Age 767 – Alternate Timeline

Dr. Gero felt like his eyes were going to pop out of their sockets. "What did you say to me?"

With a cocky smirk on his face, Artificial Human #17 repeated himself. "We'll go after Son Goku when we feel like it."

"When you feel like it?" Gero snarled. "I don't give a damn what you feel like doing! You willdo as I say, when I say it!"

"And how do plan on forcing us?" asked Artificial Human #18. She brushed her hair back past her ear. "Well, old man?"

"You intend to disobey me?" Gero shouted, trying to put as much command and anger into his voice. Inwardly, however, he was very worried. The computer model never indicated that they would be this independent, but I should've known better given their human origins. If I didn't need them as power sources for Cell, I never would have activated them.

Gero took a deep breath and looked at his creations. "It seems the output from your perpetual energy generators are interfering with your obedience subroutines. I'll have to take you offline until I can correct the problem.

Seventeen's gaze sharpened. "What do you mean 'take us offline'?" Gero didn't answer; he simply moved toward the laboratory's forward wall near the giant titanium doors. There was a small dock built into it that held a remote switch. He reached out for it.

A hand grabbed Gero's wrist and pulled him back before he could touch it. The doctor snarled and looked back at Seventeen who was now standing behind him. "What do you think you're doing? Let go of me!"

Seventeen grabbed the switch off the wall and quietly studied it. A wicked smile appeared on his face. "This looks like an emergency suspension remote." He showed it to Eighteen. "With this, someone could put us to sleep with the press of a button."

"I can't say I like the sound of that," Eighteen replied, an edge of darkness creeping into her voice. "We don't have need for such a device so we might as well get rid of it."

"Agreed."

Gero could only watch as his creation crushed the switch in front of his face. The ruined machinery clattered on the cold floor. A small line of blood tickled out of Gero's mouth as his gritted teeth cut into his lip. "Insubordinate, juvenile, brats!" Completely blinded by rage, the doctor slapped Seventeen across his face.

For a moment, the laboratory was deathly silent. Seventeen looked at his creator with eyes of ice. Finally he spoke in a calm tone. "Old man, now you have pissed me off."

A horrid sound somewhere between a "crunch" and a "squish" echoed off the walls. Gero didn't feel any pain, only his body suddenly jerking. He looked down and saw Seventeen's arm elbow deep in the center of his chest. Blood trickled down his stomach onto his pants. With a sizable effort his eyes moved to Seventeen. "I-I created you," he quivered.

With unchanging icy eyes, Seventeen ripped his arm out of Gero's chest. The doctor's body jerked forward; now the blood was gushing out. He crashed to the floor without even a grunt.

His vision blurring, Gero could only make out the mangled bits of the emergency controller. As darkness began to cover everything, a final thought entered his mind. Fools…they have no idea the horror that awaits them… A flicker of comfort was the last thing Gero felt before everything ended.

Seventeen stared at the corpse at his feet with a mixture of satisfaction and disgust. "Good night, you stupid old bastard," he snarled. The madman who had turned him and his sister into cybernetic monsters was no more.

Only the monsters remained.

Unbeknownst to either of them however, was what else remained. Deep underground, protected from the Artificial Humans, a secret computer called the Antithesis, long forgotten by its creator continued to fulfill its programming.

To create the perfect clone of Son Goku.

Time passed. The computer's security systems slowly decayed until a random virus infected it, causing a sharp increase in Antithesis's intelligence and processing power. The conception program was completely rewritten, information from the Supercomputer was absorbed by Antithesis and added to its databanks, and new properties were added to clone's make-up. The mysteries behind the anomalies in Goku's DNA were unraveled and used to make the clone more aggressive.

Traits from Vegeta and Frieza's DNA were incorporated into the Goku clone's personality making him more intelligent and ambitious. Next, Antithesis created an uplink to the Supercomputer and installed a receiver in Cell's program. The bio-android would awaken to the world before the clone; in the meantime, Antithesis could use it to gather data and continue to improve the Goku clone.

Finally, twenty-one years after Gero's death, Cell killed Trunks and traveled to the past.

Age 776

"Son Goku" was frozen in awe at Gohan's mysterious transformation. His body had changed like a Super Saiyan, but the trademark golden aura was absent. Not to mention the young Saiyan's ki was far beyond anything a Super Saiyan could put out. There was no comparison between this and his power during the fight with the other clone in Satan City.

With a deep breath, "Son Goku" regained his composure and focus – or at least as much as he could. Every nerve ending in his body was now screaming in pain. Converting pure life force into negative energy for the Genki-dama might have nearly torn apart his body and soul, but it had been necessary to kill the original Goku. Now he had to deal with the drawbacks.

He would have to if wanted to live long enough to enjoy his new identity.

Gohan cracked his knuckles. "Let's get this over with," he said, his sharpened eyes spearing into his opponent.

A "humph" escaped "Son Goku's" lips. "Don't get cocky, brat. Sure, that's one hell of a power level you've got…enough to rival your father even-" He feigned shock and placed a hand to his lips. "Oh! I'm sorry…tender subject?"

The remark was enough to snap Gohan into action. The clone quickly took up a defense stance and with a single hand, managed to stop the other's incoming punch.

"However," "Son Goku" said, his voice dropping an octave, "That power won't be enough…"

"If you say another word," Gohan said through gritted teeth, "I'm going to take your freaking head off!"

"Well, you definitely have the temper of a Saiyan."

To reinforce his point, Gohan swung around and threw his leg at the clone's head. "Son Goku" ducked down, the kick passing centimeters above him. Tightening his fist, he swung upward aiming for Gohan's jaw. However, in the split second before the blow would have connected, the young Saiyan vanished.

"Son Goku" wanted to snarl, but a sudden shift in the air current told him to guard his flank. He managed to do so just quickly enough before Gohan could land a roundhouse kick.

Undeterred, Gohan followed up with a rapid-fire combination, forcing his opponent onto the defensive. The clone blocked the punches one after another, waiting for an opening to attack.

However, finding such an opening was proving to more difficult than he thought. It wasn't Gohan's power that was an issue, but his speed. Defending against his onslaught was getting harder and harder.

This could be a problem.

"Let's take this punk down!" Vegeta shouted.

Trunks nodded and moved to Vegeta's left. "I'm right behind you father." The two warriors took up fighting stances.

Hovering a few meters away, the Servant smiled hungrily, eager to take on the pair of Super Saiyans. Without preamble, he charged Vegeta.

Vegeta threw up his guard and blocked the Servant's attack. Trunks rushed in to strike at the clone's flank. However, the Servant spun around swinging his leg into his path. Trunks grunted and stopped short, throwing his arm up to block the kick. Vegeta tightened his fist and swung, but the Servant was already in motion. After using his leg to push Trunks out of range, he shoved his palm in Vegeta's face, fingers completely outstretched.

Vegeta's eyes went wide and threw his arms up to protect his face. The ki blast he was expecting never came; instead the clone slammed his other fist into Vegeta's gut. The Saiyan prince made a sound somewhere between a heave and a groan.

"Father!" Trunks shouted, but before he could make a move, the clone smashed his jaw with an uppercut.

Both Saiyans were dazed. The Servant swung his arms out and fired twin ki blasts at his opponents. Vegeta and Trunks were sent flying in opposite directions.

Not once did the crazed slasher smile leave his face.

King Kai could feel the sweat dripping down his chin, but he ignored it as he continued using all of his sense to search. Behind him Kibito Shin and the others were watching the battle on Earth through Grand Kai's personal crystal ball. Elder Kai winced as he watched the servant clone rail on Trunks.

He felt a tap on his shoulder and found Kibito Shin hovering over him. "Have you found anything?" he asked.

With a sigh, King Kai shook his head. "I'm afraid not. I can't sense him at all." He paused to gather himself. "From the way things look, Goku must have met his end inside that Genki-dama…"

For a moment everyone was quiet. Finally Grand Kai spoke. "He might as well confirm it. If Son Goku is dead then he should be at King Yemma's place waiting to be judged."

"Y-you're right," King Kai said.

Kibito Shin straightened his posture and focused in on Yemma's domain. "I'll go check," he said. "If Goku is there, I'll arrange for him to return to Earth." He threw a glance at the crystal ball. "If thing continue like they are, we're going to need all the help we can get."

King Kai said nothing but nodded. With everything said that needed to be, Kibito Shin teleported out.

"Son Goku" tried to spear through Gohan's offense, but to no avail. Taking advantage of his opponent's opening, Gohan punched him in the ribs, hard.

Pain shot through the clone's body. More pain than there should have been. "Son Goku" groaned as he felt the bones snap and doubled over. Something was very wrong. Despite the strength of the blow, his ki was reinforcing his body and would protect him from lethal injury.

Or at least that's what his ki should be doing. However, his shattered ribs told another story.

Suddenly an intense explosion lit up the sky. Instinctively Gohan looked in the direction of Vegeta and Trunks with a look of shock on his face.

This was probably the only opening "Son Goku" was going to get. Pushing through the pain, he lunged forward and smashed his forehead into Gohan's. Then he darted back and put his hands together, concentrating his ki.

However, before he could fire off a Kame-Hame Ha, another wave of pain washed over his body. The clone clutched himself as he tried to recover. It was then he noticed something else. The ground was slowly coming up to meet him; he couldn't keep up his bukujutsu technique.

"I-I can't control my ki," the clone stammered as realization dawned on him. He grimaced and looked up at Gohan, who had recovered and was now closing in.

Son Goku awoke to a world of white. Or at least that's how it seemed. It was more like a void than anything else. Never before had he felt this kind of sensation. Almost like existing, yet not really existing. He was caught in some kind of bizarre limbo.

This wasn't death. Goku had died twice before and neither time had he found himself in this empty place. He had always just materialized in Otherworld. So if this wasn't death, then what was it?

Then suddenly and out of nowhere, another presence appeared, or at least that's how Goku would describe it. He couldn't see it, but he knew someone was here with him.

Hello? he asked. Who's there?

I'm sorry. I'm so sorry that things turned out this way. I tried my hardest to stop them, but the way I am now, I couldn't do a thing.

What do you mean? Goku asked. The presence could communicate with him at least. Who are you?

The sensation changed, and the presence materialized. Goku watched as a figure wrapped in a white robe appeared before him. Despite being in a void of nothing, a shadow covered the stranger's face.

Please, Goku pressed. Tell me who you are.

The figure took a step forward and the shadow vanished.

I'm you.

Once again Goku found himself looking into his own face.