*Unaltered timeline, May 12th, morning of the androids' attack*
Val flew towards the Southern Capital first, looking around for some sign, any sign of the old man and the pale man. She no sight or sense of them anywhere. She was tempted to land in the city and look for them, but thought better of it since this city was of the places that had a heart virus outbreak early on. She grunted in annoyance of more grief flashing back up. It had been so long ago... No matter what Daiki said, she made an antiviral medicine that was good enough. There was no reason to make it better since it would be good enough to save either Piccolo or Vegeta if they caught the heart virus. There was no one strong enough on Earth now to make it worth while otherwise. No reason to nick pick it to death.
She flew toward the mountains in the North, shivering a bit from the cold air. She sensed around the area, surprised she could find nothing and no one. She kept flying around, kept looking, and kept sensing stubbornly. She figured the old man still had to be up here, somewhere. Minutes eked by, more minutes than it took to find him. She felt about ready to give up when she felt a shiver go down her spine and into her hands. She turned around, looking beneath her. She flew lower, seeing a cave entrance. She sucked down a quick breath when she saw the old man and the pale man emerge from the cave's entrance. She dropped, hiding behind a nearby by rock and dropping her ki down to unsensible levels. She tried to sense for the men, daring to peek over the rock she hid behind. She felt a shock of panic rush over her when in doing so, she made eye contact with the old man.
"There," he said, pointing over to her.
Val punched the rock, jumping up to stand on it before him before either of them could come after her. Open air was a better area to fight in that stuck behind a rock. "Who are you?" she called over to them. She studied them, straining to sense them.
The old man twitched his mustache. "We are androids created by Dr. Gero," he answered confusingly.
"Androids?" she asked, wondering if that was why she could not sense them.
"Yes, and you are Val," the old man answered. Val reared back, blinking at him in surprise. "The Anthromorph from Old Namek. A friend of Goku's."
"How...?" she started. "How do you know all that?"
"Dr. Gero told us," the old man answered.
"Why?" she asked.
"To achieve his ultimate goal," the old man explained vaguely.
"And what's that?" she asked.
"Vengeance," he said. "We wish to kill Goku for what he did to the Red Ribbon Army." She gasped, realizing they must not know he had died. "And his allies," he threatened.
She crouched down into a fighting position. "I can't let you do that," she said protectively. She assessed the androids carefully, feeling shocked to see such an unexpected threat emerged. One they would have to face without Goku. It was not the first threat since Garlic Jr. was defeated, but it was a new threat. She felt a slight temptation to run, to go get Vegeta, but thought better of it. If she ran to get help, they might come after her and catch her, or worse, attack the nearby city. "I'm Earth guardian in training. If you want to kill any of its inhabitants, especially my friends, you'll both have to go through me first," she declared boldly, unsure if this was a fight she could or should undertake. At least it was not eight against one like it had been in the Shinsenkai.
"#20," the pale man spoke. "Please allow me destroy Val," he requested with a deep bow.
The old man looked at him, seeming a bit annoyed but pondering. "Fine then," he relented. "You have not absorbed any energy yet, but I have in the city. Be sure to take all of hers so you will be strong enough to face off against Goku."
"Absorb energy?" Val asked in confusion.
She did not have time to get an answer though because the round, pale man launched himself face first at her. Both of his hands were outstretched. When he was close enough, she saw he had one jewel in the center of each of his palms. She jumped from the rock, dodging him. He flew after her in pursuit as she landed on the flat ground. She jumped, dived, dodged, and weaved her way around him, aiming to fight tall since she was taller than he was. His goal was to grab her, that was for certain. She knocked his hands away and kicked him in the face. She watched him stumble backwards, a weird, semi clear fluid leaking from the corner of his mouth. It was not blood.
"What are you?" she asked.
"We told you. Androids," the old man called over. Val looked over at him, seeing him crouched on a nearby rock, watching the fight clinically. He held her eyes. Val felt heat flare in her hands, making her wonder if she could curse an android if she needed to. "Are you distracted?"
"What-?" she started and then she gasped.
The pale android was on her, one hand clasped on either one of her wrists on top of her bracelets. She gasped, yanking her wrists away, but he did not let go. She struggled, puling away from him and his vice grip. She felt pressure from it, feeling a trickle energy was being drained from her. The pale man grunted painfully.
"What's wrong, #19?" the old man called down to them. "Take her energy quickly and be done with it."
Val's eyes went wide when she realized why. His jewels were on her bracelets, which slowed his ability to take her energy. That and she could smell the scent of burning flesh and heated metal. She took a second to think before risking it. She reach for the heat, allowing it to flare up and burn him more. He gave her a surprised look. She picked up the heat, channeling it into the bracelets and her hands until both her lower arms were ablaze. She heard the pale man grunt and start to shake.
"#19, what's wrong?" the old man asked again.
"It's... it's too hot..." the pale man complained.
Val smiled, reaching for the heat freely now and flaring it in her hands. She heard and felt a crack against her bracelet. Then there was not one, but two shattering sounds. She heard the pale man shout and pull his hands away from her. She saw the palms of his hands. The two jewels had scattered. She could see machinery inside of the holes.
She shook her hands out since they were free, but held on the heat as she charged at him. She had him on the run now and he ran for it, trying to fly off. She pursued him, making him fight with her, using the heat of her hands to burn him unlike she had with another opponent. She kicked him down and then jumped back into the air. She pulled her hands together, gathering up the heat into a concentrated energy blast. She sent it down at him, watching the blast make contact. When the blast radius cleared, she looked down at the body of the android. He was dead, if the word fit for an android. His face and clothes were charred and burning. His eyes were open and unseeing as his body was bathed in flames.
Val landed on the ground and huffed a bit, feeling more winded from the fight than she figured she should have. She looked around, trying to spot the old man. She could not see him anywhere. Just then she heard an explosion sound at the cave's entrance. She turned on her heels and saw smoke coming from the cave. Then she saw no one, but then two figures rocket out of the cave's entrance and fly towards the city.
She blinked, not sure what to do. She flew up to the cave's entrance, looking inside of it and trying to peer through the smoke. She stepped cautiously through the cave, feeling ahead with her feet. She stopped when she kicked something hard and round. The smoke had cleared enough that she realized it was the old man's mechanical head. She jumped back and stepped away. She shuffled quickly to the entrance of the cave, leaning against the wall. She looked ahead towards the city's outskirts, where two other people from the cave that she could not see had just flown off. She could not sense anything off of them, thinking they might be androids as well. She debated either going back and getting Piccolo or Vegeta, but changed her mind when she saw a blast go off in the area. Without sparing another thought, she flew off towards the city as fast as she could.
She saw the two figures land in the city, overhearing them half talking half arguing. She saw one was a black haired young man and the other a blonde haired young women. They looked both similar to each other and both attractive. She could sense nothing off of them, concluding they were also androids. Val landed on a low building's roof, watching them, debating whether to give into the temptation or not to go and get either Vegeta or Piccolo, even if she was annoyed with both of them from yesterday. If these two attacked, two against one was not good odds. Her father would have been tempted to try though. He would not have acted on it though unless he absolutely had to.
"18, did you see his face when I destroyed the shut off remote?" the black haired man cheered with a vicious smile.
"The look is permanently stuck on his old, wrinkled face, 17," 18 said, sounding as amused.
"Now, where to start?" 17 said, looking around the part of the city they were in. The people in the area were looking at them. Val watched from her rooftop vantage point, ears drawing back. 17 stomped his foot at a child staring at him. "What are you looking at?" he growled at the child.
The child started to cry and her mother scooped her up. "What's your problem?" the angry mother scolded 17.
"You," he preempted before gathering up a large energy blast and shooting it at the mother and her child.
Val gasped, seeing the blast no only shot the two, but destroyed the building behind her as well. That sent people scrambling to get away. The two androids started blasting away at the innocent bystanders and the buildings in the area. Without thinking, Val launched herself from the rooftop with a rugged shout, "stop it!"
She kicked 17 in the face, catching him off guard. He stumbled back as she landed in front of him and the other android, who was eyeing her suspiciously. "Here comes the calvary," 18 said in amusement.
18 took aim at the person fleeing the scene. "I said stop!" Val shouted. 18 still shot and killed the person. Val felt a second wind of heat burn through her and blaze around her. "What did those people ever do to you?!" she shouted protectively. She felt her hands shake angrily.
Both androids looked at her, smug grins on their faces. 17 answered, "well the child was rude. Maybe her mother should have taught her not to stare."
"Who are you? What do you want?" Val demanded, anger almost making her want to lose control. The heat certainly wanted her to.
"17," the man answered. He nodded over to the woman. "18." The both of them looked so cold that it threatened to chill her. "We're looking for Goku. Val, do you know where he is?"
She took a few hesitant steps back at the sound of her name. "Let me guess, Dr. Gero also told you about us," she asked thickly. She thought about what her father would do in this situation. It was looking more and more like she would have to fight, even if it was two against one. Her father would take out one of them first, that way to ensure they could not gang up on her. She hated that she wished someone, especially Vegeta, was here. At least it was not eight against one this time.
"More or less," 17 said, cracking his knuckles threateningly. He looked back at 18. "We've been cooped up long enough in those pods. Do you want this one or can I take her?" he asked. Val felt her ears draw back in panic. The heat flared up, wanting the fight, wanting to avenge the people they had just killed or die trying.
18 shrugged. "You can take her. Try to mess up her face a little though. I don't like that she's prettier than me," she answered.
17 turned around and threw her a predatory smile. She took off her bracelets and put them in her pocket. She sunk into a fighting stance, debating how to fight someone of equal height to herself on top of fighting someone whom she could not sense anything off of. She noticed at least there were no jewels in his hands, so he could not absorb her energy. She let the heat blaze back up around her, on the edge of losing control and let it do what it wanted. She watched him without blinking, inferring what her father would do in such a fight.
He charged towards her and she charged towards him in matching return. They collided with her trying to get a hit off of him. He punched her across the face with more force than she expected. She felt dazed by the hit, staggering back. She blocked the next two strikes, but had the wind knocked out of her when he kneed her in the gut.
She felt the heat begging to be released as she staggered back, trying to choke down a full breath. He came behind her and struck her in the upper back. She felt the ground rush up to meet her when she hit it hard. She choked, pushing herself up onto her hands and knees. She saw out of the corner of her eye that 17 was just standing there, watching her. "That didn't take long," 17 commented.
Val rose up, coughing and spitting out a mouthful of blood. She growled up at him, wanting to kill him with her bare hands. She felt the heat demanding to be released from deep in her chest. She stood up and shouted out in rage, relinquishing control over the heat. It blazed over her as she charged at him. She threw herself into the fight, thinking that if she moved like her father did, fought like her father fought, she would win. She hit him across the face, viciously liking the sight of a burn mark across his jaw. She managed to get a few more hits in against him, most luckier than anything else. She tried to also curse him, but getting two hands on him and then saying a curse became impossible. He moved too fast. Then he threw up his hand, blocking her last strike and bringing his forearm down on her wrist. She cried out, hearing the bones crack in it. She tried to back off and come at him anew, but he seized her uninjured wrist, twisting it behind her back and gripping it hard. She heard and then felt another set of cracks, pain stabbing straight into her chest from it.
He shoved her away and down to the ground. She cried out when she hit the ground, accidentally trying to brace herself with her hands. She laid there, curled in a ball on her side, trying to muster up the strength to stand and keep fighting. She heard foot steps approaching. She looked up to see 17 standing to the side of her. She saw him raise one foot up and kick her repeated in the torso while she was down. It seemed like it would never end. When he finally stopped, she felt like she could hardly breathe or move, her chest and stomach aching so badly. He knelt down, looking at her in amusement. She twisted, trying get up without using her hands. It was a feeble attempt at best. He shoved her back down. She coughed out an angered whimper, reaching for the heat that had been there minutes before. Instead she felt colder and slower.
"What's taking you so long? Kill her already. " 18 called over. "There are others coming now. They must have sensed her fighting you. One of them better Goku."
17 called back over his shoulder, "waiting until they get a little closer. Let them sense her death right before they get here." He sounded amused, too amused. "Let them hope they can save her until then."
"No," Val said, feeling suddenly chilled with fear. The others... Vegeta... he would get her soon... he would win, but would rage at her to no end for fighting against too high of odds again. Piccolo... would scold her for not risking herself when she was supposed to be the next guardian. Tien... would lecture her, adding to the shame. Krillin... Chiaotzu... Gohan... Yamcha... she was not sure how they would react. However if all of them saw her laying her on the ground... She hissed through her teeth, pride in place of the heat demanding she get up and keep fighting.
17 watched her, laughing as he amused by her efforts. "Awe, what's wrong? Wanted to die standing?" he teased.
She felt herself shaking, wrists hurting too much to do support her weight. Her arms gave out on her, leading her to collapse on the ground. She envisioned her father again, remembering the last time she saw him, shoving her away and telling her to run before he went after one of Frieza's warriors. "Father..." she breathed. He went to his death a lot more bravely than she was now. "I don't want to die," she confessed. She shivered, feeling a buffet of wind wash over her.
17 looked up and around in the air, counting under his breath. "There's one missing," he called over to 18.
"One of them is still bound to be Goku," 18 guessed incorrectly. "Do you want me to do it for you? Hurry up."
"Alright, alright," he griped at her. He turned back to Val. "I wonder how Goku will react when he sees your dead body?"
His hands were on her then, shoving her to her back. He placed one hand over her heart. Val reached once more for heat, forcing her hands up to grip his wrist as she pushed past the blinding pain. "Don't ki-" she tried to choke out, but the small blast when through her chest before she could finish the curse.
Suddenly, she was standing away from the scene. Val blinked, confused. "What?" she asked, looking down at her chest. She touched her chest, seeing no black and burned hole where the blast injury should be. "How?" she asked, looking over and see 17 stand up and brush off his pants. He stepped back over to 18.
"Daughter," she heard a voice behind her say.
She turned around and gasped. It took her one second to remind to kneel. She sunk down to her knees, breathing reverently, "Great Mother."
"Arise, my last child," the Great Hawk Spirit said before her. She was large and bird like, both predatory and gentile. The guardian Val's mother and the other priestesses had served back on the planet Aviary.
Val rose nervously. "Why are you here? How can I see you?" she asked. "I should be able to see you unless-"
"Val! No!" she heard a voice shout from behind her. Val turned and looked, seeing Tien and Chiaotzu land on the ground in the area. That made some sense. The mountains where the lab was was nearest to their village.
She saw Piccolo land next, with her suddenly feeling a flare of shock and anger. Vegeta followed soon after. Then Gohan, Krillin, and last Yamcha. Val rounded on the Great Hawk Spirit. "I'm dead?" she asked, grabbing her chest and feeling a yank within it.
"Yes, my child," she answered. She hopped closer to her. "I should be able to take you away now to the afterlife, but someone or something is tethering you to the living world. The bound is weak, so it will break soon."
"I don't want to be dead," Val complained in shame.
She looked back over at the scene, angry and embarrassed. She saw Tien cradling her lifeless body in his arms. It hurt her to see him so openly crying. "Come on, wake up, Val, you can't be dead, come on," he was saying. "I was going to marry her one day..."
"Shut up, you fool," Vegeta told him thickly.
"Leave him alone," Yamcha defended, eyes flicking from Vegeta to Tien to the androids.
"Oh man, we can't wish her back with the Earth's dragon balls," Krillin remembered. "She was already wished back with them on Old Namek."
"So she's gone?" Gohan asked. Krillin nodded solemnly.
The others were quiet and still, especially Piccolo, who was only studying 17, who still had a burn mark across his jaw. He brought one hand to his chest and gripped his shirt tightly.
"My daughter, let go of the bond tethering you and come with me," the Great Hawk Spirit told her. She brought a wing over Val's line of sight. "You should not watch what happens next," she advised.
Val shoved the wing aside and stepped back into view of the others. She heard the Great Hawk Spirit sigh patiently, but not move to block her view again. She brought her hand to her chest, gripping her shirt tightly, fearful of what was going to happen. She hated that she hoped she was just weak and that was how 17 was able to kill her.
"The people who killed her are right there!" Vegeta argued. He pointed at the androids. "So if you want to just cry instead of fight, then stay out of my way."
"People? We haven't been called that in a long time," 18 commented.
"What are you then?" Krillin asked.
"Androids," 18 answered. She panned the set of them standing there. "Where's Goku? We're looking for him." Krillin shook his head, but did not answer her.
"Anyone who gets in our way of finding him will end up just like her," 17 warned, nodded over at Val's body.
"He died," Chiaotzu answered simply. "Months ago."
The two androids looked at each other in a mix of annoyance and amusement. "Are you kidding me?" 18 complained. "Gero should have woken us up year ago."
17 shrugged. "Who knows? We may still be able to have some fun," he suggested, eying the others. He nodded his head up at Tien, asking, "you there. Lover boy. What's your name?"
Tien looked up at him, "what?"
Krillin blurted out, "don't tell him anything, Tien." Then he covered his mouth once he noticed his slip up.
"Tien, huh?" 17 mused, a dark and entertained look coloring his face. "That's not the name of the man she said right before she begged me not to kill her." He laughed then, a maniacal laugh.
18 laughed as well, commenting, "you're so bad."
Val felt herself seething, hissing down loud, audible breaths. She tried charge towards the androids, temper threatening to overflow from within her. The Great Hawk Spirit caught her and held her back. "Don't look, my child!" she was told. Before her vision could be completely blocked, she saw Piccolo shout and charge first, going after 17. 17 dodged him, but 18 pursued him, making him fight her instead. Then she could not see anything with the Great Hawk Spirit pinning her close to her chest, engulfed in her wings. "You mustn't watch your friends die."
Val fought against her, kicking, shoving, and shouting. She heard Piccolo throw up a pained groaned. She kicked to escape, feeling suddenly like all emotions were ripped from her chest and a feelingless void remained. She heard but did not see what sounded like of each of them dying, covering her ears when she heard Vegeta die. When it was finally over, she sunk to the ground on her knees, pounding the ground and allowing herself to cry freely. She saw them all strewn near where she had died in the city. She saw Gohan laying there, his body twitching and unconscious, but still somehow alive. The androids flew off from the area, destroying another part of the city.
"My child, my last child," the Great Hawk Spirit soothed. "You grieve your friends' and brother's death," she nodded over to where Piccolo, Vegeta and the others lay. "But the weak bond tying your spirit to the living has been released. "Come with me. I will take you to the afterlife where you can be with your mother's ancestors and those from Aviary."
Val looked up at her but did not rise up. "No," she refused stubbornly. The Great Hawk Spirit gave her a patient, parental look. "I can't! I can't leave this planet unprotected! I swore to protect it," she explained. She sunk lower on the ground on her hands and knees. "This is worse than the Imperial Army claiming it," she named her greatest fear. "I'm supposed to be their guardian now. Kami will have died alongside Piccolo," she realized.
"You cannot be guardian since you have died," the Great Hawk Spirit explained.
"Then send me back to life," she begged. "Or Vegeta or any one of them." She looked back over at Gohan, the only one still alive, though quite injured. "Don't leave him alone to fight them. Eventually they'll kill him, too," she feared.
"This planet is to enter a period of darkness because of these androids," the Great Hawk Spirit said.
Val rose up and rounded on her. "Then why won't you stop it?" she demanded, tempted to hit her, but knowing it would be a fruitless endeavor. "Then why won't you help them!?"
The Great Hawk Spirit gave her a soft look. "I'm only here to fetch you, my child. My last child," she answered. She then looked at the destroyed city, seeing beyond it and the horizon. "The Earth's future is in flux," she explained. "It is hazy, but one hero stands a chance at saving it, changing it. But it will take her years... to figure it out..." she puzzled it out. "If she can do it, this timeline will be unwritten."
"Who?" Val demanded. "Who is she?"
The Great Hawk Spirit kept staring off into space. "A hero with brains not brawns as her greatest trait. If she can... build... create... make... something... then all will be undone... no, rewritten... it could be... changed..."
"You don't sound too sure," Val accused, feeling a bit ashamed to sound so mouthy. She thought about it, someone, a woman, who was good at figuring things out. "It's Bulma, isn't it?" she inferred. The Great Hawk Spirit nodded. "Her smarts is her strength," she quoted Vegeta from a long time ago.
The bird shook her head and looked down at Val. "For now, we must go," she beckoned, kneeling down and spreading her wings out. "I will take you to the land of foremothers where you can rest."
Val shook her head, but stepped forward. "I can't rest. Not while this planet is endangered." She climbed onto the bird back, giving in. "How long will it take Bulma to save the planet?"
"If she succeeds, years," the Great Hawk Spirit answered.
Val groaned, leaning her down on her feathery neck. "Help her. If you can," she begged.
"She has everything she needs, she just has to figure out how to... access it..." the Great Hawk Spirit explained before taking off towards the afterlife.