning, they found that chibi #17 and chibi #18 had been brainwashed and could remember nothing about themselves except for their numbers. #17 flew them to a nearby house, whose owners promised to try to contact their parents. Or if they couldn't, the couple were more than happy to adopt the twins. Then the time-displaced people headed back to the Red Ribbon headquarters to find the portal nearly closing. Everybody jumped back in time before it disappeared again.
***
Kamesennin, Yamucha, Bulma, Kuririn, Lunch, Oolong and Puaru came out of hiding when they found that the thing in the sky was only Goku, riding on the Kintoen. Goku jumped down when he saw them.
"Goku!" Kuririn exclaimed. "We found out you were going to attack the Red Ribbon Army all by yourself, and we came to help."
"I was going to," Goku answered. "But when I got there, the whole place was already destroyed. But I got the dragon balls." He showed them the bright orange balls he found at the ruined Red Ribbon headquarters.
"Destroyed? By whom?" Yamucha wondered. "It's true." Puaru had just flown there and confirmed Goku's story. "The whole place was thoroughly destroyed."
"That's really strange." Bulma said. "I wonder who did it."
Next: New Timeline!
######################################################################
Chapter 12: New Timeline!
In the darkness of the night, two figures dressed in black crept silently past the security system of the building. One of them cut the wires in the cabinet housing the security system, then gave the thumbs-up sign to his partner. "Security disabled."
She nodded, and they silently crept past the guard they had previously gassed, into the ward where inmates were held. They came to a room. The woman took out a skeleton key and unlocked the door. She went in while her partner stood guard at the door. Inside the room, she approached the sleeping occupant and put her hand on the startled man's mouth. "Shh. We're here to rescue you." The old man's eyes opened wide in shock, but then he calmed down. When she was certain that he wouldn't make any noise, the woman released her gloved hand from his mouth. "Listen," she looked him in the eye and spoke in a quiet but even tone, "We're taking you out of here. Our leader wants to cut a deal with you. Do you understand me?" The old man nodded silently. "Then let's go."
Half an hour later, they arrived at their secret headquarters, having successfully retrieved their target from the Western Capitol Mental Hospital. Their leader awaited them. The two figures bowed to him, with their rescuee standing between them. "Sire, we have successfully completed our mission," the woman said. They took off their masks, revealing the faces of Shuu and Mai. "Excellent." Pilaf said. "Now, Dr.Gero," he turned to the old man. "Let's talk business."
Later, the silence of the night was broken by the appearence of the magical dragon Shenlong, summoned from the dragon balls and a special chant by Pilaf. "I can grant any one wish. Name your wish." The dragon said to the group of four assembled in front of him. "This is my wish," the old man said, staring at the dragon,"I wish to have my genius restored." "Granted!" proclaimed the dragon, then it disappeared and the dragon balls now turned into ordinary stones, scattered all over the planet.
Pilaf and his followers cheered. "With Dr. Gero's genius we will finally rule the world!" "Congratulations!" "Long live emperor Pilaf!" Dr.Gero just smiled wickedly. "When I've created the ultimate cyborg, I'll get rid of you, and then I will rule the world." He laughed silently to himself.
***
One year later.
"MASENKOSEPPO!" The earth shook from the impact of the blast, and where there was previously a mountain of rock, only a pile of rubble stood. Piccolo floated over to inspect his handiwork. He nodded to himself, pleased with the improvement in his trademark attack.
"Piccolo," a voice in his heart said. "That's the third mountain you've destroyed today. Be careful or you'll destroy the whole place." Piccolo grunted. "Yeah, yeah." Damn that Namekkian Nail, he didn't even know his name when he agreed to fuse with him on Old Nameksei. Or it could be Kami-sama, watching him from his floating palace again. "Damn him too," he muttered to himself. "Always trying to make me 'nice'..."
"I heard that!" the voice said. "Shut up." Piccolo growled. He could easily imprison Kami-sama in a bottle and throw him into the depths on the ocean and then he will rule the world again as the Demon King. But of course he wouldn't. Gohan, and Goku had changed him. As much as he tried not to show it, he has changed. But sometimes he does feel tempted...
Piccolo sat cross-legged in midair and started his meditation. Even after more than 20 years he still kept to his rigid training, unlike the other Z warriors. Gohan is now married, with a child. He used to train with Piccolo, but now that he had a family and a double career, he didn't train as much although he did come to visit now and again. Waste of potential, Piccolo thought. But then again Gohan never really liked fighting. He was more comfortable studying his books but Piccolo was sure he had great power within himself, never fully tapped. He had seen glimpses of that power when they fought Radditz all those years ago, and later when they fought Freeza and his father. Gohan might even be able to become a Super Saiyajin like his father Goku. He had the potential. Piccolo actually missed Goku at peaceful times like this. But Goku is dead, and they couldn't bring him back since his cause of death was natural, a heart disease he contracted shortly after the fight with Freeza and Cold. And it was the last great fight for all of them. After Goku's death, peace reigned on Chikyuu. No evil conquering aliens or megalomaniacal locals trying to take over the world or anything like that. Well, there was Pilaf, but he was hardly a serious threat. Then there was Dr.Gero, the raving lunatic who sent out his defective cyborgs to take over the world, but they always broke down in the middle of the process, before they could do any real harm. That stopped 10 years ago, when Gero was finally institutionalised for stalking a famous rock star. But recently he's escaped, and his creations have improved significantly from the last time. But it's still nothing that the Great Saiyaman can't handle. Poor Gohan, surely he's destined for greater things than this.
The rest of the Z warriors had gone their separate ways after Goku's death. Kuririn still lived with Kamesennin on Kame Island, Tenshinhan got a job as a bodyguard of a famous actress and Yamucha had a successful career as a baseball player, and now he's a coach to one of the most successful teams in the world. His marriage to Bulma though, was another matter.
Piccolo opened his eyes. He's meditated for at least 6 hours now. He could go on for longer, and normally did. But for some reason his gut feelings were telling him that something big was going to happen. He didn't know what, but he feared that the peace the world is enjoying now will be threatened.
High above on his floating palace, Kami-sama looked down in concern. "What is it, Kami-sama" Mr.Popo asked. "I don't know, Mr.Popo," Kami-sama answered. "But something big is going to happen to this planet. Piccolo feels it too. I don't know what it is, but we better be prepared."
Next: More peeks into the new tineline: A day in the life of the Great Saiyaman.
######################################################################
Chapter 13: More Peeks into the new timeline: A day in the life of the Great Saiyaman.
KABOOM!!! BANG!!! CRASH!!! The cyborg crashed to the ground, with the Great Saiyaman looking down from the sky. Clearly, the cyborg had sustained heavy damage from the Great Saiyaman's attacks. He managed to get up, but acknowledged the fact that he was defeated. The Great Saiyaman slowly descended to the ground and stood in front of the cyborg. He didn't move, as the cyborg finally managed to stand up. "Damn you, Great Saiyaman." the cyborg cursed. The caped hero still didn't move or say anything. He knew the cyborg was now defeated, and harmless. He didn't want to kill him if he didn't have to. The cyborg knew this too, but still he was partly human, and had his dignity to preserve. So he deliberately created a chi blast in between himself and the Great Saiyaman so the hero wouldn't see him escape. He did see, of course, but he just let it happen. The cyborg was pathetic, not worth killing even if he'd had wanted to, which he didn't. The Great Saiyaman hated violence and strives to preserve peace and harmony on his home planet. "Just you listen, Great Saiyaman!" the cyborg screamed as he flew away. "I'll destroy you one day, and the world will once again be ruled by the Red Ribbon Army under the leadership of the great Dr. Gero!"
The cyborg defeated, the Great Saiyaman flew away too, cheered by the grateful humans.
The caped hero landed at the front door of a small, charming house in located in the beautiful countryside. It had been his childhood home, and now his wife and daughter live here too. It was the Son house. The Great Saiyaman pushed a button on his wristwatch, and instantly he was transformed into Son Gohan, professor of philosophy and theoretical physics. Gone was the green and black costume, red cape and helmet, replaced by extraordinarily thick glasses, gray suit and tie, and matching briefcase.
He opened the door. "Honey, I'm home!"
"Gohan!" Videl met her husband at the door, and kissed him. "How was your day?"
"It was all right. I had to fight another one of Gero's cyborgs, though. They seem to get bolder these days."
"You poor soul." Videl took Gohan's coat and briefcase. "Just rest, dear. I'll get you a drink."
Gohan sat down on the couch. "Where's Pan?"
"She's at the back, playing with Bra." Videl disappeared into the kitchen.
Gohan walked into the playroom where the girls were playing house. Pan looked up. "Daddy! You're home!" she ran to her father and hugged him.
"Hi, uncle Gohan," Bra said.
"Hi, Bra," Gohan answered. "What are you playing?"
"We're playing house," she replied. "Wanna join us?"
"Sure." So Gohan spent the afternoon playing with his daughter and her best friend.
***
Later.
"It's getting late, girls," Gohan said. "You should be getting home, Bra. Come on, I'll send you back. I need to see your mother anyway."
"Are you going to fly me home?" Bra asked.
"Yup."
"Yay!" Bra cheered. She loved it when her daddy took her flying, but these days he was too busy. So she was happy to have Pan's daddy fly her home.
Soon, Gohan was flying over the Western Capitol, with Bra holding on to him tightly. She enjoyed the ride, and squealed happily when Gohan made a few somersaults in the sky.
They arrived at Capsule Corp and were shown in by the domestic robot. Bulma was doing some reading and Trunks was watching TV in the living room. Gohan greeted them. "Hi, Bulma. Hi, Trunks." "Oh, it's Gohan and Bra. Come on in," Bulma welcomed them. Trunks didn't turn his eyes from the TV, but he scowled.
Gohan, Bulma and Bra chatted over tea. "Where's Yamucha?" Gohan asked.
"Busy with the team, as usual," Bulma replied sourly. "He could spend a bit more time with his family," she grumbled.
"Oh..." Gohan felt uncomfortable for bringing up a sensitive issue.
"Anyway, how are you?" Bulma asked.
"Oh, I've been a bit busy these days. The cyborgs seem to get bolder and stronger," Gohan replied. "In fact, I had to fight another one today, and I think I might have damaged my watch."
"Let me see," Bulma said. Gohan took it off and gave it to her. "Hmm... A few screws have come loose. No problem. I'll fix it in no time."
She took out a screwdriver and began taking it apart. "You know, I can't help thinking," she said. "The cyborgs were never much of a threat until recently. Specifically not till after the dragon balls were used a year ago by someone."
"I know," Gohan said. "There must be a connection. They're manageable so far, but we never know. They might become uncontrollable one day."
Bulma finished fixing the watch. "Yes. And you'll be our only hope," she said, handing it back to Gohan.
"I could use some help," Gohan said, turning to Trunks. "How about it, Trunks? Wanna fight alongside the Great Saiyaman against the cyborgs?" Trunks ignored him. "You'll need a costume, and a code name too, if you don't want to be known," Gohan continued, seemingly unaware of Trunks' cold shoulder treatment to him. He thought for a while. "How about Lavender-mask?" Trunks grunted, muttering something like "stupid" and "crazy", and (rather rudely) left the room. "You can choose another name if you don't like it," Gohan said. Bulma and Bra sweatdropped.
"I always wondered why you chose the name Great Saiyaman," Bulma said, now sitting on the couch with Bra on her lap.
"I've always wondered about the Saiyajins," Gohan said, a faraway tone in his voice. "Father was the last pure-blooded Saiyajin, and also the legendary Super Saiyajin. I want to become as great as he was, and since I was the last link to my father's people, I thought it apt. Now I've got Pan, but she's more human than Saiyajin."
"Father always regretted the fact that Price Vegeta died on old Nameksei, because he didn't get the chance the chance for a last fight between them. I regret it too now, a little. He was the only real Saiyajin left then, and there were so many things I want to learn about them. So many secrets. After all, I am half Saiyajin and I've lost half of my heritage with his death."
"Hmph." Bulma grunted. "I'm not sorry we got rid of that monster. All the universe's better off without people like him."
Next: Millionaire #17
###### Thank you for your kind reviews ^_^ I've still got more chapters to go, but I'm a bit stuck at the moment. Chapter 14 is done and I'll post it soon, and I need your ideas: What will Pilaf do as Earth's emperor?