Note: This story is one of fourteen that I am writing - companion pieces to my as-yet-unpublished-book, DRAGONBALL Z: AND THE GREATEST OF THESE. While the book itself fits accepted DBZ canon, these stories are meant to expand on themes not explored in depth in AND THE GREATEST OF THESE, or as in the case of "Twisted Timelines," are tales based on those two words of such promise… 'What if…'
Twisted Timelines
Chapter Five
No… I won't let them do it. I won't! Nearly out of his mind with concern, Vegeta clenched his fists angrily and glared at the Androids. "I'm sick of listening to you two. Why don't you just shut up and fight?"
"Ah yes, the famous temper of Prince Vegeta. It is going to get you killed, you know," said Android 20 sardonically. "As Android 19 stated before, we are quite familiar with your power level and your techniques. There is no chance that you could ever defeat us."
"We'll see about that!" the prince howled, and suddenly charged. As he lunged at the Androids, both of them immediately took to the air. With a snarl, Vegeta took off after Android 19 first. "Come back here and fight, you overweight rust-bucket!"
In a rush of kicks and punches, Vegeta and Android 19 traded blow for blow, while Android 20 and the other Z Warriors watched. Although the squat Android appeared fat, he clearly could move a lot faster than one might give him credit for, and he was able to match Vegeta blow for blow.
"Vegeta, stop!" Piccolo shouted, but the Saiyan ignored him. "Damn him… that pride of his is going to get him killed one of these days."
Laughing with that eerily high-pitched voice, Android 19 appeared in front of Vegeta and drove a fist right into his stomach. Vegeta's gasp of pain was cut short as the Android then brought both hands down onto his back and sent him plummeting toward the ground.
"Hit the deck!" Yamcha yelled, and the other Z Warriors scattered as Vegeta crashed into the earth, forming a crate nearly twenty feet across.
"Vegeta, are you all right?" Gohan called, as the Saiyan pulled himself out of the crater with blood trickling from his mouth and a disgruntled expression. Vegeta ignored him and looked up at Android 19, who stood in mid-air placidly waiting.
"I suppose even an overgrown bucket of bolts like you might get lucky once in a while," he said. Slowly he rose into the air until he and Android 19 were level with one another, and drew one gloved hand across his mouth to wipe away the blood. "But you won't be so lucky again."
Android 19 smirked. "We will see."
"Indeed we will."
The Android charged him with a vicious uppercut, but Vegeta dodged it by slightly leaning back and catching him under the chin with a well-aimed kick. Vegeta's sudden attack caught the Android by surprise, sending him flying, but the Android quickly recovered and dove back at him. The prince had no intention of letting him catch him again, however, and he cupped one hand behind the other and crouched down.
"All right, Android, let's see you recover from this. Gallic Gun, fire!"
A brilliant blast of magenta light shot from Vegeta's hands, but to his astonishment, Android 19 neither tried to dodge nor to block.
He laughed instead.
"Oh, yes! YES!"
The Android flung out his right hand and caught Vegeta's blast right in his palm, and Vegeta and the Z Warriors watched in horror as the fat Android gleefully absorbed the energy until the attack dwindled… and faded… and then died completely.
"What the…" Vegeta could only stare in shock. "What did… what did you just do?"
"He absorbed it!" Piccolo said in disbelief. As he looked closer, he could see a small jewel set into the Android's palm. "There's something on the palm of his hand that allowed him to absorb the energy of your attack, Vegeta!"
"Yes," said Android 20, and all of them turned to look at him. "A most useful design feature in Android 19 and myself."
"Fine, if I can't blast you away, then I'll just have to pound into a pulp, that's all!" he said angrily to the Android. He charged at Android 19 again, this time taking care not to throw another energy blast. But the white-faced Android reached out and grabbed hold of both of Vegeta's wrists.
"What are you… let go of me!" He struggled, but the Android's grip was too strong.
"Until I have all of your energy, I will never let you go." And suddenly Vegeta felt his energy slowly being drained away by the Android, flowing through his body, down into his wrists, and into the energy collector in Android 19's hands. As his energy was siphoned off, he could feel his body slowly growing cold and sluggish. He refused to give up, however.
If I give up, I'm dead… and so is she. And I will not let that happen!
"Never, huh? Never can be an awfully long time!" With an agile twist of his body, Vegeta brought his feet up and braced them against Android 19's face. The Android snarled and tried to turn his head away, but Vegeta slowly straightened his legs until he felt like his arms would be pulled free of their sockets. He grimaced as the Android tightened his grip on his wrists, but he kept pushing until the Android's head was bent back at a nearly ninety-degree angle.
"Vegeta is a fool," stated Android 20. "Android 19's body is designed to stand far more than this. And as he weakens, it only makes his strategy even more useless."
"You see, that's where you're wrong," Vegeta grunted, his face contorted with the effort of keeping his legs straight. "You Androids have no imagination. I'm not trying to pull his arms off."
Android 20 looked startled. "What?"
"Are you not only weak, but deaf, too? I said I'm not going to pull his arms off. This walking tin can is certainly capable of ripping my arms out, true enough. However…"
In a move almost too fast to follow, Vegeta drew his knees up against his chest, and as Android 19 reflexively moved forward after the release of the pressure against his face, Vegeta's feet lashed straight out and caught the Android under his chin…
… and severed Android 19's head from his body in one blow.
"Holy cow! He beat him!" Krillin crowed. "Vegeta may be an arrogant bastard, but he is GOOD!"
Android 20 was in shock. "How… how is this possible? There is simply no way that Vegeta is strong enough to beat Android 19!"
He and the Z Warriors stood agape as Vegeta and Android 19's body crashed to the ground, while the head of Android 19 rolled and came to a stop at Android 20's feet.
"Malfunction," said the disembodied head of Android 19 as the electronic life faded from his eyes. "Mal… function… mal…" The high-pitched voice sank lower, then stopped.
Vegeta lay on the ground for a moment, gasping, then he powered up and blasted what was left of Android 19 off of him.
Perhaps Kakarot was right… when you fight for something you believe in, you really can overcome impossible odds.
Slowly he straightened up and turned to face Android 20. "Now then… you're next."
"This… this cannot be happening," Android 20 said in disbelief.
"Of course it is," Vegeta said confidently as he slapped the dust off of himself. "Come now, you didn't really think that an overgrown tub of lard like that was going to be able to beat me?"
"Hey, Vegeta, let us have some of the fun, too," Piccolo said with a smirk, powering up, and the other Z Warriors quickly followed suit. "As long as we don't use energy blasts, we should be fine against this guy."
"It doesn't matter what you think you can accomplish here," Android 20 snarled. "You may have defeated Android 19, but you have not yet faced me."
"Oh, please," Vegeta replied in disdain, "that refrain is getting tiresome. Why don't you just admit that you're beaten?"
The white-haired Android advanced a step. "You got lucky against Android 19, Vegeta, but I assure you that I am far superior to the Android 19 model. You will not be so lucky against me."
Vegeta turned his back on the Android and looked at Piccolo. "You may as well have your fun, go ahead and trash him. But if you screw up and he steals your energy, don't look to me to bail you out."
"Believe me, I'm not going to be that careless." Piccolo pulled off his cloak and turban and tossed them to one side as the other Z Warriors dropped into fighting stances. "Besides, it'll make a nice warm-up before I start training today."
"So no energy blasts, and be careful in close combat, that sounds easy enough," Krillin said flippantly. "Anything else we should know before we get started?"
"Oh shut up and beat him already, I have better things to do than stand around here all day," Vegeta said with a dismissive wave.
Android 20 quickly assessed the five Z Warriors. "It does not matter how many of you attack me, you will not win."
"We'll see about that!" They charged, and Android 20 was quickly hard-pressed to keep them off of him. He was at least as fast as Android 19, however, and since Piccolo and the others refused to stay close enough to him to give him the chance to grab one of them, the damage they could deal out was reduced.
"And to think I was worried," Yamcha said confidently, but the instant his guard came down, Android 20 turned on him with a snarl and rammed his hand through his ribcage. Yamcha's scream of agony was choked off as he coughed out a mouthful of blood.
"Yamcha!" Tien shouted, and dove to catch his friend. Carefully he lowered them both to the ground and laid Yamcha outstretched on the dirt. He nearly was sick himself as he saw the hole that the Android had punched through him. "Yamcha, hold on!"
"Tien, catch!" Krillin called out, pausing in the fight just long enough to throw Tien one of the healing Senzu beans that he always carried. Tien snatched the bean out of the air and carefully fed it to Yamcha.
"Come on, Yamcha, eat it," he urged, and slowly Yamcha chewed and swallowed the bean. As Tien earnestly watched, slowly the terrible wound began to close, until no trace of the injury remained.
"Tien, is Yamcha all right?" Gohan yelled as he dodged one of Android 20's energy blasts. "Is he going to make it?"
"Yeah, Gohan, he's fine," Tien called back. "You just make sure you keep your focus on that Android!"
Although it was now three against one instead of five against one, Android 20 was still hard-pressed to keep the Z Warriors at bay. "You cannot keep this up indefinitely, you are flesh and blood creatures and you will wear yourselves out."
"Yeah, but we're not the ones who have to steal energy to keep going," Piccolo replied breathlessly, and he snatched one of Android 20's arms and sliced his hand down. With a burst of sparks and smoke, the Namek neatly severed one of Android 20's hands from the wrist down.
Android 20 howled in fury and fell back. "You… you'll pay for that!"
"Unlikely," Piccolo said with a nasty smile and lunged after the Android again. Appearing behind him, he trapped the Android in a headlock, then shouted for the others. "Come on, one of you disable that other hand of his!"
"He's mine!" Yamcha yelled, and soared back up into the sky where Piccolo had the Android trapped. With a growl of rage, he seized the Android's other hand and wrenched it clean off. Oil and wires trailed out of what was left of Android 20's wrist, and now the white-haired android was trembling. Piccolo shoved the Android away, who quickly backed up so that his back was against a nearby cliff.
"Well, what do you know?" Vegeta said with amusement. "I guess androids experience fear."
"So now we don't have to worry about him absorbing our energy any more?" Gohan asked Piccolo.
"That's right. Those devices that steal energy were in their hands, and now he's short two of them, I don't think that's a concern any longer."
"Good," Gohan said shortly. He brought his small hands together over his head and gathered power into them, just as Piccolo had taught him. "This is for my dad… wherever he is…"
Quickly Piccolo and the others scattered, leaving Android 20 trapped against the cliff face. "Take him out, Gohan, now!"
Gohan's hands came down in a sweeping gesture. "Masenko… HAAAAAAA!" The energy blast roared down toward Android 20, who raised his arms in a futile defense.
"NOOOOOOO!"
The Android and most of the cliff face both disappeared in an explosion of energy.
As the smoke cleared, the six Z Warriors hovered and looked around.
"Is… is he gone?" Krillin asked.
"Most of him is," Vegeta said with a smirk. He pointed to the ground where what was left of Android 20 lay. His lower body and his left arm were completely disintegrated, leaving only his head, torso, and what was left of his right arm. "You were sloppy, Gohan, I know you have enough power that you could have obliterated him."
"I'm not as vicious as you are, Vegeta," Gohan said quietly. "I just… don't enjoy killing like you do."
He and the other Z Warriors flew down to the ground and surrounded the remains of the Android's body, but they nearly jumped out of their skin as Android 20 turned his head to look up at them.
"Our defeat here… is of… no consequence… you are… all dead anyway," he rasped, his voice stilted. "It is… too late… for all of you… and for Son Goku… the coward."
"What do you mean?" Tien asked.
"Androids 17 & 18… have already… been activated… They are… far stronger… than all of you together…"
Android 20's smile was ghastly.
"And they… have already… been dispatched… to West City."
"WHAT!" Gohan howled.
The white-haired android managed a faint laugh, his eyes gleaming with an almost fanatical light. "West City… will be destroyed… and the rest… of the world… will soon follow. All of… your heroics… were for… nothing…"
"SHUT UP!" Vegeta screamed. The Android was still laughing when Vegeta brought his foot down on the Android's head and crushed it in a single step.
"West City…" Krillin repeated. "But there's no power level like that in West City, not one comparable to Goku's."
"It's certainly not Bulma, that's for sure," Yamcha said dryly.
"Or Chiaotzu either," Tien replied. "He's over at Master Roshi's."
"Oh, for God's sake, you're all idiots," Piccolo said in annoyance. "Who else do we know who lives there?"
Vegeta was already flying for Capsule Corp as fast as he could.
To be continued…