If The Future Holds - Book One: Fire With Fire
By Moonraker One

copyright © 2004 Moonraker One. All rights reserved.
All Dragonball Z characters are trademarks of FUNImation and other respective companies
This book may NOT be altered or sold

CHAPTER THREE

The long tube of a tail pulled itself back into her middle back after the blonde-haired Juuhachigou passed through it. Underneath her skin, the nanites that made up the tail dissolved back to their normal task of regulating the body, only forming the tail when necessary. Inside an organ hastily assembled by Bulma's tiny nanites, the female android violently shook left and right, struggling uselessly against the nanocells that surrounded her. She screamed momentarily before the nanocells entered her body through her mouth, and began assuming control over her functions. On the outside of the android's body, she violently quivered in pain as the nanocells dissolved her flesh as part of the absorption process. She didn't feel much pain, as the entire process finished in less than twelve seconds. On the exterior of Bulma's body, a bright aura surrounded her entire frame the moment the blonde android came into her body, preventing her from seeing for a moment. Her display, however, documented the entire absorption process in steps as, through Dolmar's Formula, Cyran's Formula, and Gero's Formula, Juuhachigou became a permanent part of Bulma's system, adding power as well as a few new additions. When the light finally died down, the scientist noticed her power meter first off, and where it previously had been thirty-eight million or so, it jumped to almost seventy-three million! She could scarcely believe the increase in power. She was about to head back towards Capsule Corp. when a foot struck the back of her head, sending her sailing through a pile of rubble. Her nanites quickly repaired the tears in her clothing. Apparently, during the process of absorption, her systems were fully devoted to that procedure alone, preventing her radar from detecting a particularly powerful ki nearby. She looked up expecting it to be Juunanagou, but instead, what she saw caused her to be frozen speechless.

"T...T...TRUNKS!?"

"Don't try to fool me, Juuhachigou," he insisted. "Insulting my mother that way is pathetic."

Bulma blinked out of confusion. "Wh...What're you talking about?!"

"Don't play dumb with me," was his response. "That mask and voice changer."

Bulma looked down at a puddle of rainwater that hadn't evaporated yet. When the ripples on the water died down, she saw herself in the mirror-like surface. If her vision wasn't failing her, the absorption had given her the hair and clothing of the blonde android, but kept her facial features her own. Looking at Trunks, she wanted desperately to convince him that she wasn't the android, but on the other hand, perhaps she could get him to give her a little information on the androids. She wanted so eagerly to run over to him and take him up in her arms. But she kept the ruse up in order to find more out about the evil duo. "Oh don't worry," she said, changing her voice to the blonde android's. Keeping the lie going almost caused her to cry, but she pushed back her emotions. "I'm not planning on playing with you anymore." To that, Trunks seemed to get on edge.

"If you wanna kill me then do it, but don't mess around like you did when you knocked me out like you did. And I wanted to tell you the ship's complete."

Bulma's jaw almost dropped. "S...hip? Tell me about the ship!" She didn't know anything of what he was talking about, but him telling his arch-enemy that a ship was complete didn't strike her as normal. Trunks rolled his eyes.

"Are you having a brain cramp? Instead of you killing me, I build you a ship, you take me with you as you conquer the universe? It's done. It should take us to the nearest populated planet." After hearing her son speak, Bulma could scarcely believe what she was hearing. Had her son really lost all hope and sided with the bad guys?

"Of...Of course I remember! Don't think I don't!" She realized perhaps she was overdoing the anger, so she toned it down a bit. "So, remind me, when were we...going...to take you?"

He shook his head in exasperation. "You're really out of it, aren't you? Tomorrow, you were going to take me with you as you began your conquest of the universe." He desperately hoped that Juuhachigou—for he didn't know it was his mother—didn't discover his plan to kill both her and her brother. He'd planned it out so well: if he couldn't kill them with the weapons on board, the automatic pilot was pre-programmed to head into the sun, and his note he'd leave behind would tell his mother to make it to Namek somehow. Finally, he figured, all who died against the androids would have justice.

Bulma did her very best to keep her jaw from dropping, but hearing his words, she merely couldn't take it anymore. Changing her voice back to normal, she cried, "TRUNKS! Why have you sided with the androids!?" He took offense.

"Damn you, android, killing me I can handle. Acting like my mother is beyond evil!"

"Fly to the stars, Trunks."

Trunks's eyes widened the instant he heard those words. "What...did you say?"

"Fly to the stars..."

Trunks finished the poem she started. "...like a butterfly on a rocket-ship. Talk to the people from Mars..."

Smiling, Bulma began to recite in unison with him. "...with the light in your eyes you can't despise." It was poem Trunks had written when he was only seven years old. Both knew there was no way either of the androids could possibly know it. Bulma kept it within a sealed cabinet in her most treasured room.

"M...mom? I...I..." Unable to finish his sentence, he ran up and threw his arms around her. "I'm sorry mom. I just couldn't fight them anymore."

"There's no need to talk, Trunks, I'm sure you did it with intent to get back at them someday." He blinked; could she really see through his plan that well?

Back at Capsule Corp., the explanation took up much of three hours' time. Trunks found a way to explain all the details of his extensive plan to destroy the androids by onboard weapons, and if that failed, by flying the ship into the sun to fry everybody on board. Bulma found it just a little bit harder, but after many a wasted breath, she fully explained her project that she finished. She explained how she absorbed the female android, and how she'd fought the android. Trunks found it strange that his mother defeated one of the androids, but found himself grinning at the prospect of Bulma having seen terror in an otherwise invincible evil's face. Trunks never would have guessed that his mother would be the one to bring down either of the two seemingly unbeatable androids who'd terrorized the world for years without anyone capable of defeating them. As the two were wrapped up in conversation, they decided it would be best if they came up with a plan.

"What did you have in mind?" Trunks questioned. "I mean, with your level of power, we could easily storm the androids." Bulma had a grin on her face, which indicated that she was in the mood to have some fun.

"All these years, the androids kept prolonging the genocide just for the simple fun of it," she reminded her son, "and now it's time to put an end to it. I think if they're gonna have fun killing, we should play by their rules. I want to absorb Juunanagou, but I want to see the terror on his face while I do it."

Trunks knew exactly what she was talking about; he so desperately wanted to see the fright in the wicked machine's face too. On top of that, he wanted to see what would happen when she absorbed both of the androids. Juuhachigou already warranted quite a transformation, but what would her brother add to Bulma? "So, what should we do?" Before either of them could properly lay out a plan, Capsule Corp.'s front door burst wide open, and as fate would have it, the devil they were talking about defeating did his best to stand up straight, in the middle of the doorway. Neither could conceal the shock on their faces, for Juunanagou couldn't stand very long due to the fact that he'd been beaten up. Scratches covered his face, blood seeped from small cuts, and his clothes looked to be in tatters. He took two steps into the room and collapsed onto the floor.

When the two finally gathered enough courage to speak, neither knew exactly what to say. "What should we do, now?" Trunks asked. Instinctively, he knew what action was to be taken; this was the enemy, and could not be trusted. Taking her cue, Bulma extended the tube-like tail out of her back, and absorbed the dark-haired android. The very instant she did, her body once again became consumed by the bright aura as lightning bounced off of her, ricocheting off the walls and back to her again. Just the sheer magnitude of the energy emission threw Trunks off his feet and into the far back wall. He came back up about fifteen seconds later, and saw the aura beginning to die down. Once the light had completely dissipated, Bulma's look had drastically changed.

"M...mom? Are you ok?" Trunks knew she was fine, but would feel better if he asked anyway. His mother's hair was the primary concern: it was not in a ponytail like she usually kept it, and now it was twice as long. Above the shoulders her hair was a shade of light blue that was absent of all gray—in fact, she looked as though twenty years had been erased from her age. Below the shoulders it was blonde with dark streaks, representing the two androids. Her outfit was Juuhachigou's skirt and dark leg coverings from the waist down, and Juunanagou's two-layered shirt with scarf from waist up. Her height had increased from 5'8" to about 6'4", and she had Juuhachigou's high-heeled boots. All this was subordinate, however, to her level of artificial ki which increased to just a hair below a hundred and seven million. She examined her new body as the tube-like tail pulled itself back into her back, just like it did before.

TO BE CONTINUED IN BOOK TWO: No Denying Purpose