Chapter 3: A new transformation
Chico's eye fluttered open and she gasped at what she saw.
"Don't worry, I'm going to make them pay."
Chico couldn't stop staring, his words washed right over her. Eli was staring down at her in his arm; his hair now turning red at the tips to make it look on fire. His aura was red with golden ki bolts streaking through it, adding to the fire affect and looking like some sort of combination of super saiyan and…something else. But his eyes were the main difference. They had become a teal slit with the rest of his eye a blood red. And Eli barely seemed to notice the change in appearance.
Eli touched down on the ground. Chico hadn't even noticed them sinking. Eli smiled warmly at her as he put her down.
"Wait here. It'll be over soon." He stated before turning and glaring at the cyborgs. In a flash of light, he was gone.
The five cyborgs looked round the area for the boy with the flaming aura, their scanners unable to detect them. An explosion sounded behind them, taking out the rest of the hive and drones. Out of the smoke flew Eli, powering up as he flew. He swung a leg round, connecting with a cybernetic jaw and breaking it as if it were glass. Eli spun round in the air and blasted another cyborg before sending an elbow through the one whose jaw he just shattered. It's power core ruptured and exploded around the intruding limb. Eli smirked before glancing at the remaining three cyborgs.
"Who else wants some?"
Further away, Fry and Goro backed off as their attacking Cyborgs turned their attention to the red super saiyan before them. They nodded at each other before they all rushed Eli, coming in from different sides. Eli smirked and started dodging effortlessly at the last moment, flicking his wrist up occasionally to block an attack. The cyborgs did their best to increase their speed but just made Eli yawn cockily. Eventually the cyborgs all backed off and fired beams of raw energy at Eli but the boy disappeared at the last moment, allowing the beams to explode into each other. The cyborgs were thrown backwards but quickly recovered, each looking up at Eli, who was smirking again with one palm pointing at the cyborgs and the other clutching his forearm.
"You call those attacks? I'll show you an attack!" Eli called, allowing his saiyan side to surface. A small ball of ki formed in his outstretched hand.
"Blaster dragon!" he yelled, a multitude of blasts all coming out of the first, all taking the shape of ki dragons. All the dragons rushed towards the cyborgs, each one exploding with the slightest touch. They all swarmed round the cyborgs, crowding them together before they all hit, every one of the dragons exploding upon contact with either the cyborgs or another dragon. When the smoke cleared, the cyborgs were all still there, only greatly damaged.
"Final flash!" a second attack was called and the cyborgs looked up just in time to see the giant ki blast rushing towards them. It cut through them, disintegrating them all once and for all.
The ground, Goro cheered while the other two stared up at Eli in shock. They had never seen this kind of transformation before and they never felt that kind of strength radiating off their friend.
Chico soon regained her wits and called her friend down. Eli stopped staring at the place the cyborgs had been immediately and landed in front of her.
"How did you do that?" Fry asked, staring at his friends appearance and examining it. Eli just shrugged.
"I blasted them. Nothing to it." Eli replied. Fry shook his head.
"I mean the transformation. Since when is any of the super saiyan levels red?"
"What are you-?" Eli started put stopped as soon as he caught a glimpse of his tail. It was no longer brown but red instead. Eli's eyes widened and he tried to focus on his aura. It too was red.
"I transformed?" he asked quietly, confused.
"Yea! And you were brilliant! I've never seen anything like it before!" Chico cried, jumping up to hug him. Eli pushed her off and backed up, trying to work out what it meant. All he knew was that it made him even more different then before. He couldn't cope. He teleported away.
Trunks and Zara's apartment was a buzz with activity that evening as everyone came over to discuss what the children had told them. Eli had locked himself in his room upon coming home and so the telling of the story was left mostly up to the son cousins. After hearing about it, Trunks and Zara invited the whole gang over to try and work out what it all meant.
Pan had instant transmitted in her parents and brother and were now all sitting on a sofa. Uub had followed them and stood in the corner. Pan was blushing slightly and kept glancing over at him, Videl guessed that it was because she wasn't used to seeing him outside of the budokai's ring.
Goku had instant transmitted in with Goten and the twins and Vegeta and Bulma turned up later along with Piccolo, 18 and Krillen. Now the whole group were gathered in Zara's large living room, discussing the situation.
"I didn't think Gero made so many cyborgs." Goku was saying after hearing the tale again.
"He didn't. he had a few prototypes made but they were all destroyed. Only 17, myself and Gero remained." 18 replied.
"These couldn't have been Gero's anyway. They weren't advanced enough." Bulma added. She had gotten a sample of some of the cybernetics earlier.
"But who could have built them besides Gero?" Gohan asked.
"I dunno but they go back a long way. I've had a go at identifying who some of these cyborgs were – or the ones that were left and were identifiable that is - and I keep finding people from 30 years ago." Goten stated, frowning.
"So whoever has been doing this, they've been active for a long time?" Goku asked, receiving a nod.
"And although the cyborgs definitely not Gero's, they do have aspects of his technology. I'm guessing whoever did build them must have at least known him at some point." Bulma said.
"So I'll go and look up Gero's background. See if I can find anyone that worked with Gero." Goten suggested.
"Good idea. But be careful not to get to much attention from the guys at work. Police involvement is the last thing we need. No offence." Trunks replied, getting a nod from Goten.
"Ok, so we know what to look for. What about this new transformation I've been hearing about?" Vegeta asked from his corner, scowling.
"It was some kind of mixture between Super saiyan and…something." Chico tried to explain.
"I got that, but what's the other part of the transformation?" Vegeta snapped, making her shrink back. Bulma frowned at her husband.
"Now, now Vegeta. I know you want to know what this means for your grandson but that doesn't mean you should snap at Chico." She scolded. Vegeta grunted and went back to staring at the floor in response.
"I…I think I know what it was." Zara said quietly. Everyone looked at her and Trunks squeezed her arm lightly.
"What?" Goku asked, more interested now they were talking about the transformation. He had sensed Eli earlier and although it wasn't much stronger then a super saiyan two, he still wanted to fight against it.
"I have a transformation. I had been trying to get it out for years, only touching it but a few weeks ago I managed to complete it." Zara explained.
"Why didn't you tell us about this transformation?" Vegeta asked, his head lifting up. Zara shrugged, making Vegeta frown.
"Well let's see it now then." He demanded. Zara blinked and looked round to see everyone else either mildly interested or eager to see it. She decided showing it off would be better then being bugged about it in upcoming training sessions.
"Alright then. But don't be too surprised." She said, putting up a pinkish dome shield to protect her living room from her aura. She started powering up and within moments the changes started occurring. Her hair was growing out several inches, turning black that brightened to red at the tips. Her eyes became black slits in a sea of red. Her red aura became more violent then anyone had seen it before, black bolts occasionally running through the fiery inferno. Everyone in the room gasped at how dark it was. Something they all did again when she dropped the shield. She wasn't as strong as a super saiyan four but it was still incredible.
"I call it Ultra Kalroo." She explained in a strained voice before allowing the transformation to revert. A moment later and she was staring back at them with her normal golden eyes.
"That was…very…dark." Bulma described, searching for the right word with little success.
"I know." Zara replied, nearly collapsing back into her seat. "It feels nothing like super saiyan. I don't know what it means, for me or for Eli." She finished. Trunks was looking at her in concern now.
"You feeling alright? That looked pretty draining." He said
"It wasn't the first time but for some reason now I'm exhausted. Maybe its just stress?" Zara pointed out, shrugging it off and allowing her hands lay just below her belly.
"Again? You've been getting a lot more tired then normal lately. In fact your appetite and moods have changed. Maybe its about time you let me check you out?" Bulma suggested. Zara shook her head.
"It's nothing to worry about. I'm more concerned for my son." Zara argued.
"Why? It's just a new transformation he's got. Nothing serious." Goku pointed out.
"I know. It's just that Gohan had to find a way to combine his transformation. Eli's came out naturally. What if he can't do any of the other transformations?" Zara asked.
"Then he won't be able to. You haven't got a range of transformations like us but you always managed to keep up with us." Goku pointed out. "Eli will be able to too."
"I know, it's just that Eli's sensitive about this kind of thing." Zara argued.
"Well we'll just have to reassure him that he isn't any different then anyone else. It'll all be fine." Goku assured her before the topic was changed. Chico stopped listening to the adults and focused on the stairs that led up to the bedrooms.
It better be alright…she thought.