Chapter 10
17´s island
To say it was a surprise would be an understatement. What they had expected was just Piccolo waiting for them here. Probably meditating or something like that.
Instead the were faced with him, Goku and Vegeta and their entire group, Lord Beerus and Whiz, the two Kaioshins, several People from Universe 6, including their God of Destruction and even a few people they had never seen before.
Under them a being who pretty much looked like Freeza and a dozen armored soldiers from different alien-races, who were at the moment closely guarded by Piccolo, Vegeta and Hit.
Who was also here was Dende, who Goku had bought here per Instant Transmission to talk with the time-travellers in person.
Krillin and 18 were even more surprised as one of the others introduced herself as a future-version of their daughter Marron. Still, after all they had seen, the thought was not even so unlikely, wasn´t it?
xxx
"So you are truly Freeza´s brother?" Goku said at the same moment to Cooler, who was still sitting in-between his captured crew. "And you came here to test yourself against Piccolo?"
"Yes."
"And the reason that we never heard of you was that your father banished you to the edge of the known universe?"
"Yes," Cooler answered again, this time a bit annoyed at the topic.
"You seem very strong to me, far more than your brother when I first met him," Goku stated.
"That is because in opposite to Freeza I have been training my entire life," Cooler responded.
Goku grinned.
"Your father had not been all too smart, wasn´t he?" he asked.
"No - he wasn´t?" Cooler replied.
xxx
The older Marron, who was just now laying her arms around her mother, looked nearly like Eighteen herself and could have easil been another sibling of her.
"Mom, Dad, Uncle 17 - I am so happy to see you," she said to them.
The younger Marron was just looking at her surprised, but seemed to take in the information quite easily.
While 17´s wife and children on their part were looking completely shocked.
"Well me -" Marron said to her younger self, "we have already seen the most crazy stuff. So this can not longer shock us, right?"
"Right," the younger Marron replied simply.
"That is kind of weird, isn´t it?" the younger Goten said to her.
"Very much," she agreed.
"I guess thinks like that are something will will just have to get used to from now on, right?" Ruby said to her husband.
"Believe me," Seventeen answered, "it was always going on like this."
He thought back about the time they had met the Z-fighters in Gero´s lab, being confronted by Cell, the space-poachers, the Tournament of Power, then the fight with Towa and Mira.
"You were usually just not there to see it," 17 added.
"Really Dad - your life is that interesting?" his son had asked him.
"From time to time - yes it is," 17 stated.
"Why are you here?" 18 asked now the older Marron and Goten. "And from how far in the future are you?"
"That´s what I want to know too," Vegeta stated.
"Nine Years," Marron replied.
"And you said most of us here are gone? We went to fight Demigra and never returned?" Goku asked.
This part especially caught 17´s and 18´s attention as well.
"When exactly did that fight happen? Gohan asked.
"About four years from now on," Goten said.
"What?" Vegeta hissed.
"So much for `we might have centuries,´ Beerus said with a scowl.
"Indeed," Whiz commented.
"Damn it," Champa called out, "just so little time."
"And you spend the next five years after that by yourself, fighting this 21 Person?" Chichi asked.
"Yes," Goten replied. "She and her forces are the one we are actually fighting right now."
"What about Pan?" Videl asked.
"And Bra?" Bulma added.
"Don´t worry - they are alright," Goten said, "and you are as well. Even if we all live in hiding places for the most part."
"She?" So 21 is a female Android like 18?" Krillin asked.
"Not like Eighteen," Goten responded. "She is… different. By what we have been told, she was some kind of experimental Arteficial Human."
"Experimental? In what way?" 17 wanted to know.
"She is more than Cell, but not quite. You know - a human base like you, but cells of other beings integrated," Marron explained.
"At least we still have four years to prepare, right?" Gohan stated
"Actually - not really no," Goten replied. "Before that, there will be another threat, very soon. One that is far more dangerous than 21."
"What kind of threat?" Vegeta asked.
"His name is Morro," Marron told them. "He is also called the Planet Eater."
"Planet Eater?" Tien asked. "That sounds concerning."
"It is," Goten said. "He is a dangerous Wizard. His most dangerous ability is to draw energy from other beings to make himself stronger."
"Like the Genki Dama?" Gohan questioned.
"It is a similar principle," Marron said. "But the Genki Dama only takes a bit of energy from each lifeform. Mostly excess energy that the being doesn´t need anyway or at least only as much as can be taken without causing permanent damage. Morro´s magic however takes all. It kills the lifeforms it is used on. And he used it on entire planets, leaving them lifeless husks, only to make himself stronger."
"Damn it," Yamcha whispered.
"Why have we never heard of this being before?" Vegeta asked.
"I have heard of him," Whiz stated. "Had he not been imprisoned by the Galactic Patrol for the last few millions of years?"
"He was," Goten confirmed. "But he will break out very soon, or maybe he already has. We were not completely sure about the date. So I fear you will have to deal with him first."
"Just great," Piccolo commented.
"Maybe they should tell us all the whole story again from the beginning," Dende suggested. "Let us start with this Morro and then come to Demigra and this Android 21."
"Whatever," Beerus said. "In opposite to Demigra, this other two are threat of the mortal world and not really our business. So we will leave this to you."
"Lord Beerus is right," Whiz agreed. "This Morro might have been able to survive millions of years through his magic, but he is not a deity. That means we are actually forbidden to interfere. Except by training you."
"We will leave for now," Beerus said. "Call us when Demigra becomes the topic again."
"The same goes for us," Champa told them.
"We will go as well," the Kaioshin told them. "We have to inform the other gods that Demigra and his followers will strike much earlier than expected."
"We will do the same," Vados told them.
"Wait - there is one more thing you should know," Marron called out.
"Yes?" the Kaioshin said.
"Demigra and his followers are trying to recruit allies, but not only in the mortal world. They are trying to convince some of the Gods of Destruction and Kaioshins to switch sides. There are two you have especially mentioned before you left - Quintella from Universe 4 and kaioshin Roh from Universe 9."
"Quintella and Roh - of course," Beerus said, "why does this not even surprise me? Thank you for that information."
"It is true," 17 confirmed. "After the fight we just had with one of Demigra´s servants called Towa and one of her underlings, Heles admitted that the two had offered her to join them and that she had refused. She had offered us to join them too, but we told her we were not interested."
"I see," Beerus remarked. "I guess that means they had `tested´ you as well, just like Goku and the others."
Seventeen nodded.
"They had not asked me," Champa declared.
"That is probably because they were not interested," Beerus commented.
"You…" Champa growled.
"One more thing," 18 said. "Before we left, Heles had asked us for a special favor. She told us that she wanted for her warriors to become stronger and asks us to tell her what trainigs-methods Universe 7 fighters are using."
"Do I understand this right - Heles asks us for help?" Beerus stated.
"Going by the threat we are all facing, I can hardly hold that against her," Kaioshin said.
"Given the situation, I think we should follow her request," the Elder Kaioshin mentioned.
"She also said that she will also asks Universe 11 for the same thing," 17 added.
"I guess you are right and we can do her that favor," Beerus said. "But for now we have other things to do."
With this Beerus, Whiz and the two Kaioshins and Kibito teleported away, leaving the rest of them behind.
Out of the gods, only Dende and Champa, along with Vados, were still there. The last two only because the Universe 6 Warriors were also interested to hear this story.
Buu, a few of them noticed, had fallen asleep, with his head resting against a rock and Yamcha and Videl with Pan in her arms standing close by.
xxx
"So - I believe now we should think about how to deal with this Morro and Android 21 for the moment," Gohan suggested a few minutes later.
Goten and Marron had by now repeated the first explanations they had first given, to Seventeen, Eighteen, Krillin and the others.
"How can there be another Android anyway? Doctor Gero died years ago," Goku said.
"Yes and we destroyed his lab and the computer that created Cell," Krillin mentioned. "So where does this one comes from after all those years?"
"That´s what I would like to know too," Yamcha said.
"Another lab? Some installation from the Red Ribbon Army that Gero had been using?" 18 suggested. "Cell had in his own timeline appeared nearly 20 years after Gero´s death. If there is another installation and it is automatized, then there is no telling what is still lying around there, just waiting to get activated."
This words sparked a bit of imagination in everybody around. If Cell could have been around, growing in an underground lab for decades, then yes - what else could there be?
"You are completely right Mom," Marron said. "There is another one. Not really a lab, but more an old construction fascility left from the time of the Red Ribbon Army… an automized facility," she added. "Doctor Gero had later reactivated and modernized it, for his own purposes.
After his death the fascility had been forgotten. But it seems the Computer was active and had reactivated 21 at one point."
"You said something about forces that this 21 possess. What kind of forces are that?" Gohan wanted to know.
"Well... you see," Goten started. "For one she has a small group of elder Androids that she has restored. Number 13, 14 an 15 I think. And..."
"In the future at least, she also had," Marron added, "… well…" They were both looking a bit awkward right now. "... she has made clones of you. Of most of the fighters at least."
"What?" Vegeta now said.
"You mean there is again somebody running around, looking exactly like me and fighting you? Goku asked.
"Not anymore," Goten replied. "We had destroyed the Goku clone some time ago. They might look like you, but they barely have a small fraction of your power and no independant thinking to speak of. In the end these clones are just cannon-fodder."
"We believe they were made from some of these genetic samples Gero had taken from you with that spy drones back then to create Cell," Marron explained. "And it seems they all had some kind of chip implanted in their heads to control them. That is at least what Bulma had told us."
"Damn it - actually something like that," Vegeta cursed. He seemed visible outraged at the thought.
"My guess is that none of these copies is all that strong in comparison to us, since we have reached the majority of our power only through training," Gohan stated.
"Yes - we came to the same conclusion. But they were never the true problem at all," Goten answered. "There is 21 herself. Trunks and I fought her once, but we didn´t manage to take her out, not even as Gotenks.
She stays mostly in the background, but she is incredible powerful. Not only that, the computer also combined her with cells of the Demon Buu. She possessess Buu´s regeneration and also his abilities to transform people - well into food - and to consume them to get stronger. She is dangerous, unpredictable."
"We think she is insane," Marron told them. "Maybe it were Buu´s cells that have driven her to madness, maybe she had been crazy from the beginning, we don´t know," she said.
"But she is not the only problem - or the greatest one," Marron continued. Then she staid silent for a few moments. "Mom, Uncle 17 - there are also two copies of you. "And they are much stronger than the regular clones. Goten and Trunks and a friend of us named Uub can deal with them quite easily. But they are far above what any of our human fighters can deal with."
"Really?" Seventeen remarked with a obviously annoyed undertone. "I guess they had been created in that Red Ribbon Installation you mentioned and are also doing evrything this 21 says."
"Yes," Marron replied.
His wife and children looked more than a bit disturbed at the thought of an exact copy of him doing willingless whatever some madwoman says.
"That is sick," the girl named Rei said.
"Since we were much stronger than most, when we were activated, I guess these knock offs are probably as strong as we were if we had never trained," 18 theorized.
"Yes - we believe the same," Marron said. "But all of that is not even the true problem. We could have possibly dealt with that all. If there wasn´t another thing, the greatest threat - 21´s ultimate weapon. not a clone, but the real being, that she had gotten under her control."
xxxxxxx
The new future-timeline - flashback
The figure of Gotenks - completely grown up and years older than the Fusion-Warrior was now - was levitating over a town that had been turned into a wrecked battle-zone.
Floating beside him was a dark skinned young man with a mohawk like hairstyle.
"Are you okay?" he asked Gotenks.
The Fusion was breathing heavily. He was in his SS3 form and had just unleashed an incredible powerful attack, that could have wiped out the star-system dozens of times over.
And enough to vaporize the enemy in front of them.
"I am. Don´t worry Uub," Gotenks replied. It was clear that he could not hold out much longer and even then, his fusion time was running anyway.
But it still was not enough. The both were watching how small specks of a pink substance and smoke were gathering before them and started to reform themselves, starting to take the form of a pink colored leg.
"21," Uub said.
"We have to try to stop her from regenerating," Gotenks called out.
But before they even had the chance to do anything, Uub was suddenly his by a blast in the back. It was a Death Beam.
As Gotenks turned around, he saw a very familiar figure in the air behind him.
"Free..." he said.
xxxxxxx
Flashback end
"Freeza," Marron said.
"What?" Vegeta called out.
"What?" Cooler - who was still under guard along with his soldiers - called out in a very similar manner.
He and the saiyan exchanged a short surprised look.
"21´s helpers must have, after your last fight, discovered his body and they had restored him and... brought him under her control."
"Like the clones?" Piccolo questioned.
"Yes."
"They have Freeza?" Cooler said, visible angry.
"I thought you did´t like your brother?" Piccolo asked.
"I don´t like him, but that doesn´t mean that it doesn´t matter to me if some lunatic turns him into a brainless puppet," he responded.
"That was also the reason why you offered your help in our timeline when you heard about this and tried to help us to take him down," Goten mentioned. "Sadly you didn´t succeed."
They all realized what this statement must mean. Cooler frowned at the thought that he was probably dead in that future… and by the hand of a Freeza, who had been turned into a marionette.
"There is another interesting fact about 21," Marron told them. "It is probably not that important, but we know a small group of people who had met her before a long time ago. Well, not really her, but the human person she was created from."
"Really?" Bulma asked, "and who are these guys?"
"That´s just is it. They are living in your home. It is the Pilaf Gang."
xxxxxxx
Prison Installation of the Galactic Patrol
It was the most secured cell in the most secure part of the prison.
And here, in this place, was sitting a single sinister looking figure. This being looked like how some cultures imagined the picture of a demon. Long horns on his forehead, with a long bull like face, a thin humanoid body. And the creature was looking old.
The neighboring cells were all empty. It was as if the Galactic Patrol wanted to give him this part of the prison all for himself.
Better said, they didn´t dare to place someone into the cells next to him, out of fear their lives would be sucked out, making him stronger.
Barely anyone ever saw him eye to eye, except for automatic drones who brought food and water. The officers were only talking to him through the communication systems.
So the prisoner was just sitting here.
Today however something happened what never happened before. He had a visitor.
"Morro," a voice said to him.
"Yes," he answered, "I hear you."
"My name is Towa…" the voice said, "and I want to give you an offer. I can help you to get free. So that you can regain your old power... and more, much more. In exchange "we would only ask you for one small thing."
"Oh yes - and what would that be?" Morro asked, now curious.
"Could you kill a certain group of people?"
This chapter was mostly build up for what comes later.
I have finally included the Morro Arc. I was not quite sure here, since the arc plays after the anime is over and is not even finished yet.
It could here however play out completely different than in the manga, alone because of the time-travel plot.
With this, there are also a lot of potential Arc- and side-villains introduced for this arc - 21, Morro, Freeza etc. Who the real main threat will be, will be revealed over time.
The idea with the clones comes from the game FighterZ, like there they will however only play a minor role.