The Machine Mutant guardian Leon let out a ripping roar infused with energy. A hypersonic shockwave calamity sent both Android 21 and Android 16 flying away and slamming into the other side of the core chamber wall. The cybernetic beast shot its jaw open, channeling a devastating yellow energy wave and turning it around. Android 21 covered up while Android 16 took a shooting flight upward and avoided the blast, instantly turning his radar and his attention away to see how Dr. Puri dealt with the full-powered mouth blast.
"You insolent beast…" Android No. 21 hissed, patting herself down from dust and dirt. The energy blast burnt off her lab coat and left her checkered red and black dress lightly tattered and ripped. The overwhelming energy resonating from the beast also decorated Dr. Puri with spotty scrapes and dirt stains. "It's about time we teach you some manners. You're really not doing yourself any favors for when we take over this facility and have to decide who to keep and who to destroy."
Leon's movements seemed slower immediately after such a powerful energy discharge. No. 16 updated sensors tipped him off about this immediately and suggested not to delay his attack. Seeing his mother hurt but not nearly done, No. 16 leaned his shoulder forward and soared toward the terrifying mechanical beast seeking to exploit this opening and a sudden phase of sluggish weakness.
No. 16 performed an aerial loop, maneuvering around a blitz paw strike from the mechanical lion, only to swoop in with a stiff downward jab in between Leon's eyes. The beast flinched and staggered on its feet while Android No. 16 slammed his shoulder into it and sent the gigantic cyber-lion flying and slamming against an upper platform of the core chamber. Vanishing and appearing directly in front of the monster, Android 16 grabbed hold of both beast's jaws and flipped it over his shoulder, manhandling it into a throw that slammed it against the central fiendish statue.
Bursting with dominant energy, Android No. 16 launched himself in a mad charge again before a strange, yellow Machine Mutant with a lashing, whip-like growth on the top of its head and vicious red eyes appeared before him. The Machine Mutant had a black and sharp beak defining its upper jaw that laughed with a full mouth of white teeth. The strangest feature of this surprising interloper was the fact that he had whips for arms.
"Don't go around bullying my pet," After cackling with a low-pitched, grave voice, Mutchy threw a couple of swift lashes from his whip-hands at Android 16's side, forcing the Artificial Human to temporarily take a defensive position. As he observed and studied his opponent's movements and patterns in order to develop an artificial fighting style that would be more suitable for engagement against this foe, he hovered around, beneath, and over the whiplashes.
Meanwhile, Dr. Puri stomped at the top of the head of the downed beast until she felt satisfied with the humiliation and kicked it up like a rag. Android 21 shot up, surrounded by a hyperspace tunnel of red and black energy, and appeared in front of where her bestial foe would fly to before it got there. Grabbing hold of the back of its collar, No. 21 pulled it closer while engaging a red and black energy blade in her free hand and slashing the monster a couple of times with it.
Still not feeling content with the punishment she had made the mechanical lion suffer, Dr. Puri blitzed around the entire battlefield, kicking with her heels, and slashing with her Ki blade wherever she found an opening or thought it'd hurt the Machine Mutant guardian of the Cult of Luud the most. Having properly battered her opponent, Dr. Puri flipped over her head and stomped her heel down at the back of Leon's head, sending it plummeting down while Dr. Puri lowered her hand and began channeling an energy blast. Leon howled once again, releasing a concussive shockwave so filled with energy that the glowing particles formed tiny Ki blasts and began pelting Dr. Puri like an energy blizzard, forcing her to cover up and preventing her from blowing the beast up.
A stray lash caught Android 16 in the side of his jaw, making No. 16 stumble and flinching him up. With a sadistic grin, Mutchy unleashed a whipping barrage, mercilessly lashing from all sides and overwhelming Android 16. The black crosshairs crossing over Mutchy's eyes picked up something interesting, which led to the whip master smacking No. 16 aside and hovering up to the cowering trio of the Para Brothers.
"What are you idiots doing? Leon is fighting at a critical energy stage and it suffered irreparable harm. I know you three are useless weaklings, but at the very least try to distract the enemy with your pointless lives," Mutchy berated the three cowering goofballs in red bodysuits with egg-shaped heads.
Before the three Para Brothers could whimper out a reply, a massive hand wrapped around Mutchy's head from the back and flung him aside. Android No. 16 scanned the cowering trio with a stern look before his eyes softened up a bit and a gentle smile colored his face. He pointed at a busted hole in the core chamber wall off to the side before turning his full attention back to Mutchy.
Leon seemed to have gotten over its cooldown predicament, becoming a rampant blue and yellow blur that pounced and dashed at immense speeds all throughout the core chamber, slashing with its claws wherever it found an opening. Dr. Puri ignited energy blades around her hands and vanished as well, matching Leon in speed and clashing her energy blades against his mechanical claws and emitting thunderous shockwaves upon each collision while sending cascades of sparks in all directions from their clashes. In a heartbeat, Leon's speed picked up, it became a tunneling ray of blue and yellow light, shrieking as it raced across the core chamber and socked Android No. 21 rolling back, then began blitzing past her from both sides while tackling her with tremendous force.
Having toyed with its food sufficiently, Leon ceased its rampage over No. 21's rag-dolling body and swatted her, crashing down through countless runway platforms and conveyor belts. Android No. 16 became distracted by the input of his mother's dwindling energy output, causing him to abandon the fight against Mutchy and dive to scoop his mother's body which was plummeting down like a speeding bullet.
"You scold me for avoiding submitting myself to the Super Android power, but you are doing the same. You've assimilated father's Ultimate Android form, yet you refuse to use that power too, keeping it shelved away. We might need it to pull this through," Android No. 16 said, giving his mother a strict look.
"I didn't want to call forth that power," No. 21 admitted. "It's an awful lot of energy to control and it might make it difficult for me to control myself. By now any trace of Gero's intelligence should've vanished, but who knows what sort of influence energy vastly surpassing my own might have on me…"
"In any case, I can't track Super One-Nine's signature anywhere. The cardinal she was fighting attacked me from behind, I'm worried something bad must have happened to her. This fight might be worth risking it all for. After all, it's for our family's sake," Android 16 nodded, looking down at his mother.
"Sorry, Gebo…" No. 21 looked down in a moment of weakness that was very much unlike her usually boastful and all-controlling self. "I pulled you into this fight and put all of you in danger. I'm an awful mother…"
"Don't say that. All of us make mistakes, good or bad mothers and sons, it doesn't matter. Everyone stumbles from time to time but it's those family bonds that get us through those mistakes and difficult times," No. 16 replied. Seeing Mutchy mounting Leon and riding him down the core chamber platforms to where they were, Android No. 16 let go of his mother, leaving her to fly on her own while he flexed his biceps and tensed up his chest, letting a pulse of energy resonate throughout his body.
A golden flasher surrounded No. 16 and a resonating shockwave slammed against the jaw of the rushing Leon, prompting the lion and its mount to roll back as the ripping blast deflected them and threw them aside like irrelevant debris. The green armor tore off Android 16's body while the holes and rips on the black bodysuit expanded. The surging energy wave of blinding light disassembled the black bodysuit into singular weave threads before beginning to reassemble in a new formation.
Instead of a weaved bodysuit, the particles of No. 16's bodysuit and his armor merged and began partaking complex, microscopic, nova-like chemical reactions before shooting back to No. 16's body and securing with a tight lock on his body. The black and green plates began morphing into a new, more flexible yet much more durable and practical armored weave that became a sort of outer shell to No. 16's body and merged directly with his artificial skin. The spiky orange mohawk became thicker before new spiky strands of hair began shooting out from No. 16's skin. Instead of spiking upward, No. 16's mohawk grew longer and extended farther down his back, adopting a tad slicker curly style while the thick braid grew farther and longer down, falling to Super 16's waist.
In a handful of vibrant, flashing strides of light, Super No. 16's transformation solidified, and he focused his gold-colored eyes with deep black pupils straight at the stumbling and struggling to remain stable in the rampant energy output of Super 16's transformation enemies.
"Gebo…" No. 21 muttered softly, blushing and admiring her son's new transformation. When push came to shove and he had to protect his newly found family, No. 16 abandoned his peaceful principles and identity struggles and adopted the Super Class upgrade that No. 21 installed without hesitating.
"Don't worry, mother," Super Android 16 said with bluntness and calmness coexisting in his confident tone. "You don't need to get worked up about controlling yourself against the tide of the Ultimate Class power. I will take care of this for you and we can all live here together."
"Huh… His energy output became uncontrollable. With this much power, we could resurrect Lord Luud while still having more than enough to send the excess and keep Dr. Lychee satisfied…" Mutchy mumbled to himself, finding himself in awe of the powered-up and upgraded Super Artificial Human No. 16.
"The power of an Artificial Human is unlimited," Super No. 16 proclaimed while staring straight at the snarling Leon and his mount. "The Infinite Energy Reactor that powers us produces an unlimited, perpetual amount of power. That means that just like the potential of a human or a Saiyan, the potential of an Artificial Human too is unlimited. However, each model of an Artificial Human can only harness and put out a certain fraction of this limited energy produced by the Infinite Energy Reactor. In this body, I can't even estimate the percentage of the infinite energy that I can tap into. This fight is meaningless. Surrender, leave this place, and never hurt another living being with your cult business."
"Surrender? You fool! All that power must've gone to your head! Can't you realize that every aspect of every Machine Mutant in charge of this Cult of Luud has been manufactured to assist in one task and one task only–draining energy for the mighty Machine of Destruction–Lord Luud? The energy charged inside Lord Luud is then sent away to Dr. Lychee and powers all of his machinations! You may have gotten much stronger, but that only gives us more energy to use for the Four-Stars Plan!" Mutchy lashed his right whip hand beside him. Rings of emerald light lit up around the fragmented sides of his whip hands, lighting up every other fragment.
Roaring and growling, Leon charged forward while Mutchy wound his whips back for a restraining strike. Super Android 16 vanished, appearing before the snout of the shocked Leon. The newly upgraded Super Android tossed an effortless cross straight into the nose of the cybernetic beast, transferring a concussive tunneling wave surrounded by a spiraling eruption of pure power that punched the internal systems, frames, and chips straight out of Leon's rear while the spiraling concussive force ripped the lion to shreds, throwing Mutchy flying aside and leaving him embedded into the core chamber wall.
"This beast had little in terms of artificial intelligence, but it broke my heart to put it down. If you wish me to allow you to escape now, you'll have to tell me where my sister is and what you've done to her," Super Android 16 hovered up and boldly loomed up in front of the terrified Mutchy. "Your artificial intelligence is far superior to that of Leon's, but throughout my short life, I've found intelligent beings to be capable of far more malicious and despicable deeds, so it won't upset me nearly as much to destroy you."
"Destroy me!?" Mutchy shrieked in disbelief, he snapped his black jaw open and spat a gigantic jet of flames from his mouth the streaming blaze forced Super No. 16 to push back somewhat before he could push his hand out in front of him and shield himself from the flames as they failed to engulf his whole body and pass the cover of Super 16's hand. "We only need one Infinite Energy Reactor to feed the new universe Dr. Lychee will create with boundless energy and sustain it. Luckily for us, we have two models of you Super Androids on standby, meaning that we can do whatever we want with you two!"
Mutchy extended his hand, sending a powerful telekinetic pulse throughout the entire star-sized station. Chunk by chunk, the psychic shock sent gargantuan pieces of debris slamming into Super No. 16. Planet-sized supercomputers and lumps of scrap did little to hurt Super 16, but their combined colliding might that began reducing the entire main core chamber to a scrapyard confused Super 16's sensors and conceal Mutchy while brushing against the Super Android in a valiant effort to restrain him and leave him buried down under.
Whips crackling with emerald light maneuvered around the labyrinthine scrapyard and snapped shut around Super No. 16's wrists, beginning a devastating energy drain session that soaked up any energy produced by the Infinite Energy Reactor and transferred it into Mutchy, to be delivered to Lord Luud and transferred to the Dark Planet Star later down the line.
"I'll be the one destroying you!" Mutchy laughed, feeling safe from entire planetary systems of floating, telekinetically suspended scrap away while his extended whips held Super 16 pinned down. Crescent swipes of red and black energy ripped the draining energy whips apart, leaving Mutchy with a feeling of lightness as his whip arms were now left restraining nothing.
"Psychic power?" Dr. Puri's alluring voice resonated through the devastated scrapyard of the floating moon and planet-sized debris as the whole Luud Star nearly got disassembled by Mutchy immense psychic pulse. "I must commend whoever this Dr. Lychee is, I never did manage to crack that in any of my Artificial Humans, despite possessing Frieza's tissue samples. The closest I ever got was to place an artificial skeleton inside the remains of a living psychic user, but that feels more like reanimating a dead psychic rather than building a new Artificial Human with innate psychic abilities."
"Mother…" Super Android 16 turned to his left, where Dr. Puri swooped in, having just liberated him from Mutchy's energy-draining attack.
"This flabby sea-star-man is useless to us, dear. Haven't you heard what he said? They already think they have a viable Super Artificial Human to drain for their "Lord Luud". That means they've somehow captured Super One-Nine. She must still be here, in this station. Let's not dally, finish this gutter trash off and find her," Android 21 fixed her cracked glasses to rest evenly on her nose.
"Hmph… You think you have me outnumbered and cornered, huh?" Mutchy opened his black beak and made a despicable smile with his unusual-looking face. "Let me show you exactly how wrong you are! No matter how many or of what class you all are, mere machines can never surpass the complex genius of bio-engineering that are the…"
Before he could finish that sentence, Super No. 16 snapped up directly to his front with both his arms lifted and bent over his head. The Super Android brought them down with a hammering smash-strike, before vanishing once more and appearing to where he had smashed Mutchy away to only to double ax handle slam the plummeting Machine Mutant away. Blitzing across the core chamber enveloped in a hyperspace energy tunnel, Super No. 16 grabbed hold of his rag-dolled opponent and threw him down before aiming his knuckles down as well.
"Hell Gattling!" Super 16 barked out, his armored gauntlets split off, producing round grenade-shaped open barrels that lit up with energy and sent a couple of dozens of energy waves down at Mutchy. The blast didn't take its sweet time to expand and become snuffed out, as a lively buzzing hum made Super 16 focus his radar sensors to peer through the clearing smoke. Mutchy had stopped his fall and began whizzing his energy-draining whips around, producing a chopping energy-draining shield.
"Sloppy," Dr. Puri took her opportunity to verbally jab at the distracted Mutchy before chopping her hand horizontally through his exposed back, having appeared behind him. Stumbling and overwhelmed by the power of the artificial woman, Mutchy bent out of shape with a gasping beak and uncontrollable, painful twitching taking over his body.
A vertical chop of her hand created a black inky blotch that threatened to split Mutchy in half yet only sent him flying across where the crescent energy emission sent him. Gliding across the air gracefully, Dr. Puri swatted her hand at Mutchy's legs, sending Mutchy to roll in mid-air uncontrollably before turning around and transitioning into another horizontal swipe of her hand, then producing twin black and red Ki blades, one around each hand, and spinning around like a spinning top while slicing her opponent around with them and leaving Mutchy skimmed and chopped up after the finishing slash.
Just when Puri thought she had Mutchy on the ropes and lifted her hand over her head, beginning to channel a red energy bomb over her head, Mutchy's stumps and cut-up body began bubbling like swelling yeast and produced new missing whip arms and stuck together the lacerated body. Based on the readings of Puri's sensory systems, it had used the energy it had stored away that he drained from Super 16 earlier to not only regenerate but to bolster himself further.
"I am the strongest Machine Mutant on this station, Dr. Lychee spared no expense or time on making me the most powerful guardian and leader of this cult I can be. I am, after all, in charge of the most integral part of providing the Four Stars with their precious energy so I must truly be top-shelf stuff for the Four-Stars Plan to work!" Mutchy chuckled to himself, marveling at his own miraculous rebirth and power-up as a blazing red aura with an electric outline surged around his revitalized body.
"Good grief," Android 21 sighed, flicking her hand through her auburn curls to swat them back into place after losing herself in the slicing rampage.