Mutchy sent a lash down Dr. Puri's way. Despite the suddenness, the artificial woman leaned to the side and avoided it. Android 21 rolled horizontally to avoid the swing of the second whip. Had Mutchy stopped there, she'd have avoided damage, but the cruel Machine Mutant pressed on a rampant lashing flurry with both of his whip arms, forcing Artificial Human No. 21 into an evasive dance that taxed her damaged body.
"Coward, I'm your enemy!" Super No. 16 bawled out, charging at Mutchy with his arms wide open, but receiving only a lash to the cheek in return. Mother and son both got caught by outward swings of the whips. The unique bio-engineered weapon of Mutchy was tough to impossible to read. Its flexibility, its ever-changing length… Not even the Data Input algorithms that Dr. Puri and Super 16 had drawn could keep up with these seemingly random variables.
"You can act all cool and strong, but your body's taken massive damage from that fight against Leon! I'll finish you off right now!" Mutchy hissed, sending a whip imbued with a glaring glow of salad green. His long mouth twisted in a sadistic glee when the whip wrapped around Dr. Puri's forearm. Mutchy's smirk faded and turned to a focused look when he felt his draining whips apply a stranglehold on Artificial Human No. 21. Something was wrong…
"Why the long face? You have me at a disadvantage here, don't you? Your energy-draining whip's all wrapped up around my arm. What am I to do?" Dr. Puri teased her opponent with a warm smile and a light blush on her cheeks. Even Super No. 16 seemed baffled because his mother was utterly unaffected by Mutchy's energy-draining whip.
"What's going on? My whip entangled you and I feel massive power surging from your body to mine so it's working, the energy drain is working… Why? Why aren't you feeling it?" Mutchy yelled out with a shrill voice, demanding an answer from Android No. 21. With her free hand, Dr. Puri ran her hand across her curly hair before fixing her glasses.
"The answer is quite simple. Try as much as you might, you couldn't even begin to scratch the limitless power that I have stored inside my body. One could even call it… Ultimate," Artificial Human No. 21 made a sly smile before igniting an energy blade around her hand that slashed up the whip, restraining her to ribbons. Mutchy staggered back in disbelief, reeling the whip back while his arm reassembled itself.
"Unbelievable, you've fed him father's power?" Super No. 16 muttered, aghast.
"It's about time that deadbeat did anything useful for the family. I'd seriously consider dying before letting him take control over my body, but if I can feed some of him to this creep, I won't hesitate for a second," Dr. Puri crossed her arms and flicked her right combing through her long hair. "Now, if you'll allow me…"
With her arms crossed, Dr. Puri vanished without a trace, moving in a high-speed rush directly in front of Mutchy and delivering a careless kick to his abdomen upon reappearance. Mutchy took off like a rag ball. "This is my Maximum Output!" the artificial woman proclaimed before erupting with a red and black aura as she charged after her airborne opponent in pursuit. With her arms freed and Ki blades ignited in each hand, Artificial Human No. 21 delivered several slashes with her hands and mixed some acrobatic kicks before leaning down and stretching her arms to the sides.
Mutchy recovered mid-rush, attempting to slam his whips together and tie Dr. Puri down, but, in a blink, she sliced his whip arms up like a sausage. Armless, Mutchy gasped and muttered in terror as Android No. 21's blades increased in length several times and she lunged toward him in a wild, spinning, slashing frenzy. Cut up into rubbery ribbons, Mutchy's remains began cluttering the battlefield as the strips of his body hung loosely over various platforms and railings and Dr. Puri finished her slicing rush with her Ki blades crossed up in front of her.
"See? I didn't need to risk losing control for leftover scrap like this. Now, let's find One-Nine," Artificial Human No. 21 fixed her glasses.
"That might not be very easy. This place is as big as a star, filled with countless corridors and rooms. Not to mention, just like with the Capsule Corps Star, they're ever-shifting, responding to the need of the star's master. It might take us forever to find a room that doesn't want to be found," Super 16 observed while looking up and around the main chamber they were in.
"Hmm… That is true. The data my hubby's got collected suggests that even with his limitless Ultimate Class power he couldn't reach Bulma and it was up to her to dictate the terms," Android 21 nodded. "We might need a plan."
"A plan…?" Super No. 16 turned his attention back to his mother.
"I may not be able to assimilate whole Machine Mutants, but some of their parts must be purely mechanical. That means that I should, in theory, be able to absorb them. If I can use them to tune into their communication frequency, we can track the individual Machine Mutants throughout this dreadful cosmic labyrinth," Dr. Puri looked around, seeking parts of the recently cut-up Mutchy that looked to be completely mechanical. A loud screech of clearing airwaves made both Artificial Humans wince as a loud and goofy-sounding voice began yelling into the microphone.
"What are you doing!? How dare you drain the energy of the great Lord Luud!? Don't you know Luud is infinitely more important than you are!?" the voice barked with artificially augmented volume that made both Androids feel like every cell in their bodies was vibrating at the same time. It took quite the booming voice to fill the entirety of a star-shaped space station.
"Don't you dare lecture me!" a familiar and revolting to the pair of the Android family voice joined in on the communication. Turning toward it revealed Mutchy's reformed head attached to a shapeless whip, like a serpent or a bio-mechanical worm yelling at the ceiling. "Not after all the compromises I made with you because of your own freaky obsessions getting in our way!"
"He's draining power from this Luud? Damn!" Artificial Human No. 21 bit her lip in frustration and pointed her hand at thin air, expelling dozens of finger beams that obliterated the chopped-up parts of Mutchy, but it was too late. By that point, enough of Mutchy's flesh strings had sucked on enough of Luud's power to return to him and reform his body completely. "Don't you just hate worms that refuse to die?" the artificial woman growled.
"He is shooting himself in the foot here by draining the power from his own station," Super No. 16 replied. "In any case, the remedy is to obliterate even the smallest trace of him."
"Sadly, you can't!" Mutchy bawled out with manic laughter, spreading his vast whip arms out to the sides and playfully lashing about with them. "Don't think I haven't heard–you need my tissue samples to find your precious sister! Without them–you'll be lost in this cosmic citadel forever! Unfortunately for you, I can drain the vast energy of Lord Luud and regenerate if at least one strand of tissue of mine survives!"
"He thinks he's smart. Now, isn't that cute?" Android 21 snickered while shaking the tip of her cute, tiny nose.
"A pest…" Super No. 16 stated boldly, leaning forward and vanishing in a blink. Mutchy gasped, opening his mouth to repeat his warning before the image of the Super Android blurred in front of his face. His warning became forever frozen in his chest by a fist that had plunged into his core and well through it, holding a pulsing and beating gizmo in his hand. "Infernal Flash!" Super No. 16 bellowed, tossing the mechanical engine part that he had punched out from Mutchy's body away while raising the impaled on his arm opponent into the air.
Opening his mouth, Super No. 16 released a strident yellow blaze that thoroughly obliterated every trace of Mutchy's body and incinerated all the torn strands of flesh. With black smoke still trailing from his open mouth, the Super Android shut his jaw and cracked his neck once to each side. Patting his hands free of the ash and the dust, Super No. 16 turned to Artificial Human No. 21.
"Can you absorb that part?" he asked with a stoic disposition.
"It would be regretful if I couldn't, then again, this place has plenty of Machine Mutant lowlifes to find the right piece," Artificial Human No. 21 shrugged. The banged-up engine box in her hand lit up with an intense red aura and blasted off black rays of energy from its openings, becoming overloaded with Ki before merging with Dr. Puri's open hand. As Mutchy's final remaining body part merged with Android 21, her battered body began mending. Bruising and bloody scrapes closed up while all the leaked artificial blood vanished without a trace, absorbed back into the artificial body through the pores of Puri's skin. "It's less than a complete recovery, but then again, I'm dealing with second-hand scraps here," the Android lamented.
"Can you sense her? Super One-Nine…" Super No. 16 asked.
"Hmm…" Artificial Human No. 21 turned her head up, staring straight at Dolltaki's camera that had been recording them and trying to confirm their demise so that Dolltaki could return to playing house with his doll collection. The crafty vixen smirked and blew an air kiss, staring directly back at Dolltaki before turning her attention to the fiendish statue positioned as the innermost core of the cybernetic star. "I can, but this thing takes precedence. It is vastly more dangerous than I initially thought. We can track that creep and get my daughter back at any time. No matter where he flees, I'll keep track of his signature and with the beaming technology of this cybernetic star, I'll transport right to his backdoor."
"You mean… This star has beaming technology like the Capsule Corps Star?" Super 16 gasped.
"Correct. Though it seems that our host is very reluctant to use it. Initially, he must've been drawn in by our limitless energy supply, but now… If I had to guess, he probably wants to compensate for the energy that cockroach Mutchy drained out from Luud. He must have greater masters to answer to and they must be ruthless for him to risk dealing with us rather than them…" Android No. 21 reported. "In any case, if he tries sending us away without my daughter, I can always block the beam like Gero could, though this guy's behavior almost makes me shiver thinking about his masters… Almost…"
"Damn it! Damn you!" Dolltaki's voice rang through the speakers.
"Are you the one that took my daughter? How about we make a little deal, you give me One-Nine back and I'll let you and your little game club take off wherever?" Dr. Puri turned her head up and gazed right at Dolltaki's cameras.
"You remind me of my mother, you know. She kept telling me what to do all the time and said that playing house is for little girls and not grown men! Well, too bad, mother! Dr. Myuu and Dr. Lychee appreciate my logistics skills and think I'm a real people person! I'm a very popular and very important man! The Four-Stars Plan would be impossible without the energy that the Luud Star provides!" Dolltaki went off on a mad tangent that made Artificial Human No. 21 place her cheek on her hand and shake her head.
"Oh, playing house is very much the plan. That being said, you won't be a part of the game. Nothing personal, you've just proven to be a lousy host," Android 21 waved her hand in dismissal.
"Popular?" Super No. 16 looked around, watching disgruntled Machine Mutant cultists gathering on the various passage railings and shaking their hands in the air. "Aren't these minions made to follow your every word?"
"Shut up!" Dolltaki shrieked. "I hate muscle-head goons like you the most. Just like my lug of a big brother! Always showing off his massive arms and ruffling his hair! Well, how did it feel to get a taste of your own medicine, at last, and get stepped on and broken like all of my precious dolls you abused?"
"You've killed your family? Okay, now I really don't like you," Artificial Human No. 21 closed her eyes and shut off her earlier deal. "Let's go, No. 16, we've got a game to crash."
"Oh, you're going nowhere!" Dolltaki exclaimed, laughing while he fondled a handful of dolls in each of his hands. The maniacal alien owner of the Cult of Luud reveled in controlling the lives and well beings of other people by holding them as mere dolls in his hands. "That imbecile Mutchy drained off a portion of Luud's energy supply. It seems like there'll have to be drastic measures to be taken. Because you disgust me, I intended to see you killed, but there seems to be no other choice now–you and your infinite energy will have to become part of Luud! Maybe that's for the better, that way I and my precious One-Nine can be together and play house forever and ever!"
"You creep," Super No. 16 grit his teeth, showing the first hint of despaired emotion since his rebirth as a Super Android. "It will take more than mere soldiers to hold us off!"
"Indeed," Dolltaki chuckled to his own open palm. "Nothing lesser than a Machine God would stop someone strong enough to smash Leon to pieces with a single punch!"
"A Machine God?" Android 21 turned her attention to the four-armed, bat-winged, square-jawed fiendish statue proudly posing on the center stage.
"That's right, Lord Luud, it's time for your congregation to be culled and for you to ascend! Awaken and claim your infinite snack!" Dolltaki played with the control panel to shift his room closer to the core chamber. With the metallic panel sliding open, Dolltaki's room was revealed with the flamboyant alien holding his precious control staff out in front of him. "Followers of the Cult of Luud now is the time for the culling! Now is the time to hold nothing back! Devote all of your energy to Luud, surrender your very life force, and become part of Lord Luud!"
A bright glow of white enveloped the cultists as they flocked around the quaking statue of Luud. It was as if they were shimmering with the very spiritual force that comprised their very being, flowing out from their bodies and surging toward Luud. Cracks littered the trembling statue, spewing pebbles in all directions. Though, despite being the weakest flock of all, and those closest to the quaking fiend of stone, the cultists seemed to be the least intimidated by its rumbling awakening.
The cultists began chanting in unison. "Long live and awaken, Lord Luud!" repeatedly. The white splendor surrounding them splintered into dust-like particles that slowly flowed toward the quaking statue like the spring drizzle. The white shine engulfed the whole of the trembling Luud statue, and the stone skin covering Luud opened with glowing white fractures.
"More… Give Lord Luud more! Give him everything!" Dolltaki laughed out with his gray amphibian lips while dancing around with handfuls of his favorite dolls in each hand and his precious control rod placed on the control panel. "If you give Lord Luud your energy, you will merely be a devotee. But if you surrender your very life to Lord Luud, you will become part of his greatness! You too will ascend to godhood and rule over the universe that he seeks to create!"
The white shine around the cultists became emerald green as the cultists swayed, stumbled, and succumbed to their knees. Despite this, their mission of transferring their energy kept the cultists entirely devoted to the very end. The ethereal white shimmer around Luud's statue became a bright emerald pillar of power as the light glowing from his cracks became blood-red. Bit by bit, the cracks spread across more and more of Luud's body as the emerald light beamed in rays of pure life force through the deeper cracks where the outer stone shell chipped and fell off.
When the cracks became too numerous and the booming light of life itself turned up its intensity to an unmatched degree, a complete flash of light engulfed the whole star. A nova of pure life illuminated its halls. Luud shed its stone skin, leaving behind only a gargantuan mechanical humanoid with a light-yellow coating defined by a robotic face of child-like features, and two small horns branching out in each direction.
"Interesting. Such a massive thing. The technology is almost primitive, but the raw power it emits is beyond compare. It's as if a tiny, compact galaxy engine brims within its core," Artificial Human No. 21 smiled in admiration of the awakened mechanical divinity.
"Don't tell me you purposefully allowed it to awaken just to see what it looked like!" Super No. 16 turned to his mother with a fearful jolt of the depths her curiosity would stoop to.
"Not quite. I allowed him to awaken for another reason…" Dr. Puri looked up to where Dolltaki held his precious doll collection bundled in the reach of his hands and caressed them close to his face. After Luud awakened, Dolltaki turned to the colossal mechanical monster and dropped his dolls all over the control panel, picking up the control rod to turn it to Luud with a command.
"Absorb every ounce of energy from these two!" Dolltaki ordered before a crimson holographic image of a humanoid with wrinkly skin, a long beard, and a thick mustache appeared before him. "Dr. Myuu…" Dolltaki stammered.
"What is the meaning of this, Dolltaki? With M-1 under attack by these insufferable Saiyans and M-2 engaged in an invasion on Earth, we need the energy from the Luud Star now more than ever!" the staticky holographic image buzzed with a choppy, low-quality voice. Because of the tremendous drain on Luud's energy supplies that awakening put him through and Mutchy's perilous drain on Luud's energy supply to empower himself, the Luud Star was running critically low on energy. The terrible state left only the emergency scraps for holographic communication.
"Dr. Myuu…" Dolltaki stuttered, frantically wiping the control panel of all his dolls so that his supervisor couldn't see them. "We've encountered a little problem…"
"A problem? I knew you were too incompetent and hedonistic to be trusted with such an important role in the Four-Star Plan. If only Dr. Lychee concurred with my call to make Mutchy the manager of the Luud Star instead of the leader of the Cult of Luud…" Dr. Myuu grumbled.
"B-But Mutchy is the problem, Dr. Myuu!" Dolltaki waved his hands out in front of him frantically while sweating from his whole face. "The oaf drained Luud's energy supply to power himself up! Not to mention that he still got himself killed! It's because of Mutchy that I had to resort to awakening Luud!"
"You've awakened Luud?" Dr. Myuu stroked his chin. "Luud is one of the strongest Machine Mutants I've designed, though his power varies wildly based on his Level and the energy he had gathered. He was meant to power an infinitely sized artificial cyber-verse after all… In any case, do not push him to Level Three and deal with this problem immediately. Do not make us reconsider your importance to the plan."
Without waiting for a confirmation, Myuu's holographic image vanished from Dolltaki's screen, leaving the profusely sweating creep alone with his dolls, panting on his knees as his entire life from being born to turning his family into dolls and abusing them until their breaking point, then meeting Dr. Lychee and Dr. Myuu and pitching his services to them…
"And now I've seen everything I wanted. Let's break this big boy and claim our new house," Android 21 sifted her nails through her auburn hair and took a glittering fighting pose before the gargantuan Luud alongside her Super Android son. The terrifying Luud took a first step and reached its arms out wide, breaking apart the whole Luud Star that it could barely fit into.