The hours after Vegeta and Trunks entered the Room of Spirit and Time ticked by slowly. In the morning, Mr. Popo had cornered her in front of Goku to get her to read up on some duties of guardianship in the library, but focusing on any of the words was difficult. It made her miss reading about virology and medical equipment at Capsule Corps. Her mind kept wandering to Dr. Gero's data wanting impatiently for her there to go through it.
She huffed, shutting the dusty book she had been reading, picked up the staff leaning on the table beside her, and went outside. She walked to the edge of the Lookout, trying her luck at sensing and searching for Cell. He should be sensible, trackable. It was frustrating. He should be easily traceable. She gave up, walking back to the middle of the Lookout, meaning to go back inside. She heard a noise, seeing a transport come up to the Lookout. She felt hopeful that it would be Bulma, but then felt a wave of disappointment when she saw Yajirobe emerge from it. "Greeting, new guardian," he said, the amount of respectfulness in his voice almost threw her off. He looked at her with awe and then some in his eyes.
"Hello, again, Yajirobe," she said, noticing he looked better for wear since she last seen him.
He looked her over, eyes looking from her to the staff in hand and back again. "Korin and I still can't believe you took the job," he blurted out.
She rolled her eyes. "Just for the interim," she emphasized.
"Yeah, because you like Capsule Corps so much," he added.
She clicked her teeth. "What is it that brought you up here?" she asked.
He perked up. "Oh yeah," he said, digging into his pants pockets. He pulled out a small brown bag. "Korin had three more senzu beans that just ripened this morning. He said to bring them to Goku just in case. Goku is expecting them. Since, you know he can leave the Lookout but you really can't anymore."
Val felt a wave of temptation wash over her. "I'll give them to him," she rushed out, snatching the bag out of his hand and slipping it into her pocket. "Don't worry," she said, trying to sound natural.
"Oh, okay... thanks I guess," Yajirobe stumbled out. "Oh, and thanks for earlier. For catching me."
She nodded. "Anytime," she said, half listening to what he said.
"I got to get going, but if you ever need anything, I'm usually around Korin's place," he finished, stepping back to his transport.
"Yeah, thanks. See you," she said. She watched him fly off, jealous to see the him get to leave without being thrown back to the stones. She tapped her pocket, feeling the three beans in there. She griped them tightly, glad to finally have three beans to herself should she ever need them, unlike the time she needed one and never got it. She ran her hand over her right hip and thigh, remember how painful and painfully embarrassing the onikuma attack had been. Not to mention the time Goku just happened to have an old one laying around with the triceratops injured her side, and she no choice but to eat it and all its staleness. "These stay with me," she ruled softly to herself.
She sighed and walked towards the building. She was close when she felt an overwhelming and unexplained wave of sheer panic. She turned around, remote viewing on Piccolo, finding him at Kami House with the others, and also so were the three androids. They were looking for Goku. After a bit of banter, Val felt her stomach clenched that he lead all three of them away to a deserted island to face them alone. She felt both a thrill and a chill go through her at the idea of watching the fight that was about to go down between #17 and him.
#17 called to him, "if you don't say anything, I'll kill you this time."
Piccolo threw away his head gear and cape, responding, "I won't be as easy to beat as last time."
#17 taunted, "I really can't understand why you want to fight when you know you can't win. Maybe you're buying time, or maybe you're just stupid."
Piccolo grunted in amusement. Val gripped the staff in her hands tighter. She nodded, grunting to herself, "if you can take one of them out, it would keep Cell from getting what he wants... If..." she repeated. "If you don't die in the attempt..." She felt nervous, watching him do what Trunks said she did in the other timeline, trying to take on the androids by himself. With her stuck, trapped up here, unable to help him at all. "Just stay alive somehow," she insisted.
"If you want to fight, come and get me!" #17 challenged.
"I only have to fight you, 17?" Piccolo asked.
#17 held his hands out. "Of course! Actually, it's a waste of time for me to fight the likes of you."
Piccolo smiled down over at him, fist clenching in preparation to fight. Val nodded at that, feeling a thrill go through her at the thought of seeing what his fighting ability was going to be really like after his fusion. He gave a shout, powering up explosively. "That's not Piccolo," #16 realized.
"What?" #17 asked.
Then Piccolo charged. Val watched on from above, enjoying the more enhanced view of it by using remote viewing. Piccolo charged, catching #17 across the back and shoving him away before pursuing him with a swift kick to the back. #17 landed hard on the ground. Piccolo stepped over to him, holding his hand up to power up a blast as #17 struggled to his feet. Piccolo loosed the blast. Val felt for a split second that it was all over just like that.
Until the smoke cleared and she saw #17 in the air, having barely escaped the blast.
"Something's started!" Val heard a voice call out near her. While still keeping half way in the remote viewing, she saw Goku, Gohan, and Mr. Popo running out of the building. She stepped over to them. "Piccolo's fighting!" Goku said in shock.
"Is he fighting Cell?" Gohan asked.
"No, I can't feel his opponent's ki. It's probably a cyborg," Goku guessed correctly.
Val reached them. "It's #17," she explained.
"No way! Piccolo will get killed!" Gohan shouted out of worry. He started to run towards the edge.
"Don't go, Gohan!" Goku shouted, stopping his son in his tracks. "They're far stronger than us right now! All you'd do is get in Piccolo's way!" Gohan halted in his tracks. Val felt a wave of sympathy cut through her for him mixed with a flare of jealousy. He should not go, but he still could go if he really wanted to. "I'm sure that Vegeta and Trunks will come out anytime now and be much more powerful! Everything'll be okay!" Goku threw an impatient glance back towards where the Room of Spirit and Time.
Val stepped carefully over to Gohan, recalling the fraternal bond between him and Piccolo, an almost paternal one not unlike the one she had felt with Moori. She placed a cautious, gentle hand on his shoulder. "Piccolo has gotten stronger than you can believe," she told him, feeling it bolster her own hope. She recalled the image of Cell, thinking to herself, 'at least one...' She dropped her hand on his shoulder. 'Stay alive...'
She shifted back to the remote viewing, seeing Piccolo shoot a barrage of energy blasts at #17, surrounding him with several before setting them all off at once. She felt a wave of relief until the smoke cleared, revealing #17 had shielded himself with an energy barrier. She gritted her teeth at the sight of it. "Too bad! Is that all you have?" he called down to Piccolo.
Piccolo grunted, "this fight's only just begun!"
"Let's go somewhere else. A certain somebody destroyed the island we are on," he taunted. "You should really treat nature nice than that."
Val watched as the four of them moved to the flat land of another nearby island. #17 studied Piccolo, saying, "that was pretty powerful, even though you're not a cyborg. You really aren't the Arch Demon Piccolo. But I could care less who you are. I just want to know where Goku is. Why don't you tell me?"
Piccolo gave him a smug look and shook his head. "Your goal is to kill Goku, huh?" he asked. "There's no way I'll tell you where he is."
"Well, let's just keep fighting until you decide to tell me," #17 said, sinking into a fighting stance. "This time I'm not going to hold back."
#17 flew over and landed in front of Piccolo, throwing a strike at him that hit him in the face and made him stagger back. Piccolo grunted and went to strike him anew, but #17 dodged him and caught him in the gut. Piccolo choked and staggered. #17 struck him in the back, knocking him to the ground. He walked over to him, looking about ready to kick him in the side when Piccolo jumped up, dodged him, and jumped back. He cracked his neck and looked amused. He spat out a glob of blood before commenting, "you're pretty fast. But you don't punch very hard."
#17 threw a sharp look at him. "What?!" he spat. "That's a stupid thing to say to the strongest warrior of all time!"
#17 ran towards him, intent on striking him. Piccolo brought him arm up, intent on striking him down before he had the chance. Both jumped and dodged around the other before #17 managed strike a blow against him right before Piccolo kicked him in the face. #17 punched him again in the face. Piccolo jumped up, recovering quickly to headbutt him and knock him away. Both stopped, then, pausing to huff and watch the other.
"They're both evenly matched," Val commented out loud. #17 launched himself at Piccolo again. Piccolo blocked his strike, throwing his own that was evenly blocked. The fighting grew more intense. "Just take him out... Just stay alive," she griped softly, trying to keep the words up here and don't down there with the two fighters. She kept sense on the two of them and then she sense someone else moving, someone who had gotten a lot stronger. "Cell's started to move!" she gasped. She felt her hands heat up intensely. She rubbed one bracelet, worried about it over heating now and cracking anew. The spare ones at Capsule Corps were too far to get and explaining where she stored them to someone else would be next to impossible.
"Father!" Gohan cried out.
"I know," Goku said, arms crossed over his chest in frustration. Val saw him sweating as well.
She looked back down at the fight in progress, willing Piccolo to win, wincing as he was kicked in the face. Piccolo threw a blast at #17, catching him but hardly doing much damage. #17 boasted, "even if we're equally powerful, the difference in our stamina is beginning to show. I'll never run out of energy."
Piccolo went to say something, but then sensed and finally saw who had arrived. "Cell!" he shouted. "Damn! I got so involved in the fight, I lost track of my surroundings."
"What's that? What's that freak?" #17 asked, studying Cell with disdainful curiosity.
"The androids don't know who Cell is," Val said out loud.
"What?" Gohan asked her, looking up at her. "How is that possible?"
She shook her head, humming to herself as she turned back to focus on the fight about to start. Her hands were too warm. She could feel residual heat flow over her wrists and forearms. These could not crack. She twisted her grip on the staff, trying to channel some heat there and away from the bracelets.
"A very memorable day has come!" Cell cheered. "The day I absorb #17 and 18 to achieve my perfect form!" He looked around at the three androids. His gaze settled on #16. "What's that?" he questioned. "From the Red Ribbon Mark on his chest, I'd say that's one of the cyborgs Dr. Gero created. He's just an old model. I can safely ignore him," he concluded.
He jumped down from his roost and came closer to the others on the island, powering up to show his power. Val flinched back at it, cold settling in the pit of his stomach. He was stronger than he was when Piccolo last saw him. She put the staff in the crook of her arm, subtly slipping the bracelets off before they could crack. She slipped them into her empty pocket covertly. Just in case, she stepped away from Goku and Gohan.
Cell sauntered towards the androids and going past Piccolo. "What's wrong, Piccolo?" he asked. "If you to try to stop me, go ahead." He grunted in amusement.
Piccolo asked in shock, "how many humans were sacrificed to make you that much stronger?"
Cell clicked his teeth, "sacrifice? I think it's an honor to become part of my strength."
Val nearly dropped the staff in shock, bringing one hand up to her face, running it through the front of her hair, feeling it almost singe at the heat. "I didn't sense it... I didn't know it..." She looked down at the staff in her hand. "I'm useless up here..." She panted, drawing in deeper and deeper breaths to quell her panic and focus on the fight at hand. She looked back at the lot of them, swallowing the bit of the bile burning in the back of her throat. "Someone kill him, or I will," she willed.
#17 watched Cell approach him, not feeling threatened at all. "I don't know who you are, but you're bothering me. Go away. I'm playing with the other guy."
Piccolo shouted, "#17, he wants to kill you and absorb you! Run away!"
"What?" #17 asked in confusion.
Cell struck, trying to get at #17 with his tail. #17 jumped and dodged him. Piccolo kicked Cell in the face, separating him from #17 before he could get at him.
"He got be by surprise. Damn him!" #17 swore, standing closer to Piccolo now, almost in line with him. He half watched Cell, half looked back at Piccolo. "What did you mean by that monster absorbing me?"
Piccolo answered, "to put it simply, his name is Cell. He was created by Dr. Gero's computer. He's still not finished, so he wants to absorb you and #18 to get his perfect form."
"What?" #18 called out from across the distance she stood with #16.
Cell cheered, "rejoice, my siblings! By becoming a part of me, you'll give birth to an invincible, perfect life form! That will be the ultimate warrior that Dr. Gero spent so year searching for!"
#17 looked disgusted at the thought. "Don't be stupid," he said. "Why would I let myself be absorbed by you? Besides, I'm already the ultimate warrior."
Cell commented, "you're going to be absorbed no matter what you want!"
"I'm getting pissed off. I'm going to shut you up," #17 ruled, sliding into a fighting stance.
"Run away, #17!" #16 shouted. "He's much too powerful for you to fight! We can't allow him to get his perfect form. His goal isn't the death of Goku, it's the destruction of the universe!"
#17 smirked, saying cockily, "too bad. I thought you finally had something good to say, but now you want me to run away?" He charged at Cell, adding, "don't be stupid!"
Cell watched #17's charge with an excited look on his face, catching him with harsh blow to his neck and knocking him down. Piccolo swore and charged into the fray. "Die!" he shouted, swiping at the back of Cell's head.
Cell threw up his forearm, halting the strike. Then rounding on Piccolo who went to kick him after being blocked. Cell caught his by the foot, yanking him closer, and then striking with intensive force on the side of his neck and face.
Val felt a gasp tear from her lips, watching it. Her hands heated up on the staff, energy flowing into it. "Just stay alive somehow," she squeaked softly looking over the at the edge of the Lookout. She could not leave, a guardian always needed to be in the Lookout, recalling she read something about them needing to stand as a place holder for the planet's protection. It did not quite make sense when she read it though beyond the planet would be protected the most if the guardian was in their place on the Lookout. She closed her eyes, willing herself to watch and stay calm, to stay up in the Lookout, no matter what happened. She watched Piccolo grunting, trying to pull himself back up to a standing position as Cell approached him. She shook her head, wincing as she saw Cell kick him part way across the small island they were on. Piccolo landed hard, but managed to stay on his feet, legs splayed wider than usual. His lip was bleeding, which meant he could not heal himself with his head damaged. He gathered his hands together in front of him, gathering up his ki and until it surrounded him. "Die!" he swore, throwing the blast towards the direction both Cell and #17 were in.
Val could hardly see the island, bathed in the dazingly light of his energy. Val panted watching and sensing for Cell, cringing that she could not see him, but could sense him. When he emerged from the water, she kept his eyes on him. His eyes were on the Piccolo. She sensed harder around the area, thrown off by a new ki there. She saw Tien had somehow landed there on the island, including himself in the simmering mayhem. "Not both of them," she thought out loud, feeling a chill go down her spine. Her hands felt on the verge of unpleasantly warm. She pushed the heat out of her hands and into the staff. "Just stay alive somehow," she chanted again.
"Get out of here, 17!" Piccolo shouted at the android yet again. Yet he did not run as Cell came up to him.
Cell threw his fist back and then over at Piccolo, and then punched him with no mercy across the jaw. Val felt herself freeze up, watching in unblinking horror as his head hung too low, his neck was at an odd angle. Cell caught him before he could fall, saying, "It looks like I got too strong! I got caught up in t all the fun and killed more people than I had too. Goodbye, Father." He then blasted him through his stomach before tossing him away towards the shore line.
Val dropped to her knees and slammed the staff in hand to the ground, wailing. Her fingers hurt when she did that, but she hardly noticed it. She could hear and sense both Gohan and Goku own shocked reactions, but paid them no heed. She felt a sharp tugging at her chest, grunting and refusing to let go of whatever it was pulling deep within her. Her hands burned unpleasantly, but she thrust one palm over her chest, shoving the hydrangea necklace out of the way in the process. She gripped the staff tightly in her other hand, shoving as much heat at she could into both it and her chest. She arched her back forward and down, repeating over and over again, "stay alive somehow." The tightness pulled again at her, but the tension held steady, no longer fighting against her to be released, whatever it was. She looked down at the staff and then to the edge of the Lookout. "I must stay..." she repeated over and over to herself, reminding herself that keeping the guardianship in tact was one of Kami's goals before he died. If he... if he... at least the guardianship would remain in tact.
She cringed, reaching for the staff instead of running for the edge. She looked back down at the island at the fight ready to ensue once more.
"You're not going to get me that easily!" #17 declared.
"It looks like I should run away," #18 said in disbelief.
"That's right," #16 said. "Run away on your own."
#18 looked up at him. "And you?" she asked.
"I'm going to destroy Cell," he said simple.
"Huh?" #18 asked in confusion.
"The time for me to fight has come. Before we even meet Goku," he stated.
Val felt herself shudder a bit, feeling a bit weaker and colder as she watched #16 approach Cell, who was busy himself with pummeling #17 and about to absorb him. #16 stepped over to the two of them, tapped Cell on the shoulder, and then upper cut him into the air up and away from #17. #16 mentioned thinking Cell and he were on equal level on strength before he charged Cell, fighting more and more. Cell swung his tail left and right, eventually catching #16 in the neck. #16 caught up his tale with a smirk.
"Damn!" Cell swore, "you're a fully robotic type!"
With a mechanical shout, #16 tore Cell's tail from his body and threw it away. Val shook her head, knowing that would not work, even if the other androids in the area thought #16 succeeded. Val shivered, rubbing her now chilly hand over her upper arm. "Too bad," Cell said triumphantly. "Piccolo's cells are in me, too." Then with a shout, he regrew his tail, stinger and all. Val felt her nose curl in disgust. "I can regenerate at least that much damage."
#16 stated then, "in order to stop you from obtaining your perfect form, I'll have to kill you."
Cell laughed at that. "Impossible."
"I won't know until I try," #16 ruled.
"I already know!" Cell cheered.
#16 charged towards Cell, aiming a kick at him. Val watched, blinking tired as she tried to keep up with their fast movements. #16 detached his hand from his wrist, sending the fist flying at Cell. It hit Cell, knocking him back before it returned back to #16's still attached hand. He reattached it and then surged forward, pounding at Cell with brutal force before he threw him down a hole in the ground made from the fighting earlier. #16 removed both of his hands this time, screaming, "Hell's Flash," before shooting wave after wave after wave of energy blasts down the hole. Val gasped, thinking if he were a fully fledged human, that amount of energy spent that quickly would have surely killed him.
The ground erupted with several blasts of energy that the android released. When he finally stopped blasting, he simply reattached his hands back onto his wrists. He looked over at the androids, eyes honing in on #18. "You're still there? I told you to run away, #18," he called over.
"It's okay, you've been Cell," she called back, sound impressed.
#16 shouted back, "I haven't beaten him! He's hurt, but that wasn't strong enough to kill him!" He looked over at the other android. "#17, take this opportunity to escape!"
"Oh, just do it," Val mumbled to herself, trying to reach for some head now from her hands but finding just a splash of energy remained where before it was a torrent. Nothing worth trying to channel into the staff.
#17 stood up haughtily, declaring, "don't make me laugh! He hurt me! Do you think I'd just run off just because he hurt me a bit? You said he was hurt, right? I want to finish him off myself." He looked up and around the area. "Come on out, Cell!" He called.
Val gasped when she say Cell emerged from the broken ground behind #17, tail out and wide, ready to absorb him.
"#17!" Tien shouted, reminding Val that was still there. "Behind you! It's Cell!"
Val stared in unblinking horror, seeing #17 caught by Cell and absorbed completely. There was a bright flash of light and then Cell emerged, meaner and stronger looking than before.
"Damn it," Val swore, looking back towards the edge of the Lookout. One android still remained... She took three steps, finding her legs feeling weak and shaky before stopping herself. She still had to remain up here.
#16 snatched #18 by her arm, shouting at her to flee. Cell went after them, catching up to them with almost incomprehensible speed.
"I'm sorry, Chiaotzu, Aiko, I think I might get killed," Val heard Tien say. She tiredly shifted her focus over to him, feeling her stomach clench at the sight of the determined look on his face.
Meanwhile, #16 tried to fend off Cell, but now even his strikes were of no avail. Cell blasted him in the side of the head, a move that would have easily killed any living person. Val watched #18 threaten to destroy herself. "Do it," Val willed, hand weakly twisting around the staff.
Cell put on the voice of #17, trying and failing to convince #18 to surrender herself. He ready himself to charge at her.
"Shin ki kou hou!" Val heard someone shout, taking a second to recognize the voice was Tien's. The ki blast struck Cell, sending him down into a newly created crater in the ground. Tien sent wave after wave of ki blasts while the remaining two androids fled.
"That's enough! Stop!" Val heard Goku shout next to her. She could hear her heart pounding in her ears. He could not keep it up any longer, she could not stay up her any longer. She looked up at the clear blue sky above them. "... you'll die!"
Val covered her ears, trying to block Goku's voice out. Both of them could not die... Both of them could not die... A guardian had to remain in the Lookout... Both of them could not die...
Tien kept going, his ki draining lower and lower until it ran out and his life force started to be drained. Val threw down the staff and launched herself up towards the sky. She figured going up would be an easier way to get past the barrier. However, it only took a second for her to get past the height of the buildings, hit what ever barrier remained, and struck down. She landed hard back down next to the staff, groaning. She reached for the staff, barely able to focus on watching Tien collapse exhaustedly to the ground. She gripped it tightly, feeling a small trickle of heat eek into it. "Not both of them," she breathed. She rolled up to a half prone sitting position. She touched her pocket, feeling the three senzu still there.
Goku knelt down in front of her unexpectedly. "Do you still have hold of Piccolo?" he asked too quickly for her comprehend.
She blinked up at him, and then blinked up at him twice when he disappeared. She watched Goku use instant transmission to get him down to the island now, stopping Cell from killing Tien. Her eyes felt strained as she watched, ear struggling to understand the worlds they said. Goku looked around, sensing for someone. "Val...?" he said her name. "I sense... wait... It's Piccolo's spirit. So he is still alive!" he cheered.
"Alive?" Val breathed, hardly hearing the word she said. She pressed one hand to her chest, not believing the words he said, too scared to believe them.
"Here he is," Goku said, instant transmitting with Tien at hand to the water's edge. Val watched on bated breath, seeing him grabbed Piccolo, tossing him carefully onto his back before instant transmitting back over to Tien. He snagged him up as well and instant transmitted them away with him before Cell could get to them.
"Where'd they go?" Gohan asked. Before Val could answer, she saw Goku appear next to her, laying both Piccolo and Tien down on either side of her. She found herself panting, shocked to see how beat up and near death both of them looked. "I wish Dende was here," Gohan said. "He could have healed them."
"Stay here," Goku said in a rush. "I'll see if Korin has any spare senzu beans down below."
"Wait," Val said, setting the staff down and digging into her pocket in a rush. She pulled out the bag, yanking two beans from. "Yajirobe brought these to me earlier," she explained as she moved.
"Toss me one," he said kneeling down across from her. "Give him yours."
She tossed him one, holding the other in her palm. Time seemed to slow to stand still for half a heart beat. Val looked between her, debating which man to give the senzu bean in her hand to. A quick flick of her eyes left and right and then she decided. In rush she went to one man, while Goku went to the other. He looked so weak, so broken, so near death that she felt her heart wrench at the sight of it. "Come on," she bid, gently but quickly prying his jaw open wide enough to slip the senzu bean into his mouth. She lay her other hand on his partially bare shoulder. Gingerly, she coaxed it down his throat to get him to swallow it. She gripped his tattered shirt tightly, digging her fingernails in the fabric.
When he suddenly sucked down a big, gulping breath and opened his eye wide, she gasped. She felt her own breath rattling in her throat in relief. When he went to sit up, she yanked him up, hand coming to his jaw. She brought her mouth to his so hard, she felt her teeth click against his. She felt her whole body shake as she leaned into the relief that he was well and alive and right next to her. Time stood still again as she kissed him for what felt like the first time in a long time.