Vegeta landed on the ground, Val watching him stroll over to Goku's panting, prone form. He had to be so weak, from both the virus and having his energy drained by #19. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Piccolo was up and fine as well, having healed easily from the wound from the old man. Vegeta kicked Goku over to Piccolo, who caught him. "Some one take him home and give him his medicine," Vegeta instructed.
Val and others landed alongside Gohan and Piccolo. "Goku," Yamcha called out.
"Father!" Gohan shouted worriedly.
"I'll take him," Krillin offered.
"No I'll take him," Yamcha offered, hoisting him up over his shoulder. "I'm sorry, but it doesn't look like I'll be doing anything here."
Val stepped up closer to him, explaining, "he should take the medicine from the future, not the medicine Daiki and I made. It's had more time to be perfected."
Piccolo, next her, added, "The disease also can be contagious, so you better take some medicine yourself."
Val glanced back up Piccolo and nodded. Turning back to Yamcha, she explained, "in that case, use the medicine I gave you."
Yamcha hummed to himself. "Thanks," he mumbled.
"Thanks, Yamcha," Krillin bid.
"Do your best guys," Yamcha said as he took off.
"Get better, Goku," Krillin bid after them.
Val sensed movement in her field of vision. #19 had eyes on Yamcha, which made her ears draw back. The old man called after him, "#19, you don't have to chase them! We should save the best for last. First, let's take care of these noisy flies. If Vegeta joins them, this might prove interesting."
"Wha... maybe we should retreat for a while," Krillin suggested. "That guy from the future said that without Goku we would all killed by the cyborgs, including Vegeta. The conditions were different but now they're the same!"
Gohan shook his head, saying, "but if we run away, they'll mess up another city!"
"That's why we have to wait for Goku to get better," Krillin considered. "How long might the disease take before Goku defeats it or...?" he asked Val.
She hummed, saying, "recovery, it depends. Mine took five days with medicine and hydrangea tea. But I saw people in the Southern Capital who took up to fourteen days to recover."
"Two weeks is a long time..." he groaned back.
"It's not certain that we will be destroyed like he said," Piccolo considered. "There were changes. There was a big change when Goku got ill. Probably because that future guy came, history has changed."
Val ran a hand along the crack on her bracelet, thinking over his words. "He caught still, but must have caught it later than expected," she inferred. She then remembered the daughter from the fever dream. She griped her bracelet tightly, willing everyone to stay alive today.
#19 bowed to the old man. He requested, "#20, please allow me to destroy Vegeta."
The old man grunted, "you jerk. You already took a huge amount of Goku's energy and added it to your own. But alright. In return I get to take the energy of the remaining five."
#19 turned and face Vegeta. Vegeta looked amused, commenting, "from what little I've seen of your actions I know your not as strong as I've heard. You absorb energy through your palms. That's the only thing I have to be careful of." Val smirked, watching him move about in the similar set of armor she was wearing, a set that she and Bulma had designed together.
#19 replied, "it appears you've been watching us for quite a while, but you forget something important. We've already analyzed your fighting technique."
Vegeta grinned cockily, "you looked surprised when Kakarot turned Super Saiyan though. That means you don't have any data between the time we fought Frieza and now. You can't understand us Saiyans through mere calculations. There's something I want to know, can cyborgs feel fear, too?"
Val felt a thrill cut through her, watching Vegeta power up beyond anything she had ever seen before. When he went Super Saiyan, the thrill at the sight of it lead her to cheer aloud, "yes!" She watched, mind reeling, thinking perhaps in the other time line, the one where she was certain the heart virus also killed her, he had reached Super Saiyan. Perhaps in this time line, since he did, he would be the one who would stop the andriods.
The others around her were more shocked than excited like she was at the sight. "He changed into a Super Saiyan?!" Gohan gasped.
"That's impossible! He can't change into a Super Saiyan! You have to be pure of heart!" Krill pointed out.
Vegeta pointed out, "but my heart is calm and pure. Pure evil. the only thing I wanted was to become strong. So I trained hard and realized my limits. When I got angry at myself, I awoke my ability to a Super Saiyan." Val listened, finding she could not help herself beaming and smiling at his words. "I rejoiced! My time to surpass Kakarot and retake my position as Prince of the Saiyans had come!"
The old man scoffed, "that's enough talk. Even though you've changed, you still can't stand up against us cyborgs. You'll wind up just like Goku."
#19 laughed and then loosed a battle cry. He launched himself at Vegeta, striking him hard in the face and neck. Val winced at the sight of Vegeta staggering back. A drop of blood trickled from his mouth.
He chuckled, straightening up and wiping it away. "I thought that was about as well as you could do," he commented. "I should warn you that when I become Super Saiyan I become more violent. And a little excited. You don't feel pain, do you? Lucky you."
Then he launched himself at #19, punting him squarely in the chest followed by an aggressive jab to the neck. He kicked him away, causing him to skid and tumble away. Val felt a ghost of smile dance on her lips as she watch him walk over to the android on the ground. She cast a quick glance at the old man, who was wide eyed in shock. Her smile broadened at that, a thrill building in her chest to see it.
Vegeta reached #19, asking, "what's wrong? Have I upset your garbage puppet plans?"
#19 jumped up and launched himself at Vegeta. Vegeta dodged him and then kicked him into the air. He flipped himself up and launched himself at the android. #19 tried to grabbed him, but he was too slow, far too slow. Vegeta punched him in the face, causing some somewhat viscous fluid to leak from his mouth and nose. Vegeta asked, "you're made well. Is that blood or is it oil?"
#19 shot lasers out of his eyes at Vegeta, far too slow, far too readable a move. Vegeta flipped behind him, striking him hard across the back, and sending him crashing into the ground far too close to Val and the others. Val inadvertently raised her hand up to block her eyes from the dust it kicked up. The wind it created drove her back a few steps.
Yet when she saw Vegeta land in the crater with #19, she found herself inching forward a few more steps to see what was happening properly. She felt a hand grab at her shoulder, but she brushed it off without bothering to look back to see it was Tien next to her. Vegeta stepped up #19, looking down at him patiently. #19 launched himself back up to his feet and seized Vegeta by the wrists. Val clicked her teeth in annoyance at the sight.
#19 laughed maniacally, cheering, "now I've grabbed you! You can't win! I'll never let go!" He had him and was likely draining his energy from him. Val could sense Vegeta's energy getting drained.
"Never?" Vegeta preempted, bringing his feet up to the android's chest and then face, saying, "don't let go." Then he shoved his legs, trying straighten them. He grunted, "I see... not only do you take the energy, you also add it to your own."
"I won't let go!" #19 said, laughing at him.
Vegeta laughed right back, and then shoved himself away from the android, taking both of #19's hands and wrists with him. He launched himself back, landing on his feet while #19 stared down at the mechanical stumps at the remaining ends of his arms. Vegeta removed the mechanical hands, studying one of them. He looked at the circle in the palm of the hand. "So this is the part of your palm you use to steal energy." He threw both of the hands down, powering up. "You've taken a lot of my energy, but now you can't steal anymore. Can you feel pain even though you're a puppet?" he asked, powering up and advancing towards #19.
Cowardly, #19 drew back and scrambled up and over the top of the crater. He ran away as fast as his handless form could carry him. Vegeta flew up into the air, taking aim at the fleeing android.
"Damn you!" the old man shouted up in rage at Vegeta.
Vegeta turned back to look at him. "Don't be so impatient! I'll fight you after I've finished with the other one!" He turned and powered up, taking aim the runner. Val felt herself tremble from sensing it excitedly. "Take this! This is the Super Vegeta Big Bang Attack!" he shouted, blasts hitting the android dead on in a sight of dust and debry.
Val saw nothing remained but the smoking head of the android rolling to a stop on the ground. She felt herself breath deeply, vindictively enjoying the sight of it. She took a hesitant step towards it, kind of wanting to go over and give it a swift kick.
"Going to go steal it and use it some new research project?" Vegeta called down to her, throwing her a cocky smirk.
She returned him a smirk for smirk, followed by a side long glance at the old man. "I would prefer a complete model," she answered, starting to wonder at what she actually might learn if she did studied one of the androids. Machines had a complexity to them that differed from viruses.
The old man was not amused. He furrowed his brow, snidely saying, "our calculations were wrong, but you still have no chance of winning!"
Vegeta landed on the ground, powering down from Super Saiyan form. Val could sense he was a bit weaker than he playing at. "A lot of my energy has been sucked out. This is your only chance to beat me. Attack," he challenged the old man directly. The old man stared him down, noticeably irritated. "You boasted earlier that I have no chance winning. I don't think that's true. But what do you mean?"
The old man sourly said, "no matter how much stronger you've become, it won't be enough to defeat the cyborgs."
Vegeta grunted, "hmph. That's just sour grapes."
The old man scowled at him, but then turned tail and fled in flight.
Vegeta shouted over to the group of them, "hey! Give me a senzu seed!"
"But..." Krillin started, grabbing at his chest protectively. Seconds, precious seconds, ticked by.
"Hurry! Do you want me to let him get away!" Vegeta shouted at him. Val felt her hands itch to snatch the bag from him.
"Do it," Piccolo advised.
"Alright," Krillin grumbled, pulling the bag out of his shirt, but slowly, too slowly. Val reached over and snatching the bag from him, and tossing a senzu bean over to Vegeta. "Hey, I was going to actually do it," he grumbled.
"Idiot," Vegeta swore.
"You're delaying wasted time," she pointed out to him. She shoved the bag back at Krillin at his chest. He took the bag and pocketed it. "It's a bean, not a seed," she corrected Vegeta.
He clicked his teeth at her. "I'm ready!" he said, powering back up into Super Saiyan form. "Go home and drink your milk. Stay out of my way," he told the lot of them. He took off flying after the old man.
"Damn him! Why should I drink milk," Krillin complained.
"Don't go alone," she thought out loud, echoing Piccolo's warning to her earlier in the morning.
Piccolo observed, "he lost a lot of energy when he let that cyborg grab him. If he fought #20 just now, he would have lost. But he was acting like he still had something."
Val looked up in the air, watching where he flew. "Vegeta really is a fighting genius," she declared proudly. She felt her hands itch to follow on after him, especially since she did worried just slightly about him being alone.
Piccolo hummed, musing, "he may be stronger now than Goku."
Val felt a smile dance over her lips at the thought, to desirable to suppress. Oddly enough, she felt a strange and sudden flash of jealousy that faded just as quickly as it arose. "I'm going after them," she decided, although unsure how she could help in any way. She did think about the research temptation Vegeta had dangled in front of her earlier. Something not for right now, as genetic research would be the new thing to look into. Yet later, perhaps. The memory of the stocky child slamming into her flashed in her mind's eye.
"Anyway, I'll go, too" Tien said, voicing his own jealousy. Hearing his voice made her blink, pulling herself out of the rabbit hole of her thoughts. "I want to make sure the cyborgs are all dead."
"I'll go, too," Krillin said, more nervous than anything else.
"And me," Gohan said. "I didn't train so hard for nothing."
Piccolo grunted, warning them, "understood. Just stay out of the fight. He's not the kind of opponent you can fight. He's hidden in the hills. Since he's a cyborg, we can't find him by his ki. If you find him, let me or Vegeta know. Be careful out there."
Val nodded, trying to close off her feelings as she took off and flew with the others after the old man and Vegeta.