Startled, 18 glanced up to see Goku crash through the ceiling and land before her. The change in him was bizarre, blue lightning coursed over his body randomly.
"What is this?"
"We don't have time," Goku's voice was starkly cold, like he'd just seen his friends die again. "Follow me and I'll explain everything once we reach safety."
Without questioning further, 18 flew after him. The lightning around him looked frighteningly familiar. Soon they dropped to the ground in the remains of a building construction site. Ducking a darkened alcove, Goku gestured for her to follow. She moved in beside him, careful to avoid any actual contact. They faced each other in the darkness, silently as Goku listened carefully for others outside.
"Now how about explaining all of this?" 18 asked finally. Goku nodded.
"We have some time before they find us. I'm sure they've sensed our ki, and they'll be closing in. There's nothing we can do until then."
"They?"
"An army, probably. We'll have to fight."
"Alright then. Why?"
"Right." Goku nodded. "First off, this is the world that the other androids I fought came from. I hoped I could find how they got here, and then use it to let us get back. However, I was betrayed by someone, and it triggered something in me that caused this. Now if I touch any particular android, they're history."
"That's going to be a problem with me, isn't it?"
"It wouldn't kill you, but it definitely would be painful. You're right, that will be a very big problem."
"Is there anything you can do?"
"Is there?" Goku carefully considered, electricity wrapping around him. He noticed that unlike before, the electricity showed no sign of trying to attack 18. Maybe that had something to do with his feelings. In that case, it could well be possible. Giving it a bit of thought, Goku pinpointed what it was that caused the lightning to be so devastating to the androids. It would be a simple matter to remove a few lines, and reroute others, and the effects would be entirely gone. He nodded thoughtfully.
"Yeah, I can do it." He held up his android hand. "This is actually made of millions of nanodroids, all of them completely linked to my will. I could probably work an operation this simple right here, if you let me. I warn you though, this is going to be a bit invasive."
"We don't have any other choice."
"True. In that case, raise your hand."
18 did so, and Goku raised his as well, it flickered to its metal form. Slowly the edges of his hand seemed to defray and extended, forming grey wisps that flew through the air. None of them could see it, but Goku knew that each tiny robot was launching itself and flying to the target. As they struck 18 they entered through pores easily and made their way to the location of the needed change. Closing his eyes, Goku focused to control so many intricate movements. Slowly wisps of grey collected in 18's irises, and she shuddered slightly with a feeling other than pain.
Bringing himself under control, Goku quickly made the change and withdrew himself as quickly as possible, leaving both of them breathing hard from something other than exertion. Goku's fingertips formed again as the nanodroids took their places, and his hand faded to its ordinary skin form.
"Sorry about that," Goku panted. "I didn't think it would be that bad."
"You're forgiven."
Neither spoke for some time, then Goku shook himself and extended his senses. Sure enough, there was an army outside, combing the area for them. They'd find them within minutes. Nodding to each other, they both stood, shattering the area above them, sending shrapnel into the air. Ki flooded out from the area, tinged with Goku's lightning, sending out an obvious beacon into the air. 18 was close enough that the blue lightning jumped the gap between them, but it harmlessly deflected into the atmosphere.
By now the army had assembled facing them. Goku wondered what would possess 23 to attempt to defeat them with an army. Either he was overconfident and ignorant, or he was all too willing to sacrifice others. Raising both hands in front of her, 18 launched a massive blast that wiped out a good portion of the army nearing them. From above, hundreds of guns fired red lightning toward them.
"Hold your ground," Goku whispered to her. 18 nodded. As the lightning neared, Goku extended a hand, and bent the weaker red lightning to his will. It slowed and then flooded back in the opposite direction, sending the aerial part of the army to the ground. At the same instant, Goku and 18 sped in opposite directions.
What followed could not be considered a fight by any account. Whatever purpose the army was supposed to serve it failed, for it was easily destroyed. Some part of Goku's conscious bit into him with every blow, but once he started, he found that it was difficult to stop, as the lightning fueling his attacks. If he had needed to, absolutely needed to, he could have. But as things were, he had no reason in the world.
It wasn't long before the charred battlefield held only two combatants, both of whom weren't even winded. Having exercised his blue lightning ability so much, Goku felt the incredible destruction within him ease. If he fought much longer, he could perhaps even control it. Before they could consider their next move, however, both felt a ki landing in the area. The feeling was so strange after sensing only androids for so long that both noticed it immediately.
Across the construction site, Android 23 stood, glancing at them coolly. 18 noticed that he actually had a ki, unlike all of the other androids. That alone was strange. Goku racked his brain, trying to remember if this was the same 23 he had fought before. It was so similar, but he didn't think it was exactly the same. His silver hair was now suspended in the air like Goku's, and the look disturbed Goku slightly.
"Well, well, so you're the two who have caused so many problems." 23's voice wasn't quite the same as it had been before, but something about it was hauntingly familiar to both of them.
"Have we met before?" Goku asked. 23 smirked.
"What I do know is that we won't meet again!"
His hands raised, and Goku's eyes widened in surprise, but not from his attack. Behind 23, Ebony was standing, dark energy surrounding him. Before 23 launched his attack, Ebony slipped into him, their forms merging together. 23 shook slightly, but seemed none the worse for the wear. In fact, his power jumped significantly, and his eyes burned a dark black.
"Balance Beam!" His voice was a cruel twisting of 23's tone.
Too distracted from Ebony's possession of 23, Goku found himself unable to dodge the blast that sped toward him. 18 agilely jumped out of the way, but Goku was struck dead on. Landing, she glanced at 23, who shook violently, then discharged Ebony, who flew into the air and vanished, his evil laughter echoing in their ears. Recovering himself, 23 leapt into the sky and flew away.
Turning to Goku, 18 was shocked to find two bodies on the ground. Both shook themselves off and got to their feet, relatively unhurt, and then 18 gasped. Two forms of Goku brushed themselves off. The only difference between them was their gi's, one was a a deep black, the other a pure white.
The Dark Goku glanced at them, then teleported from the area instantly. 18 turned questioningly to the Light Goku.
"What was that?"
"I'm not sure what it was," Light Goku said, puzzled. "But I do know what it did."
"That works too."
"Ebony did something that has split me into Dark and Light sides. Apparently he thought this was enough to stop me, because he ran to hide behind his barrier again. Now we have two opponents to fight."
"So the other one is evil?"
"More or less."
"Is there any way to get you back together again?"
"Probably, but we don't have time now. Plus, we'll have to disable the Dark Goku first, and he wouldn't be happy about that. For now, I'll try to catch Ebony before he can escape. You follow 23, he's more dangerous."
"Wouldn't you be better off doing that?"
"Not anymore," Light Goku shook his head. "Both of my forms have only half my power. Right now, you're the strongest of us. I'll take the easier job."
"Alright."
Two fingers swiftly went to Light Goku's forehead, and then he vanished as well. Part of 18 wanted to disbelieve everything she was seeing, but the other calmly acknowledged it and began planning her next actions. Lifting off she began flying after 23, who was by now far away. His ki was obvious against the stark nothingness, however, and she knew that it was only a matter of time.
On the metaphysical plane, there was a brilliant flash of light, followed by a horrible scream. There was a profound silence, and then a second later a single form walked from the origin point of the blast. Dark Goku smiled slightly, considering all before him. It was a complex plan, true, but if it worked he stood to gain everything he needed.
Reaching into the darkness around him, Dark Goku formed a bit of it into his intended shape. Smiling, he put on dark glasses and slipped back into the normal reality once again. So far, things were going perfectly.
Just as 18 had 23 within firing range, a burst of ki struck from above and she plummeted into the area below. 23 felt the energy and turned quickly, to see Dark Goku smiling slightly. Now what was this? It was obviously Goku, but it felt nothing like the saiyan he knew. There was a black ki that made even him shudder.
"Who are you?" 23 demanded. Dark Goku just smiled, then flew forward and touched 23 lightly, then placed two fingers to his forehead. Before 23 could object, they vanished. Below them, 18 blasted the nearby material away from her and was nearly instantly in the sky, only to find they had already left. Sensing the ki residue, she realized that Dark Goku must have attacked her. Were they working together now? In any case, the blast had barely damaged her, and she had a lock on their new situation. 18 took off once again.
23 found himself standing in one of the streets of the city suddenly. Shaking the disorientation of whatever that teleportation technique had been off, he glanced up to see the evil-looking Goku staring silently at him. Summoning up his courage, 23 glared at him.
"Explain yourself!" His voice carried a powerful command, but it seemed to have no influence on Dark Goku.
"My name is Dark Goku," the black shape said softly. "When you launched that attack, it split Goku into a dark and light side. I am that dark side."
"And why did you help me?"
"Our goals our similar. Particularly in the world domination category. I offer you all of Goku's talents, and enough power to counter the Light Goku."
"Interesting. Why should I trust you?"
Dark Goku's smile was savage. "Should you?"
There was an uncomfortable moment of silence, and then 23 laughed. "I like you. Perhaps we could work together. That is, if you can prove your worth to me."
"Don't fear about that, I'll make it very worth your while."
"So what are we going to do?"
"First off, we need to avoid a direct confrontation, because both of them together could be somewhat of a challenge. However, there is a way we can swing the fight to our advantage."
"How?"
"Make sure the fight takes place on our grounds. Specifically, we go to the Power Core of your city. There, the high energy of the Core will be enough for me to cast a certain spell. At that place, it would unravel Light Goku. Perhaps that would increase my power, and at the very least it would remove one of our opponents easily."
"Intelligent. But what if they find a way to erupt the core? I'm not even sure how much damage that would do!"
"That's why we purposefully lock the main power output, then attach that output to a single switch, one which we will then shield. They will not be able to trigger it in any way."
"Wouldn't that increase the Power Core to near critical mass?"
"True, but they will be unable to do anything to trigger it, and afterward we can remove our modifications."
"I like your thinking. This could work well..."
His voice trailed off as both of them saw a couple of androids who were outside for some reason, staring at them in horror. 23 cursed, wondering how much they had heard. Dark Goku had no such compulsion. Whirling, he launched a controlled bolt of blue lightning at them, leaving nothing but a shattered husks.
"Shall we begin?" Dark Goku asked. Behind him, 23 shuddered. This one might be a useful tool, but he was far too dangerous to keep around for long. After this issue was over, he would have to destroy him. Slowly, an idea began to form in his mind.
18 suddenly felt Goku's presence alongside her, but from the purity of it knew it must be Light Goku instead of his dark counterpart. She glanced to the side, where Light Goku's snowy white gi shone slightly.
"Well?"
"I failed to catch Ebony." Light Goku shook his head. "But I discovered something much more important. If there is a way that we can send a massive surge of power at the city core, we would disrupt the flow of this universe."
"And that does...?"
"It would destroy this universe. Right now it just serves as a feeding ground for Ebony and his kind."
"Wouldn't that sacrifice everyone on this world?"
Light Goku's eyes looked pained, "Suffering would be temporary. None of the people here truly exist, as I measure existence. Trust me, were they people in truth, I would never do such a thing."
"How much does being just a light side of someone affect you?"
"Some. My spirit is relatively strong, but I am still changed. If we run into anyone else along the way that could compromise our safety, I would have to ask you to do the job."
"I see. I hope you get back together soon."
He smiled kindly. "I do as well. I certainly do."
The Power Core was an awe-inspiring sight, a massive obelisk towering into the morning sky. Within it, a bluish light glowed brightly, streaming up to the top where it flew from the tip and into the endless sky. It was from here that the entire city gained its power, and here that the core of the world truly was. A sense of evil pervaded everything, but Dark Goku seemed at home in it.
Affected by neither awe nor evil, 23 flew into the Power Core without a second glance. He had been here hundreds of times, ever since this place had existed. Actually, the Core had existed long before the city, it was the hub around which the entire city spun. Both of them flew inside, and then settled down to wait.
Several minutes later, Light Goku and 18 arrived as well, on foot so as to avoid detection. They crept into one of the lowest doors of the place and began slowly making their way up. Light Goku was incredibly glad they were not forced to kill anyone along the way. Grimly he and 18 nodded to each other, and then they went in.