Everyone looked up as a ripple of light washed through the barrier, the generators all exploding along it's length. The eerie red sky was replaced by an even stranger black sky with blue lightning flashing about. "Oh... wow... that's cool." Videl said looking up at it. Somehow, despite the fact the sky was black save the lightning like energy, it was still as bright as it had been a moment before.
"Looks like something from a horror movie to me." Krillin said staring at it.
"It's a massive Space-time tear." Bulma told them. "They destroyed the barrier. That'll last for months though, so we're still ok."
"Hey!" Goku cheered. "I can sense powers again!" The others all nodded in agreement, they could as well. Goku moved over to the edge of the lookout and gazed down at the planet, his mind reaching out to see if he could find this Cell creature. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to sense it or not but there was only one way to find out. Suddenly a high power smashed into his senses and his eyes widened in shock. "No way!"
"What is it Goku?" Yamcha asked walking over to him.
"I... found a power in Capital City. It has to be that Cell creature!" Goku said. "It's power is... massive." he looked back at Piccolo. "Man, no wonder he couldn't beat you though... amazing Piccolo!" The Namek just grinned.
"Hmm, that Cell isn't as strong as he made himself seem." 18 said. The others looked at her curious. "My own scanners can measure his power and he's only as powerful as Tao."
"Exactly why we waited." Piccolo said. "That means we still have four Androids possibly stronger than me."
18 looked back at him for a moment and then spoke again. "Three. You're just a little stronger than 15." Piccolo nodded as 18 shook her head. "I can't believe how much power you gained... it's incredible... absurd really."
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May 10th:
It had been almost twenty-four hours now since the others had entered the Room of Spirit and Time. Those still on the outside had managed to get some sleep a few hours after the battle in West City and were now up again. Tien, Raditz, and Appla were doing some light sparring to pass the time, Piccolo, Videl, and Gohan were meditating, Bardock was talking to King Vegeta via his scouter, Goku and Chi-Chi were sitting at the edge of the Lookout with their feet hanging over the edge just watching the planet below them, Hercule, Bulma, and Yamcha were taking care of young Sakura and baby Trunks, and Krillin and 18 were sitting under the trees in the shade.
Goku stretched and flopped backward onto his back pulling Chi-Chi down with him. She cried in suprise at first but soon rested her head on Goku's chest and closed her eyes enjoying the warm breeze and the chance to just relax for a while. Goku, on the other hand, was looking curiously toward Krillin. "Hey, Chi-Chi..." he started. "Umm... Do you know why Krillin keeps staring at 18?" he asked, the confusion evident in his voice.
Chi-Chi smiled lightly. "Think on it for a while Goku, you'll figure it out."
Bardock pursed his lips. "So, the galaxy isn't in an all out panic yet at least. That's good to know."
"Indeed." came King Vegeta's voice through Bardock's scouter. "There was some minor worry when the transmission first came, but that soon faded since everyone knows all of you are there. The barrier showing up got some people talking too... it wasn't until Piccolo fought Cell that worry actually started to spread."
"So, the new planetary systems are that good?" Bardock asked suprised. "I didn't think they'd be able to read powers that high..."
King Vegeta chuckled lightly. "Me either, but the thing wasn't even trying and it kept up no problem. Really impressive designs on these ones." He sighed and his voice turned serious again. "How do you see our odds truthfully?"
Bardock sighed and rubbed his forhead. "I don't know. 18 says Piccolo's a little stronger than 15 but that's it. That leaves 3 Androids stronger than him plus the chance this Cell could get to 17 and transform..."
"Right. Wish I still had my tail... I could have handled these things." King Vegeta sighed. "No matter, keep me posted."
"Of course." As Bardock shut off his scouter he turned and saw Krillin starring at 18 who had her eyes closed resting. The Sai-jin smirked a little as he walked over to the short Human and took a seat beside him. "You know..." he began. "You could always trying talking to her."
"Huh?" he asked startled, he'd not noticed Bardock approach.
The Sai-jin laughed and then nodded toward the Cyborg. "I've seen you starring at her since yesterday. Yamcha, Bulma, and Gohan noticed too. Hell, even Goku's noticed, not that he can make heads or tails of it."
"I.. it's not like that!" he cried.
The near yell got the attenion of everyone else on the Lookout and Bardock would have sworn he saw 18 grin out of the corner of his eye. "Sure, sure... whatever you sa..." He stopped as four powers suddenly hit his senses. Four powers he'd not sensed in twenty-four hours. "They're back." he said climbing back to his feet. All attentions turned to the building behind them as the soft clicks of footsteps could be heard.
Goku slipped out from under Chi-Chi and moved over to join Bardock. A moment later the four of them came into view once more. Hotaru, Sakura, and Trunks looked the most different of the four, thanks to their now longer hair. Trunks' hair came down to just passed his shoulders, Hotaru's and Sakura's were a few inches longer as well. "How'd the training go?" Goku asked.
Vegeta smirked. "You'll see soon enough." he replied. Looking up he saw the new sky. "It's changed... they destroyed the barrier then?"
Goku nodded. "Ya. Things have changed since you went in. There's a new threat, a creature named Cell. You can sense him in Capital City."
The four of them looked off that direction and a moment later Vegeta raised an eyebrow. "Weakling."
"He's still dangerous." Piccolo said. "Something about absorbing 17 and 18 to become Perfect."
"Ha. I can handle them, no problem." Vegeta said. He looked back at the others. "Even he could, despite the fact he's not quite as strong as me. Close enough though." His eyes moved over to Sakura and Hotaru. "Them, on the other hand..."
"He's right..." Hotaru said with a sigh. "Despite the last year of training and the leaps in power I've made I'm still not a match for them."
"You can at least keep those machines off of us while we deal with the others." Trunks said.
"Enough talk, let's go." Vegeta said. "And you stay back, I'm going to handle this."
"I'm coming as well." Piccolo said.
"You?" Vegeta snorted. "You're not even as stro..." he stopped as Piccolo's power flared a little. "What the hell?"
"Kami and Piccolo merged." Bardock explained. "Which also means the Earth's Dragonballs are gone. So don't get yourselves killed."
"Come on, it's our turn to train." Goku said. "We'll see you guys in a day." he said walking off, Gohan, Videl, and Bardock following him.
"There's no reason." Vegeta said looking over his shoulder. "By the time you get out they'll all be dead." Goku stopped and gave a grin back at Vegeta and then continued on to the Room of Spirit and Time.
As they vanished inside the building Bulma remembered something. "Oh ya, here." she said, pulling a capsule out of her pocket and throwing it down. After the smoke cleared it revealed a medium sized storage unit. "King Vegeta sent me a supply of battle armors for everyone." she explained looking at the torn clothes of Vegeta and the others.
Opening it up it revealed multiple armors of different varieties. There was the kind Vegeta had on now, the blue body suit, white boots and gloves, and white armor with brown straps and pads. There was the style Bardock typically wore, the black pants and armor with red wrist bands, black armor with white trim and green pads, and green and red boots. There was also the new formal designs that had grey body suits with red boots and gloves, and black armor with red trim and purple padding. And there was one armor that Bulma recognized distinctly as the one Vegeta had worn when he fought Cooler.
"Perfect, I could use a change of clothes." Vegeta said moving over to the unit and grabbing another blue body suit, boots, gloves, and armor.
"What about you three?" she asked looking over to them.
Trunks looked down at his torn clothes and nodded. "Sure." Sakura shrugged and moved over as well. Both of them took the same style as Vegeta, Hotaru soon following suit. Once they were all changed Vegeta turned and made his way to the edge of the Lookout.
Sakura, Trunks, and Piccolo followed but Hotaru moved over to where the young Sakura still sat with Yamcha and Hercule. She knelt down and put a hand on her head. "You be good while I'm gone, ok?"
"Ok." she said with a nod.
"Don't worry, I'll look after her." Yamcha said. "You just be careful down there." Hotaru nodded and stood up and then joined the others. The five of them lifted into the air and then dove toward the planet and Capital City.
As they disappeared Bulma sighed. "Be careful Trunks... Vegeta."
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Room of Spirit and Time:
Goku closed the door behind him as the others got a look around at their new surroundings. "Oh... wow..." Videl said in awe. "Look at this... there's... nothing there..."
"Hey, Goku, you said this is infinite, right?" Bardock asked looking over his shoulder.
Goku nodded as he walked up to the others. "Ya. It goes on forever in every direction. The gravity steadily gets higher and higher the further out you go, though it fluctuates a bit too."
"What if you get lost?" Videl asked looking up.
Goku shook his head. "Not possible. Somehow, no matter how far away you go, you can always see this room in the distance." he explained. "So there's no chance of getting lost or anything. Just be careful you don't go too far out or the gravity will squash you." He turned and pointed to the left side of the room. "There's the beds over there. And then, over here..." he pointed to the cabinets on the other side. "Is where all the food is."
"Well, let's get started." Bardock said stepping out into the white that spread out as far as the eye could see. The two kids followed him but Goku stood on the edge and crossed his arms in thought. "Goku, what is it?" Bardock asked looking back.
"I'm just wondering about a few things." he said. "First is about our strength. Even Gero noticed it when Vegeta transformed. His increase as a Super Sai-jin wasn't as great as mine. And I've noticed it about myself too. My increase isn't as great as it was on Namek..."
"Any ideas on why?"
Goku shook his head. "Not at the moment. Maybe... after some more training I'll notice something."
"So, what else are you wondering?"
Goku turned his eyes toward Videl before he answered. "If Super Sai-jin is a guy only thing. We'll need all the power we can get."
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Capital City:
Cell sat on the balcony, legs and arms crossed, head down and eyes closed. He'd been that way for the passed ten hours. He'd not moved, not blinked, not shifted or fidgeted or made a sound in all that time. Now, however, he raised his head and opened his eyes. "They come." he breathed. "Vegeta, Trunks, Piccolo, and two others."
Gero glanced over to him as the creature stood. Cell's senses reached further than his own scanners and so he had no way of confirming the matter himself. "You're certain?" he asked. Cell nodded in response. The scientist stood and joined his remaining allies. Tao, 13, 14, 15, and the ever silent 16. He was glad, at least, that he'd fixed the errors in 16's programming and had constructed 13 through 15. Tao, while being one of his works, was also merely a hired hand. 17 was missing, 19 was destroyed, and 18 a traitor. And here it was, only the second day of his rule.
"Well now, would you look at this." 15 said suddely. "It seems 17 has woken up as well, his transponder just came back on-line."
Cell grinned. "Where is he?"
"Still in West City it would seem."
Cell nodded. "Then that's where I shall go." he said turning.
"You'll need a way of tracking him." Tao said walking up beside Cell. "And I'm curious as to what your power will become." The creature nodded and the two of them blasted off from the balcony. Cell pushed his power low and dove down close to the ground, Tao following. They had to go the direction the others were coming from and he wanted to avoid an encounter with them for now.
"Let us head outside to meet our guests then." Gero said turning his attention back away from the departure and walking from his chair. The others fell in line behind him as he made his way through the palace. A moment later they had emerged into the front courtyard. The five Androids watched the sky for a moment, and then their sensors picked up the five rapidly nearing warriors. There was a flash of red, a flash of orange, a flash of dark puple, a flash of light purple, and a flash of green as the five of them pulled to a stop and landed across from the place on the rubble of a former building.
"So, your defeats yesterday haven't proven that you can't win I see." Gero said slowly. His eyes roamed over to Piccolo. "I must admit, the power you gained from merging with Kami once more is greater than I'd expected, but I hadn't known the full details. Still, you are no match for me."
"The Namek is of no concern to you anyway." Vegeta said stepping foward. "It is I who will fight, I who will destroy you all."
15 laughed and floated foward. "I'll handle this one." he said pulling his flask out of his coat and taking a drink. Slipping it back into his pocket he wiped his mouth and smirked. "Poor Vegeta, I see you've managed to increase your power but it wont be enough. I have the records of the increase your transformation yields and have already computed your power. You can't win."
There was a flash of gold as Vegeta transformed and then crossed his arms. "My power cannot be so easily measured, I assure you." he replied, smirking. "I have more than enough power to rip you apart, turn you into scrap metal."
The Android shook his head. "Sorry Vegeta, you may be as strong as me now, I'm rather impressed you improved so much in one day, but you still can't win this. I'm not the strongest of us, and of course, though you are stronger, I never get weaker and you do. Infinite energy, you know."
Vegeta's smirk grew as he uncrossed his arms. "Oh, but I'm not finished yet... but before I start I'll let you in on something else. My son back there is almost as strong as me." He was silent for a moment as the other four with him moved aside. Piccolo kept his eyes on 14, Sakura kept hers on 16, Trunks watched 13 and Gero, and Hotaru kept her eyes open for any of the drones in the area to make a move. 15 just smirked at him. "Oh, smirk all you want, but it's not going to help you... I'll wipe that grin right off your face!"
He brought his arms up suddenly, fists clenching, and bent over letting out a loud yell. The road and sidewalk under and around him started cracking as his aura flared up and dust began to blow out and then swirl up around him like a tornado. Piccolo's eyes widened in shock as he felt the Sai-jin's ki pulse and grow rapidly. Vegeta's muscles began expanding and the glow of his aura grew bright until he was like a sun on the city streets. The ground shattered and the rocks lifted into the air. There was a crack and flash and a wave of power washed out from the Prince nearly toppling those with him and pushing 15 back a few feet, much to the Android's shock.
His aura subsided returning to normal as Vegeta relaxed, panting slightly to catch his breath. The Sai-jin Prince's power had swelled up and with it so had he. His arms and legs were now twice as thick as before, his hair had even grown further and spiked out more. Straightening up Vegeta's smirk returned again. "Now you bare witness to the greatest power in the universe! I, Vegeta, the Prince of all Sai-jins, have done what no other has ever achieved! I have gone beyond the power of Super Sai-jin! You fight now a new Vegeta, a changed Vegeta, a stronger Vegeta, an unbeatable Vegeta, a Super Vegeta! Now, you piece of junk, let's go!" he roared launching in at the small Android.
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Planet Vegeta, the Palace:
King Vegeta nodded as the soldiers finished setting up the last of the equipment in the throne room. He'd sent some probes to Earth the month before and they were currently in orbit around the planet now. State of the art monitoring equipment. Scouters, scanners, and cameras. All top of the line. He wanted to monitor things as closely as possible. His senses had improved... after that Cooler fiasco he'd learned to sense Ki but at such a distance it took an effort. This way he could watch what happened with his own eyes.
He'd just finished speaking with Bardock when the techs and soldiers had arrived with the monitoring equipment. The satellites were in orbit and on-line, he could finally see things for himself. He'd worried that, perhaps, the energy field or time-space bubble would interfere with his attempts to monitor things. However, that wasn't the case. While the sky looked odd from on Earth, by Bardock's description the previous day, you could see down no problem. A similar effect as the interference from before. You could sense those on Earth, and sense those off world even through the barrier, you just could sense from inside.
Apparently with it gone the interference was as well. But those on world couldn't see passed the space-time tears. It was... an interesting matter. Bulma had spoken with him about it a few hours ago. Something to do with light refraction, space density, and temporal flux. He didn't really understand it and didn't really care. So long as he could monitor things he was happy.
"So, it's ready then?" Vadora asked walking into the room. She'd taken up a post in the palace shortly after Cooler's attack as one of the King's Special Ops. She wasn't as powerful as the other Special Ops, at least not without the Kaio Ken. She wasn't overly skilled with that though, anything more than times five still felt like it was going to rip her in half. But she also had the ability to create false moons which made her one of the more valued members, even among the Super Elites in the Special Ops ranks.
King Vegeta turned his head and nodded. "Yes, it's almost set-up. Where's Pug?"
"Still tending to the network." she replied. "He wants to be ready to broadcast galaxy wide as soon as possible."
"Not sure when we'll need that though. So far things on Earth haven't been going so well. It's astounding... these Androids are so much more powerful than anything I'd imagined, and this new creature, Cell..."
"A power of fifty million is mind boggling, I know." Vadora said nodding. "Piccolo's power's even more incredible... I can still remember when he didn't even break a thousand..." She stopped as the monitors flared to life showing Earth from several angles. The satellites zoomed in as the ground based hover cam units linked up with them and activated. It only took a moment for the satellites to lock onto a set of powers they considered notable and then Vegeta, Trunks, Sakura, Hotaru, and Piccolo came into view.
"Hmm, that boy with the purple hair..." Vadora said slowly. "Definitely Trunks." The King nodded in agreement. Bulma had still been on world when Trunks had been born and the purple hair was unmistakable. "That other girl, with Hotaru, that must be Sakura..." She turned her eyes to the power read-outs but they were fairly low, it was obvious they weren't powered up fully.
King Vegeta glanced over at Vadora again and from this angle, now that she was watching the monitors, the difference in her appearance was quite obvious. Even moreso thanks to the fact she was, as she had been for the last few months, in civilian clothes instead of her formal armor. "How'd the check-up go anyway? Didn't you have one this morning?"
She nodded. "Everything's going fine." she replied. "Shouldn't be much longer either. Can't wait until my clothes fit again..."
"You and Tien decide on a name yet?"
"Cheri."