Another Path
The next chapter of my story. Thanks for the reviews.
But seriously, forget about cannon power levels. The only powers I even take into account are only those of the Saiyan Saga up to the end of Frieza Saga and even those can change, depending on what I want for the story.
Chapter 16: Retreat
Goku shot forward with fifty times the speed of a rocket at the grey-haired android. 13 grinned, taking their fight up in the sky away from any possible meddler. The Super Saiyan fired fast punches and kicks, but all of them were swated aside very easily. Goku tried to fire a punch to the face but the android ducked down and fired a gut punch that sent the Saiyan backwards. Goku halted his flight and tried to fight back with a mighty roundhouse. But his blow went through an after-image, the real android coming from behind him with a descendant axe strike to the back of the head.
Goku was shot down from the sky, but controlled his flight and returned to the scene. The fight had lasted for a few minutes, but Goku felt his breath laboured a bit already. That was weird.
"What's the problem Goku? Tired already? I was barely warming up" The machine said taunting with his south accent, the wind moving his long grey hair.
"I doubt a machine can have warm-ups when they are not even alive!" The first Super Saiyan replied angrily, his aura bursting with power. His chest was absorbing oxygen faster than normal. Something was very wrong. The Android was powerful, Goku didn't need to feel his energy to know that, but it was impossible that just a brief fight had started wasting his energy reserves. He could go for hours if he wanted.
"Uh, that was very rude, boy" the android said with faked mocking. He then smirked "But of course, I don't give a damn being alive. I'm the most powerful android ever designed to kill you" The robot shot a fast fist that took Goku by surprise right in the guts, bending the Saiyan over in pain and spitting some blood from his lips. A following uppercut sent the Super Saiyan careening even higher in the air, as the Android reappeared in his path, firing a descendant axe strike. The Super Saiyan was shot down, though the android stopped Goku's falling by grabbing him from his orange clothes' collarbone "Anything you do, any technique you try on me, I already know how to counter it without missing. You are just going to die like Dr Gero always wanted!"
"If I hadn't heard that before" The golden fighter replied, his energy going down without explanation. The Super Saiyan's aura brighten up, Goku firing a knee blow to the belly. Yet it barely caused 13 to back step two feet more surprised than injured.
"Guess you can make this funny for a few minutes" The Android grinned, as he attacked again. Goku was barely keeping ahead of the blows, each of them draining his ki energy away. But it wasn't the attacks. It had to be something else.
Vegeta floated in front of the blonde woman, who was barely paying any attention to the also-blonde fighter Saiyan.
"So you are the terrible android that would supposedly kill me in cold blood?" Vegeta said to the blonde girl, who had a small ice smile on her face, looking at her finger nails "I'm quite disappointed"
"Don't be it, Vegeta" The woman retorted with an icy tone of taunting, her eyes still on her unpolished fingers "Because I will indeed kill you" The prince clutched his teeth in annoyance, having enough of mocking. He was the strongest in the universe after all.
The Super Saiyan Vegeta shot forward frowning, going for a punch to the face. The android received the attack full on the forehead, her body sent down and backwards through many rocks. The Super Saiyan accelerated towards her, landing even more blows over her machine body with lightning speed. A kick to the back sent the woman up in the sky, who back-flipped and regained balance, not scratched yet.
"How about this? You give up now and I'll turn you into something useful, like a waffle machine" The Super Saiyan displayed his dark humor, not amusing the woman. 18 shot forward with a front and well-aimed fist but Vegeta created an after image while smirking, and a second later an axe strike to the woman's head came from above, sending her down to the ground that caved a crater on impact on the blasted city.
"So much for deadly machines" Vegeta said, folding his arms. But a noise took his thoughts away, as the woman rose up. Her clothes were tattered, but there was no blemish of wound or stain of blood on her skin. The android shot upwards faster than Vegeta's super senses could detect, landing a full head-butt into the prince's chin. The Royal Saiyan recoiled in pain, rubbing his near-broken skull.
"That was quite refreshing for me. But I think I should stop holding back. How about you stop playing and go serious?" The woman said, taking her ragged blue jacket away, now only wearing a black-stripped white clothe. The blonde Saiyan opened his eyes in amazement. Was she really holding back? He was giving his full "By the look on your face I can see you were already serious. So lame" The next thing Vegeta knew he was receiving a kick to his back followed by a roundhouse to the face that sent him careening away bleeding and bruised. The blows had been so swift that they seemed almost instantaneous from the Saiyan's point of view. He back flipped in mid-air but as soon as he regained coördination, the blonde was already in front of his enemy, one of her elbows, sharp-embbed into Vegeta's guts. The prince's mouth spat blood, feeling his energy getting weaker as he bent over in agony. 18 fired her other elbow with a descendant strike that sent the Prince down hard into the ground.
She smirked, throwing both of her hands forward, charging purple energy. She fired a continuous barrage of purple blasts, homing into the fallen Saiyan. The energies rained down from above, clouding everything with a storm of smoke.
Both Gohan and Piccolo shot towards the male android 17, who easily flew backwards, dodging their combined party of punches. The young Super Saiyan fastly aimed a kick to the guts, though 17 banished of sight. Piccolo acurated his other senses, knowing that ki detection wasn't an option to use. His super keen hearing allowed him to catch the enemy a few meters away, as the Namekian was instantly firing his Special Beam Cannon towards him. The Android had just reappeared when the drilling attack hit him dead on.
As the smoke cleared, the android was still there, only his clothes slightly burned.
"Wow, guess good old doctor forgot to add a few numbers on his maths. You both are stronger than his original thoughts" The male android commented, just a bit surprised while smoke rose around his still-not-injured body "Still, both of you are nothing compared to me" He accelerated with a dash of light speed, arriving in front of Piccolo in the split of a second. The Namek never saw him coming, and neither saw the sharp elbow that drove into his guts, forming a bulge on the Namekian's back. The green fighter spat blood from his mouth, as he drifted into complete unconsciousness.
"Not much of a challenge" The android said, Piccolo's body falling on the ground unmoving.
"Piccolo!" Gohan yelled, his aura bursting with a brighter color. Seeing his teacher on the ground caused Gohan to stare murderous into his male enemy. The Super Saiyan suddenly teleported in front of his enemy, landing a full punch to the face. The machine never saw him coming, his senses shocked inside his brain by the sudden acceleration. The machine cleaned a trickle of blood from his mouth, grinning a bit. He ducked down a forward punch, delivering his own into Gohan's guts. The Saiyan grimaced as he never expected his enemy to be so powerful. However, he remained footed, ignoring his injures. He kept attacking, his android enemy barely interested in parrying the weak blows.
Krillin and Chaotzu flared their auras at Kaioken times fifty, their bodies not strained a lot by that. Their training in the Other World had paid off amazingly. But even with their amazing power-up capable of reduciong the Cold family into ashes, the combined short fighters were barely holding against the also-short android enemy. 15 was parrying their combined attacks, his machine reflexes already adapted against the Turtle and Crane martial arts movement. Yet why they were so powerful so suddenly was something the Super Computer didn't know.
The two short human fighters were pouring down as much blows as they could against their enemy. But the green-hatted machine kept himself indented and blemish-less, dodging and parrying faster and stronger than both of his enemies combined. Chaotzu fired a telekinetic blast but 15 already knew about that kind of technique and super sped from behind him, landing a short fist to the kidneys and a fast axe strike to the head that sent the Crane student to smash the ground with a shock wave. His distraction, however, gave Krillin the time to teleport in front of him, his hands cupped right.
"Kamehameha!" The blue attack sent the surprised Android blasted away for miles, some of his clothes burning. Chaotzu recovered and went back to his feet, both humans side by side.
"Alright Chaotzu, time to go one hundred percent serious" The Turtle student said a bit joking and serious.
"You think we should?" The short face-painted fighter replied, not very sure. Their machine enemy was already back in scene, not tired at all. He was drinking an alcoholic drink from his trunk.
Both short humans focussed their eyes, ki swelling up from their insides.
"Kaioken times one hundred!" The two fighters enchanted, their bodies igniting. Their muscles bulked dangerously. 14's mechanic sensors detected another power spike. The earth fighters strained to hold the burning power and not black out instantly.
Without warning and compassion, the short Crane student fired his hands forward, a devastating telekinetic attack going into his enemy. This time there was no possible dodge. The ground shook under the raw power, chuncks of soil blasted away along with the machine, who was now away and dented inwards. Krillin rose his left arm up, his right hand with two fingers on his forehead. The energy gathered on his hand, and he teleported behind his enemy.
"Destructo Disk!" The monk enchanted firing his hundredfold energy attack. The machine no longer smiled, the slicing energy bisecting him in the waist. The two halves fell on the ground.
"Now!" Krillin yelled. The fighters shot their hands forward, blasting the splitted machine into nothing but wires. The humans fell on their backs, knocked out cold. Only chips and batteries remained from the enemy.
Tien and Yamcha made their own team-up against the giant 14, who was handling the two fighters easily. As much as Tien and Yamcha tried, the Kaioken augmented fifty times wasn't doing anything on their favor. The grey-skinned machine remained with his grumpy face, parrying the attacks away with no trouble. Tien went from behind with a descendant elbow to the head and Yamcha fired an uppercut to the chin. Yet the Android disappeared with super speed, the humans attacks going into each other. Both fighters recoiled by the sudden friendly fire, 14 grabbing both of them by the neck. He yelled and rose them up from the ground. With a hammer motion he slammed the humans hard into the ground, running a tremor through the island. The fighters grimaced in pain, but took their advantage to teleport away from their prison. The grumpy Android suddenly looked confused. His sudden inattention allowed the teleporting humans to land a double knee strike to the back of his head. The grumpy machine went forward for a few steps, but spun around and fired a barrage of deadly green spheres.
The humans weren't fast enough, barely covering themselves with their crossed forearms, a rain of energy going down on them. The smoke cleared and the humans were still standing, burns and scorches over their bodies, their clothes ragged.
"Tien, guess we must use the trump card" Yamcha said, panting a bit.
"Like the one we said we couldn't use unless necessary?" The tryclops replied with a small smirk panting. Both folded their arms, concentrating their powers. Now or never.
"Kaioken times one hundred!" The fighters yelled, the ground breaking. 15 sensors felt a power spike but he didn't respond.
Tien shot his right hand forward, his index finger-pointing to the front.
"Dodon..." Tien charged the trademark Crane attack, shinning with yellow energy. Yamcha cupped his hands vertically on his friend's hand.
"Kamehame..." The bandit now charged his Turtle attack, blue energy appearing. Both energies mixed, each amplified a hundred times normal. The Android grunted, attacking their enemies. But just when he was in range, they banished from sight.
"HAAA!" The two martial fighters fired their double attack right from behind their enemy after teleporting. The light expanded over them, blinding everything for a moment. The humans panted, as their enemy fell into the ground now only wires and batteries. The fighters smiled, before going knock out.
A white flash of light suddenly materialised out of nowhere, and a giant yellow ship appeared out of thin air. The boy from the future called Trunks appeared, a few miles away from the Android island. He capsuled the ship and placed it on his pocket with the others.
Trunks looked into the horizon, feeling the fighting energies. The closest one was Goku. And he was getting lower.
"The androids. I have to help them before they die" The boy from the future said to himself, as he shot up towards Goku. His energy seemed the only one lingering.
Goku's hard fist was jumped over, with a kick going into the Saiyan's face. The Earth Saiyan managed to dodge with an after-image in split of seconds. The true Goku was a few meters away, his chest going up and down, absorbing air.
"What's the matter Goku? Problems catching your breath?" The powerful Android taunted to the panting Super Saiyan.
"Goku!" The boy from the future said out loud. He suddenly realised someone else was there fighting. A tall grey-haired man with the RR insignia on a baseball hat. But how was that even possible? Who was he?
"Hey Trunks, I could use a hand here against 13" The Super Saiyan said with a small smile, in the attempt to hide his inner agony. His body was just going against itself. His ki couldn't be gathered and his senses couldn't focus on his energy-less enemy.
"Who is he?" the boy asked, not understanding anything going on around.
"What do you mean who is he?" Goku asked, trying to not take his eyes away from the undetected fight "Isn't he an android from your time?"
"No, I never met someone called 13 before" Trunks said surprised. The same android appeared right in front of Trunks, sending him careening back with devastating punch to the nose. The half Saiyan regained his bearings, though now his nose oozed with blood. It was a miracle he hadn't blacked out. That attack was much stronger than any other he had received from the androids of his own time.
"Well, two punching bags, guess that can entertain me for a bit longer" The most powerful android smirked by the prospect of two Super Saiyans. Still, one was barely alive while the other was completely weak. This wasn't much of a fight. Trunks yelled in power, transforming into Super Saiyan. Though this time, he was stronger than when he first time-traveled, thanks to some training in his time. From his point of view, it had only been a year since he traveled back.
"Seriously, that's all?" 13 asked downhearted. He at least expected some challenge but was met with disappointment. Trunks charged with a sonic speed dash, his sword lashing downwards. Only to be catched by 13's index and thumb fingers without leaving a scratch.
"I thought you'd be smarter, boy" The RR android taunted, the weapon still in his fingers "But with a thirty-dollar hair-cut like yours, that says all I need to know"
Trunks got his sword free and lashed left to right. And again it was hand-catched with no effort.
"Why a sword, town kid? Are you compensating for something else?" Thirteen kept taunting, Trunks trying to pay no heed. The Future Super Saiyan now thrusted his sword forward.
It went straight through an after image. His super senses never caught his enemy next to him, landing a sharp axe strike from behind into his back head. The future Saiyan gasped for breath before his skull cracked inside his head. His eyes watered as he was sent yards away by the super attack. The Super Saiyan was suddenly intercepted, 13 grinning like a madman. The Android took the boy's no movement by taking his still in-hand sword for his own use. The strongest machine pulled his arm back, the sharp edge of the sword ready to go against its owner.
"Trunks!" Goku yelled, charging from behind. The distracted enemy never saw the tired Super Saiyan taking the sword away, combined with a spinning kick to the Android's neck. The attack caused some bother into the machine, who recoiled annoyed. Trunks recovered some senses, and grabbed his sword back. His energies were going down, but so were Goku's. And their enemy wasn't ever short of breath. If that was even possible for an infinite energy machine-
"Come on Goku. Give up. Fighting against the chief is just futile when he has an infinite supply of power" The Android remarked sardonically, looking at his panting enemy, his machine detection analysing his insides "And I can see it's not good for you heart too" The comment hit the Saiyan like cold water while sleeping. His heart disease. O great, perfect timing for chaos.
The first Super Saiyan buckled his arms to the sides, ready to go again in one last attempt. His ki was neglecting him, then he would force it out if necessary. It might be suicidal, but he had died once for his friends and he wasn't afraid of doing it again.
"Goku, he's right. We can't win" Trunks said, getting in front of the Saiyan. But the transformed warrior paid no heed, his aura bursting again. This was do or die. No other option.
"Kaioken!" The Super Saiyan aura burned with red ki, forcefully giving the owner a power increase with the air particles burning white-hot around him. The combined power-up techniques allowed Goku to dash forward beyond lightning speed, his head blowing into his enemy's forehead, who was taken aback by the power surge. Goku panted even harder, his body finally giving up. First the red color disappeared, and then the golden transformation receded. The palm haired fighter could only close his eyes, his flabby body falling down.
"Guess this makes my job much more easy" The recovered Android said, not tired or injured by the attack. He shot both of his hands forward, a red sphere ten feet wide appearing "Deadly Bomber!"
The blast was sent into the unconscious warrior, ready to leave nothing behind. The half Saiyan from the future appeared in the middle, suddenly covering Goku's body with his own. The energy blasted the atmosphere around them, bathing the area with red sparkles.
The two Saiyans went down.
The royal Saiyan moved out of the pile of rubble he was under after the rain of blasts. Vegeta panted, blood oozing down from his wounded forehead. His blue clothes were a bit ragged while his enemy seemed just as powerful as before. The female had no injure on her cyborg body as he floated down to meet him.
"Come on Vegeta, Weren't you going to kill me?" The Android taunted with her icy tone. Vegeta paid no heed and punched her in the face. The ground cracked beneath them as his strength could have moved a continent away. Yet the female fighter was still there unscathed and still bored.
"Guess you were just babbling" 18 simply commented, a sudden knee going up into Vegeta's belly, knocking his senses, an open-palm strike hitting him right in the nose, almost sending his bridge bone to hit the brain. The Super Saiyan was sent careening away at rocket speed, clashing more debris in his path. The Prince stood up again on shaking legs, his body twitching in anger and pain, blood dripping from his body "Though I admire you ability to stand up after that"
"And I admire your ability to die!" Vegeta bellowed in anger, his golden aura bursting and creating shock waves on the ground. His right hand shot forward in a stop signal "Big Bang Attack!" A giant blue sphere of concentrated power was shot towards the blonde woman, who stood there. When the energy was in rank, however, the female machine swated it back to its origin. Vegeta looked in disbelief, sadly receiving his own attack right in the face. The Saiyan Prince was shot backwards with his face burnt and now his hair back to black after withstanding the planet-breaking attack.
"So boring" The Android remarked, flying up to meet 13.
The green figure of Piccolo steered from the ground, his head looking up into the sky. Gohan was barely holding his own against 17, and the kid was one of the strongest fighters of Earth. This wasn't good. They couldn't win. Not today.
17 rose the beaten half Saiyan from his Gi's neck, bringing him up to meet his face. The Saiyan panted, his face and body wounded and scorched. His hair was still blonde but it wouldn't be for too long before his energy leave him completely.
"You fought brave kid. You even amused me a bit. So just say you give up and I'll give you a quick death" The Android offered to his beaten opponent. His response was a blast from behind, hitting him square in the back. The Android barely reacted though, the energy only burning his black shirt. His face turned around, looking at the fallen Namekian, who had shot the futile blast.
The distraction gave Gohan the time to fire a hard powerful head-butt into his enemy's face, sending him back for a few meters. He rose his hands into his forehead, palms forward.
"Masenko HAAA!" The Super Saiyan enchanted, the blast hitting straight into his enemy. The yellow attack sent the cyborg in the distance, while Gohan lost his transformation, his body aching.
"Mister Piccolo" The hard-breathing half Saiyan said towards his energy-less teacher, floating down.
"Gohan, we don't have much time. Take my hand" The Namekian grabbed hands with his student, channeling what little ki he still had into him. Gohan felt himself a little stronger now but not enough to keep fighting "Gather everyone and take us out of here" Piccolo finished when Trunks and Goku's almost-dead bodies landed next to Gohan. He ran towards them worried.
"Dad, Trunks" The half Saiyan moved their bodies, but there was no response. They had their clothes burned, but Trunks seemed in worse shape. He had received a devastating attack to his back. His left arm was hanging limply, his jacket gone and almost his shirt disappeared as well. Goku looked fine by the appearance, but his heaving chest indicated something else.
Gohan looked around, feeling very faint energies around the island. He put two fingers to his forehead.
"So, did you kill Goku?" 18 asked 13, both floating in the sky.
"Apparently not yet" The grey-haired machine responded, folding his arms on his chest.
"Well, you should have" 17 appeared in scene, his body releasing smoke but not harmed. He dusted himself off "Because your two other friends are just useless wires on the ground" The comment was unexpected but very welcomed. So 14 and 15 were gone.
The grey-haired android smirked, as his eyes shone red, activating his back-up power-up system. From the little remains of both Androids 14 and 15, a chip and what looked like a battery floated up towards the android. The chips entered through his temples, as the batteries entered through his chest muscles. The grey-haired Android gave a full-blown laughter, his muscles suddenly starting to bulge. The tween brothers looked at him in confusion. Their mechanical detectors didn't have information about that.
The android's body started changing, his muscles growing in size and increasing his strength. His hair stood up in a dark red widow peak, his normal human-colored skin suddenly painted dark blue with his chest dark grey. The former voice was now rougher and deeper, without any southern accent. He looked like he had transformed into a Super Saiyan. Or in his case, a Super Android.
From below, the barely conscious Namek and Gohan could see the new transformation happening. Though the Earth fighters couldn't feel his energy, it was obvious that 13 was much stronger than before. Just what they needed.
The new Android shot his hands forward, gathering a giant red sphere, at least twice the size he used against Goku and Trunks. The attack moved towards the beaten fighters. Only Gohan and the beaten Piccolo could see their impending doom.
"Gohan, now!" Piccolo ordered. Without replying, the half Saiyan used what little energy he had left to teleport every warrior away from the incoming slaughter. The red blast touched the island and blasted it down to nothing. The attack created a water typhoon that shot up in the sky with amazing tremors running on the planet' surface.
The androids remained there unmoving until the aftershocks finished. The tweens were a bit surprised by the new power displayed, but they would not say it out-loud.
"You saw them leaving, right?" 18 asked.
"Yes, I did sis" 17 replied "Guess their tricks never end"
"You go find them with your way, I use my way" The taller 13 simply said, taking off at great speed towards another city. His mission was to destroy. The tween cyborgs shrugged shoulders and flew away.
While the androids went their way into finding their enemies, the Z fighters were now at Capsule Corp, healing with the Senzu beans Krillin had. They all recovered consciousness, and in Saiyan case, their power increased after the beating.
"What happened?" The boy from the future Trunks asked everyone's question. Thanks to Piccolo's telepathy, the Namekian showed everyone what had transpired lately. Yet as soon as he did, Vegeta shot into the air and out of sight, leaving without saying a word. However, the only important topic at the moment was Goku. It was obvious a Senzu couldn't do anything at this point for his ailment. So Gohan teleported back home to get the Heart medicine. Once there and having informed his mother of the situation, Chichi used her own teleporting to take Goku to Kame House, where they would at least have a few more chances of not get found by the killing machines.
"What now?" Krillin finally asked in Kame House minutes later. Gohan was looking at his father, who was in the ground hard-breathing and clutching his chest. Chichi was rubbing her husband's forehead with a towel trying to reduce his fever after applying the medicine.
"We wait" Piccolo managed to respond, again dressed in his purple outfit and weights. Those were the words nobody wanted to hear. The Namekian sighed, suddenly putting two fingers on his forehead. He banished with the air shimmering around him.
"Where did Piccolo go?" Yamcha asked. Gohan gave a brief smile.
"He's in the Lookout" The half Saiyan responded. His teacher had a plan. But would it work?
The green alien was on the tilling of the Lookout, waiting. The old Guardian walked out of the central building, his white Gi displayed. His wrinkled face looked at his counterpart, both silently talking.
"You know why I am here" The young Namek simply said.
"I know. And trust me, with the kind of enemies we are facing, I would gladly do so" The older Namekian said, walking to the edge of the building.
"But..." Piccolo kept asking, knowing that Kami wouldn't simply fuse back like nothing. There had to be something going on.
"I need time. I can feel something else approaching. Like something that has a bigger meaning than the Android threat" The Guardian stared at the planet below, feeling it on his guts. There was something or someone out there.
Piccolo decided to wait, materializing heavier weights on his shoulders. He at least could train instead of doing nothing.
Notes from Chapter 16:
Vegeta's fight with 18 had a bit of resemblance of GT Super 17.
Trunks saving Goku was like Gohan saving Trunks in the future timeline (Trunks even almost lost his arm like Future Gohan did).
Yamcha and Tien's combined attack was the one Tiencha (The Metamoran fusion of them) used on the Budokai games.
People, don't believe V-Jump's power level. Seriously, just don't.
I will use the name Super Kaioken in my power level list. However, the characters will simply name it Kaioken while transformed, no need to call it super.
Power Levels:
Goku:
Base form: 80 millions
Super Saiyan: 4 billions
Heart disease (losing power): 3 billions
Super Kaioken: 4.5 billions
Body thrashed and ill: 0.1
Gohan:
Base form: 80 millions
Super Saiyan: 4 billions
Healed (Little Zenkai): 85 millions
Vegeta:
Base form: 70 millions
Super Saiyan: 3.5 billions
Healed (Normal Zenkai): 80 millions
Trunks:
Base form: 30 millions
Super Saiyan: 1.5 billions
Healed (Bigger Zenkai): 45 millions
Piccolo:
Without clothes: 500 millions
Krillin:
Base form: 30 millions
Kaioken x50: 1.5 billions
Kaioken x100: 3 billions
Chaotzu:
Base form: 20 millions
Kaioken x50: 1 billions
Kaioken x100: 2 billions
Tien:
Base form: 25 millions
Kaioken x50: 1.25 billion
Kaioken x100: 2.5 billions
Yamcha:
Base form: 25 millions
Kaioken x50: 1.25 billion
Kaioken x100: 2.5 billions
Android 13:
Base form: 10 billions
Super Android: 30 billions
Android 15: 3 billions
Android 14: 4 billions
Android 17: 8 billions
Android 18: 9 billions
The tide has suddenly turned. With the leader out of fight and a very powerful threat above them, what can the remaining fighters do?