Year 758
Silently, in the middle of the night, a small shiny star fell toward the Earth. As it came close enough to the ground, it slowed down and landed smoothly. A tall white reptilian being emerged from the capsule and looked around with his scouter...A smaller, cyborged being followed him out, probably parented with the first one.
K. Cold: " What a ridiculous planet! And to say that you were beaten by some of its inhabitants, my son...ha! I must have underestimated them. Nonetheless, we shall take our revenge on those silly earthlings for what they did to you... "
C. Freezer: " They cannot win this time! "
The great King Cold, along with his son Freezer, had come for revenge. Freezer had been defeated by one of those earthlings and this act would not go unpunished. Fortunately, Freezer?s body was found and he was transformed into a cyborg. The Saiyajin people, who had no choice but to cooperate with the self-proclaimed-strongest warrior-in-the-universe and his son, had told them about the great strength of these earthlings, but since they felt strong enough to defeat the earthlings, they took a ship and came to Earth.
K. Cold: " Now to look for them... "
C. Freezer: " They should be easy to find with our scouters... "
At this moment, a shadowy figure appeared through the nearby forest?s trees. The boy came forward, his face still masked by the darkness, the moonlight only highlighting the contours of his body...
Boy: " We were expecting you. "
K. Cold: " Who are you? Out of my way, bothersome swine! You are so weak my improved scouter cannot even detect you! Now, go away! My son and I have important matters to attend to! "
Boy: " Fu, fu, fu...But we DO have some business with you, mainly...YOUR DEATH! "
K. Cold: " Ha! Ha! To whom do you think you are talking, puny insect? I am the great King Cold, the strongest warrior in the universe! "
C. Freezer: " And I am Freezer, his son. "
K. Cold: " You are far too weak to be a threat. You wish to fight us, but we shall let you live if you reconsider now... "
Boy: " HA! HA! HA! You make me laugh! " Another person, a girl, her face hidden in the shadows as well, came forward out of the forest.
Girl: " Come on, get rid of them already! I don?t have all night! "
Boy: " I didn?t ask you to come along, but I?ll hurry anyway because this chat is starting to get pretty boring. "
K. Cold: " You stand no chance against us. HAAA! " King Cold shot a huge blast at his opponent. And as the dust settled...the boy was still standing there, unbothered.
Boy: " Nice fireworks...NOT! " The boy quickly drew his arm through King Cold?s chest.
K. Cold (surprised): " ... "
C. Freezer: " King Cold! "
Boy: " What a weakling...Let?s get this over with. "
K. Cold: " NOOOOO... "
C. Freezer: " BAKANA! "
Piccolo was the first to reach the location of the blast. It was a clear spot close to a vast forest. There was no one there, only a huge crater as witness of a violent battle. Piccolo examined it to try to find a clue as to what had happened...but there was nothing. The weirdest was that he could not detect a powerful source of ki that could?ve done that. He had recognized King Cold?s ki when the blast was shot. There didn?t seem to be anyone fighting him as there was no other ki signature with Cold?s. Anyway, his ki was no longer on this planet or he was hiding it better than Piccolo could see, which was impossible of course since Piccolo?s senses were never wrong. Unless...
Piccolo thought about all the creatures he had encountered, mainly Boo. He had always thought he could beat anybody if he wanted to, but Boo proved to be too much for him. Maybe the one who killed Cold was a master at hiding his ki...
Of course, it was still possible no one actually was with Cold. Maybe he simply commited suicide. That was doubtful. Impossible, really. Cold was far too proud to just kill himself like that. He had no reason to do so, except the death of his son, but he would have come to Earth to take revenge for that, not to lose his life. What could?ve happened here? This wasn?t very logical...Piccolo felt Gohan?s ki and waited for him to arrive.
Gohan: " Piccolo-san! You felt it too? "
Piccolo: " Un. It was King Cold... "
Gohan: " Hai, but what happened? I didn?t feel any other blast, which means you didn?t kill him... "
Piccolo: " Iie, it was like this when I arrived. No one, and no clue to help us find what happened, except this crater. "
Gohan: " There?s no trail or clue at all? "
Piccolo: " I don?t know what happened, but I get a feeling we?ll soon find out. "
Gohan: " What do you mean? "
Piccolo: " The others are coming. Let?s wait for them. " As they arrived, Piccolo explained what he had seen and thought about.
Piccolo: " Well? Any ideas? "
Goten: " It is possible for us to completely hide our ki from one another. Maybe the one who killed Cold is a master warrior: always able to hide his ki. "
Trunks: " Hiding his ki in the middle of a fight? Get serious... "
Piccolo: " As I said a few moments ago, I bet we?ll discover who?s behind this pretty soon. Cold didn?t commit suicide, that?s obvious. So, someone killed him... "
F.Trunks: " I killed Cold the first time I came to your timeline. At this time, you were all weaker than I, but now, it would be easy for any of us to kill him. He?s incredibly strong, but not compared to us... "
Gohan: " What do you suggest? "
F.Trunks: " I think it?s possible someone stronger than him defeated him, and if that guy?s better than us, he might be able to constantly hide his ki... "
Piccolo: " I don?t think it happened like that, but it seems to be the only logical answer. "
Gohan: " Since there?s nothing we can do right now, I suggest we all go back to bed and meet up tomorrow morning at Capsule Corp. "
All nodded and went their separate ways...
The sun was up. It was around 7 am. Goten woke up slowly, as usual. He remembered he had to go to Capsule Corp. to meet his friends, this morning. Noodle was still sleeping besides him. He carefully got up while avoiding to wake her up and got dressed.
Suddenly, the bedroom door exploded, making Noodle wake up in shock! She shrieked in terror when she saw two strangers coming into the room. A boy and a girl, about 16 or 17 years old. They looked at Goten with an evil smile. Goten was ready to fight, but instead, he asked them the most predictible questions in the book.
Goten: " Who are you? What are you doing here? "
Boy: " We came for you, Goten. I don?t suppose you know us, but we don?t care! Get ready, sis! "
Girl: " No problem! "
At this moment, the boy dashed at Goten with incredible speed and grabbed him from behind, locking out his arms. Goten tried to break free, but, to his own surprise, he couldn?t! This boy was stronger than him! Goten then tried to free himself with his ki by creating a ki barrier around him, but as he concentrated, nothing happened. He suddenly felt drained of all his strength and could no longer oppose any resistance to his aggressor. The girl came forward, holding a small metalic box in front of her. She placed it on Goten?s chest and pushed a small button on the device. The boy let go of Goten?s body, as a purple aura surrounded it for a few seconds. Meanwhile, Noodle was simply terrorised, unable to try to help her love. She helplessly watched as Goten?s body fell to the ground and the two assailants walked away in laughter, bragging about how easy their job was, and then she fainted.
" Mama... "
" Mama! "
Noodle slowly opened her eyes to find her son staring down at her over her bed. Son Goshin had been born four years ago and he was a promissing martial arts student. She sat up to take him in her arms and reassure him and then she saw Gohan examining Goten on the floor. She got down to her boyfriend and when she saw he was just sleeping, she gently stroke his forehead, constantly repeating his name to wake him up. Finally, he opened his eyes, and smiled.
Goten: " Glad...you?re O.K....both of ya! " Noodle kept her eyes on him, relieved.
Trunks: " We felt your ki, Goten, and came to your rescue...only too late it seems. "
Gohan: " Piccolo-san, Trunks-san and Radditz are guarding outside. "
Goten: " I thank you all for your help. "
Gohan: " What happened, Goten? "
Goten: " Two young people, a boy and a girl, came into my room and drained all my power. They were just too strong. I tried to fight them off, but they just kept draining me of all my strength. I thought they wanted to kill me, but all they did was to put a strange box on my chest. I don?t know what it did to me...But I feel fine, now. A little tired, but fine. "
Goten: " Didn?t you hear anything, Goshin? "
Goshin: " Hai. It woke me up. "
Gohan: " ... "
Gohan: " I can?t find their ki anywhere. "
Goten: " They don?t have any. "
Gohan: " What!? "
Goten: " They don?t have any ki! As I was fighting them, I couldn?t feel it. Besides, I didn?t feel them come into the house. "
Gohan: " What did they look like? "
Goten: " Well, they were young, about 18 or so. The boy had long black hair and the girl was a blonde. "
Gohan: " Can?t you be more specific? "
Goten: " It all happened so fast...but maybe the security system got it on tape! "
Noodle: " The alarm didn?t sound, Goten-chan. It?s probable that they were able to shut it off when they came in. "
Goten: " It won?t do any harm to take a look. C?mon! "
A few moments later, they were all standing around a computer terminal, Goten sitting in front of the screen, searching through the files. Noodle had gone to the kitchen with Goshin to make breakfast.
Goten: " The computer says that it does have a few pictures of them! "
Trunks: " Show?em! " The image of the two terrors appeared on the screen.
Goten: " There. It?s them. " Gohan completely froze, as if he had seen a ghost.
Gohan (terrified): " It?s...it?s...impossible! Not again! NOOO! " He made a few steps back, struggling to keep his balance.
Gohan: " Not again. "
He rushed outside to go fetch Future Trunks and Piccolo. As Gohan came back with them and showed them the screen, Piccolo looked shocked, but Trunks truly got enraged and threw his fist at the screen, breaking it to pieces!
Goten: " What?s wrong, Trunks-san? "
F.Trunks (frowning aggressively): " The Cyborgs... "
F.Trunks: " ...again... "
Everyone got together for breakfast at Goten?s house. Gohan, Future Trunks and Piccolo explained what had happened during the Cyborgs incident. Future Trunks was extremely nervous. He had trouble just sitting down to eat. His reaction was understandable, though. He had spent his whole life training to beat the Cyborgs, fighting them and helping in rebuilding the cities. His dream of peace had finally been achived as the Cyborgs had been destroyed, but it seemed now that he would have to face them yet again, the most horrible monsters from his childhood...
F.Trunks: " We have to get rid of them...now! "
Gohan: " Calm down Trunks-san. We got rid of them once and we?re gonna do it again. Don?t worry. "
Goshin (to F.Trunks): " Mister! Your food?s getting cold! "
F.Trunks (annoyed): " Thanks, Goshin, but I don?t feel like eating. I worry ?cause Goku-san died in my timeline and the Cyborgs almost completely destroyed my world! I came back in time to save him from death, but look at what?s happening now: Goku-san is STILL not here! We have to get rid of them quickly before the situation gets out of hand! "
Gohan: " As I said, Trunks-san, calm down. If we work together, we?ll win. "
F.Trunks: " ... "
Gohan: " Let?s try to figure out why they attacked Goten this morning... "
Goshin: " Mama! Why did they attack Papa? "
Noodle: " I don?t know, sweetie. Let?s hear what your father has to say, okay? "
Goten: " They put some kind of energy-draining device on my chest. Maybe they?re in need of energy! " At this moment, something snapped in Piccolo?s mind.
Piccolo: " Goten! Is there a marking, a scratch, a cut, or anything on your chest where the device was put? " Goten took off his shirt and showed the scratch made by the device.
Goshin: " Does it hurt, Papa? "
Goten: " I?ll be fine, Goshin. "
Piccolo: " As I expected... "
Gohan: " What?s wrong. Piccolo-san? "
Piccolo: " This surely was a DNA sampling device. "
Gohan: " Oh yeah? "
Piccolo: " This can only mean one thing... "
Piccolo: " They must be trying to revive Perfect Cell!!!!! "
F.Trunks: " NO! "
Gohan: " Perfect Cell... "
Piccolo: " See, it?s all clear, now! The arrival of Cold and his instantaneous death, the Cyborgs, the DNA extracting device, it all adds up to Cell. "
Gohan: " You?re probably right. "
F.Trunks: " No... "
Piccolo: " It?s the only logical explanation. "
Gohan: " But if they got Cold, and now Goten, it means they?ll... "
Piccolo: " ...be coming after us, now! "
F.Trunks: " We have to stick together! If two of them were able to beat Goten, they?ll probably be able to beat any of us alone. If we?re together, as Gohan suggested, we have a better chance! "
Piccolo: " Remember! It?s #17 that held Goten. He was the strongest of the two. We should try to beat #18 first, as she?ll be the easiest. "
Trunks: " What I don?t understand is that you told us Dr Gero used a robotic fly to gather DNA. Why did the Cyborgs use such a strange device today? Why not the fly? "
Gohan: " I don?t know... "
Piccolo: " It doesn?t matter now! What matters is the Cyborgs! "
F.Trunks: " Right. But we can?t find them. They don?t have any ki! "
Gohan: " That?s the problem... "
Piccolo: " They?re bound to show up anyway. They might want more Saiyajin DNA and they?ll probably wish they had mine as well... "
Goten: " Correct. So, let?s wait for them. "
Gohan: " Wait! What if we?re not strong enough to defeat them. Maybe we should start training immediately! The room of spirit and time IS available... "
F.Trunks: " I recommend against it. "
Gohan: " Why so? "
F.Trunks: " Only two people can enter the room at once. If they do so, the four others might have trouble fighting the Cyborgs with two members of the team missing. "
Gohan: " You?ve got a point there... "
Piccolo: " I disagree. We should do all we can to stop this new threat. Training in the room will help us and, besides, we can use the Dragon Balls to revive the dead... " A hesitant silence fell.
Piccolo: " We never really fought as a team, guys! We always worked best alone! This helped us win in the past and it will help us now! I?ll go in the room whether you want it or not, and I?ll take Radditz with me! "
Radditz: " Piccolo-san?s right! We must be at our best to fight them! "
Gohan: " Oh well...alright. I?ll go next, with whomever will want to come with me. "
Goten: " I?ll come with you, brother. I want to be training with the champion of the last tournament. "
(Note: I did not present this last tournament, the 23rd Tenkaiichi-Budoukai, in which Gohan won against Piccolo in the finals. Piccolo proved that he was able to fight with the best by becoming far stonger than he was before. Only Gohan seems to be able to match him now. In terms of power levels, Goten is third with Trunks close behind. Future Trunks is fifth and Radditz is last and hasn?t reached Su per Saiyajin 1 yet.)
Trunks: " Seems I?ll be training with you, Trunks-san. "
F.Trunks: " I?ll get stronger and destroy all the Cyborgs! "
Goshin (to Goten): " Can I fight too? "
Goten: " Sorry, son. I don?t want you to get hurt. "
Goshin: " But... "
Goten: " I want you to stay here and protect your mother. At all costs! Agreed? "
Goshin: " Hai! "
Goten: " Good. "
As it was decided, Piccolo went away with Radditz to the room of spirit and time, leaving the four others to train together in the open plains. Each warrior carried a few Senzu seeds in case of an emergency. The day went on without any incident, and as the sun slowly disappeared from the sky, the Z senshi planned on getting a good night?s sleep.
Gohan: " Well, let?s go home now. We?ll meet up tomorrow morning. "
F.Trunks: " No, we must stay together for our safety! "
Gohan: " Oh, c?mon Trunks-san! Aren?t you a little paranoid? "
F.Trunks: " No, I?m simply worried! If Perfect Cell is brought back to life, considering the strength of #17 and 18 in this timeline, I suppose we won?t have a chance! "
?????: " He?s right you know! " The Z senshi turned around to look at the one who had spoken these words. They saw four people, two of them being recognizable as #17 and #18.
F.Trunks: " The Cyborgs! "
?????: " Ha! Ha! Ha! How wrong you are! We have been enhanced since the last time you fought us. We are now the Neo Cyborgs, and I?m the commander of this mission, Neo16. "
(Note: Neo16 and Neo19 look different from #16 and #19. More on this later)
Gohan: " How can you know about us? How can you know we fought the Cyborgs before? "
Neo16: " We just know because The Master told us... "
F.Trunks: " Dr Gero? But we killed him! "
Neo16: " Not exactly. You see, Dr Gero made a clone of himself, which allowed him to keep working in secret in his lab to get his revenge on you! And so we?re here... "
Gohan: " Why did you attack Goten this morning? "
Neo16: " An old legend, told to us by Dr Gero, says that we, the Neo Cyborgs, will find a way to revive the mighty Perfect Cell who will come forth to rule the world! We want this legend to come true so that we may rule the world along with our king, Perfect Cell. A perfect being can only be a perfect ruler... "
F.Trunks: " You?re wrong! Cell will betray you! He?ll kill all the warriors of the Earth so that he may then destroy it! "
Neo17: " Enough chit-chat! Let?s see some action! "
Neo16: " Agreed. Perfect Cell must be the perfect leader. He has to be! C?mon, troops. Attack! "
The Neo Cyborgs launched their attack on the Z senshi, one Cyborg targetting one single hero. Neo16 attacked Gohan with a dash punch so fast and hard, Gohan was blown back! 16 went on with a knee drop on the downed Gohan?s chest. Gohan felt his mouth fill up with blood and spat some to the side. He grabbed 16?s leg and threw him away, giving him enough time to get up and transform in Super Saiyajin 2, but 16 knocked him out with a terrible blast shot from his hands...
Goten was attacked by Neo17, the same he had fought in the morning. He dodged 17?s attack and tried to counter, but his attempt fell short since 17 had already anticipated the move. Goten was smacked in the face and was sent flying. He tried coming back, but 17 blocked the hit and kicked back, knocking him to the ground...
Trunks was picked by Neo19. The huge guy attacked with tremendous power, an enormous blast that almost knocked Trunks out! Trunks struggled to get back up, but 19 dashed at him and pounded him with a flurry of attacks so fast that Trunks could only take them...
Future Trunks got ready to fight Neo18 and as she approched, she stopped. Neo18 had a strange look in her eyes as she saw Trunks and said:
Neo18: " Wahoo! He?s sooo handsome! Definitely my type! "
Neo18: " Let?s get out of here boys! Now! "
Neo16: " Why? "
Neo18: " Er...I broke a nail! Let?s go! " And she flew off.
Neo17: (to 16): " What?s with her anyway? "
Neo16: " Don?t ask me. She?s your sister! "
Neo19: " So, what do we do? "
Neo16: " ... "
Neo16: " Let?s follow her and find out what?s wrong with her programming. "
Neo19: " What about the fight? "
Neo16: " It doesn?t matter. Look at them! They?re all down already! "
F.Trunks: " You... " 16 shot a huge energy-dan at him. As Trunks dodged it, 16 threw another that Trunks wasn?t able to avoid, knocking him to the ground, unconscious.
Neo16: " Just as I said! They?re all down! We can come back whenever we wish and finish ?em off. "
Neo19: " What about the other two? "
Neo16: " They?re bound to show up soon. They won?t let their friends die like this. Don?t worry, we?ll have another chance at them. What we must worry about is Neo18?s condition. C?mon, let?s go after her. "
The three Cyborgs then flew off in pursuit of Neo18. The Z senshi had barely survived this powerful attack and to them, the future looked pretty grim...How was it possible for these Cyborgs to be so strong? How did Dr Gero learn about the Z senshi?s alternate timeline? Will Neo18 be brave enough to ask Future Trunks out for a date?
To be continued in chapter 12: Relentless Warriors! Neo Cyborgs!
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