The Three Legendary Saiyans
Chapter 88: The Survivor.
Flying off from where they'd left behind a weakened Raijin and the strange blue-haired youth to face yet another foe who'd manifested only after Cress was defeated akin to that of a master puppeteer cutting the strings from a puppet, leaving the site of yet another battle to decide the fate of their world of which they had no part in felt oddly damaging when it was their future they were fighting for and others were doing the fighting.
"Don't you think today's been odd? We had a plan to kill Cress but that stranger named Raijin had done the work for us, only God knows where he could have landed" Alternate-Gohan spoke slowly; reflecting on the events of the night, how their plan had been usurped by the sudden appearance of another Saiyan with a face and energy signature identical to Cress' but aligned with the side of good.
"Not to mention that golden-haired power of his, which Cress shared after being electrocuted to near-death; who knew such a transformation was possible" Alternate-Piccolo glanced over at the child; speaking on the true power of the Super Saiyan while he mentally was already composing a training regimen so Alternate-Gohan might claim that power too.
Alternate-Gohan merely nodded; thinking on how their own plan would likely have failed when their plan merely comprised of luring Cress into The Baseball Stadium, fake an alert to get his troops away and have Alternate-Chiaotzu orchestrate a jail break to keep The Frieza Force Soldiers busy while they took down Cress but that plan was likely doomed to fail in the light of Cress' full powers.
An explosive wave of air passed over Alternate-Gohan and Alternate-Piccolo; both glancing back as they sensed a more beastly energy not only from that Demon who'd suddenly emerged but also of their newest ally, the pair looking to one another but instead of discussing the beastly energy signs they kept flying towards Cress' Fortress.
"We can't let this distract us further, our job is to finish the final steps of our plan" Alternate-Piccolo spoke; touching the child on the shoulder as the pair flew off once again on the approach towards the fortress that had once been Capsule Corp, their flightpath making a beeline for the gaping hole in the wall though they noticed that the ball-shaped Space Pods were lifting off and flying away in force.
"Why do you think they're leaving?" Alternate-Gohan asked; rising higher into the air alongside The Namekian as they watched hundreds of Frieza Force Soldiers of various alien races including Humans all racing for Ships and Pods, the spacecrafts lifting off and flying away from Earth while the echoes of battle kept ringing through the air.
"Rats fleeing a sinking ship, even Humans turn their backs on their own kind when order turns to chaos" Alternate-Piccolo remarked with a well-known idiom, descending from the air and into the damaged walls where he came face-to-face with a tall, locked door with a pedestal jutting out from a wall where he recalled being more than a year ago but felt like a distant memory.
"I remember that door, Bulma showed it to us before we faced Cress and Frieza; she locked in with a Black Keycard to keep The Dragon Balls safe but only God knows where the key is now" Alternate-Gohan spoke as he too recalled the memory as if it was distant, floating in and over the unconscious body of a certain foe.
Coming to a landing through the large hole left in the walls by Cress' hard landing, the crumpled form of Cress himself lay on the floor with blank white eyes staring up at the ceiling as drool leaked from his open mouth, Alternate-Gohan glared down at the defeated Saiyan as he stepped down onto the cold floor.
"Pathetic…" Alternate-Piccolo spoke coldly; the grimace on his face showing how much he was restraining himself from either kicking Cress or just spitting on his broken and defeated body, even Alternate-Gohan was struggling with impulsive thoughts of violating Cress with spit and physical blows.
"It would be so easy to kill him right now… but I still want to defeat him with my own two hands" Alternate-Gohan spoke rashly; standing over the body of Cress, the rage in his eyes radiating an aura of killing intent that made the very air feel cold.
"That'll be the Saiyan in you, you want to kill him but your Saiyan Blood dictates that you deserve the kill by a victory in combat" Alternate-Piccolo spoke carefully so not to trigger Alternate-Gohan's rage and invoke the senses of the Saiyan Blood coursing within the child's veins.
Alternate-Gohan took in a deep breath; exhaling and taking in a second deep breath, his anger cooling but the desire to kill Cress remained but the child knew that Cress was not yet his to kill as it was not him who'd defeated The Evil Saiyan, "You're right, even Dad wouldn't kill an enemy when he's down".
"You're wise beyond your years" Alternate-Piccolo spoke with a proud smile; proud in that Alternate-Gohan though tempted did not give in to the primal urges of his Saiyan Blood and instead used his senses to come to a more rational decision, but he rose a hand to blast the life out of Cress until spotting something laying on the floor beside Cress.
"What's that?" Alternate-Piccolo thought to himself as he looked down at a Black Keycard laying on the floor next to Cress' damaged boots, lifting it up to eye-level as if he felt he'd seen it before but did not recall the instance until Alternate-Gohan caught sight of the object.
"Isn't this… this was Bulma's Cardkey for her vault!" Alternate-Gohan spoke with a twinge of excitement; lifting The Black Keycard out from Alternate-Piccolo's hand and holding it up while Alternate-Piccolo stared at it before shifting his line of sight to the very door that The Black Keycard unlocked.
"Strange that Cress was holding onto that then; he must be hiding some secrets behind that door" Alternate-Piccolo touched his chin as he spoke; his eyes leering at The Black Cardkey but flinching as his claws touched the long scar along his jaw.
"In that case; I'm opening it!" Alternate-Gohan excitedly proclaimed before Alternate-Piccolo could protest; swiping the Cardkey on the reader and the lock light flashed from red to green before the accompanying hiss of the vault door opening came.
With a swipe of The Black Keycard on the pedestal's reader; the tall door hissed as compressed air escaped from the room within, Alternate-Gohan and Alternate-Piccolo both staring as the doors slid open while Cress remained motionless on the floor as Bulma's final invention had opened to them but what was within came to shock them both down to their very cores.
Within Bulma's Safe Chamber were The Seven Dragon Balls neatly gathered atop the same pedestal where they'd been sitting little over a year ago but also three eerily green-glowing chambers stood inside the boundaries of the chamber as each seemingly contained a person within the green fluids.
"It appears that Cress was preparing for something" Alternate-Gohan spoke cautiously; checking for any alarms or traps built into the door to protect the Dragon Balls but no such traces presented themselves as Alternate-Piccolo strode into the chamber with the only sounds being that of footsteps, breathing and the hum of the machines.
"He did say that he wouldn't die before his goals could be realised, but who's inside those chambers?" Alternate-Piccolo spoke by quoting what Cress himself had said when Raijin was defeating him; the allusion to a greater machination than just making Frieza an immortal being becoming apparent given the presence of The Dragon Balls.
"Do you think we should use them? Finish our plan to restore our friends' spines?" Alternate-Gohan spoke carefully as he imagined Tien and Yamcha rising from their wheelchairs with fully restored spines after Cress broke them; looking down on the seven glistening orbs with a hungry look, so many potential wishes swirling in his head ranging from resurrecting Goku and Krillin, erasing Cress from existence instead of granting him the mercy of death, reverting Earth to before The Saiyans arrived, and many more wishes he couldn't even count.
"As tempting as that is… we should hold off on summoning Shenron until we know exactly Cress was planning to do with the orbs" Alternate-Piccolo spoke gruffly; he too was having thoughts of what to wish for, also thinking of wishing back Goku, learning the whereabouts of Kami as Cress had ransacked The Lookout to use as a Palace not long after occupying all the cities and crushing any resistance except for themselves.
"Alright, but I think this is a mistake" Alternate-Gohan shrugged his shoulders and rolled his eyes as the notion of making a wish was declined; turning to a console for the three Healing Chambers containing three feminine figures suspended in glowing green liquids, though he did not know two of the three but one seemed familiar.
"Maybe so; but it is a blessing that Cress gathered all seven balls, what exactly are those?" Alternate-Piccolo spoke on the blessing-in-disguise that was all seven Dragon Balls being neatly gathered in advance and saving them the work of finding a working Radar and then scouting out a whole planet, turning to find Alternate-Gohan staring up at the three machines circling the room.
"They're like those Healing Chambers that The Frieza Force uses for wounded operatives, but these ones seem modified" Alternate-Gohan spoke up; his studies having included the technology of The Frieza Force but recognising the modifications came from his own private work to try and find a medical way to heal Tien and Yamcha without using Shenron but had failed.
"What sort of modification?" Alternate-Piccolo questioned; not having as much knowledge as to the mechanics of technology as Alternate-Gohan did as part of their shared studies during the past year, though they both studies Frieza Force Technology it had been Alternate-Gohan who'd grasped the concept.
"They're modified for Suspended Animation!" Alternate-Gohan stated with surprise; looking up from a display screen showing the readings for the three women held in stasis, his shock met by as astounded look from Alternate-Piccolo as he rushed over to see the screen readout for three women but gave no names.
"You're joking?! Who's been suspended then?" Alternate-Piccolo's eyes widened with shock that Cress had been keeping specific individuals alive for whatever his reasons were, looking to see who was suspected inside as two were unknown but one did in fact look familiar via her flowing blue hair.
"You won't believe this… this one is Bulma Briefs" Alternate-Gohan stammered as he spoke, his tone one of disbelief as their friend was revealing to still be alive though she'd retained some nasty burn scars from the photon-induced explosion, finally recognising their presumed-dead friend who floated inside of the Healing Chamber.
"I thought she died a year ago… she blew herself up along with that Saiyan named Raditz" Alternate-Piccolo stated their previously-held knowledge on how Bulma had been assumedly-died, though Raditz had indeed been killed by the photon-induced blast at point-blank range but Bulma appeared to have survived though barely judging by the scar tissue.
"Apparently she survived long enough to be put in here, and according to these readings she's been fully healed except for some facial scars but nobody had activated the reanimation sequence in the last thirteen months" Alternate-Gohan read out from a bio-analysis screen on the console; ignoring the readouts for the other two imprisoned in stasis in favour of Bulma.
"Then who are the other two?" Alternate-Gohan spoke up; hesitating to hit the switch to trigger The Reanimation Sequence when the battles still hadn't finished, even though Cress lay unconscious in a crumbled heap but Raijin and That Swordsman were still out fighting in the city.
"No idea, I don't recognise these two" Alternate-Piccolo spoke as he wiped the condensation from the Healing Chamber to see the faces of two other women, neither of which were people that they knew and were likely just others who'd fallen victim to Cress' evil punishment when people didn't do as he ordered.
"Do you think it'll be safe to bring Bulma out of Stasis right now?" Alternate-Gohan brought up while staring at the control screen, a confirmation message flashing on-screen to initiate the awakening process but awakening her at this moment would still be dangerous and life-threatening until all adversaries were defeated or had departed from the Earth.
"Even though the battles aren't over; the decision is yours to make Gohan, however I advise not to wake her up until the fighting has come to an end" Alternate-Piccolo spoke though his staring eyes never left the floating form of Bulma in suspended animation; spotting how it appeared that Bulma might be missing an eye judging from the burns on one side of her face but it was tough to tell through the bioluminescent green liquid.
Before pressing the button to deactivate The Suspended Animation on Bulma; a brilliant flash lit up the dark skies causing both Alternate-Gohan and Alternate-Piccolo to cease the awakening of their presumed-deceased friend as they sensed Raijin's energy out there but much greater and more powerful than they could have ever thought possible.
"That's our friend… isn't it?" Alternate-Gohan muttered in astonishment; sensing a new energy from Raijin unlike that of his Super Saiyan Form nor the strange silvery form, this energy felt more primal and fierce.
"Yes; I believe it is, but I do not understand why he was hiding such strength" Alternate-Piccolo spoke; looking up to the skies as the clouds spread and darkened foretelling that a storm was brewing with the immense energies being fired by the battles fought, the poor weather causing his scars to sting.
"Maybe it's because of him?" Alternate-Gohan spoke; casting his line of sight down to the semi-conscious form of Cress, "Having two of the same person at wildly different levels could adversely affect each other's growth".
"You could be correct; we know from that Demon that the lookalike friend of ours is from another Timeline and might possess powers that we cannot possibly achieve" Alternate-Piccolo grinned down to his student; always impressed by the child's intellect when his father had been such a dunce, even though they'd been raising his power levels for the past year it was clear that Alternate-Gohan had not neglected his studies and increasing his knowledge.
"Another Timeline? So Raijin comes from another world, I wonder what his Earth is like…" Alternate-Gohan spoke wistfully; letting himself get distracted for one fleeting moment where he imagined an Earth that had never fallen to Frieza's rule before staring back down at the confirmation message before beginning the Reanimation Sequence.
"We'll never know; but what really matters is our own world and the future we forge" Alternate-Piccolo spoke softly; though determined to forge the road forward as he and Alternate-Gohan both moved to begin awakening Bulma when a voice from behind stopped them where their fingertips hovered a fraction of an inch away from the confirmation.
"What future can you tread… if you're dead!" Spoke a voice from behind the two comrades; Alternate-Gohan and Alternate-Piccolo both looking over their shoulders to see Cress standing back up on his feet though very weakly and unable to keep his feet in one place after the terrible defeat he'd suffered, the power cables under his feet getting wrapped around his ankles as he kept moving his feet.
"How are you still not dead!" Alternate-Gohan yelled as his expression flashed with anger at the fact that Raijin had not killed Cress like he'd assumed, opening both his palms as energy orbs burst into life in preparation to finish the job until a hand blocked his sight.
"Stay your hand Gohan; he's too weak to hurt either of us now" Alternate-Piccolo spoke with a noticeable tone of pity; his right hand raised to stop Alternate-Gohan from finishing off a weakened and defenceless adversary, for to strike down Cress as he was currently would be a shameful action.
"Still weak… just like you were a year ago! Take revenge… I dare you!" Cress grinned mockingly as he swayed; a cable wrapping around his left ankle, "I'm vulnerable! Strike me now and take your revenge… you won't get a second chance!".
Seething with rage at the verbal declaration of that dare; Alternate-Gohan's fists shook with rage and resentment, his fingernails digging deep into his palms and drawing blood from his flesh until his hands opened as the blood dripped from his fingertips and down to the floor, Alternate-Gohan standing in silence as Cress stared at him with disbelief.
"Believe me, I would kill you where you stand if not for the punishment you will face for your crimes" Alternate-Piccolo stated calmly but the distinct venomous tone of hatred sounded in his voice, his eyes briefly flickering to the skyline before a sudden blow to the chest sent Cress back down to the floor where he got wrapped up in more cables.
Scrambling amongst the cables and getting even more tied up; Cress stared up at Alternate-Piccolo had been the one to strike Cress, opening his mouth to speak but no words escaped as a bright crimson flash lit up the skies in the distance, the three individual's gathered sensed that the demonic energy of that strange foe had vanished leaving no trace behind indicating that the demon had died.
"The battle had ended; our time to act is now" Alternate-Piccolo spoke calmly; giving a signal to Alternate-Gohan as he rushed to the control console and struck the touch-screen interface with a series of motions and strokes as machines hummed into activated sequences.
With the battles of this long and eventful night having come to an end; a loud bleep rang in the echoing chamber as Alternate-Gohan turned and pressed the confirmation button on the console as the three Healing Chambers began awakening the women they contained including Bulma, though the other two were unknown people but they deserved to awaken now that Cress was defeated.
"It'll take time for these three women to awaken; in the meantime… lets heal Tien and Yamcha" Alternate-Gohan spoke solemnly; checking the console as it flashed a message indicating that it would take twenty minutes to fully shut down and wake up those held captive within stasis, Alternate-Piccolo leaving Cress' side and striking the switch to open the ceiling so they might summon Shenron after such a long wait.
Hitting the switch as the machinery whirred into life, the roof splitting open to the night skies though the darkness was starting to lift as sunrise drew nearer; checking the time as it neared 5am and the seven Dragon Balls sat ready for use.
"Are you done?" Alternate-Gohan spoke; turning his head slightly to stare out the corners of his eyes as Alternate-Piccolo had finished tying a fully-conscious Cress up with the cables for the Healing Chamber though he didn't resist after being beaten so thoroughly.
Cress just dismissed Alternate-Gohan's question; turning his sight out to the cityscape, spotting the Ships and Pods leaving streaks in the skies as they broke through the atmosphere and escaped Earth's gravitational field but only thinking of those escaping as cowards.
"Speak the new words Gohan; let's make our wish" Alternate-Piccolo spoke with a grin while giving Alternate-Gohan to go-ahead to make the wish they'd agreed upon in advance while also shooting Cress a cocky smile of his own as they were using The Dragon Balls that he'd gathered for his personal use for their own agenda.
Bringing his hands up towards the seven orbs; opening his mouth to speak and bellowing with all the air in Alternate-Gohan's lungs, "Dragon Balls of legend; gathered before my praying hands, wishing with my very being as I beseech you to grant my heart's desire, I call thy fourth with the proclamation of the blessed name! Shenron!".