Awaken, My Androids! Gero's Inescapable Fate!
"Damn it," Suno swore as the red light faded and Dr. Gero was nowhere to be seen. "Damn it, damn it, damn it!" She grit her teeth and tried to sense his ki but felt nothing. He was just… gone! "No," she muttered as her knuckles went white. "No, this is not happening! I can't… we can't lose him! We have to find him and put him down before he hurts anyone else!" As she gripped handfuls of red hair in frustration, Krillin gave Ten a look and the triclops nodded with understanding. "But if we can't sense his ki, he could be anywhere! Oh God, even Goku can't find him if she can't sense him! Where do we start, what do we–"
"Kaiouken!" Tenshinhan cried before slapping Suno hard across the face. It brought her back to reality and Ten dropped out of the form while Suno held her cheek.
"Suno," Krillin said calmly and walked forward as Ten moved away, "Take a few deep breaths, alright? We know where Gero is going, remember? Bulma said that his lab is somewhere in the mountains near North City. Now, if I were a betting man, which I am, that's where he's going to go so he can wake up Lapis and Lazuli."
"And if that's the case," Launch added, "We can just go home 'cause Trunks said something about there not being a fight. Maybe they killed him?"
Yamcha shook his head. "It's not that easy," he disagreed. "For one thing, the reason there's no fight might be because we showed up. Even if you're right and they turned on Gero, we can't just let them wander around. If the androids are anything to go by, these kids will be incredibly powerful. Call me crazy but if the guy's had to make all of his fighters up til now, he probably hasn't had a stellar recruitment drive. They're probably lost, confused, and likely to lash out violently. We need to get to them before they get hurt."
"Also," Chaozu added, "If they're just wandering around, it'll be easier for Cell to find them."
"Right," Suno finally said in a much more relaxed tone. "You're all right. Thank you. I guess I just… I thought I'd let go of that anger in my life that came from the Red Ribbon Army a long time ago. I guess seeing those ribbons just got me crazy again." Then she smiled and rubbed her hands eagerly. "Let's get going, then!" Everyone gave a cheer and flew off toward the north as quickly as they could.
OoOoOoO
Archimedes flitted through the filters of his vision as he searched through the mountains for the entrance to his lab. However, frustratingly, the lab itself was hidden from most forms of detection. He supposed he'd been too effective in making his secret entrance… a secret.
"I know it was around here somewhere…" Gero muttered as he felt around for the door handle disguised as a rock. He finally found the rock, an oblong with a large crack in the middle as opposed to the other oblong shapes that didn't have large cracks in them. "Ah," he sighed as he pushed open the rock down the middle and pushed the red button inside. "There we are." The rock wall of the mountainside he was standing on rumbled and a section of it slid in half to reveal the dark tunnel leading into the lab, lit by the blinking of the various machines and the hum of machinery.
"Welcome back, Doctor," the computer said in his own voice. "Are the aliens dead?"
"No, computer," Gero grumbled disappointedly as he ran a hand over his dome and down to the hair at the back of his skull. "And 19 is destroyed. Activate Cyborgs 17 and 18."
"But Doctor," the computer responded, "You said that they were not to be activated. That they were dangerous and disobedient."
"I know what I said!" Gero snapped. "We are running out of time! Activate them, now!"
"Beginning Activation Sequence."
OoOoOoO
"So how were we going to find the lab?" Chi-Chi asked. "That Gero fellow didn't seem to have any ki." They were surprised to hear a loud whistle behind them and looked back to see Bulma flying toward them on her sonic discs with a blue-haired baby riding in a front carrier.
"I noticed you guys were powering up on my scouter," Bulma explained, "Though I couldn't sense whatever you were fighting and I wanted to check it out. Kinda sucks that Vegeta wouldn't come, though."
"Eh," Suno shrugged, "He probably would try to kill Lapis and Lazuli. Which we don't need."
"Yeah," Bulma admitted with a shrug, "You're probably right. Anyway, I thought an extra set of eyes might help, y'know?"
"Well thanks," Launch said amicably. "Always glad to have some he–"
"Plus I wanna ransack his lab after we kick his butt."
"Yeah," Yamcha muttered with a roll of his eyes, "That sounds about right."
"So anyhow," Chaozu interjected, "How are we gonna find this guy? Any plans?" Krillin moved forward and rubbed his hands eagerly.
"This is something I've always wanted to say," he told the others before triumphantly pointing up to the sky. "Let's split up, gang!"
OoOoOoO
They had lived in Purple City. He remembered that. The two of them and their parents, their father, Rubin, and their mother, Saphir. He'd had a parakeet named Lars and she'd had a dog named Sadie. The city got a little too crowded for him at times but they went camping every summer and learned how to fish and start a fire and pitch tents. Their dad would always buy fireworks for their birthday, the good ones from Nicky Town. They'd had a good life.
She remembered their time at high school. He'd been an ace student and on the fast-track to college while she was still deciding between truck driver or cage fighter out of high school. He ran cross country, did gymnastics, and played lacrosse and soccer; she played football, wrestled, and was into ballet and heavy metal; he liked nature for the sceneries he painted, she liked it for motocross. One of their only common interests had been their band. He'd played drums while she did guitar and lead vocals. They had a third friend on bass and a fourth on keytar.
The four of them also abridged popular cartoon series for internet fame with a fifth friend who was a tiger-boy.
She remembered a boy.
He remembered a girl.
He was a little short but definitely cute.
She was a fox. Literally, she was a fox-girl.
They remembered a fire. The alarm never off or anything, suddenly the house was just burning. They remembered panicking and screaming and looking for their parents but, before they could reach them, the entire house had exploded. He could faintly remember being woken up by a funny smell. Maybe gas?
Their parents had been only children and their grandparents had died before they were born but, rather than getting stuck in the foster system, they decided to make a run for it. It had seemed like a good idea at the time. They'd been dumb kids. All their money had been lost in the fire so anything they ate or wore had to be stolen, usually from dumpsters. They dug around in recycle bins to find bottles to sell for maybe five bucks a week. It had been a pretty awful few years. Lapis was mad at everyone and everything. Lazuli just… stopped caring. They were starving, filthy, and tired all the time. Then he showed up. He had looked pretty bad himself. Lazuli was pretty sure he had cancer. Not that it mattered, really, because he promised to give them food and get them somewhere warm, clean, and safe. Even if he died the next day, at least that would be one night they spent warm. They got fed and slept in warm beds. That was the first good thing that had happened to them in a long time. It would also be the last.
He drugged them and took them to his lab. It was an awful place where he had cut them open and put strange, little, glowing balls inside their chests. He'd hooked tubes up to their bodies and the tubes were full of black gunk. It made their insides burn, tingle, and freeze all at the same time. He had run tests on them. The gunk had made them stronger and faster and able to fly. It was never enough for what he wanted, though. He'd always seemed angry and filled them with more gunk. Whenever he wasn't running tests or putting strange things into their bodies, they were watching the same footage over and over again. East City. Papaya Island. The attack on the Royal Capital. The moon blowing up. They watched footage of people fighting over and over. They recognized a few of them, like her hero Son Goku or his favorite fighter, Tenshinhan, and a bunch of other people. She remembered thinking the bald guy was kinda cute. The short one. Plus Piccolo, both versions of him, and that Saiyan guy. V… something. The one who'd been on the news.
"Kill them," his voice said over and over in their heads. "Kill them all. They have betrayed you. They have betrayed the Earth. They. Must. Die." Some days it made sense. Most days, though, they argued with the voice. Then they fell asleep for a very long time. Only it wasn't being asleep. It was being dead. One minute they'd been alive and the next minute there was… nothing.
OoOoOoO
"Activation sequence complete," the computer chimed. "Cyborg 17 is coming online."
"Well," Gero said as one hand slid backwards onto his workbench to reach for the deactivation switch while he kept an eye on the pods, "Let's see what prolonged stasis has done for their atti–" The boy's fists ripped through the pod like paper and he tore the door in half. "That was expensive," Gero groused. The boy ignored him and began ripping the nanomachine feeding tubes out of his arms and legs before violently grabbing the one at the nape of his neck and ripping it away. "So was that!" Gero cried before groaning as precious and ludicrously-expensive nanomachines spilled onto the floor. There was a scream from inside the girl's machine and it shook for a few seconds before exploding. The girl was surrounded by a pink energy field that crackled as she glowered at him. "Mongrel idiots," Gero swore under his breath before adding aloud in a theatrically-cheerful voice, "Ah, good! 17 and 18, I see you're online and functioning. How would you like a field test? Those traitors I told you about are coming to kill me and I know you'd like to keep me a–" he paused when he saw that they were staring at themselves and, specifically, their clothes, "What– what are you doing?"
"What am I wearing?" 17 asked as he tugged at the cuffs of the long sleeves of his white undershirt. Over that he was wearing a black t-shirt and over that a large orange bandana tied around his neck. He also had on blue jeans, blue sneakers, and green socks. The Red Ribbon sigil was stitched over the left breast of the black shirt.
"You," 18 shot back, "What about me?" She gestured irritably to the denim jacket, black shirt with banded white sleeves, blue skirt, black leggings and brown sheepskin boots.
"What are you talking about?!" Gero snapped. Why oh why had he decided to experiment on children?
"I look like I'm gonna go record a series of hit albums and then make out with a shotgun!" 17 groaned as he ran his fingers through his jet black hair and buried his face in his hands.
"I look like I got all dolled up to suck off my stepdad for money to go to the mall!" 18 added angrily before grabbing her jacket and throwing it on the ground.
"If we could get back to the people who want to kill me!" Gero growled through clenched teeth. Which, thanks to his mechanical body's heightened hearing, he was now acutely aware of.
"Hey, guys" he heard Launch say, "I found it!"
"How are you sure?" Chi-Chi called from a slightly further distance.
"It's the cave with all the blinking lights!" ...Why hadn't he shut the door?!
"Bulma," Krillin asked, "Should you really have a baby in something this dangerous?"
"Eh, he's Half-Saiyan," Bulma replied dismissively. "He's tough."
"Fields up, guys," Suno told everyone. "We might be able to beat up androids but I'm not so sure about cancer cells."
"Isn't that what Dragon Balls are for?" Chaouzu asked.
"Hey, what the shit is this?" 17 asked, pulling Gero back into the lab as he pulled on his shirt to look at the emblem. "RR? What's that? Are we in some kind of cult?"
"Wait," 18 said with sudden realization, "That's the Red Ribbon Army!" Then she spun on Gero and pointed an accusatory finger at him. "What the shit! Are we the Red Ribbon Army? Are we the bad guys?!"
"Enough of this," Gero roared as his hand found the deactivation remote. "I am in charge here! Cyborgs 17 and 18, you will do as I say! I am your creator! You will defend me from my enemies and the enemies of Earth!"
"'Creator'?" 18 asked in a voice dripping with sarcasm. "What the hell are you talking about, old man? Also, did you dress us? Because holy shitsnacks, that's creepy."
"19 took care of that for me!" Gero fired back in a tone that was almost embarrassed.
"Oh God," 17 groaned with a shudder of revulsion. "Is that the nightmare clown? Why the hell did you even build that?"
"You were nothing when I found you! You were weak and useless, just like the rest of the dregs of this planet! But I made you into something better! I made you into something great! Now, 17, 18, you will stop this insubordinate behavior–"
"Why the hell do you keep calling is that?" 17 demanded. "My name is Lapis!"
"And I'm Lazuli," 18 added. "Get it straight, Dr. Pedostein."
Gero held the deactivator up like a dagger over their heads. "You will not speak to me in this way! I am your creator! I am your God! One more word out of you and I'll send you both back into the nothingness I pulled you out of!" They glowered at him for a moment before slowly dropping out of their aggressive stances and hanging their heads in defeat. Gero let out a long sigh and smiled before straightening his tie. "That's better. Now then, 17–" Then the boy's right hand was rammed up against the roof of his mouth and the left was on his bottom jaw.
"I told you," the boy said chillingly as he stared into Gero's terrified eyes with icy calm, "My name is Lapis." Then each hand pulled in an opposite direction.
OoOoOoO
"Okay," Krillin remarked as the gang slowly walked into the open mouth of the tunnel leading into the secret lab. "Let's just be ready for anything here, guys." As the person carrying a baby, Bulma was at the back of the line.
As they came out of the tunnel and into the main lab, they saw a young man and woman that could only be Lapis and Lazuli. Only Lapis was holding half of a Dr. Gero in each hand by the jaw and Lazuli had her foot on Gero's brain-bubble. They stared at the two of them and the two of them stared back. Lazuli stomped with a rather unsettling "Crunch" followed immediately by a "Squish!"
"Okay," Krillin admitted nervously, "Was not ready for that."
"Hey," Lapis said over his shoulder at his sister as he dropped the halves of Gero onto the ground, "Don't these look like the guys we're supposed to kill?"
"I guess," Lazuli said with a shrug as she wandered further into the lab, mostly to get brain off her boot.
"Whoa, hang on," Suno said quickly as she held up her hands in a non-threatening way, "We're not here to fight you."
"Why," Lapis shot back, "Because you'd lose?" Then he noticed Ten among the group and he broke out into a huge grin. "Holy crap! Tenshinhan! You're, like, my favorite fighter ever!" Ten actually blushed and looked away bashfully.
"Wait, seriously?" Krillin interjected. "He's your favorite?"
"I beg your pardon?" Ten retorted with one eyebrow raised.
"I'm just sayin'," Krillin replied, "You kinda spend all your time in the mountains. At least I know how to market myself. I'm surprised he's even heard of you."
"I'm sorry, how many Tenkaichi Budoukai have you won?"
"Touche."
"Hey bro," Lazuli called from the back of the room, "I found another one of these pods!"
"What's his number?" Lapis called back while staying where he was. These people made him… angry. Crap, he hoped he wasn't brainwashed.
"No number," Lazuli responded as she looked around the coffin-like machine and gave it a few kicks, "Just a note that says 'Do not open until world is safe'. Whatever the hell that means."
"Is it the old guy's handwriting?"
"Yeah."
"Cool, crack it open!" A few seconds later, Trunks and Piccolo arrived.
"Hey," Trunks panted out as he flew up behind the rest of the group, "Goku sent us ahead because she sensed you guys' ki rising. She's still training with Gohan, though. So what'd we miss?"
"Well, Lapis and Lazuli killed Gero," Suno explained. "Guessing that's what happened in your timeline?" She looked back and was surprised to see Trunks' stunned expression. "It's… not?"
"No," Trunks said emphatically. "I mean it is but I guess it's just hard to think about them killing s-" he stopped and turned when he saw Bulma with his infant self. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" he demanded. "Why did you bring m– I MEAN A BABY. Why did you bring a baby?!"
"You said this timeline wouldn't affect yours, right?" Bulma asked. "So you'll be okay." The young man stared at her with his mouth hanging open and his eyes as big as dinner plates. "What," Bulma asked, "Do you think I'm an idiot or something?"
Meanwhile, Lazuli had turned on the 'Do Not Touch' box. "Beginning initial diagnostics–" Gero's computer voice started to say.
"Yeah, no," Lazuli decided as she kicked the lid off the box. "Hey, bro," she called as she looked down into the box, "Come take a look at this guy!" Lapis started walking backwards, keeping his eyes on the assembled group until he reached the box before turning around to look down into it.
"Wow," he muttered, "His outfit is way cooler!" The twins looked down into the container to see a giant of a man with a red mohawk in a black suit and green armor with green bracers and boots and wearing a pair of small golden hoop earrings. He had a square jaw with a serious face and, as they saw when he opened them, incredibly bright blue eyes. He sat up slowly in the box and gripped the sides of it before climbing out.
"No weird tubes," Lazuli noted as she looked him over. "Looks like he's a robot." She looked up and up as he got out of the box and towered over them. "You got a name, big guy?"
"I am Android designation 16," he replied in a deep and stilted voice. "Although I answer to the name 'Adrian.'"
"So he gets a name," Lapis muttered as Adrian looked around the lab.
"Where is father?" Adrian asked. Lapis rolled his eyes and made a "Pffft."
"Jeez, he had you so messed up that you call him dad? Well don't worry, big guy. I iced him, so we're free now." Lapis made some attempt at a "cool" hand sign and Lazuli rolled her eyes.
"You are so lame," she groaned. Adrian's eyes flickered with understanding as if he suddenly understood what the word "iced" meant. His hand was out in a flash and wrapped around Lapis's throat to yank him off of his feet.
"My programming prohibits me from committing violence except in cases of self defense or against Son Goku," Adrian explained as Lapis kicked his feet frantically. "Pray that these parameters do not change."
"S-sure thing, big guy…" Lapis wheezed out. Adrian dropped him dismissively to the ground and began walking around the room while Lapis gasped for breath and massaged his throat. "Thanks for the assist, sis," he muttered sarcastically.
"You're welcome," she replied in a saccharine voice. Lapis rolled his eyes and stood up before looking at the others at the mouth of the cave again. "So that's three of us and…" he started pointing at them and counting. Bulma frantically shook her head and waved her hands, taking a few steps away from the rest of the group. "Alright. Three against eight." He turned to Lazuli while she cracked her knuckles. "Sound like good odds to you?"
"Yeah," she agreed. "That way I don't have to share." She turned her head up to Adrian who stood impassively behind them with his arms at his sides. "How about you, big guy?"
"I cannot attack unless provoked," Adrian reminded them.
"And if you are provoked?"
"I will kill them."
"Awesome!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Suno interjected as everyone got into their guards. "Everyone, hold on! Seriously, we're not here to fight!"
"I'm kind of here to fight," Piccolo muttered, speaking for the first time since he and Trunks had arrived. He'd been waiting to see how things played out.
"Hey, wait," Lapis said as he rubbed his chin. "Are you guys friends with Piccolo? The demon guy who tried to take over the world? Are you the bad guys?"
"Nice to see someone remembers," Piccolo replied with a slightly smug grin and his arms crossed over his chest.
"You're really not helping," Suno grumbled with a bereaved sigh. Yamcha pushed his way to the front of the group with a sigh.
"Man you guys suck at this," he muttered under his breath before turning his attention back on Lapis, Lazuli, and Adrian. "Okay, let's all take it down a notch. I'm guessing you guys know who I am. What're your names?"
"Lapis…" he said reluctantly as he slowly dropped out of his guard.
"Lazuli," she said with a shrug before doing the same. Adrian chose not to answer.
"But I t–" Trunks started to say before Chi-Chi kicked him in the shin. She knew what Yamcha was doing. She didn't really understand all this time travel stuff but she was pretty sure that it would make the youngsters more willing to listen if they gave their names voluntarily than discovering that a group of strangers already knew who they were.
"Okay," Yamcha continued in a reassuring tone, "Lapis. Lazuli. Nice to meet you. Now I'm not gonna pretend like I know what you guys have been through. I can't even imagine what Gero's done to you. So if you wanna fight us… I get it."
"What?" The twins asked simultaneously.
"What is he doing?" Launch whispered through pursed lips.
"Shh," Chi-Chi shushed her curtly.
"I get it, really. When you've lost everything and nothing makes sense anymore, you've got all this anger. Because all that's left is a hurt inside you that you don't know how to get rid of and you don't know what to do with it. So you want to get mad. You want to lash out. You want to hurt other people so you're not the only one feeling pain. I get it. Hell, I did it. I don't do it anymore, though." Yamcha smiled and looked back over his shoulders at the others as he spoke. "Because I had people that helped me out. Good people. My friends." He turned his focus back on Lapis and Lazuli who had completely dropped their guards at this point. "Now I'm not saying we all have to be best friends or that you have to come live with us or anything. I'm just saying that we're willing to help you. Okay?" He held out his hand and the twins looked down at it, then at each other, and then back down at the hand.
"What the hell," Lapis said as he took Yamcha's hand. "Last thing I want to do is what that old jerk wanted anyway." Lazuli gave a noncommittal shrug but with a little bit of a smile. Everyone cheered and Chi-Chi pulled Yamcha into a hug once he and Lapis were done shaking hands.
"I knew you could do it," she whispered proudly. Yamcha smiled and hugged her back.
"This is unacceptable," Adrian declared bluntly. The others looked quickly at him and everyone prepared to fight. "I was designed to kill Son Goku. I will carry these orders out." He turned and… walked through one of the lab walls. They watched him tumble down the mountainside at a breakneck pace until he rolled right on out of sight.
"Can he… not fly?" Tenshinhan asked.
"Looks like it," Chaozu observed. Lazuli shrugged but looked a little disappointed. She thought they were gonna be pals.
"So," she said as everyone walked out of the cave, "Did you guys have a car or…?"
"Wait," Trunks asked, "Can't you guys fly?" Lapis stared at Lazuli and she stared back at him.
"Oh shit," he muttered with sudden excitement. "Oh shit! That's right! Sis, we can fly!" His smile went from ear to ear and he threw back his head and let out a whoop of joy before rocketing off into the air. Lazuli shook her head and buried her face in her hand as if she was embarrassed to be seen with him. Her shoulders started to shake and it looked like she was crying before she dropped her hand to reveal that she was laughing her head off. She flew off into the sky after her brother in a burst of exuberance.
"Y'know," Krillin muttered as everyone watched, "Y'kinda forget sometimes how cool it is to be able to fly." Everyone took off after them in good spirits. For once, violence hadn't been the answer.
At the mountain's base, Adrian finally stopped rolling. He got to his feet unscathed and shook himself off.
"Beginning diagnostics," his father's voice said in his head. "This will be delayed as you are no longer in your pod. Weapons check. One percent. One point five." Adrian began walking southward. He had just enough of a human personality to wonder how long it would take to get to his bioenergy scouters and jet rockets. "One point six percent."
"A long time," he muttered.
OoOoOoO
Just south of Brown Country, a monster took its first steps. Its three-toed feet made a soft "Kssh" with every step and its long tail swished against the dusty ground. The sun warmed its mottled green skin as it flexed its fingers and its long green wings. Its large slitted pupils opened wider as it sensed the life energy coming from the nearby town. Its beaklike orange mouth opened and it let out a rasping gasp as it ran its pink tongue ravenously over its lips.
It was hungry.