Val flew alongside Piccolo, following Goku and the two androids, finding her temper made it no difficulty to keep pace with any of them.
She could barely hear the old man shout, "this is far enough! You have no right to choose where we fight."
Goku landed at that, with the rest of them follow afterwards. Val looked out over the windy, barren, partially chilled landscape. It was a wilderness plain, but a maze of rocky hills speckled the area nearby. Places perfect to run and hide if these androids tried it. She shook out her warm hands absentmindedly. The cracked bracelet on her wrist felt looser. She pushed it up her forearm where it did not feel as loose.
"Before we fight," Goku puffed out. "Tell us how you know about us."
The old man hummed, "alright. I'll tell you. Though you'll wish you'd never had asked." He looked over at Goku. "Goku, we've followed your actions using a super-small robot. When you were fighting at the tournament. Even when you fought Piccolo and Vegeta. In other words, you've been studied ever since you destroyed the Red Ribbon Army. Just to figure out what kind of cyborg it would take to defeat you."
"You hate me?" Goku asked, rubbing at the front of his thigh absentmindedly.
"Of course! You destroyed the Army's chances of ruling the world, leaving only Dr. Gero," the old man huffed out, sounding like it was personal.
"You talk as though you are Dr. Gero," Piccolo commented.
The old man looked taken aback at that. "Don't be ridiculous," he rushed out. "I'm a cyborg created by Dr. Gero. Dr. Gero is dead. He no longer exists."
"I see," Goku said. "Were you able to spy on the fight on Namek?"
The old man shook his head. "That was unnecessary," he explained. "By observing your actions through when you fought Vegeta, we've completely grasped your abilities. Even if you've gotten stronger, because of your age, you can't have gotten much stronger." He flicked an unexpected gaze at Val before looking back at Goku. "When a new research goldmine came from Namek, it shifted Dr. Gero's focus." Val felt a chill go down her neck and spine, not liking that that was how he referred to her.
Goku declared, interrupting her nervous thoughts. "You didn't research the most important thing. You've lost!"
"What?!" the old man questioned.
"You made a fatal mistake," Piccolo explained. "You don't know a thing about the Super Saiyan."
"Super Saiyan?" the old man asked.
With a confident shout, Goku showed them all. Val felt a thrill of excitement go through her as she watched him turn Super Saiyan, having never seen the transformation up close before.
"Ah," was all the old man said in response, not looking nearly as shocked as Tien did.
Goku glanced back at Tien, Piccolo, and Val, saying, "the three of you stay out of this. Their first goal is me!"
The old man watched clinically, commenting, "that's an interesting technique. Your power level is much higher than we calculated. But you are still not strong enough for us to be afraid of. Even #19 acting alone could defeat you."
Goku looked at them, amused. "Really? Okay. Show us how strong you are. Attack!" he shouted, charging towards the puppet android, the one the old man referred to as #19.
Val watched the fight between the two of them, Goku starting off clearly at the advantage, knocking #19 around easily over the wild plain they were on. Yet he was not winning quite yet, which made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.
"That's incredible!" she heard Tien exclaim. "I can't believe how strong he's gotten. So that's what a Super Saiyan is like. He's at a completely different level than we are at. There's too much of a difference." His tone gave only a hint of jealousy.
"You think so..." Piccolo mused.
Val looked from the flight and over at the old man. He had the same clinical, calculating look on his face, like all he was watching was for research purposes only. She tore her gaze away when she saw Krillin, Gohan, and a recovered Yamcha land over by them. "Father!" Gohan called, looking up at the fight that for some reason was still going on.
Tien turned to him, saying, "don't worry. Goku's gotten awesomely strong. A Super Saiyan is impressive. The cyborgs talk big, but they can't do a thing!"
Val hummed, looking back up at the fight. Goku still had the advantage, but still had not sought out a win. Yet he was not intending to draw it out either.
Yamcha was behind them, mumbling something that Val did not quite catch. "Great!" Krillin cheered in response to whatever he said.
Gohan was near Piccolo and her, watching the fight with a confused look on her face. "Have you noticed, too, Gohan?"
"Eh, yes sir," the boy answered.
"Why is he acting like this now?" Val asked.
"Why is Goku stretching out this fight? He was fighting closer to his full power than before," Piccolo observed.
Tien turned to look at them. "'Acting like this now?'" he echoed her question. "What do you mean? Goku's winning easily."
"He should be much stronger than this. After he's changed into a Super Saiyan, he should be much, much stronger," Piccolo explained.
Val frowned to herself, looking back up at the fight. Goku was indeed still winning, but he was moving a bit sluggishly than he had when they trained together. Val clicked her teeth in thought.
"Yamcha said they could steal energy. Do you think that's the reason?" Gohan asked Piccolo.
"What? Steal energy?" Piccolo asked, looking back over at Yamcha.
Yamcha nodded. He explained, "yeah. He grabbed my face and without doing anything it felt like he was draining my ki."
Conversation went to an abrupt pause when Goku knocked #19 out of the sky. The android hit the ground hard in a pile of dust. Yet then he rose up calmly, as if nothing ever happened.
"Look how calm he is after taking all that damage!" Yamcha exclaimed.
"He's a cyborg. He probably doesn't feel pain or get tired," Tien figured.
Val looked up, seeing Goku aim and shoot an energy blast down at #19 with a strained shout. "He did it," the old man blurted out, sounding relieved.
#19 looked elated as he reach his hand out and absorbed the whole blast. "He absorbed the blast!" Tien shouted.
"They can steal energy," Yamcha repeated. "Through their hands."
Piccolo shouted up to Goku, "Goku, don't shoot energy attacks at them! They can absorb it! They do it through their hands! So don't let them grab you either!"
Val watched Goku, still floating up in the sky, still Super Saiyan. He kicked one leg out as if it was getting stiff or sore.
"Hey, is Goku acting funny to you?" Krillin asked.
"Have they already stolen that much energy?" Yamcha asked.
"They haven't stolen any energy directly from him yet," Piccolo explained.
Val heard Gohan gasp, but not say anything near her. She figured it must have been because the android launched himself into the sky after him and attacked. This time, #19 seemed to have the advantage, grabbing for him, and Goku barely managing to dodge him. #19 was able to get more and more of an advantage against him. He struck Goku, sending him crashing down to the ground in turn. Goku managed to bounce back quickly though, taking aim at the android in the sky in his fury.
"Don't shoot, Goku!" Piccolo shouted over to remind him.
Goku seemed to shrink into himself, dropping his hands and panting. He wiped at his brow. Val blinked, wondering just how he could possibly get so weak so fast. Surely the amount of energy he shot at the android and it drained could not have been so much to wear him out so quickly. He gripped his shirt at chest level, still panting.
"I know!" Gohan exclaimed around them. "Father's ill! He's got the heart virus!"
"What?" the others shouted.
Val gasped herself, looking over at Goku as if scales had dropped from her eyes. She could see the signs now, wondering just how she could have missed them: he was sweating, panting, had rubbed at the front of his thighs earlier, was tugging on is shirt to make it easier to breathe, and was weakening, fast. "He's right," she confirmed, recalling both watching patients who caught the virus as well as her own bout with it.
"His heart? Do you mean the viral disease the boy from the future talked about?" Yamcha asked.
"Don't be stupid," Krillin denied. "He's taken the medicine and has already recovered, hasn't he? Goku's energy's just been drained."
Val shook her head, remembering, "it builds slow, but when it finally hits, it hits hard."
"Oh, man, that's right. You had awhile back," Krillin groaned. She nodded nervously. She looked over at Goku, tugging harder at his outer shirt. Krillin reached into his pocket, pulling a bag out. "Goku! Here's a senzu! Take it!" he shouted, throwing a bean over to him.
"Thanks," Goku called over breathlessly.
He took the bean, eating it, much to Val's chagrin. She shook her head to herself, hoping Piccolo had been wrong when he said it would not work on her, so that was why he never gave her one when she was ill.
Meanwhile, #19 started the fight between him and Goku anew. He blasted lasers from his eyes right at Goku. Goku jumped to dodge the blast, but moving so sluggishly that #19 hardly had to try to catch him and knock him around this time around.
"It didn't work!" Krillin shouted.
"It wasn't going to work," Val explained disappointedly. "Senzu beans must not work on diseases."
"It really is the heart virus then!" Gohan declared.
"But how? Didn't he take any medicine?" Krillin asked.
"He never did. He was always healthy, so he never took it," Gohan explained.
Val looked back over at the fight. It was going worse and worse in #19's favor to the point where Goku went down hard and did not get back up.
"Hey! He's no longer in the Super Saiyan form!" Yamcha noticed.
#19 sauntered over to his prone form, hand clasping successfully around his neck this time. "No! He's going to steal Goku's energy!" Piccolo picked up on, charging towards the fight.
Val and the others took off after him. They did not get far though when the old man cut them off, stopping them midflight. "You can't proceed an inch past here," he declared. "Do you want to test me?"
Piccolo gave him a cocky smirk, "sure."
He charged at the old man, missing his kick by a wide margin. The old man shot laser beams at him, hitting him in the chest. Val froze in horror as she watched him fall from the sky with Gohan flying and shouting after him.
"He's too fast," Krillin thought aloud.
"What he did wasn't about bravery. I call him a reckless fool," the old man declared cockily.
Val felt her hands flame up so hard and so fast. She could almost hear the crack in one of her bracelets grow wider. She felt herself an inch from going after the old man when she felt a familiar energy flit across her radar. She looked over at #19 and Goku, seeing Vegeta there, kicking the android off and away from him.
She felt a smile creep over her face as she heard him say, "it is my duty to defeat Kakarot! That is not a job you trash puppets are to do."
"Vegeta!" she shouted in time with the others, noticing she should the most elated of them all.
She looked over at the old man, warning him with a dark smile, "you should be running."