Disclaimer, in case it wasn't obvious. I don't own Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, or really any other property. Thank you.

The Cataylst

Act VI

Chapter 80: Spartacus

Son Gohan: May 11th

When his father had collapsed to the ground, clutching his chest, Gohan could only remember the hysterical screaming his mother had gone into. It was still echoing in his mind. Tien had gotten his dad to the couch and Yamcha had tried to calm Chi-Chi down. Gohan had been there at his father's side, and was the first one to remember his medication. Charging through the house, Gohan had found it hidden away under the mantle where his father kept the 4-star dragon ball, whenever he had the chance to find it.

Here they were, 2 hours after they'd finally got him medicated, and his dad was finally asleep in bed. His hands were still shaking. This happened just before… just before they had to fight the Androids. Right now, he knew his father was the best fighter, but it wasn't just about their chances. His dad was laying on a couch, and none of them were sure if he was going to survive. The instructions on the bottle said it could take two weeks for the medication to finish doing its job, and that was provided everything went right. From what he could tell, this wasn't a sure-thing, though he certainly hoped it was.

Dad, you've got to pull through.

He was tired and he needed sleep, especially since he was going to be one of the ones out there tomorrow. But he couldn't sleep right now, not with knowing what was happening to his dad. Tien and Yamcha had found a way to fall asleep. And his mom had finally gotten to bed next to his dad now. The only ones still awake were him and Krillin. Krillin looked totally out of it too. It was strangely fitting. He felt like he was next to Krillin again on Planet Namek, awaiting the next threat to come around the corner. But now they were just as helpless as when they watched Frieza beating Vegeta to death.

"Everything's going to be alright," Krillin said, trying to convince both of them.

"Yea," Gohan answered, looking over at his friend before looking at the ground. "But… But… Not only does dad need to pull through, tomorrow… without dad… I.. I don't know if we can…"

Even if he was angry with his dad not doing anything about Vegeta… his dad was still his dad, and he was worried more than anything.

Shaking his head slowly, Gohan felt his anxiety rising. It was something he started to feel after Vegeta had nearly killed him after Namek. All the worries he had trouble dealing with, his mom said, were anxiety. Normally it couldn't paralyse him, but right now he felt utterly powerless. What were they going to do? Could Piccolo and Turles be enough? The future people seemed to imply that they needed his dad. Did they mean his dad specifically? Or did they mean they just needed to be prepared? Or were the Androids going to need to fight his dad and couldn't? There were too many questions he didn't have an answer to.

The front door opened as Krillin turned his attention first, before looking relieved.

"We've got a big problem," Krillin said immediately. "Goku's been hit by that virus thing. I thought it was supposed to happen a year ago, at least that's what the future guys said."

"What? Goku's sick? How bad is it?" Piccolo's voice responded.

Gohan immediately felt relief. The three people he felt like he could trust the most at the moment were Piccolo, Turles, and Raditz. All of them had been looking out for him in their own way. Piccolo being here, just his very presence, felt like it lifted a burden off his shoulders. If anyone would know what to do, it was Piccolo.

"He's dying," Gohan answered quietly.

When the words came out, he could see him break the spell of delusion for himself, and Krillin in the same moment. His friend just shut his eyes painfully and let his head bow down.

"We don't know if he's going to pull through," Krillin admitted. "One thing is for sure though. He's not going to be able to fight tomorrow."

That was another awakening. Even when he'd said it before, it didn't feel real until Krillin said it just now. His father was dying, and would not be there with them when they faced the Androids tomorrow. It felt increasingly hopeless.

The look of concern on Piccolo's face was unmissable, but he was trying to keep himself composed. If he didn't have something good to say about this, it was going to be all the more disastrous. They'd need Raditz to be there for sure now, but… what if Vegeta showed up too? Was he coming as well? What if Vegeta showed up? That could spell more problems than solutions with his dad being like this!

"I see," Piccolo finally said, formulating what he was going to follow up with. The pause only lasted a few seconds before he spoke. "The people from the future who came here, they brought medication, did you-?"

"Yea, we gave him the medicine," Krillin confirmed. "But he's still totally out of it. When he's awake he just gasps for breath and makes pained noises. It's… it's hard to see."

Gohan knew Piccolo had spoken with the time travelers before, he needed to know something which he knew only he had a chance of knowing.

"What happens if my dad's not there tomorrow?" Gohan asked, staring at Piccolo in the eye.

"… According to the travelers, if you're father's not there, the Androids go on a rampage across the face of the Earth until they found out for themselves that was dead. It spread chaos and destruction, before they moved on to begin trying to hunt down the other fighters for sport."

Lowering his head, Piccolo took his turban off a moment later before looking out the window at the morning sunrise.

"I think we might be strong enough after all our training to stop them. My power's grown, a lot, so has everyone's. Turles as far as I can tell, is just as strong as your father, even if he's not as good of a fighter. With the rest of you supporting us, we might have a chance…"

Something crossed Gohan's mind right away. They were going to go on a rampage? Killing innocent people and destroying cities around the world? What if they only revealed themselves once they saw his dad? They might be hard to trace if they could destroy a city from within. Didn't they just look like people? That's why they were androids. It was easy for his imagination to go wild with giant machine-men covered in metal and muscle, but that was probably not what they were.

Maybe they blow the city up to attract dad?

"Dad needs to be there tomorrow," Gohan said after a moment.

"That sounds great, Gohan," Krillin said sadly. "But I think that short of a miracle, that's not possible. I don't even know if the Dragon Balls could do it, and those are gone."

Before he could explain further, Piccolo was staring at him seriously before sighing. Krillin seemed to stare at him a second later before both of them spoke up at the same time.

"You can't be serious."

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King Cold:

"I can promise the two of you, that my plans will be more than adequate to empower the three of us beyond our wildest dreams. Perhaps even more!" Garlic assured him.

How he despised this little whelp. The creature had gone to the ruins of Planet Namek only a few weeks prior on his own, and claimed to have discovered the greatest key to victory could have ever hoped for. It was the same irritating speech he'd heard a thousand times over from subjects who should have known better than to irritate him, or Cooler. Unfortunately, Cooler wasn't here to deal with this bothersome child-like creature. The titanic figure just glared down at the whelp and nearly growled with annoyance.

"Tell me, creature, do you think me a fool? If all of this power was at your fingertips, why would to share it with my son and I? And why would you avoid sharing it with your first ally, the Namekian?" Cold asked bluntly. "He has clearly seen your effort as a fool's errand, hasn't he?"

There was silence from the other Catalyst who looked increasingly annoyed himself.

"You fools don't understand what we have if we combine our efforts!"

Pointing his finger at the creature, King Cold unleashed a purple coloured death beam. It punctured the little monster, who collapsed to the ground in a heap. He knew of the creatures supposed immortality, and didn't care. This thing had petitioned him four times now for the same thing. He wanted an army of his soldiers to begin clearing worlds for them to plant seed for a tree that would barely empower them more than a few hundred thousand. What would he care? What point where there?

As it started to move, he felt the urge to open fire again, but the imp just glared up at him with red, furious eyes.

"You rule a galactic empire of hundreds of worlds," Garlic spat. "Don't you understand scale?"

Keeping his composure, King Cold glared down at him again, this time rising from his throne. Of course, he understood scale. His mighty hand stretched out across the cosmos in every form. Politics, economics, and military were at his beck and call. Even with Frieza's death, Cooler had stepped into filling his younger son's role with grace. They would avenge Frieza's death, but to do that he estimated they would need to double their power. Unfortunately, he was too old to do so easily.

"You are an infantile creature from a backwater world, with a power level that barely supersedes my son's previous lieutenants, what makes you believe you understand anything of scale?"

An irritated noise escaped the vermin before the creature pulled itself to its feet.

"Because the seeds from this tree of might, can be used on an industrial scale," Garlic said. "It's not that one planet will make a difference. Who cares? But spread out over a half dozen worlds. Then with more seeds harvested, over a hundred worlds, then a thousand."

Red eyes turned to meet red eyes as King Cold listened intently to what the creature had to say. He was in fact, correct, in what he was saying, but there was an important thing to estimate as well. What were the odds that this Garlic creature would become significantly stronger, as a result of this? Stronger than them? Even if not, if he was truly immortal… it would be setting up their own demise. King Cold was no fool, when it came to politicking, when it came to arrangement and position.

In helping this creature, he would be signing his own death warrant.

"No," Cold said simply. "I think not. My son and I will not be endorsing this plan of yours. If you believe in its merits so much, you may pursue it yourself."

"You are going to need more power," Garlic challenged in response. "You don't fully understand. With what King Piccolo has done recently, he is stronger than both you and your son. He won't need either of you soon. Only I will be useful from my ability to traverse the Dead Zone!"

That was an intriguing notion, wasn't it? How did this weak Namekian gain so much power, he was left to wonder? It could very well simply be a lie. None of their factions within this idea of a Catalyst were particularly… honest. Still, so what if the Namekian decided he didn't need them any longer?

"I fail to see why this is a concern to me," King Cold commented, returning to his throne and sitting upon it, looking down at the riff-raff who'd entered his presence.

"Oh, but you should be concerned, mighty King," Garlic remarked. "For one very simple reason. Our dear friend Piccolo, wants to control the universe for himself. Only he doesn't want what you or I would want. We want an empire; you already have one. King Piccolo wants anarchy. No rules, no order, no empires at all, just savagery and violence on every world he touches. With his new power, once he finishes with Son Goku and his friends at a time of his choosing, do you not think he'll want to bring that chaos to your empire?"

Cold listened intently, his lip curling with an anger that was slowly forming. This thing might have had a point. But it still created a problem, namely, that empowering him at the same time as the other one was a problem. And imprisoning him seemed impossible as well, so he could not simply take the seeds for his own and avoid sharing them. Even if they started this without him, he would find a way to steal his portion regardless, if not more.

"I will take your argument under consideration," Cold commented, before pointing at the demon one last time.

Immediately the imp cringed, putting his arms up defensively.

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Turles:

One more day. In fact, less than a day. The following morning, he was going to be in a struggle for life and death. Confidence was on his side at the moment, just knowing what he was. But there was something the Namekian had proven to him yesterday, overconfidence was something that could all too easily undo him. If the Androids were the same power as the Namek, which wasn't his own strength even, he could have lost. Getting sloppy was the last thing he needed tomorrow. He needed to goad out their true strength and see where they measured, before going in for the killing blow.

That was the best course of action, given he didn't know their fighting style or power level. He was going to need to be on the defensive first, unless there was an obvious weakness to exploit.

"Great plan," Bardock informed him. "You won't be able to sense their energy either. You're going to need to gauge their strength by how hard they hit."

What?! They have no measurable battle power? How is that possible?

"They don't use ki, they use electronics. It's not he same thing. I've seen it play out before."

What do they look like then?

There was silence on the other side of the line as Turles slowly began to scowl. What? Was that going to interfere with events if he knew too much? Bardock couldn't even see new futures anymore. Waiting for almost five minutes, Turles felt himself grit his teeth before pacing through his apartment for almost a full minute afterwards.

Fine, be an asshole. I don't like these fights being harder than they have to be, you know! If you know what's showing up, tell me. Bardock? Bardock!

The other side was gone, like a com-link that'd been deactivated. Growling, Turles stormed over to the fridge, pulling the door open and grabbing an apple. Before he took a bite into it, there was a pause as his ears picked up voices outside his apartment. From the balcony specifically. They were more than familiar as well.

"Is he home? I can't sense his power?" a human male asked.

"He usually keeps his power suppressed here. But he should be home."

"He's here, I can hear him. Just stay quiet. I'll do the talking."

Striding over to his door with determination, Turles opened the door and gave his nephew a furious glare more than anything. He could see him immediately shrink before he cast the Namekian a glare, and ignored the human, Krillin. So, this was the way that his brat of a nephew kept his word? He promised not to be a snitch, as far as Turles was concerned. And coming by his property like this, with two idiots in tow, particularly ones he couldn't stand, was most definitely snitching.

"This would qualify as ratting," Turles pointed out to Gohan coldly. "Especially since I didn't want the Namekian to come around my property and drink all of my water."

"I don't drink piss," Piccolo responded coolly.

There was tension immediately as Turles's attention focused back on the Namek immediately. Oh, so this was going to be one of those kinds of interventions. They'd come to his humble home to demand something of him, hadn't they? The real question was where was Kakarot? That was going to be a vital component in this little charade. Turning his attention back to Gohan, he noticed something was off.

"Uncle Turles," he started. "I didn't want to tell them, but we needed to find you. We're low on time and dad's… dad's…"

Oh, something was most definitely wrong. Even more interestingly, something was wrong with Kakarot, no less. On the eve of the attack by the Androids? A training incident? Was Kakarot dead? He was fairly certain how he felt about that. It was something he'd not believe. He'd just been there the other day.

"He's dead?" Turles asked, searching all three of their features rapidly, looking for any sign of the fatality's confirmation.

Instead, it was the Namek who shook his head.

"Goku's fallen victim to a virulent heart virus, he might die. But he won't be able to fight tomorrow, definitely," Piccolo confirmed to him. "This is going to complicate things tomorrow."

Damn right it was going to complicate things. They were going to be down a Super Saiyan, and one just as strong as he was. What that meant was up in the air, but he was already trying to keep his thoughts on the battle to come. If Bardock would cooperate, that would have made things easier definitely. Well, this was mixed news, and it was important how he played this.

"One of the problems is, we need Goku to be there tomorrow to control the situation," the Namek followed up. "We have an idea of how they'll respond if Goku's not in the proximity of the city. From what I understand, when they couldn't lure Goku out in the other timeline, they went on a rampage."

So what?

Firstly, what did he care if these machines went on some rampage? The humans of this world meant very little to him. Certainly, he'd not gone out of his way to kill or murder them at this point. However, he wasn't' their stalwart defender either. Why they were telling him this was beyond him anyway.

"So, you want to prop Kakarot up in a chair and float him out to the battlefield? I'd not recommend it," Turles remarked with an appropriate amount of snark in his tone. "I fail to see why this is my problem. I'll be there tomorrow to deal with the Androids, if they get out of hand who cares? They'll be well in hand once I crush their skulls in my hands."

There was an awkward moment that passed as Turles looked between the three of them. Something was going unsaid and he wasn't being informed about what their particular issue was.

"What? Don't tell me you don't want to kill the Androids. If you people are that weak, and Kakarot's not around, then I'm not interested in working with you anyway," Turles scoffed.

"That's not the issue," the short, bald human spoke. "It's not about killing the Androids or anything. It's that we need Goku to show up tomorrow."

"The midget won't speak to me, he's not earned the right," Turles said bluntly, not even looking at him.

The human he could tell, shrank with his words, stepping back reluctantly and nervously. Good, the last thing he needed was to be talked at by someone like that. His nephew was strong, and a Saiyan, even if he'd broken their little pact. The Namekian was powerful enough that he could speak plainly to him.

"Enough," Piccolo told the others before looking at Gohan, who slipped off a backpack he'd not even noticed. "For tomorrow's outing, we're going to need you to be cover for Goku."

Cover for Kakarot? I already am going to the fight-

When Gohan pulled out a set of orange clothes from his backpack confusion settled in almost immediately.

"Mom said she thinks this set should fit you. I know you keep a bit more muscle on your frame than dad, and mom said this was when dad was doing the same after he got back from Namek. If it's not a perfect match that should still be fine, most of these are pretty baggy."

Reaching out with his arms, his nephew tried to pass him the set of clothes. It didn't immediately dawn on Turles, but some glimmer of it was.

"Why are you giving me Kakarots clothes?"

"Because, you're going to be Goku," the Namekian said to him bluntly.

Not grabbing the clothing, Turles immediately sneered at the Namek.

"You want me, to dress up as Kakarot? You can't be serious."

"The two of you look exactly the same," Krillin remarked.

"Insult me like that again, human, and you'll look like a watermelon dropped off a balcony," he said coolly, causing the human to step back nervously.

"Uncle Turles," Gohan's voice cut in. "Please. We need to do this."

Looking down at his nephew, before looking at the other two, Turles could see their reasoning clearly now. The urging of his nephew was persuasive, and he hated that it was. The human being here was almost enough for him not to do it, just on the principal that he didn't want to look like he caved in front of a lesser warrior. Reaching out his hand, he grasped the top of the folded pile of clothes, pulling the orange fabric into his fingers.

This stuff feels cheap.

He was used to wearing finer human attire when possible, and Kakarot's penchant for living like a mountain hermit wasn't exactly endearing to him. Internally swearing before he did anything further, he looked at the three of them seriously.

"Not one word to Kakarot about this, understand?"

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Author's Notes:

I'll leave this with just one sentence.

What. Could. Go. Wrong?

I wrote this chapter to add a bit of Dragon Ball's lighter elements back into the story, and because I think it's funny as shit that Turles is going to pretend to be Goku.

Man, I've gotten up to Chapter 87 written now. So, there will be updates weekly for at least a month. I'm going to be switching focus to The Long Road mostly once I get to Chapter 92ish I suspect, maybe a bit sooner.

Update day is being chapter to Sunday's between 0:00 to 12:00 because my work schedule is making updates on weekdays harder. The week I update the Long Road this month, I won't update The Catalyst. Just letting you know! Only like, one of the chapters I've written after this one is short. It's crazy. I think I've written like 130 pages XD

I do appreciate reviews, as everyone knows, so if you're enjoying the story let me know. If you hate the story, it must have been hard to read a half a million words. I apologize :(

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Reviewers:

SSJ1998: It was super fun to write too. Piccolo's the least likely person to put up with Turles's shit, and just doesn't. lol.I think Bulma's attitude unfortunately is coming closer to Vegeta's, as his is coming to hers. Situations are unfortunately like that, sadly. Raditz has a few bit moments in the 80's, but he's going to be a big stand out in the 90's. But I don't want to spoil, lol.

Blades of Fury: Man are the Androids coming. So much Android violence on the way, lol. I'd love to have Goku and Turles vs. 17 and 18, but I can't promise it. Plots gotta go where plots gotta go, lol.

Pyromania101: Red Lobster Revolution!

ILiekFishes: You're going to love the 80's chapters. Lol

Kacarrot: I've really focused in on just writing one story, and I've not been painting as much. Work is still eating tons of my time but I really wanted to get my mind off of it, writing helps. I've been gaming less giving me more time for writing.

Warga: Ooooooofffffff

Anonymously96: Vegeta is definitely stronger than Turles and Kakarot right now. The problem is, of course, can Vegeta maintain that? (No he can't) lol. Turles you'll be surprised, has a few of his own learning experiences throughout this, you might be surprised what he gets up to. :P Though we're just talking Goku and Turles. IS Vegeta the strongest? That's a good question. XD

Super Mystic Gohan: Raditz is being forced to move away from his wants because of reality. If he could, he'd kill Vegeta, Bulma, and baby Trunks/Tarro. He's just beaten down at this point. I've got his plot planned out up to the Buu Saga, he's probably got the best moment in the story at that Saga. :D

Instinct: You're absolutely correct. And if you think I just let characters let go of a grudge without some real pain, you've not read The Long Road, XD.

Thomas-The-TMC: Piccolo is a badass, I don't write him that way, that just the way he be! Lol. Raditz is pretty sly, but he's also just not very strong at the moment, but he does have some fun coming up.

Mouse From Hell: You're welcome.

Luke: They've got Goku at the start of the fight though! Lol

Guest: Oh man, it's gonna be so good starting next chapter, lol.

DarkFalconZ: I wish he had too. But trust me, you're going to love Piccolo's arc in this Saga. I'd actually say it's my favourite. I'm deliberately not writing from his perspective for a little while… but something fun is coming.

TheItchyCocoon: Vegeta's got a lot of cool moments coming up. Especially given he's a bit stronger than in the canon (but only a bit). Goku is minimally stronger, but he definitely is, and Piccolo is stronger by a fair bit. Piccolo would have beat Cooler back when he landed on Earth, for instance. Tien, Yamcha, and Krillin trained with Goku, Piccolo, and Gohan, so they're stronger too, but I don't know if that really matters in the long run unfortunately.

Full Power: I think I sent a PM, but I'll do a bit of a write up here, great review! I really enjoyed the Android Saga, it's my second favourite behind The Frieza Saga, so I'm definitely on board with the darker themes and tones behind it. I like the haunted, traumatized nature of the Androids. Ironically, even Gero himself is, even canonically, a damaged person who is lashing out because his son got killed. Twenty-One falls a bit into the background for a little while, but she's going to rise to prominence again. So. Many. ANDROIDS. Lol. I look forward to the 90's once the casts are going to be a bit more manageable to let more depth get written into each character. Vegeta and Trunks have a great arc coming up too. So many good things coming. 17 and 18 are going to have a great go of it too, lol

Red Power: Vegeta's gonna just win every battle. I mean, he's the strongest being alive right now. Why would he lose to anyone? lol