Locke

I stared down my two adversaries. "Let's go!"

"Don't think this'll be as easy as last time," Goten warned, and he and Trunks got into position.

"Fu-sion-ha!"

When the light faded, Gotenks placed his fists on his hips and glared at me. "I'll try my best not to kill you, but I might not be able to control myself."

I smirked. "Then it'll be a fair fight; both of us going for the kill."

"You're making it hard to believe you aren't a villain," the fusion sighed. "But I guess it makes sense." His eyes flashed. "We're both Saiyans, after all. We live for battle, and nothing else."

My smirk became a snarl. "Bullshit," I retorted. "Gohan's a scholar, Trunks is the future CEO of Capsule Corp., and Vegeta seems like a great family man." I jerked a thumb towards myself. "Just like I'll be when the time comes. A great father, and a damn good husband for Meadow."

Gotenk's look turned angry again. "Not once Meadow sees the monster you're becoming."

"You're the one who wants to kill Cell for something he's already been punished for." Gotenks roared and instantly jumped to Super Saiyan 3. I, in turn, entered my Noire Form.

"Cell is a monster!" he shouted. "It's his fault Goten went most of his childhood without a dad!"

"So did I!" I roared back. "And now that I finally have someone filling that void, you want to take them from me!" I drew my hands out to the side. "I will not let you kill my dad!" An energy ball appeared in each hand; the left the same purple as my hair, and the right black. I brought them together and thrust my hands out. "Reaper Cannon!" The energy spheres fused and exploded, shooting a wave of black and purple ki at Gotenks. He crossed his arms, clearly intending to block it. He was hit dead-on, and the blast exploded, kicking up dust once again.

I panted, more from getting so worked up than exhaustion, then the dust was blown away. Gotenks stood, nearly unharmed, still in his SS3 form. He smirked. "We gauged the power gap between you and I and closed it. You won't win this time, Android."

"That's what you think, monkeys," I spat back. "You can't gauge the gap if you haven't seen my full power yet." As I said this, I powered-up to my limit, cracking and shaking the ground beneath me and sending my black-and-purple aura shooting into the sky and coming back down to envelope me.

Gotenks stared, then, to my shock, started to clap. "You didn't train at all," he observed, "but I'd say you're still a few leagues above me." I smirked. "Well, if we were on the same Super Saiyan level, that is." My smile faded. "But as a Super Saiyan 3, I'm sure I can more than handle this."

I ground my teeth, then pushed off. "Prove it!" I shouted, throwing a punch as I flew. It connected with his forehead, and the ground around us caved into a huge crater from the power surge. But Gotenks only grinned confidently, raising a hand to move my fist. "Wh-wha?" I stuttered, stumbling back. "It's only been two days. How are you so much stronger?"

"If I told you, you'd probably try it," he answered, "and that's the last thing we need."

I ground my teeth and lunged again, letting loose a flurry of attacks. He made no effort to stop them, but each one landed harmlessly against his seemingly-indestructible flesh. Finally, I decided to try my trademark. I threw a punch for his face, then quickly changed directions. The light continued to reflect my afterimage as I slid invisibly behind him and made to slice his neck. As I was about to, though, he turned so fast that everything around us seemed to be in slow-motion and brought his fist up, burying it in my stomach and under my rib cage, dangerously close to my heart. All the breath escaped my mouth, along with a spray of blood, as the light caught up and found me again.

I stumbled back, then fell forward, landing flat. My body refused to move and the world was fading into black. One hit... stopped my heart... I realized. What is he...? What the hell are these Saiyans...?

Gotenks looked down at me, his eyes mournful. "I'm sorry it came to this," he said quietly, and the cold truth came to light: without my heart beating, my body functions would cease. I was dying, and Gotenks seemed to be in no hurry to save me.

Tears started to flow from my eyes, no muscle control left to withhold them. Meadow... I silently sobbed, my mouth paralyzed. I'll never see her again. I revived Cell; I-I killed a man when I didn't need to. I'm going straight to Hell, and she's going to go to Heaven, without a doubt. A soft sob escaped my throat. And our baby, if there is one... I'll never see them, either. I'll never meet my first and only child.

"Locke!" I heard an angelic voice shriek. Before I knew it, Meadow was kneeling beside me with my head on her lap, shaking me as though to wake me. "Gotenks, how could you?" Tears from her dripped down to mix with mine. "Locke, can you hear me?" I wanted so badly to say something, to at least tell her I loved her one last time, but it was impossible.

Gotenks grabbed her shoulder and forced her to her feet. "He can hear you," he confirmed. "His ki's fading, but it's still there."

"Then give him a Senzu Bean!" she begged, turning and grabbing his shoulders. "He's going to die!"

He looked down at me. "He's one of Gero's monsters."

"I love him!"

Gotenks' features stiffened when she said that. "No, you don't," he corrected. "He's your first boyfriend; of course you think that now. But you don't really."

"Yes, I do!" she screamed at him. "And first?! That's not even remotely true! FYI, before high school, I was pretty freaking popular!" Wait, what? If I could move, I'd be staring questioningly; that was news to me. "What I feel towards Locke... it's different from them! It's different from anyone I've ever met!"

Gotenks shook his head and released his transformation. "We'll talk about this later. Right now, I need to get you out of here."

"I'm not leaving him!" She pulled away from him and returned to my side. "Locke, please hang on!" she insisted. "I-I made that promise, remember? Don't you want that?"

Gotenk's teeth clenched and he grabbed her shoulders again, making her stand one more time. "I didn't want to do this," he sighed, "but I'm short on time; this'll be faster, and a Senzu will heal you right up." He drew his fist back.

My vision became clear as panic replaced my despair. He was going to knock her out! And upon closer examination, I saw his target: her unprotected belly, right where I strongly believed our baby was growing. The panic increased, then turned to anger, and finally boiling rage. His fist flashed forward, and the heavy sound of knuckle-on-skin echoed through the desert.

But when Gotenks looked down, it wasn't Meadow's stomach his fist had met. It was my palm. Somehow, I was standing between the two of them, one hand holding Meadow's shoulder behind me, the other grasping Gotenks' fist. The raw fury had generated enough energy to jump-start my heart.

Gotenks raised the corner of his upper lip in a snarl. "How hard is it for you to just die?!" He retracted his fist, then smashed it into my face. I stumbled back, accidentally knocking Meadow down, but I didn't fall.

"You bastard..." I hissed, my voice still weak. His fists kept coming, striking every vital point he could reach. My body screamed at me to just die and end this suffering, but I couldn't. I stayed standing, taking every hit. Gotenks finally jumped back to SS3 for the final blow and raised both fists over his head, balling them together. They smacked my head down, and I felt my heart stop again, but I restarted it again with sheer willpower. At this point, every beat was a conscious effort, and I wasn't even sure how I was doing it.

"What the hell is going on?!" Gotenks shouted and knocked my head upwards. Our eyes locked; his filled with unyielding anger, and mine cold and lifeless.

"... I hate you..." The attacks continued, the pain becoming so natural that I only felt blunt force pushing me now. "You say you like her... yet you seem so willing to hurt her... the girl I love with all my heart."

"What the hell are you?!" he roared, jumping back and getting into position. "Kamehameha!" A huge pillar of blue energy shot from his hands and enveloped me. He panted and returned to his normal form, having used too much energy. "There..." His double-voice sounded less in-sync than normal; they'd defuse soon.

Imagine his surprise when the dust settled, and I stood, still alive. "You didn't hesitate to attack her, either time..." Gotenks started to back away in fear. "Not when you bruised her perfect, beautiful face... or just now, when you nearly..." I stopped myself, remembering that Meadow wanted it to be a secret until we were certain. "I hate you..." My teeth gritted, and I felt my power start to rise. "I hate you...!" My hair floated up into SSO purple spikes, my energy still rising. "I hate you!" The energy inside me exploded, and I roared into the sky.

Gotenks

I stared with pure fear as his purple glow returned, even more fierce than before. His ki was rising at an alarming rate, higher than I'd ever sensed from a serious opponent; Majin Buu included. He didn't measure up to Goku or Vegeta, but I could feel that gap shrinking.

Then I noticed the physical changes. His hair was starting to grow out, turning metallic and rigid. His muscles swelled only slightly, but noticeably. His red eyes gleamed like hazard lights. One thought came to mind. "He's... transforming? But how? What could come after-" My breath caught. "No way... is he turning into some kind of... Super Saiyan Orchid... 2?!"

He gave one last mighty roar, unleashing a shockwave that knocked me off my feet. The transformation was over, but his body still twitched erratically, red lightning sparking around him. His eyes fell on me, and the sclerae flooded with black, as did his aura. I tried to transform, but I was too drained. He took a step toward me, and the ground cracked under his foot. I looked him in the eyes, swallowing my pride and hoping that I could somehow find pity. All I found were the wide, bloodshot, black-and-red eyes of a madman, hellbent on spilling blood.

As I crawled backwards, he continued to move towards me, the ground cracking with each step. "Gotenks..." he panted. "Rrrrrrrawwwaa!" He raised his hand and swept it downward. I felt a searing pain down my midsection, then everything went black.

Meadow

A blade of purple energy carved a trench in the ground and traced a glowing line down his middle, then the two halves of Gotenks' body fell to either side, and shone white before forming back into Goten and Trunks. Their eyes were glazed, but wide with terror, bodies twitching. Locke looked down at them, still breathing heavily. Then he raised both hands and pointed his palms at the young Saiyans.

"Locke, no!" I screamed, realizing what he intended to do. He perked up and looked back at me. His black eyes were filled with red lines, and wide like a madman. This new form sent terror shooting into my heart, but I ignored it. I ran to him and clutched him in a tight hug. "Don't kill them!" I begged him. "I'm all right! The..." My next words were barely a whisper, for fear that Goten and Trunks were still conscious. "The baby's okay."

His breathing halted, then in a flash, both of his transformations expired and he fell forward. I caught him and did my best to keep him up. "I'm sorry," he whispered weakly. I could feel his slow heartbeat against my chest. "I'm sorry..." His eyes brimmed with tears again.

I bit back my own and kissed him. "It's okay," I assured him. "If I really am pregnant, then you just saved our baby's life. That's something I'll never be able to thank you enough for."

He rested his head on my shoulder and sighed. "I didn't do it to be thanked. I just did what I figured any dad would do." We were silent for a while, then he spoke up. "Meadow, would you mind grabbing the Senzu Beans from their pockets?" I nodded and carefully set him down. Once I'd fed him the bean, I fell back in surprise as his muscles violently pulsed once and he sat up. "Thanks." He stood and offered me his hand. "Come on. If we leave now, we'll be there in time for dinner." I smiled and took his hand, happy to have back the Locke that stole my heart.

Cell

I gritted my teeth. "There's no denying it: Goten and Trunks found them."

Rachel tightly folded her hands in fear, while her parents sat in confused and stunned silence. "But he can handle it, right?" she asked. "He beat them easily enough last time."

I shook my head. "They're stronger... much stronger. I don't-" My breath caught. "His ki... it's fading fast." Rachel gasped. "Wait... it's rising again. Ah!" My closed eyes shot open. "He-he's never released this much energy. I think... yes! He can win!" I sighed as Gotenks' ki vanished. "They're fine; Locke won." Rachel sighed, and her parents looked relieved, but still confused.

Her father was the first to speak. "Rachel, I thought I understood when you explained all this, but maybe you could tell us why this monster cares so much about your son."

I ignored the clear insult and answered for her. "Because, Mr. Brangwen, as of just a short while ago..." I smiled and held out my hand to her. She took it and I focused my Namekian conjuring abilities. "... he's my son as well." A light flashed on her finger, materializing a diamond ring. We smiled at each other, while her parents stared with shock.