Chapter 20: Feral vs. Androids
Katie-
Again, we move forward a few years. I know, it seems like I'm doing this more often, but I can't totally re-write New Destiny, and in fact, most of it was the same. I never went feral during my fight with Garlic Jr, either. Thinking back though, I can see why. Garlic wasn't showing me up like an amateur. The next time I had any trouble with my feral side was when I fought against Android 17, and that was messy.
I was flying next to Trunks, on our way to fight 17 and 18. From what Trunks had just told me, I was worried. 17 had killed me, and 18 had killed Vegeta. I didn't want that to happen again.
We touched down in time to see SSJ Vegeta and 18 fighting. 17 and 16 saw us and 17 laughed.
"Well, look who it is! The reinforcements have arrived. 16, why don't you greet our friends?" 17 ordered. 16 looked at Trunks and I and started to walk toward us.
"Wait, I thought 16 was programmed to kill Goku." I said.
"That was Gero's original plan, but when he found out about Goku and you being aliens he changed the designs a little." 17 explained.
"Katie, I take it this didn't happen in your dimension, either?" Trunks asked. I looked him in the eye.
"No, it didn't." I whispered back. "Alright, time for some action."
"Katie!" Trunks hissed.
"I haven't been in a good fight for three years, Trunks. I'm ready for Android 16."
"I hope you can back up those big words, little girl." 17 said with a smirk. Ignoring his remark, I powered up and got ready to fight.
"Trunks, help your dad. I'll be fine." I whispered. I think…
16 stepped up, and his looks were slightly different than back home. His armor was actually silver, and his eyes were red.
He got close and a red light shot out of his eyes at me. I had no time to dodge, but it wasn't an attack. It took me a moment to realize what it was.
He scanned me! He has all my data now! Or maybe not…
"Are ya ready, big boy?" I asked.
"Yes, I shall carry out my programming and destroy you, Son Katie."
"Whatever." I got into my fighting pose and faced off with 16. He stood there and watched me, waiting for me to go first. I moved behind him, fast enough that I left an after-image. I was directly behind him when he spun around and kicked me away with ease.
"Katie!" Trunks yelled.
"Focus on Vegeta and 18, I'm fine!" I called back as I got up, wiping the line of blood off my face.
"You fool! 16 scanned your data! He knows what move you'll do before you do! You don't stand a chance!" 17 called, laughing hysterically.
"We'll see about that!" I said as I got back into form. I was completely focused on the fight now, not watching Vegeta, Trunks, or 18. I knew my SG would go off if they were in real danger.
16 stood there, still as a rock, waiting for me to do something again.
I need to do something I've never done in a fight before. Something Gero's spy-bots have never seen. But what… oh! My new attack! That's it!
"I'm waiting." 16 said in a monotone voice.
"I'm ready." I drew Arina and got into another fighting pose.
"What's she doing?" I heard 17 say. 16 looked through his data stream and I heard a mechanical beeping sound.
"Does not compute." 16 said.
"It's new, that's why you don't know what I'm going to do." I smirked.
"You think your sword can cut through Dextryte? Just try it!" 17 laughed. I looked over at Trunks and Vegeta. 18 just stood there and watched as Trunks offered Vegeta a hand up. Vegeta smacked it away.
I turned back and concentrated, moving some of my Ki to my sword, causing it to shine a light blue, my aura, matching blue on the handle. I charged and feigned to the left, then moved to the right and slashed at 16.
"Ki Sword Slash!"
For a moment nothing happened. I landed and replaced Arina back into it's sheathe. I smirked and looked at 16.
"You fool! I told you, you can't cut Dextryte with your little knife." 17 was snickering again.
"I think I might have made a scratch." I said, pointing.
A hairline scratch appeared on 16's chest. The scratch was blue and it grew in intensity. Slowly the scratch became a cut, then a large gash. I could see interior wiring and some wires were sliced clean through.
"What! No!" 17 cried. Then smoke started to pour out of 16 and fire erupted out of 16's metal body. Then 16 exploded. Trunks turned to face me. He was knelt by Vegeta, trying to reason with him. Vegeta wouldn't listen as he got back up, pushed Trunks out of the way, and faced 18 once more. I shook my head and 17 attracted my attention once more.
"You think you're so tough, little girl? I'll be a much hard adversary than 16."
"I'm not a little girl, and I'll prove it on this day. I'll let you in on a secret. I wasn't at full power when I fought 16."
"Liar!" 17's scream of fear got 18, Vegeta, and Trunks' attentions, but I was focused on this fight too much to care.
"I wasn't even at half my strength. So unless 16 was far weaker than any of us thought, this fight should be fun."
"She can't be a- a Super Saiyan as well?" I heard Vegeta say. No one else heard his statement but me. They were too interested in my power level.
I powered up, to my max this time. The ground beneath me shook and the loose pavement floated into the air. Soon my light blue aura moved outward and upward, encircling my body. Blue fire encircled my body. When I finished, I looked back up at everyone. But 17 didn't look scared.
"That's it? That's all you got? You're not even a Super Saiyan yet?" he laughed, I think more from relief than anything else.
"No, not yet, but soon." I said coolly, not letting him distract me. Trunks seemed surprised by my power, as did Vegeta, and I was at a loss. Since 17 and 18 were androids, I couldn't sense their energy. But they could sense mine, and they weren't worried at all, which made me worry more.
"16 must have been weak if you defeated him so easily at less than half, because you aren't even at half my power." 17 said. Vegeta, Trunks, and I gasped at the same time, causing 17 and 18 to laugh.
Then the cavalry arrived, late by the show's standards. Yamcha, Tien, Krillen, and Gohan even, all here and ready to help.
"You guys should leave, they're too dangerous." I said as I turned back to the group.
"I am sick of you're attitude! All you do is tell us what to do! We've trained for this as much as you have." Yamcha called.
"Look Yamcha, I know what I'm doing!" I yelled, getting mad.
"Like I don't! I was a fighter when you were in diapers!" he argued. I knew this was coming, he had been angry with me ever since I told him and the others about my secret. But he was still pissing me off.
"Yamcha, shut up! That is not what I meant!"
"This is nice and all, but could we please fight?" 18 asked.
"Yamcha, we'll finish this some other time. If you won't leave, then please be careful, okay?"
"Sure, whatever." He said sarcastically.
"Great, now that that's settled." 17 said as he and 18 powered up. They didn't power up very much, and my SG went off, though I couldn't figure out why. Usually it sort of tells me what I need to do, but not this time.
The others powered up and I charged, in flight, at 17. He saw me coming and attacked.
"Power Blitz!"
I took the full force of his hit and fell back onto the ground. The others all came at the androids and Trunks helped me up.
"This is bad." I growled, standing near Trunks as 17 took down Yamcha and Tien with the same attack.
"They're playing with us." Trunks said.
"I know. Come on, we have to stop them."
"Katie, you already know it's useless, don't you?"
"We still have to try!" I charged and Trunks did too, going SSJ on the way. Vegeta was already down by 18's hand and out of SSJ. He was down and unconscious. I took 18 as Trunks took 17.
We exchanged blows for a few minutes, and she was only playing with me. I hit her as hard as I could in the face, and I think it broke my hand. She wasn't even fazed by my hit. She grabbed me by the back of the neck and pushed my stomach into her knee.
"Damn you!" I screamed. I felt my anger rising.
Now what? Am I going to go feral or SSJ? What?
I looked to Vegeta, my eyes cold but pleading. I didn't know what to do. If I went feral I could hurt my friends, and if I went SSJ I'd finally reach my goal and be of more use.
17 came at me again and hit me hard with his arm, flipping me over so I was vertical, then he axe-handled me to the ground. I gasped for air as I sat up.
"Poor monkey…" 17 sighed.
My anger got the better of me as my muscles grew and my eyes changed. Everything seemed clearer. I stood, in an awkward stage between feral and humane.
I looked back at all my friends. I was scared, but my anger kept rising.
"Guys… I'm… I'm going feral again… I can't stop…"
"Feral?" I heard Trunks' voice as I tried to get a hold on my anger.
"Please guys… run away… once I change… once I go completely feral… you'll all be in danger."
"Is this what Gero warned us about?" 18 asked her twin.
"Yeah, looks fun." 17 replied.
"Katie?"
"Please… I can… I can feel my humanity slipping away… in just a sec… it'll be too late! Go now! Go now or kill me!"
"We'll be happy to oblige." The cyborg twins said at the same time.
I fell to my knees as I felt myself changing even more this time. I was holding my arms in an attempt to calm down, but it didn't help. My tail seemed to become thicker and longer, and my fangs seemed to grow sharper as well. My claws extended on their own, cutting into my arms.
I stood back up and looked at everyone around me. Something told me to go after the robots first because they were stronger, but something else told me to go after the weaker prey.
"By the Kais… she doesn't seem to recognize us." Vegeta said.
"How bad is it, Vegeta?" Gohan asked.
"She'll be deciding on which one of us to attack first. The predator will want to go after the weaker prey, but the Saiyan warrior will want to go after the stronger adversary."
"You're making her sound like an animal." Tien said.
"When a Saiyan is feral, that's basically all that they are." Vegeta replied.
I decided that the androids were the reason I was free again, so I turned to them. They seemed confident.
"A mindless animal won't be hard for us to shoot down." 17 said. He charged at me, but I jumped straight into the air and over him. I turned to face him as he turned to find me.
"How can a Saiyan be that fast?" he asked.
"I'm feral, that's how." I growled as I charged him. He tried to dodge, but my claws scraped across his shirt and into his skin.
"Damn you! How'd you cut into Dextryte?"
I didn't answer as I powered up a Kamehameha Wave.
"Ka… me… ha…"
"No you don't, Power Blitz!"
"Me… HA!" our attacks collided and we were equal.
"No way… a normal Saiyan can't be this strong…" 18 said. I could hear Vegeta laugh.
"She isn't normal you robotic scrapheap! She's feral!" he continued to laugh, which somewhere deep down confused me.
Shouldn't Vegeta be mad?
My attack grew weaker and I started to lose ground. But that made me mad, thus I became more powerful and I pushed him back.
"Dammit 17, I guess I'll have to intervene!" 18 started to power up her own attack to fire at me. When she fired her Power Blitz I gave one final surge of power and then I jumped, missing both of the Power Blitz attacks.
I flipped in the air and landed on both feet.
"Damn her!" 18 growled. I heard a growl from Vegeta as well.
So he is getting mad…
Then suddenly I went limp. 17 had disappeared, but I found him, holding my tail tight.
"So even a feral Saiyan has the old tail weakness?" 17 released my tail and kicked me. I flew back and skidded across the ground.
I blacked out, but when I woke up I saw the damage done.
"Be careful, she could still be feral." I looked over at Tien.
"No… I'm okay now… it's all fuzzy, what'd I do?"
"I'll fill you in later." Trunks said as he offered me his hand. I graciously took it.
Trunks still held my hand when I stood, and at the touch of his hand I blushed. He did too as he let my hand go.
You can't fall in love with a cartoon character! You'll never see him again after Cell is destroyed anyway! Snap out of it! Plus… if I'm feral still…
The others all had solemn looks on their faces.
"They were playing with us!" Yamcha said, then he turned and grabbed hold of me by the collar. "Alright, little miss know-it-all, what do we do now?"
I was tired. Tired of fighting, tired of being feral, and now I was getting tired of Yamcha's attitude.
"I am so sick you your attitude." I said in an angry calm.
"What?" he snapped. I slapped his hands off my collar.
"No matter what I do, it isn't good enough for you, is it? I tried to warn you about 17 and 18, but you wouldn't listen. Now you're blaming me for your mistake? I have knowledge of the future, you know that, and I have to use extreme caution when I make a decision because of this knowledge. If I tell something when I shouldn't I could screw up everything! My home is in another dimension, and it was a normal, boring life. Then I wake up here, as another species, and have to help fight these monsters that come our way, plus I go crazy and even attack my friends like a beast! I can never return to that life! And YOU can't appreciate how hard it is! How hard it is for me to resist the urge to rip out your throat! All of you, my best friends! Now LET ME GO!" I walked away, growling.
"Katie, I-" Yamcha started.
"If you don't want my help, I'm out of here! I'll go somewhere where I can help out. Just leave me alone before I go feral again." I started to follow the road into the city, knowing the androids headed that way.
"Katie, wait!" it was Trunks, but I didn't care. I kept walking. "Katie!"
"What!" I screamed. I felt bad after I did, but I let my anger control my emotions anyway.
I have to calm down…
I took in a deep breath as Trunks talked.
"Katie, don't leave. Yamcha, he's an idiot, but we need you."
"No, you need the information from the show. I'm useless."
"No, you're not!" Trunks stepped around in front of me to stop me. I still didn't look at him, "You're a great fighter, and wiser than any of us. I should have thought out my speech three years ago better than I did. I should have said what the androids looked like."
"Trunks, it's so hard. Every waking moment I feel like screaming out the events that will take place. You can't because you have no idea now that it changed on you. But everything I know is basically the same."
"Then let's put it to good use. Now, what do we need to do?" Trunks asked. I sighed, feeling better already.
"We have to move Goku. The androids know he's sick and at home. We'll need to take him to Roshi's island."
"Right, who'll go?"
"Chi-chi, Gohan, Krillen, Yamcha, you, and me. We'll be there in case the androids appear, and then Chi-chi, Yamcha and Gohan will stay with Goku."
"Alright, let's go."
"Trunks? You seemed surprised about my feral transformation."
"Yeah… I never saw you do that before." He said.
"It's scary… I can remember… I almost went after you and the others… but I guess I'm more warrior than animal." I sighed.
"You're not an animal Katie. You're a Saiyan who will get better control after you become a Super Saiyan."
"I will? You know this, or is this a pep-talk?"
"A pep talk… I promised your future self not to tell you about your future, but you never went feral in my future. That's all I can tell you."
"I made you promise not to tell my past self about what had happened? It must have been bad…"
"It was… maybe I could tell you before I go back… but… I better not."
"I understand."
I love this guy… wait, no, I can't love him! It's just… weird, I can't!
AS22: Katie fought the Androids as a Feral but still lost. And how about her SSJ transformation? well, R&R to find out!