The zombie horde just kept coming. The lab was full of them. The shotgun wasn't loading fast enough but he wasn't worried. If any of them got close enough then they'd get a face full of bionic fist.
He dived to the side in almost slow motion and shot two shells into the chest of a zombie, his eye constantly flicking to the map to check where the goal was. Not much further… the bionic fist was thrust forward, braking an in coming arm before the zombie was flung into the air for a combo with the shotgun which ended in the zombie being booted down the corridor. He then leapt into the horde, swapping weapons to an automatic laser blaster that cut through the zombies like butter. He kept moving the whole time until both feet touched a white square on the floor…
Level complete! Music played as a camera panned around Eli's latest favourite game character.
Eli relaxed and leant back in his chair as a cut scene began to play on the TV, showing that the playable character was about to change. Eli smirked in satisfaction as his mother's head peered round the door.
"Eli, can you come set the table please?" she asked. Eli just waved a hand at her and Zara sighed as she heard the noises of the cutlery being set telekinetically.
"I meant get up and do it…" she muttered before thanking him and retreating back to the kitchen, the game starting up again on the screen.
Trunks smiled up at Zara as she went back to dishing up.
"Don't know why you'd thought that would work. You've never gotten him away from a video game that easily before now," he pointed out. Zara nodded as another plate floated over to her, awaiting food.
"I know, but I wanted to get him away from it all day. The first thing he did after coming out of his room was start playing that game. I Haven't been able to talk to him," Zara explained, another sigh escaping her lips as two of Trunks's plates floated over to him with food piled high. Trunks licked his lips, beginning to dig in as he thought over what his wife was saying.
"You know if you're worried about this transformation business," he swallowed some food down and prepared to scoop up some more, "Then you shouldn't. he'll open up when he's ready," Zara wrinkled her nose at her husband's eating habits.
"Doesn't mean I won't worry until he does," she muttered, Trunks sighed and rested his fork.
"Look, honey, all of the demi saiyans were out there worrying about fitting in around here when we were growing up. Me, Goten, everyone! It's something as a parent of a quarter saiyan I came to expect. The thing about Eli is that he has a little bit extra to worry about. He's the only one of his kind in a world filled with a species that often fear what they don't understand. And now with this new transformation, he's no doubt feeling a little worse about himself but trust me, it'll pass. He just needs to be ready before he can talk it out."
"I never went through that," Zara pointed out.
"Yea but your teen years were spent on a space ship filled with different alien species. There was only one human on there and that was your mum. You can hardly compare that with growing up with a place with as little alien contact as earth." Trunks pointed out. He watched Zara's head drop and sighed.
"Look, treating Eli differently or worrying excessively might make things worse for him by making him think that there really is something wrong with him. I know you can't help worrying about him but you'll just have to wait it out." He explained as gently as he could. Zara sighed, going quiet.
Eli had just gotten past a boss battle and was saving his progress when a small rock sailed through the open window and hit him in the back of the head. Eli jumped and turned in his seat to see Goro floating outside, at least seven floors up from the ground.
"What?" Eli asked, annoyed about having the rock greet him. Goro frowned as he floated towards the window.
"Why have you been avoiding everyone?" Goro put bluntly, deciding to get straight to the point of his visit. Eli shrugged as he went back to his game.
"I dunno what you're talking about. I've been grounded for not going to school. Will be for the next two weeks." Came the reply as a 'flight simulator' portion of the game came up on the screen.
"Doesn't mean that you couldn't come see us when we were all round here yesterday. And Zara usually lets you answer the door. Then at school we barely caught a glimpse of you. Fry told us you didn't speak to him." Goro argued. Eli only shrugged as he made the escaping ship barrel roll through laser fire. Goro growled at Eli ignoring him.
"Tell me something Eli, do you like making my sister worry about you?" Goro asked. Eli slipped up on the analogue stick, the ship being blown up by an incoming laser blast and the screen turning red for the continue screen.
"She…she's not…is she?" Eli asked, a bubble of guilt forming in his stomach.
"Talk to her and find out." Goro's arms were crossed tightly over his chest as he glared in at his friend. Eli shuffled round to look up at his friend, the bubble getting bigger. It was unsettling to see a mini-Goku looking that angry.
"I'll go…" Eli muttered, getting up to ask his parents if he could eat in his room. A minute later and he was gone, his roast cooling on his bedroom's windowsill
Goten was staring over at the video phone from across the room. He was slumped down in his favourite armchair, His father lent forward on the sofa as Goten went over what was going on. Marron stood in the doorway, looking out at the men as she mixed together the contents of a bowl. The smell of food cooking was wafting in from the kitchen and was making Goku's mouth water. His stomach let out a growl of protest for the ninth time.
"Dad! I'm trying to explain something important here! Why don't you just go get something to eat?" Goten complained.
"I would but your mother has a habit of swinging that frying pan of hers around when ever I go near the oven…" Goku muttered, sulking slightly. A yell of 'too right' came from the kitchen that made Marron laugh at her in-law's antics.
Goten shook his head in disbelief before turning back to the vid-phone.
"Sorry Bulma, where was I?" he asked. the aging scientist waved her hand dismissively before leaning back in her office chair.
"That's ok Goten, you were saying about the computer," she replied, adjusting the volume on her own phone. Behind her Goten could just about make out a shadow that he knew was Vegeta in the background.
"Right. Well there must have been about a dozen files on that thing. Each one looked like a different class of android or a different technique of making Cyborgs. There were a few other things but a cyborg blew up the hard drive before we had a chance to look." He explained.
"Shame. I would have liked to have taken a look at it." Bulma said, pausing when Vegeta muttered something under his breath that made her roll her eyes.
"Right…well Trunks says he'll go back and poke around the hive a bit more tomorrow. I'm going to be looking up Kisho's files again at work to try and work out where he his but I haven't had much luck so far. Maybe tomorrow will be better." Goten finished. Goku nodded and looked to the monitor.
"I'm gonna go with Trunks tomorrow, help where I can."
"How are you going to help break into another computer?" Vegeta jibbed from his place against the lab wall. Bulma shushed him and Goku shrugged.
"I dunno, I'll probably just be fighting some of the cyborgs. It's a tough job but someone's gotta do it while Trunks looks around," Goku replied.
"In other words you want to have some fun with the robots while Trunks does all the work, if there's even another computer there." Goten pointed out knowingly. Goku laughed in reply, his famous grin spread wide across his face.
Outside the room, a raven-haired head peered round the doorframe before sneaking past and silently going out the door. From there, Son Chico flew quietly up to the roof, lying across the tiles for a good view of the stars. Her eyes grew wide at the natural beauty spread above her, the stars smiling down at her. they always has a way of magically bringing her to peace.
But it wasn't long until she was aware of another presence.
"Chiiiii" a soft voice whispered as something brown and furry poked her forehead. Chico blinked before her vision was taken up by two large blue eyes. She jumped as Eli fell backwards into a sitting position.
"God Eli, don't sneak up on me like that!" she exclaimed before being completely aware that he wasn't avoiding her anymore. She pounced on him.
"Gah! What are you doing!" Eli cried out as Chico pinned him to the roof, her eyes twinkling evilly.
"Making sure you don't run away. and getting you back for scaring me!" she announced before chuckling. Eli gulped nervously.
"I'm sorry…I was just messing around. Sorry Chico," He began. Chico continued to grin evilly at him.
"Oh I'm going to make sure you are!" she laughed before her hands went straight to his ribs and the tickling started
"No! hahaha ha Chi! Ha stop hahahaha it!" he yelled, Chico joining in with his laughter.
The two of them stared up at the starry sky. Chico had gotten off of him and had gone straight back to what she had been doing, a smile spread on her face as Eli joined her. Eli rolled over onto his side to stare at her.
"You know I am sorry for how I've been acting lately…" Eli started.
"I know." Chico replied.
"I shouldn't of tried to avoid you…"
"Uh-huh"
"I've just been noticing a lot of stuff lately.."
"Like?"
"Kalroo stuff. Food stores kicking in…that sorta thing…"
"That why you haven't been eating as much?"
"Yea…" he went quiet
"It's ok to be different you know."
"But it's different for you. you fit in-"
"No I don't." Chico turned over to stare at the surprised Eli as she continued.
"I'm the only girl quarter saiyan in our age group. I'm a tomboy. I don't get along with other girls and then growing up I had all the boys telling me I had cooties. The only person in my year I can call my friend is my twin brother and you're my only friend that I'm not related to or isn't an adult. I don't fit in."
Eli blinked at her, not completely understanding and searching for an argument.
"But…you're not three separate species like I am,"
"Doesn't mean Goro and Fry understand me any better." She pointed out, smiling softly. Eli thought it over.
"How do you deal with it then?" he eventually asked. Chico searched his face with her eyes.
"The way I see it…nobody is exactly the same. Everybody's different. There's no such thing as 'normal'. You'll never see two people that are exactly the same in everyway. So thinking about it like that makes it ok to be different. It's a good thing." She explained, nodding when satisfied with her explanation. Eli slowly sat up to get a better view of her. he smiled.
"Thanks Chi…" he muttered. Chico grinned back and unexpectedly caught him in a hug. Eli blinked down at her, stunned.
"I never thought you were different. Just special," she said into his chest. He grinned and returned the hug.
"Thanks Chi." They stayed there on the roof, silently hugging for a long moment, both enjoying the others company. Something quietly landing disrupted that. Eli looked up slowly to see something that looked vaguely human standing on the edge of the roof. It looked at them, its blank red eyes lighting up for a second.
"Target acquired." Came the computerised voice.
All heads snapped up towards the ceiling inside Goten's living room. Bulma's face was confused as she watched the men through the screen, Vegeta approaching the screen.
"Eli…" he growled.
"Chico." Goten added.
"What's that they're fighting against? I don't recognise the signature." Goku added, stepping towards the window just as Chico fell past it, landing heavily. Goten didn't waste anytime in running for the front door, Goku close behind.
Goten helped the super saiyan Chico up off the floor, making sure she was alright. She tried to push him off.
"Eli!" she said and Goku was already backing up to get a good view of the roof where a red and gold blur was on the run from…something. It reminded him of Cell only it looked far more human. And it was winning.
The creature grabbed Eli's arm and pulled him in to meet his knee before flipping him over, through the tiled roof and into the twin's room. Goro looked up from his comic in shook as he saw Eli in his ultra form attempting to get up before the creature flung a blast into his back. Eli screamed and Goro jumped up to help, bursting into his super saiyan form. The creature barely paid attention to him as he threw the youngest boy out of the room before focusing on Eli. It pulled the boy up by his jumper's collar and lifted a blast up to his face. Eli flinched as he felt the heat tingling against his skin but the blast never hit him. Something tall and furry appeared next to the android and tore it's arm off, freeing Eli. Eli blinked slowly at the form of super saiyan four Goku before passing out and reverting back to his normal form. Goku gave the boy one look before focusing on the creature.
"Outside! Now!" he bellowed before the creature was kicked out side. Goku shot out after it, flying round to hit it into the ground from behind. Goku prepared to finish the creature off with his favourite attack when a blast hit him squarely in the back. Goku turned to see a second creature there waiting for him. It charged and started attacking with a flurry of punches that Goku was easily dodging until the first creature flew up and began to join in with it's good arm. The punches were beginning to come too fast for Goku to dodge, a leg coming out of nowhere to wind him before the barrage intensified. Goku roared as he tried to build up his power to blow them away but before they moved, the injured creature was kicked away. SSJ4 Goten had joined in. he nodded to his father before flying after the injured one.
Meanwhile in Satan City, something similar was happening at the Brief's apartment. Zara growled as she pushed the creature out of the window using her shield. She fell to her knees, breathing hard as Trunks approached her from behind.
"You ok?" he asked.
"Yea. Just worn out. Hurry up and kill that…thing," she replied, breathing hard. Trunks nodded and transformed, the monkey hair spreading down his arms and back as his hair grew out and his eyes turned red. He then shot straight out, after the creature. Zara sat back as she watched the exchange of blasts through the broken window.
"What's wrong with me?" she muttered.
Black and gold streaked hair shot past the final creature as super mystic Gohan prepared a final attack. His teal eyes flashed for a moment before his hand became outstretched.
"Kamehameha!" he screamed, the blast cutting right through the android. As the androids torso hit the floor – deactivated – Gohan regressed back into his normal state, his yellow glow fading. Fry slowly flew towards his father, looking down at the android wearily.
"…What was that thing? And why'd it attack us?" Fry asked, not daring to take his eyes off of the dead android.
"I don't know son…I don't know."
Not much of a fight, I know. Meh.
And the game was a reference to a story I just finished writing with my Boyfriend. Tonne of random stuff in it. Hopefully it'll get published…