Chapter 4: Meet the Twins
White. Nothing but swirling, shimmering White. He could feel himself moving. Whether he was crawling at a snails pace or hurtling at the speed of light, he did not know. After what seemed like hours of drifting like this, he saw a small point of blue appear ahead of him. The point quickly grew into a large circle, and Robbie slipped through.
"Ooph!" Robbie grunted as he crawled from the spinning portal…and immediately fell ten feet to the ground. He quickly checked himself for injuries, and, seeing none, he got to his feet. He found himself standing in a wide plain of rolling hills, broken only by a small lake in front of him, and a winding road to his right. Next he looked down and saw that his clothes, a pair of black Nike sneakers, blue Levis, and his favorite Metallica t-shirt, were covered in dirt and mud. "My Mom's gonna kill me!" he said aloud.
"Not if we do it first," said a calm, steady voice above him.
Robbie looked up, and stared directly into a pair of pale, ice-blue eyes only inches from his face. "Aaaah!" he screamed as he fell over backwards. From his new vantage point, he got a better look at the owner of the strange pair of eyes. He gasped in horror as he recognized the man standing before him as Android Seventeen. Robbie heard a soft crunch behind him and turned just in time to see Android Eighteen complete a graceful landing on the gravel beside the road.
"What the hell is this? You two shouldn't be here yet!" Robbie exclaimed.
"Why shouldn't we be?" Seventeen said. "There's no one on this planet strong enough to beat us."
"Everyone who tried is dead," Eighteen chimed in with a sneer.
"But there's no way you could've defeated Piccolo!"
"Oh yes, he was the first to try," Seventeen said.
"…And the first to die!" Eighteen laughed in agreement.
"What about Krillen?" Robbie continued.
"Dead of course," Eighteen said, "Even though he was kinda cute."
"Yamcha?"
"Dead."
"Tien?"
"Dead."
"Vegeta?!"
"Dead, Dead, Dead!" The android duo sang in unison.
"Even Goku?"
"He's dead too, but that wasn't us. Gero was responsible for that one." Eighteen said. That was when Robbie realized the horrible truth: he was in the devastated future timeline, and all the Z-fighters were dead. He had little time to contemplate this as a strong hand picked him up by his sides and carried him thirty feet into the air. He heard Seventeen's voice behind him.
"Hey sis! Let's do a little experiment. Let's drop him on the road and see how high he bounces!" Eighteen called back from the ground.
"That's boring. I'd rather judge his form in the high dive!" Robbie looked down and realized that he was hovering above the lake. Then, Seventeen let go and he plummeted, feet first, into the water. The freezing water surrounded him instantly, but he fought his way back to the surface. His head cleared the water, and as he was coughing it out of his lungs, he heard Eighteen call to him from the shore.
"Too bad! I only gave you a two!" She cackled evilly. Seventeen was standing next to her and held up four fingers. There was only one finger that Robbie wanted to show right now, but he held it back. These weren't teachers or principals, they were cybernetic warriors that could easily end his life on a whim.
Seventeen flew over to him, grabbed him by his collar and once again begin ascending into the sky. Robbie wondered how long they could keep this up. Maybe they'll get tired of me and leave me alone. Seventeen called down to Eighteen. "Are you happy now?"
"I guess," she said with a bored sigh, "do whatever you want."
"Alright," he was looking down at Robbie now, "think you're up for a little experiment? Yes? Good. We're going to drop you onto the road from a height of one hundred feet, then Eighteen down there will measure how high you bounce. Understood?" Robbie began to thrash wildly as the reality of his imminent death entered his mind. Seventeen was holding Robbie above the ground at the desired height. Eighteen called up. "Okay, let him go!" Then Robbie began a sickening freefall. Wind whistled past his ears as the ground rushed up for a final, crushing embrace.
…
Mirai flew low over the plains at supersonic speeds. Ever since Gohan's death and his Super-Saiyajin transformation, he had been following his bitter enemies, Androids Seventeen and Eighteen. He hadn't tried to fight them, not directly, because he still wasn't confident yet of his own power. The loss of his mentor and friend still weighed heavily on his mind. Still, he tried to help the broken victims that the Androids left in their wake. He heard on the radio that West City was under attack, and was now making his way there. He shuddered to think of the carnage he would find there, nothing but ruin, blood, death, and destruction. However, he was the only one who could do anything, so for Gohan, for his mother, for himself, he went on.
Then Trunks saw Them. He dropped down among the rolling hills to avoid being spotted. He then peeked out to see what they were up to. He saw a blonde-haired girl standing next to a small lake. "Eighteen," he thought to himself, "and wherever she is, Seventeen cannot be far behind." He sensed someone else, too. A very weak power signature. Then he saw who it was, a human boy who looked about as old as he himself was. Seventeen was holding him by the collar high above the road. Trunks waited to see what he would do. Then Seventeen let the boy go, and Trunks could wait no more. His power flared, and he shot from his hiding place, hoping he could reach him in time.
...
Robbie screwed his eyes shut and waited for the end, except it never came. No splatter, no sudden stop. Instead he was caught in midair. Robbie opened his eyes, expecting to see one of the androids, but ended up looking into the face of his greatest hero, Mirai Trunks.
"Trunks!" Robbie cried out with gleeful relief. This may not be so bad after all. Trunks is one of the strongest fighters in existence! If I can convince him to come with me, my world can still be saved!
"Hang on," Trunks said, and blasted off over the plains as fast as he could. The androids were stunned for a moment, but when they realized that their toy was gone and their fun was spoiled, they took off in hot pursuit. Trunks began to weave side to side as a barrage of energy blasts flew at him from his pursuers. Robbie could do nothing but hold on tight, and put his faith in his hero.
Trunks powered up farther, but not enough to injure the boy in his arms. He considered going Super-Saiyajin, but knew that his energy aura would kill the boy. Therefore he simply flew as fast as he could toward the mountains in the north, and beyond those, possibly West City. If he could get there, he might be able to lose them, but as long as he had the boy, he could not outrun them.
He reached the steep mountain and banked upward. The Androids mimicked his move, hanging back several hundred feet, and pelting the mountain face with more energy blasts. Trunks flinched as bits of rock struck his sides. He tried to shield his young friend, but some of the debris managed to get through, and Robbie was bleeding from several deep scratches before Trunks could get over the top of the ridge and out of the line of fire.
Robbie screamed in horror at the sight that greeted them on the other side of the mountain. Below them lay the ruins of West City. The Androids had destroyed every building, and slaughtered every living thing that they could find. It was a stark reminder to Robbie of what would happen if he failed. Trunks began a steep dive down into the streets and coasted over the ground, spraying dust and rubble to either side. Robbie looked back the way they had come. There was no sign of the Androids.
"See anything?" Trunks asked.
"All clear. We should find a place to hide." Robbie replied.
"Right." Trunks slowed to a stop on his feet, then turned and ran through a twisted mass of concrete and steel. There were bodies everywhere. The smell of scorched flesh was overwhelming. Trunks had seen this many times before, but Robbie had never seen a dead body, not even at a funeral. He began to retch violently onto the ground. Robbie finished and followed Trunks further into the devastated ruin. Suddenly, Trunks stopped, as if he heard something, then grabbed Robbie around the waist and pulled him into a niche in the wall of the passage. When they had settled down, Robbie heard voices just above him.
"Where are they?" Seventeen yelled, furious.
"Lost him again." Eighteen replied.
"Why does that guy keep trying to spoil our fun?"
"Could be we destroyed his best friend, his father, his world…"
"Okay! I get it. Still, if I ever get my hands on him…"
"Whatever, let's get out of here, I need a shower. This dust is making my hair dirty."
"You and your hair…" Then the voices disappeared as the Androids left.
Trunks waited ten minutes, then began to climb up through the rubble for a better look. He scanned the horizon in every direction. Sure enough, the Androids were gone. Behind him, Robbie was crawling out of the rubble, covered in rust stains and dirt.
"Hey, I think they're gone. Do you have family anywhere? I could take you to them." Trunks asked. Robbie didn't want to spill the beans right here, so he made up a response.
"No, my parents died when I was young, and the only other family I had was an aunt that I lived with, but the house was destroyed and she went with it." Robbie looked at the ground.
"I'm sorry. Do you need a place to stay?"
"Actually I do, what did you have in mind?"
"You can come stay at my place for awhile. We've got plenty of space and my mom's used to me bringing people home until we can find a place for them. Besides, she'll be able to look at those cuts of yours," he said, pointing to the oozing punctures and slashes on his arms and face.
"That's okay, if it won't be much trouble?"
"None at all. There are a lot of people like you these days, and I've tried my best to help as many of them as I can. It's the least I could do."
"Alright, let's go then." Robbie said.
"One more thing," Trunks asked, "I didn't catch your name."
"Robbie, Robbie Barnes."
"That's a strange name."
"Where I come from, so is Trunks." They both laughed out loud.
"Okay, kid. We'd better get going." Trunks scooped Robbie up and leapt into the sky. "Capsule Corp., here we come!"