Author Note.

I'll get to broly soon I promise I just need to cover a few things before we get there.

Cyborg Gothic

Part 17

::This Is Your 9am Wake Up Call::

Soon after the pod opened I stepped out and stretched, not because I actually needed to, but because it was just what people did when they woke up after a good night's sleep.

I hadn't really been asleep as 18 as I didn't switch off in that sense, however the pods we found in Gero's sub basement/other hidden lab allowed us to enter something I liked to call standby mode. It was as close to real rest as we could get, and it was enjoyable.

"Now we just have to fix the not eating thing and we'll be golden" I said to Eighteen and stepped out of her pod.

Another good thing about the pods was that you didn't exit them with bed hair so my girlfriend looked as sexy as ever. Which made me want to kiss her, which naturally led to my hands feeling her up.

"Who's on the computer?" 18 then asked me.

I listen for a moment and found that there was indeed someone in the other room typing away. I went to investigate, and I soon found Trunks long with this mother who were busy at the machine.

"Do you people ever knock?" I inquired "or do just wander into other people's homes when ever you feel like it".

In my view these two fully organic people hadn't been very clever. I was now far more powerful then I'd been before entering the Room of Time and Spirit. Even Son Goku had reason to fear me now, yet these two had foolisly wandered into my lair.

"This is important" Trunks said "We came here to find you".

Despite his words he wasn't even looking at me, so I got the sense that in fact meant the other version of myself. The one in the alternate time line.

"Well you found us" remarked 18.

This time Trunks did turn around before he spoke.

"Actually you might be able to help" he said "When I went back to the future I was able to destroy the 17 and 18 in my time line, but I can't find 21. So I came back hoping to use the computer in this lab to figure out were he might be. Now I'm thinking I should have just asked you".

Despite him not actually asking me the question I still gave him an answer.

"I don't have a clue where he is" I told Trunks "Its not like I know this world very well, and I have no idea what the other me is up to".

Knowing myself as well as I did it was doubtful that I was sitting on a throne somewhere being fed grapes by scantily clad slave girls. Well at least not for very long as the novelty would wear off after a while, and these days I only tended to think about 18 in different costumes. Apparently I'd been programmed for monogamy.

"Well if you think of anything then let me know" said Trunks before going back to the computer.

I spent a moment or two thinking about blowing up the machine they were working on so that they would leave my girlfriend and I alone, but since I needed this lab intact I decided not too.

"Come on lets go out here" 18 then said.

There was a whole world out there for us to explore, but I had no idea where to begin. Thankfully for me my smart girlfriend did.

(Line Break)

When we arrived at the nearest city, we both hovered above it in the air, 18's eyes were darting around like a hawk seeking out a yummy morsel for breakfast, and since like me she didn't eat it was very odd to her acting like she was hungry.

I was left to twiddle my thumbs, and to wonder nervously about what she had planned. I didn't care if she stole stuff, and neither did the defenders of this world as they weren't going to start a war with us over petty crimes. But I did worry about what would happen if 18 just got bored and started blasting people.

After spending most a year training I was pretty sure that I could take Goku, even if he was with his friends, but given the history of this planet I knew that sooner or later someone or something would come along and try to either conquer the planet or blow it up.

I really didn't want the responsibility of protecting this world as I wasn't sure I was even up to it. I was no hero, and those kind of people had the habit of beating impossible odds in order to save everyone. Which was another good reason why I wasn't willing to fight the Saiyan.

"There's one!" 18 yelled out joyfully

Before I could ask what she had seen my girlfriend was making her way down to a building. Naturally I followed and when I saw where she landed I relaxed. It was just a clothing store.

"Why am I not surprised" I muttered

When I caught up to my fellow cyborg she began humming an unfamiliar song, and I pointed out that the store was closed, but that didn't matter as Eighteen simply kicked opened the door

"Lady, the store isn't open yet!" an annoyed store owner yelled "So get the hell out of my shop".

At this point I figured that the manager had about three seconds left of life.

"I beg your pardon?" 18 replied with mock sweetness.

My fellow cyborg then stepped forward and broke the store's front desk in half with a single punch.

"Oh! I'm so sorry! Please excuse me!" the man suddenly "The store should be open by now. I was just running late".

I figured that now he might actually live though this.

18 smirked, and seemingly accepted the man's apology, but I knew he wasn't out of the woods when she next spoke.

"Let me see your what you have; if I like it, you'll live. If not…" she said.

18 allowed the clerk to rush off to the storeroom and I didn't doubt that his imagination was providing with a good idea of what my girlfriend would do if she was displeased.

As for me I decided to take a look around rather than wait outside, as while I wasn't a fashion person, and I knew next to nothing about women's clothing I wanted to stick close to Eighteen so that I could stop her from killing anyone.

"What are you doing?" the blond cyborg asked me "Since when did you develop an interest in women's clothes?".

To be honest I hadn't. I barely cared about what I wore.

"I'm just trying to..." I said.

Finding the right words was a struggle.

"I'm just picking something out for you that I think you will look very pretty in" I lied.

The fibbing was followed by what I hoped was my most innocent smile, it was the same kind I'd use on my mother a few hundred times.

"Yeah whatever" she said.

She had looked unconvinced. but I wasn't worried as my fellow cyborg was now distracted by the owner who had returned to the front of the store with what looked to be a small mountain of clothes.

18 immediately dived into them, and she scrutinized each of them in great detail while the man just watched nervously.

After a moment of silence, 18 lifted her hand and sent a ki blast straight towards the screaming store owner, immediately vaporizing him and half of the building. She'd done it so fast I hadn't even seen it coming.

"Why did you do that?" I practically screamed.

This seemed to amuse the blonde android.

"All these clothes are atrocious" she explained "so I kept my promise".

She hadn't actually said she would kill him, but that wasn't really the point/

"What's wrong?" 18 asked me "Its just a clothing store".

I forced myself to calm down, though it wasn't easy. She had just murdered an innocent man in cold blood that was not something I could simply get past.

"Come on 21. I don't see what the problem is" she went on to say "You've killed people".

I'd only ended the life of one person, and he'd been trying to kill me. That was totally different than murdering some store owner because his merchandise was rubbish.

"You're the strongest in the world" she then said "So its not like anyone can stop us from doing whatever we want".

That was true, but being powerful didn't give us the right to do whatever the heck we wanted to do.

"No killing people" I said "No unless they attack us first. That was the deal we made".

I for one honoured my bargains.

"Oh fine" 18 replied "I won't blow anyone else up unless you say its okay, but if anyone else tries to buy me off with such awful clothing I will destroy their store. Only after they run away screaming".

That was acceptable.

"Fine" I said "Lets just go".

(Line Break)

"And what do you have there?" 18 asked me as wandered around the city.

This wasn't the same city as earlier, as the police would be looking for us there, but it looked more or less the same. It was all buildings and people who didn't really matter. At least not when you didn't need cafes to eat at, and it was too earlier in the day for the bars to be open.

The only thing I cared about right now was information, and like in many cities there was a tourist information office, and this one had been full of pamphlets that told people about the fun things they could do.

"It's about the World Martial Arts Tournament" I explained "You know that thing we were planning to enter".

Her eyes lit up.

"Ooh, the one with the ten million zeni prize" she said. Now that does sound interesting".

I don't know why she cared so much about money, it wasn't as if we ever paid for anything.

"Doesn't the thought of a tournament excite you at all?" I asked "You know it could be fun".

She chuckled, and that was strange as while she often looked amused she rarely laughed out loud.

"21, only you 'excite' me" Eighteen said.

That sounded like some attempt at flattery, but when I thought about it only finding really nice clothes made my girlfriend smile half as much as when she smiled at me.

"This tournament is nothing to you" she then said "There's only onw person in the whole world can maybe stand up to you. So there no contest really unless he enters too".

And he only been a real concern before I'd entered the Room of Time and Spirit.

"Seriously, aside from Goku is there really anyone who can actually provide you with a real challenge?" she then asked.

Well that Cooler bloke had been tough, but that thing had blown up. So she was right. There was only one person who could provide a worthy challenge now that I understood what I could do. This tournament really would be a waste of time unless Goku and I had a match.

"See now I'm disappointed" I moaned "I was looking forward to kicking some ass".

Sometimes it seemed that girlfriends ruined everything good in life other than sex, they at least waited until you got married to destroy that last thing.

"Just pointing out the obvious" she said.

For the most part my competition was utterly pathetic. I figured that I would have much more fun sparring with 18 than fighting the likes of that Satan guy, but we did really need the prize money,

"It is really sad." 18 muttered as we moved through a crowd of human and some walking, talking animals "I mean, just look at them. They need to learn how to fight or people like us will just walk all over them".

Then I spent a moment thinking about what she had just said. I knew that while even the most powerful humans were no match for us cyborgs, however if they worked together they could crush us easily. Yet clearly this had not happen in Trunk's time line.

"I guess most people are just happy to go about their lives" I said "There like ants, at least sometimes".

When we both took the air a few moments later and I looked down and figured that folks really did look like bugs.

(Line Break)

Later in the day 18 and I went to sign up for the contest and we discovered that the hosts of the tournament were trying something a little different. Normally all the contestants would face off together to see who was more qualified and then a selected few would go off to fight in the official part of the tournament, which was still a few weeks away.

This time they were using some equipment to measure a person's strength. This included breaking lots of tiles, lifting weights and even a machine that measured the force of a person's punch.

It made little sense until I found that would be hundred people fighting in a free for all at the start of the tournament and that were thousands of people who wanted a chance to get the prize money.

"This is really stupid." 18 muttered "A punching machine. It's just ridiculous"

I nodded in agreement as while I understood the need to quickly thin the weak out of the herd, so to speak, brute strength wasn't the best way to decide who get the chance to prove that they were the among greatest martial artist in the world. There were so many other things to consider, technique, speed, stamina, fighting style, ability, skill, the list went on and on.

"Yeah, whoever thought of this is a total..."

When I saw the Satan guy was helping to organise this event it no longer needed saying so I didn't bother to finish my sentence.

"I guess it won't matter in the end" remarked Eighteen "It'll still be you and Goku in the finals, that's what matters. And when you beat him everyone will no whose the champion".

She was right about that being the only fight that really mattered, but still having to qualify for the contest was so boring. It was just sad to watch so-called fighter after so-called fighter hit a machine and think that a score over one hundred was something to be proud about, or that breaking twenty roof tiles actually meant something.

When the time finally came for 18 to test her strength, I decided to remind her told hold back, as not only would she destroy the equipment with her super strength, but also it would draw a lot of attention to us. Plus it was always good to have people underestimate what you could do.

"21, I know" she muttered while flicking her hair "And I promise I won't kill anyone"

She approached the machine with a bored look on her face, and then broke all the records in a single punch.

"That's not exactly subtle" I commented.

She glared at me

"Hey it's not my fault that these guys are all weaklings" she then said.

When it my turn came up I was asked to break some boards and tiles, which was so very easy.

"I guess it's safe to say that we made it" I said to 18 when we were done "Now we just need to think about training".

18 sighed.

"You always want to train" she moaned "Can't we just have more sex?"

She'd said loud enough to get the attention of many men, who were now looking at her with more interest than when she'd nearly broken the testing equipment.

"I'll go on top" the cyborg then offered "And I'll wear something really sexy for you. Please say yes".

Now even the ladies around us were staring, and they looked annoyed at the blond bombshell.

"Let's just go" I suggested.

Right now I was the envy of many, many men, and wasn't as fun as it might seem.