People taking solace in the God's Temple crowded outside and pointed at the Capsule Corps Star as it centered in for what seemed like would be another sky-piercing beam trying to crack through the mystical protections of the God's Temple. The massive cybernetic structure rumbled and sent a wave of gasps amongst the crowd while Kami Upa eased people out of his way, stepping out into the vanguard to prepare for doing what he had to protect his people.
The Star rumbled again. Then went completely silent. Before long, Kami Upa's eyes fixed on a lone dot high up that took no time at all to close in within visible distance. A woman in a qipao-style dress and another one wearing an orange turtleneck and a lab coat dived through the mystical barrier. A flying toddler with lavender-colored hair soared beside the two women while the two descended onto the tower and their feet pressed against the ground.
Bulma stumbled over and began panting. A droplet of sweat ran down her forehead and trickled down onto the magically enchanted white tiles. Having spent her moment of self-reflection of how close she could have been to dying yet again, Bulma stood on her feet and turned her eyes up at the sky-bound Capsule Corps Star that had become her death trap after Dr. Puri had hacked it.
"Well… It's clear that whoever made that piece of junk has left a bunch of security flaws in it. I guess a bunch of upgrades are in order before I work on it again," Bulma sighed. "Should've known better than to trust a machine that wasn't entirely put together and programmed by me."
The crowd began rustling in unease. Bulma rushed off to do damage control so that the reputation of her company didn't crack through the ground, dragging Bulma and her family down under alongside it. Little Trunks stretched his arms and legs. He must've still been too young to comprehend death all that well, so it didn't look like he was too bothered or traumatized by being trapped in a massive artificial planetoid that could've crashed or self-destructed at any time.
"Hmm? Hey, it's Tenshinhan!" Chi-Chi turned to the east and pointed at a couple of faraway dots on the horizon where she sensed familiar Ki.
"His Ki is still considerable. He must not have had much trouble disposing of his Artificial Human," Kami Upa observed before a trio of figures closed in to the tower in a blink. While Tenshinhan stopped in mid-air and plunged right down to the base of God's Temple, the other guest stopped in place and bellowed in pain as violet electricity began popping and snapping all around him.
"Damn!" Tenshinhan cursed, sliding across the floor and taking a dive off of the God's Temple to catch Dr. Flappe in mid-air before he swooped back up and placed the scientist back on the solid ground. "Super Artificial Human No. 8, back up a bit. The God's Tower has mystical protections that were amplified recently. They won't let any artificial being or vehicle through."
"Oh… I see…" Super Artificial Human No. 8 backed up. The brute struggled and winced in pain while having to move around.
"That's Eighter!?" Chi-Chi exclaimed in surprise. "What happened to him? Did Puri get her man-stealing hands on him?"
"Not quite. I've encountered some problems dealing with Artificial Human No. One-Six. It was fortunate that Dr. Flappe and Artificial Human No. 8 weren't too far away and hurried to my aid. Artificial Human No. 8 used the ability of Artificial Humans to absorb and assimilate pieces of other destroyed models to power up and became Super Artificial Human No. 8, the model you see here," Tenshinhan broke it down without going into too much detail.
"Amazing… Bone fide magical force field, or so it would seem at first glance…" Dr. Flappe stroked his chin while observing the field of static energy that became more intense and easily capable of hurting and restricting even a Super Android.
"It is magical!" Mr. Popo insisted after creeping up from Dr. Flappe's back. "Magic supersedes all matters of physical strength. It doesn't take that powerful of an incantation to restrict even incredible monsters like the Artificial Humans."
"You'll have to forgive this old man of science for not taking you up on your word… Mister?" Dr. Flappe turned around, looking mighty confused about the appearance of his conversant.
"Popo. Mr. Popo is Mr. Popo," Mr. Popo replied. "Mr. Popo is a magical entity as well."
"Unbelievable. To find out at my age that there is a whole unexplored world out there, let alone the universe beyond just the world I've lived my entire life trying to understand. It truly makes your hands just flop down, doesn't it?" Dr. Flappe wiped the sweat off of his forehead.
"Wait a second, you're Dr. Flappe, aren't you?" Bulma approached the curly-haired man. "The word amongst the scientific community was that you joined up with the Red Ribbons alongside Dr. Gero after the war. Don't tell me, you've been working alongside Dr. Puri too!"
"He has," Tenshinhan intercepted. "But he's abandoned Dr. Puri, and he assisted me in subduing Artificial Human No. One-Six. He gave me a heap of useful information, and he doesn't seem like he's holding anything back about his past work and motivations."
"Is that so?" Bulma placed her hands on her hips. "It's awfully shady of you to betray Dr. Puri now that her empire's crumbling down. Things aren't looking your way, so you've jumped ship, is that it?"
"Not quite," Dr. Flappe shook his head. "It's just that, while I approved of Dr. Puri's motivations, in time, her methods became too much even for my bitter heart to bear. Not to mention, she's created a horrific monster that was a threat to everything we know and hold dear, but she seems to have destroyed it herself in a flash of self-awareness."
"Huh? What are you talking about? Did she make some really horrific Artificial Human or something?" Bulma wondered, moving past her suspicions and anger with the old scientist.
"Forget about it, as I've said, Dr. Puri destroyed the creature and the lab she hosted it in. Tenshinhan knows the details so he can explain them to you. Forgive me, Bulma-san, but this journey has been overwhelming to me. I'm not one of you martial artists, so I can't just whizz about at incredible speeds without needing some rest afterward. Even if Super Artificial Human No. 8 was the one doing all the flying…" the old scientist excused himself and joined the civilian encampment, looking for a place to rest and replenish his strength.
"Incredible…" Kami Upa blinked a few times while standing at the edge of God's Temple. "They did it… They've won! Dr. Puri is fleeing the planet!"
"So we have won then…" Tenshinhan closed his eyes and sighed in relief. "Did anyone die?"
"Not from the looks of it. Muten Roshi has returned to Kame Island already. I can just barely sense Yamcha's energy, but he is quite far away. Everyone else appears to be okay," Kami Upa reported what he could sense with his Foresight ability that permitted him to survey the lay of his land. "What a horrific battle. The planet is decimated and on the verge of its end. Even the slightest quake could send it out of control and utterly destroy it."
"We should be able to use the Dragon Balls to restore it, correct?" Tenshinhan looked at Mr. Popo and Kami Upa.
"We could. Though it would be a waste of their power. Mr. Popo and I can terraform the planet using magic. It will take us a few weeks to repair the damage to this extent and we cannot repair manmade buildings and all of your cities but… I think it might be wise not to waste a wish on the Dragon Balls and instead ask the Divine Dragon to restore all the converted people back," Kami Upa replied. "Since we have two wishes, we can also wish all the people that refused conversion and were killed or died during all the fighting back to life."
"Here's an idea, how 'bout ya lower dat magical barrier thingie now dat we won!?" Yajirobe cursed and thrashed from a respectable distance of the temple sitting behind the wheel of a jet. It appeared to be a banged-up model of one of Dr. Puri's fighting drones. If someone was crazy enough to rip bits and pieces of the enemy out and then try riding it like some wild animal, it was Yajirobe. "I've collected the Dragon Balls for ye, like ye've all planned."
"Really? That's incredibly useful!" Chi-Chi pointed out. "I was wondering why you didn't fight the Artificial Humans alongside us."
"We should help the people settle back in their homes before we summon the Divine Dragon. They've already been through far too much to deal with magical dragons and wish-granting magic right now," Bulma suggested.
"Hey!" a familiar voice reached the people on the God's Temple while Kami Upa reworked his magical barrier to be less strict to the technology it let through. While the barrier they used right now could prevent any Artificial Humans from entering, it also didn't let Kami Upa manually allow those he wanted to let through to enter. This posed many problems and was all around impractical given how many of the Dragon Team's allies used common machinery to get around the world.
"Well, it appears everyone is back," Tenshinhan closed his eyes with a content look on his face. This was a time for a celebration.
"I see… So that's what happened. I can't say I'm too excited about Dr. Puri still being a threat that could pop up in the future, but that seems to be the way we handle everything. We let the demons go and they haven't threatened us since…" Bulma sighed, rubbing her tired eyes.
"Yeah, I'm surprised Yamcha still hasn't come back…" Krillin looked around. "He was one of the first to reach his destination and get to the fighting."
"Where's Trunks?" Chayote approached Bulma and Krillin from behind while everyone had been reconnecting and talking to one another. "I can't find him anywhere. Yet he was one of the first to leave the temple and there's no way any Artificial Human could've beaten him."
"I'm right here…" young Trunks raised his hand after pulling on Chayote's tattered trousers. "Why are you looking for me, missy?"
"She's not looking for you, Trunks, she's looking for the other Trunks. Now that you mention it, I haven't seen him anywhere. That is odd…" Bulma stroked her chin as suspicion once again shrouded her expression.
"Humph… He must've chickened out back to his own time," Vegeta said while pressing his back to the wall of the palace on the northern side of the God's Temple. "The thought of having a Legendary Super Saiyan for a wife and raising a child must've terrified him. It's tough to blame him, but I'll raise my son to be better than that and to fear no foe."
"Excuse me?" Bulma pressed her knuckles to her sides. "There's no way I'm letting you anywhere near Trunks except during training time and only if he likes it!"
"This is ridiculous, the boy is the prince of all Saiyans! You've completely ruined that child! He's almost four years old, and he has seen no combat!" Vegeta got all up in Bulma's face though Chayote didn't feel like listening to any of their quarreling. Maybe it'd have been entertaining once, but she had a bad feeling about this.
"Upa…" Chayote called out to Kami Upa, but he was assisting the civilians and helping Dende with healing the injured Saiyans warriors that have returned from the battlefield as well. The people were hustling and helping prepare the spaceships that'll scatter the surviving civilians in the ruined cities once Mr. Popo does a bit of elementary terraforming and the planet stops spewing showers of magma all over the place. There was still so much work left before the planet knew peace like before the entire Android affair.
"Piccolo…" Chayote approached the Ultimate Namekian, who was doing nothing in particular but sulking by himself. "Sorry to bother you but… Could you use your Foresight to check up on Trunks? I'm worried about him. He's not back yet, and he's got to be a match for you in terms of power, there's no way some Artificial Human could've stopped him."
"You're right, that is odd. I don't think he'd have dodged you and his own son like that unless there was a good reason," Piccolo nodded.
"Yeah, there's no way he could've returned to his time. He told me that the time machine couldn't travel between specific timelines, that each time you use it, it splits the timeline and brings you to a mirror split timeline so he can return to a mirror version of his future, but it won't be that exact same future. I don't think he'd have abandoned me and Navy just to go save some future that isn't even his. Not to mention…" Chayote clasped the stone-blue chip in her hands. "He still hasn't gotten the control chip that he needs to save his future yet."
"Don't worry, if your boyfriend is still on Earth, we'll find him," Piccolo pressed his hand to Chayote's shoulder and approached the edge of the God's Temple. He looked around a few times. Each time he chose a direction to scan, he stood there staring at a blank point in space for a few seconds before scanning at another angle. "I can't find him…" Piccolo closed his eyes and admitted after turning back to Chayote.
"Wait… What? What do you mean you can't find him!?" Chayote clenched her fist. Terror twinged in her chest at first, but then she realized she clenched the other hand to the one that held the control module she could've easily smashed to dust in her wrath. "He has to be here, he has to be on Earth somewhere!"
"It's true that it makes little sense for him to leave Earth, but… If he was here, I should be able to find him. My abilities are every bit as powerful as Kami Upa's, if not more so," Piccolo pointed out. "I'm sorry, Chayote. I know you and Trunks are close, I'm sure he'll find you when he's able to…"
Before Piccolo and Chayote could finish talking to each other, a loud howl made them turn around while powerful gusts sent by an active jet reactor blazing from the sides of its wings ruffled the tattered clothes of the pair. A handful of carrier jets descended on the God's Temple now that they could take off and land here, with Kami Upa's permission. Geared up Chayote Security suits flooded from the airships, with a few of them carrying Yamcha on stretchers.
"Hey, look, everyone, it's Mark Satan!" someone yelled out from amongst the crowd. "He's the hero that fought the Androids to save us!"
"What are we, chopped liver?" Piccolo squinted his eyes with a grumpy look.
"Forget it, Mark Satan was on most of the rescue missions, alongside Trunks and me. While Trunks and I held the machines off, that guy swooped in and out of the battlefields, managing the Chayote Security forces to pull people out. They saw him bossing suits around and figured out that he's in charge. They must associate his face with being the hero that rescued all of them now," Chayote shook her head.
"You okay with renaming your company to Satan Security over this?" Piccolo jested with a subtle turn of the corner of his lips up and rearing some teeth at the edge of his lips.
"Honestly, as long as it helps keep the company afloat, I don't much care. I wouldn't mind him taking up all the administration duties too. May help me drop smoking…" Chayote ran her hand over her messy hair. "Goddamn it, Trunks… I'm going to pummel you when I see you for making me worry like this. Oh well, better go hand this little do-hickey to Bulma. She's the only one who knows what to do with it now."
"Don't worry, Chayote, Trunks is going to find you," Piccolo called out to the worried woman as she walked off with her hands in her holed pockets and hunched, trying to take up as little space as possible.
"He better…" Chayote sighed to herself. While she walked back, she had to pass through a crowd of cheerful civilians, flinging Mark Satan in the air with the poor dolt thrashing about in mid-air, worried he might fall and break something.
"Hail Satan!" a cheer spread, igniting a series of follow-up cheers.
"Hail Satan!"
"Hail Satan!"
"Hail Satan!"
It was finally time to send the civilians and the Saiyans alike to settle in the decimated the cities and start working on rebuilding bit by bit. The Earth was no longer in a primordial ooze state and no longer a ticking time bomb, with a few weeks of magical restoration efforts having passed. While the new settlers of Planet Earth flew inside dozens of Capsule Corps spaceships, mass-produced by the newly gained and upgraded Capsule Corps Star dirt cheap and in alarming numbers, some stayed behind to correct the cybernetic conversion that people went through and bring back those that lost their lives in the Artificial Human conflict.
Flashes of bright golden light passed through each lucky cyborg as the technology altering their appearance began falling off and exposed patches of newly created flesh and bones for a replacement. Everyone who wanted to abandon their cybernetic alterations saw their previous bodies restored to the way they were while those who have lost their lives to Dr. Puri's cybernetic soldiers, drones, or war machines, or died in all the calamitous fighting to reclaim the Earth stood up in empty wastelands where their cities once stood.
"Shit… That Divine Dragon must have performance issues…" Bardock cursed, staring at the glowing cybernetic patterns still corrupting his body. He appeared in complete control over himself at the time, though the flash of light did little about his modifications.
"Hmm… The process that Puri put you through must've differed from how she converted other people. She probably made you into a bona fide Saiyan-Android hybrid. That means that you no longer have a body to restore, you're neither alive nor dead anymore and yet both at the same time…" Bulma observed while behind the wheel of the ship headed to West City.
"Goddamn it, Puri… Now I won't ever be able to see my Gine again, not even after death…" Bardock sat down and ran his hands through his hair, cradling his grumpy head in his hands while he sulked on a bench in the back.
"Don't worry, Chayote gave me the Mecha-Frieza control module. It's a chip that's a sample of Dr. Puri's breakthrough in Artificial Human conversion technology. It's also a key in reverse-engineering anything she's ever built or done. Maybe a bit of science and magic can still restore your human body and soul? Don't lose hope," Bulma tried cheering the man up.
"Whatever. I'm kind of getting used to never running out of breath. I wouldn't mind you altering some stuff but leave that Infinite Energy thing in. We might end up needing to use it one day, plus, I have to keep up with my brat and my grandson during training somehow," Bardock waved it off, walking off to the back to sulk by himself.
Just because the battle was won, it didn't mean that it had never happened. Some scars from Dr. Puri's vengeful scheme would take years to recover from, some may have been permanent. Planet Earth may not have ever been the same, but at least it was still where it formed and its best aspects managed to be preserved. The little corner of paradise at the edge of Universe 7 persisted and kept on spinning because of the valiant efforts of a bunch of old friends and enemies coming to work together for the better good and people seeking redemption finding it through doing the best they could to save their world.
