Last Stand
The staggering rebels grunted and groaned as they were yanked from the cluttering, burn soaked debris of their once glorious base and home. Goten grunted as his cyborg arm sparked with massive injuries.
"Take it easy Uncle Goten, we got you" Pan said.
Pan and Trunks pushed up Goten's armpits and carried the weary general back to the others. Everyone was filled with despair and sorrow, the base was completely destroyed. Bulma, Videl, their tools, their maps, their medical supplies, all gone.
Trunks counted "Goku, Piccolo, Vegeta, Goten, Krillin, Pan, myself, Pepper, and Lance. That's everyone……unfortunately".
The stinging memory of Bulma and Videl's deaths at the hands of that monster Android 16 burned brightly in the memory of Trunks aching heart. Pan sniffled a bit as she wiped her nose; Goku gently wrapped a tattered blanket around her and rubbed her back.
Lance blinked "At least we still got these".
The blue dressed soldier slammed down a black burnt crate, twisted and bent but still salvageable. Inside were countless neo pulse grenades and the captive cargo cubes they liberated from the spyder pod depot from Android 8. Containing the captive souls of human slaves bred for machine based labor and sweatshop enslavement.
Vegeta growled "Don't be mad, that's hardly a fraction of the army those blasted machines have. We wouldn't stand a chance against them".
Piccolo nodded "I hate to say it but Vegeta is right, were at a severe disadvantage here. Depleted resources, limited supplies, and an army of people who probably don't even know how to use a pulse grenade".
"They've won, we lost, and we have to accept it……it's over" Vegeta said.
"NO" Goten screamed.
The ragged, straggling group of weary soldiers and Saiyans looked up to the enraged general.
Goten shook his head "I refuse to let it end this way. We've made too many compromises already; too many retreats. They invade our space and we fall back. They assimilate entire species and we fall back. Not again. The line must be drawn here! This far, no further. I will not let this madness come to pass for one second longer.
They have raped our freedom and our humanity, transformed our world into a graveyard, and treated our children and loves ones like cattle. We will fight, we MUST fight, and I swear to you, on the Saiyan blood that boils in my veins, I will make them PAY for what they have done to us".
Piccolo and Vegeta looked at each other before returning their gaze to Goten, their cybernetic limbs painfully reminding them of their losses. The fires burning from their bases ruins shimmered brightly upon the heroes cybernetic parts.
Goku smiled "Gohan would be proud of you Goten, just like I am right now. I'm with you 100 percent".
Trunks and Pan smiled together "You know you can count on us".
The aging Namek warrior smirked as he listened and watched the young heroes voice their words of courage and valor. Piccolo couldn't believe that after years of suffering and cybernetics, nothing has changed at all.
"Only you guys could find hope in a hopeless situation……I'm in" Piccolo said proudly.
Vegeta scoffed "This is insane Goku; you can't honestly be serious about this suicide missions of yours".
The young Saiyan laughed "Of course I am Vegeta. We can't very much let the bad guys get away with everything they've done now can we? It's our duty, and out right as Earthlings".
"Spare me, were Saiyans not Earthlings Goku. Planet Vegeta was our home and our home it shall remain" Vegeta said.
Goku replied "Planet Vegeta may have been our birthplace, but Earth has been a home and a shelter to us for many years now. Everything that has happened to this planet is in direct contact with our arrival. Our loved ones and friends are apart of this war we created, and now it's time to finish it. Don't you think that's what your family would want?".
Vegeta growled in bitter agony at the mere mentioning of the word "family", had Goku so carelessly forgotten that they were all dead? But as Trunks placed a warm hand on his father's shoulder, Vegeta's eyes lit up with brief glimpses of a future on the horizon. Trunks smiled and looked to Vegeta.
"Mom and sis are gone, but were not and that's what's important. We have to live on, we have to go on, to fight for them dad" Trunks said.
The scratchy breathing of Vegeta's air mask slowed as he knew Trunks was right. Vegeta nodded and surrounded Goku and the others as they prepared for battle……the final battle. With their man power depleted and limited supplies in terms of weapons, Goku would have to come up with a brilliant plan to break into the Machine HQ, take out the security systems, fight through the endless horde of machines armies, and confront Mastermind.
Fortunately for Goten and the others, a brilliant plan is exactly what Goku had in mind.
Meanwhile at Red Ribbon Empire HQ……
Swarming hordes of dark purple Skybat jets soared over the smoke churning factories of the mechanical empire. Thousands of android storm troopers, both 18 and 17 model units, mustered towards the launch bay in the center of the empire. Towering, black titanium space shuttles were lined up against a blast off tower constructed closely to the master tower in RR HQ. Weapons and tanks were being rapidly loaded into the shuttle's cargo bay doors.
A fork lift of chain gun blasters stacked in large, silver titanium based containers was hauled into the bay doors as the cargo ship slowly closed up. Marching armies of androids stormed into the ships by the thousands, soon all 6 of the massive shuttles would be packed to the fullest with robot soldiers, vehicles, and weapons of mass destruction.
"My dream has finally become a reality 19, finally, I can spread the glory of perfection to the stars above and create the most powerful race in the entire universe" Mastermind chuckled.
The dark lord was watching the shuttles loading procedure from his balcony, personally overseeing the android storm troopers progress. Android 19 nodded as he stood firmly behind his master.
Android 19 nodded "Yes master, half of your forces have been successfully loaded into all 6 shuttles cargo bays. Were currently loading the other half now and should be ready to launch in 3 hours".
Mastermind replied "Excellent, the sooner we get off this shit hole planet the better. Without those pathetic human rebels and their Sayian sideshow, this planet has served it's purpose. I will now venture forth and conquer the rest of the planets in the North Galaxy, then to the South, West, and the East".
The pale faced android chuckled "Your plan is magnificent master, all forms of life will serve you soon enough".
KABOOM!
An ear shattering explosion of cosmic proportions suddenly violently rocked the entire foundation of the metallic empire. Mastermind and 19 gasped in horror as they looked towards the front gates, they had been literally blown in half. Suddenly thousands of small black balls rained down from the skies. Android 18 screamed as whole platoon of androids were vaporized in a flash of sizzling metal. The balls were EMP bombs, they littered the battlefield.
Hundreds of small explosions vaporizing large chunks of android storm troopers. Goten and the others charged forward as more human warriors hurled EMP bombs into the skies like fireballs. Piccolo leapt into the air and extended his steel arms like flying arrows. Three Android 17s and an Android 18 gagged as Piccolo's steel fists sliced into them like butter. Piccolo roared and reverted his arms back as they launched spiral missiles.
Mastermind roared "What the hell is going on here?".
Goten screamed back "FOR FREEDOM".
The cyborg armed Saiyan reared back his mechanical arm and hurled another EMP bomb. The blast sky rocketed piles of androids across the field, one of them smashed into a Mirror tank and splattered it's melting components all over the reflective dashboard.
"I thought they were supposed to be DEAD" Mastermind howled, frantically strangling Android 19.
Pan and Trunks happily held hands as they flew forward and pushed their other hands out forward, unleashing a barrage of rain like energy blasts into the teaming masses of android soldiers. A massive tank blast hurled at the two lovers. Trunks and Pan gasped as they separated hands while the tank continued to fire.
Trunks smirked "Fire in the hole".
The young teen removed his shattered crystal sword and lunged towards the mirror tank. Trunks jammed the sword right into the nozzle of the tank's cannon, KABLAM! The tank fired and a massive explosion backfired into the tank's core and caused it literally self destruct. Releasing the sword and leaping off his brown shoes, Trunks dove down to the ground as the tank blew up. Pan continued to bravely soar into the heavens towards a skybat jet.
The Android 17 pilot fired two massive red, shark faced missiles at Pan. The young girl smirked and fired an energy blast into one missile, instantly destroying it. The 2nd missile came right at Pan's young face and apple like cheeks. The girl squeaked and panicked as she kicked her right leg up and hit the missile, it surprisingly was sent spiraling back to it's skybat jet source. The jet exploded and Pan cheered as the machine parts rained down.
Rapid firing machine gun turrets slaughtered into dozens of human freedom fighters as they charged. Lance and Pepper flashed on their synthetic Saiyan powers and fired plasma blasts at the guns, clearing a path as they blasted turrets and androids alike. The mighty Saiyan prince, Vegeta hovered into the battlefield with a proud smirk on his masked face. One of Mastermind's space shuttles was blasting off, trying to avoid being destroyed in combat.
"Oh no you don't, not even space can save you my from my wrath lowly machines. FINAL FLASH" Vegeta screamed.
Golden sun like yellow energy beams gathered in Vegeta's gloved hands as he out stretched his arms. After gathering enough energy and focusing it into his white gloved fingers, Vegeta fired the gargantuan energy blast straight into the evacuating space shuttle. The explosion of the shuttle was catastrophic, mountains of blinding fire and light erupted from the vaporized space craft. Mastermind watched in horror as his empire was being leveled.
Krillin leapt into the air and spun kicked his black boots into the crunching metal faces of several android units. The black haired monk blasted through Android 18 drones with ease, Goten charged right beside him and bashed a mirror tank right in the reflective panel with his cyborg arm.
"KRILLIN, LOOK OUT" Goten screamed.
Krillin gasped as a gigantic energy blast suddenly hurled him back, a gigantic explosion sky rocketed the warrior into the air. One of Mastermind's Godzilla sized Omnibots was storming towards the fallen warrior's footsteps.
Krillin gulped "Crud".
Goten screamed "Back off".
The general's mechanical knuckles converted into a cannon and fired a powerful energy blast into the Omnibot's face. The robot's head was removed, sparks and burning wires sputtered from its headless body.
Goten said "Krillin, I need you to break into the reactor room and shut down the main power to the tower. All the gun turrets and Omnibots will deactivate if we cut off their energy supply. We can handle the troops until then".
Krillin protested "One problem, I don't know where it is".
The Saiyan sighed and leapt into the air towards the headless Omnibot.
CLANG!
Goten's robotic hand bashed into the mirror panel chest of the Omnibot, causing it topple backwards and crash onto the left side of the tower's structure. A dark hole with flashing electronic lights could be seen in the crater made by the fallen Omnibot. Krillin almost laughed and slapped his face.
"Ask a stupid question" Krillin said.
As Krillin rushed into the dark crater, hearing the roaring sounds of combat all around him, he quickly started searching the area. Thousands of massive reactors and computers were attached to the building's foundation. Neon green glowing reactor cores and blinking lights flashed everywhere.
Krillin frowned "No sense in playing eeny meeny miny Moe, I'm gonna have to barbecue the whole place".
A faint voice was heard down in the dark hallway of the computer room. Krillin's curiosity sadly got the better of him; he followed the voice down to a darker, more heavily armored section of the room. There were pole sized black cables sparking diamond blue wave like lights along the cables. The cables were leading to something, a trio of human sized containers actually.
"Those don't look like any computer systems I've ever seen" Krillin said.
The human approached the containers and noticed they were bright green and fogged up with some kind of juice, or sweat building up from inside the container. Krillin rubbed his hand across the smooth surface of the container tube and gasped at what was inside.
"Oh my god" Krillin gasped.
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Back on the battlefield……
Android 19 screeched as he leapt from his master's balcony and landed down in front of Goku. The small Saiyan was just about to enter the front entrance of the dark tower, Goku smiled towards his robotic old foe.
"Someone's had a tune up recently" Goku said.
Android 19 laughed "Your human emotions are amusing Goku, but this time, it is YOU who will need a tune up".
Goku replied "Game over Android 19, this all ends tonight".
Android 19 snarled "The game is JUST beginning monkey".
The android leapt at Goku and swung a massive, orange and pink colored spear at Goku, it had a love curved blade and a type of feathery quill attached to it. Goku removed his power pole and clashed it against 19's spear staff. Goku and Android 19 entered a ferocious battle, locking weapons and trading blows in a furious battle of speed and strength.
BAM! BAM! BAM!
Countless bullets suddenly pelted around Goku's kneecaps, he quickly leapt out of the way and was delivered a painful punch to the cheek by 19. An Android 17 unit was blasting Goku from his tower's turret gun. Lance gasped as he saw Goku being double teamed; his eyes quickly examined the situation behind his small glasses.
"Measure the ratio, minus the distance, proper application of energy, and factor in the probability" Lance mumbled to himself.
Goku fired a small yellow energy blast into 19's face, temporarily stunning him. The pint sized Saiyan then jump kicked the android in the head and shoved him back with his power pole.
"Perfect, time for some Neo force physics" Lance said.
The blue synthetic Saiyan soared in a blue energy like glow and went right for that gun turret. Android 17 unloaded the machine's barrels towards Lance, but he quickly dodged the flying bullets and soared underneath the gun's range. Lance's fiery blue energy formed around his leg as he sliced it into the base of the gun tower's support beam, separating it from the beam. The turret tower started to collapse and the android screamed as he started to plummet to the ground.
"Goku, heads up" Lance shouted.
The spiky haired warrior looked up and spotted the enormous amount of falling debris heading towards him. Goku smiled to Android 19 and waved bye, bye as he used his instant transmission to disappear. 19 looked up and shrieked, his pale white face screaming with terror. CRUNCH! The falling gun tower and debris flattened Android 19 completely.
Pan gasped "Nice moves grandpa, I knew that tub of lard was going to get it sooner or later".
Trunks added "Let's not crank out the party streamers just yet, we've still got a Mastermind to crack, right Goku?".
Goku looked back up towards the master tower and noticed a gleaming pair of sinister, ice cold eyes. The war would be over in a heartbeat once the machine empire's master was taken out.
"Right, Trunks, Pan, what do you say we go upstairs and pay this Mastermind a visit?" Goku asked.
Pan blinked "But what about the others, and all those other androids?".
Trunks replied "Don't worry, they can handle things down here without us. We already took care of most of the big fish. Besides, the sooner we get Mastermind the sooner the war will end".
The Saiyan trio flew up to the top of the master tower, staring deep into the massive hole inside the main viewpoint of Mastermind's office. Goku and the Saiyan teens hovered in and landed inside the office. The dreaded Mastermind was seen, lurking in the suffocating shadows with a wicked smile on his face.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here? The biggest thorns in my side, so finally we meet face to face……again" Mastermind said.
Trunks and Pan looked at each other in confusion.
Trunks curiously asked "Again? You're saying you met us before?".
Mastermind chuckled "Not you foolish child, I was talking to Goku of course. It's been a long time since I've last seen him, but after all this time he STILL hasn't changed one little bit".
Goku smirked "Color me curious but I don't recall ever crossing paths with someone called Mastermind".
The stranger frowned "You ruined my life twice Goku, destroyed everything I hold near and dear and now your starting it all over again. My machine army has dominated the entire planet, and after I finish off you and your pathetic Saiyan friends, I will soon do the same to the rest of the universe".
Pan growled "Big jerk, hasn't anyone ever told you to be polite to a lady?".
Goku shouted "No more games, come out here so we can see your face".
The wicked master laughed and slowly walked into the light. Goku, Pan, and Trunks quickly posed for battle, raising their hands and power levels in defense. Mastermind's form graced the reflection of the dark office. He was wearing a dark blue, and blood red colored Japanese like warrior robe. Dark arm sleeves hung down around his old and skeleton like, wrinkled fists. The dark blue cloak hanging from the robe covered his legs and his black shoes.
The top half of the outfit had some sort of dark, blue armor that pointed out severely on the sides of both Mastermind's shoulders. Curved blue and red thorn like spikes and points adorned those shoulder pads. On top of his white haired head, a small black hat with the Red Ribbon Army logo printed on it.
Trunks and Pan suddenly screamed "AHHHHHH"
Goku gulped "No way, I c-c-c-c-can't believe it"
"IT'S DR. GERO" Goku, Trunks, and Pan all screamed at once.
"What's the matter my friends? You look like you've seen a ghost" Dr. Gero laughed.
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To be continued……