Fumetsu no Senshi Tachi Z

An Alternate Mirai Dragon Ball Z Fan Fiction by Aoikami Sarah

Part One - Chapter Two

Juuhachigou discovered that she was wrong about her Koneko. Instead of making her introverted and timid, her brother's little indiscretion seemed to steel the girl. She fought ten times harder than she had before and she seemed to prefer to fight Juunanagou.

They blurred above the mansion on a sunny afternoon. Koneko took pleasure in the fact that she was at last able to land a punch or two. She had been working out while the killers were gone and found that she could lift the remaining statuary in the garden; some of which weighed hundreds of pounds. She could feel her ki rise as she fought. Juunanagou also felt this and, after taking another hit, stopped holding back.

Koneko crashed to the ground but burst back up faster than the twins expected. Juuhachigou smiled and took her on. The women ranged all over as they fought. Koneko kept the image of Juuhachigou leveling her hand at the camera in her mind as she tried to strike her. She wouldn't let herself get lulled into a false sense of security, even if she was protecting her from her brother. This woman could kill her as just as soon as look at her. They were killing machines. But Koneko still couldn't figure out how they had such power. And why, even though she had learned to feel out ki a long time ago, she could never read more than a flicker from them.

Juuhachigou called it a day after she had bloodied the girl's face fairly badly. Koneko wiped it with her shirt and panted. "Already?" she smiled wryly. "I was just getting warmed up!"

"That's enough for today." Juuhachigou said before her brother could make a snide remark. He snorted at her, landed and walked slowly into the house. Koneko sighed and followed him. "Koneko, wait. Come here."

The girl obeyed. She looked up to the taller woman and waited for instruction. She turned and motioned for her to follow. They walked out into the destroyed garden. A stone bench still stood intact and Juuhachigou sat on this and nodded for Koneko to do the same. "Why don't you try to escape?" she asked suddenly.

"Because you'll kill me."

"We're going to kill you eventually anyway. You know that. Why wait?"

"Because life is a gift. It would be incredibly selfish of me to waste it."

Juuhachigou seemed to pucker a bit at this. "Is it?"

"Well, yeah. So many people have lost theirs. Everyday mine goes on, I feel blessed."

"By whom?" The killed looked at a distant tree.

"No one in particular."

"You don't believe in God?"

"I think he died a long time ago," Koneko said in a hushed tone, as if really speaking of the dead. She realized what a perfect opportunity she was being given to pry and her stomach turned with anxiety. "Why do you do what you do?" she asked innocently.

"What do you mean?"

Koneko was surprised that she even answered, much less wanted clarification. "Why do you kill?"

The murderer pursed her lips and stood. Koneko prepared herself for death. She swallowed hard and closed her eyes.

"Everyone's got to do something."

Koneko tried very hard not to fall over. "You have to?"

"You could say that."

Koneko went for broke.

"Who says?"

"Some one long dead," she murmured, stood up and walked back into the house without her.

.x.

One evening, two months into her captivity, Koneko decided to see what the merciless pair did while they were at home. If the siblings wanted to be alone, Juuhachigou would send Koneko to bed early and tell her that if she came out of her room she'd kill her. This night, she was sent to bed before the sun set, but there was no such admonition. Whether the killer forgot to warn her, or whether she didn't care, Koneko was unsure. She was willing (as she had been for the last two months) to risk her life to learn more about them, in the hopes that knowledge was in fact power.

She crept around the corner, approaching the equipment room with caution.

"Ready? Juuhachigou asked.
"Yeah, but we have company."

"I know," she turned her head to the door. "Come on in, Koneko."

Juunanagou frowned. "Juuhachi!"

"Oh, she's bound to find out sooner or later. What's the harm?"

Koneko inched in, sweating profusely. "Sorry, I couldn't sleep." She giggled nervously as she came in. Juunanagou was lying on his back on a table. Juuhachigou flipped a switch on a piece of equipment and leaned over his mid-section. Koneko came around her right and saw what she was doing. Her hands were deep inside his chest cavity, but instead of blood and guts, the compartment was filled with wires, green circuit panels and tiny blinking lights. Juuhachigou prodded his 'guts' as she repaired her brother. Koneko's eyes refused to blink. "Oh, God," she whispered.

"I thought you said he was dead," Juuhachigou deadpanned as she worked. It didn't take her long to finish. She turned to the stunned girl and stared at her. "What?"

"You're… you're…" she stammered.

"Jinzouningen," Juunanagou finished, impatiently.

It all made sense. Artificial humans! Of course! Koneko smiled inwardly. "Wow."

.x.

The sun inched its way below the horizon, spreading violet across the clouds. Bulma's air car hummed along on the way back to her underground home. There was nothing left of the town she had visited - not even one survivor. Sometimes there were at least a few left who had been buried or well hidden, but not this time. She zoned out and her vision blurred.

A flock of dark birds swirled to avoid the vehicle and Bulma shrieked. The car swerved in the air momentarily until she regained control.

"Birds," she panted. "Just birds!"

Suddenly, the car rocked again. "What the…?" A face popped up in her driver's side window. Bulma screamed out loud in sheer terror as she recognized the girl. "Jinzouningen!!"

The sudden pressure decrease knocked the wind out of the middle-aged woman as Juuhachigou's hand shot through the glass. She ripped off the door and hauled Bulma out of the vehicle.

As she held her up and raised her hand to kill her, Bulma sucked in a deep breath and screamed at her. "Where the hell were you a few months ago?! I wanted this, then!"

The killer was puzzled. "What?"

"Well, you might as well get it over with!" Bulma furrowed her brows and bellowed. She waved her hands wildly. Something flashed and caught Juuhachigou's attention. A gold bracelet with the initials 'B.B.' engraved on it caught the last rays of sunlight. The Jinzouningen stared at the woman. There was no mistaking her. Her Koneko's mother's life was in her hands. Dark clouds moved in and extinguished the sunlight. Juuhachigou made a face and brought her fist down on the woman's head. Lightning cracked and thunder boomed. It began to rain.

.x.

Bulma woke up on the ground next to the wreck of her air car. She was soaking wet and had a pounding headache. All these things, however uncomfortable, pointed to her being alive. She moaned and got to her feet. "Why did she let me go?" she wondered out loud. The car looked pitiful. There was no way she could get it flight worthy and she was miles from the home. Bulma muttered to herself, cursed the rain and kicked the wreck. She cried out as pain shot from her toe to her headache. Cursing a blue streak, Bulma began to limp home.

.x.

Koneko took five or six hits to the head before she tried evasive maneuvers. Juuhachigou was unrelenting today. Although she was holding back enough to prevent herself from killing her quickly, if this kept up, Koneko knew that she may not survive.

She also knew the Jinzouningen well enough that she knew she didn't want to kill her. She wanted to hurt her badly, but why?

"All right Juuhachi! That's more like it!" Juunanagou cheered his sister on. She ignored him but kept battering the girl. Koneko summoned her inner strength and began powering up. She darted away after every hit to allow herself time to charge.

"Hold still!" Juuhachigou shouted and swooped in.

Koneko felt her ki rise and channeled it out of her hands. "Ha!!" A beam of pure energy bloomed at her palms and shot out at the android. She and her brother shared shocked gasps as the blast hit Juuhachigou. Koneko panted and waited to see the damage. Juuhachigou hung in the air, seemingly untouched. Her blank expression slowly turned to one of amusement.

"Wow, I haven't seen that in a long time."

Unlike the Jinzouningen, Koneko was still in shock. She stared at the woman and blinked. "Woof!" she shouted and smiled wildly. "Where'd I learn to do that?" She charged again and shot off beams in rapid succession at Juuhachigou, which ricocheted off her palm as she blocked them. Koneko was a little miffed that although the attacks she was delivering would fry a human instantly, they were gnats to the Artificial Humans. The rain plastered her hair to her face. She pushed it out of her eyes. 'It's a good thing I have a plan B!' she thought, and concentrated on her training regardless of its effectiveness.

.x.

Juuhachigou caught her brother on top of her pet again the next day, but tore him off before he could do any more damage. Juunanagou cursed her out then jogged out of the mansion and took to the skies in search of fulfillment.

Koneko found another shirt to replace the one he tore. Juuhachigou stared at her as she dressed. The girl couldn't be more than sixteen or so but her skin bore old scars. Koneko sat down in the middle of her bed. She wrung her hands and tried hard not to cry, pouting sweetly, pretending she was strong.

"Hey," the android said angrily. "I stopped him didn't I?"

Koneko looked up. "Yes. Thank you."

Juuhachigou turned and pouted herself. She didn't understand why she was still upset if nothing really happened. She walked to the doorway, but stopped before leaving.

"Koneko. Help me with something," she demanded and beckoned the girl to follow her.

Much to her surprise, Juuhachigou led Koneko to the maintenance room. She turned on several pieces of equipment and took out a few tools. The android removed her double-R jacket, lay down on her stomach on the table and pulled her shirt up to expose her back. "Here," she took Koneko's hand and showed her where to touch. She pressed her fingers in three places on her cool skin. "It'll only open if I tell it to." A seal was broken and a seven inch square section depressed and slid under to reveal her circuitry. "Can you see the red wires?"

"Uh-huh," she managed to disguise her shock. The red wires were hair thin and multitudinous. Koneko found a magnifying glass and took a closer look. "Those are my spinal neurons. They branch off along my spine to my extremities. I believe I have a problem with my right, lower leg." Juuhachigou struggled to present her problem in layman's terms.

She walked Koneko through the diagnostic until she had located the exact problem. The girl beamed with pride and excitement as she learned the inner workings of the killing machine. Soon, the malfunction was isolated and repaired. She pressed her fingers in the right way without being told, and the epidermis glided back into place. Juuhachigou stood and stretched. She kicked at the air several times so quickly that her leg blurred.

"Come on. Let's see how you did."

.x.

They fought into the afternoon, breaking only so Koneko could get something to eat. She slurped her noodles loudly as she wolfed them down. When she was done, she smacked her lips and jumped up, excited for round two. Juuhachigou, who had been sitting on a stool across from her, simply stared at the girl. Koneko sat down slowly and stared back at her. "What's up?"

Juuhachigou shook her head and blinked. "Thinking."

"Ah. 'Bout what?"

She looked out a nearby window and furrowed her brows. "The meaning of life."

Koneko gripped her seat as the shock threatened to bail her out of it. "You think about stuff like that?"

"Is it that hard to believe?"

"Well. Yes! You're a machine, aren't you?"

"I was human, once." Juuhachigou continued to stare out the window.

"Oh yeah…?" Koneko's mind whirled. She reformed her plan accordingly and tired to think of what to say to keep the Artificial Human talking. "So, someone programmed you to kill."

She nodded slightly. "And love it…" There was hesitation in her voice.

"But?"

"But…" Juuhachigou closed her eyes. "I don't know if I do, anymore."

"You know," Koneko added as she stood. She had to cut this conversation off before the Jinzouningen realized what she was saying and got very mad. "You're lucky, in a respect."

"How's that?"

"Humans spend their whole lives searching for their creator's intentions. You know the code intimately. You know your purpose."

"Yeah, I do." She got up and walked out without her.

.x.

Humans in a small, isolated town had not yet know the full scale apocalypse that was a Jinzouningen attack. The din of screaming filled the air. Juunanagou's eyes were wide with glee as he chased a man through the streets. He loved it. It was like a cartoon. The man ran straight down the road, not veering off down an alleyway to hide. He laughed raucously, caught up to him, grabbed his hair and flung him through a plate-glass shop window.

Juuhachigou shot off blasts at buildings and bridges. She exploded cars and blew the tops off fire hydrants and watched the water spurt up. Without the hydrants, anyone accidentally left alive couldn't put out any fires they created. The din pounded in her head; screams, constant wails from the masses, terrified and dying. It got louder and louder till it seemed to distort in her ears. Juuhachigou struggled not to let her brother see her agony. Why was she feeling like this? If she could get nauseous, she would have thrown up. She had to get out of there as soon as possible. Juunanagou didn't notice as she flew away, holding her head in pain.

.x.

"Koneko!!" Juuhachigou shouted as she touched down and ran into the house. "Where are you?!" The girl ran in from the garden, very surprised to see Juuhachigou at this hour. "Come here!" She grabbed her arm and dragged her into the maintenance room.

'Oh God, she found out I messed with her programming!' Koneko panicked. 'I don't know how but she's figured out and she's gonna kill me. This time, she's really gonna kill me!!' Koneko kept her mouth shut and waited for the killing blow.

"Please," the Jinzouningen whirled around and confronted her. "Make it stop!" Her eyes were strange and her brows bent forward. She was in pain and she was begging for mercy.

Koneko stuttered innocently. "M-Make what stop?"

"I don't know, the desire, the compulsion, the need!! I don't want it, and it's tearing me apart!"

"The need for what?"

"Destruction!!" she shouted. "Please Koneko, do something! I know you can!"

Koneko suddenly realized that her plan was at last working. Little by little, the Jinzouningen had let her repair her and she had been able to learn the inner-workings of the killing machine. She wasn't sure until this moment if she had actually been successful, but it seemed now that she had. Artificial Human Number Eighteen was refuting her programming. Now all that was left to do was to take her out.

Koneko went into action. Juuhachigou lay down on the table and opened the top of her head. The android's lip trembled a little as Koneko leaned over her with a probe. "I'll only be off-line for twenty minutes." The girl stared into her eyes for a moment before Juuhachigou shut herself down.

"You trust me?" she whispered. 'How can I destroy her? She's kept me safe and trained me to fight, she made me strong,' she thought. 'She's not just a machine, she's a person.' "Damn it, what do I do now?!" Koneko gritted her teeth and began hooking a keyboard and monitor to her.

Koneko clicked at the keyboard. The encryption was thick and complicated but it unfolded and let her in just as Juuhachigou said it would. A drop of sweat poured down the side of her face. "Come on, where are you? I know you're in there…" she babbled to herself as she tried to isolate the base operating system. Suddenly, as if the celestial choir entered the room and began singing, the screen scrolled like mad. Koneko's quick eyes caught all the data. It was all there: the base, the O.S., and on top of it, the most deadly of all killer apps. "D.S.G. 1.1 and D.A.H. version 3.6." Koneko whispered as she read it. "Destroy Son Goku and Destroy All Humans. Wonder who he was, poor bastard." She typed away. "Select and... delete!" Koneko hovered her finger over the button. Two minutes remained. She bared her teeth and pressed the delete key.

::Deletion Complete::

"Whew." She slumped her shoulders in relief and shut down the utilities. "Reboot!" The screen flickered expectantly and prompted. It waited for the hardware to come back online. Koneko held her breath, watched and waited.

Juuhachigou's eyes snapped open. She sat up and blinked a few times.

Koneko smiled hopefully. "Feel better?"

She stared at Koneko. "You… you…?"

'Please have worked! Please please please, sweet Lord I didn't mean to say you were dead!' she thought hysterically.

"You did it."

"Eh?"

"Koneko, you did it! It's gone! It's gone!!" Juuhachigou smiled uncharacteristically wide and held her pet by the arms.

Spontaneously, Koneko jumped up and down. "Alright!!"

"What's gone, Juuhachi?" Juunanagou asked, his voice dripping with evil.

Koneko jumped out of her skin. She had forgotten about him for the last half and hour or so.

"Juunanagou. It is possible!"

"What is?"

Juuhachigou leapt off the table and approached her brother. "Gero programmed us to kill. I've been deprogrammed! I don't want to kill anymore!"

"What?!" Juunanagou laughed as he barked at her. "We were created to kill! There's nothing I want to do more!"

"But, Juunana, there's so much more to life…"

"Life," he snorted. "I think I've have just about enough of that." He leveled his hand at his sister and fired a massive blast point blank at her chest. She crashed through the wall and was blown out of the house. Koneko shouted and charged Juunanagou blindly. He didn't seem surprised at her loyalty and blocked all of her attacks.

She built up her ki as she fought. The shocked look on Juuhachigou's face as her brother shot her was burned into her mind. She could feel her anger rising. More imprinted images that she knew she could never rid herself of waved into her consciousness. Children, bloodied and alone, screaming in the dark; heaps of corpses with no one left to bury them, waiting for decay; the Jinzouningen's leer as he tore her clothes off. This last image remained the longest as she stared into his icy, blue eyes - those eyes which had seen so much suffering and felt not one drop of remorse. Her aura glowed brightly as the energy built up. The room was almost completely totaled. They fell out into the garden through another wall. Juunanagou struck her in the face repeatedly, but she growled and took each punch. He seemed excited by this but his smile soon faded. Koneko began a low, crescendo of a scream which reached a plateau as something inside her popped. Her eyes turned green, her long, lavender hair turned gold and Koneko threw herself at Juunanagou. They bounded all over the grounds, destroying the house and garden as they did so.

Juuhachigou lifted a piece of wall off of herself and gawked at the sight. "Koneko!" She burst up to them and joined the fight. Koneko was twenty times stronger than she had even been, but the Jinzouningen were tireless. She slammed into the ground and gasped as she saw Juunanagou hurtle down toward her. Suddenly, Juuhachigou cut him off and began punching and kicking him to distract him. Koneko darted out of the crater and joined her. With Juuhachigou helping, the tide began to turn in her favor. Juunanagou shot off burst after burst at them. The girls spiraled after him, dodging the blasts and confusing him with their maneuvers. Juuhachigou grabbed his left arm and Koneko his right and they slammed their knees into his unprotected stomach then hurled him at the Earth. They charged up before he hit and chased his descent with two huge power attacks. The explosion was tremendous. The blondes' hair blew back away from their faces, but they stood their ground and watched carefully. As the dust cleared, Juunanagou was visible, at the bottom of a large crater, unmoving.

They descended slowly. "Is he dead?" Koneko asked.

"No, he's alive." Juuhachigou touched down next to him. His body was contorted awkwardly. His eyes were open and unblinking. "Juunana?" She squatted down next to him.

"Juuhachi… Don't let her…"

"What?"

"You do it, my Sister."

"No."

"Kill me, Juuhachi."

Juuhachigou looked to Koneko. The girl's strange eyes were trained on the ground.

"I'm sorry Juunanagou. Forgive me."

"Sure…" He seemed to laugh lightly, but his mouth was hardly moving anymore.

Juuhachigou fired a thin beam from her index finger. This shot through his temple, destroying his CPU. Number 17 was no more.

Juuhachigou removed her brother's orange bandanna and wrapped it around her wrist. She stood and they levitated out of the crater. Koneko lifted her index and middle fingers and caused the soil around the crater to fold in, covering Juunanagou's body. "That's more than you deserve, but rest in peace anyway."

Juuhachigou sighed and looked to her. "Well, this has been an interesting hour."

Koneko nodded in relief. "Um, Juuhachigou?"

"Actually, could you not call me that from now on."

"Ok, Cool. Um, I don't mean to be selfish or whatever, but…" She played with the dirt with her foot. "You got any idea what's happened to me?!" Koneko shouted and pointed at her hair.

"Oh," the Jinzouningen replied, as calm as ever. "You're in Super Saiyajin mode. You can drop out now, you know." Koneko looked at her funny. "Just power down." She did so and frowned at her, waiting for more of an explanation. "It's a long story." Koneko pouted more. The Jinzouningen smiled.

"Sorry." She smiled back. "So, what do you want to be called?" They walked away from the mansion.

"I don't know. I suppose you should name me."

"Eh?"

"I named you. It's the least I deserve."

"Ok, I will."

The woman once called Juuhachigou stopped and waited.

Koneko noticed she was walking alone and turned. "What?"

"Well?"

"Now? It's going to take me a couple days at least to come up with something good."

She blinked at the girl. Her chest felt suddenly very strange, but good. She caught up to her and put her hands behind her head and walked beside her. "So, what do we do now?"

"Well, there's a big world out there that you and your late brother tried to destroy. I think it would be a good idea to help fix it."

The Jinzouningen pursed her lips, but nodded. "That sounds like a plan."

.x.

Koneko dunked her head into a large fountain in the town square. A bronze general on his horse, toppled years ago, lay half in the water. She swished her long hair around, trying to cleanse dust and grime from the lavender strands. Flipping her head back, she shook the water out. The Jinzouningen sat on the lip of the fountain and watched people with interest. She had never laid eyes on them like this before; as an observer, as one of them, as a survivor.

A man walked up to the water and removed the glove from his right and only hand with his teeth. She watched him closely, not realizing that her unblinking stare was deeply unsettling. He stared back at her and backed away, pointing at her. "Ji- jin-" he stuttered, "Jinzouningen!!"

Everyone in earshot turned and stared at the fountain. Koneko flipped her hair out of her face and jumped to her feet. "No! It's alright! Please, don't panic!"

The one-armed man looked at her as if she were crazy. Koneko stood next to her and held up her hands. "She's not what you think she is."

"Yes, I am," she insisted as she pushed in front of her.

"Juu..." Koneko hissed at her, "No, not anymore. I know your name now." She tried to calm the angry mob that had gathered. "I've known her for a long time."

"Lying? Really, Koneko," the Jinzouningen whispered to her.

"Hey, five months is the longest amount of time I've ever known anyone." Turning to the crowd once more she spoke loud enough for everyone to hear her. "This is my friend, Zen'i."

The word 'goodwill' struck a chord with the mob (that and the look on Koneko's face that said 'you want her, you go through me'). The crowd slowly dispersed.

"Zen'i," the Jinzouningen repeated.

"You like it?"

"Yeah. I was expecting Hebi or Inu or Onezumi."

Koneko laughed.

"You also called me 'friend'. I like that, too."

They made their way out of the square.

.x.

Bulma heard the rumor and made her way to the fountain but by the time she got there, the converted Jinzouningen was gone. People were crazy these days. They'd believe anything if only to have some kind of hope. She sat down slowly on the lip of the fountain and sighed. It was such a nice day, and there hadn't been an attack for more than a week the world over. Stories like this latest one popped up at times like these.

"Ok, Zen'i, where to now?"

"North? We hit a couple of cities up there fairly badly."

"Sure, then…" Koneko stopped at the outskirts of the city. "Did you hear that?"

"What?"

She looked around and turned in place a few times. "There's someone, a man calling me."

Zen'i raised her brows slightly.

"Girl, go back."

"Why?"

"Are you all right, Koneko?"

"Go back to the fountain, Girl."

"The fountain..." She paused for a moment then ran back into the square. Zen'i called out to her but when she didn't stop the android ran after her.

.x.

Bulma sighed and picked up her cane. She leaned heavily on it and stood up. As she looked up she saw a teenage girl jog into the square and look around as if she was missing something. Bulma stood where she was and stared at her light, purple hair.

"Are- are you lost?" Bulma asked with quaking voice.

"I know this sounds totally crazy," Koneko said with a sheepish smile. "But a voice in my head told me to come back to the fountain and you're the only person here."

"It's not crazy." Tears came to Bulma's eyes. "It's you." She put her hands up to her mouth as she began to cry with joy. Her bracelet twinkled in the sunlight.

Koneko gaped at her and pushed her sleeve back to reveal her own bracelet. She stepped forward and touched the double-B engraving. "You're my daughter, Bra Briefs!"

"Mother?!" Koneko couldn't believe this was happening. The two women stared at each other for a beat before hugging and crying out loud.

To be continued…