Chapter 71: Bad Blood

So apparently something similar to SOPA is on its way back. It would make such things as fanart, song covers on Youtube, and oh, this, a felony in the US. And many major websites are US-based, so even if, like me, you live somewhere else...eh.

So, guys. Is this true? If it is, why is. Just...why is...why would...who benefits from it?! (And don't say the major companies. Because song covers don't hurt them. I understand the need to stop criminal things on the Internet, but the legislation they try and introduce always goes way too far.)

Anyway. Story. Working out logistics of character ages and events and years can be hard sometimes.

Thanks once again to Roketto/Ryu no Ohi for proofreading the scene with the Cold family. Recommended music for that scene is 'Something to fight for' by Sencit Music.

During Raditz's battle with Janemba...

"Ah, Kuriza." Frieza smiled maliciously. "The prodigal son returns."

"Interesting choice of words," Kuriza replied, sounding amused. "I suppose you could call me a prodigy."

"Don't play games with me."

"You seemed awfully friendly with that saiyan," King Cold pointed out. "Don't tell me you're working with them. You didn't even seem to be in charge...did you take a blow to the head?"

Kuriza laughed internally, thinking of Goku. Funny he should say that. "I assure you, grandfather, I am very much myself. Better than ever, in fact. It's been refreshing, being free from your influence."

Cooler landed behind him. "And subject to a whole new set of influences. Have they subjugated you?"

"There is something missing in your eyes..." Frieza noticed. "There's no killing instinct. I had it, by your age. We'll have to do something about that."

"You can try," Kuriza said, speaking more directly. "But I have no interest in your ideals. Or lack thereof."

Frieza's nose wrinkled slightly in irritation. "Have you really gone soft on us, son? Believing such lies...You should know, there's no such thing as truly honourable ideals. When you start to believe in artificial concepts...what would your mother say?"

"Frankly, I don't care," Kuriza replied, turning and walking up to his father, stopping inches away and fixing the taller frost demon with a glare. "She's better off without you, I'm sure. As is the universe."

Frieza had to resist the urge to flinch, despite his height advantage. Why? he wondered. Kuriza's never been intimidating...but now, there seems to be something about him...I can't quite place it. He made an effort to conceal his unease, keeping an arrogant smile on his lips.

"Oh, I see," Cooler cut in. "Shall we give you two some time alone? It looks like your expert parenting hasn't done much for the kid."

"What would you know of it?" Frieza growled. "Need I bring up your pathetic attempts to acquire—"

"You wouldn't—!" Cooler hissed, baring his teeth, his tail involuntarily lashing behind him.

"Boys!" Cold shouted. "Calm down!" Silence fell, and he breathed out slowly. "There. Now, Kuriza. Let's be reasonable. Violence within a family is a terrible business..."

"Who said anything about violence?" Kuriza glanced over his shoulder at Cold, tail sweeping slowly back and forth along the ground.

"I did," Cold admitted, smiling disarmingly. "But let's all do our best to avoid it. Come with us, leave this worthless planet. There are, after all, millions like it. The fragments of our empire are still out there, doubtless—we can reforge it. You can rule at my side, like my sons, and when you come of age...ah, but I'm getting ahead of myself..." He paused as he saw the defiance in Kuriza's eyes. "Or," he continued, eyes darkening, "you can be a fool and cling to the losing side. To be blunt...this family can produce another heir easily enough."

"What, you plan on murdering me if I don't side with you? Your own blood?" Kuriza asked.

Cooler frowned. "Of course. If you're not of use to us, you could be an inconvenience later on—better to nip a potential threat in the bud, eh? Hmph, didn't Frieza teach you anything?" He shot a sidelong look of contempt at his younger brother.

Perhaps not kill him outright, for now, Frieza thought. He is my only child...hopefully he'll grow out of this rebellious phase.

"Nothing worth remembering," Kuriza responded to his uncle's jab. He flexed his arms, rolling his head from side to side. "I'm still stuck on the part where you think you can kill me. I haven't been idle while you've been dead, and there are some pretty amazing fighters to learn from on this planet."

"I'm sorry, are you suggesting one of us should fight you?" Cold laughed.

"No." Kuriza grinned. "All of you. Come at me."

Frieza's eye twitched. "Insolent little—I am your father, boy! Don't talk to me like that!" He swung his arm around to slap Kuriza's face backhanded, and was shocked to find the child gripping his hand before he could make contact.

"You always hit so hard..." Kuriza said quietly, head down, sadness in his eyes.

Frieza struggled wordlessly, trying to pull himself free, but to no avail. Kuriza's grasp slowly tightened, crushing Frieza's fingers. The older frost demon supressed a yelp, firing a pair of ki blasts from his eyes. They glanced off an invisible barrier around Kuriza's body, as the younger fighter raised his head slowly. "I'm not too small to hit back anymore." His tone was now ice-cold.

Fuelled by the pain of years of quiet suffering, Kuriza raised his hand and punched his father across the jaw.

Frieza staggered away, shocked. The force of the blow had been incredible. He threw out another energy wave behind him to steady himself. "You..." Such strength! Hatred surged within him—but tempered, slightly, by pride. How dare he! And yet...what amazing power...my son.

"Oh, excellent. The little rat's been improving." Cooler unfolded his arms. He gestured mockingly at Kuriza. "Come on, kid. Let's show your dad what a real fight looks like!" In response, Kuriza vanished. Cooler gaped. How could I not follow his movements...?!

"Behind you," Cold said wearily, rolling his eyes. "Do pay attention, Cooler. You're both embarassing me. And at full power, against that runt, no less..."

"I-I'll show you!" Cooler swung around, delivering a straight punch to Kuriza's stomach. Kuriza simply focused his energy in the point being struck, taking the blow without flinching. He looked down, impassively, to where Cooler's fist was shaking painfully from the impact. "Have I really improved that much...?" He backed up slightly, lining up a high, swinging kick.

Seeing it coming, Cooler raised his arms to block—but not fast enough. Kuriza's foot sailed over his defences, catching Cooler in the chin. There was a horrendous snapping noise, and Cooler tumbled limply to the ground by the road, lying still. He lay with his head twisted at an unnatural angle.

Kuriza went slightly green, eyes wide with shock. "Did...did I kill him?"

"I believe so, yes," Cold said coolly. "Though I couldn't say whether we currently count as dead or alive or something else entirely, so the terminology—oh, hold on." He took a closer look, noticing Cooler's head starting to twitch. "Ah, yes, the resilience of a spiritual body. Quite astounding. It appears you've merely broken his neck. He'll recover in a few weeks, though he'll be in unbearable pain until then. Well done, Kuriza...I didn't think you had it in you."

"I...didn't mean to..." His uncle's body shifted back to his natural form, agony plain on his face.

"I think you did, deep down. All that repressed anger...if you stay here with these Earthlings, you'll never have an outlet for it. The only way to control that urge—or, perhaps, to satisfy it—is to embrace your true self, Kuriza."

Visions of that life—that potential future—flashed up in Kuriza's mind's eye. The Bloody Prince. Be a good little executioner. Known and feared by all. It sickened him. "Shut up! I'm not like you!" He rushed down at Cold, only to recieve a swift punch to the head that sent him flying.

"You have surprising power for one so young, but don't presume yourself my better," the tyrant sneered. "I'm in a whole different realm of power than my sons, I'll have you know." He jumped over at Kuriza, trying to hit him while he was down, but his smaller opponent rolled over, throwing his legs up and catching Cold in the chest, throwing him up and away. Kuriza flipped up to his feet as Cold stopped his involuntary flight, and the two faced each other, trying to get a measure of the other's strength. "Frieza, stay out of this," Cold ordered.

"Is it not my duty to discipline my own son?!" Frieza shouted. He wouldn't have cared much about Cooler's death either—if anything, it would have meant less people to share territory with.

"A duty in which you have indisputably failed! Now stand down, before I have to discipline you!" He turned back to Kuriza, seeing the reformed villain already speeding towards him. He caught both Kuriza's punches; blocked two knee strikes with his own legs. They butted heads, tails lashing at each other. An instant later, they broke away, becoming a blur of moves and counter-moves. Frieza's head spun as he tried to follow their movements.

"I'm afraid you are like me." Cold continued their debate as if they were calmly talking by the fireside, not locked in mortal combat. "By which I mean practical, though you try to hide it. You've started thinking of the world in terms of 'good' and 'evil', haven't you?"

"Something wrong with that?" Kuriza took a glancing blow to the shoulder—he was slowly losing ground. Besides just about matching him in power, Cold was a masterful hand-to-hand combatant.

"It's far too simplistic. Nobody can improve their lot without making somebody else's worse. Deep down, everybody would do all the things we've done if they had the chance—we're just the strongest, the smartest, and the luckiest. We succeeded, and to do that we've done things you'd label 'evil'." He deflected an uppercut, feinting with his tail and landing a hit from his forearm.

Kuriza was increasingly struggling to keep up with the relentless pace of Cold's attacks. "You're wrong...I know too many people who'd never commit murder out of paranoia...let alone genocide...I was keeping my cool before, you know. I despise you, and what you were making me into."

"And I hate what you've become. Excellent, we know where we stand. Communication is, they say, the foundation of a healthy relationship." Wearing a taunting grin, Cold struck downwards with his elbow, and Kuriza ducked back. Before he could raise his guard again, Cold landed a solid kick to his abdomen, launching him away. He twisted in the air, landing on his feet. "Whatever you feel, you must see that this is futile. You can have Cooler's territory, if you like; he won't be needing them anymore. You'll come around eventually."

"Sorry, ruling a few planets doesn't interest me."

"No? Shame. I suppose you'll have to go then." Cold raised a finger, gathering his energy. "So sorry for your loss, Frieza, the boy had such potential...all wasted now, of course."

"Wasted?" Kuriza smiled, shifting into a low stance. "I'd rather 'waste' my life protecting these people than be remembered by history if it means becoming like you again." Energy began to build around him, silently, invisibly. "I'm done playing around!" he announced, quickly and efficiently making his transformation into the large, menacing fifth form. No grandstanding or standing on ceremony. Panicking, Cold released his finger beam, but Kuriza knocked it aside with only slight effort. "Well, you old bastard? What do you think? If I was almost at your level normally...what's my fifth form going to be like?"

"How?!" Cold whispered.

"Ki control. It's that simple. You're barely able to control your power in the fourth form, whereas I have complete mastery over my own energy. Achieving this transformation was..." he grinned behind his armoured facemask. "...child's play. Excuse the expression."

"Why, you little..." Cold clenched his fists. "I will not stand for this insubordination, you piece of—"

Kuriza darted forwards, ramming home a blindingly fast knee strike to Cold's stomach. "Tch. Language, grandfather." They seemed frozen there for a second, faces inches apart, glaring sideways at each other. "Losing your cool already? Maybe you know it's hopeless."

Snarling wordlessly, Cold swung his arm around, and Kuriza leaned slightly to the side to divert the blow away from his face, instead letting it glance harmlessly off his armour-plated shoulder. His eyes narrowed, and he began taking slow steps forwards, forcing Cold—who was barely taller than him now—to retreat away from him. Kuriza's voice became serious again. "That's enough...you scum of the universe..." he focused ki between his hands. "...killing innocent people...good people...then laughing about it."

"You really are one of them now..." Cold realised. "You are lost."

"No. I know exactly where I am." Almost gently, Kuriza pushed the crackling ki ball forwards, then detonated it, sending Cold flying away. The old monster landed in an ungraceful heap, charred from the blast, and didn't get up. Kuriza turned to Frieza, who seemed to be frozen to the spot. "No sneak attacks while I was giving my speech? Not that they'd have worked, but that wouldn't have stopped you trying. You really don't want to kill me...no matter how little you think of me..." He returned to his natural form, walking over to his father. "Well, the feeling is mutual. There'd be no point in fighting you, anyway."

"How could you turn your back on your family—your birthright—like this? I raised you—"

Kuriza landed a stunning backhanded slap to Frieza's face. "That's how you raised me," he snapped. He turned his back, lifting off into the air. "I've got nothing else to say to you. Go sulk somewhere. You'll be back in Hell soon enough."

Frieza was left staring silently into the sky as his son became a rapidly-vanishing speck on the horizon. Hurting. Angry. And...a little...regretful.

Some time later...

Kaioshin, Kibito and Raditz stood facing the Elder Kai on the Sacred Kai planet.

"Oh, there's not much to tell, really," the old guardian said, shrugging. "Millions of years ago, during my time, the universe faced a great threat. A powerful enemy cast a spell to seal me inside the Z-Sword. I don't know what happened after that...how they were defeated, or anything between then and my release. Did you actually try to use it in battle?!"

Raditz nodded sheepishly. "Yeah...well, it did make a useful weapon...and its weight was helpful for training."

The Old Kai rolled his eyes. "Idiot. Though at least you managed to break it, unlike my descendant here..." he turned to the current Kaioshin. "Speaking of which, I'm disappointed that fifteen generations of my peers couldn't figure out to break the sword!"

Raditz burst out laughing. "They couldn't even pull the thing out of its stone, let alone break it!"

Kaioshin sighed. "I'm afraid that's true...it was this man here who finally removed the sword from its resting place."

Old Kai shook his head in disbelief. "What is the world coming to...a mortal having to do the Supreme Kai's job!" He began to walk off, muttering to himself. "Now, I'm going to go take a stroll, have a look around the universe..."

"Do you need transport?" Kibito asked.

"What? No," he replied, exasparated. "Your Kaioshin hasn't even got the hang of omniscient vision yet? Tch! This younger generation, I swear...how did you think I knew fifteen generations had passed? I had a quick glance at the positions of the stars and galaxies compared to my time," he said, without waiting for a response.

Once he'd wandered off, Kaioshin, somewhat flustered, approached Raditz. "I'd been meaning to ask you...that new technique of yours. Why a dragon?"

Raditz paused. "Hmm...well, it did take a lot of inspiration from Earth's Eternal Dragon."

"Earth's what?"

"Look, I won't go into the details. To you, it's just one planet of millions. But this dragon...I've only seen it a couple of times, yet...it left an impression. Every time, I got the feeling of something ancient, deserving of respect...something almost beyond my understanding."

Ancient and deserving of respect? Kaioshin fumed. I'm standing right here!

"I've never quite experienced the same feeling of awe as when Shenron appeared." He lightened up, the seriousness leaving him. "Plus, I don't know, it felt right somehow. Maybe dragons just look fearsome, huh?" he joked.

"I didn't think this was a laughing matter," Kaioshin said, but Raditz had already lost interest and was walking off. And just what is a Shenron, anyway?

"Marron!" Krillin called, peering into the kitchen. "Marron? Where'd you get to? That kid...come on, where is there to get lost on this little island?"

"Here you go." Krillin turned on hearing the voice, seeing Eighteen walking down the stairs towards him, a small girl held in her arms—their daughter of two years, Marron. "She was under your bed..."

"Well, aren't you a little explorer?" Krillin laughed, letting Eighteen hand Marron over to him. "Heh heh..."

"Seriously, though," Eighteen said, "you need to keep better track of her. After—eh?" An electric rushing noise from outside interrupted her. "What was that?"

"I don't know..." Krillin felt uneasy. He and Eighteen glanced at each other—both were about to say to the other 'you wait here with Marron, I'll check it out'. Seeing the look in the other's eyes, neither bothered. As a compromise, Eighteen went first, Krillin just behind, holding Marron close. "You see it?"

"There." Eighteen cautiously approached the large metallic object. "Wait. This is..."

"A time machine!" Krillin finished, running up to it. "Just like the one you got here in!" He paused. Nobody appeared to be inside. "Do you know what this means?"

Eighteen nodded. "It means they won. They beat those androids in the future, they're still alive...and they sent this so I can go back." She saw a worried look cross Krillin's face. "Well, I didn't say I would. Give me a minute." She opened the cockpit—as it had appeared, there was no occupant. I guess they built this one with a remote control feature.

"Why do you think they waited this long to send it, though?" Krillin wondered. "You've spent so long not knowing if they were even alive..."

"I don't know," Eighteen hopped up into the machine.

"Maybe...they wanted you to experience life back here for a while. If they'd sent it back to immediately after you got here, you'd have gone without hesitation, right?"

"Yes. I think so, yes." Eighteen picked something up from the seat—a piece of paper, headed with 'for 18'. So they didn't know I was here...they just hoped whoever found it knew where I was... Her eyes grew wider as she read. "You know, I think you're right."

"What does it say?" he asked eagerly.

"'You'd be lonely'. That's all."

"Without Seventeen, they mean?"

"I guess so. You think they knew I'd...find someone...?" her voice cracked slightly.

"More likely than in their time. Sounded like you didn't get much social contact, the way you were living." He sighed. "Look, I know why you went in the first place. You wanted to put right some wrongs you almost did. You felt like you owed it to those people. Remember I nearly went with you?"

She smiled sadly. "Yeah...but you had so many friends to miss you, and...there was nothing for us here."

He jumped up into the machine with her, kissing her lightly on the cheek. "That's not true anymore, is it?"

"No..." she stroked Marron's head fondly. "Hmm."

"What?"

"It's double-sided..." she turned the paper over. "It says 'present for you & Bulma. Capsule 12.' She pulled open the glovebox, seeing a jumble of ordinary, everyday capsules, and fished out number 12. "I wonder what it could be..." She pressed the button, then tossed it onto the ground. In a puff of smoke, it revealed its contents—a CD in a plastic case.

"Huh." Krillin hopped down onto the sand, and picked it up. "Must be something real interesting on here...but something for both you and Bulma...?"

"I don't know. We don't exactly have too many interests in common." She shrugged. "Let's just put the machine in a capsule for now and take this to Bulma, I guess."

"You're not going back?"

"I don't think so...well, I mean, I guess I could for just a little, to say goodbye...I'll decide later, okay? Let's just go find out what's on this disc."

Bulma chewed her lip as she tapped away at the computer, scanning the disc. "All right...it's encrypted, but using standard Capsule Corp techniques...I guess to stop the average person getting to whatever's on here, but to make it easy for me."

"So, how long?" Eighteen asked.

"Eh...now." Bulma snapped her fingers in satisfaction, finishing the decryption process. "Let's see what we've got here." She fell into silent concentration, reading through the file, occasionally bringing up screenshots of blueprints—some body parts, some mechanical components, once a whole humanoid figure. Finally, she sat back, frowning.

"What is it?" Krillin ventured, growing impatient.

"Hey, Eighteen." Bulma looked back over her shoulder at the android. "Ever heard of a 'Super Android'?"

"What...?" Eighteen was stunned. "Did you say..." Images of 13 ran through her mind.

"Want to be one?"

This week, I have nothing witty to say here. Now there's a plot twist.

Q: I thought Cell would've been too obvious and some of his lines like "I'm a man of wealth and taste" didn't seem to be him. But whatever.

A: That 'line' was as joke, hence why it was in the author's note, not the actualy story. It was a reference to a Rolling Stones song.

Q: The Mirai timeline is very interesting, but as it's twenty years in the future doesn't that mean Babidi should already have attempted ressurecting Buu? That happened in the main timeline approximately ten years into that twenty year gap. So wouldn't that mean in theory Babidi would either be still attempting revival of Buu but is having a hard time due to lack of population to steal energy from, or that he failed to/saw the futility of the attempt?

A: I will adress this when I do the future Buu saga.

Q: I was right about Cell, it appears. Now then, an oddity is that he used I.T. to put Janemba on the other side of Hell...whose location did he transmit to?

A: Probably should have explained this. Cell spent a lot of time while imprisoned developing his mental abilities and senses, right? By doing this, he's pretty much created a mental map of Hell—he knows his way around the place. Instant Transmission already lets you control where you appear to an extent (if it didn't, you'd appear inside the person you locked on to). So Cell just compared his current location, and the locked-on ki, with his mental map of Hell, and use that to appear miles away instead of a few feet away. Same principle, extrapolated. But it only worked because he'd spent so long learning the exact ins and outs of the place; anywhere else, he wouldn't have been able to pull it off.

Q: I'm... not sure how to feel about this. The whole Dragon Fist thing. I mean, it was Goku's attack and he most likely chose the dragon shape because of his adventures with the DB's. Raditz on the other hand has seen a dragon like, once I think. It would have amade far more sense for him to use an Oozaru instead a dragon for the attack, sort of personalize it, ya know?

A: Hope this chapter helped. And 'Monkey Fist' just doesn't sound as impressive, does it?

Q: Raditz is becoming too much like canon Goku for my liking...

A: Maybe I'm overcompensating in trying not to make him a Vegeta replacement.

Q: One question, though; just out of curiosity, which type of fusion would you say results in a more powerful fused being - Fusion Dance, or a Potara fusion? Like, for example, whether Gogeta or Vegito is stronger? Or do you think that the power is basically the same, and Potara is only better because there's no time limit?

A: Either they're equal, or Potara (Vegito/Vegetto) is stronger.

Q: but i would like to ask; i know this thing has been said again and again, but IF, i mean IF Break and Goten fuse, IF, would the gender be the one of dominate genes or something? The more powerful one maybe? And how old is baby Trunks? Same in canon? And how is Cell stronger than Pikkon? I know THIS Cell saga had alot more power boost, but in the filler, Pikkon crushes the Ginyu Force, King Cold, Frieza AND Cell, all at once, in less than 5 minutes! Why is the difference so drastic?

A: (Deep breath, prepares rapid-fire answers) In my opinion, opposite genders can't fusion-dance. Potara fusion would be strongest (mind or body, though? Don't know.) Trunks is the same age as in canon. Cell is only slightly stronger than canon (Cooler's influence rather than Frieza's); it's just that Pikkon's power made no sense in the anime. He one-shotted Cell with weights, then without them fought FPSSJ Goku to a standstill. And clearly at that point Cell was superior to Goku. So I settled on a compromise—between FPSSJ and Super Perfect Cell level. I didn't want to undermine Cell's threat level too much, anyway...

Q: Otherworld training! Hercule is too moist

A: What.

Q: Where are the other saiyans that became super saiyans (pre db) aka the first super saiyans and the ones that followed.

A: In Hell, I guess. Apparently Battle of the Gods mentions ancient, pure-hearted saiyans. I haven't seen it, once I have I'll try and work it in, perhaps.

Q: Kuriza fifth form PL? Or comparison to the saiyans?

A: At the time he fought Lord Slug, his fourth form was equal to Frieza, and his fifth probably exceeded a Namek-era un-mastered Super Saiyan. By this chapter, his fourth form is almost equal to Cold's, and therefore about equal to current base Goku (and therefore above Frieza and Cooler, and as evidenced by Future Raditz v King Cold, stronger than a basic Super Saiyan). His fifth form, as you saw, is quite a ways superior to Cold, and is probably a match for just about anything short of a Full-Power Super Saiyan.

Q: How powerful is launch

A: Stronger than expected, for the reasons given. You'll get a more exact measure of her power in the Buu saga.

Q: Break too, but how... Why?

A: How? Reasons given in the chapter. Why did I decide on it? I saw the thing from Dragon Ball Heroes (the Japanese arcade game) where Future Trunks goes SSJ3, and it got me thinking...

Q: Cell you boss you... No fusion? Dragon punch? Goku has no tekkas anymore. What is that about? The one technique that was his own gone.

A: Er, he has the Solar Flare and the x10 Kamehameha (well, there's also has the normal Kaioken, but it isn't really useful anymore. He also has the regular Kamehameha...).