DB Multiverse

Everyone suddenly turned their head, scanning in the oppressive silence the rubble strewn over with the bodies of the two androids' victims... as if they had perceived the breeze, even though it had been so swift and soft, when the soul of the old man had flown out of his body.

As if a late intuition had crossed his mind, Krilin flew to land near what was left of his house in ruins... his vision became blurry due to the rising of tears that he couldn't contain when it was confirmed that there was nothing left of that little and thriving whose inhabitants had been living their life happily under that nice summer sky. Nothing but the dust and the lifeless bodies.

Upon seeing the small man bending over under the heavy weight of sorrow, remorse and anger, the rest of the group hastened to go near him.

It was Yamcha's compassionate hand that first fell on the back bent by affliction... then the strangely soft voice of Tien could be heard, echoing strangely in that deadly silence:

“We've done our best... it was already too late...”

The frustration that Krilin was fighting hard to hold exploded with rage:

“Too late... too late... always too late!! I'M FED UP WITH IT!!!”

Then, as if he had emptied all his energy resources, tired by that shout, that admission that he lacked power, Krilin collapsed once again, not fighting back the big tears that now scarred his cheeks, moaning now in a hardly audible voice:

“It's not fair... if he was still here...”

The tall Namek, who had remained silent and still until now, reacted, obviously annoyed:

“That 'if' won't be anymore... it's useless to cry over it... besides, Vegeta just proved that it'd not have changed anything!”

Piccolo's aggravation seemed to change into a silent anger that suddenly straightened his short antennas in a spasm while his voice became even huskier:

“If only he had made up his mind earlier!”

He clenched his fists as he looked at them as if to feel the lack of power:

“An entire day wasted in the Time Chamber!!” He then made a furious sweeping gesture over the dusty ruins of the small town. “Without that useless waste of time, maybe I'd have managed to prevent that!!”

Yamcha seemed to be reliving that moment of surprise that had made them freeze with fear just a few minutes ago:

“I still can't get over it... Vegeta super saiyan!! How is that even possible?!”

Tien frowned:

“That bastard... For someone who didn't want to fight anymore... he has kept his card close to his chest...”

Piccolo, his face inscrutable, grumbled:

“He hasn't kept it close... that progress had just one goal... a goal that died along with Goku...”

The conversation seemed to divert Krilin from his despair.

“Progress... progress... that's an understatement... Plus, I thought you needed to have a pure heart to get such a promotion...”

The tall three-eyed warrior, his look lost in the blue sky where the Saiyan had disappeared, retorted in a low voice:

“You were mistaken... It's not about heart in such a situation... it's about ability and willpower. Vegeta is a Saiyan, as Goku, and he was fiercely determined to succeed, as Goku had been...”

The explanation didn't convince Krilin, who muttered:

“Yeah... well, for what I know about it... such a warrior appears only once every thousand years... And now, all of a sudden, we get two of them, one right after the other... it's not logical!”

“Logical or not, fact is it happened... and fact is that even a super saiyan is no match for these damned cyborgs!”Yamcha tempered.

Krilin grumbled again, clearly showing ill-faith:

“There is a slight difference: Vegeta was no match!”

Piccolo, most likely annoyed by these fruitless comments, immediately corrected him:

“Even if he had stopped training after Goku's death, Vegeta is still an exceptional fighter... I have seen no difference between his level and Goku's when he came back from outer space.”

But Krilin wasn't one to give up so easily:

“Still... Goku would have kept improving!”

Tien's face became gloomy:

“You're forgetting a bit fast that those two rotten cyborgs have been perfected precisely in order to kill Goku... And what have been built to resist Goku will, logically, resist Vegeta...”

Yamcha was pensive:

“It makes sense... we'll eventually find a way to neutralize them... For now, they seem happy with just destroying small towns... but that will certainly not last!”

Now Tien let his rage magnified by a deep frustration out, frustration fuelled by the robotic twins.

“HAPPY WITH THAT?”

He pointed at the numerous cadavers all around them with his hand as he loses control over the decibel of his voice, voice that anger had got the better of.

“How many dead? AND HOW MANY WILL THERE BE TOMORROW?”

Krilin clenched his fists and gritted his teeth, trying to keep his self-control:

“Damned Dr. Gero... What a stupid man! Releasing those two walking catastrophes without thinking of the consequences!...”

Tien was obviously having a hard time calming down and forced himself to use a more gentle tone.

“You heard it as we did... they escaped from his control... just before they killed him.”

Piccolo seemed to be going through the same path as Tien, his voice was strangely calm, deep, in accord with the serious expression on his face. He didn't even bother opening his eyes, as if he preferred remaining under the cover of the defence of an inner world that only he knew about.

“They seem to enjoy killing... yet, they only humiliate us each time we fight!”

The Namek's outward calm suddenly shattered! He opened his eyes again and then said, with a muffled voice, his teeth gritted, an obvious sign of his inwards rage.

“They're making fun of us, they're so sure of their invincibility! It's unbearable!”

“You don't say... it's like their stupid jokes about the senzu beans that they keep saying. How do they know about it anyway?” grumbled Krilin, his fists clenched.

Piccolo didn't seem to be able to loosen his jaw that anger kept clenched.

“That damned Dr. Gero had methodically prepared his revenge against Gokû... he hadn't left anything to chance!”

Krilin's behavior suddenly changed completely. He was most likely trying to raise his comrades' spirit, he feigned optimism... but his voice was marked by weariness rather than with real conviction and it betrayed that that happiness was fake.

“It's incredible to feel such a hatred, so many years after what Gokû had done. But our opponent are machines, there have to be a way to stop them.”

“We've surpassed our limits, to no avail,” answered Yamsha. He didn't even bother hiding his feeling of discouragement.

Krilin's eyes showed that he was deep in thought as he was talking with a mechanical tone as he followed his trail of thoughts.

“We are no match for them because they are not human, but that's certainly where we can find their weak spot. Every device has a 'stop' button somewhere... We have to find it!”

“If you were counting on Dr. Gero's documents on the cyborgs, you can forget it: we've found his laboratory with Bulma, but the twins had shattered everything into pieces. She didn't find anything of use.” added the miserable Yamcha, whose head seemed to be dropping a bit more with each sentence.

The mention of his old friend got a little smile on Krilin's lips, he used that occasion to release the pressure that was overwhelming them by changing the topic of the conversation:

“Bulma.. it's a good thing that she's here! With Gokû gone, she's the only one to have some influence on that crazy Vegeta. I feared that he'd go back to his bloody despot rave!”

Yamcha sighed as he also took advantage of the opportunity to have a change of topic.

“As you say.... Besides, I still wonder how she managed to convince that block-head to fight with us.”

A frank smirk spread on the face of the small bald man.

“What women want... Even the most macho of all princes can't refuse it... This at least is fair!”