Tainted Hearts

This story has been rated PG by the Imaginary Fanfiction Raiting Board.




In the massive expanse that is our universe, there are many different galaxies, each teaming with its own life, each with their own stories to tell. However, the Terran System in the Milky Way Galaxy, particularly the third rock from the sun possessed arguably the most interesting of all stories that could be told.

This planet, Earth had been threatened by everything from aliens to androids and had usually come out unscathed. It was when a near unstoppable monster named Majin Buu appeared that the Earth had been destroyed. But with the help of two near extinct races, the Saiyan and the Nameks, and seven artifacts known as Dragon Balls, the Earth and all of its inhabitants, save anyone evil, was restored.

The wish for restoration, however, did have one drawback. The evil that disqualified a person from returning came from their hearts. Computers didn't have hearts.

In the bowels of the mountain range near the Northern City, there was once a lab that was occupied by Dr. Gero, the lone survivor of a militant group known as the Red Ribbon Army. From there, he created the interments for the destruction of the person responsible for the demise of the Red Ribbon Army, Son Goku. However, Dr. Gero's creations turned on him and murdered him, and his lab was destroyed by a Saiyan from the future, named Trunks.

Though many of his workstations were destroyed, Dr. Gero's main computer survived deep underground, and continued producing androids whose sole purpose in existence was to kill Son Goku. With the destruction of those androids, the computer shut down, and with the defeat of Gero's greatest creation, Cell, the madness of Gero was soon forgotten.

When Earth was restored from its encounter with Majin Buu, Gero's computer was also restored. The main base of its program remained; create an android capable of killing Son Goku. With materials severely depleted, it was able to create only one android.

This android was different. While the other androids tirelessly traveled the world to locate Goku and tried to defeat him themselves, this one took a more cerebral approach. This one studied all of the data the computer compiled of all of the encounters between Goku and the androids. It was as if it was there itself as it witnessed the defeat and/or destruction of all the androids by the hands of Goku and his friends.

After taking some time to compute the information, the android, clearly male in design, smiled. He knew exactly how to destroy Goku, and no matter how strong Goku may have gotten between then and now, there was no possible way he could win.

Most powerful Human. As for the title of most powerful person, however, he wasn't even in the running.

Even though he greatly powered up over the years, he didn't know how he would fare if he were to get in a serious fight with his cyborg wife. And then, of course, there was the Namek, Piccolo and the two Saiyan families. He was so outmatched that even if he fought one of their ten or eleven year old children, he wouldn't stand a chance.

As much as he tried not to, there was a part of Kuririn that was bitter with how things turned out. Despite all of his training, despite all of his experience, despite all of his power, Kuririn was as helpless as a person who didn't have any of what he had. Every major enemy he faced from Piccolo to Nappa and Vegeta to Majin Buu were so overwhelming that it was almost laughable when he tried to fight them. He always had to depend on someone stronger than him to save his hide, be it Goku, Gohan, or even Piccolo and Vegeta themselves.

But, no matter how strong the enemy was, Kuririn was right there beside his friends to fight with them. And even though they hardly ever made a difference, Kuririn always got his licks in... except with Majin Buu. When he charged at Buu, he couldn't even get the first punch thrown before the pink monster turned him into chocolate and ate him. He couldn't even save his wife and friends; as soon as he was eaten, they were turned into chocolate and eaten soon after.

That had taken all the heart Kuririn had out of him. If he couldn't even sacrifice his life to save his family, what good was he?

"Kuririn, did you hear that?"

So lost in his self-pity, he didn't notice that his wife or his sensei, Muten Roshi were at the window addressing him. "I'm sorry, what was that?"

"I said that I got a telepathic message from Goku," Roshi said. "He told me that Satan City was under attack by some monster, the Hirudegarn, or some nonsense like that."

"I suppose you want to go and help them," #18 said.

"Why?"

Needless to say, Roshi and #18 were stunned by the warrior's answer. "Say what?" responded Roshi.

"Why should I go?" Kuririn reiterated. "I'm sure that if I did go, all I would do is get in the way. I'm sure Goku and the other Saiyans can handle it."

Roshi's body may not have been what it once was, but his mind was sharp as ever. He could detect that underlying tone of resentment when Kuririn mentioned the Saiyans. It was the same kind he felt towards Goku, Kuririn and the others when he was no longer able to fight with them. His mind wandered all the way back to when Raditz landed on earth. Raditz was so overwhelmingly stronger than he was, and he was the weakling of enemies that followed.

Kuririn wasn't as old now as Roshi was then and he's already experiencing the feelings of worthlessness. If Roshi understood his pupil right, the last straw was with Majin Buu, where even though Kuririn sacrificed himself to save everyone else, Majin Buu got them all anyway.

"AAAAK! MOMMY! SPIDER!!!" came little Marron's cry from deeper in the house.

"I'm coming," #18 called back to her daughter. Before she turned to go, she cast one last, concerned glance at her husband. If there was a fight and his friends were in trouble, Kuririn would never just sit back and do nothing, no matter how strong the enemy was. This wasn't like him.

"Kuririn is feeling quite low now," Roshi said. "He needs someone to help him, at least, get his mind off of his problems. Who better to do that than his wife?" #18 looked at him. He put a reassuring hand on her and continued, "Don't worry, I'll take care of Marron's little problem. You take care of Kuririn."

#18 smiled. It was at times like this that she really appreciated having the aging master around. She would really like him if it weren't for his...bad habits. She put her hand on his shiny head and said, "Thank you Kamesennin, I really appreciate your advice. So much so that I'm giving you an opportunity to remove your hand from my butt before I squash your head like a grape."

"Eh? Now how'd that get there?" he said, as if realizing it for the first time. She squeezed his head and he screamed, "OK! OK! I'LL LET GO, JUST STOP THAT!" #18 walked out of the house, leaving the turtle hermit to tend to his sore head.

"AAAAAAK! MOMMY!!!" cried Marron again.

"Don't worry darling, Uncle Roshi'll save you!" he said, gallantly. He rushed to where Marron was. As soon as she saw him, she ran behind him to hide from the arachnid. "All right, honey, where is this big bad spider?"

"Over there," said Oolong, also hiding behind him. "Kill it. KILL IT!!!"

Roshi looked at the shape-shifting pig, "What are you doing Oolong? Why couldn't you kill the spider?"

"Are you kidding? That thing's a monster!"

"*sigh* You're pathetic."

"That's not fair," Oolong whined, "if she can cry to her mommy, why can't I?"

Roshi snorted, then squashed the offending spider. Marron jumped up and down, "Thanks Uncle Roshi, you're the best!" Roshi scooped her into his arms and let out a hearty chuckle.

Oolong latched himself to Roshi and said, "Yeah, thanks Uncle Roshi."

"Gedoff me, pig."

Curious as to how #18 was coming along with Kuririn, Roshi went back to the window to look out at the beach. To his surprise, they were nowhere to be found.

"Uncle Roshi, where's mommy and daddy?" Marron asked.

"Hmm...well, daddy was feeling a little blue, precious," Roshi said. "Perhaps they just went somewhere where they could talk in private."

"Or..." started Oolong, with a sly look on his face, "maybe mommy took him somewhere so she could help him FEEL better, ay?"

Ignoring Oolong's innuendo, Roshi pondered the question further in his mind. #18 usually did as she pleased, but it wasn't like Kuririn to leave the island without a word to anyone. And it certainly wasn't like either of them to leave with no concern for their daughter. "Where did you two go?" Roshi muttered.

At a coffee shop in downtown Northern City, Yamucha sat at a table waiting for his date to arrive. Had he been paying attention to the time, he would've noticed that his date was ten minutes late. But he hadn't. While waiting, he asked the waiter to get a glass of water. While drinking, he saw himself in the reflection and he didn't like what he saw.

He was old.

True, he was no senior citizen, but his days of youthful exuberance, his days of always being ready for the next big fight, they were all behind him. The thought of 'how did I get like this all of a sudden' ran through his mind. As he thought about it more, he realized that it didn't just happen. In fact, the event that triggered his becoming less and less useful in a fight happened when he wasn't even around to witness it himself; when Goku first became a Super Saiyan.

Since then, the enemies that showed up were so far over his head, that even if he did fight, there wasn't anything he could do to sway them...like when he was nearly killed by Dr. Gero. That was the straw that broke the camel's back. Pity, Kuririn was always in the fights, no matter how strong the foe was. Yamucha always thought he had that same spirit. But he stopped fighting altogether because of that near fatal shot from Dr. Gero...guess that made Kuririn the better man between them.

Of course, that wasn't even the biggest trauma that sapped his will to fight, he reflected as he saw a man and his wife laughing with each other as they and their child walked by the shop. Vegeta and Bulma...even after all this time he still couldn't understand it. He always figured, no matter what trouble would come between them, that when he was this age, it would be him and Bulma living together and raising a family.

Vegeta had come to Earth to kill all of the people and sell the planet. He saw to the deaths of himself, Tenshinhan, Chouzu, and Piccolo. His sole purpose in life was beating Goku. How could she fall for such a man?

It didn't matter. If there was anything he learned since the Trunks from the other timeline arrived, its that you can't change the past...at least not the way you'd want it. She was his, now and forever, and he, with no one to love and no real power to fight, was left to grow old alone.

Funny, for some reason, he didn't feel like the date anymore.

Yamucha's date hurried as fast as she could to the coffee shop where they agreed to meet. It seemed nothing was going right for her. First she ripped her dress and had to get a new one. Then, her car broke down, making her have to ride the bus, which was late. It seemed like Kami himself was trying to keep her away from him.

"I'm so late, I hope he didn't leave," she said to herself.

She rushed into the coffee shop, nearly bowling over an exiting couple. To her dismay and as she feared, Yamucha wasn't there. "AFTER ALL I WENT THROUGH TO GET HERE, THAT JERK ISN'T EVEN HERE? @#$&*(@#$!@**$&!!!"

Soaring high in the air, was one of Satan City's two acclaimed heroes, the Great Saiyaman II. Sometimes, Videl wondered why she bothered with the Great Saiyaman thing. She did just fine without it before. On the other hand, there was just this mystique and wondrous exhilaration that came with being a costumed super hero that she had become addicted to.

'Super hero. Really?' she thought to herself. 'If I'm so super, why, when a real enemy comes, do I have to run and hide behind Gohan?"

At the mention of his name, her train of thought turned to Gohan. Who could've guessed that such a sweet, gentle guy like him could also be such a fierce and powerful warrior? She didn't at first. But it was because of him that she had become more than she could ever have hoped to before. Not too long ago, if someone had told her that she would be flying around the city like she was, she would've had them tossed into a mental hospital. But there she was, costumed and flying through the air with the greatest of ease like that Super-what's-his-name in Metropolis the Americans went on about.

Even so, before Gohan, she was the one everyone turned to when a major crisis came up and she was the one who handled them all. Now, it was as if she couldn't handle anything without his help. Sure, she liked being with Gohan...really REALLY liked being with Gohan, saving the helpless citizens of Satan City. But with all that she faced, Majin Buu, Broli, and just recently that Hirudegarn thing, she always ended up BEING one of those helpless citizens.

If there was one thing Videl detested, it was being helpless.

But what could she do about it? She couldn't come close to Gohan or his friends in terms of strength. Even Gohan's baby brother, Goten and his friend Trunks were infinitely stronger than she was, and they were, what? Nine? Ten? It wasn't fair. There they were, the most powerful kids in the world, sons of real heroes and all she was, was weak, helpless Videl, daughter of Mr. Satan, the fraud.

Before Videl could start feeling sorry for herself, something caught her notice in the street below. It looked like a couple of looters decided to take advantage of the city's poor condition to steal from a rental shop. This was something she could handle.

She dove down to ground level, and taking her most dramatic pose, she called into the broken into building, "Stop right there! So, you thought you could pillage from this fair store during this time of crisis? Not while I, the Great Saiyaman II am ar--"

"LOOK OUT! IT'S THE GREAT SAIYAMAN II! GET HER!" Both of the looters brandished full automatic weapons and started firing at her.

Videl did a super martial artist jump, sailing over the head of one of the looters and landed a kick to his temple on her way down. "You jerks!" Videl shouted. "You didn't let me finish my speech!"

Seeing his comrade easily felled the other would be thief ran for the exit. Videl took one of the small thirteen inch televisions off of a nearby shelf and threw it, clonking him in the head. "Looks like they were right. Television does mess up your head."

Minutes later, the police arrived and placed the two criminals under arrest. Before, this would've been just another victory for the champion of Satan City. But it seemed like such a small thing now that she derived no joy from her triumph. It seemed like, unless she had the power to face a major crisis like Gohan and his friends could and overcome it, she would never again be happy with what she did.

It seemed like she was going to be in for a long miserable, meaningless life.

After putting the crooks in their police car, one of the officers turned to her. "Thank you, Great Saiyaman, I don't know what we..." he trailed off, for the object of his thanks was no longer there. "Humph. Gone. How odd."

"Don't worry about it," his partner said. "After a while, you get used to it."

"You sound like you've been through something like this before."

"Yeah. When I went through the Policemen's Exchange program, I went to a city in America, I forget the name...but they had this moron over there dressed like a bat, you see...

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