Desert Shadow

Prologue

She slowly opened her eyes, letting them adjust to the light. In her wake, the artificial light that hung overhead blinded her. As her vision cleared, she saw an old man with dark wrinkled skin and snowy white hair as well as a mustache. His hair was long and it fell against his back. The old man's eyes were a beady blue and very evil. She did not like his eyes.

Then she gazed upon a young boy who had also awoken on a steel table next to her. Two locks of his brown hair fell onto the table. He wore a blue cap that was turned backwards and a symbol was above the clasp. It was a bright red ribbon with two white uppercase R's on it. He had on a white turtleneck undershirt and he wore a blue t-shirt over the long- sleeved turtleneck. The same symbol was on the side of the t-shirt sleeves. He turned his head and gazed upon the girl, pale blue eyes emotionless. She flinched at the coldness of them.

She then looked back up at the old man who now wore a sinister grin on his face. "Ahh, you've finally awoken Kyuu-gou." he said.

Her eyes narrowed. Nine? Why did he call me Nine? she pondered.

The old man now turned his gaze upon the boy next to her. His evil smile broadened. "I see that you're up as well Juu-gou."

She looked over at the boy. Ten? Why is he calling us numbers? Doesn't he know our names?

Then, the realization hit, and it hit hard. She might as well have been called a number for her name was nowhere to be found in her memories at all. She was a nameless being.

Suddenly, a faint picture flashed through her mind. It was of 4 youths, 2 pair of twins. The pair on top looked almost identical by facial features. The boy had chin length black hair, with the same icy eyes as the boy she laid next to. The other was a girl with blonde hair and most of it was combed to one side. Her eyes were the same color as her brother's.

The two twins on the bottom, however, looked nothing alike except for their dark green eyes. The girl had spiky banes that were combed on both sides of her face and it covered one of her ears. A long strand fell down her face in an angle while her hair was pulled up in a ponytail by a blue ribbon. She looked obviously happy in the photograph. Then there was the boy, the same one whom she was next to back in the laboratory. He had the same style of clothing on and everything else in the picture except for the eye color. But even so, the eyes she saw in this picture were full of warmth and happiness.

The image faded away and she was back in the gloomy laboratory, with that evil man. She looked back over at the boy and saw he had the same hatred she felt in his eyes. He had seen the vision as well, and the same questions seemed to fill his mind as well.

The old man gestured toward them. "You can sit up." he said.

They both did so, but felt quite awkward. These weren't their normal bodies. What was happening to them? As the girl sat up, she saw the same little symbol as she did on the boy at the knees of her black pants.

Then she looked around her. What is this place? she wondered.

The old man's smile faded into a bitter frown. "I am Dr. Gero, your creator. You two are part of a great army known as the Red Ribbon Army. From now on I am your Master and you shall do what I say. So far I have not had a problem with disobedience, but insubordination will not be tolerated."

Dr. Gero looked over at Juu-gou. "Juu, Kyuu is your twin sister and is older than you by one minute. You two are a combat group, which means you're stronger together than you are apart. Though you're capable of fighting on your own if you wish."

She looked over at Juu and saw he was looking at her as well. They both smiled. My twin brother uh? she thought.

Dr. Gero began to pace in front of the bewildered siblings. Only their eyes followed his movement. "The two of you are androids and your main mission is to destroy my enemy." he explained, paused, and then looked at them. "Son Goku." Gero finished.

Kyuu narrowed her eyes and then began to search her mind. Her databank told her who Gero's enemy was. Son Goku...East District...Saiyan...Male...Power level now upgraded to 142,000. flashed the data in her mind.

She smiled. That's not bad. Now let's see how I am. Kyuu searched inside her energy bank and her eyes widened in shock. Over 1 million? Hmmm... she wondered, then she looked over at Dr. Gero who was rambling on about how they were the beginning of world domination.

Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. If the reason Dr. Gero created us was for world domination, why is he after this Goku character? And if he has the capability to make us a thousand times stronger than Goku, why doesn't he just turn himself into an android?

"Kyuu!" Dr. Gero's sharp voice tore through her thoughts.

She forced back a smile. "Yes, Dr. Gero?" Kyuu asked, shocked at the silkiness of her own voice.

Dr. Gero held up a chord connected to a plug. It sparked randomly and she noticed the chord was connected to her. He smiled evilly. "Time to shut down!" he said, laughing demonically. Then he pulled the chords apart.

She started to scream until her voice gradually drowned down.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Kyuu! Kyuu! Wake up! Nine!" a voice yelled to her as she felt her body shaking violently.

She flung herself up while sucking in a mouthful of air, eyes wide open in fear. The move was so abrupt that both Juu and Kyuu's heads collided, causing Juu to fall back on his butt. Kyuu whips her head around in both directions, trying to calm her panic frenziness. She caught a whisper of her brother's grunts.

Juu rubbed his head tenderly and then his butt, groaning and hissing in pain. "Damn Kyuu!" he muttered, one eye glaring at his twin.

Kyuu rubbed her forehead, palm instantly covered in sweat. She breathed heavily, her lungs swelling to suck up as much air as possible. She glanced over at Juu whose facial expression was of pure annoyance.

She smiled at her brother, eyes half lidded. "Sorry Juu." she panted. "Didn't mean to scare you there."

Juu mumbled a complaint as he got up and dusted off his jeans. He walked around in the darkness, feeling against the wall for something. He finally found it and scratched a match against the wall. The tiny flame illuminated his face, revealing his pale eyes. Juu lit an oil lamp that hung on the wall and shook the flame out on the match, the light revealing the large, granite cave.

Their home...At least temporarily.

Kyuu wiped the sweat from her cheeks and shoved the blankets off of her. She felt a chill shoot up through her and trembled. She looked over at her brother who coked the fire, flames roaring up in a flash. Then he dusted off a rock and sat on it, poking a stick in the fire to keep it flaring.

He smiled and shook his head. "Was it the same dream?" he asked, voice calm and smooth.

Kyuu looked at her brother, surprised at his directness, then she stared at the fire. "Yeah." was her only reply.

Juu looked at his sister who stared blankly at the roaring inferno. "That's the 6th time in the last 2 weeks." His gaze moved to the fire in front of him. "It's been 8 months since we left that place. Why do you keep going back?"

She pulled a picture out of her back pocket and looked at it. It was the same photo she'd seen in the her vision. The same one she'd been having since she was activated 8 months ago. It was no longer crisp and new like when she had found it, but bent and creased on the edges. Kyuu had remembered the picture lying on Dr. Gero's workstation, designing the newer androids, Seventeen and Eighteen. But it was only the interior design, so she had no idea what the outer appearances would be...but that it would turn out to be another combat unit component like her.

"In all the dreams I've had, this photo is always in it." She looked at Juu, his eyes now focused on her. "These dreams aren't figments of my imagination Juu. They're happening for a reason."

Kyuu's eyes returned to the fire and it flinched from her icy eyes. Eyes so cold that not even the roaring flames could withstand her freezing glare.

Her thin, black brows furrowed. "And whatever that reason is, it's going to happen all too soon."