Chapter 2: The Jinsoningen Kei-juu

Goten caught up with Trunks about half way to there, "Trunks?! What’s going on?"

"Nothing too strong, as far as the sensors read. There’s about… sixteen of them... they forced their way through one of the transports," Trunks looked slightly confused, "I don’t know what they’re aiming at with those numbers."

"I don’t care. I just want to get this over as soon as I can," Goten skidded to a halt.

"In here?"

"Yeah, at least three of them…" Goten glanced at Trunks, "I think we can take them."

"Hell we can!" Trunks kicked the door in.

The room seemed empty enough… at least now it did. Several chairs had been over turned, and some of the lights were flickering, but apart from that… empty.

Goten began to power up, despite what his eyes told him, he could feel them. Cloaked perhaps, but there was something here. He motioned to Trunks to move out of the way, then blasted the room. As the room clouded over, Goten and Trunks felt several shapes whir past them and into the corridor beyond.

"Yeah, that was clever," Trunks yelled sarcastically in Goten’s direction as the two raced after them.

"Hey, they wouldn’t have come out otherwise," Goten protested, "…anyway, where the jigoku are Otousan and the rest of the group?"

"I think they went after the other three… haven’t felt any raised Ki’s yet…"

They both paused, reaching a T-junction in the corridors.

"I guess we split up?"

"We don’t have much choice."

The Saiyajins went their opposite ways. It wasn’t until Goten figured out where he was till he realised in which direction he going. Shimata, they’re after the android!

Goten rounded the corner, bursting into the labratory. Now he could see them… all twelve of them. He cursed again, readying himself for battle. It seemed he was in time, the androids hadn’t hadn’t even touched the computers.

Advancing slowly, the group of androids surrounded him. He could feel their strength all around him… He knew he could beat them one by one, but not as a group. The other’s had probably already felt his Ki raising, but for he knew they could be minutes away. This would probably be over in seconds. Goten powered up to level two, knowing it was too risky to attempt level three underground. If they had an earthquake down here… not good to think about.

Goten disappeared into lightspeed combat, trying to move outside the circle so that he’d be fighting less of them at once. They circled in on him, not allowing any space for Goten to counter attack. One smashed him into the wall, Hell, Trunks is gonna kill me for breaking his lab, he thought off-handedly, pausing to wipe blood from his mouth before lashing out in another resultless attempt.

Dammit, there’s no room in here!  Goten backed away, only to be kicked in the square of the back by the android behind him. He powered up suddenly, blasting the attackers away for long enough for Goten to regain his footing. The group surrounded him once again, uneffected. In unison, the androids flicked blades out of their arms, all slicing at him at once. Goten tried to duck, receiving a deep slash along his right shoulder. He drew back in pain, then fell to the floor as another stabbed him in the side, below his ribs.

The androids moved away, believeing he was incapable of moving. Goten coughed up blood, grasping the wound that poured his blood onto the once sterile, tiled floor. He coughed once again, trying to stand up, then smirked.

"Think… think that’s all I…I’ve got?" he managed to get out. They’re probably right…He could feel himself weakening from loss of blood.

One android slowly flicked out a blood-stained knife and advanced towards him, ready to place the final blow.

Goten swore, forcing himself to his feet. There was no way he could fight, or run for that matter, the way he was. He turned to look over his shoulder at the un-damaged computer behind him… I guess I’ll have to risk it…

Using the last of his strength, Goten shot away from the androids, slapping the large red button that Trunks had told him so many times not to press…

Dark blue eyes turned on, a fist shattered the screen… the android turned to stand in front of Goten.

"What do you wish of me, Son Goten?" It said, plainly.

"Destroy them…" Goten said weakly, "They’re… our enemies…"

To Goten’s surprise, the other androids didn’t even fight back. Perhaps they realised it was pointless.

The android turned back to Goten again, "There are others."

"Please protect Misaki…the baby…and my ….friends…" Goten slumped forwards, collapsing from loss of blood.

The android paused for a few seconds, then pulled the semi-conscious Goten to his feet, taking him with it.

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Misaki sat down on the bed, hoping that Goten would be back soon. These attacks were becoming routine, but that didn’t stop her worrying. She considered trying to contact him, but the chances were he was in battle, and there was nothing more distracting than words cutting through your mind while you were concentrating.

She waited for a while, becoming more and more anxious. She could almost hear the noise from distant battles, soft vibrations in the floor. Instintively, she rose to her feet, backing up against the wall. For an instant the door shuddered, a thin crack running along the middle until it burst into dust.

Goten!? Her mind screamed. Goten where the hell are you?

She looked around in desperation for some escape route. The only door was blocked… she knew only too well that there was no where she could run or any way she could fight with the way she was now. Not that she could do any good even if she wasn’t heavily pregnant. And if Goten wasn’t here, then he was probably already… Misaki stopped herself. She couldn’t feel his presence… she knew what that meant.

She shook her head, No! No way! After all we’ve worked for?! Goten where the hell are you!

The front wall of the room disintigrated. Misaki could see them all clearly now, eight, lined along the opening to the corridor. The lights in the corridor flickered, giving the androids an eerie look. The one in the centre raised an arm.

One blast, that’s all it’s going to take… Will it hurt? …guess not, but this time, there’s no coming back… Misaki closed her eyes, ready to accept her fate. Her eyelids burned red as the bright light shot towards her. She cringed, waiting for it to hit. Goten, I’ll see you in heaven…

Hesitantly, she opened her eyes. The android… the one she had last seen encased and deactivated… the one that had more than halved the Earth’s population… the one that had killed her the first time… stood over her, holding her bleeding and unconscious husband over one shoulder.

Misaki screamed.

…Goten?

The android placed Goten down next to her, then stood to face its opponents, "Heal Son Goten," it said over one shoulder, before disappearing into battle.

Unable to concentrate, Misaki saw little of the fight. The battered bodies of the attacking androids littered the floor of the room before Misaki could blink. The android appeared in front of her once again. It waited, silently.

Misaki crawled over to Goten, placing her hands over his chest. The room glowed for a few seconds, before returning to the dimly-lit shade it had been before. She slumped onto the floor, breathing heavily. Healing took a lot out of you.

Goten’s eyes blinked open. He sat up rubbing his forehead and trying to remember the events of a few moments ago. One look at the android brought his memory back very quickly. Without speaking, he stood up, helping Misaki to her feet also.

"Goten… what’s going on?" Misaki asked, thankful for the protection her husband offered.

"It’s okay, Misaki, he’s on our side."

"I figured… considering that we’re still alive…"

Goten turned to look at the android, "Do you have a name?"

The android appeareared to consider this, "K10."

"Kei-juu, then," Goten smiled, the android didn’t return it, "Is that all of them?"

"Yes."

"Are the others okay?" Goten looked around.

"They did not come into contact with the androids."

"I see." Goten felt incredibly uncomfortable and sat down on the remains of their bed.

Sighing with a mixture of relief and annoyance, Misaki sat down next to him, "We’re going to need a new room…"

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Goten

Two months passed, much faster than I thought they would. Nothing much really changed… Knocked off a few more attackers, trained almost continuously with Tou-san and Vegeta-san. The baby’s due soon.

Kei-juu patrolled continously… I’ve never really spoken to him… I get the feeling he wants to redeem himself of something. We still don’t know what exactly he is. I think he’s somewhere in the middle of machine and human… I don’t know. Trunks said he was just a machine… but I’m not so sure.

I guess that’s something we’ll never know. He definately has helped.

Chapter 3: Kisora