Disclaimer: No DBZ is owned by me. *Tra-lala*
Sierrakoi: Does the 'I updated my profile and now its even longer and more random than before and I got this installment out early' dance o_O! Dude! Everyone loves Squeegle!
Random dude: I don't see what HE has that I don't!
Chibi Sierrakoi: You don't wiggle!
Sierrakoi: Squee! Dodges a brick thrown by Random
Last time: The hidden plot was revealed; Creator and his sister are having a sibling rivalry war, using Foreign and Cell in their game. But will the game take an unexpected turn? Plus, Squeegle's first appearance. ^^;
This time: Foreign can't get rid of that pesky android known as Cell...
...And will the T/D insanity ever end?
Pertinacious Obsession
"In the end, dreams are what define us..."
Squeegle had positioned himself in a rather safe spot, just by the large screen that adorned an entire wall of the large, darkened room. That is, as safe as he could get with Creator prowling around like an agitated kitten.
"Just like the incident on Norqine," Creator was mumbling as he paced the room, his head stooped and hands held loosely behind his back. He stopped and gazed down at the smooth, gray speckled floor beneath him before lifting his gaze to meet Squeegle's. Even though Squeegle had no immediate eyes, you could still feel his gaze like any other.
"Remember, Squeegle?" Creator asked. He had temporary control over his crazed actions which inspired him to partake in fits of unpredictable behavior.
Squeegle seemed to nod as it wiggled its way over the control consol. "Squu nick," he replied in his odd, yet comforting voice.
Creator rubbed his chin, his insane gleam that was always present in his eye returning. "Yes! Yes yes yes, that WAS after the gas planet episode. HAH. Now THAT was entertaining indeed!" Creator whirled around, clapping his hands together. "The whole planet just went BOOM! It was so very exciting! BOOM, BOOM!" And then he erupted into giggles like a hyper child in time-out.
Squeegle crawled over a few buttons and reached out a gel-like appendage and pressed them, then looked up at the screen. Images of Earth flashed by in a daze of color. Squeegle was always interested in looking at the planets his master was going to destroy, or at least ones he was interested in.
You see, Squeegle had an unyielding loyalty to the psycho he shared his life with. Creator had, after all, brought him into being. Squeegle was made to provide sensible company for the lunatic. Though why Creator had made him like he was, well, that was beyond Squeegle's reason. Squeegle had been wiggling and jiggling at Creator's side for countless years. And even though he did have his own thoughts and ideas, the little blob followed his creator only.
Squeegle jiggled, making a few 'smuck' sounds. Creator skipped over to the now fuchsia-colored creature and blinked. "Yes, dear Squeegle?"
Squeegle craned toward the screen. "Squee?'
Creator looked up, then tapped his fingers on his stomach. On the screen was the picture of a little human girl. Houyoku. Creator recognized her and squealed.
"Yes yes, she's not a part of my ORIGINAL plan, but you see, my ORIGINAL plan is a part of my GRAND PLAN. It's all very worthwhile!" Creator plopped in his seat and spun a few times.
Squeegle turned to a faint gray, confused color. "Skeen squa?"
Creator reached under his chair and pulled out Chinese finger cuffs. He then stuck them on his clawed fingers and proceeded to pull, laughing like mad. After a moment of amusement Creator looked up, the cuffs still holding his two fingers together. "I wouldn't think she would be THAT big of a problem to my plan, dear Squeegle. If anything else, she helps! Little Foreign, the little human only adds to her confusion and despair at what she cannot understand- herself!" He tugged on his fingers, causing the finger cuffs to tighten. "MAHAHAHA!! These things are so entertaining!!"
Squeegle sweat-dropped. A genius, yes, his master was that. A man of a large attention span...no, he was not.
-_-_-_-
Houyoku tugged on Foreign's hologram skirt and pointed at an ice-cream station a few yards away. A man in his thirties was selling the frozen treats, and looked very proud in his little white hat. Foreign frowned in displeasure as she saw the object of the girl's attention and ignored Houyoku's request.
"She's hungry, you can't deny her food. That's not what a mother would do," Cell jeered from behind them. Foreign cringed.
"Cell, I told you to leave us three blocks ago. WHY are you still here?!"
Cell had his human arms crossed and peered threateningly at Houyoku. Houyoku saw this and ran behind Foreign's legs again. He smirked and raised his fiendish gaze to meet Foreign's malevolent glare. "To keep myself entertained, of course."
Foreign kept her temper in check. After all, she couldn't be seen attacking Cell right here on a street corner, in the middle of the day, WITH a small child, and in the middle of a busy city. She grind her teeth together and sighed. "Go find Gohan and entertain yourself that way," she muttered as she took off walking again.
Houyoku found herself without her guardian by the scary man. A rumbling growl from Cell sent her scampering after Foreign.
Cell followed, enjoying the effect his presence had on Foreign immensely. He had blocked all thoughts of that dratted raven...or WHATEVER it had been...from his mind. He had too much to think about without being bothered by some bird's situation. He was beginning to think that the event was a mild lapse in his ability to define reality. Or as we would say, a moment of insanity.
But Foreign was striking back with her venomous wit and sharp tongue. Whenever the situation was right, she brought up Gohan in a way that made Cell's blood boil.
Gohan. Gohan Gohan. ENOUGH with Gohan!
"You know I can't fight him right now," Cell snarled in response as he easily caught up with her. There it was again. She had brought Gohan up in a way that had to make Cell admit that he was not as powerful as the saiyajin half-pint now.
Foreign knew this and chuckled darkly. "Oh really? I thought you were 'perfect'," she replied icily. Houyoku stayed a fair distance away from Cell and was gazing longingly at the ice cream stand behind them that was getting farther away with each step.
Cell flinched, now fighting to keep his temper in check. He chose his words wisely, as to not give Foreign another opening for an insult. "All in good time," he replied, as if his words were set in stone.
Foreign couldn't help but scoff slightly. She had told Cell over and over again that he had a defect and would never become 'perfect'. He absolutely refused to believe it.
-Not my problem,- Foreign said inwardly. Then she flinched. -Drat, that's such a human saying...they're all so ignorant...-
Houyoku made a whimpering sound. Foreign came to a quick halt, which almost had Cell tripping over her. She turned her fiery hologramed eyes to meet Houyoku's.
"Will you stop pestering me if I get you some confounded food?!" she hissed. A passing businessman eyed her warily, as if she was some abusive mother.
Houyoku shrank back slightly, but was beginning to grow used to Foreign's sharp words and sometimes quick temper. After all...her 'mommy' hadn't hurt her, and had kept her away from the scary man who was following them.
Houyoku responded with a shy nod.
Cell snorted. "Stupid human. So reliant on resources to live. How contemptible."
Foreign mimicked his snort. She might regret all of her insults one day, but right now whenever she saw the angered look on Cell's face because of an insult she had thrown at him, it gave her an ecstatic power feeling. "Stupid bio-android. So reliant on his egotistical dream to live. How piteous."
Cell flexed a hand and felt the lingering amounts of ki beginning to gather in his palm. -I could blast her now and end her wretched life...- he thought angrily.
Foreign was eyeing Cell in a challenging manner, a smirk playing on her lips. Her body language said, 'I dare you'. She could read him, better than before she had been absorbed. Cell was violent and filled with hate and contempt, and in his imperfect stage it was twofold and harder to manage. To add insult to injury, the foreign android nodded behind her at the busy humans hurrying along the sidewalks and the cars zipping past.
Cell suddenly smiled coyly. He was supposed to be enjoying this. From now on, nothing Foreign said would move him to any strong emotion. He was going to pester her until she couldn't take it any more. A childish plan, yes, but he could do nothing else at the moment but wait. And if you can't torture humans, why not the next best thing- your nemesis?
-_-_-_-
Bulma looked up from her greasy clothing at the sound of ringing. Hastily she grabbed a towel and wiped off her blackened fingers and her brow as she raced over to the phone stationed on a table nearby and snatched it off the hook. Holding it to her ear, she gathered her breath as she admired her latest invention. "Hello?"
"Hello, Bulma?"
"Hey, Krillin!" Bulma called, relieved at the monk's gentle but nasal voice. "This is she!" Bulma threw the towel and watched it land, draped over the chair while she un-hooked the cord and strolled back over to her piece of work. She began dabbling with some screws on the exterior of the newest model hover car as Krillin spoke.
"Nice to hear form ya, Bulma! What's going on?"
Bulma giggled like a school-girl. "Not much, just a little tired. I was out really late last night." She yawned, as if to confirm this.
"Hnn, Gohan told me earlier. And I've been thinking about it. So you didn't find anything?"
"Nothing," Bulma affirmed as she opened a small hatch to examine some wires. "You probably think I'm nuts, huh?"
Krillin laughed. "Bulma, you're a genius. You're not allowed to go nuts until you're at least in your forties."
Bulma nearly choked at some exhaust gas that bellowed from the back of the vehicle, but laughed at Krillin's remark. "Thanks, I think. But you do know geniuses lack common sense." Her voice suddenly grew serious. "Vegeta thinks I'm nuts. You know, about the whole twin thing. I don't know about Gohan, or Chi-Chi. I'm a little confused myself."
There was a small, uncomfortable span of silence as Krillin said nothing. Then he spoke up. "Well, I was calling mainly about that. You see, 18...she's been having weird feelings lately."
Bulma shut the hatch and examined the vehicle again. "Weird feelings?"
"Yeah," Krillin confirmed. "I think it might be related. But the thing is..."
The uncomfortable silence again.
"The thing is...?" Bulma pressed.
"She thinks...I don't know, this is coming from her and you know how androids are...but, she's just gotten these weird feelings...she's been thinking about him a lot."
Bulma was puzzled. "Him? Him who?"
Krillin chuckled nervously. "I mean...Cell."
It was Bulma's turn to fall into silence. "Cell? What about him? Are you asking if this has something to do with Cell? Isn't he dead??"
"Whoa, whoa!" Krillin squeaked. "I'm just saying, she's been getting these weird feelings...and I don't know...I just wanted to tell you. Maybe 18's just reminiscing or something."
Bulma tapped her finger against the hood of the car. "Hmm...if this does have something to do with him, this is important."
"Don't tell anyone else though," Krillin added. "I don't want them to think I've gone over the deep end or anything." Another nervous chuckle. "They already thought that when I started growing my hair back."
Bulma giggled, a picture of a bald Krillin and a Krillin with hair popping in her head. "I won't, but I'll think about it. I might drag Gohan out to Sanrioki again, just to make sure. I still think that woman we saw had something to do with it. But you know how Chi-Chi is." Bulma suddenly frowned as an odd, curling black smoke began to leak out of the exhaust tank of the car. "Hey- I've got to let you go. Talk to you later Krillin!" With that she slammed the phone down and grabbed the rag, waving it at the smoke. "Bah! Not again!"
-_-_-_-
Krillin looked, baffled, at the phone in his hand and then shrugged. That was Bulma for you. He hung up and turned, spotting Master Roshi on the couch with a hentai magazine. 18 was watching him from the corner, her arms crossed and eyes narrowed.
"What did she say?" 18 asked. She bit her lip. "And you better not have made me sound like a lunatic."
Krillin laughed nervously, waving his hands. "I didn't make you sound insane! She said she'll think about it." Krillin lowered his hands and smiled meekly at his wife. "But I think this is something. You haven't had these sort of feelings for years. Don't you think it's odd they just started to come back?"
18 shrugged. "I never felt much of anything until these last few years," she said absently.
-_-_-_-
Foreign had found a nice place in the nearby park for Houyoku to eat her ice cream. Sure, she had had to practically throttle the man who sold the frozen goodies before he gave some up, but it had worked out well. Of course, Cell had found it all very amusing.
Houyoku crawled over onto a bench, licking her ice cream with such a carefree gleam in her innocent eyes that Foreign couldn't help but feel a little protective over her. Damn that human child, making her feel this emotions that were so new and puzzling.
Cell looked up at the tree that was illuminated by faint rays of the overhead sun. This was the same place he had met that raven, supposedly. But he did not see the bird in the high branches, and began to dismiss it all. Foreign stood, arms crossed, watching Houyoku eat her ice cream with a look of revulsion on her face.
"So, you're not going to leave me alone?"
Cell smirked at Foreign's question. "Why would I do that?" he sneered.
Foreign turned to face him, that challenging glint in her eyes. Cell peered coyly at her. He knew behind those brown, hologramed eyes were the eyes of a fellow android and warrior.
"Honestly Cell, I could almost say you have an obsession," Foreign muttered, scowling.
Cell closed his eyes, proceeding to ignore that comment. But the words stuck.
-Obsession?
I don't have an obsession.
...
I'm just curious.-
Cell found himself running around in circles when he thought about that statement. Was he, indeed, obsessed? Obsessed with finding out more about this android? No, he wasn't obsessed. Merely interested.
Foreign dismissed Cell absently with a wave of her hand. If he didn't want to talk, fine. She could handle that. Whenever they did talk, they always ended up fighting. Why didn't Cell just fight her already? Did she really amuse him that much?
Oh, the idea that she was merely a tool for amusement caused Foreign's blood to boil. But no, she couldn't afford a real fight just yet. Not with the Z senshi prowling about. She didn't put it past Bulma to try again very soon to find her.
Foreign's attention turned to Houyoku. A perfect aid in disguise. She had to admit, the child wasn't really that much trouble. Aside from her childish tendencies and overbearing nature of innocence and her need for food or rest, she didn't bother Foreign that much. But that was probably due to the fact the child couldn't, or wouldn't, talk.
Foreign scanned the immediate area. It was a slow day for the park. All the humans were busy at their 'jobs' and making 'money', so none were out in the park at this time.
Peh. Humans. Humans and their pointless habits. It was all nonsense.
Foreign took a few steps, keeping an eye on Houyoku. The second that girl finished her food, they were leaving and exploring some more. Maybe Cell would grow bored and finally leave them alone. Then again, drilling on his ego was pretty amusing too.
Out of the corner of her eye, beyond a plain of nicely trimmed grass a a tree or two, Foreign spotted two humans. A male and female, together. They seemed at close proximity, wrapped in each others arms, and doing the oddest thing.
Foreign stared, quizzical. She heard the footsteps of Cell behind her. "What do you want?" she grumped.
"What are you looking at?" Cell inquired. He followed her gaze and saw the two humans. "Hmph. Humans and their rituals."
Foreign looked confused. "What are they doing? Transferring food?"
Cell almost laughed out loud at Foreign's naive ness. "They call it 'kissing'. It's supposed to be a human display of affection," he explained as if he was hosting a documentary.
Foreign immediately lost interest. "Affection. Keh. A worthless emotion."
Cell shrugged absently. "A worthless emotion for a worthless race. Pretty fitting, in the least."
Houyoku looked up, licking the remnants of her vanilla ice cream from her fingers, and sighed in contentment.
((*Twitches...falls* Meeeh. I had to update. Couldn't resist. It's late. Shoulder hurts. *Notices she's speaking in odd, short sentences* Must...have...more...caffeine...
Don't mind my rambling. ^^;. Another longer-type chapter. No T/D yet, but it WILL be in the next chapter. I'm getting ideas. I promise!! *Dodges bricks thrown by pissed-off readers* Wagh!
Woo-hoo! Yasha is right again! Maruzon DOES mean 'total loss'! *Tosses her twenty points* Go Yash! And for everyone else who guessed and all those people who got really close, here! *Tosses ten points* Bwahaha!
Twenty points to who can tell me what gaijin means!
Myah...sleeping pills starting to work...noo...must...remain...insomniac... *Faint*))