Game Saga – Part I: A New Game
Throughout their travel through space and time, Eighteen found herself in an unusual situation. She wasn't used to being the more energetic twin; typically, she was far more reserved. Yet the stupors of time travel truly fascinated her, and she committed each second of this trip to memory.
Yet that was not all that was on her mind. "Just think, brother… in just a few minutes, we'll have access to a whole new world. A whole new population to wipe out." A smile crossed her face as she allowed her bloodlust to fully overcome her, something she hadn't done fully in quite a while. "Should we try killing them the same way? Or no, that'd be too easy…?" she continued to chatter on and on with a tone quite unlike her.
Meanwhile, her brother seemed to be paying it no heed. His attention was far more focused on the capsule in his hand. "…Hm. So if Goku had this, he'd actually have been around."
Eighteen took her eyes off the fantastic color scheme of the timestream to give her brother a brief concerned look. It was masked, however, by her usual callous self. "What's wrong, Seventeen? Are you afraid you would've lost to him?" she teased him.
"Pfft. Hardly. You seem to forget, I killed Vegeta all on my own, and he claimed he was stronger than Goku could have ever been." Seventeen couldn't help but maliciously grin at the battle he'd had with Vegeta. "Man, I'll never forget that look on his face when he knew he was about to die."
Though she wouldn't admit it, she felt more secure knowing that her brother was appearing to return to his normal self. "How do you know he was stronger than Goku? We both know that little man has a stupidly big ego."
Seventeen's smile faded, his expression hardening. "I don't need to know if he was blowing smoke, Eighteen," he remarked, reclining back into the seat. "Because I'll have my answer in a matter of minutes. Son Goku is mine to kill."
"What makes you think you get to fight him?" Eighteen quipped back, moving a lock of hair behind her ear. "You've been selfish when it comes to the good kills. You had Vegeta, Gohan—"
"—We shared that kill on Blondie," Seventeen quickly interrupted, now finally craning his head to look at Eighteen. "He became too big of a problem, so we nipped it in the bud."
"So you think you can just call dibs, Seventeen?" Her eyes narrowed at her brother. "This is a numbers deal. Maybe if I killed the purple-haired kid, you'd have a better bargaining chip."
"So why didn't you?" Seventeen coolly asked. "You even went as far as allowing him to live. I wouldn't have stopped you. I even suggested it."
"Because I'm thinking ahead, you idiot," the blonde snapped, "if you remember, I also said that we'd come back. There's no way the humans are going to resist rebuilding, which can give us another playground by the time we get back. Maybe we can even force the kid to teach us how to get more fuel."
"It'd be a never-ending plate of worlds to terrorize." Slowly, a sinisterly wide smile grew on Seventeen's face. "Y'know, sis, sometimes I don't tell you how much I love you."
"That's sweet," Eighteen smiled genuinely. Then, just as quickly, her beautiful visage slid into a cold hard scowl. "But Goku's still mine."
"Can't blame me for trying, can you?" Seventeen innocently raised his hands.
Eighteen let out an amused chuckle at that. "Guess I can't. You're smarter than I give you credit for."
"Care to strike a deal?" Seventeen offered, turning back to face the glass dome that separated them from the timestream. "I hate to admit it, but fighting Goku is something very important to me. So what's your price?"
"…really? Huh." Eighteen cupped her chin for a minute, giving it some serious thought. "It's been a while since I've had you at my mercy, brother. I think the last time was when you couldn't sweet-talk that cute shopkeeper girl."
"…how was I supposed to know that was her father I killed in front of her?"
"You're hopeless," Eighteen chuckled. "At least when I go after guys, I don't murder their loved ones at first. Anyways, I think I've got a good idea. How's about we get you a nice new set of clothes? I'm sick of your getup, and that ugly scarf."
Seventeen shuddered. Two decades of shopping experience with his sister stung worse than any physical damage that had been done to him in a fight. But, like anyone else, the male cyborg had his priorities. "Sure. Then you can take out Frieza. Besides, he'll be the one who shows up first if what that kid told us is true."
Teasingly, she wrapped an arm around her brother's neck, pulling him close. "Pleasure doing business with you, Seventeen. And you'll look so much cuter without this stupid scarf. Maybe you'll land the next shopkeeper you see."
Seventeen rolled his eyes, pushing his sister's arm away. "I should've just jacked this machine on my own and left you in our timeline."
"Without me, you'd fall apart. If we had done things your way, we'd be out of targets by now," Eighteen casually remarked. "And I think you know it."
"Maybe so," Seventeen acknowledged. Suddenly, a light began to shine through the seemingly-infinite expanse of the space-time realm, and he looked up at it eagerly. "But at the end of the day, all that matters is my shot at Son Goku. Not even time itself will stop me from killing him."
"So this is Earth. How quaint."
"Yes, how very quaint." A metallic tail crashed against the ground harshly. "It's fitting that the Super Saiyan should call such a puny planet home!"
"Honestly, Frieza…" the other voice sighed, slightly discontent, "we could have finished this simply from destroying the planet from space!"
"Father, that would spoil all the fun…" Frieza retorted, taking in the views of the rocky area he'd landed in. "I plan to savor my revenge. Every… little… bit…" He clenched his fist angrily. "It's his fault that I have this cybernetic body! He humiliated me! When Goku returns home, he will find everything he has ever known or loved in absolute ruin! He will know the wrath of Frieza!"
His father did not seem impressed. "Not that I don't love it here… but I still don't see why we can't destroy this pathetic mudball right now."
"Why father…" Frieza looked up to the towering figure next to him. "It was you who taught me the fine art of revenge, was it not? And I can think of no finer revenge than having none of his loved ones alive to welcome him home. Soldiers!"
On command, tens of soldiers neatly walked out of their ship in formation, stopping only behind the father-son duo and taking a kneeling stance. "Sir!" they all rejoiced, as one.
"I want you to begin your search for the Saiyan's pathetic friends. Once you find them, bring me their bodies. Or better yet, don't. It might be far more satisfying for me to squeeze the life out of them myself."
"I'm afraid we can't let you do that, Frieza."
"H-huh?!" the Arcosian gasped. "Who dares to approach Lord Frieza unannounced?"
Two twins, practically identical in all but hair color and clothing, swooped down from the sky and landed opposite Frieza and his father. The black haired one wore an intrigued look on his face. "We do."
"God, that was so corny, Seventeen," the blonde haired one groaned. "Couldn't you have come up with anything better?"
"It's not often we get to play the role of dashing heroes, do we, Eighteen?" the one known as Seventeen responded. "You gotta take what you can get."
"Interesting… I don't seem to remember you from the Namek debacle." Frieza cupped his chin for a brief moment before smiling. "There's a chance you may not know what you're dealing with. Perhaps you should kneel before me and I'll reconsider killing you."
"We know enough about you to know that you're not welcome here. You'll ruin all the fun," Eighteen responded, placing a hand on her hip. "Seventeen, what's the deal now? We didn't account for this many other people."
"It appears to me that you believe you're in control of this situation," Frieza remarked casually. "You're lucky I don't want to sully my hands with such garbage. Soldier!" he gestured toward one of the green men behind him. "Remove them from my sight!"
"Yes, sir!" the soldier bellowed in a deep baritone, stepping past Frieza and his father to look at the twins before him. "How adorable… neither of you look like you've trained a day in your life…" he tapped the side of his scouter, waiting for it to read their power levels.
"What's it say, commander?" asked another one of the soldiers. He grew a little disconcerted when said commander furrowed his brow in frustration. "C-Commander?"
"Odd… no reading whatsoever…" he grumbled. He cocked his blaster toward the twins. "Eh, it doesn't matter to me anyway. Lord Frieza doesn't pay me for numbers." With that he fired off his blast, cockily assuming their demise.
A large explosion rattled through the battlefield a moment later.
"We have to help them! We can't let more innocent people die!" Gohan shouted. He looked at the rest of the Z-Fighters, who seemed to have already accepted their demise. "I don't know about you, but I'm going!"
"Hmph! Idiot. Can't you tell that they're pulling the same stunt you used to hide from me?" Vegeta snarled. Even Piccolo nodded in agreement with him. "Look, they're hardly even scratched."
And Vegeta was right.
At the last possible moment, Eighteen had thrown up a barrier to protect her and her brother. She did not seem amused in the slightest. "Goddammit Seventeen, I thought you were taking them!"
"We never made an agreement. Though now that you've mentioned it, I think I'll take the taller guy with him."
"H-Hey!" the commander shouted, trying to expunge his inner fear, "t-that's King Cold you're talking to... Lord Frieza's father! Show some respect!"
"Huh. How interesting. The boy didn't mention that Frieza would be bringing his father." Seventeen looked at the taller of his foes, sizing him up. "I just hope he's a decent warmup."
"How dare you insult my father's power, you insignificant worm?!" Frieza hissed, clenching his metallic fist in fury.
"Now, now, Frieza… give the boy some slack." King Cold stepped forward, gesturing toward the male cyborg. He had opted to keep quiet this whole time in favor of sizing up the threat they had posed to him. "Not everyone has the pleasure of knowing who we are. It doesn't come as a surprise to me that the average person on this backwater planet fails to recognize our family name. However…" he smiled, almost politely. "I'm sure the women of your planet are far more cordial."
Seventeen couldn't help but snicker. "Sorry, but she might be worse than I am. Right, sis?"
"Honestly, I don't have it in me to trade quips with Goku's leftovers," Eighteen remarked, raising her fists to her hips carelessly. She hid a smirk at seeing Frieza's eyes bulge, but didn't let it show. "The poor little guy's already broken apart."
Frieza walked right up to the girl with no hesitation, pushing aside his commander. As he came to a stop, his ruby-red eyes staring down Eighteen's ice blue orbs, he scowled at her with a look that would've made half of the known universe corpse. His voice rumbled out of the bottom of his throat with an ominous chill. "How do you know of that vile Saiyan?"
In response, Eighteen narrowed her eyes—a gesture that would have terrified all of the remaining humans back in the future. "We have our own business with him. Business that requires you out of the way." Faster than Frieza could see, Eighteen gripped his arm and, in a graceful one-eighty pivot, hurled him toward his ship.
"Frieza!" Cold gaped at the agility of the seemingly pathetic woman before him, before that look contorted into pure anger. "How dare you touch my heir to the throne!" he kicked off toward his son's attacker, ready to kill, but found himself cut off at the pass by Seventeen's sneaker making a firm impact with the side of his cheek.
"Sorry, but I can't allow you to interfere. If you want to fight my sister, you're going to have to go through me." Seventeen's eyes twinkled with mischief. "And just so you know, I won't go down so easily."
"Whoa!" Krillin gasped. "Did you see how easily those two managed to separate Frieza and his father?"
"It's… unreal!" Piccolo echoed Krillin's sentiments. "Could even Goku handle both of them like this?"
"Of course, you idiots! A Super Saiyan's might is above all!" Vegeta cut in, though he too found himself trying to figure out the origins behind these two mysterious newcomers. 'Just who are they? If these two punks held this much power, surely there would have been something of note about them… just another reason why I need to attain the power of a Super Saiyan. These frauds cannot be allowed to disgrace my name!'
Eighteen watched with amusement as Frieza righted himself atop his ship, careful to avoid any harm being done to it. "Nice reflexes. For a second there I thought you were going to ruin your own ship."
Instead of verbally lashing out at his opponent, Frieza let out a deep breath. He opened his eyes again with an intense fervor. "I don't know who or what you are, but I will not be treated with such disrespect." He leapt off his ship and floated down with poise befitting of the emperor he was, a metallic CREAK indicating his landing. "You have two choices when it comes to repaying said disrespect—you may find me the people I am looking for, or you may die where you stand."
"Nice choice of words. You haven't made me move once," Eighteen casually remarked, brushing her hair out of her face. "So I'll give you a choice—one large blast, or lots of little ones?" A dark smile overcame her face. "The first one is a lot less painful."
Frieza didn't opt to give her an answer, instead choosing to speak with his fists. He raced toward the android with reckless intent, throwing a right cross that did, to his credit, connect with Eighteen's skull. She took a step back, slightly discombobulated, while the Arcosian let loose a haughty grin. "Made you move there."
The blonde's look of discomfort quickly transformed back into an icy smirk. "I can't sense power levels, so I had to measure you up for myself. You really are disappointing." With that, she teleported out of sight, leaving Frieza to snarl and disappear as well. They met shortly after in the air when their fists collided, sending a shockwave that rocked the ground and left a number of spectators in awe.
Of course, Eighteen had spotted them out of the corner of her eye. She felt it prudent to give her soon to be victims only the most violent demonstration of her power. 'Last time around, we were too quick. I think I'll take my time and enjoy this—huh?' She failed to notice Frieza rise above her and entrap her within an energy sphere, giving her a cruel smirk.
"You fell for it," he sweetly remarked, before pushing the ball forward with enough telekinetic force to send Eighteen flying into the ground, the sphere exploding almost immediately on impact. Having learned from his overconfidence against Goku, the tyrant soared down toward the crater with an energy sphere readied in his hand…
…only to be blasted back up into the sky by a pink flare of energy. Frieza let loose a string of curses before re-directing the blast to the side, destroying a nearby rock formation. He had little time to collect himself as a parry to the face came shortly after from Eighteen, which he managed to block with his one organic forearm. The tyrant attempted to lash out at the android with a kick, but that was neatly evaded by a simple tilt of Eighteen's head.
"Something wrong?" she dryly asked; the tyrant had no chance to answer her as she went for a hard headbutt that cracked open Frieza's remaining organic skull. A trail of indigo blood pooled down half of his face, covering his eye and leaving the blonde before him tinted in purple.
"What are you…?" Frieza murmured to himself, before he growled in frustration. "There is no way you are of the same race as that puny Earthling I killed back on Namek!"
Eighteen shrugged her shoulders. "I could tell you, but there's no point in telling a dead man anything of value."
"That's it! I've had enough of you and your sass!" Frieza lifted his right index finger, beginning to generate a massive amount of fiery energy in his single digit. He grinned horribly when his opponent seemed to actually be paying attention, her eyes widening. "I don't care—I'll let you all die in the vacuum of space! Goku will never be able to return back to his home world! HAHAHA—HUH?"
Following Eighteen's actual gaze led him to a sight so horrifying that not even a nightmare could produce it.
"He just…" Tien gaped.
"Killed him in one attack…" Yamcha breathed out.
King Cold's body laid sprawled out pathetically on the rocky earth, his head several meters away. All of his soldiers had already cleared the battlefield in fear, a fact that went mostly unacknowledged.
Meanwhile, a bored Seventeen looked back up at his sister and his latest murder's son, folding his arms. "C'mon, Eighteen! You're toying with the poor bastard; just kill him already!"
"M-my father…" Frieza was almost paralyzed with shock at seeing his father, leader of the Cold clan and empire, beheaded in such a pitiful fashion. All he could see now was that cocky little boy who thought he could dare to cross his family and get away with it. "I'll snap your neck, you little twit!" Burning with rage, Frieza's muscles began to grow into his full power mode, and with a battle cry he launched down toward the cyborg with an intent to kill unlike any other he'd had before in his life.
Seventeen, only noticing the tyrant approaching him with seconds to spare, smirked deviously and erected a green barrier around himself. Frieza rammed against the teal sphere of energy with everything he had, roaring obscenities as he tried to break through the cyborg's shield with every ounce of energy he had. "Sorry, bud, but you're not the main attraction here."
Yet another huge explosion rocked the battlefield a moment later.
"It's too much!"
"I can't see!"
"Get down, Gohan!"
When the dust cleared, Seventeen lay on the ground, grunting in discomfort. His clothes were slightly torn, but he seemed otherwise hardly affected. "Eighteen… what the hell was that for?" Frieza lay just a few meters from him, unable to move any further from the intensity of the energy blast that his sister had fired at the both of them.
Eighteen landed neatly on the ground next to him, looking down at him with annoyance. "You don't get to hog all the fun, brother." Almost carelessly, she crossed her left arm over her right shoulder and fired a piercing finger ray that impaled Frieza's heart with such concentration that it killed him on impact. "This is just as much my world as it is yours, you know."
Seventeen stood up and got nose to nose with his sister. "Don't blame me! I tried to hold back! That overgrown lizard was just that weak!"
"You couldn't even let me enjoy fighting Frieza without you having to make it all about yourself!" Eighteen fired back, pushing her brother away from her. "I'm sick of this! Let me have Son Goku or else this isn't a fair deal!"
"What? No way!" Seventeen refused ardently. "We already made a deal on this! You can't just take it back now!"
"They're… bickering with each other…?" Piccolo couldn't believe what his eyes and ears were showing him. These two unbelievably powerful beings – who managed to dispatch of both Frieza and his father as if it were nothing to them – seemingly couldn't agree on anything. "And just what do they want with Goku?"
"Mister Piccolo, did they say something about my dad?" Gohan asked inquisitively. "Maybe he met them in space and knew he wouldn't make it back in time!"
"I don't like this…" Chiaotzu stammered. "Tien, they look scary!"
"We'll be fine, Chiaotzu. Even if we have to fight them, our plan hasn't changed. Much as I hate to say it, I'm actually glad we can count on Vegeta to help…"
His voice trailed off as he realized, in all the Z-Fighters' awe of watching the battle, Vegeta had disappeared.
"We made a deal! You still killed Frieza, didn't you?"
"You barely let me enjoy it!"
"So what? It was your choice to kill him when you did! I didn't stop you!"
"God, you're such a brat! You hog all the fun!"
They were so locked into their argument that they didn't see a man with spiked jet-black hair appear in front of them, his arms folded intensely. "Hey!" he barked, grabbing their combined attention. "I don't know who you are or how you defeated Frieza, but I want answers!"
Seventeen looked at the newcomer for a brief moment before snickering. "I didn't realize this was your preferred fashion sense, Vegeta. You almost looked better in that Saiyan armor of yours."
"H-How did you…?" Vegeta recoiled for a moment, before snarling. "Explain, you freaks!"
"Looks better than you, Seventeen. I actually kinda like pink on him; it makes him look kinda cute." Eighteen chuckled. The look of discomfort on Vegeta's face was all too worth the simple flirt. "But fine, you want answers? Well..."
"Your little buddy, Goku, is supposed to land here in about three hours," Seventeen cut in, visibly irritating his sister. "Though given how much time we spent horsing around with Frieza and his father, it might be a little sooner. We've wanted to fight him for a very long time."
"Then I suggest you wait your turn. Kakarot is my rival, and only I will be the one to defeat him!" Vegeta arrogantly pointed his thumb toward his chest.
"My, my… such overconfidence," Eighteen tucked her hair behind her ear. "If that's how you feel, then who am I to stop you?" the blonde woman turned toward her brother with an amused smirk. "I'll tell you what, brother. You can have Son Goku; I'll take Vegeta. Besides, if they're both going to go golden, then it's pretty much the same thing."
"Go golden? Do you mean… Super Saiyan?!" Vegeta questioned, astonished. "So you have met Kakarot before!"
"We haven't. We're just… very big fans," Seventeen coolly quipped. "But hey, if you're his rival, then I guess you should be a fair substitute," he remarked, feeling a sinister sense of déjà vu. "So go ahead, show us your blonde form."
The look on his face said it all. "Wait… you can't do it yet, can you?" Eighteen covered her mouth and giggled. "Seventeen, we might've come back a little too early. This won't even be a challenge."
"Yet?" Vegeta could feel his arm beginning to twitch with anger. "What the hell do you know about me?"
"Eighteen, I could care less," Seventeen responded, ignoring the prince before him. "My priority was fighting Son Goku and making sure he wasn't sick. Vegeta doesn't concern me."
That did it for the Saiyan prince; his violet aura burst to life around him. "You will not overlook the great Vegeta! I don't need to become a Super Saiyan to defeat a pair of cocky teenagers!"
Eighteen stepped forward, raising her fists to her hips with a small smirk. "You'd be lucky if you could beat one of us. And by the way, brother, get comfortable. Unlike Frieza, I plan on making this last quite a while."
Thanks for reading the second chapter of Future Reborn! Not sure when the next update will be, considering I've been(and will only continue to be) busy, but writing Seventeen and Eighteen has been something I've wanted to do forever now.
A few of you might be disappointed with how quickly I dispatched of Frieza and Cold, but they were there to serve a purpose. Seventeen and Eighteen have literally no reason to feel threatened at any point given their prior experience, and are just treating this as another one of their sadistic games. I thought that counterbalanced nicely with Frieza's attempt at revenge and just how seriously he had taken his loss to Super Saiyan Goku.
As far as the upcoming Vegeta vs. Eighteen battle… well, we know Seventeen was able to dispatch of his Super Saiyan future self, so just how screwed is the prince now?
-SuperWG: The androids learned that Trunks was leaving, and they were so sad that they couldn't bring themselves to let him go. They would have missed him too much. Lol.
But they had him whipped in this one.
I always liked to interpret the androids as having a general hatred for humanity, yes, but also treating those who could fight back against them as entertainment. I think it helps add to their sadism in a way to have them slightly invested in Gohan and Trunks, if only as ways to amuse themselves and break up the monotony of destroying cities every so often.
-Luke: I am liking the premise! Original well written characters are fairly close to canon (Trunks would have been more righteous/resistant...but maybe not with his mom's life on the line...).
In a similar light – Trunks isn't exactly concerned about honor or pride in battle as much as he is accomplishing his goal. Threatening his mother, the only sense of stability he's ever known, was one way to push him toward this idea. But you have to wonder, even for a minute: if you could save your own world to doom someone else's, would you? The androids have no way of coming back now, which they don't know yet.
-Demisword95: as for this story, this is very intriguing. I have yet to see a story wherein F17&18 go back in time instead. could be quite problematic for the Z warriors
I've never seen it either, but it wasn't really inspired by that. I just remember being really interested in seeing the characters that authors would pick for their time traveler and always liking the cyborg twins, and realizing what kind of story I could put together if I combined those two elements.
